From: Daniella Joseph Akwa < daniella4real@hotmail.com > Sent: Wed, Jan 13, 2016 11:00 am Subject: My dear, please I am searching for love and care. Dearest, How was your night over there in your country? i believe you had a nice night rest and that the atmosphere over there in your country is very nice today. Mine was a little bit warm over here in Dakar Senegal. My name is Daniella Akwa 25 years old but age doesn't matter in a real relationship,so i am comfortable with your age, My hobbies are reading, traveling, listening to good jokes also my likes are obedient, honest, sincerity, truth and my dislikes are lie, dishonest, envy, and betrayal.I am from Southern Region of Sudan,5.7ft tall,light skin,single, never marriedand presently. i am residing here in Dakar as a result of the civil war that was fought in my country some years ago. My late father Dr. Joseph Akwa is Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. but he's dead and his death was as a result of poison, his brother (my uncle) wanted to convert all the properties and resources of my late father into his which i quarreled with him and it made him to lay his anger on me to the extent of hiring an assassins to kill me but to God be the glory i succeeded by making a way to Senegal for my dear life. My dear, please I am searching for love and care which I have not gotten for a very long time since I lost my family members. I hereby believe that in time to come you will be my side and I will show you unreserved love and respect through out my time. Dear, please tell me about yourself because i have allot to share with you, I want to know your real name, your country, your age, your hobbies and what you are doing presently. I have attached my pictures here for you to know me very well. In my next mail I will tell you more about myself. I wait your reply with impatience. Yours Daniella . From: Daniella Joseph Akwa < daniella4real@hotmail.com > Sent: Thu, Jan 14, 2016 3:41 pm Subject: I would like you to help me transfer this money to your account Hi Dearest, How are you today and your environment Hope all is well with you, Mine is a cold over here in Dakar Senegal. In this camp we are only allowed to go out only on Mondays and Fridays of the week it's just like one staying in the prison and i hope by Gods grace i will come out here soon. I don't have any brother,sister or relatives now whom i can go to all my relatives ran away in the middle of the war the only person i have now is Rev Simon James who is the pastor of the (Christ The king Church) here in the camp and i am sending you mail from his office computer,i beg him for ten minutes when i want to check my email and reply, he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him rather i am leaving in the woman's hostel because the camp have two hostels one for men the other for women. The Pastors Tel number is 00221 705 943 531 if you call and tell him that you want to speak with me he will send for me in the hostel. As a refugee here i don't have any right or privileged to any thing be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country. I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the tragic incident that lead to my being in this situation now too place. Please listen to this, i have my late father's statement of account and death certificate here with me which i will send to you latter,because when he was alive he deposited some amount of money in a leading bank in Europe which he used my name as the next of kin, the amount in question is (Six Million one Hundred Thousand US Dollars). So I would like you to help me transfer this money to your account and from it you send to me some money for me to get my traveling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you. I kept this secret to people in the camp here the only person that knows about it is the Reverend because he is like a father to me. So in the light of above i will like you to keep it to yourself and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it. Remember i am giving you all this information due to the trust i deposed on you. I like honest and understanding people, truthful and someone of vision, truth and hardworking. My favorite language is English but very well. Meanwhile i will like you to call me like i wish i have allot to tell you. i will like you to send me your pictures to me OK. Have a nice day and please think about me. Awaiting to hear from you soonest. Regards yours lovely Daniella. 00221 705 943 531 From: Daniella Joseph Akwa < daniella4real@hotmail.com > Sent: Mon, Jan 18, 2016 3:56 pm Subject: PLEASE YOU NEED TO HELP ME OUT My Dearest My prayer is for God to grant me my pursuance. please i do hope you will not betray the trust respond in you, I confidently know you wont not betray the trust. Presently, I am residing here in Senegal where i am seeking my political asylum as refugee due to this crises in my country and my evil uncle act towards me. Secondly i want to relocate with you to start a new life and also a good business venture that will be profit oriented to us. As well Finish my studies. Now due to my political situation, I cannot make this claims by myself, i need you to stand on my behalf to the bank, That is why i decided to make this contact with you, For you to stand on my behalf to the bank and ask them the possibility of transferring this fund into your position in your country. I have the account number of my late father plus the his death certificate, Everything concerning this transaction is clear. Listen very well, All that i have told you concerning my present situation is the real life am passing through right now, I have the proves for the existence of this account, All i need you to do for me is to contact the bank on my behalf as my foreign Representative, And find out the possibility of transferring this fund into your position in your country. So I will like you to first make contact with the bank where this fund have been deposited, let us hear from them before any other thing will be done, It is due to the trust and love i have in you that made me to disclose this matter with you, Believing that i am safe in your hand, No body knows what i have and where i am, Please i asking you for my safety and security keep it very private please, I know that God will see us through. Once the fund enters your account in your country, You will now send me money to process my traveling document, as you know now, I have nothing with me for now also i will be very happy to hear your voice on the phone if possible for you. So once i get you well also you mail me, I will send the bank contact details to you, So that from there you will make contact with them concerning the account and find out the possibility of transferring this fund into your position , i want you to understand that i can't ask the Reverend father for any help in the side of the transfer, for i will gain nothing, he is a Prince and i am single, beside i don't like to stay in this country for any thing. I really appreciate your concern, w aiting for your urgent response so that we can proceed. Send me your full information so that i will use it and introduce you to the bank before giving you their contact, and also send me your phone number in case if i want to call you. Please if you know you can handle this, Because i don't want you to leave me half way. I will come back later to check your respond. Also tell me more about yourself . mine i really love you Have a nice working day. Yours Daniella. From: Daniella Joseph Akwa < daniella4real@hotmail.com > Sent: Sat, Jan 23, 2016 5:34 pm Subject: Please you need to help me out Hi Dearest. How are you ? I hope you are doing well ? Actually i know it may sounds somehow or look somehow to you but you should not because that is what any body in my shoe will do. What i mean is that any body in this my present condition with such inheritance and before such evil befall on him / her will equally do the same. Therefore it will not benefit me if i loose the money so i thought it's better to disclose it to someone who will assist me and that is why i sought for your assistance. I don't have any boyfriend and i want you to understand that am staying in a refugee camp, here is like when someone staying in prison please come to my rescue, I have did all my best so that i can get out of this hell so called refugee camp, but i dd not make it due to thecondition i find myself. Meanwhile, the bank did not accept to transfer the fund to me directly because i couldn't provide a Letters of Probate as they requested. Actually i cannot provide this because it warrants me going to my country which is too risky for me because of my evil uncle. and it also required for an international passport and i did not come to this place with any international passport due to the ongoing war in my country, we where brought down here by the United Nation peace keeper when we where running for our dear life's. As a matter of fact i told the bank my present condition and theysuggested for me to present a reliable partner who will stand as my trustee to my late father's fund which i am the next of kin so that they will transfer the fund into my partner's account and that is why i sought for your assistance. Please if you are interested to assist me in this transaction just tell me more about yourself. like; your full names, residential address, nationality and occupation so that i can give an account of you as my partner before we proceed and for me to pass your information to the bank by introducing you as my partner then i will forward you the bank information so that you will contact them and find out the possibility of transferring the fund into your account so that after receiving the fund into your account you will send me enough money to obtain my traveling documents and come to join you for a better life. I will stop here to await for your update. Thanks and yours, Daniella. If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more.... , . SPRINGFIELD | Changing the way Illinois legislative districts are drawn is one of Gov. Bruce Rauners priorities, and he may get some help this year from outside the General Assembly. Despite the Republican governors stance on the issue and his ongoing stalemate with legislative Democrats, putting the once-a-decade redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission has widespread bipartisan support, said Jim Bray, spokesman for the group Independent Maps. The change would require an amendment to the Illinois Constitution, and the group is making the third attempt in four election cycles to put the issue to voters. The Independent Map Amendment needs 290,216 valid petition signatures to get on the November ballot. At the end of 2015, supporters had gathered more than 483,000 of the 600,000 signatures they hope to collect by the early May deadline. People want to be able to have fair elections, and they want to have choices when they go to the polls, Bray said. They dont want to have the politicians deciding who gets elected. Currently, the Legislature redraws boundaries following each census, which critics say allows the majority party to carve up the state to its own political benefit. Because Democrats were in power after the 2010 census, the current map was drawn in their favor. The process protects incumbents and discourages people from running for office, Bray said. In 2014, for example, 60 percent of House and Senate races were uncontested. If you like the status quo in Illinois and the way things are going in the General Assembly and you like your choices when you go to the polls, you should oppose this, Bray said. While the group has the backing of some Rauner supporters, such as billionaire Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto, who state records show donated $100,000 to the effort and more than $200,000 to the governors campaign, its backers also include prominent Democrats, such as William Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon. State Rep. Mike Smiddy, of Hillsdale, is one of several sitting Democratic legislators supporting the effort. Another supporter is Republican state Rep. Tim Butler, of Springfield, who represents a safe GOP district and is currently unopposed in the November election. Its great for me; I dont have a problem with that, obviously, Butler said. But I think for the people of Illinois, its bad when we dont have competitive districts. A similar proposal in 2010 didnt make it to the ballot because supporters didnt gather enough signatures. A circuit court judge removed a 2014 proposal from the ballot, ruling that it went beyond the scope allowed for a voter-driven amendment. Bray said Independent Maps learned from the previous attempts and is confident that this amendment will pass muster with the (Illinois) Supreme Court. HAMMOND | A 19-year-old Chicago man charged with three others in the armed robbery of a Gary firearms store entered into a plea agreement Friday, according to court records. Aaron "Dro" Cooper was charged with one count of theft of firearms from a federally licensed dealer and one count of using a firearm during a federal crime of violence after the Sept. 3 incident. He could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Cooper, who has a history of armed robberies, and his alleged accomplices were accused of struggling with employees at Jack's Loan Office in the 1600 block of Broadway during the crime, according to a federal complaint. Police responded to a call of shots fired about 5 p.m. Cooper was shot during the fight, according to the complaint, and later was taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake Campus in Gary by one of his alleged accomplices. In exchange for the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to request a sentence at the minimum of the guideline range, which will be calculated at a later date. Cooper is expected to cooperate with the government in other criminal investigations, as well as pay restitution of an amount yet to be determined. Cooper's attorney, John Martin, did not respond to requests for comment. As of Friday evening, the three remaining defendants had maintained their not guilty pleas from December. Two people were shot, one of them fatally, on the Chicago Skyway Wednesday afternoon. The Chicago Fire Department said it received a report around 1:30 p.m. of two people shot near 98th Street and the Skyway. Police said a BMW was traveling on the Skyway when it was approached by a black SUV with an unknown number of people inside. Someone inside the SUV fired shots at the BMW, hitting a 23-year-old man multiple times. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. A 23-year-old woman was also shot in the left arm and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in stable condition. The SUV fled the scene after the shooting. Police believe the shooters had previous contact with the victims before the incident, but no arrests were made as of 3 p.m. As of 5:45 p.m., all lanes along the Chicago Skyway were reopened. LANSING | In 1864, the pocket of land south of the city of Chicago reaching over to the Indiana border was transitioning from wilderness to small communities and farms. While forging into the unknown to make a new life for their families, many of the new settlers relied on strongly on their faith. As German immigrants found themselves in the region, they created a house of worship that continues this day Trinity Lutheran Church. This weekend the current members of the church look back at the long history and celebrate those who have carried it through from the Civil War to the current day as it celebrates its 150th anniversary. Lifelong member Patty Cherney and her husband, Mark, are heading up the anniversary committee. She attended Trinity Lutheran School (which opened two years after the church) from kindergarten through eighth grade, graduating as valedictorian, and her parents and grandparents were also church members. It has been a blessing to worship with my family and church family in the same congregation for more than 50 years, said Patty Cherney. I have special memories of worshiping and singing in the same pew as my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, parents and brothers. Cherney explained that the church has had four buildings in the century and a half it has been in existence. The first was situated at the site of the Oak Glen Cemetery on Indiana Avenue. It was later rebuilt on Indiana Avenue just east of Torrence Avenue across the street from the current building. As the congregation grew, the decision was made to add a basement, which was done at the current site and the entire church was then moved across the street and placed on the basement addition. As the church turned 100 in 1964, plans began for the construction of a new church. They started a big campaign to build a new church and thats when they built the one that is there now, said Cherney. It was dedicated in 1969. A two-day celebration will take place this weekend for the churchs anniversary starting on Saturday with a potluck picnic at 3:30 p.m. and followed by a 6 p.m. outdoor service on the church grounds, 2505 Indiana Ave. On Sunday, there will be a unified 10 a.m. worship service. Dale Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and longtime speaker of the Lutheran Hour will be guest speaker. There will also be seven additional pastors that have either been past pastors of the church or are former students who went on to become pastors. In the evening a dinner takes place at the Serbian Social Center for those who have paid, reserved tickets. Life is not easy, but I can overcome all of lifes ups and downs because I have a solid Christian background with Christ Jesus as my guide, said Cherney. I look forward to this time of celebration with my church family. They, too, have been through many ups and downs. But through it all, Christ has and will be the solid rock of this church." CHICAGO After fatally shooting a black teenager 16 times, white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke had the option of taking a day or two before internal investigators could interview him. Many cities stipulate a 48-hour wait. Officers in Baltimore get more 10 days. The waiting periods are among the shields specially tailored for officers under union contracts, state laws and departmental directives. Unions defend them, citing uniquely dangerous jobs requiring split-second decisions. Critics say they can give officers time to craft narratives favorable to themselves and must be scaled back if officers are to be held truly accountable when there's wrongdoing. That authorities charged Van Dyke with murder only after 13 months had passed since he shot Laquan McDonald, and with compelling video evidence available earlier to investigators, has emphasized how powerful police unions lobbied to get and keep police protections that are little-known to the public and usually unavailable to the civilians police deal with. "There is something particularly problematic with the fact that the privileged group of suspects here is the police," said Katherine Levine, who teaches at New York University School of Law. "This preferential treatment leads those outside the justice system to doubt its legitimacy." Other protections include the mandated destruction of complaints against officers in some cities and bans on launching inquiries on the basis of anonymous complaints. Maryland and more than a dozen other states enshrine officer-friendly provisions in state legislation, known nationwide as the "Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights." A general counsel to the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police defended the police protections before a legislative panel after the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a broken neck while being transported in a police van. "(Officers) take great risk of life and limb for very little money, and they are certainly entitled to some fair process before you take away their jobs, tarnish them, and have them and their families suffer the consequences," Herb Weiner said. Protections for officers don't typically apply once an officer's actions are deemed potentially criminal. But internal investigators play crucial roles in determining if an officer may have committed a crime and whether prosecutors should be notified. Protests calling for change in Chicago followed the Nov. 24 release of the video showing Van Dyke shooting as McDonald walked away, carrying a 3-inch knife that appeared to be folded. It isn't clear when Van Dyke spoke with investigators. Some reformers say the city's collective bargaining agreement with police needs to change. "It's shameful that cities, including Chicago, have bargained away the public's right to transparency and accountability," said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor and reform advocate. Among the provisions being questioned is one that officers not shown existing video of some alleged misconduct before being interviewed can't be disciplined for lying even if it becomes clear later that they did lie. In Chicago, complaint records are supposed to be destroyed after five years, precluding investigators from spotting an officer's history of bad behavior. Dean Angelo Sr., president of Chicago's 17,000-member police union, defends the records destruction, saying officers are susceptible to false complaints. "If you have complaints that are never substantiated, why should they have an infinite shelf life?" he said. The most hotly debated protections are the waiting periods. Many are set at two days under the theory that a couple nights of sleep helps restore an officer's memory, especially after the trauma of a fatal shooting. Samuel Walker, a Nebraska-based criminologist, says that's a "self-serving" view that research doesn't support. The privilege of delayed investigations isn't extended to suspected criminals, who he said might also claim flawed memories after a traumatic event. Levine notes other provisions include that those questioning officers avoid abusive language and allow them bathroom breaks thus avoiding tactics from the "confession-inducing playbook these same officers use when questioning civilian suspects," she says. Any drive to pull back the provisions will face major obstacles. Federal civil-rights probes, like one begun of the Chicago Police Department, usually result in detailed court-enforced settlements. But the federal government has no authority in most cases to force changes in collectively bargained contracts or state law, said Jonathan M. Smith, a former senior litigator in the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. That likely leaves it up to reformers to lobby lawmakers. Some Chicago aldermen say they intend to push for changes in the city's police contract as it expires in 2017. Dean noted that aldermen unanimously approved the contract in 2014: "We did not hoodwink the city of Chicago." Alderman Howard Brookins Jr., who represents a predominantly African-American area of Chicago, said the city council could only approve or reject the contract in its entirety, so he reluctantly voted 'yes.' But after protests over McDonald's death, he says his constituents are demanding more police accountability and he vows to scrutinize the next police contract. "Public sentiment," he said, "is on the side of reform." LANSING | Trinity Lutheran Schools Church Council voted Monday night to close the school at 18144 Glen Terrace in Lansing at the finish of the current school year. Mark Cherney, Trinitys chairman of the congregation, confirmed the news Tuesday. He said the financial burden of funding a school in the 21st century became too much. Its been coming up every year, but its just too hard to keep up with the Joneses, Cherney said. Students (at other schools) are taking laptops home in fifth grade and things just keep building up. It was just too large a hurdle for us. The churchs budget committee made the recommendation to the church council during last month's meeting. Notices were put in the church bulletin that the vote would be taken Monday evening. Its very expensive to send your kids to parochial schools, Cherney said. Students took home letters for parents Tuesday and would do so again Wednesday, Cherney said. This school year marked the 150th for Trinity Lutheran. The church has been in Lansing for 152 years. At its peak, Cherney said the school had more than 200 students. Its had 150 within the last decade. There are currently about 50 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Many of those students are no longer church members but residents of the surrounding community. Its been tough to keep a staff with a decent wage. Theyve only had small raises, Cherney said. There are only so many dollars to go around. Weve had to pick and choose. Some Illinois parochial schools have considered moving east into Indiana. Illiana Christian High School is fundraising a move from Lansing to near St. John. Cherney said there are other options in Indiana for Trinitys students. But he didnt rule out the school reopening in the future if the churchs financial situation improves, possibly offering fewer grades. The church will keep the building and seek out other uses for it. Cherney said there's already been interest in renting the gym. Cherney said Trinity was in talks with a local Lutheran school to combine student bodies in recent years. Trinitys congregation passed the consolidation, he said, but the deal fell apart. That was one of the final nails in Trinitys coffin. It breaks all of our hearts, Cherney said. But its time to change. SCHERERVILLE Schererville police are asking for the public's help in locating a Cedar Lake woman accused of leaving Albert's Jewelers in Schererville with a $9,000 wedding ring set. Darien N. Arredondo, 29, is wanted on warrant on charges of one count of felony theft, police said. On Jan. 7, Schererville police responded to Albert's Jewelers, 711 N. Main St., for a report of a stolen wedding ring set. Clerks at the store told police Arredondo asked them to show her multiple ring sets from a display case at one time. Arredondo allegedly took one of the rings sets and put it in her coat pocket when the clerk went to retrieve another set from the display case, police said. When employees asked for Arredondo's identification, she allegedly told them her ID was in her vehicle and she would have to go out of the store to retrieve it. Police said Arredondo then left the store and did not return. Investigators later learned Arredondo pawned the ring set at a Hammond pawn shop. The ring was recovered and returned to Albert's, police said. Schererville police are asking anyone with information about Arredondo's whereabouts to call the Schererville Police Department at (219) 322-5000 or the anonymous Schererville Police Crime Tip Hotline at (219) 865-4646. CROWN POINT Absences made the Lake County Council meeting sad and fitful Tuesday. Council members mourned Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, 69, who died Saturday of natural causes. Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville, too emotional to read a resolution in Allen's honor, later said, "We have lost a great leader." Councilman Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, said, "(Allen) and I argued over some political issues, but he always was respectful and a true gentleman." Sheriff John Buncich, who was in attendance, added, "He tackled the E-911 situation, which was difficult. We are going to miss that guy." The council then moved to begin the work of 2016, which became periodically difficult as the council's membership occasionally dwindled below the numbers needed to conduct business. Washington left halfway through the two-hour meeting without returning. Other council members periodically left the meeting room to conduct private business, leaving the council with only four members, which delayed votes on some appropriations. "It's an awesome start to the year," Council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said ironically, during one pause. The council named Bilski its 2016 president. It's his fifth term in six years. It named Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, its representative on the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. The council approved Sheriff John Buncich's staff reorganization to name Mark Back director of health services for county jail inmates. Back also will remain the sheriff's public relations director. He will receive an annual salary of $61,783 The sheriff said the county could eventually save more than $750,000 a year in hospital care under a new state law requiring Back's staff to automatically enroll into the Medicaid program inmates needing hospitalization. It was up to the inmate to do so prior to this law. The council approved a 54-cent mileage reimbursement rate for this year's business, which is a 3.5 cent decrease from last year. Councilwoman Elsie Franklin, D-Gary. objected the price of gasoline is volatile and may go up this year, disadvantaging county employees who claim the mileage. Bilski said the county must follow the federal mileage rate, which also dropped. He said a higher county rate would create an accounting nightmare and subject county employees to paying income tax on any amount over the federal rate. The council deferred action on giving the E-911 service authority to hire more dispatchers and on a labor agreement with jail corrections officers. GARY As the head of Edgewater Behavorial Health Services of Gary, Danita A. Johnson-Hughes has helped serve resident health care needs for 20 years. "It's been a joy to help individuals realize better health outcomes, including their general health and well-being," Johnson-Hughes said. Johnson-Hughes, who grew up in Gary and now lives in Valparaiso, is one of the six nominees vying for the 2016 Drum Major Award. The Drum Major Award, which is inspired by the "Drum Major Instinct" sermon given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. two months before his assassination, recognizes people who dedicate their lives to improving the human condition. The 37th annual Dr. Martin King Jr., memorial breakfast, at which the Drum Major Award will be announced, will be held at 8 a.m. Saturday in the Genesis Convention Center. Johnson-Hughes, who has a doctorate in human services from Walden University in Minneapolis, said she was contacted some 20 years ago to interview and to serve as president and CEO at Edgewater. "I have a fantastic board and staff," Johnson-Hughes said. She said at Edgewater, officials look at the person as a whole. "We see people with mental health issues which won't change if they are homeless or don't have enough to eat," Johnson-Hughes said. In January two years ago, Edgewater held a ribbon cutting for a new $16 million, 60-unit apartment complex called South Shore Commons, to meet the need for affordable housing in Gary. "We worked with several partners to get this project completed including the city of Gary and the Broadway Community Development Corp., among others," Johnson-Hughes said. She said the thinking at Edgewater is that if an individual is ill and doesn't have a safe and comfortable place to live, he likely will be challenged trying to get well. Johnson-Hughes said she is also honored because Edgewater in November was recognized by the Society of Innovators as co-recipients of the Accelerating Greatness Award for its new Rapid Access Center. "The RAC is a newly renovated structure providing a level of urgent care to persons in crisis. The program is designed to divert persons experiencing a psychiatric crisis from the emergency room of the hospital or away from jail by providing them with an appropriate clinical intervention that stabilizes them and reduces costs to the community," Johnson-Hughes said. The program is the first and only one currently existing in the state of Indiana, she said. "We hope that it will become the gold standard for this level of care in the state," Johnson-Hughes said. Johnson-Hughes, who is married to Chuck Hughes, has three daughters and six grandchildren. She teaches a class at Indiana University Northwest and has written two books, "Power from Within," and "Influencing Today's Youth." She also serves on a number of boards including the Lake Area United Way, Gary Chamber of Commerce and Lakeshore Public Media. CROWN POINT A former Highland High School teacher accused of having inappropriate relationships with three students, two of which were learning disabled, will stand trial Aug. 15. Samuel J. Fies, 37, of St. John, appeared Tuesday in front of Lake Criminal Judge Samuel Cappas for an omnibus hearing. Cappas scheduled an Aug. 15 jury trial after years of delays in the case. Fies was first charged in 2011 with sexual misconduct of a minor, child molesting, criminal confinement, child solicitation and child seduction. He is accused of developing a relationship with one student in 2009 when the girl was in seventh grade and younger than 14 years old, according to court records. He is accused of trying to touch the girl, brushing up against her and putting his fingers down her pants. He is accused of contacting a then 13-year-old girl through MySpace, and he also allegedly communicated with the girl through instant messaging and texting. Fies is accused of asking the girl to do a variety of sexual acts to herself, according to court records. The third student was 17 years old at the time that he contacted her through a dating website, according to court records. The August trial date is not the first time the case has been set for trial, and the state has previously offered Fies a plea agreement. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 12. GARY Police are searching for a 33-year-old man accused of shooting at another man last year. Fransuah Mathews, of Gary, faces charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and criminal recklessness. A man told police he was driving behind Mathews and a woman, who both men are dating, about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 29. After Mathews and the woman turned, the man kept going straight but at some point made a U-turn. When the man was in the area of 43rd Avenue and Buchanan Street, Mathews ran out of a garage and began shooting at the man, according to the affidavit. Mathews is accused of shooting about six shots at the man. The man was not injured, but his rear view mirror was damaged by the gunfire. A warrant was issued this week for Mathews' arrest, but he was not in police custody as of Wednesday. Mathews was released from prison in October 2014 after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, according to the Indiana Department of Correction website. In that case, Mathews admitted to shooting a man who owed him money and was installing cable for him. According to court records, Mathews became enraged after realizing his television wouldn't accept the cable service without more equipment. Verndell Warmack, 39, was shot to death Aug. 7, 2004, while he was on a ladder at Mathews' home, according to court records. Anyone with information about Mathews' whereabouts is asked to call the Gary Police Department's violent crimes unit at (219) 881-1210. Tipsters can also call the department's tip line at (866) CRIME-GP. CROWN POINT | The Lake County Council voted Monday to extend its proposed 3 percent pay raise to hundreds of county police and corrections officers. The move comes as council members find themselves under increasing pressure to provide law enforcement officers substantial salary increases in the wake of higher tax collections since the passage of the 1.5 percent personal income tax on county residents and workers. The council voted earlier this month to give 3 percent pay raises to civilian employees and officeholders, but exempted 164 county police offices and 221 corrections officers with whom they have been in labor negotiations for several months. Dan Murchek, president of Lake County Police Union Local 72, has called on Northwest Indiana unions and private donors to stop contributions to council members' re-election campaigns until a labor contract is approved. Including the police and corrections officers in the 3 percent raises will cost the public about $400,000 a year. The council also must satisfy the pay requests of 36 employees of the Lake Superior Court, Civil Division, who work for seven judges who preside over civil lawsuits and domestic family law disputes. The courts now have a $1.35 million budget. Senior Superior Court Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider told council members she wants the council to approve a permanent salary structure she calls a grid for the civil division based on an employee's training and experience, a system comparable to nearby federal and state courts. Schneider said the salary grid would pay some employees more and some less than the proposed 3 percent across-the-board. It would cost the county $191,000 more than a 3 percent across-the-board hike for the civil division employees. GARY A man kicked in a door Monday and robbed a Gift Cards for Cash store in Gary at gunpoint, police said. Officers were dispatched about 5:40 p.m. to the business in the 3500 block of Broadway, less than a block south of the Indiana University Northwest Campus. A Lake County sheriff's officer saw a man running out of the business and gave chase, but the man got away, Gary police Lt. Dawn Westerfield said. A female employee was sitting behind a bulletproof window when the man entered the store, Westerfield said. The man kicked in a locked door to the office and took an undetermined amount of money, the worker's iPhone and a business iPad, she said. The man was described as black and about 6-foot-2, with a slim build, a black coat and black jogging pants. Anyone with information is asked to call the Violent Crimes Division at (219) 881-1210. To remain anonymous, call (866) CRIME-GP. CROWN POINT An Illinois man who admitted to not seeking medical attention for his then girlfriend's 5-month-old son was sentenced to community corrections and probation. Melvin V. McNair II, 30, of Park Forest, Ill., pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury, a Class C felony. Lake Criminal Judge Samuel Cappas sentenced him Tuesday to two years in community corrections followed by two years on probation. He admitted to not seeking medical help for Syrus Morgan though he observed the infant's deteriorating demeanor and behavior. He also admits to seeing his girlfriend, Siarra Morgan, handle the boy in an abusive manner. Syrus died Oct. 25, 2013, at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital. The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled the boy's death a homicide. The infant had multiple skull fractures, bleeding in his brain and he had several rib fractures that were starting to heal, according to court records. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michael Toth said McNair was not the primary person responsible for the injuries, but he was responsible for not seeking medical help. Toth said McNair's plea agreement helped the state resolve Morgan's criminal case. Morgan, 21, of Gary, was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Class A felony. She admitted to handling her son in an abusive manner that led to the boy's head shaking back and forth and caused him to hit solid surfaces, according to court records. The boy had been taken to the emergency room Aug. 7, 2013, and treated for a fall that caused bleeding to the brain. At that time, Morgan was advised about how she should handle her son. Defense attorney Donald MacNeil said McNair regrets what happened. He pointed out how McNair has been on electronic monitoring for a year without a problem, and he is expected to start a job at a Dunkin' Donuts. McNair told Cappas he's realized how precious life is while the case was pending. "I should have done more to help out that little boy," he said. Cappas ordered McNair to report to community corrections Wednesday, which is his birthday. After the hearing, Elder Edward Henderson said he wasn't convinced about how minimal McNair's role was in the death of his godson. Henderson said he babysat Syrus for two months while Morgan attended classes to get her GED, and he never saw any signs of abuse. He believes the abuse started once McNair got involved. Henderson said he believes McNair had a larger role in the death, but he suspects Morgan took the fall because she was in love and naive. "It is what it is," Henderson said outside of the courtroom. "But I know God will take care of this." MERRILLVILLE Community Relations Coordinator Leona Bachan and Program Director Barbara Dzikowski, of Alzheimer's & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana, will resume monthly education and information classes Friday in the downstairs Conference Room of the Lake County Public Library, 1919 W. U.S. 30. Dzikowski will speak on Alzheimer's and Dementia from 10 to 11:30 a.m., followed by a lunch from 11:30 a.m. to noon. From noon to 1:30 p.m., Melanie Whitfield, marketing director of South Holland's Arden Courts, will present a program on "Behavior and Communication Changes." To RSVP or ask about future sessions, call (219) 789-2470. Also, there will be a Talk the Walk Meeting open to the public at 9 a.m. April 1 with a continental breakfast. Call to RSVP. Alzheimer's & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana, affiliated with Alzheimer's Foundation of America, and a division of REAL Services, Inc., specializes in free services to caregivers, at (888) 303-0180, respite grants, books and written disease educational materials, and a website www.alzni.org throughout Northern Indiana. Support to continue the ADSNI free services depends on the generosity of donations and fundraisers. The Annual Family Fundraiser Walk of 2016 will be held May 21 at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point. Call (219) 789-2470 to learn more. CROWN POINT | The Lake County Council is getting it from all sides in the debate over potential county employee pay raises in 2015. Senior Superior Court Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider told council members at a budget workshop Thursday she and her fellow judges expect additional pay raises for their employees above the 3 percent across-the-board salary increase the council has promised 1,200 full-time county employees. Council President Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, also said council members will resume contract negotiations next week with the labor representatives of 146 county police officers and 221 Lake County Jail corrections officers. Those sheriff's employees also expect more. Dan Murchek, president of Lake County Police Union Local 72, is calling on Northwest Indiana unions and private donors to stop all contributions to council members' re-election campaigns until they give police larger raises. Bilski said the council is being criticized in the press for considering any raises. He noted a Times editorial Thursday blasted the council for "a wild spending spree." Bilski said "it is regrettable they hold public employees in such contempt." He said almost all of a $10 million surplus the council had at the beginning of the 2015 budget talks has been committed to public safety needs being forced upon them by the state Legislature, the federal courts and a threatened mandate by the county's judges. Bilski said several county employees have been paid less than $19,000 a year. The council voted Thursday to raise county employees' base pay up to $20,000. VALPARAISO City officials announced Wednesday that Valparaiso has been chosen as one of the 15 finalists in the America's Best Communities Competition. As a semifinalist in the contest, local officials will travel to a summit in Durham, North Carolina, in April to pitch its community revitalization plan to judges. At the end of the summit, eight communities will be named finalists and awarded $100,000 to bring their plans to life. "We are thrilled to advance in this contest," Mayor Jon Costas said. "We're going to work really hard in the next phase of this competition to show the country what an amazing community we have because of the awesome people who work, live and play in the city of Valparaiso." The city's revitalization plan for the contest is the development of a downtown arts district. In April, Valparaiso was named as one of the 50 finalists in the contest and received $50,000 to develop the district. "The development of an arts district was always part of our downtown plan," Costas said. "The timing (of the contest) couldn't be better for us. It's paid for so far the development of a district that's going to add to the vitality and sustainability of the downtown which has always been part of the plan. We're going to pursue this regardless of the competition but this kind of kick started it." The core of the arts district is a five-block portion of Indiana Avenue between Napoleon Street and Morgan Boulevard. Plans call for it to be transformed into a complete street with infrastructure for pedestrians, bicyclists and amenities such as quality lighting, street furniture, free Wi-Fi and public art. A pedestrian connection will run between Valparaiso University and the district as well as the greater downtown area. In April of 2017 the top three communities that made the largest impact and show the greatest potential for achieving sustainable revitalization will be selected as the grand prize winners. The first community will receive $3 million, the second receives $2 million and the third, $1 million. America's Best Communities is a nationwide program created by Frontier Communications, DISH Network, CoBank and the Weather Channel. Valparaiso's corporate sponsor in the competition is ADTRAN. WASHINGTON Eyeing the end of his presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans Tuesday night to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to take hold. "The future we want," he insisted, "is within our reach." But opportunity and security for American families "will only happen if we work together ... if we fix our politics," he added. The nation's goals must include "a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids," he said in his final State of the Union address. At the heart of Obama's address to lawmakers and a prime-time television audience was an implicit call to keep Democrats in the White House for a third straight term. Sharply, and at times sarcastically, he struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship, calling it all "political hot air." In a swipe at some Republican presidential candidates, he warned against "voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background." His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obama's address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from GOP front-runner Donald Trump in particular has unnerved some Republican leaders, Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." Reaction to President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address underscores how polarized Washington is. Democrats on Tuesday cheered loudly when the president mentioned fixing a broken immigration system, protecting kids from gun violence and raising the minimum wage. Republicans remained in their seats, some even avoiding any applause. When Obama praised the armed forces, all stood and cheered. Everyone rose when the president said there is "red tape that needs to be cut" and pressed for money to try to cure cancer. A few in the GOP booed when Obama said the talk of America's economic decline and the country's enemies getting stronger is "political hot air." Some issues were more complicated. When Obama asked Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, only about a dozen Democrats stood and clapped. "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome," Haley said in excerpts released ahead of her remarks. Seeking to shape his own legacy, Obama ticked through a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. Obama is making good on his promise not to announce a litany of new proposals in his last State of the Union address. Obama and White House officials said ahead of the speech that he was planning a "nontraditional" speech that would offer a broad, long-term view of the nation. They said he would skip the traditional list of ambitious plans for the coming year and calls for new legislation. Those calls would likely hit a dead end in Congress asObama's presidency begins to wind down. Obama is using his speech to repeat his previous calls for legislation on immigration, minimum wage, pay equity and guns, as well as a new war powers resolution. His only new announcement is that he's tasking Vice President Joe Biden with a mission to accelerate research on cancer. But Biden had already announced last year that he planned to pursue a "moonshot" to cure cancer. House Speaker Paul Ryan criticized President Barack Obama's State of the Union address while it was being delivered. Ryan said in a statement released by his office that after 30 minutes, Obama's speech "isn't going so well." Ryan says "lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice soundbites, but they don't explain how to" solve problems, such as defeating the Islamic State terrorist group, fixing social safety net programs or getting the economy back on track. Ryan said Obama's speech "isn't a real path forward to restore a confident America," adding, "We can do so much better." Ryan says the Republican-led Congress has boosted funding for the military, overhauled the No Child Left Behind education law and lifted a 40-year ban on crude oil exports. He vowed a robust campaign to "take out" the Islamic State group, but chastised Republicans for "over the top claims" about the extremist group's power. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national security." The president's words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates the Islamic State's power and is leaving the U.S. vulnerable to attacks at home. Obama is opening his State of the Union address with a few jokes about the race to pick his successor. Obama got cheers when he promised to keep his address short because some of the legislators are antsy to get back to Iowa. That's where the first caucuses of the presidential campaign take place in just a few weeks. Obama ad-libbed he's been to Iowa, and he's happy to share some advice. Obama told the lawmakers, "I'll be shaking hands afterward if you want some tips." His audience included Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Marco Rubio of Florida, both presidential hopefuls. Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets: failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. "The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he conceded. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office." Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals. He did reiterate his call for working with Republicans on criminal justice reform and finalizing an Asia-Pacific trade pact, and he also vowed to keep pushing for action on politically fraught issues such as curbing gun violence and fixing the nation's fractured immigration laws. Yet Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions he's taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security. His optimism was meant to draw a contrast with what the White House sees as doom-and-gloom scenarios peddled by the GOP. "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth. Period," he declared. "It's not even close." You know who I feel sorry for? Todays politicians. Youll laugh at this, but hear me out. This is a very tough time to be a politician whether running for office or trying to lead while holding office. The women and men whove undertaken to represent us face circumstances that make campaigning and governing unusually challenging right now. Not that theyve ever been easy, at least in my lifetime. Our size, diversity and multi-layered government structure; the number and complexity of the problems our political leaders face daily; and the divided politics of our time, which make settling on coherent policies especially challenging all these combine to make being a politician in a representative democracy one of the most demanding jobs around. Several features of the current political landscape, however, give politics a sharper edge and make it far more difficult to navigate. For starters, our political discourse, from city councils to state legislatures to Congress, is less forgiving than it was a generation ago. Political opponents are no longer just people with whom we happen to disagree theyre people who need to be shamed into silence. They cant be trusted, they cant be negotiated with, theyre self-serving and unpatriotic, and when theyre not incompetent, theyre scheming, ill-informed and ill-intentioned. This rhetoric is not just calculated demonization. The extent to which politicians today genuinely distrust the other side is something new in our politics. It makes progress on the issues of the day extremely complicated. This is exacerbated by politicians awareness that voters have lost confidence in our traditional political leadership and are searching hard for alternatives. You see this in the rise of candidates like Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left, who speak to voters looking for someone to express their anger and frustration. Why are Americans upset, and more willing than usual to rally to outlying candidates? I dont think theres any great mystery. For starters, we have a society that is deeply concerned about economic insecurity; as the Pew Research Center reported recently, the American middle class for decades the stable anchor of economy and society is in trouble and no longer in the majority. People are moving up, but most are not, and some are moving down. Small wonder that immigration causes so much concern. You can add to this the fear of terrorism and a deeply unsettled view of the major changes taking place in American society: the rise of big data and its attendant loss of privacy; the migration flows that whittle away at some communities while causing others to change unrecognizably from month to month; the tensions that diversity, arguments over gender, and racial conflict all produce; the fluid and ever-changing patterns of religious belief and identity that have shaken many communities loose from the institutions that once moored them; the decline of the traditional, objective media. America today is an uneasy place, and we see this reflected in voters frustration and pessimism. With next years elections still almost a year away, voters are mostly just looking around. They like candidates who express their anger and resentment, but thats in part because theyre not measuring candidates by whether they seem fit for the presidency or Congress or the governors mansion. Voters are just now starting to hold candidates up to the standards of the offices they seek; as they do, the unsettled political environment in which we find ourselves will grow a bit less uncertain. But the long-term issues the fears and uncertainty and the forces driving them wont have gone away. Which is why I feel great sympathy for politicians at the moment. The skills we need in our political leaders, like the ability to approach those with whom they disagree with a measure of good will and an openness to negotiation and compromise, are not held in high esteem by the voters or by the loudest voices in their own parties. Its easy for a politician to pander to anger and frustration. Its much harder to face a roomful of disparate opinions and forge a consensus behind a solution. Yet that is precisely what many politicians recognize our country needs. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama told the nation Tuesday night to work through and embrace the promise of changing times, but warned that civility in politics is essential for any change to be positive. We live in a time of extraordinary change - change thats reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world. Its change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families," said the president, who said that he wanted to focus on the future, and not just his final year in the Oval Office. Obama outlined the recovery of the economy from a turbulent 2008, health care reform, and same-sex marriage, but warned that "such progress is not inevitable." "It will only happen if we work together," the president said later. "It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics." Obama also announced a focused effort on eradicating cancer, led by Vice President Joe Biden. I'm told top cancer experts & Biden himself pushed to get the mention of a "moonshot" #cancer cure included in the #SOTU address. Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) January 13, 2016 The president also touted low gas prices and developments in clean energy. Obama on climate change deniers:look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have it.Youll be pretty lonely Michael Scotto (@mikescotto) January 13, 2016 Obama also called on Congress to vote to authorize military force against the Islamic State. "I told you earlier all the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting strong and America getting weaker," Obama said. "Let me tell you something - the United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth. Period. Period." The president was expected to, but did not address new executive actions to curb gun violence that were unveiled last week. The White House kept one seat empty in the First Ladys guest box tonight to represent the victims of gun violence. Full remarks: Watch @POTUS deliver his final State of the Union address. #SOTU https://t.co/AOyWjdFk4O The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2016 Read the text of President Obamas 2016 State of the Union Address on Medium The fate of horse-drawn carriages in the city remains in limbo, with Mayor Bill de Blasio eyeing a compromise. NY1's Josh Robin filed the following report. Cornelius Byrne's father drove a horse carriage, and the building he owns began as stables more than a century ago. "It puts a smile on my face," Byrne said. Stress is creeping in these days. That's because this stable and three others may be forced to shut. Its horses moved to a city stable in Central Park. "We thought that this matter was settled and was going away because we had so much public support," Byrne said. Instead, secret negotiations are ongoing between the de Blasio administration and City Council members. Sources say the number of horses allowed in the city could be more than halved, with the fate of the others unknown. Mayor Bill de Blasio had vowed to ban the carriages his first day, but with the City Council saying no to eliminating the industry entirely, a compromise emerged to limit the horses to the park. They could be stabled at one Parks Department facility, but that facility is said to fit only 70 horses out of 220 now in the city. Driver Ian McKeever wonders what happens to the other horses, or if the stable's horses will end up working even harder. "One hundred fifty thousand horses go to slaughter every year in this country," McKeever said. Advocates have said they find sanctuaries for them. There's another wrinkle. Sources say official talks have pedicabs limited to the less touristy northern part of the park, perhaps to sweeten the deal for the carriage drivers. Of course, that doesn't sit well with pedicab driver like Laramie Flick. "It would be absolutely absurd," Flick said. "It would be laughable for de Blasio to go from proposing to ban the horse drawn-carriages to giving them a monopoly on tours in Central Park." De Blasio declined comment. Opponents of horse drawn carriages contributed heavily to his campaign for mayor more than two years ago and also attacked a top rival, former City Council speaker Christine Quinn. With his vow a political liability, it looks like the mayor wants a deal soon. Meanwhile, the clopping goes on. As the United States barrels into a new war against Sunni extremists in Iraq and Syria, it has been easy to overlook the unraveling of Libya and Yemen. For distinct and complex reasons, both countries appear to be on an irreversible path toward becoming failed states. While the Obama administrations quest to destroy the Islamic State terrorist group is more urgent and ambitious in scope than its military interventions in Yemen and Libya, the dissolution of order in both nations offers sobering lessons. American airstrikes can deliver swift and decisive results on the battlefield. But without a feasible morning-after plan or dependable state institutions to support, shifting the dynamics on the battlefield often makes things worse. The military action against the Islamic State has been impressive, with American and allied Arab fighter pilots leveling logistic hubs and oil refineries used by the terrorist group, also known as ISIS. But there have been insufficient and poorly articulated answers to the question that matters the most: What happens next? 1. President Obama gave his last State of the Union speech which was also one of his last big turns in a spotlight that is shifting to his would-be successors. The future we want, all of us want opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids all that is within our reach, Mr. Obama said in his remarks. It will only happen if we fix our politics. PARIS Last dance for the choreographer Mats Ek, France Musique declared. Mats Ek, the great Swedish choreographer, leaves the stage after 50 years of creation, Les Echos said. The choreographer removes his works from the stage, Le Figaro reported in an article headlined Mats Ek: The Shock of Farewell. According to those reports and others last week, Mr. Ek, a major figure in the European dance world, would create no more new works and, more unusually, would remove his existing pieces from the repertories of companies worldwide. A program of three works by the choreographer, From Black to Blue, which ended a short run on Sunday night at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees here, came with a lavishly illustrated pamphlet that described the shows as his goodbye. It noted his key works and principal interpreters, including his wife, Ana Laguna, and the ballerina Sylvie Guillem. Dance fans greeted the news on social media with surprise and dismay. Mats Ek to retire and withdraw the rights to perform his work from everywhere?! An unimaginable loss for us! Ian Parsons, a dance teacher, wrote on DETROIT Last April, Ford Motor announced with fanfare that it would reintroduce its storied Lincoln Continental luxury sedan, with an eye on sales in the expanding Chinese market. But now, as Ford prepares to put the Continental on the market, it faces a far different economic landscape. While the car is expected to bolster Fords efforts to reinvigorate the Lincoln brand in the United States, its prospects in China are clouded by an upheaval in the stock market there and a general slowdown in auto sales. At the unveiling of the production version of the Continental on Tuesday at the North American International Auto Show, Ford executives said they were undaunted by the economic troubles in China and were pressing ahead with their plans. When the Supreme Court in the 2010 Citizens United case permitted nonprofits to spend money on political campaigning, the Koch brothers funded their own political machine, which, in size, dollars and sophistication, rivaled that of the two major parties. Their success in the 2010 midterm election was remarkable, and, Ms. Mayer says, took the Democrats by surprise. Republicans picked up seats in the House and the Senate and 675 in state legislatures. As a consequence of their gains, Republicans now had four times as many districts to gerrymander as the Democrats and the legislative power to pass a series of laws suppressing the vote of those who might not support their agenda. The Kochs, Ms. Mayer is careful to remind us, are only one of several fabulously wealthy families that have tried to move America to the right. Their outsize influence is a result not only of their outsize fortune according to Forbes magazine, the brothers are the fifth and sixth wealthiest Americans, with a combined family income larger than that of Bill Gates but also of their intellectual prowess and organizational skills. For more than a decade, they have organized donor summits to which they have invited like-minded billionaires, political consultants, media celebrities and elected officials. At these meetings, plans are made, issues chosen, money raised, donations pooled, spending coordinated for the next election cycles. The Koch brothers and their allies insist, and no doubt believe, that their war on big government has been motivated by their commitment to the individual freedoms that government interferes with. Still, it was impossible not to notice, Ms. Mayer writes, that the political policies they embraced benefited their own bottom lines first and foremost. Lowering taxes and rolling back regulations, slashing the welfare state and obliterating the limits on campaign spending might or might not have helped others, but they most certainly strengthened the hand of extreme donors with extreme wealth. One of the more startling revelations in Ms. Mayers book concerns the number of billionaires in the Koch network who have had serious past or ongoing legal problems and whose companies have been fined for violations of the Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts. Koch Industries, she reports, has been perhaps the most flagrant and willful polluter and scofflaw. According to the Environmental Protection Agencys database, it was the No. 1 producer of toxic waste in the country in 2012. To protect their investments in coal and oil pipelines and refineries (somewhat pared down in the last decade), the Koch brothers have, Ms. Mayer points out, funded think tanks committed to raising doubt about climate change. They have also spent tens of millions of dollars to roll back environmental regulations and defund or abolish the federal agencies that write and enforce them. There are signs that the Kochs influence may be waning. The Republican candidate they appeared to have favored, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, is no longer in the presidential race. Donald J. Trump, the candidate out in front, has made clear that he has no need for Koch money and has ridiculed those who beg for it. Still, as Ms. Mayer reports, twice as many Koch network dollars will be in play in 2016 than were in play in 2012: $889 million, only slightly less than the $1 billion that the Democratic and Republican national committees each expect to spend on the election. The sale of a bit of Saudi Aramco, a government-owned oil producer, could be the first in a series of spinoffs and privatizations by Riyadh. Selling these assets while oil prices are low makes sense both economically and politically. It would help the kingdom to endure low oil prices, now hovering around $30 a barrel, until the end of the decade, without it having to significantly cut back on spending or drain its sovereign wealth fund coffers. Thats especially important when the kingdom is locked in a costly and increasingly bitter regional power struggle with Iran. With access to 266 billion barrels of crude oil and daily production running at around 10 million barrels of crude, Saudi Aramco could bring in billions of dollars of revenue if the government decides to list some of its shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange. A sale could also open the floodgates for the government to offload some of the $170 billion worth of shares it owns in companies already listed on the exchange. Releasing more of its equity from blue-chip Saudi companies could also help attract fresh capital to the countrys main stock market, which has sagged over the last year along with falling energy prices. The Tadawul All-Share Index has fallen 27 percent since last January, despite the market being opened for the first time to foreign investors. They may have been scared off by the volatile politics of the region and the collapsing value of crude. The giant insurer MetLife said on Tuesday that it was exploring spinning off its retail life and annuity business in the United States because of financial pressures it is facing under regulations put in place in the wake of the financial crisis. The decision was made two years after the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a group created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank regulatory legislation, named MetLife a systemically important nonbank financial institution, or SiFi. That designation carries requirements to set aside more capital as a cushion against a substantial decline in the nations financial markets as occurred in 2008, potentially limiting its earnings. MetLife is considering several options, including an initial public offering to create a company that would, presumably, be better able to compete with smaller life insurance and annuity providers who are not subject to the same regulatory restrictions. MetLife is the largest life insurance company in the United States, with $880 billion in assets, including $240 billion of retail assets that would be part of the new company. When the financier Saul P. Steinberg tried to take over Chemical Bank in 1969, he drew the ire of the governor of New York. Alfred Lerner, the former owner of the Cleveland Browns, netted as much as $58 million in a deal that shook up a Midwest bank in the 1980s. And in perhaps one of the most renowned shareholder activist campaigns at a big bank, the investor Michael F. Price took aim at Chase Manhattan, which ultimately merged with Chemical Bank in 1995. Now, an upstart New York hedge fund is trying to step into that pantheon of corporate bank raiders. The hedge fund, Lion Point Capital, is pushing for changes at Ally Financial, one of the nations largest auto loan providers. Ally was rescued by taxpayers during the financial crisis, but has since failed to live up to investors expectations. WASHINGTON The Iranian government has come under sharp criticism for not giving imprisoned Americans a fair and public court hearing. But on Wednesday at the Supreme Court, Iran will get just that. The question before the court is relatively narrow: Did Congress act unconstitutionally in passing a 2012 law helping families of victims of terrorist attacks including those killed in the 1983 Beirut bombing collect judgments against Iran? But the arguments are taking place at a critical juncture in relations between the United States and Iran, coming just months after the nuclear agreement signed by the two countries. Also, if the Supreme Court decision goes against Iran, the country will be forced to forfeit some $1.85 billion in assets, the largest single handover of funds to American plaintiffs who over the years have won dozens of terrorism-related court judgments against Iran. Along with the Beirut bombing, cases have involved the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the Sept. 11 attacks, airplane hijackings and other incidents in which Iran has been accused of financing or facilitating the acts of terrorist organizations. But while plaintiffs have won tens of billions in dollars in judgments against Iran, which has declined to defend itself in those cases, the families of victims have seen neither financial rewards nor a sense of justice. She was regularly missing from her classes at Francis Lewis High School in Queens, and when she was there, teachers would catch the girl, a 16-year-old from South Korea, nodding off during lessons. But it was not until last week, when an assistant principal noticed her bruises, that the school and law enforcement officials discovered why. Prosecutors in Queens said on Tuesday that the girl and her 14-year-old brother, who had been sent to the United States to attend school, had been held captive for six years. The woman who had been their guardian, Sook Yeong Park, forced the siblings to work both in and outside the home, cut off their contact with their parents and had them sleep on the floor, officials said. She was charged with labor trafficking, third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Ms. Park, 42, was arraigned on Saturday and released on $10,000 bond. Marlin Hernandez sat at the front of her classes to better understand her teachers because English was not her native language. If she still struggled with words or concepts, she sought tutoring. No matter how exhausted she was, Ms. Hernandez remained dedicated to her studies. I used to wake up at 6 oclock in the morning, go to my school until 3:15 p.m., then run so I could start work by 4 oclock, Ms. Hernandez recalled. I did that every day. Every single day. Ms. Hernandez, 25, grew up in the Dominican Republic. She immigrated to the United States in the wake of a family tragedy: Her grandparents were passengers on American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in Queens shortly after takeoff from Kennedy International Airport in November 2001, killing 260 onboard and five others on the ground. Ms. Hernandez and a sister stayed with their father and stepmother in Boston. When Ms. Hernandez was 15, she and her sister moved to New York City to live with their aunt. I said I want to learn, Ms. Hernandez said. I want to learn English. I want to graduate from school. I want to do a lot of things. The State of the State had traditionally offered the first formal look at the various legislative battlegrounds for the session to come. And the importance of the day has only been increased by the decision by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who is serving his second term, to deliver his budget proposal the same day, most likely unveiling some $150 billion in proposed spending. Mr. Cuomo has offered hints that his speech will contain major new pushes on ethics, an issue that seems likely to hang over the speech and over the rest of the legislative session, which runs through mid-June. Last year, he joshed during the State of the State speech with Sheldon Silver and Dean G. Skelos, then the leaders of the Assembly and Senate, whom he referred to as his amigos, complete with a mock-up of the three men in sombreros. But that was then. During 2015, Mr. Silver, a Democrat, and Mr. Skelos, a Republican, were both arrested and convicted of federal corruption charges, leaving Mr. Cuomo as the only amigo left standing. On Monday, the governors own worries about legal problems eased when Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said that there was insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime regarding Mr. Cuomos sudden shutdown of an ethics panel known as the Moreland Commission. Speaker Carl E. Heastie of the Bronx, who succeeded Mr. Silver as leader of the Assembly, which Democrats dominate, said regaining the publics trust remained a work in progress. Every session is the session of ethics, Mr. Heastie said in an interview on Tuesday, adding that his conference was already discussing caps on outside income and other ethics proposals this week. But even with the issue seemingly resonating in polls, the speaker cautioned that such proposals are complex and may take time. Moreover, he said, Most of the people who come here come here for the right reasons. HIGHLANDS, N.J. The story of how an angular, concrete pavilion that weighs more than a fully loaded Boeing 767 jet wound up on a patch of beach here is complex enough. Getting rid of it may be even more complicated. But that is what the Highlands Borough Council has decided to do, just a few months after a construction crew erected the pavilion as a monument to the communitys resilience in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. In essence, the boroughs lawyer is demanding that the group that built the structure as a gift to the people of Highlands remove it as soon as possible. The ostensible reason for the abrupt change of heart was the discovery in December that the pavilion required a permit from the State of New Jersey that was never obtained. That issue aside, the structure has stirred up animosity among Highlands residents, some of whom have called it Shorehenge or the beast on the beach. Some critics have vented their feelings in online forums, including a Facebook page, occasionally masking their identities. One wrote that the construction of the shelter was a self-serving promo by a large international organization who was able to dupe a small town that was too flattered with receiving a gift to ask the right questions. Heres what else is happening: WEATHER Some good news: Yesterdays clouds have been brushed out of sight, and the sun returns to brighten your day, with a high near 30. The bad news: Those clouds were swept away by high winds from the west, which continue to rage today and make it feel in the low teens for most of the day. The winds will howl at around 18 to 24 miles an hour, with gusts as high as 43 miles an hour. Hold onto your hats, tightly. Winter coat watch: Are you kidding?! IN THE NEWS As Governor Cuomo acts on homelessness across the state, cuts to the citys budget for dealing with homelessness have left it bearing a bigger share of burden than in the past. [New York Times] A smartphone video is said to show what was happening moments before a suspected gang rape in Brownsville, Brooklyn. [New York Times] In his State of the State speech, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey promised he would not fade away in the final years of his second term, even as he runs for president. [New York Times] A woman in Queens is suspected of holding captive for years two teenagers who were in her care. [New York Times] For a mayor happy to boast about his citys record low crime rates, Bill de Blasio has spent a lot of time lately talking about gun violence. As he should, because New York remains a dangerous and frightening city if you live in certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx still afflicted by gangs, drugs and shootings. Horrifying reports of a gang rape in Brownsville this month are just one reminder that New Yorks public-safety successes are incomplete, and that there is never time for complacency in deterring and prosecuting crime. Mr. de Blasio announced on Tuesday two encouraging new approaches in pursuit of a safer city: the creation of a specialized court in Brooklyn to handle gun-possession cases, and a Gun Violence Suppression Division, of 200 police officers, mostly detectives, to handle illegal-gun cases and nothing else. One thing to know about gun court is that it isnt drug court. Drug courts and other specialized courts try to keep defendants out of prison, to shield them from the worst of the justice system and put them on a better path in life. Gun court starts from a different premise, explained recently by Police Commissioner William Bratton: They need to be treated with every ounce of justice system that we can apply to them, to basically get them off the streets and keep them away from us. It has been distressing these past weeks to watch Poland, long the poster child of Eastern European states that shed the Kremlins suffocating embrace, adopting dictatorial measures of its own, not least a right-wing, nationalistic assault on the countrys media and judiciary. The European Commission is scheduled to examine possible sanctions on Wednesday, but it is unlikely to take any, in part because Hungary and other governments sympathetic to Poland would veto them and also because they would serve only to deepen Warsaws hostility to the European Union. Nonetheless, it should be made clear to the Polish government that its retreat from the fundamental values of liberal democracy is reprehensible and foolish. Since its victory in national elections in late October, the nationalistic, euroskeptic Law and Justice Party led by the former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has moved rapidly on its conservative agenda, packing the highest court with malleable judges, reducing the courts ability to block legislation, imposing greater government control over the state-owned media, choosing a party stalwart previously convicted of abusing power to oversee the police and intelligence agencies and purging European Union flags from government press briefings. This rightward swing, which mimics the politics of Mr. Kaczynskis friend, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, has inspired grumbling in the bloc about the way former Soviet vassals rushed to join the union and tap into its largess only to turn against its core values. Polands shift is all the more frustrating because the Law and Order Party already had a crack at power under Mr. Kaczynski and his twin, Lech Kaczynski, 10 years earlier, only to be ousted after two tumultuous years. In his final State of the Union speech, President Obama endeavored on Tuesday to lift Americans above the miasma of a brutally negative presidential campaign to reflect on what the nation has endured and achieved since he took office in the midst of a dire recession. The speech was, of course, a summary of his accomplishments, but more important, a reminder that the optimism that made him the first African-American president and then the resilience that helped the nation weather economic and global crises over the past seven years are what position it best for the future. Our unique strengths as a nation our optimism and work ethic, our spirit of discovery, our diversity, our commitment to the rule of law these things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come, he said. In his speech, the president said much depends on Americans ability to address several key challenges: ensuring that opportunity is equally shared; harnessing technology for the greater good; keeping the nation safe without becoming the worlds police force; and having political leadership that reflects the countrys best values. Mike would collect them all and do quantitative comparisons of them, said Clare Waterman, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, who collaborated with Mr. Davidson. Like if you wanted a red one, what was the best mutant that gave you the brightest and most photo-stable red? Mr. Davidson posted a chart of his findings on the Internet; he had split his team in two, one team devoted to molecular biology and the other to design and website creation. The project, eventually known as Molecular Expressions, became a voluminous microscopy reference used by Dr. Waterman and many others. The website was so authoritative that the microscope manufacturers Nikon, Olympus and Zeiss licensed it, adding another revenue source for Mr. Davidsons laboratory. The companies also donated microscopes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. In 2005, Dr. Betzig and Harald Hess, former Bell Laboratories physicists, were interested in exploring novel microscopy techniques for biology. The director of MagLab, Gregory Boebinger, a colleague from their Bell Labs days, suggested that they talk to Mr. Davidson. Mr. Davidson told them about an advance in fluorescent proteins developed by a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. These proteins not only glowed but also could be turned on and off by shining light on them. With that nugget of information, Dr. Betzig and Dr. Hess came up with the idea for what they called photoactivated localization microscopy. Mr. Davidson helped them by producing DNA snippets that Dr. Betzig and Dr. Hess then used to show that their idea worked. He had a very big role in sparking the whole thing and enabling us to bring it to fruition, Dr. Betzig said of Mr. Davidson. The Fish and Wildlife Service is barring the door against 201 species of salamanders, making it illegal to import them or move them across state lines, the agency announced on Tuesday. Scientists hope the ban will help prevent a devastating outbreak from driving native salamander species extinct. In 2013, scientists in the Netherlands discovered a species of fungus infecting native fire salamanders. Later research revealed that the fungus, called Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, or Bsal, was carried by Asian salamanders that were imported into Europe as pets. While the fungus was harmless to the Asian amphibians, it was lethal to the Dutch ones. Although Bsal has continued to spread in Europe, there is no sign that it has taken hold in the United States. But if the vigorous pet trade goes unchecked, scientists fear that it is only a matter of time before Bsal threatens some of the 190 salamander species that live in the United States. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that from 2004 to 2014, nearly 2.5 million live salamanders, representing 59 species, were imported into the United States. With the highest biodiversity of salamanders in the world here in the United States, were very concerned about the risk this fungus poses, said David Hoskins, assistant director of the agencys Fish and Aquatic Conservation Program. What if I said, Im an old soul, it all started in 1983? asks Meagan Delaney, the owner of the Lower East Side boutique the Rising States, erupting into a throaty laugh. Her story does begin in the mid-80s on Kodiak Island, Alaska; her mother, a Russian Aleut and the youngest of 13 children, hadnt left Kodiak before meeting Delaneys dad, a Manhattanite who moved north to deal in fishing boats. Two of my best friends still have the postcards that I sent to them while on a trip to the city when I was 8 years old, Delaney says. The funniest card reads, New York is so cool. They have this store called the GAP Gap in capital letters. I bought a Blossom hat (a denim hat with a massive fake flower on the front), a sweater and some leggings, and I thought I was the coolest kid alive when I went back to Kodiak. A decade or so later, Delaney relocated to the Lower 48 to study economics at Hunter College, and several years post-graduation, she ended up at the fabled indie-clothing store Albertine in the West Village, where she eventually became a manager and buyer. She left after two years, gained some wholesaling experience for the French brand Armor Lux, and opened the Rising States in September 2013. I was overly conservative in my own buying, so there was about a foot between each hanger, she remembers. It looked like a gallery or something Id also convinced myself that itd be a good idea to have studio lighting so it was bizarre and barren, and people were asking if they could come in. She soon met more designers, bulking up her inventory, and stocked 15 labels, including Loeffler Randall, Samantha Pleet, Ali Golden, Etienne Deroeux and the jewelry lines Faris and Leah Ball. The Rising States roster has since grown to 46 brands, but Delaney prides herself on the close relationship she has with each its this sense of familiarity and being close to home, she says. Overseeing the store both metaphorically and, in a way, literally is her paternal grandmother, the late photographer Denise Browne Hare or Grandma Densie. In the shop, Ive always kept a big framed photo of her, looking so beautiful on her wedding day, Delaney says. And Hares old home in Dutchess County, N.Y., an eccentric upstate salon of sorts that hosted visitors like Dorothea Tanning, Alexina Teeny Duchamp, Jackie Matisse, Dolores Vanetti, Katherine Kuh and Maria Riva, certainly informs the Ludlow Street spaces aesthetic. I like to step back in my grandmas house just like I want customers to do in the shop, Delaney says. Its happened to me often that Ill suddenly notice something, like a small piece of leather she beaded a rose onto and hung beautifully behind a bedroom door. In the Rising States, one day a backless dress will be paired with a vintage chunky sweater and the next day, itll be hanging with a dip-dyed fox fur from a new young designer in Chicago. The young man is dead, and we know this because he tells us so himself. When I died it was my heart that stopped beating, Markus says gently, no grievance in his tone. Death is what he wanted, at least at the time. I took pills, he explains. Lots of pills to be sure. So begins Museum of Memories, a tranquil and enveloping play by the European company New International Encounter (Past Half Remembered) that examines suicide and loss. Presented by the New Victory Theater at the Duke on 42nd Street, it is meant for ages as young as 13, and maybe thats why solace is at its core. Conceived and directed by Kjell Moberg, the play is constructed from snapshot recollections of Markuss life from childhood to the end of his teens, most involving him and his older brother, Fredrik. A sunny, tricksy blond, Markus (Dagfinn Tutturen) never hesitates as a boy to play the younger siblings trump card: Ill tell Mom! he threatens Fredrik (Kieran Edwards), and gets his way. Mr. Tutturen and Mr. Edwards are warm and winning, and the brothers squabbling as they disagree on anecdotal details makes lovely comedy. When Fredrik remembers spying their lost ball on a rooftop, Markus claims credit. I spotted it, he says, stepping neatly in front of his brother to smile cherubically at the audience. Thank you. CRUSADERS AND CULTURE IN ISRAEL Acre is a 4,000-year-old port city in northern Israel that most travelers to the country dont visit, and to help change that, Uri Buri, the owner of the Efendi Hotel there, has created a four-day culturally focused trip in the city and surrounding region called Acre & Western Galilee and the Crusaders Seminar. As the former capital of the Second Crusader Kingdom, Acre is home to one the worlds largest collections of Crusader-era ruins and artifacts, and travelers get to see these relics through a series of guided tours led by Prof. Efraim Lev, who teaches Jewish history at the University of Haifa. Visits to the Western Galilee Crusader sites of Montfort Castle and Miilya, discussions about medicine during the Crusader period, a belly dance workshop and meals paired with Israeli wines are also part of the itinerary. Prices from $800 per person, per day. AN AUSTRALIA TOUR, FROM REEF TO OPERA HOUSE A new trip to Australia from the travel company Down Under Answers gives travelers the chance to see some of the countrys most iconic destinations and landmarks. The 11-day itinerary begins with five nights at Qualia, an upscale resort on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, where guests take a private seaplane ride to scenic Whitehaven Beach. The rest of the trip is in Sydney; accommodations are at the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, and activities include a small group tour of the city and a performance at the Sydney Opera House by Opera Australia, the countrys official opera company. Prices from $4,899, which includes accommodations, breakfast, a helicopter ride at the Great Barrier Reef, city tour and opera performance in Sydney and transfers. Departures are available throughout the year. HOTEL DINING: COOKING CLASSES, GUEST CHEFS, A RESTAURANT REDO Food news from three hotels: Following a four-month refurbishment, the Peninsula Beverly Hills is reopening its signature restaurant, Belvedere, next week with a new culinary concept and aesthetic. The menu is now Mediterranean-inspired and emphasizes local ingredients and wild-caught seafood; there are more than 50 by-the-glass wine choices, and the design is a combination of French country and contemporary. The eatery also has a large outdoor terrace and a notable collection of artworks from renowned artists such as Robert Indiana. Auden Bistro at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park is starting a monthly dinner series on Thursday called Kitchen Takeover, where a different New York City chef takes over its kitchen for a night. Maria Loi, the owner of the Midtown Manhattan Greek eatery Loi Estiatorio, is the inaugural chef and is serving four courses of Greek specialties like octopus with fava bean puree, eggplant stuffed with feta cheese and ice cream made with her house-made yogurt. The Ritz-Carltons sommelier, Marika Vida-Arnold, will offer wine pairings for each of the dishes.The cost is $85 a person, $35 additional a person with wine. ST. LOUIS In a suburban school district that includes most of Ferguson and 10 other towns in northern St. Louis County, three of four students are black. Yet there have never been more than two black members on the seven-person school board at the same time. Does that mean the system of electing the board is racially biased? In a lawsuit that went to trial in federal court here this week, the American Civil Liberties Union asserts that it is, raising questions relevant to elections in many other places that use the same sort of at-large voting process as the Ferguson-Florissant School District. The suit argues that the districts system of using at-large voting where people across the district choose among the same group of candidates discriminates against minority voters. A fairer process, the A.C.L.U. says, would be to create seven subdistricts, with candidates running in the areas where they live. Some of those subdistricts would be so overwhelmingly black in population that more blacks would be elected, the group contends. Black residents of the district continue to suffer from a host of socioeconomic disparities, which hinders their ability to participate fully and equally in the political process, Julie Ebenstein, a lawyer for the A.C.L.U., said in opening remarks Monday. Whether the African-American voting age population makes up 49 percent or 51 percent is functionally irrelevant. Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles police has formally told the city Police Commission that he has recommended that an officer face charges for fatally shooting an unarmed homeless man in Venice. Chief Beck told the Police Departments civilian overseers Tuesday that he did not make the decision lightly. The police say that Officer Clifford Proctor shot Brendon Glenn, 29, in the back on May 5 as Mr. Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up. Officer Proctor and a partner were trying to detain Mr. Glenn after he argued with a bar bouncer and struggled with someone on a sidewalk. Officer Proctors lawyer has said the officer saw Mr. Glenn going for the partners gun. Prosecutors will decide whether charges are filed. PRINCETON, Ore. Deep inside the federal wildlife compound where armed citizens have been garrisoned for more than a week, 9-year-old Zoey Justus was preparing a snack platter for the occupiers fruit, cheese, Ritz crackers and her parents were explaining why they had brought her to an armed insurrection. Something I want to teach her is to not make decisions based on whats easy or whats comfortable, but to decide for herself whats right, said her father, Kody Justus, 44, a rancher in a cowboy hat and a paisley kerchief who had driven from three hours away. And thats what these guys are doing. It is week two of what is billed as a citizens occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the 187,000-acre expanse seized by a band of ranchers and others who want the government to relinquish control of federally owned land, turning it over to local control. But the community the protesters purport to represent the people of surrounding Harney County is begging the protesters to leave, even if its residents also bristle at the federal governments ownership of vast tracts of Western land. Louisiana State Penitentiary Last June, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that the death penalty might be close to its ultimate demise. "Rather than try to patch up the death penalty's legal wounds one at a time," he wrote in a dissent to Glossip v. Gross, to which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg added her name, "I would ask for a full briefing on a more basic question: whether the death penalty violates the Constitution." Attorneys for death-row inmates, generally a tight-knit group, immediately started talking about what to do next. While some urged caution arguing that if the court upholds capital punishment it could set their cause back indefinitely others sensed a rare opportunity. The most outspoken advocates for a more aggressive strategy have been the 8th Amendment Project , a group of lawyers who oppose the death penalty and are tracking cases that might allow the court to strike it down for good. On Friday (Jan. 15), the high court will discuss whether to hear a challenge to the death sentence of a Pennsylvania woman named Shonda Walter. Her case is one of several posed as direct responses to Breyer's invitation to attack the death penalty head-on. The cases include several from Louisiana. There is no way to know whether the justices will take any of these cases; for the court to take a case, four justices must agree, and aside from Breyer and Ginsburg, no other justices have indicated their views on whether to take such a challenge. If they do take a case, there is also no way of knowing which one they will position as the next potential landmark, the next Brown v. Board of Education or Miranda v. Arizona or Roe v. Wade. Regardless of what case they pick, the justices have many options; they could restrict the death penalty without abolishing it altogether. They could raise the age of who qualifies for the punishment or define more stringent tests for IQ or other indicators of mental ability. They could strike down the laws governing how juries make death decisions in some states but not others, or strike down laws keeping information about execution drugs secret. They could restrict the death penalty to the most heinous crimes, such as mass acts of terrorism or killing a police officer or prison guard. These options would pare the death penalty down to a "smaller, more carefully defined set of defendants," says Evan Mandery, the author of "A Wild Justice," a history of efforts to bring down the death penalty in the 1960s. But this could be an unsatisfying victory for abolitionists, since "it might have the side effect of making it appear that the problems with the death penalty have been fixed and restore public confidence." Source: nola.com, January 13, 2016 - Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com BATON ROUGE, La. On Tuesday, his second day in office, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed an executive order expanding Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, fulfilling a campaign promise that will expand health coverage to hundreds of thousands of people in one of the nations poorest states. The action by Mr. Edwards, a Democrat, under President Obamas health care law was expected to be one of the most significant and immediate results of his election in November, when he defeated Senator David Vitter, a Republican whose campaign was tainted by a prostitution scandal. Mr. Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, in some ways ran as a conservative Democrat, opposing abortion and gun restrictions. But he has also vowed to address the plight of the roughly one in five Louisiana residents who live in poverty, according to federal census figures. We are consistently ranked one of the poorest and unhealthiest states, and this cycle will not be broken as long as anyone in Louisiana has to choose between their health and their financial security, Mr. Edwards said Tuesday at a signing event at the Louisiana Capitol. He was flanked by health care industry representatives and a handful of the 300,000 working-class Louisiana residents who he said would be newly eligible for Medicaid when the expanded coverage takes effect on July 1. An armed man who believed he was confronting an intruder in the basement of his home Tuesday morning instead fatally shot his 14-year-old son, who was supposed to be on his way to school, the police said. The teenager, Georta Mack, had headed to the bus stop but apparently came back home through a back door, the police said. The man said he had heard a noise in the basement. The police said that when the father opened a door within the basement, the boy appeared and the father shot him with a .45-caliber handgun. He scared me! the distraught father said in his 911 call shortly before 6:30 a.m. I thought he was in school. I heard noise, so I went downstairs looking, and he jumped out at me. The police did not release the fathers name. The Hamilton County prosecutors office will decide whether to bring charges. In his final State of the Union address, President Obama challenged both parties to turn away from the fear, isolationism, even prejudice that is animating the campaign to replace him: (17:53) Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together? Mr. Obama defended the record of his administration against attacks by Republican presidential candidates. But he nodded to the struggles that are giving rise to their populist appeals. (20:56) Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. What is true - and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious - is that the economy has been changing in profound ways // And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top. He defended his foreign policy as well and his determination to rout the Islamic State. (46:08) If you doubt Americas commitment - or mine - to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. // When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit. The president did make one bold pledge, a moonshot to beat cancer, trusting his vice president, Joe Biden, to lead the way a nod to the loss of Mr. Bidens son. Im putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones weve all lost, for the family we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. But this speech was about appealing to the nations better instincts, a calling for a politics better than recrimination and blame. Thats the America I know. Thats the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Undaunted by challenge. Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Thats what makes me so hopeful about our future. Because of you. I believe in you. Thats why I stand here confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong. As the first nominating contest approaches, Hillary Clintons commanding lead nationally in the Democratic primary has largely melted away, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. The tightened race between Mrs. Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is revealing a sharp generational divide within the Democratic Party, with primary voters under 45 favoring Mr. Sanders by a roughly 2-to-1 ratio. Yet more than 7 in 10 Democratic voters including most supporters of Mr. Sanders still believe Mrs. Clinton will ultimately win the partys nomination. Voters expressed deeper confidence in her ability to be an effective commander in chief and more of her supporters say their minds are made up compared with Mr. Sanderss backers. Over all, 48 percent of Democratic primary voters across the country support Mrs. Clinton, while 41 percent back Mr. Sanders, the poll found. Just a month ago, she led Mr. Sanders by 20 percentage points nationally. The latest New York Times/CBS News Poll is based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 7 through 10 with 1,276 adults throughout the United States. Of those, 1,094 said they were registered to vote. SSRS of Media, Pa., conducted sampling, interviewing and tabulation for the survey. Interviews were in English or Spanish. The sample of landline telephone exchanges called was randomly selected by a computer from a complete list of more than 82,000 active residential exchanges across the country, maintained by MSG of Horsham, Pa. The exchanges were chosen so as to ensure that each region of the country was represented in its proper proportion. Within each exchange, random digits were added to form a complete telephone number, thus permitting access to listed and unlisted numbers alike. Within each landline household, one adult was designated by a random procedure to be the respondent for the survey. The term Republican establishment refers to people like Scott Reed. Those people have had a very confusing year. Across four decades, Mr. Reed has worked for his generations signature Republican leaders: Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, George Bush, Bob Dole. Now at the United States Chamber of Commerce, hes watching Donald J. Trump challenge everything he thought he knew about his partys nominating process. Republicans elevate their next in line mainstream leader. Straight from reality television, Mr. Trump has vaulted past big-state governors and senators. The party has traditionally valued ideological orthodoxy. With Mr. Trumps divergence from conservatives on health care, entitlement spending and the Iraq war, Mr. Reed said, ideology is getting flushed down the toilet. Senator Marco Rubio is getting savaged on the topic of immigration reform, with ads from groups backing two of his rivals painting him as a flip-flopper and as overly close to President Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer. The twin assaults reflect the changing dynamics of the Republican race now that Mr. Rubio is rising in the polls in early-voting states. The senators past work on immigration reform has left him exposed in a nominating contest in which conservatives are deeply skeptical of such efforts, with the new ads suggesting intensifying attacks on his record less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Late Tuesday, a super PAC supporting Senator Ted Cruz released a long-awaited ad yoking Mr. Rubio to Mr. Schumer and Mr. Obama, citing Mr. Rubios work on the so-called Gang of Eight effort at comprehensive immigration legislation in 2013. And on Monday, the group Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting Jeb Bush, released an ad criticizing Mr. Rubio for having gone from promising to oppose amnesty in his 2010 United States Senate campaign to working on the immigration bill. The Obama administration is turning to the United Nations to help screen migrants fleeing violence in Central America, senior administration officials said Tuesday, and to help set up processing centers in several Latin American countries in the hopes of stemming a flood of families crossing the southern border illegally. Designed to head off migrants from three violence-torn countries in the region before they start traveling to the United States, the new refugee resettlement program will be announced by Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday in Washington. Under the plan, the United Nations refugee agency will work with the United States to set up processing centers in several nearby countries, where migrants would be temporarily out of danger. As it does in other places, the United Nations will determine if the migrants could be eligible for refugee status. The administration officials said thousands perhaps as many as 9,000 migrants each year from the three countries, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, could eventually settle in the United States. But some refugees would also be sent to other countries in the hemisphere, officials said. The new program comes amid a furious reaction by Democratic lawmakers and advocates for immigrants to a series of arrests during the holiday season in which women and children from Central America were rounded up for deportation after they failed to win asylum. Michigans governor on Tuesday activated the National Guard and sought help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address lead-tainted drinking water in Flint. Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, has been widely criticized for his administrations delay in recognizing the extent of Flints problems after the city switched its drinking water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014 as part of a cost-cutting plan. But he has taken a more active role in recent days, apologizing to residents, declaring a state of emergency and increasing efforts to distribute water filters and bottled water. As we work to ensure that all Flint residents have access to clean and safe drinking water, we are providing them with the direct assistance they need in order to stretch our resources further, Mr. Snyder said in a statement. The Michigan National Guard is trained and ready to assist the citizens of Flint. A spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Rafael Lemaitre, said Tuesday night that Mr. Snyders request had been approved, and that the agency would work with state officials in coordinating a long-term recovery plan. RIO DE JANEIRO Demonstrators in Brazils financial capital, Sao Paulo, took to the streets again on Tuesday, protesting an increase in bus and transit fares amid a prolonged nationwide recession. The military police fired tear gas and used stun grenades to disperse the mostly peaceful crowd, continuing the aggressive tactics they have used since protests began in 2013. At least 25 protesters were injured and taken to a nearby hospital, according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. Protesters gathered on Avenida Paulista, one of the citys main thoroughfares. The group Movimento Passe Livre organized Tuesdays protests. It was also a catalyst for the 2013 protests that gripped the nation. Protesters held signs that said 3.80 Nao Pago, or I wont pay 3.80, which is the new fare, up from 3.50 reals, or about 86 cents. Yesterday on my personal blog *SlingWords*, I gave a list of the *Romance Tropes*, or themes you may choose to say, that have been so popular in the last ... 1 day ago KATHMANDU, Nepal The reconstruction of houses destroyed in Nepals devastating earthquakes last year will not begin until April, a year after the first tremors hit, the newly appointed head of Nepals Reconstruction Authority has said. Preliminary government estimates suggest that around 570,000 homes were destroyed by the earthquakes, and nearly 270,000 badly damaged. Unicef, using data from various sources, estimates that 2.8 million people were affected, and that tens of thousands are braving the winter in temporary shelters. Nearly 9,000 people died in the earthquakes. Sushil Gyewali, the new chief executive of the Nepal Reconstruction Authority, attributed the delay to snags in naming members to the authority. The pension board of the United Methodist Church one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States, with more than seven million members has placed five Israeli banks on a list of companies that it will not invest in for human rights reasons, the board said in a statement on Tuesday. It appeared to be the first time that a pension fund of a large American church had taken such a step regarding the Israeli banks, which help finance settlement construction in occupied Palestinian territories. Most of the world considers those settlements illegal. Palestinian advocates, both in and outside the church, described the step as an important advance in the Boycott, Divest and Sanction campaign, or B.D.S., an international effort to pressure Israel economically over the Palestinian issue. Others within the church, however, called those claims misleading, noting that the church remains invested in other Israeli companies and that members had overwhelmingly opposed divestment resolutions. There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. Nonetheless, the inclusion of Israeli banks on what is essentially a blacklist compiled by the pension board of a large American church, appears bound to upset the Israeli government, which devotes considerable effort to combating resolutions by academic institutions, businesses and church organizations to divest from Israeli companies over the issue of Israeli settlements and the occupation of Palestinian lands held since the 1967 war. UNITED NATIONS Humanity is on the move, but we are traipsing across the globe a bit less than you might think. According to the latest United Nations estimates, 244 million people, or 3.3 percent of the worlds population, live in a country other than the one where they were born. Their ranks are growing at a faster pace than the world population as a whole, with enormous economic, social and demographic repercussions for their native and adopted countries. However, they are concentrated in just 20 countries. By far, the most popular destination in 2015 was the United States, followed by Germany, Russia and Saudi Arabia. But the ranking should not be viewed as a popularity contest. Saudi Arabia shows up because it hosts an enormous number of migrant workers, not immigrants who resettle, as in the United States. The United Nations report does not distinguish between who migrates with legal papers and who does not. Among the migrants worldwide are 20 million refugees those who have fled war or persecution in their home countries. A Chilean architect who has focused his career on building low-cost social housing and reconstructing cities after natural disasters has been named the winner of architectures highest prize, the Pritzker. The architect, Alejandro Aravena, the first Pritzker laureate from Chile, received the honor at a time when his fellow architects have been recognized for designing distinctive buildings with regional materials. They include Pedro Alonso and Hugo Palmarola, who in 2014 won the Silver Lion award at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and Smiljan Radic, who that same year designed the annual pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery in London. Mr. Aravenas work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space, Tom Pritzker, chairman and president of the Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize, said in a statement. Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve peoples lives. Indeed, Mr. Aravena, 48, in an interview, described his architecture as being fueled more by public service than by aesthetic design. While many architects aim to create iconic buildings, Mr. Aravena said he was mostly concerned with a projects underlying purpose. David Bowie was always going somewhere Africa, Japan, outer space, the hinterland, the hinterland (from Red Sails), up, down, in, out, across. One wavelet of Internet tributes paid to Mr. Bowie after his death on Sunday recalled a trip he took to a hotel room, in 1983, to pick a bone with MTV. Futzing, at first, with his sock, he mentions to the V.J. Mark Goodman that the network, which was about two years old, barely played black artists: The only few black artists that one does see are on about 2:30 in the morning. Mr. Goodman explains: We have to try and do what we think not only New York and Los Angeles will appreciate but also Poughkeepsie or Midwest. Pick some town in the Midwest that would be scared to death by Prince which were playing or a string of other black faces. Mr. Goodman observes that more white artists are playing so-called black music, which should make that music more palatable to the networks white audience. But in kicking the can down the road, he missed an aspect of Mr. Bowies point: Black artists matter to black people, too. SAO PAULO, Brazil Brookfield Asset Management of Canada continued its push into Latin America on Wednesday with a $2 billion purchase of the Colombian governments 57.6 percent stake in that countrys third-largest electricity producer, Isagen. The deal requires Brookfield and its institutional partners to make an offer in March for the rest of the companys shares, currently in private hands. If all the other shareholders choose to sell, the investment could rise to $3.4 billion. Colombias government announced the privatization of Isagen in 2013 to raise funds to invest in highways. At the time, the finance minister, Mauricio Cardenas, said the government expected about $2.4 billion from the sale. By 2014, the government was hoping to raise closer to $3 billion after receiving preliminary proposals from seven companies, including Duke Energy in the United States, Huadian of China and Engie of France, formerly GDF Suez. The Bermuda-based reinsurance company set up by the hedge fund manager John A. Paulson is winding down as scrutiny of offshore tax strategies rises. The company, PacRe, which Mr. Paulson set up in 2012, has not been writing policies since Jan. 1, according to a statement Tuesday evening by Validus Holdings, a Bermuda reinsurance company that did the PacRe deal with Paulson & Company. It is one of a few Bermuda reinsurers set up by hedge funds in recent years. The managers have been using a strategy that gave more favorable long-term capital gains tax treatment on trading profits if they moved their investments through an insurer based in a low-tax jurisdiction such as Bermuda. The strategy has attracted criticism in Washington, and lobbyists have been fighting proposals to tighten the rules. WASHINGTON A lawyer for Irans central bank faced skepticism at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as he tried to persuade the justices that his client should not have to pay nearly $2 billion to victims of terrorist attacks. The case was brought by the families of Americans killed in terrorist attacks sponsored by Iran, including relatives of those who died in the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Lebanon. They have won billions of dollars in court judgments against Iran in American courts. The question in the case, said Theodore B. Olson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, is whether his clients can collect from assets of the bank held in the United States. American courts, he said, have already determined that the government of Iran sponsored terrorism that killed and maimed American citizens. The plaintiffs seek to collect money from Bank Markazi, Irans central bank, relying on a 2012 federal law, the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act, that sought to make the task easier by specifying assets of the bank that could satisfy the plaintiffs judgments. The bank says the law violates the Constitution because it is focused on a single case. The cable news channel Al Jazeera America, which debuted in 2013 to great fanfare when it promised to cover American news soberly and seriously, will be shutting down by the end of April. The move was announced at a companywide meeting on Wednesday. In a memo to the staff, Al Jazeera Americas chief executive, Al Anstey, said the decision by Al Jazeera Americas board is driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace. I know the closure of AJAM will be a massive disappointment for everyone here who has worked tirelessly for our long-term future, he continued, using the company acronym. The decision that has been made is in no way because AJAM has done anything but a great job. Our commitment to great journalism is unrivaled. At the companywide meeting, Al Jazeera America staff members, some in tears, were told that the decision to shutter the network had not been unanimous. Some of the channels leadership argued that the network provided an important service, and continued to win awards for its coverage. But in the end, the decision was an economic one. The channel, it was felt, had fallen victim to the lack of a business model beyond continuous support from Qatar, the energy-rich country that owns Al Jazeera. Under pressure to devise a fix for its polluting diesel cars, the chief executive of Volkswagen, Matthias Muller, met for the first time with a senior government official in the United States to discuss the crisis that has engulfed the German carmaker since September. Mr. Muller, who attended the North American International Auto Show this week, met with Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Wednesday in Washington. The federal agency and California air regulators are investigating how VW had installed software aimed at cheating on emissions tests on 600,000 diesel cars sold in the United States. The E.P.A. declined to comment on the discussions. After the meeting, which was set up at VWs request, the agency released a short statement that read, in full: We appreciated the conversation with Volkswagen. We will continue to work toward a solution. The visit was meant to help VW smooth relations with the authorities in the United States who have grown frustrated at the delays in resolving the issue. VW has repeatedly apologized for the problem, which caused Mr. Mullers predecessor, Martin Winterkorn, to lose his job. However, in an interview with NPR in Detroit before the meeting in Washington, Mr. Muller appeared to stumble when asked whether the company had lied to regulators. He described the issue as a technical problem not an ethical one. An Afghanistan's National Army (ANA) soldier fires his weapon at the site of a clash between insurgents and security forces over Indian Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan (Photo: AP) Kabul: Pakistani military officers were involved in the attack on the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e- Sharif in which assailants attempted to storm the mission building, a senior Afghan police official said on Tuesday. "We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 per cent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation," Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of the Balkh province, said of the attack that took place last week. Sadat said the attackers officers from across the border were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege. "The attackers were military personnel. They were educated and well prepared and had intelligence. They fought us and only by Allah's grace were we able to control them and eliminate them," Sadat was quoted as saying by Tolo News. The police official said efforts were underway to track down, identify and detain those who assisted the attackers to gain access to the building that was opposite the Indian Consulate. "We are jointly working with the NDS director and have spoken about this, especially as they came here not able to speak in Dari or Pashtu but speaking in Urdu. It means obviously there is someone who guided those attackers and helped the attackers," Sadat said. An intense gun-battle between security forces and the attackers took place outside the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif after assailants attempted to storm the mission building on January 3. The standoff ended on the night of January 4 after the attackers who entered the building opposite the Indian Consulate were killed. One police solider also lost his life and nine others including three civilians were wounded in the incident. As the Consulate came under attack, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) guards deployed on the sentry post foiled their attempt by raining heavy fire on them. A strong contingent of over four-dozen ITBP commandos has been securing this facility from 2008 apart from three other missions in the country and the main Embassy in the capital, Kabul. The security of these sensitive facilities was recently heightened after the ITBP deployed over 35 commandos at Indian missions in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandhar and Mazar-e-Sharif. Latest Project Ms. Hicks is the official illustrator for Porter magazine, published by the fashion e-retailer Net-a-Porter. She is also designing Coco Chanel-themed wrappers for a line of Fine & Raw chocolate bars that will be sold at Soho House Berlin and elsewhere. Next Thing Bumble, a dating app that allows only women to initiate contact, has asked Ms. Hicks to illustrate an icon for its social media outreach. I think Im going to do a girlie little bee, a queen bee, very femme, she said. This is the first assignment brokered by Brydges Mackinney, the creative talent agency she recently signed with. Social Work I dont want to be that person who gets work from family connections, Ms. Hicks said. Instead, she lets the work come to her, often as requests left in her Instagram inbox. Among those who have reached out to buy a print are Teen Vogues Amy Astley and Guccis Davide Renne, she said. They said it was going to be nontraditional and it was (relatively speaking). They said it was going to be optimistic and it was. They (representatives at the White House press office) were referring, of course, to the substance of President Obamas final State of the Union address Tuesday night, though that is not, as it happens, what I am referring to; I am referring to the optics that framed it. Specifically, the marigold sheath Michelle Obama wore, which pretty much put her wardrobe where his message was, capping seven years of highly effective sartorial politics. Yes, there were more important things to think about than a dress on Tuesday. But if you believe this highly social-media-aware administration the one that previewed the evenings speech on Facebook did not calculate the subliminal signals that the two protagonists might send via every means possible on one of the most public, closely watched evenings of the year, well, Ive got a birther for you to meet. The Nest Learning Thermostat is dead to me, literally. Last week, my once-beloved smart thermostat suffered from a mysterious software bug that drained its battery and sent our home into a chill in the middle of the night. Although I had set the thermostat to 70 degrees overnight, my wife and I were woken by a crying baby at 4 a.m. The thermometer in his room read 64 degrees, and the Nest was off. This didnt happen to just me. The problems with the much-hyped thermostat, which allows users to monitor and adjust their thermostats on their smartphones (Google purchased Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in 2014), affected an untold number of customers when the device went haywire across America. Users vented on the companys online forums and on social media. The glitch also coincided with plunging temperatures throughout much of the country. Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, a government watchdog group that has proposed several similar ethics reforms, said he hoped the scope of Mr. Cuomos proposals touching on lobbying as well as voting, campaign finance as well as outside income was an indication of his strong commitment to getting at least some of these accomplished. Mr. Dadey added that the combination of the current political climate and Mr. Cuomos proven ability to extract concessions from the Legislature made him optimistic that, if the governor wanted to, he could push his reforms through. Mr. Cuomos budget proposes to reduce the states spending on four-year colleges at CUNY by some $485 million $240 million of which the state would put to a possible labor agreement with CUNY employees. Those so-called senior universities are currently financed by state money, financial aid and tuition; how the city would make up that $485 million is unclear. The budget also calls on the city to increase its contribution to growing Medicaid expenses, which had been frozen for several years. Mr. Cuomo, as he has in previous years, emphasized holding the line on spending. But, all told, the loss of CUNY funds and change to Medicaid could cost the city more than $500 million, said E. J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative research group, who called such a move indefensible. Its one thing to actually cap spending, Mr. McMahon said. Its another to shift it to your biggest locality. Still, if Mr. de Blasio was upset he did not show it, declining to take a verbal swipe at the governor for the cost shifting. This cant be a city of just penthouses and luxury condos, Mr. de Blasio said at the time. We are turning the page and making sure the same pressures that have pushed New Yorkers out of their neighborhoods are harnessed to build the next generation of affordable housing. The mayors proposal garnered praise from housing activists, but drew immediate criticism from the citys construction unions. They argued that any project receiving public subsidies should pay union wages, which have traditionally helped lift blue-collar workers into the middle class. While the construction unions work on most commercial and public works projects in the city, they have lost ground to nonunion contractors in the building of midrise residential towers. The real estate board argued that paying higher wages would increase construction costs by 20 percent to 30 percent, resulting in either fewer below-market units or bigger subsidies. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat like Mr. de Blasio, sided with the unions, saying that any deal should include an agreement that workers on 421-a developments be paid union-level wages. Mr. de Blasios proposal was revised as the Legislature debated the merits. But few lawmakers were eager to step between the mayor and the governor, or to be seen helping developers reap tax breaks. Labor unions and real estate interests are major sources of political donations, and, to complicate matters further, the debate was unfolding against the backdrop of federal investigations into two of the states top political leaders and their ties to certain developers. In the end, the Legislature, at Mr. Cuomos behest, passed a short-term extension of the subsidy program in June. In an odd twist, the legislation said the program would be renewed if two private entities the unions and the real estate industry agreed by Jan. 15 on a public policy: to institute union-level wages on 421-a projects. The parties, represented by John Banks, president of the real estate board, and Gary La Barbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, struggled to forge a deal. Just before Christmas, they arrived at the outline of a compromise that union officials and real estate executives thought their constituents could support. With his protracted feud with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo still simmering, Mayor Bill de Blasio trekked to Albany on Wednesday, bracing for bad news for his agenda in New York City. For the most part, Mr. Cuomo delivered. By the time the governor ended his annual State of the State address, Mr. de Blasio learned that he would be gaining a significant new strain on his budget while yielding some oversight of the citys homeless shelter system to one of his chief political rivals. It amounted to a one-two political punch, Cuomo-style, and while Mr. de Blasio appeared calm during the speech, occasionally pecking out emails on his smartphone, it certainly seemed that the governor was once again seeking to outfox his fellow Democrat, with whom he has feuded for months. With his budget to be presented next week, Mr. de Blasio must now account for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Medicaid expenses and the City University of New York that Mr. Cuomo said the state would no longer provide. The move could drain the citys financial surplus, which the city had been earmarking to fill gaps in future budgets. The shocking mass sexual assaults against women in Cologne, Germany, on New Years Eve have provoked public fury, including a backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkels policy of welcoming asylum-seekers, who were among the suspects identified by authorities. To protect women and to ensure that Europe can maintain the political will to absorb millions of refugees fleeing war and deprivation, the Continent will have to face this problem head-on. More than 500 complaints have been filed with the Cologne police, most for sexual assault. Similar New Years attacks occurred in Hamburg and Stuttgart. And the problem is not limited to Germany: The Swedish police are investigating a possible cover-up of assaults by migrant men at a festival last August. Woefully ineffective policing is certainly to blame in Cologne and must be improved and Germany must also act swiftly against anyone convicted. The news that Ms. Merkels government is proposing changes to the law so foreigners guilty of sexual and other physical assaults can be deported will send a strong message that such crimes will not be tolerated. Europe must also find a way to cope with a problem that has been largely ignored until now: sexual aggression by refugees from countries where women do not have the same freedoms as in Europe. Female refugees are often the first victims, reporting high levels of sexual abuse and violence, including being forced to pay smugglers with sex. They also report being abused by the police and other European men. More resources are needed to keep these women safe. VANCOUVER, British Columbia Qataris who seek greater freedom of expression and more democracy in their oil-rich nation face disappointment, and perhaps worse. In what may presage a wider crackdown on dissent in Qatar, Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah al-Thani a cousin of the ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was last month sentenced to seven years in prison. Sheikh Fahad was accused of shooting three officers as he stormed a police station in a bid to free his two sons, but the Qatari governments version of events conflicts with other witnesses. According to family members and others to whom Ive spoken, it was state security forces that did the storming, using armored vehicles against the sheikhs palace in Doha, the capital, last January. The sheikh and his sons, they say, were severely beaten during the confrontation. Sheikh Fahad had a longtime dispute with the government over its seizure of some of his inherited land, according to his family. But opposition activists also believe that the arrest was in retaliation for the sheikhs political activities. According to the lawyer and human rights advocate Najeeb al-Nauimi, who is in contact with the sheikhs family, he is in prison in Doha. His two sons have been released, but his arrest was arbitrary, said Mr. Nauimi. A former justice minister who has become an outspoken critic of the government, Mr. Nauimi represents dozens of Qataris who have suffered under the absolute monarchys silencing of opposition voices. One of his clients is the poet Muhammad al-Ajami, who is serving a 15-year sentence, after a secret trial in 2012, for criticizing the emir in a poem that praised the Arab Spring. After the verdict, Mr. Nauimi said, Our judicial system cannot be trusted. General Electric, the nations largest industrial company, makes products like jet engines, locomotives and gas turbines. Its corporate reputation is tied to producing big, heavy equipment atoms by the ton, not the ephemeral bits of software. Yet Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive, predicted last September that G.E. would be a top 10 software company by 2020. In recent years, the company has steadily built up its software business, and its industrial products are increasingly loaded with digital sensors, all part of an effort to be a leader in the industrial Internet. Now, in its latest step to remake itself and its public image as an industrial company for the digital era, G.E. said it was moving its headquarters from its longtime sprawling suburban home in Fairfield, Conn., to the high-tech environs of Boston. The relocation by G.E., long a bellwether of the American economy, illustrates how much old-line companies in nearly every industry have been forced to rethink their businesses for a digital age. It is an opportunity, but also a threat. So Walmart is investing heavily in online commerce to meet the challenge from Amazon, and Ford and General Motors are retooling to keep up with innovators like Tesla and Google. But there was little else to mark the occasion. The actors and creative team, most of whom had no idea Mr. Bowie had been sick, collectively decided not to add anything before or after the show about the artists death; instead, they said, they wanted the art to speak for itself. But the production clearly had new meaning for them; Charlie Pollock, an actor in the show, called the evening cathartic and sweet, and he added, It was sort of amazing to get to be a small part in this work. The Tuesday night performance had long been sold out as had much of the run, which began Nov. 18 so almost everyone in the audience had no idea their attendance would also become a sort of tribute. Many said they were huge Bowie admirers, just beginning to grapple with how to see his art in light of his death. Detroit: Software expertise has become the new battleground for upscale automakers as the latest premium cars compete on high-tech innovations rather than sheer power or luxury, something that requires millions of lines of code. Mercedes has been hiring staff in Sunnyvale, California - not far from the headquarters of Internet leaders Alphabet and Yahoo - while rival Audi, the premium brand owned by Volkswagen, said it plans to add software engineers. Most notably, BMW has created a 200-strong digital innovation hub in Chicago, hiring software engineers who worked for mobile phone pioneer Nokia, as the German carmaker seeks to get ahead in the area of assistance systems and software applications. "Their task is to develop a premium experience in the digital area and in mobility services," BMW board member Ian Robertson told Reuters at the Detroit auto show. The German luxury automakers are feeling the heat from more mainstream rivals offering smartphone connectivity and advanced driver assistance systems like automated braking and sophisticated cruise control in their most basic models. At the same time, anti-pollution rules are forcing them to abandon their traditional tactic of offering cars with more horsepower and a higher number of cylinders. Without beefing up digital expertise, German automakers will struggle to offer new premium features such as autonomous driving and car-sharing services to compete with new rivals such as Alphabet - formerly known as Google - and Uber. Meanwhile, established automakers like Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co are pushing advanced semi-autonomous driving functions. "Younger customers demand the latest connectivity features, and German premium automakers need to develop new offerings in the digital arena which cater to this," said Thilo Koslowski, vice president of the automotive practice at technology market research firm Gartner. BMW's Chicago team helped to develop 'Bumper Detect' a new system unveiled last week which uses BMW's onboard camera and sensors to photograph potential thieves or vandals. "The car can take photographs of another vehicle which may have left a dent in your parked car, and send pictures to your mobile device," Robertson said. The Bavarian automaker already has several software development centres in Munich and elsewhere and said it will continue to recruit staff in 2016 to help "the advancement of new technologies, including the ever-increasing scale of digitalization." The team of 200 staff in Chicago, based on a nucleus of engineers who left Nokia's handset unit after it was bought by Microsoft Corp in 2014, has been assembled over the past 18 months. It is the latest example of a traditional metal-bashing carmaker hiring mobile phone and software expertise. It is housed in the same building as HERE, the high-definition mapping business recently acquired by BMW, Volkswagen unit Audi and Daimler from Finland's Nokia in December. It is not far from Continental AG's infotainment and connectivity unit based Deer Park, Illinois, to the northwest of Chicago. Continental hired hundreds of software engineers there when it bought Motorola's automotive technology business in 2006. Detroit: Software expertise has become the new battleground for upscale automakers as the latest premium cars compete on high-tech innovations rather than sheer power or luxury, something that requires millions of lines of code. Mercedes has been hiring staff in Sunnyvale, California - not far from the headquarters of Internet leaders Alphabet and Yahoo - while rival Audi, the premium brand owned by Volkswagen, said it plans to add software engineers. Most notably, BMW has created a 200-strong digital innovation hub in Chicago, hiring software engineers who worked for mobile phone pioneer Nokia, as the German carmaker seeks to get ahead in the area of assistance systems and software applications. "Their task is to develop a premium experience in the digital area and in mobility services," BMW board member Ian Robertson told Reuters at the Detroit auto show. The German luxury automakers are feeling the heat from more mainstream rivals offering smartphone connectivity and advanced driver assistance systems like automated braking and sophisticated cruise control in their most basic models. At the same time, anti-pollution rules are forcing them to abandon their traditional tactic of offering cars with more horsepower and a higher number of cylinders. Without beefing up digital expertise, German automakers will struggle to offer new premium features such as autonomous driving and car-sharing services to compete with new rivals such as Alphabet - formerly known as Google - and Uber. Meanwhile, established automakers like Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co are pushing advanced semi-autonomous driving functions. "Younger customers demand the latest connectivity features, and German premium automakers need to develop new offerings in the digital arena which cater to this," said Thilo Koslowski, vice president of the automotive practice at technology market research firm Gartner. BMW's Chicago team helped to develop 'Bumper Detect' a new system unveiled last week which uses BMW's onboard camera and sensors to photograph potential thieves or vandals. "The car can take photographs of another vehicle which may have left a dent in your parked car, and send pictures to your mobile device," Robertson said. The Bavarian automaker already has several software development centres in Munich and elsewhere and said it will continue to recruit staff in 2016 to help "the advancement of new technologies, including the ever-increasing scale of digitalization." The team of 200 staff in Chicago, based on a nucleus of engineers who left Nokia's handset unit after it was bought by Microsoft Corp in 2014, has been assembled over the past 18 months. It is the latest example of a traditional metal-bashing carmaker hiring mobile phone and software expertise. It is housed in the same building as HERE, the high-definition mapping business recently acquired by BMW, Volkswagen unit Audi and Daimler from Finland's Nokia in December. It is not far from Continental AG's infotainment and connectivity unit based Deer Park, Illinois, to the northwest of Chicago. Continental hired hundreds of software engineers there when it bought Motorola's automotive technology business in 2006. The Message The fairly simple and straightforward gun control argument draws an unspoken but obvious enough contrast with Mr. Sanders, who Mrs. Clinton has asserted has not being tough enough on the industry. (Mr. Sanders attributes some of his voting record on the issue to his constituency in rural Vermont.) Mrs. Clintons closing line echoes what she says on the campaign trail: that Mr. Sanders failed to stand up to the gun lobby in voting for a 2005 bill that granted immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers from most liability lawsuits. Fact Check Mrs. Clintons assertion that an average of 90 people are killed by guns lines up with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that more than 33,000 people died from gunshots in 2014; more than 21,000 of those were by suicide. The two proposalsshe cites address problems that were highlighted in an Op-Ed article by Mr. Obama in The New York Times last week. Mr. Sanders says that, as a member of the House, he voted for the 2005 bill to protect small law-abiding gun dealers. He supports expanding background checks, although in the 1990s, he voted against the Brady Bill, which required them. His campaign has said that Mr. Sanders objected then to the waiting period it imposed on handgun purchases. Where On cable television nationally and on broadcast stations in Iowa and New Hampshire. Takeaway Mrs. Clinton is doing everything she can to tie herself to Mr. Obama on guns, an issue that allows her to connect with many Democratic voters, and to draw a contrast between their positions and those of Mr. Sanders. It is not an easy sell: Mr. Sanders has a lifetime record of D minus from the National Rifle Association to wield in his defense. OMAHA Lisa Martin woke up in the middle of the night last winter, the mother of a newborn son nursing anxieties about his future. So at 4 a.m., she sat down and typed out a letter to President Obama expressing her fears and sent it by email to the White House. A year later, almost to the day, an 18-car motorcade pulled up in front of Ms. Martins house in a suburb of this Nebraska city on Wednesday to deliver a personal response from the president. The future is bright, he told her and by extension the country, but that requires the nation to follow his policy prescriptions. I want everybody to remember, Americas been through big changes before, Mr. Obama told a crowd of 8,000 at a stadium here after visiting Ms. Martins home. And each time, we overcame our fears and we overcame our challenges. Each time, we made change work for us. And each time, we emerged stronger and better than we were before. Thats what we do as Americans. The president used Ms. Martins letter of distress on Wednesday to make a political point and reinforce the message he tried to deliver in his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night. In picking this red-state city as the first stop of his postspeech tour, he landed just across the river from Iowa, where Republicans seeking to win the first vote in the election to succeed him have been promising to fix a nation they say Mr. Obama broke, or at least failed to fix. Last night President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address and offered a message of hope for the future, but also acknowledged that he had not been able to heal bitter political divisions. The strongest reaction from New York Times readers to the speech came in response to the issue of polarization. Below is a selection of some of the comments. President Obama just spelled out the pathologies that need to be addressed for America to succeed beyond his terms: gerrymandered districts, voting disenfranchisement, unlimited campaign money, apathy, tribalism, scapegoating. Hes right: we all need to see our way out of polarized politics, said NM of New York. Best thing [Mr. Obama] said: We are Americans first and insert-personal-description second, said PS of Massachusetts. Steven Avery, the imprisoned Wisconsin man whose legal odyssey is depicted in the popular documentary series Making a Murderer, filed motions arguing that he was denied his right to a fair trial in the 2005 murder of a young woman. In the motions, received on Monday by an appeals court in Madison, Wis., Mr. Avery accuses the authorities of using an improper warrant and says that a juror bullied other members of the panel into convicting him. He asks for his release on bond. Making a Murderer, a 10-part series released last month by Netflix, portrays Mr. Averys conviction as the outcome of a flawed investigation into the killing of a photographer, Teresa Halbach, in Manitowoc County, Wis. The documentary set off a groundswell of outrage over the convictions of both Mr. Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also accused of participating in the crime. It has also lifted the hopes of the mens supporters that the renewed attention might help win their freedom. Concerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties. The initiative will start in two of the nations major destinations for global wealth: Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. It will shine a light on the darkest corner of the real estate market: all-cash purchases made by shell companies that often shield purchasers identities. It is the first time the federal government has required real estate companies to disclose names behind cash transactions, and it is likely to send shudders through the real estate industry, which has benefited enormously in recent years from a building boom increasingly dependent on wealthy, secretive buyers. The initiative is part of a broader federal effort to increase the focus on money laundering in real estate. Treasury and federal law enforcement officials said they were putting greater resources into investigating luxury real estate sales that involve shell companies like limited liability companies, often known as L.L.C.s; partnerships; and other entities. ZHUSHIGANG, China Only the orange of thousands of freshly dug carrots, washed in icy water and packed for delivery by village women, brightened this fog-draped village last Friday, one day after the authorities razed a golden statue of Mao Zedong erected by local admirers that had towered over the dun fields. A few morsels of root vegetables such as carrots, a local staple along with potatoes, radishes, peanuts and corn, may have saved the life of Yang Nainai, or Granny Yang, during the famine precipitated by Maos Great Leap Forward in 1958 to 1962. It devastated Tongxu County, in the eastern plains of Henan Province, where Zhushigang is, hitting especially hard in the first two years, she said. Ms. Yang, who did not volunteer her given name, was sitting with three generations of family members around a fire of dried corn cobs and peanut shells in Xiaoshuanggou, the village next to Zhushigang. Her face crumpled as she talked about the hunger that followed Maos agricultural collectivization and industrialization campaign, when the local state-run canteen distributed two small meals a day. BEIJING A well-known Chinese human rights lawyer and her husband, a trainee lawyer, have been arrested on charges of political subversion, her lawyer said on Wednesday. The arrest of the couple followed the disclosure this week of formal charges for a number of legal workers who have challenged the grip of state power on citizens lives. The lawyer, Wang Yu, was formally arrested on suspicion of subversion of state power, a charge usually applied against dissidents accused of organizing political challenges to Communist Party rule. Ms. Wangs husband, Bao Longjun, who worked with her, was charged with inciting subversion of state power, a slightly lighter charge also used to imprison dissidents. Subversion of state power is serious, Li Yuhan, a lawyer representing Ms. Wang, said. It could attract a life sentence. Ms. Li said that she was told of the couples formal arrest by their family members, who received notices by mail that arrived on Wednesday. The charges come approximately six months after the couples detention. JALALABAD, Afghanistan Islamic State militants in Afghanistan claimed their first attack on a major city on Wednesday, after an assault near the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad that killed at least seven members of the Afghan security forces. The claim, posted on the Telegram channel used by the Islamic States central command to announce attacks, was a sign that the main group in Syria and Iraq is increasingly willing to tout its Afghan affiliate as a supported group, even as officials say the level of coordination and contact remains limited. The attack in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar Province, has also furthered concerns that militants who have broken away from the Taliban and claimed loyalty to the Islamic State were ready to start spreading their brutal campaign into urban areas. The Islamic State cell has fought both the Taliban and the government in Nangarhar over the past year, carving out an ever-bigger area of control, officials say. The attack, which took place during the busy morning hours as visa applicants lined up near the consulate, began after a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest near a police vehicle, witnesses said. Then two gunmen wearing police uniforms overran an Afghan government guesthouse near the Pakistani Consulate, and fought Afghan forces for almost three hours. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistani officials said Wednesday that members of a banned militant group had been arrested in connection with an attack this month on the Pathankot air force base in India, in an important gesture to ease tensions with India just weeks after a surprise meeting between the countries prime ministers. Pakistans territory will not be used against any other country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying at a special meeting of senior cabinet and military officials in the capital, Islamabad. The banned militant group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, has aggressively conducted attacks in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir and elsewhere over the years, and Pakistani officials say it also has ties with the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda. It was not immediately clear from the official statement how many Jaish members had been arrested. But officials said that raids were being conducted to seal any of the groups offices that might still be operational. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan At least 16 people were killed on Wednesday in a suicide bombing outside a polio vaccination center in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, officials and witnesses said. Thirteen of the victims were police officers, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, a senior official with the Quetta police. He said the officers were there to guard polio workers, who are often targeted by Islamist militants in Pakistan. The attack came on the third day of a vaccination campaign in the province of Baluchistan, of which Quetta is the capital. The bomber, who was also killed, walked up to police officers and detonated what Mr. Shah said amounted to more than 20 pounds of explosives. A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Muhammad Khurrasani, claimed responsibility for the attack on the militants behalf. Two civilians and a paramilitary police officer were also killed, and 10 police officers and nine civilians were wounded. Mumbai: Actor Kiku Sharda, better known by the name Palak from Comedy Nights with Kapil has landed into some serious trouble. The actor has been arrested for mimicking Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and has been sent to 14 days of judicial custody. On January 1, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhs followers filed a complaint against the actor after an episode showing him mimicking the godman was aired on the small screen on December 27, 2015. The actor had shared the picture of him dressed as the godman on his official social networking account. Kiku, on the very next day of the episode, wrote an apology on his Twitter handle saying ,"Doston the act on TV was not to hurt anyone's feelings. My apologies to @Gurmeetramrahim ji and his followers. Let's spread happiness. Doston the act on TV was not to hurt anyone's feelings. My apologies to @Gurmeetramrahim ji and his followers. Let's spread happiness. kiku sharda (@kikusharda) December 28, 2015 While talking to the media today, the actor said, "All I would say is that I am an artist, I am given a script and told to perform. I am given costumes. So what ever the script writer gave me, or the channel who was making this, I performed it as an artist. I did what I was told to do. I had no idea that it would hurt someones religious sentiments. I have apologized in the past if it has happened by mistake and apologize again. I dont want my work to hurt anyone in any which way. You have been seeing me for the past 13 years, my job is to make people laugh and I have been doing that. I was doing a show called 'F.I.R' for many years and now I am doing 'Comedy Nights with Kapil', so my aim is to make people laugh. This was done unintentionally. As an artist I never say no to work. I accepted the look that was given to me. The actor further added, "I respect all gurus, if you come home you will see my parents do poojas. My father, every 9-days reads Sundarkand path. My mother goes to the temple twice and we are a very religious family. I respect all the gurus and santh. I am a God fearing man." Reportedly, the actor was arrested in Haryana and has been taken to Aarye Police station for further investigations. The actor has been booked under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for outraging religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief. SEOUL, South Korea A week after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, President Park Geun-hye of South Korea urged China on Wednesday to do more to rein in the North, amid growing criticism that Ms. Parks policy of building stronger ties with Beijing was not showing results. China has repeatedly said publicly that it would not tolerate North Koreas nuclear weapons, Ms. Park said in a nationally televised speech. I think China is fully aware that if such strong will is not matched by necessary measures, we cannot prevent fifth and sixth nuclear tests by the North or guarantee real peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. China joined much of the world in condemning the nuclear test last week. On Wednesday, a senior United States negotiator repeated Washingtons call for China to put more pressure on North Korea, using the leverage it has as the impoverished countrys sole major ally and leading trade partner. I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business-as-usual approach to this latest provocation, said Sung Kim, the special American representative for North Korea policy, after meeting his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul to discuss sanctions. I think the Chinese will agree with us that the only way to send a clear message to Pyongyang is to adopt strong international measures. SEOUL, South Korea A South Korean court ordered a university professor on Wednesday to pay 10 million won, or $8,262, to each of nine women who had filed suit claiming that the scholar had defamed them in her book about Japans World War II-era military brothels. Since Park Yu-ha, a professor of Japanese literature at Sejong University in Seoul, published Comfort Women of the Empire in 2013, she has faced a series of civil and criminal complaints from the nine South Korean women, who say they were forced to serve at the brothels during the war. In ruling on a civil lawsuit on Wednesday, the Eastern District Court in Seoul said that Ms. Park must pay reparations because she had defamed the women with false, exaggerated or distorted content in her book. Ms. Park said she would appeal. Many intellectuals in South Korea and Japan have condemned the legal maneuvers against Ms. Park as violations of freedom of scholarship. They have also warned that her troubles illustrate how dangerous it could be to challenge conventional wisdom in South Korea about historically delicate issues. ROME In Finland, militia groups are patrolling small towns housing asylum seekers in the name of protecting white Finnish women. In Germany, far-right protesters rampaged through Leipzig on Monday, vandalizing buildings in an anti-Islamization demonstration. In Italy on Tuesday, an anti-immigration regional government approved the text of a law making it difficult to construct new mosques as Muslim refugees are settled in the area. Across Europe, the migrant crisis that has engulfed the Continent since the summer is provoking new levels of public anxiety after the New Years Eve sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany, where witnesses and the police described predatory gangs of mostly foreign men, including some refugees, groping and robbing young women. The Cologne police are also investigating allegations of rape. While the police say the assaults in Cologne were carried out by hundreds of men, even that is a narrow sliver of the more than one million asylum seekers who entered Europe last year. Still, the anxieties provoked by the Cologne attacks quickly spread as reports emerged of similar New Years Eve assaults in other German cities, as well as in Finland and Austria. While the details in some of those reports are sketchy, and none approach what happened in Cologne, they have touched an exceptionally raw nerve as European societies face the challenge of integrating and acculturating the asylum seekers, most of them Muslims, and a majority of those single men. LONDON Denmark is poised to pass a law requiring newly arrived refugees to hand over valuables, including gold or jewelry, to help pay for the costs of lodging them. Under the proposal, asylum seekers who enter the country with more than 10,000 kroner, or about $1,450, in assets would have to help finance their stay. The proposal, which has outraged humanitarian activists and raised the ire of United Nations officials, is the latest in a series of migrant-deterring steps taken recently by Denmark, which once prided itself on its openness to foreigners. The government took out newspaper ads in Lebanon informing would-be asylum seekers that welfare benefits for refugees had been cut in half. Its prime minister warned that the 1951 United Nations treaty governing the rights of refugees might have to be revised. And last week, it imposed temporary controls along its border with Germany. Critics say the latest measure evokes Europes darkest hours, when the Nazis seized valuables from Jews during the Holocaust. The government has amended the bill to exempt from confiscation objects with sentimental value, like wedding and engagement rings and family portraits. A vote is scheduled for Jan. 26, and approval with wide cross-party support is expected. Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen defended the bill this week. This is probably the most misunderstood proposal in the history of Denmark, he was quoted as saying by Politiken, a Danish daily newspaper. Looking at the debate, you almost get the impression that we are going to turn people upside down to see if we can shake the last coin out of their pockets. That is completely distorted and wrong. WARSAW The European Commission said on Wednesday that it had opened a formal inquiry to determine whether Polands new right-wing government had violated the democratic norms of the European Union. Frans Timmermans, the first vice president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, announced the decision, but tried to play down the potential confrontation it opened with the Polish government. He said that the commission would take a very cooperative approach and that it was willing to meet with Polish officials at any time to discuss the matter. Our aim is not to accuse or engage in a polemic, he said. A spokesman for Law and Justice, the new governing party in Poland, said the government would be very happy to welcome European officials. The Polish government has approved legal changes that would allow it to appoint more sympathetic judges to the nations Constitutional Tribunal and would give it a firmer hold on the nations public broadcasting system. Both actions have stirred protests at home and abroad. In America, as in Europe, anti-immigrant backlashes have often followed episodes in which foreigners are blamed for crimes and other problems. But statistical studies show that in the United States, at least, immigrants are far more law-abiding than natives, regardless of race, class or education. Immigrants have always been a convenient scapegoat, Walter A. Ewing, a senior researcher at the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit group in Washington, said on Wednesday. Its always easy to blame the other group for all of societys problems, Mr. Ewing said in a telephone interview. While the immigration circumstances of Europe and the United States are obviously different, he said, theres a universality to xenophobia, a knee-jerk reaction. Its fear, lashing out at what youre afraid of. Mr. Ewing collaborated with Ruben G. Rumbaut, a sociology professor at the University of California, Irvine, and Daniel E. Martinez, an assistant sociology professor at George Washington University, on a study released this past July that used census data, F.B.I. data and other statistical data to rebut stereotypes about immigrants. It showed, for example, that between 1990 and 2013, as the foreign-born share of the United States population nearly doubled and the number of unauthorized immigrants more than tripled, violent crime declined 48 percent and property crime fell 41 percent. MOSCOW Corruption in Russia sometimes amounts to highway robbery, literally. A senior prison official has been accused of stealing the pavement from a 30-mile stretch of public highway in the Komi Republic, a thinly populated, heavily forested region in northern Russia, the daily newspaper Kommersant reported on its website on Wednesday. The report said that Alexander Protopopov, the acting deputy chief of the federal prison service, had supervised a scheme that involved dismantling the road and carting off more than 7,000 huge slabs of reinforced concrete over the course of more than a year, starting in 2014. The slabs were delivered to a company that sold them, the report said. Mr. Protopopov, whose recent public tasks included inspecting the prisons in Crimea after the peninsula was annexed from Ukraine in March 2014, led the prison service in the Komi region from 2010 until he was promoted last year. He was arrested in Moscow and faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of using his official position to steal state property. While he was in Komi, Mr. Protopopov won a medal for fostering spiritual unity, the Kommersant report said, without specifying whether the unity was with the crews doing the illicit road work. Some others involved in the scheme also face criminal charges. WASHINGTON A crisis over the seizing of two American patrol boats in the Persian Gulf was averted Wednesday when Iran returned the craft and released their crews as Pentagon officials struggled to explain how the boats had ended up near a major Iranian naval base. Their quick release was hailed by the Obama administration as an unintended benefit of the new diplomatic relationship with Iran established by the nuclear accord negotiated between Tehran and the United States and five other nations in July. The accord is expected to go into effect next week, ending the oil and financial sanctions imposed on Iran over the past decade, and giving it access to around $100 billion in frozen funds. Thanking the Iranians for their cooperation, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago. JERUSALEM The Israeli Air Force struck a target along the border with northern Gaza on Wednesday, hitting what the military said was a squad of Palestinian militants planning to attack Israeli forces in the area with a bomb. The missile strike killed a Palestinian man, Mousa Zuaitar, 33, and wounded three more, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. Israeli airstrikes and explosions along Israels border with Gaza have been rare since August 2014, when a cease-fire ended 50 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the coastal territory, although occasional rocket attacks and sniper fire against Israel have been reported. Hamas has largely enforced the cease-fire, but some smaller groups, waging their own battles with the militant group, have occasionally tried to undermine it. Switzerland has issued 4,700 special-category visas for Syrians who have family in the country. And Australia, which has come under international criticism for turning away boats of potential refugees from South and Southeast Asia, has said it will take 12,000 from Syria and Iraq. Germany is in a category of its own, with Syrians making up the largest single group (428,500) of the 1.1 million people who were registered as refugees and asylum seekers there in 2015. For the United States, as for much of the Western world, the political costs of accepting refugees are high. Image Refaai Hamo, a Syrian refugee, at a news conference, in Romulus, Mich., last month. Mr. Hamo, who arrived in the United States last month, was among the Obamas guests at the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Credit... Carlos Osorio/Associated Press Many people in the United States are worried about terrorists sneaking in through refugee programs. Crimes like the sexual assaults of women in Germany on New Years Eve, in which the authorities said asylum seekers were involved, led Chancellor Angela Merkel to propose tougher laws regulating asylum seekers. Political figures on both continents have also become openly opposed to accepting Muslims in particular. Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, proposed a moratorium on the admission of Muslims to the United States, just as Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary has warned about the need to keep Europe Christian. Perhaps as important, the political rewards for taking in refugees have diminished. During the Cold War, the West scored political points by welcoming people from the Eastern bloc. It was a way to convey that the Western way of life was better and more attractive than life behind the Iron Curtain. It was one reason, historians say, that in 1980, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the United States took in as many as 207,000 refugees, many from Vietnam. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the United States welcomed tens of thousands of people as the Soviet Union was dissolving. The Bombay High Court had acquitted Salman Khan of all charges in the hit and run case. Mumbai: The Mumbai police has issued a circular to all police stations in the city highlighting the lapses in the investigations in the 2002 hit and run case involving Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, in which he was acquitted by the Bombay High Court. This is apparently done to prevent the embarrassment of losing a case, especially where high profile personalities are involved. "On January 4, a circular (in this regard) has been sent to all police stations in the city," a senior official attached with Mumbai police told PTI. "This is to prevent the embarrassment which police face following the Salman Khan case," he said. The circular mentions 16 lapses among the several procedural lapses of the police in the case, which the high court had mentioned in its judgement. The Bombay High Court had acquitted the 50-year-old actor of all charges in the hit and run case. The Maharashtra government has decided to file an appeal against the high court verdict in the Supreme Court. Senior officials from the city police have asked other officers to present a water-tight case in future taking lessons from the Salman Khan case. I work in all different ways, and never from beginning to end, Ms. Strout explained. She sets out her various sketches and ideas for characters on scraps of paper and lets the scraps accrue wherever she is working. She discards some and keeps others, she said. I dust them up, and they do their little things, and I keep what is most truthful about them. Ms. Strout, slender, blond and sunny, was in a diner near her apartment on the Upper East Side. It was her 60th birthday. She ordered a spartan breakfast a single scrambled egg and a piece of white toast and it seemed fitting, somehow in keeping with the book. Lucy Barton is written in a strikingly spare first-person voice, a contrast to the knowing, sophisticated omniscience of the narrators of Ms. Strouts best-known novels, including Amy and Isabelle and Olive Kitteridge, the indelible portrait of a stubborn, difficult, complicated woman that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2009. Its an experiment that works, with readers and reviewers marveling at how smoothly and urgently the voice draws them in. I believed in the voice so completely I forgot I was reading a story, the writer Ann Patchett said in an email. I felt like I was being pulled aside by a friend who was saying, Look, theres something I have to tell you. In The Washington Post, Lily King wrote, She is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times. The book begins with Lucy explaining that the story she is about to tell happened many years ago now, when she became ill after a surgical mishap and spent a long stretch at a hospital in Manhattan. She receives an unexpected visit from her strange, awkward mother, who has never so much as been on an airplane before and has not spoken to Lucy for years. Immediately, the troubles of her childhood come flooding back: the poverty, shame and loneliness of the familys existence in rural Illinois; her fathers abuse and his own terrible secrets; her mothers inability, or unwillingness, to do anything about it. Lucy and her mother are at once terribly distant and terribly close. Lucy longs for love; her mother can express it only obliquely. Class intrudes: Lucy has escaped her familys marginal existence, while still feeling herself indelibly marked by it. Just as she cant help being bitter and sad about her childhood, her mother cannot fathom the breadth and material abundance of her daughters new life. Hunters in the Dark opens with Robert Grieve entering Cambodia from Thailand, in the rain: He came over the border as the lights were about to be dimmed, with the last of the migrants trailing their stringed boxes. Other entrants are gamblers from air-conditioned buses, equipped with plastic umbrellas provided by their tour company: Their Bangkok shoes began to suffer in the coffee-colored mud. Grieve is English, in his late 20s, unmarried, an unexciting schoolteacher on summer vacation from an unexciting job. Immediately he wins at a casino; soon he grapples with the idea of never returning home. But, again appropriately for the form, the stakes are low: The win was only $2,000 (admittedly worth more in Cambodia than in either Cambridge, but you get the point) and, as an Englishman myself, I can report that a choice between returning to a provincial secondary-school classroom and hanging out in the Far East is one of the lowest-impact decisions possible. Who would even notice? Especially because Grieve intends to email his parents so they wont worry. Certainly Osbornes Cambodia is rendered beautifully. Its a land of rains and mists and distant conical mountains, with temples and shrines and faded buildings. There are clouds of bats, and cars caked with dust as dark red as chili powder. I could quote many effective and affecting images and passages. There are fine, lyrical sentences. Sometimes there are long sentences like this one written without commas that dart every which way like runoff from a sudden thunderous shower and end up with simple declarative resolutions. The pace is patient, as if both describing and being described by meandering muddy rivers that roll endlessly toward the horizon. Quickly or slowly, and after initial resistance the reader surrenders to the narratives leisurely drumbeat. If the purpose of a novel is to take you away from the everyday and show you something different, then Osborne is succeeding, and handsomely. Yet still the stakes remain stubbornly low. Grieve doesnt, were told, raise much objection to his own passivity. His parents ceased preaching to him about his ambitions. He didnt have any. He feels that you stood in the wings of your own play, afraid to walk onto the boards and begin. We have difficulty rooting for such a guy, whatever his journey might be. Hes listless. He declines to struggle. Things happen to him; he doesnt happen to things. But then finally we understand: This isnt a suspense novel. Never will be and doesnt want to be. Its a meditation. As well as the physical impact of Cambodia, were shown its eternal culture, where fate and karma are paramount, and ghosts are less weary than the living. Grieve is a symbol a twig tossed into the broad current, to end up wherever he ends up. Its giving nothing away to say that he has his money and his passport stolen, meets a girl, gets his money and his passport back and leaves for Thailand once again. A long loop, back to where he started. Very Eastern, we might say, but sharper than that, because this is Cambodia, after all, a country that has had loops of its own. And if he were? There is no conversation your parents can have now that would allow your mother to work through her feelings about his sexuality. Many men of an earlier generation committed to a heterosexual marriage while having same-sex desires; many would say their relationships with their wives werent undermined by those desires. In your fathers absence, though, there isnt a way for your mother to talk about issues like these in a way that would bring her a better understanding of her marriage. In any case, if she wanted to talk to you about the possibility that your dad was gay, she would have brought it up. Ive been struggling to decide whether to watch the growing number of videos of police shootings. As a taxpaying citizen and voter, I view these men and women as working on my behalf. But it seems invasive to the victims to impose myself like some snuff-film viewer. I feel an obligation to witness what the police are doing to (primarily) black families and communities, but I also dont want to further violate what little posthumous humanity these victims have left. Jordan Weil, Hastings, Minn. Watching videos of abuse isnt itself abusive, although, like your snuff-film viewer, you can certainly respond to them in morally discreditable ways. You would be failing to respect the humanity of the victims only if you responded to the images without sympathy or outrage. I tend not to watch these things I have never watched the video of the planes hitting the World Trade Center either because I have the sense that such images penetrate my consciousness in ways that dull rather than sustain my moral feelings. You dont have to watch to stay woke. Yet many people say these visual experiences lend urgent reality to something that might otherwise have remained vaporously abstract. Just remember, images are often better at showing the what than the why. Dont let their power foreclose conversation and inquiry, and remember that not everything that matters is caught on video. Historical patterns of underpolicing, too, can cost lives. Still, whether or not you watch these clips, youre right to think that responsible citizens need to keep an eye on what is being done in their name. Some years ago, I flipped a few residential properties. Im not a Realtor or an agent, but I sold my properties personally. During my open-house events, I often took phone calls in the presence of prospective buyers from other interested parties. A barrage of calls meant that these potential buyers overheard a steady flow of ringtones, enthusiastic sales talk and appointments being made. This often increased their interest in the property. At times when the number of calls slowed, or at other propitious moments, I would have a friend make bogus calls to me. I would answer with a monologue of sales talk designed to be overheard. I never gave the impression that bids were being offered or attributed these calls to actual customers. One person attending one of these open houses, whom I believe overheard my sales monologue, made an offer a few weeks later, ultimately buying the property. Because the content of the bogus calls was factually correct, their inauthenticity hardly seems consequential, especially given how long the buyer took to make an offer and close on the property. Were these calls wrong? Name Withheld Heres an easy test: If your impostures had been exposed at the time, your prospective buyers would have felt deceived and your cheeks would probably have burned with shame. That the facts mentioned in the conversation were truths does not correct for the larger dishonesty. You deliberately conveyed a false impression. As you say, the deception isnt likely to have played a decisive role in the process, and if it did, Im inclined to say caveat emptor. No serious buyer should make the decision to buy or set the price on the basis of a judgment of the market interest shown in a couple of phone calls. Still, adjectives like bogus are generally a clue that youre doing something skeevy. Ive been invited to visit a country in the Middle East for the purpose of evaluating an educational program. This country is known to restrict the entry of those who have visited Israel. I have visited Israel, and so informed my potential host. I was told that it would not be an issue for me, as an invited guest. Is it ethical to accept the invitation? On the one hand, the policy is repugnant; on the other, the visit would benefit students in this country. Last, were it not for this policy, I would like to visit the country. Name Withheld Only a few countries seem to have a prohibition (sometimes only fitfully applied) on entering with an Israeli stamp in your passport. You would want to avoid many of these countries right now out of prudence, because theyre in a state of civil war. The ones that are safer to visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia come to mind tend to have policies more troubling than their attitude toward Israeli visa stamps. The working conditions of many migrant workers in Kuwait, for example, are indistinguishable from slavery. Human trafficking is a major industry. The state imprisons bloggers who criticize not only its own regime but also that of the Saudis next door. And speaking of Saudi Arabia: There, homosexual acts can be punished by execution, and women are forbidden to drive or even leave home without a male chaperone. And how do you feel about public floggings or decapitation with a sword? I could go on. So if you thought it was O.K. to go to one of these countries before you learned about their attitude toward Israeli visa stamps, Im not sure this extra piece of information should tip the balance. Mumbai: Known for their fashion quotients, these Bollywood actresses repeated their own outfits like an absolute boss. We spot their oops moment. Have a look! Deepika Padukone: Known for her elegance and simplicity, she repeated her outfit from Ram-Leela special screening for the Finding Fanny completion party at a lounge. Sonam Kapoor: The actress, who remains in news for setting new fashion statements, wore a jacket with sharara pants with a vintage hairdo at a fashion event but the actress has already worn this outfit at an award ceremony held in 2014. Katrina Kaif: One of the hottest celebs in B-town, Katrina was seen wearing the same dress she had worn for her magazine shoot in 2008 for Ali Abbas Zafars birthday bash. Kangana Ranaut: Currently ruling the Bollywood, Kangana was seen wearing this dress at two different events but with different accessories, makeup and hairdo. Genelia Dsouza: Yummy mummy Genelia wore the same lehenga she had worn for her brother-in-laws wedding for her own brothers wedding too. Commercial property on the corner of East University Drive and Opelika Road saw its first flurry of customer activity in nearly four years Wednesday, Jan. 13, as economic vitality returned to the once heavily populated retail spot. Early Wednesday morning, throngs of eager customers huddled in the cold awaiting the grand opening of Auburns first Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store across from the Auburn Mall. The 41,000-square foot store occupies a space that formerly housed the Auburn K-Mart, which closed in 2012 and sat vacant until it was razed last spring to make way for the new development. Were excited, and I think its going to be a great event for the associates and for our customers today, said Shannon Moser, store manager for the Walmart Neighborhood Market. Walmart Neighborhood Market offers groceries at prices comparable to a Walmart Supercenter, but brands itself as providing a more upscale shopping experience in a smaller environment. The store features fresh produce, specialty bakery and butcher departments, a drive-thru pharmacy and a six-pump gas station with walk-up convenience store. Moser said the store has been highly-anticipated by the community as it has prepared to open. Its been awesome, Moser said. We actually had people in here shopping this morning, and theres so much traffic, we couldnt tell who was a customer and who wasnt. So weve had people every day attempting to shop, so I think its going to be a really good thing for the community, and people are excited to see what its all about. Venissa Carr and her grandson DJ Baker, who is almost 2, were the first customers to make a purchase at the new grocery store on Wednesday. Carr bought diapers to take to Miss Deannas Child Care where she works, in close proximity to the Neighborhood Market. Im just glad to have it in the neighborhood, Carr said. I work right down the street at Miss Deannas Daycare, so its an easy stop for me in the mornings on my way to work. Carr added the Neighborhood Market is more convenient than shopping at a Walmart Supercenter for grocery needs. At the Super Walmart, its a lot that you can get there, Carr said. Most of the time I dont need most of what they have, I just need household items. Auburn University student Keri Krake was also one of the first to check-out at the store, stopping on her way home from a service at Church of the Highlands. She compared the Neighborhood Market to a Supercenter. I love it, Krake said. Its awesome. The fruits and veggies are a better selection, and I feel like theyre better quality. Krake said both this store and the one planned to open Jan. 27, on Shug Jordan Parkway are both convenient along her commute. Actually I live across the street from the other one thats opening in two weeks, so thatll probably be (the store I go to most), but this is definitely great because its to and from my commute to church, Krake said. Auburn resident Dianne Lowe, who lives less than a mile from the new Neighborhood Market, said she is happy to see a store occupy the previously empty space. Lowe, who lives on Kent Drive, said when the Winn Dixie on East University closed, she was lacking close shopping options. I wanted to see what it looked like, Lowe said. I was interested to see what they had to offer, and we just needed more (stores) right here in this area, and its just great for those who live here. Before cutting the ribbon with the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, Auburn Mayor Bill Ham made remarks about Auburns newest grocery store. What a great day for our community here in Auburn, Ala., and we appreciate this new investment by Walmart, Ham said. Walmart has been a partner here in Auburn for many, many years, and a new venture that we have here with the Walmart Market. So we are very appreciative. Ham thanked Cypress Equities, developers for the East University Drive site as well as the second Walmart Neighborhood Market Shug Jordan Parkway in Auburn. Cypress Equities is recruiting retailers and/or restaurants to occupy two standalone parcels on the East University Drive siteone about two-thirds of an acre and one about an acre and a half, that will complement the grocery store. According to John Fainter, senior vice president of development for Cypress Equities, tenants for the parcels are not ready to be announced, but many have taken interest in the site since the Neighborhood Market neared its opening. Its still a little premature, but we actually do have some activity, Fainter said. Were talking to a couple groups right now. On Saturday, Jan. 16, the East University Drive store will host A Big Family Welcome, where customers will have the opportunity to meet Moser and store associates. Moser added there will be taste testing demos and giveaways. We are very excited to finally have gotten to this stage, and we hope to continue to get better for the community, Moser said. The Walmart Neighborhood Market on East University Drive will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday that it will sell its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to France-based Orange, which will help it to reduce its debt. (Representational image) New Delhi: Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday that it will sell its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to France-based Orange, which will help it to reduce its debt. Orange and Bharti Airtel International signed an agreement leading to Oranges acquisition of Airtels operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Orange will acquire 100 per cent of the two companies share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of Airtels two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtels EBITDA in these two countries at this time, Airtel said. A 44-year-old Los Angeles man has been sentenced six years in prison for running multiple brothels, including a high-end brothel in an Irvine apartment, authorities said. Gin Woo Park pleaded guilty on Friday to five felony counts of pimping, according to the Orange County District Attorneys Office. Charges are pending against two co-defendants. Between 2013 and 2014, prosecutors said Park operated multiple brothels in Southern California, including at an apartment in Irvine where he induced several females to engage in commercial sex in exchange for money. Co-defendant Heung Soon Kim, 57, of Los Angeles is charged with two felony counts of human trafficking and more than two dozen felony counts of pimping and pandering. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison. Heung Soon Kim is accused of funding Park with money to operate the brothels. Miyoun Kim, 38, Newport Beach, is charged with six felony counts of pimping and six felony counts of pandering. If convicted, she faces up to 12 years in prison. Both are scheduled to appear in Orange County Superior court on Feb. 11. WASHINGTON The crews of two small Navy boats were picked up by Iranian authorities Tuesday after commanders lost contact with the vessels, and Pentagon officials said Iran had agreed to return the sailors soon. An official said the boats appeared to have drifted into Iranian territorial waters after one of them experienced mechanical problems. The boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when contact was lost late in the afternoon, a Defense Department official said. It was unclear how contact had been lost, and Navy officials in Washington said they were trying to determine what had happened. One official said the two vessels failed to make a scheduled rendezvous with a larger ship to refuel. An official said Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, with whom he spent months negotiating a nuclear accord. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. The detention of the 10 sailors comes at a particularly delicate moment in the tense U.S.-Iranian relationship, days before the formal implementation of a nuclear deal in which the United States is supposed to unfreeze about $100 billion in Iranian assets in return for the disablement of critical nuclear facilities. Many American and Middle Eastern officials believe recent actions by the Iranian navy against U.S. forces in the Gulf may be intended to embarrass Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was responsible for the military side of the nuclear program, and many of its senior officers have objected to the nuclear agreement. The semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran said the boats illegally traveled more than a mile into Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island, in the Persian Gulf. It said forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards navy confiscated GPS equipment, which would prove that the American ships where snooping around in Iranian waters. Iranian website Tabnak said 10 U.S. service members had been arrested, but that Iran had assured the United States they would be released immediately. A senior military official said he expected the sailors to remain held overnight and be released today. The official said that military and diplomatic contacts with the Iranians had been professional, which he credited to the stepped-up engagement over the nuclear accord. Benjamin J. Rhodes, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, acknowledged the episode on Tuesday without providing any details. Terra Tech, an Irvine-based marijuana agriculture company, will merge with Black Oak Gallery, a retail medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland. The merger includes Blum Oaklands supply chain: an on-site cultivation facility, proprietary marijuana strains and a retail store front. Blum Oakland, which opened in 2012, has more than 42,000 registered customers and brought in around $14 million in revenue in 2015. Derek Peterson, chief executive of Terra Tech, said in a statement the combined companies would touch every aspect of the cannabis life cycle from cultivation, to extraction, to branding, and now, with the acquisition of Blum, to retail sale. The Terra Tech-Black Oak Gallery merger is expected to close at the end of March. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Terra Tech made headlines in 2014 when it got approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise funds to build-out medical marijuana facilities. The company, which has been publicly traded since 2012, also was granted provisional certificates from Nevada to operate dispensaries, cultivation and production facilities in the state. Peterson said the support from the SEC could be an encouraging sign to anyone thinking of joining the marijuana industry. Terra Tech was incorporated in Nevada in 2008. The company has been based in Irvine since 2011. Marijuana is illegal at a federal level, but medical marijuana is legal in 23 states. Recreational marijuana is legal in four states, Alaska, Oregon, Colorado and Washington and the District of Columbia. Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans MEXICO CITY Mexico is now letting U.S. agents carry guns on its soil. A special Mexican unit trained by Americans has been rekindled after stalling because of mistrust and a sense of national pride. U.S. agents are working with Mexican soldiers to seize guns, and the two nations just agreed on a plan to tackle the heroin epidemic. Even before Joaquin Guzman Loera, the infamous drug trafficker known as El Chapo, tunneled out of Mexicos most secure prison over the summer, the Mexican government had begun rebuilding its strained relationship with the United States. But the drug lords stunning escape shrank that distance even more, creating a sense of shared urgency that had not existed in years. It has been complicated in the past, said John Kirby, the State Department spokesman. But more and more, were finding common ground and common cause. Guzman managed to evade one of the largest manhunts in Mexican history for nearly six months before being recaptured on Friday and even then, he almost escaped again. He managed to slip out of a heavily defended compound as Mexican soldiers barreled in before dawn, ducking into an escape route hidden behind a closet and sneaking into the sewers before he was finally caught, officials said Monday. But long before Guzmans embarrassing escapes, the Mexican government had been under pressure to do more against drug violence. A surge in homicides last year, including the deaths of eight soldiers after a little-known gang fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a government helicopter, made President Enrique Pena Nietos policy of keeping the Americans at arms length on security matters much harder to uphold, especially given his plummeting approval ratings. In particular, the unexplained disappearance of 43 students at a teachers college riled the nation and made international headlines, drawing ire and scrutiny of the presidents attempts to switch the conversation toward economics and away from security. On the security side, there was initially a nationalistic movement to reset the agenda in Mexicos terms, a former U.S. official said. But it shifted to one of greater pragmatism because the risk of getting it wrong was simply too high. Shortly after Pena Nieto came to office in 2012, Mexican and U.S. officials say there was a shock within his administrations ranks at how deeply their predecessors were collaborating with the Americans, including the use of U.S. drones and manned surveillance flights over Mexican soil to track suspects. To some extent, they were horrified when they got into office, a current senior U.S. official said. It was like: Wow, the Americans are really into everything. Not just in our bedroom, but ruffling through our underwear drawer. Instead of focusing on security, catching kingpins and intercepting drugs, Pena Nieto wanted to make trade and economics the priority. From the beginning, Mexican and U.S. officials say, the Mexican attorney general, Jesus Murillo Karam, made it clear to his American counterparts that there would be a severe drop in extraditions to the United States. Mexico was rebuilding its judicial system, Karam told several U.S. officials, and drug lords and others should pay for crimes committed in Mexico inside the Mexican system. Extraditions to the United States dropped by nearly half. There was a deep frustration with the direction things were heading, said the senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official did not have the authority to talk to reporters. But violent crimes, initially down during the Pena Nieto administration, began to climb again. The strategy of smashing cartels and targeting gang leaders was causing them to fracture into more deadly and unpredictable gangs. Violence engulfed parts of the country. In private meetings with government officials, the Mexican business community began to express concern about Pena Nietos strategy of ignoring the security problem and keeping the Americans at bay. The titans of Mexican business were saying to government officials that they better get a handle on the security situation or their economic reform would be a footnote, the U.S. official said. Mexican officials also recalled hearing that the constant negative news was affecting not only the countrys reputation, but also its businesses. In February 2015, Pena Nieto swapped out his attorney general, Karam, who had boasted that Mexico would hold onto Guzman in Mexican prisons for some 300, 400 years before consenting to extradite him to the United States. In his place, the president placed a former senator, Arely Gomez Gonzalez. Mexican and U.S. officials said that Pena Nieto had instructed Gomez to fix the relationship with the Americans, and that she had set to work doing just that. Cooperation has increased on a number of other fronts, according to R. Gil Kerlikowske, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Kerlikowske, who was the White House drug czar from 2009 until taking over the border patrol agency in 2014, said that despite the stumbles after Pena Nieto was elected, the relationship had begun improving long before El Chapos escape. He pointed to a legal change the Mexican government made last year that will permit U.S. agents to carry sidearms on Mexican soil. Kerlikowske said that an American customs facility in Mexico would be his agencys first use of that new arrangement, which is aimed at speeding up trade. WASHINGTON President Barack Obama tried to use his final State of the Union address Tuesday to calm Americans economic and national security anxieties, tout his record and rebuke Republican presidential hopefuls for the vitriolic tone of their campaigns to replace him. We live in a time of extraordinary change change thats reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world, said Obama, standing before Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Its change that can broaden opportunity or widen inequality. And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate. Obamas speech came with more than a year remaining in the White House. But he seemed to be already thinking of what the place would look like without him and trying to balance confidence in his achievements (Ask Osama bin Laden, he said at one point) with acknowledgments that many Americans didnt feel as good about the Obama era as he did. Obama said one of the few regrets of his presidency was that after he ran on a message of unity and healing American politics had become more divided and resentful on his watch. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office, Obama said. But without naming them directly, Obama ripped into several leading GOP presidential candidates in blunt terms, suggesting they were stoking old fears about threatening groups and ideas. In an uncertain world, he said, our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians. Thats why we need to reject any politics any politics, he repeated for emphasis, that targets people because of race or religion. Let me say this: This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding just what it is that makes us strong. Presidents typically lay out the challenges they see the country facing in their farewell address, just before leaving office. But Obama chose to do that on Tuesday, declaring that many of his goals would be left for future administrations and future generations. The Associated Press contributed to this report. WASHINGTON Over the course of 48 hours, Americans will confront two starkly disparate views of Barack Obamas America that will frame the debate over the future of the country in this election year and beyond. The nation described by the president Tuesday night in his final State of the Union address is a global power on the rise again, with more jobs, better health care and stunning innovation. Although grappling with serious challenges, it is poised for greater progress. The country that Republican presidential candidates will depict Thursday night in their next nationally televised debate is a darker place, a once-great power that has lost ground in a dangerous world, surrendered its authority and leadership, and diminished freedom and opportunity at home. Whichever view ultimately seems more credible to the public will help determine who succeeds Obama next January and sets the nations course for the following four years. For months, Republicans led by Donald Trump have tapped into a deep river of discontent in the electorate, and Obama decided to use the most prominent platform in American politics to push back. Tonight was President Obamas morning-in-America response to the malaise speech that the Republican candidates have been delivering for the last year, said Jon Favreau, the presidents former chief speechwriter. From Reagan to Clinton and Obama, people have never elected a pessimistic president who talks about America like its a Mad Max movie. But Republicans said Obama would have a hard time convincing the public with a rosy picture that conflicts with their own perceptions and experiences. Irans detention of 10 U.S. sailors from two Navy patrol boats in the Persian Gulf just hours before the presidents address provided timely ammunition for the Republican case that his diplomacy with Tehran has been misplaced and undercut U.S. power. Americans wake up every day to more bad news with a world in constant crisis, said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focused on national security. American leadership is in decline while the world is in full meltdown with Iranian mullahs, Russian dictators and radical Islamists on the ascent. No State of the Union address, no matter how eloquent, can explain away that harsh reality. Republicans are not the only ones who see a glass half empty. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist who has mounted a populist challenge to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, has drawn huge crowds with his portrayal of a country dominated by well-heeled Wall Street plutocrats profiting off workers who have increasingly lost ground. Such negativity from the right and left has exasperated Obama, who has gotten less credit than aides say he deserves for the progress of the last seven years. Aides said he wanted his final State of the Union address not only to point the way forward, but also to refute the gloomy assessments Republicans routinely present. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction, Obama told the lawmakers in the House chamber and millions watching at home who could easily guess the anyone he had in mind. A few minutes later, he added: I told you earlier all the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. By some measures, Obama has a compelling case. Unemployment has fallen to 5 percent, less than half its peak during the economic crisis he inherited, and nearly 14 million more jobs have been created since the recovery began. More than 17 million Americans have health care coverage under Obamas program. Median household income finally reached $56,746 in November, the level when the recession began, according to one research firm. After a near-death experience, the auto industry has surged. Violent crime is down; so are gas prices. To Republicans who wont give the president any credit for any success in 2016, I would just suggest they read the statistics about where we were at his first State of the Union address in 2009, said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y. But they cant afford to do that and that is part of their political calculation. They are so petrified by the fear of a primary on the right. But two out of three Americans still feel the country is on the wrong path, in part because the gains of the last few years have not been distributed evenly. Income disparities have grown worse. The poverty rate remains at 14.8 percent, higher than when Obama took office. Although the budget deficit has been slashed from its recession spike, the overall national debt has ballooned from $11 trillion to $18 trillion under Obama. More challenging to the presidents argument may be foreign policy, where his successes have been overshadowed by turmoil from Paris to Ukraine to Libya to Syria. Obama has in the last year secured a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, reopened an embassy in Cuba, sealed a free-trade pact in the Asia-Pacific region and corralled the world into a climate change accord. But each of those agreements has its critics who worry about the economic or national security impact. The resurgence of Vladimir Putins Russia, the devastating civil war in Syria and the rise of the Islamic State, accompanied by terrorist attacks and beheadings, have unsettled many Americans. A president who authorized the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and who hoped to leave office having ended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will instead hand his successor an unresolved war spreading across multiple countries. Where he used to boast that he had decimated core al-Qaida, on Tuesday night he said it still posed a direct threat to Americans. Its increasingly clear the anxiety voters feel is not just economic, said Sara Fagen, a Republican strategist. They are concerned with what they perceive as a weakened America on the world stage. They believe that even if America was leading, the rest of the world would not follow us. Obamas actions on Iran, Syria and Russia have done nothing to assuage that fear. One of the hardest things for a president to do is to assuage fear, and as the aftermath of the attack in San Bernardino, California, showed, Obamas style tends toward the intellectual, and at times didactic, even as he is trying to be reassuring. He took over in exceedingly hard times and has struggled ever since to inspire in office the way he did on the campaign trail. But as he begins his final stretch, he has a bully pulpit and he made clear Tuesday night that he intends to use it. He has 373 days left to define what people think of Barack Obamas America. SACRAMENTO The California High-Speed Rail Authority board Tuesday awarded a three-year contract valued at $444.3 million for design and construction of the third segment of the rail line in the San Joaquin Valley. Tuesdays 6-0 vote by the rail agencys directors authorizes CEO Jeff Morales to negotiate and finalize a contract with California Rail Builders for a 22-mile stretch of the bullet-train route from the Tulare-Kern county line to Poplar Avenue in Shafter, northwest of Bakersfield. California Rail Builders submitted the lowest-cost bid among four proposals by firms competing for the job. California Rail Builders is led by Ferrovial Agroman US Corp., an American subsidiary of Spains Ferrovial S.A., and augmented by Eurostudios, a Spanish engineering company, and Othon Inc., a Houston engineering and environmental consulting firm. Ferrovial has extensive experience in infrastructure construction in the United States and around the world, including work on high-speed rail lines in Spain, Turkey, Algeria and Columbia. The California Rail Builders/Ferrovial Agroman bid came in at $347.5 million, well below engineers estimates of $400 million to $500 million. The rest of the contract value comes from an estimated $107 million to cover the costs of protecting or relocating utilities owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., AT&T and Level 3 Communications. The contract covers construction of the route up to the railbed in both at-grade and elevated areas, as well as relocating four miles of existing freight tracks, crossings for waterways and wildlife, and some road overpasses to carry traffic over the new line. Once a contract is executed, it will extend work being done by construction teams that have contracts for nearly 100 miles of rail line in the San Joaquin Valley, stretching from Avenue 17 northeast of Madera to the Tulare-Kern county line. The first contract, for just under $1 billion, was awarded in mid-2013 to Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons for a 29-mile segment from Madera to the south edge of Fresno. The second contract, for about $1.4 billion, was awarded a year ago to Dragados/Flatiron, a joint venture of two construction firms, and covers about 65 miles from American Avenue south of Fresno to the Tulare-Kern county line. Construction will start later this year on the second contract south of Fresno. Work is under way on the Fresno-Madera segment, but is running well behind the original schedule. Scott Jarvis, the rail authoritys chief engineer, said delays in buying or acquiring the land needed for the railroad right of way has meant slow progress. But, he added, the authority is slowly catching up on delivering the land needed by the contractor for substantial construction to happen. We are getting to a point where we have a critical mass to start construction at multiple locations in the Fresno-Madera section, Jarvis told the boards finance & audit committee before Tuesdays board meeting. Right of way is no longer hindering (the contractors) capacity to start construction. The anticipated completion date for the Fresno-Madera section remains mid-2018, said Jarvis. But that date could be pushed back into 2019 as the rail authority and the contractor negotiate possible changes to address the late start in construction caused by the slow pace of land acquisition. Land purchase for the section between Fresno and the Tulare-Kern line is ahead of schedule, Jarvis added, keeping the schedule on pace for completion of construction in mid-2019. One final construction package is expected to include laying rails along the entire Madera-Shafter route through the Valley. Lisa Alley, an authority spokeswoman, and Jarvis said that contract could also include other components needed to test and operate a train system, including the electrical system to power the trains, signal and safety systems and communications. Jarvis said the authority may be able to seek proposals for that contract by the end of this year. So far, the winning bids for all three design/construction contracts in the Valley have all come in significantly below engineers estimates. Cumulatively, the authority estimated that the three sections would cost between $3 billion and $4 billion; the total of the winning bids for the three contracts add up to less than $2.6 billion, not counting add-ons allowed for hazardous waste cleanup or utility relocation work. The project continues to face considerable obstacles, however, from legal challenges to political opposition to questions about its ongoing financial resources. The rail authority has about $6 billion for construction in the Valley, including about $3 billion in federal stimulus and transportation funds and $3 billion from Proposition 1A, a high-speed rail bond measure approved by California voters in 2008. It is also receiving a share, estimated at about $500 million a year, from the states greenhouse-gas reduction program funded by the sale of industrial pollution credits. But the available money is a far cry from the $68 billion that the agency forecasts as the cost to build Phase 1 of its statewide system linking San Francisco and Los Angeles with trains capable of traveling at up to 220 mph through the Valley. LAGUNA BEACH A 68-year-old woman crashed into a pole Tuesday night, prompting authorities to close Laguna Canyon Road in both directions. Shortly before 7 p.m., the woman was driving on Laguna Canyon Road when she struck a pole at Big Bend, Laguna Beach police Sgt. Tim Kleisser said. The pole was severed and the electric lines hung low across the road. Laguna Beach police closed the road around 7 p.m. It is expected to be closed through the night. It was not immediately clear if the woman was injured. Kleisser said drug or alcohol were not factors in the crash. By 9:05 p.m., traffic was backing up to the I-405 freeway and El Toro Road. The road reopened at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Vietnamese mergers and acquisitions are forecast to hit a fresh record again this year, spurred by foreign buyers interest in the countrys fast-growing consumer sector. Announced acquisitions involving Vietnamese companies rose 40 percent last year to $4.3 billion, beating the previous record of $4.2 billion from 2012, data from the Vienna-based Institute of Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances show. Dealmaking could rise further in 2016 after free-trade agreements came into effect and the government passed streamlined investment rules, according to Baker & McKenzie and Duane Morris LLP. Overseas buyers are attracted by an economy forecast to expand 6.7 percent in 2016, the fastest pace in nine years, and a consumer market where 60 percent of the population is under age 35. Boon Rawd Brewery Co., Thailands oldest beer producer, agreed last month to invest $1.1 billion in units of Vietnams Masan Group Corp. that make Phu Yen beer and Nam Ngu fermented fish sauce. There is a clearer path for people interested in M&A in Vietnam, said Baker & McKenzie (Vietnam) Ltd. Managing Partner Fred Burke, who advised Boon Rawd on the deal, which was the biggest overseas purchase in the country in more than three years. The way things are going, M&A activity could be even bigger this year. The country revised its investment legislation over the past several months in part to make the process of buying local companies quicker and more transparent. An amended law, enacted in July, cut the time needed to acquire an investment license by two-thirds to 15 days. Vietnam in December specified 18 industries where foreign investment is allowed, including consumer, property, transport, construction and manufacturing. A June decree said foreigners could for the first time buy majority stakes in some kinds of publicly-listed companies including brokerages. ANA Holdings Inc., operator of Japans biggest airline, agreed this week to buy a $108 million stake in state-owned Vietnam Airlines Corp. The government said in March that Frances Aeroports De Paris was interested in acquiring a stake in Airports Corp. of Vietnam, which is overseeing a construction boom. Vietnam said in October it plans to sell its entire 45.1 percent stake in Vietnam Dairy Products JSC, the nations largest listed company, valued at about $3 billion. As long as the government stays true to its course, inflow of foreign capital should continue to increase, especially in 2016 and 2017, Ralf Matthaes, managing director of consultancy Infocus Mekong Research in Ho Chi Minh City, said in an e-mail. Such deals are being encouraged by an expanding middle class in Vietnam, where consumer spending is forecast to grow 47 percent in the four years through 2019 to $184.9 billion, data from Euromonitor International show. Beer intake alone is set to rise 33 percent over the period to 4.8 billion liters, while consumption in Thailand will fall over the same period, according to Euromonitor. There is still work to be done. Vietnams customs and tax procedures are torturous and access to loans needs to be improved, said Oliver Massmann, partner and general director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC. Overseas companies also need to do extensive due diligence on acquisition targets in Vietnam to ensure they are well managed, according to Baker & McKenzies Burke. Any worsening of the Chinese market rout could also cause investors to pull capital out of other emerging markets like Vietnam, said Chris Freund, a partner at Ho Chi Minh City-based Mekong Capital Ltd. To live up to its promise, Vietnam will need to keep its commitments made in recent trade pacts, Duane Morriss Massmann said. A free-trade agreement with South Korea took effect at the end of December, while Vietnam and the European Union approved a new free trade agreement last month. That could help further boost overseas companies participation in Vietnam, where disbursed foreign direct investment jumped 17 percent last year to a record $14.5 billion, according to government data. The countrys deeper and wider integration into the worlds economy is offering new opportunities for M&A activities, Massmann said. The trend will continue. Brooklyns Crown Heights neighborhood is home to a mysterious restaurant that serves delicious home-cooked Caribbean Food through a hole in the wall. Thats actually what the owner, a man named Papa who moved to Brooklyn from Jamaica eight years ago, and his patrons call the unique eatery. The name Hole in the Wall isnt just clever wordplay, its as literal as it gets from the outside, the restaurant is just a rectangular hole cut out from a storefront grate located on Kingston Avenue. Theres no sign, no hours, no menu, and not even a door to walk through. Papa simply opens up the hole each morning when the food is ready, and closes it when the stock for the day is sold out. His Caribbean dishes are fresh, tasty, and best of all, free from sales tax. Photo: Scott Heins/Gothamist The meal options are the same every day curry goat, marinated chicken, oxtail, or sauteed fish, served with rice, beans, and chopped vegetables. Each dish is packed in styrofoam containers of two different sizes, priced at $6 and $10. Theres no place to sit and dine, but as Gothamists Scott Heins points out, the benches of Brower Park are only a five minute stroll away. Photo: Edible Brooklyn I sampled his chicken and curry goat, which both arrived in near-bursting containers, Heins added. At these prices its not just a bargain, but a satisfying break from the bustle of Franklin Avenue, where one can get lost amidst the brunch wait lists and mountains of organic scones. Despite a total lack of advertising and promotion in a neighborhood brimming with West Indian eateries, the chicken cavern has managed to keep its simple and tasty operation running. Photo: Michelle Young/Untapped Cities By all accounts, the food served at Hole in the Wall is delicious, but its the eaterys air of mystery and exclusivity that make it so special. Not many people know about this place so youre never going to see a line of hungry people formed in front of it, and having to pop by not knowing if food is available apparently acts as a draw for New Yorkers sick of conventional restaurants. Meet Yoshinari Nakamatsu, aka Dr. NakaMats, a prolific inventor and Japans very own Patent King. With over 3,500 patents to his name, the 87-year-old had no plans to retire his dream was to live to the ripe old age of 144 and eventually produce at least 6,000 patents. Sadly, theres a serious obstacle to that goal now hes been diagnosed with terminal cancer and isnt expected to be around much longer. But the eccentric mastermind and self-professed polymath doesnt plan on going down without a fight. Hes been spending his last days doing the one thing he does best inventing. Best known for licensing the floppy disk to IBM corporation in the 1970s, Dr. NakaMats has spent the past two years trying to invent a cure for his deadly disease. The rare ductal prostate cancer was discovered in 2013, and his doctors told him he only had around two years left. However, Nakamatsu has been fortunate to make it into 2016 and he is still investigating all kinds of therapy so people could live longer. He is determined to continue doing so until the very end. Im going to discover a new treatment, he asserted in a 2014 interview. Photo: YouTube video caption At a press conference on 24 December 2015, Dr. NakaMats said that hed initially doubted the diagnosis and went for several medical opinions before he was finally convinced. Later, he realised that radiation therapy and surgery were out of question for a man his age. So he turned to developing alternative therapies involving cancer-busting superfoods, immunity-boosting teas, and a special style of singing that could trigger cancer immunity in the brain. Hes also tried to design a robot that could cure the disease. These ideas seem outlandish, but keep in mind that Dr. NakaMats earned his first patent at age 14, for a pump he invented when he saw his mother struggling to transfer soy sauce from a large container to a smaller one. Today, the device is known the world over as the kerosene pump. This is the man who gave the world inventions like Pyon Pyon boots with springs that add an extra bounce while running, and Love Jet an alternative to Viagra. And some of these items are still on the market. He won the Grand Prix award at the International Invention Contest a whopping 41 times, and has more patents to his name than Thomas Edison himself. Photo: YouTube video caption When he puts his mind to something, Dr. NakaMats rarely gives up. Apart from devising his own therapy, hes pursuing four other life goals right now inventing an alternative to nuclear energy, a new type of public transport, a device that stores information efficiently and makes Big Data more manageable, as well as passing on his skills to the worlds youth. Surprisingly, Dr. NakaMats isnt bitter or angry about the disease putting a stopper on his dreams. Im thankful that the heavens gave me this incredibly difficult form of cancer, they gave me the chance to invent my own cure and help both myself and others, he said. If it were stomach cancer I would have been angry as that would have been easier to treat. Everything I invent, I do out of love, he said. Im enjoying my last days. But Im still inventing. Sources: VICE Motherboard, Tokyo Weekender Ronn Torossian On Monday morning, news of David Bowies death sent the world reeling. Bowie had made headlines just a few days earlier with the release of his twenty-sixth studio album, Blackstar, and two accompanying music videos. The Blackstar and Lazarus videos were already generating a lot of buzz, and Bowies devoted fan base was eager for news of a tour. Even some of his closest friends hadnt known that a year and a half before the albums release, he was diagnosed with the disease that would claim his life. Bowie intentionally concealed his fight against cancer, focusing instead on recording the new release. This stands in stark contrast to the now-popular publicity strategy with pop stars highlighting the most private corners of their personal lives to gratify curious fans. Many even bypass PR agencies and publicists, expressing themselves directly on Twitter and similar social media platforms a tactic that garners attention. As a global superstar, David Bowies privacy in the final months of his life is not only distinctive but a remarkable feat of intentional concealment. Throughout his career, Bowie worked hard to promote himself as a figure both larger than life and otherworldly. His artwork and public persona presented him as futuristic, strange and inaccessible. Though he courted media attention, his brand shied away from the obviously relatable and human elements of his life details that now flood many younger artists media output. His interview and performance style, along with his choice in creative projects, served his mysterious image, fascinating millions over the course of decades. The decision to place his artwork before his personal struggles is very much in line with his brand, leaving many awed at the reserve he demonstrated until the very end. While Bowies privacy surrounding his battle with cancer reflects his aloof image, his decision to continue working on Blackstar speaks to his artistic integrity. A prolific musician, Bowie also starred in a number of films and collaborated with several famous artists as he developed his own work. Courageous in his creative explorations, he was a superhero with fans of underground and top-40 musicians alike. His work on music and films was consistently top quality and almost universally praised by critics, demonstrating his refusal to let fame erode his artistry. He was surely aware that responding to media inquiries about his illness would compromise his focus on Blackstar. The dramatic and emotional circumstances around David Bowies death places the Blackstar media campaign in a category all its own, not unlike the man himself. David Bowie will be sorely missed. * * * Ronn Torossian is the CEO of 5W Public Relations. 5WPR is headquartered in NYC with offices in Denver and Los Angeles. Erica Archambault McCabe Interpublic unit Current has hired Erica Archambault McCabe, who will serve as executive vice president in that agencys San Francisco office. McCabe is a former marketing executive at clothing and accessories giant Gap Inc., where she served as senior director of brand engagement and managed the retailers PR, digital and social media programs. Prior to Gap, McCabe was senior director of global public relations at Levi Strauss & Co., where she worked for seven years. At Current, McCabe will oversee the teams responsible for client Clorox Company, which includes brands such as Hidden Valley, Kingsford and Liquid Plumr. She will also spearhead new business opportunities for the agency in the Bay area. Current founder and president Virginia Devlin said McCabe will make a fantastic addition to our California leadership team, with a proven track record of developing innovative marketing programs and building, leading and motivating successful teams. Chicago-headquartered Current, which specializes in consumer products, food and beverage, home, travel and wellness, holds additional offices in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles. Dan Cence Boston-based agency Solomon McCown & Company today announced that it has launched a government relations practice. That newly unveiled operation will be headed by PR strategist and government relations veteran Daniel Cence, who will wear the title of senior vice president. The agency said the newly minted government relations practice serves as a natural extension of its public affairs expertise. Our sweet spot as an agency is at the intersection of business and policy, so we have always had a depth of expertise in public affairs, Solomon McCown president Ashley McCown told O'Dwyer's. More and more clients and prospective clients are looking for government relations services, so now is the time to meet that demand. Cence will head Solomon McCowns government relations practice, and will also supply strategic PR counsel for clients in the agencys real estate, health care, corporate, education and mission-based sectors. He will contribute to Solomon McCowns integrated digital social media and marketing services, and will also be a member of the agencys crisis management team. Cence previously founded and managed two political consulting and government affairs firms. He was principal of Cence Cincotti Strategies, which he founded in 2007, and was previously communications director at Newgrange Consulting. Before that he was director of intergovernmental affairs at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, and served lawmakers such as Suffolk County DA Dan Conley and former city councilor Tom Keane. He was also part of the reelection team for former Boston mayor Tom Menino. In a statement, Solomon McCown CEO Helene Solomon said the agency, which had previously worked with Cence "on a number of engagements over the years," would benefit from Cences ability to help advance our clients business goals by ensuring their voices are heard in shaping public policy." Cence called his addition to the agency a great, natural fit that makes sense on so many levels. We share the same philosophy of fiercely advocating for our clients with a keen eye for detail and a dogged determination to get the job done, Cence said in a statement. Boston-based Solomon McCown, which specializes in strategic communications, media relations, public affairs and crisis management, was founded in 2003 and holds an additional office in New York. Do stuff! Palomar Divide is a picnic run not because its easy (though most of it was dont stress this one), but because it was long enough that youll want to bring some leftover pork chops and a bottle or two of sauce for lunch. That said, the daylight required for this trail adds interest: Palomar Divide Road is an approachable, safe and occasionally sporty run through San Diegos mountainous backside thats a great drag-the-kids-along off-road trail that can fill a casual Sunday or half a Saturday. Palomar Divide Road and Truck Trail: San Diego County... Pros: - A good driver youll climb and climb, and when you do youre really there. - Rare views of the Palomar range, from its rarely visited eastern side. - Additional remarkable views of the Palomar Observatorys telescopes. - Access to one of Californias few remaining (much to fire professionals chagrin) operational observation towers, High Point Lookout. - Enough local color before and after the trail (as well as en route) to make touristy excuses for the run as if you needed them. - Several historic buildings and mine sites are ripe for exploring get a good local map like the Forest Service map of the Cleveland National Forest. Cons: - Blocked continuations and connecting trails this solitary trail could be a high-Q complex if so much of it wasnt closed off by taxpayer-glutted bureaucracy. We counted four locked gates, and theres probably a few we overlooked. - Its a day run masquerading as a morning run. - The terrain isnt tough unless you make it. Hard Points: What, Where and How Trailheads: the Palomar Divide run (Palomar Divide Road 9S07, briefly 9S09 and then High Point Road 8S05) has northern and southern jump-off points. Access from greater San Diego is cake 8 east to State Route 79 north, or State 67 through Ramona to the selfsame 79 north, both taken past Warner Springs. Look for the partially concealed dirt turnoff to 9S07 on your left about three miles past the glider port. To approach the trail from the north, grab the 79 east out of Temecula (hard aside the 15 freeway), and about 12 miles along youll find the trailhead cleverly concealed as a slightly upscale mobile-home park near Aguanga. At this end, the trail is known as High Point Road (8S05), which connects with 9S09 to the 9S07 near the observation tower. Terrain: main trail = graded dirt/rough dirt; spur trails = occasionally rutted, rocky loose dirt, some sloppy two-track. The Palomar Divide run doesnt have much to sweat for a competent off-roader. Thats a good thing if youre out with the wifey and kidlings for a lunch run or breaking in a newb. Vehicle Requirements: main trail = a little bit of clearance and good tires will make two-wheel drive enough (Subarus and other all-wheel drive guys will do fine as well); spur trails = four-by helps, plus tires that you know. There are very few tight turns, but none would disqualify a longish truck. Skill Requirements: main trail = newbie; spur trails = practiced newbie or better vehicle control. The biggest caveat would be to be prepared for a longer day on the trail. Author and Photographers Equipment: third-gen 4Runner with more rounds in the ring than George Foreman, four-wheel drive, rear locker, custom three-inch spring lift, worn Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors @ 22psi; accompanied by three-inched FJ80 on Wrangler MT/R-Kevlars, four-by and locked all around. Heading for the Fire Tower from Palomar Divides Southernmost Point The run up and down this old fire road is about 20 miles from head to foot, and it will take you a good length of the Aguanga Mountain/Palomar Mountain ridge complex. We racked up more than 25 miles running roughly northwest, but that included poking around on every spur that looked like it needed some Toyota. Youll see more folks and vehicles on-trail during the hunting seasons, and with at least one mine in operation on Aguanga Mountian (the formerly cool touristy viewpoint known as the Ware Mine), there is some equipment use. When you spot the gated Ware Mine (about where the semi-paved road surface ends), youll note noteworthy tailings piles on the opposite side of 9S07, remnants of the Maple Lode and adjacent mines. Most of this Forest department road runs in the patchwork Cleveland National Forest, so youll encounter campers, hikers and bikers as well, and the drop-in trail known as Barker Spur heads west from the Divide Road a scosche north of Palomar Divides intersection with the unfathomably gated (dude, why?) Halfway Road (9S06). As the trail never gets too hairy, we didnt overdo dropping tire pressure, and 22 psi will work on a good tire all day long, and so long as youre not moving at freeway speed it wont generate too much sidewall heat. 9S07 is mostly washboard and lumpy gravel-type stuff following the poorly paved section approaching the Ware Mine. Northwest past the Halfway Road intersection, youll encounter a few slightly puckery spots of limited trail width, but again, if youre careful, its not a big deal. Its such a not-big-deal that you could easily run a Super Duty Ford the full length of this run. Beyond the visible mines and Barker Spur (about 12 miles along from the southeastern ingress) plus another mile or so, youll encounter the partially wooded high glen that precedes your arrival at the High Point fire-observatory tower. There are a few playful two-track offshoots to several micropeaks here; be sure to explore. Half a mile past this patch of pin-oaked woods, youll turn sharply uphill to the fire lookout itself. The climb to High Point is tighter than most of Palomar Divide Road, and the trail is less composed. High Point Tower and A Really Good View About that picnic lunch... Recommended? Sure who doesnt like to eat? The fire tower overlooking the Palomar Mountain telescopes has big fat wide view, a few neat tables, a friendly knoll full of scrub, and a charming watchtower guy sourced from a volunteer force of retired guys we met Volunteer Piller at the time. High Points unending panorama includes Palomar Mountains observatories, Palomar Mountain itself, and the west fork of the San Luis Rey River in Barker Valley to the west, plus Beauty and Bucksnort Moutains to the east. High Point Tower itself is a cool/sad slice of California history. Not many of these active fire towers are left: in its gleeful blindness to actual effectiveness, the state decided it could spend a fortune and have less effect by closing down these manned towers, instead using a lot of remote cameras and weather stations to spot fires (which have proven to cost more and work less). High Point, which was deactivated in 1992 then reactivated after 2005, is one of three or four of the original 30-plus that dotted the state. Of course, the rediscovery of old-school value like this has not stopped Kalifornistan from spending a fresh fortune on it by installing some sort of self-immolating toilet powered by nuclear unicorn farts instead of digging an outhouse or asking the rare visitor to pee in the bushes, or, gasp (!), continuing to use the available portable bathroom. Points Beyond High Point Past High Point, we attempted to drive around the backside of Palomar to connect with the road network on the western side of Palomar Mountain, the famous South Grade. It seemed like a great connection that could turn the day trip into a brunch run, but in its bureaucratic monolithience, the state and CalTech had seen to it that the gate was locked. There were more than a few locked gates; in fact, with the aptly named Halfway Road (9S06), the lower reaches of Oak Grove Road (9S09) and Oak Grove Trail (2E03) joining the road to Palomar Mountains observatories and South and East Grades (State Route 6 and 7) are blocked. Correct us if this seems outlandish, but weve come to the conclusion that part of the ongoing cold war on four-wheelers and off-roaders being waged by trail-closure groups, watermelon environmentalists and other area-denial nanny-statists has devolved into outright obstruction of potential options to access long trails like this, forcing recreational drivers to endure less variability and reduced connectivity, which in turn reduces a legitimate adventure around the backwoods into a less interesting, less inspiring one-way amusement park ride. The same limitation seems to be going on elsewhere in San Diegos backcountry in several spots on the Saddleback ridge complex that straddles Orange and Riverside counties, and in trail networks throughout the U.S. Tell us were wrong. Dropping down from the observation tower if you choose to proceed northish towards Aguanga Valley on Oak Grove Road (9S09), which becomes High Point Road (8S05) this run... runs... about 13 miles. The northish downhill is not as tough as it looks, though there are some slightly puckery descending moments and a few blind switchbacks that require your attention. From the looks of things, this trail sees a grader more than once in a blue moon. Youll be losing altitude fast remember to brake with the engine as often as possible. While the 4Runner used for this story is outfitted with oversized brakes that never fade (Tundra swap see the story on Off-Road.com), the FJ-80 driven by Off-Road.com editor Jaime Hernandez is still rolling on stock-sized brakes with a lot of meat on the wheels, so hes a big fan of engine braking. The bulk of High Point feels like Indian Truck Trail on the Saddleback Mountain trail complex in Orange and Riverside Counties, where it drops off North Main Divide. Most of the fun offshoots and shunts on Indian Truck are near the top, however, while the opportunities for trailplay on 8S05 are near the bottom, with tracks to follow to explorable nooks and crannies. References: Backcountry Adventures, Southern California; Peter Massey and Jeanne Wilson, Swagman Publishing 2006 California Road & Recreation Atlas; Benchmark Maps, Benchmark Maps 2007 Cleveland National Forest Atlas, Pacific Southwest Region; USDA Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture 2012 Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. Haile Selassie Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... The convicted former chief executive of TierOne Bank, Gilbert Lundstrom, has filed new court motions asking for an acquittal and for a new trial. The documents were filed in U.S. District Court in Lincoln last week and are standard operating procedure after a conviction in a federal criminal trial. Lundstrom was found guilty on 12 of 13 white-collar fraud counts in November after a two-week trial. Age 74 at the time of conviction, he faces the prospect of a prison sentence of hundreds of years if he receives the maximum penalties at a sentencing scheduled for next month. Jurors agreed with prosecutors that Lundstrom directed subordinates to hide more than $100 million in bad real estate loans from investors and regulators. The Lincoln-based bank eventually collapsed under the weight of the uncollectible real estate loans made to developers in Las Vegas and other hot property markets. Lundstrom lawyers argued in the post-trial documents that prosecutors failed to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the former executive was guilty of each element of every count. Lundstrom is free pending sentencing. After the trial, the Lincoln resident received permission from authorities to live in his second home in Florida. For this past Christmas season, the owner and staff at Nouvelle Eve, the iconic womens boutique at the corner of 11th and Howard Streets, turned a mannequin into a sparkling Christmas tree. It was a labor of love that had owner Susie Keuck, daughter Lindsay Keuck and staff members working late into the night. The boutique, which has graced the buildings southwest corner for more than 40 years, is closed, destroyed by the fire Saturday that swept through the building in Omahas Old Market district. Susie Keuck, who is still trying to comprehend the loss of her store, said she doesnt yet have plans to relocate it or open at a temporary location. Its too early to tell, she said. Nouvelle Eve offered most everything a woman would need for her wardrobe: loungewear, designer dresses, diamond jewelry and high-end handbags. Keuck, her daughter and the stores management team did all their own marketing, advertising, social media and window displays. Everyone wears many hats, Keuck said. We really operated as a family. Andrea Lang, an instructor at Metropolitan Community College, said shes been shopping at Nouvelle Eve since the 1980s. My mom took me there in high school when all I could afford was a headband or an accessory, she said. As my career progressed, I was able to buy clothing there. Lang was in the boutique last Thursday, Johnny on the spot for the first day of the Nouvelle Eves Warehouse Sale. The staff has always been friendly, she said. They provide the kind of service you only get in a local business. For a long time it was the only independent boutique in Omaha that was edgy and fashion-forward, Lang said. Lang is one of many customers trying to process the stores closure. I feel completely heartsick about this. Its such a loss. I really hope they rebuild. Just like Ms, its an institution. City officials said Monday that it might take two years before the site is available for occupancy. Its so hard to fathom that it might take two years, Keuck said. If it seems as if it might take that long, Keuck said she might consider opening a temporary location. Keuck said she had not heard anything from authorities about the buildings condition but hopes to have more information later this week. The blaze destroyed the store and its contents, along with its second-floor office. The building also housed Ms Pub and five apartments, which also were destroyed by the fire. Like other business owners, apartment occupants and Old Market supporters, Keuck said she hopes that Mercer Management, the buildings owner, will be able to restore or reconstruct the building. We want that corner, she said. I would prefer to reopen at 11th and Howard. Keuck, who had been the stores general manager since 2006, purchased the store from its founder, Kat Moser, in 2012. Moser, the stores original owner, told The World-Herald this week that she launched the store in 1973 at a time, she said, when few women owned retail clothing businesses. I started it in 1973 when there was nothing down there but Ms and the French Cafe, so I always regarded Nouvelle Eve as one of the founders, she said. Moser said she wanted her store to provide the kind of fashion experience that one would expect to find in New York and San Francisco. If you wanted to know what the pulse of fashion was, you turned to Vogue magazine or Nouvelle Eve, said Rose Nied, one of the stores early admirers and an Omaha retailer. Moser said she hopes that Keuck will be able to reopen the store as soon as possible. I hope it will be back. It is the best location in the Old Market, Moser said. Contact the writer: 402-444-1142, janice.podsada@owh.com PHILADELPHIA (AP) The owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com has turned over the media company to a nonprofit institute, hoping that a new business model will help those news media survive the digital age and stanch years of layoffs and losses. Local philanthropist H.F. Gerry Lenfest, who bought the media company in 2014, will give the struggling properties to the newly formed Institute for Journalism in New Media. And he will donate $20 million to endow the enterprise. My goal is to ensure that the journalism traditionally provided by the printed newspapers is given a new life and prolonged, while new media formats for its distribution are being developed, Lenfest said Tuesday. He pledged that the new endeavor would continue to produce independent public service journalism and investigative reporting that positively impacts the community, while also creating innovative multimedia content. The broadsheet Inquirer has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in journalism. The tabloid Daily News has won three. Readers will not see any immediate changes and contracts with labor unions will remain in force, Lenfest said. In 2000, Lenfest sold a cable empire he built to Comcast Corp., supplying him with more money than he knew what to do with, he said. Money is a responsibility when you have that kind of wealth. Ive tried to do right by it. Perhaps the greatest opportunity came with the ownership of these newspapers, he said. What would this city be without the Inquirer and Daily News? Last year, Philadelphia Media Network announced a consolidation of its newsrooms, a cost-cutting move, following a decade of cutbacks and management upheaval. It continues to publish both morning newspapers. The staff, Lenfest said, must meet our readers where they are and where they are going in the future as well as develop fresh ways in which advertisers can reach these engaged daily readers in print and online. Philadelphia Media Network will remain a self-governing, for-profit company, owned by the new institute and run by the news organizations current management team and board of directors, Lenfest said. The hybrid set-up is designed to let the nonprofit institute accept charitable contributions and pass them on to the for-profit news company, supplementing its financial ability to pursue investigative journalism. At the same time, the media company will not be hampered by the political restrictions that come with being a nonprofit, and it will be forced to remain a viable financial business. Thus Philadelphia Media Network would join a small number of newspaper operations run by nonprofits or trusts, such as the Tampa Bay Times in St. Petersburg, Florida, a for-profit operation owned by the Poynter Institute, and the Day, a newspaper based in New London, Connecticut, thats held in a public trust. While the flames from the Ms Pub blaze are extinguished, a possible legal battle is just heating up. Omaha trial attorney David Domina said Tuesday that he has been hired by the owners of the destroyed Ms Pub to handle legal matters. That could mean lawsuits are coming after the Saturday fire that tore through the landmark building in the Old Market, leaving only a scarred hulk. We are actively investigating alternatives for the owners of Ms Pub Inc., Domina told The World-Herald on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, opened a formal investigation of one of the contractors working near the site of the Ms fire, it announced Tuesday. As for the prospect of civil lawsuits to collect monetary damages, Domina said the investigation into the fire is just getting underway. Any court action would happen only after enough information is gathered. Many things need to be done to assure that losses are minimized, evidence is gathered and protected, and decisions are made and implemented in a logical sequence, Domina said. When there is sufficient information so quality decisions can be made and steps taken, those things will occur. An investigation into what caused the fire a key determination in assigning financial liability for it is ongoing by the Omaha Fire Department. The fire started at about 2:50 p.m. at the historic building at 422 South 11th St. Some eyewitnesses told The World-Herald of a strong odor of natural gas in the area at the time. The Omaha Fire Department called the Ms Pub fire gas-fed. A fiber-optic installation crew from Minnesota-based North Central Service was working underground in the area at the time, according to city digging permits, performing work on behalf of a second company called Unite Private Networks, which was in turn working on a fiber-optic project for telecom giant Verizon Communications. OSHA is investigating North Central; the agencys area director told The World-Herald that it could open formal investigations of Unite and Verizon, depending on the extent of those firms involvement. The federal investigation is separate from that of the Omaha Fire Department. Ms Pub was served by natural gas lines owned and operated by the Metropolitan Utilities District. Its building is owned by Mercer Management, whose Mercer family was heavily involved in the redevelopment of the Old Market District. A woman answering the telephone Tuesday at Mercer Management declined to identify herself and said that none of the companys principals were available and that the no one had any comment. MUD attorney Ron Bucher declined to comment on any possible litigation. Bucher noted that MUD is a political subdivision of the State of Nebraska. That means its covered by the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act. That law is the governing apparatus for damage lawsuits against units of local government. It says that suits must commence within two years, and monetary recoveries are capped at $5 million for all claims arising out of a single occurrence. New York-based Verizon Communications had no comment, spokeswoman Karen Smith said. We look forward to the completion of the investigation, she said. The company is the largest U.S. wireless communications carrier, with $127 billion in revenue in 2014 and $9.6 billion of profit. Smith said that no Verizon employees were at the job site when the fire happened and that its contractor, Unite Private Networks, is cooperating with the Fire Departments investigation. Steve Lefler, an Omaha attorney who lived in a condominium above the Market House, said he expects that he and fellow condo owners eventually will be part of any litigation related to the fire. I will be sending letters to Verizon and the contractors, Lefler told The World-Herald. I am certain our damages will be attached to whoever is at fault here. Lefler said the condo owners met Sunday, and the theme was one of frustration with what appears to be a time lag between what might have been the odor of gas from a broken line and the disabling of that line by the authorities. But we arent sitting in a refugee camp somewhere in Syria, Lefler said. We are all very fortunate everyone who lives there has more than enough resources. David Pritzker, a Minneapolis trial attorney who has handled explosion cases filed against gas companies, said there is a high likelihood of lawsuits being filed very soon in the matter. The building is in ruins, Pritzker said. There is a great need to get it investigated and a case filed while the evidence is still observable. A similar incident occurred just a few years ago in Kansas City, Missouri. Last year, the owners of restaurant there were awarded $5.9 million by a Missouri state court jury after a 2013 natural gas explosion killed one person and injured 15. Almost all of the damages 98 percent were assigned to Time Warner Cable, which was installing fiber-optic lines. Missouri Gas Energy, which owned and operated the gas lines, and a fiber-optic installation company were dismissed from the case, meaning that a settlement involving those parties might have been reached before the trial. That incident generated more than a dozen lawsuits. Steve Emerson is the Kansas City attorney for the Stinson Leonard Street law firm, which won the jury award. He said in his case, the fiber-optic drilling ruptured a gas main, which filled the nearby restaurant. An ignition source, of which he said there are dozens in your average restaurant, then caused the explosion and fire. Emerson said companies engaged in underground drilling are required by law to know what they are doing, and that includes avoiding utility lines. He said work crews have maps, detection equipment and other tools to assist them in avoiding errors. He said, however, that maps can be misread or are ignored, among other failures. Typically, it is a combination of a number of errors, Emerson said. Minneapolis attorney Pritzker said gas companies and underground contractors are often the target of suits after gas explosions and fires. Pritzker said gas-explosion attorneys know of many similar cases. In one, he said, a construction crew installing underground cable ruptured a gas line, leading to an explosion and fire that killed four people and injured 11. An investigation found, Pritzker said, that workers on the crew were inadequately trained in how to detect gas leaks. Pritzker said insurance companies with potential exposure to the fire, such as those for property owners or contractors working in the area, are already conducting their own investigations into what lawyers and insurance investigators call cause and origin. There is going to be a run on cause-and-origin experts in the Midwest, Pritzker said. Fiber-optic cable is the light-carrying workhorse of the digital age that speeds telecommunications signals. Its installation isnt an uncommon theme in natural gas explosions. In a recent case, a Texas homeowner in September sued a fiber-optic contractor working on behalf of AT&T that is alleged to have ruptured a natural gas line serving the house. It exploded into a fireball when the stove was turned on to cook breakfast, the suit says, severely burning the occupants and destroying the house. Back in the Old Market, Market House Restaurant owner Nick Bartholomew is among the burned out. He said he hopes to get a look at his property by Friday, barred for now by the Fire Department investigation. He said if there is fault to be found be it late notification of a gas leak or other improper behavior he will pursue legal remedies. We are definitely interested in protecting the interests our business, our building and our employees and customers, Bartholomew said. Contact the writer: 402-444-3197, russell.hubbard@owh.com I grow things, I ride things, I bake things, I can things, I sew things and I make things. Sit with me on Aunt Mildred's Porch to witness this crazy journey I call my life and share the fun, laughter and utter foolishness that I come across from day to day. If you don't want to see pictures of my butt, you should just move along. 2015 proved a grim year for free speech in India Feature oi-Oneindia By Maitreyee Boruah So, all those complaining about rising "intolerance" in the country are not totally wrong. A recent report--Free speech in India, 2015--released by The Hoot, a media watchdog, states last year proved a grim year for free speech in India. "Eight deaths, 30 attacks, 48 cases of defamation, 14 of sedition-it has been a grim year for free speech in India," says the report. "2015 was a hugely eventful year for free speech in India. There were legal, political and technological developments that set the tone for these issues to be debated all year round. And journalists were at their most vulnerable, with deaths, attacks, threats, sedition and defamation cases against them at an all-time high," adds the report. Read the full report here Every year, The Hoot releases a report on the state of media freedom and free speech in the country. "Each year we produce a report on the state of media freedom and free speech based on data we collect from published sources all year round. This year's report is bigger than usual because so much happened. Sharing it with you and do share with people you think might be interested," writes Sevanti Ninan, Editor, The Hoot, in an e-mail sharing the report with her colleagues in the media industry. Amma of defamation The report cites how Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and her government have muzzled the media by filing a large number of criminal defamation cases against a range of magazines and individuals. "In December 2015 the Telegraph reported that the Jayalalithaa government has filed a total of 190 defamation cases during its tenure," states the survey. Does I&B Ministry works as Modi's image manager? The study conducted by The Hoot criticises the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for substituting as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image manager. "The I& B ministry under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has become an image manager for its leaders and a censor rather than a provider of information. Its brief now is to safeguard the PM's image," it says. Sanskari Censor Board chief and his scissor The Hoot says why the filmmaker-turned-chief of Central Board of Film Certification Pahlaj Nihalani proved bad for the film industry and its creative freedom. "Pahlaj Nihalani remained in news all year round. The body he headed censored some 21 films in the course of the year, one of which came in for 218 cuts," the report says. Chhattisgarh Government versus journalists The Chhattisgarh government jailed two journalists and presided over the state harassment of journalists in the Bastar region, which led them to hold a protest in Jagdalpur at the end of the year, writes The Hoot. Free Speech calendar and its depressing affair The report also finds that every month of 2015 saw several major incidents where free speech and its upholders both came under attack. The year started with a sad note when noted Tamil writer Perumal Murugan announced his death' as a writer on Facebook. He took the decision after the writer was harassed by caste-based and Hindutva groups for his novel Madhorubhagan. In Karnataka, former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University, rationalist and well-known Kannada writer M.M. Kalburgi was shot dead in his residence in August. In October, noted authors and filmmakers returned their awards to protest against rising intolerance in the wake of killing of Professor Kalburgi and the Dadri lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq. The report ended with a detail account of developments in the areas of online and mobile world. BENGALURU: Two senior members of the Legislative Council, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs confidant and former minister H M Revanna, are vying for the ruling partys ticket ahead of the by-poll in Hebbal Assembly constituency on February 13, but veteran leader C.K. Jaffer Shariefs grandson Rehaman Sharief, could make it daunting for top leaders to arrive at a consensus on selection of the candidate. Bypolls are scheduled to be held to fill three vacancies in the Assembly (Hebbal, Bidar and Devadurga) following the demise of candidates representing these constituencies. In Hebbal, however, minorities are demanding that Mr Rehaman Sharief, who unsuccessfully contested in 2013, be given the ticket because the ruling party did not filed a single candidate belonging to minority communities in last months elections to the Legislative Council. In fact, Mr Jaffer Sharief called on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah last month and pleaded with him to give his grandson another chance well before the date of polls was announced. In the just concluded polls to the upper House, the Congress did not field even a single candidate from Muslim community. Mr Rehaman Sharief lost in 2013 by a narrow margin. So, if you go by the convention, he should be natural choice of our party, said a senior Muslim leader. When contacted, Mr Jaffer Sharief told Deccan Chronicle that his grandson was frequently visiting Hebbal constituency even though he lost the previous poll. He was in touch with people, so he should be considered for the ticket. Let us see what leaders decide, Mr Sharief said. Mr Rehaman Shariefs entry, however, could stall Mr Revannas plans to secure the ticket, and thus pose a problem a to the partys top brass during selection of candidates. Besides Mr Revanna, ruling party chief whip in the Legislative Council Mr R.V. Venkatesh, too, seems keen to contest the Hebbal bypoll. Mr Revanna, who earlier contested and lost from Magadi constituency, has been nurturing Hebbal since 2008. He has organized cultural events and has even toured the area extensively but had to yield to pressure tactics by Mr Sharief on the eve of polls to the Assembly in 2013. Sources in the party said Mr Rehaman Sharief lost in 2013 because Mr Abdul Azeem of Janata Dal (Secular) snatched a lions share of votes of minorities. This time, Mr Azeem will not contest, so we are confident that Mr Rehaman Sharief will win, sources added. Italian Marine controversy: A violation of solemn undertaking by Italy or India messing up? Feature oi-Pallavi By Pallavi The trial of the Italian Marines, who shot two Kerala fishermen in 2012 on highwater, proves a lot more than meets the eyes. Former finance minister P Chidambaram may have shed all responsibilities by denying any policy paralysis during the time of the trial, but the case is gathering thicker dust by the day, implying the total mess India has created for itself. Anti-piracy law for mariners India cut a sorry face among global leaders when it charged mariners Massimilliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone under the anti-piracy law. Clearly, they were nothing close to pirates or bandits. The duo were atop an Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie when they shot the fishermen, assuming they were pirates. Certainly, we need to back our people, but at what cost? Not so surprisingly, the Italians came up with an accusation that the Indian judiciary has exhibited a "manifest inability" to handle the case sensibly. [Read: Italian marine refuses to return: Furious Shashi Tharoor calls it breach of trust, BJP mulls action] Heads hung in shame Forget the law and order. When the Indian Ambassador in Rome is called by their foreign ministry and given a showdown over the unneccessary delay in the trial, our heads hang in shame as we know how harassing can the Indian judiciary be. Adding icing to the cake is the fact that Italy recalled its ambassador to India after the SC deferred the case till February 24 when Attorney General GE Vahanvati said that the law ministry's opinion is yet to come out. Indians have their way Despite insistence that the case be tried under International law and in Italian borders, the Indian system had its way. The case was taken under the Indian wing since the fishermen were from India and since India was the closest place to try the marines. Consider this, when the marines were sent home for Christians, the Italian authorities played with the idea of not sending them back. But our courts had their way here too. [Read: Marine Latorre will not return to India: Italian senator] India should mend its ways Its about time that Italy lost its patience with the long-crawling Indian justice system and complained to the global tribunal. Given that, India will indeed get an ultimatum if it did not work FAST! For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 17:13 [IST] Pathankot to Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif: The message was for Kashmir? Feature oi-Vicky By Vicky When the Pathankot attack was still on, the Indian Mission in Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif was attacked. There was one common feature in both these attacks which has worried intelligence bureau officials no end. Both had a reference to Afzal Guru. The quoting of Afzal Guru, intelligence bureau officials suspect is an attempt by the Jaish-e-Mohammad to rekindle sentiments in Jammu and Kashmir and make it a focal point in their battle. This brings back memories of Maqbool Bhat a separatist leader from Kashmir who was hanged at the Tihar jail on two murder counts. [Timeline of Pathankot terror attack] The hanging of Maqbool Bhat in the year 1984 became a focal point in the Kashmir movement five years later. Even prior to the hanging of Afzal Guru convicted for the Parliament attack, there was a raging debate in some circles that this issue too could become a rallying point in Kashmir. Two attacks and one message to Kashmir: The Jaish-e-Mohammad made it extremely clear that they want to stoke emotions and make Kashmir a rallying point once again. The terrorists who stole the vehicle of the Superintendent of Police (Gurdaspur) had left a note. The note read Long live Jaish-e-Muhammad . From Tangdhar to Sambha Kathua you will find loyalists of Afzal Guru who will readily lay down their lives for him. ['Pathankot, Mazar-e-Sharif attacks reminder of terror threat'] A similar message was found at Mazar-e-Sharif as well. Here the message read, " Afzal Guru- a martyr for whom there will be a 1,000 fidayeens. Both these messages make it amply clear that the Jaish-e-Mohammad is using the Afzal Guru slogan to churn sentiments in Kashmir. Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the JeM has written a lot about Afzal Guru in some magazines published by his outfit. He had repeatedly tried to say that India had been running a smear campaign against Afzal Guru so that there is no reaction in Kashmir. ['Pathankot, Mazar-e-Sharif attacks threaten regional stability'] Intelligence Bureau officials say that the message that the Jaish-e-Mohammad is trying to convene is extremely clear. They are hoping to replicate the events that occurred following the execution of Bhat. They believe that they can still evoke sentiments in Kashmir quoting Afzal Guru. While it is a worrying trend, Indian officials however feel that the times have changed and the Jaish-e-Mohammad may not be successful this time around. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 11:58 [IST] AAP alleges Rs 3300 cr scam in U'khand India oi-PTI Dehradun, Jan 13: Aam Aadmi Party today alleged that the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand had struck a deal with international companies having no digital footprint for an investment worth Rs 3,300 crore, dubbing it as the biggest possible scam ever to have hit the state. The state government was quick to respond saying no money transaction has taken place and there was no need for make a fuss. Citing official documents, senior AAP leader Anoop Nautiyal said an MoU was signed between the state government and International Oil Corporation (IOC), UAE; Kabul and Hong Kong-based Nuwam Limited for an investment worth USD 500 million on December 9 in New Delhi in the presence of Chief Minister Harish Rawat. He claimed that it could be the "biggest" scam to have hit the state as the very existence of these companies was suspected because they have no digital footprint. Nautiyal questioned whether "they were just a front for money laundering". He said five questions have gone unanswered so far including the year when IOC (UAE) and Nuwam Limited were founded, the names and addresses of their directors. objectives of the companies and articles of their association. Whether they (the companies) had worked on any projects in the country earlier and whether officials from Uttarakhand ever visited UAE or Hong Kong to inspect their projects and style of functioning. Nautityal demanded that an immediate probe by state or central agencies should ordered into it to unravel the truth and said if the allegations are proved true, the Chief Minister should immediately resign on moral grounds and the MoU with the so called companies be canceled. He also questioned BJP's silence over the issue. "We ask BJP to wake up from its slumber and make its own inquiries into the fraud," he said. AAP has put the matter into public domain in the interest of the state, Nautiyal said adding a party delegation led by him met Director Vigilance Ashok Kumar here yesterday to draw his attention to the alleged fraud. Copies of the memorandum have been sent to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, Director CBI, Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul, Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Chief Secretary Shatrughna Singh, he added. Reacting to the allegations, Chief Minister's media incharge Surendra Kumar said, "The MoU is in initial stage and no money transaction has taken place. So there is no need for make a fuss, which could affect the investment climate in the state." He said the pact was part of state government's efforts to find possibilities in the state. PTI Buying terracotta diyas on Diwali isn't being 'vocal for local', must think big: PM Modi Delhi-Meerut RRTS: Indias First Regional Rapid Transit System train set to be handed over to NCRTC today Independence Day 2022: In a first, home-grown howitzer gun to be part of 21-gun salute About a dozen Chinese tech firm keen on 'make in India' India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jan 13: About a dozen Chinese electronics manufacturers today expressed keen interest in setting up production facilities in India, specially for mobile phones, which could entail a huge investment of USD 2-3 billion. "Chinese companies are quite enthusiastic about setting up manufacturing base in India either on their own or in partnership with Indian companies," Mobile World (Shoujibao) Wu said at China-India Mobile Phone & Component Manufacturing Summit here. The Chinese companies showed keen interest in setting up manufacturing facilities in India include Huaqin, Tinno, Windtech, Sprocomm, Vsun, Chino-e, besides electronics component makers. "India today is the fastest growing mobile phone market globally and for Chinese industry presents the biggest manufacturing. We are very keen to tap the potential," Tecno Vice President Zhong Qi said. Tecno is a major mobile phone manufacturer based in China but sells its product outside China. "We are quite impressed that the progressive policies of Modi government and new manufacturing eco-system is very encouraging development for investment and business," Wu said. "Going by the encouraging response of Chinese companies and definitive joint collaboration talks between Indian and Chinese mobile and handset manufacturers, Chinese investment of USD 23 billion over next two years in this sector looks like a real possibility along with employment for 1 2 lakh people," ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said. Government officials from different states also made efforts to woo Chinese firms to their states. "We work very closely with investors. Andhra Pradesh is ranked number two in terms of various compliances with regard to ease of doing business in India. We understand investors need and hence our state is creating Chinese enclave. It will not only have good physical infrastructure but also attractive social infrastructure," AP Director for Department of Industries Kartikeya Mishra said. Mohindroo, who also heads The Fast Track Task Force (FTTF) set up by government, said that the summit has offered Chinese investors a formal and credible channel to make investments in India. "The summit opens up floodgates for Chinese companies who want to invest in India. Earlier a formal channel was lacking. Chinese companies are looking at India because of the investor friendly government and its policies, its proximity with Africa and lower cost of production," he said. PTI Actor Kiku Sharda of 'Comedy Nights' arrested for mimicking Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim India oi-Avinash Mumbai, Jan 13: Actor Kiku Sharda, alias Palak of Comedy Nights with Kapil, has been arrested on Wednesday for mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the TV show. The popular TV actor has been sent to 14 days judicial custody in Kaithal, Haryana, for imitating self-styled godman Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. "I am an artist who is given a role, a getup and told what to do. I've already apologised, I didn't want to hurt anyone's sentiments," Kiku Sharda told media persons on Wednesday. The actor said he was simply following a script if he has hurt anyone's religious sentiments. The actor also said that it is the responsibility of the channel to edit objectionable contents. "I did not mean to hurt anyone's religious sentiments. I am sorry, I was just following a script. Usually if some objectionable word comes out while performing, it's edited by the channel. This is also channel's responsibility. OneIndia News After Defence Minister, now Army chief assures 'Indian Army ready for any kind of operation' India oi-Avinash New Delhi, Jan 13: After Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said anyone who harms the country will be responded to in a similar manner in the wake of Pathankot attacks, Army chief has claimed Indian Army ready for any task given to it. Asked at the army's annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15 about Parrikar's comment, General Dalbir Singh said he cannot comment on what the minister said, but added: "The Indian Army is capable of doing everything. These are government decisions, whatever task the government gives us we are ready." General Dalbir Singh was asked whether covert, surgical operations or direct war would be the right response to the proxy war launched on India from the other side of the border. When asked about Indian Army's preparedness to launch a covert or surgical or straight on war against Pakistan, the Army chief said, "Proxy war we are dealing with about other options that you speak about, these are govt decisions, not Army Chief's. But we are ready for any task." The army chief also asserted that there was "no lack of coordination" between forces during the operation to neutralise the six terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Air Force station. Speaking about the role of NSG during operation, the Army chief said, "NSG's task at base was preemptive action, if there would have been a hostage situation because there were many civilians in the base." Army chief maintained that the goal of a suicide bombing is always to inflict maximum damage and cause maximum media hype as possible. Answering to question about why there is a spike in terrorist activities in Punjab, Gen Suhag said, They (terrorists) keep exploring possibilities.They attempt at one place, we strengthen the area." The Army chief told media persons that NIA is still working on as to how terrorists entered the IAF Airbase despite intelligence reports. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 17:13 [IST] Declare Masood Azhar global terrorist: India to urge China India oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Jan 13: India is likely to urge China in a bid to have Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar as international terrorists. No amount of probe by Pakistan would be satisfactory if the two brothers who run the Jaish-e-Mohammad roam around freely, an Indian official told OneIndia. Maulana Masood Azhar who was once in Indian custody was released in exchange for the hostages during the Khandahar hijack. While Masood is the ideological head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, his brother Rauf is the operations chief. Both had in the mid 2000s fallen out of favour with the Pakistan establishment, but were resurrected following the intervention of former Pakistan army chief, General Asfhaq Kayani. Act against Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Asking Pakistan to take concrete action against Masood and his brother would be like asking for the moon. India too realises that there is a part of the establishment which will go all out to protect him like they do in the case of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief, Hafiz Saeed. India feels that urging China to seek action against the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and his brother for their direct role in the Pathankot attack would be a valid move. India has been gathering evidence against the brothers and is likely to present it before China. We hope that China which had condemned in strong word the Pathankot attack will help in taking action against Masood and Rauf an official informed. Indian officials say that they hope that China would change their stand on Masood. In the year 2010 when India has sought to impose sanctions on Masood, it was not considered by China on the ground that there was more evidence required. India would urge China with concrete evidence this time to declare Masood a global terrorist, officials also said. In addition to this India will also bring up the functioning of the al-Rahmat trust which is the financial front of the Jaish-e-Mohammad. Although the US has proscribed this trust for aiding terror, it continues to operate through valid channels in Pakistan.The trust is notorious for funding the Jaish-e-Mohammad and also running publications which convey anti India messages. OneIndia News DU girl accuses professor of sexual harassment; FIR lodged India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jan 13: A student of a DU college has accused a visually-impaired professor of sexually harassing her and sending indecent messages following which an FIR has been registered against him. The student of Aditi Mahavidyalaya, which is situated in the Bawana area here, had approached the principal of the college alleging that the professor had molested her after calling her on the pretext of "special classes". She also claimed that he sent her indecent messages and videos on WhatsApp and harassed her by making phone calls at odd hours. The girl further alleged that the principal did not take note of her complaint and said it was then that she had decided to approach police. However, the principal, Mamata Sharma, rubbished the allegations even as she said that the matter has been referred to the college's Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and due action would be taken on the basis of the probe report. "The professor has been booked for sexual harassment under Sections 354 and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman and usage of words, gestures, etc. intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) of IPC," a senior police official said. The accused, a contractual faculty member of the Social Works Department of the college, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking his comments on the issue. PTI Astra set to replace BVRAAMs, to be tested from Tejas Tejas will be at striking distance of Pak JF-17s at Bahrain India oi-Oneindia By OneIndia Defence Bureau Bengaluru, Dec 13: It's official! And, it is as close as it can get! India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will be at a striking distance' of Pakistan's JF-17 Thunder in Bahrain. The Bahrain International Air Show (BIAS) is scheduled from January 21-23 at the Sakhir Airbase. As reported by OneIndia last month, this will be for the first time Tejas will be participating in a flying demonstration outside India. [Read: OneIndia Exclusive: Tejas may create history with flying demo at Bahrain air show At BIAS, two Tejas aircraft will be parked next to two Pakistan's JF-17s on aircraft display Pad No 15. Two Royal Air Force Typhoons will also be parked on Pad No 15. Behind the Tejas, the entire Pad No 14 has been allotted to the United Arab Emirate's Al Fursan aerobatic display team. Pakistan's JF-17s is a joint development project of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation. Operational with the Pakistan Air Force since 2010, the JF-17s have already seen some international air shows, including Paris. It's unclear on what basis the organisers have grouped two military platforms from two not-so-friendly nations on the same parking bay. The move is expected to grab immense media attention during the show. An LCA Tejas telemetry cabin with a tracking antenna and other equipment have also been given a space inside the Sakhir Airbase area, closer to the static aircraft display trade area. Likely to reach Bahrain today Military sources have confirmed to OneIndia that two Tejas platforms LSP-4 and LSP-7 are scheduled to fly out of Air Force Station Jamnagar on Wednesday. "The planes reached Jamnagar last week from Bengaluru and they are all set to fly out to Muscat today. It will be historic in many ways as Tejas will be cruising out of Indian skies for the first time," an officer told OneIndia. In the last one week, in addition to various technical clearances, Tejas had to undergo a series of mandatory custom checks at the Jamnagar base. "It will have a stopover at Muscat before flying out to Sakhir Airbase in Bahrain. It is scheduled to reach Bahrain today itself," the officer said. Technical crew spread across different bases A team of over 150 technicians, engineers and ground crew have already been positioned at Jamnagar, Muscat and Bahrain ahead of the Tejas' historic outing. As reported by OneIndia recently, Tejas had cleared one of the most critical flight test parameters in the programme, when the pilots pulled 8 'g' (limit of envelope) during its test flights in Bengaluru last month. [Read: OneIndia Exclusive: Tejas pilots pull 8 g' and beyond clearing critical FOC point] A top delegation from Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is expected to depart for Bahrain next week ahead of the air show. "It's a massive effort by the team to ensure that the planes are in good shape and ready for the demonstration. Everyone is excited since it is for the first time Tejas will be performing outside India," the officer added. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 12:43 [IST] Italian marine refuses to return: Furious Shashi Tharoor calls it breach of trust, BJP mulls action India oi-Avinash New Delhi, Jan 13: After Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre, accused of killing two Indian fishermen in 2012 off the Kerala coast, refused to return to India to face charge, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the matter and said that the people must be able to trust the sovereign word of a sovereign government. "I think this is a very serious matter, I don`t know who this senator is except that she has the same last name as the marine, but if she is speaking for the Italian Government then I think we need to take very serious note of this issue," the former Union Minister was quoted by ANI report as saying. "The truth is that Italy has given solemn undertaking to the Government of India and the Supreme Court when they removed the gentleman from the medical treatment. To say that he can`t come back to India again even when his health is okay is simply unacceptable, it`s also violation of a solemn undertaking by a government to another government and to the government`s highest judicial authorities," Tharoor further added. [Marine Latorre will not return to India: Italian senator] Meanwhile, the ruling BJP hinted at the possibility of the Indian government taking action on the same. "With regards to anyone who leaves the country or seeks the indulgence of the court and thereby travels out, they are supposed to follow court orders. You can't have anybody showing disrespect to the court. I am sure that if someone is showing disrespect to the court or not following court orders then the government is bound to raise such a thing," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI. Latorre was allowed by the Supreme Court in September 2014 to go to Italy initially for four months after he had suffered a brain stroke. His stay there was extended subsequently. "Massimiliano Latorre will not go back to India and work is being done on the possibility of requesting for Salvatore Girone to be able to return to Italy," Senator Nicola Latorre was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency on Tuesday. Salvatore Girone, the other accused, is still here and Italy has been seeking his return as well. The Supreme Court on July 13 last year had allowed Latorre to stay in Italy for another six months on medical grounds, after the government did not object to his plea. The six-month period ends on Wednesday. The matter may come up for hearing in the apex court today. The marines, who were on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', are accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012 after mistaking them for pirates. The Supreme Court which was handling the case suspended the court proceedings relating to the trial of two marines in August last year following an order to this effect by International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) which was approached by Italy for international arbitration. OneIndia News (With inputs from agencies) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 13:15 [IST] It was not clear when or if Massimiliano Latorre would return to India (Photo: AFP) Rome: One of two Italian marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala almost four years ago will not be returning to India to face trial after being allowed home temporarily for medical treatment, a senator said on Tuesday. India had granted Massimiliano Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. It was not clear when or if Latorre would return to India. The second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, is being held in the Italian embassy in New Delhi. "Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone's return is being explored," said Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee, according to Italian media. Latorre did not provide details and did not immediately respond to calls. When contacted, the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry did not confirm or deny Latorre's comments. The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. In 2013, Italy reversed an initial decision not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit, in a bid to tone down the diplomatic row. Seven lakes supplying water to Mumbai can last nine months Homeliness Will Make Your Home The Safest Place To Be At With Quality Water Purifiers Water Taxi Mumbai to Navi Mumbai: Timings, Ticket Price, Route Map, Terminals, Booking - All You Need to know 'JanaJal' Safe drinking water ATMs launched India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bengaluru, Jan 13: 'JanaJal' Safe Drinking Water ATMs is an initiative of the Supremus Group that is renowned for innovation and implementation of various technologies in India. JanaJal primarily aims to make available and provide access to Safe Drinking Water to the common man at all public places such as railway stations, bus stands, hospitals, schools, religious places, village panchayats, towns, cities, metros and other public places in India. Safe potable water would be made available 24X7 through JanaJal water dispensing ATMs at a nominal cost that contributes mainly towards cost of filtration, system maintenance and upkeep and routine upgrades to the system from time to time. The JanaJal concept also promotes social entrepreneurship through the role of an operator who can earn a livelihood from this activity thus keeping him/her motivated to serve the people in a consistent and dedicated manner in the long run. Globally, water is a pay per use commodity. However, in India, safe drinking water is scarce and its non-availability remains one of the biggest causes for various problems faced by the common man on a daily basis. JanaJal is an initiative to change the perception and thought process of the Indian citizen towards receiving safe drinking water. Each JanaJal ATM has a capacity to dispense upto 20,000 litres of Safe Drinking Water every day. With an average life span of upto 10 years, every JanaJal ATM directly benefits more than 4 Million people besides providing gainful employment to several persons who would be trained to operate the JanaJal systems. Thus, each JanaJal safe drinking water ATM positively impacts the quality of life of citizens, provides livelihood opportunities supported by vocational training, development of soft skills, increased productivity, sustained education due to higher attendance and better overall health and wellness for communitieswhich leads to Khushaali for the Nation. Eco Friendly, Green Technology : JanaJal's core strength lies in its technology agnostic approach that is not restricted to the use of any single specific technology. After intense research and understanding of the water conditions in India, the management and technical team at JanaJal concluded that the quality of water in India across villages, cities, districts, zones, States, regions and eventually across the country. Therefore use of any single technology can be detrimental to the cause of purifying water besides being extremely counterproductive and cause unnecessary wastage of this precious natural resource. Hence the technology used for purification of water is determined only after assessing quality of raw water and its type and level of contamination after subjecting it to a laboratory test. Other factors such as location, number of persons in the community to be catered to, etc.are also considered while deciding where the JanaJal ATM would be set up to maximize its utilization, both in terms of capacity as well as serving people. In areas where the normal TDS of water is less than 500 PPM, JanaJal relies on an eco friendly and low pressure ultra-filtration technology that is patented for membrane design called supremus aqua water treatment system,This system has successfully delivered safe drinking water conforming to WHO standards to over 100,000 citizens in urban, semi-urban and rural India. It operates without electricity and only requires daily backwash as part of its routine maintenance. The biggest advantage with this technology is that it does not waste a single drop of water during the purification process hence contributes significantly to environment sustainability and conservation of water. Low pressure ultra-filtration membrane technology is highly effective in removing all non dissolved elements in feed waters. The system removes Pathogens (disease causing organisms), Total Suspended Solids and Turbidity from water. Raw water flows into the system under low pressure. As it passes through the porous walls of the hollow fibre membrane inside the unit, solids are retained on the membrane surface. Units are suitable for using either pumped feed or gravity feed applications. Based on lean and green technology, it is ideal for rural and remote areas where electricity is scarce and servicing of water treatment system is a logistical problem. This technology has also been approved by ministry of drinking water and sanitation and included in compendium of technologies prepared for the "Swachh Bharat" mission initiated by government of India. JanaJal ATMs are already functional in Varanasi, the Hon'ble Prime Minister's constituency including the PM's office in that city. A project to install 100 JanaJal - Safe Drinking Water ATMs has already bee commenced in the holy city of the Ganges. The UP Government has recently acknowledged this initiative and vetted the concept under "Manch-2015", a social initiative of UP government to fund innovative programmes. Supremus Developers Pvt. Ltd. has received the National Award for Environment Sustainability from World CSR in July 2015 in Mumbai. OneIndia News Madhya Pradesh silent on demand for inquiry into private college admissions India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Jan 13: Even as the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, or Vyapam as it is popularly known, asked the Madhya Pradesh government almost two years ago to conduct an inquiry into the admissions in private dental and medical colleges in 2012 and 2013, this never happened, a reply to an RTI query has revealed. Had the inquiry been conducted, RTI activist Ajay Dubey says, it could have exposed the nexus between a few Vyapam officials, the Directorate of Medical Education and private colleges. "The inquiry could have exposed the foul play in the admissions in the private medical and dental colleges, which was doubted by Vyapam. But the inquiry was never conducted," said Dubey. The letter Vyapam wrote to the Madhya Pradesh government's Directorate of Medical Education was obtained by Dubey through an RTI application in November 2015 from the MP professional examination board. In the letter dated July 8, 2014, Vyapam asked the Directorate of Medical Education to re-examine and verify admissions to the private medical colleges and dental colleges in 2012 and 2013. "After Special Task Force (STF) inquiry, a total number of 333 PMT (pre-medical test) admissions were cancelled in 2012 and 439 such admissions were cancelled in 2013. Out of these, the results and admissions of 88 and 119 candidates in private medical and dental colleges through state quota in 2012 and 2013 respectively were cancelled," stated the letter. It also stated that Vyapam expressed doubts that the private medical and dental colleges, instead of cancelling the admissions, blocked these state government quota seats for re-admissions of the defaulters through other channels. In view of this, Vyapam demanded an inquiry and verification of admissions in 2012 and 2013, the letter added. Madhya Pradesh has been mired in the Vyapam scam for years, but the irregularities eventually came to light when 20 people were arrested in 2013 for impersonating candidates appearing for the 2009 medical entrance examination. Forty-eight people associated with the Vyapam scam have died - mostly under mysterious circumstances. Following the chain of deaths, the Supreme Court last July directed the CBI to investigate not just the Vyapam scam but also the deaths related to it. The most recent death was of Indian Forest Service officer Vijay Bahadur Singh, whose body was found close to a railway track near Odisha's Belpahad station on October 15, 2015. He was travelling by the Puri-Jodhpur Express. The CBI has started probing this death as well. Former Madhya Pradesh minister Lakshmikant Sharma, one of the main accused in the Vyapam scam, was released from jail on December 20, 2015, following a court granting bail. Another Vyapam scam accused, former officer on special duty Dhanraj Yadav, was released from jail on December 19, 2015, after he too got bail from a court. IANS Malda violence: There is more than what meets the eye India oi-Vicky Malda, Jan 13: The violence that erupted in Malda, West Bengal will need a thorough probe. On Jan 3 violence erupted at Kaliachak, Malda district when a procession to condemn an alleged hate speech made in Uttar Pradesh went out of control. A BJP and a CPM delegation were stopped from visiting the troubled spot on the ground that prohibitory orders were in place. Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee made it clear after the incident that there was no communal clash, but the violence was a result of a clash between the security forces and those taking out the procession. Is that all there is to the Malda violence? There is more than what meets the eye: First and foremost the alleged hate speech was made over a month back. While the procession was being taken out to condemn the hate speech, there are question marks on whether it could have turned violent especially since it was a protest against incident that occurred over a month back. The Malda violence is a result of two incidents clubbed together. The Union Home Ministry, which met with a delegation of the BJP, has not assured anything as of now, but there is likely to be a probe. Sources say that the violence is a result of provocation by an outfit known as the Edara-e-Sharia and also the drug mafia which wanted to burn down case files present in the police station. The BJP has blamed the Edara-e-Sharia for the violence. This outfit, which is Patna based, wanted to spread communal tension in West Bengal ahead of the elections. They had been distributing pamphlets in a bid to incite tension, the BJP has alleged. While this is one angle that would be probed, the other is relating to the drug mafia. It is a well known fact that there is a lot of opium that is produced in Malda. It is a thriving business and is handled by a very powerful drug mafia. The local police had filed several cases against these drug dealers who are also connected with the arms mafia that operates along the Indo-Bangladesh border. The version of the local police is that the procession turned violent because it was the drug mafia that staged it. It was very obvious because they targeted a police station which had records against them. The local police say that they believe that this is the primary reason for the violence. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 9:14 [IST] Mumbai: Depressed over 'Rape' allegations, Munnabhai MBBS actor goes missing India oi-Nairita Mumbai, Jan 13: Vishal Thakkar, who acted in Sanjay Dutt's Munnabhai MBBS movie, has gone missing. A missing complaint has been filed in a police station in Mumbai on Jan 6. It has been reported that 32-year-old was depressed as he was not getting any work in the film industry following a legal complaint against him. [Police arrests Munnabhai MBBS actor Vishal Thakkar on charges of raping TV actress] Vishal's girlfriend had accused Vishal of raping her. Police earlier in Oct 2015 arrested the actor. However, he was released from jail as his girlfriend withdrew the case following a patch up between the duo. However, Vishal was struggling to get any work as the case has already tarnished his image. The actor's girlfriend first alerted police when she could not trace Vishal's whereabouts since Jan 1. Police officials, who have been investigating the case, were quoted as saying, "During the investigation, Rajani (Vishal's girlfriend) told us that he has been suffering from depression of late because he hasn't been getting work." "His frustrations had strained the couple's relationship and they would quarrel frequently. We are looking into all aspects. We haven't reached any conclusion so far. Investigations are still on," the officials added. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 14:53 [IST] Pak Shocker: Diplomacy or Betrayal? Not only Narendra Modi, Nawaz Sharif hosted Dawood Ibrahim too? India oi-Nairita By Nairita/vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Jan 13: Indian officials say that they have no confirmation that Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharrif hosted India's most wanted, Dawood Ibrahim. When asked for a reaction to reports suggesting that Sharrif had hosted, Dawood, an official informed OneIndia that the information is not correct and there is nothing to suggest an incident of this nature. [Will Nawaz Sharif really book the Pathankot masterminds] There could have been a mix up in the information and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has not picked up any intercept or has any information suggesting that Dawood had been hosted by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan which is in denial about the existence of Dawood on its soil will not take such a huge risk and the ISI will not permit him to be seen in functions of such a grand scale especially when they are aware that India and the interpol is tracking him. Earlier media reports quoted Mumbai-based senior journalist Baljeet Parmar as saying that Dawood had attended Sharif's granddaughter Meherun Nisa's wedding just a day after Modi's surprise visit to his Pakistani counterpart's ancestral home in Lahore. [When Modi-Nawaz did pep talk on wars between India and Pakistan] Modi's decision of visiting Pakistan was hailed by everyone across the world. It was believed that India and Pakistan may sort out its differences if the countries continue to follow the steps shown by Modi-Sharif. However, if the reports about Sharif hosting Dawood is proved to be true then it would be difficult for both countries to continue the possible peace talks. OneIndia News Iran admiral awaiting orders on detained US sailors International oi-PTI Tehran, Jan 13: The commander of the naval force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards today said he was "awaiting orders" on the fate of 10 detained US sailors and that Tehran wanted an apology. Admiral Ali Fadavi said on state television that "unprofessional conduct" had led to the incident with the sailors and two US boats near Farsi island. "Naturally in territorial waters of the country any naval craft should announce their presence beforehand, especially if they are military," Fadavi said. "They didn't show much resistance but later the US aircraft carrier for 40 minutes showed unprofessional conduct and demonstrated air and sea movements that showed their lack of commitment to the security of the region," Fadavi added, without being specific. However he hinted that the sailors could soon be released, confirming that Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was involved in talks to see them freed. "The process will definitely not take very long, and as soon as we receive orders the Guards naval force will act accordingly," Fadavi said. "Mr Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr (John) Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologise," he said, referring to the US Secretary of State. In a statement early today the Guards said they had detained the sailors and their patrol craft. At 16:30 Tuesday, two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," an official statement said. "Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces, and they are in good health," it added. Two aircraft carriers -- the USS Harry S. Truman and France's Charles de Gaulle -- were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the statement said. The Iranian Fars news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported that the "violating boats were two kilometres inside Iranian territory". "This information was recorded on their GPS devices, and the Guards are holding that information," it said. AFP PMS From hijab to Kashmir, Zawahiri was Al-Qaeda's voice for everything anti-India For the dark rule in Afghanistan, blame is on the US Kabul urged to involve women in peace process International oi-IANS By Ians English Kabul, Jan 13: The Afghan government should quickly remedy its missed deadline to produce a plan to include women in the peace process, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, Jan 13. In September 2015, the government of President Ashraf Ghani promised its key international donors it would finalize an implementation plan by year's end and begin carrying it out in the first half of 2016. Afghan officials have confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the plan has not been finished. Activists have urged donor governments to press Kabul to complete the plan, share drafts with donors, and seek funding for plan activities. Donors have yet to speak out publicly regarding the government's failure to do so. "Women's rights activists in Afghanistan have been fighting for years for a place at the table where the future of their country is being decided," said Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch. "The Afghan government's failure to meet the promised deadline for developing this plan suggests a lack of seriousness about giving women the role to which they're entitled." Afghan women's rights activists have for years raised concerns that the government will trade away women's rights in an effort to reach an accommodation with the Taliban. IANS Federal US court all set for in-person extradition hearing of Tahawwur Rana in Los Angeles Man charged for vandalising Gurdwara in US International oi-PTI Los Angeles, Jan 13: A 21-year-old man has been charged for vandalising a Gurdwara with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti in a suburb here in December and faces maximum sentence of three years if found guilty. Brodie Durazo has been charged with one felony count of vandalism of a religious property and two misdemeanor counts each of vandalism under USD 400, according to the Orange County district attorney's office, Los Angeles Times reported today. Gurdwara Singh Sabha's board members and community members said in the early hours of December 6, the Gurdwara in Buena Park was vandalised with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti along with a community member's truck in the parking lot, according to the Sikh Coalition. The vandalism prompted an increase in police patrols near the religious center and sparked fear among members of the Sikh community. Durazo is accused of spray-painting graffiti throughout a trailer park where he lives in Orangethorpe Avenue on December 6 and of then going into the property of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple and spray-painting graffiti on a dividing wall between the trailer park and the temple, the report said. Durazo is scheduled to be indicted on February 8. If convicted, prosecutors said, he could face a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. "We believe that the Gurdwara Singh Sabha was vandalised because it is a Sikh house of worship," the coalition's attorney Gurjot Kaur said in a statement at the time. "We call on local and federal agencies to investigate this vandalism as a hate crime and request increased law enforcement security at the Gurdwara immediately," Kaur said. This act of vandalism, in the aftermath of the San Bernardino tragedy, was just the latest in a line of hate crimes against Sikhs in America, Sikh Coalition said in a statement. PTI PepsiCo's CEO Indra Nooyi becomes 'most generous graduate' of Yale School of Management International oi-PTI New York, Jan 13: PepsiCo's India-born CEO Indra Nooyi has become the biggest alumni donor and the first woman to endow deanship at a top business school, after she gifted an undisclosed amount to prestigious Yale school of management. 60-year-old Nooyi gifted an amount, which was not made public, to the deanship of the school and inaugurated the Fifth Decade Innovation Fund, the Yale School of Management said. With this gift, Nooyi becomes the "most generous graduate" of Yale School of Management in terms of lifetime giving to the school and she is the first woman to endow the deanship at a top business school, it said. Nooyi said her experience at the Yale School of Management "forever altered the course of my life" and her gift "pales in comparison with the gift that Yale gave methe fundamental understanding that leadership requires an expansive worldview and a deep appreciation of the many points of intersection between business and society." "Business issues are never just business issues, and my most ardent hope is that this endowment will teach future generations of leaders that the most successful companies of tomorrow will do more than make money. They will make a difference and create shareholder value by improving the quality of life in every market in which they operate," Nooyi said. Nooyi joins several prominent persons of Indian-origin who have donated generously to US universities. In October last year, Nooyi's sister Chandrika Tandon and her husband Ranjan had made a USD 100 million gift to the New York University's School of Engineering, one of the largest philanthropic gifts by a member of the Indian-American community. As part of a long record of support for the Yale School of Management, Nooyi has previously made substantial contributions to the construction of the Edward P Evans Hall, including gifts to name the Nooyi Classroom and the Isaacson Classroom in memory of Professor Larry Isaacson. Commenting on the gift, Yale University president Peter Salovey said Nooyi's "sense of purpose, deep engagement with civic life, and pursuit of excellence exemplify the kind of leadership in service to society that we hope all Yale graduates will achieve." "The world needs skillful, purposeful, and dedicated leaders in every field and every sector, and Indra's name is synonymous with those core values of the university," Salovey said. Edward Snyder is the inaugural dean Indra K Nooyi Dean and has led the Yale School of Management since 2011. He was recently appointed to a second five-year term as dean. "Indra Nooyi has become a leading voice among Fortune 500 CEOs in no small part because of her willingness to take a stand on the broader purpose of the corporation, while delivering top-echelon performance," Snyder said. The Fifth Decade Innovation Fund is named in recognition of the fact that the school is entering its fifth decade; the first class entered the Yale School of Management in 1976. PTI ISIS or Taliban not important: It is the ISI that ethnically cleanses Hindus and Sikhs Over 120 killed in suicide blast in Balochistan, Baloch leader Siraj Raisani among dead Indian operatives were in touch with accused in Sri Lanka bombings Two killed in suicide blast near Pakistan consulate in Afghanistan International oi-Jagriti Kabul, Jan 13: At least two police officials were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad on Wednesday. "The incident occurred near the Pakistani consulate, but we are not sure if it was the intended target," said an official. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. The latest attack comes close on the heels of four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. India's foreign ministry said the Indian consulate was not the target. All Indians are reported to be safe. Residents and children from a nearby school had been evacuated as series of explosions could be heard. Blast rocks Jalalabad in Afghanistan The latest in a series of suicide attacks in Afghanistan comes amid renewed efforts to restart peace talks with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan. OneIndia Neww For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, 12:07 [IST] Chennai: Tamil Nadu political parties are mounting pressure on the Narendra Modi regime to promulgate an ordinance to ensure the conduct of jallikattu this Pongal. The show solidarity from the state polity comes in the wake of the Supreme Court staying the recent notification of the Centre allowing the conduct of the sport. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who was among the first to seek the Centres immediate intervention in the matter, said in her letter to Prime Minister Modi, It is very important that the sentiments of the people of TN who have a deep attachment to the conduct of the traditional event of Jallikattu are respected. Also referring to the January 7 notification of the union environment ministry enabling the conduct of jallikattu in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal festivities, she said, I had written to you on 22.12.2015, requesting you to take steps to promulgating an ordinance to enable the holding of Jallikattu. Drawing the PMs attention to elaborate arrangements being made by Jallikattu organisers across Tamil Nadu after she had issued detailed circulars to district collectors in this regard, Jayalalithaa said the people in rural areas are eagerly looking forward to the conduct of jallikattu as part of the traditional festivities ingrained in the hoary cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu. Hence, considering the urgency of the issue, I strongly reiterate my earlier request to the Central Government to promulgate an Ordinance to enable the conduct of Jallikattu. On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu I urge you to take immediate action in this regard, she added. DMK president M Karunanidhi expressed the hope that the Centre would respect Tamil sentiments and accede to their requests to promulgate an ordinance. PMK founder Dr Ramadoss and MDMK general secretary Vaiko also made similar demands. Assault on Tamil sentiment: Tamil people Madurai /Coimbatore: A pall of gloom descended on the villages in and around Madurai, which were preparing for the conduct of jallikattu with renewed vigor and enthusiasm after the January 7 notification by the Centre allowing jallikattu and rekla races. Bull tamer Mani attempted to set himself on fire near the Vaadivasal through which the bulls would be released in the famous Alanganallur jallikattu but the villagers prevented him. Jallikattu is our soul, why is the apex court refusing to understand this? asked the youths near the incident spot. The village of Koolaimedu in western Tamil Nadu, near Coimbatore, mourned the top courts stay order on jallikattu, hoisting black flags on the streets in protest. The opinion was near universal across the state that the stay order was an assault on the sentiments of all the Tamil people. Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Kokoda Track A tourist from the United States was raped repeatedly and had three of her fingers chopped off along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea on Monday, Police told the National Newspaper.She and her London-based male companion were tortured and robbed of items such as mobile phones, shoes, backpacks and clothing and cash worth K15,000 before being released.Police described the incident as pack-rape.Papua New Guinea;s NCD-Central Assistant Police Commissioner Sylvester Kalaut is appealing to villagers for information to help arrest the culprits.One of the suspects, a villager from Efogi in Koiari, Central, was last night held by villagers.Police believe that at least two local offenders, armed with bush knives and spears, were involved.Two expatriate tourists, a male and a female, both 31, were tracking the Kokoda Track and heading towards Templeton Two (a campsite) when they were ambushed by armed men, Kalaut said.He said the suspects held up the tourists, tied them up before dragging them off the track into the bush.The male tracker was tied to a tree and the female tracker was repeatedly raped before three of her fingers were chopped, Kalaut said.The incident took place for an hour before they (trackers) were set free.I am appealing to the villagers to assist the police, come forward and provide necessary information so that the perpetrators can be dealt with.Kalaut said such acts would affect tourism in the country.Police said the trackers ran to Alola village and were later airlifted by a helicopter to Port Moresby and are undergoing medical attention.Police investigation is continuing, a police team will leave Port Moresby (today) by helicopter and will travel to Efogi village to try to apprehend the suspects.The National /ONE PNG Inter-Government Relations Minister Chief Leo Dion said his decision to recognize Francis Potape as Hela governor was done as the Minister responsible, through a statement he sent three days before the court decision.He said his action pertaining to the media statement he circulated throughout the media outlet was not done in any way to preempt the court decision.He said as the Minister for Inter-Government Relations and the Minister responsible for Provincial and Local Government Affairs in the ONeill-Dion Government, he was pleased to say that, all Provincial Governors, or in their absence, the Deputy Provincial Governors are politically responsible to the Provincial Assembly for the overall development and good government of the province.He said they are constitutionally responsible to him as the Minister responsible for provincial government and local-level government matters.He said Hela Provincial Assembly had sought advice from his Department to conduct itsProvincial Assembly meeting on the 22nd December 2015 and the Question as to whether or not the meeting was conducted in accordance with either the Organic law, or the Hela Provincial Assembly Standing Orders are matters that are now before the Court and he cannot comment further.However, he said the Organic law on Provincial Government and Local-Level Government is a law that was made for the purpose of giving effect to the public interest in public order and public welfare.I am required by law to recognize and to give full faith and credit throughout Papua New Guinea to the laws, the public acts, records and proceedings of all Provincial Governments and Local-level Governments and the Proceedings that transpired on the floor of Hela Provincial Assembly on the 29th December, 2015 is no exception.I understand what transpired on the floor of Hela Provincial Assembly on the 22nd and the 29th of December 2015 is now before the Court and there are interim orders restraining any Assembly members and others from taking any action against the purported resolutions of the Assembly. My Press Statement in recognizing Hon. Francis Potape as Governor Elect for Hela province was released to the Media on the 5th of January 2016 but was published on the 8th of January 2016. I was required by law to recognize and to give full faith and credit to the proceedings of all Provincial and Local-Governments including Hela and therefore I released the statement on the 5th of January 2016 prior to the restraining orders.As a State Minister, I in no way intend to interfere and undermine the Court proceedings and I only learnt of the restraining orders in the media. The matter was heard inter-parte so I had no idea what transpired in court.Therefore in relation to the position of the Hela Governor, we await the final determination of the substantive matter from the Court, Chief Dion said. El Chapo's Arrest Opens Another Chapter in the Drug Lord's Saga Published January 13, 2016 by Florin P The manhunt for El Chapo comes to an end, but his story continues behind bars. Famous gangsters and drug lords have always exercised a special fascination on the broad audience, but some of them spend more time in the spotlight than others. No other cartel leader gained so much popularity since Pablo Escobar, as El Chapo did over the last couple of years. His arrest enjoyed ample coverage in the media, but its only fair to assume that this is not the last time we hear about Mr. Guzman. No Such Thing as a Maximum Security Prison for El Chapo Now that the Mexican authorities have captured him again, El Chapo will be sent to the same maximum security prison from which he escaped in 2014. It is still not yet certain how he managed to circumvent all the security protocols, but its most likely that he received help from the inside. Now that hes back behind bars, his lawyers are scrambling to fight extradition to the U.S, where he is also expected to answer for his crimes. He was secretly hoping to feature in a Hollywood blockbuster and conducted interviews with famous actors and directors. Pablo Escobar is portrayed in the immensely popular Netflix's "Narcos" show, so El Chapo was probably aspiring for the same type of celebrity. A New Type of Lucrative Betting Opportunity As the manhunt for El Chapo continues unabated in 2014, everyone was wondering when and if the drug lord will be captured. Even though it is possible to bet online on plenty of things these days, ranging from politics and reality shows to weather, no major bookmaker published odds on his arrest. Gambling operators could add such bets in a not so distant future and theyve got a golden opportunity right now. El Chapo has a reputation of making a joke of maximum security prisons and he will probably try to escape once again. If bookies decided to offer odds on such an outcome, its very likely that they will be stacked against the drug lord, as Mexican authorities wont allow him to make a fool of themselves again. These sort of long-term bets will surely gain traction among punters and could grow into a trend, as there are plenty of villains out there to bet against. And What About al-Baghdadi? These sort of long-term bets will surely gain traction among punters and could grow into a trend, as there are plenty of villains out there to bet against such as ISIS leader al-Baghdadi and other terrorist leaders. New Mergers Represent New Opportunities in 2016 Published January 13, 2016 by Lee R A new report identifies the best mergers to invest in or watch. The gambling industry is set for quite a sea-change this year, with multi-billion pound mergers being closed left and right as a rapid shift to online sales takes place. Investment Report Released Motley Fool has released an update on the long-term investment appeal of the major competitors in this new merger race. Paddy-Betfair Merger Intrigue The report tabs the merger of Paddy Power Plc (LSE:PAP) and Betfair Group Ltd (LSE: BET) as the most interesting new player, with Betfair undergoing a transformation over the past three years to a technology-focused organization driven by exchange gaming, which pits punters against each other in a variety of games. The newly formed group's profit margins have already surpassed all other competitors except the well established Bet365 in online revenue. The second half report saw operating profit rise 12% with Paddy Power posting an overall gain of 33%. This caused more than a warm response from investors, catapulting shares of Betfair up 150% and Paddy Power 78%. With Betfair currently trading at a mind-boggling 45 times earnings and Paddy Power at a 35 P/E, the recommendation to investors is to temper expectations before jumping in with the numbers seen as already reflecting potential growth. Next to Watch Another merger of note is Ladbrokes Plc (LSE:LAD) and Gala Coral, which the Fool calls a high-street behemoth in light of the 45% of physical betting shops the combined group now holds across the UK bringing in annual revenues of 2.1bn. Despite the prodigious physical presence, the new company trails both William Hill and the newly combined Paddy Power Betfair online, with both online leaders having focused their resources on online operations. As far as investments are concerned, the Fool informs that the Ladbrokes CEO has already cut all dividends with an advisory to investors that there will be no profit growth until 2017. Existing liquidity will be invested in expanding the online presence of the group, resulting in a recommendation that investors wait on the sidelines until more details are released. By the same token, online expansion has proven a key driver of growth in general so far. More Info in Report The report details prime choices for growth in further detail, providing interesting insight into the iGaming climate for 2016, whether one is looking to invest or not. Bengaluru: The total number of farmers who have committed suicide in state due to agrarian problems has crossed the 1,000 mark in the current financial year. According Agriculture Department statistics, 1,002 farmers have ended their lives from April 1, 2015 to January 11, 2016. With this, Karnataka has broken all previous records as far as farmer suicides are concerned. While 156 farmers had committed suicide in 2008-09, 146 in 2009-10, 242 in 2010-11, 187 in 2011-12, 100 in 2012-13 and 58 in 2013-14, 48 had killed themselves in 2014-15. Mandya, Mysuru, Haveri, Belagavi, Bidar, Shivamogga, Tumkur, Gadag, Dharwad and Davangere districts have recorded the highest number of farmer suicides since April, 2015. This reflects the lack of confidence of farmers in the Congress government which claims it is the champion of farmers. Sources pointed out that the number of suicides increased after the government hiked the compensation for the kin of those who committed suicide, from `2 lakh to `5 lakh. This announcement was made by CM Siddaramaiah during the visit of AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to Mandya and Haveri districts to instill confidence among agriculturists. In fact, agricultural scientists had predicted a possible increase in the number of cases owing to the hiked compensation. However, the government took the advice with a pinch of salt and went ahead with its announcement to woo rural population. In dire straits Farmers were in dire straits due to drought in the last two and a half years. As many as 140 taluks of the 176 have been declared drought-hit. Crops grown during kharif and rabi season dried up for want of rain. Unfortunately, there has been no tangible help from the government except medical cover for farmers' families, free education to children of deceased farmers and group insurance for farmers' and their families. "If you have read or heard that President Obama abused his power by using the presidential veto as it is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, then whatever source you got this idea from is a liar and a fraud and cannot be trustedever." says Lloyd Lofthouse, former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran,who taught in the public schools for 30 years. In this engaging, informative post about Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2, of our Constitution; Lofthouse, in his unique voice does what all great teachers do -- shares what he knows about the truth: What did our Found Fathers intend "the veto power of a U.S. President is another method to control the abuse of power by another branch of the Federal government." Since Obama has been President, Congress has enacted 1,080 laws and Obama vetoed EIGHT, less than one percent. I need to read this with my grandson who lives in Texas. Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Rob Kall gives readers an important wake up call to the bottom up power that they have to protect their rights, powers, and freedoms. His advice applies to all aspects of life, including politics, economics, journalism, entertainment, and psychology and wellness. Kall's book explains the differences between the top-down leadership approach of dominating, fear based, disconnected authoritarianism and the bottom-up connection consciousness that emphasizes values, justice, fairness, equity, and kindness. This book helps readers see the whole elephant as opposed to the disconnected parts. Kall gives great advice as to intensifying, expanding, prolonging, and deepening connections. With his professional background, Rob Kall is the perfect person to write this book. This is a very well-researched book that includes dozens of insightful interviews with top-notch experts. Kall shows how bottom-up small acts can produce massive results. He emphasizes that since we cant avoid this emerging bottom-up connection revolution, we need to learn how to navigate and embrace it. This bottom-up leadership will result in power to the people. This is a fascinating and insightful book, especially in this new era of digital hunting and gathering." Larry Atkins, author of Skewed: A Critical Thinker's Guide to Media Bias A rarely told story of the 1948 war that founded Israel concerns Nazareth's survival. It is the only Palestinian city in what is today Israel that was not ethnically cleansed during the year-long fighting. Other cities, such as Jaffa, Lydd, Ramleh, Haifa and Acre, now have small Palestinian populations that mostly live in ghetto-like conditions in what have become Jewish cities. Still others, like Tiberias and Safad, have no Palestinians left in them at all. Nazareth was not only an anomaly; it was a mistake. It was supposed to be cleared of its Palestinian population, just like those other Palestinian cities now in Israel. Much to Israel's regret, it has become an unofficial capital for Israel's 1.6 million Palestinian citizens, a fifth of the Israeli population. The reason for Nazareth's survival are the actions of one individual. Ben Dunkelman, a Canadian Jew who was the commander of the Israeli army's Seventh Armoured Brigade, disobeyed orders to expel Nazareth's residents. Dunkelman's role has been largely obscured in the historical record -- and for good reason. Israel would prefer that observers make an unjustified assumption: that "Christian" Nazareth survived, unlike other Palestinian cities, because its leaders were less militant or because they preferred to surrender. Dunkelman's story proves that was not the case. It is therefore a welcome development that a major Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star, has revisited Dunkelman's role in Nazareth, even if its reporter, Mitch Potter, has contributed in his own way to the mythologizing of Dunkelman in an article headlined: "The Toronto man who saved Nazareth." It is worth bearing in mind, when we consider the attacks on Palestinian cities in 1948, how sensitive these matters were for Israel. Both Dunkelman and another commander, Yitzhak Rabin, who would later become a prime minister, wrote memoirs that included their experiences of the 1948 war. Under pressure from the Israeli military authorities, both excised from their accounts the sections they had written dealing with the attacks on the Palestinian cities they were responsible for attacking. That was because those accounts were the proof, long denied by Israel and its supporters, that the Israeli leadership had intended and carried out the ethnic cleansing of most of the Palestinian population during 1948. Some 750,000 Palestinians -- out of 900,000 living inside the borders of what was to become the new Jewish state -- were forced out and refused the right to return. In fact, the expulsion rate was far higher than the ostensible 80 percent figure. Under pressure from the Vatican, Israel allowed many Christian refugees back; it did a land swap with Jordan in 1949 that brought more than 30,000 Palestinians into the new state; and many Palestinian refugees managed to sneak back to surviving communities like Nazareth and blend in with the local population in preparation for what they hoped would be their return to their villages. Rabin led the attack on the Palestinian cities of Lydd and Ramleh, near Tel Aviv and today the mostly Jewish cities of Lod and Ramla. According to the missing section of his autobiography, later publicized in the New York Times, Rabin asked David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, what to do with the 50,000 inhabitants of Lydd and Ramleh. Rabin recounted: "Ben Gurion waved his hand in a gesture that said: 'Drive them out!'" Rabin did exactly that, after a terrible massacre of hundreds of residents who were sheltering in a local mosque. Ben Gurion, as the Israeli historian of the period Ilan Pappe has noted in his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, was careful not to leave a paper trail showing that he had ordered the expulsion of Palestinians. Instead, Israel would promote the myth that the Palestinian population had been ordered by neighbouring Arab leaders to flee. We do not know if Dunkelman had a similar meeting with Ben Gurion. What we do know, and the Star's account confirms, is that it had been made clear to Dunkelman that he was supposed to expel the inhabitants of Nazareth. Dunkelman disobeyed, and allowed the city to surrender. He was relieved of his command in Nazareth a day later. The Star reports on a page referring to the attack on Nazareth that was removed from Dunkelman's 1976 memoir, Dual Allegiance. We know about it only because his ghostwriter, the late Israeli journalist Peretz Kidron, tried to interest the New York Times in Dunkelman's story, as a counterpart to Rabin's. The Times published the Rabin story but ignored Dunkelman's. Interestingly, Dunkelman kept the account of his role in the Nazareth attack so quiet that, according to their quotes in the Star, neither his son nor his publisher at Macmillan knew about it. Dunkelman writes that he was "shocked and horrified" at the order to depopulate Nazareth. He told his superior, Haim Laskov: "I would do nothing of the sort." He demanded that his replacement give his "word of honour" that the inhabitants would be allowed to stay, and concludes: "It seems that my disobedience did have some effect ... It seems to have given the high command time for second thoughts, which led them to the conclusion that it would indeed be wrong to expel. There was never any more talk of the evacuation plan, and the city's Arab citizens have lived there ever since." "Swallowing" Nazareth Ready for the Fog of War? (Image by Akemi Ohira) Details DMCA Virginia, the Mother of Presidents, wasn't Virginia is for Lovers, for Richard and Mildred Loving, nor yet loving women enough to ratify the ERA. Curious how Supreme Court seemed more loving during Massive Resistance to school Integration in the 1950s, than the current Roberts & Scalia Court of private opinions. Notwithstanding The Affordable Obamacare Act and Same Sex Marriage decisions, choices in Bush v. Gore and Citizens United mar American claims of Justice for All, just as Baltimore's City Jail whipping post did between 1885-1938. The loving equality chiseled above the Supreme Court entrance in our nation's capital is now a cliche of justice denied, even to those trumped by un-presidential republican candidates -- rendering The Wind Beneath My Wings, as hollow as the Right Wing's, Support Our Troops. Great sentiments, but, What's Love Got to Do with It? It's time we realize, true patriots don't speak as a child, but have instead, put away childish things, like Second Amendment rewrites to profane militia. Grownup patriots save a child's future from: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's Flint Water, Duke Energy Dan River Coal Ash Spill, Gushing greed rippling from January 10, 1901 Spindletop Hill Texas, SoCal Methane Gas Leak in Porter Ranch Estates, Decrease in Rain Forest and increase in extinction of earth's inhabitants, The myriad of fruit from our denial: Fracking, sinkholes, mudslides, floods, tornadoes, El Nino. It's increasingly difficult for the multitude of consumers, homeless veterans and minimum wage earners to, unlike Mozart, stand muted in the jungle of Wall Street's monkey business, harmonizing to, I Will Always Love You. However, Our Love is Here to Stay could be more, Love Actually, and potentially as timeless as, The Age of Adaline, if only we stop treating the promise of the Statue of Liberty like a New Year's Resolution. What if every breath we take is potentially full of, I've had the Time of My Life, we Whistle a Happy Tune, while ignoring the Climate Change, Chipotle and snowball Congress we leave our children? Our 2016 election results need to conduct the world's melodies in a refrain of, Can you Feel the Love Tonight, or we're no better than the Florida residents of The Villages, who threw their children and grand-children under the Paul Ryan bus. From elementary school to voting booth, all our children need a love that enables their moving forward, shaking off the dust of our over consumerism -- a love that lights their life's journey away from TPP, to the truth of a world at peace with the earth. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. By Marc Becker A resolution to protect the right to education in the occupiedPalestinian territories was defeated by a 111 to 51 margin at the 2016meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA).Historians Against the War (HAW) brought the resolution to the meeting,with the signatures of 126 AHA members. A group calling itself theAlliance for Academic Freedom (AAF) launched a concerted campaignagainst the resolution.The resolution (available at http://historiansagainstwar.org/aha16/ would have put the AHA on record as upholding the rights of Palestinianfaculty and students to pursue their education and research freely inthe occupied West Bank and Gaza.Professor Barbara Weinstein of New York University and 2007 AHApresident was one of the historians who supported the resolution.Weinstein stated, "It is entirely appropriate for our professionalassociation to consider this issue. We are addressing serious andongoing violations of academic freedom by a close U.S. ally."The debate and voting on the resolution took place at the AHA businessmeeting on January 9, 2016, at its annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.Margaret Power, professor of history at the Illinois Institute ofTechnology, made an opening statement for HAW in favor of theresolution. She outlined the limitations of movement that faculty andstudents in Palestine face, and argued that it was within the purview ofthe AHA to oppose such violations of human rights.Sharon Musher of Stockton University provided a rebuttal in the name ofthe AAF. She argued that it was a divisive act, and pointed to what sheclaimed were errors in the resolution. The AAF also contended that theresolution wrongly singled out Israel while ignoring violations in othercountries, and would burden the AHA with monitoring a situation forwhich it lacks the necessary resources.Andrew Zimmerman from George Wash University responded to Musher thatdisagreement is at the heart of the historian's work. He asked forlogical arguments against the resolution; divisiveness is not an argument.Carolyn "Rusti" Eisenberg from Hofstra University noted that no onedisputed the charges in resolution. She highlighted the specialrelationship between the United States and Israel that allows abuses ofPalestinians to continue. She noted that opposing such violations was amoral issue.The AAF failed to engage the proposed resolution on its merits, butinstead used diversionary tactics to challenge its passage. The AAFlabeled itself progressive, by at the same time appealed to suchconservative outfits as Freedom House and attempted to make an argumentin favor of supporting right-wing student protests in Venezuela. Aparticularly low point in the debate was when an AAF supporter resortedto charges of anti-semitism. Nevertheless, as AHA Executive DirectorJames Grossman noted at the end of the annual meeting, the debate wascarried out with a good deal of civility.The resolution did not lose on the merits, but with superior resourcesand funding the AAF was able to out maneuver HAW in mobilizing AHAmembers at the meeting. Even so, the 111 votes against the resolutionwas a small fraction of the 3338 people in attendance at the conference,and fewer than the 126 who signed the resolution.Bringing the resolution to a vote in itself was a success for HAW. Atthe previous year's AHA in New York, AAF used procedural issues toprevent a similar issue from even coming to a vote. Van Gosse fromFranklin and Marshall College and lead organizer of the initiative leftthe meeting with a sense of victory. "We really dominated in thedebate," he noted. "They had no real arguments--just red herrings."At the AHA, HAW also sponsored a roundtable together with MARHO: TheRadical Historians' Organization on "Violations of Academic Freedom inthe Occupied Palestinian Territories." Salim Tamari of the Institute forPalestine Studies, Professor Leena Dallasheh of Humboldt StateUniversity, and Tom Ricks, an independent scholar who researchesPalestinian higher education all spoke on the panel.Ricks drew on his personal experience in Palestine since 1983 tohighlight systematic violations of right to education. He pointed outthat universities routinely faced weeks and months of closures, whichwas a particular issue around examination times, and this preventedstudents from graduating. Ricks noted that access to education is notonly an issue in Palestine, but throughout the Middle East. He arguedthat we should help people gain access.Salim Tamari argued for the need to disentangle issues of security andaccess to education. Every time the issue of freedom of education rises,Tamari noted, Israel uses the issue of security to deny access. Israelsecurity forces regularly conduct raids on campuses under the pretext ofhot pursuit, and arrest faculty and students under suspicion ofmembership in certain organizations. Educators' right of movement isrestricted at checkpoints. Access of external academics and students arealso denied through visit restrictions.Leena Dallasheh raised the issue of who has access to craft historicalnarratives, including the creation of historical knowledge. Palestiniansface layers of obstacles, including through the active process ofexcluding their stories and privileging Israeli narratives. Because of alack of statehood, Palestine does not have a formal archive. Recordshave been destroyed, stolen, or disappeared. Palestinian scholars alsosuffer from restricted access to Israeli archives. Dallasheh notes thathistory matters, because it gives us the tools to create active, engagedcitizens. If that is the purpose of education, she asked, then why do weshy away from trying to change this situation? She contended that theAHA has a responsibility to make statements such as that contained inthe resolution. Reprinted from WSWS Bowing to Trump's racist agitation The Obama White House will not be swayed by protests against the renewed deportations of Central American women and children. So said Obama spokesman Josh Earnest in an arrogant proclamation from the podium of the White House briefing room. "The enforcement strategy and priorities that the administration has articulated are not going to change," Earnest said Friday. "We have focused those enforcement efforts on high priority issues we've identified. That primarily is criminals as you might expect... The other area of priority that is important is to ensure that we are maintaining security at the border. That means individuals who recently crossed the border are priorities for removal." So much for Obama's supposed compassion for children, which was on display only last Tuesday when, announcing measures to curb gun violence, Obama shed tears for the TV cameras over the 2012 death of first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School! Far from being "criminals," those targeted by the raids are mothers and children fleeing drug gangs and right-wing military death squads in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, all countries ruled by US-backed regimes that uphold the economic and political interests of local oligarchies. Agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began raiding the homes of Central American immigrants in Texas, Georgia and North Carolina after New Year's Day, detaining a total of 121 mothers and children. Of these, 77 have already been transported to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala, officials said. The rest are detained at DHS facilities in Texas awaiting deportation or further adjudication of their cases. The 121 detentions are only the tip of the iceberg. Press reports said some 10,000 women and children are to be targeted in the first round of sweeps this winter, while as many as 100,000 -- all those who have entered the country since early 2014 and who have not been granted official refugee status -- could ultimately fall victim to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The raids have been deliberately staged to produce widespread fear. In several instances in Georgia, for example, mothers have been taken from their homes in the middle of the night, having been given five minutes to pack their children's belongings. The widespread publicity given the new US government policy has contributed to panic in Central American immigrant communities all across the country. Press reports cite meetings of hundreds in New York, Boston, Baltimore and other cities where no raids have yet taken place, with people turning out to hear from lawyers and immigration rights advocates. School attendance and turnout at work sites is down, and some are even skipping doctor's appointments for fear of leaving their homes and being detained en route. The comments of the White House spokesman Friday came in response to pleas by congressional Democrats, including party leaders and Latino representatives, for an immediate halt to the raids. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, among others, have all condemned the actions of the DHS as "inhumane." What these representatives of big business really mean is that the raids and deportations are politically inexpedient at the onset of an election year in which the Democratic Party seeks to posture as more sympathetic to immigrants and Hispanics than the Republicans, despite the atrocious record of Obama, once dubbed the "deporter-in-chief" by immigrants' rights activists. A letter sent by the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representatives Raul M. Grijalva (Democrat of Arizona) and Keith Ellison (Democrat of Minnesota), reads: "Countless reports have documented how many of these women and children are fleeing extreme violence and poverty in their home countries... It is inhumane for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials to disregard these threats and cause fear and anguish for immigrant families." In comments to the press, Grijalva noted the obvious -- that the deportation campaign was an olive branch to the fascistic anti-immigrant demagogy of billionaire Donald Trump, now echoed by virtually the entire Republican Party presidential field. "I hope that the administration is not considering these women and children as collateral damage in... an election year discussion about immigration," he said. Other protests noted the contrast between Obama's supposed support for refugees fleeing violence in Syria and the brutality towards refugees fleeing similar violence in Central America. The new round of repression comes in response to a new upsurge in immigration from Central America, which peaked in November and December, and the anti-immigrant demagogy of the Republican presidential campaign, spearheaded by Trump. Far from representing a genuine alternative to the Republicans, the Obama administration is demonstrating the real character of the Democratic Party, which carries out the same reactionary policies, albeit with slightly different rhetoric. If you haven't yet seen "The Big Short" -- directed and co-written by Adam McKay, based on the non-fiction prize-winning book by Michael Lewis about the housing and credit bubble that triggered the Great Recession -- I recommend you do so. Not only is the movie an enjoyable (if that's the right word) way to understand how the big banks screwed millions of Americans out of their homes, savings, and jobs -- and then got bailed out by taxpayers. It's also a lesson in why they're on the way to doing all this again -- and how their political power continues to erode laws designed to prevent another crisis and to shield their executives from any accountability. Most importantly, the movie shows why Bernie Sanders's plan to break up the biggest banks and reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act (separating investment from commercial banking) is necessary -- and why Hillary Clinton's more modest plan is inadequate. I'll get back to Bernie and Hillary in a moment, but first you need to know why Wall Street wants us to forget what really happened. The movie gets the story essentially right: Traders on the Street pushed highly-risky mortgage loans, bundled them together into investments that hid the risks, got the major credit-rating agencies to give the bundles Triple-A ratings, and then sold them to unwary investors. It was a fraudulent Ponzi scheme that had to end badly -- and it did. Yet since then, Wall Street and its hired guns (including most current Republican candidates for president) have tried to rewrite this history. They want us to believe the banks and investment houses were innocent victims of misguided government policies that gave mortgages to poor people who shouldn't have got them. That's pure baloney. The boom in subprime mortgages was concentrated in the private market, not in government. Wall Street itself created the risky mortgage market. It sliced and diced junk mortgages into bundles that hid how bad they were. And it invented the derivatives and CDOs that financed them Reprinted from Consortium News To justify U.S. "regime changes," the U.S. government has routinely spread rumors and made other dubious claims which -- even when later doubted or debunked -- are left in place indefinitely as corrosive propaganda, eating away at the image of various "enemies" and deforming public opinion. Even though this discredited propaganda can have a long half-life -- continuing to contaminate the public's ability to perceive reality for years -- President Barack Obama and his administration have shown no inclination to undertake a kind of HAZMAT clean-up of the polluted information environment that American citizens have been forced to live in. A March 27, 2011 email from Blumenthal reminded Clinton that "I communicated more than a week ago on this story -- [Libyan leader Muammar] Qaddafi placing bodies to create PR stunts about supposed civilian casualties as a result of Allied bombing -- though underlining it was a rumor. But now, as you know, [Defense Secretary] Robert Gates gives credence to it." A recent case in point was the emergence -- in the State Department's New Year's Eve release of more than 3,000 emails to and from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- of evidence that two key propaganda themes used to advance violent "regime change" in Libya in 2011 may have originated with rebel-inspired rumors passed on by Clinton's private adviser Sidney Blumenthal. Blumenthal's email, which was slugged "Rumor: Q[addafi]'s rape policy," then plunged ahead into his new rumor: "Sources now say, again rumor (that is, this information comes from the rebel side and is unconfirmed independently by Western intelligence), that Qaddafi has adopted a rape policy and has even distributed Viagra to troops. The incident at the Tripoli press conference involving a woman claiming to be raped is likely to be part of a much larger outrage. Will seek further confirmation." A month later, this bizarre Viagra-rape angle became part of a United Nations presentation by then U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice who brought up the Viagra charge in a debate about the evils of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. A U.N. diplomat at the closed session on April 28, 2011, told The Guardian that "It was during a discussion about whether there is moral equivalence between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels. She listed human rights abuses by Gaddafi's forces, including snipers shooting children in the street and the Viagra story." On Blumenthal's propaganda point, it's not clear where Defense Secretary Gates got the idea to accuse Gaddafi of "staging" scenes of U.S.-inflicted carnage, but Blumenthal's email indicates that he was disseminating that rumor which might have been picked up by Gates, rather than independently confirmed by Gates. (It's also true that the "staging" excuse has been used before when evidence emerges of U.S. bombs killing civilians.) Media Self-Interest Yet, regardless of the truth or falsity of such U.S. claims and counter-claims, the chance that someone inside Official Washington is going to review the lies and exaggerations used to rationalize a major U.S. foreign policy initiative -- in this case, the violent overthrow of the Gaddafi regime -- to, in effect, "clear" Gaddafi's name is remote at best. The few cases of the media debunking U.S. propaganda, such as exposing the made-up claims about Iraqi soldiers killing babies on incubators before the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91, are rare exceptions to the rule. Even rarer are cases when the U.S. government admits that it relied on false information, such as the intelligence community recanting its pre-invasion claims about Iraq hiding WMD stockpiles in 2002-03. The much more common approach is to simply leave the decaying propaganda in place and move on to the next target of opportunity. There is little benefit for anyone to undertake the painstaking work of separating whatever slices of truth exist within the rot of lies and exaggerations that were used to justify some war. President Barack Obama at the White House with National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Samantha Power (right), his U.N. ambassador. (Image by (Photo credit: Pete Souza)) Details DMCA The way mainstream journalism usually works in America is that a reporter who challenges U.S. government propaganda aimed at a foreign "enemy" is putting his or her career at risk. The reporter's patriotism will be questioned amid suggestions that he or she is a "fill-in-the-blank-with-the-villain's-name" apologist. And since the reality -- whatever it is -- is usually fuzzy, there is almost never any vindication for a brave stance. So, the smart career play is to go along with the propaganda or stay silent. A similar reality exists inside the U.S. government. Honest intelligence analysts can expect no rewards if they debunk one of these propaganda themes, especially after a number of important U.S. officials have gone out publicly and sold the falsehood to the people. Making the Secretary of State or the Defense Secretary or the President look bad is not a great career move. BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to be testing the waters before deciding whether to contest from Chamundeswari or Varuna Assembly constituency in elections scheduled to be held in 2018. While his debut entry into the Legislative Assembly in 1983 and subsequent victories after a split of the erstwhile Janata Party were from Chamundeswari, he moved to Varuna when he quit Janata Dal (S) and contested on a Congress ticket in 2008 and 2013, the second victory helped realize his ambition of occupying the Chief Ministers position. During a tour of Mysuru district last week, he surprised everyone when he expressed his desire to contest from Chamundeswari constituency. Everyone thought that Mr Siddaramaiah was keen to return to Chamundeswari and field his son, Mr Rakesh Siddaramaiah, from Varuna constituency. On Monday, however, Mr Siddaramaiah ruled out his sons entry into electoral politics as long he was in politics, thus puzzling local Congress leaders. Commenting on the development, a senior Congress leader and a former minister told DC that first, the party high command might not give tickets to father and son duo that too from adjacent constituencies. Secondly, there was always the prospect of him or his son losing in Chamundeswari where Vokkaligas, Lingayats and Nayaks constitute around 70-75 per cent of voters. If Mr Siddaramaiah had been winning in all elections held since 1983, it was because of the support of Vokkaliga voters. The leader opined that Varuna was the safest constituency for Mr Siddaramaiah because of a large number of voters belonging to Scheduled Castes, minorities, OBCs, and Kuruba community. Besides, a portion of T Narasipur, where SCs hold the key, was merged with Varuna at the time of delimitation of constituencies. Therefore, Mr Siddaramaiah knows well which card to play and when, and having achieved his ambition of making it to the CMs post, he could play his cards very well, just as he did recently by tacitly backing the unification of parties of the erstwhile Janata Parivar in order to weaken Janata Dal (Secular). Such moves prompted JD(S) patriarch to rule out merger of JD(S) with JD(U) and to call off future alliance for forthcoming polls. http://www.zoombusinessrelocation.com.au/for Business relocation in Sydney may not be all that easy, considering the fact that there must be as little interruption in its functioning as possible. Several complexities may crop up in a business relocation the whole office cannot be moved in one go or handling sensitive and delicate computer equipment or machinery might be tricky considering the type of business you are in. It therefore becomes imperative that your office move is handled by a business relocation company Sydney that is experienced and professional at the job.Here are some things that you should keep in mind when looking for a business relocation company in Sydney.The most important factor to consider when relocating your business is how much of a disruption the move will cause in your work schedules which may lead to a loss of profits. An experienced business relocation company Sydney will offer a detailed plan for your business move so as to create a minimal disruption in your work. To do that, the company must have handled several different kinds of business moves successfully and knows what exactly to expect. So, the first tip is to look for an experienced business relocation company Sydney.A relocation management company has skilled staff to manage the move. The professional team of movers plans your relocation right from the start to the finish. Their planning skills ensure that there are no glitches in the smooth movement of equipment, material and records of your business from the old office location to the new one. So, tip number two is to hire a professional business relocation company in Sydney.Relocating an office or business involves disassembly and reassembly of delicate computer equipment, machinery and workstations. It also involves moving years of data records from one place to another without causing a mess. Packing of equipment and records is an integral part of a business move and only a skilled team of packers and movers can manage it smoothly. This is the third tip does the business relocation company Sydney have a skilled team of packers to take care of the job efficiently?Last but not the least, does the business relocation company Sydney have the required infrastructure in place to manage a smooth business move? As we mentioned, packing of delicate office equipment requires the right type of packing materials and technologies to ensure that it is not damaged during the transition. The company must also possess appropriate vehicles to transport the equipment, machinery and all other office material safely and securely for a smooth business move. And, all this infrastructure must be managed and handled by a trained team of removalists from start to finish.At Zoom Business Relocation, you can expect all this and much more from your Sydney Office Removals Company. Visitmore. Giving tree painted on activity center lobby wall The Community Activity Council of Orchard Park was the driving force behind a new addition to one of the walls in the lobby of the Brush Mountain Park community activity... Sanitary sewer lining work set to begin again in town Work is set to begin again over the next few weeks on the Town of Orchard Parks aging sewer infrastructure. Highway Superintendent Andrew Slotman notified the Town Board, during its... Police Department seeking to hire two public safety dispatchers Finding public safety dispatchers has become a bit of a challenge for the Orchard Park Police Department. Currently, the department is looking to fill two full-time dispatcher positions. Because of... Dulse started as humble abalone feed, sold for $4 an ounce as a cooking ingredient and mostly limited to the realms of fish and hippy food. But the seaweed held a secret: Treated the right way, it almost tastes like bacon. In the weeks and months after Oregon State University scientists began talking about this "bacon-tasting seaweed," it seemed the edible algae could soon take its place on vegan breakfast tables world-wide. Instead, New Seasons Market is gambling that the protein-packed leaves can amount to more than just a bacon-substitute for vegans. Dulse might even be the next kale. "Kale was this kind of obscure veggie that everyone grew but nobody used," said New Seasons' Chris Tjersland, who develops products for the grocery chain's in-store brand. "We kind of look at this to be that type of product again." New Seasons is premiering the country's first commercial dulse food product Wednesday, a salad dressing that draws heavily on Asian flavors. It took more than a year, 1,000 Oregon State University marketing students and a houseboat in Denmark to move the dressing onto store shelves. With the Portland-based grocery's backing, the creators are hoping to move the red seaweed from the realm of "natural food" enthusiasts to a staple food. Dulse is a red algae that grows along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and is packed with minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, earning it the "superfood" moniker. In dry weight it packs 16 percent protein. And it was growing at the Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Sciences Center in Newport to feed sea snails when , a marketing professor at OSU, noticed it in a bubbling tank. Chris Langdon, a professor in OSU' s fisheries and wildlife department, bred the seaweed into a fast-growing strain about 15 years ago and patented it. "I didn't think you could patent a seaweed," Toombs said. On the drive home, Toombs mulled over the facts he'd learned about dulse -- under the right conditions, it can quintuple in size every 14 days and can sell for $4 an ounce at specialty markets. He only found out later it tasted like bacon when it's cooked. Toombs was looking for a business project for his marketing students, one that would foster their entrepreneurial spirit and possibly have some success. Dulse was it. They made their global announcement that dulse was the food of the future in July. Behind the scenes, Toombs had enlisted a food product incubator to figure out how to get the hype to the table. Nearly 5,000 miles away, Jason Ball was munching a dulse ice cream sandwich on a houseboat in Copenhagen, Denmark, surfing the internet for a new job. He had spent months on the houseboat, which doubled as the Nordic Food Lab, an experimental food lab where he helped a colleague make wild ice creams, such as the one he was eating when he found the Oregon Food Innovation Center's job listing. They were advertising their work with dulse. Ball reached out. He got the job. He created 30 recipes using dulse -- a beer with dehydrated seaweed in place of aroma hops ("It was surprisingly good!"), a malted milk ice cream with candied and smoked dulse, sourdough bread with dried dulse instead of salt, instant ramen packets, a butter that used dulse to culture the cream ("That was a little less successful, I'll say."). Then, they invited New Seasons' Tjersland to lunch. After tasting and talking, Tjersland pushed them in the direction of the tamari-heavy salad dressing, thinking it would showcase the savory and salty aspects of the dulse while being a little less intimidating for the average consumer than a funky dulse butter. It also uses tamari, rather than soy sauce, so it's gluten-free. The base is olive oil to avoid the genetically-engineered backlash against canola oil. To make a new food palatable to novice grocery shoppers, especially the less adventurous variety, it needs to be accessible. After a while, when people are used to dulse salad dressing or dulse rice crackers -- another Ball recipe under construction at the Food Innovation Center -- they might mix some fresh dulse in with their arugula instead of kale. Fresh, dulse has some chew like a thick leafy green and tastes more like saltwater than fish. Ball calls it "oceanic," rather than "seaweedy." The dressing is salty and tangy with tiny bits of the red algae swimming around in it, but doesn't taste at all like a wharf. The Food Innovation Center's taste-testing studies approved the dulse dressing -- a rigorous process for any new product, but especially one that introduces a seaweed to the masses. "I can make things and taste them and think it's delicious, but that's not going to do me any good," Ball said. In fact, he eats the algae like chips while experimenting. He needed the sign-off of a variety of eaters. One year and 75 days later from the day Toombs made dulse his marketing class's project, the dressing is ready for store shelves. And it doesn't even taste like bacon. -- Molly Harbarger mharbarger@oregonian.com 503-294-5923 @MollyHarbarger Salma Ahmad Salma Ahmad in 2010, shortly before reading at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Pioneer Courthouse Square. (Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian) In her nearly 50 years in the United States, Salma Ahmad never felt more American. Tears spilled onto her usually-smiling cheeks as she clapped. Around her, hundreds of national leaders applauded President Barack Obama for defending her people. "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer. That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong," the president said Tuesday night during his final State of the Union address. "It betrays who we are as a country." Ahmad, head of the Islamic Society of Greater Portland, was invited to the address by U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore. - one of more than a dozen members of Congress to invite a Muslim as a guest. Ahmad won a community leadership award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2009 for helping the bureau understand Islam and communicate with Oregon's Muslim community. She serves on advisory boards for the World Affairs Council of Oregon and the Muslim Educational Trust and helps lead the Human Rights Council of Washington County. We spoke with Ahmad briefly after the president's speech to ask about the experience. Her responses have been edited for brevity and clarity. How did it feel to be in the room when President Obama said anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions betray the country's values? For me, as a Muslim, I was crying. At the end of the speech I just sobbed, and it wasn't only me. I didn't expect to act like that, to be emotional. I've been here 49 years. I felt more American than ever. He stood for what this country believes in. The fathers that made the constitution of this country provided freedom and liberty for all. The constitution says 'we the people.' Just to hear the president speak and give the confidence and the support for Muslims - I said, 'This is America the beautiful.' The constitution is a brick wall we have to protect and lean on. You couldn't help but love this country. Salma Ahmad and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., in Washington, D.C., before the president's final State of the Union address. You were one of more than a dozen Muslims invited by members of Congress. What message do you hope your presence sends? They wanted to show the voters, 'This Muslim contributes to society.' We were invited there to show that the Muslims do good and the Muslims are good people. Inviting me is not just about me. I'm just Salma Ahmad. I'm just an ordinary house wife. But who I represent is an American Muslim from a different ethnicity, and a woman. There are so many American Muslim women. I just happen to be Salma Ahmad. But for me all the Muslim women in Beaverton and Washington County are Salma Ahmads. What did you learn from this experience - whether it's something from the speech or from the rest of your time in D.C.? I told (Bonamici's) staff, I was laughing, 'Every penny I pay in taxes is worth it. Because it's working here.' I saw it with my eyes how my tax money is working. The majority of the people I met - almost about 20 or 30 congressmen and women and staff - they truly work for the people. There's no country in the world that functions like we do. We are stronger than ever. We are safer than ever, compared to other countries. All the rhetoric that's going on with candidates is so selfish - they are only after what they can gain. I do my best to represent my country and represent my faith. I tell other girls the same thing: You have to be an example and do something for this country. This country is good. -- Melissa Binder mbinder@oregonian.com 503-294-7656 @binderpdx lightbar.jpg Capt. Mike Herb, a Forest Grove Police Department spokesman, said the Wells Fargo bank on Pacific Avenue in Forest Grove was robbed Jan. 12. (The Oregonian/OregonLive) Police are searching for a woman suspected of robbing a bank in Forest Grove. Capt. Mike Herb, a Forest Grove Police Department spokesman, said a woman is suspected of robbing Wells Fargo bank, 1905 Pacific Ave. in Forest Grove, at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. Herb said the suspect handed a note to the teller, who didn't see a weapon. The suspect was last seen running northeast from the bank toward Main Street and 21st Avenue, according to a Forest Grove Police Department news release. Witnesses described the suspect as a woman in her 20s who has a small build and is about 5-foot-3, Herb said. The suspect was described as having blond hair with bangs, Herb said. She was wearing a black and white jacket, he said. Herb said he didn't have any information about there being a pursuit of the suspect. There hasn't been a bank robbery in Forest Grove in several years, Herb said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is working with Forest Grove police on the case, according to the news release. Forest Grove police asks anyone with information about the suspect to call the department's non-emergency dispatch at (503) 629-0111 or another department number, (503) 992-3260. -- Jim Ryan 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 TPP and climate change: I must respond to "Trans-Pacific Partnership could help combat climate change." With curious double-speak, Leonard Santos asserts the TPP treaty would bring about trade that "enhances the likelihood of saving the planet from environmental disaster." Using a "poor country" argument, he alleges poor countries need a few decades of planet-wasting trade protection to understand the importance of environment's connection to climate and that the TPP facilitates that process. What a puzzling argument, especially since TransCanada recently announced that it is seeking $15 billion in damages against the U.S. for loss of profits from their Keystone XL pipeline. Via a North American Free Trade Agreement tribunal, TransCanada asserted their right of profit over U.S. environmental interests. Regrettably, the TPP would also allow such a tribunal supporting corporate profit over earth degradation. And it's not the poor countries that insist on making a profit at the expense of the earth; in this case, it's Canada. Certainly, the TPP is an environmental boondoggle. Donna Murphy Northeast Portland By Roberta Palmer After the horrendous terrorist attack in Paris, Nov. 13, 2015, French President Francois Hollande decided that the terrorists hated the French for who they are, not for what they do. That same sentiment controlled the narrative in the U.S. after the attack of Sep. 11, 2001: They hated us for our way of life, our freedoms, our secularism, etc. Despite the fact that the perpetrators in Paris said the attack was in response to what is happening in Syria and that Osama bin Laden stated the grievances that motivated the 9/11 attack, the West is sticking to its story. While no excuse can be made for these attacks, tragic consequences can result when false narratives are adopted. But why attack the French when the U.S. has done most of the bombing in Syria? The Syrians surely recall the history of French colonialism in Syria, how the West carved up the Middle East after the Ottoman Empire was finished following World War I, the French placing a puppet king on the throne of Syria, the British doing the same in Iraq. Beyond that, Paris was a convenient target with a large Arab population that remembers Algeria and other hurts -- and with the French government bombing yet another Arab nation. Some of the grievances that bin Laden claimed motivated the 9/11 attack on the U. S. were these (see www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver): the death and destruction in Iraq from the first Gulf War; the U.S. air bases that were built in the "holy" land of Saudi Arabia; the suffering of the Palestinians, which Jordan's King Abdullah has called the bleeding heart of the Muslim world; Somalia, Lebanon and more. While we may disagree as to the legitimacy of his grievances, they do refer to real events, not to religious differences or to a "clash of civilizations." So when Muslim extremists commit atrocities, "moderate" Muslims should not be asked to defend their religion. These acts are political. Although we went to war for Western Europe, Americans might not comprehend the feeling of Muslims for the suffering of fellow believers in other nations. A shared history of victimization by the West and identification with the community of Islam is powerful. Scenes of outrageous violence and injustice from Western wars on the Middle East are highly motivating. The Christians who fought the first Crusade in 1096 wore crosses into battle, but the underlying cause was not to wrest the Holy Lands from Muslim control, but to beat back Turkish expansion. The political dimensions of our War on Terror must be recognized if our response is to be appropriate. This cycle of violence will end when we stop what we still do. * Roberta Palmer lives in Northwest Portland. Srinagar: Kashmiri leaders on both sides of the Line of Control have expressed serious concerns over the alleged proposal to make the Gilgit-Baltistan region of the Himalayan state the fifth province of Pakistan. Unconfirmed reports from Islamabad say Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will hold a crucial meeting with his countrys top officials on January 14 to deliberate on the future of Gilgit-Baltistan. In the backdrop of these reports, Pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, Muhammad Yasin Malik, shot a letter to Sharif cautioning him against such a move and asserting it would only weaken the Kashmiri peoples national cause. Referring to the apprehensions that have been raised in various quarters that Sharifs government may reach a consensus to merge Gilgit-Baltistan with Pakistan. Malik said that such a step would have implications on the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir. If Pakistan imposes its sovereign writ over Gilgit-Baltistan, India will then have a political and moral right to integrate Kashmir with it. With one stroke, Pakistan will be helping India to consolidate its writ on Kashmir, the letter says urging Nawaz Sharif to stay away from such a course of action. The letter further says, It is not only political wisdom that forces me make this appeal but also respect for the sentiments, sacrifices and aspirations of Kashmiri people. If your government incorporates Gilgit-Baltistan into Pakistan, and if as a consequence, India consolidates its hold in Kashmir, this would amount to a bartering of peoples aspirations. Kashmir is not about territory. It is about rights of people, the letter asserts adding, Bartering these rights for land means killing the aspirations of people. Referring to media reports that the China-Pakistan corridor is forcing Islamabad to change the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan, the JKLF leader has said in his letter that economic development is good but you have no moral right to make a policy that will adversely affect the future of millions of Kashmiris. Recalling his meeting with Sharif in Lahore in 2009, Malik said, I know you in personal capacity. When you met me in Lahore in 2009, you made some promises to me. I want to remind you of those promises. You clearly vindicated Kashmiri position on Gilgit-Baltistan and opposed any proposal that will change its legal or constitutional status. The letter then says, I will also add that history is not made by small bargaining and territorial exchanges but by respecting the will of the people. The will of people in Kashmir is what everyone including your good self knows. History, morality and ethics dictate that will of people prevail. Islamic Students league patron Shakeel Ahmed Bakhshi issued a statement in Srinagar where he said that before the division of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Leh-Kargil and Gurez were one united province of erstwhile state. He alleged that the move to alter the status of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is rich in culture and heritage, loaded with huge natural resources with vast tourism potential and famous for International Silk Route, amounts to depriving people of Jammu and Kashmir of political, cultural and economical rights. Bakhshi further said that to fiddle with this status of Gilgit-Baltistan is same as New Delhi granting Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council which will ultimately lead to Union Territory status for Ladakh. He also said that annexing Gilgit-Baltistan would be a clear signal to India to do same with Jammu and Kashmir. The second step of this conspiracy would be granting complete provincial status to Azad Kashmir (PoK). And, in this way they have agreed to roll back freedom struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, he said. Bakshi said that the state of Jammu and Kashmir as existed on August 14, 1947 is on the whole a disputed territory according to relevant UN resolutions and that by separating one part of the erstwhile state and absorbing it in another country amounts to huge treachery with the sacrifices of Kashmiris. He said the ISL will oppose tooth and nail such conspiracies. An earlier report from Muzaffarabad had said that PoK prime minister Choudhary Abdul Majeed has warned the Nawaz Sharif-government against any attempt to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into a province of Pakistan. He urged Sharif to avoid taking any decision that does not fall in his jurisdiction, asserting that he cannot take this decision unless the people of Jammu and Kashmir agree to it. PoK President Muhammad Yaqoob Khan has also warned that such a step would be more damaging than the dismemberment of the country in 1971. He sought to remind Islamabad that Gilgit-Baltistan had been given in the administrative control of Pakistan on a temporary basis and advised the Sharif government not to think beyond that. By David Ignatius WASHINGTON -- Russia is emerging as an essential diplomatic and security partner for the U.S. in Syria, despite the Obama administration's opposition to Moscow's support for President Bashar al-Assad. Russian-American cooperation on Syria now includes regular diplomatic, military and intelligence contacts. Moscow and Washington have evolved a delicate process for "de-confliction" in the tight Syrian airspace, where accidents or miscommunication could be disastrous. Administration officials see working with Russia as the best of a bad set of options. An administration that has had trouble living with President Vladimir Putin, especially after his actions in Ukraine, finds that it can't live without him in Syria. Washington's hope is that Putin will support American efforts to negotiate a cease-fire because he concludes it's the only way to avoid a quagmire. "While we remain skeptical of Russian interests and intentions in Syria, we also believe that they will be an essential part of any political solution to this conflict," one senior administration official explained Tuesday. "The degree of communication we have with them reflects that view." Putin this week seemed to take a public step toward the U.S. position that Assad must go eventually. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild released Tuesday, Putin hinted that he might grant Assad asylum. He said granting asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden "was far more difficult than to do the same for Mr. Al-Assad." The Russian leader also said Assad "has made many mistakes in the course of the Syrian conflict." Putin's reference to asylum was taken "very seriously" by the White House, a second administration official noted Tuesday. "I think he was sending a signal about where he stands" that was consistent with what Russian officials have been telling the U.S. in private, the official said. Syria was also the subject of a phone call Monday between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They talked about plans for a Jan. 25 U.N.-sponsored meeting in Geneva to organize a common opposition front. Kerry and Lavrov are likely to meet in Europe next week for more talk about the Syria negotiations, including how to keep Iran and Saudi Arabia on board. Another Russian-American channel involves CIA Director John Brennan. His conversations include exchanges about Islamic State terrorists that threaten both countries, and crises such as the shoot-down of a Russian jet by Turkey in November. Brennan explained the counterterrorism dialogue in November at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We've been exchanging information. I think it needs to be enhanced. But I am determined to continue to work with my Russian counterparts because of the importance that I think we each can bring to this issue in terms of our insights, our information, our data, and sharing it." An important booster of Russian-American cooperation is Jordan's King Abdullah. U.S. officials believe the monarch has sought a special relationship with Putin and hopes soon to coordinate military activities with Russia against the Islamic State. Already, there is a joint Jordanian-Russian military coordination center in Jordan; the Jordanians hope it could be the bridge to a cease-fire in the south between rebels and the Assad regime, and a coordinated assault on the Islamic State. So far, though, the Russians have continued pounding the anti-Assad rebels in southern and northern Syria, alike. For the past year, Jordanian officials have been discussing with their American counterparts the creation of a forward operating base inside Syria that could be a rallying point for Sunni forces against the Islamic State. Described as a modern-day "Fort Apache," this base would be organized by special forces from Jordan and other Western and Arab coalition partners; U.S. officials, long skeptical of such a move, appear more supportive. The crowded skies over Syria pose a special challenge. The U.S. and Russia have agreed on a memorandum of understanding that mandates "maintaining professional airmanship at all times, the use of specific communication frequencies and the establishment of a communication line on the ground," according to Lt. Col. Kristi Beckman, a spokeswoman at Centcom. U.S. and Russian pilots operate at "safe distances," she said, and if Syrian planes are near, "it is standard practice for us to stand off until the airspace is clear." For President Obama, the willingness to work with Putin is an act of foreign policy realism or desperation, depending on your point of view. Some would argue that in Syria, the two converge. David Ignatius' email address is davidignatiuswashpost.com. (c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group city hall.JPG A stuffed Sasquatch in Portland City Hall in November 2015. (Jamie Hale/Staff) For the city of Portland, it seems, no public document is too old to keep away from the public. On Wednesday, City Council will vote on a resolution upholding that lofty principle. The resolution is an almost instantaneous response to a Jan. 8 determination by the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office in support of transparency. Back in September 2015, Mark Bartlett requested a handful of city attorney opinions and a memorandum from City Attorney Jeffrey Rogers to the mayor and a couple of city commissioners. The memorandum was written in 1990, and the mayor at the time was Bud Clark. The city of Portland told Bartlett to take a hike, citing attorney-client privilege. Bartlett appealed the denial to the district attorney, pointing to a state law requiring the disclosure of documents more than 25 years old. In his Jan. 8 determination, District Attorney Rod Underhill sided with Bartlett, agreeing "that, regardless of whether or not the records at issue were subject to attorney-client privilege when created," the law in question "requires that they now be disclosed." The language of the law requiring disclosure of documents at the quarter-century mark "is unambiguous," Underhill wrote, and contains a tiny list of categories to which it does not apply. Attorney-client privilege is not among them. Moreover, he writes, "It is consistent with the well-established principles of open government in Oregon that the legislature should see fit to place a temporal limit on the otherwise perpetual attorney-client privilege as to the advice government attorneys have given to other government actors." Underhill all but scoffed at the city's argument for continued secrecy. The city, he writes, "argues that releasing the requested information would violate their attorneys' legal ethical obligations to keep confidential client information." The problem is that the rule that provides the foundation for the city's argument doesn't apply to information released in order to comply with another law. Like, you know, Oregon public records law, which requires the release of documents when they begin to crumble from old age. As surprising as it is that the city wasted a second of staff time fighting Bartlett's request, that's nothing compared to the resolution commissioners will vote on tomorrow: to appeal the district attorney's decision. City Council, in other words, will consider spending more public money to prevent the public from finding out what it was the city attorney wrote to former Mayor Bud Clark more than 25 years ago. The resolution, by the way, begins by alleging, "The City of Portland is committed to an open and transparent government, in which all people have access to public documents ..." The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board called the city attorney who'd prepared the resolution, Jenifer Johnston, and asked which commissioner was pushing for the appeal. "I think those details go into confidential communications, which I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss," she said. "Since the whole thing is about attorney-client privilege, I certainly don't want to waive it by having a discussion with you." An email to mayoral spokesperson Sara Hottman inquiring about the resolution's origins, sent late Tuesday afternoon, had not been answered by our deadline. wind.JPG The headlights of a passing car can be seen near the Shepherd's Flat wind farm near Arlington. (File photo) This year's short legislative session will show Oregonians whether Gov. Kate Brown would rather lead - a good thing for a governor to do - or follow, as she did last year by passively signing so much of what legislators saw fit to send her way. If she intends to lead, Brown must decide soon whether it's appropriate to undertake heavy policy work during a session designed for small-bore and budgetary matters - and then she must follow through with consistency. Short, even-year sessions always feature some policy-setting, and lawmakers this year are expected to consider changes to the minimum wage and to various policies affecting housing affordability. Brown has made it clear, though, that this year's session is no time to work on transportation funding, which was a top priority for her in 2015. Legislators consider picking up the pieces of last year's transportation debacle a big job that will have to wait until at least 2017. Suddenly last week, however, Oregon's two investor-owned utilities and a collection of environmental groups breathlessly announced an agreement that would dramatically revamp the state's power supply, eliminating the use of coal by 2035 and doubling the use of renewables by 2040. That's not a small task. PacifiCorp derives 60 percent of the electricity it sells from coal. As policymaking goes, this makes transportation funding seem minor-league, yet those involved insist that the Legislature deliver its blessing in 2016. Here is what the governor's office had to say, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive's Ted Sickinger: "Oregon's special quality of life is threatened by climate change ... Expanding the availability of renewable energy in Oregon is one way to make a meaningful impact. As I've said before, future generations will rightly judge this generation not by the fact of climate change, but how we responded. Let's do it the Oregon way, by working together." So, when it comes to finding money to repair roads this year, the governor's response is, "no way." But when it comes to rejiggering the state's energy supply, her response is mush. Fortunately, there's still time for the governor to take a position and act accordingly. Unlike transportation funding, ironically, banning coal was not a priority for either the governor or the Legislature last year. Proposals to go coal-free by 2025 were introduced in the House and Senate and went nowhere even as lawmakers voted for a controversial program to reduce the carbon emissions tied to road fuels. (By supporting this fuel program, in fact, Democratic legislators killed any chance to pass a transportation-funding package. There are priorities, and then there are priorities.) The no-coal coalition wasn't done, however. Having failed during the 2015 session, environmental groups lined up a couple of initiatives for the November 2016 ballot. Concerned about the effects of these proposals, PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric negotiated with the initiatives' backers and proposed a compromise. As of Tuesday, it had undergone no independent analysis, and no cost estimate was available. Yet if lawmakers don't pass it during this year's 35-day session, which starts next month, the no-coal coalition vows to place one of its proposals before voters in November. The Legislature now seems poised to leap into action in response to a measure that may or may not pass 10 months from now. Why not, then, do the same in support of transportation funding? Opponents of the low-carbon fuel standard, for which legislative Democrats sacrificed a transportation-funding package last year, have proposed ballot initiatives for November as well. These, too, provide an incentive for lawmakers to seek a compromise next month on transportation funding. Reopening the debate on "clean fuels" and road funding would further bloat this year's short session, of course. But once you've agreed to redo the state electricity supply, you might as well take on the gas tax, too. In for a penny, in for a pound. With the start of the legislative session only weeks away, the governor ought to take a position and hold it consistently. Either turn this session into a protracted exercise in ballot-measure pre-emption or insist that all significant policymaking efforts take place during the long 2017 legislative session. If Brown chooses the latter route, she should promise to campaign actively against measures involving policy matters that are better handled by the Legislature, including the proposed anti-coal measures. Brown's predecessor, John Kitzhaber, campaigned successfully against a pair of casino measures in 2012. He certainly had his faults, but Kitzhaber recognized the power of the governor's office and his obligation to use that power, including his bully pulpit, in pursuit of what he considered his constituents' interests. Sometimes, mush just isn't enough. locker.JPG (File photo) By Kim Conolly Every Dallas citizen I know desires to honor and respect every student, especially Elliot Yoder, because every person is an image bearer of the holy and sacred, and therefore shall be treated with dignity and respect. A recent Dallas School Board meeting reflected this concern for all students residing within the district. Unfortunately, the current policy doesn't respect the privacy concerns of all students and therefore must be changed. Students in the school district are children and need their privacy protected accordingly. Article 16 in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) expressly states children have a right to privacy. Therefore, if students do not wish to see nor be seen by a student of the opposite anatomical gender in locker rooms or restrooms within school district buildings, that is within their right to privacy. In an article in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, legal scholars Benjamin Shmueli and Ayelet Blecher-Prigat write, "Children need physical privacy in order to develop their individuality, their independence and their self-reliance, as well as for the sake of their creativity and other attributes important to personal development." It is especially critical that the Dallas School District and Oregon Department of Education stand for and create public policy that protects every student's right to privacy. This is not about one group of students against another group of students, just as it's not about transgendered students against non-transgendered students. We are all made in God's image, and soul does not have a gender. We simply recognize every child has a right to their own boundaries within their own body. They have a right to privacy. "The fact that children need privacy from individuals and entities external to the family is well recognized, both in law and academic literature," Shmueli and Blecher-Prigat write. "There is a wide recognition that children need privacy to protect them ..." Public institutions, including the Oregon Department of Education and school boards across Oregon have a grave responsibility to protect all children. Public policies must create, cover and protect the needs of the many, never just the one -- while yet including the one. Policies made by and for school districts have completely different needs and concerns than policies made by cities and municipalities because the vast majority of the students in a school district are under the age of 18. Children are not consenting adults, and school boards in some school districts are making policies that violate the rights of children under Article 16 of the UNCRC. Will it take civil lawsuits in this matter before we wake up to the fact that as a society we are required to protect the right to privacy for all our children? In finding solutions, write Shmueli and Blecher-Prigat, the "UNCRC explicitly grants children a right to privacy. Nonetheless, it is unclear whether this right is recognized only against the state or whether it applies in the familial context as well. ... We argue that this failure to recognize a privacy interest among children is inappropriate, especially in the modern era." School boards and communities face a challenging task, but I believe our school board and community can navigate an appropriate solution which respects the privacy of all students. Now, more than ever, we desperately need thoughtful educated citizens to step forward and create a path of peaceful resolution. The reality is that in our modern era, we face questions never before asked of us. It's time to find solutions that work for all, and which violate the rights of none. * Kim Conolly, of Dallas, has children in district schools. Oregon City's historic Newell Creek Canyon has attracted considerable attention recently with the forced closure and evacuation of parts of two large apartment complexes because of rain-driven landslides. As many as 30 families remain without permanent housing after large fissures creased the canyon's steep hillsides in early December. Those events, however, haven't slowed attention of a different kind as Metro biologists and planners continue work to provide public access to more than 230 acres in the canyon by late 2017. A master plan two years in the making will be released for public comment within three or four weeks, said Tannen Printz, a Metro parks planner. It outlines plans for hiking and off-road biking trails, scenic overlooks, picnic areas, restrooms, parking and a nature play area. All of which are mapped out to avoid future slides that could endanger lives and ruin newly built facilities. "There are certainly areas of both ancient and active landslides in Newell Creek Canyon," Printz said, "and those obviously constitute continuing problems." However, by working with geotechnical engineers, Printz and other Metro staff say they are confident public access to the canyon can be provided safely and economically. Money for the work is coming from Metro's 2013 voter-approved natural areas levy. No set price tag is yet in place, Printz said, because final decisions haven't been made regarding important details, such as how many footbridges or supporting abutments might be needed. To date, Metro has spent nearly $6.1 million on the 14 land acquisitions that make up the canyon. The canyon itself, long closed to most public access, plays a central role in Oregon City's history. It is named for legendary mountain man Robert Newell, who was one of the first Europeans to traverse the Oregon Trail into the Willamette Valley, according to historical accounts. He arrived in Oregon City in 1840 and went on to serve two terms as speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. Newell cast a key vote that established the provisional government that gave Oregon territorial status in 1843. Later, his house was the only structure at what is now Champoeg State Park to survive ruinous flooding in 1861. In recent years, the canyon bearing Newell's name has been known primarily as a haven for illegal campers. It's been the site of frequent calls by neighbors seeking police assistance to remove noisy and often inebriated vagrants. A formal trail network set to be built in the canyon will close off small spurs leading to several popular camping areas, Printz said. "The idea," he added, "is to turn this from a place where you can be concealed into a place where you can't." A 1.2-mile multi-use trail will serve as the backbone for the new network. It will provide access to a beginner loop for cyclists higher up in the canyon, as well as a route designed for intermediate-to-expert off-road cyclists closer to Newell Creek itself along the canyon's bottom. Hiking-only trails will be concentrated in the canyon's northern side, where overlook platforms will provide views looking down into Newell Creek's riparian areas. The Metro Council is expected to approve the master plan sometime this spring, Printz said. Actual construction of trails, bridges and other facilities will begin once necessary permits are secured from both Oregon City and Clackamas County. "We think that the public is really going to like this," he said. -- Dana Tims 503-294-7647; @DanaTims David Fry, a 27-year-old Ohio resident who has posted "#Pray4ISIS" to his Google+ page, is among those involved in the militant standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns. Fry, who has also made a website supporting the standoff, said in an interview Tuesday night that he is not a supporter of the Islamic State. He characterized his Google+ page -- which also includes the hashtag "#HitlerWasRight" and phrase "obama needs to be hung after being found guilty for TREASON!!" -- as him "ranting off" and being facetious and sarcastic at times. David Fry, a 27-year-old Ohio resident who has posted "#Pray4ISIS" to his Google+ page, is among those involved in the militant standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns., January 10, 2016, near Burns, Oregon. Thomas Boyd/Staff "The media is blowing this up and making me look like a bad guy, but I was just being sarcastic," he said. "I was being very offensive. That was the goal, to be very offensive." Some posts -- including those using the hashtags "#BombIsrael" and "#Pray4ISIS" -- were deleted from the page Tuesday night. Fry, who lives near Cincinnati, said he's at the refuge primarily because he thinks the world is beginning to fall apart -- morally and physically -- and that something needs to be done about it. He said he's concerned about the environment, particularly the health of the Pacific Ocean and its wildlife. He said he has been at the refuge for about five days, as of Tuesday night, and plans to stay as long as he can. David Fry of Ohio says he plans to stay at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as long as he can. "I felt like this was a good place to maybe make a change for America," he said. Fry has a criminal record that includes convictions for possession of drugs and possession of marijuana drug paraphernalia, and having an insufficient number of life jackets while, he said, floating on a river in an inflatable raft. Videos of him burning papers from a collection agency requesting payment of unpaid court debt are on a YouTube account in his name and another YouTube account with the username DefendYourBase. The video from the latter account is included on a website that Fry said he put together using a personal computer while at the refuge. He also has been on a computer at the refuge, he said, using a flash drive with the Linux Mint operating system on it. He said he doesn't have access to government data and isn't using the computer's operating system. He said his goal for the website, defendyourbase.net, is to give people a single source where they can follow the developments at the refuge. The website includes videos, including some from the refuge, "news feeds" and a "list of serious injustice." It also links to a page where visitors can purchase a novel, "Only by Blood and Suffering: Regaining Lost Freedom," by Robert "LaVoy" Finicum -- a Northern Arizona rancher who is among those at the refuge. -- Jim Ryan 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Mark Friesen and Lynne Palombo of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report. BURNS -- Tim Puckett, the rancher whose cattle graze private rangeland adjoining the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, said he didn't give Ammon Bundy and his band of armed militants permission to enter the ranch Monday afternoon and . "I am very upset," Puckett told The Oregonian/OregonLive. His ranch hands have already repaired the fence. "They're not coming onto my place no more," he said of the militants. "If they do, I'm gonna have to do something about it. I don't want them going across my ground." Puckett said he has never spoken to Bundy, the leader of a militant group that has occupied the refuge headquarters compound since Jan. 2. The militants are protesting the federal government's land-use policies, advocating for public property to be turned over to local ranchers and loggers. Bundy, an Arizona businessman and son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, claimed that Puckett gave him permission to enter the ranch and that Puckett actually asked the militants to cut out the fence so his cattle could graze on more land - which is publicly owned refuge land. Bundy said Wednesday evening that he did indeed get an OK from the property owners. He declined to identify them, but implied they were Puckett's sons. "Mr. Puckett lives a long ways away and his sons live here and they run the ranch and as far as I know it's in their name," he said. Puckett said the ranch is in his name - and his name only. "Ammon Bundy, I'm sure, has the intelligence to find out who owns that land," he said. Puckett acknowledged that one of his representatives at the ranch showed the militants where the fence was and allowed them on the property. But the representative did not give them permission to tear out the fence, he said. "I guess that makes me responsible," he said. The representative, he said, did not have the authority to speak on Puckett's behalf. He declined to say who it was. Puckett said he "didn't know anything about it" until late Monday night. "They didn't have my permission to do anything," he said. Bundy and the group of militants used equipment owned by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to remove 20 to 30 yards of barbed wire fence installed by that agency. The stunt, covered by a wide array of media, was perhaps the militants' boldest move since overtaking the refuge. To the militants, agencies such as the Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management are symbols of federal government overreach. Statement from rancher Tim Puckett "As owner of the ranch that borders the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, I would like to make it clear that I DO NOT condone nor did I ask for the protesters at the refuge to cut fences to allow my cows access to the refuge. The protesters are quoting a representative who did not have the authority to speak on my behalf. "I have no grievances with the refuge or the BLM. I have BLM grazing permits that I use each year, and I am a good steward of the land. I am a hay farmer, I DO NOT DEPEND ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO RAISE MY CATTLE. I have been in Harney County for four years, in no way do I feel that I am entitled to the refuge for grazing. I was informed of the fence last fall prior to its construction, and it has not nor will it affect my cattle operation." - Tim Puckett, Golden Rule Farms Puckett, who has ranches in several locations and was traveling to Burns Tuesday from more than 100 miles away, said he never heard about the militants' plan to destroy the fence. He feels like he "got drawn into something that I had nothing to do with." He said he doesn't condone the militants' actions and never asked them to cut the fence.He said he has no beef with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. "I work with BLM, " Puckett said. "I have no problem with them." He said government officials told him of their plans to erect the fence, which he said "has not nor will it affect my cattle operation." "I am a good steward of the land. ... In no way do I feel that I am entitled to the refuge for grazing," he said. Puckett, a hay farmer, said he agrees with militants that local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated unfairly by the government when they were sent back to federal prison for setting fires that spread to public land. "Whatever the people did to help them other than taking over the refuge, I was in favor of," Puckett said. "In my opinion, the Hammonds did get screwed." The Fish & Wildlife Service installed the fence about three weeks ago to replace a fence that "went down a couple years ago in an ice storm," said agency spokesman Jason Holm. Bundy claimed on Monday that the fence was installed last year. The land on the public side of the fence is managed by the agency, Holm said, for environmental and cultural reasons. Thirteen local ranchers have grazing permits on the land, and the purpose of the grazing is to remove invasive species rather than raising cattle for beef, Holm said. "This is an immensely culturally significant site to Native Americans, in particular the Burns Paiute Tribe. ... Keeping cattle from walking over burial sites and from walking over important archeological sites is immensely important," Holm said. The agency also ensures the land stays habitable for birds, sagebrush and other wildlife, Holm said. He added that the Fish and Wildlife Service has a good relationship with the surrounding landowners. "It's been a refuge for 100 years," Holm said. "So we've had landowners around us and proximate to us for 100 years." As for Puckett, he repeated that "I'm the one responsible" for Bundy entering the ranch. "I own the property," he said. But, he added: "I guarantee there wouldn't have been no escort out to no fence if I'd have been there." Mark Friesen of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report. -- Luke Hammill and Fedor Zarkhin lhammill@oregonian.com 503-294-4029 @lucashammill fzarkhin@oregonian.com 503-294-7674 @fedorzarkhin Standoff flag.jpg Occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge lead members of the media on a tour of some federal buildings. The protestors believe some government officails have acted in violation of the U.S. Constitution, and a self-styled "judge" arrived in Burns on Tuesday to convene an unofficial grand jury to look into those claims. (Thomas Boyd / The Oregonian) Bruce Doucette A self-proclaimed "U.S. Superior Court judge" who has been involved in past property rights protests in other states arrived Tuesday in Burns with plans to convene an extra-legal "citizens grand jury" that he said will review evidence that public officials may have committed crimes. Bruce Doucette, a 54-year-old owner of a computer design and repair shop in suburban Denver, told The Oregonian/OregonLive, that he made the trip at the request of Harney County residents. He said he met with the armed occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to hear their evidence, which he called "significant," that government officials have committed crimes. But he declined to say which officials or which crimes they discussed and said a privately appointed "grand jury" of Harney County residents, not he as a self-appointed judge, would decide whether to charge anyone with a crime. "The grand jury will convene in private and make its decisions in private," Doucette said. "The role of a superior court judge is not very glorified. All we do is write up" what the local citizens decide, he said. Doucette's entry into the fray and claim to special Constitutional powers is the latest in a 11-day drama that has drawn a series of attention-seeking, Constitution-citing characters who say they can help Harney County residents solve their problems with federal restrictions on use of public lands. Ammon Bundy and other organizers of the occupation have said in blog posts and other statements that they believe that lawyers in the U.S. attorney's office, federal court judges and leaders of the Bureau of Land Management, among others, have broken laws and violated the Constitution in their treatment of ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. The Hammonds, who have owned ranch land adjacent to the refuge since the 1960s, were denied access to federal rangelands, to water on federally owned land and have been jailed for five years each for setting fires they say were necessary to protect their property. In Bundy's view, setting those restrictions on use of federal resources and using the courts to punish the Hammonds for burning 139 acres of federal rangeland represented unconstitutional overreach by federal officials. And the failure of state and local officials, including Sheriff Dave Ward, are also guilty, for failing to protect their citizens from those federal actions. Doucette would easily reach the same conclusion since the leader of the movement under which he was declared a judge insists that the BLM is a private corporation, not a government agency, and the federal government ceased operating under the Constitution in the 1860s. Bundy, in a "redress of grievance" to Harney County and Oregon leaders that he posted last month, said evidence of government officials' crimes should be heard and decided in public by a hearing board of Harney residents. Doucette, by contrast, said 25 local residents would hear testimony and make decisions in private. But both said the conclusions would be put in writing and made public. There is no evidence to date that a legal determination by a self-styled judge associated with the sovereign citizen movement would have any effect, other than to excite people already allied with that fringe view. In late November, Anna Maria Riezinger, an Alaska woman who claims to be Judge Anna von Rietz under the same inaccurate reading of the Constitution that Doucette uses, ruled that the members of Congress, the president and the U.S. treasury secretary all committed crimes and directed U.S. marshals and FBI agents to arrest them. Last week, Riezinger issued a statement about the Harney occupation. In it, she wrote that "The Hammonds and the Bundy Family are Priority Creditors of all the (government agencies) which are now or which have operated in this country in the past. ...They and their countrymen are owed the patent to all land within the geographically defined boundaries of their respective states, free and clear of liens, encumbrances, or other presumptions." Hundreds of people who have used similar sovereign citizen arguments to justify failing to pay federal income taxes, getting drivers licenses or other government requirements have never prevailed in any court. -- Betsy Hammond betsyhammond@oregonian.com Tim Blixseth Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth has been in a Montana jail since April 2015, when he was found in contempt for failing to fully disclose what happened to part of his fortune. Bllixseth is the son of an Oregon millworker and grew up in Roseburg. (Cascade County Detention Center via AP, File) (The Associated Press) BILLINGS, Mont. -- A one-time billionaire blamed for driving a posh Montana resort into bankruptcy will stay in jail while a judge tries to force him to reveal what happened to some of his fortune, a federal appeals court ruled. Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth has spent nearly nine months in a county jail for civil contempt under orders from U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday rejected Blixseth's latest effort to be freed under an emergency petition filed last month. In April, Haddon ordered Blixseth behind bars until he reveals exactly what happened to $13.8 million from the 2011 sale of a luxury property in Mexico, which defied a prior court order. The Yellowstone Club near Big Sky went bankrupt after Blixseth pocketed much of a $375 million Credit Suisse loan to the resort and later gave up control of the enterprise to his now ex-wife during their 2008 divorce. Blixseth, an Oregon native who lives in Medina, Washington, has built and lost several fortunes, primarily trading enormous swaths of timber in the Pacific Northwest. He played a key early role in the accumulation of timberland that ultimately became Crown Pacific, the defunct Portland timber company. In recent months, he has contended that much of his money was squandered, largely on attorney fees during a seven-year legal battle against the club's remaining creditors. Those creditors have civil judgments against Blixseth for more than $250 million. They say he sought to conceal his money through complex real estate deals and transfers of wealth to relatives, all while maintaining a lavish lifestyle. So far, the creditors have collected only about $140, said Kevin Barrett with the Bailey & Glasser law firm, which represents the creditors' entity, the Yellowstone Club Liquidating Trust. How much money Blixseth has left "is the multimillion-dollar question," Barrett said. He said the appeals court ruling leaves it up to Haddon on how to proceed, and it's possible that Blixseth will have to testify for the first time since his incarceration. However, Blixseth's attorney said the ruling on his client's petition opens the door to a more formal appeal. Attorney Philip Stillman has argued that keeping Blixseth in jail for so long turns the contempt finding into a criminal matter, which entitles him to a bail hearing. "I would have preferred a ruling that said Haddon screwed up and reversed the (incarceration) order in its entirety," Stillman said, adding, "I think Tim's going to be out on bail fairly quickly." -- The Associated Press Bret Anderson Bret Lynn Anderson, a 56-year-old truck driver from Sandy, was found dead in the sleeping berth of a semi truck on Jan. 12 at the Brothers Oasis Rest Area on U.S. 20. (Handout photo) A truck driver who was declared missing Tuesday by Sandy police was found dead Tuesday afternoon by an Oregon State Police trooper. Bret Lynn Anderson, a 56-year-old truck driver from Sandy, was found dead in the sleeping berth of a semi truck at the Brothers Oasis Rest Area on U.S. 20 at about 4:45 p.m., according to an Oregon State Police news release. Authorities think Anderson died of natural causes, and they don't suspect there was any foul play, the news release said. Anderson had a heart condition, according to a previous news release from the Sandy Police Department. He had last been seen at about 11 a.m. Thursday in Ontario, Oregon, where he was picking up paper products that were supposed to arrive in Springfield later that day, according to the Sandy police news release. Troopers were directed to the truck Anderson was driving by a person who called Oregon State Police dispatchers to report the truck hadn't moved from its spot at the rest area since Friday. The case is under investigation, which is being led by Bend-area Oregon State Police troopers. -- Jim Ryan 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 New Delhi: India will take a call on going ahead with the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan after tonight's meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. "The decision (on FS talks) will be taken after the meeting," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters tonight after Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met Swaraj. The hectic consultations followed the detention of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and "several individuals" of his terror outfit suspected to be behind the Pathankot attack on January 2. However, Swarup said there has been no official confirmation of the "arrest" of Azhar. Read: Five times when Pakistan dragged its feet, fuelling standoff with India Pathankot attack: Ready to respond to any threats, says Army chief Parliamentary panel to seek info from government on Pathankot attack Pakistan reportedly detained Maulana Masood Azhar, the terror group suspected to have engineered the Pathankot Air Force base earlier this month, in which seven military personnel were martyred. Azhar and four of his top aides, including his brother Rehman Rauf, have been taken into preventive custody in Islamabad and questioning is underway in connection with Pathankot terror attack. Maulana Masood Azhar and Mufti Abdul Rauf have been taken into protective custody in connection with the attack on Pathankot airbase. They have been shifted to a safe place for interrogations, a senior government official said. Last week India put the ball squarely in Pakistan's court, linking the FS-level talks to Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided "actionable intelligence". Last week, Narendra Modi had asked his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif for prompt and decisive action on the basis of specific evidence. Sharif had set up a committee of his top intelligence, army and government officers to investigate India's allegations. Bret Anderson Bret Lynn Anderson, a 56-year-old truck driver, was last seen in Ontario, Oregon at about 11 a.m. on Jan. 7. (Handout photo) UPDATE: Bret Anderson, Sandy truck driver, found dead at rest area near Brothers Sandy police are asking for help from the public in finding Bret Lynn Anderson, a 56-year-old truck driver. Anderson was last seen at about 11 a.m. Thursday in Ontario, Oregon, where he was picking up paper products that were supposed to arrive in Springfield by way of U.S. 20 that day, according to a Sandy Police Department news release. Anderson is 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds with shoulder-length hair and a gray goatee. He has a heart condition, Sandy police said. Anderson was towing a flatbed trailer using a light blue, 1995 Peterbilt truck with white "BL Anderson" lettering on the doors. The truck has an Oregon license plate reading YAGJ349. Anyone who sees Anderson is asked to call 911. Anyone who might have crossed paths with Anderson or his truck is urged to contact their local police department on the non-emergency phone number. Anyone with information can contact Sandy police detective Jason Coates at 503-668-5566 or the Sandy police tip line at 503-489-2195. The case number is 18 2016-51, according to the news release. -- Jim Ryan 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 He loves his soft mattress. He dines on tea and croissants. He dusts his antique cheese rind collection every day. Geronimo Stilton might seem the unlikeliest of heroes. He freely admits he's a "scaredy-mouse," said Stan Foote, director of "Geronimo Stilton: Mouse in Space," the Oregon Children's Theatre's latest production. So naturally, the mild-mannered editor of The Rodent's Gazette is constantly finding himself caught up in save-the-world exploits, chronicled in a children's series that has sold millions of books. 'Geronimo Stilton: Mouse in Space' When: Jan. 16-Feb. 14, Saturdays at 2 and 5 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. (plus 11 a.m. shows on Jan. 17 and 24) Where: Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway, Portland Tickets: $14-$32. 503-228-9571 or . Recommended for ages 4 and up. His latest adventure is his world stage premiere in January in Portland, "a big show for us," said Oregon Children's Theatre spokeswoman Sharon Martell, what with the character being "a national icon" in Italy and a best-seller in the U.S. The theatre holds the English-speaking rights to the production, adapted by actor, director and playwright John Maclay. In "Mouse in Space," based on the book with the same title, our reluctant hero leaves not only his cozy house but the planet Earth to stop Dr. Wicked Whiskers and his daughter, Suzy Slyrat, from conducting the biggest invasion of personal privacy the citizens of New Mouse City have ever known. Here are six more things to know about Geronimo Stilton and the "Mouse in Space" production. 1. "The books themselves are visually intriguing," Foote said. "If you open one of those books, it's got different font colors and sidebars and cartoons and all sorts of ways for that book to be read." (See excerpts from the books online at Scholastic, the books' U.S. publisher.) 2. "Geronimo's a really good hero," Foote said. "He's nonviolent. He uses his brain. He openly admits that what he learns is through books. All of that sounds really boring, except that his adventures are great." Though the mouse usually thinks someone else would be a better choice to lead his mission, "he's one of those for-the-common-good-type citizens," Foote said. So off he goes to look for lost diamonds, fight bandit cats, and check Egyptian pyramids for ghosts, among numerous other calls of duty. 3. The books, which are written at an elementary school level, are a great choice for boys and reluctant readers, Foote said. Maclay has read all of them with his son, as has another actor Foote knows, he said. "I would say if you pick up a book and read it, they will love the books and that will transcend into wanting to see the play," he said. "Very few books just hit the heart of boys and I think this one does," he added. 4. The series' format may seem familiar to fans of the "Magic Treehouse" series. "It is a lot like a 'Magic Treehouse' but not as formula-driven," Foote said. "Sometimes he's just on a vacation and something happens." Also, the "Magic Treehouse" books center on siblings Jack and Annie. The Geronimo Stilton books feature his sister, cousin, nephew and grandpa, some of whom have their own series. 5. Though Geronimo blasts into space, the production's message couldn't be more down-to-earth: "The idea of how disruptive it can be to a community, to a world, when passwords are given away freely and people have access to information they can use against a person, a group, a community," Foote said. "The core of the Patriot Act was privacy versus safety - how much are you willing to give up?" Foote said. "That is one of the discussions in one of the scenes. He says, 'But my privacy,' and she says, 'Your safety.' " "Kids are going to face (that dilemma) more and more. What do you choose? What's the balance?" 6. Despite the serious topic, the show will be hilarious, Foote promised. "It's a great cast that knows how to do comedy." "There's verbal humor," he said. "There's a lot of physical comedy because we have to launch into space, so if you think of every 'Star Trek' episode you've ever seen..." "My cast is cracking up at themselves in rehearsals, which is really fun." The cast features Brian Burger as Geronimo Stilton; Maya Caulfield as his sister, Thea; Bryce Duncan as his nephew, Benjamin; Rusty Tennant as his cousin, Trap; Scott Engdahl as Dr. Wicked Whiskers; Emma Younger as Suzy Slyrat; Dennis Kelly as 00K; and Gary Norman as Professor Astrofur. Watch a trailer for the show: -- Amy Wang awang@oregonian.com 503-294-5914 @ORAmyW Lawmakers, advocates and Gov. Kate Brown are circling around compromises on two of the signature issues looming over next month's short legislative session: housing relief and whether to raise Oregon's minimum wage. Progress on both efforts, and several others, is expected to become clear during a three-day round of committee hearings set to start Wednesday morning -- the last before lawmakers return to full-time work for 35 days starting Feb. 1. What's at stake? The Oregonian/OregonLive has compiled a preview of those issues, along with new plans for legal marijuana sales and foster care fixes. We'll also have reporters covering the action, led by state politics writers Ian K. Kullgren and Denis C. Theriault. Follow coverage at oregonlive.com/politics. Here's what to look for: Housing relief: When Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, announced plans in November for legislation on Oregon's housing crisis, advocates demanded a one-year moratorium on no-cause evictions. They also sought an end to a state ban on rent control. Whatever bills emerge next month won't go quite that far. "I originally wanted to abolish no-cause evictions," said Keny-Guyer, who chairs the House's housing committee. "It's not what I'm going to move forward with, because I don't think that's practical in a short session." Instead, Keny-Guyer, working closely with House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, will unveil a new 90-day notification period when a landlord wants to end a longtime tenant's lease or raise that tenant's rent. And Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, will move a bill aimed at increasing workforce housing in Oregon -- by ending the state's ban on local inclusionary zoning. A House-approved bill that would have ended the ban just for new single-family homes died in the Senate last year. Dembrow's bill will try again, and add new rental housing. "It makes sense given the pressures in Portland and Bend and other cities," he said. "I feel really good about that expansion." Another proposal would make it easier for cities to set aside state building and zoning codes when installing emergency shelters and tent communities. Keny-Guyer also wants $10 million for emergency housing assistance and $17.5 million in lottery bonds to preserve affordable housing. Another bill would raise $5 million for housing by raising the state's document recording fee to $30 from $20. She also wants legislation to waive state capital gains taxes if someone sells their market-rate land to a housing authority or nonprofit. Minimum wage: Lawmakers and advocates are planning a major show of force Thursday night, when House and Senate members gather for a public hearing on whether to raise the state's $9.25-an-hour wage. But that debate will play out over a placeholder bill. Lawmakers and Brown's office aren't ready to release numbers showing how high Oregon's wage might go or how long it might take for that new wage to phase in. They also haven't settled on a way to allow more expensive parts of the state, such as the Portland area, to set even higher wages. For now, those issues are being worked out in discussions led by Brown's office, sources tell The Oregonian/OregonLive. The meetings, including four union lobbyists and four business lobbyists, are so sensitive that participants have been asked to keep them quiet. Whatever compromises emerge -- if any compromises emerge -- would help shape final legislation during next month's session. Dembrow, who's working on that effort, said some of the blanks in this week's placeholder bills could be filled by the beginning of February. "This is tough," Dembrow said. Both sides are negotiating in hopes of keeping the minimum wage off the November ballot. Should they fail, supporters of an increase are ready to push ballot measures that would set a $13.50 wage and lift a ban on setting local rates higher. Also unclear? Whether any compromise is enough to stay the hands of the state's $15 Now movement --whose members have begun collecting signatures for their own measure. Marijuana regulation: The joint legislative committee helping manage Oregon's transition to a legal marijuana market will lay out a potentially controversial agenda at a meeting Wednesday afternoon. In a shift that has some growers and medical marijuana advocates uneasy, lawmakers will talk about doing away with rules that separate the state's recreational and medical markets. Now, the Oregon Health Authority oversees medical pot, with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission set to take charge of everything else later this year. Growers and retailers will have to choose one or the other. Some lawmakers worry that medical growers will switch to the recreational market under that arrangement, leaving fewer options for patients. To allay concerns from medical growers, the bill would allow growers to cultivate more plants if they dabble in the medical market and offer discounts to patients. The committee also wants to discuss doing away with in-state residency requirements for pot businesses. Members also have proposed allowing early recreational sales of edibles and concentrates to encourage processors and growers to embrace Oregon's tightened rules on pesticides and contaminants. Foster care reform: Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, set the table for a hearing Thursday by releasing hundreds of documents that make clear senior officials knew for years about serious abuse claims and money troubles at a Portland provider but continued to send children there. The Oregonian/OregonLive wrote about the latest batch of records involving Give Us This Day on Tuesday, detailing a log of abuse complaints that stretches back to 2001. Several times, children reported sexual abuse and inappropriate force only to have their claims dropped after an initial screening. One of Gelser's proposals would make abuse investigation reports public records, provided they involved a state-funded program. That plan would also give regulators new power to quickly revoke a provider's license if it faced serious abuse allegations. Another bill would lower the bar for full investigations of abuse and neglect allegations involving children. Update: This story has been edited to correct a reference about the origin of residency requirements in Oregon's legal marijuana market. -- Denis C. Theriault 503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX SALEM -- Hoping a bump in logging on state lands adds millions of dollars to its coffers, Linn County is preparing a $1.4 billion lawsuit accusing Oregon officials of mismanaging forest policy by failing to promote timber harvests. The , announced at the Capitol on Wednesday, targets Gov. Kate Brown and the state's forester, Doug Decker. It covers tens of thousands of acres of state forest trust lands that Oregon has managed on behalf of 15 counties for decades. And it comes during a time of heightened scrutiny over state and federal management of natural resources. Claims that state officials aren't pursuing logging revenue over conservation goals echo claims about grazing restrictions from armed militants occupying a federal wildlife sanctuary in Harney County. In a warning letter sent Wednesday, attorney and prominent lobbyist John DiLorenzo says the state has violated a 1998 rule that requires state policy to promote the trust lands' "greatest permanent value." By failing to maximize sustainable timber harvests, DiLorenzo and Linn County Chairman Roger Nyquist said, the state has cost counties millions of dollars. "The long-running budget vise Linn County has been in requires an annual exercise in finding more ways to balance costs and services," Nyquist and two other commissioners said in a written statement. "For the sake of our communities, it's a reality that needs to change." DiLorenzo estimates that loss at $35 million a year since 2000, when the 1998 rule took effect. More than half of the money Linn County is seeking -- $881 million -- would be used to guarantee $35 million in annual payments going forward, assuming the state doesn't change its timber rules first. But DiLorenzo also acknowledged that his numbers are a "starting point" drawn in part from state documents. He also said he wasn't sure how many counties would join the suit, along with smaller library and fire districts who depend on counties for their revenues. That number could also drop after DiLorenzo's firm, Davis Wright Tremaine, takes out fees and expenses. He also said the state could negotiate a lower number for damages or that a judge could reduce the number. Besides Linn County, the affected counties include Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Douglas, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Marion, Polk, Tillamook and Washington. Linn County must wait at least 30 days after sending its warning letter before filing suit. A spokeswoman for Brown's office didn't immediately return a message seeking comment. -- Denis C. Theriault 503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX Jeanne Atkins Jeanne Atkins is sworn in as Oregon's 35th secretary of state Wednesday. Gov. Kate Brown administered the oath in her ceremonial office at the Capitol. (Ian K. Kullgren/The Oregonian) SALEM -- A state task force recommended Tuesday that lawmakers open the door to limits on campaign contribution in Oregon. The task force, convened by Oregon Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins, voted to recommend legislation in next month's session to allow limits under the Oregon Constitution. The campaign finance committee's vote marked the first step in a long journey that, if completed, could profoundly change Oregon elections. The 2014 GMO food labeling campaign, for example, drew nearly $30 million in contributions, mostly from out-of-state groups. A change in the Oregon Constitution could allow the Legislature to curb similar political arms races by setting a maximum amount that one person could give. Oregon is one of six states with no contribution limits for state and local races. Voters have twice approved limits since 1994 -- including Measure 47 in 2006, which created a $500 cap for statewide races and a $100 cap for lower offices. But the laws never took effect because of conflicts with the state constitution, which expressly prohibits such limits. The task force's proposal would allow limits, set either through a bill or a ballot measure. "It's just time to act. There's no point in waiting anymore," said Daniel Lewkow, political director for the transparency group Common Cause Oregon and a member of the task force. The measure passed 10 to 2, with 2 others abstaining and three excused. Rep. Vic Gilliam, R-Silverton, was among those who voted no. "Based on what I saw, there was not enough time, not enough input and not enough agreement to do something like change the Oregon Constitution," Gilliam said. A similar measure, Senate Joint Resolution 5, was put forth last session by then-Secretary of State Kate Brown, but it died in a Senate committee. Chances might not be much better in the 35-day session that begins Feb. 1. "Because it's a short session, I think it's a challenge," Atkins said. Two members of the task force -- Seth Woolley, who represented the Pacific Green and Progressive parties, and Rob Harris, a leader of the Independent Party of Oregon -- are also sponsoring a ballot measure to allow for campaign contribution limits. -- Ian K. Kullgren 503-294-2006; @IanKullgren Michael Johnson ran into Good Samaritan Medical Center early on Nov. 6, telling security to call 911 because an armed man was outside. Johnson, 51, who had bipolar disorder, essentially had orchestrated a Portland police response to himself at 5:38 a.m., according to grand jury transcripts released Tuesday afternoon. For approximately the next hour and 37 minutes, Johnson paced in an open-air parking lot across from the hospital on Northwest 22nd Avenue, holding a .38-caliber revolver in his hand. He alternated between holding the gun against his face, up in the air or toward the ground. A patrol officer, a crisis intervention officer and Officer Chris Burley, a member of the bureau's hostage negotiation team, all attempted to talk to him as police shut down surrounding streets to motorists and pedestrians. Officers were able to learn Johnson's name but not much else. Burley stood in the parking garage of the medical building across the street, popping his face over a wall to shout out to Johnson. He told Johnson they were there to help, but Johnson plugged his ears with his fingers and didn't respond, according to police testimony. Michael Johnson, 51, fired two shots into the ground before firing one shot at Portland police officers who were in a parking garage across the street on Nov. 6, 2015. Two tactical team officers, Russ Corno and Chad Daul, fired back, striking Johnson five times and killing him, according to grand jury transcripts. Johnson ended up firing two rounds into the ground as officers attempted to talk with him and debated getting him a cell phone or using a megaphone to help him hear them. Johnson then sat down on the curb along 22nd Avenue, between Kearney and Lovejoy streets, resting the gun on his knees. Suddenly, police say, he lifted the gun with his right hand and pointed the barrel at the officers across the street who were attempting to talk with him. The officers were crouched behind pillars or a wall inside the medical building's parking garage, police testified. Johnson fired. Burley ducked behind a concrete wall in the garage, as two tactical team officers fired their AR-15 rifles back. Johnson was 15 to 18 yards away, officers testified. "The gun just comes up and I see flash from the muzzle. I see smoke from the muzzle, and I hear the pop from the gun,'' testified Officer Chad Daul, who was crouched beside Burley in the parking garage. Daul, a member of the bureau's Special Emergency Reaction Team, said he feared for his life, as well as the lives of other officers in the garage and occupants of the medical building that hadn't been evacuated. Daul fired four shots. His fellow tactical team Officer Russell Corno fired three times. Corno, also on the tactical team, said he consciously decided he would fire if Johnson pointed the gun toward negotiators, and that's what occurred. "I kind of convinced myself that if I see that gun come down again from his head, and he points it towards the negotiations team or the building, I am probably going to be in a position where I have to take action,'' Corno testified. Johnson collapsed, still clasping his handgun. Another tactical officer fired one 40-millimeter foam round at Johnson's left hip to determine whether he was still a threat and got no response. With that, paramedics moved to try to provide emergency care, but Johnson died at the scene. Johnson was struck five times - four shots to the chest and abdomen, one to the lower left leg. He died from the chest wounds, according to an autopsy. No officers were injured. Officers discovered Johnson's hands and arms were covered with messages written in blue ink. "He talked about being bipolar and wanting to end it all,'' homicide Detective Erik Kammerer testified. Police also found a clear Ziploc bag in Johnson's back pocket that contained notes he'd written to his mother, father, brother, estranged wife and stepdaughter. He wrote about how he had gone to a dark place and couldn't get out of it, Kammerer testified. "He didn't want anybody in the family to blame themselves,'' Kammerer testified. "He said basically this is all on me. I just can't handle it anymore.'' Johnson had suffered from bipolar disorder for at least 10 years, his estranged wife told police. He was living most recently on the coast but often visited his mother in Lake Oswego. Five months before the shooting, Johnson had been in North Dakota, where he had voluntarily checked himself into a mental health facility because of his suicidal thoughts, according to the police investigation. There, his medications were altered, and he was left on two prescriptions, according to the testimony. He spent three days at the hospital and was discharged June 19. Ten days later, he bought the revolver at a Fred Meyer store in Hillsboro. State medical examiner Dr. Cliff Nelson classified Johnson's death as a suicide by cop. Nelson told the grand jury he rarely makes such classifications and only does so when there's a suicidal letter, note or a statement made to a witness or left on a computer. He said he did so in this case ''because Mr. Johnson had in his possession suicide notes, as well as notes written all over his hands and forearms basically, you know, saying goodbye, I love you.'' Johnson's mother Cookie Johnson was comforted by the note her son left for her. "We, who are left behind, were fortunate to receive his notes,'' she said Tuesday night. "He loved us all - and we loved him. We need a way to help dear people like Michael.'' Kammerer, an intelligence officer for the bureau's Special Emergency Reaction Team who responded to Good Samaritan on Nov. 6, ended up becoming the lead homicide investigator on the case. Asked why Kammerer led the investigation into the shooting by two of his SERT colleagues, police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said in an email, "In this event, he had a very limited role prior to Johnson firing at the officers, resulting in the officers returning fire. Due to this limited role, there was no apparent conflict-of-interest in transitioning to being an investigator with the rest of the homicide detectives.'' Detectives interviewed Corno and Daul four days after the shooting. A grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by officers. "We just needed him to communicate with us so we could get him the help he needed,'' Daul told grand jurors. "The hospital was there. There was help a couple hundred feet away.'' -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Attorneys for Jessica Smith, the mother accused of killing her youngest daughter and trying to kill her older one in a Cannon Beach hotel room, are arguing that Smith suffers from a mental disease or defect and can't assist in her own defense. Smith's lawyers have asked the court to order an examination of Smith to determine whether she's competent to stand trial. "Ms. Smith does not appear to have a rational understanding of the proceedings against her in this matter,'' her lawyers Lynne B. Morgan and William D. Falls wrote in a motion filed in Clatsop County Circuit Court this week. "Further, it appears her mental disability prevents her from rationally comprehending the evidence against her and substantially impairs her ability to make a reasoned choice among the possible alternatives presented in the case.'' State prosecutors and Smith's lawyers are scheduled to return to court at 10 a.m. Thursday for a status hearing in the aggravated murder case. Smith, 42, has pleaded not guilty to allegations of aggravated murder stemming from the July 31, 2014, drowning death of her younger daughter, Isabella, and attempted aggravated murder in the slashing of 13-year-old Alana at the Surfsand Resort. Alana, who suffered cuts to her throat and wrists, survived the attack. She's now 14 and living with her father in Washington. A trial has been set for late June. A Clatsop County judge last year granted the state the right to have a psychologist evaluate Smith, but her lawyers informed the court that they'd advise her not to answer any questions about her state of mind at or near the time of the alleged crimes. Smith and her lawyers did meet for a day and a half with a state-hired psychologist on Dec. 17 and 18, but Smith refused to discuss anything regarding the alleged offenses and refused to take a Minnesota Multi-Phase Personality Inventory test, which the state's expert felt was necessary for an "objective evaluation'' of Smith, according to Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis. In other developments, Smith's lawyers contend Cannon Beach police searched Smith's rented hotel room without a warrant, Smith's consent or probable cause that a crime had been committed. They argue that any evidence seized from the room should not be admitted at trial, according to motions filed in court. Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn was the first to respond to the hotel early Aug. 1, 2014, on a report of someone disoriented, needing assistance. Housekeepers had knocked that morning on Room 3302, slightly opened the door, noticed the blood, then backed out and had the hotel call 911. When Schermerhorn arrived, he swiped the key card, opened the door a crack, asked if everyone was all right and said he heard a faint voice, according to an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. According to court records, he used bolt cutters to cut and disable a safety chain on the room's door and entered. As he walked in, he saw lots of blood in the bathroom, on the bed, on the sheets and on the floor. He found Isabella dead on the bed. Alana was in the bed, suffering from serious cuts to her neck and wrists. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Portland Fire Chief Erin Janssens, who took the helm of the Fire & Rescue Bureau three and a half years ago, announced Wednesday she'll retire in April after nearly 28 years of city service. Janssens, 51, became the first woman to serve as chief in June 2012 when former city councilor Randy Leonard appointed her to the job. At the time, she was the fire marshal. Her tenure has been rocky. The city found last spring that Janssens inappropriately placed her hands on a Fire Bureau supervisor in 2013 and exhibited "discourteous" behavior, but decided not to discipline her. The chief also last year issued a letter of reprimand to Assistant Fire Marshal Doug Jones for tipping off the manager of a downtown swinger's club that no fire inspectors would be working the night of an unpermitted anniversary party there. Some members of the bureau criticized her leadership and threatened a vote of no confidence, which never materialized. The city's human resources director last fall offered to organize "mediated conversations" with the chief, her command staff and non-sworn employees. "There has been talk - both publicly and privately - about the management of the Fire Bureau and, in general, how a more transparent and safe environment could be fostered,'' Human Resources Director Anna Kanwit wrote to some employees in a letter obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. City Council member Dan Saltzman, who serves as fire commissioner, said the city hired a mediator who began to hold interviews with her executive staff, but the process never got to mediation. He said he felt communication among the chief and her executive staff could be improved, "with no fingerpointing at her.'' "Her decision to retire sort of eclipsed those meetings happening,'' he said. Janssens said in a prepared statement that she had planned to retire last year, but she wanted to complete some projects and give Saltzman time to select the next fire chief. "It is bittersweet to officially identify my retirement date, as it has been an honor and privilege to serve as our city's fire chief,'' she wrote in a letter to friends. "What I've come to realize is that we will always be in the midst of one innovation or another, and every leader must at some point identify when they will pass the proverbial torch.'' -Read Fire Chief Erin Janssens' letter to friends announcing retirement She said she was proud that in the face of difficult budgets, the department under her watch was able to keep every fire station open, with at least four-person crews on critical fire apparatus, and a minimum staffing of 165 firefighters on duty each day. Saltzman called Janssens a "great chief and a great role model.'' "She was a complete chief in terms of attributes, and I really appreciate her service to her city,'' he said. Saltzman said he wants to conduct a national search for her replacement. "We'll welcome internal candidates as well, but we're definitely gong to be looking for the best candidates,'' he said. Janssens became the city's first female fire marshal in December 2009, and had been the highest-ranking woman in the bureau when she was named chief. She started her fire service in 1985 as a volunteer firefighter in Boring while working on her degree in fire technology. In July 1988, she began her career as a Portland firefighter and quickly rose through the ranks. Eight years later, in 1996, she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and then to captain in July 2001. In July 2006, she was promoted to the rank of battalion chief in emergency operations and then appointed deputy chief of special operations in April 2008. Before she retires, Janssens said she hopes to launch a new campaign to prevent deadly fires from discarded cigarettes or other smoking materials, work more on bureau equity and diversity training and find cost savings with other emergency providers. Once she retires, she said she plans to travel more, read, hike, bike and ski and then figure out "what the next chapter brings.'' Alan Ferschweiler, president of the Portland Firefighters Association, said he learned of the retirement Wednesday. "When I let people know, most people found it unexpected,'' he said. He said the union would hope that city appoints someone from within the bureau to be the next chief. "She's got a strong management style. She cares a lot about our members. I definitely wish her the best in her retirement,'' Ferschweiler said. Ferschweiler said the bureau was deeply affected by the loss of 26 firefighting positions in 2013. The city has restored half of those. "We're still trying to regain as an organization,'' he said. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Reed College, whose most famous dropout co-founded Apple, will soon offer a degree program in computer science, thanks in part to a grant from Steve Jobs' former rival. About a year and a half ago, the private college in Southeast Portland started planning in earnest to raise $5 million for a new computer science degree program. On Tuesday, school leaders say the fundraising is nearly complete. Microsoft chipped in a $500,000 grant, and Reed collected another $4.25 million from anonymous donors. Kurt DelBene, a senior vice present at Microsoft, sits on Reed's board of trustees and helped orchestrate the grant, school officials said. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Kurt's wife, is a Reed alum. While Reed's computer science connections date back decades, the school has never offered an undergraduate major. Hugh Porter, vice president for college relations, said the faculty and students had to wrestle with whether adding a computer science program fit with Reed's liberal arts culture. Jim Fix, a computer science professor who joined the the math department in 1999, was the first tenured faculty member in the discipline, though the school offered courses before that. Kevin Myers, Reed's director of communications, said ever since Fix arrived at Reed the school planned to build a "state of the art" computer science program. "That's the direction we're moving in right now," Myers said in an interview. Porter said so-called Reedies don't gravitate to how things work, rather they focus on the why. "It took someone like Jim Fix to sort of convince everybody that there was this really interesting theoretical underpinning as well as these practical skills," Porter said. The college plans to hire two new full-time faculty members in the department. Reed, with an enrollment of roughly 1,400 students, wants to maintain a student to faculty ratio of 10 to 1. The new major is the latest example of a developing trend on campus. In the decades since Jobs' time in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, Reed continued to pump students into the tech world. Alums include the founder of Portland-based tech company Puppet Labs and a co-founder of mobile developer Urban Airship. Thirty-eight Reed alums work for Microsoft, more than for Apple. According to the school, about 10 percent of Reedies work in the tech industry in some capacity. Myers said the school has alums who work for Instagram, Twitter and other companies. More than half of the students taking computer science courses at Reed are women, which Myers said was a draw for Microsoft. John Kroger, Reed's president, declined an interview request for this story but said in a statement the school was "deeply thankful to Microsoft for their support of computing and algorithmic thinking in our liberal arts setting." "Reed graduates from a broad range of majors go on to be leaders in business and technology, and we're very proud of that," Kroger said. About 110 current students take computer science courses through the math department. A smaller group participates in the Software Design Studio, an internship program where students learn how to design software programs. The program won't have any direct relationship to Microsoft or Apple, but the head of the newly created department will be named "The Richard Crandall Chair of Computer Science." One of the anonymous donors requested Reed recognize the late Crandall, an inventor, Reed alum and former physics professor who was also a longtime friend and associate of Steve Jobs. Porter said it's likely the first computer science degrees will be awarded in four years. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Qualcomm, the biggest maker of chips that run smartphones, is teaming up with Japan's TDK Corp. to create a Singapore-based joint venture that will make components for the growing market for radio-frequency chips used in handsets, robotics, cars and drones. TDK surged, but the news presents a fresh challenge to other wireless chipmakers, including Skyworks and Qorvo, which employs 1,000 at a factory and corporate offices in Hillsboro. Qorvo shares slid 10 percent Wednesday on the news. Qualcomm will invest about $1.2 billion and TDK will carve out its design and manufacturing assets, plus related patents, into the endeavor, the companies said in a statement Wednesday. The U.S. chipmaker will own 51 percent of the new company, which will be called RF360 Holdings, and have the option to acquire TDK's stake at a later date. The total transaction is worth $3 billion. The market for the electronic components, which help convert radio waves into signals that are then turned into data by semiconductors inside electronic devices, will grow 13 percent a year to about $18 billion by 2020, the partners said. Teaming up with Tokyo-based TDK, which specializes in filters, will allow Qualcomm to offer modules that contain all of the components needed by smartphone makers in a single, comprehensive package, according to Cristiano Amon, the head of Qualcomm's chip division. Amon is seeking new growth areas for the company's chips as Qualcomm faces more competition in its core modem and microprocessor business, slowing revenue growth. The San Diego-based company, which last week announced that Volkswagen AG's Audi unit will use its processors in vehicles, is also trying to break into the computer server market and get its chips into a variety of devices including drones and robots. "You have to deliver the economies of scale to the industry," Amon said. "Providing baseband all the way to the antenna is going to provide significant growth." TDK rose 5.5 percent, its biggest gain in two months, to 7,080 yen in Tokyo. The venture will help the company's push into businesses such as drones, robotics and automotive applications, it said in a statement. "Qualcomm is aiming to reduce costs by teaming up with TDK," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. "Qualcomm and TDK can complement each other in terms of technology." Increasing mobile data speeds has made it more difficult to bring radio signals into phones, a task that's proving challenging for handset makers to handle through discrete components. Modern smartphones have to deal with about 49 different frequency bands, compared with just three for early data-capable phones more than a decade ago. By solving that complexity, Qualcomm will help makers of new categories of devices add cellular functions more quickly, Amon said. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. New Delhi: Amid uncertainty over the upcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag squarely blamed the Pakistani Army for having derailed the peace process a "number of times" in the past. His remarks came in the backdrop of reports that Pakistani establishment was not on board with their Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when it came to talks with India. "It has done it number of times. I am not saying in this (Pathankot) connection.., he said on Wednesday when asked whether he feels that the Pathankot attack was an attempt by the Pakistani Army and the ISI to disrupt the peace process. There is speculation that the FS-level talks may be deferred with India wanting "prompt and decisive" action against the masterminds of the Pathankot terror attack that left seven soldiers killed and six terrorists gunned down. Two days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stressed on the need to give back pain inflicted on India by organisations and individuals in the same coin, Suhag asserted that the Indian Army is ready and competent to carry out any task it is entrusted with and "fully prepared" to meet any threat to the country's security. The Army chief, who was addressing his annual press conference ahead of the Army Day here, also expressed his "concern" at the infiltration along the borders with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with the BSF, which is manning the area. Suhag also indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot air base as he asserted that no one came in once the Army cordon was placed along the 24 km-long perimeter wall. He said it is a matter of "treason" if the terrorists had used the drug route to get in with local help. The Chief also rejected allegations about lack of coordination in response to the attack saying there was "complete synergy". Refusing to comment on whether the FS-level talks should be held this week, the Army chief said it is a diplomatic and political decision. On Pakistan's role in the attack, Suhag asserted that markings on medicines carried by them along with some of the equipment showed that they were from Pakistan. He said the evidence has been shared with the Pakistani authorities but details will come out only after the investigation by the NIA. The General added that the motive of the Pathankot attack was to inflict maximum damage and generate a media hype. The Army chief said that the security environment facing the nation is becoming more "complex and dynamic" and said that at least 17 terror training camps continue to be active in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir compared to 42 earlier. He said some of the camps were shut down few years ago due to international pressure. On the Pathankot terror attack, Suhag said there were "no lack of coordination" and local commanders had complete liberty in planning and execution, of the counter-offensive operation which was carried out under Western Army Commander Lt Gen K J Singh. His comments came amid questions raised by experts as to why there was multiple change of command and why the NSG, a paramilitary force under the Home Ministry, led the operation. "As far as the Army is concerned, it was not under anybody's command. It was under the Western Army Commander who was monitoring and controlling the operations on my behalf," Suhag said. He added that one of the important task at hand was to ensure safety of the assets, the over 10,000 people living at the base and the foreign trainees at the base. He asserted that contrary to reports, 8 columns of the Army, with about 70 men each, were deployed besides the special forces. Asked whether the decision to call in the NSG to handle the Pathankot operation was correct or not, he said, "NSG is the best force to deal with hostage situation and it was a good decision." Assuring the country, he said the Army is highly motivated and ready to respond to any threats to our national security. "It was a good operation. To ensure less casualties we had to take time to complete operation," he said. Suhag said he was personally monitoring the operation and was in regular touch with Lt Gen Singh. The Army Chief said his direction on Pathankot operation was to secure all facilities and personnel, ensure no one escaped and to avoid casualties. He said that the crisis management committee met before Pathankot attack and he had alerted commanders in Northern and Western sector. Gen Singh also identified cyber security as the major non traditional challenge for the Army. About infiltration, Suhag said that the reason why terrorists were using the Punjab border to enter the country was because anti-infiltration grid along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has been strengthened and is difficult to breach. On relations with China, he said that face offs on the Line of Actual Control have come down this year from the previous year and that a hotline between the two troops would be set up in few months. Scott Kveton, who stepped down as chief executive of Portland tech firm Urban Airship in 2014 after being accused of sexual assault by a former girlfriend, has filed a bar complaint against his accuser's attorney. Kveton never faced criminal charges over the accusations and reached an out-of-court resolution with his accuser in a civil case last year. Kveton accuses attorney Scott Upham of criminal "extortion" and other wrongdoing related to the case. Willamette Week first reported the news Wednesday. The woman and Kveton met on the cheating-spouses website Ashley Madison in 2008 when both were married to other people and began a tumultuous, five-year, relationship. The Oregonian is not naming the woman because she claims to be a victim of sexual assault. The woman accused Kveton of a series of assaults between 2010 and 2013, and of recording them having sex without her consent. Kveton stepped down at Urban Airship after The Oregonian reported details of the woman's accusations, drawing on emails, text messages and a restraining order the woman obtained against him in 2010. Prosecutors declined to charge Kveton in some of the accusations and the woman declined to press charges in another. In his bar complaint, Kveton alleges Upham "committed the crime of attempted extortion" when he demanded $1.5 million from Kveton to settle the accusations and keep them confidential. Kveton says Upham would not produce documents during legal discovery during the civil suit, made "frivolous" legal arguments and filed multiple lawsuits alleging similar conduct "for the purposes of harassment." Before resolving the civil suit last year, Kveton's bar complaint said he had been planning a $9.5 million suit against his accuser, putting her "in significant trouble caused by the legal incompetence of her attorney." Upham, a former Washington County district attorney, did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the bar complaint. This is the fourth time he has been subject to a complaint over his legal conduct. The previous three were dismissed by the Oregon State Bar. In a 2011 bar complaint, Upham was defended by prominent Portland criminal defense attorney Stephen Houze, who later represented Kveton when he was facing criminal investigation in 2014. Kveton has just launched a startup called Odava, designed to process retail marijuana sales with cash or debit cards in states where recreational or medical marijuana are legal. Correction: Scott Upham is Washington County's former district attorney. This article has been updated to correct his title. -- Mike Rogoway mrogoway@oregonian.com 503-294-7699 @rogoway Donald Trump wants to build a "beautiful wall" along the border with Mexico to keep out "rapists," killers and other illegal immigrants. The real-estate mogul has suggested the U.S. should temporarily stop all Muslims from entering the country. He said Hillary Clinton "got schlonged" by Barack Obama in the 2008 election. And he's leading in the Republican presidential polls. But with less than a month before the Iowa Caucus, the backlash to Trump's anti-Obama backlash appears to have begun in earnest. It started on the very first day of 2016 with a message from above during the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. "America is great! Trump is disgusting. Anybody but Trump," a group of skywriters insisted. Liberal talk-show host Tavis Smiley followed last Sunday, calling Trump an "unrepentant, irascible, religious and racial arsonist" on ABC's "This Week" program. (Trump quickly responded on Twitter, labeling Smiley "a hater & racist.") Why does @ThisWeekABC w/ @GStephanopoulos allow a hater & racist like @tavissmiley to waste good airtime? @ABC can do much better than him! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2016 The next day, talking to Don Lemon on CNN, Smiley said he wasn't "calling [Trump] out. I tried to tell the truth, and I think that's what you and I are supposed to be doing in this media business that we're in. Donald Trump is an unrepentant, irascible, religious and racial arsonist. And by religious and racial arsonist, I simply mean that when you go after people like Muslims, because of their faith ... when you go after people like immigrants -- and there's a race issue involved here -- I don't know what else to call that." On Tuesday, politicians started to pile on Trump. President Obama, targeting Trump's "Make America Great Again" nativism, pointed out in his State of the Union address that the U.S. has a long history of demagogues "who told us to fear the future, who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control." He added that Americans must "reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion." He also said Americans shouldn't let themselves be fooled by political candidates who seek to twist reality, pointing out that "Food Stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis. Recklessness on Wall Street did." Then came the surprise. South Carolina's Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, giving the GOP's official response to the president's address, directly attacked Trump's bombastic, in-your-face approach to campaigning -- and his vehemently anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric. "Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory," she said in the nationally televised speech. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country." She added: "There's a tendency to falsely equate noise with results. Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume." You don't have read too hard between the lines there to catch the message, "Shut up already, Donald." Yet the true apostasy was still to come. Haley heaped criticism on the Democrats, saying Obama's accomplishments have "fallen far short of his soaring words," but insisted Republicans also bore some responsibility for the country's problems. "We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: while Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone," she said. "There is more than enough blame to go around. We as Republicans need to own that truth. We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America's leadership. We need to accept that we've played a role in how and why our government is broken -- and then we need to fix it." Some conservatives, tuning in for the expected all-around Democrat-bashing, felt blindsided. Ideological dead-enders responded with outrage. South Carolinian LeAnn Beck Bukacek posted on Facebook: "I have hated this fake weasel from day one she was elected...I'm sure she's muslim too as her cousin in the White House is." Author and pundit Ann Coulter, for years the conservative movement's resident outrage-provoker, responded with a similarly themed, if pithier, tweet. Trump should deport Nikki Haley. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 13, 2016 Smiley, for one, wasn't surprised by this response. "What troubles me, quite frankly, is that we keep talking about ... Trump rising in the polls as if somehow this is happening miraculously," he said. "It's happening in part ... because he's appealing to a certain base voter in this country. He's appealing to the dark side, the night side of America, and that's why he's rising in the polls." -- Douglas Perry Update: Linn County accuses Oregon of forest land mismanagement in planned $1.4 billion class-action suit ALBANY -- Linn County officials say they are planning to file a class-action lawsuit against Oregon. The Democrat-Herald reports the three Linn County commissioners have scheduled a news conference for Wednesday morning at the Capitol in Salem. The county has not yet released any details about the legal action it plans to file Wednesday. The county released a media advisory saying it will be pursuing "substantial damages" against the state, but it did not provide an exact figure or reason. Commission Chairman Roger Nyquist declined to offer details about the lawsuit Tuesday. -- The Associated Press South Korea North Korea Nuclear People watch a live broadcast of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's news conference Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Seoul, South Korea, where she called on China to help launch the "strongest" international sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test. (The Associated Press) Updated at 7:35 p.m. SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's president on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. Park Geun-hye's comments came as Seoul said North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing her and her government as "mad dogs" as Cold War-style propaganda warfare continued between the rivals. South Korea, the United States and others are pushing hard to impose fresh sanctions and other punitive measures on the North for what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb test one week ago. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is seen as key. On Wednesday, Park said in a nationally televised news conference that South Korea will push as hard as it can for strong sanctions that can force change in North Korea. But, she said, Chinese help is crucial. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Park said, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. Beijing is seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. In the wake of the nuclear test a week ago, the two Koreas have settled into a Cold War-era standoff. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda from huge speakers along the border, and the North is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Park said South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it "the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool." Her military announced it has found hundreds of anti-Seoul leaflets near the western portion of the Koreas' border. The Defense Ministry believes those leaflets were floated over by the North's military. Similar North Korea-sent propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korea border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Such leafleting, however, by the North is still rare. South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border. The leaflets found earlier Wednesday included such messages as "Let's knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs" and "The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea." It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The test has provoked global outrage, but it has also been a gift of sorts for Park, who has faced several mass protests condemning her leadership in recent weeks. -- The Associated Press A Washington County jury has awarded more than $3.3 million to the parents of a woman who was beaten to death by her boyfriend in 2012, according to their attorney. Julianne Herinckx's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against their daughter's lovers, Paul Sanelle and Terlin Patrick, alleging they conspired to kill her for life insurance money. Anthony Furniss, who represented Dale and Donna Herinckx of North Plains, said he was pleased with the jury's verdict. "I hope it gives some relief to the Herinckx family," Furniss said. Sanelle is serving a life sentence for the killing, but Patrick, his longtime girlfriend, has never faced charges. The 26-year-old Herinckx lived with Sanelle and Patrick in a Bethany apartment before her death on April 29, 2012. The three had been in a relationship for about five years. Sanelle and Patrick were listed as beneficiaries on her Standard Insurance Co. policy, according to the suit. The company initially was named as a defendant but was later dismissed, court records show. Herinckx died of blunt-force trauma to her head and a crushing injury to her chest. Prosecutors said the injuries suggested her skull had been slammed against a wall or floor, and her body had been kneed, stomped or jumped on. At Sanelle's murder trial, defense attorneys contended Herinckx's injuries were the result of dangerous sparring matches - a form of exercise - in which the women became violent with each other. Sanelle was convicted of murder in Washington County Circuit Court in November 2013. Her parents filed their lawsuit the next year. The civil trial began last Tuesday and ended Friday, with jurors reaching a decision after deliberating for about three hours, Furniss said. The $3.38 million award covered economic and noneconomic damages, according to court staff. Sanelle, an inmate at Snake River Correctional Institution, represented himself in the lawsuit. He appeared by video during the trial, Furniss said. Patrick is no longer in a relationship with Sanelle, according to her attorney, John Andon. During the civil trial, Patrick denied the allegations against her and claimed she, too, was a victim of Sanelle, Andon said. After Herinckx's death, Patrick received a life insurance payout of $88,000, Andon said. Herinckx's parents claimed Sanelle and Patrick "conspired with felonious intent" and repeatedly injured Herinckx, ultimately killing her. The parents sought damages for their daughter's "physical injuries, conscious pain and suffering, fear and mental anguish," for medical, funeral and burial expenses, for the loss of their daughter's companionship, and for the loss to her estate caused by a "work life" cut short. Emily E. Smith of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report. -- Rebecca Woolington 503-294-4049; @rwoolington Brace yourselves, skiers and snowboarders: Forecasters are predicting that another round of significant snow will soon fall on the Oregon Cascades. Gerald Macke, a National Weather Service meteorological technician in Portland, said Tuesday afternoon that ski areas in the Oregon Cascades will likely get a foot of snow Thursday. He said people should be watching for a winter weather advisory Thursday for the Oregon Cascades, where the snow level will drop to about 3,500 feet. Macke also said Portland was looking at significant overnight rainfall Tuesday, mostly before midnight. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast called for possible Tuesday night rainfall totals between a half inch and three quarters of an inch, as of 10 p.m. Tuesday. Macke said there wouldn't be any chance of freezing rain overnight Tuesday, with temperatures well above freezing. -- Jim Ryan 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Store snapshot Name: WM Goods Owner: Whitney Goodman Opened: Nov. 30, 2015 Brands: , , , , , , , and more. Price range: $5-$600 Address: Website: Instagram: Everyone close to Whitney Goodman knew she would someday open her own shop, even if she wasn't always so sure. Though her studies and jobs took her to New York and Los Angeles, the Portland native never stopped thinking about one particular spot on the corner of Southwest 12th and Alder. She had fantasized about opening a boutique since she was a child, and fell in love with the site as a high school student, when it was occupied by home goods store Canoe. She was enamored with the ample natural light, the wood floors and the high ceilings. Someday, she hoped, it would be hers. Late last year, when Canoe moved to a new location, Goodman opened WM Goods (it stands for Well Made Goods and hints at her name) just in time for the holidays. Despite encouragement from family members to open a shop when she was just 19, Goodman, 26, waited until she had enough experience - including jobs in fashion, sales and public relations - to take the entrepreneurial leap. During that time, the site's home in Portland's West End neighborhood has evolved: With local foodie favorites Tasty n Alder and the Multnomah Whiskey Library just steps away, that corner is more vibrant than ever. The Oregonian recently stopped by the shop to see what Goodman offers and learn how she curates her "one-stop-shop for rad ladies," as she calls it. (We also met Goodman's adorable shop dog, a black-and-white French bulldog named Chicken Nugget, or Nuggy for short.) Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. Q: Tell me about your shop. A: We have women's clothing, we have accessories, we have natural skin care and apothecary, we have candles, we have books, we have home and gifts. We have a little bit of everything. The other thing that was super important to me was price point. So everything in the store is under $600. Obviously it totally depends what your target price point is. $600 can be super high, and for me, it's not like I'm dropping 600 bucks on things all the time. We have things that go from $5 up to $600. So that idea of being inclusive and welcoming - I'm not into intimidating fashion at all. Q: I've noticed now you rarely go into a boutique and it's just clothing. Everybody has apothecary, and everybody has candles and succulents and books now. How do you set yourself apart? A: I think one of the big things for me - especially having been brought up in Portland - I wanted to find things you can't find everywhere. I'm not so much into big designer names. My goal was to find brands that you can't find everywhere else. For a lot of these brands, we're the only retailer in Portland. Q: What's your mix of local and international, or other places in the States like? A: I totally respect the local focus for stores. My challenge was because there already are quite a few cool stores in Portland, distribution is an issue for local designers. So if Frances May or Alder & Co carries something, I can't carry it. And most of the designers that I would have heard about having lived in L.A. that were local designers here are probably already picked up somewhere else. So that's something I would really like to get into more once I establish my business and get a little bit more immersed in the local creative community, and get to know people before they reach that level. I love made-in-the-USA and a lot of our brands are, especially for the home goods. That was a big focus, but I'm not super exclusionary as long as I know things are ethically made. As long as it's ethically made and you can't find it everywhere in Portland already, those are my two big focal points. It's really a mix. The cookbooks are kind of special to me. I lived next door to this place in L.A. - a really good vegan restaurant. I lived next to that place in New York, which is Mediterranean. Francis Mallmann - I don't know if you've seen that show "Chef's Table" on Netflix - but he's like a badass Argentinian grill master. And my boyfriend's family is from Argentina, so we're sort of obsessed with him. So everything has a personal touch to it. Q: This seems like a large space - how big is it? It's 1,600 square feet. It's definitely a big space, and there was a moment of, "Holy crap, do I have enough stuff to fill this?" But overall, I love the space, I love the neighborhood. I've watched it change over the years. And I live two blocks away, so this is literally my neighborhood. -- Anna Marum amarum@oregonian.com 503-294-5911 @annamarum Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Noting that Congress wanted a "good and simple" GST, he recalled that party Vice President Rahul Gandhi has said that the party was for GST. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Amid reports that the Centre has expedited back channel negotiations to push the GST bill, Congress on Wednesday claimed the real opposition to it was from within BJP while the "main opposition" party is being made an "excuse" by the government. "The real opposition to the GST is from within BJP. Congress is just an excuse. Narendra Modi does not want it. Amit Shah does not want it. Piyush Goyal does not want it. Gujarat government does not want it", party leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said at the AICC briefing. Ramesh insisted that the "maximum opposition" to the key reform measure was from within BJP and Congress is being given as a "conveninent excuse" for its non-passage. Noting that Congress wanted a "good and simple" GST, he recalled that party Vice President Rahul Gandhi has said that the party was for GST. Ramesh said that the party has given three suggestions in writing on the bill. "It is all a game being played by the Finance Minister and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to fool people when they (some in BJP) themselves do not want the GST", he said. Ramesh's remarks came amid reports that the government has speeded up its back channel consultations with the Opposition parties to push the long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the budget session of Parliament. Reports had it that the NDA managers have already spoken to parties like AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal apart from holding the highly-publicised meeting with Congress. Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on January 22. "We have started preparations for the visit of the Prime Minister at both these places for which a demand letter for providing 12 companies each of the RAF has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs," IG, Law and Order, A Satish Ganesh said. "We have also asked for four detachments NSG snipers for both these places and a detailed programme of the VVIP visit is awaited," the officer said. Arrangements are being made to provide 8 SP rank officials, 15 ASPs, 30 Dy SPs, 150 SIs and 500 constables each for both the places, and additional force will be provided in case it is required, he said. Although PM Modi's programme was not officially known, he is likely to attend a programme hosted by Ministry of Social Welfare and Justice in Varanasi, Mr Ganesh said. In Lucknow, Prime Minister is likely to attend an university convocation. President Pranab Mukherjee is also scheduled to visit Gautam Budh Nagar on January 18 for which a demand of eight companies of PAC and civil police has been made and it is being processed. The IG said that a team of Rampur police will attend the Republic Day function in Udhamsingh Nagar district of neighbouring Uttarakhand and vice-versa. MARQUETTE (AP) Central Michigan University is one of two universities in Michigan that have applied to participate in a FCC auction that would sell off broadband spectrum from their public television stations to help satisfy increasing mobile and wireless demands. The March 29 Federal Communications Commission auction seeks to free up airwaves for such uses. Northern Michigan University in Marquette and Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant, which run Public Broadcasting Service stations, could make millions of dollars from the auction. Central Michigan has five Public Broadcasting stations and could later decide to exit from the auction, according to the Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant. Although early in the process, FCC documents estimate CMU could net some $779 million if it were to halt broadcasting operations at its five stations: WCMU, Mount Pleasant, $143 million; WCMZ, Flint, $420 million; WCML, Alpena, $60.9 million; WCMW, Manistee, $53 million; and, WCMV, Cadillac, $102 million, the Morning Sun reported. "The reason Northern Michigan would participate in the auction is because there's the potential for us to take the channel assignment that we have and receive a cash payment for that," WNMU TV13 General Manager Eric Smith told The Mining Journal of Marquette for a story Wednesday. The station still would plan to continue broadcasting, he added. "We'll continue to provide programming and continue to stay on the air," Smith said. "None of that will change. It's just a question of how we provide the service and whether we can take this one-time offer from the FCC and use that to stabilize the operations and make it more sustainable." Participating in the auction allows the school to see what its spectrum is worth. "Nobody knows what that number will look like," Smith told the newspaper. "So that's why we have to go through the process and it ultimately could reach the point where we look at that and say ... for what we would get by releasing our spectrum, the cost associated with moving to a new channel, it's not worth it. And we reserve the right to exit the auction and everything stays the same." Michigan State University in East Lansing and Delta College near Saginaw have said they will keep their Public Broadcasting Service stations on the air and not take part in the auction. WASHINGTON With Americans soon to begin choosing his successor, President Barack Obama is casting his seven divisive years as a time of positive change, implicitly asking voters to replace him with a Democrat who would continue his hard-won policies on health care, climate change and Iran. Addressing a hostile Republican-led Congress and a country plunged in a tumultuous, at times angry presidential campaign, Obama used his final State of the Union address to summon an affirmative vision of his administration and for the future. He rebutted critics, naysayers and the GOP White House hopefuls, but also acknowledged his own failure to transform the countrys bitter politics and unite the nation. With a year left in office, he presented that task as more urgent than ever and pleaded with voters to turn away from harsh voices and come together. Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested, Obama said. Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention. Addressing the critics, the president said, Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. And he also declared: The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, disagreed. Americans believe our country is on the wrong track. They are worried about their paychecks, their families and our nations security. They want Washington to cut red tape and spend less money but they did not hear that from the president tonight. Instead they heard him talk about his personal legacy and maintaining the status quo. Michigan workers, farmers and small business owners deserve to keep more of their hard-earned money. I am working for Michigan residents to rein in government, control spending and jump-start our economy,Moolenaar said in a press release after attending the address. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., took a moderate approach to the economy. While there is still work to be done to fully recover from the financial crisis, our economy has made significant strides over the last several years, Peters said in a release after the address. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said when President Obama took office, the U.S. was losing 200,000 jobs a month and the auto industry was on the verge of bankruptcy. "Today, we've had 70 straight months of job growth and the auto industry had its best year ever," Stabenow said. "There is still a long way to go, and our economy is still very fragile, which is why I applaud the President's continued commitment to make sure everyone has a fair shot to be successful. That's why I intend to join the President in focusing on critical issues like supporting manufacturing, making college more affordable, and helping workers get the right training for new jobs. Michigan leads the nation and its nothing to boast about. A study on ethics and transparency in politics by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity ranked Michigan 50th, or last. Friday saw Michigan Campaign Finance Network Executive Director Rich Robinson sharing on campaign finances to a roomful of concerned citizens at the Trailside Center of the Senior Services building. Sponsored by the Midland Area League of Women Voters and Midland County Senior Services, Robinson shared how Big Money dominates Michigan Politics. There isnt a lot of transparency in contemporary politics and Michigan in particular is leading the nation in one way, Robinson said of the study. I for one, find thats a bad distinction. Robinsons organization, the MCFN, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of organizations and individuals concerned about the influence of money in politics and the need for campaign finance reform in Michigan. Robinson posed three questions, followed by a statement, as an overview of the problem: Who provides all the unreported funds? What consideration do they seek? What considerations are granted? Transparency can be an occultation against corruption. The money that has been raised for the U.S. House and Senate and presidency is flat and not increasing. Independent spending by the political parties is also flat. What is increasing, rather dramatically, is non party independent spending, the work of the super PACs, Robinson said. OpenSecrets.org, a national organization that tracks money in political campaigns, defines a super PAC as, ...as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates, and their spending must not be coordinated with that of the candidates they benefit. Super PACs are required to report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a monthly or semiannual basis the super PACs choice in off-years, and monthly in the year of an election. But, its the dark money that has people questioning, Who is paying to elect candidates? Dark money flows from donors to nonprofits, 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)s, that do not have to disclose their sources of funding. These organizations can receive unlimited corporate, individual or union contributions that they do not have to make public. OpenSecrets.org reports that ...spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors has increased from less than $5.2 million in 2006 to well over $300 million in the 2012 presidential cycle and more than $174 million in the 2014 midterms. Citing the 2014 U.S. Senate race, Gary Peters raised just over $30 million. Roughly two-thirds was by independent committees or superPACS, not subject to contribution limits, Robinson said. Opponent Terri Lynn Land raised just over $28 million, with a 60-40 split, the majority coming from independent committees. The 2014 election saw Michigan undergo the most expensive Attorney General campaign ever. Bill Schuette totaled $4 million in revenue, of that $2.6 million was unreported, said Robinson. His opponent, Mark Totten, raised $840,000. Of that amount, $470,000 was unreported. I submit to you that people dont write, five, six and seven figure checks for selfless reasons. Thats just the way our politics are set up. We dont have limits on contributions to the state parties. We dont have limits on contributions to political action committees, Robinson said. But, we should at least know who is putting the money in. So as the policy process is unfolding, we can connect the dots between financial support from political operatives and the policy outcomes that come later. Is there hope for campaign finance reform? Robinson stated that the make up of the U.S. Supreme Court and eliminating gerrymandering in the way state and congressional districts are formed could possibly help reform. A change in the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court will be revisited with another challenge to reopen this question. I think that is one of the many things that is at stake in the next presidential election, who will nominate the next justices of the U.S. Supreme Court? he said. Currently, Republican have drawn up district boundaries to benefit the GOP come election. Districts are drawn so that Democrats are compact, large numbers in districts, and Republicans are dispersed with narrow majorities where money can take an advantage. These districts are being artfully drawn to manipulate the outcomes of elections. I dont think that is any kind of a secret, Robinson said. The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services today has ordered a summary suspension and notice of intent to revoke the insurance producer license of Richard R. Creed and Evergreen Insurance Agency in Auburn. DIFS Investigators found violations of numerous provisions of the Michigan Insurance Code, including the selling of fraudulent insurance policies to Michigan consumers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) The latest on President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address. All times EST: 10:35 p.m. President Barack Obama turned and said, "Let me take one more look at this thing" moments before he exited the House chamber Tuesday night. Obama moved slowly up the center aisle to the doors of the House after his nearly hour-long speech. He shook hands, chatted and hugged a lawmaker or two. They had staked out spots on the prime seats to greet the president. The president wanted one final look after delivering his last State of the Union address. ___ 10:30 p.m. Hillary Clinton says it's time for Americans to pick a side: President Barack Obama or the gun lobby. The Democratic presidential candidate released a new television ad during Obama's final State of the Union address. She's lamenting the high number of gun deaths in the U.S. Clinton says Obama wants to make background checks universal and hold gun manufacturers accountable. She says she's "with him." Clinton's campaign said the ad will air in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as nationally on cable channels. The ad follows Obama's announcement last week of executive actions to tighten gun restrictions. Obama made only a passing reference to the issue in his address. ___ 10:25 p.m. President Barack Obama is skipping the State of the Union tradition of singling out special guests invited to watch the address from the House gallery. The White House invites guests each year whose background or work illustrates a theme the president hopes to promote. This year was no exception. A Syrian refugee was among about two dozen guests invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama. Other guests included a plaintiff in the Supreme Court's gay marriage case, a formerly homeless veteran and an aspiring teacher. Obama also left a seat empty to honor gun violence victims. During the televised address, cameras occasionally panned to the guests when Obama mentioned issues related to their life stories. But in a departure from usual practice, Obama didn't call out any of them by name. ___ 10:20 p.m. President Barack Obama is signaling that coal companies could face higher charges when mining on federal lands. Obama says in his State of the Union address that he's going to push to change the way the federal government manages its oil and coal resources to better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and the planet. Environmental groups have been telling the Bureau of Land Management during public hearings in recent months that the current royalty rates don't provide taxpayers with a fair return on the country's natural resources and encourage global warming. The government charges a rate of 12.5 percent. The rate for offshore gas and oil is 50 percent higher. Leaders of the hard-hit coal industry say any increase will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher utility rates. ___ 10:15 p.m. Reaction to President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address underscores how polarized Washington is. Democrats on Tuesday cheered loudly when the president mentioned fixing a broken immigration system, protecting kids from gun violence and raising the minimum wage. Republicans remained in their seats, some even avoiding any applause. When Obama praised the armed forces, all stood and cheered. Everyone rose when the president said there is "red tape that needs to be cut" and pressed for money to try to cure cancer. A few in the GOP booed when Obama said the talk of America's economic decline and the country's enemies getting stronger is "political hot air." Some issues were more complicated. When Obama asked Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, only about a dozen Democrats stood and clapped. ___ 10 p.m. President Barack Obama is telling legislators that it's time to recognize the Cold War is over and lift the trade embargo with Cuba. Obama says in his State of the Union address that 50 years of isolating Cuba failed to promote democracy. He says lifting the embargo would help consolidate U.S. leadership and credibility in the hemisphere. Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced in December 2014 that they would work toward normalization of relations. That move has led to the reopening of embassies in each other's capitals. ___ 9:55 p.m. President Barack Obama says the U.S. doesn't need over-the-top claims about the Islamic State group to show the U.S. is serious about defeating it. Obama is dismissing the idea that IS threatens America's existence in his State of the Union address. Obama says that's the story IS wants to tell and the message it uses in propaganda to recruit. He says references to World War III just play into the extremist group's hands. Obama is also criticizing those who say IS represents Islam. He says that's a lie and says rhetoric like that pushes away allies the U.S. needs to win the fight. He's alluding to Republican politicians who have demanded Obama declare war on "radical Islamic extremists." The president says IS is made up of killers, fanatics and twisted souls. He's repeating his declaration that the U.S. will hunt them down and destroy them. ___ 9:50 p.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan is criticizing President Barack Obama's State of the Union address while it is being delivered. Ryan says in a statement released by his office that after 30 minutes, Obama's speech "isn't going so well." Ryan says "lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice soundbites, but they don't explain how to" solve problems, such as defeating the Islamic State terrorist group, fixing social safety net programs or getting the economy back on track. Ryan says Obama's speech "isn't a real path forward to restore a confident America," adding, "We can do so much better." Ryan says the Republican-led Congress has boosted funding for the military, overhauled the No Child Left Behind education law and lifted a 40-year ban on crude oil exports. ___ 9:45 p.m. President Barack Obama is making good on his promise not to announce a litany of new proposals in his last State of the Union address. Obama and White House officials said ahead of the speech that he was planning a "nontraditional" speech that would offer a broad, long-term view of the nation. They said he would skip the traditional list of ambitious plans for the coming year and calls for new legislation. Those calls would likely hit a dead end in Congress as Obama's presidency begins to wind down. Obama is using his speech to repeat his previous calls for legislation on immigration, minimum wage, pay equity and guns, as well as a new war powers resolution. His only new announcement is that he's tasking Vice President Joe Biden with a mission to accelerate research on cancer. But Biden had already announced last year that he planned to pursue a "moonshot" to cure cancer. ___ 9:35 p.m. President Barack Obama is making an overture to new House Speaker Paul Ryan by highlighting the Republican's interest in fighting poverty. Obama, in his State of the Union address, says he'd welcome "a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids." The president notes, however, that there are plenty of other areas where it's more difficult to find agreement between Republicans and Democrats. He says those include what role the government should play in making sure the system works for ordinary Americans, not just the rich. ___ 9:25 p.m. President Barack Obama is opening his State of the Union address with a few jokes about the race to pick his successor. Obama got cheers when he promised to keep his address short because some of the legislators are antsy to get back to Iowa. That's where the first caucuses of the presidential campaign take place in just a few weeks. Obama ad-libbed that he's been to Iowa, and he's happy to share some advice. Obama tells the legislators, "I'll be shaking hands afterward if you want some tips." His audience included Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Marco Rubio of Florida, both presidential hopefuls. ___ 9:22 p.m. President Barack Obama says those who try to dispute the science of climate change will end up "pretty lonely." Obama is touting his efforts to fight global warming in his final State of the Union address. He says those doubting global warming are welcome to "have at it." He says they'll be on the opposite side of the military, most businesses, a majority of Americans and almost all scientists. The president is adding that 200 nations around the world agree climate change is a problem that must be solved. He's alluding to the global climate pact the U.S. and other nations reached in Paris in December. The president says investing in climate solutions is also a chance for U.S. businesses to produce "the energy of the future." He's pointing to wind and solar technology. ___ 9:20 p.m. President Barack Obama says if Congress is serious about winning the war against the Islamic State group, it should pass a new war powers resolution for the fight. Obama says in his final State of the Union address that with or without Congress, IS will learn that when you come after Americans, the U.S. comes after you. He says it may take time but the U.S. has long memories and unlimited reach. He says both al-Qaida and IS represent a "direct threat" to Americans. But Obama says the U.S. can't try to take over or rebuild every country in crisis. He says that's a recipe for quagmire and American deaths. ___ 9:15 p.m. President Barack Obama points to the capture of a Libyan militant accused in the 2012 attacks that killed four Americans in Benghazi as evidence of U.S. resolve against terrorists. The president holds out the imprisonment of Ahmed Abu Khattala as a sign of the U.S. commitment to see that justice is done. It's the first time the president has made reference to the Benghazi attacks in a State of the Union address. The attacks have become a flashpoint in the U.S. presidential campaign and remain under investigation by a special House committee. Obama, in his speech text, says terrorists should know that "when you come after Americans, we go after you." ___ 9:13 p.m. There are two White House hopefuls attending President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Florida's Rubio was backslapping with GOP colleagues like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, chatting with Arizona Sen. John McCain and hugging Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont shook hands as he entered the House chamber and then joined Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed to hear the speech. Two other GOP candidates Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul skipped the speech. ___ 9:10 p.m. President Barack Obama is taking a few jabs at the Republican presidential field in his final State of the Union address. Obama says the world is looking to the U.S. to address threats in the Middle East and elsewhere. He says the U.S. response must be more than calls "to carpet bomb civilians." Obama says that works as a sound bite on television, but doesn't pass the test on the world stage. The remarks are aimed at Republican candidates, including Ted Cruz, who has said he'd carpet bomb the Islamic State group. Donald Trump has used similarly bombastic language to describe how he'd attack IS. Obama is also criticizing those who say the U.S. is getting weaker or that its economy is declining. He says that's just "political hot air." ___ 9:05 p.m. Vice President Joe Biden says he'll spend his final year in the White House working to double the rate of progress toward a cancer cure. President Barack Obama is tasking Biden with the mission in his State of the Union address. Biden says the goal is to make a decade's worth of advances in five years. Biden says in a blog post that he'll work to do two things: increase public and private resources to fight cancer, and break down barriers to collaboration and information-sharing by researchers. He says the federal government will use funding incentives and increased coordination to accelerate research. He wants more sharing of medical and research data. Biden says it's personal. His 46-year-old son died last year from brain cancer. Biden announced months later that he wouldn't run for president but would launch a "moonshot" to cure cancer. This is the first time he's laying out how he'll pursue that goal. ___ 8:55 p.m. The White House has released a transcript of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on the Medium website a little before he begins speaking. He acknowledges that expectations for congressional action on his agenda in this election season are low. But he's still identifying some areas where there's the potential for Democrats and Republicans to work together. He singled out criminal justice reform and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse. Says Obama, "We just might surprise the cynics again." ___ 8:50 p.m. Chief Justice John Roberts and President Barack Obama's two Supreme Court choices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor are among the six justices attending Obama's State of the Union speech. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy also are there. Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas aren't attending. Also on hand are participants in high-profile Supreme Court cases. Jim Obergefell, lead plaintiff in last term's same-sex marriage case, is a guest of Michelle Obama. Kentucky clerk Kim Davis was attending the speech on the invitation of Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. She refused to license same-sex marriages, becoming one of the court ruling's most prominent opponents. Representatives of the Little Sisters of the Poor, guests of Speaker Paul Ryan, are challenging the birth-control mandate in Obama's health care law. ___ 8:30 p.m. The White House says Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has been selected as the "designated survivor" who will skip President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. The vice president and the president's Cabinet traditionally attend the president's speech, along with congressional leaders who are in the presidential line of succession. One Cabinet member is selected each year to not attend the speech in case a catastrophic event incapacitates the president and other attendees. The White House doesn't disclose where the designated survivor is located during the address. ___ 7 p.m. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says the nation should resist the temptation to "follow the siren call of the angriest voices" during anxious times. The daughter of Indian immigrants is delivering the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. The GOP has released excerpts of Haley's response in which she criticizes the Democratic president's record on health care and national security. But more telling is her veiled swipe at those in the GOP, such as presidential candidate Donald Trump, who have called for deporting the 11 million immigrants living here illegally and barring Muslims from entering the United States. Haley calls herself a "proud daughter of Indian immigrants" and says individuals willing to work hard and follow the law shouldn't feel unwelcome. ___ 6:30 p.m. President Barack Obama aims to use his State of the Union address to sound a call for fixing the nation's broken politics. The president says in excerpts released early that the nation can achieve the secure and prosperous future it wants "but it will only happen if we work together" and "fix our politics." He adds that the United States needs to have "rational, constructive debates." Obama will be delivering his last State of the Union speech as the country's focus increasingly shifts toward the 2016 presidential race, where the political debate has been particularly sharp thus far. Obama says "a better politics" doesn't mean agreeing on everything, but it does require basic bonds of trust between citizens. ___ 6 p.m. President Barack Obama says he'll use his last State of the Union address to make sure Americans understand he plans to "leave it all on the field." Obama is previewing his speech in a live video appearance on Facebook. He's speaking from his desk in the Oval Office as he finalizes the text of the speech. Obama says he wants Americans to understand the proposals he thinks are necessary to ensure opportunity and security for the U.S. He says it's important at a time when major changes are taking place around the world. Obama is calling on all Americans to get involved and pay attention. He says the U.S. has big choices ahead. But the president says if the U.S. makes the right choices, he's confident there's a bright future ahead. ___ 6 p.m. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus were laying claim to aisle seats in the House chamber hours before President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address. Many members of the 46-member caucus were seen grabbing spots hours early near the center aisle used by the president, Cabinet members and other dignitaries to enter and depart the chamber. Caucus chairman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina says members consider it "an extraordinary honor to be eyewitness" to Obama's seventh and last State of the Union speech. Texas Rep. Al Green says he was the first lawmaker to arrive in the chamber, entering at 6:30 a.m. to grab a choice piece of aisle real estate. He says he "would have spent the night if necessary." Aisle seating brings with it not only a chance for a handshake, an autograph and a quick conversation, but also TV exposure for an address that's viewed by millions nationwide. ___ 5:30 p.m. The mystery over who invited Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who spent five days in jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, to the State of the Union address has been solved. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio says his "staff heard from the Family Research Council that Ms. Davis and her family hoped to attend the State of the Union address and so I offered a ticket." Every lawmaker gets one guest ticket to the president's annual speech, though congressional leaders get extras. First lady Michelle Obama invited Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the case in which the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage across the nation. After the Supreme Court's decision, Davis cited "God's authority" and refused to issue marriage licenses, despite a series of federal court orders. ___ 5 p.m. President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address is getting some buzz on Facebook. The social networking site says 15 million people discussed Obama and his address in the week leading up to the speech. They liked, posted, shared or commented 54 million times as of Tuesday morning. Facebook says guns were the most talked-about topic in relation to Obama's speech. Islam and Muslims took second place, followed by the Islamic State group. Criminal justice and terrorism were the fourth and fifth most discussed topics on Facebook. ___ 4:30 p.m. Twitter is using the occasion of President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address to tote up some of his most-tweeted lines from previous addresses. His greatest hits include 2009's "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before." His 2011 highlight was "Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love." From 2014, there was, "It's time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a 'Mad Men' episode." And he scored in 2015 with: "I have no more campaigns to run. I know because I've won both of them." The Twitter team calculated most popular lines by looking at both tweets-per-minute and most retweeted lines. Last year, there were 2.6 million tweets sent about the State of the Union, including 52,000 tweets-per-minute for the president's most popular line. The "Mad Men" line in 2014 generated 33,000 tweets-per-minute. The following list includes reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Monday, Jan. 11 4:39 a.m. An Edenville Township man, 33, was arrested for domestic assault. 9:31 a.m. A deputy was called to a report of trespassing in Geneva Township. 10:59 a.m. Deputies were sent to M-20 and Coleman Road for a report of a dog in traffic. The dog was caught and taken to the Humane Society. 11:11 a.m. A motorist was arrested at Schuette and Waldo roads for a driver license violation and on a warrant. 12:34 p.m. A motorist was arrested in the 7300 block of Eastman Avenue for driving on a suspended license. 1 p.m. Police investigated a case of fraud in the 5000 block of Whispering Oak Circle. 1:57 p.m. A deputy assisted Midland Police with a traffic stop for driving on a suspended license. 2:14 p.m. Police investigated a case of identity fraud in the 800 block of Jerome Street. 2:17 p.m. Deputies were called to conduct a well being check on an 87-year-old Lincoln Township woman. She was found on the floor, conscious but not alert, and was taken to the emergency room by paramedics. 2:53 p.m. A motorist was arrested at Isabella and Huntley streets for driving on a suspended license and improper plates. 4:20 p.m. A deputy is investigating a case of unemployment fraud. 4:47 p.m. Police investigated a case of fraud in the 4600 block of North Saginaw Road. 9:02 p.m. A motorist was arrested at East Grove and Townsend streets for drunken driving and driving on a suspended license. 10:45 p.m. Police were called to a domestic assault at an East Patrick Road address. 11:36 p.m. A deputy was sent to U.S. 10 and Coleman Road for a report of a man walking alongside the expressway. The man, age 25, was given a ride to the next exit and informed he could not walk along U.S. 10. Sunday, Jan. 10 2:49 a.m. Deputies were sent to a county address after a domestic assault that occurred in the city. The suspect had turned up at the home and was pounding on the windows. 3:49 a.m. A Lincoln Township man, 50, was arrested for possession of a firearm while intoxicated. 1:42 p.m. A deputy investigated a domestic assault that occurred in Homer Township. A report is being sent to the prosecutor. 4:22 p.m. A Larkin Township homes mailbox was struck by a vehicle. Saturday, Jan. 9 3:36 a.m. A Midland man, 25, was arrested for drunken driving in the city. 3:39 a.m. A Larkin Township man, 25, reported his truck was stolen from a Midland Township home. The vehicle was recovered in Bay County, and a report of making a false police report is being sent to the prosecutor. The man made comments about harming himself as he spoke to deputies, and he was taken to the emergency room for a mental health petition. A firearm was taken for safekeeping. 12:55 p.m. A deputy investigated a two-vehicle hit and run crash at East Isabella and North Meridian roads. 2:11 p.m. Deputies were called to Geneva Township for a report of a man seen carrying a gun. A man at the home said family members had been squirrel hunting. 4:38 p.m. A 51-year-old man from Shepherd was arrested in Lincoln Township for driving on a suspended license. 8:45 p.m. Deputies were sent to Homer Township to investigate a report of a conditional bond violation. No violation was found. 9:43 p.m. A Midland man, 25, overdosed on heroin at a Homer Township address. He was taken to the emergency room for treatment. A report requesting charges of drug possession is being sent to the prosecutor. Friday, Jan. 8 12:50 p.m. A Midland Township woman, 54, reported her debit card was used to make purchases totalling $105.27. There are no suspects. 3:51 p.m. A deputy was called to Jerome Township for a report of a domestic assault that occurred in July in Lee Township. The suspect, a 20-year-old man, was arrested on a warrant. 4:49 p.m. A deputy assisted Child Protective Workers investigate a possible case of child neglect in Mills Township. 11:17 p.m. A St. Louis man, 55, was arrested for a probation violation in the parking lot of the Greendale Township Hall. The man was intoxicated in violation of his probation conditions. I'm a Survivor: Tech. Sgt. LaPaul Williams "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back." -Maximus This quote from the movie Gladiator rings powerful and true to Tech. Sgt. LaPaul Williams, who said, "I don't believe death is to be feared." Williams, a 5th Air Support Operations Squadron fighter duty technician stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans affects the lower back and is typically seen in people under the age of 18 and over the age of 45. Williams was 29. Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans looks like a bump on your back, then it grows and starts to get taller and pink at the top, Williams explained. "I thought it was nothing," he said. "I thought it was just a bump." Williams returned from a temporary duty assignment to Hawaii and went to the doctor to check on the growing bump. The doctor informed him there was nothing he could do, and sent him to a dermatologist. The dermatologist decided that surgery to remove the bump would be best. On Oct. 17, 2014, Williams headed in for surgery. His wife, Chineka, was with him the entire time. Everything was going as planned. He was making light of the situation, joking with the intern who was learning how to cut peoples backs open, commenting on the giant needle they used to numb his back. Williams said once they cut most of it out, the doctor stopped and made a statement that there was something wrong. "Its tumors," the doctor said. "I don't know what kind, but there are tumors deeper in your back." They had to have the tumors x-rayed and looked at, so they sewed Williams up and went from there. Once they confirmed the dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, Williams told his family. "The afternoon I told my parents, as most mothers would be, she was freaked out," Williams said. "We're a very close knit Christian family. They asked if I was alright, if I needed them here." Williams wife was there supporting him every step of the way. "I don't sit down," Williams said. "She would tell me to rest, but I was a pain in the butt." Williams wasn't scared with his diagnosis. He was a little shocked, but he wanted to know what he did to cause it and how he could fix it. The doctor told Williams there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. Williams was extremely hopeful during the entire ordeal. In November, Williams said they needed to remove more of the tumors. They cut a diamond shape out of his back to remove them. For six weeks, he had a tube from his back to his chest as his back was healing from the fluid that was being drained. He healed quicker than normal. Because of the nature of William's job, he was immediately moved off duty and sent to see if he was allowed to stay in the Air Force. But, Williams said he had an extremely supportive Air Force family. His supervisor, peers and commander were all hopeful for him, offering their support through it all. They let him know if there was anything he needed, he just had to ask. "They didn't bother me or limit me," Williams said of his chain of command. "They watched my back and let me take care of myself." During his diagnosis, Williams said his family helped him most. They never looked at Williams with sad eyes, or blamed anything or anyone for what happened. They told him they would help him get through it, if he needed anything to call and they would stop and make time for him. "There are a lot of things you can buy and replace," Williams said. "But time spent with a person is something you can't. When people decide to use some of their time for you, it's humbling." Williams also said a positive attitude was key to facing this type of diagnosis. "Positive thoughts have absolute results when it comes to healing," Williams said. "Those who are hopeful and have positive thoughts regardless of the situation, they turn out the best." In December, Williams was in remission. He said there is always a chance for the cancer to come back, and if it does, it will be worse and more aggressive. He still goes to the doctor every six months to make sure it hasn't returned, and that will continue for the rest of his life. "I understand I am playing on borrowed time," Williams said. "I'm still able to serve, and I'm thankful for that. I'm still ranking up and making friends. Anything that's worth it is worth the effort." Williams's advice to those who are still battling is to do whatever it takes to get positive, because it can change your reality. "I have your back," he said. "If you need to call me, call me. We'll talk about life. Even if that means talking at 1, 2 or 3 in the morning, I'll be up. I'll make some tea and we'll sit down and talk about it." Williams said to those who are supporting someone fighting this battle, encourage them. Encouragement will make the difference. "The most important thing, is it's not about the condition, it's about the people around you," he said. Williams is a survivor. OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- In a demonstration of the steadfast commitment to the Republic of Korea's defense, a United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortess from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam conducted a low-level flight Jan 10 in the vicinity of Osan, South Korea, in response to recent provocative action by North Korea. The B-52 was joined by a ROK F-15K Slam Eagle and a U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon. "The flight today demonstrates the strength and capabilities of the Alliance," said Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, U.S. Forces Korea commander. "The close military cooperation between the United States and the Republic of Korea ensures we are ready to respond at any time to those who would threaten stability and security." In a statement to reporters gathered at Osan Air Base prior to the flight, United Nations Command, U.S. Forces Korea deputy commander and U.S. Seventh Air Force commander, Lt. Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, highlighted the capabilities and readiness of the ROK - U.S. Alliance. "B-52 missions reinforce the U.S. commitment to the security of our allies and partners, and demonstrate one of the many alliance capabilities available for the defense of the Republic of Korea," O'Shaughnessy said. Upon completion of the flight over South Korea, the B-52 returned to Guam. MANILA, Philippines (NNS) -- Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Topeka (SSN 754) arrived at Subic Bay, Philippines, Jan. 12 as part of its routine Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment. With a crew of 160 Sailors, Topeka will conduct a multitude of missions and maintain proficiency of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet. "The United States Navy continues to enjoy a close relationship with the Republic of the Philippines," said Cmdr. David P. Lammers, Topeka's commanding officer. "Through port visits such as this one, we strengthen our ties and foster valuable cultural exchange. The more we interact, the better we will understand one another and the stronger our alliance will become. I appreciate the efforts that make us feel so welcome when we visit Subic Bay." Filipino-American Sailors aboard will have an opportunity to connect with their heritage. "Having moved from the Philippines and been raised in California from the age of three, I never really had a chance to experience true Filipino culture outside of my own family," said Machinist Mate 1st Class Juan Paulo Reyes. "This trip to Subic that the Navy has offered me is a great opportunity to explore my heritage and connect with members of my family still in the Philippines." For many crew members, this is their first time visiting the Philippines. Topeka is a marvel of modern engineering, capable of operating at depths greater than 800 feet at speeds up to 25 nautical miles per hour. Measuring more than 300 feet long and weighing more than 6,000 tons, Topeka is one of the stealthiest submarines in the world. This submarine is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, surveillance and reconnaissance. Commissioned in 1989, Topeka has a long standing tradition of excellence and achievement. Its crew is highly trained and capable of supporting the boat through any mission cycle within short notice. CAMP H.M. SMITH, Hawaii After todays public announcement of the Philippine Supreme Courts decision that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) is consistent with the Philippine constitution, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander U.S. Pacific Command, provided the following statement: The EDCA is a mutually beneficial agreement that will deepen already strong security ties between the Philippines and the United States. As part of our strategic rebalance to the Indo-Asia-Pacific, the EDCA will strengthen our alliance by facilitating rotational presence of U.S. joint forces in the Philippines, increasing bilateral training opportunities, and supporting the international rules-based order that has served the region so well for the last 70 years. All U.S. activities will be conducted with the concurrence and at the invitation of the Government of the Philippines, and U.S. Pacific Command looks forward to working with our Filipino allies to implement the agreement. -PACOM- www.pacom.mil http://www.facebook.com/pacific.command http://twitter.com/PacificCommand http://www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command http://www.youtube.com/user/USPacificCommand BLOOMINGTON The girlfriend of Tracy Newson failed Tuesday to recall key details of a November 2014 dispute that led to murder charges against her long-time boyfriend. During her testimony at Newson's trial, Juanita Ware denied knowing what sparked an argument between Newson, 48, and Carlton Jordan, 47, at Jordan's apartment. Jordan and his wife, Cynthia, had invited Newson and Ware for a night of dominoes and socializing, but that turned violent after Newson allegedly insulted and hit Ware before being told to leave. "It had nothing to do with me and him being angry," Ware said of the argument between the two men. "I just know something happened behind my back." Ware admitted under questioning by First Assistant State's Attorney Adam Ghrist that she did not want her boyfriend convicted of murder. Ware continued to deny that Newson hit her, even after Ghrist showed her a police photo of her black eye. "I don't know where I got it," Ware said of the injury. Ware's testimony contradicted portions of what she told police after the Nov. 16, 2014, incident at the Jordans' apartment at 703 Turnberry Drive. Ware will return to the witness stand when the trial continues Wednesday. The jury also heard from Cynthia Jordan, the victim's widow. Jordan described the routine evening among friends that erupted in violence after Newson allegedly started to threaten his girlfriend. Newson was ordered out of the home, but returned about 20 minutes later with a gun, said Jordan. She stepped down from the witness stand twice to demonstrate the struggle; she said her husband and Newson fought over Newson's handgun in the hallway outside the apartment. "The first shot went into the ceiling," she said. Locking her wrists with those of Ghrist, Jordan demonstrated how the men tussled. She said Newson also hit her with the handle of the gun. Next, Newson "shot my husband right there," Jordan said, pointing to her chest, adding that two more shots struck her husband. Bloomington Police Officer Timothy Carleton testified that he spoke with Newson at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center, where the suspect was being treated for a gunshot wound to his arm. Newson claimed he shot Jordan in self-defense. "'He was trying to kill me so I had to do it,'" the officer said, quoting Newson. Newson faces up to 85 years in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last several more days. The poor condition of the Tech Institute hostel-II at the Polytechnic Institute at Taramani. CHENNAI: The yellow buildings seemed to be eroding and there were patterns of white on the walls, formed after the paint had chipped off. Last months heavy rain delayed the scheduled repair work of Central Polytechnic (CPT) College Hostel and the Tech Institute Hostel-II of the Polytechnic Institute at Taramani. The tell tale stains of water having seeped through appeared to have darkened over the years and the cracks seemed to have made their way around the entire building. The Central Polytechnic (CPT) College Hostel and the Tech hostels looked nothing less than two haunted bungalows. The buildings were surrounded by piles of garbage and the grass formed a carpet on the ground. The rooms were damp and broken windows allowed mosquitoes to enter. The 50-year-old buildings are in a sorry state for many years. Though we have given repeated complaints, we have never seen any maintenance work being undertaken, said Manikam, a student. The bathrooms in the Tech Institute Hostel-II are in a dilapidated condition with no water. Students are forced to draw the dirty water from the tank and bathe on the terrace. We pay `2,000 a month only for food, which is tasteless, said Palani K, a student. Though CPT hostel bathrooms work just fine and there is no shortage of water, students struggle as a result of the terrible rooms where they stay. The rooms, though small, house a minimum of six students making it impossible for the boys to concentrate on their studies or get any privacy. Though a few students complained about food, the canteen anna thought otherwise. Due to such complaints, the warden had formed a mess committee. The committee decides the menu and food is cooked according to their requirement, he said. Our college campus and hostel buildings come under the purview of PWD. We have been insisting on repair works for many years. However, no steps have been taken, said Vice-Principal V.Chandrashekaran. We were supposed to start maintenance work last November. However, due to rain it was delayed. As we dont get funds regularly, the work was on hold, said Director of Technical Education Institution S.Madhumathi. We will start the work shortly, she added. SPRINGFIELD Changing the way Illinois' legislative districts are drawn is one of Gov. Bruce Rauner's priorities, and he may get some help this year from outside the General Assembly. Despite the Republican governor's stance on the issue and his ongoing stalemate with legislative Democrats, putting the once-a-decade redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission has widespread bipartisan support, said Jim Bray, spokesman for the group Independent Maps. The change would require an amendment to the Illinois Constitution, and the group is making the third attempt in four election cycles to put the issue to voters. The Independent Map Amendment needs 290,216 valid petition signatures to get on the November ballot. At the end of 2015, supporters had gathered more than 483,000 of the 600,000 signatures they hope to collect by the early May deadline. "People want to be able to have fair elections, and they want to have choices when they go to the polls," Bray said. "They don't want to have the politicians deciding who gets elected." Currently, the Legislature redraws boundaries following each census every 10 years, which critics say allows the majority party to carve up the state to its own political benefit. Because Democrats were in power after the 2010 census, the current map was drawn in their favor. The process protects incumbents and discourages people from running for office, Bray said. In 2014, for example, 60 percent of House and Senate races were uncontested. "If you like the status quo in Illinois and the way things are going in the General Assembly and you like your choices when you go to the polls, you should oppose this," Bray said. The group has the backing of some Rauner supporters such as billionaire Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto, who state records show donated $100,000 to the effort and more than $200,000 to the governor's campaign. Its backers also include prominent Democrats such as William Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon. Another supporter is Republican state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield, who represents a safe GOP district and is currently unopposed in the November election. "It's great for me; I don't have a problem with that, obviously," Butler said. "But I think for the people of Illinois, it's bad when we don't have competitive districts." A similar proposal in 2010 didn't make it to the ballot because supporters didn't gather enough signatures. A circuit court judge removed a 2014 proposal from the ballot, ruling that it went beyond the scope allowed for a voter-driven amendment. Bray said Independent Maps learned from the previous attempts and is "confident that this amendment will pass muster with the (Illinois) Supreme Court." Hyderabad: When his wife called him from Saudi Arabia three days after landing there and started crying, Ali bin Yusuf Barkath thought she must be homesick. The 40-year-old Parveen, who went to work as a maid in a Saudi nationals house, told Yusuf Its terrible. I cannot stay here anymore. After eight days when Yusuf talked to her, things were worse. She told me that she was made to work from morning to midnight. They did not give her food on some days. She could not speak properly fearing her employer would snatch her phone, said Yusuf, an autorickshaw driver. The next conversation with Parveen shocked Yusuf. He became convinced that she was being pushed into bonded labour. When she protested, her employer told her that he bought her paying money to the visa agent. He told her that she cannot leave for two years as per the deal with the agent, said Yusuf. Mother of a teenaged girl, Parveen flew to Saudi on a maids visa on November 29 after a local agent, Mohd Anwar, made her believe the job was easy. He said that there were only two adults and two kids at the home and that she would be paid 1,000 Riyal (Rs 17,794) per month. But there were seven people in the house. She can sleep only just six hours, said Yusuf. Like Parveen, there are four other Hyderabadi women, who are stuck in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar. The agents and their Gulf counterparts take money from Gulf employers for recruiting cheap labour. Since procedures through embassies take a long time the cops are hunting down local agents and pressing them to get the victims freed. In Parveens case, the agent, Mohd. Anwar has already promised to bring her back to Hyderabad in a few days, police said. A Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official said that if the women can contact the Indian embassy, efforts will be made to rescue them. "Their relatives from Hyderabad must contact MEA with the victims visa details, said the official over the phone. However, the spokesperson said that many people go to Gulf through illegal channels without registering at the embassy. "Many people go there with the help of Illegal agents who do not register details with Indian embassy. When the embassy does not have details it becomes difficult to rescue the workers," said the official. "The external affairs minister has urged people to take the services of only registered agents to go abroad," he added. Woman duped into marrying beggar The Falaknuma police has arrested a woman broker for tricking a 21-year-old woman into marrying a beggar from Oman by making her believe that the groom was a rich sheikh. After the wedding when the woman went with him to Oman she found that her husband was a beggar at local masjids. The broker, Sajda Begum, a resident of Bhavaninagar, was booked for cheating under Section 420. Police said the Omani came to Hyderabad in August 2015 and married the victim. After the wedding she went to Oman with him. Later, she found that he was earning money by begging at masjids, said a police official from south zone. The victim contacted her parents, who live in Falaknuma and complained to them. They approached police and lodged a petition. They alleged in the complaint that the man compelled her to beg with him to earn money. Cops found that Sajda Begum had earlier took money from the Oman national to get a woman for him. The police have now started efforts to bring the victim back from Oman. The agent has agreed to rescue the victim and bring her back to Hyderabdad, said south zone DCP V. Satyanarayana. The general consensus about the hit documentary series, "Making a Murderer" on Netflix, has been great so far, but one organization is not happy with how the 10-episode TV show approached one aspect of the story. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has complained that the creators of the hit documentary series downplayed Steven Avery's history of animal cruelty. "Too often, cruelty to animals is swept under the rug, as seems to have happened in Making a Murderer when filmmakers omitted specific details about how Avery, at age 20, doused the family cat with lighter fluid before throwing him onto a fire. " Colleen O' Brien, senior director for PETA, stated according to KXAN.com. "Avery was convicted of misdemeanor cruelty to animals for killing the cat and served only nine months." While the case against Avery's ruthless murder of his family cat was acknowledged in the series, it was only mentioned briefly at the beginning of the story. PETA wanted to delve further into this part of the Wisconsin man's life, especially now that the convicted criminal is gaining sympathy from viewers around the world. The Independent reported that an online petition calling for US President BarackObama to pardon Avery has been started and is now gaining support. The petition now has over 380,000 signatures from people who believe that Avery was wrongfully accused of first-degree intentional homicide. Unfortunately, the White House responded that the president cannot interfere and the case must be taken to a state level. More disheartening to Avery's supporter, Scott Walker, the Governor of Wisconsin and the man who has the power to free the subject of the Netflix series, refuses to watch "Making a Murderer." The Netflix Original Series was filmed in the span of ten years. The 10-part documentary was created by filmmakers, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. The series is streaming wherever Netflix is available. New Delhi: The terrorists who struck the Pathankot airbase earlier this month, had spent the last 24 hours before the attack inside an unused Military Engineer Services shed, biding time until they could find an opportune moment to carry out the strike, according to a report in The Indian Express. From the evidence weve gathered, its pretty clear that the men broke open the lock on one of the MES buildings in a junkyard where disused equipment was stored, and made themselves at home, the report quoted a highly placed source in the National Investigation Agency (NIA). An official who is familiar with the investigation said the NIA has found evidence indicating that the terrorists had spent a substantial amount of time in the disused shed and even had a meal there. Investigators studied the site which showed signs that the terrorists had moved furniture around to make space for themselves to sleep in the old abandoned building. The best guess we can make is that the men rested, waiting for dark to fall, and then moved at a time when they knew the guards would be tired, just as a shift of the guard was due to take place, the official was quoted in the report. Investigators believe the terrorists must have carried out a reconnaissance earlier or it would have been impossible for them to go undetected with such ease for so long. According to officials, the terrorists would have found out beforehand that the Military Engineer Services yard was unguarded and the base staff rarely visited, for them to have taken the extended rest at the shed with such confidence. The heavily armed terrorists finally came out of hiding early Saturday morning on January 2 to carry out a pre-dawn attack, opening fire and killing unarmed personnel. Seven military men were martyred and 20 injured in the attack, the base was secured nearly 80 hours later. Chemicals used in pizza boxes and similar food packaging that are found to be harmful to health have been banned in the US. However, these chemicals which have been linked to cancer are still largely used in pizza boxes and similar takeaway and paperboard packaging in the UK. This is not the worst part apparently as a very recent scientific revelation state that these same chemicals used on pizza boxes and similar food packaging have been found to cause mutation in the sexual organs among snails, according to the Mirror. Scottish marine biology expert Dr Mark Hartl of Heriot-Watt University explains the findings where perfluoroalkyls caused the inhibition of an enzyme necessary to sexual development in females. This eventually caused in the female test snails a testosterone build-up that led to their masculinization and the mutation of their sexual organs into those of males, reported Pizza News. Fears are understandably raised over this indication that human females may actually be turned into males as a side-effect of toxic pizza boxes and similar food packaging. The negative repercussions of exposure to these chemicals, according to Dr Hartl, also includes genetic disruption in young children. The chemicals, perfluorochemicals (PFCs) or perfluoroalkyl ethyl, are used as grease stoppers by food packaging companies. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services specifically defines PFCs as "...a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water." Congruent to the ban, the US Food and Drug Administration proposed an amendment to the US regulation on food additive, Express reported. This will disallow the use of three specific perfluoroalkyl ethyl food contact substances (FCSs) as water and oil stoppers on paper and paperboard packaging for watery, liquid-containing and greasy foods. In the UK, the Watchdogs Food Standards Scotland admit both to being aware of the US ban and to a lack of specific ruling on chemical use on food packaging: "There is no specific European legislation on the chemicals that can be used in paper board, but suppliers of such materials need to demonstrate that it is compliant and it is safe. "Any pizza boxes used in Scotland must comply." What is your worst experience with food packaging? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. Speaking 'teen' is one of the bigger challenges to parenting. This not only pertains to understandings the tendencies, moods, behaviour and trending culture of young adults but also entails actually deciphering jargons and urban slangs that teenagers use in verbal communication. Calling on the power of UK website Mumsnet's vast peer-to-peer network, a parent asked for help on figuring out an urban slang that her teen-aged son used. While some parents may attempt this understanding to add to their cool parent factor, some find the effort a worthwhile idea as a matter of safety and security for their children. The UK government's Department of Education launched a collection called Online Teen Speak on Parent Info in an effort to help parents keep up with their children and keep their children safe while online. But despite pooled efforts, the hapless mom and a few more parents on Mumsnet came out none the wiser over what the slang roadman meant. The parenting advice site's 'by parents for parents' tag line bombed ever so slightly in this instance. "Can you ask your teens what 'roadman' means please," the teen-ager's parent originally posted this on the website. "Google is bringing up several different variations and I am curious to know if my son is being mocked, praised or insulted. "I asked him and he said 'thug life innit' and to be honest I am none the wiser. The mom added, "I'm not even sure that was English." A few parents responded to the appeal and also came up with varying degrees of a blank. "Mine doesn't know," said parent King Joffrey Likes Jaffa Cakes. "Modern version of a highway man? Someone who repairs roads?" Parent LLouh tried to help, recalling a conversation with her 19-year old son who said that roadman means the same as baller. She added that the term may have a similar meaning as gangster. Parent Starlingbrook, however, replied with certainty that baller and roadman mean very different things. Although the following exchange shared by Shodan did not shed much light to the puzzle, it was hilarious nonetheless. "Shodan: What's a roadman? "Son: I don't know. "Shodan: Ok what's a wasteman? "Son: I don't know. Someone who manages waste? "Shodan: Ok so what's a baller? "Son: I don't know. Are you on Mumsnet again?" Urban Dictionary gives the much-sought answer to the question stating that roadman is a slang from the 21st century, which pertains to a boy - usually a teenaged boy - who knows the ins and outs of an area and the people in the area as thoroughly as he knows the back of his hands. The definition adds that a roadman is also involved in popular activities and events such as parties and cruising or driving. A police officer discovered the dead body of a single mother with the help of the dead woman's daughter. The toddler led the police officer to her home in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire where he found the body. According to the report from Daily Mail, the police officer was off-duty when he and his wife found the three-year-old girl Phoebe Rushton wandering the streets all alone. The police officer spoke to the little girl to ask her why she is alone. The toddler answered by saying that she is going to her nursery alone because she could not wake up her mother. The girl's nursery school, Little Strawberries, is 350 yards from the girl's house. The police officer and his wife followed the girl back to her house where they found the body of Nicolla Rushton. The couple called emergency services and stayed until the help arrived. As of this time, there are no suspicions of a foul play. "The officer and his wife took the time to look after the little girl and stay with her until emergency services arrived," says Chief Inspector Steve Maskrey of Staffordshire Police about the efforts of the police officer and his wife. The Irish Mirror also reported about a statement from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, which responded to the emergency. "An ambulance and a paramedic officer were sent to the scene. On arrival, crews discovered a woman patient. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that nothing could be done to save her and she was confirmed dead at the scene." "She was the quiet type and it is just really upsetting. It is so shocking when it happens on your doorstep," says Nicolla's neighbor as reported in Daily Mail News. "She just kept herself to herself," the Burton-on-Trent neighbor said about the mother and her toddler. "I am gobsmacked, I didn't know her that well. But from what I saw she seemed very happy and loved her little girl." Sick and tired dad advocates an appropriate facilities to cater all fathers' need. He wants to make a huge difference by starting a website, where he listed down all establishments that have men's room "changing diaper tables" within the building. The annoyed dad made the site to make everybody realize that changing baby's diaper is not just a mother's job but it's a parents' responsibility. And he is looking forward to having other firms consider his points and eventually follow the said proposed idea. Scotty Schrier, a stay-at-home dad went out for a dinner with his wife at a Ruby Tuesday. Everything was doing well but not until his 8-month-old son needed a diaper change. Eager to please his wife, Scotty volunteered to carry out the task and carried his son to the men's room, but was left with disappointment after he noticed there is no table where he can change his kid's diaper. Talking about his experience, the father of two told King 5 TV, "Being the involved dad, I'm like yeah honey! I got this you know so I grabbed the diaper bag." He said he then brought his child to the bathroom without even thinking that the establishment didn't have any diaper changing station. Since that frustrating day, the irked father created a blog called Dads Who Change Diapers. It is where he listed down all of the businesses that have father-friendly rooms -- where they can safely place their kids on the table while they're diaper changing. For Scotty, having lack of facilities for the dads is unfair and he wants to stop this "madness" by calling all establishments' attention and emphasizing to them the importance of catering all parents' growing needs. As for the Ruby Tuesday, they now have room changing table for dads, after Schrier complained about their lack of facility. And inspiring Schrier is still hopeful that others will likewise follow. A pregnant teen's pictures have been banned from a high school yearbook. The principal of the high school disallowed the use of the teen's pictures because of her concerns on how these pictures might be viewed by their future students. The report from Washington Post says that the photos include an image of the 17-year-old girl Hannah Talbert showing her bare stomach while she was pregnant. Those photos were supposed to be included in a special section of the yearbook showing the teenage mothers attending Mount Vernon High School. "We want to show the real world of what Mount Vernon is," yearbook editor-in-Chief Anderson Bonilla told the Washington Post. "We wanted to report something worth knowing." The report says that Hannah initially posted the pictures on Instagram and she was later notified by Bonilla about his plan to feature her pictures for the yearbook. Sometime later, the principal told Bonilla not to move forward with his plan. "I'm kind of disappointed that the school wanted to take it out," said Mac Talbert, the father of the teen, in an interview with Washington Post. "Hannah's not the only kid who has had to face this." The high school's spokesperson John Torre gave an update to Yahoo Parenting about the status of Hannah's photos. "No final decisions have been made regarding the content in question," he affirmed. Torre also sent a statement from principal Esther Manns to Yahoo Parenting regarding her role in the high school yearbook production. "For 12 years that I have supervised the Mount Vernon High School Yearbook, I have reviewed the content prior to submission." Bonilla believes that the high school has violated due process. He has taken legal representation from the Student Press Law Center to settle the matter on the pregnant teen's pictures for the yearbook. "Common sense should carry the day and the school should realize that violating student free expression rights in an attempt to deny the existence of teen mothers is harmful to the community, the families and the students involved," in a statement to ABC News from the Student Press Law Center. An 18-year-old girl was drinking beer with his father in a Brooklyn playground when five teen boys chased the father out of the scene with a gun. The teen girl was then raped by the boys as the father tried to ask for help outside the playground. Daily Mail reports that the five suspects are already in police custody with two of them turned in by their own parents. The names of the boys are Denzel Murray, 14; Shaquell Cooper and Ethan Phillip, both 15; Onandi Brown and Travis Beckford, both 17. Four suspects -- Murray, Cooper, Phillip and Brown -- have already been charged each with a single count of rape and sex abuse and two counts of participating in a criminal sex act. Beckford was the last one to be taken into custody and is still awaiting for the corresponding charges. In an interview with WABC, the father says that the reason he was not able to call the police earlier was because he did not have a cellphone with him. He tried to beg for help at a nearby store but no one called the police. Alan Lipman, director of the Center for the Study of Violence in Washington, D.C., talked to Yahoo Parenting about the effects of this event on the parent of the victim. "If you're a father in this situation, you are going through rage and guilt and trauma of having been there, and then a sense of rage and humiliation." "That's a trauma in and of itself, seeing your daughter about to be brutalized. Then there's the issue of how he deals with his daughter going forward, how he will face her," says Lipman. The director also talked to Yahoo Parenting about the parents who turned their kids into police custody for the teen girl's rape in a Brooklyn playground. "On one hand, there's a kind of mortification upon discovering their child's behavior -- but it's also their child. There's likely also the recognition that if they don't turn him in, the consequences may be greater." A poignant message, written by John Travolta has gone viral. But has been removed after garnering thousands of likes. The main thought is like: Live today as if it were your last. John Travolta lost his son Jett on Jan. 2, 2009, after the 16-year-old boy had a seizure and hit his head while on a holiday in Freeport, Bahamas. Now, seven years have passed, the actor is still grieving over his son's death and took it to social media, urging all parents and children not to take "any moment for granted." "They say the hardest thing in the world is losing a parent. I can now say that it isn't true. The hardest thing in the world is losing a child," the father remarked, along with black and white pic -- showing him and his son looking and smiling at each other. "Someone you raised and watched grow everyday. Someone you taught how to walk and talk. Someone you showed how to love." The message then went on by saying that his son's death was the "worst" thing that ever happened to him. And 16 years of raising his child taught him a lot of things, including how to "love unconditionally." He then urged all of the family to stop for a while and be "thankful" for their children and parents because "life is very short." Travolta then advised all of the parents and children to spend quality time with each other and should treat each other well because one day you might find and realize that "they won't be there anymore." In his message, it was also reiterated, "What I truly learned most of all is, live and love everyday like it's your last." The message then went on by encouraging all the readers to tell everyone they love "that you love them everyday." Further adding that life shouldn't be taken for "granted." The message about bereavement was posted on Facebook ten days after his son's death anniversary, but was later removed after being shared more than 100, 000 times and garnering over 300,000 likes. Kanye West allegedly reported that the prices of his clothing line will be cheaper and affordable next season. West stated this announcement when a TMZ cameraman barged him about his lavish clothing line in LAX. We're gonna get them lower, we're gonna get them lower," Kanye says. "Next season." It is widely reported that critics have been slamming West's 'dystopian" collection ever since it was released. A lot of people are saying that it looks like a super pricey future slave's outfit - some say that there were pieces that looked like Hunger Games. The dystopian collection is military inspired loose fitting tunics under the shades of beige, green and brown. Meanwhile, some critics even said that it the collection looks like Jedi clothes. A lot of well-known celebrities arrived in Yeezy's Season 2 launch such as Hip hop rapper Drake, Vogue's Editor In Chief Anna Wintour, Hip hop rapper 2 Chainz, West's wife Kim Kardashian, and his daughter North West. Khloe Kardashian was also spotted in the event. Models Ian Connor, Bella Hadid, and Kylie Jenner were also reportedly on the runway. Cathy Horyn, a fashion critic, reportedly gave West's clothing line a criticism that he deserved. She said that the Stockholm Syndrome-like effect of his recent collection is enough for her to not even attend its launch. "This second round of drab, broken-down basics proved he can't be taken seriously as a designer, but nevertheless, many people in fashion do seem to take West seriously - they keep showing up expectantly for his performances - and that makes them fools," Horyn also thought that West is indeed a good performer but the fashion industry is not for him. She said that the statement of him saying he wants to 'create something better' for people is already and understatement. She said that West needs more improvement in his clothing line. New Delhi: With less than 30 hours remaining for the Foreign Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan, the decision on talks would be taken later today after National Security Advisor Ajit Dovals return from Paris. External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier Wednesday evening at his residence at 7RCR to discuss the future course of action with Pakistan. Read: Five times when Pakistan dragged its feet, fuelling standoff with India Last year on December 25, Prime Minister Modi in an unprecedented gesture had visited Lahore to wish Pakistan Prime Nawaz Sharif on his 66th birth anniversary, where it was decided to open up dialogues between two neighbours. Read: Pathankot attack: Ready to respond to any threats, says Army chief However, the fate of the impending Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan is clouded with a question mark, due to the recent terrorist attack at Pathankot air base which was carried out by six terrorists from across the border. Immediately after the attack Pakistan PM Nawaz Sarif had assured India of a transparent investigation into the terrorist attack, which was allegedly carried out by militant outfit jaish-e-mohammed. Read: Parliamentary panel to seek info from government on Pathankot attack In this regard, Sharif appointed a six member high-level committee to probe into the Pathankot attack, understanding the international pressure. And in a major development, Pakistan media on Wednesday reported that Jaish-e-Mohammed head Azhar massod has been detained Pakistan officials. However, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson stated that We have not received official word on detention of Masood Azhar. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close In light of David Bowies recent passing, the internet community has rallied together to celebrate the life and legacy of a groundbreaking performer. The late musician was not revered just for his expansive repertoire of songs and albums, though. He was a creator in every sense of the wordone who transcended medium, pushed creative boundaries, and paved the way for other influential innovators. The release of Bowies most recent album and, just two days later, his untimely death thrust the Goblin King back into the media spotlight. The world knows him as a rockstar, a shape-shifter, and a wildly talented musician, but above all else, he was an artist. Not only did Bowie create an impressive amount of invaluable art over the span of four decades, he also appreciated and collected other peoples work. Art was, seriously, the only thing Id ever wanted to own, the Thin White Duke told the New York Times in 1998, as recounted by a piece on ArtNet. It can change the way that I feel in the mornings. In the same article, he expressed admiration for visual artists such as Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, and Francis Picabia. The performer went on to say that while he appreciates Marcel Duchamps sense of humor, theres the other side of [Bowie] that thinks he did it just because he couldnt paint. Bowie may have been ambivalent about urinal art, but he was devoted to aesthetic pursuits from early on in his career. In the lyrics to 1969s Unwashed and Slightly Dazed, the starman references French painter, Georges Braque. In 1977s Joe the Lion, Bowie pays homage to a Chris Burden performance art piece with the line nail me to my car and Ill tell you who you are. The set design for the Diamond Dogs tour of 1974 was also partly influenced by the work of satirical German artist George Grosz. In 2003, Bowie denounced reports that exaggerated his personal holdings Last week I was approached by a magazine about doing an interview on my Surrealist and PreRaphaelite collection, as recounted by Nicholas Peggs The Complete David Bowie (2011). This was news to me. He continued, Yes, I do have a (too frequently remarked upon) Tintoretto and a small Rubens but the majority of what I have are British 20th century and not terribly big names, Bowie maintained. Ive gone for what seemed to be an important or interesting departure at a certain time, or something that typified a certain decade, rather than go for Hockneys or Freuds or whatever. You can read about the full extent of Bowies collection in the ArtNet piece, but some of the works in his private art collection reportedly include: Peter Lanyon, Inshore Fishing (1952) Bowie lent at least three pieces to abstract expressionist Peter Lanyons 2010 retrospective at Tate St. Ives. The performers art publishing press, 21 Publishing, released Peter Lanyon: At the Edge of Landscape in 2000. Damien Hirst, Beautiful, shattering, slashing, violent, pinky, hacking, sphincter painting (1995) Bowie once said, My idea of a contemporary artist is Damien Hirst. The two artists eventually became friends, which resulted in a collaboration titled Beautiful Hallo Space-boy Painting. Peter Howson, Croatian and Muslim (1994) Londons Imperial War Museum, commissioned this work by the UKs official war artist, and declined buying it due to its violent subject matter (two men raping a Muslim woman). Bowie immediately purchased the work for $27,000, and according to the New York Times, once described it as the most evocative and devastating painting. William Nicholson, Andalucian Homestead (1935) Bowie has apparently this landscape painting twice, once to Londons Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert gallery in 2011, and previously in 2006 for the Nicholsons first American show in 80 years, held at New Yorks Paul Kasmin gallery. Writer: Max Landis Artist: Joelle Jones Publisher: DC Comics Somewhere in the multiverse, a different Max Landis wrote a terrific alternate reality counterpart of Parrotthe third installment in his Superman coming-of-agesaga, American Alien. Hidden behind the distracting missteps, necessary and fine ideas half-heartedly raise their hands to get our attention, only to be drowned out by flashy, vapid impulsesthe only elements of this book youll remember if you read it once. That, and Joelle Jones savvy conflation of reality show/lifestyle porn visuals with all-too familiar aspects from the DCU. Its a bummer that she wasnt assigned one of American Aliens better entries. Light Spoilers. Parrot begins with Clark Kent serendipitously finding himself mistaken for Bruce Wayne on a Grenada-bound cruise ship where a gaggle of hyper-privileged youths have set about celebrating Waynes 21st birthday. Landis offers a satisfactory enough explanation for a few dozen trust fundies inability to distinguish their billionaire so-called buddy from a stranger. Unfortunately, by that point, onboard guests have already been identified as other future DC heavies Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Sue Dibny and Barbara Minerva (Cheetah), and so much for the suspension of disbelief. Superman: American Alien #3 Interior Art by Joelle Jones Its not coincidental enough for undergrad Clark Kent to just-so-happen, by sheer fluke, to crash besides a cruise ship hosting a shindig for Bruce Wayne in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Also by random accident, several attendees on this ship just-so-happen to be future superpeople or superassociates. I will accept the notion of a flying man who shoots heat beams out of his ass long before I swallow this towering of stack of ...and it just-so-happenses. Remember the scene (minor Star Wars: TFA spoiler) when Rey and Finn are fleeing The First Order on Jakku, and the closest functional ship they can steal and escape in just-so-happens to be, out of the however-many-billions of ships in the galaxy, the Millennium Falcon? The premise of Parrot is that times three. In a bad way. Only one of the three aforementioned DCU regulars serves any narrative purpose, and they couldve done so more effectively as an entirely new character. Superman: American Alien #3 Interior Art by Joelle Jones Speaking of new: if an American pop culture icon can blaze up without reprisals or hints of satire, weve made great strides toward a mindset of legalization, so hurray for stoned Superman. But whoever decided that meaningful life-altering epiphanies are frequently experienced during psychedelic episodes either never did any drugs, or did drugs constantly and thus never recognized the absurdity of the temporarily important conclusions we often form while tripping. And while it can often be a good idea to smoke marijuana, and it was a good idea for Superman to smoke marijuana, drugs have never made anyone smarter. Except for Grant Morrison, which is why hes the only comic book writer allowed to crash through the fourth wall for any reason. But without the needless cameos, exaggerated benefits of pot use and stilted attempt at pop philosophy, what remains is a story about Clark Kent enjoying a low-stakes fling with a young woman who isnt from the Midwesttherefore, by his standards, exoticand realizing the world has more to offer him than Smallville, just as he has more to offer the world. Not only does that seem like an important beat to hit for Supermans life story on its way to Metropolis, it couldve been a really neat comic, and absolutely did not need a silly Batman thing shoehorned in.Although that one scene where mega-baked Clark slaps Deathstroke around was pretty fun, and the Batman Begins reference was a nice touch. Still unnecessary, though! Maling v. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP By Andrew Williams -- In a case that was watched by the entire patent law community with some fascination, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts concluded on December 23, 2015 "that the simultaneous representation by a law firm in the prosecution of patents for two clients competing in the same technology area for similar inventions is not a per se violation of" Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7. Moreover, because the Plaintiff, Chris E. Maling, did not allege facts sufficient to demonstrate that the Finnegan law firm violated its ethical obligations, the dismissal of the action was affirmed. Although this certainly came as a relief to almost every attorney working in private practice, the Court warned about the significant financial and reputational risks of violating Rule 1.7: "Nothing we say here today, however, should be construed to absolve law firms from the obligation to implement robust processes that will detect potential conflicts." Slip opinion at 23. This case stems from Finnegan's representation of Mr. Maling related to screwless eyeglasses, and specifically the eyeglass hinge block design. Presumably, this design did not result in breaking glass. Figure 1 of U.S. Patent 7,101,039 illustrates a pair of glasses containing the rim and temple arm of at least one aspect of Mr. Maling's invention: According to the opinion, attorneys in Finnegan's Boston office represented Mr. Maling for more than five years, from April, 2003 to May, 2009. At the same time, attorneys in Finnegan's Washington, D. C. office represented Masunaga Optical Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in the same subject matter space. Apparently Mr. Maling had engaged Finnegan to prepare and prosecute a patent for his invention, including conducting a related prior art search. In fact, according to the Patent Office database, Finnegan obtained three related patents for Mr. Maling (Mr. Maling obtained a fourth patent, but Finnegan was not listed as attorney on its face). However, in 2008, when Mr. Maling asked Finnegan for a legal opinion addressing the similarities between some Masunga patents and his own, Finnegan declined (the opinion noted that the record did not provide Finnegan's rationale for this decision, but if they had provided the legal opinion, that could possibly have been an ethical violation). Mr. Maling alleged that Finnegan's refusal to provide this opinion resulted in his inability to obtain funding. Mr. Maling therefore contended that Finnegan's simultaneous representation of both clients and its failure to disclose the alleged conflict resulted in "great harm" and "tremendous financial hardship." The Court in this case was looking at Rule 1.7 as it is applied in Massachusetts, but the rule is almost identical every other jurisdiction in which it was adopted. This rule has two parts. The first, Rule 1.7(a)(1), proscribes representing two parties that are directly adverse. ("A concurrent conflict of interest exists if . . . the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client."). Even though this conflict can be waived by both parties with informed consent as long as the attorney or firm is not representing both parties against each other in the matter, it exists to safeguard the sense of loyalty found in the attorney-client relationship (as well as to serve as a prophylactic measure to protect confidences). Maling did not claim that he was directly adverse to Masunaga in the traditional sense. Rather, he alleged that this case fell under the scope of this rule because he competed in the same patent space as Masunaga. However, the Court noted that the comments to this Rule make clear that economical adversity is not sufficient. For the patent context, the Court looked to the FCC case of Curtis v. Radio Representatives, Inc., 696 F. Supp. 729 (D.D.C. 1988). In that case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had held that the same firm could simultaneously represent more than one client seeking to obtain radio broadcast licenses from the FCC. It is only when the possibility of "objectionable electrical interference exist[s] between" station to station that a conflict of interest could develop. By analogy, if the same attorney can obtain patents in the same "subject matter" space, without the scope of the claims overlapping, there would be no conflict. Maling in this case did not allege such an overlap of space (oddity?). Before we move on, it is useful to consider how such an overlap might be a candidate for direct adversity? The Court had one answer -- interferences. If the patents covered identical or obvious variants of each other, an interference proceeding could have been declared (at least for pre-AIA patents and applications), which certainly would have been adverse. If an interference proceeding had been called, "or if Finnegan, acting as a reasonable patent attorney, believed such a proceeding was likely, the legal rights would have been in conflict . . . ." The opinion suggests that such a conflict could be waivable, but it unclear if this would pass the requirements of Rule 1.7(b)(3). Rule 1.7(a)(2) also defines a concurrent conflict of interest where "there is a significant risk that the representation of one or more clients will be materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client, a former client or a third person or by a personal interest of the lawyer." As the opinion makes clear, this can occur when an attorney engages in "claim shaving," which is making changes to the claim scope to avoid the conflict. "Altering the claims in one client's application because of information contained in a different client's application at least creates a question of fact as to whether 'courses of action that reasonably should be pursued on behalf of the client' were foreclosed." Slip Op. at 18. Again, Maling did not allege such facts. The Court did address the requested "opinion" regarding the Masunaga patents, finding that if Finnegan had conducted this work, it likely could have violated both Rule 1.7(a)(1) and (2). Of course, because Finnegan had not conducted this work, it did not correspondingly violate the ethics rules. But, the Court warned that the scope of representation at the outset can define what might or might not be a violation. If Finnegan had only agreed to file and prosecute a patent application, there would likely have been no issue. However, if "Finnegan should have reasonably anticipated that Maling would need a legal opinion," then conflict liability could have been created. Nevertheless, because there was simply too few facts alleged in this case, all of this discussion essentially amount to dicta. Regardless, it would be wise to pay attention so as to not end up the subject of an opinion in which sufficient facts are alleged. To be clear, this case involves the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's application of Rule 1.7 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, and therefore is not binding but only persuasive authority in every other jurisdiction that has adopted Rule 1.7 of the Model Rules. Nevertheless, had this decision come out differently, it would have had a chilling effect on all intellectual property law firm practices. In the first place, in most cases it is unreasonable to expect your patent attorney to only represent one client. After all, most clients look to the experience and technical expertise of the patent attorneys they hire. It would be unrealistic to allow this experience to give rise to a per se "subject matter" ethical violation. In addition, it would be difficult to draw the line as to what "subject matter" would give rise to such an ethical violation. To use the Maling case as an example, would the subject matter be limited to "eyeglass hinge block designs" or "screwless eyeglasses," or could it be interpreted more broadly to be all eyeglass technology or fashion in general. Instead, the use of the Curtis case as analogous is useful. As long as the scope of patent protection being sought for both clients is sufficiently distinct as to not cause any "electrical interference" between the two, there should no sense of doubt that this is not a conflict issue. However, as the differing claim scope gets closer to overlapping, there is an increased risk of getting "shocked." Hyderabad: Justice P. Naveen Rao of the Hyderabad High Court has held that the daughter of an ex-employee is equally entitled to receive monetary benefits accrued to a former employees account along with other family members, even after her marriage. The judge was dismissing a petition by C. Chandra Sekhar, son of C. Raja Gopal, an employee of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams challenging the decision of the TTD authorities in apportioning the monetary benefits to the family members of Raja Gopal, including his wife, parents, daughter and son (the petitioner). The petitioner, while claiming compassionate appointment, submitted an application for grant of terminal benefits accrued to the account of his father. The petitioner said that only an unmarried daughter and widow were entitled to draw financial benefits accrued to the account of the ex-employee. He argued that his father had nominated his wife (mother of the petitioner) in the service records to receive various benefits and hence the daughter had no right to claim a share in the death benefits. The petitioner also contended that married daughter was not entitled to get death benefits and there was no necessity of obtaining a no objection from a such person to secure employment on compassionate grounds. Counsel for the TTD, defended the action of the Devasthanams contending that nomination only enables the nominee to receive monetary benefits and does not automatically entitle him or her to receive the money exclusively without apportionment of the money to the family members of the ex-employee. Relying on the judgment delivered by Supreme Court in the Sarabati Devi case and the High Court in the K. Gangadhara Srinath case, the judge upheld the TTDs decision and ruled that merely because a person is nominated to receive benefits, he alone would not be entitled to appropriate the proceeds notwithstanding the claim of the others as per the Law of Succession. vs. Reformed Pastor David T. King (6-26-12) *** blue . Pastor Kings words from his book will be in * * * * * My normative policy of time-management or stewardship of my time under God, and maintenance of sanity for nearly five years now is to refuse to waste time debating theology with the small fringe group of anti-Catholic Protestants (i.e., those who deny that Catholicism as a system of theology and spirituality is Christian, and who claim that in order to be a good Christian, one must reject quite a few tenets of Catholicism). I do, however, make exceptions on rare occasions. I have continued to interact with historic Protestant anti-Catholic works, and I did, e.g., in the case of William Whitaker, a prominent 16th century advocate of sola Scriptura (an entire book). I also have lots of material (including two books) concerning major Protestant figures Luther, Calvin, Chemnitz, Zwingli, Bullinger, and others. The self-published, three-volume set (one / two / three) on sola Scriptura by David T. King and William Webster (2001) is clearly relevant in relationship to my current book, 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura. Volume One (A Biblical Defense of the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura) is virtually a polar opposite of my title. I say the Bible opposes the notion; he maintains that it supports it. That makes for some good debate (and as anyone who knows me is aware, I immensely enjoy debate). Its stimulating and fun, and educational, all at the same time. I had originally intended to do a multi-part rebuttal, as I did with Whitaker, but I have discovered that King scarcely makes any arguments from the Bible, for the purpose of establishing sola Scriptura proper; thus this will be my sole reply. I will have to seek out another work that actually tries to prove the doctrine from Scripture. That is what interests me: not more circular logic and man-made traditions spewed endlessly. Pastor David T. King is a Presbyterian, and graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He is pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Elkton, Maryland, and was formerly affiliated with PCA. Unfortunately, most of the books that deal with this topic in the greatest depth (e.g., others by Keith A. Mathison, Bishop Dr. (???) James R. White, and R. C. Sproul), come from anti-Catholics. Be that as it may, we can handily refute these arguments from a Catholic and thoroughly biblical perspective. Now onto Kings few biblical arguments in favor of sola Scriptura: If unwritten tradition was . . . intended to function perpetually as an authoritative norm alongside Scripture, why did Paul fail to mention such a concept when speaking of the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began? (p. 44) [see Rom 16:25-26] He doesnt have to, anymore than he can write the following extended treatment of many important aspects of the Christian life without ever mentioning Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-16 (RSV) And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love. I stated along these lines in my book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism (2003): The exclusivist or dichotomous form of reasoning employed by Protestant apologists here is fundamentally flawed. . . . Note that in Ephesians 4:11-15 the Christian believer is equipped, built up, brought into unity and mature manhood, knowledge of Jesus, the fulness of Christ, and even preserved from doctrinal confusion by means of the teaching function of the Church. This is a far stronger statement of the perfecting of the saints than 2 Timothy 3:16-17, yet it doesnt even mention Scripture. Therefore, the Protestant interpretation of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 proves too much, since if all nonscriptural elements are excluded in 2 Timothy, then, by analogy, Scripture would logically have to be excluded in Ephesians. It is far more reasonable to synthesize the two passages in an inclusive, complementary fashion, by recognizing that the mere absence of one or more elements in one passage does not mean that they are nonexistent. Thus, the Church and Scripture are both equally necessary and important for teaching. This is precisely the Catholic view. Neither passage is intended in an exclusive sense. (pp. 15-16) We can play this word game with Pastor King further, if he insists (since he wants to make an issue of it). It so happens that I did an exhaustive study of St. Pauls word usage in his epistles, comparing his mentions of Scripture with those pertaining to Church authority and tradition. The results were quite fascinating, and devastating to any notion that Paul subscribed to sola Scriptura, or had Scripture always in the forefront of his mind at all times, over against apostolic tradition and the authority of the Church. Here are just a very few highlights from the lengthy article: The words Scripture or Scriptures appear 51 times in the New Testament. Yet in eight of his thirteen epistles (2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Titus, Philemon) St. Paul (it may be surprising to learn) never uses either of these words. He uses it only 14 times altogether: in Romans (6), 1 Corinthians (2), Galatians (3), 1 Timothy (2), and 2 Timothy (1). Likewise, word of God appears 43 times in the New Testament, and many of these (as in Old Testament prophetic utterances) are intended in the sense of oral proclamation rather than Scripture (especially apart from the Gospels). St. Paul uses the phrase only ten times, in nine different epistles. And it is by no means certain that any individual instance refers without question specifically to Holy Scripture, rather than to oral proclamation of apostolic tradition. I suspect that it is much more likely the latter sense in most or all cases. . . . If we survey Body (of Christ) in Paul we find 19 appearances . . . And . . . Church / ekklesia (in more than merely a local sense of congregation or building) in his epistles (20 total times) . . . Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Titus, and Philemon neither mention Scripture nor cite the OT, and Philippians doesnt mention the word and makes just one OT citation. . . . even in Romans, Church /tradition notions appear eight times, which is more than Scripture / OT citations appear in nine epistles, and tied with 2 Corinthians. We can argue in this fashion if someone wants to, but I can assure readers that it will not go well for the sola Scriptura position. Its not how it is supposed to be according to that man-made tradition. Moreover, why would he omit extrabiblical tradition as a norm when addressing Timothy on the sufficiency of Scripture in his second epistle? (p. 44) [see 2 Tim 3:16-17] The answer is that he didnt omit it in the overal (even immediate) context. He referred to authoritative tradition in the immediately preceding context, in 2 Timothy 3:10, 14: Now you have observed my teaching . . . [14] But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it Of course, the person Timothy learned it from was Paul himself: passing down oral tradition, as seen in the previous two chapters also: 2 Timothy 1:13-14 Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; [14] guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. 2 Timothy 2:2 and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Paul also casually refers to the extrabiblical tradition Jannes and Jambres in 3:8. He casually assumes that such oral (or at least non-biblical) traditions possess authority. Thus, there is no particular need to mention tradition again in 3:16-17. He already had done so, at least five times, in a short letter. Kings demand is unreasonable and irrational: not everything has to be discussed at all times. But the data is completely consistent with a Catholic Scripture + Tradition + Church three-legged stool model of authority. All King and other sola Scriptura defenders can fall back on is the notion (never biblically established) that the tradition shall cease as soon as Scripture is complete. Thus King states: . . . Protestant Evangelicals do affirm the binding authority of apostolic tradition as delivered by the apostles. What they preached and taught in the first century Church was authoritatively binding on the consciences of all Christians. However, we reject Roman Catholic claims that extrabiblical, apostolic traditions have been preserved orally apart from the Scriptures. (pp. 55-56) Non-Protestants assume (without proof) that what the apostles taught orally differed substantively from that which was later inscripturated. (p. 59) . . . Protestants have always accepted apostolic teaching that was oral in nature and which preceded its inscripturation. But apostolic revelation which God desired to preserve has been inscripturated in its entirety. (p. 71) Did you notice the curious absence of any scriptural verification for such a notion? Yes, so did I . . . Just a minor quibble . . . King notes on pp. 82-83 that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reveals Scripture to be profitable in the areas of: 1. For doctrine 2. For reproof 3. For correction 4. For instruction in righteousness Quite true; we agree. But, none of these things are exclusive to Scripture (including several instances in both letters to Timothy): Doctrine *** Romans 16:17 . . . the doctrine which you have been taught . . . [no mention of Scripture; it likely refers either to Paul, or Paul and other local teachers] *** 1 Timothy 1:3-4 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, [4] nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith; [Timothy passes on and authoritatively enforces Pauls doctrine and divine training (i.e., tradition); Scriptural reference is absent] 1 Timothy 4:6 If you put these instructions before the brethren, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which you have followed. [word of God: not necessarily Scripture, is mentioned in the preceding verse, yet the doctrine or tradition here seems to refer to a general body of teaching received: not only from Scripture] Titus 1:7, 9 For a bishop, as Gods steward, . . . [9] he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it. [bishops; magisterial authority of the Church, which is alongside Scripture] Titus 2:1, 7-8, 10 But as for you, teach what befits sound doctrine. . . . [7] Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, [8] and sound speech that cannot be censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. . . . [10] nor to pilfer, but to show entire and true fidelity, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. [Titus as teacher; no mention of Scripture here or anywhere in the letter] 2 John 1:9-10 Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son. [10] If any one comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him any greeting; [a generally received (by Christians) doctrine; cf. the truth (1:1-2, 4); commandment[s] (1:5-6) ] Reproof *** Proverbs 1:23 Give heed to my reproof; behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. [King Solomon] *** Proverbs 9:8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. [anyone] Proverbs 24:25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will be upon them. [anyone] Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. [parents] 1 Timothy 5:20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. [Timothy] 2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. [Timothy] Titus 1:13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, [Titus] Titus 2:15 Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. [Titus] 2 Peter 2:16 but [Balaam] was rebuked for his own transgression; a dumb ass spoke with human voice and restrained the prophets madness. [a donkey] Correction *** 2 Timothy 2:24-25 And the Lords servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to every one, an apt teacher, forbearing, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, [the Lords servant] Instruction in Righteousness *** Proverbs 1:1-3 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: [2] That men may know wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight, [3] receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; John 16:8-10 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; [the Holy Spirit] Hebrews 12:9-11 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? [10] For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. [11] For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. [God and earthly fathers] Even if Scripture were the only source of all these things, its still a far cry from that to assert that it is the only infallible authority today. None of this proves that at all, even granting Kings false premise. But as we have seen, his premise is untrue in the first place. Remember, this text is almost universally considered the very best prooftext for sola Scriptura. But King cant even remotely prove or even support the notion from it. Its downright embarrassing to observe. And this is always the case, as Ive observed in over 21 years of active Catholic apologetics. Its always special pleading from the get-go. Ever see that soup commercial where they say, its in there!? Well, in this case, sola Scriptura aint in this verse or any other that can be brought to bear. Its completely absent from Scripture, which has, however, many counter-indications and refutations of it. * * * As for the clause, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:17), this is not exclusive to Scripture, either: 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. [God; no mention of the Bible necessarily being the means of this] 2 Timothy 2:21 If any one purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work. [self-discipline] King offers up a clever, but nevertheless rather tame and fallacious rationale to explain away these parallels: . . . with respect to each occurrence of every good work in the Pastoral Epistles (or elsewhere in Scripture for that matter), it needs to be noted that these passages are all Scripture, and as such form and norm moral behavior . . . we find Scripture fulfilling the very purpose for which it was given as described in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, namely, informing and norming for us instruction for righteousness . . . for every good work. The question is not whether these disciplines are necessary, but what is the source of revelation which reveals them as necessary? (pp. 85-86) This is true insofar as Scripture is sufficient to teach these things (which no one denies); however, it misses the present point altogether, and in a rather striking fashion. The argument at the moment is not about whether we can accept and abide by anything that Scripture teaches us, but rather, whether it exclusively does so, and whether it points to other sources outside of itself that do some things that it itself does (including sacred tradition and the Church). We have seen in the outlining of the four elements above that there are many other sources of that which is described as attributes of Scripture in 2 Timothy 3. Whether Scripture is the source that informs us of this is irrelevant to the discussion about sola Scriptura; the relevant thing is that there are indeed other sources. Holy Scripture, as inspired, can be trusted absolutely in terms of confirming that this is the case, but it is not absolutely necessary even in that respect. The Bible was clearly not necessary for men to be able to do every good work; that is, to achieve goodness; to be good men, or righteous, to obtain grace and exercise true faith, or to be saved in the end, since we know from the Bible itself that some men were good, after the fall (by Gods grace, as always) before there ever was a thing as the Bible at all (i.e., before Moses). Moreover, this could be discerned before there was a Bible; the knowledge didnt have to be confirmed by Scripture (seen especially in Hebrews 11:4 below): Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (cf. 5:21) Genesis 6:8-9 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. [9] These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. Genesis 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Genesis 15:6 And he [Abraham] believed the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 18:19 . . . I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.(cf. 1:8) Hebrews 11:1-4 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the men of old received divine approval. [3] By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear. [4] By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. [cf. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab in subsequent verses of this chapter] None of this righteousness came about due to a norm of Scripture. It was within these people as a result of Gods grace and revelation of Himself to them. This was before the Bible was known, but the same also remains true today in cases of cultures that are ignorant of the Bible or true Christian teaching: Romans 2:5-16 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when Gods righteous judgment will be revealed. [6] For he will render to every man according to his works: [7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; [8] but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. [9] There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, [10] but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. [11] For God shows no partiality. [12] All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. [13] For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. [14] When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15] They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them [16] on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. * * * At a priests conference not long ago the speaker quoted some statistics. Christians of different traditions were asked percentage wise how important evangelization was to their understanding of the Christian faith. Mainline Protestants answered 60%. Evangelical Christians answered 85%. Catholics said 3%. We Catholics skate around this one muttering catch phrases like The New Evangelization and we trumpet the few evangelization enterprises that are going on, and we self righteously quote St Francis (who never actually said it) Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary. There are some very clear reasons why Catholics dont evangelize, and they are difficulties that run right to the foundation of our understanding and practice of the faith. There may be more reason than these, but here are ten I can think of. PS: Ive saved the biggest and the worst for last. 1. Cultural Catholicism A lot of American Catholics regard their religion like Jews do. Its something youre born into. They scratch their head at the idea that someone would convert to Catholicism. What, you mean you chose to be Catholic? This is because theyre Polish or Irish or Italian or Lebanese or French. Theyre Catholic in their bloodstream. Its something you are, not something you do so much. I remember encountering a French woman in South Carolina who wanted her baby baptized. I asked her what parish she went to. She looked at me with bewilderment. But I aim Frensh! It is different in France! Nobody goes to church, but we are very Catholic! Cultural Catholics never imagine that they should evangelize. So Im supposed to make you an Italian? You see what I mean. 2. Over Sacramentalization Thats just a long word way of saying that Catholics put sooo much emphasis on the sacraments that it is difficult for many of them to see that in and through and below the sacramental system is a genuine encounter of the person with Jesus Christ, risen ascended and glorified. Because you have to be a Catholic to receive the sacraments of Holy Communion and confession, and because for so many Catholics that is the only way to practice their faith, the sacraments actually keep them from evangelizing. I cant bring my Baptist neighbor to Mass. She wouldnt know what was going on and besides, she cant come forward for communion anyway. This is a good point. If you invite a neighbor of family member to Mass then tell them they cant receive the Lord the whole exercise is likely to collapse into them feeling excluded. 3. RCIA What is that? An company that used to make electronics? The whole RCIA system is often cumbersome and user-unfriendly. If you have someone who is interested in becoming a Catholic you have to tell them about RCIA which starts in the fall (so what do you do when they come in April?) and goes through for months until Easter. Meanwhile Pastor Bob at the local Protestant church says, Come to church. Sign up. Youre in. Proper catechesis is necessary, but a more creative and flexible approach would help. 4. Church or Jesus? Too many Catholics confuse evangelization with getting people to join the Catholic Church. The primary task of evangelization is meeting people where they are are introducing them to Jesus Christ. It is possible to do this without bringing in the Catholic Church with its whole devotional and sacramental system. It is possible to talk to someone in need and say, You need to get right with God. You need to say, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me a sinner! Thats the first step. After they make that decision they can start to attend church and learn about the sacramental system and how to continue their relationship with Christ as a Catholic. The reason so many Catholics have a problem with this is because they are unsure whether they themselves have ever had that fundamental, rock bottom, first step conversion transaction. 5. Social Gospel A lot of Catholics think the churchs primary way of evangelizing people is by helping them. Its true that an important aspect of evangelization is social welfare. Feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, healing the sick, bringing justice to the oppressedall of that is good stuff and must not be neglected. It is also a powerful witness to the authenticity of the Catholic message. However, just doing that isnt enough. We need to give people the Bread of Life as well as a sandwich. Many Catholics would never breathe a word about their faith, but are busy in the soup kitchen. Soup kitchen is good. Actively sharing the faith is also good and necessary. Continue Reading Image St Paul Street Evangelization Patna: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of acting under pressure from his partners Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress saying it was at the behest of the party of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Kumar ordered the whitewashing of the history of the Emergency as it appeared on the Bihar government's official website. As reported, Congress, taking umbrage of the content of India's history during the Indira Gandhi regime, asked the Chief Minister to delete the paragraphs that showed Mrs. Gandhi and the Emergency in negative light since Congress is now a partner in the state government. Within a day of the complaint, Kumar ordered the removal of the objectionable material that included appears below: {gallery}newsimages2016/jan/011216{/gallery}"JP's substantial contribution to modern Indian history continued up until his death in 1979. It was he who steadfastly and staunchly opposed the autocratic rule of Indira Gandhi and her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi. Fearing people's reaction to his opposition, Indira Gandhi had him arrested on the eve of declaring National Emergency beginning June 26, 1975. He was put in the Tihar Jail, located near Delhi, where notorious criminals are jailed. Thus, in Free India, this septuagenarian, who had fought for India's freedom alongside Indira Gandhi's father, Jawahar Lal Nehru, received a treatment that was worse than what the British had meted out to Gandhiji in Champaran in 1917, for his speaking out against oppression. The movement started by JP, however, brought the Emergency to an end, led to the massive defeat of Indira Gandhi and her Congress Party at the polls, and, to the installation of a non-Congress government -The Janata Party - at Delhi, for the first time. With the blessings of JP, Morarji Desai became the fourth Prime Minister of India. JP remained the Conscience of the Janata Party and of post-Gandhi - post-Nehru India. He gave a call to all Indians to work ceaselessly towards eliminating "dictatorship in favour of democracy" and bringing about "freedom from slavery". Sadly, soon after attaining power, bickering began among the leaders of the Janata Party which led to the resignation of Shri Desai as the Prime Minister. JP continued with his call for "total revolution" (sampporna kranti), but he succumbed to kidney failure at a hospital in Bombay in 1979." This was removed by the passage below; "JP's substantial contribution to modern Indian history continued up until his death in 1979. It was he who led a movement that led to massive win of a non-Congress government -The Janata Party - at Delhi, for the first time. With the blessings of JP, Morarji Desai became the fourth Prime Minister of India. Sadly, soon after attaining power, bickering began among the leaders of the Janata Party which led to the resignation of Shri Desai as the Prime Minister. JP continued with his call for "total revolution", but he succumbed to kidney failure at a hospital in Bombay in 1979." Modi, said by changing the text on the Bihar government website, Nitish Kumar has virtually killed the legacy of Loknayak Jaya Prakash Narayan who was, in fact, treated by Congress worse than the British treatment of Mahatma Gandhi. "Nitish Kumar is trying to re-write the history to appease his political partners. He is a weak leader who does what Lalu Prasad Yadav or the Congress leaders ask him to do," the former Deputy Chief Minister said. Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav also excoriated the Chief Minister for failing to protect the legacy of Jaya Prakash Narayan by trying to whitewashing the pages of history. "Wasn't everything on the website about JP and his treatment during Emergency correct? Isn't it true that the Congress tortured the Loknayak in jail that ultimately resulted in his premature death? Is the Nitish government now going to stop the pensions of those who fought during the JP agitation because Congress doesn't agree with the history? Nitish Kumar betrayed JP and Lohia but the BJP will not allow him to rewrite the history of the nation," Yadav said. Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader Upendra Kushwaha, who is an ally of the BJP, also lashed out at the state government for 'meddling' with the history of Bihar. "By trying to change the history, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav have killed the Loknayak one more time," Kushwaha said. Podcast About 75% of military recruits arrive at a training base with no bank account and have to be bussed to a local bank to open one, says Jill Castilla, CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond. The bank's team is building a platform that will help service members save and build credit. Saudi-Iran Crisis Mars Tehran Sanctions Relief 01/13/16 By Heather Murdock, VOA CAIRO- Iran is on the brink of reintroducing itself to the world economy as economic sanctions may be lifted soon in accordance with the nuclear deal struck in Vienna last year. Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Countdown to removal of Iran sanctions (cartoon by Sasan Khadem, Iranian daily Shargh) But last week, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran after an attack on its embassy, following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are long-time rivals, believed to be fighting proxy wars in several countries. Analysts say Saudi officials object to Irans nuclear deal, as it brings its rival, Iran, closer to its allies in the West. Following the diplomatic split between Saudi Arabia and Iran the agreement will be harder to implement, according to Mark Fitzpatrick, the executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the United States. Theres more ammunition for attacks on the nuclear deal, he said. I dont think that the nuclear deal is going to fall apart because of this, but its already a fragile agreement, and more and more pressure will add to the troubles in implementing it. The continuing diplomatic crisis is also stymieing other reformist efforts to normalize Irans relationship with the international community, according to Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst for Iran. This has been very detrimental for Irans image, he says and for President Rouhanis efforts in basically turning the page in Irans pariah status. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is often referred to as a reformist working towards ending years of political and economic isolation in Iran. The nuclear deal, a centerpiece of these reforms, is expected to catapult Iran back into the global economy. Proceeding Well Despite the pressure, officials say economic sanctions against Iran are expected to be lifted as Iran completes key elements of the deal, which includes dismantling equipment that could be used to develop a nuclear weapon. My expectations are that this day could come rather soon and that the implementation of the agreements is proceeding well, said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday. Its encouraging. News media in Iran report officials expect to decommission Irans Arak heavy water reactor within days, after previous reports the reactors core had already been filled with cement. Signs of Change The embassy attack and the continued diplomatic rift conjures the image of years past, when other embassies, including of the United States and Saudi Arabia were attacked in Iran, says Vaez of the Crisis Group. Now all of a sudden, Iran is seen once again as a country that attacks foreign embassies, he explains. And mobs that run in the streets of Tehran and chant death to a specific country. However, unlike past embassy attacks in Iran, he says, Iranian authorities have uniformly condemned the attackers, and a regional security chief was fired after the incident. Iran has also made diplomatic moves to repair the relationship, sending a letter to the U.N. Security Council shortly after the assault, expressing regret and vowing to prosecute offenders. But the apology fell short, according to Vaez, because Iran apologized to the international community in general, not specifically to Saudi Arabia. I think the Iranians now realize that they fell into a trap, he said. They were looking forward [to] this week, when sanctions are lifted and the implementation day of the nuclear deal arrives, for Iran to be able to come in from the cold and normalize its relations to the outside world. Iran Frees All Detained U.S. Navy Sailors 01/13/16 Report by RFE/RL; photos by Islamic Republic News Agency U.S. sailors are shownn in an undisclosed location in Iran in this handout picture released on the official website of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on January 13. U.S. sailors are shownn in an undisclosed location in Iran in this handout picture released on the official website of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on January 13. Ten U.S. sailors and two patrol boats detained by Iran on January 12 and accused of trespassing have been released after Tehran determined they did not deliberately enter Iranian waters. "It was determined that the detained American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally," the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was quoted as telling Iranian state television. "Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the [Persian] Gulf." The U.S. military has confirmed that the sailors were back in U.S. custody and that "there are no indications that the sailors were harmed." One of the U.S. boats taken into custody by Iran The sailors departed Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, in the morning of January 13 (8:43 a.m. GMT) aboard the two boats, a U.S. statement said. They were picked up by U.S. Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. "There are no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention," a statement issued by the Pentagon said. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran." There was no immediate confirmation that Washington had apologized to Iran to secure the sailors' release, as claimed by the IRGC. The two U.S. Navy boats and their crews -- nine men and one woman -- were detained on January 12 after entering Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. U.S. officials said one or both vessels experienced mechanical troubles while on a training mission and were taken to Farsi Island, a tiny island that is home to an IRGC naval base. U.S. officials said radio contact had been lost with the two boats, which they described as riverine-class patrol vessels under 20 meters in length -- while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. After announcing the release, state television broadcast the first pictures of the detained sailors, who were shown sitting in a room on Persian rugs. Images of the two boats were also aired by state television. The release of the boats and crews came soon after the commander of the IRGC's naval force, Admiral Ali Fadavi, said on January 13 that he was awaiting a final order to set the sailors free. He told state television that "unprofessional acts" had led to the incident, and said that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on January 12 to discuss the situation. "Mr. Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr. Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologize," Fadavi said. Kerry had said on January 12, as he arrived at the Capitol to hear President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, that the sailors would be freed "very soon." Despite his claim that there had been a call for a U.S. apology, Fadavi also struck a conciliatory note, saying that Iran had concluded that "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes" and that the sailors had been in Iranian territory "due to a broken navigation system." Earlier on January 13, an IRGC spokesman said the U.S. sailors were being interrogated on Farsi Island. The claim could not be immediately confirmed. Meanwhile, Iran's army chief said on January 13 that the seizure of the two U.S. vessels should be a lesson to members the U.S. Congress trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran. "This incident in the Persian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces' last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency. U.S.-Iranian relations were strained by U.S. claims last month that Iran fired missiles close to a U.S. aircraft carrier in the gulf. Last year, Iranian patrol boats seized the Maersk Tigris, a cargo ship sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, providing it U.S. protection. In March 2007, Iranian naval forces captured 15 British Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel and held them for 13 days before releasing them. With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Iranian Fighter Jet Crashes, Killing Two Pilots 01/13/16 Source: RFE/RL Iranian state television reported that an Iranian F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed close to the Pakistan border, killing two pilots. The crash took place on January 12 some 45 miles west of Konarak Air Base, around 900 miles southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Iran Air Force (IRIAF) F-4E Phantom landing at Tehran - Mehrabad International airport (source: The Aviationist) The report said that the cause of the crash was unknown but investigations were underway. The pilots were on a training mission. Iran's Air Force purchased the U.S.-manufactured Phantom warplanes before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It also has Iranian and Russian-made fighters in service. Several warplane crashes have taken place in Iran in recent years. Most recently, in July 2014, an F-4 fighter jet crashed in the south of the country, killing two pilots. Based on reporting by AP and AFP Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops These are the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now How are those self-driving car tests going in California? Now we know. A handful of car makers testing autonomous vehicles in California recently submitted "disengagement reports" to the state's Department of Motor Vehicles, which outline how often self-driving car tech fails to do its job or requires that a human takes over. That includes Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Google, Delphi, Tesla, Bosch, and Nissan. Google(Opens in a new window), which has driven the most autonomous miles in its home state of California, said disengagements are a natural part of its testing process. And while they may number in the "many thousands" annually, "the vast majority are considered routine and not related to safety." With that in mind, the Web giant reported 272 instances (between September 2014 and November 2015) in which a technology glitch forced the driver to take control; average response time was 0.84 seconds, Google said. During the same period, the company counted 69 events in which safe operation of the vehicle required disengagement by the driver. "Our objective is not to minimize disengagements; rather, it is to gather, while operating safely, as much data as possible to enable us to improve our self-driving system," Google said. "We have an evaluation process in which we identify disengagements that may signal any safety issues, and we resolve them by refining our software, firmware, or hardware and incorporating those changes across our entire fleet." Tesla(Opens in a new window), meanwhile, recorded zero autonomous mode disengagementsthe only manufacturer to boast such a feat. But the other luxury car maker on the California DMV's list, Mercedes-Benz(Opens in a new window), disclosed 967 disengagements (manual and automatic) over the 15-month period. Not far behind is Germany-based Bosch(Opens in a new window), with 625 total disengagements in 14 months. Its troubled German counterpart Volkswagen(Opens in a new window) divulged 1,087 and 2,573 disengagements for test vehicles Igor and Jack, respectively. (Yes, VW named its cars.) During highway testing, the U.K.'s Delphi Automotive(Opens in a new window) counted 405 incidents, due mostly to poor lane markings and traffic light detection. "The vehicle operator always has one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the auto/manual toggle switch on the vehicle's center console," the company said. "Pressing the auto/manual switch kills all power to the automated system actuators and allows the operator to instantaneously take full control. Hence, all disengagements documented in this report were executed in less than one second." All four of Nissan's(Opens in a new window) autonomous vehicles, meanwhile, managed only 106 disengagements in seven months; the report excluded April through September, presumably during a hiatus in road testing. BMW, Cruise Automation, Ford, and Hondawhich launched autonomous vehicles on California streets in 2015are required to submit their first disengagement report by Jan. 1, 2017. Volkswagen, meanwhile, is still dealing with the fallout of its emissions scandal. The California Air Resources Board reportedly rejected the company's proposed engine fix for those cars affected by the recent emissions scandal. According to Bloomberg(Opens in a new window), the state agency called VW's plan "incomplete"; the manufacturer will present a reworked method to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Every time a stolen laptop leads to a data breach, you wonder why the business involved hadnt set up any safeguards. When the unencrypted laptop was stolen from a former physician at the University of Oklahoma, for instance, or when a laptop was stolen from insurance provider Oregon Health Co-op containing data on 15,000 members. Youd think money would motivate them, if nothing else. In November, EMC and Hartford Hospital were ordered to pay US$90,000 to the state of Connecticut over the theft of an unencrypted laptop in 2012 containing data on nearly 9,000 people. The laptop was stolen from an EMC employees home. The problem extends far beyond the healthcare industry, toosuch as the laptop stolen from SterlingBackCheck, a New York-based background screening service. The laptop contained data on 100,000 people. These types of breaches dont quite grab the same headlines as major cybercrimes and hacking incidents, if only because a thousand employees affected by a laptop theft is less dramatic than 40 million customers at Target. But its a lot easier to steal a laptop than it is to hack into a corporate database, so the theft and loss of laptops, as well as desktops and flash drives, highlight the need for enhanced physical security and employee training. Its easier to steal a laptop than to hack a database The organizations mentioned here have wised up. A spokesperson for the University of Oklahoma said it has launched an encryption program and new training for employees when it comes to handling sensitive data. SterlingBackCheck said it has updated its encryption and audit procedures, revised its equipment custody protocols, retrained employees on privacy and data security, and installed remote-wipe software on portable devices. Koldunova_Anna/iStock/Thinkstock Laptop theives can potentially gain access to corporate information, unless the device has remote wiping, encryption, or other protections. Another threat to your data is the proliferation of Bring You Own Device (BYOD) policies and mobile workers. Gartner anticipates that half of all companies will have some need for a BYOD policy by 2017. Workers will be using their own devices as well as company-issued ones in the office or on the go. This opens up a new risk if devices are lost or stolen. Security firms like Sophos urge companies to put a robust policy in place for the handling of professional devices, including full disk encryption as well as encrypted cloud and removable media. A strong password is highly recommended too, but its not enough on its own. A greater sense of urgency wouldnt hurt, either. In Oklahoma, the physician had actually left his position at the university before his personal laptop went missing. He couldnt say for sure whether it contained sensitive data, but by the time that possibility arose, it was too late. In another incident, at manufacturer Tremco, an employee lost a company-issued laptop on a plane. It was several weeks before the employee realized that it contained spreadsheets of personal employee data. Encryption, remote wiping, better data tracking Companies need to know where their data is at all timesnot just what device it is on, but where that device is located physically. This highlights the need for remote wiping tools, which SterlingBackCheck has put in place. If a laptop is lost or stolen, the company should have an easy way to remotely wipe the sensitive data to ensure it never leaks. Much like large-scale hacking attacks, its the consumer or the patient that really suffers when a data breach occurs. The onus lies with the company to handle this data responsibly, whether its in the cloud or on a laptop on the bus. The government directed forest, police and commercial taxes departments to take extensive inspection of major markets/shops till Sankranti to check stocking, sale and use of Chinese manja. Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has banned use of Chinese manja for kite-flying during Sankranti. Violators will face arrest and a maximum jail term of six months, besides being punished for endangering the life and safety of others. The government directed forest, police and commercial taxes departments to take extensive inspection of major markets/shops till Sankranti to check stocking, sale and use of Chinese manja. With only a day left for Sankranti on January 15, special teams have been formed for the purpose. Kite flying takes its toll on birds during Sankranti, especially on pigeons, that often get trapped or sometimes their wings get cut getting entangled in the manja. The government issued orders to this effect on Wednesday. Enforce ban on chinese manja: CM The TS government, under Section 5 of the Environment (Prote-ction) Act, 1986 imposed a complete ban on procuring, stocking, selling and using Chinese manja or other synthetic (non-biodegradable) threads coated with glass or other material. The government issued orders on this on Wednesday. Minister for environment and forests Jogu Ramanna said there has been a long pending demand for ban on Chinese manja especially from environmentalists and bird lovers and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has directed the environment department to enforce the ban from this Sankranti. The Union ministry of environment had written to all states in September 2014 alerting the governments about the threat posed to birds like vultures, kites, owls, pigeons by the use of Chinese manja made of nylon and coated with crushed glass and asked states to check its usage. There are instances of manja killing people too, he said. The minister added that Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan had imposed the ban last year. He said the ban was imposed conserve wild life and safety of human beings. It was also brought to the notice of the government that the use of manja was causing adverse affect on soil, waterways due to its non biodegradable nature apart from causing grievous injury to animals and human beings and causing problem for transmission lines and other communication devices and traffic movement, Mr Jogu Ramanna said. The government directed all departments concerned and organisations to take immediate necessary action to sensitise people against using manja and make them aware to use eco-friendly manja which are biodegradable and not harmful to animals and human beings. After more than three decades, Zacatecas Cafe will serve menudo, handmade tortillas and mole de gallina for the last time Jan. 24 at 2472 University Ave. in Riverside. The 53-year-old family-owned restaurant, which moved to that location in 1985, plans to reopen five minutes away in the former Shakeys Pizza Parlor at 3737 Iowa Ave. Oscar and Josie Medina founded Zacatecas in 1963 after they bought a little cafe at Park and University avenues and added Mexican dishes. Granddaughter Ashley Salinas, 25, said theyd outgrown the joint and called the impending move bittersweet. I grew up in this building, where I have the last memories of my grandparents. But new beginnings are always good, she said. Salinas said theyve gutted the former pizza place and hope to reboot this spring. Meanwhile, their other Zacatecas, which debuted a year ago at 374 E. Ramsey St. in Banning, is open daily. The family posted on Facebook: It has been 31 years since we made our move from Park and University. Im most certain my grandparents were faced with the same bittersweet feelings we are going through now. We have outgrown our space, which is a good thing. My grandparents would be proud of us moving to a bigger and better location. We will be extending our weekend hours and will be open 7 days a week. We are looking forward to meeting new people and seeing old faces at the new place. On behalf of the family and staff thank you for letting us being part of your lives for over the last 50 years. Information: 951-683-3939, facebook.com/zacatecascafe IDYLLWILD IS BEAN TOWN Erik Landis, 40, and his wife, Jessica Ramirez, 29, of Desert Hot Springs love chocolate. Purists, they both dreamed of making rich chocolates liberated from additives, fillers or preservatives. After four years of sampling, researching, reading, attending chocolate events worldwide and creating a business plan, they opened El Buen Cacao this past Oct. 24 at 54200 N. Circle Drive, Suite D1, in Idyllwild. They make their own chocolate in the shop from organically sourced, fair-trade cacao beans from Central and South America. Then they turn the results into bars that range from 60 percent to 80 percent cacao, as well as truffles and drinks. And these chocolates can have a kick they add chili to the bars and put other spices, such as cloves, in the hot chocolate. Its like sipping a warmed-up bar of chocolate, said Ramirez. Information: 760-333-7690, elbuencacao.com SMALL BITES Mes Amis, a 4-month-old Lebanese fusion restaurant serving classic Mediterranean dishes with a modern twist at 131 W. Foothill Blvd. in Upland, will have its inaugural wine dinner pairing with 2012 Opus One. The four-course meal with a quartet of wines will be 7 p.m. Jan. 22 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23. Tickets are $125. Information: 909-660-2081. For those who like it hot, Firehouse Subs opened a Temecula location Dec. 31 at 26480 Ynez Road. The custom, hand-painted mural in the dining room depicts a firefighter rescuing a child. Information: 951-296-1909. PizzaRev, riding the build-your-own pizza trend, is scheduled to open next month at 2470 Tuscany St. in the Crossings at Corona across from an Edwards movie theater complex. The restaurant, offering house-made dough, local ingredients and vegan and gluten-free options, will be the first of at least seven franchise locations planned for the Inland region, according to the city of Coronas newsletter. To pass on tips about restaurants, breweries and food shops that a opening or closing, contact Laurie Lucas at llucas@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9559. Contact the writer: llucas@pressenterprise.com, 951-368-9559 Re: Riverside: City prosecutor needed? [Editorial, Jan. 11]: A simple Google search will find many examples of grave misdeeds against innocent people by uncaring or misincentivised elected district attorneys in every state. All Riverside city residents should therefore vote no to change the city charter to give extraordinary prosecutorial powers to an elected city attorney, or a future populace will be crying, Where was foresight? And if that abusive official is not current City Attorney Gary Geuss, then what of some future elected official? Beware. Our founding fathers knew that official powers must have checks to protect the people, and if we the people follow that guidance with a no vote, then a more fair and peaceful people we will be. Jackie Fenaroli Winchester Is Obama being sincere? Is it really possible for President Obama to address the nation, express sorrow, shed tears over the teleprompter when cameras are running, a crowd has gathered and expect most adults to believe he is being sincere? Obama cries for children who have been shot in Chicago, as he makes new illegal executive orders that will not bring any change at all. To the dopers he let out of prison, as drug offenders who are not really that bad, and, of course, criminals, who do not follow the old laws, what would make them follow any new ones? Our major cities in America give us the highest homicide rates, while having the strictest gun laws. Get this: The bad guys do not play by the rules. If they are not locked them up and kept locked up, then President Obama will have what he has created. Bob Haunschild Hemet President Barack Obamas State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Jan. 12, capped a whirlwind experience for San Bernardino police dispatcher Annie Teall, who directed much of the response to the Dec. 2 shooting in San Bernardino and the terrorists gun battle with police. She received an impromptu tour of the Capitol on Tuesday that included a visit to the National Statuary Hall, where sculptures of prominent Americans are displayed. RELATED: STATE OF THE UNION: Obama vows action against Islamic State; no mention of San Bernardino To hear the history and the story behind it, and the process to have the statues put in there, it was a neat thing to understand the art and the history behind the building, Teall said. Teall said she enjoyed simply watching the speech later that night. To see peoples reactions, whether they agree with his politics or not, and being in the audience, was a one-of-a-kind experience, she said. Teall added that she was not disappointed that Obama did not mention the San Bernardino attack specifically. Maybe it was safer politically to be more generic, Teall said, adding that she was pleased that Obama urged Americans not to let terrorists force them to deviate from how they live their lives. The Riverside Police Department has a new K-9 on the beat. Rocco is a 3-year-old Belgium Malinois from Germany. Rocco is working with Officer Kevin Feimer, a 16-year veteran of the force who has been a K-9 handler for the past five years, a news release said. Rocco is the departments first new police dog since Flash was euthanized in 2015. Flash, a German Shepherd, had been on the job about five years. He had been having medical problems requiring emergency surgery for bloat before he bit his handler and a lieutenant who was visiting the officers home in early 2015. We had to answer why after all these years there was a different display of temperament, Capt. Ed Blevins, now retired, said in an interview in 2015. Options such as retiring Flash to someones home or a rescue compound were ruled out because of the biting danger, Lt. Christian Dinco said during that interview. Based on the liability concern, I made the decision that he had to be put down, Blevins said. On a personal level, it was extremely difficult. Contact the writer: 951-368-9569 or brokos@pressenterprise.com ISTANBUL (AP) Turkish police have arrested one person suspected of having a direct link to the deadly suicide bombing that killed 10 Germans in Istanbuls main tourist area, officials said Wednesday. More than a dozen other suspected IS militants were detained in other parts of the country, but they dont appear to be tied to Tuesdays attack just steps from the Blue Mosque in the historic Sultanahmet district. The suspect with a link to the attack was detained in Istanbul late Tuesday, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said during a news conference with his visiting German counterpart. He didnt provide further details, including whether the suspect was considered to be a key participant. Turkish media reports said police had raided a home in an affluent Istanbul neighborhood, detaining one woman suspected of having links to the Islamic State group, although it wasnt clear if she was the suspect Ala was referring to. Turkish authorities have identified the bomber as a Syrian born in 1988, who had recently entered Turkey, and officials say he had IS links. The Islamic State group, however, hasnt claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkish media, including newspapers close to the government, identified the bomber as Nabil Fadli, and said he was born in Saudi Arabia. Ala said the suicide bomber wasnt on any Turkish or international watch lists for IS militants. The blast would be the first by IS to target Turkeys vital tourism sector, although the militants have struck with deadly effect elsewhere in the country. On Wednesday, Turkish police also arrested 13 suspected IS militants, including three Russian nationals. But it wasnt clear if those arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The attack, which also wounded 15 other people, including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman, was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. Officials initially said that at least eight Germans were among the dead in Tuesdays explosion. On Wednesday, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said the number had risen to 10. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there was no sign that Germans were specifically targeted. According to the investigations so far, there are no indications that the attack was directed specifically against Germans, so there cant be any connection to our contribution to the fight against international terrorism, de Maiziere said. Germany committed Tornado reconnaissance jets to the military effort against the Islamic State group in Syria following the November attacks in Paris, and started flying missions from the Incirlik air base in Turkey last week. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. It hasnt taken a direct combat role, however. Germany already was helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting IS in northern Iraq. Ala urged Turkish citizens and foreign visitors to go about their daily lives, insisting that the country had taken all necessary security precautions. He said Turkey had detained as many as 220 IS suspects in the week prior to the attack. De Maiziere said: I see no reason to refrain from traveling to Turkey. He added there was no reason for people who are already there to break off their trips. Top German and Turkish officials already were scheduled to meet in Berlin next week to discuss Europes migrant crisis, in which Turkey which borders both Syria and the European Union is a key player. De Maiziere said those talks will now also address the determined fight against terrorism. If the terrorists aimed to destroy or endanger the cooperation between partners, then they achieved the opposite, de Maziere said. Germany and Turkey are coming even closer together. The Russians were detained in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Ten other people were detained in Turkeys third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya. Nearly 3,000 Russians, mostly from the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, are believed to have gone to fight alongside IS militants in Syria. Families of IS recruits and human rights activists in the Caucasus have described Turkey as the main gateway to Syria for Russian fighters. Some IS fighters of Russian origin are believed to have left the IS to settle in Turkey, families say. The impact of Tuesdays attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkeys $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Many of the victims appeared to be German couples. The state government in Brandenburg said a couple aged 71 and 73 from Falkensee, outside Berlin, were killed, while authorities in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate say a couple from there were killed the husband was 61 and the wife 59. In addition, a 73-year-old man from the region was among the dead while his wife was seriously injured. The western state of Hesse said a 67-year-old man from that region was killed and his 50-year-old wife wounded. Turkish newspapers printed words of condolence in German. With you in our hearts, the Haber Turk newspaper read. Your pain is our pain Vatan newspaper said. Four people were arrested early Monday, Jan. 11, when Corona police found them in a U-Haul truck that officers said contained mail stolen from 50 residents and 25 boxes of stolen legal documents. About 12:30 a.m., someone reported that people were trying to steal mail from a community mail box in the 2200 block of Toulouse Street. The suspects fled, but officers stopped the truck at the intersection of Ontario Avenue and Rimpau Avenue, a news release said. The driver, Othello Anthony Flores Jr., 27, of Colton, had a felony warrant out for his arrest for violating probation. A passenger, Serina Ayala, 28, of San Bernardino, was arrested on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of stolen property. Two other passengers found in the bed of the truck, Nadein Camarena, 20, of Colton, and Deborah Ramirez, 30, of Colton, were identified by a witness as the two who broke into the mailbox. Officers recovered 25 boxes full of legal documents that were stolen from a business in the 2300 block of University Drive in Riverside, the release said. Mail belonging to more than 50 Corona residents were also recovered. All four were arrested on suspicion of committing crimes including identity theft, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools. Sgt. Paul Mercado said none of the suspects could explain why they were in Corona, such as to visit friends. Residents are encouraged to empty their mailboxes every day or use a post office box to discourage theft. The agreement to settle the lawsuit between Ontario and Los Angeles over Ontario International Airport ushers in a new era of cooperation between the two cities. At least, thats the hope. The agreement, which became public Monday, leaves Los Angeles World Airports in control for the next six months, and as employer of airport workers almost two years longer. But written into the settlement is an incentive for L.A. to begin sending more flights Ontarios way, a vital first step in rebuilding the airport after six years of devastating losses. Ontario is hoping the Federal Aviation Administration will approve the incentive, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced a bill that would allow it. The incentive would allow Ontario to pay off early about $50 million that is due to L.A. in five years, by transferring passenger fees collected at ONT to LAX. That needs FAAs blessing, but it would create an incentive for Los Angeles to help spread flights among Southern Californias five passenger airports instead of hogging more than 75 percent at LAX. L.A.s failure to help regionalize air traffic has been at the heart of lawsuits, not only by Ontario but also by neighbors of LAX. It allows LAWA to cooperate fully with (the Ontario International Airport Authority), said Andre Cronthall, lawyer for Ontario. It will require both parties working together cooperatively, Cronthall said. Its a win-win for both sides (But) it requires cooperation. L.A. has to do its part to apply for the ability to use those (passenger fees) in that manner. Normally, passenger fees can only be used on the airport where theyre collected. Ontario filed suit against L.A. and L.A. World Airports in June 2013 after seeing passenger traffic at ONT nosedive from a three-year high above 7 million to less than 4 million in 2013. In better times, Los Angeles World Airports built Ontario International into a vibrant airport with two sparkling, new passenger terminals. But more recently LAWA under a new executive director who came aboard in 2008 oversaw ONTs downward spiral, beginning with the loss of 1 million passengers in 2008, 1.4 million the following year and more each year until 2014. Fortunately, the executive director who presided over ONTs decline is gone and a new executive director is on board. Deborah Flint was hired in June. The agreement to return ONT to local control was announced in August. I tried to get comment from Flint on Tuesday, but my calls to her office were not returned. Still, I feel confident Ontarios optimism is not misplaced. The agreement, signed three days before Christmas but backdated to July 30, retains LAWA as operator of the airport until the FAA certifies the Ontario airport authority to take control hopefully by July 1. For 21 months after that, LAWA remains the employer of some 200 workers at ONT, while the Ontario authority pays their salaries, benefits and a reasonable amount of administrative overhead. (It should be less than the 15 percent administrative fee LAWA has charged for the past three decades, Ontario City Manager Al Boling said.) A lot of employment protections are written into the agreement to reassure Los Angeles city workers they wont be laid off as OIAA looks for ways to economize. Details are still to be worked out, but this is certain: workers who dont want to stay with ONT can to openings with the city of Los Angeles, exercising seniority rights to get those jobs. Even after the 21-month transition period, OIAA must continue paying workers who havent found jobs with Los Angeles for 90 days. Once OIAA is in control, bonds issued by LAWA for Ontario airport will be defeased; OIAA will issue new bonds, Boling said. With market conditions favorable, OIAA expects to reduce its costs of annual debt service, he said. Saving can be passed along to airlines to encourage them to boost service. OIAA board members are interviewing candidates for a new ONT executive and expect to have someone on board next month, Boling said. While LAWA remains in control, the new executive will be learning ONT operations and the OIAA boards vision for the airport, and figuring out the right organizational structure, including how many employees will be needed, Boling said. Cooperation, optimism, this is a good time for ONT. The airport is the biggest economic engine for the region, and its decline cost thousands of jobs and millions of dollars. But now long fight to regain control of the airport is over. Were just happy weve come so far, Boling said. Amen. Contact the writer: 951-368-9470 or cmacduff@pressenterprise.com The Dec. 2 shooting rampage in San Bernardino did not significantly change California voters support of tighter gun laws, according to survey results released Tuesday, Jan. 12. The Field Poll found that a majority of voters 57 percent say greater controls on gun ownership are more important than protecting the right to own guns. Thirty-eight percent of those polled feel the opposite; 5 percent have no opinion. These results are on par with four previous Field Poll measures on the same topic dating back to 1999, said Mark DiCamillo, the polls director. The opinions are slightly lower than in the last survey, in 2013, when 61 percent of the states voters supported a crackdown on weapons and 34 percent said it was more important to protect Second Amendment rights. Five percent had no opinion. The results are based on a telephone survey of 1,003 California registered voters between Dec. 15 and Jan. 3. RELATED: All the latest developments related to the San Bernardino shooting Adam Winkler, a UCLA law school professor and author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, said he isnt surprised that the armed attack at the Inland Regional Center didnt drastically alter California voters opinions on gun control. This is a high-profile issue that people have profound beliefs about that arent likely to be changed by one particular incident, he said. Its not an issue that people havent thought about before. Support for gun control is higher in California than in the United States overall, according to a similar study in August by the Pew Research Center. In that study, half of the respondents felt it was more important to control gun ownership, while 47 percent said it was more critical to protect the right to own guns. The Field Poll also surveyed the opinions of voters on four pieces of gun control legislation in the wake of the attack by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik. The couple, armed with semi-automatic rifles and handguns, killed 14 people and wounded 22 before they died in a shootout with police. An initiative that would require background checks for ammunition buyers is favored by 80 percent of those surveyed. And 75 percent support a measure to prohibit gun sales to people on the federal governments do not fly list. Two other gun-control proposals also are backed by majorities, but are divided along party lines, with more Democrats than Republicans favoring controls. Fifty-eight percent favor legislation that would outlaw possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, and 56 percent support a bill expanding the definition of the states assault weapons ban to include semi-automatic rifles with detachable ammunition magazines. At least 70 percent of Democrats and self-described liberals support imposing greater controls on guns and believe such laws are effective in reducing violent crime. Republicans and strong conservatives take an opposite view, with more than 70 percent saying that it is both more important to protect the rights of gun owners than pass new gun control laws, and that passing such laws is not effective in reducing violent crime. The largest support for gun control came from women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and voters living in the states coastal counties. More divided opinions were found among men, Caucasians and voters living in the inland counties. Contact the writer: jzimmerman@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9586 Eyeing the end of his presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans on Tuesday night to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow fear and division to take hold. Its easier to be cynical, to accept that change isnt possible and politics is hopeless, Obama said in his final State of the Union address. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future. The nations goals must include a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids, he said in his final State of the Union address. The president didnt specifically mention the San Bernardino terrorist attack, but his State of the Union address did include the following: Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in todays world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage. But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That could apply to Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook, who built bombs and assembled a stockpile of ammunition in advance of the Dec. 2 attack. Loved ones of those who died in the attack, as well as public officials from San Bernardino, watched the speech from the House of Representatives chamber. They include San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon; San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan; Anne Teall, a San Bernardino police dispatcher; Trenna Meins, widow of attack victim Damian Meins and Ryan Reyes, partner of attack victim Larry Daniel Kaufman. Meins said she wasnt bothered that the San Bernardino attack wasnt mentioned. He already talked about when we met him before, she said, referring to the presidents visit to San Bernardino. There was no need for that to be rehashed. Reyes is one of first lady Michelle Obamas guests. He is seated right over her shoulder. RELATED: Reyes enjoyed State of the Union Story continues below. Mobile users, click here for an interactive graphic. &lt;! The following message will be displayed to users with unsupported browsers: &gt; Your browser does not support the iframe HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later. At the heart of Obamas address to lawmakers and a prime-time television audience was an implicit call to keep Democrats in the White House for a third straight term. Sharply, and at times sarcastically, he struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship, calling it all political hot air. In a swipe at some Republican presidential candidates, he warned against voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background. His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obamas address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from GOP front-runner Donald Trump in particular has unnerved some Republican leaders, Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome, Haley said in excerpts released ahead of her remarks. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, echoed the presidents sentiments. He reminded us that the source of Americas strength is the freedom, opportunity, and dignity we reserve for every American, he said. And most of all, he reminded us that we cannot allow our politics to stop of us from doing what we know is right for the American people. I applaud the president for appealing to the values we all share, and I certainly agree that seven years into his presidency, the state of our union is strong. Seeking to shape his own legacy, Obama ticked through a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He vowed a robust campaign to take out the Islamic State group, but chastised Republicans for over the top claims about the extremist groups power. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped, he said. But they do not threaten our national security. The presidents words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates the Islamic States power and is leaving the U.S. vulnerable to attacks at home. Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets: failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he conceded. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals. He did reiterate his call for working with Republicans on criminal justice reform and finalizing an Asia-Pacific trade pact, and he also vowed to keep pushing for action on politically fraught issues such as curbing gun violence and fixing the nations fractured immigration laws. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, in whose congressional district the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino occurred, praised the presidents stance on gun violence. The threats we face from gun violence have long been a crisis in San Bernardino, before the terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center, and will continue to be until we take meaningful and commonsense steps to make our neighborhoods safer, Aguilar said in a written statement. Yet Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions hes taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security. His optimism was meant to draw a contrast with what the White House sees as doom-and-gloom scenarios peddled by the GOP. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth. Period, he declared. Its not even close. He spoke of past accomplishments, a bright future for America, a need for civility and even a cure for cancer. But President Barack Obama never mentioned San Bernardino during his final State of the Union address Tuesday night. In a wide-ranging speech that defended his legacy and called out Republicans hoping to succeed him, the president made no direct reference to the deadliest act of Islamic extremist terror in the U.S. since 9/11. The president also didnt mention anyone in the audience during his speech, including the seven guests from the Inland area. Among them were the San Bernardino County sheriff, San Bernardino police chief and loved ones of two of the 14 who were killed in the attack. RELATED: All the latest developments related to the San Bernardino shooting I imagine many Inland Empire residents, including those who came all the way to D.C. to attend the speech, were disappointed the president didnt offer words of comfort and explain how hell work to prevent it from happening again, said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona. It was surprising and perplexing that the president did not even mention San Bernardino, said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. Perhaps White House speechwriters did not want to stir up fears or dwell on homeland security. But it was a mistake not to utter the name at all. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, said that while the president didnt mention San Bernardino specifically, the attack was part of the speechs subtext. I believe the president was pushing back against political rhetoric that has coarsened our political discourse, Takano said. And so I think the president, even though he didnt mention specifically San Bernardino, he was definitely addressing the consequences of San Bernardino. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, who represents the district where the attack took place, said: Without a doubt I would have loved to have heard (the president mention San Bernardino). But the president has conveyed privately to families his personal feelings toward them and his desire to help see the community feel and move forward. The attack also wasnt mentioned in the GOP response offered by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Obamas address appeared to make indirect references to the mass shooting. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped, Obama said. Those words could apply to San Bernardino shooters Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook, who built bombs and assembled a stockpile of ammunition in their Redlands home in advance of the Dec. 2 attack. Early in his address, Obama said: Ill keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing (including) protecting our kids from gun violence. No mass shootings, including the ones that took place last year in South Carolina, Colorado and Oregon, were mentioned in Obamas speech. PARTISAN REACTION As expected, reaction to the State of the Union from the Inland congressional delegation fell along partisan lines. President Obama spoke tonight to a nation facing difficult times in an increasingly turbulent world, but as he said, we have come a long way in the past seven years and have every reason to look ahead to an even brighter tomorrow, said Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona. Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, said while he was glad the president touched upon Americans concerns about the economy and national security, Im still left with some concerns about those topics as well the middle class is still struggling to make ends meet and we need to address the purchasing power that working everyday Americans have to pay their bills. ISIS may not have capacity to destroy America, Ruiz added. But ISIS has the capacity to inspire terrorists to do bad things, like the San Bernardino mass shooting, that can kill my constituents. Calvert said: The presidents failed policies have led to a stagnant economy, more expensive healthcare for the middle-class, emboldened our enemies and created a more dangerous world. Not surprisingly, the presidents remarks tonight indicate hes doubling down on those failed policies. Despite the cold weather in Washington, Trenna Meins, widow of shooting victim Damian Meins of Riverside, said she was warmed and heartened by the presidents remarks. I very much liked the part when he said he would like everybody to work together, she said from her hotel room after the speech. Meins said she sat in the gallery directly across from the first lady during the presidents speech. Staff Writers Laurie Lucas and Craig Shultz contributed to this report. Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.combrokos@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9569 COIMBATORE: Students of the Government Arts College gheraoed the Principal for barring them from performing drum beats for the Pongal festival on the campus. Every year, the students of Government Arts College used to celebrate Pongal festival in a grand manner, decorating the college premises, cooking Pongal and playing the Jamab (musical drum team). As the students started cleaning their classrooms and college premises for the Pongal, the College Principal announced that the Jamab would not be allowed this year. Immediately, about 100 students gathered outside the Principals office and started raising slogans for nearly an hour. However, they were pacified by the college staff and asked to get back to their classes. A California State University, San Bernardino, expert will talk about thwarting hatred in the wake of the terrorist attack in Redlands Saturday, Jan. 16. Kevin Grisham, assistant director of research at the universitys Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, will share his insights at the Redlands Area Democratic Club monthly meeting. The free talk, San Bernardino Shooting Aftermath: Resisting the Call of Hate, is open to the public and begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Family Service Association of Redlands, 612 Lawton St. in Redlands. Organizers advise people to arrive early, according to a press release. A Redlands couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, died in a gun battle with police Dec. 2 after shooting 36 people, killing 14, in San Bernardino. For information, call 909-453-5106. Contact the writer: 951-368-9444 or shurt@pressenterprise.com RELATED: All the latest developments related to the San Bernardino shooting Update with types of vehicles involved and details on crash An elderly male motorist was injured in a multi-vehicle crash on Margarita Road in Temecula on Tuesday afternoon. The crash, which involved at least three vehicles, may have been caused by a driver who was speeding north on the wrong side of the road near the Santiago Road intersection, according to eyewitness accounts. A Riverside County Sheriffs Department news release says the driver of a gray Audi was driving on Margarita Road when he veered into the opposing lane of traffic, sideswiping a red Subaru and striking a white Buick, which was driven by the elderly victim. Margarita Road from Santiago Road to Pio Pico Road was shut down for about four hours as officials investigated. Temecula Fire Captain Tim Russo said the elderly motorist, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital for treatment of chest pain. The driver of the car that was reportedly driving on the wrong side of the road was given a field sobriety test and declined treatment. The driver of the red car also declined treatment. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, sheriffs officials say. Riverside County Sheriffs Department spokesman Armando Munoz said no arrests have been made in connection with the collision. The Riverside County Sheriffs Department is encouraging anyone with information about the incident to call the Temecula sheriffs station at 951-696-3000. Staff writer Alex Groves contributed to this report This story is developing. Check back later for updates. The Temecula Valley Symphony believes its time to celebrate the excellent musicians who serve as principals in the orchestra. On Saturday, the group will present what is essentially a recital by the principal players in a program at Grace Presbyterian Church in Temecula. These are all musicians who play professionally on a regular basis throughout Southern California, said Alana Joos, president of the group formerly known as the Inland Valley Symphony. They will be presenting a fascinating and imaginative program for our audience, introducing works seldom heard. The concert wont feature the larger orchestra, but smaller ensembles made up of its musicians. Thomas Kociela, music director and conductor of the Inland Valley Youth Symphony, will lead the Colors of Music II program. Among the selections is Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Southern California composer Steven Mahpar. According to the program, the suite of movements includes Down the Rabbit Hole, Caterpillar, A Mad Tea Party, The Mock Turtle and Court of the Queen of Hearts. This work is really great, with great use of harmonies and different tone colors to create the different characters, Joos said in a recent interview, adding that the composer is scheduled to attend the program. Its a very whimsical piece based on the story. The other major work is Misericordia for Flute and String Quartet by Yuko Uebayashi. This work will feature principal flutist Kate Prestia-Schaub, joined by the Temecula Valley String Quartet. Ive wanted to perform Misericordia since August of 2013 when it was performed at the National Flute Association Convention, Prestia-Schaub wrote in an email. I was moved by the storyline of the piece, and want to share it with the audience so they can lose themselves in the music just as I did the first time I heard it. The symphonys resident brass quintet, i.e. Brass with Bruce Clausen on horn, Amy Morris on trumpet, LeAnn Splitter on trumpet, Bret Kelley on trombone and Kent Broersma on tuba will perform a series of pieces. The group has performed at the Classics at The Merc series, an intimate setting in the same spirit as Saturdays concert. This one is a little different because its in a much smaller venue, Joos said. This is particularly nice because the audience, no more than 300, gets to be close to the musicians. Its much more intimate. The musicians will talk and answer questions, composer Steven Mahpar will be on hand to answer questions, and its a much different experience. After the concert, there will be a reception for the audience and performers. Contact the writer: features@pressenterprise.com A motocross team with an office in the Murrieta-area had numerous items of expensive equipment stolen from one of its trucks sometime before Monday morning, Jan. 11, authorities said. Team BTO Sports, a privately owned motocross team, had the items pilfered from its semi-truck transporter wheel sets, radio head sets, specialized factory parts and other items. Riverside County Sheriffs Department spokesman Michael Vasquez confirmed a theft was reported in the area of the teams Murrieta office, in the 38300 block of Innovation Court. Vasquez said sheriffs officials were investigating the theft. The teams crew chief, JR Boyd, said the estimated worth of the items was about $200,000. He said the theft has put a dent in everyones spirits. Everyone on this team puts their heart and soul into it, he said. Were a smaller team and this is definitely one of those things that kind of hits home. Dave Rhine, who drives the truck for the motocross team, said he and a mechanic entered the truck around 8 a.m. Monday and discovered the inside of the vehicle was trashed. A tire cart was flipped upside down, rugs were tossed about, cabinets were wide open and much of the expensive equipment was missing. I feel like my own house got broken into, Rhine said. Rhine said he believes the thieves were able to get in either by picking the lock to one of the doors to the truck or using a blank key. Some of the items stolen cant be found in stores, such as specialized exhaust shrouds with the team logo and logo of sponsors as well as other specially designed parts. The biggest thing is the person that took the items, they took stuff thats not going to work for the average customer, Boyd said. What they took, it has no value to them. Boyd said that, in spite of the theft, he feels optimistic. He said he doesnt believe the theft will affect a San Diego race the team is expected to participate in Saturday, Jan. 16. Due to our great sponsors and the team that we have, everyone has stepped up and provided us with enough product to get us through the current time until our items can be returned. Boyd said Riverside County Sheriffs Department has serial numbers for all of the items stolen. He encouraged those who see an item on a bike they think might be stolen to contact sheriffs deputies. Vasquez encouraged anyone with information on the theft to call the Sheriffs Departments southwest station at 951-696-3000. Contact the writer: 951-368-9693 or agroves@pressenterprise.com Ryan Reyes, whose boyfriend Daniel Kaufman was one of the 14 people killed in the San Bernardino terrorist attack last month, was a guest of first lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Jan. 12. I absolutely loved it, Reyes said by phone from Washington, D.C., after the speech. It was not anything near what I thought a State of the Union speech would be, but it was amazing. I agreed with a lot of his points. Reyes, 32, of Rialto, sat behind Michelle Obama as her husband gave his final State of the Union address. He was invited in part because he has been outspoken in his opposition to the anti-Muslim rhetoric that followed the massacre. Reyes said he wasnt surprised that Barack Obama did not specifically mention San Bernardino in his speech because there have been other mass shootings in the country over the past year. To the first ladys right was an empty seat, signifying all of the victims of gun violence. I know the seat in front of me was not just for Daniel, he said. Reyes spoke briefly with the president after the address, saying Obama thanked him for the work he has been doing and thanked him for attending. He said it was difficult to hear parts of the speech over the applause. Reyes had on the same purple shirt he wore to his sisters wedding he attended Nov. 7 with Kaufman. He said he picked the shirt to honor Kaufman and to send a message of cooperation. The nation needs to come together and purple is blue and red, he said, referencing the colors associated with Democrats and Republicans. We need to work together to fix this problem. His visit to D.C. included a tour of the White House and meetings with the Obamas, who he met when they visited victims families last month in San Bernardino. Reyes said if his mind started to wander, he reminded himself that he was in the White House. It was a great experience, he said. It blew me away. Hello beautiful readers, hows your new year shaping up? Good? Cool. Fantastic. Great to hear. Were hoping itll be the ~year of you~ as well. To achieve that, we thought wed expose you to some inspiration in the form of others #KillingIt. PEDESTRIAN.TVs partnered with CommBank to amplify their Australian of the Day initiative a campaign to highlight everyday, unsung heroes making a *thumbs-up* contribution to our nation. They launched the initiative to compliment the Australian of the Year Awards, a ceremony whose benefit to our country needs no explanation. Head over to the Australian of the Day website HERE to have a gander at the people making our country spectacular after youve read about the gems thatve been unearthed in the ACT. Itd be criminal not to link anything milkshake related to Kelis banger of 2003 you really cant get any more iconic than that. In 2015, however, milkshakes reached new iconic heights. The woman responsible? Anna Petridis. Anna was the OG creator of the FreakShake an offensively stunning adaptation of the milk-bar staple. Shes been serving them up daily since their conception at her patisserie, Patissez. Its pretty self-explanatory why shes CommBanks Australian of the Day #218. Although not a trained pastry chef, her passion (and glaringly obvious talent) has been enough to see her crowned queen of dairy-fusion cuisine. I get up because this is what I love, this is what I am meant to be doing. DAMN STRAIGHT, ANNA. The idea for FreakShakes struck her like lightning one day, almost as if her future was preordained by a high-power I thought chocolate milkshake, what goes with chocolate? Brownies or toasted marshmallow. Somehow it took two weeks for the public to cotton-on to her creation, but once they did, pwoah. Every weekend now sees Patissez inundated with patrons whore itching to get their straws stuck into one of these bad boys/capture some A-Grade Gram material. In the age of social media everything we did in this shop had to be photo worthy, I want everyone to sit down at their tables, take a photo before they eat and share it online, which is exactly what happened. Anna and her staff have managed to pump out an outstanding 623 FreakShakes in one day. On a more average day the usually dish up somewhere between 350-400. Thats enough milk to send a lactose intolerant running for the hills. On behalf of PEDESTRIAN.TV, and we dare say the entire country, you have our deepest gratitude for revolutionising the way we consume milkshakes. YOU THE BEST, ANNA. Claire Reynolds, CommBanks Australian of the Day documenter/photographer, has been hard at it to to bring yall the stories of these true-blue Aussies. www.australianoftheday.com.au is packed to the rafters with astonishing tales of good people doing good things if youve got a minute, go check it out. Before you do though, read about the peeps below. JOHN BALE HAS HELPED EMPOWER FELLOW SERVICEMEN THROUGH SOLDIER ON As youre aware, we do enjoy hanging a bit of crap on former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, but we couldnt agree more with the following statement: It is about appreciating that even the strongest, even the bravest, even the toughest, can carry scars through life that need to be understood and accepted. I congratulate Soldier On for the work theyre doing recognising and helping all who are part of our ex service community. John Bale joined the Australian Army in 2002 alongside a close friend and classmate who would later be killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in 2008. Several colleagues were harmed, both psychologically and physically, during the incident but John found the level of support offered to them was less of that offered to his fallen friend. He noted that this wasnt because the community didnt care about their injuries, but rather, they werent being made aware of their suffering as they were when a death occurred. John and his wife Danielle were driving to the Gold Coast for a holiday when they landed on the idea of creating a service to empower wounded soldiers. So in 2012, John co-founded Soldier On. There was a huge amount of obstacles but I guess blind optimism and positivity really was where we started talking about what we can do. The big thing for us is getting people through that road to recovery and then getting them employed. All the great work Johns completed for those in the defence sector is why hes CommBanks Australian of the Day #222. In addition to helping wounded soldiers find jobs, John and the staff at Soldier On engage them in physical activities like walking the Kokoda Track, as well as organising education opportunities. In short, Soldier On endeavours to give wounded soldiers a platform in which they can regain their sense of purpose. What started as a small service has now grown into a nationwide project with a large volunteer base of supporters. Soldier On hopes to start providing aid to those wounded in the fire and rescue sectors. RACHAEL STEVENS WROTE A NOVEL IN HOPES OF COMBATING MENTAL ILLNESS I hope my story is a reminder that your world can be overshadowed with darkness, but still possess a spark of light. There is always hope. The experiences you have been through can positively shape who you are; making you stronger, passionate, more insightful and alive. Rachael Stevens childhood was one overshadowed with darkness. She grew up in a broken home and subsequently developed a severe eating disorder, as well as depression. In order to be appropriately treated, she was hospitalised in psychiatric care for an extended period of time. During her stay, she not only fought to regain weight, but to take control of her life. Rachael has shared her personal battles through the novel she wrote, The Skeleton Diaries, in hopes of educating and inspiring those affected by mental illnesses. She used her writing as a way to find her voice again whilst undergoing treatment. It was scary, Im not going to say that it wasnt but I remember the day that I launched the book, I remember thinking my life is an open book now. Her desire to make a positive impact by sharing her own struggles is the reason why shes CommBanks Australian of the Day #224. As well as being a talented painter and sociology/English student at uni, Rachael speaks in front of numerous groups about her journey. Couple that with her work with her local church and Rachaels solidified her angelic-status in our opinion. I always say to young people that my experiences are a gift. I realised that suicide does rob the world of people and its not just this thing out there this faceless monster and that is what motivates me. Thanks for all the great work, Rachael. Do yoself a favour and go hit up www.australianoftheday.com.au for more stories of amazeballs people. Photos: Claire Reynolds / Supplied. DUNCANNON--During a school board meeting on Tuesday night, Susquenita School District superintendent Kent Smith remained vague on the details surrounding a fatal shooting of a middle school student that occurred just one day earlier, but took time to publicly offer condolences. Smith said that while media reports have been released with names and detailed information about the incident, officials had still not given permission to the district to release the name of the girl who was killed. "I extend my condolences," Smith said. "Our thoughts and prayers as a school community are with the family. It is certainly a terrible tragedy." Perry County District Attorney Andrew Bender announced earlier today that 12-year-old Ciara Meyer had died of her injuries after a bullet fired at her father by a constable during an eviction went through her father's arm and hit her. Officials say Donald Meyer confronted Constable Clarke Steele at the door of the Meyers' Duncannon apartment with a rifle. Smith on Tuesday reiterated that the district has put into place a support system for students and staff. A statement on the district website states that "Procedures are in place across the district to address potential impacts", and that "Susquenita administration and additional professional staff (psychologists and guidance counselors) are working in conjunction with counselors from Holy Spirit (Teen Line) to provide support to students and staff as needed." While no official memorial service or vigil has been planned by the district for Ciara, Smith said they are certainly open to ideas. If Pennsylvania has a signature dessert, whoopie pies might very well be a top contender. On Tuesday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, whoopie pie bakers from around the state competed in the first-ever Pennsylvania's Greatest Whoopie Pie Contest. Altogether there were 41 entries in the contest sponsored by Good Foods Inc. of Honey Brook. Whether you call them gobs like they do in the western half of the state or whoopie pies, one thing is for sure - everyone has their favorite recipe. There are dozens of twists that veer from the standard white cream filling sandwiched between two chocolate cookies. The cakes, often covered in plastic wrap, are fixtures at bakery counters, county fairs, farm stands and auctions. Many say whoopie pies originated in Pennsylvania, where Amish women baked them and put them in farmers' or schoolchildrens' lunches. Those who found them in their lunch pails would shout, "Whoopie!" The history is sketchy. Some like cookbook author Phyllis Pellman Good has said through interviews with Amish women for "The Best of Amish Cooking" that she was able to date whoopie pies in Lancaster County to at least the 1960s and '70s. Given the whoopie pie's heritage, it was only fitting the Farm Show celebrate the dessert. The first-ever Pennsylvania's Greatest Whoopie Pie Contest was held Jan. 12 at the 2016 Pa. Farm Show. The whoopie pies were judged on flavor, consistency and overall appearance. There were strawberry whoopie pies, coconut whoopie pies and peanut butter whoopie pies. In the end, Jim Harper of Pennsylvania Furnace in Centre County won the blue ribbon and $500 prize for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pie. Here is his recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies Ingredients: 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 2 cups buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla Filling: 1 cup butter 2 cups confectioners sugar 1 cup peanut butter 1 teaspoon vanilla Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first five ingredients and set aside. Beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, blending well as after each addition. Add buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. Add dry ingredients, blending until just combined. Grease cookie sheets. Scoop 1 ounce of batter and drop onto pans. Bake 12 minutes, then allow 5 minutes for cooling before removing from pans. For filling, beat butter until smooth. Add peanut butter. Blend in sugar until well incorporated. Add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Assemble whoopie pies by placing heaping spoonful of filling on one side and sandwiching other side onto it. Facebook-Mugshot-Selfie This photo provided by Lima Ohio Police Department shows Donald Pugh. (AP) LIMA, Ohio (AP) -- A man Ohio police say sent them a selfie because he didn't like the mugshot they were using has been arrested in the Florida panhandle. Lima, Ohio, police say Donald "Chip" Pugh was arrested Tuesday in Century, Fla., and is being held on another warrant out of Georgia. Police in Ohio say Pugh also is wanted for failing to appear in court and is a person of interest in several other cases. Lima police say Pugh sent them a picture of himself in a sport coat and sunglasses along with a message stating, "Here is a better photo that one is terrible." The police department has posted on its Facebook page a new mugshot of a smiling Pugh after his arrest in Florida. Pugh can't be reached for comment while he's in custody. First snow of 2016 A car drives as the first snow of 2016 falls in New Cumberland. Snow is currently hitting the midstate. Brief but intense snow squalls will affect most of the area between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. creating dangerous travel conditions, according to an advisory from the National Weather Service in State College. A rapid drop in temperatures will lead to the rapid formation of black ice on area roadways, the advisory said. The snow advisory is in effect for Dauphin, Cumberland, Adams, Lancaster, York, Lebanon, Franklin and Perry counties. Here's what's being seen around the region: Another snow video, where you can also hear about my dad's bowling score. (Psssst: It's his birthday today) pic.twitter.com/ma7rQTkOgt Julia Hatmaker (@JuliaHatmaker) January 12, 2016 First Snow Squall of 2016: https://t.co/G4wiXCon9p via @YouTube Mid Atlantic Weather (@midatlanticwx) January 12, 2016 You can see live weather updates via the National Weather Service and other Twitter sources below. Tweet us at @pennlive with photos of inclement weather at your place, incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com. Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com. Heeding God's Call vigil for 3 individuals killed by gun violence in Harrisburg in the last 2 weeks Candles are lit for the victims during a prayer vigil at Harrisburg Brethren In Christ Church for the three persons killed by gun violence in Harrisburg in the past two weeks. Claywaun Bender, 17, Andre Lamont Parker ,19 and Eric Byrd, 29. Sean Simmers, PennLive.com Jan. 12, 2016 (SEAN SIMMERS) An organization that holds a vigil for each person shot and killed in Harrisburg has taken to honoring groups of victims at its services because gun violence is so rampant in the city. Heeding God's Call held a prayer vigil for the city's three most recent homicide victims at Harrisburg Brethren in Christ Church at 2217 Derry St. on Tuesday night. At it's prior vigil in December, the count was higher. The multidenominational group remembered five victims who were gunned down in the city within about a month. About 15 people braved snow squalls to honor Claywaun Bender, Andre Lamont Parker and Eric Byrd on Tuesday night. Bender, 17, was shot to death in the first block of South 17th Street on Dec. 30. Parker, 19, was killed on Burchfield Street on Jan. 4. His death marked Harrisburg's first homicide of 2016. Byrd, 29, was gunned down at South 15th Street and Ella Alley on Jan. 7. Family and friends of the latest victims were not at the vigil on Tuesday night. Normally, loved ones do attend, and Heeding God's Call lights candles in honor of the victims during each gathering. The group also calls and prays for an end to the senseless gun violence that plagues Harrisburg and other cities throughout the U.S. Rev. Ron Tilley of Heeding God's Call said the latest wave of shootings in Harrisburg is troubling, but the group will carry on with its efforts. Tilley believes the determination will pay off and is part of a larger movement toward peace. "Our faith drives our perseverance," Tilley said. "We know that anytime that there has been a major social shift in our country, it's taken time to gain traction." Heeding God's Call believes prayer, individual responsibility and more stringent gun laws are key ingredients in stopping gun violence. Tilley said stricter background checks for gun purchases and fingerprint technology that will make guns safer and help eradicate illegal purchases, one day will be the norm. He compared stronger gun laws and firearm technology to seatbelts in cars. At one time, car manufacturers fought the need for seatbelts in vehicles because it added more manufacturing expense, Tilley said. "All of a sudden, it will reach a certain boiling point," he said. "And you'll have a massive shift and the country will be ready for a message." _________ Below you'll find PennLive's interactive 2016 homicide tracker, based on news and police reports in the Midstate. You can use the map to see where homicides were reported this year, and can click on individual icons for more information. Below the map is a table which also displays pertinent information about each slaying, as well as a link to stories about each homicide. Please note, the map may take a moment to load. FB_IMG_1452635322094.jpg Blake Lynch (submitted) Blake Lynch was in Washington, D.C. late Tuesday, looking forward attending the State of the Union address as a guest of U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-York. Lynch is the development director for the Boys and Girls Club of Harrisburg. The Harrisburg native describes himself as "a product of" the club, which serves many minority and economically disadvantaged youths. He said hearing the address by President Barack Obama is a "once in a lifetime opportunity." He said he is honored that Perry, able to have only one guest at the event, chose him. On Tuesday, Lynch noted he is representing the Boys and Girls Club and therefore declined to discuss his own political views concerning Obama. However, he said he has met Perry, and believes Perry is committed to understanding the needs of everyone in his district, regardless of whether they are in agreement with him politically. "He is open to learning about the community and how he can help," Lynch said. Noting that a lot of Harrisburg children "aren't afforded the same opportunities as others," Lynch said he hopes to hear Obama focus on economic policies that will create greater opportunity to Harrisburg youths, educational policies that improve graduation rates, and policies that lead toward "evening out the playing field." He said he was told to arrive by 7 p.m. to allow time to go through security. He'll be seated in the upper gallery in the chamber of the House of Representatives, where the address is held. The televised address begins at 9 p.m. Tuesday. A process that could ultimately remove Attorney General Kathleen Kane from office moved one step closer toward a full Senate vote Tuesday with a committee hearing that drew former Gov. Ed Rendell to Harrisburg. Kane, who faces criminal charges related to the alleged leak of secret grand jury documents, declined to appear herself. On Monday, she argued that the panel considering whether she can fulfill her duties on a suspended law license doesn't have the Constitutional authority to remove her. Rendell, who was called upon by the Kane camp to testify, disagreed. The issue falls within the Senate's "purview," the one-time Philadelphia DA said, but he called upon state officials to impeach Kane instead. "Your complaint with Kathleen Kane isn't that she has a suspended law license," he said. "Your complaint is her conduct." Sen. John Gordner, R-Columbia County, the committee chair, said the lawmakers were not concerned with her pending criminal charges. Comparing the two issues, he repeatedly said, was like comparing "apples and oranges." After Tuesday's hearing, Kane will have until Friday to file additional materials. The committee, meanwhile, has up to 15 days to provide a full report of the proceedings to the Senate. Senate Republican spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said it will be up to leadership whether to bring the issue up for a full vote in the Senate. The ultimate decision will rest with Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County. "Scarnati has the power to call a vote on whatever, but he's not one to operate in a vacuum," Kocher said. "The leadership of the Senate would go through a decision process." The Constitutional removal process, referred to as the Senate or direct address, would allow Gov. Tom Wolf to remove Kane from office after a two-thirds vote by the Senate. It was last used in 1891, against a state treasurer and auditor general implicated in a bribery scheme. Back then, neither official faced criminal charges and the Senate voted that it didn't have the authority to remove them. Rendell also referenced Kane's emergency filing with the Supreme Court on Tuesday to have her suspension lifted. That filing argued that the decision was tainted by the involvement of the now-suspended Justice J. Michael Eakin, who was implicated in her so-called 'Porngate' investigation. The court's new Democratic majority could very well reverse that September decision, Rendell said, putting the onus on the Senate to explain any removal proceeding they pursue. "It would add to the chaos," he said. At very least, Rendell said, the Senate should withhold making a decision until after the Supreme Court makes a decision. Like Kane herself, Rendell said the appropriate method for removing Kane would be the more customary -- but also more intensive -- impeachment process. "This statute hasn't been used for over 100 years," he said, after the hearing. "It should only be used if there's no other remedy on the books. There's an easy remedy on the books: Impeachment." Duecker also was not aware whether Kane has named a supervising attorney, as noted in the regulations for suspended lawyers who continue to serve in diminished capacity. When asked about Kane's work schedule, he said he was unaware of her schedule. Even so, Duecker said, "I'm as close to her as anyone can be." That final revelation prompted a lengthy exchange between Duecker and Scarnati in which the former said that every other chief of staff in the hearing room knew their boss' schedule. In the Legislature, he said, lawmakers rely heavily on their chiefs of staff. Duecker also mostly declined to comment about the legal questions surrounding Kane's decision to remain in office following the suspension. "I don't want to be accused of practicing law," said Duecker, who's a non-practicing member of the Wisconsin Bar. Kane's chief of staff did, however, address First Deputy Attorney General Bruce Beemer's "nuclear scenario" of violent criminals being released through legal filings challenging Kane's authority. Those statements, he said, were "reckless at best." "I read through their testimony line by line and I felt compelled to correct the record," he said, of his testimony. Former Attorney General Walter Cohen, who was also on the list of names submitted by Kathleen Kane to testify on her behalf, did not appear at Tuesday's hearing. At the start of the hearing, Gordner said Cohen informed him of his decision not to testify about an hour before the hearing began. Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. David Brooks.png David Brooks (Penbrook police) A repeat sex offender is destined to serve at least 25 more years behind bars after a panel of grim-faced Dauphin County jurors convicted him Wednesday of forcibly raping a 16-year-old girl in Penbrook. The stakes were particularly high for David Brooks, 53, because he already served prison time for a 1990 aggravated indecent assault conviction in Harrisburg and for a 2001 robbery conviction. Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle said that, because of those felony convictions, President Judge Richard A. Lewis could impose a penalty of up to life in prison when he sentences Brooks in March. Such severe punishment is on the table because the rape conviction gives Brooks a second legal strike as a sex offender and a third strike for committing yet another violent crime, Gettle said. Lewis also must consider whether to label Brooks a sexually violent predator, the most dangerous type of sex offender. Brooks, who represented himself during the two-day trial, showed no emotion as the jury convicted him of rape, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with minors for the June 2014 crime. The panel deliberated less than three hours. Right after the verdict, Brooks asked Lewis to sentence him promptly, but the judge said he first wanted to see the results of the pending sex predator evaluation by the state Sexual Offender Assessment Board. The judge revoked Brooks' $140,000 bail in the rape case, ensuring he will stay in county prison pending sentencing. Gettle said testifying during the trial was especially hard on the victim because Brooks, since he acted as his own attorney, was allowed to cross-examine her directly. "It was an overwhelming thing for her to go through," the prosecutor said. "I admire her courage." Shareholders will meet in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Thursday to decide whether to approve the acquisition of Metro Bancorp Inc., owner of Metro Bank, by F.N.B. Corporation. Under the agreement negotiated by the two companies last year and announced in August, First National Bank will acquire the 32 banking locations of the Harrisburg-based Metro Bank. The merger would make F.N.B., based in Pittsburgh, the largest regional bank in Pennsylvania and the second-largest headquartered in the commonwealth. The deal was attractive to F.N.B. because of the opportunities to improve efficiencies at Metro and to grow market share in Central Pennsylvania, with its 45 thousand businesses and a population of more than 2 million. Shareholders of each company are being asked to give their stamps of approval Thursday, with Metro Bancorp shareholders meeting at 10 a.m. in Harrisburg to approve the merger agreement. At the same time, F.N.B. shareholders will meet in Pittsburgh to approve the issuance of common stock for the merger. The deal will be an all-stock transaction valued at $474 million. Shareholders of Metro will receive 2.373 shares of FNB common stock for each common share of Metro. Once the merger is completed - which is expected to happen within the first quarter of 2016, Metro's assets will merge into F.N.B. and Metro will cease to exist. In December, F.N.B. notified the state Department of Labor and Industry that layoffs would be occurring early this year at the Harrisburg-based Metro Bancorp, Inc. At the time, the department confirmed that 230 layoffs were expected to occur in Dauphin County. Here's a quick comparison of the two companies: Metro Bancorp Inc., owner of Metro Bank Headquartered in Harrisburg 32 banking offices in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York Counties. $2.997 billion in assets at the end of 2014. $2.38 billion in total deposits at the end of 2014 878 employees F.N.B. Corporation, a holding company of First National Bank Eighty percent of us will have back pain at some point in our lives. (Photo: Pixabay) Back pain is common and difficult to treat, but one effective strategy to help prevent it is exercise, according to a new review. At present, a variety of interventions, such as exercise, education, back belts and shoe insoles, are commonly prescribed to prevent an episode of low back pain, said lead author Daniel Steffens of the University of Sydney in Australia. But the effectiveness of these various interventions for low back pain hasnt been clear, Steffens told Reuters Health by email. The researchers reviewed 23 published reports of prevention strategies for nonspecific low back pain, including 21 randomized controlled trials. In many cases, structured exercise programs lowered the risk of later episodes of low back pain. Lower quality evidence suggested that these programs might also reduce later use of sick leave from work. There was no good quality evidence that other options, like back belts or shoe insoles, helped prevent pain, the authors reported in JAMA Internal Medicine. There was some variation, but in general trials included exercises to improve strength, flexibility, skill and aerobic fitness, Steffens said. The exercises did not just focus on the spine but included upper and lower limb exercises as well. Most trials had participants do two to three exercise sessions per week at the clinic plus at-home exercises, for eight weeks to 18 months. Regular exercise develops your muscles, bones and ligaments for increased strength and endurance, Steffens said. It also helps with weight control, delays the aging process and reduces stress, some of the main risk factor for low back pain, he added. Back pain is 25 to 33 percent less likely to recur for people who adhere to a structured exercise program, said Dr. Timothy S. Carey of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who coauthored a commentary accompanying the new results. Eighty percent of us will have back pain at some point in our lives, Carey told Reuters Health by phone. Most will get over it in a few days or weeks, but exercise appears to be a good thing in terms of prevention. Back pain is costly to the healthcare system and preventing it with exercise would be cost-effective for insurers, he said. It seems to matter less exactly what type of exercise you do than that you do it in a regular way, he said. People should do the type of exercise they are most likely to sustain, he said. Professional societies should take a closer look at what exercise programs work and issue clear recommendations that will be easier for people to follow, he said. Simply telling somebody to go exercise isnt likely to work, he said. An Afghan man carries two schoolgirls away from a clash site, in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Several members of the Afghan security forces were killed Wednesday after unidentified gunmen attacked the Pakistani consulate in a volatile eastern province, an official said on Wednesday. (AP Photos/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar) Thousands still without power following Monday, Tuesday winds Great Lakes Energy said less than 3,300 members are still without power as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday following stormy and windy conditions this week. Oil settles above $30 a barrel, after been below this week WSJ BP, Petrobras announce new cutbacks NEW YORK Petroleumworld.com 01 13 2016 Big oil companies deepened their cutbacks to staff and investment Tuesday, as the price of oil briefly slipped below $30 a barrel for the first time since December 2003. Oil giant BP PLC said it would lay off about 4,000 workers from its exploration and production business. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-run oil producer, trimmed its production targets and slashed its investment budget by about a quarter, an acknowledgment that the company's previous oil-price assumptions were overly optimistic. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which is forecasting a 1.4% increase in jobs this year in Texas, said employment could shrink if oil prices stay weak. The biggest risk to the forecast is if oil prices are in the range of $20 to $30, Dallas Fed senior economist Keith Phillips said in San Antonio. Then I expect job growth to slip into negative territory as Houston gets hit much harder and greater problems emerge in the financial sector. Crude-oil prices plunged more than 5% on Monday to trade near $30 a barrel, making the specter of bankruptcy ever more likely for a significant chunk of the U.S. oil industry. WSJ's Bradley Olson explains on Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Photo: Bloomberg That is exactly where prices landed briefly on Tuesday. Benchmark U.S. oil futures dipped as low as $29.93 before settling down on the day at $30.44, the seventh consecutive decline for the contract. Prices have fallen to $30 from $40 in just one montha pace that has rattled stock, bond and currency markets from Moscow to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to New York. The moves underscore the severity of a historic decline in oil prices now in its 19th month. New uncertainty this year about the health of China's economy has heightened concerns about demand for the world's crude oilwhich even with the sharp cutbacks by energy companies remains in robust supply. Illustrating the changes in the market's dynamics, the first freely exported tanker of American crude was making its way across the Atlantic this week to Europe after leaving Corpus Christi, Texas, on New Year's Eve. The tanker is one data point in a tide of crude oil. The amount of crude in storage is around record highs. Big exporters such as Saudi Arabia have kept pumping at a rapid clip even as prices sink. Meanwhile, U.S. producers are finding new ways to maintain their own output even as they cut costs. We just really haven't seen production [fall] in the U.S., and that's what we need to see for oil to stop going down, said Ben Ross,portfolio manager at Cohen & Steers Inc., which has $52 billion in assets under management. Producers pushed the technology and they really squeezed the most out of these rigs. Money managers in near-record numbers are betting that oil prices will fall even lower, spurring analysts to cut their own forecasts again. Morgan Stanley on Monday joined Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in suggesting crude could hit $20. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has called for $16, and Standard Chartered PLC said prices could fall as low as $10. Regional prices in major producing nations including Canada and Iraq have recently fallen below $20. Prices are likely to keep falling until producers, especially those in North America, finally pull back. You have to make it obvious to them to stop, said Scott Shelton, broker at ICAP PLC. They're in denial. BP's cuts will affect workers in places including Angola, Azerbaijan and the U.S., where BP has big oil and gas production operations, a spokesman said. Some 600 of the cuts will come from BP's operations in the North Sea. The company currently has about 3,000 employees in the North Sea and 24,000 exploration and production employees world-wide, the spokesman said. BP has also been laying off staff as part of a $1 billion plan it announced in 2014 to cut costs in the wake of its 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. Since the price slump, the oil industry has cut about 250,000 jobs globally, according to Houston consultancy Graves & Co. Banco Santander analyst Jason Kenney said he expects to see even more layoffs in the coming months as companies struggle to cope with falling revenue. We need to see significant disinvestment going forward, he said. Petroleo Brasileiro, also known as Petrobras, said Tuesday it will invest $98.4 billion from 2015 through 2019, down from a June projection of $130.3 billion. The company reduced its targets for oil production in Brazil by 40,000 barrels a day in 2016 and 100,000 barrels a day in 2020. The latest figures mark the second time Petrobras has had to revise its five-year business plan. The company tweaked its spending outlook in October after oil prices and Brazil's currency, the real, fell below its original projections. The $130.3 billion figure was already a stark turnaround from Petrobras's previous five-year budgets, which typically surpassed $200 billion as the company aimed to develop massive offshore oil fields and build costly oil refineries in Brazil. A decline in Petrobras shares led a selloff in Brazilian stocks on Tuesday. The preferred shares of Petrobras fell 9.2% to 5.53 reais, the biggest decline in the Ibovespa on Tuesday and the share's lowest close since 2003. AbbVies venetoclax will be reviewed by both US and EU regulators as a potential first-in-class treatment for certain adults with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. The US Food and Drug Administration has assigned the drug a priority review for use in patients who have received at least one prior therapy, including those with 17p deletion, a genetic variation in CLL associated with a poor patient prognosis. In Europe it is being assessed under a normal timeframe as a treatment for patients carrying either the 17p deletion or TP53 mutations. Venetoclax is an inhibitor of the B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) protein - developed in partnership with Genentech and Roche to treat CLL - which is thought to work by leading some cells to undergo cell death. The filings are supported by data from a Phase II data study which AbbVie says met its primary endpoint of achieving an overall response rate, with no unexpected safety signals. Analysts at Brokerage Cowen and Co predict that venetoclax could generate annual sales of $2 billion by 2020, if it gets approved, reports Reuters. With over 1.6 million TikTok followers, Catieosaurus has proven herself as one of the leading voices in living with ADHD as an adult. Justin Perlman finds out more about neurodivergence and how it relates to sex, relationships, and queer identities. The customs authorities on January 9 seized 21.7 metric tons of acetic anhydride in a 20-foot container, which had arrived from Tanzania's Dar es Salaam. (Photo: AFP) Karachi: Pakistan has seized over 21 metric tonnes of a bomb-making chemical worth USD eight million in one of the biggest seizures anywhere in the world, Customs officials here said on Wednesday. The chemical compound, acetic anhydride, is also used in purifying heroin. Customs Preventive Deputy Collector Moazzam Raza told the media that customs authorities on January 9 seized 21.7 metric tons of acetic anhydride in a 20-foot container, which had arrived from Tanzania's Dar es Salaam. "The amount of the contraband confiscated is said to be worth more than 860 million rupees (USD 8 million)," he said. He said the container arrived at Port Qasim in November last year. The law enforcers profiled the shipment and shifted it to the NLC's container terminal in Karachi. "This is by far the biggest quantity of acetic anhydride seized anywhere in the world," Raza said. The buyer of the shipment is in Sialkot. Because of its use in the synthesis of heroin, acetic anhydride's (C4H6O3) movement is restricted in many countries. However, the compound is largely used in the manufacture of fibres, plastics, pharmaceuticals and dyes. Afghan security forces inspect a building, used by insurgents to launch an attack on Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad. (Photo: AP) Jalalabad: Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed Wednesday after Islamic State gunmen attacked the Pakistani consulate in a volatile eastern province, an official said on Wednesday. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven security forces personnel were injured in during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad. He said that three attackers had been killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at 9 a.m. Three civilians were also wounded in the attack, Khyogani said. Interior Ministry spokesman Seddiq Sediqqi confirmed earlier that two police officers had died in the initial explosion near a police car parked outside the consulate. After the blast, two gunmen entered an empty guesthouse near the consulate, which was quickly surrounded by security forces as a firefight began, he said. Khyogani said the siege ended when the two gunmen in the guesthouse were killed around 12.30 p.m. local time. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated, officials said. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up, officials said. #NangarharBlast Security sources confirm 4 policemen killed & 3 school children injured in suicide bombing, Jalalabad. Gun battle continues TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) January 13, 2016 An official at the Pakistan embassy in Kabul said all consular staff were evacuated. He spoke on condition that he not be identified as he was not authorized to speak with media. He confirmed the attack had targeted Pakistan's consulate, but could not comment on who was responsible. In Islamabad, foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said Pakistani officials were in contact with Afghan authorities regarding the attack. The attack comes two days after Islamabad hosted a meeting of representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss ending the Taliban's 14-year insurgency. Read: Pak army officers involved in attack on Indian mission: Afghanistan Pakistan condemns terror attack on its Afghan consulate Islamic State in Afghanistan claim Pakistan consulate attack, 7 killed Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though the Pakistani government denies the claim. The Taliban has split in recent months, with the insurgents divided over their support for a peace process. The attack is the latest in a spate of violence since the start of 2016, which could be a tough year for Afghanistan as insurgents are expected to escalate the violence in order to enter into any peace negotiations from a position of strength. During the first week of January a restaurant frequented by foreigners in Kabul and a contractor camp on the outskirts of the capital were attacked, and the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was besieged for more than 24 hours. Masood Azhar was born on July 10, 1968 to a Pakistani couple, in the princely state of Bahawalpur. From being the son of a government school headmaster to a brief stint with teaching himself, Azhars metamorphosis from a clergyman to a dreaded terrorist began in a madarsa. He was introduced to the jihadi movement when he joined the Binor madarsa and since, there was no looking back. Azhar came under the influence of a Harkat-ul-Ansar militant and expressed his interest to join the Afghan jihad. He tried his luck at joining the army but is believed to have failed at completing his military training, as he was deemed physically weak. But undaunted by the failure, he fought in the war against Russia and was injured. After his failed military stint, he formally joined the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Ansar and was made the head of its motivation department. Azhars role was simple to radicalise youth into pledging support to the jihadi movement. His was considered a great orator and was sent across the world to deliver speeches. He visited countries like Zambia, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia and even the United Kingdom. Unlike most militants, Azhar did not cross into India illegally but flew to Srinagar in 1994 and met other militants. He soon began to form his own base in the valley, but his activities were briefly put to a halt when India arrested him on terrorism charges. In 1999, India was forced to release him in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814. It was after his release that Azhar began to head the Pakistan based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad and has been active ever since then. Coca Cola CNY Malaysia 2016 Limited Edition Box Set First of all, thank you Coca Cola Malaysia for sending us the new 2016 Coca Cola Coke Chinese New Year Limited Edition Set. We received the Chinese New Year (CNY) set last year and thank you for the ongoing support for Coke collectors like us. We are more than thrilled to add this into our collections and yes, we dedicated a small room for our Coke Collections. The new Coke CNY 2016 cans are in slim 330ml cans. There are 8 cans in the set with 8 different types of CNY auspicious wishes in English and Chinese and symbols. The 8 wishes are Smooth Sailing Career, Flourish in Love, Abundance in Wealth, Lasting Youthfulness, Benefactors Aplenty, Academic Success, Prosperity in Business and Peace in the Family. The 8 cans are available in the market now in Malaysia but how do you get the Coke CNY 2016 Limited Edition Box Set? For Coke / Coca Cola Collectors out there like us, we know you want the box set badly so we have the information for you to purchase with selected locations and dates while stocks last: Coke Coca Cola CNY 2016 Limited Edition Box Set Locations and Dates: 16th Jan: Aeon Bandar Utama 17th Jan: Giant Kota Damansara 23rd Jan: Aeon Big Mid Valley 23rd Jan: Giant Klang 24th Jan: Aeon Big Kepong 30th Jan: Aeon Bukit Indah (Bukit Indah, Johor) 31st Jan: Aeon Queensbay (Penang) We take the opportunity to wish everyone Happy Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a great 2016! Huat ar! #cokeMY Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts Salman Masood also tweeted that he was asked if he 'had any illegal weapons hidden in the house.' (Photo: Twitter) Islamabad: The move to search the house of New York Times Correspondent Salman Masood has been claimed by the police to be a part of search operation carried out in Loi Bher, Sihala areas rather than a targeted one. Masood explained that a man in plain clothes accompanied by Rangers personnel and a police officer wanted to search his house without a search warrant, reported the Dawn. Masood also tweeted that he was asked if he 'had any illegal weapons hidden in the house.' An Islamabad police official, however, confirmed that the search operation carried out in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Islamabad was not a targeted one and several houses were searched within that area. Islamabad police later released details of search operations conducted earlier, and confirmed that 25 suspects, including two Afghan nationals, had been detained during the search operation across the Sihala and Loi Bher areas. A constable serving an eviction order at a central Pennsylvania apartment fired at an armed tenant but the bullet passed through the man's arm and fatally struck his 12-year-old daughter, authorities said, reports the Associated Press. The constable went to the apartment near Duncannon, about 10 miles northwest of Harrisburg, at about 10 a.m. Monday to enforce a district judge's eviction order, state police said Tuesday. A man answered the door, closed it, then reopened it and exchanged words briefly with the constable, police said. He then pointed a loaded .223-caliber rifle that had been "slung and concealed along his body" at the constable's chest, police said. The girl was standing behind her father, authorities said. The constable, investigators said, drew his own .40-caliber weapon and fired once, but the bullet went through the man's upper left arm and hit the girl. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name wasn't immediately released. Afghan security forces inspect a building, used by insurgents to launch an attack on Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad. (Photo: AP) Islamabad: "Strongly condemning" the terror attack on its Consulate General in Jalalabad city, Pakistan on Wednesday appealed to the Afghan government to probe the incident and share details. "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the Consulate General of Pakistan in Jalalabad, this morning. The Government of Afghanistan has been requested to thoroughly investigate this incident and bring the culprits to book," said an official statement. The attack this morning, which was later claimed by the Islamic State, injured one official at the consulate. "The officials of the Consulate General are safe. Only one official was slightly injured by a broken glass," it said. Pakistan has requested that details of the investigation should be shared with them. "The Afghan government has also been requested to ensure safety and security of Pakistan Missions in Afghanistan and our officials working there," it said. Militants launched an hours-long gun and bomb siege near Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad, killing seven Afghan security personnel. The attack came just two days after four-country talks were held in Islamabad aimed at reviving Taliban peace negotiations. In discussing the radical implications of President Obamas Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing rule (AFFH), I typically point to what happened in Westchester County, New York as a sneak preview. But Stanley Kurtz directs our attention to an even more chilling example Dubuque, Iowa. In Westchester County, Obamas Department of Housing and Urban Development forced the local government to build low-income housing in an upscale community and to encourage people outside the County to move into these units. This struck me as radical, considering that moving people from jurisdiction to jurisdiction is a hallmark of totalitarian governance. In Dubuque, however, the feds have taken this one step further. It is forcing the city to build low-income housing for folks in Chicago, Illinois. Kurtz cites a report by Deborah Thornton, a policy analyst for Iowas Public Interest Institute: The report tells the story of how Dubuque was pressured to cede large swathes of its governing authority to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has forced the city to direct its limited low-income Section 8 housing resources, not to its own needy citizens, but to voucher-holders from Chicago. Dubuque has plenty of needy citizens. As Kurtz points out, unlike Westchester County, it is not an upper-middle-class suburb, but rather a small and economically struggling city: At $44,600, median income in Dubuque is well below the state median of $51,843. Like other nearby Mississippi river towns with aging populations, Dubuque is hard-pressed to provide good jobs and decent housing for the low-income people already there: poor families with children, retired elderly, and disabled adults. The citys priority is to revive its economy by keeping its young people from moving away, and by attracting new residents who are willing and able to start businesses. Like any city, Dubuques first obligation is to see to the needs of the citizens who already live there, vote, and pay taxes. Or so it was in pre-AFFH America. In AFFH-America, the federal government forces Dubuque to provide low-income housing for Chicago residents. Unlike, say, an elderly Dubuque resident, the folks from Chicago have never paid a dime of taxes in Dubuque. Their only claim on Dubuques resources is their low-income status and, of course, their race. In other words, they have no legitimate claim. How, then, did they obtain the right to move into Dubuque housing units ahead of Dubuque residents? Kurtz explains: Our story begins about eight years ago. Just as Dubuque was reeling from the effects of the 2008 recession and dealing with an uptick in its own low-income housing needs, the city was hit with a wave of Section 8 low-income housing voucher applicants from Chicago. A few years earlier, Chicago had systematically demolished its most drug- and crime-ridden high-rise public housing facilities, using grants from HUD. Yet through its own mismanagement, Chicago had failed to properly replace its now depleted low-income housing stock, leaving many Chicago residents looking to use their Section 8 vouchers elsewhere. With many more Section 8 applicants than it could house, Dubuque instituted a low-income housing point system granting preference to Dubuque residents, county residents, state residents, and out-of-state residents, in that order. [Note: What could be more reasonable?] Although HUDs rules ostensibly allow localities to craft their own housing priorities, Dubuques point system was deemed unacceptable by HUD. The feds undertook a review of Dubuques housing policy that effectively treated the city as part of greater Chicago. That Dubuque is 200 miles from Chicago and in a different state was no obstacle to the Washington bureaucrats at HUD. To them, race trumps geography (and everything else): [B]y effectively treating Dubuque and Chicago as part of the same region, HUD was able to declare Dubuques low-income housing point system discriminatory. Since the vast majority of Section 8 applicants from Chicago were African-Americans, Dubuques preferences for citizens of its own city, county, and state were deemed racist. HUD insisted that Dubuque would have to admit housing applicants in conformity with the demographics of the larger (HUD-defined) region. How did HUD make its disregard of geography, common sense, and the right of local self-government stick? Having previously accepted HUD funding through the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program, as well as HUDs Community Development Block Grant program, Dubuque was formally obligated to affirmatively further fair housing in whatever way HUD defined that obligation. Refusal to submit to HUDs dictates would have led to the withdrawal of federal funding, a lawsuit for supposed discrimination, or both. The cowed elected officials of Dubuque accordingly signed a voluntary (in truth, forced) consent agreement that effectively ceded control of the citys housing policy to HUD for at least five years. This is why Kurtz is calling for a nationwide campaign to persuade local officials not to accept HUD money. Its a deal with devil for any locality that wishes to preserve its right of self-governance. As Kurtz points out: The feds have essentially commandeered Dubuque to solve Chicagos public housing shortage. HUDs diktat also imposes a huge administrative burden on Dubuque, with monthly, quarterly, annual, and five-year plans to be filed and followed up on. (Yes, a five-year plan.) Having voluntarily consented to a federal takeover, Dubuque is now obligated to follow HUDs every command for at least five years. And this is whats in store for the rest of the country under HUDs AFFH rule. How unfortunate that Speaker Ryan caved on the Gosar Amendment that would have defunded AFFH. To my knowledge, no GOP presidential candidate has injected AFFH into the race, despite its radical application in Iowa, where the first rest of candidate strength will occur very soon. In fairness, Marco Rubio sponsored an equivalent of the Gosar Amendment in the Senate, and Im told that Ted Cruz is aware of, and concerned about, this issue. Its time, though, to push the matter into the presidential race. The upcoming GOP debate wouldnt be a bad time for candidates to lay down a marker. Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday detained "several individuals" belonging to JeM, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, and sealed its offices after India linked Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled on Friday. Pakistan is also considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot as more information would be required to carry forward the process of cooperation with India. The Pakistani action, which was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, come as the fate of the FS-level talks hung in balance with just two days for Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to go to Islamabad for talks with his counterpart on resuming the bilateral dialogue process. Pakistan plans to send team to India for cooperation on the issue of Pathakot attack: Govt sources. Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 13, 2016 A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was informed on Wednesday that offices of JeM that allegedly conducted Pathankot attack were secretly operating in four cities of Punjab. The offices have been sealed in Bahwalnagar, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzafargarh cities and the suspected members of the group were also held, top officials briefed Sharif. Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Raheel Sharif, DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Prime Minister's National Security Adviser Lieutenant-General (r) Nasir Janjua and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were told in the meeting that the arrested people could be possible facilitators of Pathankot attackers. Read: Pathankot attack: Ready to respond to any threats, says Army chief Obama names Pak as likely 'havens for new terror' Five times when Pakistan dragged its feet, fuelling standoff with India Terrorists belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, headed by Maulana Masood Azhar of Kandahar hijack episode, are believed to be behind the Pathankot terror attack in which seven security personnel were killed. A PMO statement issued after the meeting today said it noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistans commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow the territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere. It said "considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. "Based on initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," the statement said. Read: Pathankot attacks: China aid sought to get UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar No reason to 'mistrust' Pakistan, says India on Pathankot probe Pathankot attack: Indian Air Force base shows what happened over 3 days Masood Azhar, from a teacher to the dreaded face of Jaish-e-Mohammed Last week India put the ball squarely in Pakistan's court, linking the FS-level talks to Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided "actionable intelligence". An official said that close to a dozen militants have been held so far and were being questioned. He refused to give further information like where they have been held or when they could be produced before any court. In the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base that began on January 2, six militants were also eliminated in an operation that lasted four days. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said Tuesday that India had no reason to distrust Pakistans assurances that it will take effective action on the inputs given by India about the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack. The Pakistan government has said it will take effective action. I think we should wait, Mr Singh said. The foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan that were due to be held from Friday are all set to be somewhat delayed. The home minister told reporters that since the Pakistan government had given an assurance to India, there is no reason to distrust (avishvaas) them (Pakistan) so early. Okay, its only a little after 9:30 eastern time, but Im pretty sure this yuuuge story in the Wall Street Journal will not only win the day but will also show up in a Donald Trump speech pretty soon: Denmark Considers Seizing Valuables From Migrants By Charles Duxbury Denmarks minority government has secured cross-party backing for a highly-controversial plan: Seize cash and valuables from asylum seekers to help meet the cost of their stay in the Nordic country. The United Nations refugee agency has sharply criticized the plan that could be adopted by Parliament as early as next month, calling it a deeply concerning response to humanitarian needs. The agency appealed to Denmark to drop the new measures. But the Danish government is continuing to press ahead with a number of initiatives that authorities describe as attempts to make the country less attractive to immigrants. President Obama gave his last State of the Union Address last night. The White House has posted the text here and video here. Ive also embedded the video below. Obamas Iranian friends provided their own commentary in advance of the speech, seizing two Navy riverine ships and detaining 10 sailors (nine men and one woman). The mullahs were expressing their complete and utter contempt for Obama. Obama did things his way, omitting to mention the sailors (or the other Americans held by Iran) in his speech. He looked the other way. CNN reports that the sailors have been released. It offers no word on the boats. And CNN shows the Obama administration to be doing its usual public relations work on behalf of Iran: There is nothing to indicate the capture was a hostile act on the part of Iran, a senior Obama administration official said. There you have it. The speech gave us a retrospective look at his accomplishments in office and gave us a preview of more to come as he closes out the book on his two terms in office. The retrospective had a (Groucho) Marxian cast to them, as Obama asked Americans to disbelieve their lyin eyes. Obama lectured, hectored, mocked, bragged and prevaricated in the style to which we have all grown accustomed. He displayed the affected pronunciation one uses to talk down to slow learning children. His tone was not calculated to persuade anyone who is not already on board with him. It was offensive and off-putting. Even worse, the substance of the speech was false in all things and the falsity was thoroughgoing, complete with his standard and tiresome false choices. Fantasy and unreality pervaded the speech. To take one striking example, Obama all but claimed credit for the benefits of the fracking revolution. He wants us to think domestic oil production has spiked and prices have tanked thanks to his support (or reinvention) of our energy industry. Now that is brazen. Regrets, hes had a few. They were almost too few to mention, though he did mention one. He lamented that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. He didnt allocate any of the blame to himself. It is nevertheless a pure product of his style of governance from day one. Rather, he excused himself. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, he observed. Modesty false modesty has its uses. Who would fault Obama for failing that standard? When Obama strayed from the simply false it was to find the false and stupid. Despite the economic recovery he touted, wages are stagnant. Obama attributed stagnant wages to an outbreak of greed among corporations. Really. This is how he put it: Immigrants [Ed.: He means illegal immigrants, but the phrase is forbidden in the Democrats lexicon] arent the reason wages havent gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns. Obamas tour of the foreign horizon was similarly lacking. He advertised Syria as some kind of a success story. He touted his deal with Iran, of course, but he also portrayed ISIS (ISIL) as the j.v. of terrorists, even though he didnt expressly use the term. ISIS and ISIS-inspired attacks pose a danger, but we neednt take it too seriously. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages covered both ISIS and (vaguely) the San Bernardino massacre. He reiterated his his promise close Guantanamo for the usual (false) reasons. Nevertheless, the speech was not without comic relief. Obama formulated a moonshot project. Its time to cure cancer. Obama put Vice President Biden in charge of the project. Because when you think cancerwhen you think brainpower Toward the end of his speech Obama took a walk down memory lane into the vicinity of his 2004 speech at the Democratic convention and his 2008 speech in St. Paul. Despite the rancor with which he speaks and the reaction he provokes, Obama holds himself out as a man who has come to redeem the time. Invoking Martin Luther King, he praised voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love. Let us pray. I wrote here about a new book by the New Yorkers Jane Mayer, which continues her vendetta against Charles and David Koch. In her book, as reported and headlined by the New York Times, Mayer breathlessly claims that the brothers father, Fred Koch, through a company called Winkler-Koch, designed a portion of an oil refinery that was built in Hamburg, Germany, between 1933 and 1935. Whats the point? There is none, except to implicitly smear Charles and David Koch as Nazi sympathizers. The actual facts surrounding the refinery in question are set forth below. But for the moment, lets put the facts aside and play the ancestor game. If the Kochs can be tarred because their ancestor did business in Germany on a single occasion, lets apply the same standard to others. Like to Jane Mayer, for example. Jane Mayer is the great-great-granddaughter of Emanuel Lehman, who had two brothers. Yup: those Lehman Brothers. And guess what: Lehman Brothers (still owned by the Lehman family) not only did business with Nazi Germany, repeatedly, it actively encouraged others to do the same. Haaretz reports: In addition to support for a boycott, there were those who expressed opposition to such a move, among them Judge Irving Lehman. He voiced concern that the campaign would escalate the situation, resulting in additional harm to German Jews. He cautioned that advocates of a boycott not let their anger at the Nazis lead to the death of German Jews. In his case, however, his opposition may have also been motivated by the interests of his familys business Lehman Brothers investment bank, which was one of a number of U.S. banks that did business with Hitlers Germany (75 years before the bank collapsed in the global economic crisis of 2008). So Jane Mayer must be a Nazi sympathizer. Is that a good argument? No, but its better than the one she made against Charles and David Koch. It is remarkable that Mayer threw the absurd Nazi stone from inside such a patently glass house. And we havent even mentioned slavery; Lehman Brothers began as a cotton trading firm in the 1850s. For those who care about the German oil refinery, Dave Robertson, the president and chief operating officer of Koch Industries, set out the facts in an email to Kochs employees: The Republic of Benins National Electoral Commission, CENA, said 47 candidates have filed their papers to contest the countrys presidential election billed for February 28. It said in a release on Wednesday in Cotonou that among the candidates are economic operators, former ministers, Members of Parliament and two army generals. CENA said Forces for Emerging Benin, FCBE, the coalition of outgoing President Boni Yayi, is presenting Lionel Zinsou, the current Prime Minister, as its candidate. It said the opposition Union for the Nation, UN, is fielding Erick Houndete, second vice-president of the Beninese Parliament. The electoral commission said the Party for Democratic Change, PRD, of Adrien Houngbedji, who the opposition mobilized to elect as Speaker of Parliament in May 2015, is backing the candidature of the Prime Minister. CENA said the list of candidates would be transmitted to the Constitutional Court for validation. It said further that there are 4,726,923 voters, with 99 per cent of them in the country, while the rest are outside. CENA said the 14 days campaign would be from February 12 to 26. The second round of the election would be held on 13 March 2016 if no candidate secures more than half of the votes in the first round, said the statement. Although the campaign has not been officially launched, several potential candidates or their supporters are going round the country mobilising voters. (PANA/NAN) Some Nigerian senators said Wednesday they are suspicious the Nigerian presidency is behind the sudden disappearance of the 2016 budget submitted to the National Assembly. The lawmakers said the intelligence they had so far gathered suggested that the presidency discreetly withdrew the documents to enable it to make some adjustments to it. The president had presented the budget to a joint session of the legislature in December. PREMIUM TIMES had reported Tuesday that the senate, during an executive session, declared the documents missing. The Senate Leader, Mohammed Ndume, sources said, informed the senators, upon resumption from the Christmas/New Year break, that deliberations on the budget could not commence until fresh copies of the documents were obtained from the presidency, Ministry of Finance or its national planning counterpart. However, some senators, who requested not to be named so as not to anger the presidency, told PREMIUM TIMES they had since realised the budget was discreetly withdrawn by the president in order to make some adjustments. The senators said the presidency had in the past two weeks been combing through the budgets with a view to removing provisions that had so far exposed the administration to ridicule. The executive have now started delivering fresh copies of the budget documents to the National Assembly, one of the senators said. The details in the copies they are delivering are different from those in the version delivered to the National Assembly in December. Some adjustments have been made. But the presidency has however denied withdrawing the document. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said only Mr. Buhari could withdraw the budget but had not done so. He suggested that the issue of missing budgets should not arise because several copies of the document were sent to the legislature. Nobody except the president can withdraw the budget; as far as we know, he hasnt done that, Mr. Shehu said in a response to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry on the matter Tuesday. The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly. By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property. Inquiries should be directed to the appropriate quarters. When contacted, the Minister of State for National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, expressed shock at reports of missing budget. She explained that ahead of Tuesdays resumption of the Senate and House of Representatives, more than 400 copies of the document were delivered to the two chambers on Monday by the printer, for distribution to all members. After the official presentation of the budget by the President on December 22, 2015, both hard and soft copies were given to some key members of the Assembly. How can anyone say all the copies are missing? she said in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES. Immediately after the presentation (by Buhari), most of the members went on break. But a printer was given the job to produce the document for distribution to all members on resumption. On Monday, the printer delivered more than 400 copies to the National Assembly for distribution to members and their aides. Another 100 copies were delivered this afternoon (Tuesday). Therefore, the same budget cannot be said to be missing. Mrs. Ahmed argued that if there is need to withdraw the budget, the same process with which it was presented by the president to the legislature would be followed. A committee mandated by the Senate to investigate the controversy surrounding the missing 2016 budget is to submit its report on Thursday. The committee was set up at an closed-door session of the Senate on Tuesday when the matter was discussed. On Wednesday, Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP-Abia State), raised a point of order asking the senate to clear the air on the missing budget. He said the matter had become an urgent issue of public importance, hence the need to account to the public. But the Senate President, Bukola Saraki (APC-Kwara State), said the Senate would wait for the ad hoc committee to look into the matter and submit its report on Thursday. As we know we are all part of the decision. We gave assignment to some people and they will come back tomorrow, he said. The Senate also announced it would debate the 2016 budget from Tuesday, and that lawmakers would receive copies of the document by Thursday. The upper lawmaking body is expected to produce new copies of the budget, after senators told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that copies handed over by President Muhammadu Buhari had surprisingly disappeared. Senators said they suspected the presidency secretly withdrew the documents for some modification, a claim the presidency denied. Officials well briefed on the matter told PREMIUM TIMES that both the leadership of the National Assembly and the presidency, as well as Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office, were working to discreetly change certain parameters of the budget proposal following the slide in the global oil price. Speaking Wednesday, Mr. Saraki said senators would start deliberation of the budget on Tuesday, but would only receive copies on Thursday. Meanwhile, while the senate awaits the conclusion of its investigation, Yakubu Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday displayed a copy of the budget during the houses sitting, saying the budget was not missing. Mr. Dogara said the report of the missing budget was an April fool. Editors Note: The senate said members would receive copies of the budget Thursday, not next week, as stated in our earlier report. The error is regretted. Nigerian health authorities have announced the death of a Lassa fever victim in Abuja, the first fatality in the nations capital since the latest outbreak in November 2015. The minister of health, Isaac Adewole, made the announcement Wednesday evening at the National Hospital, the press director, Boade Akinola, at the health ministry, said in a statement. The medical director of the hospital, Jack Momoh, who briefed the minister, said the patient was brought in unconscious from a private hospital in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, where he had been admitted for eight days. The 33-year-old newly married lived in Jos, Plateau State, but travelled to see a family member in Kubwa because of his illness. He however died within 24hours of presentation at the national hospital. The statement said the minister had directed that all primary and secondary contacts of the victim, including the staff of the private hospital in Kubwa, an Abuja suburb, where the deceased was first managed for one week before referral to National Hospital, be tracked. He also advised that family members should report at the nearest hospital if anyone has fever for more than two days. The minister, however called on the residents of Abuja not to panic but to maintain high level vigilance and present themselves for test if they feel unhealthy or they feel symptoms of Lassa fever which include high fever, stooling, tiredness, vomiting, etc., adding that self-medication should be avoided at this period. The latest death from Lassa fever brings the total number of deaths to 43 in the country (from 10 states). The government said on Tuesday that Lassa fever, an acute viral illness, had claimed 41 lives from 93 reported cases in 10 states of the country. The first case of the current outbreak was reported from Bauchi in November 2015. Mr. Adewole said at a news conference on Tuesday that the government had raised a four-man expert committee, chaired by Michael Asuzu, a professor, to visit Kano, Niger and Bauchi, the three most endemic states. The committee will embark on a fact finding mission, assess the current situation, document response experiences, identify gaps and proffer recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences, Mr. Adewole, a professor, said. The minister assured the public the task of the committee was not to apportion blame but rather to document lessons learnt for better planning of an affective responsive. According to Mr. Adewole, part of the long term response is to establish an inter-ministerial committee to deliver a final blow on Lassa fever and other related diseases. The committee comprises the ministers of Education, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Environment, Information and Culture as well as Health. He advised communities to improve on their hygiene, including food hygiene and food protection practices. He also urged the public to avoid contact with rodents as well as food contaminated with rats secretions and excretions. According to him, the affected states are Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Edo, Plateau, Gombe and Oyo. The public is hereby assured that government and other stakeholders are working tirelessly to address the outbreak and bring it to timely end, said the minister. He said the ministry had ordered for the immediate release of adequate quantities of ribavirin, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa fever, to the affected states for prompt treatment of cases. Mr. Adewole said Nigeria had the capability to diagnose Lassa fever, adding that all the cases reported so far were confirmed by our laboratories. Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday ordered the extradition of one Franca Asemota, a Nigerian fugitive whose extradition was sought by the United Kingdom for offences bordering on trafficking of minors. Ms. Asemota, 36, is wanted by the UK government for trafficking of minors to Europe through London. She was accused of allegedly organising a network that trafficked young women, mostly teenagers, from remote Nigerian villages into Europe using Heathrow airport as transit hub. The girls were promised education or jobs such as hairdressing in countries, including France and Spain, but were forced into prostitution. Ms. Asemota was arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on March 24, 2015, in Benin, Edo State on suspicion of money laundering offences. On arrest, checks on her profile revealed that she had been on the wanted list of the National Crime Agency of the UK. When the case came up on Monday, January 11, Ms. Asemotas counsel, Ugochukwu Ezekiel, prayed the court to grant his client bail to enable her seek medical attention as she had spent almost a year in custody. But Akuta Pius Ukeyima, from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, however opposed the application, saying it would be better to ask for a short date for ruling on the substantive matter. Consequently, Justice Kafarati adjourned to Wednesday (today) for ruling. At the resumerd sitting, Justice Kafarati granted the extradition request and ordered that the accused be extradited to the United Kingdom to face trial for the charges filed against her. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State has described as hollow and childish, explanations by a former Rivers State information commissioner, Ibim Semenitari, on how the state spent N82 million for a dinner honouring Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka. Ms. Semenitari, currently the acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, had said on Monday that the money covered specific items of the event. The money was spent on Dance Drama by University of Port Harcourt Arts Village; Great Singha & His Highlife Band; Set Design, Stage Lighting & Costume Design; Costume Design & Stage Property; Dinner; Transportation and Accommodation of guests from outside the country and those outside Rivers State; Decoration; Travels & Logistics, etc, a statement by Beke Anyalewechi, on behalf of Mrs. Semenitari, said, according to PM News. A statement on Wednesday by Felix Obuah, the Rivers State PDP Chairman, described Mrs. Sementaris explanation as hollow, petty and childish. The PDP said Mr. Soyinka had allowed his name for a shady event that cost the public huge. While we agree that the Nobel Laureate deserves any form of honour in any part of the world, we find it a terrible disservice to Professor Soyinka to use his name to steal public funds, the statement said. She said the N82 million was not used only for the party but that the expenses covered costume design, set design, drama, highlife band, dinner, transportation, decoration and logistics. These items should naturally be expected to form an important part of the birthday celebration. If they were left out, what else would make the party a befitting one for a man of the stature of Professor Soyinka? the PDP asked. The party also demanded an explanation for the cost of the enumerated expenses, saying the funds expended were taxpayers money, and should be accounted for. Hyderabad: IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday ruled out reservations for locals in IT sector. Calling Hyderabad a mini Bharat, he said there were no native Hyderabadis and everyone was a settler who had come from other places, including himself. Who is not a settler in Hyderabad? Everyone here is. I came from Siddipet to Hyderabad and so did many others. All those settled in Hyderabad are Hyderabadis, he said, modifying a long-held TRS position on the issue. He said quota for locals cannot be implemented in IT and other private sector firms where merit matters. This comes on top of a Telangana techies group, Telangana Information Technology Association, demanding a reservations for locals. The governments industrial policy is more focussed on setting up industries in all sectors, and creating jobs for locals, but does not insist on a quota. Disclosing that Warangal would be the next IT hub, he said, We cant insist on reservations to locals in IT jobs. Its not possible. IT is a specialised skill and needs specialised persons to man it whether they are in Hyderabad or the US. No ill will towards Seemandhras: KT Rama Rao IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said the government was focussing on job-oriented skill development for qualified persons to enter the IT sector. Our focus is not just software, but also hardware. Not only job seekers, but job creators, Mr Rama Rao said. He added that a company set up in Mahbubnagar had provided 700 jobs to locals. He was replying to a question at a Meet the Press organised by Telangana state and Hyderabad unions of working journalists, about locals being upset with all parties were trying to woo settlers with an eye on the GHMC elections. He admitted that he did use harsh language during the Telangana movement but bore no grudge against the Seemandhra people. The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group has accused the Nigerian military of blocking some parents of the 219 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 from partaking in a planned protest scheduled for Thursday. The group, in a statement by its spokesperson, Sesugh Akume, said over 120 parents of the 219 abducted girls embarked on a journey to Abuja on January 12. It added that the women boarded seven buses from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, but were stopped at two checkpoints (in Chibok and Askira), with only two of the buses allowed to proceed to Abuja. Towards our earlier announced march together with the parents of our abducted Chibok girls and the Chibok community to re-engage with the president on the matter of their rescue this Thursday 14 January, a delegation of parents left Chibok this morning Tuesday 12 January for a 2-day journey to Abuja, the statement said. Despite their meagre income, the over 120 parents were determined and paid the bus fare from Chibok to enable them to partake in the march to re-engage with the president after the first meeting of 8 July 2015. However, only this evening, we were again informed that the checkpoint officers in Askira had allowed only four of the busload of parents and held back three but we can factually confirm that five buses in all were held back: two in Chibok and three in Askira. The group later told PREMIUM TIMES that it was informed by the military that some of the buses were blocked due to security concerns concerning the gathering of such a crowd in the face of the current security situations. Whilst we appreciate the legitimate safety concerns, we are convinced however that it could have been better handled with dignified treatment of parents who have been heartbroken over the last 638 days of their daughters captivity, the group said. The group demanded a public apology, and a commitment from the military to produce the parents in Abuja for the proposed protest. The Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has challenged the Federal Government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to explain the release of an associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, Jaffaru Isa, who was earlier arrested for his involvement in the $2.1 billion arms deal. The party said the release of the former military administrator of Kaduna State, by the EFCC after allegedly returning N100 million out of the money collected from the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, was shady. The PDP, in a statement by the State Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, said the whole episode of the Isa arrest and release was concocted by the EFCC and the Federal Government. It said the government had used the Isa story as a cover-up for the credibility problem suffered by the anticorruption crusade, which portrayed the government as hunting down only members of the opposition party. The whole thing was like a drama from Nollywood where you can see the end of a film from the beginning. The arrest, purported refund of N100 million by Isa and his eventual release was a charade taken too far, the statement said. The EFCC and the Federal Government should explain to the world what was the money collected by Isa meant for as was done to other cases since the beginning of the indiscriminate arrest and perpetual detention of the PDP members in the same category. The party also challenged the EFCC to declare public the balance of what was received after Mr. Isas refund and why he was not charged to court. According to the PDP, the anti-corruption war of Mr. Buhari is only aimed at PDP and opposition members, adding that the rule of law should not be trampled upon in the so-called war against corruption. The governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, on Wednesday said the state was expecting a N10 billion investment in its rice production project in the state. He said his administration would work with foreign partners for the success of the project. Speaking to journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House Abuja, Mr. Ayade said the state had engaged a Swiss-based company that would construct modern rice mill to ensure high input and throughput rate. This is part of what I discussed with the president. Since we have a special commercial credit facility, we have requested for N4.8billion. If we have that, it will support us. But basically in terms of the investment outlay, the investment is over N10billion and there is also a foreign element, which is a function of what the foreign partners are bringing. We are also in contact with a company in Switzerland that is building a Rolls Royce category of what a modern rice mill will look like, with a very high input and throughput rate with a very high return, he said. The governor explained the state had decided to go for the high-end technology to avoid losses during production. He explained that with some of the old rice mills, 45% losses were recorded from an input of 80% paddy. Mr. Ayade told journalists that as part of the economic reforms of the state, the Bakassi Deep Sea Port will kick off in a short while. He said the preliminary works had been completed and equipment moved to the site. The governor added that Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, would soon be concluded. The project is real and that is part of what I discussed with Mr. President and the president has given his commitment that he will support the deep sea port and the evacuation corridor, which is the 260km super highway, he said. The governor also declared support for Mr. Buharis anti-graft war, saying it had restored the business image of the country. Eluru MP Maganti Venkateswara Rao and Eluru MLA B.K. Rama Rao take part in the cock fight during the Sankranthi celebrations in Eluru on Wednesday. Hyderabad: Ruling Telugu Desam Party MP, Maganti Venkateswara Rao, inaugurated a cock-fighting session in the Eluru stadium, West Godavari district, on Wednesday despite a ban on the age-old practice by Hyderabad High Court. The MP was seen holding the cockerel in his hand and defended his action by citing that cock-fighting was a traditional event. The cock-fighting event, that is conducted around the Pongal or Makar Sankaranti festival in AndhraPradesh and Telangana, faced a ban by the HC after PILs were filed by Human Society International India, an NGO, seeking a ban on the event. The PIL stated that the 'evil practice' resulted in deaths of several birds and that many people belonging to the middle class and the down-trodden sections are investing huge amount of their hard-earned money and eventually losing it on gambling related to cockfight. By PrintWeek Team All eyes are on the Awards Night of the 12th edition of the PrintWeek Awards to be held at the Grand Hyatt (Santacruz East, Mumbai) on 2 Nov... "When The Heart Dreams, Romance Readers and Writers Weekend Mixer" Celebrates the Season of Love - A Great Alternative To Flowers and Dinner 1 2 3 MadelineHunter.Tall dark and Wicked Bev. Jenkins. FORBIDDEN Katharine Ashe THE ROGUE End -- What is a great alternative to receiving the same old flowers and having dinner in an overcrowded venue for Valentine's?With Valentines Day fast approaching,promises to have a lasting impact long after the event is over.The event is for people who love to read romance novels and love all things romance. Romance novels are a multi-billion dollar industry featuring genres from contemporary, historical and paranormal.is the first of its kind to be held in Charlotte on February 5-6, 2016 at the Renaissance Charlotte Southpark Hotel and will feature four keynote NY Times and USA Todays bestselling authors in addition to local authors who are rapidly rising to the top of lists. Readers will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with the authors in a relaxed, casual setting, enjoy delicious food, drinks, games, prizes and free giveaways from the authors," said Karen Lawrence, the event organizer and owner of Its My Affair, LLC.The event will kick-off with a Wine, Cheese and Chocolate reception with national and local authors and fans followed by a fireside chat with New York Times bestselling paranormal authorBestselling romance author,a North Carolina resident, will host the weekend event. Katharine is a three-time nominee in the Reviewers Choice Awards and USA Today bestselling author. Her books have been recommended by Womans World Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, Barnes and Noble and many others.joins us as the keynote Breakfast Speaker. Ms. Jenkins is a USA Today bestselling author and the nations premier writer of African-American historical fiction. For a long time you couldn't read about black history in a romantic way until Ms. Jenkins came along. Ms. Jenkins writes about parts of black history you don't learn in school and wraps them in a good love story.The keynote for the Queen Authors Luncheon is historical romance author,. Madeline is a two-time RITA winner and seven-time finalist and has twenty-six nationally bestselling historical romances in print. Her books have been on the bestseller lists of the NY Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly. Over six million copies of her books are in print and her novels have also been translated in thirteen languages. Wine, Cheese and Chocolate Welcome Reception with featured authors Public Book Signing Event with national and local authors Book Cover Fantasy Photos with male models Author workshops, Reader Games and Prizeshosted by two up and coming authors,andwho are rising up the charts! Raffle to benefit the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation and the CelebrateLife08.org breast cancer charityVisit www.whentheheartdreams.com for additional details about participating authors and schedule of events.Tickets are $10 for the book signing only and $179 for the full weekend, which includes a swag bag, admittance to the opening night reception, breakfast, luncheon and closing night themed party. Full conference tickets also include a commemorative coffee mug at the fireside chat and commemorative wine glass. Guests who cannot attend the full weekend can register a la carte to attend the breakfast, luncheon or party.Check out the event video on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7i1KzrdcEEU Arizona is well-positioned to be the top state for women business owners. By: Empowered Lab Kristin Slice Contact Laurie Anderson ***@prexperts.com Laurie Anderson End -- Last week, the final data from the 2012 census were released. Among several interesting trends was one that has several economic developers taking note.Women represented the largest growing demographic of business owners in the country. The number of women starting businesses was almost three times that of men. While many knew the growth percentage was going to be large, it was bigger than some expected. As of 2012, women business owners (WBOs) now represent 36.2 percent of all businesses, numbering over 10 million, with 8.9 million employees and generating over $1.6 trillion in receipts.The census confirmed that women starting their own businesses was a major contributor in our economy bouncing back from the recession. During the economic recession, WBOs were the only group of entrepreneurs that added jobs consistently, proving their ability to serve as a critical asset to building a diverse, sustainable economy, according to the American Express Open Report on the State of Women Business Owners 2015.According to Kristin Slice, owner of Empowered Lab and founder of Empowered PhXX, encouraging entrepreneurship and business ownership has been one of the key strategies that the public sector has used to build jobs in our local economies. As we continue to invest millions into incubators, innovation competitions and support resources, we must ensure that our investments align with the leverage points for creating the greatest return.Less than five years ago, Arizona regularly topped national rankings for WBOs. Our entrepreneurial ecosystem is robust with multiple resources and over 380 women business networking groups. The final numbers released last week show that Arizona has fallen behind on its growth of WBOs. Other states have increased the growth of WBOs and the jobs they create by staggering percentages--Texas (44 percent), Florida (26 percent), and Colorado (26 percent), while Arizona showed an 18.6 percent increase from 2007 to 2012.Other states have recognized the economic development potential of WBOs and have evolved their entrepreneurial ecosystem by conducting in-depth local research, elevating WBOs public profile, and developing innovative economic development strategies reflective of the latest data and research on the unique challenges WBOs face. Arizona is missing out on a huge opportunity to leverage our local assets, strengthen our local communities and create higher caliber jobs.While Arizona is currently trending the wrong direction, only a 10 percent shift in our current efforts are required to make us the top state in the country. To put a more concrete number on the potential impact that WBOs represent, that 10 percent increase represents an additional 91,000 jobs in the next three years.As you dive further into the details of the census data, it reveals several reasons why, with a small change in strategy, Arizona is well positioned to be the top state for WBOs in the country, Slice adds.The demographics of our state align with the national data for the populations leading the rapid growth of female entrepreneurship. The largest population of women starting businesses are baby boomers closely followed by millennial women. According to the Vision 2025: Arizona Comes of Age, Arizonans are growing younger, older and more diverse. This growing diversity in our population is aligned with the fastest growing subset of female entrepreneurs, African Americans and Latinas.While this stat represents a huge opportunity for Arizona to capitalize on the growth of women business ownership, it also highlights the biggest gap in our entrepreneurial ecosystem resources. Many of our resources have intentionally and unintentionally defined entrepreneur as a 20-year-old male wearing head phones working on his Mac. Last year, a bevy of research studies emerged from organizations like the Kauffman Foundation and Babson College, showing that WBOs face unique challenges and require unique solutions and creative marketing strategies. Simply letting women participateis not enough to attract or effectively support this population.In many of the articles and panel discussions debating our economic growth strategies, Arizona leaders have cited a desire to change how we approach our economic growth strategy as a region. This strategy is fueled by our desire to not repeat the decisions that left Arizona as one of the hardest hit regions in the great recessions. Leaders like ASU President Michael Crow and Phoenix Chamber President Todd Sanders have discussed a more strategic approach that doesnt rely on a magic bullet philosophy of investing in a single industry.. The growth of WBOs is no longer a woman thing, it is an economic imperative that affects the bottom line of our state. We now have a tipping point of WBOs being highlighted in local media and women leading local organizations and corporations that could make our local entrepreneurial ecosystem more inclusive and diverse.As a region, our culture is changing, while still built upon a foundation of self-determination that has always defined our state. This combination is the reason Arizona is positioned to take women entrepreneurship to new levels of economic impact.Arizona was founded on an independent spirit and has a strong history of female leadership. Female entrepreneurship is aligned with the values that continue to shape our state as we leave the adolescence of our statehood. Leaders in our community have defined the values of innovation, sustainability, entrepreneurial spirit and diversity as keys to a more vibrant future. Being a national leader in female entrepreneurship could uniquely define our state brand and position our economy as a desirable place to live, a goal established as a main priority by Gov. Doug Ducey.What do the census numbers on female entrepreneurship mean to Arizona? Opportunity. The opportunity to leverage our states values, ecosystem and strength for a more vibrant economy, says Slice.Empowered Lab Communications creates innovative training programs to help organizations better reach and serve women business owners. For more information, visit www.empowered- lab.com or contact owner Kristin Slice at kristin@empowered- lab.com or 602-499-5607. Kindermusik provides educational support to families enrolled in MetLife EduCare Program End -- Kindermusik International , the worlds leader in music and movement education, announced today an exclusive partnership with MetLife Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MetLife, Inc., the #1 U.S. life insurer^, that will provide ongoing educational support to customers of MetLife Hong Kong*, through a series of interactive Kindermusik child development seminars led by highly-trained licensed Kindermusik Educators.Kindermusik shares MetLife EduCare Programs overall mission by providing a strong foundation for learning to help children develop to their highest potential. Through our global network of early childhood experts, were able to provide parents and their children with tools and resources that focus on enhancing whole-child development and promote school-readiness,said Scott Kinsey, President. They will also benefit from receiving a 10% discount on Kindermusik music education and movement classes offered at participating studios.MetLife Hong Kong* greatly empathizes with parents and their unyielding aspiration to provide the best possible future for their children, said Ms. Sunshine Farzan, Vice President, Head of Marketing and Communications, MetLife Hong Kong*. With MetLife EduCare Program, we hope to enable parents to support their childrens educational pursuits from birth through university graduation. Through unique partnerships and innovative campaigns, we will continue to refresh the way insurance is offered to fulfill our brand promise to help people pursue more from life.Kindermusik child development seminars will be offered 6 times a year and vary in topics such as, using music to boost infant and toddler development, increasing math and logic skills, English language learning, family engagement and more. Visit www.metlife.com.hk to learn more or to register for an upcoming seminar.Kindermusik International Inc. is the world's leading provider of music and movement programs for young children, enjoyed by millions of families in 73 countries for more than 35 years. Kindermusik helps children and their families discover how music can enrich their lives and lay the foundation for a lifetime love of learning. Kindermusik offers a full spectrum of developmentally appropriate classes for children ages newborn to seven, featuring engaging music and movement activities that promote school readiness and stimulate development in every area of the young brain. For additional information, visit Kindermusik International at www.kindermusik.com MetLife, Inc. , through its subsidiaries and affiliates (MetLife), is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. Founded in 1868, MetLife is a global provider of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management. Serving approximately 100 million customers, MetLife has operations in nearly 50 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information about MetLife Hong Kong, visit www.metlife.com.hk *MetLife Limited and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of Hong Kong Limited (collectively MetLife Hong Kong) are wholly-owned subsidiaries of MetLife, Inc. in Hong Kong and private companies limited by shares incorporated and registered under the applicable laws in Hong Kong. Both MetLife Limited and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of Hong Kong Limited are authorized insurers carrying long term business in Hong Kong.^Axco Global Statistics 2014 By: BookBuzz.net End -- Author Freya Barker Releases Sixth Novel In Her Cedar Tree Romance Series Like ArrowsAuthor Freya Barker is pleased to announce the release of the sixth book in her Cedar Tree Romance Series, Like Arrows. This romantic suspense novel was released in December 2015 and is already receiving rave reviews from readers.An assignment has just turned interesting for GFI investigator Malachi Whitetail. When a shy, mousy woman walks into his local diner, it takes him a minute to recognize her as an employee of the real estate office hes been monitoring. Not a believer in coincidence, Mal decides a closer look at the short brunette might be warranted. It will be the first, but certainly not the last time, he finds himself coming to her rescue.Kimeo Lowe leads a pretty quiet existence, which is why, when she ends up a witness to a crime, her curiosity into her bosss suspected shady dealings gets kicked into high gear. She may not be the most sociable of people, but shes always been independent and industrious, so when an opportunity to dig a little deeper arises, she doesnt think twice. It would seem that this time shes bitten off a bit more than she can chew, and when a freakishly tall Native American Adonis intervenes not just once, she decides sleuthing may be best left to professionals. But its a bit too late.Just when life has settled into a comfortable routine, Kim finds herself dealing with not just one, but two threats on her life. With every turn there are new challenges to face, and Mal is not about to let her face them alone. Not even when he turns out to be no match for her most dangerous enemy.Like Arrows is available in both print and ebook formats.Book Details:Like ArrowsCedar Tree Series, Book 6By Freya BarkerPublished: December 2015ISBN: 978-0994951403ASIN: B0195BF03QPages: 319Genre: Romantic Suspense, Contemporary RomanceAbout The Author:Author of the popular Cedar Tree series, as well as the critically acclaimed standalone From Dust, Freya Barker is driven to make her stories about 'real' people; with characters who are perhaps less than perfect, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills, and some hot, sizzling sex in their lives.Recipient of the RomCon Readers Choice Award for best first book, Slim To None, Freya has hit the ground running. She loves nothing more than to meet and mingle with her readers, whether it be online or in person at one of the signings she attends. With her kids grown and out in the world, Freya has poured her creative energy into spinning story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!For review copies, author interviews, or more information please contact:Freya BarkerEmail: freyabarker.writes (at) gmail.comWebsite: http://www.freyabarker.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/ freya_barker Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FreyaBarkerWriter After an almost fifty year cover-up, Liberty survivors and families request Israel and U.S. acknowledge June 8, 1967 attack was no accident By: USS LIBERTY VETERANS ASOCIATION Contact Gene Thomas Gomulka ***@gomulka.net Gene Thomas Gomulka End -- The President of the USS Liberty Veterans Association, Ernest A. Gallo, sent a letter dated January 10, 2016 to President Barack Obama requesting that he invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend a Memorial Service at Arlington National Cemetery at noon on June 8, 2016 commemorating the June 8, 1967 Israeli attack on the USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5) in which 32 Americans were killed and 171 were wounded.The letter addressed to President Obama reads in part as follows:In 1943 the Germans discovered mass graves of some 22,000 Polish nationals in the Katyn Forest of Russia near the border with Poland. Although Stalin claimed that the victims had been murdered by the Nazis in 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill knew that the Russians were responsible. In 1990, fifty years after the massacre, Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged and condemned the perpetration of the killings by the Soviet Secret Police (NKVD), as well as the subsequent cover-up by the Soviet government.On June 8, 1967, Israeli air and naval forces attacked USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5) killing 32 Americans and wounding 171 others. While the Israeli and U.S. governments reported that the attack was the result of an error, indisputable evidence exists to prove that the attack was intentional and that both governments have been engaged in a cover up now for almost 50 years.The most tragic part of this cover up has been the tremendous harm that has been done to the survivors and families of the dead and surviving crew members. No monetary compensation can heal the pain and suffering we have endured. The Congressional Medal of Honor unceremoniously bestowed upon the Commanding Officer in the Navy Yard, along with the 2 Navy Crosses, 12 Silver Stars, 20 Bronze Stars, 9 Navy Commendation Medals, 208 Purple Heart Medals, and 294 Combat Action Ribbons awarded to the crew are meaningless to most of us survivors who were told we could not discuss the war crime we suffered less we face court martial or imprisonment. Considering the intensity and duration of the air and sea attacks that left thedrenched in blood with a forty square foot hole in her hull and smoking from napalm that incinerated anything and anyone topside, its a miracle that any of us survived.In April of 2010, President Vladamir Putin invited his Polish counterpart, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, to attend a Katyn Memorial Service commemorating the 1940 massacre. On behalf of the Liberty Veterans Association, I am writing to request that you invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend a Memorial Service in Arlington National Cemetery at noon on June 8, 2016 commemorating the 1967 attack. We believe the time for confessing, forgiving, and healing is long overdue. Hyderabad: There is a huge rush for general quota seats on the city outskirts in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections. General aspirants from all political parties are seeking tickets for seats on the outskirts with most of the divisions in core city areas reserved for various categories. With this, nearly a dozen strong candidates are aspiring for each seat on the city outskirts, making it tough for all major parties to select one among them. The aspirants, who have already spent lakhs of rupees to maintain party cadre in the respective divisions for the last few months hoping for a party ticket, are now exploring all options to contest the elections. These aspirants have kept all options open: They are willing to even change the party, if any other party offers them the ticket for any division reserved for general quota or seeking any general seat from the same party. All the party offices are flooded with applications from such general candidates. On Wednesday, the residence of commercial taxes minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav in West Marredpally, Secunderabad, witnessed a huge rush of such general candidates who lost the chance to contest in Secunderabad circle due to reservations. The reservations have certainly altered the political plans of many aspirants. But there is little we can do on that front. However, there is equally tough competition for tickets from local leaders on the outskirts, Mr Yadav said. He said that it would be difficult to convince local leaders on the city outskirts to give their seats to those from core areas. All the applications were forwarded to TRS candidate screening committee, which will take a final call. Ultimately, its the winnability of the candidates that matters during selection, Mr Yadav said. The BJP too is facing similar situation in Khairtabad as all divisions in both the circles were allotted for reserved categories. There are several general candidates in Khairtabad, who have been working for the party for the last few years and incurred heavy expenditure to maintain the party cadre with the hope of contesting the GHMC election. But their hopes were dashed due to reservations. Now they want unreserved seats on the city outskirts. But it would be tougher since we have electoral alliance with the TD, which is demanding more seats on city outskirts, said G. Kishan Reddy, state BJP president. Ring tones, apps to educate voters As many as 94 candidates have filed nominations, one Telugu Desam and another Independent for GHMC polls. The last day of filing of nominations is January 17. It is believed that the process will pick up pace after Sankranti festival as many Hindus consider it inauspicious to start something major before the festival. To improve the voting percentage, the GHMC plans to introduce a ring tone educating callers to cast the vote. The ring tone will be exclusive to GHMC officials. Surendra Mohan, IAS, additional commissioner (elections) explained, Over 1,500 mobile phones are used by the our staff. Each phone gets around 50 calls per day, making it 75,000 calls per day. If the 20 days (till the elections) is taken into account, around 15 lakh people (75,000x20) will hear the message to cast their vote. The GHMC will be organising a meeting on January 18 with civil societies and various residential welfare associations on voter awareness. Mr Mohan said that a separate app has been launched for convenience of the citizens to search for their voter slip on their mobile phones. The GHMC also plans to link the TSEC website with the GHMC website. Free interfaith events will focus on mutual understanding and womens roles Contact Michael O'Loughlin Director of Marketing and Communications ***@sssf.org Michael O'LoughlinDirector of Marketing and Communications End -- The terror acts of Islamic State extremists that have raised fears around the world have also caused misunderstanding and distrust of Muslims. This has strained efforts to build peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians.In the face of these challenges, Janan Najeeb is on a mission to nurture good will. A much-sought-after public speaker, community leader, and ecumenical activist, Ms. Najeeb will present the two-part exploration Understanding the Islamic Faith: Commonalities with Christianity and the Role of Women at the School Sisters of St. Francis St. Joseph Center on February 6 and February 27 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Admission to this event is free.The center is located at 1501 S. Layton Blvd. (Greenfield Avenue at 27Street), Milwaukee. It serves as the international headquarters of the international congregation of Catholic women religious.Islam means peace, and those who claim lives in the name of Allah and Muhammad are acting against the teachings of the Islamic faith, Ms. Najeeb says. As the president of the Milwaukee Muslim Womens Coalition (MMWC) and founder and director of the Islamic Resource Center, her goal is to help non-Muslims understand this. She is a microbiologist by profession and the mother of five children, but she chose to change careers in order to lecture at Milwaukee area colleges and universities, serving as adjunct professor at Cardinal Stritch University, teaching the Religious Culture of Islam. She has been in great demand for speaking engagements since the terror attacks of 2001.There is a tremendous need to bridge the gap between the erroneous perception of Islam and Muslims in society, and the actual beliefs and practices of the overwhelming majority of the worlds Muslims, Ms. Najeeb says. The organizations that ask her to speak often have a particular interest in the role of women in Muslim society, and that is why she is devoting part of her talks at St. Joseph Center to this topic.Born in Palestine, Janan came to Milwaukee at age four and has lived here most of her life. After receiving a university education and marrying her husband, a physician, they lived for a time on the East Coast before resettling in Milwaukee. She was named Leader Making a Difference byand has received numerous awards and recognitions from organizations that include the International Institute of Wisconsins World Citizen Award, the national award for activism presented by the Council on American Islamic Relations, the ACLUs Special Recognition Award, and the UW-Milwaukees Scholar in Residence Award. She also serves on numerous boards and committees and established the first Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival in 2015.Admission to participate in these presentations and discussions is free, but seating is limited so please register in advance. To reserve your place, please contact Donna OLoughlin, the School Sisters of St. Francis coordinator of outreach events, at 414-385-5272 or doloughlin@sssf.org.Convenient free parking for all St. Joseph Center events is located at 29th St. and Orchard, one block south of Greenfield Avenue.The School Sisters of St. Francis are an international community of Catholic sisters who unite with others to build a just and peaceful world. Founded in 1874, they now have sisters, associates, staff, donors and volunteers actively working to address the needs of those who are poor and marginalized by society. Their mission is thriving throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, India, and Africa. In the U.S., School Sisters live and minister in 15 states, addressing needs in education, holistic wellness and healing, pastoral ministry, spiritual growth, social justice, and the arts. For more information about the School Sisters of St. Francis, please visit www.sssf.org Contact Katie Cook Director - Marketing, Communications ***@contractroom.com 18009509101 Katie CookDirector - Marketing, Communications18009509101 End --ContractRoom announces certification of compliance with the Safe Harbor Framework (http://export.gov/safeharbor/)developed by the United States Department of Commerce and the European Commission and Switzerland.This demonstrates not only ContractRooms strong commitment to data security, high quality product delivery, service and customer experience, but also its expanding mission to make the world more agreeable in Europe. ContractRoom looks forward to working with professionals throughout Europe who work with negotiations and contracts on a daily basis in industries such as technology, healthcare, insurance, finance, manufacturing and many more to give dynamic flow to a process that can be otherwise be inefficient and burdensome.In 1998, the European Union enacted a directive on data protection that would prohibit the transfer of personal data to non-EU nations (including the United States) that do not meet the EU standards for protection. However, the Safe Harbor Framework ( http://export.gov/ safeharbor/ ) was developed by the United States Department of Commerce, the European Commission and Switzerland to address this compliance need. Since 2000, companies that obtain certification of compliance with this framework are allowed to receive personal data from EU countries.The Safe Harbor certification facilitates business transactions without interruption when dealing with the EU. The aim of this certification program is to bridge the difference between the data protection practices of the EU with those of the U.S.ContractRoom manages business negotiations from inception to completion and transforms a tedious manual paper process into a dynamic data-driven operation, one in which customers can leverage their transactional and behavioral data of the organization (collective intelligence). In doing so, it improves process over content and control, and provides what we call Predictive Agreementthrough machine learning. ContractRooms negotiation and contract lifecycle management solution lets users Negotiate less. Agree more.To download ContractRoom's free eBook on Building a Transformative Contract Management Practice click here: http://blog.contractroom.com/ building-a-transformative- co... Central Florida Bail Bonds Office Provides Guide To Educate Consumers About Court Dates Media Contact 33rd Street Bail Bonds russ@injail.com 407-425-7200 33rd Street Bail Bonds407-425-7200 End -- 33rd Street Bail Bonds of Orlando, Florida launches their online guide to educate consumers on the procedures and timeline for obtaining a court date for a felony charge.Russ Pacala, Owner of 33rd Street Bail Bonds, states, Our clients frequently ask us how long it will take until they receive a court date for their felony charge. The online guide offers insights to the procedures and timetable required to obtain a court date. This guide will help provide answers to why the procedure takes so much time.A sample of the steps used to determine a court date for a felony charge include: An initial court appearance takes place where a plea is entered Paperwork is filed and forwarded to the State Attorneys Office An arraignment date is setFor all of the details provided in the online guide, please visit online at: http://www.injail.com/court-dates-when-you-are-arrested/33rd Street Bail Bonds outlines the steps that must be followed in order to obtain a felony court date.33rd Street Bail Bonds offers bonds for defendants facing a variety of charges including: grand theft, breaking and entering, drug possession and drug paraphernalia, domestic violence, battery, assault, child endangerment, DUI, vandalism, and more. This Orlando based bail bond office provides bail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long. To start the bail bond process, please call 407-425-7200 or 407-425-3303. 33rd Street Bail Bonds is licensed to post bail bonds throughout the state of Florida and with affiliated agents across the United States.All of Central Florida including: Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Volusia counties can benefit from the services offered by 33rd Street Bail Bonds. The bail bond agents at this location realize that being arrested can be a scary experience. The bail bondsmen at 33rd Street Bail Bonds are knowledgeable, friendly, and empathetic. They will explain the bail bond process step by step and answer any questions that a client may have regarding the bail bond process or the criminal justice system.33rd Street Bail Bonds is the oldest and most trusted bail bond company in Central Florida. This agency has been family owned and operated since 1971. This Central Florida bail bond agency provides many types of bonds including indemnity bonds, bonds with collateral, or signature bail bonds.Located at 2439 33rd Street in Orlando, FL, this bail bond office serves all of Central Florida. Bonds can be posted by phone, fax, or online. Please call 407-425-7200 or 407-425-3303 to start the bail bond process. To learn more about bail bonds or this bail bond agency, please visit online at: www.injail.com. Selected to appear on Moving America Forward, hosted by William Shatner, Brian Douglas founded his law firm, Brian M. Douglas & Associates, LLC in 2003 on the philosophy Its Not Just Business; Its Personal. By: Moving America Forward Brian Douglas Contact Lisa Monroe (Media Department) ***@movingamericaforward.tv Lisa Monroe (Media Department) End -- Moving America Forward, a nationally recognized television show featuring the best entrepreneurs of the year, was pleased to honor Brian Douglas, owner and managing partner of Brian M. Douglas & Associates a premier estate planning firm that specializes in asset protection, business succession planning, estate planning, and financial & tax strategy planning.Mr. Douglas was interviewed at the Los Angeles Moving America Forward news studio by William Shatner and Doug Llewelyn. Zealously representing his clients with integrity and personal concern, over the past decade, Mr. Douglas has built a solid reputation with his clients, colleagues, opposing counsel and the courts throughout the state of Georgia. Specializing in estate planning Mr. Douglas areas of expertise also include civil/business litigation, foreclosure, creditor bankruptcy, criminal law, and domestic relations.Recognized as a Super Lawyer and considered one of Georgias top estate planning lawyers, Mr. Douglas and his firm generate a custom plan for their clients to accomplish their goals. This custom plan is designed to give them something to take with them for their lifetime and grow and change as their lives/family does.Unfortunately today most people in this country do not have estate plans. If you dont have a plan, the state has one for you, but you may not like it. If you die without an estate plan, your assets will be distributed according to state probate law. If you have minor children, the court will control their inheritance. If both parents die, the court will appoint a guardian without knowing whom you would have chosen.Your estate is comprised of everything you own your car, home, other real estate, checking and savings accounts, investments, life insurance, furniture, personal possessions. No matter how large or how modest, everyone has an estate and something in common and you cant take it with you when you die.Estate planning is for everyone. Many think it is just for "retired" people or for the "wealthy" but good estate planning often means more to families with modest assets, because they can afford to lose the least.Tune in Sunday January 17th @ 11:00am EST on Biz TV to watch Mr. Douglas discuss how his firm first educates clients and what they can accomplish through planning.Mr. Douglas was honored with the Moving America Forward Award for not only providing comprehensive estate planning, asset protection and wealth preservation services to individuals and businesses but also educating individuals on estate planning . For more information on Brian M. Douglas & Associates please visit 90 Minute Session to Highlight Schumakers Neuro-Vascular Structural Integration By: SIconnect Contact Liz Stewart ***@gmail.com 720-406-3502 Liz Stewart720-406-3502 End -- Join us for this SI-Discussion on Neuro-Vascular SI. How can seeing and feeling into the Neuro-Vascular system affect your SI work? What questions and comments come to mind? Join in this group discussion if you are interested in exploring this topic.Kirstin Schumaker, LMT, BCSI(KMI certified in 2005) initially studied neural manipulation with Christoph Sommer (2006, 2009) and Don Hazen (2007-2008). She also assisted Jon Martine with his neural mobilization classes (2009-2010), when he came through her home town. More recently (2011-2014), she studied intensively with Jeffrey Burch. With Jeff, she has primarily studied visceral manipulation and functional methods from the osteopathic tradition, but she has also picked up some of Jeffs tricks for working with nerves and arteries. Studying with Jeff has been invaluable to her practice,she has continued to develop her own approaches to vascular release in the context of a structural integration practice.Kirstins SI practice is now based on what she is calling neurovascularly informed myofascial work. She can no longerpay attention to nerves and arteries as she works with the myofascia. This advanced myofascial work is amazingly efficient, and it is very fun to teach. Please join her for an exciting weekend.LEARN MORE HERE ( https://www.eventbrite.com/ e/si-discussion- group-with-kir... founded the work we call Structural Integration. Over the years this body of work has continued to evolve. Words like fascia, integration, alignment, core and layers are known and used in bodywork, research, exercise, movement systems, dance, sports, psychology, etc. Her vision reaches far and has touched many.To find out more about SIconnect or to view their upcoming schedule, visit the web site below.Being a part of thecommunity since 1991, Ive been fortunate to learn from some remarkable people in our profession. I was profoundly touched and moved by my 10 series and movement work and like many before me, I went on to studyat The Guild For Structural Integration. After graduation, I worked at GSI which gave me a chance to watch as many demos as possible. I helped in the office, cleaned the classroom, took photos for classroom models, started assisting in classes and over time joined the Faculty to teach Basic Trainings. Eventually, I left GSI faculty to be part of the largercommunity, offering CE courses on Series Review to graduates from IASI approved schools. Preserving the legacy of our profession, moving forward, and having a place for us to connect is my inspiration for creatingconnect. Now you have access to teachers, products and people of interest who are helping to shape our field. Besides being a perpetual student, with a wonderful private practice in Boulder, Colorado. I study group dynamics and offer supervision for practitioners individually and in small groups.Keywords: Structural Integration, Rolfing, Bodywork, Massage, Fascia, SIconnect, Liz Stewart, at 720-406-3502 - siconnectus@gmail.com By: FHOOSH, Inc. Contact Trudy Edelson ***@fhoosh.com Trudy Edelson End -- Successful San Diego technology executive and entrepreneur Brad Chisum has joined the Board of Advisors of cybersecurity software firm FHOOSH, Inc (http://www.fhoosh.com). FHOOSH will draw on Chisums strong development, business growth and partnering expertise to market its breakthrough bankLevel+ cybersecurity that delivers superior performance with advanced data protection.An experienced entrepreneur and CEO, Chisum co-founded and led Lumedyne Technologies, the San Diego micro-electro-mechanical sensor (MEMS) company, which was acquired by Google. Chisum now serves as Google Product Manager of Time Domain Switched MEMS Inertial Sensors. Prior to co-founding Lumedyne, Chisum worked with the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), and held engineering management positions at semiconductor and research firms including SYS, Dynamics Research and STMicroelectronics.I see a huge opportunity for FHOOSH as they protect organizationsstored data from constant cyberthreats,commented Brad Chisum. Im intrigued by the team, and their innovative technology thats been purpose-built for security from design to product delivery. Its an exciting stage for the company, and calls to mind my Lumedyne experiences.FHOOSH CEO Eric Tobias remarked, This year is a tipping point for the company as we look to build strong relationships for FHOOSH high-performance security. Brads expertise and his strategic approach to forming partnerships will help fuel our business growth.FHOOSH cybersecurity safeguards organizationscritical business and customer data from cyberthreats by storing it in a state that is worthless to hackers. Patent-pending FHOOSH technology breaks apart, disassociates, separately encrypts then disperses data, with performance certified from six to eight times faster than storing data unencrypted. The system also immediately recognizes and reports intrusion attempts on FHOOSH-protected databases, object stores and file systems. Validated by leading cybersecurity firms, the FHOOSH bankLevel+ platform integrates with new and existing infrastructure. With security built in from architecture to implementation, FHOOSH protects and powers valuable information for corporations, institutions and government. ( http://www.fhoosh.com ).The FHOOSH logo is a registered trademark, and FHOOSH and bankLevel+ are trademarks of FHOOSH, Inc. Third-party registered marks and trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Niketan Enterprises Pvt Ltd a new start up announced commencement of their business into construction, real estate and facility management sector By: Niketan Enterprises Private Limited Contact Niketan Enterprises Mr. Ashley D'cruz ***@niketanenterprises.com Niketan EnterprisesMr. Ashley D'cruz End -- Niketan Enterprises Private Limited has commenced their business activities in the field of construction, real estate, facility management. Incorporated on 3 December 2015, this privately held company is registered under Indian Companies Act 2013 and limited by shares. This new start-up was founded by Mr. Niketan Gawade, NRI from Dubai who returned to India to setup his own real estate business. After struggling for 2 years in as International Property Consultant in India he was finally able to raise seed capital for this new venture."Our aim is to improve the delivery standards in construction industry, we are going to transform services in real estate and FMS sector to international stature in India." said Niketan Gawade, founding Director. He further said, "We aim to provide integrated service to build, operate and maintain. Our focus is on B2B and B2C clients". Companys official website: www.niketanenterprises.com was also launched on this occasion.Niketan Enterprises is headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Many new authors are turning to epublishers to publish their books Contact Michael Lum ***@hardknockscollege.com Michael Lum End -- After 12 years of courting traditional book publishers unsuccessfully, Michael Lum, a retrenched executive, finally realized his dream by going digital with the help of Createspace, an online publisher.I have proposed my book to all relevant literary agents listed in various directories twice over. I had either rejection letters from them or there is no response. Its a very frustrating exercise, said Lum, an executive retrenched a couple of times.He used his experience on retrenchment to write, challenging executives to leave their comfort zones and search for new pastures.Lum conceptualized his book into a business parable two dolphins in their midlife crises left their comfort zones in search of virgin territories. One, however, returned to her comfortable job while the other harvested the rewards by risking in the new opportunity zone.In his foreword, Stephen Lundin, author of FISH! wrote, Michael is a consummate storyteller whom I have known for some time. He is passionate about his work and the role of stories as teaching tools. This parable reflects precisely the realities of todays corporate world to which we must respond or be left behind.Kirkus reviewd his book, His narrative, both brief and amusing, makes his message to shake off complacency an easily digestible and entertaining experience. A vivid tale about sea creatures that highlights the need for strategic risk-taking.This book is available both in paperback ($14.77) and ebook ($9.77) from Amazon.Michael Lum lives with his family and with Kiko, a grey British Shorthair, in Singapore.Michael is available for interview. A free copy of the book is available for review.Michael LumSingaporeMobile +65 97911128Email: mikelum7@gmail.com Website: www.HardKnocksCollege.com By: April International UK Contact G Stephenson ***@nacelle.co.uk G Stephenson End -- APRIL group has announced the acquisition of GlobalHealth Asia, an established international PMI provider based in Hong Kong with operations in Singapore, Vietnam and Shanghai, plus local underwriting partners across south east Asia. Established in 1997 in Hong Kong, GlobalHealth has 60 staff members and a turnover of around six million euros. GlobalHealth provides a full range of international group and individual health insurance services, including underwriting, policy administration and claims adjudication.The new purchase will enable APRIL to extend its operations in Asia beyond its current activities in Thailand, China and Singapore and significantly strengthens its market share in the regionAPRIL Group, which was founded in France more than 35 years ago, is an internationally known and respected insurance services group with operations in 37 different countries, looking after close to six million policyholders worldwide, consisting of some 86 different nationalities located in more than 120 countries.With operations on every continent, APRIL group is now ideally positioned to meet the increasingly complex requirements of individual and group clients, regardless of their country of origin, by offering solutions which are tailored to their local environment.Emmanuel Morandini, Deputy CEO of the APRIL group comments: "We would like to welcome the GlobalHealth teams to the APRIL group. This acquisition will strengthen our areas of expertise and extends our operations in Asia and is in line with our stated objective to become a leading IMPI and assistance player outside France."In October 2015, APRIL Group successfully rebranded and relaunched UK based MediCare International as APRIL International UK, a specialist designer and distributor of international PMI policies for groups and individuals.Guy Stephenson/Erica EvansNacelle LimitedTel: +44 (0)20 8333 9125April International UK Limited (until recently known as MediCare International)is part of the April Group which was founded in France more than 35 years ago. It is an internationally known and respected insurance services group with operations in 37 different countries, looking after close to 6 million policyholders worldwide, consisting of some 86 different nationalities located in more than 120 countries.April International UK are specialists in designing and delivering outstanding, flexible international health insurance solutions for individuals and companies, with long term, short term and student healthcare plans available.All April International UK plans include the additional services of Best Doctors (second medical opinion), Blood Care Foundation (screened blood available worldwide) and RED24 (crisis management specialists)Cover under group plans may also available for local nationals. Discounted group rates start with 3 lives and full medical history disregarded underwriting is available on groups of 10 or more employees, making April International one of the most competitive group cover providers.April International UK Limited is an Appointed Representative of APRIL Medibroker Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Minster House, 42 Mincing Lane, London, EC3R 7AE, United Kingdom Registered in England No7261287. By: Lambda Epsilon Omega Chapter of AKA Sorority Contact Gwen-Dolyn Cutter gwenc99_99@yahoo.com Gwen-Dolyn Cutter End -- The Lambda Epsilon Omega Chapter (DeKalb County, GA) of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., in partnership with local community based organizations, will host the second forum of the ongoing series Black Lives Matter: A Quest for Solutions on Monday, January 18, 2016 at the Newton County Historical Courthouse (1124 Clark St, SW, Covington, GA 30014) from 3pm 5:30pm. This upcoming forum entitled Black Lives Matter: A Quest for SolutionsViolence against African-Americanswill address and discuss the causes of violence against African-Americans and solutions to prevent and end the violence rapidly destroying our community.A panel of experts will discuss the increasing incidents of violence against African-Americans that are having an impact in communities throughout Georgia and the nation. The forum is an effort to discuss how the community can come together to identify the causes of the violence and determine how we can reduce the growing violence. Scheduled panelists include State Representative Karen Bennett, Civil Rights Attorney Charles Coleman, Jr., and Senior Nonviolence Trainer from the King Center, Charles Alphin, Sr., Ezell Brown, Newton County Sheriff, DeKalb County Chief Assistant District Attorney Nicole M. Golden, and Luevenia Holloway, with Gwinnett County School System. The conversation will be moderated by Rashad Richey, On-Air Talk Radio Personality with 1380 WAOK and CBS Radio.There is no reservation required for attendance to the forum and it is open to the public, however because the forum is taking place in a government building, everyone will be required to go through an onsite security check.About Lambda Epsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.Lambda Epsilon Omega Chapter is the second oldest graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in Metro Atlanta. Lambda Epsilon Omega Chapter has served the community of DeKalb County since its chartering on June 26, 1976, and has grown from its original twenty-two charter members to a currently working membership of over three hundred successfully rendering supreme service to the DeKalb County community. For more information on Lambda Epsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. please visit www.lambdaepsilonomega.com Hyderabad: AICC general-secretary Digvijay Singh on Wednesday sought to know the reasons behind the rapprochement between Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu who were bitter enemies till recently and have now become friends. Speaking to reporters at the Gandhi Bhavan, Mr Singh said the two CMs were fighting like cocks when the cash-for-vote scam surfaced and were now complimenting each other and have become friends, leaving the cases unattended. He wondered at the TRS leaders new-found affection for Seemandhra settlers in Hyderabad and said that it was all for seeking their votes in the GHMC polls. The same TRS leaders, led by KCR, had abused settlers and even asked them to leave the state, Mr Singh said. At a separate media conference, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the State Election Commission of deliberately ignoring the huge hoardings put up by the TRS on Metro Rail pillars in the city. He challenged the TRS to get a majority of seats in the 150 divisions and then grab the mayors seat without depending on the votes of ex-officio members. Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy also demanded the TRS to tender an unconditional apology for its statements against Seemandhra settlers in the past and then only seek their support in the elections. Replying to a question, he said that the Congress, which will contest all the 150 divisions, will win a majority and grab the mayors post. A group exhibition of artists selected from the chashama Workspace Program, where emerging and mid-career artists create art in a nurturing and affordable environment. End -- Thursday, January 14 - Saturday, February 20, 2016Artists Reception: Thursday, January 14 6:00 - 8:30 pmTABLA RASA GALLERY224 48th Street(between 2nd & 3rd Avenues)Brooklyn, NY 11220Directions: Take D or N express train to 36th Street Brooklyn Station, plus one R stop to 45th StreetGallery hours: Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 1:00 - 5:00 pmCall (718) 833-9100 for events and schedule updates.Artists Discussion: Saturday, January 23, 2:30 pmKenneth E. Parris III, with William Petroni and Melissa ToogoodClosing Reception: Saturday, February 20, 2:30 - 4:30 pmParticipating ArtistsCarl AugeJulio AustriaTirtzah BasselNicholas FraserSyd GlasserAthena LaTochaSuyeon NaLinda Lee NicholasMitch PatrickKenneth E. Parris IIIMichael WatsonA group exhibition of artists selected from the chashama Workspace Program, where emerging and mid-career artists create art in a nurturing and affordable environment."Ars Nova", is borrowed from a term which generally applies to a musical style from the Late Middle Ages. It translates from Latin to "new art". Flourishing in the 14th century, Ars Nova was free in character, marked by variety in rhythms and melodies.For us, the unifying factor of the artwork in this exhibition parallels the Ars Nova movement in the sense that there is a freshness, and a "newness" beyond the formalities and traditions of image making. All of the artists were selected from thestudio program, where emerging and mid-career artists create their art in a nurturing and affordable environment. Located in the BAT (Brooklyn Army Terminal) buildings,, in partnership with Tabla Rasa Gallery, represents the new frontier of arts and culture in Sunset Park.DISCUSSION DESCRIPTIONArtist, Kenneth E. Parris III, discusses the role of the figure in his paintings with William Petroni on Saturday, January 23rd at 2:30 pm. Mr. Petroni is an Art Collector, General Manager for Cecily Brown, Managing Director of Cristin Tierney Gallery, and has danced with Melissa with the Pam Tanowitz Dance Company.The conversation will focus on Kenneth's series inspired by the backstage life of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company on their final world tour and how this evolved into a new body of work that investigates the exploitation of success and the American Dream. The discussion includes Modern Contemporary Dancer and former Cunningham Company member Melissa Toogood, a subject in both bodiesAbout Tabla Rasa GalleryTabla Rasa Gallery is located in the burgeoning art destination of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The gallery is known for their consistently stunning exhibitions. Within the 4000 square foot turn of the century carriage house, the gallery exhibits primary and secondary market artwork by emerging, mid-career, and established artists, in all media, including painting, sculpture, installation, drawing, print media, digital, film and video. of work.Exhibitions are free and open to the public. It is recommended to call (718) 833-9100 for events and schedule updates.About chashama:, which means "to have vision" in Farsi, nurtures artists by transforming underutilized properties into affordable work and presentation spaces for artists, performers, youth and community groups. Since 1995,has revitalized over 80 properties, providing invaluable space to create for more than 12,000 artists.empowers artists at any stage of their career with services that offer continuous opportunities to create, develop and present.also aspires to bring the benefits of art and creativity to New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds with over 130 free, public events and access to cultural programming throughout New York City.Call (718) 833-9100 for additional hours, events and schedule updatesinfo@TablaRasaGallery.com Join us as the force awakens to celebrate national school choice week! By: Gateway Academy Contact Gateway Academy www.gatewayacademy.us ***@gmail.com Gateway Academywww.gatewayacademy.us End --Gateway AcademyInvites the community to aGateway Academy will be hosting a family community eventI Choose Gateway celebrating National School Choice Week event.Saturday January 30, 2016 from 11am to 2pm3939 E Shea Blvd, Paradise Valley, AZ 85028Your favoritecharacters: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leila, Yoda, Darth Vader AND MORE!: Join us as we take a trip into theEpisode IV: A New Hope.: Dress up as your favoritecharacter! Prizes will be given to the best costume winner!Have your picture taken with your favorite Star Wars Character!Enjoy a live performance by the Las Vegas hit sensation: Walk Off Hits!: Drone Wars will educate and entertain the audience through a drone exhibition and flying demonstration. Drone Wars provides family educational opportunities for drone safety. Learn about the fastest growing sport, up close and personal.BBQ Pitmaster, Popcornopolis and Ritas Italian IceComplimentary Child Id Cards provided by Mass Mutual - EZ CHILD ID, the nations most comprehensive digital fingerprinting child identification system, will be at the event to produce child ID cards.Gateway Academy is a one-of-a-kind learning environment for Twice Exceptional Students -$5.00 per person is appreciated!For more information, photos and interviews contact Rhonda S. Verona,R.S.V.P. and Associates, 480-998-4323 E-mail: Rhonda@rsvppr.com is a private K -12th day school specializing in Twice Exceptional students. 2e education is an educational approach backed by 35 years of research and best practices tailored to the unique needs of 2e students. It is a marriage between special education and gifted education a strengths-based, differentiated approach, which provides special education support. Gateway is the only private day school in that State of Arizona solely specializing in this population, and celebrates over 10 years in the Valley. Gateway believes that the combination of a safe and supportive environment;a predictable schedule; an integrated curriculum; innovative teaching strategies; and well trained faculty makes a significant difference in the lives of the Academys students. For children and teens, Gateway Academy can be the stepping-stone towards independence and success! Gateway Academy is located at 9659 N. Hayden Rd Scottsdale, AZ 85258. Visit www.gatewayacademy.us for more information.National School Choice Week is Americas largest-annual celebration of educational opportunity. Started in 2011, National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective education options for all children. In 2015, all 50 states participated and 11,082 events were held during NSCW. National School Choice Week is a nonpartisan effort with bipartisan support. Dr. Kathleen Murphy, CEO of Chi Solutions, Inc. has been appointed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to serve on the Board of Trustees. Contact Julie Stein, Marketing Director ***@chisolutionsinc.com Julie Stein, Marketing Director End -- Chi Solutions, Inc. (Chi), a leader in clinical laboratory consulting and management since 1983, is pleased to announce that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has appointed Salem State University alumna and Chi CEO Dr. Kathleen Murphy to the alumni position on the universitys board of trustees. She replaces David Abdoo of Andover, who completed ten years of service on the board and has reached his term limit.For over 30 years, Dr. Murphy has served in progressively responsible leadership roles in diagnostic services management and consulting. In her current role as CEO of Chi, she oversees complex engagements involving strategic options development, operations optimization, consolidation, thought leadership, and outreach program implementation. A noted speaker and author, Dr. Murphy also directs the annual performance and publication of the firms widely regardedand often referencedComprehensive National Laboratory Outreach Survey. Prior to joining Chi, she directed laboratory and radiology operations at two of the top academic medical centers in Boston.Dr. Murphy, who has long been an advocate for her alma mater, was also appointed to a three-year term on the Salem State University Foundation Board of Directors in June 2014. A strong believer in giving back to the community, she volunteers at Merrimack Valley Hospice House and serves as a mentor for small businesses, nonprofits, and growth companies through the Enterprise Center at Salem State. President Patricia Maguire Meservey welcomed Dr. Murphy stating: Kathy Murphy has been a wonderful addition to our Foundation Board and I welcome her expertise, commitment, and passion for education as the newest member of our Board of Trustees.Commenting on her appointment by Governor Baker, Dr. Murphy said, I am both honored and proud to serve on the board of trustees for Salem State University. This is my chance to give back to the organization that helped a young woman of very modest means achieve her dreams.Dr. Murphy received her bachelors degree in biology from Salem State in 1975 and her PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Dakota. In addition, she has completed executive coursework at both Dartmouth and the Harvard Business School. Dr. Murphy leads by example and encourages Chis executives and employees to give back to their communities by volunteering, participating in industry initiatives, and mentoring others. Chi promotes employee engagement and empowerment to play a pivotal role in giving back to support building stronger communities.Chi Solutions, Inc. (Chi) is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based, nationally-recognized clinical laboratory consulting and management firm focused on delivering revenue growth, cost savings, and optimized operations for hospitals, health systems, and hospital-owned independent laboratories. Chis expertise and specialty is transforming laboratories into economic engines. As the largest laboratory consultancy, Chi offers the broadest service offerings in the industry including strategic options; laboratory management; outreach growth and management; consolidation and integration;performance enhancement;advisory support in finance, operations, and outreach; benchmarking (Chi IQ); and RVU tools. For more information, visit www.chisolutionsinc.com or contact Chi Solutions, Inc. at 800.860.5454 x 415 or via email at info@chisolutionsinc.com.Salem State University, established in 1854, is a comprehensive, public institution of higher learning located approximately 15 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts. The university enrolls 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 44 states and 61 nations, and is one of the largest state universities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.salemstate.edu. Restaurant launches new loyalty program with big rewards and member benefits Contact Leda Isenhour ***@citybbq.com Leda Isenhour End --Leda IsenhourRegional Marketing Manager, City BarbequeJan 13, 2016 COLUMBUS, OHCity Barbeque announces a new way to reward loyal guests with the launch of its City Rewards loyalty app. The free app is downloadable on the Apple Store or Google Play Store. Anyone who signs up for the app will immediately receive a free drink in the app, a free piece of triple chocolate cake on their second visit, and an extra $5 bonus on their third visit when they use the app. Members who had points or rewards in the old program will keep their balances in the new program, but will need to update their information for security purposes. All members on record through March 31, 2015 will be entered into a drawing to win free barbeque for a year, valued at $250.This new program provides a lot more opportunities for our loyal guests to earn rewards and offers, said Brian Hipsher, VP of Marketing for City Barbeque. It only takes about a minute to sign up and who doesnt love some fresh from the smoker free que?Guests who do not have a smartphone to download the mobile app can sign up for the loyalty program using their home phone number as a way to look up their account at the cash register. All members get a point for every dollar spent, receiving a $5 reward each time they accrue 100 points. There are many other ways to earn rewards, including Double Point Mondays, Facebook sign-up/log-in bonus, friend referrals, and for providing meal feedback.For complete program information and details on signing up, guests can visit www.citybbq.com/ rewards --BBQ--About City BarbequeCity Barbeque provides competition quality barbeque and has more than 100 Kansas City Barbeque Society certified judges throughout their staff. This level of commitment to quality requires meats slow-smoked on site, sandwiches trimmed to order, and scratch made sides and desserts made in the restaurant. Service is a fast casual style. Guests dining-in can enjoy their barbeque in a relaxed environment with great outdoor space when the weather is nice. For those on the go, City Barbeque is also an expert in carry out for office lunches and take home dinners, to large parties and events. City Barbeque believes that great barbeque isnt just about food, its also about community. They have demonstrated their support by giving more than 10% of their pretax profits to non-profits in the community. For more information, visit http://www.citybbq.com Gateway Academy Celebrates National School Choice with A Screening of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Costume Contest, Drone Exhibition, Complimentary ezChildID, Food Trucks & Much More! By: Gateway Academy Contact Gateway Academy ***@gmail.com Gateway Academy End -- Gateway Academy will be hosting aaction packed community event! Open to the public,celebrating National School Choice Week, featuring information on Arizonas Empowerment Scholarship Fund, which allows children with disabilities to attend approved private day schools! The community is invited to aSaturday, January 30, from 11am to 2pm. Families will have a chance to visit the new campus of Gateway Academy, located in the picturesque Phoenix Mountain Preserve at 3939 E Shea Blvd, Paradise Valley, AZ 85028, slated to open in June, 2016.The event will host entertaining and educational activities. Enjoy a viewing ofEpisode IV: A New Hope, special appearances by Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, Darth Vader along with athemed costume contest with a chance to win prizes. A photo booth will be available so guests can take a picture with their favorite Star Wars Character! Las Vegas music sensation: Walk Off Hits will be performing live, along with Drone flying and exhibition by Drone Wars. Enjoy delicious Food Trucks featuring BBQ Pitmaster, Popcornopolis and Ritas Italian Ice!A special highlight of the day will be complimentary ezChildID, courtesy of MassMutual Arizona. MassMutual Arizona is working with local communities to help create a safe environment for our children. The ezChildID program provides parents and guardians with vital information necessary to expedite law enforcement efforts to locate a missing child. ezChildID uses the nations most comprehensive digital fingerprinting child identification system which ensures that it captures all the information required by the Amber Alert System.So stop by, decked-out in your bestcostumes and gear, and celebrate I Choose Gateway Academy for National School Choice Week.is a private K-12 day school specializing in Twice Exceptional students. 2e education is an educational approach backed by 35 years of research and best practices tailored to the unique needs of 2e students. It is a marriage between special education and gifted education a strengths-based, differentiated approach, which provides education support. Gateway is the only private school in the State of Arizona solely specializing in this population, and celebrating over 10 years in the valley. Gateway believes the combination of a safe and supportive environment;a predictable schedule; an integrated curriculum; innovative teaching strategies; and well trained faculty make a significant difference in the lives of the Academys students. For children and teens, Gateway Academy can be the stepping-stone towards independence and success! Located in Scottsdale 9659 N. Hayden Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85258 Phone number is 489-998-1071 Find out more at www.gatewayacademy.us Music Education Franchise Opens Newest Location in Washington By: School of Rock Contact Konnect PR ***@konnect- pr.com Konnect PR End --the leader in performance-based music education, announces the grand opening of its newest school in Issaquah, Washington on Saturday, January 16. The school is located at the Meadows Shopping Center at 1640 NW Gilman Blvd, Ste 1, Issaquah, WA 98027. To celebrate, a grand opening will take place at the school on Saturday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. featuring a live performance by theSeattle House Band, a ribbon cutting and guitar smashing by Mayor Fred Butler, free musical lessons, and a grand prize giveaway of a $500 guitar, courtesy of SweetWater Sound.unique method of teaching has proven to have tremendous success in the musical advancement of students nationwide. The program provides a comfortable, team-centric atmosphere where students develop superior skills in musical performance with the encouragement of both peers and staff.takes students out of the classroom and onstage as they experience the thrill of performing for live audiences. With over 170 locations worldwide,expands its presence in the state of Washington to the rapidly growing suburb of Issaquah.We are pleased to continue thesignificantgrowth ofand expect that adding music to the community will have a positive impact on Issaquah, saidCEO, Dzana Homan. Our local school owners are veterans in the music industry and we are confident they will provide remarkable leadership for students and staff.joins my two greatest passions working with children and music, said General Manager, Tracy Fondren. I am eager to witness the talent that Issaquah has to offer and guide students as they develop their skills and take on the stage.For more information on the school visit schoolofrock.com.###The music school your mom and dad wished they had when they were kids,is an ingenious concept that gets kids and adults rocking out to the classics and up and performing with their peers. With more than 170 locations in nine countries, the franchise proves that rock and roll is here to stay. The Doral Chamber of Commerce proudly welcomes Adalberto Parra, CPA as a Gold Member. Adalberto Parra, CPA Contact Doral Chamber of Commerce ***@doralchamber.com Doral Chamber of Commerce End -- The Doral Chamber of Commerce proudly welcomes Adalberto Parra, CPA as a gold Member. The Doral Chamber of Commerce in partnership with businesses such as Adalberto Parra, CPA will continue to work together towards a common goal building a healthy economy and continuing to improve the quality of life in the City of Doral.Adalberto Parra provides outstanding service to their clients because of their dedication to the three underlying principles of professionalism, responsiveness and quality.Their firm is one of the leading firms in the area. By combining their expertise, experience and the energy of their staff, each client receives close personal and professional attention.With high standards, service and specialized staff spell the difference between their outstanding performance, and other firms. They make sure that every client is served by the expertise of their whole firm.Adalberto Parra, CPA is responsive. Companies who choose their firm rely on competent advice and fast, accurate personnel. They provide total financial services to individuals, large and small businesses and other agencies.To see a listing of our services, please take a moment and look at their services page. Because they get new business from the people who know them best, client referrals have fueled their growth in the recent years.Through hard work, they have earned the respect of the business and financial communities. This respect illustrates our diverse talents, dedication and ability to respond quickly.Their primary goal as a trusted advisor is to be available and to provide insightful advice to enable their clients to make informed financial decisions. They do not accept anything less from ourselves and this is what they deliver to you.Their high service quality and "raving fan" clients are the result of their commitment to excellence.The Doral Chamber of Commerce is a 501 (c)(6) non-profit, community professional service organization, founded in January 2008 by Manny Sarmiento and Carmen Lopez. The Chambers focus since its founding has always been to educate its members with seminars, workshops, networking and other educational events becoming Your Marketing Right Hand.The Doral Chamber of Commerce was created to meet the needs of a thriving business community of small to medium sized companies in Doral and surrounding areas that needed assistance and support in growing their business. After examining our members needs and the current economic environment, we have found that the new e-World, Internet communities, online social relationships and education via the web are the new and best ways to market your business. We provide our members and the business community in general, with networking and educational opportunities in traditional learning and online environments that together enhance the operational, marketing, and business development skills needed for success in todays business world.555 NE 15th St Suite 31GMiami, FL, 33132Phone: (305)979-6923 AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Amazing.com, the leading online education platform for entrepreneurs, rolls out their new monthly membership program today, giving students access to multiple carefully crafted online courses teaching entrepreneurs how to build and grow profitable businesses at only $39 per month. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151006/274653LOGO The Amazing.com membership will include four courses to start, with new courses being added on a monthly basis. In addition to step-by-step, online video lessons, members get all the benefits of the Amazing.com Community, customer support, and more. The first week of the membership is completely free so that anyone can try it out. "We've done a lot of number crunching and have found a way to deliver the same step-by-step online business training at a price just about anyone can afford," said Matt Clark, co-founder and CEO of Amazing.com. "This changes everything. Not just for Amazing.com, but for the business education world and - most importantly - for you." As entrepreneurship and edtech continue to grow, Amazing.com is providing a convenient platform for almost anyone to be able to start or grow a business. The courses in the membership aim to help members increase sales, create additional profit streams, improve operations, secure funding, or even invest the profits from their business. Clark says the goal of this membership program is not only to educate students on business, but also to continually help them build profitable businesses and create lasting wealth that provides financial security for the long term. To kick off this exciting new initiative, Amazing.com is hosting webinars taught by the instructors whose courses are included in the membership subscription. Anyone can register here: http://amazing.com/membership-trial About Amazing.com Founded in 2013, Amazing.com is redefining entrepreneurship by helping people build their own businesses. Offering results-focused training, exceptional business tools, and a strong, supportive online community, the company empowers people from all walks of life to become successful business owners. Amazing.com offers a variety of courses to help every level of entrepreneur, from beginner to veteran, build or boost their business. They achieve this by partnering with proven entrepreneurial business leaders to develop and teach their courses. Amazing.com is headquartered in Austin, Texas where an abundance of technical talent, a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, and access to the world's best barbecue combine for the perfect conditions to drive company growth. For more information about how Amazing.com can help you, visit www.Amazing.com. Related Links http://www.amazing.com SOURCE Amazing.com A female tourist, off the coast of Brazil had a painful encounter with a catfish. Ambulance workers took the photo of the catfish stuck to the womans stomach as they rushed her to hospital so the object could be removed. They cut the fish from her body at the scene, but the serrated spine in its fin had to be taken out with microsurgery to avoid her flesh being ripped out. Marcelo Araujo, who posed the photo on his Facebook page, joked: A rare occurrence. A swimmer is hit by a fish. He added: We were alerted to an incident where an object had penetrated a swimmers stomach and when we got there, we discovered it was a fish. She was in a lot of pain. Generally we deal with people who have stood on fish or have cut a finger touching one, but Ive never seen a catfish stuck to someones stomach. It was definitely a first. Last September, a video went viral of a sunbather getting stabbed in the leg with a catfish during a muck-around with a friend on a beach. One of the bikini-clad women chased the other around with the dead fish before the prank backfired and attached itself to her. The injured woman was concerned she would get a disease. Source:www.mirror.co.uk Now patients across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America can consult licensed physicians by phone, video or text affordably and immediately from the comfort of their own home or office. ATLANTA, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, patients in developing countries can search for and receive expert, highly-specialized care from licensed doctors around the world, by phone, video or text using the innovative Web-based LiveMD platform. Patients can use the site (www.mylivemd.com) to search for doctors by specialty, qualification, language, patient ratings, and location. Then they can communicate directly with those doctors for a nominal fee. Patients in developing countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and India routinely have to travel hours to a hospital or clinic, even for a non-life threatening emergency. Once they arrive they still have to wait for hours, just to talk to a doctor for a few brief minutes, and they pay a very high cost for that consultation. But with LiveMD, they can conveniently speak to a licensed, qualified doctor who gives them their full attention. Plus patients can do it at any time, from the comfort of their home or office, using a phone or computer. As Emeka Okwara, Founder and CEO of LiveMD, explains, "A patient in Lagos, Nigeria can talk to a cardiologist in the United States for the same amount they will spend on a plate of rice." Communication between doctors and patients can be done by phone, video chat, or text, or the patient can schedule a face-to-face appointment if that is preferable. LiveMD connects patients with doctors from the USA, UK, and other parts of the world without incurring any prohibitive long distance charges, and the entire LiveMD platform is localized to support all countries, time zones, and currencies. Payments to doctors can be processed safely and instantly via PayPal with all major credit cards, in more than 200 countries, including developing nations. All patient information is also carefully guarded with robust security protocols to ensure full compliance with HIPAA regulations. Okwara, an accomplished technology executive, has spent almost two decades in the United States leading the delivery of world-class, multi-million dollar tech initiatives for companies including IBM, AT&T, and Delta Airlines. But to him the launch of LiveMD is also based on a personal passion to give back to communities in need. "I was raised in Nigeria," he says, "and while living in the USA I have made significant contributions in industries including telecommunications, health care, and computer technology. Now my mission is to ensure that people living in Africa and other developing countries also have access to the best, state-of-the-art health care." LiveMD is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA but serves patients in developing countries. Licensed doctors wishing to join the LiveMD Global Medical Provider Network and offer medical consultation services to patients may submit applications at the LiveMD Website (www.mylivemd.com). Contact: Emeka Okwara press@mylivemd.com SOURCE LiveMD CALI, Colombia, Jan. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global telecommunications provider Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) announced the expansion of its global data center network with the opening of its newest data center facility in Latin America on December 28, 2015. Located in Cali, Colombia, the new data center meets all of Level 3's Premier Elite data center standards, offering redundant high-density power and cooling systems, multi-tier security and direct connectivity to Level 3's global network. Level 3 operates 17 data centers in 14 key cities and business centers in Latin America, including two Premier Elite data centers in Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Offering high-density power, redundancy, security and scalability, these centers are well equipped to support rising enterprise requirements and applications. Key Facts: The Cali data center will connect to Level 3's global network, with service available in approximately 500 markets in 60 countries. data center will connect to Level 3's global network, with service available in approximately 500 markets in 60 countries. It will offer customers in Valle del Cauca access to Level 3 Cloud Connect Solutions, with private network access to leading cloud services. The data center is located near the Colombian Pacific coast, where Level 3 activated a subsea cable landing station in 2015. Dual-mode secured access systems are available to address security and compliance requirements. About Level 3's Data Center Network: Level 3 operates more than 350 data centers worldwide, divided into Premier Elite, Premier Select and Premier facilities. Level 3's global data center footprint offers a streamlined solution with its direct connectivity to its high-availability global fiber networks, metro market reach and comprehensive services portfolio. Level 3 meets a wide variety of data center demands, ranging from cloud and virtual services to hosting, storage and backup to operating system management. Key Quote: Felipe Gomez Jaramillo, Data Center and Security Director, Level 3 Colombia "We decided to add this data center in Cali because it is the main urban and economic engine for Southwest Colombia. Level 3's fiber optic cable runs undersea for 300 kilometers to the seaport city of Buenaventura on Colombia's Pacific coast and then 154 kilometers over land to the city of Cali making Valle del Cauca an important city for a data center." Key Resources: About Level 3 Communications Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3's comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries across a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. For more information, please visit www.level3.com or get to know us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications, Level (3) and the Level 3 Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and elsewhere. Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Level 3 services are provided by subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Forward-Looking Statement Some statements made in this press release are forward-looking in nature and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Level 3's control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. Important factors that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to: successfully integrate the tw telecom acquisition; manage risks associated with continued uncertainty in the global economy; increase revenue from its services to realize its targets for financial and operating performance; maintain and increase traffic on its network; develop and maintain effective business support systems; manage system and network failures or disruptions; avert the breach of its network and computer system security measures; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; manage the future expansion or adaptation of its network to remain competitive; defend intellectual property and proprietary rights; manage continued or accelerated decreases in market pricing for communications services; obtain capacity for its network from other providers and interconnect its network with other networks on favorable terms; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; successfully integrate future acquisitions; effectively manage political, legal, regulatory, foreign currency and other risks it is exposed to due to its substantial international operations; mitigate its exposure to contingent liabilities; and meet all of the terms and conditions of its debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contact Information Media: Investors: Ashley Pritchard Mark Stoutenberg +1-720-888-5950 +1-720-888-2518 ashley.pritchard@level3.com mark.stoutenberg@level3.com Paula Vivo Latin America +55-11-3957-2424 paula.vivo@level3.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140908/144115 Related Links http://www.level3.com SOURCE Level 3 Communications, Inc. TEL AVIV, Israel, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month, the Brazilian government shut down WhatsApp, effectively limiting the freedom of information to its citizens. Within a couple of days, 269,000 people turned to Hola, a popular VPN service, to continue using the messaging app despite the censorship. WhatsApp had been accused by a local judge of refusing to communicate with a court in a criminal case. After not responding to the court request, the app was ordered to be blocked in Brazil for 48 hours by the telecommunications companies, until the order was overturned by a higher judge 12 hours later. While many Brazilians downloaded alternative messaging apps, such as Telegram, others preferred to rely on VPN services to continue their WhatsApp service. Most VPNs cost between five to ten dollars a month. In a country as Brazil, where the average monthly wage is $778, a VPN approaches 1% of monthly family income, a disproportionate amount of money to spend on such service. VPNs are so expensive because they need to pay for the costly servers through which their users' traffic pass, and they ought to make a profit from it, as well. The reason why hundreds of thousands turned to Hola is probably that the service is free of charge. Hola's peer-to-peer (P2P) nature, in fact, does not rely on any server, so there is no underlying cost of service. Its users surf the internet anonymously by securely routing through other users' computers when these are not in use. Hola is free for non-commercial use only - in the meanwhile, Hola profits from Luminati, the same proxy service offered to businesses for commercial use. This enables Hola to provide the non-commercial service free of charge. Such practice didn't present any issues, until May 2015, when a group of hackers found a series of vulnerabilities in the system, which they exposed on a website called "Adios, Hola!" Multiple media outlets covered the event, claiming Hola was an unsafe solution for VPN users. Users were urged to uninstall the service. A Twitter user shared, "I just saw the news about Hola and had to uninstall it I'm so sad now but what can you do." https://twitter.com/leia_han/status/605772795289550849 Founder Ofer Vilenski released a statement assuring that the vulnerabilities found in the system had been promptly fixed. Shortly after, the company launched a bug bounty program, offering rewards to hackers who could find and report bugs in the application. "Hola became popular so quickly that as we were busy making the technology scalable we had some security oversights on the way," said Vilenski. In the statement, he wrote: "We have since done internal and external security audits, overhauled our security and our internal processes. We have not seen a similar event since, but remain vigilant." Months after the event, Twitter users went back to sharing how useful the service is. Since its launch in 2008, the service has been used by 60 million people in multiple countries to democratize the Web. In March 2014, for instance, surfers located in Turkey installed Hola to access popular social networks Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, blocked by the government after allegations of corruption. For additional information please contact: Sivan Shapira Marketing Director https://hola.org/ SOURCE Hola BEAVERTON, Ore., Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CTL, a manufacturer of innovative 1:1 solutions for education, announced today they have been awarded a contract with the State of Nevada Department of Education to provide a comprehensive education technology package to middle schools participating in the Nevada Ready 21 program. CTL will provide Chromebooks, networking wireless infrastructure, a rich suite of apps and online tools and a robust package of service and support for the Nevada Ready 21 (NR21) program. Approved by the Nevada Commission on Educational Technology in 2014, NR21 is a state-funded, 1:1 digital learning program. NR21 will provide Nevada students an equitable, technology-rich education while supporting educators to create an engaging and personalized learning experience. The initial phase of NR21 targets middle schools, while future phases will target high schools. The CTL NL6 Education Chromebook In June of 2015, the Nevada State Legislature appropriated over $20 million dollars to support the NR21 plan, enabling the state to implement CTL's 1:1 education solution package and begin equipping Nevada students with CTL Chromebooks by fall 2016. Teachers will receive devices late spring 2016 prior to the school roll-out. At that time, they will be provided with opportunities to attend Professional Development training to prepare them for the changes NR21 will bring to schools. Nevada school districts and state-sponsored charter schools can apply for the NR21 Technology Grant Program on behalf of its middle schools by visiting http://www.doe.nv.gov/Boards_Commissions_Councils/Commission_on_EdTech/ "We're really excited about the program we've put together with CTL and can't wait to see what it enables Nevada's students to create. We appreciate CTL's flexibility in working with us to design a great digital learning initiative," said Andy Jorgensen, Program Director for Nevada Ready 21. "CTL has a strong history in education dating back to our 2goPC line of classroom-specific devices, which we introduced in 2009. Today we have four Chromebook models designed specifically for education and CTL is quickly becoming recognized for their Chromebooks and Chrome-related 1:1 Solutions in the US and Europe. We're extremely excited to work with the State of Nevada on this groundbreaking initiative," said CTL President, Erik Stromquist. CTL NL6B Chromebook for Education The CTL student device selected for NR21 is the CTL NL6B Chromebook for Education, a ruggedized Chromebook designed specifically for education, that CTL launched in collaboration with Intel and Google. CTL was among the first to bring this Intel-designed ruggedized Chromebook to market. Unique features include reinforced ports and hinges, non-slip texture, fanless design, anti-peel keys and 180-degree rotating camera with an optional microscope lens. "Intel is pleased to support NR21 by offering access to Intel's educator professional learning resources. We know that providing teachers with excellent professional development is a critical component of any successful education technology program," said Paige Johnson, WW K12 Education Manager at Intel. CTL Teams up with Premier Software Partners to Provide a Complete 1:1 Solution The CTL solution for NR21 is a comprehensive package that includes a robust set of software and apps for education for STEM subjects, classroom management, music, video presentations, cloud-based security and more. CTL has partnered with leading companies such as Google, Intel, NcLab, WeVideo, PocketLab and others to help teachers maximize their classroom technology. NcLab courses help students develop critical thinking, problem solving skills and perseverance by teaching computer programming and 3D modeling - essential 21st century STEM job skills. courses help students develop critical thinking, problem solving skills and perseverance by teaching computer programming and 3D modeling - essential 21st century STEM job skills. WeVideo is a unique cloud-based collaborative video editing service that helps people from all over the world simply create and share great-looking videos. The WeVideo editor is easy enough for first-time editors, and sophisticated enough to help students create a professional-looking video. is a unique cloud-based collaborative video editing service that helps people from all over the world simply create and share great-looking videos. The WeVideo editor is easy enough for first-time editors, and sophisticated enough to help students create a professional-looking video. PocketLab is a science lab that connects to the CTL NL6 Chromebook and fits in a pocket. PocketLab allows students to explore the world and build science experiments using integrated sensors including: Accelerometer; Gyroscope; Magnetometer: Pressure and Temperature. is a science lab that connects to the CTL NL6 Chromebook and fits in a pocket. PocketLab allows students to explore the world and build science experiments using integrated sensors including: Accelerometer; Gyroscope; Magnetometer: Pressure and Temperature. LabCamera by intellisense allows students and teachers to conduct physics, biology and chemistry experiments by using the CTL NL6 integrated camera and the LabCamera App. by intellisense allows students and teachers to conduct physics, biology and chemistry experiments by using the CTL NL6 integrated camera and the LabCamera App. Noteflight is an online music writing application that lets students create, view, print and hear music notation with professional quality, right on their CTL NL6 Chromebook. is an online music writing application that lets students create, view, print and hear music notation with professional quality, right on their CTL NL6 Chromebook. Securly Provides a safe and productive environment for student internet use. Simple Cloud Based Web Filtering with Granular K-12 Policy Management Delivered through the cloud, Securly provides both in-school and take-home filtering through the same admin console. Provides a safe and productive environment for student internet use. Simple Cloud Based Web Filtering with Granular K-12 Policy Management Delivered through the cloud, Securly provides both in-school and take-home filtering through the same admin console. Google Chrome Device Management makes it easy for school IT administrators to deploy and manage users, devices and apps across a fleet of thousands of Chromebooks. makes it easy for school IT administrators to deploy and manage users, devices and apps across a fleet of thousands of Chromebooks. Google Classroom is a new tool in Google Apps for Education that helps teachers create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently and communicate easily with their classes. is a new tool in Google Apps for Education that helps teachers create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently and communicate easily with their classes. Google Apps for Education allows teachers and students to create, share and edit files in real time. Google Apps for Education core services include Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Hangouts and Drive. Professional Development Additionally, CTL will be working with the Nevada Ready 21 program to provide professional development training as part of their 1:1 education solution package. The trainings will be designed to give education professionals timely and relevant information on EdTech tools and resources from experienced educators holding certifications such as Google Certified Educator, Google Certified Administrator and Google Certified Trainer. Both onsite trainings and webinars will be offered as well as regional events such as Google Summits. Wireless Infrastructure CTL is proud to partner with CISCO to provide network hardware and DynTek and Vision Technologies for installation, maintenance and support of networking wireless infrastructure at participating schools. The wireless solution will provide a robust 802.11ac network environment for student and teacher devices to access the wireless network. Robust USA-Based Service and Support CTL's solution will include support for students, teachers, administrators, and technical coordinators provided in a variety of ways to best meet the needs of the user and to best resolve potential incidents. Services will include: RMA component swap Advanced RMA Cross-ship Entire device replacement 2% buffer stock (spares) About CTL Founded in 1989, CTL designs and manufactures computer products including Chromebooks, desktop and mobile workstations, LED Monitors, and high performance servers. CTL also manufactures specialty devices including ruggedized tablets, slates, and digital sign solutions. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon with offices in Asia and Europe, CTL and their partners supply North American consumers, government agencies, and many of the most recognized corporate brands. For more information about CTL, please visit www.ctl.net. To learn more about CTL's role in the Nevada Ready 21 Program, visit http://www.ctl.info/NR21. Press Contact Stephanie Shea, Marketing Manager 971-327-0167 Email Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321743 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321742LOGO SOURCE CTL Related Links http://www.ctl.net MADISON, Conn., Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterpol CAD has interfaced with Total Response CACH, offering their customers access to PowerPhone's higher standard for emergency call handling. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160112/321540 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160112/321541 Enterpol, a subsidiary of Huber & Associates, is an affordable Computer-Aided Dispatch software for 911 call centers and PSAPs. Enterpol's CAD transmits a 911 call's vital details and dispatch priority to first emergency responders. Total Response CACH is a Computer-Aided Call Handling system that helps 911 call handlers handle each call with appropriate protocols and set each call's appropriate dispatch priority. CACH is a powerful component of PowerPhone's Total Response system, which follows proven protocols and questioning methods to empower call handlers to best handle any fire, police or medical emergency call. Total Response also provides significant training and call assessment functions to customers. Total Response CACH has an open API, meaning any CAD can interface with the system. By doing so, Enterpol has extended their CAD's functionality, allowing public safety organizations a seamless flow of data from call pick up through emergency responders' arrival on scene. Interfacing with Total Response CACH compliments Enterpol's commitment to providing the ease of comprehensive technology to any sized agency in an affordable and transparent platform. Enterpol customers who currently use PowerPhone's paper or digital tablet response protocols now have the opportunity to easily upgrade to CACH. Love County E911 (Love County, Oklahoma) is the first customer to utilize the interoperability of both systems. Love County E911 has used PowerPhone's Total Response since February 2014; the upgrade to incorporate the Total Response CACH tool (with Enterpol-enabled functionality) went live on December 1, 2015. At the heart of the Enterpol-PowerPhone partnership is a commitment to providing easy access to software that elevates the quality of emergency services available within communities. Both Enterpol CAD and Total Response CACH are innovative public safety applications that provide real solutions to the challenges and constraints that 911 PSAPs actually face. About PowerPhone: PowerPhone, a 31-year-old privately-held Connecticut corporation, is a leading provider of emergency communications technology, consulting and training. PowerPhone's single-system Total Response approach to emergency communications ensures consistent call handling and the highest standard of care. As the first organization to develop integrated protocols for police, fire and emergency medical dispatch, PowerPhone has helped raise standards for call handling throughout the world. For more information, visit www.PowerPhone.com. Contact: Chris Gaffney, Marketing Manager 203.364.5264 Email SOURCE PowerPhone Related Links http://www.powerphone.com PHOENIX, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Scranton reports that only 8 percent of individuals are successful in achieving their New Year's resolutions each year. Approximately 75 percent of Americans make New Year's resolutions each year. Hastings & Hastings notes that the success rate regarding New Year's resolutions is quite low. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160105/319407LOGO According to the same report, the most popular resolution made each year is to lose weight. Other popular resolutions include getting organized, spending less, reducing stress, quitting smoking, falling in love, and spending more time with family. Hastings & Hastings notes that individuals who make resolutions related to self-improvement see the highest rate of success. Resolutions related to relations are both less common than resolutions related to self-improvement and are achieved more infrequently. The University of Scranton also provides data on successful resolutions in terms of the age of those individuals who achieved them. Individuals in their twenties met with success approximately 39 percent of the time, while individuals over the age of 50 met with success approximately 14 percent of the time. Hastings & Hastings notes that statistics do not predict future behaviors. Rather, statistics should be used as a learning tool. Most New Year's resolutions are abandoned within three months. Hastings & Hastings draws the conclusion that if individuals can make it through the period of time in which the risk of abandonment is the highest, than the chance of success rises dramatically. Hastings & Hastings uses this as an example as a way statistics can be used help improve the chance of success. Concluding, Hastings & Hastings wishes all individuals the best in terms making and achieving New Year's resolutions. About Hastings & Hastings Hastings & Hastings is an Arizona consumer law firm. We are an experienced trial law firm that represents personal injury and wrongful death victims at a Discount Fee. Contact Information Kristy Guell (480) 706-1100 [email protected] http://hastingsandhastings.com SOURCE Hastings & Hastings Blog for the radical environmental and social justice group Clara007 said: Paris Attacks: Muslims Speak Out Against Terrorism Sean Hannity Falsely Claims Muslims "Don't Speak Out Enough" Against Extremism | Research | Media Matters for America Al-Azhar: Islamic State Is Corrupt And "A Danger To Islam." Lebanese paper The Daily Star reported that Al-Azhar's Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, Egypt's highest religious authority, denounced the Islamic State as a threat to Islam and said that the group both violates Sharia law and humanitarian law: "[They] give an opportunity for those who seek to harm us, to destroy us and interfere in our affairs with the [pretext of a] call to fight terrorism." [The Daily Star, 8/13/14] Arab League: "Strongly Denounced" The "Crimes Against Humanity" Carried Out By The Islamic State. On August 11, Nabil al-Arabi, the Arab League Chief, denounced acts committed by the Islamic State in Iraq as "crimes against humanity," demanding that they be brought to justice. According to Al Arabiya News, he said in a statement that he "strongly denounced the crimes, killings, dispossession carried out by the terrorist (ISIS) against civilians and minorities in Iraq that have affected Christians in Mosul and Yazidis." [Al Arabiya News, 8/11/14] Turkey's Top Cleric: Islamic State's Threats Are "Hugely Damaging," "Truly Awful." Turkey's highest ranking cleric, Mehmet Gormez, decried the Islamic State's declaration of a "caliphate" and argued that the statements were damaging to the Muslim community, according to Reuters: Muslims Condemn Terrorist Attacks The RW has lied over and over about Muslims from around the world NOT speaking out against terrorists. Anyone who still believes Sunnis and peaceful Muslims support terrorists is an idiot. Their own people are being tortured, kidnapped, raped, and murdered by terrorists. Why would they support them? I'll play fetch for you:The Daily Star reported that Al-Azhar's Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, Egypt's highest religious authority, denounced the Islamic State as a threat to Islam and said that the group both violates Sharia law and humanitarian law: "[They] give an opportunity for those who seek to harm us, to destroy us and interfere in our affairs with the [pretext of a] call to fight terrorism." [The Daily Star, 8/13/14]On August 11, Nabil al-Arabi, the Arab League Chief, denounced acts committed by the Islamic State in Iraq as "crimes against humanity," demanding that they be brought to justice. According to Al Arabiya News, he said in a statement that he "strongly denounced the crimes, killings, dispossession carried out by the terrorist (ISIS) against civilians and minorities in Iraq that have affected Christians in Mosul and Yazidis." [Al Arabiya News, 8/11/14]Islamic State's Threats Are "Hugely Damaging," "Truly Awful." Turkey's highest ranking cleric, Mehmet Gormez, decried the Islamic State's declaration of a "caliphate" and argued that the statements were damaging to the Muslim community, according to Reuters:The RW has lied over and over about Muslims from around the world NOT speaking out against terrorists. Anyone who still believes Sunnis and peaceful Muslims support terrorists is an idiot. Their own people are being tortured, kidnapped, raped, and murdered by terrorists. Why would they support them? Click to expand... No, they have not outright lied. Many are pointing exactly to the same violence other Muslims condemn but are absolutely terrified to voice their protests too much because of how quickly the world will abandon them when the going gets tough, like we have always done in the past and still do so today. Where we talk past one another, imho... is the lack of emphasis from the left on the same Islamic extremist violence we all are aware of and the fear of coming across as overly harsh on the religion of Islam. The right has no rose colored view of what is occurring in the ME and see the violence for what it is. A war of Islamic extremists against civilizations, including their own. I reckoned that it is because of the left's selective arguments that the right has grown increasingly frustrated with the left and increase their rhetoric to be heard, if not in a positive way, then negative points will have to do.Why would they support them? Hundreds of millions of Muslims don't support the terror groups their religion has spawned. There are no honest statistical figures to rely on, but..... even if only one 1% of Muslims (That is out of 1.5 followers of Islam in the world, rough est.) support terrorists goals pointed out by the right or moderate international leftists, that still translates into at least 15 million Islamic terrorists supporters across the globe and at least a million willing to act on the nihilistic threats of war and mass destruction. Not a figure to sneeze and dismiss.Still no one figures the percentage to be at 1%. A lot of people figure it to be at least 10%, or around 150 million Muslim Islamic terrorists supporters across the globe and 15 million potential terrorist recruits willing to savagely act out the ridiculously violent goals of Islamic extremists. And i am not even counting people from other cultures that sympathize with what Islamic radicals are trying to do. The number for that could likely go up exponentially at least, by a factor of 10. But that is a guess. Residential property landlords in England are being reminded that there is less than a month to go before right to rent rules come into force regarding checking the background of new tenants. The new law means that from 01 February landlords with property in England will have to carry out checks to ensure potential tenants have the right to rent property in the UK. Already they can start to carry out right to rent checks as these can be done from 28 days before the start of a tenancy agreement. Many responsible landlords have already been undertaking similar checks and these are straightforward and do not require any specialist knowledge, said Immigration Minister James Brokenshire. He explained that the Right to Rent rule is part of the governments wider reforms to the immigration system to make it stronger, fairer and more effective. Those with a legitimate right to be here will be able to prove this easily and will not be adversely affected. The scheme is about deterring those without the right to live, work or study in the UK from staying here indefinitely, he pointed out. Right to Rent was first introduced in parts of the West Midlands in December 2014 and the extension to England is the next phase of a UK wide roll out. Landlords, and anyone who sublets or takes in lodgers, could face a financial penalty of up to 3,000 per tenant if they are found to be letting property to someone who has no right to stay in the UK. Stephen Gabriel, strategic manager for homes and communities from Sandwell Council, explained that research done as part of the pilot found that many landlords felt carrying out checks was good practice, and that the new system was simple and easy to follow. There is an online checking tool available on GOV.UK which landlords can use to guide them through the process, and also to request a check on anyone who has an outstanding case with the Home Office. Right to rent checks should be carried out on all adult tenants for new tenancy agreements in England from 01 February 2016. The scheme is backed up by codes of practice which include guidance on avoiding unlawful discrimination drawn up with the assistance of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. We are providing attractive streaming broadcast solutions for the crowdfunding market ... and responding to the growing demand for church communities to effectively broadcast to previously unreachable audiences... Media Moguls Management has announced today the launch of two new digital video channels, Crowd Angels TV and Cyber Church TV, in partnership with FilmOn TV. The channels will be distributed via FilmOn TV's digital platform -- the worlds largest free television streaming site -- with more than 75 million unique visitors generating over 1 billion video streams monthly across nearly 1000 channels broadcasted in 250 countries around the world. Both channels provide powerful branding instruments, said Media Moguls Management founder Larry Witherspoon. We are providing attractive streaming broadcast solutions for the crowdfunding market via Crowd Angels TV and responding to the growing demand for the church communities to effectively broadcast to previously unreachable audiences through mobile apps and Internet streaming live on Cyber Church TV. Crowd Angels TV is positioned as an infomercial channel committed to assisting crowdfunding projects reach their targeted audience and crowdfunding goals to advance their established funding deadlines. Cyber Church TV provides the technology solution for spiritual leaders and ministries desiring to use streaming broadcast technologies to reach a global audience. The Cyber Church TV channel, in association with the Cyber Church Alliance, will also make available the necessary tools, social media resources, technology, mobile apps and streaming solutions for the religion sector. Both channels will operate on a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week schedule. Equity crowdfunding is a growing market, said Witherspoon. Crowd Angels TV provides a built-in audience of potential backers and supporters for this market as companies are looking for greater exposure for their crowdfunding projects. We also see a trend for the religion sector seeking to broadcast their message through non-traditional routes to keep existing members connected and stimulate ministry growth beyond the wall of the traditional church with Cyber Church TV. Stream Crowd Angels TV now at crowdangelstv.com and Cyber Church TV at cyberchurchtv.com. About MEDIA MOGULS MANAGEMENT, LLC Media Moguls Management is a digital media platform solution using branding instruments and branding advocates to reach built-in target audiences. Media Moguls Management currently operates fifteen live 24/7 video channels from its Phoenix, Arizona broadcasting facilities. They have worked with various cities, entities, professional athletes and celebrities who have used the companys platform for access to a built-in audience of supporters, fans and consumers. The channels can be viewed a variety of ways including satellite, Roku, computers, iPads, tablets, internet, mobile apps and mobile devices. About FilmOn TV Networks: Founded by Greek billionaire and media entrepreneur, Alki David, FilmOn is the world's largest free TV service and number one live TV app with more than 75 million monthly unique users from around the globe who access free channels containing licensed, wholly owned and original content across the genres of news, sports, movies, music, food and travel as well as over 45,000 video on demand titles. Its Battlecam.com is a pioneer in social television and the new offering etv.com gives users the ability to monetize their own pay-per-view events for the first time. FilmOn TV is also an Independent TV Broadcaster broadcasting FOTV via Direct TV and on stations in the UK (Sky Channel 237 and Freesat channel 410). Sharegate logo "We want to simplify the lives of people dealing with SharePoint and this goes through all aspects of IT management." - Simon De Baene, CEO Sharegate, the Office 365 and SharePoint Management tool known for its simplicity, recently unveiled a new SharePoint Audit Report available in their desktop app. With this, IT Administrators can now get a complete overview of what users have been up to, including opened files, security changes, deleted content, and much more. While scalability is one of the major perks of the SharePoint platform, it usually comes at a price: it quickly gets hard to keep tabs on everyone and ensure compliance throughout a company's environments. To quote Simon De Baene, Sharegate's CEO, "Building a SharePoint Governance Plan is an important first step toward compliance, but good intentions mean nothing without action. With Sharegate's new Audit Report, admins get invaluable actionable insights on what's going on in the environments they manage." This new feature strengthens Sharegate's position as the must-have management tool for both SharePoint and Office 365. Able to connect to multiple farms simultaneously, it fetches data collected by SharePoint audit log reports to present them in intuitive, ready to use information, that can be filtered by criteria like users or events. "We're widely known for the power and simplicity of our migration, but Sharegate's abilities extend way beyond that! We want to simplify the lives of people dealing with SharePoint and this goes through all aspects of IT management. This new release is precisely about this effort," De Baene added. About Sharegate Sharegate simplifies management tasks for SharePoint, Office 365, and OneDrive for Business for thousands of administrators and IT professionals around the world. A privately-held company based in Montreal, Sharegate is trusted by more than 10,000 organizations. As a leader in its industry, Sharegate lives by the motto: "innovate and keep things simple & fun." For more information, visit http://www.share-gate.com. "Kybella offers our patients a new, non-invasive option for correcting submental fullness and we are excited to start seeing the results. Columbus Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery is pleased to announce that it will be among the first practices in Ohio to offer a new injectable, Kybella, used to correct submental fullness, or double chin. Kybella, released earlier this year, is the first and only injectable drug to be approved by the FDA to improve the appearance of submental fullness. Kybella is comprised of a non-human and non-animal form of deoxycholic acid, a naturally occurring molecule in the body. Acting in a manner identical to your bodys natural deoxycholic acid, Kybella aids in the breakdown and absorption of fat. When injected in the submental area, Kybella works to destroy fat cells. Once the fat cells are destroyed they are no longer able to store fat in that area. Patients that have long been bothered by the appearance of a double chin can now find treatment without undergoing surgery or other invasive options. Before adding any new treatment, the doctors at Columbus Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery make sure to consider its safety. After fully researching Kybella Dr. Tyler Angelos explains why they decided to add the new injectable to their already extensive menu of services: Whenever we are presented with the idea of a new treatment option for our patients, we first look at the need it fills and then consider if it is something we believe can truly help our patients. Kybella offers our patients a new, non-invasive option for correcting submental fullness and we are excited to start seeing the results. Columbus Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery has added Kybella to their growing list of injectable offerings with the hope of helping even more patients achieve their aesthetic goals. To learn more about Kybella, you can visit the manufacturers website http://consumers.mykybella.com/ or contact CAPS today to schedule your consultation. About Columbus Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery Columbus Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery consists of four Ohio based board-certified plastic surgeons: Dr. Timothy Treece, Dr. Susan Vasko, Dr. Robert Heck and Dr. John Wakelin, as well as the newest surgeon, Dr. Tyler Angelos. They specialize in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the face, body and breast. Commonly performed procedures in their Columbus plastic surgery practice includes breast augmentation, tummy tucks, face lifts, liposuction, Botox, and much more. They also offer full service Columbus Medical Spa locations, and a certified laser skin treatment physician, Dr. Christine Edwards. To find out more about cosmetic or reconstructive surgery, laser hair removal, medical spa services or laser skin treatments offered at Columbus Aesthetic & Plastic Surgery, go online to request a consultation today or call 614.420.2711. The physicians and staff look forward to meeting you, hearing your goals and discussing the exciting possibilities. Our fast track branch collection ideally suits their lifestyle with our best travel money deal guarantee and no waiting periodeven for exotic and difficult-to-find currencies A new report by the Office of Rail and Road has revealed a 4.5% increase in UK-based railway travel over 2014/15 with 2.8 billion journeys made total, according to the Evening Standard. With 9 out of the 10 busiest train stations in the UK based in London, foreign currency specialist BestForeignExchange.com alerts commuters of the convenient and competitive travel money rates it offers at all of its London branches5 of which are located right by train stations ranked as busiest in the report. London Waterloo, the busiest train station in the UK, recorded a footfall of 100 million in 2015, while the top 5 stations (all located in London) handled an aggregate of 340 million passengers, as reported by the Evening Standard on 15th December. The list of busiest train stations includes Waterloo, Victoria, Liverpool Street, London Bridge and Charing Cross. London-based currency specialist BestForeignExchange.com has branches located right at the Victoria and Liverpool Stations and Embankment branch at the backyard of Charing Cross while its high street branches of Cannon Street and Strand are based just 10 minutes away from two of the other stations ranked. Furthermore, commuters arent paying an added cost for convenience and easy access; Thomas Exchange Global continually strives to offer the most competitive exchange rates in Londonwith instant availability for over 100 different types of foreign bank notes. We are strategically located in and around all major train stations and are fully aware of the busy schedule of commuters. As such, our fast track branch collection ideally suits their lifestyle with our best travel money deal guarantee and no waiting periodeven for exotic and difficult-to-find currencies, commented BestForeignExchange Senior Manager Trevor Samuel. BestForeignExhange.com does not charge any commission for travel money transactions and offers the widest variety of foreign currencies compared to its competitors. Rail commuters to London from many parts of the country cant wait 24 plus hours to receive travel moneyas is standard with many of the known brand names in Londons foreign currency marketplace. Our ability to readily meet the foreign currency needs of travellers heading to any part of the globe place us well ahead of the competition in London Rail stations, concluded Trevor. About BestForeignExchange.com: Owned and operated by Thomas Exchange Global, BestForeignExchange.com offers the most competitive exchange rates in London and customers that reserve currencies online will be assured the same exchange rate until close of business on the particular day despite any adverse fluctuations. They stock the widest range of foreign currencies in London with over 120 types of foreign bank notes. All foreign currency buy/sell transactions are free of any commission or charges. Thomas Exchange Global also offers International Money Transfer Service where funds can be remitted to overseas bank accounts within one to two days. With commission free service for transfers over 10,000 backed by competitive exchange rates, customers are assured of a better deal and a substantial saving compared to banks and money brokers. Thomas Exchange Global branches are located at Strand, Embankment, Victoria Street, Victoria Place (Victoria rail Station), Liverpool Street, , Wormwood Street, Cannon Street, Canary Wharf, Hammersmith, High Street Kensington and Richmond. IND stands for Innovative New Directions, and back in 2008 we began our own journey. IND Consulting LLC. announces the opening of their sixth and newest data center in Bangladesh. 2015 marked rapid growth for the company, with another data center in Madurai, India having opened earlier in the year. IND Consulting offers high-tech solutions to allow clients to expand business growth. Dennis Sanchez saw an opportunity in 2008: companies were ever more often seeking technology to help them fuel business expansion. With more than two decades of experience in medical records, pharmacy, and regional management, Sanchez felt confident these industries could benefit by partnering with a company that could help them analyze their core operations, and allow them to focus more resources on those operations. Today, the company he started with a few others who shared his vision has grown to one with more than six hundred full-time employees worldwide. We saw a need we thought we could satisfy, said Sanchez, now CEO of IND Consulting. IND stands for Innovative New Directions, and back in 2008 we began our own journey. There have been many mile markers along the way, from the first data center that opened in 2009 in Chennai, India; to the creation later that year of Pharmacist on Demand Services (or PODS focused on supplying licensed pharmacists on short notice); to the opening of Fort Lauderdale based Client Services in 2010. Having Client Services based here in the United States was important for our customers, said Sanchez. That helped us land our first major national customer shortly after we addressed that need. And then we just kept growing Their second data center, in Pune, India opened in 2012, the third data center in Mexico less than a year later, and their fourth data center in the Philippines opened in 2014. Sanchez noted, We had a team of pros that knew healthcare, management, and technology inside and out. The market responded so strongly, all our resources were focused on expanding to serve our clients with as near to perfect execution as was possible. We didnt even have a marketing department until 2014! That singular focus on quality of service was one of the first things on which the new marketing department chose to focus. IND Consulting completely revamped their website in 2015, and one page has a running tally of successful new orders, refills, data conversions, and patient entries executed so farall at a proven 98% rate of perfection. Sanchez reflected, Our real roadmap has always been focusing on customer needs and fulfilling those needs with excellent service. That has brought us this far, and theres a lot more to come in 2016. Even with all our growth over the last seven years-- it feels like the real journey is only beginning. For more information visit http://www.indconsulting.com Actress Michelle Collins presents a cheque to All Dogs Matter "We are very thankful to Animal Friends Pet Insurance for their generous donation and the wonderful support." - Jeremy Hulme, SPANA Animal Friends Pet Insurance has been travelling the UK to give donate to charities in need, such as SPANA, Save the Rhino, Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, Celia Hammond Animal Trust and NOWZAD, with the help of some celebrity guests including soap stars and even a Downton Abbey legend. The first stop on their travels was Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary in Bury, where they co-presented the charity with a cheque for 10,000, with Emmerdale actress and model, Gemma Atkinson. Gemma said: Im a huge, huge animal lover, [Bleakholt] do an amazing job caring for injured, unwanted or sick animals, so theyre doing really, really good in my book[] Thank you so much to Animal Friends for coming up to Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary in Bury, were all very appreciative, thank you. One of the bigger charities on the agenda was Save the Rhino. Representatives from Animal Friends went to their head office in London with 10,000 to present. Save the Rhinos spokesperson said: Wed like to say a huge thank you to Animal Friends Pet Insurance for their recent generous donation of 10,000 to Save the Rhino International. Animal Friends donation will help Save the Rhino tackle the poaching crisis by supporting anti-poaching units in the field, providing veterinary treatment to injured rhinos, raising awareness through community conservation and environmental education schemes as well as supporting initiatives to reduce the demand for rhino horn in Vietnam; a major rhino horn consumer country. On the same day, Animal Friends presented SPANA with a cheque to help them with their global efforts in treating working animals. They too received a cheque for 10,000. Jeremy Hulme, chief executive of SPANA, said: We are very thankful to Animal Friends Pet Insurance for their generous donation and the wonderful support they have given SPANA in recent years. Their donation will make a really major difference, making it possible for our vets to provide significantly more free treatment to working animals in many of the worlds poorest countries. It will also help SPANA to respond quickly to save animals lives in emergencies, as well as improving animal welfare in the long term through teaching and training. Thanks to Animal Friends Pet Insurance, we can continue improving the lives of thousands of animals every year, and protect the livelihoods of the families who rely on them entirely. Animal Friends also visited All Dogs Matter, a dog rehoming charity based in London, with actress Michelle Collins, who co-presented a 10,000 cheque. Michelle said: All Dogs Matter is one of my favourite charities, because I got my dog Humphrey from All Dogs Matter, so its very special to me. Executive Manager, Ira Moss, said: Its a very nice surprise, especially this time of year. Sadly were already seeing a lot of pre-Christmas abandonment. The donation will go towards emergency vet bills and kennelling over the holidays. Last week, the insurance company made a presentation to NOWZAD with the help of legendary actor, and Downton Abbey recurring star, Peter Egan. Meeting charity founder, Pen Farthing, Animal Friends MD Elaine Fairfax handed over the 10,000 cheque with Peter. NOWZAD rehabilitate and rehome dogs in Afghanistan, but they also treat some more unlikely animals, such as a Golden Eagle, recently brought in by its owner who had stolen the egg from the mountains and raised the huge bird, only to find he could not afford to feed it once it reached adulthood. Pen Farthing said: This donation is absolutely fantastic, I cant thank Animal Friends enough for it, its going to make a massive difference to the work were doing in Kabul. Animal Friends has produced videos about several of the charities, including the celebrity cameos, which can be seen on their YouTube channels. For more information about the visits, photos, video footage or quotes, please contact Elena Barnard at press(at)animalfriends(dot)co(dot)uk, or via telephone on 01980 666073. Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF9Tz0suK8QWWpCDIj3Gf8Q Animal Friends: http://www.animalfriends.co.uk About Animal Friends Pet Insurance: Animal Friends is a multi-award winning ethical pet insurance company that supports animal welfare charities all over the world and has donated 2.4 million to animal charities to help improve the lives of animals. Twice-named Pet Insurance Provider of the Year 2015, Animal Friends is one of the UKs leading pet insurance providers. This President will go down as the biggest failure of a President in the History of mankind.Obama Releases Gitmo Prisoner Who PROMISED To Kill Americans AgainBy Robert Gehl - 70 Comments In USOn Monday, Barack Obama released a Guantanamo prisoner who vowed to kill Americans when he gets out.Like most of the Guantanamo prisoners released by Barack Obama, Muhamad Abd al-Rahman al-Shumrani is a violent terrorist who poses a high risk to the United States.But unlike most, al-Shumrani told his captors precisely what he would do if we ever let him go.According to a classified assessment of the detainee, during his stay at Gitmo: Since transfer to [Gitmo], detainee has threatened the guard staff, has preached extremist ideology to other detainees, and has indicated his intent to kill Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan if released.And this is the guy Barack Obama is letting go. Al-Shumrani was flown out to Saudi Arabia yesterday. The kingdom promises to rehabilitate the terrorist.Yeah, right.Al-Shamrani is the fourth Guantanamo detainee released so far this year, Breitbart is reporting. On January 6th, Al Qaeda-linked detainees Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalif Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby were released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center. On January 8, Faez Ahmed Al-Kandari, another Al Qaeda-linked detainee who was suspected of working as a jihadi recruiter and expert propagandist, was released.By the end of the month, it is expected nine more detainees will be released. That leaves 102 captives left, according to reports. But not for long. The Obama Administration seems hell-bent on releasing everyone, whether or not they pose a high risk to the United States. And al-Shamrani certainly did.According to leaked military documents, Al-Shimrani is an Al Qaeda recruiter who may have served as one of Osama bin Ladens personal bodyguards. He was deemed to pose a high risk against the United States.If released without rehabilitation, close supervision, and means to successfully reintegrate into his society as a law-abiding citizen, it is assessed detainee would immediately seek out prior associates and reengage in hostilities and extremist support activities at home and abroad, said part of his file.Obama is expected to bring up Guantanamo during his State of the Union address Tuesday. Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough said Obama feels obligated to close the detention facility so the next president wont have to be confronted with the same set of challenges.Just brand new challenges, right, Mr. President? Like how to capture or kill all those terrorists you released to attack us again. Reimagining the way we connect. We have been able to leverage Instaplys technology to streamline the way we do business and to enhance our customer service, giving our company the competitive edge we were seeking. Instaply will be previewing its TaaS (text as a service) Business Solution that allows companies and consumers to easily and directly communicate via text anywhere, anytime and on any device. Instaplys cloud-based, white label, easy-to-implement technology enables companies to reimagine the way they do business and enhance the way they provide the customer service experience. Companies are able to increase productivity, lower costs, and, ultimately, gain a competitive advantage. Founder and CEO, Fabien Degaugue, says: Our success has proven the transformative power of TaaS in business, and has prepared us well to further grow Instaply within the retail market. Our U.S. customers have already begun to reap the benefits of implementing our TaaS Business Solution seeing significant improvements in customer satisfaction and lower operating costs. Cole Hardware, one of Instaplys first U.S. customers, is widely expanding its use of TaaS throughout the company, due to its initial results. Rick Karp, President of Cole Hardware, says: We have been able to leverage Instaplys technology to streamline the way we do business and to enhance our customer service, giving our company the competitive edge we were seeking. Instaply executives will be demonstrating their exciting TaaS Solution at this years NRF Big Show from January 17-20 in New York City. Come visit them at booth #918. http://bigshow16.nrf.com/ Creating Insight Through Location Technology Geometri, LLC, a technology spinoff of Geographic Information Services, Inc. (GISi), has been acquired by Acuity Brands, Inc., a world leader in providing indoor and outdoor lighting and energy management solutions. GISi provides customer driven location technology solutions to federal, state and local governments, and commercial organizations. Dale Dunham, Chairman and Founder GISi praised the acquisition: For years the location community has dreamed of a unified world, where technology seamlessly integrates the built and natural landscapes. Acuity Brands provides the last piece of that puzzle; intelligent buildings designed to support indoor navigation, emergency response and facilities management. They are truly the buildings of the future, where networked lighting is so efficient that it literally pays for the context awareness essential for extraordinary customer experiences. As an Acuity Value Added Reseller (VAR), we look forward to providing these advanced tools to our customers with the energy efficiency required by todays competitive environment, said Dunham. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Acuity Brands has operations throughout North American, Europe, and Asia. Acuity is very excited to partner with GISi as a value-added reseller of our comprehensive software and service platform for mapping, navigation and analytics. GISi brings 25 years of location technology service experience and excellent industry recognition in key verticals such as office buildings, shopping malls, logistics centers, college campuses and healthcare. This exciting partnership will provide our customers with a holistic solution that allows them to connect with their customers in real time with unprecedented accuracy and to make powerful decisions utilizing data analytics, said George McIlwraith, SVP Sales, Acuity Brands Lighting. GISi is an employee owned company located in Birmingham, Alabama, with offices throughout the United States. GISi has a passion for delivering customer driven location technology solutions to federal, state and local governments, and commercial organizations. For more information please visit http://www.gisinc.com, or call (205) 941-0442. Data is now driving progress in the fleet industry. With this, a wealth of opportunity has arisen in the fleet space with 3rd party data integration and new data mining and analysis techniques, lighting the path to a far more efficient fleet. Couple this with advances in ADAS and autonomy, that are dramatically increasing safety, and the opportunities for expansion into the leasing, rental and LCV markets, its clearly an exciting time to be in the connected fleet industry. But with all these new developments comes a host of new challenges, with data privacy and data access now an increasing concern. The Connected Fleets Europe event will explore these challenges and opportunities in detail to enable technology providers to align their solutions with the fleet markets latest requirements. The full speaker line-up and agenda so far has been released this week on the website. http://www.tu-auto.com/fleeteurope/ Jamie Muir, Project Director at TU-Automotive said Connected Fleets Europe is the most established conference dealing with connectivity in the fleet industry. With such a vast amount of change set to befall the industry, its now more important than ever to look to the future of connected fleets and thats just what well be doing this year in Amsterdam. The Challenges facing the Connected Fleet Industry TU-Automotives independently researched topics for the event include: The Data Challenge: Monetise connected fleet data through 3rd party integration whilst applying advanced analytics to uncover and fully utilise data sets Creating a Connected Efficiency System: Connect data from all aspects of the vehicle for a holistic vehicle efficiency system Rental, Leasing and LCVs: Explore the connectivity needs of the biggest growth sectors in the fleet industry. The Future of deliveries: Understand how innovations in delivery tech. will integrate with the future fleet. ADAS TO Autonomy: Look at how autonomous systems such as AEB are already brining about a safer, more efficient fleet Expert speakers will take to the stage in front of 200+ senior-level attendees. Speakers include Scania, Thatcham Research, Leaseplan, Continental and Hertz amongst 30+ others. See the full agenda and speaker line-up on the website: http://www.tu-auto.com/fleeteurope/ A 400 launch discount is available till the end of the week, Friday 15th January. Register on the website: http://www.tu-auto.com/fleeteurope/register.php About TU-Automotive TU-Automotive is a world leader in providing events and business intelligence to the automotive technology community, covering telematics, auto mobility, autonomous vehicles and legal & insurance. You can sign up to receive free weekly updates, including exclusive industry analysis, interviews and insights at: http://www.tu-auto.com Contact: Jamie Muir Project Director | TU-Automotive 7-9 Fashion Street, London, E1 6PX, UK Office: +44 (0)20 7375 7516 | (USA Toll Free) 1 800 814 3459 ext 7516 Email: Jamie(dot)muir(at)tu-auto(dot)com Lawyer Carlos Meoro, whose Spanish firm partners with Alonso & Haro, represented a couple from (town), who invested offplan in a failed Spanish property development in Jumilla in 2005. The case, which went to court last month, set a new legal precedent and the couple fully recovered their deposits totaling euros 50,000, Mr. Meoro explains: Prior to this ruling, buyers who had backed the voluntary suspension of payments and had signed an agreement with the builder were not able to recover their money through the bank guarantees. This ruling backs the right of off-plan property buyers whose money was transferred into a builder's specified bank account, to have all their deposits refunded - regardless of whether they had a bank guarantee or not. At the Jumilla development alone around 1,500 investors, mostly British, could now recover all their deposits. However, Mr Meoro warned that this might be a short-lived window of opportunity for claimants, as he believes the situation may change yet again in January 2016. He continues: "The judges have ruled that this right should be guaranteed through law 57/68 instead of through the Spanish Civil Code and they have changed the interpretation of the law to benefit consumers. However, law 57/68 will be replaced in January by law 20/15, which will limit the rights established this year by the court precedents. I anticipate that the new law will give more protection to the banks and insurance companies, at the cost of the consumer. Mr and Mrs Raynor who purchased a villa on the Almanzora Country Club development had almost given up on recovering their lost deposits after 10 years of waiting. Mrs Raynor told us Like lots of other people, my husband and I assumed we had lost a large sum of money from our intended purchase, because it was not covered by a bank guarantee. Within a few months of instructing Alonso & Haro Solicitors S.L and Meoro Aviles Abogados to act on their behalf a substantial part of the funds were refunded back to their bank account, with the rest pending the result of a separate case. Mrs Raynor continued. The Alonso and Haro jointly with the Meoro Aviles Abogados team have been emailing and phoning my husband and I throughout the process and we are extremely grateful to them for acting on our behalf. They work in a very professional but personal and friendly manner and are very good in explaining the process. Pilar Alonso, managing director at Alonso & Haro Solicitors said. Clearly this ruling is great news for many people who believed there was no hope of recovering their deposits. Working with our offices in Spain we have continually put pressure on the Spanish banks to secure a string of victories in the Spanish Courts, much to the delight and relief of our clients here in the UK. However, we are concerned that the outlook may change in the new year and would urge people who find themselves in this situation to get in touch as soon as possible. British investors wanting to pursue a claim or to discuss any Spanish property issues should contact Pilar Alonso on 01204 328460 for an initial discussion or visit http://www.ah-solicitors.com In quick time, Scott has helped shine a bright light on the customer acquisition services Inside Ventures provides to the market. Inside Ventures is pleased to name Scott Shedeck as the Director of Business Development. Mr. Shedeck has previous worked with the companys Inside Response brand with great success. In his new role, Mr. Shedeck will be leading national business development efforts for both the Inside Response and Inside Academics brands. Prior to his new, dual role at Inside Ventures, Mr. Shedeck had a successful term with QuinStreet as a Senior Manager in the insurance and financial services verticals with a focus on client strategy and business development. In quick time, Scott has helped shine a bright light on the customer acquisition services Inside Ventures provides to the market. We are excited to have him representing both our Inside Response and Inside Academics brands, said Trevor Nohe, President of Inside Ventures. About Inside Ventures Overland Park, KS based Inside Ventures is a portfolio of companies including Inside Response, Inside Academics, and Alarm Advisors whose mission is to help large brands scale customer acquisition efforts. We specialize in building cost-effective campaigns in education, insurance (term & permanent life, health & senior/Medicare, auto & home, final expense), annuities, and home security. Inside Ventures' Solutions for Direct Marketers: Brand Sales: Our Brand Sales division specializes in direct-to-consumer sales for some of the largest brands in home services Contact Force: As an extension of your sales channels, our Contact Force designs marketing campaigns for insurance, education, and home service brands Demand Generation: Driving demand and educating consumers on your brand is accomplished through several mediums including television, radio, direct mail, SEO/SEM/PPC, display, email and social media Lead Revitalization: We collaborate with our partners to create a robust follow up strategy to recapture consumers that would otherwise slip through the cracks Media Planning: We work with our clients to provide media planning services that meet their unique needs- based on the people, systems, and messaging that fits their sales model Please visit http://www.insideventures.com for more information. The product assortment features a number of bar sizes and pack types including count goods, mini bars in standup pouches, a boxed chocolate line and large format and premium nut bars, said Colette Schilling, COO Chocolat Frey North America. Chocoholics rejoice! The luxurious, fine Swiss chocolate once only available overseas, announces availability in North America beginning February 2016. Steeped in tradition since 1887, Switzerlands favorite chocolate brand, Chocolat Frey, offers authentic Swiss-made confectionery products, delivering the distinctive and indulgent flavors unique to European chocolates. The Chocolat Frey brand is the market leader among Swiss chocolate manufacturers and these items are exclusively manufactured in Switzerland following a bean to bar process. Chocolat Frey will introduce Swiss Premium Chocobloc Bars and Chocobloc Mini Bars, Swiss Chocolate & Premium Nut Bars, and an Artfully Crafted Swiss Praline Box Assortment. The product assortment features a number of bar sizes and pack types including count goods, mini bars in standup pouches, a boxed chocolate line and large format and premium nut bars, said Colette Schilling, COO Chocolat Frey North America. The nut bars are unique to the U.S. market, as they have more than 25 percent nut content. Additionally, Chocolat Frey plans to launch a line of semi-solid milk chocolate Easter Bunnies packed in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) shells with metallic finishes. The bunnies come in 2 different sizes and in 3 different colors: 1.9oz & 6oz, who are named Sunny, Funny and Lucky, with SRPs of $3.59 and $7.99. Swiss Premium Chocobloc & Chocobloc Mini Bars The unique shape of the chocobloc bar is reminiscent of the Swiss Alps. Offered in a variety of flavors and mixed with almond-honey nougat. Swiss Chocolate & Premium Nut Bars Containing more than 25% nuts and made with authentic Swiss chocolate these bars come in 3 varieties: milk, dark and blond. Artfully Crafted Swiss Pralines A distinctive box perfect for gifting and sharing with 22 pieces of artfully crafted premium Swiss confections. Swiss Chocolate Bunnies These delicious Bunnies come in attractive, bright and colorful packaging, complete with their own names and fun personalities. The brand will support the North American launch with a national advertising print campaign, digital initiatives and consumer sampling events. For more information, visit http://www.sweetworks.net. About Chocolat Frey: Chocolat Frey AG is a company of M-Industry that belongs to Migros and is the market leader among Swiss chocolate manufacturers. The company was founded in 1887 and for more than 125 years has been a major contributor to the development of today's Swiss chocolate expertise. In collaboration with the non-profit organization "UTZ Certified," Chocolat Frey AG is committed to the sustainable, socially acceptable, and environmentally responsible growing of cocoa. About SweetWorks: In 2014, Chocolat Frey USA Ltd, headquartered in Buffalo, NY, acquired a majority share of SweetWorks Confections LLC. SweetWorks was founded in 1956 by John and Angela Terranova as Niagara Candy in Buffalo, New York. In 1998, Philip Terranova, the current President, founded Oak Leaf Confections and acquired its production facility in Toronto. In 2002, the companies were combined under SweetWorks. SweetWorks offers a variety of chocolate and chewing gum products under the following brand names: Sixlets, Celebration by Frey, Oak Leaf, Ovation by Frey and Niagara Chocolates by Frey. (http://www.sweetworks.net). cStor, a leading provider of data center, cloud and intelligent video surveillance solutions, announced today it was awarded vendor status on the State of New Mexicos procurement contract for intelligent video surveillance solutions. The new procurement vehicle gives State-run facilities access to expert video surveillance consulting services as well as a simplified hardware and software purchasing option. Other government entities around the state, such as city and county facilities, will also have access to cStor purchasing and consulting services through the new contract. Were excited to become a supplier for the State of New Mexicos video surveillance needs, commented Steven Davis, intelligent video surveillance practice lead at cStor. Having more choice and access to expertise will help state facilities find cost-effective solutions that best meet their unique needs as they work to modernize systems while improving and expanding capabilities. As many government entities and businesses seek new ways to use technology to mitigate evolving threats and better monitor staff and visitors, moving from analog to digitalor IP-based technologyhelps them more efficiently store, manage and convert video data into valuable assets. Digital technology can also help lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and improve ROI by speeding analysis and file recovery in the event of an incident. For government entities, the ability to improve capabilities while lowering costs means they can focus more resources on improving customer service to the public. To reach the cStor New Mexico office for more details, contact Ryan Sierra at (505) 288-3884 or ryan.sierra(at)cstor.com. For more information on cStors Intelligent Video Surveillance practice, contact Steven Davis at (303) 475-9406 or steven.davis(at)cstor.com. About cStor cStor helps companies strategize, create, and implement data center, cloud and intelligent video solutions that help clients use IT to enable business transformation, reduce costs and gain competitive advantage. cStors proven capabilities with best-of-breed data center, cloud and video technologies give clients the ability to collaborate with certified experts, and the confidence to move business forward faster and more efficiently than ever before. cStor serves clients across the southwest region with a focused, collaborative approach and superior results. For more information, visit http://www.cstor.com. Frazier & Deeter is proud to have each of these accomplished professionals become part of our partnership team. Their expertise and dedication to their clients make them assets for the firm as we continue to expand our client base on a nation scale. Frazier & Deeter, a nationally ranked CPA firm, is pleased to announce that four members of the firm have been named to Partner. Heather Mullins, Bryce Nations, Monique Quindsland and Jason Sammons were elected to partner based on their contributions to the firm. Mullins and Quindsland are partners in the Audit Practice, Nations is a partner in the Tax Practice and Sammons is a partner in the Process, Risk & Governance Practice. Frazier & Deeter is proud to have each of these accomplished professionals become part of our partnership team, said Seth McDaniel, Managing Partner of Frazier & Deeter. Their exceptional skills, expertise and dedication to their clients make them assets for the firm as we continue to expand our client base on a national scale. Heather Mullins, brings more than 23 years of public accounting experience to the firm and is one of the leaders of the firms Healthcare Practice. Heather specializes in assisting clients with development of policies and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, as well as performing and managing financial statement reviews and audits and other attestation engagements. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Marshall University. Bryce Nations, CPA, CFP, has twelve years of experience in public accounting and is one of the leaders of the firms Closely Held Businesses Service Group. He specializes in working with high net worth individuals and various flow-through business types. Bryce has significant experience in the real estate industry where he focuses his attention on tax planning to mitigate the tax effects for various taxpayer transactions, structuring and executing multi-state, tax-deferred real estate exchanges, handling multi-state tax compliance and real estate debt workouts. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The University of Mississippi, his Masters of Business Administration, with a focus in Finance and Accounting, from Kennesaw State University and his Masters in Taxation from Georgia State University. Monique Quindsland, CPA, has over 15 years of experience and is one of the leaders of the firms Employee Benefit Plan Audit Group providing audit, consulting, and 5500 preparation services. Monique also specializes in audits, consulting, and other attestation engagements in the Real Estate and Hospitality industry. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration and a Masters of Accountancy from the University of Georgia. Jason Sammons, CPA, CIA, has over 15 years of experience and is one of the leaders of the firms Process, Risk & Governance Practice. Working with a variety of public and private companies, Jason provides leadership and expertise to clients in areas such as Internal Audit outsourcing and co-sourcing, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, IT audit, governance and risk advisory, and SOC reporting (formerly SAS 70). He is highly skilled in the design and implementation of balanced and practical risk-based solutions for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes, implementing risk management and internal control programs, and enhancing governance practices. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Furman University and a Masters in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. About Frazier & Deeter Frazier & Deeter is a nationally recognized CPA and advisory firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm provides tailored services across a wide range of tax, audit, accounting and advisory needs to achieve each client's unique financial goals. Frazier & Deeter has been named one of the 2015 top Accounting Firms to Work For, the 57th largest CPA firm and one of the Fastest Growing CPA firms among the top 100 firms in the U.S. by Accounting Today magazine. Frazier & Deeter has also been named a Best of the Best CPA firm by INSIDE Public Accounting nine times. Cforia Software, a world leading provider of Order to Cash (OTC) and Accounts Receivable (A/R) Integration and Collaboration Automation Software, announced today a formalized partnership with Billtrust, the premier provider of Payment Cycle Management solutions. The two companies share a common goal in helping businesses release working capital tied up in OTC systems and processes across multiple systems of record, business units and industry segments. Cforia increases a companys productivity and efficiency with a complete A/R automation suite focused on OTC functionality with Real-Time Database Integration, Credit, Collections and Deductions Workbench, A/R Collaboration Portals and Executive Dashboards and Analytics. Billtrust works with thousands of businesses to automate and accelerate their invoice-to-cash process. The company is committed to helping drive the highest rates of electronic adoption in the industry, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction and key payment metrics such as days sales outstanding (DSO). We share a common goal with Billtrust, which includes an unwavering commitment to increase the efficiency of our client's order to cash systems and processes,"said Chris Caparon, COO and VP of Professional Services at Cforia Software. "The combined capability of Cforia and Billtrust's business solutions and services delivers our customers new order to cash capability within North America. The Cforia / Billtrust business partnership provides clients an integration platform enabling strategic access to working capital data distributed across complex multi-ERP environments, helping them in the acceleration of identification, conversion and application of invoice payments into cash quickly and efficiently. Payments made/received through client payment portals are matched and closed within the Cforia A/R Workbench utilizing Billtrusts premier cash application automation technology. "There is a natural synergy between Cforia and Billtrust. Both products work to help clients optimize and automate order to cash methods, said Billtrusts VP, Business Development,Pat Amaral. "It is imperative that companies today focus on releasing working capital tied up in inefficient and manual finance and accounting functions.. About Billtrust Billtrust is the premier provider of Payment Cycle Management solutions, helping businesses accelerate invoice-to-cash. By integrating the three key areas of the payment cycle: invoice presentment, invoice payment, and cash application, Billtrust is committed to delivering a flexible solution to improve buyer satisfaction and DSO. In 2014, the Billtrust invoice-to-cash solution processed over $250 billion in receivables for leading companies including Kraft Foods, Under Armour, Estes Express and CDW. For more information, visit Billtrust at http://www.billtrust.com. About Cforia Software http://www.cforia.com Cforia (http://www.cforia.com) is a global enterprise software provider, delivering industry leading working capital and accounts receivable (A/R) automation software. Over 230 enterprises are managing $240 billion in run-rate A/R portfolios with Cforia today. Its fifteen years of success have been driven by superior technology integrated with proprietary real-time data integration tools across complex and disparate ERP systems. Cforia Collections Snapshot(SM), Credit Risk Analytics, Order Management, Clean vs. Dirty Receivables Tracking, multi-languages/currency, global Parent/Child risk roll-up and multi-business unit solutions are available in Hosted on On-Site delivery. The comprehensive Cforia software suite maximizes A/R performance through a full software suite which includes OCR Auto Cash Application, Credit, Collections and Deductions Management Workbench, Electronic Billing and Online Payments and A/R Collaboration Portal. Cforias A/R Automation empowers Finance Departments to independently manage their own electronic dunning correspondence, reports and credit and collections business logic, without relying on overburdened IT staff and external resources. Contact: Bradley Palmer Email: BPalmer(at)Cforia(dot)com Phone: (818) 483-0089 Website: http://www.cforia.com Critical to the success of the #123forEquity campaign is endorsement and support from organizations committed to the elimination of health care disparities. InDemand Interpreting, a leading provider of language access and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) within Healthcare, endorses the American Hospital Associations (AHA) #123forEquity Pledge to Act to Eliminate Health Care Disparities. By endorsing #123forEquity, InDemand continues its commitment to ensuring high standards of care, regardless of language, cultural background or disability. The #123foEquity campaign builds on the National Call to Action to Eliminate Health Care Disparities launched in 2011 by the AHA, American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Americas Essential Hospitals, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Catholic Health Association. To meet the changing needs of their communities, hospitals and health systems are working hard to make sure that every individual receives the highest quality of care, said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. To achieve that goal as our nation becomes increasingly diverse, it is imperative that we redouble our efforts to identify and eliminate disparities in care. The Equity of Care initiative is focused on making progress in three areas that provide the greatest opportunities to increase the equity of care by: 1) Increasing the collection and use of race, ethnicity and language preference data; 2) Increasing cultural competency training; and 3) Increasing diversity in leadership and governance. We are thrilled to endorse the #123forEquity pledge, supporting our vision to help our health care partners deliver the highest quality health care, regardless of language, cultural background or disability, said InDemand Chairman and CEO Cecil Kost. Critical to the success of the #123forEquity campaign is endorsement and support from organizations committed to the elimination of health care disparities, said Tomas Leon, President and CEO of the Institute for Diversity in Health Management, an affiliate of the AHA. With their endorsement, InDemand has exemplified an organization that is dedicated to the delivery of culturally competent health care. About The Institute for Diversity The Institute for Diversity in Health Management, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, works closely with health services organizations and educators to expand leadership opportunities for ethnic minorities in health services management. The Institutes mission is to increase the number of minorities in health services administration to better reflect the increasingly diverse communities they serve, and to improve opportunities for professionals already in the health care field. To accomplish this, the Institute has designed several initiatives to generate significant long-term results through educational programs, summer internships, professional development and leadership conferences. About InDemand Interpreting InDemand Interpreting was founded in 2007 with the vision of ensuring that every patient receives the highest quality healthcare, regardless of language, cultural background or disability. By delivering the most experienced medical interpreters and highest quality video technology InDemand Interpreting provides doctors, nurses and clinicians the language access they need to provide the best possible care. Visit InDemand at http://www.indemandinterpreting.com ### JANUARY 4, 2016Tho BishopSenator Rand Paul published an op-ed on Business Insider this past Sunday attacking the easy money policy of the Bernanke-Yellen Federal Reserve and continuing his call for a full audit of the central bank. Along with criticizing Senator Ted Cruz's recent endorsement of the view that the Fed was guilty of being too tight with monetary policy during the financial crisis, Senator Paul demonstrates a sound Austrian understanding of how an expansion of the money supply benefits those who first receive the new funds at the expense of everyone else:The reason for this is simple: big banks, corporations, and government entities receive the Feds newly-created money long before anyone else, and they bid up the prices of goods before the rest of us can get to purchasing them.The side effect of this uneven distribution of money is painfully apparent to many at the grocery store. Over the past 15 years, the price of white bread has increased by over 50 percent, while the price of eggs has more than doubled.Last June, Carmen Elena Dorobat made a similar point connecting monetary policy to growing income inequality:Money is not neutral, either in the short run or in the long run, because there is no separation between the structure of prices in an economy and the value of the monetary unit. They are two sides of the same coin. Easy money ripples through the structure of prices gradually and unevenly, with prices rising at different times and to different extents, and during this sequential process, those who receive the money first are benefited at the expense of those who receive the money last. Were it not for technological progress or globalization, this inequality would likely be much higher. Most importantly, these changes in the social distribution of wealth are never made up for, especially not by the aggregate boon of job creation or fiscal redistribution. These further redistributions only compound the initial shifts in wealth, but can never compensate them. Last but not least, therefore, if inequality is to be of any concern to any kind of policy, it is monetary policy. Its really simple, seamless and saves timea commodity that a lot of busy sales and marketing professionals don't have," says Henry Schuck, CEO of DiscoverOrg. DiscoverOrg, a leader in sales intelligence, released a new version of its Google Chrome Extension that synchronizes users online searches and browsing activity with instant company insight and accurate sales prospect information. As sales, marketing and staffing professionals browse websites and research companies online, the Chrome extension pulls sales intelligence data straight from the DiscoverOrg platform and displays company contacts, technologies and triggers. Rather than logging into the database, our customers can quickly access company intel while they search online, says Henry Schuck, CEO of DiscoverOrg. Its really simple, seamless and saves timea commodity that a lot of busy sales and marketing professionals dont have. The extension automatically retrieves sales intelligence from DiscoverOrg and then displays data in a small, easy-to-navigate widget in the top right corner of the browser tabeliminating the need to log into the platform and run specific searches. Users can highlight page text or keywords related to prospects they are researching and initiate a search query within the DiscoverOrg database. The Details tab shows company descriptions, addresses, phone numbers and websites. The Contacts tab includes the names, titles, direct-dial phone numbers, verified email addresses and office locations of key personnel. Users can also add leads to Salesforce and visit prospects LinkedIn profiles directly from the extension. The Technologies tab features current applications, databases, telecommunications tools, customer relationship management systems and other platforms the company is using. The Triggers tab gives insight into corporate projects, initiatives, leadership changes and other activities. Company profiles allow users to view a full organizational chart or org chart of the IT, marketing, finance or product development departments. Our team does the manual research and reports the data so people can focus on what they do best Sales, marketing or staffing, says Schuck. DiscoverOrg platform users can add this extension for free in the Google Chrome Web Store. The DiscoverOrg Chrome Extension was initially released in 2014. The updated version has a new user interface design and performs at a faster speed. For more information, read The Ultimate Google Chrome Extension to Power Up Prospecting. ### About DiscoverOrg DiscoverOrg is the leading sales and marketing intelligence tool used by the top technology vendors, staffing companies and consultants targeting IT, Finance, and Marketing departments of Fortune-ranked, MidMarket, and SMB companies in North America and Europe. Offered in the form of a constantly refreshed database, DiscoverOrg specializes in mapping out the org charts, including verified email addresses, direct-dial phone numbers, reporting structure, new projects & initiatives, and technology installed base. Each of the decision makers in the DiscoverOrg database are updated and refreshed by the companys team of in-house researchers at least once every 90 days, enabling customers to reach the right person at the right company with the right message. For more information, please visit http://www.discoverorg.com. School children enjoying guitars donated by Little Kids Rock. Thursday's press conference in Philadelphia will provide an opportunity to meet with executives from BeachGlow and Little Kids Rock. On Thursday morning at 10 oclock, BeachGlow: Concerts for Charity and Little Kids Rock will hand-deliver brand-new musical instruments to Franklin Learning Center, which is among the first of several need-based Philadelphia public schools to receive a unique and comprehensive new music program as they face challenges amidst diminishing budgets. The donation comes from Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit organization serving more than 215,000 children with music education, and made possible by funds raised by BeachGlow, a national nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness and funds for youth-related causes through music festivals. Representatives from both organizations will present the instruments to the students and teacher in the high school classroom, where BeachGlows 20-year-old founder and CEO Dane Kunkel will speak to the students about how he pursued his mission to educate a new generation of charitable giving by forming his company as a high school student, himself. Kunkel and members of the BeachGlow team will join Little Kids Rock in augmenting the Modern Band music program at Franklin Learning Center by delivering an electronic drum kit, two Epiphone Les Paul electric guitars, three acoustic guitars, 10 music stands, two wireless microphones and four microphone stands to add to the 15 keyboards, one bass guitar and amp and other accompanying resources previously donated by Little Kids Rock. Each year BeachGlow, the all-volunteer and only nonprofit dance music concert producer in the nation, selects a worthy charity to be the beneficiary at its annual beach music festival, which raises tens of thousands of dollars. Past beneficiaries include Harmony Ministries in Haiti, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the American Red Cross. The beneficiary of 2015 and 2016 is Little Kids Rock. BeachGlows 2015 summer music festival in Atlantic City was cut short due to dangerous weather, but Kunkel remains dedicated to helping Little Kids Rock, which uses the funds raised to donate instruments, popular music curriculum, and training to public school teachers in the area. Last years festival resulted in new music programs for two Atlantic City public schools and eight Philadelphia public schools. I am so excited to extend and expand our positive impact on kids lives through music, says Kunkel. Our mission at BeachGlow is to use the power of music to raise awareness among young people about important social issues and causes and to raise funds for charities that directly affect youth. Little Kids Rocks mission is to make sure all kids have this powerful medium music -- available to them in school. Kunkel, his family, and staff whom are all volunteer will feature Little Kids Rock in its year-long promotions, and at the beach-based summer music festival. Through this partnership, BeachGlow will help Little Kids Rock unlock kids inner music-makers and inspire them to live rich, purposeful lives. We are so grateful to be the charity beneficiary of BeachGlow: Concerts for Charity once again, says Little Kids Rock founder and CEO, David Wish. It will be a very special moment when Dane gets to literally deliver the gift of music to Philadelphia public school students that could really use the support! WHERE: Franklin Learning Center, 616 N. 15th St, Philadelphia, PA 19130 WHEN: Thursday, January 14, 10:00 10:30am About BeachGlow: Concerts for Charity, Inc. BeachGlow: Concerts for Charity, Inc. is a national nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that gives 100 percent of its proceeds to charity. The company was founded in 2011 by Dane Kunkel, who was 16 at the time. BeachGlow was incorporated in 2012, trademarked in 2013, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2014. Today, Kunkel heads up a board of directors, a growing staff, and many festival volunteers who make it possible to raise money and awareness for worthy causes. For more information, please visit http://www.BeachGlow.org. About Little Kids Rock Little Kids Rock is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to unlocking childrens inner music makers by revitalizing music education in public schools. The organization partners with school districts to train public school teachers to run its innovative Modern Band curriculum and donates all of the accompanying instruments and resources necessary to teach popular music in a way that empowers students to experience instant achievement. Little Kids Rock started as a schoolteachers vision to give his students access to music education while diminishing budgets for the arts made that more and more difficult to do. What began as a single after-school guitar class has since exploded into a national movement that is bringing free, weekly music lessons to more than 200,000 public school children due to the efforts of more than 1,500 teachers in 29 cities nationwide. To date, Little Kids Rock has served over 400,000 students. http://www.LittleKidsRock.org A plan with a Rating of 5 Caps offers outstanding flexibility, attractive investments, and additional economic benefits (such as generous tax incentives) that can offer a substantial boost in savings for some investors. In addition to their 529 Plan Performance Rankings, Savingforcollege.com also provides a 5-Cap Rating to help investors better evaluate their college savings options. Scores are assigned based on a variety of factors, which are separated into four categories: Performance, Costs, Features and Reliability. Savingforcollege.com also assigns a Resident Upgrade score to reflect any additional benefits offered to residents of the plans sponsoring state. Each plan's category scores and "Resident Upgrade" score are computed on a scale of one to five Caps, and an averaging algorithm is used to calculate the overall 5-Cap Rating. Category scores and overall Ratings are featured on each plans Plan Details page on Savingforcollege.com, so that individuals are able to weight each factor, such as historical investment performance, based on their own circumstances and preferences. Separate scores are calculated for residents and non-residents of each sponsoring state, since many states offer special benefits for residents who invest in their 529 plans. In fact, 34 states, including the District of Columbia, currently offer a state tax credit or deduction for 529 plan contributions. It's important to note that while a mathematical formula is employed calculate these scores, a significant portion of the analysis is subjective, and the Rating does not assess every aspect of a 529 plan, it's management or future investment performance. More information on how Savingforcollege.com calculates the ratings can be found here: http://www.savingforcollege.com/5_cap_ratings/index.php?page=ratings_criteria A plan with a Rating of 5 Caps offers outstanding flexibility, attractive investments, and additional economic benefits (such as generous tax incentives) that can offer a substantial boost in savings for some investors. There are few, if any, weaknesses in these programs. As of September 30, 2015, the following plans were awarded a resident and/or non-resident Rating of 5 Caps. The complete list of Ratings can be found here: http://www.savingforcollege.com/5_cap_ratings/ California: The ScholarShare College Savings Plan Non-resident rating = 5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Colorado: Direct Portfolio College Savings Plan Non-resident rating = 4 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Scholars Choice College Savings Program Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Illinois: Bright Start College Savings Program Direct-sold plan Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Iowa: College Savings Iowa Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Maine: NextGen College Investing Plan Client Direct Series Non-resident rating = 5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps NextGen College Investing Plan Client Select Series Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Michigan: Michigan Education Savings Program Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Nebraska: Nebraska Education Savings Trust Advisor College Savings Plan Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Nebraska Education Savings Trust Direct College Savings Plan Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps New York: New York's College Savings Program Direct Plan Non-resident rating = 5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Ohio: Ohio CollegeAdvantage 529 Savings Plan Non-resident rating = 5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Rhode Island: CollegeBoundfund (Direct-sold, Alternative RI) Non-resident rating = N/A, only available to residents Resident rating = 5 Caps South Carolina: Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Advisor-sold) Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps Future Scholar 529 College Savings Plan (Direct-sold) Non-resident rating = N/A, only available to residents Resident rating = 5 Caps Utah: Utah Educational Savings Plan (USEP) Non-resident rating = 4.5 Caps Resident rating = 5 Caps West Virginia: SMART529 WV Direct College Savings Plan Non-resident rating = N/A, only available to residents Resident rating = 5 Caps Wisconsin: Edvest Lucas Group Lucas Group is home to many of the brightest, most capable professionals, and every year, Im impressed by the milestones achieved by our Associates companywide. Premier executive recruiting firm Lucas Group announced the recipients of its 2015 Best of the Best awards during its recent Annual Sales Meeting in Dallas, Texas. Each year, these honors recognize the high-performing Associates who demonstrated exceptional dedication and service throughout the yearboth to their recruiting practice and to the organization. Lucas Group is home to many of the brightest, most capable professionals, and every year, Im impressed by the milestones achieved by our Associates companywide, said Andi Jennings, President and CEO of Lucas Group. The six Associates recognized for 2015 have each made a positive and lasting impact on our company. I congratulate them on earning these honors and look forward to their continued success in 2016. The Associates below were recognized as Lucas Groups 2015 Top Performers: Recruiter of the Year Claire Fleigel, Dallas Accounting & Finance Manager of the Year Charles Herman, Chicago Information Technology Rookie of the Year Angie Turk, Chicago Sales & Marketing 2015 Special Contributor Margot Barabas, Corporate Branch of the Year Chicago Information Technology Presidential Award Lisa Decker, Denver Accounting & Finance Cross Sale MVP Deborah Manning, Houston Human Resources North Americas leader in executive recruiting, Lucas Group sources professional talent for mid-tier to Fortune 500 companies. For more than 40 years, the firm has placed high-level talent in management and executive positions throughout many industries and markets. Today, the firms 350+ recruiting Associates specialize in key business functionalities, including Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, Sales & Marketing, Manufacturing and Military Transition. About Lucas Group Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Tavern Supercast Wood Mantel Because of the non-combustible nature of this material, it can be used where many real-wood mantels cannot. The Outdoor GreatRoom Company is pleased to announce the newly designed Tavern Supercast Wood Mantel. This mantel is made of durable fiberglass reinforced Supercast concrete. Because of the non-combustible nature of this material, it can be used where many real-wood mantels cannot. The Tavern Supercast Wood Mantel comes in a Tavern Brown finish and is perfect for use with traditional wood fireplaces, gas fireplaces, and electric fireplaces because of the reduced clearance to combustibles. The mantel is modeled after a real wood beam and can fit any style space. This product will be on display at the upcoming International Builder's Show in Las Vegas, NV, January 19-21. FEATURES: Available now Reduced clearances Non-combustible Real wood-look appearance Custom lengths available Easy installation and easy to clean Made in USA ABOUT THE OUTDOOR GREATROOM COMPANY The Outdoor GreatRoom Company (OGC) manufactures unique, upscale products with design appeal for indoor and outdoor living spaces. Products include gas fire pits and gas fire pit tables, pergolas, outdoor kitchen islands, outdoor gas fireplaces, indoor electric fireplaces, grills, outdoor patio furniture and accessories. Visit http://www.outdoorrooms.com for more information. The NOVA 3D model rotates a full 360. Physicians can now be more confident in prescribing balloon angioplasty and stenting to low blood-flow patients who are most at risk for another stroke. Patients with more normal flow levels may be able to avoid those procedures and the associated risks. VasSol Inc. blood-flow measurement technology identified clinical trial patients at higher risk of recurrent stroke, and JAMA Neurology has published results of the National Institutes of Health-funded study. The six-year, multi-center VERiTAS (Vertebrobasilar Flow Evaluation and Risk of Transient Ischemic Attack and Stroke) trial found that people who have a stroke in the back of the brain and continue to have reduced blood flow to the area have a higher risk of having another stroke within two years. Researchers used VasSols NOVA (Non-invasive Optimal Vessel Analysis) software -- which runs on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment found in most hospitals and imaging centers -- to assess blood flow in the back of participants brains. NOVA is the only technology that can visualize and quantify the volume, speed and direction of blood flowing through any major vessel of the brain, explained neurosurgeon Dr. Fady Charbel, VasSol chief scientific officer and inventor of NOVA. Identifying those at highest risk for a stroke makes studying the condition easier and leads to better, more precise therapies and more focused implementation of healthcare resources. Results of the trial are expected to change the standard of care for posterior stroke patients, who account for roughly 40 percent of all strokes, or about 200,000 cases per year in the United States alone. NOVA helps answer fundamental questions that clinicians confront when treating vascular disease, such as what is the severity, how is the condition best treated, and what is the outcome, said VasSol CEO Chuck Doherty. Physicians can now be confident in prescribing procedures such as balloon angioplasty and stenting to low blood-flow patients who are most at risk for another stroke. Patients with more normal blood-flow levels may be able to avoid those procedures and the associated risks. One of NOVAs distinct advantages is that it is based on technology that is widely available, said Dr. Sepideh Amin-Hanjani, professor of neurological surgery at the UIC College of Medicine, principal investigator for VERiTAS and an author of the JAMA Neurology article. NOVA originated at UIC Hospital, where Dr. Charbel is a professor and head of neurological surgery. He founded VasSol in 2001 to commercialize the technology. FDA-cleared since 2001, it is available at more than 40 hospitals and imaging centers throughout the United States, Asia, Canada and Europe. Recent installations include the Mayo Clinic (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago). We believe that NOVA should be included in the clinical and imaging assessment of posterior circulation stroke patients, said Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran, director of stroke research at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. At Northwestern, were using it in the current MYRIAD (Mechanisms of Early Recurrence in Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease) trial to further broaden its application in stroke-risk diagnosis and treatment planning. VasSol has also developed NOVA applications to provide blood-flow information about vessels in other regions of the body including the kidneys, lower extremities and hands. It is exploring applications to measure blood flow in the ophthalmic artery in the eye, and the flow of cerebral spinal fluid, according to Doherty. Demand for NOVA is increasing, and were seeking a multinational business partner that can improve its worldwide distribution, said Doherty. We believe that NOVA will become a standard of care in evaluating stroke patients and those at risk for stroke. The VERiTAS clinical trial data changes the protocol for treating stroke patients, concluded Dr. Charbel. At UIC we no longer prescribe a course of medical management without first measuring blood flow. Patients with low flow are immediately considered for intervention to potentially include endarterectomy, bypass, stenting, balloon angioplasty or other flow diversion techniques. We are confident that these procedures carry lower risk than the natural history of low-flow patients. About VasSol Inc. VasSol Inc. is a privately owned medical technology company based in River Forest, Ill. It was founded in 2001 by Dr. Fady Charbel, neurosurgeon and inventor of NOVA, the only technology to non-invasively provide detailed, quantitative information (velocity, volume and direction) of blood flow in any particular vessel in the brain. NOVA received FDA clearance in 2001, and is used in more than 40 hospitals and imaging centers worldwide. James DeGregori, PhD, and CU Cancer Center colleagues detail how evolution of cells within ecosystem of the body shape formation of cancer. "Basically, leukemia risk early in life may be more dictated by chance than by the typical 'survival of the fittest' that characterizes leukemia formation in older adults," says James DeGregori, PhD. Past News Releases RSS Nobel Laureate, New Technologies... CU Cancer Centers Paul Bunn, Jr.,... For half a century, cancer researchers have struggled with a confusing paradox: If cancer is caused by the occurrence and accumulation of cancer-causing (oncogenic) mutations over time, young children should get less cancer as they have fewer mutations. Why then do young children have a higher incidence of leukemia than teenagers and young adults? A University of Colorado Cancer Center paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proposes a solution. Using a computational model describing the population dynamics of blood stem cells that give rise to leukemias, Drs. Andrii Rozhok, Jennifer Salstrom and James DeGregori provide evidence that the evolutionary force of genetic drift contributes to the ability of cancerous cells to overtake populations of healthy cells in young children. In contrast, genetic drift contributes almost not at all to leukemia formation in adults. "Basically, leukemia risk early in life may be more dictated by chance than by the typical 'survival of the fittest' that characterizes leukemia formation in older adults," says James DeGregori, PhD, associate director for basic research at CU Cancer Center and the paper's senior author. In previous work, the DeGregori lab has shown that the inevitable tissue declines associated with aging benefit blood stem cells (HSCs) with mutations that allow them to better adapt to the new ecosystem. (Very similar to how organisms have adapted to changes in earth's climate and landscape over time.) In contrast, the ecosystem of young tissue favors healthy cells - optimized by millions of years of co-evolution, most mutations make cells less fit for the ecosystem of young, healthy tissue and lead to purging of mutant cells from the tissue. However, Rozhok and colleagues made a surprising discovery: Despite the ability of young tissue to select against cells with cancer-causing mutations, the computational model showed increased proportions of specific, mutation-bearing HSCs in the first few years after birth. Strikingly, they showed that these populations of mutated cells were not dependent on the effect of the mutation on cell fitness - these mutation-bearing cells were not more fit than healthy cells without these mutations. Instead of the survival-of-the-fittest form of natural selection that drives the evolution of cancer in older adults, there was another force at work. In fact, they discovered two factors that influence the development of early-life leukemia: the small HSC pool size at birth and the high rate of cell division necessary for body growth early in life. It's easy to understand how more cell divisions early in life create greater risk; mutations largely happen during cell divisions, so more cell divisions will mean more mutations. This in turn increases the risk that some of these mutations could contribute to leukemia development. But what about the small HSC pool size? Thus far, we've talked about two evolutionary forces: mutation and selection. But there is a third factor, often overlooked, that is critical in evolution. It is drift. Drift is the role of chance - the possibility that despite being less fit, an animal, organism or blood stem cell with cancer-causing mutation will survive to shift the genetic makeup of the population. Importantly, the influence of drift is greater in small populations. "Imagine if you flip a coin 10 times. You would not be surprised if 7 or more out of 10 flips gave you heads (in fact, the odds are about 1 in 6). But if you flipped the same coin 1,000 times, the odds of getting 700 or greater heads would be much smaller (less than 1 in a million)," DeGregori says. "Basically, the more trials we do, the less chance plays a role." The same is true in stem cell pools. In small stem cell pools, such as for HSC pools very early in life, drift (chance) becomes much more important as a lucky genotype may end up with a larger share of the total HSC pool than warranted by its fitness status. If this lucky cell clone happens to have a mutation that can start the HSC down the path towards being leukemic, then this drift-driven expansion should increase the risk of leukemia by increasing the number of HSCs with this mutation. "Thus, early somatic evolution in HSC pools is significantly impacted by drift, with selection playing a lesser role," the paper writes. Now consider the impact of drift as the HSC pool grows along with an infant's body to reach adult size. Just as more coin flips decrease the role of chance, so does the larger HSC pool size decrease the role of drift in the success of particular cells in the tissue. In addition, as the pool size reaches its maximum, the HSC division rate slows to a crawl (as these stem cells enter the maintenance rather than growth phase). With a landscape of healthy, youthful tissues and low rates of mutation due to low cell division rates, the odds of leukemia diminish. "With a large population of healthy cells optimized to young, healthy tissue, the ability of mutations, including cancerous mutations, to drive uncontrolled cell proliferation is reduced," DeGregori says. However, we did not evolve to live forever. The model shows that in old age, tissue decline promotes selection for adaptive mutations, leading to the expansion of potentially oncogenic HSC clones that will again increase the risk of leukemia. Thus this paper shows that in early life, leukemias are driven by mutation and drift whereas in later life, leukemias are driven by mutation and selection. "We show that leukemias of children and older adults are different diseases, forged by different evolutionary forces, and propagated under different circumstances," DeGregori says. Importantly, this understanding raises the possibility of a new approach to cancer treatment: Could we manipulate the parameters of evolution for cells within our bodies? Could we manipulate the tissue ecosystem to decrease cancer risk? Considering our bodies as ecosystems that select against or allow the development of cancer offers a new avenue for combatting the disease. "A hallmark of the Delight Conference is bringing together speakers and attendees who want to talk about the real work necessary to make change happen," said Jeff Cram, conference organizer and Connective DX co-founder. Experience designers spend their days working to create compelling customer experiences, but theres a growing awareness that technology complexity and organizational roadblocks are putting those efforts at risk. That is one of the key takeaways in a new research brief, The Things That CX Designers Worry About, published by Forrester Research January 11, 2016, and authored by Andrew Hogan. The brief highlights observations from Delight 2015, the annual experience design conference held in Portland, Ore., and organized by Connective DX. The 2015 event, focused on how organizations create experiences people love, featured speakers from Fidelity, Zappos, Airbnb, Intuit, and NASA JPL. Several key themes emerged at the event, and two worrying trends were included in the Forrester Research brief: Interruptive technologysuch as connected devices constantly alerting users to irrelevant informationdetract from emotionally engaging customer experiences. Excessive focus on screens and unnecessary interfaces keep customers from doing what they want to do. Speakers at Delight shared stories about how these trends are further exacerbated by bureaucratic and cultural barriers that can get in the way of delivering experiences that actually earn a customers love. Rudderless digital customer experience innovations will lead to frustrated customers, disenchanted employees, and failed projects, writes Andrew Hogan, Forrester Research analyst serving customer experience professionals. He also writes, You dont have to let digital CX innovation work this way. Speakers at Delight 2015 shared stories about how to overcome these challenges to create experiences that make a difference and create lasting change inside organizations. This included Suzi Hamill and Ashwini Srikantiah from Fidelity Investments leading a huddle on how to design for delight from within by creating joy in the workplace. Golden Krishna of Zappos also described how the customer-obsessed online retailer takes on risky projects and pilots new innovation projects. A hallmark of the Delight Conference is bringing together speakers and attendees who want to talk about the real work necessary to make change happen, said Jeff Cram, conference organizer and Connective DX co-founder. Customer experience and innovation are words that get a lot of lip service within most organizations, but much fewer actually commit to the hard work necessary to pull it off. We work hard to create a forum for those stories to be told, and for attendees to learn from one another. Super early bird tickets are now available for Delight 2016 taking place Sept. 2628, 2016. Visit the Delight 2016 conference website at http://www.delight.us/conference for more information and to register for the event. About the Delight Conference Delight is a unique gathering of designers, technologists, and businesses that care about creating experiences people love. Held annually in Portland, Ore., the conference has featured leaders from beloved brands including Facebook, Disney, Uber, MailChimp, Intuit, Warby Parker, Simple and Adobe. The event is organized by Connective DX, a digital experience agency with offices in Portland, Ore., and Boston, Mass. http://www.delight.us/conference About Connective DX Connective DX is a digital experience agency focused on helping organizations embrace the power of digital, align around the customer, and take control of their digital future. The agency serves clients globally with services that span digital experience strategy, experience design, technology, and digital enablement. Founded in 1997, Connective DX has offices in Portland, Ore., and Boston, Mass. Clients include KinderCare, OHSU, BMC Software and Banner Bank. https://www.connectivedx.com For more information, press only: Carmen Hill, Connective DX, (503) 972-3579, chill [at] connectivedx [dot] com Laura Brown, Connective DX, (617) 401-2294, lbrown [at] connectivedx [dot] com McGaw YMCA Annual Gala For the first time, anyone who wishes to support McGaw YMCAs transformational youth programs can participate in its annual silent auction! The auction, part of the McGaw YMCA Annual Gala held on Jan. 23, is now open to the public and offers myriad gifts and experiences, including a resort stay in Cabo San Lucas and an autographed PGA hat from Payne Stewart. The Annual Gala is McGaw YMCAs premier fundraiser and provides essential support for its education and leadership programs for children of all ages. In the past, only Gala attendees could bid on silent auction items, but beginning today, even those unable attend the Gala can still support McGaw YMCA and bid on amazing items. The full list of auction items can be viewed here, and bids can be placed once registered. Some other highlights include a Balenciaga handbag, a three night stay at a Saugatuck, MI beach house, and even a boat race to Mackinac Island. Of course, the easiest way to bid is to attend the Gala, but tickets are selling quickly. To purchase tickets, visit here. The McGaw YMCA Annual Gala invites all supporters to Join the Climb by helping the organization continue to give children and youth the opportunities to reach new heights every day. For example, the Y Readers summer learning program closes the achievement gap among elementary school students; MetaMedia engages middle school students through youth-driven projects in technology, math, science, and the arts; Y Acheivers mentors high school students in college preparation, to name just a few of the many McGaw YMCA youth programs that support the development of children. The Gala wouldnt be possible without the generous support of our many sponsors: Mount Everest ($25,000): Northwestern University K2 ($10,000) Make It Better Media, Grumman Butkus Inc. Denali ($5,000): Mark A. Dennis, Jr., Hagerty Consulting Mt. Kilimanjaro ($2,500): Lynn and Jay Ryan, Presence Saint Francis Hospital, Wellness Revolution, The Israelite Group, First Bank and Trust, BMO Harris Bank, Mark Vend Co. Mt. Rainer ($1,000): Evanston Capital Management, The Owens Group, Chase, Accuity, Mike Truppa Communications, Temperance Beer, Second Baptist Church, Jeffery D. Kahla, Major General USAF (Ret.) and Joan Kahla, Alford Executive Search, Designs 4 Dignity. For more information, contact Marcelina Tobar, McGaw YMCA Marketing and Events Specialist, at marcelinat(at)mcgawymca.org or 847-475-7400, ext. 215. ### The McGaw YMCA (http://www.mcgawymca.org) is a cause-driven, charitable organization that seeks to strengthen community with a focus on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. Our programs for children and teens support them academically, emotionally, and socially. Through these programs, the McGaw YMCA has positively impacted the Evanston community for nearly 130 years. His patient-centered focus and contributions to expanding research opportunities have already had a positive impact on hematology and oncology care at Abington. Abington Hospital Jefferson Health is pleased to announce that Anthony Scarpaci, MD, has joined Abington Cancer Care Specialists, a group of physicians board certified in hematology and oncology. Dr. Scarpaci specializes in diagnosing and treating all cancers, with a special interest in breast cancer management. A graduate of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Scarpaci completed a fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology/Hematology. Dr. Scarpaci has been a strong addition to our team, said Mark Sundermeyer, MD, interim chief, Medical Oncology Division at Abington Jefferson Health. His patient-centered focus and contributions to expanding research opportunities have already had a positive impact on hematology and oncology care at Abington. In 2009, Scarpaci received the Fellow of the Year award from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology, and he has published a number of medical articles since 2012. For more information, visit the Abington Health Physicians website at Jefferson.edu/AbingtonHealthPhysicians or call 215-481-2400. About Abington Jefferson Health Abington Jefferson Health encompasses Abington Hospital in Abington, Abington Lansdale Hospital in Hatfield Township, two urgent Care Centers and five convenient outpatient facilities, which include Abington Health Center Willow Grove, Abington Health Center Warminster, Abington Health Center Blue Bell, Abington Health Center Lower Gwynedd and Abington Health Center Montgomeryville. More than 1,400 physicians are on staff at both Abington Hospital and Abington Lansdale Hospital. In addition, some physicians are members of Abington Health Physicians, an employed network of primary care physicians and specialists. Abington Jefferson Health is part of Jefferson Health and Jefferson, a newly formed organization dedicated to providing the highest quality, compassionate clinical care for patients, educating the health professionals of tomorrow, and discovering new treatments and therapies that will define the future of health care. Mary Brigid McManamon is a constitutional law professor at Widener Universitys Delaware Law School. Donald Trump is actually right about something: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is not a natural-born citizen and therefore is not eligible to be president or vice president of the United States. The Constitution provides that No person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President. The concept of natural born comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concepts definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England, while aliens are such as are born out of it. The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to ones country of birth. The Americans who drafted the Constitution adopted this principle for the United States. James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution, stated, It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. . . . [And] place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States. Cruz is, of course, a U.S. citizen. As he was born in Canada, he is not natural-born. His mother, however, is an American, and Congress has provided by statute for the naturalization of children born abroad to citizens. Because of the senators parentage, he did not have to follow the lengthy naturalization process that aliens without American parents must undergo. Instead, Cruz was naturalized at birth. This provision has not always been available. For example, there were several decades in the 19th century when children of Americans born abroad were not given automatic naturalization. Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the power to naturalize an alien that is, Congress may remove an aliens legal disabilities, such as not being allowed to vote. But Article II of the Constitution expressly adopts the legal status of the natural-born citizen and requires that a president possess that status. However we feel about allowing naturalized immigrants to reach for the stars, the Constitution must be amended before one of them can attain the office of president. Congress simply does not have the power to convert someone born outside the United States into a natural-born citizen. Let me be clear: I am not a so-called birther. I am a legal historian. President Obama is without question eligible for the office he serves. The distinction between the president and Cruz is simple: The president was born within the United States, and the senator was born outside of it. That is a distinction with a difference. In this election cycle, numerous pundits have declared that Cruz is eligible to be president. They rely on a supposed consensus among legal experts. This notion appears to emanate largely from a recent comment in the Harvard Law Review Forum by former solicitors general Neal Katyal and Paul Clement. In trying to put the question of who is a natural-born citizen to rest, however, the authors misunderstand, misapply and ignore the relevant law. First, although Katyal and Clement correctly declare that the Supreme Court has recognized that common law is useful to explain constitutional terms, they ignore that law. Instead, they rely on three radical 18th-century British statutes. While it is understandable for a layperson to make such a mistake, it is unforgivable for two lawyers of such experience to equate the common law with statutory law. The common law was unequivocal: Natural-born subjects had to be born in English territory. The then-new statutes were a revolutionary departure from that law. Second, the authors appropriately ask the question whether the Constitution includes the common-law definition or the statutory approach. But they fail to examine any U.S. sources for the answer. Instead, Katyal and Clement refer to the brand-new British statutes as part of a longstanding tradition and conclude that the framers followed that law because they would have been intimately familiar with these statutes. But when one reviews all the relevant American writings of the early period, including congressional debates, well-respected treatises and Supreme Court precedent, it becomes clear that the common-law definition was accepted in the United States, not the newfangled British statutory approach. Third, Katyal and Clement put much weight on the first U.S. naturalization statute, enacted in 1790. Because it contains the phrase natural born, they infer that such citizens must include children born abroad to American parents. The first Congress, however, had no such intent. The debates on the matter reveal that the congressmen were aware that such children were not citizens and had to be naturalized; hence, Congress enacted a statute to provide for them. Moreover, that statute did not say the children were natural born, only that they should be considered as such. Finally, as soon as Madison, then a member of Congress, was assigned to redraft the statute in 1795, he deleted the phrase natural born, and it has never reappeared in a naturalization statute. When discussing the meaning of a constitutional term, it is important to go beyond secondary sources and look to the law itself. And on this issue, the law is clear: The framers of the Constitution required the president of the United States to be born in the United States. The First Annual PACENation Summit will be held February 29th through March 2nd in Denver, CO. We are planning an event that will feature top thought leaders and provide hours of networking opportunities for all. - David Gabrielson, Executive Director, PACENow PACENation has announced that it will hold the First Annual PACENation Summit February 29th through March 2nd in Denver, CO at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The event will mark the first-ever national summit dedicated to building the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) market, and will bring together legislators, PACE program administrators, financiers, and others to network and share best practices in over 20 informational sessions and interactive workshops. David Gabrielson, Executive Director of PACENow, said We are planning an event that will feature top thought leaders and provide hours of networking opportunities for all. Throughout the event, participants will share best practices and identify opportunities for market growth. Individuals can register via the PACENation Summit homepage (pacenation.us/summit), where additional information is available, including the full agenda. Early Bird registration ends January 15th for a discounted price. To develop the Summits agenda, PACENation worked with a Steering Committee (pacenation.us/steering-and-host-committees) of PACE market practitioners from the public and private sectors. The PACENation Summit Agenda (pacenation.us/agenda) includes the following sessions and workshops: C-PACE Project Development Workshop: Industry leaders discuss project development best practices from sourcing a project to financial closing and commissioning. Lender Consent Learning Session: Learn top strategies for obtaining timely lender consent for your project. State of the Residential PACE Market Session: Hear directly from market leaders about the current state of residential PACE and their vision for the future of the industry. Lease Accounting and PACE Session: A detailed analysis of the economics of PACE financing under various lease forms, and how to present the numbers to reflect lease economics. Additional learning session and workshop topics include: C-PACE: 5 Keys to Success, PACE and Hotels, PACE and Solar, True Cost of PACE Capital, Technology Platforms and more. John Kinney, Founder and Executive Chairman of CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital, said We believe the PACENation Summit will be a must-attend event of the year and we are proud to be Platinum Sponsor. With residential and commercial PACE investments now over $1 billion, it is an important time for PACE market leaders to learn from each others successes. Jeffrey Tannenbaum, Founder and President of the Board of PACENow, noted PACE is gaining tremendous momentum across the nation. Bringing PACE practitioners together for the first national summit is another step toward establishing PACE as a major financing tool for retrofitting our nations building stock. To register, please visit PACENations Summit homepage (pacenation.us/summit). About PACENow: PACENow is a non-profit foundation funded advocate for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. PACENows mission is to promote improved energy efficiency in buildings and use of PACE. Our strategy is to be a trusted source for information and resources to a growing coalition of PACE stakeholders that includes local governments, businesses, industry service providers, labor and trade organizations, environmental groups and private individuals nationwide. BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy (BioPlus), one of the nations leading innovative specialty pharmacies, continues to expand in terms of both additional therapies and by opening multi-state locations. To support the companys ongoing growth, BioPlus announces the promotions of Bill Cook to the newly created position of Executive Vice President of Sales and Barbara Weller to the new position of Senior Vice President of Finance. Both of these employees already serve on the BioPlus executive team. The addition of both these positions at the company, plus the internal promotion to fill them with our highly-qualified employees, will support our ongoing and future growth, explains Stephen Vogt, Pharm.D., CEO and President of BioPlus. Both Bill and Barb have proven themselves time and again to live out our core values as a specialty pharmacy; were fortunate to have them on our team. In the new position of Senior Vice President of Finance, Weller will manage the companys financial and accounting policies and prepare the annual corporate budget, including sales and revenue forecasts, along with capital and expense forecasting. In addition, she is also responsible for the delivery of cost effective and efficient accounting and financial systems, while overseeing the development of policies and processes that meet the current and future business requirements of BioPlus. Weller has been with BioPlus since 1991, when she was first hired as the primary accountant and over the following years she has seamlessly added responsibilities as the company grew. Her most recent previous position was as Vice President of Finance. Cook joined BioPlus in 2011 and since then he has served in several capacities, including most recently as Vice President of Sales. His new position and title change reflects his integral role in overseeing the growing sales team at BioPlus. Cook brings nearly 30 years of healthcare sales executive experience to his newest role at BioPlus. About BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy is the first specialty pharmacy to introduce a two-hour turnaround from referral to patient acceptance. BioPlus... Where healing begins in 2 hours. Our company celebrates 26 years of innovative excellence in specialty pharmacy, working closely with payers and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as with prescribers to get prompt treatment for patients, and directly supporting our patients nationwide to achieve optimal health outcomes. Our proprietary web tool Tap App, connects prescribers to the pharmacy by bringing the pharmacy chart into the doctors office with real-time specialty pharmacy information and treatment monitoring. BioPlus provides a complete range of specialty services, including for hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, cancer, bleeding disorders, and other complex, chronic conditions. BioPlus, a privately-held, pharmacist-owned company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, is accredited by URAC, VIPPS, and the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC). For information: http://www.bioplusrx.com or Contact: info(at)bioplusrx(dot)com Phone: 1-888-292-0744 ### "This evaluation from PayStream Advisors emphasizes that we are serving our customers needs with strong core functionality and pricing models that make the most sense for these organizations." Bill Vergantino, president and CEO of ExpenseWatch. ExpenseWatch is recognized as one of three offerings best tailored to meet the needs of smaller and midsized organizations in PayStream Advisors 2015 Travel & Expense Management Navigator. The report ascertains that ExpenseWatchs niche focus on small- and medium-sized businesses allows it to offer leading functionality and a high level of service to its customers. ExpenseWatch is one of eleven products identified from a field of more than 40 by PayStream Advisors as the most qualified travel and expense management solutions to participate in the report. The report is designed to provide a comprehensive analysis of the top TEM solutions available, provide a market overview of trends among providers and assist in the initial selection of solutions by potential buyers. After a robust analysis, PayStream Advisors scores solutions in eleven different categories on a scale of one to ten. Recognizing that the needs for midsized and enterprise organizations are different, the report offers analysis on which products might best serve each respective market. Were extremely pleased PayStream Advisors has validated that ExpenseWatch is one of the top solutions to serve the market for which we have built our products small and midsized organizations, said Bill Vergantino, president and CEO of ExpenseWatch. We are committed to providing innovative technology that empowers our customers to spend with confidence through the knowledge that their spending processes are as efficient as possible, while providing visibility to spending needed and the policy enforcement required. This evaluation from PayStream Advisors emphasizes that we are serving our customers needs with strong core functionality and pricing models that make the most sense for these organizations. PayStream Advisors gives ExpenseWatch high marks in nine of the eleven categories, including pre-trip approval and workflow, expense capture, mobility, report creation and submission, report workflow and approval, reconciliation and reimbursement, post trip analysis, versatility and deliverability. The report says that overall, the ExpenseWatch solution is a great tool for lower-to-middle market organizations looking to automate the process of reporting, approving and analyzing expenses, with the added benefit of light integration with select travel booking partners. A copy of the full report can be downloaded on Paystream Advisors website. About ExpenseWatch (http://www.ExpenseWatch.com) ExpenseWatch automates manual, time consuming paper-based processes, for visibility and control over organizational spending, empowering customers to spend with confidence. Modules for expense reporting, purchasing and payable invoices (bills) resolve specific spending issues, or can be combined to provide a comprehensive spend management suite. The company was founded in 2000, released the first version of its spend management service in 2003 and currently manages more than $3 billion in annual spend transactions on behalf of its customers. The company is privately held with headquarters in Plymouth Meeting, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. Four members of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery were honored with a Presidents Award for contributing to the Society or the medical specialty in an extraordinary or unique way. George J. Hruza, M.D., M.B.A., presented the awards in his final duty as the 2014-15 ASDS President during the 2015 ASDS Annual Meeting in Chicago. The 2015 recipients were Alastair Carruthers, FRCPC, and Jean D. Carruthers, M.D., of Vancouver, Canada; Mark D. Kaufmann, M.D., of New York, N.Y.; and Susan H. Weinkle, M.D., of Bradenton, Fla. Hruza praised Alastair Carruthers for his development of the ASDS Future Leaders Network and lauded Jean D. Carruthers for her leadership working with the Industry Advisory Council. Additionally, Alastair Carruthers is an ASDS Past President and currently serves as the Societys Historian/Parliamentarian. He was honored by ASDS with the Societys top award in 2010 the Samuel J. Stegman, M.D., Award for Distinguished Service. He is an assistant editor of the Dermatologic Surgery journal and has served as an ASDS Visiting Professor and a mentor through the International Traveling Mentorship Program and FLN. Last year, he served as a Director of the State-of-the-Art in Minimally Invasive Aesthetics: Global Advances symposium. Carruthers has guided numerous ASDS work groups and task forces, and he currently is Chair of the Strategic Planning Task Force. Jean D. Carruthers also is an assistant editor of Dermatologic Surgery, was Chair of the Development and Industry Relations Work Group, has been a mentor through FLN and served on a task force to generate guidelines for the reconstitution, use and storage of neurotoxins. She also was honored with the Presidents Award in 2012 and 2014. Alastair Carruthers and Jean D. Carruthers regarded as pioneers in developing the cosmetic use of botulinum toxin practice at Carruthers & Humphrey Cosmetic Medicine. Alastair Carruthers is Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the University of British Columbia, where Jean D. Carruthers is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology. They have collectively authored more than 300 papers and scientific book chapters. Your continued involvement and leadership have directly contributed to the creation of new programs, growth in revenue and recognition of ASDS as a premier organization, Hruza said in honoring the couple. You have inspired countless ASDS members with your kindness, passion and generosity. Your willingness to share your knowledge and experience have advanced the skills and expertise of dermatologic surgeons around the world. Kaufmann merited a Presidents Award for his efforts as the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Associations Advisor on the American Medical Associations Relative Value Scale Update Committee. Kaufmann owns a private practice and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. I appreciate Marks willingness to take time away from his busy practice to prepare for and attend meetings, and share his expertise to ensure ASDS members are fairly reimbursed, Hruza said. The work Mark does on our behalf has a tremendous impact on all of dermatologic surgery. Weinkle is an ASDS Past President and remains actively involved with the Society, including her work to help spearhead a cosmetic course for residents. She was a recipient of the ASDS Presidents Award in 2007 and 2008, has been an ASDS Visiting Professor and serves as Chair of the Development and Industry Relations Work Group, the Survey Work Group, the Nominating Committee and as a liaison to the Physicians Aesthetic Coalition. Weinkle specializes in Mohs Micrographic Surgery and cosmetic dermatology. In addition to owning a private practice, Weinkle is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the University of South Florida. She has given more than 1,000 lecture presentations and authored 20 peer-reviewed journal articles. Susans continued involvement and leadership have directly contributed to the recognition of ASDS as a premier organization and its overall success, Hruza said. Susan has been key to our successful relationships with industry and has inspired countless ASDS members with her kindness, passion and generosity. About ASDS The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery is the largest specialty organization exclusively representing dermatologic surgeons who have unique training and experience to treat the health, function and beauty of your skin. ASDS members are pioneers in the field. Many are involved in the clinical studies that bring popular treatments to revitalize skin and fill and diminish wrinkles to the forefront. Their work has helped create and enhance many of the devices that remove blemishes, hair and fat, and tighten skin. Dermatologic surgeons also are experts in skin cancer prevention, detection and treatment. As the incidence of skin cancer rises, dermatologic surgeons are committed to taking steps to minimize the life-threatening effects of this disease. For more information, visit asds.net. About ASDSA With a membership of nearly 6,100 physicians, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association, a 501(c)6 association, was created to promote the educational and professional interests of dermatologic surgeons; provide a vehicle for advocacy and public education efforts on behalf of dermatologic surgeons and their patients; and address socioeconomic issues that impact the practice of dermatologic surgery as a specialty. The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association advocates for patient safety and access to quality care, skin cancer prevention and education, and fair and appropriate office-based surgery regulation. Follow us: Website: asds.net Follow ASDS on Twitter: twitter.com/ASDSSkinExperts Become a fan of ASDS on Facebook: facebook.com/ASDSSkinExperts Locate a dermatologic surgeon in your area: asds.net/findadermatologist.aspx Contact: Jay Schwab Communications Manager American Society for Dermatologic Surgery jschwab(at)asds(dot)net 847-956-9143 Erica Ewing, a popular wedding and family portrait photographer, today unveils the next phase of her expanding business, now called The Ewings Photography Studio. Erica Ewing, a popular wedding and family portrait photographer, today unveils the next phase of her expanding business, now called The Ewings Photography Studio. The updated name comes on the heels of significant growth, including a beautiful new studio and a new business partner, her husband Ben Ewing. A popular and successful photographer since 2010, Ewing focuses on relationships in her photography, specializing in weddings and portrait sessions that celebrate lifes most important moments and milestones, such as newborns, families and high school senior portraits. With more than 30 weddings and 85 shoots under her belt in 2015 alone and business continuing to grow, Ewing has now evolved her company to continue serving her clients at the highest level, now as a husband and wife team. In addition to moving The Ewings Photography Studio into an 1100 square foot studio space in centrally-located Bolton, Mass., Ewing has also added her husband Ben to her team, bringing a new level of expertise and insight to the operations. I am thrilled to announce Erica Ewing Photographys evolution to The Ewings Photography Studio, said Ewing. My work has always been about the beauty in relationships. Celebrating marriage, a new life, a growing family, or a family growing up together. Life and love inspires me. Ben and I are happiest when were together, and we are excited to be able to work as a team to share our passion and our art with our clients. Plans for 2016 include hiring an additional team member and launching a brand new service to capture weddings in a totally different medium through wedding videography. For more information on The Ewings Photography Studio, please visit http://www.the-ewings.com, call 508-471-7988, or drop by the studio at 626 Main Street, Bolton, MA. ### About The Ewings Photography Studio The Ewings Photography Studio specializes in relationship-inspired wedding & portrait photography, including newborn, family, and senior portrait sessions. With a focus on illuminating light and love Erica and Ben Ewing, the husband and wife team behind the business, work to create naturally beautiful works of art to celebrate all of lifes most beloved moments. The Ewings Photography Studio is centrally-located in Bolton, Mass., and serves clients throughout Massachusetts and beyond. For more information on The Ewings Photography Studio, visit http://www.the-ewings.com or call 508-471-7988. Attorneys Pelayo M. Duran of The Law Offices of Pelayo Duran, P.A., and Roderick V. Hannah of Roderick V. Hannah, Esq., P.A., have filed a lawsuit against the Valls businesses. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of Claudio Calderin, a former Versailles and Bird Road La Carreta restaurant assistant manager, who claims the restaurants owners and managers created a hostile work environment and retaliated against him after he first reported alleged unsafe and unsanitary conditions and other conduct at the famed restaurants. The lawsuit was filed in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County County (Case Number 2016-000657-CA-01). According to the lawsuit, back in late 2013 Calderin began to internally complain and object to alleged unsafe and unsanitary conditions at Versailles, in particular in its kitchen and food preparation surfaces, the kitchen equipment, and plumbing. Calderin claimed he even provided restaurant management with numerous photographs evidencing the alleged unsafe and unsanitary conditions, yet nothing was done to correct the conditions, as stated in the lawsuit. Calderin claims in his suit that he was also a witness to various instructions given to him and former Versailles general manager, Rigoberto Hernandez, by Felipe Valls, Sr., the patriarch of the Valls family that owns and operates both Versailles and the La Carreta restaurants. According to the lawsuit, these instructions included alleged orders to demote, reduce the work hours, change the work schedules, and change the work stations of certain restaurant employees in an effort allegedly to make the working conditions for them so intolerable they would quit. While Hernandez voiced objections to and refused to carry out Valls orders, Calderin, fearing for his job, followed the instructions and regrettably implemented the actions against various Versailles employees as detailed in the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, after Hernandez lodged his internal complaints, Hernandez was terminated, purportedly for making and authorizing excessive voids and discounts of customer checks and for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with another male employee, Adriam Mena. In the lawsuit Mena, who also had internally complained about the alleged mistreatment, was also terminated at or about the same time as Hernandez. Hernandez and Mena subsequently filed suit against Versailles and Valls in Miami Dade Circuit Court. According to the lawsut, Calderin claims in his suit that he was interviewed by management and an outside attorney about Hernandez and Menas complaints. Calderin also claims that he again complained about the alleged nature of the unsafe and unsanitary conditions at Versailles in the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that after his interview, Calderin was involuntarily transferred from Versailles to an alleged undesirable location and shift at the Bird Road La Carreta. While at La Carreta, Calderin continued to internally complain to management about what he perceived were alleged improper practices and unsafe and unsanitary food preparation conditions, which Calderin supported with photographs. According to the lawsuit, Calderin claims he was then allegedly subjected to further retaliation and a hostile work environment at La Carreta, which allegedly included excessive scrutiny of his work, false accusations of theft, undermining his authority and work-related decisions, and setting him up in numerous ways to fail. In the lawsuit Calderin claims that he complained internally about Valls actions and even provided alleged proof of Valls repeated cellular phone calls to him and copies of the original four $100 bills that Valls had given. Calderin alleges that the human resources director failed to properly investigate his complaints, falsely accused Calderin of wrongdoing, and took no corrective action as explained in the complaint. Calderins attorneys also claim in the suit that after he resigned, Calderin was allegedly denied various employment opportunities as a result of false and disparaging statements La Carretas management made to the prospective employers the lawsuit adds. In the complaint, Calderin is seeking a jury trial and a judgment against Versailles, La Carreta, and the Valls Group. Anyone who has any information related to these cases is encouraged to please contact Pelayo M. Duran and Roderick V. Hannah at (305) 266-9780. The tour operator members of USTOA are showing strong growth for this year, with nearly 40% attributing growth to an improved economy and higher consumer confidence, stated Dale. In a recent annual survey of travel trends and forecasts, participating members of the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) named Cuba the top emerging destination for 2016. Myanmar, Iceland, Colombia, and (tied) Ethiopia and Japan round out the list. With Cuba making headlines this year, our members have seen a surge in interest from travelers, said Terry Dale, president and CEO of USTOA. About a third of our members currently offer programs to Cuba, and of that number, more than half plan to increase travel programs within the next few years. And of our members who dont currently offer Cuba, 39% plan to add it to their roster in the next few years. Italy, for the fourth consecutive year in a row, topped the list as most popular international destination for travelers in 2016, followed by the United Kingdom; China, France and South Africa (tied for third); Peru; and India. On the home front, USTOA tour operator members forecast New York and California (tied for first), Arizona and Hawaii (tied for second), Nevada, Florida and Washington DC (tied for fourth) and Alaska as the most popular U.S. destinations for clients in 2016. When asked what travel categories are most popular for passengers, participating members cited art and culture, honeymoon and romance, and family as the top three. Customer Behavior Members reported that a little more than half (55%) of their customer base are baby boomers at 51 years of age and older. The next largest age group was 35 to 50 years old, representing about a quarter (23%) of customers. Roughly half (53%) of members saw a growth in the number of solo passengers in 2015. On average, 55% of members reported that consumers and travel agents are booking international travel packages between six to 12 months in advance. For domestic travel, more than half (56%) of members cited that consumers and travel agents are booking less than six months prior. Growth Ahead Nine in 10 of tour operator members anticipate a growth in sales in 2016 with more than half of members (57%) optimistic and forecasting a boom year with growth anywhere from seven to 10% or higher. In 2015, three quarters of members responding to the survey reported an increase in sales over 2014, forty percent of which cited an increase of 10% or higher. More than two thirds (70%) of members also saw an increase in passengers in 2015; a third of them indicated growth of 10% or higher. The tour operator members of USTOA are showing strong growth for this year, with nearly 40% attributing growth to an improved economy and higher consumer confidence, stated Dale. While USTOA members view 2016 with optimism, they cited terrorism as the biggest threat to US traveler confidence in 2016. The second potential threat named was global financial instability, followed by political instability. Dale added, Last year, terrorism was named fifth behind natural disasters, pandemics, strength of the US dollar, and global financial instability. And while the survey was completed prior to the tragic events in Paris, there is little surprise that it jumped to the top of list given world events. Dale continued, While our members are aware that the impact of such horrific events can be global in scope, we are hopeful that the U.S. traveler continues to be resilient and keep exploring new culturesits the best antidote to the misunderstanding that plagues world events today. Results from the new member survey were revealed at USTOAs Annual Conference & Marketplace, December 3-5 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in Chicago, IL. For more information on USTOA, visit http://www.ustoa.com. About USTOA: Representing more than $13.5 billion in revenue, the member companies of U.S. Tour Operators Association provide tours, packages and custom arrangements that allow nearly 8 million travelers annually unparalleled access, insider knowledge, peace-of-mind, value and freedom to enjoy destinations and experiences across the entire globe. Each member company has met the travel industrys highest standards, including participation in the USTOAs Travelers Assistance Program, which protects consumer payments up to $1 million if the company goes out of business. As a voice for the tour operator industry for more than 40 years, USTOA also provides education and assistance for consumers and travel agents. Contact: Gina Dolecki/Liz Carty Redpoint Marketing PR., Inc. 212-229-0119 Dolecki@redpointpr.com Carty@redpointpr.com ### Replay Resorts announced that it has acquired 108 acres of oceanfront land from the Government of Antigua on what is consistently ranked one of the best beaches in the world. Our vision for Half Moon Bay is to create a destination resort with experiences and adventures that create indelible memories for our guests," said Michael Coyle CEO of Replay Resorts. Today, Replay Resorts announced that it has acquired 108 acres of oceanfront land from the Government of Antigua on what is consistently ranked one of the best beaches in the world. The former Half Moon Bay Resort was built in the 1950s, and for decades was a sought-after vacation destination and resort playground for international travelers and celebrities. Replays expertise in envisioning, designing, marketing, building and operating resort destinations will re-establish Half Moon Bay as one of the most idyllic destinations in the Caribbean. According to Prime Minister Gaston Browne: Over the past 18 months we have met with developers from around the world who have shown great interest in redeveloping Half Moon Bay, but Replay Resorts stood out for its expertise in resort place making and as importantly, its ability to put these places on the world map. These are integral elements to realizing the potential of Half Moon Bay. Replays vision for Half Moon Bay will generate significant employment and economic benefits for the people of Antigua for years to come. Replay has completed preliminary planning for the new Half Moon Bay Resort, which includes an internationally recognized luxury branded beachfront hotel, oceanfront villas and lots, an intimate retail village and ocean view cottages. It will be an active place, where the natural elements of land and ocean will appeal to the affluent active traveler. The new Half Moon Bay plans include amenities such as bike and walking trails, an edible landscape plan, pools, spa and fitness, restaurants, bars, beach activities and interactive guided experiences. In the future, following Replays custom in its other resorts, Half Moon Bay will host globally recognized events. Half Moon Bay will also strive to find globally recognized solutions to reduce its footprint from an energy, water and waste standpoint and assist Antigua in meeting its commitments in the Paris climate change agreement. We feel honored to be entrusted with the redevelopment of Half Moon Bay, said Michael Coyle CEO of Replay Resorts. Our vision for Half Moon Bay is to create a destination resort with experiences and adventures that create indelible memories for our guests. We will work in partnership and collaboration with the people of Antigua to provide these experiences. We like to say that we help our guests see the ways of the place through the eyes of a local. Half Moon Bay Resort has been approved for the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP), recently introduced by Antigua and Barbuda. Sales of the CIP real estate will begin immediately. Replay has established an international distribution partnership to accelerate sales of CIP, and in turn accelerate the redevelopment of Half Moon Bay. Replay will announce its hotel brand partner in the spring of 2016 and construction of the resort is estimated to begin in late 2016. This is our second acquisition in the Caribbean this past year, said Replay Managing Director Bill Green. Our strict investment criteria and development strategies focus on creating destinations in locations with an established reputation, hospitality market, and brand. Antigua aligns perfectly with our growth strategy. Half Moon Bay affords Replay a unique competitive advantage to create what we believe will be one of the finest resorts in the Caribbean. A new international airport with direct flights from the US and Europe, the bay itself, the land and landscape combined with the ease of access to Nelsons Dockyard, English Harbour and St. Johns make Half Moon Bay an ideal location for the international traveler and vacation home buyer and a smart investment for those seeking the benefits of the CIP. About Replay Resorts Replay Resorts is a fully integrated destination development company headquartered in Vancouver Canada, and operating in the continental United States, Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Replays team of strategists, planners, designers, builders and operators develop and operate authentic and enduring places that become must-visit destinations for guests and potential real estate purchasers alike. Working with visionary private equity firms, landowners, municipalities, other developers and families with legacy holdings, Replay creates places that the marketplace thinks of first and likes best, which in turn enhances the market awareness and economics of the destination. The founder and partners of Replay are select key senior executives from Intrawest Corporation, which was the largest publically listed four-season destination resort developer in the world, with more than 18 destination resorts globally. Intrawest Corporation was sold to private interests in 2006 and Replay Resorts was established in 2007. Replay has been working in the Caribbean since 2008. For more information visit http://www.replayresorts.com. Lennar San Antonio Johnson Ranch Welcome Home Center The new year means new prices on select move-in ready inventory homes at Lennar San Antonio during the New Year New Home Sales Event this weekend, Friday, January 15th through Monday, January 18th. Homebuyers can receive up to $20,000 off the price on select homes in communities across San Antonio, including Bulverde, Cibolo, and New Braunfels. Whether youre a first-time buyer or moving up to a newer, bigger home, Lennar San Antonio has over available homes ready citywide for move-in right now. With move-in ready inventory homes priced from the $220s to the $380s, we have a home to fit every familys lifestyle and desired price, Tony Cerna, III, Director of Sales and Marketing for Lennar San Antonio, said. Our family-friendly communities are in the most desirable locations and are all close to schools, shopping centers and major employers, making for an easy commute for parents and a great environment for children. With Lennar, Everythings Included, so homebuyers dont have to worry about adding what they really want to your home. Lennars homes include the most desired, high-quality features and upgrades in every home at no additional charge, like landscaping, blinds, appliances and more. Every price range includes features not found with other builders, providing ease and peace of mind during the homebuying process. These exceptional deals are only available for a limited time on homes that can close by Monday, February 29th, 2015, Cerna said. These remarkable values on new, move-in ready, Everythings Included Lennar homes are available this weekend only. Hurry in for the best selection, as these homes wont be available for long. Models are open daily in every community from 10am-6pm (opening at Noon on Fridays and Sundays). For more information on the San Antonio area communities participating in the New Year New Home Sales Event, visit http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/Texas/San-Antonio, see one of Lennar San Antonios New Home Consultants or call (210) 393-8095. Sales Event promotion and incentives may be subject to certain terms and conditions, including the use of designated lenders and closing agents, and are subject to change at any time without notice. ### About Lennar is one of the nations leading homebuilders with over 60 years of experience building homes and communities all across the country. Founded on the continuing principles of quality, value and integrity, Lennar builds homes for first-time and move-up buyers, as well as retirees. Lennar San Antonio offers energy-efficient new homes currently from the $160s to the $370s and ranging from 1,308 sq. ft. to more than 3,300 sq. ft. in communities across the greater San Antonio area. Discover the revolutionary Next Gen The Home Within a Home at communities across San Antonio. For more information on Lennar, visit Lennar.com. LDM Global Caribbean Director Sean Theron hands over a check for a Kiting for Cancer sponsorship to Applebys Jeremy Walton and event leader Amy Strzalko. This will be the first time this journey has ever been attempted. ... We hope to not only complete it successfully, but also raise a substantial amount of cash for the CICS, which is certainly our main motivator. LDM Global is excited to sponsor the Kiting for Cancer event this year in the Cayman Islands. LDM Global is a leading consultant to mid-tier law firms around the world, focusing on legal discovery management and computer forensics. During a weekend in January or February depending on best weather conditions a team of 10 kite boarders will kite for 100 miles in open ocean to raise money for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society. This will be the first time this journey has ever been attempted. With a team of incredibly passionate kite boarders, we hope to not only complete it successfully, but also raise a substantial amount of cash for the CICS, which is certainly our main motivator, said Amy Strzalko, who is the team leader and founder of the event. Almost everyone has been affected in some way through cancer, so each team member has their own individual experience that I am sure is putting fire in their bellies to together help make this an epic event that can help change lives. LDM Global works hard to create a positive and healthy culture for its employees. Supporting charities its employees feel strongly about is part of that culture. Our leadership team believes in encouraging employees to volunteer in their communities and to stay healthy by taking breaks to enjoy the outdoors, said Caribbean Director Sean Theron. We were honoured to sponsor Kiting for Cancer because not only is it an event that encourages physical challenges, but it gives back to a worthy and important cause. The Kiting for Cancer team has raised more than $90,000 to date. The team members are paying their own expenses so that all funds raised go directly to charity. The Kiting for Cancer event is a way to connect a love for adventure with support for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society, said Jeremy Walton, a member of the kiting team and partner at Appleby. We are thankful for our local supporters, such as LDM Global, who will help to make this a successful event. FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA Dessert Professional Magazine, the nation's leading food service publication for the chocolate, pastry, cake, artisan bread and frozen desserts industries, is proud to announce their 2015 Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America. Editors Tish Boyle and Matthew Stevens selected the honorees based on their talent, creativity, contributions to the industry, and dedication to creating high-quality confections. "Chocolate is one of the world's most popular ingredients," explains Tish Boyle, "and we are proud to honor these ten exceptional chocolatiers who create amazing chocolates every day." This year's Top Ten Chocolatiers are featured in the December 2015/January 2016 issue of Dessert Professional Magazine. The editorial is presented by Cacao Barry. Selected from across North America, this years Top Ten Chocolatiers are: Michael Antonorsi, Chuao Chocolatier, San Diego, CA Anette Righi DeFendi, Kohler Original Recipe Chocolates, Kohler, WI Elaine Hsieh and Catherine Sweeney, EHChocolatier, Boston, MA Oliver Kita, Oliver Kita Chocolates, Rhinebeck, NY Slawomir Korczak, Polska European Bakery and Chocolat, San Luis Potosi, Mexico Daniel Sklaar, Fine & Raw, Brooklyn, NY Santosh Tiptur, Co Co Sala, Washington, D.C. Christophe Toury, Voila Chocolat, New York, NY Adam Turoni, Chocolat by Adam Turoni, Savannah, GA Susanna Yoon, Stick with Me, New York, NY This years Hall of Fame Honoree is Norman Love, Founder of Norman Love Confections in Ft. Myers, FL. Dessert Professional Magazine publisher Jeffrey Dryfoos is proud to honor this year's Top Ten Chocolatiers and Hall of Fame inductee Norman Love. "Norman has been tremendously influential in the establishment and development of the fine confection industry in North America. He is an innovator, a leader, and a mentor. We are thrilled to honor him as the inaugural inductee into our Chocolatier Hall of Fame. The first-ever Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America industry and media event will be held on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City. The event is presented by Cacao Barry and Kerekes. "In the last two decades, the epicenter of the chocolate world has shifted from Europe toward North America," notes Matthew Stevens. "We are excited to launch our Top Ten Chocolatiers event as an annual celebration of this vibrant and growing segment in our dessert world. Join the Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America event live @dessertpromag on Twitter, and be a part of the conversation with #toptenchocolatiers2015. The event is presented by Cacao Barry and Kerekes. DessertWorld Media LLC is a New York City based publishing, event, and marketing company serving the growing North American dessert industry. DWM is publisher of the industry-leading print and digital publication Dessert Professional Magazine, web publisher of the award-winning Dessertprofessional.com, social media purveyor of the Dessert Professional Connect Network, and organizer of annual events including the Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America, Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America, and The Cake Pro Show. Follow us on Twitter (@dessertpromag), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/dessertpromag), and Pinterest. We're looking forward to moving to FlatironCity where we'll be a part of a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and innovators. In January 2016 Launch (launchjourney.com) is moving to the historic Flatiron Building, now known as FlatironCity, in downtown Atlanta. The 118-year-old building, and the oldest skyscraper in Atlanta, is undergoing a $12 million dollar renovation to convert it to a space for technology startups and entrepreneurs. As part of this effort, the building includes a Microsoft Innovation Centeronly the second one in the country which offers a comprehensive set of technology, tools and resources to startups, government, students and faculty. Launch is excited to be a part of a city-wide initiative to support technology startups and encourage those businesses to remain in Atlanta, making Atlanta the technology hub of the Southeast. FlatironCity joins others such as the Atlanta Tech Village in supporting entrepreneurs by offering high-end technology resources and work space ranging from one desk to a whole floor. We're looking forward to moving to FlatironCity where we'll be a part of a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and innovators, says David Preiss, co-founder of Launch. Designed by Bradford Gilbert, the Flatiron Building predates its New York City counterpart by 5 years. The 11-story building located on Peachtree Street near Woodruff Park was completed in 1897 and is Atlantas second and oldest standing skyscraper. It is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Launch will officially move into the building on January 4, 2016 and occupy the entire 9th floor in April, 2016. About Launch Launch is a digital agency headquartered in Atlanta, providing strategy, UX, creative, content, and development for great companies. Started in 2011 by two long-time friends, the company fosters a culture of fun and friendship under the mantra that great teams make great experiences. Launch aims to be the best company to work for and with. Their clients include top companies such as Salesforce Pardot, Kids II, Dropbox, The Home Depot, AutoDesk, Fiserv, and North Highland. Phone: (888) 943-2337 Contact: info(at)launchjourney(dot)com Press Kit: launchjourney.com/press-kit 2016 will be a really interesting year for DAM as the industry moves towards real integration into the customer eco-system. Were excited by the opportunities this opens up not only for technology providers like North Plains but also for DAM customers. Wondering whats on tap in Digital Asset Management (DAM) in 2016? Register here for North Plains Systems (NPS) annual webinar on Whats Hot & Not in DAM on Thursday, January 28th, 12PM EST. Hosted by Henry Stewart Events, this highly anticipated, interactive webinar will focus on trending innovations in DAM. Presenters include leading DAM experts from NPS, Mohan Taylor and Mike Verrell. Topics for discussion and debate will include: What it really means to have support for the eco-system The impact of mobile in DAM technology Improvements in metadata modelling Integration with other enterprise applications The role of DAM in social media The role of DAM in video marketing How do analytics feed back into DAM During the webinar, Taylor and Verrell will share seven key trends shaping the DAM industry that will equip marketers to make smarter marketing decisions and investments in the new year. Their predictions are based on real world experience working with NPS clients such as AARP, Diageo, Nestle and Discovery Education, plus insights from respected industry analysts at Forrester, Gartner, Frost & Sullivan and The Real Story Group. Says Mohan Taylor Chief Product Officer, "2016 will be a really interesting year for DAM as the industry moves towards real integration into the customer eco-system. Were excited by the opportunities this opens up not only for technology providers like North Plains but also for DAM customers. About Henry Stewart Events Henry Stewart Events is the leading producer of dedicated, cross-industry Digital Asset Management (DAM) briefings all from the users perspective. We are committed to covering all the latest thinking and developments in the management of digital media as well as providing guidance for organizations considering the implementation of a DAM system. The Henry Stewart DAM Group invites its members, whether experienced DAM managers, or new to the concept, to share their experiences and keep up with all the important issues. http://www.henrystewartconferences.com/#/dam About North Plains Systems With over 1,400 installations supporting over one million active users worldwide North Plains Systems (NPS) is recognized as the leader in helping global brand managers, marketers, content creators, publishers and media companies to efficiently and effectively engage and connect with their target audiences through visual media including images, photos, videos and 3D designs. NPS market-leading software portfolio enables companies to address a number of needs across the Creative Marketing Lifecycle, including work-in-progress creative production systems, digital asset management infrastructure and comprehensive marketing and brand asset management solutions. In addition to providing a complete portfolio of software products, NPS is uniquely positioned when it comes to the integration and implementation of product and software solutions with its professional services team and a rich network of resellers and global technology partners. Since 1994, NPS has helped its customers stay ahead of their rapidly changing marketing needs. With offices in North America, Europe and Japan, NPS counts many of the worlds leading companies and brands among its satisfied clients. http://www.northplains.com # # # U.S Media/Analyst Contact Elizabeth Fairleigh thE Connection, Inc. 404.874.4562 Elizabeth(at)EConnectionPR(dot)com U.K. Media/Analyst Contact Maxine Ambrose Ambrose Communications 01491 412944 maxineambrose(at)ambrosecomms(dot)co(dot)uk Four Interactive Learning Modules Update Health Care Providers on Recommendations for Preventing and Treating Influenza in Children ArcheMedX and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announce the launch of an online education program to update pediatricians on flu prevention and treatment guidance. The 2015-16 Influenza Prevention Program, which is available to the 64,000 members of the AAP, includes updated recommendations for routine use of seasonal influenza vaccine and antiviral medications for the prevention and treatment of influenza in children. It also reaffirms AAP support for mandatory influenza vaccination for all health care workers nationwide. The education program includes four interactive learning modules, powered by the ArcheViewer, that highlight key recommendations from the AAP influenza policy statements, Recommendation for Prevention and Control of Influenza in Children, 2015-2016 and Influenza Immunization for All Health Care Personnel: Keep It Mandatory. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention estimates that 5 percent to 20 percent of the U.S. population suffers from influenza each year and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from seasonal flu-related complications annually. Since young children are at high risk for serious flu complications, the AAP and CDC strongly recommend vaccination each season as the most important step in protecting against influenza. Because influenza is unpredictable and can be severe, the AAP recommends that children clinically presumed to have influenza should be considered early for antiviral treatment when indicated. This years educational program is being delivered within the ArcheViewer, an interactive e-Learning platform developed by ArcheMedX, to provide AAP members a more efficient way to review the 2015-16 policy updates and apply key lessons to practice. Recommendations for the 2015-16 Influenza season are available online to all AAP members free of charge and can be accessed through PediaLink, the Academys online education portal. Each online learning module has been designed to deconstruct and simplify the most critical updates in the AAP influenza policy statements while providing pediatricians and pediatric medical and surgical specialists access to critical resources. Interspersed throughout the modules are educator notes and interactive polls designed by faculty to prompt learners to reflect and review additional resources at the right moments, making it simpler to translate key recommendations from the guidelines into clinical practice. This interactive learning experience also includes the ability for AAP members to take notes synchronized to where they are in the module, submit questions electronically to faculty, set personal reminders with the click of a button, and search relevant resources collated by faculty in each of the following 4 learning modules: 1. Prevention and Control of Influenza 2. Immunization for all Health Care Personnel 3. Office Testing and Vaccinating Egg-Allergic Children 4. Use of Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests (RIDTs) As AAP members take action and engage with the content, learning data are collected, analyzed, and presented back to faculty through the ArcheViewers administrative interface and real-time dashboards. This approach enables the AAP team to rapidly assess the impact of the education and to refine the learning modules as needed over time. ArcheMedX Media Contact: Brian S. McGowan, Chief Learning Officer of ArcheMedX at brian(at)archemedx(dot)com AAP Media Contact: Noreen Stewart, nstewart(at)aap(dot)org, 847-434-7944 -- About American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 64,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit http://www.aap.org or follow us at @AmerAcadPeds. About ArcheMedX ArcheMedX is a healthcare informatics and e-learning technology company that is transforming online education through a data-driven approach to learning. By leveraging nearly five decades of cognitive science and years of applied research, the ArcheMedX team developed the ArcheViewer, an award-winning e-learning and analytics platform, that enables educators to construct, deliver, and assess more interactive and effective online learning experiences. ArcheMedX currently partners with dozens of healthcare organizations (national medical societies, leading academic medical centers, and global medical education companies) to power and analyze hundreds of Web-based learning experiences available across dozens of clinical areas. Learners who participate in ArcheViewer-powered education have been found to improve their knowledge and competence at a level nearly four times greater than traditional online education. To learn more, visit http://www.archemedx.com. Top Fuel dragster J.R. Todd (left) and NHRA racing legend Connie Kalitta (right) "This announcement makes me even more excited for the new season. I know we are going to take the SealMaster machine to the winners circle many times next year. SealMaster and Kalitta Motorsports announced a major expansion of their partnership today. SealMaster will become the primary sponsor of the Top Fuel dragster driven by J.R. Todd for the entire 23-race NHRA Mello Yello Series season. After having top-notch experiences with Kalitta Motorsports, the NHRA and their fans for the past two years, we decided to take our partnership to a more prominent level in 2016, Rick Simon, director of franchise operations said. J.R. Todd is a great driver and stand-up guy. He represented us in a SealMaster Top Fuel Dragster in Norwalk and Denver last year, and the exposure our brand received for both events was quite eye-opening. Our involvement with Kalitta Motorsports and the NHRA gives us a great national platform to share who we are and what we do: Were the one-stop source for pavement maintenance supplies and equipment, Simon added. SealMaster will also have a role in the remainder of Team Kalittas entries as it returns to sponsor Doug Kalittas Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster for the third season, while adding 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car Champion Del Worshams DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car and Alexis DeJorias Tequila Patron XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car to their sponsorship portfolio. First, I cannot thank SealMaster and all of their franchisees for stepping up in a big way and sponsoring the entire season on my car, Todd said. Over the past two years, having SealMaster as an associate partner, Ive met a lot of their franchise owners and customers and I could not be more thrilled to be the driver to represent them in NHRA action. This announcement makes me even more excited for the new season. I know we are going to take the SealMaster machine to the winners circle many times next year. SealMaster has the same values as Team Kalitta, said Jim Oberhofer, vice president of operations, Kalitta Motorsports. The growth of this program has been amazing, and we are excited to welcome even more SealMaster franchisees to the race track each week. SealMaster will also continue its partnership with the NHRA sponsoring the SealMaster Track Walk every race weekend. Fans will have the opportunity to meet Team Kalitta personalities all season as they walk the surface drivers will race on just hours before the race action. In addition, SealMasters popular display dragster, the SealMonster, will also make several appearances on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Season. Those attending the National Pavement Expo later this month will have the opportunity to meet J.R. Todd between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on January 28 at the Charlotte Convention Center at SealMaster Booth #339. Additionally, the SealMaster Top Fuel Dragster will be on display in the exhibit hall. SealMaster franchisees manufacture pavement sealer and distribute a full line of pavement maintenance products and equipment throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico. Franchisees serve contractors, public and private road maintenance departments, property managers and others charged with pavement maintenance and preservation. The companys products and equipment are sold in every state where the NHRA Mello Yello Series races. For more information about SealMaster, including franchise opportunities, visit sealmaster.net or call 800-341-7325. Facebook: //http://www.facebook.com/SealMasterNet Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SealMasterNet YouTube http://www.youtube.com/SealMasterNet LinkedIn: http://www.LinkedIn.com/SealMasterNet About SealMaster: SealMaster is the worlds leading manufacturer of pavement sealer with more than 100 loca-tions in the United States, including Puerto Rico; licensed distributors in Canada, China, Israel, Mexico, Sweden and the United Kingdom; and distribution in more than 50 countries. Through its franchise system, SealMaster distributes a full line of pavement maintenance products, tools and equipment for asphalt, concrete and sport surfacing About Kalitta Motorsports: Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The team was founded and is owned by drag racing icon Connie the Bounty Hunter Kalitta. For more than 50 years, Connie has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and an owner. Kalitta Motor-sports is one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing with six world champion-ships and over 100 national event titles in five different professional drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959. Bike Solar Oakland demonstrates that solar energy can impact the transportation sector in many ways, providing clean, accessible, and economical mobility options for urban communities. Bike Solar Oakland, a community partnership that aims to bring sustainable urban transportation via solar powered electric bicycles and scooters to Oakland, CA, today announced the launch of a pilot program that brings eight solar powered e-bikes to Jack London Square. The e-bikes, provided by Fremont-based electric bicycle and scooter company, Mahindra GenZe, are housed in a custom-built solar powered charging station provided by Concord-based DC Solar. Other Bike Solar Oakland partners include the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), Oakland-based solar service company, Sungevity, and IRFTS Shadow Solar. The pilot will allow Jack London Squares commercial residents daily use of the e-bikes to explore, experience and appreciate Oakland in a whole new way, whether they are riding to meetings, running errands or simply enjoying the city. All e-bike batteries will be connected to a mobile solar charging station and powered by the Oakland sun. Bike Solar Oakland serves as an important blueprint for the future of transportation in cities dedicated to reducing over-reliance on automobiles. Solar powered electric bicycles are an important addition to existing sustainable transit models, providing urban dwellers an alternative, efficient mode of transportation. Oakland is the ideal place to launch a pilot program that brings solar energy to the transportation sector in a way thats never been done before, said Annie Sartor of Bike Solar Oakland. We look forward to this pilot project growing in scope and scale, to ultimately serve the transportation needs of communities across Oakland and beyond. Bike Solar Oakland demonstrates that solar energy can impact the transportation sector in many ways, providing clean, accessible, and economical mobility options for urban communities, Danny Kennedy, CalCEFs Managing Director and Sungevitys co-founder. We applaud the City of Oaklands longstanding commitment to clean energy and sustainability, and we were proud to design and build an off-grid solar product to power e-bikes for Bike Solar Oakland, said DC Solar CEO, Jeff Carpoff. About Bike Solar Oakland Bike Solar Oakland is a community partnership initiative funded and supported by some of the Bay Areas leading solar energy proponents, including the California Clean Energy Fund, Sungevity, Mahindra GenZe, DC Solar, and the Jack London Improvement District. The initiative aims to bring sustainable urban transportation via solar powered electric bicycles and scooters to the residents of Oakland, building a model that can be replicated in other urban areas around the U.S. and beyond. For more information visit http://www.bikesolaroakland.com. Educators and students are encouraged to submit proposals for the third annual Community College Cyber Summit (3CS), Friday through Sunday, July 22 to 24, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 3CS is the only national academic conference tailored to cybersecurity education at community colleges. With a high demand to fill cybersecurity jobs and lack of qualified employees, 3CS is making sure students are properly educated in the field by accurately instructing faculty and administrators. This years theme is Expanding the boundaries of cybersecurity programs at community colleges. Ideas should follow one of three tracks: colleges and faculty new to cybersecurity that want to be introduced to this important arena; faculty and administrators familiar with the field that want to learn additional principles, safe practices and hands-on skills; and non-IT faculty in critical infrastructure fields interested in incorporating cybersecurity topics into their curricula. All proposals should include resources needed to adopt any innovations in participants classrooms/programs. Proposals are due Feb. 1. For additional information or to fill out and submit the form online, visit 3CS.nationalcyberwatch.org. About Community College Cyber Summit: The Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) is organized and produced by the National CyberWatch Center, National Resource Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA), CyberWatch West (CWW), Cyber Security Education Consortium (CSEC), Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC), and Advanced Cyberforensics Education (ACE) Consortium, which are all funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The outcomes of 3CS will leverage community college cybersecurity programs across the nation by introducing the latest technologies, best practices, curricula, products, and more. To learn more, visit http://3CS.nationalcyberwatch.org. MASA SWORD After extensive evaluation, we found that SWORD was the most effective tool for our teams to train and work with. SWORD is a wargame with automated forces designed for training, planning, and decision support. It uses advanced artificial intelligence to enable realistic simulations of military and civil units reacting to a wide variety of scenarios. Their automated actions follow doctrine and procedures previously validated by subject matter experts. This unique capability allows for large-scale exercises to be conducted realistically while minimizing costs and animation effort. The CMDR COE will use SWORD to train participants for emergency situations and for interoperable scenarios including both civil and military actors. The use of SWORD will also help them in contingency planning for crises and disasters. MASA Group President and CEO, Juan-Pablo Torres, said: As MASA continues to develop SWORD for its customers around the world, emergency planning has proved to be a vital functionality. We have been continually improving SWORD for many years so that our customers can use it for both training and planning purposes. MASA is honored that the NATO CMDR COE has chosen SWORD as its constructive simulation and we are proud to support NATOs crisis management and disaster response operations. We are truly excited about this first acquisition of SWORD by a NATO entity and we look forward to other potential deployments across NATO in the future. Colonel Vassil Roussinov, Director of the Center of Excellence, said: We were looking for a state of the art constructive simulation with an extensive use of artificial intelligence capable of dealing with complex interoperability issues both on the military and the civil sites. After extensive evaluation, we found that SWORD was the most effective tool for our teams to train and work with. What really set SWORD apart was that we felt that it was the tool that could not only cover our current but also our future requirements in a society that is increasingly demanding. In cooperation with MASA Group we can make a lot of improvements in the near future in the CMDR field and can propose to NATO a new environment where they can train and exercise crisis and disaster management issues. Alkane Truck Company Introduces Three Liquid Propane Powered Trucks The announcement to produce the LPG Powered Class 8 Cab Over makes good on our promise to fleet operators across America that we are committed to providing the trucking industry a viable alternative to diesel and gasoline. Alkane Truck Company will produce a Liquid Propane Auto-gas (LPG) powered Class 8 Cab Over for the long haul trucking industry. This announcement makes official earlier speculation that the company has been developing a Class 8 Cab Over to run on an alternative fuel. In November 2015 Alkanes LPG Powered Class 7 Cab Over completed D.O.T. certification. The company will begin production of the Class 7 later this year. The Class 7 Cab Over is the first alternative fuel powered cab over to be introduced in this class. In December Alkane unveiled the Alkane Dominator, a Humvee-type vehicle that will also utilize the cleaner-burning LPG. The Alkane Dominator is expected to complete certification and be ready for production in 2017. The Alkane Dominator is expected to not only appeal to off-road enthusiasts in the civilian market, but fits the needs for municipal and government applications. The Class 8 completes Alkanes current truck development plans, and is expected to be available for dealer purchase by the end of 2018. When asked why the company chose LPG for the Class 8 truck, Alkanes CEO, Bob Smith answered, LPG makes the most sense because the distribution is already in place and growing annually. Weve been able to get good torque from the LPG powered engines, and we think its a perfect fit for the Class 8. The Class 8 trucks will be assembled in Alkanes South Carolina assembly plant along with the other two preceding models. Alkanes Vice President of Global Sales, Stephen Rayborn commented, The announcement to produce the Class 8 Cab Over truck makes good on our promise to fleet operators across the United States that we are committed to providing the trucking industry a viable alternative to diesel and gasoline. LPG is readily available right here in America, and lessens our dependence on foreign oil. It burns cleaner than diesel and gasoline, providing a healthier environment, and our engineers have been able to create the power and torque the truckers need. Were very proud to be creating American jobs while solving these very important issues facing our industry. For more information visit the Alkane Truck Company main website at http://alkanetruckcompany.com and the Alkane Dominator site at http://alkanedominator.com. Disabilty Insurance Policies: How to Unravel the Mystery and Prove Your Claim Disability Attorney Marc Whitehead is intent on educating those who have been denied long term disability benefits. The Long Term Disability Insurance attorneys at Marc Whitehead & Associates understand that a disability can have a disastrous effect on a person and their family. If an injury or disease prevents an individual from working, he or she may be eligible for long term disability Insurance benefits. Employers often offer disability insurance policies so that qualified individuals who cannot work may receive benefits. The policy premiums are paid for by both the employer and through an employees paycheck deduction. Often, workers that have paid policy premiums are unaware that they can file for disability benefits. If an employee does file a claim for disability benefits, that claim may be delayed or denied and the person is left with no income and little hope for assistance. Whiteheads book Disability Insurance Policies: How to Unravel the Mystery and Prove Your Claim will prove invaluable in educating disabled workers. I am committed to fighting for the rights of individuals, workers and veterans who are injured or disabled, said Mr. Whitehead. It is not easy for many citizens to fight the red tape and bureaucracy to file a claim for long term disability, and we want each person to have as much knowledge as possible. We know the intricacies of state and federal insurance laws and we fight for the rights of our clients and the disabled across the country. Marc Whitehead and his legal team have over 20 years of experience successfully handling long term disability insurance claims involving a physical or mental injury or illness. For more information on the types of cases we handle, please visit our website, http://www.disabilitydenials.com About Marc Whitehead & Associates, Attorneys at Law L.L.P. Marc Whitehead is one of a very small number of lawyers who is Board Certified in Social Security Disability Law by the National Board of Social Security Disability Advocacy and Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Marc Whitehead & Associates disability and personal injury lawyers provide superior legal services to clients nationwide in claims involving mass tort civil actions, veterans disability, social security disability, and long term disability. For more information, please contact: Sarah Akin Marc Whitehead & Associates Attorneys at Law, L.L.P. 1-800.562.9830 sarah(at)marcwhitehead(dot)com http://www.disabilitydenials.com Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality. This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape. All the posts here were published in the electronic media main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts. "Dr. Peretsman is one of our most experienced Sonablate users and has provided frequent guidance and support to SonaCare Medical over the years ..." - Dr. Mark Carol SonaCare Medical, LLC announces the completion of two Sonablate prostate tissue ablations performed by Dr. Samuel Peretsman. Both procedures were completed on Friday January 8th, 2016. SonaCare Medical, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina was pleased to witness the launch of a local physicians Sonablate HIFU Program. Dr. Peretsman, of Urology Specialists of the Carolinas, performed the two procedures at the Park Medical Plaza located in Huntersville, North Carolina. For almost a decade, Dr. Peretsman has worked closely with SonaCare Medical, frequently traveling to international locations where he could treat his patients. In summarizing the launch of his HIFU program, he comments Last week, I performed the first two HIFU prostate procedures in the Carolinas, both with the recently authorized medical device, Sonablate. With the support of HIFU Prostate Services-Carolinas in Charlotte (Huntersville), the first patient had a whole gland ablation and the second had a partial, or focal, ablation. Both men were outpatients and will return in 5 days to have catheters removed; they recovered quickly and were discharged with no need for pain medicine or concerns about urine control or erectile dysfunction. We were delighted with the launch of this technology in this region. Dr. Mark Carol, CEO of SonaCare Medical adds, Dr. Peretsman is one of our most experienced Sonablate users and has provided frequent guidance and support to SonaCare Medical over the years as a proctor and as a medical director. Having a local site to showcase our technology is most welcome. It is with absolute delight that we welcome him to the growing U.S. family of Sonablate users, as well as the next HIFU Prostate Services location. Sonablate is the first device to receive regulatory authorization from the FDA for the focused ultrasound ablation of prostate tissue. Since its introduction over 15 years ago, Sonablate technology has been used around the world on nearly 15,000 patients in over 30 countries, including approximately 4,000 U.S. men who have had this procedure performed outside the U.S. About SonaCare Medical, LLC SonaCare Medical is a world leader in minimally invasive focused ultrasound (HIFU) technologies. SonaCare Medical is committed to developing focused ultrasound related technologies that support precise and innovative procedures for the treatment of a range of medical conditions. SonaCare Medical, with its subsidiary Focus Surgery, Inc., designs and manufactures medical devices, including the following: Sonablate, which has 510(K) clearance in the U.S. under a De Novo regulatory classification; Sonablate 500, which has CE Marking and has obtained regulatory authorization in more than 49 countries outside the U.S.; Sonatherm laparoscopic HIFU surgical ablation system, which has 510(K) clearance in the U.S., has CE Marking and has obtained regulatory authorization in more than 30 countries outside the U.S. For additional information, visit http://www.SonaCareMedical.com COMPANY CONTACT: SonaCare Medical, LLC Erica Griffith (704) 936-1834, EricaGriffith(at)SonaCareMedical(dot)com Forward Looking Statements. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's business and performance, the economy and other future conditions and forecasts of future events, circumstances and results. As with any projection or forecast, forward-looking statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. The Company's actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in its forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or other factors. RNR Tire Express and Custom Wheels has ranked in Entrepreneurs 37th Annual Franchise 500 Issue and was awarded the #1 Ranking in the Wheels & Tires category. The overall ranking of #330 is the highest ranking for the Tampa based franchise system since 2008 and is up 126 spots since 2011. RNR has made the Top 500 list every year since first making the list in 2007 and was named Top 25 New Franchises in 2008. Larry Sutton, Founder and President of RNR Tire Express and Custom Wheels had this to say: "We're honored to be recognized in Entrepreneurs Franchise 500. Our team has worked hard to support the franchisees and to continue to grow our system. Average year-over-year store sales in the system continue to increase and existing franchisees are adding stores within their protected territories. Vince Ficarrotta, Vice President of Franchise Development said: The interest in RNR has continued to grow in the past few years. The franchisees in the system provide strong validation and continue to expand into new stores and I believe that over the next few years we will continue that expansion across America. The 2016 Top Franchises from Entrepreneurs Franchise 500 List ranks and reveals the impact of the newest trends and the industries that are poised for growth during the next few years. Founded in 1999 and franchising since 2003, RNR has consistently made the list and currently operates in 21 states. There are 15 franchisees in the system that own a combined 65+ locations throughout the U.S. The RNR Experience RNR customers are provided a program that allows them to pay for tires and wheels in easy weekly, bi-weekly or monthly installments with no credit hassles. In addition, customers are offered the lowest cash prices on products and have a huge selection of both new and previously rented merchandise. RNR carries every major brand in the custom wheel and tire industry. For Information on RNR, contact our Corporate Offices at 813.977.9800. About RNR Franchise Headquarted in Tampa, Florida, RNR Tire Express and Custom Wheels has become a dominant force in the wheel and tire industry by offering retail and other payment options to those who want to own custom wheels and need quality tires. Our innovative approach combines 40+ years of rent-to-own experience with extensive knowledge of the wheel and tire industry. RNR currently operates franchise locations in 21 states and has twelve affiliate stores in Central Florida. For additional information on franchising, contact John Armatas at 888-200-9768 or visit our franchise website at http://www.rnrfranchise.com. Linn County officials say they're planning to file a class-action lawsuit against the state of Oregon but are staying mum on the details until a Wednesday morning press conference at the state Capitol in Salem. The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the press room of the capitol. The three Linn County commissioners will be joined by their special counsel for the legal case, John DiLorenzo of Davis Wright Tremaine in Portland. A media advisory released Tuesday evening by Linn County did not offer any specifics about the legal action that the county plans to file on Wednesday. The media advisory did say that the county would be pursuing "substantial damages" against the state, but did not provide an exact number. Reached for comment Tuesday night, Roger Nyquist, the chairman of the commission, declined to provide details about the lawsuit. In an interview with the Democrat-Herald last month, however, Nyquist pointed to a pair of specific issues he and the commissioners have with the state. One of the issues, he said, is how the Oregon Department of Forestry manages state-owned forest lands. The state is not meeting its contractual obligations with us, Nyquist said. Counties rely on income from timber sale, but that income continues to decrease annually. Another big question, he said, is whether counties will be able to nullify the new state rules mandating paid sick leave. DiLorenzo, the county's counsel on the case, has worked on major legislation in the areas of state and local taxation, with special emphasis on property tax, tort reform, natural resources and economic development. The Democrat-Herald will post details of the legal case as soon as they become available Wednesday morning. LEBANON POLICE ALBANY POLICE Stolen vehicle recovered Tuesday, Jan, 8, 9:50 a.m., 1800 block of 14th Avenue. A green 2004 Honda Civic was reported abandoned, and police discovered it had been reported stolen in Salem a week before. The vehicle was returned to its owner. Burglary arrests Jan. 9, 6:30 p.m., 315 Airport Road. Albany resident Angelino Aldberto Roman, 23, and transient Jeremy Michael Shaffer, 26, were arrested at the Super 8 Motel for first-degree burglary and unlawful use of a vehicle. Roman was also charged with second-degree robbery and fourth-degree assault, while Shaffer was also charged with two counts of conspiracy. Both were booked in the Linn County Jail. Roman was ordered held on $30,000 security, while Shaffer was ordered held on $5,000. Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? Managing cookies in your browser see what cookies you have got and delete them on an individual basis block third party cookies block cookies from particular sites block all cookies from being set delete all cookies when you close your browser X A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.Website use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google") to help analyse the use of this website. 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You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. Celebrity is new to Madison, Wisc. attorney Dean Strang, who's suddenly found himself in the limelight after appearing in the Netflix documentary series, Making a Murderer. While Strang may now be best known for defending Steven Avery, he has passions outside of the law. His first book, Worse Than the Devil, about a 1917 trial in Milwaukee, came out in 2013, and he's currently working on a second book, tentatively titled IWW Trial 1918: A Legal History of Americas First and Largest Mass Trial, which University of Wisconsin Press plans to publish in 2017. Strang talked to us about how human frailty is what makes the law interesting...and infuriating. Worse than the Devil is about an obscure conspiracy case in which Italian anarchists were accused of setting off a bomb in a Milwaukee police station. How did you become interested in something that seems to have remained a legal footnote? I developed an interest in Clarence Darrow in law school, and nurtured that after law school. One night in about 1994, while I was at work but procrastinating, I decided to check Westlaw to see whether Darrow ever appeared in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He did; twice, actually. The [first time was for] this case. I read the opinion. It told something of the fascinating story that my book tells more fully. The clincher, though, was the fact that the street melee that led to the trial of the 11 Italian immigrants occurred in the intersection of the block on which I lived for over 15 years. People had been arrested in my house, as the police searched door to door that afternoon. I was hooked. Clarence Darrow is a significant figure in Worse than the Devil and, I've read, one of your legal folk heroes. Your book, however, reveals some of his shortcomings. Did writing it lessen your appreciation of him? Or make you second-guess your decision to become a lawyer? Clarence Darrow was a complex man, even a paradoxical man. The fact that he is not simply hero or anti-hero is what makes him so enduringly interesting. I believed that before I launched into serious research on the book, and I still believe that. And no, none of that makes me doubt my decision to become a lawyer. For me, law connects us to human experience, and to what it is that makes us human. Jealousy, trust, self-interest, altruism, greed, generosity, bad behavior and good, ugliness and nobility. The things that make us human underlie every legal dispute. They also underlie the rules that legislators, regulators, and courts draw to govern social life. Both Worse than the Devil and Making a Murderer offer disturbing examples of the shortcomings of our justice system. Do you think these stories are cautionary, or representative of the fact that system is--and, maybe, has always been--broken? Our justice system has always been broken because people are broken. The weaknesses of our, or any, justice system are human weaknesses; the strengths of our justice system also are human strengths. I think that we need to be more humble about acknowledging this, whether we are actors within the justice system or we observe it from outside. It does produce mistaken outcomes, often, because the people within it make human mistakes and act on human motives, good and bad. The question we should confront is not whether our justice system convicts the innocent or acquits the guilty. Or whether police, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, and jurors fail their duties or break the rules. These things all happen. The questions we should confront are why these things happen and, most importantly, what to do about these mistakes when we see them. I know your current project is about an old case involving the Industrial Workers for the World union, or the Wobblies. Any plans on writing about the Steven Avery case? My real interest is how outsiders and newcomers fare in our criminal justice system, especially during times of high nativism, patriotism, or fear. The waning years of the Progressive Era, during and immediately after World War I, provide a great framework within which to consider these topics. My first book is set in that period. Same with my second book, although this new book takes on a trial and related events of more national importance, the 1918 IWW trial in Chicago. Independent bookstores across Canada are reporting a very positive 2015, with many stores citing double-digit growth in the year. PW spoke to a number of indie bookstores across the country who cited boosts from the "buy local" movement, and said Andre Alexiss Giller Prize winner, Fifteen Dogs, was one of their bestselling titles of the year. Cathy Jesson, president of Black Bond Books with 11 locations across British Columbia, said sales were up 15% for the last quarter of 2015. In addition to Fifteen Dogs, her stores did very well with adult coloring books. Munros Books in Victoria, B.C. was up by 3-4% last year, with strong sales from Fifteen Dogs, Anthony Doerrs All the Light We Cannot See, Paula Hawkins The Girl on the Train, and adult coloring books. Co-owner Ian Cochran believes the success many Canadian indies are seeing is due in part to being seen with a new sense of respect by publishers We went through a period where publishers really didnt seem to care very much about us, because they had their other sourcesthey had Chapters-Indigo, they had Amazon, they had Costcoand that was where they were putting their energy, Cochran explained. But I think theyre finding there are a lot of titles they cant get into those outlets, and independent stores are the only places that are going to stock these titles. Despite all the positivity, many stores said the delayed shipping times from HarperCollins new distributor R.R. Donnelley, in Indiana, remains a problem. Although wait times have improved marginally over the past few months, booksellers remain disappointed with the unpredictability of deliveries. When youre competing with Amazon, who say they can get books in people's hands in ridiculous amounts of time, and were trying to source books from HarperCollins, its very difficult, said Jesson. It was hard to take, at times. Cochran at Munro's Books had the same problem, as did Another Story in Toronto. I still dont think they have that sorted out, Cochran said. With the current situation, Cochran continued, "you really cant rely on delivery from HarperCollins. Audreys Books in Edmonton, Alberta saw a marginally better 2015 than the previous year, according to co-owner Steve Budnarchuk. The fact that e-book sales have tapered off in Canada is, Badnarchuk said, reassuring. Thats very satisfying to us, because we never expected [print books] would be abandoned altogether, but we thought we might be much more of a niche market than we are. Toronto bookstores Type Books and Another Story reported very strong sales, up 20% over 2014 at the latter. The jump was thanks, in part, to the store's agreement to become the official vendor for a number of local school boards. Words Worth Books in nearby Waterloo, Ont., saw slightly lower sales for 2015 due to ongoing construction throughout the year. However, once the construction ended, co-owner David Worsley said November and December sales were up. Were hearing nothing but positive things from Canadian indies up here. I think most bookstores are feeling wind in their sails for the first time in about 10 years. Sales are also on the rise at Bookmark (with locations in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Charlottetown, PE.I.). In addition to Fifteen Dogs and The Reason You Walk, Bookmark co-owner Dan MacDonald said some of his store's bestsellers included Thomas Kings The Inconvenient Indian, Helen Macdonalds H is for Hawk, and local titles like Emma FitzGeralds art book Hand Drawn Halifax. The buy local movement is growing here, and the weaker Canadian dollar has brought more American tourists to [the area]." Believing that there's a renewed interest in buying physical books, MacDonald was upbeat about the future. I think independent bookstores are making a comeback. Groundbreaking graphic novel publisher Chris Oliveros has already made his mark on the comics industry: He is the founder of Montreal-based indie comics publisher Drawn and Quarterly and served as publisher until he stepped down last April, after 25 years. Now Oliveros is making his mark in a different way, after writing and drawing his own graphic novel, The Envelope Manufacturer, which follows a small factory owner as his business and his world unravel. Oliveros is self-publishing the book, which is due out on January 19, but it will be distributed by Drawn and Quarterly. He talked to PW about that decision as well as the creative process and the evolution of his book. Why did you decide to self-publish 'The Envelope Manufacturer'? I thought it would be a conflict of interest if D+Q published it. Even though I am no longer the publisher, there still is that connection that spans decades, and so I felt that if I somehow joined the roster it would only be because I had the special key for the secret side entrance to get in. Also, Im in awe of the comics produced by D+Q cartoonists, and my own work is largely shaped and influenced by them. It would be inconceivable for me to be on the same level, so to speak, as them so the best way around that was to self-publish. D+Q is still of course providing an invaluable service of distribution, so the conflict of interest hasnt been entirely removed. Were you working on this book while you were at Drawn and Quarterly? The very earliest incarnation goes back to the late 1990s, when a draft of chapter one was published in pamphlet form. Another chapter was published at some point in the early 2000s. But by the time I started on the final chapter I was very unhappy with all of the material I had completed up to that point. So I went back to square one, editing parts of it and ultimately redrawing the whole thing. It was always a challenge to find any time to work on this, since most of my waking hours were divided between Drawn & Quarterly and family life, raising three sons at home. Somehow I managed to carve out a small chunk of time each day, from about 5:30 am to 7:00 am, which was just enough to allow me to reach the finish line on this book, at long last. The setting looks like a large city in the middle of the 20th century, but there aren't a lot of clues beyond that. What were you thinking of in terms of time and place? There are a few vague, implicit references to Montreal, although the story could just as easily have been set in any industrial North American city in the mid 20th century. On a visual level I find that era very appealing: everything from cars, clothes, and buildings looked so much better. And as an added bonus, no worries about having to draw someone staring at a computer screen, which is probably just about the blandest thing imaginable, visually at least. More specifically, I think of the story as being set in the early 1960s, at the very tail end of an era before everything changed. There are many things in this comic that are left unseen: The building signs are cropped so you never see the whole name, and in the scene where a character is shouting at someone perched on a ledge, you never show the person he is shouting at. Why did you leave these things out? At least two of the characters in the book are mired in various levels of self-deception, and its this delusional state that allows them to survive and get through each day. So theres a lot that is unsaid here, or only implied. Hershel is shouting for the man to jump, but its never really clear if all of this is really happening. As for the buildings, I felt that showing them as partially cropped landscapes can be somewhat jarring, which contributes to the claustrophobic and anxiety-ridden nature of the story. You often focus on lovingly drawn objects--office machinery, household items. How do they help you tell the story? The objects in the story become part of the visual landscape, and they often figure prominently in each page. Most of them are composites of real objects with imagined objects. One of the running gags in the book is that the equipment used in this company is completely obsolete. I wanted to create a certain type of machinery that looked old on the one hand, but also looked so archaic that it would be almost inconceivable to imagine these being modern or relevant in any era. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. More than 90 big bands and combos from high schools and middle schools across the state of Indiana and Midwest have been accepted to compete in the 26th Purdue Jazz Festival in West Lafayette on Jan. 23. Festival events begin Jan. 21 with a free Community Showcase Concert at 7:30 p.m. in Lafayettes Long Center. This concert will feature the Purdue Jazz Band, jazz bands from Tippecanoe County and guest trumpeter Rob Parton. Throughout the three-day festival, student musicians and the public will rub shoulders with performers of national renown. It boasts several headliner concerts plus competitions, clinics and special events. The all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra, led by Sherrie Maricle, serves as the Friday night headliner concert beginning at 8 p.m. Jan. 22, in Stewart Centers Loeb Playhouse. This event is sponsored by Purdue Convocations. On Jan. 23, instrumental jazz ensembles from four states arrive early as the competition stretches throughout the day in seven locations in Stewart Center and Purdue Memorial Union. The music starts at 8 a.m. and continues through 5:30 p.m. Its all free. All the festival guest artists will give clinics, which are also free and open to the public the same day. Artist-in-residence, Rob Parton will be featured in concert with the Purdue Jazz Band at noon Jan. 23 in Loeb Playhouse. It is free and open to the public. World-renowned trombonist Conrad Herwig and tenor saxophonist Chip McNeill, the director of jazz studies at the University of Illinois, will headline Saturdays Festival Finale concert with the Purdue Jazz Band at 6 p.m. Jan. 23 in Loeb Playhouse. Awards and outstanding performances and honors for the high school performances will be announced at this concert. The finale concert is not open to the public as festival participants will occupy the concert hall. For more information on Purdue Jazz Festival events, contact Jaclyn Heinz at 765-496-6785 or heinzj@purdue.edu To purchase tickets for headliner concerts call 800-914- SHOW. The 26th Annual Jazz Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the Indianapolis Arts Commission (Tippecanoe Arts Federation) with funding from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts, and many corporate sponsors. For a list of festival sponsors, please click here. Contact: Courtney Downey, Director of Alumni, Donor & Public Relations|Purdue University Bands & Orchestras, 765-496-3288, cndowney@purdue.edu In his opening statement Wednesday, attorney Nishay Sanan said if you are going to bribe someone in Chicago, it has to be someone with power. He went to say John Bills didn't have the power, control or influence to direct the contract to Redflex. Prosecutors allege Bills accepted cash and gifts to steer over $100 million in red-light camera contracts to Phoenix-based Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. Redflex later signed other deals for Chicago's first red-light enforcement program. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Storino told jurors that Bills used his power at City Hall in a decade-long conspiracy to benefit Redflex. GENESEO A cell phone company that signed an option for a cell tower lease in January 2014 has written to say they want a five-year option to build. Mayor Nadine Palmgren told aldermen about the new option Tuesday, saying she wanted all aldermen to get a copy of the agreement, which is for Chicago Street property behind the public works building. After the meeting she said the letter came from TowerCo, which will build the tower for Cingular Wireless. She also said Cingular will be contacting Verizon to see if they can work together on the tower. Residents voiced objections to a proposed site for a Verizon tower last year at the corner of Spring and 1st streets. The city recently closed on another electrical department property behind the existing plant on Exchange Street, but Mayor Palmgren said the Cingular site is more removed from homes as well as being on the edge of Verizons sought-after search ring area in the city. In other business, the council approved two ordinances clarifying electrical permits in the city. The issue came up this fall involving a State Street commercial property being renovated by Linda Brown. The issue was whether conduit simply the structure that holds wires is considered electrical equipment. Ms. Browns son Michael Brown, who installed the conduit, was cited for an ordinance violation for doing electrical work without a permit. In court last week, Judge Dana McReynolds said the citys ordinance was unclear as to what is electrical equipment. City administrator Lisa Kotter said after the meeting the city realized the judge would rule against them and voluntarily moved to dismiss that violation in exchange for Mr. Browns admitting to a second ordinance violation for having a Dumpster in view. Ms. Kotter said national electrical code requires certain types of conduit. She said representatives from the city also last week went to the building in question, which has been under a stop work order for a couple of months, and found the conduit is too small. She said the ordinance clarification would help prevent the situation where everything you installed has to be taken out. Ald. James Roodhouse, 2nd Ward, who was the lone no vote to the changes, answered that would be a risk you were taking if you do it on your own. He noted an electrician still has to run the wires and sign off on the work. I think were talking semantics. Is running a hollow tube the same thing as having an electrician do an electrical job? he continued. Ms. Brown, who attended the meeting, asked the council whether she could get back to work since the judge ruled with her. If an inspector looks at it and says its not right, Ill have to change it, but so far no ones said anything to me, she said. Ms. Kotter said once the ordinance is posted, Ms. Brown should get an electrical permit. Chamber of Commerce director Rhonda Ludwig announced a new Quarter Mania event April 16 with bidders tossing in quarters to win products and ping pong balls with winning numbers being drawn out of tumblers. She said the excitement grows as the value of items increases. Engineer Greg Ryckaert said he is looking at routes for a sanitary sewer project. Ms. Kotter said city staff are verifying addresses for an income survey in a part of the 3rd Ward to help the city try to qualify for grant money. The response rate needs to be at least 75 percent of residents in the targeted area; a door-to-door survey is planned as a follow-up. Well give people 10 days to respond, and then you guys can go out in the cold if they havent responded by then, she told aldermen with a grin. The mayor also introduced the citys new computer operations administrator, Garrett Griswold. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) The mentally unstable gunman who shot up a Louisiana movie theater last summer left a rambling, hate-filled journal in which he called the U.S. a "filth farm," railed against women, gays and blacks, and thanked a man accused of killing nine churchgoers in South Carolina for his "wake up call." The hand-written, 40-page journal released Wednesday doesn't explain why John Russell Houser decided to kill two people and wound nine at a screening of "Trainwreck" last July 23. He didn't say a word as he opened fire, killing Jillian Johnson, a 33-year-old musician and business owner, and Mayci Breaux, a 21-year-old student. He died from his own gun before anyone could question him. But the contents suggest Houser expected to die, and knew others would read the words he left in his room at a Motel 6. Shortly before the shooting, Houser wrote on the last page that he was leaving the journal "in hopes of truth, my death all but assured." Houser, a 59-year-old drifter, also shared his "random thoughts" on politics, the news media, the presidential race, the Ten Commandments, his favorite movies and music and his view of the future. "If you have not stood against filth, you are now a soft target," he wrote on the lined pages of the notebook. "America is in the midst of celebrating filth, and as such they are the enemy," he later added. Houser described Dylann Roof a young white man accused of killing nine people inside a historic black church in Charleston that June 17 as "green but good." "Thank you for the wake up call Dylann," he added. Investigators described the shooting in gruesome detail in reports that totaled 589 pages. They determined that Houser entered the theater with a handgun hidden in his pants, and waited several minutes before pulling it out and opening fire. Police swiftly responded, and eventually interviewed 70 witnesses. One described seeing Houser walking down the steps, firing rounds at victims before shooting himself in the head. Another said she heard someone scream "He's reloading!" before she ran out. Authorities also shared findings of their investigation into Houser's troubled past. In social media posts, Houser talked about his political beliefs and "anti-government tendencies," they noted. "Comments posted in his own writing revealed his ideals and that he had battled his local government and had a hatred for the United States Government. Houser's interests also included 'Golden Dawn' which is a Greek organization with neo-Nazi beliefs,'" one report stated. Houser had a long history of erratic behavior in the Georgia and Alabama communities where he lived before drifting to Lafayette, a city where his uncle had lived decades earlier. In 2008, a Georgia judge ordered him detained for a mental evaluation after relatives claimed he was a danger to himself and others. But that judge did not have him involuntarily committed, which could explain how he passed a federal background check in 2014. He legally bought the .40-caliber handgun he used in the shooting from a pawn shop in Phenix City, Alabama, where he became estranged from his family, lost his businesses and faced eviction from his home. Before he was finally forced out, he ruined the property, pouring concrete into the plumbing and glue into the fixtures, police said. His estranged wife, Kellie Houser, filed for divorce in March 2015, saying he had repeatedly threatened her. Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft has said Houser visited the theater more than once, perhaps to determine "whether there was anything that could be a soft target for him." Investigators found wigs and disguises in his room, raising the possibility that he had considered making an escape after the shooting. Police said he did try to blend in with the fleeing crowd, but turned back and killed himself as police approached. "Trainwreck" star Amy Schumer spoke tearfully of the two women killed in the shooting as she urged lawmakers to support a gun control bill sponsored by her second cousin, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. In recent months, Iraqi and Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes have forced IS out of Sinjar in the north and the provincial capital of Ramadi west of Baghdad. But the extremist group has proved resilient after previous defeats, often seizing territory on other frontiers of its amoeba-like caliphate. In the days after IS fighters were driven out of Ramadi, the group launched a coordinated assault on the western town of Haditha which was repulsed by Iraqi forces. On Monday, the Sunni extremist group went after softer targets in Baghdad and the town of Muqdadiyah to the northeast, with attacks that appeared to be aimed at killing Shiite civilians and aggravating sectarian tensions -- a strategy pursued with horrifying results by the group's predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq. Gunmen targeted the entrance to the Jawhara mall in a mainly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad late Monday with a car bomb and a suicide bomber before storming in and opening fire. They killed 18 people and wounded more than 50 before Iraqi forces landed on the roof and battled their way inside, killing two attackers and arresting another four. A separate car bomb elsewhere in the city killed five people and wounded 12. Later that night, back-to-back suicide attacks on a cafe frequented by government-allied Shiite militiamen killed at least 24 people and wounded 52 in the Shiite-dominated mixed town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed both major attacks. Angry Shiite mobs responded to the Muqdadiyah bombings by attacking several Sunni mosques, completely destroying two of them and killing an imam, said Sheikh Abdul-Latif al-Himaim, Iraq's head of Sunni Religious Endowments. "Organized gangs were behind the attack (on the mosques), seeking to inflame sectarian tensions," he said. The attack and the violent response recalled the darkest days of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands of Shiites and Sunnis were killed in revenge attacks. "These attacks are part of a deliberate campaign to undermine the strength of the Iraqi security forces," said Patrick Martin, an Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C. "These are not isolated incidents," he said. "All these attacks are part of the same campaign by ISIS to essentially force Iraqi security forces to respond and prevent them from conducting forward operations. It's aimed at undermining their strength." The U.N. envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, called on all sides to "refrain from being drawn into a cycle of reprisals" and warned that the attackers seek to take Iraq "back into the dark days of sectarian strife." The government announced that IS had been driven from the Diyala province a year ago, but the group has continued to carry out attacks in the area. Pro-government Shiite militias led much of the fighting against IS in Diyala, and today have a major role in securing the province. The area around the Jawhara mall in Baghdad was placed on lockdown after the attack. Residents got their first look at the damage on Tuesday morning, finding streets littered with glass and rubble. Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi toured the site on Tuesday, calling the assault a "desperate attempt" by the militants to retaliate after the loss of Ramadi and saying Iraq would "spare no efforts" in expelling them from the country. Many residents, however, were still in a state of shock. "In the last few months everything was so calm, but last night hit everyone as a complete surprise," said Ahmed, a recent university graduate who works in a clothing shop. He asked that his last name not be published for fear of reprisals. "No one was expecting this," he said. Love 'em or hate 'em, the oldest of the post-World War II Baby Boom Generation (born between Jan. 1, 1946 and Dec. 31, 1964) turn 70 this year. Once celebrated as pioneers of youth culture, they now threaten -- in their numbers and longevity -- to bankrupt the nations safety net for senior citizens. But, I really dont want to think about that. Its too depressing. Anyway, the Millennial Generation (born between 1982-2004) think theyre so smart, let them figure it out. Meanwhile the Boomers will party like its 1999. Always have. For the record, Im here not to bury the Boomers but to praise them. Sorta. Maybe. (Full disclosure: Im one of the first Boomers. Born mere months after the Japanese surrender in August 1945 before anyone realized we were the front edge of a demographic tsunami.) Those of us born before September 1946 would be the first Boomer class to graduate high school: Class of 1964. And, we blazed the trail for those who followed For better or worst. You decide. To begin with, the Baby Boom was an accident of history. After the stock market crash of 1929, the nation lurched from depression to war, prompting a generation to postpone marriage and children. But, by the end of World War II, they were tired of waiting. So, when Johnny came marching home and married Rosie the Riveter, they started a family. The resulting (demographic) storm swelled the population by 79 million. The Boomers were a celebrated bunch. The pundits speculated that they would change everything. As if that was a good thing. Not much was said about their parents who continued to toil away quietly. Theres a reason they were initially known as the Silent Generation. Decades later, however, a remarkable thing happened. They were discovered. By Hollywood, no less. And soon enough they were being celebrated as the "Greatest Generation." (The Silent Generation did great things, no question, but did they shine brighter than the revolutionary generation? Just saying.) But, I digress. The original Boomer Class of 1964 entered school in September 1952. They were introduced to Dick and Jane and learned to duck and cover in case of a nuclear exchange. Armageddon was an existential threat that never went away. Occasionally, the Cold War would flare up (Sputnik, the Cuban Missile Crisis), and we held our breath until the fever passed. Growing up in the shadow of nuclear holocaust cant be good for mental health. Maybe that explains why the Boomers later embraced sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Its called escape. The Greatest Generation grew up with Sinatra.The Boomers with Elvis, the Stones, and Janice Joplin. That explains a lot. Boomers were the first generation raised in front of a television. Family life moved from the front porch into the living room. Something important was being lost, but who wanted to miss Gunsmoke"? Marshall McLuhan famously said later that the medium was the message. He was right. That big box with the small flickering screen was seductive. We got that. It was also subversive That, we didnt get. In 1960 as the Class of 1964 entered high school, the country elected John F. Kennedy president. Kennedy was young and charismatic, and in his inaugural address, he challenged Americans to service and sacrifice. Boomers were especially enthralled. But, Kennedy would be dead before the Class of '64 graduated, assassinated in November 1963. Things went south from there: LBJ, Vietnam, race riots, and Watergate. Cynicism ensued. That was the world that shaped the Class of 1964. And, Boomers in general. It was not the world we made, and we were convinced wed do better. Fifty years on, weve had our turn and history will judge the results. Whatever the eventual verdict, the pundits were right about one thing: Things will never be the same. WASHINGTON (AP) Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two small Navy boats after the boats had mechanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters, but American officials have received assurances from Tehran that they will be returned safely and promptly. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island, situated in the Persian Gulf. They said that some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to run aground and they were picked up by Iran. The sailors were in Iranian custody on Farsi Island at least for some time, but it's not certain where they are now. The semi-official Iranian news agency, FARS, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy has detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and said the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters. FARS also reported that one of the 10 sailors was a woman. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama was set to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Secretary of State John Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said. Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said. The officials were not authorized to discuss the sensitive incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity. The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran is expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." Meng Brings NASA Astronaut To Queens On October 17, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) brought NASA astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim to Queens where he met and spoke with students at Francis... Celebrating Columbus The Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Queens (FIAO) held their annual Columbus Day parade in Astoria, on Saturday, October 8, during Italian Heritage Month. The... Russo-Elling Mourned More than 300 first responders lined up on Thursday night to honor FDNY EMT Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, as her body was placed into a waiting... Emma Freedman has jumped from reading News to Nights. Emma has joined Angus OLoughlin as the new Co-Host of SCAs new Hit 30 brand nationwide. While The #Hit30 launched a few weeks back as summer break program, it now replaces the Shazam Hot 20 for the network permanently. Emma slips into the spot vacated by Ash London who left the network late last year. Emma had been reading Network Drive news with Hamish & Andy, as well as co-hosting the Scoopla Show with Jules Lund. PEACE TALKS ON AFGHANISTAN: A COMMENT "Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States held talks on Monday to try to resurrect efforts to end nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, even as fighting with Taliban insurgents intensifies. The officials met in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to launch a process that they hope will lead to negotiations with the Taliban, who are fighting to re-impose their strict brand of Islamist rule and did not attend Monday's talks. The Pakistani prime minister's foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, said the primary goal should be to convince the Taliban to come to the table and consider giving up violence. "It is therefore important that preconditions are not attached to the start of the negotiation process. This, we argue, will be counterproductive," he said. "The threat of use of military action against irreconcilables cannot precede the offer of talks to all the groups." Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry were joined by Richard Olson, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and General Anthony Rock, the top U.S. defense representative in Pakistan, as well as China's special envoy on Afghan affairs, Deng Xijun. "Participants emphasized the immediate need for direct talks between representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and representatives from Taliban groups in a peace process that aims to preserve Afghanistans unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said the group would discuss a road map at its next meeting, on Jan. 18 in Kabul". Asad Hashim & Tommy Wilkes, "Effort to revive Afghan peace talks begins in Pakistan". Reuters. 11 January 2016, in "It is, of course well known that the only source of war is politics---the intercourse of governments and peoples; but it is apt to be assumed that war suspends that intercourse and replaces it by a wholly different condition, ruled by no law but its own. We maintain, on the contrary, that war is simply a continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means." Karl von Clausewitz. On War. Translated and Edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret. (1976). p. 605. Whether or not or indeed exactly how the 'peace talks' in Afghanistan between the regime in Kabul and the Taliban progresses, it all and I repeat in employing the mot 'all' depends upon the course of 'interaction' that takes place on the battlefield. If the Taliban succeed in undertaking more and more aggressive and successful attacks on government forces in not only the South and East of the country and in the rural areas, but also in other parts of the country and in the urban areas where the government in Kabul should have the upper hand, then do not, repeat not, expect much by way of any advances in the peace talks between the two sides. As it is very much the case, that the Taliban have not the least interest in sincerely exploring a negotiated settlement unless and until it has been shown conclusively that it cannot expect to win or even to lose well on the battlefield. Until the regime in Kabul and its Western backers are able to drive into the collective minds of the Taliban leadership that it has nothing to gain by continuing the armed struggle, will peace talks reach a definitive and successful stage. Until then, all talks will be merely a form of playacting and nothing more. And as of to-day it is very much the case that the nothing which is occurring on the battlefield can be said to be disposing the Taliban towards the idea that further armed struggle will not be fruitful for them. As the American defense expert, Anthony Cordesman, noted a few weeks ago: "It has now been almost exactly a year since U.S. and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat forces formally left Afghanistan. So far, the Afghan government and Afghan forces are losing at every level: Politics, governance, economics, security, and popular support. This becomes brutally clear from the metrics available on the war, as well as from virtually all media reporting." 1 Until the facts on the ground in Afghanistan change, do not expect anything to come of the so-called 'peace talks'. 1. Anthony Cordesman, "Afghanistan a Year After "Transition": Losing the War at Every Level". The Center for Strategic and International Studies. 22 December 2015 in Asad Hashim & Tommy Wilkes, "Effort to revive Afghan peace talks begins in Pakistan".. 11 January 2016, in www.reuters.com Karl von Clausewitz.. Translated and Edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret. (1976). p. 605.Whether or not or indeed exactly how the 'peace talks' in Afghanistan between the regime in Kabul and the Taliban progresses, it all and I repeat in employing the mot 'all' depends upon the course of 'interaction' that takes place on the battlefield. If the Taliban succeed in undertaking more and more aggressive and successful attacks on government forces in not only the South and East of the country and in the rural areas, but also in other parts of the country and in the urban areas where the government in Kabul should have the upper hand, then do not, repeat not, expect much by way of any advances in the peace talks between the two sides. As it is very much the case, that the Taliban have not the least interest in sincerely exploring a negotiated settlement unless and until it has been shown conclusively that it cannot expect to win or even to lose well on the battlefield. Until the regime in Kabul and its Western backers are able to drive into the collective minds of the Taliban leadership that it has nothing to gain by continuing the armed struggle, will peace talks reach a definitive and successful stage. Until then, all talks will be merely a form of playacting and nothing more. And as of to-day it is very much the case that the nothing which is occurring on the battlefield can be said to be disposing the Taliban towards the idea that further armed struggle will not be fruitful for them. As the American defense expert, Anthony Cordesman, noted a few weeks ago:Until the facts on the ground in Afghanistan change, do not expect anything to come of the so-called 'peace talks'.1. Anthony Cordesman, "Afghanistan a Year After "Transition": Losing the War at Every Level".22 December 2015 in www.csis.org The 160km/h three-car trains are now being used on Styria S-Bahn Line S1 from Graz to Bruck-an-der-Mur and Line S5 from Graz to Spielfeld-Strass on the Austrian-Slovenian border. OBB ordered 31 class 4746 suburban EMUs and 70 class 4744 regional EMUs from Siemens in 2013 in a deal worth 590 million. The class 4746s will be used on Vienna S-Bahn services whilst the regional sets will go to the provinces of Lower Austria (35), Upper Austria (17) and Styria (18). The S-Bahn variant seats 244 passengers while the regional version will seat 259. The first Cityjets entered service last month when class 4746s were introduced on Vienna S-Bahn Line S80 from Vienna Hirschstetten to Ebenfurth and Wiener Neustadt. OBB says nine of the trains for Styria will enter service this year with the remainder due for delivery in 2017. The entire fleet of 101 trains is due to be in service by January 2018. In his final State of the Union address last night, President Barack Obama painted a hopeful picture of America, noting that it remains the most powerful nation on Earth It's not even close, he repeated with the world's strongest, most durable economy. At the same time, he acknowledged both the effort it will take to tackle the world's biggest challenges, as well as the fears many Americans harbor about their economic security, terrorist attacks, and more. If policymakers are to develop effective solutions to the critical challenges facing the United States, they'll need to draw on high-quality research, analysis, and expertise that are both objective and nonpartisan. Below are some excerpts from the president's remarks, followed by context provided by RAND work. The Threat of ISIS As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands They pose an enormous danger to civilians, they have to be stopped, but they do not threaten our national existence. The first installment of RAND's Strategic Rethink series, which explores key strategic questions for the years to come, expands on the president's sentiment above, arguing that the United States faces no existential threat. Rather, it faces an unusually wide and diverse array of challenges; the terrorist group known as ISIS or ISIL is one. Moreover, regional upheavals like the one unfolding in the Middle East today are by no means a new phenomenon. The president continued by discussing the U.S.-led coalition's many ways of combatting ISIS, including cutting off the group's financing. In recent congressional testimony, RAND's Keith Crane discussed the role of oil, ISIS's single most important revenue source. Targeting ISIS's oil loading facilities and heavy trucks can weaken the group, he says, but this alone will not lead to its demise. RAND experts also noted last month that, despite a year of airstrikes on ISIS's oil infrastructure, the group's finances remain strong. They recommended redoubling efforts to target ISIS's war chest as well as its ability to attract recruits from around the globe. Capped by the recent seizure of Ramadi by Iraqi forces, ISIS's regional foothold began to slip in 2015. But this loss of territory could have a downside, says RAND's Seth Jones. As it loses ground, ISIS could resort to more terrorist attacks in the West. In the wake of ISIS's assault on Paris in November, RAND's Daniel Gerstein discussed the importance of preparing for an ISIS attack on American soil. However, he argued, perhaps the most important thing Americans can do is continue to live their lives: Increased vigilance is prudent, but changing American society would mean that the forces of radicalization have prevailed, an unthinkable outcome. The Landmark Paris Climate Change Accord 200 nations around the world agree [climate change is] a problem and intend to solve it Why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future? One of our experts described last month's Paris climate change accord as a new approach to perhaps the most difficult problem of collective action the world has ever known. Another said the deal "puts in place a reasonable and plausible international framework for moving forward on climate change." However, that doesn't mean the deal is a lock to succeed. According to RAND experts, the ultimate success will hinge on a massive shift of private investment towards low-carbon technology and government policies to encourage such shifts. According to RAND's Steven Popper, it's also significant that the framework for the negotiations was in sync with what science says about how to make effective public policy decisions: This alone makes [the Paris negotiations] historic and may provide a model for both local and global action on more than climate alone. Bringing Peace to Syria [Regarding] Syria we're partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace. What's the best chance for peace in Syria? According to a recent RAND paper, external parties should persuade stakeholders to accept a ceasefire, with further negotiations on a political settlement to follow. The alternative is the indefinite continuation or even escalation of a devastating war. RAND experts have also studied the past for lessons about how the United States and the rest of the international community can help lessen the risk of refugee radicalization. Is the wave of refugees from Syria a threat to U.S. homeland security? In assessing how jihadist conspirators enter America during testimony before a congressional subcommittee last month, RAND's Brian Michael Jenkins noted that the problem appears to be more one of inspiration (i.e., homegrown terrorists) and less one of infiltration. In the past 25 years, he says, only two refugees were convicted of involvement in terrorist plots in the United States. Finally, another duo of RAND experts has argued that welcoming more Syrian refugees to America, in addition to being humane, is the best way to help defeat ISIS and rehabilitate America's image in the chaotic Middle East. Tackling America's Opioid Epidemic I hope we can work together this year on some bipartisan priorities like helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse. Last fall, President Obama announced steps to stem America's epidemic of opioid abuse. His plan aims in part to double the number of physicians certified to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment. Buprenorphine can be a life changer, says Dr. Bradley Stein, who has led a RAND research effort on the drug. And it has already increased potential treatment access in recent years. Reforming the Criminal Justice System I see [goodness and decency] in the American who's served his time, made bad mistakes but now is dreaming of starting over, and I see it in the business owner who gives him that second chance. Aiming to curb an incarceration rate that has more than quadrupled in the past 40 years, the White House announced a series of corrections reforms in 2015. Among these is a program to offer Pell grants to those taking college courses behind bars. According to RAND research, prison education programs reduce recidivism and save taxpayer dollars. Inmates who participate in any kind of educational program are up to 43 percent less likely to return to prison. And every dollar invested in correctional education saves nearly five dollars in reincarceration costs over three years. The Importance of Early Childhood Education In the coming years, we should build on [our] progress, by providing Pre-K for all. High-quality early childhood interventions can generate returns to society ranging from approximately $2 to $17 for every dollar spent. Early childhood programs can yield benefits in academic achievement, delinquency and crime, and labor market success. They may also help close the achievement gap. RAND experts have studied a range of early childhood education issues, including parental involvement, teacher training, teaching strategies, and program evaluation. Most recently, researchers found strong evidence that the preschool to third grade approach is a promising education reform that should be considered by those seeking to improve early education performance. Pete Wilmoth UniMas Network is to premiere the series Joaquin El Chapo Guzman: El Varon de la Droga this autumn. Univision's new drama series is based on the life of one of the worlds most powerful drug dealers, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who has already been captured three times and whose escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico six months ago became news worldwide.Written by Andres Lopez Lopez, a former Colombian drug-dealer and writer of blockbusters like El Cartel de los Sapos and El Senor de los Cielos, the new series will show audiences a different and unofficial view of the inner workings and politics of the drug trafficking world.The Chapo Guzman story has been one of the most captivating stories this past year and we are thrilled to bring an inside look into his world to our audiences, said Alberto Ciurana, president, programming and content, Univision Communications Inc . Our team has been hard at work the past several months developing a story that takes our audiences deep inside the world of one of the most feared outlaws of all time. MOSCOW, January 13 (RAPSI) U.S. officials agreed to loosen prison restrictions on Victor Bout, a Russian national who is serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to kill Americans, Sputnik reported on Wednesday, citing Bouts lawyer Alexei Tarasov. Bout was prohibited from making phone calls for 90 days in October for brewing tea that, according to prison authorities, contained alcohol. He was also banned from making purchases in the prison shop excluding essential items. Bout was arrested in Bangkok in March 2008 and taken to the United States. In November 2011, he was convicted of conspiracy to murder US nationals, including military officers and employees, and of selling millions of dollars worth of weapons, including hundreds of portable surface-to-air missiles and over 20,000 AK-47s, to the Colombian rebel group FARC. Bout has consistently denied the charges. Russia attempted to have him extradited from the US under the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, but without success. In June 2015, Bout filed a petition to have his case reviewed in light of newly discovered evidence. In October, a U.S. court denied petition to review the case against Bout. Russian, Ukrainian officials to testify in Ukraine conflict case Context Hague court announces proceedings against Russia commenced by Ukrainian companies MOSCOW, January 13 (RAPSI) A court in Kiev has granted a motion to question Russian officials and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a case over ongoing conflict in Ukraine, TASS reported on Wednesday, citing human rights activist Stanislav Batrin who brought the legal action. Poroshenko and Russian officials are those who should answer in court whether we presently conduct anti-terrorist operation or fight a war, the agency quoted Batrin as having said. Ukraine accused Russia of interfering in its internal affairs. Notably, Poroshenko in his speech at a military academy in Kiev in September 2014 accused Russia of "direct and undisguised aggression". "Direct and undisguised aggression has been launched against Ukraine from a neighboring state. This has changed the situation in the zone of conflict in a radical way," he said. Ukrainian prosecutors said that they had opened a criminal investigation against a Russian law enforcement agency, accusing it of supporting separatist groups in the east of the country. Russia denies the allegations as untrue and unsubstantiated. Russias defense ministry claims that military equipment, weapons and military assistance are not provided to rebels in southeastern Ukraine. Sputnik, January 11, 2016 Despite billions of dollars of investment the Afghan army is not ready for battle against the Taliban, who have surged in the past year, according to a secret NATO report seen by German magazine Der Spiegel. "Altogether across the country, only one of 101 infantry battalions is classified as 'ready for battle' and 38 units have 'massive problems,'" the NATO report detailed, according to Spiegel. "Ten battalions of around 600 soldiers are not operational at all," wrote Spiegel. "Particularly drastic is a report from the commander of the NATO mission, US General John Campbell, about the situation in the embattled South, where the Taliban have brought ever greater areas under their control." General Campbell, who has led NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan since August 2014, said that of 17 battalions stationed in the provinces of Kabul and Kandahar, only 12 were battle-ready to a limited extent. Kabul, in central Afghanistan, and Kandahar in the South are Afghanistan's two largest cities, and the resurgent Taliban has carried out attacks there in recent weeks. It has claimed responsibility for a three suicide attacks in the Afghan capital last week that killed five civilians and injured at least 56. On December 9, scores of people were killed when the Taliban attacked Kandahar airport. Contributing to the lack of readiness for battle, the NATO report also reveals the extent of the loss of troops, through their death or desertion from duty. "Statistically, in 2015 the Afghan National Army (ANA) lost 22 soldiers every day. With more than 8,000 deaths in one year, the losses have risen by 42 percent in comparison with the previous year." "Together with the high number of deserters who leave in frustration or defect to the Taliban, the army loses one third of its soldiers every year." In December 2014, the US and NATO ended its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat mission, which carried out operations against terrorists and provided training and assistance for the Afghan security forces. Following the end of the ISAF mission, which was succeeded by NATO's smaller noncombat Resolute Support mission, the Taliban has retaken large areas of Afghanistan. It is currently in control of more territory than at any point since 2001, when the US-led invasion toppled the ruling group from power. realclearworld Newsletters: Europe Memo As we move well into 2016, let's take a quick look back to a column I wrote in December 2015, describing the experience of rolling through an anonymous border crossing in the integrated core of the European Union: "From one hub to the other in the Benelux nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and Germany -- Frankfurt, Utrecht, Antwerp, and away -- the idea of a real border, one where passports are checked and luggage inspected, seems absurd. This, the economic heartland of Europe, is a rare space on the continent, bereft of physical obstruction, traversed by rivers deep and navigable, and now crisscrossed by the most developed and interconnected of rail networks. A fully operational border reinstated there, say as an artifact of a broader breakdown in the Schengen system of open European borders, would show the blatant futility of small-scale national sovereignty reasserted in an age where going bigger is the only way to answer the questions posed by geopolitics." Transition one month forward, and moving from a featureless Lowlands landscape to an iconic bridge in Scandinavia, one headline in early January showed how quickly the seemingly absurd can become an uncomfortable reality. The Economist: "It is easy to find a Swede in central Copenhagen nowadays. About 9,000 Swedish workers commute every day to jobs in the bustling Danish capital, crossing the narrow strait that separates the two countries. Since the opening of the 8km (5-mile) Oresund Bridge in 2000, indeed, their cross-border journey to work has been quicker than the daily commute of many workers in London or New York. But that is changing. [...] "The new Swedish border checks, Madeleine and Sandra say, will add 30 minutes each way to their commutes. It takes one hour door-to-door, and that's about the limit for me,' says Madeleine. Sandra nods in agreement. I might have to look for work in Sweden instead,' she says." Swedish border checks on the Oresund Bridge are a powerful symbol of how much has changed in a year. The measures are the first of their kind seen among Nordic countries in 60 years. If at the beginning of 2015, the European Union was muddling through chronic crises localized at its periphery, the beginning of 2016 sees the Union's very core challenged to hold together. The dynamics of local and national politics, ever less self-contained, are forcing frustrated supranational responses. Conflict exists at every level. The question then is whether Europe is approaching a point of no return. To take a look at the core crisis, let's turn an eye to three countries at Europe's geographical center: Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands. Germany The initial optimism seen as Germany opened its doors to refugees in the middle of last year was always destined to subside and turn. The shock of what took place in Cologne on New Year's Eve simply brought that about quicker. Chancellor Angela Merkel has seen approval ratings decline significantly since the onset of the crisis, and her party's regional ally in Bavaria was already taking a stand against her open-door policies before Cologne. The days since have been characterised by protests of every sort. Beneath the weight of dealing with the immigrants arriving to Europe now, countries such as Germany are left to address a heavier reality: The wreckage of decades of immigration and assimilation norms defined under the oft-misunderstood moniker of multiculturalism. George Friedman, one of the most astute American observers of Europe, gives a nice summary in this article. An excerpt: "The Europeans pretended that multiculturalism was a form of tolerance. It may have been intended that way. What it was in practice was a ghetto without walls. Behind the willingness to accept perpetual distinctions was the unwillingness to allow the stranger to become one of them. At the heart of the European nation-state is not a set of moral precepts, but a shared history, language and culture. A German is a German because he was born to the German people, as with the French or the Armenians. Citizenship, or the right to legal protections can be granted. Allowing the foreigner to become a citizen was not a challenge. Allowing him to be a German was not a matter of choice. A German was someone born to Germany." Merkel, long before she welcomed refugees, was a staunch critic of multiculturalism, so her position now must seem jarring. What is sure is that if her political strength within her own country is being undermined, it portends nothing good for a Europe growing accustomed to forward German leadership. Poland The political turn in Warsaw, with October elections bringing to power the conservative Law and Justice party, or PiS, is the most radioactive instance of how national politics are laying siege to formerly aloof Brussels. PiS moved fast, making dramatic changes to its highest court and announcing plans to overhaul the staff and operations of the country's public broadcaster. In response to condemnations by EU officials and the implication of possible legal action, Polish officials minced no words. One minister, directing his invective in particular at a German EU commissioner, referenced Nazi-era war crimes. Poland before October was considered one of the Continent's most enthusiastic proponents of the European Union, and certainly one of its prime beneficiaries. As the most important EU member in Central and Eastern Europe, and a rising regional power in its own right, Warsaw with its wayward ways poses a staunch challenge to European cohesion. The Netherlands The Dutch take the helm of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU for the first half of 2016. Though a small country, this trading nation has long played an outsized role in the functioning of the Union and in the Continent's further integration. But as we have pointed out at RealClearWorld in the past, the Netherlands also serves as a barometer for political changes in broader Europe, and euroskeptics such as Geert Wilders were strutting through the halls of the Hague before they became a force elsewhere. And now is no different. Even as their own turn to lead the presidency unfolds, Dutch voters will be asked at a referendum whether they approve of a trade treaty with Ukraine. European Commissioner Jean Claude Juncker, in an interview with a leading Dutch newspaper, urged voters to think strategically' and support Ukraine -- likely to little avail. But a poll conducted by the TV program EenVandaag showed the Dutch have probably made up their mind already, and are set to disapprove of the deal by a wide margin. Looking Forward So is 2016 the year it all begins to unravel? That's a question of form. The worst is certainly possible, but it's not black-and-white. The Dutch referendum won't sink the association agreement with Ukraine, but it does give voters a chance to vent their displeasure. This Polish government has charged out of the gates, but my bet is that it understands that Warsaw's long-term interests still lie squarely with the European Union and NATO. Indeed, in the middle of the maelstrom, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has sought to scale down the tone of confrontation, inviting his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to visit Poland see that the "shape of Poland's democracy is not as bad as may seem from far away," according to an Associated Press report. PiS will also find itself accountable to its electorate, with one survey showing a sharp drop in approval of the party, down to 27 percent, according to Politico EU. Germany's core interest as an economic power, meanwhile, remains with a strong European Union. In the medium term, we may be seeing a regionalization of integration: Poland wants to play a leading role in regional groupings such as the Visegrad Group, and wants to enhance its cooperation with Romania. Some in the Netherlands have suggested a pared-down Schengen as a means to control immigration while leaving the door open for business. Scandinavian countries emphasize military cooperation. This is undoubtedly a year where the pace and scale of European integration will come under attack. Even if the immigration crisis is answered, we may be looking at a future where there is no single form of European integration, but rather multiple European integrations. It may be the year where politicians and eurocrats learn that Europe is not Jacques Delors' bicycle after all: It cannot simply be peddled forward against all resistance. Around the Continent There are a few things we will be watching this week. Greek Road Trip: First, we'll be keeping an eye on the Greek government as it makes the rounds of European capitals to sell its plans for economic reforms. Politico EU has the story: "The Greek government plans a radical shake-up of the country's pension system in a bid to impress the markets and press the reset button on its relationship with its EU partners. "However, instead of seeking approval for the reforms from EU institutions and the International Monetary Fund, the Greeks are mounting a public-relations effort to pitch the new ideas to national governments and journalists. They believe that eurozone finance ministers, who will meet Thursday to discuss the Greek bailout situation, have too narrow a focus and fail to see the big political picture." Balkan Noise: In the weeks and months ahead, geopolitical competition will pick up in the Balkans between the European Union and Russia. At year's end, NATO was busy working to bring tiny Montenegro into the fold. Serbia is set to be a country of focus this year. The country is looking to push forward its process of accession to the European Union. At the same time, though, Serbia does not aspire to join NATO, and this gives Russia an opportunity to play a spoiler role. B92 has this report on the possible Serbian acquisition of Russia's S-300 air defense system: "'We will provide direct support to the ally in the Balkans. We will consider your request in the shortest amount of time,' the Russian deputy prime minister said during a joint news conference in Belgrade with Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. "Asked if Russia will help Serbia with the acquisition of the S-300s' -- which Vucic said were too expensive for our country' -- neither official wished to reveal any details of the ongoing talks, which, according to the Serbian prime minister, are set to continue for many more months.' "Rogozin said Russia was not interfering in Serbia's security issues, noting that the country has the right to acquire highly efficient non-offensive armaments.'" The Poland Concern: Finally, on Jan. 13, the European Union will open a high-level debate on Poland. As reported by the Associated Press' Monika Scislowska: "The concern in Brussels is so high that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker set the issue on the Jan. 13 agenda of his executive commission. The country, which joined the EU in 2004, could potentially lose its EU voting rights on matters that concern the entire 28-nation bloc. "The situation reached a crescendo last week when Poland's parliament approved legislation by the Law and Justice party that ends the terms of the current heads of state-run radio and television, who were appointed by the previous, pro-EU establishment. "The new law also gives the government the authority to make new appointments and cuts down the number of members in the supervisory bodies of state broadcasters. Before the change, a special council appointed the heads of state broadcasters, just as is the case in some other countries in the region, including the Czech Republic. "It is expected that President Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the ruling party, will sign the new law soon." Feedback Questions, comments, contributions? Feel free to send us an email, or reach out on Twitter @JoelWeickgenant. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Property details: Welcome to Southern California's Playground of the Rich and Famous NO MINIMUM / NO RESERVE HIGH BID OWNS LOT For almost one hundred years, the Lake Arrowhead / Big Bear area has been the primary mountain resort in Southern California. The 782 acre Alpine Lake, nestled at an altitude of 5108', is often described as the jewel of Southern California. The fresh mountain air and four-season climate is unmatched in Southern California. 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Price: $ 17,000 Seller State of Residence: Bulgaria Property Address: Varna State/Province: Varna City: General Kisevev Number of Bedrooms: 3 Number of Bathrooms: 1 Property Type: Sale Type: , Setting: Suburban Zip/Postal Code: Bulgaria Location: , Varna, Varna You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Bulgaria , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Run ups in student loan debt, and quite recently, the collapse in junk bond prices had analyst think as to what really happened in the subprime mortgage market in 2008. George Soros was recently quoted this week regarding China's financial markets. He said that this scenario reminded him of the "crisis we had in 2008," The Sunday Times in Sri Lanka mentioned this in their post. But a viewer of Quicken Loans' latest ad, Rocket Mortgage, might just think otherwise. After all, what Quicken wants to tell home buyers is to simply, "push button, get mortgage." But aside from television ads and social media, one should look at the numbers. Lending standards have reduced their qualifications, but they remain tighter as they were during the mid-2000s as the bubble began inflating. And while this is the condition, qualified buyers are still complaining about not getting what they want, an article from Fortune.com said. On the other hand Quicken Loans President and CMO Jay Farnar said that Rocket Mortgage enables his firms to enhance its lending products and customer service. This system also allows them to collect consumer data that helps make underwriting more reliable. Mortgage originations have remained at the same level for the past two years and lenders are offering fewer mortgages nowadays compared to 2012 according to Mortgage Bankers Association data. Housing analyst Marc Hanson contends that about 25 percent to 60 percent of the market is being supplied by "unorthodox ... incremental demand using unorthodox capital." Hanson cites the Bay Area as an example, where the average home price is $1.45 million with an average income of $180,000 per year. With the usual homeowner insurance costs, credit card and car debts, he says that the average person who is simply buying a home used for shelter will only be able to afford a $778,000 home, nearly 50 percent below the average cost of a home in the area which is around $1.45 million. Because of the Hudson Valley location's proximity to New York City, most of its cities are included in the Top 10 most expensive places to raise a family in the United States. Based on the report by Hudson Valley News Network, five out of the 10 listed are found in the state of New York. However, even if NYC is on the list, it is not the most expensive in the entire country and not even the priciest in the state. According to Market Watch, Nassau-Suffolk is the most costly New York area when it comes to raising a family. However, it is only number two in the list. To be able to raise two kids in Nassau-Suffolk, the household needs to at least have $103,606 a year. $19,356 of this sum goes to renting a home and $16,822 is paid on taxes. Westchester County in New York is the third in the top 10 list. The report said that an average of $99,592 a year is spent to be able to live with a family of four in this location. Just like Nassau-Suffolk residents, a big sum of money goes to paying taxes, which is approximately $15,589 per year. New York City sits only at number four with an average of $98,722 total cost of living with a small family. What makes NYC more livable compared to the two New York counties is that people have more access to public transportation, which cuts the cost spent in fuel when using a private transportation. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown and Ithaca come in seven and eight, respectively. A family of four needs around $92,837 to be able to live in Middletown while $92,603 is needed to be able to meet the demands of living in the region where Cornell University is found. Washington D.C. tops the list of most expensive places in the United States to raise a family. The area where the president of the country lives requires a family with two children to shell out $106,493 to be able to live in the city. A new building will be built in Kazakhstan featuring a 1,000-foot ski slope that will go from the top of the building down. It would be the first of its kind once completed and will offer a new interesting place to visit while enjoying the slopes in Kazakhstan. House Beautiful features an interesting new travel destination that is about to be constructed in the wintry area of Kazakhstan. The country that borders Russia and China is going to be the first place to host a building such as this in its town Astana. The project was proposed by Shokhan Mataibekov Architects and will be the very first residential building that will own a Ski Slope in the world. The building will be called House Slalom and will be 21 stories high and will feature a U shape design. The slope gradually decreases in size as one goes down the building. Skiers would simply have to take the glass elevator to get on top. The ski slope will also be functional even at night, with bright lights illuminating its tracks. In the absence of natural snow, artificial snow called Snowlex will be used to allow skiers to practice in House Slalom's slopes anytime of the year. The budget for the construction of the building is $70 million, and it has already been approved. Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that the planned apartment block in the city of Astana will be indeed a stunning ski slope in the very near future. With the ski-friendly climate in the area, it will be an ideal location for skiers since most of the other slopes there are a long drive away from the Kazakhstan city. The new project will feature a total of 326 meters of artificial slope that will descend from the structure's roof. The current house of Golden Globes Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence is said to have been occupied by other stars. As we all know, celebrities also pass along homes and it is no wonder why the home of Lawrence was once owned by other famous personalities. The "Joy" actress paid more than $7 million for the mansion located in Beverly Hills, California back in 2014, E! Online reported. Said home has quite a reputation not just because of its design but also because of the people who occupied it prior to Lawrence. "I just moved into a house. I am in the middle of [decorating it]. It's Ellen [DeGeneres]'s old house. It was Jessica Simpson's old house. It's like the neighborhood whore," said Lawrence in an interview during the premiere of "Hunger Games: Mockingjay" as reported by Pop Sugar. "I was outside and some girl was like 'I grew up in this house.' Beat it, kid. Everybody's lived in this house." The home has a lot area of 5,550 square feet featuring five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths. It also has a gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances and other modern appliances. With its open floor plan, the home's kitchen was extended to the dining area and outdoor patio. The interior is flooded with natural light because of its floor to ceiling windows. It also has dark wooden floors and beamed ceilings. A dramatic staircase is one of the highlights of the home which gives it that Hollywood star feel. Guests will also be entertained with its bar area and a formal dining area that is perfect for parties. Meanwhile, it includes a bedroom that conjoins the outdoor terrace. As for the outdoor area, it has a koi pond as well as a swimming pool that can be used all year round. Another lovely spot in the house is the stone courtyard. No doubt, the home is something many of us would be dreaming to have and yes, it sure is a perfect home for "Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence. Every time President Barack Obama stands at the podium after a mass shooting, there is a call for an end to tragic gun violence. After the shooting on Umpqua Community College's campus, it was not so different. Thanks to you, 2016 could be the year for the lives of the ethnic minority Rohingya in Burma to finally improve. Your commitment and activism has put the plight of the Rohingya front and center, and it was just recognized by Nick Kristof in the Bravo to advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights and United to End Genocide that have spotlighted the continuing brutality against the Rohingya. Kudos to humanitarian groups that ease the suffering where the government allows them to: On one large island that I reached by boat, Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children are providing lifelines of healthcare and education. Yet aid groups have been barred from many areas, and the systematic destruction of the Rohingya remains one of the 21st centurys most neglected human rights catastrophes. Beyond the nice pat on the back, whats really critical about Nicks piece is the recognition that now is the time to increase pressure on Burmas new government to stop the attacks against the Rohingya. Even as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi prepares to take charge of the country, the conditions that resulted in the Rohingyas massive exodus by sea this past summer still exist. Some 140,000 Rohingya remain trapped in squalid displacement camps, while another million face ongoing severe restrictions on basic rights including the right of citizenship and self-identification. After being barred from running for office, there will be not a single Muslim member of Parliament in Burma for the first time since Burmas independence in 1948. Even more disconcerting is the fact that Aung San Suu Kyis party, the National League for Democracy, has demonstrated that it too harbors much of the same prejudice against the Rohingya as the repressive military and extremist Buddhists. When asked about the Rohingya, senior leader U Win Htein said, We have other priorities mirroring the current governments troubling sentiment that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants. We need to change these misguided priorities. Now, more than ever, outside pressure on Burma is needed. We ended 2015 on a high note, pushing back against hate groups in Burma. Legislation was passed barring any U.S. funds to anyone that advocates violence against ethnic or religious groups and individuals in Burma, including such organizations as Ma Ba Tha. And thanks to your support, we are ready for 2016. We will push President Obama to call upon Aung San Suu Kyis administration to protect the Rohingya when they visit the United States in February for the U.S.-ASEAN summit. Ill be returning to Burma later next month to assess conditions on the ground, issue reports to you and key decision makers and continue building our network of regional parliamentarians to widen the circle of pressure on Burma. And we will be increasing our efforts to establish an International Commission of Inquiry into Evidence of Genocide against the Rohingya to ensure that troubling evidence of genocide is properly investigated and addressed. Nick ended his piece by reminding us that what is happening in Burma Is a crime against humanity, and addressing it is the responsibility of all humanity. Indeed it is, and Im so thankful for your activism and support that allows us to keep fighting for the Rohingya. Sincerely, President, United to End Genocide Supporter,Thanks to you, 2016 could be the year for the lives of the ethnic minority Rohingya in Burma to finally improve. Your commitment and activism has put the plight of the Rohingya front and center, and it was just recognized by Nick Kristof in the New York Times Beyond the nice pat on the back,Even as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi prepares to take charge of the country,Some 140,000 Rohingya remain trapped in squalid displacement camps, while another million face ongoing severe restrictions on basic rights including the right of citizenship and self-identification. After being barred from running for office, there will be not a single Muslim member of Parliament in Burma for the first time since Burmas independence in 1948.as the repressive military and extremist Buddhists.When asked about the Rohingya, senior leader U Win Htein said,mirroring the current governments troubling sentiment that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants.We need to change these misguided priorities.We ended 2015 on a high note, pushing back against hate groups in Burma. Legislation was passed barring any U.S. funds to anyone that advocates violence against ethnic or religious groups and individuals in Burma, including such organizations as Ma Ba Tha.We will push President Obama to call upon Aung San Suu Kyis administration to protect the Rohingya when they visit the United States in February for the U.S.-ASEAN summit.Ill be returning to Burma later next month to assess conditions on the ground, issue reports to you and key decision makers and continue building our network of regional parliamentarians to widen the circle of pressure on Burma.And we will be increasing our efforts to establish an International Commission of Inquiry into Evidence of Genocide against the Rohingya to ensure that troubling evidence of genocide is properly investigated and addressed.Indeed it is, and Im so thankful for your activism and support that allows us to keep fighting for the Rohingya. Maxime Tamsett, a University of Georgia student, looks at the memorial placed on the steps of the Chapel in Athens, Georgia on Friday, November 20, 2015. The romance language department held a moment of silence for the victims of recent terror attacks. (Photo: Emily Selby, es10150@uga.edu) In the effort to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to HIV and tuberculosis, UGA was awarded a $1.49 million, 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Healths Fogarty International Center to help train Ugandan scientists in bioinformatics. Rep. Doug LaMalfa SHARE By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight Several points made during President Barack Obama's final State of the Union Address stood out to U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa. Calling from Washington D.C., where he attended the address, LaMalfa, R-Richvale, remarked he was hesitant on agreeing with the president's use of the phrase "a new economy," which the president referenced four times during the address. LaMalfa said, "I would imagine he would be wrapping up that new economy in renewable energy. I support an economy that would bring jobs back home to the United States, which would allow businesses to relocate back to the country. That's the new economy I'd want." Protecting the American people was highlighted by the President, as he mentioned the Islamic State and al Qaeda, referring to the former as "killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed." LaMalfa said, "I agree at least with those surface words, we absolutely should have security for our nation. But the issue should be on the nation's borders. You can't necessarily have 100 percent impact on the internal struggles or what another country does, but you can start with your own borders. That's something I wish he would have said." LaMalfa did not agree with the president's remarks about renewable energy, the president stating both environmentalist and tea partiers support solar energy. "I don't think conservative folks are going to be looking at solar power as the panacea for renewable energy. The best source of power will be the efficient (power) plants," LaMalfa said, remarking he does support solar cell research if it means an improved technology. It was not all opposition, as LaMalfa said he agreed on working together with the president as his presidential term comes to an end. "That's what we always hope for. He's put out the call be able to work with congress. I hope we can do that. He's visited drought stricken California in previous years. He knows what we're going through. We have big issues to work through. You want to talk about bipartisanship it's just math. And it's liberty, OK." The president also referred to outdated regulations that need to be changed and cutting red tape. "Well, I'll be there right beside him with a big pair of scissors as he brings down those regulations," LaMalfa said. SHARE Nicky Wayne Boone By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight A 32-year-old Shasta County man set to begin standing trial later this month for allegedly sexually molesting two young boys last year saw a new criminal case filed against him Monday in Shasta County Superior Court. In his new case, Nicky Wayne Boone, whom authorities say is a registered sex offender, is accused of sexually assaulting a fellow inmate at the Shasta County Jail. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him at his Monday arraignment, held the same afternoon as his settlement conference on the child molestation case. According to the criminal complaint, Boone molested the 45-year-old jail inmate on Oct. 28. In that case, Boone is charged with four felonies, including forcible sodomy, two counts of forcible oral copulation and making criminal threats. Additionally, he's charged with a series of enhancements stemming from a 2004 rape conviction. And in still another twist, a sheriff's report that graphically details the alleged sexual assault also says another jail inmate reported that Boone made overtures to him to try to make sure two of the jurors on his upcoming child molestation trial vote to acquit him. That inmate reportedly told investigators he was "supposed to go to a couple of jurors and get them to say not guilty 'by any means necessary,'" the sheriff's report says. But he clarified that remark, saying he didn't mean to make those jurors "disappear," noting that alternates would simply be found to replace them. "He was just supposed to go talk to a couple of jurors and get them to say not guilty," the sheriff's report said. For his trouble, the report said, the inmate was to be paid between $2,000 and $4,000. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the reported jury tampering allegations. Boone, scheduled to begin standing trial Jan. 26 on the child molestation charges, is also slated to have a Jan. 21 preliminary hearing on the newest charges. Boone, who remains in jail in lieu of $1.26 million bail after his Oct. 21 arrest, was jailed after the father of two young boys, 7 and 5, reported that he may have sexually abused the children. In a Dec. 28 letter Boone sent from jail to the Record Searchlight, he said he was "set up" in that case and never molested the children. In fact, he wrote, he protected them from being abused. SHARE Nicolas Soto Arthur OKeefe Proudstar Wilson Robert Pasillas 2nd suspect in shooting Redding police have identified another suspect in the shooting death of a man found in a Douglas Lane home last week in south Redding. The latest suspect is Proudstar Wilson, 21, of Redding. She is Native American with black hair and brown eyes, standing 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 150 lbs. Officers have obtained an arrest warrant for Wilson on suspicion of one count of murder. Meanwhile, the primary suspect in the case, Robert Pasillas, 25, has still not been found. He is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on the case should call the police department's investigations division at 530-225-4214. Secret Witness of Shasta County is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of Pasillas or Wilson. Man accused of burglary ANDERSON Officers on Tuesday morning caught a man trying to break into a home, they said. Just before 11:30 a.m. police went to the 3200 block of Daisy Lane, off North Street just south of the Sacramento River, for a report of a man trying to kick down the front door of a home. A witness described the suspect as a large man weighing about 400 pounds, police said. Arriving officers found Vernon Powell, 30, of Anderson, trying to break into a home. Powell admitted to breaking into at least one other house and told police he'd done so to try to steal prescription drugs, officers said. Police arrested Powell on suspicion of burglary and booked him into the Shasta County Jail. Man imprisoned for molesting kids RED BLUFF A 40-year-old Tehama County man has been sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for sexually molesting two children, Tehama County prosecutors said Tuesday. Nicolas Bahena Soto of Los Molinos was arrested July 16 on suspicion of molesting the two girls. Prosecutors said he molested the children, both under the age of 10, at least 10 times over the past two to three years. Veterans hold annual dinner The Shasta County Veterans Affiliated Council is holding its 23rd annual awards dinner Feb. 19 to recognize those veterans who have performed extraordinary service to the community. The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m., is at the Events Center at Win-River Casino Bingo in Redding. Tickets are $20 and reservations can be obtained by calling 945-7975 by Feb. 12. The featured speaker is former state Sen. Maurice Johannessen. The dinner event, which features chicken or vegetarian lasagna, includes music for dancing by the Lou White Band. Guests are asked to bring a can of food or a box of dried food to be distributed by a charity to those in need. The dinner is open to the public. Lewiston man reported missing The Trinity County Sheriff's Office reported Arthur O'Keefe, 76, of Lewiston, missing after they performed a welfare check, and were unable to locate O'Keefe at his residence On Jan. 8. Deputies located O'Keefe's friends and family at his residence who reported their last contact with O'Keefe was on Monday, Jan. 4. O'Keefe is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 180 pounds with grey hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information about O'Keefe's whereabouts should contact the Trinity County Sheriff's Office at 530-623-2611. Local rancher Fred Otley fastens a gate to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, where he runs some 450 cattle for winter grazing. (Steve Ringman/Seattle Times/TNS) SHARE Some of rancher Fred Otley's cattle graze on lowland grasses on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which provides an important source of fall and winter forage for some local herds. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell calls Harney County's cooperative land-management approach the "Oregon Way" and has promoted it as a model. (Steve Ringman/Seattle Times/TNS) A "Don't Tread on Me" flag raised by protesters is seen, with a manned tower in the background, at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge entrance. (Steve Ringman/Seattle Times/TNS) By Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times DIAMOND, Ore. On a winter day of steel-gray skies, some 450 head of cattle found welcome forage in a flat, boggy expanse of lowland acreage. There, they grazed on a buffet of blue joint, creeping wild rye and other grasses that were cut and piled in the fall and now help them survive during these lean winter months. This field is part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which has a headquarters now occupied by armed anti-government protesters. Over the past week, as the protesters raised a yellow Dont Tread on Me Flag, they have portrayed the refuge as emblematic of federal tyranny in the rural West, and demanded the land be placed under local control. For others, this remote refuge has become a very different sort of symbol, one that shows how federal agencies can reach out to different groups with different agendas tribes, environmentalists and ranchers and find common ground on how to manage the nations public lands. These efforts involved a dialogue that stretched over half a decade as people struggled to reach consensus. Their work culminated in a landmark 2013 plan to guide management of the 187,757-acre refuge that set amid the desert lands of the northern Great Basin is a crucial stopover for hundreds of migratory bird species. The plan affirmed that cattle, if carefully controlled and monitored, could help achieve refuge management goals, such as knocking back invasive plants. It called for rigorous and ongoing reviews to find out what strategies work, and what dont, for the federal grazing leases now extended to 13 area ranches. This adaptive management is part of a broader American philosophical tradition that celebrates both democracy and the scientific method, according to Nancy Langston, author of a book about the refuge. The plan also has earned the respect of the cattleman whose herd grazed on refuge pasture this past week. He is Fred Otley, a fourth-generation rancher whose 93-year-old mother, Mary Otley, is still agile enough to run the swather that cuts grasses in refuge fields. Over the years, Fred Otley has had plenty of conflicts with federal land managers. But the current refuge leadership appears to have earned his respect, even as some disagreements still persist about management of federal lands that provide his cattle vital fall and winter feed. To me, what is important is that the refuge has really listened and taken a more collaborative approach, Otley said. Automatically, that helps build better relations with the community. The efforts to develop the 2013 refuge plan have had ripple effects. They helped lay the groundwork for another cooperative program to protect sage grouse that started in Harney County, home to Malheur, and is credited with helping convince the Interior Department last September to not list the grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The program enlists ranchers to take steps on their private land to protect the bird, such as by removing weeds or uprooting junipers that offered perches for predators moves that can also improve pastures. We started saying whats good for the bird is good for the herd, said Tom Sharp, a Harney County rancher who helped launch the cooperative effort that grew to encompass 53 ranches and 320,000 acres. The work drew praise from Interior Secretary Sally Jewell when she traveled to eastern Oregon last March. She referred to Harney Countys approach as the Oregon Way and promoted it as a model. The protesters who control the refuge headquarters were drawn to Harney County from across the West by the prosecution of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, two local ranchers. The Hammonds havent run cattle on the refuge since the 1990s, but they have grazed their herds more recently on land controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. They were convicted of arson for setting fires on some of those lands in 2001 and 2006. The two served time in federal prison, but were incarcerated again this month after a federal appeals court said their sentences were too short. The U.S. Justice Departments handling of the case spurred a backlash from many in Harney County who felt the longer sentences five years each were a miscarriage of justice. Hundreds gathered Jan. 2 in nearby Burns for a protest march to show solidarity with the Hammonds. That solidarity extends to Otley, who has known the Hammond family for decades. No one is getting any sleep with Dwight and Steve going to jail, he said. For Otley and plenty of others in the community, the new prison terms were a fresh outrage from a federal government that controls most of the land in Harney County a place where prosperity has been hard to come by in recent decades and the population has been on a decline. Although opposed to the refuge occupation, some hope a peaceful end could help stoke a movement to transfer more federal land to local control. We are very upset that you chose to take the aggressive action, said a draft letter from a group called the Harney County Committee for Safety that was read aloud to more than 100 people at a community meeting in Burns on Friday. We approved of most of your message, but disapprove of your unilateral method of occupation. The small band of protesters who have taken the refuge headquarters includes Ammon Bundy, the son of a Nevada rancher involved in his own high-profile standoff in 2014 with the federal government over his failure to pay more than $1 million in grazing fees. Bundy said the refuge had been the tool the federal government used to take away ranch land. We have a lot of work to do to get the people back to using and claiming their rights, and this facility seemed to work really well for that, he said. The Malheur refuge was formed in 1908 under President Theodore Roosevelt as a reserve and breeding ground for migratory birds, which were being decimated by hunters who killed them for plumage for womens hats. By then, the region already had a turbulent human history. Malheurs marshes, ponds and lakes were a vital water source for the Paiute Indians. The Indians later were pushed out by cattle ranchers who used the water to help build up large ranching empires in the late 19th century. The ranchers, in turn, faced pressure from farmers drawn to the region. Refuge managers, in their early years, sought to restore wetlands that had been drained for pasture and farming. Cattle grazing persisted on the refuge. But in the 1970s, managers reduced grazing as protections for stream-side habitat increased. Some grazing leases, for example, were not renewed when ranchers died. For the past two decades, grazing levels have remained largely unchanged. But the extent of the grazing rankled environmentalists, some of whom felt that cattle had no place on a federal wildlife refuge. So there was plenty of tension among all interest groups who began meeting in 2008 to forge the new 15-year plan for the refuge. Managers at other federal refuges often had chosen simpler ways to craft these plans. They tasked staff to write documents that then went on a shelf after public hearings. Tim Bodeen, who served as Malheur refuge manager from 2008 to 2013, thought a more participatory approach could produce a plan with more impact and community backing. It was a risky strategy: Efforts to forge consensus on conservation issues often fail, and early on it looked like the process at Malheur might implode due to all the mistrust. But with the help of a facilitator, people kept coming to the meetings. They had green cards that they could hold up when they agreed with a plan objective, yellow that they could show to indicate concerns, and red that stood for flat out opposition. When someone held up a red card, the group would go back and work on the objective some more. Whenever we got to a decision point, that was a really good tool, recalled Bodeen. Through this process, one major point of consensus emerged. Whatever anyone thought about cattle grazing, a top threat to the refuge came from carp. The invasive fish species had spread throughout Malheur Lake and, through its pervasive presence, was uprooting aquatic plants and destroying much of the important waterfowl habitat. Over the decades, as carp populations soared, waterfowl production on the lake declined to less than 10 percent of its potential, largely due to the fish. It became very clear to me that the number one problem by a very large margin was that Malheur Lake was dying before our eyes, said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Portland Audubon Society. Sallinger was deeply involved in developing the refuge plan and called it one of the most successful such efforts hes participated in over the past 25 years. The final plan involved plenty of compromises, acknowledging a role for grazing but also calling for some changes in livestock uses of the refuge if the science indicated it was necessary. And, through the trust built among participants, refuge managers gained support during a bad fire season to open emergency grazing to ranchers whose pastures were burned by wildfire. Otley said he was too busy to attend the group meetings. But friends he respected had attended and briefed him, so Otley was confident he could live with the outcome. The plan also put a whole new spotlight on the war on carp, which the refuge had waged unsuccessfully for years and now is expanding under the direction of a fish biologist, Linda Sue Beck. Beck has guided that effort from her office at the stone headquarters building claimed by protesters last week. The protesters had cleared a space on her desk to make room for boxes of pizza and ammunition, according to two reporters from Reuters. In an interview with Reuters, Ryan Bundy, brother of Ammon, referred to Beck as the carp lady. He said she could come claim her personal belongings, but should not return to work as they prepare to refashion the refuge into what some protesters have called the Harney County Resource Center. Shes not here working for the people, Ryan Bundy said. Shes not benefiting America. Shes part of whats destroying America. (Seattle Times reporter Lynda V. Mapes and Seattle Times researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.) A sign protests the presence of serial rapist Christopher Hubbart across the street from his home on June 26, 2015 near Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS) SHARE By Marisa Gerber, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES At the foot of a fence around a small house in the desert, a protester cleared her throat. She wanted to scream loud enough for the man inside to hear. Raaaaaapist! she shouted. Go away, rapist! No one in this world loves you, her friend yelled. You are a sexually violent predator! The shrieks were met with silence from the white, two-bedroom home outside Palmdale where Christopher Evans Hubbart has lived since his 2014 release from a California mental hospital. Hubbart, 64, is one of the states most notorious sex offenders. Nicknamed the pillowcase rapist for his pattern of covering victims heads, Hubbart has admitted to at least 44 sexual assaults in Southern and Northern California. Two decades ago, politicians portrayed him as a poster child for why California needed to lock up the most dangerous sex offenders even if they had finished serving their prison terms. Hubbart was the first person held under a law that allowed the state to confine sexually violent predators in hospitals if they have a mental disorder that makes them likely to reoffend. Now Hubbart is testing a central premise of the law: That with intense treatment, some of the states worst sex offenders can be safely allowed back into society. So far, only a few have completed all steps of the treatment. California spends more than $100 million a year on the program and locks up 560 sexually violent predators in state hospitals all but one of them men. Only 34, including Hubbart, have been allowed to leave the hospital for a final stage of the treatment program that involves counseling and monitoring while living at home. Twelve of those have convinced a judge to release them without supervision. The state does not formally track whether they are arrested for new crimes; none is known to have reoffended. In Hubbarts home off a dirt road in Lake Los Angeles, state-funded security guards keep constant watch over him, partly to protect the public from Hubbart and partly to protect him from protesters who regularly gather outside. Demonstrators have successfully pressured a water company to stop delivering to the home and local law enforcement has investigated anonymous death threats against Hubbart. A health care company overseeing Hubbarts treatment expressed concern in court documents that the ongoing demonstrations were wearing the client down. Hubbart has told his treatment providers that he knows the protests at his home stem from his own actions, according to court documents. But, he added, what can I do? In the winter of 1994, Hubbart, then 43 and behind bars, agreed to submit to an unusual recorded interview one designed to train sex crimes investigators. The lanky, 6-foot-4 inmate sat at a table in the visitors room at a prison in Vacaville, staring into a camera as a special agent with the California Department of Justice peppered him with questions. In the video, a copy of which was obtained by the Los Angeles Times, he blinks often and speaks in a monotone as he describes growing up in Claremont, where he lived with his mother and stepfather after his parents divorce. He said he remembered feeling awkward and losing interest in school. When he was 14 or so, he began sneaking into his neighbors homes out of curiosity about other peoples lives, he said. He cracked open closets to look for womens bras, he added, and he imagined climbing into strangers beds hoping theyd mistake him for their husbands. He spied on women in the parking lots of supermarkets and bowling alleys. When they went inside, he broke into their cars and checked their registration papers for home addresses. Then, he would drive to their homes and climb in through a window or walk through an unlocked door, waiting to ambush them when they returned. In 1972, while working at his stepfathers furniture factory, he was arrested for a string of sexual assaults. The 21-year-old pleaded guilty and was confined to a state hospital, where he was classified as a mentally disordered sex offender, according to court documents. In 1979, he was released and moved to the Bay Area. Within months, hed started to attack again. He was caught two years later, convicted of rape, burglary and other crimes and served nearly eight years in prison, court records show. Two months after he was released, he snuck up behind a jogger, pressed his hand over her mouth and grabbed her breasts. Hubbart told the agent he often bound his victims hands with neckties he found in their bedroom closets and put pillowcases over their heads before raping them. In the recording, he described a moment in 1990, soon after serving time for the Northern California attacks, when he woke up in the middle of the night in a hotel room having a panic attack. He said he wanted to do the thing that helped him feel relaxed: Break into a home. He didnt do anything that night, he said, but felt trapped by his urges. Here it is again, he said he thought to himself. Whats going on? Is this ever going to end? Toward the end of the video, Hubbart told the investigator he was determined not to attack again. I believe its all behind me now, he said. I think itll be all right. In 1996, before Hubbart could be released, prosecutors in Santa Clara County asked a court to send him to a state mental hospital under the states new Sexually Violent Predator law. The measure took effect amid public outrage that sex offenders given relatively short sentences in the past were being released from prison. Serial rapists, such as Hubbart, now get life sentences. In a civil commitment trial created by the new law, two state doctors testified that Hubbart had severe paraphilia deviant sexual behavior. A jury decided he fit the criteria of a sexually violent predator. At Coalinga State Hospital, Hubbart joined several group treatment sessions, including the Meaning of Life and Happiness, Sexual Compulsivity Recovery and Exploring Beliefs About Women Using Art Therapy, according to treatment documents. He worked as a janitor, coordinated volunteers to decorate his unit during the holidays and co-taught a watercolor painting course. He was praised, according to treatment documents, for offering insightful feedback to his peers and challenging them when they displayed distorted thought processes. The treatment program for sexual offenders is not designed as a path toward a cure, but rather a way to teach skills to lower the risk of reoffending. In 2012, a team of doctors and nurses decided Hubbart was ready to leave the hospital for the final stage of his treatment. A judge approved his release and in the summer of 2014, after a state contractor conducted a lengthy search for someone willing to rent to Hubbart, he moved into his place on Avenue R, a road lined with torn mattresses and rusting car parts, outside Palmdale. Since then, the state has paid more than $832,000 to keep Hubbart at home, according to state records. Most of the money, more than $737,000, went to around-the-clock security. John Bays, a retired parole officer whose caseload once included Hubbart, said he was incensed when he found out about Hubbarts release. He doesnt deserve it, Bays said. He had his shot and he had his shot and he had his shot again. Immediately after Hubbart moved in, protesters began to show up at his home. They made Christopher Hubbart MUST GO!!!! fliers and held a protest 100 days after his arrival, in a lot near his home, where they served hot dogs and held a raffle. On a night last summer, a group of demonstrators huddled around a fire pit facing Hubbarts home. They wore teal shirts that read, Antelope Valley Communities Against Sexually Violent Predators, and exchanged stories about a year of living with their unwelcome neighbor. One of the local protesters, James Roberts, 49, who lives 3 miles from Hubbarts home, said that sometimes, around 3 a.m., when he cant sleep, he drives by Hubbarts home and honks his horn once or twice to remind him that hes being watched. If we stop coming and he hurts somebody Roberts said, trailing off and shaking his head. He said he couldnt live with himself if that happened. Since Hubbart moved in, sheriffs officials said patrol deputies have responded to 130 or so calls near the home, most of them from other neighbors complaining about noise made by protesters. One demonstrator reported that Hubbarts security guards bumped him with their car. And in September, sheriffs deputies cited a protester for trespassing onto the property while Hubbart was away from the home. Protesters posted the home address of Hubbarts landlord on a public Facebook page, according to court documents filed by Liberty Healthcare, the state contractor overseeing the treatment. One person made a threat to sheriffs officials that Hubbart will die tonight by an AK47, the contractor records said, and officers have flown over Hubbarts house to check for snipers. On Halloween in 2014, a protester dug a grave across from Hubbarts home and put up a tombstone that read Serial Rapist Hubbart, said Hubbarts attorney, Christopher Yuen. Outside of court on the day of a recent hearing, the attorney said, a protester screamed at Hubbart, whose mother had recently died. Do you put a pillowcase on your mothers grave stone? the person shouted. Hubbart, Yuen said, has earned the right to live in peace after spending so many years dedicating himself to treatment. To have people outside your house every single day, screaming the most obscene, threatening, violent things at you, would wear on anybodys soul, said Yuen, a deputy public defender in Santa Clara County. Hubbart wears a GPS ankle bracelet and authorities track his movements. He must submit to lie detector and drug tests and is required to follow a list of conditions that include avoiding television shows, movies or digital media that act as stimulus to arouse. His treatment includes psychotherapy and intensive group therapy, court records show. Last year, the L.A. County District Attorneys Office asked a judge to have Hubbart returned to the hospital, saying hed been neglecting to charge the battery on his GPS ankle bracelet and had contacted known criminals without approval. It is our belief, a prosecutor wrote, Hubbart remains at high risk of imminent re-offense. Yuen said his client was never planning to escape GPS monitoring and was always supervised by a security guard. He acknowledged that Hubbart had contacted a former inmate but it was someone he had met during treatment at Coalinga. Details about Hubbarts treatment and the results of lie detector tests are kept secret under state and federal laws protecting medical privacy. But Liberty Healthcares executive director wrote to the court that Hubbarts therapist believes he is doing far better than expected. In May, a Santa Clara County judge ruled that Hubbart made two statements last year that raised some concerns about his treatment progress, but that there wasnt evidence that he was a danger to the health and safety of others. Psychologist Amy Phenix, whose evaluation of Hubbart in the mid-90s helped lead to his confinement, said he was dedicated to the treatment. Risk changes, Phenix said, adding that rapists rarely reoffend after the age of 50. Hes not that same person. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said she remains troubled by Hubbarts case, especially how he once hunted for potential victims by focusing on homes with childrens toys outside. Who does that, Lacey said, except for a fictional character on Criminal Minds? She described Hubbart as the worst of the worst, adding that her office will ask that he be returned to the hospital if he violates his release conditions. Hubbart sometimes talks about moving, his lawyer said, but knows how hard it was to find anyone to rent to him. He hopes to eventually find work, but now spends most of his time drawing or reading inside his house, and sometimes tends to his yard. Last summer, amid the continuing protests, someone placed the torso of a female mannequin on an empty lot across the street from Hubbarts house. It was naked from the neck down, and draped with a white pillowcase. President Barack Obama shakes hands with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as Vice President Joe Biden watches before the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) SHARE WASHINGTON (AP) Eyeing the end of his presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans Tuesday night to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to take hold. "The future we want," he insisted, "is within our reach." But opportunity and security for American families "will only happen if we work together ... if we fix our politics," he added. The nation's goals must include "a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids," he said in his final State of the Union address. At the heart of Obama's address to lawmakers and a prime-time television audience was an implicit call to keep Democrats in the White House for a third straight term. Sharply, and at times sarcastically, he struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship, calling it all "political hot air." In a swipe at some Republican presidential candidates, he warned against "voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background." His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obama's address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from GOP front-runner Donald Trump in particular has unnerved some Republican leaders, Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome," Haley said in excerpts released ahead of her remarks. Seeking to shape his own legacy, Obama ticked through a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He vowed a robust campaign to "take out" the Islamic State group, but chastised Republicans for "over the top claims" about the extremist group's power. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national security." The president's words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates the Islamic State's power and is leaving the U.S. vulnerable to attacks at home. Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets: failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. "The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he conceded. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office." Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals. He did reiterate his call for working with Republicans on criminal justice reform and finalizing an Asia-Pacific trade pact, and he also vowed to keep pushing for action on politically fraught issues such as curbing gun violence and fixing the nation's fractured immigration laws. Yet Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions he's taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security. His optimism was meant to draw a contrast with what the White House sees as doom-and-gloom scenarios peddled by the GOP. "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth. Period," he declared. "It's not even close." Tweets by @DougLaMalfa SHARE When it comes to severe fiscal difficulties spurred by public pension mismanagement, Illinois and New Jersey receive the most attention. These two states, however, are hardly alone: According to an authoritative study by professors Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua D. Rauh published in the Journal of Finance, pensions in 21 states were funded below 40 percent in 2009. Indeed, according to this conservative estimate, the aggregate funding gap faced by states amounted to $2.5 trillion. Since then, assets have gone up in value, as have liabilities, so the net is likely to be roughly the same. Shoring up state and local government employee pensions is crucial, but conventional legislative fixes are virtually impossible due to strict state legal and constitutional protections for public pension benefits in most states. Its time for a new approach, and one within reach: Give states and cities the option to offer voluntary buyouts to retirees and older workers. To appreciate the urgency of the issue, some background on retirement plan trends will be helpful. Many state and local pension plans are simply not sustainable without substantially increasing contributions beyond the capacity of citizens. Another study by Novy-Marx and Rauh, published in the American Economic Journal, found that state and local governments contribute an average of 5.7 percent of their annual revenue to pension plans. To fully fund them, they would need to contribute 14.1 percent or an extra $1,385 per year from the average taxpayer. The shortfall is more than $2,000 per taxpayer in five states. The legal protection most states grant to government workers pension benefits effectively blocks reform. The desire to protect benefits is understandable workers should, after all, receive whats been promised to them. But today these laws protect a system that places workers in a perilous position. Poor decisions by state and local officials, and the politically charged collective-bargaining environment they work within, are to blame for the crisis. Its up to these policymakers to work with pension-plan beneficiaries and their representatives to solve it. The following plan would alleviate some of the financial pressure on public pension plans and satisfy retirees who are willing to opt-in and it is politically viable: First, require state and local governments to file a report each year with the U.S. Treasury breaking down each plans participant demographics and funding status, using realistic, standard actuarial assumptions, as is done in the private sector. Plans must also be required to give this information to beneficiaries in plain English, in order for them to have a realistic understanding of the finances of the pension plans, again as is done in the private sector. Second, allow (but dont require) state and local governments to offer retirees below age 80, as well as some older workers, a buyout of their pension benefits. The size of the buyout should be based on the funded percentage of the pension plan, but include a bonus for the beneficiary. Specifically, calculate the buyout by first taking the present value of an individuals accrued retirement benefits. Then discount it by 100 percent less the funded percentage of the plan, and then add 5 percentage points. For example, if a retiree had accrued a pension stream valued at $300,000, and the state pension plan was 45 percent funded, then the retiree would be offered a buyout of $150,000 assuming that a 5 percent kicker was given as a bonus to encourage takeup of the offer. Because the discount is based on a plans funded status, the plan would not become insolvent if many retirees opt for the buyout. Meanwhile, the 5 percent bonus provides a significant incentive for participants to accept it. Studies, such as one by professors Saul Pleeter and John T. Warner published in the American Economic Review, indicate that many of them would take the deal. Quick action, rather than further delays, will spare much long-term pain for retirees. This proposal presents an unfortunate, but necessary, reform option, and a voluntary one at that. It would give retirees more flexibility and financial certainty, and provide a fresh start for many troubled state and local governments struggling to pay for needed public projects and benefits to the poor. Mark J. Warshawsky is a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he co-wrote, with Ross Marchand, The Extent and Nature of State and Local Government Pension Problems and a Solution. He wrote this for The Philadelphia Inquirer. A regular person thinks about things and then writes about them. SHARE On Monday, a group of some 40 people gathered at the Veterans Hall in Redding to learn how to restart their lives. The men and women attended the first meeting of a new program called Successful Transition of Probation and Parole, or STOPP. They all had one thing in common they had been recently released from jail or prison. The program is a revision of a previous one called PACT, which dealt mostly with people on parole and was dissolved in 2010. STOPP expands the program to the county probation level to reflect changes realignment brought as more prison inmates are released into county probation systems. The idea is simple: get recently released inmates into the same room with a host of agencies and others who provide services that can benefit them. In one morning, folks could connect with job placement services, mental health help and drug rehab programs. If former inmates transition successfully back into society, we'll reduce recidivism rates that can be more than 50 percent in California. "I hope to stay clean and sober. I've been down that path long enough. I ain't going back to prison and I'll take whatever they can give me here," said Stacy Santos, who is on parole and one of those who attended the first STOPP meeting. STOPP represents a move in a new direction that focuses on rehabilitation and addressing the root problems of crime. Such programs are popping up all over Shasta County. The Drug and Behavioral Health courts divert defendants from jail into programs that connect them to treatment and monitoring that holds them accountable. The rehab facility that will be added to the Shasta County Jail will provide services to inmates and those recently released to get them on track to succeed. And the Day Reporting Center, started as part of realignment, recently saw some of its clients graduate from a program geared to get them the skills needed to get away from a life of crime. Add to all that a sense of urgency in creating a sobering center that will provide a place for law enforcement officers to take intoxicated suspects that will also connect them to services, and you can see the community embracing the idea that punishment alone won't stop crime. Some communities were faster out of the starting blocks. Shasta County's law enforcement and social service officials did not act quickly enough in the lead-up to AB 109, much less in its aftermath. But that can't be helped now. At least there's clear forward progress finally happening. "We've learned a lot in the past five years," David Nichols, district administrator with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, "there has been a change in trends in law enforcement and that has to do with connecting newly released community members with providers." Let's keep on that track, Shasta County. The total India-China trade in 2015 amounted to $71.64 billion. India's trade deficit with China touched a whopping $44.87 billion last year and its exports shrank to $13.38 billion as bilateral trade registered a marginal increase, totalling $71.64 billion, missing the $100 billion target set by the leaders of the two nations. The total India-China trade in 2015 amounted to $71.64 billion, officials told PTI quoting release by the Chinese customs. The bilateral trade registered a marginal increase compared to $70.59 in 2014. This year China's exports went up to $58.25 billion while India's export to China was pegged at $13.38 billion, declining from $16.4 billion in 2014. While Indian exports continued to decline due to fall in the iron ore and decreasing demand in view of China's slowdown as well as restrictions on exports, it was also attributed to rising dollar which Indian exporters say is having a negative impact on their profits. Indian officials say that the trade deficit is more than $48 billion if the unofficial trade between the two countries is taken into account. As the deficit issue continue to be a point of friction between the two countries, India is pressing China to open up more of its markets to IT and pharmaceuticals which are India's main strengths. While China continue to promise to look into the Indian demand, the fall of exports show that there is little improvement. India and China agreed to form a special task force during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modis to Beijing in May this year to review the deficit issue. But officials say that it has not met so far. In view of the continued deficit problem, India has been pressing China to step up investments in 'Make in India' and other infrastructure projects. So far Chinese investments amounted to around $3 billion according to Development Research Centre of China. The overall trade between them missed the deadline of $100 billion trade set by the leaders of the two countries. Officials say that the marginal increase in trade this year showed that it will be an uphill task to reach the $100 billion landmark. The maximum India-China trade recorded was about $77 billion in 2011. The actor's arrest had sparked social media outrage with people calling it an attack on the freedom of speech. Comedian Kiku Sharda, who was arrested on Wednesday morning for mimicking self-styled 'godman' guru Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, has been released on a surety bond of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000). The actor's arrest had sparked social media outrage with people calling it an attack on the freedom of speech. Kiku Sharda apologised and said he did not intend to hurt anybody's sentiments. His release came soon after Baba Ram Rahim tweeted that not he, but some devotees, who were hurt by Kiku Sharda's actions, had filed a complaint. 'Devotees are hurt due to Kiku's action. If he has apologised, no complaint from my side,' he tweeted. Earlier, Kiku Sharda -- who features in the hit television show Comedy Nights With Kapil -- was arrested on charges of hurting the religious sentiments of the followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, often called 'The Guru of Bling' because of his bejewelled costumes and flashy appearances on motorcycles. Dera followers had alleged that Kiku Sharda had hurt their religious sentiments in an episode of Comedy Nights With Kapil aired on December 27. He was booked on Tuesday under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (outraging religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), the Haryana police said. He had been sent to 14 days in judicial custody. In his defence, Kiku Sharda said as an actor, he did what he was told to do and the imitation was unintentional and just a coincidence. He said if anybody's religious sentiments are hurt by his actions then he was ready to tender an unconditional apology. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, January 9. Photograph: Press Information Bureau 'If India employs a strategy of a 'thousand cuts', Pakistan will wither away even without a nuclear war,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). The Indian government has asked Pakistan to act against the Jaish-e-Mohammed in a time bound manner if it wants relations to improve and dialogue to continue. If Pakistan complies, it will establish its bonafides and the crisis can be resolved. But given the mindset and prevalence of conspiracy theorists in that country, it seems very difficult, if not impossible. But having given peace a chance, India has bought some extra time before it thinks of other measures. But the 'good news' first. The terrorists failed to reach the technical area of the Pathankot airbase where aircraft were parked. Imagine a situation if they had destroyed many fighter aircraft, blown up the ammunition and fuel dump and killed a large number of air force personnel. India would have been forced to launch a retaliatory attack, the pressure of public opinion would have been so strong. This would have certainly provoked a Pakistani response, the make believe in that country being such that nobody there would have believed that it was Pakistani provocation that started it all. If the May 1998 nuclear tests by the two countries are a guide, then there is every chance that the 'competitive retaliation' could have quickly degenerated into an all out conventional conflict and the possible use of nuclear weapons. Pakistan, India and the world is lucky that this did not happen. During the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament, it was the presence of mind of the watch and ward staff that shut the door to Central Hall that saved MPs from being massacred. In the Pathankot attack, the brave resistance by the soldiers made sure that the worst was avoided. In both cases it was luck that saved the region and the world from a nuclear conflagration in South Asia. Many recent studies have pointed out that even a limited nuclear war in the Indian subcontinent can be catastrophic for the global environment, which is already under stress. India has tried every possible trick in diplomacy to deal with the Pakistani campaign of terrorism against us, but has failed. We do not understand that the poison of religious extremism, so diligently injected in the Pakistani body politic through the education system in Zia-ul Haq's time, has made the whole society dysfunctional. As the Zia era-educated generation of the 1980s has come of age, this has become the virtual DNA of Pakistan. Last year a senior professor at an American military establishment told me that Pakistani officers of brigadier rank who come to do courses there are totally delusional and live in an artificial bubble of their own. With this as the background and given the fact that Pakistan's approach to India is decided by the army and not the elected government one can imagine why it is so difficult for Pakistan to rein in the terror groups operating on its own soil. What needs to be done now? It is time the world at large begins to take interest in defusing the situation in the subcontinent. So far the world has virtually 'outsourced' the responsibility for peace in the subcontinent to India. But Indian patience is now running out. Essentially, the crisis is rooted in the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power. Countries like the United States and China were the prime movers to bring into being this monster. Even Germany is responsible as it supplied the centrifuges to make enriched uranium. Without this international help, Pakistan -- that has a very rudimentary industrial base and technical manpower -- is incapable of going in for nuclear weapons. It is time the world powers responsible for creating this menace atone for their sins. It is time India 'internationalised' the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism since this endangers regional and world peace. It can take up the issue with the United Nations Security Council. India should ask the world body to force Pakistan to act against the terrorist organisations, failing which the UN should impose military and economic sanctions against it. I am well aware with our bitter experience over Kashmir (India took the issue to the UN with a complaint about Pakistani aggression but ended up being at the receiving end). It was Jawaharlal Nehru's naivete that failed to visualise that the West would come to Pakistan's aid due to the prevailing Cold War and Indian non alignment. No wonder we are chary of going to the UN. But the situation is very different today and no country in the world is likely to heed the Pakistani excuse that the terrorism is due to the unsolved Kashmir problem. Terrorism is today a global issue and our repeating the 'mantra' of bilateralism is meaningless. As is most likely with China as a permanent member with a veto, any anti-Pakistan measure is unlikely to get passed. However on the plus side, it will for the first time bring to the world's notice that India has been the oldest victim of cross-border terrorism. I f the UN acts and imposes sanctions on Pakistan, then that country may well come to its senses and actually begin to dismantle terrorist infrastructure. Unlike succumbing to Indian pressure, agreeing to the UN will be less unpalatable. I must share a personal experience to bolster my point. In August 2006, I attended a global workshop on the rule of law and human rights in age of terrorism at Salzburg, Austria. Legal luminaries, judges and human right activists from the world over took part in the deliberations. In the opening session every speaker made a mention of the 9/11 attacks on the US as well as the London and Madrid train bombings. The terror attacks on Mumbai trains a few months before, on July 11, 2006, was totally forgotten. I had to intervene and sarcastically ask if India was located on Mars and why these double standards? In a way we ourselves are responsible for this state of affairs for we have shied away from putting across our case. Like Indira Gandhi did prior to the 1971 Bangladesh war, India must send a special envoy to all the major countries to explain how India has been a victim of cross-border terror. Their task will be easy as almost every terror incident anywhere in world has some linkage with Pakistan. After building up public opinion, India must openly come out in support of Baluchistan and Sindh freedom fighters. If Pakistan refuses to mend its ways, then the break up of Pakistan is the only answer. For the last several years Pakistan has been using fighter jets, tanks and heavy guns against its own people in Waziristan. The civilian casualties this causes have been kept hidden from public view with a very strict censorship. Pakistanis need to remember that Mirzali Khan, commonly known as the Fakir of Ippi, resisted British power successfully from 1936 till independence. He finally died in 1960. The Pakistani army's campaign in Waziristan has given birth to several Faqirs of Ippi-like leaders. In time to come, Pakistan's Punjabi-dominated State will surely come to grief as the British did in the 1940s. What India must do is constantly remind Pakistan of its strategic vulnerability. Its crucial targets and 'heart' that is the Punjab province is a barely 150 km deep strip of land along the Indian border. Virtually every major 'strategic' target of Pakistan is within the range of the Prithvi tactical missile of which India has aplenty. From Mendhar in Jammu and Kashmir, the Kahuta nuclear installations are within the extended range of the Indian artillery's Pinaka rockets. Peace with India is good for Pakistan. If India employs a strategy of a 'thousand cuts', the much smaller and anaemic Pakistan will wither away even without a nuclear war. Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) is a military historian who specialises in counter-insurgency. Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was taken into 'protective custody' in Pakistan on Wednesday. Five days ago, writing in Rediff.com, Rajeev Sharma revealed that Azhar would be arrested by Pakistan to keep India interested in bilateral talks. The column: Is Pakistan going to act, and act big, to satisfy India and keep the talks momentum going? Will Pakistan arrest the prime movers and shakers of the Pathankot terror attack to keep India engaged and continue the talks-for-the-sake of-talks business with Pakistan? Well, the indications emanating from Pakistan to India are rather positive. Pakistan is believed to be seriously considering detaining or arresting several people, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, to save the foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan. The talks are scheduled to be held in Islamabad on January 14-15 and there is no official word from India yet if Foreign Secretary Dr S Jaishankar will travel to Pakistan for kickstarting the stalled peace process. India has linked the future of these talks to Pakistan first taking concrete steps to assuage Indian feelings in wake of the Pathankot attack. Chances are that Masood Azhar may well be arrested or detained by the Pakistani authorities to keep India interested in talks. It will definitely be a big moment for India if Pakistan were to put Masood Azhar behind bars. If this were to happen, as indeed it is likely to happen, it will keep the bilateral dialogue process alive. However, India also knows in its hearts-of-heart that such a scenario would only be window dressing even if the move were to come true in the first place. But this window dressing should be enough for India to keep the dialogue process alive and settle down to a working deal kind of a scenario with Pakistan. The Modi government is expecting such a move from Pakistan -- arresting Masood Azhar -- in the next 48 hours. Should this happen, India may agree to play ball with Pakistan and send Dr Jaishankar to Islamabad either on the scheduled date or a slightly deferred date. But if this were to happen, it won't exactly be a game changer because Pakistan is known for treating arrested terrorists as 'political prisoners', who are generally given VIP treatment. Besides, such a move will make India vulnerable for yet another high profile terror attack. The Pakistan government is under tremendous pressure to do something tangible and do it fast on the Pathankot incident as the international community is watching it closely. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invested huge political capital in improving relations with Pakistan as evident from his surprise visit to Lahore on Christmas Day. Having come this far and letting things go back to square one will be a personal loss of face for Modi. His Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif is in the same boat. It is quite obvious that the political clearance for arresting Azhar would have to come from Rawalpindi, where the Pakistan army headquarters is located. The Pakistan government will find it hard to let the resumed dialogue process fall through. This may make Islamabad take some hard decisions, like arresting Masood Azhar. The ball is in Pakistan's court. The next big move has to come from Pakistan. It is for Islamabad to decide how to respond -- by arresting Azhar or by choreographing yet another terror attack on India. Ironically, this scenario is rather conducive to India and presents New Delhi with the 'Tails I win, heads you lose' kind of situation. After all, it is India, which currently enjoys an upper hand diplomatically with Pakistan. The international community won't exactly be hauling India over the coals should it cancel the foreign secretary-level talks. The fact that India hasn't done so thus far adds to the diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. It is Pakistan, not India, which is set to pay a diplomatic price this way or that post Pathankot. Pakistan runs a serious risk of losing out heavily to India if it were to drag its feet on ordering a crackdown on its own terror apparatus. Rajeev Sharma is a New Delhi-based independent journalist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha. Tamil Nadu has around 30 per cent or more of swing voters, and it is this segment that will swing the pre-poll alliance decision, says N Sathiya Moorthy. Image: An AIADMK poster featuring Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Photograph: Reuters At the much-expected yet less-publicised general council meeting of his Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam at the district town of Perambalur over the weekend, Tamil Nadus actor-politician, Vijaykanth, came down as much heavily on the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam as the ruling All India Anna DMK, leaving out the Bharatiya Janata Party ruling the Centre as also the equally-insignificant four-party Peoples Welfare Alliance, led by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagams Vaiko. Coming as it did after the DMKs M Karrunanidhi had sent out an open invite for the DMDK to align with his party in the state assembly polls, due by May, Vijaykanths anti-DMK comments have caused eyebrows to raise. It has also given fresh hopes to both the BJP and also the PWA, which too have been competing with each other to woo the DMDK into their anti-DMK, anti-AIADMK combine. Left out all such equations is the Paattali Makkal Katchi, which projected former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss as their chief ministerial candidate long ago -- and thus may have closed calls/talks for any serious alliance. At Perambalur, Vijaykanth was reported to have said that the DMK, with a 28 per cent vote share, was shamelessly wooing his party which had (only) 8.33 per cent vote share. He dubbed the DMK as a party born to be corrupt and recalled (possibly for the benefit of the strong pro-DMK lobby within his party) how 'the 2-G case was hanging over that party like a sword of Damocles. Vijaykanth may have got some of his facts right -- though not wholly until the 2-G case verdict is out -- but not the figures. Having made enemies of the ruling AIADMK ally from the previous 2011 assembly polls, the DMDK does not have much of a choice, if its cadres want the party win close to the 29 seats that they had won at the time. The DMDK wants the DMK as much for the purpose as the DMK needs them to try and return to power. Or, so goes even the DMK's perception -- but that is not exactly correct either. Contesting the 2006 assembly polls alone, only months after the partys birth, the DMDK got 8.33 per cent vote share, and upped it to 10-plus per cent in the 2009 parliamentary polls. In 2011 assembly polls, the party was in AIADMKs company, when anti-incumbency against the ruling DMK helped the alliance. Anti-incumbency against either the Congress ruling the Centre, or the AIADMK in the state, did not help the BJP's National Democratic Alliance, of which the DMDK was a part, in the 2014 parliamentary elections. Today, by realistic estimates, the DMDKs stand-alone vote-share might have come down to around five per cent. The DMK needs this vote, as much among the winning votes as for building the image of a winning alliance during campaign time. Its not without reason. Tamil Nadu still has around 30 per cent and more of swing voters. There is nothing to suggest that the post-M G Ramachandran vote-share of individual parties have been substantially replenished by more committed voters of the previous generations kind. This was/is even as the older generation, of committed and party-sympathetic voters, had/have been quitting the scene. This could mean that the figure could be much more than 30 per cent, and might still hover around 50 per cent, as became evident by the widely swinging multiple poll results through the 'nineties. While anti-incumbency is a factor that generally weighs with the swing voters, they also do not want to waste their votes, or vote in an unsustainable alliance. Separately, the PMK, BJP and the PWA are targeting these swing voters. The DMDK, PMK, BJP and the MDMK have different calculations for attracting them, based on their perceived contribution to the NDAs 17.5 per cent vote-share in 2014. Continuing with the 2014 NDA gives the combine a fighting chance in the assembly polls. Thats not to be -- or, so it seems just now. PMKs Anbumani and DMDKs Vijaykanth nurture chief ministerial ambitions. Neither can be seen as working under the other, by their respective cadres. Wiser to the possibilities but clueless about the future course, the BJP, after two rounds of meetings with Vijaykanth, has clarified that no promise has been made about projecting him as the NDAs chief ministerial nominee. However, the BJP has been careful not to send out an open delegation to meet with the PMK leadership. The party seems to have concluded that if left with little option, they might end up having to knock at Ramadosss doors, as a possible junior partner. Despite claims and perceptions, the DMK and the AIADMK have only around 25 per cent vote-share and even about a 10 per cent less, each, in terms of committed ranks. The figures are up/down from the DMKs lowest 22 per cent (1991) and AIADMKs 21 per cent (1996). Post-91, the DMK split, and Vaikos MDMK polled around six per cent in the subsequent 1996 polls, despite the massive anti-AIADMK wave. Contesting alone in 1991, the PMK polled over five per cent even after the anti-DMK polarisation in favour of the Congress-AIADMK after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. Today, the PMK and the MDMK can account for much less than their independent highs, with the latter being the bigger loser. The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, which had not contested any election alone in the state since the 'sixties, polled a combined one per cent in 2014, when the AIADMK shooed them away and 2-G kept them away from the DMK. The Congress, which polled 20 per cent vote-share in the post-MGR 1989 assembly polls, got four per cent in 2014. The party is split though Karunanidhi has invited the parent party into his fold, as if on an after-thought. The breakaway Tamil Maanila Congress of former Union Minister G K Vasan too is running around like a headless chicken, hoping for the AIADMK to call them in. The BJP, despite boosting its traditional vote-share of two per cent, up to seven per cent, first when Vajpayee became PM and later for Modi, has had the habit of slipping down to the original figures. It remains to be seen how the party performs now. The Dalit-strong Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the fourth member of the PWA after MDMK and the communists, too has lost its northern voter base, to the ruling party. Hence, it too has no use for the DMK ally from 2014. If nothing else, the VCK does not have for the DMK, the compensating vote that it has lost to the PMK, if only over a period. In the midst of the controversy surrounding the opulence after the unprecedented Chennai floods, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told her AIADMKs general council meeting, late December, that she would take the appropriate decision on poll alliance. Jayalalithaa said that situations changed with each poll, and they should be adaptable to those changes. The reference was to her bold decision to go it alone in 2014 despite the Modi wave sweeping the nation, and coming on top of it by winning 38 of the 40 LS seats, including the lone Puducherry seat. The fact is that Jaya is keeping the AIADMK guessing, but the smaller parties are keeping its DMK rival guessing. Vijaykanth has said that he would announce the DMDKs alliance decision at the partys state conference next month. In the past, he had delayed his decision despite his promise, and waited till the N+1 hour. His problem is that he would want to go with the DMK, if it could give more seats than the 41 that the AIADMK gave the DMDK in 2011. In the DMKs reckoning, too, that alone would ensure vote-transfer from the DMDK to the DMK. Alternatively or additionally, the DMK too is eyeing the swing voters, particularly after the prohibition row and the Chennai floods. Traditionally, in an election year, the TN voter-mood begins to crystallise only after the Tamil harvest festival of Pongal. Its more so about the swing voters -- and it is this that would swing the alliance decision than anything else. N Sathiya Moorthy is director, Observer Research Foundation of the Chennai Chapter. 'One per cent of wealthy people have been handed over 99 per cent of our nation's resources. The rest are mute, helpless and very frightened spectators to this loot.' 'More forests have been axed in the last 19 months than in the entire history of post-independent India.' "The government is only interested in working with contractors. It does not work for the benefit of the people. It is a government whose only purpose is to help a handful of corporate houses," says Rajender Singh. The eminent water conservationist, below, left, in conversation with Rashme Sehgal. The unprecedented drought across our northern, central and western states has caused distress to millions of farmers. India is facing an unprecedented drought across several states that include Madhya Pradesh, and a large swathe of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Neither the central nor state governments have come up with any long term plan to tackle this situation. This is something we should have highlighted at the Paris meet. What is especially tragic is that traditionally, over the centuries, we in India have developed an expertise to manage drought and had also developed an expertise on how to manage floods. Both are the same sides of one coin. These traditional, community-driven, time-tested models on how to handle drought as also our water resources helped ensure that our rivers, lakes, wetlands and other water bodies remained intact over the centuries. It is these areas of expertise that we should have promoted at the Paris meet. We were gurus in protecting wildlife and nature. Other countries could have learnt this knowledge from us. But at Paris, the only green technology being promoted was technology related to energy efficiency whereas our traditional water management systems were not showcased at all. The only people assisting our official delegation were corporates and consultants. How do they represent the view point of millions of Indians? Are you saying India missed an opportunity to become a rallying point for other nations? Of course. We know how to use our water sources just as we know how to extract water, and through the centuries, have used this technology in the most effective manner without depleting our resources. Let me cite an example. Prince Charles approached me last year to help provide solutions for the flooding of the Thames river in the United Kingdom. I went there to make an on-the-spot assessment. I provided him with a traditional Indian solution where the flow of the river was slowed down by the construction of small barrages at the places where the river meandered. I provided them with a typical Indian solution which the UK government has happily accepted. Now I am invited there once every three times to monitor the river flow. There are hundreds of Indians who possess similar expertise. Why is the government not using their skills and knowledge? Instead, all our water bodies -- whether our rivers or our tanks, ponds and wells -- are all facing major encroachments. We are also plagued with the problem of over extraction. Our present educational system has come up with a breed of students who are taught subjects such as soil, climate and water uses without understanding that these are evolutionary resources that are irreplaceable. Please understand that all our underground and surface aquifers are exhausted and we have no water sources left in our villages. This in turn has resulted in huge levels of migration which in turn is causing huge social upheaval. Are you saying we should go back to our indigenous systems to conserve water? Our indigenous knowledge systems followed a decentralised and holistic approach. Everything was looked at in its totality. We were part of nature. Unfortunately, this world view to live in harmony with nature has been lost. And as we lose our underground aquifers and extract more and more water, we must realise that the patient has become very sick. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the Ganga being his mother. I would like to point out to him that his 'mother Ganga' is in ICU (intensive care unit and the son is not doing anything for her. The drought situation is so intense that farmers are committing suicides across all our states because no alternative sources of water are being made available to them. I was recently invited to Turkey where I was invited for a United Nations conference on how to combat desertification where I was the keynote speaker. It was attended by ministers of 190 countries, but out environment minister was not present. I told this audience that if the relationship between water and soil is forgotten and there is no water in the soil, the soil will establish its relationship with air and the air will move this dry soil to create a desert. It is therefore imperative to establish a relationship between the soil, moisture and air and I gave them the examples of how I had helped rejuvenate seven rivers in Rajasthan. From there I went to Israel to see how the government is using their water resources. In Israel, water has been placed in different categories. C class water is used to grow grains, B class water is used to grow fruits while A class water is used for growing vegetables and for drinking purposes. In India, A class water is being used to grow sugarcane. Ninety per cent of the water of the Ganga is being used to grow sugarcane. This is criminal. By now, the government should have initiated major steps to change our agricultural crop patterns. With our rain patterns becoming more erratic, the thrust should have been on growing drought resistant crops. I am a firm votary of the fact that the present centralised water management system in our country has proved to be a disaster. The control of water must be handed over to communities and it has to become decentralised or we will face a water famine throughout the country. Countries which waste water will suffer. After winning the Stockholm Prize for water this year, I undertook a padyatra around the Los Angeles area in California which is facing drought. I was invited by the former Red Indian community now referred to as a reserved community to help them overcome their water crisis. Earlier, 25,000 reserved Indians used to live around the Owens lake area whose water used to feed Los Angeles and other cities in California. Today, their numbers are down to 2,000. The Owens lake has dried up and the government there has spent a whopping $120 billion to spread a network of roads across this Owens lake in order to bring down dust pollution levels. Can you imagine such an expensive remedy? All I can say is that the Americans are the spoilt race of God. You are being invited across the world to provide water solutions. Why is the Indian government not using your services? The Indian government is only interested in working with contractors. It does not work for the benefit of the people. Rather, it is a government whose only purpose is to help a handful of corporate houses. Let me warn you that one per cent of the wealthy people have been handed over 99 per cent of our nation's resources. There is a small fraction of the population, I would put it at five per cent, who are helping to enrich this wealthy one per cent. The remaining 94 per cent of the people are mute, helpless and very frightened spectators to this loot. The few who had raised their voices in the past -- whether it be NGOs or members of civil society -- have been silenced. A very calculated strategy is being enacted by this government. I am not afraid to speak out. What is the most they can do to me? Kill me? What is sad is that what I and other activists say has no impact on the government. If a government were to listen to us, more people will speak out. Unfortunately, the present regime is deaf to our pleas, not realising that the situation in terms of the environment has become critical. Is your criticism related to all aspects of our environment? The last 10, 15 years have been a watershed for us. Activities which should have been key such as nature rejuvenation, pasture rejuvenation, jungle rejuvenation have all been stopped. Watershed projects which were community driven have been dismantled and water management has been given to the irrigation department which is run by contractors who understand nothing about water. The most criminal action relates to the irreversible losses taking place of our forests. The present government has given collectors the right to hand over some forest land for 'development' projects while state governments can decided to green signal the axing of more forest land while larger areas will be cleared by the central government. More forests have been axed in the last 19 months than in the entire history of post-independent India. IMAGE: A devotee takes a dip in the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in Allahabad. Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters. Rajender Singh's image: Kind courtesy: Abhinav619/Wikimedia commons Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam appears to be in for trouble with the party high command seeking an explanation from him over the issue of articles in a party journal slamming Jawaharlal Nehru and terming Sonia Gandhis father a fascist soldier. The Disciplinary Action Committee of the All India Congress Committee headed by senior leader AK Antony has issued a show-cause notice to Nirupam in the wake of the controversy. Committee sources said that Nirupam has been asked to respond within a few days over the articles in the magazine Congress Darshan. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushilkumar Shinde are members of the committee while Motilal Vora is its member-secretary. An embarrassed Congress had last month distanced itself from its defunct mouthpiece in Mumbai as some articles in it criticised Nehrus Kashmir policy and alleged that Sonias father was a fascist soldier. Miffed with the editorial, the party had forced its editor and Nirupam to apologise for the gaffe. Sudhir Joshi, who looked after its editorial content, was sacked from the job. An unsigned write-up in the Mumbai units journal, coinciding with the partys 131st foundation day, had blamed Nehru for the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet even as another article made controversial remarks about Sonia. Nirupam had later said that he was unaware of the content that had been published in the said edition. Recently, some Mumbai Congress leaders, including AICC General Secretary Gurudas Kamat, had met Sonia and complained about the matter. Washing its hands off the journal, Congress had earlier said that the party had appointed Nirupam as chief and not editor of any magazine. Soon after the controversy broke, there had been murmurs questioning Nirupams intention. A former Shiv Sainik, Nirupam rose fast through Congress ranks after joining the party. Lt Gen J F R Jacob (retd), who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka following the 1971 war, passed away on Wednesday morning after prolonged illness. He was 92. Born in 1923, Jacob is best known for his role in India's victory in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the liberation of Bangladesh. Also Read: The man who masterminded Pakistan's surrender in 1971 Jacob, then a Major General, served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the war. Born in the Bengal Presidency under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978. Post retirement, he also served as the Governor of Goa and Punjab. Prime Minister Narendra Modi mourned the Lt Gen Jacob's demise on Twitter where he posted: "RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments." For more Defence News, CLICK HERE The Pakistan consulate in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad was sealed off on Wednesday after a suicide bomber detonated himself followed by gunfire. Seven people have been reported killed. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said the bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. Local Afghan officials at the scene said they were investigating the ongoing attack outside the consulate, which is also near the Indian diplomatic mission. "Two policemen were killed after the suicide attack, which was followed by gunfire," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told media agencies. "The incident occurred near the Pakistani consulate, but we are not sure if it was the intended target." The latest attack comes close on the heels of four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. There have been several bomb blasts in Afghanistan over recent weeks at a time when efforts are underway to restart a peace process with the Taliban. Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met this week to try to resurrect efforts to end nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, even as fighting with the Taliban intensifies. The US president used his eight and final State of the Union address to take on his critics, particularly those in the Republican Party. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked his countrymen to reject any politics that targets people based on religion and race, apparently taking a dig at Republican candidates running to replace him. In his final State of the Union address, Obama acknowledged that many Americans felt frightened and shut out of a political and economic system they view as rigged against their interests and slammed Republicans who are playing on those insecurities in the presidential race. We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion, Obama said in his State of the Union Address. This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith, Obama. His remarks was seen was a direct response to the recent anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential candidates in particular Donald Trump, who has proposed to temporarily bar all Muslims from travelling to the US. Obama argued that the country can confront the challenges of the future only if people embrace change. When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalised, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer, he noted. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country, Obama said. We the People. Our Constitution begins with those three simple words, words weve come to recognise mean all the people, not just some; words that insist we rise and fall together, said the US president. Obama said one of the few regrets of his presidency was that -- after he ran on a message of unity and healing -- American politics had become more divided and resentful on his watch. Its one of the few regrets of my presidency, that the rancour and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he said, in his final State of the Union address. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. Obama said American leadership in the 21st century is not a choice between ignoring the rest of the world -- except when US kill terrorists; or occupying and rebuilding whatever society is unravelling. Leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world behind causes that are right. It means seeing our foreign assistance as part of our national security, not charity, Obama said. When we lead nearly 200 nations to the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change -- that helps vulnerable countries, but it also protects our children, he added. When we help Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend upon. When we help African countries feed their people and care for the sick, that prevents the next pandemic from reaching our shores, he said. Right now, we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and we have the capacity to accomplish the same thing with malaria -- something Ill be pushing this Congress to fund this year. Thats strength. Thats leadership, he said. And that kind of leadership depends on the power of our example. That is why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: its expensive, its unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies, Obama said. Image: In his last State of the Union, US President Obama reflected on the past seven years in office and spoke on topics including climate change, gun control, immigration and income inequality. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar by Pakistan on Wednesday evoked a guarded response from both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, while Shiv Sena remained unimpressed with the action and described it as their usual game of arresting and then letting them off later. While the BJP termed Masoods arrest as a positive step which was good for peace-loving and development-oriented people of India and Pakistan, Congress gave partial kudos to Pakistan but sought concrete action through his prosecution and conviction. "If the media reports of the arrest (Azhars) is correct, then it is a positive step which is good a thing for the peace-loving and development-oriented people of the two countries," BJP national secretary and its media cell in-charge Shrikant Sharma said. "If Pakistan acts against terrorism then it is good for the people of both countries because terrorists are enemies of the humanity. The whole world today is united in rooting out terrorism," he said, adding that Prime Minister Marendra Modi had conveyed the nations anger to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif who had assured him of action. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "Partial kudos to Pakistan for detaining Azhar; proof of pudding is in whether there is arrest, sustained and genuine prosecution and conviction." He also said, "Pakistan leadership especially Nawaz Sharif deserves benefit of doubt for a few weeks and if he walks the talk consistently in future he would go down as a statesman." Singhvi added, "If Pakistan initiative proves sincere, genuine and long term and I am still skeptical that Pakistan has not diminished but enhanced itself by bowing to India." BJP's ally Shiv Sena was not much impressed with the action, saying it is just usual for Pakistan to take such actions for the sake of it following terror incidents in India. Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, "It is the usual game being played by Pakistan of detaining some people, arresting them and then releasing them and later letting them off. It had also happened after the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes. We do not take the development seriously." Janata Dal-United's K C Tyagi welcomed this step of Pakistan and said India had submitted dossiers against terror outfits operating from their soil in past many times including after the 26/11 attack and the attack on Indian Parliament. "We are happy that Pakistan government has taken any positive step for the first time. Such actions serve to improve the atmosphere for talks. After the action there is now a good atmosphere for talks. We also hope that the participation between the two countries will also increase in other fields like art, culture and sports," he said. Amid uncertainty over the upcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag on Wednesday squarely blamed the Pakistani Army for having derailed the peace process a "number of times" in the past. His remarks came in the backdrop of reports that Pakistani establishment was not on board with their Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when it came to talks with India. "It has done it number of times. I am not saying in this (Pathankot) connection..." he said when asked whether he feels that the Pathankot attack was an attempt by the Pakistani Army and the ISI to disrupt the peace process. There is speculation that the FS-level talks may be deferred with India wanting "prompt and decisive" action against the masterminds of the Pathankot terror attack that left seven soldiers killed and six terrorists gunned down. Two days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stressed on the need to give back pain inflicted on India by organisations and individuals in the same coin, Suhag asserted that the Indian Army is ready and competent to carry out any task it is entrusted with and "fully prepared" to meet any threat to the country's security. The Army chief, who was addressing his annual press conference ahead of the Army Day in New Delhi, also expressed his "concern" at the infiltration along the borders with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with the BSF which is manning the area. Suhag also indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot air base base as he asserted that no one came in once the Army cordon was placed along the 24 km-long permitere wall. He said it is a matter of "treason" if the terrorists had used the drug route to get in with local help. The Chief also rejected allegations about lack of coordination in response to the attack saying there was "complete synergy". Refusing to comment on whether the FS-level talks should be held this week, the Army chief said it is a diplomatic and political decision. On Pakistan's role in the attack, Suhag asserted that markings on medicines carried by them along with some of the equipment showed that they were from Pakistan. He said the evidence has been shared with the Pakistani authorities but details will come out only after the investigation by the NIA. The General added that the motive of the Pathankot attack was to inflict maximum damage and generate a media hype. On the Pathankot terror attack, Suhag said there were "no lack of coordination" and local commanders had complete liberty in planning and execution, of the counter-offensive operation which was carried out under Western Army Commander Lt Gen K J Singh. His comments came amid questions raised by experts as to why there was multiple change of command and why the NSG, a paramilitary force under the Home Ministry, led the operation. "As far as the Army is concerned, it was not under anybody's command. It was under the Western Army Commander who was monitoring and controlling the operations on my behalf," Suhag said. He added that one of the important task at hand was to ensure safety of the assets, the over 10,000 people living at the base and the foreign trainees at the base. He asserted that contrary to reports, 8 columns of the Army, with about 70 men each, were deployed besides the special forces. Asked whether the decision to call in the NSG to handle the Pathankot operation was correct or not, he said, "NSG is the best force to deal with hostage situation and it was a good decision." Assuring the country, he said the Army is highly motivated and ready to respond to any threats to our national security. "It was a good operation. To ensure less casualties we had to take time to complete operation," he said. Suhag said he was personally monitoring the operation and was in regular touch with Lt Gen Singh. The Army Chief said his direction on Pathankot operation was to secure all facilities and personnel, ensure no one escaped and to avoid casualties. He said that the crisis management committee met before Pathankot attack and he had alerted commanders in Northern and Western sector. Gen Singh also identified cyber security as the major non traditional challenge for the Army. About infiltration, Suhag said that the reason why terrorists were using the Punjab border to enter the country was because anti-infiltration grid along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has been strengthened and is difficult to breach. On relations with China, he said that face offs on the Line of Actual Control have come down this year from the previous year and that a hotline between the two troops would be set up in few months. Warning that Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East could become safe havens for new terrorist networks, US President Barack Obama in his final State of the Union address on Wednesday promised that he would go after Al Qaeda and Islamic State to keep America and its allies safe. Both Al Qaeda and now IS pose a direct threat to our people, because in todays world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage, Obama said in his hour-long prime-time speech. He said Americas foreign policy must be focused on the threat from IS and Al Qaeda. But it cant stop there. For even without IS, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world -- in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks, said Obama, who will demit office next January. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians, he said as he asked Republicans to join him in his fight against terrorism. If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorise the use of military force against IS. Take a vote, he said in his eighth consecutive address. But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, IS will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit, Obama said. Obama said terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside the country and undermine American allies. But as we focus on destroying IS, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped, Obama said. We dont need to build them up to show that were serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that IS is representative of one of the worlds largest religions. We just need to call them what they are -- killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed, Obama said. America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off Islamic States financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology, he said. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria, he said. Pakistani military officers were involved in the attack on the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in which assailants attempted to storm the mission building, a senior Afghan police official said on Monday. We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 per cent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation, Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of the Balkh province, said of the attack that took place last week. Sadat said the attackers -- officers from across the border -- were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege. The attackers were military personnel. They were educated and well prepared and had intelligence. They fought us and only by Allahs grace were we able to control them and eliminate them, Sadat was quoted as saying by Tolo News. The police official said efforts were underway to track down, identify and detain those who assisted the attackers to gain access to the building that was opposite the Indian consulate. We are jointly working with the NDS director and have spoken about this -- especially as they came here not able to speak in Dari or Pashtu but speaking in Urdu. It means obviously there is someone who guided those attackers and helped the attackers, Sadat said. An intense gun-battle between security forces and the attackers took place outside the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif after assailants attempted to storm the mission building on January 3. The standoff ended on the night of January 4 after the attackers who entered the building opposite the Indian consulate were killed. One police solider also lost his life and nine others including three civilians were wounded in the incident. As the consulate came under attack, Indo-Tibetan Border Police guards deployed on the sentry post foiled their attempt by raining heavy fire on them. A strong contingent of over four-dozen ITBP commandos has been securing this facility from 2008 apart from three other missions in the country and the main Embassy in the capital, Kabul. The security of these sensitive facilities was recently heightened after the ITBP deployed over 35 commandos at Indian missions in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandhar and Mazar-e-Sharif. Image: Members of Afghan Quick Reaction Force talk among themselves during an operation near the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Photograph: Anil Usyan/Reuters Ending suspense of days, the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said their coalition will continue on the basis of the understanding reached last year but gave no timeframe for formation of the new government in Jammu and Kashmir, which is set to be headed by Mehbooba Mufti. Both parties emphasised that no conditions have been put by either, with PDP saying the coalition will move forward on the basis of last year's 'Agenda of Alliance' which encompasses all issues -- political and economic. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, who had played the key role in firming up the coalition last year, held a meeting with all the 25 MLAs of the party in Jammu after which the party leaders said they were just waiting for the PDP to initiate the process of forming the government. BJP general secretary in-charge of J&K Avinash Rai Khanna said they are waiting for PDP to formally elect their Legislature Party leader after which other formalities could be done. "As far as I am concerned, there is no suspense. We have lost a stalwart like Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Once the official mourning period (seven days) is over, I think the (coalition) government will carry on under the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti," PDP's chief spokesperson Mehboob Beg told reporters. The state government had declared a seven-day official mourning as a mark of respect to Sayeed, then chief minister who passed away at AIIMS in Delhi on last Thursday. This mourning period will end on Wednesday. Beg, however, did not give a timeframe for government formation in the state which was brought under Governor's Rule on Friday. "This government will continue after the state mourning is over as per the 'Agenda of Alliance' in which all the issues that were between this alliance of North Pole and South Pole have been sorted out by Mufti sahib," Beg said. The PDP spokesperson said the 'Agenda of Alliance' between the two parties encompasses all the issues -- both political as well as economic -- and will form the guiding the document for the six-year term of the coalition. "I do not think there is any need for talks (with the BJP). I do not see any issues that need to be resolved," he added. Asked about the speculation of Congress offering support to the PDP for government formation, Beg said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had come only to pay respects to Sayeed who had spent a long time in that party. "Soniaji and Azad Sahib came to pay respect to the person who had helped Congress take roots in Jammu and Kashmir," he added. "There are no differences between the PDP and the BJP. Let the PDP decide their leader. Thereafter, further process will start," said Khanna after the meeting which he termed as 'informal'. "Let PDP open its cards," the BJP leader added. The party's state unit chief Sat Paul Sharma also asserted that there are no differences between the two parties. Asked when the swearing-in could take place, Sharma said it will depend on the PDP. To a question on delay, Sharma said the PDP has to go to the governor to inform about their leader. I think we will soon arrive at a decision, he said. "We have already replied to the governor," the BJP leader said, referring to the query made by Vohra about the position of the respective parties. Meanwhile, with the government-formation getting delayed, the budget session of the assembly, scheduled to start on January 18, has been cancelled. Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta said today that the new government will decide on when to convene the session afresh. During the 52-day session, the PDP-BJP government headed by Sayeed was to present its annual budget on January 22. The 31st edition of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival opened last week in the city of Harbin in China. The event, which officially lasts for one month, is the largest of its kind in the world. The sculptures are created from compacted snow or from blocks of ice which are hauled from across the nearby Songhua River. Several of the sculpts are lit up as part of the celebrations. The festival that started in 1963 was held sporadically until 1985 and has been a regular feature in the area since then. Rediff.com takes a look at the the chilly festivities that attract tourists to the icy landscape that would seem right at home in an episode of Game of Thrones. Image: People look around a large snow sculpture ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People visit ice sculptures illuminated by coloured lights on the opening day of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People look around ice sculptures ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People visit ice sculptures illuminated by coloured lights on the opening day of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People visit ice sculptures illuminated by coloured lights on the opening day of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: A worker polishes an ice sculpture ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: Fireworks light up the sky behind ice sculptures during the opening day of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: A worker polishes an ice sculpture ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People walk around ice and snow sculptures during the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People visit ice sculptures illuminated by coloured lights on the opening day of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: People walk around ice and snow sculptures ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters Image: Workers polish a snow sculpture ahead of the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photograph: Aly Song/ Reuters For the past two years, a Romanian photographer -- Mihaela Noroc -- has been capturing the beauty and diversity of the world through photographs of the native women. As part of her project -- The Atlas of Beauty -- Noroc visited more than 30 countries in over 15 months. At a stopover in India, Noroc pulled out her camera and she didnt disappoint. Here are some of her breathtaking pictures depicting natural Indian beauty. After her Indian leg of the journey, she wrote, I really want to let all Indian people know how special women here are and that they deserve admiration, protection and all the respect. They are mothers, sisters, daughters and this photo series is an homage to all of them. Jodhpur She was not going to a celebration, but just to the market. This kind of spectacular outfits are common things in India. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Delhi This picture of a young girl from Delhi in western clothes stand in sharp contrast to the women adorning traditional clothes. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Varanasi A Hindu pilgrim offering prayers at the Ganges. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Mumbai Noroc intentionally showed both traditional and modern women during her stay in India. Heres a girl from Surat trying to make it big in Mumbai. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Mumbai Noroc also focussed on the different communities in an effort to show the countrys diversity. Heres a woman from the Parsi community, which represents one of the minorities in India. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Jodhpur Noroc took every opportunity to capture beauty away from the flash and gloss of beauty magazines. This woman was captured at Jodhpur railway station. After all, beauty is everywhere, isnt it? Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Delhi She's from Delhi and in a few months will give birth to her first baby. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Pushkar This female cop is all smiles. Cant help but notice the sparkle in her eye. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Amritsar Sikh woman at the Golden Temple, in Amritsar. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Pushkar A woman from the Kalbelia tribe (famous for their dance) poses ahead of the Pushkar Camel fair. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Mumbai Beauty comes at all age and sizes. Next year, she will turn 100. She lives in Mumbai. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc Mumbai Noroc also added Bollywoods Sonam Kapoor in her feature. Sonam is an extraordinary person, a symbol of beauty and success and my wish was to let Indian women know that all of them are stars for me. Photograph: Mihaela Noroc The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the stay of Italian Marine Massimiliano Latorre, who along with his colleague Salvatore Girone is accused of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, in Italy till April 30 and asked the government to appraise it of the status of international arbitration proceedings in the case. The bench, comprising Justices A R Dave, Kurian Joseph and Amitava Roy, also inquired from senior advocate Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the marines, about media reports saying that Latorre would not be sent back to India by Italy. "These are stray reports," Sorabjee said. The court also asked the government to appraise it of the status of international arbitration proceedings to be undertaken in pursuance of directions of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in the matter on April 13, the next date of hearing. On August 26 last year, it had suspended all court proceedings here in pursuance of an interim order of the ITLOS asking India to maintain 'status quo' in the case. While allowing the joint request of India and Italy, the court had said the proceedings would remain stalled till the jurisdictional issue about which country has the right to conduct the trial was decided through international arbitration. A five-member tribunal (ITLOS Annex VII arbitral tribunal) would be set up, probably in a month to decide the issue of jurisdiction, the Centre had said then. The marines, who were on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', are accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012. The court, in August last year, had extended the stay of Latorre, who underwent a heart surgery in Italy, by another six months. Latorre, who had suffered a brain stroke on August 31, 2014, was allowed by the apex court on September 12, 2014 to go to Italy for four months and after that, extensions have been granted to him. The complaint against the Italian marines was lodged by Freddy, the owner of the fishing boat St Antony, in which the two Indian fishermen were killed when the marines opened fire on them allegedly under the misconception that they were pirates. British police have recruited Syrian refugee mothers as the face of a new campaign to prevent young girls and women in the UK fleeing to join the Islamic State terror group, as figures released on Tuesday showed a spike in the number of them travelling to the war-torn country. A short film featuring three Syrian refugee mothers speaks directly to mothers in the UK about the realities of life in Syria, saying that their daughters might never be able to return home. It is released to coincide with latest figures which show that 56 women and girls were reported missing to the British police by their families in 2015, all feared to have travelled to Syria. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism policing, said: "We are deeply concerned about the numbers of girls, young women and also families who are taking the decision to go to Syria, unaware of the dangers they face when they arrive and the fact that they are unlikely to ever be able to return home to their devastated wider families. "The personal accounts of the women in this film highlight the harsh reality of life for women and children living in a war-torn country. I hope they will go some way to helping young women and mothers stop and think about the huge mistake they would be making if they travel." The importance of the role of mothers in deterring other family members from travelling is also highlighted in the full findings of an online survey released on Tuesday. The "National Online Survey" was carried out between March and April 2015 by National Counter Terrorism Policing. It showed that two-thirds (66 per cent) of 11-25 years old, who were asked which family member they were most likely to talk to, said they would speak to their mother if they were worried about someone they knew being radicalised or considering travelling to a conflict zone abroad. The film has been developed in association with the charity Families Against Stress and Trauma. It questions why any woman would want to take their family to live in a war zone. It is complemented by open letters that the women have written urging mothers in this country to take steps to prevent their daughters travelling to Syria. In one open letter, refugee Faten said: "I would like to say to mothers here in the UK please don't take the risk that you might wake up one day and find your daughter has fled to Syria. "It could be the last time you ever see her, talk to her or see her face. Talk to her about the reality of life in a country torn apart by war, how different it will be to the image that is being portrayed. The reality of life in my country means that just going out of the house brings danger." Among some of the headline cases of British teenagers who have gone to Syria include London schoolgirls Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, who left for Syria last February while Manchester twins Salma and Zahra Halane went there in 2014. Assistant Chief Constable Angela Williams said: "It is important for everyone do everything they can to help stop people from travelling to Syria and other conflict zones. Children have been taken to dangerous places and are at great risk; vulnerable people have been brainwashed into travelling. "My message to mothers across the region is to please come forward if you have any concerns about your loved ones who may be considering travel to Syria." The Commission has confirmed today the members of the Industry Advisory Group (IAG), linked to the EU Energy Platform. Lieutenant General Jacob Farj Rafael Jacob (retired) -- Jake to his friends -- passed into the ages on Wednesday, January 13, 2016. In his honour, we re-publish this fascinating December 2006 special story where the man who masterminded the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 walked down memory lane in an exclusive chat with then Deputy Managing Editor Ramananda Sengupta. The crackdown (by West Pakistan on East Pakistan) took place from March 3rd to the 26th. The Indian government was very concerned over the large number of refugees that kept coming in. In the beginning of April, General (S H F J) Manekshaw (below, left), the army chief, called up to say that the government required the army to move into East Pakistan immediately. I told him that was not possible because we had mountain divisions and no bridges, and there were a large number of rivers between us and Dhaka, very wide and unbridged. The monsoon was about to break, our divisions were not trained in riverine warfare, we had no transport (mountains divisions have very little) and it was not possible for us to move in. So he said he would come back to me. When he came back the next day, he said they were accusing him and the army of being cowards. So I told him, "You tell them that it's not you, it's the Eastern Command that's not moving." "When the bloody hell can you move by?" he asked. "If you give me the bridges and other stores required, and the time for training, not before 15th of November," I replied. Why? I said because by the 15th of November the ground would have dried up, and we should be able to move. So that was that. After that Manekshaw went to Mrs Gandhi and the Cabinet and briefed them. So we knew a war was coming, and I made a plan to capture East Pakistan. I knew that the Pakistanis would defend the towns, so the main strategy of that plan was that Dhaka was to be our final and principal objective, since it was the geopolitical and geostrategic heart of then East Pakistan. In each of the other sectors, for instance in the Jessore sector, we selected objectives like communications centres. So we decided to bypass the towns and use subsidiary tracks and head straight for Dhaka. We never wanted to capture any town, because capturing a town takes a long time. I knew the war would be short, I knew the UN was bound to intervene, so we couldn't spend time capturing towns. You see how much the time Americans took to capture the town of Fallujah in Iraq? So the strategy was, draw them to border, use subsidiary tracks to bypass the towns and defences, and head for Dhaka from all directions. Meanwhile, the refugees from East Pakistan were coming in. Tajuddin (the Awami League leader and later Bangladesh's prime minister in exile) and others were set up in Calcutta. I helped them with the initial draft of their declaration of Independence, by giving them a rough draft which they took around and then then suitably enlarged. So the government orders us to help the Mukti Bahini, camps were set up in the border areas, and they were trained and armed by various agencies. The Mukti Bahini, and later the East Bengal batallions, had a major role to play in the liberation of Bangladesh. They created the environment in which the Pakistani army was completely demoralised and they couldn't move from one place to another without being attacked. Their contribution was enormous. They attacked the communications and reduced the morale of the Pakistani army, making it much easier for us. (General Jacob, left) As for the war plans, I had worked out a strategy when I was a brigade commander and also as GOC (General Officer Commanding) 12th division. I produced a desert warfare book in 1969 in which I laid down these principles. This was later incorporated in the army training manual. The Indian Army was so far used to moving on metalled roads with supplies following it. I said "Nonsense! You move on subsidiary tracks and open a supply route later. Go self contained, bypass. The main roads can be opened later, so you don't have to depend on it for some time." The main problem was logistics, which was critical in winning that war. So in May 1971, even before we received any orders from anyone, we started building up the logistics in Tripura for one corps, throughout the monsoons, before any orders arrived from Army HQ. Similarly in Tura and other places, we got the Borders Roads Organisation to make the roads, made hospitals airfields, etc. In May I sent a plan to Army HQ giving Dhaka as a principal objective and allocation of troops. HQ sat on it for some time, and it was only in August that General Manekshaw and his Director of Military Operations K K Singh turned up and gave us the following plans. The orders, which were issued in writing and never changed, said that we would capture the entry ports of Khulna and Chittagong, and our thrust weighted accordingly. That's all. I argued that we had to take Dhaka, and I was told no, if we took Khulna and Chittagong the war would be over. I asked how, since Khulna was nothing but a minor river port 30 miles from our border. Chittagong was peripheral. So these arguments went on for some time, and the only change that Manekshaw made was that he removed the word weight. So the orders we went to war with was to capture Khulna and Chittagong. Dhaka was not mentioned anywhere. We did not take Khulna, and we did not capture Chittagong, yet we won the war. I had to find troops for Dhaka. There was 6 Mountain Division which was kept in the north for Bhutan. So I begged for troops from that division, but was told that I was not going to get them, because the Chinese were likely to attack. Manekshaw refused to give me any troops from the north to take Dhaka. I was given a para batallion group. I planned to drop it at Tangail and I signed the orders for that in October. We laid down in that the drop would take place on D +7, and the link up would be in 24 hours. It occurred exactly as we had planned. We sent Captain P K Ghosh of 50 Para Brigade in November to Tangail with 'Tiger' Siddiqi, a former Pakistani armyman, to lay out the dropping zone. But I had to find troops. The two divisions that were in Mizoram and Nagaland had no artillery. Therefore I moved all the artillery from the Chinese border to make these divisions up. I also moved down three brigades for the Dhaka thrust. Things were moving. The Mukti Bahini operations finished on the 30th of November. So I told the army commander, Lieutenant General J S Aurora below left), that this is the plan for Dhaka, and he said he would inform Manekshaw. I said don't inform him, because Manekshaw has said the Chinese are likely to attack, and he doesn't know about this move. And also he does not think Dhaka is important. The new DMO (Director of Military Operations), Inder Gill, and I got along well, and he helped me in this. But nothing was conveyed to Manekshaw about this until November 30, when Aurora sent him a signal saying that I had moved these brigades down to capture Dhaka. The answer came in two hours and read like this: "Who told you to move these brigades? You will move them back at once!" So an agitated Aurora came in asking what do we do, and I told him and that I would take care of it. When I called up Gill, he said: "Why the hell did you have to send that stupid signal? Manekshaw is shouting at me for not telling him about it." So I said I hadn't sent that message, and that there's no way I would send those brigades back. We all know the war is going to start, and we all know that if I send them I will never get them back in time. "Jake," he said, "don't send them back, but please do not commit them into Bangladesh without Army HQ sanction, because the chief is adamant." "Inder," I replied. "I give you my word." I never knew that once the war started, Manekshaw would would not allow us to move those brigades into Bangladesh until December 8. On December 3, Manekshaw rang me up in the evening saying they have bombed our airfields in the west, and I said I take it the war has started. He said yes, you go ahead. Mrs Gandhi, he said, was in Calcutta, so please inform her, and I said okay. I then told Aurora that the war has started, I have to prepare the orders, so please you go and inform her at Raj Bhavan. So I tied up the air support and issued the orders. The war had begun. Though no war goes completely according to plan, this one went off reasonably well, and on December 13, we were outside Dhaka. The advance from the north went off well, and though the move of the two brigades was delayed the paradrop took place as planned. By December 13, we had about 3,000 troops outside Dhaka. Meanwhile the American fleet was moving into the Straits of Malacca. Some in Delhi were panicking. The radio signals we were intercepting from Islamabad to the Pakistani forces in the east said "Fight on, you are getting help from yellow (China) from the north, and white (America) from the south." Niazi believed this. On December 13, there was an American resolution at the United Nations, which was vetoed by the Soviet Union. The Soviets said no more vetos. (Then Chief of the Army Staff S H F J) Manekshaw reacted and sent us an order to capture "all the towns in Bangladesh except Dacca." Listing every single one that we had bypassed. We were outside Dhaka, still no mention was made to capture Dhaka! Not only that, he copied the order down to the three corps. So we rang the corps to tell them to ignore these orders. (Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh) Aurora (then General Officer Commanding Eastern Command) came agitated into my room, showing me the signal and saying this was was all my fault because he wanted to capture the towns, and I did not support this view. Further, I had opposed operations to capture Sylhet, Rangpur and Dinajpur and other towns in East Pakistan. So I got hold of Niazi on the wireless that night and explained that our forces outside Dhaka were very strong, a Mukti Bahini uprising was imminent, ethnic minorities would be protected and that they ( the Pakistan army) would be treated with dignity if they surrendered. On December 14, I got an intercept that there was a meeting at the Government House in Dhaka. There were two government houses in Dhaka, so we took an educated guess, and fortunately it was the correct one. The Indian Air Force bombed it within two hours. The governor of East Pakistan resigned. About 4 pm that afternoon, Niazi and Major General Farman Ali went to see Spivack, the American consul general, with the following proposals: Ceasefire under the United Nations Withdrawal under UN Handover of the government to the UN, and No war crimes trials and other stipulations I got to know about it through one of the embassies. So I informed Manekshaw, who spoke to the American ambassador in India, who didn't know anything about it. That same day, the American embassy in Islamabad sent it to New York, and it was given on December 15 to (then Pakistan foreign minister) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He refused to accept it. The Americans then gave it to us. On December 15, the ceasefire was ordered. A resolution by Poland, part of the Soviet bloc, was introduced at the UN on December 15 evening in New York, which was the morning of December 16 our time. Bhutto tore it up in rage, because it did not condemn India as an aggressor. On the morning of December 16, Manekshaw phoned me and said: "Go and get a surrender." "On what terms?" I asked. "I have already send you a draft surrender document. Do I negotiate on that?" "You know what to do, just go!" he replied. Then I made a mistake. I told him that when I was talking to Niazi, he had invited me for lunch, and I forgot about it. On the staircase, I met Mrs Aurora, and she told she was going to Dhaka with her husband. "My place is beside my husband," she said. I was changing helicopters at Jessore to get to Dhaka, when a man came running to me with a signal from Army HQ. I opened it, thinking good, now I have some orders. I was unarmed, and carrying the document which I had typed and sent to Delhi. A staff officer was with me, that's all. I opened the letter, and it said: "The government of India has approved of General Jacob having lunch with Niazi." Who wanted their permission? Anyway, I landed at Dhaka still carrying this paper which I had sent to Delhi. On my arrival, I was met by the UN representatives who said we are coming with you to arrange the withdrawal of the Pakistani army and the takeover of the government. I said thank you very much, I don't need your help. Fighting was going all around Dhaka between the Pakistani troops and the Mukti Bahini. A Pakistani brigadier met me at the airfield to guide me to Niazi. En route, We were stopped by a unit of the Mukti Bahini, who refused to let us proceed. We are going to attack Niazi's headuarters, they said. "He is surrendering, please let me go," I said. The Time magazine reporter who was there said I threatened to shoot them. I said no such thing. I didn't have a weapon to shoot them with! A long argument took place with the Mukti Bahini, until I said, "Look, your new government is coming in tomorrow, and Niazi wants to surrender, for God's sake let us go!" Finally they let us go. I arrived at Niazi's headquarters, where I had the draft surrender document read out to him. This is an unconditional surrender, he said. "You have only come here to discuss the ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Pakistani army." "General," I replied, "this is not unconditional, I have worked on this for some time. I had put in it that we would protect ethnic minorities, that we would ensure the safety of them and their families, that they would be treated with dignity as officers and men according to the Geneva Convention. So it is not unconditional. Where would you find all these conditions laid down?" But he said no. I had thought he had 25,000 troops in Dhaka. He told me had 30,000. I listened to the arguments for some time. His aides like Farman Ali were advising him not to surrender. Finally, I told him, "Look general, you surrender, I will ensure your safety, the safety of your families, ethnic minorities, everyone. You will be treated with respect. If you don't I am afraid I can take no responsibility for what happens to you or your families. What is more, we will have no other option but to order the immediate resumption of hostilities. I give you 30 minutes." I walked out. Aurora was supposed to land soon to sign the instrument of surrender. I fervently hoped he was bringing what we had sent Manekshaw. I was alone in a very hostile environment. The BBC and others were there, and they were all asking me questions. I didn't know what to say. The Hamidur Rehman report says 'there was General Jacob, calmly puffing his pipe pacing up and down.' And I was thinking, suppose he doesn't surrender, what do I do? He has 30,000 troops, we have 3,000, he can fight for three weeks at least! The Hamidur Rehman report also says when they asked him why did you surrender, Niazi told them 'General Jacob blackmailed me! He threatened to hand us over to the Bahini, and that they would bayonet us.' All rubbish. I did put pressure on him, but I didn't say I would hand him over to the Mukti Bahini for them to massacre. I said I would not be responsible. I never said I would hand them over. That's a lie. In fact, in the Hamidur Rehman report, one of the officers who was present said Jacob never used the word bayonet. Anyway, I was wondering what was going to happen as I walked back after half an hour. The paper I gave him was lying on the table. "General, do you accept this paper?" I asked. He kept quiet, he didn't answer. I asked him three times. So I picked it up, and held it high, and said, "I take it that it is accepted." There were tears were in his eyes. There were glares from the other Pakistani generals and admirals. I had no advice, no orders, other than to get a surrender. I didn't know what was going to be signed. What came to be signed had to be re-signed in Calcutta two weeks later. The signed document was wrong. I will surrender in my office, Niazi said. I said no, I have already given instructions that you will surrender at the racecourse, in front of the people of Dhaka. "I won't," he said. "You will," I said. "You will also provide a guard of honour." I made my own modalities for the surrender. This surrender is unique, the only public surrender in history where a ceasefire was converted into surrender and signed in four hours. Niazi had the capacity to fight on for two to three weeks, and the UN was in session. He was taken to task by the Hamidur Rehman report, which said not only had he agreed to surrender but he had shamefully agreed to a public surrender and guard of honour when he could have fought on for some weeks, enabling the UN to intervene. Then there was that lunch which Gavin Young (of the Independent, London, who won the IPC's International Reporter of the Year Award for his coverage from Dacca of the 1971 War) described as the Surrender Lunch, with all the silverware laid out. Khara (my staff officer) and I stood aside, we didn't touch anything, not even a drop of water. After that, while we were going to the airport in Niazi's car, the Mukti Bahini stopped the car and jumped on it. Fortunately my staff officer Khara was a Sikh, he put his turbaned head out, and shouted at them. Near the airport, I saw a few of our troops trickling in. I saw two para boys in a jeep and I took them with me. When I got to the airport, Tiger Siddiqi turned up with a truckload of Mukti Bahini. I don't know why, but I felt he wanted to shoot Niazi. If Niazi was killed at the airport, there would be no surrender. I told the two para boys to shield Niazi, walked up to Siddiqi -- I told the two para boys to point their rifles at him -- and ordered him off the airfield. Then Aurora and his entourage, including his wife, landed. I was supposed to travel with Niazi and Aurora, but I was told to make way for Mrs Aurora. She was more important. Since everyone else had gone, and this was the last car, I hitched a ride in a truck. After the signing, the crowd was wanting to lynch Niazi. We had very few troops there. So we had put a cordon around Niazi, put him in an army jeep which whisked him away. We lost 1,400 men; 4,000 were wounded. The credit for our victory should go to the officers and men who fought gallantly against stiff resistance by the Pakistanis. Due credit must go to Indira Gandhi who displayed courage and determination throughout the crisis. She stood up to (US President Richard M) Nixon and the UN, and led the country to its greatest victory. We took 93,000 prisoners. The rifle and bayonet at the Amar Jawan memorial in New Delhi belong to an unknown soldier who gave his life in the Jessore sector. Let us not forget their sacrifice. Saudi Arabia: Mass Execution Largest Since 1980 Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 4 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia: Mass Execution Largest Since 1980, 4 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5695549ac0.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Saudi authorities carried out the largest mass execution in the country since 1980, putting 47 men to death on January 2, 2016. According to the Saudi state news agency, all of the men were convicted on terrorism charges, and most were members of Al Qaeda. The mass execution to begin 2016 follows 158 executions in 2015. Among those executed were at least four Saudi Shia men, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric sentenced to death in 2014 after a Saudi court convicted him on a host of vague charges apparently based largely on his peaceful criticism of Saudi officials. The 47 executions were carried out inside prisons across 12 different provinces in Saudi Arabia. In each prison, the men were beheaded except for four that used firing squads,according to Reuters news agency. "Saudi Arabia had a shameful start to 2016, executing 47 people in a day, after a year with one of the highest execution rates in its recent history," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The death penalty is never the answer to crimes, and executing prisoners en masse further stains Saudi Arabia's troubling human rights record." Saudi authorities first warned they would carry out a mass execution in late November 2015, when local newspaper Okaz reported that Saudi Arabia would execute 55 men "belonging to Al Qaeda and Awamiyya," the Shia town in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province from which al-Nimr hailed. The Saudi Press Agency tied the executed men to a series of Al Qaeda attacks across the country between 2003 and 2004, specifically mentioning coordinated attacks on the Al-Hamra Housing Complex, Vinnell Housing Complex, and Ishbilia Housing Complex in Riyadh in May 2003; attacks on the Arabian Company for Petroleum Investment (APICORP), Petroleum Center Company, and Al-Waha Housing Complex in the Eastern Province city of Khobar in May 2004; the bombing of the Public Traffic Administration in Riyadh in April 2004; bombings targeting the Ministry of Interior headquarters and Emergency Forces building in Riyadh in December 2004; and an attack on the United States Consulate in Jeddah in December 2004. The announcement did not specify which men were convicted for which crimes, but did note that only four of the 47 were convicted of Hadd ("limit") crimes for which Islamic law mandates a specific punishment, including the death penalty, while 43 were sentenced to death based on judicial discretion. The charges against al-Nimr included "breaking allegiance with the ruler," "inciting sectarian strife," and supporting rioting and destruction of public property during 2011-2012 protests in Shia-majority towns and cities. The proceedings of Saudi Arabia's Specialized Criminal Court, which conducted his trial in 13 sessions over a year and a half, raised serious fair trial concerns, including vague charges that do not resemble recognizable crimes and trial sessions held without informing al-Nimr's legal advocate. Authorities arrested al-Nimr in June 2012 and held him for eight months before bringing charges, although the Interior Ministry had labeled him an "instigator of discord and rioting" after his arrest. Officials claimed that he resisted arrest and rammed a security force vehicle, leading to a gun battle in which al-Nimr was wounded. Purported photos of the incident released by the local media show the wounded sheikh slumped in the back seat of a car wearing a bloodied white robe. A family member told Human Rights Watch that al-Nimr did not own a gun and that they dispute the claim that he resisted arrest. Local activists and family members told Human Rights Watch that al-Nimr supported only peaceful protests and eschewed all violent opposition to the government. A 2011 BBC report quoted him as supporting "the roar of the word against authorities rather than weapons the weapon of the word is stronger than bullets, because authorities will profit from a battle of weapons." In another video available on YouTube, al-Nimr states, "It is not permitted to use weapons and spread corruption in society." Saudi Arabia systematically discriminates against its Shia citizens, who constitute 10 to 15 percent of the population. This discrimination reduces Shias' access to public education and government employment. They do not receive equal treatment under the justice system and the government impairs their ability to practice their religion freely, rarely providing permission for Shia citizens to build mosques. Al-Nimr's 2012 arrest caused demonstrations in Awamiyya, a Shia village in the Qatif district that has been the site of anti-government demonstrations since 2011. Media reported that security forces shot and killed two demonstrators on the evening of al-Nimr's arrest. The local activists, who asked not to be named for fear of arrest, said that al-Nimr had a strong following among Shia youth because of his outspoken criticism of government policies and advocacy of greater rights for Shia. In late March 2009, al-Nimr suggested in a Friday sermon that the Shia might consider seceding from Saudi Arabia if the government continued to deny their rights. When security forces tried to detain him, he went into hiding. After his execution, Saudi Arabia deployed security forces to Qatif, maintaining a heavy presence as crowds gathered to protest, according to Middle East Eye, an online news site. Human Rights Watch has documented longstanding due process violations in Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system that make it difficult for a defendant to get a fair trial even in capital cases. A Human Rights Watch analysis in September revealed serious due process concerns during four trials of Shia protesters before the Specialized Criminal Court. They include broadly framed charges that do not resemble recognizable crimes, denial of access to lawyers at arrest and during pretrial detention, quick dismissal of allegations of torture without investigation, and admission of confessions that defendants claimed were coerced. "Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shia cleric following an unfair trial only adds to the existing sectarian discord and unrest," Whitson said. "Saudi Arabia's path to stability in the Eastern Province lies in ending systematic discrimination against Shia citizens, not in executions." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Saudi Arabia: Sustained Assault on Free Expression Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 11 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia: Sustained Assault on Free Expression, 11 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5695550524f3.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Saudi courts are sentencing prominent reform advocates, activists, and writers to lengthy jail terms - and even death - on vague charges related to the peaceful exercise of free expression. Most recently, on December 21, 2015, a Saudi court sentenced Zuhair Kutbi, a peaceful critic who called for domestic political reform, to four years in prison, a five-year travel ban, and a 15-year ban on media appearances. It is only the latest in a series of harsh judgments against peaceful advocates during King Salman's first year. "Human rights advocates hoped that King Salman would rein in his country's repression of peaceful dissidents, but the authorities harass and jail people for peacefully expressing reform-oriented opinions," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director. "The king should put an end to this sustained assault on free expression and release all peaceful activists and writers." During 2015, at least six men, including prominent writers, dissidents, and reform advocates, were punished for peaceful expression of their opinions. One was sentenced to death and the others to lengthy prison terms. At least four were also banned from traveling abroad for five to 10 years. Most faced broad, catch-all charges designed to criminalize peaceful dissent, such as "sowing discord," "reducing the government's prestige," and "inciting public opinion." The Specialized Criminal Court, set up in 2008 to try terrorism cases but often used to prosecute peaceful dissidents, convicted four of the men. The authorities have harassed Kutbi for his peaceful writings since the 1990s and have detained him at least six times, according to Saudi activists. His most recent arrestfollowed an hour-long appearance on the television program Fi al-Sameem (In-Depth), on the Arabic satellite channel Rotana Khalejia. Kutbi spoke about what he regarded as necessary reforms, including transforming the country into a constitutional monarchy and combating religious and political repression. The court convicted Kutbi on December 21, 2015, on a host of vague charges, including "sowing discord," "inciting public opinion," and "reducing the government's prestige," according to court documents Human Rights Watch reviewed, primarily based on Kutbi's tweets, writings, and calls for a constitutional monarchy. The court also decided that Kutbi's media appearances violated a 2013 pledge not to "incite public opinion," which he made in relation to other writings. In addition to his prison term, two years of which the court suspended, and the bans on travel and writing, he was fined 100,000 Saudi riyal (US$26,634) and ordered to delete his Twitter account and the websites he maintained that were mentioned in the case. On November 18, 2015, an appeals court upheld a sentence of two years and 200 lashes against Mikhlif al-Shammari, a well-known human rights activist, for, in part, "sitting with Shia" citizens. Al-Shammari has sought to improve relations between Sunnis and Shia and made national headlines in 2008 when he visited a Shia mosque in Qatif and prayed next to a Shia religious leader in a show of solidarity. On November 17, a Saudi court sentenced a Palestinian man to death for apostasy for alleged blasphemous statements in a discussion group and a book of his poetry. Ashraf Fayadh, 35, denied the charges and claimed that another man made false accusations to the country's religious police following a personal dispute. In October, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced three men to extended prison terms in separate trials. Two of them, Abd al-Kareem al-Khodr and Dr. Abd al-Rahman al-Hamid, were among the co-founders of the banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), several members of which had already been imprisoned for their activism. The third, Abd al-Aziz al-Snaidi, is an independent dissident. The sentences ranged from eight to 10 years, plus eight- to 10-year travel bans. All of the charges against the three men were tied solely to the men's peaceful advocacy. In addition to the most recent convictions, more than a dozen prominent Saudi activists are serving long jail sentences as a result of their peaceful activism, including Waleed Abu al-Khair and Fadhil al-Manasif, sentenced to 15 and 14 years respectively in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court as a result of their peaceful human rights work. Saudi authorities regularly pursue charges against human rights activists based on their peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, in violation of international human rights obligations. The Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia has ratified, guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression in Article 32. The United Nations General Assembly's Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders states that everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to "impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms." "Outlandish sentences against peaceful activists and dissidents demonstrate Saudi Arabia's complete intolerance toward citizens who speak out for human rights and reform," Whitson said. "Saudi Arabia shouldn't be sending people to prison for their peaceful opinions, and these cases certainly have no business in a terrorism court." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Lebanon: Stop Forcible Returns to Syria Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 11 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Lebanon: Stop Forcible Returns to Syria, 11 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5695583d3032.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Lebanese authorities, in violation of their international obligations, sent hundreds of Syrians traveling through the Beirut airport back to Syria without first assessing their risk of harm upon return there. Authorities should halt the forcible return of Syrians attempting to flee the deadly conflict in their country. On January 8, 2016, Lebanese security forces returned at least 200 - and perhaps more than 400 - Syrians to Syria without first properly assessing whether they are at risk there of persecution, inhuman treatment, or other serious harm. Four hundred Syrians who were planning to fly to Turkey were unable to complete their onward journey because of new Turkish entry visa requirements for Syrians arriving by air or sea. Human Rights Watch learned through actors present at the airport on January 8 that some passengers expressed a fear of return to Syria but that Lebanese authorities returned them anyway. "Sending someone back to Syria without assessing whether they're at risk as they claim shows a total disregard for their rights and safety and violates international law," saidNadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. "Lebanese authorities need to ensure they examine the claims of anyone who says they're afraid of persecution at home before sending them back." Hundreds of Syrians arrived at Beirut International Airport on January 7 in hopes of traveling to Turkey but did not meet the new Turkish requirements. The next day, Lebanese General Security, the agency that regulates the entry and exit of foreigners, forced hundreds of passengers onto three flights back to Damascus. Despite not ratifying the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, Lebanon is bound by customary international law not to forcibly return refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened. In the absence of domestic refugee law and asylum procedures, Lebanese authorities should provide unrestricted access to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, so that it can exercise its mandate for determining refugee status for any Syrian who expresses a fear of persecution if returned to Syria - even if the person is not registered with UNHCR at the time of detention. There is a functioning UNHCR office and programs in Lebanon. Lebanon has ratified the UN Convention against Torture (CAT), which prohibits the forced return of anyone who would face a real risk of torture. The Convention against Torture requires that "competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the state concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights." The reports of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria make clear that such violations are rampant in Syria today. Despite the fact that Lebanese authorities have repeatedly affirmed their commitment not to forcibly return persons to Syria, this has not always been the case in practice. Human Rights Watch previously documented the forcible return of four Syrian nationals to Syria on August 1, 2012, and of about three dozen Palestinians to Syria on May 4, 2014. Human Rights Watch also documented the forcible return of a Syrian national to Syria in 2014 and the suspected return of two others that year. "Lebanon's allies and supporters of refugees there should continue to press the government to abide by its international legal obligations," Houry said. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Egypt: New Parliament Should Fix Abusive Laws Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 12 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Egypt: New Parliament Should Fix Abusive Laws, 12 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56955a02289d.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Egypt's newly elected parliament should amend or revoke several abusive laws that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his predecessor, Adly Mansour, have issued by decree since the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsy in July 2013. These laws have, among other things, effectively banned protests, legalized emergency police powers, and expanded military court jurisdiction over civilians, leading to the imprisonment of thousands of people. "Egypt's new legislators should embrace their role as a check on the harsh powers the country's leaders have wielded since 2013," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. "This parliamentary review can offer a glimmer of hope for the restoration of rights in Egypt." Egypt's constitution gives the new unicameral parliament, which convened on January 10, 2016, only 15 days to consider hundreds of laws issued by presidential decree since 2013. Such decrees must be "presented to, discussed and approved" by parliament, and if legislators do not ratify them, "their force of law shall retroactively be revoked," the constitution states. Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned about five laws. Most urgently, the new parliament should revoke the laws banning protests and expanding military court jurisdiction and write legislation to cancel all prison sentences handed down under these laws. The protest law, issued on November 24, 2013, effectively gives the Interior Ministry discretion to ban any protest on vague grounds and allows police to forcibly disperse protests at the slightest indication of disorder. The authorities have used the charge of participation in an illegal demonstration, often combined with other charges, to jail thousands of people. The military courts law, issued on October 27, 2014, placed all "public and vital facilities" - ranging from electricity, gas, and oil facilities, to railroads and roads - under military court jurisdiction for two years and directed state prosecutors to refer any crimes at those places to their military counterparts. Nearly 4,000 civilians have been charged or sentenced in military courts since al-Sisi issued the decree, according to reports by media and local groups. Egypt's military courts operate under the authority of the Defense Ministry, not the civilian judicial authorities. They typically deny defendants rights accorded by civilian courts, including the right to be informed of the charges against them, and the rights to access a lawyer and to be brought promptly before a judge following arrest. Another law that opens the way to rights abuse is a major counterterrorism law issued on August 15, 2015, which defines terrorism so broadly as to encompass civil disobedience. The law created penalties for journalists whose reporting isn't consistent with the government's official statements and gives prosecutors greater power to detain suspects without judicial review and to order wide-ranging and potentially indefinite surveillance of terrorism suspects without a court order. A law meant to curtail foreign funding, decreed on September 21, 2014, amended the penal code to penalize the receipt of foreign funding in certain cases with life in prison or even the death penalty. Independent Egyptian nongovernmental groups viewed the amendment as a serious threat to their work. A pretrial detention law, decreed on September 26, 2013, amended Egypt's criminal procedure code to dramatically extend the length of time people can be held in custody either before trial, during the appeals process, or while awaiting retrial. The new parliament should refuse to ratify these laws or replace them with legislation in line with international standards, Human Rights Watch said. It should also amend the constitution to forbid prosecuting civilians in military courts and ensure that this law applies retroactively to all civilians sentenced by military courts who remain in custody, who should be released. "Egypt's new lawmakers should exercise their mandate to the fullest and have the courage to stand for citizens' basic rights," Houry said. The constitutionality of the decrees issued since July 2013 remains unsettled. Some lawyers and other legal experts have questioned their legality. The current constitution has only been in effect since January 2014, around six months after al-Sisi removed Morsy, the country's first freely elected president. Mansour, whom al-Sisi appointed as interim president, dissolved parliament shortly thereafter. Some officials and experts have argued that parliament cannot review decrees issued between Morsy's July 2013 removal and the January 2014 passage of the new constitution, a period during which Egypt was governed by a special constitutional declaration issued by Mansour. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Magdi al-Agati told Al-Ahram newspaper on January 6, 2016, that parliament's retroactive review power applies only to decrees issued after the passage of the new constitution. But he said that parliament should nevertheless review all of the decrees issued since July 2013 "as a precautionary measure." The current constitution gives the president authority to issue such decrees, but only "in [the] case [of] an event which requires taking urgent measures, which cannot be delayed." No court has ruled on whether Mansour or al-Sisi's decrees met such a requirement. The Parliament Egypt has not had a fully functioning parliament since June 2012, when the country's high court dissolved the lower house - the first legislative body to be chosen after the 2011 uprising - ruling that it had been elected under a constitutionally flawed electoral law. The lower house had been led by the political wing of Morsy's former organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, and its dissolution coincided with Morsy's election. Following the high court ruling, Morsy governed under the mostly symbolic oversight of the remaining upper house of parliament until July 2013, when al-Sisi, then the defense minister, removed him. Mansour, the chief of the Supreme Constitutional Court, ordered the upper house dissolved two days after Morsy's removal. After he took office as president in June 2014, al-Sisi established a Supreme Committee for Legislative Reform to help review and draft legislation in the absence of a parliament. The committee, appointed by al-Sisi, included the prime minister, the transitional justice minister, the deputy leader of the country's highest institution of Sunni Islam, and the grand mufti - the country's top Islamic official - in addition to lawyers and law professors. The new parliament will consist of 568 elected members, and al-Sisi will appoint 28. Al-Sisi's largest opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been effectively banned from public life and its political party dissolved. Courts have sentenced thousands of its members in unfair trials and a government panel has frozen hundreds of schools, medical clinics, and nongovernmental organizations allegedly tied to the group. Protest Law - Law 107 of 2013 on the Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Demonstrations Mansour, the former president, issued this law on November 24, 2013, about four months after al-Sisi chose him to lead the interim government. The law effectively gives the Interior Ministry discretion to ban any protest on vague grounds and allows police to forcibly disperse protests at the slightest indication of disorder. Article 8 requires organizers of demonstrations, processions, and public meetings of more than 10 people that take place in a public place to notify their local police station three days in advance. Article 10 gives the Interior Ministry an absolute right to deny the protest request on the vague basis of "serious information or evidence that there will be a threat to peace and security," without a requirement to provide that evidence. Organizers can in theory appeal that denial before a court, but the law sets no time frame for review, meaning that the court could hear the appeal after the scheduled date of the event. Article 7 prohibits a host of vaguely defined behavior at protests, stating: Participants in public assemblies or processions or demonstrations are prohibited from violating security or public order or impeding production or calling for this, or impeding the interests of citizens, or harming them or exposing them to danger or affecting their ability to perform their rights and their work, or influencing the course of justice, or public facilities, or blocking roads or public transportation, or ground, sea, or air transportation, or blocking traffic, or assaulting individuals or public or private property or endangering them. Violating these prohibitions is punishable by between two and five years in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 Egyptian pounds (US$7,200 to 14,500), under article 19. Article 11 allows the police to forcibly disperse a demonstration if "any criminal act emanates from the participants, or if the assembly diverges from peaceful expression." Though article 12 specifies that police should use escalating levels of force, beginning with warnings, Egyptian police have not abided by these standards. In January 2015, more than 20 people died in demonstrations marking the anniversary of the 2011 uprising, including the socialist activist Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, who died from birdshot wounds when police attacked her party's small, peaceful protest stand in a downtown Cairo square. The authorities have used the Protest Law to jail scores of activists, such as Ahmed Douma, Sanaa Seif, and Alaa Abdel Fattah; the April 6th Youth Movement founders Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel; and human rights workers such as Yara Sallam and Mahienour al-Masry. The new parliament should retroactively revoke the Protest Law by declining to ratify it as required by the constitution. If legislators determine that they do not have retroactive review authority over the period during which the Protest Law was issued, they should draft a new assembly law aimed at updating the existing laws, including the Illegal Assembly Law of 1914 and Public Assembly Act of 1923, to bring them in line with international standards. This new law could include a provision requiring planners to notify authorities about a protest, but it should not make that requirement bureaucratically burdensome and should allow protests to respond to events in a timely fashion and recognize that spontaneous protests will occur. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Assembly and Association has stated that to protect freedom of assembly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, states should not require that demonstrations need prior authorization by the authorities, and at the most require a prior notification procedure, which should not be unduly bureaucratic. Any new law should require the authorities to clearly define the reasons for prohibiting any particular demonstrations and require speedy judicial review of any appeal. Similarly, prohibited behavior should consist of clearly defined criminal acts and should not include vague provisions such as impeding "the interests of citizens" or "affecting their ability" to work. It should not also hold organizers of demonstrations responsible for acts of individuals during the demonstrations simply because they are the organizers. Military Courts Law - Law 136 of 2014 for the Securing and Protection of Public and Vital Facilities Al-Sisi issued this law on October 27, 2014, three days after an unprecedented attack on the armed forces in North Sinai by the extremist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which later pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The attack left at least two dozen soldiers dead. The law placed all "public and vital facilities" under military court jurisdiction for the next two years and directed state prosecutors to refer any crimes at those places to their military counterparts. The law included electricity stations, gas pipelines, oil wells, railroads, road networks, bridges, and any similar state-owned property in its definition of public and vital facilities. In November 2014, the prosecutor general issued an internal decision requiring prosecutors to send any case that met the law's requirements to military prosecutors whenever asked, no matter what stage of investigation, according to a copy of the decision published by the Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms, a local activist group. Civilian prosecutors subsequently referred to military prosecutors hundreds of cases that predated the decree, most of them involving protests, including some involving university students. Military judges have presided over trials of civilians in Egypt for decades, despite efforts by activists and some politicians to eliminate the practice. In the months following the 2011 uprising, military courts tried almost 12,000 civilians on an array of regular criminal charges. Ending the prosecution of civilians in military courts became a top goal for many activist groups, but each post-uprising government has maintained the practice. The use of military courts to try civilians violates the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which Egypt's parliament ratified in 1984. The Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance, issued by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, explicitly forbids military trials of civilians in all circumstances. Parliament should refuse to ratify this law and should amend the constitution to forbid prosecuting civilians in military courts. It should ensure that this amendment applies retroactively to all civilians sentenced by military courts who remain in custody, who should be released. Counterterrorism Law - Law 94 of 2015 for Confronting Terrorism Al-Sisi issued this law on August 15, 2015, a month and a half after Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat died in a car bombing near his home in Cairo. Barakat was the first high government official to be assassinated since 1990. Al-Sisi pledged at Barakat's funeral to change laws to "implement the law and justice in the fastest possible time." The law defines a "terrorist act" as any "use of force or violence or threat or terrorizing" that aims, among other things, to: Disrupt general order or endanger the safety, interests or security of society; harm individual liberties or rights; harm national unity, peace, security, the environment or buildings or property; prevent or hinder public authorities, judicial bodies, government facilities, and others from carrying out all or part of their work and activity. Although there is no generally agreed international definition of terrorism, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed in 2004 on elements of what should be considered terrorist acts, focusing on "criminal acts committed with the intent to kill, cause serious bodily injury, or take hostages with the aim of intimidating or terrorizing a population or compelling a government or international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act." Egypt's law goes far beyond this. The law attaches stiff penalties for incitement or for propagating ideas that advocate terrorism. Article 6 states that "incitement to commit any terrorist crime whatever the means used" is subject to the same punishment as committing the crime itself, regardless of whether the incitement is public or private or the crime occurs. The law sharply restricts the media in article 35, which states that anyone who publishes or promotes "untrue" news about acts of terrorism or news that contradicts official Defense Ministry statements about counterterrorism operations can be punished by a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 Egyptian pounds (US$25,000 to $64,000). If the person is a professional journalist, a court can bar them from their job for up to a year. The law also punishes anyone who uses a website for the purpose of "promoting ideas or beliefs advocating the commission of terrorist acts" with at least five years in prison. The new parliament should retroactively revoke the Counterterrorism Law. It should begin the process of drafting a new comprehensive counterterrorism law by inviting independent groups and human rights experts to contribute. The parliament should invite the UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights to visit Egypt to assess the state of Egypt's counterterrorism efforts. Any new counterterrorism law should adopt narrower elements to define terrorist acts such as those approved by the UN Security Council in 2004. It should not provide any punishment for journalists or other citizens merely for expressing their opinion or reporting on events and should not give courts the power to ban journalists from their work. It should ensure strong, independent judicial review of the authorities' actions at every step, including of surveillance and detention orders. Foreign Funding Law Al-Sisi amended article 78 of Egypt's penal code on September 21, 2014, to penalize the receipt of foreign funding in certain cases with life in prison. Independent Egyptian groups viewed the amendment as a serious threat to their work. The amended law states that anyone who receives funds from a foreign country, individual, or organization with the aim of pursuing acts harmful to the nation's unity, interests, or territorial integrity, or destabilizing its general peace and safety, shall be penalized with a life sentence and a fine of no less than 500,000 pounds ($64,000) and up to the amount the person planned to receive. Under the amended law, anyone who receives foreign funding for the prohibited purposes described in the amendment in a time of war or for the purpose of terrorism could face the death penalty, as could any government employee. The previous version of the law had set a maximum punishment of a much shorter period of imprisonment and a fine of not less than 1,000 pounds ($128), and only applied to the receipt of funds from a foreign country or someone acting in its interests. Al-Sisi issued the amendment two months before a government deadline for non-governmental groups to register under Egypt's onerous 2002 law on associations, which gives the government tight control over nongovernmental groups' work and funding. The government did not enforce the deadline or issue a new law regulating these groups, leaving organizations unsure about how it would treat them if they received foreign funding, which makes up a large part of many independent groups' budgets. Egypt's Social Solidarity Ministry opened an investigation into the foreign funding and legal standing of nongovernmental groups after the 2011 uprising, and a court convicted and sentenced 43 employees of foreign groups, including Americans and Egyptians, in June 2013. The investigation into local organizations remains open. The right of groups to access funding is protected by article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of association. In 2002, after Egypt passed its current associations law, the UN Human Rights Committee - the body tasked with overseeing the covenant - found that the law's restrictions, including on access to foreign funding, were inconsistent with article 22. Restrictions on freedom of association should be proscribed by law; imposed solely to protect national security or public safety, public order, public health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others; and necessary in a democratic society. States should demonstrate that the restriction of freedom of association is necessary to avert a real danger to national security and that less intrusive measures cannot be used. The new parliament should revoke article 78 entirely. If the new parliament wishes to criminalize the receipt of specific funds, it should create proportionate penalties that fit narrowly tailored crimes. Pretrial Detention Law Mansour amended article 143 of Egypt's criminal procedure code on September 26, 2013, to dramatically extend the length of time people can be held in detention either before trial, during the appeals process, or during retrial. The amendment added new language to the article, allowing judges to indefinitely renew detention orders for defendants who are appealing death or life imprisonment sentences or who have been granted a retrial after such sentences. Morsy and hundreds of Brotherhood members, including almost the entirety of the organization's leadership, have been sentenced to death or life in prison and have appealed. Human Rights Watch has documented the basic lack of fairness in the mass trials that led to these convictions. Since Morsy's removal, Egypt has held thousands of other defendants in pretrial detention regardless of the seriousness of their crime or their risk of flight. In July 2014, the Prisons Authority, a division of the Interior Ministry, told a government fact-finding committee that 7,389 of nearly 13,000 people arrested after Morsy's removal remained in pretrial detention. This number was impossible to verify, and other anonymous security officials told news agencies that the total number of people arrested after Morsy's removal was nearly twice as high. These figures reflect a disproportionate use of pretrial detention "as a punitive measure against political prisoners," the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights stated in September 2015. Under article 142 of the criminal procedure code, judges can order suspects held for 15-day detention periods and renew those detention orders up to three times. If a judge determines that the investigation is still incomplete after 45 days, the judge can continue to renew the pretrial detention. Before Mansour's amendment, article 143 stated only that pretrial detention should not exceed six months for minor offenses, 18 months for serious crimes, or two years for crimes that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment. Under international human rights law applicable in Egypt, detention before trial should be the exception, not the rule, and anyone subject to pretrial detention should be brought promptly - and at regular intervals thereafter - before a judge to review the legality and necessity of their detention. Such detainees are entitled to a trial within a reasonable time or release. The new parliament should pass laws to ensure that all these provisions apply to all pretrial detention in Egypt. Nevertheless, prosecutors and judges have held hundreds of defendants arrested after Morsy's removal in pretrial detention for periods that exceeded those legal limits. In one case, nearly 800 defendants accused of participating in a mass sit-in in Cairo's Rab'a al-Adawiya Square in 2013 were arrested in August of that year and only referred to trial in September 2015, 25 months later. The judge in that case renewed the defendants' detention order multiple times without seeing them, as there was no courtroom in Cairo large enough to hold them. Another judge has repeatedly renewed a pretrial detention order for Mahmoud Mohamed, a 19-year-old student detained for wearing an anti-torture T-shirt, for more than 600 days. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Gulf Countries: Bid to Protect Migrant Workers Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 22 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Gulf Countries: Bid to Protect Migrant Workers, 22 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56955ac68c07.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Human Rights Watch today issued a set of guidelines to protect migrant construction workers. International and domestic companies operating in Gulf Cooperation Council countries should adopt the standards to ensure that they and their contractors and sub-contractors respect the rights of migrant workers on their projects and to protect workers from serious abuses, including trafficking and forced labor. "In the face of rampant abuse and exploitation of worker's rights in GCC countries, construction firms need to step up to protect their workforce," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director. "These guidelines outline how companies can guarantee workers' basic rights under international law and would make a huge difference in ending worker exploitation." The "Guide to Doing Ethical Business in the GCC" outlines specific standards that companies should address when working in the GCC states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to safeguard workers' rights and minimize the risk of abuses in their labor supply chains. The new guidelines reflect key problems in the construction industry in GCC countries. Human rights organizations and the media have shone a spotlight for many years on the appalling living and working conditions of low-wage migrant workers in the GCC's construction sector. The guidelines are based on more than a decade of research by Human Rights Watch in this area. They cover issues such as recruitment fees, timely payment of wages, passport confiscation, accommodation, and health and safety. They recommend independent third-party monitoring to ensure effective implementation. Despite some recent positive legal reforms in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, migrant workers in GCC countries frequently experience hazardous, sometimes deadly, working conditions, long hours, unpaid wages, and cramped and unsanitary housing. With the exception of Bahrain, GCC governments ban migrant workers from forming unions to collectively bargain with their employers. Many workers, who make up virtually all of the construction labor pool in GCC countries incur large debts to pay recruiters in their home countries to obtain their jobs. While GCC laws require employers to pay recruiting fees, the provisions are not enforced, particularly with respect to employers who do business with recruiters based outside the GCC or to reimbursement for workers who pay such fees. Migrant workers are forced to work under the highly exploitative kafala system of sponsorship-based employment, which restricts them from changing employers without their employer's consent. Employers confiscate workers' passports as a nearly universal practice to maintain control over their movements. Access to legal and judicial remedies is extremely limited, and employers are rarely, if ever, prosecuted for violating labor laws. Authorities often respond to striking workers with detention and deportation. Businesses must respect human rights under international standards, such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and do not need to wait for new laws or enforcement measures to act. Many corporations in various industries, from garment manufacturing to electronics, have standards to improve the treatment of their workers. Businesses and construction companies operating in the GCC countries should make a public commitment to uphold migrant workers' rights and should verify that they have done so, Human Rights Watch said. The Human Rights Watch guidelines outline key areas to address, notably employment and contracting; health, safety and living conditions; and labor disputes. Among the key recommendations to companies are: To ensure that they and their contractors and sub-contractors pay all recruiting fees associated with workers on their projects, including reimbursing workers found to have paid such fees; To provide workers with safe facilities to maintain possession of their passports; To pay workers on time and in full; To carry out requirements for maximum working hours with overtime pay; To provide workers with decent accommodations; and To appoint independent monitors who issue public reports to ensure that workers get the benefits of labor protections, in practice, and not just on paper. Government developers in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have come under intense scrutiny over the mistreatment of migrant workers on high-profile projects and have agreed to codes of self-regulation that contractually bind their contractors to standards that in some cases involve third-party monitoring. "This is a big challenge for the construction sector, but it will have benefits for the welfare of hundreds of thousands of young men and their families, not to mention the companies' own reputations," Whitson said. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Macedonia: New Move to Lock up Asylum Seekers Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 22 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Macedonia: New Move to Lock up Asylum Seekers, 22 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56955d3dadf0.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has resumed the practice of arbitrarily detaining migrants and asylum seekers. The detentions are ostensibly to secure their testimony as witnesses in criminal proceedings against people suspected of smuggling migrants. According to local nongovernmental organizations in Macedonia, the Macedonian Ombudsman's Office, and an international agency, as well as local media reports, Macedonian authorities are holding dozens of people, the majority of them from Iran and Morocco, in the Reception Center for Foreigners, a detention facility in Skopje. The center is known as Gazi Baba, after the municipality where it is located. Detainees have not been informed of the legal basis of their detention or how long they will be detained, nor do they have access to interpreters or to legal proceedings to contest the lawfulness of the detention, these sources reported. "It is sad to see that Macedonia is again locking up asylum seekers and migrants without any opportunity to challenge their detention," said Emina Cerimovic, researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Macedonia is violating the law and should stop putting potential witnesses behind bars once and for all." Open-ended detention, without any justification or meaningful ability to challenge the detention, constitutes arbitrary detention in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said. Detention for the purpose of securing witnesses in criminal proceedings is also unlawful under national law and should end. Earlier in 2015, Human Rights Watch documented arbitrary detention of migrants and asylum seekers in Gazi Baba, including children, to ensure their availability to testify in criminal proceedings against people suspected of migrant smuggling. Human Rights Watch found that police guards inside Gazi Baba routinely ill-treated the detainees, including through physical and verbal abuse, and that conditions in the center were inhuman and degrading. Some of the women detainees experienced gender-based violence by guards. None of those detained had access to legal proceedings to challenge their detention. In July, following intervention by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, local organizations, and international groups, Macedonian authorities stopped detaining migrants and asylum seekers, and allowed them to travel through the country instead. Since November 18, however, Macedonia has employed the discriminatory practice of screening asylum seekers and migrants at their border by their nationality, regardless of any claims for protection they might have. It has allowed only those who could prove their citizenship from Syria, Afghanistan, or Iraq to enter the country or to lodge asylum claims. Others were blocked and left stranded at the border with Greece. Other Western Balkan countries, including EU member states Slovenia and Croatia, have imposed similar restrictions. According to local organizations and the Macedonian Ombudsman Office, the people detained in Gazi Baba were apprehended for allegedly trying to cross the border irregularly with the help of a smuggler, after they were denied entry on the basis of their nationality. It is not clear how many people are detained. On December 17, up to 55 men and women were in Gazi Baba, the majority from Iran and Morocco. On December 19, 13 were released and transferred to the asylum reception center upon filing an asylum claim. The Macedonian Ombudsman's Office visited Gazi Baba on the week of December 14. A representative told Human Rights Watch that they found that detainees were held in dirty rooms without access to adequate beds, mattresses, or pillows, and were not given sufficient food. Detainees have access to lawyers from the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA), the group told Human Rights Watch. However, lawyers from MYLA are allowed only to inform and counsel detainees on the asylum procedure, not to contest their detention. The Macedonian Interior Ministry did not respond to a December 11 inquiry from Human Rights Watch on why Macedonia is not allowing people of certain nationalities to enter the country and the legal basis for and conditions of the detention of migrants and asylum seekers in Gazi Baba. Prolonged administrative custody without justification or the possibility of meaningful review violates the prohibition on arbitrary detention in article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Systematic detention in Gazi Baba for the purpose of securing witnesses in criminal proceedings is not prescribed in national law. Segregation based on nationality and summary rejection of claims without individual determination run counter to the right to seek asylum set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the principle of non-discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights; and the right to asylum under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. "Macedonia, as an aspiring member of the European Union, should immediately stop detaining migrants and asylum seekers without any lawful justification," Cerimovic said. "The European Union should push Skopje to end its discriminatory border practices and ensure that people are treated humanely and that their right to seek asylum is respected." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Colombia: Agreeing to Impunity Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 22 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Colombia: Agreeing to Impunity, 22 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569560151bb.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The "Agreement on Victims of the Conflict" between the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) guerrillas will ensure that those responsible for atrocities on both sides of the conflict escape meaningful punishment, Human Rights Watch said today in an analysis of the 63-page agreement. Under the agreement, announced by government and FARC negotiators in Havana on December 15, 2015, a new Peace Tribunal would try those responsible for grave crimes committed during the armed conflict. Those responsible for crimes against humanity and serious war crimes who cooperate with the new judicial system and confess their crimes would spend a maximum of eight years under "special conditions" that would entail "effective restraint of liberty." "The agreement is full of references to justice, accountability and even effective restraints on liberty," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "But a close look at the text reveals a tangle of ambiguities, omissions, and loopholes that make these references seem, at best, an empty promise." The government and FARC announced in September that these "special conditions" would not entail prison time. The December 15 agreement establishes that these will "under no circumstances" include any form of detention "equivalent" to prison, and limits all restrictions on liberty to what is "necessary" for performing "restorative and reparative" projects to benefit victims. "No international tribunal has allowed convicted war criminals to evade prison for these types of serious crimes," Vivanco said. "The new agreement goes even further by ensuring they will not face any remotely serious form of punishment." Since 2004, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been conducting a preliminary examination of crimes in Colombia that could fall within the court's jurisdiction. In 2014, the ICC prosecutor reported that it had "informed the Colombian authorities that a sentence that is grossly or manifestly inadequate, in light of the gravity of the crimes and the form of participation of the accused, would vitiate the genuineness of a national proceeding, even if all previous stages of the proceeding had been deemed genuine." In 2006, Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled that demobilized paramilitaries who had benefited from reduced sentences of up to eight years under the Justice and Peace Law should serve their sentences in ordinary prisons. The court noted that the right to justice "could be affected by the perception of impunity derived from adding to the already significant sentencing benefits in the law other benefits in the execution of the sentence that would undermine it entirely." "The ICC prosecutor and Colombia's Constitutional Court should carefully review this agreement to ensure that victims receive the justice they truly deserve," Vivanco said. The Human Rights Watch detailed analysis of the agreement can be found athrw.org/news/2015/12/21/hrw-analysis-colombia-farc-agreement. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Nigeria: Army Attack on Shia Unjustified Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 22 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Nigeria: Army Attack on Shia Unjustified, 22 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569560a45b.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The killing of hundreds of Shia Muslim members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), by Nigerian army soldiers from December 12 to 14, 2015, appears to have been wholly unjustified. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the government should be sufficiently independent and impartial to hold those responsible to account. Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 witnesses to the killings and five others, including local authorities, who said that Nigerian army soldiers fired on Shia Muslim members of the group at three locations in Zaria, in northern Nigeria. The army said its confrontation with the Shia sect members who had erected a makeshift roadblock near a mosque resulted from an assassination attempt on the army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, whose convoy was passing by. In an internal military document seen by Human Rights Watch, the army said protesters appeared to be taking up positions near the back of the convoy. "The Nigerian military's version of events does not stack up," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "It is almost impossible to see how a roadblock by angry young men could justify the killings of hundreds of people. At best it was a brutal overreaction and at worst it was a planned attack on the minority Shia group." The army carried out attacks at the Hussainniya Baqiyyatullah mosque and religious center, at the home of the Shiite leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Al Zakzaky, in the Gyellesu neighborhood and at the sect's burial ground, Daral-Rahma, over the course of two days. At least 300 Shia sect members, and likely many more, were killed and hundreds more injured, according to witnesses in at least two of the sites and a hospital source. Soldiers quickly buried the bodies in mass graves without family members' permission, making it difficult to determine an accurate death toll. Although some people threw stones and had sticks, there has been no credible information that any soldiers were injured or killed. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria is a Shia sect with close ties to Iran based in Zaria, Kaduna state. It began in the 1980s and is led by Sheik Zakzaky, who was inspired by Iran's revolutionary movement when he traveled there. The sect has an estimated 3 million followers spread across Nigeria. It is separate from Boko Haram, a radical Islamic group also operating in northern Nigeria, whose members have attacked Shia and others. Under international human rights law governing the use of force during policing operations such as this, the intentional use of lethal force is only permitted when strictly unavoidable, to protect life. On December 17, 2015, the Kaduna state governor, Malam Nasir El Rufai, announced the establishment of a state Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the incident. In his news conference, the governor listed a range of grievances against the Shia sect, including how road traffic had been disrupted during Shiite processions and the sect's disregard for Nigerian government authorities. President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to make any public statement on the killings. On December 18, a presidential spokesperson said that the incident was "a military affair." Principle 22 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, applicable to the Nigerian armed forces in this situation, stipulates that, "Governments and law enforcement agencies shall ensure that an effective review process is available and that independent administrative or prosecutorial authorities are in a position to exercise jurisdiction in appropriate circumstances." Under the same principles, Nigerian authorities are bound to ensure effective investigations. "Characterizing this terrible carnage against Shiites in Zaria as 'a military affair' is shocking," Bekele said. "President Buhari should ensure the military's appalling track record of serious human rights abuses is halted and does not continue under his term in office." For details of the events on December 12 through 14, witness accounts, and information about the sect, please see below. The Events at Zaria Witnesses who were at the Hussainniyah mosque and religious center said that dozens of soldiers took up position at the mosque at around midday on December 12, 2015, at least an hour before the army chief of staff was due to pass by. Video footage shot by sect members and posted on YouTube appears to show soldiers calmly taking up positions around the mosque before the shootings began. Multiple witnesses interviewed separately by Human Rights Watch at different locations in Kaduna and Zaria, on December 17 and 18, said that without any provocation, the soldiers fired on people coming out of the mosque, initially killing an estimated five people and injuring others, including children attending classes at the center. A 14-year-old girl attending a math class told Human Rights Watch on December 18 that she was shot as she walked out of the center with other children. Faced by angry IMN members protesting the shooting, the soldiers at the mosque retreated out of sight. The group members erected a barricade of stones, blocking the road to stop the soldiers from approaching the mosque again. Shortly thereafter, at about 2:30 p.m., a convoy with the army chief of staff was halted at the barricade. A video of the December 12 events on Sokoto Road, near the Hussainniyah mosque, was released by the military on December 16. It shows men in military uniform attempting to talk to scores of angry young men, some holding stones, sticks and, in one case, a machete. The video does not show what happened next, only the convoy driving through a cleared road. Later that day (December 12), the military spokesperson said, "The Shiite Sect on the orders of their leader, Ibrahim Alzak-zaky today [this] afternoon in Zaria attacked the convoy of the chief of army staff.The barricade was obviously a deliberate attempt to assassinate the chief of army staff and members of his entourage." The military video shows no attempts by sect members to attack the army chief of staff nor how the road was cleared. A sect member who was at the barricade said the young men "tried to explain why we were concerned that they seemed to be focusing on us. But before long they just started shooting their way through the barricade." Witnesses described soldiers opening fire on the crowd, which included women and children. Some of the soldiers did not leave with the convoy but continued to fire, including into the mosque, where hundreds sought refuge for the next 30 hours. At around 10 p.m., soldiers also advanced to Gyellesu neighborhood, about 10 kilometers from the mosque, toward Zakzazy's house. Fearing Zakzazy might be arrested or killed, hundreds of sect members gathered at his house to protect him. Witnesses said soldiers fired at random on the large crowd of men, women, and children, some of whom were throwing stones and carrying sticks. The firing continued throughout the night, intensifying in the early morning until Zakzazy and his wife, Zeenatu, were arrested on December 14. Witnesses said that both had multiple gunshot wounds. Both remain in custody. Soldiers also deployed to Daral-Rahma cemetery, an important Shiite religious location with a number of Shia shrines, 12 kilometers from Zaria. On December 14, in a news conference after the events, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, responsible for the 1 Mechanized Army Division in Kaduna, said he had deployed more troops to the three sites after receiving information that IMN members were mobilizing there. He said he gave instruction "to secure the three sites and bring the sect leader into custody." He said his forces "came under attack and the resulting confrontation led to casualties on both sides." He did not provide any figures or further information about government casualties. He claimed that Zakzaky and his wife were taken into "protective custody." The chief of army staff said on December 17 that that the military handed the couple over to appropriate authorities for prosecution. He did not say for what offence they would be charged. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the military detained hundreds of IMN members, many of whom were later transferred to police custody. The police released 191 sect members between December 15 and 18, including 61 non-Shia Almajiri boys - Koranic school pupils - and women with babies and small children. The police also released 46 others who had been transferred to the police headquarters in Kaduna. Many of sect members who spoke to Human Rights Watch said they had been detained with serious gunshot wounds and other injuries and that they received little or no medical treatment. The 14-year-old girl who was shot said that soldiers picked her up, put her in a military vehicle, and took her to a nearby military base where she was given basic medical treatment to stop the bleeding. Soldiers took her to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital the next day, December 13, with 16 other wounded Shiite detainees. The injured said they were transported in the same military truck with at least 100 corpses from the shootings, which were deposited in the hospital morgue. Lists compiled by sect members from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital records show that between December 13 and 15, soldiers deposited more than 300 bodies at the hospital's four morgues. When soldiers attempted to bring another truckload of bodies on December 16, they were turned back due to lack of space, a hospital staff told Human Rights Watch. Later the same day, soldiers returned to collect all the bodies, hospital staff said. Sect members told Human Rights Watch that according to information from their members and from photographs they had seen, the corpses were buried in mass graves in three locations in Kaduna state: along Kaduna to Birnnin Gwari road, near Udawa village, and along the Ikara road. Witness Accounts A 46-year-old woman who was visiting relatives in a house close to Zakzaky's house in Gyellesu told Human Rights Watch that she was awakened by the sounds of gunshot on December 12: I heard shots. I ran over to Sheikh's house to find out what was happening. That's when I saw so many people on the street. There were soldiers at the end of the road. They were shooting. The bullets were just flying everywhere, hitting and killing many people. I saw two children who looked like they could be aged 7 and 12 writhing in pain on the ground. They were bleeding. Just then I saw one of my five sons. They had gone to Hussainniyah [mosque] that morning. So I asked him to help me move the older one whose injury was worse into a house. When we came back to pick the second child, the soldiers had noticed him. We ran away as they shot him point blank in the head. He was only a child. I fell as a wall caved in on me when the soldiers threw a bomb toward the house. That was the last I saw of my son or any of his brothers till today. What really is our offense? Why do they hate us so much? I don't know how I survived. It was at the hospital they found out I had 12 bits of shrapnel lodged in my back. A 30-year-old man who was at Hussainniyah mosque and religious centre: I was at the center as early as 9 a.m. on Saturday. At about noon we heard some noise. When we came out we noticed about 60 soldiers in front and at the back of the center. We became jittery. Some of my Muslim brothers went to ask them why they were there. They said it's because the COAS was going to pass and they did not trust us. We told we were not comfortable with their presence. We decided to set up a barricade so that if they start to shoot it would take time before they get to us. By around 2:30 p.m. when a long military convoy came we tried to explain why we were concerned that they seemed focused on us. Before long they just started shooting their way through the barricade. Up to 50 of us including women and children were killed. The rest of us fled in different directions. I hid in a gutter for a long time. Then I noticed at around 10 p.m. that more soldiers came. They took positions around Hussainniyah. Not long after I got a call that the same thing was happening at Gyellesu. So I crawled my way out of the area and ran to the Sheikh's house to help protect him. Around 2 a.m. those still stuck at Hussainniyah called to say the soldiers were announcing that everyone should come out of the center. When they did not respond, soldiers started throwing grenades into the building. We could hear the explosions over the phone. There were more than 500 people in that place. We lost count of the numbers after they told us of the 175th death. After that we could no longer reach anyone there. I believe there are still some hiding around the place afraid and injured. A 15-year-old boy who was stuck inside Hussainniyah mosque: We could not come out because the soldiers were still outside. We waited for them to leave so we can go home. But we soon noticed they became more. They came with tanks (armored personnel carriers) and were just shooting and shooting. Many of us got shot. Some died fast and some slowly. It was terrible. So when the soldiers shouted on loudspeakers that we should come out I went with some women and other children. I was already wounded in the leg. I didn't want to die. They tied our hands at back. With rope. Only us men and boys. Then they took us in trucks to their barracks and put all of us in one room. There were up to 50 of us in the room. The soldiers did not ask us anything but some of them will come and kick us with their boots and say "Look at you. What did your teacher give you to make you behave like this?" Then they will hit us some more. They did not touch the women and young children. Only us men and boys even though many of us were seriously injured. We were there from that Sunday morning until Tuesday [December xx] when they brought us to the hospital. They did not give us any food. Not even water. But later they said those who had money should bring it. They used it to buy pure water for them. A 24-year-old man described the attack on Sheikh Zakzaky's house: We were expecting trouble but not from soldiers. The day before, four of our members were killed in Gabai by local vigilantesGabai is about 10 kilometers from Zaria. So we were surprised to hear that soldiers were attacking Hussainniyah. The Sheikh decided we should go and pray at Daral-Rahma [cemetery]. But the Sheikh's wife became jittery because she had heard on the news that soldiers said we wanted to kill the army boss. Someone had helped the Sheikh's young children escape from Hussainniyah. So when they brought them to meet us at Daral-Rahma, we decided to go home. We met a large crowd when we got to the house. They said they heard soldiers were coming toward the Sheikh's house. It was not until about 10 p.m. that the soldiers started shooting. We put up our own barricade to stop the soldiers from coming close. We were throwing stones at them because that was all we had to protect ourselves. The shooting continued until 1a.m. on Sunday December 13. Then everything was quiet. Suddenly we heard a loud boom. The people in Hussainniya called to say bombs had been thrown into the center. We could hear the explosions continued until 5 a.m. when no voices came up on the phone again. The soldiers reinforced and stormed the Sheikh's house at 9 a.m. We tried to stand our ground but they killed many of us, including my female friend, until they got into the house at 11 a.m. I saw at least 30 soldiers including one on a tank. I got shot and was in so much pain I could no longer stay. I went to the makeshift clinic members set up during the night to treat the injured. It was just three houses away. I was horrified at what I saw there. All the injured people we took there all night, the doctor and the two nurses helping him had been shot. I think they would have been more than 50 of them there. I ran when I got the chance. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria Sheik Zakzaky is a key figure in the growth of Islamic movements in Nigeria. In 1978, while a student at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, he was a prominent leader of Nigeria's Muslim Students Society, or the Muslim Brothers. In 1979, he became the national vice-president of the group. After traveling to Iran in 1980, he became a proponent of Shia Islam. As his influence grew, there were frequent clashes between his group and some Sunni sects, in part because they resisted Shia use of mosques for prayer and other activities in northern Nigeria cities of Kano, Katsina, and Sokoto, among other towns. Nigerian security forces destroyed the IMN headquarters in Sokoto in July 2007, after clashes between Sunni and Shia groups following the shooting of a popular Sunni cleric. Although Zakzaky's supporters claim he does not advocate or encourage violence, he has been involved in several previous clashes with security forces. In the mid-1980s to late 1990s, he was detained many times by successive military regimes for his anti-government rhetoric and for advocating an Iran-style Islamic revolutionary government in Nigeria. In a deadly September 2009 clash with police in Zaria, Zakzaky accused the government of intimidation and attempting to wipe out his movement. In July 2014, three of Zakzaky's sons were killed, along with 32 other sect members, in a clash with soldiers during a religious procession in Zaria. Some residents in Zaria and in other locations are openly hostile to Shia sect members. Avideo posted on YouTube after the December 12, 2015 events appears to show people snatching valuables from corpses of slain sect members. Some witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the Sheik's neighbors took advantage of the military raid to also attack Shia with clubs, knifes, and machetes, injuring a number of them. During the December 17 news conference to announce a judicial inquiry, the Kaduna state governor said that Zakzaky's sect has been involved in disputes over the use of mosques constructed by other Muslims. Officials also complained of the inconvenience caused to travelers and other road users during Shiite processions, the violation of government building regulations in the construction of the Hussainniyah mosque, and what they said was the group's disregard for Nigerian government authorities. The governor said that Zakzaky's movement operated as a "state within a state." Clashes with Boko Haram Zakzaky; Muhammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram; and Yusuf's deputies, such as Abubakar Shekau, were all members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, in the late 1990s. Zakzaky's Shia beliefs led to a rift within the group. Yusuf left with his deputies to form the Nigerian Taliban in 2002, which later became the extremist Islamic group popularly called Boko Haram. Zakzaky openly preached against Boko Haram's radical vision of Islam, leading to considerable animosity between the two groups. Boko Haram has targeted and killed Shia, along with other civilians. Human Rights Watch has documented an estimated 9,500 civilian deaths since the beginning of the violent Boko Haram attacks in 2009. In May 2012, Muhammad Ali, a former close companion of Muhammed Yusuf who had become a Shia leader, was shot and killed at his home in Kano, by gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram, media reports said. On November 27, 2015, a suicide bomb attack on a Shia procession in Kano killed 22 people. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack, threatening to "wipe out" the Shia. Past Abusive Behavior of Nigeria Security Forces The attack on the Shia in Zaria follows a well-documented pattern of serious human rights abuses against civilians by Nigerian security forces, including for mass arrests, prolonged detention without trial, cruel and inhuman treatment, torture of detainees, and extra judicial killings. The International Criminal Court, in November 2010, said it was monitoring the situation in Nigeria. In a November 2015 report, the office of the prosecutor detailed six possible cases of crimes falling within its jurisdiction against Boko Haram and two possible cases against Nigerian security forces for crimes against humanity and war crimes in relation to the northeast insurgency. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Rwanda: International Tribunal Closing Its Doors Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 23 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Rwanda: International Tribunal Closing Its Doors, 23 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569563ce11be.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The formal closure of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on December 31, 2015, makes it especially important for governments around the world to intensify efforts to bring remaining suspects to justice. On December 14, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) delivered its final judgment on appeal in the case against former Minister of Family and Women's Development Pauline Nyiramasuhuko and five co-accused. Nyiramasuhuko was the first woman convicted of genocide by an international court. The court found her guilty of rape, among other crimes. The Appeals Chamber upheld convictions for most of the charges against Nyiramasuhuko, her son Arsene Ntahobali, and four local government officials, but lowered the prison sentences for all six defendants. "The creation of the ICTR was an extraordinary evolution in the international response to serious and widespread human rights violations," said Geraldine Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "It signalled that all serious crimes, whoever commits them and wherever they are committed, should be prosecuted and tried." In another significant development in December, Congolese officials arrested Ladislas Ntaganzwa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ICTR indicted Ntaganzwa - the former mayor of Nyakizu, in southern Rwanda - for genocide, incitement to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity, and transferred his case in 2012 to Rwanda for trial. He is currently detained in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa. Human Rights Watch documented the Rwandan genocide in detail and has closely monitored the functioning of the ICTR since its creation. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to the Human Rights Watch Africa division for almost two decades, published the authoritative account of the Rwandan genocide, "Leave None to Tell the Story," and appeared as an expert witness in eleven ICTR trials. The ICTR was created by the United Nations Security Council in 1994 in response to the genocide in Rwanda. Its mission was to prosecute those responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda or by Rwandan citizens in neighboring countries between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1994. It was expected to try mostly high-level suspects and those who played a leading role in the genocide. The ICTR has tried and convicted several prominent figures, including former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda; the former army chief of staff, General Augustin Bizimungu; and the former Defense Ministry chief of staff, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora. It indicted 93 people, sentenced 61, and acquitted 14, contributing in an unprecedented way to establishing the truth on the organization of the genocide in Rwanda and providing justice to victims. The ICTR also established importantjurisprudence in international criminal law and served as a precedent for the creation of the International Criminal Court, whose founding treaty was adopted in Rome in 1998. However, the tribunal has had inherent limitations and attracted criticism, particularly from Rwandans. At the tribunal's closing event, on December 1, the Rwandan justice minister, Johnston Busingye, reiterated the government's criticisms of the lack of reparation for victims and the tribunal's location outside Rwanda, and complained that genocide convicts were allowed to speak to the media. Others have criticized the relatively small number of cases the tribunal has handled and its high operating cost, as well as its bureaucratic processes and the length of time trials have taken. Perhaps the ICTR's most significant failure, Human Rights Watch said, has been its unwillingness to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 1994 by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the rebel group that ended the genocide and has been Rwanda's ruling party ever since. As they took over the country in 1994, RPF troops killed thousands of predominantly Hutu civilians. Though the scale and nature of these killings were not equivalent or comparable to the genocide, the victims and their families also have the right to justice. Although the ICTR had a clear mandate to prosecute these crimes, not a single RPF case has been brought before the ICTR for prosecution. Parallel with the work of the ICTR, the Rwandan justice system tried an impressive number of genocide suspects, both in conventional domestic courts and in local, community-basedgacaca courts. The standards of these trials have varied enormously. Instances of political interference and pressure resulted in a number of unfair trials. Other cases have shown greater respect for due process. Trials of Rwandan genocide suspects have also taken place in the domestic courts of severalother countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France. In some of these countries, such as France - which had backed the former government of Rwanda and supported some of the forces that went on to commit genocide - many years elapsed before trials began. The first trial in France - of Pascal Simbikangwa, a former member of the Rwandan intelligence services - took place in 2014, following the creation of a national war crimes unit. The ICTR referred two cases to France. One was for Laurent Bucyiabaruta, who was arrested and released in 2000 by the French authorities, and rearrested in 2007 under an international arrest warrant issued by the ICTR. He is currently detained in Paris. The other, against Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a priest accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, was dismissed on October 2, 2015, by a French court, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. The ICTR has referred other cases to Rwanda, including those of Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi, in 2011, and of Bernard Munyagishari, in 2012. Their trials in Rwanda have not yet concluded. The ICTR also referred to Rwanda the cases of six fugitives: Ladislas Ntaganzwa, three other local officials, a military officer, and a businessman. To obtain the transfer of cases from the ICTR, the Rwandan government undertook legislative reforms aimed at meeting international fair trial standards. Some of these have been important and positive - for example, the abolition of the death penalty in 2007. The ICTR agreed to transfer cases to Rwanda for domestic prosecution in 2011 after further reforms. "Human Rights Watch has documented major legal reforms in Rwanda in the last few years, but believes that the Rwandan justice system still lacks sufficient independence and that fair trials cannot be guaranteed in all cases," Mattioli-Zeltner said. "The Rwandan authorities should ensure that judicial officials can make decisions without government interference, especially in politically sensitive cases." The ICTR is handing over three other cases to the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. This residual mechanism takes over a number of essential functions of the ICTR and the ICTY - the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia - including appeals, retrials and review proceedings, protection of victims and witnesses, supervision of enforcement of sentences, and assistance to local jurisdictions. Its top priority is to secure the arrest, transfer, and prosecution of eight remaining fugitives, five of whom are to be tried by Rwanda and three by the mechanism itself: former Defense Minister Augustin Bizimana, the former commander of the Presidential Guard Protais Mpiranya, and Felicien Kabuga, a businessman. The execution of international arrest warrants has posed a major problem. Neither the ICTR nor the residual mechanism have their own police to carry out arrests and depend entirely on the cooperation of states where suspects are living. At the ICTR's closing event, Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye called "upon states where indicted genocide suspects are sheltering to understand that they owe a duty to humanity, and to the Rwanda victims, to ensure that those suspects are brought to justice." Countries should do everything in their capacity to bring remaining suspects to justice, Human Rights Watch said. The residual mechanism should continue actively searching for the eight ICTR fugitives, and countries should provide the necessary assistance and cooperation. "Diplomatic pressure on countries where Rwandan genocide suspects are living to step up efforts to apprehend and prosecute them is of primary importance," Mattioli-Zeltner said. "The UN Security Council should make clear that they will be held to account, wherever they may be, and that justice for the Rwandan genocide does not end with the closure of the ICTR." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebel groups said on Wednesday they would not take part in peace talks scheduled this month unless humanitarian articles in the latest U.N resolution were implemented. The groups, which include the powerful Islam Army, mentioned articles 12 and 13 of a resolution that was passed late last year, which calls on the sides in Syria's civil war to allow humanitarian access to all in need and cease attacks on civilians. "We consider that implementing these articles is self-evident and a human right," they said in a statement. "We do not accept any compromise on it under any justification or circumstances." They also called on an opposition council set up to oversee negotiations, expected to start on Jan. 25 in Geneva, "to be steadfast in its honourable position in refusing to enter into any political solutions imposed through massacres". Last week the groups said in a statement they were under international pressure to make concessions that would prolong the country's five-year-old conflict. The opposition council told U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura that the Syrian government had to take goodwill steps, including a prisoner release, before they would go to negotiations. (Reporting by Tom Perry; Writing by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Andrew Roche) Afghanistan: Include Women in New Peace Talks Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 4 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Include Women in New Peace Talks, 4 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569566682bf7.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The Afghan government should include female negotiators in the upcoming multistate meeting on the Afghan peace process, Human Rights Watch said today. Representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, and China are scheduled to meet on January 11, 2016, in Islamabad, Pakistan, to revive peace negotiations that stalled in July after disclosure of the death of the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar. "Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's promises to include women in peace talks have so far amounted to nothing," said Heather Barr, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The January 11 meeting is a key opportunity for him to show that his government is genuinely committed to women's full participation in future talks." Afghan women's rights activists have for years raised concerns that the government will trade away women's rights in an effort to reach an accommodation with the Taliban. These fears have been exacerbated by the routine exclusion of women from the process. A 2014 study by Oxfam found that in 23 rounds of informal peace talks involving the Afghan government and the Taliban between 2005 and 2014, women were present on only two occasions. No women were ever included in discussions between international negotiators and the Taliban. The movement toward new peace negotiations for Afghanistan has come amid increased fighting and insecurity, international donor fatigue, and the drawdown of international military forces. A July 7 meeting in Murree, Pakistan, between the Afghan government and the Taliban, was heralded as the first formal meeting between the two warring sides. President Ghani assured women's rights activists that they will be included in negotiations, but has alsosuggested that he did not intend to include women throughout the process, saying that he "will not bother them until the right time." The Afghan government delegation in Murree did not include women. Afghan women's rights activists have repeatedly called for women's full participation in the peace talks, as set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and later resolutions. Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, played a historic role in stressing the importance of women's "equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security." In the years since, the Security Council passed seven additional resolutions on women, peace, and security. In October 2015, the Security Council convened a high-level review of the implementation of Resolution 1325, in which governments noted the continuing absence of female negotiators, and pledged to change that situation. In June 2015, the Afghan government presented a national action plan to implement Security Council Resolution 1325 from 2015 through 2022. This plan includes the goal of "ensuring women's effective participation in the peace process" and includes measures such as developing a roster of "potential women negotiators," and developing capacity building for women negotiators. In September 2015, the government pledged to develop a detailed implementation plan for meeting the goals outlined in the national action plan, and to begin carrying out the plan in the first half of 2016. "President Ghani should make women full participants in every stage of the peace process, and Afghanistan's donors and allies should press him to do so," Barr said. "Pakistan, the US, and China should emphasize the importance of female negotiators by ensuring that they also send female representatives to the January 11 meeting." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Yemen: Coalition Drops Cluster Bombs in Capital Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 7 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Yemen: Coalition Drops Cluster Bombs in Capital, 7 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569567195723.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces airdropped cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, early on January 6, 2016. It is not yet clear whether the attacks caused civilian casualties, but the inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions makes such attacks serious violations of the laws of war. The deliberate or reckless use of cluster munitions in populated areas amounts to a war crime. "The coalition's repeated use of cluster bombs in the middle of a crowded city suggests an intent to harm civilians, which is a war crime," said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. "These outrageous attacks show that the coalition seems less concerned than ever about sparing civilians from war's horrors." Residents of two Sanaa neighborhoods described aerial attacks consistent with cluster bomb use. A resident of al-Zira`a Street told Human Rights Watch that his family was awakened at 5:30 a.m. on January 6 by dozens of small explosions. He said that he had been at work, but that his wife told him that when the family fled they saw many homes and a local kindergarten with newly pockmarked walls and broken windows. A resident of Hayal Sayeed, another residential neighborhood, described hearing small explosions at around 6 a.m. He went out on the street, he said, and saw more than 20 vehicles covered in pockmarks, including his own, as well as dozens of pockmarks in the road. He said that at least three houses in the area had pockmarked walls and broken windows. He found a fragment in his car, he said. The al-Zira`a Street resident said that neither neighborhood had been hit by airstrikes before January 6. The nearest military installations, a small office, and a garage used by military guards, were about 600 to 800 meters from the al-Zira`a Street neighborhood. Even if the attacks were directed at the military targets, the use of cluster munitions meant they were still unlawful, Human Rights Watch said. The al-Zira`a Street resident said that at the time of the attack he had been at his office, about 2 or 3 kilometers from Hayal Sayeed and 5 kilometers from al-Zira`a Street. Every 10 to 15 minutes he heard small explosions, until about 1:30 p.m. "These did not sound like regular gunfire," he said. "I asked my colleagues if they could hear them too - they said yes." A third cluster bomb attack on January 6 was reported on social media by residents of Sanaa's al-Thiaba neighborhood, although Human Rights Watch could not confirm this. Human Rights Watch viewed photographs taken on January 6 in Sanaa that showed unmistakable remnants of cluster munitions, including unexploded submunitions, spherical fragmentation liners from submunitions that broke apart on impact, and parts of the bomb that carried the payload. Human Rights Watch identified the munitions as from US-made BLU-63 antipersonnel/anti-materiel submunitions and components of a CBU-58 cluster bomb. Markings on the bomb remnants indicate that it was manufactured in 1978 at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in the state of Tennessee in the United States. Each air-dropped CBU-58 cluster bomb contains 650 submunitions. The United States transferred 1,000 CBU-58 bombs to Saudi Arabia sometime between 1970 and 1995, according to US export records obtained by Human Rights Watch. The US is a party to the armed conflict in Yemen, playing a direct role in coordinating military operations, and as such, is obligated to investigate alleged violations of the laws of war in which its forces took part. The CBU-58 cluster bomb and BLU-63 submunition were developed by the US during the Vietnam War and are designed to attack personnel and lightly protected materiel. The submunitions also contain 5-gram titanium pellets that produce an incendiary effect on flammable targets. In 2015, Human Rights Watch documented the use by coalition forces of three types of cluster munitions in Yemen. Amnesty International documented the coalition's use of a fourth type. A fifth type of cluster munition has been used, but the user's identity is unclear. A US Defense Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told U.S. News and World Report in August that "the U.S. is aware that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions in Yemen." Neither Yemen, Saudi Arabia, nor any of the other coalition countries are party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, the international treaty banning cluster munitions. A total of 118 countries have signed and 98 have ratified the treaty. Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition and serves as its chair. On November 17, the US Defense Department announced that the State Department had approved a sale of US$1.29 billion worth of air-to-ground munitions, such as laser-guided bombs and "general purpose" bombs with guidance systems - none of which are cluster munitions. The US should not sell aerial bombs to Saudi Arabia in the absence of serious investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said. The UN Human Rights Council should create an independent, international inquiry into alleged violations of the laws of war by all sides. "It may have been 20 years since the US last provided these cluster munitions to the Saudis, but they are being used to kill civilians now," Goose said. "The US, as a party to the conflict, should be demanding that the coalition immediately stop using these weapons or risk becoming complicit in their use." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Thailand: New Whitewash of 2010 Political Violence Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 7 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Thailand: New Whitewash of 2010 Political Violence, 7 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56956de91fab.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Thailand's anti-corruption commission's dismissal of malfeasance charges against former senior officials for their role in the violent 2010 crackdown on "Red Shirt" protesters is a serious setback for accountability in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 29, 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) voted to drop the case against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban, and former army chief Gen. Anupong Paojinda regarding their failure to review the use of military force that resulted in the loss of lives and the destruction of property, and dereliction of duty. "Despite killings by soldiers of protesters, medics, and even reporters in broad daylight in downtown Bangkok for all the world to see, Thailand's institutions have closed ranks to protect the army and politicians from justice," said Brad Adams, Asia director. "This adds insult to injury to victims and their families as they watch yet another stage in nearly six-years of attempts to airbrush the crimes of officials and soldiers from Thai history." The military crackdown on the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), known as the "Red Shirts," took place between April 7 and May 19, 2010, and resulted in at least 98 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries. The NACC, citing the Bangkok Civil Court's ruling on April 22, 2010 that the Red Shirt protests were not peaceful and some protesters were armed, ruled that it was necessary for the three officials to order soldiers to carry weapons and use force to reclaim protest sites. The NACC found that it was sufficient that soldiers were ordered to proceed from light to heavy measures in accordance with standard procedures and not to target unarmed protesters. The Justice Ministry's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) had charged Abhisit and Suthep with murder and attempted murder under the doctrine of command responsibility for ordering the military crackdown on Red Shirt protesters in 2010. The DSI filed the charges after inquests found that protesters were killed and wounded by gunshots fired by soldiers acting on the orders of the Center of the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), which Abhisit set up under Suthep's command. On August 28, 2014, the Bangkok Criminal Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to try Abhisit and Suthep because they were political officeholders at the time. Instead, the court referred the case to the NACC - which is responsible for inquiries regarding abuse of official positions - to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to proceed with a case of malfeasance in the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions. Contrary to the NACC's conclusion that the use of force by the CRES was justified and followed standard procedures, Human Rights Watch found that soldiers used live ammunition starting on the afternoon of April 10, 2010 - killing and wounding protesters, journalists, and bystanders - many hours before the armed "Black Shirt" militants, who operated in tandem with protesters, showed up and fought with soldiers. Human Rights Watch's May 2011 report, "Descent into Chaos: Thailand's 2010 Red Shirt Protests and the Government Crackdown," documented that excessive and unnecessary force by the military caused many deaths and injuries during the 2010 political confrontations. The high number of casualties - including unarmed protesters, volunteer medics, reporters, photographers, and bystanders - resulted in part from the enforcement of "live fire zones" around the UDD protest sites in Bangkok, where sharpshooters and snipers were deployed by the CRES. Human Rights Watch also documented that some elements of the UDD, including armed Black Shirt militants, committed deadly attacks on soldiers, police, and civilians. Some UDD leaders incited violence with inflammatory speeches to demonstrators, urging their supporters to carry out riots, arson attacks, and looting. Similar findings were presented in September 2012 by the independent Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT), which recommended the authorities "address legal violations by all parties through the justice system, which must be fair and impartial." The prospects for justice for victims of the 2010 violence have long been bleak. The Department of Special Investigation issued a finding in September 2012 that indicated the military was culpable for 36 deaths. However, insufficient efforts have been made to identify the soldiers and commanding officers responsible for the shootings. Under pressure from the military, successive Thai governments charged UDD leaders and supporters with serious criminal offenses but ignored abuses by soldiers. The Thai government should direct the Department of Special Investigation to identify and bring to justice those responsible for the deaths and injuries during the May 2010 violence without further delay. "It's outrageous that not a single official, military commander, or soldier has been held to account for the bloody 2010 crackdown," Adams said. "Opportunities for the Thai government to demonstrate that unbiased justice underlies the rule of law and political reconciliation are fading fast." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Syria: Give Besieged Areas Urgent Aid Access Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 8 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Syria: Give Besieged Areas Urgent Aid Access, 8 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56956e43402.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The suffering of civilians in the Syrian town of Madaya shows the need for concerted international action to deliver aid to government-besieged areas. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in December 2015 that close to 400,000 people in Syria are under siege, and that only 1 percent had received food assistance and less than 1 percent had received health assistance between September and November. Local activists and residents in Madaya, under siege since July by both government and allied Hezbollah forces, told Human Rights Watch in phone interviews that the government has prevented aid from going in since October. As a result, residents are suffering from an increasingly severe shortage of food and are dying from lack of medical care, residents and activists said. According to Medecins Sans Frontieres, otherwise known as Doctors Without Borders, 23 patients in the health center it supports in Madaya have died of starvationsince December 1. "The suffering in Madaya should serve as an urgent reminder that the people in besieged areas of Syria are desperate for food, shelter, and health care," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. "Access to besieged communities should be a test of the intentions of the warring parties, who say they will enter into sincere negotiations later this month." Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict are obligated to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need and allow civilians to freely leave an area under siege. Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited. On January 7, 2016, the UN said it had brokered a deal with the Syrian government to allow aid to finally enter Madaya and two other towns, Fu`a and Kefraya, in Idlib province, which are under siege by armed groups opposed to the government. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that the aid would be delivered jointly by the UN and the Syrian Red Crescent, hopefully on January 11. Human Rights Watch spoke to several residents and activists in Madaya. They said the town did not have adequate electricity or water, and that the Syrian government was not allowing people to enter or exit the town, including aid workers trying to reach civilians in need. Doctors said that their patients' bodies were emaciated and weak due to hunger and that people were resorting to picking through garbage to eat. The UN humanitarian affairs agency said the Madaya area has not had aid or commercial access since October 18, 2015, and that residents were in dire need of food and health supplies. "Some of us had to kill cats and dogs in order to eat," Abu Ammar, a Madaya resident, told Human Rights Watch. "Others only have salt and water to keep them going." The residents are not identified by their full names for their protection. Um Ayman, a mother of four, said she had lost 30 kilos in just a few months from hunger and was reduced to feeding her children boiled tree leaves with some fat and salt. "My children wake up in the middle of the night crying because they are hungry," she said. "But what can I do. I don't have any food to give them." A doctor in Madaya said that medicine and health supplies were in short supply, with health facilities' emergency rooms flooded with people suffering from fainting spells due to a lack of food and water. "I can now only give medicine to anyone who is absolutely going to die because otherwise I'll completely run out," said Khaled Mohamed, a doctor who works in a field hospital in Madaya. "Sixty percent of the cases I see in the hospital are children suffering from severe malnutrition." Doctors sent Human Rights Watch photographs from the field hospital's emergency room showing emaciated children and adults whom they said were suffering from malnutrition. While the photos could not be independently verified, they are consistent with the conditions residents described. In February 2014, the UN Security Council passed resolution 2139 to guarantee the delivery of aid, calling all sides in the Syrian war to facilitate humanitarian access to all parts of Syria. In light of the Syrian government's failure to comply, the council passed resolution 2165 on July 14, 2014, authorizing UN agencies and their implementing partners to deliver aid across four borders not controlled by Syria's government. Aid organizations have reported that the Syrian government has removed some bureaucratic obstacles but continues to bar access to areas besieged by the government. On December 18, the Security Council adopted resolution 2254 endorsing a road map for a peace process in Syria and calling on all parties in Syria to "allow immediate, humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need, in particular in all besieged and hard-to-reach areas." According to the UN humanitarian affairs agency, 4.5 million people in Syria live in hard-to-reach areas, including 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations. These areas suffer from bombing, and inadequate aid, nutrition, water, and medical care. The agency said, in December, that Madaya had last received a joint convoy of aid on October 18, and that there were medical evacuations in December, but that the Syrian government has denied access to the area since then. According to the UN, Syrian government forces have 200,000 people under siege in Eastern Ghouta, Daraya, Zabadani, and Madaya; Islamic State (also known as ISIS) forces have 200,000 people under siege in Deir ez-Zour; and armed groups, including the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, have 12,500 more people under siege in Fu`a and Kefraya, in Idlib. Madaya, 40 kilometers west of Damascus, the capital, has just over 40,000 people, of whom 17,000 have been displaced from neighboring towns and villages, the UN agency says. The area has been under the control of anti-government forces for almost two years and under siege by government forces since July 2015. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which was allowed to deliver aid to Madaya in October, people were suffering from a shortage of electricity, water, basic medicines, and infant formula. Countries that are members of the International Syria Support Group, which has been meeting to push for a Syrian peace process, should use their influence with the warring parties to ensure that aid is allowed into all besieged areas, Human Rights Watch said. "While the Syrian government finally conceded that it would allow aid into Madaya, it shouldn't take starving children and media outrage for aid to be delivered," Houry said. "Countries backing a political solution in Syria need to push the warring parties to allow aid to all those suffering in Syria." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Armenia: Opposition Activist Jailed Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 8 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Armenia: Opposition Activist Jailed, 8 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56956ebf15ae.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Armenian authorities should release a political activist who was arrested during a public gathering on January 1, 2016, and placed in pretrial detention, pending an impartial investigation into the charges against him, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should also review police conduct at the gathering and possible police interference with the rights to freedom of thought, expression, and assembly. Police arrested Gevorg Safaryan at Yerevan's Freedom Square at about 1 a.m. on New Year's Day, amid a scuffle during a public event organized by members of the New Armenia Movement, a political opposition group. The authorities charged Safaryan with using violence against the police, and on January 3, a court granted a police investigator's request to hold Safaryan in pretrial custody for two months. "Given the minor nature of the incident, two months of pretrial custody is wholly unjustified," said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch. "Pretrial detention should be a last resort, not the general rule, and only in cases where there is a well-founded fear that the person will evade justice or hinder the investigation." In a January 5 letter to Armenia's prosecutor general, Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the charges against and pretrial detention of Safaryan and called for his release pending an investigation. Safaryan's lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the event organizers had notified the Yerevan city authorities in advance about their plans to hold a New Year's celebration on Freedom Square. Video footage of the incident available on YouTube shows a major police presence in the square as several dozen participants gathered on New Year's Eve and in the early hours of January 1. When participants, dressed in costume for the New Year, attempted to bring a small New Year's tree into the square, police told them they were not allowed to bring the tree there and confiscated it. When Safaryan and several others returned with a man wearing a tree costume, a scuffle broke out between police and some of the participants, and police detained Safaryan and several others. Police released other participants the same day but charged Safaryan with using force against a representative of an authority under Criminal Code article 316.1, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. Safaryan was transferred to Yerevan's Nubarashen pretrial facility on January 3, after the court approved pretrial detention. In reviewing police conduct at the event, the authorities should examine the instructions given to the police, Human Rights Watch said. The review should include instructions about the size of the law enforcement presence at the event, its terms of engagement, and any restrictions or conditions placed on the event's participants, including regarding decorations and costumes. Safaryan has been under investigation since April 2015 on mass disturbance charges, and in May was released from pretrial custody on his own recognizance. The court used the existing investigation to justify the decision to send him to pretrial custody, without looking into the substance of the new charges. Holding Safaryan for two months is completely disproportionate given the absence of evidence that he poses a genuine risk to the investigation, Human Rights Watch said. Article 9(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Armenia is a party, states that, "It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody." The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which provides authoritative interpretation of the covenant, has determined that bail should be granted except in cases in which there is a likelihood that the accused would abscond, destroy evidence, or influence witnesses. "In the absence of any compelling reason for keeping Safaryan behind bars, it's hard to avoid concluding that the authorities are targeting - and jailing - him to interfere with his peaceful political activism," Gogia said. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Yemen: Arbitrarily Held by the Houthis Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 10 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Yemen: Arbitrarily Held by the Houthis, 10 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56956f32d91b.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Houthi authorities in Yemen have arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared dozens of people in the capital, Sanaa. The Houthi authorities should safeguard the rights of everyone in detention, immediately release all those held arbitrarily, and grant family members, lawyers, and independent monitors immediate access to detention sites to reduce the risk of abuse. Human Rights Watch documented the Houthis' arbitrary or abusive detention of at least 35 people from August 2014 through October 2015, 27 of whom remain in custody. Families have not been able to find out the whereabouts of seven believed to have been forcibly disappeared. Many appear to have been arrested because of their links to Islah, a Sunni political party that is opposed to the Zaidi Shia Houthis. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Sanaa and other areas of Yemen since September 2014. "Houthi arrests and forced disappearances of alleged Islah supporters have generated palpable fear in the capital," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. "Politicians, activists, lawyers, and journalists tell us they've never been more frightened of ending up 'disappeared.'" Human Rights Watch has obtained copies of four letters, dated September and October 2015, from two of Sanaa's public prosecutors, directed to the director-general of the police, the solicitor general, the security director of the capital, and the acting director of the eastern district. These letters raise the cases of specific detainees being held without charge, as well as the general issue of arrests, and call on the relevant authorities to abide by prosecution release orders. Abdul Basit Ghazi, a Yemeni lawyer who heads the Defense Authority of the Abductees and Prisoners, which provides legal representation to detainees, told Human Rights Watch his organization is working on behalf of more than 800 detainees and disappeared individuals, most of whom belong to the Islah party. He said that based on information he has gathered from sources knowledgeable about detentions, the Houthis were holding at least 250 at al-Thawra pretrial detention facility, 180 at Habra pretrial detention facility, 167 at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), 165 opposition figures at Sanaa Central Prison, 73 at the Political Security Organization's headquarters, 20 at al-Judairi police station, 10 at one of the homes of the former First Armored Division commander, Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, and an unknown number at Zain al-Abdeen mosque in Hiziyaz. Human Rights Watch documented cases of apparent arbitrary detention at all of those locations except Habra pretrial detention facility, the home of al-Ahmar, and Sanaa Central Prison. Authorities denied a Human Rights Watch request to visit Sanaa Central Prison. Houthi authorities monitored the movements of Human Rights Watch staff in Sanaa during their research into this issue in late October. In addition to political opponents, the Houthis have targeted journalists reporting for opposition outlets. At 4 a.m. on June 9, about 20 armed police and military forces arrested nine journalists working for different opposition media outlets who were using a room in the Qasr al-Ahlam Hotel in Sanaa as an office, because the hotel generator provided a source of power. The authorities held them for two days at two different police stations before transferring them to the CID, and then to al-Thawra pretrial detention facility where they remain at the time of this writing. The authorities also arrested four independent journalists between April and October. Family members were unaware of the location of two of them, while authorities were holding one at the CID and another at Habra pretrial detention facility. Houthi authorities have not brought charges against any of the 13 journalists in custody. A source from Sanaa Central Prison confirmed to Human Rights Watch that until a big prisoner swap on December 16, it held at least 450 detainees brought there by the Houthis. The source said these prisoners are being kept apart from the other prisoners, are overseen only by Houthi guards, and have no contact with regular prison staff. The source said that the prison is not receiving any additional food rations for these prisoners, nor have Houthi prison staff provided them with blankets, mattresses, or pillows, as far as he is aware. Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm the numbers of people detained at the other locations. Abdullah Qaid, 32, a human rights activist in Sanaa and relative of one person forcibly disappeared, obtained and gave Human Rights Watch a copy of a pledge that guarantors have had to sign on behalf of some prisoners in Sanaa detention facilities for them to be released. It requires them to promise that the detainee will not affiliate with any "suspicious groups." If they do, the guarantor must produce the person to the authorities "as a prisoner or corpse," and allow the state to "confiscate all of [the guarantor's] assets, and commercial property without need for a trial." While Houthi authorities may take appropriate measures to address security concerns during the armed conflict in Yemen, international human rights law protects basic rights, including the right not to be arbitrarily detained, mistreated, or "disappeared." At a minimum, those detained should be informed of the specific grounds for their arrest, be able to fairly contest their detention before an independent and impartial judge, have access to a lawyer and family members, and have their case periodically reviewed. Under international human rights law, an enforced disappearance occurs when the authorities take someone into custody and deny holding them or fail to disclose their fate or whereabouts. "Disappeared" people are at greater risk of torture and other ill-treatment, especially when they are detained outside formal detention facilities, such as police jails and prisons. "At a time when the Houthis are fighting to remain key power brokers in Yemen, they should recognize that instilling fear in the population is no way to govern," Stork said. "The Houthis should take the necessary steps to ensure that no one is held unlawfully and families have access to their loved ones." Cases of Arbitrary Detention Ahmad al-Qatta On September 25, 2015, at 6 a.m., 14 or 15 military vehicles surrounded the home of Ahmadal-Qatta, 41, a manager of a computer company and a high-ranking member of the Islah party. Several dozen armed men in Political Security Organization uniforms broke down the gate and banged on the door. Al-Qatta answered. The men rushed in, searched the house, and took CDs, laptops, phones, and large amounts of cash, family members told Human Rights Watch. The armed men accused al-Qatta of being a senior member of the extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS. They arrested him; two cousins living at the house, ages 27 and 17; and the house guard, 27. Al-Qatta called his family three days later and told them to give the authorities his laptop, which was at his brother's home at the time of the search. Houthi officials came to pick up the laptop, returned the money to the family, and told family members that al-Qatta was being held because he was in charge of the anti-Houthi opposition in Sanaa, and because of his role paying salaries to the families of Islah members who had died in politically motivated fighting. On October 10, the authorities released the house guard and cousins but they continued to hold al-Qatta at Political Security headquarters without charge. Al-Qassim al-Dallale On August 20, 2015, a man who did not identify himself phoned the mother of Al-Qassim al-Dallale, 19, a journalism student in Sanaa, and said that her son had been detained. The mother, Hayat Qassim Ali, 42, said that she had last spoken to her son by phone at 11 a.m. on August 10. He was about to pass a checkpoint on Sanaa's outskirts, returning to the capital after visiting her in the city of Ibb, and he told her that all was fine. Then his phone switched off. Two weeks later, her son called to say he was being detained at the CID and that he would get in trouble if she tried to call him back. In late September, Ali received a letter from her son that had been smuggled out of the detention center. He wrote that after his travel companion told the Houthi guards at the checkpoint on August 10 that they were both studying journalism, the guards took them to the CID. He said they were first held for three days without food or being allowed to use the bathroom. The Houthis accused them of being paid by the opposition and the Al Jazeera news agency to report on recent Al-Qaeda advances in the Marib governorate east of Sanaa. He wrote that interrogators tried to force them to sign a document while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, but that he had no idea what the document said. Ali said she was able to visit her son at the end of September and found him weak and pale. She provided the head of the CID with a letter from her neighborhood supervisor in Ibb stating that her son was not involved in the opposition, but the Houthis have not released him. "He's not even a journalist yet, he's just in his first year of studying," she said. "The idea that he is writing for Al Jazeera is absurd." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch North Korea: UN Condemns Systemic Rights Abuses Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 17 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, North Korea: UN Condemns Systemic Rights Abuses, 17 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5695725f417b.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Today's United Nations General Assembly resolution sends a strong message to the government of North Korea that its human rights record has made it a pariah on the global stage, Human Rights Watch said today. 119 countries voted on December 17, 2015, to pass a resolution condemning "long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights" in North Korea. The resolution comes a week after an important UN Security Council debate on December 10, in which several countries voiced support for a debate on referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC). "Senior North Korean leaders have been put on notice: their crimes against humanity and gross human rights abuses are documented, and they will one day face justice," said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director. "Most of the governments of the world agree that North Korea is a human rights catastrophe and that the time has come to address its crimes." Abuses highlighted in the December 17 resolution included torture, severe violations of the rights of women and rights of children, the "existence of an extensive system of political prison camps," and "all-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion or belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association," among many other violations. The resolution encourages the UN Security Council continue to consider referring North Korea to the ICC, and discuss imposing effective targeted sanctions against North Korea officials. The resolution on North Korea passed overwhelmingly, by a vote of 119 to 19, with 48 abstentions. Sri Lanka, which last year opposed the resolution, backed it, and several states, such as Comoros, Gabon, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Togo - which abstained last year - also voted yes. The nineteen countries that voted against the resolution were Algeria, Bolivia, Burundi, Laos, Oman, Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Syria, Sudan, Russia, Burma, Iran, Cuba, Belarus, Egypt, China, and North Korea. In a disappointing turn, Senegal, president of the ICC's Assembly of States Parties, abstained from the resolution. The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights has set up a special office in Seoul to continue to gather evidence and information about ongoing abuses and crimes against humanity in North Korea. Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to continue to hold debates on North Korea and to invite senior UN human rights officials to brief them on developments in the coming year. "The only way to ensure that justice is done some day is to keep the spotlight on the North Korea's government and keep collecting evidence of their crimes," said Sifton. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Ethiopia: Lethal Force Against Protesters Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 18 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Ethiopia: Lethal Force Against Protesters, 18 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5695733c143f.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Ethiopian security forces have killed dozens of protesters since November 12, 2015, in Oromia regional state, according to reports from the region. The security forces should stop using excessive lethal force against protesters. Police and military forces have fired on demonstrations, killing at least 75 protesters and wounding many others, according to activists. Government officials have acknowledged only five deaths and said that an undisclosed number of security force members have also been killed. On December 15, the government announced that protesters had a "direct connection with forces that have taken missions from foreign terrorist groups" and that Ethiopia's Anti-Terrorism Task Force will lead the response. "The Ethiopian government's response to the Oromia protests has resulted in scores dead and a rapidly rising risk of greater bloodshed," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The government's labelling of largely peaceful protesters as 'terrorists' and deploying military forces is a very dangerous escalation of this volatile situation." Protests by students began in Ginchi, a small town 80 kilometers southwest of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, when authorities sought to clear a forest for an investment project. Protests quickly spread throughout the Oromia region, home of Ethiopia's estimated 35 million Oromo, the country's largest ethnic group. They evolved into larger demonstrations against the proposed expansion of the Addis Ababa municipal boundary, known as the "Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan." Approximately 2 million people live in the area of the proposed boundary expansion and many protesters fear the plan could displace Oromo farmers and residents living near the city. Since mid-November, the protesting students have been joined by farmers and other residents. Human Rights Watch received credible reports that security forces shot dozens of protesters in Shewa and Wollega zones, west of Addis Ababa, in early December. Several people described seeing security forces in the town of Walliso, 100 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, shoot into crowds of protesters in December, leaving bodies lying in the street. Numerous witnesses told Human Rights Watch that security forces beat and arrested protesters, often directly from their homes at night. Others described several locations as "very tense" with heavy military presence and "many, many arrests." One student who took part in protests in West Shewa said, "I don't know where any of my friends are. They have disappeared after the protest. Their families say they were taken by the police." Local residents in several areas told Human Rights Watch that protesters took over some local government buildings after government officials abandoned them. Protesters have also set up roadblocks to prevent the movement of military units into communities. Some foreign-owned commercial farms were looted and destroyed near Debre Zeit, 50 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa, news media reported. Human Rights Watch has not been able to corroborate the precise death toll and many of the details of individual incidents because of limited independent access and restricted communications with affected areas. There have also been unconfirmed reports of arrests of health workers, teachers, and others who have publicly shown support for the protest movement through photos and messages on social media. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provide that security forces shall as far as possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force. Whenever the lawful use of force is unavoidable, the authorities should use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Lethal force may only be used when strictly unavoidable to protect life. The Ethiopian government should respect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said. While police have the responsibility to maintain order during protests, they should only use force when strictly necessary and in a proportionate manner. Ethiopia's government regularly accuses people who express even mild criticism of government policy of association with terrorism. Dozens of journalists, bloggers, protesters, and activists have been prosecuted under the country's draconian 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. On December 16, 2015, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that the government "will take merciless legitimate action against any force bent on destabilizing the area." The same day, Getachew Reda, the government communication affairs office minister, said that "an organized and armed terrorist force aiming to create havoc and chaos have begun murdering model farmers, public leaders and other ethnic groups residing in the region." While there have been some recent reports of violence by protesters, according to information obtained by Human Rights Watch, the protests have overwhelmingly been peaceful. Ethiopia's pervasive restrictions on independent civil society and media mean that very little information is coming from affected areas although social media are filled with photos and videos of the protests. Authorities have cut mobile phone coverage in some of the key areas, particularly areas where there is significant military deployment, raising concerns over the potential crackdown. In communities where there is mobile phone coverage, witnesses reported repeated gunfire and a heavy military presence. The authorities' response to past protests in Oromia raises serious concerns for the safety of protesters and others arrested, Human Rights Watch said. In Oromia in April and May 2014, security forces used live ammunition against largely peaceful student protesters, killing several dozen people, and arrested hundreds more. Some of those arrested are still detained without charge. Former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated in detention. On December 2, 2015, five Oromo students were convicted under the counterterrorism law for their role in the protest movement. There has been no government investigation into the use of excessive force and live ammunition during the 2014 protests. While both the 2014 and current protests are ostensibly responding to the Addis Ababa expansion plan, they also derive from deeper grievances, Human Rights Watch said. Many Oromos have historically felt marginalized and discriminated against by successive Ethiopian governments, and Oromos are often arbitrarily arrested and accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which waged armed struggle in the past and which the government designates a terrorist organization. Under the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, in cases of death or serious injury, appropriate agencies are to conduct a review and a detailed report is to be sent promptly to the competent administrative or prosecutorial authorities. The government should ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offense. Superior officers should be held responsible if they knew or should have known that personnel under their command resorted to the unlawful use of force and firearms but did not take all measures in their power to prevent, suppress, or report such use. The Ethiopian government should support prompt, independent investigations into the events in Oromia region, including by UN and African Union (AU) human rights experts on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Governments and intergovernmental organizations, including the AU, should raise concerns about the excessive use of force against protesters and call on Ethiopia to respect fundamental human rights in its response to the protests, Human Rights Watch said. "Ethiopia's security forces seem to have learned nothing from last year's protests, and, instead of trying to address the grievances that are catalyzing the protests, are shooting down more protesters," Lefkow said. "Concerned governments and institutions should call on Ethiopia to halt its excessive use of force and stop this spiral into further violence." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Jordan: 2-Year Sentence for Facebook Post Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 19 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Jordan: 2-Year Sentence for Facebook Post, 19 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569575625699.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Jordan's State Security Court on December 7, 2015, sentenced a Jordanian professor to two years in prison for critical social media comments. The court convicted Iyad Qunaibi, 39, an Islamist activist, under a terrorism charge based solely on a Facebook post in which he criticized what he perceived as un-Islamic developments in Jordan. The Facebook post did not advocate violence. "Jordan's claims that it respects free expression aren't credible when an innocuous Facebook post can land someone in jail for two years," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director. "Jordanian authorities should halt prosecutions for peaceful speech and ensure that the country does not backslide on basic rights." The ruling signals a harsher approach by Jordanian authorities toward speech-related crimes, Human Rights Watch said. Earlier in 2015, the same court sentenced a prominent Muslim Brotherhood figure, Zaki Bani Irsheid, to 18 months in prison for a Facebook post in which he criticized the United Arab Emirates. Reuters said at the time that he was the highest-profile political figure to be imprisoned in Jordan since 1995. Jordanian police arrested Qunaibi, a pharmacologist and professor at Jordan's Applied Sciences Private University, on June 15, 2015, after he wrote a Facebook post on June 10, "Jordan Heading toward the Abyss." The State Security Court charge sheet, which authorities did not distribute to Qunaibi's family members until August 16, indicated that prosecutors had charged him with "undermining the political regime in the kingdom or inciting opposition to it" under article 149 of Jordan's penal code, which the law defines as a terrorism charge. The charge sheet cited, as its sole evidence, sections from the Facebook post, including, "[In Jordan] bearded [i.e. religious] men and women who wear head scarfs are arrested and thrown to the floor as part of exercises called fighting terrorism, and this coincides with the reception of the pope of the Vatican with celebratory religious rituals." The charge sheet also cites as evidence criticism of Jordanian officials' participation in the Paris march that followed the Charlie Hebdo attack in January; an accusation that the director of Jordan's Standards and Metrology Organization has encouraged Jordanian farmers to grow grapes for wine production; and criticism of then-Israeli President Shimon Peres's visit to Jordan in 2013 for the World Economic Forum. The charge sheet notes that Qunaibi has more than 735,000 Facebook followers. Qunaibi is in Muaqqar II Prison, 40 kilometers southeast of Amman, the capital. Authorities previously arrested Qunaibi in 2011 and held him for 14 months while prosecuting him for sending money to the Afghan Taliban, which he did not deny. Human Rights Watch wrote to the head of Jordan's Judicial Council in September 2011 regarding the case, urging the council to halt application of the penal code article then being used to prosecute Qunaibi on the ground that its vague and overly broad nature opens it to political interpretations that can result in violations of freedom of expression. An appeals court later acquitted Qunaibi in that case, but a family member told Human Rights Watch that he remains banned from speaking in mosques. Freedom of expression is guaranteed under article 15 of Jordan's constitution. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Jordan has ratified, protects the right to freedom of expression, including "freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice" (article 19). The Human Rights Committee, which interprets the covenant, has stated that: "States parties should not prohibit criticism of institutions, such as the army or the administration," and, "All public figures, including those exercising the highest political authority such as heads of state and government, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition." Under article 9.3 of the ICCPR, "[i]t shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody." "Arrests and prosecutions for peaceful criticism are not only unjustifiable and punitive for those they target, but have a wider chilling effect on free speech and the expression of legitimate dissent," Whitson said. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Afghanistan: US Should Conduct Criminal Inquiry in MSF Attack Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 December 2015 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: US Should Conduct Criminal Inquiry in MSF Attack, 21 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569576c94152.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The US government's investigation into the October 3, 2015 airstrike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan should be treated as a criminal matter, Human Rights Watch said today in aletter to US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. The attack, involving an AC-130 gunship firing for at least 29 minutes on a designated medical facility, killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens of others. Human Rights Watch analyzed information from the US military, MSF, and other sources and found that there is a strong basis for determining that criminal liability exists. Under the laws of war, hospitals have special protections from attack, and attacks on them can be war crimes. "The attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz involved possible war crimes," said Sarah Margon, Washington director. "The ongoing US inquiry will not be credible unless it considers criminal liability and is protected from improper command influence." The US military justice system's poor record prosecuting alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, exemplified by newaccounts of alleged abuses by Navy SEALs, shows the need for a criminal inquiry outside the military chain of command. Carter should create a special high-level and independent "Consolidated Disposition Authority" and an independent convening authority to control referrals of criminal charges and the convening of courts-martial. "US military commanders who oversaw the Kunduz military operation shouldn't be deciding who gets prosecuted for the MSF hospital attack," Margon said. "The US government should recognize that its resolution of this horrific incident will have repercussions for US military operations far beyond Afghanistan." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, emphasized the need to work toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine and address the conflict in Syria, the White House said. Obama told Putin that a key next step in resolving the Ukrainian crisis was for all sides to agree on the modalities of local elections in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the White House said in a statement. The two leaders also "noted the necessity of taking steps to foster productive discussions between representatives of the Syrian opposition and regime under United Nations auspices, principally by reducing violence and addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian people," the statement said. They also discussed the "importance of a strong and united international response" to North Korea's recent nuclear test. Separately, the Kremlin said in a statement that Obama and Putin expressed support during their phone call for an easing of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by David Alexander and Sandra Maler) Ethiopia: The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), including origin, mandate, leadership, structure, legal status, and membership; treatment of members and supporters by authorities (2014-2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 7 May 2015 Citation / Document Symbol ETH105146.E Related Document(s) Ethiopie : information sur le Front de liberation Oromo (Oromo Liberation Front - OLF), y compris sur son origine, sa mission, ses dirigeants, sa structure, son statut juridique et ses membres; le traitement que reservent les autorites a ses membres et a ses sympathisants (2014-2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ethiopia: The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), including origin, mandate, leadership, structure, legal status, and membership; treatment of members and supporters by authorities (2014-2015), 7 May 2015, ETH105146.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5696030f4.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 1. Origin Sources indicate that the OLF was established in 1973 (OLF n.d.a; MRG n.d.; AE 8-15 Dec. 2010). According to their website, the OLF was formed with the purpose of leading "the national liberation struggle of the Oromo people [1] against Abyssinian colonial rule" (OLF n.d.a). Other sources similarly indicate that the OLF was formed to promote Oromo "self-determination" (START n.d.a; AE 8-15 Dec. 2010). Regarding the OLF's origins and history, Amnesty International (AI)'s 2014 report entitled 'Because I Am Oromo': Sweeping Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, states the following: The OLF (and its armed wing the Oromo Liberation Army, OLA), formed in the 1970s, was one of a number of armed groups that fought against the previous government of Mengistu Hailemariam. When Mengistu Hailemariam was overthrown in 1991, the OLF was briefly part of a transitional government led by the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. However, the OLF always had an uneasy relationship with the TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front] - the strongest political party in the EPRDF coalition. These tensions led to the OLF leaving the transitional government in 1992. Subsequently, thousands of OLF fighters, supporters and suspected supporters were arrested. Since then, the OLF has continued to wage a low-level armed struggle against the government, stating that its fundamental objective is to exercise the Oromo peoples' right to self-determination. (AI 2014, 19) The Political Handbook of the World (PHW) indicates that the OLF left the EPRDF coalition in 1992 due to "alleged electoral fraud, harassment of its members, and perceived inadequate tribal representation in the government" (PHW 2015, 468). 2. Mandate According to the OLF's website, the OLF defines itself as a political organization that is involved in the struggle for the "realization of the national self-determination of the Oromo people" and the "establishment of an independent state of Oromia" (OLF n.d.b). The African Executive (AE), a daily newspaper based in Nairobi, similarly indicates that the objective of the OLF is to exercise the Oromo's rights to national self-determination because it "believes the Oromo people are still being denied their fundamental rights by Ethiopian colonialism" (AE 8-15 Dec. 2010). START, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, a research initiative based at the University of Maryland and funded by the US Department of Homeland Security (START n.d.b), describes the OLF as "an ethnic separatist guerrilla group" whose goal is "to carve out a separate state within the current borders of Ethiopia as a homeland for the Oromo people" (ibid. n.d.a). According to IHS Global Insight, an organization that provides economic and financial information on countries, the OLF "has been waging a secessionist battle in Ethiopia for nearly four decades" (5 Jan. 2012). 3. Leadership PHW indicates that OLF leaders include: Daud Ibsa [also spelled Dawud Ibsaa], Chair; Gelasa Dilbo, former Chair (in exile); Hassan Hussein, Spokesperson; Shigat Geleta, (a resident in Berlin, Germany); and Beyan Aroba (PHW 2015, 469). AI indicates that the OLF has experienced leadership divisions (AI 2014, 20). IHS Global Insight indicates that the OLF has been split into two groups since 2008: one group that considers itself the main faction, led by Daud Ibsa; and another faction led by Kamal Galchu [also spelled Kemal Gelchu] (IHS Global Insight 5 Jan. 2012). The same source reports that in January 2012, a faction of the OLF that claimed to be from its National Council, and led by Kamal Galchu, announced that it was ending its demand for secession from Ethiopia (ibid.). However, the article indicates that the announcement was rejected by a rival faction in Asmara, Eritrea who labelled the Kamal Galchu faction as "a splinter group" (ibid.). Sources indicate that in February 2013, General Kamal Galchu was detained and placed under house arrest in Asmara, Eritrea (PHW 2015, 469; Ethiopian Review 5 Feb. 2013). Sources indicate that in October 2014, the OLF executive committee removed General Kamal Galchu from his position as chairman, citing the reason as "poor leadership qualities and dictatorial actions" (Ethiomedia 24 Oct. 2014; OLF 23 Oct. 2014). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, Nuro Dedefo indicated that the OLF has different factions and that he is chairman of one faction, while Daud Ibsa leads another faction based in Asmara, Eritrea (Dedefo 30 Apr. 2015). According to Nuro Dedefo, Gelasa Dilbo is a former chairman of the OLF (ibid. 29 Apr. 2015). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, who specializes in the Horn of Africa region, indicated that most of the OLF leadership is in the US and Europe (27 Apr. 2015). 4. Structure Nuro Dedefo indicated that the OLF is made up of the General Assembly, "the highest decision-making body," followed by the next highest body, the National Council, which has 45 members and implements the decisions made by the General Assembly (Dedefo 30 Apr. 2015). He further indicated that the National Council elects nine executive members, including the chairman (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. On 27 June 2014, it was announced on the OLF website that two organizations that are part of their group, and known as OLF National Council (OLF Shanee Gumii) and OLF Transitional Authority (OLF Qaama Ce'umsaa), agreed to combine their leaderships, unify their members, and merge their organizational structures (OLF 27 June 2014). 5. Legal Status Sources indicate that in June 2011, Ethiopia classified the OLF as a terrorist organization (Human Rights Watch Jan. 2012; AI 2014, 9). START, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism, indicates that the OLF is not officially designated as a terrorist group by the US, UK, Australia, Canada, EU or Russia (START n.d.a). 6. Membership The Researcher at Human Rights Watch stated that it is "difficult to know who is an actual member" of the OLF because the organization is "underground" (Human Rights Watch 27 Apr. 2015). He further said that the OLF soldiers remaining in the region are "known to be in the Ethiopian and Kenyan border areas" (ibid.). AI reports that the OLF has been "relatively inactive" in recent years, and that the number of OLF fighters are estimated at "a few thousand" (AI 2014, 20). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 7. Treatment of Members, Supporters and Perceived Members of the OLF Nuro Dedefo indicated that members of the OLF face "persecution" by Ethiopian authorities, including "arrest, interrogation, torture and extra-judicial killing," and that supporters of the OLF also face similar treatment (Dedefo 30 Apr. 2015). In 2010, the UN Committee Against Torture reported that it was concerned about "numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations concerning the routine use of torture by the police, prison officers and other members of the security forces, as well as the military," against "alleged supporters of insurgent groups," including the OLF (UN 19 Nov. 2010). The AI report indicates that many Oromo people are critical of the Ethiopian government's treatment of the Oromo and that they have "long been subject to repression based on an imputed opposition to the government" (AI 2014, 18). The Human Rights Watch Researcher commented on the treatment of politically active Oromos, who are perceived to be part of the OLF by the government, as follows: In the vast majority of interrogations involving Oromos, there are accusations that they are either members of OLF, or are involved in the Oromo opposition, which many take to mean OLF. There is very rarely any evidence that there is a connection to the OLF, rather anyone who expresses dissent, mobilizes for mainstream politics, or is involved in Oromo cultural associations, are at risk of being associated to the OLF. If you have a family connection from the past to OLF, you are at particular risk. Torture and mistreatment in detention is common among the Oromo, particularly those who have been accused of having connections to the OLF. (Human Rights Watch 27 Apr. 2015) The AI report similarly indicates that a "significant majority of Oromos arrested for their actual or suspected opposition to the government are accused of supporting the OLF" and in a high proportion of those cases, the person arrested is not charged with a crime (AI 2014, 19). AI further explains that the government equates participation in protests, membership in a political opposition party, or refusal to join the ruling political party, as an indication of OLF support (ibid., 20). Sources indicate that in March 2011, the government arrested 121 Oromos over accusations that they were part of the OLF (Reuters 5 Sept. 2011; Human Rights Watch 6 Apr. 2011). According to a Human Rights Watch news report, the government said that it had obtained court orders to detain them while it gathered evidence (ibid.). Sources indicate that members of the Oromo People's Congress (OPC) and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) [the largest Oromo opposition political parties (AI 2014, 40)] were among those arrested (Human Rights Watch 6 Apr. 2011; AI 2014, 40), and that 89 of them were accused of supporting the OLF, charged and tried (ibid.). According to the AI report, they were accused of making financial contributions to the OLF, participating in the OLF, or organizing training and recruiting other OLF members (ibid., 41). Sources indicate that the government arrested 29 people in August 2011 due to their alleged links to the OLF (Reuters 5 Sept. 2011; AFP 5 Sept. 2011). A 5 September 2011 Reuters articles cites the deputy commissioner of the federal police as saying that those arrested were trained by the OLF and were planning to bomb targets. Sources indicate that nine of the people arrested are members of the OPC or OFDM political parties (ibid.; Reuters 5 Sept. 2011; IHS Global Insight 5 Sept. 2011). AI reports that Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the OFDM, and Olbana Lelisa of the OPC were arrested in August 2011 shortly after meeting with AI (AI 31 Aug. 2011. Gerba was accused of belonging to the OLF, while AI said charges against Lelisa were not made public (ibid.). However, in a 31 August 2011 article, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a government spokesperson as saying that "'[t]hese people were arrested because the police had found evidence that had linked them with clandestine activities carried out by the OLF'." According to the Sudan Tribune, a news website based in Paris, Gerba and Lelisa were convicted by the Ethiopian Federal High Court for having links with OLF, recruiting students to the OLF, and using their membership in a "legally recognized opposition political party as a disguise" (Sudan Tribune 13 Dec. 2012). Lelisa was sentenced to 13 years in prison and Gerba was sentenced to 8 years (ibid.). The US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 indicates that the Federal Supreme Court upheld the convictions but reduced Gerba's sentence from eight years to three years and seven months and Lelisa's sentence from 13 years to 11 years (US 27 Feb. 2014, 9). This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Note [1] Sources indicate that the Oromo people are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia (AI 2014, 18; MRG n.d.), and account for approximately 35 percent (US 21 Apr. 2015; AI 2014, 18) or 40 percent of the population (START n.d.). Minority Rights Group International (MRG) indicates that the Oromo are mainly located in the south-east, south, and south-west regions of Ethiopia (MRG n.d.). References Agence France-Presse (AFP). 5 September 2011. "Ethiopian Arrests 29 on Terrorism Charges." (Factiva) _____. 31 August 2011. "Ethiopian Opposition Leaders Arrested After Amnesty Meeting." (Factiva) The African Executive (AE). 8-15 December 2010. "Oromo Liberation Front: Who Is Fooling Who?" [Accessed 17 Apr. 2014] Amnesty International (AI). 2014. 'Because I Am Oromo': Sweeping Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. [Accessed 27 Apr. 2015] Dedefo, Nuro, Chairman of one of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)'s factions. 30 April 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. _____. 29 April 2015. Telephone interview. Ethiomedia. 24 October 2014. "General Kemal Gelchu Removed from OLF." [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015] Ethiopian Review. 5 February 2013. "Eritrea Reportedly Detains Ethiopian Opposition Leader." (Factiva) Human Rights Watch. 27 April 2015. Correspondence from a researcher to the Research Directorate. _____. January 2012. "Ethiopia." World Report 2012: Events of 2011. [Accessed 27 Apr. 2015] _____. 6 April 2011. "Ethiopia: Free Opposition Members. Mass Arrests of More Than 200 Ethnic Oromo Appear Politically Motivated." [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015] IHS Global Insight. 5 January 2012. Gus Selassie. "Ethiopian Rebel Group Drops Secessionist Quest but Rival Faction Questions Statement." (Factiva) _____. 5 September 2011. Gus Selassie. "Ethiopia Arrests Suspected OLF 'Terrorists'." (Factiva) Minority Rights Group International (MRG). N.d. "Ethiopia: Oromo." World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. [Accessed 27 Apr. 2015] Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). 23 October 2014. "Press Release No. 006/2014." [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015] _____. 27 June 2014. "Declaration of Unity of the OLF." [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015] _____. N.d.a. "Oromo Liberation Front Mission." [Accessed 17 Apr. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "Objective of the OLF." [Accessed 17 Apr. 2015] Political Handbook of the World (PHW). 2015. "Ethiopia." Edited by Tom Lansford. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [Accessed 29 Apr. 2015] Reuters. 5 September 2011. Aaron Maasho. "Ethiopia Arrests 29 over Bomb Plots." (Factiva) START--National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. N.d.a. "Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)." [Accessed 4 May 2015] _____. N.d.b. "About START." [Accessed 4 May 2015] Sudan Tribune. 13 December 2012. "Ethiopian Court Slaps Lengthy Terms Against Opposition Leaders." (Factiva) United Nations (UN) 19 November 2010. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Committee Against Torture. "Committee Against Torture Concludes Forty-fifth Session." [Accessed 7 May 2015] United States (US). 21 April 2015. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). "Ethiopia." The World Factbook. [Accessed 27 Apr. 2015] _____. 27 February 2014. Department of State. "Ethiopia." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013. [Accessed 27 Apr. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: The following were unable to provide information for this Response: Assistant Professor, Center for African Studies, University of Florida; Professor, Center of African Studies, University of Cambridge. Attempts to contact the following were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: departmental representative, UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Ethiopia; Ethiopian Human Rights Commission; Professor and author of African studies; Professor of African studies, Pennsylvania State University; Professor of African studies, University of Tennessee; Professor Emeritus, political science, City College of New York; Professor of political science, California State University; Senior Researcher, African Studies Centre, Leiden; Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch. Internet sites, including: Africa Confidential; Africa Research Bulletin; Al Jazeera; All Africa; Associated Press; Awramba Times; Ayyaantuu News; BBC; Bloomberg News; ecoi.net; Ethiopia First; Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; Freedom House; The Indian Ocean Newsletter; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Press TV; UN - Refworld, ReliefWeb; US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants; Voice of Oromo Liberation; World Politics Review. Ethiopia: Passport issuance procedures within the country; information included in the passport (2012-April 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 12 May 2015 Citation / Document Symbol ETH105190.E Related Document(s) Ethiopie : information sur la procedure de delivrance des passeports a l'interieur du pays; les renseignements inclus dans le passeport (2012-avril 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ethiopia: Passport issuance procedures within the country; information included in the passport (2012-April 2015), 12 May 2015, ETH105190.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569604404.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 1. Procedures for Obtaining a Passport from Within Ethiopia Information on the procedure for obtaining a passport from within Ethiopia could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. However, the following information may be useful. According to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC and the Ethiopian Embassy in Australia, in order to obtain a passport for the first time, the applicant must submit the following to the embassy: four recent colour photos of the applicant (Ethiopia n.d.b; ibid. n.d.a), with the name of the applicant on the back (ibid.); two copies of the passport application form (ibid.; ibid. n.d.b), a copy of which is attached to this Response; two copies of a document showing Ethiopian citizenship (ibid.) or "any supporting documents" demonstrating Ethiopian citizenship (ibid. n.d.a), including, for example, a birth certificate that is authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ibid.; ibid. n.d.b), a copy of a parent's passport (ibid. n.d.a), or a Kebele identification card (ibid.); and Fingerprints of the applicant (ibid.; ibid. n.d.b), including the originals and a copy (ibid. n.d.a). According to the Embassy of Ethiopia in Australia, applicants under the age of 14 are exempt from having to submit fingerprints (ibid. n.d.b). According to the websites of the Ethiopian Embassies in Washington, DC and Australia, the fee for a passport for a first-time applicant is US$60 (ibid. n.d.a), or 78 Australian dollars [C$75] (ibid. n.d.b). The website of the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC advises applicants to submit their applications at least 45 days prior to travel (ibid. n.d.a). The Ethiopian Embassy in Australia website similarly advises applicants to submit their applications at least 2 months prior to travel (ibid. n.d.b). According to the website of the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC, if someone has an expired Ethiopian passport and needs to return to Ethiopia for an emergency, they can use a Laissez-Passer to return to Ethiopia and before returning to the US, they must go to the "Ethiopian Immigration Office" to obtain a passport (ibid. n.d.c). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Information Included in the Passport Information on the appearance of, and information contained in the new biometric Ethiopian passport could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Ethiopia. N.d.a. Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, DC. "Passport Service." [Accessed 8 May 2015] _____. N.d.b. Embassy of Ethiopia in Australia. "Passport Services." [Accessed 8 May 2015] _____. N.d.c. "Passport Service: FAQ." [Accessed 8 May 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: The following were unable to provide information for this Response: Ethiopia - Embassy of Ethiopia in Ottawa. Attempts to contact the following were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: Ethiopia - Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington D.C., Main Department for Immigration & Nationality Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Internet sites, including: ecoi.net; Ethiopia - Embassy of Ethiopia in Ottawa, Embassy of Ethiopia in Stockholm, Ethiopian Government Portal, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Factiva; United Nations - Refworld; United States - Department of State. Attachment Ethiopia. N.d. Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, D.C. "Application Form." [Accessed 8 May 2015] Pakistan: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group, including its leaders, activities, and areas of operation; actions taken by authorities against JeM; state protection offered to people targeted by JeM (2013-January 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 9 February 2015 Citation / Document Symbol PAK105064.E Related Document(s) Pakistan : information sur le groupe militant Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), y compris sur ses dirigeants, ses activites et ses zones d'activites; les mesures prises par les autorites pour lutter contre le JeM; la protection offerte par l'Etat aux personnes prises pour cible par le JeM (2013-janvier 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Pakistan: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group, including its leaders, activities, and areas of operation; actions taken by authorities against JeM; state protection offered to people targeted by JeM (2013-January 2015), 9 February 2015, PAK105064.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569605b64.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. JeM's Creation and Objectives The Pakistan-based group JeM was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US Department of State in December 2001 (US 30 Apr. 2014, 288). Sources use the following names when referring to JeM: Army of Mohammed, Mohammed's Army, Tehrik ul-Furqaan, Khuddam ul-Islam (KuI), Khudamul Islam, Kuddam e Islami (US [2014]a; Australia 9 Mar. 2012); Army of the Prophet, Jaish-i-Mohammed, Jaish-i-Mohammad, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Jaish-i-Muhammed, Jaish-e-Mohammad Mujahideen E Tanzeem, Jamaat ul-Furqan (JuF), Jeish-e-Mahammed, Jesh-e-Mohammadi, Khudamul Islam, National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty and Army of the Prophet (ibid.); Jish-e-Mohammad. (The News International 3 Mar. 2014). In a report on terrorist organizations, the Australian National Security, the Australian government's portal on national security, describes JeM as a "fundamentalist Deobandi [1] Sunni Islamist organisation" operating primarily in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK) (9 Mar. 2012). The Anti-defamation League (ADL), a US- and Israel-based civil rights and human relations agency that fights "all forms of bigotry," including anti-Semitism, extremism and hate crimes, by "developing materials, programs and services" (ADL n.d.b), reports that JeM is a Pakistan-based Sunni "extremist group" that conducts terrorist operations against the Pakistan government, Indian interests in Kashmir, as well as civilians (ADL n.d.a). Sources also indicate that JeM has targeted sectarian minority groups in Pakistan (ibid.; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a; CFR 9 July 2009). Sources report that JeM was founded in early 2000 by Masood Azhar [also referred to as Moulana Muhammad Azhar or Maulana Masood Azhar], a former senior leader of Harakut ul-Ansar [also referred to as Harat-ul-Mujahideen or Harakat ul-Mujahideen, a Pakistan-based extremist group created to oppose the Soviet forces and support jihad in Afghanistan (Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a)] (Australia 9 Mar 2012; US 30 Apr. 2014, 288). According to sources, Masood Azhar was born in Bahawalpur, in the Pakistani province of Punjab (BBC 16 Dec. 2002; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a), to a "religious Sunni family" (ibid.). The BBC describes his family as "rich" and "land-owning" (BBC 16 Dec. 2002). The Australian National Security states that JeM is estimated to have "several hundred members, including 300 to 400 fighters," but that the complete command structure is unknown (Australia 9 Mar. 2012). The South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a database collecting information primarily on terrorism and warfare in South Asia (SATP n.d.c), similarly indicates that there are no reports of a formal governing body or council within the group (SATP n.d.a). Sources indicate that since its creation, JeM has had ties with the Taliban (Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a; FAS 3 May 2004). The Australian National Security states that Masood Azhar reportedly founded JeM with support from Usama bin Laden, the Afghan Taliban, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) [2], and other Sunni extremist organizations in Pakistan (Australia 9 Mar. 2012). According to Mapping Militant Organizations, a Stanford University research project that provides information on and "traces the evolution of militant organizations and the interactions that develop between them over time" (Mapping Militant Organizations n.d.), JeM has created important relationships with other jihadi organizations, including the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba [3], Al-Rashid Trust [4] and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) [5] (ibid. 3 Aug. 2012a). Furthermore, sources report that JeM has received funding from Al-Qaeda (ibid.; FAS 3 May 2004; GlobalSecurity.org 11 July 2011). According to sources, JeM is aligned with the political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazlur Rehman faction (JUI-F) (ibid.; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a; Australia 9 Mar. 2012), a prominent Islamist party (ibid.; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a). Sources indicate that JeM has declared war against the US, and aims to incorporate Kashmir into Pakistan (CFR 9 July 2009; US 30 Apr. 2014, 288), as well as to expel foreign troops from Afghanistan (ibid.). The Stanford University Mapping Militant Organizations' report similarly states that JeM "aims to unite Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan," and that the group advocates for the "'destruction'" of both India and America (Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a). 2. Areas of Operation According to Mapping Militant Organizations, JeM is a predominantly Pakistani organization focusing primarily on "high-security government targets, including army bases, camps, and public places" in Pakistan and Kashmir (ibid.). A 6 November 2014 article published by the Express Tribune, a Pakistani daily newspaper, reports that the group "remains focused on Kashmir and India," has bases in Punjab and urban Sindh and has recently "resurfaced in places like Karachi" (6 Nov. 2014). A 23 January 2014 report on violence in Pakistan by the International Crisis Group indicates that JeM has a base in Punjab and operates both inside and outside of the country. Sources indicate that Masood Azhar reportedly operates from Bahawalpur, in Pakistani Punjab (Dawn 2 Feb. 2014; The Economist 3 June 2010). Similarly, a 7 February 2014 article by India Today, an Indian daily newspaper, indicates that JeM's headquarters are located in Bahawalpur. 3. Targets and Activities Sources indicate that JeM was the first jihadi organization to launch suicide attacks in Kashmir (Kashmir Herald Jan. 2002; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a). JeM has reportedly launched suicide attacks on high-security government operations, including camps, army bases, as well as public places in Kashmir and other parts of India (ibid.; SATP n.d.a). Sources indicate that the group's attacks are aimed at killing the maximum number of people, including security force personnel and civilians (Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a; ADL n.d.a). Sources also report that the group targets the Pakistani state (ibid.; CFR 9 July 2009) and sectarian minorities (ADL n.d.). According to Mapping Militant Organizations, JeM targets Christians and Shiites (Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a). In 2012, Stanford University's Mapping Militant Organizations stated that as of spring of 2011, "JeM is said to be one of the most violent active terrorist organizations within Pakistan" (ibid.). A 2011 article by the Express Tribune describes JeM as "the second largest jihadi group based in Punjab" (19 Aug. 2011). Similarly, an article published by the Jamestown Foundation, a "provider of research and analysis on conflict and instability in Eurasia" (The Jamestown Foundation n.d.), in its journal Terrorism Monitor, states that JeM is often described as "the second most lethal India-centric terror group based in the Pakistani Punjab," and that JeM is one of the "influential Pakistan-based terror organizations that have inspired militancy in Muslim youth" (11 Nov. 2011). Sources report that, despite bans on JeM's activities, the group continues to operate openly in different areas of Pakistan (US [2014]a; Business Standard 21 Feb. 2014). The group's attacks include: an attack on India's parliament building in 2001 (Australia 9 Mar. 2012; GlobalSecurity.org 11 July 2011) in New Delhi, that killed 9 and injured 18 (ibid.); the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 (US 30 Apr. 2014, 288; Australia 9 Mar. 2012), the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal (ibid.); two assassination attempts against Pakistani President Musharraf in 2003 (ibid.; CFR 9 July 2009; US 30 Apr. 2014, 288); and Furthermore, in October 2001, JeM claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir legislative building in Srinagar that killed 31 people (US 30 Apr. 2014, 288; GlobalSecurity.org 11 July 2011) but later denied the claim (ibid.). 4. State Response 4.1 Ban on JeM In December 2001, JeM attacked the Indian parliament (Asian Tribune 7 May 2010; Australia 9 Mar. 2012) in New Delhi, alongside Lashkar-e-Taiba, killing 9 people and injuring 18 (Asian Tribune 7 May 2010; GlobalSecurity.org 11 July 2011). Further to the group's attack on the Indian parliament, JeM renamed itself Tehrik-ul-Furqan (ADL n.d.a; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a). Stanford University's Mapping Militant Organizations also states that JeM changed its name to Tehrik-ul-Furqan "following reports that the US State Department was considering declaring JeM a foreign terrorist organization" (ibid.). According to SATP, on 25 October 2001, JeM was banned by the Indian government under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (SATP n.d.a). According to the Terrorism Monitor article, JeM resumed its operations in Pakistan as "an educational and religious charity" under the name Al-Rahmat Trust (ART), which was founded in 2001 (The Jamestown Foundation 11 Nov. 2011). In 2011, the Express Tribune similarly reported that JeM had "revived" the ART charity organization (19 Aug. 2011). The Jamestown Foundation notes that ART has been "instrumental" in the sponsorship and recruitment of militants fighting in Indian-administered Kashmir, Afghanistan and Pakistan (11 Nov. 2011). In 2002, Pakistan outlawed JeM and by 2003, the organization divided into two groups, Jamaat ul-Furqan (JuF) and Khuddam-ul-Islam (KuI) (Australia 9 Mar. 2012; FAS 3 May 2004; US 30 Apr. 2014, 288). Sources indicate that both JuF and KuI were banned in November 2003 by the Pakistani authorities (ibid.; FAS 3 May 2004; Australia 9 Mar. 2012). Despite having divided into two groups, in most reports, JeM is still viewed as a single entity (ibid.; Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012a). According to an article by Asian Tribune, a news website focusing primarily on South Asia, "some intelligence experts in many countries propose that JeM is in fact a creation of Pakistan's influential spy network ISI," since "India and Pakistan have fought several wars" over the "disputed province" of Kashmir (7 May 2010). Similarly, a 2013 report published by the US Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent, federally-funded national security institution devoted to the nonviolent prevention and mitigation of deadly conflict abroad (USIP n.d.), indicates that "Pakistan's powerful ISI facilitated the re-emergence" of JeM under its new names (USIP 2013, 7). 4.2 Resurfacing of JeM A 19 August 2011 article by the Express Tribune reported that, after being underground for a decade since its ban in 2001, JeM had returned to "full-scale public activity including fundraising while security agencies appear to be overlooking its 'resurgence'" (The Express Tribune 19 Aug. 2011). India Today indicates that since the 2008 ouster of President Musharraf and the return to power of the Pakistan Muslim League, JeM went through a "quiet revival" (7 Feb. 2014). The Express Tribune reports that some of JeM's activists and intelligence officials had declared that the group was in the process of regaining its former financial and physical strength, that it was working on a way to reach out to group activists, especially those that had abandoned the organization, and that it had revived its charity, ART (The Express Tribune 19 Aug. 2011). A coordinator associated with ART told the Express Tribune that fundraising was in "full swing" in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab (ibid.). In addition, the coordinator stated that government agencies have never prevented ART from fundraising in those areas (ibid). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In a 1 March 2014 article published on the web platform War on the Rocks (WOTR) [6], the Senior Program Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Michael Kugelman [7], reports that shortly after the attack on India's Parliament and the attempted assassination of the President, Azhar disappeared from public view but resurfaced in 2014, when "a fiery recorded lecture" was broadcast at an anti-India rally (Kugelman 1 Mar. 2014). Similarly, according to sources, after a "long hibernation," Maulana Masood Azhar resurfaced in January 2014, when he addressed thousands of supporters "by phone" at a rally in Muzaffarabad (Dawn 2 Feb. 2014; The Economic Times 2 Feb. 2014). Sources report that the rally promoted a book written by a former JeM leader, Mohammad Afzal Guru, who, in 2013, was executed in India for his role in the attack on the Indian parliament (ibid.; Dawn 27 Jan. 2014). Sources also report that Azhar asked Pakistan to "'lift restrictions on jihad'" and warned that his group would take "'revenge'" for Mohammad Guru's execution (ibid.; The Economic Times 2 Feb. 2014). Approximately 10,000 people attended the rally, according to sources; rally organizers did not allow journalists to enter with cell phones or cameras, and police installed "walk-through gates" (ibid.; Dawn 27 Jan. 2014). Sources report that since his reappearance, Azhar has threatened to kill Narendra Modi [the Gujarat Chief Minister (Zee News 19 Dec. 2013)] if he becomes India's next prime minister (Zee News 19 Dec. 2013; Kugelman 1 Mar. 2014). Sources also report that Azhar has claimed to have 300 suicide bombers available to attack India (ibid.; First Post 18 Feb. 2014). Sources report that since December 2014, Indian authorities have issued two airport security alerts, warning of an attempt by members of JeM to hijack a plane, with smaller airfields most at risk (ibid.; Business Standard 21 Feb. 2014). A January 2015 article by the Sunday Guardian, an India-based newspaper, reports that a unit of Pakistan's Special Services Group, a specialized force of the Pakistani army, had been deployed "near the International Border to help terrorists belonging to Lashkhar-E-Taiba and Jaish-E-Mohammed infiltrate into India" (24 Jan. 2015). 4.3 Pakistan's Anti-terrorism Activities, Including Against JeM USIP reports that in 2003, a Special Investigation Group was established by the Pakistan federal government as a counterterrorism unit "to undertake joint investigations with provincial police departments for offences punishable under Pakistan's 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act" (USIP 2013, 14). The same source reports that, "[i]n reality, the ISI's counterterrorism wing, ISI-CT, was taking the lead on these issues and continues to do so today" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The Express Tribune reports that, according to Article 11-E of the Anti-terrorism Act, once an organization is banned, its publications and literature must be seized, its offices must be closed off, its finances frozen and addresses and dissemination banned (The Express Tribune 10 Oct. 2013). According to the article published by the Jamestown Foundation on 11 November 2011, a coordinator associated with ART stated that most of JeM's "operational arms" and publications, such as Muslim Ummah and Al-Qalam, are available on newsstands with the Audit Bureau of Circulation's certification (issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting). In a 2 February 2014 article, the Pakistan daily newspaper Dawn similarly states that publications and audiocassettes of Azhar's speeches were being "freely circulated," and that the widely disseminated Zarb-i-Momin (JeM's newspaper) continued to be published (Dawn 2 Feb. 2014). In a June 2010 article, the Economist quoted a Lahore-based political analyst as saying that "'[t]he Punjab government is not only complacent, there is a certain ambivalence in their attitude' towards extremists. ...They compete for the religious vote bank'" (The Economist 3 June 2010). The same source states that as the death toll grows, so do concerns that even the appearance of official tolerance gives these organisations legitimacy. ... The Federal Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, declared that an "operation" was needed to clear out the Punjabi groups. He claimed that 44% of Pakistan's madrassas -Islamic seminaries - are based in south Punjab and that groups like ... Jaish-e-Mohammed are "part of the Taliban and al-Qaeda." Punjab's government said there was no need for any such operation. (ibid.) Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In 2014, the Pakistani government issued the country's first National Internal Security Policy (NISP), responsible for the protection of the country's national interests by addressing the nation's preoccupations and prevailing security issues (Pakistan 25 Feb. 2014). The Express Tribune reports that the policy has been faced with criticism; according to a journalist commissioned to write an analysis report on the policy, though it has a "'comprehensive coverage of internal security issues'," he said he had "little hope about its implementation" (The Express Tribune 27 Mar. 2014). The same journalist added that due to "herculean coordination efforts required of provinces and intelligence agencies for internal security," he could not see that the government would be able to implement the policy in the near future (ibid.). The News International, a Pakistani newspaper, stated in a 3 March 2014 article that, according to the NISP, there are a total of 60 banned organizations in Pakistan, including JeM, and although the government has taken steps to ban certain organizations, "metamorphism" of these groups and "implementation gaps" remain a challenge for the government's internal security mechanisms. Sources report that a terrorist attack on 16 December 2014 on a Peshawar school that killed 149 people, mostly children (RT 25 Dec. 2014; Sydney Morning Herald 18 Dec. 2014; The Express Tribune 15 Jan. 2015) was perpetrated by Tehreek-e-Taliban (ibid.). Sources indicate that, following the attack, Pakistan's leadership agreed on an antiterrorist action plan (ibid.; RT 25 Dec. 2014). RT, a Russian news network (RT n.d.), reports that the plan aims to "revamp the criminal system, crackdown on terrorist hideouts, communications and sources of income, and establish a 5,000-strong counter-terrorism force" (RT 25 Dec. 2014). The Express Tribune similarly reports that as a part of Pakistan's National Action Plan to defeat terrorism, "the government is going to launch a crackdown on proscribed organisations" (The Express Tribune 10 Jan. 2015). The Express Tribune adds that the plan "envisages the establishment of military courts to expedite trials of terror suspects" (ibid. 15 Jan. 2015). Further information on actions taken by the authorities against JeM and state protection offered to individuals targeted by JeM could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] GlobalSecurity.org, a website that focuses on security and compiles information from a variety of sources (GlobalSecurity.org n.d.b), states that "the Deobandi school has long sought to purify Islam by discarding supposedly un-Islamic accretions to the faith and reemphasizing the models established in the Koran and the customary practices of the Prophet Mohammed" (ibid. n.d.a). [2] Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the country's intelligence agency, responsible for safeguarding the nation's interests and security both inside and outside of the country (Pakistan 2 Jan. 2006). Its primary objectives also include "reinforcing Pakistan['s] power base in the region" (ibid.). [3] According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, "Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, also known as Army of the Righteous, is one of the largest and most proficient of the Kashmir-focused militant groups" (US [2014]b). [4] The SATP reports that "[t]he Karachi[-]based Al-Rashid Trust (ART) is one of the 27 groups and organisations listed by the US State Department on September 22, 2001, for involvement in financing and supporting a network of international Islamist terrorist groups" (SATP n.d.b). [5] "LeJ is a violent, anti-Shiite militant group in Pakistan with ties to several other groups in the region, including Al Qaeda" (Mapping Militant Organizations 3 Aug. 2012b). [6] WOTR is a Washington-based web "platform for analysis, commentary, debate and multimedia content" on foreign policy and national security issues that "features articles and podcasts produced by an array of writers with deep experience in these matters" (WOTR n.d.a). [7] Michael Kugelman's work focuses on Pakistan, India and Afghanistan (WOTR n.d.b). References Agence France-Presse (AFP). 9 February 2013. "India Parliament Attack Plotter Hanged." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] Anti-defamation League (ADL). N.d.a. "International Terrorist Symbols Database: Jaish-e-Mohammed." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "About the Anti-defamation League." [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015] Asian Tribune. 7 May 2010. "Profile of Pakistani Militant Group JaiseeMohammed: Did It Play a Role in Times Square Bomb Attempt?" [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] Australia. 9 March 2012. Australian National Security. "Terrorist Organisations: Jaish-e-Mohammed." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 16 December 2002. "Profile: Maulana Masood Azhar." [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015] Business Standard. 21 February 2014. "India Deplores Pakistan Permission for Jaish-e-Mohammed Chief to Address Anti-India Rally." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). 9 July 2009. Jamal Afridi. "Kashmir Militant Extremists." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] Dawn. 2 February 2014. Zahid Hussain. "The Return of Masood Azhar." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] _____. 27 January 2014. Tariq Naqash. "Banned Group Holds Rally in Muzaffarabad." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] The Economic Times. 2 February 2014. "Jaish-e-Mohammed Chief Masood Azhar's Address to Rally in PoK Raises Questions: Report." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] The Economist. 3 June 2010. "The Punjabi Taliban: Into the Heartland." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] The Express Tribune. 15 January 2015. "Revealed: Govt Decides to Ban Haqqani Network, JuD." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] _____. 10 January 2015. "National Action Plan: Pakistan in Fresh Push to Choke Terror Funding." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] _____. 6 November 2014. Ayesha Siddiqa. "Collective Suicide." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] _____. 27 March 2014. "Internal Security: Policy a Good Step but Devoid of Substance, Say Experts." [Accessed 28 Jan. 2015] _____. 10 October 2013. Neha Ansari and Zahid Gishkori. "Banning the Terrorists: The Outlawed Outsmart the Law." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] _____. 19 August 2011. "Militant Group's Resurgence: Dreaded Jaish Looks to Rise Again." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] First Post. 18 February 2014. "The Resurgence of JeM Chief Maulana Masood Azhar's and Why It Worries India." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015] Federation of American Scientists (FAS). 3 May 2004. "Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM)." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] GlobalSecurity.org. 11 July 2011. "Jaish-e-Mohammed." [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d.a. "Deobandi Islam." [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "Mission." [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015] India Today. 7 February 2014. "Return of a Fire Breather." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015] International Crisis Group. 23 January 2014. Policing Urban Violence in Pakistan. [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] The Jamestown Foundation. 11 November 2011. Animesh Roul. "Jaish-e-Muhammad's Charity Wing Revitalizes Banned Group in Pakistan." Terrorism Monitor, Vol. 9, Issue 41. [Accessed 14 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] Kashmir Herald. January 2002. "Jaish-e-Mohammad." Vol.1, No.8. [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015] Kugelman, Michael. 1 March 2014. "Five Pakistani Militants We Should Be Paying More Attention To." War on the Rocks (WOTR). [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015] Mapping Militant Organizations, Stanford University. 3 August 2012a. "Jaish-e-Mohammad." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] _____. 3 August 2012b. Mapping Militant Organizations. "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi." [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015] The News International. 3 March 2014. Tariq Butt. "60 Banned Organisations Identified by New NISP." [Accessed 26 Jan. 2015] Pakistan. 25 February 2014. National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA). National Internal Security Policy 2014-2018. [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015] _____. 2 January 2006. Pakistan Defence. "ISI Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence." [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] RT. 25 December 2014. "Pakistan Agrees on New Antiterrorism Plan, Pledges to 'Eradicate Taliban'." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d. "About RT." [Accessed 8 Feb. 2015] South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP). N.d.a. "Jaish-e-Mohammed." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "Al-Rashid Trust." [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.c. "South Asia Terrorism Portal." [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015] The Sunday Guardian. 24 January 2015. Mishra Abhinandan. "Pak Amasses Special Forces on India Border." (Factiva) Sydney Morning Herald. 18 December 2014. Mehreen Zahra-Malik. "Pakistan Massacre: A Scene of Carnage- a Look Inside the School Targeted by the Taliban." [Accessed 6 Feb. 2015] United States (US). 30 April 2014. Department of State. Country Reports on Terrorism 2013. [Accessed 14 Jan. 2015] _____. [2014]a. The National Counterterrorism Center. "Counterterrorism 2014 Calendar: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM)." [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015] _____. [2014]b. The National Counterterrorism Center. "Counterterrorism 2014 Calendar: Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT)." [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] United States Institute of Peace (USIP). 2013. Domestic Barriers to Dismantling the Militant Infrastructure in Pakistan. [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d. "About USIP." [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015] War on the Rocks (WOTR). N.d.a. "War on the Rocks: About." [Accessed 3 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "Contributors." [Accessed 8 Feb. 2015] Zee News. 19 December 2013. "Jaish-e-Mohammad Threatens to Kill Narendra Modi if He Becomes PM." [Accessed 28 Jan. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: A professor of social sciences at the University of Ottawa was unable to provide information within the time constraints of this Response. Attempts to contact the following were unsuccesssful within the time constraints of this Response: Asian Human Rights Commission; assistant professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; assistant professor, School of International Service at the American University; Canada - High Commission to Pakistan; Director, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland; Director, Norman Patterson School of Internal Affairs, University of Carleton; Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; journalist, Agence France-Presse; Pakistan - Embassy in Washington, DC, High Commission in Ottawa, Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman); professor, Department of Politics and International Affairs, Wakeforest University; Project Manager, Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, University of British Columbia; Punjab - Inspector General of Police; UN - UNHCR. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; Asia Center for Human Rights; Asian Human Rights Commission; Asia Observer; The Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; CNN; Combating Terrorism Center; The Conflict Monitoring Center; ecoi.net; European Interagency Security Forum; Factiva; Global Center on Cooperative Security; Global Terrorism Database; The Guardian; Human Rights Watch - Asia; IHS Global Insight; IRIN; Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies; International Crisis Group; The Investigative Project on Terrorism; Kashmir Times; National Counter Terrorism Authority; The New York Times; Pakistan - Human Rights Commission, The Official Gateway to the Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Defence; Reporters Without Borders; Security and Society; SITE Monitoring Service; Small Arms Survey; Society for Threatened Peoples; Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium; UN - Refworld. Sierra Leone: Information on Sisters United Against Female Genital Mutilation and Sisters United Against Female Circumcision in Freetown (2011-August 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 24 August 2015 Citation / Document Symbol SLE105275.E Related Document(s) Sierra Leone : information sur les Soeurs unies contre les mutilations genitales feminines (Sisters United Against Female Genital Mutilation) et les Soeurs unies contre l'excision (Sisters United Against Female Circumcision) a Freetown (2011-aout 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Sierra Leone: Information on Sisters United Against Female Genital Mutilation and Sisters United Against Female Circumcision in Freetown (2011-August 2015), 24 August 2015, SLE105275.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569606234.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa Information on Sisters United Against Female Genital Mutilation could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this response. Information on Sisters United Against Female Circumcision was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this response. The New Citizen, a Sierra Leone newspaper, published an article in August 2015 written by Khadijah Bangura, the Country Director at the Sierra Leone-Canadian Children's Aid Society, a "humanitarian, charitable and developmental organization" (SLCCAS n.d.), that indicated that the Children's Aid Society and community groups including Sisters United Against Female Circumcision have been "in the upfront fighting to end Female Genital Mutilation [FGM] in Sierra Leone" (The New Citizen 12 Aug. 2015). The same source reports that both organizations have launched "several workshops, campaigns and events against the use of young children in performing FGM" (ibid.). In a 2014 report on FGM in Sierra Leone, 28 Too Many, a "values-based charity working to end FGM" (28 Too Many n.d.), states that "[p]ersecution for fighting FGM in Freetown remains prevalent, despite wide-spread anti-FGM campaigning" (ibid. June 2014, 72). Khadijah Bangura, in her article in the New Citizen, indicates that campaigns against FGM have resulted in the unlawful arrest of activists, photographers and volunteers and that "traditional leaders" and police use "excessive force against community human right[s] groups" (The New Citizen 12 Aug. 2015). According to the same source, as a result, volunteers, photographers and staff have fled the country looking for protection overseas (ibid.). 28 Too Many similarly indicates that anti-FGM activists face many challenges, including death threats, and as a result "a number of activists have left Sierra Leone" (June 2014, 72). This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References 28 Too Many. June 2014. Country Profile: FGM in Sierra Leone. [Accessed 19 Aug. 2015] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 24 Aug. 2015] Sierra Leone-Canadian Children's Aid Society (SLCCAS). N.d. "About This Charity." [Accessed 19 Aug. 2015] The New Citizen. 12 August 2015. Khadijah Bangura. "Community Activists in Sierra Leone Are Concern About the Health Complications of FGM." [Accessed 21 Aug. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Advocacy Movement Network; Amazonian Initiative Movement; Centre for Development and Peace Education; Community Initiative Programme; Human Rights Capacity Building Programme; Network Movement for Democracy and Human Rights; Sierra Leone - Gender and Children's Affairs, Ministry of Social Welfare; Sierra Leone -Canadian Children's Aid Society. Internet sites, including: Advocacy Movement Network; AllAfrica; Amazonian Initiative Movement; Amnesty International; AMnet; Centre for Development and Peace Education; Children's Aid Society - Sierra Leone; Community Initiative Programme; Factiva; Freedom From Fistula; Global Network of Women's Peacebuilders; Human Rights Capacity Building Programme; IRIN; Reuters; Sierra Leone - Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs; UN - Refworld; Womankind; World Health Organization. China: Persecution of Labor Activists Escalates Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 13 January 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, China: Persecution of Labor Activists Escalates, 13 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569612e84.html [accessed 19 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The Chinese government should immediately release four labor rights activists who were formally arrested in Guangdong province on apparent politically motivated grounds, Human Rights Watch said today. "These formal arrests of labor activists signify a significant escalation in the Chinese government's assault on civil society since President Xi Jinping came to power," said Brad Adams, Asia director. "Under Xi, the authorities are showing increasing hostility toward those whose activism wasn't considered a threat just a few years ago." On January 8, 2016, police in Guangdong province formally arrested Zeng Feiyang, director of the Panyu Migrant Workers Center, and two other staff members, Zhu Xiaomei and Meng Han, as well as He Xiaobo, director of Nan Fei Yan, another labor rights group. The four were among over a dozen labor rights activists from four workers organizations taken into custody on December 3 by police in Guangdong province. Police also apprehended Tang Jian (also known as "Bei Guo"), a former employee of Panyu Migrant Workers Center, who was in Beijing, and Peng Jiayong, director of the Panyu-based Laborer Mutual Aid Group. Guangzhou police also took away staff members of Guangzhou Hai Ge Workers' Services Center on December 3, though they were later released. On December 4, police formally detained Zeng, Zhu, and Meng for "gathering crowds to disturb social order." On the same date, police formally detained He on unspecified grounds for "embezzlement." Peng's lawyer believes that he has also been formally detained. Under Chinese law, following formal detention, the police can hold criminal suspects for up to 37 days before the procuratorate, the state prosecution, makes a decision to either release or formally arrest them. Formal arrests signal another step in the criminal proceedings and in practice those formally arrested are very likely to proceed to trial and conviction. The formal arrests of the four activists followed increased harassment of nongovernmental labor organizations in the past year, including beatings by unidentified individuals and threats by local Bureaus of Civil Affairs to cancel registration of some organizations. This harassment may be related to a reported record high number of labor disputes in 2015, which include strikes and protests by workers coming in the context of China's economic slowdown. According to the Hong Kong-based worker's rights group, China Labor Bulletin, most of the 2,774 incidents reported in 2015 concerned unpaid wages. The targeting of labor rights groups appears to be part of the Chinese government's broad assault on civil society, including such key pillars as the media, Internet users, lawyers, and academia. It also includes the government's promulgation and drafting of laws in the name of state security to restrict civil society groups from engaging in advocacy. For example, the Chinese legislature has released a draft of the Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations Management Law in May 2015 that, if passed, will give the police an expansive role in approving and monitoring the work of nongovernmental organizations and severely restrict their ability to seek resources from and cooperate with international organizations. "The Chinese government is shooting itself in the foot by persecuting labor activists who have played an important mediating role between workers and companies," said Adams. "The authorities need to stop seeing anyone who disagrees with them as an enemy to be jailed and start working with these pioneering labor rights advocates who have done so much to maintain industrial calm in China's factories." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Attackers on a motorcycle lobbed grenades and opened fire at a Pakistani television station on Wednesday, wounding one person, the station said. The assailants at ARY News' Islamabad office dropped pamphlets linked to the Islamic State's self-declared province of Khorasan in Afghanistan and Pakistan, ARY reported on its website. Security guards chased away the drive-by attackers, it said, and an editor hit by shrapnel in the head was hospitalised. The pamphlets left behind said the Islamic State claimed responsibility for attacking media which are "siding with the apostate army and government of Pakistan in their global crusade against Islam". Pakistan's army is fighting a military campaign against Taliban and other militants in the country's northwest near the Afghan border. In the past year, several commanders of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have sworn allegiance to Islamic State, though it is unclear the extent of direct links with the Middle East-based militants' leadership. (Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Alison Williams) FISH FOR FUN AT TROUT DERBY Members of the city of Abilene's parks and recreation divisions are partnering with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to present a trout derby for all ages from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 6. Participants can fish for 500 trout in the back pond at Nelson Park. Loaner tackle will be available on a limited basis. Participants 17 and older will need a fishing license. Prizes will be awarded in different age divisions. For more information, call 325-676-6217. TWO BUCK TUESDAYS Admission to the Abilene Zoo is only $2 per person every Tuesday in January and February. The animals are more active during the cooler weather, so take advantage of this promotion. Zoo members still will receive free admission. For more information, call 325-676-6085. DISCOVERING THE HIDDEN CLUES The Abilene Public Library is offering a free workshop for anyone interested in finding ancestors who lived before 1850. "Discovering the Hidden Clues in U.S. Census" will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the second-floor auditorium of the downtown library at 202 Cedar St. Longtime Abilene genealogist Cindy Jones will present the program. Participants also will visit the library's genealogy department, where one-on-one assistance will be available. Census records from 1790-1940 are available in Ancestry Plus, a database to which the library subscribes. Cardholders may access it at any of the three public library locations. Many census records also are available on microfilm at the downtown library. RELAY FOR LIFE Make plans now to attend the local Relay for Life on April 29 at the Hardin-Simmons University Intramural Field. One of the American Cancer Society's signature events, the relay is a fun-filled overnight activity that mobilizes communities across the country to celebrate survivorship, remember those who lost their lives to cancer and raise money for the fight against the disease. For more information, call the ACS office in Abilene at 325-672-0994. Mail information to Jan Woodward in care of "Around Town," Abilene Reporter-News, P.O. Box 30, Abilene, TX 79604. Email jan.woodward@reporternews.com or fax information to 325-670-5242. Deadline for submission is noon seven working days before publication. Driftwood Estate Winery is located in Driftwood and is owned by Gary Elliott, a renaissance man with boundless energy. I happened to visit him one week after major back surgery, which didn't slow him down one bit; he just finished overseeing the harvest of 4.5 tons of chardonnay. Born and raised in Paso Robles, California, where his parents had been in the wine business, he learned the wine business first hand at an early age. His sister continues to run the family business in California growing cabernet sauvignon and merlot on 65 acres mainly selling grapes to wineries. Before opening Driftwood Estate Winery, this energetic man was a professional ski instructor, a professional pilot for Continental Airlines, flew for the U.S. Forest Service and ran an air ambulance service. Now he is wine owner, winemaker and vineyard manager (he installed a weather station in the vineyard to pick up on early variations in weather for proper vineyard management). Gary also is past president of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association and is passionate about promoting Texas wines. Driftwood Estate Winery is arguably one of the most beautiful views among the Texas wineries, sitting on a bluff. Featured in Wine Spectator's 10 Best Wine Travel Destinations 2014, this small boutique winery is located 25 minutes from Austin in Driftwood, and specializes in Mediterranean style wines Syrah, Viognier, Sangiovese and muscatel canelli as well as cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. Visitors are drawn to the majestic perch that overlooks the vineyards below. The 20-acre vineyard was planted in 1998 with 14 acres currently growing seven grape varieties. Gary tells me that he also sources wine from the well-known Newsom Vineyard in the High Plains and his family's vineyard in Paso Robles. Their first commercial wine was bottled in February 2003 and they opened the winery in March 2003. Their first-year production totaled about 1,200 cases and included five wines. Today the winery produces more than 4,500 cases of Texas wine with a goal of up to 10,000 cases. With Gary's unstoppable energy, this should be accomplished in the near future. Despite his energy, the grounds have a laid back Texan atmosphere. As one visitor to the tasting room said, "I keep looking around for cowboys to show up on their horses. I just know there is a bunkhouse somewhere on the property." For the oenophiles, we enjoyed the 2014 chardonnay, which spends a short time in stainless steel tanks with no oak and is made in the Chablis style which is fresh and clean. The 2014 Viognier is a classic Texas Viognier, featuring orange blossom and sweet spice aromas with flavors of white peach and honeysuckle. The 2012 Longhorn Red was awarded Top Texas Wine/Double Gold Medal, 2015 Houston International Wine Competition is composed of 60-percent cabernet sauvignon and 40-percent Syrah and is one of their best Longhorn Red vintages with ruby color and soft aromas of candied currants, and cherries. There is a strong flavor of blackberry fruit on the palate that cedes to blueberries, black currant, and spicy notes and finishes with long rich and smooth tannins. A 9 liter bottle (otherwise known as a Salmanazar equivalent to a case of wine) recently auctioned off for $13,000. The next time you are in the Driftwood area, make sure to stop by Driftwood Estate Winery. Driftwood Estate Winery is part of the Texas Hill Country wine trail. FUN FACT Wine Bottle Sizes Chart 187.5 ml Piccolo or Split: Typically used for a single serving of Champagne. 375 ml Demi or Half: Holds one-half of the standard 750 ml size. 750 ml Standard: Common bottle size for most distributed wine. 1.5 L Magnum: Equivalent to two standard 750 ml bottles. 3.0 L Double Magnum: Equivalent to two Magnums or four standard 750 ml bottles. 4.5 L Jeroboam (still wine): Equivalent to six standard 750 ml bottles. 6.0 L Imperial: Equivalent to eight standard 750 ml bottles or two Double Magnums. 9.0 L Salmanazar: Equivalent to twelve standard 750 ml bottles or a full case of wine! 12.0 L Balthazar: Equivalent to sixteen standard 750 ml bottles or two Imperials. 15.0 L Nebuchadnezzar: Equivalent to twenty standard 750 ml bottles. If you go What: Driftwood Estate Winery Address: 4001 Elder Hill Rd (County Road 170), Driftwood, TX 78619 Phone: 512-858-9667 Website: www.DriftwoodWine.com The murder trial of Esteban Carmona, who is accused of killing Joel Garcia in April, will resume at 10 a.m. Thursday, after Judge Lee Hamilton of the 104th District Court granted an extended recess for the prosecution Wednesday. According to court records, Carmona, 26, of Abilene shot Garcia, 25, in the face with a sawed-off shotgun in Garcia's home near Peach and South Fourth streets April 18. Police also reported and testified Tuesday about finding Carmona with the weapon in the backyard of one of Garcia's neighbors. Taylor County Assistant District Attorney Joel Wilks, assisted by Zach Gore from the DA's office, called Paul Martinez, a detective who handles adult family violence cases for the criminal investigations and special victims unit of the Abilene Police Department, to testify Tuesday morning. Martinez explained the APD's decision not to pursue allegations that Garcia sexually assaulted Carmona's sister. On Tuesday, APD Officer Anthony Joeris testified that Carmona told police that about the time of Carmona's arrest, "He raped my sister, so I shot that (expletive)." Martinez, who assisted the homicide investigation into Garcia's death, testified against the veracity of Carmona's intent and said that he met and took a statement from the alleged victim. "Based on your conversation with (Carmona's sister), did you believe there needed to be any other type other than a homicide investigation?" Wilks said. "No, sir," Martinez said. "Did you believe she needed any type of medical attention or any thing like that?" "No." "Was there anything that gave you a reason to be concerned, other than the fact of this homicide which she had witnessed?" "No ..." The prosecution plans to call Marc Krouse, the Tarrant County medical examiner who performed Garcia's autopsy, to the witness stand Thursday. Twitter: ARN_Titus Taylor County commissioners on Tuesday further restricted in which county buildings licensed Texans can carry their handguns by extending the prohibited areas to the old courthouse. The county's local administrative judges issued an order Monday declaring "all offices of the Taylor County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, including hallways, common areas and restrooms located within" the Old Taylor County Courthouse to be essential to the courts' operations. The order was approved by commissioners Tuesday. The old courthouse was built 100 years ago and does not have a secure office area separated from the lobby, said Michael Wolfe, director of supervision and corrections. The building has open passageways that do not limit access, an aspect the architects likely did not consider in 1915, he said. "The situation we're in over there can sometimes be rather tense," Wolfe said. "Anything we can do to help" de-escalate those situations would be in the best interest of the county, he said. Commissioners voted last month not to allow firearms openly carried or concealed in the main courthouse at 300 Oak St. just days before the state's new open carry law went into effect Jan. 1. Commissioner Stan Egger said a number of counties also banned firearms in their multipurpose courthouses after the attorney general's opinion allowed courts to designate which areas are essential to their operation and are, therefore, exempt from the law. Courtrooms and offices of the court are just a few public places where licensed carriers cannot take their guns, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled last month that multipurpose courthouses, such as that of Taylor County, should permit the open carry of guns. Governmental entities that improperly prohibit open carry may face fines under the law. Taylor County District Attorney James Eidson reviewed the opinion and concluded, with the commissioners' approval, that prohibited areas include "any offices that are essential to the operation of the court." Courts determine which offices are essential to the court's operation, according to the ruling. With that in mind, Taylor County judges decided the entire courthouse is essential to the court's operation, from the stairwells where witnesses and defendants walk to hallways where plaintiffs and experts wait to be called to the witness stand. Commissioners also voted Tuesday to adopt new language in the employee workplace violence policy that prohibits employees from carrying handguns into either courthouse. For other county offices, it is up to the department head to determine whether licensed employees can carry firearms in their departments. Twitter: BrookeCrum_ARN The open carry law has been effect in Texas for 13 days. Has it had an effect? We'll see. Three days before it became legal to be licensed to carry a weapon in a holster, the Taylor County Commissioners Court voted not to allow guns in the main courthouse. Weapons are not permitted in rooms where government officials meet, such as Commissioners Court or district courts, but Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton ruled that buildings that house offices in addition to courts should permit open carry. Our commissioners just said no to that. On Tuesday, they also voted to prohibit open carry in specific offices at the old courthouse the basement, where justice of the peace courts are located, and adult probation and community corrections offices located elsewhere. Good calls. The way District Attorney James Eidson reads the ruling, open carry can be prohibited in offices that are deemed essential to the operation of the court. The Commissioners Court has determined which offices are essential. 'We want to make sure that offices with any function of the court are safe,' Commissioner Chuck Statler told us. That is not disregarding the safety of other offices, but that is as far the county can go with limiting open carry. Open carry is permitted in the county's plaza offices, though when voting is taking place, it will not be allowed in the polling area and election office. Besides the election office, other Taylor County Plaza offices include veterans' services, environmental, motor vehicles and social services. Open carry is allowed at other county offices not in three downtown buildings, such as the AgriLife Extension office in east Abilene. Signage that reminds visitors of where open carry is prohibited is a good idea, as will be reminders through the media when voting is taking place. If you register your pickup, then decide to vote early, you have to remove your weapon before voting. The county is protecting employees as well as visitors the best it can. Today in history: On Jan. 13, 1842, an Anglo-Indian expeditionary force that once numbered 16,000 is massacred. A British Army doctor, the lone survivor, arrives at a sentry post at Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The massacre was at Khyber Pass. The British were protecting its holding in the India colony from the Russians. The British had tried to expand into Afghanistan, installing an emir friendlier to the West, triggering war in 1839. Britain captured territory but had to retreat, setting up the massacre. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Since October, five people connected to a publishing house in Hong Kong have mysteriously disappeared. The publishing house, Mighty Current, has published books critical of Chinese Communist Party officials, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. Gui Minhai, the owner of Mighty Current, vanished October 17 from a sea-side apartment in Thailand. Later that month, two staff members of Causeway Bay Bookstore, which is partially owned by Mighty Current, went missing during a trip to mainland China. A fourth man connected to the publishing house also disappeared in October, most likely in Hong Kong or Shenzhen. On January 1, reports surfaced that Lee Bo, a business partner of Gui Minhai, had gone to visit a warehouse in Hong Kong used by the publishing company, and did not return home. Hong Kong media have reported that security camera footage showed a mysterious man wearing a cap following Lee Bo both when he entered and exited the elevator of the warehouse. An eyewitness reportedly saw several people push Lee into a van after he exited the building. Thousands of residents of Hong Kong took to the streets to protest the disappearances. Among other slogans, protesters reportedly shouted no to cross-border abductions and stop political kidnapping. Hong Kongs chief executive Leung Chun-ying expressed concern over Hong Kong residents rights and safety, and said it would be unacceptable if mainland Chinese authorities were seeking to enforce laws in Hong Kong. That, he said, would be a breach of the Basic Law, a document that enshrines the principle of one country, two systems and guarantees Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and its own legal system. The Basic Law also guarantees freedom of speech in Hong Kong. At a press briefing, U.S. State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said the United States is disturbed by reports of the disappearances of five people associated with the Mighty Current publishing houseWe share the concern of the people of Hong Kong regarding these disappearances, said Mr. Kirby. We noted the January 4th statement by Hong Kongs chief executive expressing concerns about the potential implications of this case, and we share those concerns. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned officials about the dangers that nepotism poses for the Cambodian government, telling a closed-door meeting of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party this week that relatives should stay out of ministry affairs, sources said. Hun Sens warning is unlikely to have any real impact on a Cambodian government already rife with corruption and where the prime minister himself has installed several of his relatives in positions of power. Hun Sens middle son, Lt. Gen. Hun Manith, is director of the Defense Ministrys military intelligence unit. Hun Many, a member of parliament and Hun Sens youngest son, said he intends to succeed his father in the authoritarian Southeast Asian countrys leader. Even within the government, it is unclear what Hun Sen meant during the January 10 meeting. Om Yin Tieng, head of Cambodias official Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) told RFAs Khmer Service that Hun Sen was discussing an issue focused only on the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP). Please be informed that this is an issue involving only the party, he told RFA. The jobs performed by the ACU are independent." "I ask you not to get involved in any interference as to what was said in the meeting. Dont make it mixed and convoluted. Strong laws needed Without strong laws prohibiting nepotism, its unlikely that Cambodia can restrict the practice that helps foment corruption, explained Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia. We do not have laws that are clear on the issues of nepotism or conflicts of interest, Preap Kol explained. In the past, it is the lack of such laws that made us have problems. Even in an institution like the National Assembly, such issues are still found, and they exist in almost all institutions in Cambodia. Preap Kol added: There are a number of ministries and state institutions whose senior officials and their families, siblings and relatives are working together in the same place, which makes it easy for them to be corrupted secretly and systematically." Corruption activities ripen throughout, and it is not easy for such actions to remain hidden because those involved all get along well with each other. They help each other and share their benefits and interests among themselves. 'Complicated issues' CPP spokesman Sok Eysan confirmed to RFA that Hun Sen had issued the warning during the meeting, saying the prime minister is attempting to strengthen the solidarity and the internal unity of the ministry or any institution. The prime minister clearly explained that any officials taking their wife or children to work with them would raise complicated issues, and this would draw criticism that cronyism was being practiced at the agency, he said. We dont want such cases to happen. Nepotism is a problem throughout Cambodia as it often shuts qualified people out of important jobs. It discourages intellectuals or those who went to school or who have the skills and true abilities who want to serve in that ministry, but were not given the opportunity because those jobs were grabbed by the families and the relatives of the people already there, Preap Kol said. When we practice nepotism, it harms the effectiveness and quality of our work. Reported by Yang Chandara for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Chinese authorities have formally arrested a prominent rights lawyer and her husband on subversion charges, six months after they and other attorneys and activists were detained, her lawyer told RFA. Wang Yu and her husband Bao Longjun were among the first of a group of lawyers at the Beijing Fengrui law firm to be detained on the night of July 9-10 last year, kicking off a nationwide police operation that detained or questioned more than 300 lawyers and their associates. Wang's mother received formal notification of the couple's arrest by registered post on Wednesday, Wang's lawyer Li Yuhan said. Wang is being charged with the more serious charge of "subversion of state power," while Bao's arrest is for the lesser charge of "incitement to subvert state power," Li said. "I spoke to Wang Yu's mother by phone today, and she said she has received the documents relating to Wang Yu and to Bao Longjun," Li said. "Wang Yu is being held at the [Tianjin] No. 1 Detention Center, and Bao Longjun is in the No. 2 Detention Center." Licenses revoked Li said she plans to apply to meet with Wang, but has had her own lawyer's business license revoked. "It's not just people being detained; their lawyers are also having their licenses revoked," she said. "Subversion of state power" carries a minimum jail term of 10 years in cases where the person is judged to have played a leading role. Jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo is currently serving a 13-year sentence for "incitement to subvert state power." Wang and Bao are currently being held in separate detention centers in the northern port city of Tianjin after being detained at their home in Beijing. Their son, Bao Zhuoxuan, was detained in northern Myanmar after trying to escape overseas to attend college after being handed an exit ban by police, and is under close surveillance at his grandparents' home in a northern suburb of Beijing. Li said Bao Zhuoxuan is safe and well, but emotionally affected by his parents' detention and unable to speak to the media. Of 38 Fengrui lawyers, employees and other associates held at the start of the crackdown, three have been released on bail at the end of a six-month "residential surveillance" period, while many others are facing formal charges related to state security. Rights lawyer Xie Yanyi, who was detained on July 12 last year, is also being formally arrested on subversion charges and held in Tianjin No. 2 Detention Center, while the legal assistant to rights lawyer Li Heping, Zhao Wei, was formally arrested on the same day, and is being held in the Tianjin No. 1 Detention Center. Meanwhile, one of the firm's lawyers, Huang Liqun, its financial officer Wang Fang, and intern Xie Yuandong had now been released on "bail," although they have remained incommunicado. Fengrui boss Zhou Shifeng was also formally arrested on Jan. 8 on suspicion of "subversion of state power" by Tianjin police and is now detained at Tianjin No.1 Detention Center. His lawyer Yang Jinzhu told RFA on Wednesday that Zhou had reportedly "confessed" to the charges, and fired him, a move which can take place as part of a plea bargain with the authorities. But Beijing rights lawyer Li Fangping said the report came from the Tianjin police department, and should be regarded with suspicion. "[They] said that Zhou Shifeng has already hired a new lawyer, but Zhou's family said he had done no such thing," Li Fangping said. Wang Quanzhang and Li Shuyun, both Fengrui lawyers, are also now formally arrested on charges of "subversion of state power," and are being held at the No. 2 and No. 1 detention centers respectively. More arrests expected Meanwhile, Hunan Province rights lawyer Xie Yang was formally arrested on Jan. 9 on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power," and is being held in the No. 2 Detention Center in the provincial capital, Changsha. More formal arrests are expected to follow, if detainees haven't already been released on bail, lawyers said. "We haven't received notification yet, I don't know why," Ma Lianshun, lawyer for detained Beijing rights lawyer Li Heping, told RFA on Wednesday. "Naturally, I'm not optimistic about this. Both Zhao Wei and Gao Yue have both been formally arrested, and they were Li Heping's assistants," Ma said. "So of course I don't hold out much hope for Li Heping." The head of the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, Albert Ho, said he is "shocked and angered" by the fresh charges against the lawyers. "These are people who used rational and peaceful means to express their point of view on these matters, to criticize government policy," Ho said. "They totally have the right to do that, so how can that be subversion of state power?" "It's beyond belief that they are using these methods to target lawyers," Ho said. "This will do a great deal of damage to China's international image." Reported by Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. A former Tibetan protester was flown on Tuesday from Tibet's regional capital Lhasa to Sichuan for medical treatment for an injury sustained while being held in a Chinese prison, sources said. Kelsang Tsering was released last year after serving seven years in Chushul prison, just outside Lhasa, for his role in a March 2008 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, a source in Tibet told RFA's Tibetan Service. He has now been taken to a hospital in Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu, RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, there is very little hope for his recovery, the source said. Images of Tsering sent overseas and obtained by RFA show him lying face-down on a bed with a large, open wound on his back. Tsering's injury, allegedly suffered as a result of torture in detention, had failed to respond to treatment following his release, and his condition today remains critical, RFAs source said. Tsering and his wife and child have faced tough living conditions in Lhasa following his release, and have had little money for his medical treatment, the source said. Tibetans from all across the plateau rallied to his cause, though, raising about 200,000 yuan [U.S. $30,430] enabling him to fly to Chengdu, he said. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. The Tibetan and Chinese languages will now be given equal status in Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county in Qinghais Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture after a storm of protest erupted online following a local hotels attempt to prevent Tibetan workers from speaking their native tongue. In a Jan. 11 notice written in Chinese, county authorities have directed government offices, schools, and state-owned businesses to use both Tibetan and Chinese on official seals, signboards, letterhead, and other forms of communication. According to the notice, a copy of which was obtained by RFA, the Tibetan language will also be given prominence in some cases, for example when used on a signboard or official letter. The notice also instructs people to print Tibetan and Chinese characters in the same size. It was not immediately clear whether the new directive is intended also to apply to private businesses or shops. The government action comes after the Shang Yon hotel in Rebgong on Jan. 7 forbade Tibetan workers from speaking their own language on the job, threatening them with a 500 yuan (U.S. $76 approx.) fine for noncompliance, according to social media accounts. Online complaints The rule was quickly reversed when local authorities ordered the hotel temporarily closed after Tibetans furiously complained in social media postings at this intrusion on their rights, sources on the popular social media platform WeChat said. There was also little support for the hotels move among Han Chinese, with many taking to the Internet to back Tibetans in the dispute. On Jan. 8, the hotel released a public apology to the Tibetan community, saying that its actions had breached cultural privileges guaranteed by Chinas policy on so-called minority nationality groups. While the hotel rescinded its order, the local government order that went into effect on Jan. 13 appears to go further, as it would apply to more than just the hotel. Eroding traditions Tibetans have long complained about eroding religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions in Tibetan-populated regions of China, and language rights have become a focal point as Tibetans struggle to reassert their national identity, sources say. On Nov. 9, 2012, several thousand students in Rebgong took to the streets to demand greater rights, including the right to use Tibetan instead of Mandarin Chinese as their language of instruction in the schools. Groups formed to promote the study and speaking of Tibetan have been banned as illegal associations in Rebgong, though, due to Chinese concerns that these may pose a threat to Beijings rule. Reported by Guru Choegyi and Lhuboom for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. At least 15 people have been killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a polio vaccination center in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta. The explosion took place on January 13 as police officers were gathering to accompany polio workers for the third day of a vaccination campaign in the Balochistan Province, where Quetta is the capital. Officials said that most of the dead were police officers. Some 20 people were also injured. Jundullah, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban which has pledged loyalty to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack. Teams working to immunize children against polio in Pakistan have been the target of many deadly attacks by militant groups in recent years. Militants say the polio vaccination campaign is a cover for Western spies or a conspiracy to sterilize Pakistani children. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where the disease is still endemic. Meanwhile, attackers on a motorcycle lobbed grenades and opened fire at Pakistan's independent ARY news channel in Islamabad on January 13, wounding an employee. ARY said the attackers left behind a leaflet -- purportedly from the Islamic State extremist group -- warning of more attacks against media. Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and Geo TV Did you know that the rogue state of North Korea has international radio broadcasting in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, German, English, French and Russian? And did you know that the broadcasts in Russian can become actual radio hits, once a hip-hop beat is added to the background? Social-media users discovered the unusual North Korean podcasts, which feature the Stalinist nation's state propaganda in heavily accented Russian. The instructions on how to listen to so-called North Korean-Russian hip-hop spread like wild fire across Twitter and Facebook. The recipe is simple. First, turn on the North Korean podcast in Russian. Podfm.ru internet-project has a large collection that updates regularly. A typical podcast begins with a 50-second intro, a slowed-down melody of the North Korean marching song, "The Song of General Kim Il Sung" and greetings from a male and female radio hosts. The latest available podcast from January 11, a 45-minute recording, begins with the intro and news about what Pyongyang claims was a successful first hydrogen bomb test. The broadcaster has a strong Korean accent in Russian, and he speaks rather monotonically. Now, turn on a hip-hop beat. Many are available on Soundcloud. Play the two recordings at the same time and enjoy. Some internet-users have already put their favorite combos of North Korean broadcasts and hip-hop beats together for your convenience. United Nations human rights investigators have accused North Korea's regime of committing crimes against humanity, including extermination, sexual violence, starvation, and slavery. Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced martial law in four of Ukraine's regions, parts of which are under the control of Russian troops, as Ukrainian forces continue liberating occupied territories in the country's east despite another barrage of air attacks across the country. Putin said at an online session of the Security Council on October 19 that he signed a decree declaring martial law in Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya -- all of which Russia illegally annexed last month. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. He didnt immediately describe the steps that would be taken under martial law but said his order was effective starting at midnight on October 20. His decree gives law enforcement agencies three days to submit specific proposals. The package of moves, which come nearly eight months into the war launched by the Kremlin in late February, marked the latest escalation by Putin to counter a series of defeats to Ukrainian forces since the start of September. By extending the decree to regions beyond Ukraine, the move ensures that more Russians, already angered by a military mobilization announced last month, will more deeply feel the consequences of the war in their own lives. Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office's head, called Putin's move "a pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians' property." "This does not change anything for Ukraine: We continue the liberation and deoccupation of our territories," Podolyak tweeted shortly after Putin announced martial law in the four Ukrainian regions. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking at the White House, said Putin is trying to get Ukraine to give up. "I think that Vladimir Putin finds himself in an incredible difficult position and what it reflects to me is it seems his only tool available to him is to brutalize the individual citizens in Ukraineto try to intimidate them into capitulating. They are not going to do that," Biden said. U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said earlier the declaration of martial law was a desperate tactic and any claim by Russia over the regions was "illegitimate." Putin's move came as the Russia-installed leader of Ukraine's southern Kherson region said the evacuation has started of tens of thousands of civilians and Moscow-appointed officials in the face of a Ukrainian military advance. Vladimir Saldo said 50,000-60,000 civilians would leave four towns on the west bank of the Dnieper River in an "organized, gradual displacement" over the next five or six days. All of the Moscow-installed administration in the city of Kherson would evacuate, too, Saldo said. Russian television showed footage of a number of people queuing for boats on the Dnieper River bank although it was not immediately clear how many were leaving. The forced transfer or deportation of the civilian population by an occupying power from the territory under its control is considered a war crime. Saldo's statements came after General Sergei Surovikin, the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, said the situation in the southern city of Kherson is "difficult" and residents facing Ukrainian bombardment are to be evacuated. WATCH: Ukrainian forces first got their hands on FH70 155-millimeter howitzers courtesy of Italy in May and received training in Estonia. RFE/RL journalists met with a frontline FH70 crew and watched them in action against Russian forces. "The Russian Army will above all ensure the safe evacuation of the population" of Kherson, Surovikin said. But Kyiv on October 19 accused Russia of staging a propaganda show in an attempt to "scare" the Kherson residents. "Russians are trying to scare the people of Kherson with fake messages about the shelling of the city by our army and are also staging a propaganda show with evacuation," the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram. Kherson was the first big city to fall to the Russian forces in February after the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion, but Ukrainian forces have been steadily retaking nearby territory in recent weeks. They have pushed as far as 30 kilometers south along the Dnieper River, threatening to trap Russian troops. Meanwhile, fresh explosions were heard in Kyiv and other areas on October 19, with a missile strike hitting a major thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine. The coal-fired Burshtyn plant in the region of Ivano-Frankivsk, which supplies electricity to three western regions and to five million consumers, was hit and on fire, according to Svytlana Onysshchuk, the regional governor. There were no casualties in the strike at the plant, which was hit by four missiles nine days earlier as well. Serhiy Borzov, governor of the Vinnytsya region in western Ukraine, said Russia had also carried out attacks on energy facilities in his region. Russian bombardment also cut power and water in some parts of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhya region on October 19, said Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the southern city located near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant that's been a flashpoint of the nearly eight-month conflict. A power plant in Kryviy Rih, a city in south-central Ukraine, was also seriously damaged by Russian shelling, leaving villages, towns, and a city district without electricity, the regional governor reported. Russian forces also targeted Ukraine's southern Mykolayiv region again with kamikaze drones early on October 19. The Ukrainian military's southern command said in a statement on October 19 that its forces shot down 12 drones overnight. More than a week of air attacks has destroyed almost one-third of Ukraine's power stations and cut electricity in more than 1,000 settlements. With Ukraine gaining momentum in the war that is now nearly eight months old, European lawmakers on October 19 recognized the country's "brave" citizens by awarding them the 2022 Sakharov Prize. "This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground. For those who have been forced to flee. For those who have lost relatives and friends. For all those who stand up and fight for what they believe in. I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up and neither will we," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in the statement. The annual prize is named after the Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was established in 1988 by the European parliament to honor individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP Since Tehran reached a historic nuclear accord with six world powers in July, there have been a number of incidents that have tested relations with Washington. The latest, Iran's seizure of two U.S. Navy patrol boats and 10 sailors that had strayed into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf on January 12, ended amicably. The boats and their crews were released unharmed after Tehran determined that they had not intentionally entered Iranian territory. But the timing of the episode -- coming just days before international sanctions were expected to be lifted as part of the agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program -- raised hackles among critics who question Tehran's commitment to the deal, and recalled similar flashpoints since it was struck. Missile Tests Iran created a stir when it conducted two ballistic-missile tests on October 10, firing medium-range surface-to-surface missiles. Iran claims none of its missiles are designed to carry nuclear weapons, and insists that the tests involved conventional missiles meant purely for defense. But a panel of United Nations experts concluded that, with a range of at least 1,000 kilometers and a payload of at least 1,000 kilograms, the missiles were indeed capable of delivering nuclear warheads and the tests were a violation of a June 2010 UN Security Council resolution limiting Iranian ballistic-missile tests. The experts from the UN committee monitoring sanctions against Iran also supported the contention of the United States, France, Britain, and Germany that the tests violated previous UN resolutions -- but not the conditions of the July 2015 nuclear accord. On November 21, Iran launched another ballistic missile -- raising Western concerns and criticism further. Reactions The missile tests prompted the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to announce to Congress on December 30 that it was preparing a list of fresh sanctions against Tehran that could be imposed even as other sanctions are lifted under the nuclear deal. That list reportedly included nearly a dozen defense companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates that allegedly have supported Irans missile program. However, the expected sanctions were subsequently delayed, reportedly because of continuing diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, although a White House official insisted that the imposition of sanctions was not negotiable. Iranian officials had said that if the United States imposed new sanctions over the missile tests, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would regard the measures as a violation of the nuclear accord. President Hassan Rohani, meanwhile, had responded by calling the sanctions threat illegal and ordering his Defense Ministry to accelerate Irans ballistic missile program if they were implemented. Republicans in the U.S. Senate, meanwhile, called on Obama to block the lifting of sanctions under the July nuclear deal. Rockets In The Strait Of Hormuz On December 26, Iran fired two rockets within 1.5 kilometers of U.S. and French naval ships that were in international waters of the Strait of Hormuz. The ships -- including the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier -- were moving from the Arabian Sea into the Persian Gulf to assist an air campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. Reactions A U.S. military spokesman described the altercation as a "highly provocative" incident, saying that it occurred in an area so close to coalition ships and commercial traffic that it could be considered "inconsistent with international maritime law." The spokesman also said the rocket drill was announced by Iran over maritime radio just 23 minutes before the launch. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) denied reports of the rocket launches, insisting that no drills had been conducted. General Ramezan Sharif in late December dismissed the reports of the drills as a "psychological operation." The altercation raised more questions from U.S. politicians, including some Democrats, about Iran's willingness to comply with the July nuclear accord. Centrifuge Fluctuations Under the terms of the July nuclear deal, Iran agreed to deactivate or remove two-thirds of more than 11,600 centrifuges that produce enriched uranium. But as that process began in early October, a group of hard-line Iranian lawmakers wrote a letter urging President Rohani to halt the deactivation of centrifuges. They claimed the deactivations were being done too quickly and not according to directives from Supreme Leader Khamenei. Despite the emergence of a faction of Iranian lawmakers opposed to Tehran's centrifuge promises, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on November 18 that Iran had begun curbing its nuclear program in line with its obligations. On December 30, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani announced that Tehran would acquire a new generation of centrifuges in the future that can enhance the "quality of Iran's peaceful nuclear program structure." Reactions Larijani's announcement fueled further criticism of the nuclear deal within the United States by those who allege that Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons. Larijani said the acquisition of new centrifuges was more important than the centrifuges Iran currently operates, because the new centrifuges will allow peaceful nuclear research to continue. U.S. Sailors Captured By Iran The 10 U.S. sailors and two Navy boats that were detained by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf near the Iran's Farsi Island on January 12 were initially accused of trespassing, but were held for less than 24 hours. The sailors were interrogated for hours about their motives, but Iranian officials quickly determined they had not intentionally entered Iranian waters. In the end, the Pentagon's version of events was confirmed -- one of the U.S. boats had a mechanical failure and drifted into Iranian territorial waters where it and the second boat ran aground. Iranian boats on January 13 escorted the U.S. sailors and their vessels back to international waters. Reactions In the United States, critics of the nuclear deal with Iran again seized on the incident as evidence of Tehran's ill intentions. Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the nomination as the Republican Party's presidential candidate, called the incident "an indication of where the hell we are going," adding that the nuclear deal with Iran was "the dumbest deal I've ever seen." There was no indication from Washington or the government in Tehran that the incident would thwart the implementation of the July nuclear accord. Senior officials in Obama's administration said there was nothing to indicate that the capture of the ships was a hostile act by Iran. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed "gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation" in swiftly resolving the issue. He said the peaceful and efficient outcome was "a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays." Within Iran, analysts say, President Rohani wants to ensure the lifting of sanctions under the nuclear deal in order to bolster the chances of the moderate camp in upcoming parliamentary elections. With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, Fars, and IRNA Ten U.S. sailors and two patrol boats detained by Iran on January 12 and accused of trespassing have been released after Tehran determined they did not deliberately enter Iranian waters. "It was determined that the detained American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally," the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was quoted as telling Iranian state television. "Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the [Persian] Gulf." The U.S. military has confirmed that the sailors were back in U.S. custody and that "there are no indications that the sailors were harmed." All indications suggest or tell us that our soldiers were well taken care of, provided with blankets and food and assisted with their return to the fleet earlier today, said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a speech delivered on January 13. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden denied claims that Washington had apologized over the incident. "When you have a problem with the boat, [do] you apologize the boat had a problem? No," Biden said in an interview with the U.S. television network CBS. "And there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice." The sailors departed Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, in the morning of January 13 (8:43 a.m. GMT) aboard the two boats, a U.S. statement said. They were picked up by U.S. Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. "There are no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention," a statement issued by the Pentagon said. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran." Earlier, Kerry thanked Iran for its cooperation in the sailors' release. "I want to express my gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter," Kerry said. "That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong." Writing on Twitter, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that he was "happy to see dialogue and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the sailors episode." Kerry and Zarif have a close relationship after a recent nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group of powers (the United States, Britain, China, France, and Russia, plus Germany). U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the sailors' release and praised "the timely way in which this situation was resolved." Carter said in a statement issued in Washington that he wanted to thank Kerry for his "diplomatic engagement" on the incident. The two U.S. Navy boats and their crews -- nine men and one woman -- were detained on January 12 after entering Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. U.S. officials said one or both vessels experienced mechanical troubles while on a training mission and were taken to Farsi Island, a tiny island that is home to an IRGC naval base. U.S. officials said radio contact had been lost with the two boats, which they described as riverine-class patrol vessels under 20 meters in length -- while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. After announcing the release, state television broadcast the first pictures of the detained sailors, who were shown sitting in a room on Persian rugs. Later, Iranian state TV also released footage of the arrest, showing the sailors kneeling down with hands behind their heads. They were also seen eating food provided by Iranian officials. The video showed weapons and ammunition confiscated from the sailors. It also included images of U.S. passports being inspected. After Biden denied making an apology, Iranian state television released footage of a detained U.S. sailor apologizing for having entered waters controlled by Iran. "It was a mistake, that was our fault, and we apologize for our mistake," the sailor, who was introduced as a U.S. navy commander, said in English on IRIB state TV. Images of the two boats were also aired by state television. The release of the boats and crews came soon after the commander of the IRGC's naval force, Admiral Ali Fadavi, said on January 13 that he was awaiting a final order to set the sailors free. He told state television that "unprofessional acts" had led to the incident and said that Kerry had called Zarif on January 12 to discuss the situation. "Mr. Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr. Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologize," Fadavi said. Despite his claim that there had been a call for a U.S. apology, Fadavi also struck a conciliatory note, saying that Iran had concluded that "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes" and that the sailors had been in Iranian territory "due to a broken navigation system." Earlier on January 13, an IRGC spokesman said the U.S. sailors were interrogated on Farsi Island. The claim could not be confirmed. Meanwhile, Iran's army chief said on January 13 that the seizure of the two U.S. vessels should be a lesson to members the U.S. Congress trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran. "This incident in the Persian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces' last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency. U.S.-Iranian relations were strained by U.S. claims last month that Iran fired missiles close to a U.S. aircraft carrier in the gulf. Last year, Iranian patrol boats seized the Maersk Tigris, a cargo ship sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, providing it U.S. protection. In March 2007, Iranian naval forces captured 15 British Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel and held them for 13 days before releasing them. With reporting by AFP, AP, Fars, CBS, and Reuters Iranian state television reported that an Iranian F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed close to the Pakistan border, killing two pilots. The crash took place on January 12 some 45 miles west of Konarak Air Base, around 900 miles southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran. The report said that the cause of the crash was unknown but investigations were underway. The pilots were on a training mission. Iran's Air Force purchased the U.S.-manufactured Phantom warplanes before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It also has Iranian and Russian-made fighters in service. Several warplane crashes have taken place in Iran in recent years. Most recently, in July 2014, an F-4 fighter jet crashed in the south of the country, killing two pilots. Based on reporting by AP and AFP Kazakhstans central bank has fired the head of its investment management arm after he said the countrys oil fund was in jeopardy. In a statement on January 13, the National Investment Corporation (NIC) said the central bank had dismissed NIC Chief Executive Berik Otemurat on January 8. The NIC did not say why Otemurat had been fired, but the action came the same day interviews with him were published in The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. In both interviews, Otemurat urged the government and the central bank to invest the funds assets in riskier, higher-yielding assets. He also told The Wall Street Journal that the $64 billion fund could be depleted in six or seven years. According to central bank data, the fund's assets peaked at $77.2 billion in August 2014 and have since dropped to $63.5 billion. Based on reporting by Reuters Relatives of those killed in the MH17 air disaster are demanding the release of what they say is key evidence that could shed light on the tragedy over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk with the loss of all 298 lives on board, most of them Dutch. The Dutch Safety Board said in its final report released on October 13 that the jet was destroyed by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, fired from an area at the time under the control of pro-Russia separatists. A separate criminal probe is also being conducted in the Netherlands to determine who was responsible and bring them to justice. Now, Dutch relatives of the MH17 tragedy have written to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to protest that primary radar data was not made available to the investigators by either the Russian or Ukrainian authorities. "We can't accept that people have refused to provide crucial information," the families said in the letter, published on January 13. They are urging Rutte to push either the United Nations or the International Civil Aviation Organization to demand that the data is handed over. The families hope that may help pinpoint who fired the missile at the plane. The EU, the United States, and Ukraine believe the plane was downed by Russia-backed separatists using a Buk missile system provided by the Russian military. Moscow denies providing such equipment and has suggested that the aircraft was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet or with a Buk fired by the Ukrainian military -- claims roundly dismissed by Kyiv and Western governments. With reporting by AFP U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone on January 13, discussing the crises in Ukraine and Syria, the White House said. "They spent a significant portion of their time discussing the need for the Russians to live up to the commitments that they made in Minsk -- to end their support for separatists that are destabilizing Ukraine right now," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. Obama told Putin that a key next step in resolving the Ukrainian crisis was for all sides to agree on the modalities of local elections in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the White House said in a statement. Kyiv and Western government accuse Moscow of fueling the conflict, providing weapons and other aid to the separatists, charges the Kremlin denies. According to the Kremlin, Putin and Obama also called for an easing of tensions between and Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two leaders also discussed a resolution to Syria's crisis and the situation on the Korean peninsula, a Kremlin statement said. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters The White House has clarified U.S. President Barack Obamas puzzling reference to Ukraine in his final State of the Union address, in which he said Russia is pouring resources in to prop up its ex-Soviet neighbor. Obama raised eyebrows with the phrase in the January 12 speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress because it appeared to contradict his administrations position that Russia is stoking unrest in Ukraine by supporting armed separatists. But a senior U.S. administration official told RFE/RL on January 13 that Obama was referring in part to Moscows support for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in February 2014 amid mass street protests that helped usher in a pro-Western government. The president was referring in his remarks to Russias previous long-term efforts to bolster the regime of former President Yanukovych as a way to prevent Ukraine from pursuing further integration with Europe, said the official, who could not be identified under White House protocol. Yanukovychs ouster triggered events that led to Russias seizure and annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, which a majority of UN member states deem illegitimate. It also led to war between Russia-backed separatists and Kyivs forces in the east of the country that has killed more than 9,000 since April 2014. Before Yanukovychs ouster, Russia had offered billions in financial incentives, in what was widely seen as an effort to dissuade him from signing an agreement for closer relations with the European Union. Moscow feared the deal would have tugged Ukraine out of its orbit, economically and politically. The U.S. official also told RFE/RL that Obamas remarks about Ukraine referred to Russias current occupation of Crimea, extensive efforts to support armed groups operating in eastern Ukraine, and other efforts to destabilize the country. Obama veered only slightly from his prepared remarks on Ukraine in the annual address, which is thoroughly vetted by the U.S. presidents staff and speechwriters. "Even as their economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources in to prop up Ukraine and Syria -- client states they saw slipping away from their orbit," he said in the speech. "And the international system we built after World War II is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality." The phrase prop up Ukraine was also included in the prepared version of the speech distributed to the media by the White House. The administration official reiterated Washingtons support for Ukraines government and citizens. Over the past two years, the United States has led an international coalition to help Ukraine defend its democracy and territorial integrity, and the United States remains firmly committed to helping the Ukrainian people build a country that is peaceful, prosperous, and free to chart its own destiny, the official said. Overall, Ukraine and Russia got scant mention during the hourlong speech, which instead focused on other pressing foreign policy issues such as terrorism, the Islamic State in Syria, the Iran nuclear deal, and warming relations with Cuba. Pakistan says it has arrested members of a militant group believed to be behind an attack on an Indian air base. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on January 13 that several individuals belonging to the banned Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed had been detained. Seven Indian soldiers were killed in the January 2 assault on the Pathankot Air Base in the northern state of Punjab. New Delhi says it was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed. Sharif also said Pakistan was considering sending a special team to Pathankot to seek "additional information" to spur the investigation. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents in its portion of the disputed region of Kashmir. Pakistan denies the claim. Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters On July 15, 2015, Kazakhstan's national currency, the tenge, was valued at around 187 tenges to the U.S. dollar. That was the day that the chairman of Kazakhstan's central bank, Kairat Kelimbetov, announced that bank authorities were widening the currency's trading band so the tenge would float between 170 and 198 to the U.S. dollar. Kelimbetov said the exchange corridor would allow the tenge to "fluctuate independently" and therefore "answer the challenges in the coming six to 12 months." He said it was a "happy medium" for Kazakhstan's economy. In August, the bank announced a devaluation of the tenge and the rate fell precipitously. On January 12, 2016, less than six months after Kelimbetov announced the widening of the currency band, the tenge's exchange rate was around 370 to the U.S. dollar. Faced with economic hardships not seen since the 1990s, Kazakhstan is now moving to privatize its biggest enterprises, including the state oil and gas company, the state nuclear company, the railroad company, the national postal service, and many more of the prize pieces that for more than a decade represented Kazakhstan's economic success. Privatization could potentially bring tens of billions of dollars into Kazakhstan's economy, which is exactly what Kazakh officials are hoping. Given the assurances the National Bank chairman gave a half-year earlier, it is no surprise that many people in Kazakhstan are apprehensive about the coming privatization of the country's most valuable industries and businesses. Many also remember the results of privatizations in Kazakhstan 20 years ago that made a select few people very wealthy. RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, known locally as Azattyq, interviewed some knowledgeable people in Kazakhstan to get their reaction to the impending privatization. The president of the Union of Academics, Orazaly Sabden, told Azattyq, "Under the guise of privatization, it is possible that not the people but those people who already have billions will be further enriched." Sabden added that the privatization process "must be fair...[and] it should be transparent -- on television, in the press, everything so the people see they are getting something." "We've seen other privatizations [and] who gained from them," Sabden recalled, without naming anyone in particular. The director of the Astana branch of the Institute of Economic Sciences, Zhangeldy Shymshykov, said another problem was that "within the government structures, quasi-state enterprises have appeared recently, and they interfere with the formation of entrepreneurial and competitive conditions." Shymshykov said state management had been neither motivated nor interested in effective results. Ordinary citizens shared with Azattyq some of their concerns since the government late last year announced plans for the massive privatization campaign. As Kazakh citizens helplessly watch their purchasing power plunge and some face bankruptcy after they took out loans based on dollar rates during better economic times, many people in the country are afraid this wave of privatization will only benefit those who already have large amounts of money. Some critics suggest the privatization targets mostly the infrastructure of big state companies and is an attempt by the government to jettison ballast by forcing these companies and enterprises to function as independent businesses. The fears surrounding privatization are not wholly unfounded. Kazakhstan's large privatization process in the mid-1990s produced many of the richest people in the country today, and some former officials from that time have since fled the country and live comfortably abroad in self-imposed exile. Azattyq's Svetlana Glushkova and Yerzhan Karabek contributed to this report Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov has said Russian opposition activists should be considered "enemies of the people and traitors. According to a statement issued by Kadyrov's office late on January 12, the Kremlin-backed leader said the liberal opposition was trying to exploit Russia's economic difficulties to destabilize the country. They should be put on trial, with maximum severity, for sabotage," he said. The statement drew criticism from rights activists and opposition figures, including Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister who is now an opposition politician. From Soviet history it is widely known that in Stalin's time that is what they called anyone who thought differently ... and that such people were liquidated," Kasyanov said. Russias opposition has come under increased pressure since the mass protests in Moscow that accompanied President Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in 2012. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters A Russian official has been detained on suspicion of stealing a 50-kilometer stretch of public road. Aleksandr Protopopov oversaw the dismantling of a concrete highway and sold off the slabs while he was prison service chief in the far northern Komi region, the Investigative Committee said in a statement on January 13. The road, consisting of more than 7,000 reinforced concrete panels, was dismantled and driven away over the course of more than a year, between 2014 and 2015. The slabs were then sold on for a profit, investigators allege, in a crime estimated to have cost the Russian Federation more than 6 million rubles ($79,000). Protopopov, currently the acting deputy chief of the national prison service, faces charges of misappropriating state property while in an official position. He could serve up to 10 years in jail if found guilty. While the head of the Komi regions prison service from 2010-15, Protopovov won awards, including a medal for creating "spiritual unity," according to the prison service's website. With reporting by AFP A prosecutor has asked a court in southern Russia to sentence a man charged with high treason to 13 years in jail. Lawyer Oleg Yeliseyev said on January 13 that his client, Pyotr Parpulov is innocent and must be released. Parpulov, a former employee of the international airport in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, was arrested in March 2014. His relatives have said that Parpulov was accused of passing classified information to foreign agents during a trip abroad in 2010. The case is one of several in recent years in which Russian citizens have been accused of high treason and/or disseminating classified or sensitive information. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax A Russian doctor accused of fatally beating a patient at a hospital in the western Russian city of Belgorod was charged with third-degree murder, a federal investigator in Moscow said on January 12. The doctor, 32-year-old Ilya Zelendinov, faces 15 years in prison for punching the 55-year-old patient who a nurse complained had kicked her, according to Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin. He is being held pending trial until the end of February. The patient did not defend himself against the doctor, Markin said. The doctor punched the patient in the head, and the patient fell onto a concrete floor, incurring a severe brain injury that is believed to have killed him, Markin added. "Having an advanced medical education and experience working as a doctor, Zelendinov surely knew about the potential consequences of a punch to the head," Markin said. Markin's statement was markedly different in tone from one he made on January 11 in which he said the doctor "stood up" for the nurse. At that time, the doctor only faced two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. Feeling remorseful, Zelendinov gave the patient's family more than 90,000 roubles ($1,200) to cover funeral expenses, state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing Zelendinov's lawyer. A video of the December 29 incident at Belgorod's City Hospital No. 2 went viral online. The video also shows the doctor fighting off a man who tried to defend the patient. WATCH: A Russian Doctor Hits A Patient In Belgorod Zelendinov and the hospital's head doctor, Vladimir Lutsenko, were fired over the incident, and Zelendinov was detained by authorities. The case comes amid reports of other abuses by medical staff in Russia during the past year. With reporting by dpa, Interfax, RIA Novosti, and TASS Serbia's deputy prime minister has rebuked her Russian counterpart for suggesting Serbia should be careful about its EU membership bid. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said during his visit to Serbia this week that if Serbia harmonizes its foreign policy with the European Union, "you will have another Cologne here." He was referring to New Year's assaults against women in the German city that have been blamed largely on foreigners, some of whom are recently arrived asylum-seekers. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic responded on January 13, saying Rogozin "should take care of his own country and we will take care of ours." During his three-day visit, Rogozin said Russia is ready to arm Serbia with sophisticated weapons, which could be at odds with Belgrade's desire to join the EU. He also tried to discourage Serbia from membership in the 28-nation bloc. Serbia, a traditional Russian ally, is officially seeking EU membership amid strong opposition from Kremlin-backed nationalists. Based on reporting by AP Reports from Turkey say three Russian nationals have been detained for suspected links with the Islamic State (IS) group. Police in the Mediterranean city of Antalya also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, the Dogan news agency reported on January 13. The suspects were allegedly in contact with IS militants in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Russia's Consulate-General in Antalya confirmed that three Russians had been detained, adding that the reasons for the move were being clarified. News of the detentions came a day after a suspected IS member killed 10 Germans and wounded 15 others in a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul. Russia's Foreign Ministry said in November that more than 2,700 Russians had left for Syria to fight for the IS group. Of these, 160 have been killed, 73 have returned and been tried, and 36 have been arrested. Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS Ukraine says it will for the first time ship goods to Kazakhstan along a route bypassing Russia, due to the Kremlins trade embargo on Kyiv. Russia this month slapped fresh sanctions on Ukraine in response to its decision to enter a much disputed free-trade and political Association Agreement with the European Union. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarskiy said on January 13 that experimental deliveries via Georgia and Azerbaijan would be shipped to Kazakhstan on January 15. "This Silk Road will not only give Ukrainian goods alternative access to markets in which we have historically been very strong, but also create a new [trade] route between Asia and Western Europe," Pyvovarskiy said in televised remarks during a meeting with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The Dutch international banking corporation ING predicts that Ukraine will become Kazakhstan's third-largest source of imports by 2017. ING said the energy-rich Central Asian nation primarily imports Ukrainian vehicles and transport equipment. Pyvovarskiy did not disclose what would be shipped to Kazakhstan via the two Caucasus nations this week. Based on reporting by AFP KYIV -- U.S. President Barack Obama raised eyebrows around the world with a difficult-to-interpret reference to Ukraine in his final annual State of the Union address that lumped the post-Soviet state and its West-leaning government together with Syria as Russian "client states." "Even as their economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources in to prop up Ukraine and Syria -- client states they saw slipping away from their orbit," Obama said on January 12. "And the international system we built after World War II is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality." In the transcript of the speech posted by the White House, the confusing reference remains, although the word "client" does not appear and the transcript uses the present tense ("states they see slipping away from their orbit"). The annual address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress is one of the U.S. president's most comprehensively prepared and vetted speeches. Obama's chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau, told National Public Radio earlier in the day his office had been working on the speech since "around Thanksgiving." "Once the new year came and went, there would be a frenzied couple of weeks writing and editing and rewriting, right up until the final speech and then practicing the speech on the last day," Favreau said. So the president's infelicitous comment about Ukraine is all the more difficult to understand. Was Obama referring to Russia's support for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian leader who was driven from office by pro-democracy demonstrations in February 2014? Or did he have in mind Moscow's economic, political, and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in March 2014? According to the White House, it was both. "The president was referring in his remarks to Russia's previous long-term efforts to bolster the regime of former President Yanukovych as a way to prevent Ukraine from pursuing further integration with Europe," a senior U.S. administration official told RFE/RL on January 13. The official, who could not be identified due to White House protocol, said the remarks also referred to Russia's "current occupation of Crimea, extensive efforts to support armed groups operating in eastern Ukraine, and other efforts to destabilize the country." Prior to the White House clarification, officials in Ukraine were quick to stress that Obama's wording should not be taken as a sign that U.S. policy on Ukraine has shifted. "It is important to make the right emphasis in assessing this comment," Svitlana Zalishchuk, a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada's Foreign Affairs Committee, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. "This is an error on the expression level, a failed impromptu. It shouldn't be considered as the position of the U.S. president on Ukraine." Zalishchuk noted that Obama mentioned Ukraine twice in the speech, saying in the second reference that U.S. support for Ukraine and other countries transitioning to democracy helped make the world more stable. Ostap Semerak, first deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee for European Integration, also emphasized Obama's statement of support for Ukraine and his criticism of Moscow. "Obama says [the United States] is helping Ukraine defend democracy," Semerak said. "And that this strengthens the international order that was established after World War II. When Obama mentions this order, he talks about Russia and its aggressive policies. Ukraine is viewed as trying to maintain the system of peace that was formed after World War II and as opposed to Russia's bid to establish a new world order based on aggression." Oleg Bilokolos, an analyst with the Kyiv-based Maidan of Foreign Affairs nongovernmental organization, told RFE/RL that one should not overemphasize Obama's "slips of the tongue." "The main thing for us is that the Obama administration's policy on Ukraine remains unchanged, that democracy will be maintained, and that the United States will encourage maintaining [economic] sanctions against Russia" over Moscow's interference in Ukraine, Bilokolos said. 'Did He Say That?' Western analysts and journalists -- to say nothing of Obama's U.S. political opponents -- were harsher in their reaction and less inclined to dismiss the remark as a "slip of the tongue." Journalist Christopher Miller of Mashable wondered on Twitter: "Misspoke? [Because] Moscow is [definitely] trying to destabilize Ukraine." Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer also said on Twitter the statement was an "odd line" because of Moscow's efforts to "destabilize Ukraine." Journalist Julia Davis of Russian Media Monitor wrote that Obama's "choice of words is seriously wrong." Lydia Tomkiw, a reporter with the International Business Times, wrote that the wording shows that "DC stopped paying attention [to Ukraine] a while ago, sadly." On the brighter side, Tomkiw noted, Obama did not upset Ukrainians by referring to their country as "the Ukraine" -- an old-fashioned formulation seen by some as offensive, as it suggests Ukraine is a region rather than a country. Representative Peter Roskam (Republican-Ohio) tweeted that "Ukraine is our ally, not a 'client state' of Russia, Mr. President." He added that Obama's statement "shows an alarming lack of understanding of geopolitical realities." With contributions from RFE/RL's Carl Schreck in Washington Ukraines Finance Ministry says a deal has been agreed with Russias Sberbank to work out a restructuring deal for commercial loans guaranteed by the Ukrainian government. Sberbank and two Ukrainian companies, Ukravtodor and Yuzhnoye State Design Office, "have agreed to work together to achieve a settlement of the transaction as soon as possible," the ministry said in a statement on January 13. It did not say how much the loans were for, but in December Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk referred to $507 million of Ukrainian commercial debt held by Russian banks that the government was seeking to restructure. Most of Ukraine's external debt has been successfully swapped, apart from a $3 billion Eurobond held entirely by Russia. The Finance Ministry repeated on January 13 that it was ready to negotiate a restructuring of the Eurobond. Based on reporting by Reuters Hello ladies and gents, I'd like to send to a new home a pair of pink polyester chiffon bloomers, brand new, never worn, handmade with care by my sister. Finished with French seams for sturdiness and to prevent fraying. Measurements: waist 56 cm minimum, 94 cm maximum, length from waist 53 cm. 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Search for: Search A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Roanoke school leaders said Tuesday they want to find a way to expand Spanish instruction in elementary schools. The issue was identified as a top priority at the Roanoke School Boards biannual retreat, part of a larger goal of ensuring all students are bilingual by the time they graduate high school. Looking with the end in mind, we want our students to be prepared for jobs that will be needed in the future, board member Annette Lewis said. Superintendent Rita Bishop asked the board to fund three and a half extra teaching positions in the upcoming 2016-17 budget. Those positions, for $300,000 total, would enable the district to offer regular Spanish instruction at Roanokes elementary schools. Bishop told the board Spanish instruction would be incorporated into the school day along with other types of electives like music. She and board member Laura Rottenborn plan to visit other school districts to research ways of implementing a program in the coming months. Ideally, Bishop said, shed like to see the district implement a program similar to one in place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when she served as superintendent there. In that district, native English speaking students are paired with students learning English as a second language. In that way, students are able to help one another develop and practice language skills. Its what I think would be optimum here, Bishop said. The number of students learning English as a second language has increased over the last five years, from about 900 in the 2007-08 school year to 1,358 students as of December. Spanish, Nepali and Haitian Creole are the top languages spoken by non-native English-speaking students, but 47 different languages are spoken by students and their families in all. Lisa Harris, the Virginia Department of Educations specialist for foreign languages, said across the state and country, school districts are introducing second languages earlier and earlier, while students language abilities are still developing neurologically. Research suggests younger students have an easier time learning languages in general, and also that students who learn a second language see benefits in other subjects, Harris said. She cited the work of two George Mason University researchers, who found that dual language classes also help eliminate the achievement gap between native and non-native speakers. More than anything, though, starting second languages earlier helps students by giving them more time to master the grammar and conversation, she said. The realization is increasing that we really do need to start instruction in the early grades, Harris said. Waiting doesnt give students enough time to become proficient. On the Senate side, Cory Gardner has a North Korean sanctions bill (S 2144) that would do many of the same things as the Royce bill, but would additionally attack the countrys mineral export market, one of its biggest sources of income, in the belief that what worked with Iran penalizing its oil industry so heavily that it agreed to serious negotiations over its nuclear program can also work with Pyongyang. Sanctions experts said President Barack Obama is likely resigned to Congress determination to enact new sanctions against North Korea and can be expected to try to soften any final bill by giving the administration more flexibility in its implementation, such as through national security waiver authorities on what punishments are imposed, particularly those that will affect China. I think the administration understands there will be legislation, said Marcus Noland, an expert on North Koreas economy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The question is going to be where do you draw that line on secondary sanctions and how much discretion is the executive branch given in implementing them. Fighting heroin abuse: Obama mentioned helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse as one of the bipartisan issues on which he expects progress in 2016. And, indeed, lawmakers of both parties are concerned about rising heroin abuse rates. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sponsored a measure (PL 114-91) which was signed into law last year after it was advanced unanimously by both chambers to help treat infants who are exposed to opioids in the womb. Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island have teamed up on a wide-ranging package (S 524) that would expand educational and prevention efforts and increase access to drugs that can reverse the effects of overdose. And the omnibus provided $25 million to expand services that address prescription drug abuse and heroin use in high-risk communities. Overhaul of criminal sentencing: Obama called criminal justice reform a bipartisan priority and hes right. Lawmakers of both parties have coalesced around legislation that would provide more leniency for non-violent drug offenders serving long sentences. A key lawmaker on the issue, House Judiciary Chairman Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., expressed optimism Tuesday before Obamas address, for instance: I believe that this has support in our leadership, he said. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, has used his considerable power as Senate Judiciary chairman to shape a compromise bill (S 2123) that has the support of many of the most powerful senators. Raising fees to use federal land: Businesses that extract oil and coal on federal land should watch out. Fees are going up. Obama said he wants the rates to better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet. Republicans in Congress will object, but they probably cant stop him. The Interior Department last year took comment in advance of a formal rulemaking to raise prices for oil and natural gas and held forums on how it should modernize its coal program to ensure taxpayers are getting a fair return. LAWYERS acting for alleged pimp and abuser Basharat Hussain have accused a former girlfriend, who claims he assaulted and threatened to kill her, of making the incidents up. Ms Gillian Batts said the 30-year-old woman, who admits an on-and-off relationship with Hussain from age 15 to 28, fabricated the events after seeing a BBC Panorama programme about his brother, co-defendant Arshid Hussain. Ms Batts argued at Sheffield Crown Court that the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had plenty of opportunities to leave Hussain if she wanted. She also suggested that sexual relations the couple had did not start their relationship until the woman was 16, contradicting her claims Hussain had sex with her lots of times aged 15. Cross-examining the woman on Tuesday, Ms Batts said: This business at the reservoir, about you being to dig your own grave (relating an allegation made against Hussain on Monday), didnt happen. The complainant replied: Yes, it did. Ive still got messages on my phone from him, apologising for what he did. Ms Batts pointed out that the woman had kept in touch with Hussain while he spent three years in prison. She asked: Do you agree that while Hussain was in prison your relationship continued? The woman said: On and off, yes. Ms Batts asked: That was your choice to go and visit him in prison, wasn't it? The woman replied: Yes. Referring to the womans claims that Hussain tried to take her to Pakistan, Ms Batts said: You went quite a long way towards going, didnt you? And there was a problem because you didn't have a visa. Thats what stopped you going, wasn't it? The woman replied: Yes. Hussain spent another 16 months in prison, during which the woman again kept in touch. Ms Batts said: What you wanted when he came out was to make a home together, wasnt it? The woman again replied: Yes. Ms Batts put it to the woman that she deliberately wound Hussain up by ignoring his phone calls, leading him to send a text threatening to shoot her. She replied: I used to ignore him because he got verbally abusive and I don't think ignoring him justifies being threatened with getting shot. Ms Batts also suggested that the woman had fed Hussain details by telephone of a police investigation into his brother Arshid. She added that police had approached the woman for a statement about Hussain as recently as 2014 and she had refused, saying she was too busy. Ms Batts asked: You didnt want to give a statement at all, did you? The woman replied: I wouldn't be here if I didnt. Ms Batts said: You were telling the police one thing and the reality was your relationship was still on. Did you still have feelings for him? The woman replied: I think I will always have feelings for him. Its only once you get out of a relationship like that you see that it was wrong. She added: Growing up I've realised that sort of relationship isnt right. As an adult I can see that 15 years of my life were completely horrific. I know now it wasnt a normal relationship, being spat on, strangled and controlled. But I kept seeing him so he would be happy and there would be no threats and no more abusive phone calls. Hussain denies all of the charges against him. The trial continues. BEAUTY queen Laura Gregory will show off her talents again in a new competition to promote Sri Lanka. Laura is Ms England in the Miss Tourism Sri Lanka International pagaent next month. Twenty ambassadors from across the globe will tour Sri Lanka to experience charity dinners, street parades, street food markets and cultural events before the final grand pagaent. Organisers hope the event will promote Sri Lanka as a tourist destination and aim to make the beauty contest a regular event. Laura (28), from Laughton en le Morthern, is already a former Miss Intercontinental England and last year was one of the five winners of Miss Scuba UK. She is now preparing to travel to Sri Lanka for the first time from February 7 for two weeks. She said: This will be my first visit to Sri Lanka but I am already incredibly excited. Judging by the photographs I have seen it looks beautiful. I am also looking forward to meeting Joy Butler Markham, who has set up a charity to help the children left orphaned after the tsunami back in 2004, as well as working on helping people in need in 12 countries. The competition is new for this year and has been organised to draw international tourism to Sri Lanka by welcoming ambassadors from around the world to experience their culture, hospitality and beautiful surroundings. I heard about the competition from my good friend Holly Ikin, who is national director of many pageants including Miss International, Miss Intercontinental and Miss Galaxy to name a few, who contacted me to give me the opportunity to represent this country once again in an international pageant. I feel very privileged to be asked and so grateful that I get another chance to represent the country whilst exploring and learning about another country. I am a keen traveller. It is one of my ambitions to travel the world so I look forward to adding another country to my travel list. If Im selected as the winner I will be an ambassador for tourism in Sri Lanka and win $10,000. Laura said that one place she hopes to visit in Sri Lanka is the Village of Dreams that was created to provide aid to tsunami victims. Laura has also been selected to join performing dance group SDK Crew, which has shows lined up in Dinnington, Doncaster and London. She has also been asked to model at the Liverpool Bridal Show. European stocks may see further upside on Wednesday as China stepped up efforts to curb bets against the yuan and better-than-expected Chinese trade data helped ease concerns about the world's second-largest . China's exports rose an annual 2.3 percent in December from a year earlier in yuan terms, while exports denominated in dollars fell much less than expected. Imports dropped an annual 4 percent in yuan terms, an improvement over the previous month's 5.6-percent fall. China's central bank kept its yuan reference rate stable for a fourth straight session and reportedly used major state banks to drain yuan liquidity in offshore , calming fears of a global currency war, at least for now. Asian stocks crept off four-year lows, commodity currencies gained ground, the yen dropped against major peers and gold dropped for the fourth straight session, signaling a major shift in investor sentiment. Chinese shares, meanwhile, gave up early gains after starting the trading session in the green. Crude futures rose for the first time in eight days after breaching the $30 per barrel level in the previous session. In its latest monthly report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast that global oil consumption will rise to 95.2 million barrels a day by the end of 2016 from 93.8 million barrels a day in 2015. In economic releases, the U.K. economy expanded 0.6 percent in three months to December, according to a monthly report released by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Eurozone industrial production figures for November and U.S. crude oil data are slated for release later in the day. In corporate news, Geberit AG reported that its 2015 net sales increased by 24.2 percent to 2.59 billion Swiss francs. Dassault Systemes said that electric-car company Faraday Future has adopted its 3D EXPERIENCE platform. Sodexo confirmed its 2016 objectives after posting 9.6 percent growth in first-quarter consolidated revenues. European stocks snapped a four-day losing streak on Tuesday as oil prices recovered from day's lows and retailers Metro and Wm. Morrison Supermarkets posted better than expected Christmas sales. SAP's full-year earnings also exceeded targets, powered by "exceptional" growth in its cloud . The German DAX rallied 1.6 percent, France's CAC 40 index climbed 1.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 1 percent. On Wall Street, stocks ended Tuesday's session with solid gains after China stepped up efforts to bolster its currency. Energy shares held up despite oil prices extending a relentless selloff to fall below $30 a barrel for the first time since December 2003. The Dow rose 0.7 percent, the tech-heavy gained 1 percent and the S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Crude oil prices are higher for the first time in seven sessions Wesnesday morning, as buyers stepped in after futures dropped below $30 for the first time in 12 years. WTI light sweet crude oil was up 60 cents at $31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, having fallen as low as $29.33 yesterday. Prices have collapsed amid overproduction, dwindling demand, and a strong US dollar. American Petroleum Institute estimates a surprising 3.9 million barrel decrease in U.S. crude stocks last night. The Energy Information Administration will release official U.S. inventory figures later Wednesday. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis A European Court has ruled that employers can read workers' private messages sent via chat software and webmail accounts during working hours. In its judgment Tuesday in an appeal by an engineer in Romania against his employer who sacked him in 2007 after accessing his messages, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) justified the monitoring of an employee's use of the Internet by his employer, and his resulting dismissal. The Court held by majority decision that there had been no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, the home and correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Bogdan Mihai Barbulescu was dismissed by his employer, a private company, for having used its Internet for personal purposes during working hours in breach of internal regulations. The firm discovered that Barbulescu, 36, was using Yahoo Messenger for personal contacts, as well as professional ones. Barbulescu challenged his employer's decision before the courts complaining that the decision to terminate his contract was null and void as his employer had violated his right to correspondence in accessing his communications in breach of the Constitution and Criminal Code. The judges said the employer's monitoring of his communications had been reasonable because the firm believed it was accessing a work account. The judges said that the employer acted within its disciplinary powers since, as the domestic courts found, it had accessed the Yahoo Messenger account on the assumption that the information in question had been related to professional activities and that such access had therefore been legitimate. While the court said that it sees no reason to question these findings, it made it clear that unregulated snooping would not be acceptable, and called for drafting a set of policies that clearly define what an employer can collect and how. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Legislation restricting Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the U.S. is set to be taken up by the Senate next week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., revealed on Tuesday. McConnell said the Senate will vote on whether to begin debate on the bill known as the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act or America SAFE Act next Wednesday. The bill would limit the number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees admitted to the U.S. until increased security checks are in place. With near-unanimous support from Republicans, the House voted 289 to 137 in favor of the bill last November. Republicans may have more difficulty securing the 60 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdles facing the bill in the Senate. However, Democrats may feel pressure to support the legislation after the San Bernardino shootings and the recent arrest of two Iraqi refugees on terrorism charges. The bill still faces a veto threat from President Barack Obama, who has previously mocked critics of his administration's refugee policy for being scared of widows and orphans. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., a co-author of the legislation, praised the Senate's decision to consider the bill, which he called reasonable, common sense legislation. "There has been a lot of heated rhetoric and opinions about how to deal with this situation, but the bottom line is the American people expect us to work together to keep us all safe," Hudson said. He added, "It is a critical step to address glaring vulnerabilities in our security that terrorists could exploit, tackle the growing threat of radical Islamic extremism and ensure the safety of Americans." A Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month found that a majority of Americans oppose accepting Syrian refugees into the country. The poll found that 51 percent of American voters oppose allowing Syrian refugees to enter the U.S., while 43 percent support the policy. The results showed a significant partisan divide on the issue, as 82 percent of Republicans would block the refugees but 74 percent of Democrats would accept them. Obama has called for the U.S. to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year, although the plan has drawn considerable criticism from some Republicans. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News The 2020 Jaguar F-Type was revealed globally last month and now has made its appearance on the Jaguar India website. Hat tip to automotive enthusiast Balaji for sharing this info. The new Jaguar F-Type, which is open for order in the UK is expected to launch in India in the coming weeks. Like in global markets, the India spec F-Type sports car will be available in coupe and convertible. Having made its presence felt on the Jaguar India website, the new F-Type gets detailed in terms of its exterior design, internal features and on board technology along with its updated engine lineup. The most vital exterior updates include a design which makes the body appear longer and wider. It gets a redesigned clamshell bonnet, lower bumper shape and the R-Dynamic gets bolder with aero blades. There are black bezels and sporty air scoops for the R models. The updated design also includes slimmer LED headlamps, daytime running lamps and revised tail lamps. Interior materials have also been enhanced with higher quality while infotainment consists of a 12.3 driver display with F-Type graphics which can be configured as a larger central tachometer. It also receives a 10.0 touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay compatibility. The F-Type also offers a range of technologies that include Connected Navigation Pro4 with real time traffic updates, Online Media for music streaming and smartphone integration. The Driver Display unit allows for easy navigation via 3D maps. Smartphone integration ensures all phone functions transferred to the touchscreen while with Jaguar Remote App one can track the journey, check fuel level and give on-foot directions to the vehicle. The app also allows the user to heat or cool the car prior to entry. Music is via the Meridian sound system 380 W with sophisticated sound delivered via strategically positioned speakers and dual channel sub-woofer. Engine specifications also get outlined with the 2020 Jaguar F-Type to be powered by a choice of three engines. The base engine is a 2.0 liter turbocharged unit delivering 296 bhp power while the 3 liter supercharged V6 unit will offer 375 bhp. The range topping F-Type R will be powered by a 5 liter supercharged V8 engine capable of 444 bhp and 567 bhp power options. Jaguar states that acceleration from 0 to 100 kmph will be achieved in 3.5 seconds with a top speed at 300 kmph for the top variant. Upon launch, the 2020 Jaguar F-Type entry variant will continue its rivalry against the Mercedes SLC 43 AMG and Porsche 718 series while top variants will take on the likes of Mercedes-AMG GT and Nissan GT-R. Prices expected to range from Rs 90 lakhs to Rs 3 cr. The new Zica is an important product for Tata Motors. To be offered in the volume segment, Zica was unveiled more than a month ago. With launch postponed to February, the company has now launched a new campaign to keep Zica buzzing in the minds of their prospective buyers. Under this new Tata Zica 7 Senses campaign, Tata Motors will offer buyers an experience to connect their seven senses with the Zica. This Zica 7 Senses campaign will cover all the 7 senses of Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, Intuition and Equilibrium which will endear customers to the brand and offer an immersive experience of the car itself. Sight The new Tata Zica has been designed to draw attention thanks to its younger and bolder design. Built on the new IMPACT design language, Tata Motors will be rolling out a Virtual Test Drive App that elevates the simplicity of 2D Video into an immersive 3D experience. Smell Smell will be part of the Tata ZICA 7 Senses campaign with a Zica signature fragrance set to capture the spirit of youth. Sound Tata Zica hatchback will be fitted with a state of the art sound system. It will get an audio acoustic system designed by Harman with 8 speaker audio system. It will also feature automatic volume control which will align itself with speed of the car a feature which was only seen in expensive cars till date. Taste Tata Motors plans on introducing The Zica Chocolate to celebrate the joys of life. Touch Where the sense of touch is concerned; Tata Motors will see the ConnectNext Infotainment System on board the new Zica with applications like Smart NAVI and Juke Car app. The NAVI App displays Turn-by-Turn Navigation when connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth while it also offers guidance on Estimated Time of Arrival and Next Maneuver. Besides Bluetooth, the NAVI app also supports speed volume control, steering mounted information controls and phonebook on-the-fly. It also has the Juke-Car app which will allow up to 10 phones to connect with the cars music system and play songs. Such an app will be useful when travelling friends / family on a long road trip. Also Read Tata Zica Review Intuition Tata ZICA has more storage spaces than its competitors. With a total of 22 utility spaces, such as a smart driver side pocket, cup-holders on front console, tab holder in glove box, smart recessed storage on dashboard, which make the drive experience very comfortable the Zica offers a new dimension of intelligent design while making travelling even more intuitive. Equilibrium Powered by peppy petrol and diesel engine options, Tata Zica also offers impressive mileage and low cost of maintenance, claims Tata Motors. Tata Zica is designed with inputs from companys Pune, UK and Italy studios and is based on an upgraded XO platform. It will be positioned between the Tata Nano and Bolt. To be produced at the company plant in Sanand, Gujarat, Zica will compete with Maruti Suzuki Celerio, WagonR, Hyundai i10, and Chevrolet Beat. Tata Zica Photos Yemeni shelling kills tens of Saudi soldiers JIZAN, Jan. 13 (Saba) - Tens of Saudi soldiers were killed on Wednesday in an artillery shelling conducted by the army and popular committees on several Saudi military sites. The missile and artillery forces pounded al-Ramda military site in Jizan province, said a military official in Jizan, adding four soldiers were killed. Moreover, many Saudi military sites in al-Mawsem and al-Tewal sites were shelled, according to the official, who confirmed that many Saudi soldiers were killed or wounded in the shelling. The missile and artillery also bombarded al-Khubah area and its bridge, al-Muntazah and al-Musafaq sites with dozens of rockets and artillery shells. The official said the artillery force shelled al-Sudais site in Najran with a number of shells, adding the Saudi soldiers guarding the site were escaped. HA/AF Saba Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [13/January/2016] Aug. 18 Robert Perry White, 58, of Elko was sentenced by Acting Elko Justice of the Peace Brian Boatman to pay $675, with credit for time served to satisfy; serve 48 hours in jail, with credit for 48 served; and complete 48 hours of community service and 26 weeks of domestic violence counseling; after pleading no contest to domestic battery. Sept. 3 Juan Carlos Sanchez, 21, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $230 after pleading guilty to driving without a valid license and license plates improperly displayed. Joshua Aaron White, 34, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $900 and serve 32 days in jail, suspended for two years on the following conditions: serve two days, with credit for eight hours; complete DUI school and a victim impact panel; and maintain good conduct and no alcohol or drugs clauses; after pleading guilty to DUI of alcohol and or drugs. Sept. 10 Leeanne Michelle Burns, 35, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $355 with 36 hours of community service to be served in lieu of fine; after pleading guilty to trespassing. Oct. 28 Daniel Joseph Aguilar, 22, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $640, to be given credit for time served, and serve 180 days in jail, suspended for two years on the following conditions: serve 90 days in jail, and maintain good conduct and no alcohol or drugs clauses; after pleading no contest to theft less than $650, amended from grand larceny. Oct. 29 Garry Tobias Alsdorf, 24, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay restitution totaling $173; after previously pleading guilty to second-offense domestic battery and disturbing the peace. Rawlins Cross sails into the Sunrise on new album, tour around the East Coast Rawlins Cross has been on hiatus before, once for nearly a decade after a successful run during the 1990s as one of Atlantic Canadas most popular modern Celtic bands, but never one that was imposed by an outside force of nature. In the spring of ... While media attention has been focused on a brace of Bunkerville Bundy brothers bunking with some buddies bearing arms in federal buildings in a wildlife refuge near Burns, Ore., in a futile gesture of protest over the mistreatment of a local ranching family by federal land agencies, those same federal land agencies have been literally washing away a 40-acre tract of private land nestled in the middle of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Pahrump while a court battle drags on without resolve. In 2009 Victor Fuentes and his wife Annette, who operate a retreat called Little Patch of Heaven for their Ministero Roca Solida (Solid Rock) church, were told the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service planned to reroute a stream that had run through their property since at least the 1880s in an effort to reintroduce speckled dace, an endangered minnow. On Christmas Eve 2010, heavy rains caused the stream to overflow its new man-made banks and flood the church property with water and mud, causing $86,000 in damages. On behalf of the Fuentes and their church the Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation (CJCL), the legal arm of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, filed a damage claim with Fish and Wildlife. The agency did not even acknowledge receipt of the claim. CJCL then filed a federal lawsuit. Meanwhile, according to CJCL Director and Chief Legal Officer Joseph Becker, the property flooded again in October increasing the property damage to $225,000. He noted that the recent floods etched the landscape with six-foot deep gullies and now every time it rains there is more flooding. While Becker sympathizes with the plight of the Oregon ranchers now serving lengthy prison terms, though not necessarily the armed occupiers, he sees the Fuentes case as much more important and much more substantial and much more righteous, because we have a situation where the Fuentes purchased for $500,000 a simple private property, but the government has deprived them of the use of the property what is called a takings under the Fifth Amendment. Becker said in a recent interview, We really want the court to deal with this in ways that dont involve armed militia, that kind of thing. Wed like it to be addressed on the merits in court. Believe me, the Fuentes are very frustrated. The church is very frustrated that theyve spent all this money and were now five years into not having water at a camp that at least since the 1800s and longer were quite sure had this stream traversing it. That was a big part of the reason they purchased this property. It is a major reason so they could do their baptisms, their river baptisms, their scripture, et cetera. The case was last argued in federal court in July and a decision is pending, but the statute of limitations on the initial vested water rights taking will run out in August. The case is caught in a sort of legal No Mans Land. The government has redefined a claim to mean anything that originates from the same set of facts is one claim. This is to prevent plaintiffs from receiving double compensation for the same damages, but the Fuentes case involves multiple constitutional violations, each of which or in combination could result in differing levels of compensation. So they (the government) went in, they violated their free exercise right (of religion under the First Amendment), the attorney explains, they violated their substantive due process right, their procedural due process right, they committed a tort of negligence by flooding them out with their own water by moving the waterway, but the other thing they did is they did a taking There is no way to determine the level of damages until the court decides whether the Fuentes will ever get their water rights restored. Fuentes a Cuban refugee who swam seven miles of open ocean in the dark from near his home in Santiago, Cuba, to Guantanamo Bay to gain political asylum has been disturbed by the lack of justice he has received in his adopted country. I fled that government, he has said. Thats not the government I wanted to find here. There seem to be a number of people these days saying that about their own federal government bureaucrats and their refusal to be accountable for their actions. A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the I give my consent to Sakshi Post to be in touch with me via email for the purpose of event marketing and corporate communications. Privacy Policy County commissioners seem to be backtracking in their support for a second justice of the peace, and are even looking at removing metal detectors from the courthouse as a way to help fund the position. We think that would be unnecessary and a violation of the district judges order to put the security system in place. Instead, fees should be raised to make criminals and others who use the court system pay for the new judge. In fact, six years ago commissioners imposed an additional $20 filing fee on civil actions to help pay for the security improvements, after receiving approval from the Legislature. In the meantime, criminal fines and fees have not kept pace with the cost of keeping the wheels of justice turning. Commissioners, who unanimously supported Justice of the Peace Mason Simons call for a second judge, took a closer look at the numbers during their last meeting and realized that the courts caseload has been declining in recent years. Yet, they also realize that Elko Township has exceeded the population threshold for a second judge for the past 18 years and still exceeds it by about 20 percent. The caseload is just as likely to go back up as it is down, with our rollercoaster mining economy. It has only been through the discretion of sitting judges that a second position has not been created long before now. The new judgeship will be expensive but Simons pointed out that delaying its implementation has saved millions of dollars in personnel costs over the years. Interest in the position is growing: Family Court Master Andrew Mierins was the first to file. He holds the same position that Simons held before he was elected justice of the peace. Retiring businessman Dennis Parker has also filed, although he has no professional experience with the law. Such experience is not required in Nevadas rural counties; all you need is a high school diploma. Elias Goicoechea was the third person to file. He is an Elko native who worked for the Nevada Highway Patrol for the past 16 years. Longtime local attorney David Loreman was the latest to file this week. He has long sought this position, and ran against Simons in the 2012 general election. Deadline for filing is Friday. Elko County has long had two district judges, and now the time has come for a second justice of the peace. If commissioners were concerned about funding the position they should have approached the Legislature years ago instead of waiting until it was too late. They might have noticed that their old meeting room was being converted into a courtroom, which is now complete and ready for the second judge. Commissioners recently raised taxes for fire protection and road improvements. Criminals, not taxpayers, should be the ones to fund the townships growing judicial infrastructure. Funding measures should also look at how cases are funneled into municipal court, and the Citys share of cost. As Mayor Chris Johnson pointed out, the Citys high crime rate in recent years calls for some reasonable assurance that were living in a safe community. An adequately staffed judicial system funded by those who make it necessary is the best way to accomplish that. Tiny house being built in Salina to help homeless people in Missouri For the fifth year and second in Salina, a local group is partnering with Tiny House Ministries to help homeless people in Missouri. This post is outside my normal realm of attention, but I think it is nonetheless important for us to consider. For those of us who are... Conflict with Islam goes back to Crusades Editor: In response to Mr. DuSoleils letter, Ms. Thompson is correct in asking How can any person know what all Muslims believe I think Ms. Thompson would also be correct should she ask How can any person know what all Christians believe? Islam isnt alone in its share of scoundrels Christianity is replete with its own brand. Two of the most notorious being Henry VIII with his Protestant Reformation and all its attendant atrocities. The other boyo being Oliver Cromwell and his army of Puritans who pillaged and butchered thousands of Roman Catholics in Ireland. Muslims have many constructive values, but these values are unrelated as to whether or not Islam itself is good. The West is presently pre-occupied with fear of Sharia law; female mutilation; wife beating, and whether or not the Burkha really makes a fashion statement. Western liberals should perhaps re-focus their Spotlight (hopefully with a clean lens this time) on 450 years of Muslim aggression against Christian countries in Europe and the Middle East. At the risk of causing hyperventilation among liberals, or worse yet, to be accused of suffering from their imaginary ailment Islamaphobia, the following very brief history of Islam may be of interest. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 A.D. At the age of 52 he consummated his marriage to his 9-year-old wife. He died in 632 A.D. and while on his deathbed he cursed Jews and Christians. Between 632 A.D. and 1095 A.D. Muslim forces invaded Europe and the Middle East (a long way from Mecca!). Jews and Christians were forced to convert to Islam; the genocide of the Jewish Quaraza; the destruction of the Holy Land; There occurred rape, pillage, kidnapping and slave trading. In 1095, after 450 years of Muslim aggression against Christians, the Byzantine emperor sent a letter to Pope Urban asking for help. Pope Urban called on European Christians to defend Constantinople and to re-open the Holy Land. At that time the First Crusade against Islam was formed. All the above is easily accessible for those who wish to do the research. Kathy Mosses Montello ELKO In the last week of the filing period, two more local men have filed for the newly created Department B of the Elko Justice Court. Elko County Clerk Carol Fosmo confirmed Tuesday a total of four people have signed up so far. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Elias Goicoechea filed on Friday, and local attorney David Loreman filed Tuesday morning. Judge Mason Simons notified the county on Oct. 2 that the creation of a second, full-time justice of the peace position was warranted because of caseload, county population, voter accountability, the number of search warrant applications and more. The position will become effective January 2017. A 2016 judicial candidate can file to declare candidacy until Friday. The filing period for non-judicial candidates is March 7-18. Elias Goicoechea Goicoechea was born and raised in Elko and has worked for the Nevada Highway Patrol for the last 16 years. This experience with the Patrol has given me great insight to the Justice of the Peace position, he said, explaining he has been involved in many court proceedings and has an understanding of the judicial system. I would love to continue my service to the citizens of Elko and Spring Creek by being a fair and impartial judge, he said. Goicoechea said he looks forward to working with current projects and future endeavors, believing a second judge should lighten the workload and allow for further concentration on specific issues. David Loreman Loreman ran against Simons in the 2012 general election. We had some differences of philosophy on how to deal with the court, especially the second position, and I think its necessary for some fresh ideas, he told the Free Press. Loreman has been an attorney for over 31 years and has practiced locally for over 25 years. I am honored to already have the support of many local leaders, members of the legal community and those whom I have come to know while working and serving in our community, he said in a statement. His background also includes time as a prosecutor for the City of Albany, Oregon, as well as a defense attorney in the State of Nevada. Additionally, he was a judge pro tem for the Salt Lake County circuit court, and an adjunct professor at Westminster College of Salt Lake City in the MBA program. At this time, he serves as an arbitrator for the State Bar of Nevada. He also has an extensive list of community activities and positions including an appointment to the Elko County Library Board in 1995. Loreman was chairman of the Library Board for many years and was named Board Member Emeritus in 2006. During the time he has lived in Elko, Loreman has been committed to the growth and care of the families in the community. Based on my knowledge of the community I am still committed to establishing a Misdemeanor DUI and Domestic Violence Court so that we have a way of mandating compliance by those convicted, he said. Loreman is basing his qualifications for this position on having legal experience since 1984 and an understanding of the local community. He said this community knowledge will help with what hed like to do and assist in the efficiency of the court. 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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe By Santa Paula News Richard Ponce, MD, has joined the volunteer Board of Directors of Cottage Health. A native of Santa Paula, Calif., Dr. Ponce received his undergraduate degree in psychobiology from University of California, Los Angeles, and his medical degree from University of California, San Francisco. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at UCLA and was a chief resident. Dr. Ponce joined Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara in 1993 and was head of the Pesetas Clinic Internal Medicine department for 20 years. He is a current member and past president of the Santa Barbara County Medical Society, and Castle Connolly recognized him with a Top Doctor award in 2014. Members of the Cottage Health Board of Directors serve without compensation to guide the not-for-profit hospitals in the mission to provide superior health care through a commitment to our communities and to our core values of excellence, integrity and comassion. These days, the infectious laughter of Spanish comedian El Risitas, aka The Giggles, can be heard far beyond Spains borders. In fact, its become part of brand Spain. In the last year-and-a-half, videos of the toothless Andalusians TV appearances have been used around the world to make popular online parodies of everything ranging from the latest MacBook release to movie reviews and student unrest at Egyptian universities. We wanted to find El Risitas and make something new and unique with him Orkla Foods Finland And now Juan Joya Borja, who first appeared on a Spanish television program in the early 2000s telling undecipherable jokes and laughing insanely, is hitting Finland. A Finnish food company deliberately sought out the laughing Spaniard and traveled down to his home town of Seville to shoot a commercial and launch an online campaign based on all those viral videos that have earned him a listing in the Know Your Meme online encyclopedia. Company representatives say they are delighted with the result, but admit that locating the star was hard work. Juan Joya Borja has no email address, no personal website, and doesnt even have a telephone number, they write in an account of the shoot posted on social media. On set with El Risitas. It took us a long time to locate El Risitas, say company sources. The advertising agency used some contacts it had in Spain, without which we never would have managed it. And we spent a week in Seville shooting it. In order to boost its campaign for a pocket-sized pizza, the Finnish food company is raffling off T-shirts depicting El Risitass face and his most famous catchphrase cunaoooo (or, brother-in-laaaaaw) among Facebook followers. The company is also raffling off El Risitas T-shirts. We were looking for an idea for something digital with the potential to go viral. Our advertising agency, Satumaa Family Business, thought of using the laughing Spaniard to make fun of how strange our new pizza can seem, explains Emma Vironmaki, head of communications for Orkla Foods Finland, which owns the Graciosa brand that the product is marketed under. We could have used the idea with that video that has such a big presence on the internet, but we wanted to do something better. We wanted to find El Risitas and make something new and unique with him, she adds. The new videos, which are also being aired on television, follow the same style as the meme: the subtitles do not reflect a 100% translation of what hes saying. Excerpts from the campaign with English subtitles show that, rather than pizza, he is in fact talking about a guy who sings badly. On Facebook, one of the segments has been viewed over 16,000 times, while another one has been seen 53,000 times on YouTube. Presumably a lot of this traffic is coming from Spain, where the video made the home page of popular news aggregator Meneame. English version by Susana Urra. By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula News Hoverboards are the hottest thing, in some cases so hot that several fires have been reported due to the recreational rideand now the Ventura County Sheriffs Department has announced new vehicle code laws applicable to what many think of as a toy. The state legislature wrote the new laws and definition of hoverboards to be added to the vehicle code, rules that go into effect January 1. Hoverboards, now legally defined as an electronically motorized board, can only be ridden by persons 16 years old or older and operators must wear a protective helmet that meets the bicycle safety helmet guidelines. During darkness, either the electrically motorized board or the rider must have mounted on it or the rider himself/herself white light to the front, red reflector to the rear and white or amber reflector to the sides, just like bicycles. A rider cannot operate a hoverboard on highways with a speed limit of more than 35 mph, or at an unsafe speed and a rider cannot operate an electrically motorized board while under the influence of alcohol or any drug. In addition, governmental authorities may enact ordinances/resolutions prohibiting the use of hoverboards on their properties, such as on sidewalks and public parking lots. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions punishable as an infraction. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- ATM is the abbreviation used for "Automatic Teller Machine", which is a product of technological advancement developed to enhance the financial services such as cash withdrawals, funds transfer, cash deposit, transactions as payment of bills by credit card or debit card, mini statements and other financial enquiries. ATM does all these processes by an accessing personal identification number (PIN) & a plastic card having a magnetic strip over it containing the customer identity. A decade ago, ATM were used only as a cash dispenser machines, means were used only to withdraw cash and for balance enquiry. Now days every financial institution is using this system to attract their customers & to serve them even outside the banking hall. Before some years banking processes and transaction was very easy tasks of walk in the bank venue & deposit or withdraw the cash through a manual counter without much congestion and queues by cheque books or cash books, but in recent time it is becoming tedious and time consuming process as the complexity of human demand & business demand force customers to go in and out of banking halls frequently & hence ATM is becoming a good substitution for it. Request Full Brochure of this report: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/8368 The global ATM market is progressively growing in a developing regions and with addition of smart ATM s, Solar ATM s enhancing the market size of Global ATM market. The key trends responsible for the growth of the Global ATM market are the transition of a class banking to mass banking as well as customers have been more interested in the self-service channels for last some years. The key drivers of ATM market driving its market are tremendous growth of retail automation for last some years, robust security standards, Banks are focusing on increasing the number of ATM s globally, advancement in the wireless communication. On the flip side, the key restraints inhibit the growth of global ATM market which are mentioned below; some security threats, major risk linked with the ATM machines as theft, rise in skimming activities, hacking of customer's personal information and transactional details, connectivity and operational issues are limiting global ATM market. The segmentation of Global ATM market is done on the basis of; solution or service type, product type & Geography. On the basis of solution type or service type, Global ATM market is segmented into following types as; installation solution, Managed services & ATM card solution. Installation solution is further segmented into On-site ATM, Off-site ATM, mobile ATM & worksite ATM . Managed service is sub segmented as cash management, network management, currency management, security management and retail & enterprise solution. Segmentation of Global ATM market by its product type is done as; Conventional/Bank ATM, Solar Powered ATM, self-cashed or fully serviced ATM, smart ATM, cash dispenser ATM, free standing ATM, through-the-wall ATM, brown label ATM & others. With the addition of Smart ATM and white label ATM the growth of Global ATM market has been increasing tremendously. Geographical segmentation of ATM market is done into seven regions which are; North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Presently North America is a global leader of ATM market and is expected to maintain the leadership throughout forecasting period. Request Full TOC: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/8368 The key players of global ATM market are GRGBanking, Hitachi Payment Services Pvt. Ltd, DIEBOLD INC., NCR Corporation, Triton Systems of Delaware LLC, Wincor Nixdorf AG & others. Key points covered in the report 1) Report segments the market on the basis of types, application, products, technology, etc (as applicable) 2) The report covers geographic segmentation North America Europe Asia RoW 3) The report provides the market size and forecast for the different segments and geographies for the period of 2010 to 2020 4) The report provides company profiles of some of the leading companies operating in the market 5) The report also provides porters five forces analysis of the market.- About Persistence Market Research (PMR) Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients' business needs. PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients' business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMR's engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values. Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Iron Ore Mining in Australia to 2020 Synopsis 'Iron Ore Mining in Australia to 2020' report comprehensively covers Australian reserves of iron ore, reserves by state, reserves by selected mines and Fe content, the historic and forecast data on Australian iron ore production, production by form and state, historic and forecast production of selected iron ore mines, iron ore prices, historic and forecast iron ore consumption and exports, consumption vs steel production and exports by country. The report also includes factors driving demand for the commodity, profiles of major iron ore producing companies and information on the active, exploration and development iron ore projects. The fiscal regime section provides information about the country's regulatory authority, laws, licenses and other fiscal regime information such as taxes, rates and other charges applicable to the mining of the commodity in the country. It is an essential tool for companies active across the Australian mining value chain and for new competitors considering entering the industry. Browse Complete Report with TOC @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/iron-ore-mining-in-australia-to-2020-35286 Summary Australia ranked first globally with 53 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves as of January 2015, accounting for 27.9% of the global total. Iron ore reserves are abundantly found in Western Australia and South Australia with minor deposits in Tasmania, Northern Territory and New South Wales (USGS, 2015). Globally, Australia ranked second in terms of iron ore production, producing 735.5Mt in 2014, higher by 20% over 2013 and accounting for 32.7% of global iron ore production. Scope The report contains an overview of the Australian iron ore mining industry together with the key factors affecting the industry. Further, it provides information about reserves, reserves by state, historic production and production forecast, production by form, production forecast by selected mines, historic and forecast iron ore consumption and exports, consumption vs steel production, iron ore prices, the competitive landscape and active, exploration and development iron ore projects. Reasons To Buy Gain an understanding of the Australian iron ore mining industry, its reserves, and reserves by states, historic and forecast production, production by form, forecast production by selected iron ore mines, historic and forecast iron ore consumption and exports, iron ore prices, demand drivers, active, exploration and development projects, the competitive landscape and the country's fiscal regime. Request for FREE SAMPLE Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/iron-ore-mining-in-australia-to-2020-35286#RequestSample Key Highlights - Australian iron ore exports were 724.8Mt in 2014, up by 18.6% over 2013, accounting for 98.5% of production, with China being the most important market with a share of 79.8% of Australian iron ore exports. - More than 90% of the reserves are in Western Australia, with small amounts found in South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. - In 2014, Rio Tinto Plc produced 224.9Mt of iron ore from Australian operations, while BHP Billiton Ltd produced 193Mt and Fortescue Metals Group produced 104.4Mt and are the major mining companies in the Australian iron ore landscape. Contact Us Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- The Automobile Aluminum Wheel Assembly Producers in China 2016, the output and sales of automotive industry in China were around 23.72 units and 23.49 units respectively, grew by XX% and XX%. In this report, ASKCI will disclose the performance and competitiveness of the top 10 automobile aluminum wheel assembly producers in automotive industry. Market potentials and commercial opportunities for the industry will be discussed as well. Recommendations will be given at the end of the report to describe the prospect and provide suggestions for strategy making. Access Full Report With TOC @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/company-analysis-of-top-10-automobile-aluminum-wheel-41382 1)The Aim of Report Obtain latest info of automotive industry, such as market size, top 10 automobile aluminum wheel assembly producers in China, etc.; Find out how Chinese automotive market will change and how your business can be involved in; Evaluate the financial performance and growth strategies of the top 10 automobile aluminum wheel assembly companies; To reveal opportunities for automotive industry in China. Request For Sample: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/company-analysis-of-top-10-automobile-aluminum-wheel-41382 Table of Content Part Contents 1 Overview of Automotive Industry in China 1.1 Market Overview 1.2 Production Analysis 1.3 Sales Analysis 2 Top 10 Automobile Aluminum Wheel Assembly Producers 2.1 Company A 2.1.1 Basic Information 2.1.2 Performance 2.1.3 Output Analysis 2.1.4 Key Products 2.2 Company B 2.10 Company J 3 Conclusion and Recommendation 3.1 Opportunities and Challenges 3.2 Recommendation ASKCIs Legal Disclaimer Inquiry Before Buying Report Here @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/company-analysis-of-top-10-automobile-aluminum-wheel-41382#InquiryForBuying Contact US: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138 Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442 United States Toll Free: 855-465-4651 FREE (USA-CANADA) Tel: 386-310-3803 FREE Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Website: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/ Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis Botswanan fiscal regime report outlines the governing bodies, laws, licenses, rights, obligations and tax-related information covering five main commodities: coal, copper, silver, nickel and diamond. Summary Timetric's fiscal regime report covers Botswana which has an abundance of mineral resources such as diamonds, copper, nickel and silver. The mining industry in Botswana is governed by the Ministry of Mineral, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR), and sub-departments such as the Department of Geological Survey (DGS), the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) and the Department of Mines (DoM). Browse Complete Report with TOC @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/botswanas-mining-fiscal-regime-h2-2015-35292 Scope The report outlines the governing bodies, laws, licenses, rights, obligations and key fiscal terms which includes royalty, license fees, corporate income tax, capital gains tax, withholding tax, capital allowance, loss carry forward and value added tax(VAT) Reasons To Buy Gain an overview of Botswana's mining fiscal regime Request for FREE SAMPLE Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/botswanas-mining-fiscal-regime-h2-2015-35292#RequestSample Key Highlights - The Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources is responsible for formulating national policy on mineral, energy and water resources. - The Department of Water Affairs is involved in the assessment of plans relating to the development and maintenance of water resources for domestic, agriculture, commercial and industrial use. - The Mines and Mineral Act, 1999 regulates the mines and minerals sector in Botswana. - The Unwrought Precious Metals act details the rules for the control of dealings in unwrought precious metals. Contact Us Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis 'Life Insurance in Ecuador, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides detailed analysis of the market trends, drivers, challenges in the Ecuadorian life insurance segment. It provides key performance indicators such as written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, commissions and expenses, total assets, total investment income and retentions during the review period (20102014) and forecast period (20142019). The report also analyzes distribution channels operating in the segment, gives a comprehensive overview of the Ecuadorian economy and demographics and provides detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country. The report brings together Timetric's research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and profiles of insurers operating in the country. The report also includes details of insurance regulations, and recent changes in regulatory structure. Complete report is available @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/life-insurance-in-ecuador-key-trends-and-opportunities-35941 Summary - The Ecuadorian life insurance segment's growth prospects by life insurance category - Key trends, drivers and challenges for the life insurance segment - A comprehensive overview of the Ecuadorian economy and demographics - The various distribution channels in the Ecuadorian life insurance segment - Details of the competitive landscape in the life insurance segment in Ecuador - Details of regulatory policy applicable to the Ecuadorian insurance industry Scope This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the life insurance segment in Ecuador: - It provides historical values for the Ecuadorian life insurance segment for the report's 20102014 review period, and projected figures for the 20142019 forecast period. - It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the Ecuadorian life insurance segment, along with market forecasts until 2019. - It analyses the various distribution channels for life insurance products in Ecuador. - It profiles the top life insurance companies in Ecuador and outlines the key regulations affecting them. Reasons To Buy - Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Ecuadorian life insurance segment and each category within it. - Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the Ecuadorian life insurance segment. - Assess the competitive dynamics in the life insurance segment. - Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key product categories. - Gain insights into key regulations governing the Ecuadorian insurance industry and their impact on companies and the industry's future. Download Sample Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/life-insurance-in-ecuador-key-trends-and-opportunities-35941#RequestSample Key Highlights - The life segment accounted for 14.0% of the Ecuadorian insurance industry's total gross written premium in 2014. - The rising middle-class population and expanding economy encouraged life insurance business during the review period. - In terms of life insurance category performance, group whole life dominated, with a gross written premium of US$291.9 million in 2014. - In 2014, 44 insurers were authorized to conduct insurance business in Ecuador, with 22 active in the life segment. - The segment's penetration was 0.3% in 2014; therefore Low penetration rate provides scope for growth. Contact Us Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Lake Mary, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- As so much of the world operates through the internet these days, most people agree that a human touch, a personal touch, is an appreciated element for any company whether they provide a service for businesses, consumers, or both. For one family-owned company, providing customers with a personal touch is at the core of what they do best. Discount Lift Rentals has been serving independent rental yards since 2008 by helping them compete with big chain stores. 2015 marked a new chapter in the company's history, as they were bought by Equipment Giant and subsequently moved to Florida. Sanford, Florida is their new home as of August 2015, in the heart of Sanford Historic District. Uprooting your business to begin in an entirely new state can be a daunting task to say the least. But this move is one that Discount Lift Rentals is taking in stride they have been hard at work growing the company and expanding, while holding onto the personal touch that catapulted them into the upper stratosphere of success. Currently they supply boom lift rentals and scissor lift rentals to the continental United States, chiefly operating in California, Florida, Texas, New York, and New Jersey. The move to Florida has been a successful venture, a fact echoed by the owner and founder of the company, Max Hoskins, "We were confident that the move to Florida was the best decision for the company, and in the time that has passed since then we are happy to say that our business is making progress precisely as we expected. Florida is a great location for our headquarters, and we are happy to be operating from this office serving the customers we have grown to love and respect." About Discount Lift Rentals Discount Lift Rentals is an internet based nationwide equipment rental company. They began in 2008 with a mission: to search all the local yards to find the best pricing for each area. In essence, they help the independent rental yards to compete with the big chain stores by unifying as one. As a family-owned and operated business, Discount Lift Rentals proudly boasts a personal touch that allows them to match customers with the best rental yards in the United States. http://discountlift.rentals/ 888-908-5377 Noida, Uttar Pradesh -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/12/2016 -- Medical facilities across the globe are always on the lookout for well-qualified and experienced personnel to run them. Also, there are a number of countries across the world which are facing an acute shortage of medical professionals due to various reasons. Some of them being an ageing health workforce with staff retiring or leaving for better paid jobs without being replaced and many others. In this respect, Profit by RPO, #1 RPO Firm in India, is providing Healthcare staffing services at the most competitive prices. Their recruitment professionals are capable of providing trained medical professionals within the stipulated time frame. Profit by RPO is a well-known firm for providing healthcare staffing services for positions like Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Registered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants and many more such positions. From analysis of positions & requirements to acceptance & joining, they draft a detailed plan to recruit the right medical practitioners for their customers. This renowned RPO Company in India provides healthcare and medical staffing services to skilled nursing facilities (SNF), long term care (LTC), assisted living facilities, independent living, hospitals, acute care centers, outpatient clinics, long term acute care centers (LTAC), and continuing care retirement communities (CCRC). Talking more about their healthcare staffing services, Profit by RPO CEO Abhinav Girdhar stated, "The federal government predicts that by 2020, nurse and physician retirements will contribute to a shortage of approximately 24,000 doctors and nearly 1 million nurses. Health industry leaders are faced with the challenge of orchestrating care in an increasingly complex and converging healthcare labor market. Profit by RPO has been a leader in nursing and allied health staffing, providing our clients with flexible, cost-effective healthcare staffing solutions." About Profit by RPO Profit by RPO is a premier Recruiting Outsourcing Company, delivering cutting edge solutions and ensuring uninterrupted success for its customers. RPO manages all recruitment based tasks for any organization; right from start-up companies to high scale enterprise level organizations. They have always served with a proven track record of exemplary services which is above all, satisfactory and beyond expectations. They boast of an impressive clientele which are located all over the globe from USA and Europe to Australia, New Zealand and Middle East. The specialty of their RPO services is that the solutions delivered by them convert into long term strategic advantages for the clients, and the live testimonials speak of the quality of their deliverables. Profit by RPO is powered with a workforce which is highly dedicated, committed and exceptionally well trained to produce the results which customers want. They constantly upgrade their skill level to induce the expertise which is required to offer truly world class services. Activist Santiago Abascal, seen standing on top of a concrete block, in a photograph that circulated on the social networks last week. s. a. Leoncio Fernandez, a fisherman from La Linea de la Concepcion (Cadiz), had an appointment with the Royal Gibraltar Police on Tuesday. The authorities in the UK territory wanted to take a statement from him about the illegal removal of a concrete block that Gibraltar had dumped into the sea off its coast with the aim of creating an artificial reef. I have no plans on appearing, Fernandez says. I have nothing to tell them. Gibraltar police arrested Fernandez in October after officers determined that he was one of people responsible for removing the concrete block in the summer of 2014. The Gibraltar government dumped 70 blocks in the Bay of Algeciras in 2013 to help create an artificial reef around the territory. At the time, the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy lodged a protest, accusing Gibraltar of environmental crimes and violating international rights in Spanish waters. Spain does not recognize Gibraltars maritime claims in the waters surrounding the territory. Tensions were heightened when Gibraltarian police confronted a large group of Spanish fishermen who were staging a protest in the middle of the bay. They complained that the reefs prevented them from trawling in the location because their nets were getting caught on the blocks. Santiago Abascal, then-leader of the far right group Foundation for the Defense of the Spanish Nation (Danaes) and current spokesperson for right-wing party Vox, has acknowledged the removal of the block. I dont know anything about that block nor do I know those people Fisherman Leoncio Fernandez I dont know anything about that block nor do I know who those people are, Fernandez says. But two years ago, he told the press that with the help of professional divers they were able to bring up one of the blocks from the sea. I didnt take part in any of that. It is true that I was there because I had been told beforehand but my boat wasnt used and that can be proved by looking at the geolocation data, he says. Fernandez claims he was arrested when he went to police headquarters in Gibraltar. My son entered Gibraltar with my boat for refueling. Once he was there, various police officers came on board asking for me. Thats when I found out there was an arrest warrant, he explains. According to Fernandez, they detained him for hours and ordered him to return on Tuesday to give a statement. British police sources say that the investigation is still ongoing. Meanwhile, Abascal has been using social media to defend the protest actions. In June 2014, we [took the concrete block] from the bottom of the sea to demonstrate that it was possible to do so, and to demand strong action from the Spanish government. We still have it in our possession, he wrote on Instagram. Along with the message, he also posted a photo last week of him standing on a block that was reportedly moved to a farm in Spain. According to the spokesperson from Vox which was created by former Popular Party members who were unsatisfied with the groups policies Gibraltar has asked the Interpol for help rounding up all the suspects in the incident. The Royal Gibraltar Police has declined to comment on this. English version by Martin Delfin. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- The market size in terms of revenue of the Southeast Asia food emulsifier market is forecast during 2014 to 2021 at each sub-segment level. Southeast Asia food emulsifier is mainly used across meat products, dairy products, bakery & confectionery, dairy products, convenience foods and others. In terms of revenue, convenience foods held the largest market share in 2014 followed by bakery & confectionery products, dairy products, and meat products. The rising demand for convenience foods in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia among others is increasing the demand for food emulsifier in Southeast Asia. The rise in the number of food borne diseases is driving the growth of the food emulsifiers market as emulsifiers are needed to maintain the overall quality of the product. The increasing usage of food emulsifiers in bakery products and ice creams is anticipated to boost the growth of the food emulsifiers market in Southeast Asia. Complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrrse.com/southeast-asia-food-emulsifier-market Increasing demand for convenience and packaged foods and preference for low fat foods are the key factors fueling the demand for food emulsifiers in Southeast Asia. The factor driving the development of the food emulsifier is usage of food emulsifiers in ice creams. Increasing health awareness among consumers in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia among others is expected to further improve the food emulsifier market in the region. Meanwhile, Thailand is an untapped market and is anticipated to offer significant growth opportunities for distributors and manufacturers during the forecast period of 2015 2021. Stringent government regulations across various countries such as Thailand and Singapore among others are restraining the expansion of the Southeast Asia food emulsifier market. Different organizations such as FDA among others have set safety standards to decide whether a preservative is safe for its intended use. Food emulsifiers are used in various foods and beverages as a food additive to reduce the fat content. Based on product types, the food emulsifier market in Southeast Asia is segmented into stearoyl lactylates, sorbitan esters, lecithin, mono, di-glycerides & derivatives and others. Based on the different types of emulsifiers, the mono, di-glycerides & derivatives segment commanded the largest market share in 2014, followed by the lecithin segment. Sorbitan ester is extensively used in low fat foods and it helps to maintain the food standards and quality Sorbitan esters are set to rise at a considerable growth rate as compared to other products segment. Inquiry on this report @ http://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/1429 In Southeast Asia, the usage of food emulsifiers is estimated to rise enormously during the forecast period, which in turn is anticipated to boost the expansion of the food emulsifiers market in the region. Food emulsifiers are used in various convenience food and processed products, including processed meat and fish, cakes and snacks to prevent bacterial spoilage. The increasing demand for such food products is anticipated to drive the growth of the food emulsifier market. Busy lifestyles are boosting the demand for convenience food products and, this in turn is driving the growth of the food emulsifier market Based on geography, the Southeast Asia food emulsifier market is segmented into Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Rest of Southeast Asia. In 2014, Indonesia holds the biggest market share in the food emulsifier market trailed by Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand and would be same for the forecast period of 2015 2021. For instance, of late, the demand for emulsifier products has increased in the Southeast Asia region due to increase in demand from emerging countries such as Thailand and Vietnam among others. Vietnam has made rapid progress in the food emulsifiers market in the Southeast Asia region. Furthermore, Malaysia is anticipated to register healthy growth during the forecast period. Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/1429 The key participants in the food emulsifier market are Archer-Daniels-Midlands Company, DSM Nutritional Products AG, CP Kelco U.S., Cargill Inc, Ajinomoto Co., Associated British Foods Plc., BASF, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, Sensient Technologies Corporation, and Givaudan SA among others. About MRRSE MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Frozen processed food comprises of a vast array of products which includes frozen desserts, frozen bakery products, frozen meat substitutes, frozen processed fish/seafood, frozen processed poultry, frozen processed red meat and others. The demand for frozen processed food varies from region to region. The global frozen processed food market is anticipated to witness a dramatic growth during the forecast period due to increased consumer preference for frozen processed food products. Since, frozen processed food items are perceived as a healthy and natural food item among the consumers across the world, more consumers are gradually shifting towards the consumption of frozen processed food in order to maintain a healthier lifestyle. This factor is one of the major drivers for the frozen processed food market. In addition, due to the rising health awareness among the consumers, they are looking to reduce the consumption of ready to eat food items, and are shifting towards the consumption of frozen processed food as they are perceived to be much healthier than their counterpart. In addition, vast product portfolio of frozen processed food products owing to product innovation undertaken by the manufacturers operating in the global frozen processed foods market is another factor driving the market. Moreover, due to the busy lifestyle of the consumers in the developing regions including Asia Pacific and Middle East, they are looking toward the consumption of food items which would address their health requirements and are convenient at the same time. This factor is also fuelling the demand for the global processed food market. Complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrrse.com/frozen-processed-food-market Availability of chilled processed food is one of the major factors impeding the demand for the global frozen processed food market. The information gap among the consumers regarding chilled and frozen processed foods along with the low per unit price of chilled processed food is a major hindrance to the global frozen processed food market. In addition, the rising incidence of adults suffering from hyper obesity worldwide is another restraint to the global frozen processed food market. The U.S. is the leading country with almost 33% of the population suffering from obesity which is followed by New Zealand and Australia. Growth of the retail sector in the developing countries which includes India, China, Philippines and UAE is an opportunity for the frozen processed food market. In addition, the growing demand for hygienic food which contains low calorie and low fat percentage is another major opportunity for the global frozen processed food market. Rising consumer awareness for health and wellness and the increasing obesity issues worldwide is increasing the demand for low fat calorie frozen processed food items. In terms of revenue, the frozen processed poultry held the largest market share in 2014 followed by the frozen processed sea food segment. However, the frozen processed sea food segment is expected to surpass the frozen processed poultry segment in terms of revenue share by 2021. In terms of volume, the frozen processed red meat segment held the largest market share in 2014 and is expected to remain the market leader during the forecast period. Also, in terms of volume, the frozen processed poultry segment held the second largest market share in 2014. Inquiry on this report @ http://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/1428 North America dominated the global frozen processed foods market in 2014. Asia Pacific held the second largest market share in the global frozen processed food market right after North America in 2014 but is expected to dominate the global processed food market in the future. The global frozen processed food market is dominated by some of the major players operating in this market. ConAgra Foods, Inc, Nestle S.A., Tyson Foods Inc., Unilever plc, BRF S.A., General Mills are some of the major players operating in global processed food market. The report has been segmented by product type, and by geography and it includes drivers, restraints and opportunities (DRO's), cause and effect analysis of the frozen processed food market. The study highlights current market trends and provides forecast from 2015 to 2021. We have featured the current market scenario for the global frozen processed food market and identified future trends that will impact demand for frozen processed food during the forecast period. The global frozen processed food market has been segmented by product types into frozen bakery products, frozen desserts, frozen meat substitutes, frozen processed sea food, frozen processed poultry, frozen processed red meat and others. Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/1428 The report also analyzes factors driving and inhibiting growth of the frozen processed food market. The report will help manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to understand the present and future trends in this market and formulate strategies accordingly. About MRRSE MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies. Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis Ghanaian fiscal regime report outlines the governing bodies, laws, licenses, rights and tax-related information for five commodities: gold, manganese, bauxite, diamond and iron ore. Summary Timetric's fiscal regime report covers Ghana which is rich in natural resources such as gold, industrial diamonds, bauxite and manganese. The country's economic stability is highly dependent on mineral resources. Browse Complete Report with TOC @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/ghanas-mining-fiscal-regime-h2-2015-35291 Scope The report outlines the governing bodies, laws, licenses, rights and key fiscal terms which includes royalty, corporate income tax, depreciation, gift tax, capital gains tax, loss carry forward, withholding tax, value added tax(VAT) Reasons To Buy Gain an overview of Ghana's mining fiscal regime Key Highlights - The Ministry of Land and Natural Resources is responsible for managing Ghana's land, forest, wildlife and mineral resources. - The Environment Protection Agency is responsible for the protection and improvement of Ghana's environment. - The Minerals Commission is a government agency responsible for the regulation and management of Ghana's mineral resources, while co-coordinating and implementing mining policy. - The Minerals and Mining Act details the process of obtaining mineral rights, and licenses, which are required to conduct mining activities. Request for FREE SAMPLE Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/ghanas-mining-fiscal-regime-h2-2015-35291#RequestSample Table of Content 1 Executive Summary 2 The Ghanaian Mining Industry Governing Bodies 2.1 Ministry of Land and Resources 2.2 Environmental Protection Agency 2.3 Minerals Commission 3 The Ghanaian Mining Industry Governing Laws 3.1 Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 3.2 Diamond Act 1972 3.3 Small-Scale Mining Act 1989 4 The Ghanaian Mining Industry Rights and Licenses 4.1 Mineral Rights 4.2 Reconnaissance License 4.3 Prospecting License 4.4 Mining Lease 4.5 Restricted License or Lease for Industrial Mineral Right 4.6 Small-Scale Mining License 4.7 Import Duty Exemption 4.8 Mine Support Service Company License 4.9 Minerals Purchase and Export, Sell or Disposal License 5 The Ghanaian Mining Industry Key Fiscal Terms 5.1 Royalty 5.2 Corporate Income Tax 5.3 Depreciation 5.4 Gift Tax 5.5 Capital Gains Tax 5.6 Loss Carry Forward 5.7 Withholding Tax 5.8 Value Added Tax Contact Us: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: 386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis 'Global Iron Ore Mining to 2020' report comprehensively covers global reserves of iron ore and reserves by country. It also covers the historic and forecast data on global iron ore production, production by country, historic and forecast consumption and major exporting and importing countries. The report also includes demand drivers affecting the global iron ore mining industry, world steel demand by region, profiles of major iron ore producing companies and information on the active, exploration and development projects by region. Visit Full Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-iron-ore-mining-to-2020-35295 Summary Global iron ore reserves were 190 billion tonnes (Bnt) as of January 2015, with Australia accounting for the largest share at 53Bnt or 27.9% of the total, followed by Brazil at 31Bnt (16.3%), Russia at 25Bnt (13.2%), China at 23Bnt (12.1%) and India at 8.1Bnt (4.3%). The Hamersley range, Pilbara region of Western Australia has rich deposits of hematite ore which normally contains 5662% iron. Much of the hematite in the Pilbara is further categorized as direct shipping ore (DSO) because of its simplistic processing. In Brazil, iron ore is mainly extracted from hematite ores but can also be found in low grade itabirite ores which has iron content in the range of 35%64%. Russian iron ore deposits are primarily located across the Ural region, Moscow and North West Russia. Chinese iron ore reserves are spread across the provinces of Liaoning, Sichuan, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shandong, Anhui, Hubei and Gansu. Scope The report contains an overview of the global iron ore mining industry together with the key demand drivers affecting the industry. Further, it provides information about reserves, historic and forecast production and consumption, reserves and production by country, demand drivers affecting the global iron ore mining industry, world steel demand by region, major exporting and importing countries, competitive landscape and active, exploration and development projects. Reasons To Buy Gain an understanding of the global iron ore mining industry, the relevant demand drivers, reserves, historic and forecast production and consumption, trade (major exporting and importing countries), active, exploration and development projects and the competitive landscape. Request for Sample: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-iron-ore-mining-to-2020-35295#RequestSample Key Highlights - Global iron ore reserves were 190 billion tonnes (Bnt) as of January 2015, with Australia accounting for the largest share at 53Bnt or 27.9% of the total, followed by Brazil at 31Bnt (16.3%), Russia at 25Bnt (13.2%), China at 23Bnt (12.1%) and India at 8.1Bnt (4.3%). - In 2014, Australia was the largest producer of iron ore accounting for 36.1% of world production, followed by Brazil accounting for 20.2%, China (12.8%) and India (8.2%). - Australia was the largest exporter of iron ores and concentrates (including roasted iron pyrites) in 2014, exporting 755.1Mt, followed by Brazil (344.4Mt), South Africa (67.2Mt), Ukraine (40.9Mt) and Canada (40.3Mt). Contact Us: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: 386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com London, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Over the years, consumers have been forced to contend with consistently increasing energy bills. Although it is not possible to entirely avoid these fees, making a few minor changes can dramatically lower the costs. Failing to upgrade to a more efficient equipment could result in unnecessary overspending. GPS Property Services has a new revelation, which all consumers will want to know about right now. Inefficient, older model boilers typically utilize an increased amount of energy, when compared to the newer models. In fact, they can increase the consumer's energy costs, by as much as 20%! According to a recent estimates, two thirds of rural homes, within the United Kingdom, could substantially lower their annual fuel costs by making the switch to a more efficient condensing boiler. The country is overwhelmed with over 2 million fuel poor consumers, who could benefit tremendously from the upgrade. The United Kingdom's leading oil heating organization, OFTEC, is encouraging the government to implement a boiler scrapping scheme, which will make it possible for an increased number of consumers to make the upgrade. GPS Property Services understands the enormous benefits associated with modern boilers. The company highly recommends making the transition to a better boiler right now. They believe that the falling oil prices have created a more consumer friendly environment, which will make it much less costly to upgrade. At the same time, it is essential to remember that new boilers can have environmental benefits. By encouraging a larger portion of United Kingdom citizens to make the switch, the country would be able to cut down on their CO2 emissions significantly. There has truly never been a better time to upgrade, achieve lower costs and help the environment. GPS Property Services is a London based company, which comprises of gas and heating experts. The company is fully insured and the services provided are guaranteed. Consumers, who need to upgrade to a brand new boiler, will want to make contact with one of the company's gas safe engineers. Each of the company's experts is qualified and has at least 5 years of experience. Although the company specializes in boiler installations, they also offer an abundance of other services, including heating system upgrades and bathroom installations. About GPS Property Services GPS Property Services specializes in all brands of boilers, including Baxi, Worcester, Glow Worm and British Gas. All consumers, who wish to upgrade and begin saving substantially on their fuel costs, are encouraged to make contact with the company immediately. Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Browse 108 market data tables with 14 figures spread through 300 pages and in-depth TOC of "Medical Image Analysis Software Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/medical-image-analysis-software-market-846.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. This report studies the global medical image analysis software market over the forecast period 2012-2017. Software has become an integral part of the diagnostic machines to provide better quality of images in a shorter time. The medical image analysis software market is driven by the increasing demand of the imaging modalities across various indications such as oncology, cardiology and neurology. Talk to Our Research Analysts for More Info@ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=846 Fusion of technologies, CAD increasing applications in diagnostic and automated image analysis are the major drivers of the medical image analysis market. The major restraints of the market are inherent difficulties associated with software and hacking which is a major concern associated with software. The global medical image analysis software market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2012 to 2017. The growth is mainly being driven by standalone software market. The market for image analysis software is broadly divided into integrated software and Standalone market. The integrated software provided by the OEMs has the highest share, as the OEM equipment come along with a set of software which is used for image analysis. This software is in built in the system and it has to be present for proper functioning of the device. Get The Sample Copy Of This Report: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=846 The market has a few well-established firms and several small firms operating in this industry. The major players in this market include GE Healthcare (U.K.), Siemens (Germany), Philips (The Netherlands), Toshiba Medical systems (Japan), Agfa healthcare (Belgium), etc. The smaller players include Claron Technologies (Canada), Care stream Health, Inc. (U.S.), Medviso AB (Sweden), Merge Healthcare (U.S.), etc. About MarketsandMarkets: MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Subscribe Reports from Healthcare Domain @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Subscription.html Contact: Mr. Rohan Unit No. 802, 8th Floor, Tower - 7, Magarpatta City SEZ, Hadapsar, Pune 411013, Maharashtra, India. Tel: +1-888-6006-441. Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/healthcare/healthcareit Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets London, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Theatre in the cinema was created to help people who couldn't reach London's biggest theatres, or couldn't afford a ticket, to see their shows. In 2015, Shakespeare productions have been silver-screened as never before thanks to stars like Kenneth Branagh and Benedict Cumberbatch. Unfortunately, Lyn Gardner wrote in May of this year how such screenings could see a decline in touring productions, and by December, her fears began to look increasingly justified. Merely Theatre believe there's no substitute for the live experience. In 2016, they will put quality Shakespeare back onto stages throughout the country, to bring the live experience back to life. The 2016 UK Tour, supported using public funding by Arts Council England and produced by The Production Exchange, will see the company perform over forty shows across nearly twenty different venues in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The five-hand performances of Henry V and A Midsummer Night's Dream, will begin on January 22nd at the Uppingham Theatre and concluding on May 7th at the Kings Theatre, Edinburgh. Full details and booking information is available here. After years working together in London, this is the company's first national tour, and the challenges facing small theatre companies are greater than ever. Audiences are increasingly risk averse, and must choose between London's biggest institutions on the screen, and emerging companies on local stages. This means Merely's work must stand up against that of the biggest companies in theatre to have a chance. Early five-star reviews together with audience feedback suggest the company will pull it off. Artistic Director Scott Ellis said of the tour, "This is our first national tour and it's really exciting for us as a company. Many of us have worked together under the Merely banner for years, honing our style. It's great to be able to take this to audiences nationwide. This is the kind of theatre that really has to be seen live: you can't leap through a screen, but you can leap off a stage. The actors have an active relationship with the audience in every scene, getting face to face with them in a lot of cases." In the cinema, audiences watch another audience watching the show, through many cameras, at the whim of an editor, putting layers between them and the show. In live theatre, the audience's experience is raw and unmediated, and this is what Merely count on. Associate Producer Emmy Rose explained, "We believe in bringing the show to the audience. The dynamic between the audience and our actors is integral to the way we do things. We hammer in clarity every rehearsal, so while there's this immense energy on stage, it's all focused, and it's all designed to connect with each person watching. It makes the shows so accessible." The company operates a progressive 50/50 gender-blind company of five men and five women. For their five-hand productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Henry V, there is a company of ten: five men and five women, with a male and a female actor ready to play every role. From that cast of ten, five are selected for any one performance, with the gender balance shifting fluidly between shows. For example, some audiences will see a female Henry V, and others will see a male Titania. Ellis said of the shows, "There's no screen, no cameras, no editor getting between us, dictating the focus. Our shows are sweaty, intense, immediate experiences. The way Shakespeare should be done: live and alive." About Merely Theatre The actors, the audience, the text. Merely is characterised by playful use of space and audience interaction. Their dynamic, irreverent but focused use of text ensures modern audiences are as engaged and entertained as when the words were written. For more information please visit: http://merelytheatre.co.uk/ Contact: Emmy Rose, Associate Producer, Merely Theatre Email: emmy@merelytheatre.co.uk Phone: +44(0) 7708 822 306 Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Technavio's research analyst predicts the industrial automation control market in APAC to grow steadily at a CAGR of 8% during the forecast period. The surge in the demand for chemical and petrochemical products from APAC is the primary growth driver for this market. The high adoption of automation control solutions across chemicals plants in China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Taiwan has been contributing to the growth of the market. For instance, during 2013, China accounted for more than one-third of the global chemicals trade. Get More Details on this Report and a Full Table of Contents at Industrial Automation Control Market in APAC 2016-2020 The adoption of cloud-based SCADA is expected to boost the market growth during the forecast period. Cloud-based SCADA enables end-users to control and monitor sensors and transmitters by using the Internet. It eliminates the need for on-premise software installation as it is accessible through the cloud, leading to a reduction in initial investment. Moreover, it's highly accurate, reliable, and aids scalability and faster deployments. Competitive landscape and key vendors The industrial automation control market in APAC has the presence of numerous small, medium, and large vendors, including international and regional players. However, the market is dominated by few large international vendors. These international vendors provide a broad product and service portfolio, which comes with multiple features and functionalities and service options for different end-user segments. The top vendors in the market are - ABB Honeywell Rockwell Automation Schneider Electric Siemens Other prominent vendors in the market include Emerson Electric, GE, Metso, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Omron, Yokogawa Electric, and Toshiba. Product segmentation and analysis of the industrial automation control market in APAC APC DCS MES PLC SCADA PLC constituted 33% of the market share during 2015. Low price, high flexibility, and low maintenance has made PLC a preferred choice among several customers. Rapid industrialization has contributed to the high adoption rate of PLC across industries in APAC. For instance, as of 2015, China has more than 120 automobile production plants, where a majority of the plants are using PLC for their automation solution needs. End-user segmentation and analysis of the industrial automation control market in APAC Process industry Discrete industry The process industries accounted for 82% of the market share during 2015. These industries require continuous monitoring and control of fluids such as water, milk, and oil. Automation control products, along with valves and other flow instruments, constantly monitor and regulate the flow and mixing of such fluids during the production process. Key questions answered in the report include What will the market size and the growth rate be in 2020? What are the key factors driving the industrial automation control market in APAC? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the industrial automation control market in APAC? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the industrial automation control market in APAC? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the industrial automation control market in APAC? Related reports PLCMarket in APAC 2015-2019 DCSMarket in APAC 2015-2019 SCADAMarket in the APAC Region 2015-2019 ManufacturingExecutionSystems(MES)MarketinAPAC2015-2019 Companies Mentioned in this Report: ABB, Honeywell, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Emerson Electric, GE, Metso, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Omron, Yokogawa Electric, and Toshiba. About Fast Market Research Fast Market Research is a leading distributor of market research and business information. Representing the world's top research publishers and analysts, we provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available. Our unbiased, expert staff is always available to help you find the right research to fit your requirements and your budget. For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156. Browse all Manufacturing research reports at Fast Market Research You may also be interested in these related reports: -Industrial Control and Factory Automation Market - Global Forecast to 2020 -Global Industrial Automation Services Market 2015-2019 -Automation Aftermarket Services and Outsourcing Market in APAC 2015-2019 -Global Industrial Controls and Factory Automation Market 2015-2019 -PLC Market in APAC 2015-2019 Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis 'Coal Mining in Russia to 2020' report comprehensively covers the country's coal reserves and historic and forecast data on coal production to 2020. The report also includes historic and forecast production by grade and type to 2020, production by mining method, production by region, territory or district, coal prices, historic and forecast coal consumption and consumption split by type to 2020, exports (split by country and type) to 2020, imports by country, demand drivers, competitive landscape, information on the active, exploration and development projects and regulations governing the industry. The fiscal regime section provides information about the country's regulatory authority, laws, licenses and other fiscal regime information such as taxes, rates and other charges applicable to coal mining. It is an essential tool for companies active in Russian coal mining, and for new competitors considering entering the industry. Browse Full Report with TOC: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/coal-mining-in-russia-to-2020-35294 Summary Russia is rich in mineral resources such as coal, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver and diamond. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2015, Russia ranked second after the US with 157 billion tonnes (Bnt) of proven coal reserves, accounting for 17.6% of the global total at the end of 2014. Around 69% of the reserves are of bituminous grade (including sub-bituminous), with the rest being lignite and anthracite. Scope The report contains an overview of the coal mining industry in Russia together with the key demand drivers affecting the industry. Further, it provides information about reserves, historic and forecast production and consumption to 2020, production by grade and type, production by mining method, production by region, territory or districts, consumption by type, coal exports by country and type, imports by country, competitive landscape, fiscal regime and active, exploration and development projects. Reasons To Buy Gain an understanding of the coal mining industry in Russia, its reserves, historic and forecast production split by grade and type to 2020, consumption also split by type to 2020, coal exports by country and type, and imports by country to 2020, the competitive landscape, fiscal regime and active, exploration and development projects. Download Sample Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/coal-mining-in-russia-to-2020-35294#RequestSample Key Highlights - Russia is sixth largest coal producer in the world in 2014 mainly due to an increase in production from the Kuzbass and Kansk-Achinsk basins. Majority of coal mining operations are located in Siberia, European Russia, and Far East and Ural regions. - Russia is rich in mineral resources such as coal, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver and diamond. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2015, Russia ranked second after the US with 157 billion tonnes (Bnt) of proven coal reserves, accounting for 17.6% of the global total at the end of 2014. - OJSC Siberian Coal Energy Company (OJSC SUEK) is the largest coal mining company in Russia followed by Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, Evraz Plc and Mechel OAO. Contact Us Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis Russian fiscal regime report outlines the governing bodies, governing laws, business licenses, rights and obligations and tax-related information on eight commodities: iron ore, copper, gold, silver, nickel, zinc, bauxite and coal. Summary Timetric's fiscal regime report covers Russia, which has a range of natural resources, including oil fields, coal deposits and numerous strategic minerals. However, adverse climatic conditions and remote locations make the exploitation of many resources difficult. Visit Full Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/russias-mining-fiscal-regime-h2-2015-35288 Scope The report outlines the governing bodies, governing laws, business licenses, rights and obligations, key fiscal terms which includes one-time payments and fees, mineral extraction tax, profit tax, transport tax, land tax, depreciation, loss carry forward and value added tax (VAT). Reasons To Buy Gain an overview of Russia's mining fiscal regime. Key Highlights - The Ministry of Energy is a federal executive body responsible for drafting and implementing government policy and legal regulation in sectors including oil and fuel, electric power, renewable energy and hydrocarbons. - The Federal Agency for Mineral Resources is a federal body of executive authority responsible for providing state services, managing state property, and legal regulation in the sphere of subsoil. - The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation is a federal executive body responsible for formulating government policy and legal regulation in the field of the exploration, use, reproduction and protection of natural resources. - The Federal Service of Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Surveillance is an authorized agency for issuing mining allotments Request for Sample: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/russias-mining-fiscal-regime-h2-2015-35288#RequestSample Table of Content 1 Executive Summary 2 The Russian Mining Industry Governing Bodies 2.1 Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation 2.2 Federal Agency for Mineral Resources 2.3 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation 2.4 Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Surveillance 3 The Russian Mining Industry Governing Laws 4 The Russian Mining Industry Ownership and Business Licenses 4.1 Subsoil Ownership 5 The Russian Mining Industry Rights and Obligations 5.1 Rights 5.2 Obligations Contact Us Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com New Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont walks into the Palau de la Generalitat. Massimiliano Minocri (EL PAIS) Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday became the first Catalan premier to take office without swearing allegiance to the Spanish king or the Constitution. Catalan house speaker Carme Forcadell, a nationalist like Puigdemont, bypassed the protocol and allowed the new leader to allude simply to the will of the Catalan people, as represented in the Parlament. It was not the only snub to King Felipe VI at a ceremony that underscored the profound rift between Madrid and the Catalan government, in the hands of separatist forces following the September 27 election. We need to explain ourselves better, and we need to get more people involved Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont The monarchs portrait, which presides the chamber, was covered by a curtain during the ceremony. State lawyers are now analyzing whether the deliberate omission should carry any legal consequences, government sources told EL PAIS. A royal decree from 1979 stipulates that the oath of office must include a promise to remain loyal to the monarch and to uphold the Spanish Constitution as the fundamental law of the land. But Puigdemont is not the first elected official to ignore that mandate. In 1990, the Constitutional Court ruled against any sanctions for deputies representing Herri Batasuna, the now-defunct political wing of Basque terrorist group ETA, who also omitted the promise when they took up their seats in Congress. Whether legal or not, Puigdemonts behavior on Tuesday was just another chapter in the ongoing battle of symbolic gestures between Madrid and Barcelona. In response to the snub, Felipe VI failed to meet with house speaker Forcadell following the swearing-in ceremony. In a short speech, Puigdemont made it clear that his governments goal is Catalan independence from a state that humiliates and financially asphyxiates Catalonia, one of Spains wealthiest and most industrialized regions. Puigdemont promised Catalans a better life after independence, which he hopes to attain within 18 months on the basis of a separatist motion passed by the house in November. Artur Mas (left) will likely play a mentoring role for Carles Puigdemont, his replacement at the helm of the Catalan government. Pau Barrena (Bloomberg) But aware that pro-independence forces did not secure a majority of votes at the September election even if the voting system still granted them a parliamentary superiority Puigdemont asked for more people to join the secessionist drive. We need to explain ourselves better, and we need to get more people involved, he said. Puigdemont emerged as a surprise, last-minute candidate to the premiership on Saturday, just hours before the deadline for naming a new leader of the Generalitat. His nomination was the result of an 11th-hour deal between his own Convergence party (CDC) and the anti-capitalist CUP, whose 10 deputies were necessary to achieve a separatist majority. Ever since the September 27 election, the CUP had refused to back incumbent Artur Mass bid for a new term in office. Mas, for his part, refused to step down until the last minute, and will likely remain a key player in the independence drive. Puigdemont has said that he is adopting Mass entire program and will turn to him for advice on the breakaway process. English version by Susana Urra. Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis 'Life Insurance in South Korea, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides detailed analysis of the market trends, drivers, challenges in the South Korean life insurance segment. It provides key performance indicators such as written premium, incurred loss, commissions and expenses, total assets, total investment income and retentions during the review period (20102014) and forecast period (20142019). The report also analyzes distribution channels operating in the segment, gives a comprehensive overview of South Korea's economy and demographics, and provides detailed information on the country's competitive landscape. The report brings together Timetric's research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and profiles of insurers operating in the country. The report also includes details of insurance regulations, and recent changes in regulatory structure. Read Complete Report with TOC: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/life-insurance-in-south-korea-key-trends-and-35944 Summary - The South Korean life insurance segment's growth prospects by life insurance category - Key trends, drivers and challenges for the life insurance segment - A comprehensive overview of South Korea's economy and demographics - The various distribution channels in the South Korean life insurance segment - Details of the competitive landscape in the life insurance segment in South Korea - Details of regulatory policy applicable to the South Korean insurance industry Scope This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the life insurance segment in South Korea: - It provides historical values for the South Korean life insurance segment for the report's 20102014 review period, and projected figures for the 20142019 forecast period. - It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the South Korean life insurance segment, and market forecasts to 2019. - It analyzes the various distribution channels for life insurance products in South Korea. - It profiles the top life insurance companies in South Korea, and outlines key regulations affecting them. Reasons To Buy - Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the South Korean life insurance segment and each category within it. - Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the South Korean life insurance segment. - Assess the competitive dynamics in the life insurance segment. - Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key product categories. - Gain insights into key regulations governing the South Korean insurance industry, and their impact on companies and the industry's future. Request for Sample: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/life-insurance-in-south-korea-key-trends-and-35944#RequestSample Key Highlights - South Korea is one of the world's most developed economies, with the world's 13th-largest economy in terms of GDP. - According to Timetric, South Korea's life insurance segment was the third-largest in Asia after Japan and China in 2013, in terms of gross written premium. -The life segment is highly consolidated, with the 10 leading companies accounting for 81.5% of the segment's gross written premium in 2014. - Over the forecast period, bancassurance is expected to continue to drive the growth of the South Korean insurance industry, as a large proportion of the country's population gains access to formal banking services due to technological developments in financial services. - As the life segment moves towards saturation, factors such as decreasing domestic demand, the establishment of distribution networks and brand loyalty will present challenges to life insurers. - Due to the mature nature of the life insurance segment, life insurers primarily focused on technical collaborations to gain competitive advantages. The leading life insurer Samsung Life Insurance has entered into a strategic alliance with New York Life Investment Management LLC (NYLIM), a US-based investment manager, to expand its asset management skills. Contact Us: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: 386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Web: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/12/2016 -- The news that Visa-Vietnam.org is offering hassle-free Vietnam Visa on Arrival services may excite tourists who visit the country. Especially, those who are planning to visit Vietnam for the occasion of the upcoming lunar year may be happy about this news. Visa-Vietnam.org proudly says that their Visa On Arrival services come at reasonable costs. Visitors who opt for their services will certainly be impressed by their quick and efficient services as well. 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Customers are not able to differentiate between competent companies and those who render poor services. But Visa-Vietnam.org points out that they have been operating in this field since 2007. Customers who have utilized their services have no hesitation in acknowledging about the efficient Visa on Arrival services they offer, says the company. Further, they have put in place excellent systems so their customers can obtain their Vietnam Visas on Arrival quickly. Thanks to the reliable services they offer, the number of their customers has been rapidly increasing, points out the company. Those who decide to use their services can be certain of getting quick services at very low costs. Not only that, the company makes it a point to protect all the personal details of their customers. They further point out that even reputed operators like TripAdvisor, LonelyPlanet and Routard also recommend them to those who are on the look-out for Vietnam Visa on Arrival services. Visa-Vietnam.org urges those travelers who are planning to visit Vietnam on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar Year to utilize their services and benefit. About Visa-Vietnam.org Visa-Vietnam.org is offering hassle-free Vietnam Visa on Arrival services. Those who are planning to visit Vietnam for the occasion of the upcoming lunar year can utilize the services offered by the company and benefit a lot. The Visa On Arrival services the company offers come at reasonable costs. Visitors who opt for their services will certainly be impressed by their quick and efficient services as well. In short, those who seek their services can have hassle-free trips to Vietnam. They need not chase down embassies to get their Vietnam Visas. There is no need for them to send off their passports also for getting their Visas. For Media Contact: Visa-Vietnam.org Address: Room A2, 64 Nguyen Dinh Chieu street, Dakao ward, district 1, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Phone: (00) (+84) 8 5404 3118 www.visa-vietnam.org Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- The key driver for the growth of the global large scale power projects construction market is the increasing demand for electricity. Power consumption has been consistently increasing due to factors such as increase in global population, rapid rate of industrialization in developing nations, and modernization of consumer trends. In-depth research report on Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) Construction Market with Full TOC at : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/umpp-construction-market.html Another advantage that the global large scale power projects construction market can offer is the relatively lower pricing of electricity. Large scale power projects are generally extensive in size and have a minimum power generation capacity of 4,000 MW. The global large scale power projects market, however, witnesses the major challenge of high initial costs associated with installation and procurement of resources. The market is also considerably hampered by the impact large scale power projects can have on the environment. The first large scale power project was installed in Labrador, Canada in 1971, which generates 5,428 MW. It is owned by the Churchill Falls Labrador Corporation Limited. Other large scale power plant projects include the Guri hydroelectric dam, the Xiluodu hydroelectric dam, and the Itaipu hydroelectric dam. One of the more prominent large scale power projects being constructed currently is the Ultra Mega Power Project in India. Another large scale power project construction is being undertaken by China. The governments of both nations have provided assistance in the form of subsidies, public clearances, financial assistance, other approvals, and the adoption of plug and play models in order to speed up the process of finishing the UMPP and other such projects. This is a substantial addition to the positive reinforcement required to improve the global large scale power projects market. For further inquiries, click here : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=6020 The global large scale power projects market is segmented on the basis of technology and geography. The global large scale power projects market is also divided into projects that use renewable and non-renewable resources. The sources of power generation may include hydro power, wind power, solar power, nuclear energy, and coal. From a geographical perspective, the global large scale power projects market is currently dominated by Asia Pacific, due to the heavy activities conducted by India and China. Key players in the global large scale power projects market are Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., Tata Power Co. Ltd, Taiwan Power Company , Saudi Consolidated Electric Company, RusHydro JSC, Reliance Power Ltd., PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA, Ontario Power Generation Inc., LongTan Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., Itaipu Binacional, Chubu Electric PowerCo. Inc., CVG Electrificacion Del Caroni CA, Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, and China Three Gorges Corporation. Browse TMR Blog Energy Reports: http://www.tmrblog.com/search/label/Energy About Transparency Market Research (TMR) Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2016 -- Synopsis 'Coal Mining in the US to 2020' report comprehensively covers the country's coal reserves, reserves by state, proximate analysis of deposits by basin, by mines operating in the Powder River basin and by different producing countries, historic and forecast data on coal production to 2020 and production by grade and type, production forecast by major mines, share of production by state and by basin and market share of major companies by sales volume. The report also includes coal prices, sale price of coal by state and coal type, historic and forecast coal consumption to 2020 and consumption by type, coal exports, exports by country, exports by customs districts, demand drivers, competitive landscape, information on the active and development projects and regulations governing the industry. Browse Complete Report with TOC @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/coal-mining-in-the-us-to-2020-28570 The fiscal regime section provides information about the country's regulatory authority, laws, licenses and other fiscal regime information such as taxes, rates and other charges applicable to the mining of the commodity in the country. It is an essential tool for companies active across the US mining value chain, and for new competitors considering entering the industry. Summary The US had the largest proven reserves of coal globally at 237 billion tonnes (Bnt) in 2014, accounting for 26.6% of the global total. Sub-bituminous and lignite accounted for 54.4% or 129Bnt, while the remaining 45.6% or 108Bnt were bituminous coal. The state of Wyoming was the country's largest producing state, followed by West Virginia and Kentucky. Scope The report contains an overview of the coal mining industry in the US together with the key demand drivers affecting the industry. Further, it provides information about reserves, reserves by state, proximate analysis of various coal, historic and forecast production and consumption to 2020, production by grade and type, production forecast by major mines, share of production by state and by basin, consumption by type, coal exports, exports by country, exports by customs districts, competitive landscape, fiscal regime and key active and development projects. Reasons To Buy To gain an understanding of the coal mining industry in the US, its reserves, reserves by state, proximate analysis of various coal, historic and forecast production split by grade and type and major mines and consumption also split by type to 2020, coal exports, exports by customs districts, competitive landscape, fiscal regime and key active and development projects. Request for FREE SAMPLE Report @: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/coal-mining-in-the-us-to-2020-28570#RequestSample Key Highlights - Montana had the highest reserves, accounting for 29.1% of the US total, followed by Illinois with 14.7%, Kentucky with 5.5%, and Pennsylvania and Ohio each having a share of 4.4%. - The US produced an estimated 906.9 million tonnes (Mt) of coal in 2014, up by 1.6% compared with 2013, owing to higher natural gas prices due to which coal remained the dominant source for generating power. - Wyoming was the largest producing state in 2014, with 358.9Mt, followed by West Virginia with 101.5Mt, Kentucky (70.2Mt), Pennsylvania (55.3Mt) and Illinois (52.5Mt). The rest of it originated from other states which include Montana, Texas and Indiana. Contact Us Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, United States Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.c "A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972 A team of scientists led by University of Melbourne researcher Dr Matthew Le Feuvre has described twenty new species of freshwater fish from the rivers of the Kimberley region, Western Australia. The new species fall within three groups: 16 species of Terapontidae (grunters); 3 species of Eleotridae (gudgeons); and one species of Atherinidae (hardy heads). The species were discovered during nine months of fieldwork across 17 Kimberley rivers between 2012 and 2014. Twelve of them were discovered within a three-week period in 2013 by Dr Le Feuvre and his colleague, James Shelley of the University of Melbourne, when they accessed some of the most remote rivers in Australia. Sampling was challenging, with Mr Shelley attacked by a freshwater crocodile while snorkeling in the Glenelg river on the Kimberley plateau, the scientists said. One of the new species a 25-cm-long grunter found in the remote and spectacular Prince Regent River is set to be named after writer and novelist Tim Winton. Its in recognition of his contribution to Australias cultural life, his love of fish which shines through in many of his novels, and his staunch advocacy for conservation in the Kimberley, Mr Shelley said. Mr Winton said it was surprisingly gratifying to have his name attached to a new species of fish. The Kimberley is a treasure that clearly requires more study and greater protection and groundbreaking discoveries like these underline just how much there is still to learn about this special region, Mr Winton said. All the remaining new species will receive a common name reflecting the aboriginal name for the area it was collected from or words describing its features, as well as a Latin scientific name. Research describing the new species is published online in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. _____ Matthew C. Le Feuvre et al. 2016. Macroecological relationships reveal conservation hotspots and extinction-prone species in Australias freshwater fishes. Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 176 186; doi: 10.1111/geb.12397 People in South-East Asia and central Sub-Saharan Africa are particularly at risk of viral diseases carried by bats, a map shows. The global risk map is designed to support research into avoiding the transfer of diseases from bats to humans and to help health workers pinpoint infection hotspots and target pre-endemic measures, its creators say. Analysing data published between 1900 and 2013, the scientists measured each regions risk level (see map below) and identified factors that contribute to infections from bats, such as increased human encroachment on areas where bats roost. While deforestation and urbanisation were found to be a common risk factor throughout all regions, scientists warned that other human activities such as hunting bats for meat and traditional medicines could also cause an outbreak. Bats have been suspected as the origin of several recent major human virus epidemics, including the Nipah virus in 1999, SARS coronavirus in 2002 and, more recently, the Ebola virus, says Liam Brierley, the lead author of the research published on 5 January in The American Naturalist, and a researcher at the Zoological Society of London, United Kingdom. Some bat species live in colonies with millions of individuals, which could facilitate the transmission of multiple viruses at the same time. Although it has not yet been properly understood, bats have been known to down-regulate their body temperature at night, explains Brierley. This state of torpor might explain how their immune systems are able to cope with multiple infections. The researchers suggest putting areas with many bat colonies and lots of different viruses under surveillance to check for the emergence of novel viruses that could jump to humans. Areas with high potential for contact between humans and bats, such as rural settlements, would then require immediate public health interventions if a new virus emerged, they say. Click to enlarge For instance, one of the largest virus outbreaks in South-East Asia involved the Nipah virus, which was traced to pig farm expansions close to bat habitats in Malaysia. Research indicates that bat-to-pig-to-human transmissions are likely to have occurred when pigs ate fruit contaminated by bat saliva or urine. As the population in South-East Asian countries continues to expand, we have to be mindful of the risks of moving into forested tropical areas, says Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, a US-based research organisation. We need to build our capacity to develop human veterinary vaccines for these zoonotic infections. But despite enormous capacity among South-East Asian countries to innovate and develop new vaccines, many local vaccine developers choose not to do so because they fear their products will not sell, he says. We need to identify financial mechanisms for supporting indigenous vaccine producers and non-profit product development partnerships, says Hotez. He adds that the general public, in particular farmers working near bat habitats, must be informed about the risks. The glacial lake of Siling Co embodies both the splendour and perils of Tibets highlands. Its waters reflect a cobalt sky dotted with clouds. At 4,500 metres above sea level, the air is thin and clear, and the light almost unearthly. The turquoise lake frames a flock of black-necked cranes foraging on the shore. Nearby, Tibetan antelopes stop grazing to cautiously observe a man slowly picking his way to the waters edge. For Bumtar, a 32-year-old herder from Village Three in the town of Xiongmeizhen, the tranquil scene disguises looming danger. Until a decade ago, Bumtar who, like many Tibetans, uses only one name lived by the lake with his family, where they grazed their 35 yaks and 200-odd sheep on 340 hectares of pasture. But higher up, in the surrounding mountains, a disaster was unfolding that would drive his family from their home. The disaster is accelerating with every warm year. Due to climate change, more and more meltwater from shrinking glaciers and defrosting soil is flowing into Siling Co, also known as Serling Tso, causing the lake to swell and drown surrounding land. More pasture got flooded every year and, eventually, we had to entirely abandon our house and land in 2011, Bumtar says. Tibets largest lake And the water is still advancing: the lake is rising by more than half a metre every year. Around 5,300 hectares of the villages pasture are now submerged. According to an environmental assessment report released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the lake expanded by nearly half its original size between 2005 and 2014. It has now been crowned Tibets largest lake. For Bumtar, this is a dubious honour. You could still see the roof of our house a couple of years ago, he says, pointing across the lake. Now its all gone. What is happening to the Siling Co herders is not exceptional. All over Tibet, climate change is forcing people to resort to desperate measures to eke out an existence on the ever-more hostile land. The problem has laid bare the glaring inadequacies of grassland management policies created decades earlier by the Chinese government, which administers Tibet. Serling Tso is just one of the 1,230 or so Tibetan lakes that are rapidly expanding due to increased precipitation, glacier melt and permafrost thaw, says Su Fengge, a hydrologist at the CASs Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research in Beijing. Since 1970, the number of lakes in the region has grown by 14 per cent, while three-quarters of existing lakes are expanding. The total area of Tibet covered by water grew by 19 per cent during the same timeframe, says the CAS report. This has devastated surrounding pastures, says Su. Doyong, the chief of Bumtars village, is at a loss about what to do. Dozens of families in the village have lost their pasture. And other villages around the lake are similarly affected, Doyong explains. He has experienced first-hand how policies intended to protect the environment have destroyed the herders traditional way of life. Because of a series of Chinese government initiatives launched since 1980 to protect Tibets grasslands by limiting grazing, most pasture is now divided up between individual households, with fences marking boundaries. This means families affected by flooding cannot easily move their herds, Doyong says. As a result, some herders have been forced to take up poor-quality pasture far from lakes and rivers. Others, such as Bumtar, rent lakeside land at considerable cost. But with water levels continuing to rise, Bumtar says this is only a short-term solution. I dont know how long this will last, he says, gesturing at the soggy grassland under his feet. Remote control Although Tibet has its own regional government, policies concerning what is called the Tibet Autonomous Region are effectively handed down from the Chinese government in Beijing. One concern is that the central government may not know the reality on the ground from thousands of kilometres away. And while Tibet is heavily subsidised and many of Beijings policies are probably well-intentioned aiming to boost economic development, for example the lack of a transparent and democratic political system that recognises local culture, knowledge and sensitivities is sorely felt in day-to-day policymaking. The initiative that led to pasture being fenced off is the latest in a string of Chinese grassland policies that have followed a tumultuous course. After China took control of Tibet in 1951, the young communist republic abolished serfdom. It shared out animals and land to form collectives, laying the groundwork for intense livestock production in large state farms. Then, in the mid-1980s, as the fervour of the market economy swept across Asia, Beijing swung to the other extreme: privatising pastures to incentivise individual households to boost productivity on the blocks of land they were allocated. As a result, Tibetans, with financial support from the government, were compelled to build fences to mark the boundaries between households and villages. The policies are hugely unpopular among researchers and herders alike. There is widespread disappointment that they are not guided by science. Yet Tibetans must comply with policies handed down to them by faraway policymakers with little understanding of the working and complexity of the Tibetan landscape. And with climate change getting a grip on Tibet, the fences increasingly threaten the herding lifestyle. Privatisation and fencing have effectively settled the herders for good, says Yonten Nyima, a Tibetan policy researcher at Sichuan University in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, which lies to the east of Tibet. Tibetan herders are now confined to their allocated grasslands instead of heading for the best pastures at high elevations in summer and coming down to more sheltered valleys during winter. Nyima is starting a project to assess how lake expansion affects herders livelihoods and to suggest adaptations. Such new policies are urgently needed as more and more herders lose their homes and livestock to the meltwater flood climate change. Another menace But lake expansion is not the only menace threatening the fenced-in herders. At the village of Dotse in Yushu prefecture in the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau, 72-year-old herder Tsoje recalls the horror of watching a severe snowstorm in 1995 decimate her livestock. Her tone is calm as she describes how her sheep and yaks wasted away in her fields. The snow reached the knee and blanketed many pastures in the region, she says. The livestock had nothing to eat for weeks. They were so hungry that they ate each others fur. Tsoje and her four grandchildren, aged between a few months to eight years old, share a meal of hot, milky tea, tsampa (roasted barley bread) and dried yak meat prepared by her daughter. The stove in the centre of their simple, incense-filled mud house crackles as she tells them how fencing turned the self-sufficient herders into helpless onlookers during the disaster. The grasslands were all divided up, so we couldnt herd the animals to places that were not affected by the snowstorm, she says. We lost half our livestock, about 54 yaks and more than a hundred sheep. They all starved to death. Tsojes case is just one of many disasters that have befallen Tibets herders. Along with flooding, snowstorms pose an ever-increasing risk to animals and people alike. According to a study led by Long Ruijun, an ecologist at Lanzhou University in Chinas Gansu province, 39 per cent of livestock in Yushu prefecture died in the 1995 disaster. And between 1980 and 1990, 42 per cent of livestock, or about 2.3 million animals, were killed by snowstorms in Nagqu prefecture in central Tibet alone. As a result, more than US$100 million were lost to Nagqus economy over the decade, Long found. The danger of settling down Snowstorms are a major threat to the livelihood of Tibetan pastoralists, says Dondrup, a former herder from Yushu who is now a project officer for China Plateau Perspectives, a non-governmental organisation based in Chinas Qinghai province that seeks to improve the lives of those living on the Tibetan Plateau and protect its environment. He puts the blame for herd loss from storms squarely at the door of settlement policies. Snow disasters have always been a part of the plateau life, he says. But pastoralists ability to cope with such disasters may be changing when they move away from nomadic pastoralism. Researchers have not yet established whether snowstorms are becoming more intense or frequent on the plateau. But atmospheric scientists such as Zhang Renhe, former head of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Beijing, say snow cover on the plateau has significantly risen in the past decades. And severe snowstorms are often followed by weaker Asian monsoons and summer droughts, he says. This exacerbates the problem, says Tsechoe Dorji, an ecologist at the Lhasa branch of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, who grew up in a herder family in western Tibet: Its a double whammy for livestock, making them more vulnerable in the following winter. In traditional pastoralism, pastures are communally managed, and the community shares not only a considerable body of practical knowledge which is passed down from generation to generation about surviving in their uncertain environment, but also a strong sense of kinship and reciprocity. Their vulnerability is, therefore, cushioned by cooperation and joint ownership of assets and resources, says Nyima of Sichuan University. Complex risks According to the latest set of assessment reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Tibetan Plateau will be a hotspot for extreme climate events such as floods, drought and snowstorms. But the plateau occupies 2.5 million square kilometres equivalent to more than a quarter of Chinas landmass and is home to various climate zones, making climate changes true impact hard to assess. With pressures on Tibetan herders increasing, scientists and local government officials are lobbying for more opportunities to understand their complex predicament. There should be efforts, for instance, to study the processes driving lake expansion and to predict how they will change in the future, says Guo Hongbao, director of Nagqu prefectures livestock and husbandry bureau. Mobility and cooperation are the cultural fabric of Tibetan pastoralism that empower the community and make them self-reliant. Emily Yeh, University of Colorado at Boulder Only then can the government work out compensation and contingency plans for the affected regions, says Guo. Lake expansion is a relatively new phenomenon and we are still struggling to come to terms with it, he says. But herders whose land now lies submerged acutely need government intervention. In a project supported by the US National Science Foundation, Nyima and his colleagues assessed how recent grassland policies have affected how herders cope with snowstorms. Between July 2009 and September 2010, Nyima lived in five villages in Nagqu, observing and participating in everyday life and pastoral practices. He interviewed 120 households on past and current strategies to cope with snowstorms. Decline in livestock quality Most pastoralists lament having to fence in their animals, says Nyima. They are seeing a decline in livestock quality due to restricted mobility and continuing grassland degradation, which they think makes the animals more vulnerable to severe winter conditions, he says. Moreover, the herders often feel helpless in extreme climate events, he adds. When a snowstorm hit previously, a group of herders could ask to use the pastures of other groups, Nyima explains. Such informal arrangements developed over time, and included the understanding that the favour would be returned. Now herders have to negotiate with individual families on their own, often with little success, says Nyima. Most of them are simply trapped in their own plot of land and have nowhere else to go. Other scientists are worried about increasing conflict between families and villages in Tibet since privatisation. This is not terribly surprising, says Emily Yeh, a Tibetologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, United States, who worked with Nyima on the National Science Foundation project. The current economic policies encourage households to act individually as profit-maximising agents competing with their neighbours. In a separate study, Yeh and her colleagues found people charged extraordinary prices for access to unaffected pastures during snowstorms in Gouli, a town in the northern Tibetan Plateau. This is not at all traditional, she says. It undermines the spirit of cooperation, which is crucial for coping with climate change and natural disasters. There are, however, exceptions, says Yeh. She tells SciDev.Net about a resourceful herding family that trucked their yaks to a town 40 kilometres away, where there was little snow. This family lost fewer livestock during severe winters. But you need connections, resources and labour power for such long-range mobility, Yeh points out. Grassland damage All the while, it is becoming clear that grassland privatisation, which was introduced to protect the environment, is causing biodiversity loss and a decline in grassland quality. Muhammad Ismail, an expert on natural resource management at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal, says traditional herding, which was practised in Tibet for thousands of years without significant impact on the land, needs to be reintroduced. Researchers found that rearing livestock in fenced-in pastures is more damaging than allowing them to roam over a large area. This is because it involves repetitive trampling and because grass on each piece of pasture has insufficient time to regrow before animals are rotated back to it. Pastoralism is most effective and most environmentally friendly when its a communal activity, says Ismail. There is an urgent need to restore community connections to the land [in Tibet]. Its the path to building resilience to climate change. Prepare for the unpredictable But while recognising the importance of mobility and cooperation in adapting to a changing environment, this is far from enough, especially in extreme cases of floods, droughts and snowstorms, says Guo, whose office is tasked with keeping Nagqus stock and herders safe.We need to take a holistic approach and rely on a whole suite of different measures, he says, adding that such adaptation strategies must be based on a proper assessment of risks and vulnerability. A lack of information is certainly no longer an excuse for inaction. Tibet has recently been the focus of a flurry of reports and studies designed to help the region cope with climate change. When it comes to extreme weather, for example, the 2014 Chinese Academy of Sciences report named four prefectures Nagqu, Yushu, Ngari in Tibet and Aba in Sichuan province as hotspots for severe snowstorms. This should form a good basis for adaptation strategies, says Meng Deli, vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The government is deliberating how the region could better cope with various environmental changes, especially extreme climate events, in coming decades. To help the herders, these strategies need to consider the inherent problems of livestock husbandry in the harsh Tibetan winter, says Wang Xinchuan, an ecologist at the Breeding Centre for High-Quality Grasses on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Even during a normal winter, animals can lose up to 30 per cent of their body weight. In high-risk regions, the government ought to stockpile sufficient blankets and supplementary hay as emergency measures, he says. The hay would be used in addition to the dried vegetation the animals are normally given over the winter. One big challenge, Wang says, is that we are unable to cultivate the nutritious species that livestock prefer because such plants rarely produce seeds on the high plateau and instead spread by developing shoots. In addition, he says, species commonly planted on the plateau have low yields and poor nutrition levels, especially protein content, and struggle to survive winter at high altitudes. But hope may be on the horizon. After years of breeding research, Wang and his colleagues have developed a way to cultivate a mixture of selected grass and legume varieties that, he says, rivals any of the species currently grown separately for animal feed. Get moving again The problem remains, however, that there is no simple way to protect herders and their livestock. Researchers favour introducing a range of strategies to help Tibetans adapt to climate change. But these cannot function in a social vacuum, nor will they happen without ongoing government support, says Yeh, from the University of Colorado. And, according to Yeh, such strategies will fail without a back-to-the-roots movement among herding communities. Therefore it is essential for both herders and their environment that the animals get moving again. Mobility and cooperation are the cultural fabric of Tibetan pastoralism that empower the community and make them self-reliant, she says. Without reclaiming many of their nomadic traditions, she adds, these values will be lost. This loss is palpable at Siling Co, where Bumtar examines some shoes and medicine bottles that have reached the shore from villages drowned under the lake. Bobbing up and down under the sweeping vista of Tibets highlands, now mostly devoid of herders, these remnants of humanity are symbols of disaster and displacement that are not lost on Bumtar. I dont know what the future will hold for us, he says. We have no control over our own destiny. Want to read more? See Jane Qius feature in Nature. This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. The entrance to the National Assembly building in Caracas. MARCO BELLO (REUTERS) The head of Venezuelas National Assembly has said that three lawmakers whose elections last month are being challenged at the Supreme Court will abandon their seats until the controversy is resolved. The announcement by assembly speaker Henry Ramos Allup to CNN en Espanol came a day after the top court held the opposition-controlled legislative body in contempt for allowing the lawmakers from Amazonas state to be sworn in. The controversy has threatened to ignite a constitutional crisis between the judiciary, controlled by Maduros allies, and the opposition-run assembly Justices warned that any decisions made by the National Assembly would be considered invalid if the three deputies were sitting in session. Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro had filed challenges against the election of the three lawmakers alleging voting irregularities that took place during the December 6 legislative ballot. The controversy has threatened to ignite a constitutional crisis between the judiciary, which is controlled by Maduros allies, and the opposition-run assembly. Deputies from the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) the coalition that unites all opposition parties and the governments minority bloc were expected to vote on Wednesday whether to temporarily dismiss the lawmakers until the top court can make its final ruling on the election challenges. On Tuesday, Venezuelas attorney general questioned how the Supreme Courts contempt ruling against the National Assembly would still affect the work and procedures undertaken by lawmakers. The oppositions u-turn looks like it could nullify the possibility of exempting Maduro from having to present his annual message to the nation from the assembly, as the Venezuelan constitution stipulates. We need to know when and where the president will make his state-of-the-nation address, said Vice President Aristobolo Isturiz. But Ramos Allup said the president must deliver his report here [at the National Assembly] and not on some street corner. The opposition has accused government-backed lawmakers of wanting to curtail its legislative powers by reducing its absolute majority in the assembly by filing challenges against the winners of last months elections. MUD won 112 seats while the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allies garnered 55 seats. English version by Martin Delfin. Linda Nordling suggests ways to sustain the popularity of the first South African science forum. Last month, scientists, policymakers and journalists from across Africa gathered in Pretoria, South Africa, to attend the inaugural Science Forum South Africa (SFSA). The event, touted as Africas first open science event welcomed over 1,500 delegates to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) International Convention Centre on 8-9 December. Attendance exceeded all expectations, with a lack of seating meaning that latecomers had to stand during the opening session. The organiser, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of South Africa, says it will host another event around the same time in 2016. In the long term it will attempt to be for Africa what gatherings such as the biennial EuroScience Open Forum is for Europe, or the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting for the United States, according to the DST. As science conferences go, the forum was a lively affair. Linda Nordling But to live up to this ambition, and keep the punters coming year after year, the organisers will have to up their game. Here are some things they could try. More science For starters, the next forum will have to offer delegates and especially journalists attending the event more genuinely new science. Many famous South African scientists attended SFSA. But none of them chose to present new and exciting research findings at the event. That may not be so strange given that the SFSA as a platform is young and untested. Most scientists, especially those with an international reputation, choose to reveal their best results at international conferences. Nevertheless, for future events, the DST should try to secure some previously unannounced research results that are both scientifically significant and interesting. A good start would be to publish rigorous studies performed by, say, the CSIR focusing on timely South African or African challenges such as climate change or disease outbreaks. This would entice journalists, who turned out in force at the first SFSA, to continually patronise it. By contrast, the prospect of listening to African dignitaries talking about the importance of science might not seem so exciting the second time around. Different dialogue Future alterations of the forum should also be a bit braver in how it gets delegates to talk and interact with each other. As science conferences go, the forum was a lively affair. Each presentation and session included time at the end for questions and comments from the audience. There was also plenty of lively discussions in the corridors and halls outside the formal session halls, between and often also during sessions. However, as so often happens, the public comment part of discussions often turned out rushed and curtailed by time-sensitive moderators. A few discussions, including the popular one concerning the need or not to decolonise African knowledge, could have benefited from a longer and more innovative session format. Indeed, such discussions could easily stretch to several hours, and why not? As long as the delegates are happy to invest that much time in a topic that interests them. The agenda should be tailor-made to suit the different types of delegates attending. Press briefings should be held in the morning, so journalists are able to meet afternoon deadlines. Traditional moderated sessions featuring expert presentations and debates should be mixed with more inclusive, and possibly lengthier, discussions where the topic requires it. Building bridges Another important discussion to make space for is science policy. This might not be the sexiest topic on the agenda, but it is a vital link between science and society. There were some good discussions at the forum about how to make evidence-based policymaking. However, many of the voices talking about these topics did not come from Africa. Linda Nordling Science policy requires communication between different groups of people scientists, politicians, business leaders, non-governmental organisations and society at large to come up with good results. There were some good discussions at the forum about how to make evidence-based policymaking. However, many of the voices talking about these topics did not come from Africa. While we can learn from international best practice, future discussions need to be more grounded in African experience and contexts. But scientists should also be able to use the forum to air challenges facing them in their day-to-day lives. After all, a forum such as this is not just a good time for the South African DST to show off local talent, but also for those who make science policy in the country to listen to their stakeholders. Looking ahead These are just some ideas for how the forums organiser can build on the energy generated at the first forum to generate long-term success. The inaugural event showed that there was an unmet need for this kind of debate, both within the scientific community and in wider society. Future meetings should harness that energy and sharpen it. There are enough interested people to fill a conference hall twice the size of the CSIR International Convention Centre.If the forum does not need to find a bigger home in a couple of years, it will have failed to reach its potential. Journalist Linda Nordling, based in Cape Town, South Africa, specialises in African science policy, education and development. She was the founding editor of Research Africa and writes for SciDev.Net, Nature and others. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. Huge successes in the isolation and cultivation of marine microbial strains have been made by the EC-funded MaCuMBA (Marine Microorganisms: Cultivation Methods for Improving their Biotechnological Applications) project, which aims to uncover the untold diversity of marine microbes using cultivation-dependent strategies. MaCuMBA coordinator Prof Lucas Stal (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ)), said: "MaCuMBA aims to improve the isolation rate and growth efficiency of marine microorganisms from conventional and extreme habitats by applying innovative methods and using automated high-throughput procedures. As the project enters its final year, a variety of exciting and novel results are consistently emerging, including the discovery of new taxa and species." For example, MaCuMBA researchers from the University of Western Brittany (UBO) in Brest, France, have isolated 11 new genera of alpha- and gammaproteobacteria and six other genera using anaerobic cultivation techniques. These novel strains are potentially highly significant, as proteobacteria as a class contain many strains which are of medical, ecological, and scientific importance. Almost 200 new species of fungi have also been isolated from the deep sub-seafloor by UBO. "Historically, marine fungi have been a neglected group amongst microbiological researchers and these intriguing new discoveries will significantly contribute to existing knowledge of these fascinating microorganisms," explained Prof Stal. MaCuMBA researchers at the University of Warwick (UW) have discovered that while the marine cyanobacterium (bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis) Synechococcus sp. entered the death phase after five to six weeks in pure culture, when it was co-cultivated with the marine heterotrophic bacterium (bacteria which require organic compounds for nourishment) Rugeria sp., cells of both genera remained in stationary phase (with equal growth and death rates) and viable up to six months. Prof Stal said: "The MaCuMBA consortium has abandoned the old paradigm in microbiology that microorganisms can only be studied in pure single strain cultures. In nature, organisms do not live alone, but in close association with other species, with which they cooperate or compete by communicating, and exchange growth factors." Many of the microorganisms isolated and cultivated through MaCuMBA are exhibiting properties with potential positive human health impacts, and could be useful in the treatment of a variety of conditions. Transfer to industry partners continues in earnest in this final year in order to allow for high throughput screening of strains and scale up; which are the first steps toward clinical trials and potential medical applications. The latest results of the project were presented at MaCuMBA's third General Assembly, which was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, from the 21-25 September 2015. Representatives of the project's 22 partner organisations attended the Assembly at the Icelandic Marine Research Institute. The meeting involved scientific presentations, workshops and two days of sampling in the Icelandic waters, facilitated by project partner Matis. The key outcomes of MaCuMBA will be presented at its Final International Industry event entitled 'The Marine Microbiome -- Discovery & Innovation', which will be held in Berlin, Germany, from 27-30 June 2016. This conference will bring the industrial and scientific worlds together, with a strong focus on the biotechnical application of marine microbes. Pre-registration for this exciting event is highly recommended and is available here: www.macumbaproject.eu/component/rsform/form/1-international-marine-microbiome-conference-pre-registration-form For more information about MaCuMBA, please visit: www.macumbaproject.eu. For the latest news from MaCuMBA you can also follow the project on Twitter (https://twitter.com/MaCuMBAProject) and like its Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MaCuMBAProject). Symptoms of mild to minimal depression were associated with early indicators of heart disease in a research letter published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, but the study found regular exercise seems to reduce the adverse cardiovascular consequences of depression. Depression has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and other physical ailments, and depression is commonly associated with worse outcomes for patients with heart disease and other conditions. In addition, as many as 20 percent of people hospitalized with a heart attack report symptoms of depression, while patients with heart disease have three times the risk of developing depression compared to the general population. Researchers from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta set out to learn more about the relationship between depressive symptoms and heart disease. They studied 965 people who were free of heart disease and who had no prior diagnosis of an affective, psychotic or anxiety disorder. Researchers used questionnaires to evaluate patients for depression and levels of physical activity. They also looked a several early indicators of heart disease. Researchers found arterial stiffening and inflammation--the early heart disease indicators--that accompany worsening depressive symptoms were more pronounced in people who were inactive. The indicators were less common in subjects engaging in regular physical activity. "Our findings highlight the link between worsening depression and cardiovascular risk and support routinely assessing depression in patients to determine heart disease risk. This research also demonstrates the positive effects of exercise for all patients, including those with depressive symptoms," said study author Arshed A. Quyyumi, M.D., co-director of the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute in Atlanta. "There are many patients with heart disease who also experience depression -- we need to study whether encouraging them to exercise will reduce their risk of adverse outcomes." Scientists have found a new way to tease out signals about Earth's climatic past from soil deposits on gravel and pebbles, adding an unprecedented level of detail to the existing paleoclimate record and revealing a time in North America's past when summers were wetter than normal. A research team led by soil scientists at the University of California, Berkeley obtained data about precipitation and temperature in North America spanning the past 120,000 years, which covers glacial and interglacial periods during the Pleistocene Epoch. They did this at thousand-year resolutions -- a blink of an eye in geologic terms -- through a microanalysis of the carbonate deposits that formed growth rings around rocks, some measuring just 3 millimeters thick. "The cool thing that this study reveals is that within soil -- an unlikely reservoir given how 'messy' most people think it is -- there is a mineral that accumulates steadily and creates some of the most detailed information to date on the Earth's past climates," said senior author Ronald Amundson, a UC Berkeley professor of environmental science, policy and management. The study, to be published Monday, Jan. 11, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows the rich potential held within soil deposits known as pedothems, which form growth rings on rocks. The samples used in the study came from Wyoming's Wind River Basin. Because these soil deposits are commonly found in drylands all over the world, they can provide a rich source of data for paleoclimatologists, the authors said. "We can now begin to develop records of how local and regional climate boundaries have shifted through time and in response to worldwide warming or cooling," said study lead author Erik Oerter, who conducted the research as part of his UC Berkeley Ph.D. dissertation. advertisement 120,000 years of history in 3 millimeters of rock Pedothems are a powerful complement to existing geological records of past climate, including ice cores, lake and ocean sediments, and stalactites and stalagmites in caves. They have the advantage of being fairly ubiquitous in regions now populated by humans, unlike the polar regions where ice cores are often obtained. Key advances in the ability to precisely analyze micro-samples of soil deposits enabled researchers to extract telltale signs of climate change. "By using micro-analytical measurements on spots as small as 0.01 mm in diameter, we can develop time series of past climate conditions in a way that no one has done before," said Oerter. "It is evident that the carbonate coatings formed in concentric bands around the rocks, much like the annual growth rings in a tree, except that these laminations form over timescales of several hundred years." The researchers used laser ablation and an ion microprobe, much like a tiny dental drill, to obtain microscopic samples for analysis. Uranium isotopes were used to date the deposits, while oxygen and carbon isotopes revealed clues about the precipitation, temperature and soil respiration at the time the mineral was formed. advertisement For instance, warmer rain from the Gulf of Mexico will result in higher levels of oxygen 18 compared with the cold precipitation from snowstorms blowing eastward across the Rockies. The ratio of carbon 13 and carbon 12 isotopes reflect levels of soil respiration, which is a proxy for plant productivity. Uranium isotopes were used for dating the sample, but they can also be used to calculate how much rain the soil receives, serving as a type of "paleo rain gauge," said Oerter, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utah. Finding what other records couldn't The new data revealed that 70,000 to 55,000 years ago, in the midst of a minor ice age, the pattern of precipitation in North America shifted from one dominated by a west-to-east flow of storms from the north Pacific to a south-to-north flow from the Gulf of Mexico. The researchers attributed that to a stable, high-pressure system that parked itself over massive ice sheets that covered eastern Canada and northeastern United States, which helped bring up more air from the south. That atmospheric circulation translated into wetter summers and drier winters in central North America, a reverse of the usual pattern in which more precipitation falls in the winter. "This is a new insight from geologic sources of paleoclimate data," said Oerter. "The techniques that we developed can now be applied to similar soil deposits to fill in key gaps in the paleoclimate record. The information will be useful to improve the accuracy of climate models by providing known conditions to calibrate them to." Other study co-authors include researchers from the Berkeley Geochronology Center, University of Melbourne, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University and Wisconsin Lutheran College. The National Science Foundation helped support this work. University of Arkansas engineering researchers -- experts in the study of how soil reacts to stress caused by earthquakes or floods -- are participating in a multi-institutional research mission to document the effects of recent, severe flooding in the Midwest. Michelle Bernhardt, assistant professor of civil engineering, and graduate student Behdad Mofarrai will travel to parts of Arkansas and Missouri this week to photograph and assess flood damage and the performance of levee systems. They will work alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local levee districts and researchers at other universities as part of a Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association team. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the extreme event team gathers perishable data immediately following extreme natural events -- earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides and floods -- to better understand the response of infrastructure and complex transportation systems. Researchers map and survey both damaged and undamaged areas to provide data that will be used to improve engineering and design of these systems. "Our goal is to gather as much time-sensitive data as possible," Bernhardt said. "Flooding events are interesting because data can sometimes be washed away or destroyed during repair activities, so it is critical that thorough documentation be executed during the event and shortly thereafter. Gathering this data from the field is critical to further our understanding of how levees perform in a given event and under what mechanisms failures occur." For this mission, scientists and engineers will work with the Corps and state and local organizations to document geotechnical, hydraulic and climatic impact of the flooding and how it affects public policy. Their work will augment a systems-based approach to understanding the overall performance of the central-Midwest flood-protection system. Bernhardt uses computer modeling to digitally simulate small particles, such as soil, and show how they react to displacements and stress, such as those caused by an earthquake or flood. These particle-to-particle interactions improve understanding of large-scale interaction and how materials react to different loading mechanisms. Her research contributes to furthering our knowledge of fundamental soil behavior. At the National Institutes of Natural Sciences National Institute for Fusion Science, researchers have developed the high-energy heavy ion beam probe, in order to perform potential measurement inside a high-temperature plasma that was generated in the Institute's Large Helical Device (LHD). Engaging in collaborative research with Kyushu University's Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, they have discovered the new phenomenon of abrupt excitation of fluctuations and have clarified the mechanism of this phenomenon. Two successive research papers that summarize these research results were published in Physical Review Letters, the journal of the American Institute of Physics, on January 8, 2016. Seeking to achieve nuclear fusion, research on the high-temperature plasma of more than 100,000,000 degrees Celsius is being conducted around the world. In a magnetically confined plasma, sometimes there abruptly occurs the excitation of fluctuations with large amplitude, which leads to a possible plasma loss. Such a phenomenon influences the performance of the nuclear fusion reactor. Because there is the possibility of damage to the surrounding construction material, clarifying the mechanisms that lead to excitation, predicting excitation, and avoiding excitation are important issues. On the other hand, in cosmic plasma, too, similar abrupt phenomena occur, and among them the appearance of solar flares is well known. However, in either case, why large events abruptly occur is not well understood. At present, this is an unsolved problem. The research group of Dr. Takeshi Ido, of the National Institute for Fusion Science, in order to observe the plasma potential inside a high-temperature plasma produced in the LHD and that exceeds one hundred of millions of degrees Celsius, has developed a diagnostic device (the heavy ion beam probe [1]). Using that device, when measuring fluctuations in a plasma, his research group discovered a new phenomenon in which fluctuations typically thought to be stable did grow abruptly, accompanied by a large oscillation amplitude. Examining the experimental data in detail, they achieved the result in which before the excitation of this abrupt fluctuations occurred there was generated a separate fluctuation. That precedent fluctuation triggered the process, and a result which indicates abrupt large amplitude fluctuations had been obtained. Through collaborative research with the research group of Dr. Sanae-I. Itoh, of Kyushu University's Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, the researchers constructed a new theoretical model for explaining this phenomenon. When they conducted confirmations through numerical simulations they successfully reproduced the experimental results. From this, they were able to discover the heretofore unknown phenomenon of abrupt excitation of fluctuations, to clarify the mechanism, and to predict excitation. The important points of these research results are that they proved that when the stimulus from outside is beyond a certain level, the physical mechanism exists in a high-temperature plasma that excites abrupt and large amplitude fluctuations, and they clarified the conditions necessary for excitation. Phenomena that possess this type of quality are called subcritical instability. advertisement As an example of the phenomenon in which large amplitude fluctuations abruptly is excited, in a magnetically confinement plasma, there are collapse phenomena such as sawtooth oscillation and disruption which degrades plasma performance, and in cosmic plasma there is the abrupt occurrence of solar flares. The generation mechanisms for these abrupt phenomena are unresolved questions that have long been debated. As candidates for causing these abrupt phenomena, the existence of subcritical instability was indicated theoretically. Through this research, it has been proven for the first time that such an instability exists in geodesic acoustic waves, which are in a plasma, and we successfully predicted the occurrence of this phenomenon. These results are expected to be indicators in addition to advancing our understanding of numerous abrupt phenomena that are widely observed. The abrupt excitation of fluctuations that has been discovered gives indications of the possibility of plasma heating that these fluctuations contribute to. Moreover, research in a confined plasma that can clarify the occurrence mechanism of abrupt phenomena and predict occurrence will contribute greatly to future nuclear fusion research and the development of science and technology, such as avoiding damage to the nuclear fusion reactor and suppressing damage from magnetic storms. Explanations of terminology: (*1) Heavy ion beam probe: This is a diagnostic device for measuring electric potential and density fluctuations in a high-temperature plasma confined by a magnetic field. When measuring electrical potential in a plasma that exceeds 100,000,000 degrees Celsius, we cannot insert a solid measuring probe such as a tester. Thus, instead of a solid, we inject a heavy ion. From the changes in the energy of the heavy ion that passed through the plasma we are able to obtain the electrical potential and simultaneously obtain information regarding plasma density from the change in the number of heavy ions detected. (*2) Sawtooth oscillation: This is a phenomena in which in a doughnut-type plasma temperature distribution and density distribution collapse and regenerate almost cyclically. When we measure the temperature in the plasma core and the soft X-ray radiation strength, these gradually increase and suddenly decrease repeatedly. This name has been attached because the wave structure of the signals resembles a saw blade. advertisement (*3) Disruption: This is a collapse phenomenon that may be observed in a tokamak, which is one type of nuclear fusion plasma confinement. Plasma disappears in the extremely short period of typically 1/1000th of a second. There is the possibility that the thermal energy and the electromagnetic energy that are emitted at that time may damage the device, and in the tokamak-type nuclear fusion reactor, the establishment of a control method by which this type of collapse phenomenon does not occur is important. (*4) Geodesic acoustic mode: When an airplane seeks to fly the shortest distance to its destination it follows a great circular sailing route. The course of a great circular sailing route is also called the "geodesic line," and above the globe it is a bending line that connects points in a "straight" line. Because plasma takes the shape of a doughnut, the magnetic line of force does not become a geodesic line. When a plasma is charged, it moves vertically to the magnetic line of force. However, because the magnetic force line is not a geodesic line, plasma is compressed and is expanded. The oscillations that accompany the compression and the expansion are called "geodesic acoustic waves." When a geodesic acoustic wave is generated, it suppresses plasma turbulence. Further, it transfers the energy of alpha particles born of the fusion reaction to fuel, and there are other possibilities. For nuclear fusion, this is considered to be an important oscillation. Dogs can recognise emotions in humans by combining information from different senses an ability that has never previously been observed outside of humans, a new study published today reveals. For the first time, researchers have shown that dogs must form abstract mental representations of positive and negative emotional states, and are not simply displaying learned behaviours when responding to the expressions of people and other dogs. The findings from a team of animal behaviour experts and psychologists the University of Lincoln, UK, and University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. The researchers presented 17 domestic dogs with pairings of images and sounds conveying different combinations of positive (happy or playful) and negative (angry or aggressive) emotional expressions in humans and dogs. These distinct sources of sensory input photos of facial expressions and audio clips of vocalisations (voices or barks) from unfamiliar subjects were played simultaneously to the animals, without any prior training. The team found the dogs spent significantly longer looking at the facial expressions which matched the emotional state (or valence) of the vocalisation, for both human and canine subjects. The integration of different types of sensory information in this way indicates that dogs have mental representations of positive and negative emotional states of others. Researcher Dr Kun Guo, from the University of Lincolns School of Psychology, said: Previous studies have indicated that dogs can differentiate between human emotions from cues such as facial expressions, but this is not the same as emotional recognition. Our study shows that dogs have the ability to integrate two different sources of sensory information into a coherent perception of emotion in both humans and dogs. To do so requires a system of internal categorisation of emotional states. This cognitive ability has until now only been evidenced in primates and the capacity to do this across species only seen in humans. Co-author Professor Daniel Mills, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, said: It has been a long-standing debate whether dogs can recognise human emotions. Many dog owners report anecdotally that their pets seem highly sensitive to the moods of human family members. However, there is an important difference between associative behaviour, such as learning to respond appropriately to an angry voice, and recognising a range of very different cues that go together to indicate emotional arousal in another. Our findings are the first to show that dogs truly recognise emotions in humans and other dogs. Importantly, the dogs in our trials received no prior training or period of familiarisation with the subjects in the images or audio. This suggests that dogs' ability to combine emotional cues may be intrinsic. As a highly social species, such a tool would have been advantageous and the detection of emotion in humans may even have been selected for over generations of domestication by us. As decision makers from around the world congregated in Paris to prepare a global climate agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), many discussions focused on how to reduce greenhouse gases, including ozone. While efforts to limit ozone precursor emissions tend to focus on industrial activities and fossil fuel combustion in the United States and China, a new study suggests that future regulations may need to address the burning of forests and vegetation. The study, which was published online January 13, 2016 in the journal Nature Communications, indicates that these types of "biomass burning" may play a larger role in climate change than previously realized. Based on observations from two aircraft missions, satellite data and a variety of models, an international research team showed that fires burning in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia caused pockets of high ozone and low water in the lower atmosphere above Guam--a remote island in the Pacific Ocean 1,700 miles east of Taiwan. "We were very surprised to find high concentrations of ozone and chemicals that we know are only emitted by fires in the air around Guam," said the study's lead author Daniel Anderson, a graduate student in the University of Maryland Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. "We didn't make specific flights to target high-ozone areas--they were so omnipresent that no matter where we flew, we found them." For the study, two research planes on complementary missions flew over Guam measuring the levels of dozens of chemicals in the atmosphere in January and February 2014. One aircraft flew up to 24,000 feet above the ocean surface during the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council's Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST) mission. The other flew up to 48,000 feet above the ocean surface during the CONvective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) mission. "International collaboration is essential for studying global environmental issues these days," said CAST Principal Investigator Neil Harris of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry. "This U.S./U.K.-led campaign over the western Pacific was the first of its kind in this region and collected a unique data set. The measurements are now starting to produce insight into how the composition of the remote tropical atmosphere is affected by human activities occurring nearly halfway around the world." Researchers examined 17 CAST and 11 CONTRAST flights and compiled over 3,000 samples from high-ozone, low-water air parcels for the study. In the samples, the team detected high concentrations of chemicals associated with biomass burning--hydrogen cyanide, acetonitrile, benzene and ethyne. advertisement "Hydrogen cyanide and acetonitrile were the smoking guns because they are emitted almost exclusively by biomass burning. High levels of the other chemicals simply added further weight to the findings," said study co-author Julie Nicely, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Next, the researchers traced the polluted air parcels backward 10 days, using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and precipitation data, to determine where they came from. Overlaying fire data from NASA's moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite, the researchers connected nearly all of the high-ozone, low-water structures to tropical regions with active biomass burning in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia. "The investigation utilized a variety of models, including the NCAR CAM-Chem model to forecast and later analyze chemical and dynamical conditions near Guam, as well as satellite data from numerous instruments that augmented the interpretation of the aircraft observations," said study co-author Douglas Kinnison, a project scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. In the paper, the researchers also offer a new explanation for the dry nature of the polluted air parcels. "Our results challenge the explanation atmospheric scientists commonly offer for pockets of high ozone and low water: that these zones result from the air having descended from the stratosphere where air is colder and dryer than elsewhere," said UMD Professor Ross Salawitch, the study's senior author and principal investigator of CONTRAST. Salawitch holds joint appointments in the university's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. "We know that the polluted air did not mix with air in the stratosphere to dry out because we found combined elevated levels of carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and ozone in our air samples, but air in the higher stratosphere does not contain much naturally occurring carbon monoxide," said Anderson. The researchers found that the polluted air that reached Guam never entered the stratosphere and instead simply dried out during its descent within the lower atmosphere. While textbooks show air moving upward in the tropics, according to Salawitch, this represents the net motion of air. Because this upward motion happens mostly within small storm systems, it must be balanced by air slowly descending, such as with these polluted parcels released from fires. Based on the results of this study, global climate models may need to be reassessed to include and correctly represent the impacts of biomass burning, deforestation and reforestation, according to Salawitch. Also, future studies such as NASA's upcoming Atmospheric Tomography Mission will add to the data collected by CAST and CONTRAST to help obtain a clearer picture of our changing environment. Few years ago, virologists have been expressing their concern over the Zika virus. No one seems to listen until its first case in the United States has been confirmed. The first patient detected is from Harris County, Texas, who has just returned from a recent trip in Latin America. The patient has reportedly manifested Zika virus' common symptoms including fever, joint pain and rash. In Puerto Rico, a growing concern over the virus has been reported for months, including Brazil and Colombia. Zika is a virus spread and contracted from mosquito bites. Although it is not detrimental and patients will soon recover fully, its main concern is over the birth defects and neurological issues it could possibly cause. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the signs and symptoms of Zika virus are usually mild but can last from several days to a week, while severe cases of the disease less likely need hospitalization. Meanwhile, Brazil is currently studying the possible association between Zika virus and infection in pregnant women, which reportedly can cause congenital anomalies. Health experts suspect that such link is possible because the skyrocketing cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (disorder where the immune system targets the peripheral nervous system) and microcephaly (a condition where the head circumference is smaller than normal) coincide with the Zina outbreak. For instance, in Brazil alone, microcephaly cases shoot up from 150 in 2014 to 2,700 in 2015. But they said it is too early to determine its causal relationship. With the first case having been reported, officials cited no immediate threat for an outbreak especially with the winter season. The aedes moquitoes, which are carriers of the Zika virus, mostly bite at daytime and breed on stagnant water that is near humans. As of now, there are no existing vaccinations or treatments available to combat the virus. Health officials, however, highly encourage travellers going to Latin America and the Caribbean to take the necessary precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, such as applying insect repellant and covering bare skin with long sleeves and trousers. They also suggest pregnant women to consider postponing their trips. Interestingly, Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium commonly found in your gut, actually has unique DNA patterns per region. A mummified corpse known as the Iceman, otherwise Oetzi, is giving researchers an insight on stomach infection as well as its possible migration route. Researchers from the European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC) Institute of Mummies and the Iceman have recovered an H. pylori sample from the body long thawed in a glacier in the Alps. Examining the 5,300-year-old body, which was uncovered in 1991, scientists found an unmixed strain of unique bacteria not present on modern day humans. Furthermore, this recent result also possibly suggests human's migration from Africa to Europe, which potentially took place following the Copper Age. The team has successfully reconstructed the DNA sequence, performed a DNA analysis and found a purer stain of the bacteria, according to head of EURAC Albert Zink. The type of H. pylori found on most Europeans today is a crossbreed between two ancient types of strains that originated from Eurasia and Africa. It is believed that the hybridization between the strains began when modern humans, who left that continent some 50,000 years ago, were somewhere in the Middle East. One theory claimed it might have happened either before or during the Last Glacial Maximum, an event when ice sheets were at their peak extension, making most parts of Europe unhabitable. Then nearly 20,000 years after glaciers started melting, people together with refugees from the south migrated to conquer Europe again. Thus, this possible theory explains how modern day Europeans might have a hybridized stomach bacteria. However, the Iceman or Oetzi is only likened to the Eurasian strain, suggesting that African hybridization must have also occurred but in a much later time, possibly during the last 5,000 years. Scientist Yoshan Moodely of South Africa's University of Venda suggests than ancient farmers who started the agricultural revolution in Europe nearly 8,000 years ago may have been the carriers of the African strain. However, some scientists doubt the latest findings claiming that it has generalized information that was obtained only from one sample. Mark Achtman, a microbiologist from England's Warwick Medical School, suggests scientists should look at and test more mummies across the globe and obtain more comparative data. A Cuban migrant shows her passport at a shelter in La Cruz, Costa Rica. Pep Companys With still 10 hours before they were scheduled to leave, Michel Aguila and Arnobis Tellez had their migrant backpacks already prepared by midday Tuesday. The only things they were taking for their long journey to the United States were some clothes, what little money they had, and a cellphone. We are not guaranteeing they will reach the US but we have guaranteed they will be able to travel through the region Costa Rican migration director Kathya Rodriguez They were hoping to reach the United States by Saturday, but first they had to fly to El Salvador from Costa Rica, where they had been stranded for two months following a diplomatic showdown with neighboring Nicaragua. Once they reach El Salvador, they will have to travel by land across Central America and Mexico. Michel and Arnobis are two of the first 180 Cuban refugees who were scheduled to fly to El Salvador as part of a coordinated effort with the Costa Rican and other Central American governments. There are some 8,000 Cuban refugees waiting in Costa Rica to travel to the United States. In November, the Nicaraguan government closed its borders and prohibited the Cubans from crossing over after Managua accused the government of San Jose of violating international laws by allowing the refugees to travel without transit documents. Hundreds were deported after they reached Nicaragua. Managua also charged that Costa Rica was dumping people on its side of the border. The Cubans had arrived by plane in Ecuador, which had lifted travel visas for those from that country, and crossed over into Colombia and Panama before they found themselves stranded and living in makeshift camps on the Costa Rican border. Finally, we are going today, Michel said, after shaving and bathing at a refugee camp set up about 20 kilometers from the Nicaraguan border crossing. This has been hard but its another small step to be taken before we reach the United States. The refugees hope to obtain US residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. The first group will be taken by bus to Liberia, Costa Rica, where they will board a plane destined for El Salvador. While many are excited, the refugees have mixed feelings about their journey because they are unclear how they will cross Mexico once they arrive by bus in the southern city of Tapachula. It is going to be dangerous but we knew this during our original plans Cuban refugee Arnobis Tellez We are not guaranteeing that they will reach the United States but we have guaranteed that they will be able to travel through the region, said Costa Rican migration director Kathya Rodriguez. It is going to be dangerous but we knew this during our original plans, said Arnobis, who was part of the first group of Cubans that crossed over from Panama. At the Nocturno de La Cruz school, people celebrated. Everything is fine, we are a lot calmer, said Luis Felipe as he was getting a haircut from a fellow refugee. The young man wants to be well-groomed before he embarks on his journey. His barber, Reinier Montes de Oca, admitted to being jealous because he wont be leaving soon. I am staying for now, but I hope to go soon maybe around the 20th. But things havent been all that bad here in Costa Rica, he said. English version by Martin Delfin. Researchers found that fish communicate to protect themselves against predators in a similar way like elephants and chimpanzees, according to a study at the University of Auckland. This latest study is one of the first to provide direct evidence that shows that fish communicate to maintain group cohesion. Scientists are aware that fishes send messages to each other for protection or for mating purposes. However, in this study, the researchers proved that fish can also use contact call to keep members of their shoal together. The researchers carried out their study by using wild Bigeyes (Pempheris adspersa), a common fish species, which is found along the coast of New Zealand. Bigeyes are mostly nocturnal, where they spend most of the day in caves and they search for food at nights in loosely-knit shoals. Studies have shown that Bigeyes have a unique "pop" call with an estimated maximum range of 31.6m. Their vocal behavior is connected to sensitive hearing organs, which led the researchers to believe that Bigeyes communicate in groups. However, until now that has been ineffective. The researchers used underwater hydrophones, a GoPro camera and an MP3 player along with 100 fish, which were placed in saltwater tanks at the Leigh Marine Laboratory. The experiment was carried out for a period of five months. Two types of sounds were played to the fishes, one was of the regular reef environment in which the fish first lived in and the other was a recording of Bigeye vocalizations. The researchers noted that when the sound recordings were played, the Bigeyes's calling rates increased five times so that they can contact over and above the background noise. The Bigeyes also swam closer to each other when the recordings were played. The fishes swam apart when there was no sound. "This study means that fish are now the oldest vertebrate group in which this behavior has been observed and that has interesting implications for our understanding of evolutionary behavior among vertebrates," Lucy van Oosterom, lead author of the study, said in a news release. The findings of this study were published in Scientific Reports. Related Articles Ancient Giraffe Relative Had Thick Legs And Curly Horns How Did Mammals Developed Hearing? Study Examines Findings For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN). S.C. state senators began the 2016 legislative session Tuesday the same way they left the State House last year in mourning. But, behind those somber scenes, a group of state senators is working on a compromise to fix the states crumbling roads. Six months ago, senators left Columbia for the year grieving over the slaying of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Jasper, killed in the June 17 mass shooting at Charleston church. On Tuesday, a black cloth was draped over the desk of state Sen. Billy ODell, R-Abbeville, as senators shared memories of the 77-year-old who died last week. To walk in and see that on that desk is tough, said Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence. Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, said he became numb when he learned last week of ODells death. I still feel that numbness. Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington, who in the Legislature 26 years with ODell, reflected on ODells grace, humility and integrity. State Sen. Floyd Nicholson, D-Greenwood, said ODell was an advocate for the rural areas he represented, adding his death was a loss for the Senate. Senators are expected to return to their normal business Wednesday. Among their top priorities will be a proposal to raise money for road repairs. Im pushing roads, said Leatherman, who added he has asked a group of senators from both parties informally to reach a compromise on a proposal. Leatherman said he has not given the senators a deadline but channeled the late Sen. Verne Smiths mantra: Take your time but hurry. There have been work sessions with members of both parties, and there have been some very good conversations, said state Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, who is working on a compromise. Lourie said other senators worked for about three hours Tuesday on a plan. To pass a road-repair proposal, senators will have to reach three-part agreement, agreeing how much to raise the states 16.75-cent-a-gallon gas tax, how to reform the S.C. Transportation Department and how much to cut state income taxes, a demand of GOP Gov. Nikki Haley. State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said he would like to see senators start debating roads. Davis filibustered a gas-tax increase during the last three weeks of last years session, arguing existing state revenues should be used to pay to fix the states crumbling roads. Davis said he has asked the Transportation Department for the cost to repair not expand the states road system. Last year, estimates of how much more money was needed to fix the states transportation system ranged from an added $400 million a year up to $1.5 billion. Cassie Cope: 803-771-8657, @cassielcope Constituent assembly in the Spanish Senate on Wednesday. Fernando Alvarado (EFE) During a constituent assembly of Spains Congress, such as the one that took place today, new deputies are required, one by one, to state that they will abide by the Constitution. The formula used is a promise or swearing to adhere to Spains Magna Carta. But today, all of the deputies of emerging left-wing group Podemos and its affiliated deputies added a postscript to their declarations. I promise to abide by the Constitution and work toward changing it, said many. In the Senate, meanwhile, some parliamentarians also from Podemos and its regional platforms made their statements in Castilian Spanish, Basque, Catalan or Galician. Never more will there be a country without its people and without its nations. For the sovereignty of the people, for a new Spain Podemos political secretary Inigo Errejon When it was his turn, the political secretary of Podemos, Inigo Errejon, had this to say: I promise to abide by the Constitution and work to change it. Never more will there be a country without its people and without its nations. For the sovereignty of the people, for a new Spain, per la fraternitat entre els pobles [for brotherhood between nations, in Catalan]. The leader of Podemos, meanwhile, Pablo Iglesias, used sign language during his statement. In the Senate, Maria Eugenia Iparragirre, of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) swore her role as senator in Basque and then in Castilian Spanish, after being recalled to do so by the speaker of the house. In this session there are no interpreters, so out of deference for your colleagues I ask you to say it in Castilian, said Pio Garcia Escudero. But the faint jeers Iparragirre received when she spoke in Basque were nothing compared to the reaction of the majority of the Senate when the new Podemos senators took the floor. Using Basque, Catalan or Galician, most of the representatives of Pablo Iglesiass party stated that they were promising to abide by the Constitution out of legal necessity. Two of them swore to the Catalan Constitution, another to put this house at the service of the right to decide for all of the peoples of the world, and another four swore until the creation of the Catalan Republic. Xavier Garcia Albiol, the head of the Catalan Popular Party and a new senator, raised cheers from his colleagues with his response. Do you swear to abide by the Constitution? he was asked. I swear to do so as a Catalan and proud Spaniard, he replied. The faint jeers Iparragirre received when she spoke in Basque were nothing compared to the reaction when the Podemos senators took the floor The tensions between the defenders of a referendum on independence in Catalonia and the rest of the senators was palpable during the session. Another Podemos senator, meanwhile, Virginia Felipe, who suffers from a rare disease that has confined her to a wheelchair, promised to work toward a fairer world for all. Pilar Lima, Spains first deaf senator, swore her role with the help of an interpreter. At the end of the session, the Senate speaker followed protocol, stating that having sworn to abide by the Constitution, you have acquired the condition of senator. He then deviated slightly from the script, and thanked them in Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician. English version by Simon Hunter. The White House Should Answer 10 Key Questions on Artsakh By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com For many years, the Armenian-American community has been dissatisfied with United States policy on Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh). Under the guise of neutrality, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair James Warlick and his predecessors have put the blame on both sides of the conflict each time that Azerbaijan has opened fire on Armenia and Artsakh. Such an unfair approach has encouraged Pres. Aliyev to escalate his attacks. To eliminate or at least minimize such bloody aggression, 85 members of Congress recently signed a joint letter urging the Obama Administration to implement the following three steps regarding the border between the two countries: 1) withdraw the snipers; 2) increase the number of international monitors; and 3) deploy gunfire locators. Not surprisingly, Azerbaijan has rejected all three proposals, while Armenia, Artsakh, and the Minsk Group of mediators (France, Russia, and United States) have accepted them. Last week, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce held a classified briefing with Amb. Warlick concerning the implementation of the proposals which he and Cong. Eliot Engel had initiated. Before the closed-door meeting, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) had circulated a set of 10 suggested questions for Amb. Warlick. While it not known if these questions were raised during the congressional briefing, the Obama Administration should be asked to respond publicly to the 10 questions so that everyone becomes aware of its position on the Artsakh conflict. To ensure that an official answer is received, I suggest the posting of these questions on the White House website, under the Petitions section. The website states that the Obama Administration will issue a formal response in 60 days to any petition that gathers over 100,000 signatures within 30 days of its posting. Azeris have already taken advantage of this unique opportunity by posting on the White House website two anti-Armenian petitions which gathered 105,686 and 126,828 signatures respectively. As expected, the White House did issue a statement in response to the two Azeri petitions. Below are the 10 ANCA questions which should be posted as a petition on the White House website: 1) What specific steps, if any, has the U.S. government taken to ensure the implementation of the Royce-Engel peace proposals, specifically with regard to an agreement on the non-deployment of snipers, the addition of observers, and the deployment of gunfire locator systems along the line of contact? 2) The State Department has been both very vocal and highly specific about what it believes the Armenian side must concede. Is the U.S. government willing to match this public diplomacy with equally high-profile and similarly concrete demands upon Azerbaijan? 3) What are the specific facts, legal arguments, and policy considerations that led our government to officially recognize Kosovo but not Nagorno Karabakh? 4) Does the Azerbaijani governments record of domestic repression and corruption in any way impact how our government views Azerbaijans claim to extend its governance over Nagorno Karabakh? 5) Why has Azerbaijans well documented (and video-taped) destruction of the medieval Armenian Cemetery in Djulfa never been mentioned in either the State Departments Human Rights or Religious Freedom reports? 6) What is the U.S. governments current request, if any, regarding the re-incarceration of admitted and still unrepentant axe-murderer Ramil Safarov? 7) What is the U.S. policy concerning the Azerbaijani governments travel restrictions related to U.S. citizens of Armenian heritage? 8) What is the U.S. policy regarding NATO member states, notably Turkey, making sales or transfers of advanced, offensive weaponry to Azerbaijan? 9) What specific restrictions exist regarding travel and communication between the citizens and officials of the United States and Nagorno Karabakh? What are the justifications for any such restrictions of these freedoms? What, if any, are the perceived benefits of such restrictions? 10) What interests do you believe have been served, if any, by official U.S. public restraint in challenging Azerbaijans high-profile anti-Armenian incitements, threats, and cross-border aggression? I believe that a well-publicized petition can gather much more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days of its posting on the White House website, particularly if prominent individuals with a large number of followers endorse the petition. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression Iran holds 10 U.S. sailors but pledges to release them soon The crews of two small U.S. Navy vessels being held by Iran will be released early Wednesday morning Gulf time, defense officials have told multiple news sources, Voice of America reports. The 10 crew members nine men and one woman were traveling in the Persian Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain when U.S. controllers lost contact with them. "There may have been mechanical failure on one of the vessels, but it is unclear at this time," a defense official told VOA. "My assumption is that they were in Iranian territorial waters when they were detained." U.S. officials said the incident happened in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island, located about halfway between the gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and the Iranian mainland. A senior administration official said Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone at midday Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, shortly after the incident unfolded. But VOA's Persian service said that the Iranian news service, the Fars news agency, was reporting that the crew members had been "arrested." U.S. officials said the incident happened in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island, located about halfway between the gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and the Iranian mainland. Shenzhen-listed Sainty Marine announced on Tuesday that Nanjing Intermediate Peoples Bank has informed the company of the courts delayed ruling to an unspecified date. On 23 December 2015, Bank of Chinas Nantong branch applied to the Nanjing court to liquidate Sainty Marine over unpaid debts. Financially-shaken Sainty Marine is facing a hosts of problems including cancellation of shipbuilding contracts by buyers, frozen bank accounts, resignation of key executives, suspension of shares trading, and unpaid debts. Hong Kong-listed Cosig announced that the new name will provide the company with a new corporate image and identity. A special resolution will be proposed at the forthcoming special general meeting of the company to approve the name change. Cosig pointed out that the change of company name will not, of itself, affect any rights of the shareholders or the companys daily business operation and its financial position. Late last year, Cosig diversified into the car parking business due to the sluggish shipping industry. The companys core business has been in the production and operation of shipbuilding, as well as securities trading and providing financial services business. However, as has become the norm in Greece's privatisation process, the state sell-off fund, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED), on 12 January asked the sole bidder to table an improved offer in an effort to secure the highest possible returns for one of the funds most prized assets. Also, as had been expected for some weeks now the dragging out of the privatisation process of Greece's largest port and the uncertainty this caused saw other interested parties lose interest, the most recent being APM Terminals. Cosco already operates Piraeus container terminals II and III under a 35-year concession agreement signed in 2009. Though Cosco believes its bid is "particularly satisfactory" it was not caught by surprise by TAIPED's effort to seek an improved bid. A few days before the unsealing of bids a Cosco official was quoted as saying: Given the current domestic and international economic environment, as well as the concession contract that excessively favors the state, the offer is particularly satisfactory." The bidders have complained government tinkering has not only changed original conditions, but what is actually up for sale. TAIPED has long stressed the aim is to maximise the price attained and the investment the preferred bidder will undertake to implement. Although the bids amount was not be published, it provides for investment of EUR296m in the first five years and another EUR50m over the next three, including improving the port authority's own, terminal I which will pass to its control. Coscos No 3 official, cfo and Chinese Communist Party commissar Sun Yueying, is in Athens to close the deal, along with Coscos consultant, French investment bank Lazard. The Greek and Chinese sides can achieve an agreement, but not at a level much higher than that of Coscos original offer. Outcome of the effort will not only determine this privatisation project but also the broader investment climate as well as the countrys bilateral relations with China. The two sides margin for convergence exists but is quite limited. The improved offer TAIPED requested from Cosco will be assessed in a fund board meeting next week. However, no announcement was made as to an exact date, nor the original bids size, nor the level of the assessments by the two independent consultants, the Kantor-Deloitte consortium and American Appraisal Hellas. In the absence of any other bids, TAIPED is using the assessments of its consultants as a yardstick and negotiating asset, which appear to lie behind the reason not to reveal their precise conclusion, even to Cosco. This strategy appears to have upset the Chinese side, which has waited over two years for the completion of the tender process. Sources say that Cosco is prepared to raise its bid, but not much higher given that it sees OLPs stock value has dropped well below its offer. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression Gevorg Safaryan's lawyer appealed to Prosecutor General (video) Tigran Hayrapetyan, the lawyer of arrested opposition activist Gevorg Safaryan, today, today filed a petition with the Prosecutor General's Office asking the latter to review the activists restraint arrest. Safaryan was arrested on December 31 with a number of activists of the New Armenia Public Salvation Front as they attempted to place a Christmas tree in Yerevans Liberty Square. The other activists were set free later in the same day while Safaryan was charged with assaulting and injuring a senior police officer, Gegham Khachatryan, and was placed under pre-trial arrest for two months. Human rights activists say Safaryan's arrest was planned. The police in Armenia have become a tool in the hands of the political power who want to suppress civil activists with the help of the police, they say. Another evidence of this is that Zhirayr Sefilyan, Head of the joint opposition headquarters of the New Armenia Public Salvation Front, was summoned to the Investigative Committee yesterday where he was kept for three hours. After leaving the Committee Sefilyan said the investigator had threatened him. The opposition figure was invited to the Investigative Committee in connection with last years mass disorders organized on April 24. People march to Liberty Square with small Christmas trees in their hands (video) 19:15 Deputy Chief of Yerevan Police Valeri Osipyan, who is at Liberty Square watching the event organized by the New Armenia Public Salvation Front, says the police do not arrest anyone unnecessarily. In reply to A1+s observation that the police did not allow activists to place a Christmas tree at the square on December 31, Mr Osipyan said, The problem is not in Christmas trees. They could have brought other objects to the square. The problem is that they did not notify the Municipality. 19:00 Members of the New Armenia Public Salvation Front have laid a table at Liberty Square and are celebrating one another with wine. About ten policemen are at the square. Deputy Chief of Yerevan Police Valeri Osipyan is watching the celebration from afar. 18:36 On December 31, when we were celebrating New Years Eve here [at Liberty Square] police used brutal inadequate force against activists and started illegal actions. I was standing here with a Christmas tree in my hand. I even told [Valery] Osipyan that I would not place the Christmas tree and would keep it in my hand, Armen Martirosyan, Vice-Chairman of the Heritage Party, a representative of the New Armenia opposition movement, told A1+. Where did the Ministry of Culture know whether the placement of a Christmas tree was a political or a cultural move? After the incident, our co-citizens decided that we should march to Liberty Square on January 13 and celebrate the day here. I welcome the initiative, he added wishing our citizens freedom in the new year. 18:24 In solidarity with the Christmas trees that were smashed at Liberty Square on December 31, as well as activists who tried to place the Christmas trees at the square, a group of citizens today gathered near the Statue of Martiros Saryan. Accompanied by a Santa Claus, the group is now marching to Liberty Square. Press Release January 13, 2016 CHIZ URGES GOV'T TO LOOK INTO FUNDING 'BLOOD MONEY' FOR OFWS ON DEATH ROW Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero wants the government to study the possibility of utilizing public funds to raise "blood money" for distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East in order to save them from death penalty. But before making such move, however, Escudero said the government should first determine its legality by seeking guidance from the Commission on Audit and the courts. "Dapat suriing maige ng pamahalaan ang paggamit ng public funds sa pagbabayad ng blood money para mailigtas ang buhay ng ating mga kababayang nalalagay sa bingit ng kamatayan," Escudero said. Escudero made the suggestion in the wake of the execution of Filipino construction worker Joselito Zapanta in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 29 after government efforts to raise $1 million, or roughly P47 million, in blood money fell short. The government was only able to raise P23 million for the 35-year-old Zapanta, who was convicted of robbery and murder of his Sudanese landlord in 2009. It is the policy of the government to help raise funds for blood money from voluntary sources, but not to allocate funds from the national treasury for this purpose. Escudero said this policy should be reviewed considering that there are still around 79 Filipinos on death row around the world based on the record of the Department of Foreign Affairs, with some of them requiring blood money. At the same time, Escudero said the government should go beyond raising blood money by making sure that every OFW facing criminal charges abroad is accorded legal assistance--from the time the crime was committed until the case is resolved. He said it is the duty of the government, through its embassies and consulates, to make sure that the rights of a Filipino accused of any crime or wrongdoing abroad are protected at all times, whether he or she is guilty or not. "Nagsisimula pa lang 'yung kaso, kinasuhan pa lang o dinemanda pa lang, o hinuli pa lang 'yung Pilipino, dapat ang ating embahada at konsulado ay nandoon na agad," Escudero pointed out. "Hindi 'yung kapag na-convict na o napatawan na ng parusang kamatayan ay doon lamang po sila papasok at biglang tutulong," he added. Escudero, the frontrunner in the vice-presidential race, also said that he and his running mate Sen. Grace Poe plan to pass legislation that would prohibit Philippine embassies and consulates worldwide from "acting as tour guides" to visiting lawmakers and local officials. "Ang trabaho po nila ay tutukan at tulungan ang ating OFWs. Hindi po magpa-impress sa mga opisyal na bumibisita sa bansa kung saan sila naka-assign," Escudero stressed. Press Release January 13, 2016 Sen. Marcos Lauds Anti-Drug Authorities For Intercepting P180M Shabu Shipment Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today commended anti-drug authorities for foiling the attempt of an international syndicate to smuggling into the country a large shipment of illegal drugs concealed in machine tools. On Tuesday, anti-drug authorities seized around P180 million worth of suspected "shabu" or methamphetamine hydrochloride in Valenzuela City from two Chinese-Filipino men, both believed to be members of an international drug network. "This is precisely what our authorities need to do to put a dent into the persisting alarming growth of the drug problem in the country: hit hard on big-time drug syndicates," Marcos asserted. The Senator has been urging the country's anti-drug authorities to re-focus their priorities from small drug dens and dealers and instead concentrate on big-time drug lords and syndicates operating in the country. Marcos said it is encouraging to note that the successful anti-drug operation was conducted through the joint efforts of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-AIDG). Local anti-drug authorities also attribute the success of their operation because of their coordination with our own Bureau of Customs with the Prosecutors of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the Taiwan Bureau of Investigation and Ministry of Justice. Marcos noted that in the past there were instances when law enforcement agencies engaged in fierce competition with one another hampering the anti-drug drive. "This operation is a perfect example of what unity and teamwork can achieve and for this they deserve our commendation," Marcos affirmed. Recovered from them were three bags containing 36 vacuum-sealed aluminum foil packs, each containing a kilo of shabu. The suspects are reportedly members of the Asia Drug Network, a narcotics gang operating in China, the Philippines and Hong Kong. "I hope our anti-drug authorities would not rest on their laurel and continuously intensify their crackdown on big-time drug syndicates. Now that big-time drug syndicates know we are on to their modus operandi they will try to find new ways to ship their contraband." Marcos called for better government support to anti-drug agencies in terms of equipment, manpower and training to give them the edge they need to sustain the fight against the drug menace. A 48-year-old Chilean architect with a passion for creating low-cost homes has won his professions highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. I didnt see this coming at all, said Alejandro Aravena, whose small firm, Elemental, is based in Santiago. It absolutely blows my mind. Unlike prior winners such as Rem Koolhaas or Lord Norman Foster, both of whom practice at sky-scraping global scale (and whose firms both have towers in the works in San Francisco), nearly all of Aravenas work has been in Chile. His only building in the United States is a 300-bed dormitory at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. What caught the eye of the Pritzker jury a disparate eight-member group that includes two former winners and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is Aravenas focus on a challenge faced around the world: housing people who were drawn to cities by the quest for jobs and better lives. His remedy is to build neighborhood-like clusters of simple but solid shells that include space for the owners to enlarge and improve the dwellings as their finances allow. Alejandro Aravena epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect, especially in his long-term commitment to tackling the global housing crisis and fighting for a better urban environment for all, reads the jury citation, which also praises Aravena for having consistently pursued architecture with a clarity of vision and great skill. In a telephone interview with The Chronicle, Aravena emphasized that housing for low-income families must provide more than four walls and a roof. The crucial question in social housing is not how much but where, Aravena said. Thats why people come to cities: to be near opportunity better schools, hospitals, better public parks. Architecturally, Aravenas housing tends to be dense but domestic, with tightly packed homes rather than the multifamily structures associated with affordable housing in the Bay Area. Elementals institutional buildings often have a massive sculptural aura, but thats often for environmental reasons as well as aesthetic ones. His dorm in Austin, for instance, resembles a cluster of brown-brick boulders with relatively small windows; inside the complex, though, theres an open courtyard shielded from the Texas heat, with colorful glass walls. The selection of Aravena continues a recent Pritzker trend of selecting architects immersed in the real-life impacts of their craft rather than the creation of structural jewels. And while he told The Chronicle that the possibility of becoming a Pritzker laureate never crossed my mind, the Chilean is well known to peers: He was on the Pritzker jury from 2009 until last year. Hell also be this years director of the high-profile Venice Architecture Biennale. The Pritzker award was established in 1979 and includes a $100,000 grant. The first recipient was Philip Johnson, who later designed such San Francisco towers as 101 California St. The most recent laureate from the United States was Thom Mayne in 2005, designer of the controversial San Francisco Federal Building at Seventh and Mission streets. Aravena has only been to San Francisco once, he said, a few years ago on a short visit. His most vivid memory? Golden Gate Park. Such an incredible space, he said of the 1,017-acre green rectangle stretching from the Inner Sunset to the Pacific Ocean Cities are measured by what you can do in them for free, he said. To have something like that, on a grand scale you cant take that for granted. John King is The San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. E-mail: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron Online extra To see a galley of Alejandro Aravenas work, go to http://sfg.ly/Pritzker Oakland fire officials spent much of Tuesday attempting to rescue a plumber stuck up to his waist by dirt and sand in a 10-foot-deep sewer hole below a residential street sidewalk, but they were unable to extricate the man. The man, who was working on a sewer line, got stuck in the hole in the 2300 block of 21st Avenue in Oakland. The incident was reported around 12:30 p.m., and he remained in the hole 10 hours later and officials had no prognosis on when he might be freed. In one of her first acts in office, San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy plans to reverse her predecessors policy barring deputies at the city jail from communicating with federal immigration agents a policy that came under fire last year after a man wanted for deportation was released from jail and then was accused of killing a woman on Pier 14. Hennessy, who was sworn in Friday, is working with her staff and legal counsel to develop a new policy that would roll back the controversial March 13 memo issued by former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi banning all communication with immigration agents seeking to deport jailed suspects absent a warrant or court order, said Chief of Staff Eileen Hirst. The move by Hennessy, who was highly critical of the memo throughout her campaign, further distances her from the turbulent tenure of her predecessor, but is likely to stir opposition from immigrant advocates, many of whom supported Mirkarimis directive. It comes as Supervisor John Avalos introduced a city measure Tuesday that would govern how much deputies at the jail should interact with and cooperate with immigration agents. Hirst said Hennessy would work within any law enacted by the supervisors. Her commitment is to be compliant with all state, federal and local law, Hirst said. Mirkarimis memo Mirkarimi issued his memo about a month before his department released Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who had been brought to the city after serving 46 months in federal prison for re-entry into the country. The federal government wanted to deport Lopez-Sanchez a sixth time, but Mirkarimi said a city sanctuary law known as the Due Process for All Ordinance restricted him from being held past his release date. Critics of Mirkarimi, including Mayor Ed Lee, said the sheriffs office could have simply picked up the phone, called immigration agents and told them to pick up Lopez-Sanchez prior to his release. In July, Lopez-Sanchez was charged in the shooting death of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle on Pier 14, which ignited a national debate about whether local authorities should cooperate with federal immigration. Hennessy said during her campaign that Mirkarimis memo went well beyond the citys sanctuary law, which states that the sheriff can hold for deportation only individuals in the country illegally who had been convicted of a violent felony in the past seven years and were facing another violent felony charge. The ordinance didnt address prerelease notification to immigration agents. Farrells plan tabled Mirkarimis memo prohibited his deputies from giving federal immigration agents any information about detainees, including their citizenship status, their booking and arrest documents, and their release dates. Three months ago, Supervisor Mark Farrell tried to bring about a board resolution that would call upon Mirkarimi to rescind the policy, but it was tabled on a 6-5 vote. Avalos resolution would have prerelease notification follow the outline of the Due Process for All Ordinance. That would severely limit cooperation with immigration agents, and its not clear if any local criminal cases would qualify. Hirst said Hennessy is in the early stages of developing a policy. Hennessy told The Chronicle in October that she favored standards for federal notification set out in the state Trust Act, which says that only immigrants with certain serious convictions on their record could be held for deportation and that those requests should be treated as voluntary. Case-by-case basis I think it is appropriate to take a look on a case-by-case basis, Hennessy said. Lee, who called for Mirkarimi to rescind his policy in July, is supportive of Hennessys efforts, said Lees spokeswoman, Christine Falvey. The mayor understands that Sheriff Hennessy has immediately begun the process of replacing this policy and supports her work with other law enforcement experts to make sure it is replaced with a policy that protects public safety and upholds our citys sanctuary city laws, Falvey said. Hirst said Hennessy will be meeting with immigrant advocates as she develops her policy. She had met in December with some advocates, who said they were dismayed to learn that reversing Mirkarimis policy would be one of her first acts in office. Sandy Valenciano, an organizer for California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, said allowing for communication with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will deepen mistrust of law enforcement in the immigrant community and prevent immigrants from reporting crimes, one of the chief tenets behind the citys sanctuary policies. Working with sheriff We hope to continue to remind the sheriff that she does have a responsibility to the community as well, Valenciano said. As much as case-by-case basis may sound like a midway compromise, it doesnt work out that way. Once you open avenues of collaboration with ICE, theyre going to want to continue opening even more channels of collaboration. ... The fact is ICE has continued to prove itself to be unaccountable in its practices. Supervisor David Campos called Hennessys actions a step in the wrong direction. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Francisco would be the first mu nicipality in the nation to require employers to ensure that employees who are new parents have fully paid bonding time with their babies under a proposal being crafted by Super visor Scott Wiener. California pays 55 percent of a parents salary for six weeks of bonding time, and Wiener wants to mandate that San Francisco businesses that employ at least 20 people pay the remaining 45 percent. He plans to introduce the legislation at the Jan. 26 Board of Supervisors meeting. If the proposal becomes law, the extra pay will come too late for Rose Collins. Shes moving to Portland, Ore., next month with her husband and their 4-month-old son, Jack, because the family can no longer make it financially in increasingly pricey San Francisco. Collins worked as an art director at an advertising firm and planned to return to work after her maternity leave, but quit when the family couldnt find a two-bedroom apartment with room for their baby for less than $4,000 a month. In Portland, they can buy a house and she can stay home with Jack longer. It would definitely have helped to get that full pay, Collins, 36, said of Wieners proposal as she browsed around Natural Resources, a baby and pregnancy supply store in the Mission District. San Francisco needs to pursue that for sure were a cutting-edge city. Moms need support We can boast about tech companies that have slides and ball pits, she continued. We should be able to boast that we support moms 100 percent. When it comes to maternity and paternity leave, the United States has little to boast about. It is the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. Some states, including California, do give more generous benefits, but they still lag far behind most developed nations. In California, women whove given birth and who have paid into the state disability program usually qualify for six to eight weeks of disability pay, which is paid at the 55 percent rate. Wieners legislation would not apply to those weeks, but would instead apply to the six weeks of bonding time that new mothers can take after their disability ends and that is also available to other new parents, be they new dads, lesbian partners, gay couples who have babies through surrogacy or adoptive parents. During those weeks, the state pays 55 percent of salary. Wiener said no new parent should have to make the choice between bonding with their baby or earning a full salary to pay rent and put food on the table. Theres been a growing awareness in the United States that our parental leave policies as a country are completely out-of-step with the rest of the world, he said. When you do have good, paid parental leave, worker productivity goes up. Its good for the employer, its good for the parents and its good for the child. San Francisco city employees already enjoy relatively generous parental leave after voters in November approved allowing them to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave without exhausting their sick leave first. Technology companies, too, have been making news by offering more generous parental leave policies. Facebook in November announced it would give four months of paid leave to new parents regardless of gender or country in which they work. But most leave policies that are more generous than state or federal law tend to benefit only workers on the higher end of the income spectrum, said Jennifer Reisch, legal director for Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco group that advocates for equal rights for women in education and employment. Perk for the privileged Very few workers in the private sector actually have access to it, she said of well-paid leave. Its generally only available to the privileged few who are in high-paying professional jobs. Julia Parish, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Societys Employment Law Center, said the centers hotline received 1,400 calls from around California last year, including many from San Francisco, and that the majority related to questions about maternity and paternity leave. Her clients in San Francisco mostly work in nail salons, hotels, restaurants and other parts of the low-paid service sector. She said that while most of the new moms she works with manage to take at least six weeks off after giving birth, many of their husbands dont even take a day off to bond with their new babies. Passage of Wieners bill would mean both parents could stay home for several weeks with their newborns, she said. Parents now are forced to choose between really important, fundamental moments in their childs life and the long-term economic stability of the family, she said. Its truly an impossible choice for any parent. Wiener said he knows that in an expensive city, where its already tough to run a business because of government mandates and high commercial rents, the proposal could face some opposition. He said he will sit down with business groups to work out any details before submitting the legislation. Jim Lazarus, senior vice president for public policy at the Chamber of Commerce, said the organization doesnt have an opinion on the legislation yet and wants more details. We look forward to sitting down with Scott, he said. Wiener said he plans to structure the legislation so that if California raises its contribution above 55 percent, as has been proposed in Sacramento, local businesses would be on the hook for less money. Also, businesses that currently offer more generous leave policies would be exempt. Wiener said he considers this just the first step, and he hopes that if San Francisco passes the legislation, it will encourage other municipalities to follow suit. San Francisco takes a bold stand, and then other cities and states and then the federal government follow, he said. We have so much catching up to do. Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Supervisors London Breed and Malia Cohen Tuesday called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate last months fatal police shooting of Mario Woods and the San Francisco Police Departments use of force policies. Too many African Americans, Latinos and people of all races are dying on our streets, and too often they are dying at the hands of those who are sworn to protect them, Breed said in emotional remarks at the boards regular meeting. The ultimate goal is to put the right policies in place so this never happens again. Breeds comments were met with hearty applause an unusual development as she normally enforces board policy that audience members not clap but only wave their hands in approval. Woods mother, Gwen Woods, former Supervisor Amos Brown and Bay Area Nation of Islam Minister Christopher Muhammad also spoke. Several supervisors also expressed their personal apologies for Woods killing. There is nothing that will bring your son back, Supervisor Jane Kim said, crying and addressing Woods mother directly. But I just want you to know my heart is with you, along with many members of this board. If the Justice Department agrees to investigate, San Francisco would become the latest police department to face a wide-ranging review by federal officials, following Chicago, Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo. The Justice Department didnt respond to a request for comment about whether it would honor the request and on what criteria it would decide. Breed and Cohens resolution asking for the federal investigation states that the board is gravely concerned not only about the shooting of Mario Woods but about police training and use of force practices, particularly against young men of color. The supervisors will vote on the resolution in two weeks. Woods, 26, was African American. He died shortly after being shot by at least five officers in the Bayview on Dec. 2. He was the suspect in a stabbing, and police say he was still armed with the kitchen knife used in the crime. Police Chief Greg Suhr infuriated many African Americans when he said, before an independent investigation had been conducted, that the officers actions were justified. Suhr has asked for an internal review of San Francisco Police Department policies and practices concerning use of force. In addition to calling for a federal investigation into police practices, Breed issued a warning shot to the influential Police Officers Association, which is reportedly furious with her criticisms of the department. The Police Officers Association should be building bridges, not fighting those who are trying to help, Breed said. I stand by my colleague Supervisor Cohen, and we will not be intimidated by the POA. POA President Martin Halloran did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mayor Ed Lees spokeswoman, Christine Falvey, said, There are numerous ongoing investigations, and the mayor welcomes independent review. He expects the highest levels of transparency and full cooperation from the police department and others with all of these investigations. Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.s experimental drug for a rare genetic disease helped patients in a study breathe better, a finding that may eventually lead to competition for a Sanofi treatment already on the market. In the 24-patient trial, 18 people who got BioMarins drug and completed the study improved on tests of lung function and walking ability, the San Rafael company said Monday. The patients switched over from Lumizyme, a treatment made by Sanofis Genzyme unit, which brought the Paris drugmaker $720 million in 2014 sales. Patients with the disorder, called Pompe disease, lack an enzyme thats used to break down the complex carbohydrate glycogen and convert it into glucose, a simple sugar used by the body for fuel. As a result, they develop progressive muscle weakness and breathing problems. On the lung function test, the 18 patients who completed the study improved by an average of 2.2 percentage points on a measure of inhalation strength, and by 3.1 percentage points on a measure of exhalation strength. They were also able to walk an average of about 28 yards farther on a six-minute walking test. Adverse events Six of the 24 patients discontinued treatment, and two patients reported serious adverse events, the company said. We dont believe they were related to the drug, CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaime said of the adverse events. The patients who dropped out discontinued because of the burden of having to participate, he said. With an approved drug on the market, its easier for patients to decide to go back to their previous medication if they get tired of coming into the clinic for blood draws, he said. There are 5,000 to 6,000 Pompe disease patients who would be eligible for BioMarins drug, according to Bienaime, who said he believes BioMarins drug will deliver higher levels of the enzyme to patients than Sanofis. BioMarins most closely watched drug is its treatment for another rare disorder, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Investors are hoping it will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The company was dealt a blow in November when a panel of regulatory advisers to the agency gave the drug, Kyndrisa, an unfavorable review, questioning its side effects and whether trials had shown strong enough signs of effectiveness. The agency is expected to make a decision in early January. Lesser-known drugs Bienaime says the scrutiny of Kyndrisa has left other products in the drugmakers pipeline underappreciated. There are huge things that are missed by some analysts and investors, Bienaime said. Even if Kyndrisa isnt approved in the U.S., it could be approved in Europe, he said, giving BioMarin access to patients outside the U.S., who make up 85 percent of people with the disease. The company will also unveil results from other experimental drugs this year, including test data for: A treatment for Batten disease at a medical meeting in February. A therapy for phenylketonuria, known as PKU, in March or April. Its drug for dwarfism, at its research and development day in April. The first patient treated with its gene therapy for hemophilia A, also at the research and development day. Bienaime says hes 90 percent confident that if the data are positive, the Batten disease drug wont need another test before being submitted to the FDA for approval. In addition, the PKU drug is in a final-stage trial. Caroline Chen is a Bloomberg writer. E-mail: cchen509@bloomberg.net PHILADELPHIA The owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com has turned over the media company to a nonprofit institute in the hope that a new business model will help them survive the digital age and stanch years of layoffs and losses. Local philanthropist H.F. Gerry Lenfest, who bought the media company 19 months ago, will give the struggling properties to the newly formed Institute for Journalism in New Media and donate $20 million to endow the enterprise. My goal is to ensure that the journalism traditionally provided by the printed newspapers is given a new life and prolonged, while new media formats for its distribution are being developed, Lenfest said Tuesday. He pledged the new endeavor would continue to produce independent public service journalism and investigative reporting that positively impacts the community, while also creating innovative multimedia content. The broadsheet Inquirer has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in journalism, and the tabloid Daily News has garnered an additional three. Recent awards include architecture critic Inga Saffrons 2014 prize for criticism, the Inquirers 2012 Public Service award for a series on school violence and a Daily News duos 2010 investigative prize for stories on rogue Philadelphia drug cops. Readers will not see any immediate changes, and the companys contracts with its labor unions will remain in force, Lenfest said. Lenfest sold a cable empire he built to Comcast Corp. in 2000, leaving him with more money than he knew what to do with, he said. Money is a responsibility when you have that kind of wealth. Ive tried to do right by it. Perhaps the greatest opportunity came with the ownership of these newspapers, he said. What would this city be without the Inquirer and Daily News? Last year, Philadelphia Media Network announced a consolidation of its newsrooms in a cost-cutting move after a decade of cutbacks and management upheaval. The move to a single newsroom was expected to save $5 million to $6 million annually. The company also laid off 46 journalists just before Christmas. It continues to publish both morning newspapers. Lenfest bought the news company at auction with a partner for $88 million in May 2014, only to have the partner, businessman Lewis Katz, die in a plane crash days later. The staff, he said, must meet our readers where they are and where they are going in the future as well as develop fresh ways in which advertisers can reach these engaged daily readers in print and online. The institute might accept funding from corporations and other benefactors to support specific journalism projects and reporting efforts, a model company officials compared to the way university chairs are sometimes endowed. Philadelphia Media Network will remain a self-governing, for-profit company, owned by the institute and run by the news organizations current management team and board of directors, Lenfest said. The hybrid set-up is designed to let the nonprofit accept charitable contributions and pass them on to the for-profit news company, supplementing its financial ability to pursue investigative journalism. At the same time, the media company will not be hampered by political restrictions that come with being a nonprofit, and it will be forced to remain a viable financial business. It would join a small number of newspaper operations run by nonprofits or trusts, such as the Tampa Bay Times in St. Petersburg, Fla., a for-profit operation owned by the Poynter Institute, and the Day, a New London, Conn., newspaper held in a public trust. Terry Egger, Philadelphia Media Network publisher and CEO, said Lenfests announcement is an outstanding development for our news organizations and for the evolution of print and digital journalism in the United States. Thanks to Gerrys bold vision for the future he said, we will not only be able to maintain our fierce journalistic independence, but we will also now be able to receive funding from new philanthropic revenue streams in support of public interest reporting that benefits the community. Make no mistake: Anyone winning a $1.5 billion Powerball lottery will be fabulously wealthy. But not an instant billionaire. After you factor in income and estate taxes, the haircut imposed on lump-sum distributions and the graduated payment schedule that comes with the annuity option, that jackpot is not as big as it sounds. A winner who chooses the lump-sum option, as most do, would walk away with only $562 million after the haircut and federal income tax. A person who chose the annuity would get just $22.6 million the first year less than $14 million after Uncle Sams cut. Here are five math problems the Multistate Lottery Association, which runs Powerball on behalf of participating state lotteries including Californias, is hoping most people wont do before plunking down $2 for a pipe dream. The jackpot odds have gotten worse. To generate player and media interest, the association changed the rules to drive up the jackpot by making it harder to win. To snag the grand prize, you must match five white numbers in any order plus the one red Powerball number. Get fewer matches and you win smaller prizes. In October, the association increased the white numbers in the drawing to 69 from 59 and decreased the red numbers to 26 from 35. That reduced the odds of winning the jackpot to roughly 1 in 292 million from 1 in 175 million. It increased the odds of winning smaller prizes, especially under $1 million, a California Lottery spokesman said. Theres a big haircut on the lump-sum. Jackpot winners can take their prize in a lump-sum or in graduated annuity payments over 30 years. The ultimate size of the jackpot, and the lump-sum, will depend on how many $2 tickets were sold before the Wednesday evening cutoff and Treasury bond yields when the lottery validates the winners claim. But based on an estimated jackpot of $1.5 billion and current T-bond yields, the lump sum would be about $930 million before taxes only 62 percent of the advertised prize. The annuity payments start small. A sole winner who takes the annuity payments would get the full $1.5 billion over 30 years, but not in equal payments of $50 million per year. Instead, they would start at $22.6 million and grow by 5 percent a year, reaching $93 million in year 30. The associations website says rising payments help winners keep up with the cost of living, but it also lets the lottery offer a bigger jackpot than it could with a level payout, a California Lottery spokesman said. The state where the winner lives would collect proceeds from all participating states and invest the amount needed to generate $1.5 billion over 30 years in U.S. Treasury bonds with staggered maturities to guarantee payments. At current rates, the estimated amount would be $930 million, same as the lump sum. The graduated payment makes it hard to figure out what risk-free rate of return a winner would have to earn on the lump sum to equal the annuity payments. Patrick Geddes, chief executive of Aperio Group, calculated that if you ignore taxes, the rate would be 2.84 percent a year, close to the current yield on 30-year Treasury bonds. The winner will lose nearly 40 percent to federal income tax. The lottery withholds 25 percent of winnings for federal income tax, but that covers only a portion of the tax hit. Most of the money will be taxed at the top federal rate of 39.6 percent, which applies to taxable income over $415,050 (singles) or $466,950 (married filing jointly). Income below those amounts each year is taxed at lower rates, but whether the winner takes the lump sum or the annuity, most winnings will be taxed at 39.6 percent, assuming no change in the top tax rate. The winner might have to pay state income tax as well, if he or she lives in a state that has one. California waives its state income tax on state lottery winnings, including Powerball, as long as the ticket was purchased in California, a Franchise Tax Board spokesman said. However, if a California resident purchased the winning ticket in another state, it would be considered out-of-state gambling winnings, which are taxable here, he added. Silver lining: The winner would not have to pay either of the two Medicare tax surcharges that apply to high-income taxpayers. Thats because lottery winnings do not meet the definition of either earned income subject to the 0.9 percent surcharge, or the definition of net investment income subject to the 3.8 percent surcharge, said Mark Luscombe, principal federal tax analyst with Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Estate taxes could take a big bite of whats left. Estates that exceed the federal estate and gift tax exemption are subject to estate tax. The exemption for someone who dies in 2016 is $5.45 million per individual or $10.9 million for a married couple. Anything over that amount is subject to estate tax at the top rate of 40 percent. If a winner who chose the annuity died before 30 years, the present value of the remaining payments would become part of the estate and subject to that tax. The heirs would continue to receive the annuity payments; they could not ask the lottery for a lump sum. They could try to sell the payments to companies that purchase annuities, lottery payoffs, structured settlements and other ongoing payments. If you have taken the annuity, you cant plan to avoid the estate tax. It is sort of forced into your estate, Luscombe said. If you take the lump sum, you could try to spend it all before you die, he added. But if you tried to give it away while you were alive, most of it would be subject to gift tax, which is similar to the estate tax. You might have more control (over estate taxes) with the lump sum. Once you take the annuity, unless you live 30 years, a portion of it is guaranteed to be part of your estate. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kpender@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Santa Clara Police Dept. Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A Santa Clara County sheriffs deputy who allegedly brandished a firearm while drunkenly ordering food at a Jack in the Box drive-through is on administrative leave, officials said Tuesday. Benjamin Lee, 33, was arrested shortly after 2:40 a.m. Sunday by Santa Clara police officers, according to Lt. Kurt Clarke. He was booked at the Santa Clara County main jail on suspicion of driving under the influence and brandishing a firearm, officials said. Authorities said Lee was off duty when the incident occurred. A former Pacific Gas and Electric Co. official hired after the San Bruno gas-pipeline explosion to clean up the companys records said management ordered her to destroy documents, and that she found a telltale preblast analysis of the pipe in the garbage, according to a federal court filing. Prosecutors say they intend to use Leslie Banach McNieces testimony during a trial of PG&E on a dozen counts of pipeline safety violations and one count of obstructing the federal investigation into the September 2010 blast, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. PG&Es record keeping is at the heart of the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in March in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Prosecutors with the U.S. attorneys office allege that the company relied on records that executives knew were suspect to vouch to government regulators before 2010 that the San Bruno transmission pipe and other gas lines were safe. Prosecutors will seek a penalty of as much as $500 million against the firm. No current or former PG&E executives are facing charges. Records mess Officials of the company have denied criminal wrongdoing. A spokesman denounced the allegations in the latest filing as mischaracterizations. In their court filing late Monday, prosecutors said PG&E hired McNiece in April 2012 to clean up what they called the firms record-keeping mess. McNiece, who previously worked in records and information management for IBM and the accounting firm KPMG, was told by then-PG&E President Chris Johns and legal-division Vice President Sandy Hartman to address problems that the California Public Utilities Commission found during its probe of the San Bruno blast, prosecutors said. However, McNiece soon started to get pushback from management, prosecutors said. When she suggested changes, Johns told her PG&E could not adopt them because the company would immediately be out of compliance with the reforms, prosecutors said. McNiece also told prosecutors that there were instances when she received specific instructions to destroy documents, such as from Sumeet Singh, who oversees PG&Es gas operation, according to the prosecution filing. Prosecutors did not specify which documents the company allegedly ordered destroyed. We obviously and unequivocally disagree with the claims and mischaracterizations contained in the governments filing, PG&E spokesman Greg Snapper said in a statement Tuesday. We look forward to the opportunity to shed light on the facts in court. Financially motivated The prosecution document details PG&Es alleged pushback against McNieces recommendations as financially motivated. This pushback evidence is direct evidence of PG&E violations of record-keeping regulations, and explains how PG&E did not genuinely attempt to address its known record-keeping deficiencies, prosecutors said. Johns ultimately rejected McNieces proposal for improving the organization of PG&Es records, and the company laid her off in 2014, the court filing said. McNiece, 57, moved to Westport, Conn., and now works as a director for a legal software services firm in New York. She could not be reached for comment for this story. As an example of the poor state of PG&Es pipeline records, prosecutors said, McNiece described finding a box outside her office in May 2013 that included documents about Line 132, the pipeline that caused the San Bruno fireball. McNiece said a note was attached to the records. The note read words to the effect of, Id rather give this to you than gas ops, prosecutors said, referring to PG&Es gas operations division. McNieces testimony regarding the box of Line 132 documents tends to show that PG&E engaged in a pattern of poor record-keeping conduct, so much so that an employee only trusted giving McNiece the records, prosecutors said. Map in trash bin In September 2013, McNiece found documents related to the San Bruno pipeline, dating from before the explosion, discarded in a Dumpster outside of PG&Es gas operations facility in Walnut Creek, the court filing says. The documents included a map with a handwritten notation alerting PG&E engineers about the lack of an explanation for a 1988 leak on Line 132 near Crystal Springs Reservoir, south of San Bruno. It turned out that the cause was buried in PG&Es files: The section of pipe had a faulty seam weld, the same problem that later caused the San Bruno disaster. That should have been a red flag for PG&E, which ought to have tested the rest of Line 132 for bad welds, prosecutors have said. As it was, PG&Es records inaccurately described the part of the Line 132 under San Bruno as free of seam welds so the company never did the testing that could have detected the weld that ruptured in 2010. Federal probe The map that McNiece found in the trash was never turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board when it investigated the San Bruno blast. The agency learned of the 1988 leak by happenstance, near the end of its probe. When the leak came to light, PG&E officials sought to downplay its importance, saying there was no proof it was a seam weld that had failed in 1988. Singh acknowledged to The Chronicle last year that the map revealed gaps in what the company knew before the blast. I cant speak to what should have been done back then, Singh said. He added that the company had since implemented a very robust accounting system for pipe problems. Prosecutors say the map shows the company knew its pipeline accounting was deficient, and that by discarding this original map, PG&E was failing to maintain records, as required, for the life of a pipe. PG&E was on notice Prosecutors said the company has repeatedly claimed to regulators, politicians, and the press that it was unaware of this seam leak and found records of leak only after the explosion. The Dumpster map demonstrates that PG&E was on notice that the information concerning the leak was not incorporated into its records system. PG&Es Snapper said the company has made major changes to its record-keeping protocols, has digitized more than 12 million pages of gas-pipeline records, and is focused on the future. We have made great progress since 2010, his statement said. We look forward to continuing that progress and to re-earning the trust of our customers and the communities we serve by leading in safety, reliability and clean energy. Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com Would-be Uber drivers who fail the companys background check may soon get a second chance. The catch is this: If applicants can get their their felony convictions reduced to misdemeanors, or get the crimes expunged under Proposition 47, Uber will reconsider their employment. If they still dont qualify to be drivers, Uber will refer them to an organization that focuses on helping ex-offenders find jobs and become entrepreneurs. Why did people overwhelmingly vote in favor of (Prop. 47), and what message is there in that for us? asked Joe Sullivan, Ubers chief security officer, referring to the state initiative that passed in 2014. Theres a pretty clear message we shouldnt be holding back potential drivers who have a check fraud on their record they might not have any indication that theyre going to be a bad driver or create a safety risk in any way. Beginning Feb. 1, Uber officials will comb through the applications of people who failed a criminal background check and notify those who may qualify for a reduced charge under state law. Prop. 47, which expires next year, reclassifies certain felony offenses as misdemeanors. Eligible offenses include possession of most illegal drugs and property crimes in which losses were $950 or less including forgery, check fraud, petty theft, shoplifting and receiving stolen property. Most applicants who can amend their histories just dont know it, Uber officials said. If the applicants follow through, the company will use them to bolster its workforce of 39,000 drivers in the Bay Area. Anyone who is a registered sex offender, has a history of violent crimes, driving offenses or is on a terrorism watch list will remain ineligible. Uber insists that loosening its criminal criteria will have no impact on the safety of its passengers. Were not going to do anything to compromise safety, Sullivan said. Were just trying to make sure our process is fair. Last year, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon found that drivers in Los Angeles and San Francisco included convicted sex offenders, identity thieves, burglars, kidnappers and a murderer. He named 25 drivers in a lawsuit, but said those were just a small sample, some of whom happened to receive citations by airport police in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Prosecutors also found three unlicensed drivers who used someone elses credentials to drive for Uber. Uber relies on name-based background checks conducted by Checkr, a nationally accredited company. But those checks, like those of rival company Lyft, do not go back more than seven years and are less reliable than fingerprint-based scans. Driver applicants who fail Ubers checks, or dont qualify because of driving-related offenses in their history, will be encouraged to contact Defy Ventures a program that teaches job readiness and entrepreneurship to felons through a series of programs. All Uber referrals must pass Defys own background check, which mostly makes sure that offenders dont lie about their criminal histories or drug tests. Those who do will be given a scholarship to enroll in the training program, which costs participants $100 per month. Once the participants, called entrepreneurs in training, find a steady job, they can enroll in Defys incubator, which trains men and women to formulate and start their own businesses. Uber isnt saying anyone with any kind of crime history can be a driver, but theyre willing to give every one of them a second chance, Hoke said. There are very few companies that are willing to be accepting and progressive about this population. Theyre taking a risk by doing this at all. Defys founder and CEO Catherine Hoke said this is the first time a company has reached out and offered to refer rejected candidates to San Franciscos Defy, which runs in-prison and post-release programs. Companies dont usually do this because a company doesnt necessarily get brownie points by saying, We believe people with criminal histories should be rehabilitated, she said. It just doesnt generate the same kind of warm, fuzzy feelings as it would if a company said, Were going to send a bunch of kids to summer camp, but it is so, so important. Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae Berlin and Beyond Berlin and Beyond: The annual festival of German cinema celebrates its 20th year with rising German actor Tom Schilling in attendance. Schillings new hacker thriller, Who Am I No System Is Safe, opens the festival at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, at the Castro Theatre (an opening-night party at the Castro begins at 6 p.m.), while his 2012 award-winning slacker film A Coffee in Berlin plays at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16. In a 2014 review, The Chronicle called A Coffee in Berlin a wry, charming film (that) actually offers some mature observations about this thing we call life. The Castro closing night at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17, (after which the festival moves to the Goethe-Institut for three more days) is irresistible: a screening of the landmark 1927 silent documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City with a live musical accompaniment by Alp, a Berlin band mixing rock band dynamics, improvisation and laptop electronics. Other highlights: the Syrian immigrant spy thriller After Spring Comes Fall and the edgy drama Toro. Thursday-Sunday, Jan. 14-17, at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., S.F. (415) 621-6120; and Monday-Wednesday, Jan. 18-20, at the Goethe-Institut, 530 Bush St., S.F. (415) 263-8760. www.berlinbeyond.com. Moonwalkers: A special screening of a new British comedy from Antoine Bardou-Jacquet stars Ron Perlman as a CIA agent on a mission in 1969 London: Hire Stanley Kubrick to stage a moon landing in case the real one doesnt work out. All hell breaks loose when a rock band manager (Harry Potter vet Rupert Grint) passes off a friend as Kubrick to cash in on the scheme. 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, at the Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. (415) 454-1222. For everybody getting sick of all these good and great movies in theaters right now, theres Ride Along 2, which is not in the same league as even the first Ride Along, much less The Revenant, Carol, Brooklyn, Son of Saul, Anomalisa and The Big Short. Its a formula movie, which wouldnt necessarily be a problem, except that its a sort of bad version of itself. In the original Ride Along, the pairing of Kevin Hart and Ice Cube had a certain appeal. The notion of the relentless Hart in collision with the impassive Cube was amusing just to think about, and the filmmakers were able to fashion an action comedy that lived up to expectations barely, but still. Hart is a very funny guy, and Cube is a good straight man, and with decent material, they couldnt fail. But they cant make something out of nothing, and to watch Ride Along 2 is to get the sense of a screenplay that was never right, that was just pushed along on the faith that the actors could rescue it. For the record, the start is decent enough. First, the movie establishes Benjamin Bratt as the suave villain, a drug dealer and smuggler who poses as a philanthropist. This is followed by a genuinely funny scene in which Hart, as a rookie cop, blows his cover in a stakeout and puts his colleagues at risk. But the stakeout scene is like a stand-alone skit, and the moment the story kicks in, the movie starts to collapse. James (Cube), an Atlanta detective, is assigned to put together a team and go to Miami to investigate a murder. Ben (Hart), his future brother-in-law, is desperate to accompany him, but James refuses. And then James relents, if only because if he doesnt, there wont be a movie. Because Hart is a real actor, he doesnt just play jokes. He tries to make sense of the script hes given, and what hes given in Ride Along 2 is a character who has no judgment, never shuts up and seems driven by an irrational compulsion to prove his worth. In a merely comic character, that might be fine, but Ride Along 2 asks us to take Ben seriously, and when we do, the laughs fall away. Were presented with someone whos not just zany or absurd, but neurotic and dangerous to be around. Its one thing not to believe that James would take him to Miami. Its another thing to start wishing that he hadnt, and yet another to start wishing theyd all stayed home. These are the stages a viewer goes through when watching Ride Along 2. Olivia Munn appears as a Miami cop who joins the men on their adventures. Her purpose in the movie is more or less to show up in scenes looking like Olivia Munn. No one should argue with that, but an actress would never take a nothing role like this were she offered something better. Munn deserves a lot better than Ride Along 2. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. E-mail: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle Ride Along 2 Starring Kevin Hart, Ice Cube and Benjamin Bratt. Directed by Tim Story. (PG-13. 101 minutes.) WASHINGTON A spike in families and children arriving at the U.S. southern border from Central America has prompted fears of another crisis like the one that dominated national news during the summer of 2014. That could roil an already tumultuous presidential race, giving more momentum to Republican front-runner Donald Trump while creating problems for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and President Obama. The number of Central American families and unaccompanied minors arriving at the border this fall more than doubled from the year before, according to the most recent figures. The numbers could go even higher beginning in February and early spring, when arrivals traditionally increase, potentially eclipsing the levels that produced the 2014 crisis. Such concerns helped prompt the Department of Homeland Security, with the close involvement of the White House, to initiate crackdowns on migrants in several states over the holidays, picking up 121 people for deportation. In some instances, people were detained during surprise early morning home raids that have infuriated the presidents Democratic allies. Clinton broke with Obama on the issue at an Iowa forum Monday night, calling for an end to the raids that she said have sown fear and division in immigrant communities across the country. We have laws and we must be guided by those laws, but we shouldnt have armed federal officers showing up at peoples homes, taking women and children out of their beds in the middle of the night, she said in a statement. On Capitol Hill, House Democrats were releasing a letter signed by more than 100 lawmakers demanding an end to the raids. Having people afraid to open their doors to strangers, not going to work, etc., is not a healthy development, said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose. Lofgren said she shares concerns about a renewed Central American border crisis but, like other Democrats, argued that the migrants should be treated as refugees. Many are fleeing brutal gang warfare in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, the same countries whose violence and instability forced women and children to make the dangerous trip north two years ago, overwhelming U.S. facilities and producing disturbing images of frightened children huddling in Border Patrol facilities. Such images remain vivid to policymakers, and avoiding a repeat is a priority. This time it would come in the middle of a presidential campaign where immigration is already a fraught topic, with Trump insisting he would deport everyone here illegally while Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida exchange barbs about who has the stronger record on this issue. A new border crisis could only incite such disputes, while putting the White House on the defensive. Administration officials say they are better prepared than they were in 2014 for a new influx, including increased capacity to house children. But the administration has limited strategies to stem the tide. They have stepped up advertising in Central American countries to warn of the dangers of the trip and point to $750 million in a year-end spending bill to help those nations. SAN DIEGO For the first time, U.S. border authorities will inspect trucks entering the United States on Mexican soil, working simultaneously with Mexican counterparts. The new facility in Tijuana, which seeks to reduce congestion and speed cargo crossings into San Diego, overcame resistance in Mexico to letting U.S. officials carry guns. In April, Mexican lawmakers approved changes to the countrys firearms law to permit foreign customs and immigration officials to be armed on the job. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske and Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray were scheduled to open the joint inspection facility Tuesday in Tijuanas Mesa de Otay section, just blocks from one of the busiest crossings on the 1,954-mile border. Customs and Border Protection provided few details ahead of the ceremony, saying the effort represents the shared commitment between the United States and Mexico to promote economic growth and prosperity between the two countries connected by more than just a shared border. It is the latest demonstration of closer border ties. Last month, a group of U.S. and Mexican investors opened an air terminal in San Diego with a bridge that crosses a razor-wire border fence to Tijuanas existing airport, believed to be the only cross-border airport outside the European Union. In October, Mexican authorities began inspecting Mexico-bound cargo at the airport in Laredo, Texas. U.S. authorities plan to inspect U.S.-bound trucks in San Jeronimo, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, near the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas. Cargo has long been inspected in the U.S. and in Mexico. The new preinspection facilities effectively meld two stops into one. Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce in San Diego, said authorities told her that truck inspections in Tijuana will initially be limited to fresh produce that is deemed to be low risk for spreading pests or disease. Eventually more products may be eligible. The larger significance is that U.S. and Mexican officials will work under the same roof, sharing intelligence and other information, said Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Mexico Institute. Theyre going to get to know each other better than ever before, Wilson said. This is really joint border management in its early stages. Plans for the joint inspection facilities have long been in the works but faced resistance in Mexico over allowing U.S. agents to be armed. Mexico has been very sensitive about U.S. agents operating on Mexican soil for the last couple centuries, since the Mexican-American War but particularly since the 1980s, Wilson said. Its an issue of national sovereignty. The fact that they are willing to do this shows Mexico doesnt just have a narrow conception of what that means. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Viewers of President Obama's final State of the Union address on Tuesday may have been surprised to see a young boy among first lady Michelle Obama's guests. His name is Braeden Mannering, and this is his third trip to the White House, so far. No big deal. At 12 years old, he is the founder of the nonprofit Brae's Brown Bags, which offers healthy meals packed in paper bags that are given to the homeless and low-income families near his home in Bear, Del. Mannering's organization is credited with bagging and distributing more 4,500 bags of food since it first began in 2013. Along the way, Mannering has encouraged more than 2,600 volunteers to help feed the hungry, and raised $52,000 for hunger relief. If that's not enough, the sixth-grader also co-hosted a conference in May, where 200 children met with adults and nonprofit organizations to address hunger issues. Leading up to the State of the Union, Mannering made his rounds around Washington and wrote an article about his trip. Mannering also met with Sen. Tom Carper from his home state of Delaware. Mannering is the youngest guest of Obama's at the State of the Union, however, this is the second time he has been invited to the White House. In 2013, he was a guest at the Kid's State Dinner for submitting a healthy recipe to the White House at the age of 9. At this lunch, Obama challenged kids to "pay it forward," which led to Mannering starting his mission to feed the homeless, according to a recent interview with Time. Apparently, it is now legal for a group or a person to take over a U.S. government facility by armed force and not be charged with a crime. This is something that can be done without impunity when people dont like a law that is passed by our elected representatives. This may be an effective way to create change we can believe in. I can see this as a new method for civil disobedience. Just imagine the numbers of poor, blacks, immigrants, veterans, seniors and college students joining this new movement. Sound like fun to you? Gary Molitor, San Leandro Tap El Chapos skills I suggest we bring Joaquin El Chapo Guzman to California and put him in charge of high-speed rail and fixes for the Bay Bridge. He could do it all from prison, under budget and quickly. Betty Henry, Berkeley Making a statement In response to John Diazs column (An invitation to ballot mischief, Insight, Jan. 10) decrying nonbinding ballot measures: Nonbinding does not mean nonvaluable. The proposition in question would call attention to the support in this country to do away with Citizens United, the basis for big money in politics. California has always led the nation and attention to this issue is critical. The national media paid little attention to state legislative actions by 16 states calling for abolishing Citizens United with legislation pending in 20 more states. The desire for an uncluttered ballot is understandable, but the initiative process began over 100 years ago. Since it has taken until now for the court to rule, it is not likely we will be overrun with nonbinding measures. The measure in question was begun by the grassroots and the Legislature is to be commended for its responsiveness. Eloise Hamann, Dublin Equal access Its about time we evolved to restrooms for all. Thanks to the transgender community, this may become a reality all over the place in the years to come. For centuries weve had a system that favors men and making all public restrooms equal-opportunity makes sense on many levels. Everyone gets to stand in line for the same amount of time. Now if we could get you guys to put the toilet seat down (didnt your mothers teach you anything?). And, how about simply naming them restrooms? Diane Lynch, Tiburon Criminal exposure It appears we have another means by which to identify criminal suspects: the color of their boxer shorts (Bart police seek leads after killing in West Oakland, Jan. 11). Better pull up your pants, perps! Jennifer Hayes, Oakland Its only fair There is a simple solution for employees who do not want to pay union dues because they think everything a union does is political: When contract negotiations begin, labor and management often come to the table with two competing offers. Managements is usually lower, labors is usually higher. If the new contract is for more than management originally offered, it can be assumed that labor negotiations were responsible for the increase. If some employees do not want to pay for these union services, then they should not benefit from those gains. They should receive whatever management originally offered. Then no ones principles are violated. Kevin Padian, Kensington Bridge quagmire The traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge over the Christmas weekend was horrendous. Beautiful weather brought out thousands of pedestrians, cars and numerous tourist buses. The vehicles trying to get into Vista Point backed up the entire length of the bridge to the toll plaza and beyond. There was no CHP or bridge personnel supervising the thousands of pedestrians walking from the lower traffic lot up to the bridge. Add in the double-decker tourist buses trying to turn into the lower parking area, and you had a traffic nightmare. The bridge district needs to assign enforcement personnel to help direct the pedestrians and vehicles in this very congested corridor. The CHP needs to close the Vista Point parking lot when it is full, and to keep the traffic moving on the bridge. This is especially needed on the weekends. Judy Adami, San Francisco Spiro Agnews vision I rather liked Vice President Spiro Agnew, especially his colorful and creative choice of words. For example, the word nabob. A nabob is defined as a person of conspicuous wealth and/or high status. To natter is to talk endlessly about everything. Mr. Agnew was the first to coin the phrase, nattering nabobs of negativism. I hope everyone will agree that Agnew was being prophetic: Behold Donald Trump. Has anyone ever heard him say anything positive about anyone except himself? I havent. Piers Lahey, Daly City Polls in California show Ted Cruz moving ahead. It is time for good Democrats to do their duty. California is not an open-primary state in a presidential race. Register as Republican, and vote for The Donald in the primary. Roger Drosd, San Francisco Donald Trump, A to Z Abusive Bombastic Confrontational Disturbing Egomaniac Fanatical Gratuitous Hater Insensitive Jerk Know-it-all Liar Manipulative Nincompoop Obnoxious Phony Quack Rude Self-centered Tactless Unfit Vindictive Willful Xenophobic Yikes Zealot Betty Mermod, Novato WASHINGTONPresident Obama launched his final year in office with a valedictory State of the Union address Tuesday night that painted a portrait of a prosperous and secure America but warned of peril ahead if the country cant break the political logjam in Washington. His final rendition of the annual speech focused more on aspirational themes than on ambitious new plans, and contained only a handful of requests to Congress. At just under an hour, it was among his shortest such speeches to a joint session of Congress. In a rare admission of fault, Obama acknowledged he is not blameless for the hardened, hyper-partisan political atmosphere of his tenure in the White House. Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he said. But Obama peppered his speech with veiled zingers aimed at his critics from lawmakers listening in the House chamber to the GOP candidates battling to succeed him in one of his most edgy public addresses. They made clear that he intends to add his voice to the 2016 presidential race. Citing his push to make college education affordable, for example, he noted that a good education isnt enough in an economy undergoing profound change. After all, its not much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting in this chamber, he told members of Congress, some of whom sat stonily. Rebutting Trump Without ever naming Donald Trump, Obama seemed to focus much of his speech at rebutting, point by point, the harsh political arguments on the economy, immigration, Islam and national security that have helped make the billionaire businessman the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction and political hot air, Obama said. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker, he added. America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. He called on Americans to reject politics that target people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness, he said. When politicians insult Muslims, he added, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. He also fought back against arguments that his administration has underplayed the danger from Islamic State and other terrorist groups, insisting that over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped, he said. But they do not threaten our national existence. He also took on his critics on the issue of climate change, citing the international agreement signed last month in Paris to combat the causes of global warming. Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it, he said. Youll be pretty lonely because youll be debating our military, most of Americas business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree its a problem and intend to solve it. The Republicans appointed critic for the night, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, was just as cutting in the GOP response after Obama finished speaking. The presidents record has often fallen far short of his soaring words, Haley said. Obama gave credit to new Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., and said he welcomed a serious discussion with the new House leader about helping low-income workers. Ryan sat behind Obama impassively, rising once or twice to applaud U.S. troops. Three months after Ryan rose to his new position, he still has not had the customary one-on-one welcome meeting at the White House. Even if relations warm with the new speaker, Obama does not expect the Republican-led Congress to embrace his call for gun safety, immigration policy reform or a higher minimum wage. That will not stop him from pushing for it, advisers said. Obama laid out his plans for building on his legacy in words that rang familiar after his seven years in office. He said the nation must consider several questions, regardless of who wins the next election. How does the country give everyone a fair shot in the new economy and make technology work for people and not against them? How does government keep Americans safe, but not become the worlds policeman? And how can we make sure that our politics reflect whats best in us, and not whats worst? he asked. In response, he talked about preparing the workforce for the changing marketplace, and pushing for universal prekindergarten and college affordability while also safeguarding Social Security and Medicare. He vowed to support Vice President Joe Bidens moon shot project to cure cancer. Foreign policy plans On foreign policy, he implicitly rejected what his staff sees as a binary choice that his Republican critics offer between isolation from the global community and sending U.S. troops to occupy foreign countries. He defended his policy of engagement with Iran, Cuba and China, and argued that it has advanced American interests around the world. He urged Americans to welcome refugees from the Syrian civil war, and he called for expanding trade, starting with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. He said he still wants to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, a plan complicated by the fact that federal law bans the transfer of suspected terrorists from there to U.S. soil. The speech was noteworthy for the absence of policy details. Aides to the president say he is returning more to the tone of his 2008 campaign speeches, the ones that won the electorate to his side in the first place. Soaring finale As he neared the end of his speech, Obama veered away from policy altogether, rising into a sermon-like oratory on the state of American politics. He decried the practice of gerrymandering the drawing of congressional district maps by dominant state political officials to favor their parties. Voters should pick their representatives and not the other way around. Beyond that, Obama said, Americans have gotten out of practice of working out their differences. Change will only happen, he said, if we can have rational, constructive debates, Obama said. It will only happen if we fix our politics. After failing to secure enough support, a San Francisco lawmaker took a bill that would have addressed prescription drug costs off the agenda before a key committee vote on Tuesday. Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, pulled AB463, which would have required pharmaceutical companies to disclose marketing and production expenses of any drug that costs consumers $10,000 or more per treatment. The bill, which was set for a vote in the Assembly Health Committee, would have needed at least 10 votes out of the 18-member committee to pass. Chius legislation had been closely watched because the increasing costs of prescription drugs have become a national concern. The $1,000-per-pill cost of the hepatitis C drug Solvadi, made by Foster Citys Gilead Sciences, has drawn headlines, as have the antics of a drug executive who raised the price of one longtime prescription drug by 5,000 percent last fall. Congress is looking into questions about drug prices. Chiu said the issue isnt going away anytime soon and hopes to introduce a modified or different bill in the next few weeks. The need for action has become clearer with each shocking example of arrested drug company executives, congressional investigations and unsustainable retiree health expenses, Chiu said in a statement. Exploding specialty drug costs limit the availability of life-saving medication for people who are seriously ill and bust budgets for businesses and governments alike. The pharmaceutical industry opposed the bill, but it had support from labor unions, business organizations, consumer advocates and health insurers. We remain committed to tackling high-priced drugs, and until pharmaceutical companies act responsibly, well be holding their feet to the fire, said Charles Bacchi, chief executive officer of the California Association of Health Plans, in a statement. This isn't the end but the beginning of the fight, and we expect to see and support other policy efforts to bring down the cost of prescription drugs this year, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition. Politicians ignore the public anger around prescription drug prices at their peril. Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver Evan Sernoffsky Police nabbed a hit-and-run suspect, who last week struck and killed a 29-year-old San Francisco man on a busy New York City street, officials said. Anthony Pham, who lived in San Franciscos Ingleside Heights neighborhood near San Francisco State University, was crossing the FDR Drive on the east side of Manhattan around 1 a.m. Friday when he was struck, New York City police officials said. Google Maps A crew of 10 young assailants viciously stabbed two men at a Mission District bus stop, sending the victims to the hospital, where one man was clinging to life Wednesday, police said. The attack happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when the attackers, described as between the ages of 18 and 20, approached two men sitting at a bus stop at 18th and Mission streets, San Francisco police officials said. Heather Marlowe on Tuesday tearfully recounted being drugged and raped six years ago, during San Franciscos famous Bay to Breakers race a crime she says has gone unpunished in part because police officials have put her case on the back burner. So last week, she filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, alleging the Police Department denied her equal protection by not adequately investigating her case and failing to test her rape kit taken at a hospital. Its more than frustrating. Its been traumatizing, a visibly shaken Marlowe said during a news conference with her attorneys to announce the lawsuit filed on Jan. 6 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The case dates back to April 2010, when the young woman, who moved to the city from Marin two years before to study drama and theater, decided to participate in the wildly popular Bay to Breakers for the first time. While running in the event known more for its debauchery and drunkenness than its standing as a legitimate race a stranger handed her a beer in a red plastic cup. After drinking the beer, Marlowe said she became extremely intoxicated and was soon out cold. She woke up eight hours later in an unfamiliar home in the Inner Richmond, sick and vomiting, and injured from being sexually assaulted. She was barely conscious, wounded and scared, Marlowes attorney, Irwin Zalkin, said. She realized she had been raped and did what many rape victims dont do she went to San Francisco police for help. Marlowe then went to a hospital and underwent an hours-long, invasive forensic exam, where staff collected bodily fluids, blood, urine and swabs from her genitals and anus. The evidence was then compiled into what is called a rape kit for later testing by a crime lab, where scientists work to extract a rapists DNA to be entered in a national database. The hope is to identify rape suspects unknown to the victim like in Marlowes case. But according to her complaint, police never tested the rape kit and likely lost the DNA sample from a suspect in the case. Her attacker has not been publicly identified or arrested, Marlowe said. Making matters worse, she said, police demanded she go back to the scene of the crime, and while an investigator distracted the owner, she said she was asked to sneak in to see whether it was the home where the rape occurred. Ultimately, she could not confirm it was the location of the attack. A San Francisco police spokesman said he could not comment on the ongoing lawsuit and referred all calls to the city attorneys office. Weve received the case, and were in the process of reviewing it, said Matt Dorsey, spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera. But it would be premature for us to substantively comment on the allegations. Marlowes complaint comes as the San Francisco Police Department said it has cleared its backlog of hundreds of untested rape kits and that all new kits gathered at San Francisco hospitals are now tested within 10 days. In 2014, the department said it cleared its backlog which should have included Marlowes case dating back to 2003 when the 10-year statute of limitation for rape cases expired. But Marlowes attorneys are skeptical about the claims. To this day, Marlow has never been given the results of her rape kit test, nor has she been provided with any documentation to substantiate the oral representations that her rape kit was, in fact, processed, Zalkin wrote in the claim. Whats more, the Police Department has not solved any cold cases linked to the rape kits and presented them to the district attorney since it reported clearing the backlogs, said Max Szabo, a spokesman for the district attorneys office. While waiting, seemingly in vain, for an update on her case, Marlowe tours college campuses, performing her one-woman play, The Haze, that details her horrific ordeal and subsequent frustrations with the investigation. This is not just about me, she said. This is for all women who have had this happen to them. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky Supervisor Jane Kim upped the ante on affordable housing Tuesday with a ballot measure that would require new developments to set aside at least 25 percent of units for low and middle-income households more than double the current obligation. Weve seen the numbers, and voters are asking us to build more affordable housing now, Kim said Tuesday. Voters want to see something in June that will allow us to build more affordable housing not just for our most vulnerable residents but our middle-class residents. Kim first introduced the ballot measure in December, but it was still in draft form at the time. While more affordable housing is something every politician in San Francisco champions, there is no shortage of political gamesmanship around the issue at City Hall. Should the measure go on the June ballot, and voters pass it, it would give Kim a big legislative accomplishment to campaign on in her November race for state Senate against fellow Supervisor Scott Wiener. Kim has an exceedingly short time frame to get the measure on the June ballot. On Tuesday, she asked that the entire Board of Supervisors hear the measure bypassing the normal committee process. If the board agrees to that step at its next meeting, the full board would hear the measure at its Feb. 23 meeting and then again at its March 1 meeting the last day the measure could qualify for the June ballot. It needs six votes to get on the ballot. The mayor, meanwhile, has convened a group of developers and affordable-housing advocates to hammer out a ballot measure for November that would increase the required percentage of affordable housing. Asked why she didnt coordinate with the mayor and his working group, Kim said: I think we have the right policy already and we are ready to go. Kims proposed ballot measure, which Supervisor Aaron Peskin is co-sponsoring, requires that in new developments at least 15 percent of units must go to low-income households and 10 percent go to middle-income households. The Board of Supervisors could change that requirement over time. For purposes of renting, the measure defines low-income as $56,050 for a family of four, while middle-income is defined as $101,900 for a family of four. Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Twice a week, The Chronicle features a home on the market that caught our eye for its architecture, history or character. More photos: www.sfgate.com/columns/walkthrough Address: 119 Valley St., San Francisco. Asking price: $3.95 million. Description: Contemporary designs with a hint of Wine Country elegance outfit this remodeled four-bedroom home in Noe Valley. Corbels accent the facade of the early 20th century Victorian, and the interior features modern takes on classic finishes like ceiling medallions and pocket doors. Parlors on opposite sides of the entry house a living room and library, and at the rear of the main level is a great room opening to a south-facing Ipe deck through collapsible NanaWalls. A media lounge with wet bar occupies a lower level that includes a bedroom suite that could act as an au-pair. Mature olive trees sprout from a low-maintenance backyard with a fire pit and privacy fences. Visit www.ReimaginedNoeVictorian.com to learn more. Dont miss: The newly built third-floor master suite with a private, south-facing balcony and a spa bathroom finished in Carrara marble and California Faucet fixtures. Built: 1900 (Remodeled 2015) Square feet: 3,439 For more information: Tiffany Hickenbottom, Brown & Company, (415) 933-7001, www.tiffanyhickenbottom.com. The Walk-Through is produced by Sentinel Media Services for The San Francisco Chronicle. Send submissions to realestate@sfchronicle.com. BERLIN German prosecutors have charged three men and one woman with forming a far-right terror group and planning a bombing on a refugee shelter, officials said Wednesday. The four are alleged to have created a group two years ago that went by the name Oldschool Society, using social media to recruit new members and promote far-right ideas, federal prosecutors said. Internally, the group became increasingly radical and, in mid-November 2014, members discussed how to manufacture explosives and the possibility of attacking Islamic extremists and asylum-seekers in Germany. The four identified only as Andreas H., 57; Markus W., 40; Denise Vanessa G., 23; and Olaf O., 47, in line with German privacy rules are accused of forming and being members of a terrorist organization and planning an explosion, prosecutors said. Andreas H. and Markus W. were described as the groups president and vice president. There was a concrete plan to carry out an explosives attack on an inhabited refugee shelter near Borna in connection with their second meeting from May 8-10, 2015, prosecutors said. The town is southeast of Leipzig in the eastern state of Saxony, which has been a hotbed of antiforeigner sentiment over the past year. Markus W. and Denise Vanessa G. allegedly traveled to the Czech Republic in May to purchase fireworks, and the group discussed how to make them more dangerous by wrapping nails around them. They were arrested May 6 as part of nationwide raids, before the attack could take place. All four are in prison pending trial. TEHRAN Irans release of 10 U.S. Navy sailors on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after they were detained on the Persian Gulf, is being hailed in both countries as a sign that their relations have evolved since the signing of the nuclear accord last summer. Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Iranians for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter and suggested in a statement that the quick resolution of the issue was a product of the nearly daily back-and-forth that now takes place between Washington and Tehran, after three decades of hostility and stony silence. In an appearance later Wednesday at the National Defense University in Washington, Kerry said that his focus on diplomacy with a country we hadnt talked to for 35 years before the nuclear negotiations had paid off. These are always situations that as everybody knows, if not properly handled, can get out of control, Kerry said. We can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago. The crew members of two patrol boats were detained Tuesday after what Iranian state news media described as trespassing in Iranian waters near a major naval base. Similar episodes in the past, like the seizure of British marines in 2007, have developed into prolonged standoffs that further alienated Tehran and the West. This time was different. The Pentagon and the State Department initially said that one of the boats had experienced mechanical problems en route to Bahrain from Kuwait in a routine mission Tuesday and that the Iranians appeared to have accepted the explanation. On Wednesday, however, after the crew members and boats were returned, defense officials said they no longer believed that mechanical problems were the cause, noting that both boats returned to U.S. custody under their own power. Defense officials said that they were still trying to untangle the chain of events that led to the episode. Of particular note, they said, was the question of how the military lost contact with not one, but two boats. Several officials noted that the crew members were relatively young, junior enlisted sailors. For now, questions about the incident itself seemed secondary to how it was resolved. While the countries still have a long way to go before normalizing relations, analysts say a less charged atmosphere that allowed the speedy resolution is a reflection of changing priorities in Tehran and Washington. The top leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not looking for any tension with America, said Nader Karimi Joni, a journalist aligned with Irans reformists who once served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he added, the whole system sought tension. He continued: Now, things have changed. Both sides, America and Iran, are in direct contact and they seek detente. Currently there is no need for anti-Americanism. The sailors were being flown to a U.S. military facility in Qatar, where they were to be debriefed and given medical exams. PEDRO DE ALVARADO, Guatemala After more than three months stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped there finally began their long-awaited trip north toward the U.S. border, flying into El Salvador and then traveling by bus to Guatemala on Wednesday. The first flight took off from Costa Ricas Daniel Oduber airport in the northern city of Liberia late Tuesday night as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaraguas refusal to let them through by land. The migrants appeared to get special treatment along the way: They were greeted by El Salvadors foreign minister upon their arrival in that country even as, when they got to the Guatemalan border, they saw a busload of Salvadoran migrants headed the other way after being deported to their home country from the United States. The Cubans wont have to worry about that since U.S. immigration policy allows them to stay if they reach the United States. That special status initially raised some resentment in Central America, whose citizens are often deported from the U.S. if they enter without visas. But the Cubans trip was so far smooth. Private, chartered transportation and transit visas had already been arranged for them. Four rented buses brought the Cubans to the Pedro de Alvarado crossing on Guatemalas border with El Salvador. Human rights activists accompanied them. Ruben Chil Cruz, who left his wife and two children behind in Cuba, said, It has all been very quick, thank God. However, Chil Cruz said he wasnt sure exactly, once he reaches the Mexican border, how he would cross that country, known for vicious attacks on and kidnappings of migrants, especially those from Central America. He said he didnt plan to use a smuggler to cross Mexico and hoped Mexican immigration officials at the border could give him advice on how to travel to the U.S. border. From there, he said, he plans to travel to Miami. But he expected the trip to be quick. I think I will get to the United States by Sunday, he said. For most Central American migrants, the trip takes weeks, and sometimes months. The Cubans once got through even faster, but Nicaragua an ally of Cuba closed its border to Cubans leaving the island on Nov. 13. Most Cubans came to Panama and Costa Rica via a longtime air bridge through Ecuador, before that South American country began demanding visas for Cubans in December. This month, the three Central American nations and Mexico reached an agreement on an air bridge to get around Nicaraguas refusal to let the Cubans through. There has been an exodus of migrants from Cuba in recent months after the communist-run country loosened requirements for leaving. 1 Hamas backlash: Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Aloul frequently writes about the hardships of life in the Gaza Strip and is one of the few voices willing to publicly criticize the rule of the Islamic Hamas movement. But after nine days in jail, al-Aloul says he wont be writing about politics anymore. He said that a painful experience that included beatings and being forced to sit uncomfortably in a tiny chair has made him a new man and that he will now focus on less controversial topics. Al-Alouls experience is part of a crackdown by Hamas at a time when the continuing miseries of life in Gaza appear to be driving its population toward more open dissent. 2 Reporters home searched: Pakistani paramilitary soldiers searched the private home in Islamabad of a New York Times reporter Tuesday without a warrant, leaving without seizing any property or making an arrest. Civilian government officials later apologized and promised to look into the matter. Times officials expressed concern that the search was just the latest instance of harassment of the newspapers staff by the Pakistani military, which ordered the Times bureau chief, Declan Walsh, expelled on 72 hours notice in May 2013. The government, apparently on orders from the military, refused to allow Walsh to return to Pakistan, and the paper has not had a permanent bureau chief there since. BEIRUT Backed by relentless Russian air strikes, Syrian troops and allied militiamen on Wednesday pushed deeper into a major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Latakia, a day after seizing a key rebel-held town in the strategic region overlooking the coast, the government and opposition activists said. The insurgents in the opposition-held area near the Turkish border were collapsing after the town of Salma fell to government loyalists late Tuesday. Salmas fall marked one of the most significant military victories by the Syrian military since Russia began air strikes in the country in September to shore up President Bashar Assads forces. On Wednesday, government troops seized the villages of Mrouniyah and Marj Kawkah near Salma as they continued their advances in the region, aided by immense Russian firepower. Salma, part of mountainous chains near the border with Turkey known as Jabal al-Akrad and Jabal al-Turkmen, has been under rebel control for the past three years. The town, where members of Assads Alawite minority sect once co-existed with majority Sunni Muslims, overlooks the largely Alawite coast and is about 7 miles away from the Turkish border. Turkey is a key supporter of insurgents in the area, which is mostly inhabited by Syrian Turkmen, an ethnic minority with close ties to Turkey. Whoever controls Salma gains control of all those surrounding areas which it overlooks, said Zakariya Ahmad, an opposition activist in the nearby Idlib province. He said the town fell after 93 days of fighting and daily barrel bombs and air strikes. He said activists in the region had reported 92 air strikes believed to be Russian on Salma in the last 24 hours before it was fully seized by government troops. It was hell on Earth, he said. Salmas capture further improves Assads position ahead of planned peace talks with the opposition in Geneva scheduled for Jan. 25, and came as high-level U.S., Russian, U.N. and other diplomats met behind closed doors in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss efforts to those talks. The recapture of Salma is the latest in a string of military achievements by the government recently, supported by Russian air power and Lebanons Shiite militant Hezbollah group. Santa Fe, weve got a problem: Our high desert sunshine and blue skies are too popular, our adobe skyline still a marvel, our artist colony on Canyon Road and Ski Santa Fe too irresistible. Even as officials try to lure more tourists, they're wrestling with how to capture the maximum tax revenue. The problem, as some see it, is that Internet-based home rentals are providing lodging without giving the city a cut. And recent calculations indicate that if they were, the city could be collecting another $2.3 million each year. But it's more than just a collections issue. Under the city's current ordinance, only 350 licenses can be issued to those who want to get into the short-term rental biz, leaving an estimated additional 500 or so properties used for that purpose without a licensemost of them advertising availability through websites like AirBnB, VRBO and Home Away. Now the city's land use staff, led by its department director, Lisa Martinez, and Randy Randall, the director of the city's tourism department, are set to take the pulse of city councilors on the topic. Back in September, at the urging of Councilors Peter Ives and Joseph Maestas, councilors passed a resolution that ordered staff to study various options and make recommendations, and the result of that is a agenda item on the City Council meeting Wednesday, Jan. 13. One of them: Lift the cap and make the sky the limit for any number of Santa Feans who are interested in turning their houses into de facto hotel rooms, provided they pay the city the $325 for a license to operate and the $100 for the application fee. The windfall in millions of recouped revenues could, at the very least, help pay down the balance of the $41 million that the city owes on the the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, with its 33,000 square feet of space. "We could use some of that money," Randall tells SFR this week. Whether the recommendations eventually take the form of a rule change depends on how many, if any, councilors are convinced that the toll on neighborhoods is worth the cash. Randall made the same point on Jan. 7 at a daytime public meeting where more than 200 people crowded into the Lamy Room in the Convention Center to deliver their feedback on the saga. Emotions ran high and were about eclectic as the amount of lodging you'd find on the Internet right now if you went looking. There was confusion over who would have to apply for a license. There was anger among residents who don't want any more congestion or noise in their neighborhood, which served as the catalyst for the current ordinance eight years ago. And there was frustration, particularly among those who are operating under the city radar and whose days of making a buck off their sweat equity would appear to be limited, or at least under scrutiny, unless they kick back $7 on every $100 that they charge their customers. The idea, Randall says, is bring all violators into the fold and make sure they ante up their share, which is what hotels and motels and bed and breakfasts do every quarter when they remit their lodger's taxes to the city. Current rules say license holders may only rent homes 17 times per year and can entertain no back-to-back renters in a given week. But a draft ordinance change from staff that's part of the packet for councilors to consider calls for erasing that provision. The proposal does, however, attempt to beef up the enforcement of city rules on inspections and taxes, adding a fine of $500 for operators who fail to comply. "Times are changing," Randall says. "It's not just occurring in Santa Fe. It's an international phenomenon, and and it's time to get on board and make some changes to the ordinance." On angry man, who operates a short-term rental out of his house on his own terms, rose to his feet in anger, and addressed Randall. "What do I get out of all this?" he says. The answer: He gets to legally rent out his house on a short-term basis, something that he's not supposed to be doing at the moment. Another resident, AJ Kleinman, who occasionally rents his four-bedroom house, was hoping that the city would carve out a niche for him and others like him, seeing as he only does so during certain holidays, and at the most at two weeks at a time. Because the children have got to get back to school. And he'd never rent to irresponsible renters. "It's my house, after all," he says. On the other side of the coin, people who live in neighborhoods with multiple short-termers say the city hasn't been honest about enforcement efforts and outright ignored their cries after the rules went into place. The report on the Council agenda indicates complaints "were resolved without having to issue any violations." Councilor Patti Bushee, who was on hand to talk to some of the residents, notes that theshort-term rental ordinance, which started out as a land-use issue, has now moved into the circle of tourism. And she's at a loss as to exactly why, or how, or the reason for the sudden mandate to make money off the matter. Yet Bushee is leaving her council seat in March and might not have a chance to consider whatever proposals come forward. The city of San Francisco, with similar struggles on a larger scale, instead of opening up the number of rentals, tried to place restrictions on short-term rentals, but the people voted it down by 55 percent in last November's election. Santa Fe isn't San Francisco, and this vote might not even be going to the City Council, unless councilors are persuaded by the report's results to go ahead and draft a proposed ordinance. As for Randall, he's already struck up a dialogue with AirBnB, which operates from San Francisco. It took him weeks to finally get them on the phone after weeks of emailing. And right now airbnb, he reports, is willing to collect the lodger's taxes from the short-term rental operators and remit them to the city. "But first we need to get to the bottom of what the ordinance will say," says Randall. Santa Fe Reporter Mitre 10 (New Zealand) chairman Martin Dippie's Jacks Hardware and Timber has been ordered back to the negotiating table with First Union after the Employment Court ruled it misled the union to prevent strike action. Jacks Hardware, which trades as the Mitre 10 Mega stores in Dunedin and Mosgiel, misled or deceived the union between mid-December 2014 and Feb. 20 2015 when it didn't resume bargaining after promising to do so to avert a pre-Christmas strike in 2014, and instead unilaterally declared the talks to have ended, according to Employment Court chief judge Graeme Colgan's Dec. 17 judgment. "The parties have failed to conclude a collective agreement, principally because of Jacks's unilateral declaration that it would not do so, which is in breach of its good faith obligations," Judge Colgan said. "Jacks's refusal to participate in collective bargaining since February this year has been serious in the sense that is has precluded any bargaining at all from taking place when it should have been." The judge agreed to First's application for facilitated bargaining, though didn't put a time limit "as it may not be conducive to the parties' resolution of their collective bargaining." He also said some of the evidence he heard at the November hearing indicated "the parties may no longer be in precisely the same intractable positions as they were previously, particularly around remuneration." The union kicked off talks with Jacks Hardware for 25 of the company's 170 staff in October 2013 when employees were unhappy with the hardware and building supplier's control over rosters and the amount of notice given for changes to shifts. Judge Colgan said Dippie, who bought the Jacks Hardware business about 20 years ago, was a central actor in the case, and that his "explained absence" from the hearing was "puzzling". Dippie handed over responsibility for employment relations to Neil Finn-House two months after talks with the union began. Like other family businesses, Jacks Hardware responded to the introduction of a union presence with "puzzlement and disappointment," and took a cautious and careful manner in approaching the collective talks, the judgment said. A major sticking point between the union and Jacks Hardware was on the inclusion of wages in a collective agreement and linking increases to length of tenure and position, as well as the company's performance measure. Many of the staff affected were paid marginally above minimum wage, at between $14 and $16 an hour, which the judge said "makes it particularly appropriate (not to mention usual) that the matter of their wages is to be the subject of negotiation including as part of collective negotiations for a collective agreement." Jacks Hardware baulked at the union's initial proposals, which it estimated would add about $2 million to its annual wage bill of $5.6 million if passed on to its entire workforce, though that evaluation was later found to be out of date and inaccurate as bargaining went on. By the time the company pulled out of negotiations, First had dropped its claim for redundancy compensation which would have halved the projected increase, and withdrawn or changed other claims to further limit the rise in Jacks Hardware's labour costs. In his ruling, Judge Colgan said this will likely be one of the last under now-amended legislation imposing a duty of good faith to conclude a collective contract. The judge awarded costs to the union. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: VTL - Director Resignation - Reg Barrett Infratil 2022 Sydney Investor Day Rua Bioscience Confirms First International Order AIA - Auckland Airport considers retail bond offer October 19th Morning Report SCT - Scott Announces FY22 Results Manawa Energy Q2 Operating Report & Market Guidance Update IKE 1H FY23 Performance Update GSH - Annual Meeting and Director Nominations PGW Trading Guidance Update BENGALURU: The prestigious Yale School of Management will name its deanship in honour of PepsiCo's India-born CEO Indra Nooyi as she gifted an undisclosed amount to her alma mater, becoming the school's biggest alumni donor and the first woman to endow a deanship at a top B-school. Yale did not disclose the amount gifted by Nooyi but said her "landmark gift" to endow the deanship of the school and inaugurate an innovation fund has made her the "most generous graduate" of Yale School of Management in terms of lifetime giving to the school. She is also the first woman to endow the deanship at a top business school, the school said in a statement on Tuesday. The PepsiCo chairman, who graduated from the school in 1980, credited her experience at the school for "forever" altering "the course of my life" and said her gift "pales in comparison with the gift that Yale gave me the fundamental understanding that leadership requires an expansive worldview and a deep appreciation of the many points of intersection between business and society." "Business issues are never just business issues, and my most ardent hope is that this endowment will teach future generations of leaders that the most successful companies of tomorrow will do more than make money," she said in a statement. "They will make a difference and create shareholder value by improving the quality of life in every market in which they operate," she said. Nooyi joins several prominent persons of Indian-origin who have donated generously to US universities. In October last year, Nooyi's sister and Grammy-nominated musician Chandrika Tandon and her husband Ranjan had made a 100 million dollar gift to the New York University's School of Engineering, one of the largest philanthropic gifts by a member of the Indian-American community. In 2010, Harvard Business School had received a gift of $50 million from Tata Companies. Industrialist Ratan Tata had attended the School's Advanced Management Programme in 1975. The gift will also be used to inaugurate the Fifth Decade Innovation Fund, which is named in recognition of the fact that the school is entering its fifth decade; the first class entered the Yale School of Management in 1976. The fund is an ambitious initiative designed to advance the school's aim of developing leaders with the broad global mindset and multi-disciplinary approach to business that is needed to succeed in 21st-century capitalism. It will be open to additional substantial contributions that can help the school develop the technology and other infrastructure to support these and future initiatives. Nooyi has a long record of support for the Yale School of Management, previously making substantial contributions to the construction of the Edward Evans Hall, including gifts to name the Nooyi Classroom and the Isaacson Classroom in memory of Professor Larry Isaacson. The single largest gift to the School of Management has been $50 million given to it in 2010 by Yale College alumnus, the late Edward Evans to support the construction of the school's new state-of-the-art campus. A media official at the university said there have been other gifts to the management school larger than the one made by Nooyi but they were made by donors who were not graduates of the school. Nooyi's giving is the largest and most generous by a graduate of the school. Nooyi, who is regularly named among the most powerful and influential business women in the world, serves as a member of the boards of US-China Business Council, US-India Business Council, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Tsinghua University. She is a past member of the Yale Corporation, the top governing board and policy-making body for the university and is also a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was appointed to the US-India CEO Forum by President Obama. Yale University president Peter Salovey said Nooyi's "sense of purpose, deep engagement with civic life, and pursuit of excellence exemplify the kind of leadership in service to society that we hope all Yale graduates will achieve." "The world needs skillful, purposeful, and dedicated leaders in every field and every sector, and Indra's name is synonymous with those core values of the university," he added. Edward Snyder is the inaugural Indra K Nooyi Dean and has led the Yale School of Management since 2011. He was recently appointed to a second five-year term as dean. He said Nooyi has become a leading voice among Fortune 500 CEOs in no small part because of her willingness to take a stand on the broader purpose of the corporation, while delivering top-echelon performance. She remembered the last school she joined, but what has done for previous ones, where she got the fundamentals?Hemkant Beedkar "The Yale School of Management community has long been proud of Indra Nooyi's accomplishments and her generous support will enable us to pursue new opportunities and initiatives, in keeping with the spirit of innovation that has always been a hallmark of Yale SOM," he said. "Having the deanship named in her honour communicates to the world the school's model of purposeful and broadminded leadership," he added. READ ALSO: Now Women Empowerment in India to Get a Boost from GIT National Youth Day: Swami Vivekananda Still Influence Our Lives BANGALORE: Raising funds for a startup cannot be deemed a cake walk. While one may have prepared the best pitch for their business, it may not suffice to impress the future investors, who would invest in the company. Market experts believe that 2016 would be a year of consolidation instead of investments. Last year especially in the last quarter of 2015, everybody saw ventures investing in startups. But this year, investors will be more cautious with their funding. They added that 2016 would be more of third and above funding rather than seed funding. Apart from minimal early seed funding, this category will also see many shut downs. According to experts, there have been several such sectors that saw many 'me-too' startup firms cropping up, but what does it take to establish a new business, reports Business Insider. The core team The first thing investors look at before deciding to part with the monies is the core team of the company, and what is their past experience, so that they will be able to guide the boat. How good is the team and how well do they know the business they are venturing into is critical parameter for investing in a startup. Read Also: The Journey of a Village from Quitting Alcohol to Getting Addicted To Chess NRI Students Offered Internships in 23 Indian Firms BENGALURU: In metro cities of the country, the startup trend is seamlessly striding and is grabbing attention of the international business investors. But, is it a good notion to expand startup business to tier II and III cities? Down goes the current trend as reported by the dna. Recently, many startups who had their business operation outside the metro cities have relinquished their operations reasoning technical aspect. But, none of them have resumed their business in tier two cites since the shutdown. Relative, industry experts say consider it as shun off by the companies to avoid further losses. Zomato, a restaurant discovery and food ordering app that gave up its operation in four Indian cities that means, it will sack around 300 employees. The company could not deliver the same performance in Tier II cites as it did in metro cities. Similarly the E-commerce grocery delivery company Grofers also had comparable setbacks out of major business cities, due to which, it announced operational shut down in various cities including Ludhiana, Bhopal, Kochi, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam. Both companies have claimed the same reasons for layoffs, despite of wide marketing strategies; they failed to receive the estimated response from the town based population. Some industry experts cite the development as still an inception and lots of other companies are expected to join the team. Harminder Sahni, Managing Director, Wazir Advisors, said "To fulfill this, start-ups look to expand their offerings in newer markets. However, what would work in cities doesn't necessarily work the same way in tier II and III towns. This is because the buying and consumption behaviour is very different there. However, when it comes to customer acquisition costs, it is more or less the same, which then puts more pressure on the business of the start-up leading to such drastic steps by their respective management." Also Read: Delhi's Car Restrictions May Not Reduce Pollution: Indian-American Expert World's Largest Tug-Of-War Tournament Begins In Gujarat Cuomo.jpg In this Jan. 7, 2016, file photo, Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at the Javits Convention Center in New York. Cuomo is expected to detail a plan to expand the facility in his State of the State address on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will deliver his annual State-of-the-State address in Albany, even as he has rolled out more than a dozen policy initiatives ahead of his presentation. The governor will address a room full of lawmakers and others beginning at 12:30 p.m., and the public can watch the speech via live stream here. Over the past week, Cuomo has outlined 14 proposals that highlight parts of his sweeping agenda for the new year. He has been and will continue in 2016 to push for a $15/hour minimum wage statewide. He recently announced that State University of New York employees earning minimum wage will get $15/hour, affecting more than 28,000 employees. He plans to modernize and transform the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He also plans to expand and improve access to high-speed Internet throughout the state. The governor proposes to combat poverty and reduce inequality, enact criminal justice reforms and increase environmental protection measures. He hopes to transform Penn Station and the historic James A. Farley Post Office into a transportation hub and expand and improve the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Cuomo announced a series of investments to grow the economy, including providing tax relief for small businesses, revitalizing and transforming downtown areas throughout the state and providing a sixth round of funding through Regional Economic Development Councils. He announced increased opportunity for minority- and women-owned business enterprises and outside the city, wants to expand the Long Island Rail Road and make upstate investments, including revitalizing airports there. The governor also announced an initiative to consolidate layers of local municipal governments. Obama.jpg President Barack Obama waves at the conclusion of his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Responding to President Obama's final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Rep. Daniel Donovan criticized the president for high taxes, big government and downplaying the severity of terrorist threats. Obama delivered the constitutionally mandated speech to a joint session of Congress, touching on many topics, including the economy, climate change, education, innovation, terrorism and a need to end political fighting. The president took swipes at Republicans and those who disagree with him on policies regarding climate change, campaign finance reform, the Affordable Care Act and relationships with countries like Cuba and Russia. Obama warned, "Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people ... but they do not threaten our national existence," a statement that Donovan took issue with. "The president didn't say 'homeland security' once tonight, but he did call talk of our enemies gaining strength 'hot air,'" Donovan said in a statement. "This would contradict the public statements of terrorism experts across the political spectrum who have said the threat is as complex and elevated as they have seen. The fact is, the state of our homeland is increasingly not secure. The president has placated our enemies and turned away our friends. He supposedly ended two wars, but the world is more dangerous now than when he took office. We need a clear strategy to fight radical Islamic terror, dismantle ISIS, and thwart homegrown plots -- and we heard none of that tonight." Donovan is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The congressman also took issue with the president's statements about the economy and working Americans. "President Obama spoke about working families and the need to unleash the American worker's potential," Donovan said. "But seven years of government expansion doesn't bolster the middle class. The answer isn't higher taxes and more government to bring everybody down. The answer is building a ladder that everybody can climb. The president doesn't get that, and it's destroying the dream of a better life for millions of families." Lastly, Donovan agreed with Obama's call to put aside politics to accomplish good things. Obama said, "It doesn't work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic." The congressman responded, "I do take heart in the president's talk of working together across the aisle, even if that vision has persisted just as lofty rhetoric during his administration. Moving forward into an uncertain future, I'll continue calling them like I see them while finding opportunities to collaborate for the good of Staten Island and South Brooklyn." Cuomo.jpg Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his State of the State address and executive budget proposal at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Albany. Cuomo's $145.3 billion budget proposal unveiled Wednesday proposes spending the state's $2.3 billion windfall from court settlements to house the poor and homeless, freeze Thruway tolls and make large investments in public infrastructure. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his joint State of the State/budget address on Wednesday to a packed convention center in Albany, touching on issues that address specific regions of the state, and others that affect New Yorkers regardless of location. Here are the top eight things Staten Islanders should know about the address: YELLING MATCH WITH BARRON While Cuomo was getting warmed up, Assemblyman Charles Barron thought it the appropriate time to heckle the governor, shouting at people gathered in the room to "stop listening to him." At first, Cuomo kept his cool, but when Barron continued, Cuomo unleashed his own loud, boisterous words: "We are New Yorkers first and we're going to come together and we're going to kick the extremists to the side. And just because you yell doesn't mean you're right, and just because you stand doesn't mean you're correct!" INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS From LaGuardia Airport and JFK International Airport, to the proposed Gateway program traveling under the Hudson River, to the redesigning of Penn Station and Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the governor outlined an ambitious plan to spend money on ailing infrastructure, several of which he announced in the week or so leading up to the State of the State address. EDUCATION Cuomo plans to invest in education, including expanding universal pre-k into more communities throughout the state He proposes investing $6.9 billion in SUNY/CUNY and proposes a $2.1 billion increase to $25 billion for k-12 public education. He touted charter schools as a less costly alternative to public schools and proposed a $200 tax credit for teachers who spend their own money for classroom supplies. PUBLIC SAFETY The governor criticized Washington D.C. for not sharing intelligence information with states when it collects intel on terrorists. "We have a new normal to confront and that is the widening threat of terrorism," he said. Cuomo proposed spending $40 million for permanent deployment of state troopers and National Guard at key state asset locations. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM Last year, Cuomo temporarily appointed Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as special prosecutor in cases where police kill an unarmed civilian, and Wednesday he urged the state Legislature to pass permanent legislation. The governor wants to stop "the cycle of incarceration," he said. "We are quicker to find a 16-year-old a jail cell than a job interview, and that is just wrong." Instead, state government should invest in programs to help prevent young people from falling into a life of crime. MIN WAGE/POVERTY A longtime proposal of Cuomo's, he wants to see a $15/hour minimum wage statewide, not just for fast food workers. Addressing opponents' argument that it's government interference in the private sector economy, Cuomo called that "the height of hypocrisy" because people in low-wage jobs are having their income subsidized through state welfare programs. "It is a subsidy for McDonalds ... it's corporate welfare at its worst," he said, adding enthusiastically, "we can get it done, we won't stop until we get it done, let them defend McDonalds and the corporate subsidies to the big corporations with your money." To end the cycle of poverty, he proposes investing $100 million in failing schools and $55 million into the Youth Jobs Voucher Program to employ young people and keep them from lives of poverty and crime. HOMELESS Cuomo recognized Joe Resto, a Brooklyn man who took the shirt off his back to give to a shirtless homeless man on a subway last week. Video of Resto's good deed went viral and he got a standing ovation during the State of the State address. "This is New York and we are New Yorkers and we will not allow people to dwell in the gutter like garbage," Cuomo said. But often, we look the other way when facing homeless on the street. He proposed over five years, spending $20 billion on 100,000 units of affordable housing, 6,000 new supportive housing beds, 1,000 shelter beds and other services. He thanked NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown "for their cooperation. Thy have been working very hard. This is a priority for them." ETHICS/REFORM To restore the public's trust in Albany, Cuomo proposes making state lawmakers a full-time job to end outside income, a proposal that some oppose. He also wants to close the LLC loophole that allows large donations to be exempt from campaign finance laws, and supports public financing for campaigns. "This is healthier for our democracy," he said. He also wants to see changes to the lobbying law, which currently allows some to circumvent registering as a lobbyist. And those elected officials found guilty of crimes while in office, like former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, should not receive their taxpayer-funded pensions. The Week That Was in Latin America Photo Gallery In this Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 photo, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is made to face the press as he's escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City. Guzman's second prison escape in 2015 from a top security prison though a tunnel had embarrassed President Enrique Pena Nieto and made his capture a national priority. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) ORG XMIT: WTW301 (Eduardo Verdugo) With the most notorious drug kingpin on the planet in custody -- again -- and perhaps on his way to the United States, where escapes from maximum security federal prisons are unheard of, you have to wonder how well Sean Penn is sleeping these days. With one eye open, perhaps? After all, it was the Oscar-winning actor/director's carefully arranged clandestine meeting with Joaquin Guzman (Loera), better known as "El Chapo," that led Mexican authorities to the head of the vicious Sinaloa cartel in his fortified hideout in the "Golden Triangle" region of that Mexican state. Mr. Penn was researching an article for Rolling Stone magazine and El Chapo seems to have been interested in having the influential American actor arrange for a film biography of his very colorful life. Mexican officials deny it, but it appears that Mexican investigators were tracking Mr. Penn and actress Kate del Castillo, much celebrated south of the border for her telenovela roles, as they traveled by small plane from a Guadalajara hotel to meet with El Chapo at his secret compound. Nearly escaped again Based on that intelligence, Mexican marines and law enforcement personnel swooped down on the compound last week and captured Guzman after a two-hour gun battle that left six of his thugs dead. El Chapo almost escaped again through a prearranged tunnel, as he did from a Mexican maximum security prison last summer. It was clear from the rough way the marines dealt with their prisoner that Guzman, who made utter fools of Mexican law enforcement officials in the past, cannot expect to get the star treatment this time around. Nor should he. As much as he, like other drug lords, tries to present himself as a folk hero, just a man from a humble background who did what he could to get by, he is a ruthless killer whose organization is responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people and for plunging Mexico into an ongoing narco-war with rival cartels that has threatened the very stability of that country and done significant damage to the nation's tourism industry. El Chapo's "greatest hits" include gruesome massacres he authorized in which multiple victims were dismembered, burned or otherwise mutilated and left for others to find as a message. Then there's the terrible toll in lives and misery that the drugs his empire ships north takes on American society. But Mr. Penn, who has befriended (and extolled) the likes of Hugo Chavez in the past, sought this meeting, and Ms. del Castillo apparently made the introductions. Now the question is how they are being perceived in the circles where Guzman is held in high esteem. There's no indication that they were working with police in any way when they sought and conducted the interview, but then ranking members of brutal drug cartels are not known for being fair-minded. And who knows if El Chapo might be angry enough to order retaliation for what he perceives as betrayal or foolishness -- or if someone in his organization might see carrying out such retaliation as his duty and a way to propitiate El Chapo and move up in the ranks? Michael Levine, a Drug Enforcement Administration veteran and author of "Deep Cover: Mexican Government Drug Corruption from the Inside," told FOX411 that Ms. del Castillo and Mr. Penn were fools to get involved with El Chapo and his associates on any level. 'Kill-crazy people' "The problem with dealing with someone like Guzman on this personal basis, where one is perceived as a 'friend' or an aid, or a business partner of sorts to Chapo, is that you have to be prepared to inherit all his enemies, and there are many," Mr. Levine said. "These are some very kill-crazy people." Mr. Levine added, "The notoriety gained by killing someone like Penn or even del Castillo will actually turn these bastards on. It's a step into the dark world of the kill-crazies. Believe me it is there, and unwittingly, these two may have stepped into a world where there is an actual competition to kill them." While we are hearing from apologists about the lengths to which artists such as Mr. Penn are called to go in pursuit of their "craft," perhaps he and Ms. del Castillo should have stayed home this time. In the meantime, let's hope that Mexican officials, who got downright huffy the last time the U.S. asked for Guzman to be extradited (only to allow him to escape again), see the light and ship him north of the border so he can face justice here and eventually spend the rest of his miserable days deep inside a U.S. federal supermax prison. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- About a week after his car was stolen from outside his home, a Rossville resident received a bizarre phone call from a man who identified himself as "Michael" but turned out to be accused killer Dante Viggiano. Moon Lee testified Tuesday at Viggiano's murder trial that "Michael" told him he knew where Lee's Nissan Altima was and wanted to make a "deal." If Lee brought him the keys to the car, "Michael" said he would drive the car to Lee's house, the witness testified. Lee told "Michael" he didn't understand why "Michael" didn't just reveal the car's location so he could retrieve the Altima himself, since he had a spare set of keys at home. Yet when a "puzzled" Lee asked "Michael" what sort of compensation he wanted in exchange for returning the car, "Michael," who denied stealing the Altima, just asked him again if he wanted his car back. "I was not 100 percent certain whether this person had the car in their possession," Lee testified in state Supreme Court, St. George. "The most difficult question I had in my mind is: Why would this person want to drive the car to me if he found it? It doesn't fit with the way people normally behave." The July 31, 2014, phone call occurred one month before Viggiano allegedly killed Peter Gialluisi and badly wounded his wife, Vincenza Gialluisi in their Huguenot home. Prosecutors allege the victims unwittingly walked in on a break-in by Viggiano at their home around 9:45 p.m. on Aug. 31. Viggiano fatally stabbed Peter Gialluisi, 66, and seriously wounded his spouse, now, 67, Assistant District Attorney Natalie Barros said in her opening argument. Viggiano, who, the prosecutor said, had broken into the house though a kitchen window, attacked Peter Gialluisi in the garage before bolting out the front door and into the woods across the street. Viggiano's DNA was found in the home and on the murder weapon, said Barros, who's prosecuting the case along with Assistant District Attorney Adam Silberlight. Lee's stolen car was parked down the street from the victims' home, according to police. Lee testified his Altima was stolen from his home sometime between July 19 and 22, 2014, while he and his wife were away. On returning, they found their home had been broken into through a kitchen window, accessible from a rear patio, Lee testified. A brick had been thrown through the window. Lee testified the keys to his Nissan Altima were missing from his briefcase near the kitchen. Nothing else appeared to have been taken. Nine days later "Michael" called Lee at home, said the witness. Lee, who had been in touch with police, said he tape-recorded "Michael's" phone conversation with him. The recording was played to the jury. Lee expresses his bewilderment throughout the call, questioning why "Michael" just doesn't tell him where the car is so he can get it himself. The caller makes no monetary demand, but says several times he just wants return the vehicle to Lee. Lee testified that when he asked the caller how he determined ownership and got his phone number, "Michael" said he found the car with the door unlocked and saw paperwork inside. Michael then said he locked the door and couldn't get back into the auto. Lee said he arranged to meet the caller the next day at the Woodrow Shopping Plaza. A policeman went with him, Lee testified, and observed from a short distance away as he met "Michael." Lee identified Viggiano as "Michael." Lee said he gave Viggiano the valet key to the Altima, which cops had modified so the car couldn't be driven. Lee said he explained to Viggiano he could drive the car home himself if the defendant told him where it was. Viggiano, however, said he'd do it because he was a "nice guy," said Lee. Lee said Viggiano gave him his cell phone when he asked for some type of assurance the car would be returned. Lee said he didn't want the phone and Viggiano, instead, posed for a photo, which prosecutors showed the jury. Viggiano seemed "alert" and "normal" when they met, testified the witness. In her opening statement Monday, Barros, the assistant district attorney, told jurors that cops, before the meeting in Woodrow, had located the car in the parking lot at the Great Kills apartment complex where Viggiano lives. They followed him home after the meeting with Lee and arrested him when he tried to enter the Altima with the valet key, she said. The defendant gave cops a fake name and date of birth, said Barros. He was charged in Criminal Court with grand larceny and released on his own recognizance, prosecutors said. Lee said police returned his car around Aug. 22, but he did not get his valet key back or the key stolen from his house. Nine days later, on Aug. 31, the car was missing once again. Lee notified police. As it turned out, cops saw the Altima later that night. It was parked on Venus Place, down the street from the Gialluisi's home, an officer testified. TOP QUOTE: "I had the impression he wasn't going to return the car," testified Moon Lee, regarding phone conversations about his stolen auto he had with a man who identified himself as "Michael" but turned out to be the defendant. INTERESTING MOMENT: Prosecutors played a tape of a phone conversation between Lee and "Michael" in which they discuss the return of Lee's stolen car. Lee's inflection is, at times, an amalgam of bewilderment, exasperation and bemusement as "Michael" seeks several times to make a "deal" but does not ask for monetary compensation. WHAT'S NEXT: Additional prosecution witnesses are scheduled to testify Wednesday. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! 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Tuesday was the capital's hottest day since November 2014, reaching 37.9 degrees, until Wednesday met the temperature and raised it to 38.5. Rosie Hyett of Melbourne cools off in the Fujiko Nakaya Fog sculpture at the National Gallery of Australia. Credit:Jay Cronan It was the third day in a row with temperatures over 35 degrees and the fourth over 30. Forecasters are expecting more heat and a burst of rain but no storm on Thursday, before things cool with temperatures on Friday predicted to reach 23 degrees and drop to eight. Investors betting against further falls in Australian shares after a horror start to the year have trimmed their bets, meaning they don't expect things to get worse from here, stockbroking firm Morgans says. Short positions have dramatically pulled back since the start of the year, as the market shed 7 per cent or $100 billion in value in a little over a week. Woolworths remains the most shorted stock on the ASX by value, Morgans says. Credit:Dallas Kilponen "Short selling has changed course from its strong ascent in 2015, signalling a possible reversal in the heavy skew in negative investor sentiment up to the end of the year," Morgans equity strategy analyst Andrew Tang said. Short selling is the practice of selling a borrowed security at a higher price before buying it back at a lower price, pocketing the difference. Birthday sponge cakes sold at Woolworths and lamb chops prepared at Coles were among thousands of products found to be weighing less than what was promised on packaging, according to the National Measurement Institute. In 2014-15, Australia's peak weights and measures body issued 3962 non-compliance notices to traders, up 13 per cent on the previous year's figure. It sent 139 warning letters and imposed 98 fines totalling $92,650. The Aldi threat has forced supermarkets to cut their prices. Credit:Quinn Rooney Nearly half of the breaches related to underweight or incorrectly labelled packaged products. For the first time, traders were prosecuted under the National Measurement Act, resulting in four convictions, with two against the supermarket giants. British takeover target Home Retail said on Wednesday it was in advanced talks to sell its Homebase home improvement stores to Australia's Wesfarmers for 340 million pounds ($490 million), allowing it to focus on its Argos chain. Supermarkets operator Sainsbury's made an approach to buy the whole of Home Retail in November - a couple of months after Wesfarmers started talks - but its interest lies in its bigger Argos general merchandise business, according to the rationale it published earlier on Wednesday. Retail analysts have questioned why Wesfarmers is rebranding the Homebase chain in the UK as Bunnings. Credit:Rob Homer Home Retail said later in the day it was finalising the sale to Wesfarmers after a Sky News report, but added there was no guarantee it would conclude. Chief Executive John Walden said a sale represented good value for shareholders as it would come about a year into a three-year improvement plan for the chain, which trails Kingfisher's B&Q and Travis Perkins' Wickes in the British DIY market. More than 100 staff at DuluxGroup have been barricaded from the paint maker's Brisbane factory after they voted to go on strike following the company's refusal to remove a cap on redundancy entitlements. Dulux - which has branded the strike as "opportunistic" - has installed temporary fencing on council land near the factory at Rocklea. Union officials say this is a deliberate decision aimed at stopping its members from forming a picket line. DuluxGroup managing director Patrick Houlihan. The company believes its offer of an annual 3 per cent pay rise to workers and no 'adverse' changes to conditions is fair and reasonable. Credit:Jesse Marlow The employees' union, United Voice, and Dulux have been negotiating a new enterprise agreement for several months. A Dulux spokeswoman said the company anticipated the strike and had "robust contingency plans", including building up stock levels to ensure no interruptions to its customers. Having received exceptional protection and support for the past decade and a half, the health insurance industry enters 2016 seeking to push younger people into private cover and demanding yet another round of premium rises. The suggestion from some health funds that adults in their 20s be drawn into health insurance is the latest evidence of how the federal government's subsidy and regulation of private healthcare has generated a sense of entitlement among health funds, without any clear benefit for consumers and taxpayers. Almost half of Australians have felt it necessary to take out private health insurance. Credit:Michele Mossop After years of increasingly interventionist regulatory protection and many billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded aid meant to spur health insurance, we are left with chronically increasing premiums and chronically confused and frustrated consumers. Putting patients in better control of making decisions about their care achieves better outcomes and reduced costs. But none of these confusions, or all of them together, is a patch on the central confusion of this book, which is the equation of determined criticism of Israel with historical anti-Semitism. Energetic and engaging as this "provocation" is, its intransigence on this very complicated matter seriously undermines its credibility. The first thing you find when you open Anti-Semitism is an errata slip informing you that its author, Frederic Raphael, has mistaken D. H. Lawrence for T. E. Lawrence, Arthur Koestler for Arthur Schnitzler and the figure of 16,000 for 1600 (the number of Jews killed in Jedwabne, Poland, in 1941). This is not a great start; one is entitled to expect a little more care, especially given the gravity of the subject and the brevity with which it is treated here. This is regrettable because the book has much to recommend it. The story of Jew-hatred is as rich as it is long, and Raphael proves an intelligent guide through the various kinds of magical doctrine, conspiracy thinking and simple scapegoating associated with this strangest of intellectual phenomena. Anti-Semitism, he recognises, is a form of racism utterly unlike any other. (No one ever accuses Bangladeshis of trying to take over international finance, or Jamaicans of running Bolshevism.) The Protocols of the Elders of Zion that Da Vinci Code for anti-Semites is such an obvious hoax that it should be self-negating; and yet new and lurid editions of it continue to spill from Islamic presses. Raphael deals with these issues well and with occasional flashes of genuine insight. "If enough injustices are committed in the name of a cause," he suggests at one point,"it becomes unthinkable that it might not be true." Rejecting the argument that anti-Semitism owes as much to the Enlightenment as it does to Christianity, Raphael suggests that the Jews' original crime was the historically unique one of deicide, which is to say the murder of God Himself. It is this that led to their reputation for treachery and furnished the world with a reliable scapegoat for everything from epidemics to economic catastrophe. From the death of Jesus to the Black Death, it is on the heads of the Jews that blame falls a trend that reaches its apogee with the "stab in the back" myth of post-First World War Germany and the "last crusade" of Nazism (a subject so large, as Raphael notes, that its history has a history of its own). All of this is perfectly sound. But Raphael runs into serious problems when he tries to expand the phenomenon of Jew-blaming to include criticism of modern Israel. For while it is undoubtedly true that the miasma of anti-Semitism surrounds much dark talk about the Israel "lobby", and true too that many liberals and left-wingers are apt to downplay the anti-Semitism extant within the Muslim community for fear that they will sanction anti-Muslim prejudice, it is not true to say that Israel is "the sole licensed target for unguarded malice" in the West. Approaching Perfection, the working title of David Quirk's nascent comedy show, is an apt one considering it will debut this Saturday night at a new event in Brunswick, The Festival of Half-Baked Ideas. "I wouldn't say it's finished, no," Quirk says of the show. "I don't know if that's worth printing." Comedians Demi Lardner, Nath Valvo, Harley Breen and David Quirk will appear at Howler's Festival of Half-Baked Ideas. Credit:Simon Schluter However, that's just the point. As the title suggests, the festival, held over four nights, is a platform for comedians to test material before the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in March. Comics will often test the waters at open mic nights and at smaller comedy venues in the period leading up to the MICF, but as comedian Harley Breen points out, such events are "just a little less public." From dancer to choreographer to filmmaker, Stephen Page has long been one of Australia's most important artists. Now, he is officially an elder statesman. Stephen Page, centre, celebrates his 25th year as artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Credit:James Brickwood It is Page's 25th year as artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre. Now, alongside Richard Tognetti at the Australian Chamber Orchestra, he is one of Australia's longest-serving artistic directors. Fresh off their Golden Globe wins, Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Inarritu and veteran British director Ridley Scott were among those nominated on Tuesday for Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards one of the strongest indicators of success at the Oscars. Inarritu, who won the Oscar last year for directing Birdman, was nominated this year for his pioneer-era tale The Revenant, which was filmed in freezing conditions and primitive landscapes. Matt Damon in The Martian directed by DGA nominee Ridley Scott. Scott, 78, who has yet to win an Oscar over a career spanning six decades, is nominated for space adventure The Martian, about an astronaut stranded on Mars. Inarritu was named best drama director at the Golden Globes while Scott won best comedy/musical film director. Making a Murderer, a 10-part series released last month by Netflix, portrays Avery's conviction as the outcome of a flawed investigation into the killing of a photographer, Teresa Halbach, in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. In the motions, received Monday by an appeals court in Madison, Wisconsin, Avery accuses the authorities of using an improper warrant and says that a juror bullied other members of the panel into convicting him. He asks for his release on bond. Steven Avery, the imprisoned Wisconsin man whose legal odyssey is depicted in the popular documentary series Making a Murderer, filed motions arguing that he was denied his right to a fair trial in the 2005 murder of a young woman. The documentary set off a groundswell of outrage over the convictions of both Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also accused of participating in the crime. It has also lifted the hopes of the men's supporters that the renewed attention might help win their freedom. In 2003, Avery was exonerated by DNA evidence after serving 18 years in prison for a rape. His arrest for the murder of Halbach came after he sued Manitowoc County officials for $36 million. Avery's motions take issue with how searches were conducted during the investigation, accusing officials of gathering evidence from properties beyond the scope of the warrant. "Evidence seized or used at trial is clearly 'fruit of the poisonous tree,'" Avery wrote. He also claims that a juror, identified as "C.W.," repeatedly asserted Avery's guilt during the trial, and told other jurors, "If you can't handle it, why don't you tell them and just leave." All six members of the cast - Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer - will appear in a two hour television special planned for February. But it won't be an episode of Friends. The good news is, it's on.The bad news is, it comes with a couple of conditions. For fans of the long-running hit comedy Friends, about six twentysomethings living in New York City, talk of a reunion began almost moments after the final episode aired in 2004. The special, commissioned by the US network NBC, will honour the work of iconic US television comedy director James Burrows. The way they were... The cast of Friends, from left, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc. Burrows directed the pilot episode of the series, as well as fourteen more episodes across the show's first half-dozen seasons. Burrows' credits also include hit contemporary comedies such as Frasier, Will & Grace and The Big Bang Theory, as well as iconic comedies such as Cheers, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Tazi and Laverne & Shirley. Friends, which began in 1994, ran for a decade; in Australia it screened mostly on the Nine Network, though due to a contractual glitch Seven owned the first season for a time and Nine the second and subsequent seasons. NBC network boss Bob Greenblatt told US media that all six members of the Friends cast would appear in the Burrows special. "I'm hoping all six will be in same room at same time," Mr Greenblatt said. "I'm not sure we can logistically can pull it off." Historic media law changes being considered by the Turnbull government would ensure big city voices do not dominate the media landscape, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says, potentially increasing the odds Labor and the crossbench will back the reforms. Mr Fifield on Wednesday confirmed that he will soon introduce to Parliament proposed laws that "reflect the world that we currently live in", including changes to how Australians access media. Laws need to "reflect the world that we currently live in": Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield. Credit:Andrew Meares "The media laws that we currently have are gradually being rendered redundant by both technology and the choices that gives consumers," he told ABC Radio. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is keen to see cross-media ownership laws, seen by many as outdated, back on the agenda but the government must manage competing industry interests and garner political support. Former defence minister Kevin Andrews has repeated calls for Australian combat troops to join the fight against Islamic State, the day after the government confirmed it had formally declined the United States request for an increased military contribution. This is the second time Mr Andrews - dumped from the ministry by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull - has spoken out in favour of troops on the ground, disagreeing with the policy of his government. Mr Andrews told ABC radio that, while Defence Minister Marise Payne would have information he does not, a "reasonable request" should receive "the most favourable consideration". When Turnbull addressed this question in July, he stressed the importance of not overestimating the threat to national security posed by IS, or Da'esch, or saying things that could be seen to add the group's delusions of power. In his address, Obama said: "As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions." There will be some who query the value of the rapport, given that Obama is at the tail-end of his presidency and that Turnbull is a new national leader. But, with a real prospect of the Democrats retaining the White House after the election, the visit has the potential to set up a relationship that will benefit both countries after Obama departs the scene. That's why there is added keenness on both sides to make it a success. US network chief Bob Greenblatt has been forced to defend featuring controversial US businessman and rising political star Donald Trump on his network. Mr Greenblatt, who heads the NBC network, described Trump as "one of the most important political figures of our time". Donald Trump is welcome at NBC. Credit:John Locher Though NBC cut its relationship with Trump after his controversial comments about immigrants, Trump later appeared on several NBC programs, including Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show. Those appearances drew criticism because of a perception that his celebrity profile gave him an undue advantage over his political rivals. The issue was raised again as Mr Greenblatt faced media at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles, which US networks use to showcase new programming. "If we were in the business of never having anyone guest on the network that had views that were different than our views, we would be out of business," Mr Greenblatt said. Mr Greenblatt noted that when NBC cut its ties with Trump - they co-owned The Apprentice and a number of TV beauty pageants - he was "waltzing into the background of the politcal arena." He has subsequently emerged as a serious contender for the Republican nomination in the US presidential race. "We had a couple businesses that we were doing with him [and] we got out of both of those businesses," Mr Greenblatt said. "We did see some incredible results early on," Sheen said, explaining that, after the initial stages of treatment, his HIV was undetectable and he had stopped using antiretroviral HIV medications. Chachoua, who claims he is able to cure HIV using a series of injections, is licensed to practise medicine only in Mexico. Actor Charlie Sheen has revealed the details of a controversial HIV treatment he underwent in Mexico. Credit:AP The Two and a Half Men actor revealed in an interview with The Dr Oz Show on Tuesday that he had left the US for unsuccessful medical treatment by Mexican doctor Samir Chachoua. Charlie Sheen recently travelled to Mexico to receive controversial HIV treatment, only to come home empty-handed. "I did an experiment I didn't have any faith in but I went along with it." Sheen, 50, added that Chachoua had been so confident in his own abilities that he injected himself with Sheen's blood to prove Sheen was no longer HIV-positive, an act which Dr Oz host Dr Mehmet Oz, who found fame giving medical advice on The Oprah Winfrey Show, described as "completely mind-blowing". "Inappropriate and completely mind-blowing," Sheen agreed. "I watched that happen when he felt so confident. He delivered that my blood would not be any risk to him." However, Sheen revealed on the show he had received news that day that his HIV was once again detectable. "I'm a little off my game because right before I walked out here, I got some results I was disappointed about," he said. "I had been non-detectable, non-detectable and checking the blood every week and then found out the numbers are back up." "We filter out all of the things that are unattractive about our lives and our personas for the purposes of social media, and only put our best foot forward," he said. As a result, many people were left wondering whether, for example, they were the only unhappy person on Facebook, while there was also an intense pressure to have the "best car, the best holiday or the right dress", Mr Shmigel said. The demand for help from Lifeline was both heart-wrenching, but also heart-warming, because more people felt they could reach out and discuss their mental health issues with others, Mr Shmigel said. "Mental health has become a mainstream discussion, whether it's in the media, whether in a pub or in the workplace," he said. "We've made it socially acceptable to increasingly reach out and share about the things that concern us, and that is wonderful. People now have the green light to say 'I'm in trouble here, and I need somebody else to help me get out of trouble'." Fantastic Furniture has been forced to recall a popular dining chair that is believed to have severed parts of people's toes twice in a year. The furniture retailer has announced a recall of the 'Australia Worx' chair, sold nationally between August 2014 and last November, after the latest injury. Fantastic Furniture recalled the Worx chair after injuries were reported. An 11-year-old Gold Coast boy lost part of his toe three months ago after stubbing his foot on a Worx chair. And a Sydney man suffered similar injuries in April when he tripped over one of the chairs and, as he fell, the sharp metal edge reportedly sliced off his middle toe. An application for an apprehended violence order against Labor powerbroker Jamie Clements - based on allegations he tried to kiss a female staffer - has been dropped. Stefanie Jones, a former staff member in the office of Campbelltown Labor MP Greg Warren, reported in early August that Mr Clements had tried to kiss her in a room at NSW Parliament House on June 23 last year. Labor powerbroker Jamie Clements, pictured with former premier Bob Carr last year. Credit:James Alcock Ms Jones arrived at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday morning, accompanied by her barrister, former Liberal attorney-general Greg Smith, SC. A man charged with shooting a police officer and a security guard inside Nepean Hospital's emergency department is a nurse from a nearby hospital who had been released on bail by police earlier in the day after allegedly attacking three officers. The 39-year-old man was arrested overnight after allegedly holding a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor at the busy hospital in Kingswood, in Sydney's west, and screaming that he was going to "kill someone". The first police officer on the scene, Senior Constable Luke Warburton, was shot in the upper thigh when his gun was pulled from his holster during a scuffle with the man in front of terrified patients and staff just before 10.30pm on Tuesday. Senior Constable Warburton, 38, from the NSW Police Dog Squad, was listed as critical but stable on Wednesday. NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has convened an urgent meeting to discuss upgrading security in the state's hospitals after an ice-crazed patient allegedly attempted to shoot dead a police officer. Michael De Guzman, a 39-year-old registered nurse, allegedly held a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor in Nepean Hospital's emergency department on Tuesday night, screaming that he was "gonna kill" following an argument with his wife. The ice-addicted patient, who had been admitted to the hospital's emergency ward twice throughout the day, then scuffled with a police officer and a security guard, allegedly shooting both men when he tried to grab the officer's gun from its holster. Even until the start of year one, when Mary-Leigh, Cole and Billy returned to the Sunshine Coast after a year in Brisbane supporting the future Olympian's water polo dream, Cole crawled back into bed. Steven and Mary-Leigh Miller sprinkle holy water on the coffin of their son, 18 year-old one-punch victim Cole Miller. Credit:Dan Peled "It was then, I realised, he came in bed to cuddle up to Dad, not Mum," Steven said. "It was also then I realised this boy Cole would hold my heart in his every beat and he did so forever, and still does." Mitchell, Steven and Billy Miller leave the altar after delivering the eulogy at Cole Miller's funeral service. Credit:Dan Peled He remembered the boy who was passed to and cuddled by every family member who could get their hands on him, from the time he was a baby to when he graduated Brisbane State High School last year. "Still in grade 12, the whole family always stole a hug and a kiss off him," he said, with a sob, as friends, family and well-wishers fanned themselves with the traditional Catholic funeral program inside the stone walls of the packed Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane's CDB. It is estimated more than 1000 people attended the service. A portrait of 18-year-old one-punch victim Cole Miller is placed near the coffin. Credit:Dan Peled Billy and Mitchell stood side by side in matching blue suits as their father spoke, taking turns to dab at tears slowly welling in their eyes or share a quick joke or memory. Two at a time, those closest to him took the stage to take their small part in the intricate ceremonies of a Catholic funeral. Cole Miller died after a one-punch attack in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley on January 3, 2016. Mates Nick Pace and Bede Denham first, to light the Paschal Candle, parents Steven and Mary-Leigh to sprinkle holy water, Mitchell Miller and Ellena Skordou to lay a sheet (the white pall) over the coffin and the Cook family - Danny, Natalie and Cooper - to lay the flowers. Steven told mourners how Cole was known as the water polo kid from the age of 12, when he fell in love with the sport watching Billy, his idol, don the green and gold cap for Australia at the London Olympics. After a childhood spent following around first Billy, then middle brother Mitchell and older sister Kate as a "professional passenger and sporting spectator", "Punkie" was just coming into his own. The tight-knit family had moved to the Brisbane suburb of Highgate Hill, where Cole's first priority was to "see how many (water polo) sessions he could fit in a week, and still pass exams at school". "He has a dream and he starts training with a purpose and he's very willing to commit to see this dream eventuate," Steven said. "He has highs and lows but does does not falter in his dream. "He makes some rep teams. He misses out on others. the journey is never easy, but he never wavers from his commitment. Fast forward to 2015. "His idol Billy has helped him change from a boy to a young man, as he trains alongside his Olympian brother every day," he said. Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said the Queensland government wants to have its 'last drinks' legislation in place from July 1, she told reporters at Kippa Ring train station on Wednesday morning. "Currently our bill before the parliament to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence is with a parliamentary committee," Ms D'Ath said. Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath wants to have last drinks legislation in place by July 1. Credit:Cameron Atfield "And I know they are travelling around the state now hearing from the community, hearing from stakeholders, their view on that legislation," she said. The government (43 seats) needs support from two from the other four MPs outside the LNP,(42 seats) to get their last drinks legislation through the 89-seat house. A $1 billion redevelopment of the Nylex silos in Richmond has been thrown into disarray after the state's heritage authority banned developer Caydon from demolishing buildings on the heritage listed site. The heritage body's decision came as a state planning tribunal case began on Monday between Caydon and Yarra Council and residents, to decide if the project could be approved. Heritage authorities have refused developer Caydon a permit to demolish buildings on Richmond's Nylex site to make way for 1000 apartments. Credit:Benjamin Cebon The case was almost abandoned after Heritage Victoria's decision became public at the start of the hearing. Developer Joe Russo, who recently failed in his bid to blast his way onto the Richmond football club board, runs Caydon. A second victim has died in hospital after Sunday's mass rescue from a rip off Cape Woolamai, on Phillip Island. The man, 27, had been in a critical condition at The Alfred hospital. A 34-year-old Filipino woman died at The Alfred on Monday. Seven swimmers were rescued from the rip about 7.15pm on Sunday, five of whom were hospitalised. A vessel in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has made the amazing discovery of what is thought to be a shipwreck from the 1800s. About 80 metres in length, it is the second shipwreck discovered by accident in seven months in the search for the missing aircraft. The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has discovered a shipwreck from the 19th century. Credit:ATSB The Havila Harmony was in the search area on December 19 when sonar contact was made with an object on the seabed. A spokesman for the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said early analysis suggested the object was likely man-made, probably a shipwreck. Dubai: Ten US sailors detained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were freed after the group's top naval commander said they appeared to have entered Iranian waters by mistake. "Our technical investigations showed the two US Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently," the Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement carried by state television. "They were released in international waters after they apologised." . Iran detained the sailors aboard two US Navy patrol boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers. Copenhagen: Denmark's parliament started to debate a raft of proposals on changing immigration laws, including a measure that would allow the authorities to confiscate all valuables belonging to refugees worth more than10,000 Danish crowns ($2083), and then use them to pay for the refugee's stay. The proposal has been condemned by international media as well as the United Nations refugee agency. "It is very odiously reminiscent of the German past leave the valuables and go to the showers," Derek Beach, an associate professor in political science at Aarhus University, said. Washington: US President Barack Obama used his valedictory State of the Union address probably his last major speech as president both to defend his record in office and to seek to frame the terms of the elections to come, calling for optimism and inclusion over fear and division. It was the address of a man resolute in his belief that his failures in office have been more of communication rather than of commission or omission. He lamented that he had failed to live up the slogans of "hope" and "change" that helped him win office in 2008. Quetta, Pakistan: On the third day of a massive anti-polio drive in southern Pakistan, one of only two countries where the disease has not been eradicated, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a vaccination centre Wednesday, killing at least 15 people. Officials said 25 others were wounded, some critically, in the explosion in Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province. Pakistani police and rescue workers examine the site of suicide bombing that killed at least 15 in Quetta, Pakistan on Wednesday. Credit:AP It was the latest deadly attack aimed at the anti-polio campaign in Pakistan, where Islamist extremist groups believe the vaccine is a front for Western espionage. Two militant groups - the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has links with the Taliban and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State - separately claimed responsibility for the attack. Officials said the bomber approached a vehicle near the polio centre in Quetta's Satellite Town district and detonated nearly 9 kilograms of explosives. Neighbours said the explosion caused cracks in nearby houses. GREAT BAY(DCOMM)---- Minister Hon. Ingrid Arrindell of the Ministry Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT), welcomes the initiative taken by the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) for the countrys return to the Taste of the Caribbean Competition 2016. The country has been absent for several years and the SHTA is considering re-entering the culinary competition. The SHTA recently announced an open call for Chefs and Bartenders that would like to participate in the June 2016 Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) competition in Miami June 12-14), representing Sint Maarten/St. Martin team. The open call started on January 4th and will close on Friday, January 15th, 2016. I am calling on the countrys Chefs and Bartenders to jump towards this opportunity to profile the destination at the next Taste of the Caribbean in June. I commend the SHTA for reviving this as it is important that the destination continues to profile itself at various events. There is a lot of competition out there, and we have to make sure that we are also present. The competition is an opportunity for our best Chefs and Bartenders from North and South to showcase there Caribbean special drink mixes and culinary master pieces, Minister of Tourism Ingrid Arrindell said on Tuesday. Taste of the Caribbean is the regions premier culinary competition and cultural showcase held once a year where the best chefs and culinary teams unite to learn, demonstrate their skills and provide the general public a scintillating exhibition of the most savory and delectable treats of the islands. Its a showcase of the hottest and most popular trends in Caribbean gastronomy. Over 10 teams from the Caribbean throw their culinary hats into the ring to compete for the honor of becoming the best chef, culinary team, bartender and pastry chef in the Caribbean. Each participating team represents a Caribbean island and has competed on a national level to qualify and participate. Each team of composed of two senior chefs, one junior chef, one bartender, one pastry chef, and one manager. The participating team members represent hotels, restaurants or educational institutions in the Caribbean which are member of the CHTA. PHILIPSBURG{---- The Ad Hoc Integrity Committee of Parliament (BCI), will meet on January 14th. The BCI Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 11.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg. The agenda point is a continued discussion on topics proposed in connection with setting the parameters and work method for the Permanent Committee Integrity. Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg. The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org. Middle Region:--- The Board of the OSPP welcomes every and all initiatives that are geared towards the curbing of unemployment in general but in particular amongst our young people. Throughout all the districts we see our young boys and girls seeking job opportunities but can hardly find any. Our Prime Minister the Honorable William Marlin has proposed the implementation of an employment fund to stimulate youth employment. These funds will be used to pay the salary of an unemployed youth that is hired by a business and they will also be trained to better prepare them for the job market. We support all efforts that are being made by the government and the private sector to provide our young people with meaningful employment. As a political party we have endorsed the GB3 program that was introduced by the former Minister of Education, Dr. Rhoda Arrindell. It was very unfortunate that the NA led government after her departure did not see it fit to continue with it. Today many young people who are still on the block may have gotten off and could have been making a meaningful contribution to the development of this nation. On February 13, 2015 the leader of the OSPP, Mr. Lenny Priest submitted a proposal to the Parliament of St. Maarten and the former Minister of Labour, Mrs. Rita Bourne-Gumbs to establish the van Hugh Law. This law was named after the former Minister of Labour, Mr. van Hugh Cornelius de Weever presently a member of parliament. In 1989 the parliament of the former Netherlands Antilles had passed a law commonly referred to as the Lei di Bion. The purpose of this law was to have the business community employ young people between the ages of 18 and 30 years who were registered as unemployed for over six months. The employment must have lasted for at least one year. The businesses that employed these young people would have been exempted from paying the payroll taxes. The van Hugh Law would have differed somewhat from the Lei di Bion as it would not have exempted the businesses from paying the payroll taxes but instead the businesses would have received a tax credit (50% of the minimum wage of Nafls 1,500.00 x 12) per year for an amount of Nafls 9,000.00. If this draft proposal was debated in parliament and all the members had put in their two cents worth most likely the rate of unemployment amongst our young people would be much lower than what it is today. Unfortunately, the members of parliament of the NA, DP, UP, US, the independents and the Marcel Gumbs cabinet were not concerned about the unemployment amongst the young people at that time as they were all elected and appointed a couple of months before that to the Parliament of St. Maarten and the Council of Ministers. But with an election right around the corner everybody wants to put our young people now to work. Many business owners have recently indicated that they would support the van Hugh Law to employ young people that are unemployed and that it is normal to train new workers to execute their tasks. The Board of the OSPP wants to reiterate their position once again that the back bone of every economy is small businesses. Let us create meaningful jobs for our young people, no quick fix election ploy. We are pleading to the Marlin Cabinet to table the draft Van Hugh law to the parliament to avoid having to re-invent the wheel. And please allocate those funds that are earmarked for the Unemployment Funds to the loan guarantee program that was proposed once again by the leader of the OSPP. Former Minister of Finance, Mr. Martin Hassink supported this loan guarantee program for he understands how real jobs are created. The Business Center from the Chamber of Commerce to assist those young people in setting up business plans; the Small Business Development Foundation to train the young entrepreneurs together with access to funds from the banks through the loan guarantee programs would create some of the much needed jobs for our young people. Our young people deserves better now and after the 2016 election. It is not about who proposes what; it is whats best for our young people and the future of the St. Maarten that we love so dearly. 22.1M Euros must come to St. Maarten to strengthen justice chain --- protocol will not be implemented unless discussions are held. PHILIPSBURG:--- Acting Minister of Justice Richard Gibson Sr. announced on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing that during the JVO meeting held on Aruba last week he had to inform the other Ministers of Justice including the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands of the stark financial crisis St. Maarten is facing. The Minister of Finance and acting Minister of Justice said that the Ministers of Justice of the other countries wanted to execute programs that were agreed upon by his predecessor but St. Maarten simply cannot afford to contribute to those programs due to the financial constraints the country is facing. The Minister of Finance said that he agreed to respect the instructions placed on St. Maarten which is to pay off its debts to SZV and APS along with the deficits that were built up over the years. He said some NAF160M has to paid to APS while another NAF80M to SZV, while he had to present a balanced budget for 2016. He said the debts to APS and SZV has kicked in this year where the country has to find some NAF20M to start paying the debts that were accumulated over the years. Minister Gibson said because of that Government has been forced to sell buildings and all the monies coming to St. Maarten from the debt relief has been reserved to paying the debts owed to the two institutions. Minister Gibson further explained that every department on St. Maarten had its budget cut in order for him to balance the 2016 budget and his message to the various Ministries is to spend what they have until more monies becomes available to the country. The Office of the Prosecutor General he said wanted NAF.1. 7M but he gave them NAF.691.000.00, the Court of First Instance wanted NAF.4.7M but they got NAF4.4M while the bills accumulated by the Forensic Department of KPSM has been placed on hold since there is absolutely no money to pay those bills now. Minister Gibson said while there is a signed protocol in place that protocol cannot be executed unless there is further discussions with the Minister of Justice in St. Maarten. However, he did indicate that the protocol has to be respected because it is a done deal. The Minister said that discussions were to take place on December 15th 2015 but it was postponed. One of his objective is ensure that the 22.1M Euros allotted to St. Maarten comes to St. Maarten to strengthen the justice chain. Asked by SMN News what would the monies that were made available by the Kingdom used for?, Minister Gibson said he did not see any plan, had no discussions on the protocol as yet and as such he did not see any breakdown as to how the monies will be used. He insisted that whenever he hold discussions with the Kingdom his main focus be placed on getting those funds to strengthen the justice chain on St. Maarten. As per the RST detectives that are supposed to come to St. Maarten, Minister Gibson said that KPSM has a gross lack of human resource and while the plan is to have an equal amount of local detectives work with the RST, that he said is not possible because there is not sufficient manpower at KPSM in order for them to send an equal amount of local detectives to work with the RST to obtain relevant training. He said at the moment there are only two local detectives working with the RST detectives that are on St. Maarten and that has created an imbalance. The acting Minister of Justice said because of the lack of manpower at KPSM the goal set by the Kingdom to train local detectives cannot be achieved. Right now there is a lot of Indians and not enough chiefs at KPSM. Meaning that while some Bavpolers were recruited nothing in particular was done to strengthen the management of the police core on St. Maarten. Even the Bavpolers need further training and while all the other countries within the Kingdom have their own police training academy St. Maarten does not have one that can provide proper training for police officers. We are five years behind and these are things that has to be done in order to further strengthen the police force. Also asked by SMN News if he will agree to have the 55 RST agents stationed in Curacao while they work for St. Maarten and what role would the Chief of Police of St. Maarten have when it comes to managing the work of the RST detectives Minister Gibson emphasized that unless there are discussions on the signed protocol he cannot say what will happen in that respect, he did indicate that he never agreed with contents of the protocol and that is one of the reasons he will maintain his stance that unless the protocol and plans are fully discussed with him it will not go into effect. When asked if he will try to have that protocol revised he said that the protocol is done deal and even if he wants it changed or revised one would have to be living on the moon to think that the Kingdom will agree on amending that protocol. The acting Minister of Justice further explained that St. Maarten will have a real problem when it comes to enforcing the protocol since the country already dont have monies. He said the extra manpower (RST), Prosecutors and judges that are supposed to come to St. Maarten will also target crimes of integrity and other criminal offences. He said when this happens St. Maarten will have to have in place more prison cells, while there will be more pressure on KPSM since they will have more cases to investigate and they simply will not be able to cope with the extra burden since all of this will cost the country more monies. Minister Gibson made clear that the protocol cannot be implemented unless it is properly planned and structured in such a way that it creates balance. Click here to read signed Protocol that was signed by former Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson Minister working on postponing legislation to control foundations for one year. PHILIPSBURG:--- Acting Minister of Justice Richard Gibson Sr. has shared his plans on having a law school established on St. Maarten in order for the country to produce its own legal experts, such as lawyers, prosecutors, judges and even jurists. Minister Gibson said he once shared his ideas during one of his keynote speeches and even though everyone agreed with his idea, no one did anything in realizing the idea he shared back then. He said now that he is in office he will try to do everything possible in order to establish a law school on St. Maarten which he said will give civil servants a second chance in becoming accredited legal experts which will in turn change the faces in the Court of First Instance and at some point eliminate the need for having people on the island for short periods. Another plan the Acting Minister has in mind is to establish a faculty for comparative law on St. Maarten in order for lawyers from neighboring islands including St. Maarten to study the laws of the other countries. He gave an example where St. Maarten has to deal with the laws of Spanish speaking countries, and the French law and there is no place where lawyers could study the laws of the other countries in order to better represent the country and clients. He made clear that while St. Maarten does not have all the human resources it needs, this project will definitely bring more monies in government coffers while boosting the economy. The acting Minister of Justice said each country within the Kingdom have their own police core independent of each other but to date that did not happen on St. Maarten even though the country acquired it separate status five years ago. He said St. Maarten cannot continue on the same path. Right now the monies that are being spent is for naught especially since there is gross lack of manpower at KPSM and the plans with the RST to provide training to local detectives would only decrease the capacity at KPSM should KPSM send over more detectives for training with the RST. The Minister of Justice also shared the opinion given by MP Frans Richardson on the floor of parliament on Tuesday where he suggested that persons should be given the opportunity to get proper fiscal training locally. The Minister said based on that statement he shared his idea with parliament in establishing a law school on St. Maarten. Another project the acting Minister of Justice is working on is to suspend the law that controls foundations for a period of one year in order to properly educate the boards of foundations of their responsibilities and the consequences of not respecting the law which took effect on January 1st 2016. Minister Gibson said when this law is suspended he will then go on an island wide campaign to properly educate the foundations on the island. MINISTER PLANS TO MEET WITH CHIEF PROSECUTOR ON STATEMENTS HE MADE AT IPKO. The Minister of Justice also announced on Wednesday that he intends to call the Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan to a meeting to discuss the statements he made in a presentation at the IPKO meetings held last week. Minister Gibson said he received a number of calls about the statements made by the countrys Chief Prosecutor and while he did see the Chief Prosecutor at a reception and briefly mentioned it to him, his intention is to officially convoke him to a meeting to further discuss the matter. Revcontent Experiences 900 Percent Growth in 2015 and Announces Acquisition of Largest European Content Recommendation Network SARASOTA, FL (Marketwired) 01/12/16 Revcontent, the worlds fastest growing content recommendation network, experienced a record-breaking 2015 and just recently announced their acquisition of the largest content recommendation network in Europe, ContentClick. Led by CEO and Founder John Lemp, has emerged as a leading player in the fiercely competitive content recommendation market and experienced 900 percent growth in the last year, released multiple patent-pending technology tools, and has now expanded globally. Lemps goal for Revcontent has always been to become the worlds largest content recommendation network. To accomplish this goal and better serve partners, Lemp knew global expansion was a crucial factor. With the acquisition of ContentClick, Revcontent will now have a 24/7 U.K. presence with an office near London, providing partners innovative new technology, even better support, and the increased resources to scale their own brands worldwide. Revcontent and ContentClick saw incredible growth in 2015, and the merge of ContentClick into Revcontents team, culture, and technology will send those benefits directly back to partners. Also in 2015, Revcontent released several industry-first technology tools including the Audience Targeting, Brand Targeting, Mobile Operating System Targeting, Language Targeting, as well as Widget Optimizer and Mobile Toaster. Revcontents goal is to connect users around the world with content they love, and these targeting tools put partners in complete control. Revcontents partners have exclusive access to the best tools that arent available anywhere else in the content recommendation sphere, and the tools have the ability to scale the brands and connect partners with their target audiences around the world. With its staggering growth rate, continuous innovation, and global expansion, Revcontent is positioned for an impressive 2016. , former chief of EMAP, the largest media company in the world, said, Revcontent is at the forefront of a fundamental shift in digital publishing. Revcontent powers over 150 billion monthly content recommendations and is dedicated to serving its partners needs by expanding globally and launching even more innovative technology designed to maximize their revenue. With existing partners continually entering exclusive content recommendation partnerships with new sites, Revcontent proves its dedication to serving partner needs first and foremost. MapR to Speak on Stream Processing Systems, Apache Spark and Drill at Industry Events in January Posted by Publisher Software SAN JOSE, CA (Marketwired) 01/12/16 , provider of the only converged data platform that integrates the power of Hadoop and Spark with global event streaming, real-time database capabilities, and enterprise storage, today announced it will share its expertise on stream processing engines and Apache Spark and Drill this month at leading industry events. Each event includes presentations aimed at helping attendees understand the technical, business and practical aspects of big data technologies. is a group for anyone interested in Apache Drill, an open source project for self-service data exploration. When: Wednesday, January 13 at 6:00 PM Where: New York, NY What: Vince Gonzales, MapR systems engineer, will present on Querying Network Packet Captures with Spark and Drill. This presentation will explore a use case involving packet capture and near-real-time query and search, focusing on Apache Spark and Apache Drill. There will be a discussion of the use case, solution approach and a live demo. is a community that brings together experts and visionaries from academia and the industry by hosting periodic talks, panel discussions and hackathons. When: Wednesday, January 20 at 6:00 PM Where: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, 1140 Enterprise Way, Sunnyvale, CA What: MapR CTO M.C. Srivas will participate in a panel discussion titled, Stream Processing Systems, which is part of the The Hive Big Data Think Tank, Clash of the Titans series. The moderator for the event is Ben Lorica, chief data scientist, OReilly Media. provides the industrys only converged data platform that integrates the power of the top-ranked Hadoop and Spark with global event streaming, real-time database capabilities, and enterprise storage, enabling customers to harness the enormous power of their data. Organizations with the most demanding production needs, including sub-second response for fraud prevention, secure and highly available data-driven insights for better healthcare, petabyte analysis for threat detection, and integrated operational and analytic processing for improved customer experiences, run on MapR. A majority of customers achieves payback in fewer than 12 months and realizes greater than 5X ROI. MapR ensures customer success through world-class professional services and with free on-demand training that 45,000 developers, data analysts and administrators have used to close the big data skills gap. Amazon, Cisco, Google, HPE, Microsoft, SAP, and Teradata are part of the worldwide MapR partner ecosystem. Investors include Google Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, NEA, Qualcomm Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. Connect with MapR on Connect with MapR on , , and . Beth Winkowski MapR Technologies, Inc. (978) 649-7189 Kim Pegnato MapR Technologies, Inc. (781) 620-0016 Anti-Racism, War/Peace January 13, 2016 Lesley J. Wood Defending the Movements, Challenging the Police After the killing of Michael Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri in the late summer of 2014, protests erupted, and the Black Lives Matter spread across North America to protest police violence, too often systematically directed at poor and racialized communities. The massive police presence at these protests, with weapons and armoured vehicles that looked and felt like major military deployments, made it clear to all that something fundamental had taken place in policing practices and strategies. The intensification and extension of the coercive and security branches of the state was well-known since the declaration of the war on terror in 2001, and the subsequent leaks of official documents by Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and others. The hardening of the state in its day-to-day operations at the most local levels could now be seen everywhere by all, in an increasing confrontation with the democratic rights of assembly and protest. Lesley Woods recent book, Crisis and Control: The Militarization of Protest Policing (2014), locates these developments in a longer term perspective in relation to the spread of neoliberalism. Analyzing police agencies, strategies and practices from the mid-1990s to the present, she identifies a range of the structural and political forces that have led to the militarization of policing, particularly in North America, but also in trends that extend to Europe. This involves detailing a new matrix in the relations between the security, national police and defence apparatuses of the state with local police forces and the defence and security industries. Professional police associations and their various conferences and conventions have become important nodes for the spread of best-practice policing, in the form of kettling, barricading, infiltration and pre-emptive arrests, usage of new anti-protest weaponry, security screening, local intelligence-gathering capacities and the like. But also as sites where the case is made for an increase in police budgets, more capital intensification of policing and thus for accumulation by the coercive industries (which define modern urbanism as much as the so-called creative sector). In a period of sharpening inequality, permanent neoliberal austerity, and hard right forces gaining ground, so does the logic for a further militarization of policing, securitizing of cities, and curtailing and limiting protests. In her book, Wood seeks not only to map these developments in North America through time, but also to expose the contradictions in the new forms of policing in capitalist states, and begin to pose how social and anti-capitalist movements will have to respond to demilitarize our relations. Lesley Wood teaches sociology at York University, Toronto and Greg Albo teaches political science at York University. Greg Albo (GA): Your book is a powerful dissection of the ways that the policing of protests have been transformed over the last decade or so. When did you start noticing these shifts? What was it that made you want to take it up as a necessary research project for the anti-capitalist and social justice movements? Lesley J. Wood (LJW): Ive been going to protests since I was in high school, starting with anti-death penalty, anti-apartheid, and anti-nuclear mobilizations. Most of these protests were permitted, routine and very large affairs. As a white woman, my experience with the police was limited and relatively predictable. However, when I attended protests against the Democratic Republican Convention in Chicago in 1996, I was struck by a different style of police action there were masses of police surrounding the march, funnelling the crowd into a fenced pen where we were supposed to protest, organizers were grabbed and arrested, and organizing spaces were raided by hundreds of police. We had to flee and hide out in a warehouse in the South Side of Chicago. I saw this style again when I moved to New York City and became involved in anti-police brutality and Reclaim the Streets protests in 1998. The police would attempt to trap us on the sidewalk, using barricades and bikes; they would grab organizers in advance, and attempt mass arrests any trust or predictability quickly dissolved. During this same period, the global justice movement emerged, and one could see both the style of protest transform, not just in the U.S. but in Canada. My earlier writing looked at this transformation of protest tactics, and the use of direct action, but activist friends pushed me to understand the other side of the puzzle, the simultaneous and interactive changes to protest policing. GA: Many of us in North America would identify the increase of coercion and police presence with the anti-globalization protests of the late 1990s, and in Canada with the Summit of the Americas protests in Quebec City. How do you date these trends in the militarization of policing and what are some of its main features and practices? LJW: Clearly, the pepper spraying of protesters at the Asian Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit by the RCMP in 1997, and the tear gassing, pepper spraying and mass arrests at the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 were turning points that justified a change in protest policing strategy. John Noakes and Pat Gillham cite a Philadelphia police official that argues that the Seattle protests were parallel to Pearl Harbor in the way that the changed protest policing. However, the roots of the shift go back to the use of armoured personnel carriers and SWAT teams in Black and Latino communities during the heyday of the War on Drugs, and the new less lethal weapons like pepper spray that began to be used by police in the mid-1990s after the LAPD beat Rodney King on camera and people rioted. This militarized equipment was combined with an emphasis on spatial control by 2000, and then after 9/11, incorporated an emphasis on threat assessment and intelligence led policing. The new model of protest policing that emerged in the late 1990s has been called strategic incapacitation, the Miami Model or as the French translation of my book calls it, neutralization. It involves a logic of pre-emption and control that evaluates protest as a potential threat. As a result it combines four elements, first an emphasis on intelligence gathering and threat assessments; second, spatial control; third, militarized units with less lethal weapons, and fourth, pre-emptive mass arrests. GA: A lot of your prior research has been on the history of social movements and protests. These movements for social justice have always had to confront the coercive apparatuses of the state, and often police violence, from setting up and defending picket lines to protesting war. What are some of the historical comparisons we need to keep in mind in understanding the current period? LJW: Police repression is clearly not new. Explicit repression also tends to increase when waves of protests accelerate. In the early part of the 20th century, the 1930s and in the late 1960s, many movements in North America and beyond were militant and disruptive, and in such periods police actions became extremely brutal as they attempted to maintain control. The period from the mid-1970s through the 1990s included a wide range of movements, but many of them were relatively routinized and cooperated with police permit processes and their attempts to manage and control the disruptiveness of protest. This negotiated management or liason policing model was still repressive, but it worked through negotiation, permits and management. As more disruptive movements arose, activists challenged this model, and the police responded with more explicit force. In the past fifteen years weve seen a sequence of short lived but significant waves of protest the global justice movement, the anti-war movement, Occupy, Idle No More, the Quebec Student Movement and anti-austerity mobilizations and Black Lives Matter. These movements are all facing police using strategic incapacitation. GA: If maintaining social order is always one of the necessary functions that a capitalist state undertakes in defence of the ruling classes, the administrative organization of policing practices what you call a public order management system building on ideas from Bourdieu is little studied or understood on the Left. What did you uncover and why did this lead you to insist on a new phase in the militarization of protest policing in Canada and North America? LJW: On the left we tend to talk about the police as either the armed, mindless thugs doing the bidding of the capitalists or some sort of omnipotent force strategically destroying our movements. These caricatures dont help us to understand the shift in policing and variation amongst times and places. While recognizing that the police institution plays a unique role in defending the status quo, in other ways, they are much like other institutions. Like other institutions, police agencies and leaders struggle to defend their legitimacy, resources, and autonomy. When these are challenged by movements, politicians, the media or even other policing agencies or experts, they often work to reassert these things. What happened with the clashes between police and the global justice movement was a crisis in the legitimacy of the existing police strategy, and the development of a new one using the products and practices being promoted by the most powerful actors in the field of policing. What I found, through looking at the policing literature, attending policing events and examining court transcripts and policy documents is that there is a shared logic of threat assessment being utilized within a field of policing that is increasingly transnational, integrated through professional policing associations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police. These networks bring together key police agencies like the NYPD, LAPD and the RCMP and security and defence corporations like TASER. Such opinion leaders can then promote best practices and products which spread to other agencies facing criticism and seeking to shore up their profile as successful, effective police agencies. The legitimacy of this integrated field of professional policing and security facilitated the spread of this new model, particularly in the post-9/11 period which justified a push toward integration of policing with homeland security and threat assessment. GA: A particularly important theme that comes across from the book is how the privatization of particular aspects of policing functions has in fact gone along with strengthening the centralized command and control capacities of the coercive apparatuses of the state. Thus even the coercive branches of the state have followed, to varying degrees, the neoliberal norms of the new public management animating state administration. Much like neoliberal deregulation of industry, this has not required less but more regulation. As well, police budgets, as well as those for security, the military, courts, prisons, and so forth, continue to go up. How do you locate the militarization of policing strategies of protests and in general in relation to these developments? LJW: Despite neoliberal austerity policies that attack other social spending, surveillance technologies and the privatization of security, police budgets continue to grow across Canada and in many other countries. Where police budgets face cuts like in the UK and some areas of the U.S., often regional, federal or private security, intelligence and anti-terrorism initiatives take their place. There is massive growth in the security and defense industries and markets like less lethal weapons and surveillance technology. These shifts are due to the way that policing leaders have embraced the idea that through information technology and an emphasis on measurable results, they can predict and pre-empt criminal activity. The drive to show the efficiency and effectiveness of this social control expands the reach of the police and justifies their increasing budgets and powers. Political leaders and the media feed into this with law and order agendas that allow a very narrow idea of security to trump all other social goods. This works at the level of anti-terrorism initiatives and community policing. Police forces are replacing social services in many low income neighbourhoods. Instead of social workers in schools, we see police officers. Instead of quality community housing, youth centres and access to public space, we see hot spot policing initiatives. Clearly this logic goes far beyond protest policing, and most directly affects racialized communities. Some of these issues have been highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement. GA: In many parts of the world as well as North America, the hard right has been gaining political ground, including political office. This new hard right has varied lineages and affinities to fascism. It is hard not to see the current period of permanent austerity as associated with an authoritarian phase of neoliberalism. In the recent Socialist Register on the the Politics of the Right, you have an essay which situates policing in this new political context. What are your thoughts on how the militarization of policing today figures into these developments? LJW: There is clearly less space for dissent in a society that is driven by a demand for total security in the most efficient way possible. Communities and their resistance to this authoritarianism are evaluated in terms of threat. Clearly histories of white supremacy, xenophobia and colonialism shape those criteria. We can see this in the way that indigenous people fighting for their lands are coded as terrorists, Black communities are criminalized, or the way that immigrants are represented as the sources of violence. An easy example of the way this works can be seen in the photo many people are sharing on social media. It shows the riot police surrounding the Black Lives Matter rally at the Mall of America, and the commentary beside it points out how this police strategy is radically different to the gentle way police are handling the Oregon militia protests. GA: In conclusion, what are the strategic insights you want to convey about the struggle against the militarization of policing and the cautions we need to take up in organizing mass protests and long-term mobilization and building alliances against neoliberalism? LJW: I hope that by understanding the police logic a little better we can pay more attention to the ways that the resources, legitimacy and autonomy of the police are not fixed or guaranteed. In various cities, the efforts of grassroots movements and legal challenges have limited the adoption of TASERs, Long Range Acoustic Devices, and challenged barricading practices. Community opposition can limit the expansion of the police into new sites and tasks, and can challenge increases in police power and police budgets. The police are dependent on alliances with politicians, policing experts, corporations, the media and different communities for their legitimacy, resources and autonomy. These alliances vary. Even though reforms are not going to solve the problem, they may save lives. By paying attention to the gaps, tensions, contestation amongst these actors we can work to limit police power and control. In doing this, we are defending the space for the movements and communities fighting for a more just, peaceful society. My View BY DON SORCHYCH | January 13, 2016 Chip T-shirts Dr. Kelli Ward Cave Creek Council Chip T-shirts We have received Buffalo Chip Saloon & Steak House T-shirts to help support their employees who have suffered a loss due to the devastating Buffalo Chip fire. The shirts are brown and underneath the business statement is printed We will be back. The Chip will rise again, 2016. On the back, the logo is again printed as is CAVE CREEK STRONG. We have sizes large and extra large. The shirts are $20 minimum and all proceeds go the Buffalo Chip Employee Fund at Parkway Bank. Kelli Ward The 2016 election against Senator John McCain is warming up. Linda Bentley and I interviewed Kelli Ward, an emergency room doctor, about her desire to retire McCain. Ward, whose husband is also a physician, was accompanied by her mother who is a pediatrician. Ward was a second term Arizona legislator before resigning to run for the U.S. Senate. She showed real passion about conservative views of state and national government and where significant changes need to be made. This state is full of RINOs like McCain, because many politicians claim to be conservative in this conservative state in order to be elected but when they take their seats in Phoenix or Washington their liberal (Democrat) votes expose them. Rather than stand for conservative values, McCain is a big aisle crosser and proud of it as he joins the ranks with liberal democrats when he votes. He has used his POW imprisonment for too long. Give him thanks for that and retire him. Ward is not a professional politician but she is smart and obviously of the right political persuasion. She is representative of the founders idea to have committed citizens that dont make a career of politics. It is early and McCain has a formidable war chest but others have overcome the money problems. We will follow this race, so keep your powder dry and donate what you can. Cave Creek Malcontents Unanimous also abbreviated to DS (dark side) is madly trooping from home to home to spread their view of the disasters facing this town. As I said before, DS has started to follow the same path they did to install the slate. Back then it was Enchanted Canyon and now it is zoning, property tax, debt, private party lawsuits; OMG disasters! Reg Monachino who was subdued in the election and dumped with the Slate is getting mouthy again. He asked Do you want the town to be governed by a tabloid? Since Sonoran News is and always has been a broad sheet publication he must be talking about the 8.5 x 11 inch trash piece mailed monthly to annoy Creekers where he can spout off with his pals about how little they know. I wonder why Town Manager Peter Jankowski allowed a crank like Monachino on the budget committee while refusing Vice Mayor Steve LaMar. Also, you have to wonder why the town allows a potential DS candidate for council to be on three committees? And then there is the rumor that Jankowskis advisor is DS David Smith. OMG again! It is time for good guys and girls to consider council. The slate wanted power and worse. Cave Creek needs civic minded Creekers, not power freaks. There apparently will be a mayoral position to be filled if Mayor Vincent Francia retires as he says he will. Councilman Ernie Bunch thirsts to be mayor. DS people insist Adam Trenk will run for mayor. Lots of luck on that one with the tons of baggage he has. Then there is former Town Manager Usama Abujbarah who was terminated by the slate, which led to an expensive lawsuit and later a settlement. After 14 years of service as town manager no one I know felt he was treated fairly and the town owes him. From what we hear, he plans to run for mayor. So hold on to your cowboy hat, lots of excitement coming. The DS candidates are assumed to be Eileen Wright, Reg Monachino, David Smith, Mike Durkin and probably more. Anybody who feels they can beat that group, drop in and well kick it around. Council Even though six council members (less mayoral candidate Ernie Bunch) have voted to put the Roadhouse in their place, their job is not done. The town was sneaky when they got the council to vote for renewal of a previously approved water barrel boasting signage which stands in front of the Roadhouse and is 100 percent on town property, representing a serious liability for Cave Creek. The barrel should be taken down posthaste before there is an accident and its location is begging one. Another town delinquency is failure to perform an audit of certain of town businesses. Some bars and also visiting white tents discount purchases if cash is tendered. So when councilmen or others bend over backwards arguing for loose rules the town suffers due to collection of less tax revenue. january 13, 2016 Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appoints Goldwater Institutes Clint Bolick to serve as Arizona Supreme Court Justice PHOENIX - Governor Doug Ducey put his stamp on the on states highest court with his appointment of Goldwater Institutes Clint Bolick to the Arizona Supreme Court. Bolick will replace retiring Justice Rebecca Berch. He was among seven candidates recommended to the Governor by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. Im proud of the many victories for freedom we have achieved at the Goldwater Institute over the past eight years, said Bolick. I am deeply honored by Gov. Duceys appointment from a highly distinguished group of nominees, and am excited to bring my experience in constitutional law to the Arizona Supreme Court. Bolick has served as vice president for litigation at the Goldwater Institutes Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation since 2007. The Goldwater Institute is widely recognized for championing liberty and constitutional rights in courts, legislatures, and communities nationwide. According to a recent New York Times profile, Bolick is known for his aggressive litigation in defense of individual liberties. He has argued and won cases in the United States Supreme Court, the Arizona Supreme Court, and state and federal courts from coast to coast. Under his leadership Goldwater Institute attorneys set landmark precedents defending school choice, freedom of enterprise, and private property rights and won three of every four lawsuits that reached a final decision. Bolick helped author the Health Care Freedom Act and the Save Our Secret Ballot amendments, which were added to the Arizona Constitution in 2010 and adopted in several additional states. Bolick has also assisted attorneys in numerous states to establish litigation centers based on the Goldwater Institute model. Before joining the Goldwater Institute, Bolick was co-founder of the Institute for Justice and later served as president of the Alliance for School Choice. In 2003, American Lawyer recognized Bolick as one of three lawyers of the year for his successful defense of school choice programs, culminating in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris in the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2009, Legal Times named Bolick one of the 90 Greatest D.C. Lawyers in the Past 30 Years. Bolick received one of the freedom movements most prestigious awards, the Bradley Prize, in 2006 for advancing the values of democracy and free enterprise. Bolick has authored several books, most recently with Governor Jeb Bush, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution. Other titles include Death Grip: Loosening the Laws Stranglehold Over Economic Liberty (2011) and Davids Hammer: The Case for an Activist Judiciary (2007).) In addition to his work at the Goldwater Institute, Bolick serves as a research fellow with the Hoover Institute, a Stanford University based public policy think tank promoting the principles of individual, economic, and political freedom. As a litigator, Clint Bolick has vindicated the fundamental constitutional rights of all Americans, including winning landmark cases that protected the right to earn an honest living and expanded educational options for children nationwide, said Darcy Olsen, President of the Goldwater Institute. Americans can count on Clint to be on the side of all Americans in defending our constitutional freedoms. Five justices serve on the Arizona Supreme Court for a term of six years. The Supreme Courts primary judicial duties under Article VI, 5 of the Arizona Constitution are to review appeals and to provide rules of procedure for all the courts in Arizona. It is the highest court, and is often called the court of last resort in the state of Arizona. 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' won't be on TV this year: How to see it Suburban schools grow slightly, or lose less than state average Numbers from the state Department of Public Instruction show that in suburban Milwaukee, about 27 school districts grew last year, or lost fewer students than average. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea A portion of the Milky Way galaxy, seen by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. A new study shows that ripples in the edge of the galaxy were caused by dark matter. Dark matter has been making waves in science for years, but apparently it's been making ripples in the Milky Way for even longer. New research reveals that dark matter may be responsible for creating waves observed at the outer edges of the galaxy. The ripples were created as a dwarf galaxy containing dark matter zoomed by the Milky Way, scientists say. A model of this interaction can be seen in this new video released last week, The traces of these galactic quakes in the Milky Way may provide a new way to study dark matter. "One of the fundamental problems in modern cosmology is to characterize dark matter. This is now giving us a way forward," Sukanya Chakrabarti of the Rochester Institute of Technology said at a press conference Thursday (Jan. 7) at the 227th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Kissimmee, Florida. [Stunning Photos of Our Milky Way Galaxy (Gallery)] Chakrabarti and her team used ripples at the edge of the Milky Way to identify and measure the mass of dark matter-laden dwarf galaxy that raised them. The study of small galaxy "quakes" and the objects that cause them is being called galactoseismology, Chakrabarti said in a press release. "Much in the same way as seismologists analyze earthquakes to map out the Earth's interior, we should be able to analyze the observed disturbances in galactic disks to map out the unseen material of galaxies and explore their dark-matter content," Chakrabarti said. Zipping by Several smaller collections of stars known as dwarf galaxies surround the Milky Way. Like larger galaxies, dwarf galaxies contain dark matter; Chakrabarti called them "the most dark-matter-dominated objects in the universe." Nearly a decade ago, Chakrabarti decided to try and determine just how massive a dwarf galaxy would have to be to raise the puzzling ripples that had already been spotted at the edge of the Milky Way. She estimated that a dwarf galaxy would have to lie about 300,000 light-years from the galactic center, and she began to search for a group of stars on a route along the plane of the galaxy that matched her and her colleagues' predictions. In the area where they were looking, they found a trio of bright objects known as Cepheid variables, whose standardized brightness makes them a standard measuring stick for calculating distances in the universe. Using the Gemini Observatory, the Magellan Telescope and Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) in Australia, the team members not only measured the distance to the object that they suspected was responsible for the ripples, known as the Norma dwarf galaxy, they were also able to calculate its speed. "We determined that these stars are racing away from our galaxy at about 450,000 miles (725,000 kilometers) per hour," Chakrabarti said. In contrast, the stars in the disk of the Milky Way travel around at speeds closer to 10,000 mph (16,000 km/hr). "This thing is really zipping by as it perturbs our galaxy," Chakrabarti said. Her research has been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters. A simulation (seen in this video) shows how a dwarf galaxy containing dark matter passed by the Milky Way galaxy, and created ripples or quakes in the edge of the larger galaxy. (Image credit: Gemini/Sukanya Chakrabarti et al. ) Mapping the unseen Astronomers know more about what dark matter is not than what it actually is. See what scientists know about dark matter in this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, Space.com Infographics Artist) While most of the nearby dwarf galaxies orbit the Milky Way, the Norma dwarf galaxy is flying away from it. As Norma buzzed the edge of the Milky Way, its enormous mass warped the outer edge of Earth's home galaxy, raising waves that tend to dissipate with time. These waves suggest a recent brush with a dwarf galaxy, as well as ruling out interactions with nearby galaxies, which would have smoothed out over time. The Milky Way isn't the only galaxy with strange ripples at its outskirts. The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as M51, has large spiral perturbations in its disk. According to Chakrabarti, of the roughly 40 galaxies that have had maps made of their atomic hydrogen, where the ripples are visible, "many of them show perturbations." Studying the ripples in these galaxies using the same methods used in the Milky Way can help identify not only nearby, previously unseen satellites, but also those surrounding other large galaxies. "We should be able to map out the unseen material of galaxies that is their dark matter content using the observed disturbances in galactic disks," said Chakrabarti. If that's the case, the newfound Norma dwarf galaxy may be the first of several galaxies to measure how much dark matter they contain dark matter measurements taken due to interactions with their neighbors. "My hope is that this is the first example of a new field of galactic seismology," Chakrabarti said. Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Image of the Day Archives NASA, ESA and Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University) For older Image of the Day pictures, please visit the Image of the Day archives. Pictured: NGC 2467. Moonset and Milky Way Brook Wassall Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015: Astrophotographer Brook Wassall submitted a photo of the moon setting, taken at Niarbyl on the Isle of Man, on Sept. 18, 2015. Wassall writes in an email message to Space.com: "Here you can see the moon setting on the right [allowing] the Milky Way to shine [brightly] in the night sky. This was a bit of a tricky image to get as this was taken just after low tide, with the water slowly creeping into my shoes as I [balanced] myself on a couple of slippery rocks, but the low tide enabled me to get as far out as I could to capture the reflections of the [surrounding] light on the water. With the tide slowly creeping in further and further, and the moon quickly setting on the horizon, I had little time before the window of opportunity was gone. The Isle of Man sits in the middle of the Irish Sea, and although the island itself has very low light pollution, it is surrounded by the UK and Ireland which can shine quite [brightly] from across the sea in the night. The light pollution seen on the horizon in this image is actually coming all the way from Dublin, Ireland." Tom Chao Nebula in the Sky Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015: The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) glows over one of the antennas included in the ALMA telescope on the Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes. Star clusters NGC 3532 (right) and IC 2602 (left) also glow above the Carina Nebula. Image released Nov. 30, 2015. Tom Chao Dust ESA/Hubble, NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast) Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015: Elliptical galaxy NGC 2768 lies in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). The collection of stars features a bright central region, in which a supermassive black hole sucks in a stream of gas and dust fed by its galactic host. A prominent plume of dust reaches out from the center of the galaxy, lying perpendicular to the galaxys plane. In this dust, a hidden, symmetrical, s-shaped pair of jets spurt from the black hole. Image released Nov. 30, 2015. Tom Chao Engines On ESA/Stephane Corvaja, Manuel Pedoussaut Friday, Dec. 4, 2015: A camera with a fisheye lens captured the liftoff of the Vega VV06 rocket carrying the LISA Pathfinder on Dec. 3, 2015, from Europe's Spaceport, French Guiana. LISA (for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) Pathfinder spacecrafts goal is to test key technologies for space-based observation of gravitational waves. Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity predicted these ripples in the fabric of spacetime, but they have not yet been directly detected. To explore the experimental approach that future missions could use to observe the cosmic fluctuations, LISA Pathfinder will create the best free-fall yet achieved in space. The spacecraft will do this by reducing all the non-gravitational forces acting on two cubes while monitoring their motion and attitude with unprecedented accuracy. Tom Chao Cygnus United Launch Alliance Monday, Dec. 7, 2015: An Atlas V rocket launches from Cape Caneveral, Florida, on Dec. 6, 2015, carrying the Cygnus cargo ship on its journey to the International Space Station during Orbital ATKs OA-4 mission, flown under NASAs Commercial Resupply Services contract. This launch marks the first time the Cygnus spacecraft has flown on an Atlas V rocket. Cygnus, weighing in at a little over 8 tons, represents the heaviest payload to launch atop an Atlas V rocket. Tom Chao Into The Lens NASA/ESA/Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015: A very massive cluster of galaxies, MACS J0416.1-2403, lies about 4 billion light-years away and weighs as much as a million billion suns. The immense gravitational field created by the cluster magnifies the images of galaxies far beyond it, in a process known as gravitational lensing. An extremely faint and distant galaxy that existed only 400 million years after the big bang, barely visible in this image, has been discovered by Hubble and NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. The gravitational lens effect makes this galaxy appear 20 times brighter than without the effect. This galaxy might represent the growing core of what may have become a full-sized galaxy. [See our full story.] Tom Chao Something Shimmering and White Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015: The Milky Way galaxy arches above the platform of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, 8650 feet (2635 meters) above sea level in Chile. Our galaxy's cloudy and dusty structure glows in detail as a dim band across the facilitys observation deck. From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band across the sky because of our vantage point in one of its spiral arms looking towards its center. Astrophotographer John Colosimo submitted this photograph to the Your ESO Pictures Flickr group. Tom Chao Under Waning Moon Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015: Astrophotographer Pauline Acalin captured Venus reappearing after being occulted by the moon on Dec. 7, 2015. Acalin is based in Costa Mesa, California. Tom Chao Would You Like to Swing on an Artificial Star? ESO/Y. Beletsky Friday, Dec. 11, 2015: A laser guide star shoots out from one of the four Unit Telescopes that make up ESOs Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory in Chile. The Unit Telescope in this image bears the name Yepun, which means Venus in the Mapuche language spoken by indigenous people in southern Chile. The laser beam energizes a layer of sodium atoms in the atmosphere, creating a small bright spot, an artificial star. The telescope can then use its adaptive optics, with the artificial star serving as a reference, to reduce distortion from the atmosphere, producing clearer images. Image released Nov. 23, 2015. Tom Chao A Mist from Above ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt ( Geckzilla Monday, Dec. 14, 2015: Galaxy 2MASX J16270254+4328340 is undergoing a galactic merger. The galaxy with a mouthful for a name has merged with another galaxy, resulting in a fine mist consisting of millions of stars spewing from it in long trails. What we see here is an image of the the event nearing its conclusion. This transforming galaxy advances into old age with its star-forming days nearly behind it. Image released Nov. 23, 2015. Tom Chao A computer simulation shows how the first stars may have exploded, spreading the first traces of heavy elements through the universe. An enormous cloud of dust and gas may bear the fingerprints of the first stars in the universe. The distant cloud contains only a tiny amount of relatively heavy elements, which are manufactured in the hearts of stars, suggesting that these traces may have come from some of the first stars that ever existed. "The reason why we care [about the first stars] is intricately related with the air we're breathing right now," study co-author John O'Meara, of Saint Michael's College in Vermont, said last week at a press conference at the 227th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Kissimmee, Florida. "Early on in the universe, we didn't have those heavy elements [such as oxygen] at all." [From the Big Bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps] Traces of the past The universe's first stars were built primarily out of hydrogen and helium, the dominant elements that existed shortly after the Big Bang. Fusion transformed the material at these stars' hearts into heavier elements, which were then blasted into space when the stars died in violent supernova explosions. Subsequent generations of stars incorporated this material into their bodies, building even heavier elements in their cores. "It's clear the history of the universe is very much the history of the increase in the relative amounts of heavy elements over time," said O'Meara, who worked with study lead author Neil Crighton, as well as Michael Murphy, both of whom are based at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. The study team used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to study an ancient gas cloud as it appeared only 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang, which created the universe about 13.8 billion years ago. As light from an extremely bright background object known as a quasar streamed through the cloud, the astronomers were able to determine the composition of its constituent gas. They found that the ancient cloud contained an extremely small percentage of heavy elements traces that may have been scattered by the first generation of stars. Previous surveys have revealed clouds of hydrogen and helium gas, but they were pristine, untouched by the heavy elements built within stars. This ancient gas cloud contains the smallest measurable traces of heavy elements ever found, the researchers said. "It is the lowest amount of heavy elements ever determined in a gas cloud like this," O'Meara said. 'Down in the weeds' The problem with studying massive clouds of gas in the early universe isn't that they are rare; it's that they are extremely common. The light from a single quasar can pierce through multiple clouds as it streams toward Earth. According to O'Meara, this can "muddle" the process of distinguishing heavy elements, because the signals are overlapping. "It was our willingness to go down in the weeds, to try to find those very rare systems where you could make that measurement" that made the observations possible, he said. Other such heavy-element-tinged clouds may exist as well, but scientists need to pore over a number of observations to find alignments where the signals can be precisely measured. "It's not to say they're not out there in abundance," O'Meara said. "The problem is just getting lucky." As instruments like NASA's $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) come online in the near future, the hunt for such gas clouds might become easier. Rather than being limited to quasars, which are relatively few in number, scientists should be able to use galaxies as their background light source. "Once you can start using galaxies as a background source, you go from hundreds of thousands of objects on the sky to tens of millions," O'Meara said. Searching the universe for signs of these clouds today will help narrow down the list of potential targets for JWST in the future, he added. "We're building James Webb in part to find these things," O'Meara said. "It would be nice to get at least a teaser trailer of what we might find with Webb." Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. NASA's Dawn spacecraft captured this image of the 16-mile-wide (26 kilometers) Kupalo Crater on the dwarf planet Ceres on Dec. 21, 2015. New up-close photos of Ceres show some of the dwarf planet's many craters in sharp and intriguing detail. The images were captured last month by NASA's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of just 240 miles (385 kilometers) the final and closest of a series of orbits for the probe, which has been circling Ceres since March 2015. "Everywhere we look in these new low-altitude observations, we see amazing landforms that speak to the unique character of this most amazing world," Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell, of UCLA, said in a statement Tuesday (Jan. 12). [What Are Ceres' Bright Spots? (Video)] The floor of Ceres' Dantu Crater is highlighted in this image, captured by NASA's Dawn probe on Dec. 19. 2015 from a distance of 240 miles (385 kilometers). (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA) One of the newly released images reveals bright material on the rim of Kupalo Crater, a young hole in the ground that's about 16 miles (26 kilometers) wide. Scientists plan to investigate this bright stuff further, to see how it's related to Ceres' other intriguing bright spots (such as the ones at the bottom of Ceres' 56-mile-wide, or 90 km, Occator Crater), which appear to be salt deposits. "This crater and its recently formed deposits will be a prime target of study for the team as Dawn continues to explore Ceres in its final mapping phase," Dawn science team member Paul Schenk, of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, said in the same statement. Steep slopes known as scarps are visible within this 20-mile-wide (32 kilometers) crater on Ceres in this image captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on Dec. 19, 2015. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA) Another photo shows fractures on the floor of Ceres' 78-mile-wide (126 km) Dantu Crater, which are similar to cracks seen within a big young crater on the moon called Tycho. "This cracking may have resulted from the cooling of impact melt, or when the crater floor was uplifted after the crater formed," NASA officials wrote in the statement. This image, which was taken by NASA's Dawn probe on Dec. 19 from a distance of 240 miles (385 kilometers), shows the 25-mile-wide (40 km) Messor Crater. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA) Another image depicts a 20-mile-wide (32 km) crater west of Dantu, which features numerous ridges and steep slopes known as scarps. The scarps probably formed when the crater partly collapsed during or shortly after the impact that created it, NASA officials said. The $466 million Dawn mission launched in September 2007, on a mission to study Vesta and Ceres, the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn orbited the 330-mile-wide (530 km) Vesta from July 2011 through September 2012, when the probe departed for the 590-mile-wide (950 km) Ceres. When Dawn arrived at Ceres in March 2015, it became the first spacecraft ever to orbit a dwarf planet, as well as the first to circle two different bodies beyond the Earth-moon system. Dawn's first three science orbits at Ceres featured altitudes of 8,400 miles (13,500 km), 2,700 miles (4,400 km) and 915 miles (1,470 km). The probe began gathering data from its fourth and final science orbit, at an altitude of 240 miles (385 km), last month, and will continue to do so through the scheduled end of its prime mission on June 30, 2016. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Traveling from one town to the next "is today like crossing an international border," adds the Korin village council member who is responsible for ensuring the town's water supply. "Each area has different rebel groups, some towns are more religious, others are bitterly divided." Fear of the others grew automatically, he says, fear of those one doesn't know so well and who don't offer protection. People began staying away from each other, preferring to stay in their tiny, but halfway safe surroundings. Village Solidarity The calm is astounding given the fact that it is simple for people to arm themselves. It is easier than ever to kill someone should one so desire, and it has become virtually impossible to hold criminals accountable without risking a blood feud. There are no police, and even if there were, it is no longer possible to call them. Not that a trustworthy judicial system existed under Assad, but there was a state. Today, there is merely a fragile balance that can be disturbed at any time. Everything must be negotiated. The authorities have been replaced by personal relationships and village solidarity. When a young man was found beaten to death near Korin in May 2014, the 10-person village council -- elected out of a pool made up of a representative from each family -- began investigating to the extent that it could. Who was the last person to see the victim and had somebody been with him? One witness had seen him in an argument with two distant cousins. The two confessed, but that was only the beginning of the problems. How could a blood feud be avoided? "We referred the case to the Sharia court in the city of Binnish," Ajini explains. "It has a good reputation in the entire province" because it is home to one of the region's ablest judges. Ajini says the court is not a practitioner of the strict Islamic jurisprudence often associated with Sharia, but the label, he adds, increases people's acceptance of its verdicts. The murder case was a difficult one. A prison sentence was not possible because are are no prisons and the death penalty could have torn the village apart. So the court negotiated a compromise in the form of 7 million Syrian pounds of blood money, equivalent at the time to roughly 32,000. It was a fortune, and the family of the perpetrator had to sell gold and land to be able to pay it. Furthermore, the two murderers were forbidden from entering the village for a year. Banishment, of course, sounds not unlike the Middle Ages, but in other aspects as well, life in the village republic feels like a reenactment of the past. Once again, for example, it is surviving almost exclusively from the food stuffs it grows and harvests -- mostly olives, figs and mahleb, a substance that smells not unlike marzipan and is made from the seeds of the St. Lucie cherry. It is used in cakes, sweet dishes and ointments. Other villages situated at a higher altitude, or which have more water, plant peaches, melons, potatoes and peppers -- and the settlements trade among themselves. Korin's most valuable product, though, the seeds of the St. Lucie cherry, brings in roughly 8 per kilo and is still exported. Brokers transport the seeds through the frontlines all the way to the Gulf States and Sudan, where they are essential for the production of a traditional tincture for women that ensures they smell nice even in the extreme heat. The harvest was good this year, the farmers say. There was enough rain and, beginning early this year, they once again feel secure enough to travel to their more distant olive and St. Lucie cherry orchards, which were once mined by the army. A few farmers paid for that strategy with their lives. WiFi in the Town Square Diesel, the fuel for vehicles and generators alike, also only arrives in Korin by way of brokers, who bring it in along paths leading to the village. At one of the largest fuel stations, which consists of a sooty basement containing barrels on blocks, owner Yazan describes his offerings. At the beginning of 2015, he says, there was the diesel type "Regime," which was sold for 110 Syrian pounds per liter, "Islamic State" for 90 and "Islamic State filtered" for 100. At the end of the year, only "Islamic State" was available, for 125 pounds per liter, or roughly 50 euro cents. When asked about the fact that the fuel comes from the enemy, Yazan merely replies: "Yeah, but what should I do?" He is more worried about the fluctuating prices on the fuel market. When IS stopped smuggling fuel for a time, the price of the jihadist diesel soared, but the smugglers also then wanted more for the regime diesel, simply because they could now demand a higher price. Yazan says that it took him a while to get used to such things. "After all, my job didn't used to exist. It was all in the hands of the state." As archaic as life has become in some areas, the effects of the war were to modernize others: Every evening, Korin is bathed in sallow white light. Almost everyone here now uses LED lights, which are either hooked to the generators or to hip-high packs of batteries. Furthermore, a former IT specialist for the Interior Ministry in Aleppo returned to his hometown of Korin and installed a satellite facility and several Internet hotspots. Since 2013, there has been WiFi on the main square and you can buy coupons in the stores for Internet access. When he was installing the cables for one of the hotspots, Mohammed, the IT specialist, quipped, "At least I didn't have to drill any holes. I simply used the bullet holes left behind by the last army invasion." At the end of 2015, there were fully four Internet providers in Korin, all of whom sought to use their own antenna to amplify the signal of a Turkish mobile phone service provider. Of course the handful of village radicals still around rant that all kinds of sinful things come through the Internet, but they too use the web -- and they have never been able to make much headway in Korin. Nobody from Korin, for example, is fighting for the radical Nusra Front, which has become stronger elsewhere in Idlib. Still, around 10 people from the town joined Islamic State and went to Raqqa, villagers say. They were unstable people, Ajini recalls. "One of them was with three rebel groups before he ended up a member of IS," he says. "And the funny thing is, he was a heavy smoker. I have no idea how he is holding up among the jihadists." Those discovered smoking in IS-held areas are lashed. Another contacted his wife from Raqqa -- Facebook exists in the Caliphate as well -- and requested his wife to join him with their children. At the same time, he announced that he had volunteered for a suicide mission. "Nobody understands it," Ajini says, shaking his head. A Dangerous Cycle The Western view of the war in Syria tends not to look beyond the Assad regime and the brutally murderous and propagandistically adept Islamic State. The group has taken over huge swaths of land in the sparsely populated desert steppes of eastern Syria, but hasn't made much headway in the more densely populated strongholds of the insurgency -- in Idlib and Aleppo in the north, in Hama in central Syria and in Daraa in the south. For the people living there, however, IS is no less fearsome than it is to Westerners. Indeed, the radical group is often seen as being more threatening in that it is often just a few dozen kilometers away. Beyond Islamic State, religious groups receive support from people in many villages in the Idlib Province. The reasons for such support are multifaceted and often rather worldly: It frequently has to do with the desire to strengthen moral norms in the absence of functioning institutions or with consolation in the face of ongoing violence. But it also has to do with power and money. In 2012, when moderate rebels belonging to the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade began kidnapping regime henchmen to then exchange them either for prisoners or money, it kicked off a dangerous cycle. Two members of the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade from Korin began to also kidnap rich farmers and businesspeople. One of the people they kidnapped was a businessman from the nearby city of Ariha who later joined the militant Nusra Front in order to get at the kidnappers. And indeed, a Nusra Front delegation traveled to Korin to arrest the perpetrators. Only after long negotiations, and in exchange for a promise that he would be tried before a court instead of killed, did Korin turn over one of the two kidnappers. The other had fled. Even as people from Washington to Moscow are warning of radicalization, a fundamental dilemma facing the opposition is largely being ignored. Village republics such as Korin embody both the promise and the limits of the revolution. On the one hand, the inventiveness and tenacity of these mini-states is astounding. Despite the adversity they face, they work on a local level. But only on a local level. What is happening in Syria is a revolution of localists. They vehemently deplore -- and usually rightly so -- the incompetence of the opposition in exile. But they cannot supplant it. They are aware of conflicting interests even among their supporters -- such as Saudi Arabia in opposition to Qatar, and both against the US -- but they don't join together. They want Assad to fall and they want a halfway fair, functioning state. But nobody knows who should achieve those goals. The sovereign miniature republic of Korin, with WiFi on the main square and hushed fear of everything beyond the nearby hills, remains subject to the ebbs and flows of this war. 'Couldn't Take It Any Longer' The Russian airstrikes hit northern Syria just as hard in September as the spring bombardments struck the village. Russian warplanes and helicopters flew up to 100 sorties a day, heading for those areas that were to be taken over by Assad's troops or their Shiite allies. But it remained largely quiet around Korin. It is a bit of geographical good luck amid the country's general disintegration. The Russian intervention notwithstanding, the Iranian military leadership in Syria negotiated a locally restricted, yet far-reaching cease-fire directly with one of the largest Islamist rebel brigades, Ahrar al-Sham. According to the deal, two isolated Shiite villages not far from Korin are not to be touched. In return, no airstrikes are to be flown in the entire region. It is a bit of calm in the middle of the storm. Some residents have given up anyway and are trying to flee from Korin to Europe. Around 30 people from the village have already made it to Germany, including the son of English-teacher Ajini. He now lives at a farmhouse in eastern Germany. Those who have remained behind spent the late autumn preparing for winter and felled additional olive trees so as to have wood for heating, a necessary measure which will make next summer's harvest that much smaller. Those who left have sent back reports of their weeks of walking and their fear during the crossing of the Mediterranean. Only Abdulhakim, one of the teachers in the village, can tell stories of the journey in person. He spent all of his savings to flee to Europe and made it all the way to Berlin. But a few months later, he returned to Korin. "I was in safety, but I couldn't do anything for my wife and my children as the bombs were falling here," Abdulhakim says. "I couldn't take it any longer." The iconic site that housed Hector and Jimmys Restaurant in ... You know you are in the heart of election season... TVLine has confirmed that Spartacus vet Nick E. Tarabay will guest-star in an upcoming episode as Vasily Zhirov, an agent with the Russian Diplomatic Security Service.We get a little Red Heat action, co-showrunner Alex Hawley told TVLine, referring to the 1988 culture-clash comedy that paired Jim Belushi with Arnold Schwarzenegger. We have a diplomatic security agent from Russia who comes, because there is the death of a Russian national. Hes a big character.Californication alum Ellen Woglom meanwhile will appear in Episode 15, which takes us to the police academy where Beckett was a star, back before she became a cop, Hawley says. Woglom plays a cadet with whom Kate forms a bit of a mentor relationship. Penny Dreadful returns May 1st. Take a look at the new extended promo here. House of Lies returns April 10th LOS ANGELES, CA January 12, 2016 Today, SHOWTIME announced the spring premiere dates for two of its hit series: HOUSE OF LIES season five will air on Sunday, April 10th at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and the third season of PENNY DREADFUL will debut on Sunday, May 1st at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The network also released a first look at PENNY DREADFUL season three. To click and share, go to: https://youtu.be/s17fb7c6zwU. The announcements were made today Showtime Networks President and CEO David Nevins, as part of the Television Critics Associations Winter Press Tour. Both series, which are currently in production, will premiere on-air, on demand and over the internet.Marking the first time an American scripted series will be shot in the country since the U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations last summer, the cast and crew of HOUSE OF LIES are currently in Havana, Cuba, shooting one episode of the new season. Marty (series star and executive producer Don Cheadle) is now a man with a singular focus ascending from millionaire mogul to global dominator. Hes upping the stakes in a highly calculated winner-take-all power play with the Pod Jeannie (Kristen Bell), Clyde (Ben Schwartz) and Doug (Josh Lawson). Business is booming but, on the home front, hes juggling a new baby daughter, teenage son Roscoe (Donis Leonard Jr.) and Jeremiah (Glynn Turman), who has a new girlfriend, Rita (guest star Emmy winner Wanda Sykes). Additional guest stars for the fifth season include Emmy nominee Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Emmy nominee Ken Marino (Childrens Hospital), Emmy nominee Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Major Crimes), John Cho (Star Trek), Donald Faison (Scrubs), and Nicky Whelan (Matador, Franklin & Bash). From the hit tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn, HOUSE OF LIES stars Cheadle in his four-time Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning performance as Marty Kaan. Produced by Showtime, it is created and executive produced by Matthew Carnahan. Jessika Borsiczky, Don Cheadle and David Walpert return as executive producers for season five. The Cuba shoot is being done in compliance with the U.S. Department of Treasury pursuant to an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license following all appropriate U.S. laws.This season on PENNY DREADFUL, Tony Award-winning star Patti LuPone (American Horror Story), who guest starred last season as the Cut-Wife, returns as a series regular in the new role of Dr. Seward, an American therapist who treats Vanessa (Eva Green) with an unconventional new approach. Wes Studi (Hell On Wheels) joins as a series regular as Kaetenay, an intense, enigmatic Native American with a deep connection to Ethan (Josh Hartnett) who also becomes an ally to Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton). The third season also adds Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif). Other guest stars include Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Christian Camargo (DEXTER, The Hurt Locker) as Dr. Alexander Sweet, a zoologist who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Vanessa; Sam Barnett (2012, Jupiter Ascending) as Dr. Sewards mysterious young secretary; and Jessica Barden (The Outcast, Far from the Madding Crowd) as Justine, a young acolyte to Lily (Billie Piper) and Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), and Perdita Weeks (THE TUDORS), as Catriona Hartdegan, a scholar with expert knowledge of the supernatural. Simon Russell Beale returns as Dr. Ferdinand Lyle. Rory Kinnear (as The Creature) and Harry Treadaway (as Dr. Frankenstein) also star. PENNY DREADFUL is a frightening psychological thriller created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Logan's Desert Wolf Productions, along with Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) and Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), both of Neal Street Productions. PENNY DREADFUL is a co-production with SHOWTIME and Sky. Charlie Phipps from dealer Farol at Milton Common in Oxfordshire was named ag & turf apprentice of the year for 2015, while parts apprentice of the year is Grant Stearman of Ben Burgess Beeston in Norfolk. Charlie Phipps also won a Service Technician Apprentice of the Year Award earlier in the year from John Deeres previous training provider Babcock, in a national competition designed to identify the best and brightest apprentices across industry. The group of third year students received their certificates at the John Deere Forum visitor centre in Mannheim, Germany during the annual graduation visit to the companys tractor and cab factories and European Parts Distribution Centre (EPDC) in December. The presentations were made by Deere & Companys Region 2 marketing director Helmut Korthoeber and John Deere Limited training centre manager Richard Halsall. Charlie Phipps received a crystal plaque, a certificate and vouchers for workshop tools worth 250. His ProVQ regional assessor Roger Hawlor and technical trainer Richard Jenkins said: Charlie has been a first class student since the beginning of his apprenticeship. His application, effort and motivation throughout have been outstanding, and he has been an excellent ambassador for both the apprenticeship programme and the Farol dealership. Farol agricultural service manager Phil Jenkinson added: This is a fantastic accolade for Charlie who, since joining Farol in 2012, has excelled throughout his apprenticeship. He has clearly demonstrated what he has learnt through the training scheme by building excellent customer relationships. Charlie serves as role model by showing just what can be achieved with hard work, and he continues to help our up-and-coming apprentices achieve their goals. Grant Stearman received a certificate and shopping vouchers worth 250. Grant has worked very hard throughout his apprenticeship and thoroughly deserves this recognition for his efforts, said his ProVQ assessor/trainer Amanda White. Ben Burgess & Co service director Jimmy Lockhart added: This is an excellent achievement and its great to see all of Grants hard work pay off. Grant is an important member of our parts team at Beeston and we look forward to helping him continue to develop in his role. We hope his achievement will encourage our apprentices to aim high and also encourage those thinking of taking on an apprenticeship to join us. Diane Salman, 53, of Glenbrook Road, Stamford, was charged was charged Saturday with strangulation and disorderly conduct. Walter Jones, 27, of Hamilton Avenue, Greenwich, was charged Saturday with possession of a controlled substance. Nilo Calderon-Rondon, 28, of Pine Tree Drive, Stamford, was charged Friday with driving while under the influence, reckless driving and traveling at an unreasonable speed. Wayne Forbes, 40, of Cove Road, Stamford, was charged Friday with possession of a controlled substance, sale of a controlled substance and operating a drug factory. Zaruba Irina, 64, of Shippan Avenue, Stamford, was charged Friday with sixth-degree larceny. Edward Kuchar, 35, of Stone Hill Drive, Stamford, was charged Thursday with failure to appear at court. Charmane White, 26, of Myano Lane, Stamford, was charged Thursday with risk of injury to a child and disorderly conduct. Christian Delmore, 27, of Wire Mill Road, Stamford, was charged Thursday with disorderly conduct and trespassing. Marvin Lopez, 37, of Nobile Street, Stamford, was charged Thursday with risk of injury to a child and disorderly conduct. Luis Sanchez, 18, of Allen ONeill Drive, Darien, was charged Thursday with use of a vehicle without permission, leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a license and failure to keep right. Michael Stramandinoli, 24, of Alton Road, Stamford, was charged Thursday with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief. Travis Boyke, 21, of Van Buren Avenue, Norwalk, was charged Wednesday with identity theft, attempt to commit fourth-degree larceny, fraudulent use of an auto teller and forgery. Stephen Grisanti, 28, of Parker Avenue, Stamford, was charged Wednesday with third-degree assault, unlawful restraint and risk of injury to a child. David Lupo, 22, of Bronx, New York, was charged Wednesday with violation of probation. David Montgomery, 57, of William Street, Stamford, was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of failing to verify his address as a sex offender. Devon Pearson, 28, of Wilmot Avenue, Bridgeport, was charged Wednesday with sixth-degree larceny. Michael Anderson, 25, of Perry Street, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with violation of a protective order. Steven Barrier, 19, of Camp Avenue, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with third-degree assault. Georand Celicour, 32, of Perry Street, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with disorderly conduct. Jairon Gonzalez, 30, of Lillian Street, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with failure to appear at court. Jessica Miles-Pelton, 30, of Hope Street, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with disorderly conduct and interfering with police. Richard Scully, 33, of Hope Street, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with interfering with police and disorderly conduct. Micha Tranchida, 32, of Robinson Avenue, Bedford Hills, New York, was charged Tuesday with criminal mischief, third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and risk of injury to a child. Steven Rutherford, 18, of Woodland Place, Stamford, was charged Tuesday with interfering with police, possession of narcotics and sale of a controlled substance. It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the T wo German companies are behind Britains favourite brands, a recent ranking has revealed. Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl retained their first and second place positions in YouGovs BrandIndex Top 10 for 2015, which measures the publics perception of brands. YouGov said creative advertising, ambitious expansion and a progressive wage policy had driven their popularity. Both chains have been putting pressure on traditional supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons, by luring more middle class shoppers and growing market share. Aldi has announced an online launch and Lidl is planning to open more sites within the M25. The latter also Lidl became Britains first supermarket chain to pay staff the living wage. Discount supermarket explainer They have also both been trying to boost their British credentials Aldi is a sponsor of the Rio-bound British Olympics Team, while Lidl signed a deal to be the official supermarket of the England football team. Aldi got a Buzz score of 19.7 points, ahead of Aldis 17.5 and third-placed BBC iPlayers 13.5. Top 10 brands 1. Aldi - 19.7 2. Lidl - 17.5 3. BBC iPlayer - 13.5 4. John Lewis - 12.1 5. Dyson - 11.6 6. Marks & Spencer - 11.2 7. Yorkshire Tea - 10.1 8. YouTube - 9.7 9. MoneySavingExpert.com - 9.4 10. Apple - 9.0 10. Waitrose - 9.0 Source: YouGov New entry Yorkshire Tea ranked seventh with a score of 10.1. YouGov said it profited from significant marketing investment, including its Brewtopia TV advert, and promotions such as its special edition tea in celebration of the birth of Princess Charlotte. The top 10 also included two other non-British brands; YouTube, which came eighth, and Apple, which was joint 10th with supermarket Waitrose. In a separate ranking of the most improved brands Co-operative Bank took the top spot. Its buzz score rose by 14.4 points to reach -1.4. Wonga was second, with an 11.4-point improvement to -20.6. Banks Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays also appeared in the list, as did British Gas, Tesco and Ryanair. There are a high number of brands on the list from the much maligned utilities and banking sectors as many enjoyed a year out of the headlines for the first time in a long time, said BrandIndex director Sarah Murphy. In these cases, no news was indeed good news. S omewhere in HSBC there is no doubt a paper outlining the pros and cons of moving back to Hong Kong. In which case, my guess is that its being hastily rewritten. Any notion the bank had of one country, two systems, of being able to operate in Hong Kong free of influence from mainland China, must have perished in the last few days. Hibor, Hong Kongs equivalent of the Libor interbank lending rate, has reached record highs on the back of contagion from Chinas economic slowdown. HSBC, I suspect, is not going anywhere soon. Meanwhile, Chinas crisis is bound to have an impact in London. While some observers stick to the view that top-end property prices in the capital have not peaked, I am convinced they have and did around the time of Russias annexation of Crimea in May 2014. If anything, the picture looks even worse now with oil trading at $31, the Baltic Dry shipping index at record lows and US factory orders declining for the third time in four months. Plus China. The Chinese will flood the world with cheap goods, worsening the deflationary environment. Against that wider backdrop, continued turmoil in the Middle East and uncertainty over Britains position in Europe, the likelihood of droves of big-ticket foreign buyers is diminishing fast. What George Osborne refers to as his dangerous cocktail is already having an impact. To his toxic mixture can be added another ingredient: the increase in stamp duty. Already, there are signs of a dip. The median sale price of a home in SW1, the postcode that includes Belgravia and St Jamess, fell by more than a fifth in the 12 months to the end of November. With that came a sharp fall in the number of homes sold down by 75% to just 15. This does not have the makings of a good year for Londons luxury estate agents. Its a bit soon for celebration at Morrisons Drowning men clutching at straws and all that Morrisons reports a like-for-like sales rise of 0.2% and investors push the share price up 8.5%. To be fair, the euphoria was accompanied by some sarcasm. Analyst Nick Bubb tweeted: Wow Morrisons was actually up 0.2% LFL at Xmas. Still, the market was expecting a dip at the fourth-largest supermarket chain and it is possible to justify, as Morrisons duly did, that this showed signs of progress. After all, it was the first time the retailer had reported a rise in sales for more than a year. However, other figures pointed to customers buying fewer items, surely a cause for concern. According to researchers at Kantar, Morrisons market share fell from 11.3% to 11%. If I were new chief executive David Potts, I would not be cracking open the discounted bubbly just yet. A quirky Mayfair hedge fund led by one of the richest fund managers in Britain has split a 110 million-plus payday after its computer-driven funds side-stepped wild swings in global markets last year. GSA Capital, founded by former Deutsche Bank prop-trading star Jonathan Hiscock, boosted revenues by 25% to 146 million for the 12 months to March 2015 after the groups four data-driven funds surged in value. Eighteen partners, including two entities, shared profits of 112.3 million, an average of 7 million each. One of the entities, HFFX, is made up of a team traders and is thought to have got 54.7m of the money. The company, which runs $4 billion for investors and was set up in 2005, benefited from the strong performance of flagship funds GSA International and GSA QMS funds, which both rose about 12%. Hiscock, the 20th richest hedge fund boss in Britain with a 250m fortune, has modelled the Green Park-based firm on idiosyncratic tech outfits like Google rather than traditional finance houses. The hedge fund hires rarely just 25 people out of 5000 applicants since 2010 and is stocked with PHDs, including tech chief Sorabain Wolfheart de Lioncourt. It also distanced itself from Mayfair peers by ditching performance fees on a low cost fund, charging a flat rate management fee of 0.5%. Hiscock launched GSA after carving out the Global Statistical Arbitrage unit he ran at Deutsche, taking 15 staff with him. He then hired David Khabie-Zeitoune, a former trader at Brevan Howard, as chief executive. Charlotte Olympia has teamed up with Agent Provocateur to create a line of lingerie. Charlotte Dellal - Creative Director and CEO of Charlotte Olympia and friend of Agent Provocateur - has previously collaborated with the brand, but this move marks the first time that the designer has ventured into the world of underwear. Inspired by the bygone era of old Hollywood glamour, the collection consists of three lingerie sets with three complimenting shoe styles. The 'Get Caught in Charlottes Web' 50's inspired set incorporates a matching bra, highwaisted big briefs with removable suspenders and a Trixie G-string, designed to be paired with the 'More is More black holdups', merging a soft and flexible stocking with a stiletto heeled boot. The second set caters for those with a wilder side, as a leopard teddy in printed stretch silk is paired with matching pinup style headscarf, 'Wild Cat Nap' silk satin slippers, bag and feline eye mask. For the third set, a pair of black satin Kiss My Feet slides are put alongside trio of satin briefs in black, red and blush pink. Speaking of the collaboration, Dellal said: "I love the playful and seductive allure Agent Provocateur evokes, which complements our shared visions and feminine brand sensibilities." "It was a pleasure to design my first lingerie collection with Sarah; we both wanted to create a beautiful and timeless collection that champions the signature design features of the two brands. For the shoes, it was important the designs could be worn in and out of the bedroom." Sarah Shotton, Agent Provocateur Creative Director, said: "Working with Charlotte Olympia is always a pleasure." It is our second collaboration which has made the process really easy! Weve tried to make the lingerie combine the best of both brands, Agent Provocateurs signature designs and Charlottes iconic prints and details creating a sexy yet playful lingerie collection." "My favourite items are the More is More boots as it will add a provocative edge to every womans wardrobe and the Caught in Charlottes Web Soiree lingerie set". The collection launches January 18 in Agent Provocateur and Charlotte Olympia stores and online, and Net-A-Porter. Prices start at 95 2016 is set to be a big year for the worlds most iconic style bible, and joining British Vogue as they celebrate their centenary year will be luxury hotel, Claridges and you, if you so wish. Teaming up with the fashion magazine, Claridges are putting on one of the most stylish experiences of the year with a stay at the hotel and tickets to the Vogue100: A Century of Style exhibition which launches at the National Portrait Gallery in February. The exhibition - already one of the gallerys most sought after shows will feature over 280 original portraits by leading twentieth-century photographers, from Cecil Beaton to David Bailey. A front-runner in Londons fashion scene, Claridges has previously joined forces with the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Lanvin, Dior and most recently Burberry to create the hotels iconic Christmas tree. Vogue 100 with Claridge's - in pictures 1 /10 Vogue 100 with Claridge's - in pictures November, 1956 Anne Gunning in Jaipur Norman Parkinson December, 2009 Lara Stone in Carlton House Terrace Mario Testino February, 1946 The Second Age of Beauty is Glamour Cecil Beaton May, 1939 Fred Astaire Andre de Dienes October, 2008 Kate Moss at the Master Shipwright's House, Deptford Mario Testino October, 1991 Linda Evangelista at the International Collections Patrick Demarchelier Claridge's Exterior Claridges Claridge's Lobby Also boasting a longstanding friendship with renowned fashion illustrator David Downton who is the hotels Artist in Residence as well as a series of suites designed by Diane Von Furstenberg, Claridge's' fashion credentials are undeniable. Lasting from February 11 to May 22, the experience will consist of a champagne arrival, one night in the hotel with a breakfast for two, two tickets to the exhibition and two manicures at the Claridges Health Club & Spa. You will also receive a copy of the Vogue100 exhibition catalogue signed by the curator - and British Vogues Contributing Editor - Robin Muir Vogue100 with Claridges is priced from 650 for a one night stay for two guests. Book at +44 (0) 203 131 7459. B rixton gave Bowie a good show off on Monday night with an enormous street party, and there have been plenty more pub nights and musical gatherings in his honour since. But the outpouring doesnt stop there. This weekend will see a flurry of events around the capital heres how and where you can get involved. Friday January 15 Bow Down To Bowie at Pop Brixton 8pm (free) Brixtons answer to Boxpark will be going full Bowie on Friday evening with DJs playing his songs, visuals projected on containers and a couple of cocktails in his honour namely the 'Ziggy Stardust' and 'Space Oddity'. Money will be raised throughout the night for Cancer Research UK. Pop Brixton; see the facebook page Ben Morgan at the Bowie party in Brixton How Does It Feel To Be Loved: Bowie Special 11pm (6) The regular indie music night is hosting a Bowie special, playing songs by the man himself as well as a few from those who he influenced and admired. The Shacklewell Arms, Dalston; shacklewellarms.com Labyrinth screenings at Picturehouse cinemas Watch the film at 18.40, 22.30 and 22.50 respectively at Picturehouse Central, Crouch End Picturehouse and The Ritzy in Brixton. Or at either 11.50 or 23.15 at Hackney Picturehouse. picturehouses.com David Bowie's acting career Saturday January 16 Underground Film Club Labyrinth screening 3pm (15) Watch the 80s cult classic starring Bowie as the Goblin King in the vaults beneath Waterloo station. The adjoining bar will be playing back-to-back Bowie too. The Vaults, Waterloo; undergroundfilmclub.com Burn Down The Disco Bowie tribute night 8pm (5.55) This regular night at Islingtons O2 Academy had lined up a couple of Bowie specials before he died. They sold out understandably fast, so this one has been hastily added. 50% of profits will go to Cancer Research UK. O2 Academy, Islington; burndownthedisco.co.uk David Bowie - in pictures 1 /28 David Bowie - in pictures Loved up David Bowie and his wife Iman at a charity event in 2011 Getty Images The early years David Bowie, back when he was Davy Jones Getty Images Ziggy Stardust David Bowie performed as his intergalactic alter-ego for the last time at Hammersmith Odeon, 1973 Getty Images Station to station David and his first wife Angie Getty Images Bright lights David Bowie performing at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2004 Getty Images Portrait Bowie at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, 1983 AFP/Getty Images Theatricality Bowie in his 'Angel of Death' costume at The Marquee Club, 1973 Getty Images Rock stars David Bowie with Iggy Pop (left) in Germany, 1977 Getty Images Mullet man Bowie perfoming in 1987 Getty Images Fame David Bowie receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1997 Getty Images Wembley David Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium in 1999 Getty Images Blondies David Bowie with Debbie Harry at the MEN Arena, 2003 Getty Images Icons David Bowie with Kate Moss at an awards party at New York Public Library, 2005 Getty Images David Bowie at the CFDA Awards, 2005 Getty Images Artists David Bowie with Lou Reed at the Lou Reed NY photography exhibit, 2006 Getty Images Red carpet David Bowie and Iman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008 Getty Images Angie Bowie, Zowie Bowie (Duncan Jones) and David Bowie (wearing an eyepatch) appear at a press conference at the Amstel Hotel on 7th February 1974 in Amsterdam, Netherlands Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns Singer David Bowie with his wife, model and actress Angela Bowie on January 01, 1974 in London Anwar Hussein/Getty Images David Bowie in Labrynth Duncan Jones and David Bowie at the Tribeca Film Festival, New York, America on 30 April 2009 Rex David Bowie pictured to promote his Black Star album Absolute Bowie 7.30pm (14) A gig from Europes most popular Bowie tribute act tribute act, who we imagine are busy at the moment. The Garage, Highbury; thegaragehighbury.com David Bowie's Best Hits Celebrating the life and music of David Bowie 11pm (5) The Shacklewell Arms regular DJs will be playing Bowies records all night, along with a few Bowie covers. All proceeds will go to War Child, a charity David supported. The Shacklewell Arms, Dalston; shacklewellarms.com Starman 5pm - 1am Bloc Bar is promising a night of performance and music in honour of the great performer and musician, with several acts taking part. Rather than charging a set fee, theyre asking people to pay what they can on the door. All proceeds will go to Marie Curie Cancer Care. Bloc Bar, Kentish Town; see the facebook page Labyrinth screenings at Picturehouse cinemas Watch the film at 18.40 at Picturehouse Central, 23.00 at The Ritzy in Brixton or either 14.35, 18.15 or 23.20 at Picturehouse Hackney. picturehouses.com Sunday January 17 Labyrinth screenings at Picturehouse cinemas Watch the film at 12 at Clapham Picturehouse or Brixtons Ritzy, 12.50 at Picturehouse Central, 15.45 at Stratford Picturehouse, or either 10.50 or 20.50 at Hackney Picturehouse. picturehouses.com Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout W e know London has shaken off its lacklustre gastronomic rep but its still gratifying to hear it from the brother of legendary chef Ferran Adria, whose three-Michelin-starred restaurant on the Costa Brava, elBulli, was judged the Worlds Best four times before it closed in 2011. So cheers, Albert Adria. The Catalan chef, who worked with his brother for 23 years before branching out on his own, is about to embark on a 50-day residency at the Cafe Royal Hotel. He insists that nowadays London is the centre of the world with Cafe Royal located on the belly button. Meeting him at the one-time haunt of Oscar Wilde now something of a refuge between the neon hell of Piccadilly Circus and softcore Soho is challenging. Not only do my questions require translation but the terrifyingly energetic chef continually fields calls about crockery (specially made in southern Spain for the residency) and urgent cutlery questions. And I mean urgent. As Adria explains, for his new dish the 50 Days Tartare the spoon you eat with is made of corn, so you eat that too. Extra spoons are required for diners who accidentally devour their cutlery before their tartare. Such gastronomic gimmickry made elBulli a pilgrimage site for food lovers. The Adrias created imagination-defying dishes such as Vanishing Ravioli, Two Ways of Presenting Chicken Curry and In-situ Spherification of Cucumber Soup, each of which requires a thesaurus and hours to describe. Its fair to say elBulli was special, born of the brothers passion for mind-altering menus. With six restaurants of his own, ranging from Japanese to tapas, the residency at Cafe Royal is set to be Alberts most personal yet. It is the first time I have put my name to anything the first something by Albert Adria. I am not coming to cook but to create an experience. Nostalgia rules: the Oscar Wilde Bar at the Hotel Cafe Royal, which will serve Adrias special cocktails The experience (Adria loves this word) takes place over two floors. Guests start in the opulent, gold-leafed Oscar Wilde Bar for cocktails before slipping upstairs to the Domino Restaurant to eat. The precise menu is a surprise but Adrias enthusiasm means he cant help but let slip titbits about a dish featuring jellied eel, lobster and violet, and a tea service with consomme poured from a teapot. As a pastry chef, has he any time for great British classics such as Cornish pasties? Adria leaps up, wildly animated. Yes, yes! Cornish pasties! My own version, in Oscar Wilde! Theyll be served alongside gulp absinthe. Wilde would approve. Adria and mixologist Marc Alvarez developed a dialogue between cocktails and snacks at Barcelona bar 41 Degrees: It has to make sense between what youre drinking and what youre eating. Adria hopes to continue the conversation at Oscar Wilde. And anyone can join in. Those unable to nab a table for the full experience can still try Cocktails by Albert Adria, chowing Michelin-starred bar snacks and sipping either absinthe or something untranslatable involving vermouth, which can only be excellent. Adria acknowledges that many will come expecting elBulli. elBulli is history, he says but my intention is that the experience is like elBulli 2016. It might be a completely different story from the original but then why would he want to repeat the past? He insists upon respecting his British surroundings, and the menu reflects this. Name-checking Londons Spanish restaurants Pizarro and Barrafina, Adria enthuses that now is the time here for beautiful Spanish restaurants. But, he insists, that is not what I am doing. Quite what Adria is doing at Cafe Royal, even hes not sure but with his manic zeal its guaranteed to be a pretty unmissable experience. See you in the Oscar Wilde. Ill be the one clutching the absinthe. 50daysbyalbertadria.com; Cocktails by Albert Adria is in the Hotel Cafe Royal's Oscar Wilde Bar from February 12 to April 9 (020 7406 3344, cocktailsbyalbertadria@hotelcaferoyal.com) @franklymccoy Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout E very sip matters. Ordering coffee has gone beyond choosing between a white or black Americano. Its about scouring Instagram to bone up on beans and going on a quest across town to find your fix. Coffee connoisseurs would rather do without caffeine than compromise on flavour and what they call mouthfeel. Heres the latest from the filtration front line. The base First tonic went haute because good gin deserves a classy mixer; now water is being zhuzhed up so that nothing obstructs the taste of the coffee. Hugh Duffie at Sandows Cold Brew is looking at stripping out everything from water, deionising it, because removing minerals means softer water, with more space for the coffee flavour. It also makes equipment last longer because it doesnt scale or rust. This is useful in London, where the water is hard. Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood has written a whole book on the subject, Water for Coffee. He says: We need to see water for coffee-making as a solvent and flavour organiser. Water makes up roughly 98 per cent of a filter coffee but tasty water doesnt make tasty coffee. This is a natural successor to the C and T, where tonic water is added to coffee to create a crisp, citrussy edge. Bottoms up... / Matt Writtle Milk Next week, The Estate Dairy launches milk made especially for coffee, pictured. It will be available at Noble Espresso, Kaffeine and other London coffee shops and was developed with a man called Morten Munchow, who spent two years researching cappuccino foam in a study funded by the Danish government. Seriously. Shaun Young had the idea while working at Noble Espresso and explains: Milk goes in 80 per cent of customers drinks but no one thinks about it. He worked with Munchow to find milk with a lot of protein to help stabilise foam and make it hold for longer. It is pasteurised but not homogenised, to retain creaminess, fats and protein. Young says: The dairy industry has had its difficulties but we found a farm in Lancashire where two sons had just taken over from their father. They bought a herd of Jersey cows from Denmark because it is the only breed that makes high-protein milk. The coffee aesthetic How do you know if someone likes coffee? They will tell you by filling their Instagram feed with pictures of obscure places to find a cup of Joe and driving miles across London for one cortado in an isolated beanerie. A typical post shows a hole-in-the-wall in remote Scandinavia that does a single-origin drip. If this sounds like another language you are reading it correctly the coffee pointy heads have a particular lexicon. Usually their coffee pictures are minimalist, with a flash of background colour in the form of a cactus but occasionally they break out, like when Streamer Coffee in Tokyo did a bacon-maple cortado or had a coffee vending machine pop-up. The pod squad The latest step for coffee hackers is posh pods for Nespresso machines. Next month Pact Coffee starts selling its speciality roasts in pod form. Home brewers are also moving from cafetieres to V60 and Kalita drippers. Pact says: V60 drippers make a clean and well-balanced cup because no grounds make it to the cup and it is easier to find the natural sweetness and taste notes in the coffee. The espresso dot For those who like their lattes extra potent. The latte macchiato is like a coffee sandwich the milk goes in first, then a shot of espresso, topped up with more milk and an espresso dot on top. Its the most recent addition to Starbuckss US menu but any coffee expert will tell you it has been around for years. Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter B etween London Bridge and Borough Market, Bermondsey is tucked among some of Londons most famous tourist destinations. But despite its proximity to these world-renowned landmarks, the area retains a community atmosphere. Bermondsey Street is a bit of a one-off, explains Eddi Matthiasson, senior sales associate at Williams Lynch, in reference to the main stretch, which is lined with independently owned restaurants and shops. Youre not going to get nightclubs, and its not going to be the Shoreditch or the Clerkenwell feel. Its got more of a smaller feel to it. And that unique character is quickly attracting buyers and renters to the neighbourhood, which is reflected in the rapidly rising property prices. It wouldnt surprise me to see over the next three to five years an increase of possibly more than 30 per cent, Mr Matthiasson said. To get a feel for Bermondsey, be sure to check out this video. T heres nothing quite like a weekend in the countryside to warm the cockles and inspire a little romance. Whether youre planning ahead for Valentines Day or just whisking your other half away from London for rural bliss, there are countless boltholes made for two. Here are ten of the best to choose from where long walks, pub lunches and cosying up in front of the fire are on the agenda. The Barn, Devon A new addition to the stylish Beachspoke portfolio in September 2016, The Barn is everything a stylish couple could want for the weekend: seclusion in the rolling green hills of Devon, a rolltop bath with country views and slick design. Better still, its only a few minutes from The Pig if you want to book in a good meal and the Jurassic coast for windswept cliff walks. Book here The Old Piggery, Devon The biggest draw of this quaint country retreat has to be the his and her roll top baths youll find on its private decking, overlooking the Devonshire countryside just the place to sit a glass of fizz. After a nights stargazing or a cosy movie, you can climb the ladder to the suspended king bed. Set on a working organic farm on the edge of Dartmoors national park, this is one for lovers of long walks. Book here Old Smock Windmill, Kent What could be more romantic than a weekend in your own Kentish windmill? Just under a 2 hour drive from London, the Old Smock Windmill in Benenden is arranged over three floors connected by a beautiful oak staircase. A French King bed and freestanding tub are standout features of the rustic chic property, which is an easy hop from Camber Sands beach and plenty of stately homes. Book here Seal Cottage, North Norfolk Sharrington Hall Possibly the most tasteful and stylish self-catering stay in the UK, Seal is the most romantic of the four Cartshed Cottage offerings. A four-poster bed, roll-top bath and log burning stove await you in your home from home. If you can tear yourself away, stunning North Norfolk is on your doorstep: strolls along Holkham Beach, pub lunches and vintage shopping in nearby Holt. The dream weekend bolthole. Book here Old Fish Cellar, Cornwall Okay, so 'fish cellar' isnt exactly shorthand for romance, but trust us on this one. Youll find this contemporary but historical hideaway about three miles from Penzance in the ultra-pretty harbour town Mousehole. Its filled with all the mod-cons like a Smeg cooker and Delonghi coffee machine and is the last word in comfort with Egyptian cotton sheets and a luxe rain shower. Tate St Ives and the impressive outdoor Minack Theatre are nearby, making it the ideal Cornish getaway with an added culture factor. Book here Peasecroft, Cumbria Tucked away in eight acres of Lake District fells, this den for two is irresistible. The Scandi-style interior is full of sumptuous details like sheepskin throws, woollen blankets and a pair of armchairs to sit alongside the roaring fire - not to mention a view of the rolling hills. Theres no TV, so its all about rekindling the romance and reconnecting with nature here. Book here Dovecote Cottage, Edinburgh If youve ever fantasised about being holed up in a medieval-style tower, Dovecot Cottage is just the ticket. A 15 minute walk from Edinburgh centre, youll find this stone bolthole with its cosy, farmhouse style kitchen and roaring fire and a bedroom in a tower. Theres also a sweet little walled garden. Its secluded, historical and romantic, need we say more? Book here Shepherds Barn, West Sussex Closer to London youll find this gorgeous country idyll for two. A converted barn near the South Downs, its the ideal place to cosy up from the elements with a wood burning stove and a glass of red. There are plenty of pubs and good walks nearby if you do decide to venture out. Book here North Star Club, Yorkshire Cross an upstate New York camp with a hygge-ful Scandi cabin and you should be on the right track. Set deep in Yorkshire woodland, there are eight private suites decorated with lush fur throws, king beds and toasty wood burners. But those with romance on the cards should book the Hideaway Suite, which has a copper bathtub and a four poster. The owners will deliver BBQ packs or hampers to your cabin if you dont want to venture further afield. Book here Yarrow Cottage, The Cotswolds Technically a 2-bedder, but we think this is a real treat for couple. A postcard perfect honey-coloured stone cottage in lovely village of Churchill, Yarrow Cottage has a cosy sitting room with a wood burning stove, a luxurious bathroom with a copper tub and even your own little garden. Make your own brunch with goodies from nearby Daylesford Organic and book yourselves in for Michelin-starred grub at The Wild Rabbit, which is in the neighbouring village. Book here Follow Kate on Twitter @kate_lough and Instagram @kateloughtravel A woman has been arrested on suspicion of drug driving after a female pedestrian in her 70s died after being hit by a car. The victim was hit by a Land Rover in John Drinkwater Close, Leytonstone, at about 12.20pm on Tuesday. It is thought the car was reversing at the time. Londons Air Ambulance attended but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family have been informed. The female driver of a Land Rover Freelander, aged 44, was detained on suspicion of driving while under the influence of drugs. She was taken into custody and then bailed until a date in late February. Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash. Anyone with any information is asked to call detectives on 020 8597 4874 or via 101. G irls are being coerced into group sex in the belief it is normal behaviour as exploitation worsens in gangs, an official Home Office report warns today. The study, which also discloses that children aged below nine have joined gangs in London, quotes a report from experts about cornered girls having sex with up to five gang members. It suggests other vulnerable female gang members are being exploited without realising they have been victims of rape or other sexual abuse. Girls are also used by gangs to store drugs and firearms and set up honeytrap attacks on rival gang members. The warnings came as the Home Office unveiled a six-point plan for tackling gangs. The measures include protecting children in care homes and pupil referral units from being targeted by gang members. Renewed efforts will also be made to stop gangs waiting outside schools to recruit pupils, while further measures to divert vulnerable children into education, training and jobs are pledged. In the report published today on urban gangs in 19 London boroughs and 14 local UK authorities, ministers warn that there is more involvement in gangs by young people (aged nine to 14) now compared with two years ago. The report, compiled from evidence by police and other officials working to tackle gangs, also says even younger children are in London gangs. It further warns of the use of young, often vulnerable, people to transport drugs to other parts of the country, with children given targets for selling and punished if these are not met. Some youngsters are recruited with the lure of earning money or being given new trainers, tracksuits and other items, with some absent from school or care homes for days during their illicit smuggling missions. An increase in knife-carrying and stabbings is also reported in some parts of London. Nearly half those questioned from the capital said the size of gangs has increased. Most boroughs studied are thought to have more than 100 active gang members. The report says drug dealing by gangs is widespread, with violent crime, robbery and sex attacks the other most common activities. It adds that London gangs are becoming more multi-ethnic and says: Sexual violence and exploitation by gangs has worsened. It quotes one person involved in tackling London gangs saying: You get the guys talking of having group sex with vulnerable girls. Then youll have the girls talking about it as well but both will refer to it as though it was a normal thing. If you were to suggest it was rape or exploitation, theyd be horrified. Unveiling todays report, Home Office minister Karen Bradley said funds for anti-gangs work would be extended to Harrow in addition to existing London boroughs covered by the programme. A 31-year-old man will appear in court today charged with the murder of Aiden OMahony in a Hornchurch pub. James Roberts, from Hornchurch, will appear at Redbridge Magistrates' Court today charged with stabbing the 60-year-old to death at J.J. Moons pub in Hornchurch High Street just after 4.30pm on Sunday. A post-mortem examination held at Queen's Hospital mortuary yesterday gave his cause of death as a single stab wound to the chest. In a statement yesterday, Mr OMahonys family said: "Aiden was a very loved son, brother, partner and granddad. He was a kind and thoughtful man. His passions were Spurs, his family, friends and his dog Lily. "Aiden's family and friends are devastated by his untimely tragic death. We will always remember him and the joy his larger than life presence gave us." A fundraising page set up to cover the costs of Mr O'Mahony's funeral has raised more than 1,800 so far. T hree drug dealers who travelled from the capital to Essex to sell heroin and cocaine have been jailed for more than five years. Mohammed Omar, Ahmed Abdalla and Dylan Jenkins were each jailed for 21 months at Chelmsford Crown Court after pleading guilty at the start of their trials. Abdalla, 19, of Antill Road, Mile End and Omar, 24, of Sunningfields, Barnet, were arrested in Orwell Road, Clacton in June last year when they were spotted jumping out of a window at the back of a house. The men tried to dump the 95 wraps of heroin and 62 wraps of crack cocaine they were carrying but officers spotted the class A drugs and arrested the men. Abdalla was arrested again in July, alongside Jenkins, 20, of Quinta Drive, Barnet when police were called to a disturbance in Dudley Road, Clacton. Abdalla was found with 56 wraps of class A drugs and more than 1000 in cash on him, and Jenkins had with him a mobile phone that was used to arrange drug deals. Jenkins was then arrested for a second time on Marine Parade East, Clacton in September, when he was found carrying cocaine that he had planned to supply to an addict. Omar pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply heroin and possession with intent to supply cocaine, and Abdalla pleaded guilty possession with intent to supply heroin and being concerned in the supply of cocaine. Jenkins pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine, being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and possession of a class B drug. He also admitted breaching an anti-social behaviour order. All three men were sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, and will serve 21 months at a young offender institution. Ds Andy Stott of Operation Saturn said: "This demonstrates the commitment from Essex Police to targeting those who are travelling from London to prey on vulnerable people in our county. "These arrests were made as a result of uniform officers being vigilant and aware of the on-going trend in Clacton of London males taking over vulnerable peoples addresses. "That combined with the work and expertise of the Op Saturn team has seen three drug dealers who were operating a profitable drug line into Clacton removed from our streets." A fourth man, Ahmed Khayre, 19, of no fixed address has been charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine and diamorphine and is due to appear in court next week. T he widow of a London-based oil executive has joined other British families in launching a High Court action against BP over an al-Qaeda terrorist attack. Carlos Estrada Valencia, 44, was among seven Britons killed in the Amenas gas plant attack in Algeria in January 2013. The oil giant was heavily criticised over its security measures by a coroner investigating the deaths but have refused to accept liability. Lawyers representing the families have now issued court proceedings in the High Court. They are pursuing civil claims against BP for allegedly failing to take reasonable steps to protect them at the plant. Men study the wreckage of a vehicle near In Amenas, Algeria, following the attack / AP BP is also facing court action in the US state of Texas over the same incident. Mr Valencias widow, Claudia Gaviria, who lives in Surrey with the couples two daughters aged nine and 13, said: It was heart-breaking hearing the evidence presented at the inquest and I still find it difficult to understand how one day Carlos said good-bye as he headed off to work, never to return. She said her husband had been immensely loyal to BP for 18 years. She added: I am now bitterly disappointed that BP continues to deny liability forcing us to take matters through the court system. Clive Garner, Head of the International Personal Injury Team at lawyers Irwin Mitchell, said: In the light of BPs denial of liability, our clients have now commenced court proceedings to help them secure the justice they seek following the deaths of Carlos and Sebastian. The In Amenas gas facility in Algeria / Reuters The past three years have been incredibly difficult for all of our clients and they were deeply shocked at the inquest to hear of the serious security issues at the site where both Carlos and Sebastian were working. We are continuing to support the families as they overcome the trauma of losing their loved ones in such tragic circumstances. As well as seeking justice for our clients, it is crucial that lessons are learned from what occurred in In Amenas. All organisations with employees working abroad must carefully review their operations and ensure that the safety and security of their employees is their number one priority. Special care needs to be taken where there is a high risk of attack from terrorists. In February 2015, following a 29-day Inquest the Coroner, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, used his narrative conclusion to highlight security flaws at the plant. H undreds of binge-drinking students are suffering alcohol-related injuries each year, new figures show. There were at least 994 incidents on 54 university campuses and at halls of residences between 2010 and 2015, according to data obtained under a freedom of information request. Last year the number was 233, far higher than the 68 in 2010, with the recent peak being 292 in 2014. The data, which is believed to include a small number of fatalities, is not complete as some universities only started monitoring these incidents recently. Dozens more do not have accurate records of all accidents on their sites. This means the overall figure is likely to be significantly higher, especially as many incidents may not be reported. Baroness Lorely Burt, universities spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, said: It will come as a shock to no one that students might sometimes end up a little worse for wear and no one is going to stop them living a little. But whats worrying is that cases of students getting into real harm appear to be on the increase. She called for new rules so universities have to properly record alcohol-related injuries and for the Government to include prevention of these student cases in an updated alcohol strategy. The university with the highest number of drink-related injuries was Leeds, with 73 last year and 123 in 2014. Among the London universities that responded, Kingston reported the most cases, 10, in 2015. Leeds University stressed it was keeping comprehensive records of all alcohol-related illnesses and injuries. It added: The vast majority are very minor, such as a student feeling unwell, and we are working with our Student Union to help students understand the dangers of irresponsible drinking. It is reviewing its response to the FOI request and whether cases of ill students were incorrectly included. Kingston University said its cases were a tiny proportion of its 20,000 students and that information on alcohol misuse was available across university sites and at halls of residence. The Department of Health said: We want to help everybody to make well-informed choices about drinking. That is why the Chief Medical Officer has issued updated guidelines recommending people drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. @nicholascecil O ne of the UKs biggest NHS trusts has been accused of a cynical attempt to block a pioneering transplant surgeons bid to return to work. Imperial College Healthcare began recruiting two doctors to replace Professor Nadey Hakim while his claim for unfair dismissal was being made to an employment tribunal. They started work at Hammersmith Hospital last week a week before Professor Hakim, 57, returned to the tribunal to ask the judge to order his reinstatement after he won his case. His lawyer Mary ORourke QC told the latest hearing: Its either a cock-up and nobody has talked to one another ... or its conspiracy, in other words a cynical attempt to fill the spot. Last February, Professor Hakim was sacked for gross misconduct, for performing a kidney swap between two foreign brothers at Bupas Cromwell Hospital ahead of a kidney and pancreas transplant on a female NHS patient at Hammersmith Hospital. Both operations took place on the same day in 2013. All patients recovered and the woman was cured of diabetes. This week Professor Hakim, a father of four from Cricklewood, told the hearing on whether to reinstate him: I would really, really, really love to go back to work. He is no longer able to treat patients at five HCA private hospitals since being dismissed by Imperial, and has been forced to remortgage his home to pay legal fees and a 148,000 medical insurance bill. By law, pancreas transplants can be performed only on the NHS, and he said: I find it sad I will never be able to do this operation again when I pioneered it and taught over 75 per cent of [pancreas] transplant surgeons. Ms ORourke said: It seems utterly bizarre [Imperials] advisory appointments committee is sitting in October last year, when its been said in September that he wants reinstatement. Ian Scott, representing Imperial, said comments made by the professor during the case had caused some unpleasantness to ex-colleagues and his return would make things worse. He added: There is no vacancy. Imperials divisional director Claire Braithwaite told the tribunal that hiring the doctors had been necessary to run a safe transplant rota. She feared the rota would break down if Professor Hakim returned as it would be very difficult for them to function as a team because their trust in a colleague has been undermined. Employment judge Sarah Goodman reserved her decision to a later date. I slamic State militants have issued an advice manual to guide followers who want to carry out lone wolf attacks in European countries. The booklet, entitled Safety and security guidelines for lone wolf mujahideen and small cells, tells how to surprise the enemy by evading security agencies. One piece of advice for jihadis reads: "Always look like any random tourist or normal traveller." The booklet also suggested attackers should try and blend in by shaving their beard, as well as wearing western clothes and aftershave. The text was originally written in Arabic for al-Qaeda but a translated English version has now been issued by IS. The manual helps attackers avoid security services and travel undetected. One passage reads: Try as much as you can to have all your documents bearing the same name: ID card, passport, drivers licence. There has been no reason given for the books distribution now. UK security services have been on high alert to terrorist attacks and activity after the Paris attacks in November. Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed that security forces, last year, helped stop several attacks in the UK. C ommuters are facing significant disruption this morning after a signal failure at Kings Cross. The Circle Line currently has no service on the entire line while the Hammersmith and City Line has severe delays. The Metropolitan Line has severe delays between Baker Street and Aldgate and minor delays on the rest of the line while engineers try to rectify the signalling issue. Transport for London is urging travellers to seek alternative routes with tickets being allowed on London Buses. Severe delays while we fix a signal failure at King's Cross. Tickets valid on London Buses.@circleline, @metline TfL Travel Alerts (@TfLTravelAlerts) January 13, 2016 The Waterloo and City Line earlier had no sevice due to a seperate signal failure and is now operating with minor delays. On the rail network, all Southern lines are closed between Crystal Palace and Beckenham Junction due to electrical supply problems. Southern said there was no firm estimate of how long disruption was expected to last for but said it was likely to continue "until at least 10am". A high-profile imam and TV presenter claims he was barred from boarding a plane at Heathrow because officials had concerns about one of his thousands of social media followers. Now Ajmal Masroor, who had been due to lead prayers and speak at two events in New York, has set up a website, Flying While Muslim, for other Muslims who have had similar experiences. He claims he has already received 20 accounts from people who have been unfairly turned away at airports for little reason other than their religion. One-time Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Mr Masroor, 44, on Wednesday told the Standard he was still waiting for his business visa to be reinstated nearly a month after his scandalous, crazy treatment just before Christmas. I was just about to get on the plane when an American official told me my visa had been revoked, he said. I asked why and he said: Maybe you did something wrong. They were insinuating there was somebody in my Facebook group they wanted to talk to and dont like. I was surprised, humiliated and isolated. Embarrassed, Mr Masroor was forced to travel home to north London and cancel his engagements at short notice leaving himself thousands of pounds out of pocket and disappointing many he said had travelled across the States to see him talk. The imam, who works at the Islamic Society of Britain, is a well-known speaker on combating extremism within Islamic communities. He visited the US embassy on December 21 to try and resolve the problem but says they refused to tell him what was wrong, only insisting he tell his side of the story. I think it was a fishing exercise, he said. When I asked what it was about they told me: Its beyond our pay grade. They asked if I had done anything lots of questions but everything I do is in the public domain. Theres 28,000 people who follow me on Facebook. The whole idea of Facebook is that people have the right to engage with you if they want because youre a public figure. I have a public page. He said America was losing friends by treating people like criminals when they had done nothing wrong. This isnt making America safer, he said. He added: If Ive done something wrong, try me in a court of law. Dont cast aspersions and insinuations that makes me mad. In the American constitution were all innocent until proven guilty. A spokeswoman for the US embassy declined to comment. A n unexploded World War II bomb has been found in an east London street. Residents were evacuated from their homes following the discovery of the device in Grange Road, Plaistow, on Wednesday afternoon, police said. In a series of tweets, the Mets Twitter account for the borough of Newham sought to calm nerves while they spent more than two hours making the area safe. @MPSNewham said people were forced to flee nearby buildings and roads were cordoned off. Please bear with us whilst we work to make safe some suspected WW1 or WW2 ordnance found in Grange Road #Plaistow 1/2 Newham MPS (@MPSNewham) January 13, 2016 Some buildings have been evacuated, and roads around Grange Road have been closed for safety #Plaistow 2/2 Newham MPS (@MPSNewham) January 13, 2016 It was later confirmed the bomb was one believed to have been dropped on London during the Second World War. The device found was small compared with previous discoveries / @MPSNewham A spokesman said officers were called shortly before 4pm. The area was made safe by 7pm. Pictures posted by @MPSNewham showed a small rusty ordnance with the head of the device apparently unscrewed from its body. Last year, a large bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe during World War II was found in Bermondsey, south London, forcing more than 1,000 from their homes. A 200m exclusion zone was put in place while the Army safely removed the near half tonne ordnance before dramatically detonating it at a quarry in Kent. T he chance to inspire a character in great literature is a unique opportunity but if the depiction is less than flattering then the apparent honour may turn sour. Step forward Times columnist David Aaronovitch, who is righting past wrongs committed against his father by the late Doris Lessing. In Lessings classic novel The Golden Notebook, veiled self-portrait Anna flirts with communism and meets a party official responsible for culture. She is not kind. Why had the party chosen a young man who had read nothing of modern literature, and was not interested in the arts to represent culture? she wonders. This character was drawn from Sam Aaronovitch, late father of David. She was right about the modern literature, Aaronovitch writes in his new book Party Animals, a memoir of his communist upbringing. But for the rest she couldnt have been more wrong. Aaronovitch then accuses her of intellectual snobbery. The self-taught have to storm the castle of knowledge, to wrestle baffling information to the ground, and they live in the learn-it-by-rote world of encyclopaedias. So they usually start not with the fashionable and possibly ephemera but with the classics. Thats why my father didnt spend his time on modern literature, or indulge an easy interest in the art. By the time he met Lessing had she but known it he had read Goethe, Schiller, Dickens, Tolstoy, Cervantes, Balzac and Shelley. He had taught himself German and Russian. In his late teens Sam, when he wasnt selling cheap tat door-to-door on the Isle of Dogs, was a regular in the British Museum Reading Room. Future character assassins take note sometimes you cant judge a book by its cover. *** There are six rules for a good reshuffle. Jeremy Corbyn broke every one of them, writes William Hague in the Telegraph today. Offering his help to the Labour leader, Hague goes through various pieces of advice, including: absolutely do not send John McDonnell out to explain how dreadful were the people you dismissed. The former Tory leader should know he was so fond of reshuffles he went through five in just four years as leader. Political books take a back seat, for now The Londoner looks forward to certain events to get rid of the Christmas cobwebs. One such is the annual Paddy Power Political Book of the Year Awards, founded by Biteback Publishing. Mild surprise, then, when an invitation failed to arrive in December, or since our return to the office this month. Surely it got lost in the post? Unfortunately not: I havent given up hope of holding a 2016 event, Biteback MD Iain Dale told us yesterday, as he seeks a new sponsor. But we may have to miss a year. A shame for Biteback owner Lord Ashcroft, who also usually co-funds the prize and may have hoped for a nomination for his Cameron biography Call Me Dave. Camera ready for Annie To Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, where Annie Leibovitz held a private view of her new exhibition, Women: New Portraits. The photographers famous shots include pregnant Demi Moore in the nude and last years Caitlyn Jenner Vanity Fair cover, so guests turned up photo-worthy. Socialite Plum Sykes went for a Rorschach Test look, while sisters Lady Alice Manners and Lady Violet Manners took a more Magic Eye approach. Last year the pair apparently held wild parties at their Fulham home, so lets hope they had a quiet Christmas. FT old guard tell newbies to jog on What happens when new and old media meet? Just ask the Financial Times. A cheerful sign was spotted in the FTs office this week, shouting Friday social run in huge letters across a bright yellow background. Im new at the FT and I cant believe theres no running club (if there is one no one seems to know about, please let me know!), it reads. Why dont we start one with a relaxed Friday lunchtime run? Say, 30 minutes at whatever pace simply for a bit of fresh air and a chat. Lovely, isnt it? Well, apparently not. Another note soon appeared alongside, printed on a grey background, titled Friday anti-social ruin. It reads: I find it hard to believe anyone in their right mind would want to go out running at lunchtime, when they could simply go down to the pub, have a pint and moan about their dwindling pension entitlement. So please dont accede to any well-intentioned, though slightly sinister attempts to impose physical fitness on the body corporate. Instead, join me this Friday lunchtime at the pub for some traditional booze-fired British rancour you know it makes sense. The Londoner wonders which side FT editor Lionel Barber is on? *** Amid the frenzy caused by Rupert Murdochs engagement to Jerry Hall, you might think the Texan model would keep a low profile. But Hall is not one to miss the ballet. Tonight is The Coliseums opening night of Le Corsaire and Hall is expected to attend. No wonder: the story sees a dashing pirate, an outcast from society and travel to the ends of the Earth to rescue his maiden. Jolly Roger. George gets a bit creative As someone so dedicated to bringing culture to the UK that he appears in the latest Star Wars films credits, George Osborne must have been more than welcome at the first anniversary celebration of the Creative Industries Federation. Pictured with broadcaster and Strictly Come Dancing finalist Katie Derham, the Chancellor was joined at the bash by Ed Vaizey, whom guests congratulated on becoming the longest serving arts minister. Others at the event, held at Television Centre, included Martha Lane Fox, Caroline Rush of the British Fashion Council and actor Simon Callow. Small victory of the day: Lib-Dem MP John Pugh tweeted: Found a tenner on the green benches in the Commons. If no one claims it, Lib-Dem MPs could split it, at 1.25 per MP. L ondons mayoral race got personal today as Sadiq Khan launched his first big attack of the campaign against Zac Goldsmith. Labours mayoral candidate accused his Tory rival in an advertisement of being a serial underachiever who isnt up to the job of running the capital. Campaign sources claimed they were not attacking the Tory MP because of his wealthy background Mr Khan has previously conceded that his opponents multi-million-pound fortune does not stop him having empathy but because of his failure to fulfil the vast opportunities it afforded. The ad, which will be promoted on Twitter and Facebook, is Labours equivalent of Mr Goldsmiths six-point barrage against Tooting MP Mr Khan which was posted through letterboxes around outer London before Christmas. That exploded into a bitter war of words after he attacked Mr Khans divisive and radical politics which he said would hamper his ability to deliver. Labour suggested it was a coded racist attack. The new Labour advert came in the form of a mock CV for Mr Goldsmith, highlighting the fact his only job before entering politics was editing the Ecologist, a magazine owned by his late uncle Edward Goldsmith, and suggesting he got the job through a not-entirely-competitive process. It also quoted Tory party donor and former Heathrow chairman Sir Nigel Rudd, who attacked the MPs inherited wealth and questioned his qualifications in an interview last month. The ad pointed out Mr Goldsmith had failed to win ministerial office in his five years at Westminster though he has said he turned down a post to focus on his Richmond Park constituents. A Labour source said: We will never criticise Zac Goldsmith for being born into wealth. But we will point out he is a serial underachiever who has never been a success in business or politics despite the vast opportunities he has been afforded. But a Tory insider responded: The verdict of Zacs own voters was clear...he increased his majority at the last election by nearly 19,000 votes. The verdict of Sadiq Khans voters is also clear after inheriting a safe Labour seat he reduced the majority by over 7,500 votes. M ore than 450 London business people today demanded major changes to Britains EU membership amid signs that Boris Johnson will snub appeals for him to lead the Out campaign. They launched the London branch of Business for Britain, which accused Brussels of hampering their enterprises and stifling job creation. A London regional council including economist Ruth Lea, Luke Johnson, the businessman who expanded Pizza Express, and hedge fund manager Crispin Odey aims to give London firms a voice in the EU debate ahead of the referendum expected this year. Business for Britains London chairman Richard Patient said: Many businesses see a prosperous future outside the EU where we can set up trade agreements with fast-growing parts of the world. "Jobs will be safe if we vote to leave, including in important sectors such as fashion and culture, hi-tech, financial and business services which London does so well at. The new Business for Britain London group also published YouGov polling showing that twice as many small and medium-sized firms in London, 31 per cent to 15 per cent, believe the EU is making it harder for them to employ people. Just over half also want the UK to take back control of negotiating trade deals, with 32 per cent opposed to such a move. Mayor of London Mr Johnson has yet to declare which side of the debate on the UKs EU membership he will back once David Cameron unveils his renegotiation package. But Brexit campaigners believe it is unlikely that he will support their cause. They do not believe he is a natural outer and expect him to support the Prime Minister. But they have not ruled out that he could still be persuaded to join their battle if the deal that Mr Cameron strikes with other EU leaders is dismissed in Britain as paltry. At Westminster, MPs on both sides of the debate expect Mr Johnson to back Britain staying in the EU, especially if he wins protection for the City from new EU rules. Mr Johnson has backed the PMs renegotiation campaign, saying it would be best for Britain to stay in a reshaped EU but also that if reforms were not possible the UK should not be afraid of leaving. Will Straw, Executive Director of Britain Stronger In Europe, said: Businesses in London and across the UK overwhelmingly back the UKs place in Europe. They know that membership means increased trade, more investment, more jobs and lower prices. Leaving Europe would put all that at risk, especially as the Leave campaigns refuse to say what Out would look like. " A cabinet minister announced today that he is gay. Scottish Secretary David Mundell made the personal statement shortly after Prime Ministers Questions finished at Westminster. The father of three grown-up children put out a statement on his website. New Year, new start! I have already set out my political priorities for the year and now I am setting out my personal one, he wrote. Having taken one of the most important decisions of my life and resolved to come out publically as gay in 2016, I just want to get on with it, and now, just like that, I have said it. How can it be both so easy and so hard to say a few short words? In the end, it took just a couple of taps on a keyboard, yet at some points, in my mind, it was going to be harder than standing for election, speaking in the House of Commons or being cross-examined on television. He told of his journey, with conflicting emotions, of doubts and fears, but ultimately positive and uplifting, with an unstoppable direction of travel. He added: Over time, I came to understand that, for me, the only way to be truly happy on a personal level is to acknowledge in public as well as in private, who I am. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said David Cameron was delighted that Mr Mundell had been able to make this step. Former Islington South Labour MP Chris Smith, now Lord Smith, became the first openly gay Cabinet minister in 1997. Mr Mundell is the first openly gay Tory Cabinet minister. He is the only Tory MP in Scotland, representing Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale. A husband and wife are planning an early retirement after scooping 33 million on the lottery, half of the UK's biggest ever Lotto jackpot. David and Carol Martin, both 54, from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, are celebrating scooping the prize after matching six correct numbers in Saturday's record draw. The massive jackpot of just over 66 million was the result of 14 rollovers. New rules stipulated that once the amount went over 50 million it would have been shared between the next tier down of winners if no one matched all six numbers. The other ticket remains unclaimed. The couple had been relaxing at home, "completely unaware" that the Lotto ticket on their mantelpiece held the winning numbers until a visit from a friend who urged them to check it. Mr Martin, who works for Borders Care and Repair which helps elderly and disabled fit equipment in their homes, said: "My mate Keith had popped over for a chat on Sunday morning when he mentioned that there had been two Lotto winners in the big rollover the night before. "I hadn't checked my ticket, so I removed it from the mantelpiece and thought I'd take a quick look but for some reason we couldn't find the results in the paper. "After Keith had left, Carol and I were tucking into bacon and black pudding rolls when we decided to check the ticket against the results on her phone. "I had three lines, all Lucky Dip tickets, and as Carol called out the numbers, I realised that the first line matched up one by one. We must have checked it another ten times or more. He added: "I've dreamt of this moment many times but when it actually came, it was a just total shock. "We were both stunned into silence. We kept re-checking the numbers as we thought there must be a mistake. "Then we called Camelot to see if it could possibly be true. The lady at the end of the phone was really nice and told us we were right, we were winners. "All we could do was drink lots of hot tea and try and make sense of it all. The information just wasn't going in." A nine-year-old girl was left with a phone-shaped burn mark after a unicorn iPhone case allegedly leaked acid onto her skin. Olivia Retter could be scarred for life after the pink glittery case which was covered in unicorns and rainbows allegedly leaked toxic chemicals onto her right thigh as she slept on it. The case was bought for about 5 at a New Look shop in Cambridge. The fashion chain has now removed the covers from sale while it investigates. Olivias mother, 35-year-old cleaner Karly, told the Daily Mail: Doctors said it is a severe chemical burn caused by acid and she will be scarred for life. Imagine if it had leaked when Olivia was on the phone or holding it to her face. Ms Retter, from Ware in Hertfordshire, warned others of the potential risks on Facebook and her post has now been shared more than 40,000 times. Please share this as much as possible this case is full of acid and if it cracks it will cause 3rd-2nd degree burns this... Posted by Karly Retter on Friday, January 8, 2016 In one message, she wrote: Ive been watching the Segways waiting for them to blow up and the bloody 5 phone case can do this, bloody shocking. A spokeswoman for New Look said: New Look has spoken with the customer involved and takes complaints of this nature extremely seriously. In line with our health and safety procedure, we have now instructed all stores to remove the product in question from the shop floor with immediate effect. Our quality team have also begun an investigation with the supplier to understand and prevent this from happening in the future. A n American woman found murdered in her Florence apartment was strangled with an object such as a rope or cord, a post mortem has revealed. Prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo said more lab results were needed to pinpoint the time of 35-year-old Ashley Olsens death. Her naked body was found with bruises on her neck on Saturday. Police think that she was killed on Friday after a late night at the Montecarla club, which has had its licence suspended three times after cocaine dealers were caught there. Detectives have spoken to her boyfriend, Italian-American artist Federico Fiorentini, 42, and said he is not a suspect. Her father Walter Olsen, an art professor who lives round the corner from his daughters apartment, called her beautiful and creative and said he had faith in the murder investigation. A t least 15 people were killed today when a suicide bomber attacked a police van outside a polio eradication centre in Pakistan. The blast ripped through the van that had just arrived at the centre in the western city of Quetta to provide an escort for vaccination workers taking part in a drive to immunise all children under five years old in the underdeveloped province of Balochistan. It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene, Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief told Reuters. The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. Teams in Pakistan working to immunise children against the virus are often targeted by Taliban and other militant groups, who say the campaign is a cover for Western spies, or accuse workers of distributing vaccines designed to sterilise children. The latest attack killed at least 12 policemen, one paramilitary officer and two civilians, and wounded 25 others, officials said. They estimated the bomb contained about five kilograms of explosives. Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the World Health Organisation says. The campaign to eradicate the virus in Pakistan has had some recent success, with new cases down last year, but violence against vaccination workers has slowed the effort. P olice are investigating claims that a three-year-old boy was raped in a communal area of an asylum centre. The boy was allegedly assaulted at a centre housing nearly 800 asylum seekers in Stavanger, Norway. Officers were looking into whether several people took part in the alleged rape, according to European news website The Local. Police superintendent Bjrn Kare Dahl was quoted as saying: We are investigating the case as if the worst thing has happened and that we are talking about the rape of a child. We will investigate further to find out what happened. If it is what we fear a rape then this is very serious. But we do not know for certain yet. The boy was reportedly taken to a rape crisis clinic with his mother and then to a childrens hospital ward. A spokesman for the asylum centre said it received a phone call on Wednesday alleging the boy had been raped on January 6. The spokesman, Lars Petter Einarsson, said: We had many people at work, both sanitation workers and security guards, but nobody saw anything. But we immediately took the case to the police, as is the routine, and they came out. The boy had been living at the centre with his family. A London doctor and three members of his family were killed in a road crash during a holiday to visit relatives in Uganda. Dr Henry Obonyo, 77, his wife Kevina, 73, and daughters Eliza, 46, and Marjorie, 39, who all lived in south London, died when their rented people carrier spun off the road after a tyre blew out. Their two other daughters and four of their grandchildren also suffered serious injuries in the crash in the north of Uganda on January 2. The family had returned to the country for the first time in 30 years to visit relatives over Christmas. Caesar Poblicks, Dr Obonyos cousin, said: It is the most horrible tragedy. Henrys remaining children are completely heartbroken by the loss of their mum, dad and sisters. Sisters: Marjorie and Elizabeth Obonyo were killed in the crash alongside their parents Marjorie and Elizas children have also lost their mothers. Its too much to think about. Dr Obonyo was a pivotal figure in the ousting of President Idi Amins brutal regime during the Seventies. He fled into exile in Tanzania before returning to serve as health minister under President Tito Okello Lutwa before the generals short-lived government was overthrown in 1986. The family moved to Purley where Dr Obonyo worked as a urologist and his wife as a nurse until their retirement. The couple were taking four of their six children to see their home village in the Lamwo District when the smash took place. Their two other daughters Carol, 42, and Helen, who each have two young children, survived although Helens two daughters Gabriella, five, and Annabel, nine, were in a critical condition. Eliza, a Wandsworth council payroll officer who lived in Battersea and volunteered at a church in Tooting, was killed instantly alongside with her parents. She leaves behind a 16-year-old daughter, Malaika. Her sister Marjorie, a local council employee who lived with her two daughters and husband in Denmark Hill, died in hospital. Carol, a lawyer, was said to have pleaded with doctors to be allowed to give her sister blood because of a shortage at the hospital but was refused because of her own fragile state. Friends and relatives gathered at the family home in Purley last week to pay their respects. Dr Obonyos two sons, Norbert and Francis, have travelled out to Uganda. It is understood the driver of the minibus has been arrested. Mr Poblicks said: Henry was the most kind and caring man. He was hugely respected in Uganda and by the Ugandan community in London. He was so excited about showing his family Uganda. Mr Poblicks said the family wanted a proper investigation to rule out foul play because of Dr Obonyos political history. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We are providing support to the family of four British nationals who died in Uganda on January 2 2016." B arack Obama has defended his record as US president in his final State of the Union speech. In an hour-long address, President Obama who swept to victory in 2008 following George W Bushs double White House term ran through his legacy on both domestic and foreign policy. Weeks after making a tearful speech announcing tighter gun controls, he left one chair empty in the 24-seat guest box to represent the absent victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice. But he steered clear of making any major policy announcements in the traditional speech given to Congress in Washington at the start of each year. Empty seat: First Lady Michelle Obama was flanked by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and a vacant chair to represent the victims of gun violence Kevin Lamarque/Reuters / Kevin Lamarque/Reuters He told the joint session he had helped lead the economy back from the brink of depression, took action on climate change and ended a Cold War freeze with Cuba. Obama, 54, did not take direct aim at the Republican candidates who are vying to succeed him as president in this years election. But he tacitly criticised Donald Trump for his anti-Muslim stance. He warned Congress against voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background. And he urged caution in the War on Terror, vowing to take out Isis in the Middle East but downplaying their power and influence. All the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air, he said. So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. Legacy: President Obama leaves Congress after his final State of the Union speech Kevin Lamarque/Reuters / Kevin Lamarque/Reuters He added: Masses of fighters on the back of pick-up trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. Additional reporting by Press Association B osses can read private messages sent by their employees during working hours, Europes top court has ruled. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday that companies are within their rights to read private messages sent on company time and the move would not violate an individual employees right to privacy. The landmark ruling comes after a Romanian engineer complained his employer had breached article 8 of the Human Rights Act. Article 8 reads: Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. The Romanian worker had his contract terminated in August 2007 after his company found he was using a Yahoo Messenger account set up for work to speak to his brother and fiancee. The man was approached by his bosses, who had printed a 45-page transcript of his communications with his family members. The transcript also contained five short messages the man had sent to his fiancee. After being sacked, the worker took his case to Bucharest County Court before escalating it to the ECHR. Previous court hearings ruled the employer had been reasonable and the monitoring of communications had been the only method of establishing if there had been a disciplinary breach. At a hearing at the ECHR in Strasbourg on Tuesday, the panel agreed there had been no violation of the man's right to privacy. The worker argued the messaging software was designed for personal use and he expected his communications to be private. He said if he had not have expected privacy, he would not have disclosed intimate information. In its ruling, the court said it is not unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that the employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours. The court added the employer had only accessed the messages on the mans work account because they believed they contained professional communications. The rulling added: There has been no violation of this article, since the employers monitoring was limited in scope and proportionate. The ECHRs judgements bind all countries, including the UK, that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. C raig Charles has revealed he would love to host the new series of Robot Wars. Charles, 51, fronted the show from the second series onwards and is keen to return to the new six-episode series later this year. The show originally aired on Friday nights on BBC Two between 1998 and 2001. Charles tweeted: Okay guys. I've heard the news but as yet have had no contact with anyone involved in the new production of robot wars.#lovetodoit. Okay guys. I've heard the news but as yet have had no contact with anyone involved in the new production of robot wars.#lovetodoit Craig Charles (@CCfunkandsoul) January 13, 2016 Fans were quick to throw their support behind Charles' return to the reboot. One said the show would not be the same without the former Red Dwarf actor, while another said producers should be pleading with him to return. @CCfunkandsoul the producers must me mad, the Beeb should be knocking down your doors, for you to come back, to Robot Wars. Chris Brindle (@Brindmeister) January 13, 2016 @CCfunkandsoul get them rang up. We're not watching if you don't do it Hannah Page (@misshannahpage) January 13, 2016 @CCfunkandsoul we need our master of mayhem back #RobotWars Max Spooner (@MaxSpooner) January 13, 2016 @CCfunkandsoul literally they cannot bring robot wars back without you and Jonathan pierce! Sam Jason Grange (@SamJasonGrange) January 13, 2016 It is currently unknown who will present the new series, or which bots will return. Chris Brodgen of producers Tinopolis said the reboot promises to be quite the competition, [featuring] new and improved robots, with extraordinary innovation and power in these updated machines. Charles recently stepped down from his role as Lloyd Mullaney on Coronation Street after 10 years as the Street Cars cabbie. Explaining his decision to quit the cobbles, he said: Its really quite sad, actually, but my brother died last year. He was 52 Im 51. When he died I thought, Theres things that Ive got to do. Ive got to do some things before its my time. Theres so many things that, Coronation Street is such a big part of your life, you dont get to do. Best TV Moments 2015 1 /26 Best TV Moments 2015 Katie Price won Celebrity Big Brother Katie Price proved shes still the queen of reality TV after beating Perez Hilton, Katie Hopkins, and Michelle Visage to become the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 15 We found out who killed Lucy in EastEnders EastEnders biggest storyline of the year was a mystery that had the soap nations viewers hooked who killed Lucy Beale? The answer: young Bobby Beale. Not so cherubic after all, eh? Poldark sauced up the BBC Aidan Turner became an instant hit across the nation as a new, slightly spiced-up adaptation of Winston Grahams Poldark novels commanded a huge audience. To look at this picture, we have no idea why Clarkson left Top Gear (and joined Amazon) If one word dominated the first half of 2015, it was fracas. Jeremy Clarkson assaulted a Top Gear producer and was kicked off the show. Hes returning in 2016 with Richard Hammond and James May for a new motoring show on Amazon Prime Amazon James Corden took over The Late Late Show Proving all the haters wrong, James Corden has soared on US TV as the host of the Late Late Show. His Carpool Karaoke segment has become a huge hit, and played a significant role in Justin Biebers image overhaul Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Chris Pratt nailed the TOWIE accent Chris Pratt built on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy with the years biggest film Jurassic World (well, until Star Wars came out). He debuted his hilariously accurate TOWIE accent when he appeared on the Graham Norton show Mad Men came to an end One of the most celebrated US TV dramas of all time came to a close, as Mad Men bowed out. The finale was well-received by the majority of critics Jules O'Dwyer and Matisse won Britain's Got Talent Jules ODwyer and her dog Matisse were an instant hit with the public for their hilarious and sweet acting and dance routines, going on to win Britains Got Talent though their fame was mired slightly by the stunt dog controversy that saw the show's producers get a slapped wrist from Ofsted The Night's King shook up Game of Throne Game of Thrones continued to be a juggernaut with some of its most shocking moments yet. The stakes were well and truly raised in an episode which saw the Nights Watch and the Wildlings attacked by the Army of the Dead and the big bad Nights King Olly Murs and Caroline Flack took over The X Factor It was all change on The X Factor this year for better and worse. Host Dermot OLeary stepped down, with Olly Murs and Caroline Flack taking over presenting duties Anthony Harvey/Getty Images Coronation Street went live Corrie made the brave move of doing a live episode, focusing on the Platts ongoing feud with Callum Logan. It all went smoothly, and even rival soap EastEnders wished the cast good luck Vicki Michelle was glassed on CBB: Bit on the Side The drama on the summer of Celebrity Big Brother wasnt just contained to the house Bit On The Side was forced to dramatically cut the live feed after a huge row in the guest panel. A thrown glass resulted in Vicki Michelle being injured in the crossfire and taken to hospital Nadiya won the Bake Off 2015 was the year that the Great British Bake Off proved that it was far, far more than just a baking competition. The journey of winner Nadiya Hussain captured the nation and her win even made Mary Berry cry BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon Terry Wogan missed Children in Need for the first time Due to illness, Terry Wogan was unable to host Children in Need for the first time ever. Luckily Dermot OLeary, no longer on X Factor duties, was on hand to step in at the last minute Piers Morgan joined Good Morning Britain The man you love (and love to hate), loves that you love (and love to hate) him. Piers Morgan joined Good Morning Britain as a permanent fixture, and has already caused controversy a-plenty with his flirty manner and tough interviews style Clara Oswald left Doctor Who Doctor Whos best series in years saw a dramatic end for companion Clara Oswald, who paid the price when she got caught up in the schemes of immortal girl Ashildr. Actress Jenna Coleman is now gearing up to play a young Queen Victoria in ITVs new big drama series Vicky Pattison was crowned Queen of the Jungle on I'm A Celebrity Howay! Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison did a fantastic job of rewriting her bolshy image as she emerged a funny, kind, and loveable reality TV star in the Im A Celeb jungle Nigel Wright/ITV/REX Louisa Johnson won The X Factor Louisa Johnson might have won the X Factor but she didnt quite steal the nations hearts, as her debut single only reached #9 in the charts Peep Show ended - for ever Channel 4s cult sitcom went out with a belter of a final series. Of course Mark and Jez didnt get a true happy ending theyre stuck together always, as the camera cut away from the shows trademark point-of-view shots and saw the pair slumped on the sofas in their Croydon flat. Goodbye, El Dude Brothers Downton Abbey closed its doors The end of an era Downton Abbey finally came to a close with one last Christmas special which (SPOILER ALERT) saw happy endings all round. Phew! Follow @StandardShowbiz for more entertainment news. S imon Cowell today heaped praise on Great Ormond Street Hospital as he became the latest high-profile backer of the Standards Give to GOSH appeal. The media mogul described the hospitals standard of care as world class and announced he is donating a prize to the campaigns latest charity auction, which launched today. The prize, which readers can bid for online, comprises two tickets to the Britains Got Talent semi-final in May, including the chance to meet Cowell himself, plus four tickets to a date on the X Factor tour. Encouraging readers to get bidding, Cowell said: I am delighted to donate this prize to the Evening Standards Give to GOSH auction Whoever wins will be making a real difference to sick children and their families. Evening Standard and GOSH shake the bucket campaign "The care on offer at GOSH is nothing short of world class and charitable donations are essential in allowing the hospital to maintain that incredibly high standard. His endorsement came as Barbara Gelb, CEO of childrens palliative care charity Together for Short Lives, of which Cowell is a patron, warned of an impending crisis in the sector. Ms Gelb said: A recent report, based on a study by the University of York, showed a 30 per cent increase in the number of children and young people with life-shortening conditions in Scotland over a 10-year period. This is a dramatic increase, and if it has also occurred across the UK, the current estimate of 49,000 children with life-shortening conditions could be a substantial underestimate. Ms Gelb suggested the increase was largely a consequence of medical advances but that a crisis in public funding means families continue to lose daily battles for the care they require. She added: This sorry state of affairs means that charities depend hugely on fundraising and public donations. Thats why this appeal and its support for GOSHs Louis Dundas Centre, which does so much to further research into childrens palliative care, is so vital and timely. As well as helping fund the centre, money from the auction will go towards a specialist unit for children awaiting heart transplants, research into new treatments for children with rare diseases, and the hospitals patient and family support programme. Other lots include two nights at the five-star Conrad Algarve in Portugal and a lavish dinner for six including a Dom Perignon champagne reception at the Ivys sister restaurant 34. #GivetoGOSH R ising star Vanessa Kirby is set for busy year that will include making her Broadway debut, as well as film and television roles. However, she has made a surprising revelation she once feared she was not beautiful enough to make it as an actress and felt scruffy compared to the stars she saw on screen. Kirby, 27, has overcome those early doubts to win roles including Princess Margaret in the Peter Morgan-scripted Netflix series The Crown, alongside Claire Foy as a young Queen Elizabeth and Matt Smith as Prince Philip. She will appear as F Scott Fitzgeralds wife Zelda with Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Guy Pearce in Michael Grandages film Genius, as well as playing a cyborg anti-heroine in dystopian thriller Kill Command. Kirby, who grew up in Wimbledon and is the daughter of a surgeon and a founder of Country Living magazine, will be in a production of Uncle Vanya at the Almeida Theatre next month with her friend Jessica Brown Findlay. Shortly after that, she will head to Broadway where she and Gillian Anderson will reprise their roles in the Young Vics acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Despite her success, Kirby said she once thought she would not make it because of her looks. She told ES magazine: When I first started doing screen work I thought, Im not beautiful enough for this profession all the actresses I watch on screen are gorgeous and beautiful goddesses, but Im just a scrawny, scruffy girl from south-west London. But you have to really empower yourself what your insides are doing, your outside reflects and what you give to yourself you can give to others. Kirby, who studied English literature at Exeter University, said she used meditation and yoga to keep grounded, but mostly had stopped caring so much. She said: Its the same with my friends, like Jess [Brown Findlay], Holly Grainger and Lily James they dont give a shit. Read the full interview in this week's ES Magazine. T he entire world seems to have an opinion about Netflixs latest true crime series Making a Murderer. Everyone from the original prosecution team, to former jurors and members of the public are wading in with their views. Now a member of Steven Avery and Brendan Dasseys family is having his say on the convictions in the form of a rap. Brad Dassey, who is the half-brother of Brendan, has released a brand new track suitably called They Didnt Do It. Loading.... Expressing how upset he is with the justice system through the power of song, Dassey raps lyrics including: Injustice slammed in the face of two innocent people/They didnt do it/Come to your senses, everything is just foolish/Thing clearly show that this is a joke/Cops only there just to prod and poke. Netflix: Eight exclusive shows you need to watch 1 /10 Netflix: Eight exclusive shows you need to watch Bloodline Ben Mendelsohn and Kyle Chandler star in this family-based thriller House of Cards Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright excel in this dark political drama NETFLIX Lilyhammer The Sopranos star (and E Street Band member) Steven Van Zandt breaks out in his own gangster drama Grace and Frankie Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star in this sitcom from the creators of Friends Daredevil Marvel are bringing their gritter superheroes to Netflix, starting with Daredevil Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper is impossibly upbeat in the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, from Tina Fey Narcos Wagner Moura stars as Pablo Escobar in this addictive drug thriller Better Call Saul The prequel / spin-off to Breaking Bad is exclusive to Netflix in the UK It continues: Kid's just innocent / was only 16, tryna set him free / He's not guilty, there's no way in hell / Corruption made him fall, lose it all. The song has now been released on the YouTube and SoundCloud accounts of the self-proclaimed indie Christian rapper. The White House has recently responded to a public petition which called for Avery and Dassey to be pardoned after it amassed hundreds of thousands of signatures. The statement read: Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President. In addition, the Presidents pardon power extends to convictions adjudicated in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and military court-martial proceedings. However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offence. How do you teach student journalists about free speech? Well, in some schools, students learn about their rights or lack of rights to free speech when they find themselves censored. In Virginia, pictures of a pregnant teenager became a censorship battle recently when the yearbook staff sought to feature the real lives of some of its students. One spread, titled The next generation, featured students posing with their children. The schools interim principal took issue with Instagram photos chronicling a students pregnancy with photos of her growing belly and some quotes about the realities of teen pregnancy. Unlike some of the reality shows seen by our children today, it doesnt sound like the feature sugarcoated pregnancy, with quotes such as Having a baby is hard. Wait and focus on your education. From the stories that I read on the piece, it sounded responsible and well-thought out. I remember the woes of student journalism. As an editor for the high school newspaper, I remember regular battles with the principal over a student staff members cartoons which only served to make the cartoon more popular among the students, to my chagrin. In another instance, a fellow student and I were sent back to the editing room after writing an editorial about a school board decision that affected a student who had been home-schooled during her high school career. The principal told us he didnt really disagree with our points disagreeing with a school board decision that did not allow the student to graduate with her class. He just felt we should remove references to the school board and its decision. I also remember being told during that conversation that I should be grateful for the opportunities that Id been afforded and I should consider that when re-writing that editorial. Most people dont realize that high school and college newspapers are censored. However, since 1988, when the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision in a case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, its pretty much been a fact of life. You could find yourself censored if administrators or school staff object to an article. In the Hazelwood case, public high school administrators at a St. Louis, Missouri, school had censored stories concerning teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children from a school-sponsored student newspaper. On Monday, Sen. Al Davis, of Hyannis, introduced a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would allow college journalists to exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media such as student newspapers, regardless of whether the publication is supported financially by the school. I emailed Sen. Davis, who said he introduced the bill because he is a strong believer in the Constitution of United States and the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and the press, he said. College students at public institutions need a free and independent press to address issues which are relevant to students, and a press in which they can place full confidence, he said. Students at that age are eligible to vote, eligible to serve in our military, and should have the same protections as do the general population. We need to protect the voice of the popular and the unpopular at colleges, where a great deal of intellectual discussion takes place among students, faculty, and the like. Davis says the bill was inspired by similar legislation passed in other states to prevent school administrators from blocking unflattering stories. The bill joins a nationwide movement, called the New Voices USA Movement, inspired by a North Dakota bill to offer stronger protections to high school and college students. In North Dakota, a measure took effect in August that would offer stronger protections to high school and college students. According to articles on the bill, North Dakota school administrators can only exercise prior restraint of school-sponsored media if it is libelous or slanderous; constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy; violates federal or state law; or incites students to commit a crime, violates a school policy or disrupts school operations. Id argue that a couple of those violating a school policy or disrupting school operations can be subjective depending on the administrator. Case-in-point, in November, University of Missouri mass media professor Melissa Click a school known for journalism and a teacher that you would think would uphold the rights of student journalists sought to have a student removed from covering the protests of Concerned Student 1950. The teachers call for some muscle to remove the student made headlines across the U.S. If anything, Clicks case is a perfect demonstration of how even the most well-intentioned administrators and school personnel can also get wrapped up in emotion when it comes to censorship issues. Davis bill doesnt apply to high school journalists and I was disappointed to see it did not. I asked him why: I did not include high school journalist and journalism students in the bill because I am targeting students at our nations colleges and universities who are more mature, more intellectually curious, and closer to adulthood. There is a significant difference between a high school sophomore (who may not be old enough to drive), and a college senior who may be married, have children, be serving our nation in the national guard, and carries a full-time job. This bill recognizes those differences. I wont address the statements of maturity among our high school students, but I would say that my own experiences and the experiences of other student journalists cited across the United States leads me to believe that high school journalists may need the protection of such a bill even more so than the college students. Perhaps I was fortunate as a high school and college journalism student, but as an editor, I had a steady awareness of student censorship issues and cases and my responsibility to represent other student journalists. That responsibility was never far from our minds when we were addressing an issue that administrators, faculty or even parents may take issue with. We were always careful, with the help of our journalism instructors, to approach such issues with balance. However, at least headway has been made. The New Voices USA is a network of state-by-state campaigns to pass anti-censorship legislation that will grant extra protections to student journalists. The Student Press Law Center tracks state-by-state laws and pending campaigns through the movement. According to the New Voices tracker, only three states have protections for both high school and college students. Six states have protections for only high school students. Twenty states, including Nebraska, have campaigns underway for protections of college or high school journalists. Such campaigns teach our students that they do have a role in our society, to be thoughtful, to be continually learning and to be advocates for their causes in respectable ways. For more information about student censorship, visit the website of the SPLC, http://www.splc.org. The SPLC advocates for student First Amendment rights and a variety of information, including talking points on the New Voices Movement, is available. While you may have heard about the research and development (R&D) tax incentive the Australian Governments tax incentive to encourage innovation you may be unsure how to apply for the incentive, or... | By Broede Carmody While many would consider running a $3 million company with offices across Australia and in New York a full-time gig, one entrepreneur has decided to get a new business off the ground while juggling both roles at the same time. Taryn Williams founded her talent agency WINK Models back in 2007 after a stint in the modelling industry. Since then, WINK has launched offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and New York and flourished into a multi-million dollar company. However, as Williams previously told SmartCompany, the status quo is never good enough. While many business owners were attempting to wind down during the holiday season and plan for the new year, Williams instead launched a new company. Her new business is called theright.fit and its an online platform for brands wanting to find talent quickly. In turn, the startup allows actors, make-up artists and stylists to build an online profile and chase potential business opportunities. Williams says since launching her second business, a lot of people have questioned how she plans to juggle two businesses that, while similar, are also very different. A lot of people are asking why would you risk cannibalising your own company, Williams says. But the reason WINK started was because I was in a place where I could see the industry could be done better. I could see the modelling industry could be improved through the use of technology, and so many businesses were going down this pathway of connecting people directly the Airbnb, Uber and Freelancer models. Williams says there are always better ways to do things, which is why she is going out on a limb and effectively working two full-time jobs to get her second business off the ground. Normally when you work in a startup youre engaged in that 100% and working crazy round the clock hours with all the things that come with startup life, like no funds, she says. But its a completely different mindset when youve had a business for nine years and have established procedures. So its been a really interesting process of working in one company a particular way and then working in a new company. While its all consuming, its really, really exciting to be in those early days of a business. As for how she manages to work across both businesses simultaneously, Williams says its all about delegating. The business owner also shares her calendar with both teams and gets her employees to use apps such as Slack and Trello so everyone knows how particular projects are tracking. Ive been really fortunate at WINK in that weve got a really fantastic team and theres clear processes in place, Williams says. They know their roles inside out and I felt confident enough to let them work on projects. I couldnt have done it without the support of my team. I also try to make sure when Im working in one mindset, I try to schedule all my meetings [for one business] back-to-back. Its about working between two different mindsets and being super diligent with my scheduling I dont let my meetings run over. | By Denham Sadler New South Wales minister for innovation Victor Dominello has called for maturity and an end to schoolyard games in the national innovation debate following a war of words on Twitter with his Victorian counterpart. The debate began with a series of tweets from Victorian minister for innovation and trade Philip Dalidakis to mark Dominellos visit to Melbourne, where he was touring a series of co-working spaces. Special gday to the little v @VictorDominello frm the Big V as he visits #VicTheStartUpState 2 learn #innovation #BestOfEverything #springst Philip Dalidakis MP (@philipdalidakis) January 12, 2016 We dont mind NSW copying [the Victorian governments] startup strategy. Just dont expect us to slow down for you to catch up, Dalidakis tweeted. Moving beyond the traditional rivalry But speaking to StartupSmart, Dominello says the innovation and startup sector needs to move beyond traditional city rivalries. I think maturity needs to take control here, Dominello says. Competition is so 20th century in the innovation space particularly collaboration is key. If [Dalidakis] wants to play those schoolyard games across the border thats fine, but first and foremost were Australian. Where we can collaborate between states is a win-win. That type of leadership is what we need in the innovation space. Making no apologies But Dalidakis is making no apologies for the tweets, telling StartupSmart that hes just doing his job. As the Victorian minister for innovation I proudly and unashamedly work night and day so that our startup ecosystem receives the support and nurturing it needs to prosper, Dalidakis says. I make no apologies for our relentless focus on being the most innovative state in Australia as we aim to be the number one tech and startup destination across the Asia-Pacific region. Dominello says its possible for both states to work together to achieve the best individual and national outcomes. Ill always fight for NSW, but fighting doesnt necessarily mean you have to defeat your opponent, Dominello says. Fighting for NSW means getting the best outcome and sometimes the best outcome means to collaborate and we see that constantly in the innovation space. This discussion requires a level of maturity that extends way beyond state boundaries. Sharing innovation ideas across the border Last year saw the Victorian government make a series of coups in the startup space, mainly focused on enticing large global players to establish regional headquarters in the city. These included GoPro, Zendesk and Slack, who each received government funding to open an office in the city and create well over 300 tech jobs. The Victorian government also launched its $60 million innovation fund as an independent representative body in November last year. Dominello says he isnt concerned these companies opted to settle in Melbourne and that its important for states to share ideas. Im more than happy for Victoria to do their very best for Victorians, and New South Wales will do the very best for New South Welshmen and women, but ultimately were all Australian, he says. Competition is great and healthy but collaboration is more important. If Victoria succeeds thats great, if we can pick up ideas from them thats great and if they can pick up ideas from us thats great too. One of the most endearing features of innovation is the competitive tension between states, but in the mature era that were in weve got to look at how we can use collaboration to get win-win situations rather than win-lose situations. Dalidakis says he would welcome a meeting with his cross-border counterpart. We have some of the best talent in the world right here in Victoria, he says. I can understand why the NSW Minister would want to conduct a fact-finding mission but if he is truly genuine about collaboration, he can start by picking up the phone and calling ahead of time. In the series of tweets, Dalidakis also cheekily referenced the poaching of Australias largest startup conference SydStart, which will be renamed to StartCon and held in Melbourne this year, even offering Dominello a free ticket to the event. Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. | By Denham Sadler Australian startup giant Freelancer says it will fight a $20,000 fine handed down by Australias privacy regulatory for an alleged reckless indifference to privacy rights. The ruling, made by acting Australia Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim, says Freelancer interfered with the complainants privacy by not making him aware of the purposes for the company collecting his IP address information and for disclosing personal information not authorised under the Australian Privacy Act. The ruling relates to the companys user agreement allegedly not fully explaining the purpose behind collecting users IP addresses at the time and Pilgrim determining that Freelancer revealed personal information about the complainant through blog comments and Wikipedia edits. As well as the $20,000 fine for financial loss and injury to emotional well-being, the startup will also have to provide a written apology to the man within six weeks and re-train its staff in new policies and procedures regarding privacy. Freelancer to appeal But deputy chief financial officer Christopher Koch says Freelancer will be appealing the decision. Freelancer disagrees with the outcome of this determination and in particular some of the facts that have been accepted as part of it, Koch tells StartupSmart. We are in the process of exercising our rights to appeal. As this matter is currently before the courts it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time. The complaint was first lodged with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in July 2013 by a freelancer living in Europe who registered on the platform in 2009. Issues arose when the complainant made other anonymous, dummy accounts and was suspended multiple times by Freelancer. The user then made a series of blog posts, Facebook comments and edits to the Freelancer Wikipedia page detailing his experiences. The ruling says the blog post was then picked up by a third-party site, on which a Freelancer staff member commented: Yes pseudonym aka full name pseudonym aka full name pseudonym aka first name and initial of real surname, we are well aware of your grievances and your racist comments on your [name of blog]. You are well aware of the reasons your particular account was closed. Freelancer also made edits to its Wikipedia page and allegedly disclosed personal information of the complainant in the revised history of the page explaining the changes. The bulk of the edits are coming from one individual who is using proxies to do the edits and heavily promoting vandalism of the page as a way to get back at the company on his blog (see post of Aug 2 on [name of blog site]). He is also the author of some of the links added or the primary poster (under a variety of pseudonyms including [full name/pseudonym/pseudonym. The ruling Although Pilgrim ruled that Freelancers collection of its users IP addresses to combat fraud as appropriate and relevant, he determined the company hadnt made its users aware of the purposes behind this in its terms and conditions at the time. Freelancer had an obligation to take reasonable steps to make users of its website aware that other metadata such as IP addresses may be collected for risk management purposes, Pilgrim says in the ruling. Freelancer did not take reasonable steps to ensure that the complainant was aware of the purpose of collection of his IP address information. He also ruled that Freelancer improperly disclosed the complainants personal information in the Wikipedia revision history and through the comments on the third-party blogging site. The complainant originally sought damages of $70,000 for financial loss and injury to emotional well-being, but Pilgrim ruled there to be no basis for the first claim. Despite saying the companys actions could be described as malicious, oppressive and/or high-handed, Pilgrim acknowledged that Freelancers user agreement and privacy policy has been extensively revised since the complaint was lodged. He ultimately ruled the fine should be $15,000 for general damages and $5000 for aggravated damages. I am of the view that Freelancers improper conduct contributed to the decline in the complainants emotional wellbeing even if there may have been other contributory causes, Pilgrim says in the ruling. Freelancers conduct in improperly disclosing the complainants personal information was in my view aggravated by its apparent lack of disregard [sic] for the complainants privacy and its own privacy obligations. Freelancer has in my view demonstrated a reckless indifference to the privacy rights of the complainant. While Freelancer prepares to appeal the decision, Koch says he isnt concerned about its possible ramifications on the companys reputation. We have nearly 20 million users on our platform and the number of issues we have like this is extremely small, he says. Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 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To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. Wednesday, 13 January 2016 16:37:19 (GMT+3) | Istanbul Pakistan s National Tariff Commission has announced the imposition of provisional antidumping (AD) duty on cold rolled coil ( CRC ) imports from Ukraine and China. The commission has decided that the domestic industry suffered material injury on account of the increase in the volume of dumped imports, price undercutting, price depression, price suppression, declines in market share, profits, sales, capacity utilization and returns on investment, and the negative effect on cash flow, inventories and ability to raise capital. The provisional antidumping duty rates range between 8.31 percent and 19.04 percent. The antidumping duty investigation launched in July 2015 covered the period between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The products subject to provisional duty currently fall within the Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7209.1690, 7209.1790, 7209.1890, 7209.1610, 7209.1710, 7209.1810, 7209.2690, 7209.2790, 7209.2890, 7209.2610, 7209.2710 and 7209.2810. Wednesday, 13 January 2016 16:25:38 (GMT+3) | Istanbul According to market sources, a Spanish steel producer has given offers to Greece for HEA and HEB profiles at 395-415/mt ($427-448/mt) CFR, while IPE profile offers of the same producer to Greece are currently at 395-415/mt ($427-448/mt) CFR. The lower end of the price ranges in question are for small sizes, while prices on the upper end of the price ranges are for bigger sizes.1 = $1.08 SEATTLE Within a few weeks, Amazon.com will begin competing directly with longtime partners United Parcel Service, FedEx and DHL. But not in the United States. At least, not yet. Sometime in the first quarter, Amazon is expected to acquire the 75 percent of the French package-delivery company Colis Prive that it doesnt already own. Though the French company is small relative to the multinational giants that move Amazon parcels around the globe, the acquisition will be the biggest step yet that the online retail giant has taken to move into the business of delivering packages for others, as well as itself. Amazon has said little about its intentions. In 2014, it bought a 25 percent stake in Colis Prive. A spokesperson told the French newspaper Le Figaro last year that the deal to acquire the rest of the company would close early this year. And the unidentified spokesperson said Colis Prive will continue offering package delivery for all customers, not just Amazon. This purchase doesnt call into question our work with all the other logistics providers (UPS, La Poste, DHL, FedEx), the spokesperson told the French-language paper. And its out of the question for Colis Prive to only deliver for Amazon. The company will continue developing its commercial portfolio. Amazons top spokesman, Craig Berman, declined to comment on Colis Prive or the companys plans for the shipping business. But some analysts believe that Amazon is putting together the pieces across the globe to launch a package-delivery service that will one day compete with UPS, FedEx and others. In addition to the Colis Prive deal, Amazon acquired the right to purchase 4.2 percent of Yodel, a United Kingdom parcel-delivery company, in 2014. Last month, Amazon announced adding thousands of trucks to its U.S. fleet to handle the growing load of packages it is shipping. The Seattle Times also reported last month that Amazon is negotiating to lease 20 Boeing 767 cargo jets. Those jets would represent a significant expansion of an Amazon cargo trial in Wilmington, Ohio, operated by Air Transport Services Group on Amazons behalf. Amazon wants to build out its own U.S. cargo operations to avoid delays from carriers such as UPS and FedEx, which have, at times, struggled to keep up with the rapid growth of e-commerce. This past holiday season, FedEx failed to deliver some Christmas packages on time, blaming inclement weather and a surge in last-minute holiday shopping. Two years earlier, it was UPS that struggled with the crush of holiday shipping. But Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian believes Amazon may be developing a delivery service that meets more than its own shipping needs. He expects Amazon to ultimately offer any excess cargo capacity it has to other companies looking to transport goods. They have the opportunity to disrupt this market and generate a lot of revenue, Sebastian said. Thats because the global fulfillment market, which includes shipping and warehousing goods, represents a $400 billion to $450 billion business, Sebastian said. To some, it might seem something of a head-scratcher why Amazon would offer package delivery to other companies, including its retail rivals. After all, why would it want to offer competitors any of the shipping and delivery logistics advantages it has painstakingly developed for itself over the years? But Sebastian points to the development of Amazon Web Services, or AWS, as an analogy. The business, which rents computing power and storage for corporate customers, started as the computing infrastructure that powered the companys retail website, Amazon.com. But as Amazons expertise in developing the building blocks for on-demand computing grew along with its online computing capacity, it began to offer those services to others. There is nothing like having to manage a process, and then rolling it out to others, Sebastian said. Amazon has welcomed all comers to AWS, including rivals such as Nordstrom, which competes with Amazon in retail apparel and shoes, and Netflix, which battles with Amazon Prime Instant Video in on-demand subscription programming. In the process, it has turned an expense the cost of running its computing operations into a profit center. In the third quarter, AWS posted a 25 percent profit margin, an eye-popping number for a company whose other segments generally generate the narrowest of profits or the more-than-occasional losses. Amazon plows those profits back into its other businesses, keeping prices low on the retail site and investing in new markets as well. Shipping, of course, is a huge expense for Amazon. In the third quarter, Amazon spent $3.2 billion on fulfillment, the costs related to delivering packages to customers. Its a huge number that increases every year as Amazon grows and invests more and more into speeding up delivery to better compete against brick-and-mortar rivals, which offer customers something Amazon cant: instant gratification of owning an item the second its purchased. But what if Amazon could turn that expense into a profit center? The shipping business is immensely complex. To succeed, Amazon would have to compete with companies that have long been its closest partners. There is a lot for them to prove with the market opportunity, Sebastian said. Amazon would likely use the planes it is negotiating to lease, its growing truck fleet, and the urban delivery infrastructure it has created across the country to move packages for customers. And it would likely open up the analytics and optimization algorithms it has developed to improve efficiency for delivery customers, Sebastian said. It might even make space available in its 123 warehouses around the world to companies that want the ability to warehouse items close to where the items ultimately would be shipped. For their part, both UPS and FedEx have said little about the possibility of having one of their largest, if not the largest, customers as a competitor. UPS spokesman Steve Gaut declined to comment, except to call Amazon a valued customer. In its annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2014, UPS noted the peril of having one of its largest customers develop their own shipping and distribution capabilities, saying such a development, among others, could materially impact the growth in our business and the ability to meet our current and long-term financial forecasts. In its quarterly earnings call with analysts last month, Frederick W. Smith, FedEx chairman, president and chief executive, noted in response to a question about the potential competitive threat from Amazon that FedEx has a vast logistics network that would be hard to replicate. FedEx is a highly integrated global transportation network, in fact, one of only two operating at a significant scale in the United States today, and only one of three major delivery networks in the U.S. the other two being UPS and the United States Postal Service, Smith said. Thats not likely to change in the foreseeable future, as these networks are very capital-intensive and information-intensive. With the pending acquisition of Colis Prive, though, Amazon seems ready to give it a shot. SAN FRANCISCO Its Saturday night in San Franciscos Mission District. Two women stand outside a dive bar in the winter chill, looking at their phones. Two Toyota Priuses pull up to the sidewalk. Yo, you Kelly? a driver yells to the taller of the women. No, she says, glancing up from her phone. Im Kelly! the other woman calls out. Yo Kelly, Im your Uber! The taller woman walks to the door of the other Prius. Are you my Lyft? You Rachel? the driver says. Yes! The women climb into their respective rides. The Priuses pull away. A year ago, Uber dominated San Francisco. As in many cities, Uber had become a verb for ride-hailing apps. But today, youre as likely to spot a Lyft as an Uber in this city. Those who thought on-demand transportation was a winner-take-all market that Uber would crush competitors in ride-hailing the way Facebook crushed competitors in social media are being forced to change their tune. It turns out that the winner-take-all phenomenon that drives so much of the Internet a theory also known as network effects may not be as relevant to the transportation industry. Last month, struggling ride-hailing company called Sidecar pulled out of the ride-hailing business. But Lyfts business continues to improve, and it remains an investment magnet. Earlier this month, the company announced a new $1 billion funding round, led by General Motors, which invested $500 million. Since shedding its clownmobile front-grille mustache in favor of a more discreet windshield sticker a year ago, Lyft, ride-hailings second-largest company, has captured 40 percent market share in San Francisco, and in newer markets, such as Austin, Texas, it nearly matches Uber with 45 percent market share. Lyft declined to reveal its market share in other markets. From January 2014 to January 2015, the company grew fivefold in rides and revenue. Its on track for $1 billion in gross revenue by October this year. Which isnt to say Lyft is about to eclipse Uber. Lyft is valued at $5.5 billion. Ubers most recent valuation is $62.5 billion. Lyft has 315,000 drivers. Uber has more than 400,000 in the U.S. alone. Uber is available in 68 countries. Lyft operates only in the U.S.; its international expansion into Asia through partnerships isnt due to begin until next year. Despite the gulf in resources between the industrys number one and two, Lyft continues to grow. People thought that this was a winner-takes-all market, and I think everyones realized thats not the case, said Lyfts co-founder and president, John Zimmer. Pundits got it wrong, he believes, because winner takes all is such a common scenario in tech. In social media, Facebook came out on top because of the network effect: The more of your friends are on it, the better it gets. That naturally lends itself to one player. But in a transportation business, specifically our business, there are very strong network effects, but only to a point, Zimmer said. Initially, it was thought that whichever service had more drivers would also have more passengers; more drivers meant shorter wait times, more passengers meant more fares. A monopoly would emerge. But once you hit three minute pickup times, theres no benefit to having more people on the network, Zimmer said. In fact, according to economist W. Brian Arthur, a prime theoretician behind network effects, if all services are equal, then network effects may not be so advantageous. For example, Uber might have a strong network advantage in an area, but if Lyft comes in and offers a much better product, it can dislodge a company, network effects and all, Arthur said. Network effects are a dynamic idea. Theyre not frozen in time. They do exist, but it doesnt mean someone cant come along and just leapfrog that. Zimmer likes to compare the dynamic between Uber and Lyft to AT&T and Verizon. When both cell networks hit three bars of coverage, people start to see them as equivalent, and base their spending decisions on other factors, such as brand values and customer experience. Thats what Lyft has spent the last year doing: building the ride-hailing equivalent of cell towers to get pickup times down to three minutes or less. With that out of the way, its out to capture market share, by attracting passengers who want an alternative to Uber and tapping into the ocean of people who have never used a ride-hailing service. For its international expansion, Lyft has partnered with incumbents in markets such as China, India and Southeast Asia, so when U.S. Lyft customers open the app while overseas, they can hail a ride from local operators such as Didi Kuaidi (China) and Ola (India), and vice versa. The company will tackle each geography differently. But Lyfts domestic strategy interests big investors the most, with activist billionaire Carl Icahn investing $100 million in the San Francisco company, telling the New York Times in May: Theres room for two in this area. Scott Weiss, a Lyft board member and partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, echoed a similar sentiment, comparing the on-demand transportation market to airlines, with the potential for it to be even bigger. There are probably 10 to 12 airlines that have multibillion-dollar valuations, and every country has one or two flagship carriers, Weiss said. We always bet the market is humongous. However big we think the on-demand and autonomous transportation industry will be, investors say think bigger. The U.S. logistics and transportation industry totaled $1.33 trillion, or 8.5 percent of annual gross domestic product, in 2012, and it has only grown with the economy, according to the Department of Commerce. Although its unclear how much market share a company would need to be financially successful Uber is, after all, only 5 years old; Lyft is 3 theres a big chunk of the transportation pie up for grabs. Which is why the on-demand companies are knuckling down now. Uber has spent $1 billion in China and India to expand its business, and was the first on-demand transportation service in hundreds of U.S. cities. Leaked financial documents show Lyft spent $96.1 million on marketing in the first half of 2015, more than twice its net revenue in the same period. Under the guidance of marketing chief Kira Wampler, the company underwent a brand redesign in early 2015, scrubbing clean traces of the fluffy mustache in favor of a sleeker, more sophisticated look. It covered San Francisco with billboards, bus shelter ads and posters plastered down the sides of buildings. The Lyft app recently underwent a complete redesign to offer users more transparency and predictability in its ride pricing. And its message to potential customers? We treat you better. Although passengers anecdotally have had both great and nightmarish experiences with Lyft and Uber drivers, Lyft believes that because its platforms enable customers to tip drivers (Ubers app doesnt have such a feature), drivers are, in theory, incentivized to offer a better service. When Lyft launched, it also encouraged passengers to ride in the front and to greet drivers with a fist bump. And though it no longer stipulates how passengers should ride, Wampler believes the culture fostered in the days of the fist bump has stuck around, resulting in a more social and fun experience. According to Weiss, Lyft has cornered the millennial market, a kind of Southwest Airlines (fun, friendly and social) to Ubers Virgin America (more serious and luxurious). Although Uber first positioned itself with its black town cars as a service for professionals and UberX as a service for everyone, Lyft has capitalized on a segment of the market that isnt satisfied with the Uber experience, said Hugh Tallents, partner at brand strategy firm CG42. Uber has in many ways created the category, and with that comes some serious frustrations that Lyft is looking to solve, Tallents said. Lyft, for example, has a cap on its surge pricing, whereas Uber fares have been known to increase dramatically during busy periods, a frustration for many passengers. Lyft has also created the perception of better driver advocacy, with the ability for riders to tip, and by encouraging passengers to interact with the driver, Tallents said. It makes it a much more human interaction, and I think people have been craving that, he said. If Lyft can capture 75 percent of the millennial crowd, it will be in a good position for the long term, even if Uber continues to dwarf it, Weiss said. This is a market thats going to float at these two ships, he said of Uber and Lyft. But where Uber stands to lose is the millennial market. Lyft is too consistent. They service that market too well. The Service Employees International Union plans to seek a wage increase as the labor union prepares for its first contract negotiations with St. Louis University Hospitals new owner, SSM Health. A handful of SEIU members petitioned outside St. Louis University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon calling for the minimum wage to be at least $15 per hour and 5 percent annual wage increases over the duration of the expected three-year contract. SEIU represents about 650 nonclinical workers in roles such as food service and housekeeping, Lenny Jones, director of the Kansas and Missouri SEIU health care division, told the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday. The hospitals nurses are represented by another union, National Nurses United. Jones said the wage increases are the unions top priorities as they head into the first day of negotiations on Wednesday. Officials with Creve Coeur-based SSM confirmed negotiations start Wednesday. At SSM Health, we value our employees and know they are vital to our mission of providing high quality health care to the communities we serve. We are committed to negotiating in good faith with SEIU, according to a statement provided by hospital spokesman, Jason Merrill. The current contract is set to expire at the end of March. That contract had been negotiated between SEIU and the previous hospital owner, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. The hospital was acquired by SSM Health last year. Caprice Nevils, a longtime employee who is also on the bargaining committee, said the desired increases are fair. We get raises every year but I feel that the $15 an hour would be better. I think that move would help everybody out. I think its fair that we get it because were working hard. About one-third of the 650 represented, or about 216 employees, are making less than the $15 wage being proposed, Jones said. FORREST CITY, Ark. Waffle House says it has fired two employees at one of its Arkansas restaurants after video emerged showing a worker dipping her hair into a pot of water in the restaurant's kitchen. Antonio Robinson tells Memphis, Tenn., television station WREG that his friend found hair in his food when they dined last week at a Waffle House in Forrest City, about 90 miles east of Little Rock. Robinson says he watched one employee dipping her hair into the water pot on a stove in the restaurant's kitchen, then drying it with a towel. Robinson says he and his friend recorded the incident on their cellphones. Waffle House, based in Norcross, Ga., said in a statement it has fired two employees and that the restaurant has since passed a state health department inspection. LOS ANGELES Showtime wants to serve the "cord-cobbler" sector, network president David Nevins told TV critics Tuesday That's the term the premium channel likes for people who watch television in untraditional ways, putting together packages that allow them to collect and stream the shows they want. To that end, Showtime makes its stand-alone service available on a variety of platforms, including as an add-on for Amazon Prime subscribers, Nevins said. In the future, Showtime will move away from its "Noah's ark" strategy of pairing premieres, two by two, and aim for a premiere every month of the year, Nevins said. (He first said "every night of the year" but quickly corrected himself.) Next up for Showtime are "Roadies," a comedy about a rock band from executive Cameron Crowe, Winnie Holzman and J.J. Abrams, due later this year, and "The Circus" (7 p.m. Sunday), weekly half-hour following the presidential race. In other news from Showtime: "Shameless," which debuted Sunday to a ratings high, has been picked up for Season 7. "Homeland" will shoot its next season in and around New York City. "I know as much as you guys know," Nevins said when asked the "is Quinn dead" question. "There is no definitive answer so far." "House of Lies," which returns Sunday, April 10, is wrapping up shooting an episode in Havana. It's the first time a U.S. scripted series has shot in Cuba since diplomatic relations were restored "Penny Dreadful" begins its third season Sunday, May 1. There is a "real possibility" that the forthcoming fifth season might be the last for Matt LeBlanc's "Episodes." The new comedy series "I'm Dying Up Here" comes from executive producer Jim Carrey and is about stand-up comics. Gail Pennington is attending the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles. Follow her at stltoday.com/tubetalk, facebook.com/tubetalkpd and on Twitter at @gailpennington. I still remember the worst case of kroenke I ever had. It was March 1985. I was living in Richmond, Va. On this particular night, I went to an advanced screening of the movie Mask, the heartwarming true story of a boy (Eric Stoltz) with a rare, deforming disease, and the biker mother (Cher) who is determined to give him a normal life. I came home. Everything was fine. I went to bed. And that is when the trouble began. At some point in the evening, I began to feel the symptoms of a singularly unpleasant case of kroenke. I dashed off to the bathroom the first of many times that night for immediate, if temporary, relief. I was sweating. I was shivering. I was so cold, I layered every blanket I had on top of me, and on top of them I threw on all of my coats. But even then, I did not realize that I had a case of kroenke. I dont know what I thought, beyond feeling cold and sick and helpless and, no doubt, sorry for myself. I have an excuse, though, for not recognizing the kroenke for what it was: Im stupid. The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed (and away from the bathroom) and somehow managed to pull myself to the office. I dont know if I looked as bad as I felt or if I mentioned to someone that Id had a rough night, but the reason for my considerable discomfort soon became clear. A colleague asked if Id happened to go to a particular restaurant across the street for lunch. As a matter of fact, I said, I had. As it turned out, so had at least 15 other people in the office. And not one of them had been able to make it into the office that day, except me. It is possible I am extraordinarily dedicated to my job. Perhaps, as noted, Im just stupid. Or maybe I got lucky, relatively speaking. My colleagues, intrepid reporters that they were, soon determined the culprit. It was the iced tea. The only thing that all 16 of us had ordered was iced tea. The few reporters who had gone to the restaurant but had not had the iced tea looked extra smug that day, I thought. I managed to bang out one story and then went back home to bed. It was not the best story Ive ever written. Another significantly awful case of kroenke came a few years later. I was still in Virginia, covering the Virginia Festival of American Film, held each year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. I dont know what I ate. I dont know what I did. But I was in bad shape. Its a 75-minute drive from Richmond to Charlottesville, and I was in no way certain I was going to be able to make it. I got there, but with only seconds to spare. The festival lasted four days, and I had kroenke the entire time. The worst part coincided with an interview I had with actress Kathleen Turner. It was a beautiful day, so we were outside in the sun. I was already dehydrated from the kroenke, and the sun wasnt helping at all. And, to tell the truth, I was probably sweating a little just being face to face with Kathleen Turner. The heat, the sun, the hot actress by the end of the interview, I was fading fast. Miss Turner noticed my distress and kindly offered to get me a glass of water. She went inside this was at the house of the university president and returned with a tall glass of ice water. I downed the entire thing in about four gulps, thanked her profusely, and headed off to my hotel room as fast as I could get there. From these experiences, I take two life lessons. One is that if you are severely dehydrated and someone has to rescue you with a glass of water, it may as well be Kathleen Turner who comes to your aid. And the other is to watch what you eat and drink. Dont cross-contaminate your foods, always wash your hands while cooking, especially when working with raw meat. If something smells or tastes as if it has gone bad, push it aside. WINFIELD State Auditor Nicole Galloway says this Lincoln County town in 2014 exceeded by $30,686 a state-imposed cap on the amount of money it could keep from traffic-ticket revenue. Galloway, in an audit issued this week, also had other criticism of the municipal court in the town of about 1,425 residents. For example, she said there were lax oversight procedures that increase the risk of errors going undetected. "Missourians have a right to expect that all cases and court decisions will receive a thorough review in accordance with requirements set forth in the law and through court rules," she said. Municipal officials, in responses released as part of the audit, said they would change various procedures as recommended. However, they disagreed with the audit's interpretation of how to apply a state law that in 2014 barred minor traffic tickets from providing more than 30 percent of a municipality's general operating revenue. They insisted their community was below that threshold. The law requires any amount collected in excess of the cap to be sent to the state Revenue Department for distribution to county schools. Winfield officials said they would pay under protest the $30,686 in alleged excess revenues and ask the revenue department to decide the issue. The audit gave Winfield's municipal court an overall performance rating of "fair." The audit was part of an initiative announced in 2014 by Galloway's predecessor as auditor, Tom Schweich, to ensure that the courts are "about justice and not revenue." Winfield's municipal court was among 10 in the initiative. At the time, Schweich said the list was a mix of cities with the highest number of traffic stops per capita, those generating the most complaints on the auditor's hotline and those raising the biggest concern with elected officials. The Legislature last year imposed tougher restrictions on municipal traffic court revenues effective this year. The cap was reduced to 12.5 percent of general operating revenue in St. Louis County and 20 percent in the rest of the state, including Lincoln County. Galloway's report also criticized Winfield's police department for failing to retain adequate documentation to support data on vehicle stops for 2014 submitted to the attorney general's office. ST. LOUIS In the months after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer there were immediate calls for change many of them centered around how police and government interact with the public. Legislative bills called for municipal court reform. Police departments promised to put body cameras on officers. Ferguson and other municipalities in St. Louis County vowed to limit revenue from ticketing. But those who helped write the broad-ranging Ferguson Commission report say a quieter but no less significant reform movement is building: it involves education. The effort was manifest at a forum Tuesday at Roosevelt High School in St. Louis, where Principal Crystal Gale and other staff members have worked to expand access to college and improve education outcomes for more than 500 low-income and minority students. St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams joined Rich McClure, co-chaiman of the Ferguson Commission, at a table inside the library annex to discuss how their work has intersected. Early childhood education. College counseling. College prep curriculum. School-based health centers and access to mental health, Adams said, listing district action that coincides with the Ferguson Commission reports calls for action. Even before the commission report was released, Adams and district leaders had identified steps they needed to take at the citys worst performing schools where students are predominately low-income and black and lack many of the same opportunities as wealthier, white peers in other districts. Those steps are in the districts Transformation Plan which calls for increasing the number of nurses, counselors and social workers in low-performing buildings, giving teachers more planning time and working to cultivate strong principals. Increasingly, teachers in the district are being trained to better understand and address student trauma, which Adams hopes will lead to a more just and appropriate discipline. Now, Adams sees these steps as part of a broader social justice agenda that coincides with the Ferguson Commission report. If I told you that these things are proven things that work, youd all nod your heads, yeah, we believe in all of those things, Adams said, at the forum. When the Ferguson Commission report was released, its authors listed 189 action steps they felt the region must tackle to move toward racial reconciliation. They included reforming school discipline policies, establishing school-based health centers and ensuring greater access to early childhood education. Expanding opportunity for minorities is a theme that permeates the report. There is no question this is about race, McClure said. We have to own that and recognize the systemic issues that have led to intentionally or unintentionally very significant racial disparities. The forum was organized by the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, which has poured support and resources into the districts efforts to increase equity for its students. The foundation has helped preschool expansion efforts and has committed to ensuring that every high school has at least one college counselor. At Roosevelt, tutors from Washington University are helping students prepare for the ACT. Other health and mental health partnerships have helped address the lack of access many students have to doctors and clinics. The school showed improvement on the states annual performance report, earning 46 percent of points available in 2015, up from 16 percent in 2014. When students arrive, they typically are four to five years below grade level in math and reading, Gale said. Theyve been passed through a system that has allowed them to fail because of lack of resources, and possibly a lack of people who care, she said. You dont blame children for their circumstances, you meet them where they are. Aaron Jennings, of the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, urged the community to help support schools with more than just money, but also time and personal commitment. Though St. Louis Public Schools is on a path toward greater equity, all agreed that it hasnt arrived. We are at a point in time right that we must not squander, McClure said. FERGUSON A team studying the struggling Ferguson-Florissant School District says there must be a stronger sense of urgency about the need for immediate improvement in its schools. The report released this week raises several concerns about the district, including how well it is educating African-Americans and other underserved students. College readiness also is a issue just 16 students in the district of 11,000 took an advanced placement exam last year. Superintendent Joe Davis commissioned the in-depth look at the districts strengths and challenges to help set priorities as he moves forward in his first year at the helm of Ferguson-Florissant schools. Robert Peterkin, who was Davis professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, led the team that wrote the report. (Ferguson-Florissant) has a lot of promise, said Peterkin, a former superintendent in Cambridge, Mass., and Milwaukee. We hope the district uses these recommendations and their own initiatives to accelerate the pace of change. The district has faced challenges during the last several years with academic performance, funding, community unrest and a controversial board decision to remove the former superintendent, Art McCoy. Although the district remains fully accredited, its last two scores on the states annual performance report fell in the provisionally accredited range. The only district that performed worse in the region was Normandy. Peterkin works with urban school superintendents on leadership transitions. He is not under contract with the district, and not being paid, but rather offering to help because of his connection to Davis, said Kevin Hampton, spokesman for the district. During the past four months, the team visited schools, gathered data, and interviewed board members, teachers, principals, administrators and community leaders. The district is at a pivotal point where it needs to turn crisis into opportunity. The national attention to its outcomes should bring about the type of urgency its students deserve, the team wrote in the report. The 55-page report offers recommendations and priorities in governance and leadership, student achievement, talent recruitment and communication. Among them: Institute policies that support shifts from a management-oriented School Board to one that is policy-oriented. Establish communitywide conversation about existing discipline practices. Develop a recruitment plan to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of applicants for teaching and other staff positions. Turn the national focus on Ferguson into an ambitious recruiting campaign to bring great talent to district schools. The teams data analysis also shed light on disparities in enrollment of African-American students in gifted programs and AP classes. For example, 58 percent of those enrolled in AP courses last year were African-American even though they make up 86 percent of the districts enrollment. No students at McCluer South-Berkeley high school took an AP exam last year. There were 209 students total who took an AP class last year. The punitive thrust of the districts code of conduct is contributing to gaps in knowledge, Peterkin said. It also allows principals extraordinary discretion to suspend students for nonviolent behaviors. African-American students have higher disciplinary rates, less access to advanced academic programs and more special needs placements. The report called the incidence of out-of-school suspensions very high, all while more than 60 percent of students failed state tests in English last year and nearly 80 percent failed math. Some interviewed by the team appear to believe that many inappropriate student behaviors go unpunished. But district leaders also believe that at the root of inappropriate student conduct lie problems of learning, teachers who dont engage students and students feelings that the adults in the district dont respect them. The School Board met Tuesday night to review the report. Board President Paul Morris said the teams knowledge and experience it brought to the district was outstanding. Beyond the need for urgency, their report found other issues such as inconsistencies across schools and classrooms, as well as more accountability needed. Davis will present his recommendations based on the teams report at the School Board meeting on Feb. 10. He also plans to host a State of the Schools event on March 16 to provide the community an update and details about future plans. WASHINGTON Sen. Roy Blunt entered 2016 with a more than 2-1 advantage in campaign cash over his Democratic rival Jason Kander, according to year-end financial statements released Wednesday by the two campaigns. Blunt, R-Mo. raised just under $1.25 million in the last three months of 2015 and ended the year with just over $5 million in his campaign accounts, a statement from Blunt's re-election committee said. Kander, Missouri's secretary of state, raised about $870,000 in the last three months of 2015 and he started 2016 with more than $2 million, his campaign announced. The Democrat Kander's final three-month total was his highest of his campaign, and outpaced his third-quarter fund-raising by about $45,000, a spokesman for the campaign said. The Kander-Blunt matchup has drawn national attention as a sleeper to watch in 2016. Other Senate races are seen as higher profile, including in neighboring Illinois, where incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is seeking re-election and is expected to face tough Democratic opposition after a March 15 primary. But Missouri Democrats have touted Kander's fund-raising as evidence that Democratic donors believe he has a chance to win. Kander has raised about $3.2 million since announcing he would run last February. Blunt has raised about $9 million since first being elected to the Senate in 2010. He served for 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before that. WASHINGTON Sen. Claire McCaskill says it would be more difficult to negotiate a possible release of 10 American sailors held by Iran without contacts made through a sanction-lifting nuclear arms agreement forged by the Obama administration. Rep. Ann Wagners says the sailors wouldn't have been taken in the first place had the U.S. kept nuclear-arms related sanctions on the Iranian regime. And through them is an example of how Democrats and Republicans live in different spheres of foreign policy. It rekindled a debate about whether Obama was a judicious coalition-builder or a weak leader being tested by Iran and other aggressor nations. 'Iran's capture of the 10 sailors as their two small boats headed from Kuwait to Bahrain and may have ended in Iranian waters created the latest tension edge between the United States and Iran, which in December fired rockets near the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier near the Strait of Homuz and in October test-fired ballistic missiles. Both episodes rekindled debates about whether it was the right time to lift nuclear-related sanctions on the regime in Tehran. On Tuesday, as the new drama played out - for the moment rekindling memories of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis - McCaskill, D-Mo, echoed Democrats who said it was better to engage than confront. She said that the nuclear arms negotiations created an "ongoing" dialogue that "allowed our Secretary of State to pick up the phone and call the foreign minister of Iran and get the reassurances that ... these members of the Navy were safe and that they would in fact be released." Wagner, R-Ballwin, said that "I do not believe they would have been taken in the first place if we had sanctions in place. "The sanctions were working," Wagner said. "How do you explain the ballistic missile test and all of the other places where they are pushing the envelope?" The capture of the 10 American sailors came just hours before Obama's State of the Union speech that his top aides on cable television characterized as a forward-looking, optimistic speech that will describe America as a coalition builder on issues like climate change and the Iranian nuclear deal. McCaskill said she agreed with an optimistic message, arguing that Obama has led the U.S. on a recocery from the Great Recession to remain the world's top economic power. But Wagner said that "terrorism and national security and our national defense is a number one, top issue, and people are frightened. They really are. And we have a Commander in Chief who won't even use the words, 'Islamic extremism.' " Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., one of the biggest critics of Iran in Congress, said Tuesday's actions illustrate why any nuclear deal with Iran should include the release of other Americans held there, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, imprisoned there for 18 months; former Marine Amir Kekmati, and Pastor Saeed Abedini. Kirk said the Iran nuclear deal "only emboldens Iran to harm more Americans." JEFFERSON CITY Missouri Southern State University, where the intern that former House Speaker John Diehl exchanged sexually charged messages attended, did not send interns to the Capitol this year. Those messages led to Diehl's resignation in May. A few months later, Democratic Sen. Paul LeVota resigned amid sexual harassment allegations from multiple former interns. These two incidents prompted the House to revamp its intern and sexual harassment policies this session. One of those changes requires a panel to approve university-sponsored intern programs, which it will do next week. The House has received 60 intern registration forms this year, but Judy Kempker, the House's new intern ombudsman, said she anticipates more in the coming weeks. The majority of those interns are part of the eight university-sponsored programs, which include Washington University, Truman University, Lindenwood University and the University of Missouri. Missouri Southern is not on that list. In light of what happened last year, a Missouri Southern official said the school did not send interns so they could take the year to evaluate the program. The University of Central Missouri, home of one of the interns who lodged a sexual harassment complaint against LeVota, has sent interns again this year. Eight of those 60 interns are House-sponsored, meaning they are not part of university programs and it is the House's responsibility to make sure they get the necessary training, for example. The House Administration and Accounts Committee approved those eight individuals -- from Missouri schools such as Westminster College in Fulton and Drury University in Springfield -- Wednesday. Changes proposed for Gravois Avenue include reducing some lanes for vehicles while adding lanes for bikes, as well as upgrading lighting and signals. A Missouri Department of Transportation plan would reduce the roughly 1.5-mile stretch of Gravois between Christy Boulevard and Chippewa Street from four lanes to three. It also would shrink the half-mile portion of the road between Jefferson Avenue and near Interstate 55 from six to five lanes. MoDOT said its studies of Gravois, where 17,000 to 20,000 vehicles travel a day, show fewer lanes will lower traffic speeds and increase accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians. A plan last year had included shutting off access to the road from some side streets. But that idea was fiercely opposed by many residents and businesses, some of whom voiced their disapproval at a meeting last spring that grew tense. Because Gravois is a diagonal road that cuts through the standard street grid, side streets often enter Gravois within 50 feet of each other. That means that at intersections with signals, there are six legs of traffic at one intersection instead of the normal four. But street closures must be approved by the citys Board of Aldermen, which didnt happen so no streets are closing. MoDOT detailed its new plans at a public meeting Tuesday. The agency is responsible for signals, signs, striping, sweeping and pavement maintenance on Gravois, which is part of Highway 30. Its plan for a $9 million project on the well-used road includes upgrading lighting and signals at the intersections of Morganford Road, Arsenal Street, Chippewa Street, Kingshighway, Cherokee Street/Tennessee Avenue, Utah Street/Louisiana Avenue, Compton Avenue/Wyoming Street, Ohio Avenue/Lynch Street, California Avenue, Shenandoah Avenue/McNair Avenue, Russell Boulevard and 12th Street/Geyer Avenue. Signal upgrades include pedestrian countdown indications and push buttons, and better syncing. And MoDOT will repair the pavement and resurface Gravois from just south of River Des Peres Boulevard to the area near Interstate 55. MoDOT also wants to add dedicated bike lanes in both directions from Christy to near Interstate 55 except for the stretch between Chippewa and Grand Boulevard, where bikes and vehicles would share the lanes. The agency said another option would be not to add bike lanes although doing that would not address safety improvements or accessibility for bicycles or pedestrians. As long as the bicyclists follow the rules and stop at stop signs and stop lights, its fine, said Cara Watters, who has lived in Fox Park for more than 20 years. She was happy no side streets would be cut off, as was Andy Bender. He works for Jefferson Tent and Awning Co., which has been at the corner of Gravois, Arsenal Street and Pennsylvania Avenue since 1911. Its not the fiasco they had originally planned, he said of the new proposal. Pennsylvania had been in danger of being closed under the first draft of the plan, which Bender said would have hampered customer and delivery access. Jeff Bohler, the project manager, said MoDOT is seeking to finalize its plans in the next couple of months. Comments are being taken for another two weeks. MoDOT hopes to award the project to a contractor in June, with construction beginning in the summer and wrapping up in late summer of next year. To submit your thoughts on changes to Gravois, go to this MoDOT website: http://bit.ly/1OZYLNs New Jersey lawmakers have unveiled new legislation to rewrite the states firearm carry laws after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June expanding gun rights. Democratic Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Senate President Nicholas Scutari said Thursday that the new measure will bar permit holders from carrying in schools, polling places, bars, restaurants, theaters, sports arenas, airports, casinos and child care facilities. It also sets up a new requirement that permit holders carry insurance to protect against accidental discharge. Gun rights advocates said in a statement they want to overturn the bill in court if it becomes law. President Barack Obamas final State of the Union address Tuesday night marked a departure from the laundry list of achievements and legislative goals weve heard in past speeches. This time, he focused on the futures big picture. The speech marked the presidents last-ditch appeal for Congress to overcome deep partisan divisions and join forces for the sake of the nation. The future we want opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids all that is within our reach, the president said. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics. Good luck with that, especially during an election year in which Democratic candidates are too quick to paint rosy pictures of success and Republicans are doing everything possible to make Americans believe their country is heading down the toilet. The truth is, the nation is neither as well off as the Democrats would have us believe, nor is it anywhere close to the point of calamity as the Republicans suggest. But theres no question that the American psyche is being affected by the rhetoric. Mr. Obama urged Americans not to take the bait: There have been those who told us to fear the future, who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. For all the conservatives talk about how awful things are, voters must constantly ask themselves whether the critics are offering realistic solutions and workable alternatives. That is, something more than banning all Muslim visitors and mass-deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants. Mr. Obama spent the past year forging ahead without Congressional support wherever possible. But he also did so without the American publics broad approval. Polls show people just arent convinced hes improved their lives or Americas place in the world. This despite the nuclear deal he hammered out with Iran, the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba, his successful defense of Obamacare or his efforts to confront soaring gun violence. The list goes on. No president, regardless of popularity, can go it alone. Important unfinished business awaits bold leadership from Congress, as the presidents speech underscored. Despite an improved job market, too many Americans have seen their economic fortunes dwindle as wages fail to keep pace with the cost of living, the president said. He challenged Congress, regardless of who takes over the White House next year, to devise measures aimed at giving everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy. Only now, in the 11th hour of Mr. Obamas presidency, is Congress discovering ways for the two parties to work together. For example, bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind, through the Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in December. It promises to lift the thumb of federal educational oversight by easing some of the testing, curriculum and accountability burdens that have placed a failed label on countless urban public schools. And theres new hope for reform of the criminal justice system because of bipartisan agreement on the need to reduce prison costs and stop the abuses that, too often, put innocent people behind bars. This president has been stymied from day one of his first term by Republican leaders who determined that blind opposition, regardless of the merits of Mr. Obamas initiatives, was the best strategy to ensure his would be a one-term presidency. When the nation stood at the brink of economic ruin in 2009, their answer was no to Mr. Obamas stimulus plans. When the slaughter of innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary called for greater efforts to keep guns out of the hands of madmen, their answer was no. Again and again, hard-liners have worked to sabotage efforts at bipartisan progress, even when they knew their intransigence could inflict serious harm on the nation, as it did during the October 2013 government shutdown. That said, on some issues, the Republicans were correct to criticize the president. His responses were tepid at best when Syria was spiraling toward civil war. He missed multiple opportunities to prop up moderate rebel forces and stop the Islamic State from gaining a foothold. He allowed Moscow to seize a portion of Ukraines territory with minimal challenge. At the same time, the gloom-and-doom assessment of GOP hard-liners has failed to play out. Recall the 10 percent unemployment rate that prevailed shortly after Mr. Obama took office. Today, unemployment stands at 5 percent, and there are 14 million more jobs today than in 2009. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction, the president stated. Mr. Obama made a point early in his speech of praising House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for his efforts to muster bipartisan unity around the budget. For his part, Mr. Ryan has acknowledged that the GOP must change tactics and start coming up with solutions for Americans struggling at the point of economic desperation. There are the millions of people stuck in neutral: 6 million people who have no choice but to work part time, 45 million people living in poverty, he told an audience in December. Conservatives need to have an answer to this, because we do not write people off in this country. We just dont. He and Mr. Obama, along with the presidents successor, owe it to the American public to search harder for that crucial common ground. As the president suggested Tuesday night, We just might surprise the cynics again. Regarding the letter Schmitts support of working people is phony claim (Oct. 10): I find it laughable that Eric Schmitt portrays himself as a poor child in his recent TV adds. He laments that his dad had to work seven nights a week at Anheuser-Busch. What Schmitt doesnt reveal is that JEFFERSON CITY Despite signals from the Missouri House that there may not be support for a gasoline tax increase this year, a Senate panel heard testimony Wednesday arguing the state needs the added revenue to ensure safe roads and bridges. Members of the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee debated a plan that would boost the motor fuel tax by 1.5 cents per gallon for most motorists and 3.5 cents per gallon for diesel users. Among those backing the higher tax is Missouri Department of Transportation Director Patrick McKenna. Any additional state revenue is critical. It is not acceptable just to maintain our system as it is, McKenna said. It is critical to build a 21st century transportation system today in order to fuel our economy and retain our workforce. Missouris gasoline tax is among the lowest in the nation at 17 cents per gallon. But, even with the current low prices at the pump, voters and lawmakers have been reluctant to increase the tax. State Sen. Doug Libla, R-Poplar Bluff, said a decrease in purchasing power since the tax hit the 17-cent mark in 1996 means MoDOT cannot fix as much as it could 20 years ago. We need a long term transportation funding policy now or we can put our heads back in the sand, Libla said. We cannot say we didnt know. Libla, who is sponsoring the increase, also said the recent floods that hit the St. Louis region put a spotlight on what could happen to the economy if there are long-term road and bridge closures. There are nearly 10,400 bridges on the state highway system and about 60 percent are older than their intended useful life of 50 years. While we have some money committed to their repair or replacement, the need is greater than the available resources, McKenna said. Liblas proposal, which would raise an estimated $56 million and generate additional matching funds from other sources, has the backing of Republican senators. I believe we cant have economic development without infrastructure, said state Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown. Business groups and Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, also are supporting the increase. It is one of the things that businesses look at when they come here, said Brad Green of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The organization representing convenience store and gas station owners say they would support an increase of up to 4-cents per gallon. Groups are currently circulating petitions asking voters in November to raise the tobacco tax to pay for transportation needs. In December, however, House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said the House was unlikely to act on a tax increase in 2016. He said lawmakers may look for other sources of existing revenue to use for road upgrades. The legislation is Senate Bill 623. Many new laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly took effect on Jan. 1, according to a press release. I believe it is important to keep the constituents of the 112th District informed of upcoming changes in our laws, said Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon). A wide variety of legislation was presented to the General Assembly over this last year, but there is still much work to be done. I look forward to working with our new governor in 2016 to bring much needed reforms to Illinois. Some of the more notable bills effective Jan. 1 are bodycams for law enforcement, a law to help identify burdensome regulation on small businesses, acceptance of missing person reports regardless of the missings mental state and increasing transparency in the Comptrollers office. Bodycams for law enforcement The implementation of police body cameras in Illinois will be more clearly defined thanks to P.A. 99-0352 (Senate Bill 1304). This new law will require the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board to create model guidelines that must be adopted by law enforcement agencies using officer-worn body cameras that include procedures for investigating officer related deaths and collecting information on pedestrian traffic stops. I believe that having set standards for the implementation of law enforcement body cameras as well as defining how that data can be used is beneficial to everyone, Rep. Kay said. Ideally, these standards will help ensure that body cameras are implemented in a way that is fair to both police officers and individual citizens. Reducing burdensome regulations on small businesses Rep. Kay co-sponsored P.A. 99-0370 (Senate Bill 3887), which requires all state agencies to analyze all rules and regulations to identify any that may be unduly burdensome to small businesses. Upon completion of the review, agencies will be required to submit a report of their findings to the Office of Business Permits and Regulatory Assistance, the governor and the General Assembly. The first review will take place within one year and each subsequent review will take place every five years. Small businesses are leaving Illinois left and right because we simply have too many burdensome rules and regulations, Rep. Kay said. I am hopeful that these insightful reviews of these regulations will help us create a pro-growth business climate. Missing person report not contingent on mental state This new law, sponsored by Rep. Kay, requires law enforcement to take a missing persons report regardless of the missings mental state. Before P.A. 99-0244 (House Bill 4097), some law enforcement agencies would require a 24-hour waiting period if the missing person had a mental condition such as dementia. I am relieved that we were able to pass this bill to protect missing persons with disabilities, Rep. Kay said. Prohibiting a waiting period for missing persons with dementia will help to set the minds of loved ones at ease when a relative or close friend goes missing. Comptrollers office transparency In recent years, the Illinois Comptrollers Office has implemented the online Comptroller Warehouse that helps to peel back the layers of big government and allows taxpayers to know how their hard earned money is being spent by state and local governments. P.A. 99-0393 (Senate Bill 903) requires the Illinois Comptroller to maintain The Warehouse website to ensure it is available and updated for taxpayers. The Comptroller Warehouse is an excellent website and provides one of the best windows taxpayers have into where their money is being spent at the local and state level, Rep. Kay said. I am very pleased that the comptroller will be required to update this website on a regular basis to help ensure government transparency. For more information about the new laws which will take effect in 2015, visit www.ilga.gov. Last night President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address. In that spirit, I offer my thoughts on the state of the cigar industry as we enter 2016. In many ways, the state of cigars is as strong as it has ever been. This is our tenth year publishing StogieGuys.com, and the cigars being released today are of highest quality they have ever been. Consumers are better educated, and they demand more of their cigars. Cigar companies have largely delivered better quality and more interesting flavors. One of the best trends is that new competition continues to challenge the status quo, which drives up quality. Take a look at various top cigar lists and youll see lots of newer companies represented. Fortunately, their success isnt a result of more established companies slacking off. Rather, the bar is continually rising. I honestly believe the tenth-rated cigar on most Best of 2015 lists would have beat the number one cigar five or ten years ago. Another sign of the health of the state of cigars is the fact that even those who have achieved the financial success to walk away rarely do. Statistically, when someone announces they are stepping down or retiring from a job in cigars, it most likely just means they are planning their return, armed with the lessons of their experience. At the cigar shops you can see how all this benefits cigar smokers. The days where the vast majority of cigars for sale in most shops are made by a handful of the largest companies are increasingly in the past. Cigars have to earn shelf space more than ever, and companies large and small are upping their game to compete for that valuable space. In short, cigar smokers have more and better choices than ever before. Thats the good news. But there are dark clouds on the horizon. Impending FDA regulation continues to hover over the cigar industry with the potential to devastate the thriving competition that were enjoying. The fact that we enter 2016 without those regulations is a good sign, but literally any day regulations could be finalized. One cigar company executive told me not long ago that he expected many smaller cigar companies couldnt survive FDA regulations, and Im afraid thats probably true. The delay in the finalized FDA rules shows there is division within the executive branch over the extent of the need for regulation over cigars. While thats a testament to the work of organizations that lobby for cigar rights, it doesnt change the fact that the only way to fully stop FDA regulation would take an act of Congress. Going forward, cigar rights groups would benefit from more long-term strategy, instead of pinning their hopes to last-minute Hail Mary attempts to slip riders into massive appropriations bills. Elsewhere, cigar rights are on defense, too. Smoking bans are not being repealed anywhere, while proposals for expanded bans and increased tobacco taxes continue to flourish. We have work to do. There may never have been a better time to be a cigar smoker. Keeping it that way, though, wont be easy. The old saying is eternal vigilance is the price of freedom; when it comes to the freedom to enjoy cigars, that has never been more true. Patrick S photo credit: Wikipedia At the end of 2015 the Chinese navy finally confirmed that they were indeed building a second aircraft carrier. The design is apparently based on the first Chinese carrier, the Liaoning. This is a 65,000 ton, 305 meter (999 feet) long ship that is actually a modified version of the last Cold War Russian carrier design. China also confirmed that the new carrier would also have the ski jump deck like Liaoning. Since 2013 there had been reports that a large aircraft carrier was under construction in northwest China (Dalian). Although China is building a 22 meter (71 foot) high wall around parts of the Dalian naval base to prevent people from taking pictures of what is going on there this has not stopped amateur naval enthusiasts from getting information and distributing it on the Internet. One of the best sources of information on Chinese warship construction is the Internet. Thousands of Chinese naval buffs living close to major shipyards provide a steady supply of photos on the web. The Chinese government tried to prevent this but since 2005 came to realize that cracking down on enthusiastic and Internet savvy Chinese fans of the navy was not a wise move. A lot of important secrets are still preserved by building parts of ships in a shed and a lot of the most valuable military secrets are with equipment installed inside the ship or behind a wall. So the government allows all (with a few exceptions) these photos to appear. Then there are some interesting official photos. In mid-2014 photos of a carrier model being displayed at an official event appeared on the Chinese Internet. The detailed model had the hull number 18 and the ship looked similar to an American CVN (a Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carrier). The Chinese CVN has four catapults and three elevators and much other evidence of being nuclear and very similar to the Nimitz class. This is not what was thought to be under construction at Dalian but rather a proposal for carrier number three or four or whatever. The first Chinese carrier, the Liaoning is hull number 16 and the 2013 photos showed sections of a new Chinese carrier under construction. This ship would probably have hull number 17. All this implies the third Chinese carrier, the second one built in China, would be nuclear and probably closer in design to the recently decommissioned American USS Enterprise (CVN 65). That is still a mystery because too much information is coming out of China. CVN 65 was the first American nuclear powered carrier and it served as the prototype for the subsequent Nimitz class. The Enterprise was an expensive design, and only one was built (instead of a class of six). While a bit longer than the later Nimitz class, it was lighter (92,000 tons displacement, versus 100,000 tons). The Enterprise was commissioned in 1961, almost 40 years after the first U.S. carrier (the Langley) entered service in 1923. Chinese are keen students of history, their own as well as that of others. Chinese ship designers know all about the Langley and Enterprise. The Chinese are also well aware that in the two decades after the USS Langley there were tremendous changes in carrier aviation. While the innovation slowed after World War II, major changes continued into the 1950s (jet aircraft, nuclear propelled carriers, SAMs). But in the ensuing half century there has been no major innovation in basic carrier design. This has not been a problem because the carriers have proven useful, at least for the U.S. Navy (the only fleet to use such large carriers) and no one else has maintained a force of these large carriers. Only the U.S. has felt a constant need to get air power to any corner of the planet in a hurry. More importantly, no navy has been able to give battle to the U.S. carrier force since 1945. The Soviets built new anti-carrier weapons and made plans to use them but that war never occurred. China is building carriers but does not yet seem committed to having a lot of them to confront the U.S. but rather just a few to intimidate its neighbors. Large ships, including warships, are often built in sections, then the sections are welded and bolted together. The section of what appears to be a carrier does not indicate the exact size of the new carrier, other than that it appears larger than the new carrier (Liaoning) China commissioned at the end of 2012. At the time China was believed to be building the first of several locally designed aircraft carriers but the Chinese officially denied this. The only official announcements have alluded to the need for two or three aircraft carriers, in addition to the Liaoning. Construction of such large ships had been seen in shipyards like Dalian. The Liaoning spent over a year on sea trials and as of early 2016 has still not entered regular service. Since its 2012 commissioning Liaoning has been used for training and getting experience with carrier operations. During that time Liaoning began flight operations in November 2012 and these were such a success that the Chinese built carrier fighter J-15 (a Su-27 variant) eventually participated in these carrier operations. In 2013 China confirmed that the Liaoning will primarily be a training carrier. The Chinese apparently plan to station up to 24 jet fighters and 26 helicopters on the Liaoning and use the ship to train pilots and other specialists for additional carriers. Meanwhile, the Liaoning will also be staffed and equipped as a combat ship as well. Liaoning began as one of the two Kuznetsov class carriers that Russia began building in the 1980s. Originally the Kuznetsovs were to be 90,000 ton nuclear powered ships (the Ulanovsk class), similar to American Nimitz class carriers (complete with steam catapults). Instead, because of the high cost and the complexity of modern (American style) carriers, the Russians were forced to scale back their plans and ended up with 65,000 ton (full load) ships that lacked steam catapults and used a ski jump type flight deck instead. Nuclear power was dropped but the Kuznetsovs were still a formidable design. The Kuznetsovs normally carry a dozen navalized Su-27s (called Su-33s), 14 Ka-27PL anti-submarine helicopters, two electronic warfare helicopters, and two search and rescue helicopters. But the ship was built to carry as many as 36 Su-33s and sixteen helicopters. The Kuznetsovs carry 2,500 tons of aviation fuel, allowing it to generate 500-1,000 aircraft and helicopter sorties. Crew size is 2,500 (or 3,000 with a full aircraft load). While the original Kuznetsov is in Russian service, the second ship, the Varyag, was launched but not completed and work stopped in 1992. The Chinese bought the unfinished carrier in 1998, towed it to China, and spent over a decade completing it as the Liaoning. Meanwhile the Nimitz class is being replaced. The U.S. Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford (CVN 78) was launched and christened in late 2013 and is expected to enter service in 2016. The first ship of the next class of carriers, the Ford will be about the same length (333 meters/1,092 feet) and displacement (100,000 tons) of the previous Nimitz class ships but will look different. The most noticeable difference will be the island set closer to the stern (rear) of the ship. The USS Ford is expected to cost nearly $14 billion. About 40 percent of that is for designing the first ship of the class, so the actual cost of the first ship (CVN 78) itself will be some $9 billion. Against this the navy expects to reduce the carrier's lifetime operating expenses by several billion dollars because of greatly reduced crew size. Compared to the current Nimitz class carriers (which cost over $5 billion each to build) the Fords will feel, well, kind of empty even through there will be 4,600 personnel on board. There will be lots more automation, computer networking, and robots. The most recent Nimitz class ships have a lot of this automation already. Like the Nimitz class, the Fords will carry about 75 aircraft and helicopters. The catapults will be electromagnetic rather than steam powered and its nuclear power plant will not have to be partially taken apart to be refueled. The new catapults and other design improvements will allow the Fords to launch 20-30 percent more sorties per day than the Nimitz class ships. In Iraq over a thousand Western troops, many of them special operations (Special Forces, SEALs and other commandos), are providing training and advisory assistance to Iraqi forces. To get the most out of this, especially when special ops forces are involved, the effort is directed towards the best local troops. Experience has shown the Kurds and Iraqi Arab special operations troops benefit the most from this training and do so more quickly than less trained and experienced troops. This comes with some risks, mainly because this training is often done in a combat zone and the advisory aspect is often done in combat. In both these cases there are many instances where the trainers themselves come under fire. While the trainers are not there to fight they are armed and allowed to defend themselves when necessary. Unofficially the trainers are allowed to get involved in situations where their trainees are in great danger and the intervention of the trainers would be useful, and much appreciated by the trainees. This is allowed unofficially because there is risk of trainers being killed or wounded. This causes political problems back home where politicians have pledged to provide combat trainers but no combat troops. While some trainers have been killed or wounded during front line training there is always the risk of there are too many casualties among the foreign trainers politicians and media back home would make an issue out of it. Same with Iraqi politicians and media, who are insistent that there be no foreign combat troops in Iraq. Armed trainers are tolerated, but not if they regularly engage in combat. While intelligence agencies regularly monitor the Internet for Islamic terrorist activity, its also possible for non-government groups (or individuals) to monitor and analyze the large amount of public activity by Islamic terrorists and their supporters. Even before intelligence agencies began monitoring Islamic terrorist activity on the Internet there were civilian who did it and they often passed interesting findings to intelligence or police agencies. These private efforts are still out there and they were largely responsible for showing the intel agencies how valuable this sort of thing could be in the first place. Among the openly available findings are some interesting facts. For one thing most of the Islamic terrorist related traffic in the Arab world (which is often in Arabic) is Sunni Moslems saying nasty things about Shia Moslems. This makes sense when you consider that 80 percent of Moslems are Sunni and only ten percent Shia. Unfortunately many of the messages criticizing Islamic terrorism in general gets denounced, at least among Sunni Moslems, as Shia propaganda. That shows the depth of the antipathy between Sunni and Shia because over 90 percent of Islamic terrorists are Sunni and most of their Internet support comes from the Arab Gulf states (in other words, the Arabian Peninsula). In the last few years the Islamic terrorist related messages by Moslems have increasingly been about the growing animosity between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia (and other Sunni Arab states). This has become something of a religious war with Sunni and Shia clerics encouraging their followers to vigorously defend their form of Islam on the Internet. This often involves posting increasingly strident sermons (in text, audio or video format) by clergy backing their form of Islam. This has swept away earlier efforts by Sunni and Shia to use the Internet to help build better relations between the two forms of Islam. The fighting in Syria, which is basically a Sunni majority rebelling against an Iran-backed Shia minority government, further inflamed the nasty rhetoric on the Internet. That got worse when a Saudi led Sunni coalition entered the civil war in Yemen. There a Shia minority was defeating the Sunni majority and most Sunnis were not happy with that. Islamic terrorists were early and energetic adopters of social media on the Internet. This has always been a mixed blessing. The terrorists and their fans soon found that the messaging went two ways and those who disagreed with them had no trouble, or inhibitions about responding to terrorist messages. This was particularly the case with Twitter. Here even the U.S. State Department found it necessary to assign people to respond to terrorist tweets. The U.S. government had people who spoke Arabic and other languages Islamic terrorist fanboys used. The Americans also had the culture awareness to become very annoying for the true-believers on the Internet. Interrogations of captured terrorists or terrorism suspects revealed that the responses, especially those from a government agency, had an impact. It scared off many potential terrorist recruits and angered true believers, often to the point where they would reveal things they should have kept to themselves. This sort of backtalk because such a problem that terrorist leaders began warning followers to ignore these infidel taunts and insults and to not respond. The Internet being what it is, most pro-terrorist twitter users found themselves unable or unwilling to heed this advice. Just like they tend to ignore useful advice about Internet security. This interference has become a growing problem for Islamic terrorist organizations. Thats because the continued use of international media to keep people (largely disaffected Moslems and Western leftists looking for a new lost cause) informed about how the terrorist group is still around was being diminished by this interference. Maintaining such visibility is essential for recruiting. Al Qaeda has always recruited from the least educated and most desperate Moslem men out there and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) continued that custom. Religious fervor was not crucial but the willingness to suffer and die was. These recruits are attracted to the image of al Qaeda as being constantly active, no matter what damage they suffer. Also important was maintaining support from older, more affluent, and less desperate supporters. It was very important to keep these rich men willing to help out with cash or access to needed resources. The new recruits and other contributions were only forthcoming if an Islamic terrorist group could demonstrate that it was active. Thus there is a constant need for new actions (assassinations, bombings, prison breaks, and other media-worthy events) to remind wealthy fans of Islamic radicalism that cash keeps it all going. The core terrorist leadership has always contained some technically adept people who recognized how the media worked and appreciated how new technology was changing how you reached and maintained those supporters. So it should not be surprising that al Qaeda, ISIL and other terrorist organizations became heavy users of Twitter and other social media sites. Even though many of these sites do not welcome groups like ISIL and al Qaeda, the Islamic terrorists keep at it and maintain a presence in high-traffic areas. Much of this is made possible by Internet-savvy volunteers who dont want to blow themselves up but are willing to risk (and it is not a big risk) arrest by working from home to serve the cause and keep al Qaeda and ISIL visible on the Internet and thus in the mass media. Now all that is being compromised by the growing pushback by individuals and organizations hostile to terrorism. Despite the anti-Chinese aspects of the recent nuclear test North Korea has quietly accepted much of the Chinese advice on economic reforms. At the same time both China and North Korea have been silent about the recent North Korean harassment of Chinese in North Korea. This is part of the ongoing effort to halt leaks of information (to China and South Korea) about what is really going on in North Korea. This is not the first time there has been such a move against Chinese and China is quietly trying to get some of the arrested Chinese freed. Since the 1950s Chinese citizens have been allowed to live and do business in North Korea. These Chinese are usually merchants or run Chinese financed businesses. These Chinese can bring their families with them and freely visit China and return. These foreigners were rarely bothered, until North Korea decides it is time to send a message. North Korea apparently suspects many of these Chinese are part of the Chinese espionage effort in North Korea and over a hundred have been arrested and questioned since late 2015. North Korean diplomats and businessmen with lots of Chinese experience warn that this crackdown could do a lot of damage to relations with China. So far those warnings do not seem to have had any impact. Apparently even Chinese diplomats, including the Chinese ambassador, have been put under surveillance by the secret police. The government has also made it more difficult for these Chinese to return to China. The Chinese are largely unfazed by this sort of thing as it has happened before and tends to last a few months at most. Thats because China is the main access point for the thousands of luxury items North Korea imports each month to keep their ruling class content and willing to do what it takes to keep the Kim dynasty in power. In North Korea the government ended the year still determined to halt the spread of South Korean culture and announced that some violators would now be publicly executed to show how serious the government considers the problem. At the same time government analysts are noting that years of efforts to halt the northern preference for South Korean culture have failed and executions are unlikely to change that. This conclusion is a state secret as are most details about how the North Korean secret police have always monitored the attitudes of the population. Back in 2010 the secret police realized that the influence of South Korean culture was corrupting the security forces ordered to suppress it. In 2011 a special unit of the secret police was formed to eliminate the corruption among secret and regular police guarding the Chinese border (where most South Korean culture entered) and that elite unit was itself soon corrupted (by the South Korean culture as well as the large bribes they got to let it in). The secret police more recently documented a very disturbing trend; the generation born in the 1990s that grew up with access to South Korean culture (video and audio recordings) has less and less respect for the North Korean leadership. This has happened despite numerous efforts to provide children with additional instruction (mandatory pro-Kim propaganda classes). The kids shrugged off the lessons and the extensive secret police monitoring (Internet, phones) and informant network reported more and more disdain and contempt for the leadership among the next generation. This is a very disturbing development because it never happened before and appears incurable and is getting worse each year. The North Korean government has increasingly been using executions to discourage unacceptable activity, especially efforts to leave the country without permission. But dramatic measures like execution only slows down the rate of bad behavior (being it smuggling contraband in or people out). Despite the growing acceptance (by the government) of the market economy the new entrepreneurs know that they are tolerated mainly because they are a source of income for the government and the only thing that is keeping an increasing number of North Koreans alive. There is no rule of law in all this, the government does whatever Kim Jong Un and his senior aides want and major changes often arrive without any warning. To add to the temptation to leave the government has increasingly tolerated nearly all trade being done in foreign currencies (mainly Chinese yuan and American dollars). This enables people to easily buy the services of smugglers who can bribe the right people to get you out. North Korean currency (won) is rapidly disappearing from daily use and no one misses it. But many government officials are uneasy about the widespread acceptance of foreign currency. This acceptance means people have more freedom to do as they please. For decades the population was controlled because the government did not let people know what was going on in the outside world or give them a way to earn much money and what they did get access to was the local currency (the won) which was pretty useless outside of North Korea. Possession of foreign currency was, until quite recently, a treasonous act and punishable by death. All this began to change during the 1990s, after post-Cold War Russia eliminated the subsidies that had been keeping North Korea alive since World War II. As a result the government could no longer afford to supply the people with essentials and it was during the 1990s that the private economy began to develop as people did whatever they could to survive. After the 1990s the government, seeing no other option, gradually legalized the free markets and now has created an institution that is becoming more powerful than the state itself. Entrepreneurs are using all the foreign cash to take over government owned businesses and hire the loyalty of the security services. Yet North Korea cannot afford to destroy the free markets as that would be a form of suicide for the rulers. To paraphrase an ancient Chinese warning; May you live in interesting times. The government has responded to the growing corruption in the bureaucracy by severely punishing senior officials known, or suspected, or disloyalty. Accepting bribes is not automatically a sign of disloyalty, especially if the Kim family is getting a cut. But the growing use of bribes is seen as a sign of divided loyalties and that makes you suspect. Since 2012 over a hundred senior officials have been sent to prison or executed for disloyalty. The families of the disloyal, at least the ones who did not manage to get out of the country, were reduced to poverty and some were sent to prison as well. All this has done is make officials more careful in accepting and spending their bribes. All this is unprecedented for North Korea. A growing business for smugglers is getting bribe money out of the country and into a Chinese bank. Its increasingly difficult to run the country when so many of your senior people have one eye on the exit. This has other side effects as growing trend is for the friends of officials who illegally migrate to quickly leave themselves lest they be prosecuted for not turning their friend in (whether they know of his illegal travel plans or not). Since early 2015 reports have been coming out of North Korea about a new series of tunnels being constructed. Like everything else in North Korea tunnel construction is a state secret and it took a while for enough information to leak out (via business visitors hearing gossip or defectors with personal experience) so one could make some sense of this new mystery. It turns out the new tunnel system consists of escape tunnels for leader Kim Jong Un. These are being built at all the places where Kim spends a lot of time and for obvious reasons details are being kept secret. One tunnel, several kilometers long, leads to the Chinese border. Others lead to airfields or small ports. Apparently there are contingency plans for each tunnel. This would include what Kim and his entourage would do once reaching the exit as well as who would be in the entourage and who would be assigned to deal with all the details of getting Kim to safety after the escape tunnel protocol was implemented. January 11, 2016: Officials from South Korea, China, the United States and Japan are meeting this week to discuss how to get North Korea to halt its nuclear program. The pressure is on China because China plays a major role in keeping the North Korean economy alive. So far China has not been willing to try drastically increasing economic pressure on North Korea to get the nuclear program dismantled. This despite four nuclear tests over the last decade. North Korea leaders have indicated that their response to hasher Chinese economic measures would be catastrophic, even if it meant the destruction of the North Korean government. January 11, 2016: An American B-52 bomber flew near the North Korean border and North Korea quickly condemned this provocative act. The U.S. responded with proposals to send more heavy bombers and other new weapons to South Korea. January 7, 2016: The North Korean announcement that they had conducted a successful test of a fusion (H-Bomb) nuclear weapon was condemned by the Russian government but on Russian Internet sites Russian nationalists celebrated this North Korean triumph over their common enemy (the United States). At the government level China and Russia both agree that North Korea having nukes is a bad thing. China is more concerned about this than Russia. Western technical experts doubt that the nuclear weapons test (that apparently did take place) was a fusion bomb. Soon (within weeks or months) intel agencies, who are equipped for this sort of thing, will have collected and analyzed air samples from the test site. The U.S. Air Force has already sent one of its sniffer aircraft (a WC-135) to collect air samples. Winds blow this contaminated air out to where intel aircraft or ground stations can capture air samples. Analysis of those samples will clearly show if it was a fission (A bomb) or fusion (H bomb) test. But this evidence eventually dissipates in the atmosphere and if China or Russia will not share sample information then it might not be possible to capture enough samples off the North Korean coast to confirm what kind of bomb is was. From an engineering point of view the latest North Korean test indicates (by seismic activity) that it is too small to be an H-bomb unless North Korea got the tech to not only make an H-bomb but to build a miniaturized one. It is unlikely that China or Russia shared their tech. Even most North Koreans appear to see the latest nuclear test as another publicity stunt. China has the most non-Korean civilians close to the site of the test and quickly was announced that an additional 500 radiation monitors would be deployed near the North Korean border. Meanwhile many of the new entrepreneurs in North Korea are complaining that this dollar bomb (as they call the H-bomb) is just an excuse to tax everyone more heavily. Soldiers enduring their annual cold weather training wonder why they are still doing that if North Korea really has an H-bomb. Many inside and outside of North Korea regard the H-bomb test as a publicity stunt and no evidence that North Korea is any closer to having usable nuclear weapons. Japan announced that its monitoring equipment on land and aboard ships and aircraft had detected no additional radiation as a result of the North Korean nuclear test. This is normal for underground tests, where little radiation escapes to the surface and what does usually cannot be detected except right at the test site. Japan detected no radiation after the 2006 and 2013 North Korean nuclear tests. On the plus side the North Korean nuke did prompt Japan and South Korea to expand their recent (end of 2015) military cooperation agreement. January 6, 2016: North Korea conducted a successful test of what they claimed was a fusion (H-Bomb) nuclear weapon. This was condemned by Russia, China, South Korea, the United States and just about everyone else. December 31, 2015: South Korea, China and Vietnam agreed to quickly set up hotline communications with each other. This enables either side to quickly contact the others military headquarters to sort out any incident involving the armed forces of one or both countries. A hotline like this is quicker and more accurate than waiting for the usual diplomatic channels to be used (and having to depend on the mass media in the meantime.) China and North Korea have long had the equivalent of a hotline in that senior Chinese military leaders could always pick up a phone and call their North Korean counterparts. This is something that dates back to the Korean War, when Chinese forces saved the North Korean military from certain destruction and kept the Korean War going for another 30 months until the ceasefire. This cost China over half a million dead, something China has not forgotten. Meanwhile South Korea already has a hotline with the United States. China and South Korea have been haggling over hotline details since mid-2014. At the end of 2015 the U.S. revealed that it believed North Korea was continuing to work on the KN-08 ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) in an effort to make it work. Getting this missile redesigned, reliable and ready for successful testing is expensive. That is a sign the North Koreas are quite serious about this project. The KN-08 is meant to threaten the United States while the North Korean nukes threaten all the neighbors. The KN-08 first appeared in public during a 2013 military parade. It had long been known that North Korea was trying to develop a ballistic missile that could reach the United States. Until the appearance of the very large KN-08 the longest range North Korean seen in actual use (during tests) were the Nodong series. These are based on the old Russia SCUD and had been scaled up to the point that they had a max range of over a thousand kilometers. Out of this came the even larger Taepodong missiles which were officially satellite launchers. Taepodong 1 was tested in 1998. North Korea had been working on Taepodong since the early 1990s. While the Taepodong 1 had a range of about 1,500 kilometers the larger Taepodong 2 went twice as far in 2009. A 2006 Taepodong 2 test barely got off the ground before crashing. The KN-08 was a different shape missile, obviously for military use and using different technology. December 28, 2015: South Korea and Japan finally settled their long standing differences over the Japanese conscription of Korean women during World War II to work in Japanese army brothels in China. Japan had long avoided accepting much blame for this practice, but in South Korea it was a major obstacle to establishing a meaningful alliance to better cope with the threat from North Korea and China. Japan finally agreed to give South Korea the admission of guilt long demanded. This will include $8.3 million from Japan for the surviving comfort women as the Japanese called the involuntary prostitutes. December 25, 2015: Since October 2015 Japanese coast guard patrols have found sixteen North Korean fishing boats drifting off the coast, most of them containing decomposing bodies. These are all coastal craft (about 12 meters/38 feet long) which cannot operate effectively on the high seas. It remains a mystery as to what is going on here. The most likely theory is that the boats are of fishermen who, desperate to fill new quotas, went out too far, ran out of fuel and were unable to call for rescue. These boats did not contain radio or GPS, were often poorly constructed, often had only a small outboard engine (which broke down or ran out of fuel) and appeared to have been drifting for weeks. The lack of such gear is common aboard North Korean fishing boats. The other theory is that these were defectors who underestimated how much fuel it would take to reach Japan or suffered engine failure. The truth may be a combination of both theories but reports eventually got out of North Korea detailing dozens of North Korea boats that had gone out in 2015 and not returned because they were going too far out to get more valuable catches (squid and sailfish). Apparently over 150 North Korean fishermen disappeared off the east coast in 2015. Making this worse, the North Korean government is doing nothing to alleviate this situation. People in east coast fishing towns and villages are getting angry about all this. At the end of 2015 a number of very senior Indian officials went to Russia to meet with their counterparts there and one items at the top of the agenda was the continued reliability problems with the Su-30MKI jet fighters. Fifty of these Russian designed aircraft were built in Russia for India and the rest of the 272 aircraft order is being assembled locally. Deliveries should be complete by 2019 and at the moment India is not keen on ordering any more. There is a reason for that. India has been complaining out about these reliability problems since 2010 and the most telling statistic is the percentage of Su-30MKIs out of service for maintenance or repairs. Russia promised that this would only be about 25 percent, which is competitive with similar Western aircraft. India points out that in reality between 40 and 45 percent of the Su-30MKIs are out of service, many for reliability problems that Russia assured India would not happen. The impact of this lower availability means that of the 210 Su-30MKIs India has only about 126 are available to fight rather than the 157 Russia promised. That means 31 fewer Su-30MKIs available to use in wartime. That is a significant loss and India is demanding a solution. Most of the problems are related to engines and Russia says it has narrowed most of the problems down to difficulties related to ball bearings. The engines are also assembled in India, using Russian and Indian made parts. Russia has devised several fixes for the engine problem but the readiness (for combat) rate of the Su-30MKI has not changed. India is demanding that Russia allow Indian firms to manufacture many more spare parts. Russia does not like to do that because spare parts are more profitable than the aircraft. The Indian Air Force has lost five of its Russian designed Su-30MKI jet fighters since 2009. In 2011 the commander of the Indian Air Force took an hour-long flight in one of India's Su-30MKI to reassure Indian pilots that the Su-30MKI was safe. Two had crashed in 2009, due to mechanical failures and there were widely publicized reliability problems with the engines and many of the other Russian designed and built components of the aircraft. There have been two losses since 2013. Indian pilots are understandably nervous about the safety of the many Russian warplanes they fly. The MiG fighters India used since the1960s are much more dangerous but the more recent Su-30 models were believed to be a lot safer than they turned out to be. Russian efforts since then to fix the problems have not reassured Indian pilots or politicians and India is running out of patience. Its not just mechanical problems. In 2012 India went public with yet complaints about an unspecified "design flaw" in the electronic flight control system for the Su-30MKI. There were also problems with ejection seats and several other components of the new Russian stealth fighter (the T-50) which India is helping to develop. All this has led India to negotiate a deal to buy 129 French Rafale fighters and hope that this would persuade the Russians to improve the reliability of Russian aircraft. Russia insists that it has the T-50 problems under control but the Indians are unconvinced and threatening to withdraw from helping pay for development and buying over 150 of the T-50. Privately Russia blames many of the reliability problems on poor Indian maintenance and construction practices. India is more open about describing the Russians of being incapable of matching Western reliability standards. The widespread adoption of the Internet since the 1990s has had some unexpected side-effects. For example it has become much more difficult to confirm casualty figures in most wars today because the violence has become increasingly intolerant of journalists. Before the Internet it was different with all sides in wars eager to get their version of the story out and that meant tolerating the presence of journalists. But with the Internet you dont need journalists present in the combat zone. In fact those reporters are often a liability as they tend to report what is really happening rather than the version each side prefers. The Internet has become the mass media for Islamic terrorists. This was not obvious to Islamic terrorists right away. Initially Al Qaeda found it had little success using the Internet to influence people who are not already fans of Islamic terrorism. Most Moslems will at least read Internet postings by Islamic terror organizations, but the real power of the Internet proved to be as a means attracting and regularly communication with the small community of Moslems who do support Islamic terrorism. This is a big help for recruiting, fund raising, and organizing attacks and other atrocities. Using the Internet is not without its dangers. Most Islamic terrorists are Arabs and Arabs have a thing about telling, creating, and believing outrageous rumors. Some counter-terror organizations took advantage of this by taking seemingly plausible, scary, and damaging (to terrorist operations) stories they found on the net and spreading them among a large number of pro-terrorist web based groups. This is disinformation, and is an ancient technique. Ancient scriptures mention its use. The new wrinkle here is that the counter-terror organizations that are monitoring terrorist, or pro-terrorist web sites, chat rooms and listservs, note those bits of scary misinformation that seem to be the most popular. Sometimes calling in an Internet expert, the counter-terror people cook up even scarier variations on the initial rumor, and make sure all of them get spread around as much as possible. The Islamic terrorists and their fans have a hard time doing this, because many of the Islamic terrorist meeting spots on the web are kept secret, lest they be discovered by security officials and shut down. But most major Western intelligence agencies have an extensive list of these sites, a larger list than any Islamic terrorist has. New discoveries are shared among different countries, and when a particularly exploitable new rumor shows up, it gets a boost from the infidels. Despite these problems Islamic terrorists have found that depending on the Internet, rather than mass media, to get the message out is a much more efficient the Islamic terrorists. At the very least, no one can shut you down while traditional newspapers, radio and TV are still vulnerable. by Austin Bay January 12, 2016 President Barack Obama has a penchant for declaring peace. For example, his second inaugural, delivered in Jan. 2013: "A decade of war is now ending," he said. "An economic recovery has begun." That speech echoed remarks he made on Jan. 5, 2012. Prepping for the presidential election, the president asserted, "Even as our troops continue to fight in Afghanistan, the tide of war is receding." Looming peace was a central campaign theme. In a column written right after Obama's 2012 remarks, The Washington Post's David Ignatius argued that Obama "was declaring that the era that began on Sept. 11, 2001, is over. Al-Qaida's top leader is dead, and most of its cadres are on the run; secret peace talks are under way with the Taliban. And across the Arab world, the United States is talking with Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist organizations that a few years ago might have been on terror lists." Yes -- what could possibly be wrong with this picture? Ignatius tied Obama's statement to the administration's strategic "pivot" to the Pacific. Could be. However, a world of more peace and less war was an insistent perception Obama undeniably encouraged, and he certainly implied he shared credit for producing it. Several analysts make the case that the outright number of wars on the planet began to decline around 1990. It does depend on what constitutes a war. 1990 is roughly the end of the Cold War. In 1991, the U.S. conducted Operation Desert Storm and made Saddam Hussein pay for invading Kuwait. The Great Congo War, which exploded in 1996, halted the downtrend. That tragedy killed five to six million; no one knows the exact figure. Though Congo's war still flickers, the worst of it lapsed in early 2003. Despite war in Iraq, the global downtrend in conflict deaths accelerated and continued -- for just about a decade. OK, a shift in a global trend takes time to assess, but by 2012, the downtrend was questionable. The Arab Spring revolts in Libya and Syria added to the death toll. StrategyPage argues that by 2014, the "tide of war" was rising and that continued in 2015. StrategyPage's editor James Dunnigan began his most recent assessment of wars around the world (published Jan. 1) with precisely this point: "Since 2014, a decade of declining violence reversed and terrorism deaths were up by about 20 percent." Dunnigan fingered the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and Boko Haram in Nigeria as the chief culprits for the increase in deaths due to terrorism. They are both Salafist organizations, and they are on terror lists. Talk didn't tame them. The report analyzed over 30 conflict regions and explores many of the small wars afflicting them. (See: http://strategypage.com/qnd/wars/articles/20160101.aspx.) Dunnigan noted that Islamist terrorism is a global phenomenon. Islamist terrorists "export" war because they see the planet as one big battlefield. However, he also made an important point for anyone interested in pursuing peace on the planet. Though Islamist terrorism receives extensive media coverage, it is not the planet's top killer. The "small wars that get little media attention" beyond their own regions are the real slaughterhouses. StrategyPage estimated that these so-called "small wars" cause over 80 percent of global combat-related casualties (dead and wounded). StrategyPage treats Mexico's battle with drug cartels as a low-level but spectacular war. Over time, however, low-level war spills lots of blood. Since early 2007, an estimated 85,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug war-related violence. If drug-war related violence sounds like a murky notion, it is, but it is a murky war. The assessment also speculates on potential conflicts. China's island-building scheme in the South China Sea could ignite a war because it "violates international agreements ... and is becoming more aggressive." Perhaps more ominously, "China is applying the same tactics against India along their 4,000 kilometer land border." China and India fought a border war in 1962. With or without a U.S. pivot to the Pacific, if the Sino-India war reignites the tide of war would be a tsunami. A new year finds most Yemenis fed up with Yemen. The Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 seemed to be working at first as a long-time dictator was forced out of power by 2012 and there seemed to be hope that decades of crippling corruption and bad government would end and Yemen would become more livable. That did not happen. Tribal loyalties still counted in Yemen and the fighting continued. Shia tribes in the north wanted autonomy as did Sunni tribes in the south. The deposed dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, still had many supporters in the government and he was also a Shia with links to the rebellious Shia tribes. Iran was also supporting the Shia tribes, something it did not admit until the Shia rebels were obviously winning in 2014. In the south Islamic terrorists were taking advantage of the turmoil to establish bases among tribes that supported Islamic radicalism. When it seemed like the Shia tribes to take control of the entire country in early 2015, the Sunni Arab neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, invaded. The fighting continues and even after the Shia tribes are defeated the Shia will still be angry as will many of the Sunni tribesmen who are now supporting the government. In 2016 more Yemenis are seeking a way out of Yemen than a way to save it. In Yemen hope has also been a casualty of all the fighting. Overall about 6,000 have died in the major fighting that broke out in early 2015. Half of the dead have been civilians. In the southwest (Taiz) pro-government forces are still unable to break the Shia siege of Taiz city. Enough Shia rebels remain in the area to block aid attempting to reach civilians and pro-government forces in the city. For months it was believed that the Shia resistance wouldnt last much longer because Shia strength in the province and territory held has been gradually shrinking since August 2015. The Arab air strikes had been constant and pro-government tribes cut regular access to rebel held bases outside Taiz. But the Shia resistance continued in Taiz because the province has a lengthy Red Sea coastline which enables smugglers to bring in weapons and other aid for the Shia rebels even though the rebels lost control of most of the Taiz coast. This made smuggling operations along the Red Sea coast more difficult but obviously not impossible. There are Red Sea smugglers who will (for a much larger fee) get stuff in. Meanwhile most government forces are involved with the effort to capture the national capital (Saana). The siege pf Taiz city has been going on for over five months and tribal leaders are demanding more help from the government to end it. Over 1,500 civilians have died in the city and UN supply efforts are blocked by the Shia gunmen. Saudi Arabia is trying to expand the coalition it formed in early 2015 to help Yemen. Thus un mid-December Saudi Arabia announced the formation of an anti-terrorist organization (the Islamic Military Alliance or IMA) initially composed of 34 Moslem nations including Somalia as well as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Chad, Comoros, Cote dIvoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Qatar, the Palestinians, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, the UAE (United Arab Emirates), and Yemen. All the initial members are largely Sunni. Some nations are not welcome, like Iran, Syria and Iraq. This is because the Sunni Gulf States (led by Saudi Arabia) are at war with Iran, which considers Syria and Iraq allies. Many IMA members are the recipients of Saudi financial assistance, so refusing to join the IMA was not considered fiscally prudent for Somalia. The only specific terrorist organization IMA is at war with is ISIL but Iran is implied. Iran is suffering a rare defeat in Yemen and is trying to delay the defeat of the Shia rebels until something can be done to distract or disrupt the Saudi led Arab coalition that has deprived the Shia rebels of the victory they seemed on the brink of a year ago. The UN hosted peace talks brought no peace so far but the UN is still trying. Both sides continue fighting and government forces are closing in on Sanaa, the national capital. As powerful as it is, the Arab coalition is dependent on popular support at home and that means keeping coalition casualties down. So the advance is deliberate and prudent. Nevertheless this conflict appears to be ending without addressing the corruption and bad government that have made the nation a bloody mess in the first place. Saudi Arabia has its lobbyists in the West working overtime to deal with Iranian supported accusations that the Saudi led Arab coalition air attacks in Yemen have killed so many civilians. The Iranians are working this angle as much as they can, along with accusations (mostly false) that Arab forces and their tribal allies are interfering with foreign aid efforts to desperately hungry or sick Yemeni civilians. Iran has been less successful defending the Shia rebels from all sorts of misbehavior accusations. When there is a war between Shia and Sunni things tend to get ugly. It is no secret that Arabs tend to be brutal when fighting each other and regularly treat civilians badly. The Saudis and other Arab states prefer to keep this out of Western media while continuing to operate as they always have. Western governments, although not most Western media, are cooperating as best they can regarding Yemen and looking the other way. January 12, 2016: UN sponsored Yemen peace talk that were supposed to begin on the 14th have been delayed for at least a week. Part of the problem is that former president Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to participate in the talks. Many factions in Yemen are still loyal to Saleh. January 11, 2016: Britain revealed that it does have some military personnel in Yemen, assisting the Arab coalition with intelligence work and identifying worthwhile targets for air attack. January 10, 2016: In the south (Aden) government forces, acting on a tip, raided an unused warehouse near the port and found tons of weapons and ammunition apparently smuggled in by AQAP. The increase government efforts to fight AQAP in Aden has led more civilians to report the suspected presence of AQAP men. AQAP Islamic terrorists based in Yemen declared, via an Internet message, that Saudi Arabia would suffer more terror attacks because of the recent (January 2nd) execution of over a dozen AQAP members. Saudi Arabia executed 47 people on the 2nd, including a prominent Shia cleric. That one death generated anti-Saudi demonstrations in Iran and an attack on the Saudi embassy. This led the Saudis to break diplomatic relations with Iran. AQAP has made several attacks in Saudi Arabia since 2014, mostly against Shia Moslems. Of the more than fifty people killed in these attacks Shia were the majority. But fifteen members of the security forces have also died. The Saudis responded by arresting hundreds of suspected AQAP supporters or members and prosecuting dozens of AQAP men for carrying out, or trying to carry out, attacks. In 2015 AQAP warned the Saudis to not execute any of their men and now AQAP has backed itself into a corner with this latest threat. Saudi forces are operating in Yemen, the last base area AQAP has access to. AQAP must be expecting some divine intervention because nothing else will protect them from Saudi forces now. That said, a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would take pressure off AQAP. January 5, 2016: In the south (Aden) an AQAP suicide car bomber attacked the newly appointed governor of Aden province. The governor was unharmed but one of the security guards was killed and eight other people were wounded. Further north Shia rebels claim to have killed an ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) leader in Taiz province. Most of the AQAP attacks against government officials are directed as officers involved in finding and attacking AQAP in Aden and elsewhere in the south. The Shia kill ISIL men wherever they find them because ISIL does the same for all Shia they come across. January 3, 2016: In the south (Aden) government forces fought AQAP gunmen in the port area for several hours. This led to 17 dead and after the battle was over a curfew was reinstated, at least for a few days. Inside Aden the growing number of AQAP men has enabled the Islamic terrorists to take control of some neighborhoods. The port area was particularly important for the Islamic terrorists because they can more easily get smuggled goods in if they have some control there. The government has been trying to clear AQAP held neighborhoods but there is not enough manpower right now to complete the job because most government forces are up north fighting the Shia rebels in the capital. January 2, 2016: The government forces declared the truce officially over. The truce began on December 15th but was observed by only a few units on both sides. The Saudis were particularly annoyed at the Shia continuing to fire ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia. None of these missiles hit anything of value mainly because Saudi anti-missile systems (U.S. Patriot PAC-3 missiles) were able to shoot down missiles that were headed for a populated area. The UN reported that 81 civilians died as a result of fighting in December, which was more than twice the number killed in November. For all of 2015 about 2,800 have died in the Yemen fighting. January 1, 2016: Pro-government tribal militiamen manning a checkpoint east of Aden got into a gun battle with a truckload of AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) men headed for Aden. Three militiamen and three of the six AQAP men were killed and the other three Islamic terrorists captured. One of the AQAP dead was an Islamic law judge in Mukalla. Most of the AQAP men in Yemen are east of Aden, mainly in Hadramawt province. AQAP rebels control the port city of Mukalla and most of Hadramawt and has been very active in sending men into Aden to stage assassination or bombing attacks. To thwart this the government has persuaded more of the local tribal militias to man checkpoints along the roads leading into Aden. December 31, 2015: Shia rebels fired several rockets into Saudi Arabia and killed three civilians and wounded eleven others. Most of the 14 casualties were children. December 30, 2015: Saudi Arabia said its air defense forces intercepted another ballistic missile fired from Yemen. The interception was outside Jizan city, which is 150 kilometers from the border. This would mean the missile was a SCUD as the SS-21 ballistic missiles the rebels also use only have a range of 70 kilometers. The Saudi Air Force reported that their aircraft quickly found and destroyed the launcher for the missile. Elsewhere on the Saudi border a Bharani F-16 crashed on the Saudi side of the border because of equipment failure. The pilot ejected safely and the wreckage is being examined to determine exactly what happened. December 29, 2015: In the south (Aden) a prominent judge, presiding over cases involving AQAP members, was assassinated by gunmen. AQAP was believed responsible as these Islamic terrorists have been identified in similar murders. Four Town players, including top scorer Edwin Ahenkorah and Liam Francis, arrived to the game late and this seemed to set the tone for the rest of the evening. Brad Hooper put the home side 1-0 ahead, firing home a thunderbolt into the top corner from 25 yards. The home side doubled their lead at the start of the second half when Charlie Griffin netted following a goalmouth scramble. And just as Town were enjoying their best spell of the game, Zak Kotwica found the bottom corner from the edge of the box to make it 3-0. Carl Adams' side are on the road again this Saturday when they head to Latimer Park to take on Kettering Town. Full match report and reaction in this week's Herald Wellesbourne Airfield Mr Lock, head master at Warwick School, said: I am certain that we have appointed a worthy successor to Guy Canning and that the junior school will continue to thrive in the years to come. The junior school has enjoyed unprecedented success with sustained growth and is a flourishing and happy school community. Wellesbourne Airfield Located within walking distance of Stratford Parkway Station, approximately a third of the site will remain as open space, enabling the provision of recreational areas and play space as well as the protection of local wildlife through habitat improvement. Vehicular access will be from Bishopton Lane and the Ridgeway, with further access points for pedestrians and cyclists. A new traffic light shuttle system is proposed on the Bishopton Canal Bridge which will include a pedestrian phase to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists crossing the bridge. There will be an extended bus service through the site connecting to the town centre. A spokeswoman for Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes said: We are pleased to submit this application to Stratford-on-Avon District Council. Our joint proposals will help meet the town and districts strategic housing requirements in an attractive new development in a sustainable location. We aim to build more than houses. We strive to create new communities and through the provision of a range of housing, a site for a primary school, contributions to local community facilities and infrastructure improvements we hope to achieve this at Bishopton Lane. The site is allocated in the Stratford-on-Avon Core Strategy Proposed Modifications (August 2015) under Policy SUA.4 (North of Bishopton Lane) to be delivered from 2016-2017. It lies outside the Green Belt and is not subject to any landscape designations. Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, speaks during the Sohn Investment Conference in New York May 4, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jeffrey Gundlach, the widely followed investor who runs DoubleLine Capital and was prescient in his call for lower oil prices in 2015, said on Tuesday that oil hit a short-term bottom and that stock and credit markets will struggle during the first half of the year. As oil prices per barrel flirted with the $30-mark on Tuesday, Gundlach told Reuters: "Fundamentals are lousy but the technicals call for a short-term bottom today. A short-term bottom is due today, actually." Gundlach, who oversees $85 billion at Los Angeles-based DoubleLine Capital, said the snowball effect of lower oil prices will prompt Standard & Poor's to launch a barrage of credit-rating downgrades. "It's already happening, in fact," he said. Gundlach has also said the U.S. economy faces a 30 percent chance of recession this year. "Commodity prices so weak suggest dwindling global growth," Gundlach said. Gundlach said weak nominal gross domestic product growth; falling commodity prices, especially in energy which portend higher corporate default rates; tightening financial conditions and higher financing costs for corporations will affect growth. In a webcast later on Tuesday, Gundlach said both stock and corporate credit markets will struggle during the first half of the year. Gundlach said if the strong rhetoric by Federal Reserve officials continue, the S&P 500 index will come under renewed selling pressure. "The stock market is having a hard time (after the December rate hike). This is not a time to be a hero," Gundlach said about buying dips. "I think we're going to take out the September low of the S&P 500." He said stock markets are likely to struggle early in 2016 before a "buying opportunity" later in the year. Gundlach also said it was: "Too early to be buying a lot of speculative credit." Gundlach said the Fed began its rate-tightening cycle in December because average hourly earnings were trending higher. He said Fed officials needed to dial back their rhetoric, given softness in global markets and economic growth. On the U.S. dollar, Gundlach said the U.S. dollar "has peaked out" for the near term. Gundlach also said he didn't recommend investments in China anytime soon. DoubleLine Capital posted a net inflow of $1.03 billion into its open-end mutual funds in December, marking the 23rd straight month of inflows. Those funds attracted $14.31 billion overall in 2015. The firm's flagship DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund, with $51.78 billion in assets, had a net inflow of $10.94 billion in 2015. (Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Andrew Hay and Sandra Maler) Matador Resources Company (NYSE: MTDR) announced full year 2015 production results and details for participating in the Companys Analyst Day scheduled to be held on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time in the Fort Worth Ballroom at the Westin Galleria Dallas hotel in Dallas, Texas. Full Year 2015 Production Results Matador is pleased to announce record oil, natural gas and total oil equivalent production for full year 2015. During 2015, the Company produced approximately 4.5 million barrels of oil, 27.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 9.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). These annual production numbers were the best in the Companys history for any single calendar year and were at the top of 2015 guidance metrics as revised upwards multiple times during the year from initial guidance for oil and natural gas production of 4.0 to 4.2 million barrels and 24.0 to 26.0 billion cubic feet, respectively, on February 5, 2015 to final guidance of 4.4 to 4.5 million barrels and 27.0 to 28.0 billion cubic feet, respectively, as updated on November 4, 2015. Compared to 2014, Matadors 2015 oil production increased 35% from 3.3 million barrels to 4.5 million barrels, its 2015 natural gas production increased 81% from 15.3 billion cubic feet to 27.7 billion cubic feet and its 2015 total oil equivalent production increased 55% from 5.9 million BOE to 9.1 million BOE. The Company is particularly pleased with these results given the challenging operating and commodity price environment in 2015 and especially considering the reduction in its drilling program from five rigs to two rigs during the first quarter of 2015, returning to three rigs in late July for the balance of the year. Matadors 2015 production numbers were at the top of its guidance despite being impacted somewhat by the winter storms in West Texas and New Mexico during the last week of the year, which resulted in much of its Delaware Basin production being shut in for several days. This production is currently back on line. Financially, as evidenced by the Companys performance through the first three quarters of the year, Matador expects 2015 to be one of the best years in its history despite low commodity prices. Analyst Day Details Matador is operating three drilling rigs in the Delaware Basin, as it has been since late July 2015, and it currently plans to run three rigs in this area throughout 2016. Matador is, however, evaluating any number of scenarios as it finalizes its drilling plans and capital budget for 2016 in light of current commodity prices, including possibly dropping one rig temporarily in 2016. From a financial perspective, at December 31, 2015, the Company had over $50 million in cash and no borrowings outstanding under its revolving credit facility. As Matador works to preserve its liquidity position and manage its debt profile, it will continue to consider a full range of alternatives to cover a portion or potentially all of the anticipated outspend in its 2016 capital investment plans, including the sale of non-core assets in certain of its operating areas, certain midstream assets or certain other assets or joint ventures to develop or to explore certain portions of its acreage position. Management plans to provide its 2016 operational plan, capital budget and forecasts, plus an update on its ongoing operations and continued improvements in drilling, completion and production techniques in each of its focus areas, at the Companys Analyst Day scheduled to be held on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time in the Fort Worth Ballroom at the Westin Galleria Dallas hotel, 13340 Dallas Pkwy, Dallas, Texas 75240. The presentation will conclude with a question and answer session for those in attendance. Individuals who are unable to attend in person can participate in the live conference call or via virtual webcast. Following the presentation, lunch will be provided. To access the Analyst Day conference call in a listen-only mode, domestic participants should dial (855) 875-8781 and international participants should dial (720) 634-2925. The participant passcode is 25027629. To access the virtual webcast, participants should use the following link: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/gsoor954. All details can be accessed through the Companys website at www.matadorresources.com on the Presentations & Webcasts page under the Investors tab. A replay of the Analyst Day conference call will be made available through Friday, February 26, 2016 via webcast. A link to the replay webcast will be available through the Companys website at www.matadorresources.com on the Presentations & Webcasts page under the Investors tab. A copy of the Companys Analyst Day presentation will be available prior to the event through the Companys website at www.matadorresources.com on the Presentations & Webcasts page under the Investors tab. The Company has limited space to attend this event in Dallas and reservations will be required. All inquiries to attend in person should be directed to Mac Schmitz at [email protected]. Analyst Day Follow-up Conference Call Management plans to host a live follow-up conference call at 3:30 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, February 3 following the Companys Analyst Day presentation for anyone who has additional questions. To access the conference call, domestic participants should dial (855) 875-8781 and international participants should dial (720) 634-2925. The participant passcode is 25505768. To access the virtual webcast, participants should use the following link: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/bshpb4om. All details can be accessed through the Companys website at www.matadorresources.com on the Presentations & Webcasts page under the Investors tab. A replay of the Analyst Day follow-up conference call will be made available through Friday, February 26, 2016 via webcast. A link to the replay webcast will be available through the Companys website at www.matadorresources.com on the Presentations & Webcasts page under the Investors tab. U.S. President Barack Obama walks down the colonnade from the Oval Office at The White House in Washington, January 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert (Reuters) - President Barack Obama knocked Republican presidential candidates for anti-Muslim rhetoric and accused critics on Tuesday of playing into the hands of Islamic State in a speech aimed at setting an optimistic tone for his last year in office. Obama, delivering his last State of the Union speech to Congress before leaving office next year, said it was fiction to declare the United States was in economic decline or getting weaker on the international stage. In a direct slap at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, Obama said insulting Muslims hurt the United States and "betrayed" its identity. "When politicians insult Muslims ... that doesnt make us safer," he said, drawing applause from the crowd in the House of Representatives chamber. "Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals." EARLIER DEVELOPMENTS (ALL TIMES ET) 10:52:30 PMIn the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley took a softer tone on immigration than the harsh rhetoric often heard from her party's presidential candidates. "Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America," Haley said in a speech delivered from Columbia, the state capital. Following Obama's lead, she appeared to use the speech as an occasion to respond to Donald Trump, the front runner for the Republican nomination who has called for a ban on allowing Muslims to enter the United States. "Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference," she said. "That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference." Haley's speech was praised by both sides of politics. Former Obama strategist David Axelrod tweeted: "Really effective speech by @nikkihaley. Avoided the Response to SOTU curse." Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Haley, who is being touted as a possible Republican running mate, tested well with voters. "This is the highest we've ever tested a #SOTU response." 10:25:44 PMPresident Obama wrapped up his final State of the Union address with a forceful statement of confidence in the future of the United States. "I believe in change because I believe in you," Obama said in his closing remarks, generating a standing ovation. "Thats why I stand here as confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong." Obama received about a dozen standing ovations during his address, but just a handful were fully bipartisan. In addition to the standing ovation that greeted the entry of First Lady Michelle Obama, the other bipartisan applause moments came after his comments on cutting red tape and outdated regulations, when he announced Vice President Joe Biden would lead a cancer moonshot initiative and when he lauded the U.S. military as the finest fighting force in the world. Several more moments won big applause from the Democratic side of the chamber. Those included Obama's remarks on: * Making college affordable * Food stamps not causing the financial crisis * Biden securing new resources for National Institutes of Health * His administration's clean energy achievements * The Islamic State not being representative of one of the worlds largest religions * His request for new authorization to use military force * Terrorists finding that Americans have long memories and the U.S. reach has no limits * His assertion that "we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS 9:52:13 PMTwitter traffic on the hashtag #SOTU has exploded since President Obama started delivering his final State of the Union address, with more than 761,000 tweets using the tag, up by roughly 500,000 since Obama's speech began. Jeers at House Speaker Paul Ryans lack of participation counted heavily among the tweets. According to social media analytics firm Zoomph, #PaulRyan was among the top hashtags during the speech. Ryan appeared only to have applauded Obama when the president mentioned U.S. military personnel. Author and New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) tweeted: "After curing cancer, we should cure the problem that prevents Paul Ryan's hands from joining even for things he agrees with. #SOTU." 9:38:26 PM While President Barack Obama was widely expected to focus on gun control in his final State of the Union address, the word "gun" appeared just once in the prepared text of his speech when he quickly summarized several proposals he's already made. Obama symbolically had a chair left empty in the box where First Lady Michelle Obama was sitting in honor of those who have died from gun violence. The hashtag #EmptySeat was trending heavily on Twitter in response to the gesture. The single reference to "gun" compared with four mentions of "climate change" and 15 to the "economy." Obama apparently has delivered on his promise to keep this year's speech shorter: The text of his speech unofficially comes in at 5,438 words versus 6,776 in his 2015 speech. 9:22:21 PM The White House released a post (http://bit.ly/1Q3P2oz) by Vice President Joe Biden explaining his new task, heading an initiative to find a cure for cancer. President Barack Obama was expected to detail Biden's role during the State of the Union speech Tuesday night. "I know that we can help solidify a genuine global commitment to end cancer as we know it today and inspire a new generation of scientists to pursue new discoveries and the bounds of human endeavor," Biden wrote. 9:13:00 PM President Barack Obama has entered the U.S. House of Representatives to deliver his final State of the Union speech as U.S. commander in chief. Obama has taken the podium and has begun. He promises to keep this speech, his eighth, "a little shorter," joking that many in the audience need to get to Iowa, site of the first U.S. party caucuses ahead of November's presidential election. According to an advance text of his speech, he will rebuff talk from critics that America is in economic decline as "political hot air." 9:04:57 PM President Barack Obama will call on Congress to end the practice of drawing congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters. Too many Americans feel "the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest," Obama said, according to a copy of the speech released by the White House. First Lady Michelle Obama has arrived in the House chamber for her husband's final State of the Union address, wearing a mustard-colored dress. Members of Obama's cabinet have also arrived, as have the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. 8:56:55 PMThe White House has posted the text of President Obama's speech (http://bit.ly/1nh7MFI) and he will describe ISIS militants as "killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed." Separately, however, he said claims that the ISIS fight is World War III are "over the top." Still, he urged Congress to pass authorizations to use military force against ISIS. Obama is also expected to say that Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Beau died from a brain tumor, will lead a new effort to make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. 8:49:53 PM U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has entered the House of Representatives chamber ahead of President Obama's State of the Union address, shaking hands with several of members as he arrived. House Speaker Paul Ryan, attending his first State of the Union in his new capacity, greeted the vice president as he walked up the steps. "How's it going Joe?" Ryan said. The two men aren't strangers. They debated during the 2012 campaign as the respective vice presidential nominees for their parties. Also spotted on the House floor: Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Obama, meanwhile, is enroute to Capitol Hill from the White House. The White House posted video on Snapchat of him climbing into his car, nicknamed The Beast. 8:36:29 PMWith about 30 minutes to go until the State of the Union, social media traffic was heavy, with the hashtag #SOTU tweeted more than 171,000 times. Other top hashtags on Twitter, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph, include #kimdavis, referring to the woman who was jailed last year over the same-sex marriage license controversy but then invited to the speech. Also in the mix were #tcot, referring to "Top Conservatives on Twitter" and #P2, a hashtag for progressives. Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson took to Twitter to criticize Obama for speaking while American military members were being held in Iran. "When President Obama takes the stage tonight, there will still be 10 United States military members being held captive by Iran," Carson tweeted. 8:26:15 PMPresident Barack Obama has no plans to speak about the Iranian seizure of U.S. Navy sailors in his final State of the Union address, CNN reported Tuesday. "There are no plans to address this issue," White House communications director Jen Psaki said in a CNN interview. "He's tracking this closely, hes following this closely but the State of the Union will not be about this issue." The president will, however, "absolutely" tout the nuclear deal he reached with Iran and other world powers last year, she said. In the latest development on the seizure, a U.S. defense official said plans were in place for Iran to return the 10 sailors to a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday. 8:05:43 PMPresident Barack Obama on Tuesday urged U.S. leaders to "fix our politics" and lift Americans' standard of living in a final State of the Union speech designed to contrast his vision for the country with Republican presidential campaign rhetoric. Obama, who is delivering his last annual speech to Congress before leaving office next January, said political discourse was meant to be messy, but - in an apparent nod to proposals by Republican candidates such as Donald Trump - required "bonds of trust" between citizens.Obama's speech, scheduled for 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT on Wednesday), is one of his few remaining chances to capture the attention of millions of Americans before the Nov. 8 election of a new president who will take office next January. 7:52:40 PM In the latest teaser leading up his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama touted his record on the economy and health care. "More than 14 million jobs, nearly 18 million people now with health coverage -- together, we've pulled ourselves out of yesterday's crisis to put us on a stronger course for tomorrow," Obama said in the message posted at www.whitehouse.gov. Still, Obama said his speech will stay focused on the future. "Tonight I'll lay out a vision for an economy that's even stronger, a country that's safer, and a union that's more perfect. "Because with one year left in my presidency, I'm still fired up and ready to go." 6:59:43 PM In the White House's latest Snapchat clip ahead of the State of the State speech, Edith S. Childs, the retired nurse who coined President Obama's notable "Fired up" campaign chant in 2008, is shown singing the refrain. Wearing a cream-colored suit and pumping her fist, Childs is featured on The White House Official Snapchat Story singing: "Fired up! Ready to go!" again and again. Childs will be a special guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. 06:43:51 PM President Barack Obama is set to tell Americans on Tuesday that while the country faces extraordinary change, the nation can overcome the challenges it faces if Americans come together, the White House said. "It will only happen if we fix our politics," Obama will say, according to excerpts of his State of the Union address provided by the White House. "The future we want - opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids - all that is within our reach," will say. 6:16:53 PMPresident Barack Obama made a brief appearance on Facebook on Tuesday as he finalized the text of his last State of the Union address. The president, sitting at his desk, said he was making last minute changes and added touches to his speech. "There's a lot of work that still needs to be done," Obama said, adding that he wanted to make sure that the American people understood his proposals. "We've got some big choices ahead," he said. 6:06:01 PM Hardly a quiet few hours for the White House in the run up to President Obama's swan song State of the Union address later on Tuesday. As the president goes through his final preparations for the speech: Iran has taken 10 sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats into custody, although Iran has told the United States that the crew members will be "promptly" returned, U.S. officials said. And at least 145 congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, are condemning the Obama administration's immigrant deportation efforts. 6:00:01 PM Ahead of his final State of the State speech, the White House tweeted that President Barack Obama would share a few thoughts live on Facebook before the event. Obama's speech before a joint session of Congress is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, indie rock band EL VY was gearing up for the pre-speech performance at 7:45 p.m. ET. The White House posted clips of the band's warm up on Snapchat. 3:59:38 PM U.S. President Barack Obama will talk about the prospects for self-driving cars in his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to government officials, the first time the president has used the annual speech to tackle an important issue facing the auto and technology industries. 2:27:44 PM Millions of Americans were discussing President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address on Tuesday on top social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, debating anticipated speech topics such as gun control, terrorism and healthcare. 2:05:14 PM U.S. President Barack Obama voiced regret for failing to unite Washington since taking office on a wave of hope in 2009, as he prepared to give a State of the Union speech on Tuesday to launch his final year in the White House. Asked about his inability to heal America's political divisions, Obama told NBC's "Today" show, "It's a regret." The president planned to speak optimistically about America's future in his speech in Congress, one of his few remaining chances to capture and hold the attention of millions of Americans before the Nov. 8 election of a new president who will take office next January. The Democratic president will give his final State of the Union address as campaign rhetoric for November's presidential election intensifies with candidates fighting over illegal immigrants, wage inequality and violence. 9:00:22 AMPresident Barack Obama said he could envision Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump giving a State of the Union address - but in a comedy skit. In a "Today" show interview ahead of his final State of the Union address, the Democratic president was asked if he could envision Trump, the billionaire developer known for his bombastic style, making his own State of the Union speech as president. "Well, I can imagine it - in a 'Saturday Night' skit," Obama said, referring to the NBC's long-running late-night comedy show "Saturday Night Live." "Look, anything's possible. And I think, you know, we shouldn't be complacent." (Reporting by Reuters staff) General Electric (NYSE: GE) is planning to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years as the company as it moves to rebalance following the recent acquisition of Alstom's energy business. Cuts include 765 in France, though GE affirmed plans to create 1,000 net new jobs in the country, according to Reuters . Unions in France were informed of the move on Tuesday. Shares of GE are flat early Wednesday. Warren Buffett, Chairman, CEO and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway takes part in interviews before a fundraising luncheon for the nonprofit Glide Foundation in New York September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Senior U.S. Democratic lawmakers asked federal regulators to investigate whether Clayton Homes, the mobile home unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc , targets minority borrowers with discriminatory lending and collection practices. A letter on Tuesday from Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and fellow committee members Michael Capuano, Emanuel Cleaver and Keith Ellison called on the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to "pursue appropriate corrective action" against Clayton. It followed a report last month by the Seattle Times newspaper and online BuzzFeed News accusing the largest U.S. mobile home builder of exploiting black, Latino and Native American borrowers by driving them into subprime loans they cannot afford, and harming communities by repossessing homes after borrowers default. That report also claimed that Clayton's corporate culture condones racism, including against its own workers. The representatives said the "disturbing business model" described in the report was "highly problematic," in light of Clayton's "uniquely broad control of the manufacture, sale and financing of manufactured homes." Their letter was reported earlier by the Seattle Times. In a statement on Wednesday, Clayton said it was disappointed that the newspaper's reporting is being "accepted as fact rather than challenged as an unfortunate cobbling together of incomplete data and outlying anecdotes." Last month, the Maryville, Tennessee-based company "categorically and adamantly" denied discriminating against borrowers, and defended the practices of two lending arms, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc and 21st Mortgage Corp. "Race and ethnicity are never considered in pricing or structuring our loans," the company said. Clayton also said it does not tolerate discrimination against its workers. As of Sept. 30, Clayton borrowers were current on roughly 95 percent of their loans, Berkshire has said. Buffett did not respond on Wednesday to an email request for comment sent to an assistant. At Berkshire's annual meeting last May, Buffett said he made "no apologies whatsoever" about Clayton's "exemplary" lending. He spoke in response to a question about an earlier Seattle Times story saying that Clayton trapped borrowers into unaffordable loans on depreciating homes. A CFPB spokesman said that the agency was reviewing Tuesday's letter and "takes allegations of discriminatory or predatory lending practices very seriously." The Justice Department was also reviewing the letter, a spokeswoman said. Berkshire bought Clayton for $1.7 billion in August 2003. The unit generates roughly 2 percent of overall pretax profit at Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, which owns close to 90 businesses, including the Geico auto insurer, BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream stores. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown) SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/12/16 -- Advantel Networks, a premier technology service provider, announced today the launch of its new corporate brand strategy and redesigned website. The new brand identity reflects the company's unique solutions integration approach and supports the company's overall core values. "Advantel is the solutions integrator that brings technology together and makes it all work," said Tom Brueck, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. "Our standards are higher. Our experience runs deeper. Our partners are leaders. At Advantel, we treat BEST as a practice." To support its new brand identity efforts, Advantel's redesigned website showcases the company's skill and passion of its employees and key competitive strengths as a top-notch solutions integrator. The new logo takes a warm, humanist design approach, underscoring the company's team spirit, confidence and personal touch. The visually powerful red-orange color of the logo, called "Golden Gate Bridge Orange," is an essential part of Advantel's brand identity and is a symbol of the company's strong connection to its Bay Area headquarters and California roots. "Our goal with the new brand strategy was to focus on Advantel's key point of difference -- our people," said Chris Atha, Vice President of Sales at Advantel Networks. "No other brand in our space can match our team's commitment to meeting critical business needs, or our people for their knowledge, expertise, and relentless desire and dedication to get it done." About Advantel Networks Advantel Networks is a premier technology provider that designs, implements and maintains powerful converged communication and data network solutions to businesses worldwide. For over 30 years, Advantel Networks has focused on reducing infrastructure costs and simplifying IT administration for SMB to Fortune 100 enterprises. Our company delivers critical business solutions and services, such as Security, Data Centers, Storage and Virtualization, Unified Communications, Contact Centers, Cloud, and Integrated and Managed Services. Advantel was recently named to The Channel Company's CRN Solution Provider 500 list, underscoring its value in the IT landscape. For more information, visit advantel.com. Press Contact: Jennifer Smith Marketing Communications [email protected] Source: Advantel Networks Alfa Laval will release fourth-quarter earnings on February 2nd at 07:30 CET. The telephone conference will start at 08:30 CET. LUND, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News: Alfa Laval (STO: ALFA): To join the telephone conference - hosted by Alfa Lavals President and CEO, Lars Renstrom, and CFO, Thomas Thuresson - sign up in advance via the link below. Once registered, you will receive a phone number, a participant pin and a conference pin. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the event. If you are having difficulties registering, contact Intercall at +44 (0)20 8288 5566. https://eventreg1.conferencing.com/webportal3/reg.html?Acc=543661&Conf=193701 You can also follow the conference call via a live webcast. A webcast link will be available on www.alfalaval.com/investors. If you want to listen to the replay, call +44 (0)20 7031 4064 or +46 (0)8 5052 0333, conference code 95 66 92. The recording will be available for 24 hours. After that, you can go to www.alfalaval.com/investors and watch and listen to an on-demand version of the webcast. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005442/en/ Alfa Laval Gabriella Grotte Tel: +46 46 36 74 82 Mob: +46 709 78 74 82 or Beata Ardhe Tel: +46 46 36 65 26 Mob: +46 709 36 65 26 Source: Alfa Laval SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- On Wednesday, February 3, 2016, Franklin Resources, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: BEN) will release its first fiscal quarter 2016 operating results at approximately 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Pre-recorded audio commentary on the results from Chairman and CEO Greg Johnson and CFO and Executive Vice President Ken Lewis will be available at approximately 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. They will also lead a live teleconference at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to answer questions of a material nature. Analysts and investors are encouraged to review the Company's recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and to contact Investor Relations at (650) 312-4091 before the live call for any clarifications or questions related to the earnings release or pre-recorded commentary. Access to the pre-recorded audio commentary and accompanying slides will be available via investors.franklinresources.com. The pre-recorded audio commentary can also be accessed by dialing (877) 523-5612 in the U.S. and Canada or (201) 689-8483 internationally using access code 7055790, any time through March 3, 2016. The live conference call will be held at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Access to the teleconference will be available via investors.franklinresources.com or by dialing (877) 407-8293 in the U.S. and Canada or (201) 689-8349 internationally. A replay of the call can also be accessed by calling (877) 660-6853 in the U.S. and Canada or (201) 612-7415 internationally using access code 13627935, after 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on February 3, 2016 through March 3, 2016. Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 150 countries. Through specialized teams, the Company has expertise across all asset classes -- including equity, fixed income, alternative and custom solutions. The Company's more than 600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With offices in 35 countries, the California-based company has more than 65 years of investment experience and over $763 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2015. For more information, please visit investors.franklinresources.com. CONTACT: Franklin Resources, Inc. Investor Relations: Brian Sevilla (650) 312-4091 Media Relations: Matt Walsh (650) 312-2245 investors.franklinresources.com Source: Franklin Resources, Inc. NEWTON CENTRE, Mass., Jan. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hebrew College is offering a new Master of Jewish Education concentration, a first-of-its-kind program that will focus on training educators to serve the growing needs of interfaith families. Funding for the development of this concentration was provided through a grant from the Crown Family. Innovative Program "This program is unique," said Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire, Hebrew College's Chief Academic Officer and Dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education and Jewish Studies Program. "It's the first accredited program of its kind. The growing number of intermarried and inter-partnered families need help accessing Jewish life and learning for themselves and their children. We recognize the critical need to establish a corps of skilled Jewish educators to educate and guide them, and we appreciate the Crown Family's support to help make it a reality." This new concentration will be a significant feature of Hebrew College's educator preparation program, and an integral part of the school's long-term mission to serve the ever-increasing diversity and complexity of contemporary Jewish life. Jewish Learning and Leadership for a Pluralistic World Hebrew College's new concentration is already garnering praise from leaders in organizations that serve culturally diverse families. "Our mission in reaching the pluralist Jewish community must encompass the growing numbers of interfaith families,"said Dr. Keren McGinity, a Research Associate at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, a Research Affiliate at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, Founding Director of the Love & Tradition Institute of Greater Boston, and an educator who specializes in Jewish intermarriage and gender. "In our diverse and blended society, we need a new approach to training educators who can help those families engage in Jewish life and learning, and Hebrew College is at the forefront in delivering on that need." Program Goals Students who matriculate in the program will gain the skills needed to develop new models of Jewish community education based on the needs and interests of intermarried families. The educators will be well-positioned to support a variety of organizations including congregations, community centers, Jewish day and supplementary schools, and Jewish camps in their initiatives for greater integration. "Our goal," said Rabbi Shire"is not only to support intermarried Jewish families, but to model integrative community education where there are diverse needs; to allow these families full access to, full participation in, and a sense of ownership of their community." As a cornerstone of their dissertation projects, students in the new Master's degree program will train in 'action research' research that the practitioners design and carry out to analyze and improve their practices. Students will engage in field placements devoted to the education of intermarried Jewish families, and will be mentored by field supervisors as well as Hebrew College's director of field placement. This real-world experience and guidance will position program graduates to assume key roles as leading educators for this rapidly growing segment of the Jewish community. Hebrew College's new interfaith degree concentration will begin in the fall of 2016. About Hebrew College Hebrew College promotes excellence in Jewish learning and leadership within a pluralistic environment of open inquiry, intellectual rigor, personal engagement, and spiritual creativity. The College empowers and inspires individuals to contribute their voices and vision to the Jewish community and to bring Jewish values to bear on the critical issues of our time. For more information, visit www.hebrewcollege.edu. Hebrew College 160 Herrick Road Newton Centre, MA 02459 617.559.8600 | 800.866.4814 www.hebrewcollege.edu Source: Hebrew College VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/12/16 -- True Gold Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE: TGM) ("True Gold" or the "Company") announces the appointment of Mr. Mark Tomek as a Director of the Company. Mr. Tomek is a senior member of Boston-based Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC ("LMM" or "Liberty Metals & Mining"), one of True Gold's largest shareholders. He will be replacing Mr. Stephan Theron as LMM's appointee to the True Gold board. The Company would like to thank Mr. Stephan Theron for his contributions to True Gold over the past 18 months. Mr. Tomek brings extensive experience in corporate finance, law and principal investing to the True Gold board. Prior to joining Liberty Metals & Mining, Mr. Tomek worked as an investment banker in Canada and England, focusing on mergers & acquisitions and mining, and practiced corporate and securities law in Toronto at a large Canadian law firm. Mr. Tomek holds an LL.B. from Dalhousie University (Schulich School of Law) and an MBA from the Ivey Business School. About True Gold True Gold Mining Inc. is where gold comes to life. We are committed to growing a successful gold production company, by focusing on projects with low costs, low technical risks and solid economics. The Company's board, management and technical teams have proven track records in gold exploration, development, and production worldwide. Additional information about the Company and its activities may be found on the Company's website at www.truegoldmining.com and under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Christian Milau, President & CEO Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: True Gold Mining Inc. Christian Milau President & CEO 604-801-5020 [email protected] www.truegoldmining.com Source: True Gold Mining Inc. FARGO, N.D., Jan 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ulteig Engineers, Inc. announces the appointment of Mike Dunham as vice president of field services. Mr. Dunham, an accomplished leader and senior project manager in the power transmission industry, will play a key role in organizing the company's field services offerings to better serve clients and optimize growth opportunities in the public and private sectors. Mr. Dunham joins Ulteig after a nearly 30-year career at Xcel Energy in a variety of roles. He started with the company in 1986 as a Rigger, Repairman/Welder. Through the years he has held positions with increasing levels of responsibility, most recently as Manager, Transmission Investment Development. He was a key delivery leader among the utilities who invested in CapX2020, the largest integrated development of new power transmission in the upper Midwest in nearly 40 years. "With an extensive track record of leading field service teams focused on both project management and construction services, Mike's strong credentials and professional relationships throughout the Midwest will be valuable assets to the organization," said Doug Jaeger, president of Ulteig. "Under Mike's leadership, we will be able to provide a dedicated focus to meet the unique needs of those field-based teams who serve our clients." Mr. Dunham has a Bachelor of Science in Management from Cardinal Stritch University and is completing a Master's in Engineering Management at St. Cloud State University. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and served four years in the United States Marine Corps. "Ulteig has a stellar reputation and a longstanding history of leveraging its deep client relationships to solve complex problems and generate value," said Mr. Dunham. "I'm delighted to work with such dedicated and passionate professionals and look forward to maximizing the high-growth potential of the Field Services team." About Ulteig Engineers, Inc.Ulteig Engineers, Inc. improves lives by providing the services that create more reliable connections. The company has become synonymous with quality design engineering, program management and land and civil services. Ulteig's footprint spans the nation and provides its expertise in multiple lifeline infrastructure sectors, including power (renewable/non-renewable), transportation and communications, to a wide range of public and private clients. For more information, visit www.ulteig.com and connect on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160112/321632LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ulteig-engineers-inc-names-mike-dunham-as-new-vice-president-field-services-300203479.html SOURCE Ulteig Engineers, Inc. A member of the Afghan Quick Reaction Force (QRF) fires a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher during an operation near the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, in this January 4, 2016 file photo. REUTERS/Anil Usyan/Files KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces have retaken a district in the north of the country, killing 30 Taliban fighters and capturing vehicles and weapons from the insurgents, the defense ministry said on Sunday. The recapture is a welcome piece of good news for government forces, which have struggled to contain the spreading Taliban insurgency since international troops wound up most combat operations at the end of 2014. Combined army, police and special forces units took back Darqad district, on the border with Tajikistan, in the early hours of Sunday, the defense ministry said. "A clearance operation is going on and the situation is under control," it added. The Taliban briefly captured the northern Afghan city of Kunduz last year and have overrun large parts of the southern province of Helmand, where the United States has launched air strikes and deployed special forces to help badly squeezed Afghan troops and police. The fighting has continued as Afghan and Pakistani officials, along with counterparts from China and the United States, prepare for meetings in Islamabad next week to lay the ground for possible peace talks with the Taliban. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) A man, carrying a French flag, passes by flowers, candles and messages left in tribute to victims near the Bataclan concert hall, one of the sites of deadly attacks, in Paris, France, November 26, 2015. REUTERS/Charles Platiau By Aziz El Yaakoubi and Philip Blenkinsop AIT OURIR, Morocco (Reuters) - A few weeks before she was killed in a raid by French special forces beside the suspected ringleader of last November's Paris attacks, Hasna Ait Boulahcen packed her bags and said her last farewells to relatives in Morocco. The 26-year-old Parisian's almost two-month-long trip to her father's home town of Ait Ourir proved to be one of the last stops on her journey from fun-loving party girl to devout Muslim - and possibly Islamist militant. Conversations with relatives and family friends shed light not only on her transformation but also on the role of Moroccan intelligence in helping services in France and Belgium trying to counter the threats of Islamist militant attacks. Ait Boulahcen's stay in Ait Ourir from early August until late September is now part of the investigation into the attacks which killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State, and has increasingly drawn in Morocco's intelligence services. On Nov. 18, five days after the Paris attacks, she and her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud were killed in a barrage of bullets when special services opened fire on the apartment she had led him to in the French capital, possibly as a hideout. Morocco provided the tip-off that enabled French police to locate Abaaoud, has been holding Abaaoud's brother Yassine since October and has issued an arrest warrant for Salah Abdeslam, who is suspected of taking part in the attacks and is on the run. A week after the attacks, French President Francois Hollande received King Mohammed of Morocco in Paris to thank him for Rabat's "efficient help". On Nov. 23, after it became clear some of the attackers had planned the attacks from Brussels and were of Moroccan origin, Rabat said Belgium's King Philippe had also called King Mohammed to enlist the help of the North African country's intelligence. "We are exchanging information with them on a very professional and very good level," said Alain Winants, who was head of Belgium's intelligence service from 2006 to 2014 and is now Advocate General at Belgium's Supreme Court. Morocco said on Monday authorities have arrested a Belgian national of local origin directly linked to the Paris attackers. Identified only by his initials, the suspect fought in Syria with al-Nusra before joining Islamic State, the interior ministry said. Security has been tightened in Ait Ourir, a dusty potato-growing town in central Morocco where Ait Boulahcen's father Mohammad has a modest concrete home. Relatives and neighbors told Reuters they had been questioned by police, who kept a close watch on the town from cars parked on many street corners. The Moroccan authorities have not said what their inquiries have thrown up but a relative in Ait Ourir told Reuters that Ait Boulahcen was accompanied by one of her brothers when she arrived in early August and the other brother joined them later. She was stopped at the airport when she flew in, one of her uncles said, but was allowed to enter the country when her father and an uncle gave the authorities their addresses. It was not clear why she was stopped or whether she was on any security watch list. Police did not comment. BIG CHANGE Ait Boulahcen, her brothers and a sister were born in France to their father's second Moroccan wife after his first marriage, which produced two daughters and a son, broke down. He returned to Morocco from France when his second marriage also collapsed. Relatives and neighbors saw a huge change in Ait Boulahcen this summer. She had ditched the modern clothes she wore during her first visit to see her father in 2013 and now had on the full face veil favored by more conservative Muslim women. "We had problems with her when she came the first time because she used to smoke and drink, and in our town it is shameful for a girl to act like that. She was so happy when she said she'd changed and was a good Muslim now," an uncle said. "She said she wanted to come back and get Moroccan identity papers and a passport," he said, without making clear how far she had got. He and other family members said they believed Abaaoud had exploited his cousin's naivete and led her astray. How close they were is unclear but Ait Boulahcen's half-sister, Nezha, said they had not discussed Abaaoud during her stay. Ait Boulahcen unwittingly led police to Abaaoud by speaking to him on her mobile phone, which was tapped as part of a drugs investigation. Police then saw her meet Abaaoud and lead him to the apartment where they and a third suspect were killed. French police located Abaaoud after they received a tip-off from Morocco that he may still be in France and honed in on Ait Boulahcen. Until then they thought he had fled the country. It is not clear why Abaaoud's younger brother Yassine has been held since landing in Morocco in October. Their father, Omar Abaaoud, declined comment. LONG HISTORY OF COOPERATION European intelligence has cooperated with Rabat since guest workers from Morocco began arriving in the 1960s because monitoring them was impossible without knowledge of their culture and languages, Moroccan Darija and Amazigh, experts say. Morocco has stepped up its tracking of militant cells since Islamist attackers killed 17 people in Marrakesh in 2011. "Morocco has shown itself to be extremely reactive in passing on crucial information that has prevented terrorist attacks and whose value has been appreciated by countries targeted, ranging from France to Spain and the United States," said Moroccan scholar El Mostafa Rezrazi, author of a book on security cooperation between Morocco and Europe. A Moroccan security source said the foreign intelligence service DGED (Direction generale des etudes et de la documentation) has "operations" in Belgium but did not confirm estimates by experts that it has about 150 "contacts" there. Cooperation almost broke down in 2008 when Belgium asked the DGED to pull out three officers who had not kept it informed about their actions, and Rabat pulled out all of its agents. "That didn't last long because, with 600,000 Moroccans in Belgium, neither the Moroccan service nor the Belgian service could stay in a situation where there was no contact," said Winants, the former Belgian intelligence chief. "I went very rapidly to see my counterparts in Morocco and we started again on a new basis." CRITICISM BY RIGHTS GROUPS Cooperation between France and Morocco also dates back many years although relations were strained in 2014 when French authorities sought to question Abdellatif Hammouchi, the head of Morocco's domestic intelligence, over torture allegations. This led to Morocco suspending cooperation agreements with France, despite concerns in Paris that Moroccans and French of Moroccan origin were heading to Syria to train as jihadists. The two countries resumed cooperation in January 2015, after Islamist gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Moroccan officials estimate that 2,000 Moroccan fighters have joined armed groups in Syria and Iraq, including Islamic State and the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front, and about 200 have been jailed on their return home. But Morocco's experience of battling militancy dates back at least to the 1979-1989 Soviet-Afghan war, when hundreds of Moroccans went to Afghanistan to fight Soviet forces. A number of militants from Morocco or of Moroccan origin were arrested over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and were linked to other attacks such as suicide bombings that killed 33 people and 12 attackers in Casablanca in 2003 and the Madrid bombings that killed 191 people in 2004. The DGST domestic intelligence (Direction generale de la surveillance du territoire) has been accused by Moroccan and international human rights organizations of torturing suspects, including on behalf of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during President George W. Bush's "war on terror". Morocco has denied the charges. (Philip Blenkinsop reported from Brussels, Additional reporting by Morade Azzouz, Marie-Louise Gumuchian and John Irish in Paris, and by Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam, Writing by Patrick Markey and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Janet McBride) Coal trains approach Norfolk Southern's Williamson rail yard in Williamson, West Virginia at the border of Pike County, Kentucky May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Valerie Volcovici (Reuters) - U.S. railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corp (NYSE: NSC), which has repeatedly rejected Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd's (NYSE: CP) takeover bid, said it will consolidate its Virginia and Pocahontas units, to cut costs and support growth. The company said on Tuesday the two units will be consolidated to form a new Pocahontas division on Feb. 1. Norfolk said the move will affect management and staff positions based in Bluefield, West Virginia, but did not detail the number of employees who would be impacted. The company also said it was idling parts of its West Virginia Secondary, a 253-mile railway line between Columbus, Ohio, and central West Virginia due to steady declines in business in recent years. Norfolk has rejected Canadian Pacific Railway's multiple bids over the last month, saying the offers were "grossly inadequate". (Reporting by Anet Josline Pinto in Bengaluru; Editing by Siddharth Cavale) MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp (NYSE: SMC) said on Wednesday it is interested in acquiring SABMiller PLC's (NYSE: SAB) Grolsch and Peroni beer brands, its President Ramon Ang told Reuters. Anheuser Busch InBev SA (NYSE: ABI), which agreed to buy SABMiller for $100 billion plus, has been seeking potential bidders for Grolsch and Peroni, sources close to the process told Reuters last month. The biggest brewer in the Philippines joins a number of international suitors for the beer brands. San Miguel, which kicked off an aggressive expansion in 2008 to add power, mining, telecommunications, oil refining and infrastructure to its stable of food, beverage and beer businesses, continues to seek acquisitions to boost revenues. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Miral Fahmy) Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla delivers his state of the Commonwealth address at the Capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico April 30, 2015. REUTERS/Alvin Baez By Nick Brown and Megan Davies SAN JUAN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's creditors are not waiting for the island to make the first move in the next round of debt restructuring talks, discussing among themselves possible alternatives to a broad exchange offer being pushed by the U.S. commonwealth, several sources said this week. Facing $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, Puerto Rico is trying to solve an economic crisis before it hits substantial debt payments in May and July. Debt restructuring talks with creditors, which have slowed in recent weeks, are expected to pick back up this month, and Puerto Rican leaders have said they will propose a so-called superbond, a universal exchange offer available to many sets of stakeholders. But creditors holding some of the $13 billion in general obligation debt backed by Puerto Ricos constitution, as well some of the $15 billion of debt at its sales tax authority COFINA, have held preliminary restructuring talks without Puerto Rico advisers present, according to three sources close to the talks. Some holders of Government Development Bank debt were involved as well, two of the sources said. The talks are preliminary, sources said, and do not mean stakeholders are unwilling to listen to proposals from Puerto Rico, but they may indicate mounting resistance to a superbond. They also reflect skepticism that Puerto Ricos superbond pitch will come to fruition any time soon, two of the people said. Restructuring talks have moved slowly on the island, and there were no publicized meetings in the final weeks of 2015, when Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla focused mainly on lobbying unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress to pass legislative action on Puerto Rico, and on finding a way to avoid default on most of $1 billion of debt payments due on Jan. 1. Reorg Research, a restructuring industry publication, reported in November that general obligation and COFINA creditors were hoping to unveil their own plans to restructure Puerto Rico's debt, but with major debt payments due in May, pressure is now mounting for formal plans to be proposed. Sources indicated that local officials are attempting to schedule a meeting with creditors but the date is in flux and some sources doubt the talks will take place any time soon. The talks by general obligation and COFINA creditors could include a proposal that Congress grant Puerto Rico access to some form of bankruptcy, though it is too early to know for sure, said two of the sources. Under current federal law, the Caribbean island can neither declare bankruptcy itself nor put its municipal agencies into bankruptcy, to the chagrin of Governor Padilla, who says Puerto Rico needs a restructuring framework to enforce repayment cuts on hedge funds who bought its debt at steep discounts. Two of the sources said a creditor proposal would not likely include a superbond, with one adding that it would aim to allow more flexibility for different creditor sets to be treated differently. (Reporting by Nick Brown and Megan Davies; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) People carry furniture from their house after it was hit by a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah By Mohammed Ghobari CAIRO (Reuters) - Dozens of air strikes hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Thursday, in what residents described as the heaviest aerial attacks yet in nine months of war, days after a Saudi-led coalition trying to restore a Saudi-backed government ended a fragile ceasefire. The strikes pounded the presidential palace and a mountain military base to the south of the city, causing children and teachers in several schools to flee for their lives. "My classmate and I were at recess when a huge explosion hit the neighborhood. We ran to the side and she fell to the ground in fear," said Maha, a tenth grader in a Sanaa school. "Everybody was screaming and the administration got us together and called our parents to take us out. All the students were in a panic." There were no immediate reports of casualties. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Muslim allies which supports Yemen's embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has been fighting the Shi'ite Houthi movement, which controls the capital. Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to expand its influence. They deny this and say they are waging a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West. Almost 6,000 people have died in the conflict, nearly half of them civilians. United Nations-backed peace talks have yet to produce any substantial progress. Meanwhile, Yemen's pro-Hadi foreign ministry declared the representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights persona non grata after what it said were unfair statements, a news agency run by the Hadi government, sabanew.net, reported. "The work of the (U.N.) commission was a huge disappointment as it issued statements in line with the language of the rebels," the agency said, citing the human rights minister who also accused the body of overlooking "systematic violations" by the Houthis. In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said the move was "very regrettable". "We believe our office in Yemen has been doing an excellent job in very difficult conditions," said U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville, adding that U.N. officials would study the accusations made against the representative. NEW FRONT A new front opened in the civil war when forces loyal to Hadi landed by sea at the Red Sea port of Maydee in northern Yemen near the border with Saudi Arabia late on Wednesday, residents said. Northern Yemen is a Houthi stronghold. Hadi's forces attempted to push out from Maydee's port, pounded for weeks by air strikes and naval shelling, into the surrounding city, but ran into heavy Houthi resistance and landmines, residents told Reuters by telephone. Major General Adel Qumairi of the pro-government forces told Saudi-owned Arabiya TV that his forces had "completely taken control" of the city. But Yemen's state news agency Saba, run by the Houthis, quoted Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for forces allied to the group, as saying the advance had been met by "heroic resistance" that caused them "great material and human losses". Saudi Arabia on Saturday announced the end of a truce that had reduced fighting but had been repeatedly violated by both sides. The Saudi spokesman for the coalition, Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, told Al Arabiya that a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the kingdom overnight had exploded on launch. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelaty in Cairo and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Gareth Jones) DUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's foreign ministry denied Iran's accusation that Saudi warplanes had hit its embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Iran on Thursday said the warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen's capital on Wednesday night, an accusation that exacerbated tension between the major Shi'ite and Sunni powers in the region. "The coalition command confirmed that these (Iranian) allegations are false and void, stressing that it does not carry out any operations in the vicinity of the embassy or near it," a statement on the state Saudi news agency SPA said late on Thursday. It also urged diplomatic missions in Sanaa not to offer militias an opportunity "to use diplomatic missions' buildings in any military action." Residents and witnesses in Sanaa had told Reuters there was no damage to the Iranian embassy building. Yemen's foreign ministry also denied the embassy building had been targeted, according to the Saudi-allied, government-run state news agency, sabanew.net. The official foreign ministry source cited on sabanew.net said responsibility for the protection of diplomatic missions in Sanaa lay with the Houthi militia, who are in control of Sanaa, and their allies, forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. A growing diplomatic dispute between Riyadh and Tehran, triggered by Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric, has damaged the outlook for any resolution to the conflict in Yemen, where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shi'ite, Iran-allied Houthi movement. While Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to expand its influence, the Houthis deny this and say they are fighting a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West. Separately, SPA said late on Thursday that three people were killed and nine wounded when "military projectiles" fired from Yemen landed in the Saudi southwestern region of Jazan. (Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Dominic Evans) (Reuters) - The chief executive of rare disease drugmaker Shire Plc (NYSE: SHP) on Tuesday suggested that the company could achieve much higher cost savings from its planned $32 billion acquisition of Baxalta (NYSE: BXLT) than what was announced with the deal on Monday. Some Wall Street analysts expressed disappointment with a promise of annual operating cost savings of over $500 million. However, Flemming Ornskov, chief executive of Dublin-based Shire, said his style is to under promise and over deliver. "Our internal synergy goals are much higher," he said at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. He also said the agreement that ended a six-month pursuit of Baxalta was not driven by cost savings or lower taxes. "This is a growth play," he said. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bernard Orr) Riad Hijab, who was chosen by Syrian opposition groups as coordinator of a negotiating body to lead future peace talks attends a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 18, 2015. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser By John Irish and Marine Pennetier PARIS (Reuters) - The United States has softened its stance on Syria including the future of President Bashar al-Assad to accommodate Russia, opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said, warning the opposition would face a hard choice on whether to attend peace talks this month. Hijab, who was chosen in December as coordinator of the opposition negotiating body to lead future Syria talks, said the opposition still had disagreements with the Syrian government and the United Nations over the talks' agenda. "Sadly, there is very clear backtracking, especially from the United States, with regard to the agenda of the negotiations," Hijab said on Tuesday. "They want the creation of a government whereby the regime would leave us - the opposition - a few ministries." He said this U.S. backtracking had enabled the December U.N. resolution, which had a great deal of "holes and ambiguities". The U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Dec. 18 set out a two-year road map for peace talks, but failed to address the issue of Assad's future. "The Russians and Americans did not cite Assad (during the negotiations) and did not talk about his departure and that is clear backtracking," he said. "When (President Barack) Obama said he (Assad) had no legitimacy, Kerry was making concessions." It also called for an end to the bombing of civilians and on the parties to allow aid workers unhindered access throughout Syria, particularly in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. He took specific aim at the U.S. administration and President Obama over his policies, including proposals to create a no-fly zone to protect Syrians and his handling of Assad's chemical arsenal. "Obama didn't want (a no-fly zone) .. (and) with the red lines on chemical weapons, he took out the weapons, but not those who used them. I don't think history will forgive Obama." DIFFICULT CHOICE The peace talks are scheduled to be held under U.N. auspices in Geneva on Jan. 25. However, with the continued bombing of civilians, Syrian towns being besieged with some citizens starving to death, and differences on the agenda, the prospects of holding the talks to end the five-year-old war appear complicated. "The choice is extremely difficult," Hijab said when asked if the opposition would attend the talks. "If we don't go to the negotiations they will say we don't respect the U.N. resolutions, but our people are being bombed and starved. "If the negotiations are not well prepared they will fail," he said, warning that failure would mean more refugees heading to Europe and more moderates turning to extremism. "If we go and they fail, it would be catastrophe for Syrian society and it would be the world that pays the price." He said there were still disagreements with the United Nations and the Syrian government over the agenda of the talks, primarily the transitional governing body. A senior Western diplomat also said the differences among regional and international actors as well as rivalries among opposition groups was playing into Syrian government hands. "In December 2013 (former negotiator) Lakhdar Brahimi said he was obliged to show something was being done when all sides were not ready for talks. I fear that two years later we will reach the same conclusion. I regret it, but for me I have already seen this happen," the diplomat said. (Reporting By John Irish and Marine Pennetier; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Ralph Boulton) UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): January 7, 2016 US HIGHLAND, INC. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Oklahoma 000-54624 26-4144571 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.) 5930 Royal Lane, Suite E211, Dallas, TX 75230 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (918) 558-1358 N/A (Former name or former address, if changed since last report) With a copy to: Philip Magri, Esq. Magri Law, LLC 2642 NE 9th Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334 T: 646.502.5900 F: 646.826.9200 [email protected] www.SEClawyerFL.com www.MagriLaw.com Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below): Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangement of Certain Officers. Resignation of Josh W. Whitaker On January 7, 2016, Mr. Josh W. Whitaker informed the Board of Directors of US Highland, Inc., an Oklahoma corporation (the "Company"), that he was resigning, effective immediately, as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and from its Board of Directors, as well as an executive officer and director of the Company's two subsidiaries, USH Distribution Corp., a Nevada corporation ("USH"), and Powersports Brands Alliance, Inc., a Nevada corporation ("PBA"). Mr. Whitaker's resignations were not due to any disagreement with the Company, USH or PBA on any matter relating to their respective operations, policies or practices. As required under Form 8-K, the Company has provided Mr. Whitaker with a copy of the disclosure made by the Company in response to this Item 5.02 insofar as it pertains to his resignations and has provided him with the opportunity to furnish the Company with a letter stating whether he agrees with such disclosure or, if not, stating the respects in which he does not agree. The Company has filed Mr. Whitaker's letter as Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 8-K. Appointment of Kevin G. Malone On January 8, 2016, the Board of Directors of the Company appointed Kevin G. Malone as the President of the Company, to serve at the pleasure of the Board until his respective successor is duly appointed or until his earlier resignation or removal. Also on January 8, 2016, Mr. Malone was appointed by each of the Boards of Directors of USH and PBA as the President of USH and PBA, respectively, to serve at the pleasure of each Board until his respective successor is duly appointed or until his earlier resignation or removal. Mr. Malone (48 years old) has been serving as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since February 2013 and of each of the Boards of Directors of USH and PBA since their respective incorporations on September 23, 2015. From 1985 until his joining the Company in February 2013, Mr. Malone worked in the financial service industry. From March 2009 through October 2012, Mr. Malone served as head trader for R.F. Lafferty & Company, Inc. From January 2006 until March 2009, Mr. Malone worked in the same capacity at Westminster Securities Corporation. From December 2002 through January 2006, Mr. Malone worked for Aegis Capital Corporation. There is no material plan, contract or arrangement (whether or not written) to which Mr. Malone is a party or in which he participates or material amendment in connection with the triggering event or any grant or award to Mr. Malone or any modification thereto, under any such plan, contract or arrangement in connection with any event. Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits. Exhibit Number: Description: 99.1 Letter from Josh W. Whitaker to US Highland, Inc. 2 SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. US HIGHLAND, INC. Dated: January 13, 2016 By: /s/ Kevin G. Malone Kevin G. Malone President (Principal Executive Officer) 3 EXHIBIT 99.1 JOSH W. WHITAKER January 13, 2016 US Highland, Inc. 5930 Royal Lane, Suite E211 Dallas, TX 75230 Attn: Board of Directors Re: Item 5.02 Form 8-K Dear Board of Directors: I have reviewed and agree with the disclosure made by US Highland, Inc., an Oklahoma corporation (the "Company"), in response to Item 5.02 of Form 8-K insofar as it pertains to my resignation an executive officer and director of the Company and the Company's two subsidiaries, USH Distribution Corp., a Nevada corporation ("USH"), and Powersports Brands Alliance, Inc., a Nevada corporation ("PBA"). I consent to the Company's filing this letter as an exhibit to the Form 8-K. Very truly yours, /s/ Josh W. Whitaker Luke Day appeared in the Waitakere District Court after doing an indecent act in front of a young girl. A man described as a voyeuristic predator has again appeared in court after exposing himself to a teenage girl on a bus. Luke Tyron Day appeared in the Waitakere District Court after pleading guilty to doing an indecent act in a public place. The 28-year-old had only recently come out of prison for spying on women, including an 11-year-old girl, and making intimate recordings of them. He had hidden in female toilets at malls, restaurants and cinemas, so he could watch and film his victims. READ MORE: Recidivist peeper jailed At his sentencing in 2013, Judge Claire Ryan said she was concerned at the escalation of his offending and the "prowling and predatory nature" of returning to the same places. She said she believed he would repeat the behaviour on his release. "I do not consider just because you have been in jail means that you will be able to suppress your urges when you get out of jail," she said at the time. He was sentenced to 19 months imprisonment. When he appeared in front of Judge Alji Singh on Wednesday, his previous offending was described as "not very positive". The court was told that Day had taken steps to address his issues, but had recently been ejected from a counselling programme that was supporting him after they found out about his most recent charge. According to a summary of facts Day was on the bus with a 16-year-old woman when he did an indecent act in front of her which left her feeling "scared" and "unsafe". "You are considered to be at a high risk of re-offending and a high risk of harm to others unless you take rehabilitative steps," Judge Singh told Day. Judge Singh said home detention would "denounce and deter" Day's behaviour while ensuring he received proper counselling. He sentenced him to six months home detention, to be served at his mother's Mt Roskill home. Day was supported in court by his brother, sister-in-law, nephew and mother. Mark Farrell, left and Nikhil Caddy will be competing at the Papakura and Franklin Tractorpull on Saturday. The humble tractor will take centre stage at this weekend's Papakura and Franklin Tractorpull. The event was rained off before Christmas, but it will now take place on Saturday at the Opaheke Pony Club grounds in Papakura. Patumahoe's Lance Caddy will be lining up three of his Fendt tractors for the competition. Caddy owns Caddy Agriculture in Kingseat. "It's the first time (Tractorpull) is being run in this area, normally it's run down in the Waikato." Tractorpull New Zealand said the origins of the activity dated back to the 1860s. Farmers would challenge one another to prove who had the strongest horse. Today, tractors now pull computer controlled sleds and the tractor that pulls the furthest wins. Caddy's two sons will try to take out the title and he's unsure how the competition will go. "We're all learning and if we do well at it, we can go onto Fieldays." Caddy's family has been involved in agricultural contracting for more than 80 years. "We like supporting agricultural events in our area," he said. Tractor pulling had a large following around the country and an even bigger presence overseas, he said. "In America and Europe it's big, I think the top tractor in America has five Chevy motors hanging off it." There are different classes of tractors including standard, modified and super-modified tractors. The modified-tractors were the crowd pullers, Caddy said. "They're the ones that belch smoke and rear up on their front wheels and all that good stuff." He said many well-know tractor brands will be on display such as Fendt, John Deer, Ford, Massey Ferguson, David Brown and Hollands. "I hope the Fendt do well because I'm taking three of them." This weekend's free event was being held in a great area for a picnic, Caddy said. "It's a fun day, it's free and kids love machines, tractors and a bit of noise." Those who want to enter their tractor can enter online at tractorpull.co.nz. Gates open this Saturday at 9am on Opaheke Rd, Papakura. Tasmanian businessman Rob Woolley says his company TasFoods isn't involved in a new bid for Australia's biggest dairy, the Van Diemen's Land Company (VDL) Businesswoman Jan Cameron has announced plans to underwrite a rival bid for VDL, owned by the New Plymouth District Council and administered by Taranaki Investment Management Limited (TIML), which has provisionally been sold Chinese businessman Lu Xianfeng's company Moon Lake Investments. The $280 million binding offer, to buy the dairy company, is subject to approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), which is expected to make a decision this month. Mr Woolley said Ms Cameron was a friend, and called him as a courtesy, to tell him she was planning to announce the bid. READ MORE: * Australian-owned business enters the bidding battle for Tasmanian farms * Van Diemen's Land Company denies speculation the business is sold * Tasmanian Farms sale for A$280m can go ahead after council wins court case * Kiwi owners put Australia's biggest dairy farming operation on the market "I didn't get any detail and I didn't ask for any," Mr Woolley said. "TasFoods itself is not involved and not likely to be involved, as an investor." He said the company was currently concentrating on Meander Valley Dairy, which had been "a great little company for us" and was also looking at announcing other opportunities, possibly before Easter. "We just keeping working at it, if we can't make those acquisitions, we have a couple of projects we are building, from the ground up," Mr Woolley said. Tasmanian independent Denison MP Andrew Wilkie said pressure was building on the Federal Government, over the sale of VDL. Independent cross benchers, Nick Xenophon (SA), John Madigan (Vic), Jacquie Lambie (Tas) and Glenn Lazarus (Qld) have joined Mr Wilkie, in opposing the sale. The Greens have referred the proposed sale to a Senate committee Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the committee would seek submissions and details from a range of stakeholders around potential concerns. Mr Wilkie said it was scandalous the Federal Government had agreed to the sale. He said the 30,000 cow farm, on Tasmania's north-west coast, covered an area of 20,000 hectares, over 25 farms. Mr Wilkie said while the matter would not be decided by Parliament, the support of the cross benchers should ring alarm bells for the government. "I do hold out hope that political pressure is building, it won't be lost on the government, that half the Senate cross bench don't like it," Mr Wilkie said. "If the government is tuned into public sentiment, they would need to pay increasing attention to this." Mr Wilkie said the FIRB should reject the sale, on the same grounds as the Kidman property. "I would argue VDL is in the same league as Kidman, and for some of the same reasons it's such a big asset and genuinely of strategic importance to the country. "That VDL is owned currently by New Zealanders and that it is a Chinese investor seeking to purchase it are entirely irrelevant," he said. "The fact is this is a commercial asset of strategic proportions and it would be irresponsible in the extreme for the Government to miss this opportunity to bring VDL into Australian ownership." And Senator Xenophon has called for foreign takeover laws to be changed, to consider credible alternative local bids before a foreign takeover can be approved. Senator Xenophon was critical of the current process involving foreign takeovers. "The lack of transparency in the current process is a shocker," he said. Senator Xenophon said he would be working with his crossbench colleagues to move urgent amendments to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act, to ensure the FIRB and the Treasurer must take into account any local alternative bids. "It would be a monumental act of folly to approve this bid when there is an Australian-based bid to consider," Senator Xenophon said. "Whilst the alternative bid is focused on jobs and economic opportunity for Tasmania, the icing on the cake has to be its environmental and indigenous credentials as well," he said. Mr Woolley said he didn't know whether the political play would affect the outcome of the sale. "I thought they made some very valid points about how investments, in key pieces of property, land and assets should be dealt with, in addition to the present rules," Mr Woolley said. He stressed he was not an expert, but felt the New Zealand model had a lot to recommend it by. In New Zealand, local bids for land were given preference; he said Australia should extend that to include water. Greens finance spokesman Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the party supported socially and environmentally sustainable investment, that secured local jobs and delivered economic benefits to the Tasmanian community. "Concerns over food security and shortages of supply, foreign workers displacing local jobs and other strategic concerns such as any loss of intellectual property should always be thoroughly examined by the FIRB process," Senator Whish-Wilson said. "It is no secret we are now in an election year, and Senator Xenophon is launching his new political party in Tasmania. It would be a shame for Tasmania, if populist politicking got in the way of good policy and process," he said. Tasmanian dairy company TasFoods has sought damages, after its bid to buy VDL was overturned by parent company TIML. On November 6, last year, TIML announced TasFoods would buy the company for $250 million. It later said Moon Lake Investment, an Australian company set up for Chinese businessman Lu Xianfeng, had been chosen as the preferred buyer, in a $280 million deal. Mr Lu said he intended working with the existing management of the Tasmanian dairy assets to seek continued gains in productivity, while continuing to supply milk to Tasmanian milk processors. Moon Lake was also interested in partnering with Australian investors in the business or in joint ventures and would consider approaches for up to a 40% shareholding by Australian investors in VDL. The sole owner of Moon Lake Investments is Mr Lu Xianfeng, is also the managing director and executive chairman of ASX listed Kresta Holdings Limited, Australia's biggest window covering retailer. Mr Lu is also the founder and largest shareholder of Ningbo Xianfeng New Material Co. Ltd (APLUS), a company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, China, with a market capitalisation of approximately A$1.52 billion. The Tasfoods Victorian Supreme Court trial, for damages, is expected to begin on February 22. - Andrew Miller is a journalist with Fairfax Media's Stock and Land/Tasmanian Farmer Emily Kerr, 9, Kai Downham-Smith, 15, and Tyler Brooks, 9, took up a collection for Goldfields School at the gate of the Paeroa A&P Show. A thoughtful fundraising effort has helped restore one principal's faith in children. Goldfields School principal Gary Quarless was delighted when two children popped in to the school on Tuesday morning with an ice cream container full of money to help towards the costs of recent vandalism at the special school. "The children had collected $279.30 at the gate of the local A&P show," he said. SUPPLIED Goldfields Special School was the target of 'sick' vandals. The gesture came after the school was recently targeted by vandals who sprayed the words retards and other expletives across classroom windows and carparks, sickening the community. READ MORE: Vandalism of Paeroa special school 'deeply offensive' supplied Not even the carpark was spared in the tagging spree. The bright green graffiti at Goldfields School in Paeroa was discovered on January 4 by a mother and her son. At the time Quarless said the vandalism was not the work of angry children, but a "sick person". "The normal 'F... you' and general spray painting words on a buildings is what you would expect, but for someone to write that word on a school window is nasty," he said. Children, Tyler Brooks and Emily Kerr, both nine-years-old, and Kai Downham-Smith, 15, heard about the vandalism and set about trying to right the wrong. Tasked with the role of gate-keepers at Saturday's Paeroa A&P Show, they set about raising some funds. Tyler's mum, Karen Brooks said it was the children's idea to collect donations. "The boys sat in a small tent by the gate all day in the heat and Emily worked as a runner between the office and horse rings and collecting the donations with me from the gate every hou," Brooks said. "I thought we might get $50 but the crowds were very generous when they realised what it was for." Quarless said it was brilliant that young children were so aware of what was happening in their community. "That they decided off their own back to do something to help is really great," he said. Quarless said at first he was not going to post anything about the vandals on the school Facebook page in order to protect his students who are able to access it from their homes. "I was however prompted by the article in the Hauraki Herald and on Stuff.co.nz to do a post about it. "Over 10,000 people were reached in the first post and a follow-up has received 400 reaches. "Each has prompted many likes and shares and, more importantly, some wonderful supportive comments and a few new friends for our school, so some good has come of it." Paeroa police senior sergeant Phil Caldwell said there had been no further developments in catching the offenders. "It is very hard when there are no witnesses or CCTV coverage," he said. "We have seen similar tags around the town before so unfortunately it looks someone local has committed this crime." Anyone with information relating to the vandalism can phone the station on 8628744 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Sarah Bell said son Gio is looking better though he remains unconscious. A Nelson-born mother whose infant son stopped breathing in Korea on New Year's Eve says he is looking more like himself. Sarah Bell, who lives in Seoul South Korea after moving there in 2011, was holidaying in Nelson when eight-month-old Gio accidentally suffocated in a blanket under a family member's care. He was revivied with a baby defibrillator but has not waken up. Bell said Gio remained stable but unconscious, supported by a respirator at Seoul's Hanyang University Medical Centre. Bell said a draining procedure had reduced swelling in Gio's stomach and doctors were monitoring his organs. His eyes were taped closed to stop them drying out. Gio's doctors had considered surgically inserting an oxygen tube in his neck last week, but decided against it. READ MORE: * Mother's New Year's Eve horror as baby stops breathing 10,000km away "They said using the oxygen tube down his throat for a long length of time could damage his voicebox. They think he is not stable enough right now ... they are worried about infection. "I think they will consider it again if he improves a little." Despite no measurable improvement, Bell said it was nice to see Gio looking healthier at least. The total medical bill was NZ$20,753 on Monday. Korean national medical insurance will cover around 80 per cent of that cost. Bell thanked New Zealanders for their donations to Gio's Givealittle page, which had raised over $6,000 by Wednesday. "The Givealittle money is helping our family cope with this stressful time as we are unable to work. We have no idea how long his recovery will take or if he will recover at all." You can donate to baby Gio's care at https://givealittle.co.nz/profile/individual/gio/pages The boy was found under water about 2.30pm on Saturday at Kings Swim School. A 4-year-old boy who nearly drowned at a pool party in Christchurch has been discharged from hospital. The boy was found under water about 2.30pm on Saturday at Kings Swim School in Sockburn. A Canterbury District Health Board spokeswoman said the boy had gone home on Tuesday. Kings Swim School director Todd Mason did not want to comment further regarding the incident. READ MORE: * Boy critically injured in Christchurch pool during 'private function' * Boy critically injured in Christchurch pool incident * 'He was smiling, I had no idea he was drowning' He refused to confirm suggestions the accident happened while children were playing together in the pool. Mason said on Monday the boy was a guest at a private pool party. "For us, it's been harrowing, it's been horrible. I can't imagine what his parents are going through." A WorkSafe New Zealand investigation into the incident began on Monday. Mason said he was helping provide WorkSafe with any assistance it needed. "It was just a tragic accident we don't know what happened, how it happened, but we are just thankful he's making progress." His general advice to parents was that they should not ever think their children were safe around water "because they're not, even teenagers". "We're so into water safety and keeping kids safe; it's a major part of our programme and I just don't get people that don't understand the dangers of water." Helen and Ian Parry are enjoying life in Big Bay - as owners of Big Bay Holiday Park. "This is a destination - it isn't a place you just pass through." Big Bay residents, Ian and Helen Parry, are right. And it's a spectacular destination. NATALIE POLLEY / FAIRFAX NZ Big Bay is a stunning spot, hidden away off the beaten track. To get to the beautiful Big Bay on the Awhitu Peninsula, it's a bit of a road trip - about an hour from Pukekohe. As I cruised up the picturesque peninsula, the lush green hills looked like they were straight out of a film, set in the countryside of Ireland. The peninsula pushes north from its nearest town of Waiuku, 40 km away, as if attempting to close up the Manukau Harbour. The northern tip and the eastern side is dotted with gentle white-sand beaches that are perfect for family picnics and swimming. NATALIE POLLEY / FAIRFAX NZ Throughout the years, Ian and Helen Parry have transformed Big Bay Holiday Park in to a family holiday spot that is perfect for fisherman and campers; while keen caravaners come out each weekend in summer. And the best thing about this spot - there's hardly anyone there. Auckland Council estimated that in January last year 18,400 people visited Awhitu Regional Park compared to almost seven times that number at Long Bay on Auckland's North Shore. Just one wrong turn later, I arrived at Big Bay Holiday Park to meet the Parrys - who took over the business 12 years ago. It's just across the road from the beach - one of five sandy beaches found here on the western shores of the Manukau Harbour. The peacefulness of the place is incredible - it's hard to believe it was the Auckland Sky Tower I was glimpsing just across the sea. Tui and morepork provided the soundtrack, as I chatted to the Parrys next to the the holiday park's wood-fired pizza oven. NATALIE POLLEY / FAIRFAX NZ The Sky Tower can be glimpsed from the shores of Big Bay on the Awhitu Peninsula. "The best thing here is the peace and solitude," Ian said. "Aucklanders are just starting to find out about it. I always say - check out your own backyard, before going overseas." Ian said people tended to traditionally head to The Coromandel for their beach get-aways. "People get a mind-set that this is too far; but the beauty is there's no traffic. You can go places like Coromandel and be bumper to bumper." "Out here, you turn off the motorway and it's peaceful. It's hard to describe how peaceful. You can't go down the road to a cafe or anything, because there are no cafes." There certainly aren't. In fact, Big Bay Holiday Park is the sole business at this beach spot - nestled on 1.5 hectares of coastal land. On the beach, a boat ramp can be found at the northern end; while an amenities block and children's playground sits at the southern end. The beach is renowned for its plentiful scallops and fish. "You can get up in the morning, walk along the beach and be the only one there," Helen said. "The walks are awesome - you can walk around to Grahams Beach, or go the other way to Orua Bay." And of course, you can always find a carpark. "You can sit on the beach and see Auckland," Helen said. "It's so close, yet so far." On New Year's Eve, Helen and Ian will be on the beach, watching fireworks shoot from the Sky Tower; before letting off their own fireworks on the beach. As I sat listening to the tui and breathing in the sea air - I couldn't imagine a better place to be as 2016 dawned. Awhitu, which means "place of longing" in Maori, has definitely left me longing to return. Top five things about Big Bay: 1. Big Bay Holiday Park is a small family-owned and operated park - located at the tip of the Awhitu Peninsula, 40 km from Waiuku. It has a wood-fired pizza oven for campers' use and a barbecue area. 2. Safe swimming on the beautiful white sand beach of Big Bay. 3. Great fishing and boat launching off Big Bay. 4. Excellent beach walks from Big Bay around to Grahams Beach, or Orua Bay. 5. Just up the road from Big Bay is the Awhitu Regional Park. Wander freely over parkland pastures, explore the wetlands and enjoy the sheltered picnic and barbecue areas. Duncan Kemsley, Heather Smith and their son, Jeremy Kemsley, arrive at Christchurch Airport last Friday after what they called a "nightmare" flying experience. Qantas has apologised to a Christchurch family who compared the airline's service to "child abuse". The Australian airline called Duncan Kemsley on Tuesday to discuss he and wife Heather Smith's experience flying from Johannesburg to Sydney on their way back to Christchurch. The airline offered the family some frequent flyer points. It has conceded that its usual standards were not met. IAIN MCGREGOR/FAIRFAX NZ Heather Smith, pictured with son Jeremy Kemsley, said children were not fed a meal. The couple described their flight as the worst they'd ever been on. There were departure delays and issues with the airline's food service. READ MORE: Family says Qantas flight a nightmare experience Kemsley said on Tuesday: "They listened to my list of complaints and offered us frequent flyer points". FAIRFAX NZ Qantas said the family's experience was unusual for the airline and it will re-iterate their apology. However, he remained disappointed with the airline, saying the points were "enough to buy a wall clock". The 15-hour flight from Johannesburg to Sydney was hampered by fluid leaking from the air conditioning and a lack of food for children, the couple said. Travelling with their 11-month-old son, Jeremy Kemsley, they were due to arrive back in Christchurch last Tuesday, but did not make it home until Friday. A Qantas spokesman said the airline had made several attempts to contact Kemsley and Smith "reiterate our apology". The airline received a small number of complaints about the flight, but most feedback had been positive. "It certainly wasn't up to our usual standard of service, but the feedback we've had from the majority of the passengers is that the crew handled a difficult situation as well as they could," the spokesman said. Waiting for extra meals to be loaded onto the aircraft would have caused extra delays, he said. "As there was an issue with the meals, we did put on sandwiches and snacks for all passengers in economy." The airline was "surprised by the characterisation that there was no food on this flight," the spokesman said. As for the leaking air conditioning, the airline said the issue was caused by condensation. "It's not unusual for condensation to come out of the air conditioning system when it first starts up. "Passengers aren't normally on board when this happens, but in this case they were because we were working to get the flight away as soon as possible," he said. Some readers said on social media that the family's complaint was valid, but that likening the experience to child abuse was an over reaction. Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said it appeared the family "received poor service for the return flight". "Their ability to provide snacks for their child would have been limited as to what they were allowed on. If they weren't informed of the lack of food available it would have been even harder," she said. Two brown kiwis have a new home in the Otanewainuku Forest near Oropi following their release into the wild. The kiwis a male named Te Kaha and female named Marama were released as part of Otanewainuku Kiwi Trusts ongoing operation nest egg captive breeding programme. Police would like to thank a sharp eyed business owner in Temuka who contacted Police this morning after the stolen Jaguar car was towed to a service station. Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Cottam says the business owner contacted Police as he was suspicious of the two teenagers in such a distinctive car. They two teens have been taken into custody without incident and are being interviewed by Police. "This is another great example of members of the public working together with Police to keep our communities safe." Police would like to speak to the driver of the vehicle that towed the silver Jaguar Sovereign GAN945 into the Temuka Challenge Service Station this morning. If you were the driver or you know who they were please contact the Metro Crime Team at Christchurch Central Police Station on 03 363 7400. Nominations can also be provided anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 Source: New Zealand Police. Bay of Plenty Police are urging people to protect themselves from falling victim to fraudulent crime. In 2014, Eastern Bay officers investigated 65 fraud complaints. That rose to 116 in 2015. The Government proposal to introduce recreational fishing parks is an attempt to mask the fact it has left New Zealand huge Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to be plundered by oil and gas and seabed mining interests, says Green Party environmental spokesperson Eugenie Sage. The Government thinks it can buy off recreational fishers with these two parks, while still allowing commercial fishing for scallop, crayfish and paua, says Eugenie. The proposed Marine Protected Areas law, outlined in a consultation document released today, only covers the 12 nautical miles of New Zealands territorial waters, conveniently leaving the much larger EEZ to be exploited. The recreational fishing parks themselves do not go far enough to stop all commercial fishing, so in one fell swoop the Government has left both our territorial waters and the EEZ vulnerable to exploitation. With the fourth largest EEZ in the world, a reputation as the worlds seabird capital, and many distinctive marine species and habitats, New Zealand should be a world leader in oceans management but the Government is more interested in exploitation, says Eugenie. The Marine Protected Areas Act discussion document is a wasted opportunity. It is tinkering with the existing laws rather than providing the basis for the step change in oceans protection which our whales and dolphins, seabirds, fish and marine habitats need and which Nick Smith has long promised and now reneged on. In the early hours of Tuesday, December 1, a vehicle carrying five young people was travelling along Plateau Road, Upper Hutt. With the drivers side window rolled down, a 16-year-old female passenger was sitting on the edge of the frame with the top half of her body outside the vehicle. The 19-year-old male driver lost control, rolling the vehicle and crashing through a fence. The young woman who had been hanging outside the vehicle suffered multiple serious injuries as it rolled on top of her. Thought to be life-threatening at the time, the young woman is now at home recovering from her injuries. The male driver has been arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol Causing Injury. His blood alcohol level was 153 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. There is a zero alcohol limit for drivers under the age of 20. The young man is due to appear in the Hutt Valley District Court on 19 January 2016. Police are awaiting the final medical report regarding injuries sustained by the three other 16-year-old female passengers in the car before a decision is made on further charges. Source: New Zealand Police. Researchers from the University of Notre Dame have developed an application for smart phones or computer tablets designed to help seniors take control of their daily health and improve care at assisted living facilities. According to Tech Times, this new app allows caregivers and doctors to electronically communicate with older patients. Seniors can voice concerns, log updates and track their own health. With this application, which is called eSeniorCare, the hope is that older adults can become more engaged with their care. How it Works Born out of Notre Dame's Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications, the app solves two important problems. As iCeNSA reported on its website, preventative care and patient engagement are important for lowering health care costs and improving outcomes, and for that reason, eSeniorCare has big potential. The first way eSeniorCare that aims to improve the quality of care older adults receive comes in the form of functions called Medication Scheduling and Management and Medication Adherence, according to iCeNSA. These tools help physicians remotely monitor their patients, which minimizes the need for frequent trips to the doctor's office. There are alerts for daily medications and tools for seniors to confirm their daily medicine intake. Should an appointment be necessary, there are interfaces for scheduling a visit. With these tools, care providers can monitor seniors' daily health, and use videos and text alerts to speak with their patients regarding any updates or concerns. The hope is that electronic communication will give physicians a means of checking in on their patients frequently and provide guidance, advice or support. The app is also helpful because it gives older adults new tools for tracking their own health and monitoring important health metrics. The Observations of Daily Living function comes with a number of important features, according to Tech Times. Seniors can set health goals, such as eating less fatty food, and can maintain a record of their daily progress. These reports can be used as personal motivation and tracking, and can also be shared with health professionals. There are also games like Sudoku and daily puzzles that are fun for seniors and help boost cognitive abilities. Giving independent seniors who live alone or in assisted living facilities the means of taking responsibility for their daily health is important for making progress more tangible and boosting patient engagement. Tech Times reported that the app helps seniors to be more cognizant of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and also more empowered for tracking care and daily responsibilities. Numerous Benefactors This new app is different from existing tools because it does more than merely track data. eSeniorCare gives older adults a means of engaging more intimately with their own health, and this has benefits for caregivers as well. The National Center for Assisted Living reported that there are approximately 735,000 older adults living in assisted living facilities across the U.S., many of who are 85 years or older. This can put a strain on the ability of nurses and care providers to make sure each senior has adequate attention. For that reason, Notre Dame's new app allows seniors to take on some of the duty of monitoring daily health. This also improves feelings of independence and responsibility. Because care facilities may have many residents that need assistance doing daily activities, giving seniors the tools to communicate with caregivers is helpful to prioritize certain individuals. Likewise, this can help older adults feel more accomplished and less needy, according to Tech Times. The NCAL stated that seniors are happiest with adequate amounts of privacy and control over their daily lives, and eSeniorCare is important for helping older adults influence their relationship with caregivers and nurses. Kauf und Ubertragung einfach und sicher Uns vertrauen Kunden weltweit 2013-01-10-db-Forecast1.JPG Gary Keith, regional economist for M&T Bank, told business leaders in Syracuse Wednesday that the Central New York economy is improving but could be doing better. (Dick Blume | The Post-Standard, 2013) Syracuse, N.Y. Central New York's economy is improving, but it could be doing better, M&T Bank regional economist Gary Keith told more than 600 people at CenterState CEO's 2016 economic forecast breakfast at the Oncenter Wednesday. The Syracuse area's unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent in December, down from 5.5 percent a year earlier. But the region is not doing a good job of attracting tech-driven industries, including those in advanced manufacturing, Keith said. "Our economy is not really built for the future," he said. "It's been built for what we had the past. In the words of the late David Bowie, 'Change, change, change.' That's what we need to embrace." The region received good news in December when the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo named it one of three winners in his $1.5 billion Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The region will receive $500 million in economic development aid over five years. Keith said the state funding gives the region added resources to speed up its economic growth if it spends the money wisely. "We all have to come together to make sure the pie expands," he said. CenterState President Rob Simpson called on community leaders to work together to make sure the state funding, the largest ever for the region, succeeds in improving the area's economy for years to come. "There is an entire generation of Central New Yorkers that we do not want to disappoint," he said. CenterState formed from the merger of the Metropolitan Development Association and the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce in 2010. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 2013-08-09-dl-lockheed5.JPG Lockheed Martin plans to hire 100 new employees to fill open positions on its campus at Electronics Park in Salina. The company is hiring again after at least four years of job cuts that reduced its workforce to about 1,600. David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com Lockheed Martin Corp. plans to hire almost 100 new employees for its plant in suburban Syracuse, after years of layoffs and cutbacks that almost led to a shutdown in 2013. The hiring ends a four-year period during which Lockheed's local payroll declined from a peak of 2,300 employees to about 1,600 workers in engineering, research and manufacturing jobs at its Electronics Park campus in Salina. Lockheed had drafted a plan to close the Salina plant in late 2013 as part of a broader nationwide consolidation and shutdown of four other plants, eliminating 4,000 jobs. Internal Lockheed Martin documents viewed by syracuse.com/The Post-Standard showed the company was prepared to spend at least $27 million to close the Salina plant. Lockheed agreed to halt the closing after U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the future Senate Democratic leader, had a series of private meetings with Lockheed Chairman and CEO Marillyn Hewson. Lockheed, the world's largest defense contractor with 126,000 worldwide employees, made the cutbacks as defense budgets declined with the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now after consolidating some of its operations at the Electronics Park campus, the company is growing with a steady uptick in contracts in its sensor business, according to company officials. Lockheed plans to host a recruitment event Thursday at Destiny USA, where it will seek to hire employees for open engineering and manufacturing positions. The event will be 3 to 8 p.m. on the third-floor Canyon area of Destiny USA. The local plant specializes in radar, sonar and electronic warfare products that are sold primarily to the U.S. Defense Department. But it also receives foreign overseas military sales approved by the Pentagon. The new job openings are the result of a steady pipeline of new business contracts and an increase in staff retirements, said Jennifer Vacco, Lockheed's director of human resources in Salina. About 48 percent of the job openings are for engineering positions, Vacco said. Lockheed declined to disclose starting pay for any of the new positions. In previous years, the company said its engineering jobs paid from $60,000 to more than $100,000 per year for senior systems engineers. Vacco said the open positions also include engineering interns and assembly and electronics manufacturing jobs. Some of the positions are for experienced professionals, but the company is also seeking new graduates. The new jobs are not tied to one particular contract, but rather a series of ongoing projects to provide the Navy, Army and foreign governments with radar, sonar, electronic warfare defenses and ground-based air surveillance systems, Vacco said. "Following analysis, we have identified additional employment opportunities resulting from the cumulative effect of the contracts," Vacco said. Lockheed officials declined to discuss the local plant's latest foreign military contracts, but syracuse.com reported a significant development in June when Germany selected the company for a missile defense contract. Lockheed's share of the contract with international partners is worth up to $4.5 billion, and has potential to provide a steady flow of long-term work at the Salina plant, company officials said last year. The local plant is expected to play a key role as sole developer of the MEADS surveillance radar for the missile defense system. Lockheed officials said applications will not be accepted at Thursday's recruitment event in Syracuse. All job applications must be submitted online at www.lockheedmartin.com/careers. Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Van Buren, N.Y. Tessy Plastics Corp. is planning a big addition to its factory in Van Buren, a $31.5 million expansion the company said would create at least 50 jobs but will only happen if the state grants it tax credits. Tessy said it needs the additional 246,000 square feet of manufacturing space to fill growing orders from consumer products companies for underarm deodorant containers. However, it said the expansion is contingent on the state approving tax credits to help offset the cost of shipping the containers to South Carolina and North Carolina, where its customers fill them with deodorant. Edmund Pietruniak, vice president of finance and administration for Tessy, said the company is hopeful the tax credits will be approved because it prefers to expand in Central New York rather than in another state. In addition to the state tax credits, the company also has applied to the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency for partial property tax exemptions that would save the company an estimated $1.7 million in taxes on the Van Buren expansion over 10 years. It also has applied to the agency for sales tax exemptions, worth an estimated $560,000, on construction materials. The company told the agency it is being pressured by two of its customers, Procter & Gamble and Colgate, to build a manufacturing facility in South Carolina to eliminate shipping costs. It said it has been offered generous incentive packages from several communities in South Carolina to build a factory in that state. The most favorable package came from Oconee County in South Carolina, which offered 111 acres of free land, a $1.5 million grant for site development, $3.9 million in tax credits, and road and utility improvements at no cost, and job training funds, Tessy said. It said that building a factory in South Carolina would result in the relocation of approximately 300 jobs and the production of $80 million worth of consumer product components out of Central New York. Tessy employs approximately 950 people in Onondaga County, including 150 temporary workers. The majority of its employees are at the company's main plant on Route 5 in Elbridge, where it has three buildings with a total of approximately 600,000 square feet of space. The company employs approximately 90 people at the 267,000-square-foot former Syroco Inc. plant at 7474 State Fair Blvd. in Van Buren, 10 miles west of Syracuse. It acquired the plant in 2010 after running out of manufacturing space in Elbridge. It is planning a two-story addition that will nearly double the size of the Van Buren plant. Tessy makes the plastic components of deodorant containers in Elbridge and ships them to Van Buren for assembly. If it goes forward with the expansion in Van Buren, Tessy would move the manufacture of the container components to Van Buren so that manufacturing and assembly would be done in the same building, Pietruniak said. He said Tessy would reconfigure its three buildings in Elbridge to expand the manufacture of plastic components for medical devices, another major part of the company's business. Tessy's sales to medical device makers have been growing, too. The company employs about 40 people making medical device components in a 111,644-square-foot former Hand Held Products Inc. building in Skaneateles that it acquired in 2014. It plans to move its headquarters and about 80 administrative employees in Elbridge to the Skaneateles facility in April. Tessy is owned by company President Roland Beck and his father, Henry Beck, who founded the company in 1973. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Cruelty.jpg The emaciated dog seized from a Syracuse home. (Provided) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- An emaciated dog seized from a Syracuse home was underfed for a long period of time and frequently locked in a cage, police said. Gregory Bryant and Tanisha Fain, both of Syracuse, were arrested this week for animal cruelty after an investigation determined the couple neglected two dogs, said Sgt. Richard Helterline. An animal cruelty investigator with the police department and a dog control officer responded to 5004 S. Salina St. on Jan. 5 to investigate an animal cruelty complaint, Helterline said. The officers found two dogs who were not being cared for, he said. One of the dogs was emaciated after being malnourished for an "extended period," Helterline said. In addition to being underfed, the dog suffered medical conditions from being left in a cage for long periods of time. The dog was rushed to the Veterinary Medical Center of Central New York for emergency treatment. The dog's ribs are visible in photograph provided by police. The second dog was in better health, Helterline said. Bryant, 39, and Fain, 35, were arrested and charged with three counts of animal cruelty for confining the dogs, failing to provide sustenance and failing to provide medical care. The three charges are misdemeanors. Because the couple was released from custody on appearance tickets, Helterline said mugshots of Bryant and Fain haven't been taken yet. Both dogs are being cared for at the DeWitt Animal Hospital. 2013-12-16-w-moreland0028.JPG Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick rejects an editorial's assertion that the shooter in a Cicero road rage incident got special treatment because he was an ex-law enforcement officer. (Gary Walts | gwalts@syracuse.com) To the Editor: Your recent editorial on the "road rage'' case asks a number of questions all of which are easily answered, though not necessarily in line with your predetermined narrative this was a cover-up or that Mark Miller, the shooter, was a former police officer and therefore afforded special consideration. Who else, you wonder, would have been allowed to turn himself in and not be arrested? The answer: thousands of people all over America, who every day waive their Constitutional right to remain silent, are interviewed by police and let go pending further investigation. You then ask who else could return for his "quiet'' arrest (not all arrests are loud) and plead guilty after a negotiated disposition. (I admire your ability to turn one process into three separate questions.) The answer, once again, is thousands of defendants all over America. This was an incident that is certainly far from being clear cut as to factually what happened. As best as can be pieced together, Robert Tifft and Mr. Miller foolishly got into a road rage incident and Mr. Tifft escalated the potential for violence by exiting his vehicle and confronting Mr. Miller in his vehicle. Mr. Miller, according to news reports an ex-cop, displayed his lawfully concealed handgun and discharged a round at Mr. Tifft striking him in the arm. Mr. Miller claims the weapon discharged accidentally though common sense would suggest that explanation is not plausible. Miller then drove away, a huge lapse in judgment that is not chargeable as a criminal offense. The Onondaga County Sheriff's Department made efforts to locate Mr. Miller and their interview with Mr. Tifft was less than productive as he was uncooperative, eventually revealing that he has been dealing with anger issues and was off his medication. Completely according to decades of protocol, Sheriff Eugene Conway and I discussed the case and decided a grand jury would decide if any charges were warranted. I had no idea then, and could not care less, that Mr. Miller is an ex-cop. Sheriff Conway never once mentioned his law enforcement status. Prior to the grand jury process, as I have done hundreds and hundreds of times in the past, I instructed my staff to make an offer to Mr. Miller that I thought would satisfy the interests of justice, provided it was acceptable to Mr. Tifft. He accepted that offer. I read all the idiotic comments about cover-ups and lack of transparency and ignored them. I informed your reporter that there would be a news release on Monday and I specifically accommodated him by issuing that release at a time convenient for him. Now that's a heck of a cover-up. I have no way of knowing what a grand jury would have done and I am certain that your editors and writers don't. Perhaps Mr. Miller would have been cleared; perhaps he would have been indicted for assault. What I am certain of is that Mr. Miller is now a convicted criminal with no ability to carry a concealed firearm, and the public is not endangered. I realize that today's journalism is more "Twitter'' meets "Feeding Frenzy'' than Woodward and Bernstein and that stories are written and published with one source and without knowing all the facts and circumstances. My job is to investigate in a way that does not compromise a case or my ethical responsibilities, to determine what happened, and what can be proven in a court of law. To compare this case, where you were forced to wait a whopping 30 days to find out what happened, to a case in Chicago, where it took over 400 days for answers when a man was shot 16 times by an officer who remained on duty is, quite frankly, ridiculous. William J. Fitzpatrick Onondaga County District Attorney Syracuse Ride-sharing companies would force taxis to raise their game To the Editor: This is a letter I sent to two Syracuse-area state legislators regarding legislation permitting Uber and Lyft to operate in Upstate New York: Dear Assemblymen William Magnarelli and Al Stripe, I am writing to express the need for change to current New York state insurance laws to allow ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft to operate in Syracuse. The current taxi situation in Syracuse is horrendous. There are very few taxis available in high-density nightlife areas, especially late at night when people leaving bars and restaurants are looking for a safe ride home. Moreover, the taxis are often outdated, unclean, smoke-filled and uncomfortable. They rarely accept credit/debit cards and often don't have meters to ensure that they are not ripping you off. Most importantly, the cab companies, especially in Syracuse, often don't answer their phones, don't show up on time or at all, and have rude dispatchers. By keeping these modern cab companies out of Upstate, lawmakers are fueling the ability for current cab companies to provide low standards and poor customer service. Moreover they are depriving Upstate customers of the convenience, comfort and affordability that smart-phone operated companies offer. As someone who lives in New York City, but who frequently returns home, it seems almost archaic that a large metropolitan area like Syracuse doesn't offer these services that those in other cities have become so accustomed to. What kind of impression does that leave for those visiting from out of state? Barring these services blocks the potential for new jobs, a reduction in drunk driving incidents and an opportunity to create healthy industry competition that would improve services for consumers. It is a drag on Syracuse's resurgence and progress. Please consider these thoughts at your next voting opportunity. Adam Nicolais New York City Ride-sharing a danger to public safety, livelihoods To the Editor: For Gov. Andrew Cuomo to champion Uber's scorched-earth business model as the road to job growth defies comprehension. Legislation allowing private motorists, part time, to pick up fares in their personal cars (so-called ride-sharing) without any real regulation, presents a clear and present danger to public safety and full-time driver livelihoods. While cab service in a few New York cities and towns may stand improvement, it can easily be accomplished without Uber and similar upstart startups. Incidentally, most taxis already have apps. Many families depend on the income of full-time professional cab drivers. So, if anything, this well-intentioned but badly misguided and unneeded plan will only add to Upstate economic woes. To borrow a favorite Republican saying, "It's a job killer, not a job creator.'' Bill Lindalier Long Island City 2016-01-06-mjg-Cuomo26.JPG New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks about his 2016-17 state budget proposals at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool in this January 6, 2016 file photo. (Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com) ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday laid out his plans for education spending in New York state, including increasing school aid by $2.1 billion over the next two years. Cuomo has often been a controversial figure in education, as the governor who oversaw the roll-out of Common Core standards, which was met by scores of parents opting their children out of state tests. Cuomo distanced himself from the Common Core in his State of the State address, during which he announced a $145 billion budget for 2016-2017. "We saw that parents were losing faith in the system," he said. "Simply put, the education system fails without parental trust. Period." Cuomo said he would urge the State Education Department to correct its implementation mistakes and to "do it right this time." Related: Recap of Cuomo's State of the State address Here are more highlights from Cuomo's proposals for education spending, along with reactions from the public: Largest education budget in the history of the state Cuomo proposed increasing school aid by $2.1 billion over the next two years. About $1 billion would be available this year. That increase would make the state's education budget the largest it's ever been. It still falls short of the $2.4 billion requested by the State Education Department and critics said it didn't go far enough. Sounds like a lot of money, but it is less than half what is needed for 2.7 million students #NYSOS https://t.co/v3FQsCWVWP Billy Easton (@BEastonNY) January 13, 2016 Transform failing schools to community schools The governor twice spoke of a push toward "community schools." He proposed $100 million to "transform every failing school into a comprehensive, holistic, full-service community school." He said that could change the "basic education system of this state." Many state-designated "failing" schools, including 18 in Syracuse, are already in the receivership process, which incentivizes superintendents to transform the schools into, among other options, community schools. Community schools offer services to families and surrounding neighborhoods, including health clinics and food programs. It's not yet clear what Cuomo's proposal will mean for schools in receivership. Like Cuomo statements on child poverty & $15 wage, but don't call schools "failing" when society is failing communities & families. #NYSOS Chris Cerrone (@ChrisCerrone15) January 13, 2016 "Community schools" a big TP today at #nysos. What's that mean? Lots of schools already provide soc services, dental care, 2 meals a day. Greg McCrea (@CNYTeacher) January 13, 2016 .@TrishnaWTEN Of course, transform means destroy via receivership. The system is a trap to destroy students and teachers #NYSOS TheAngelForever (@TheAngelForever) January 13, 2016 Eliminate the gap Cuomo said his budget proposal would eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a measure undertaken during the economic recession, which directed education funds toward other areas of need in the state. The Senate voted Monday to restore this funding. Read more about the GEA. 100% agree. GEA should be eliminated. Our state has recovered from the recession. Time to stop short changing our students! #NYSOS Charles D. Lavine (@CharlesDLavine) January 13, 2016 .@NYGovCuomos school aid proposal is $1.4 billion less than Regents called for. Our kids need full & fair funding NOW! #StandUp4Kids #NYSOS UFT (@UFT) January 13, 2016 Support charters Cuomo vowed to continue his support of charter schools as "education laboratories." He said on average, they cost less than traditional public schools. Cuomo said he viewed charters as an important part of the system and he would encourage their development in this budget. 2.5 billion education increase, more Community Schools, lost me at charters though, got me back with the $200 credit for teachers #NYSOS Chris Durosinmi (@ChrisDurosinmi) January 13, 2016 Reimbursements for teachers Cuomo proposed a $200 tax credit for teachers who spend money out of pocket on school supplies and food for poor students. He praised teachers for that kind of dedication to their students, but said the burden should not fall on them. He said he hoped the credit would attract good teachers to New York schools. #GovCuomo trying to make up with public school teachers by extending $200 tax credit? #NYSOS @nysut SSFC (@SSFC_NYS) January 13, 2016 Expansion of Pre-K Cuomo's proposal also includes $800 million to expand pre-kindergarten across the state. The importance of pre-K was mentioned twice in a video shown before the speech, but Cuomo didn't elaborate in his remarks. Reporter Julie McMahon covers public education and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 Obama_Economy.JPG President Obama, flanked by General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt (left) and plant manager Kevin Sharkey, tours a GE industrial complex in Schenectady in a file photo. The company plans to announce tomorrow that it will move its headquarters to Boston. (The Associated Press) New York has been snubbed by General Electric in the company's search for a new corporate headquarters. The firm plans to announce tomorrow it'll move its headquarters to Boston, according to the Boston Globe. Gov. Andrew Cuomo had been courting the company for months to move to Westchester County, outside New York City, according to the Albany Business Review. New York was on the short list of candidates, the Business Review said. GE is moving from a longtime campus in Connecticut. The new headquarters will employ about 800 people, according to the Globe. Boston will offer the company up to $20 million in property tax breaks over 20 years, according to the Globe. The state package could be worth as much as $120 million, including help with real estate acquisition costs, infrastructure improvements and tax incentives. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt decided over the summer to start looking for a new location for the company's headquarters. Connecticut passed a budget last year with more than $1 billion in tax hikes, the Business Review said. Observers said the competition likely came down to Boston and New York, according to the Globe. The move also brings Boston some serious bragging rights, the Globe noted. Landing one of the world's largest, most iconic companies gives the city strong credibility in the business world. Though the headquarters deal is a loss for New York, Cuomo and GE made a big splash near Utica in August. GE and an Austrian company announced they plan to invest $2 billion in a nanotechnology-related facility in Marcy and create nearly 2,000 jobs. GE Global Research will develop a power electronics manufacturing plant at the site. Note: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information on how many people the new headquarters will employ. The facility will employ about 800 people. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112 2016-01-06-mjg-Cuomo26.JPG New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks about his 2016-17 state budget proposals at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool in this January 6, 2016 file photo. (Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com) ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 2016-17 $145 billion state budget would offer 5 new tax credits and caps the increase in state operations spending at 1.7 percent, sticking within the cap he's met for 5 consecutive years. But there's $100 billion in multi-year capital projects proposed across the state, with much of it paid for with $7 billion the state collected in legal settlements with banks and insurance companies. Cuomo delivered his State of the State address and unveiled his proposed 2016-17 state budget Wednesday afternoon in Albany in a speech before hundreds of people. Cuomo's speech was interrupted by a state Assemblyman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, who shouted, "You're wrong, you're wrong" over and over when Cuomo boasted that there were fewer gunshot victims in New York since the state passed the nation's tough gun control measure, the New York Safe Act, in the wake of the Sandy Hook school schooting in Newtown, Conn. Here are some highlights of Cuomo's budget: Cuomo will ask the state Legislature to make New York the first state to have a $15 an hour statewide minimum wage. He would gradually hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all New Yorkers, reaching it by 2019 in New York City and 2021 elsewhere. That proposal is sure to run into some opposition in the state Senate and from the state's business leaders, who estimate it will cost businesses an extra $10 billion to $15 billion a year in labor costs. At Cuomo's direction, the State University of New York trustees on Tuesday approved gradually increasing the minimum wage for 28,000 SUNY workers, including students in work-study jobs, to $15 an hour by 2021. Cuomo proposed tax credits for 1 million small businesses that will save them $298 million a year. Provide an additional $1 billion in aid to New York's schools this year, and a total of $2.1 billion more over two years, which Cuomo said will be a record amount on top of the $23.5 billion awarded last year. He also proposes eliminating the Gap Elimination Adjustment over the next two years, so that schools would receive $434 million that has been kept from them under a budget maneuver the state Legislature passed in 2009 during a billion-dollar budget crunch. Cuomo is reviving a proposal nixed by the Legislature last year - a $150 million tax credit for parents who send their children to private schools. Following the convictions of the Legislature's top two leaders, Cuomo proposed limited state lawmakers outside income to 15 percent of their salary from the Legislature. The base salary for lawmakers is $79,500. This proposal could run into trouble at the state Senate, whose leaders have already voiced opposition. He proposed closing the LLC loophole that allowed wealthy individuals to donate almost unlimited amounts of money to candidates for state office. This is a move that good government groups have been demanding. He also proposed allowing the state to strip pension payments from elected officials convicted of crimes related to their public office, regardless of when that official was first elected. Currently the state can only withhold pension payments from officials first elected after 2011. That enables convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to collect pensions worth more than $90,000 per year. To increase voter participation, require every county to establish voting sites where voters can cast votes up to 12 days before Election Day. There would be one site for every 50,000 residents - 139 statewide. Extend the state food stamp program to another 750,000 households by raising the eligibility from households with income at 130 percent of the federal poverty level to those with 150 percent of the poverty level. This will make New York eligible for an extra $688 million in federal funds. Invest $26 billion in New York City's MTA transit system, another $22 billion over 5 years in Upstate roads and bridges. Bring Mixed Martial Arts to New York. Currently, MMA events cannot be for profit. New York is the only state that bans MMA. Extending for another 5 years the SUNY 2020 program that caps annual tuition increases at State University of New York colleges at $300. Enact the NY Dream Act, which would make undocumented immigrants eligible for state aid while attending college in New York. Create a $5 billion Clean Energy Fund over 10 years so that the state can reach its goal of having 50 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2030. The state will also provide financial support to install solar panels in additional 150,000 homes and businesses by 2020. It would also help pay for building 300 additional wind turbines. Syracuse and nine other Upstate New York cities with the highest poverty rates will receive $500,000 grants to develop strategies to help poor people. The 10 cities, including Oswego and Utica, will receive a total of $5 million in state grants and have access to a $20 million grant pool that matches private sector and foundation funding. This is on top of $50 million that Central New York won in December for anti-poverty efforts as part of the $500 million Cuomo awarded to the region in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Cuomo proposed a $20 million contest for counties and local governments willing to consolidate. The governments that propose the plan that will save taxpayers the most in property taxes will win. Cuomo proposed a competition for $200 million to upgrade airports in Upstate New York. Five airports will be awarded about $40 million each. There will be $750 million for another round of competitions between the Regional Economic Development Councils. Central New York, the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier won't be eligible because each won $500 million in the Upstate Revitalilzation Initiative. A competition for $100 million in a downtown revitalization program for 10 struggling Upstate cities. Tolls on the New York State Thruway will be frozen until 2020. In addition, state income tax credits will be offered to farmers to offset 100 percent of the tolls they pay. Nearly 1 million businesses and frequent thruway drivers will save on average between $97 and $1,872 a year with a tax credit worth 50 percent of the thruway tolls they paid. Allow another 1,000 state prison inmates a year to take SUNY courses paid for with $7.5 million seized from criminals by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 to keep youths from being prosecuted as adults and incarcerated in state prison. Also, the state would allow the sealing of criminal records from the public for defendants convicted of low-level crimes who have stayed out of trouble for 10 years. Spend $10 billion over 5 years to provide 27,000 new beds in housing for homeless people. Enacts paid family leave for New Yorkers with an employee-funded program that provides 12 weeks of paid leave for parents to bond with a new child or a sick relative. Charles Barron Assemblyman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, interrupted Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. (AP Photo | Mike Groll) ALBANY, N.Y. -- A Brooklyn assemblyman was escorted from the State of the State address Wednesday after a shouting match with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Charles Barron, a Democrat, stood up and started to yell at Cuomo just a few minutes after the governor began talking. Cuomo was discussing the gun control measures and the SAFE Act. It was impossible not to hear Barron's yells, but Cuomo at first tried to talk over them. Eventually, he stopped mid-sentence. ""OK, OK, let me finish and you'll have your turn," Cuomo said. Then, "Everybody sees you, and everybody heard you. Have a seat, assemblyman." But Barron continued to yell, shouting, "You're wrong, you're wrong!" "We're still suffering," and "What about the Fiscal Equity lawsuit?" He continued to yell as he was escorted from the room. The assemblyman, who started his political career as a Black Panther, was referring the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, a lawsuit brought by New York City parents against the state in the '90s. The Court of Appeals ruled that the state was under-funding large city schools. The Fiscal Equity suit resulted in an agreement between the state and its schools, in which the state committed to a plan to fund high and average need districts. According to the education advocacy group Alliance for Quality Education, the state still owes schools $4.8 billion. Cuomo eventually turned the interruption into an opportunity to chastise his opponents. "We didn't listen to the zealots, we didn't listen to the extremists, we didn't listen to the naysayers!" He yelled over Barron. "We governed. We came together. We refused to be intimidated. We refused to be shouted down." The governor continued. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his State of the State address and 2016-17 state budet proposal at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. "We said we are New Yorkers first and we're going to come together and we are going to kick the extremists to the side. And we're taking this state forward!" Cuomo yelled. "Just because you yell doesn't mean you're right! Just because you stand doesn't mean you're correct!" In a news release following the governor's address, Barron said he grew upset listening to Cuomo talk. "I am sick of the hypocrisy and neglect displayed by the governor towards our most needy. I refuse to sit and watch him make claims and statements that are backed by insufficient actions. Governor Cuomo needs to take a stand and put the money where his mouth is." He went on to say that it was "disgraceful" that the state administration had not paid money owed to schools through the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, especially because most of that money would go to high need schools in minority neighborhoods. "That funding is necessary to make a real impact on the future of our students," he said. "Pay up governor!" Reporter Julie McMahon covers public education and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 ALBANY, N.Y. -- David Valesky is one of just 20 New York state legislators who has signed a pledge to pass ethics reform changes being pushed this year by three good government groups. He's hoping Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his State of the State speech today, strongly backs those reforms - limiting lawmakers' outside income, closing a campaign finance loophole that lets wealthy donors give unlimited dollars to candidates, and making state spending more transparent. Most pundits believe Cuomo will call for ethics reform in his 12:30 p.m. speech following a scandal-plagued year in which the top two leaders of the state Legislature were charged with and convicted of public corruption crimes. Live coverage of the State of the State and state budget But in the past nine days, while holding a dozen or so news conferences to announce $100 billion dollars in infrastructure initiatives that he'll include in the 2016-17 state budget he unveils today, Cuomo has remained secretive about the specific ethics reforms he'll back. "Having the governor's support makes a huge difference," said Valesky, D-Oneida, about the chances of tough ethics reforms being approved by the Legislature. Valesky said the Clean Conscience Pledge he signed Monday has a much better chance of passing if Cuomo gets behind it. "I think one of the key elements has to be where the governor stands on this," said Valesky, whose district includes part of Syracuse. The pledge, which is being pushed by Citizens Union, Common Cents/NY and NYPIRG, had been signed by only 16 of the 62 sitting senators and only four of the 147 sitting Assembly members as of Tuesday night. Related story: Advocates not optimistic Legislature will pass ethics reform New York state Sens. David Valesky, left, and John DeFrancisco, talk at an event in Syracuse, N.Y. on Sept. 30, 2015. The two senators, who each represent part of Syracuse, disagree about whether there should be limits put on state lawmakers' outside income as part of ethics reforms in the 2016-17 state budget. The Senate's top two leaders, Majority Leader John Flanagan and Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco, have already voiced strong opposition to limiting how much money lawmakers can make from jobs outside of the Legislature. DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, pointed out lawmakers already are required to publicly disclose the sources of their outside income because of reforms passed several years ago. Those existing requirements helped prosecutors build a criminal case against Silver, he noted. Lawmakers will lack the insights that come from working other careers if their outside income is capped, said DeFrancisco, who was a successful attorney. Meanwhile, Cuomo has at times voiced support for closing the LLC loophole that lets donors anonymously give almost unlimited amounts of money to political candidates. But the governor has also been the biggest beneficiary of that loophole. Valesky acknowledged that there will be opposition to the proposed ethics reforms, but said he's hopeful that Cuomo and a groundswell of public pressure could change some lawmakers' minds. He said he thinks other ethics reforms that aren't part of the Clean Conscience Pledge should also be passed as part of the budget. One change he supports is to allow New York to refuse to pay pensions to elected officials who are convicted of crimes related to their public office. Currently, only state employees hired after 2011 face that potential fate. Convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos should not be allowed to collect their pensions, estimated to be worth more than $90,000 per year for each, Valesky said. But legally, they are entitled to the pensions, he noted. Contact Mike McAndrew anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3016 Iran US Navy Boats In this Oct. 30, 2015, photo provided by the U.S. Navy, Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 805, along with its crew members, is shown transiting through rough seas during patrol operations in the Persian Gulf. Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two boats, similar to the one in this picture, on Jan. 12, 2016, after the boats had mechanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters. American officials have received assurances from Tehran that they will be returned safely and promptly. (Torrey W. Lee/U.S. Navy via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two small boats that drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems. Iran accused the sailors of trespassing but American officials said Tehran has assured them that the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. The sailors, nine men and one woman, were being held overnight at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, and were expected to be transferred to a U.S. ship in the region on Wednesday morning local time. Officials said they believe the U.S. had spoken to one of the crew, and all 10 were fine and uninjured. CNN reported that the transfer was expected at 2 a.m. ET Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island in the middle of the Gulf. They said some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island, and they were picked up by Iran. The semi-official Iranian news agency, FARS, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy has detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and said the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama was set to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Secretary of State John Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said. Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said. Officials said the sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman. Officials said a radio signal from one of the boats showed that they were on Farsi Island, setting off efforts to contact the Iranians. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission as they traveled between Kuwait and Bahrain, officials said. The Riverine boats are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to the crafts. The officials were not authorized to discuss the sensitive incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity. Republican lawmakers seized on the incident as further evidence that Iran is not to be trusted. The House was scheduled to vote Wednesday on GOP-backed legislation that would give Congress greater oversight of the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, which Republicans have derided as a victory for Tehran. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said it was "unthinkable that the administration would lift sanctions and permit Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief under the nuclear agreement, even as the regime brazenly violates its international obligations and rushes to develop the ballistic missile capability to deliver a potential nuclear weapon to the United States." The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran was expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." DETROIT, MI -- A spike in cases of Legionella bacteria has been discovered in the Flint area, Gov. Rick Snyder and a pair of Health and Human Services Department officials announced Wednesday. Officials said there's no evidence of a clear link between the outbreak and the water system change that's caused an uproar over elevated lead levels found in Flint children. From June 2014 to March 2015, 45 cases of Legionella bacteria were confirmed in Genesee County, according to the state Health and Human Services Department Director Nick Lyons. Seven of those cases were fatal. From May 2015 to November 2015, 42 cases were confirmed in Genesee county. Three of those were fatal. Cheif Medical Executive for the Health and Human Services Department Eden Wells said "87 cases is a lot. That tells us that there is a source there that needs to be investigated." Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint earlier this month because of the city's lead in water crisis, apologizing for the state's role in rising lead levels in Flint water and in the blood of young children. The city changed its water source to the Flint River in April 2014. Following the switch, residents began complaining about discoloration and the water's taste and smell. The city initially struggled with bacteria levels and the presence of a disinfectant byproduct, TTHM, in the water. Then, in September, a Flint pediatrician released results of her study that showed rising blood lead levels in children in certain areas of the city. The state initially disputed her findings but later corroborated them based on state data. The city eventually switched back to receiving water via the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which gets its water from Lake Huron. Those developments all occurred while the city was being run by an emergency manager appointed by the governor. Tuesday evening, Jan. 12, Snyder activated the National Guard to respond in Flint to his declaration of an emergency. The governor's spokesman has said the activation marks just the second time Snyder has taken such an action, last activating the National Guard in 2012 to assist with the Duck Lake Fire. Snyder has also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help in coordinating a plan aimed at solving Flint's water crisis. The governor said Wednesday in a Detroit press conference that the decision to send in the National Guard was not related to the spike in Legionnaires' disease cases. About 30 National Guardsmen were expected to move into Flint to help distribute water filters and other supplies. "We're going to look at the staffing levels to make sure we keep up a high level of activity and availability in terms of resources," Snyder said. An Ohio fugitive has been caught in Florida after he sent police a selfie because he didn't like the mugshot they had distributed on social media. Donald A. "Chip" Pugh was wanted for failing to appear in court on a drunken-driving charge, ABC News reported. He was also a person of interest in arson and vandalism cases, and had previous charges for domestic violence, breaking and entering, and disorderly conduct, according to limaohio.com. When the Lima Police Department put out his mugshot on social media last week, Pugh reportedly sent them a direct message saying, "Here is a better photo that one is terrible," with a selfie in which he is wearing gold-rimmed sunglasses and a plaid suit jacket attached. The department shared the message in a Facebook post asking for the public's help in catching Pugh last week: There is an active warrant for the arrest of Donald A "Chip" Pugh, age 45 of Lima, for Failure to Appear. Mr. Pugh is... Posted by Lima Police Department on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 Pugh's brazen response to his warrant went viral, but his gloating didn't end there. Pugh later called into the "Two Tons of Fun" show on 104.9 FM in Ohio, and told hosts Phil Austin and Ryan Staley that "they just did me wrong" with the mugshot. He said he just decided he didn't want to show up at court, and joked about his whereabouts, quoting "Run, run, fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." Having his photo go viral didn't work out so well for Pugh, who was arrested in the Florida panhandle on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. He is currently being held on another warrant in Georgia, and Lima police said "we will wait our turn" in a Facebook post. Police in Lima told WKEF-TV they never thought Pugh would turn into a viral sensation, and originally hoped he would just turn himself in. "He's not 'El Chapo,' he's just a random dude in Lima that we have warrants on," a spokesperson said before Pugh's arrest. FORT PIERCE Guardian Angel Mark Peterson and about 20 others will be on the streets in black pants and red berets on Saturday night as a show of force against an outbreak of gun violence in the city's northwest neighborhoods. Peterson and other members of the Treasure Coast Guardian Angels will be joined by representatives of similar organizations from Tampa, Orlando and Palm Beach County, he said Wednesday. "We're not going to take it," Peterson said of the private citizens group. Since Christmas Day, there have been three homicides in nine gunfire incidents. Eight have happened since Jan. 2. On Monday alone, three people were injured in separate incidents, including one just outside the city's west limits. "I don't understand it," Peterson said the of situation that police Deputy Chief Kenny Norris said probably stems from inter-gang rivalry. The recent gunfire is the largest outbreak of such violence since 2014, outraging the community. Although there were fewer murder in 2015 than in 2014, there was more gunfire. There were 116 confirmed instances of gunfire from January through December in 2015, versus 100 during the same time during 2014, according to a recent police report. Peterson said the city's new police chief, Diane Hobley-Burney, is doing "a phenomenal job," including revamping the police department. "She has my support 100 percent," he said. Still, when crime happens "those that do know what happened don't say," hindering investigations, he said. For that reason, Guardian Angels will be out on foot or in cars to show they are watching the city's violence-prone areas, including in the area of north 23rd, 29th and 32nd streets. "We have the power to take back our community," he said. For more information, call Peterson at 772-708-2949 or Ned Childress at 772-708-3736. Meanwhile some Fort Pierce ministers have been having peace walks on North 13th Street from 10 p.m. to midnight the last Friday of the month. Plans for that are being revised and details are pending, said minister Walter Barron. WHAT'S BEING DONE Fort Pierce again is teaming up with an array of agencies to counter an upturn in shootings. The joint task force, formed Tuesday, includes representatives of the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Fort Pierce Police Department is asking the community to help keep the city safe. Anyone with information regarding the recent shootings is asked to contact Detective Samuel Cooper at 772-370-1226 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 800-273-TIPS (8477). On Tuesday night, a traffic stop in the 500 block of North 27th Street led to the arrest of Daryl Walker, 22, of Fort Pierce, on charges of carrying a firearm by a felon, carrying a concealed handgun, possession of a firearm by a felon and resisting without violence. Source: Fort Pierce Police Department SHARE BREVARD COUNTY A Sebastian man was killed when his car crashed into a tree on State Road A1A Tuesday afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Louis Sugar, 80, was traveling south on S.R. A1A just a few miles north of the Sebastian Inlet State Park, troopers said. Sugar lost control of his Honda CR-V and it crashed into a tree on the west side of the road, troopers said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash remains under investigation. Flames from a controlled burn scorch areas in Stuart's Poppleton Creek Park on Wednesday. (FLORIDA FOREST SERVICE) By Laurie K. Blandford of TCPalm MARTIN COUNTY Residents might see smoke Wednesday coming from a prescribed burn at Poppleton Creek Park in Stuart, said Florida Forest Service spokeswoman Melissa Yunas. Crews are burning 20 acres at the environmental park at 399 S.E. Central Parkway, Yunas said. They are getting rid of hazardous fuel buildup that could increase the risk of brush fires. Last week, crews mowed the park, and the land was dry enough Wednesday to burn, she said. Health officials are asking residents to take precautions against drifting smoke from the prescribed burn, said health department spokeswoman Renay Rouse. Drifting smoke can cause coughing, scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, shortness of breath, chest pain, headaches, stinging eyes and runny nose. If you have heart or lung disease, smoke might make your symptoms worse. People who have heart disease might experience chest pain, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and fatigue. Smoke also might worsen symptoms for people who have pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as respiratory allergies, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the following ways: inability to breathe normally, cough with or without mucus, chest discomfort, wheezing and shortness of breath. Residents are advised to contact their doctor with any concerns. Residents are advised to limit their exposure to the smoke by doing the following: Stay indoors whenever possible Use air conditioners (air-conditioned homes usually have lower air exchange rates than homes that use open windows for ventilation) Use mechanical air cleaners Keep windows closed while driving in a vehicle Minimize other sources of air pollution (smoking tobacco, burning candles or incense and vacuuming) WASHINGTON Part political stump speech, part an exclamation point behind significant policy victories, President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night was intended as guidance for voters still unhappy with the direction the country is taking. "While it was not a typical laundry list of proposals for Congress, it was a laundry list of things the president would like to see done to continue his legacy," University of South Florida mass media and politics professor Susan A. MacManus said Wednesday. "It was certainly a speech that had legacy goals written all over it." Obama sought to lay out issues he wants to be remembered for, such as the economic recovery after the Great Recession, elevating climate change, the Affordable Care Act that colloquially bears his name, and gay rights, MacManus said. It was "very relevant to Florida" that Obama said he plans to hit the campaign trail on voting rights issues, she said. "Clearly it was, on the one hand, reaffirming what he's done and, on the other hand, he's begging voters, and particularly Democrats, to continue his legacy" on issues such as income inequality. While his political antagonists want to portray Obama as a divisive influence, a lengthy section of the speech was devoted to a civics lesson, many commentators noted. "Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise," Obama said at one point Tuesday night. OBAMA'S SUCCESSOR Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, seeking the Republican presidential nomination to succeed him, made a point of characterizing the speech as a bait and switch. The president "has used all sorts of attacks on Republicans and against the critics of his agenda. Now, tonight, he comes out with language of reconciliation. In many ways, it's too late because he has bitterly divided this country and he has done so for political gain," Rubio said. Others noted that the president, without naming Republican presidential candidates Donald J. Trump or Ted Cruz, suggested a toning down of the harsh rhetoric on race and religion that were once out of bounds. "And that's why we need to reject any politics any politics that targets people because of race or religion," the president said to sustained applause. "Let me just say this: This is not a matter of political correctness. This is a matter of understanding just what it is that makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity, and our openness, and the way we respect every faith." But the presidential race and his ability to shape some issues were clearly on his mind. "At a point when the race to replace him is as volatile as it is unsettled, Obama cannot simply presume that he will be turning the Oval Office over to another Democrat following the 2016 campaign," John Nichols, a progressive national affairs correspondent, wrote Tuesday night in The Nation. "As politically agile and engaged as any president in modern times he is the first Democrat to win a majority in two successive presidential races since Franklin Delano Roosevelt Obama knows that what he does in coming months could influence the presidential contest. And he used the State of the Union to do just that." PARTISAN DIVIDE Of course, partisans heard in the speech what they hoped to hear. The Democratic National Committee circulated editorials from around the country from Wednesday's newspapers. It quoted this from The Miami Herald: "His remarks about rejecting xenophobia and staying true to America's best traditions represent a badly needed antidote to the general theme of pessimism and fear that has dominated the headlines about the campaign to succeed Mr. Obama in the White House." St. Lucie County Republican Party chairman Bill Patterson, a retired New York police supervisor, said: "I was sitting and listening to it in disbelief. I think the president is delusional." Patterson is particular dissatisfied with the president taking credit for health reform, where he says costs and paperwork have risen. "He's living in a fantasy world," he said. "Ninety percent of what he said is either false or hyperbole," he added. Another GOP partisan, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, took exception to Obama's statement about the threat posed by local terror plotters. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence," the president said. McCaul disagreed: "The president has appeased, rather than opposed, our adversaries from the start. And when it comes to the terror threat we face, once again we heard the president offer rhetoric in the clouds while terrorists plot in our city streets." Treasure Coast congressmen also reflected the partisan divide. While U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, praised the president's tone and emphasis on bipartisanship, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, said much of the country thinks it is "headed in the wrong direction." Bartholomew Sullivan, a veteran Washington reporter, heads Treasure Coast Newspapers' D.C. news bureau. TALLAHASSEE Rep. Debbie Mayfield is having a difficult time convincing other lawmakers to support her bill to force the agency that provides electricity to Vero Beach and Fort Pierce to be more transparent. After the Florida Municipal Power Agency lobbied against the legislation, saying it could cause rate hikes for all municipalities that are part of it, the legislation barely cleared its first committee Monday with a 6-5 vote. That was after Mayfield watered down the bill, removing provisions that she said should have satisfied concerns about rate hikes. The bill requires the FMPA, a cooperative of municipality-owned utilities, to disclose its financial information to its members, including a balance sheet with assets and liabilities; an income statement; and the fair market value of its assets. Mayfield filed HB 579 after a state audit found FMPA's risky business practices, including overly-compensated employees, cost the agency millions of dollars. Vero Beach residents voted twice to sell its electric utility to Florida Power and Light Co., which would provide lower rates than the FMPA. But city officials say they can't get out of a contract with the cooperative because the agency won't give them an exit price tag. Other municipalities, including Fort Pierce, say the bill creates unnecessary regulations and criticized Vero Beach for pushing the bill just to get out of its contract. Some lawmakers questioned whether her bill was necessary and whether this was a local, and not state, issue. "When folks cannot figure out a way to solve their problems in their own communities and their own counties and they want to drag the entire state of Florida into it, that's wrong," Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan said during Monday's Energy and Utilities House Subcommittee meeting. The bill also requires the FMPA's governing board to be composed of elected officials from member municipalities. But that excludes those members elected officials think have more expertise to serve, said FMPA lobbyist Dean Cannon. Cannon, a former House speaker, also said the FMPA already provides its financial statements to the Auditor General's office. Mayfield removed provisions that could have caused rate hikes, including one that allowed the Office of Public Counsel, which advocates on behalf of utility rate payers, to review rate changes by the FMPA. That would increase the agency's regulatory costs and hurt its credit rating, therefore causing potential rate hikes, according to the FMPA. Mayfield said she is considering adding provisions to help Vero Beach utility customers outside city boundaries, who make up more than 60 percent of the utility's clientele but don't have any representation. Cannon said the city could have solved that problem by having a referendum to create an utility authority to represent all customers. Follow Isadora Rangel, Arek Sarkissian and Tampa news partner Jeff Schweers for updates on all the legislative action. Tweets about from:IsadoraRangel2 OR from:ArekSarkissian OR from:jeffschweersTBO Ryan Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, walks to a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 7, 2016, near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group occupying the wildlife preserve has said repeatedly that local people should control federal lands, but critics say the lands are already managed to help everyone from ranchers to recreationalists. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) SHARE A sign referencing Ammon Bundy and his brother, who are the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, hangs on a tree in front of a home Jan. 5, 2016, in Burns, Ore. Ammon Bundy, the leader of a small, armed group that is occupying a remote national wildlife preserve in Oregon said Tuesday that they will go home when a plan is in place to turn over management of federal lands to locals. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) By Paul Janensch The takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon got me thinking. What if armed protesters seized the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Indian River Lagoon and insisted the federal government surrender its control of this protected expanse south of the Sebastian Inlet? Should the government give in? Should government forces mount an attack? Or should federal, state and local agencies wait out the occupiers, as they are doing at Malheur (which, incidentally, is French for "misfortune")? What do you think? At the end of this fantasy, I will tell you what I think. First, here is my scenario similar to what is really happening at Malheur. (But remember, it is only imagined). Fifteen men in pickup trucks and RVs drive into the Pelican Island parking area off Highway A1A. Brandishing rifles and pistols, they stride to the observation building overlooking the small island that gives the refuge its name and order the people on the platform visitors and employees to leave. Established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903, Pelican Island was the first national wildlife refuge in the United States. It was created to protect egrets and other birds being slaughtered for their plumes, prized by the makers of women's hats. News media crews arrive and set up at the base of the observation building. Speaking to the cameras, the leader of the protesters demands that the federal government lift all restrictions on the property regarding hunting, fishing, boating, horseback riding, dog walking and the use of vehicles any rules that go beyond what's enforced elsewhere on the Indian River Lagoon. He vows that the occupiers will not leave before their demand is met, even if they must endure hot and humid weather. In the days to follow, no law-enforcement officers make an appearance. The Indian River County sheriff says the protesters should leave but takes no action. The FBI field office in Miramar, north of Miami, says it is monitoring the situation. A White House spokesman says the takeover is a local matter. Social media is abuzz with comments. Supporters call the occupiers "patriots" and say the federal government should give up all its holdings in Florida, including the southern portion of the Everglades. Meetings of area residents are held in the Sebastian River High School auditorium. Speakers say the occupiers are scaring away tourists. Individuals claiming to be descended from the Ais native people, who once inhabited the Atlantic Coast from Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet, host a news conference in Sebastian. They demand that Pelican Island be turned over to them. Now what? If this scenario were to occur, I think government agencies should do what they are doing at Malheur, which is to bide their time. Let's not have another Ruby Ridge or Waco, in which armed anti-government protesters and government forces clashed and people were killed. But I would seal off the area around the observation building. No supporters of the occupiers would be allowed inside. Food supplies could be dropped off. News conferences could be held at the edge of the sealed-off zone. When the protesters finally abandon the observation building and I believe they would after several weeks it would be essential to be ready with manpower, vehicles and boats. Don't allow the intruders to leave the refuge on their own. Tell them to drop their weapons, form a single line and pass through a security checkpoint. Then arrest them. That's what I would do. What would you do? Paul Janensch, a seasonal resident of Vero Beach, was a newspaper editor and taught journalism at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. His email address is paul.janensch@quinnipiac.edu. FAU benefactor Richard Gordon presents the Dian Gordon Memorial Honors Scholarship to Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College student Erin Fee at the recent annual Named Scholar Recognition Ceremony. SHARE Richard Gordon, a longtime benefactor of Florida Atlantic University's Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College in Jupiter, recently donated $200,000 to his two existing scholarship funds, providing the opportunity for a renewable full-tuition award for selected students. The Dian Gordon Memorial Honors Scholarship is awarded to an honors student who is concentrating in literature or English and holds a 3.0 GPA. The Richard and Dian Gordon Honors Scholarship in Biology and/or Chemistry is awarded to an honors student who is concentrating in biology or chemistry and holds a 3.0 GPA. A retired executive from the electronics industry, Gordon is a founding member and past chairman of the Wilkes Honors College Advisory Board and has been a member of numerous board committees. He has generously supported programs for both faculty and students. "Richard's passion for education continues to transform student lives," said Jeffrey Buller, Ph.D., dean of the Wilkes Honors College. "On behalf of our students, I extend our sincere appreciation to him for making a significant impact with his continued generosity. On campus and in the community, Gordon is a premier ambassador of the Wilkes Honors College and Florida Atlantic University." Photos provided A Chorus Line has a full-voltage finale onstage at Riverside Theatre. SHARE 'A Chorus Line' runs through Jan. 24 at the Riverside Theatre. By L.L. Angell The Newsweekly Riverside Theatre's production of the one-and-only "A Chorus Line" opened to a full house last week for good reason. The word on the street promised a show filled with the same energy and honesty as when it opened for the very first time ever at the Public Theatre, New York City, May 21, 1975. Directed by Mitzi Hamilton, who's made it her personal mission to uphold the show's original vision, this "A Chorus Line" has all the heart and vulnerability coupled with the hard squint at Broadway that audiences thrilled to when it debuted 40 years ago. Hamilton's production bursts with life from those first moments when a stageful of very young, wildly talented dancers gallops through a new dance routine and audition their socks off. The choreographer, Zach, played to larger-than-life perfection by Tom Berklund, calls out a few corrections. Out of this whole stage of hopefuls, Zach wants just eight dancers and we hear the entire company sing "I Hope I Get It." In one sense, we've seen it all so many times before. Why should we care? Except this time, it really is different. Instead of the self-assured, better-dressed, ultra-beautiful featured stars entering and taking over, we get this shining star tiny Scott Shedenhelm as Mike. A whirlwind of boyish tap dancing frenzy, Mike tells us the story of taking his big sister's place at dance class, stuffing her too-big shows with socks and learning every move bing-bang-boom. The song is "I Can Do That" and Shedenhelm nails it. Exposure "A Chorus Line" was the first show to peel away the veneer and look behind the curtain at what makes a Broadway musical tick. Creator Michael Bennett wanted to portray the real hopes and fears of actual dancers. He wanted something real, frank and even revealing. Suddenly Bennett was gathering dancers around him, asking them to be more than their headshots and resumes. Those real-life encounters translated to the famous line up of dancers holding their headshots in front of them, then stepping into the spotlight, speaking one by one. In the song, "And" they ask themselves, "What will I say if he calls on me next?" Bennett honors every dancer who makes a living out of endless auditions, rejections and rehearsals. Still vital But does the concept work 40 years later? The answer in this case is yes and here's why: nobody knows this show inside out like Mitzi Hamilton who was involved at its inception, working closely with Bennett. Hamilton wants the real heart of the show as Bennett created it. And she gets it. We believe these dancers extraordinary hunger to dance. We believe their terror at talking about themselves and we believe they're starving for the job. Take the almost nonverbal Paul, played with remarkable understatement by Jordan Fife Hunt, also the show's assistant choreographer. Puerto Rican, homosexual and painfully shy, Paul breaks down telling Zach about the first time his parents saw him performing at a drag show. In no way is he a parody. This Paul is a brave man. Which way will his luck go? Moving score A booming orchestra pit would throw off the whole premise of our being flies on the wall of an audition, so Riverside Theatre built a room stage left for the orchestra. That room is fully-equipped with sound and a TV monitor with a live feed from the stage, and a camera on the musical director, Ken Clifton, so the actors could see him and vice versa. Initially, the theater feels very different minus its live orchestra in the pit. Thank goodness, they are just off stage. Marvin Hamlisch's melodic vignettes capture each dancer's story perfectly. This show's score is at the heart of it and a live orchestra is essential. Clifton points out that while the score isn't challenging per se, being absolutely true to the show's traditions is. "Every step is calibrated. Every line is placed. There are hundreds of cues. But it's well worth it. Mr. Hamlisch's score is a truly great one and I'm enjoying playing it," Clifton says. The showstopper, of course, is the high voltage finale of "One" when the dancers move from disheveled to dynamite, in gold top hat and tails, dancing with that dazzling precision that incomparable oneness that lifts us out of our seats. With book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban and co-choreography by Bob Avian, "A Chorus Line" is like that perfectly bred racehorse that just keeps winning because it's got so much heart. Thankfully, Hamilton's direction and this talented cast and crew keep this heart right where it belongs. "A Chorus Line" plays on Riverside Theatre's Stark Stage through Jan. 24. For tickets, visit www.riversidetheatre.com or call 772-231-6990. SHARE Photo by Stephanie LaBaff Indian River Community Foundation Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey R. Pickering By Stephanie Labaff When we plant a tree, we don't plant it for ourselves but for our children. - Rev. Mae "Mother" Wyatt The Indian River Community Foundation is changing the face of philanthropic giving with a structured model that organizes and grows legacy donations. A recent study conducted by community foundations in Florida estimates that about $48 billion will be transferred between generations during the next 50 years in Indian River County. If donors set aside just five percent of that for the greater good, the annual distribution would be about $120 million in 2060 if those donations are managed and invested. This is the what the foundation is working toward. Organizations that help manage and invest donations have been around since 1914. Coordinated investments have helped community foundations grow their funds and manage future grant making. Fifteen years ago, a group of 51 community-minded residents made the commitment to support the formation of a local community foundation. They each agreed to contribute $25,000 as seed capitol to support operating expenses for five years. Their mission was to build a stronger community through donor-driven philanthropy, which in turn will bring knowledge and security to philanthropists and to the community as a whole. This "boutique investment" model allows donors the flexibility to do more than just identify a charity as their beneficiary. The foundation provides knowledge that encompasses everything from investments to a database with nonprofit statistics. Moreover, its staff is familiar with the needs of the community. The donor maintains as much or as little control over their philanthropic giving as they choose. Over the years the Indian River Community Foundation has grown. Midway through its second decade, it manages $24 million in assets for charitable purposes and has facilitated an additional $21 million in grants. In 2014, the foundation's first Executive Director Kerry Bartlett decided it was time for a new challenge. So the board began the search for someone to fill her shoes. Jeffrey R. Pickering has taken over the reins as Chief Executive Officer and credits Bartlett for getting the foundation to where it is today. Donor focused The foundation's Vice Chairmen Scott Alexander chaired the search committee. "We are looking at Jeff to sharpen the focus of the foundation," he said. "Early on, it's hard to have a clear focus mission. Now we see what it needs to be: supporting donors and helping them to achieve their philanthropic wishes." Both Pickering and the Board see their primary focus as the donor as opposed to the nonprofit. They feel they can achieve the most impact by supporting philanthropists and their plans for giving. According to Board Chairman Robert C. Puff, Jr., "We have worked our way through the development stages of the organization. We built it and got the message out to community. Now we need to understand how we can be the most effective community foundation. "We have a strong board. And with the dimension of knowledge, experience and leadership Jeff has to offer as we go into the second phase of our chapter, we can achieve our goal to focus on the development of donor relationships. "That's what makes us different. We exist to help donors with their philanthropic endeavors. Through intimate relationships, capable staff, investment products and services, we can help them achieve their philanthropic legacy." Privileged Born and raised in Winter Park, Fla., Pickering grew up with the expectation that he would be involved in service from an early age. After graduating from high school, Pickering spent two summers doing mission work in the Dominican Republic. Looking back, he realizes this was his first real exposure to what would become his life's work. "I had been to homeless shelters and I'd done those types of things. But my time in the Dominican Republic was my first, real opportunity to observe, and really live and build relationships with people who were in a Third World country. The town that I lived in was on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic it didn't have running water or lights." At this point, Pickering realized that, while he was from a working-class family, he had actually grown up in a privileged environment. For him "the opportunity to serve was less an obligation going forward and more a privilege," he said. While trying to find his "calling," he did a year of service as a lay missioner in New York City, working with the homeless population. Pickering learned the ropes from two Catholic nuns at the St. Vincent DePaul Society. He spent half of his day doing service work, caring for people on the streets and in shelters, and the other half raising money to fund the program. "The nun's mandate was 'don't come back empty handed,'" Pickering said. "That was the first time I really had a chance to see the impact of sticking your neck out a little bit and advocating for a cause. A light bulb went off for me. I felt like that was a certain signal to me that here's this skill set that I could develop and become good at." Sustainability With a clearer picture of what he wanted to do, Pickering attended the University of San Diego's School of Leadership and Education Sciences, which had a program specifically for community development work. He came to the Indian River Community Foundation with 20 years of experience in the philanthropy and nonprofit industry. His resume includes, president and CEO of Kern Community Foundation in Bakersfield, Calif. And vice president of the Community Foundation of Central Florida. He also has worked at nonprofit respite centers in Chicago and Orlando. After 10 years of raising money for causes he truly believed in, Pickering had an epiphany. By focusing on the longterm impacts of giving, he could help organizations become sustainable. During his first foray into philanthropic fund management he doubled the assets and donor base. Backyard benefits Pickering hadn't been looking to make a move, but his conversations with Alexander and Puff tipped the scales. "Their energy and specific description of the unique characteristics of this community how generous it is and how much philanthropy has made a difference piqued my interest. "They told me a little bit about the history of the organization and the community. The fact that enough people got behind our founding chairman Rick McDermott and the idea of putting some seed capitol up for this business was really inspiring. To me it was an indicator that there is something special happening here." One of the final pieces that enticed Pickering to make the move from the West Coast with his wife and three children was the fact that he would be able to help donors make investments and see the results in his own backyard. Right choice Today the foundation manages $30 million in assets earmarked for charitable purposes, mostly held in donor advised funds, and $22 million in grants on behalf of fund holders. "I stepped into a role at an organization which was off to a good start. Kerry Bartlett did a good job of getting the organization up, running and started," said Pickering "I feel like my obligation is to make it better. That's really been my mantra. We have a good mission my job is to help make it better." According to Alexander, "In my mind we are creating a philanthropic community and giving donors the opportunity to leave a philanthropic legacy for Indian River County. In the short time Jeff has been here, he has proven that we made the right choice." "I feel like I've got literally, if not the best, one of the best jobs in America. I get to work with so many interesting people who want to do good for the community, and facilitate or help them make a difference," said Pickering. "The inspiration for me, really, is knowing that it's noble work and that at the end of the day I can go home and tell my kids and family that this is meaningful work and we are making a difference." For more information about the Indian River Community Foundation visit IRCommunityFoundation.com SHARE By Samantha Kayser Amid the backdrop of a French Quarter atmosphere, the We Care Foundation of Indian River invites community members to dance, dine, game, socialize and most importantly support the We Care program celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016 and the program's volunteer physicians at its annual Mardi Gras Celebration Feb. 8 from 6-9 p.m. Our signature fundraising event for We Care, the Mardi Gras Celebration, will be both lively and sophisticated. Our guests will experience New Orleans without having to leave Vero Beach at the Moorings Club, said Sarah Mondano, co-chair of the Mardi Gras Celebration along with Eileen O'Donnell. While guests dine on a culinary tour of New Orleans and the rock, funk and jazz tunes of Orlando-based musical group, Mark Zauss & the Jammin' Jambalaya Band, will liven the atmosphere, guests can partake in a variety of casino games, purchase some tickets for the drawings and mix and mingle with the guests of honor the We Care volunteer physicians. Founded in 1991 as a cooperative venture between the Indian River County Medical Society, the IRC Health Department, and the IRC Hospital District, the We Care program coordinates free physician services for uninsured indigent patients in Indian River County. More than 130 volunteer physicians and other medical professionals donate care to as many as 3,000 qualified Indian River County residents each year. These donated services are valued at over $1 million annually. The heart of the fundraising effort is the We Care program's 25th anniversary campaign, which officially kicks-off at the Mardi Gras Celebration in February. All proceeds from the campaign and the Mardi Gras Celebration return directly to the Indian River County community to help meet We Care program and We Care Clinic non-physician ancillary medical or medically related needs for We Care patients. Examples include aftercare wound dressing, cataract lenses, emergency prescription assistance, and transportation for medical appointments. The We Care Clinic, scheduled to open Dec. 4 is the first of its kind in Indian River County and is located in a wing of the Gifford Health Center at 4675 28th Court, Vero Beach. Funding for the clinic construction has been provided by an Impact 100 grant. Administrative services for the clinic are provided by the IRC Health Department. Medical staff salaries, including a full-time primary care physician and two patient services/volunteer physician coordinators, are currently funded by the IRC Hospital District. These important collaborative efforts combined with a new clinic and program enhancements will effectively double We Care's patient capacity affording a smooth transition for indigent patients discharged from the hospital and emergency department. This improves care, prevents medical conditions from becoming acute, decreases hospital and emergency room admissions and readmissions and saves taxpayer dollars. "The We Care volunteer physicians give so much of their time and expertise to care for qualified We Care program patients that otherwise would go without specialty medical care in Indian River County," said O'Donnell. "The Mardi Gras Celebration is a time to recognize and honor these wonderful physicians for their commitment and efforts to help those in need." Other elements that bring in fundraising dollars at the event is the drawing to win some over-the-top items and the casino games. Tickets for the drawing will only be available to those attending the fundraising celebration. Tickets to the Mardi Gras Celebration cost $200 each. To purchase tickets, request sponsorship details or for more information, go to www.wecareofirc.org, or call the We Care Foundation of Indian River at (772) 562-0123. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. The Electronic Frontier Foundation on Monday pressed to revive a lawsuit against Cisco Systems for violating human rights in China, in a brief filed with a U.S. Court of Appeals. Members of Falun Gong, a religious group persecuted in China, originally filed the lawsuit in 2011, but a federal district court in California dismissed it in 2014. The federal appeals court now is considering a challenge to that dismissal. We applaud the role technology companies play in spreading the benefits of the digital age around the world, the EFF wrote in an amicus brief filed with the appellate court. We believe it is inappropriate to hold technology companies liable for violations of international law under the [Alien Tort Act] based solely on their provision of general-purpose or dual purpose technologies to governments or others who misuse them to commit human rights violations, the brief states. The Alien Tort Act allows noncitizens to file lawsuits in U.S. courts for human rights violations. However, it is also important to ensure that liability is preserved for companies that intentionally build and provide ongoing support for customized technologies that have the clear purpose of facilitating governmental human rights abuses, the brief continues. Ciscos Complicity Plaintiffs have presented allegations and evidence in this case that, if substantiated through discovery, would be sufficient to support such liability for Ciscos customization of the Golden Shield (also known as The Great Firewall), the EFF brief notes. In dismissing the case against Cisco, the federal district court judge said that the Falun Gong victims didnt offer enough support for their claim that Cisco knew the customized features of the Golden Shield, which enabled the identification and apprehension of Falun Gong practitioners, would lead to their torture. The EFF disputes the courts finding. Were saying the district court is wrong, because there are allegations in the complaint that Cisco designed and customized its product with the knowledge it would be used for human rights abuses, said Sophia Cope, an EFF staff attorney. Once Cisco got the contract to work on Golden Shield, they customized features of it to target the Falun Gong specifically, she told TechNewsWorld. We think the facts show that Cisco fully understood, intended and purposely built the Golden Shield to facilitate in the persecution of Falun Gong. Cisco Did No Wrong Throughout the proceedings, Cisco has denied any wrongdoing. We have always maintained that there is no basis for the allegations against Cisco, and there is no merit to the case. We do not customize our products in any way that would facilitate censorship or repression. The case was correctly dismissed by the District Court, the company said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Robyn Blum. Cisco isnt the only U.S. high-tech company accused of helping authoritarian states violate human rights in recent times. Blue Coat, for example, allegedly supplied Web-monitoring software used to squash dissent in Syria. As it turned out, two individuals and three companies illegally sold Blue Coat products to Syria. The U.S. Commerce Department last year yanked the export licenses of all of those parties. Chilling Effect It would be unfortunate to go after a technology provider for the use of their equipment, said Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst with IT Harvest. Its like going after a gun manufacturer when their guns are used to harm people. The Cisco cases validity rests on how much the company knew when working with the Chinese on the Golden Shield. To me, it hinges on how complicit was Cisco in helping to design and configure The Great Firewall, Stiennon told TechNewsWorld. No companys management should do evil or allow evil to be done with their products, he said, but this could have a chilling effect on manufacturers selling to less than lily-white countries. Obama administration officials last week met with senior executives from several leading Silicon Valley firms in a summit on how to combat the proliferation of terrorist communications on social media networks. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, and John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, represented the DoJ. The meeting was part of a larger strategy the administration announced last week, geared toward cracking down on violent extremism, both from overseas organizations like ISIS and from domestic sources. Todays developments reflect President Obamas commitment to take every possible action to confront and interdict terrorist activities wherever they occur, including online. said National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price. New Task Force As part of that effort, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice announced the launch of the Countering Violent Extremism Task Force, which will integrate and harmonize those efforts in the U.S., according to the NSC. The CVE Task Force is designed to combine various elements from law enforcement, homeland security, and other agencies within the executive branch. Its expected to coordinate its efforts with those of local communities, and to identify potential threats and counter messages put forth by violent extremist groups, according to the DoJ. The effort is designed to discourage violent extremism and undercut terrorist narratives, as well as build relationships and promote trust with various communities across the country, said Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. Global Engagement Center As part of the overall effort, the State Department announced the establishment of the Global Engagement Center. It will tap international government and nongovernmental agencies to counter messages of hate and violence, shifting away from direct messaging from the U.S. The administration intends to revamp its social outreach strategy, which largely has failed to anticipate sophisticated social media campaigns launched by ISIS and other groups to recruit militants and inspire violent attacks overseas. The State Department named Michael D. Lumpkin as the new director of the Global Engagement Center. Lumpkin had been assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict since 2013, a position confirmed by Senate vote. At this critical stage in the fight against Daesh and in this global effort to counter violent extremism the GEC will lead the effort to synchronize messaging to foreign audiences that will counter the destructive messages of violent extremist groups, Secretary of State John Kerry said. Tech Firms Step Up This meeting confirmed that we are united in our goal to keep terrorists and terror-promoting material off the Internet, a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by company rep Samantha Spielman. We explained our policies and how we enforce them Facebook does not tolerate terrorists or terror propaganda and we work aggressively to remove it as soon as we become aware of it, the Facebook spokesperson continued. This is an ever-evolving landscape, and we will continue to engage regularly with NGOs, industry partners, academics, and government officials on how to keep Facebook, and other Internet services, free of this material. Google and Dropbox also participated in the summit; however, they declined to comment on what was discussed. Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly was scheduled to attend, as were executives of other tech companies, including Twitter. Privacy Concerns Rage The efforts to solicit the cooperation of Silicon Valley executives are fraught with controversy. Some proposed plans to combat terrorism could put technology companies in the position of policing their own customers on the Web, privacy and security experts have warned. Hopefully, government will work with social media companies to develop constructive educational strategies to combat terrorist messages, Adam Thierer, a senior research fellow with the Technology Policy Program at GWUs Mercatus Center, told TechNewsWorld. That would be preferable to attempting censoral efforts that could raise free speech issues and probably wouldnt work in practice anyway. Spamhalter Lukas's Spamhalter plugin is a fully-fledged Bayesian Spam Filter for Pegasus Mail. It learns automatically from the mail you receive and moves anything that it thinks is spam into a folder you designate as your "spam folder". Training Spamhalter is easy - just move any spam it misses into your spam folder and it will automatically learn from it. Similarly, move any false positives (mail it mis-identifies as spam) out of the spam folder to any other location and it will be trained on them as not-spam. Spamhalter is comprehensively integrated with the program - you can right-click any message and train it as spam or not-spam (without even moving it in or out of the spam folder), and you can get explanations of what caught Spamhalter's interest in the message: you can even sort and group messages by their level of "spamminess". Combined with Pegasus Mail's existing Content Control and General filtering capabilities, Spamhalter provides a level of filtering power other applications can't even dream about. Mail Merge built into the program Pegasus Mail has shipped with a simple but effective mail merge plugin for many years, but as times have changed, so people have found they want to do more and more with their merges. Pegasus Mail now has mail merge built in as a core function - as a tab on the standard message editor you use every day. The new mail merge allows you to use formatting, tables and graphics in your merged messages, and even to merge attachments into your messages. What's more, the new "dry run" capability allows you to preview the exact appearance of your merge before you actually send it out. Global whitelist Now that the program has two different but complimentary spam filtering tools, it has become important to provide tools to prevent messages from being detected as spam. The new global whitelist capability allows you to exempt certain e-mail addresses from spam filtering, ensuring that they pass reliably into your new mail folder. More powerfully, the whitelist is configured by default to add every address to which you send mail, meaning that anyone to whom you send a message is automatically whitelisted and exempted from spam processing on your system. Still more improvements to HTML rendering The improvements to HTML display and editing introduced in v4.31 take another step forward in this version. Crashes from poorly-constructed HTML should now be vanishingly rare, and the quality of editing when replying or forwarding is significantly improved. Default size and layout capabilities for folders You can now save the size and column layout of any of your folders and use that layout as a default for all new folders. You can also apply your default layout to any existing folder at any time. These new commands are on the Folder menu when you have a folder open in its own window. Autoreplace improvements The message editor's Autoreplace feature now attempts to preserve the capitalization of any text it replaces for you. It also has a number of improvements dealing with international characters, and if you run the program in more than one language, each language can have its own autoreplace list. Support for the Windows "context menu" key and Shift+F10 The program now supports keyboard access to right-click context menus in its key windows. Simultaneous multilingual release For the first time in the program's history, v4.41 marks the simultaneous release of Pegasus Mail in English, German, French and Italian. Proper credit is due to all the dedicated volunteers involved in each language's translation process, in particular to Sven Henze, Philippe Chartier, Emmanuel Demulau, Markus Wiedemeier and Valter Mura. What's New While the seemingly endless process of updating code and preparing for Pegasus Mail version 5 continues, it has become clear that it is time to bring out an update that incorporates fixes and corrections that would benefit many users. The main changes in this release are: New PCONFIG A completely new version of the Pegasus Mail configuration utility PCONFIG has been provided in this release. While most users will never need to run PCONFIG, for those that do, the old version was becoming a major problem - the new version should address that. New OpenSSL build This release of Pegasus Mail includes OpenSSL version 1.0.1p, the most recent version we have found in testing to be reliably usable with all major online services. SSL performance fixes SSL performance should be markedly improved in this release, especially during SMTP sending. Addressbook fixes It is now possible to delete and rename addressbooks in the program. The 'add sender's address to addressbook' option should now work again, various other small corrections have been made in addressbook-related functions. Messages stuck in the queue A problem where 0-length files in the outgoing SMTP queue could not be reliably deleted from within the program has been fixed (at last). New builds of IERenderer and BearHTML Michael and Martin have produced new versions of the modules that display HTML data in mail messages for this release: the new versions improve stability and rendering quality. Spellchecking changes Some changes to the way the spellchecker operates have been made that should improve its usefulness to those who use it (in particular, a problem where the 'Don't send' button was missing during send-time spellechecks has been corrected). New SpamHalter build This release includes a new build of Lukas Gebauer's fine SpamHalter Bayesian anti-spam filter with improved reliability and performance. Alternatively you can download the latest beta version of this software. While consumers debate over how big a role virtual reality devices will have in the near future, companies continue to pour more resources into the technology. The latest silicon valley firm to increase its focus on VR is Google, which is forming its own dedicated virtual reality computing division, according to Re/Code. The division will be headed by Google's VP for product management, Clay Bavor. The 10-year veteran has been responsible for running Google apps such as Gmail, Drive and Docs - in addition to overseeing Google cardboard - but he will now be dropping apps to concentrate solely on VR products. Bavor's web application responsibilities will be taken over by incoming senior vice president Diane Greene. Google has confirmed that the leadership changes took place, but declined to comment on the formation of the virtual reality division. Google cardboard has gained positive reviews since its launch in 2014. The smartphone-powered device may not be able to produce a virtual reality experience in the same league as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, but it's incredibly cheap and fun to use. Cardboard's distribution has increased thanks to a partnership with schools and a deal with the New York Times that saw more than a million of the devices delivered for free to subscribers. Using Google cardboard to deliver NY Times content was so successful that the company plans to continue utilizing virtual reality. "VR is already margin-positive for us. We're making money out of VR. We expect to make money from VR again in 2016," Said Times CEO Mark Thompson during an interview last week at CES with Beet.tv. "We had great early success with commercial partnerships - GE and Mini were the launch partners." The new VR division will likely end up having some involvement with Magic Leap, the augmented reality company that Google recently invested $542 million in. The virtual reality section will also place a focus on YouTube, which has been experimenting with 360-degree video. The move is seen as an acknowledgement by Google that it needs to join other companies in doubling down on virtual reality. While people may still not be 100 percent certain that VR is the way forward, it seems that the tech giants are convinced it's the future of digital content. While a lot of people may occasionally sneak out a personal email or use a web-based messenger to speak to a friend while at work, employees in Europe are about to find that the risks that come with sending private messages during office hours may be too high. After ruling on a case yesterday, one of Europe's top court has said that companies have the right to monitor workers' online communications. The ruling relates to a case involving the dismissal of a Romanian engineer in 2007. Bogdan Mihai Barbulescu was asked by his employer to set up a Yahoo Messenger account to answer customer queries, but he was fired after the company discovered he was using it to communicate with his fiancee and brother. Barbulescu's company prohibited using the messaging service for personal purposes and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dismissed the engineer's argument that the firm had violated his right to confidential correspondence. The Strasbourg court said that it was "not unreasonable that an employer would want to verify that employees were completing their professional tasks during working hours." The judges in the case also defended the decision by Romania's courts to allow transcripts of the engineer's communications be used against him, saying: "It proved that he had used the company's computer for his own private purposes during working hours." The Romanian courts did, however, withhold the identities of the people Barbulescu was communicating with, striking a "fair balance" between respect for privacy and the interests of the employer, said the ECHR. The ECHR's judgments are binding on countries that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, and will set a precedent for future cases involving employee monitoring. Some legal experts worry that the ruling will mean EU workers may see their privacy rights diminish as employers gain the power to look at employees' personal online content - including emails - if accessed while at work. It may also influence companies to make workplace decisions based on private communications. The case highlights the fact that employees should always check their company's policy on personal messages. While some firms allow for a reasonable personal use of company systems, others completely ban the practice. Now, in the EU at least, bosses may start demanding to read everything workers have sent during office hours, be it private or otherwise. Image credit: Kinga / Shutterstock By fitting tiny glasses to praying mantises, researchers from Newcastle University in the UK have confirmed that the insects have 3D vision. The findings of the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on Jan. 7, is significant because 3D vision, also known as stereopsis, had only been confirmed in vertebrates such as humans, birds, mammals and reptiles. Creatures that see in stereopsis use differences in the location of an object as perceived by their right and left eye to determine the proximity of this object. The ability to judge distance is crucial for predators that hunt for food and preys that try to evade becoming dinner. In the 1980s, University of Zurich scientist Samuel Rossel conducted a study about the binocular vision of praying mantises, but the results were limited. The early study had less sophisticated means of testing 3D vision in praying mantis since the occluders and prisms used only provided a small set of images. For the new study, Jenny Read and colleagues fitted praying mantises with miniature 3D glasses similar to the old school glasses used when watching 3D movies. For human wearers, the glasses have a blue lens and a red lens, but since mantises see green light much better than red, the researchers developed glasses with a green lens and a blue lens. Read and colleagues initially used contemporary 3D technology that uses circular polarization for separating the two eyes' images, but it did not work. The mantises were very close to the screen that the glasses fitted to them were not able to correctly separate the images. "Since red light is poorly visible to mantises, we used green and blue glasses and a LED monitor with unusually narrow output in the green and blue wavelength," said study researcher and sensory biologist Vivek Nityananda. The researchers then showed the mantises short videos of similar bugs that move around a computer screen, sort of like a cinema for insects. They observed that the mantises did not attempt to catch the bugs when they were in 2D but struck out at the images when they were shown in 3D. These behaviors confirmed that mantises are capable of using 3D vision. Read said that mantises are sophisticated visual hunters marked by terrifying efficiency when capturing prey. By studying how these creatures perceive the world and having a better understanding of their processing systems, researchers can better understand the evolution of 3D vision. "We thus definitively demonstrate stereopsis in mantises and also demonstrate that the anaglyph technique can be effectively used to deliver virtual 3D stimuli to insects," the researchers wrote in their study. "This method opens up broad avenues of research into the parallel evolution of stereoscopic computations and possible new algorithms for depth perception." 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple does not usually comment on speculations or hearsay, just like any other big company in the industry. This time around, it chose to speak up to kill off a rumor claiming that the company is working on a tool to switch from iOS to Android. Earlier this month, a report emerged claiming that Apple will be coming up with the app after being pressured by mobile carriers in Europe. "According to a senior industry source, Apple has privately agreed to develop a simple tool to help consumers shift data such as contacts, music and photos if they move to Android," says the report. "Major European telecoms operators are concerned that only a tiny fraction of customers ever move off the iPhone, in part because of the technical hassle of transferring data." Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said that the rumor is not true. "We are entirely focused on switching users from Android to iPhone, and that is going great," says Muller. Apple is firm in its stand that it will never develop an iOS-to-Android migration tool. In fact, back in October, Apple boss Tim Cook touted in an earnings call that 30 percent of new iPhone owners had chosen to replace their Android smartphones. Move To iOS App The Cupertino-based company has developed an app designed to assist Android users in migrating their calendars, contacts, email accounts, bookmarks, photos and messages to the iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone. Apple Music For Android In November last year, Apple launched an Apple Music beta version for Android to persuade solid fans of the operating system to sign up to the music streaming service. Eddy Cue of Apple confirmed the news and admitted that among the biggest challenges of launching the app was to woo Android users to give it a try. "One of the biggest things is that we obviously don't know a lot of these Android customers and we're excited to hear what they'd like us to go do," said Cue. He added that the company is hoping that Android fans will give Apple Music a chance. What is worth noting with this app is that nearly all the Apple Music's features have been made available on the beta version of this Android app. Initially unveiled for iOS users in June last year, the app brought with it a slew of nifty features to wow its loyal fans, which include Beats 1 (Apple's live radio station), curated playlists and playlists that are created based on the preferences of its users. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Imagine a not-so-distant future where with just a tap on our smartphone, we could order a pizza and have it arrive at our door in just a few minutes no pizza delivery guy necessary. That's the drone delivery dream and it could very well happen in the next one to three years. "Moving people and stuff around the planet in an efficient way is where I want to get," David Vos, Google's Head honcho of drones, said on Monday during an aviation industry event in Washington. The exact example he used for his drone delivery dream was Google sending him his favorite beer. "Can I have one now? And three minutes from now, please. And, oh by the way I'm going to be going down there so can you drop it there? And when I get there I want to just be walking along and get an update that says 'your beer is here,'" Vos described. Google, now under the newly formed Alphabet that's run by Google's founders, is in a race with Amazon and Walmart to get drones in the air for consumer product deliveries. Google's Project Wing is tasked to get that pizza or beer (or both) to us first before everyone else. But they'll need permission from the government before any drone takes off into the air. Currently, businesses interested in flying drones for commercial purposes need to seek the Federal Aviation Administration's approval on a case-by-case basis. As a result, Google has begun buttering up to the FAA to help create the first online registration system and rules for drone use in America. Starting Dec. 21 last year, the cooperative efforts of government, drone makers, corporationsand interest groups have allowed for more than 180,000 drones to be registered in the FAA's database. However, that is just the first step. Companies still aren't allowed to fly drones at night and operators are not allowed to fly more than one drone at a time. These, and a multitude of other limitations, hinder the growth of the drone industry, according to Amazon and drone interest groups. Nonetheless, what little progress made so far is better than no progress at all. In fact, the FAA is comparatively chugging along better with drone regulation than other government agencies in their areas of interest. Moreover, the FAA's Michael Huerta said that the government will indeed be finalizing its rules for drones being used in commercial operations by late spring this year. Unfortunately, an early draft of those rules revealed that a drone would have to be flown within the operator's line of sight. For companies like Google, Amazon and Walmart that want to fill the skies with drones delivering pizzas to users who are mobile, the government's rules won't help their drone dreams fly. They're just too restrictive to get anything done. The FAA hasn't even begun the formal process yet for drafting rules on automated drone deliveries. That's what the corporations need the most to get drones to do what they'd be best at. But while the government takes its time, companies like Google and Amazon are already working on their own to create specialized air-traffic control systems made just for drones. In fact, reports reveal that Google is working with NASA to create such a system to guide drones in U.S. airspace and prevent mid-air collisions. The idea of an army of drones buzzing overhead does seem, at the very least, an obnoxious nuisance. Vos' solution is to have drones use the lower airspace about 500 feet up in the sky as a drone highway. "There's enough altitude ... and there's enough space out there today that is completely unoccupied, and we can do it in a way that is quiet enough and unobtrusive enough that it is not going to be impactful and that you won't really notice and that you can still accomplish a phenomenal amount of activity in that low altitude airspace regime," says Vos. Should Google, Amazon and Walmart eventually get their way, we may never ever have to leave our homes. Besides pizza deliveries, drones could very well deliver our groceries, books, other Amazon orders, and maybe just maybe even ourselves to and from the office and back home. Photo: Don McCullough | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The appeal of touchscreen devices are global not just because it is cool to use, but because it can actually make lives easier. Now, the touchscreen experience may be up another notch as researchers have developed a 3D nanowall technology that can revolutionize the entire smartphone industry. All touchscreen devices from tablets to vendo machines use transparent electrodes. The device surface is coated with an almost invisible pattern of conductive material to perform its function. Through this, the device is able to determine where exactly the user puts a finger on the screen. The two main properties that screen coating require are superb transparency and high-level of conduction. At present, smartphones use indium tin oxide as coating because it is fairly transparent and has been sufficiently researched. However, indium tin oxide only possesses moderate conductive abilities. Researchers from the ETH University in Zurich, Switzerland, headed by Dimos Poulikakos, were able to use 3D print technology to develop a new kind of transparent electrode or "nanowall" that is so thin, it is very hardly detectable via the naked eye. Best Of Both Worlds The newly developed electrodes are said to boast both high levels of transparency and conductive capacities. With this, one can expect the devices that use this technology can enjoy better screen quality and quick and precise responsiveness with every touch. For the main materials, the researchers decided to use gold and silver as these are said to conduct electricity better. There was only one problem: gold and silver are metals. "While metal films possess the highest conductivity at room temperature, a decent optical transmittance can only be achieved with ultrathin films," the researchers wrote. Because the metals are not transparent, the researchers had to utilize the third dimension. "If you want to achieve both high conductivity and transparency in wires made from these metals, you have a conflict of objectives," said Poulikakos. He further explained that as the height of the cross-sectional area of the gold and silver wire increases, the grid's transparency plummets. The solution? Make a metal wall that is only 80 to 500 nanometers thick, which are invisible when viewed from above. With the said measurement, the walls become two to four times taller than wider thus, boosting conductivity to an adequate high. 3D Printing This is the first time that experts use 3D printing in creating the technology. For this project, they particularly turned to Nanodrip to generate the tiny metal electrodes. Nanodrip was created by Poulikakos and colleagues in 2013 and involves using inks made from metals in a solvent. Through this process, a 3D structure may be created drop by drop when an electrical field draws tiny droplets of the metal ink out of a glass chamber. The next challenge for the researchers is to amp up the method and create a print process so that it can be used in the industrial setting. Other Applications The team of experts believes that their technology will pose more advantages to touchscreen devices than existing techniques. For one, 3D nanowall technology is more cost-effective as it does not require a cleanroom environment. The new electrodes are also said to be more appropriate for large touchscreen devices because it's more conductive. Other applications of the technology according to the researchers include solar cell enhancement for a more efficient electricity source and development of curved display via OLED technology. The paper was published in the journal Advanced Materials. Photo: Quinn Dombrowski | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ford has introduced the full-sized luxury sedan Lincoln Continental, which is aimed at American and Chinese markets. Lincoln stopped making the Continental in 2002 to focus on other models. However, Continental's concept car attracted many car lovers at auto shows in China and New York in 2014. And on Tuesday, the new 2017 Continental has been unveiled at the Detroit auto show. "The Continental name has long been associated with the ultimate in Lincoln beauty and luxury," says Kumar Galhotra, president of Lincoln. "With the all-new model, we are focusing on creating more human, personally tailored experiences for our clients providing what we call quiet luxury." The new Continental is shorter and lower in comparison to the Lincoln MKS. Although, the wheelbase of the 2017 Lincoln is longer. Sedan demand has been relatively low in the U.S., but Lincoln is expecting the Continental to do better compared to the MKS, which did not even touch total sales of 100,000 units in the U.S. in the last eight years. However, the Continental is mainly targeted at the Chinese market, which is expected to appreciate the spaciousness of the car and the rear seats that can also recline. Owners of the Continental will get heated rear seats as standard. The massaging and cooling options are also available. The controls on the car's right rear door moves the front passenger seat forward, which creates more room at the back. Customers who use chauffeur driven cars will understand the benefit of the feature. "Re-establishing Lincoln as a world-class luxury nameplate won't happen overnight, though it will happen if Ford continues to invest in the brand with stunning results like this new Continental," says Karl Brauer, senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book, a vehicle valuation and automotive research firm. "Even in the face of rising SUV demand, a serious luxury division needs a serious luxury sedan." Galhotra says that the company is expecting 60 percent of Continental's sales to come from China. Customers in China also can choose from different engine calibration and select from different grain patterns for the interior panels, which brings a firmer look to its leather. The new Continental includes a 3.0 liter V6 engine with twin turbochargers, which produces up to 400 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque. The all-wheel-drive system of the Continental is paired with Dynamic Torque Vectoring, which transfers torque whenever required to the appropriate rear wheel when driving through corners offering confident stability and handling. Customers can choose from three drive settings: sport, normal and comfort; which adapts suspension and steering settings to tailor handling and ride. The adaptive steering of the Continental assists drivers in optimizing steering response and enables the car to react more precisely and smoothly to driver input. Lincoln has designed the Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection to enhance the safety of its occupants. Sensors and cameras detect potential collision and then apply the brakes automatically, bringing the car to a halt and helps in reducing the collision impact. The Lincoln Continental will be produced at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan. The 2017 Lincoln Continental will have a starting price tag of $50,000 and will go on sale this fall. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. YouTube wants to demonstrate that alternative media strongly rivals the mainstream, and for this it plans to broadcast a live interview of President Barack Obama on Friday. Following the shift in generations and consumer behavior, the media landscape shapes up in favor of non-mainstream channels of communication. Now, online content creators from platforms such as Twitch or YouTube can be as successful as their mainstream media rivals. This is why PewDiePie is as famous (or more) than established network TV stars. On the downside, some TV consumers still look down on YouTube creators in favor of public figures who rose to fame through other, more traditional means. Google has the resources and reasons to change that perception. The search engine company teamed up with three beloved YouTube creators to interview Obama, a few days after he delivered his last State of the Union speech in front of the Congress. The interview continues a tradition that has been going on for seven years, in which the social-media savvy President of the U.S. responds to questions live over the Internet. "This Friday, January 15, Destin Sandlin, Ingrid Nilsen, and Adande Thorne three popular YouTube creators will travel to Washington, D.C. to host a live YouTube Interview with President Obama," Ramya Raghavan from Google Politics, says. Raghavan adds that the President invited the trio to meet him in the East Room of the White House for the interview hosted by the White House's YouTube channel. According to Raghavan, anyone who has a question for the President can send it to the three interviewers. Posting on social media with the hashtag #YouTubeAsksObama will automatically put your questions on the list, so you just might hear the President answer your concern live, on YouTube. She also pointed out that the President truly encourages social media presence, as he promotes transparency and strong communication between the White House and the public. The White House uploads weekly statements and addresses on social media, informing citizens about hot national topics. Raghavan further highlights that Google is happy to be part of the process, as the seven YouTube interviews with the President revealed his stance on a number of pressing issues. She also says that Google wants to offer future presidents the possibility to maintain a powerful connection with the Americans. Obama relied heavily on social media during his first campaign, and his tech enthusiasm resonated profoundly with the younger generation of voters. By tapping into the geeky and tech savvy electoral pool, he paved the way for future technology friendly candidates. To watch the live interview, simply visit the official White House YouTube channel on Friday. The drawback is that the eighth interview with the President airs at 2:15 p.m. EST, so most of us will be either at school or at work. Luckily, the recording will still be available when we get home. On Friday, YouTube will feature its last interview with Obama as President, following his final State of the Union address on Jan. 12, at 9 p.m. EST. Reinforcing his love for the Web content, President Obama recently starred in a cameo during Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" Web series. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. It's back to the drawing board for Volkswagen in yet another setback for the embattled automaker. On Tuesday, United States and California regulators rejected the company's proposed fix for the estimated 580,000 vehicles affected in the country by its emissions scandal. The Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board (CARB) negated VW's recall blueprint for two-liter diesel cars, with CARB even flagging the automaker for 13 violations, as reported by USA Today. "The proposed plans contain gaps and lack sufficient detail," CARB said in a joint statement with the EPA on Tuesday, as reported by USA Today. "The descriptions of proposed repairs lack enough information for a technical evaluation; and the proposals do not adequately address overall impacts on vehicle performance, emissions and safety." The EPA added: "EPA agrees with CARB that Volkswagen has not submitted an approvable recall plan to bring the vehicles into compliance and reduce pollution. EPA has conveyed this to the company previously." The timing couldn't be any worse, considering VW had yet again apologized to the U.S. during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 last week in Las Vegas and its CEO, Matthias Mueller, apologized again Sunday during the launch of the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Mueller is slated to meet with EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to discuss a U.S. fix for VW's emissions scandal. A glimmer of hope is that VW told USA Today and other media outlets on Tuesday that the rejection of its proposed recall pertains to a repair blueprint submitted to U.S. regulators and CARB in December, and since then, the automaker has had significant conversations with CARB. U.S. fixes could range from simple software updates to installing new parts altogether. This past December, VW was given the green light to begin making 8.5 million faulty diesel vehicles comply with emissions regulations in Europe a massive job that the company is aiming to complete by the end of this year. "Our most important task in 2016 is to win back trust," Mueller told reporters during the Detroit Auto Show earlier this week. "It's not only our cars that we have to fix. We know we have to repair our credibility, too." VW must do just that in the eyes of the EPA, CARB and definitely the public. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A pharmaceutical company is recalling two of its children's cough syrups that came with dosage cups that are incorrectly marked, sparking concerns of children accidentally being given an overdose. The Perrigo Company announced it is voluntarily recalling two batches of its children's guaifenesin grape cough medicine and three batches of its children's guaifenesin DM cherry liquid in four-ouce bottles that were being sold by national retailers with a dosing cup carrying the wrong markings. "Use of these products according to labeled instructions with an affected dosing cup is unlikely to result in serious side effects, and no reports related to overdose have been received to date," the company said in a release. Symptoms of a guaifenesin overdose could include hyper excitability, altered muscle reflexes, rapid eye movements, nausea and vomiting, irregular heartbeat, seizures, hallucinations, depressed breathing and death, it said. Parents should contact a poison control center or a doctor if any of these symptoms are seen in a child, experts said. While the ingredients in the cough syrups is considered "minimally toxic," it all depends on the amount consumed, said Dr. Donna Seger, medical director for Tennessee Poison Control and a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "The adage is the dose [that] makes the poison," she said. Perrigo said it is notifying distributors and customers by verbal and email communications. "Perrigo is taking this [recall] action to maintain the highest possible product quality standards for our retail customers and consumers," the Michigan-based company said. "We are taking this action because it is the right thing to do." The recalled products would be removed from the shelves of nationwide retailers, it said. CVS and H.E.B. were selling the guaifenesin grape liquid, while the guaifenesin DM cherry liquid was carried by Rite Aid, CVS, Kroger, Dollar General, Topcare, Summark, Care One and GoodSense. Consumer who purchased the products, listed by label and lot number on the company website, should discard the dosing cup rather than trying to determine the correct dosage. Perrigo did not manufacture the incorrectly-labeled dosing cups, a company spokeswoman said. Consumers with questions or concerns can call toll free Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. EST, at 1-888-345-0479, the company said, or visit mucusreliefrecall.com. Photo: Jessi | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Archaeologists have uncovered what they say are the best-preserved Bronze Age houses ever found in the United Kingdom, calling the discovery "Britain's Pompeii." Circular wooden houses dated from about 1,000 to 800 B.C. sat on stilts in Cambridgeshire, and when the stilts were destroyed by fire, the dwellings settled into a river where they were preserved by silt, in the same manner that volcanic ash preserved much of Pompeii in Italy. The fire may have happened very quickly, as pots with meals still inside were found at the dig site, researchers said. The settlement and its artifacts are "an extraordinary time capsule," says Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, which is helping fund the excavation. "A dramatic fire 3,000 years ago, combined with subsequent waterlogged preservation, has left to us a frozen moment in time, which gives us a graphic picture of life in the Bronze Age," he says. So much material and so many artifacts have been preserved, they give a full portrait of everyday life for the settlement's inhabitants, researchers point out. The finds so far include jewelry, daggers and spears, food storage pots and finely-made drinking cups, they report. They've also uncovered glass beads from part of a necklace, hinting at a level of sophistication not normally associated with Bronze Age people, they add. "It's prehistoric archaeology in 3D, with an unsurpassed finds assemblage both in terms of range and quantity," says David Gibson with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, which is heading the scientific excavation. The preservation of the site is of such a high level that footprints of people living in the settlement are still visible in the sediment layers. The reason for the fire that caused the inhabitants to flee quickly, leaving everything behind, is unclear, the researchers say; it could have been something as simple as a cooking fire accident or possibly an enemy attack. The number of weapons found at the site suggests an enemy attack is not out of the question, says site director Mark Knight. "This is a world full of swords and spears it is not entirely a friendly place," he notes. The excavation effort is halfway through a projected four-year scientific examination. The Bronze Age denotes a period in human history when metalworkers discovered that combining tin and copper created a new alloy bronze which could be used to make tools and weapons that were much harder-wearing than had been possible before. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has just revealed that the 10th annual Google I/O developer conference will be held between May 18 and 20, 2016, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. For those who don't know, the venue is a little special this time, as it's located in the company's hometown, which Pichai describes the location as the "neighborhood where it all started" via Twitter. He also made the announcement on Google+, giving away more specifics there. I/O'16 coming to neighborhood where it all started 10 yrs ago: Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, May 18-20. More details soon. #io16 sundarpichai (@sundarpichai) January 12, 2016 "We'll have 3 full days together to dive deep into developer content, code labs, and more. If you can't make it in person, you can still join us via I/O Live and through an I/O Extended event in your local community. Stay tuned to #io16 and +GoogleDevelopers in the coming weeks for more details," he says. What To Expect Android N In last year's conference, Google introduced Android M, and it eventually became the highly anticipated Marshmallow. This time around, the company could officially take the wraps off Android N, which is already well under way with hints of Split Screen and Multiwindow support, according to the team behind Pixel C. Other expected features include pressure sensitivity, a battery management tool and the Dark Theme, which was scrapped right before Android 6.0 Marshmallow. As for the name of the major Android update, Pichai says that it could be determined through an online poll, suggesting that Android 7.0 could take after an Indian dessert such as "neyyappam" or "nankhatai." Project Tango At CES 2016, Google and Lenovo announced the first Project Tango smartphone, a device that can take the dimensions of a room and generate on-screen 3D objects. It's likely that the Mountain View company will dish out more details at the event. Google Cars Google is renowned for driverless cars, which have been proven to be impressively safe even in terrible weather. However, one of the company's self-driving automobiles was involved in an accident back in July 2015 for the first time. With that said, Google could unveil new safety measures along with a new lineup of vehicles that are compatible with the system. On top of those, the company could announce third-party applications such as Waze to be integrated with Android Auto. Android Wear Updates for the smartwatch OS could be featured, including improved performance of gestures and voice controls. A couple of new devices would be nice to see too. Considering that Android Wear became compatible with iOS in 2015, there's a slim chance that Google will announce compatibility with Windows phones as well. Chrome OS There has been buzz about Chrome OS merging with Android, and if it's going to be announced at the conference, then it's arguably going to be the biggest news there. However, Google developers say that it's not true. At any rate, the integration between the two has been shaping up into a tightly knitted system, so if the unification really turns out to be false, then more features and updates for the pair's communication could be disclosed instead. Nexus 7 The first Nexus 7 was a big hit, and the second-generation model was too. The most recent rumors surrounding the hot tablet suggest that the third-generation will be manufactured by Huawei, which is reportedly slated for a May 2016 release with design cues from the Google Pixel C. If all goes well, Google could finally give an official word about the much-coveted slab. Project Ara Project Ara has been going on and off since 2013, and until now, there's still no solid release date. With such a long wait, a "humorous" piece of news about the modular phone breaking into pieces when dropped made rounds on the Internet. Of course, it has been put to a stop eventually. Moving forward, the team behind Project Ara assured fans that the device will roll out in 2016 somewhere in the United States. Where are we headed next? We are looking at a few locations in the U.S. #ProjectAra #newlocationcomingsoon Project Ara (@ProjectAra) August 17, 2015 Hopefully, Google will give out more specifics at the event. Google Glass Remember the awesome demo of Google Glass before? Well, Google could showcase a second-generation model of the wearable tech in the shape of a monocle. Just like all the other Google I/O developer conferences, this one is also expected to be a huge event. With fingers crossed, Google could finally get its projects off the ground this 2016. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Giant icebergs breaking off from ice sheets in Antarctica once thought another sign of global warming may in fact be helping hold climate change at bay as they melt, researchers say. These giant icebergs, some as large as cities or even small countries one that split off an Antarctic glacier in 2013 was the size of Singapore can release nutrients into the ocean waters as they float and melt, triggering huge plankton blooms that can absorb a significant percentage of the carbon in the carbon cycle of the Southern Ocean, they say. Satellite imagery has proved that as the giant slabs of floating ice melt, they leave behind great swathes of nutrients, in a process known as "ocean fertilization." Those nutrients include things like iron, scraped up from land as glaciers slowly move across it and end up in the icebergs that split off as the glaciers reach the sea. The finding came out of analyzing images of 17 examples of the giant icebergs often seen in the Southern Ocean, researchers report in the journal Nature Geoscience. "It was a big surprise," says research team member Grant Bigg, an oceanography expert at the University of Sheffield in Britain. "When you look at the giant icebergs, the influence of these meltwater nutrients is actually four to 10 times as large as we would have expected from looking at the ordinary sized icebergs," he says. The nutrient-rich plume of the icebergs, some of which can be more than 10 miles across, can stretch for more than 600 miles, the researchers say. The floating environments of tiny marine organisms created by the icebergs absorb an estimated 10 to 40 million tons of carbon annually, they report. Those plankton blooms can last for more than a month following the passage through an area of a giant iceberg, they say. The photosynthesis process, which plankton use in order to grow and reproduce, includes the absorption of carbon dioxide. When the plankton dies, it sinks to the floor of the ocean, effectively locking away all the carbon that was absorbed. "We estimated that somewhere between five and 10 percent of all the carbon, which is exported from the surface waters of the Southern Ocean down to the deep ocean, ought to come from these iceberg plumes fertilizing the water and the phytoplankton growing and dying as a result," Bigg says. Around 3,000 giant icebergs are floating around the Southern Ocean at any one time, the researchers point out, constantly calving off the ice sheets and glaciers of Antarctica. "If giant iceberg calving increases this century as expected, this negative feedback on the carbon cycle may become more important than we previously thought," Bigg says. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The medical community appears to be divided by a blurry line - a line between those who push for early and yearly cancer screening, and those who say that it does not work. The confusion does not stop medical experts from releasing guidelines, however. In fact, an updated set of breast cancer screening guidelines from an independent group of doctors in the United States recommends that 50- to 74-year-old women who are at an average risk for the illness should get mammograms every other year. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which is supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has only re-affirmed its earlier recommendations in 2009. However, the group's set of recommendations contradicts the guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS), which suggests that women should begin getting yearly mammograms at 45 years old and biennial mammograms at 55 years old. It also contradicts the guidelines from the National Comprehensive Care Network (NCCN) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which advises that women should start getting annual mammograms at 40 years old. Risk-Based Screening The Task Force did not push for frequent mammograms, but it did say that women and their doctors should make joint choices on how to proceed. They call this "risk-based screening," in which women should decide based on risk factors such as dense breast tissue and family history. Examining their 2009 guidelines, the Task Force found that for women aged 40 to 74 years old, screening will reduce the chances of dying from breast cancer, with women aged 40 to 49 benefitting the least and women aged 60 to 69 benefitting the most. The group also discovered that for every 10,000 women who go through mammography repeatedly for 10 years, four lives are saved among women aged 40 to 49; eight among women 50 to 59; 21 among women aged 60 to 69; and 13 among women aged 70 to 74. Dr. Michael LeFevre, former chairman of the Task Force, said the findings support mammography as a vital tool in the fight against breast cancer. "We believe the benefits increase with age," said LeFevre. "But there are harms, and particularly in their 40s, women have to make a decision for themselves." Dr. Kirsten Bibbibs-Domingo, vice chair of the Task Force, said there are many similarities between the recommendations put forth by other groups and their final guidelines, such as the value of breast cancer screening for women in their 40s. "Recognizing that there are modest differences, the Task Force is hopeful that its recommendations and the guidelines put forth by others will facilitate dialogue between women and their clinicians, and lead to additional research," she said. Breast Cancer Symptoms Before you go through a mammography, it is important if you are informed about the breast cancer symptoms you should watch out for. A lump in the breast is typically associated with breast cancer, but experts say that most of the time, it isn't. According to reports, more than 90 percent of all breast lumps in women who are in their early 20s to early 50s are noncancerous and are due to hormonal changes or damaged fat tissue. Although breast cancer doesn't typically show symptoms at early stage, a breast lump often prompts women and men to visit their doctor for check-ups. If no distinct lump is felt, experts at Cancer.org say that swelling of all or a certain part of the breast can be a possible symptom, too. Experiencing breast pain is rarely the first noticeable symptom of the illness. Breast pain can be caused by other some birth control pills, a bra that doesn't fit, some infertility treatments, stress, fluctuating hormones caused by menstruation, breast cysts, or large breasts. The last one is accompanied by shoulder, neck or back pain, experts said. Other symptoms of breast cancer include swelling around the arm or collarbone; breast pain that doesn't go away after your period; changes in the nipple shape; nipple discharge from one breast which is sometimes clear, brown, yellow or red; skin irritation, rash, itchiness, or unexplained redness; enlargement of one breast; dimpling of the breast surface; nipple retraction; unintentional weight loss; and many more. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Albert Einsteins mass-energy equation E=mc2 is inadequate and valid only under certain conditions, with a proper study not carried out, an Indian researcher claimed recently. The famous equation, revealed by Einstein in 1905, means energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. Ajay Sharma, a Shimla-based researcher and assistant director for education of the Himachal Pradesh government, had his technical paper The mathematical derivation or speculation of E=mc2, in Einstein's September 1905 paper, and some peculiar experiments published last December by Russias Bauman Moscow State Technical University. According to Sharma, Einsteins theory had not been completely studied. "It's only valid under special conditions of the parameters involved, e.g. number of light waves, magnitude of light energy, angles at which waves are emitted and relative velocity," he explained to a local news agency last Jan. 10. Einsteins Equation Scrutinized Sharmas paper raised the different parameters which Einsteins 1905 paper possibly did not consider. The equation considered just two light waves of equal energy, emitted in opposite directions via uniform relative velocity. The equation, said Sharmas paper, expressed the fact that mass and energy are the same interchangeable physical entity. Its illogical, said the Indian researcher of the equation, which is obtained from Lmc2 via replacing L with E (all energy) without derivation. Einstein left out E in the derivation, Sharma pointed out. His published book titled Beyond Einstein and E=mc2, too, noted that Einstein was not the theory of relativitys original propounder. Instead, the book said, Einstein acquired data from existing literature and published it in the German scientific journal Annalen de Physik. Sharma further said that Einsteins much-celebrated work was not peer-reviewed prior to publication, and that the first thoughts of relativity came from Galileo Galilei in 1632. He argued that Einstein merely published existing works such as those of Galilei, Henri Poincare in 1898, and Joseph Larmor in 1897 under his own name. The 51-year-old said that Einsteins well-established theory has to be reexamined and critically analyzed to find new results. Sharmas Disputes Parsed Down An Indian analysis, on the other hand, examined Dr. Sharmas claims and pointed out its own potential lapses and blind spots. E = mc2 isnt wrong its often overlooked that its an approximation, said science editor and blogger Vasudevan Mukunth, providing the full equation: E2 = m02c4 + p2c4. These approximations, according to the analysis, are derived from Einsteins special theory of relativity, which describes the space and time connection. The counter-argument continued to pinpoint the challenges that beset Einsteins general theory from the beginning. It emphasized, however, that Einsteins main accomplishment does not lie in inventing something new in the context of Sharmas claim of him ripping off existing scientific ideas. [His accomplishments are] in having recombined and interpreted a trail of disjointed theoretical and experimental discoveries into a coherent, meaningful and testable theory of gravitation, Mukunth wrote, adding that it was not a case of plagiarism but instead produced something distinctively original later on. The analysis maintained that Sharmas claims of the equations insufficiency are difficult to prove, given no circumstance at present in which they appear to fail. The inability of general relativity even quantum physics to meet halfway in a so-called quantum theory of gravity, it added, cannot be attributed completely to an assumed inadequacy of the mass-energy equivalence. Meanwhile, the scientific community worldwide continues to study the general relativity theory. Last Jan. 2, researchers from Pennsylvania State University discovered a method for using radio signals from space in order to test a principle of the theory said to be a couple of times more efficiently versus earlier systems using gamma-ray bursts. Photo: Dominic Bartsch | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. These are exciting times for space exploration, and 2016 is no exception. This year, space fans can expect to see a lot of action going. 2015 was highlighted by the glorious July 14 Pluto flyby, in which NASA spacecraft New Horizons made its closest approach to the dwarf planet. It revealed flowing ice, stunning hazes, and icy mountains. While that was a tough act to follow, this year has its share of spectacular milestones that can make any spaceflight enthusiast cry joyously inside. The Space Coast, a Florida region around the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, is anticipating as many as 30 launches by a diverse rocket group as well as arrivals of incoming space vehicles. All manned NASA spaceflights depart from either of these two stations. Col. Eric Krystkowiak, commander of the 45th Launch Group at the Air Force's 45th Space Wing, said the focus on more commercial space missions is marking a great transition. Were in a transitional, transformational time in our history, where were looking to the entrepreneurial, commercial spirit to really bring that spaceport of the future, he said. This year, too, NASA and private companies such as SpaceX and Boeing will keep developing a range of spaceships for crewed missions in the future. Take a look at this list of 2016 space missions to eagerly await: Jason-3 Satellite Launch (Jan. 17) The Jason-3 satellite of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is slated to launch towards the planets orbit on top of the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX. The goal is to create accurate measurements of sea-level variations around Earth, enriching a wealth of climate change data amassed for over two decades. During its launch, SpaceX will attempt to bring the Falcon 9s first phase on an unmanned ship located off the Californian coast, as part of its efforts to create reusable rockets for greater spaceflight cost-efficiency. Return-To-Flight Cargo Mission Of SpaceX (Feb. 7) The private firm maintains a $1.6 billion contract with the American space agency to fly at least 12 robotic resupply missions to the International Space Station via Falcon 9 and its Dragon capsule. While the first six fights went smoothly, the seventh was not as perfect: minutes after it lifted off on June 28, the Falcon 9 broke in the skies of Florida. The Feb. 7 mission will be SpaceXs first ISS cargo mission from the time of the accident and since its rocket modification and improvement efforts. Launch of ExoMars Missions First Phase (March 14) Not to be left behind, the European Space Agency is set to debut the first phase of the ExoMars mission, which will blast the Trace Gas Orbiter toward Mars along with a lander. The TGO will orbit the Red Planet and look for methane, something mostly emitted by living creatures on Earth. The lander, on the other hand, will collect data as it descends through Mars atmosphere and explores its surface. However, its main objective is to serve as a launch pad for the ExoMars rover that will seek for signs of life on the planet starting 2018. Astronaut Journey To ISS (March 18) Its a field day for NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams along with cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Aleksey Ovchinin as they travel toward the ISS, launching with a Russian Soyuz space vehicle from Kazakhstan. Other crew launches will follow and will take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 21, Sept, 23, as well as Nov. 16. SpaceXs Falcon Heavy Rockets Maiden Launch (April) Sometime this month, the company will launch its massive Falcon Heavy rocket a 68-meter tall booster deemed the strongest today and able to loft 53 metric tons to low Earth orbit. This rocket was an original part of SpaceX founder Elon Musks plans since 2002 to colonize Mars. Culmination Of NASAs Dawn Mission (Summer 2016) Dawn spacecraft has been orbiting Ceres since last year in March, studying the dwarf planets intriguing bright spots as well as other features. The $466-million space mission is poised to end this June, a time when it will be out of fuel. Its mission team, however, expressed optimism over extending its lifespan. Arrival Of Juno Spacecraft At Jupiter (July 4) NASAs spacecraft is slated to enter Jupiter's orbit on this date, which is almost five years since the probe was launched. This solar-powered mission will record the gravitational and magnetic fields of the giant planet, providing details in its core, structure, and evolution. Blastoff Of NASAs OSIRIS-REx Mission (Sept. 3) This is the projected launch of the agencys OSIRIS-REx, which will proceed to the Bennu asteroid, a potentially hazardous asteroid, and arrive there by 2018. The spacecraft will snatch at least 2.1 ounces of material from the space rock and return the sample to the living planet in 2023. The mission is expected to help scientists zero in on potential asteroid impacts and the solar systems origins. Rosetta Comet Missions Historic End (Sept. 30) This mission the first ever that has orbited and landed on a comet is scheduled to culminate on this date. Rosetta spacecraft will spiral down onto comet 67Ps surface. It will also call to mind the bittersweet journey of the Rosetta lander Philae, which has returned data and images to Earth but remains asleep after several attempts to bring it back to life. Europes Satellite-Navigating System (Late 2016) ESA officials announced that Europes version of the United States GPS or Global Positioning System will become operational in late 2016. The Galileo satellite navigation system will have four more space vehicles launched this year and will eventually comprise 30 satellites orbiting Earth. At present, 12 satellites of the civilian-run network have already been launched. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Speculation regarding the demise of the Moto G and Moto E lines can now be put to rest thanks to a Motorola representative, who finally shed some light on the matter. Chen Xudong, the leader of Lenovo's China and Asia-Pacific division, recently tried to explain the Motorola rebranding strategy and some confusion arose regarding the fate of the Moto G and Moto E handset lines. Following Xudong's statement, it was widely speculated that the Lenovo-owned Motorola will pull the plug on its two smartphone lines. The Lenovo's official explained that every Motorola phone launching in 2016 will sport a screen size of minimum 5 inches, underlining that no device will be released with a display of about 4.7 inches. Digital Trends and others misread the statement as a clear sign that the hugely popular Moto G and Moto E lineups lived long enough and are about to become history. Luckily for Motorola fans out there, The Verge contacted Motorola and the OEM confirms that both the Moto G and the Moto E will continue to be on the market. Motorola points out that Xudong's declaration was misinterpreted and it "will not be the case" to think about pulling the plug on the two lineups. "Although we are simplifying the combined Motorola and [Lenovo] portfolio, we have no plans to retire Moto G, our most successful smartphone, or Moto E," a Motorola spokesperson notes. The first element that led the public opinion into error was a blog post from the Lenovo-owned company, which states that Lenovo and Motorola are working closely to simplify the product portfolio, with special focus on two sub-brands, Vibe and Moto, respectively. "This latest move is all about where we focus our brand marketing efforts in the future. That will be on our two hero smartphone brands: Moto and Vibe," the blog reads. A recent announcement by Lenovo points out that Motorola will get a new branding name, transforming into "Moto by Lenovo." According to reports, it is very likely that Motorola's smartphones will get in line with the rest of the alpha pack, meaning that Motorola smartphones will finally feature fingerprint sensors. Xudong also stated that Motorola and Lenovo will get a new user interface (UI), sometime next year. So far, Motorola did not officially back the information about the fingerprint sensor or the embrace of the new UI in 2017, which means that fans of the Moto handsets have to wait and find out. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In pursuit of inclusion and efficiency, Google Maps sure has fun, too. On Wednesday, the company uploaded a video to YouTube of its engineers partnering with Ubilabs to build a miniature scale model of Germany's famed Miniatur Wunderland model railway on Google Maps as a Street View surprise. For those who believe in the adage of "it's all in the details," this scale model of the Miniatur Wunderland boasts 13,000 kilometers of track and upward of 200,000 tiny citizens in addition to German provinces and an airport. Taking things to an entirely new level, Google worked with Ubilabs to mount tiny Street View cameras on miniature vehicles to drive on the scale model's roads and over its train tracks, capturing every nook and cranny of Wunderland. The Street View of Wunderland begins in its oldest section, Knuffingen, before headed to its rustic farmer's market and even the city's airport. The miniature scale model even includes a tribute to the United States, equipped with the Grand Canyon, famed Las Vegas strip and even Mount Rushmore. The Street View over Las Vegas Boulevard includes a shot of a newly married couple in Sin City. It's only right. How's that for capturing all the details in Street View on Google Maps? Check out the entire process of building the Street View of Miniatur Wunderland well, mini Street View for Google Maps. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Uber is extending its hand to nonviolent criminals in California. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the ride-hailing service is easing up on its driver screening requirements, paving the way for the opportunity for non-violent criminals who have already served their prison sentences in the state to be employed by the company and hopefully rebuild their lives for the better. Uber's chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, told the Journal that this means the company will no longer reject those who committed non-violent or non-sexual offenses, naming petty theft or check fraud as examples. As part of the plan, Uber also plans on educating criminals with felony convictions about how they can reduce their conviction to a misdemeanor by submitting an application by November 2017. "This is an opportunity for us to engage with the community," Sullivan told the Journal. "We should all be in favor of giving everyone a fair chance." By loosening up on its driver screening requirements and giving non-violent criminals a chance, Uber is also seemingly making its driver background check more transparent something that critics of the service have harped on. To that end, Uber tells the Journal that its background checks are as good, if not better, than those used by taxi companies, and that it utilizes a service called Checkr Inc., which goes back seven years into prospective drivers' histories, pinpointing their addresses and convictions over that duration. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. With SoundCloud being such an undeniable force in the music industry, this was bound to happen. The New York Times is reporting that the ultra-popular streaming music website has struck a licensing deal with the Universal Music Group. This partnership is huge, considering Universal is home to big-time artists such as U2, Sam Smith and the Weeknd, and it may pave the way for SoundCloud to be more accepted by the music industry as a whole. The collaboration, which is expected to be formally announced Wednesday, will give SoundCloud access to Universal's catalog, while allowing those artists to earn advertising money each time their songs are played. SoundCloud's free service is currently used by 175 million people worldwide on a monthly basis, with artists such as Miley Cyrus and Kanye West openly embracing it to launch their own new music. In fact, on each of the past two Fridays, West has released a new song on SoundCloud each delivering a deluge of listeners to the platform. SoundCloud adds Universal to record companies such as the Warner Music Group, Merlin and the National Music Publishers Association, with which the streaming service had previously reached agreements. "We've got the majority of the music industry partnered with us now," Alexander Ljung, one of the founders of SoundCloud, told the Times. Sonic boom. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The verb "ankommen" means "to arrive" in German, so the word serves as a fitting name for a new app developed by the German government to help refugees adapt to a new life far away from home. Developed by the country's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, the Federal Employment Agency, the Goethe Institute and public radio persona Bayerischer Rundfunk, the app is marketed as a guide for asylum seekers during their first few weeks in Germany. Ankommen essentially works as a starter kit for most of the major bases for living in a foreign country, including introductory courses in the German language, resources and how-tos for finding vocational apprenticeships and jobs, an overview of German laws and customs and tips for claiming political asylum in the first place. "Understanding how Germany works is the basis for getting on well together," reads the description available on the app's website. "Everyone has the same obligations and has to obey German laws. But everyone has the same rights too. In this app you get to know the rules of this country and learn what you have to pay attention to." While the app is available in Arabic, English, Farsi, French and German ostensibly for a bevy of different types of emigres from a diverse array of cultures its release comes during a time of overwhelming media attention (and sometimes international political scrutiny) over German immigration policy. The outpouring of Syrian asylum seekers, which began late last year, has made the app an even more imperative tool for many who find themselves trying to pave their way in a foreign country. Currently, the app is available for Android via Google Play, with plans to adapt it for the iOS platform in the near future. Via: The Verge 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Although California has some of the leading laws on political disclosure, there is still work to be done regarding access and data search systems, according to findings this week from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization publicly issued a report on Jan. 11 on the topic of improving Californias political disclosure systems. A second report was also released, which looked at the rules and their actual implementation in five cities and two counties in the state, both funded by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.The first, titledgenerally found that Californias disclosure laws are among the best in the country, but it remains difficult to access the data, which could prevent the public from knowing just how much influence special interest groups have in local and state government, the report said.Some areas for improvement were identified: upgrading Californias definition of lobbyist and lobbying to apply to all money spent influencing public policy; scanning and indexing paper reports for online access; providing a way to search the system according to the four main types of spending: payments to in-house lobbyists, payments to lobbying firms, activity expenses, and other influential payments; and designing a public search tool, so that the public might see who is lobbying on a bill or rule, or learn what legislation interests a particular organization.The report also explores the pros and cons of the tools the California Secretary of States Office has made available online to search the public data.The main data storage and presentation website for Californias political spending, including contributions to state campaigns, is called Cal-Access, the report says, calling its capabilities rigid. Recently, however, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with Maplight, launched Power Search, which significantly improves the ability of users to query data about campaign contributions from the database.The institute also recommended that the state develop an entity-based system, rather than compartmentalize various datasets. This would mean the public could use a search tool to track a person or group who engages in multiple, government-based activities, such as contributing to a campaign, lobbying or other personal expenditures. Though entity-based systems are not yet common, the institute pointed out other governments that had successfully implemented the system, such as the state of New Jersey and New York City. The organization further suggested there was a need for greater access to data through the creation of API feeds and to simplify download capacity.The second report,came to much the same conclusions, but found that though California has a threshold of $25,000 for the triggering of mandatory electronic reporting, six of the seven localities examined maintain drastically lower thresholds.According to the report, only Sacramento and San Jose require all candidates to file every report electronically, and only 11 percent of San Jose reports are available on paper. San Diego, Los Angeles City, and Los Angeles County have each instituted $10,000 thresholds, they reported. Thus, the Institute wrote, Sacramento is the only city among the seven explored for this report that enables the public to get a full picture of spending in any given election.The growing public interest in campaign finance makes it essential that local governments empower citizens to hold their elected officials accountable through campaign finance data that is complete, timely, and accessible, concluded the report.You can read here , and New Polymer Material That Can Harvest Solar Energy by Day and Release It at Night On Demand Imagine a warm jumper that can release just enough heat to keep you warm and cozy in a cooler room without any need to fiddle the thermostat settings. Or, imagine a car windshield that can melt away the layer of ice on your car with the suns energy stored on it. A team of MIT researchers have developed a new transparent polymer film that can harvest sunlight during the day, store the energy indefinitely, and release it later as heat, whenever its needed. The material could be applied to many different surfaces, such as clothing and glass. This work presents an exciting avenue for simultaneous energy harvesting and storage within a single material, the University of Torontos Ted Sargent, who wasnt involved in the research, told MIT News. The approach is innovative and distinctive. The finding by MIT professor Jeffrey Grossman, postdoc David Zhitomirsky, and graduate student Eugene Cho, is described in a paper in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. Even though the sun is a virtually unlimited source of energy, its only available during daylight, which is about half the time we need it. Therefore, in order for the sun to become a major source of power for human needs, there has to be an efficient way to save it up for use during night time and stormy days. Most solutions have concentrated on storing and recovering solar energy as electricity or other forms. The new finding could provide a highly efficient method for storing the suns energy through a chemical storage system, which can retain the energy indefinitely in a stable molecular configuration, until its ready to be deployed, the researchers explain. The key is an azobenzene molecule that can remain stable in either of two different configurations: charged and uncharged. When exposed to sunlight, the energy of the light kicks the molecules into their charged configuration, and they can stay that way for long periods. Then, when triggered by a very specific temperature or other stimulus, the molecules snap back to their original, not charged state, giving off a burst of heat in the process. Such solar thermal fuels (STF) have been developed before, but this new method is the first based on a solid-state material (in this case a polymer) rather than a liquid, and that can make all the difference in terms of how it can be used. Whats more, its based on inexpensive materials and with widespread manufacturing in mind. The material is also transparent, making it feasible for other applications, including as a defrosting device for vehicles windows. Many cars already have fine heating wires embedded in rear windows for that purpose, but they are inapplicable for the front windows as anything that blocks the view through the front window is forbidden by law. BMW, a sponsor of this research, is very interested in this potential application. The team is continuing to work on improving the films properties, says Grossman. The material currently has a slight yellowish tinge, so the researchers are working on improving its transparency. And it can release a burst of about 10 degrees Celsius above the surrounding temperaturesufficient for the ice-melting applicationbut they are trying to boost that to 20 degrees. Already, the system as it exists now might be a significant boon for electric cars, which devote so much energy to heating and de-icing that their driving ranges can drop by 30 percent in cold conditions. The new polymer could also significantly reduce electrical drain for heating and de-icing in electric cars, Grossman says. The approach is innovative and distinctive, says Sargent, from the University of Toronto. The research is a major advance towards the practical application of solid-state energy-storage/heat-release materials from both a scientific and engineering point of view. The research has been published in Advanced Energy Materials. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said Kyiv will search for alternative ways of supplying Ukrainian goods in connection with the Russian transit and trade embargo. "We expect that there will be the first experimental train on route Ukraine - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Kazakhstan, which in fact would allow the Ukrainian economy to find an alternative way of supplying goods to those markets which have always been Ukrainian, but where it is currently extremely difficult to deliver goods in connection with the Russian transit and trade embargo," he said opening a meeting of the Cabinet in Kyiv on Wednesday. Yatseniuk said that Ukraine is in active consultations with its European partners on how to implement their bilateral relations under the agreement on free trade area between Ukraine and the EU. "Ukraine and the European Union must clearly comply with all the requirements, rules and standards (of the FTA agreement), including in matters of transit," the prime minister said. He also said that Ukraine has produced "an appropriate agenda", with which it will turn "to our European friends on how to help us get through this quite a difficult economic phase after Russia once again violated the bilateral contract and a multilateral agreement regarding economic cooperation between Ukraine and Russia." Yatseniuk said that Ukraine together with its European partners will look for a way out of this difficult situation. The international reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in 2015 grew by 77% or UAH 5.767 billion, to $13.3 billion, which is enough to cover imports during 3.4 months, the NBU has reported on its website. "Ukraine's forex reserves cover imports for 3.4 months and it is enough to fulfill liabilities and current transactions of the government and the NBU," the central bank said. The NBU said that the financial support from the International Monetary Fund and related official financing played a decisive role in the increase of the reserves. In addition, the NBU bought foreign currency directly on the interbank market to replenish the reserves and during currency auctions introduced in September 2015. According to the report, after a rise by $186 million in November, in December the reserves rose by another $152 million thanks to holding of currency auctions where the NBU bought $120 million and sold $28.6 million. Some $88.7 million was received from swap transactions with Chinese yuans and $11.3 million was received by the government from the European Commission. In December, the government paid $196.4 million to service the state and guaranteed debt and $173.5 million was paid to the IMF. The Ukrainian Finance Ministry has reached agreement with Sberbank of Russia on the principles for restructuring loans the Russian bank issued to Ukravtodor and Pivdenne State Design Bureau that were guaranteed by the state. "The parties have agreed to work together to achieve a settlement of the transaction as soon as possible," the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The Finance Ministry notes that the agreement with Sberbank is in line with Ukraine's IMF-supported EFF Program. "The Ministry is continuing to discuss the restructuring of other outstanding guaranteed loans within the perimeter of the debt operation," it said. The Finance Ministry also "reiterates its readiness to continue negotiating in good faith" the restructuring of the $3 billion in bonds that came due in December 2015. Ukraine will not supply electricity to occupied Crimea without signing a contract, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn has stated. "Russia's position is that it is not ready to sign an agreement on the terms of Ukraine and our political position was previously announced: we cannot supply electricity, we have no grounds. And therefore talks about the price are inappropriate. At the moment there is no agreement, and accordingly we do not supply electricity," he told reporters. He added that according to the information he has the situation in Crimea is partially stabilized by the energy bridge, imported generators and the reconstruction of thermal power plants, however "they will have problems for a year" until the energy bridge is launched. The Ukrainian delegation that has left for Israel to study the issue of detecting the Salmonella Enteritidis bacteria in a batch of eggs delivered from Ukraine will propose the Israeli side introduce an unprecedented control for each batch of eggs, Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Oleksiy Pavlenko has told reporters. "They [the delegation] will offer unprecedented controls, each batch will pass an appropriate analysis. We believe that this proposal will satisfy our Israeli colleagues," the minister said. According to Pavlenko, three weeks ago Ukraine held talks with Israel on increasing the supplies of Ukrainian eggs to 10 million units per year. "We negotiated three weeks ago to increase the supply of eggs to Israel to ten million," he said. As reported, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Israel during tests revealed Salmonella Enteritidis in eggs brought from Ukraine and decided to suspend imports of eggs. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has instructed the State Fiscal Service, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry to check the situation with the purchase of transformer equipment by Ukrenergo. "As I understand, Russian oligarchs have once again decided to improve their welfare at the expense of the Ukrainian budget... This [Ukrenergo's refusal to make advance payments for the purchase of transformers after the first stage of the tender] seems to be on hand to Russian "almost oligarch" Grigorishin, who is the owner of Zaporizhtransformator," his press service said. As reported, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn rejects the allegations of abuse in the tender for the supply of transformers for Ukrenergo. Reports have recently appeared in mass media that Ukrenergo refused to make prepayments during the purchase of 22 transformers, while this significantly changes conditions for participants in the relevant tender, especially for foreign suppliers. We've noticed you're adblocking. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. Thank you for your support. Since the blockade began in the 1960s, the United States has harmed Cuba for US$154.2 billion at current prices. | Read More Demchyshyn hopes World Bank will issue loan for gas purchases in a month or two A loan from the World Bank for gas purchases will be obtained within one or two months, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn considers. "They [the funds] will be obtained, I think, in a month or two," Demchyshyn said after a government meeting. According to the minister, on January 12 he met with the head of the World Bank in Ukraine and the latter confirmed interest in the project. Demchyshyn also said that because of the fact that at the moment gas reserves in Ukraine are sufficient, there is no critical need for immediate purchase of gas. As reported, the World Bank considered the possibility of issuing $500 million to Naftogaz Ukrainy for gas purchases both from European and Russian directions. Naftogaz Head Andriy Kobolev in early November expected that this project will be submitted for approval in December or January, but it has not been put on the agenda of the bank board of directors. The headquarters of the Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Donbas has reported 24 occurrences of shooting by militants in the period from 6 a.m. on Tuesday till 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Mlitants fired small arms, grenade launchers and large-caliber machineguns in the area of Pisky, Opytne, south of Avdiyivka and near Novhorodske, Zaitseve and Mayorsk, the staff press center wrote on Facebook. According to the headquarters, militants were also systematically firing under-barrel grenade launchers on Ukrainian army strongholds near Troitske in the Yasynuvata district of Donetsk region. Automatic mounted grenade launchers of militants shelled Ukrainian army positions near Krymske and Triokhizbenka in Luhansk region. On Wednesday, militants fired small arms and under-barrel grenade launchers on Novhorodske and used large-caliber machineguns south of Avdiyivka. Militants were honoring the truce only in the Mariupol sector, the press center said. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry together with counterparts from the United Kingdom and Estonia intends to appeal against an Indian court ruling that has arrested sailors and guards of Seaman Guard Ohio ship, representative of the Ukrainian consular service department Yevhen Ihnatovsky has said. "A court of first instance in Tuticorin, India, delivered a ruling on January 11. According to the court decision, the crew members and guards, including three Ukrainian citizens, were sentenced to five years in prison. Currently, the diplomatic missions of Ukraine, the UK, and Estonia, whose citizens were among the crew members, along with lawyers are working on further actions to protect the rights of their citizens. The position of the defense is to appeal against the court's ruling in a higher court of the Indian Tamil Nadu state," Ihnatovsky said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday. As reported, Indian Tamil Nadu state police took into custody 35 crew members of Seaman Guard Ohio ship which was arrested on October 18, 2013. The vessel was involved in a fight against sea pirates and belongs to the U.S. company Advanfort. The ship's crew included sailors from India, the UK, Ukraine, and Estonia. The whole crew was charged with illegal transportation of fuel, arms, and illegal entry into territorial waters. In July, 2015, the Indian Supreme Court sent the case of the ship's guards back to the Tuticorin court, and set a six-month deadline for the court proceedings, until mid-January of 2016. YSRCP not to contest GHMC polls Hyderabad, Jan 13 (INN): The YSR Congress Party has decided not to contest the GHMC elections. Telangana YSRCP President P. Srinivas Reddy, in a media statement on Wednesday, said that the TRS, Congress, BJP and TDP have been trying hard to win the elections on the basis of money power. While ruling TRS is spending crores of rupees, TDP is getting money from neighbouring AP and Congress is getting funds from Karnataka. In these circumstances, he said it has been decided against not contesting the elections. However, Srinivas Reddy said that the party would strengthen its base and organisation in GHMC and Telangana for future elections. News Posted: 13 January, 2016 TS Govt bans "Chinese Manja" Hyderabad, Jan 13 (INN): The Telangana Government has imposed a complete ban on 'Chinese Manja'. In its orders issued on Wednesday, the State Government imposed a complete ban on procuring, stocking, sale and use of nylon thread which is commonly called as 'Chinese Dor' or other synthetic (non-biodegradable) threads coated with glass or other harmful substances used for kite flying or other purposes and likely to cause grievous injury and inconvenience to animals including birds as well as human beings during festivals or other occasions. Earlier, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had addressed all the States and Union Territories informing about the threat posed to Birds like Vultures, Kites, Owls, Pigeons, Crows etc. due to use of ''hinese Dor' made of nylon and coated with finely crushed glass in kite flying and requested the States to take appropriate action. Meanwhile, the Chief Wild Life Warden, Telangana & Spl. Prl. Chief Conservator of Forests, Hyderabad requested the government to issue orders banning the use of Nylon Glass coated thread or 'Chinese Dor' in kite flying, in the interest of Conservation of wildlife and safety of human beings. Based on these recommendations, the State Government has imposed the ban. News Posted: 13 January, 2016 This region is among the world's most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Fish harvests, for instance, are already declining due partly to drought in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake, which supplies the country's 15 million people with more than a third of their protein. The Mekong Delta and its rich agricultural lands are also under grave threat from rising sea levels, storm inundation and their vulnerability to extreme weather. Climate change in the region is a threat multiplier thanks to unsustainable hydroelectric dams, dozens of which are planned along the lower Mekong River and its tributaries. Two of the most controversial - the Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams in Laos - are now under construction, while dozens more are at the planning stage. It's troubling because, while hydropower is promoted as a CO2 emissions-free "green" energy, a wealth of research now indicates that in reality it is anything but green. By blocking fish migrations, the proposed projects would pose a direct threat to food security by reducing the catch from the world's largest freshwater fishery by as much as one third. Rice production could face a similar impact through the blockage of nutrient-rich sediments. In short, the increased energy security afforded by hydropower comes at far too high a cost in terms of food insecurity, lost livelihoods, ecosystem degradation and increased exposure to the hazards of climate change. Solar and wind power - available and increasingly cheaper - along with reforestation projects, are far better ways for countries to meet their climate commitments. Making matters worse, recent peer-reviewed research indicates that large hydroelectric dams not only fail to mitigate climate change, they actually help drive it. They do this in two ways: first, by impairing the roles that free-flowing rivers play as sinks that remove an estimated 200 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere annually, and second, by being responsible for emissions of methane - a greenhouse gas 34 times more potent than CO2 - from the rotting vegetation trapped under the reservoirs they create. These dams are also causing subsistence of the Mekong Delta and erosion of its coastline, thus making it even more vulnerable to a climate-change-induced rise in sea level and the increase in frequency and power of storms. The good news is that there is already a mechanism in place to facilitate regional cooperation on sustainable development of the Mekong: the Mekong River Commission (MRC). Its next meeting takes place today in Phnom Penh, where the water ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have gathered to discuss the challenges that should unite their countries yet in some cases have divided them. The bad news is that the Mekong Agreement, the landmark treaty that created the Commission, was signed 20 years ago when most governments had yet to even take note of climate change. But two decades on, this groundbreaking example of regional cooperation is showing its age. Strained by procedural and regulatory disputes over the downstream impacts of large dams, the MRC is not ready to meet the challenge posed by loss of its wild fisheries and the sinking and shrinking of its delta, which, combined with the aggravating impacts of climate change, will have profound and irreversible consequences for the region. While it remains an invaluable tool for regional cooperation, the Mekong Agreement needs to be refurbished for the 21st century. Fortunately a tailor-made solution already exists - one Vietnam recognized in 2014 when it became the first, and so far only, member of the MRC to ratify the UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNWC). Passed by the UN General Assembly in 1997, the UNWC codifies the basic principles and best practices of international water law and was written specifically to reinforce - not replace - existing river basin accords such as the Mekong Agreement. Nothing in it supplants, nullifies or contradicts any of the latter's provisions. So what's the value added? First, the UNWC would provide a mechanism and clear guidelines for dispute resolution - the present lack of which is a major weakness of the MRC. Second, it would clarify existing rules and procedures whose vague wording encourages conflicting interpretations that strain relations among the MRC states, especially over consultations about hydroelectric dams and their downstream impacts. Unlike the Mekong Agreement, it also applies the same rules to mainstream and tributary dams - closing a contentious loophole. By aligning the Mekong Agreement with internationally accepted law, the UNWC would not change the rules so much as hold the MRC members to a higher standard of accountability in following them. Ratification of the UNWC by Laos, Cambodia and Thailand would not automatically guarantee that misguided projects are abandoned. But it would raise the bar and help reduce tensions by obliging all MRC states to more carefully examine the trade-offs involved and give greater consideration to more viable "green" energy alternatives, based on the best criteria available. At COP 21 in Paris, the world's governments finally resolved to confront climate change. The MRC ministers need to show the same resolve now in addressing climate-related water issues. As they meet in Phnom Penh, they must look beyond narrow national self-interests and see that a river-be-damned strategy is not the way to a prosperous and climate-safe future for the 60 million people of the Mekong. Marc Goichot advises the World Wildlife Fund on water and energy-security issues in the Greater Mekong region. The opinions expressed are his own. The anchor that a Chinese boat used to damage Vietnamese fishers' nets on January 3, 2016. Photo credit: Dan Viet The Vietnam Fishing Association Tuesday strongly condemned a fleet of Chinese boats for illegally fishing in Vietnamese waters and damaging Vietnamese fishermens nets earlier this month. Vo Van Trac, deputy chairman of the association, told news website Dan Viet that the Chinese boat owner should compensate the Vietnamese fishermen for their loss. On January 3 the fishermen, from Quang Tri Province, were casting their nets around 20 nautical miles from Con Co Island when 10 Chinese fishing boats approached them. Though they signaled the Chinese boats to stop, one dropped anchor and dragged it along to damage the Vietnamese fishermens nets. The other nine waited near the first boat, ready to help. The Chinese vessel damaged 12 fishing nets worth around VND100 million (US$4,460), according to the fishermen. After they called the Border Guard for help, a Coast Guard vessel appeared on the scene. The Chinese boats fled, leaving behind the anchor that was stuck in the nets. Trac said the Vietnam Fishing Association has urged the Coast Guard and other law enforcement authorities to increase patrolling to prevent similar incidents. Also Tuesday the Vietnamese Fishermens Association's Trade Union also released a note protesting the Chinese boats action. It said such acts seriously affect the lives of Vietnamese fishermen and further complicate the situation in the East Sea. The political subgroup of the Contact Group for Ukraine began negotiations in Minsk on Wednesday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry has said. "Negotiations on the settlement in eastern Ukraine began in Minsk on January 13 with a meeting of the working group for political matters," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry tweeted. The Luhansk information center said earlier with the reference to a source close to the negotiations that the Contact Group for the peace process in eastern Ukraine would begin its work in Minsk at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The source also said that the political subgroup would be the first to meet at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, and meetings of the other subgroups would follow at 1 p.m. Technology distributor Synnex Australia is believed to be among the ranks of creditors who will attend the Dick Smith Holdings creditor meeting on Thursday looking for answers over debts totalling more than $200 million. The creditors list is not expected to include many of the high-profile electronics brands, such as Apple and Samsung, which demanded cash-on-delivery terms from Dick Smith. The Dick Smith creditors meeting will unveil exactly how much the failed electronics retailer has left suppliers out of pocket. Credit:Josh Robenstone But the distributors of second-tier labels as well as the unbranded products Dick Smith sold under its own name weren't as lucky. Synnex and Ingram Micro Australia are both active in this space and are understood to be owed money by Dick Smith. For a child it's impossible to understand why anyone would harm Fatoumata Binta the way her family wants to. When an eight-year-old Victorian girl saw a photograph of the toddler in the newspaper just before Christmas, she asked her mum who the "cute girl" in the picture was. Fatoumata Binta Conteh, who has fled from relatives with her mother, Fatoumata Diarriou Bah. The child was told how the Australian-African three-year-old had run away from people trying to hurt her: how she has spent months hiding from them; and how, although she has the right to come to Australia, her mother does not. A helicopter waterbombs the Wye River fire. Credit:tyrorogers_14 Other firefighting options open to officials at the time included significantly ramping up efforts to contain the fire without the use of backburning. Another leaked report from December 22 warns that the "consequence of failure" of the controlled burning operation was "a much larger fire and potential threats to assets longer term." On this same day, fire officials also warned in reports that "very high fire danger ratings increasing temperature and strong winds later in the week is of concern". Wye River resident Sherryl Smith, who lost her home in the fires says an independent investigation is "absolutely imperative". Credit:Darrian Traynor Before the backburn began on the afternoon of December 22, the fire had engulfed an estimated 141 hectares of bushland. After the backburning, the fire spread to about 271 hectares. Reports written on Christmas Eve state that "extensive burning out on Tuesday and Wednesday has been successful". Firefighter Anna Cutriss inspects a burnt out car in Wye River on December 27. Credit:Chris Hopkins Over the next 24 hours, the fire escaped containment lines, expanding to 2080 hectares on Christmas Day. Spot fires also broke out and 116 houses in Wye River and Separation Creek were destroyed. Fire officials from several agencies involved in battling the blaze told Fairfax Media that they were angry that the state government and Mr Lapsley had not publicly explained why the backburn operation was carried out in the presence of extreme fuel conditions and predicted very high fire danger. The officials also questioned why more effort was not made to control the blaze when it was smaller - in the days before the backburning - and why fuel reduction burning had not been carried out during cooler weather in the previous months or years. Fire damage to property seen from the air on December 27. Credit:Paul Jeffers The officials have also pointed out that firefighters were able to contain the Delaney Road fire, which also started out as a small fire in the same vicinity and time of the Wye River fire, without the use of back-burning. Mr Lapsley confirmed a controlled burn-out took place from December 22. Wye River on Decembeer 27 after the fires rolled through. Credit:Chris Hopkins He said the fire was in deep, inaccessible country and it could not be extinguished. He said a decision was made by the incident controller, with support from the regional controller and himself and his team to conduct a burn-out when conditions were milder. He said this decision was made public to residents at community meetings on December 23. The aim was to bring the fire out into country where it could be controlled. However, firefighters could not access the fire still burning in a deep gorge before the weather changed. It's from this gorge that strong northerly winds picked the fire up and flicked it over a ridge, causing three spot fires, and onto a path straight to Wye River on Christmas Day, Mr Lapsley said. "We knew the risks and you're damned if you do and damned if you don't," he said. "You've got to try and bring it and finish it and if you do nothing it creeps around by itself and it ends up in the same spot anyway. "We have to trust the people in the seat at the time and they're experienced bush people." Mr Lapsley said he believed the fire would have done exactly the same thing even if controlled burns were not conducted. He said "every option" to control the fire was taken before the decision was made to burn out. "They exhausted every option before they put fire into it," he said. He said an investigation into the fire by the Inspector-General for Emergency Management would be a sufficient response. "That will be published to a community so it's transparent," he said. Wye River resident Sherryl Smith, whose home was destroyed, said an independent investigation was "absolutely imperative". She said she would accept if an investigation found that the decision to burn out was the right one. If not, "we need serious policy management change", she said. "We're going to get more frequent, hotter fires and we need to now put policies in place that deal with that and instead of contain and control, to now extinguish as soon as possible," she said. The Institute of Foresters Australia have also released a statement questioning why the Wye River fire was not contained when it was still small, calling for an independent inquiry to probe what it describes as "the elephant in the room - how the initial fire [grew] to be such a problem in the first place?". "Experienced foresters find it hard to comprehend that a small, lightning-caused fire in relatively accessible forest, could not be contained after five days of benign weather conditions before Christmas," said the institute's chairman, Gary Featherston. Mr Featherston also questioned Mr Lapsley's previous public comments that the Wye River fire surged out of control because of the terrain and heavy fuel loads built up over decades. "Foresters experienced in fire-fighting say that the area is no more inaccessible than country in East Gippsland and north-east Victoria where multiple lightning fires are common, and are typically controlled quickly," Mr Featherston said. Traffic is flowing through Burke Road in Glen Iris free for the first time from the boom gates that have long frustrated drivers. The first level-crossing removal has now been completed, with train tracks running under Burke Road. The state government described the crossing at Gardiner Station as among Melbourne's worst. Burke Road after the removal of the Gardiner Street crossing. Credit:Eddie Jim The new station will reopen on Monday with full train services scheduled to resume. Premier Daniel Andrews said intensive works had been undertaken to remove one of the most congested level crossings. Kyiv insists on the complete fulfillment of the Minsk agreements by all sides and is ready to search for compromises in the release of detained Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko has said. "Minsk is today. No matter who represents Moscow, it is most important to us how we represent Ukraine. The reinforcement of the Russian mission only unites our small delegation and our position remains clear and unwavering: the Minsk agreements must be fulfilled, including by Russia and the militants it controls," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook on Wednesday morning. There must be no Russian troops in Donbas, and Ukraine must get control over the border, Gerashchenko said. She also said that the Donbas elections must be held "only under Ukrainian laws, with the OSCE monitoring, and after the disarming." According to Gerashchenko, the amnesty was possible only after the reopening of Ukrainian courts in the territories which were currently beyond Kyiv's control, and the Verkhovna Rada would play the key role in a decision on the amnesty bill. "Minsk is only a debate platform," Gerashchenko said. "Besides, there are grave crimes which do not fall under the amnesty." Speaking of the humanitarian aspect, she said that the Ukrainian side was ready to search for compromises for the sake of the release of Ukrainians and insisted on unhampered access of humanitarian missions to Donbas. "The ceasefire regime must be fully honored. Every violation must be recorded by the OSCE SMM in a determined and clear manner. And this will require the mission's access to all territories, up to the border, and the precise fulfillment of its tasks rather than 'monitoring' of cities in the rear. This is our position," Gerashchenko said in conclusion. The Trilateral Contact Group is planned to have the first meeting of 2016 in Minsk on Wednesday, January 13. They might be the most ineffectual traffic signs on Melbourne's roads: peak-hour tram lanes are in place on dozens of busy inner suburban streets, warning drivers to keep out of the path of trams. There are more than 30 part-time tram lanes and they have been a feature of Melbourne's roads for many years, but few people seem to know about them and fewer still pay the signs any heed. A tram is stuck in traffic between Alexandra Parade and Queens Pde on Smith St. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer Motorists can be fined $148 for driving in the lanes, but police enforcement is also minimal, data reveals. In 2013-14, just 312 drivers were fined for occupying a tram lane, figures provided by Victoria Police show. A fast-running grass fire that threatened homes at The Gurdies, south-east of Melbourne, has been controlled. Firefighters stopped the spread of the fire, which broke-out about 4.30pm on Wednesday at The Gurdies on Western Port Bay, gaining control of the blaze shortly after 6pm. Emergency services will remain on-scene dealing with burning trees. An emergency warning was issued to residents in nearby communities at 5.15pm, saying the fire had been racing south towards Stewart Road and urged them to leave immediately. It was downgraded to a watch and act fire advice message 50 minutes later. This was still in place at 8pm. The Australian War Memorial will hold its 1000th Last Post ceremony on Thursday. The milestone event will be dedicated to the memory of Flight Sergeant Lindsay Arthur Bayley who was killed on active service with the No. 9 Squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Wreaths are laid near the Pool of Reflection at the Australian War Memorial during a Last Post ceremony. Credit:Melissa Adams The Last Post ceremony has been held at the memorial each day since April 2013. Director Brendan Nelson began the practice to personalise the roll of honour, which contains the names of more than 102,000 Australians killed in war and other operations. Frank, fearless "Clio" of Melbourne's Punch got stuck in, 100 years ago this week, to people who expected wounded returned soldiers to be models of gentility. "Doesn't it weary you to hear vapid bystanders criticising BigThings utterly beyond their limited comprehension, from an oblique, perverted point of view? Convalescing World War I soldiers. Credit:Powerhouse Museum. "At the house of a well-known war worker the other day, some present were justly praising the fine work being done at the various Rest Rooms and Homes by various women. "'Well, I consider that the thing can be overdone,' croaked this onlooker. 'I know of cases where the men have been positively rude and insulting to the girls waiting upon them.' And she began to enumerate instances of uncouth behaviour on the part of soldiers. Alcohol safety campaigners have accused the ACT government of taking too long to introduce tough measures to prevent violent attacks in the city, including 1am lockouts and restricted trading hours. The calls come after a sickening one-punch attack outside a Civic convenience store around 3am on New Year's Day, which left a 20-year-old Braddon man unconscious with a shattered jaw requiring emergency surgery. On Wednesday, the father of 18-year-old Cole Miller choked back tears while speaking at the funeral of his son, who died after a one-punch attack in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. The violent attacks have renewed debate about liquor laws across the country and the prospect of tougher regulations in the ACT. Shares have managed a solid rally and posted their first session in the green for 2016 as Chinese trade data eased worries around the country's economy and the plummeting oil price stabilised. The ASX 200 started strong, wobbled, but finished well to close 62 points, or 1.3 per cent, higher at 4987. The All Ords added 59 points to 5042. An early rout in miners mostly reversed, with Rio ending the day 1 per cent higher and South32 0.6 per cent, although BHP lost 1.6 per cent and Fortescue 0.9 per cent, meaning the sector was still a drag on the market overall. More than making up for that weakness were the banks and financials, with CBA, Westpac and Macquarie closing up by more than 2 per cent, while ANZ added 1.6 per cent and NAB 1.2 per cent. Suncorp added 2.5 per cent and AMP 3 per cent. Woolies added 1.5 per cent, Wesfarmers 1.2 per cent and Telstra 1.1 per cent. Among the losers were Aurizon, which dropped 6.3 per cent, while gold miners were hit hard. Among the smaller names, Godfreys fell 28 per cent and lost a CEO after downgrading earnings guidance. The best of the day was Spotless, jumping 15 per cent. Godfreys chief executive Tom Krulis has stepped down, but will be kept on in a new role despite missing the consumer switch to leaner stick vacuum cleaners, which sparked a big drop in profitability, under his management. Mr Krulis departed the company's top job on Wednesday after chairman Rod Walker warned investors underlying net profit would fall by up to 32.8 per cent to $4.3 million for the six months to December 25. Better times: Godfreys's chairman Rod Walker (right) and former CEO Tom Krulis. Credit:Jesse Marlow Godfreys's shares plummeted as low as 30.8 per cent to $1.10 following the trading update, before closing at $1.14. Mr Walker attributed the profit plunge to "poor execution" from management and its "failure to adequately capitalise on the significant market shift". Another four Berkut riot police officers announced suspicion in connection with events of Revolution of Dignity Four former employees of the former Berkut special police unit have been announced suspicion of the involvement in the events during the Revolution of Dignity, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine reported. According to the report, two commanders of divisions and two fighters of the special police regiment of the main police department in Kyiv (former employees of the Berkut riot police) have been charged under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 365, Part 1 of Article 366, and Part 2 of Article 384 of the Criminal Code. They are suspected of abusing power and illegally detaining and beating activists of the Automaidan social movement in the early hours of January 23, 2014 on the Schorsa Street and Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv. In addition, Berkut officers are charged with forgery of their reports and providing false testimony which accused the activists of serious crimes for which they were arrested and put in custody. The press service said that these former Berkut officers successfully passed re-certification, and two of them were promoted, becoming squad leaders. The Prosecutor General's Office was informed that the court made a request to suspend these police officers from their posts and put them under house arrest. The pre-trial investigation continues. As reported, Ukraine's PGO had been investigating a criminal case on mass killings of people in Kyiv during February 18-20. As a part of the investigation, a number of Berkut special task force representatives, in particular, a company commander and two more policemen were arrested; they were summoned to court. All the three were put in custody, however, later Pechersky District Court changed the restriction measure to home arrest for Dmytro Sadovnyk, the former special task force company commander of Berkut police special task force regiment in Kyiv police department. Thereafter, Sadovnyk disappeared and is now wanted by law enforcers. Two other Berkut policemen Serhiy Zinchenko and Pavlo Ambroskin, who are accused of killing Euromaidan activists Ambroskin and Zinchenko, remain under arrest. Xuan, a 24-year-old final-year student majoring in automation, is one of an estimated 7.5 million graduates China's universities will churn out this year. But having grown up through an unprecedented era of economic growth and unbridled optimism, his cohort's ambitions are being confronted with a different reality: a Chinese economy growing at its slowest rate in their entire lives. Large crowds pack into a job fair at the Tianjin University Sports Arena, China. "I'm not too worried, and neither are my friends," says the tall and bespectacled Xuan, who hopes to find work managing production lines in the state-owned sector. "It just means we have to prepare better and look for work earlier; it's a matter of how far the job you land is from your dream job." As income and education levels rise, the Communist Party's challenge is to ensure China's economy produces enough suitable jobs to match. It is but one of the central government's myriad challenges as it seeks to undertake its mammoth transition from the low-cost 'factory of the world' to a more mature, technologically-advanced economy based less on investment and cheap exports, and more on services and domestic consumption. Could this be India's year to shine? With China's growth targets in doubt, India will stand out for being the only economy in the world to expand more than 7 per cent, according to surveys of Bloomberg economists. China, on the other hand, is enduring the slowest growth in a quarter century and is forecast to expand 6.5 per cent this year. Will India take the lead? Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal is to transform the country into a more pro-business economy by slashing red tape and boosting manufacturing. Credit:iStock While many of 2016's economic underachievers will cluster in Latin America and Europe, we now look to Asia and Africa as the motor for global growth this year, accounting for 12 of the 20 best performers. The largest of these - China, India and Indonesia - combined make up more than 17 per cent of global gross domestic product and 40 per cent of the world's population. Sickening footage emerged last week of yet another coward's punch assault in an entertainment district; this time in the aftermath of Canberra's booze-filled New Year's Eve celebrations. A group of young men can be seen talking outside the Civic convenience store in the early hours of the morning, when one lands a sharp, sideways punch to the jaw of the unsuspecting victim. This unfortunate local started his 2016 with emergency surgery, constant pain and a week in hospital while recovering from a senseless assault. Death by starvation is slow, painful, silent and unthinkably cruel. The images we've seen of emaciated, desperate children in besieged Syrian towns has brought on an almost visceral desire to help since their release, weekly donations to our Syria Crisis Appeal have doubled. We should be demanding why and how children could have been being deprived of food for months amid an international conflict. The rules of war are unequivocal: starvation as a means of warfare is a recognised war crime under international humanitarian law. This body of law, grounded in the Geneva Conventions, obliges all parties to a conflict to allow neutral humanitarian aid to reach civilian populations. So why is the world watching more than 400,000 Syrians starve to death? On Monday night the first aid convoys reached the besieged towns of Madaya, Foua and Kefraya, carrying food parcels, baby food and medical supplies for 60,000 people. A Red Cross aid worker on the convoy, his voice breaking with sorrow, talked of meeting a little girl who begged, "Did you bring food? I hope you brought food. We are really hungry." The International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been negotiating for months to access these areas. Without the agreement of all parties it is simply too dangerous to try: some 53 Red Cross and Red Crescent people have already been killed while delivering aid in Syria. With the rush of memories over the fateful 2011 floods, we should never forget the anguish and the toll delivered to so many residents seeking compensation from their insurers. And the latest maps put out by Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's Brisbane City Council almost ensure the barneys will be as big next time the rains pummel our beautiful city. I'll come to development, and some of those being approved, in a column in coming weeks - but let's just look at your property and whether it has now been assessed (with or without your knowledge) as a major flood risk. You won't have heard from BCC directly, because it hasn't contacted ratepayers whose homes now have slipped into the "high risk" category. And unless you've seen your insurance premium skyrocket, and asked questions, you might not even know your house, or street, or suburb is now labelled "high risk". It was late last year that BCC put out its new flood maps, with Cr Matthew Bourke explaining then that it had "updated River data into its suite of awareness tools and now Council is updating its modelling with creek flood data gathered during the year". I don't even know what that means in normal-speak - and it's a waste of time asking questions from the Lord Mayor's office. Neither of his spokesmen returned several calls to their work or mobile phones. And the council's media unit? It responded to questions with an irrelevant media release, quoting Cr Bourke, dated four months ago. (It's a side-issue, but is it not possible to talk to a human anymore? Or is that the looming council election means any publicity is bad publicity?) Anyway, some ratepayers have stumbled across the maps which are uploaded here. You should check your home: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/community-safety/disasters-emergencies/types-disasters/flooding/understand-your-flood-risk Imagine their surprise to find that some properties which did not flood in 2011 nor in 2013 (nor in any other severe storm) now carry a "very high risk" rating. Other properties, that had as much as 1.5m of water in them, are now tagged low risk. Think back to the fallout of the 2011 floods, and the heartbreaking insurance stories that followed. So what's going to happen - given there is evidence that insurance companies are now taking this publicly available data, hosted on a government website, and using it to calculate your future insurance premiums? And what about the impact on the real estate market? What responsibility will BCC take if you buy a home, based on it declaring the land it is built on a very low risk, only to find out later it flooded in 2011? After a string of phone calls and emails to the lord mayor's media staff and to the council's media department, a spokeswoman confirmed that there have been only 87 "inquiries" about its latest information. Perhaps she is unaware that some council staff are acknowledging to complainants they are now dealing with many "extremely angry residents". According to one of those, the BCC admitted it had made a mistake with their property, but can't change it for another year or so due to a lack of internal resources. On the eve of the anniversary of the 2011 floods, that amounts to political hogwash. Graham Quirk's consummate political skill has always come from being seen as the political antidote; he doesn't suffer the arrogance of his predecessor and is widely liked and respected. But he's letting down his ratepayers here on two fronts. Everyone makes mistakes, and if there are problems - as his staff have admitted to residents - with his data being used by the insurance and real estate industries to categorise flood risks - he needs to fix it now. Not in a year's time. And he shouldn't forget that a decision is only as good as the communication that surrounds it; refusing to answer questions, or respond to genuine concerns raised by voters was the first step on his predecessor's long, slow walk to private citizen. The Turnbull government has formally declined a request from the US to increase its military commitment in the Middle East campaign against Islamic State. US Defence Secretary Ash Carter in December asked coalition partners fighting the extremist group in Iraq and Syria to consider expanding their contribution in the wake of terror attacks in Paris. Defence Minister Marise Payne confirmed on Wednesday that Australia had rejected the request and would maintain its current contribution. "Australia has considered the request from US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in light of the substantial contributions we are already making to train Iraqi security forces and to the air campaign," a spokesman for the Minister said. Tony is exasperated. The Bird of Paradise has tipped him over the edge. "It's freezing in here!" the National Building Authority chief shouts at his hapless assistant, Katie. (The temperature has been lowered to help a newly installed jungle of taxpayer-funded plants acclimatise). Katie: "But we're starting to get new growth! The Aspidistra is about to flower!" The scene is from the ABC's comedy series Utopia but a new analysis shows it may be a case of art imitating life. More than 150 male and female models from around Australia and overseas vied on Wednesday for a chance to become the face of the David Jones Autumn Winter 2016 Fashion Launch runway show. As the cameras flashed and the red carpet was rolled out, the hordes of modelling hopefuls lined up for a chance to represent one of the biggest brands in Australian fashion. A model walks in front of other hopefuls at the casting for the David Jones Autumn Winter 2016 Fashion Launch runway show. Credit:Dallas Kilponen Tallulah Morton, 24, who grew up in the northern beaches suburb of Avalon, has been modelling since she was 14 and said she was nervous about the casting. "Although I've been to thousands of castings, it's always nerve-racking for such a big job. It's one of the Australian fashion highlights of the year," she said. Court retains measure of restraint for ex-minister Shvaika with possible release on bail The Pechersky district court of Kyiv has rejected the petition of defense lawyers of head of Kharkiv regional organization of Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union and former Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Ihor Shvaika to change the measure of restraint for him from bail to personal recognizance, the press service of Svoboda has reported. "The court rejected the petition of Ihor Shvaika to change the measure of restraint. He is left in custody with a possible release on bail," Svoboda said on its Twitter page. As reported, on September 10, Pechersky district court of Kyiv released Shvaika, who is suspect as a part of a criminal proceeding to investigate the clashes outside the Verkhovna Rada on August 31, under personal liability of the parliamentarians for a two-month term. Later on, the Kyiv Court of Appeals has changed a measure of restraint for Shvaika for putting into custody by November 4 with a possible release with UAH 1.2 million on bail is paid. The same day his party colleague ex MP Oleksandr Myrny paid necessary funds. On November 3, Pechersky Court extended the custodial term for Shvaika for another two months, by January 4, 2016. On December 23, 2015, Pechersky District Court of Kyiv extended a custodial term for Shvaika until February 23, 2016 with a possible release on bail. Retired public servants were enjoying incomes of up to $120,000 and still claiming the age pension until the government ended the "anomaly", Social Services Minister Christian Porter says. But pensioners accuse the minister of misrepresenting the issues in the debate and say only 120 people Australia-wide were receiving more than $80,000 a year from public service superannuation and claiming a part pension. Social Services Minister Christian Porter. Credit:Andrew Meares Nearly 35,000 former government workers around the nation will need to begin coping on Thursday with cuts to their incomes as they are either kicked off the pension or have their payments reduced. Alan Raabe with his partner Geoff Harrison, at Wednesday's announcement that gay sex convictions will be expunged in Queensland. Credit:Cameron Atfield "We're not even talking sexual acts, necessarily, but just an intimate connection. "I guess you look back now and two men holding hands, or two men kissing each other in public, would be seen as a lewd act back then." Mr Raabe said his 1988 conviction, which he had lived with for almost 30 years, was a case of "blatant entrapment" in Cairns. "I was lured by a very good looking young man, very, very late at night into a dark corner of a park and I was eventually charged with aggravated sexual assault," he said. "It wasn't aggravated and it wasn't assault, that's for sure, but that's how it was interpreted." Mr Raabe said the conviction had been a cloud over his life ever since, with his career suffering as recently as last year. "I applied to tutor adults in English as a second language and I had to go through the police check to do that with adults," he said. " So it still harks on today." The conviction also meant Mr Raabe was "never game enough" to attempt travel to the United States. "It affects your self-esteem," he said. "You say to yourself, 'oh shit I must have done something wrong' and so you're constantly unsure and you're always questioning, or thinking you're not worthy or you must have done something wrong. "And I didn't, and I'm one of the lucky ones because I came through it." Ms D'Ath said it happened for more than 90 years since the criminal code was enacted in 1901 "Many other states have already taken action in this area we're one of the last to do so and I think it's long overdue," she said. "But it was condoned. It was condoned by government, it was condoned by society and it's wonderful that society has come a long way, but as we all know we still have a long way to go if we want true equality in this country. "This is just one more step we can take to provide that equality and fairness." Ms D'Ath said there had been 464 convictions for offences that specifically dealt with homosexual acts, but the proposed legislation could reach much further than that. "However, it is possible and that's why we need the Law Reform Commission to look at defining the convictions and what sort of offences it is possible that some people were charged with offences outside of those, such as rape. "One of the case studies shows that individuals would actually plead guilty of a non-consensual act because the moment they said it was consensual, their partner was also charged." An elderly man has been charged with indecently assaulting three boys at a Catholic school in the state's east more than 25 years ago. The 86-year-old Maffra man was charged with four counts of indecent assault relating to three male students at St Patrick's College in Sale. The alleged offences took place in the 1970s and 1980s. Detectives from the child exploitation Sano Taskforce have been investigating the school after allegations that boys were sexually abused by former staff. A spokesperson said police were unable to confirm whether the alleged offender was a staff member until he appeared in court. The man was charged on summons and will appear in Sale Magistrates' Court on March 15. The son of one of the Victorian Liberal Party's most divisive figures is among a large field eyeing preselection for the federal seat of Dunkley in Melbourne's south-east, to be vacated by former small business minister Bruce Billson. Former Kingston mayor Paul Peulich, son of upper house MP and frontbencher Inga Peulich, is among a growing list of likely starters after nominations opened this week. Paul Peulich with his mother, Victorian MP Inga Peulich. Credit:Gary Sissons Mr Peulich would be a controversial choice for the Frankston-based Dunkley, with his mother regarded as a powerful but troublesome figure in the party, especially in its riven south-east metropolitan branches. He faces an uphill battle, with ambitious party activists coveting the prized seat currently held by Mr Billson on a margin of 5.6 per cent. EXCLUSIVE A mobile phone video taken by a teenage boy as his young mate was allegedly assaulted by two policemen was mysteriously deleted on the night of the attack, but could now provide damning evidence when the officers face court in May. Credit:Scott Barbour The footage was only recovered when the father of one of the boys paid $4000 to an IT consultant, but its disappearance raises serious concerns about the handling of the internal investigation into the officers' conduct. It is understood the family of one of the alleged victims will ask the Office of Public Prosecutions to examine the case, while the matter could also be referred to the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission. VicRoads has finalised the route it wants for a controversial six-lane bridge over the Yarra River between Kew and Alphington, to resolve one of the city's worst traffic choke-points. But the new bridge will come within metres of houses in Alphington, angering residents who wanted it placed further away, on land yet to be developed for a major new residential centre. The Andrews government is spending $110 million to build a new Chandler Highway bridge. The existing bridge over the Yarra built in 1890 for the old Outer Circle Railway Line and that now carries 44,000 vehicles a day will become a dedicated cycling and walking trail. Victoria continues to be the loser when it comes to federal infrastructure cash, with Commonwealth spending just $91 per person in the state compared to Queensland where $362 is spent for every person. And while Commonwealth cash for infrastructure has jumped $8 per person since last year's federal budget, the state will still only receive 9 per cent of federal infrastructure spending, according to analysis by the Victorian Treasury. An artist's impression of the Western Distributor tollway as it crosses the Maribyrnong River. The analysis of last December's Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook and other budget documents shows the state will get just $91 per person for infrastructure compared to $281 in NSW, $320 in WA and a staggering $362 in Queensland. The figures are based on per capita average infrastructure payments to states over a five-year average to 2018-19. The Trace, a website that compiles national statistics in its Gun Violence Archive, said there were 692 incidents of children aged 11 years or younger killed or injured by gunfire in 2015, up from 628 in the 2014. So far in 2016, such shootings exceed the number of days. The archive shows that as of January 11, there have been 19 shootings involving children aged 11 or younger. Among them was one in which an 11-year old boy was killed Monday night in a drive-by shooting at a housing complex in Alton, Illinois. Most of the shootings were accidents, like when an adult drops a gun and it discharges, or when a child happens upon a gun. A two-year-old in Houston shot himself in the hand on January 3 when he picked up a gun his father was cleaning, and a nine-year-old in Trinidad, Colorado, was taken off life support on Sunday after he was shot in the head with a gun he and his brother found while sitting in a parked car. Many states have rules intended to cover safe storage in addition to laws governing purchase and ownership of guns. North Carolina law requires owners to store firearms so children do not have access. Parker said his department was trying to trace the origins of the handgun to decide whether to turn the case over to the Robeson County district attorney to determine whether charges are warranted. He said his officers were still gathering information, including about how the weapon had been stored and why it was in the store, He said his department had been called to the store one or two times in the past for shoplifting cases. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's main intelligence department has accused the warring side in Donbas of hiding weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements, in particular, in the Mariupol sector. "Over the past day the enemy's efforts focused on the strengthening of forward units in the Novoaidar, Sloviansk and Donetsk sectors, the concealed deployment of weapons and military hardware outlawed by the Minsk agreements in the Mariupol sector, and reconnaissance of ATO forces," the department said in a report posted on the ministry's website on Wednesday. Information about the presence of weapons outlawed by the Minsk agreements - tanks, artillery systems with calibers larger than 100mm and the TOS-1 'Buratino' heavy flame-throwing system - in the area of Pervomaisk, Horlivka, Makiyivka, Donetsk, Michuryne and Bezimenne - was delivered to members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, the report said. SEOUL: South Korea's military fired warning shots after spotting an unidentified aerial vehicle approaching its heavily fortified border with North Korea, in the latest incident fueling tensions stemming from Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test last week. The device appeared around 2.10pm local time, prompting the South Korean army to broadcast a warning, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a text message. It returned northward immediately after the shots were fired. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a firing contest. Credit:North Korea's Korean Central News Agency Tensions remain high along the demilitarised zone after South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts last week against North Korea in retaliation to the January 6 nuclear test by the Kim Jong Un regime. The shots near the military demarcation line came hours after South Korean President Park Geun Hye held a nationally televised press conference and urged China to help draw up the "strongest sanctions" against North Korea as punishment for the test. It's a tale of ruthlessness and intimidation that has dogged one of the most important political relationships of the 21st century almost since it began. Now Vladimir Putin has spoken out to deny the rumour that he used his pet labrador to frighten Angela Merkel in a remarkable power play at one of their very first meetings. The incident, which has become infamous in Germany, took place at a meeting at Mr Putin's Sochi residence in 2007. The story goes that Mr Putin, who had been briefed on Ms Merkel's fear of dogs, brought his black labrador Connie to the meeting. A chilly haze a feeling akin to walking along the East River on a rainy January afternoon hangs over The Last Hotel, Enda Walsh (Once) and Donnacha Dennehy's new opera, now making its American premiere at St. Ann's Warehouse as part of the Prototype Festival. It is a fog that audiences might recognize from Lazarus, Walsh's recent collaboration with the late David Bowie. Distant and icy, the piece wraps itself in a thick layer of mystery that would be incredibly enticing if it weren't quite so dull. The story (inspired by a controversial 2002 case in which an Irish woman took her own life with the help of two Americans) follows a well-dressed Irish woman (Claudia Boyle) who meets an English husband (Robin Adams) and wife (Katherine Manley) at a seaside resort. She has contracted them to assist in her suicide. Their initial nervous encounter cedes to the husband's exuberance about the buffet and the Irish woman's yearning for death. The wife remains hesitant, longing for any ounce of affection from her husband (Manley valiantly tries to get us to care about this B-plot, but it never feels as important as the life and death stakes happening across the stage). Following several passages of contemplation, they rehearse the Irish woman's suicide with a gas tank and plastic bag. That hyperrealistic dry run is the most gripping part of the whole show. Seeing the affable Boyle hyperventilate into the transparent sheathe affixed to her head is deeply unsettling. Unfortunately, no other moment conveys this much dramatic tension. For an artist accustomed to working in contemporary theater, Walsh surprisingly relies on the "park and bark" staging of an earlier era of opera. Boyle and Manley each have long passages in which they sing about their respective emotional states while standing in one place. It verges on soporific. A harried porter (Mikel Murfi) scurries around serving drinks, cleaning up, and attempting to add urgency to the proceedings. He only half succeeds, coming off more like a glorified stagehand. Boyle's performance is far more compelling. With a habitual half-smile and frightening sincerity she sings, "To feel my throat close with that need my heart ache with that need my stomach sour, my brain tear with that killing need." Dennehy accents her darkest thoughts with an uncomfortable slide into dissonance, moments that Boyle charges through with her implacably determined straight tones. The effect is hair-raising. Despite her cheery demeanor, one gets the sense that this woman really wants to die, and that contrast is highly disturbing. Robin Adams plays the husband in The Last Hotel at St. Ann's Warehouse. ( Teddy Wolff) Adams' performance is less nuanced, flying past manic into the realm of the psychotic: He stuffs his mouth full of Pringles as he assaults the porter. He sings his lines into a giant fuzzy microphone like a rock star. It's simultaneously terrifying and hilarious, one of the few spots of levity in a generally dreary opera about euthanasia. Dennehy's harmonically complicated, rhythmically sophisticated music provides an ornate setting for Walsh's banal libretto. Violent strings and flighty woodwinds perform a complicated acrobatic routine as the husband sings, "They got themselves a buffet, look. Is there a better way to eat? I don't think there is! To queue for your food is pleasurable when it's you who does the choosing. People tend to pile their plate but not me. I respect the buffet." These lines are delivered in a rich baritone, the kind of voice one might hear at the Met, which feels out of place here. Adding to this clash of form and content is David Sheppard and Helen Atkinson's consistently jarring sound design: Trashy electronic sounds (an angry voicemail, a blaring television, '90s pop) rudely pierce through Dennehy's complex wall of sound. It's a bit overwhelming, as is Jamie Vartan's deceptively superfluous set: It features a large raised platform in the center where most of the action takes place. Props and other installations (most of which remain untouched) occupy the naked wing space, suggesting a ghostly storage room. Walsh and Vartan should be applauded for employing the full enormity of the new St. Ann's Warehouse, even though most of the set comes off like window dressing. The Last Hotel succeeds when viewed as a concert presentation (the orchestra sounds flawless under the steady baton of Andre de Ridder). As a work of drama and stagecraft, however, it seems to be lacking some essential connective tissue that could pull together this fascinating story with its innovative musical setting. DETROIT -- January 12, 2016: Elio Motors today announced it has taken another major step forward by beginning the production process for its E-Series of engineering and testing prototype vehicles. MORE INFO The Best Car Research and Buyer's Guide The E-Series will be used for safety testing, durability testing and wind tunnel testing, to name a few. This will allow Elio Motors and its supplier engineering teams to make final adjustments for manufacturability, safety and aerodynamics, all critical steps in developing a vehicle that will meet and exceed customer expectations. Elio Motors has developed an enclosed three-wheeled vehicle that has a targeted base price of $6,800 and will get up to 84 MPG. The company has a late 2016-targeted production date. "The E-Series prototypes are where we get down to some of the most critical details in the development and manufacturing process," said Paul Elio, founder and CEO of Elio Motors. "It can be a somewhat arduous process, but as an engineer, it will be one of the most interesting legs of our journey to production. For our customers and fans, this is a tangible sign of our ongoing progress and momentum. Elio Motors and our supplier companies are thrilled to be at this stage of development as we move closer to our final vehicle design." The E-Series vehicles will be developed at Technosports Creative in Livonia, Mich., the same company that built Elio Motors P5 prototype vehicle that will be on display January 16 24, 2016 at the North American International Auto Show. Currently, Elio Motors and Technosports are determining what components are needed for which tests. Once the build and test sequence has been optimized, Technosports will begin hand-building individual E-Series prototypes. As various tests are completed, the company will compile data about what adjustments need to be made in the vehicle design and on the production line. This will help determine the company's final tooling needs. The E-Series will be funded by Elio Motors' current crowd-funded stock offering, which was made possible by Regulation A+ mandated by the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act. "Regulation A+ has been an incredible boost to entrepreneurs in the United States, as it provides easier access to potential investors," Elio said. "Funding has been our biggest challenge to date, but Regulation A+ paved the way for our current stock offering. We are one of the first companies to put this new funding model to the test, and the E-Series will be a result of this effort." In March 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized rules under Title IV of the JOBS Act to amend Regulation A, facilitating the way for private companies to raise up to $50 million from non-accredited investors." Non-accredited investors have annual incomes of less than $200,000 for individuals or less than $300,000 for married couples and net worth under $1 million, excluding their primary residence. Historically, non-accredited investors have been left on the sidelines for many investment opportunities, such as Initial Public Offerings and venture capital. Regulation A+ opens more investment opportunities for everyday people. Since Nov. 20, 2015, Elio Motors has offered stock to the general public, including non-accredited investors. Anyone interested in learning about the company and making an investment can go to www.startengine.com and click on the Elio Motors icon to start the process. Elio Motors will produce the vehicle in Shreveport, La., at a former General Motors production facility. The company estimates upwards of 1,500 will be directly employed at Elio Motors' Shreveport, Louisiana production facility. In addition, the Elio will use 90 percent North American content and create an additional 1,500 jobs from the supply base, Elio Motors corporate, as well as sales and service once full production is underway. Plus, approximately 18,000 indirect jobs nationwide are projected to be created or sustained. About Elio Motors Founded by car enthusiast Paul Elio in 2008, Elio Motors Inc., represents a revolutionary approach to manufacturing an ultra-high-mileage vehicle. The three-wheeled Elio is engineered to attain a highway mileage rating of up to 84 mpg while providing the comfort of amenities such as power windows, power door lock and air conditioning, accompanied by the safety of multiple air bags and an aerodynamic, enclosed vehicle body. Elio's first manufacturing site will be in Shreveport, La. Infiniti Gathering; Warm Wishes, Good Cheer and 2016 Model News By Thom Cannell Senior Editor Michigan Bureau The Auto Channel Detroit Holiday Season 2015; In Detroit holiday parties, auto manufacturer holiday parties, deliver good food, good wine and the occasional tidbit of news. Infiniti, for instance, gave us food and wine, and news about the latest 2016 versions of QX 60 SUV and Q 60 sedan. Both are refreshed, not all-new On the SUV side, the updated QX 60 has a new signature nose, more like newer siblings in Infiniti's lineup. Interiors are updated with new quilting, all-wheel drive versions use predictive algorithms and new forward collision warning. It's a better looking vehicle and will be introduced to the world in just hours at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. Also on display was the Q 60 sedan. It's also refreshed and highly similar to the older model, mostly new wheels, new exhaust tips, and a more staggered stance for all-wheel drive versions, There is, however, major news about the power train. A Red Sport version of the V-6 engine makes 400 horsepower; Infiniti is aiming for BMW territory in performance. Other powertrains for Q 50 are a 300-hp V-6 and a 2.0-liter I-4 built in conjunction with Daimler. The engine, Infiniti product planning manager Kyle Vargason told us, uses closely coupled twin turbochargers to rapidly respond to throttle input while still getting good fuel economy. The technology on the engine is interesting. Turbochargers for the direct injected engine are electronically controlled; vacuum control, which is normally used for this function, makes response to the throttle too slow, engineers say. Infiniti doesn't use standard throttle body air intake to the engine, either. They control engine output more by limiting intake air flow through variable vane turbos than controlling fuel. Another feature is in their selectable ride mode control. Engineers say the selector is more than just a map change in the transmission, rather it changes every aspect of the car: steering ratio and feel, dampers, shift map, pedal response map, even a change in the active sound cancellation system to allow more engine sounds into the cable. The final feature for 2016 is Dunlop run-flat tires. Google's Own Robot Car "Disengagement" Report Shows Need For Driver Behind Wheel, Consumer Watchdog Says; Group Calls for Release of Videos Of Incidents SANTA MONICA, CA - January 12, 2016: Google's just released report detailing when human drivers took control of a self-driving robot car being tested underscores the need as required by California DMV draft regulations for a driver behind a steering wheel of a self-driving car, Consumer Watchdog said today. The nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group also called on Google to release any videos of the incidents, as well as technical data gathered immediately preceding the disengagements. "The DMV got it exactly right and is putting our safety first," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director. "How can Google propose a car with no steering wheel, brakes or driver when its own tests show that over 15 months the robot technology failed and handed control to the driver 272 times and a test driver felt compelled to intervene 69 times?" SEE ALSO: Autonomous Driving May Kill The Automobile Industry Currently California has regulations covering testing robot cars on the state's highways, which require a driver behind a steering wheel capable of taking control. The test rules also require companies testing self-driving cars to file disengagement reports with the department. Read Google's disengagement report here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/cadmvdisengagereport-dec.2015.pdf "Release of the disengagement report was a positive step, but Google should also make public any video it has of the disengagement incidents, as well as any technical data it collected so we can fully understand what went wrong as it uses our public roads as its private laboratory," Simpson said Seven companies that were approved for testing self-driving cars in 2014 were required to file disengagement reports with the DMV by Jan. 1. The seven are Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi, Tesla, Bosch and Nissan. A DMV spokeswoman said the department expects to post the disengagement reports on its website. Last month the DMV issued draft regulations for the general use of robot cars on the state's roads that will like the testing regulations require a driver behind the wheel capable of taking control. Google, which is testing 53 robot cars in California and Texas, said it was "gravely disappointed" and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the "draft regulations may prove too onerous, create road blocks to innovation, and may ultimately drive the development of this promising industry to other states." "It's imperative the DMV continue to put public safety first, and not cave to corporate and political pressure," said Simpson. The department will hold public workshops to discuss the draft rules on Jan. 28 in Sacramento and on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles. Eleven companies Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi Automotive, Tesla Motors, Bosch, Nissan, Cruise Automation, BMW, Honda and Ford are now approved to test robot cars on California roads. View the California DMV's autonomous vehicle page here: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/auto DETROIT, Jan. 13, 2016 -- 2016 EPS-adjusted outlook increased to between $5.25 and $5.75 Share repurchase program now totals up to $9.0 billion Six percent increase in quarterly dividend to $0.38 per share General Motors Co. today announced an increase to its 2016 earnings per share adjusted outlook to between $5.25 and $5.75, up from the prior outlook of $5.00 to $5.50 provided on Oct. 1, 2015. The company also expects improved EBIT-adjusted, EBIT-adjusted margin and automotive adjusted free cash flow. Based on this outlook, the GM Board of Directors authorized an increase to the company's existing common stock repurchase program, bringing the total to $9 billion - an increase of $4 billion - while extending the program through 2017. The Board also authorized an increase in the regular quarterly common stock dividend of 6 percent, to $0.38 per share, beginning in the first quarter of 2016. Chairman and CEO Mary Barra, President Dan Ammann, and Executive Vice President and CFO Chuck Stevens shared this outlook with the investment community attending the Deutsche Bank 2016 Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit. "We made significant progress executing our strategic plan and the results are being demonstrated through our improved earnings," Barra said. "Moving forward, we will continue to keep the customer at the center of everything we do. We are making the right investments and taking the actions necessary to lead in the transformation of personal mobility, and positioning the company to continue to drive shareholder value." The company's 2016 outlook is based on a strong product launch cadence, growth in adjacent businesses, continued emphasis on driving core efficiencies across the enterprise, and expected modest global industry growth. The company said continued execution of its plan should keep GM on track to achieve 9- to 10-percent EBIT-adjusted margin by early next decade. The strategic plan calls for sustained growth in the company's core business and includes several major initiatives: Lead in product and technology. Growing the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands globally. Continue driving growth in China . . Continue growing GM Financial. Delivering core operating efficiencies. Among key accomplishments for 2015, the company noted the following: On-track to deliver double-digit growth in EBIT-adjusted and EPS-adjusted in calendar year 2015. Achieved its targeted 10-percent EBIT-adjusted margin in North America one year ahead of plan. one year ahead of plan. Since announcing the initial share repurchase program in March 2015 , the company repurchased 70 percent of the authorized program through the end of 2015, or $3.5 billion . , the company repurchased 70 percent of the authorized program through the end of 2015, or . All-new Chevrolet Camaro and Colorado earned Motor Trend car and truck of the year awards. earned car and truck of the year awards. GM Financial continued to grow as GM's captive finance unit by tripling its penetration of GM's U.S. retail sales to approximately 30 percent in calendar year 2015, up from 10 percent in calendar year 2014. Increased Opel/Vauxhall market share for the third straight year in Europe . . Launched key car-sharing program in the U.S. with "Let's Drive NYC" and in Europe with Opel's "CarUnity", and announced an autonomous car-sharing program on the Warren Technical Center campus with Chevrolet Volts. with Opel's "CarUnity", and announced an autonomous car-sharing program on the Warren Technical Center campus with Chevrolet Volts. On Jan. 4, 2016 , announced a long-term strategic alliance with Lyft. GM also outlined several actions designed to improve the company's capital efficiency, resulting in a significant reduction in longer-term capital expenditures. GM continues to expect capital expenditures of 5- to 5.5-percent of revenues in the near-term. "Our commitment to improve our performance in 2016 will build on our strong operating results of the past two years, and support improved shareholder returns," Stevens said. General Motors Co. and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke by telephone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to discuss the situation in Donbas and the implementation of the Minsk agreements. "The Ukrainian head of state stressed the unacceptability of violating ceasefire by Russian mercenaries and denying access by OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] monitors to facilities in the occupied areas and the non-controlled part of the Russian-Ukrainian border," the Ukrainian president's press office said on Wednesday evening. The three countries' leaders discussed further steps toward implementation of the Minsk agreements, in particular, efforts to agree on the modalities of conducting local elections in the separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in accordance with the Ukrainian laws" and preparation for renewal by Ukraine of full control over the border." In this context, Poroshenko stressed the importance of all steps envisioned under the Minsk agreements being tied to specific dates in 2016, after Russia stopped honoring its part of the obligations, the press office said. Portakabin gets technical with 14m UTC contract YORKS Portakabin Group has secured a 14m design and build contract for the UKs first university technical college to be built off-site. In collaboration with architects Surface to Air, the plan is to integrate modular and on-site construction. The Global Academy will be opening in September 2016 to provide digital media and broadcast training to 14-19 year olds in the London Borough of Hillingdon, on the site of the Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes. Simon Ambler, director of the Portakabin Group said, We are delighted to have been awarded the contract for the UKs first UTC to be built off site. This is part of a really exciting regeneration scheme, which will create a landmark education facility to give young people fantastic, practical training for the broadcast and digital media industries. It also illustrates really well how we can deliver an inspiring, animated and intelligent building in a very short timescale and on a highly complex site. Deputy of Ukraine's Interior Minister on European Integration Tigran Avakian and National Guard Commander Lieutenant-General Yuriy Allerov have discussed the priorities for development of Ukraine's National Guard with representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The National Guard's press service reported on Monday that the needs and priorities for the development of Ukraine's National Guard were covered during the meeting with Chief of Political-Military Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv Douglas Hoyt and Defense Attache of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv Carol Northrup. "Our only task is to create a space of security in Europe's east. Ukraine and the U.S. have long been key partners and allies. We highly appreciate the assistance that the United States provides for the development of Ukraine's National Guard," Avakian said. He noted that the meeting was an opportunity to discuss priority concerns of the light infantry brigade of Ukraine's National Guard. He also said that an establishment of an effective, efficient, functional military unit would be very difficult without the U.S. help. Allerov noted that a uniform system, which would be adapted for Ukraine, NATO member states and the U.S. as well, should be set up. It concerns command, cooperation, training and logistics. "We need combat-ready units," Allerov summed up. For his part, Hoyt said that the creation of the light infantry brigade of Ukraine's National Guard was an example of successful cooperation between the U.S. and Ukrainian military. "It is not the first time that the U.S. military conducts joint exercises with representatives of Ukraine's National Guard. We are very pleased with the results and are surprised by the high military training level. We are ready to further cooperate with Ukrainian military and to provide the necessary assistance," Hoyt said. Digital Banking Encouraged For South Korean Banks To Provide Faster, More Convenient Service A financial services expert highlighted how important it is for the banking industry to keep itself abreast with contemporary technological advancements, The Korea Times reported Sunday. According to Choi Jung Kiu, AT Kearney's Asia Pacific Financial Institution Practices head, banks in South Korea should be modifying their business models and upgrading their platforms to offer more convenient, faster and simpler banking transactions to its customers. The Korea Herald reported that some South Korean banks have been forced to close down their branches because of the increasing demand for digitalized banking systems. The Bank of Korea announced that internet banking services have largely set an increase to 142 percent over the last five years. Similarly, mobile banking services accelerated to 1,600 percent in the same period. Advertisement Korea Institute of Finance financial researcheer Seo Byung Ho said, "Banks are downsizing as more customers are using mobile and other online forms of banking services." Choi also discussed how several banks in China and other advanced countries were already rapidly shifting their banking systems to "mobile and online" while South Korean banks are taking it at a snail's pace. "Almost all functions of a bank can now be replaced by financial technology (FinTech) and tomorrow's bank model is already in the making," Choi said. According to Choi, South Korean banks should put into primary consideration the system of "end-to-end digitization" to improve the country's existing businesses. Further, he impressed that it is imperative for banks to improve customer interfacing, and that they should be able to provide sales support, digital solutions and data analytics to frontline sales managers. "Banks' existing incremental approach toward building a digital solution will not work anymore," Choi added. "The key to value creation at speed and scale is a fundamental relook at the principles and business model of banking." Choi Jung Kiu was the former global head of strategy and retail banking at the Standard Chartered Bank in China. Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ten U.S. sailors taken into Iranian custody will be held through Wednesday, senior defense officials tell The Daily Beast. Two U.S. Navy boats in the Persian Gulf were seized by Iran when, according to Tehran, the vessels entered its territorial waters. The U.S. military could not say whether Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps naval forces were involved or another Iranian naval unit. The Pentagon also could not say whether a warning shot was fired or how exactly the Iranians took custody of the sailors. The incident began Tuesday afternoon when the U.S. military lost contact with two Riverine boats and sought to contact them. Defense officials said one boat suffered a mechanical failure, which may have included navigation issues. The official Iranian news agency, Fars, is reporting that Iran believes the vessels purposely entered Iranian naval waters and that the crew had been arrested. The violating boats were 2 kilometres [1.2 miles] inside Iranian territory, Fars reported. The Pentagon said the Iranians promised to allow the U.S. Navy boats to continue on their route from Kuwait to Bahrain promptly but could not say when that could happen. The sailors are now on Farsi Island, according to defense officials. Secretary of State John Kerry made a call to his Iranian counterpart, who gave assurance that the issue would be resolved in short order. Kerry was with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter at the time. The sailors were to be held until Wednesday for safety reasons, as it was the middle of the night on Farsi Island. It is unclear whether the U.S. military has begun contacting the families of the sailors, but White House press secretary Josh Earnest told CNN: Our sailors are safe. The Revolutionary Guards Navy has been involved in these sorts of engagements with foreign countries in the past. In a 2004 incident, eight sailors and British Royal Marines were taken in the Persian Gulf while training personnel. Another similar incident happened in 2007. U.S. Navy vessels were threatened by IRGC boats in a 2008 incident, during which time an alleged radio transmission from an Iranian boat warned that the U.S. ships would explode in a couple of minutes. Iranian officials later downplayed the incidents and denied sending the transmission. On Tuesday, U.S. defense officials were befuddled about how both vessels navigational systems failed to alert them that they were entering Iranian waters. Riverine patrol boats frequently are used in the narrow waters between Kuwait and Bahrain, as they are among the few able to make the journey safely. When President Obama delivered his last State of the Union address Tuesday evening, there was an implicit sense that he had given up working with Congress in his final year in officeand instead was trying to shape the nature of the 2016 presidential race with obvious jabs at Republican contenders Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Chris Christie. Obamas message was one that was built for optimism, in contrast to the doom and gloom of Trump and Co. The country we love [is] clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Optimistic, the president concluded his speech. A year from now, when I no longer hold office, Ill be right there with you as a citizeninspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness. Seemingly exasperated by two terms in office, Obama didnt propose any large legislative initiatives that would reshape American life. Instead, he ticked off a couple things that bipartisan support might be built onprescription drug addiction and criminal justice reformand left it at that. The president spent a large section of his State of the Union speech pushing back at the Republican field that is jockeying to replace him in the White House in just over a year. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa, the president quipped near the start of his speech, as presidential contenders and temporary Iowans Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders looked on from the floor of the House of Representatives. In an obvious reference to businessman Trump, Obama compared him to demagogues of the past. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control, Obama said, exhorting the American public to see how [we can] make our politics reflect whats best in us, and not whats worst. He also took a swipe at Cruz, who despite being a senator was not in attendance Tuesday evening. The Texas Republican had suggested that he was open to carpet-bombing ISIS-controlled areas, despite the collateral damage such a concentrated barrage of weaponry might yield. Our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage, Obama said Tuesday evening. In the wake of Republican-led proposals to bar Iraqi and Syrian refugees from the United Statesand Trumps proposal for a ban of Muslims as a wholethe president said that these policies have a real world effect on American Muslims. When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesnt make us safer, Obama said, in a section where even the stoic House Republican Speaker Paul Ryan subtlely clapped. Rep. Andre Carson, himself a Muslim, clapped vigorously when the president noted that extremist groups like ISIS dont represent the religion of Islam. And in an apparent reference to Gov. Christies campaign slogan, he added, thats not telling it like it isits just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. Christie had his own experience with kids two months ago when he said he supported barring refugee children from the U.S.: I dont think orphans under 5 should be admitted into the United States at this point, the governor said then. Obama had come to office running on the theme of hope and changehis soaring rhetoric inspired many of his supporters to back him over Hillary Clinton, and then to beat John McCain in the general election. After seven years, the president tried to return to this theme, echoing his victory speech on that election night in 2008, urging the public see themselves not first and foremost as black or white or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant or native born; nor as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed. But what appeared Tuesday evening was a humbled Obama, who acknowledged that rancor and suspicion had worsened during his time in officerather than the healing that the president had come to the White House seeking. The president even suggested that other presidents, such as FDR or Lincoln, might have done to bridge this gap if they had been given the opportunity. Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention, Obama told the assembled crowd of Supreme Court justices, military leaders, and political figures. Democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesnt work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic. Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested, and we listen only to those who agree with us. The president pledged to continue this work, to bridge the gap between the divided partisan tribes. But as he delivered his final State of the Union address, it was clear that he had been stymied, and that he had failed. Near the start of the speech, a Democratic congressman tried to rally his fellow members to shout, fired up, ready to go!a slogan from the presidents first presidential campaign. But it died out quickly, a sign of the times. As he now begins a 21-year sentence for selling heroin, onetime Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Robert Vickers remains a prime suspect in the assassination of two New York City police officers more than four decades ago. The drug case brought by the Albany County district attorney in upstate New York involved two informants equipped with hidden miniature video cameras, and investigators had hoped Vickers would also incriminate himself about the murder of Police Officer Rocco Laurie and Police Officer Gregory Foster on the Lower East Side in 1972. But Vickers correctly suspected that the first informant was trying to get him to say things that were better for him to leave unsaid. He seems to have been equally circumspect with the second informant, though apparently less out of suspicion than because of a long-held personal rule. I dont talk about certain things that I done did because its open, you know what I mean? he was recorded telling the second informant. Theres no statute of limitations on certain things and I dont talk, I dont say nothing to nobody, not even my closest friends. Vickers did speak freely and in considerable detail to both informants about an April 1971 shootout with the police for which he had been tried and found not guilty. How I got acquitted, I dont know what was in the jurys mind, he told the first of the two informants who visited him in his home near Albany. In describing the shootout, Vickers said he and two members of my crewHarold Russell and Anthony Whitehad just left a Black Panther office in Harlem. They had been wearing long black leather coats and had not escaped the notice of two cops in a radio car. What did Bob Dylan call it? We looked shadier than a lady with a moustache, Vickers told the first informant. Vickers said he and his comrades became worried when the cops ordered them into a narrow tenement hallway rather than just stopping and frisking them in the street. White began to tussle with the cops, and shooting erupted. One of the cops, Officer Anthony Plate, was shot in the face. Knocked his eye out, Vickers recalled to the second informant. The other cop, Sgt. Howard Steward, was shot in the leg. White was shot four times in the chest, Russell once in the left buttock. Vickers was hit twice in the upper body. He remembered that the hallway was choked with gun smoke as he stepped into the street. Oh God, it was terrible. I would never, ever want to go through that again, Vickers told the second informant. I had cotton in my mouth. I was scared, but it was too late to be scared. I was in another world. It was robot-like, robotic. I cant describe the world I was in. I could never describe it. I think about that sometimes. Vickers recounted seeing figures approaching. I saw the police coming, backup, he recalled. He resisted an urge to flee. He decided to charge straight at the oncoming cops instead. I said, Ill take the fight to them, he recalled. He sounded still stunned as he recounted what happened next. When I went to go toward them, they went right by me, he remembered. I said, Oh shit. He continued on to the corner and stopped a taxicab. I got in, pulled a gun on him, Vickers remembered. I said, Drive! The cabbie did as instructed until Vickers told him to pull over. Vickers slipped through an alleyway and caught another taxi. I paid for it, he reported. He had this cab drop him by a phone booth. I made a call, he remembered. They told me to go to Fordham University. He said that two co-eds hid him in a womens dorm for two days. A comrade then picked him up and drove him to a safe house in the Bronx. I was hit real bad, I was shot, he told the first informant. He reported that his comrades snuck him into the same hospital where the two shot cops had been taken. Both cops had survived, including the one who had been hit in the face. White had also survived, despite the four wounds to his chest. Russell had succumbed to the single wound to the buttock, the bullet having ricocheted off a bone and torn into his spleen. When your times up, your times up, Vickers told the first informant. Vickers got X-rays but still had a bullet in him when he was spirited out of the hospital, avoiding a shootout that no doubt would have erupted had the police discovered him. We had machineguns, grenades, Vickers recalled. We said, Lord, its a good thing they never noticed us because there would have been all hell in that hospital. Vickers found refuge at another safe house. The police bullet still in him constituted a threat not just to his health but also to his freedom, as evidence that he had been in the shootout. Joanne Chesimard, she worked on taking it out, Vickers reported to the first informant. Vickerss account shifted to the name Chesimard adopted as she became known as the soul of the Black Liberation Army. Assata Shakur, she took the bullet out, Vickers said. Vickers recalled convalescing for a time in New Jersey and continuing on to Philadelphia. Then I was ready, Vickers told the first informant. We started some more shit. Police believe that this included the assassination of Foster and Laurie, who had served together with the Marines in Vietnam only to be gunned down in the streets of New York. A duffel bag was found at the murder scene containing a number of items, one a bomb-making manual. When those cops got killed down in the Village, my fingerprints showed up on some stuff that was laid behind on a couple of books, Vickers told the second informant. My fingerprints show up on a couple of books, but they couldnt get me on nothing. A month later, Vickers was arrested for the non-fatal shooting of a cop in Newark, New Jersey. The fingerprints from the scene of the double assassination in New York proved only that he had handled the bomb-making manual at some time, and he was not charged. He was indicted for the earlier shootout in Harlem in which two cops were wounded, but a mistrial was followed by the acquittal that made even Vickers wonder about the jurors. Vickerss luck ended when he was convicted of the Newark shooting. He was sentenced to 10 years. I did my time, Vickers said. Meanwhile, Assata Shakur was convicted of the 1973 killing of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was on the run for five years before she managed to reach Cuba. The Cuban government granted her asylum in 1984. By then, Vickers had finished his term and moved to upstate New York. He began using drugs and then started selling them. The police had not forgotten their assassinated brothers and sent two informants his way in succession with the hope of making a murder case as well as a drug case against Vickers. Both informan ts brought along books about the era when the BLA declared war on cops. Vickers reminisced as the investigators hoped, but he stopped short of incriminating himself in any killings. The investigators had to settle for six counts of selling heroin. At the trial late last year, the evidence included recordings in which Vickers advised an informant on the best way to kill, as well as how to make bombs and silencers. You can take a potato, a nice Idaho potato, and just stick it on there and that makes a good silencer, Vickers suggested. The prosecution also played the recording in which Vickers asked what that long-ago jury had been thinking when it acquitted him. The present jury made clear what it was thinking by repeating the same word six times. Guilty... Guilty Guilty Guilty... Guilty Guilty. At the sentencing, the prosecutor reminded the judge of something Vickers had said in the recordings. Its easy to kill someone, Vickers had said. The hard part is getting away with it. One person who continues to get away with it is Shakur. The so-called normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States cannot rightly be called anything close to normal as long as she continues to enjoy Cuban refuge from American justice. A Queens woman accused of keeping two children as slavesby allegedly passing herself off as their motherand forcing them to give her manicures and hours-long massages was arrested by police for suspected child abuse back in May, The Daily Beast has learned. Sook Yeong Park, 42, allegedly injured the younger boy so badly in May that he had to be hospitalized. At the time, she was arrested but not convicted of any crime. The Korean-American community rallied around Park, and the Queens District Attorneys office told The Daily Beast she was let off with a warning. She received an [adjournment contemplation of dismissal], spokeswoman Silvia Estevez said. Basically, she was given certain conditions to stay out of trouble, and the case would be dismissed. The earlier complaint against Park alleged brutal mistreatment of the then-13-year-old boy on May 8, including that she broke a glass dish over the complainants leg causing bruising and substantial pain. The police officer involved in the case added that the boy said Park had hit him in the back with a wooden slipper. The cop found lacerations on the boys face, bruises on his knee, and another laceration on the backwhere hed said Park hit him with the wooden shoe. The injuries were so severe the boy had to be taken to a hospital for treatment. But Park was allowed to resume life as usualthe case was postponed until September 2016, Estevez said. The Korean community rallied around Park in May, led by the Korean Parents Association. While the investigation didnt make it into the English-language press, Korean media covered a meeting in her defense led by Christine Colligan, known also as Yoonhee Choi. A mother who lives in Bayside was accused of abusing her 13-year-old son and was arrested, Colligan allegedly said at a May meeting. The association is working to show that she is innocent. In Parks version of events, the boy injured his face at a playground and was subsequently asked by school officials what happened. Park claimed she was pressured to confess that the boy was being abused, and claimed that her son was confused and wasnt able to answer police questions correctly. The Korean Parents Association claimed to have a recording of the boy saying he was too scared to answer questions correctly, and a witness from the playground who saw him hurt his face. The Korean-language article about the meeting added that Park wasnt allowed near the kids, so she was staying at her church and in her car. Colligan told The Daily Beast that she still believes Park is innocent of the May charges, and that she worries that the current allegations dont take cultural differences into account. Asking family members for massages isnt uncommon for any Korean-American, or first-American, or 1.5 or second, a lot of times, she said. Thats a very family thing. and i just want to make sure thats not a misunderstanding on culture. Ask any Korean mother, she added. Colligan said she urged Park, who told her she was being hounded by press at her home, to confront the media and assert her innocence. I want to know who interviewed the child, and I just have to have the whole story, Colligan said. Because we have the incident with her where she was wrongly accused. A spokesman for the citys Administration for Childrens Services said privacy laws prevented him on commenting on what, if any, actions were taken in response to the May complaints, but confirmed that the administration has opened a case on the most recent allegations. Recently, the boy, now 14, had complained to middle school officials about the alleged ongoing abuse. They notified authorities at his sisters high school, and officials there said they also saw signs of physical abuse on the girl. What you have is a case entirely based upon the uncorroborated statement of a 16-year-old who doesn't like the parenting choices of her legally adoptive mother, Park's lawyer, Dennis Ring, said at her arriagnment. That does not add up to a crime. Among other things, prosecutors in the case allege that the kids were forced to work at grocery stores and hand their paychecks over to Park. They also say that the girl, now 16, had to give Park manicures and massages, and that she once massaged Park for five hours while the woman watched TV. The children were allegedly brought to the U.S. from Korea in 2010and Park supposedly kept them from contacting their real parents for years, and even took away their passports, according to the Queens District Attorney. Another extreme claim by prosecutors is that the girl was forced to skip school for almost a month, in order to help Park out around the house. When she was at school, teachers reported that the girl looked exhausted and frequently fell asleepwhich prosecutors say may be the result of Park allegedly forcing her to work around the house for 10 hours after school. Lights were on at the three-story Flushing home where the abuse allegedly took place when a Daily Beast reporter visited Tuesday night, but no one answered the door. Neighbors said that Park had been released on bond, but was lying low, and pointed to her black sedan parked down the street. Neighbors say they were most surprised to find out that Park was not the biological mother of the children. Though theyd noticed the kids doing a lot of work around the house, but many said theyd chalked it up to cultural differences. The kids were well-behaved, neighbor Ifthemia Stathakis said. I hope its not true. I hope they were not abused. When it was Halloween, we gave them candy, her son added. Her husband, Jimmy, said this sort of sordid tale is unexpected in their quiet residential neighborhood. I thought there were parents, he said. I didnt know that there were no parents. Another neighbor across the street said Park appeared to do far less than the kids. She never lifted a finger, that woman, said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. When Park brought home groceries, the woman said she saw the two kids make multiple trips to carry them in. Were talking like BJs stuff, she said, referring to the bulk store. That neighbor added that during a cold spell a few weeks ago, she saw the female child tidying the yard in summer clothes and flip flops. Prosecutors also allege that the children were made to sleep without mattresses, and that the older child slept in a closet. But neighbors say theyre shocked that the alleged abuse went beyond mere cultural differences. I gotta say we believed it was her mother, said John Setari, a next-door neighbor. Because I was introduced like, Oh, this is my mother. Setari said he noticed other children in the house, including a young girl and two older kids in their 20s. But the two at the center of this investigation seemed very sweet, he added, even though they were always working. But I gotta say this, the boy didnt look happy for a long time, he added. We just want everything to be good for the kids. Translation by Angela Kim. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman called it a cockfight. The video he was describing in a court hearing last week shows two 11-year-old foster children beating each other up in the middle of a circle of boys after a Childrens Home Society of Florida (CHSFL) employee allegedly instructed the pair to Go ahead and fight it out. When the fight got out of control and police arrived, one of the two boys was hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluationa decision, Hanzman said, that was based on lies that the employee told to responding officers. This kid is going to be labeled as having a mental illness his whole life, Hanzman told a CHSFL representative during the court hearing, first reported by the Miami Herald. Probably wont be able to get a job. All because you have a stupid, inept caseworker at your facility that encourages 11-year-olds to engage in brutal violence and stands around watching and cheering. Video of the incident initially spread on social media and was then reported to the authorities. As the Herald noted, the CHSFL employee has been terminated, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is investigating the incident for child abuse, and the two boysreferred to in court as J.W. and N.L.have been removed from the CHSFL-operated foster home, the location of which has yet to be made public. But both Regional Counsel Eugene Zenobi andjudging from his comments during the court hearingHanzman are interested in taking further action against CHSFL, a private agency which runs 11 foster homes in South Florida. Are you going to shut down this group home or do you want me to do it for you? the judge asked during the hearing, per the Heralds report. Zenobi is alleging in a court motion that the incident with the two boys may not have been isolated and that all of the children in the care of CHS are potentially in danger of similar abuse. The Daily Beast reached out to Zenobi by phone on Tuesday but he was not immediately available for comment. As the Herald notes, foster care in Miami-Dade, Floridas most populous county, involves three entities and two separate subcontracts. DCF, a Florida state agency responsible for child welfare, has a contract with the nonprofit agency Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe which, in turn, contracts with CHSFL to run the 11 group homes, including the as-yet-unidentified home where the cockfighting video was filmed. Michelle Glady, press secretary for the DCF, told The Daily Beast, Following a report to the Abuse Hotline, DCF opened an investigation into the supervision of the children in the home. DCF is working closely with Our Kids to make certain all necessary steps are taken to ensure the safety and well-being of the children. Questions about the unidentified CHSFL employee, Glady said, should be addressed with CHS or Our Kids. Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe CEO Jackie Gonzalez told The Daily Beast that all three child welfare organizations are working diligently with all parties to carefully address the very troubling matters raised in court last week. In addition to conducting a thorough investigation of the incident, we already have begun a comprehensive review of all relevant concerns, with a focus on providing children the best available care and services, she said. Our priority is to make sure every child in our care not only feels, but is in fact safe in his or her surroundings. In this case, as in all cases, the only acceptable outcome is providing for the safety and well-being of children. A CHSFL spokesperson told The Daily Beast: Childrens Home Society of Florida has a deep commitment and strong reputation for protecting the children in our care. This incident is completely unacceptable and in no way represents the work our staff does each and every day. Nor does it meet our organizations expectations and standards of care." The employee was terminated and did acknowledge that she did not follow our de-escalation protocols, Dr. Maggie Dante, Southeast executive director of CHSFL, explained in further detail in a statement to the Herald. If Judge Hanzmans account of the incident is correct, the employee did more than fail to de-escalate; she actively escalated. Oh, she was very composed, the judge reportedly said in response to Dantes claim that the employee lost her composure after one boy threw something at the other. She encouraged the kids to fight. She said [to] go ahead and fight, just dont use weapons. Lets have a fight. She circled everybody around. Got the kids all riled up. Floridas child welfare system has long been the subject of public scrutiny. Child fatalities reported to the DCF have increased every year since 2012, when the count was 411 deaths, according to their internal statistics. In 2015, 472 fatalities were reported to the DCF hotline, including 202 cases in which the agency had had contact with the family within the last five years.In 2014, Jack Moss, a former regional director for the DCF, wrote for WLRN that the department suffers from system overload, high turnover, and inadequate training and funding. That same year, Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation designed to reform the DCF, in response to the Miami Herald investigation Innocents Lost, which drew attention to the number of child fatalities. The 2014 legislation did not change the fact that Floridas child welfare system is completely privatized. Privatization was completed during the administration of Governor Jeb Bush and, as The Daily Beasts Betsy Woodruff reported last June, it remains controversial today. For Hanzman, who first learned about the case when the hospitalized boy could not come to court to collect his Christmas gifts, the blame for this latest high-profile incident lies squarely with CHSFL. What is really sad is these kids are abused, abandoned and neglected, he said. And then they get taken from their parents. They come in expecting refuge. And what they are subjected to is more abuse and neglect at the hands of ineptitude, and agencies who throw them in these group homes with incompetent people who stand around watching them have cockfights. Iranian Embassy In Seoul Organizes Exhibit To Present 1000-Year-Old Literary Masterpieces The Iranian Embassy has showcased the finest literary collections of the country in an event held at the Seoul Metropolitan Library, Korea Herald reported on Monday. The activity, entitled "For two eyes, For Two Hands, Persia," is an exhibition of Iran's literary masterpieces that has existed in the country's rich history. It included several Iranian collections of poems, folktales, handicrafts, calligraphy, as well as the finest books of the country. The presentation of Iran's historical culture marks the 37th anniversary Iranian Revolution, which occurred on January 1978 to February 1979. The exhibit includes several literary pieces from Persian Gulf intellectuals who played significant roles in shaping the rich history of Iranian literature such as Mowlavi, Saadi Shirazi, Ferdowsi, Hafez, and Omar Khayyam. Iranian Ambassador to South Korea Hassan Taherian regarded books as "the highest delight of different cultures and civilizations" as it removes people's ignorance, add knowledge to people's minds and enrich people's experience and intellect. Advertisement "This precious occasion will play a bridging role in introducing our rich culture, lifestyle and philosophy to the Korean public," said Ambassador Taherian during the event's opening ceremony on Thursday. He added that the art and literature exhibition will be able to pave the way for the people of South Korea to become familiar with the culture, history, art and literature of the Iranians. Lee Yong Hoon, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Library, mentioned the commonalities between Iran and South Korea and expressed his readiness on the expansion of the two country's bilateral cooperation, Kayhan International reported Sunday. The opening ceremony last on Friday was attended by some of the members of South Korea's diplomatic community, including ambassadors of Bolivia, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, as well as the diplomats of Algeria and Jordan. The Iranian literature exhibition will be open to the public until February 8. Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The epic, stirring monologues. Those wire frame glasses. The crusaders heart beating underneath that cable-knit sweaterworn over dad jeansbleeding in the name of justice for convicted murderer Steven Avery. He may or may not have a hand in the continuing legal saga of Wisconsin man Avery, who Tuesday filed a new appeal fighting his conviction in the troubling murder trial chronicled in Netflixs hit docuseries Making a Murderer. (I dont want to comment on anything present or future, he said of Averys new filing, which blamed jury and defense counsel issues from his 2007 trial and subsequent appeals.) But if theres one man with the power to make America great again in 2016, its Dean Strangthe mild-mannered Madison, Wisconsin, lawyer with a knack for elocution whose passion and empathy have made the country care about attorneys en masse for the first time in a long, long while. Today, Making a Murderers unlikely star is a working defense attorney whos also taught and written about law. He wrote a book on Clarence Darrow, a 1917 Milwaukee anarchist bombing, and the media-obsessed trial that resulted. Strang now spends his days leading his own firm, StrangBradley, out of Madison. Although he could easily parlay his newfound fan base into something big, Strang insists during a recent phone conversation that hes not at all interested in pursuing politics. Im not running for office! he exclaimed, which in itself suggested its not the first time anyones asked. Strang and his co-counsel Jerry Buting skyrocketed to fame after the Dec. 18 release of Making a Murderer, emerging as the two noblest figures of the 10-part series filled with murder suspects, questionable evidence, inept attorneys, suspicious lawmen, a creepy DA, grieving families, and unsympathetic judges. During Averys trial they adopted a good cop/bad cop routineironic, given that their chief defense theory was that local law enforcement framed Avery for the 2005 murder and mutilation of photographer Teresa Halbach, whose vehicle and burned bones were discovered on his family property. The Strang/Buting dynamicone gentle and affecting, the other a master of the cross-exam mic dropmade the middle-aged, bespectacled lawyers instant icons. Their shared underdog idealism for what many perceive to be a broken legal system was infectious and downright awe-inspiring, more so in the aftermath of Averys conviction. Strang remembered the toll the six-week trial took on him. It was so taxing, he had to immediately unplug from the worldso much so that he never caught the subsequent trial of Averys nephew, Brendan Dassey, until he binge-watched Making a Murderer himself. Id been there, and Id lost the case, he recalled, a note of sadness in his voice. People have been asking me, Is it cool to watch yourself on [Making a Murderer]? And I say, No! Actually, its not cool to watch yourself. Especially, you know, on something that was a difficult experience and I lost in the end. It was a significant professional failure. Imagine youre on your second marriage, he laughed softly. The first one didnt work out. You moved on, you met someone else, you remarried, now youre happy. How much time would you spend watching the video from your first wedding? Well, its not a perfect analogy. Strang has been hitting the press trail this month for Avery while acknowledging that his former client may by necessity need to call into question the defense he and Buting mounted, as Avery pursues a new appeal and/or trial in light of new revelations and old suspects the authorities never seriously pursued. Buting, meanwhile, has been overseas as the docuseries and Avery case has blown up and become a national obsession. For both men, the love theyre getting from Making a Murderer fans is a 180 from the criticisms and hate mail they received just for representing Avery two decades ago. Youre either a defense lawyer or youre not, Strang told a reporter in 2007, peeling back the curtain on the pressures of defending a client like Avery. If youre a defense lawyer, youre somebody who instinctively and as a matter or principle and real belief says, Im on the side of the guy everybodys after. Im on the side of the guy whos on the outs. Im on the side of the guy people hate. Im just on his side as a matter of instinct. I hope were not ultimately going to be hated, Buting said in the same article, years before Making a Murderer would make heroes out of the legal eagles. But I hope people are going to see another side of this case no matter what happens. Mostly it has felt flattering, but I wouldnt say vindicating or even validating, Strang said, reflecting on the newfound support for Averys case. Its been flattering, because in 2006 and 2007 during the trial almost all the emails or calls or letters we were getting were nasty or unpleasant, and now this is the flip side of that. The vast majority of what Ive been getting has been quite flattering and kind and thoughtful. As binge-watchers devoured the addictive series, many viewers also developed a major crush on Strang, whose sensitive articulation of frustration in the face of injustice drew comparisons to everyone from Atticus Finch to Stephen Colbert to Kyle Chandler. Strang all but blushes through the phone when I mention his legions of Internet devotees. He stays off social media but gets the memes and articles when friends teasingly email them over. Making a Murderer fans are so obsessed with the series that hes gotten several inquiries from Irish reporters about a hurling statue seen in some of his on-camera interviews, sitting curiously in his office. Well, mystery solved: The answer to that is that theres a wonderful criminal defense lawyer in Milwaukee whos long been a friend of mine for over 31 years now, and he gave me that as a present at some point, Strang said. Ive never seen a hurling match, or what would you call them? Ive never played hurling Ive never been to Ireland! When I filled him in on the StrangCore Tumblr dedicated to his strikingly 90s fashion looks, as seen on Making a Murdererrelaxing on a couch barefoot in denim, for examplehe let rip a burst of uproarious laughter. Some people need more to do, was his bemused reply. Mostly whatever it is, Im just letting it go over my head. His wife of nearly three years, however, thinks its very funny! Other than when shes like, These women should not mess with me, he laughed. Which is true! You do not want to mess with her. The attention that Making a Murderer brought into Strangs world has sparked both fan club fawning and a chance for the still-dedicated attorney to discuss the issues that trouble him, both in the Avery and Dassey cases and in the current state of the American judicial system: poverty, class, the press, and the role socioeconomic inequality plays in the legal prospects of the accused. Its not every case that raises all of those issues or even some of them, but its many cases that raise one or more, said Strang. And some of them are just perennial and unavoidable points of conflict in the values we hold. For example, you want an unrestrained, free, lively press and media coverage in this country. I dont want any government restraints functionally on reporting and journalism. At the same time, we want a fair trial for everyone whos accused. And those things can collide. Those important values can collide with one another and then it becomes very hard to strike a balance. As filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi point out in Making a Murderer, a frenzied media can spin the court of public opinion out of control, tainting a jury pool. Strang is unafraid to play devils advocate, referencing what is certain to become one of the biggest celebrity criminal cases of all-time. How is Bill Cosby going to be presumed innocent months from now when he goes to trial in Pennsylvania? asked Strang. What juror whos got functioning adult intelligence will you find who doesnt have some opinion on whether Bill Cosby is guilty or innocent before he or she hears the first witness testify? That doesnt mean we mute the press. But it does mean were left with the problem of, how do we assure that Bill Cosby gets a fair trial like anyone else is entitled to have? He hopes Making a Murderer fans channel their fascination and outrage over the Avery case into asking crucial questions about the criminal justice system. Why are so many teenagers treated as adults in the criminal justice system? Why do we impose sentences of life without the possibility of parole? he asked. Thats just a slow death sentence. Why do we do that, especially in a case where there really are serious questions about guilt, for both of these guys? Why do we have a criminal justice system in which north of 90 percent of people charged with a crime anywhere in this country have not enough money to hire a lawyer to defend them, let alone mount the rest of the defense? he continued, his voice rising. Why is that? What role does class play in our criminal justice system, both in the prospects of being charged and in the prospects of an outcome? Once youre talking about class, how do you separate that entirely in an American society from race or ethnicity, or recent arrivals as an immigrant? Thats what gets you closely linked to disproportionally being a member of the socioeconomic underclass in this country, he said. This little story out of Manitowoc County raises all of those issues and more. Is it tolerable, in a system that values a fair trial and a presumption of innocence, to allow prosecutors to give lurid pre-trial detailed news conferences that are so graphic and vivid that hes telling children to leave the room and not watch the television? There are any number of questions journalists can talk about and that honestly, people ought to be talking about across dinner tables. Strang says he was disappointed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers recent declaration that he would not grant Avery a pardon, nor watch Making a Murderer. (Strang represented an unidentified client who was a political ally of Governor Walker in an unrelated case, arguing against John Doe statutes granting prosecutors extraordinary powers to secret investigations in the state.) I have real regrets that this governor announced very early in or even right before his first term that there would not be executive clemency while he was the governor, lamented Strang. Hes not alone. American governors mostly have shrunk [away] from using that power, and away from using the dignity of their office in that way to help people who have rehabilitated themselves, or who deserve an act of mercy as a part of justice. Its unfortunate, because clemency, for time immemorial, is an executive prerogative and only an executive prerogative. Courts dont sit to administer clemency. Courts dont sit to introduce a role for justice in the years after a convictionexecutives do. And its unfortunate to see them dodge the dignity of their office in that respect, he continued, theorizing that gubernatorial ambition to the White House is to blame for the trend. Acts of decency, acts of mercy, acts of sovereign grace a governor is the highest representative individually of state government, and government without grace, government without mercy, is a pretty harsh overlord. Strangs legacy might have been much different had he followed his original career path: I wanted to be an editorial cartoonist! he revealed, laughing softly. When I went to law school I figured Id never set foot in a courtroom, civil or criminal. Or become this generations Atticus Finch. What would you do if you walked into a Brooklyn bar and saw Hilary Duff sitting there knitting? Thanks to the success of the TV Land series Younger, its a very real possibility. Im pissed about it, Duff jokes, tongue in cheek, about the shows return for a second season, meaning more time in New York and less in Los Angeles, where she became a child star as the lead in Disney Channels Lizzie Maguire and, more recently, a mom. I already discussed this with you: Youre full Brooklyn now, Duffs Younger co-star Miriam Shor, sitting to her left on the comedys Silvercup Studios set, says. You knit at a bar. Youve succumbed. Youre full Brooklyn. I surrendered, Duff admits. I was fighting against it last year. Now Ive fully given in. In many ways so have we, to a show that defied expectations to become of TVs most underrated critical gems and returns for an even stronger Season Two Wednesday nightdespite arriving last year under circumstances that tend to foster skepticism. From Sex and the City creator Darren Starr, Younger was meant to help usher in a new era for TV Land, which was transitioning from nostalgic I Love Lucy reruns and throwback sitcoms like Hot in Cleveland to edgier, more current fare you might expect from the creator of an HBO comedy that once had four single New Yorkers in a taxi cab discussing the merits of anal sex. A far cry from Mr. Ed reruns. The shows high concept also seemed too restrictive to maintain. A recently divorced 40-year-old woman named Liza (Broadway vet Sutton Foster) struggles to return to the workforce after 15 years as a stay-at-a-home mom. When she gets mistaken at a bar for a 20-something, she sees it as a sign. After a flirty makeover from best friend Maggie (Entourages Debi Mazar) she begins living her life as a 26-year-old, eventually landing a job at a publishing house, hob-knobbing with fellow millennials, and falling in love with a tattoo artist young enough to be her son (Josh, played by Nico Tortorella). I never wanted this to be a show where she was always going to be lying about her age and every episode was going to be like, Oh my god, that was such a close call! Starr says, echoing the concerns of critics who feared a one-joke premise. Thats a little bit like Gilligans Island to me. What the show did end up being a little bit like, however, was Sex and the City, perhaps not surprising considering Starrs involvement, as well as the shows legendary costumer Patricia Fields. Call something an heir to that iconic series and draw not just the aforementioned skepticism, but also risk the ire of the passionate worshippers of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte, and their Manolos. Yet theres the same uncanny ear for the kind of current, punny dialogue that turned Carrie Couldnt Help But Wonder Bradshaw into a hero and a meme, four strong and fiercely different women, and a depiction of dating that is both brutally blunt and romanticall dressed in a wardrobe and world thats just a little more fabulous than our own. We elevate without making it unrealistic, Fields says. Just a little elevation: Get up on your high heels, dont go fly away. I think at its core, Sex and the City was just trying to be a frank and honest look at relationships, and those things dont really change, Starr says. How people are meeting each other is changing and thats certainly reflected in Younger, which has characters swiping left on dating apps and staring at iPhones waiting for texts instead of twiddling thumbs while staring at the phone on the nightstand. Sex and the City was about an independent woman who was going to live her life and not define it by marriage, but was still romantic, he says. This is a show about a woman who is trying to reinvent herself and wants to reconnect with that youthful romanticism and see if shes still got it. In other words: more stories about relationships and dating, but from a different perspectiveone that incorporates topics like feminism and aging, and what that means. Its that bit that critics seem to be responding to. The first season has a 97 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the San Francisco Chronicle went so far as to say, As funny as it is, its actually more mature than the writing on Sex and the City. And fans seem to be responding in the same way. Foster, perched on a sofa on the studio set that doubles as the jealousy-inducing loft Liza shares with Maggie, laughs while recalling a recent accosting during spin class by a woman who watches Younger with her daughter and felt the need to share the newsalong with some residual sweat. Then there was the recent trip to Treat House, a Rice Krispies show on the Upper West SideI know, what is this place?that had the guy behind the counter gasping. Youre on Younger! Anecdotally, at least, the show seems to be mission accomplished for TV Land, crossing generational and gender divides with fans. Paste magazine even said, Younger feels like it belongs on a different network. And thats probably a great thing for TV Land. A resounding talking point for Season One was Fosters performance as Liza, not just because of the gawky charm she brings to the role but because of how believably the 41-year-old passes for a 26-year-old on the show. It made for an unique experience for the Tony Award-winner, who despite a critically hailed turn on the short-lived ABC Family series Bunheads, had not endured the kind of invasive and exhaustive press tour like the one for Younger, which routinely had her being grilled with invasive questions about her age and appearanceforced therapy by way of journalists. It was definitely interesting to navigate because I hadnt really thought about any of those things, Foster says. Id be asked about my beauty regime and Im like, I dont really have one! She laughs for a minute, magically looking, like Liza, both youthful and carefree, and wise and seasoned at the same time. So Id just make things up to try to sound relevant or like I knew what I was talking about, she continues. And with my getting older, Ive never thought about it, or felt those things before, or even looked at myself in the mirror and gone, Oh, wow, I am changing and getting older. Am I relevant? Well, I have a career The psychoanalyzing mirrors a typical episode of Younger, which has Liza being forced to constantly consider her age while trying to appear two decades younger, all while feverishly trying to keep the House of Cards her lie has built from collapsing completely. Complicating things, though starting to ease Lizas conscience, in Season Two: the secrets out. At the end of Youngers first season, Liza finally comes clean to Josh, the young stud shes been dating but who thinks shes 26. It was necessary to avoid, as Starr said, the Gilligans Island curse. But watching Joshs hurt reaction at the betrayal, you suddenly realize that this heroine youve been rooting for to keep up this ruse is actually doing a terrible thing to people. I think because its Sutton Foster and shes so winning, you have this character that on the surface you really love and just assume she would always be doing the right thing, says Starr. The natural charisma and likability make the Sarah Jessica Parker and Carrie Bradshaw comparisons abundantly valid. You want them to succeed, but theyre going to make mistakes. When Josh discovers that Liza was lying, the ramifications are real, he says. It also opens more opportunity to explore not only their dynamic, but dig deeper into the strong bench of supporting characters that operate around them. Theres Mazars Maggie, who previously had been the only other one to know about Lizas deceitbecause she helped facilitate it. As the web spins out of control, its Maggie who has to help Liza untangle herself from it. Mazar was just coming off Entouragea very testosterone-driven show, she sayswhen she signed on for Younger, wooed by its estrogen. I usually play the power bitch and here I get to play a regular woman, she says. Shes an artist. Shes gay. She doesnt have to be Debi Mazar. I get to deconstruct me. Lizas work life is ruled by Duffs Kelsey, an assistant quickly rising up the ranks at the publishing house who shows Liza the ropes, and Diana, the bitch-in-heels boss who both mentors and makes Lizas life miserable. Think Devil Wears Pradas Miranda Priestly. Listen, anytime you want to compare me to Meryl Streep, you can go ahead and jot that down, Shor laughs. Both Kelsey and Diana are stock typesKelsey the vapid millennial and Diana, again, Miranda Priestlymade richer by Duff and Shors strong performances, which get shaded even more as Season Two unravels. And though they, thanks to playing characters their own age, havent been assaulted with as many questions about aging as Foster, both say starring in Younger has had them questioning their own feelings about getting older. Everyone keeps telling me 30 is supposed to be the best age, Duff says. Im not quite there yet, but Im excited. I think people take you seriously when youre 30. I wonder if you take yourself more seriously when youre 30, Shor agrees. You dont give yourself some sort of date: When Im 30 then Ill have to make these important choices. Then, turning to Duff: But I feel like youve made a lot of important choices in your life that I feel like a lot of people in their twenties havent gotten to yet. But what if that screwed up the whole system?! Duff shrieks in response. Ill be 30 and not be able to make any choices. It provokes an interesting question that reinforces the idea that Younger is deeper than a charming sitcom about dating may superficially seem. In the show, Liza lies about her ageyes, thats not greatbut in doing so she ends up living a life that makes her happier than shes been in years, decades even. Without explicitly endorsing that someone in their forties pretend to be 15 years younger, Younger suggests there may actually be something to learn by embracing, at least, behaviors, personalities, and attitudes from that part of a persons life. Making brave choices or choices that scare you, I think you do that a lot more when youre younger because Shor says, before Duff interrupts: You can fuck up. Exactly, you can be forgiven, Shor continues. Of course, embodying the spirit of a 20-year-old is one thing. Wishing to go back is another. It is interesting playing this character, who gets to dress really cool, Foster says. We get to really cool places and shoot in really awesome spots. We have fake parties that are really fun. But then? Then the 40-year-old in me is like, Im exhausted. I just want my couch and my 30 Rock reruns and my bottle of wine, she says. I dont have a desire to go back to my twenties. There is only one doctor openly prescribing medical marijuana in Brooklyn, and hes suspiciously hard to find. He doesnt work here anymore, says the security guard at Kingsbrook Jewish Hospital, one of the hospitals where Dr. Kevin T. Custis claims to be affiliated. Youre the fourth person to ask today. Its a similar response at the second address I tryalso the wrong one. Youre looking for that one doctor, a middle-aged woman at the door says. I think hes four blocks that way. Custis, a family physician from Baltimore, Maryland, graduated from SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine in 1996. Described as an exemplary resident by his professors, he didnt make news again until last year when his name appeared in a New York Times investigation of three-quarter houses. Three-quarter houses are unlicensed facilities where landlords make a profit by preying on vulnerable individuals like substance abusers, former felons, and the mentally ill. Instead of offering supportive services, the operators cram tenants into small living quarters and force them to go to treatment programs so they can collect Medicaid kickbacks. The situation is so dire that, in July, Mayor Bill de Blasio created a task force to investigate. At some point, one of the most notorious of these landlords, Yury Baumlit, (the central character of the Times report), introduced a new requirement for tenants: an appointment with Dr. Custis. In the report, 17 individuals say they were taken to Custiss clinic and forced to undergo three to four hours of testing in order to get a bed. Lured there by free pizza, each was allegedly paid $20 to stay. An individual named Jose Perez reported undergoing 19 different tests including ultrasounds of cerebral arteries to the tune of $1,700 in Medicaid dollars. Another person said they met a man at Custiss office who told them he was a recruiter who drove a van around to find patients from shelters, churches, and welfare offices, where there are people who have Medicaid and dont have money. Perez guessed that was the reason for the unnecessary tests. They get rich off all of us, he said. In response to the allegations, Custis told the Times that the tests were part of a clinical study he was performing with a researcher from Mt. Sinai Hospital. The hospital, when contacted, denied any involvement. The most recent clinical study published by Custis on PubMed date back to 1992. While the Times report has prompted a major investigation of Baumlitwho, it was announced in August, is facing criminal chargesCustis, it seems, quietly kept going. Whether hes leaving his alleged Medicaid conspiracy behind to start prescribing medical marijuana legally, or has another trick up his sleeve entirely, remains to be seen. *** Next door to a Family Dollar on an otherwise empty street in Brooklyn is where I finally find Custisor at least, his office. A navy blue awning with his name in white paint hangs above the front door, its glass concealed by metallic paper. Two large windows beside it are lined with white grates, both browning with rust. Inside, the 24 plastic chairs that make up the waiting room are empty. Its quiet and smells like cleaning solution. The nursesthere are manyseem kind. He went to the hospital for an emergency with one of his patients, one named Cathy tells me. Hes here every day but he leaves to go do that. Cathy isnt sure which hospital Custis goes to, or maybe she cant say. No one seems to know when hell be backperhaps tomorrow, they say. He doesnt have a cellphone number or an email but she promises hell call. Two days and six messages later, he still hasnt. On the Marijuanadoctors.com page for Custis, his practice is described as a compassionate place that has been providing excellent and comprehensive primary care to patients in Brooklyn for more than 18 years. His rate for medical marijuana patients is listed as $150 per 30-minute session, with a note that most people will need to see him at least four times before getting a prescriptionso they can form a bonafide relationship. The first few reviews on Marijuanadoctors.com, dated last year or older, give five stars and describe him as friendly and caring. At least two of them are written weeks before the first day that physicians in New York were even able to register as marijuana prescribers, meaning technically, no one would have visited him for that purpose yet. The more recent reviews, since the opening of New York Citys dispensaries Jan. 7, paint a different picture. On Jan. 12 a woman named Malagos wrote: Drove 2 hrs for an appointment only to be told that the doctor had an emergency; no one ever called. Was evaluated by the tech or PA who stated that the follow up appointments could be skyped/ Repeated appointments, faxes and phone calls (though no one seems to ever be there to answer the phone) were ignored. I feel like my payment was stolen fraudulently [sic]. A week earlier, Karen S. had a similar experience: I drove over 2 hours and 50 minutes for my appointment which was scheduled twice. They called to schedule my first appointment. When we arrived I thought I walked into the wrong place. It looked like a homeless shelter in there. On the website, the fee was $95 which changed to $55 more. On top of that, I expected since patients must pay cash in such a substantial amount I would be in a better environment surrounded by obvious drug abusers. Not patients that really need help for medical use [sic]. *** In many ways, Custiss story is the perfect example of whats wrong with New Yorks medical marijuana program. According to the Compassionate Care Act, in order to be able to prescribe marijuana, New York doctors in good standing must complete a four-hour online course to be certified. At a cost of $249, the course includes things like potential drug interactions, dosing, and routes of administration. Karen OKeefe, director of State Policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, says that educational tools like this are great, but should be voluntary. As is, OKeefe worries the test will prove a significant barrier, dissuading doctors who weremost likelyalready hesistant. Even under optimal conditions, without onerous things like this test, some doctors are reluctant, OKeefe tells me. Theyre risk averse and because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, theyre concerned. Now, on top of this built-in anxiety, is an extra burden, one that she and others have called unprecedented. The numbers, as predicted, are grim. As of Jan. 12, just 203 doctors have registered to prescribe medical marijuana in New Yorka number that, considering the 79,000 active physicians in the state, amounts to less than 1 percent. Even worse than the lack of participation is the lack of transparency regarding who is already involved. Most of the 22 states in the U.S. with medical marijuana programs release public lists of the doctors who are registered to prescribe. New York is not one of them. Meaning that unless a patients personal physician is one of the few, theyre out of luck. Without a roadmap of the doctors they can turn to, millions of New York residents are scrambling to find other options. Marijuanadoctors.com generally has a long list of doctors in each state; in New York, it lists just four. Whats resulted is an influx of calls to Marijuanadoctors.com from patients desperate to find more doctors. So many, apparently, that a red warning banner is now flashing across the homepage. Attention NY Residents! it reads. Due to over 300 phone calls a day we are experiencing rather high hold times, please be patient with us. At this point, New Yorks medical marijuana patients have no choice but to seek out the doctors that are publicdoctors they know nothing about and are driving hours to find. With the demand far outnumbering the supply, Custis and others can charge hundreds of dollars per session, and mandate as many as visits as they want before the patient is approved. Its a lucrative concept for the doctors and a dangerous one for the patients, demanding they overlook potentially bad reviews, negative experiences, and alleged criminal activity in order to get treatment. Julie Netherland, director of the Office of Academic Engagement for the Drug Policy Alliance, has talked to countless patients about this conundrum and what theyre doing to fight it. Its concerning, she says of the states handling. Our hope is that more physicians will come on board, but right now what were hearing from patients is enormous frustration and anger that they cant access the program. In an attempt to heavily restrict New Yorks medical marijuana program, government officials seem to have done the opposite, resulting in a system that relies on doctors like Custis who run the kind of operations that the state was hoping to avoid. The DOH says its trying to prevent doctor shopping, to prevent pot docs who are processing hundreds of patients, Netherland says. But because there is no public list whats going to happen is doctors who advertise and get the word out are the ones that patients are going to gravitate towards. Were creating the very circumstances they wanted to avoid. with additional reporting by Brandy Zadrozny. Carl Wardman is no jury-tainting bullysays Carl Wardman. The Manitowoc County sheriffs volunteer served on the jury that convicted Steven Avery of the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2007. But Wardman told The Daily Beast he didnt observe vote-trading or other shenanigans rumored to have swayed jurors. Nobody got bullied, Wardman said. Wardman is likely the mystery man at the center of Averys latest motion for release, revealed Tuesday in filings to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Avery focuses on one juror in the court documents, identified only as C.W. He claims C.W. intimidated fellow jurors and contributed to the violation of Averys right to due process, WBAY reported. Juror C.W. made repeated remarks that Avery was FUCKING GUILTY, Avery wrote in a petition signed January 7just one day before Chicago lawyer Kathleen Zellner announced she would represent him. The document likely refers to Wardman, who OnMilwaukee.com revealed had served as a juror while also remaining one of the sheriffs departments most active volunteers, even tooling around in a squad car. When reached by phone Tuesday night, Wardman told The Daily Beast, I never said nothing like that regarding Averys claims. Wardmans son, Chris, worked as a Manitowoc County jail supervisor during the trial as well, reported OnMilwaukee.com. At jury selection, Wardman disclosed his volunteer work and his sons job, but prosecutors and Averys attorneys declined to strike him. This was likelyat least on Averys sidebecause Wardman seemed open to the possibility of police planting evidence. Wardman told The Daily Beast that the court was aware of his involvement with the sheriffs department but, They picked me, they knew it. Still, Averys most recent petitionreceived January 11 by the state court of appealssuggests C.W. tainted the jury pool. C.W. allegedly warned jurors, If you cant handle it, why dont you tell them and just leave, according to Averys court papers. Avery further claimed C.W. had preconceived guilt of Avery and made statements indicating as much in the jury room, restaurant, and moteldepriving Avery of a fair trial. Dean Strang, one-half of Averys now-famous legal duo, told The Daily Beast he was concerned about the juror revealed to be the father of a Manitowoc County sheriffs deputy. But Strang and fellow attorney Jerry Buting were far more worried about six other potential jurors on which they exhausted their maximum strikes. You dont pick a jury. All you can do is unpick the people you think are least fit to serve on the jury, Strang said last week. But the concerns about six other potential jurors were greater. Avery, 53, whose story is detailed in Making a Murderer, is serving life behind bars without the possibility of parole for the 2005 Halloween night murder of photographer Teresa Halbach at his familys auto salvage yard in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Avery had previously served 18 years in prison for rape until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. Once released, he filed a $36 million lawsuit against the Manitowoc County sheriffs department. But in 2007, Avery would return to prison againthis time convicted in Halbachs slaying, for which he claims to be innocent. The viral documentary explores Averys accusations of being framed by police and the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Office planting evidence against him. Hes filed multiple appeals over the years, but the documentary catapulted his plight into the national spotlight. Its unclear why Avery filed his latest appeal, apparently without the help of his new attorney. Ive lived it [the trial], and thats it, Wardman said before hanging up. A representative of Zellners law firm told WBAY that Zellner met with Avery on Monday, but the attorney didnt file the Jan. 11 motions, which will be heard by the court Feb. 11. Avery signed his court papers just days after Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, the two filmmakers behind the Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer, dropped a bombshell on the Today show alleging a juror contacted them to discuss secret vote-trading and votes made under duress. That juror believed Avery was framed by law enforcement but never spoke up for fear of retribution, according to the directing duo. [The juror] told us that they believe Steven Avery was not proven guilty, Ricciardi said. They believe Steven was framed by law enforcement and that he deserves a new trial, and if he receives a new trial, in their opinion it should take place far away from Wisconsin. The juror said the deliberations included behind-the-scenes vote-trading and that the verdicts on each count were a compromise. (Wardman told The Daily Beast that vote-trading never happened.) At trial, jurors were allegedly saying, If you vote guilty on this count, I will vote not guilty on this count, Ricciardi said. Indeed, Averys defense team hinted at possible jury room intrigue in Making a Murderer. Buting speculated that something fishy might have swayed jurors, who initially voted seven innocent, three guilty, and two undecided. In the final episode of the series, Buting said newly discovered evidencein particular, about the jurycould lead to Averys freedom. There could be other people who know something, Buting said. It may be somebody on the jury. It may be somebody who knows something that happened with the jurors. Ive still got my suspicions about whether something improper occurred during the deliberations, Buting concluded. Dismissed juror Richard Mahler seconded that fear, telling People magazine he spent four hours deliberating in the jury room before being excused for a family emergency. He believed Avery was innocent. Mahler, who was shown supporting the Avery clan in Making a Murderer, is no longer taking media interviews, his wife told The Daily Beast. But the ex-juror revealed to People last week that two jurors who convicted Avery were related to county employees. After the trial, I found out...[one juror] was the father of a Manitowoc County Sheriff's deputy, Mahler said. Another juror, his wife works for the Manitowoc County Clerks Office. I thought to myself, they shouldnt have been on the jury. That was a conflict of interest, he added. Mahler told People he doesnt know how the jury reached its decision, but that he thinks about it every day. Since the trial ended, Ive had a hard time sleeping over it because of that feeling of innocence. I keep going over and over it, Mahler said. Its still in the back of my head. What if I wouldve stayed? Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces seized two U.S. Navy patrol boats and detained 10 American sailors Tuesday after the boats allegedly strayed into Iranian waters near Tehrans naval base on Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf. After they claimed the sailors were snooping on its territory, the Iranian government released them and the boats Wednesday. The seizurewhich occured just hours before President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union addressis a reminder that the Persian Gulf is a dangerous place, despite the United States deal with Iran to dismantle the latters nuclear weapons program in exchange for relief from economic and military sanctions. Obama did not mention the sailors detention in his speech. Nor did South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who delivered the Republicans rebuttal. Its not clear why the two 50-foot-long, gun-armed patrol boatswhich the Navy normally uses for river patrols but which are also useful in coastal zonesentered Iranian waters. The boats were traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain, home of the Navys Fifth Fleet, the Pentagons official news service reported Tuesday. Once the sailors were released, the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command indicated that they did not know exactly what had happened. The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors presence in Iran, a statement read. The New York Times reported that one of the boats had suffered a mechanical breakdown. The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and its escorting warships launched a rescue team shortly after commanders lost contact with the patrol boats, according to the U.S. Naval Institutes news website, but the team reportedly turned back when Iranian forces reached the boats first. Irans semi-official Press TV tweeted early Wednesday that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had questioned the American sailors. This is not the first time Iran has detainedsome say kidnappedforeign sailors. In April 2015, Revolutionary Guard Corps troops seized the Danish-chartered merchant ship Maersk Tigris and its 24 crew members and held them for several days over what Iran alleged was a legal dispute between the Danish firm and an Iranian company. In 2007, the IRGC captured 15 Royal Navy sailors from the U.K. traveling along the Shatt Al Arab waterway in the northern Persian Gulf in two small boats dispatched by the frigate HMS Cornwall. Insisting the sailors were in Iranian watersa claim London deniedthe Revolutionary Guard troops held the British sailors for 13 days. And in 2004, Iranian forces intercepted eight U.K. personnel in two boats in the Shatt Al Arab, claiming, as they would three years later, that the Western troops were in Iranian territory. Tehran released the detainees after three days. Changes to the U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf arguably make such incidents more likely. The Fifth Fleet increasingly deploys small vessels, including missile- and gun-armed coastal patrol boats and the river craft, owing to the smaller ships ability to sail closer to shore and interact more directly with merchant vessels and the naval forces of Gulf countries. While more nimble than a destroyer or cruiser, the patrol boats are also much less heavily armed and lower in the water, making them easier for attackers to board. One Iranian opposition group blamed Tehran and Washington equally for Tuesdays incident and pegged the boats seizure to Irans costly intervention on behalf of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as elections in Iran scheduled for February. Having failed in Syria, forced into a retreat on the nuclear program, and facing escalating internal schism ahead of the parliamentary elections, the mullahs are fomenting a crisis by detaining the U.S. sailors to put a lid on these defeats and crises at home because they are assured of the U.S. governments indecisive approach, Soon Samsami, a U.S.-based representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement. The Tehran regime only understands the language of power. Vice President Nikki Haley, blared the blunt headline on Eric Ericksons paean to the South Carolina governor after her Tuesday night State of the Union response. Erickson is not a Donald-bro, to put it mildly, so Haleys obvious swipes at the GOP frontrunner sent him over the moon. And hes not entirely wrong to write: Then there was Nikki Haley. She hit it out of the park. It was one of the best responses to a State of the Union address ever and the absolute best since Barack Obamas election. She showed humor, passion, and a willingness to hold the President accountable. She went so far as to admit Republicans had to share blame with the President, but presented how the GOP would fix problems it helped create. Then there were those who, uh, disagreed. Most famous of course was Ann Coulters tweet about how President Trump should deport her. A Breitbart.com article noted, grumpily, that the Republicans seemed to be using their little moment in the SOTU sun to be bashing Republicansand not just the frontrunner but rank-and-file voters too: According to Rasmussen, 65% of conservative voters say the United States should not let in any refugees from the entire Middle East the point of view Republican leadership is presumably attacking with its State of the Union rebuttal. And theres more: We have Laura Ingraham, who took the Dan-Snyder-esque all caps approach (NOT SMART), and Breitbart columnist John Nolte, who tweeted: To the glee of our corrupt media, Nikki Haley is attacking our own frontrunner. The GOP Establishment is garbage. This is just five kinds of awesome, isnt it? Its yet more proof that the GOP could actually break in two, which will open the door to Haleys defenders, desperate to beat back nominee Trump, rushing to someone likewell, like who is the problem, but theyll be desperate enough to find somebody. Now, from what I can seeand I admit I can only read so much of this stuffErickson seems to represent the majority view on what we might call the broad right. And Haley obviously did do a fine job last night, and shed be as plausible a vice-presidential choice as a lot of people, especially assuming the Democrats stick with Hillary Clinton. But now that I think about it, for which of the GOP candidates would it make sense to pluck Haley? Their birther battle aside, Cruz still wants Trumps voters if The Donald collapses somewhere along the way, which means its not an obvious choice for him. Marco Rubio? So the GOP ticket would then have two nonwhite candidates. And two Southerners, but its the two nonwhites that seems problematic to me, and no, Im not saying that because I think conservatives are a bunch of racists; Im saying it because 70 percent of the general-election electorate is still white. So the only remotely plausible candidate (Jeb! is no longer this) who might choose Haley, it seems to me, is Chris Christie, currently trading at the long odds youd expect. But whats most interesting here is the Haley narrative over the years and the uses to which conservatives have put her as needed. She burst on the scene, youll recall, in 2010. She was behind and kind of a who? and was going to lose to Gresham Barrett, a congressman and Citadel grad and everything a South Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate was supposed to be, when, bam, Sarah Palin endorsed Haley, and everything flipped overnight. Barrett left the race something of a broken man, which I chronicled back in 2012. Suddenly post-Palin, it was: new face of the GOP! A Sikh, of all interesting things! It helped that most Americans couldnt tell you one thing about what a Sikh was; just as long as it wasnt Arab. But yes, shes brownbut shes conservative, so shes one of ours! Then she actually became governor (although not by muchjust four points in a heavily Republican state). There were glowing profiles for a little while, then a fairly major corruption scandal that nobody remembers a thing about anymore, involving charges that Haley screwed over the Port of Charleston in favor of the Port of Savannah (in neighboring Georgia) because some crony-donors of hers stood to benefit down in Savannah. Specifically, she raised $15,000 at a Georgia fund-raiser just days before her government lent its approval to the dredging of the Savannah harbor. For much of her first term her approval rating was in the 30s. But she weathered it and won reelection handily. And she has governed quite conservatively. Heres her ideology score as determined by a site called insidegov.com. Shes to the right of New Mexicos Susana Martinez and Floridas Rick Scott, and right up there with Alabamas Robert Bentley. And shes well to the right of Chris Christie (just go to insidegov and plug in all their names and youll see). Plus, she did the normal Republican governor thing of screwing 340,000 constituents out of health coverage by refusing to accept the Medicaid expansion. So everything was basically fine with her on the right, and then the Charleston church shooting happened. Here, fate grabbed her by the lapels. And yes, she did do the right thing when she ordered the Confederate flag removed from the state capitol grounds. She even said it never should have been there in the first place. She had a little support on the right for that one, especially under the circumstances, with the blood of those slain African Americans still spattered on the walls of a historic church. But there was also tons of blowback. Is the American flag next? bayed one Fox nincompoop. Said Rush Limbaugh: Its not going to stop with the Confederate flag, because its not about the Confederate flag. It is about destroying the South as a political force. Its about isolating, targeting, and identifying the South as Dylann Roof. We have yet to hear from Palin on Haleys SOTU response. Shes in a bit of a pickle, or would be, if anyone actually cared anymore what she thought. But shes spoken nicey-nicey about Trump in recent months. Now she has Haley, whom she helped create, attacking him. Where does she go? Come to think of it, what Palin says on this one may in fact be instructive. And the fact that what Sarah Palin says is indicative of anything says exactly what needs to be said about the state of the GOP. Last Thursday, President Obama instituted a series of executive actions aimed at tightening gun control, including closing the so-called gun show loophole that provides a means for some private buyers to circumvent background checks. By law, America's roughly 130,000 federally licensed firearms dealers are required to submit information on all prospective buyers through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The system, which is administered by the FBI, blocks prospective gun buyers who fall into 12 categories of prohibited persons that the government contends are most likely to commit acts of violence. Anyone who qualifies found to be in possession of a firearm is guilty of a felony. Gun-control advocates have called expanding this mandate to include small, private sellers the single most important gun violence prevention measure that the government could adopt. In principle, the idea of a barrier preventing dangerous individuals from getting their hands on a firearm sounds like good policy. In practice, however, NICS has operated largely as a blunt-force instrument influenced by decades of criminal justice policies that are statistically proven to single out minorities for heightened scrutiny. More than half of the roughly 1.3 million prospective gun buyers flagged by NICS since it went operational in 1998 (or nearly 700,000 people) were disqualified for having been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison. The vast majority of these crimes are felonies. Another 110,000 are barred from gun ownership because they are users of illicit drugs. No doubt, some of these people present a threat to public safety. Since the FBI doesnt publish data on the criminal histories of prohibited persons flagged by NICS, however, just how many is anyones guess. Whats indisputable is that the number of Americans who would be prohibited from purchasing a firearm has grown considerably under the War on Drugs, and a disproportionate number of them are African Americans charged with nonviolent offenses. Four years after the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) banned felons and drug users from legally purchasing a firearm, New York passed the most draconian collection of drug laws in U.S. history. The Rockefeller Drug Laws became a national model for a growing war on drugs that centered almost exclusively on Americas minority communities. Even a single drug arrest can lead to a lifetime prohibition on gun ownership. For example, a first-time conviction for distributing any amount of marijuana, or merely possessing harder drugs like heroin, carries a maximum penalty of more than five years in prison in some states. Tens of thousands of African-American men have been disproportionately prosecuted under the patently racist crack disparitywhich until 2010 treated one gram of cocaine base as the equivalent of 100 grams of powder. Today, black Americans are far more likely than whites to be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for drug crimes. And theyre more likely to have the book thrown at them by prosecutors, juries, and judges. As a result, African Americans are incarcerated at six times the rate of their white peers. If we control simply for drug offenses the disparity between black and white imprisonment rates rises to 10 to 1. According to one report, a third of the 24.5 million people arrested for drug offenses between 1980 and 2007 were African Americans (who comprise just 13 percent of the U.S. population). In one city alone, San Francisco, felony drugs arrest rates for black Americans rose by 54 percent during the 1990s, even while arrest rates for other races fell. Depending on state law, not even a full pardon may be enough to restore a former offenders gun rights. The real-world consequences, even without a trial, of this disparity can be stunning. Last year in Floridawhere African-American adults are 35 percent more likely than white adults with a similar crime record to have a felony recorda 62-year-old African-American man was tackled to the ground by two white men in a Walmart. His crime? Legally carrying a handgun. A recent Pew poll found a sharp increase in the number of African Americans who say they support gun rights. Yet blacks are less than half as likely to own a gun than their white neighbors, with fewer than 2 in 10 African Americans identifying as gun owners. The Supreme Court affirmed the prohibition on felons as presumptively lawful in 2008 with District of Columbia v. Heller. Since then, courts have etched out a pathway for a convicted felon to successfully challenge their status as a prohibited person under the GCA. But it wasnt until 2014 that someone actually pulled it off. In that case, a federal court in Philadelphia ruled that a man who pleaded guilty to a single charge of corrupting a minor in 1998 (a first class misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in prison) could not legally be denied a right to purchase a firearm. Last year another federal court, also in Pennsylvania, came to a similar conclusion in the case of a petitioner with a 1990 conviction for misdemeanor possession of an unregistered handgun. [T]he inquiry is whether the challenger, today, not at the time of arrest, is more dangerous than a typical law-abiding citizen or poses a continuing threat, wrote the justice who decided the case. Both men were represented by Virginia attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued the Heller case and has emerged as something of a rock star in the world of Second Amendment litigation. Despite the emerging precedent, getting someone to go on record saying that too many convicted criminals are being denied their constitutional right to buy a gun is not an easy task. Rick Ector, the owner of Ricks Firearm Academy in Detroit and a strong voice in the African-American gun community, was comfortable calling a proposal to extend background checks to people on the TSAs No Fly list a conspiracy to disarm Americans without due process. But when asked his thoughts on the racial implications of a blanket ban on all convicted felons, he was less committal. The government has come up with all sorts of schemes [to disenfranchise gun owners] and I think the black community has been historically targeted, he said. But what you will still find is that by and large black people only live in major urban areas, and most of these places have high levels of gun control. Even the National Rifle Association balked at going on the record. Contacted for a comment, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast she would check into it, but by press time had yet to follow up with a response. Its difficult to demonstrate empirically a causal link between background checks and rates of black gun ownership. (The form the government uses to administer the checks includes a question about an applicants race, but it doesnt publish the data). Still, the mere existence of public policy that impacts citizens unequally based on race is worth more study. Under U.S. law, an employer can be held in violation of the Civil Right Act of 1964 for hiring policies that have an adverse impact on a protected class, even unintentionally. The Obama administration has repeatedly gone on record since 2008 arguing that background checks, when broadly applied to hiring, amount to racial discrimination. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both political parties have gone to great lengths in an attempt to correct racial disparities perpetuated by laws that bar ex-felons from voting. Nicholas Johnson, a Fordham law professor and Second Amendment scholar, acknowledged the potential for precisely this kind of racial inequity in the application of federal background checks. These are very old categories and they didnt get the same level of scrutiny decades ago. So you have all these categories, and if you look at the means-end question, its not clear are these things going to meet a standard of least restrictive, he said. But Johnson, who authored the 2014 book Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms, says the issue is probably not high on the list of priorities for most Americans. If you ask people on the street, Im not sure if this is what they want to fight in term of a rights claim, he said, adding that more acute racial bias is evident in the permitting process in so-called may issue states like California and New York, where blacks face higher burdens than whites for concealed carry licenses. To date the most comprehensive analysis of the issue is probably a 2009 article titled Why Cant Martha Stewart Own a Gun, which was published published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. The authorattorney C. Kevin Marshallexplores the historical precedent of a U.S. policy that considers a television personality convicted on charges related to insider trading too much of a public threat to own a firearm. Is the public safer now that Martha Stewart is completely and permanently disarmed? More to the point, how could such a ban be constitutional? Marshall asks. He concludes that wherever the constitutional line may be, it is difficult to see the justification for the complete lifetime ban for all felons that federal law has imposed only since 1968. Second Amendment disenfranchisement is just one area where drug policy and gun policy are likely to collide as efforts to move away from zero-tolerance prohibition evolve. Last week, New York became the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana. Four states and the District of Columbia have legalized pot for recreational use and another ten are expected to consider similar measures this year. Since the Gun Control Act also prohibits users of illicit substances from legally acquiring a firearm, there are now law-abiding citizens in roughly half of all American states who can be denied a right to own a gun under federal statute. Since 2012, when Colorado legalized marijuana for recreational use, gun-rights advocates have quietly fought to rectify the disconnect. What were trying to do is raise peoples awareness, said Isaac Chase, a co-founder of the group Campaign for Equal Gun Rights, which unsuccessfully fought for a ballot measure in 2014 correcting inconsistencies in Colorados concealed-carry law. We have a lot of veterans in this state, a lot of veterans who use marijuana legally. They went overseas and fought for freedom and now theyre being told they cant protect themselves. But not everyone is on board. Tony Fabian, president of the Colorado State Shooting Association, an NRA-affiliated group, said his members would oppose letting pot users carry guns. Federal law prohibits the possession and use of marijuana and its derivatives, and therefore its possession and use is incompatible with legal, responsible firearms ownership, he said in a December 2014 interview. Meanwhile, legal precedent is still evolving on the issue. In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by an Oregon sheriff of a ruling by the states supreme court that upheld the right of medical pot users to carry a concealed weapon. But a case argued last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the federal governments authority to charge a West Virginia pot user as a prohibited firearms owner under the Gun Control Act. While the court required the government to provide some evidence that its action was justified, it found that a mere correlation between drugs and crimeand not necessarily a causal linkwas sufficient. That isnt enough to deter Chase, though, who says he isnt ready to give up the fight for equal gun rights for pot-smoking Coloradans. I want to move the issue forward, he said. If you have a right to use marijuana and a right to carry a gun but the laws dont match up, theres something wrong with that. This Sunday, the devoted huddle of royal fans at Sandringham church were gathered as usual, waiting to see the Queen arrive for church as she does every Sunday when she is in residence at her Norfolk estate. Their numbers were swelled by a few photographers who had been briefed that the Queen would be joined by several prominent members of the Royal family and that there would be a short wreath-laying ceremony afterwards to mark the centenary of the ill-fated First World War Gallipoli campaign. They were expecting the Cambridges, maybe a Prince Andrew. Just about enough to make an early Sunday morning start worthwhile. So imagine the surprise of the assembled hacks when up the frosty laneway that connects Sandringham House to St Marys Church, who should come striding confidently into view behind William and Kate, but the entire Middleton clan (the Queen arrived by car)? Looking pleased as punch and smiling broadly for the now frenziedly-snapping cameras, Carole and Pippa led the way, followed by Pippas brother James and her father, Michael. The immediate conclusion was that the Middletons must have been staying at Anmer Hall, the Cambridges spectacular, 10-bedroom country home which is fast becoming William and Kates full-time base, while celebrating Kates 34th birthday which fell on Saturday (it is a sign of just how effectively the Cambridges have managed to lock down their household that not a royal reporter in the land had a clue that the Middletons were due to be spending the weekend with Kate and Will). It was perhaps slightly odd that they all arrived on foot from the direction of Sandringham House, rather than in a car from Anmer, but even odder was that after the church service, as the Queen and Prince Philip spent a few minutes laying wreaths with William and Kate, the remaining Middletons trotted off back in the direction of Sandringham where, according to sources, they were guests at a typical Sandringham Sunday lunch. They cut quite a sight; James, bearded, hands in pockets in a skinny pale blue hipster suit from Savile Row tucked over Chelsea boots, Pippa, freshly tanned from a recent holiday in St Barts, wore thick black woolly tights and a short dress with an extravagant Russian-style fur hat perched on her head while Kates mum, Carole, cut a dash in the kind of glamorous long winter coat that her daughter wears so effectively. If there was any doubt that the Middletons have been completely embraced by the Queen, this was it. Make no mistake, being invited to attend an informal Sandringham church service with Her Majesty is no meager endorsement. Says one source, Given the Queens emphasis on duty and religion, this was arguably an even more important moment of acceptance for the Middleton clan than being invited to ride in the royal carriage at Ascot. The Queens casual invitation to the Middletons to join the Royals for lunch may also have been intended to make up for the fact that they were excluded from Christmas lunch at Sandringham, although William, Kate, and their children did in fact have their turkey at the big house, despite extensive speculation that they were planning a more informal family affair at their own home. The Queen is undoubtedly making a clear point that she believes the Middletons worthy of respect and full inclusion in the royal circle of trust. The queen is said to have increasing regard for Carole in particular, coming to admire the woman who has fought her way to the top of business with a resolutely middle-class attitude. She may once have been mocked by her son-in-law and daughters society friends for having been a flight attendant, but Carole is now having the last laugh, having secured for herself an inviolable place at the heart of the new royal establishment. Intriguingly, Prince Charles has been less welcoming of the Middletons. Always accused of being somewhat prone to snobbish tendencies, he is not believed to have invited the family to his private house at Highgrove. It doesnt particularly bother Kate or William, however, and even less the Middletons themselves. They always were a fairly thick-skinned bunch, and that tendency has only become more pronounced since Kate and William married, says a family friend. The monarch once again is leading by example. For although the Middleton clan might divide opinionsome still think it is inappropriate for the future Queens mother to be running a website selling party gear and writing articles for magazines about home entertainingthere is no doubt that the strategy of embracing the Middletons has made Kates transition to royal life easier. Inevitably the Middletons will be called on to play a larger and larger role in public life over the next few decades, and, by inviting them to attend church alongside her and join her for lunch afterwards, the Queen is shrewdly making sure she has 100% loyalty, as well as letting them know they can be confident of their membership in the club, whatever reaction they get from Prince Charles and some more sniffy members of the establishment. Iranian state TV released a video Wednesday of a U.S. sailor apologizing for crossing into the countrys territorial waters. The apology was publicized hours after Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. did not apologize. It was a mistake, it was our fault, and we apologize for our mistake, the unnamed sailor said while being held in Iranian custody. The sailor and nine others were released Wednesday after being held overnight in Iran. Units of the Revolutionary Guard seized two U.S. Navy boats on Tuesday in a stretch of the Persian Gulf after one boat suffered a mechnical problem. U.S. officials have not said if the boats entered Iranian waters. Biden said Iran did not ask for and did not receive an apology from the U.S. There was nothing to apologize for, Biden told CBS News. When you have a problem with the boat you apologize the boat had a problem? No, and there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice. Prior to broadcasting the sailors apology, Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iran. I want to thank the Iranian authorities for their cooperation and quick response. These are always situations which everybody here knows have an ability, if not properly guided, to get out of control, he said. As The Daily Beasts David Axe notes, this is not the first time Iran has held foreign sailors. In April 2015, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps troops seized the Danish-chartered merchant ship Maersk Tigris and its 24 crew members and held them for several days over what Iran alleged was a legal dispute between the Danish firm and an Iranian company. In 2007, for example, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps captured 15 U.K. Royal Navy sailors in the northern Persian Gulf. Insisting the sailors were in Iranian watersa claim London deniedthe Revolutionary Guard troops held the British sailors for nearly two weeks. Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter criticized the Obama administrations apologetic foreign policy. Iranians are going to use this for massive propaganda, Hunter told The Daily Beast. This is a state sponsor of terror that has been sanctioned by the entire Western world. There are now going to run commercials on their TV of sailors apologizing. There is no way that they should apologize. Hunter also said the U.S. military would have to change its tactics, techniques and procedures due to information Iranians now possess. The Pentagons immediate reaction to the apology was more muted. Its unusual, one defense official told The Daily Beast. We wouldnt do it. A senior Pentagon official told The Daily Beast that the sailors are being debriefed in Bahrain. Among the questions being asked is whether the sailor who apologized did so under duress. U.S. officials were quick to laud the release of the sailors, saying that while being held, the sailors were fed and given blankets. But with the video released by the Iranians, more troubling details emerged. In one clip, the sailors hands were on the back of the heads. By midday, the administration sought to mitigate its celebratory statements. State Department spokesman Mark Toner attempted to reconcile his bosss earlier show of appreciation to the Iranians with the sailors apology. Toner told reporters that generally speaking, you are not supposed to show images of troops under such circumstances. Our initial assessment is that they were treated humanely. Famine Amid Syrian Unrest Is Merely 'The Tip Of An Iceberg,' Amnesty International Director Says International rights group Amnesty International unveiled accounts of people in Syria struggling with famine in the city of Madaya. The community is reportedly trying to survive merely on boiled water and leaves, an evidence of ongoing "catastrophe of larger proportions" according to a report by CNN. According to Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa director for Amnesty International, the harrowing accounts of hunger in Syria represent "the tip of an iceberg". "Syrians are suffering and dying across the country because starvation is being used as a weapon of war by both the Syrian government and armed groups," Luther added. WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa said that help is on the way in a few days as the U.N. World Food Programme, along with International Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent in a convoy, is set to deliver goods to aid over 40,000 people for a month. However, an aid worker stationed in Madaya told CNN that this assistance will be sent hopefully not later Monday. Advertisement Syria, a nation that has been shaken since 2011 by one of today's most brutal civil wars have had over hundreds of thousands of people are tortured and brutally killed and its major cities gone to rubble. These catastrophes point to the regime of Bashar al-Assad as well the prominent jihadist group, ISIS. And it appears today that people are starving, due to the tactics of both sides related to warfare and all for the pursuit of power according to Vice. According to a resident of Madaya named Louay, the last time he had a full meal was at least a month and a half ago. "Now, I mainly have water with leaves. Winter is here and the trees no longer have leaves, so I am not sure how we will survive," Louay lamented on their situation. The starving situation of people in Madaya is said to be dire; while food is available, people can't afford it. In a statement by United Nations last week, they had received "credible reports" of people starving to death. The U.N. also said that the Syrian government now allows aid convoys in the following Syrian cities: Madaya, Foah and Kefraya. Activists and concerned citizens have already stepped up and raised awareness to such crisis on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In a scoop by CNN, Activist Sham Abdullah told the network that 41 people had died already so far out of starvation, as seen on the images posted on Twitter by activists and other residents on site. Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. North Korea Allegedly Releases Footage of its Latest Successful Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile North Korea has reportedly released a footage of its latest submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test, which took place days before the country conducted a fourth nuclear weapon test on Jan. 6, a U.S. expert confirmed on Tuesday. Contrary to allegations, the ballistic missile was not launched from submarine. The footage of the submarine test aired on the North Korean State television. Unlike previous SLBM tests in May and November, the December test was not announced immediately after it was conducted. Advertisement Reports show that the December test was successful, but South Korea later alleged that the video of the launch had been manipulated, The Korea Herald asserted. "While parts of the video footage of the launch are believed to have been faked, examining the initial stages of this launch, along with satellite imagery of the submarine and support vessels in port two days later, suggests that this test was probably conducted from a submerged barge rather than an actual submarine," John Schilling, a rocket expert, said. Schilling also said that South Korea acknowledges only three known SLBM tests, which have all been unsuccessful. According to Yonhap News, the tests indicate that the North has not yet mastered SLBM capabilities. On the other hand, an official from the government alleged that the latest footage indicates that the ejection technology might have improved compared to the last tests. According to an analysis by California-based James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), there are two instances in the footage where flames can be observed to have engulfed the missile and tiny parts of its body separated. "The missile ejected, began to light, but then failed catastrophically," said Melissa Hanham, CNS senior research associate. Hanham also alleged that North Korea edited the video to cover the fact that the missile launch failed. Reuters reported that it still remains unclear if North Korea has really developed any nuclear device that can be mounted on a missile. Meanwhile, under United Nations resolutions, North Korea is banned from furthering any ballistic missile activity. Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Print this page The nightmare of Dominicas Layou River Hotel project By Thomson Fontaine January 12, 2016 6:28 P.M The unfinished walls have been swallowed up by the forest. Roseau, Dominica (TDN) As the intrepid visitor makes his way across the deeply cratered roads of the Layou valley they may just spot a few massive concrete walls trying desperately to show through the thick green foliage. Twenty-five years on and its all thats left of the Layou River Hotel, which was supposed to bring jobs and prosperity to the Layou Valley. During that period, hundreds of passports were sold ostensibly to finance the project, and at least EC $120 million collected. Today the money has all but mysteriously disappeared some to the secure hold of offshore accounts, some squandered, and a little turned into those concrete walls in the forest. Not a single job has been created, Bottom line is the country has not benefited. Instead a few greedy and unscrupulous actors have made off with the spoils while the country continues to count the cost. Just today hundreds of Dominicans dipped into their pockets to raise over $60 000 for Lennox Linton, Opposition Leader in parliament who dared draw attention to the ongoing saga. In 2004 he was sued by Keiron Pinard-Byrne who in his own words stated:The Layou Project was a pivotal project for Dominicas tourism sector and economy. I was the audit engagement partner for The Layou Project between 1991 and 2002 during which time I experienced extraordinary, exacting and public interest professional challenges in 2006. Pinard-Byrne sued over remarks he claimed were made by Linton suggesting that as auditor he had benefited from the project. In March 2011 the High Court in Dominica ruled in his favor, a judgment overruled by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) in March 2013. From there Pinard-Byrne would take his case all the way to the United Kingdom Privy Council a case famous for being the last one to be heard by this appellant court, as the country shifted to the jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice. In October 2015 the Privy Council upheld the lower courts ruling. This prompted Pinard-Byrne through his lawyers to demand payment from Linton within seven days. An angry populace fed up with the specter of Dominican passport sales continuing in some cases with similar results as the layout River Hotel, rallied around Linton with a combination of anger, shock, and an uneasy feeling that the wrongs perpetuated through the Layou River Hotel saga continues to haunt this country. It was the same unfolding saga that saw prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit appear in a British Virgin Island court in 2009 after he was sued by Felix Chen, who claimed that he had made a $20 million investment in the Layou River Hotel in 2005 and demanded his money back. According to Chen with the best of intentions, I invested $20 million in the Layou River development more than four years ago, and to this day no construction has begun and no new jobs have been created for Dominicans. Skerrit told the court that he would appeal to Ng Lap Seng to give him the funds to repay Felix Chen. Ng Lap Seng would in September 2015 be arrested in New York and awaits trial on money laundering and other charges. Todays show of support to Lennox Linton was uplifting in its manifestation if only to show that the country is not daunted by the widespread corruption linked to this project that has still not being addressed. In a scandal that has unfolded under the stewardship of 5 of the countrys 6 prime ministers since independence, Dominicans wonder aloud if they will ever see an end to this never ending nightmare. Sure, twenty-five years feel like a long time, enough for those concrete walls like the mirage of the millions of dollars to crumble and disappear quietly in Dominicas dark green forests. ISTANBUL, Jan. 12 -- At least 10 people have been killed and 15 others wounded in an explosion that hit Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, a tourist hub, on Tuesday, the Istanbul governor's office said. The explosion took place at around 10:15 local time (0815 GMT) at the square, and the investigation is going on to determine the cause and its perpetrators. A suicide bomber is suspected to be behind the deadly attack. "All I heard was a loud noise and then we saw smoke over there ... I didn't move anywhere, I stayed here and waited till the police came. Soon after ambulances arrived and now the police cordoned off the area," a shop owner nearby told Xinhua. Turkey has suffered from Islamic State (IS) attacks. In July, 2015, a bombing attack in the border town of Suruc in southeastern Turkey left 34 pro-Kurdish and left-wing activists killed. In October, a huge explosion in the capital Ankara killed 86 and injured 186. Both were blamed on the IS. While battling the IS, Turkey is also cracking down the home-grown Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), a terrorist group that has also been blacklisted by the United States and the European Union. The Turkish military said Sunday that a total of 448 PKK militants had been killed in counter-terrorism operations in southeastern Turkey, where tensions have been running high, since mid-December. ROBSTOWN, Texas (AP) "Jak se mas," said Annette Keliehor Starr as she took the podium in the ballroom at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds. It means "how are you" in Czech, the native language of Starr's great grandparents, Tom and Johanna Mrazek. The Mrazeks were one of the first families to settle in Robstown in 1907, a year after the town was officially established. "'Mrazek' means 'little frost.' It's associated with blacksmithing and Christianity," Starr said. "They moved here looking for a better way to make a living, and they were looking for land. They were looking for a better future for their family." Though the event became a reunion with an array of black-and-white photographs, an extensive family tree and dessert kolaches with coffee, the actual purpose of last week's gathering at the fairgrounds was to memorialize one of Robstown's founding families and an invention that helped make Nueces County a major agricultural force before World War I. At the turn of the 20th century, Tom Mrazek bought land near where the fairgrounds are now for $15 an acre, Starr said. The town now boasts nearly 13,000 people and has a rich agricultural history largely in part to a Mrazek's invention: the grubbing plow. Tom Mrazek, who moved from the Czech Republic to Granger, in the 1880s, invented the grubbing plow as a solution to the Coastal Bend's tenacious mesquite tree groves. The grubbing plow changed farming in the Coastal Bend by "grubbing" up the roots of mesquite trees, which tended to grow fast and become matted under the surface of the dirt. The machine, which was a combination of a root grubber and regular plow, contributed to Nueces County being the most mechanized county in Texas in 1920, said Tyner Little, Nueces County governmental affairs. "The economic impact of this instrument is in the millions," Little said. "Sixty-one to 70 percent of the county was prime farmland." Between 1911 and 1917, Tom Mrazek and Sons blacksmith shop made 300 grubbing plows before steel became hard to find because of the war. The family continued the blacksmith tradition, including Joe C. Mrazek Jr. who moved to Agua Dulce in 1910 and remained a blacksmith into his 80s. The Mrazeks had 11 children, and their legacy continues in Nueces County and other parts of Texas. "Engineers, farmers, builders, nurses, teachers all with the 'Mrazek mind,'" Starr said. "We were instilled with a strong work ethic and professionalism. My aunt is still living and she still says 'When you say you're going to do something, you do it,' and 'If you start something, you finish it.'" Cathy Jones, great granddaughter of Tom and Johanna and granddaughter of Joe C. Mrazek Jr., hopped on the highway at 6 a.m. last Monday to travel about 200 miles from Hye to Robstown for the dedication. She remembers riding a tricycle through her grandfather's blacksmith shop in Agua Dulce with her two sisters, Susan and Vicki. She said there were hours spent in that shop where they were surrounded by sledgehammers and coals. "I'm a school nurse, so I asked if someone could work for me," Jones said after she took a picture of the plaque in front of the monument. "I wouldn't miss this." 1938 - 2016 Margaret Ann Westmoreland was born to Ercel and Letha Hall Westmoreland on August 26, 1938 in Madison County, Texas and passed away at Riverwood Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in Madisonville on January 7, 2016. Ann attended Madisonville schools including high school, where she was a cheerleader, graduating in 1955. As a student at Sam Houston, Ann began a relationship with the university that would last for over four decades. In 1958 she earned a Bachelor's of Business Administration, one of the few women in her class to obtain that degree. She went on to earn a Master's Degree from there as well. Ann began her employment at Sam Houston State University in the Student Placement Office where she worked with corporate recruiters in their efforts to employ SHSU graduates. She later moved to the Lowman Student Center into the Student Activities Division. She enjoyed mingling with the students, organizing student events, and especially accompanying student organizations to professional meetings. While in this position, she also assisted the Office of the President with special events. Ann then joined the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. In this capacity she was responsible for keeping the University catalogs current and working with University committees, among her many other duties. At one time she was responsible for attending meetings of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and disseminating the information gained there back to the campus community. Ann was a walking encyclopedia and a "go to" person on campus. She also had a wonderful talent with the written word and was an outstanding researcher. After more than 35 years of service, Ann retired from Sam Houston. Thereafter she enjoyed her free time. She was always a voracious reader of fiction and non-fiction. History, especially Texas history, was one of her favorite subjects. She was a Charter Member of the Captain John McAdams Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and served in that organization for 45 years. She was also a Charter Member of the Rev. John Haynie Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Her family was very important to her and she always looked forward to the occasions when they would get together. She was very fond of writing letters to family members to commemorate special occasions and was a constant source of inspiration and advice to them. Ann is survived by her only sibling, Elayne Campbell; her niece, Amy Campbell; her nephew, Alan Campbell and his wife, Becky; great-nieces, Elizabeth, Katherine and Laney Campbell and great nephew Tom Campbell. A memorial service to celebrate Ann's life will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 16, at North Madison Church of Christ in Madisonville. Visitation with the family will be at 10:00 a.m. prior to services in the fellowship hall at the church. ANKARA, Jan. 12 -- A huge explosion that rocked Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district on Tuesday was carried out by a suicide bomber of Syrian origin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. A total of 10 people were killed, 15 others wounded in the explosion, the president said, adding that foreign citizens were among the dead. Six German tourists, a Norwegian tourist and a Peruvian tourist were killed in the Istanbul explosion, said the local NTV news channel. "All I heard was a loud noise and then we saw smoke over there ... I didn't move anywhere, I stayed here and waited till the police came. Soon after ambulances arrived and now the police cordoned off the area," a shop owner nearby told Xinhua. The Islamic State (IS) group was behind twin suicide bombings in the capital Ankara in October, 2015, that killed 102 people. The group also carried out the Suruc bombing in July, as well as the attacks against People's Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Mersin and Adana provinces in southern Turkey, and against HDP rally in Diyarbakir city before June 7 elections, according to Turkish authorities. Turkey joined the U.S.-led air raids on the IS in July, allowing the coalition to use its bases. Meanwhile, it has also renewed fighting with militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party following a two-and-a-half-year peace process. Turkey has stepped up its anti-terror operations across the country since those bombings. Grandview Cemetery needs someone to give it some care I have noticed every day when I am headed home from work -- and I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices -- that on the corner of Texas 21 and Texas 6 just over the bridge on the east side there is a small cemetery named Grandview, right behind the truck stop and gas station. As I drive by, I can't help but realize that someone's family members are buried in this cemetery, where weeds and over growth are every where. I also notice that someone does take the time to clear away weeds and cut the grass where a loved is buried. I called the city to only find out that the cemetery is privately owned. I was given a number to contact the person who keeps the grass cut, but he did not return my call. I would be mad as hell if one of my loved ones was buried there, and the place was not being taking care of. This is a major eyesore that needs attention. RODNEY ROGERS Bryan We need a representative who will push conservative ideas U.S. Rep. Bill Flores vigorously defended his yes vote for the omnibus spending bill on Jan. 9. He said a no vote would mean not being for Texas and national security. I want to clarify a misconception many people have concerning the bill and funding for Planned Parenthood. Funding in the bill that will go to Planned Parenthood first will go to the Department of Health and Human Resources which will give millions to Planned Parenthood. To keep Planned Parenthood from receiving funding, a rider would have been needed saying the department could not allocate money to Planned Parenthood. Congressional Republicans didn't add the rider because President Barack Obama said he would veto the bill, shutting down the government. U.S. Rep. Louis Gohmert of Tyler voted no on the bill and I don't believe he's against Texas and national security. I do not understand why congressional Republicans are afraid of shutting down the government. Flores said that when the government is shut down the military does not get paid. He passionately told us he has received calls from soldiers overseas concerned about their families and veterans who depend on their checks. What he did not say was that when the government is shut down, the president has the authority to determine who is not paid. Why are congressional Republicans incapable of explaining this to the public? Flores is a good man, but he is not listening to people such as me. I lead Texans Opposing Educrats, which agreed with many conservative and tea party groups who opposed the recently passed education bill that President Obama eagerly signed. Instead, Flores listened to liberal superintendents working to implement educratic reforms in Texas. I advocate sending a "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" Republican representative reflecting principles of conservatives who won't be swayed by those drinking the Kool-Aid in Washington, D.C.! MARY SUE RIBARDO Bryan Texas license plates should celebrate red, white and blue As we picked up our license/inspection window decal for the upcoming year, we were told it was time for a new set of license plates. I had seen the new plates: nondescript black and white or, of course, other patterned plates for an additional charge. As I placed these new plates on our vehicle I thought to myself what happened to the red, white and blue? Are we not proud of the colors of our country and state? Why can't we all display the state and country colors together, united? EVA MARIE LANCASTER College Station Candidates should address the issues Texans care about The issues the presidential candidates are discussing are not what this senior Texas veteran needs to read or hear. I want the real problems all of us face daily dealt with. Show us true leadership. JAMES BROWN Bryan To give you an idea of scale, the biggest offenders, these 50 investor-owned carbon majors, were responsible for over a fifth of global industrial emissions in 2010. Industrial emissions are accelerating climate change and intensifying extreme weather events. The increasing frequency and strength of tropical storms, and how they deprive Filipinos of the 'exercise' of their human rights, can therefore be blamed, at least partially, on polluting corporations. We know emissions cause climate change. Until recently, assigning specific blame - establishing whose fault it is - wasn't possible. But science is racing towards sure ways to clarify 'whodunnit' - and to what extent they did it. And the law needs to keep pace. "Companies fear nothing more than a lawsuit", says Gregory Regaignon of the UK's Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. As Volkswagen painfully found out, overlooking environmental issues can dent the reputation of your company, your industry, even your country. Pointing the finger with the weight of law and science behind you is powerful. Regardless of the outcome, complaints filed against your name create consumer cynicism - particularly, as it turns out, when the complaint is about threats posed to health, finances and the planet. It's a good way to push socio-environmental concerns further up a company's agenda. Can industry afford to play dirty (energy) any longer? Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned that it will soon become impossible for any business not to take climate risk into account. For the moment, however, many carbon majors continue to invest as though they are unaware of the 1.5 degree goal. Legal cases are starting to emerge that indicate an appetite to point the finger and that citizens are demanding legal remedies - and more importantly, behavioural and procedural changes. Consider the Urgenda case, brought by Dutch citizens against their government to improve national climate efforts, or the case of the Lahore farmer in Pakistan, who demanded the government started to implement their climate law. This is why the human rights basis of the Philippines investigation is so significant. Lawyers are already working to hold companies accountable under finance and environment laws, but the human rights angle is new. Never before has this human rights commission conducted an investigation into an environmental matter. Never before have accusations of human rights violations been levelled against private entities - and certainly not on the basis of greenhouse gas emissions. And never before has Heede's study been called upon as the evidential basis of a complaint. The petitioners want to see the carbon majors make concrete plans to start complying with human rights law, starting with including human rights in their corporate reporting. Further afield, they want to see the countries where the companies are incorporated better regulate their behaviour. The Commission on Human Rights will investigate the claim and the ways government could respond. It has the power to judge how these corporations are performing against national and international human rights standards and recommend next steps. CHR rules say investigations they conduct must be "fact finding in nature, and non-adversarial", and the government would not be obliged to act should the findings indicate human rights law was indeed being breached. However, the CHR is charged with "monitor[ing] the Philippine government's compliance with international treaty obligations on human rights" - and investigations like this are exactly why this advisory body was established. A new weapon in the battle to force decarbonisation The Philippines, with its population of 100 million, is taking an internationally significant step in launching this investigation. Taking on the carbon majors in this way could trigger copycat investigations, continuing the wave of legal action for the climate. It expands what the world thinks is possible in the name of environmental justice. And the timing is good, rolling out alongside the New York Attorney General's investigation of Exxon and Peabody. This human rights investigation is a new weapon in the struggle to drive decarbonisation. A CHR declaration that the carbon giants are infringing international human rights law would have major implications for fossil fuel companies worldwide, and other carbon-hungry industries. While the CHR's findings would not oblige The Philippines government to act, considered legal opinion showing that energy corporations are contravening human rights law would lend phenomenal pressure to the drive to phase out fossil fuels. Emissions from BP, Shell, Exxon and the other energy majors are a primary driver of global warming, which is already taking life and livelihood from vulnerable populations. We will be following the CHR's investigation closely. It is time to hold these companies to account. Ellen Baker is a journalist with the ClientEarth communications team. Previous experience includes a year at the International New York Times in Paris. In 2014 she was the editorial assistant and features writer for London sustainable food magazine Jellied Eel, run by charity Sustain, and she continues to copy edit OURS Magazine, an international development and culture publication based in Geneva. That is why the EU has set up regulations for GM organisms, requiring them to undergo an environmental and health risk assessment before they are grown or reared commercially or enter the food chain. Even so, doubts linger as to the effectiveness of these assessments. 'Traditional' genetic engineering involves the random insertion of genes (or genetic sequences) into an organism's genome. Proponents tell us that gene-editing is far more precise than the genetic engineering techniques we are familiar with. But what exactly is meant by 'precise' here? Gene-editing techniques may perhaps be more precise at the level and point where the DNA is altered but how this altered DNA might affect interactions with other genes and processes within the cell is largely unknown. Importantly, these gene-to-gene interactions within the cell are reflected in the organism as a whole. The effects of the altered DNA on the wholesomeness as a foodstuff and how the organism interacts with the environment are far from being precisely known. Therefore, although gene-editing may be more precise in the intended location where the DNA is modified, there is still potential for unexpected and unpredictable effects. Such effects could have implications for food, feed and environmental safety if they increase levels of toxic compounds, reduce levels of nutritional compounds or even produce new allergens. 'Off-target' genetic alterations Just like traditional genetic engineering, gene-editing techniques can cause unintended alterations in the DNA. For example, several gene-editing techniques use so-called 'molecular scissors' to cut DNA as part of the editing process. These molecular scissors sometimes have what is known as 'off-target' effects. This means the DNA is cut in unintended places as well as the intended places, accidentally causing additional genetic alterations. Other gene editing techniques such as ODM could also edit DNA in the wrong place. In addition, the newly edited gene could interact with other genes in different ways, affecting protein composition and production, chemistry and metabolism. Many of the gene-editing techniques are so new that it is not yet possible to fully evaluate the potential for and consequences of unintended changes. Importantly, just because gene-edited organisms don't contain foreign DNA, this doesn't make them safe. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence of 'off-target' effects. The intended change (e.g. tolerance to a herbicide or cattle without horns) may be clear to see, but the unintended changes aren't immediately apparent, and certainly not apparent if they aren't looked for. It's a case of 'don't look, won't find'. The law is clear: gene-editing is still genetic engineering The question being debated in the EU at the moment is whether small 'edits', i.e. changes, insertions or deletions, of segments of DNA without the insertion of new genes are also to be considered as producing a GMO, or fall outside the scope of European law. At the core of this debate is the question of what is the distinction between conventional breeding that involves mating and GMOs. In both the EU law (Directive 2001/18) (See Article 2(2) and Annexes, below) and the UN agreement on GMOs - the Cartagena Protocol, made under the Convention on Biological Diversity - GMOs involve novel arrangements of genetic material that do not occur naturally, and alterations to genetic material being made directly without mating. The Directive contains annexes which define exactly what techniques of genetic alteration do, and do not, fall under the definition (reproduced in full below). However gene-editing simply is not mentioned: the technology did not exist in 2001 when the law was written. That means we have to rely on the initial definition: "'Genetically modified organism (GMO)' means an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination;" Likewise, the Cartagena Protocol, adopted in 2000, does not specifically list gene-editing as a technology included in its definition (full version below). However the technology, once again, is encompassed by the simple meaning of the words: "'Living modified organism' means any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology; ... 'Modern biotechnology' means the application of: a. In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including ... " In terms of the Directive, it is accurate to say that in gene-edited organisms "the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination". In terms of the Cartagena Protocol, in is accurate to say that a gene-edited organism "possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the ... application of ... In vitro nucleic acid techniques". So in fact - despite the abstruse legal arguments deployed by GM advocates - the law is perfectly clear on the issue. According to the both the EU and Cartagena definitions, gene-editing produces GMOs. Therefore to remove or exempt gene-editing from regulation, as GM advocates wish, the EU would need to amend the existing Directive. If it tried to interpret the Directive as GM advocates wish, the decision would surely by challenged in the European Court, for example by one of the many EU countries opposed to the use of GMOs in farming - where in our opinion it should struck down. Does is matter if gene-editing is not classed as a GM technique? If crops and animals developed by gene-editing techniques are officially considered non-GM, or exempted from the EU GMO laws, then they will enter the food chain and the environment completely unregulated and unlabelled. This means there would be no assessment of food or environmental safety; no requirement to detect any unintended alterations to the organisms' DNA or its consequences and no assessment of the implications of the trait produced by gene editing (e.g. herbicide tolerance). Gene-edited foodstuffs would not have to be labelled. European consumers have resoundingly said "No!" to GM crops, yet there would be no way for consumers and farmers to avoid gene-edited crops and animals if they were not classified (and hence labelled) as GMOs. Importantly, although gene-editing might be promoted as causing only small changes in DNA, it can be used repeatedly to achieve substantial changes to one or even several genes. This raises the concern that the alterations could involve the introduction of, for example, whole new chemical pathways within a plant or animal with a high potential for unexpected effects. Such organisms would end up in our environment and on our dinner plates completely unregulated if gene-editing techniques are not encompassed by the GMO regulations. The EU's GMO laws were devised to protect against the risk of organisms developed by the direct alteration of genetic material using modern biotechnologies (e.g. by in vitro techniques) entering the environment and food chain. It's clear that gene-edited crops and animals need to be assessed as GMOs in the same ways as current GM crops. Otherwise EU citizens will unwittingly be exposed to the risks of genetic engineering without testing or labelling, as will the environment, biodiversity and agriculture. Dr Janet Cotter runs an environmental consultancy, Logos Environmental. She was previously Senior Scientist with Greenpeace International for 15 years. Dr Ricarda Steinbrecher is a biologist, geneticist and co-director of EcoNexus. She has worked on GMOs since 1995, especially UN-led processes on Biosafety, the risk assessment of genetically engineered organisms and synthetic biology. She's a founding member of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility and works with civil society and small-scale farmer groups world-wide. Additional reporting by The Ecologist. Further reading Cotter, J., Zimmermann, D. & van Bekkem, H. 2015. 'Application of the EU and Cartagena definitions of a GMO to the classification of plants developed by cisgenesis and gene-editing techniques'. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Report (Review) 07-2015. Steinbrecher, R. 2015. 'Genetic Engineering in Plants and the "New Breeding Techniques (NBTs)". Inherent risks and the need to regulate'. Econexus Briefing. Cartagena Protocol - use of terms (g) "Living modified organism" means any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology; (h) "Living organism" means any biological entity capable of transferring or replicating genetic material, including sterile organisms, viruses and viroids; (i) "Modern biotechnology" means the application of: a. In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or b. Fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection; See full text. Directive 2011/18, Article 2(2) & Annexes "Genetically modified organism (GMO)" means an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination; Within the terms of this definition: (a) genetic modification occurs at least through the use of the techniques listed in Annex I A, part 1; (b) the techniques listed in Annex I A, part 2, are not considered to result in genetic modification; ANNEX I A TECHNIQUES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 2(2) PART 1 Techniques of genetic modification referred to in Article 2(2)(a) are inter alia: (1) recombinant nucleic acid techniques involving the formation of new combinations of genetic material by the insertion of nucleic acid molecules produced by whatever means outside an organism, into any virus, bacterial plasmid or other vector system and their incorporation into a host organism in which they do not naturally occur but in which they are capable of continued propagation; (2) techniques involving the direct introduction into an organism of heritable material prepared outside the organism including micro-injection, macro-injection and micro-encapsulation; (3) cell fusion (including protoplast fusion) or hybridisation techniques where live cells with new combinations of heritable genetic material are formed through the fusion of two or more cells by means of methods that do not occur naturally. PART 2 Techniques referred to in Article 2(2)(b) which are not considered to result in genetic modification, on condition that they do not involve the use of recombinant nucleic acid molecules or genetically modified organisms made by techniques/methods other than those excluded by Annex I B: (1) in vitro fertilisation, (2) natural processes such as: conjugation, transduction, transformation, (3) polyploidy induction. ANNEX I B TECHNIQUES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 3 Techniques/methods of genetic modification yielding organisms to be excluded from the Directive, on the condition that they do not involve the use of recombinant nucleic acid molecules or genetically modified organisms other than those produced by one or more of the techniques/methods listed below are: (1) mutagenesis, (2) cell fusion (including protoplast fusion) of plant cells of organisms which can exchange genetic material through traditional breeding methods. See full text. Miss Franklin County Agricultural Fair 2015, Miranda Bousman, was selected as a Top Ten semifinalist in the Miss Virginia Association of Fairs state pageant held Saturday, Jan. 9 at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs. It was a special sense of pride to be present when Miss Franklin County Agricultural Fair was selected as a Top Ten finalist in the Miss Virginia Association of Fairs Pageant, said David E. Rotenizer, chairman of the Franklin County Agricultural Fair Planning Committee. We are encouraged by the first years success of the pageant a terrific start. The volunteers who worked to make the pageant program a reality are to be commended, he added. This was also a literal crowning achievement for the county fair in its only second year of existence. Bousman, 18, is the daughter of Tim and Lisa Bousman of Henry. She is a graduate of Franklin County High School and is currently on the Deans List at Patrick Henry Community College where she majors in nursing. Bousman was selected as the first Miss Franklin County Agricultural Fair last August in the pageants inaugural year and received $1,000 in scholarships to further her education. Bousman was assisted with her backstage preparation for the competition by her state chaperones Luci Cobbs Thomas and KaRenda LaPrade, both of Rocky Mount. The Miss Franklin County Agricultural Fair Pageant is a non-profit organization run by local volunteers. This years Franklin County Agricultural Fair will be held September 14-17. For more information and additional photos, check out the Franklin Ag Fair website at www.franklincountyva.gov or the pageants Facebook page. BEIJING, Jan. 12 -- President Xi Jinping has stressed that the country is gaining ground to overcome corruption, assuring the entire Communist Party of China (CPC) of the impact and future of the campaign. Xi made the remarks on Tuesday at the start of the three-day sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. "All Party members should maintain enough confidence in the CPC Central Committee's anti-corruption volition, the achievements of the campaign, the positive energy it brings and the prospect of our fight against corruption," Xi said. The annual high-profile anti-graft session was presided over by top graft buster Wang Qishan and attended by other senior leaders including Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli. SHARE By Erin Schmitt of The Gleaner The city of Henderson has taken the initial steps to refinance bonds for an estimated potential cost savings of more than $650,000. The city issued taxable general obligation municipal bonds on behalf of Henderson Water Utility in 2010. When the bonds were issued, the IRS agreed to repay 35 percent of the interest paid in the bond. Due to federal budget cuts, that promise wasn't kept. However, there was a provision in the original financing that the city had the right to redeem those bonds if the federal government didn't live up to its end of the bargain. It's a good time to refinance those bonds, Hilliard & Lyons Senior Vice President Chip Sutherland told the Henderson City Commission during its meeting Tuesday night. The commissioners agreed and unanimously adopted an ordinance to refinance the bonds in the aggregate principal amounts of $1,685,000 and $8,315,000, respectively. The bond sale is scheduled for Feb. 9. "We just need a real bad economy for another month," Sutherland said, joking. The city intends to use the proceeds from the refund of a new public works/municipal gas facility. Assistant City Manager Buzzy Newman told the commission that the total construction cost is estimated to be less than $5 million, down from the original estimate of about $6 million. Newman said they expect to replace the Fifth Street facility which has had issues with flooding, toilets backing up, roofing and overcrowding by the end of the year. Bids should be done in February. Previous city commissions had looked into replacing the facility for more than a decade, but the cost projection of more than $20 million was not doable. "I think the commission has been working on this for about 10 years trying to come up with an affordable solution," said Mayor Steve Austin. "This is an affordable solution for the community." Rebates: Occupational tax rebates were approved for Gibbs Die Casting and Hercules Manufacturing Co. for expanding and adding employees. Gibbs has added more than 160 jobs and invested more than $22 million recently, keeping its 2013 promise to do so. Hercules intends to take advantage of a $250,000 expansion to add as many as 14 jobs. These occupational tax rebates are available through incentives under the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. The rebates don't apply to other income or net income for the businesses. Comprehensive plan: The commission approved an ordinance to repeal and restate the Henderson City-County Comprehensive Plan. The Henderson City-County Planning Commission is still developing chapter 10, which relates to the future I-69 project. Once it's completed, the plan will be amended. Orderly succession: The city has a plan in place for who takes over in an emergency in the absence of certain city officials. An ordinance was approved that covers succession for the mayor, city manager, public information officer, police, fire, public works and Henderson Municipal Gas. Mitigation plan update: The Green River Area Development District Hazard Mitigation Plan has been updated and accepted by the commission. All local jurisdictions must have a FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan in place to receive future federal mitigation funds. Appointment: The mayor appointed Dorin Luck to the City-County Airport Board for an unexpired term that ends Jan. 5, 2017. Luck succeeds the late Jim Tillotson, a longtime airport board member. Meetings: A work session scheduled for Jan. 19 has been canceled. The commission will meet in regular session at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 26. The regularly scheduled meeting for Feb. 9 has also been canceled. Salt: Commissioner Jesse Johnston IV commended the Public Works Department for their efforts to get city roads clear. City Manager Russell Sights said the city had used about 70 tons of salt and had already ordered for a refill. SHARE Charles Banken, Henderson Status of the suspected illegal actions that affected the outcome of our nickel tax vote and also, the tax bills that were sent out have an increased tax rate on them that is higher than those approved by the voters. Charges were made and sent to the state and local authorities. The school board used their official status to secure the use of our school assets for the purpose of influencing and securing a win for their nickel tax referendum, which was on our election ballot. Our assets, such as school personnel, records, buildings, signs and all forms of our communication system equipment were used. These actions were more than just breaking their public trust. They helped hijack out elections outcome. Also, on Dec. 22, 2015, a civil suit was filed by two of our citizens. The suit charges that our school tax bills that were sent out were for even more money than this questionable tainted nickel tax vote had approved. The original school board charges have been turned over by our Henderson County Election Board to our Commonwealth Attorney, William Markwell and the Henderson County grand jury to review. The grand jury should meet this month. We cannot see any other fair outcome that can bring justice for those citizens that voted against the nickel tax thinking this was going to be a fair and honest election. The slim nickel tax victory must be set aside and declared null and void. We cannot reward those who broke their trust with our citizens. We need your continued help by keeping your state, city and county officials informed on how you feel about this breach of trust by those we entrust to teach our children right from wrong. On Election Day I was sworn in as an election official working the polls. It would have been nice if I had been able to use that office to encourage my captive audience that day to vote for my cause to vote against the nickel tax. The law required me to remain neutral while in my position. That is the law. If I had violated that trust, the county sheriff would shown up, charged me and removed me from my position. That is how the law and intent of the law is supposed to work. The law protects honest and abiding voting citizens and the integrity of our voting system. Some officials seem to feel that if these charges are made to drag on, it will go away. Without your interest and endurance, it may just disappear. Please continue raising this issue until we get justice. ... No one, especially an elected official, are allowed to use their influence or power of office to help secure or interfere in the voting outcome of an individual or referendum on a legal ballot. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ISTANBUL (AP) -- A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbul's historic district on Tuesday, killing 10 foreigners -- most of them German tourists -- and wounding 15 other people in the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. The blast, just steps from the historic Blue Mosque and a former Byzantine church in the city's storied Sultanahmet district, was the first by IS to target Turkey's vital tourism sector, although IS militants have struck with deadly effect elsewhere in the country. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bomber was a member of IS and pledged to battle the militant group until it no longer "remains a threat" to Turkey or the world. Davutoglu described the assailant as a "foreign national," and Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said he was a Syrian citizen born in 1988. However, the private Dogan news agency said the bomber was Saudi-born. Kurtulmus said the attacker was believed to have recently entered Turkey from Syria and was not among a list of potential bombers wanted by Turkey. "Turkey won't backtrack in its struggle against Daesh by even one step," Davutoglu said, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym. "This terror organization, the assailants and all of their connections will be found and they will receive the punishments they deserve." Eight Germans were among the dead and nine others were wounded, some seriously, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin. The nationalities of the two others killed in the blast were not immediately released, but both were foreigners. The wounded also included citizens of Norway, Peru, South Korea and Turkey. Turkey's state-run news agency said Davutoglu held a telephone conversation with German chancellor Angela Merkel to express his condolences. "I strongly condemn the terror incident that occurred in Istanbul, at the Sultanahmet Square, and which has been assessed as being an attack by a Syria-rooted suicide bomber," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Merkel pledged Germany would continue its fight against terrorism. "Today Istanbul was the target, before Paris, Copenhagen, Tunis, and so many other areas," she told reporters in Berlin. "International terror changes the places of its attacks but its goal is always the same -- it is our free life, in free society. The terrorists are the enemies of all free people, indeed, the enemies of all humanity, whether in Syria or Turkey, in France or Germany." The impact of Tuesday's attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkey's $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Its apparent links to Syria also threatened to have implications in a country that is already dealing with more than 2 million Syrian refugees and a wave of migrants from Syria and other countries pouring across Turkey to Europe. "By striking in the heart of Istanbul's old city, which has many ... tourists, but few Turks, (IS) is targeting Turkey's lucrative tourism industry," said Soner Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey at the Washington Institute. Cagaptay said that by targeting Germans, Islamic extremists also seemed to be aiming to heighten an anti-refugee backlash in Europe and deepen the anti-Islam sentiment there. "This attack will, unfortunately, drive further backlash against German Chancellor Merkel's pro-Syrian refugee policy," Cagaptay said in e-mailed comments. The explosion, which could be heard in several neighborhoods, was at a park that is home to a landmark obelisk some 25 yards (meters) from the Blue Mosque. Nearby monuments include the Ottoman-era Topkapi Palace and the former Byzantine church of Haghia Sophia, now a museum. Berlin travel agent Lebenslust Touristik said that "many people" that it had booked on a tour were among the dead and wounded. Overall there were 33 people on the tour, the agency said, adding that it was working closely with the German Foreign Ministry to help the victims and their families. Among the wounded was Jostein Nielsen, a 59-year-old Salvation Army officer from Norway who was sightseeing with his wife when the bomb went off, striking him in the knee with shrapnel. "I first heard a bang that I think is what detonated the bomb," Nielsen told Norway's TV2, speaking from his hospital bed. "After that came the real bang. ... There were human remains all over the place." Erdem Koroglu, who was working at a nearby office, told NTV television he saw several people on the ground following the blast. "It was difficult to say who was alive or dead," Koroglu said. "Buildings rattled from the force of the explosion." Halil Ibrahim Peltek, a shopkeeper near the area of the blast told The Associated Press it had "an earthquake effect." "There was panic because the explosion was violent," he said. The Islamic State group has repeatedly threatened Western targets, with its first major attacks claimed a year ago in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a kosher supermarket. Two attacks last year targeting a major museum and beach resort in Tunisia left scores dead, nearly all Western tourists. IS also claimed the downing of a Russian jetliner carrying Russian tourists from the Eygptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that killed all 224 on board. In the case of Tunisia and Egypt, the response of many Western governments was to issue safety warnings for citizens considering travel to the countries, which rely heavily on tourism revenues. Turkey is equally reliant on tourism, and Istanbul has been among the world's most visited cities. Last year, Turkey agreed to take a more active role in the U.S.-led battle against the IS group. It has opened it bases to U.S. aircraft to launch air raids on the extremist group in Syria and has carried out a limited number of strikes on the group itself. It has also moved to tighten security along its 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria in a bid to stem the flow of militants. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby condemned Tuesday's attack and pledged to work with Turkey to combat the Islamic State group. "The United States reaffirms our strong commitment to work with Turkey, a NATO ally and valued member" of the coalition fighting IS "to combat the shared threat of terrorism," Kirby said in a statement. The attack comes at a time of heightened violence between Turkey's security forces and militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the country's mostly Kurdish southeast. Turkey suffered two major bombing attacks last year, both blamed on the Islamic State group. More than 30 people were killed in a suicide attack in the town of Suruc, near Turkey's border with Syria, in July. In October, two suicide bombs exploded outside Ankara's main train station as people gathered for a peace rally, killing more than 100 in Turkey's deadliest-ever attack. . Last month, Turkish authorities arrested two suspected IS militants they said were planning suicide bombings during New Year's celebrations in the capital, Ankara. ___ Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Lefteris Pitarakis in Istanbul, David Rising, Frank Jordans, Kirsten Grieshaber and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lori Hinnant in Paris, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report. NORWALK -- There is one thing that Norwalk Housing Authority (NHA) Senior Housing resident June Talerico and the City of Norwalk Health Department, the NHA maintenance department, and one local exterminator can agree on-bed bugs are unpleasant to live with and difficult to eradicate. A frustrated 83-year-old Talerico, who lives at an NHA-owned senior housing property at 20 West Ave. for the past two years, reached out to The Hour and city agencies to voice her concerns about what she said is bed bug infestation there for the past several months and has gotten worse following what she said were ineffective initial treatments. "This has been going on for four months at least," Talerico said. "When I first called, they sent a maintenance person in to spray and they placed some brown boxes with pesticide, but it didn't help. You can't just spray one apartment, the whole building has to be treated." Talerico reached out to the Norwalk Health Department recently to express her concerns. "June reported having problems with bed bugs," said Norwalk Health Department Director of Health Timothy Callahan. "They are difficult to treat and more so in multi-unit buildings. They get into the walls. To spray just one apartment is not that effective." Callahan said that the Health Department has been working with NHA maintenance to share best practices with regard to bed bug eradication. "One facet of this is that it's a senior housing complex and as people get older, their ability to prepare the way we need them to prepare becomes more difficult for them," Callahan said. "We're working with the Housing Authority and sharing best practices that managers of other senior complexes have been successful with in dealing with bed bugs." Bed bug treatment is not something that NHA maintenance staff is licensed for, said Dan Williamson, NHA director of maintenance. "Bed bugs can be an ongoing problem in public housing," said Williamson. "Sometimes there's cross infestation between apartments, sometimes it could be something such as someone who retrieves infested furniture from the side of the road. It's a difficult problem to keep under control." NHA recently hired an outside extermination firm. "We hire outside contractors," Williamson said. "And we let them run with the ball." Talerico's apartment was steam-treated on Friday, Jan. 8 by a technician from Integrative Pest Management. (IPM) "104 degrees will kill bed bugs, the steamer we use is 200 degrees, and then the eggs are extracted," said Astrid Berg of IPM. "I know she's frustrated, but what June may not know is that we have a plan in place. We are treating all of 20 West Avenue. The collaboration of all the stakeholders is important-maintenance, property managers, residents-they all need to be on the same page. We are partnering with maintenance so that caulk and sealants can be installed." Talerico is still not convinced, however. "A fellow came in with steam," she said "They don't like the heat and I haven't seen one in a few days. But they'll be back, they're in the walls." Talerico's sister, former nurse Eleanor DiLello, has been serving as an advocate on her behalf. "This is senior housing and people are afraid to make waves," DiLello said. "There is a shame and stigma for older people when it comes to bed bugs, so they don't report them. They need someone to advocate for them. There's one women there who puts alcohol on her skin thinking that will keep them away." DiLillo said upon Talerico's initial complaints last summer, NHA maintenance workers sprayed the recliner that Talerico sleeps on, and said that by waiting for months to have a professional exterminator come in, the problem has been exacerbated. Berg agreed that early reporting and treatment is critical. "She's been living there for more than two years and the first year there was no problem," DiLello said. "Then around summer of 2015 she developed a rash and itching on her legs, and she saw the little critters in her recliner. I think they waited too long and this just got worse. She had bites on her arms, legs, and back." Berg said that the incidence of infestion in multi-family housing can statistically be up to 95 percent and infestation should be treated quarterly or semi-anually. "Having (bed bugs) is emotional for people," Berg said. "People feel vulnerable because they're attacked in their sleep. Our goal is to make the building a healthy place to live." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK -- General Electric (GE) will maintain a presence in Norwalk despite the company's plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, according to a spokesman for the company. GE has two large locations in Norwalk, one at 201 Main Ave. and the other nearby at 901 Main Ave. Overall, the company employs about 5,000 people in Connecticut, including 800 at the Fairfield location. It's unclear how many will remain in the state. Seth Martin, a GE spokesman, said the Boston location will become home to 200 corporate employees and 600 digital industrial product managers, designers and developers. He said an unspecified number of corporate employees will stay in Connecticut and be moved to GE's offices in Norwalk. Norwalk Mayor Harry W. Rilling said Wednesday that he was awaiting to learn how many employees that might be. "I don't know numbers right now, but we always felt they were going to have some operation here in the Merritt 7 area. We're pleased (they're maintaining a presence in Norwalk) but it's bittersweet because I'm sure some of the people in the Fairfield facility live in Norwalk and those that will not be transferring to their new facility in Boston may be out of a job and we hope that GE can help them. I'm hoping to learn (the numbers). We want to know what kind of an impact it will have on Norwalk residents and we certainly want to make sure we're on top of things." Fairfield First Selectman Michael Tetreau said the company's announcement answered some questions but raised others. He noted that the relocation plan calls for making the Boston location home to 200 corporate employees when there are now 800 such employees in Fairfield. "If the 200 come from Fairfield what happens to the other 600?" Tetreau said. "It looks like they're shrinking their corporate staff from 800 to 200." GE announced Tuesday it will move its headquarters to Boston, leaving the sprawling suburban Connecticut campus it has called home over the past four decades for a technology-rich city it says better fits its ambitions as an innovation leader. Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said GE, one of the best known companies in corporate America, wanted to be "at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations." Tuesday's announcement comes three years after the $130 billion high-tech global industrial company said it began considering a new composition and location for its headquarters, and more than seven months after the firm threatened to leave Connecticut, complaining about the state's tax environment. The move was mourned in Connecticut, but Massachusetts officials rejoiced. "We won Powerball today here in Boston by having GE come here," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said. "For two decades, we've had companies move out of our city. Now we have companies moving into our city." Several states had been competing to lure the company from Fairfield. GE announced in June it was thinking about a move since Connecticut lawmakers passed some controversial business tax increases. The General Assembly later scaled back some of the increases after other companies, including Aetna Inc. and the Travelers Companies Inc., voiced concerns. Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy also met with GE executives and offered an incentive package. "Of course we are disappointed, and we know that many in Connecticut share that frustration," Malloy said in a joint statement with Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman. "While GE's headquarters may be leaving, I have been assured that the company will continue to have many employees working here in Connecticut. Equally important, GE will continue to work with and support many smaller businesses throughout our state." Elected officials in Connecticut reacted -- largely along partisan lines -- to GE's announcement Wednesday that it plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Fairfield to Boston. "While I am disappointed that GE is moving approximately 200 jobs to Boston, it is, however, an undeniable fact that Connecticut's economy is growing and creating jobs and we are training our workforce to compete in a global economy. Businesses around the country and the globe know Connecticut for its business competitiveness, worker productivity, and highly educated workforce. That's why GE will still have thousands of employees in Connecticut" said state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-25, of Norwalk in a press statement. Duff said Connecticut remains the number one state for Fortune 500 company headquarters per million residents. The Norwalk Democrat counted 16 companies with corporate headquarters in Connecticut, including aircraft manufacturer United Technologies, health insurance leaders Aetna and Cigna, and well-known companies like Xerox, Priceline and Stanley Black & Decker. House Republican Leader Themis Klarides of Derby, however, placed blame for the company's decision to relocate out of state on Connecticut's business climate and Malloy, a Democrat. "Connecticut's toxic business climate, combined with the Malloy administration's failure to take seriously the threats that it posed to our corporate community, has led us to this day that many of us feared was inevitable," Klarides said. "Any doubt about the effect of the punitive policies of ever higher taxes, hyper regulation and the uncertainties that they create for business have been erased because of GE's apparent decision to move its corporate headquarters out of Connecticut." Klarides said GE employs about 5,700 people in Connecticut, including almost 800 people in its Fairfield headquarters and spends an estimated $14 billion in the state and supports 65,000 suppliers in Connecticut. She described the company's workers as "vital assets in their communities through volunteering and charitable support." "This is truly a blow to Connecticut," Klarides said. Malloy, speaking at an afternoon press conference, said close proximity to urban environments is a factor in companies' decisions where to locate. He said such environments exist in Connecticut -- the insurance industry in Hartford, the financial services industry in Stamford and the bio-science industry in New Haven -- but added that losses happen. "We win some. We lose some. I was a mayor for 14 years. I saw companies come and I saw companies go," said Malloy, a former Stamford mayor. "I think our overall numbers continue to increase rapidly. We've had great, back-to-back years." State Senate President Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said GE is in the process of "rebranding its image and shifting its central business platform away from heavy industry and financial services to digital software and technology, changing the very structure and composition of its headquarters." "While I am disappointed that GE has chosen to relocate its headquarters, given all the facts, moving some of their employees to Boston's Seaport matches their shift in business strategy," Looney said. The Senate president said GE's decision "has nothing to do with taxes, or even business costs, and cannot fairly be viewed as a referendum on Connecticut's growing economy." "Connecticut's unemployment rates have dropped to the lowest level since March 2008," Looney said. "In 2015, Connecticut saw the sixth-largest unemployment drop in the country. In fact, GE just increased its workforce in Connecticut after purchasing Alstom Energy, adding 1,200 jobs in Windsor and Bloomfield." A cheer went up in the Massachusetts House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon when Speaker Robert DeLeo announced GE's decision. DeLeo earlier told reporters he was unaware of any legislation that would be required to facilitate the move. Massachusetts offered GE incentives up to $120 million through grants and other programs, while the city of Boston offered up to $25 million in property tax relief, according to the mayor's office. Additional ! incentives include $1 million in workforce training grants; up to $5 million for an "innovation center" to help forge relationships between GE and Massachusetts research institutions and schools; and assistance to eligible employees looking to purchase homes in Boston. Man Buys New Car with a Vehicle Full of $15k Change What happened on January 11, 2015 completely stunned the staff members of a car dealership in Zhanjiang, south Chinas Guangdong Province. A man drove a van full of bank notes wanting to buy a brand new car from the dealership. The sight of the cash blocks cash was jaw dropping. Weighing half a ton, the bank notes were carried in ten separate cases together with some coins. With the biggest denomination being 1 yuan (0.15 USD), the slabs of money totaled over 100,000 yuan (15,000 USD). Since the car was selling at 90,000 yuan (13,500 USD), the man simply paid it off with his notes and coins. The Third East-West Philanthropists Summit jointly held by China Global Philanthropy Institute and East-West Center was successfully concluded on January 9, 2016, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the U.S. The three-day event gathered nearly 100 philanthropists from across the Pacific, including the Rockefeller family, representatives from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chinas most influential philanthropists Mr. Niu Gensheng and Ms. He Qiaonv. The photoshoot which involved all philanthropists at the event marked the collaboration and communication between the global philanthropists who aim for mutual global causes. The location, the center of Pacific where the event was held, also symbolized that the philanthropy partnership and interaction between China and the US has escalated to a new level. Payton Muth stars on the field now, but plans to be on the sidelines later Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has applauded the Jakarta Police's plan to decriminalize street racing, saying doing so will help reduce accidents. Ahok said on Wednesday that decriminalizing street racing was the best way to ensure the security of those involved in the racing, as well as the general public. He noted that while illegal street racing resulted in frequent accidents, racing on designated tracks saw few such incidents, as formal racing organizations can monitor security and provide protective clothing. "Zooming around the streets is very dangerous; it'd be better to formalize racing. The [designated] streets would be equipped with bumpers for safety," the governor said as quoted by kompas.com. Designated streets would be closed during races, with the city administration and the Jakarta Police cooperating to arrange race venues and schedules. "It'd be better if the racers were obliged to wear helmets and the circuits were equipped with safety rubber," Ahok said. Jakarta Police traffic division chief Sr. Comr. Risyapudin said on Tuesday that his office would work with the Indonesian Motorcycle Association (IMI) to organize formal racing in response to the popularity, especially among teenagers, of illegal racing on the night-time streets of the city. The plan will be formally implemented in February on streets including Jl. Benyamin Sueb in Kemayoran and Jl. Asia Afrika in Senayan, both in Central Jakarta, as well as Jl. TMII in East Jakarta. (rin)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Authorities have pointed their fingers at residents' littering habits over the collapse of a railway separator wall on Monday that killed one pedestrian and injured two others. Dela Aurelia (17), Yola Agustiani (17) and Rahmawati (29) were walking on the footpath in Jl. South Manggarai, Tebet, South Jakarta, when the wall fell on them. Dela died instantly, while Yola and Rahmawati were admitted to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Salemba, Central Jakarta, and are currently receiving medical treatment for various injuries. Tebet Police head Comr. Nurdin A. Rachman said Tuesday that he believed the two-meter wall had collapsed under the pressure of a 'mountain of garbage' inside the railway. He said that an investigation had been started and a number of witnesses would be questioned right away. For years, local residents have used the railway as a place to throw garbage, partly due to the lack of dump sites provided by the local administration. The habit is thought to have caused the wall to tilt toward the road side as it holds back the piles of garbage inside. Sanitation agency officers have said that railways are, for them, considered as an inaccessible location to collect dumped rubbish because such sites are the property of state-owned train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI). As the police continue to investigate the incident, Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has suggested that residents are to blame, citing their littering habit. 'I have repeatedly said that the residents have a bad habit, throwing their waste beside the railway tracks. They should have more awareness,' he said at the City Hall, adding that similar things had also happened at other railway locations. 'For example, you can find discarded waste on the railway in Mangga Dua [Central Jakarta]. I have told the district head that we will no longer tolerate such a habit,' he continued. Furthermore, Ahok said that the wall had been built by PT KAI and that the company had not designed the wall to anticipate having to hold such an amount of waste. 'It would be better to wait for police investigation,' he continued. Separately, PT KAI Regional Operation Jakarta spokesperson Bambang Suprayitno said the company have repeatedly told local residents not to throw garbage into the railway area, adding that the requests fell on deaf ears. Having acknowledged that the wall collapsed due to the amount of the garbage it was holding, Bambang said he would wait for the result of the police investigation. Contacted separately, Johannes Gea, a lawyer with Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) said that the victims or their family members had the right to file a civil lawsuit against both PT KAI, as the owner of the collapsed wall, and the city administration for failing to supervise the garbage pile-up. According to Johannes, despite not directly causing the incident, KAI and city administration were negligent and thus partly responsible. 'They should have been taught about the risk. PT KAI needs to maintain their separator wall, while the city administration, in this case the district head, should have known about the potential danger in his area,' Johannes said. He went on to say that the most important thing when filing a civil lawsuit against the city administration or state officials was not to pursue material compensation but to aim to make sure that the administration does a better job in the future. 'Winning such a lawsuit is a difficult task as we have to fight against a powerful and resourceful party,' he continued. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 State-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) has prepared funds for inorganic growth, including capital injections for its subsidiaries and plans to acquire new firms. BNI finance director Rico Rizal Budidarmo said on Tuesday that the lender had allocated Rp 3 trillion (US$215.6 million) in its 2016 business plan for capital injections into existing subsidiaries as well as the possible acquisition of a new finance firm. Around Rp 1 trillion or Rp 2 trillion of the total amount, Rico said, would be invested in its subsidiaries, namely life insurer BNI Life Insurance, Islamic lender BNI Syariah, securities firm BNI Securities and multifinance company BNI Multifinance. 'We are still calculating the portion for each subsidiary, but all of them are our priority and are expected to play a greater role in our group and build strong synergy with us,' he said after the bank's extraordinary shareholders meeting on Tuesday. Rico said the capital injection would help the subsidiaries to increase their contributions to 5 percent of the bank's total profits, from 2 percent to 3 percent currently. According to Rico, some of the subsidiaries, such as BNI Life Insurance, have shown significant growth in their business lately despite the weak economy, with BNI Life's revenues growing five times more quickly each month than last year. Rico said BNI's business plan also included an idea to acquire either a bank or a general insurance company with a similar vision to the lender's, although it had yet to identify possible targets. BNI, he said, would seek potential lenders in the BUKU II or III categories with the ability and capacity to build synergy with the bank, which currently lies at BUKU IV level with expertise in corporate and consumer business. Banks in BUKU II category have core capital between Rp 1 trillion and Rp 5 trillion, while BUKU III includes lenders with core capital between Rp 5 trillion and Rp 30 trillion. BUKU IV ' the highest ' catalogs banks whose core capital exceeds Rp 30 trillion. BNI president director Achmad Baiquni said the efforts toward inorganic growth would be complemented with cross-selling schemes with subsidiaries as part of the bank's strategy to achieve its targets this year. 'For instance, BNI currently has around 10 million to 12 million depositors who are potential bancassurance customers for BNI Life. With higher premium revenues booked by BNI Life, we will also see growing fee-based income,' he said. Based on predictions of a better economy, Baiquni said BNI expected its loans to grow by 15 to 17 percent, higher than the banking industry's average projection of between 12 and 14 percent. He added that BNI had managed to achieve its loan growth target in 2015 as its credit grew above 15 percent despite downturn faced by the domestic banking industry last year. On Tuesday, a BNI general shareholders meeting approved the appointment of Hartadi A. Sarwono, an ex-Bank Indonesia deputy governor, as its new president commissioner, replacing Rizal Ramli, who was installed as coordinating maritime affairs minister in August. The meeting also approved Panji Irawan, a former banker with state-owned Bank Mandiri, as BNI's new director supervising treasury business. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Wed, January 13, 2016 Religions for Peace, an organization promoting interfaith peace based in New York, has called for harmonious cooperation between interreligious communities. Such cooperation, it said, was key to addressing negativity sparked by religious extremism around the world. Religions for Peace secretary-general William F. Vendley said on Tuesday that interreligious cooperation could overcome the "vicious cycle" of hatred among religious groups. "This cooperation can transform a vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle to bring good things from all sides," Vendley said at a press conference. The cycle, Vendley said, had made people lose trust in other religious groups, creating discrimination that hampered the world from addressing common threats, ranging from violent conflicts to refugee crises. Vendley cited an example from the US, where political candidates have stated that they would not accept migrants, or that Christians from Syria were preferable to Muslim asylum seekers wishing to enter the country. In order to end such negativity, religious communities around the world should communicate and work with each other on short-term and long-term efforts, Vendley added. "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon once told me, 'I cannot do my job, unless the religions of the world can cooperate for peace'," Vendley said. In cooperation with Indonesia-based religious communities that promote peace, such as the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC) and Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center (MDMC), Religions for Peace will hold an international meeting to raise awareness of the cooperation. Entitled "International Consultation on Multireligious Humanitarian Action", the meeting will involve governments, world religious figures, UN agencies and civil society groups to discuss an effective interfaith approach to address current problems. The event is to be held ahead of the UN's World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2016, where world leaders will propose solutions to world challenges and set an agenda for future humanitarian action. (bbn)(+) WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 -- Ten U.S. sailors were detained Tuesday on the Farsi island in the Gulf by Iran's military which seized two U.S. Navy boats reportedly drifting into Iranian waters, U.S. media reported. It was unclear whether the American sailors who were aboard the small riverine boats had strayed into Iranian territorial waters before they were captured, the NBC News quoted senior Pentagon officials as saying. The sailors, including nine men and one woman, were reportedly on a training mission moving between Kuwait and Bahrain around noon when their boat experienced "mechanical difficulty" and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been on the phone with Iranian officials in an attempt to gain the release of the American sailors. One senior U.S. official was quoted as saying that the Iranians understood that it was a mistake and had agreed to release the Americans in international waters within hours, the report added. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told U.S. media that the U.S. was monitoring the situation and "it's not entirely clear what happened." He added that the sailors were safe and were expected to be released by the Iranians without a long delay. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the U.S. military, after contact with Iran, had received assurances that the American crew and the boats would be "returned promptly." The incident occurred at a time when the U.S. is prepared to lift some of the sanctions on Iran as part of the implementation of a historic deal reached last July on Iranian nuclear program after prolonged diplomatic negotiations. But new tensions flared up recently after the U.S. slammed what they called Iran's "highly provocative" actions of firing unguided rockets last month near U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf including the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The government is keeping an eye on the controversial Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar), calling the group illegal and saying it had deviant principles, following the disappearance of several of its members. Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said on Wednesday that Gafatar was an illegal organization that must not be followed by community members. The group had the potential to promote radicalism, he said. Lukman added that according to studies from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the ideology upheld by Gafatar was not in accordance with Islam, as the group combined elements of Islam, Christianity and Judaism into one teaching. "From the mass organization side, they are illegal. From the religion side, they are not Islamic, Christian or Jewish. This organization is not suitable to be followed," he said as quoted by kompas.com. Lukman urged law enforcers to look into the development of Gafatar. His ministry is also studying the organization to help take preemptive action. Separately, the Home Affairs Ministry's director general of politics and administration, Soedarmo, said the ministry could not disband the organization. He said it was not a listed organization with the ministry, and added that organizations could only be disbanded if they disrupted security or violated the law. "If [people] want Gafatar to be disbanded, they should file a report on religious defamation through legal channels," he told kompas.com on Wednesday. The ministry, Soedarmo added, was cooperating with the Attorney General's Office and the MUI on a plan to file a lawsuit against Gafatar. Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo urged the central government to take firm action against Gafatar. Several Central Java residents have been reported missing and are believed to have joined the group in Kalimantan. "The state must take firm action; if [the group] is forbidden then take action against it," Ganjar said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday. He suggested that the central government make a thorough evaluation of Gafatar, from its ideology to its activities. The controversial and forbidden group has been in the news recently in the wake of police reports on the disappearance of at least a dozen of people, which has been linked to the group. (rin)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Wed, January 13, 2016 The Jakarta Corruption Court is set to tighten security as Vice President Jusuf Kalla is scheduled to testify in defense of graft suspect and former energy and mineral resources minister Jero Wacik on Thursday. The court, located in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, will start preparations on Wednesday evening, including securing the courtroom. Kalla's expected appearance is based on a request from Jero, a Democratic Party politician. 'We will secure the Kartika I courtroom because Pak JK is scheduled to stand as a witness in the Jero Wacik hearing,' the court's security coordinator, Wachidin, said in Jakarta on Wednesday, as reported by tribunnews.com. He said his team would start to tighten up security at the court on Wednesday evening, and precautions would remain in place until Kalla left the court at the end of Jero's hearing. 'There will be tight security [for Jusuf Kalla] from members of the Presidential Guard during tomorrow's hearing,' Wachidin said. The Corruption Eradication Corruption (KPK) has accused Jero of embezzling billions of rupiah during his tenure as culture and tourism minister in the first term of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, and later while serving as energy and mineral resources minister in Yudhoyono's second term. Kalla, Yudhoyono's first-term vice president, will attend the court hearing on Thursday for Jero, with whom he worked from 2005 to 2009. (bbn)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Private lender PT Bank Artos's listing debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) received a positive response from investors, with its share price rising 19 percent in relatively active trading. The West Java, Bandung-based bank, listed under the code ARTO, started trading at Rp 145 and closed the day on Tuesday at Rp 173, 19.31 percent higher than its opening. Bank Artos raised around Rp 31.84 billion (US$2.30 million) from the initial public offering (IPO), in which it sold about 20 percent of its enlarged shares to the public at Rp 32 apiece. The shares were oversubscribed by more than 120 percent. 'The funds will be used to develop the firm's IT [information and technology] facilities and as capital for more loan disbursements,' said Bank Artos corporate secretary Deddy Triyana on Tuesday. Financial data submitted to the IDX showed that Bank Artos booked total assets of Rp 730.2 billion as of June last year. Its third party funds stood at Rp 562.5 billion while the outstanding loans and net profits reached Rp 488.8 billion and Rp 552 million, respectively. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Bank Indonesia (BI) hopes there will no more delays in starting the mandatory use of six-digit PINs for credit cards by 2020, the central bank's executive has said. 'We'll not allow any more delays by banks. Those who don't comply with the rules by the deadline will face sanctions,' BI payment system policy director Farida Peranginangin said. BI already postponed the measure until June 30, 2020, after previously demanding all banks implement it by 2015. The regulation requires banks to provide customers with chip-inserted credit cards and chip-inserted electronic data capture (EDC) machines to be able to implement the PIN requirement. The policy is aimed at reducing misuse of credit cards as for now signatures are enough to legally validate purchase. Different banks interviewed show that they have achieved different degrees of progress toward being ready by the deadline. Bank Mega cards and loans managing director Dodit Wiweko said that only 30 percent of the bank's 1.9 million distributed credit cards are now equipped with chips. Bank Mandiri, meanwhile, has equipped 90 percent of its total of about 4 million credit cards with chips, according to corporate secretary Rohan Hafas. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Wed, January 13, 2016 The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has ignited yet another controversy for its push to reinstate the State Policy Guidelines (GBHN), a document that details the direction and objectives of the state for five years, which for many is reminiscent of what was done under the military-ruled New Order regime that the party fought. Under then president Soeharto, the GBHN was passed by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), then the highest state institution, and implemented by the president during his five-year term. Given the fact that the GBHN was prepared by the military think tank formerly known as the National Defense Institute (Lemhannas), which answered to the president, and that the MPR was controlled by Soeharto, in practice it was the former army general himself who decided where the nation was heading. For almost three decades Soeharto guided the big nation, transforming Indonesia from a poor state into what was called one of 'the Asian tigers' before the Asian financial crisis exposed the country's wobbling fundamentals that had been undermined in part by entrenched corruption. Inspired by sweeping reforms, the third set of constitutional amendments in 2001 changed the MPR into a high state institution and removed the GBHN altogether. Indonesian development has since followed long-term and mid-term plans deliberated and approved by both the executive and legislative powers. Each president has his or her own platform and consistency and so the continuity of national development can be at stake in the absence of a grand design called the GBHN. That is the logic behind PDI-P's initiative, which was unveiled by the party's paramount leader Megawati Soekarnoputri on Sunday. The party has apparently prepared the move well as it has been soliciting, and has now secured support from other parties to propose a fifth constitutional amendment in order to empower the MPR and re-establish the GBHN. Such an agenda, however, is not without adverse impacts on the political system that the nation agreed upon back in 2001. The constitutional amendment at that time was monumental as it changed the indirect ' and manipulative ' presidential elections by the MPR to direct elections by the people. Reinstating the MPR's power to endorse a GBHN that binds the President will therefore spark a constitutional debate concerning the relationship between the two institutions. The Constitution says the President and the MPR are equal. Requiring the President to comply with the GBHN as produced by the MPR will contradict the Constitution, unless the assembly's power to elect the President is restored altogether, which if it happened would be a setback for Indonesian democracy. Of course the noble intention of formulating a grand long-term design of state policies, which will last even if the President changes every five years, deserves support. All elements of the nation should therefore play their part just to ensure the political elite, who lack public trust, will not hijack the people's mandate to determine the course of the nation yet again. Indonesian democracy is still learning the ropes and there is no way to turn back the clock. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Despite an ongoing legal process at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) regarding an eviction notice, the Jakarta administration Tuesday went on with its plan to demolish several houses on a bank of Ciliwung River in Bukit Duri, Tebet, South Jakarta. The demolition started around 8 a.m., but police officers, military personnel and officers from the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) had been put on standby a few hours prior to the eviction. The forced eviction was not as large as last year's Kampung Pulo eviction as only about a dozen families that guarded their ground, refusing to leave. The other 80 families have dismantled their own houses and moved to low-cost rental apartments (rusunawa) in Pulogebang and Cipinang Besar Selatan in East Jakarta. Tebet subdistrict head Mahludin said they had not finished destroying all the targeted houses on Tuesday, adding they would continue on Wednesday. 'We demolished around 94 houses in total today. There are eight houses left but we will destroy them tomorrow,' he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday He said the demolition was not met with resistance on Tuesday. Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), however, reported an assault against one of their lawyers in the morning, when they tried to negotiate on behalf of the residents. The lawyer, Alldo Fellix Januardy, claimed that he was assaulted by security officers when he assisted the affected residents during the eviction. He said he was assaulted by several officers from the Jakarta Police and Satpol PP when he tried to facilitate a negotiation between the residents, Mahludin and the police to hold the eviction. 'I told them to [hold the eviction] to respect the ongoing legal process. Not accepting my statement, five officers from Satpol PP [the public order agency] and several police officers started to beat me. I even saw Mahludin and Tebet subprecinct police chief [Comr. Nurdin Arahman] pushing and beating me,' he said. He said the city administration's method of eviction was unjust, and left no room for participation or discussion for residents. 'I regret the Jakarta administration's method. Two-way communication and compensation is a must,' he said. Last Tuesday, a group of people who said representing owners of affected houses in three neighborhood units (RT): RT 11, 12 and 15, filed a petition against Mahludin's eviction notice, saying that the notice had been issued without following proper procedures. One of the group's lawyer, Oky Wiratama, said previously the notice had ignored the fact's that the residents and Tebet subdistrict office had not reached a compromise in their previous discussions. She said that according to Article 37 of the land acquisition law No. 2/2012, an eviction notice could only be issued if the two conflicting parties had reached a compromise. Mahludin, however, on Tuesday insisted that his office had followed all legal procedures, including issuing the first and the second alert for the residents before they eventually issued the final notice last Monday. 'We have followed all procedures,' he said. Alldo, however, said that no consensus was reached and that residents only agreed to move to the apartments as they felt intimidated by city officials. He said that they were also not given an alternative option if they did not agree. Another LBH's lawyer Ichsan Zikry said his institute had reported the officers for the assault against Alldo at the Jakarta Police on Tuesday afternoon. Separately on Tuesday, Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said that the city administration would continue evicting residents occupying the Ciliwung riverbanks at Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, although some were involved in a legal process with the PTUN. He said that the eviction was just and was according to regulations. South Jakarta Deputy Mayor Irmansyah has also defended the city administration's use of police and military officers during an eviction. in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, and said that it was 'part of a standard operating procedure'. During a mediation facilitated by City Council commission A, overseeing governance at the council's office in Central Jakarta, Irmansyah said that police and military officers were mobilized to maintain security during the eviction. 'When city administration, police and military officers arrived at Bukit Duri, the residents blocked the road and did not let the officers in. If the residents hadn't blocked the road I'm sure there would not have been a problem,' he said during the meeting. (saf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has signed a government regulation (PP) on ownership of houses by foreigners, providing just a little leeway for expatriates wishing to own property in Indonesia. According to a statement from the Cabinet secretary made available on Tuesday, the President on Dec. 22 signed PP No. 103/2015 concerning housing ownership by foreigners who reside in Indonesia. The new PP took effect on Dec. 28 and automatically revokes the earlier PP No. 41/1996, which regulates a similar issue. The new PP is intended to provide more legal certainty for foreigners who own residences and stipulates several provisions not regulated in the 1996 PP, although they are included in the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law (UUPA) and the Indonesian Civil Code. The new regulation stipulates that foreigners who hold stay permits are eligible to own housing under the 'right of use', either on state land or freehold land. The right of use, which has an 80-year total term, can be inherited by any of the holders' heirs who also hold stay permits. It also stipulates that Indonesians who marry foreign nationals will not lose their right to own freeholds as long as they have notarized prenuptial agreements in place; such agreements prevent mixture of spouses' assets. Indonesian women who marry foreigners need to have sufficient understanding of the 1974 Marriage Law, the 1958 Citizenship Law and the 1960 Agrarian Law to enable them to retain their right to own freehold property. Article 35 of the 1974 Marriage Law states that a person cannot retain all assets obtained prior to marriage or assets inherited during marriage, unless the couple makes a prenuptial agreement. The definition of assets here covers land and property. Meanwhile, articles 29 and 36 of the Marriage Law require Indonesian who marry foreigners to make prenuptial agreements in order to buy and own property if they wish to do so after they marry. Colliers Indonesia associate director and research Ferry Salanto admitted on Tuesday that the two government regulations were not greatly different, noting that foreigners were already allowed to own property through the right of use. 'The new regulation doesn't have many surprises,' Ferry said over the phone. He added that the 2015 PP was not 'revolutionary' or in stark contrast to the previous one, as it still required foreigners to live and work in Indonesia. 'People expected a regulation that would allow foreigners to buy property without having to live in the country,' he said, 'As is the case in Singapore.' As part of its first economic policy package, the government announced in September that foreign ownership would be allowed for apartments worth at least Rp 10 billion (US$722,805) in the planned revision of the 1996 PP. Such a move would represent a degree of liberalization of the property market. Ferry said that the new regulation would not have a significant implication as potential buyers were very limited. 'Just look at the Immigration Office data. How many expats want to buy property?' he asked. Cushman and Wakefield assistant manager Risma Diniar voiced a similar view. 'The interest will be just the same,' she said over the phone on Tuesday. Foreigners would be unable to buy property as an investment as the regulation specifically required them to live and have interests in the country, she said. Despite aiming to give legal certainty, the new PP, while allowing more facilities to foreigners, does not attempt to subvert prevailing agrarian principles, such as nationality. It remains the case that only Indonesians may own freeholds, with foreigners entitled only to right of use and leasehold only, according to the PP reading. ____________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post London Wed, January 13, 2016 Is it goodbye to "God Save the Queen"? British lawmakers are debating a proposal to replace the royalist song as England's anthem for sporting events. At contests where England, Scotland and Wales compete separately, Scotland and Wales have their own official songs ' "Flower of Scotland" and "Land of My Fathers" ' but England generally uses the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen." Labour Party lawmaker Toby Perkins, who called Wednesday's debate, wants England to adopt William Blake's patriotic song "Jerusalem" as its official anthem. Other suggestions include "Land Of Hope And Glory" and "There'll Always Be An England." "God Save the Queen" would continue to be sung at British team events. Perkins wants the government to hold a public consultation to choose the new anthem. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ina Parlina and Raras Cahyafitri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The government has ordered oil and gas exploration company Lapindo Brantas to suspend operations in Sidoarjo, East Java, in the wake of protests from local residents still traumatized by a mudflow disaster blamed on the company. Plans to drill at Tanggulangin-1 well in Kedungbanteng village, Tanggulangin district -- some 5 kilometers from the center of the mudflow in Porong--were advanced despite compensation to victims of the mudflow, which occurred at Banjar Panji-1 well in 2006, not yet having been fully paid. 'Yesterday, we asked the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force [SKKMigas] to [ensure the company] stops [drilling]. The local population was clearly not happy about the idea,' Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said told reporters on Tuesday at the Presidential Palace. According to Sudirman, the government wants to ensure any drilling plans took into account all factors, including social, economic, environmental and technical aspects. Sudirman added that he had not reported the latest development to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, arguing that the matter needed no further discussion. Residents of Tanggulangin have been up in arms over the drilling plans of Lapindo Brantas, which is affiliated with the family of businessman and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie. Opposition has also been voiced by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), which said that drilling in an area so close to where a mudflow previously occurred risked causing a repeat of the disaster. Lapindo Brantas spokesman Arief Setya Widodo previously claimed his company had communicated with local residents and provided them with social aid, saying that activity at Tanggulangin-1 would be for gas rather than for oil, as had been the case with the Banjar Panji-1 well. The government has agreed to bail out the powerful family to settle the remaining compensation for victims of the mudflow, providing a Rp 781 billion loan to PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, a company tasked with handling the disbursement of the compensation. The company claims it has so far spent Rp 6.1 trillion to handle both social and physical issues stemming from the mudflow. Minarak recently acknowledged that 83 victims had yet to be compensated, blaming disagreement over the amount of compensation. Gas production at Tanggulangin-1 well is predicted to be able to reach 5 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd). If combined with the production of some 30 wells already in operation in Sidoarjo, the company's production could reach 8 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd). The suspension of drilling aimed to allow time for the ministry to evaluate all aspects related to the plan, including social aspects and technical matters, IGN Wiratmaja Puja, director general of oil and gas at the Energy and Mineral Ministry, said recently. The ministry, he added, would invite related parties, including the geological agency, SKKMigas and local administrations, to take part in evaluating the plan. According to Wiratmaja, the company has yet to obtain safety approval from the ministry; therefore, not all licenses have been obtained, although its environmental license and work plan have been approved. 'The firm's work plan and budget have been approved by SKKMigas, [and] a license related to environmental issues has been granted by the local administration. What they're still missing is safety approval and [approval for] spudding from the ministry,' he added, saying that such processes often took time. The company said recently that it had so far only prepared the site, while exploration activities were expected to be conducted by the beginning of March, adding that the drilling had initially been scheduled for early December last year, but had been postponed because of social problems. The company has also said that it has been granted a license for drilling activity and a geological analysis, which includes an environmental management scheme and environmental monitoring scheme (UKL-UPL), by the Sidoarjo Environment Agency. Vice President Jusuf Kalla said recently that the planned drilling could generate money the company could use to pay off its debts to the government. In addition to the Tanggulangin-1 well, Lapindo will also explore Tanggulangin-2 well, also located in Kedungbanteng village. Together, the wells could reportedly produce 10 million cubic meters of gas daily. ________________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The Jakarta Police on Sunday evening raided the house of a friend of Wayan Mirna Salihin, who died last week after drinking a cup of coffee at a restaurant at the Grand Indonesia shopping mall. 'We have raided the house of one of the witnesses,' Jakarta Police detective chief Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti was quoted by tempo.co as saying on Tuesday. He was referring to one of the two women who were with the victim at the time of the incident. Police, Krishna said, had raided the friend's house after learning in a preliminary case reconstruction on Monday that Mirna's coffee had been ordered and paid for by the female friend, who reportedly came to the restaurant 40 minutes prior to Mirna and the third woman's arrival. 'According to what we learned from the preliminary case reconstruction, she ordered and paid for the coffee. So we raided her house,' he said, adding that the police had confiscated several items during the raid. Mirna reportedly felt dizzy and went into a seizure after drinking several gulps of the coffee. She was rushed to Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Central Jakarta, where she died soon afterwards. China is gaining ground to overcome corruption, President Xi Jinping said at an anti-graft meeting on Tuesday, urging confidence in the campaign. "Party members should maintain confidence in the Communist Party of China [CPC] Central Committee's anti-corruption volition, the campaign's achievements, the positive energy it brings and the prospects of our fight against corruption," Xi said at the start of the three-day sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). "To forge iron, one must be strong," Xi said, citing a traditional Chinese proverb to underline the Party's resolve to become corruption-free. Over the past three years, the CPC has been working hard to redress the problem of being too lenient in managing the Party, and has striven to build a system where officials "do not dare, are not able, and are unwilling to be corrupt." The efforts are paying off, according to the president. The deterrent effect has been fully exerted, and an atmosphere where officials are "unable and unwilling to engage in corruption" is coming into being. The CPC Central Committee remains determined to combat corruption, he said. "(Winning) the people's support is the top political priority," Xi said. He added the anti-corruption drive has boosted people's faith in and support for the Party, and people speak highly of the anti-corruption drive. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012, China has intensified its anti-corruption drive and punished a large number of corrupt officials in accordance with the law, including former senior leaders such as Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong and Ling Jihua. On Tuesday, Li Dongsheng, former vice minister of public security, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes. "The CPC is fulfilling its promise of strictly governing the Party, which has won it public trust and support, and such popular support will bring huge 'dividend,'" said Gao Bo, a political researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "The CPC will reinforce the efforts until it accomplishes the final goal," said Gao. He said the current achievements demonstrate that the Party has found a right path in the war against corruption, and it will absolutely win the war by sticking to the path. Xi said that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party has incorporated the task of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party into the "Four comprehensives," the strategic objectives outlined in the blueprint for China's future. The CPC has made building Party integrity, clean governance, and the fight against corruption integral to strictly governing the Party in an all around manner, Xi said. The CCDI, in implementing decisions of the CPC Central Committee, has propelled significant and new achievements in building Party integrity, clean governance and battling corruption, Xi said. The Party has continued to correct undesirable work styles including formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. It has also strengthened intra-Party supervision, giving full play to inspection groups and exerting greater efforts in pursuing fugitives and recovering stolen assets, according to the president. The opening of the session was chaired by top graft buster Wang Qishan and attended by leaders including Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli. TASK FOR 2016 President Xi said that anti-corruption efforts should not be relaxed in 2016 in order to deter fresh cases from emerging. The campaign against corruption should continue to cover all sectors and zero tolerance will be shown to violators, Xi said. In addition to intensified efforts in bringing back fugitive officials suspected of corruption, anti-corruption agencies should also be serious in handling misconduct at the grassroots level, according to Xi. Violators should be severely punished to safeguard people's immediate interests, he said, adding the achievements of the anti-corruption campaign should be more tangible for members of the public. The president stressed the importance of respecting the Party Constitution and that its rules and regulations must be followed strictly. Party committees and disciplinary watchdogs at all levels should strengthen their supervision over implementation of the Party Constitution, in addition to the Party's policies and decisions, so as to ensure decrees issued by the CPC Central Committee are obeyed, Xi said. Any behavior that violates Party anti-corruption rules should be punished, Xi said, adding that no matter how many offenders are found, they should face punishment. Xi also stressed the necessity of upholding traditional Chinese culture in the cultivation of good work style, urging leading officials to highlight honesty while managing their families. He urged leading officials, especially high-ranking ones, to be clean in exercising power in addition to setting good examples in abiding by the law and discipline. DISCIPLINE STRICTER THAN LAW Xi said discipline must be stricter than law to rein in all Party members, adding strengthened supervision and discipline inspection must be carried out. He urged leading officials to strengthen their political alertness and ability to discern political affairs, take a firm stand, remember their political responsibility and always be loyal to the Party. While calling for strengthened intra-Party supervision and supervision of state organs, Xi said the accountability system must be reinforced to hold any violators responsible. The structure and organization of the supervision system must be optimized, Xi added, vowing to intensify inspection tours and deepen the practice. Xi also highlighted graft-busters as the main force for the CPC to govern itself, saying CPC committees at all levels must support the work of discipline inspection commissions. The president urged these graft-busters to set a high bar for themselves and take the lead to defend the Party constitution. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The Central Jakarta Police have unlocked a house on Jl. Taman Kebon Sirih 3 in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, in which a family had been trapped for six days because of a land dispute with state-owned life insurer Jiwasraya. A woman named Diana and six of her family members could not go outside of their house as people assigned by Jiwasraya for the task, as confirmed by Jiwasraya lawyer Nurwidiatmo, had blocked their exit. Diana said that on the morning of Jan. 6, hundreds of people she described as 'thugs' had broken into her house, locking the gate and front door and barring the windows with crossed wooden boards. On Tuesday, Central Jakarta Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Roma Hutajulu and Tanah Abang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Jefri Ronald opened the padlocks to unlock the gate and front door. 'I have negotiated with Jiwasraya to open the door and front gate so that Diana and her family can go about their activities like usual,' said Roma on Tuesday. 'I cannot comment on the land dispute as it is not the police's responsibility.' Diana previously explained that her family and Jiwasraya had a long dispute over the land and building. Diana went on to say that her family, who has lived in the house since the Dutch era in 1946, had obtained no land or building ownership certificate because of a lack of knowledge about the ownership regulations of property that once belonged to the Dutch. She added that Jiwasraya, as the legal entity holding state land, had taken care of the land certificate earlier. Diana added that her family and Jiwasraya had been involved in two mediation sessions since 2007, but neither achieved any results. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Erica Werner (The Jakarta Post) Washington Wed, January 13, 2016 Federal immigration raids have wrenched open new divides between President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies, including the woman who hopes to replace him, Hillary Clinton. On Tuesday, with the president due to arrive on Capitol Hill within hours to deliver his final State of the Union address, House Democrats gathered at a press conference to denounce his policies and release a letter signed by nearly 150 lawmakers calling for deportation raids to stop. "It's just unacceptable," said Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez. "I've been 99.9 percent with this president of the United States but in this particular case, when his administration sows the seeds of terror throughout the immigrant community of the United States and millions of people are affected, that's what I'm going to concern myself with." That came after Clinton broke with Obama on the issue at a forum in Iowa Monday night, also calling for the raids to end. "I do not think the raids are an appropriate tool to enforce the immigration laws. In fact, I think they are divisive, they are sowing discord and fear," she said. Fellow Democratic hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley have adopted similar stances. The Obama administration has defended the holiday-season raids that resulted in detentions of 121 people, many from Central America. They point to a spike in families and children arriving at the U.S. southern border from Central America, which has prompted fears of another border crisis like the one that dominated national news during the summer of 2014. This time it would come amid a presidential race where immigration is already a fraught topic, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump insisting he would millions of immigrants in the country illegally while Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida exchange barbs about who has the stronger record on this issue. Trump has praised the raids and taken credit for them. "Our desire to make clear that individuals should not embark on the dangerous journey from Central America to the Southwest border ' that's a case that we've tried to tell in a variety of ways," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "It was only after individuals had exhausted the legal remedies available to them ... was a decision made to remove them," he said. The administration has shown no sign of backing off its approach, though Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid created confusion on that question Tuesday when he told reporters he'd spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and "I think you're going to find a pause in these deportations." Aides later insisted Reid simply meant to suggest that he hoped there would be a pause. Earlier, the administration sent White House Counsel Neil Eggleston to meet privately with House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. But despite what all involved described publicly as a cordial meeting, neither side seemed ready to budge. Democratic aides said Eggleston expressed concerns about the Democrats' approach and the potential impact it could have on the administration's hopes of defending Obama's deportation-relief policies before the Supreme Court. Administration officials have repeatedly emphasized that they have focused on people who have arrived in this country recently, in line with new deportation priorities announced in late 2014, at the same time Obama announced an expanded deportation relief program, promising to temporarily lift the threat of removal for millions. The goodwill from those deferment programs was fleeting, in part because they're tied up in court. The White House now finds itself making some of the same arguments it made earlier in Obama's administration, when activists labeled him "deporter in chief" for presiding over record deportations while failing to persuade Republicans to support immigration reform legislation. Officials say the administration has a responsibility to enforce the law and in this case there is a further responsibility not to encourage people to take a very dangerous journey. New figures Tuesday showed that arrivals of families and unaccompanied children from Central America from October to December shot up to well over double the amount from the same period the previous year. The numbers could go even higher beginning in February and early spring, when arrivals traditionally increase, potentially eclipsing the levels that produced the 2014 crisis. Many are fleeing brutal gang warfare in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, the same countries whose violence and instability forced women and children to make the dangerous trip north two years ago, overwhelming U.S. facilities and producing disturbing images of frightened children huddling in Border Patrol facilities. Such images remain vivid to policymakers, and avoiding a repeat is a priority. Administration officials say they are better prepared than they were in 2014 for a new influx, including increased capacity to house children. But the administration has limited strategies to stem the tide. They have stepped up advertising in Central American countries to warn of the dangers of the trip and point to $750 million in a year-end spending bill to help those nations. (kes)(+) ___ Associated Press writers Kathleen Hennessey, Josh Lederman, Alicia A. Caldwell and Ken Thomas contributed to this report. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Yogyakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Drug convict Mary Jane Veloso, who has been sentenced to death, has been visited in Wirogunan Prison in Yogyakarta by her family from the Philippines. Her lawyer also attended to discuss the technicalities of Veloso providing testimony in a human-trafficking case involving a person who recruited her as a migrant worker. 'This is the first time Mary Jane has met her family and lawyer directly,' Laorence Castillo from Migrante International told journalists at Wirogunan on Tuesday. Castillo said after meeting Veloso, her lawyer, Edre Olaila from the Philippines National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), and her legal team from Indonesia would meet prosecutors at the Sleman Prosecutor's Office. They will discuss the technicalities of Veloso providing video-link testimony in a case involving Maria Christina Sergio, the person who recruited her as a migrant worker, in a court in Manila. 'The time-frame for Mary Jane's testimony will be in February or March. The legal process in the Philippines is very slow,' said Castillo. He added that the trial of Sergio, who recruited Veloso as a migrant worker, was still ongoing. Three other alleged victims of human-trafficking have also pressed charges against Sergio. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Johan Budi, the former spokesman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) who went on to become the antigraft body's interim commissioner, has been named presidential special adviser for communication, the official title for the role of presidential spokesman. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo made the announcement on Tuesday at the Presidential Palace following an earlier meeting with Johan, who, the President said, had the necessary experience and skills to engage with the public. 'I believe Johan is a very experienced person,' Jokowi said. 'I am glad to have more and more good people in the Palace to help me.' Johan's role will include coordinating with all ministries to ensure consistency of message. Since taking office more than a year ago, Jokowi had no official spokesman before the appointment of Johan. The job of speaking to the media often fell to Teten Masduki, the current presidential chief of staff, who was the de facto spokesman during his tenure as a member of the presidential communication team between May and September last year. During his time on the team, Teten was often spotted accompanying Jokowi to meetings and official events, and is said to have been instrumental in the appointment of Johan. Teten, who also has a background as a prominent antigraft campaigner, approached Johan in the past two weeks following an instruction from Jokowi to offer him the job. Born in Mojokerto, East Java, in 1966, Johan joined the KPK in 2005 to serve as the commission's first spokesman. With his calm demeanor, Johan often had the high-profile task of announcing the identities of graft suspects, a role that saw him become the public face of the KPK. Many have lauded Johan, a former journalist with Tempo Weekly who earned a Bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Indonesia in 1992, for his role in easing tensions during the many crises that hit the commission during his tenure. In February last year, Jokowi appointed Johan acting KPK chairman following a dispute between the antigraft body and the police that led to the dismissal of then commissioners Bambang Widjojanto and Abraham Samad. 'I feel it's time to help [the President], to offer a more concrete contribution,' Johan said, adding that he was optimistic that his professional background as KPK spokesman for around 10 years and his 12-year experience as a journalist would be advantageous to his latest role. Although the President now had a spokesman, he added, individual ministries would remain free to issue statements relating to their own remits and activities. Teten meanwhile said it was important for both the Palace and ministries to build strong communication teams. 'Communication is not solely a matter of addressing the public; it also involves preparing and processing data, conducting research and communicating with other ministries,' he said. Political communication expert Gun Gun Heryanto lauded Jokowi's hiring of Johan, saying that even popular presidents needed a mouthpiece. 'Appointing a presidential spokesperson is important [...] Many issues need to be addressed, but the president can't address them all himself,' Gun Gun said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Wed, January 13, 2016 In an attempt to end the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has written letters to the leaders of both nations. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday that she would personally deliver the letters to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz. 'The President's letters have been signed. This evening, I will leave [for the Middle East],' Retno said as reported by kompas.com. The minister reiterated that Indonesia would remain neutral in the ongoing conflict. According to Retno, as neither country had so far confirmed her request to meet, whichever leader she met with first would not indicate an intentional show of preference. "We are friendly with both Iran and Saudi Arabia," she said. During her Middle East tour, Retno will also meet with her counterparts from the two countries to discuss Indonesia's readiness to help end the conflict. Retno said Jokowi would be the first president to exclusively send letters via a special envoy. "This proves Indonesia's concern toward the conflict in the Middle East as well as showing the close ties between the Indonesian president with both the Saudi king and the Iranian president," she added. Jokowi has called for the immediate mitigation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran and is sending a special envoy in an attempt at brokering peace. (liz/bbn)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Tuesday that it would open an investigation into senior United Development Party (PPP) politician Hasrul Azwar and other individuals whose names were mentioned in the reading of the guilty verdict in the trial of former religious affairs minister and PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday. In addition to Hasrul, who is said to have garnered millions of Saudi real from procurement of pilgrim accommodation contracts, other individuals implicated in Suryadharma's verdict are Democratic Party lawmaker Nurul Iman Mustofa and individuals identified as Hasanudin Asmat, Cholid Abdul Latief Sodiq Saefudin, Muhlisin and Fuad Ibrahim Atsani. Deputy KPK chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif said that he would soon convene investigators working on the haj case to determine whether they had collected enough evidence to open new investigations into the implicated individuals, including Hasrul. 'We will study the verdict thoroughly and if we find that there's enough evidence, we will begin investigating,' Laode told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. KPK commissioner Basaria Pandjaitan added that KPK investigators working on Suryadharma's case were set to report to top brass regarding their examination of the roles of the individuals mentioned in Suryadharma's verdict. KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo explained that a court verdict could be used as a legal basis to open graft investigations. On Monday, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Suryadharma to six years behind bars after he was convicted of embezzling national haj funds between 2010 and 2013, causing billions of rupiah in state losses. 'Our examination into the case has found that the defendant is guilty of corruption together with other individuals in the case. We order him to pay Rp 300 million in fines or he has to serve an additional three months,' said presiding judge Aswijon, reading the verdict on Monday. Suryadharma's indictment revealed details of the flow of money stolen from the haj program, including fees paid by companies that Hasrul helped to win contracts to procure accommodation for pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. According to Suryadharma's indictment, on May 3, 2014, the then minister met with the team assigned to find housing for pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. The team proposed five hotels based on recommendations made by Hasrul, to which Suryadharma agreed, setting a minimum price of 100 Saudi reals per pilgrim for housing in Saudi Arabia without conducting any negotiation with the designated companies. The five hotels include the Norcom Oasis Hotel, which can accommodate 40,000 pilgrims, the Madinah Palace Hotel, which accommodates 30,000 pilgrims, the At-Thoiroh Towers, which has a capacity of 30,000, the Al-Mahmal Palestine, which can house 20,000 pilgrims, and the Al-Mukhtarah Quraisy, which can also house 20,000. In total, Hasrul received 5.8 million Saudi reals from the five companies winning the housing project, while Nurul pocketed US$100,000 in the form of backhanders from housing companies. In addition, Hasanuddin received 554,000 Saudi reals from hotels that won housing projects. The state lost around 15.8 million Saudi reals from Suryadharma's decision to use his own calculation for pilgrim accommodation fees in 2012 and 2013. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agus Maryono and Ganug Nugroho (The Jakarta Post) Cilacap/Surakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 A team of lawyers, led by Ahmad Mihdan, has demanded the release of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir from prison, arguing that the court had wrongly convicted the cleric for his involvement in the training of terrorists in Aceh. Speaking in his defense before the judicial review at Cilacap District Court, Central Java, on Tuesday, Mihdan said that witnesses in the trial had been examined through long-distance teleconferencing, arguing that this method was not legitimate according to the law. 'We ask the panel of judges to release Abu Bakar Ba'asyir because the charge against him was legally flawed. There were several things in the previous trial that were not fulfilled,' he told the court. He also denied that the funds collected from Ba'asyir by several people including Rizieq Shihab, leader of the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) had been for funding terrorism. He said it was an infaq (charity) fund for the interests of the Muslim community, including those in Palestine. The South Jakarta District Court convicted Ba'asyir for planning or moving others by providing funds to join a military-style training activity in the Jantho mountain range in Aceh Besar and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for the conviction. The Jakarta High Court later decreased the sentence to nine years, but the Supreme Court restored the sentence to the original 15-year term in October 2011. Ba'asyir was then transferred to the Nusakambangan high-security prison in Cilacap where he continues to serve out his prison term together with other terrorist inmates. The judicial review was filed as his lawyers claim to have obtained new evidence in the case. Ba'asyir was once tried and acquitted of being the leader of regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and for his alleged involvement in a string of terrorist attacks in Indonesia from 1999 to 2003, including the Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002. He is reported to have founded Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid from his cell, calling on his followers to support the Islamic State (IS) movement in Iraq and Syria. Presenting his defense before the court, Ba'asyir, dressed in a white robe, said that what he did was to implement the Koran's orders. 'That's why we cannot accept that what we did is considered terrorism. We are struggling for the sake of Islam,' said Ba'asyir, who was promptly greeted with cries of 'Takbir!' (Praise for God) by his supporters. Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ulung Sampurna Jaya said that his office had deployed 1,000 personnel to tightly guard the judicial review. In Ngruki, Sukoharjo, Central Java, Ba'asyir's judicial review on Tuesday did not seem to disturb teaching and learning activities at the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school that the cleric founded. 'All teaching and learning activities are running as normal. Nothing is special,' the school's spokesman Hamim Sofyan said, adding that they had handed the case over to the team of lawyers. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marut Boonyanareumit and manit Sanabboon (The Jakarta Post) Wed, January 13, 2016 A Finnish man and a Polish woman were found yesterday after having been lost in Khao Yai National Park for three days. The exhausted tourists were located four kilometers from the park office, in Nakhon Ratchasima province. The pair - Henri Jalantor, 26, and Justyna Katarzyna, 25, both nature researchers - told reporters later they survived by digging up bamboo shoots to eat and drinking creek water while wandering through the park. Katarzyna recalled that they went into the jungle without telling park officials on the afternoon of January 9. On the first night, they were unable to get a phone signal to call for help so they slept by a creek. They spent the second night in the woods, laying near a hill and the third night in a cave. She said they ate bamboo shoots and drank creek water to survive. "I'm very happy to get out of the forest," she added. After receiving distress calls from the pair at 10pm on Monday, some 100 park officials - divided into 11 teams on foot and one team on a helicopter - began their search early yesterday morning. The national park straddles Prachin Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Ratchasima and Saraburi provinces. The park office also called on phone operator AIS to help triangulate the pair's last phone signals - and that showed they were in the Haew Suwat Waterfall area. Rangers finally located them at 1pm yesterday on a trekking route, 100 metres away from the waterfall. Assistant park chief Pokkrong Thongneukhaeng said the spot where the pair was found was 4 km from the park office, and normally this spot is inaccessible to tourists unless they are accompanied by officials because wild animals often pass through the area. It was fortunate they were safe, he said, because officials noticed many footprints of animals in the area. Park officials urged visitors to inform them before entering the jungle, so they can get a guide and won't get lost. (kes)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 A forensic expert has claimed that Wayan Mirna Solihin was murdered by a professional killer, or at least not by someone completely untrained, and therefore the killer was unlikely sitting at her same table when she sipped from her allegedly cyanide poisoned coffee. Reza Indragiri Amriel, a forensic lecturer at the Police Staff College (PTIK), said on Wednesday that the use of cyanide poison, a rare substance often used to commit suicide, indicated that the murderer had at least used extra efforts. 'Who is the killer? I suspect that the person is not a lay person and was not on the same table with the victim,' said Reza as reported by tempo.co on Wednesday. Mirna, 27, died soon after she drank Vietnam coffee with two of her friends ' Jessica and Hani ' at Olivier CafA at Grand Indonesia in Jakarta on Jan. 6. According to Reza, the killer intentionally used the very poisonous substance in the hope that nothing could save the life of the victim. 'Of course, the killer did not want to be at the location during the incident,' he added. Therefore, he called on police to immediately uncover the mystery of Mirna's murder. The police, according to Reza, need to monitor the sales of cyanide poison, including that sold through online trading. Meanwhile, the Jakarta Police remain tight lipped over the cause of Mirna's death after police investigators conducted raids at Jessica's house. Head of Jakarta Police crime division Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti stressed that the cause of death was not natural, but the police had not made any conclusions on whether she was murdered or not. 'We are investigating the cause of the death and whether there was a crime element involved. If [one exists], we will find the suspect,' the police officer said. Based on the investigation scene on Monday, Mirna, Hani and Jessica were at the cafA. Jessica came first and ordered a sazerac cocktail and a cold Vietnam coffee. Minutes after, Mirna and Hani came to the cafA and Mirna drank the coffee. 'It's awful. It's bad,' Mirna commented, on the taste of the coffee. After drinking, she suffered from convulsions and foamed at the mouth. She was rushed to the hospital, but died on arrival. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has said it will summon media mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo for questioning in a corruption case involving a telecommunications company that he owned. 'We will question all commissioners [of the company]. After that, we will question him,' AGO junior attorney for special crimes Arminsyah said as quoted by tribunnews.com. However Arminsyah also said that it would take some time before prosecutors would be able to question Hary as all those summoned from telecommunications firm PT Mobile-8 Telecom had thus far ignored their summons. 'Last week, all five commissioners failed to show up. We will summon them again next week,' he said. The AGO has launched a probe into a corruption case related to the restitution of tax refunds for PT Mobile-8 Telecom (Mobile-8/Fren), the network provider of Fren's post-paid services. The case emerged when Mobile-8, which was at the time owned by Hary, acquired a tax restitution of Rp 10.75 billion (US$ 776,882.11) in 2009. In an attempt to acquire such restitution, Mobile-8 allegedly made a series of fictitious telecommunications equipment purchases from Surabaya-based telecommunications provider company PT Djaja Nusantara Komunikasi (DNK) between 2007 and 2009. The stand of GE at an industry expo in Shanghai. [Photo by Jing Wei/China Daily] Midea Group Co and Qingdao Haier Co are among suitors that submitted bids for General Electric Co's home-appliances business, after a sale to Electrolux AB fell apart last month, people with knowledge of the matter said. The unit has attracted separate offers of more than $3 billion from the Chinese companies, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Midea, China's biggest maker of air conditioners and rice cookers, is working with banks to arrange financing for a purchase, two of the people said. The Foshan-based company and Shandong-based Haier submitted offers last week along with at least two other potential buyers. GE is seeking another suitor for the century-old appliances unit after the Electrolux deal collapsed following opposition from the United States Justice Department. The business is likely to fetch more this time than the $3.3 billion Electrolux agreed to pay, one of the people said. The quick turnaround from the failed Electrolux deal supports GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt's effort to reshape the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company around industrial-manufacturing operations. He's selling the consumer-appliances business along with the bulk of GE's lending arm, while expanding divisions making products such as gas turbines, oilfield equipment and jet engines. A sale to an Asian buyer is seen as more likely to get regulatory approval, because Asian competitors in this industry generally have a lower market share, RBC Capital Markets LLC said last month. Immelt said at a December investor meeting that there has been "significant inbound interest" in the business and that he expected to reach a deal early this year. Midea is China's biggest manufacturer of consumer appliances, with a 17.1 percent market share in 2015, followed by Haier with 7.9 percent, Euromonitor International data showed. Haier had a 1.1 percent share of the US consumer appliances market last year, according to Euromonitor. Haier Group Corp plans to expand in the North America market, according to a representative for the group, who declined to comment on whether the company has submitted a bid for GE's home-appliances business. Any offer for the unit would be made by the group, rather than its listed units, the representative said on Tuesday. Representatives for GE and Midea declined to comment. This is at least GE's third attempt to unload the appliances business, which introduced an electric toaster in 1905 and a home electric washing machine in 1930. The company said in 2008 it would explore options to sell or spin off the business over concerns it was too heavily tied to the tumultuous US market, but the effort was stymied by the financial crisis. A sale would leave GE's light-bulb division as the company's only remaining consumer business. In 2014, the appliances and lighting unit generated $8.4 billion in sales, accounting for about 5.5 percent of GE's total revenue. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has insisted that it would only endorse a limited amendment to the 1945 Constitution that would further empower the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), once a very powerful legislative institution under the New Order regime. PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri said that the empowering of the MPR would be needed to revive the concept of a state policy outline (GBHN) that would serve as a guideline for long-term development plans for the country. Megawati said the amendment of certain articles in the Constitution would grant the MPR just enough authority to draft and ratify a long-term policy outline she dubbed 'the Planned Universal National Development'. 'The amendment must be limited in the sense that it only restores the MPR's authority to pass a policy outline for national development,' Megawati said in her speech to conclude a three-day national working meeting of the PDI-P in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. Megawati also pledged that the amendment, if eventually implemented, would only focus on empowering the House to formulate the development guidelines and would not touch on other issues. Megawati first introduced the idea of 'planned universal national development' on Sunday, a concept she learned from her father, Soekarno, the country's first president. Many politicians have responded to the proposal, saying that it could be used as an impetus for introducing other reforms. House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said the amendment to the Constitution could also be used to empower the Regional Representatives Council (DPD). Earlier, PDI-P deputy secretary-general Ahmad Basarah said that the party would not endorse an amendment to the Constitution if it was not consistent with the original plan of strengthening the MPR in a limited sense. Basarah said the party had no intention of reinstating the MPR as the most powerful state institution, capable of giving mandates to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo. 'That would be a setback,' Ahmad said late Monday. In her speech, Megawati also called on other political parties to consider her proposal and ask them to work together to finalize a working concept. 'Let us think this through together so we can make swift progress on this,' she said. During his speech at the opening of the rakernas on Sunday, President Jokowi said the country was in need of a clear set of guidelines to chart the country's direction in the future. 'The 'planned universal national development' is something we must work on for the next 100 years of development, so we know where we are headed,' Jokowi said. Separately, MPR Speaker Zulkifli Hasan of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said his party could get behind the proposal. 'I appreciate what was discussed in the PDI-P's working meeting; it is something that the country truly needs,' Zulkifli told reporters at the House of Representatives compound on Tuesday. He said that a long-term policy guideline could tackle various issues from the economy to nationhood. 'The state policy guidelines will not only cover Indonesia's development in the economic sector 25 or 100 years from now, it will also negotiate all aspects of nationhood and regional autonomy,' he said. Last year, the country kicked off discussion for the fifth amendment to the 1945 Constitution, spearheaded by the DPD, which wanted to see its authority improved over judicial supervision and over the country's political system. Progress with the amendment is likely to be sluggish as there are signs that political parties are reluctant to share power with the DPD in law deliberations and state budget supervision in the upcoming amendment proposals. As the sole institution responsible for changes to the Constitution, the MPR's 692 members consist of 560 House of Representatives members and 132 DPD members. _______________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Wed, January 13, 2016 The Bali Police have arrested an alleged pedophile from Australia, identified only as RA, who is accused of committing sexual abuse against four girls in Bali. Bali Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Hery Wiyanto said on Wednesday that RA had been named a suspect and was being detained at the Bali Police headquarters. 'We have not questioned [him] because we're waiting for his lawyer,' Hery said as reported by kompas.com, adding that the suspect was arrested on Monday at a house in Selemadeg, Tabanan regency, Bali. The arrest was made based on information from local residents. 'The information [about the crime] did not come from the victims, or the parents of the victims, but from the people,' he added. According to Hery, the police were currently investigating the possibility that the suspect was involved in an international pedophile syndicate operating in Bali. Before arresting RA, the police questioned the alleged victims to ensure they had adequate evidence to name RA a suspect. 'The police have already found adequate evidence to arrest RA,' the police officer said as reported by tribunnews.com. Hery said the crimes were allegedly committed when the suspect bathed the girls, who were said to be over 10 years old. (bbn)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The government is considering accepting bids from private investors on a deep-sea port project to replace the scrapped Cilamaya port project in Karawang, West Java, running the risk of souring relations with Japan, which had been set to develop the Cilamaya project. 'We're not certain yet. We're still thinking about who will develop the port and how it will be developed. Involving the private sector is an option,' National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) head Sofyan A. Djalil said on Tuesday. Sofyan added that in line with the government's infrastructure development priorities, private sector involvement would be encouraged in order to reduce state expenditure. 'If it's possible, we want [the project] to be purely funded by the private sector. If it's not, then we'll look at a PPP [public private partnership], or it will be handled by state-owned enterprises,' he said, adding that use of the state budget would be a last resort. The planned port, with initial investment of more than US$1.2 billion for the first phase of construction, will have the capacity to serve 3.75 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) containers, or more than two-thirds the capacity of Indonesia's largest port, Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta. Japan seemed to have the project in the bag after the administration of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono commissioned the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct a feasibility study, which was estimated to cost JICA $2.5 million to $3 million. Recently, Vice President Jusuf Kalla scrapped the Cilamaya project because of concerns it would affect the expansion of state oil and gas firm Pertamina's nearby offshore operations. The government has moved the project further east to an unannounced new site in West Java, presumably in Subang or Indramayu. It is rumored that one of the reasons the government is looking at private-sector involvement is that Japan offered the investment in the form of a loan, an idea disliked by both President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan, who paid a visit to Tokyo in December to discuss the port project, among other topics. If the agreement were to be voided by a bidding process, it would be a second loss in quick succession for Japan, which last year lost out to China in a contest to secure Indonesia's first-ever high-speed rail project. Commenting on the development, international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana said that the government risked seeing relations with Japan turn hostile. 'I fear [the saga] could destroy bilateral relations. It's also improper, from a legal point of view,' he said. 'The government needs JICA's approval to annul the agreement. If not, they need to be ready to be sued, or hit with Japanese sanctions such as an end to aid,' Hikmahanto said. JICA representatives in Indonesia were not immediately available to comment on the matter. According to Transportation Ministry director general for sea transportation Bobby Mamahit, the government would be open to any interested investors, as long as they agreed to fund the project fully without having to use taxpayers' money. 'The minister wants it to be fully funded by the private sector. If [Japanese parties] can't do that, there are other investors, domestic investors too,' Bobby said. Currently, the government is in the process of completing the detail engineering design (DED) for the chosen new location before the project is put out to tender. Meanwhile, Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) chairman Yukki N. Hanafi said that the private sector would welcome the bid, adding, however, that investors might wait for a detailed government proposal, including any development incentives. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Gerindra Party patron Prabowo Subianto said he would not oppose a plan by the Golkar Party leadership to join the ruling coalition. Prabowo said he had given freedom to all political parties under the Red-and-White Coalition, which backed his candidacy in the 2014 presidential election, to join any coalition they saw fit. 'Let me put it this way, I will not only allow Golkar. Even the PKS [Prosperous Justice Party] could also join, if this is in the people's interests. I have no problems with this,' Prabowo told reporters on the sideline of the PKS national meeting in Depok, West Java,on Thursday. Prabowo said he would allow even members of his Gerindra Party to join the government if it was for the greater good. 'I will not stand in the way, but I will not ask them to do that,' he said. The camp of Aburizal Bakrie, who is currently in control of Golkar following a decision by the Law and Human Rights Ministry to revoke a decree that had approved the leadership of Agung Laksono, has made overtures to join the ruling coalition of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo in recent weeks. On Monday, Aburizal himself held a meeting with Jokowi, during which the Golkar chairman delivered his pledge to support the government. 'As one of the recommendations from the national consolidation meeting we had, the Golkar Party has decided that we can support and can be in the same seat with the government,' Aburizal told reporters after the meeting. Aburizal said the Golkar Party wanted to be part of a stronger government that could solve the country's numerous problems. 'We want the government to be able to realize its vision and mission and carry out steps to develop the nation to help our people,' Aburizal said. Aburizal's move followed that of National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Zulkifli Hasan, who had pledged the party's support for Jokowi's government in September. Recently, the Islamic-based PKS has also expressed its interests in joining the ruling coalition, especially following the purge of central board members who had steered the party towards nominating Prabowo for the 2014 presidential election. In November last year, newly elected PKS chairman Sohibul Iman pledged his party's loyalty to the administration of Jokowi. Sohibul made the statement shortly after being sworn in to replace Anis Matta, an ardent supporter of Prabowo. On Monday, amid the ongoing power struggle within Golkar, the House of Representatives confirmed Ade Komarudin, a senior Golkar politician known for his good relations with the President, as the new House speaker. The inauguration of Ade may signal consolidation within the House, as he is also considered to be loyal to Aburizal Bakrie. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Covering an area of 5,155 hectares, or half that of Bogor city, Jakarta's latest reclamation is the largest such project in the country's history, and so far, the most controversial. Although the reclamation was not his initiative or idea, Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja has shown that he is now the biggest proponent of the project, with four more permits issued during his first year of leadership. His first permit, for Islet G, or Pluit City built by Agung Podomoro Land's subsidiary PT Muara Wisesa Samudra, was issued in December 2014, a month after he was sworn in. The latest permit was issued on Nov. 17, 2015 for Islet K by PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, despite protests and legal challenges by local fishermen at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN). The permits were also issued despite the incomplete draft of the bylaw on northern coastal zoning. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who was Jakarta governor for two years from October 2012 to November 2014, did not issue a single permit and even told the press several times in 2013 that he remained cautious about the project, fearing it might only benefit developers. Spatial planning experts have questioned the public benefits of the 17 man-made islets by nine companies, mostly developers, while others have raised environmental concerns. Bandung Institute of Technology's (ITB) Coastal Technical Expertise Group leader, Muslim Muin said the construction of the 17 islets would create canals between the islets effectively extending the flow of rivers into the sea. The 300-meter-wide and 32-kilometer-long gap between the northern coastline and the islets would also become a canal, Muslim said. 'It will increase the cost of dredging sedimentation. Who will shoulder this cost? Dredging is not cheap and if it is not dredged regularly, it will flood,' he said. Local fishermen have filed a petition with the PTUN against the construction permit for Pluit City, demanding it be revoked because they claim the work threatens their livelihood. The Jakarta Post has prepared a special report into the potential benefits and drawbacks of the reclamation project. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Bangkok Wed, January 13, 2016 A retired army general has been appointed to oversee the Thai government's response to falling rubber prices after the Cabinet promised subsidies for struggling rubber growers. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Wednesday that retired Army Chief of Staff Chatchalerm Chalermsuk was appointed president of the Rubber Authority of Thailand, which coordinates rubber policy in conjunction with the industry. The Cabinet on Tuesday agreed the government would buy as much as 200,000 tons of rubber from growers at up to 60 baht (US$1.65) per kilogram. The current market price of 34 baht ($0.94) per kilogram is a seven-year low. Prayut said it's likely the payments won't be far above market prices. The military government has been a vociferous critic of a rice subsidy program that was introduced by the civilian government it ousted in 2014. Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra goes on trial Friday on charges related to that program, which accumulated losses of several billion dollars. Thailand is the world's biggest exporter of natural rubber, which is tapped from trees and mainly used in tires. But demand has dropped, especially from its largest market, China, where economic growth is slowing. Thailand's production of natural rubber last year was about 4.3 million metric tons. Much of the money for the rubber purchases is expected to come from the budgets of several government ministries. Government agencies have been asked to look for uses for the rubber. Army Commander Gen. Theerachai Nakawanich said the military will use rubber in road construction in the south of Thailand and to "produce beddings for soldiers in every division throughout the country." Rubber farmers, mostly in southern Thailand, had been threatening protests unless the government came up with a solution to their financial problems. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security, Federica Mogherini, on Wednesday agreed to continue cooperating on future initiatives that could help appease the ongoing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In a talk on Wednesday morning, Retno and Mogherini discussed the current tensions and coordinated messages ahead of Retno's visit to Iran and Saudi Arabia. 'The high representative and the minister agreed on the need to reduce tensions in the region,' the EU said in a statement on Wednesday. 'They shared the view that the current tension could have important negative consequences, not only for bilateral relations but also for the region, the Syrian process and for Muslim communities all around the world, from Southeast Asia to Europe,' it added. Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia deteriorated after the latter executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr. Angered by the execution, Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in another city. The mounting tension ended in Riyadh's move to break off diplomatic relations with Tehran. Arab foreign ministers, with the exception of Lebanon, condemned in a Sunday statement what they called Iran's meddling in Arab affairs, the Associated Press reported. The ministers accused Iran of breaking international agreements by intentionally failing to protect Saudi diplomatic posts in a statement issued following a closed-door emergency meeting. (ebf)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The lawyer of former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto, Firman Wijaya, has confirmed that the Golkar Party politician would not abide by an Attorney General's Office (AGO) summons for questioning scheduled for Wednesday. 'He cannot yet fulfill the AGO summons because his summonsing was premature,' Firman said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Wednesday. The AGO had intended to question the Golkar deputy chairman over an alleged conspiracy surrounding gold and copper mining firm Freeport's contract extension negotiations, which involved oil tycoon Muhammad Reza Chalid. Firman said the AGO had previously sent a letter to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, asking for his permission to examine Setya. However, President Jokowi had not yet responded to the AGO's request, he said. 'The Attorney General [Prasetyo] has sent a permission request letter to President Jokowi. Why can't we respect our presidential institution? There is also a time limit on the issuance of the permit but why does the attorney general have such an attitude?' asked the lawyer. Firman further explained that in fulfilling a prosecutor's summons, a suspect was not required to appear at the AGO. He or she could respond to questions raised by prosecutors via a written statement. In its summons letter, the AGO said it would ask Setya about several issues related to the Freeport mining contract extension. Firman said, however, that it would be more appropriate for the AGO to seek information about Freeport's contract extension from Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said. Therefore, he said, it was likely that Setya would give the AGO a written explanation. Firman added that Setya was able to skip the questioning and give only a written explanation to the AGO because the investigation was still at a preliminary stage. 'Giving only a written explanation during questioning is allowed by existing laws. It's legal,' he said. A transcript of a recorded conversation between Setya, Freeport president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin and Reza, which was handed by Sudirman to the House's ethics council, suggested that Setya had promised to facilitate the extension of Freeport's mining contract ' set to expire in 2021 ' provided the company gave 11 percent of its shares to President Jokowi and 9 percent to Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Firman said one reason that Setya refused to attend the questioning was because he considered the audio recording, which was used as evidence in the AGO's investigation, to be illegal. 'The AGO is examining Pak Novanto based on an audio recording file we deem illegal. How can it examine someone based on illegal evidence?' asked Firman. During hearings for Setya's case at the ethics council in December 2015, several council members called into a question the validity of the transcript and audio recording. (ebf)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Novani Nugrahani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 A Shaolin theatrical performance is set to be held at the Ciputra Artpreneur Theater in South Jakarta on Feb. 19-21. Brought to the city by the China Performing Arts Agency Productions in collaboration with Bank Mayapada and Ciputra Artpreneur to welcome Chinese New Year, the Shaolin Warriors theatrical group is scheduled to hold five performances that will feature 18 traditional weapons and legendary martial art move Said to be born from the deep-rooted traditions of Shaolin monks in China, the group usually presents stories that evolve around the daily lives of the monks at Shaolin temples. 'It's an honor for us to be able to present a world-class performance from China that showcases not only the agility and exceptional ability of martial arts but also valuable Chinese Buddhism life virtues,' Mayapada Bank director Suwandy said in Jakarta on Wednesday. According to Ciputra Artpreneur president director Rina Ciputra Sastrawinata, the show would be an action-theatrical performance about a Chinese boy who went to study in a Shaolin monastery. 'I hope the Shaolin Warriors can give the audience a glimpse into the life of the Shaolin monks and their deep-rooted traditions,' said Rina. She added that she was optimistic the show would attract a wide-range of audiences, from Shaolin fans to martial arts enthusiasts. "We are aiming for up to 90 percent occupancy for all five performances," she said. The Shaolin Warriors show have reportedly performed in front of over 10 million people around the world. It has made appearances in many countries, including the US and the UK. (kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Beirut Wed, January 13, 2016 Siege and starvation have left the rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya in a nightmarish state not seen elsewhere in the country, a U.N. official who traveled there said Tuesday, as some 300 residents fled and desperately needed humanitarian aid arrived. The former mountain resort, besieged since last summer by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, came to international attention in recent weeks as reports of starvation emerged and activists shared images of emaciated children and old men widely on social media. Sajjad Malik, the U.N. refugee agency's chief in Damascus, told journalists that the "very grim" picture was the result of a blockade of food, medicine and other supplies that left the town in a "desperate situation." "There is no comparison to what we saw in Madaya," he said from Damascus by telephone to Geneva. "It is a place where you could see there are people, but there is no life... What we saw is something that was pretty horrible." Malik described seeing shivering, malnourished children and young adults, saying "most of them had not had bread or rice or vegetables or fruit for months." He said a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice would sell there for $300, and noted one account of one person selling a motorcycle to buy 5 kilos of rice. A day earlier, the U.N. said that about 400 people in the town's hospital needed to be evacuated immediately for medical treatment as starvation and other factors had left them on the brink of death. Syrian authorities, rebels and aid groups have yet to respond. The U.N. goal was to obtain safe passage to evacuate the 400 later on Tuesday. U.N. officials said it was too early to determine whether anyone had died of hunger. But the aid group Doctors Without Borders has said that 23 people died of starvation at a health center it supports in Madaya since Dec. 1, including six infants and five adults over 60. Various U.N. officials have described how locals had been forced to forage for food, such as risking walks in minefields to collect grass or cooking up "leaf soup," and were burning cardboard to stay warm in their homes. Madaya is not the only place in Syria suffering from siege, an age-old tactic of war that belligerents continue to use despite international laws banning it. The U.N. says some 15 municipalities across Syria are currently blockaded, with no one able to get in or out. Two Shiite villages in the north, under siege by rebels, face similar circumstances, with food and medicine scarce. Residents are said to be eating grass to survive and undergoing surgery without anesthesia. On Monday, convoys carrying food, medical and other supplies reached Madaya around the same time as another convoy arrived in the twin Shiite villages ' called Foua and Kfarya ' which are far more remote and difficult for media to access. The operation marked a small, positive development in a bitter conflict now in its fifth year that has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced millions of others and left the country in ruins. Another tiny improvement in Madaya came with the evacuation of some 300 civilians, mostly women and children, who left the town near the Lebanese border on foot and were then transported to government-run temporary shelters. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks both sides of the conflict, said the civilians had separately arranged with government forces to leave the city, with some heading to shelters set up in schools and similar places in the area and nearby capital, Damascus. The harshness of the recent starvation reports have underscored the urgency for newSyria peace talks that the U.N. is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25. The U.N. says 4.5 million Syrians are living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas and desperately need humanitarian aid, with civilians prevented from leaving and aid workers blocked from bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other supplies. Elsewhere in Syria, the official state news agency SANA said the army has seized "full control" of a strategic rebel-held town in the northwestern province of Latakia, a stronghold of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. SANA said army units backed by pro-government militiamen from the National Defense Forces captured Salma on Tuesday. Salma is in the mountains of Latakia province and is predominantly inhabited by Alawites. The SANA report, which would mark a significant military victory, could not be immediately confirmed. Opposition activists earlier reported fierce clashes between Syrian pro-government troops and insurgents in and around Salma. The situation for over 1 million refugees in neighboring Lebanon meanwhile appears to be worsening because of new residency laws. Human Rights Watch said the Lebanese laws are putting the refugees in danger by preventing them from renewing their residency, arguing that the policies "set the stage for a potentially explosive situation." The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, the New York-based rights group said in a report published Tuesday. Of the 40 refugees interviewed for the report, only two have been able to renew their residencies since January 2015. Last week, Lebanon forcefully repatriated 407 Syrians after they were left stranded at Beirut airport. Amnesty International called the action "an outrageous breach of Lebanon's international obligations." (kes)(+) ___ Keaten reported from Geneva. Cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie are seen at the launching ceremony of the creative landscapes of Shanghai Disneyland Resort in Shanghai, July 15, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] SHANGHAI - Shanghai Disney Resort will officially open and welcome its first guests on June 16, the Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group announced Wednesday. The resort will host a spectacular welcoming ceremony for the first group of tourists, part of a multi-day grand opening celebration, according to the developers. Construction of the resort, the sixth of its kind worldwide, started in 2011 with an investment of 34 billion yuan ($5.5 billion). The Shanghai Disney Resort will feature attractions unseen in five other Disney resorts worldwide, including ones based on Marvel comics and Star Wars, and others inspired by Chinese culture, according to a previous plan. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Wed, January 13, 2016 Your comments on the Indonesian Military's (TNI) call on the government to issue a special regulation on civic officials' working attire to ensure that only the TNI wears military-style uniforms: 'With more civilians wearing military-style uniforms, members of the military could be blamed for potential problems.' I'm not sure any civilian could carry out persecution, torture and rape as well as an authoritarian-backed TNI. Civilians don't have the support of a political oligarchy and are unlikely to commit such atrocities anywhere near as confidently as the TNI. Rest assured, boys, your reputation is secure. L. Millar Let's face it, Indonesia and its army of civil servants has had for a very long time a rather sick obsession with military-looking uniforms and signs of rank. This is not a thing of only yesterday but reaches back into the days of Suharto, who of course was fully in favor of that since it represented that basically everything connected with the machinery of the state was connected with the military. Another factor not to be dismissed is that the 'little people' of Indonesia do fear even today anybody who wears military-style uniforms and will never question such a person. This has already been abused many times by impostors trying to rip off some 'lowly' civilians. Gordon Freeman __________________________________ Topic of the day Suryadharma Ali verdict Suryadharma Ali is the second former religious affairs minister and chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) to be imprisoned for embezzling the haj funds managed by the Religious Affairs Ministry. Suryadharma was sentenced to six years' imprisonment, five years lighter than the sentence demanded by state prosecutors. What do you think? Send your thoughts by email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook. Include your name and city. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Hanoi, Vietnam Wed, January 13, 2016 Vietnam has dismissed China's accounts of its test flights to an island in disputed waters, saying it received no prior information as claimed by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman. China Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Monday that China's three test flights to Fiery Cross Reef ' one of seven South China Sea features where China had carried out extensive land reclamation ' were state aviation activities and had no restrictions under international law. Hong said that Beijing had informed Vietnamese aviation authorities and Foreign Ministry about them. Hong also said that Vietnam had failed to see "the professional, technical and civil nature of China's inspection and test flights." Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh rejected the statement as a "wrong position," saying Vietnamese authorities did not receive any information from China. He said in a statement posted on the ministry's website late Tuesday that China's flights had affected security and aviation safety in the South China Sea. Binh said the flights violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands, and demanded that China stop any future flights and refrain from such actions. China said it conducted three test flights earlier this month to the airstrip, one of the three built on artificial islands reclaimed by China over the last nearly two years. Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel Islands and the two along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan claim all or parts of the Spratlys, which sit on potentially oil and gas rich resources and occupy one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. China's recent increasing assertiveness has caused serious concerns among countries in the region and the United States, which backs freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea. (kes)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 13, 2016 The West Jakarta Prosecutors Office will continue to seek the maximum sentence of death for big players in the drug trafficking world. The West Jakarta Prosecutors Office head Reda Manthovani said on Tuesday that last year, his office handled 721 drug cases and sought the death penalty for 25 suspects, particularly for those who were involved in the trafficking of large amounts of narcotics. According to Reda, his office would seek the death penalty for at least 11 'big drugs suspects,' this year. "The people have sent tons of narcotics to Indonesia. They did not merely sell narcotics here, but even established a drug factory,' Reda said during a press conference. Many human rights activists have complained about his firmness against drugs suspects, Reda said, adding that he believed that firm action against the drugs traffickers should be implemented so as to protect young people from drugs. "Just imagine if one of the members of your family became a narcotics user,' said Reda. "China is a great country, but they were defeated because of opium. We don't want to be like that," Reda said, citing the history of China, a nation that was defeated by invaders during the opium war. He said that the West Jakarta Prosecutors Office had demanded the death penalty for Iwan Setiawan, who is accused of possessing 450 kilograms of marijuana, but the West Jakarta District Court chose to punish him with a life sentence. "We will file an appeal," Reda said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Wed, January 13, 2016 Indonesia invaded Papua simply to plunder the region of its agriculture, fishing, oil and mining. Indonesia is simply doing what the Dutch did in the region, making Indonesia no different. The Indonesian government and rich Indonesians get richer while Papuans remain poor, even though some Papuans are given jobs and a small wage so they can provide the workforce for the Indonesian industries within the region. Meanwhile Indonesia must keep a military presence in the region to counter any independence movement by the Papuan people. Here is some more news, at the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border they are not just using passports but also yellow laminated traditional border cards. The border is long and porous, difficult to secure and an artificial barrier to many tribal groups who live on both sides. For many years, Indonesia and PNG have allowed members of these communities to move back and forth. One of them is James Nunakru from Lido village on PNG's north coast, a 40-minute drive from the border. 'Those people who are living close to the PNG border often have relatives who are living on the other side of the border - we sort of have common, traditional ties,' said Mr Nunakru. 'That is why, even though Papua is ruled by Indonesia we still have those traditional ties and we still travel across for customary purposes and things like that, not using passports but using traditional TBC cards ' a traditional border card,' he said, showing me the yellow laminated card that gives him and other Papua New Guineans regular access to Papua province. Another source of cross-border traffic is the Free Papua Movement (OPM) whose members have long used PNG as a haven during the separatist conflict that has simmered in Indonesia for decades. Eddy Saf Jakarta Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, January 14, 2016 Former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto may skip the next summons from the Attorney General's Office's (AGO) for questioning in an investigation into Setya's alleged attempt to use his power to earn shares in gold and copper mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia, a lawyer has said. Setya's lawyer, Maqdir Ismail, said that for the time being, the Golkar Party politician would not answer any AGO summons for questioning. 'We will skip all AGO summons, though we haven't set a timeframe,' Maqdir told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday afternoon, implying that Setya's refusal to attend the AGO summons would probably be temporary in nature. On Wednesday, Setya skipped an AGO summons for a questioning relating to Setya's involvement in an alleged conspiracy also implicating tycoon Reza Chalid. "The basic principle of Pak Novanto's rejection lies in the fact that this summons is not pro-justitia in nature. The investigation is still at a preliminary stage, so we believe we have no obligation to fulfill the summons," Maqdir said. He insisted that the AGO should instead summon Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said and Freeport president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin. The AGO has probed Sudirman and Maroef separately. Earlier on Wednesday, Firman Wijaya, another of Setya's lawyers, said it was likely that the lawmaker would give the AGO written testimony, as he was entitled to do. Maqdir refused to elaborate on details of the written explanation Setya submitted to the AGO on Wednesday. A transcript of a recorded conversation between Setya, Maroef and Reza, which was handed by Sudirman to the House's ethics council, suggested that Setya had promised to facilitate the extension of Freeport's mining contract 'set to expire in 2021' provided the company gave 11 percent of its shares to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and 9 percent to Vice President Jusuf Kalla. (ebf) Some of the things happening on the Lower East Side today: Community Board 3s land use committee meets at 6:30 p.m. at Seward Park Extension, 56 Essex St. Among the items up for discussion: Proposals for the abandoned trolley station below Delancey Street. As you might recall, CB3 complained to the city about the boards lack of input before the Economic Development Corp. put out a request for ideas from developers. The leading plan for the space, of course, is the Lowline underground park. The 7th Precinct Community Council holds its monthly meeting tonight at 7:30. This is your chance to raise issues with Commanding Officer, Captain Steven Hellman. 19 Pitt St. (at Delancey Street). The New Museum today opens a new exhibition. Its the first new York show of artist Pia Camil. A Pot For a Latch will be in the lobby gallery. You can read more here. Well also preview the exhibition later today. Tonight from 6-8 p.m., Sargents Daughters opens a show of film, sculpture and a series of prints by Mathieu K. Abonnenc and Ektor Garcia. The gallery is located at 179 East Broadway. The Canadian rock band, Metz, plays Bowery Ballroom tonight at 9 p.m. Japanese P-3C anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft (File Photo) Japan has decided to boost its presence in the South China Sea in 2016 with patrol aircraft making transits in key locations along those waters, sources have told The Yomiuri Shimbun. According to the newspaper, the defense ministry and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) have decided that Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft would fly over the South China Sea to coordinate with U.S. Navy South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Operation in order to contain China. In response to Japan's latest movement, Zhang Junshe, a military expert, told the Global Times that Japan aims more at politics rather than military this time. "Japan wants to seek presence in the South China Sea and express their sincerity to the U.S.," said Zhang. The Japanese newspaper said that the P-3C aircraft have long been involved in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and they return to Japan every three months. In order to avoid airspace over the South China Sea, they usually refuel at bases farther away from the South China Sea, including Thailand and Singapore, the newspaper said. The newspaper also marked locations as refueling places in their return trips including Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, Palawan in the Philippines and Labuan in Malaysia. According to the newspaper, since the P-3Cs have advanced monitoring capabilities, their presence at these new locations will mean that they will conduct multi-detection of facilities on islands within the South China Sea. Fu Qiaoshao, an expert of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, told Global Times that P-3Cs may inform the U.S. of information they get in the South China Sea and China should pay attention to the issue. However, Zhang held the view that by doing so, Japan aims to restrict China with the U.S. "Japan does not aim to grasp situation about the South China Sea but to show its political stand and to express its support to some countries claims in the South China Sea, including the Philippines and Vietnam," said Zhang. Guangzhou's GDP was expected to reach 1.8 trillion yuan or 270 billion USD in 2015, catching it up with Singapore and Hong Kong. Its per capita GDP is expected to surpass 20,000 USD, which earns the city a place among high-income regions, said Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua at a meeting on Jan. 8. Thanks to the bolstering of service sector, both the GDP and per capita GDP in the city of south China 's Guangdong Province, reached new highs. Guangzhou's tertiary industries witnessed a 9.3 percent growth in added value in the first three quarters, higher than the GDP increase. At present, tertiary industries take up 66.1 percent of the total economic output of the city, higher than that of other cities, including Shenzhen. In terms of gross economy, Guangzhou is the third Chinese mainland first-tier city, following Shanghai and Beijing, to overtake Hong Kong; Beijing and Shanghai surpassed Hong Kong in 2009 and 2011, respectively. In addition, Tianjin and Shenzhen also have set targets to surpass Hong Kongs GDP, and are expected to achieve those goals in the near future. Compared to Singapore and Hong Kong as independent economic entities, Guangzhou is the core city of the Pearl River Delta, meaning it can rely on the city cluster of surrounding cities in economic development. Thus, Guangzhou will see more stable sustainable development, said Zhou Fangyin, a fellow at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Guangzhou has set a GDP target of 2.8 trillion yuan or 425 billion USD for 2020, with an annual growth of over 7.5 percent; the per capita GDP should amount to around 180,000 yuan or 27,000 USD. Experts said, to achieve these goals, Guangzhou needs to seek new growth engines. On the one hand it promotes the development of the high-end service sector, and on the other hand it should accelerate the construction of transport infrastructure and urban renewal. One of my heroes is the Welsh socialist Nye Bevan. His work in creating the architecture of the NHS remains one of the most cherished and accomplished policies of the twentieth century, and for good reason. It is hard to forget his admission: "The collective principle asserts that... no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means." It is hard to forget his admission: "The collective principle asserts that... no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means." Today, the values that Bevan held dear and the medical profession he loved are facing a severe threat. Not only is there vehement political opposition to the principle of a publically adminstered NHS coming from the Conservative Party, but the workers who form its blood, sinew and backbone are being forced by government to take on an unreasonable, maddening workload which spreads their skills, time and talents too thin. It is one of the inequalities of our world that workers in public services like the NHS undertake an excruciating workload for next to no recognition. So imagine their dismay when Jeremy Hunt announced changes to the contracts of junior doctors. In the new contract, they can be expected to work up to five consecutive 13 hour night shifts, despite the British Medical Association recommending a maximum of three, for serious health reasons. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the new contracts will undermine the ability of doctors to perform their duty of care properly. Lethargy and fatigue from the exhausting demands may cause fatal errors and lapses in judgement, for which the doctors will ultimately be blamed. But deprived of a chance to rest and recover, junior doctors cannot be expected to perform properly, and it is not their fault. In the end, something's got to give. And in this case, it's patient safety. Here's what everyone should know: despite government scaremongering, there is no relationship between a strike and the risk to patients' lives. In fact, the correlation is inverse: there is an obvious relationship between privatisation, changing contracts, and increased danger to patients. In truth the only person who is making the NHS more dangerous is Jeremy Hunt. Nevertheless Jeremy Hunt has claimed - overlooking the central role of dialogue in the decision to strike - "The right thing to do is talk and not put patients at risk." The strike debate has been disingenously presented as a conflict between the rights of doctors and the safety of patients: it's clear the two are not mutually exclusive. If doctors have to forego fair working hours, patients will be unsafe. Mistakes will be made and lives endangered. The new contracts are an atrocity against worker and patient safety. Nye Bevan supported a vision of the NHS where there is adequate funding for staff and services, rather than one where they are over-pressured and overworked. If doctors don't take some kind of action or strike then their profession is condemned to being decimated by ill-advised politics. Who will fight for a better NHS if not doctors themselves? It can't be left to politicians to decide what's best for the Health Service's future. It is far better to walk out and strike than to pretend like Hunt is that the government's policies are designed with healthcare's best intentions at heart. 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Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. TEHRAN/WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 -- Iranian troops have seized two U.S. Navy boats with 10 marines on board after the boats entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday. "At 16:30 (1300 GMT) Tuesday, two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement. The statement added that the U.S. marines are "in good health and being kept in a proper location." "Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces," it said. According to the statement, two aircraft carriers -- the USS Harry S. Truman and French Charles de Gaulle -- were both in international waters near Farsi island when the U.S. boats were captured. Earlier in the day, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that the two boats were captured by naval forces of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near Farsi island, 2 km inside Iranian territorial waters. Meanwhile, the NBC News quoted senior Pentagon officials as saying that it was unclear whether the American sailors who were aboard the small riverine boats, used by the U.S. Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters, had strayed into Iranian territorial waters before they were captured. The sailors were reportedly on a training mission moving between Kuwait and Bahrain around noon when their boats experienced "mechanical difficulty" and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been on the phone with Iranian officials in an attempt to gain the release of the American sailors. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured Kerry that the sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, a senior U.S. official said. The official said the Iranians understood that it was a mistake and had agreed to release the Americans in international waters within hours, according to NBC. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told U.S. media that the United States was monitoring the situation and "it's not entirely clear what happened." He added that the sailors were safe and were expected to be released by the Iranians without a long delay. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the U.S. military, after contact with Iran, had received assurances that the American crew and the boats would be "returned promptly." The incident occurred at a time when the United States is prepared to lift some of the sanctions on Iran in efforts to implement a historic deal reached last July on the Iranian nuclear program after prolonged diplomatic negotiations. But new tensions have flared up recently after the United States slammed what they called Iran's "highly provocative" actions of firing unguided rockets last month near U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf including the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. Iran denied the accusation. The incident also came hours before U.S. President Barack Obama, who has made the Iran nuclear accord a centerpiece of his foreign policy, was due to make his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. On Wednesday, the House was scheduled to vote on Republican-backed legislation that would give Congress greater oversight of the nuclear agreement, which Republicans have derided as a victory for Tehran. JERUSALEM, Jan. 13 -- The Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked "a terror cell" that was planting explosives in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, the army said in a statement. The Palestinian sources reported 1 killed, at least 3 were wounded in the attack, according to Israeli media report. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in the statement that earlier on Wednesday, in a joint operation with the Israel Securities Authority, an IAF aircraft targeted "a terror cell plotting to detonate an explosive device against IDF forces stationed along the border of the Northern Gaza Strip." "Forces guarding the Border with Gaza face a growing threat from hostile terror groups attempting to destabilize the situation on the ground," IDF Spokesman Peter Lerner said, adding that "The IDF will continue to protect the residence of Israel and the forces guarding them on the borders." Israeli farmers were instructed not to come near the border fence in light of the possibility of retaliation from the Strip. BEIJING, Jan. 13 -- China has warned Japan against taking any provocative actions on the issue of Diaoyu islands or to face the consequences. "China has every right to navigate and patrol in its territorial waters near Diaoyu Island," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said at a regular press conference Wednesday. He was responding to a question concerning Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga's comment on the issue Tuesday. "We call on Japan not to take any provocations or actions that may escalate tensions, or to face the full consequences," Hong said. With amazing captures by b. schwartz photography and event design by Tangerine Room Events , today's boho inspired elopement has me feeling so absolutely inspired!From the designer, "The jumping off point for the inspiration behind this dreamy, textured, elopement shoot was the Romantique by Claire Pettibone Cheyenne gown from Little White Dress Bridal Shop .""We wanted to show the versatility of the gorgeous black lace and how the gown can be highlighted in an airy and modern way, giving depth, richness and contrast to the other design elements around it.""From the looming, jagged rocks, to the tall blowing grasses and one of a kind cacti..." Phuket Opinion: Keeping Phuket's lucrative marine industry afloat PHUKET: Continued support of the Phuket International Boat Show, better known simply as PIMEX with its tens of millions of dollars of boats on display in the water at Royal Phuket Marina last weekend underlines the governments stance to advance Phukets lucrative marine industry. opinionmarinetourism By Chris Husted Wednesday 13 January 2016, 01:18PM Phuket's most of the elements lined up to make it an ideal cruising hub, but still needs more gov support. Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot This year, as in the renowned expos previous 12 editions, a plethora of companies offered a full range of marine services from the most basic to the most exquisite of water-borne services, and just as in years past these same companies will land a slew of new contacts that will lead to a host of valuable business being struck. That is what these companies come to do. They are not there just to look good; they need to make money and being seen at such a key regional expo is an effective way to meet their aim. But make no mistake, it is these key players who have advanced Phukets marine industry over the past decade, not the hordes of dithering bureaucrats who have yet to still figure how to make money from them. With, but mostly without, government support, these companies and the people behind them have developed Phukets fledgling marine industry to the major drawcard it is today. They have done so with business nouse, enthusiasm and sheer determination, and were by far the first to recognise that yachties had chosen Phuket as their home port, or at least as their main port of call. All credit to those in positions of power to wield change and who have publicly voiced their support to lure more major players to Phuket, but much more needs to be done. The proud announcement late last year of the first so-called license to operate superyacht charters in Thai waters was but a hollow echo to the lack of noise from brokers and superyacht operators who have yet to apply for such a license. Why has there been such a poor reaction to the apparent breakthrough? The answer might be more obvious than some might admit. The people who own and operate these stunning, elite yachts are savvy businessfolk, and they know a worthwhile deal when they see one. If you want to attract superyachts on which to build an entire sector of the marine industry, youre going to have to do a little more than cut a chunk of red tape. Tax breaks, reduced import duties and corporate incentives spring to mind, but there are other ways to lure these super-cruisers. Failure to do so will open the door to other locales in the region to advance. Bali is already on the superyacht itinerary, the Burma Banks are opening up, and the duty-free port of Langkawi remains just an overnight jaunt away. The Asean Economic Community has begun, and the smart competitors might well now use this to their advantage with government support. PM sets seal on fishing rules The government is tightening measures against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and tying up loose ends ahead of the European Unions inspection next week. animalsmarine By Bangkok Post Wednesday 13 January 2016, 09:23AM Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, in charge of the crackdown on illegal fishing, convinced the cabinet yesterday (Jan 12) to approve a list of government efforts which he will present to European Union officials next week. (Photo by Thanarak Khunton) During a cabinet meeting yesterday (Jan 12), Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon revealed a list outlining government efforts to clamp down on IUU fishing that will be presented to the EU delegation between Jan 18 and 22. Thailand was issued a yellow card last April for failing to tackle illegal fishing practices. The EU delegation, composed of inspectors and envoys, is expected to announce whether to rescind the yellow card or issue a red one at the end of the visit or soon after. A red card will mean an automatic EU import ban on Thai seafood products. Gen Prawit has called a final meeting between state agencies for tomorrow, to prepare for the visit. Im certain Thailand will pass the inspection, he said confidently. All agencies were ordered to implement measures laid down by the government by last Friday (Jan 8), as well as prepare necessary documents and information to present to the EU team. Among the measures introduced by the government since the middle of 2015, are a revised Fisheries Act which came into force last June and 31 related laws published in the Royal Gazette. Another 21 are about to be published. According to the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF), Thailand has inspected 317 fishing vessels operating in its territorial waters for signs of illegal fishing. The EU only required the authorities to examine 220, or 10 per cent of the total number of vessels in home waters. However, authorities have only inspected 43 vessels that operate in international waters out of a required 73. The EU also demanded that 10% of the countrys seafood processing factories be inspected or 81 factories. Of the 115 factories examined by the Fisheries Department, five were ordered to close for 10 days after they were found to have violated regulations. Three are facing permanent closure, while the Industry Ministry shut down another factory. An E-licence system for contractors will be finalised before Jan 30, the government says, while procedures to improve the issuing of licences and the monitoring of vessels in real-time and online were completed last month. A total of 2,076 trawlers out of 2,216 weighing more than 60 gross tonnes were equipped with Vessel Monitoring Systems. Authorities say they are making the presence of observers on board trawlers that weigh more than 60 gross tonnes mandatory. The Fisheries Department has trained these observers to detect unusual activities and could be deployed later this month. Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) has forwarded human trafficking cases to prosecuters. Among the 41 cases handed to them between October and December 2015, eight were directly linked to the fishing industry. The government has also joined forces with seafood enterprises, non-governmental organisations including Greenpeace and the International Labour Organisation and other governments through the signing of agreements. These include an agreement on migrant labour with Vietnam and Cambodia. In another development, the cabinet also approved a new ministerial regulation prohibiting children under 18 working in seafood processing factories. Previously children under 18 were allowed to work anywhere except in slaughterhouses, gambling dens and massage parlours, government spokesman Maj Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. Read original story here. Snake show where Chinese tourist bit ordered shut, other Phuket animal shows 'to get a visit' PHUKET: Chalong Municipality has shut down the snake show where a Chinese tourist was bitten on her nose by a reticulated python on Saturday (January 9) and vowed that other 'animal shows' in Chalong will be getting a visit soon. Wednesday 13 January 2016, 11:16AM News of the closure was confirmed yesterday afternoon (January 12) by Deputy Mayor of Chalong Municipality, Chettanasak Lukchan following an inspection of the facilities operated by Bio Technology Co on Soi Palai on the south of the island, where officials met with the company's general manager Kritiporn Phumikulshawn. Following the initial incident (video and selfie here), the company agreed to compensate the tourist for damages. In addition to earning money from snake charming and venom extraction shows, the company also sells herbal medicine and related snake venom products to tourists. Dep Mayor Chettanasak told The Phuket News that the aim of yesterday's inspection was to thouroughly check the validity of the operation by examining their respective permits. The inspection found that the company was unable to produce a valid permit for operating a snake show, and the company was also unable to supply a permit for building renovations, Deputy Mayor Chettanasak said. We have advised them to get the two permits and Ms Kritiporn said her company will do it as soon as possible. At this time we order them to shut down the snake show until they have supplied the permits. He continued Overall the area is equipped with safety equipment and procedures but I believed the incident happened because of recklessness of the animal caretaker who failed to take precautions when handling this wild animal. Even if the company has a permit for the show they still have to pay attention to other areas such as security, safety and public health because such incident tremendously damaged tourism image. Many animal shows in Chalong area such as the dolphin show and crocodile show will get a visit from us soon to stress safety issues and incident prevention. he added. A 16-year-old Chinese boy was recently diagnosed as having 90-year-old bones, Wuhan Evening News reported on Monday. The boy, nicknamed Xiaoyu, is a high school freshman in Hubei, a province in central China. He accidentally tumbled down and broke his femoral neck bone. After being taken to the hospital, he was told by the doctor that this sort of fracture usually only happens to elderly people, and there must be a reason for it since he was only 16. Xiaoyu also told Shen Xiantao, a doctor at the local hospital, that instead of getting taller he had gotten shorter by 3 centimeters in recent years. The doctor found that osteoporosis had made Xiaoyu's thigh bones weak and brittle, just like those of a 90-year-old man. A tumor was then found under the right side of Xiaoyu's parathyroid, which destroyed his osteoblasts. After surgery and treatment, the tumor was removed. According to Shen, it will take three to five months for Xiaoyu to walk again. But thanks to his young age, it is still possible for him to grow taller after his bones recover. A Chinese driver was sentenced to over eight years in prison for extortion after he demanded 4.5 million yuan ($685,000) in compensation from a food company, China National Radio reported on Tuesday. The man, named Li Haifeng, is a driver from Heilongjiang province in northeast China. He bought four bags of instant noodles produced by the company Jinmailang Beverage Co. Ltd in 2014. After consuming them, Li experienced abdominal pain and diarrhea. Later, he found that the product was over a year past its expiration date and its vinegar packet contained unidentified ingredients. When the company declined Lis request on the grounds that they are not liable for expired products, Li contacted an inspection agency, which then found that the vinegar packet contained excessive mercury. Jinmailang then offered to pay for the noodles and part of Lis phone bill, but Li countered with a penalty of 5 million yuan. Since no agreement was reached, Li posted the story on social media. Afterwards, Jinmailang reported Li to the police. In November 2015, the Peoples Procuratorate in Longyao county of Hebei province charged Li with extortion. The local court sentenced Li to eight years and six months in prison, along with a 20,000 yuan penalty. Li did not report the incident to relevant authorities and failed to provide direct evidence that proved his loss or linked his loss to the company before he demanded the compensation, explained Cao Guifa, the presiding judge in the case. In addition, the defendant used the companys reputation as leverage during the negotiation, which is unacceptable, Cao added. Cao said the court has already showed leniency, given that the involved company did not give into the blackmail. Exposure is one way to protect consumers rights, but there is a fine line between legal action and extortion, said Ruan Qilin, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law. Fabrication should never be allowed when exposing faulty products, he added. However, in Ruans opinion, the courts decision may be too harsh since Lis influence was rather limited. Lis mother has already appealed to the Peoples Court in Xingtai city, Hebei province. Fee for repeat offenders who don't mow grass could be increased Those who fail to keep their lawns cut are charged a $100 fee per incident for the city to cut their lawns. The council looks to increase this fee. A video showing a man on a motorcycle kicking down a pedestrian on a busy road in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province, recently went viral. In the video, a couple was crossing a street with heavy traffic, when a man riding a scooter passed behind the couple at a high speed and suddenly kicked the woman from behind. The woman fell down to the ground. The perpetrator sped away without a word. According to local police, the perpetrator, a 32-year-old Polish student studying in a Nanjing university, has been detained. The man was punished with administrative detention for three days. It can be seen from the video that this road's outer lanes were full of parked cars. Only two lanes in the middle were available for traffic. The couple did not use the crosswalk. A lot of netizens condemned the behavior of the kicking man saying that even the woman didn't use the crosswalk, she should be punished by the police. The man's behavior had put the woman into a very dangerous situation. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily contacted the victim, Ms. Xu, who said that the incident happened in the morning after she and her husband dropped their child off at school. The road was full of other parents parked cars. After Ms. Xu was kicked down to the ground, her knees and hands were bleeding. Apple plans to build 2,000 MW of clean energy facilities in China, most of which are solar facilities, said Liza Jackson, Apples Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, in an interview with the reporters from thepaper.cn on Jan. 12, 2015. Last year, Apple launched two large photovoltaic projects with a total of 210 MW in China. For its first photovoltaic project, Apple cooperated with the Zhonghuan Semiconductor to build two photovoltaic power stations of 40MW in total in Aba autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province. Moreover, Apple chose to cooperate with the same company and built three new energy photovoltaic projects with an initial installed capacity of 100MW, 50MW, and 20MW respectively in Inner Mongolia. The current installed capacity of 40MW can satisfy the energy needs of Apple's businesses, including all Apple stores in China, according to Jackson. She added that, with Apples efforts, its supply chains can have access to clean energy. Apple has a holistic environmental plan on clean energy, water treatment and waste treatment. Before you judge Jerry Hall, imagine a naked Rupert Murdoch. Hes standing in his boudoir, in the crumpled mound of a satin robe thats slipped off his shoulders. Mood music is thumping softly in the darkness, though nothing from Roxy Music or the Rolling Stones. A doctor has banned those groups from Murdochs mansion as they counteract the Cialis. Rupert puts a gold flute of Krug Clos dAmbonnay to his pursed lips and then offers a crooked smile. In the glow of his clock radio, he looks like a cross between Caillou and Gollum. Now consider this: Hall wants to spend the rest of her life with this image. You know what thats called? Love. This is why the world is wrong to react with ridicule and horror, as it did this week, when the couple announced they were getting married. A pox on you, Keith Olbermann, for retweeting the happy news and asking, Im hallucinating, right? Shame on you, author Maureen Johnson, for describing Murdoch as a money-stuffed scarecrow and child-frightener. The man also terrifies grown ups. We already know opposites attract, a romantic equation that can be used to explain why Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett once eloped. Or why one of the Olsen twins is now hitched to the banker half-brother of a former president of France: Cheri, as I regale you with my merger tales, tell me about this Full House, sil vous plait. Yes, on paper, Murdoch and Hall seem about as compatible as Gloria Steinem and The Rock. They have lived radically different lives over their combined 143 years. Not even Nostradamus could have predicted a union between the billionaire media mogul and the former supermodel whose previous beaus include Bryan Ferry and Mick Jagger, the father of her four children. And, yes, watching Murdoch wobble onto his tippy toes to plant a kiss on her cheek at a rugby game is an alarming and unexpected sight, like stumbling upon a baboon with a loaded pistol. But, no, this does not mean their love is shot through with dubious motives. If anything, theirs may be the greatest love ever known. It has to be. Only true love can account for why an 84-year-old wants to rush into marriage for the fourth time. Unprecedented chemistry is the only explanation for why a 59-year-old who once exclusively dated rock stars is willing to trade the go-go dancing carefree bohemia of her past for a future that includes shareholder meetings and afternoon naps. The jackals suggesting this is about money are dead wrong. Hall already has her own six figures. Sure, $15 million is probably an annual tea and crumpets line item in Murdochs personal budget, but its not as if Hall is waiting tables at a casino and buying hosiery at Walmart. Then there are the trust funds and the extensive list of heirs to Murdochs fortune. When the grim reaper eventually taps him on the shoulder, it is doubtful Hall would inherit more than a newspaper or two, and we all know how much those are worth these days. So clearly she is in this for the love. This isnt creepy or nauseating, as some are claiming. Its inspiring. Murdoch is with the woman he gazed at with amorous eyes when Hall was on magazine covers in the 70s. He had no chance back then. Now he may well spend the rest of his life with a fantasy. Frankly, it has renewed my own dream of standing at the altar and slipping a ring on Catherine Bach as she weeps under her veil and Daisy Dukes. And imagine how much Murdoch and Hall will learn, how much they will change, how much they will become like one another. Hall was once in the Collins Dictionary of Quotations after remarking, My mother said it was simple to keep a man. You must be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom. Now shell be keeping her man by spouting off on social media about radical Islam or unfair regulatory hurdles. Meanwhile, it wont be long until Murdoch pierces his ears, starts wearing leather pants and races around on a Harley with his tongue hanging out. Hes probably working on an album right now. This is a romance for the ages, regardless of their ages. That two people with absolutely nothing in common can attend the Golden Globes, announce their engagement via a classified ad and violate every rule of modern love means there is hope for all of us. vmenon@thestar.ca SHARE: WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama used his eighth and final State of the Union to make his case for the third term he wont get. Obama rose to power asking Americans to choose hope over fear. He did it again on Tuesday night though with some palpable fear of his own. The speech was part self-celebration, part demand for a better politics, part professorial analysis of the American future. Notably, it was also a detailed and very-thinly-veiled plea for Americans to reject the Republican candidates who would dismantle his legacy. None of them were named. Front-runner Donald Trump was the obvious target. Criminal justice Obama has largely given up on a Congress that has little desire to work with him as the 2016 election approaches. But he said he still has hope for reforming the criminal justice system: a bipartisan group, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, appears prepared to pass a landmark bill. Obama mentioned the proposal in the speechs first substantive paragraph. Who knows, we might surprise the cynics yet again, he said. Economy The U.S. economy has added private-sector jobs for a remarkable 70 consecutive months. Wages, though, have remained nearly stagnant since Obama took office, and much of the country hasnt reaped the fruits of the growth. Obama acknowledged economic changes have made a lot of Americans feel anxious. But he made a detailed case that things are much better than his critics say. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction, he said. Terrorism Obama talked tough about destroying the Islamic State. He also made clear that he sees the threat in a fundamentally different light than Republicans like Trump do. To him, ISIS poses an enormous danger to civilians, but does not threaten the existence of the country. Challenging Trumps description of America as crippled and weak, Obama said, The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Period. Its not even close. Its not even close. Its not even close. Guns Obama left an empty seat in First Lady Michelle Obamas box to acknowledge victims of gun violence. He let the seat do the talking. A week after his emotional and high-profile White House address on guns, he said the word only once. Muslims A good chunk of the speech served as a rejection of Trumpism. Obama mentioned only one religious group: Muslims, to whom Trump is promising to ban entry. When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong, Obama said. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country. The Obama legacy Obama, one of the most consequential Democratic presidents ever, broke from the triumphant tone to acknowledge one major failure: that the rancour and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. The man who campaigned on bringing Washington together, on hope, made an impassioned argument for a non-Trumpian politics of goodness and decency and optimism. As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background, he said. We cant afford to go down that path. Cancer In an episode of the television drama The West Wing, speech writer Sam Seaborn is despondent that a pledge to cure cancer was cut from his fictional State of the Union. Granting the late-term wish of Vice-President Joe Biden, who recently lost a son to cancer, Obama announced a Biden-led national effort to find a cure. He did not explain how. SHARE: ISTANBUL Turkish police have arrested five people suspected of direct links to the deadly suicide bombing that killed 10 Germans in Istanbuls main tourist area, officials said Wednesday. More than a dozen other suspected IS militants were detained Wednesday in other parts of the country and 59 a day earlier, but officials say they dont appear to be tied to Tuesdays attack just steps away from the Blue Mosque in Istanbuls historic Sultanahmet district. One suspect with a link to the attack was detained in Istanbul late Tuesday, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said during a news conference with his German counterpart. He didnt provide further details. Turkish media said police raided a home in an affluent Istanbul neighbourhood, briefly detaining one woman suspected of links to the Islamic State group, although it wasnt clear if she was the suspect Ala was referring to. The Hurriyet newspaper said the woman was detained because a mobile phone which she had reported stolen had been used to call the bomber. The paper said she was released after questioning. Hours later, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the arrest of four other people as part of the investigation. He didnt provide further details about them. Turkish authorities have identified Tuesdays bomber as a Syrian man born in 1988 who had recently entered Turkey, and officials say he had IS links. The Islamic State group, however, hasnt claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkish media, including newspapers close to the government, identified the bomber as Nabil Fadli and said he was born in Saudi Arabia. Ala confirmed reports that the bomber had registered with a refugee agency, providing fingerprints that allowed officials to quickly identify him, but said the suicide bomber wasnt on any Turkish or international watch lists for IS militants. This person was not someone who was being monitored, Davutoglu said. It is a person who entered normally, as a refugee, as an asylum-seeker. Davutoglu restated that the bomber was affiliated with the IS group, but claimed that other forces may have been behind the attack and were using the extremist group as a pawn. We are working intensely to find the true actors in the background who are using this terror organization, Davutoglu said, but didnt specify what actors he was referring to. The Turkish premier added that other countries fighting ISIS had to adopt a sincere stance and went on to accuse Russia of bombing schools and hospitals in the north of the country instead of fighting the extremist group. Asked whether Turkey could retaliate to the attack with aerial strikes, Davutoglu said: I say this clearly, we would respond to every attack directed against us with the force we see fit. The impact of Tuesdays attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkeys $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Turkish police on Wednesday arrested 13 more suspected IS militants, including three Russians, but it wasnt clear if those arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The state-run Anadolu Agency said 59 people were detained on Tuesday. The attack, which also injured 15 other people including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. On Wednesday, Davutoglu, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and other Turkish officials visited the site of the blast and placed carnations there. Germany sent a team of investigators to Istanbul on Wednesday from its Federal Criminal Police Office, which is comparable to the FBI, to support Turkish authorities investigating the attack. Germanys Foreign Ministry said the number of dead Germans in Tuesdays explosion had risen to 10, but de Maiziere said there was no sign that Germans were specifically targeted. According to the investigations so far, there are no indications that the attack was directed specifically against Germans, so there cant be any connection to our contribution to the fight against international terrorism, de Maiziere said. Germany promised Tornado reconnaissance jets to aid military effort against the Islamic State group in Syria following the November attacks in Paris, and they started flying missions from the Incirlik air base in Turkey last week. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. Germany already was helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in northern Iraq but has not taken a direct combat role. Ala urged Turkish citizens and visitors to go about their daily lives, insisting that the country had taken all necessary security precautions. He said Turkey had detained as many as 220 ISIS suspects in the week prior to the attack. De Maiziere also said: I see no reason to refrain from travelling to Turkey or for people already there to break off their vacations. Top German and Turkish officials already were scheduled to meet in Berlin next week to discuss Europes migrant crisis, in which Turkey which borders both Syria and the European Union is a key player. De Maiziere said those talks will now also address the determined fight against terrorism. If the terrorists aimed to destroy or endanger the co-operation between partners, then they achieved the opposite, de Maiziere said. Germany and Turkey are coming even closer together. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country would not make any further immediate changes to its travel advice for Turkey but could do so as the investigation into Tuesdays Istanbul bombing progresses. The Foreign Ministry advised Germans after the attack to avoid crowds in public places and outside tourist sites in Istanbul. The Russians were detained in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Ten other people were detained in Turkeys third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya. Nearly 3,000 Russians, mostly from the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, are believed to have gone to fight alongside IS militants in Syria. Families of IS recruits and human rights activists in the Caucasus have described Turkey as the main gateway to Syria for Russian fighters. Some ISIS fighters of Russian origin are believed to have left IS to settle in Turkey, families say. The victims of Tuesdays blast came from several different parts of Germany and included two couples. Regional authorities didnt identify them and gave ages only for some, ranging from 51 to 75. Joerg Manthei, a spokesman for Berlin-based travel agent Lebenslust Touristik, said all 10 of the Germans who were killed had booked their trip through its agency, as well as seven of the injured. Turkish newspapers printed words of condolence in German. With you in our hearts, the Haber Turk newspaper read. Your pain is our pain Vatan newspaper said. Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara. Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. SHARE: Canada needs a national portrait gallery. All the other kids in class, a.k.a. every self-respecting nation, have one. As our 150th birthday approaches in 2017, can we finally move ahead on this, Prime Minister Trudeau? At the moment, the highlight of 2017 so far appears likely to be free passes to our national parks, which is lovely, but your camping vacation shouldnt be the highlight of Canadas birthday year. I want a great and good place that tells us about the women and men who built this country. We have their portraits. As Charlotte Gray wrote in 2008 in a lament for the gallery that died before birth, we have 20,000 works of art, four million photographs, 10,000 medallic and philatelic works, and several thousand caricatures. She lists works by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Frederick Varley, life-size images of the four North American Indian leaders who visited the court of Queen Anne in 1710, a miniature of shy young Demasduit, one of the last of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland and thousands of Karsh prints and negatives. I dont know if weve commissioned grand portraits of Alice Munro and Arcade Fire but we should. Theres a very good private family portrait of the Mulroneys I once spotted in a photo. Might they donate it? I need a photograph portrait that mutely explains Stephen Harper. Yes, I have candidates. Its our story, filled with our people. A gallery was going to be built on the site of the former U.S. embassy facing Parliament Hill, but the Harper government killed the plan in 2007, saying it would be too costly, and then the idea travelled around the country and evaporated as intended. Many of the portraits would be of people we dont like, who ravaged our indigenous peoples, who set Canada on a bloody course. All the more reason to see their faces. In 2009 Stephen Harper shuffled them away into the national archives, the equivalent of barns and sheds, and the public will never see them otherwise. Museums and art galleries mean a great deal to me because I had none of them growing up in small towns across northern Canada, flat spaces with few built structures. It was Torontos Royal Ontario Museum that taught me that art might be a comfort in an unfriendly city. I dont know Ottawa well but on my brief trips for speeches and one terrifying job interview the kind where if you were offered the job youd bat it away with both arms, and then grow extra arms I always visited the National Art Gallery for succour. Galleries are anything you want them to be: chapels, classrooms, emotional hospitals, places to linger, to stand and stare. In this non-existent portrait gallery, I would think about my fellow Canadians, types (public servant, demagogue, wife of demagogue), outliers, obedient followers, animals (sled dogs, buffalo, the ones who made us great and whom we made suffer). Animals, why not. There are no rules for a portrait gallery, as Britains National Portrait Gallery shows with its many shapes and materials. A head filled with human blood? Check. A portrait of the back of the head? Check. In our gallery, give us faces woven of wool, faces of corpses, a hank of hair or whatever relics remain of Louis Riel, a collection of passport photographs from 1939, and class photos. Dont seek out dullness, as Canadians tend to. Subjects should be people of distinction but reprobates achieve that in their own way. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton has an astonishing pile of magnificent art that the now-impoverished Beaverbrook family tried to claw back from New Brunswick. They failed. It was there that I saw a show from the Heenan Blaikie art collection (the firm where Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien worked after leaving office). One oil painting, Crossing, of a woman crossing a street entranced me. It was windy. Her coat and hair flew behind her, her leather-gloved hand protected her face. She looked how I felt that day, trying to protect myself from a harsh city, and I identified with her completely. Barbara Pratts work would be an unconventional choice for the new gallery the womans face is hidden but it would be perfect. Women felt like this in 1995 and now. Might Roy Heenan donate the collection? The Harper era encouraged anti-intellectuals, it dropped bait for those people. But the new gallery would bring together intelligent people on the right, middle and left to celebrate the Canadian human. As 2017 approaches, lets get started. Read more about: SHARE: It was a Sunday morning in 2005, just after church, when a reliable source whispered to me: Would you like to find El Chapo Guzman? He is here, in Ciudad Juarez, and I know the address. From heaven to hell in 10 seconds. At the time, I was a correspondent for Mexicos most influential newspaper, specializing in reporting on transnational organized crime. My source was a reformed criminal with deep knowledge and access in one of the most important hubs for trafficking drugs, weapons and people across the U.S.-Mexico border; so I trusted him and drove to the address he gave me. As a precaution, I hid my camera and lenses in the back of my car, and opened the newspaper to the houses for rent ads to justify if necessary why I was driving so slowly in a wealthy part of a city that three years later would become the worlds most dangerous place. Drug kingpins usually are protected by peripheral checkpoints controlled by corrupt law enforcement officers tasked with flagging any suspicious vehicles. While approaching the destination, described as a green, two-storey corner house, with a discreet guard, and at least five SUVs parked around it, the initial excitement at the prospect of this enormous scoop, an interview with one of the most powerful drug lords in Mexico, turned into fear. My thoughts started to spiral: What happens if Guzman is really there? Can I take photos? How can I convince him or his guards 1) not to kill me, and 2) to give me an interview? What if this is an ambush and Im driving straight to my assassination? What am I doing here? Still, I kept driving. Being a journalist in Mexico is dangerous. According to the National Human Rights Commission, between January 2000 and May 2015, at least 100 journalists were assassinated, 21 more disappeared, 45 media venues were attacked, and dozens, like me, fled the country. Among those murdered, I personally met or worked with seven victims, including close friends. Meanwhile, PTSD skyrocketed among those who survived and stayed, as Canadian researcher Anthony Feinstein has documented. Overwhelmed by depression after years of covering the war in Ciudad Juarez, my friend Jorge Chairez, a great journalist and a devoted father of two girls, took his own life last June. For all of these journalists, myself included, Sean Penns recent interview of El Chapo in Rolling Stone magazine was an insult. Journalists in Mexico take on mortal risks because the work they do is vital. Their reporting keeps power accountable in a country ranked low in transparency and high in impunity. Last August, reporters exposed the white house, a US$7-million property custom-built for President Enrique Pena Nieto and his wife. Both plot and construction were paid for by a company that won hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts during Mr. Pena Nietos state and federal terms. After an investigation by a comptroller appointed by the president himself, no wrongdoing was found, but social outrage already exacerbated by the disappearance of 43 college students in September 2014 was manifested in the midterm election. For the first time in the countrys history, an independent congressmen and an independent governor were elected. What does Sean Penn know of the sacrifices of these journalists or the gains theyve fought so hard to make? Neither Penn nor Kate del Castillo, the celebrity who arranged the meeting with El Chapo, is a journalist. Both are actors and sometimes activists, period. Their meeting with Guzman was more of a social gathering, a grotesque make-a-wish for a powerful criminal. Anxious to consolidate his legacy within the narcocultura with a movie about his life, Guzman reached out to Castillo, an actress who achieved international success playing a drug kingpin on TV. It was the reality and fantasy of drug trafficking united, in pure Mexican surrealism, not investigative journalism. Rolling Stone also failed. Why present the encounter as a journalistic interview? To call it what it was the spectacle of a meeting between the beauty, the beast and the gringo would be less insulting for all the victims of violence ordered by Guzman, his friends and foes. After a 20-minute drive, I came upon the house where my source told me I would find El Chapo. It was empty. I called my informant but he never responded, never again. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Guzman or any other criminal had been in that green house that Sunday morning. Maybe I wouldnt be here to write about it. Luis Najera is an editor for Toronto Star Touch. He received the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression International Press Freedom Award and the Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammet Award for his reporting on the Mexican drug trade. Read more about: SHARE: Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener. Until oil prices stabilize, don't expect any meaningful relief in the stock market, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers Tuesday. That may seem counter-intuitive, Cramer admitted, but that's the market we find ourselves in. Simply put, lower energy costs should be a boon for corporate America and the stock market. Cheaper gasoline means consumers have more money to spend at retailers and restaurants. Companies that use energy, from plastics to trucking, should also prosper from lower costs. In fact, just about our entire economy benefits from cheaper oil prices. So why do stocks fall on every decline in oil? Well, it's largely because of the oil sector itself, Cramer explained. As oil prices fall and production declines, the oil companies are in for a world of pain. Even the oil pipeline companies, which were billed as toll roads immune to the price of oil, are finding that lower prices means less oil being drilled and less product traveling along the pipes. While many pundits expect oil prices to quickly rebound, Cramer said his experts tell different story, one where oil prices remain at historic lows for years. Over the long run, the benefits to our economy from cheap oil will extend far beyond just airlines and cruise ships, Cramer concluded. But over the short term, the markets just won't find a bottom without some stability in oil. Executive Decision: Andrew Liveris In his "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer spoke with Andrew Liveris, chairman, president and CEO of Dow Chemical (DOW) , to discuss his company's proposed merger with DuPont (DD) , especially given that Dow shares have now fallen below $45 a share. Dow is a holding in Cramer's charitable portfolio, Action Alerts PLUS. Liveris was celebrating the inauguration of a new facility in Freeport, Texas, which converts propane from shale gas field to propylene, a vital feedstock for many other products and chemicals. Liveris said the Dow facility is the largest of it's kind in the world. Alongside that facility is a new innovation center, Liveris continued, where over 900 scientists will work under one roof to develop sustainable solutions. When asked about the merger, Liveris noted the $3 billion in synergies the combined companies will have. He said Dow is affected by China and other global markets, but the current negativity will pass, allowing the combined companies to flourish. Finally, when asked whether the U.S. is now the world's cheapest producer of natural gas, Liveris said the only place to find cheaper gas is in controlled markets, and those markets are rapidly converting to free-market pricing like ours. Stick With Darden "Do your own homework," Cramer reminded viewers, as he opined on the news that activist investor Starboard is trimming its stake in Darden Restaurants (DRI) . Cramer said those investors who bought Darden simply because Starboard got involved should probably follow them out. The smart investors, the ones who did their homework, know the recent weakness is a reason to buy. Cramer said it's important to know what you own and why you own it. In the case of Darden, the story is all about new management with new ideas and the tailwind of cheap gasoline adding to consumers wallets. Activists, however, get involved for different reasons that have nothing to do with your own portfolio. Cramer noted Starboard also got involved with Macy's (M) last year, prodding the company to convert its real estate to a real estate investment trust. Investors who blindly followed have gotten crushed, as Macy's decided not to convert its real estate, then got crushed by a warm winter and strong competition from Amazon.com (AMZN) . If you don't have time for homework, buy an index fund, Cramer concluded. Don't blindly follow activists that have different agendas and time horizons. Cramer's Mea Culpa With the markets fretting over commodity deflation, China and the Federal Reserve, now is the wrong time to be speculating on stocks, Cramer told viewers. Which is why he issued a mea culpa for his recommendations of Fitbit (FIT) and Alcoa (AA) . Back in December, Cramer interviewed Fitbit's CEO and declared it would be a Fitbit holiday with the company winning big in the consumer and corporate health markets. Cramer also recommended Alcoa, as recently as yesterday, on the company's coming breakup this summer. But Cramer admitted that what he failed to appreciate was the current market environment, which is one that is showing no mercy for even the best-of-breed companies, and is decimating speculative stories like Fitbit and Alcoa. Cramer said he's still a believer of both companies over the long term, but now is not the time to be buying these stocks. Lightning Round In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Delta Air Lines (DAL) , Cedar Fair (FUN) , First Solar (FSLR) , Starbucks (SBUX) , FedEx (FDX) and Celgene (CELG) . Cramer was bearish on EMC (EMC) , Hawaiian Holdings (HA) , Canadian Solar (CSIQ) , Dunkin Brands (DNKN) , Atwood Oceanics (ATW) , Diamond Resorts (DRII) , Celldex Therapeutics (CLDX) and United States Steel (X) . Executive Decision: Stanley Erck In his second "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer spoke with Stanley Erck, president and CEO of Novavax (NVAX) , the vaccine maker whose stock has fallen a full 20% in 2016. Erck said Novavax had a terrific 2015 and is continuing down the same path for 2016. He explained that after two positive Phase II trials for their RSV vaccines last year, they just need to replicate those results in the Phase III trials currently underway. Erck continued Novavax vaccinated 11,850 patients last month and will being compiling data from those patients in the third quarter. He said the company is on a "predictable path" and doesn't expect any surprises. Cramer said that eventually the negativity in the markets will pass and companies that are doing well, like Novavax, will once again prosper. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a position in DOW and SBUX. Worried about the topsy-turvy markets? We've found an income stock with great growth prospects, attractive valuations and a high dividend. Let's examine why Reynolds American (RAI) is a safe, high-yield opportunity for investors beset by uncertainty. Reynolds American is parent to a number of entities: the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, American Snuff Company, Niconovum and the R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company. RAI data by YCharts As the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S., Reynolds boasts of several iconic brands (such as Newport, Camel, Pall Mall, Natural American Spirit), as well as snuff (including Grizzly and Kodiak), nicotine replacement therapy products under the ZONNIC brand name and VUSE e-cigarettes. The company generated $8.47 billion in revenue in 2014 and is expected to report $10.64 billion for 2015. On average, analysts expect Reynolds American to log adjusted earnings per share of $1.99 for 2015, up from $1.71 in 2014. The stock has risen on the company's earnings growth, and on expectations that growth will accelerate. For the past five years, average annual earnings growth has been 9.87%, but on average, analysts estimate growth will average 13.35% in the next five years. For 2015, analysts are predicting 16.4% growth in adjusted earnings. Truth is, none of this company's peers/rivals possesses growth momentum that's as sharp and turbo-charged. Philip Morris International (PM) is expected to see EPS decline by 12% in 2015, and the analyst consensus is for EPS to grow just 3.8% in 2016. Analysts predict annual EPS growth to average around 3.39% over the next five years. Altria Group (MO) is expected to see better growth than Philip Morris but not as much as Reynolds American. On average, analysts expect average annual earnings growth for Altria of 8.5% over the next five years. Reynolds American's growth prospects have generated lots of interest from investors over the past year. Trading Wednesday morning at around $48.16, the stock is close to its 52-week high of $49.56, but there should still be steam left in this stock. That's why it belongs to a group of high-yielding gems that will generate lasting income in 2016. Reynolds American's price/earnings-to-growth ratio (used to determine a stock's value while considering company's earnings growth) is also indicative of its robust capacity. Reynolds currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.82, compared with 5.95 for Philip Morris, 2.49 for Altria and 2.73 for British American Tobacco (BTI) . That valuation gap in itself is reason enough to pick up shares of Reynolds American. In terms of dividend creation, Reynolds American scores very well, fetching you a 3.00% yield, a 72.0% payout ratio and a dividend that has grown for six years. The median 12-month price target of analysts covering this stock is $51.50, which suggests Reynolds American can still gain nearly 7% from current levels. No wonder hedge fund Park Nationalmore than doubled its position in Reynolds American during the fourth quarter. In conclusion, a look at the numbers suggests that given its all-around capabilities (including natural cigarettes and vapor products), Reynolds American is probably the best tobacco stock to own at this time. Did you also know you could be investing in a publicly traded, perfectly legal investment loaded with tax breaks and delivering safe, out-of-this-world yields? I'm talking about cash cows that yield 8%, 9% and 10%. And you don't have to be a zillionaire to pull this off. You don't even have to be in a high tax bracket. Find out how you could be getting high yields, explosive growth AND tax-free income today. Click here to learn more. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. The new year has brought new lows for crude oil, as it drops to the lowest it has in a dozen years. Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange is threatening to breach the $30 per barrel mark on the downside once again in less than a week after recovering slightly. This has triggered fresh estimates by analysts about the commodity falling to $20 per barrel. Still, for investors looking long range, there are sound investment options. Oil will inevitably rebound and when it does, share prices for many oil and gas and related companies will increase. Meanwhile, amid the market's volatility and plummeting energy prices, many dangerous stocks are poised to collapse in 2016. If you own them, sell them now. A host of factors have worked against crude over the past couple of years, but the primary development has been a simple closing of the gap between world supply and demand. Below, we look at where oil prices are heading and examine a few specific ways for investors to play the trend. Over the past couple of decades, the U.S. has gone from being a country reliant on crude oil imports to increasing self-sufficiency in crude oil reserves, tipping on the side of a surplus. This is a byproduct of new techniques in oil exploration like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. U.S. shale oil production has spiked. At the same time, the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC), headed by Saudi Arabia has continued to pump oil at a dizzying pace, absorbing resulting financial losses in a bid to protect market shares. At the recent OPEC meeting in Vienna, Saudi Arabia expressed concerns about losing market shares if it would agree to cut down on production while other producers maintained their levels. Instead, the group decided to up the ceiling of its daily output by 5% to 31.5 million barrels to counter Iran, another oil producer which heavily depends on oil exports for its revenues. While supply continues to burgeon, demand is not at its feverish pace a few years ago. When crude was scaling new peaks in 2007-08, it benefited from the insatiable demand from China, one of the biggest importers of crude oil and other commodities. After recording over 10% annual growth for decades, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the Asian giant has dipped to under 7% currently, on the back of weak global demand for its manufactured goods post the Great Recession. The debacle of the Chinese stock market and manufacturing sector in the second half of 2015 and last week has given more credence to continued, weak crude oil demand and expectations. The upshot: Several overvalued stocks are poised for collapse this year. This demand supply mismatch has led to storage units bursting at the seams with crude oil stockpiles. According to the Energy Information Administration, inventories of crude oil have reached eight-decade highs, last seen in April. Can 2016 bring some respite to crude oil? While some analysts are expecting prices to recover from these levels soon, 2016 may not be the year when they stage a rally. Significant headwinds still remain which will exacerbate crude oil's struggle to reach higher on the price chart. Sanctions on Iran which restricted crude oil exports will likely be lifted early this year as it has reached an agreement with several countries under which it will not manufacture nuclear weapons for at least a decade. Once the ban is lifted, the market is expected to be flooded with even more oil in addition to that of the U.S. and OPEC countries. With China expected to experience muted growth through 2020, it is unlikely that the country will prove to be the reason that prices rebound. Also, as long as the U.S. dollar continues to remain strong or strengthen further, crude will languish at low levels. As oil is priced in U.S. dollars, a strong dollar against other currencies only makes crude oil more expensive for importing countries. According to report from Morgan Stanley , continued strengthening of the dollar would shave off another 10%-15% of crude oil prices. That makes it likely that several shaky stocks will stumble badly in 2016, and not just in the energy sector. For the long term, however, it's not all bleak. According to the World Oil Outlook 2015 published by OPEC, global energy demand is seen rising over 50% through 2014, with oil and gas expected to supply 53% of the global energy mix by 2040. In the medium term, oil demand will rise from 91.3 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2014 to 97.4 mbd by 2020, an upward revision from 96.9 mbd expectations of the 2014 Outlook report. Also, geopolitical tensions have a tendency of wreaking havoc in oil markets. While the current tensions may not have affected prices in a market facing a supply glut, they can crop up any time, even in a market facing a supply deficit. Saudi Arabia has already severed diplomatic ties with Iran after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran post the execution of activist Shaikh Nimr Al Nimr. Thus, the recovery is expected to be more gradual than sudden, with the possibility of crude oil prices still having to find a bottom this year, before commencing their rise. It might therefore be a good time to lap up shares of major energy companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell, which have already suffered a blow to stock prices with further downside expected this year. These companies have strong fundamentals that hold up in weak markets like this one, so for long-term value investors with a horizon of 5-10 years, these energy stocks may very well be attractive investments. Meanwhile, oil refiners and marketers such as Valero Energy can continue to benefit from the rout for a little while longer, because cheaper crude lowers their costs and boosts their margins. If a correction or terrorist attack occurs in 2016, there's a group of stocks that will hit the skids and never recover. Click here for a free report that lists the dangerous stocks you should sell immediately. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Volkswagen (VLKAY) were trading lower on Tuesday afternoon after California turned down the German automaker's proposal to recall vehicles affected by the emissions scandal. The proposal was designed to fix 2009 to 2015 diesel-powered vehicles containing defeat devices that allow emissions to exceed the legal amount. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) rejected the recall plan because it lacked sufficient details and did not address issues, such as vehicle performance, emissions or safety. Volkswagen CEO Matthias Muller will meet with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, Reuters reports. "We are committed to working cooperatively with CARB and other regulators, and we plan to continue our discussions tomorrow when we meet with the EPA," the company told Reuters. Volkswagen stock closed slightly higher today, up 0.11% to $27.88. VLKAY data by YCharts Constellation Brands' (STZ) stock can go higher, driven by strong demand for its beer brands. In the one-year period, shares of Constellation Brands are up 38%. Last week the company (responsibly) celebrated another great quarter. The company reported third-quarter fiscal 2016 earnings of $1.42 per share, reflecting a 15% jump in operating income. The quarter was 12 cents better than the consensus estimate. Revenue rose 6.4% to $1.64 billion vs. the consensus forecast of $1.62 billion. The better-than-expected revenue was driven by higher wine sales and lower cost of goods sold. Profits rose 22% to $270.5 million. Management raised its annual guidance to $5.05 to $5.15 from $4.73 to $4.93 previously. While the quarter was impressive, investors focused their attention on the "beer depletion" numbers. In the third quarter, beer depletion rose 16.5%. Given a beer shipment number of 6.6% in third quarter, it seems demand for the company's beer (like Corona Extra and Modelo Especial) is outpacing the company's capacity to ship. The company is scrambling to meet the soaring demand for Mexican beer brands and craft beer names. A little over two years ago, the company acquired to the rights to 10 Mexican beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) . Because of those acquisitions, Constellation has become the third-largest U.S. brewer. Shipments of Modelo Especial grew 20% and boosted net beer sales to $831.3 million from $768.1 million. Beer volume is expected to increase 12% to 14% from last years 10% to 12% volume growth. The acquisition of Meiomi added $34.7 million to wine and spirits revenue in the third quarter. Foreign exchange cost the company 2%. Last week, Constellation announced its would construct a new brewery in Mexicali, Mexico, near California, its largest market. California accounts for about 25% of beer volume. The company plans to complete the first half of the plant construction by the end of 2019. Following an estimated growth rate of about 15% in fiscal 2016, sales are expected to grow 15% to 17% next year. Growth is being supported by strong demand for the company's beer brands, increasing market share and new product launches. Operating margins are expected to widen as the company shifts more production to its state-of-the-art breweries that came with the InBev deal. After Constellation reports its February quarter, expect the analysts to hike their price targets to around $180 from $160, which would be 30 times fiscal year 2017 estimates of $6.09. With solid demand, strong execution and expanding margins, shares of Constellation Brands can go higher. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. His arrival at the White House in the midst of one of America's worst financial crises in decades has made the economy a focus in Barack Obama's presidency. In each of his State of the Union addresses, the topic has been central and last night was no exception. Eloquent as always, Obama had some zingers about the economy -- and we unpack them here: Is what he said true and what does it all mean? Obama's future-facing address was more relaxed than in years past, even though the American public he is facing is not exactly a satisfied one, perhaps especially on the issue of the economy. "I think that it was very obvious that the president was trying to strike a balance between pragmatism and idealism," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at consumer financial services company Bankrate. Obama at times injected comedy into his address, noting some in the crowd (namely, presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio) were "antsy to get back to Iowa" and acknowledging that "we won't agree on health care anytime soon." At other times, he went for more sharper jabs at his audience. "It's not much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting in this chamber," he quipped before discussing his views of Social Security and Medicare. Some of Obama's most memorable lines of the night came with respect to the economy. Here are three of the president's State of the Union economic zingers, unpacked. "Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction." President Obama's economic record has been highly scrutinized by the right, and as the presidential race heats up, criticism has grown even sharper. He acknowledged that the economy's transformation in recent years, driven by technology and globalization, has caused anxiety among America's working class -- a potential nod to Donald Trump's broad base of white working-class supporters. However, he touted his administration's record on work, which he said includes more than 14 million new jobs, an unemployment rate cut in half, nearly 900,000 new manufacturing jobs and the best year on record for the auto industry -- all while cutting deficits by almost three-quarters. As he has done in the past, Obama embellished the statistical record of his presidency in relation to the economy, according to FactCheck.org. And while it's not spiraling out of control, progress hasn't been quite so sunny, either. The 14 million new jobs are probably actually more like 9.3 million when measured from the start of Obama's White House tenure. And those 900,000 manufacturing jobs? That's measuring from the depths of the job losses, more than a year into his tenure; the economy has actually lost 230,000 manufacturing jobs since he took over. And the deficit cuts are closer to two-thirds. And even though job growth has been steady in recent years, many Americans still aren't feeling the effects. "The fact that real wages have not improved for most Americans in recent years obviously weighs heavily on the psyche of the American electorate," Hamrick said. "Food Stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did." "I have a feeling that in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do when the economy tanks, they will be blaming immigrants and poor people," muses Steve Carrell, playing hedge fund manager Mark Baum, at the close of the 2015 film The Big Short about the 2008 financial meltdown. It appears Obama saw the movie -- or at least channeled it on Tuesday, with a bit of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' anti-big-bank rhetoric thrown in. "Food stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did," he said. "Immigrants aren't the reason wages haven't gone up enough, those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns." According to Politico, Obama's food stamp-Wall Street line was among those to generate the most comments on social media, especially ringing a bell among women. Yet, as Hamrick noted, the consequences for many of the financial crisis' worst offenders have been minimal. "It's difficult to understand how at once the president can vilify the financial stystem and have a track record associated with his own Department of Justice that has not produced results consistent with his criticism," he said. The president's immigration mentions didn't strike as much of a social nerve during the State of the Union, but the issue has been predominant in the 2016 presidential race, especially as Trump has called for the deportation of all illegal immigrants and a ban on Muslim entry into the United States and as others, including Ted Cruz, have claimed immigration drives down wages. On the immigration issue, it appears Obama may be in the right: Numerous studies show that immigration is likely good for the economy and for jobs. "Gas under two bucks a gallon ain't bad, either." Energy companies and their investors have been lamenting oil's price drop for months, and as crude prices dipped below $30 a barrel for the first time in more than a decade this week, the scenario for the oil industry looks even bleaker. On Tuesday, Obama chose to look at the bright side of things -- gas prices. "Gas under two bucks ain't bad, either," he said. Low prices at the pump translated to record travel numbers during the holiday season and have contributed to huge profits for airlines. What's more, there are indications that gas prices could fall even lower. The environmentally conscious Obama Tuesday boasted that imports on foreign oil had fallen by nearly 60% and pushed for an accelerated "transition away from dirty energy." He acknowledged the toll low oil prices and a focus on sustainable energy will take on communities that rely on fossil fuels and promised to push to "change the way we manage our coal and oil resources" to put money back into communities and put people back to work "building a 21st century transportation system." The president's optimistic words on low gas prices and the overhaul of the oil and coal industries may be a bitter pill to swallow for workers in the sector losing their jobs right now. Just hours before Obama's address, oil producer BPannounced plans to slash more than 4,000 jobs globally over the next two years. The company has operations in several U.S. states, including Texas, Alaska and Wyoming. In 2015, more than 2,000 people in the state of Colorado alone lost jobs due to falling oil prices, and last year, industry consultant Graves & Co. estimated that falling oil prices had led to the layoff of more than 250,000 workers worldwide. "I didn't hear anything about the...jobs that were lost in the energy sector last year. He did seem to acknowledge the pain in coal country, but sort of suggested that it's the failure of the people who live in those communities to embrace clean energy. Whereas, if you live in a coal mining community in Appalachia, I don't know what your path to embracing solar energy is," Hamrick said. Barack Obama promised change -- the change we can believe in, the change we need, in the words of a 2008 campaign slogan. For people with student loans, the change theyve seen has not been what they hoped for. Loans have become more expensive, and there are now many more people with them--43 million today compared with the 29 million when Obama was first elected. As of last July, nearly 7 million Americans with student loans hadnt made a payment on their federal loans after 360 days. That works out to about 17% of all borrowers with federal loans. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student debt has tripled in the last decade as Obama enters his eighth and final year in office. The Democratic National Committee email blasted its constituents urging them to turn on Tuesday night's State of the Union address, the last before Obama leaves office, with the tag line, "It's Time To Get Fired Up to Finish the Work We Started! Meanwhile, Higher Ed Not Debt, a student organization that is part of Generation Progress, set up a blast of its own, taking to Twitter to kick off the In The Red Campaign, employing the hashtag #InTheRed. The fear was that student loans werent going to make the cut in Obamas shortened address. President Obamas final State of the Union Address is on tonight, the Twitter message said. There are 43 million of us with student loans, and the student debt crisis deserves more than just a passing mention, read a statement that seemed to temper anger with diplomacy. College costs continue to rise, our current student debt is unmanageable, and politicians have yet to take meaningful action to reform higher education financing, In The Red said. Legislators need to have a plan for the student debt crisis and we need to make them hear our stories. Thus far, the Twitter screed is all they wrote; there is no website yet. "At this point we have a blog post up with action items at http://higherednotdebt.org/blog/inthered, said Charlotte Hancock, digital director at Higher Ed, Not Debt. "No overall site, as of yet." While First Lady Michelle Obama invited two people to serve as poster children for the student loan crisis, In The Red enlisted the support of at least nine Senators to their cause, including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). Like the First Lady, they brought students and student loan borrowers to the State of the Union as part of the #InTheRed kick-off. In the run-up to the address, the Senators stumped for #InTheRed, describing the effect the student loan crisis is having on the American economy. "Were thrilled to have worked with these senators to launch the #InTheRed campaign," said Maggie Thompson, campaign manager of Higher Ed, Not Debt. "Since student loan debt passed $1 trillion in 2012, the need for solutions for student loan borrowers has only grown, and this campaign draws attention to this critical issue in a big way. More needs to be done--over the past year alone, student debt has increased by over 100 billion dollars. Many have found Obama's higher ed policies disappointing to say the least, from the botched handling of the Corinthian College crisis to the cringe-worthy College Scorecard and the embarrassing attempt to tax 529 College Savings accounts, a decision the White House had to reverse days after it was announced. When the spectacle of In The Red's Tweetstorm is stripped away, what's the underlying message? Is it and attempt to encourage the Obama administration to improve its efforts to relieve students of their student loan debt burden, a vote of no confidence or a warning to Democrats in general? "The big picture goal of the campaign is to raise awareness and encourage a long-overdue conversation across the board about student debt as a national issue, not just within the halls of Congress," said Kyle Epstein, spokesperson for Higher Ed Not Debt. "Twitter has served as a great platform for this as the hashtag was trending during the peak of the tweetstorm. The timing of the #InTheRed launch has to do with the role that we hope student debt will play in the State of the Union address, and getting the senate Democratic caucus on board with that goal has really given the campaign an added boost." By the time #InTheRed got its message off the ground, its likely that Obamas speech was in its last draft. Obama did mention the reduced payments on federal loans that can be had through the complicated PAYE and REPAYE programs and his plan for free community collegeone thats unlikely to see the light of day. But as Harry Truman might have in another context and a different time, the buck stopped there. Shares of American Express (AXP) are down over 1% Wednesday after a downgrade to neutral by Goldman Sachs. Analysts assigned a $72 price target. The stock currently trades around $64. Goldman Sachs had been a supporter of American Express, TheStreet's Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, said on CNBC's "Mad Dash" segment. But now the analyst "lowers the hammer," he said, adding Goldman also cut the company's earnings estimates. Too many analysts underestimated the impact of American Express losing its long-running deal with Costco Wholesale (COST) , partly because management continued to tell investors it was not economical to re-up the partnership, according to Cramer. Right now, management is too "sanguine," Cramer said, adding the company's executives aren't doing enough to right the ship. Shares are down nearly 30% over the past year. American Express AXP data by YCharts Turning to Express Scripts (ESRX) , shares are down over 6% on the company's very public tussles with Anthem undefined . This is "unprecedented," Cramer said of the two companies bickering through the press. Anthem argues that it's able to periodically review pricing, and in this instance should be saving roughly $3 billion per year from its business with Express Scripts. If Express Scripts refuses to budge, Anthem has threatened to drop it. Express Scripts has long been rumored as a potential takeover target, Cramer said. But right now, it's all about the current battle with Anthem, which is weighing on the stock price. At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a long position in COST. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Kinder Morgan (KMI) are declining by 1.25% to $13.43 in mid-morning trading on Wednesday, as Brent crude oil erases its earlier gains. Crude oil (WTI) is increasing by 0.49% to $30.59 per barrel this morning and Brent crude is decreasing by 0.45% to $30.72 per barrel, according to the CNBC.com index. Oil prices increased for the first time in eight trading sessions earlier today, on a surprising decline in U.S. crude inventories and positive trading data from China, Reuters reports. Crude inventories declined by 3.9 million barrels last week, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute. Analysts were expecting U.S. crude to rise by 2.5 million barrels last week, Reuters added. "The API inventory data triggered a profit-taking wave, that's the main reason for this uptick," Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro told Reuters. "But the overall sentiment is still negative, meaning downside risk is still greater than upside potential." Kinder Morgan is a Houston-based energy infrastructure and energy company. Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation: We rate KINDER MORGAN INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. Among the primary strengths of the company is its expanding profit margins over time. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in the company's earnings per share and generally higher debt management risk. Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging the practice of public sector unions requiring nonmember fair share fees. Union organizers around the country have been watching this case nervously for several years as it worked its way up the court system -- and for good reason. Despite its wholesome third-grade teacher plaintiff, Friedrichs is a political power play, one funded by the conservative Center for Individual Rights and backed by big money donors. The purpose of Friedrichs is to do to public sector unions nationally what right-to-work legislation does on a state-by-state basis. It will almost certainly succeed. Whats at issue here is the First Amendment concerns raised by fair share, or agency fees. In 23 states including California, public sector employees who chose not to join a union are nevertheless required to pay a percentage of union fees dedicated to collective bargaining. The idea is to prevent free riders. Because the union negotiates on behalf of all employees, if nonmembers dont contribute theyll end up with all the benefits of a negotiated contract without having to pay the bills. The alternative, as counsel for the teachers union David Frederick argued on Monday, would be a classic collective action problem. In any system that benefits everyone equally, the incentive for individuals is to sit back and collect your goodies for free. The fair share system is a compromise to solve that collective action problem, one thats long drawn criticism. Nonunion workers have argued for years that these fees associate them with unions and bargaining positions they dont necessarily agree with, and they have a reasonable point. Particularly in the case of teachers, contracts often involve hot button issues such as tenure and merit pay, drawing the criticism of many educators who say that the unions position does not represent them. If that seems like a potent political issue, youre right. Which is why the Supreme Court has already addressed it 39 years ago. In Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the Court heard this same First Amendment argument. After balancing the states interest in having one representative for all employees, as well as the unions argument that it can legitimately bargain for fair share fees as a condition of employment, the Court created the compromise we have today. Since 1977 the Courts opinion on money has changed, though, from a balancing test to creating an absolute equivalency between dollars spent and speech. Where once it was possible to draw the line between chipping in for labor representation and pounding a Hillary 2016 sign into the lawn, this Courts jurisprudence (most notably the infamous Citizens United decision) has established that any expenditure constitutes a political action. As Roberts argued at one point to the Edward Dumont, representing the state of California, It's all money [Its] how much money is going to have to be paid to the teachers. If you give more mileage expenses, that costs more money. And the amount of money that's going to be allocated to public education as opposed to public housing, welfare benefits, that's always a public policy issue. In the eyes of the Court, theres no severability between employment negotiations and the politics surrounding those public salaries. And for anyone who thought that Justice Anthony Kennedys vote might be in doubt, he made his feelings clear when responding to the defendants argument: I suppose, if that's so convincing, the union can convince teachers to join the union. The problem is, like much of Kennedys jurisprudence (again, Citizens United), the real world just doesnt work that way. The union system has always been plagued by its central collective action problem. For workers, its always a better individual decision to blow off the expense (and occasional risk) of membership in favor of soaking up the benefits bargained for by others. Thats why unions bargain for fair share fees as a part of their workplace contracts, a more complicated issue for the public sector where that deal crosses the line from employment quirk to potential government coercion. Because it turns out people really do pursue short-term gain, and we have the numbers to prove it. In 2011 Governor Scott Walker turned Wisconsin into a laboratory for the effects of right-to-work on public sector unions when he abolished fair share fees for teachers unions while keeping them in place for police and fire departments (by some strange coincidence, groups that tend to vote Republican). What happened was what Wisconsins Capital Timesdescribed as the third-highest drop in union membership among states without right to work laws, declining 18 percent between 2010 and 2014. As the New York Timesreported in 2014, police and firefighters, who were exempted from Act 10s restrictions on collective bargaining, make up most of the remaining union members. [The Oshkosh mayor] said his citys police and firefighters have averaged annual raises of 2.5 percent, while other workers had no across-the-board raises from 2010 to 2012, and received a 1 percent increase in 2013. The Wisconsin Troopers Association, which publicly supported Walker during his campaign for governor, was not only exempt but received a 17% average raise. Leverage matters. Workers who are left to fend for themselves do consistently worse than those who can band together. States with right-to-work legislation have consistently lower pay and fewer benefits, an average of 9.8% below states without according to the Department of Labor. In trade, they states see a one-point higher boost to employment, driven by businesses leaving unionized states to pursue cheap labor. Its why employers fight back so hard against collective bargaining, and one reason the decline in union membership has consistently tracked with growing inequality. Teachers dont get off any easier. According to data from the NEA, the 2012-13 average salary for a teacher was $36,141 nationwide, compared to an average of $34,537 in the five states that banned the union. In the meantime, they worked a 53 hour week. Leverage really matters, but there wont be any groundswell of public support to save the teachers. In a very real sense Friedrichs is the teachers unions chickens coming home to roost. With its absolutist stances on issues like tenure and merit pay, not to mention strikes and sick outs in districts like Detroit and Chicagos South Side, the group has steadily alienated its friends to the point where even many Democrats roll their eyes at the unions antics. Now, when theyll need public support the most, the reserves of good will are empty. Its no coincidence that conservative action groups chose this as their test case. Even many liberals will be happy to see this groups power broken. Interestingly enough, though, the coming plaintiffs verdict in Friedrich will effect far more than just public unions. Abood is also the basis for Supreme Court rulings allowing practices like mandatory student association fees at universities and professional licensing fees like bar and medical cards. Expect it to be about 15 minutes before the first Young American for Freedom shows up challenging university policies that force him to subsidize the campus LGBT club. Carvin flippantly dismissed this issue, saying that if they required me to join the ABA, I would have an absolute First Amendment right not to do that, because virtually every word out of their mouth I disagree with, but thats not the point. Carvin no more has to join the ABA than teachers have to join the union. He does however have to pay an annual fee for each jurisdiction in which he holds a license, money which pays for holding the bar exam, enforcing ethics rules and a whole host of other activities necessary to make a meaningful professional licensing scheme work. That doesnt go out the window just because a handful of lawyers consider the ethics rules a political issue. That doesnt make a lot of difference to the political activists who brought this case. Anti-unionization efforts have been a centerpiece of Republican strategies for many years now given the overwhelming support that organized labor tends to show for Democrats. While the governors of many states have passed right-to-work legislation at both the public and private level, this ruling will make that the law of the land regardless of red or blue state. That this bears little more than a conversational relationship with the law doesnt matter much to the activists who brought the case, or their allies on the bench. Mondays arguments should have been about one question: can a union bargain for fair share fees with public employers? Weve had a good working answer to that question for years, not a perfect one but one which balanced the free rider problem and a unions right to negotiate against the objections of many workers to organized labors overt politics. Now the Supreme Court is getting ready to throw it, and the thousands of contracts written in reliance on fair share fees, out the window because some workers want a hecklers veto. This only makes any kind of sideways sense in our new world where money is always speech. In that world even something like mileage reimbursement rates becomes a Constitutional question. Leave it to the often-underquoted Stephen Breyer to point out the ridiculousness of this approach: You will go out this door, and you will buy hundreds of things, if not thousands, where money will go from your pocket into the hands of people, including many government people, who will spend it on things you disagree with. I don't see anything too basic in the lines you're drawing there. If money is always politics, even down to the level of salary negotiations, then every purchase, every parking ticket, every inflated bill from Comcast is a political act. In this Courts view, that makes sense. It means we all get to speak with our own wallets, no matter if that leaves some speakers loud enough to drown out everyone else. Abood has worked perfectly well as a compromise for 40 years, but we live in the age where compromise is a dirty word. Instead we get Friedrichs, the Citizens United of the workplace. Now, every public employee will get their own voice, small and lonely, to see how well they can bargain for wages and benefits on their own. The state of the American workplace should give us a pretty good idea how well thats going to go. Donald Trump has found a new enemy in Nikki Haley. And he's not the only one jumping on the anti-Haley bandwagon. Most Republicans were quick to pan President Obama's performance at the State of the Union address Tuesday evening, and some weren't all too pleased with the South Carolina's rebuttal speech, either. The 43-year-old Indian-American, selected in part as a strategic calculation by the Republican establishment to counter Trump's anger-driven populist appeal, fielded attacks from the right in the hours after her speech, including from presidential primary frontrunner Trump. Conservative pundit Ann Coulter slammed Haley in a string of tweets Tuesday evening. "Trump should deport Nikki Haley," she declared. Coulter invoked both the Chattanooga, Tennessee and San Bernardino, California mass shooters in her offensive and doubled down on the Muslim ban proposal vocalized by Trump and other the GOP in recent months. "The only way to keep out Muslim terrorists, is to keep out Muslim immigrants," she wrote. Conservative radio host and political commentator Laura Ingraham had less-than-kind words for Haley as well and the establishment GOP strategy that put her in the national spotlight. She later accused the South Carolina governor of missing her opportunity to stand with working people who want borders enforced, American workers put first, and government shrunk. Ingraham acknowledged that Haley's speech was meant to counter the anger-ridden GOP wave, writing that the rebuttal was more directed toward Trump than it was at Obama, at one point ironically suggesting the governor and the president should have appeared together to offer a bipartisan response to the billionaire businessman and his fellow GOP presidential contender, Ted Cruz. Lee Stranahan, investigative reporter at conservative news outlet Breitbart, attacked Haley's immigrant-friendly talk as well: John Nolte, also of Breitbart, went after Haley and the GOP: Michelle Malkin, senior editor of right-leaning media group Conservative Review, slammed Haley's address. Trump didn't jump to Twitter to attack Haley right after her speech (as he often does with others) but did have sharp words for the South Carolina governor on "Fox and Friends" Wednesday morning -- and will likely have more to say about her given her acknowledgement in a Todayappearance that her address was, in part, aimed at him. Characterizing Haley as "very weak" on immigration, Trump offered a handful of criticisms in a phone interview. "I respond in a couple of ways. Number one, she's very weak on illegal immigration. I've known that for a long time. But she's weak on illegal immigration. And she certainly has no trouble asking me for campaign contributions. Because over the years, she's asked me for a hell of a lot of money in campaign contributions. So it's sort of interesting to hear her," he said. In true Trump fashion, he also touted his lead in the polls in South Carolina (one of the earlier primary states) and professed his love for the state. As for Haley, he's not feeling it so much. He said the governor, who has long been considered a potential contender for the GOP's VP slot, may want to look for a job elsewhere should he land the party's nomination. Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, made a similar assessment Tuesday night. General Electric (GE) , the manufacturer that traces its roots to Thomas Edison's light bulb, is moving its headquarters to Boston as CEO Jeffrey Immelt amps up his investment in digital manufacturing. The relocation caps a year of changes to the company's identity that included the acquisition of Alstom's power business, the largest deal in the GE's history; the collapse of a second attempt to sell its appliance division; and the wind-down of much of its sprawling lending business, with agreements to sell $157 billion of its portfolio. GE announced this summer that it would consider moving out of Fairfield, Conn., its home of 40 years after what the company characterized as an onerous increase in state taxes. The company said Wednesday that executives had been informally reviewing the makeup and location of the headquarters for three years. Moving to Boston, an area home to 55 colleges and universities including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reflects Immelt's plan to outpace competitors by offering software products and equipment that enhance manufacturing across the industrial spectrum. The company's Predix platform, which serves as the manufacturing counterpart of systems like Apple's iOS and Alphabet's Android, allows partner companies to develop apps that can optimize equipment used in businesses from railroads to wind-turbine farms. It will invest $1 billion in digital businesses this year, adding workers and offering 100-plus apps. Exclusive Look Inside: Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS owns stock in both Apple and Alphabet. "Massachusetts spends more on research & development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world," CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in a statement. "We are excited to bring our headquarters to this dynamic and creative city." The relocation will have no material financial impact on GE, the company said. Executives worked with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to secure an incentive package that will curb the costs of relocation while benefiting both the state and city, GE said. Roughly 800 employees will be located in Boston, including 200 corporate staff and 600 digital industrial product managers, designers and developers. The headquarters will be located in Boston's Seaport District, and employees will begin moving to a temporary location in the city starting this summer. The company will offset some of the expenses by selling its offices in Fairfield and at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. GE didn't disclose the specific incentives it negotiated for the move, which was first reported by the Boston Globe. Massachusett's corporate tax rate of 8% in 2014 compared with 9% in Connecticut, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation, an independent researcher. The overall business tax climate in Connecticut ranked 42nd among the 50 states, while Massachusetts ranked 24th, the foundation said. The cost of living is less than $1 lower in the Massachusetts city, according to Bankrate data. "As much as all the discussion for six months has been about taxes, this decision wasn't about taxes," said Mike Tetreau, Fairfield's first selectman, a position comparable to mayor. GE would have contributed about $1.6 million in tax revenue to Fairfield's $290 million budget, he said in a phone interview. "We have a whole number of other major corporations in Connecticut, and we've got to make sure that we're doing what's best to create a health economic environment for them to stay in Connecticut," he said. "We need a more aggressive plan to address our corporate citizens and explain to them why Connecticut is job friendly and create a culture in Connecticut that is job friendly, because what we need are more jobs." Local and state officials will meet with GE in coming weeks to discuss details of the transition and how its impact might be minimized, Tetreau said. While GE has said it would maintain a significant presence in Connecticut, the company hasn't discussed Fairfield specifically. GE had moved to the area in the 1970s, after leaving its longtime offices on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, and local government officials had speculated it would return to the Big Apple when Connecticut failed to make sufficient concessions on its taxes. It was in early June, just a day after Connecticut's legislature approved a budget plan with a $1.9 billion tax increase, that Immelt said he would form an exploratory committee to consider relocating. Changes to the state's tax laws included a so-called unitary tax that effectively places a levy on corporations by altering how the government accounts for income earned outside the state. Other multinational corporations in Connecticut complained, too, including insurance giants The Hartford Group, Travelers and Aetna, prompting the General Assembly to pare about $350 million in taxes from its 2016 budget during a special meeting on the state's deficit in December. The increase in the unitary tax was capped at $2.5 million above the current level. While New York would have provided an easy commute for the 800-some employees in Fairfield, Boston was a tough competitor, with the mayor and governor working closely together, according to the Globe. The state was eager to shed the "Taxachusetts" label it had been stuck with in the '70s, the paper reported. Still, GE has deep roots in New York. Founder Thomas Edison started New York City's first central power station in 1882, and the company was the exclusive provider of switches and switchboards for the Empire State Building. GE reported profit of $5.6 billion, or 56 cents a share, on sales of $42 billion in 2014, according to a company statement. About $31 billion of total revenue came from manufacturing operations. The company, which makes products from jet engines to medical equipment and railroad locomotives, already has nearly 5,000 employees in Massachusetts. GE moved its life sciences headquarters to Marlborough in 2014 and said last year that its energy services start-up, Current, would be centered in Boston. GE climbed 1.4% to $28.24 Wednesday in New York. The shares have gained 18% in the past year. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) stock is slumping by 7.54% to $3.80 on Wednesday afternoon, as investors continue to worry about the natural resource company's high debt and the rout in commodities such as gold, copper and oil. The company has accumulated more than $20 billion in debt during the past 10 years as it has established itself as a major producer of both copper and oil, according to the Wall Street Journal. Shares have tanked this week after its debt was downgraded to triple-B-minus, the lowest level above junk status, by Fitch Ratings on Friday. The downgrade reflects the view that a recovery in commodities' prices will be "prolonged" and its debt is too big to ignore, the ratings agency noted. Additionally, yesterday oil prices fell below $30 for the first time since 2003 while copper prices tumbled to six-year lows. Freeport-McMoRan's oil wells and copper mines make it among the most vulnerable companies within the commodities markets, the Journal notes. The company's market value has declined to $5 billion from $14 billion in three months. "I'm not surprised that you would see deterioration in metals and mining," Brian Rehling, co-head of global fixed-income strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, told the Journal. "Anything commodity associated, energy or any of the other commodities, is in my opinion going to be in for a rough stretch." Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation: We rate FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself. Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Cloudy. Some light rain is likely. Snow may mix in. Low 41F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Cloudy. Some light rain is likely. Snow may mix in. Low 41F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. -In this Jan. 7, 2016, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Less than 24 hours after Iran's detention and release of U.S. sailors, the House approved GOP-backed legislation that amplifies Republican distrust of Tehran and would give Congress greater oversight of the landmark nuclear agreement. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detained American Navy sailors in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. (Sepahnews via AP) Running as an underdog presidential candidate isnt always glamorous. You speak to half-filled halls and small rooms, low-key rallies. There may not be a bus emblazoned with your smiling face. And then there are the rally-goers who blatantly say they arent quite convinced. But for the longshots sprinting across Iowa and New Hampshire before the Feb. 1 caucuses, one thing keeps them fired up: the prospect of a political upset. Lets prove the New York media totally wrong, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said to about 40 people gathered in a senior center dining room in Parkersburg, Iowa last week. At least half were residents finishing dinner, a couple of whom left in the middle of the town hall-style meeting. Among those hoping for an Iowa winter miracle are Huckabee, 2008 winner of the caucuses, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, winner in 2012. Also looking for political salvation in either first-to-vote Iowa or in the New Hampshire primary are Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former technology executive Carly Fiorina. Polls in both states show them all lagging in the low single digits. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump are leading the recent polls in Iowa, followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson in third and fourth. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are behind in Iowa, but running stronger in New Hampshire. Some other underdogs have left the race already. Remember former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki? The tricky thing for many of these candidates is that having fans in the early states doesnt necessarily translate into votes. John Stewart, a 64-year-old attorney who lives on Lake Panorama in Iowa, said he liked Huckabee and Santorum, but he didnt believe they had a chance at winning. Their day has come and gone, he said at the Prime Time restaurant in Guthrie Center, Iowa before a Cruz event last week. People still like and appreciate them. But Cruz and Rubio have some momentum. Cruz has more. Its Cruzs time. Huckabee, whose slipping poll numbers bumped him off the main stage event during the last Republican debate, noted that many people dont make up their minds until the final days. But he also called Iowa a critical ground zero. I dont want to say we have to be one, two, three, four. A lot of it depends on where the grouping is, Huckabee said. Upsets are a grand tradition of the Iowa caucuses. Huckabee and Santorum both came from behind to win. But this year, Trump and Cruz seem to have captured many of the conservative and evangelical voters that supported them previously. Of course, there are lots of reasons a candidate may stick around. Some want to advance their political philosophy or promote their brand for future book deals and TV appearances. And theres always the prospect of a cabinet role or the vice presidency. Still, Santorum, who wooed over 45 people gathered at a house party in suburban Des Moines Thursday, said he believes in the voters of Iowa. Three and half weeks is a long time, Santorum said, as a group of friends and neighbors mingled and munched on Chex mix and cookies. Four years ago, fifty percent of the people who voted didnt decide until the last week. Despite narrowly beating eventual nominee Mitt Romney in Iowa in 2012, Santorum has spent this entire race at the back of the pack. Hes never polled well enough to make it on to the main debate stage and has focused largely on Iowa, spending so much time here that he had visited all 99 counties by September. The Republican debates have proven particularly frustrating for the lower-polling candidates. This week, Fiorina and Paul were cut from the main stage at the Republican debate in South Carolina Thursday. Debate host Fox Business Network announced the debate lineup Monday evening. Paul said last week before a birthday celebration in a Des Moines bar the race was still wide open. He stressed his organization on college campuses and noted that he has volunteer captains in over 1,000 of Iowas 1,681 precincts. A thousand precinct chairs shows that we are a first tier campaign thats in it, not to mess around, not to get second, not to get third, not to get sixth, Paul said, addressing the crowded room standing on top of a chair. Were in it to win it. Paul has said he will not participate in an undercard debate. Fiorina hit an optimistic tone in New Hampshire recently, where she has campaigned heavily. Fiorina moved up in the polls after a strong undercard performance in the first Republican debate, which propelled her to the main stage in the subsequent debates. But she has been unable to maintain the momentum. Still, while GOP voters in New Hampshire often mention Fiorina as an impressive candidate, few say shes their No. 1 choice. During an event before roughly 50 voters at a local Elks Lodge, Fiorina herself noted that an undecided voter told her that day hed need to see her at least once more before making up his mind. I get it, I accept it that you take your responsibility seriously, she joked. After the event, that voter, Ed DeClercq, still wasnt sold. He said: I see them all and I take it all in and decide when I go to the booth. (AP) Yeshiva Gedola Naos Yaakov in Ocean Township, New Jersey , under the leadership of its Rosh HaYeshiva, Hagon HaRav Shlomo Feivel Schustal, wanted to transform a Jewish day school building with 101 elementary school students into a Bais Medrash and dormitory Yeshiva. The township and its Zoning Board of Adjustment denied the application for a 96-student Yeshiva and a group representing the proposed Jewish boarding school is now suing them. The 79-page complaint filed on Friday in U.S. District Court claims that the Zoning Boards denial is a violation of the First and 14th amendments, Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and Fair Housing Act and accuses the residents of having hostility and animus to Orthodox Jews. The complaint also charges that the townships zoning laws do not accommodate Orthodox Jewish educational institutions. Mark A. Steinberg, the attorney for the zoning board declined to comment while the townships attorney, Martin J. Arbus, said he could not comment because he hadnt yet seen the complaint. As far as Im concerned, the denial was a procedural denial and the Board wasnt given an opportunity to hear the entire case and make a determination on the merits, Arbus said. The Board was unanimous in its denial on Dec. 1 after nine public hearings. The lawsuit said the tried to pack the meetings in order to further delay the application because unsubstantiated fears of, and prejudice against, Orthodox Jewish men led them to oppose it. It also says that there were anti-Semitic undertones on social media websites and in the comment sections of news organizations. One comment on a petition created on change.org said: I owned property in Lakewood NJ for 24 years, the commenter wrote. Orthodox Jewish landlords made life a living hell for me there! I would hate to see this repeated in Ocean! Another commenter said, There are plenty of other places for radical religious schools. In public meetings last year residents also complained about things like noise and traffic flow. One resident feared the Yeshiva would lower his property value. Residents were still against the proposed school even after their concerns were addressed, partly by restricting the students from leaving the premises. The lawsuit accuses the Board of allowing the application process to be delayed by the lengthy, repetitive, irrelevant and improper testimony of residents in public portions of the meetings. This is The Yeshiva Gedolas third application attempt for a Jewish school to move into Ocean Township. Both of the two previous applications were filed in 2010 and were given up on after being met with similar community resistance, the lawsuit said. This pattern of organized opposition to yeshiva applications demonstrates significant hostility against Orthodox Jewish land uses by Ocean Township residents, the lawsuit says. The township prohibits dormitories for students above the age of 18. The township allows private Christian schools, but has not accommodated Jewish religious practices, as Jewish males traditionally attend yeshivot for longer periods into their early 20s. The Townships explicit prohibition against dormitories for students above the age of 18 was specifically targeted at Orthodox Jewish educational institutions, the lawsuit says. The township allows other nonreligious schools for students older than 18 years of age, like art, dance, and business schools, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit aims to overturn the Zoning Boards decision and approve the Yeshiva application as well as to be compensated for damages and the full cost of attorneys fees. This is bigotry masked as a zoning hearing, pure and simple, said Roman P. Storzer, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing the applicant. The situation that the Yeshiva has faced here is exactly why Congress decided that RLUIPAs protections are necessary. (Source: OnlySimchas.com) The Investment Committee in the Tourism Ministry has approved grants to establish 5 overnight campgrounds, with an additional 1,432 beds: Park Savir in the Central Aravah; Kibbutz Beit HaEmek in the Western Galil; Ein Zivan on the Golan Heights; Achuzat Hazan at Har Gilo and on the Spice Route in the Negev. The total investment stands at NIS 10,736,000, with the Tourism Ministry investment totaling just over NIS 2.5 million about 20% of the grant. The Tourism Ministry encourages the establishment of overnight campgrounds in order to promote budget tourism accessible and affordable to all. In the Nature and Parks Authority 2015 report, 365,000 nights were recorded in campgrounds (about 1,000 per day) throughout the year. The report shows that the most popular camping lots were in the south of the country for Israelis (with about 100,000 nights), as well as Churshat Tal in the Galil and beach camping lots (about 70,000 nights each). Last year, INPA improved the campgrounds and their infrastructure, with hot showers, BBQ areas and family picnic tables as well as the opportunity to rent tents, mattresses etc. under INPA supervision. INPA also allowed for caravan parking in sites such as Eshkol Park, Yehudiya Parking Lot, and Churshat Tal. An additional five lots will be made suitable for caravan parking, including, among others, Maayan Harod, Mekorot HaYarden and Sachne. Background: There are some 60 overnight campgrounds in Israel, of which 22 belong to INPA. The Tourism Ministry allocated about NIS 6 million in recent years to promote the camping and caravanning sector. The ministry identified the need of Israeli visitors and foreign tourists for better infrastructure related to camping and caravanning and subsequently allocated budgets for improving cooking and shower facilities to high standards. In 2014, the Director-General of the Tourism Ministry published a directive regarding grant allocations of up to 20% of the total investment for the construction of camping sites and caravan parks. This, in order to encourage the establishment of additional camping sites and caravan parks that will integrate into rural surroundings and offer a cheaper and greener alternative. The ministry received 16 requests from entrepreneurs for the grant. The entrepreneur is required to provide capital of up to 30% at least of the total required investment for the project. Each entrepreneur must develop the parking lot within three years from the time of receiving the approval. This, within the framework of the ministrys activities designed to lower the cost of vacationing in Israel and expanding the supply and types of budget accommodation. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) 22The Knesset Finance Committee chaired by MK Moshe Gafne met on Tuesday, 2 Shevat, discussing the situation in Sderot and other Gaza areas communities that have been hit hard from Hamas rockets over recent years. Gafne lamented the fact the government has allocated a great deal of money since 2014, and the funds have been given to various ministries and this is where it ends as the work is not being carried out. Gafne compared the governments performance with a banana republic, explaining the government makes a decision, one that is supported by all the ministers yet the lay professionals in the ministries do not seem to have implemented the plan despite the fact the money has been allocated. One example is roadwork that was to have been completed but in reality, it is yet to begin. Gafne cited Route 232 was to have been worked on yet nothing has moved other than the money was handed over. Gafne announced a follow-up meeting will take place and he plans to invite the Minister of Transportation and the director-general of the ministry in the hope of receiving an explanation. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) H & M officials have apologized for the controversial womens scarf that resembles a tallis. The company explains it will refrain from selling the item in Israel. Womens Wear Daily quotes the company saying We are truly sorry if we have offended anyone with this piece. Everyone is welcome at H&M and we never take a religious or political stand. Our intention was never to upset anyone. Stripes is one of the trends for this season and weve been inspired by this. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) A leading Jewish authority in Marseille, in southern France, asked fellow Jews on Tuesday to refrain from wearing their Yarmulkas to stay safe after a machete-wielding teen attacked a Jewish teacher. Zvi Ammar, head of the Israelite Consistory of Marseille, said he is asking Jews to go without the kippa until better days. His call came a day after a 15-year-old Turkish Kurd attacked and wounded a Jewish teacher on a street in Marseille Frances second-largest city then told police after his arrest that he acted in the name of the Islamic State group. Ammar said his decision to ask Jews not to wear the kippa was the hardest of his life. But he said he prefers being criticized for making this decision than regretting one day if by misfortune something very grave occurs. Ammar spoke on TV stations BFM and iTele. After the attack, an investigation was opened by the anti-terrorism section of the prosecutors office in the French capital, where the teen will be questioned. The knife attack came four days after a man armed with a butchers knife was fatally shot after authorities said he went after police at a station in central Paris. German authorities say the man had lived at a shelter for asylum-seekers in the western city of Recklinghausen. France is still reeling from a series of attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people and just marked the anniversary of attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store which killed 17 people. (AP) Israels Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon called on the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to condemn Iran for hosting a cartoon contest about Holocaust denial. This Antisemitic act represents the pure evil of the Iranian regime. Denying the Holocaust is one of the most powerful expressions of Antisemitism, which legitimizes the deaths of millions of Jews, said Ambassador Danon. The competition, which is held under the auspices of the municipality of Tehran, made an international call for participants to submit cartoons about the holocaust, under the theme of ridiculing and denying it. The winner of the competition will receive a prize of $50,000. Ambassador Danon wrote in his appeal to the UN Secretary General: At the end of the month, the UN will mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. While the world will remember the atrocities of the Holocaust which are still fresh in our collective memory, one member state will be hosting a contest which desecrates the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The United Nations must resolutely stand up against this hatred and harshly condemn this heinous act. This cartoon contest has been held in Iran in the past by the Iranian House of Cartoon with significantly smaller prizes. Attached are several examples from last years contest. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Torah Umesorah 8th Annual Presidents Conference from Torah Umesorah on Vimeo. Torah Umesorah recently held its largest-ever annual Presidents Conference. Over 500 school presidents, executive directors, lay leaders and board members spent an exhilarating weekend together at a Florida resort, networking, exchanging ideas, and deriving chizuk from partners and colleagues all committed to dedicating their talents and resources to serve the Klal. An additional 25,000 viewers watched the livestreamed sessions remotely. The atmosphere was electrifying, commented a participant. The networking alone was extraordinary picture a room filled with hundreds of askonim and executive directors, tapping in to the expertise and knowledge of veterans in their fields. I know a guest who came to the conference with five critical questions/issues for which he needed guidance. He is returning home with solutions and guidance for each one. Presenters included Councilman David Greenfield, Mr. Howard Tzvi Friedman, Mr. Jay Schottenstein, Rabbi Avrohom Fruchthandler, Reb Yossel Tabak, Rabbi David Ozeiry, Mr. Bernie Dimont, R Gershon Barnett, and many others. Rabbi Aaron Kotler, Reb Mendy Klein, Rabbi Herschel Leiner and others served as Q&A hosts at a riveting networking breakfast. The room was charged as guests and hosts discussed community involvement, cultivating leadership, marketing strategy, and procuring government funding. Three branded lounge areas unveiled Torah Umesorahs new logo and message: Every School. Every Teacher. Every Child. Each environment displayed figures and photos of Torah Umesorahs work and accomplishments, along with striking 45 second video clips showcasing the vital role the organization is filling by providing resources to schools, teachers, and children. The weekend was spent in the company of Harav Shmuel Kamenetsky and Harav Hillel David, who both addressed the crowd on Shabbos. A beautiful Melava Malka barbecue concluded the evening. Set out under the stars, and accompanied by the heartfelt singing of Abish Brodt, the evening was an enchanting conclusion to an extraordinary weekend. We are returning inspired, infused with new ideas to improve our schools, to better the salaries of rebbeim, to develop and maintain our institutions to educate our children even better, was the refrain as guests departed. We are amazed by the commitment and accomplishments of Torah Umesorah, and their unceasing work on behalf of our children and Klal Yisroel. So in the mornings I just sleep until its time to make lunch, looking forward to the afternoons when Ill get my ice coffee from Sams I work at some Israeli womans home cutting material and gluing bows onto headbands I twiddle my pinky fingers because variety is the spice of life I get tons of Limud Hatorah Zechusim as I wait anxiously by the door for what seems like an eternity, for my husband to return from Seder Well, If thats what occupies your day in Israel, what was your day like when you lived in America? I went to college every day and taught three times a week I worked as an office secretary I worked as the Administrator of a medical referral agency and oversaw all case loads while coordinating the office tasks I worked as a travel agent, drew graphic design, moonlighted as a tour operator and went to PA school at night So many girls are living in Eretz Yisroel through the kindness and generosity of their parents so that their husbands can sit and learn without any financial worries, yet they themselves are desperately, dangerously bored. READ MORE AT ONLYSIMCHAS.COM Additional details have been released pertaining to the stabbing attack in Marseilles earlier this week. The victim was a local frum teacher, R Binyamin Amsellem. Bchasdei Hashem his injuries were light as the terrorist dropped his machete and fled. Amsellems attorney reports they have learned the 15-year-old terrorist intended to murder his victim. He told police he was a member of ISIS and he was acting on the terrorist organizations behalf. He added this is why he was using a machete and not a knife, to inflict as much damage to his victim as possible. BH Amsellem managed to duck at the last second, using a sefer to deflect the blow, at which time the machete fell to the ground and the attacker fled. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The head of Marseilles Consistoire (Israelite Central Consistory) of France called on local Jews to remove their yarmulkes and not to walk outdoors displaying one due to the current security realities. As was reported by YWN, Zvi Ammar, who heads the Israelite Consistory, urged men to stop displaying their yarmulke outdoors until better days. This resulted in a response from the EJA, the European Jewish Association. That statements follows: In light of the warning by the head of Marseilles consistoire that French Jews should remove their kippot to avoid becoming the next target of the continued attacks against the French Jewish community, I would like to call on French Jews to stand up for their Jewish rights with pride, as they have always done so. French Jewry has long been example to other European communities of pride in their Jewish faith and identity and in these troubled times, we look to them to continue to be so and to positively contribute to Frances diverse culture as it has always done. To French Jewish leaders, I would reiterate my calls to defend the right to religious faith and practice, where it doesnt impinge on the rights and beliefs of others, in the peace and security that is the fundamental right of all European citizens. Most of all, I would like to recall the words of the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls in his former position as interior minister, when he responded to calls from the far right to ban the kippa in defense of Frances secular society: every religion has its rites and traditions; the freedom of belief, its the freedom to wear a kippa, to eat kosher and to practice religious circumcisionsecularism wasnt created as a weapon against others. The Jews of France can wear with pride their kippa its the responsibility of politicians not to respond to such provocations. Having demonstrated with words their support for French Jews, we now look to the French authorities to consolidate their important commitment with demonstrable actions to safeguard the right of French Jews to wear their identity with pride. In a directly related matter, Bayit Yehudi party leader Minister Naftali Bennett twitted on Wednesday, In the State of Israel, no Jew will ever need to remove his Kipa. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) At present, two Bnei Brak residents are in custody in connection to the probe into the chardakim campaign, the campaign against chareidim serving in the IDF. YWN-ISRAEL on Tuesday reported their arrests in addition to a third suspect, a resident of Modiin Illit. He heard police were looking for him and turned himself over to police later in the day. A fourth suspect in the case is expected to soon be in custody. The suspects are reportedly followers of HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Auerbach Shlita, member of the so-called Yerushalmi Faction of the litvish Torah community. Unlike the Gedolei Torah in Bnei Brak, Rav Auerbach has instructed his followers not to cooperate with military authorities in any way, and this includes refraining from all draft notices and any and all visits to draft centers. One soldier, Yehuda Glickman, who explains was negatively impacted by their pamphlet entitled The Hunters () has filed a civil suit against the suspects too for his photo appeared as well as personal information. Glickman feared for his life and he therefore hired a private detective in the hope of learning who was behind the damaging publication. The detective masqueraded as a Satmar philanthropist who wished to donate major funds to the campaign against chardakim. This led him to the suspects. The civil suit is in the amount of NIS 2.4 million. Assisting the civil suit is the fact the criminal indictment contains terms such as character assassination against chardakim appearing in the pamphlet. Glickman speaks of another pamphlet too, this one entitled Shmad at the Induction Center, referring to chareidim in the IDF as the nations garbage can. Glickmans lawsuit is against all four suspects, mentioning yet another publication, Selection, containing an implied connection between IDF selection of personnel and Nazi selection during WWII. The suspects, were arraigned on Wednesday in the Jerusalem Magistrate Court while dozens of supporters, bnei torah, danced outside singing Utzu Eita. The court ordered all three held over until Sunday in line with a police request. Police report five supporters outside became unruly and were arrested for disorderly conduct and striking policemen. A fourth suspect in the chardakim case is expected to be arrested in the near future. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Rabbonim and elected officials affiliated with the dati leumi community have condemned IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkotts decision to place authority for the militarys Jewish Consciousness Unit in the hands of the Manpower Branch, a unit that has operated under the IDF Rabbinate. Rabbonim and others accuse Eizenkott of acquiescing to pressure from a certain left-wing newspaper. MK (Bayit Yehudi) Betzalel Smotrich responded as well, saying it would be better to shut the unit down. Smotrich adds Since the establishment of the state the responsibility for the unit has been under the IDF Rabbinate. Yiddishkheit has never just been about giving out wine and challos for Shabbos but an entire world of values and ethics that the Rabbinate instills in fighters and commanders in the field and this has been successful over the years. Most soldiers and commanders in the field are happy with the military chaplaincy and feel it motivates professionalism and a fighting spirit. Former IDF Chief Rabbi Yisrael Weiss said This ends the IDFs neshama. Former IDF Chief Rabbi Avichai Ronsky added the placement of the unit in the hands of non-Torah Jews is an error that will have serious consequences. He fears this is opening a door to bringing in Reform Rabbis to work with soldiers instead of members of the IDF Rabbinate as has been the case to date. Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, who heads the Zomet Institute feels it would be better to shut the unit down rather than place it in the hands of persons who are not shomer Torah and Mitzvos. Rabbi Chaim Druckman laments the decision, pointing out the unit works with non-frum soldiers and its work is vital and the reassigning of authority to those who are not frum will have a devastating negative impact on the overall Jewish character of the military. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Volkswagen car owners in the UK driving models affected by the diesel emissions cheating scandal will not be receiving payouts from the German automaker, it has been confirmed. The UK boss of the shamed car company said drivers would not be getting 'goodwill payments', like those being issued in the US, because the funds would be better spent expediting the process of fixing affected cars. Paul Willis, Volkswagen UK's managing director, notified the Transport Select Committee in a letter published yesterday stating that the carmaker 'does not believe it is necessary' to provide compensation to UK drivers. Compensation cop-out: UK Volkswagen Group car owners will not be receiving the same 693 'goodwill payment' US drivers will get it was confirmed on Tuesday. They compensation money will instead be spent on making the recall process more rapid In the statement Willis said: 'We think that, with the fix just around the corner, the sums available for such a goodwill payment should be spent on maximising the uptake of the technical measures among customers and ensuring that it is done with as little inconvenience as possible.' The news will come as a bitter pill for UK VW-Group vehicle owners driving models that are due to be recalled over the next 12 months, especially as US Volkswagen customers are receiving payouts. In early December, Volkswagen's chief executive Matthias Mueller said: 'There will be an attractive package, lets call it compensation, for the reduction in value of cars.' He later confirmed this would be applicable to owners in the UK, though it now appears this claim will no longer be honoured. But it won't be the case for all affected drivers; the US arm of VW said it will be rewarding owners with a $1,000 sum to 'encourage loyalty' UK owners won't be receiving the same 693 figure. A total of 1.2 million UK cars are impacted by the emissions scandal that broke in September last year, which globally affects 11 million motors the carmaker has set aside 5 billion to fix. A three-phase plan to rectify affected cars kicks off in the UK in March, with the last batch of emissions-cheating models the 1.2-litre BlueMotion variants being called back in November, meaning owners could be driving vehicles for a sum of 14 months knowing it is emitting illegal levels of nitrogen oxides. However, Mr Willis said US owners were going to have to wait even longer to have their models repaired by VW, hence the goodwill payment. VW UK managing director Paul Willis will face question in front of the Transport Select Committee on Wednesday In his letter he said: 'most US Volkswagen customers will have to wait considerably longer for the technical measures to be implemented than UK customers.' The statement issued by the VW boss also confirmed that the Jones Day law firm is leading an internal investigation into the diesel-emissions cheating scandal, though the probe will run through most of 2016 before the results are published. Willis' statement was a precursor to his appearance in front of the Transport Select Committee on Wednesday the second time the UK boss will be grilled by MPs about the scandal following the first instance in October last year. It was also revealed on Tuesday that regulators in California had rejected VW's plans to recall cars in the state fitted with the defeat devices used to produce lower emissions figures in official tests. Cars belonging to more than 6million motorists have been subject to safety recalls over the past five years, new figures reveal today. The figure is equivalent to more than half the 11.2million new cars sold in the same period. And intriguingly it is some of the car firms that have the highest reputations for reliability that are subject to the largest number of recalls. Toyota hit by a scandal involving runaway cars - had the highest number of recalls with the company responsible for 1.27million (1,270,615) vehicles returning to dealers for safety checks or action over the five year period from 2011 to 2015. Toyota hit by a scandal involving runaway cars - had the highest number of recalls with the company responsible for 1.27million (1,270,615) vehicles returning to dealers for safety checks or action over the five year period from 2011 to 2015 Second place Honda called back nearly a million models (994,578) even though its Jazz model ranked fifth for reliability in Driver Power 2015. In third place for recalls is Vauxhall with 632,217 recalls over the five years. Fourth place goes to Germanys BMW with 545,303 recalls followed by Nissan at 452,186. Faulty airbags are the biggest bugbear involved in more than 1.73million recalls (1,733,049) followed by fire risk at just over 1million (1,047,254 and faulty brakes at 870,172. Top 5 CAR SAFETY RECALLS 2011-2015 1. Toyota: 1,270,615 2. Honda: 994,578 3. Vauxhall:632,217 4. BMW: 545,303 5. Nissan: 452,186 (Source: Auto Express) Latest figures for 2015 alone show Toyota again topping the table with 739,870 recalls followed by Honda at 461,634 and Vauxhall 115,001. In 2014 Fiat topped the recalls at 95,052, followed by Toyota at 80,769 and Ford at 75,451. In 2013 BMW topped the league with 313,518 recalls followed by Nissan at 252,707 and Honda at 233,801. Motoring magazine Auto Express gathered statistics from the Governments official database, held by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, formerly VOSA, to see what the most recalled vehicles are and why. Industry chiefs stress that the whole point of recalls is to be transparent about safety problems and to recall vehicles to be fixed before accidents happen not seek to ignore safety issues in the hope that no-one will notice. Recalls: In third place for recalls is Vauxhall with 632,217 recalls over the five years But the new Auto Express Report says: The five-year picture on UK car recalls is staggering. Almost 6.1 million vehicles have been returned to dealers since the start of 2011. Comparing recalls to sales is probably unfair, though, as those 6.1m recalled cars have build dates going all the way back to 1997. It demonstrates, however, just how common recalls are its an extraordinarily high number. BIGGEST BUGBEARS PROMPTING RECALLS 2011-15 1. Faulty airbags: 1.73million recalls 2. Fire risk: 1.04million 3. Faulty brakes: 870,172 (Source: Auto Express) In 2015 the biggest recall involved 362,411 vehicles for airbag problems, including Toyotas Yaris, Corolla, Avensis, Verso, and Picnic models. Some 242,653 vehicles were recalled for an airbag problem affecting the Honda Accord, Accord Tourer, Civic, CR-V, Insight, Jazz, and Stream models. A further 202,244 vehicles were recalled for an airbag rupture involving Toyota Yaris, RAV4, and Hilux models. And 174,677 vehicles including the Honda Civic, CR-V, Jazz, and insight were also called in over airbag ruptures. The biggest recall over the 5 years was 405,690 Vauxhall Corsas recalled in September 2011 over faulty brakes. According to the DVSA code of practice, a car only officially needs to be recalled if one of its features is likely to affect [its] safe operation without prior warning to the user and may pose a significant risk to the driver, occupants and others'. Shocking statistics: Cars belonging to more than 6million motorists have been subject to safety recalls over the past five years, new figures reveal today The figures follow a number of high-profile cases including the recent airbag scandal involving Japanese supplier Takata and Toyotas global recall of millions of cars from 2010 because of unintended acceleration it says: Both alarmed the public in terms of safety, says Auto Express. Auto Express said: Recalls often make headlines, and one of the biggest stories to break in recent years was the Takata airbag scandal. The full extent of this didnt become clear until the middle of 2015 after a spate of airbag-related deaths in car accidents in the US. Defective airbag inflator parts, supplied to myriad car manufacturers by Japanese company Takata, were found to shoot potentially lethal shrapnel towards drivers when an airbag inflated. MOST RECALLS IN 2015 1. Toyota: 739,870 2. Honda: 461,634 3. Vauxhall: 115,001 (Source: Auto Express) It became apparent that an estimated 25 million cars globally were fitted with the parts, many of them in the UK, including the E46- generation 3 Series, made from 1999-2006. As a result BMW recalled 291,000 examples of its compact executive car in 2013, with fewer than 100 of those going back in for an issue besides the Takata airbag fault, said Auto Express. Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Chevrolet and Nissan all recalled thousands of models for the airbag problem, it added. Intriguingly Volkswagen Group cars do not feature highly on the list despite the recent dieselgate scandal. That is because its subsequent call in cars for a modification was not a safety recall but a voluntary return. Issues: Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Chevrolet and Nissan all recalled thousands of models for an airbag problem Toyota said recalls should reassure drivers: A recall is a preventative measure to fix what may never be a fault. If a brand had no recalls, would it mean that all of its cars were perfect, or just that its not checking what may be causing faults?. Honda said: Its misleading to suggest millions of cars are being driven around with lethal faults 'The fact that we, along with the rest of the automotive industry, can track all products and contact owners to ensure any recalls are carried out means that we can deliver on our promise of safety, comfort and happiness. My late wife and I had a joint email address. She dealt with all our bills. On November 4, I received an email from Extra Energy, addressed to my wife, to inform us that they had been unable to collect a direct debit payment. I rang and explained that my wife had died, I had closed her bank account and was paying all the bills. Extra Energy said that my wife had changed supplier from them in February or March 2015. I have called several times to find how much is owed, but none of my calls has been returned. I then received another email demanding payment and saying 12 would be added to the outstanding bill. However, I still have no idea of how much this bill is because they have not supplied one. I have made at least six phone calls, written and emailed. All I receive is a standard reply that someone will contact me within 24 to 48 hours. It was bad enough to lose my wife so quickly, but to be chased and harassed by a company that will not even communicate with me is disgusting. G. W., Lancs. Lack of decency: Extra Energy failed to return six calls from a reader who was trying to find out how much he owed after his wife died You sum up my thoughts very well in the last paragraph of your letter. Once again we have a company that cannot communicate in a proper and civilised fashion with a bereaved person. You had contacted Extra Energy to explain that you were unable to access the account online and, very reasonably, asked to be sent a paper bill. Extra Energy says that due to an internal issue there was a delay in the complaints team responding to you. Well, it should not have been a complaints team responding; it should have been a dedicated bereavement team. And if they dont have one, shame on them. Extra Energy has at last emailed, with a breakdown of the bill and apologising for the lack of communication. And I am pleased to say it has gone a step further and written off the outstanding balance by way of apology. Ben Jones, managing director of Extra Energy, says: We are extremely sorry for the insensitivity Mr W experienced at a difficult time. Customer service is our number-one priority, and in this case we have fallen below the high standards we expect of ourselves. A senior team member has called you to apologise. Incidentally, in a Which? survey in the autumn of 2014, Extra Energy scored just two out of five for customer service, ranking it among the worst of the energy providers. On MoneySuperMarket, it is rated three out of ten, so perhaps Mr Jones might want to make customer service an even greater priority in 2016. FACT BOX TITLE Can you clarify what the Eurotunnel share price is? Y. D., by email Last week, we said Eurotunnel shares were worth around 11 cents each, but, in fact, this should have read 11. Today, they are around 10.36. Converted into sterling, that is around 7.77 a share. If you had 3,300 shares, they would be worth 25,641. Could you tell me by how much the pound has been devalued since quantitative easing began? Q. S., Notts. Its likely it hasnt been. The pound was weak in 2009 to 2012, when quantitative easing was carried out, and has since rebounded. Bank of England research suggests the first 200 billion of quantitative easing pushed down the pound by 4 per cent. But Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at accountants PwC, says the effect was only temporary. I returned from a holiday in France and my hold luggage was damaged when I collected it from the carousel at the airport. Can I claim compensation? B. L., E. Yorks. Yes, you have a legal right to claim for damage to checked-in luggage under the Montreal Convention, so contact your airline. You are likely to need photographs of the damage, cost estimates and copies of your luggage labels and boarding card. Most airlines only accept claims made within seven days, and the payout will probably be small. If your travel or home insurance covers luggage, it may be better to claim through that. I am a pensioner who recently sold some investments, making a 1,100 profit on the gain. Should I be paying tax on it? D. J., via email Probably not. Capital gains tax is paid at a rate of 18 per cent or 28 per cent depending on your income on profits over 11,100 for this tax year. Your profit from this sale is below this assuming thats the only profit you took in that year. As long as you havent made other profits this year that might take you over the limit, you will not have to pay tax on the gain. I have a 56,000 pension which I want to cash in under new freedoms. But Ive been told by my pension company that this is not possible without taking financial advice, which costs thousands of pounds because of small print in my pension. Is this correct? C. C., Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Yes. Under rules laid down by City regulator, savers with pensions worth over 30,000 and small print in their contracts that offer a certain level of payouts must take financial advice before being able to take advantage of the freedoms. As your pension pot is worth more than the 30,000 limit and your contract contains one of these payout promises known as a guaranteed annuity rate you will have to take advice before being able to take your pot. I have paid National Insurance for 48 years and understand that all I need to qualify for a full new state pension is 35 years. However, while working I was in two private pensions that were contracted out of the state pension. This means I will lose in the region of 48.95 per week in state pension. I was never informed that as a result of contracting out of the state pension I would be affected so badly. Am I able to pursue a claim against the pension trustees? G. W., W. Yorks. I think youve got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Youve spent many years in jobs where your employers have provided a pension - and now you ask whether you can pursue a claim against them. On what grounds do you intend to base your claim - excessive generosity? Members of occupational pension schemes were traditionally contracted out of Serps and later the state second pension - so they did not build up these extra state pensions. Both they and their employer benefited by paying less National Insurance. However, the quid pro quo was that the employer had to pay a guaranteed minimum pension broadly equivalent to what might have been received in Serps. After 1997, the rules became more flexible. Contracting out has knocked on to the new state pension, which will be launched in April - and I think this may be the source of your confusion. Pension statements have two calculations showing how much pension you would be entitled to under both the old and new systems. These calculations will show deductions for the years you were contracted out - for some, these can look particularly large under the new system. But you will get the higher of the two amounts shown and you will not be any worse off than you would be under the current system. To sum up: far from losing out or being penalised, you will have gained not just from paying less National Insurance, but also from having your employer contribute to your pension. Up to 4,000 homes a day are being fitted with digital smart meters, which have to be turned off if customers want to find a cheaper deal. Gas and electricity firms have launched a huge push to encourage customers to scrap standard electricity meters and replace them with digital ones, which monitor your energy consumption every second. These devices are supposed to help households save hundreds on their bills by helping them cut consumption. But anyone having one installed now may not realise that the gadgets will be useless if they want to switch to another energy firm. Digital meters are supposed to help customers save energy but are they more trouble than they're worth? In order to change supplier, they must turn off the device or remove it and have a new one installed. Mark Todd, co-founder of comparison site Energy Helpline, says: It seems completely crazy for energy companies to have been marketing these meters so aggressively because, as soon as you switch them off, they become worthless. It seems as though energy firms are signing up customers to these smart meters in order to keep them hostage. An estimated 50 million homes will be fitted with a smart meter by 2020 under an 11 billion Government scheme. Over the past three years, an estimated two million households have had one installed. The installation is done by the energy company you are currently with, and there is no upfront cost. But customers frequently do not realise that these devices must be switched off if they want to move to another supplier. This is because each energy company has smart meters that use different software to process data about how much energy is being used. As a result, energy companies cannot read the information sent by smart meters that have been fitted by other firms. Douglas Hutton, 65, had a smart meter fitted by E.on in May. His 1,315-a-year fixed gas and electricity deal with the energy firm expires this month. But the retired finance director was told that when his current deal runs out on January 26, his bills with E.on would rise 22 per cent to 1,600 a year. Trouble ahead? Anyone having one installed now may not realise that the gadgets will be useless if they want to switch to another energy firm Douglas visited a price comparison site and found a deal for 1,100 a year with another energy firm. It was then that he discovered he was unable to switch, because his smart meter was not compatible with another supplier. Now, Douglas, of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, faces either turning off his smart meter to be able to switch, waiting for it to become compatible with other devices or having it removed. I wish I had never had the thing installed, he says. It seems as though it was all a waste of time. Anyone who has a smart meter fitted from October will be able to move their tariff. This is when a computer system the national communications infrastructure will be introduced. It will ensure all smart meters are compatible. But many homes with a smart meter fitted before October face having to wait years for the software in their device to be upgraded although some can switch now and keep their smart meter. As of September last year, of the 1.66 million meters fitted, an estimated one in every 11 has had to be switched off by homeowners. Smart meters have already sparked controversy. Money Mail revealed in November that energy firms were set to use digital smart meters as a way of doubling the cost of power when families need it most adding nearly 60 a year to the average bill. This is because firms will use the technology to ramp up energy costs at peak times such as during popular TV programmes, or in the early evening and reduce its price at times when power is less in demand, for instance in the early hours of the morning. Energy companies cannot read the information sent by smart meters that have been fitted by other firms Claire Maugham, director of communications and policy at the Government programme behind smart meters, Smart Energy GB, says: In the past, older, analogue meters have been one of the barriers to people shopping around for their energy, and smart meters make it easier to find out if youre on the best deal. However, until the launch of the national communications infrastructure for smart meters later this year, some may find that, after switching supplier, their meters temporarily lose smart functionality. Once this is complete, smart meters will return to operating in fully smart mode. An E.ON spokesman says: If customers choose to leave us for another supplier, their smart meter would simply operate like a traditional meter we would stop receiving information about the customers consumption and their new supplier would instead take on responsibility for collecting their meter readings. We are working with Government and the rest of the industry to help ensure that smart meter customers will be able to move between suppliers without losing the smart functionality of their meters. A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman says: Every home in Britain will be able to have a smart meter by 2020, bringing an end to estimated bills and giving people more control of their energy. Sainsbury's would take the axe to Argos if it pursues a takeover of owner Home Retail Group, the supermarket has revealed after the chain posted a better-than-expected Christmas performance today. The group said it was still 'considering its position' on another Home Retail bid after it took the market by surprise last week when it revealed it had made an approach to the group in November, which was rebuffed. It is understood that if a follow up bid is successful Sainsbury's could close up to 200 of 734 existing Argos stores, bringing them into its supermarkets as concessions. Right direction: Boss Mike Coupe said Sainsbury's 0.4% decline in third quarter sales was an improvement on the previous two quarters and he expects the second half of the financial year to be better than the first half Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe remained tight-lipped on talks with Home Retail and plans for any improved offer, although he stressed the group would not overpay amid reports that some major shareholders want at least 1.6billion. 'This is not a deal we need to do at any price,' he said. His comments came as Sainsbury's posted a 0.8 per cent rise in total sales for the third quarter, while like-for-like sales were down 0.4 per cent but still better than the 0.7 per cent drop predicted by the City and marked a significant improvement on the 1.1 per cent fall in the previous three months. Coupe said that decline was an improvement on the previous two quarters and he now expects the second half of the financial year to be better than the first half. Sainsbury's said its Christmas advertising campaign featuring Mog the Cat saw nearly 37 million online views, while its exclusive Mog's Christmas Calamity book topped the UK bestseller charts for four consecutive weeks. However its trading failed to match the 0.2 per cent increase in festive sales reported yesterday by smaller rival Morrison's in what marked an unexpected result from the similarly embattled rival. Sainsbury's shares on the FTSE 100 index were choppy in early morning trade, dipping back again having earlier rallied from opening falls, down 1.3p at 249.9p. Morrison's shares on the FTSE 250 index, however, added another 2.1p at 167.6p, while UK sector leader Tesco - which issues its Christmas trading update tomorrow - gained 3 per cent or 4.8p at 160.0p. But Sainsbury's was the only one of the so-called 'Big Four' to gain market share over Christmas, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel released yesterday showing its share rising to 17 per cent in the 12 weeks to January 3 from 16.9 per cent a year earlier. All the other others, which also includes Wal-Mart-owned Asda, saw declines. Sainsbury's Coupe said: 'We have traded well during the festive period in a highly competitive market. Our stores delivered excellent levels of service and availability and we launched several new seasonal products and range improvements. As a result we have seen our market share grow in the quarter.' David Stoddard, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said: Interestingly, Sainsbury achieved the better sales performance despite reducing vouchering and promotional activity from the levels in the comparable period. It therefore now expects H2 LFL sales performance to be better than H1s. Popular: Sainsbury's said its advertising campaign featuring popular children's book character Mog the Cat was a 'huge success' as it cheered a 'good performance' over the season. But the main focus for the City is still to hear if Sainsbury's will increase its bid for Home Retail, which also owns DIY chain Homebase. The supermarket group has until February 2 to make a firm offer or walk away under the City Takeover Panel's so-called 'put up or shut up' deadline. Sainsbury's said while it would likely shut up to half of Argos stores, which have shop leases with less than five years to run, there would be an increase in the number of overall sites as it outlined aims to roll out concessions nationwide. There are already 10 Argos concessions within Sainsbury's stores as part of a trial. The group said it was a 'strategically compelling transaction' which would allow it to take on the might of rivals such as Amazon, with more than 100,000 general merchandise products between Argos and Sainsbury's. Bid uncertainty: Sainsbury's said up to half of the Argos chain's 734 stores could be shut and instead brought into its supermarkets as concessions if it were to pursue a bid for owner Home Retail Group It also sought to answer critics who have questioned cross-selling opportunities, claiming that over 40 per cent of households have shopped in both Argos and Sainsbury's over the past year. But there was no mention of Homebase, stoking speculation that it would seek to offload the business. Mr Coupe said he 'couldn't be drawn on it'. Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: 'With the Home Retail situation yet to be fully confirmed and with some investors remaining unconvinced by the strategic fit in any event the market consensus of the shares as a sell is likely to remain in place for the time being.' CMC Markets founder Peter Cruddas is a former Tory Party Treasurer and a key financial backer of the 'Brexit' campaign to get the UK to leave the EU Clients of spread betting and financial trading firm CMC Markets could buy a stake in the business after it confirmed plans to float on the London Stock Exchange next month. The group said 'eligible' new and existing account holders will be able to participate in the float based on a tier system determined by their average trading costs per month. The bottom 'Bronze Tier', those with trading costs of between 10 and 99 a month can apply for 500 up to 1,000 worth of shares. The top 'Gold Tier' with trading costs of over 500 a month can apply for up to 20,000 worth of shares. Account holders will be given priority over other applicants and for every 10 shares purchased in the Client Offer, investors will get 1 free bonus share after one year. The firm, founded by former Tory Party Treasurer Peter Cruddas in 1989 and part-owned by Goldman Sachs which has a 10 per cent stake, said it expects to raise around 17million from the launch to pay for admission costs and an incentive scheme for staff. Analysts expect the group to be valued at approximately 750million to 800million when it lists in the first major stock market flotation of 2016. The founding shareholders, who own nearly 90 per cent of the company, are expected to sell that shareholding down to around 60 per cent. In a statement, Mr Cruddas - one of the key financial backers of the 'Brexit' campaign - said: 'Bringing CMC to the public markets will enable us to continue to grow our global brand, build our client base, attract and retain employees and enhance our ability to enable retail traders around the world to trade.' CMC Markets operates in 14 countries and has operations across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Canada. For the six months ending 30 September, the company reported a net operating income of 78.9million. Last year, CMC announced a dividend of 15million which gave Mr Cruddas 13.5million for his 90 per cent stake. In the six months to 30 September, the group said it had 44,017 'Active Clients' who had traded in the previous 6 months. CMC said it processed approximately 45 million and 34 million trades in the financial year ended March 31 2015 and in the six months ended September 30 2015, respectively. The group's widely anticipated intention to float comes despite the turmoil that has hit global stock markets at the start of the new year, with the FTSE 100 index having dropped over 5 per cent in the first trading week of 2016 in the face of tumbling oil prices and concerns over growth in China. Volatility in markets, such as the Swiss franc crisis last year and the turmoil in China, actual boost CMC by encouraging investors to trade more. Biggest-UK-listed spread betting firm IG Group has seen its shares remain fairly flat so far in 2016, slipping less than 0.1 per cent. Bank recommendation levels among small to medium-sized enterprises have improved slightly due to increased competition among lenders, according to an ongoing survey of business experiences. New research, published today, shows that last year 26 per cent of SMEs companies with fewer than 250 employees, turnover less than 50 million euros and/or an annual balance sheet not exceeding 43 million euros would recommend their bank to others, up from 23 per cent in 2014. The survey of more than 12,000 firms also found those most likely to report improved satisfaction were younger and larger businesses. Happy customers: 26 per cent of SMEs would recommend their bank to others, up from 23 per cent in 2014 Meanwhile firms created in the last five years, from 2010 to date, are much more likely to consider moving their business current account in the next six months - at 15 per cent, compared with just eight per cent of those founded before 2000 (and a national average of 10 per cent). This is despite higher-than-average business current account satisfaction among younger businesses: 33 per cent are satisfied with their business current account, compared to the national average of 30 per cent. When comparing sectors, the Business Banking Insight report found only 20 per cent of businesses in financial services are likely to recommend their bank, against a 26 per cent average for all firms. Businesses in mining, utilities and accommodation and food services were the most satisfied, with 31 per cent happy to recommend their bank. Geographically, those in Northern Ireland had the highest levels of satisfaction with their banks 28 per cent said they would recommend their bank, while only 22 per cent in Wales would. In 2014 the recommendation figures were 21 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. The latest report, from the British Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses, comes as The Competition and Markets Authority is conducting an investigation into SME banking. Economic secretary to the Treasury Harriett Baldwin said: Britains small businesses are the backbone to our economy, which is why a key part of our long term plan is helping them to access the finance they need to grow and succeed. Positive: BCC director general John Longworth said he was reassured by the news Thats why Im delighted to see the banking communitys efforts in understanding and working with small businesses are starting to show positive results. John Longworth, BCC director general, said: It is reassuring that there has been progress in improving customer satisfaction among businesses, but there is clearly more to be done. He added: Competition among lenders is driving this change. Businesses look to other businesses, and we would like to see the CMA promote initiatives like the Business Banking Insight, which lets SMEs across the UK learn from the experiences of their peers before choosing products and services. Meanwhile Mike Cherry, FSB national policy director, said: The results show the banks are making some progress in improving their offer to younger and larger SME business customers. They also show how the wider industry can continue to have lessons to learn from newer banks in the market. He continued: This is a clear demonstration that improving competition in the business banking market can lead and should lead to improved services for all small businesses. We trust all the banks will use these BBIs findings to give business customers the service they expect. We encourage small businesses to go to the BBI website to find the banking services that suit their business. The research was conducted in two waves in the first and second halves of 2015 by independent research company ICM. The programme, jointly driven by the BCC and FSB, was first announced by the Treasury in 2013. Business Banking Insights advisory group also includes the British Banking Association, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. MBABANE Judge Qinisile Mabuza yesterday remarked on the provisions of the Constitution pertaining to the representation of chiefs by the Office of the Attorney General (AG). This was in the matter where Chief Mashampus Headman, Ndlavela Mavimbela, had taken the acting Governor of Ludzidzini Timothy Velabo Mtetwa to court after the latter issued an order stopping any construction around Enkambu, Ezulwini. Section 77(3)(a) of the Constitution provides that the AG shall represent chiefs in their official capacity in legal proceedings. The acting governor is represented by Vusi Kunene from the chambers of the AG, while Chief Mashampus Indvuna, Mavimbela, is represented by a private attorney from Zonke Magagulas law firm. Is it not prudent that both parties not be represented by the attorney general and instead go look for private lawyers because it looks like you prefer one over another, observed Judge Mabuza. In response, the government lawyer agreed with the judge but argued that the Constitution does not say the chiefs were obliged to be represented by the AG. He said they were at liberty to choose a legal representative of their own as they were not precluded from doing so. Kunene said the AG represented a chief when he had approached his office. Some of those who had been affected by the order issued by the acting governor are Pastor Joy Dlamini, wife to Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, and Prince Lonkhokhela. The two are not the only people affected by the order but other unnamed individuals have also been ordered to stop any construction forthwith. MBABANE The Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) has appointed Meshack Kunene as acting Managing Director (MD) effective from February 1, 2016. The veteran engineer takes over from Sengiphile Simelane, who resigned late last year. According to a press release by the utility company, Kunene originally held the position of General Manager Strategy and Resources. SEC Board of Directors Chairperson Qhawe Mavuso said he was confident that given his immaculate credentials and vast experience, the 55-year-old Kunene would steer the company to greater heights. Mavuso further wished Kunene well as he assumed his new duties. Kunene has been with SEC from July 21, 1981. He is one of the few longest serving employees in the company. Kunene is not new to the position as he once held it on an acting basis after the departure of the then MDs Themba Tsela in 2003 and Pius Gumbi in 2011. In fact, he handed the baton to the outgoing MD, Simelane, in September 2012. Kunene has held various other positions in the past, which included the following; technician, planning engineer, distribution engineer, distribution manager and general manager operations. The press release further reads: Meshack Kunene is the go-to person at SEC if you want to know anything on operations. While holding the fort as general manager strategy and resources, he was responsible for the following tasks: System Performance Evaluation & Review Organisational Performance Review Co-ordination of New Projects Conducting and Monitoring Research Strategy Implementation The current water shortage could result in people getting water from unhygenic sources. (Courtesy Pic) MBABANE Water rationing will soon be implemented countrywide as the natural resource becomes scarce. Peter Bhembe, Swaziland Water Services Corporation (SWSC) Managing Director, said water rationing would be implemented in other towns soon. He said this was because water was running out in many places. It will be implemented in other towns soon as the situation is dire. Already, some towns have no water and are relying on alternative sources. Water rationing means that water production is reduced and, as a result of this water reduction, less water is supplied to municipalities. This has a knock-on effect on consumers who are given a limited amount of water per day. Once the water quantum allocated to households is consumed, there is no water available until the following day when a new amount is allocated. Rationing is one way of mitigating the drought from a resource conservation perspective, Bhembe said. Water rationing is the controlled distribution of water. Bhembe said towns like Manzini were safe for now, however, they would soon feel the reality of water rationing. The current water crisis is a result of the ongoing drought caused by El Nino. The corporation has noted that there was no water countrywide. Places like Ezulwini and Matsapha already source water from alternative sources. The Ezulwini area now survives from water produced from the LaMgabhi Water Treatment Plant. The LaMgabhi River is also running low and there is now high competition for the resource, both from SWSC and the community, which sometimes uses the water for irrigation. Meanwhile, Matsapha is supplied through Luphohlo Dam. Bhembe thanked the Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) for allowing them (SWSC) to use their resources to supply the Matsapha Industrial Sites. The challenge faced by SWSC to supply water following the ongoing drought forced the organisation to offer the natural resource on rotational basis. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Madina Toure A Flushing woman has been charged with labor trafficking and other charges for allegedly holding two Korean children captive as slaves for six years, the Queens district attorney said. Sook Yeong Park, 42, allegedly took the two children, 9 and 11 years old at the time, into her home in 2010 and forced them to work, claiming their mother was not sending her money from Korea, DA Richard Brown said. The girl spoke to her mother last week for the first time in three years, he said. According to the charges, the defendant cut off all contact between the two young victims and their parents in Korea, held them hostage in her home by seizing their passports, forced them to do household chores well into the night and to work outside of the home and turn over all their earnings to her, Brown said. Park was arraigned Jan. 9 on charges of labor trafficking, assault and endangering the welfare of a child, Brown said. In January 2010, one of Parks relatives brought the now 16-year-old girl and her 14-year-old brother to Parks former Queens residence in the United States from Korea, according to Brown. She allegedly took the victims passports and moved to her current location, Brown said. Park forced the female victim to work nearly every day after school for about 10 hours, from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., doing housework, including cleaning her home and forcing her to give her back and foot massages and manicures and pedicures, Brown continued. From April 2013 to about 2014, the suspect made the girl work at a Queens grocery store about two days a week for eight hours a day on a salary of $10 an hour, Brown added. The girl also had to work several days a week at a grocery store on Northern Boulevard as well as at other grocery stores in New York City for nine hours a day, the DA said. The boy worked at the grocery store for at least one day a month starting in August 2015, Brown said. Between January 2010 and January 2016, the girl slept on a small closet floor and the boy on a bedroom floor, each with one blanket and no mattress, and Park would beat them, the DA said. She allegedly scratched the girls legs with a nail clipper, kicked the girl on her leg and head and cut off her hair, Brown said. The girl attended Francis Lewis HS, where the assistant principal noticed she was often absent, had trouble staying awake and had bruises on her legs, he said. The assistant principal went to Parks residence, forced her to turn over the victims passports and brought the kids to the Northern Boulevard grocery store to collect their salaries and school officials notified the police, he added.If convicted, Park faces up to seven years in prison, and was ordered held on $10,000 bond/$2,500 cash bail and to return to court Feb. 16, Brown said. By Kathy Kelly In Kabul, where the Afghan Peace Volunteers have hosted me in their community, the U.S. military maintains a huge blimp equipped with cameras and computers to supply 24-hour surveillance of the city. Remotely piloted drones, operated by Air Force and Air National Guard personnel on U.S. bases, also fly over Afghanistan, giving U.S. military analysts miles of camera footage, every day. Billions of dollars have been invested in a variety of blimps which various vendors such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and Aeros have shipped to Afghanistan. All of this surveillance purportedly helps establish patterns of life and bring security to people living here. But this sort of intelligence discloses very little about experiences of poverty, chaos, hunger, child labor, homelessness, and unemployment which afflict families across Afghanistan. This morning, Zarghuna shared the survey questions that she and her young colleagues ask when they visit families in Kabul. The family visits help them choose participants in the Borderfree Street Kids School and the Duvet Project. The survey teams also help with plans for a Food Bank that the Afghan Peace Volunteers hope to open sometime in the coming year. The questions Zarghuna and the survey team use may seem simple. How many times a week does your family have a serving of beans? Do you rent your home? Can anyone in your family read and write? Child laborers are asked to tell about what type of work they do on the streets, how many hours they work each day and how much money they earn. The answers often open up excruciatingly painful situations as many family members explain that they never have adequate food, that the only person earning an income is one of the children, that once they pay rent for the mud home in which they live, they have no remaining funds for food, blankets, fuel or clean water. Ive watched the young volunteers work hard to develop useful survey questions and discuss ways to be sensitive as they visit families and try to build trust. Sometimes very difficult arguments erupt over which families are most needy. As the Pentagon decides about investments in aerial, remotely controlled surveillance capacities, disagreements over which proposals to support have arisen within the various military forces. Defense companies pay handsome salaries to former military leaders who will advocate for one or another program. Afghanistan has become a proving ground where different protective systems have been tested, including successive generations of Predator and Reaper drones and the aerostat blimps. In Afghanistan, an October 11, 2015, accident involving a U.S. military blimp cost the lives of five people. The Intercept reported that a British military helicopter was coming in for a landing at NATO headquarters, where the blimp is moored. According to an eyewitness who spoke to the BBC, the helicopter hit the tether, which then wrapped itself around the rotors. The helicopter crashed, killing five people two U.S. service members, two British service members, and a French contract civilianand injuring five more. Among opponents of continued funding for blimp surveillance, blimp accidents are but one of many criticisms raised. Some Army leaders argue that even a fully functioning blimp-borne air defense system would be irrelevant in terms of the kinds of attacks that threaten U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Los Angeles Times notes that the weapons that were killing and maiming U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were crude rockets, artillery, and improvised explosive devices. Other real and life threatening threats afflict many Afghan people, especially the 40 percent of the population who live beneath the poverty level. These threats are invisible to surveillance carried on by blimps or drones. A UN Human Development Report recently revealed that Afghanistan has slipped to 171st of 173 countries in terms of development. The UN report says that an Afghan person can, on average, expect to live 60 years. According to the CIA World Fact Book, the average life span here is 50 years. In 2015, 1.2 million Afghans were internally displaced, and about 160,000 people fled to Europe. The U.S. military continues to invest billions of dollars in the surveys accomplished by blimps and drones. Certainly poverty and desperation cause people to fight against foreigners who have invaded and occupied their country. If U.S. resources spent on unproductive military surveillance of Afghans were dedicated to assessments of both U.S. and Afghan people burdened by poverty, unemployment, hunger, disease and climate change, todays U.S. generations would be less willing to feed their tax money to the insatiable appetite of the defense corporations and their illusions of omniscient security. The views expressed in this article are the author\s own and do not necessarily reflect The Times Of Earth\s editorial policy. Hotel lets guests record songs; honors Pittsburgh's rich musical past The Oaklander Hotel, near the site of the old Syria Mosque, honors Pittsburgh's concert legacy with new on-site recording studio; open mic nights SHARE How many times have you heard people say that "there isn't enough help for struggling families raising children"? Or heard new parents say that they "wish children came with instruction manuals so they knew how to best take care of their child"? Wichita County is fortunate to have three programs that hope to combat this issue. It's called the Wichita County Texas Home Visiting Initiative, made possible through a $1.3 million-a-year grant provided to the North Texas Area United Way by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in conjunction with the Health Resources and Services Administration. This initiative is comprised of three nationally-ranked and evidence-based programs with a goal of showing parents how to become their child's first teacher. In a sense, it provides part of that instruction manual that parents wish they had. Each program is unique in its very own way. The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) assists first-time moms-to-be who are no more than 27 weeks pregnant prepare for the arrival of their new babies. I cannot relate to this personally, but I have heard countless stories of sleepless and worry-filled nights that first time families have endured. The purpose of the nurse home visitors isn't to replace wellness or doctor visits, but to be that first-time mom's cheerleader; helping her to ask and answer the tough questions. Once the baby is born, home visits continue until the child turns two years of age. The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program is for families with children from birth to five years of age. Everyone knows that the stronger a family is, the more successful that child is likely to be. That is exactly what the PAT program strives to accomplish with each and every visit. In Wichita County, the Parent Educators are all former educators and administrators within the school system. They continuously monitor for developmental delays, vision and hearing problems, and countless other potential deficits. Along with developmental screenings, obtainable goals are also established for both the child and the parents. By challenging the parents to set goals themselves, it helps to keep them accountable for their actions. Together, these goals can improve the overall family dynamics. Finally, for parents of children three to five years there is the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. Don't let the name fool you. This is an intellectual, evidence-based program targeted at parents with youngsters age three to five. Each school year, home visitors provide weekly visits to all families enrolled in the program. Each visit provides the family with a new developmentally and age-appropriate activity. The home visitors first role play the activity with the parent and then encourage them to emulate the activity throughout the week. The purpose of the activities is to not only stimulate the mind of the child but also help strengthen the bond between parent and child. All three programs are evidenced-based. Each has a proven track record of showing greater advancements in developmental attributes for those children who have completed one or more of these programs versus those who have never been enrolled. No family is ever forced or required to participate in any of the Texas Home Visiting Initiatives. Each family must decide independently whether or not they believe these specific programs can benefit their child. In the end, we can all agree on one simple principle; that every child has the right to succeed in today's world. I believe that these programs help advance that effort in our community and with your help we can solidify these programs for generations to come. TRN archives SHARE By Bridget Knight of the Times Record News Scores of years have likely passed since anyone in Wichita Falls thought of dominos games as a factor contributing to the delinquency of youth. In 1924, though, the problem of youth frittering away their time amid miscreant influences was enough for city leaders to act. Domino parlors, where players paid a few pennies per hour to rent a table, were ordered closed, at least on Sundays. By 1979, when players gathered at Blind Man's Bluff Domino Parlor at 607 Ninth St, diehards had had enough of the antiquated rule that prevented mostly older men from gathering for games on the Sabbath. Freddie Scarbrough, who had operated domino parlors for 30 years, petitioned the City Council to rescind the old ordinance. How they ruled wasn't recorded, but the domino parlors faded away nonetheless. By 1981, Scarbrough had sold his business, which closed for good by 1983. The condition of the building may have played a role. Today it is gone, and its footprint is part of Daniel Park at Ninth and Ohio. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon - Associated Press SHARE By John Ingle of the Times Record News President Barack Obama was put in the White House with promises of hope and change, and change continued to be the context of his agenda during his last State of the Union speech to begin the last year of his presidency. U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the president's comments hearkened back to his run for office in 2008, sounding more like a convention speech and not putting forth much substance. "A lot of it is just vague rhetoric about change rather than specific things that really could and should be done," he told the Times Record News by telephone after the president's speech. Thornberry said he does agree with the president that the U.S. military is the strongest and best military fighting force in the world. But, he said, the commander in chief's assessment of the nation's security is a stark difference from what Thornberry and those who served under Obama know it to be. He said former acting CIA director Michael Morrell, former undersecretary of defense for intelligence Michael Vickers and Robert Ford, former ambassador to Syria, testified before an Armed Services Committee hearing earlier on Tuesday that the Islamic State group of Iraq and Syria are a serious threat to national security. "(They) agreed the world is getting more dangerous, especially with the growth of ISIS," Thornberry said, "and that the president's policies on ISIS are not successful; that he needs to do more. So, even people who have served in his administration do not agree with this idea that terrorists and threats are overblown, and that's what he tried to get across tonight." The president spent the latter part of his speech urging Congress to work together and to compromise on issues instead of legislators digging in their respective political heals. Thornberry said Obama was part of "more partisanship and more division than we've had in at least modern times." "It's kind of ironic that we got that sort of lecture," the congressman said. "Certainly he has not done anything to improve the situation. In fact, he's made it worse." This was the third time Thornberry has witnessed the final State of the Union address of a president, the first being President Bill Clinton and then President George W. Bush. Thornberry said it seems as if Obama's desire is to "coast through" his final year in office while the rest of the country and world moves on. Obama's two predecessors, Thornberry said, still had goals they wanted to achieve. "With Clinton's final State of the Union, and final year, and with Bush, they were still working on things with Congress; trying to get things done," he said. "Really trying to work together, not just talking about it. Nobody that I know of really expects Obama to change, to try to work with Congress on any of these things. He said he is going to go around the country and make speeches." The president's speech lasted roughly 59 minutes, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley provided the Republican Party response to Obama's comments. Council takes no action on suing entertainment giants Wichita Falls city councilors moved consideration of a lawsuit against some major entertainment companies off the agenda when they met Tuesday. A "Support Lake Wichita" sign stands in a median near the intersection of Maplewood Avenue and Midwestern Parkway. SHARE By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News The holiday season truly was a time of giving as the Lake Wichita Revitalization Committee reports December gained the highest amount of donations to date. LWRC chairman Steve Garner said 2015 was a great year for the project and they have come further than any group has before to revitalize the lake for recreational purposes. For the past seven months, he reports donations averaged about $2,000 per month. In November, givings rose to $8,428.62 and exploded in December to $19,635.18. These amounts brings the total collected or pledged for the lake project to $504,719.82. The group met Tuesday afternoon and finalized four levels of sponsorship for businesses and restaurants with corresponding amounts of merchandise such as coasters, table toppers, banners, yard signs and media recognition. Garner said the group has received donations at all levels except the highest level of $250,000 or more. He said there will be a "nice partnership" with a local business that will have a quarterly fundraiser to benefit the LWRC. One of the new restaurants set to open at Sikes Senter chose the LWRC as its non-profit to sponsor and will have a "Day for the Lake" event during their soft opening to profit the group. The names of these two businesses were not made public, but should be released this week. Garner encouraged all the group members to connect with other businesses and urge them to get involved with the Lake Wichita project. "This is a project that is bigger than all of us. It's just begging us to get knee-deep into it," he said. Davis Powell presented an update on the Corollo engineering firm and said the group is about 33 percent complete with its 404 permit application work. He expects Corollo will be finished by June and the committee can continue with approval of the work and move on to the Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit application process. Corollo was able to incorporate previous survey work from a 1991 study by Biggs and Matthews. Powell also presented a revised paddling trail map that changes the alignments to allow better dissolved oxygen flow in the waters. He said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had some concerned about outside sources affecting water through the trail and the changes may save the project from a more than $23,000 dissolved oxygen analysis. The paddling trail involves excavation of about 60,000 cubic-yards of dirt and the surrounding area is set to have a 35-foot high mountain with a fill area at a depth of about four feet. The group is considering a rock-climbing area on this proposed mountain at Lake Wichita Park. While response seems to remain positive, group members said, there has yet to be a ground-breaking ceremony or kickoff event to bolster public support. Garner said the first "dirt-turning" event when a grant comes through for the boardwalk or boat ramps would be a great time for a public event. "I wanted this to happen a year and a half ago, but progress is being made. The first big unveiling, whatever it is, the public is going to go crazy," Garner said. Albany A coalition opposed to the proposed Constitution natural gas pipeline on Tuesday asked Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to block the company from getting federal approval to begin cutting trees along the planned route in central New York. In a letter to Schneiderman, the group Stop the Pipeline asked that his office object to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission because project developers do not yet have required water quality protection permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "Time is of the essence," the letter stated. "We ask that you act immediately on behalf of thousands of landowners, all state residents, and in defense of state law with regard to this matter." Schneiderman spokesman Nick Benson said the letter was under review. The planned $750 million, 124-mile pipeline would carry hydrofracked natural gas from Pennsylvania into New York, crossing through Broome, Chenango, Delaware and Schoharie counties, where gas then could move into the Iroquois pipeline into Canada and New England for potential overseas export. Opponents from Stop the Pipeline said the project poses a threat to streams, wetlands and forests, and that environmental risks were ignored by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which approved the project in December. On its route, the pipeline would cross 270 bodies of water and clear 1,000 acres of forest containing 700,000 trees. More than 700 parcels of land are affected by the proposed pipeline, and 120 landowners face losing property to the gas company under eminent domain. In its Jan. 8 request to FERC, the company wants to begin "non-mechanical" cutting of an unspecified number of trees along the route starting Jan. 22. The state water quality permits are the final step needed for the project to move forward and DEC faces an April deadline to either issue or deny the permits. Constitution is asking FERC to decide on its request by Friday. The company told FERC that DEC officials did not object to the start of tree-cutting despite the absence of the water quality permits, citing a Jan. 5 telephone conversation with the "counsel's office and project management." DEC has not yet taken a position on the Constitution request, according to the press office. STP's letter to Schneiderman called Constitution's push to start clearing the pipeline's path "simply another example of the company bullying NYS and its agencies, this time by claiming it has agreements and documents in hand which, in fact, do not exist ... Allowing the pipeline company to cut trees before federal and state-mandated permits are granted by the appropriate agencies would not only be undemocratic; it would be government-sanctioned corporate theft." "The pipeline company wants to pretend that cutting trees is not construction," said Anne Marie Garti, founding member of Stop the Pipeline and a volunteer attorney representing the group through the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic. Pipeline spokesman Christopher Stockton said the company was "not requesting to proceed with construction of the pipeline," but was looking to start tree-cutting in order to comply with wildlife-protection provisions of its December 2014 FERC order. Those conditions limit Constitution to cutting trees "within the construction workspace" to between Nov. 1 and March 31 in order to protect migratory songbirds and the northern long eared bat, which is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Such bat populations in the state have been decimated by the fungal disorder known as white nose syndrome. The pipeline is a partnership of Houston-based Cabot Oil and Gas Corp; Williams, an Oklahoma-based energy company; Piedmont Natural Gas, and WGL Holdings. bnearing@timesunion-.com - 518-454-5094 - @Bnearing10 Sony Pictures Animation "Hotel Transylvania 2": It's as rare as vampires on a beach to have a movie sequel be better than the original. But vampires might start looking for some sunglasses, because the spookiest thing about "Hotel Transylvania 2" is how much funnier, more colorful and more original it is this second time around. This is the kind of high-energy movie that will keep youngsters interested and entertained. At the same time, the humor is smart and the story sweet enough that parents won't mind sitting through this tale. It's anything but blah, blah, blah. "The Image Revolution": Documentary on efforts by a group of artists who left Marvel Comics in 1992 to launch their own comic book company. It is a fascinating tale of how a newcomer waged creative war with Marvel and DC Comics. The seven founders of the publishing company Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio, Todd McFarlane and Jim Valentino discuss the reasons for their rebellion and how their plans began to fall apart immediately. Not only great insight for comic book fans, but a compelling story about the creative process and big business. Chef shuffle: Graham returns to Wine Bar, Colose to Erlowest The chef Mark Graham, who defined the small-plates style of The Wine Bar in Saratoga Springs during a five-year tenure that ended a decade ago, has returned. He is the head chef, overseeing The Wine Bar's kitchen, and will be cooking two or three days a week in alternation with his existing consulting duties, at Campagna Restaurant in Malta. Graham, whose last full-time kitchen post was at Taste in Albany through the end of 2014, also recently was consulting at Tala American Bistro in Latham, but that arrangement has ended. Graham succeeds Dominic Colose, who left The Wine Bar last week after two stints totaling about four and a half years. Colose said he is now running the kitchen at The Inn at Erlowest in Lake George on a consulting basis for the foreseeable future; Erlowest's owners are in the middle of a search to replace Chris Bonnivier, who is said to have returned to working in the Berkshires. (He previously was head chef at The Orchards Hotel in Williamstown, Mass.) Colose said he hopes to be named the permanent executive chef of Erlowest and has been tasked with making Erlowest's menu "more approachable" (i.e., less expensive). Thai restaurant opens in Latham A restaurant called Celadon Thai opened last week at 461 Troy-Schenectady Road in Latham, across the street from Ala Shanghai. It offers a large menu of traditional Thai fare. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, noon to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Free delivery is available within a three-mile radius and with a $15 minimum. Call 389-6190. The menu is at www.celadonthailatham.com. Bakery-cafe opens in Rensselaer A 21-year-old graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who grew up in the restaurant business has opened a bakery-cafe called Baking You Crazy at 483 Broadway in Rensselaer. The building, formerly home to Red House Pub, is at the foot of the bridge to the Rensselaer Amtrak station. The owner of Baking You Crazy is Vanessa Berisic, whose parents owned Red House Pub and still run V&R Italian Restaurant in Albany. The menu includes pancakes, French toast, egg sandwiches, omelets, fried appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and salads. Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends, closed Monday. Call 455-7050. This is the second spot to open on Broadway in the past two months; The Shakin' Bacon is at 138 Broadway. Mama's owner back in the biz Stephanie Van Auken, who ran Mama's Family Restaurant in Clifton Park for 23 years before closing it in 2005, has purchased Ravenswood Pub, an institution for 32 years. The seller is Wayne Beale, who bought it three years ago and owns three other Saratoga County watering holes: Rusty Nail Grill and Tavern, Bentley's Tavern and The Mill on Round Lake. Van Auken said she hopes to add dishes from Mama's to Ravenswood. Four years ago, Van Auken helped her family open Brick House Pizza & Grille, located at 54 Clifton Country Road. Ravenswood is located at 1021 Route 146. Compiled by Steve Barnes. Items to be considered for publication must be submitted to sbarnes@timesunion.com. Visit his blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping. MENANDS Four women traveling to the Albany area from Canada were arrested for their roles in a "grandparent scam," State Police said Tuesday. The four, all from Laval, Quebec, allegedly came to the region last Wednesday and Thursday to pick up packages of money from the scheme, troopers said. In the scam, someone identifying themselves as a grandson, calls or mails an elderly person to say he's been arrested in another state and needs bail money, while a second person gets on the phone and claims he's a police officer, who tells the victim where to send the bail money. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany The capital city will have to keep waiting for its $12.5 million lifeline from the state, without which Mayor Kathy Sheehan says Albany will be insolvent and facing "devastating" cuts by year's end. The $12.5 million which Sheehan relied on to balance her 2016 budget was not included in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed state spending plan unveiled Wednesday. Cuomo's proposal is just the first step in a lengthy budget process that will culminate with negotiations with the Legislature in late March. Still, the money's absence from the budget underscores the precariousness of the city's fiscal situation. But Sheehan insisted Wednesday that she remains optimistic that the city will convince state officials that Albany's special status as the capital merits additional help. "I think we've demonstrated to the state and to the governor and to the budget office that we are prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars," Sheehan said. Part of that campaign involved opening the city's books to the state's Financial Restructuring Board last year a move that netted $5 million in one-time aid. Sheehan's critics on the Common Council, meanwhile said the mayor must now deliver on what amounted to a budget gamble. "The mayor has a fiduciary obligation to secure this money, period. I don't know what else to say," said 11th Ward Councilman Judd Krasher, who voted against Sheehan's spending plan. "One would think that you would insert that kind of money we're not talking chump change here with some kind of commitment from the governor's office. That's on her." Finance Committee Chairman Frank Commisso Jr.'s tone was similar. "I'm hopeful that the mayor will obtain the revenue she budgeted," Commisso said. "The uncertainty created by this strategy is stressful for taxpayers, employees and will hurt economic development." In unveiling her budget, Sheehan branded the request as "Capital City Funding," a recurring revenue stream from the state tied to the value of its vast tax-exempt landholdings in Albany, chiefly, Harriman State Office Campus. Albany receives far less per capita in state aid than other upstate cities with similar social and economic problems, city officials contend. Combined with the state's more than $3.5 billion in tax-exempt land, they argue, that's a recipe for a disproportionate burden on property taxpayers and an unsustainable way to fund city services. But the city has made and the state has rebuffed such arguments before. Albany's recurring budget deficits, Sheehan said, are not a testament to mismanagement but to ingenuity in the face of a structural problem not of its own making. "The fact that we've done what we've done for as long as we have is remarkable," she said. Asked about the money, a state Division of Budget spokesman said Wednesday that Cuomo's administration would "work with the Legislature through the budget process." Sheehan's proposal entailed an amendment to a section of the state's Public Lands law that governs how local governments are compensated for tax-exempt property essentially the same tack taken in previous years when the city has unsuccessfully sought an outright payment in lieu of taxes on the roughly 330-acre campus. But Sheehan said Wednesday the city is open to another mechanism. Officials will next look to Cuomo's 30-day budget amendments in hopes the money could be added to the budget then. There's precedent. In 2013, the last time Albany won a $7.8 million advance on money owed it by the state in the future on Empire State Plaza, the money was left out of Cuomo's budget proposal but added in the amendments. The city's alternatives are limited, Sheehan said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. The $12.5 million is roughly equivalent to a 22 percent hike in the city's property tax levy, a drastic step the mayor on Wednesday reiterated she is unwilling to take because it would make the city's tax rates even less competitive with surrounding areas. Still, Sheehan has avoided detailed public discussion of how deep the cuts to the city's workforce and services would need to be to plug the budget hole this year if the governor and legislature don't come through with the money. On Wednesday, Sheehan acknowledged it would require layoffs in key city agencies, like police, fire and general services. Without offering numbers, she said cuts in police and fire would be especially painful because they would require the city to forfeit federal grant money it has received to hire more cops and firefighters. Canceling all special events like Tulip Fest, the Alive at 5 summer concert series or not planting flowers cuts that may seem obvious from the outside would not even come close to saving the money needed to plug the hole, Sheehan said. And the city has little if any reserve money left to help. In November, Treasurer Darius Shahinfar projected the city's available fund balance would be "at essentially zero by the end of the year" though he said the exact figures were still fluid Wednesday. Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, a Democrat who represents the city, said Albany's legislative delegation has already been busy making the city's case and that securing the money is her No. 1 priority in the budget. "We're going to keep pounding away on this," Fahy said, "but, clearly, the pressure is on." jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com 518-454-5445 @JCEvangelist_TU Currently Reading 'No Pants mass transit 2016 around the world This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Istanbul A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbul's historic district on Tuesday, killing 10 foreigners most of them German tourists and wounding 15 other people in the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. The blast, just steps from the historic Blue Mosque and a former Byzantine church in the city's storied Sultanahmet district, was the first by the Islamic State to target Turkey's vital tourism sector, although IS militants have struck with deadly effect elsewhere in the country. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bomber was a member of IS and pledged to battle the militant group until it no longer "remains a threat" to Turkey or the world. Davutoglu described the assailant as a "foreign national," and Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said he was a Syrian citizen born in 1988. However, the private Dogan news agency said the bomber was Saudi-born. Kurtulmus said the attacker was believed to have recently entered Turkey from Syria and was not among a list of potential bombers wanted by Turkey. "Turkey won't backtrack in its struggle against Daesh by even one step," Davutoglu said, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym. "This terror organization, the assailants and all of their connections will be found and they will receive the punishments they deserve." Eight Germans were among the dead and nine others were wounded, some seriously, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin. The nationalities of the two others killed in the blast were not immediately released, but both were foreigners. The wounded also included citizens of Norway, Peru, South Korea and Turkey. Turkey's state-run news agency said Davutoglu held a telephone conversation with German chancellor Angela Merkel to express his condolences. "I strongly condemn the terror incident that occurred in Istanbul, at the Sultanahmet Square, and which has been assessed as being an attack by a Syria-rooted suicide bomber," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Merkel pledged Germany would continue its fight against terrorism. "Today Istanbul was the target, before Paris, Copenhagen, Tunis, and so many other areas," she told reporters in Berlin. "International terror changes the places of its attacks but its goal is always the same it is our free life, in free society. The terrorists are the enemies of all free people, indeed, the enemies of all humanity, whether in Syria or Turkey, in France or Germany." The impact of Tuesday's attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was far-reaching because it struck at Turkey's $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Its apparent links to Syria also threatened to have implications in a country that is already dealing with more than 2 million Syrian refugees and a wave of migrants from Syria and other countries pouring across Turkey to Europe. [January 13, 2016] A.M. Best Comments on Ratings of Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company P.S.C. A.M. Best has commented that the period for resolution of the under review with negative implications status on the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of "a-" of Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company P.S.C. (ADNIC) (United Arab Emirates) has been extended pending the execution of an issuance of mandatory convertible bonds. On Aug. 27, 2015, the ratings of ADNIC were placed under review with negative implications following deterioration in the company's risk-adjusted capitalisation and operating performance. At that point, ADNIC had begun to undertake a capital enhancement initiative, with management anticipating that capital adequacy would be strengthened by year-end 2015. Despite management's endeavors to adhere to this timeframe, the proposed issuance is the first of its kind in the Middle East insurance market and has taken longer to design and obtain approval for than initially anticipated. ADNIC is expected to issue AED 390 million of short-duration mandatory convertible bonds, with the instrument automatically converting to common equity at the end of the term. Whilst ADNIC has received approval from its Board of Directors, the company has yet to obtain shareholder approval. The company is anticipated to call for a Shareholders' Gneral Assembly Meeting in January, and subject to the necessary approvals, management expects to execute the transaction by the end of first-quarter 2016. In addition to the proposed capital enhancement, the extension of the under review status will enable A.M. Best to fully assess the company's rating fundamentals following a review of full-year 2015 financial performance, as well as consider the measures taken by management to strengthen its enterprise risk management. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1060/2009, the following is a link to required disclosures: A.M. Best Europe - Rating Services Limited Supplementary Disclosure. This press release relates to rating(s) that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please visit A.M. Best's Ratings & Criteria Center. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005796/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] GrabTaxi to Open Engineering Center in Seattle GrabTaxi, the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia, today announced it will open its first office in the United States in Seattle, Washington in January 2016. The office will leverage the extremely rich Seattle-area talent pool to build a dedicated engineering team based in the United States. Raman Narayanan, a former Microsoft (News - Alert) "Distinguished Engineer," has joined the company to serve as Technical Advisor and lead the company's recruitment efforts in the U.S. GrabTaxi's Seattle engineering center will complement the company's existing R&D centers in Singapore and Beijing. The company has already made several early hires, including engineers from leading technology companies, and it expects to continue building out the Seattle-based team over the next 12 months. The Seattle team will work with GrabTaxi's engineering team in Singapore, which is led by Arul Kumaravel, VP of Engineering and formerly Head of Engineering for Amazon's mobile platform. "We are excited to announce our new engineering center in Seattle, which will help attract top talent in the U.S. and expand our global talent reach. As we continue to build an on-demand ecosystem in Southeast Asia, it is important to look all over the world for innovative ideas and people that will help us continue to succeed in that mission," said Anthony Tan, co-founder and CEO of GrabTaxi. "Raman is the perfect fit to lead this effort given his long history and deep connections to the Seattle area and the broader U.S. technology community, as well as his invaluable experience as a pioneer in developing software and service platforms in emerging industries. We are thrilled to have Raman join the GrabTaxi team." "It is an honor to join the GrabTaxi team at such an exciting time in the company's history," said Narayanan. "On-demand services have changed the way people move, commute, shop and consume, and I am excited to be a part of this transformation at such an early stage. GrabTaxi hs a highly advanced technology platform, and I look forward to helping build a team that will further the development of its cloud computing, storage, big data management, predictive analytics and machine learning capabilities." During his 23-year career at Microsoft, Mr. Narayanan led several engineering efforts in operating systems, productivity applications, developer platforms, mobility, cloud services, gaming and distributed systems. He has 35 patents (issued and pending) and was awarded the Distinguished Engineer title for his role as a technology innovator, visionary and leader. Mr. Narayanan left Microsoft in 2013, and has since been advising startups and early-stage technology companies. Mr. Kumaravel joined GrabTaxi in early 2015 as VP of Engineering, responsible for all software, platform and infrastructure development. Prior to joining GrabTaxi, he was based in the Seattle area where he was Head of Engineering for Amazon's mobile platform. Before that he was a Principal Development Manager at Microsoft, where he managed the development of products for the Startup Business Group, Sharepoint, Windows and Internet Explorer, among others. Mr. Kumaravel earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. GrabTaxi is the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia with 95 percent market share in third-party taxi-hailing and more than 50 percent market share in private cars. With up to 1.5 million daily bookings across six countries, GrabTaxi offers the region's widest range of options in one mobile app including taxis, motorcycle taxis, private cars, carpooling and deliveries. Headquartered in Singapore, GrabTaxi operates across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. About GrabTaxi GrabTaxi is a leading transportation platform with a comprehensive suite of on-demand services across Southeast Asia. GrabTaxi began as a taxi-hailing app in 2012, but has extended its product platform to include private car services (GrabCar), motorcycle taxis (GrabBike), social carpooling (GrabHitch) and last mile delivery (GrabExpress). GrabTaxi is focused on pioneering new commuting alternatives for drivers and passengers with an emphasis on speed, safety and reliability. The Company currently offers services in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand through its mobile app platform, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times. Passengers can download the app to book rides on their smartphones and tablets (iOS: http://bit.ly/grabtaxi-iOS and Android (News - Alert): http://bit.ly/grabtaxi-Android). For more information, please visit: http://www.grabtaxi.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113006278/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Savioke Announces $15 Million Series A Funding from Intel Capital, EDBI, Northern Light Venture Capital Savioke today announced that it has raised $15 million in Series A financing from lead investor Intel Capital, along with EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, and Northern Light Venture Capital. Savioke will use the funding to expand sales, marketing and product developments for its award-winning Relay robot. This round brings the total raised to date to $17.6 million, following its seed investment from Morado Venture Partners, AME Cloud Ventures, Google (News - Alert) Ventures, and additional individual investors. "For decades, robots have been too complex, too expensive, and not safe enough to co-exist in human environments. Through a combination of advances in robotics software, and the drop in costs for robotic hardware and components, those objections have disappeared. The time has finally come when robots are going to be at our beck and call, and for our robots in the hospitality industry we mean that quite literally." - Steve Cousins, CEO, Savioke "Since the introduction of their Relay robot, the team at Savioke has done an exemplary job growing the market for service robotics. Intel (News - Alert) Capital sees significant opportunity in this important new market, and we're pleased to invest in Savioke as its opportunity continues to expand." - Wendell Brooks, President, Intel Capital (News - Alert) "EDBI is pleased to support Savioke's activities in Singapore to advance the application of innovative robotics technology in the local services industry, and realize Singapore's vision as a Smart Nation. Singapore's progressive technology environment, together with our deep talent pool and vibrant ecosystem, is well positioned to accelerate Savioke's growth plans in Asia with EDBI's assistance and connections in the region." - Swee-Yeok Chu, CEO and President, EDBI "Savioke has impressed us with their innovative plan for bringing autonomous service robots to market, their early success with the hospitality industry, and with their technology expertise." - Lei Yang, Managing Director, Northern Light Venture Capital Since the introduction of Relay in late 2014, the rbot fleet has been busy: Relay is now deployed at five of the world's major hotel brands In addition to routine room deliveries at the Residence Inn by Marriott Los Angeles LAX/Century Boulevard, Relay is also delivering coffee to guests from the hotel lobby Starbucks. The Relay fleet made over 11,000 guest deliveries in 2015 Those deliveries added up to more than 3,000 kilometers, or more than 70 marathons The most common item delivered was toothpaste Saturdays are consistently the busiest day of the week for deliveries For the second year running, the Christmas holidays are Relay's busiest season Relay's biggest day on Twitter (News - Alert) was when it was photographed delivering a beer on-stage at the BusinessWeek Design Conference in April About Savioke Savioke is creating autonomous robots for the services industry, including Relay-the world's first autonomous hotel delivery robot. Savioke aims to improve the lives of people by developing and deploying robotic technology in human environments. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA (News - Alert). For more information, please visit http://www.savioke.com, or follow the company @Savioke. About Intel Capital Intel Capital, Intel's strategic investment and M&A organization, backs innovative technology startups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting computing and smart devices, cloud, datacenter, security, the Internet of Things, wearable and robotic technologies and semiconductor manufacturing. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$11.6 billion in 1,440 companies in 57 countries. In that timeframe, 212 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world, and 381 were acquired or participated in a merger. Through its business development programs, Intel Capital curates thousands of meetings each year between its portfolio and Intel's partners in the Global 2000. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world's most powerful venture capital firms, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital. About EDBI EDBI is the dedicated corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, with headquarters in Singapore. We invest to shape the future industries of Singapore in the knowledge and innovation-intensive sectors of Smart & Sustainable Technology, Information & Communication Technology, Biomedical Sciences and select industry clusters under our Strategic Growth Programme. As a value adding investor with over 25 years of investment experience, we support our portfolio companies' growth in Asia and globally, through Singapore by leveraging our extensive network, resources and experience. Through our portfolio of globally competitive companies with high-growth potential, we promote the development, expansion and transformation of successful industries to enhance economic growth and create employment opportunities in Singapore. http://www.edbi.com About Northern Light Venture Capital Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) is a leading China-focused venture capital firm targeting early and early growth stage TMT, advanced technology and healthcare opportunities. To date, the company has backed more than 100 companies. Leveraging significant investing and entrepreneurial expertise in both China and the United States, the NLVC team looks to support entrepreneurs who understand the market opportunity and help them, behind the scenes, to build world-class companies. NLVC manages approximately US$ 1.7 billion in committed capital with 4 US$ funds and 4 RMB funds. The firm was founded in 2005 and is legally headquartered in Hong Kong, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Menlo Park, California. http://www.nlvc.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005191/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 12, 2016] Google's Own Robot Car "Disengagement" Report Shows Need For Driver Behind Wheel, Consumer Watchdog Says; Group Calls for Release of Videos Of Incidents SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Google's just released report detailing when human drivers took control of a self-driving robot car being tested underscores the need as required by California DMV draft regulations for a driver behind a steering wheel of a self-driving car, Consumer Watchdog said today. The nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group also called on Google to release any videos of the incidents, as well as technical data gathered immediately preceding the disengagements. "The DMV got it exactly right and is putting our safety first," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director. "How can Google propose a car with no steering wheel, brakes or driver when its own tests show that over 15 months the robot technology failed and handed control to the driver 272 times and a test driver felt compelled to intervene 69 times?" Currently California has regulations covering testing robot cars on the state's highways, which require a driver behind a steering wheel capable of taking control. The test rules also require companies testing self-driving cars to file disengagement reports with the department. Read Google's disengagement report here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/cadmvdiengagereport-dec.2015.pdf "Release of the disengagement report was a positive step, but Google should also make public any video it has of the disengagement incidents, as well as any technical data it collected so we can fully understand what went wrong as it uses our public roads as its private laboratory," Simpson said Seven companies that were approved for testing self-driving cars in 2014 were required to file disengagement reports with the DMV by Jan. 1. The seven are Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi, Tesla, Bosch and Nissan. A DMV spokeswoman said the department expects to post the disengagement reports on its website. Last month the DMV issued draft regulations for the general use of robot cars on the state's roads that will like the testing regulations require a driver behind the wheel capable of taking control. Google, which is testing 53 robot cars in California and Texas, said it was "gravely disappointed" and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the "draft regulations may prove too onerous, create road blocks to innovation, and may ultimately drive the development of this promising industry to other states." "It's imperative the DMV continue to put public safety first, and not cave to corporate and political pressure," said Simpson. The department will hold public workshops to discuss the draft rules on Jan. 28 in Sacramento and on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles. Eleven companies Volkswagen Group of America, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi Automotive, Tesla Motors, Bosch, Nissan, Cruise Automation, BMW, Honda and Ford are now approved to test robot cars on California roads. View the California DMV's autonomous vehicle page here: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/auto Visit our website at www.consumerwatchdog.org To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/googles-own-robot-car-disengagement-report-shows-need-for-driver-behind-wheel-consumer-watchdog-says-group-calls-for-release-of-videos-of-incidents-300203408.html SOURCE Consumer Watchdog [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Amaya Reaches Settlement in Italian Tax Dispute MONTREAL, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Amaya Inc. (NASDAQ: AYA; TSX: AYA) today said it has paid 5.9 million as a final settlement with Italian tax authorities to resolve a previously disclosed tax dispute in which Italian authorities estimated that approximately 85 million were owed by a subsidiary of Amaya related to its Italian operations under the PokerStars brand for the 2009 through 2014 tax years. The agreement represents a final settlement of the matter and the payment includes all amounts owing to Italian authorities for the periods at issue. In addition, as part of the settlement the subsidiary does not owe any additional taxes for the 2014 tax year. The entire settlement amount and related expenses have been paid from the escrow fund established under the merger agreement governing Amaya's acquisition of the PokerStars business. About Amaya Amaya is a leading provider of technology-based solutions, products and services in the global gaming and interactive entertainment industries. Amaya owns gaming and related consumer businesses and brands including PokerStars, Full Tilt, BetStars, StarsDraft, the European Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. These brands have more than 97 million cumulative registered customers globally and collectively form the largest poker business in the world, comprising online poker games and tournaments, live poker competitions, branded poker rooms in popular casinos in major cities around the world, and poker programming created for television and online audiences. Amaya, through certain of these brands, also offers non-poker gaming products, including casino, sportsbook and daily fantasy sports. Amaya has various gamingand gaming-related licenses or approvals throughout the world, including from the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, Estonia, Belgium, Denmark, Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Romania, the Isle of Man, Malta, the State of Schleswig- Holstein in Germany, the Province of Quebec in Canada, and the State of New Jersey in the United States. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, certain expectations and projections related to tax proceedings. Forward-looking statements can, but may not always, be identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "would", "should", "believe", "objective", "ongoing", "assumes", "goal", "likely" and similar references to future periods or the negatives of these words and expressions and by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including market and economic conditions, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends and regulatory changes that affect us, our customers and our industries. Although Amaya and management believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable and based on reasonable assumptions and estimates, there can be no assurance that these assumptions or estimates are accurate or that any of these expectations will prove accurate. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include those identified under the heading "Risk Factors and Uncertainties" in Amaya's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2014 and in its Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended September 30, 2015, each available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, EDGAR at www.sec.gov and Amaya's website at www.amaya.com, and in other filings that Amaya has made and may make with applicable securities authorities in the future. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date hereof, and Amaya undertakes no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE Amaya Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Curtiss-Wright's Industrial Division Introduces New Rotary Position Sensor CHRISTCHURCH, England, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Improved design streamlines installation Curtiss-Wright's Industrial division today announced it has launched a new non-contact, rotary position sensor from its brand family of Penny & Giles. With an 8mm low-profile sensor body and a small footprint, this fully-encapsulated, IP68/IP69K-rated sensor offers exceptional levels of performance against water, dust, shock, vibration and temperature. The NRH300DP is ideal for use by OEMs of on- and off-highway vehicles that are destined for use in challenging environments, and as a cost-effective solution for medium volume applications where a select number of options or degree of customization may be required. Benefits of the new NRH300DP rotary position sensor include: Non-contact sensing technology provides a long mechanical life/li> Can be factory set to correspond to rotations of 20 to 360 in 1 increments Industry-standard 38mm mounting centers - for easy replacement or upgrades On-board diagnostic functions allow the two outputs to be put into safe, pre-defined states should an internal sensor error be detected The NRH300DP uses proven, wear-free Hall-effect sensing technology and replaces the NRH280DP for new applications. The new design features a number of magnet arrangement options, and includes an over-molded magnet carrier that simplifies the interfacing of the magnet and sensor during installation. Optional bolt, plug or loose carrier variations are also available. Photo: http://www.cw-industrialgroup.com/getmetafile/cbb084d1-6513-4419-ab04-b4d28a5a7992/nrh300dp?maxsidesize=960 About Curtiss-Wright Corporation Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) is a global innovative company that delivers highly engineered, critical function products and services to the commercial, industrial, defense and energy markets. Building on the heritage of Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers, Curtiss-Wright has a long tradition of providing reliable solutions through trusted customer relationships. The company employs approximately 9,000 people worldwide. Sales inquiries: Please forward all sales and reader service inquiries to [email protected]. For more information on Curtiss-Wright's Industrial division products, please visit http://www.cw-industrialgroup.com or call +44(0)1425-271444. SOURCE Curtiss-Wright [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Pactera Acquires Blue Fountain Media BEIJING, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pactera Technology International Ltd. (Pactera) announced its acquisition of Blue Fountain Media (BFM), a New York-based digital agency specializing in growing brands online through custom website design, results-driven digital marketing and mobile application development for both B2B and B2C companies across all industries spanning start-up to enterprise. "The acquisition of BFM is part of Pactera's strategy of complementing our already strong technology service offering with new era capabilities," said Pactera CEO Tiak Koon Loh. "It not only adds to our suite of capabilities, but also expands our strategic relationships with clients, deepening our ability to transform brands and businesses with both consumer and enterprise digital solutions." BFM's leadership and team of over 200+ digital strategists, information architects, designers, developers, marketers, communications specialists, account directors, project managers and business developers will join the combined organization and continue to work out of the Madision Avenue office in New York City. In addition, BFM boasts a robust offshore development team located in both Portugal and the Ukraine, adding to Pactera's well established offshore capabilities. "We are delighted with our new partnership. Combining BFM's results-driven culture and methodologies with Pactera's global delivery, deep technological expertise, acess to international markets and scalable infrastructure puts us on a fast track to global growth," said Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO and Founder of Blue Fountain Media. The acquisition adds BFM's notable and award-winning experience with clients such as AOL, Paul Stuart, Baldor Foods, New York University and the NFL, among others, to Pactera's blue-chip client portfolio. It also opens up new opportunities to serve those clients with Pactera's comprehensive IT service capabilities, while offering existing Pactera clients, such as Microsoft, Expedia and Intel, the benefit of added digital capabilities. "Digital transformation is undoubtedly the topic that is front and center with all C-level executives across the world," said Jose Martinez, Global Head, Digital Services for Pactera and a 14-year veteran of digital giant Razorfish. "This acquisition represents a significant step in executing Pactera's digital vision of becoming our clients' global digital partner for the new era." The purchase price was not disclosed. About Pactera Pactera is a consulting and technology services provider with global headquarters strategically located in China and regional headquarters in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Since 1995, Pactera has been delivering world-class business IT consulting solutions and outsourcing services to global clients, including a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. With more than 24,000 employees worldwide, the company's global footprint encompasses a diverse offering of technologies, services and business models focused on providing clients a holistic digital vision to drive business outcomes and transform user experience. For more information visit http://www.pactera.com. About Blue Fountain Media Blue Fountain Media is a digital agency in NYC focused on growing brands online through effective websites and online marketing. From start-ups to Fortune 1000s, Blue Fountain Media helps generate more leads and increased brand recognition. In 2014, the company, which has a client roster that includes Procter & Gamble, Harper Collins, Canon, NFL, Publishers Clearing House, Sharp, AOL and the United Nations, drove more than 200 million monthly visitors and $2 billion in revenue to the digital properties of its clients. http://www.bluefountainmedia.com. Media contact: Marc Tatarsky 214-796-1039 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pactera-acquires-blue-fountain-media-300203788.html SOURCE Pactera Technology International Ltd. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Al Jazeera Media Network to Expand International Digital Services in U.S.; Al Jazeera America to Cease Operations in the Coming Months DOHA, Qatar and NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Al Jazeera Media Network (the "Network") today announced from Doha its intention to expand its existing international digital services to broaden its multi-platform presence in the United States. As audiences increasingly turn to multiple platforms, including mobile devices, for news and information, this expansion will allow US and non-US consumers alike to access the Network's journalism and content wherever and whenever they want. The expanded digital platform will augment the Network's successful current digital offerings, including AJ+ (www.ajplus.net) which has achieved more than two billion online video views since its inception in September 2014. The Network's commitment to its digital transformation of its global operations is consistent with its mission to inform and engage audiences no matter who they are or where they are. By expanding its digital content and distribution services to now include the US, the Network will be better positioned to innovate and compete in an overwhelmingly digital world to serve today's 24-hour digitally focused audience. Over the coming months the Network intends to provide more details around the forthcoming expansion of its multi-platform digital services to the US. Separately, Al Anstey, CEO of Al Jazeera America, today announced that Al Jazeera America will cease operation by April 30, 2016. While Al Jazeera America built a loyal audience across the US and increasingly was recognized as an important new voice in television news, the economic landscape of the media environment has driven its strategic decision to wind down its operation and conclude its service. Al Jazeera America is committed to conducting this process in a way that is consistent with its respect for colleagues. We recognize the high quality of Al Jazeera America's work and that its journalism was recognized with nearly every major award an American broadcast and digital news organization can receive, including the Peabody, Emmy, and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University awards. Said Anstey: "I have witnessed and worked alongside some of the most talented people any organization could wish for. Since its launch in 2013, the work done by the team at Al Jazeera America has been recognized with nearly every major award an American news organization can receive. I greatly respect the unrivaled commitment and excellent work of our team, which has created great journalism. We have increasingly set ourselves apart from all the rest, and the achievements of the past two-and-a-half years should be a source of immense pride for everyone." About Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera strives to deliver content that captivates, informs, inspires and entertains. Launched in 1996, Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world dedicated to providing comprehensive news and live debate. It challenged established narratives and gave a global audience an alternative voiceone that put the human being back at the centre of the news agendaquickly making it one of the world's most influential news networks. Since then, it's added new channels and services, with more than 70 bureaus around the world, while maintaining the independent and pioneering spirit that defined its character. Each subsidiary follows the same principlesvalues that inspire it to be challenging and bold, and provide a 'voice for the voiceless' in some of the most underreported places on the planet. AL JAZEERA ARABIC AL JAZEERA ENGLISH AL JAZEERA DOCUMENTARY AL JAZEERA MUBASHER AL JAZEERA BALKANS AL JAZEERA TURK AL JAZEERA CENTRE FOR STUDIES AL JAZEERA MEDIA TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE AJ+ About Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America is the U.S. news channel that provides both domestic and international news for American audiences. Headquartered in New York City with bureaus in 12 cities across the United States, AJAM carries an award-winning mix of live news, special programming, documentaries and more. To find AJAM in your area, visit www.aljazeera.com/getajam. Visit AJAM online at http://www.aljazeera.com/america. CONTACT: Jeremy Fielding / Molly Morse Kekst +1-212-521-4913 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/al-jazeera-media-network-to-expand-international-digital-services-in-us-al-jazeera-america-to-cease-operations-in-the-coming-months-300203943.html SOURCE Al Jazeera Media Network; Al Jazeera America [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] City Council discuss owner occupied home rehabilitation program The $250,000 grant would be would be split between 15-20 city homeowners, who would be afforded up to $15,000 each for repairs to their homes. Tom's Guide is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Chance Waters recently cemented his reputation as one of the bravest musicians in Australia after he revealed his struggles with bipolar disorder to fans in a heartfelt message on social media, branding 2015 as easily the worst year of my life. Now, the outspoken rapper has come out swinging against one of the countrys most treasured cultural institutions, Australia Day. In a fiery post to his official Facebook page, Chance calls the holiday the celebration of a brutal colonial invasion. I am so done with Pedestrian TV, Chance opens in his missive. Today they post an Australia Day ad with Lee Lin Chin and act like its fantastically funny etc. Pedestrian.tv wrote about the viral Australia Day Lamb 2016 ad on 9th January. Lets get to the first point. Pedestrian get paid to post this shit. They do almost nothing for free, they post these things for cash as if its news and dont ever disclose the fact. This goes for 90% of their click bait. While its not clear whether Pedestrian.tvs post about the Australia Day ad was indeed native advertising that had been paid for, Pedestrian cite this Mumbrella article as the source of their story. If I wanted to make genocide cool with the kids Pedestrian would run a quirky buzzfeed style click bait article on 10 things that are hip this summer about genocide, the Sydney rhyme-slinger continues. Further to this, a lamb is a fucking baby sheep. It is literally a baby sheep. A living mammal under the age of one who should still be frolicking with its family, is corralled into a metal chute before being strung up by its feet and having its throat slit. I am so done with Pedestrian TV. Today they post an "Australia day" ad with Lee Lin Chin and act like it's fantastically Posted by Chance Waters onSaturday, January 9, 2016 For money, Pedestrian is willing to act like this is a funny and cool thing for the kids, without even disclosing they are paid to do so! Chance then goes on to lambast the very idea of Australia Day, which many Indigenous Australians refer to as Invasion Day. For two, Australia Day is a celebration of a brutal colonial invasion that was so vicious there are records of native children being buried in the sand and having their heads kicked off, Chance writes. I hope real Australians enjoy that tidbit as they char grill some baby sheep. Before signing off, Chance clarifies that while hes taking aim at Pedestrian.tv in his post, he would like to see Australian media companies establish a moral baseline and acknowledge native advertising. Honestly, Im aiming at Pedestrian here but this is totally rife in Australian media, he writes. We need companies to either establish a moral baseline or acknowledge when they are being paid to feed you a story. Lanu, aka local funk/ soul/ everything in-between extraordinaire and frontman of The Bamboos Lance Ferguson is today unveiling Nightmarchers the freshest cut from his forthcoming full-length album The Double Sunrise which is set for release Friday, February 5th on Pacific Theatre via Inertia. Featuring the vocal talent of Megan Washington, the exotica and old school hip hop tinged Nightmarchers tells the tale of ghostly spirit warriors still roaming throughout Hawaii, as explained by Ferguson: a band of apparitions would march through the night to the beat of primitive drums. Some say they are wandering restlessly to avenge their own deaths, or simply to find passage into the next world. There are two rules: NEVER interrupt them and NEVER make eye contact (you or one of your own may be cursed). Weve got this one penned as a record youll be needing to hear in 2016, so check out the eerie but enthralling track below and if you like what you hear pop by Lanus Facebook page for more info on the upcoming release. Expatriate acoustic duo Josef and Jan Prasil, better known as brotherly musical outfit Amistat, are hitting the road this February and March to celebrate the upcoming release of their debut album, Parley. The album is set to drop late next month, but this will be far from the duos first trip around Australia, having packed their bags in 2013 and made the move from Germany to the land Down Under to rekindle their love of music. Theyve been hard at work, thrilling crowds around the country ever since with their acoustic set. The streets of Melbourne have served as the backdrop for their musical education ever since they moved and began busking. Amistats 2016 national tour will see them hitting up venues in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Fremantle. Check below for all details and make sure you act fast, because tickets are sure to fly. Amistat National Tour Dates Friday, 26th February 2016 Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Tickets: Oztix Friday, 4th March 2016 Brighton Up Bar, Sydney Tickets: Brighton Up Bar Friday, 11th March 2016 Northcote Social Club, Melbourne Tickets: Northcote Social Club Saturday, 19th March Grace Emily, Adelaide Tickets: Moshtix Friday, 1st April 2016 Four5nine, North Perth Tickets: Rosemount Hotel Saturday, 2nd April 2016 Odd Fellow, Fremantle Tickets: Oztix FIRST ON TKC: CHECK OUT THIS PETITION CAMPAIGN ASKING MAYOR SLY TO REOPEN THE RYAN STOKES CASE AND APPOINT AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION!!! "I, the undersigned, call for the swift action of Mayor Sylvester "Sly" James, to appoint an independent body to review the circumstances of Ryan Stokes' death and to reopen Ryan Stokes' homicide investigation." Advocacy in the aftermath of a controversial Kansas City police shooting continues and now takes the form of a widely circulated petition.To wit . . .More thanand now activists seem to be looking toward a legislative solution to answer their concerns.Kansas City activist insiders tell us that, while the postcard petition isn't legally binding . . . It's part of a larger effort to confront politicos with widespread demand to reexamine the details of the case.Here'sdocument that has met withof signatures in the Kansas City's urban core.Thesponsored by activist group. . . It should be noted that #BlackLivesMatter protesters are also a part of this effort . . .Here's the statement . . .Finally, the petitions direct readers to theFB page.Developing . . . Russian vacationing in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Israel could grow in 2016, according to Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR). "It's so far difficult to anticipate the 2016 summer season, and the summer prices will be known only in February. We don't expect Turkey to be a travel destination this year. The demand for destinations alternative to it in terms of price, set of services, and visa requirements may grow. Greece has quite a good chance to replace it, with its only disadvantage being that it's a country requiring a visa. If they don't take some steps to simplify the visa requirements, they might lose this chance," Lomidze said. Cyprus could also attract Russian tourists instead of Turkey, as it is located in the same Mediterranean area and is comparable to Turkey in price terms, Lomidze added. "The situation in Bulgaria is also good, as you don't have to undergo fingerprinting for a visa, and the country has its own currency, which might be more beneficial. And Israel also has every chance owing to its Tourism Ministry's outstanding activity," she commented. Source: RBTH RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten, , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei, , holidays in Turkey, , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas, This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Right at the reception, we socialize with the clients as if they were arriving at a friends house we try to know their taste and better target their expectations to provide them with the most personalized service we can give them, as if we had always known them. We want them to feel as if they were at a friends house. Iraq plans to finance its balance of payments deficit by drawing its foreign exchange reserves down to $43 billion in 2016 from $59 billion at the end of October, it said in an International Monetary Fund memo on Tuesday. The deficit is expected to reach $14 billion in 2015 before narrowing to $11 billion in 2016, the government said as part of a Staff Monitoring Programme that the IMF has approved as a precondition for a loan. Iraq estimated gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 1.5 per cent in 2015 and 10.6 per cent in 2016 on increased oil production, while falling oil prices would create a budget deficit of 15 per cent of GDP in 2015 and 10 percent in 2016. Reuters Egypt will borrow $1 billion in a concessional loan from a Chinese bank, to finance the establishment of sanitation networks in the country's Nile Delta villages, said a report. Housing and Utilities Minister Mostafa Madbouly signed a deal with Gezhouba Group Company, one of the largest Chinese construction companies, to establish sanitation networks for 250 villages in the Delta governorates of Menoufiya and Gharbiya, the state's official news agency Mena reported. Three quarters of Egyptian villages do not have sewage systems, it stated. Egypt also expects to sign a $200-million grant deal during the Chinese presidents visit to Cairo later this month. The grant will be invested in infrastructure, healthcare and Suez Canal development projects, it added. The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), a government-owned wealth fund, has partnered with Canadas Brookfield Asset Management to launch a 50-storey office and hotel tower project worth Dh3.67 billion ($1 billion) in Dubai, UAE, said a report. The project, which will come up on Al Saada Street behind Ritz Carlton at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), is the first mega development in the region this year, reported Emirates 24|7, citing sources. British architect Foster+Partners is said to be working on the schematic design of the ambitious tower, the report stated. ICD is the investment arm of the Government of Dubai and holds stakes in over 30 companies, including Emaar Properties and Emirates airlines. Brookfield Asset Management is a global alternative asset manager with over $175 billion in assets under management. The project, which will be launched next week, is expected to be completed by 2018, it added. Emerson Process Management has been selected to provide automation and reliability technologies and services for Carbon Holdings Tahrir Petrochemicals Project at Ain Sokhna, Egypt. The announcement was made today by Emerson and Carbon Holdings, a privately owned Egyptian petrochemical firm, at Emersons Middle East headquarters in Dubai where David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson, met with Basil El-Baz, chairman and CEO of Carbon Holdings, for the signing of a memorandum of understanding. Emersons initial scope of work is estimated at $150 million, said a statement. When completed, the approximately $6.9 billion Tahrir project will be the largest petrochemical plant in Egypt and the largest naphtha cracker plant in the world. It will produce 1.5 million metric tonnes per year of ethylene that will then be further processed into polyethylene. Other major products will include propylene, polypropylene, hexene, butadiene, benzene, and styrene. Construction and operation of the Tahrir Petrochemicals complex is expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect permanent and construction jobs in Egypt. As main automation contractor, Emerson will apply best practice technologies and services to help ensure the facility is completed on time and within budget. Engineering services include designing the plant for optimum availability, and Emerson will also provide a robust reliability program that includes consulting services, equipment health monitoring, and a reliability service center for ongoing local support and expertise, said the statement. Investments of this size require us to select partners that have a long history of handling large, complex projects and the expertise to produce a reliable plant with dependable output, said Carbon Holdings El-Baz. We chose Emerson for its proven ability to deliver a successful automation project that results in an efficient, high-availability operation. Designed to serve both local and export markets, the Tahrir Petrochemicals complex will be constructed in Egypts Suez Special Economic Development Zone, with raw materials received and products shipped from the Gulf of Suez. Financing for the mega-project is expected to come from the export credit agencies of the United States, Korea, Italy and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, as well as direct investors. Under the memorandum of understanding, Emerson will also make a preferred equity investment in Tahrir Petrochemicals. We are excited to help Carbon Holdings realize its vision of creating a world-class petrochemical complex that can be a catalyst for economic development in Egypt, said Farr. "With Emersons technologies, experience, and expertise, Carbon Holdings has positioned itself for top quartile performance not only in project execution, but ongoing operations as well. Emerson Process Management is a leader in helping businesses automate their production, processing and distribution in the chemical, oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, power, water and wastewater treatment, mining and metals, food and beverage, life sciences and other industries. - TradeArabia News Service Iran detained 10 US sailors aboard two US Navy boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran. Late on Tuesday, a US defence official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a US Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday. Both US and Iranian officials described the sailors, whose boats may have inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters, as safe and well-treated. US defence officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN that "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly." Official Iranian news outlets confirmed the detention of the 10 Americans, hours before US President Barack Obama was due to make his final State of the Union address to the US Congress before he leaves office in January 2017. "The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats two kilometers inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said. Officials from Iran and the United States were negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. Washington and Tehran, which have pursued a partial detente in recent years, both appeared eager not to let the incident escalate further. Obama, a Democrat, has made the Iran nuclear accord a centerpiece of his foreign policy, and Republicans vying to succeed him have assailed him over the deal. Iran, meanwhile, is eager for relief from punishing economic sanctions under the landmark nuclear accord it forged with six world powers last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days, following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured US Secretary of State John Kerry that the US sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another US official said. The seizure of the 10 sailors nonetheless underscored the potential for clashes that could derail diplomacy, especially in the Gulf's tense and crowded shipping lanes. Precisely what happened to the two US boats remained unclear. A senior US defense official said the United States had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. Another US official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters. SAILORS SAID TO BE SAFE In a statement, Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed it seized the boats and said the sailors were safe and well. It said France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was near the seized US boats. They were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the US officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot long, high-speed patrol boats used by the US Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters. Republican officials and presidential candidates, who opposed the Iran nuclear accord, used the incident to criticize Obama. "It's just an indication of where the hell we're going. I mean hopefully they get released and fast," businessman Donald Trump, who leads the Republican field in the race for US president, said at a rally in Iowa. The election is Nov. 8. The seizure of the sailors and their craft was the latest reported incident between US and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks. The US Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so. Previous Iranian seizures involved British sailors and marines. In June 2004, Iran arrested six Royal Marines and two naval personnel - part of a US-led force in Iraq - for straying into its waters, stirring diplomatic tensions between the two. Following negotiations the eight were freed three days later. In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen - eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines - in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. They were held for 13 days. In November 2009, Iranian naval vessels detained five Britons on a racing yacht en route from Bahrain to Dubai. They were released a week later. Reuters Viva Bahrain, a top telecom operator, has collaborated with Avaya, a global leader in business communications software, to offer Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) for businesses across the kingdom. Viva Bahrain will host Avayas innovative Unified Communications, Video and Contact Center solutions and make them available to enterprises in a cloud services model, enabling organizations to purchase the capacity and services they require, as and when needed, without large upfront costs. Viva Bahrain will be offering Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS), Video as a service (VaaS) and Call Center as a service (CCaaS). This collaboration between Avaya and Viva Bahrain will help businesses deliver services to their customers faster at significantly reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and with a better return on investment (ROI), a statement said. Ulaiyan Al Wetaid, Viva CEO said: Businesses in Bahrain are looking towards adopting ICT in their daily operations to boost their productivity, growth and drive transformation. At Viva, we recognize how this is an important enabler of innovation that embraces new technology to help new products, services and processes. Therefore, through our collaboration with Avaya, Viva will be introducing first-of-its-kind unified communication solutions in the Mena region and Bahrain. With this, our business customers will be able to experience improved and streamlined access to their data through a consolidated process of IT systems and achieve their business outcomes, through high levels of services delivery, he added. Nidal Abou Ltaif, Avaya president, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and EU, said: Avaya solutions, hosted by Viva Bahrain, will give businesses in Bahrain the flexibility and agility they require to benefit from the latest technology trends and prepare for digital transformation." "Enterprises will be able to get access to Avayas innovative technology solutions at prices that suit their needs, while benefiting from the reliability and expertise that industry leaders such as Avaya and Viva Bahrain bring to the market place," he added. TradeArabia News Service The explosion in Istanbuls most prominent tourist attraction on January 12 is expected to negatively impact inbound flow to Turkey on the short-to-medium term, said an industry expert. The blast took place at the Sultanahmet district, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, major tourist spots for the destination, killing at least 10 people and wounding 15 others. The fact that the explosion occurred in the deep centre of Istanbul and that tourists from Germany and Norway were among the casualties is expected to result in further travel restrictions and flight banned towards the destination in the coming days. Indeed, major source European markets are very likely to take preventive measures so as to protect their citizens traveling to the popular outbound market, said Kinda Chebib, senior research analyst, Euromonitor International - leading market intelligence firm.. Despite major media being blocked at the scene, Tourism industry in Turkey is predicted to suffer from the recurrent attacks on tourist spots those past years. The country was already on alert after 103 people were killed last October when two suicide bombers attached a group of activists in Ankara. Visa allowances are also likely to get restricted and borders securities tightened as the operation was blamed on Islamic State. Kurdish splinter group, the Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan, as well as insurgents from PKK (separatist organisation seeking Kurdish autonomy) are also under watch since the freedom movement claimed responsibility for Istanbul second international airport attack on December 23. The Turkish economy is suffering from the multiple attacks and geopolitics tensions in 2015. After reaching $35 billion in total tourism revenues in 2014, Turkeys tourism profits fell by 4.4 per cent to $12.29 billion in the third quarter of 2015. Turkey was in 2014 the worlds sixth most attractive destination, with a record of 42 million visitors. Outbound figures started to decline after the EU imposed sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine in 2015, impacting on the Russian flow towards Turkey 4.5 million Russian tourists visited Turkey annually until 2015. After the suicide bombing killing 32 people in the Turkish town of Suruc last July, nice countries including Germany and Russia issued travel restrictions to their citizens, Chebib noted. Euromonitor expects a slow Economic and tourism rebound in the context of the virtual loss of Russian flow, volatility in Turkish markets and uncertainty in domestic politics combined with rising security concerns. TradeArabia News Service You'll find music, food and booze. But let's be honest; the greatest assets of these sky-high, swanky bars are their panoramic city views. Ce La Vi (Singapore) Ce La Vi (formerly called Ku De Ta) is a premier rooftop party bar as it sits on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands, a structural landmark in Singapore. Part of the astounding SkyPark, the bar lets visitors take in one of the best unobstructed views of the city and the rooftop's infinity pool. Whether you're watching the Sun set over mini wagyu beef burgers with fontina cheese green chili mayo and smoked tomato savor or you're simply hypnotised by the nightly laser show, Ce La Vi is a spot to see and be seen. Plunge (New York) Taking over the Gansevoort Hotel's 14th floor penthouse in the Meatpacking District, this granddaddy of New York's rooftop bars is still among the city's best with probably the most stylish gatherings, an astonishing outdoor pool and obviously a sick view of the NYC skyline and the Hudson River. Plunge is stuffed with really young things during the weekends, so those not looking to be part of the scene might want to watch the sunset from the wraparound balcony midweek. The Roof (Madrid) If your first look at this club on the ME Madrid is the line to enter at its peak length during late spring know that it's worth the wait. When you board the private lift to the penthouse terrace, you'll be treated to unmatched vies of Madrid's skyline. Owned by Rande Gerber, this swanky rooftop consistently attracts beautiful locals and big names alike, thanks to guest DJ sessions, inviting daybeds and a VIP bar embedded in a stone wall. Three Sixty (St. Louis) For a bird's-eye view of Busch Stadium, go on the nosebleed seats and rather go to this slick rooftop bar on the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. Panoramic views of the Gateway Arch serve as the setting for gourmet bites prepared by Chef Rex Hale such as house-smoked salmon chips, small New England lobster rolls and Korean BBQ pork tacos. Save space for the sweet treats particularly the house-made Kit Kat bars that are among the best in the city. The 6,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor space accommodates cozy flame pits, flat-screen TVs and several bars, making Three Sixty a year-round destination. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Harry Potter fans have a lot to look forward to in 2016. The new two-part play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' composed by J.K. Rowling, debuts on London's West End this July. Spin-off film 'Incredible Beasts and Where to Find Them' hits theaters in November, and the all-new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood is set to open in April. Since 2010, fans have already been rushing to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Florida both at Hogsmeade in Universal's Islands of Adventure and at the recently expanded Diagon Alley in Universal Studios that took over a portion of the recreation center in 2014 that previously housed the 'Jaws' attraction. For those who have seen all the Harry Potter movies and read each of the seven books numerous times, the park is close to the magical world as they could eager to get. Universal keeps fans returning for more with the park's evolving attention to detail and new features including one of the most recent that is the Interactive wands that let guests cast their own particular spells all through Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. With most priced at an affordable and reasonable $47.95, numerous individuals gather at hot spots marked by gold medallions on the ground to attempt their hand. The medallions show and mark directions on the easiest method to wave your wand and what incantation to say as much even Muggles can do it. The wand accompanies a guide of mystical spots; however, there are a couple of mystery spells not recorded like the one in the window to the right at Scribbulus Writing Implements in Horizont Alley. There are many more little known facts and hidden gems to look out for this year, keeping superfans and the usual visitors on their toes. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Canada is getting ready to welcome its 10,000th Syrian refugee since November, and resettlement workers said that the substantial flood has gone easily despite housing shortages in Toronto and a capsicum spray incident in Vancouver. 'We had a tough time bringing in this flow of 10,000, but we are getting used to it,' said Ahmad Hematya, executive director of the Afghan Association of Ontario that supported more than 200 newcomers in current weeks. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals, elected in October on a guarantee to acknowledge a bigger number of refugees at a faster rate than the previous conservative government, had guaranteed to get 25,000 Syrians before the end of December but put off that timeline to March because of security screening and logistics concerns. Based on the government's immigration site, 9,593 Syrian refugees had arrived in Canada between Nov. 4 when Trudeau was sworn into office and Jan. 11. The generally smooth arrival of the evacuees was marred on Friday when a man riding a bike unleashed capsicum spray on a group of refugees after a welcome event in Vancouver as indicated by Vancouver police. Trudeau was quick to condemn the attack, tweeting that it doesn't reflect the warm welcome Canadians have given, and resettlement workers disregarded the occurrence as not by any means worth saying, given the overflowing of public support. Apkar Mirakian, chair of the council supporting refugees through the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto, said the greatest test has been discovering enough housing. He said about 40 families are living at a city hotel temporarily but that sponsors and resettlement workers can usually find permanent housing within two weeks. 'The main objective is to get all these people to work and then there are the children who want to go to school now that the holidays are over,' Mirakian whose group has overseen the arrival of 700 newcomers in four weeks said. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Gateway Travel has defended arrangements to take travellers on trips around the peninsula that was attached by Russia just about two years back in a move that prompted widespread condemnation among the global community. The Ukrainian Ambassador Mykola Kulinich on Tuesday kept in touch with Miss Julie Bishop furthermore sent a letter of protest to the company. Mr. Kulinich has raised concerns that the tours would violate the position held by much of the international group including Australia in connection to Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea that was held by Russia in March 2014. 'Crimea was brutally annexed and occupied in 2014 with Russian troops,' the letter sent to Gateway said, also cautioning against any steps that might be interpreted as recognition of illegal annexation. Mr. Kulinich has also raised concerns about the security of travellers. A representative for the Ukraine Embassy additionally pointed to the 2014 shooting down of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine a disaster in which Russia has been blamed for inclusion that killed all 298 individuals on board. 'And almost 40 people called Australia home,' the embassy's press officer Halyna Yusyiuk told AAP on Wednesday. The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations recently said that the company was offering out to the individuals who have little respect for Australian values and who stand blamed for shooting down MH17. Miss Yusyiuk said people taking up the offer would also determine a very different Crimea to that existed two years ago. Gateway Travel has said that the tours are non-political, adding that Crimea belongs to Russia at the moment. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade keeps on prompting against all travel to Crimea because of very high risk. It warns that regular travel insurance approaches would be void and the Australian government is unlikely to have the capacity to give consular help. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Volunteer vacations offer deep knowledge into new cultures, exceptional bonding encounters and the opportunity to encounter your passion in bucket list commendable destinations. From saving wildlife in the rainforest to restoring America's national parks, here are some of the phenomenal volunteer trips to explore in 2016. Work on an Organic Farm The farm to table movement has become progressively vital to numerous individuals, and with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), you can add to sustainable activities that straightforwardly affect the food and agriculture within the community. WWOOF connects you to organic farms in more than 100 nations, and in exchange for food and facilities from a host family, you'll spend through 4 to 6 hours a day immersing yourself in the everyday life of an organic agriculturist, helping with anything from planting, harvesting and milking to wine, cheese and bread making. In many nations you should be no less than 18 years of age to volunteer and depending upon your host you can arrange to stay anywhere from a week to several months. Volunteer at a National Park The National Park Service commends its 100th birthday this August, making 2016 an exciting moment to visit and give back to America's most stunning open spaces. Volunteers can choose from more than 400 parks around the nation and do anything from photography to building hiking trails or working with endangered species. Most opportunities are open in all ages and range from a day to several months long assignments. Disaster Relief in Nepal Nepal has made a comeback since last year's devastating earthquakes and 2016 is an extraordinary time to witness the country's rebirth and give efforts where it's still needed. In June 2015, Projects Abroad began a calamity relief program across Chitwan, Kathmandu, the Kathmandu Valley and Ghandruk, giving volunteers the chance to restore homes, healing facilities and schools and likewise give childcare to Nepali families. Volunteers stay with a host family in a hostel or at a campground that are supported by full-time local Projects Abroad staff. Trips are accessible to high school and college students, working professionals and retirees. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 In Japan, there's a certain train station where trains make a stop in order to pick up a school girl. The trains makes their stop at Kyu-Shirataki train station, located in Hokkaido, before the kid heads to school and after school when she goes home. Japan Railways decided to keep using the train station to pick her up. Due to the remote area, the number of train rides and freight services have decreased in the train station in Kyu-Shirataki as well as other nearby locations. Regardless, concerned citizens requested the train operators to continue sending trains to pick up their children so that they will be able to go to school. The train company honoured the request but will continue to operate the train stations until March. The train station will also be discontinued once the young girl graduates. This has caught the attention of people from other areas and they admire the Japanese government for taking an extra mile for its citizens. They find it relieving that everyone is being taken cared of no matter who they are or how far from the city they live. However, this hints the population problems in not only in rural areas but in the country as a whole. Japan is expected to struggle in the future with regards to housing and employment due to the country's lowest birthrate to date, current population having more adults than kids, and a forecast that the country will lose 1/3 of its population 40 years later. All of these changes are sure to have a great impact in the railroad operations in the coming years. In fact, about 20 rail lines have already been rendered obsolete in the past decades. The story of the girl and the train is a reminder of Japan's dedicated service to its people despite its subtle population crises. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 The airline based in Iceland will be offering San Francisco and Los Angeles flights to and from Iceland this June with an introductory fare of only $99 each way. WOW is a low-cost transatlantic airline that will be offering five-day-a-week flights from San Francisco starting June 9 while it will be offering four flights a week to Los Angeles by June 15. Connecting flights, on the other hand, are available to 21 European destinations. 'This is a game changer for WOW air, and arguably the travel industry, making travel to Iceland and other European countries both easy and affordable from California,' CEO Skuli Mogensen, founder of WOW, said in a statement. Mogensen is a tech entrepreneur who founded WOW in 2011. The airline now has six destinations in North America. The aircraft used for the California routes will the considered as the 'first wide-body planes in the WOW fleet - new Airbus A330-300 aircraft'. These jets have a capacity to carry 340 passengers in a single-class configuration. WOW said that 'the seat pitch will be 30 inches, with extra legroom (a pitch of 34 inches) for an additional fee.' If you wish to avail of the $99 seat introductory fare, you can do so by logging in to their website - www.Wowair.com. This seat comes with a free carry-on baggage weighing less than 11 pounds. Additional fees are applicable for carry-on bags that weigh more than 11 pounds and for all checked baggage. In 2005, Icelandair started offering two weekly nonstop from SFO to Reykjavik. Unfortunately, the service was discontinued after 17 months. Travellers who wish to travel to other European countries still have the option to continue their trip with WOW airline. The destinations for these European countries include Paris, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Dublin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. The seat fare for these places start as low as $199 one way. This already includes taxes and with a short one-hour stopover in Iceland. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Type to search or hit ESC to close Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: Afghanistan's official entry into the ranks of countries participating in the program of cooperation in transport field TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia) was postponed for an indefinite period, Akif Mustafayev, national secretary of TRACECA on Azerbaijan told Trend Jan. 11. Resolution of this issue depends on the agreement between Afghanistan and Iran, according to him. "Azerbaijan in this regard makes everything possible for Afghanistan. We have not only supported the accession of Afghanistan to the Basic Multilateral Agreement of TRACECA, but applied to Iran on this issue. Iran gave its consent to it at the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in Istanbul in Jan. 2015, and it was reflected in the final declaration," Mustafayev said. "However, the parties afterwards apparently didn't work out the issue to the end, and we have not received an official note from Tehran in support of Afghanistan's entry to TRACECA." These issues are resolved on consensus by all countries participating in the project, he noted. "All countries have already given their consent to the entry of Afghanistan. We only expect receiving Iran's decision. I think the Afghan diplomatic services should work on this matter directly with Iran in order to pursue the case to the end," he added. Afghanistan, along with Iran (based on the consent of the then 12 members of the program), was admitted to TRACECA's membership in 2005 at the 4th conference of the Intergovernmental Commission. Iran ratified the entry to TRACECA and soon became a full member of it. However, the ratification process was delayed in Afghanistan. TRACECA is an international program of cooperation in transport field between the EU and its partner countries in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The organization has a permanent secretariat in Baku. Currently, TRACECA's member countries are: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Iran and Armenia. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: Armenia continues its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan, Zakir Hasanov, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel-General said at a meeting with Charles Kupchan, the Senior Director for European Affairs at the US National Security Council, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said Jan. 13. "Yerevan is deliberately delaying the negotiations and this adversely affects the situation in the region," Hasanov said. The sides discussed the military-political situation in the region, the successful activity of Azerbaijani servicemen in the peacekeeping mission, military education, training and exchange of experience, as well as the issues of mutual interest. "As for the current bilateral military cooperation, the minister also highlighted the problems of Azerbaijan," the minister said. US ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta attended the meeting. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.13 Trend: OSCE is expected to monitor the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops Jan.14, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a message. The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative on the contact line in Azerbaijan's Tartar district, the ministry said. The monitoring will be carried out by two field assistants of OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representatives each on the Azerbaijani and the opposite side. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Senior Director for European Affairs at the US National Security Council Charles Kupchan Jan. 13. The sides discussed the development of the Azerbaijani-US bilateral ties in a variety of fields. The parties expressed satisfaction with the establishment of partnership relations between the two countries in a number of fields. They stressed the importance of expanding energy cooperation, which has a rich history, with the support of the US. Touching upon the fight against international terrorism and cooperation in the field of security, the sides noted the significance of successful activity of Azerbaijani servicemen as part of the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. They also exchanged views over the current state and prospects of democratic processes in Azerbaijan. During the conversation, the parties discussed the regional situation, and the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They also stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation even further. News Oct 19th, 2022 at 15:35 The cloud-native IT will continue to be offered as a stand-alone product as well as integrated with the Guestline platform Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : THERE IS STILL TIME TO ESCAPE THE WINTER Industry: Accommodation Head to Ti Kaye Resort & Spa in Saint Lucia and take advantage of a 20% discount on all private cottages (TRAVPR.COM) SAINT LUCIA - January 13th, 2016 - The ultimate destination for couples to relax and unwind in Saint Lucia Cold weather giving you the blues? Add a little warmth to your winter with this great 20% off special from Ti Kaye and discover the unparalleled beauty of the west coast of Saint Lucia. With breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea from your cottage, enjoy our full service spa and dine in our Wine Spectator award winning restaurant Kai Manje. Offer Details: 20% off all room categories Travel window: January 2nd April 15th 2016 Minimum 3 night stay Book Now! Email: reservations@tikaye.com Call: 1-758-456-8101 Offer Includes: Your choice of accommodation & Room category (Oceanview Room, Oceanview Cottage, or Oceanview Cottage with private plunge Pool) Daily continental breakfast for two Luxurious beach (and pool) loungers, towels and chilled drinking water Use of complimentary kayaks Wednesday night 1 hour Managers cocktail party Daily maid and turndown service Free WiFi (with your own device) Complimentary French press coffee, tea and fresh milk daily Complimentary welcome drink and chilled towel on arrival ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release : CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Jem Lorde Company: Ti Kaye Resort & Spa Phone: 1 758 720 8580 Email: marketing@tikaye.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS Pimple Saudagar welcomed New Year 2016 with a fun-packed celebration party. Find out how local residents enjoyed the special occasion in style (TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - January 13th, 2016 - With dance masti, great food preparations and complimentary beer pints Punekars had a fun destination to celebrate New Years Eve 2016 at Hotel Bird Valley. More than 350 party enthusiasts joined the celebration at this grand expanse of 3000 sq. ft. and had a fantastic evening. This venue served delicious veg as well as non veg food and refreshing range of beverages. Disco video jockey Monty, DJ Praful and DJ Milind kept the dancing spirits on an all time high by playing back to back Hindi chartbusters. On the other hand, a charming anchor entertained people with several rapid fire rounds, fun-filled games and lots more. Kids could not stop flaunting their tattoo designs they got at the tattoo corner. This all star New Year party also witnessed rocking Bollywood dance performances. Local dance maestros exhibited their excellence in lavni, contemporary and free style dances amongst others. Was here with friends on New Years Eve and it was nothing less than awesome. Lovely dance performances. Lavni and Bollywood both dancing styles were nice. Wonderful arrangements. Dinner buffet was also nice.. DVJ Monty really made everyone dance all night. Beverages were chilled all time. Every attender enjoyed fire works alot. Awesome night that will be remembered for long time. Hotel Bird Valley rocks!! said Rohit at the party. The proud event sponsors are Space decor- premier furniture store at Kalewadi phata, Sai events- Punes leading event company, Pragati printers for fine printers in and around Pune, and Kingfisher premium- king of good times who made contributions for this New Year party 2016 in Pune. Entire team loved hosting this New Year party in Pimple Saudagar as much as the guests did. Customer satisfaction was, is and will always be priority number one at this restaurant in Pimple Saudagar. Looking at the party spirits one can definitely say that it is a job well done. Hotel Bird Valley wishes everyone a very Happy New Year and prosperous times in the coming time ### The travel industry is an excellent model of how standardization and simplification can completely alter the landscape of an industry. (TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - January 13th, 2016 - Planning trips was once a daunting task. Travellers would have to scour and compare information across hotel chains, airlines and other travel servicers, all of which operated with their own standards making communication in the travel industry extremely problematic. However, since the late 1950s when the first Global Distribution System came into play, the travel industry has made unparalleled progress toward developing standards that different sectors of the industry abide by, with demonstrable success. Over the years, booking a trip has gone from three hours to three minutes, according to the Travel Technology Association (TTA). The Open Travel Alliance and industry leaders led the revolution by recognizing the lack of standards and pursuing solutions, taking advantage of the technology wave of the 20th and 21st century. Open Travel provided the travel industry with a standard interoperability language for the distribution of electronic messages using Extensible Markup Language (XML) that is now widely adopted. This provides a comprehensive and universal standard for the transmission of data between travel partners and even their affiliates (Air, Car, Rail, Hotels, Tours and Activities, etc.). This standardization reform opened up lines of communication across the industry, ushering in a new era of travel technology. Suddenly, travellers could book reservations and tickets with a few clicks or taps on a screen. Travel became less hectic and demanding on customers. Now the challenge for the travel industry is keeping that momentum going forward in a hyperglobalized, on-demand world. It is the age of smart technology, one in which cars will soon begin driving themselves and clothes will monitor health. Customers are opting more than ever for convenience and transparency. So how did the travel industry ensure that it used technology to its advantage, rather than its detriment? In order for the industry to continue moving forward, it was imperative that the industry maintained its standards (updating them where appropriate), but used them in innovative ways to keep travel quick, accessible and open. To that effect, online travel agencies (OTAs) have effectively made use of existing technology and the advantages standards have afforded the travel industry. OTAs collect information from servicers across the industry and provide that information directly to consumers in one place, allowing travelers to compare accommodations and streamline purchases. According to a 2015 survey by the TTA, about 70% of Americans relied on OTAs to book travel accommodations because the platforms allowed for safe, fast and easy booking. The leaders of the global technology industry should take note. With all the advances in technology taking place, consumers may be overwhelmed by the options that are opened up to them. They can control garage doors, lights, and refrigerators all with a swipe on their smartphone but how many apps does it take to accomplish each of these tasks? Consumers dont necessarily want to check in to multiple apps to achieve common purposes, so just as the travel industry simplified with standards, so should the tech industry. At this years CES (Consumer Electronics Show), attendees were inundated in new and innovative technologies; over 3,800 exhibitions were shown. However, with all of these emerging technologies, the tech industry should recall the simplification of the travel industry. The trend of simplification and communication between services does seem to be emerging in the tech industry, as seen at CES. This week we saw that devices are no longer just connecting to the Internet, they are increasingly connected to each other, said chairman and CEO of Boingo Wireless David Hagan in a CES press release. The challenge for the tech industry will be to maintain this interconnectedness, perhaps through a cohesive set of standards as done by the travel industry. The travel industry is an excellent model of how standardization and simplification can completely alter the landscape of an industry. In a world that is growing more interconnected and having to meet faster demands via technologies that are emerging each day, it pays off to keep it simple. About Greg Abbott Greg Abbott is a Partner at DataArt, leading the Travel & Hospitality Practice which he formed in 2010. Greg has deep experience in executive sales & travel system operations, with 20+ years in domestic and international online travel industry sector, including entrepreneurship, management, product development, and consulting. His career in travel began in the early 90s while attending the University of California at Berkeley and working at the corporate campus travel agency that was later acquired by STA Travel. Over his decade with STA Travel, Greg rose to the Director position and later departed to join NEXGEN Travel in Munich, Germany's leading online travel startup, assuming the role of Product Director for nearly four years. While at NEXGEN, his team tackled some of the most unique system and technology challenges in the hospitality & tour operator distribution landscape. On his return to the U.S., Greg joined DataArt as SVP of Travel & Hospitality to lead the charge in building out DataArts service to leading travel technology companies around the globe. He is a frequent speaker and a thought leader, with a loyal following in the press and social media alike. @jgabbott About DataArt DataArt is a technology consulting firm that offers end-to-end solutions, from concept and strategy, to design, implementation and support. We partner with clients to create and support innovative solutions that help businesses become a lasting success in the marketplace. As a trusted technology partner, DataArt applies its vast industry knowledge and domain expertise to build landmark enterprise and mobile applications for leading companies in the financial services, healthcare, travel & hospitality and other industries. ### Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the deaths of people in an explosion at the Sultanahmet square in Istanbul. "I was deeply saddened by the news of loss of lives and injuries as a result of an explosion in Sultanahmet square in Istanbul," said the message of the president. President Aliyev wrote that "we are extremely outraged by this ruthless terror attack, and underline the necessity of jointly fighting against all forms of terrorism in the most resolute manner." "On the occasion of this tragedy, on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to the bereaved families and loves ones of those who died, the fraternal people of Turkey, and wish the swiftest possible recovery to the injured," the message said. "May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace!" Tribune News Service Bathinda, January 12 To commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, a seminar was organised at Government Rajindra College by the youth club of the college to mark National Youth Day. Sony Goyal, DK Garg and Pawan Garg were the main speakers at the seminar. Coordinator of the Youth Club, Prof Amla Sharma, urged the students to stick to the truthful way of life. Vice president of the college, Ramesh Chander Pasrija said the teachings of Swami Vivekananda hold true in the present time. Making the students aware of the philosophy of the leader, DK Garg said the students must focus of knowledge, meditation and work with dedication to attain success in life. Sony Goyal said students must not shy away from asking questions as their inquisitive nature would prove beneficial to the process of gathering knowledge and having a deep understanding of their surroundings. Lecture on great visionary A lecture was organised by the NSS Department of Malwa College, Bathinda, on National Youth Day. Social activist Rakesh Narula, president of Bathinda Vikas Manch, was the key speaker on the occasion and MR Jindal, president of Suraksha Helper, an NGO, was the guest of honour. Officiating principal of the college, Prof NK Gosain, said the birth of the great visionary was celebrated thought the country as National Youth Day. He exhorted the students to follow the path shown by the great karam yogi. Narula dwelt at length on the life and philosophy of Swami Vivekananda with special reference to his famous Chicago address and the importance that Swami Ji attributed to individuals character. A book on personality development by Swami Vivekananda was distributed among the students on the occasion. The programme was anchored by assistant professor Rashpinder Pal and Ramandeep Kaur. Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 13 Airtel has signed an agreement with international telecom operator Orange leading to its acquisition of Airtels operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. According to a statement issued here today, Airtel said, Orange will acquire 100% of the two companies share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Oranges subsidiaries in the Cote dIvoire and Senegal. The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of Airtels two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016. Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Fatehabad, January 11 A 21-year-old Dalit girl who works with Burger King, a fast food restaurant in Chandigarh, is now the sarpanch of a Fatehabad village. A recent amendment to the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act by the state government, making educational qualification compulsory for contestants, has catapulted Rekha from serving burgers to heading Chaplamori village with a population of 2,000 people. Born on October 20, 1994, Rekha was not even eligible to contest the elections when the panchayat polls were announced in August as she was a few months short of 21 then. But the polls were challenged and by the time the Supreme Court gave the green light to the government to go ahead with the elections with the newly imposed conditions, Rekha had attained the age of 21. With the post falling under the SC (Women) category and her village having a few educated women, her father Bansi Lal, who ekes a living by doing manual labour, asked her to come back and contest the polls. I came to the village to file the nomination papers and went back to my job in Chandigarh. I returned on January 1 for campaigning, Rekha said while interacting with The Tribune. When the results were announced late on Sunday, Rekha had polled 610 votes against 390 of her rival Nirmal Rani. From the beginning, my father taught me about the dignity of labour. He insisted that the first thing an individual must learn was to be independent. I will continue to do my job in Chandigarh and perform my duties as sarpanch, she said. Rekha, who has studied till class XII, said her father allowed her to pursue her studies in nearby Bighar village even when many others dropped out after class V. One of her top priorities remains upgrading village primary school to secondary or senior secondary level. A majority of poor villagers like us have to walk long distances to fetch drinking water. I will ensure that drinking water is available to every family in their house, she added. Rekha will also be the first-ever sarpanch of her village. The village was earlier attached to Salemkhera and was part of a common panchayat. Tribune News Service Srinagar, January 13 The standoff between the administration and local residents in Pulwama district appears to be over as the traders in the town have agreed to end the strike and open the markets from Thursday. The standoff is over. They (traders) have agreed to open the shops, said Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Samoon, who had a late evening meeting with local traders and Auqaf Committee members of Pulwama town. Samoon, however, did not specify what agreement had been reached with the local traders and the Auqaf Committee. Sources said the locals have watered down their demands and agreed to install a sign board with just Martyrs Memorial written on it besides some Urdu couplets. However, the traders and Auqaf members were not available for comments. Earlier, the demand was for a sign board with pictures of the slain militants on it. The breakthrough comes even as hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani had given a call for protests after Friday prayers to support the demand for a memorial. Moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq too favoured the installation of the memorial to militants. Terming the installation of a memorial by the Pulwama people a genuine demand, Mirwaiz Farooq today said that having a memorial to the killed is people's right and termed the restricts imposed by the district administration to prevent its installation as undemocratic. The stalemate began about two weeks ago when the district administration and the police refused to permit local youth to install a memorial board with pictures of slain militants at a public park in the town. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: Declaring 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev once again showed that Azerbaijan is a country that keeps and determines multicultural traditions, said Bahar Muradova, Azerbaijani parliament's vice-speaker. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree Jan. 11 declaring 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan to maintain, further develop and promote the traditions of multiculturalism. Speaking to Trend Jan. 13, Muradova further said that the president, by declaring 2016 the multiculturalism year, also emphasized the possibility of Azerbaijan's supporting other peoples in this regard. She said that interreligious and interethnic problems in the world are increasingly exacerbated today, there are more conflict hotbeds and millions of people have to flee their countries. "Moving away from their cultures, they face a culture and environment that is completely alien to them, what causes serious problems in their own lives, as well as problems for the countries where they go," she explained. "Today, the world is going through a difficult period, so that the existence of a tolerant environment and society in Azerbaijan against such a backdrop, as well as organization of a high-level work to present this to world community were among the most memorable events of the past year," she said. The work in this regard will continue this year, added Muradova. --- Simran Sodhi Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 13 Syria has detained four Indians in Damascus who had gone to join there to join ISIS. Syrian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Walid Al-Muallem, who is currently on a three-day official visit to India, said this today. Al-Muallem also met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and conveyed his governments willingness to hand over the four Indians to the Indian authorities. His statement is significant since this gives strength to the fact that Indian nationals are also travelling to the Middle East in an attempt to join the IS. He said that Syria had offered India help in security cooperation and intelligence and his discussions with Swaraj covered a wide range of issues. Syria was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladmir Putin when he visited Moscow in December. Al-Muallems visit is also significant in light of the fact that the UN, of late, has taken fresh initiatives to bring about peace in Syria where more than 300,000 people have been killed in the past four years and seven million have fled to other countries. Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 13 The 1971 war hero, Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who negotiated the surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops at Dhaka, died of age-related complications here this morning. He was 92. Jacob as Major General was Chief of Staff at the Eastern Army Command during the 1971 war with Pakistan. Lt Gen JS Aurora was heading the command at Calcutta (now Kolkata). In Jacobs death, all the key military leaders of the 1971 war have died, ending an era. Lt Gen Aurora; Lt Gen Sagat Singh, who headed the 4 Corps; Lt Gen (later General) TN Raina who headed the 2 Corps, are all dead. The then Army Chief, Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw, is also dead. Jacob, a bachelor, was living in Delhi's RK Puram. His body will be kept in state at Brar Square in Delhi Cantonment for the final wreath-laying at 1 pm before being handed over to Delhis small Jewish community at the Judah Hyam Synagogue in central Delhi for his final rites. Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag termed Lt Gen Jacobs death a great loss, adding that he was a pillar of military leadership and personified the best qualities of a soldier and a statesman. Jacob was a former Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh between November 1999 and May 2003, where he earned the sobriquet of peoples Administrator. He was famous for dropping in unannounced in public offices. Israeli Ambassador Daniel Carmon said the General was a staunch supporter of India-Israel relations. He shall forever be remembered as a human bridge between our peoples, he said. Lt Gen Jacob was born in 1923 at Calcutta. He enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1942 and retired after 37 years of service. He authored two books: Surrender at Dacca: Birth of a Nation and An Odyssey in War and Peace: An Autobiography. Was a man of many parts Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 13 Though there was no one to question his authority, he would never violate rules. Fond of fishing at the Bhakra Nangal Dam, he would insist on securing a permit. This is how Shiv Dullar Singh Dhillon, an IAS officer, described the charming persona of former Punjab Governor, Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who passed away in Delhi this morning. I was posted as SDM at Anandpur Sahib. He used to take me along for fishing, said Shiv Dullar. He was one of the finest human beings. He made it a point to locate those who had served with him in the Army. Then he would spend hours with their families. He used to invite soldiers from his regiment at Raj Bhavan. There are 100 per cent honest people. But I would say Lt Gen Jacob was 200 per cent honest, said former Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal. He was the most knowledgeable person Ive ever met, Aggarwal said. Once, a delegation from Tanzania came to see Jacob. He told them so much about Tanzania that they had to admit that they were not aware of the many things about their own country. Jacob, who will be remembered as the Peoples Governor, was also fond of collecting artefacts and antiques. He would often visit Patiala and other places to collect such items. In fact, he had turned his own house at Delhi into a museum. Obituary The quintessential Gunner Lt Gen JFR Jacob was arguably last of the knights who straddled generations of military history Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh (Retd) Son of a Baghdadi Jewish businessman from Kolkata, Jack Farj Rafael Jacob would grow up to be an unlikely Indian war hero and much more! In a fast fading world of classical military Generals, Lt Gen Jacob was arguably the last of the knights who straddled generations of military history, which saw him in action in World War II, 1962, 1965 and, of course, peaking in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, an unprecedented military success. The young impressionable boy was so moved by the stories of the Jewish Holocaust that he defied his family history and chose to join the British Army to take on the Nazi Germans in World War II. Providentially, he was assigned to do just that after commissioning in the Artillery Brigade of the British Army and take on General Rommels fabled Afrika Korps. However, fate was to deny him that opportunity, as his brigade arrived only after the battle was over and he had to spend the next three years fighting the Japanese, in the Burma Campaign. A bright officer, he was always destined for higher glories as he went on to graduate from the premier Artillery institutions in the UK and the US. But, the Gunner fired his biggest career guns in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, as he immortalised and distinguished himself in his role as the Chief of Staff, Eastern Command. While there is no doubt about Lt Gen Jacobs professional conduct, planning and contribution to the success of operations in the annals of the 1971 war history, there is an acrimonious debate as to the real claimant for hero-ship to the success of the decisive 1971 victory that fundamentally altered the political geography and power equations in the sub-continent. Then Chief of Army Staff General Sam Manekshaw (later Field Marshal) and the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen JS Aurora, come in for a bit of a rough assessment by Jake (as Lt Gen Jacob styled himself) in his book Surrender at Dacca: Birth of a Nation. The implied sense was that he himself was responsible for all major policy decisions and that the Eastern Army Commander was said to be busy planning a trip for his wifes travel for the surrender ceremony, while the Army Chief Manekshaw was a media star, portrayed as lacking combat experience. History has many versions and perceptions about the individual contributions to the overall success of war, but what remains unquestionable is the sound strategy and tactically daring conduct of Lt Gen Jacob during the 1971 war and the surrender negotiations. Nearly 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered with only 3,000-odd Indian soldiers in the near vicinity of Dhaka. Perhaps the best left-handed compliment comes from the enemy itself when General Niazi noted in the Hamidur Rehman report, General Jacob blackmailed me! He threatened to hand us over to the Bahini, and that they would bayonet us, or when the Pakistan National Defence College concluded, The credit really goes to General Jacobs meticulous preparation in the Indian Eastern Command Post-retirement, Lt Gen Jacob did not hang his boots and pursued business interests till his political baptism into the BJP, triggered by the partys natural inclination towards advancing ties with Israel. He rightfully served as the partys security adviser and then went on to assume higher responsibilities as the Governor of Goa and, later, Punjab. His second innings in public life was marked by exceptional correctness, sobriety and probity that made him stand out as a fine example of constitutional correctness and Indias inherent plurality. I am proud to be a Jew, but am Indian through and through. I was born in India and served her my whole life. This is where I want to die, he wrote. A patriot and a larger-than-life officer, with an irrepressible zest for life, he would often shoot from the hip and was candid about his opinions, adding to his colourful aura and personality in him, the military lost a cavalier war hero who epitomised romantic notions of military leadership, and the nation its unique beacon of the lofty idea of India. But then, as they say, soldiers never die, they only fade away. RIP, Sir! (The writer is former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry) Legal Correspondent New Delhi, January 13 The Supreme Court today extended by another three months the deadline set for Italian marine Massimilano Latorre to return to India and face trial for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast on February 15, 2012. A three-member Bench headed by Justice Anil Dave granted further time to Latorre due to his health problems and the fact that India and Italy had gone for international arbitration to resolve the row over the case. The court ruling has come a day after an Italian senators statement that Latorre would not return to India. The Bench asked Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand to ascertain the time-frame for the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings and posted the next hearing for April 13. Besides Latorre, another marine Salvatore Girone has been named as accused in the case. The two have pleaded that they had mistaken the fishermen for sea pirates. Girone is confined within the Italian embassy here following the SC ruling directing the two accused to face trial here. Latorre had pleaded that he had undergone a heart surgery in Italy on January 5 last year and has been getting extensions from the SC, mainly on the strength of the undertaking given by the Italian envoy here that his country would ensure his return. Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 13 Clarifying on the operation to flush out terrorists at the Pathankot Air Force station, Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag on Wednesday said local commanders had complete liberty in planning and execution, and that the counter-offensive was carried out under Western Army Commander Lt Gen KJ Singh. General Suhag addressed a press conference in New Delhi and his statement assumes significance in view of the fact that retired Army officers had been questioning as to why the operation was micro-managed from Delhi, and who was in command during the January 2 terror attack. And also, why the Army, the last resort of the nation, was put under the command of the National Security Guard, a force governed by the Ministry of Home Affairs? As far as the Army is concerned, it was not under anybodys command. It was under the Western Army Commander who was monitoring and controlling the operations on my behalf, said General Suhag. The Army Chief also said there was no lack of coordination, and there was complete synergy. One of the focus areas was to ensure the safety of assets (planes and helicopters at the IAF base) and families at the attack site, for which a strong cordon had to be established, he said. General Suhag also defended the governments move to send in the NSG: Instead of moving the NSG later, it was wise to take preemptive action to send the elite unit in advance. The NSG is ideally trained to tackle hostage situations. Asked whether the Army was ready for covert operations in Pakistan, General Suhag said, The Army is fully prepared and ready to respond to any threats and challenges. He said National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had convened a meeting on January 1. We alerted the forces in that area, quick reaction teams were formed and columns readied, he added. Kolkata, January 12 Born under captivity in Patna Zoo, a young critically-endangered gharial, which was released into the wild has now lost her freedom once again after swimming 1000 kilometres into the neighbouring West Bengal. The nine-year-old sub-adult female gharial was released in the Gandak river near Valmiki Tiger Reserve last year along with 24 other crocodiles by the Bihar forest department as part of a conservation program. For reasons best known to nature, the gharial swam over 1000 km over the next few months to reach Mahananda river which flows in the northern part of West Bengal. Gandak and Mahananda are both interconnected through the river Ganga as its tributaries. In Malda district local fishermen raised an alarm after spotting the gharial as they felt threatened by the carnivorous mammal, which is rarely spotted in the river. West Bengal forest department officials then captured it and kept it at Rasik Bill in Cooch Behar last October. The release of the crocodile has now become complicated since it is a trans-state issue. "This is not good for the animal. It has survived so long in nature after being in captivity for eight years. Now it is a wild animal and if it is forced to return to captivity then you are spoiling its life. We had released it in the wild so that biodiversity increases in the river," Wildlife Trust of India (WTI)'s Samir Kumar Sinha told PTI. He is working along with the Bihar forest department to save the gharials from extinction as it is estimated that only about 200 breeding individuals of the species, listed as critically endangered, survive in the wild today. PTI Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Fatehgarh Churian (Gurdaspur), January 12 Three students were killed and more than 20 injured when their overloaded school bus fell into a drain after colliding with a jeep at Pindi village of Gurdaspur today. The deceased have been identified as Harkirat Singh, 10, his cousin Harpreet Singh, 11, and the bus drivers grandson, Jaspreet Singh, 15. All three were residents of Wadala Veram village in Amritsar. School owner Capt Harinder Singh (retd) has been taken into custody and bus driver Dalbir Singh booked for negligence. The accident took place when the bus of the Captain School of Excellence was on its way to Fatehgarh Churian town in Gurdaspur from Majitha in Amritsar district. Bearing the registration number of Goa, the bus was ferrying over 60 students against its capacity of 32. Dalbir Singh, 65, a resident of Wadala Veram village, did not have a valid drivers licence. SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon led a team of senior officers to the spot. An eyewitness said the bus, ferrying students of three villages Wadala Veram, Bhoja and Wadala collided with a jeep at Pindi village around 8 am and after its steering got locked, it fell into the drain, breaking the grills of the bridge. Dhillon said initial investigation showed that the bus was worn out and was running in a very poor condition. It was ferrying more than 60 students against its capacity of 32. Even the driver did not possess an authorised driving licence. We have registered a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC against school owner Capt Harinder Singh and driver Dalbir Singh, who has been admitted to a hospital, he said. San Francisco, January 13 Several people were injured when a major fight broke out between two groups of Sikhs at a gurdwara in California, apparently over leadership issue, according to media reports. The incident took place at a famous gurdwara in Northern Californias Turlock city and it came to light after a video of the chaos was made public. Soon after the fight began, the local police was called in to quell the brawl. The video shows Sikhs shoving and throwing punches at each other, CBS news reported yesterday. The report quoted some of the witnesses who said that some Sikhs were wielding kirpans (ceremonial swords) inside the gurdwara. Harinder Toor, a member of the gurdwara who was inside when the melee started, said a dispute over shrine leadership turned violent as different factions had been fighting for power for years and the tension boiled over Sunday, according to the report. Several people have sustained minor injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals. The police said no arrests were made as further investigations were underway. PTI Washington, January 13 Indian-American South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley today criticised President Barack Obama's policies as having "fallen far short of his soaring words" during his seven-year-long tenure as she asked Americans to resist the "angriest voices" on immigration. "Barack Obama's election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that," she said in formal Republican response to Obama's last State of the Union address. "Unfortunately, the President's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words," said 43-year-old Haley, seen as a potential Republican vice presidential pick in 2016. "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. We're feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities," she said. In her impressive nine-minute speech that launched her into national politics, Haley also tried to jab her party's White House frontrunner Donald Trump by urging Americans to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" on immigration. She recounted her Indian-American heritage to describe her vision of America. "I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country," she said. "Growing up in the rural south, my family didn't look like our neighbours, and we didn't have much. There were times that were tough, but we had each other, and we had the opportunity to do anything, to be anything, as long as we were willing to work for it," she added. Haley said her story is not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to US for generations to live the dream that is America, she said. "Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation," she said, apparently referring to Trump's controversial remarks calling for a ban on Muslims immigrants in the wake of the Paris attacks, in which some of the killers are believed to have entered into France as refugees. Haley said the US is facing the most dangerous security threat since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in a reference to the ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. "Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it," Haley said, adding that soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. "That direction is what I want to talk about...," said the two-term Governor of South Carolina. Haley did not mention the Republican presidential race but said a Republican president in the White House would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. "We would encourage American innovation and success instead of demonizing them, so our economy would truly soar and good jobs would be available across our country," she said. "We would reform education so it worked best for students, parents, and teachers, not Washington bureaucrats and union bosses. We would end a disastrous health care program, and replace it with reforms that lowered costs and actually let you keep your doctor," she added. "We would respect differences in modern families, but we would also insist on respect for religious liberty as a cornerstone of our democracy. We would recognise the importance of the separation of powers and honour the Constitution in its entirety. And yes, that includes the Second and Tenth Amendments," Haley said. "We would make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around. And rather than just thanking our brave men and women in uniform, we would actually strengthen our military, so both our friends and our enemies would know that America seeks peace, but when we fight wars we win them," she said. "We have big decisions to make. Our country is being tested. But we've been tested in the past, and our people have always risen to the challenge. We have all the guidance we need to be safe and successful," Haley added. PTI Kabul, January 13 At least six policemen were killed on Wednesday in a terror attack apparently targeted at the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad city in Afghanistan, media reports said. Afghan security forces battled gunmen barricaded in a house near the consulate, which the attackers had apparently tried to enter, a Pakistani news report said. Xinhua news agency reported earlier that a blast took place near the Pakistani consulate, located in an area, which is also home to the Indian and Iranian consulates as well as a private school. "The bomb attack targeted a police vehicle near the Pakistani consulate," a security source told Xinhua. But a report in Dawn online newspaper said the fighting erupted near the Pakistani consulate after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing as many as six people. It quoted a security source as telling Afghanistan's Tolo News that the suicide bomber, who pretended to be a visa seeker, detonated himself after being prevented from entering the consulate. "Officials said three attackers are inside the consulate and a gun battle between security forces and attackers is ongoing." The blast comes 10 days after a terror attack near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city. IANS Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Samir Mammadov - Trend: Being in custody the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan Jahangir Hajiyev has not returned to the detention facility yet, Hajiyev's lawyer Agil Layijev told Trend Jan. 13. Hajiyev was transferred from the Baku detention facility to the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime under the Azerbaijani interior ministry December 30. "Hajiyev has been transferred to the main directorate for ten days in connection with investigative actions, but he has not returned to the detention facility yet," he said. "In this regard, we have already appealed to the Narimanov District Court," the lawyer said. "Our suit will be considered at the court session chaired by Judge Turgay Huseynov on January 18." Hajiyev is charged under various articles of the Criminal Code, including the misappropriation, the abuse of office, fraud by causing huge damage, embezzlement through the abuse of office, bribing. According to the decision of the Narimanov court, a preventive measure in the form of arrest for a period of four months was chosen. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Jan. 13 By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend: The Turkmen parliament has ratified a memorandum of understanding on merchant shipping cooperation in the Caspian Sea. The memorandum was ratified between the governments of Turkmenistan and Iran, the Turkmen government said Jan. 13. The document was signed during Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's official visit to Iran on November 22-23, 2015. As of the first nine months of 2015, the trade turnover volume between Turkmenistan and Iran exceeded $2.62 billion, which is 2.2 percent more than in the same period of 2014. An agreement was reached to increase the bilateral trade turnover volume up to $60 billion for the next ten years during Iranian president's visit to Turkmenistan in March 2015. The two countries implemented the North-South railway project on the basis of a tripartite agreement with participation of Kazakhstan signed in 2007. Okmulgee-OSU Institute of Technologys Natural Gas Compression program got an early Christmas present in December with a donation of almost $50,000 in new trainers. MOTORTECH, a company headquartered in Germany, delivered the custom trainers and simulators to the Chesapeake Energy Natural Gas Compression Training Center last month with OSUIT President Bill Path, Dean Roy Achemire and OSU Foundation Development Director Glenn Zannotti on hand to accept the gift. The company, which also has a branch in the U.S., manufactures electronic components including ignitions, coils, spark plugs and controllers for the natural gas industry. Florian Virchow, CEO of MOTORTECH, said when companies have issues with their engine systems, they turn to MOTORTECH which often will create a new product to meet their needs as well as the industrys needs. We try to innovate, Virchow said. We design products that should offer diagnostic preventative maintenance so the system tells you when something needs attention. After being told about OSUITs Natural Gas Compression program from an executive with MOTORTECH Americas, Virchow visited the campus in August and was impressed by the program but also saw an opportunity to help it improve. It took me awhile to decide about five minutes, he said with a laugh. When I went home, I asked my guys What can we do? How can we make it as easy as possible for the students? His team at the MOTORTECH headquarters in Germany custom-built four trainers and two simulators designed specifically for OSUIT as well as shipped additional tools and equipment, making the value of the donation close to $50,000. Everything is handmade, and it was a lot of time and a lot of work, Virchow said, but its necessary for the industry in the U.S. I think this industry needs a big step forward. A lot of the equipment used today is out of date. Roy Achemire, dean and George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of the School of Energy Technologies, said these donated trainers and simulators are invaluable to the program. Its a quantum leap for our engine electrical systems training, Achemire said. It was very difficult to teach without something hands on to work on. Now we can actually see how the system works. Before we would have to show a video of how it worked. Virchow said its important that graduates have as much training and experience with the equipment they will come in contact with when they start working in the industry, which was a driving factor in his decision to build the trainers. Its for the younger generation. We need them to step up. There are a lot of people who have been in the industry as long as I have, but theyre retiring soon, he said. The industry needs technicians with experience. We still need hands-on people. The new trainers from MOTORTECH will give students an unprecedented edge when it comes to joining the workforce after they graduate, Achemire said. Everything is controlled by electronics. Our program was good before in what we offered in electronics training, but this takes us to a totally new level, he said. Our students will be so far beyond anyone else who is just coming into the industry. State regulators indicate an intense swarm of earthquakes that rattled northwestern Oklahoma a week ago could be tied to a storm-induced power outage that resulted in disposal wells turning back on all at once. In a letter to disposal well operators released Wednesday, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission stated the seismic events of the week of Jan. 4 just northwest of Fairview appear to have a very close correlation to the storms that created power outages in the area. It is believed that the power outage may have created a situation where a number of producing wells were shut in, then simultaneously came back on line, the letter states. When the wells began producing again, this apparently resulted in a tremendous volume of produced water being disposed into the Arbuckle formation at the same time. The Corporation Commission recommended that if a similar power outage occurs in the future, production volumes should be phased in over a period of time. However, the letter gives no direction on what is acceptable in that regard. Spokesman Matt Skinner said Oil & Gas Conservation Division staff found data that indicates a potential correlation among power outages at the disposal well sites, sudden resumption of disposal well operations and the earthquakes. Its essential that we make that data known to the research community for its analysis and recommendations, Skinner said. Because we have been told by experts that sudden changes in the pressure in seismically active areas pose a potential risk of inducing earthquakes, it is important that operators know of this data, as well, and why OGCD is recommending gradual start-ups after power failures. The Corporation Commissions news release states its latest response to Oklahomas induced earthquakes targets 27 wells disposing of wastewater from oil and natural gas operations into the Arbuckle the states deepest geological formation. The action will result in an overall volume reduction of 18 percent in the Fairview area, the news release states. The disposal reduction schedule outlined in the directive is: Wells reducing by 10 percent or less must do so by Tuesday. Wells reducing by more than 10 percent but less than 20 percent must do so by Jan. 26. Wells reducing by more than 20 percent must do so by Feb. 2. The wells covered by the directive are within an area roughly 36 miles by 20 miles. The Corporation Commission also says its formulating a plan encompassing a larger portion of this area of interest in the northwestern part of the state. U.S. Geological Survey data shows 29 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater took place near Fairview in a 24-hour period, beginning at 10:27 p.m. Jan. 6 with two magnitude-4.0 quakes only seconds apart. A 4.4 was followed 30 seconds later by a 4.8 tied for the fourth-largest in the states history. There had been earlier data showing as many as 32 quakes in that time frame. The latest USGS data shows 41 quakes shook the area since the night of Jan. 6, including another 4.0 when a magnitude-4.1 quake struck Friday morning. The latest quakes in the area took place Monday morning, with four ranging in strength from 2.7 to 3.2. The latest Oklahoma Geological Survey data shows seven earthquakes so far this year of magnitude 4.0 or greater, and 65 of 3.0 or more. Wednesday isnt the first day state regulators have targeted the area. In November the Corporation Commission directed one well to reduce injection volumes by 25 percent, while a second well was directed to cease operations to reduce its depth. The response was prompted by a magnitude-4.3 temblor Nov. 15 about 18 miles northwest of Fairview in Woods County as well as other smaller quakes in the heart of where the latest swarms have rumbled. OKLAHOMA CITY An initiative petition to let voters decide whether to increase the sales tax to fund education can move forward, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. OCPA Impact, the lobbying arm of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, had challenged the proposal, saying it violated the constitution because it contained more than one subject. The court ruled 6-3 that it embraced one subject. The proposed initiative petition clearly constitutes a single scheme to be presented to voters, and each section is germane to creating and implementing the Oklahoma Education Improvement Fund, the opinion stated. University of Oklahoma President David Boren championed the proposal, which will need 123,725 signatures to get the issue on the November ballot. The proposed 1-cent sales tax increase would raise about $615 million. It would provide a $5,000 raise to teachers and increase funding for common and higher education and CareerTech. The petition also would require money collected to be used by lawmakers to enhance and not supplant current public education appropriations. The court decision today is a great victory for the school children and the people of Oklahoma, Boren said. It will allow the people to vote to solve our crisis in education. The court was absolutely right to not stand in the way of the right of the people to vote on this crucial issue. The reasoning of the majority was strong and correct. We are delighted that the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of sending the initiative petition forward, said Amber England, executive director of Stand for Children Oklahoma. Oklahomans deserve the opportunity to solve the states education funding crisis by voting to pass this plan. The state is facing a significant shortage of teachers. In addition, a revenue failure has forced mandatory cuts to state appropriated agencies for the current fiscal year. The Board of Education last week cut nearly $47 million from school budgets as a result. We will begin immediately with the signature collection process and already have the staff and resources in place to get this measure on the ballot, England said. In light of the current budget crisis, time is of the essence. This is the only plan on the table to keep us from falling to dead last in the nation for education funding and teacher pay. Secretary of State Chris Benge said opponents of the proposal have 20 days to seek a rehearing. After that, his office has 15 to 30 days to start the clock on the petition process. Supporters then will have 90 days to collect the required signatures, Benge said. The state is expected to have at least $900.8 million less to spend in fiscal year 2017. In the coming months we will continue our efforts to prevent the Boren tax increase, making sure all Oklahomans across the state understand that the Boren proposal would force on them the highest sales-tax burden in the country and also that nearly half of the money from the tax increase would never make it to teachers, said Dave Bond, CEO of OCPA Impact. On Martin Luther King Jr.s actual birthday, leaders and members of north Tulsa churches will descend upon the south Tulsa ORU Mabee Center for gospel music, and promotion of education and school choice. The term school choice can be dicey. But Ive found it means different things to different people. For the Rev. Ray A. Owens, leader of the Metropolitan Baptist Church, it means a chance for kids to have choices other than a low-performing school. Its about establishing partnerships with existing schools whether with a charter program or volunteer program to elevate everyone. We are not talking about dismantling public schools. It is about creating more options for kids who are really locked into schools, Owens said. As part of the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.s life, Metropolitan Baptist Church and the Tulsa C.A.R.E. Alliance is presenting a sold-out show Friday featuring Grammy Award-winning gospel artist and pastor Marvin Sapp. The free event will give patrons information about school choices and encourage them to volunteer in schools. Owens said Kings message of equality gets to the heart of why Tulsa must transform its low-performing schools. Many of them are in poverty-stricken neighborhoods with student populations that are largely African-American or Hispanic. Some face the complex issues of generational poverty. Education is that social good that all people should have equal access and quality, Owens said. We need to get beyond the day education in north Tulsa doesnt measure up to education in south Tulsa. There should be no difference. That was Dr. Kings vision. Going on Kings influence, several local black leaders have posted photos on social media with personalized visions on a sign that says #MyDreamIsSchoolChoice: Making sure every child is prepared for college Every child attends an excellent school To have fewer children in classrooms Better school choices for north Tulsa During a summit last year at Metropolitan Baptist, data was presented to show that about 5,000 children among seven schools surrounding the church, at 1228 W. Apache St., were not proficient in basic skills on state tests. The reaction was anger, then hope for a solution. Sometimes outrage leads to an optimistic viewpoint, Owens said. For kids staying within the system assigned to you, they go to an underperforming elementary that feeds into a middle school underperforming and into a high school that is failing. That is their K-through-12 experience and does not give those families a choice. That doesnt mean closing the existing schools. North Tulsa has a long history and tradition of its schools serving as the center of its neighborhoods. No one wants to tear those down. For Owens, it means finding programs that are nationally proven to work with African-American children living in low-income homes. This means enabling schools to do things beyond what laws and policies mandate an Oklahoma public school to do, such as offer extended school days and incentive pay. This isnt meant to take away from public schools, Owens said. Its meant to be a choice within the portfolio of Tulsa Public Schools. What if we can bring those models to Tulsa and prove we must show proof that you can achieve high proficiency among low-income students on the existing per-pupil expenditure, Owens asked. If we can do that, we can change what happens in our traditional schools. The north Tulsa movement isnt just about charter schools. Its about getting people to go into schools and help. Its about giving parents the skills to navigate their childrens education. We are challenging local churches and businesses to volunteer at schools or be a reading partner, Owens said. Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. Owens said about 125 Tulsa ministers will be at the gospel concert and that he hopes the education message gets to the pulpit. If every clergy in every faith community spent six Sundays a year impressing upon its members to volunteer at a school, volunteerism would go up exponentially, he said. Clergy have an incredible power to move people. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mahir Unal urged foreign tourists not to leave the country, the Turkish Haber7 newspaper reported Jan.13. Unal made the remarks in connection with the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul, which killed 10 foreigners. On Jan.12, an explosion hit Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. It was reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up near the central mosque when tourists were passing by. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the blast a terrorist attack carried out by a Syrian citizen, who belongs to a terrorist group "Islamic State" (aka IS, ISIS or ISIL). Following the attack, some Turkish media outlets reported that foreign tourists, fearing for their safety, began to leave Turkey. The Turkish minister of culture and tourism said that Istanbul is a safe city for local and foreign tourists. He also noted that the terrorist attacks are carried out not only in Istanbul but also in other major cities around the world. In this Morning Edition, we opened the phone lines for you to share your thoughts or the imp National Geographic will mark the 30th anniversary of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster when seven crew members lost their lives. Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes includes rare footage retelling the events leading up to, during and immediately after that fateful day. Certain images are permanently etched into our memory, and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion is one of them. On Jan. 28, 1986, with the eyes of the world watching, the space shuttle abruptly burst into flames during a live television broadcast. All seven crewmembers died, including a social studies teacher who was supposed to be the first American civilian in space. The heartbreaking tragedy instantly became a defining moment in American history. To mark the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, National Geographic Channel combed through long-forgotten news footage, radio reports, audio recordings and rarely seen NASA footage to retell the events leading up to, during and immediately after that fateful day. Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes, premiering Thursday January 28 at 9.30pm, takes viewers behind the scenes of this compelling and historic story in a way never before seen. Produced by Peabody-award winning producers, the one-hour special includes no narration and no commentators, instead unfolding the story solely through the reports of journalists covering the story at the time, extensive audio and video recordings from NASA and archived interviews with the flight crew and others who were part of the one-of-a-kind mission. The special follows the story of the Space Shuttle Challenger and its crew, specifically Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from Concord, New Hampshire. The 37-year-old mother of two was chosen from thousands of applicants to be the first teacher in space as part of President Ronald Reagans initiative to bring interplanetary studies into the classroom. During one of the opening scenes in Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes, viewers see rare footage of McAuliffe rehearsing lesson plans on board the space shuttle and later testing out science experiments in a gravity-free environment. These lessons were intended to be done live from space and beamed into classrooms across the United States. Americas excitement and enthusiasm about the Teacher in Space Program is chronicled in the documentary, from the initial presidential announcement, through the search to find the perfect teacher and the winners yearlong astronaut training, to its unexpected and tragic final moments. The documentary features NASA interviews with some of the top 10 finalists, in which McAuliffe talks about being a lifelong adventurer who plans to share her experience with her class. Just 48 days before the launch, cameras capture the teacher-turned-astronaut giving a guided tour of the space shuttle to her supportive family. After McAuliffe was selected as the winner, Bryant Gumbel of Today Show asked her if she was nervous. Not yet, she said. Maybe when Im strapped in and those rockets are going off underneath me I will be, but space flight today really seems safe. Her words are still haunting 30 years later. Some of the rarely seen and iconic moments featured in the special include the following: NASAs interviews with Christa McAuliffe, the winner of the Teacher in Space Program, and Barbara Morgan, the backup teacher who was selected to train alongside Christa in case of any last-minute problems Candid video and photos of McAuliffe touring the space shuttle with her husband and two young children Audio recordings from inside the Challenger cockpit during take-off, including Cmdr. Dick Scobees final words just before the space shuttle exploded Footage of the launch pad during the launch at Canaveral, Fla., and inside Mission Control in Houston, Tex., as the disaster unfolded Video of students at Concord High School in New Hampshire, who watched in horror as the space shuttle exploded with their beloved teacher inside it, as well as unforgettable video of those seated in the Grand Stand at the launch site, who witnessed the explosion first-hand. Behind-the-scenes NASA footage of Vice President George Bush and Senator John Glenn talking to members of the Challenger launch team hours after the explosion. They both travelled to Houston to tell the launch team that the nation was standing with them. Recordings of local New Hampshire radio reporters who followed Christa during the year that she prepared for the launch, and their eyewitness accounts as they stood in the grandstands watching the tragedy unfold. Behind-the-scenes footage at the CNN Newsroom as reporters scrambled to cover the explosion as it happened. The compelling footage and audio recordings are intricately linked together to capture the drama of what happened and the lasting effect it had in Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes. Thursday January 28 at 9.30pm on National Geographic Channel. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: Azercell Telecom continues to realize different social projects directed to support the development of education in Azerbaijan. The Company finalized the selection process for the Student Bursary Program 2015, annually held since 2008. On January 12, company CEO Vahid Mursaliyev has met with the winners of the Student Bursary Program and presented them special certificates. Mr. Mursaliyev extended his congratulations to the students and wished them a successful career path. Over 1200 students from different universities in Baku, as well as regions, applied to this program. The multi-staged selection process started on October 1 and 24 students were qualified for the title of Azercell Scholar. These students will receive a monthly scholarship in the amount of AZN 200 each from Azercell till their graduation. The winners are students of higher institutions located at Baku and various regions of Azerbaijan. Thus, the students of Baku Higher Oil School, State Oil and Industry University, Baku State University, Qafqaz University, Academy of Public Administration under the President of Azerbaijan Republic and other institutions in Baku, as well as Gandja, Mingachevir, Nakhchivan and Lankaran State Universities became Azercell's honored scholars. The selection process consisted of several stages. At the first stage the applicants passed written tests with logical questions and then submitted essays in English on different topics. At the final stage the students were invited to face-to-face interviews with the representatives and experts from Azercell's management positions. As a result, students who successfully passed all stages of the selection process, have been awarded with the scholarship. Student Bursary Program's advantage is not only about the financial support. Along with the scholarship, these young people will get a chance to enrich their knowledge on telecommunications, participate at Azercell's corporate events, receive various training courses, as well as take an internship at Azercell. The Student Bursary Program is aimed to provide special care to the successful students and support their development as future specialists. This project held under the sustainability strategy of Azercell Telecom will help to strengthen the company's corporate social responsibility activities and contribute to the welfare of our society. Azerbaijani leading mobile carrier Azercell Telecom will continue to support various projects focusing on the development of young professionals. Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996 and since the first years sustains a leading position in the market. Azercell introduced number of technological innovations in Azerbaijan: GSM technology, advance payment mobile services, M2M,MobilBank, GPRS/EDGE (mobile internet), 24/7 Customer Care, full-time operating Azercell Express offices, mobile e-service "ASAN imza" (ASAN signature) and others. With 48,2% share of Azerbaijan's mobile market Azercell's network covers 99,8% of the country's population. In 2013, the number of Azercell's subscribers reached 4,5 million people. In 2011 Azercell deployed 3G and in 2012 the fourth generation network - LTE in Azerbaijan. The Company is the leader of Azerbaijan's mobile communication industry and the biggest investor in the non-oil sector. Azercell is a part of TeliaSonera Group of Companies serving 186 million subscribers in 17 countries worldwide with 27,000 employees. 9:50 a.m., Jan. 13, 2016--Chin-Pao Huang, Donald C. Philips Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware, was recently honored with a special issue of the journal Separation and Purification Technology dedicated to his area of specialty. Focused on environmental nanotechnology and sustainability in water treatment, the issue includes 23 papers from an international slate of authors, many of whom have collaborated with Huang or been mentored by him during his 45-year career. His research work has had a profound effect in the field of environmental science and engineering, says Virender Sharma, director of the Program for Water Sustainability and Public Health Research in the School of Public Health at Texas A&M University and co-author of the foreword to the special issue. His continuous appetite to be innovative in research has led him to develop new areas of research and has guided numerous researchers all over the world to pursue those areas. Huang received his doctorate from Harvard University, where he was mentored by the late Prof. Werner Stumm, who is considered the father of the multidisciplinary field of aquatic chemistry. He joined the University of Delaware faculty in 1974 and was named Donald C. Philips Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2002. Today, Huang is known worldwide for his work in environmental physical chemistry. He is credited with conducting pioneering research not only on the fate, transport and behavior of pollutants in aquatic environments, but also on treatment and remediation methods. His work has addressed a broad spectrum of treatment approaches, including separation technologies, chemical and catalytic approaches, and physical methods for environmental protection. His contributions have gone beyond academic research to include providing technical assistance with the implementation of wastewater treatment systems and the production of training materials for system operators. In recent years, Huang has sought to widen the landscape of environmental-related disciplines by devoting his attention to nanomaterials and their potential role in pollution remediation. Over the years, his work been supported by federal and state agencies, professional organizations, foundations and industry, and his findings have been documented in five books, 31 book chapters, and more than 200 refereed journal papers, as well as in hundreds of technical reports and invited and conference presentations. Huangs scientific reach stretches throughout the global environmental engineering and science community. At UD, he has hosted dozens of collaborators and international visitors from various countries including Brazil, China, Egypt, Korea, Spain and Taiwan. He has also taught many short courses and organized conferences throughout the world in countries including China, Hong Kong, Korea, Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan. Photo by Evan Krape Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it. I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends. More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it. The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity. About me: I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS. Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line). Age: 42 Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed. I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it). Ukraine within the next two months will receive a loan from the World Bank to purchase gas, although currently there is no critical necessity in these funds. Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn told journalists, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. The procedure has not been suspended, it [the loan] will be received. Yesterday I had a meeting with Qimiao Fan (the World Bank Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova), and he confirmed that the financial establishment is interested in the project, Demchyshyn said. The economy minister also forecasts that the loan will be received within the next two months, and at the same time he adds that there is no critical necessity in these funds. At present [gas] supplies are enough, comfort. Currently there is no need to purchase large volumes. We still have EBRD money, coordinated funds from IFC, the minister said. iy Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: The Montenegrin private investment company Azmont Investments has opened a representative office in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry's Vergiler newspaper wrote Jan. 13. The official representative of the company is Qorkhmaz Aghayev. The company was registered through a single window system of the Taxes Ministry December 15, 2015. Azmont Investments is the Montenegrin private company, implementing a number of projects in the Bay of Kotor by using the investments from Azerbaijan. The largest project of the company is the construction of the One & Only tourist complex in Kumbor which is the first complex in Montenegro and Europe. The company plans to invest 500 million euros in the construction of the complex in Kumbor. The project is planned to be implemented for three years. There will be a 550-room hotel, villas, apartments, a wellness center, a conference center for 1,000 people, restaurants, bars, shops and a sandy beach in a 24 hectare-area. In total, Azmont Investment invested 150.5 million euros ($165.2 million) in the construction of a tourist center in Montenegro until late 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned Ukraine twice during his last presidential career annual the State of the Union address to U.S. Congress. Both times Ukraine was mentioned in the context of the Russian aggression, the Ukrinforms own American correspondent reports. "Even as their economy severely contracts, Russia is pouring resources in to prop up Ukraine and Syria - client states they saw slipping away from their orbit," said the President of the United States in his speech on the issues of foreign policy. He noted that this continues to threaten sustainable balance of security in the world. "The international system we built after World War II is now making efforts to save the world in this new reality. This is our business. The United States should help to restore the system," Obama said. Continuing his speech, Obama emphasized that the United States now more than ever assert its leadership in the world. "This leadership means wise use of military force and uniting the world based on the principles that are correct," said the head of the White House. In this connection, he focused attention on global issues such as global climate change, tackling of AIDS pandemic, struggle of nations for their independence, including the Ukrainian people. "When we help Ukraine protect its democracy or to stop the ongoing war in Colombia that lasts decades, this fact strengthens the international order on which we depend," said Obama. U.S. President noted the power and leadership of America rests on this foundation. "And such leadership depends on our strong example," said Barack Obama. The European Parliament next week will hold debates on the association agreements including the deep and comprehensive free trade area with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. This issue is listed in the agenda for the next plenary session of the EU legislative body, which will take place on January 18-21 in Strasbourg, France, the Ukrinform own correspondent in Brussels reports. Debates scheduled for Wednesday January 20 will be attended by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. The progress of political reforms in the framework of association agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, in particular in the fields of justice, anti-corruption and anti-discrimination, will be analyzed this week at the conference by the members of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs. The conference will be held on Thursday January14. On Monday January 18, the EU foreign ministers will also discuss the situation in Ukraine. Hungary is ready to provide medical treatment for another 20 Ukrainian soldiers injured in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Donbas. Deputy Head of State Secretary for Economic Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Zsolt Csutora, said at a meeting with Zakarpattia Regional Administration Hennadiy Moskal, the administration press service reports. As a reminder, this autumn at the initiative of Hungarys Defense Ministry 20 Ukrainian servicemen, injured in the combat actions in Donbas, have already undergone treatment in this country. And now Hungary again is ready to accept the same number of Ukrainians, reads a report. iy Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Personnel changes have occurred in the Kazakh Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund, which includes the largest companies of the country, the corporate communications department of the fund said Jan.13. Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund was created in accordance with the decree of the President of Kazakhstan in 2008 in order to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the national economy. The fund brings together almost all of Kazakh state-owned assets and manages these assets on behalf of the government. KazMunaiGas NC JSC, the railway operator - Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC, Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company JSC (KEGOC), Kazakhtelecom JSC telecommunications operator, National Atomic Company "Kazatomprom" JSC are among these assets. Changes in the fund have taken place within the framework of transition to a new organizational structure, which involves reducing the top management of the fund by half. In particular, within the framework of personnel changes, Baljeet Kaur Grewal, who previously worked as a senior advisor to the development program of the ADB national fund at various times, managing director and vice-chairman of the Kuwait Investment Authority & Kuwait Finance House, vice president in ABN AMRO Bank, Maybank Malaysia and Deutsche Bank, took the position of managing director of the fund. She will be in charge of strategy and portfolio investments of the Samruk-Kazyna. Elena Bakhmutova, who previously worked as deputy chairman of the fund, took the post of managing director of Samruk-Kazyna on finance and operations. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Azad Hasanli - Trend: The State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOFAZ) sold $ 200 million to 32 local banks through the auctions of the Central Bank Jan. 13, SOFAZ said Jan. 13. Thus, SOFAZ resumed selling of foreign currency in 2016. "The first auction, held by using a new mechanism - through regular auctions of the Central Bank, was held Jan. 13," the statement said. "SOFAZ will continue selling the currency through the auctions during a year." The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZ's transfers to the state budget of Azerbaijan, which are envisaged in the amount of six billion manat in 2016. SOFAZ was established in 1999 and its assets were equal to $271 million that period. As of October 1, 2015, SOFAZ assets reduced by 6.38 percent compared to early 2015 ($37.1 billion) and were estimated at $34.74 billion. Under SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems. The main goals of the State Oil Fund include: accumulation of resources and the placement of the fund's assets abroad in order to minimize the negative affect on the economy, the prevention of "Dutch disease" to some extent, promotion of resource accumulation for future generations and support of current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.12 By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend: Oil markets are gloomy and without any short-term perspective, Parviz Mina, who served as a member of OPEC Long-Term Strategy Committee, told Trend. Mina said Jan.12 that the only chance for supporting oil prices is to decline the OPEC production, but considering the acceleration of Iran-Saudi Arabia issue, it seems impossible that Riyadh decreases its output. OPEC oil basket price plunged to $27.07 on Jan.11. According to OPEC's official website, this figure is $11 less than Dec.4, when the member countries failed to agree on determining a new production ceiling. OPEC oil basket price was about $108 in first half of 2014, but has been decreasing due to glut in the markets. The current figure is the lowest price since early 2014. Mina said that the current oil price would remain at the current level, unless the current mild weather becomes colder during winter to boost energy demands or China's economy growth revives to push the oil prices $3-5 up, however no further price increase is expected. "Saudi Arabia has been traditionally the solo controller of oil prices in the last 30 years, cutting its production volume whenever the prices decrease. However, it doesn't want to lose its share in the markets anymore," Mina said. He believes that in mid-term, the glut in the oil markets will remain. According to a monthly OPEC report, released Dec.10, the total OPEC crude oil production in November rose by 0.23 million barrels per day (mb/d) to 31. 695 mb/d - about 1.7 mb/d more than the ceiling level. That is while, according to the report, the demand for the cartel's oil in 2015 is 2.1 mb/d less than the current level. Demand for OPEC's crude in 2015 is estimated to stand at 29.4 mb/d, an increase of 0.4 mb/d over last year, according to the report. The report said that in 2016, the demand for OPEC crude is forecasted at 30.8 mb/d, an increase of 1.5 mb/d over the current year. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: Saudi Arabia's privatization of Saudi Aramco state oil company will not have a serious impact on the pricing policy, Alexander Razuvayev, the economist, the director of the analytical department of the Russian Alpari company, said. Saudi Arabia will keep the control stock and adjust the prices for its profitability. "The prices will not fall to a record level of $10-15 per barrel," he said. "On the contrary, the prices can increase twofold-threefold by late 2016 compared to the current rates and reach up to $ 90 per barrel." Razuvayev doubted that an OPEC emergency meeting will save the situation. "OPEC is controlled by Saudi Arabia," he said. "I do not believe OPEC until a price war is underway." "The price war will be over when the US reduces the production and most of the US companies go bankrupt," he said. "Saudi Arabia is considering IPO Saudi Aramco's opportunity," Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the defense minister and the head of the economy and development council, said in an interview with the Economist. "The decision may be taken in the coming months." "By selling a share in the company, the government expects to partially cover the budget deficit, resulting from the fall in the world oil prices," Reuters said. Saudi Aramco is the world's largest oil producer. The company currently controls more than 10 percent of the world market. A new study suggests that melting icebergs may be helping in the slowdown of climate change, fighting against the very forces that cause them to melt, Huggington Post reports. The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. "It's another component of the climate change story," Grant R. Bigg, a professor in Earth systems science at the University of Sheffield and the author of the new study, told The Christian Science Monitor in an interview. "If giant icebergs hadn't existed, then the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would have gone up even more than it currently has. It's been something which has helped to slow down the rate of increase of carbon dioxide and therefore climate change." Researchers said that water from the icebergs that flows into the Antarctic Ocean contains iron and other nutrients that fertilize phytoplankton. The phytoplankton help the tiny plants absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as they grow into plumes. Therefore, it helps in maintaining the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Dr. Grant Bigg said, "Previous research had shown that there was a fertilizing effect from iceberg meltwater but no one had looked at the giant icebergs in a systematic way before. The extent, and strength, of the fertilized phytoplankton plume was the big surprise." For the study, Bigg and his colleagues studied 175 satellite images taken between the years 2003 and 2013 that depict ocean water and 17 large icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean. The researchers noted that the greenish color of the water indicated high levels of phytoplankton productivity. The phytoplankton plumes extended for hundreds of kilometers from the iceberg and persisted for almost a month after the iceberg passed by. The researchers concluded that this process might be responsible for around 20 percent of carbon stored in the Atlantic ocean. "The research is important as it has shown that there is more carbon stored in the Southern Ocean than previously calculated, which will have knock-on consequences for the global carbon budget," Bigg said. "It also demonstrates an unusual negative feedback on climate -- even if it is a secondary one and merely slowing climate change." However, scientists caution that this process cannot be interpreted to mean that it will save us from climate change. "I would hate for somebody to look at this and say, see it's a negative feedback, we can do whatever we want and it's not going to have an effect," Dr. Ronald Kaufmann, a marine and environmental scientist at the University of San Diegowho who was not involved in the study, told The Christian Science Monitor. "This is moving the needle back in the other direction, there's no question about that," he said. "But...I don't think this is going to offset the burning of coal, for example." A team of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, further plans to investigate how much excess carbon dioxide the Antarctic Ocean is able to absorb. A team of scientists detailed the remains of what is now the largest marine crocodile ever discovered, painting a terrifying picture of what the creature must have looked like. Published in the journal Cretaceous Research, the new study detailed a species called Machimosaurus rex, which grew to be more than 30 feet long and six thousand pounds heavy. Machimosaurus also bore a resemblance to how the creature looks today, except its snout was much more narrow. "This is a neat new discovery from a part of the world that hasn't been well-explored for fossils," Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh not involved in the study, told National Geographic. "It would likely have been something of an ambush predator, hanging around in shallow water hunting turtles and fishes and maybe waiting for some land animals to come a little too close to the shore." Machimosaurus was believed to have died out during a mass extinction between the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods some 150 million years ago. Discovered in the Sahara Desert, the remains suggest the Machimosaurus was alive after the supposed mass extinction event, suggesting the die off did not affect them, or was not so massive. "The fact that Machimosaurus rex (pertaining to a group that was well alive in the Jurassic) lived 130-120 million years ago indicate that there was no mass extinction," study lead author Federico Fanti, a paleontologist at the University of Bologna, told FoxNews.com. "Everyone thought this group of crocodiles went extinct in the Jurassic but we found it well into the Cretaceous. "We simply extended the temporal range of the animals. Twenty million years is a lot of time." As part of a mandatory Title IX course the University of Southern California required for registration, the school asked deeply personal questions about students' sexual history. Campus Reform first reported that the survey was for a mandatory program to educate students on the federal Title IX gender equity law. Though the sexual history questions were optional, many students complained that they were even included. "This course is mandatory, and you must complete it by February 9, 2016. If you do not complete the training by this date you will receive a registration hold until the training is complete," read a copy of an email USC sent to students obtained by Campus Reform. "We believe you'll enjoy the assignment, and that this training is in line with our shared belief that Trojans care for Trojans. It is an innovative, engaging, and informative online course, created with students for students." Numerous U.S. institutions have been placed under federal investigations for complaints that administrators neglect or mishandle sexual assault cases. As a result, both local and federal lawmakers have sought ways to prevent sexual assault on college campuses, as the crime is more prone to happen there than anywhere else. "It was just full of super personal questions," Jacob Ellenhorn, a student at USC, told Campus Reform. Campus Clarity developed the survey, which is used by various institutions, and later released a statement emphasizing the sexual history questions were not mandatory to answer. USC has since apologized anyway. "USC apologizes for any offense or discomfort caused by optional questions included as part of a mandatory on-line training for students on sexual consent, misconduct and other important issues," Todd Dickey, USC's senior vice president for administration, told The Washington Post in a statement. "All colleges and universities are required by law to provide such training, and our training was a standardized module being used by hundreds of colleges and universities across the country." I Agree This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Privacy Policy Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will maximally increase the gas supply to Georgia up to seven million cubic meters (mcm) per day, Mahir Mammadov, the head of SOCAR Energy Georgia, told the Georgian Rustavi 2 TV channel, Sputnik-Georgia reported. Following a meeting with the head of SOCAR in Tbilisi, Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said that daily consumption of gas in Georgia exceeded 11 mcm per day. At present, SOCAR supplies six mcm per day and it is impossible to get more via the existing pipeline. "We discussed the gas supply in winter and the technical means to cover the shortage of gas as gas consumption is rather increasing in winter," Mammadov said. "We will maximally increase the supply of gas up to seven million a day." "The company is looking for the ways to increase the volume of gas supplied to Georgia," he said. UTSA public administration alumna Amanda Onochie wants to strengthen society Amanda Onochie was part of the second graduating class of the UTSA Department of Administration's bachelor of public administration program Share this Story (Jan. 13, 2016) -- Meet Amanda Onochie '13. This UTSA alumna will be strengthening non-profit organizations in the Republic of Georgia as part of the Peace Corps. Onochie, a certified non-profit professional (CNP), will soon begin working as a non-governmental organization (NGO) advisor for Georgia's Individual and Organizational Development sector. As a member of UTSA's second graduating class to earn a bachelor's degree in public administration, she'll be putting all the skills she gained to good use. "In my role as an NGO advisor, I'll be advising non-profits on their community impact and helping build up the professional skills of their staff," Onochie said, adding that she's thrilled to be able to help non-profit organizations fulfill their goals. Onochie, a native of League City, Texas, enrolled at UTSA in 2009 as an architecture major in the College of Architecture, Construction and Planning. But the pull of a career in the non-profit sector brought her to the fledgling bachelor's of public administration program in the College of Public Policy. "I've always felt the pull of non-profit life, but I didn't know right away how to translate that into a career," she said. "But then I heard about the Bachelor of Public Administration program, and it was exactly what I was looking for." Growing up, Onochie always believed that serving and helping the public was her calling. While other 8-year-olds dreamed of being astronauts or princesses, she fantasized about creating a shelter that could teach trade skills to the homeless. At 13, she began studying homelessness and working to support her family. "I remember being eight years old and unknowingly thinking about non-profit organizations and how I could positively impact the world," she said. "I had a strong work ethic that I wanted to focus on helping others." Leading up to the beginning of her term with the Peace Corps later this year, Onochie will continue to work as a community health worker for the City of San Antonio's metropolitan health department, where shes worked for the last several years. In this role, she bridges communication between Westside San Antonio residents and agencies to address health needs in their communities. Before that, she helped City Year San Antonio lower the city's dropout rate. She received her CNP certification through the Non-Profit Leadership Alliance. "Through my time at UTSA and my work in the community, I really got a firm grasp in not just the theories of public administration but how they fit together and impact the community," she said, adding that the public administration degree has bolstered her competitiveness as a CNP. After Onochie's two terms with the Peace Corps are finished, she wants to pursue a master's degree in international peace and conflict resolution or sustainable development/sustainable advocacy, and perhaps one day join the U.S Foreign Service. Onochie credits the UTSA Department of Public Administration for providing her with the skills she needs to succeed in her career. "My time at UTSA served me well," she said. "The College of Public Policy is where I learned about the inner workings of non-profits, fundraising and grant writing. These are invaluable skills that I can take with me as I venture forth in my career." By Michelle Skidmore Senior Communications Specialist, College of Public Policy ------------------------------- Do you know a Roadrunner who is achieving great things? Email us at social@utsa.edu so that we may consider your suggestion for our next installment of Meet a Roadrunner. Connect online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and UTSA Today. MPs of the Majilis (lower chamber) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan at the plenary session have unanimously approved an appeal to President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on holding early parliamentary election, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported. On Jan.13, the MPs at a plenary session of the Majilis voiced an appeal to the president on the dissolution of the MPs of the Parliament's Majilis of the fifth convocation "in connection with the aggravated economic situation in the country." In accordance with the constitution, in case of early termination of powers of members of the Majilis, early election should be appointed no later than in two months' period. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: It does not worth expecting significant changes in the parliament of Kazakhstan in case of snap election, Nicolas de Pedro, Research Fellow at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs), said. The Kazakh MPs appealed to the president with an initiative to hold the early election. "I would either expect any meaningful change in the new parliament as it will be the same and in the hands of the Ak Orda," he told Trend. The expert said that the organized political opposition is rather small and marginal, but with social discontent growing, any election might open a potential window of opportunity for them. "But I would not expect big movements," he said. He said that taking into account that almost all electoral processes in Kazakhstan -both parliamentary and presidential ones- have been held ahead of schedule, this call for early parliamentary election comes as no surprise. "In fact, due to the worsening economic situation and gloomy prospects it was foreseeable to some extent," he said. "In spite of achieving always overwhelming victories -considerations about their fairness aside-, the Kazakh authorities tend to feel nervous with electoral processes," he said. "President Nazarbayev renovated mandate just one year ago. So this early election will clear the electoral panorama until the next decade and Astana will have -or at least is their expectation- freer hand to adopt measures that might be highly unpopular." The powers of the parliament of the current convocation will expire in late 2016. However, during the plenary session, the members of the Majilis (lower chamber) of the Kazakh parliament unanimously approved an appeal to the president about the snap parliamentary election in connection with the aggravated economic situation in the country. Later, Dauren Abayev, the spokesman for the president, said that the president will consider the MPs' initiative about self-dissolution. According to the constitution, in the case of early termination of the MPs' powers, snap election must be set no later than within two months. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Jan. 13 By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend: Majlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan has ratified an agreement with the government of Finland for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income during the regular meeting, the Turkmen government said Jan.13. Turkmenistan believes that namely innovations ensured Finland's competitiveness at international level. The message of the State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan said that the experience of Finland, which shows the highest results among the states, where international studies to assess the quality of students' achievements were held, was studied during transition of Turkmen secondary schools to twelve-year education system. Tehran, Iran, Jan. 11 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Tehran has held talks with three international credit insurance companies, including Sace, to cooperate in the country after the removal of international sanctions, said an Iranian official. "I hope the issues regarding the credit insurance companies will be settled out prior to President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Italy and France," Tasnim news agency quoted Abdolrasoul Dori Esfahani, Iranian financial official and a member of nuclear negotiation team, as saying Jan. 11. Following Paris deadly attacks in November, President Rouhani postponed his planned visit to Italy and France, which was supposed to be his first Europe trip as Iranian president since he assumed office in 2013. Esfahani further mentioned that Iran's Central Bank has made efforts to establish correspondent banking relations with international banks over the past three months. He also pointed to the currency fluctuation in the country and speculated that the US dollar rate against Iran's rial will fall after the removal of sanctions. Iran expects international sanctions to be lifted in early 2016, as it is adhering to the terms of a July nuclear deal clinched between Tehran and the world's six major powers. The environmental agency of China under its Environment Protection Ministry has mobilized more than 500 people alongside the border for radiation. China's bid to detect signs of nuclear test allegedly conducted by North Korea on Wednesday. The Environmental Protection Ministry's real-time automatic monitoring on atmospheric radiation shows normal rate of gamma radiation. The tests are continuous and updates on the results will be made public, reports NK News quoting Hua Chunying, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, speaking at a press conference. According to the Ministry statement, of the 500 people, 350 are from the North Korea border region. The monitoring is being conducted in 37 fixed monitoring stations and 14 mobile points. The ministry has tested air, soil and snow samples and will continue to test and maintain their current emergency response mechanism, reports The Economic Times. However, the ministry has already ruled out any possibility of radiation impact on China. But residents close to the border have expressed their concerns about the environmental effect of the test, reports GMA News quoting Reuters. Both Russia and the ROK have also been reported to monitor radiation levels while the U.S. has dispatched two 'sniffer' planes to try and collect samples. North Korea on January 06 has announced on successful testing of a hydrogen bomb. Thermonuclear devices are much more powerful than their atomic predecessors and release different ratios of radioactive elements. But none has so far reported to detect any such symptom. North Korea's test on Wednesday has angered both the United States and China. However, the US government and weapons experts both have expressed doubt over North Korea's claim for testing a hydrogen bomb. Historically, the socially democratic China backs economic and diplomatic missions of the socialist North Korea. In recent days, China not only has expressed anger over North Korea's nuke bid but also signed up for tough United Nations sanctions on North Korea. The socialists' nuke program may destabilize neighborhoods and instigate US to send weapons and forces to the region, fears China. However, many Chinese experts fear, pulling China's support back for the socialist neighbor will destabilize the country. This may compel China to witness a flood of refugees from the destabilized neighboring country. North Korea has been reported to successfully test hydrogen bombs on Wednesday, January 06. Some border adjacent Chinese has expressed their concern about potential radiation hazards. China's Environment Protection Ministry is conducting radiation test continuously over 500 bordering people, but nothing has been reported to detect yet. However, Pyongyang's move has angered US and China since the move may destabilize regional harmony. Earlier generations preferred to own property, But majority of millennials are going for rented accommodation. Buying a house or a flat in London property market has become more expensive for average salaried people. Since majority of millennials prefer rented accommodation, the demand is increasing the rentals. Rents in London are soaring over eight percent. The majority of millennials are turned out to be 'Generation Rent' as they prefer rented accommodation over buying a house. For many people in the age bracket of 25-35, the prospects of buying a house or flat have become a daunting task and very expensive these days. The affordability and comfort are the prime reasons for choosing rented accommodation for millennials. Over 40 percent of millennials choose rented accommodation, while some opine that paying rent is dead money, according to Aspen Woolf. Millennials, who're short on time and money, naturally go for rented accommodation. Majority of millennials prefer to be tenants as it gives them freedom from several maintenance problems. Tenants have opportunity to call the owners for fixing problems related to maintenance works such as blocked toilets, faulty boilers and washing machines. According to HomeLet, there's increasing pressure on the UK housing sector. HomeLet executes 350,000 tenancy checks every year for landlords. HomeLet says despite 140 million fund support from the British government sanctioned by David Cameron, the pressure seems to be continuing. The fund is aimed at replacing sink estates to enhance more accommodation in cities such as London and Brighton. About 30 percent of housing in Brighton is in the hands of private sector. Rents in the UK rose 4.9 percent on an average in 2015. Brighton became the second city to witness rents surpassing 1,000 a month. Nationally, the UK rents rose about five percent in 2015 yielding an average rent of 739 per month. Rents in London rose eight percent to 1,596 a month, as per a report by The Guardian. The outskirts on the cities are witnessing surge in rentals for the first time in several years. However, some flats are coming at a bargain, but with unconventional features. Some landlords are making three rooms within a room by cramming all features within the space. A small kitchen platform and shower are arranged just beside the bed and offering it for rent. A recent online advertisement for a studio flat mentions that rent is just 95 a week. In general, it looks better rent option for a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. But in reality, it's one-third of a space in a room. The online advertisement for room rent specifically reads a spacious single studio with kitchenette and own shower, pine furniture and double bed. But, the owner conveniently made a single room into three separate spaces, according to a report published in Independent. Millennials also find it easier to move around in the city regardless of any timing or responsibility. Tenants are effectively free birds to come and go whatever part of the city appeals them more. They can change the postcodes at the drop of a hat. More particularly the prime locations in London, rented accommodation is the only option available for millennials. Some of the millennials feel buying a house is like having mortgage weight around their neck. Some feel unsure of the locality where property is located, so they don't feel buying a house or flat in that location. China's current economic slowdown is worrying much of the world. It's due, in part, to how the country is having difficulty transitioning between a manufacturing fueled economy to a consumer lead one. The question has become how China can do so without negatively affecting its international partnerships. Currently, the main approach for China is to encourage its citizens to change from spending to saving and in the meantime somehow take up the difference by creating more debt for itself. Their old growth model had run its course and the citizens in the big cities working at the factories now have to make money that they'd be compelled to spend it on things beyond the necessities. The United Liberty blog recommended a "Reaganesque Recipe" to help China's economy. They supported President Xi's willingness to adopt a supply-side reform. If China follows through on its reforms then, "...it will simply be a matter of time before living standards reach - and exceed - levels found in western nations." At the same time China's currency, the yuan is falling faster than normal. As more of China's rich are moving their money out of the country, the price for the yuan fell and to stabilize its value, the central banks have been buying the yuan with the three trillion US dollars its saved. The Washington Post felt that China's logic in buying their own currency was a big mistake. If the country lets the value of the yuan fall as far as the market dictated then it would eventually get to the point where investors would expect the value to rise and then would want to start buying the currency once it was deemed undervalued and, therefore, a smart investment. This alternative solution to the currency problem has its own share of drawbacks as well. Even though China would be able to save its USD, the decrease in the value of the yuan would cause a trade conflict with the US and other countries that would use the yuan as a way to subsidize exports. The International Business Times recommended an approach that is a kind of middle ground between China's current solution and the one recommended by the Washington Post. They said to let the currency fall by a significant amount and then eventually fix the exchange rate so that it won't fall any further. This daily fixing would signal to markets confidence in the country because it has $3.3 trillion in reserves and, therefore, can support its actions. The solutions described here are not complete - there is much more to the problem than just fixing the currency value or implementing supply-side reform. However, it's through more discussion and solid resolve in whatever solutions they settle on that China can find a way to fix their slowing economy. Tehran, Iran, January 12 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: There are eight factors that hamper the export of goods from Iran to Russia, Deputy Chairman of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber Qadir Ghiafeh said. Speaking at a conference on Iran-Russia trade obstacles, he said the major problem is high tariffs charged by Russia, Fars news agency reported January 12. Among other problems he named lack of insurance for market risks as well as transportation infrastructure. Lack of export strategy both with enterprises and the government is another problem, he said. Iran has problems with marketing in Russia as well, Ghiafeh stated, adding prices of Iranian-made goods cannot compete in the Russian market. He concluded that there is a high wall of mistrust between Iranian and Russian tradesmen which hampers bilateral trade as well. Russia's annual import is close to $300 billion. Iran shares less than one percent of it. Iran exported $151 million worth of products to Russia between March and October last year. About $80 million of the amount fell to the share of agricultural products. In other words, agricultural products account for more than half of the value of exports from Iran to Russia. On the same day, CEO of Iran Trade Development Bank Ali Salehabadi said the bank has opened a line of credit worth 20 million for exports to Russia. "We are in talks to turn the line into 300 million," he stated. The year 2016 may be challenging for Britain's factories as the easing confidence and risks are outweighing opportunities, according to a new research. The manufacturing companies will have to contend with the ongoing global economic hangover this year too, forecasts an industry body. Majority of UK-based manufacturing companies were suspecting challenging situation in the days to come in the survey. Two out of the five among 286 companies that participated in the survey agreed that there would be risks in the business. Many larger manufacturing firms are pessimistic about the business prospects in 2016. According to a report by Express, many manufacturing firms are planning for growth, while they're anticipating similar challenges faced in 2015. Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the former Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF), which carried out the study, said: "The gloom that took the shine off manufacturing performance in 2015 is set to continue into 2016." However, manufacturing firms in the UK are prioritizing their investment. They're keener on technology and innovation. UK manufacturing firms are also exploring new export markets to sustain their production levels. The annual executive survey by manufacturers' organization EEF and financial group Aldermore, manufacturers expect 2016 to be a year of tough decisions and more prominent risks, as reported by Liverpool Echo. Faltering confidence may continue through 2016 and opportunities are outweighed by risks. About 23 percent of companies participated in the survey see more opportunity than risk, while 44 percent of companies see more risks. Despite tough conditions predicted for 2016, the UK manufacturing industry is investing in technology and innovation, while exploring exports markets, indicated the survey. Restructuring and cost control are top priorities of the UK manufacturing companies. The survey has also referred the warning from Chancellor George Osborne about a "dangerous cock tail of economic risks" chimed with concerns reported by manufacturers. Experts term the latest survey as a new wake-up call to the British government. The Telegraph has reported that worldwide economic risks threatening the UK manufacturing industry. One-third of UK manufacturing sector are going for the across the board cuts. 34 percent of the UK companies have taken up restructuring their operations and trimming headcount further. Scuoler further added: "With worries extending to the competitiveness of the UK business environment, this is a wake-up call and I would urge the Government to continue to work pro-actively with industry to mitigate risks and boost opportunities for our sector." The UK's economic recovery seems to be in more challenging situation. In 2013-14, Britain was the fastest growing economy among the G-7 nations. Spanish Princess Cristina de Borbon and her husband's long awaited tax-fraud trial opened Monday, leading to embarrassments to the monarchy of the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, historians claim that this is the first time in history that a Spanish monarch has ever been tried. This is all happening amid King Felipe VI's strong efforts to rebuild the monarchy in the country and increase its influence over the nation's politics. The 50-year-old sibling of the King faces up to eight years imprisonment if she gets convicted on the two counts of tax fraud charged against her. Meanwhile, her 47-year-old husband, Inaki Urdangarin, could be facing up to 19 years of jail time as he faces more charges, including money laundering, embezzlement of public funds, influence peddling, and falsifying private contracts. According to Yahoo News, The royal couple are tried with 18 other suspects at the island of Mallorca. Public prosecutors have avoided filing charges against the Kings sister, but Spanish law private entities can charge her with criminal complaints, which is what the anti-graft advocates, "Manos Limpias" (Clean Hands) did. The privately owned anti-corruption organization filed the charges against the princess using the "people's accusation." Meanwhile, Reuters reported that one of the judges announced that the court would decide whether to drop the charges on February 9. Corruption in the nation has increase, with a series of graft cases that includes the former International Monetary Fund head Rodrigo Rato, other bankers, and members of major political parties. This controversy has pressured Spain's legal system to impose tougher actions against those involved. The King stripped off Cristina de Borbon's title last year, in an attempt to distance himself from her. According to analysts, the trial against the princess and her husband will enrage people and further destroy the image of monarchy in the country, which is currently facing political instability. The Kami-Shirataki train station in Japan was supposed to close three years ago, but the Hokkaido Railway Company kept it open for an unnamed high school student, since "serving is their business not only earning." The train station was supposed to close down due to its remote location, according to BT. However, when the company found out that there is still one passenger who uses the stop to go to school and back, it continued its train operations in that area. The train will soon close down for good as the student is about to graduate March 26, 2016. Hokkaido Railway Company has received a lot of praise for doing this noble deed. One particular commendation comes from a Facebook comment by Gabriel B. Peren, who said, "To JR [Japan Railways] it is just a few seconds of stop over and giving shelter but it means a lot to this girl. Serving is their business not only earning." "Why should I not want to die for a country like this, when the government is ready to go an extra mile just for me", a person commented on the viral CCTV Facebook post about the train station as reported by Telegraph UK. "This is the meaning of good governance penetrating right to the grassroot level." The poster added "Every citizen matters. No child left behind!" However, according to Rocket News 24, there are certain inaccuracies to the story. The train is in Shirataki Station, and not the Kami-Shirataki Station as widely reported. The original copy of the story from the Sahi Shimbun on January 7, 2015 is posted in the bulletin board found in the rural station in Hokkaido. It says that the high school girl Kana Harada rides the Shirataki Station. The Japan Rail Hokkaido announced earlier that it plans to close down lesser-used stations, which includes the Kami-Shirataki Station, which is perhaps why it was mistaken as the train station that the student boards. Netflix recently launched in Asia but it immediately faces tough competition as Hong Kong's largest telecommunications company, PCCW, provides the latest Korean dramas through its new Viu streaming service, which is pronounced as view. Hack Busters has reported that the new streaming service will deliver the latest Korean dramas and a host of various programs eight hours after they are shown on TV. Viewers can choose to watch the shows with Chinese or English subtitles. Audiences can access Viu content using their phones, tablets, and even on their PCs. Viewers can even choose to download the shows. "We've done a survey of online users in Asia," said Viu managing director Janice Lee in a report by Telecompaper. "Out of that actually, anywhere from 50 to 80 percent watch Korean dramas. In Singapore, it's over 50 percent." She added, "Korean content travels very well across the Asian market. We're planning on adding Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese content, and PCCW also produces our own content and we'll definitely be bringing it to Viu as well." CNET wrote that the increasing internet speeds all over the world allows companies like PCCW stream high quality videos for more and more people to enjoy. One of the major company that takes advantage of this internet speed development is Netflix, which recently announced at the CES 2016 that it will expand to 130 more countries, from the 60 that it already operates in. Viu offers the streaming services on a freemium model, but the company is planning to launch a premium service for customers that takes away advertisements. The company hasn't announced an official date on when this will happen yet. The Viu streaming service is currently available in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. It plans to expand to India and Indonesia before the end of the first quarter this year. Search engine major Google is gearing up for more partnerships to speed up its self-driving car project. Alphabet's Google wants to implement the project in association with automobile manufacturers and suppliers. The Google self-driving cars assembled in 2015 are being tested on city roads and highways. However, John Krafcik, president ofGoogle self-driving car project, didn't name the automakers and suppliers. Krafcik is the newly hired President for the self-driving project. Krafcik was at the Detroit auto show and said to auto industry executives: "We hope to work with many you guys." According to a report by Yahoo NEWS, Google had worked with automotive suppliers and contract manufacturers on small fleet of prototype self-driving cars. Krafcik further added: "No one goes this alone. We're going to be partnering more and more and more." He hopes to forge small alliances in 2016. Google is hoping that self-driving cars would be useful for 40 million American senior citizens. Roush Enterprises in 2015 assembled about 100 Google cars. These assembled Google cars are being tested on city roads and highways mostly Mountain View, California and Austin. Continental, Bosch and LG Electronics have extended their technology support to these assembled Google cars. Google wants to be associated with many manufacturers and suppliers as it involves so many parts and partners for making a self-driving car. "It takes many parts and partners to make a self-driving car. You can't do it alone," said Krafcik as reported by Detroit Free Press. Google would develop the software for the self-driving cars, while Ford will take care of manufacturing the vehicles and system needed for automotive parts. Ford's Executive Chairman Bill Ford will pivot the company to avoid being disrupted by self-driving technology. Uber technologies Inc is gaining the popularity across the world. People find on-demand transportation services are very useful and this is lessening desire to have own car. According to a report by Silicon ANGLE, the partnership proposal on Google and Ford is still on table. The market rumors state that Ford and Google may launch a joint venture for autonomous driving sector and this would be confirmed at CES show in Las Vegas. But it was not announced as expected. However, both the companies are still working on several modalities. Self-driving cars are small, light pod cars that were put up at Detroit auto show looked nothing like the sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pickups. Google's self-driving car project earlier raised eyebrows of many. But, Google is going ahead with its project. Delphi Automotive, Continental AG and Mobileye NV are jockeying to define and led development of vehicles with machine vision. General Motors, Tesla Motors, Daimler AG and Nissan companies are also involved in developing high tech cars that allow hands-free driving under certain conditions. These vehicles do require driver to steer the vehicle in complex situations in city driving. China's General Administration of Customs on Wednesday announced the nation's trade data. China shows a trade surplus in 2015 as export raise 2.3% from the previous month and less import. The positive result in the report has been able to lift currency and stock market. According to Reuters, Chinese export sharply outperformed exports from neighboring countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, analysts noted. Import in December fell 7.6%, recording a 14 consecutive month of reduction, but the declining of import is not as sharp as predicted. One possible reasons are factories in China stocking up materials as the global commodity prices continue to fall, such as crude oil, iron ore and copper and others. Some analysts told Bloomberg that the data shows economic recovery of China is expected to happen soon. "Despite market turmoil, the growth recovery is on track thanks to previous easing measures taking effect," said Daili Wang, economist at Roubini Global Economics LLC. but he said, "The recovery is still fragile." Ding Shuang, chief China economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong said, "This could be the beginning of an improvement in China's trade data." He also added, "When the exchange rate starts to move it usually takes about three to six months for trade data to respond. Last August was the beginning, so it makes sense for the trade data to respond after three to four months." The positive report has lifted MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.8 percent and strengthening yuan in Hong Kong's offshore market, where it was headed for the biggest five-day advance on record. Bloomberg also reported that Australian dollar, Chinese stocks and S&P 500 Index futures climbed after the report. The increasing export has booked a $60.09 billion trade surplus for China in December, adding annual trade profit to more $594.5 billion. However some strategic analysts have main concern of overlooking the current data, because there might be changes. Derek Scissors, resident scholar at American Enterprise Institute, told CNBC on Wednesday, "There's a lot of invoicing that changes in December as companies clean up their books. I just think you don't want to over interpret December numbers." China will announce key full-year gross domestic product (GDP) data next week. Preliminary data from China's General Administration of Customs might have indicated a positive result. China's government targeted the economy to grow at around 7% in 2015. A modest target as the country's economy is experiencing slowdown due to weak demand and industrial overcapacity in the second-largest economy of the world. A trade surplus for China's economy have given a breeze of hope in the world economic slowdown throughout 2015, as market reacted positively to the report. Didi Kuaidi on Tuesday announced that it allows developers to develop third party app to access the service by releasing its SDK (software development kit). Previously, in December, the company announced that it has achieved 1.43 billion rides, surpassing Uber. Venture Beat reported that the company rolled out a public SDK (software development kit) that enables third-party apps to bake in the ability to hail a Didi ride from within their own apps. Didi Kuadi is the undisputed market leader in China ride hailing service. The Beijing-based company has operated in more than 300 cities in China. In Beijing, Didi Kuaidi handles more than 1 million request every day. Signalling a huge market for ride hailing service in China and Didi Kuaidi has its operated in more than 300 cities in China, with millions of requests daily. Didi Kuaidi was established in 2015 as a merger between two ride hailing giants in China, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache. The two ride hailing service companies decided to merge in February 2015 to hinder Uber expansion in China, thus protecting the local market. Last year, Uber created a global partnership with American's Lyft, Singaporean's GrabTaxi and Indian's Ola ride hailing services to expand the market. Prior to releasing its SDK, Didi Kuaidi has allowed third party application from its selected partner to access the service. According to TechCrunch, there are 30 apps accessing its service including chat app WeChat, Alibaba's Alipay, Tencent Map and others. The most active one to access Didi Kuadi service is WeChat, the largest messaging app in China with over 500 million active users. WeChat has included a feature to allow its users booking Didi car from the messenger. Although similar to Uber and Facebook Messenger in U.S., but Didi has a larger market in China, which will grow even bigger with the new breakthrough of releasing its SDK. Didi Kuadi has reported that it reached the milestone of more than 1 billion ride in 2015, a number that Uber took six years to achieve. ZDNet reported curently Didi Kuaidi has 87.2% of China's private-car hailing market, processing 7 million rides per day in 360 cities in China. The number has not included other services the company provides for bus, transit and traditional taxi. Didi CEO and founder Cheng Wei said, "Didi believes that the mobile transportation market will continue to experience robust growth as market structure stabilises and the idea of sharing economy gains further recognition in China," Now, Didi Kuaidi is expecting a bigger market to open as many applications will be able to access its service. This will increase the company value, which is now already at $16.5 billion market value. The United Nations (UN) says another $500-million fund is required for the education programs for Syrian children. This is in addition to the $250 million (173 million) funding support UN received from donors. The UN requires additional funds to educate over a million Syrian refugee children. The funds requirement is on urgency basis as it's needed for education expenditure this year. UN requires another round of $500 million (346 million) for funding education programs for Syrian children in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Gordon Brown, the former UK Prime Minister and UN envoy for global education, has announced the requirement of additional funds. Brown is committed to raise the funds in next month. According to a report by Independent, the number of child marriages among Syrian children is alarmingly increasing. Brown said that one in three boys and girls became child laborers. In a statement from UN, Brown said: "Death voyages to Europe will soar this year as long as Syria's six million displaced children and two million refugee children are exploited and denied any opportunity within the region." Lebanon has introduced two shifts for classes in schools. This has been running successfully for Syrian children education. These two-shift classes are benefiting over 200,000 refugee children. Lebanese children go to schools in morning, while refugee youngsters attend classes afternoon and evenings. The organization Girls Not Brides has expressed its concerns over the increasing rate of child marriages among Syrian children from 12 percent to 26 percent. Brown has pledged to raise the required money at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos and at an international pledging conference for Syria in London, which is scheduled on 4 February, among other venues, as reported by ABC NEWS. Brown further added: "And by next year every single child refugee would be offered a place in school whether they are in Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey." Brown has set a target of doubling the number of Syrian refugee children from 200,000 now in Turkey. About 130,000 Syrian children are attending classes in Jordan and this will be over 200,000 in next few months and will touch one million in 2016, as per the target of Brown, according to AP. Expressing concerns over the increasing rate of child marriage rate and child laborers among Syrian children, Brown said: "It's urgent that we provide them education and avoid this exploitation and give these children hope for the future." Brown spoke at a news conference by audio link from Europe. By Michelle Singletar WASHINGTON Four more down, so many more to go. The Federal Trade Commission recently smacked down four debt-collection outfits and their affiliates that the agency said engaged in abusive practices. This latest round of action is part of a federal, state and local effort around the country to target deceptive debt collectors. I've personally been on the other end of a telephone call with a collector trying to bully me into paying a debt I didn't owe. The person was attempting to collect some medical payment that he claimed was owed by my deceased brother. As I recall, he first tried to make me feel guilty, arguing it was my moral obligation to pay for my brother's debts. When I didn't fall for that ploy, he became belligerent. I hadn't co-signed on any debt for my brother, so I knew I was under no obligation to pay. The shame of it is that many people would feel guilty or think they were obligated and would fall for something like this. Here are some of the tactics the companies involved in the recent FTC cases were alleged to have used: n One collection operation, doing business under a number of names, demanded payment from consumers for payday loans and other debts even though the companies couldn't prove that the people owed the money. Employees even pretended to be law enforcement officials, according to the FTC. The agency said the ill-gotten gains in this case came to $4 million. n Another group of affiliated companies also had debt collectors impersonate law enforcement and threatened to arrest people. Employees also pretended to be "process servers" and told folks they would be sued and theirs wages garnished. The companies have agreed to a federal court order that bans them from debt-collection activities and imposes a judgment of $2.2 million, which the court said represents the companies' debt-collection revenue. n Another company sent people letters or postcards that were designed to look like they had come from a municipal court. The correspondence contained intimidating language such as "Warrant for Your Arrest," "Final Notice Before Arrest" and "Pay Your Fine Now Avoid Going to Jail." Other recipients were told their vehicles could be impounded, or that they wouldn't be able to renew their driver's license. An order imposed a nearly $200,000 judgment, but it was suspended due to an inability to pay. n A separate debt-collection outfit tried to collect payday loans that weren't owed. People working for this company were prolific in their pretending, according to the FTC. They claimed to be affiliated with a law firm, with a government fraud task force, and with other federal and state agencies. The collectors had gotten access to information about people who had merely inquired online about payday loans. The company was found to have violated federal law by telling consumers' family members, employers and co-workers about the purported debt. Debt collectors can try and locate you, but they are generally not allowed to discuss your debts with other people. People working for the company used profanity and didn't provide information in writing about the debt, according to the FTC. In all, this debt collector was ordered to pay more than $4.4 million for using deception and threats to collect on the phantom payday loans. Under the settlements they all agreed to, the four companies neither admit to nor deny any of the allegations, a spokesman for the FTC said. These cases bring to 130 the number of actions the FTC has taken over the past year in an enforcement initiative called "Operation Collection Protection." Even if you owe money, you have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You have a right not to be lied to or abused. The debt collector has to tell you how much you owe and the name of the creditor. You also have a right to dispute the debt. Find out more information about your rights at www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection. To help inform consumers, the FTC is releasing a series of videos with personal testimonies of people's encounters with fraud. The first one deals with debt collection. The first video, "Fraud Affects Every Community: Debt Collection," can be found at ftc.gov. It features Bryan Noyes, a veteran from Maine, who got help in fighting a collection action over a debt he didn't owe. The next video will feature government impostors and be in Spanish with subtitles. Definitely don't ignore a debt-collection action, but don't let anyone intimidate you either. Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her email address is michelle.singletary@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter (@SingletaryM) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/MichelleSingletary). Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated. SHARE By Kim Lamb Gregory A registered nurse is facing felony charges in connection with Botox injections she gave clients at a spa she co-owns in Camarillo, officials said. Tamara Foley, 44, of Camarillo is charged with felony unlawful practice of medicine, authorities said. She was arrested May 9 at the Posh Hair & Skin Studio in Camarillo, which she co-owns with Ventura obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Terry Cole. Foley is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Ventura County Superior Court. "She is a registered nurse and registered nurses are permitted to administer Botox, but there needs to be a physician consultation ahead of time, and that was lacking," said Erin Meister, a Ventura County deputy district attorney. Foley's attorney, Richard Moss of Pasadena, said his client was acting in good faith. "Dr. Cole is the majority owner" of the salon, Moss said. "It's my understanding there were protocols or standing orders in place under which Dr. Cole authorized Tamara to conduct the assessments or the good faith examinations that preceded the administering of Botox." Cole's office manager said the doctor declined to comment. According to the district attorney's office, the California State Medical Board has submitted a case against Cole for review, but no decision has been made and no charges have been filed against the doctor. Moss said Posh Hair & Skin Studio, whose services include hairstyling, manicures, pedicures, waxing, facials and Botox injections, is a professional medical corporation as defined by state law. An increasing number of "medi-spas" are springing up across the nation under the supervision of physicians who may or may not be plastic surgeons or dermatologists, offering cosmetic procedures such as Botox, fillers and laser resurfacing. The physician performs or supervises the procedures or is on the premises. "The medical board has taken the position that it (doctor supervision) is required, and we're not convinced it is required and we are searching for an expert of our own to render a contrary opinion," Moss said. "Were not talking about whether it's authorized, but whether it constitutes an unlicensed practice of medicine if an RN is doing it under the direction of a medical doctor in good faith." Asked what constitutes "supervision from a physician," state Department of Consumer Affairs spokesman Russ Heimerich said, "That's the $21 million question." The nursing and medical boards fall under the Department of Consumer Affairs umbrella. "What it's been taken to mean so far is that if a physician has standing orders or has confidence in the nurse and has done the medical exam to do the procedure, the physician doesn't have to be present," Heimerich said. But the physician needs to have examined the patient first and prescribe the procedure, Heimerich said. In April 2009, the medical board warned doctors it was illegal to become partners in a medi-spa unless the doctor took responsibility for patients. The board then hired five investigators whose duties included responding to complaints involving medical spas. One such investigator went undercover at Posh following an anonymous complaint, authorities said. According to the district attorney's office, Foley agreed to give Botox to the investigator without getting proper supervision and was arrested in the salon on May 9. She is currently out on $10,000 bail, which she posted May 9. If found guilty of practicing medicine without a license, she faces jail or prison time, although prosecutor Meister said she doubts it will come to that because Foley has no criminal record. If Foley is found guilty, Meister thinks she might just be asked to pay a fine and perform community service. "The bigger concern would be putting nurses on notice that these rules need to be followed before administering Botox to the community," Meister said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the US to apologize for "trespassing" its waters, an Iranian military official said. "[US Secretary of State John] Kerry called Zarif requesting Iran to release the detained sailors. Zarif took a strong stance, saying that the sailors were in Iran's waters. Therefore the US must apologize," Fars news agency quoted the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi as saying Jan 13. According to Fars, Kerry and Zarif held a phone conversation following the seizure of two American boats as well as 10 sailors onboard by the IRGC. Fadavi further added that the IRGC's naval forces will decide on the faith of the sailors as soon as the IRGC's top hierarchy gives an order. Iranian armed forces, including IRGC, report directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although several sources have reported that the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly, IRGC spokesperson Brig Gen Ramezan Sharif said reports about releasing the sailors are just speculations and the sailors will be interrogated. The IRGC Navy's Public Relations Department, in a statement released on Jan. 13, declared that the US navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf illegally, the official news portal of the IRGC reported. The arrested US sailors including one woman are "safe" and are being held in an "appropriate" place, the IRGC announced. Earlier, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the US military lost contact with two small US boats en route from Kuwait to Bahrain, confirming that the 10 sailors on the boats were in Iranian custody. Star file photo SHARE By Tony Biasotti Special To The Star The Fillmore City Council on Tuesday became the latest city in Ventura County to ban the sale and cultivation of medical marijuana. A set of state laws passed last year establish, for the first time, a full system of regulations for growing and selling medical marijuana. Those laws allow cities and counties to pass their own regulations by March 1, or the state will oversee medical marijuana in their jurisdictions. There has been talk in Sacramento of moving or eliminating that March 1 deadline, but it remains in effect for now, and most cities have taken it as a firm deadline to pass their own regulations. In Ventura County, many cities, as well as the county Board of Supervisors, have banned dispensaries and commercial cultivation. Some, like Fillmore, have gone further and also banned small-scale, personal cultivation. Possession and use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation remains legal, and cities do not have the authority to ban it. The Fillmore City Council approved its ban by a 5-0 vote on Tuesday, with little debate or discussion. It is mostly the same as a ban on dispensaries the council passed in 2014, except that it also bans small-scale growing. That means medical marijuana users in Fillmore would have to drive to a licensed dispensary to legally buy marijuana. The closest dispensaries are in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. "You can't cultivate it in the city and you can't distribute it," City Councilman Douglas Tucker said. "If you're a card-carrying user, you can purchase it at the appropriate place." A medical marijuana user who can't drive to a legal dispensary can have a caregiver deliver their marijuana for them, City Attorney Tiffany Israel said after the council meeting. Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana in 1996, allows patients to grow up to six mature cannabis plants or 12 immature plants at home. For years, that meant anyone in California with a doctor's recommendation could grow their own marijuana, even if they lived in a city or county that outlawed commercial dispensaries. But in 2014, the city of Fresno passed a ban on growing any amount of medical marijuana. Last year, it was upheld by a state appeals court, so other cities have followed suit. Bans like the one passed in Fillmore are part of city zoning codes, not criminal statutes. People who violate them aren't arrested. Instead, as with any zoning violation, the city can order the grower to correct the violation by removing the plants. If the grower refuses, the city can issue fines. STAR FILE PHOTO Fishermans Wharf is located at Channel Islands Boulevard and Victoria Avenue in Oxnard. SHARE By Staff Reports A development group is scheduled to present its plan for rehabilitating Fisherman's Wharf at Channel Islands Harbor at a community meeting Saturday. Channel Islands Harbor Properties' proposal calls for 25,000 square feet of commercial and retail space along with a child-oriented public park and 375 apartments that would be built south of the existing Cape Cod-style wharf shops. The property sits in a highly visible corner at Channel Islands Boulevard and Victoria Avenue in Oxnard, next to Naval Base Ventura County. The public meeting is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. at Hollywood Beach School, 4000 Sunset Lane, Oxnard. The event is sponsored by two groups of area residents, the Channel Islands Community Association and the Oxnard Shores Neighborhood Council. Late last year, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors OK'd a lease-option agreement for the project. That gives the developer up to five years to secure all required financing, permits, insurance and bonds to begin construction. The board also OK'd a ground lease of up to 65 years if all conditions are met. Numerous public meetings and reviews by government agencies are required before the project can be built. Oxnard City Hall's 300 W. Third St. location. SHARE By Staff Reports Oxnard's annual financial audit has been delayed a second time after the city's new auditing firm uncovered more problems. The auditors, Eadie and Payne LLP, now say they will need until at least March 31 to finish the Comprehensive Financial Annual Report. The document is particularly significant for Oxnard at this time. That's because unions for firefighters, police and other labor groups involved in difficult negotiations are relying on it to provide an accurate picture of the city's financial position. The CAFR, as it is known, was originally slated for December release. But auditors in September immediately uncovered numerous problems and said they needed until February. Now, the date has been pushed back again. "We have identified additional issues that will negatively impact the general fund balance," the audit firm said in a statement released by the city. City Manager Greg Nyhoff said in a statement he was frustrated, "but the integrity of this audit is paramount to getting our fiscal health in order. My expectation is this extra time will ensure we get it right." Auditors will be discussing their latest findings at a Fiscal Policy Task Force meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the first-floor activity room of 300 W. Third St. File photo SHARE By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star A workshop will be held Thursday in Oxnard to brief citrus growers, pest-control advisers and others about a spraying program set to begin Jan. 31 to help kill an insect that carries a bacteria deadly to citrus trees. The Asian citrus psyllid has been in California for five years now, said J.P. Michaud, an entomologist at an agricultural research station managed by Kansas State University. The small insect carries a tree-killing bacteria that causes huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, for which there is no cure. The disease has caused an estimated $1.3 billion in losses to Florida's citrus industry. Ventura County and California state officials are concerned the disease could lead to similar losses here. The state's citrus industry generates about $1.8 billion annually. The insect has "large and permanent populations established in every community and citrus production area" in Ventura County, according to county agriculture officials. Starting this winter, the entire county is being included as part of a management program to halt the spread of the insect. The workshop on the spraying program will run from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday at the Courtyard by Marriott, 600 E. Esplanade Drive in Oxnard. Admission is free. County officials estimate 25,000 acres of citrus trees will be treated for the insect. The spraying program will run through May 29, according to the county. A second spraying operation is scheduled for the fall. Some oppose the use of insecticides to combat the pest, including Transition to Organics. The Ojai group advocates organic farming methods. Patty Pagaling, a group leader, said during an October meeting with citrus growers in Ojai that the materials in the spray are very toxic, including to bees. "It's really not good for anyone's health," Pagaling said. But others, including Henry Gonzales, the county's agricultural commissioner, told the group that spraying is necessary to protect citrus trees from the psyllid. Some have advocated instead using a tiny wasp from Pakistan that feeds on young psyllids. Officials have said the wasp has made some progress in urban infestation areas such as Thousand Oaks. Several hundred of the wasps were released in Thousand Oaks in late 2013, according to Mark Hoddle, director of the Center for Invasive Species Research at UC Riverside. But Michaud said there are no good, permanent solutions to controlling either the psyllid or the bacteria it carries. "At least not yet," he said, "although believe me, many people are searching for a solution." One problem, Michaud said, is that it only takes a few adult psyllids to spread the bacteria from tree to tree. The bacteria shortens the life of a citrus tree from many decades to about eight years, he said. Compounding the problem is that most citrus trees don't bear fruit until they are about 5 years old, Michaud said, giving them a potential productive life of just three years. The bacteria damages trees by clogging their circulatory systems, preventing nutrients from getting delivered to where they are needed in the plant. By the time the tree shows symptoms of infection, the bacteria has already spread to other parts of the plant, Michaud said. The tree starts losing branches and eventually dies. Michaud said scientists are looking at many potential cures. He said one intriguing possibility was found in Vietnam, where citrus trees growing near guava trees seemed immune from the disease. "We don't know why that is," he said. One hypothesis is that guava trees may produce a chemical that combats the bacteria. If so, scientists may try to genetically engineer the gene responsible for this chemical. But as of now, "a comprehensive solution to this disease is very difficult, if not impossible," he said. Maps of areas to be treated, along with other information about the county's management program, can be found at bit.ly/VC-AWM-docs. MIKE HARRIS/THE STAR The Simi Valley City Council this week extended its moratorium on new massage businesses and introduced an ordinance to formalize its ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. SHARE By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star The Simi Valley City Council has extended its moratorium on new massage businesses and has introduced an ordinance to further formalize its existing ban of medical marijuana dispensaries. The council took both actions Monday night. "The city of Simi Valley has the second highest number of massage businesses in Ventura County," Simi Valley Police Cmdr. Alan Thompson told the council. "A shocking number of them" are fronts for prostitution. The council initially adopted the moratorium a year ago as a result of the state returning some regulatory control of massage businesses to local governments. The council on Monday extended the moratorium for up to another year to allow city staff time to finalize study of the issue. It bans new massage businesses, including off-premises establishments, and the expansion of existing ones. Off-premises massage businesses are independent contractors who work from home or provide services at offices and health fairs. "With the growth in the massage industry ... the city has investigated numerous complaints related to suspected illegal activity and there is concern about associated negative impacts on quality of life, effects on public safety, impacts to the local economy, and overall character of the city," Peter Lyons, environmental services director, wrote in a memo to the council. The moratorium extension establishes an exemption: It permits a handful of salaried employees who worked at now-closed spas the opportunity to start their own off-premises massage businesses if they had been independent contractors before the ban. The council extended the moratorium over the objections of a handful of massage therapists and supporters. Nicole Ochoa said the moratorium unfairly lumps legitimate massage therapists like herself in with prostitutes. "The confusion between the two professions is disgusting," she said. Greg Wolff, the husband of a massage therapist, called the moratorium "draconian." Their concerns struck a chord with some council members. "In some ways I think we're unfairly characterizing legitimate massage businesses," said Councilman Glen Becerra. Councilman Keith Mashburn agreed. "Unfortunately, the legitimate businesses get caught up in this mess," he said. "That is not the intent of this council." Even so, Becerra and Mashburn joined the three other council members to unanimously approve the moratorium extension. In another action, the council introduced an ordinance to further formalize the city's existing ban on medical marijuana dispensaries and the cultivation, processing, distribution and delivery of medical marijuana. The ordinance, which will modify the city's municipal code, is expected to be adopted Jan. 25. It comes in response to the California Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act that went into effect Jan. 1. The act mandates that cities and counties must have land use rules that regulate or prohibit commercial medical marijuana uses. Under the ordinance, patients with a serious health condition and with a physician's prescription will continue to be allowed to cultivate marijuana for personal use pursuant to the state's Compassionate Use Act of 1996. No members of the public addressed the council on the ordinance. By Staff Reports A new state law has cities in Ventura County scrambling to further formalize their bans on the commercial cultivation, processing, distribution and delivery of medical marijuana. They are doing so in response to the California Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act that went into effect Jan. 1. The act requires cities and counties to have land use rules that regulate or prohibit commercial medical marijuana uses. Cities that do not have such ordinances by March 1 will lose their authority to do so. The state will then be the sole licensing authority. Medical marijuana dispensaries are already banned throughout Ventura County. The ordinances the cities are adopting clarify those bans. The Ventura and Port Hueneme city councils passed such ordinances Monday. The Simi Valley City Council introduced its ordinance, which is expected to be adopted Jan. 25. Other cities in the county, and the county itself, are following suit. Some cities are permitting an exemption. In Simi Valley, for example, patients with a serious health condition and with a physician's prescription will continue to be allowed to cultivate marijuana for personal use pursuant to the state's Compassionate Use Act of 1996. Family home 18 months after fire razed their Thousand Oaks condo The Thousand Oaks family says it's been a long, frustrating wait, but they're thrilled to finally be back home in their two-bedroom unit. SHARE Just in time for the 2016 election, the Roberts Court has found yet another way to stack the deck in favor of the rich. By all appearances at Monday's argument, the five Republican-appointed justices are ready to upend a 40-year precedent guiding labor relations in favor of a new approach that will deplete public-sector unions' finances and reduce their political clout. The case, from California, involves arcane issues of "agency fees" and member opt-outs, but make no mistake: This is about campaign finance, and, in particular, propping up the Republican Party. Citizens United and other recent rulings created the modern era of super PACs and unlimited political contributions by the wealthy. Because there are fewer liberal billionaires (and those who are politically active, such as George Soros and Tom Steyer, tend to shun super PACs in favor of their own projects) the only real counterweight to Republican super PACs in this new era is union money. And the Supreme Court is about to attack that, too. The only question is how big a loss Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will be for the unions. It's virtually certain to be another step toward American oligarchy. The court's conservative majority, setting aside a professed respect for precedent and states' authority, is putting a thumb on the scale of justice in favor of the wealthy donors who have purchased the GOP and much of the government. Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the Democratic appointees, contended that there were good arguments on both sides of the case, but no compelling reason to "overrule a compromise that was worked out over 40 years and has lasted reasonably well." Said Breyer: "I guess people could overrule our decisions just as easily. And you start overruling things, what happens to the country thinking of us as a kind of stability in a world that is tough because it changes a lot?" The answer, of course, is Americans have already come to see the court as another political branch of government. Lawyer Michael Carvin, leading the anti-union side Monday, gave further justification for that impression. In front of the justices, he dismissed the notion "that anything could happen adversely" to unions as a result of the case. But then he went out to the Supreme Court plaza and, in front of a cheering crowd, told the truth: "It may limit their revenue somewhat, but of course they can compensate for that by being less involved in things like politics." And that's exactly the goal. The huge political consequences of the case were unstated in the chamber, but the argument was at times as partisan as a debate in Congress. Carvin frequently interrupted and talked over the three female justices classic "mansplaining," as Slate's Dahlia Lithwick observed from the press seats. Carvin referred to the other side's argument as the "so-called opposition" and pronounced Justice Sonia Sotomayor's surname as "Soto-my-ear." At one point he quipped that he has a First Amendment right not to join the American Bar Association, "because virtually every word out of their mouth I disagree with." Justice Samuel Alito guffawed. The argument was mostly for show, because there was little doubt the 1977 Abood decision will go down. This will make it easier for public-sector workers who benefit from collective bargaining but who don't want to be in unions to avoid paying fees to the union, even for nonpolitical functions. Union finances will be further drained at a time when labor is historically weak. Carvin spent his morning affirming the conservative justices. To Antonin Scalia: "You're a thousand percent right, Your Honor." To Anthony Kennedy: "Exactly, Your Honor." To Alito: "Your recollection of history is correct." And these conservative justices left no doubt where they stood. Chief Justice John Roberts dismissed as "really insignificant" the unions' argument about free riders. Scalia informed the union's lawyer that his argument "doesn't mean anything to me." Breyer reminded his colleagues that when the court jettisons precedent, it's usually to right an egregious or basic wrong, such as the Plessy v. Ferguson precedent justifying segregation. "I don't see anything too basic in the lines you're drawing," he told Carvin. Carvin invoked Thomas Jefferson, saying the third president thought it "sinful and tyrannical" to require "people to give money which they don't wish to give." It's not known how Jefferson would have felt about public-sector unions. But what's sinful and tyrannical is for billionaires to take over the electoral process and the government and for the highest court in the land to take aim at the last remaining counterweight. Dana Milbank writes for The Washington Post. Email him at dana.milbank@washpost.com. La Cave Wine & Food Hideaway at Wynn Las Vegas has introduced new Ladies Last Meal prix fixe menus designed especially for women celebrating bachelorette parties this season (Pictured: Warm Salt-Roasted Beets). Executive Chef Billy DeMarco has created two separate prix fixe menus priced at $49 per person and $59 per person, respectively. La Cave also offers an extensive wine list, beers and signature cocktails to pair with the meal. Photo credit: Barbara Kraft. The $49 menu begins with a tomato mozzarella flatbread topped with micro mozzarella and capers, followed by a baby kale salad mixed with shaved apple, goat cheese and almond vinaigrette. Ladies will then be offered warm salt-roasted beets with whipped goat cheese and pistachios in addition to tiger prawns served with long beans, baby corn and chili vinaigrette. The meal concludes with a trio of ice cream and sorbet made with seasonal selections. The $59 bachelorette menu begins with a chicken flatbread topped with Thai basil, sweet and sour chili and garlic aioli. The second course features a baby kale salad made with shaved apple, goat cheese and almond vinaigrette, followed by a Thai snapper ceviche with Asian pear and habanero. The main entree course offers a beef filet crostini made with blue cheese, truffle cream and port reduction. Ending on a sweet note, the final course includes a trio of ice cream and sorbet made with seasonal selections. Former all-star athlete and media personality, Shaquille ONeal, was spotted touring the construction grounds of the highly-anticipated Beer Park by Budweiser at Paris Las Vegas on Monday afternoon (Photo credit: Courtesy of Beer Park by Budweiser). ONeal, accompanied by a group of Beer Park team members, sported a hardhat as he checked out the construction site of what will be the Strips first rooftop bar and grill. Beer Park is slated to open directly above HEXX kitchen | bar | chocolate later this month. Tehran, Iran, January 13 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: What has been said about releasing the US Navy crew is speculation and Iran is not going to free them without proper investigation, IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif said. IRGC marine forces seized two US Navy boats January 12 and are detaining them on Iran's Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Sharif assured the US officials that the captives will be treated kindly, but also dismissed any leniency when it comes to national concerns, Fars news agency reported January 13. Ten US sailors aboard the small riverine vessels were on a training mission when one of the boats may have experienced mechanical failure and drifted into Iranian waters, US officials claimed. Pointing out that the crew were found in possession of light and semi-heavy arms, Sharif said if they are proven to have been driven to Iranian waters unwillingly, they will be released, but if proven to have come with intentions of espionage, they will be treated "properly". Earlier reports said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had assured US Secretary of State John Kerry that the crew would be released promptly. By Dezan Shira & Assoicates Editor: Anais Robin After months of delay by Vietnamese authorities, Decree 118/2015 went into force on November 27, 2015. Providing implementation guidance on the Investment Law of 2014, 118/2015 clarifies a number of provisions with the aim of further facilitating foreign investment. The following article sheds light on specific guidance found within the decree regarding international law and investment treaties. One of the most important areas of treaty guidance found under the aforementioned decree concerns overlapping investment agreements. With many firms entering into Vietnam under the protection and regulation of multiple Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) signed by their home governments, 118/2015s requirements for the application of a single treaty is important to note. Although applying a single framework for the regulation and protection of investment has the potential cut down on uncertainty and promises to streamline compliance for certain industries, it also risks cutting into Vietnams increasing integration into global trade. By requiring the selection of a single treaty under which investments in a single business line will be regulated, firms seem to be prevented from strategically applying certain aspects of differing agreements to their benefit. Case Study: Japan In order to illustrate this principle, we can take the example of Japan. When a Japanese investor does business within Vietnam, its investments are protected from adverse change by the following agreements: Japan Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Japan ASEAN FTA, Japan Vietnam BIT, Vietnams Commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Pending implementation by national governments While there are many complimentary fields covered by the aforementioned treaties, Japanese investors will only be able to utilize the benefits from a single agreement to guide their investments within a particular line of production. This would in effect prevent a Japanese company from utilizing regulatory concessions achieved under the Japan ASEAN FTA in conjunction with dispute resolution protocol laid out under the Japan Vietnam BIT. Maximizing Opportunities With BIT coverage extending to over 60 countries, Vietnams integration into world trade has shown no sign of slowing in recent years and presents incredible opportunities for investment. Although Decree 118/2015 does seem to restrict investors from utilizing these agreements to their fullest potential, the relatively untested nature of this guidance leaves room for interpretation on the part of Vietnamese authorities. For those with vested interests in Vietnam or considering expansion, it is of utmost importance to evaluate existing treaties to determine under which agreement to claim coverage. In conjunction with this preparation, its also critical for companies to keep up to date on the manner in which 118/2015 is enforced, and to take close note of any precedents set on issues such as protocol for notify licensing authorities of treaty selection or change. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Import and Export: A Guide to Trade in Vietnam In this issue of Vietnam Briefing Magazine, we provide you with a clear understanding of the current business trends related to trade in Vietnam, as well as explaining how to set up your trading business in the country. We also attempt to give perspective on what will be Vietnams place in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2015, and look at some of the countrys key import and export regulations. Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam. Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam 2014-2015 The first edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, published in 2014, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who need to be able to navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in Vietnam. Vietnams digital economy has seen significant growth over the last decade and is expected to be valued at US$57 billion by 2025. The countrys digital... Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Umid Niayesh - Trend: Iran released the US Navy sailors arrested on Jan. 12 after they drifted into Iranian waters, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Public Relations Department said Jan. 13 in a statement. Earlier the IRGC said it seized two US navy boats with 10 sailors onboard at 16:30 (GMT+3:30) on Jan. 12. The IRGC Navy's Public Relations Department, in a statement released on Jan. 13, said that the US navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf illegally. "The arrested sailors were released in international waters in the Persian Gulf," read the IRGC statement posted on its official website Jan. 13. IRGC, which also released the photos of the American sailors, said its boats escorted the US vessels to international waters to release them there. The IRGC freed the US Navy sailors after it became clear that the American boats entered Iran's territorial waters "unintentionally." According to the IRGC statement, the US sailors apologized and pledged "to not make mistakes again." Earlier, the IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Iran's investigations indicate that the US boats entered Iranian waters due to failure in the navigation systems. A 'mermaid' stranded in fishing nets is seen in this wedding photo posted by the photographer, Tu Nguyen, on his Facebook on December 18, 2015. Pham Dac Hau, based in Quang Nam Province, has been fined VND5 million (US$225) for providing false information, pursuant to a government decree on civil offenses in information and communications technology, the provinces Department of Information and Communications said Tuesday. Hau was the founder of the now-shuttered website quangnamonline.com.vn, where he posted the invented article about a 48kg mermaid that was caught by Quang Nam fishermen in December. The false story was even published with an accompanying photo showing what looked like a mermaid entangled in green fishing nets, with the writer claiming that she was then admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment, pending studies by U.S. scientists. The article also quoted one of the fishermen as saying that a Japanese moneybags had asked to pay $1 million to buy the legendary aquatic creature, but the offer was rejected. Weird as it might be, the story was still shared on Facebook by many, who apparently believed that the legendary creature did exist in their country. On December 23, the 27-year-old was summoned by internal security police, after which he confessed to using photos from a wedding album found online to make up the mermaid story to create some fun. Quang Nam authorities had earlier been confused about naming the offense committed by Hau, and it took more than a fortnight for them to reach the final decision. Vietnam-Germany Hospital, considered Vietnams largest surgical center, is looking forward to being able to carry out the head transplant, deputy director Trinh Hong Son told a seminar on Tuesday morning. The hospital is therefore looking for disabled people whose body is paralyzed but brain remains active and those who are willing to undergo the surgery. The active brain will be transplanted into the body of those suffering brain death, the doctor further explained. Dr. Son said there are medical teams in the U.S. and Italy who are close to mastering the transplant technique, as they are only waiting for the creation of a special knife to be used for the surgery in 2017. Once the world begins performing such an operation and a Vietnamese volunteer is found, it is scientifically possible that Vietnam-Germany Hospital will invite an international doctor team to do the human head transplant, Dr. Son asserted. He said a team of international doctors, consisting of as many as 150 people, have been working on the technique over the last two years. The biggest obstacle is to maintain the oxygen exchange in the brain during the transplant process, according to the Vietnamese doctor. While foreign scientists have already succeeded in doing the surgery on mice, it can only be done on humans when the technique is perfected, he underlined. In June 2015, Italian neurosurgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero unveiled plans to perform the first human head transplant, saying he believes he has a 90 percent chance of success, according to Reuters. A 30-year-old Russian, Valery Spiridonov, who has a degenerative muscle condition known as Werdnig-Hoffman, has volunteered to be the first person to undergo a head transplant. Canaveros operation will be ready to go as early as Christmas 2017, sooner than anybody might have expected, according to The Guardian. We are closely watching the coming surgery and is ready to prepare a plan to bring that technique to Vietnam, Dr. Son was quoted by An Ninh Thu Do (Capital Security) as saying at the same seminar. I must emphasize that Vietnam is not prepared for performing head transplant surgery itself, but we are ready to seek people who will donate and receive the head. If the worlds first-ever human head transplant is a success, we will be willing to invite the doctor team behind that surgery to do it in Vietnam, especially when there is a demand for it. Police move people on as they secure an area at the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul after an explosion on January 12, 2016 AFP ANKARA; Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday (Jan 12) offered his condolences to German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the suicide bombing in Istanbul, saying most of the 10 people killed were Germans. "There are at leat nine Germans among the 10 killed," a Turkish government official told AFP after the suicide bombing ripped through the historic Sultanahmet district, wounding 15 others The Anatolia news agency quoted the prime minister's office as saying: "Davutoglu expressed his sadness over the deaths of the 10 victims, most of whom were German and presented his condolences to" the chancellor. Vietnamese FM Spokesman Le Hai Binh made that statement on January 12, reaffirming Viet Nams indisputable sovereignty over Truong Sa and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago. Regarding Chinas flight activities, the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam has repeatedly said that Viet Nams Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Regions management agency has not received any notifications of flight plans from China as it said. Earlier on December 30, 2015, when a representative of the Chinese Embassy in Ha Noi announced to a representative of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Chinese civil planes would launch flights to Fiery Cross Reef, Viet Nam immediately objected to, and demanded China cancel that action, Mr. Binh revealed. China declaring the flights to Fiery Cross Reef as its national aviation activities is actually aimed at asserting its insensate sovereignty claim over Truong Sa archipelago, which seriously violates Viet Nams sovereignty over these islands, he added. Otherwise, Chinas flights to Fiery Cross Reef, under any name, affected aeronautical security, safety and freedom over the East Sea and in contrary to the international regulations, including the 1944 Chicago Convention (Convention on International Civil Aviation) and the annexes on rules of flights in international airspace, especially Annex 2 and 11. Viet Nam demands China stop flights to Fiery Cross Reef, not conduct further actions that violate Viet Nams sovereignty, and make contribution to maintaining peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, he said. Photo: missworld.com Mills, an 18-year-old from the southern US state of Kentucky, wept as outgoing Miss World Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar placed the tiara on her head and led her to a diamond-shaped throne marking the pageant's 60th anniversary. Photo: missworld.com The 1.75-metre (5'9") beauty in white -- a professional model listed with the Elite Models agency -- waved to the cheering crowd at the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre in the resort town of Sanya on Hainan island. During the two-hour competition, which annually draws a global television audience of about one billion, Mills said her month spent touring China with the other 114 Miss World hopefuls had made a "big impact" on her life. Botswana's Emma Wareus was second, and Venezuela's Adriana Vasini placed third in the pageant, which was first held in 1951. The pageant got off to a colourful start with a performance by dancers and drummers from China's Li ethnic minority group, who mainly live on Hainan island, which was hosting the event for the fifth time in eight years. Before the contestants whirled in national costume for the "Dances of the World" segment, viewers were treated to a video montage of the women's whirlwind tour of China -- from the Great Wall to the shopping malls. Early favourite Mariann Birkedal of Norway, listed by British bookmaker William Hill as the woman to beat ahead of Mills, finished in the top seven. A win for Norway could have caused a stir in Beijing, where the government is furious that the Oslo-based Nobel committee awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Aldorino, 24, said she had enjoyed her year as Miss World, saying that in all the countries she had visited, one thing had remained the same: "The smile on a child's face, and that's what has captured the moment". Photo: missworld.com The competition emphasises the importance of charity work. Miss "Beauty with a Purpose" -- Kenya's Natasha Metto, who has worked on combatting an epidemic of parasitic Jigger fleas in her country -- earned a "fast-track" spot in the final group of 25, but was then eliminated. Ireland's violin-playing Emma Waldron, who won the talent contest and finished in the top five, wowed the audience by greeting them in Chinese, while Miss China, Xiao Tang, spoke mostly in English. The event rivals the Miss Universe pageant owned by US tycoon Donald Trump, which was won by Mexico's Jimena Navarrete in August. In 1951, Sweden's Kiki Hakansson became the first Miss World. Oscar-winning American actress Halle Berry was a finalist in 1986. Venezuela and India have produced the most Miss Worlds, with five titleholders each. Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai took the crown in 1994. In 2002, the pageant was moved from Nigeria to Britain after more than 200 people died in clashes sparked when a newspaper suggested the Muslim prophet Mohammed would have chosen a wife from among the contestants had he been alive. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Iranian Armed Forces' Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi has urged the US Congress to "take a lesson" from the seizure of two American boats, as well as 10 sailors onboard. Earlier today, Iran's IRGC said on its website that it released the US sailors, who were arrested Jan. 12 as they drifted into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf in their patrol boats. "I hope those in the US Congress who pose obstacles [presumably to the implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers] will take a lesson from the incident that took place in the north of the Persian Gulf, which probably won't be the American forces' last mistake in the region," Tasnim news agency quoted Firouzabadi as saying Jan. 13. "If the Iranian commanders didn't show tact and goodwill, the Americans would have a serious catastrophe," he further said. Earlier, the IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Iran's investigations indicate that the US boats entered Iranian waters due to failure in navigation systems. Reportedly, Firouzabadi today also criticized the US congressmen who he said "design new problems" against Iran, claiming that those congressmen act against the favors of the American nation. The National Assembly has approved Cambodias efforts to buy in as a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. In a vote Wednesday morning, the Assembly approved the initiative to join the Chinese-run development bank, which will provide loans to Asian-Pacific countries, much like the Asian Development Bank. Cambodia will purchase 623 shares in the bank for a sum of $62.3 million, a minor portion of the $100-billion bank. Chan Sophal, an economist in Phnom Penh, told VOA Khmer the development bank will help the regions economic growth. The growth of the region will grow the Cambodian economy, too, he said. However, he also warned that the Chinese-led bank could carry more risks at the moment than the more established World Bank and ADB. In Channy, CEO for Acleda Bank, in Phnom Penh, said Cambodias buy-in to the AIIB will lead to more benefits in the future. For example, the World Bank and ADB now offer loans for private sector aims, he said. So will the AIIB in the future. Son Chhay, a lawmaker for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said Cambodia needs more than development money; it needs high-quality infrastructure and transparency in its projects. The roads in Cambodia arent that good in quality, he said. Theyre constructed and then repaired, which wastes the budget. The ruling Cambodian Peoples Party has been quietly reforming since its main political opponent, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, made major gains in 2013. With the country looking toward national elections again in 2018, the CPP has been undertaking internal changes to help it connect with voters. Following an annual CPP congress over the weekend, party members said they are also looking for ways to tackle tough issues, such as land concessions and deforestation, as well as other tangible reforms, such as an improved traffic law. And they say they are doing this in a more competitive political climate. Political observers say the reforms within the CPP, even if they arent major, are a benefit to ordinary people. Kung Phoak, head of the Cambodia Institute for Strategic Studies, told VOA Khmer on Wednesday that CPP reform is coming from new officials and new ideas. Every reform process provides benefit to the people, he said. It will also benefit the ruling party. However, he said, deep reforms, such as land issues, may take some time and show few results immediately. Ou Virak, head of the think tank Future Forum, said the reform strategy was not surprising; nor does it feel like true reform. It means the CPP is afraid, which is unlike previous terms, he said. What we want to see are systemic reforms, the removal of officials, especially at the Council of Ministers, and the setting of clear policy. Many issues remain, he added. Now we can see the failure of the judicial system, the failure on land issues and management of economic land concessions, and the failure to curb deforestation, he said. These are headache issues. According to a CPP strategy document leaked from last weekends congress, the CPP hopes to boost political support in the 2017 local elections with the youth. That means more young candidates, CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said. He denied the CPP is fearful of coming elections. Its just to encourage more young candidates in the electoral lists of commune elections, based on the actual situation, and to have more female candidates, he said Its because our officials are getting older, and we need successors. Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, which made major gains in 2013, applauded changes within the CPP, saying it would help Cambodians. We will do our tasks and they will do their tasks, he said. They can arrange any candidates they want; its just a political partys strategy. But for us, we have our strategic plan for the election, to get more peoples support. Especially from day to day, we are working hard to get more human resources, from those who have strong reputations, support, and ability to lead the commune and serve the people, as well as the nation. When Saudi Arabia executed a leading Shi'ite cleric and protesters responded by torching the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, Sudan was one of only three countries to sever ties with Iran in solidarity with Riyadh. The January 4 move cemented a dramatic political shift: In the past two years, Sudan has turned its back on a quarter-century alliance with Iran in favor of the Saudis, who have proved more willing to provide the financial support it sorely needs. Saudi Arabia has already invested more than any other country in Sudan about $11 billion, mostly in agriculture. In the past year, it has deposited $1 billion in Sudan's central bank, signed deals to finance the construction of power-generating dams on the Nile and pledged even more investment in farming. Such largesse explains why Sudan, struggling with a collapsing currency and soaring unemployment, has chosen to favor economic ties with Saudi Arabia over a relationship with Iran that was largely based on arms. "The government decided to distance itself from the alliance with Iran after it evaluated the relationship and found it economically and politically damaging," said Al Tayeb Zeinalaidine, politics professor at Khartoum University. "Iran didn't offer any economic aid to Sudan, and this left the government thinking its relations ... had become a burden." New Bashir move The swing toward Riyadh marks a new tack for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has maintained power for over 25 years in a volatile neighborhood by navigating shifting alliances. At different times he has drawn close to Osama bin Laden, the United States and Tehran. Last year he joined a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen who are allied with Shi'ite Iran, showing Sunni Gulf Arab powers that he could be an asset in their fight to limit the influence of the Islamic Republic. Sudan's defense ministry says it has deployed three military jets as well as ground troops to secure facilities in the southern port of Aden and elsewhere, though they have been involved in little active combat so far. Sudan has also trained thousands of Yemeni troops. Tense relations For much of the period since Bashir seized power in 1989, ties with Saudi Arabia had been tense. Bashir backed Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, a Saudi neighbor, and protesters took to the streets of Sudan to support Iraq's Saddam Hussein and condemn the Saudi royals. As recently as 2013, relations reached a nadir when Saudi Arabia banned Bashir's plane from passing through its airspace to Iran. By contrast, Bashir fostered warm relations with Tehran, crowned with the 1991 visit of then-President Hashemi Rafsanjani. The two countries, both listed as state sponsors of terrorism and subjected to U.S. sanctions, saw mutual benefit in teaming up against Western attempts to isolate them. Sudan helped Iran project its influence by serving as the key entry point for Iranian weapons exports to Africa, according to sources who monitor the arms trade. Khartoum denies taking part in these activities. In exchange, Sudan benefited from Iranian military technology that has helped it become a major African weapons producer. But the calculus has shifted as Sudan's economic problems have mounted especially since it lost three-quarters of its oil revenues when South Sudan seceded in 2011. Military spokesman Ahmed al-Khalifa al-Shami said the army backed the policy shift, and military cooperation with Iran had been more limited than media reports would suggest. Army unaffected "The army has not been harmed by the severing of relations with Iran because all the military production is being done with Sudanese labor and expertise," Shami said. Sudan has said its support for the Yemen campaign was a turning point in the Saudi relationship, but was not linked to more investment. Nor did it cut ties with Iran in return for Saudi aid. Ali al-Sadeq, Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Sudan saw much more in the new relationship. "We are looking to a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia," he said. "We are neighbors on the Red Sea coast and work together to secure these coastlines against challenges. ... We expect in the coming period more progress in cooperation." Investigators in Belgium have identified two more locations that they believe were used as safe houses by suspects in November's Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people. Belgiums federal prosecutors office said Wednesday the residences include an apartment in the city of Charleroi and a house in the town of Auvelais. Investigators had already identified a third location an apartment in Brussels last week. They said they found a fingerprint there of key suspect Salah Abdeslam, who remains at large. In new developments, they announced DNA traces of Paris attacker Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up, and of suspected ring leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was later killed by police outside Paris. Apparently all three places were rented for a year and paid for in cash by people using false identities. New details revealed The announcements add to new details that have emerged in recent days about the suspected attackers. Britains The Guardian newspaper reported Sunday that Abaaoud visited Britain last year, despite being wanted for terrorism. Meanwhile in France, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Wednesday the government had shut down three radical Islamic associations that ran a Paris-area mosque one of three mosques closed since November for allegedly contributing to radicalism. Cazeneuve said there is no place in the French Republic for groups which incite or call for terrorism and hate. An ongoing state of emergency in France has led to a surge in arrests and raids across the country. Some have drawn criticism by rights groups and other associations. A former military officer and policeman who were suspected of leading a group of rebels were killed Wednesday in a shootout with security forces east of Burundi's capital, the police spokesman said. The deaths are the latest in a wave of violence gripping the poor African nation and a further sign of the armed rebellion against the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza, who sparked the crisis with his re-election for a third term. Army Captain Idi Omar Bahenda Saidi and police Brigadier Jean Claude Niyongabo were killed in the Muramvya province of Burundi, about 50 km (30 miles) east of Bujumbura, police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye told Reuters. Police had sought to arrest the men but they had resisted, leading to a shootout, he said. Weapons were also seized, including an assault rifle and explosives, the spokesman said. Opposition sources said they believed Saidi was a member of FOREBU, a rebel group which was launched in December and led by another former senior army officer, Edouard Nshimirimana. FOREBU could not immediately be reached for comment. Opponents of Nkurunziza accuse him of violating the constitution and a peace deal that ended the 12-year civil war in 2005 by seeking a third mandate. Loyalists cite a court ruling that said he could run. Nkurunziza announced his bid for re-election in April and won a disputed vote in July after much of the opposition boycotted the polls. Western powers and regional states fear that an escalation in violence could turn a crisis that has so far largely followed political allegiances into a renewed ethnic conflict. The civil war pitted what was then an army led by the Tutsi minority against rebel groups of the Hutu majority, including one led by Nkurunziza. "For the loved ones we have all lost, for the family we can still save, let us make America the country that cures cancer once and for all." With those words in his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced what the White House called a new initiative to fight cancer and he put his vice president, Joe Biden, in charge. "Because he's gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, I'm putting Joe in charge of mission control," Obama said. Biden lost his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015. Since then, he has been vocal about his commitment to fighting the disease. In October, he spoke of the "many breakthroughs just on the horizon in science and medicine, the things that are just about to happen, and we can make them real, with an absolute national commitment to end cancer as we know it today." American Cancer Society officials told VOA their hope is that the administration will create a strong central command-and-control function in the fight against cancer. Tuesday's announcement was important, it said, because "it gives us a goal. People start thinking about it." Some of Biden's first efforts include a meeting Friday with relevant Cabinet secretaries to coordinate efforts to fight the hundreds, possibly thousands of different diseases that constitute cancer. Next week, the vice president will talk with international cancer experts at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 'Moon shot' Biden has spoken of the fight against cancer as a "moon shot," a reference to the massive coalition of government and business in the 1960s that resulted in the United States putting the first man on the moon in 1969. Conquering cancer will be a daunting task, but Sidney Kilmer Cancer Center researcher William Nelson said great progress is being made. It has really been in the last decade or so that we have been able to use technologies to ask what are all the defective genes in any individuals cancer, and can we use that information to plot a treatment likely to be effective for that person," Nelson said. "Every day, that is more and more possible. The White House said the effort to beat cancer has already begun, touting a $2 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health in the recently passed federal spending bill. Biden said the cancer fight is personal for him, for nearly every American, and for millions of people around the world. In October, when he decided against running for the presidency, Biden said, "If I could be anything, I would want to be the president that ended cancer." Perhaps now, instead, he'll be remembered as the vice president who oversaw the beginning of the end of this deadly disease. Late last year, the Central African Republic held elections to replace the transitional government currently in power. The elections were seen as a welcome indicator of stability and a first step toward putting an end to the country's three-year conflict. However, the rushed vote held Dec. 30, 2015 was marred by logistical difficulties and irregularities. Earlier this month, a majority of the 30 presidential candidates asked authorities to stop the vote counting. On Tuesday, two losing candidates, Desire Kolingba and Martin Ziguele, demanded a manual recount of the vote, saying that widespread irregularities undermined the credibility of the results. "We believe that elections are a first step out of the country's crisis, Kolingba said. However, what we have seen during the voting and the counting of votes makes us question the credibility of the vote." On the day of the elections, many polling stations opened late or lacked material such as ballot papers or updated voters lists. In some areas, people were not able to vote. One-point-eight million people had registered for the country's first presidential and legislative elections since the Seleka rebels ousted ex-president Francois Bozize and took power in 2013. The elections are seen as a first step to bringing the country out of its conflict, says the U.N. head of mission, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga. However, an election that's seen as unfair and dishonest and even marred by fraud might affect the reconciliation process and continued stability. "To have a government elected by the Central Africans is an important step toward ending the crisis, Onanga-Anyanga said. Our role is to assist them in this process. Now it (the elections) is a human effort, naturally it's not perfect. Our goal is to ease the process to make the elections as credible as possible." It is now up to the country's Constitutional court to review the vote and announce the final results. The court may ask to redo the parliamentary elections in some constituencies, but is not likely to cancel the first round of the elections or make any revisions that significantly affect the provisional results. Two presidential candidates, Anicet George Dologuele and Faustin Archange Touadera, gained enough votes to go through to a second round. Whoever wins will face significant challenges restoring democracy and bringing the conflict to an end, including disarming the militia and rebel groups, restoring the country's security forces and finding a solution for the close to one million Central Africans displaced by the conflict. The United States has expressed concerns about an ongoing crackdown against Chinese human rights defenders, following reports Wednesday that several prominent rights lawyers were arrested on charges of state subversion. Some of them were charged after being held for six months. The United States urges China to drop these charges and immediately release these lawyers and others like them detained for seeking to protect the rights of Chinese citizens, said Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner. The lawyers were among more than 130 lawyers detained last July after being accused of organizing protests outside courtrooms in an effort to pressure local authorities. State media has called the attorneys a "criminal gang," that created public disorder. 15 years to life Li Yuhan, a lawyer for detained attorney Wang Yu, said Wang Yu's mother received a formal arrest notice this week for her on a charges of "inciting subversion of state power", a charge that carries a possible life sentence. Li says Wang's husband, Bao Longjun, is also accused of the same charge. Wang Yu is known for defending Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, as well as alleged victims of sexual harassment, forced evictions and victims of illegal 'black jails.' Li says she has not been able to meet with Wang since her detention in July. Other defendants have also reportedly been unable to meet with their lawyers. Among the others detained are Zhou Shifeng, the founder of Beijing's Fengrui law firm, and legal assistant Zhou Wei. Xie Yanyi, Xie Yang and Sui Muqing, who work for the same law firm, have also been charged on suspicion of state subversion. The State Department's Toner noted human rights attorneys Zhou Shifeng, Wang Yu, and Li Heping are now facing sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment for efforts to represent clients, including a number of prominent human rights activists. Last September, Wang Yu was featured as the first among twenty female political prisoners that the State Department had recognized and called for release in its Campaign of Free the 20 Women Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Concern. Swedish man detained Meanwhile Wednesday, China said it had detained a Swedish man on suspicion of endangering state security. Peter Dahlin was detained on January 3 while travelling to Beijing's international airport. His Chinese girlfriend has disappeared. Dahlin is co-founder of the China Urgent Action Working Group, which works with lawyers who provide services to victims of rights violations in the country. In a statement, the group said Dahlin has been "arbitrarily detained on spurious accusations." It adds that, despite repeated requests, Chinese authorities have prevented Swedish embassy officials from meeting with him. In July, China passed a wide-reaching, national security law that was criticized for its vague wording that could make it easier to control civil society by silencing dissidents and restricting NGOs in China. The road to successfully blunting North Korea's military adventurism and potentially forcing the rogue nation to give up its nuclear weapons program runs through Beijing, a panel of experts told a U.S. congressional hearing Wednesday. U.S. lawmakers agreed, with Representative Alan Lowenthal pointing to "real concern in China" about the instability of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime. Committee Chairman Matt Salmon called China "the 800-pound gorilla for North Korea," supplying 80 percent of the North's food and energy and the majority of its foreign direct investment. "It is essential to get China to comply with existing sanctions [against North Korea] already on the books," said Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. On Wednesday, South Korea warned Pyongyang the new measures by the United States and its allies could inflict "bone-numbing pain" after its latest nuclear test, and also called for China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbor. While members of the Chinese military, business and political elite see North Korea differently, the one that matters may be at the top, said Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "[Chinese President and Communist party chief] Xi Jinping is a decisive, bold leader who could overrule opposition within the Chinese military and party to change the relationship with North Korea," Glaser said. But the panelists also expressed concern at why U.S. President Barack Obama has not hit North Korea harder. "At the rate we're going, this issue is just going to get punted to the next administration and its going to be an exponentially worse problem," said Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The panelists agreed that neither sanctions nor dialog alone would work, but that each must be part of a comprehensive, integrated strategy - similar to the tactics that successfully persuaded Iran to negotiate limits to its nuclear program. That will likely be harder with North Korea than with Iran, Salmon said, referencing the need to wean trading partners of those nations away from lucrative income streams or political influence. "With Irans trading partners, the United States had to persuade them to go along with secondary sanctions that would affect their bottom line and they agreed," Salmon said. "With North Korea, we [may have to] anger China, but we should not have any sacred cows on this issue." Klingner testified that numerous North Korean individuals and entities are potentially vulnerable to sanctions. He named Iran, Zimbabwe and Burma as countries that have been much more heavily sanctioned than the North. "The North's recent nuclear test calls for tough action, but weve been here before. There are numerous myths about sanctions: that they cant affect an isolated country like North Korea - that's not true," Klingner said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Umid Niayesh- Trend: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) confirmed that it has seized two US navy boats with 10 sailors. The IRGC Navy's Public Relations Department, in a statement released on Jan. 13, declared that the US navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf illegally, the official news portal of the IRGC reported. The boats were sized at 16:30 (GMT+3:30) on Jan. 12, according to the statement. The arrested US sailors including one woman are "safe" and are being held in an "appropriate" place, according to the Iranian side. Earlier, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the US military lost contact with two small US boats en route from Kuwait to Bahrain, confirming that the 10 sailors on the boats were in Iranian custody. Cook also claimed that US had been in contact with Iran and rested assured that they would be returned. US Secretary of State John Kerry also contacted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the issue. Taiwans anti-China opposition party is holding its lead ahead of Saturday's pivotal presidential election even as the ruling Nationalist Party gains ground. The oppositions edge in opinion polls reflects popular discontent in Taiwan about how the current president has handled improved ties with old rival China. Taiwans ruling Nationalist Party has gained international recognition by opening talks with China since it came to power in 2008. The talks generated 23 agreements that build economic links and mutual trust with Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island. Many voters say the Nationalist government under President Ma Ying-jeou is growing too close too fast to the Communist leadership without obvious material benefits for common people. Need for change Nationalist Party spokesman Eric Huang said his party sees a need for change. For Taiwan to move forward with mainland China, we need to spread these dividends more equally among everyone. Are there things where we need to make amends? The answer is also yes. We encourage this dialogue. We encourage communications, he said. The opposition Democratic Progressive Partys chairperson, Tsai Ing-wen, leads in opinion surveys by at least eight percentage points over Eric Chu, her counterpart with the Nationalists. Chu has narrowed that gap this month through intense campaigning after declaring his candidacy in October. The current president must step down this year because of term limits. Resentment against the Nationalists surfaced almost two years ago. In March 2014, youth groups protested in the streets against agreements with China. They faulted the Taiwan government for negotiating with Beijing in private without consulting common people or delivering widespread, tangible benefits. Some worried that China would use the economic agreements to push Taiwan to give up political autonomy. The government said the deals had lifted trade, tourism and employment. Evolving China-Taiwan relations The two sides have been separately ruled since Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war in the 1940s and rebased in Taipei. Before 2008, China occasionally threatened military force to press for unification. Tsai Ing-wen began her campaign in April with a lead in opinion polls over a range of possible Nationalist Party candidates. Less than half a year earlier voters had ousted the Nationalists from nine mayoral and county magistrate seats, partly in opposition to the partys China policies. Tsais Democratic Progressive Party then gained seven seats and momentum for the presidential campaign. Tsai advocates dialogue with China but not on todays conditions that both sides see themselves as part of one country. She has also suggested seeking a stronger consensus among Taiwanese about what to discuss with Beijing. Rex How, former advisor to the current Taiwan president, said younger voters want China to play only a supporting role for the islands development. He said that the evolution of China-Taiwan relations should match with the way Taiwanese people want to exist. He adds that the new generation hopes first to set a course for development and existence and then decide accordingly what kind of relations Taiwan needs with mainland China. China is urging the next Taiwanese leader to avoid changing todays course of dialogue, but has stopped short of threats or stating a preference in the election results. As Los Angeles celebrates its fifth straight year of record-breaking tourism, officials in part can thank visitors from China who, despite their reputed disdain for lying on the beach, now make up the second-largest group of international travelers to this sun-drenched city. In fact, China which a decade ago was not a major player in the Southern California tourism game last year sent nearly 800,000 people to visit the shops, museums and tourist attractions in and around America's second-largest city. And Chinese tourists often stay longer and spend more money than their counterparts from elsewhere in the world. "There is a fascination in China for Los Angeles," Ernest Wooden, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention bureau, told Reuters in an interview. "It's easy to imagine that much of what the Chinese know about living in the United States, the slang, the hip hop, the technology, comes from the movies," Wooden said. "And L.A. has that pedigree." That fascination drove a 13 percent increase in visitors from China over 2014. Wooden said he expects the trend to continue for at least another few years, defying that country's softening economy. Chinese travelers are also major educational tourists. Those seeking a Western education for their children often choose UCLA or the University of Southern California, which is second only to New York University in enrolling foreign-born students. Medical tourism draws patients from China to hospitals such as Cedars Sinai, City of Hope and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, seeking cutting-edge treatments for cancer and other serious illnesses. Warm beer and Kobe Bryant Wooden also credits an aggressive outreach centered on the city pitching its charms directly to the Chinese people, the first major U.S. city to do so. The effort, which started with ensconcing city employees in Beijing nearly a decade ago, was later expanded to Shanghai and, this year, Guangzhou. Last year Los Angeles launched its so-called NiHao China program, which includes a Chinese-language website, a larger presence on the popular Weibo social media site, and partnerships with major travel companies serving that market. Part of that marketing success involves the city's efforts to understand and cater to Chinese tourists, Wooden said, most of whom do not sunbathe and typically spend little time appreciating Southern California's famed beaches. Instead they are drawn by the museums, Hollywood, amusement parks such as Disneyland in nearby Orange County, and upscale shopping centers, spending more than most tourists and tending to stay in town longer. Wooden said hotels have learned such cultural nuances as serving beer warm, providing slippers for Chinese visitors who would rather not walk barefoot on carpet and offering television stations that broadcast in Mandarin. Vicky Liu of Galaxy Tour Inc., which specializes in serving the Chinese market, said Los Angeles has gotten some of those seemingly smaller details right, such as having someone at hotels who can speak the language. But Wooden concedes that the ground is moving under the city's feet. A new, more sophisticated generation of travelers is coming into its own, moving away from tour groups in favor of their own itineraries, planned on smartphones. "They will come here and rent cars on their own, he said. They are wealthier, often highly educated, and willing to venture out to San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas. They love the Lakers, they deify Kobe Bryant. That's a demographic shift." The perception of corruption in Afghanistan's judiciary is leading citizens to turn to the Taliban to resolve their legal cases swiftly and with a lack of red tape. When he became president in September 2014, Ashraf Ghani expressed concerns about corruption in Afghanistan, particularly within the judiciary. During his inaugural speech, Ghani vowed to use his constitutional powers to go after government corruption. Corruption in judiciary paves the way for insecurity," said Ghani. "If we want rule of law and corrupt officials to be brought to justice, we must ensure the transparency and reliability of the judiciary. More than a year into his presidency, little seems to have changed. People still complain of rampant corruption in the judiciary, which leads them to seek alternatives. A resident of Ghazni province, who refused to be named for security reasons, told VOA that people opt for Taliban courts out of desperation. I had a legal problem with my brother. The district center is only 300 meters away from us. I filed several complaints, but nobody helped me, he said. Despite being two kilometers away from our village, when I went to the Taliban, they resolved my problem with one letter. Dawod, a resident of northern Faryab province, told VOA that a bike had been stolen from his village, and when people went to file a complaint with the local officials, the officials demanded a bribe. We had to bribe our way out, and by the time we got hold of the bike, we had already paid double the amount the bike was worth, Dawod said. No legitimacy According to The New York Times and The Long War Journal, a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies that reports on the global war on terror, the Taliban control or contest about 70 districts across Afghanistan. Afghan officials, speaking to VOA, rejected those publications' numbers, but did confirm certain districts to be in Taliban control. They vowed to take them back soon. Mohammad Sarwar Osmani Farahi, co-chair of the judiciary committee of the lower house of the Afghan parliament, told VOA that senior officials of the Afghan government have repeatedly told parliament that several dozen districts are out of government control. When summoned to the parliament, both the director of national intelligence and minister of interior have confessed several times that around 100 districts lack government control, said Farahi. ... So when you have Taliban in control, you will also have their courts. Farahi added that Taliban rulings have no legitimacy in the Afghan legal system. The leadership of the Afghan judiciary rejects allegations of rampant corruption. When contacted for this story, Chief Justice Sayed Yousef Halim refused to comment. But a judge in eastern Afghanistan, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, explained to VOA why people choose Taliban courts. Taliban courts are similar to jirgas, where both parties lose their rights to negotiate, and the decision is imposed and premised on the rulings of mediators, he said. The judge added that government judiciary is based on a three-phase trial, whereas the Taliban make a decision in the first phase. Parallel governments Some analysts also point to a legacy of parallel governments in Afghanistan. Haji Lalgul, chair of the Afghan Human Rights Organization, a nongovernmental rights advocacy group operating in Afghanistan, told VOA that parallel judiciary is not a new phenomenon in the country. It goes decades back in history. During the mujahedeen era [in the 1990s], different parties had their own judicial systems and rulings. Powerful people used to have their own courts and rulings, Lalgul said. He added, Corruption in government could be a reason, but it is not the main reason why people go to nongovernment courts to resolve their cases. 'Act with impunity' Some Afghan officials argue that the Taliban enjoy impunity, and it is that that makes them effective in resolving disputes. The Taliban do not have to report to a higher authority, nor will they be questioned when they commit violence, Afghan parliament member Fatehullah Qaisari told VOA. They can act with impunity, and when government officials do so, they will be subject to scrutiny and investigation. Officials in eastern Afghanistan said a gun and bomb attack Wednesday in Jalalabad killed seven security personnel and wounded 10 people, including three civilians. Afghan police and witnesses said the attack began with several massive explosions near the Pakistani consulate, which is located near India's consulate, a hospital and several schools. The provincial police chief, General Fazal Mohammad Sherzad told reporters that three attackers were targeting the Pakistani consulate and planned to enter the facility from an adjacent guest house.But he said security forces surrounded the house and killed them in a two-hour gunfight. Pakistan's foreign ministry condemned the attack and said only one consulate official was slightly injured by broken glass.A ministry statement said Pakistan has asked the Afghan government to "thoroughly investigate this incident" and to ensure the safety of Pakistani diplomatic missions and officials in Afghanistan. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.Jalalabad is the capital of the eastern Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan where Taliban insurgents and fighters loyal to Islamic State are also active. Wednesday's attack comes as delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, meeting in Islamabad, renewed efforts aimed at ending the 15-year war between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the country's former Taliban rulers. Talks with the Taliban have been on hold since July, when they collapsed after just one meeting following Afghanistan's announcement that longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for more than two years.The Taliban called off its participation and a second meeting was canceled. The Ethiopian government has canceled plans to set up a new economic zone around the capital, the state broadcaster said Wednesday, after weeks of protests against the move that opponents said would displace farmers. A government master plan to create the zone in the Oromiya region around Addis Ababa had sparked some of the worst civil unrest in Ethiopia in a decade and highlighted challenges facing the nation as it seeks to industrialize its agrarian economy. Some opposition figures said in December about 90 people were killed, while others said the toll was now much higher. There was no official toll. The government blamed the violence on "armed gangs." Opponents blamed heavy-handed police tactics. The Oromo People Democratic Organization (OPDO), the regional party that is part of the EPRDF coalition that rules the Horn of Africa country, decided to scrap the plan after a three-day meeting, the state broadcaster announced. "A decision has been made to fully annul the disputed master plan," it said, citing a statement from the party, adding the decision followed public consultations. Tip of iceberg Under the government's 25-year plan, land in the Oromiya region around Addis Ababa was to become part of a zone with new infrastructure to attract investment. The government has worked on the development plan for several years, sparking some small protests in 2014. But when it emerged in mid-November last year that land was to be leased near Ginchi, a town in the area, bigger protests erupted. Demonstrators, many of them students who joined farmers, regularly clashed with police after that. On Tuesday, before the decision to scrap the plan was announced, Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, said protests had subsided but that at least two people were killed and others arrested in recent days. Merera also suggested some of the protesters were angry about more than simply the master plan, including the May election when no opposition candidates won a seat in parliament. "The protests are only the tip of the iceberg. It is all down to frustration and anger over a range of issues," he said. Rights groups and Western governments have praised Ethiopia for its success in developing a nation once brought to its knees by famine, but also criticize the authorities for clamping down on opponents. The government insists it allows free expression. U.S. political fact checkers say President Barack Obama exaggerated some his claims of success over the past seven years as he delivered his final State of the Union address to Congress and the American public. At one point in his speech Tuesday, Obama again called for shutting down the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the American military detains suspected terrorists. Obama said the continued operation of the Guantanamo facility "only serves as a recruitment brochure" for terrorists. But Politifact noted that Guantanamo has never been "a key component" of Islamic State and al-Qaida propaganda, with both of them instead focusing on the continuing U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and its military involvement there and in Afghanistan. Obama cited his commitment to fighting terrorism, "to see that justice is done," by noting the 2011 U.S. raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, and the "perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks" that killed four Americans in Libya in 2012 "sits in a prison cell." Politico said that disputing Obama's Benghazi claim "may seem like a technicality to some," but noted the suspect, Ahmed Abu Khatallah, is not yet convicted, although he is jailed in the United States while he awaits trial. The Internet political news site noted that "similarly unguarded statements" by Obama have caused problems for government prosecutors in handling other sensitive cases. Politico also noted Obama's claim that cheap gasoline prices for U.S. motorists "ain't bad, either," which it said was the result of plunging prices for crude oil on the world market, not anything Obama has done. Moreover, Politico noted the falling prices have proved harmful for U.S. oil producers, who have been shutting down drilling rigs and laying off workers, and in some instances going bankrupt. The Washington Post said that Obama's claim that nearly 900,000 new manufacturing jobs have been created in the past six years is accurate, but omits the fact that there are still 230,000 fewer such jobs in the U.S. than when he took office in early 2009 at the depths of the U.S. recession, the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The newspaper also questioned Obama's claim that at least in two states, Iowa and Texas, "wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power," noting consumers are indeed paying less, but it is a federal wind power tax credit that has driven down the cost. The Post debunked a claim by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who delivered the Republican response to Obama's address, that the size of the national government "has grown day after day, year after year." The newspaper said that the number of federal workers has fallen during Obama's White House tenure, and that as a percentage of overall U.S. employment, it was the smallest share since World War II. A maverick Dutch owner of a factory in Cambodia is trying to demonstrate that socially responsible entrepreneurial enterprises, not reliance on non-governmental organizations, is the Southeast Asian nations best path out of poverty. This is the only solution to help this country, not the NGOs which to some degree create employment by setting up workshops to make trinkets for tourists, said Piet Holten, president of Pactics. The NGOs are trying hard to do good. They have a good heart, but in the end the effect is minimal, Holten asserted. Cambodia is believed to have the second highest number of NGOs per capita in the world, behind Rwanda. It is estimated between one-fifth and one-third of the countrys people directly benefit from assistance of the foreign aid groups which inject one billion dollars annually into the economy. Holten is no armchair economist. His environmentally friendly factory on the outskirts of Siem Reap employs 350 people, mainly young women, churning out 50 million products annually, mostly microfiber cloths and pouches for designer brand sunglasses. The facility does not resemble the typical ramshackle Cambodian garment factory an industry infamous for exploiting its impoverished workers. Solar panels provide 40 percent of the sites electricity. A backup generator is powered by biofuels. In the well-ventilated wheelchair-accessible work areas all lighting is natural. There is an on-site water purification plant. Rainwater is collected to flush the toilets. On site daycare includes rooms for breastfeeding mothers (who get four months of paid maternity leave). The company subsidizes a nutritious daily lunch and pays health and accident insurance a rarity in the sector. We want them to stay and not get sick, Holten explained to VOA during a factory tour. Happy people make good products. Pactics, which was established with one factory 12 years ago in China, is believed to be one of only two workplaces in Cambodia with SA8000 certification (modeled on ISO standards) for socially acceptable practices. Profits are still the bottom line, however. We are not a social enterprise. We are here to make money, said Holten who acknowledged that the corporate attention paid to employees welfare means I sleep a lot better. A productivity based piece-rate system is intended to encourage workers to earn above the minimum guaranteed wage (currently $135 per month). That means supervisors do not have to police the factory floor as employees feel a collective sense of responsibility, Holten said. New employees go through a five-day training program run by an Italian NGO. But the instruction is not about how to do their jobs on the factory floor. Rather they are schooled on the importance of showing up on time and how to behave in the workplace such as waiting in line to get lunch and hygienic use of toilets. They are also educated about workers rights and given job safety information. The concept of sexual harassment is explained and the importance of not tolerating it in the workplace. These fundamentals are necessary for novice workers as nobody had ever seen a factory in Siem Reap province, one of Cambodias poorest, when the factory began operations. When you train them you want to keep them because training is expensive, explained Holten, now starting his third factory (the first one is in Shanghai). The new Raytecs division factory in Phnom Penh will make customized sportswear. Holten does not want to stop there. Id like to help more companies in Cambodia. We have the recipe, he asserts. There can be more companies doing this. Smaller companies in Cambodia do not have access to resources to increase scale or to move beyond products in the garment sector. Pactics, whose primary client is Italys Luxottica Group, the worlds largest eyewear company, was able to build its Siem Reap facility with a Dutch government private sector investment grant of 700,000 euros in 2012. Pactics desires to demonstrate socially responsible factories in Cambodia can be profitable and globally competitive. These girls are competing on the world market, said Holten, who previously worked in several countries as a manufacturing consultant in the software industry. To work at Pactics applicants must be 18 years of age, although Cambodias minimum employment age is 15. It seems obvious the boss has a soft spot for his workers. Much of the labor intensive process could be automated. Holten admits packaging, for example, could be done by machines that would give a payback in a decade but it would not be nice for these people. They wont have a job. Holten stops briefly on the factory floor to chat with Chuon Pour whom he recruited and put through a polytechnic university where administrators resisted having a woman study mechanical engineering because girls should not get their hands dirty, as Holten recalled. The grateful 22-year-old explained that now she wants to share my knowledge with other employees. The enterprise has not been without frustrations for Holten in a country with a government notorious for inefficiency and corruption, but as Holten points out there is no low-wage country where you do not have risks. Recruiting qualified local factory managers has proven nearly impossible to supervise the output of up to 18,000 pouches and 30,000 cleaning cloths per day for famous brand sunglasses and snow goggles, such as Oakley and Ray-Ban. We try to internally promote, according to Holten, but until there are enough locals to be bosses some of those jobs are being filled by Europeans. For the hundreds of Cambodian workers on the factory floor there is already evidence of upward mobility. The majority of the bicycles in the employees parking lot have been replaced with motor scooters. Pactics makes sure every worker who buys a motorized two-wheeler can also afford a crash helmet 50 percent subsidized by the company. The biggest safety risk for employees, Holten discovered, is not on the shop floor but commuting on Cambodias notoriously hazardous roads. Western intelligence agencies are increasingly worried that Islamic State militants will soon find ways to carry out more and increasingly sophisticated attacks on Europe and the United States, using November's terror attack on Paris as a blueprint. "2016 is going to be the year where we wish we could get back to 2015," said Patrick Skinner, a former U.S. intelligence officer now with The Soufan Group, a strategic security intelligence consultancy. "It's far too easy for a fighter to go from Raqqa to Europe, and you would think that would be really hard to do," he said. Analysts have long warned that the Islamic State had the ability to direct attacks on Western targets from its home base in Syria and Iraq. But they say the Paris attack showed the group was capable of putting that ability into action, using both former foreign fighters and radicalized individuals to kill 130 people in a coordinated fashion. Already, French and British officials have warned that the group is actively planning new mass casualty attacks in Europe. One unnamed French senior counterterrorism official told the French news agency that the Islamic State is aiming for a "European 9/11." Growing emphasis on external ops U.S. officials are equally concerned, pointing to the Islamic State's growing emphasis on external operations as it devotes more people and resources to those missions. The FBI says online calls for attacks against American targets, especially against soldiers and law enforcement, have also continued unabated. "ISIL's opportunistic nature goes beyond Iraq and Syria," a U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA, using an acronym for the terror group. "It's no surprise that it used its foothold to plot against the West." Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell warned U.S. lawmakers Tuesday not to underestimate the Islamic State. "Sometimes it's really important to listen to what your adversary tells you," he told the House Armed Services Committee. "ISIS has told us they're going to attack us here," he said, referring to the group by one of its other acronyms. "Unless they are degraded, they will succeed." Military defeat not enough To date, U.S. and coalition forces have launched almost 10,000 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, destroying more than 18,000 targets and killing more than 20,000 fighters. U.S. military officials also say the group has lost 20 to 30 percent of the territory it once held. Yet lost fighters have been replaced, counterattacks have been launched and new terror plots are being hatched, leading some to wonder if degrading the Islamic State will be enough. "A lot of our assumptions are based on that if we defeat them militarily which is a categorical imperative, we have to do that that it will result in defeat on the other battlefields of social media and lone wolves and small cells," Skinner said. "I don't think that's accurate. I think the lag time, if they are connected, is going to be a lot longer than we're going to tolerate." Some current U.S. officials are also cautious, saying that even once the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate is destroyed, it will take an additional effort a "second war" to destroy the Islamic State terror group. "We're just getting started," former CIA director James Woolsey told VOA during an interview in November. "We will be seeing ISIS one way or another in Europe, and perhaps in North America, for a long time to come." The leader of the French Jewish community in Marseilles asked men and boys Tuesday to refrain from wearing the traditional skullcap, a day after a teenager attacked a Jewish teacher. Zvi Ammar said his call to abandon the kippah "until better days" caused him great pain. "As soon as we are identified as Jewish, we can be assaulted and even risk death," Ammar told French media. He said he would rather be criticized for his decision by fellow Jews than "regretting one day if by misfortune something very grave occurs." A 15-year-old Turkish Kurd attacked a Jewish teacher with a machete in Marseilles on Monday, cutting his shoulder and hand. The suspect told police he acted in the name of the Islamic State. It was the third such attack on Jews in France in recent months, and it came as the country remembered the victims of last year's terror attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and siege of a kosher supermarket in Paris, in which 17 people died. The Council of Europe told Georgia on Tuesday to improve its justice system, saying it was worried about allegations that authorities have been abusing the law to conduct a politically motivated crackdown on the opposition. The criticism from the pan-European human rights body comes at a sensitive time for Georgia, which has sought to move closer to NATO and the European Union in the wake of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014. Georgia fought and lost a brief war with Russia in 2008 that ended with Moscow tightening its control over two breakaway Georgian regions, and it is keen to court the West as a potential counterbalance to Russian influence. Nils Muiznieks, human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, said in a report that Georgia had made some progress in overhauling its justice system, but that long-standing structural problems needed serious attention, particularly with a view to upholding the independence of the judiciary. "The commissioner is concerned about allegations of politically motivated measures targeting members of the opposition, especially with regard to the use of pre-trial detention measures against them," he said. Dozens of former officials who served ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, including a former prime minister, have been arrested on charges such as abuse of power and corruption since Saakashvili's government lost power in 2012. Wanted in Georgia on charges he abused his authority, Saakashvili currently lives in Ukraine, where he is governor of the Odessa region. Western countries have expressed concerns about the behavior of his successors in the past amid allegations from the former president's supporters that they were being subjected to a political witch hunt. The authorities deny the accusations. Muiznieks also urged the government to tackle intolerance toward sexual minorities and to ease tensions between majority and minority religious groups in mainly Orthodox Christian Georgia. The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, promotes human rights and democracy in Europe and has 47 member states. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is ready to meet with non-parliamentary opposition to discuss the country's electoral system, Sputnik reported. Georgia has the so-called mixed system. The parliament consists of 77 MPs elected upon the proportional system (the candidates offered on the basis of party lists) and 73 MPs elected upon the majority system. The country's authorities are against the abolition of the majoritarian system for election-2016. Kvirikashvili will meet with interparty group. They will discuss the possibility of abolishing the mixed electoral system for the upcoming parliamentary election. A mixed electoral system is in the interests of the Georgian authorities, the opposition said. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, killed more than 200,000 people, leveled much of the capital Port-au-Prince and left 1.5 million Haitians homeless. As Haitians commemorate the sixth anniversary of the disaster, long-standing political instability and delayed presidential elections continue to undermine reconstruction efforts in the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. "The path to recovery and long-term development is not an easy one," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement this week. "Many Haitians continue to face multiple challenges, including displacement, food insecurity and lack of access to clean water and sanitation," he said. Below are some facts about what has changed six years after the disaster and the key challenges ahead. * Haiti has struggled to establish democratic rule after decades of dictatorship, military coups and election fraud. A decision last month by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council to postpone a presidential run-off election between ruling party candidate Jovenel Moise and former government executive Jude Celestin amid accusations of fraud and irregularities exacerbates slow construction efforts. * While most of the rubble has been cleared, many government buildings have yet to be rebuilt. Haiti's parliament is still operating in temporary buildings, while the presidential palace and cathedral remain in ruins. * The sprawling tent cities where hundreds of thousands of Haitians made homeless by the quake were forced to live in have largely disappeared. But 45,000 Haitians still live in tents and make-shift shelters often assembled from bed sheets, tarpaulin, wooden sticks and string, with little or no access to water and sanitation. * An acute shortage of housing continues to be a key challenge and few new permanent brick homes have been built since the quake. * The government estimates Haiti needs up to 500,000 new homes to make up for the pre-earthquake housing shortage, those homes destroyed during the disaster, and demand resulting from urban growth in the densely populated capital. * A new National Emergency Operations Center was built after the quake to coordinate future disaster response and numerous maps have been produced highlighting those communities most at risk from flooding and other disasters, along with a construction code to improve construction and ensure buildings can withstand future tremors. But experts say the 2010 code is not being enforced and thousands of Haitians in the capital continue to live in informal settlements perched on hilltops. * Even before the quake, land ownership and unclear land tenure was a thorny issue in Haiti, contributing to violence and poverty in a country where land is concentrated in the hands of a few big landowners. An incomplete national land registry system and unclear land tenure contributes to delays in the building of new homes. * While the government has pledged to make free and universal education a priority, primary school enrollment is still low - at 75 percent. On average, a Haitian aged 25 years or older has less than 5 years of schooling. * With half of Haiti's adult population illiterate, raising literacy rates remains a key priority. Roughly 75 percent of children at the end of first grade and nearly half of students finishing second grade could not read a single word, according to an assessment by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Sources: International Organization for Migration (IOM), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) The United States welcomed Iran's release of 10 U.S. Navy sailors Wednesday, a day after they drifted into Iranian waters and were detained. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said resolution of the incident was a success for diplomacy, and Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he was grateful to have the service members back in our hands. American authorities are still unsure of the circumstances surrounding the crews' detention, Carter said, in part because they have not yet been able "to fully debrief the sailors." The freed Navy crew members nine men and one woman are now at a U.S. facility in Qatar. Iran also released the two small patrol boats the Americans were using when they were detained. WATCH: Related video clip The sailors were traveling through the Persian Gulf from Kuwait toward Bahrain when U.S. controllers lost contact with them Tuesday. Iranian Revolutionary Guards who patrol the Gulf boarded the U.S. vessels and detained the crew members near Farsi Island, Iranian territory roughly midway between Kuwait and Bahrain. Questions remain A U.S. defense official told VOA that Navy tracking equipment found the sailors' boats to be "dead in the water, and in Iranian water." "Why?" he asked. "We're still figuring that out." The Navy then "found the boats on Farsi Island, parked with no crew." As to whether it was mechanical failure or navigational error that put the sailors in Iranian territorial waters, the official said, "Let the investigation work itself out." A U.S. defense official added, "We do know that it likely wasn't mechanical failure. There's a chance that it was navigational error instead, but we really must await completion of the ongoing investigation into the circumstances." "The [Obama] administration is pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary has occurred," Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said in a statement, pointing out that under international law, navy boats do not lose their sovereign immune status when they are in distress at sea. "By failing to affirm basic principles of international law, it places our Navy and Coast Guard vessels and the men and women who sail them at increased risk in the future," McCain said. Peaceful resolution Kerry praised Iran for "swiftly resolving" the situation. "That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure and strong," Kerry said. The State Department said there was no formal U.S. apology to Iran, since the sailors' intrusion into Iranian waters was accidental. Iranian television broadcast what appeared to be a brief interview with one of the American sailors, who said the crew apologized for entering Iranian waters by mistake. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif tweeted that he was happy to see "dialogue and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the sailors episode. Lets learn from this latest example." Ramadhan Sharif, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, told Irans Aftab News that the U.S. servicemen were questioned while in detention. The situation in the Gulf was unfolding as Obama went to Capitol Hill Tuesday evening to deliver his annual State of the Union message, televised live through the country and abroad. The president did not mention the Gulf incident, but did take note of the nuclear agreement reached last year between Tehran and a group of world powers, saying, "The world has avoided another war." The nuclear agreement is expected to be implemented in the coming days, following steps Iran has taken to curb its nuclear activities. Western governments have agreed in return to lift long-standing economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Farsi Island is home to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base, which may be why the sailors were quickly detained, according to Matthew Kroenig, a senior fellow in The Atlantic Councils Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. Most countries would do the same thing if foreign sailors came that close to a naval base, Kroenig told VOA. Less than a month ago U.S. officials criticized Iran for carrying out a "highly provocative" rocket test near U.S. boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz in the region. Chris Hannas in Washington, Nike Ching and Pam Dockins at the State Department, and other VOA journalists contributed to this report. Officials in eastern Afghanistan said a gun and bomb attack Wednesday near the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad killed seven security personnel and wounded 10 people, including three civilians. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the assault. Afghan police and witnesses said the attack began with several massive explosions near the consulate, which is located near India's consulate, a hospital and several schools. The provincial police chief, General Fazal Mohammad Sherzad told reporters that three attackers were targeting the Pakistani consulate and planned to enter the facility from an adjacent guest house. But he said security forces surrounded the house and killed them in a two-hour gunfight. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said only one consulate official was slightly injured by broken glass. A ministry statement said Pakistan has asked the Afghan government to "thoroughly investigate this incident" and to ensure the safety of Pakistani diplomatic missions and officials in Afghanistan. The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said it received a phone call from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who expressed grief and concern over the attack. A statement said Sharif told Ghani that terrorism is a common enemy for both the countries and "we will fight this menace together to eliminate it once for all." Islamabad meeting Wednesday's attack comes as delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, meeting in Islamabad, renewed efforts aimed at ending the 15-year war between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the country's former Taliban rulers. Talks with the Taliban have been on hold since July, when they collapsed after just one meeting following Afghanistan's announcement that longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for more than two years. The Taliban called off its participation and a second meeting was canceled. Speaking in Islamabad shortly after the consulate attack, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Janan Mosazai, warned that Islamic State poses a potentially devastating threat to both countries. We believe that this [Daesh or IS] is a serious threat and if left unchecked, if left unaddressed it can exacerbate in a significant way the security challenges that this region especially Afghanistan and Pakistan are already facing, Mosazai said. Urgent solution sought The Afghan ambassador emphasized the need for seeking an urgent solution to the war in Afghanistan with the help of sincere and concrete Pakistan support. So that the Afghan forces and their counterparts on the Pakistan side can dedicate the resources and the capabilities required to nip this Daesh menace in the bud and to make sure that the ideology of Daesh and the tactics of Daesh do not seep into the minds of impressionable youth in this region, he said. Afghan officials allege the Taliban leadership is sheltering in Pakistan and Islamabad's military is better placed to influence insurgent leaders and push them to the table for peace talks with the Kabul government. Pakistani officials insist their influence with the insurgent group is overstated particularly after the emergence of internal rifts since July when the death of Mullah Omar was announced. VOA's Chris Hannas contributed to this report from Washington. The U.S. has announced plans to expand its refugee admissions program, with a goal of providing more assistance to Central Americans. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the expansion, on Wednesday, as he outlined U.S. foreign policy goals for the year. In a speech at National Defense University, Kerry said the new provisions would offer legal and safe alternatives to people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Many people from these countries, said Kerry, had been tempted to begin dangerous journeys that made them easy prey for human smugglers and traffickers. "The refugee crisis is not just a Syrian problem, nor a Middle Eastern problem, nor a European or African problem," said Kerry. It is a "global challenge of historic proportions and dimensions," he said. The State Department said under the expansion plan, the U.S. would collaborate with the United Nations and non-government organizations to identify those in need of refugee protection, such as people who may have been targeted by criminal gangs. In a statement, the State Department said more than 620,000 refugees had been resettled in the U.S. over the past ten years, including nearly 70,000 during fiscal 2015. Kerry also took a swipe at critics of U.S. refugee resettlement efforts. He said lately, U.S. efforts to help refugees had taken place against a backdrop of some pretty nasty politics that he said was designed to scare Americans. Some of that criticism has come from Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. During recent campaign stumps, Trump has said that Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. could be ISIS. Later Wednesday, Kerry met with refugees at a Washington-area center. He also said President Barack Obama would host a summit on providing assistance to refugees on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this fall. Watch video report: Iran Thanked for Freeing US Sailors Kerrys spoke just hours after the Pentagon confirmed that Iran had released 10 sailors, a day after they were detained for drifting into Iranian waters. Senior administration officials said Kerry engagement immediately with his counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, on Tuesday, after being made aware of the incident. On Wednesday, Kerry thanked Iranian authorities for their quick and appropriate response. He said the sailors had been treated well, provided with food and blankets and assisted with their return to the fleet. We can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago, said Kerry. The incident took place as Iran nears completion of requirements of a nuclear deal with world powers, a move that will provide Tehran with relief from international sanctions. Kerry said once finalized, the U.S. would continue to closely monitor implementation of the nuclear agreement to ensure that the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran is removed as a threat to Middle East security and global peace. Syria/ IS High US Priorities The secretary highlighted foreign policy goals outlined by U.S. President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address, on Tuesday. Dealing with the conflict in Syria as well as its refugee crisis and violent extremism would be a top U.S. priority, said Kerry. Degrading and defeating Daesh [Arabic acronym for IS] is the first pillar of our strategy, said Kerry, who added that working with allies to prevent the spread of violence and to provide humanitarian assistance were also central priorities. His speech came on the heels of the State of the Union address by President Obama. The president and Kerry both outlined U.S. foreign policy goals for the year. Kerry said degrading and defeating Islamic State militants was the first "pillar" of the U.S. strategy. He said another goal was for the U.S. and its partners to work together to keep violence from spreading. Mexican officials are investigating the meeting that then-fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo'' Guzman held with actor Sean Penn and actress Kate del Castillo in October to see if any crimes were committed. But government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said late Tuesday that it is the possibility of illegal acts, rather than specific people, that authorities in Mexico are looking into. "We investigate actions, we don't investigate people,'' he said. "The Attorney General's Office is investigating this event and others involving contacts that Joaquin Guzman had while he was on the run.'' Little ground for prosecution Carlos Barragan y Salvatierra, a professor of law at Mexico's National University, said there would be little ground to prosecute Penn or Del Castillo, unless money or gifts changed hands. "If during the dinner El Chapo gave them money, or jewels, or he gave them money for the movie or any other transaction, they could be charged with money laundering,'' Barragan y Salvatierra said. But he noted, "meeting with a fugitive or criminal is not a crime, even if the law says we should report crimes, there is no punishment for not doing so.'' Asked about scrutiny of his controversial meeting with the fugitive drug lord at a hideout in rural Mexico, Penn on Monday would only say: "I've got nothin' to hide.'' Mexican officials have said the meeting helped them track down Guzman, who was recaptured Friday following a bloody shooting with marines in the city of Los Mochis in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa. Images released to a Mexican newspaper showed that Penn and Del Castillo were under surveillance. Del Castillo has not publicly commented on the meeting. But a federal official said Tuesday that Guzman appears to have been infatuated with del Castillo, apparently referring to her by the code name "Hermosa,'' or "Beautiful.'' The drug lord also wanted a second meeting with her according to the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Sanchez, however, did criticize what he said were attempts to glorify drug traffickers. "We very much regret the acts of any citizen who collaborates with organized crime, because many times drug traffickers have been stereotyped as people who have their good side, or who in some way do good things.'' "They paint them as heroes, and attractive and generous,'' Sanchez said. "The reality is that these types of criminals have raped women, have killed children, have tortured women and men.'' Guzman's shirt A Los Angeles, California based clothing store has begun advertising flashy blue, baroque-print shirts like the one Guzman wore in a photograph with Penn. The company advertised it alongside Guzman's picture, with the slogan "Most Wanted... Shirt.'' In the past, polo shirts like one worn by drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villarreal, "La Barbie,'' gained broad popularity in Mexico. Penn had his own implied criticism for Mexican forces, expressing surprise that a soldier at a checkpoint waved his vehicle through on the way to the meeting with Guzman in October. But the federal official said that action had proved "very useful'' in the hunt, suggesting it was part of the plan. The official said that authorities were following Penn and Del Castillo's movements all the time after they arrived in Mexico to meet with Guzman. Barragan y Salvatierra said that meeting with Guzman for journalistic purposes would be a solid defense. "In the case of a meeting for an interview or to prepare a film, it is even less [prosecutable], because an actor could argue that even though they're not journalists, they were doing journalistic work, and thus the law would protect them.'' Daring escape July's escape by Guzman was the elusive drug lord's second from a Mexican maximum security prison and deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto and created friction with Washington, which had sought his extradition to the United States. This time around, Mexican officials have said they are willing to extradite Guzman but warn the process could take a year. In the meantime, they plan to take extraordinary measure to prevent a third escape. Late Tuesday, a Mexican federal official said the government is moving Guzman constantly from cell to cell. Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison since his recapture Friday, he said. YouTube says it has launched a local version for Pakistan. From now on, users in Pakistan will be directed to an Urdu-language version of the YouTube video sharing website at youtube.com.pk, which will feature videos trending in the country. "We aim to provide an even more tailored YouTube experience by launching versions that are optimized for Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. We also hope that this will pave the way for the work of local creators, personalities, and musicians to shine on the world's largest and most vibrant video community," said a Google spokesman, cited by Dawn newspaper. Google owns YouTube. The move is seen as a possible first step toward an end to Pakistan's ban on YouTube. The ban has been in effect since 2012, when the company did not remove what Pakistani authorities said was a blasphemous film. The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a derogatory way. The movie sparked violent protests around the globe. YouTube said it will continue to track government requests to remove content. Pakistan has blocked sites before. In 2010, Pakistan shut down Facebook for two weeks, saying the social media website contained what Pakistani authorities said was blasphemous content. In early December, 2015, Muslims and their beliefs become the hottest, most incendiary topic in the U.S. presidential election campaign. Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of all Muslims entering the United States, announced Republican candidate and frontrunner Trump, making his position and thinking about Muslims very clear. Trump went on to talk briefly about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, asserting that Muslims want jihad against the United States. "We have no choice, we have no choice, he ruminated. His position set off a tidal wave in the Republican party, splitting the its position on Muslims and Muslim-Americans. It also raised the hackles of Democrats. A month later, President Barack Obama was still speaking out against it. "When politicians insult Muslims... that doesnt make us safer," Obama said in his State of the Union Speech Tuesday. "Its just wrong." But in the eye of the controversy, what do Muslims think? Islamic law vs. democratic principles Muslims say they feel at home in the U.S. and one of the reasons is that democracy is not unfamiliar. Leading Muslim cleric Feisal Abdul Rauf says Islamic law is based on democratic principles. The Declaration of Independence is very much in line with the objectives of Islamic law," he told VOA. "Our rulers are legitimized by those who rule them by way of elections. These are all procedures which are very much in sync with Islamic law." Feisal is founder of the Cordoba Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving Muslim-West relations and promoting moderation. In his new book, Defining Islamic Statehood, he talks about contemporary Muslim life in America. Many Muslims feel the United States of America, for them, living in this country is far more Islamic than many countries they come from, and I certainly share that opinion myself. The Imam was born and raised in the United States. His book is a six-year study involving Muslim scholars and leaders from around the world. The consensus reached: there were six major objectives in Islam: protection of life, dignity, property, family, intellect and religion - all compatible with the American way of life. Sending Muslims home? 'Not doable' In New Jersey, young Muslim leader Mahmoud Mahmoud is a local community worker. He believes strongly in ties between Muslims and non-Muslims in America, and he agrees with Feisal. In America theres a more Islamic way of life than there [is] in Muslim countries." Mahmoud defines that way of life by what it isn't. "You see nepotism is everywhere in Islamic countries, he says. Corruption, the mistreatment of women, the lack of rights for the poor, social justice; poverty is everywhere. So if you take a look at how these issues are in America, people here are able to express themselves freely. To the extent that America strives to eliminate corruption and other problems is to Mahmoud very religious. Those are all fundamental values that are enshrined in every religion. If you take a look that caring for thy neighbor or caring for the poor, so there are lots of things I agree with in saying that. Imam Feisal says the United States and the Muslim world are inseparable. Look, he said, the United States has enormous interest in the Muslim world. Muslims constitute almost a quarter of the worlds population. "We have our (U.S.) military in Iraq, in Afghanistan. We have our bases is Turkey. Our engagement, our footprint in the Muslim world, you cannot separate it. You have economic interests." Hence, Feisal says, Donald J. Trump's call is a non starter: "To say you cannot allow Muslims here, if you try to do it, you will discover how intimate the relationship America has with the Muslim world is. Its not doable. President Barack Obama is delivering his seventh and final State of the Union address, touting his accomplishments as president, focusing on his vision for the country's future and discussing the need to heal its deep political divides. Speaking to a packed House of Representatives chamber in the U.S. Capitol, Obama acknowledged that the expectations are low for his final year in office, but vowed he would not stop working to achieve his policy goals. "Fixing a broken immigration system, protecting our kids from gun violence, equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage all these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done," he said. Obama also hit out at his critics on economic issues, saying "anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction." "The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world," he said, citing more than 14 million new jobs, an unemployment rate cut in half, and growing automobile and manufacturing industries. "Gas under two bucks a gallon ain't bad, either," he said, to applause. WATCH: Highlight's from the address: On foreign policy, Obama said "priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks," noting that both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group pose a threat to the U.S. But he cautioned against those who think the world is sinking into "World War III." "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national existence." "That's the story ISIL wants to tell," Obama said, using an alternate name for the Islamic State. "That's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious. Nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions." Obama, a Democrat, also took a subtle jab at Republican presidential candidates, saying Americans should "not fear the future." "America has been through big changes before wars and depression, the influx of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to expand civil rights," Obama said. "Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears," he said. Obama also took aim at those in the presidential election campaign who have made disparaging comments about Muslims, and condemned recent attacks on Muslims places of worship. "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is bullied, that doesn't make us safer. That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong," he said. "It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country." Obama cited foreign policy accomplishments, including stopping the spread of Ebola in West Africa, forging the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, restarting diplomatic relations with Cuba, and sealing the Iran nuclear deal. According to prepared remarks, Obama's speech will not mention Tuesday's incident in which 10 U.S. sailors were detained by Iran, after apparently straying into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Other U.S. officials have attempted to play down the incident, saying Iran has agreed to "promptly" release the sailors. The incident had threatened to become an awkward distraction for Obama, coming hours before the address. Instead, Obama focused on other foreign policy matters, including renewing his vow to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. "It's expensive, it's unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies," he said. GOP Response The Republican response to Obama's speech will be delivered by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has been rumored as a possible vice presidential choice for the eventual Republican presidential nominee. According to prepared remarks, Haley will accuse the president of not living up to his "soaring words." "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. Were feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities," Haley will say. "Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it. Soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. That direction is what I want to talk about tonight," the prepared remarks continue. In his seventh and final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touted his accomplishments and focused on his vision for the future, in an optimistic speech that attempted to define his legacy as he enters his final year in office. Addressing a packed House of Representatives chamber Tuesday in the U.S. Capitol, Obama appeared relaxed and his tone was largely positive as he focused on the need to heal the country's deep political divides. But the president also took several swipes at his critics, on several occasions offering indirect but harsh criticisms of the Republican rivals who are vying to replace him as president in the ongoing 2016 election campaign. In particular, Obama slammed "politics that targets people because of race or religion," a statement seen as a criticism of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, the blunt-talking billionaire who wants a temporary ban on Muslim immigration. "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is bullied, that doesn't make us safer. That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong," he said. "It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country. Watch highlights of the address: Economy Obama also hit out at his domestic opponents on economic issues, saying "anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction." "The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world," Obama said. He pointed to more than 14 million new jobs, an unemployment rate cut in half, and growing automobile and manufacturing industries. "Gas under two bucks a gallon ain't bad, either," he said, to applause. Foreign policy On foreign policy, Obama acknowledged the threat posed by terrorist groups, including Islamic State, which has carried out a series of high-profile attacks around the globe. But he cautioned that Islamist terrorists are not an existential concern, warning against those who say the world is sinking into "World War III." "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national existence." Watch video report from Carolyn Presutti: Obama also vowed to continue the U.S.-led bombing campaign against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a campaign many have criticized as being too weak and indecisive. "If you doubt America's commitment - or mine - to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden," he said, referring to the late head of al-Qaida killed by a U.S. special forces operation in Pakistan in 2011. "When you come after Americans, we will go after you," Obama said. "It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit." Obama also cited other foreign policy accomplishments, including stopping the spread of Ebola in West Africa, forging the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, restarting diplomatic relations with Cuba, and sealing the Iran nuclear deal. More work needed But more work needs to be done, the president said. Specifically, he renewed his vow to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. "It's expensive, it's unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies," he said. Obama also called on fellow lawmakers to join him in efforts to combat global warming, an issue he said was crucial to protecting national security. "If anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it," he said. "You'll be pretty lonely." "Because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it," he said. No mention of Iran dispute Obama's speech did not mention Tuesday's incident in which 10 U.S. sailors were detained by Iran, after apparently straying into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Other U.S. officials have attempted to play down the incident, saying Iran has agreed to "promptly" release the sailors. The incident threatened to become an awkward distraction for Obama, coming hours before the address during which he was to present his Iran policy as a major achievement. Partisan divide 'has gotten worse' The president's speech was introspective, and at times even apologetic. One of Obama's biggest regrets, he said, is that he failed to fulfill his campaign promises to help heal the country's massive political divide. "The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he lamented. Obama acknowledged that the expectations are low for his final year in office, but vowed he will not stop working to achieve his policy goals. "Fixing a broken immigration system, protecting our kids from gun violence, equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage - all these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done," he said. WATCH: Highlights from the GOP response to the State of the Union GOP response The Republican response to Obama's speech was delivered by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has been rumored as a possible vice presidential choice for the eventual Republican presidential nominee. Governor Haley accused the president of not living up to his "soaring words." "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. Were feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities," Haley said. "Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it. Soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. That direction is what I want to talk about tonight," she added. Of the many foreign policy challenges confronting the United States, North Korea's recent nuclear test was not among those mentioned in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday. U.S. foreign policys top priority, he said, must be dealing with threats from failing states in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the terror networks that have grown in that part of the world. North Korea analyst Victor Cha with the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said dealing with the growing nuclear threat from North Korea remains an issue of secondary interest. He said he does not expect Obama to change the current containment policy of strategic patience, nor does he expect any of the major presidential candidates to make North Korea a major issue in the campaign. Whoever comes into office about a year from now is going to be dealing with an exponentially worse problem than we are dealing with today, said Cha. Bone numbing pain Tensions on the Korean peninsula, however, continued to intensify this week, at least rhetorically. South Korean President Park Geun-hye publicly denounced North Korea Wednesday for conducting its fourth nuclear test, defended her countrys limited response and urged China to support strong international sanctions. At a news conference in Seoul, Park said South Korea is cooperating closely with the United States and other allies to develop new United Nations sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain. However she recognized that without support from China, which provides key economic support to North Korea, it would be difficult to effectively pressure the Kim Jong Un government to halt its nuclear program. I believe that China will play a more active role as it has shown a clear willingness. We are having discussions with the envoys of the six-party talks to develop effective sanctions, Park said. In 2009, Pyongyang withdrew from the six party talks with Washington, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and Moscow to halt the Norths nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees. On Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to detonate a more powerful H-bomb in the future and called for an expansion of the size and power of his country's nuclear arsenal, the state television agency KCNA reported. North Korea claims its recent nuclear blast was that of a hydrogen bomb that is much more powerful than the atomic bombs it tested in the past. This claim has been largely dismissed by experts, who argue the yield was too low for a full-fledged thermonuclear device. South Korean measures Park defended her decision to resume anti-Kim Jong Un loudspeaker broadcasts along the border against charges that they are ineffective or overly provocative. She said the use of this psychological warfare measure stirs unrest amongst the populist in the North and unnerves the Pyongyang leadership that tightly controls the state run media. She credits the broadcasts used last year, during a flare up in tensions over a land mine incident, for pressuring the North Korean leadership to seek a settlement and make concessions, including an apology for instigating the conflict. Truth is the most important weapon against a totalitarian regime, she said. North Korea has reportedly set up its own loudspeaker towers in the border area that broadcast criticisms of President Park. During her news conference Park credited South Koreas close military alliance with the United States for generating a strong deterrence and enhancing military readiness to defend against possible North Korean provocations. Washington and Seoul recently conducted a demonstration of airpower close to the border with the North by flying a nuclear capable U.S. B-52 bomber, brought in from Guam, and a South Korea fighter jet. However Park said she would not ask the U.S. to station nuclear weapons in South Korea and was non-committal on possibly setting up the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] system in Korea. Beijing reportedly opposes the THAAD deployment in the region because it could be used potentially to intercept Chinese missiles. Park also called on the South Korean parliament to pass a controversial anti-terrorism act to prevent North Korean cyber hacks and attacks by extremist groups. Critics say the measure can be too easily be used to crack down on civil liberties and political opposition. US sanctions The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation that would broaden unilateral sanctions that would empower the president to seize the assets of North Koreans involved in illicit activities and to sanction banks from other countries that do business with the Kim Jong Un government. The measure will likely also find strong support in the Senate and from President Obama. But North Korea currently has no real access to U.S. banks and its leadership has survived international sanctions for years. South Korea halted most trade and assistance programs to the North In 2010 after Seoul accused Pyongyang of sinking a South Korean warship and killing 46 sailors. North Korea has denied any involvement in the attack. China supported United Nations sanctions against North Korea in 2013 following its third nuclear test. While it may support some further punitive measures after this latest nuclear test, Beijing has been reluctant to back severe sanctions that could cause instability along its border and spark further conflict. Elkhan Alasgarov, Ph.D., head of the Baku Network expert council Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 Trend: The decline in energy prices on the world markets has become a serious test for developing Azerbaijani economy. Azerbaijan is doing everything possible to mitigate the negative trends, by continuing the perspective international economic projects, social measures and initiating the large-scale reforms in the country. The concrete actions are taken to develop the business sphere, non-oil sector of Azerbaijan. In current conditions, certain external forces are trying to derive profit from the current situation and count on complication of Azerbaijan's relations with its neighbors. One of them is Georgia. In difficult economic situation and energy crisis in Georgia, Azerbaijan, as a loyal friend and neighbor, provided this country with gas, oil products, loans. "The Georgian people will never forget this action," former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said. The former president made this statement at the opening ceremony of the Turkish section of the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Kars railway July 24, 2008. This was the period when two weeks left before the events in Tskhinvali. Neighboring Georgia confronted with Russia in "hot August of 2008" and experienced all consequences of the war in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Despite the existing threats, Azerbaijan remained true to its alliance. It supported Tbilisi politically and economically. "The then Georgian leader called Azerbaijan "guarantor of independence" of the country, and swore to Azerbaijanis in the "eternal friendship" of the Georgian people. Now, all these statements, devalued by some Georgian politicians to the level of talks with Baku, about "filling the deficit of natural gas", which allegedly lacks in Georgia," said Gia Volsky, Georgian parliament's deputy to the media. During his speech in connection with the ongoing Azerbaijani-Georgian negotiations on energy issues in Tbilisi he stated that in Azerbaijan everybody knows that the problem is not in "filling of gas deficit", but in the Gazprom's intentions to begin supplying gas to its ally Armenia on the first phase, not the second. To the extent possible, to displace the Azerbaijani gas from Georgia, to cover projects and so on. The issue is quite serious and under conditions of growing economic problems it would be naive to call the entire negotiating process "filling the deficit". It all began in late September of the last year in Brussels, when a "secret" meeting of Kakha Kaladze with the Chairman of the Board of "Gazprom" Alexey Miller was held. It is known that the Russian "Gazprom" desperately looking for markets for its gas, which massively refused in Europe and stubbornly refuses to buy China. In Brussels, the Georgian side itself raised the issue of increasing the supply of Russian gas through the gas pipeline from Georgia to Armenia. "Filling the deficit by Georgia" for Armenia is clearly harmful for Azerbaijan, may be on a smaller scale, as the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border. It may be cost-effective, but it is a politically adventurous option for Tbilisi, which with this project causes doubt of the "guarantor of independence" in sincerity of its strategic ally. President Barack Obama ended his State of the Union address Tuesday night with the customary assessment that the nation is strong and used a portion of his speech to portray America's standing in the world as stronger than ever. "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close," Obama said. He highlighted the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, the role the U.S. played in getting the international deal on Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. military operations that killed al-Qaida leaders and the U.S. efforts to help stop the spread of Ebola. "Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead. They call us." But critics of the president's strategies, particularly in the Middle East where he has resisted calls to send in combat troops to battle Islamic State and instead relied on local and international partnerships, have said that under Obama the U.S. has reduced its role on the global stage. Misunderstanding threats Michael Pregent, a former intelligence adviser to General David Petraeus and the executive director of Veterans Against the Deal, said that when it came to foreign policy, the president's address was "detached from reality." "People don't call the U.S. anymore. They actually do call Beijing, they actually do call Russia," Pregent said. "He doesn't seem to understand that this U.S. disengagement policy in the Middle East has actually resulted in prolonging wars and expanding them if you look at Iraq [and] Syria." Obama stood before a joint session of Congress hours after 10 U.S. Navy crew members were detained by Iran. The Americans were expected to be released early Wednesday, but Pregent said Iran should have immediately released them and that Obama missed the chance to address the situation. "I think this is one of the first State of the Unions where our president had an ongoing crisis that he failed to mention in the State of the Union to make Americans feel comfortable that their commander in chief was actually doing something about it," he said. Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Ben Carson joined the criticism of the president for not including the situation in his speech. Pregent also said Obama downplayed the threat posed by Islamic State, recalling the president's earlier description of the militants as the "JV team" and saying he referred to them that way again Tuesday without using the phrase. 'Shouldn't overreact' Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, said Obama's characterization of Islamic State made clear that he understands the threat without overexaggerating it. "That we shouldn't overreact, that also means internationally, not necessarily going in actions that waste American lives and treasure, but also domestically, not an overreaction with some of the rhetoric and some of the divisive and racist rhetoric that we have seen in some quarters," Vidino said. He also downplayed the significance of not mentioning the U.S. Navy personnel in Iran, citing the optimism from administration officials about the situation being potentially being resolved quickly. "Now we'll see if that's really going to be the case, but it could really just be a minor incident, so not necessarily raising to the level of something that should be addressed in the State of the Union." Obama is entering the final year of his presidency that began in 2009 and has featured some landmark policy initiatives popular with his Democratic Party and sharply opposed by Republicans. U.S. Lawmakers React to Obama's State of The Union Speech: Matt Gammon of Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research said Obama at this point is not as popular as other two-term presidents, making it hard for him to come out and take credit for things like his healthcare legislation that caused bipartisan division. "One of the things that I really would have wished to hear more of is him reaching out to Republicans," Gammon said. "It's very easy to talk bipartisan game, you know he wants more money for Medicare, he wants more money for Social Security, he wants free college tuition, but I didn't hear him put a lot on the plate for Republicans. And I didn't hear him reach out to Republicans much on issues that they want from him." Optimism Obama's campaign for president in 2008 featured slogans like "Change we can believe in" that signaled a positive and inclusive bid to unite the country. His speech Tuesday at times harkened back to those ideas. "That's the America I know," he said in his closing paragraph. "That's the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Undaunted by challenge. Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." Elizabeth Sena, vice president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, said the president was trying to "set the stage for the future" and his vision for the country. Pakistan said Wednesday it has arrested "several individuals" belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group that India suspects masterminded the deadly assault earlier this month on an Indian airbase. "The offices of the group are also being traced and sealed," said a statement issued by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office after he chaired a meeting of top civilian and military officials in Islamabad to review the ongoing investigations. The arrests were made on the basis of information New Delhi shared with Islamabad about the attack on Pathankot air base near the Pakistani border, said the official announcement, adding the high-level meeting "noted with satisfaction that... considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident." It went on to emphasize that "in the spirit of the cooperative approach.... and in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the government of Pakistan is considering sending a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India." Pakistan has also promised to remain engaged with India on the issue in line with its resolve to counter and completely eliminate terrorism from the region. Jaish-e-Mohammad is one of several militant organizations India blames for attacks on its soil, including in the two-thirds of Kashmir under New Delhi's control. The rest is controlled by Pakistan and the divided Himalayan region, which has caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan, remains the primary source of bilateral tensions. Starting in 2014, West Africa experienced the largest Ebola outbreak in history, killing more than 11,000 people and bringing the threat of global pandemic to worldwide consciousness. Scientists believe the outbreak started with a small boy who contracted the virus from a bat. But Ebola is hardly the only disease caused by microbes transferred between animals and humans, and as the global population continues to grow, along with demand for food, similar threats are likely to arise. Tuesday at a hotel in Nairobi, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Agency for International Development launched the East African component of FAOs Emerging Pandemic Threats, or EPT-2 program. The program is designed to help detect, prevent, and control new "zoonotic" diseases, meaning those which can be passed between animals and humans. Subhash Morzaria is the global coordinator of the EPT-2 program at FAO. He said these diseases can be transmitted through the air or by touching infected fluids or materials. Whatever the mode of transmission ... if these infectious diseases persist in our animal populations, then we have a constant risk of this disease potentially becoming pandemic and causing huge, huge outbreaks and morbidity and mortality in humans, and in animals as well, said Morzaria. Ebola is only one of the zoonotic diseases. Others include HIV and AIDS, influenza, including those commonly known as avian flu and swine flu, and SARS, MERS-CoV, Marburg, and Nipah. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated six out of every 10 infectious diseases in humans are spread from animals. More people, more risk The United Nations projects that the worlds current population of 7.3 billion people will reach 9.7 billion in 2050. This rapid increase in the number of people means that the demand for food will also rise. Now these production systems will change very rapidly to meet this demand, and its possible that some very risky practices in the production of livestock might occur, and these risky practices might create an environment for evolution of new pathogens and spread, FAOs Morzaria said. Kenyas director of veterinary services, Dr. Kisa Juma Ngeiywa, said new pathogens can spread further than ever in todays mobile society. Let me use the H7N9 influenza, which was in China, said Ngeiywa. That is a disease, one of the influenzas on live bird markets. Now, if you look at the airplanes, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, and others, they are going to China and they are coming to Kenya, every day. So, because of that there is a big vulnerability, unless we put measures to be able to see and stop it from spreading. And Morzaria said that everyone has a stake in the process. Everybody is at threat. The virus doesnt distinguish between a poor and a rich person. It goes and infects and it kills that person if its highly infectious and pathogenic, he said. So I think this is a global concern. In October, USAID announced $87 million in new funding for the program. The money will be used to help governments and veterinary services better understand livestock systems and to help conduct proactive surveillance, as well as identifying current and potential pathogens. Zimbabwes Constitutional Court began its year Wednesday with a request from 15 death row prisoners for their sentences to be commuted. Rights lawyers are hoping the death penalty will be outlawed in Zimbabwe this year. The lawyer for the 15 said they have been waiting for their executions for periods ranging between four and 20 years. All have been convicted of murder or treason, which carry capital sentences in Zimbabwe. Their lawyer, former Zimbabwe finance minister Tendai Biti, said after this case is over he wants the death penalty completely outlawed. When someone has been sentenced to death, he cannot be subjected to death row for so long and wait for so many years on death row.We are saying that is unconstitutional. We would want to challenge the death penalty. And I believe we will do so this year, once parliament passes amendments to Criminal and Evidence Act. We do not believe in the death penalty, he said.You can also see that some of the judges do not believe in it, including the minister of justice who is now vice president who does not believe in it. They just have not had the courage to simply say, 'Let us outlaw it.' The vice president Biti refers to is Emmerson Mnangagwa, who opposes the death penalty. In 2013, Mnangagwa said he would rather resign than sign certificates for executions. We have 89 people on death row.Two of them are women. They are lucky, I did not sign the papers for their execution. At the end of the day, we have commuted [their sentences] to life imprisonment, he explained. Since those comments, the number of prisoners awaiting execution has risen to more than 100. Biti said a ban on the death penalty must come from the courts, instead of depending on the benevolence of one politician. On Wednesday, he argued that Zimbabwe's constitution protects everyone, including convicted prisoners, against torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. He said the long periods his clients have spent in prison, never knowing when they might be hanged, amount to such punishment. Death-row prisoners in Zimbabwe are not told in advance of the date and time of their execution. South Korean soldiers have fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone that was spotted flying over the border separating the two countries. A statement by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff says the object was spotted flying above an observation post Wednesday along the western part of the border. The object turned around and returned to the North Korean side after it was fired upon. The event signifies the increased tensions on the Korean peninsula days after North Korea carried out its latest nuclear test, which South Korean President Park Geun-hye described as an "an unacceptable challenge" to regional peace and security during a nationally televised address earlier Wednesday. President Park called the United Nations Security Council to impose the harshest possible sanctions on Pyongyang over the test during her address. But she said unless China, North Korea's crucial diplomatic and economic ally, joins the effort, the isolated regime will carry out "a fifth or sixth nuclear test" and further destabilize the Korean peninsula. "I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further. The best partners are those that will hold your hand in difficult times," she said. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner. China angrily criticized North Korea over last week's nuclear test, but is seen as reluctant to impose extremely harsh sanctions against the North, fearing it would lead to the collapse of leader Kim Jong Un's government, leading to scores of refugees swarming over its shared border. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is also urging China to take a tougher line against North Korea. North Korea claims it detonated its first-ever hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb in last week's test, but its claims have been disputed by experts. Park said South Korea will continue its loudspeaker broadcasts of anti-North propaganda statements at North Korean soldiers along the border separating the two countries, calling it an "effective psychological tool" against the regime. A group of 180 Cubans have left Costa Rica, flying to El Salvador as part of a program designed to help migrants on their way to the United States. The group was stuck in Costa Rica for more than a month after Nicaragua closed its borders, saying Costa Rica had created a "humanitarian crisis" by issuing transit visas to more than 1,000 Cubans. Once they arrive in El Salvador, they are expected to board buses bound for the United States. Costa Rica's foreign minister Manuel Gonzales said Tuesday that the operation to help the migrants move along "has been successful so far" and added that the goal is to have two flights per day out of Costa Rica once the program is up and running. The migrants must pay about $500 per person to cover the costs of the trip, including plane and bus fare. Ministers from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, and Honduras are set to meet next week and evaluate the first trip. About 8,000 migrants are reported to be awaiting passage from Costa Rica to the United States. U.S. policy allows Cuban migrants who arrive by land to enter the country and apply for residency. Those intercepted at sea are sent back to Cuba. Many Cubans fear that the thaw in relations between Cuba and the U.S. may eventually lead to an end to that preferential treatment. The numbers of Cubans trying to make their way to the United States has risen substantially since the announcement in December of 2014 that the two countries were restoring diplomatic relations. Experts are calling for more targeted standards in developing countries to help diagnose and treat risk factors for liver cancer. It's currently the second most deadly form of cancer worldwide. Liver cancer accounts for some 750,000 deaths a year globally. Experts say only pancreatic cancer accounts for more deaths. In Western countries, liver cancer typically strikes middle age men over 60, who drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. But the patient profile is a bit different in developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and China. There, its not uncommon to see liver cancer in young people. It can be four or five decades earlier, so in fact you are losing half of your life when you are in such major trouble," said Pascal Pineau. Pineau, a cancer geneticist at Pasteur Institute in Paris, says more than 86 percent of liver cancer deaths occur in the developing world, but standards to diagnose and treat the disease follow guidelines based on the older Western patients. The guidelines help doctors determine the best course of treatment. Pineau was part of a team of French and Peruvian researchers who conducted a study in the Latin American country involving 250 liver cancer patients who underwent surgery. Their average age was 36, and relatively few had cirrhosis, or hardening of liver tissue, which is common in Western liver cancer patients. Under the treatment guidelines, Pineau says those patients might have been written off as incurable, despite their young age and the lack of cirrhosis. They would not have been given potentially life-extending treatment, including surgery, for the lethal disease. Pineau says most patients in developing countries get the most common form of liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) after being infected with hepatitis B for a long period of time. You are living in sub-Saharan Africa and you are infected with hepatitis B virus, but you are also eating food contaminated with toxins from microscopic fungi, and then you will develop the liver cancer," he said. He says many liver cancers worldwide could be avoided through hepatitis B vaccination, but theres a hitch. The vaccine, endorsed by the World Health Organization, is a series of four injections that Pineau says is not easy to get for many people living in remote areas. I suspect that in some occasions, the vaccination is not done. The immunization is not done," he said. In addition to increasing the number of people who get vaccinated against hepatitis B, writing in the journal Heliyon, Pineau and colleagues call for changing the treatment guidelines to help young liver cancer patients who for now might be considered incurable. Sudan will hold a referendum in Darfur on April 11-13 over whether or not the war-torn region will stay divided into five states or reunite as one entity with a degree of autonomy, a senior official said on Tuesday. The splitting of Darfur into five states was one of the main reasons the deadly conflict there arose in the first place. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination. "Voting over the administrative situation of Darfur will be between 11 and 13 of next April," the Darfur referendum commission head Omar Ali Gemaa said at a news conference. The referendum was agreed upon in the 2001 Doha peace deal that the government signed in Qatar with the Liberation and Justice Movement, an umbrella organization of small rebel groups. The two main rebel groups that started the conflict, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, did not sign the deal. Sudan has decided to go ahead with the referendum unilaterally with several rebel and opposition groups boycotting the process, raising fears that the region might follow in South Sudan's footsteps and secede. South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 under a 2005 peace deal which ended one of Africa's longest civil wars but both countries remain at loggerheads over ownership of disputed territories and other issues. According to the United Nations, as many as 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, some 4.4 million people need aid and more than 2.5 million have been displaced. Although the killings have eased, the insurgency continues and Khartoum has sharply escalated attacks on rebel groups over the past year. A suicide bomber killed 12 people in northern Cameroon on Wednesday when he blew himself up at a mosque during morning prayers. Officials say the early morning attack occurred in Kouyape, a village near the border with Nigeria. There has been no official claim of responsibility, but the incident took place in an area often targeted by the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram. The extremist group has waged a battle for an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria since 2009 and staged attacks in Cameroon for the past three years. Cameroon is one of five African nations, including Nigeria, that has set up a joint task force to combat the group. In October, the United States sent about 300 military personnel to Cameroon to assist with the fight. Swedish prosecutors have asked Ecuador's permission to interview Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, over allegations of rape. The Swedish Prosecution Authority announced the move Wednesday, saying it is "not possible to estimate" when an answer might be given. Assange has been living at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over the rape charges. From Sweden, Assange could be extradited to the United States to be tried for the online publication of classified information, in one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history. Kerry stated in remarks on the Obama administration's foreign policy agenda for 2016 that the Syrian crisis is the top US priority, Sputnik reported. The United States looks to enhance cooperation with Russia in the campaign against Daesh terrorist group, Kerry added. The US-led coalition against Daesh has been launching airstrikes against the terror group targets in Iraq and Syria since 2014. In September 2015, Russia launched its own precision airstrikes against Daesh in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Washington will strengthen defense capabilities of Jordan and Lebanon in the wake of an enhanced campaign against Daesh, the US Secretary of State said. "We are doing more to strengthen the defense capabilities of Jordan, Lebanon, and other friend in the region." Walking among the myriad expo booths at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, one can get a pretty good idea of what lies ahead in the world of consumer technology not only in home gadgets, but also on a highly professional level. In all the areas on display robots, autonomous cars, 3-D printers, drones and others advances are bringing us closer to a highly automated future, as devices are becoming smarter and easier to use. Drones that once required many hours of practice to avoid often-catastrophic crashes now perform air acrobatics, easily avoiding obstacles. "Our goal is once you receive it, it's ready to fly, said Nicolas Texier of Parrot Company. So, you open the box, you plug in the battery and it should be OK for you to control it as soon as you get it." Service robots are entering everyday life, too. At airports, in hotel or hospital lobbies, they can replace humans for much lower pay and no complaints about extra hours of work. And in the home, robots can already vacuum floors and clean large windows. Cars, printers Engineers developing self-driving cars say they have made enormous improvements in computational power and sensing capabilities. "I think that the industry consensus is that the enabling technologies behind (self-driving cars) should be fairly robust and mature within the next four to five years," said James Mcbride of Ford Motor Company. In 2016, consumer-level 3-D printers will move closer to the status of necessary household gadget, while professional-level machines, which can print metal parts, will start changing entire industries. "We are focused on titanium today because two critical industries live and die by their ability to do complex, very lightweight titanium parts, said Cathy Lewis of 3D Systems Corporation. In particular, we are talking about aerospace and defense, and we are talking about health care." Experts say advances in other segments of technology such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable gadgets and personal transportation devices show that 2016 will be a very exciting year. An Iraqi refugee who is facing charges he tried to help the Islamic State group wanted to set off bombs at two Houston malls and was learning to make electronic transmitters that could be used to detonate explosive devices, a federal agent testified Wednesday. Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, who came to Houston from Iraq in 2009, was indicted last week on three charges, including attempting to provide support to a designated terrorist organization. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges during a court appearance Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes denied granting Al Hardan a bond, ruling that there would be a serious risk that the Iraqi refugee would flee if released from federal custody. Hughes made his decision after listening to testimony from Homeland Security Special Agent Herman Wittliff, who said that in addition to Al Hardan wanting to set off bombs at the two Houston malls, including the popular Galleria mall, the Iraqi man was also learning how to make electronic transmitters that could be used to detonate improvised explosive devices. Al Hardan wanted use cellphones a collection of which were found in his apartment to detonate the transmitters, Wittliff said. He wanted to build them [the transmitters] for ISIL,'' Wittliff said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. For what purpose?'' asked prosecutor Ralph Imperato. So he could kill people,'' Wittliff replied. Refugee debate Al Hardan's arrest prompted criticism of the Obama administration's refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been a leader among Republican governors calling for a halt to resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the U.S. Immigrant advocates say they have full confidence in the vetting process and that tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees have been successfully resettled in the U.S. Al Hardan's older brother, Saeed Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, has said his sibling has denied any wrongdoing and that neither his brother nor anybody in their family had ever expressed any support for the Islamic State. Prosecutors allege Al Hardan was coordinating efforts with another Iraqi refugee living in California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab. The two men communicated through Facebook messenger from April 2013 to October 2014 and talked about getting weapons training and eventually sneaking into Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group, Wittliff said. I want to blow myself up The agent also testified Al Hardan received training on how to use an AK-47 assault rifle in November 2014 on a farm outside Houston from a confidential informant who was working with federal authorities. During the hearing, Wittliff read aloud excerpts from a conversation that authorities had recorded between Al Hardan and his wife in October 2014. Prosecutors did not say how the recording was obtained. Once I get the passport I will leave America, I will leave. I will make a widow of you,'' Al Hardan said to his wife, according to the excerpt read in court. I will go to Syria. I am not wacko. I am not wacko. I am speaking the truth. I want to blow myself up. I want to blow myself up. ... I am against America.'' If convicted, Al Hardan faces up to 25 years in prison. Al Hardan, who is a legal permanent resident, is married, has an 8-month-old son and had worked as a limousine driver before his arrest, according to his brother. Adler said since Al Hardan's arrest, his family has been evicted from their apartment. Al-Jayab remains jailed in Sacramento, California. Authorities say Al-Jayab fought twice in Syria, including with a group later affiliated with the Islamic State between November 2013 and January 2014. Millions of Americans were discussing President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address on Tuesday on top social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, debating anticipated speech topics such as gun control, terrorism and healthcare. The televised speech before Congress at 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT Wednesday), will be one of Obama's few remaining chances to capture and hold the attention of Americans before the election of a new president in November. Following is a breakdown of some of the top trending threads by platform: Facebook In the week leading up to the speech, 15 million people on Facebook discussed the speech - liking, posting, sharing and commenting on related content 54 million times. According to Facebook, the top five related topics were: 1. Guns 2. Islam and Muslims 3. Islamic State 4. Crime and criminal justice 5. Terrorism Google Trends On Google, the top searched policy issues in the week leading up to the speech were: 1. Taxes 2. Education 3. Healthcare 4. Immigration 5. Gun Control Twitter The State of the Union speech has generated progressively more tweets each year, a Twitter Inc spokesperson said. Between 11:30 p.m. EST Monday (0430 GMT Tuesday) and 11:30 a.m. Tuesday (1630 GMT), about 25,000 tweets had been sent with the popular hashtag #SOTU. Other big trending hashtags included: #POTUS, #Obama, #StateOfTheUnion, #SOTU16 and #EmptySeat, referring to the seat first lady Michelle Obama will keep vacant in her viewing box in memory of gun violence victims. Snapchat Snapchat, the mobile app increasingly favored by users under the age of 25, plans a State of the Union Live Story featuring posts on the speech. That follows Monday's announcement that the White House had made its debut on Snapchat under the handle TheWhiteHouse in a bid to generate more engagement from millennials. The Live Story that ran during the first Republican debate was viewed by nearly twice as many 18- to 24-year-olds on Snapchat than it was on television. Snapchat did not have figures on what discussion topics were trending. Turkish authorities say five suspects have been arrested in connection with the deadly suicide bombing in Istanbuls Sultanahmet Square that killed 10 Germans and wounded 15 other people. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said police arrested four more suspects Wednesday, adding that Islamic States links to the attack had been confirmed. Islamic State, however, has not claimed responsibility. Earlier, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said that police detained a man late Tuesday, but did not give any further details on the suspect's identity or possible role. Ala also said the bomber was not on a list of people wanted by Turkey. Authorities identified him as Nabil Fadli and said he was born in Saudi Arabia in 1988. Fadli had recently entered Turkey from Syria as a refugee, according to the Turkish migration office. Meanwhile, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who traveled to Istanbul immediately after the attack, told reporters that there is no sign that Germans were specifically targeted. He added that he sees no reason to refrain from traveling in Turkey. Accompanied by Davutoglu, Maiziere Wednesday visited an Istanbul hospital, where the wounded from Tuesdays suicide bombing were being treated. Turkish police also arrested a number of suspected Islamic State militants during raids Wednesday, including three Russian nationals, in addition to several dozen detained Tuesday. The Sultanahmet Square is Istanbul's main sightseeing area and home of the Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia museum. Turkeys military says it has killed 307 Kurdish separatists in recent weeks in counter-terrorism operations in southeastern Turkey, but the toll has also been great on civilians. Rights groups say 162 civilians, including 32 children, have been killed since August in districts where the military has imposed 24-hour curfews. Rights group Amnesty International has urged Turkish authorities to lift indefinite 24-hour curfews that have been in effect since mid-December in the Sur district of Diyarbakir province and the towns of Cizre and Silopi in Srnak province, as well as intermittent curfews on other mainly Kurdish towns. The body of 56-year-old Taybet Inan, who was shot by a sniper on December 19 was left in the street for seven days as his family was unable to retrieve it, Amnesty reported Tuesday. In addition to severe electricity, water and food shortages in curfew areas, residents have been unable to safely leave their neighborhoods to access healthcare and, Amnesty says, ambulances have been denied entry by security forces. Armed clashes have continued between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and security forces in urban areas in southeastern provinces of Turkey since the breakdown of a peace process between the party and the Turkish government in July 2015 after three years of negotiations and a fragile cease-fire. A resident in Diyarbakir painted a grim picture to VOA of life under the curfews. The mother-of-one asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from security forces. You can be killed while you are having breakfast with your kids at home or when you want to leave a house thats been shelled, she said by phone. The white flag doesnt change anything, that is how a 12-year-old was killed two weeks ago. A young man was killed when he was taking his brother to hospital, she added. Why does the West remain silent when Kurds are being killed? she asked. Both sides in the intensifying struggle trade accusations of abuses and both criticize the West. The Kurds are critical of what they say is a lack of forthright condemnation from Western governments for the tactics being used by the Turkish military. The Turkish government denounces the West when some charges are leveled, mainly from NGOs and rights groups, against security operations. Turkish officials say the Kurdistan Workers Party has no interest in talking and has caused the violence in the Kurdish southeast by declaring self-rule areas and erecting barricades, digging trenches and planting explosives to keep authorities away. Kurdish separatists complain Western governments turn a blind eye to egregious Turkish military behavior because they need the Turks to curb refugee flows into Europe and to support the international coalition against Islamic State militants in Syria. Turkeys southeast has transformed into a war zone, with intermittent curfews in a dozen towns, says Merve Tahiroglu, an analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Buildings are destroyed and civilians are being killed because of the conflict. Pictures are increasingly resembling scenes from Syria, she says. She says it is natural for the Kurds to expect some support from the West in light the of the importance they have gained in the fight against Islamic State in neighboring war-torn Syria. "While the West has called on Turkey to return to the negotiation table with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), it has not exactly condemned the situation in the southeast or pressured Turkey. The reason for all of this is simple: Turkey is a NATO ally, and the PKK, according to both the U.S. and EU, is a terrorist organization. Ultimately Turkey is a strategic ally that the U.S. needs not just for the anti-IS fight but also more broadly. The Kurds' complaint has been taken up by more than 1,200 local and international academics, who on Monday issued a short collective statement calling on the Turkish government to halt security operations in mainly Kurdish southeastern Anatolia and to resume talks. Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rebuked the signatories, calling them ignorant. Speaking to a conference of Turkish ambassadors, he insisted rights violations are being committed by terrorists, not the state. Despite all of these facts, this crowd, which calls itself academics, accuses the state through a statement. Not only this, they also invite foreigners to monitor developments. This is the mentality of colonialism, he added. Likening todays situation to the Turkish War of Independence, Erdogan accused the local academics of treason. Hey, you so-called intellectuals! You are not enlightened persons, you are dark. You are nothing like intellectuals. You are ignorant and dark, he added. Apparently taking the presidential cue, Turkeys Supreme Education Board says it is planning to take legal action against local teachers who signed the petition, which also attracted the support of international luminaries Noam Chomsky, David Harway and Immanuel Wallerstein. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is condemning the closure and destruction of a displaced persons camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The sudden development left several thousand people with no place to live. OCHA spokesperson Nadia Berger said nearly 4,300 people were living at the Mokoto camp, about 70 kilometers northwest of Goma in eastern Congos North Kivu province. "The site was burned down and people had to find shelter elsewhere," she said. "At the moment we do not really know where the people have gone. There is a team on the way to Mokoto to monitor the situation." Berger said the provincial authorities announced their decision to close the camp about a week ago, on security grounds. "The provincial authorities told us a firearm was found in one of the huts so they decided to close the camp because this was in contravention of the civilian character of the site," she said. The head of OCHA in the DRC, Rein Paulsen, called the camp closure a collective punishment imposed on vulnerable people. Berger said OCHA and other aid organizations tried to delay the closure, but without success. "Our reaction and the reaction of the international community is, of course, we would have liked more time to prepare for this," she said. "We are not against closure of camps, but we want to do it in a proper manner, so there is enough time to let the displaced people decide where they want to go." North Kivu has been wracked by violence between the government and various militia groups for years. There are estimated to be about 600,000 displaced people in the province, of whom about 35 percent live in displacement sites. Local authorities have called for camp closures since 2014, and five camps were closed last year. But aid workers said there needed to be more cooperation from the authorities in the search for long-term solutions for the displaced, including more efforts to give them access to land they can farm. The United Nations is looking into whether the man-made humanitarian calamity inside the besieged Syrian town of Madaya is a war crime or a crime against humanity. Aid workers who got inside Madaya on Monday have seen what they call the worst sights in the nearly five-year-long civil war in Syria, including people literally starving to death in the streets. Syrian rebels control Madaya while Syrian government forces surround the city, making escape impossible. "We saw a people that are desperate; a people that are cold; a people that are hungry; a people that have almost lost hope that the world cares about their plight," the U.N.'s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria told reporters in New York via phone from Damascus. Yacoub el Hillo said the people told him they wanted the international community to do more to have sieges lifted wherever they are being imposed in Syria. "All parties to this conflict are exercising it [sieges], and it must stop," he added. The U.N. says 400,000 Syrians live in areas besieged by the government, rebels or armed groups. Millions more live in areas classified as hard-to-reach for aid workers. No strength to play Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the U.N. commission investigating war crimes in Syria, told Reuters there is acute malnutrition and starvation in Madaya among the most vulnerable members of the population. A siege, he says, targets civilians and denies them the most basic of essentials, including food and medicine. "Such methods of warfare are prohibited under international humanitarian law and violate core human rights obligations with regard to the rights to adequate food, health and the right to life, not to mention the special duty of care owed to the well-being of children," Pinheiro said. The Syrian government allowed a one-time shipment of aid to Madaya on Monday. "I am really alarmed, Elizabeth Hoff of the World Health Organization told Reuters. People gathered in the marketplace. You could see many were malnourished, starving. They were skinny, tired, severely distressed. There was no smile on anybody's face. It is not what you want to see when you arrive with a convoy. The children I talked to said they had no strength to play." Starve-or-surrender tactics WHO brought in nearly eight tons of medicine, including trauma kits for the wounded, while the U.N. refugee agency trucked in food. At the same time, WHO delivered nearly four tons of medical supplies to Foua and Kafraya, two villages in Idlib province surrounded by the rebels. U.N. officials say they expect to be able to make another delivery to Madaya in the coming days. International Red Cross officials say they are involved in "very complicated" negotiations to evacuate hundreds who need urgent medical care. Watch video report from VOA's Zlatica Hoke: Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, fiercely condemned the Syrian regime for using what she called "grotesque starve-or-surrender tactics." But Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told reporters Monday there is "no starvation in Madaya," rebuffing a report from the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders that 28 people in the town had starved to death. And Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syria's most powerful ally, told Germany's Bild newspaper that the "insurgents and their foreign supporters" are responsible for civilian deaths in Syria, not the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Putin said the rebels are trying to tear Syria apart, while Assad is trying to hold it together. The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, plans to meet with ambassadors from the five permanent members of the Security Council on Wednesday in Geneva. They will likely talk about the international peace conference for Syria set for January 25. The U.S. government said it was helping Ukraine investigate an apparent cyber attack last month on the country's power grid that caused a blackout for an estimated 80,000 customers. Experts have widely described the Dec. 23 incident at western Ukraine's Prykarpattyaoblenergo utility as the first known power outage caused by a cyber attack. Ukraine's SBU state security service has blamed Russia for the incident, while U.S. cyber firm iSight Partners linked it to a Russian hacking group known as "Sandworm." The Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT, said in an alert emailed on Tuesday that it had analyzed malicious software found in the utility's network. It identified it as BlackEnergy 3, a variant of malware that the agency previously said had infected some U.S. critical infrastructure operators in 2014. When ICS-CERT initially reported on that infection in December 2014, it said that it did not know of any cases where BlackEnergy caused physical disruption to U.S. power systems. A DHS official said on Tuesday that government investigators have not confirmed whether the BlackEnergy malware caused the Ukraine incident. "At this time there is no definitive evidence linking the power outage in Ukraine with the presence of the malware," said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The ICS-CERT alert also said that the attackers appeared to have spread the BlackEnergy malware in Ukraine through a phishing campaign that used a malicious Microsoft Word email attachment. The alert marked the first time the U.S. government had publicly commented on the Ukraine outage. It said ICS-CERT would continue to study the attack, providing additional technical data on a confidential government portal. Experts attending the S4 conference on securing critical infrastructure from cyber attacks, which opened on Tuesday in Miami, said they are eager for more information on what happened in Ukraine. Michael Toecker, a consulting engineer who advises utilities on grid security, said that some clients are asking 'What do we need to do to make sure this doesn't happen to us?'" While security researchers widely believe that the outage was caused by a cyber attack, a few experts at the conference said they want more information before weighing in on what happened. Ralph Langner, managing principal of Germany's Langner Group, said he is waiting to hear the results of a formal Ukraine energy ministry probe of the incident. U.S. special operations forces have arrived in Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday, and are set to help Baghdad's forces target Islamic State (IS) strongholds. Carter said about 200 commandos "have already established contact" with the Iraqis and expect to look for "new targets, new strikes and new opportunities." The U.S. defense chief made the announcement at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, speaking to soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division who will soon deploy to Iraq. He laid out plans to retake extensive Islamic State territory in Iraq and Syria, where the militants have claimed the establishment of a religious caliphate. The U.S. is seeking to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces retake Mosul in northern Iraq and also assist Syrian rebel forces to oust IS fighters in northern Syria and in their self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa. The deployment of the commandos represents a new U.S. commitment to the campaign against IS, in addition to the hundreds of combat fighter jet and drone attacks the U.S. has been conducting for more than a year, even as President Barack Obama has rejected massive deployment of ground troops. The dispatch of the commandos is in addition to 50 U.S. special operation troops Obama sent to Syria last year to coordinate with rebel forces in the civil war there against President Bashar al-Assad that has raged for nearly five years. "President Obama is committed to doing what it takes - as opportunities arise, as we see what works, and as the enemy adapts - until ISIL is delivered a lasting defeat," Carter said, using another acronym for IS. Carter plans to meet in Paris next week with defense chiefs from Britain, France, Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to ask them to do more in the fight against IS. "Each of these nations has a significant stake in completing the destruction of this evil organization," Carter said, "and we must include all of the capabilities they can bring to the field." Vietnam has accused China of threatening safety of civilian flights over the disputed South China Sea by failing to properly inform its aviation authorities of recent test flights to a man-made island claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said that although a Chinese Embassy representative did inform the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry about the flights last month, prompting a protest from Hanoi, that did not extend to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam and threatened the safety of civil aviation. The notification from the Chinese Embassy cannot substitute China's notification to the appropriate air traffic services units of Vietnam in order to ensure the safety and regularity of flight operations," the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said in a statement late Tuesday. China Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Monday that China's three test flights to Fiery Cross Reef - one of seven South China Sea features where China had carried out extensive land reclamation - were state aviation activities and had no restrictions under international law. Hong said Beijing informed Vietnamese aviation authorities on Dec. 28 and the Foreign Ministry two days later about them. He said Vietnam had failed to see the professional, technical and civil nature of China's inspection and test flights." Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh disputed Hong and said that at the meeting with the Chinese Embassy representative, Vietnam protested and demanded that China cancel the flights. Binh said the flights violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands, and demanded that China stop any such activities. Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel Islands, and the two along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan claim all or parts of the Spratlys, which sit on potentially rich oil and gas resources and occupy one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. China's recent increasing assertiveness has caused serious concerns among its neighbors and the United States, which backs freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea. In the Philippines, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the government protested the Chinese test flights on Fiery Cross in a letter to the Chinese Embassy on Friday, adding that the Chinese actions had heightened tensions and anxiety in the region. He said the tests also violated a 2002 accord between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that discouraged aggressive moves that could spark armed conflict in the disputed waters. The Chinese Embassy rejected the Philippine protest. They maintained they have indisputable sovereignty," Jose said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere January 13 will come to Istanbul on an emergency visit, the Turkish Milliyet newspaper reported Jan.13. During the visit, the head of German Interior Ministry will meet with his Turkish counterpart Efkan Ala, according to the newspaper. De Maiziere's visit is connected with establishing causes of the terrorist attack in Istanbul Jan.12, which killed 10 people. Eight dead were citizens of Germany. On Jan.12, an explosion hit Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. It was reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up near the central mosque when tourists were passing by. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the blast a terrorist attack carried out by a Syrian citizen, who belongs to a terrorist group "Islamic State" (aka IS, ISIS or ISIL). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu A break-in at Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwas office raises eyebrows as factionalism worsens in the ruling Zanu PF party. A senior academic and politician says the possible collapse of the Zanu PF government due to intra-party fighting as well as an unrelenting economic crisis could result in civil war in the country. Hungry villagers start selling cattle for as little as $30 per beast to raise money to buy food as a dry spell threatens to cause havoc in most parts of Zimbabwe. The drought situation is worsening in Mashonaland West province where villagers are now depending on one meal a day. And President Barack Obama tells his nation that America is the strongest country in the world and it can become tougher if the country respects other peoples religions. Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. Please check us out on Facebook. We are also on WhatsApp and Twitter. Today on LiveTalk our hosts of Blessing Zulu and Gibbs Dube will be talking with listeners and experts about worsening factionalism in Zanu PF with reports of a break in at Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwas office. Send us your numbers on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. The number again 001 202 465 0318. Stay tuned!!!!!! Hungry villagers have started selling cattle for as little as $30 per beast to raise money to buy food following a dry spell that is threatening to cause havoc in most parts of Zimbabwe. More than 5,000 cattle have allegedly succumbed to the drought in Masvingo province. The villagers told Studio 7 they are losing their valued livestock at an alarming rate due to the current dry spell, which has turned grazing lands into dust bowls. The hardest hit districts are Chiredzi, Mwenezi, Chivi and Bikita where villagers say they are losing up to four beasts per day. One of the affected villagers, Elliot Mposhi of Bikita, said he was devastated after losing three of his cattle last month, leaving him without draught power. Bikita said, Cattle is our source of wealth and income as Africans and Zimbabweans in particular. We are losing a lot of cattle as the drought continues and we do not know how we are going to send children to school in the near future as we rely on the cattle for our livelihoods. In Mwenezi and Chiredzi, villagers have resorted to selling their cattle for as little as $30 in an effort to make money before the beasts succumb to the devastating drought. Tigere Chauke of Chilonga in Chiredzi said they had no option but to make losses by selling the beasts at very low prices as under normal circumstances a cow costs between $300 to $600. Our cattle are dying. There is no grass any more, we are being forced to sell them for $30 to $50 although we bought them at high prices. Its better to sell them at low prices than to lose them completely as we also need to fend for our families. Other villagers said they use their cattle for conducting various traditional practices like paying bride prices and bereavements and losing them will affect these norms. Dereck Mutambu of Mhandamabwe of Chivi said villagers have since pleaded for government assistance but nothing has come by. Things are bad. Cattle are dying each and every day. We are suffering. We use the cattle to pay lobola for our growing children and we risk losing all of them. We tried to get assistance from government but nothing has come by. Masvingo Provincial Veterinary Director, Dr. Ernest Dzimwasha, refused to comment on the number of beasts that have succumbed to the drought. A local newspaper reported this week that the region has lost more than 5,000 cattle since December. This figure could not be confirmed by the government and some independent agricultural agencies. Dzimwasha only said the situation is very bad in the province and predicted that more cattle would be lost if rains do not fall soon. He urged villagers to buy supplementary feeds for their livestock. Dzimwasha could not be drawn to comment on how the government may help villagers, who urgently need stock feed to save their dying livestock. Why do presidents give a State of the Union address? The U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3, Clause 1, requires the president "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Where and when does the speech take place? - The speech takes place in the House chamber in front of members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, Supreme Court, the Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. - A House concurrent resolution sets aside the day and time for a Joint Session for the president to deliver his remarks. - Until 1934, the Annual Message, as it was previously called, was delivered every December. Since then the address has been delivered in January or February. Who delivered the first State of the Union address? Delivered by George Washington on January 8, 1790, the speech was reportedly just 833 words long, the shortest address in U.S. history. Is it always delivered in-person? - No. In 1801 Thomas Jefferson sent written copies of his first address to both houses of Congress to be read by each chamber's clerks. - The practice of sending written copies to Congress continued for more than a century. Woodrow Wilson resumed the practice of delivering it in person in 1913. How has technology changed how the speech is delivered? - Calvin Coolidge gave the first radio broadcast of the address in 1923. - The first televised address was in 1947, by Harry Truman. - In 2002, George W. Bush's speech made history as the first address made available live on the Internet. When was the first opposition response? - The first official, televised opposition response to a presidents annual message occurred in 1966. - Since 1982, it has become customary for the opposition party, usually members of Congress, to provide responses. When did the tradition of inviting special guests begin? - Ronald Reagan was the first president to invite special guests to sit beside the first lady and recognize them during the speech, in 1982. - This year the special guests will be a Syrian refugee and a Muslim former U.S. soldier. What is a 'designated survivor'? - A designated survivor is appointed for every State of The Union address. This is a member of the president's Cabinet who will assume the presidency in the event of a catastrophic disaster that takes out the country's leaders and the line of succession. - The survivor, whose identity is kept secret, is selected several weeks before the president's speech. On the day of the address, they are taken to a secret location and remain under security until the president returns to the White House and other leaders disperse from the Capitol. The food situation is dire in Mashonaland West province where villagers are now surviving on eating mangoes. Most crops in the region are a complete write-off, a situation that has forced villagers to survive on eating mangoes. Villagers claim that food aid is allegedly being looted by some local politicians. Accused councilors were not available for comment. An angry Zanu PF member in Lions Den, Mrs. Angeline Muchenje, is now a bitter woman. Here in Murereka there is a lot of looting of food relief by members of our party, councilor is the most corrupt and his chairpersons. They distribute maize in the middle of the night. A community worker, Gift Kamanga, also claimed that food aid is being diverted by politicians for their own benefit. Kamanga said communities should organize themselves and choose representatives to distribute food aid. I think they should bring everything to the community so that the community can choose their representative who can represent them so that they can collect food handouts on their behalf. But others like Mrs. Mavis Tsomonda said food relief is distributed to all people regardless of their political affiliation. Dejected Shackleton villager Mrs. Roseline Mpariwa, said her family is now entirely dependent on catching fish. We are just surviving bit by bit but it is difficult we live one day at a time from fishing we cant afford to send all of our two children to school. Ben Rabbi of Shackleton said the food situation is seriously affecting vulnerable groups. He said most villagers are surviving on mangoes, which they are hired to pick at local schools. Like this time some villagers are surviving on eating mangoes, parents and their children would work in exchange of the fruit. The situation has been worsened by lack of rains. Mashonaland West agronomist Siena Makaza said the crop situation in the province is not pleasing. Makaza said currently the province is gripped by a dry spell and 75 percent of the crop planted this season is wilting. Most villagers said although food is available in local shops they cannot afford to buy it due to lack of money. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: A member of a terrorist group "Islamic State" (aka IS, ISIS or ISIL) has been detained as a result of a special operation in the province of Antalya in southern Turkey, the Turkish Haber7 newspaper reported Jan.13. The detainee has Russian citizenship, the newspaper said, without disclosing the detainee's name. In addition, a special operation, in the result of which nine members of the IS were detained, has been carried out January 13 in the province of Izmir in western Turkey. On Jan.12, an explosion hit Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul. It was reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up near the central mosque when tourists were passing by. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the blast a terrorist attack carried out by a Syrian citizen, who belongs to a terrorist group "Islamic State" (aka IS, ISIS or ISIL). INETER reported that during 29-30 December no explosions at Momotombo were detected, though Real-time Seismic-Amplitude Measurements (RSAM) continued to be at moderate-to-high levels. Based on INETER and SINAPRED reports, three gas-and-ash explosions on 2 January, at 1333, 1426, and 1434, excavated the remaining parts of the lava dome which was emplaced about a month ago. An ash plume rose 500 m above the crater, drifted S and SW, and caused ashfall in Puerto Momotombo (9 km WSW). ... Volcanic activity worldwide 13 Jan 2016: Santiaguito volcano, Pacaya, Fuego, Karymsky, Bromo, Lokon-... Wed, 13 Jan 2016, 18:17 18:17 PM | 18:17 PM | Nishinoshima island as of 27 Dec 2015 (Japan coast guard) Seismic activity at Karangetang since Jan 2015 (VSI) Pyroclastic flow on Sinabung on 10 Jan 2016 (image: sadrahPS via @LeopoldAdam / twitter) Ash emission from Bromo yesterday (image via jaime s. sincioco @jaimessincioco / twitter) Seismic activity at Lokon volcano 1-12 Jan 2016 (VSI) Eruption of Momotombo yesterday (INETER webcam) Ash emissions from San Miguel volcano this afternoon Ash emission from Copahue this afternoon Ash emission from Nevados de Chillan volcano on 8 Jan (Sernageomin webcam, annotated by Culture Volcan) Volcano Activity Summary for 13 Jan 2016: : Activity at the volcano, in continuous intermittent explosive activity for many years, seems to be elevated at the moment. Several explosions have been reported during the past days through observations of ash plumes reported reaching up to 18,000 ft (5.5 km) altitude (Tokyo VAAC).: The eruption seems to have ended in mid December. During the past two visits of the Japanese Coast Guard on 27 Dec and 3 Jan 2016, no more eruptive activity has been noted.The two years of eruption since late November 2013 increased the size of the island from its tiny 0.26 to approx. to 2.63 square km. Now, it is up to the waves to slowly eat away at the young shores and gradually decrease it again, until a next eruption occurs...: Ash from the volcano has been observed on satellite imagery during 11-12 Jan, Darwin VAAC reported. Likely, this came from a larger rockfall triggering a small pyroclastic flow, but this needs to be confirmed. The latest VSI report from this morning only mentions continuing glow from the active summit lava dome and small to moderate rockfalls.In case of heavy rains, larger rockfalls and lahars could occur, in particular towards the valleys radiating to the SE from the volcano. Seismic activity remains elevated with an increase in shallow volcanic quakes.: The volcano's eruption continues with little changes into its third year. Slow lava extrusion at the summit results in occasional small to moderate pyroclastic flows as well as sporadic explosions.This activity occurs in weeks-to-month long alternating phases of more and less intense frequency, as lobes of the overspilling dome grow too large and then break off to generate a series of collapses within a shorter time.Both the pyroclastic flows and explosions produce ash plumes that regularly rise a few km above the volcano and are often reported by Darwin VAAC.: Ash emissions of varying intensity have been near continuous during the past weeks.The frequent ash falls have been causing significant damage to farmland, vegetation and lightly built structures in surrounding villages.: The volcano continues to be very active with near-continuous ash emissions from the crater. Darwin VAAC reported an ash plume extending 70 km to the south of the volcano this morning.: The volcano remains at significant unrest and moderate to large explosions could occur any time, the latest evaluation report of the volcano observatory states and alert level is being maintained at 3 ("siaga") on a scale of 1-4.During the past weeks, visual activity consisted in degassing creating a plume of 25-150 m above the Tumpalun crater. Seismic activity has been dominated by frequent shallow volcanic earthquakes (up to 21 per day), sometimes felt nearby.No clear trend has been visible over the past two weeks.: INSIVUMEH reports strong degassing, a few weaker explosions and small to moderate rockfalls on the eastern side of the active Caliente lava dome.: The active intra-crater cone continues to grow (and slowly fill the crater). During clear nights, incandescence can be seen from the Mackenney crater.: Since its last (relatively weak) paroxysm during the first days of 2016, the volcano has now been unusually calm. According to this morning's status report of the observatory, no explosions have been seen (or heard) since 5 days...(This will surely change.): A strong vulcanian explosion occurred yesterday at 12:10 local time at the volcano. An ash plume rose approx 3 km from the summit and generated a small pyroclastic flow.: A new phase of eruptive activity began at the volcano on Monday. Accompanied by a spike in volcanic tremor, weak to moderate ash emissions have been occurring from the main crater. This activity, the 22nd eruptive phase since Dec 2013 according to MARN, has been decreasing since yesterday.: Near-continuous, but generally weak ash emissions and intense degassing continue at the volcano. Sernageomin maintains alert level yellow.: A short pulse of ash emissions occurred in the evening of 8 Jan 2016 around 18:49 local time.No further emissions have occurred since and it is believed that the event was caused by phreatic activity of the shallow hydrothermal system of the volcano (not by fresh magma).Sernageomin raised the alert status of the volcano to yellow. Gold Medal Books emerged in 1950 as a publisher of paperback originals that cost 35 cents and featured deliciously trashy illustrated covers and titles like Meanwhile Back at the Morgue, Make My Coffin Strong, Let Them Eat Bullets, Death Takes the Bus, and One Monday We Killed Them All. It was still the golden age of pulp fiction in America, but Gold Medals enormous success would be among the forces that started to put the pulp magazines out of business. These books arent much read any more, and, of course, literary quality wasnt the main criterion for publication, but on the evidence of Black Wings Has My Angel, a flawless 1953 heist novel by Elliott Chaze reprinted this month by New York Review Classics, it wasnt disqualifying either. On a technical level, it is possible to write a perfect crime novel. You might say Black Wings Has My Angel is beyond perfection. Chaze was a newspaperman who worked as a reporter for the Associated Press in New Orleans, and later as a city editor and columnist for the Hattiesburg American in Mississippi. He was in the army during the Second World War and participated in the occupation of Japan, which provided the setting for his first novel, The Stainless Steel Kimono (1947). He wrote nine novels in total before his death in 1990, as well as short stories, some of which featured a crime-solving newspaperman named Kiel St. James. He landed a single story in The New Yorker in 1947, Swordsman, a comical sketch about a G.I. in Japan who acquires an antique sword and then bends it out of shape trying to kill a mouse in his barracks. But, as Barry Gifford writes in his introduction to the new edition, nothing else Chaze wrote came anywhere close to what he had accomplished on all levels in Black Wings. I take Timothy Sunblade, the narrator of Black Wings, to be reliable which is to say I believe that he kills the people he says he kills, and that those shot by somebody else, or who slip and fall and never get up, die the way he says they do. Tim isnt his real name. Hes an escaped convict, a car thief (You dont know the meaning of freedom until youve been locked up a long time), a war veteran who suffered a head wound, and a college graduate who had his nose rubbed in his humble origins by the snobs at Washington and Lee that splendid woman-starved nest of culture where students address one another as gentleman, where freshmen wear nauseatingly cute beanie caps, where no one walks on the hallowed grass, and everyone is so sporting it hurts. (His take on Washington and Lee can stand in for his attitude to the whole middle-class world.) At the novels start, hes just finished a stint on an oil rig in the Atchafalaya River. He sleeps with a prostitute named Virginia whos more sophisticated than most hes met in that part of Louisiana and turns out to be on the lam as well, from trouble in New York City. A lot of the novels slangy lyricism comes when Tim is looking at her. She joins him when he sets out west in a blue Packard, and soon the novel begins its cycle of halfhearted double-crosses between the pair. Tim has put 17 $100 bills in a girdle and stashed it in the glove compartment, but when he tries to ditch Virginia at gas station, it turns out shes wearing the girdle and has already driven off with a man passing by in a Jaguar. On reuniting, they beat each other up, and have to camp on a mountainside until their faces heal: You generally notice the face of a person whos been in a fight. Scatter a few lumps on it and you remember all the rest of it. Its a fairly Edenic sojourn, and the novel unfolds from here as the sort of love story in which either lover might turn in or murder the other at any moment until its last desperate pages. The heist at the center of Black Wings is a fairly simple one, and it comes off without a hitch Tim and Virginias later undoings will come by other means, mostly as a result of their own fears and feelings of guilt. They pose as newlyweds in a working-class Denver neighborhood, and Tim takes a job as a power-shear operator and stakes out the comings and goings of a local banks armored car. The novels most brutal scene, in which his foreman loses three fingers to the hydraulic blade, has nothing to do with the crime. The heist has one casualty, a guard whom Tim stabs to death; they leave his body in the back of the armored car, load it onto a trailer, and dump the trailer down an abandoned mine shaft. Their getaway is clean, the haul is a little short of 200 grand. These arent spoilers. We know from early on that Tim is on death row, though not necessarily for this crime. The confession were reading isnt without an element of boastfulness. But any pride he feels is darkened by the thought of whats at the bottom of the hole in Colorado. Like many a killer in 20th-century noir, Tim is also possessed of a strong morality, basically of a small-town American sort. It comes to the fore when he and Virginia go to New Orleans to spend a bit of the take. They fall in with a decadent crowd of rich 20-somethings, particularly a pair named Eddie and Lorlee: They all had money to burn, or if they didnt, managed to give that impression, and they laughed about everything. I remember they made jokes about such things as incest and sodomy, and their idea of a big night was to taxi down in the French Quarter and giggle at the queers who put on a floor show down there. Id never thought being rich was anything like that, and still didnt believe it had to be, or else there wouldnt have been the steadfast desire to hang onto my own pile. They worked so hard at being individuals. Eddie wore a green canvas rainhat everywhere he went, even with formal clothes, and he looked like an exhausted cat peering out from under a collard leaf. Loralee did it with bracelets, pounds of them, which dangled and jangled, and with dresses that left her suntanned breasts very much on display. Both she and Eddie were married to somebody or other but, despite the strings of parties, I never saw her husband with her but once and I never saw Eddies wife at all. The married couples swapped around and played grabby in dark corners and all in all it was enough to make you want to stick your finger down your throat. If youre going to be married, really married under the law, you have no business rolling around that way with all comers. Coming from me that must be hard to swallow, but its the way I felt. Id rather kill a man I dont know and who never did anything to me than have my own children know I slept all over town just for the exercise of it. Virginia, of course, took to it like a duck takes to water. As Gifford notes, Chaze was a disciple of Hemingway; what he added to the equation was the flare that gives you that exhausted cat under the collard green. Its Tims disgust with this scene that puts him and Virginia into the novels final spirals. They stick with each other when everyones against them, knowing that neither of them is really fit for the straight and narrow. When the surprises arrive, Chaze makes no false moves, and none of the plots mechanics creak. Theres a shoot-out, cigar-involved police brutality, and a jailbreak. Coming to the book 60 years after it first appeared, youll find yourself wondering why it never got made into a movie. Chaze sold the rights to the French director Jean-Pierre Mocky, whose 1990 adaptation Gifford calls not very good. Gifford has for some years been working on a new screenplay with the producer Christopher Peditto. Tom Hiddleston and Anna Paquin were at one point onboard, but the production was suspended after Paquin gave birth to twins in the fall of 2012. For now the novel will have to suffice. iZombie Method Head Season 2 Episode 10 Editors Rating 2 stars * * Previous Next Previous Episode Next Episode Robert Buckley as Major and Rose McIver as Liv. Photo: Cate Cameron/CW Welcome to Vultures iZombie recaps! Yes, were starting in the middle of the shows second season, but as the old saying goes, better late than never. Before we discuss the very meta Method Head, lets start with a quick summary of where we were before the mid-season finale. (Its like one of those matryoshka nesting dolls, a mini-recap inside of a bigger recap.) When we last visited this positively Canadian-looking version of Seattle, some of Livs most important relationships were in ruins. After trying her hand at vigilante justice and almost dying Detective Clive Babineaux ended his partnership with Liv because she had crossed the line. He was ashamed of treating her like cop even though she wasnt one. At the same time, Liv decided to end her relationship with Major. Meanwhile, Ravi discovered his zombie cure is only temporary, which means Major and Blaine will soon be back to their pale glory. With this series of unfortunate loose ends left dangling, you would think iZombies mid-season return would be a moody affair that deals with Livs emotional fallout, but, alas, it wasnt. In a surprising tonal shift, the show skips past all this drama to delivers one of its sillier episodes. Method Head opens with Ravi telling Liv and Major and Blaine about his cures depressing setback, then proceeds to fast-forward through the holiday season. This means we dont get to see how Liv handles not being able to help Clive. Dont forget: When she was stuck on the sidelines in Cape Town, it left her devastated. Saving people is the only thing that makes being a zombie bearable. When we finally arrive in the present, Liv and Ravi have been called to the scene of Livs favorite show, the teen drama Zombie High, where the lead actor was killed in a scene after someone replaced a prop gun with a real gun. Because of her expertise with the show, Clive allows Liv to work the case with him. So, within the first five minutes of the episode, weve already returned to the status quo. Thats too bad. I was looking forward to seeing what this show could look like without Liv and Clive working together. The iZombie writers do have some fun with the case, at least. Zombie High shares many similarities with a certain megapopular zombie drama: Its a self-serious show about survival; a main character dies every season; and the lead actor is very Method. There are also quite a few self-referential jokes, too, which would have been more enjoyable if they didnt feel so familiar. To be fair, there are some good laughs. As Liv runs on Method-actor brains, we get some gentle mocking of insufferable acting behavior. Also, Clive falling in love with the craft services is a very Psych-esque treat. The show doesnt use these wrinkles to approach or complicate Livs broken relationships, though, so it all feels a bit wasted. As Liv and Clive investigate the murder, we find out the lead actor, Jordan a.k.a. Marlon Brandouche, as the extras affectionately call him was pretty much the worst. A whole lot of people who work on Zombie High had reason to want him dead. Jordans ridiculous need to do 30 takes for each scene constantly made production run late into the night and during the previous season, an assistant director died as he drove home from the set at 5 a.m. It turns out that the props master, who was having an affair with the deceased AD, impulsively swapped out the prop gun for a real one after learning the show would move to Los Angeles to accommodate Jordans burgeoning film career. Meanwhile, Major is still training Vaughn Du Clark. Since the last time we saw them, theyve become quite chummy Major even gives Vaughn a FitBit. Gilda is suspicious, though; she thinks Major is playing Vaughn. To prove her wrong, Vaughn arranges for his head researcher to blow the whistle on the zombie scandal to Major to test his loyalty. Major passes the test because he planted a bug in the fitness tracker. He knew it was a setup. With this latest victory, Major has further earned Vaughns trust, which inches him closer to taking him down. Who else is in peril of being taken out? Blaine. He receives an unexpected visit from FBI Agent Dale Bozzio, who found the funeral homes number in the phone records of several missing people in Seattle. Blaines brain business is up and running again, but he convinces Dale he didnt know any of the victims. At the end of the episode, though, she returns to the precinct and stumbles across a police sketch of Clives suspect in the Meat Cute massacre. Shes convinced that Blaine is the responsible for the citys disappearances. Exciting, right? Unfortunately, well have to wait several weeks to see where all of this goes. iZombie wont return with a new episode until February 2. Diplo, of Major Lazer. Photo: John Sciulli/2013 Getty Images Major Lazer will be one of the first major Stateside groups to perform in Cuba since diplomatic ties have resumed, according to reports. Diplos three-piece electronic act is set to participate in a free show March 6 in Havana, at Tribuna Jose Marti, in front of the U.S. Embassy. For as long as I can remember, Cuba has played an influential role on my love of music Cuba has such a powerful cultural impact all over the world and for me, especially growing up in Florida, it became one of the biggest cultural centers for music to evolve from, Diplo said in a statement released to the media. I was lucky enough to visit Cuba a few years back and to be a part of the culture once again is a huge blessing and I couldnt be more honored to bring the Major Lazer project there. The Lazer show serves as a preview for the forthcoming U.S.- and Cuban-produced Musicabana Fest, taking place in May. Diplo and friends will also reportedly meet with Cuban music students and DJs, and will try very hard to have as much fun as Conan did. Director Michael Bay insists his new action film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, about the controversial 2012 firefight that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three others dead, isnt meant to be political. But anyone looking at the subject matter and the release date in the midst of a presidential race, in which the GOP will likely try to hang the events of Benghazi around Hillary Clintons neck might disagree. More important, despite often claiming that his films have nothing to do with his personal views, Bays ouevre isnt exactly apolitical, its just all over the place. Heres an assessment of where his movies fall ideologically. Hover over or tap the movie titles to read more. TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (2014) The good-guy Autobots are hunted down by an evil U.S.-government official. Close TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009) An oily national-security adviser working for Obama obstructs Optimus Prime and the U.S. military. Close TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (2011) A can-do group of American soldiers essentially defies executive orders to save the planet from being terraformed by the Decepticons. Close PAIN & GAIN (2013) An ex-con and two bodybuilding thieves go HAM at the American Dream (yet wind up on death row). Close ARMAGEDDON (1998) Bruce Willis and his crew of oil drillers show those NASA sissies how blowing up an asteroid is done. Close BAD BOYS II (2003) In their second go-round, Smith and Lawrences Miami cops invade Cuba. Really. Close TRANSFORMERS (2007) Americas armed forces and the Autobots make a heroic stand at the Hoover Dam to save us from the Decepticons. Close BAD BOYS (1995) Bay reportedly cajoled Will Smith into tenderly professing his love for co-star Martin Lawrence in this buddy-cop flick. Close PEARL HARBOR (2001) This rah-rah epic is fairly balancedtouching on PTSD even as it romanticizes combat. Close THE ROCK (1996) The rare Bay movie where soldiers or heartland badasses dont save us; instead, the day belongs to Nicolas Cages biochemist. Close THE ISLAND (2005) An anti-rich sci-fi dystopia; by Michael Bay standards, The Island is basically communist agitprop. Close *This article appears in the January 11, 2016 issue of New York Magazine. Friends, its been too long. In the time since we last visited our Liars, ABC Family has re- #branded itself as Freeform. Whats a Freeform? Well, what isnt a Freeform? Think about it. In Rosewood, meanwhile, weve whooshed ahead five whole years. This is a neat surprise for a few reasons: No more policing the statutory rape-y quotient in these girls relationships, no more pretending cover for me is a legitimate stand-in for an attendance policy, and, best of all for the PLL powers that be, anything that appears to the casual observer to be a plot hole can be explained away as a new mystery, fully understood behind the scenes, the details and importance of which will be revealed in due time. So, lets do this. Its time for the winter-premiere edition of the Pretty Little Power Rankings! 1. Aria (last episode: 9) I know. I cant believe it either. Aria? Aria. And Im not a fan of the blonde bob. (The bob is fine, but that yellow-blonde? I say this with affection: We all must work with the coloring we have.) Yet she is the only person who tells the judge the obvious, necessary truth: No one should feel safe with Charlotte gallivanting about Rosewood as if she was never a traumatized, unstable, criminal mastermind. She is also one of the only Liars to wear a funeral-appropriate outfit to Charlottes ceremony. Extra points for how she negs Hannas engagement ring right on sight: It looked bigger when you posted it. Ill drink a manic-depressive Mai Tai to that, Miss Montgomery. 2. Hanna (last episode: not ranked) Shes engaged to offscreen Jordan. She has a fashion job with someone named Claudia who, for the purposes of fictional happiness, I will believe is named for 90s fashion icon Claudia from The Baby-Sitters Club. She wears an outfit that echoes Ilanas white power suit to the hearing. She wants quiet ice cubes when shes hung-over. And, to top it all off, she still has A+ banter-chemistry with Caleb. 3. Emily (last episode: 2) I am VERY intrigued by Emilys lost years. It seems like she landed in some tropical locale tending bar, like wherever Noni ran off to in Beyond the Lights. Also, college really didnt suit her, so maybe she never graduated? At one point, her bag her overnight bag for drinks with the girls and a hotel-room slumber party spills, and an almost laughable quantity of drug paraphernalia spills out. Multiple needles! Pills surreptitiously popped! Regular readers of these recaps familiar with the Inviolable Rules of Television Health and Medicine know exactly what this means. I also love that, while telling Toby how college just didnt click for her, Emily can still diss Hanna in her fragile state: Spencer, Aria, even Hanna, it all seemed to click for them. 4. Ashley Marin (last episode: not ranked) We still have no idea how Ashley and the rest of the moms got out of the DiLaurentis basement. At least her presence assures us that eventually they did! Hannas mom barely makes a cameo in this episode, so this ranking is not about anything we see her say or do onscreen. Its about how she spent the past five years: This woman turned Radley into a swanky hotel? WHAT. Radley. This woman saw business potential in Voldemorts Dickensian Orphanage for the Morally and Mentally Afflicted? Ashley Marin is a visionary. The whole thing gives Hanna the heebie-jeebies, but Ashley is unfazed: Weve evicted all the ghosts, Hanna. Soon, people will forget what this place was, and it will only be remembered for its exquisite brunch. Hanna responds approvingly, My mother, the exorcist. 5. Mona (last episode: 1) Im pretty amped to watch her become Spencers professional nemesis. 6. Veronica Hastings (last episode: not ranked) Why would someone with so many skeletons in her closet not to mention her backyard submit herself to the deeply invasive world of politics? Whatever. Live your dream, Veronica. Extra points for dismantling Spencers idealistic vision of herself and pointing out that, yep, Spencer is a lobbyist. 7. Radley (last episode: 14) And they say there are no second acts in American life. 8. Spencer (last episode: 6) Im onboard with the following life decisions Spencer has made in our absence: Moving to D.C., dating an ambassadors son until a regime change split them up, supporting Veronicas political aspirations, learning how to be a funny yet not-out-of-control wine-drunk. Thats why it pains me to say this, despite my long-standing devotion to House Hastings I am not onboard with the bangs. I wanted to love them, just as I loved Future Leslie Knopes bangs. Also, I expected Spencer to be the voice of reason, not the voice of, Lets do one nice thing for Ali, the judge will totally see through it, then keep Charlotte locked up forever. 9. The Liars (Mostly) Inappropriate Funeral Attire (last episode: not ranked) Spencers dress is so low on her shoulders, its one slouch away from sliding off. Alis deep-V-neck requires some on-point posture to keep its PG rating. Hanna looks ready for the club with a cleavage keyhole and a slit waaay up her thigh. This is, like, your 37th funeral, ladies. Get it together. 10. Caleb (last episode: not ranked) Hows life in the brotherhood of ex-boyfriends treating you? 11. Toby (last episode: not ranked) Is furniture/house-builder the manic-pixie hot-guy job of choice? Toby, Magic Mike, Ryan Gosling in The Notebook: It only takes three to make a trend story. 12. Ezra (last episode: not ranked) Of all the five-year blind-spot mysteries were being manipulated into wondering about, Ezras is, of course, the most annoying and implausible. Last we heard, he was going to do Habitat for Humanity in Thailand and, I speculated, hed keep an insufferable Tumblr about his self-discovery but instead, he published a book (title: Ostinato) before heading to South America with a girl he met in the Brew. Her name was Nicole. She was dragged off by half-baked revolutionaries and never heard from again. Ezra expresses his depression by wearing henleys and forgetting to shave. I feel like theres a Rosewood singularity wherein Caleb develops mature grooming habits while Ezra lets his haircut and scruff go wild, and soon well reach the point at which they look exactly alike. Plausible? Inevitable? Discuss. 13. Ali (last episode: 7) I know Ive brought this up before, but really: Were just totally forgetting how our resident Sweet Valley Sociopath faked her own kidnapping? And how she spent her adolescence being gorgeous and vicious, committing a spate of violent and/or emotionally horrifying crimes? Whatever, Ali contains multitudes. It just so happens that her multitudes are the wardrobe of 45-year-old suburbanite and the handwriting of a 13-year-old girly girl. (Lone exception: Quality pattern-mixing in her very first scene. Striped top, flower skirt? Ill go with it. Bold.) Anyway, five years is not nearly enough time for someone like Charlotte/Charles/A to be released from a residential hospital setting. You know what is enough time? Trick question! She should live there. Forever! Its very, very cool of the justice system of Pennsylvania to not go full Orange Is the New Black on this one. But in what alternate universe should someone who, among who knows how many other WTF extracurricular felonies, built a prison/torture-chamber Dollhouse and kept five teenage girls in captivity in said Dollhouse for I forget how long? It was a long time. Ali has a whole lotta chutzpah to call upon her PTSD-stricken clique to speak on Charlottes behalf. Five minutes to change the whole world. NO. 14. Sad Robyn (last episode: 13) Still not even invested in this person to comment on her retro funeral veil. 15. Charlotte/Charlie/A (last episode: 11) Yeesh. Welcome back? Lingering concerns: Why is everyone still friends with Ali? Is there anyone in Rosewood who wouldnt want to kill Charlotte? Is the Liam who Aria keeps mentioning another small child in her care? Because I know the girls said this about Rosewood, and here we are, but I mean it I am not going back there again. Here comes the last nail in the coffin, -J This episode is like a weekend in the Hamptons. Its long and slow, like a cat stretching its paws on a sun-dappled settee. Its loose and luxurious, like the breeze through a white silk dress. Its like a cloud of mosquitos, hovering around your head and annoying the hell out of you. Its like bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway, full of rich people who dont move anywhere or do anything. Theyre all just marinating in the juices of their own exclusivity. Yes, the only thing that really matters is how Erika Girardi shows up in her private jet, fresh from Chicago Pride, to class up the joint. Lisars reaction to Erika is a lot like mine: At first shes like, Please, this bimbo is stupid and gross and her video looks like a public-service announcement for thong safety. After she meets Erika, though, shes like, Alright, I get it, shes freaking amazing. Thats the thing about Erika. If you give her 15 minutes, shell convert you. Thats why its great to see Eileen get so into Erika. I dont think Bethenny is jealous of Erika, but Eileen definitely is. She wants to be able to show off her humps, her lovely lady lumps, but doesnt have the courage to do it. Shes held in by some outdated idea of decorum that, clearly, doesnt hold Erika back. Thats probably because a gaggle of gay scientists created Erika in a lab. They were never afraid of their sexuality and taught Erika to live the same way. Maybe shes just more evolved than the rest of us. Who knows? The person with the most complicated reaction to Erika, though, is none other than Bethenny Frankel, that overflowing bag of microwave popcorn, who hosts a dinner party for the Real Housewives from the opposite coast as they visit the Hamptons. When she and Kyle look at Erikas Instagram, Bethenny is like, Okay, shes ridiculous. Which, duh. The point of Erika is that she is ridiculous. The ridiculousness is the entire point of the enterprise just like the chicken dance, Nicki Minaj lyrics, and vajazzling, Bethenny says she really loves Erika, but she certainly isnt acting like it. She calls her Bambi, which is not a compliment. Shes all like, This hooker slut over here is crazy and sleeps with old men and its awesome. Its as if Bethenny is saying that Erika is great and by now, we can all agree that she is but the words she uses to describe her are derogatory. Which Bethenny should we believe? Its like she loves Erika for being herself, but hates her for being so obviously sexual. The patriarchy has colonized her speech. The worst part is when Bethenny is all, You should market this as like empowering for women, and Erika responds like, Um, thats the point, stupidface. Erika totally saves it with the quote of all eternity, though: I dont know anything about margaritas and I dont know anything about being skinny, so I dont mess with her Skinny Girl shit. So maybe she shouldnt mess with mine. Erika, I throw myself at your feet. I am your humble servant forever. I will kiss your ring. I will pat your puss, until death or cancellation do us part. Nevertheless, Bethenny isnt entirely wrong. Erika could market herself better. Were drawn to to Erika on the show and shes attractive as a person to Bethenny because of the juxtaposition between Erika Jayne, the bottomless vortex of pussy power, and Erika Girardi, the wife and mother who flies a private jet and lives in Beverly Hills and sits at dinner parties with stuffy old lawyers while trying not to yawn in their wrinkly, privileged faces. When Erika Jayne performs at Chicago Pride, Americas fifth largest Homosexual Gay Pride Celebration, we miss the part of her that isnt writhing to a dance beat that sounds like the later stages of a meth binge. Erika Jayne is a single entendre, and thats as appealing as an open-faced Oreo. I was glad to see Bethenny in this episode, mostly because I (kind of) want to be her. Her haircut is amazing, her house is amazing, and her outfit was amazing until she rips it trying to be Erika Jayne. Its all perfect. The most perfect thing, though, is Kyles story about how she met Bethenny during her waitress days: She walked up to her table and said, Im dating your ex-boyfriend. Is that your expensive eye-makeup remover in his bathroom? What kind of crazy bitch spends that much money on eye-makeup remover? Thats the Bethenny we loved, the brash underdog who didnt give a hoot who she offended. When she does stuff like that now, however, she comes across as a shrill know-it-all who you want to smother with eye rolls until she stops talking forever. Still, the Bethenny and Kyle catch-up session is amazing, if only for that picture of them when they first met 25 years ago. The hair! It was both trying too hard and not nearly accomplished enough, like a starlet making her first appearance as one of the disposable girlfriends on Charles in Charge. I could listen to an entire hour of stories about Bethenny and Kyle running around Los Angeles sleeping with all the dudes, then picking up Paris and Nicky after school and driving them for ice cream. Can that be Bravos next show? Please? Ill start my spec script now. Since were talking about things that we want to see, how about talking about things that we never want to see again? Number one is Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes, and right below him is David Foster (Wallace), the swishing gecko tongue who, until recently, was married to Yolanda Bananas Foster. During the little moment we see of him, he not only jokes about how his wifes breasts were small and awful after she had her implants taken out, but also jokes with Lisa about how big her husbands boobs are. When is that ever funny? And just like Ricky Gervais, this guy sits there with a smug smile on his face. He thinks hes edgy and naughty, but hes really just an awful man who makes dated jokes about Charlie Sheen. God, he is the worst. And by he, I mean both Ricky and David. Whats funny about the RHOBH is how it develops this dramatic irony with its stars. As season one aired with a smirking Camille Grammer, we knew that her husband would divorce her. In season two, we knew that the tortured Taylor Armstrong would have to endure her husbands suicide. In both cases, there was a spirit of comeuppance or relief about how things played out. Not so with Yolanda. When she says things like, This is not what you signed up for, and he makes cracks about her body, it makes me want to smother Yolanda in lemons and give her a hug that will last until the final Avengers movie hits theaters. I guess we should also address Lisa and Eileens affair conversation. Do we really have to? This is so silly. Lisa likes to pump people with questions. I dont really blame her; so do I. If you think that I can sit down at a dinner with Padma Lakshmi and not ask her every question Ive ever had about Glitter, you are sadly mistaken. (Again, sorry Padma.) The affair sort of comes up in conversation, so Lisa jumps at the opportunity. Is that tactless? Yes. However, Eileen keeps answering her questions. She isnt giving off an I dont want to talk about this vibe. As Lisa says, if she didnt want to talk about it, just say so. Also, Lisar and Kyle clearly feel the line of questioning is a little touchy, but they dont do nothing. They could have said, Lisa, knock it off. Not at dinner. Instead, they sit there, pushing their risotto around on their plates as if they were actually going to eat. That same night, somewhere on one of the grass-fringed beaches, a woman stands against the darkness, casting no shadow. She cant see the stars in the ocean. No light flickers across the roiling water. Even the breeze that blows her red hair against her face seems to move with the waters shushing rhythm. She stands at the dune, the sand so cold it hurts her feet, but she cant move. She is staring at the house, the one she knows those other women are staying in, and she cant look away. She wants to be there too, not because their house is bigger or nicer, but because it has something her house doesnt. It has the connection, that thing that beams their existences up into the satellites, splintering them each into a million streams that go into a million homes. Those streams keep them alive, like a river that never stops flowing, a spring of eternal youth that will never dry, no matter how many drink from it. She stares at the windows as each blinks out. A green light is fastened to a pole on the back deck. Jill Zarin stares at that green light, hoping it can draw her in like a tractor beam, dragging her limp body through the salt spray. But it wont, not for her. She knows that now. Her light had been extinguished, her stream dammed up. She holds a small, square, remote-control device in her hand. She lifts it and points it at the house, pushing a button while squinting at the deck, blurring that green light into a fractured star. She hopes that somehow, it will ignite. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: About 463 citizens of Turkey were diagnosed with swine flu since the beginning of 2016, Turkish Health Ministry said Jan. 13. Some 14 people died from swine flu during this period in Turkey, according to the ministry. Over 2905 people suspected with swine flu appealed to the country's hospitals since the beginning of this year, among whom were also citizens of other countries. Some 181 people died from swine flu in 2015 in Turkey, according to Turkish Health Ministry. The virus A/H1N1 has been detected at the end of March 2009 in Mexico, the United States and Canada, where the first fatal cases were registered. In Apr. 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the swine flu pandemic, gradually raising the level of threat. In June 11, 2009 for the first time in more than 40 years, WHO has officially announced the introduction of the sixth - the highest level of pandemic threat of the rapid spread through the world of influenza A/H1N1. More than 19,000 cases of infection with H1N1 flu with fatalities have been registered, and infected people were found in most countries of the world, according to WHO. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Eau de braaaaaaaaaain. Photo: Gene Page/AMC According to comics creator Robert Kirkman, when The Walking Dead returns for its mid-season premiere on Valentines Day, it will begin exactly where it left off. We pick up right in that moment. Alexandria is overrun. Rick and the kids are all covered in guts trying to get through the crowd. Everyone is where we last saw them, and things get worse from there, Kirkman told EW. As you remember, we last left Rick Grimes and Carl trying to get Jessie and her good-for-nothing sons out of a house overrun by walkers with a classic season-one trick: dressing up like a zombie! Even though the place is overrun, theyre going to be fixated on rebuilding Alexandria. Kirkman said: It comes back to those plans of rebuilding Alexandria. Assuming some people survive, and its a good bet that some do because theyve already talked in the midseason finale that theyre not planning on leaving Alexandria. Its a bump in the road, but theres something special there, and they can turn this into an anchor that they can build upon. They actually have a chance at surviving long term and building a safe place, not going from safety to safety to safety the way they have for the life of the show. This isnt the prison, and Oh, we gotta move on from here and find another place. This is something different. And from there, there will be other things that expand their world in new and terrifying ways. Just your weekly reminder that Negan is coming. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Some 68 people were detained on suspicion of being involved in the terrorist group IS (aka "Islamic State", ISIL or ISIS), Anadolu Agency reported Jan. 13. The arrests come in the wake of a terrorist attack in Istanbul on Jan. 12, which killed 10 and injured 15. The individuals were detained during operations in seven Turkish provinces, said the report. The operations are expected to continue during the day, the agency further said. On Oct. 10, 2015, as many as 97 people were killed and over 240 people were injured in a terrorist attack in Ankara, which, as Turkey's National Intelligence Organization said, was carried out by the IS. Previously, the National Intelligence Organization warned of the possibility of other terrorist attacks in the country. "Some 20 more suicide bombers are preparing to carry out terrorist attacks in different cities in Turkey," said the National Intelligence Organization. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The Waco Womens Lions Club is having a Dinner in the Dark event at 6 p.m. Jan. 23 at the Waco Hippodrome. Featuring a 1940s theme, the event will allow guests to enjoy dining in the beauty of the historic Hippodrome. Only 200 tickets will be sold to the event. Tickets cost $100 and will benefit the nonprofit Leader Dog for the Blind. To purchase tickets, visit http://wacohippodrome theatre.com. For more information, email DinnerintheDark Waco@gmail.com. La Vega Parent U La Vega Independent School District will present a Parent University program from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bellmead Civic Center, 3900 Parrish St. The free event will update parents and the community about things the district is doing and planning. The meeting will review information about the upcoming STARR test. Dinner will be served from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Child care and snacks will be provided for children ages 4 and older. Door prizes will be awarded. For more information, call 299-6753. Friends of Peace Alan Northcutt will present COP21: From the Meeting Halls to the Streets of Paris at a meeting of the Waco Friends of Peace at 6 p.m. Thursday at Poppa Rollos Pizza, 703 N. Valley Mills Drive. The free lecture and photographic presentation is based on Northcutts personal experiences at the recent Paris climate summit and surrounding events. A pizza and salad buffet will be provided. For more information, visit www.friendsofpeace.org. Historical Commission The McLennan County Historical Commission will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Commissioners Courtroom at the McLennan County Courthouse. The main agenda item will be the lack of accessibility to the Texas Centennial Historical Marker at the Torrey Trading Post, one of the most historical sites in the county. Visitors are welcome to attend. For more information, call Van Massirer at 486-2366 or email vmassirer@yahoo.com. HOTPACS meeting Heart O Texas Parkinsons and Caregivers Support Group will meet at 3 p.m. Thursday at Community Fellowship Church, 2001 N. Valley Mills Drive. Yoga instructor Sarah Boggan will demonstrate a simple chair version of a yoga program that she developed for people with Parkinsons disease. She will explain what each of the movements does to improve mobility, balance and confidence. The meeting is open to the public, especially people newly diagnosed with Parkinsons, and their caregivers. CWJC classes Christian Womens Job Corps of McLennan County is accepting applications for its Career Track and GED classes that are set to begin Feb. 1. For applications and more information, call Dorothy Clark at 757-0416 or email Dorothy@cwjc waco.org. Submit items to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event. A Baylor University freshman who allegedly climbed to the top of the McLennan County Courthouse to take a selfie with the statue Themis may win a few style points for imagination back at the dorm but it also landed him in jail Tuesday night. He said he wanted to take a picture with Lady Justice, McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said. Looks like he did get a little dose of justice himself. He should have been on a date at a movie or studying instead of on top of the courthouse. McNamara said deputies arrested Jack Minrod Decker III, 19, a Baylor student from North Carolina, after witnesses saw him climb the fire escape at the back of the courthouse and then slide down the fire escape in front about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Decker was jailed on a Class B criminal trespass of a building charge but apparently got what he wanted, McNamara said. Investigators found a selfie of Decker with Themis, the one-armed statue on top of the courthouse, on Deckers cellphone, McNamara said. A maintenance worker leaving the building spotted Decker climbing the fire escape stairs and called police. Waco police and sheriffs deputies surrounded the building and searched the courthouse with a K-9 patrol because they were unsure at that point if the suspect gained entry to the courthouse, the sheriff said. Deputies are still investigating the incident but think Decker did not go inside the courthouse, just on top to take the photo, McNamara said. A courthouse employee who worked late Tuesday night was walking to his car in front of the building and noticed all the law enforcement vehicles. Seconds later, he saw Decker sliding down the fire escape in front of the courthouse and alerted authorities, who arrested Decker. Decker remained in the county jail Wednesday morning but was released later in the day on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond. A storm in June 2014 ripped the left arm from the goddess of justice and sent the scales of justice she was holding flying into a nearby magnolia tree. The statue has not been repaired. Lorena City Manager and former state Rep. Billy Clemons admits its a little terrifying to know he is retiring at the end of the month. But that hasnt stopped him from packing. Clemons, who spent the past six years with the city, said he is looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren and visiting his property in Nacogdoches. Clemons, though, will retire in Lorena. This is home now, he said. Clemons, 66, has spent the past few weeks introducing his successor, Joseph Pace, to city employees and residents and teaching him the ins and outs of the organization. Pace, 44, who is in the process of moving from Temple to Lorena, recently served as the Copperas Cove parks and recreation director. He ended up the lucky winner, Clemons said about the hire. Its like winning the Powerball. Walking through downtown, Clemons pointed to the police department, recalling how constructing that building was his first project. Pace, whose official first day isnt until the first week in February, said he expected more sub-par city buildings before coming to Lorena, as many small towns havent kept up their facilities. That hasnt been the case in Lorena, though, he said. Clemons said that while the city has accomplished a lot over the years, the next big changes will likely be connected to the newly created Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which is a way to finance public improvements by encouraging development and improving the tax base over time. Pace already has begun sitting in on conference calls regarding the TIRZ and will take over negotiating for the city with developers interested in TIRZ properties on the east and west sides of Interstate 35. Pace said while he hasnt worked personally with a TIRZ before, he feels confident he can step in and help keep the momentum rolling on this project. Growth, after all, he said, will likely be the citys greatest challenge during the next decade. There will be some who dislike the projected city growth as it arrives in the next 10 years, and the city will face growing pains, he said. Adding an expected 5,000 people during the next 10 years to a city with less than 2,000 residents requires intent planning, he said. Pace said he dealt with a burst in population in Copperas Cove and has experience with some of the situations that will arise. Pace said one of the best things Clemons has told him since they began working together is that Lorena residents want growth, but only in the right way. Pace said he has worked in city government for about eight years, from serving as a city court administrator and junior city planner to director of parks and recreation. Pace said he had hesitations about a small city, but those were quickly dissolved after meeting with the city council and staff. He said he expected just based on the citys size the city to be cliquish, but hes been pleasantly surprised by the progressive minds he has encountered. For Clemons, his retirement will bring an end to more than 14 years of service for Texas residents. Before working in Lorena, he served as city manager in the cities of Alto and Caldwell. But long before leading small-town administrations, Clemons served 14 years as a state representative. Billy came to the city at a very pivotal time. We were dealing with a wastewater facility which was at capacity and was going to consume a lot of the citys resources to expand and maintain, Mayor Chuck Roper said. Billy coordinated our interests in (the Waco Metropolitan Area Regional Sewerage System), which gives Lorena the opportunity to expand for future growth. Clemons said he also has overseen the citys interest in interstate expansion; worked on many of the states Texas Municipal League committees; and helped in buying a bank building and converting it to a new city hall, building an emergency water connection with Hewitt and cooperating with the Lorena Economic Development Committee to make improvements to the citys McBrayer Park. Its going to be hard for me to cut it loose, Clemons said. Pace joked that is a good thing, because it means he can take Clemons for lunch if he ever needs advice. Clemons said he has a lot of confidence in Paces ability to take over the position after working with him these past few weeks. In spite of what all of us egotistical males think, we can be replaced, Clemons said with a laugh. And who knows, Clemons said maybe hell run for city council. The city will host a reception for Pace and Clemons before the council meeting from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall. As just about everyone knows by now, Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban-born father and a mother who was a U.S. citizen. Cruz held Canadian citizenship for nearly all of his life, relinquishing it only in 2014, when he was planning to run for the presidency. Is he eligible to hold the office he seeks? This is a question of constitutional law, not of politics; it should be approached as such. Respected analysts have shown that the question is not simple to answer. The Constitution states that the president must be natural-born but doesnt define that term. The Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue; if it did, it would find a murky history. Under a narrow interpretation, natural-born means you were born within territorial boundaries of the United States. Under an alternative and broader interpretation, it means you were a citizen at birth and did not have to undergo a naturalization process. The text of the Constitution doesnt exclude either interpretation. The word natural might be taken to require birth in the United States; in the 18th century, natural was often opposed to provided by statute suggesting that to serve as president, you must have been born in the country rather than being recognized as a citizen through an act of Congress. But a natural-born citizen might be someone who just is a citizen at the moment of birth, as Cruz plainly was (through the citizenship of his mother). William Blackstone was an important influence on the founding generation, and his views receive respectful attention in U.S. courts. In 1765, he explained that natural-born subjects are such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England. He noted that this maxim of the law proceeded upon a general principle that every man owes natural allegiance where he is born and cannot owe two such allegiances. Blackstone added the English Parliament had made exceptions, as for those whose fathers were natural-born. Cruz does not meet Blackstones test. In terms of the American founding itself, there is no clear support for either the narrow or the broader interpretation. Those who favor the latter point to the Naturalization Act of 1790, which states that the children of citizens of the United States . . . shall be considered as natural-born citizens. The act adds an exception, which is that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States. The Naturalization Act is the strongest argument for Cruz. Written in the immediate aftermath of the ratification of the Constitution, it was embraced by many people who were involved in drafting the founding document. (Because Rafael Cruz had resided in Texas, his son would count as natural-born under the act.) Yet the act isnt necessarily decisive. First, it governs citizenship generally, not qualifications for the presidency in particular. Second, it says that the children of U.S. citizens shall be considered as natural-born citizens not that they are natural-born citizens. Third, the Constitutions eligibility requirements, which Congress cant alter, might well have meant to emphasize place of birth. In any case, the 1970 act was repealed by the Naturalization Act of 1795, which somewhat mysteriously struck the term natural-born and simply stated the children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States (while retaining the same paternal residency restrictions as the 1790 act). For technical reasons, no federal court is likely to rule against Cruz. First, it is settled that voters as such lack standing to sue and there is a good chance that no one can establish the required injury to complain in court about Cruzs foreign birth. Second, the issue might be taken to present a political question, in the technical sense that it will be treated as one to be resolved through the democratic process, not the judicial system. Donald Trump suggests that Cruz should seek a declaratory judgment, but you cant just go to court because you are interested in its opinion. On the merits, I agree with Cruz: The Naturalization Act of 1790 counts in his favor, and because he was a U.S. citizen at birth under U.S. law, the better view is that he is natural-born. But University of San Diego constitutional specialist Michael Ramsey, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, put it well: Its a mystery to me why anyone thinks its an easy question. Cass Sunstein is director of the Harvard Law Schools program on behavioral economics and public policy. Chinas stance on the Diaoyu Islands is consistent and clear, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei at a press briefing. (Photo : Photo/fmprc.gov.cn) In a statement released by the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, Jan. 12, China reiterated its full commitment to protect its territory, according to a report by China Daily. The statement came as a reaction to Japan's warnings, saying that the island nation will send out naval patrols to ward Chinese naval vessels off the coast of Diaoyu Islands. Advertisement "China's stance on the Diaoyu Islands is consistent and clear," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei at a press briefing. "At the same time we do not want to see tensions escalate in the East China Sea and are willing to properly manage, control and settle the problems through dialogue and consultation." Hong further stated that Diaoyu Islands have long been a part of Chinese territory since "ancient times." Meanwhile, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga sent out a message to Beijing at a news conference on Tuesday, saying that any foreign naval vessel in "Japanese territorial waters" for reasons other than "innocent passage" will be driven out by Japanese naval patrol. According to Yoshihide, China has already been informed of this move since November, when Chinese "navy ships" ventured close to the disputed islands. China Daily reported that this vessel was in fact a part of the Chinese coastguard, but Japan has claimed the ship had gun turrets. Japan's coastguard said that it was the first time an "armed Chinese vessel" sailed in the area. Xiang Guangmei, a military expert based in Beijing, does not accept Japan's claims. "China is not sending warships there. Maybe Japan means that China's coastguard vessel carries guns, but Japanese ships also carry guns. That does not change the nature of the law enforcement vessels," said Xiang. He added that if Japan will send its navy to the area, China should do the same thing. A Summernats worker suffered burns to his face after fuel he was handling sparked a small explosion and fire. The accident occurred last Thursday evening and the man was treated at the scene by emergency workers before being transferred to Canberra Hospital, where he remained in a stable condition until he was discharged on Monday. A driver takes part in the Burnout Championship finals at Canberra Summernats. Credit:Jeffrey Chan The worker has returned home to Wollongong. ACT work safety commissioner Mark McCabe said the accident was still being investigated. But the worker was extremely lucky not to have sustained more serious injuries. Chinas current barriers were placed for three reasons, according to Gao Xiang, spokesman of the administration. (Photo : Getty Images) Beijing has eased procedures to allow highly qualified foreign talents and experts to work in the city, according to a report by China Daily. The Chinese capital is the second city in the country to do so after Shanghai, and experts say other cities like Tianjin will follow suit. Advertisement On Tuesday, Jan. 12, the Ministry of Public Security announced a pilot policy that will enable foreigners to enter and stay in the capital for work. The pilot policy consists of 20 new measures that target various groups of foreigners: foreign students in the capital, high-end foreign professionals, foreigners working for entrepreneurial startups in Beijing, and overseas Chinese from foreign universities who started businesses in the capital. The policy will be first implemented in Zhongguancun, Beijing's high-tech hub, home to over 20,000 companies. The measures will take effect on March 1. Officials say that the pilot policy is geared toward the development of Zhongguancun and to effectively meet the capital's demand for a national science and technology innovation center. The Center for China and Globalization, a think tank, is part of the group that came up with the policies. According to its director, Wang Huiyao, the policies are a success. Because of the policy, overseas Chinese with doctoral degrees obtained in other countries will be given permanent residency. Meanwhile, foreigners who have been working for companies in Zhongguancun for four years will also be given a permit. "The threshold will be lowered for overseas Chinese and high-end foreign talent, which is definitely a real benefit for them," said Wang, who also serves as the president of the South China Global Talent, in an interview with China Daily. Visitors, on the other hand, are allowed to stay in the capital visa-free for 144 hours. According to Wang, six days is ample time for visitors to accomplish their business in Beijing. Gun ownership has risen 3 per cent in the past year, with one firearm registered for every 20 residents in the ACT. There are now 583 extra firearms belonging to 197 more licensees in the capital than there were at the start of 2015. A pistol revolver. Credit:istock ACT Policing figures have revealed 19,200 guns were legally registered to 6083 licensees, about three an owner, at the end of November last year. That was a jump from 18,617 guns that were registered to 5886 licensees in January 2015. While the case dates back to 2007, the ruling comes at a time when governments and courts around the world are grappling with how to balance the right to privacy with the need to protect national security in the wake of Islamist terror attacks such as those in Paris last year. The court's decision will also certainly guide the European Union's top tribunal in future cases and rulings, said lawyers. "It is not unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that the employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours," the court ruled. Credit:Louie Douvis "It is not unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that the employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours," the court in Strasbourg, France, ruled. Bosses can snoop on workers' emails including personal messages with loved ones during working hours, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in a case brought by a Romanian man fired after his employer spied on his private Yahoo Inc. chats. "This decision is significant for a number of European countries" as it legalises reliance on private communications to influence workplace decisions, said Michael Burd, joint head of employment at Lewis Silkin in London. "There's been a very strict division between employers' ability to look at private stuff and employers' ability to look at company stuff and this decision will break that down." "What's significant about this case is that they were allowed to use the content, not simply the fact of using Yahoo," said Burd. Bogdan Mihai Barbulescu took his case against Romania to the human rights court in 2008, arguing that his employer's decision to end his contract was based on a violation of his rights to respect for his private life and correspondence. Barbulescu, who worked with his former employer as an engineer in charge of sales from 2004 to 2007, was asked to create a Yahoo Messenger account to answer clients' queries. In July 2007, he was informed that his chats had been monitored over several days, showing he had breached company rules by using the service also privately. A 45-page transcript also included a few messages he had exchanged with his fiancee. "The employer's monitoring was limited in scope and proportionate" and in addition, the employee hadn't "convincingly explained why he had used the Yahoo messenger account for personal purposes," the European court said. "There is nothing to indicate that the domestic authorities failed to strike a fair balance." Melbourne's busy container port will be forced to a standstill on Wednesday when tugboat engineers walk off the job. The strike comes amid an escalating national fight between the engineers and their employer, Svitzer Australia, which runs tugboats at several east-coast ports. Tugboat unions are pushing up against Australia's biggest miner. Credit:Jessica Hromas Strikes have already halted port activity in Geelong, Sydney and Newcastle this week. But Wednesday's 12-hour strike in Melbourne is expected to have the biggest impact. From midday to midnight, delays will plague the Port of Melbourne because tugboats that tow commercial carriers and tankers will be inoperative. Trump's appeal is usually attributed to his leadership, charisma, can-do business ethos and so on. Yet none of these qualities would resonate without the voter anger that is evident across Middle America. And yet here we are, just weeks out from the primaries, and Trump continues to dominate the Republican race for the White House and we so-called experts are wiping the egg off our faces. It's still too early to say he will win his party's nomination in July. But it's not too early to account for his extraordinary political rise. The rise of Donald Trump continues to perplex and perturb seasoned observers of American politics. I'm no exception. When the flamboyant real-estate mogul and reality-television star launched his presidential bid last June, I resolutely refused to take him seriously. After all, four years earlier he had sold the so-called "birther" theory that Barack Obama was born somewhere other than the US and therefore was unqualified to be in power. So when Trump made rude and crude remarks about Mexicans and Muslims I said he was damaged goods. Simply put, the American people President Obama addresses in Wednesday's State of the Union address are in a foul mood. Or more to the point: significant segments of mainly white blue-collar Americans believe their nation is in big trouble. It's not just that Washington has become an entrenched class of politicians increasingly divorced from the public. The angst has more to do with a widespread sense that the US is in serious decline. Illustration: Simon Letch Indeed, decline is the subtext of this primary season. Many Americans, especially less affluent white voters, feel it, and fear it. They have grown up knowing the US is the most powerful, most prosperous and the most influential nation in history. They are slowly and painfully coming to grips with their nation's limits in a pluralistic world that does not conform to American expectations. These people are what the prominent Washington-based writer John B. Judis calls Middle American Radicals (or MARS, a category proposed by sociologist Donald Warren four decades ago). Middle American Radicals are alienated lower-middle class folks who defy partisan labels: they hold right-wing views on race, crime and poverty as well as left-wing views on big business, income inequality and government pensions. Many are still registered Democrats, and they bitterly resent the white-collar wing of the Republican Party that is fragmenting among the establishment candidates, such as Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Which is why a Trump nomination, according to shrewd conservative analysts Peggy Noonan and Michael Gerson could splinter the GOP. Above all else, Middle American Radicals are nationalists who are disoriented by the radical socio-economic changes of recent decades. They rail against an establishment that has weakened border protection, preached political correctness, negotiated trade deals that haemorrhage US jobs and plunged the nation into Mesopotamia misadventures while permitting barbarians like Islamic State to threaten Californians. A Liberal TV ad from 2004. The rhetoric ramps up and facts fall by the wayside. Politicians become even more inclined to lie, obfuscate and make promises they have no intention of keeping in a bid to win votes. The negative scare campaigns intensify and personal attacks become fair game: the GST is going up, penalty rates will be cut; Malcolm Turnbull is a Satanist, Bill Shorten is a death robot. And so on. 3. The advertising The election will fill acres of newsprint and put politics at the top of the nightly news bulletins. But even if all you want to do is watch My Kitchen Rules you won't be safe from the propaganda. The major parties will bombard the airwaves with their mostly facile, intelligence-insulting advertising; and the government will even get taxpayers to pay for its "public information campaigns". A Liberal Party election ad from 2010. Worst of all, the ads are rarely clever or interesting; more often they're cheap, rote and amateurish affairs. Political advertising at the 2007 election. Credit:Peter Rae And it won't stop at your television and radio: more than ever before, politicians will be reaching into your social media feeds. 4. The campaign All of this gets even worse during the official five or six-week campaign. The last two federal campaigns Gillard v Abbott in 2010 and Rudd v Abbott in 2013 were among the worst in living memory: cynical and fearful, full of slogans and short on policy. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd campaigns with Bill Shorten in 2013 Credit:Chris Hyde Malcolm Turnbull has indicated he wants this to change. He wants a new paradigm, a genuine contest of ideas. Australians want to believe him but don't be surprised if this year's campaign is ultimately every bit as negative as those that preceded it. Whatever the case, if you're heading to your local shopping centre take some hand sanitiser and keep your babies out of sight. Former prime minister John Howard campaigns during the 2007 election. Credit:Andrew Taylor And if you're in a marginal seat, maybe just stay home altogether. 5. The debate debate No campaign is complete without it: the debate about the debates. There's no standard debate structure, so every campaign inevitably degenerates into a tiresome back and forth between the major parties: How many debates? When and where? What's the format? Should we invite the Greens (hahahahah, just kidding)? Who should moderate and who should ask the questions: journalists or ordinary voters? What is the opposition leader afraid of? Why is the prime minister in hiding? Etcetera. John Howard and Kim Beazley watch moderator Ray Martin flip a coin at the 2001 debate. And then comes the anti-climax. When the debates finally occur they are invariably overly scripted and painfully dull, full of talking points but devoid of spontaneity, policy substance or, well, actual debate. 6. Voting day It only takes an hour or so from your Saturday. That's a small price to pay for democracy right? Voters are greeted by political advertising on polling day. Credit:Dallas Kilponen True, but nonetheless many Australians hate going to the polls. With local, state and federal elections not to mention a plethora of planned plebiscites and referenda it's little wonder many people consider it a hassle. What's more, compulsory voting means people have to drag themselves to the polling booths no matter how uninspiring the candidates, and no matter how disengaged or ill-informed they are about the issues. 7. Preference deals After all that pain and suffering, at least the election result accurately reflects the will of the people, right? Well maybe not. The arcane preference system means your vote can end up in some unlikely places, supporting candidates you've never heard of or don't agree with. Micro-party candidates take advantage of this system to win seats potentially giving them enormous crossbench power after attracting just a handful of votes. Who has perfect-looking labia? Porn movies showing impossibly smooth-looking, Barbie doll-like genitalia seem to suggest that everyone should, and they've been blamed for a rise in labiaplasty surgery. But a new Australian study has found that all that may be needed from dissuading women from undergoing unnecessary surgery is a major reality check, in the form of a short educational video. Labiaplasty is one of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures in Australia. Flinders University psychology researchers surveyed 136 female undergraduate students and measured the effectiveness of two online resources one a video, the other a photo resource designed to improve women's knowledge of the variation in normal genital appearance and their attitudes towards their own genitals. The study, published in Body Image: An International Journal of Research, comes as the number of labiaplasty procedures continues to rise. Teachers have warned that the NSW government freeze on TAFE fees will not be enough to curb plummeting enrolments in the state's public vocational education provider. Fees have been frozen at their 2015 levels in a bid to lure back students to the struggling institution. Since 2012, 83,000 fewer students have enrolled in TAFE NSW campuses, while fees in some courses have surged as much as seven times 2013 levels. The move comes just three months after NSW Skills Minister John Barilaro refused to acknowledge the effect of fee hikes on enrolments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into vocational education. Controversial Liberal MP Glenn Brookes has admitted spending more than $130,000 from his personal bank account to fund his re-election campaign, raising questions about whether he breached election funding laws. The battle between Mr Brookes and Labor candidate Cameron Murphy in the seat of East Hills was one of the most bitterly fought of the 2015 election. Self-funded election campaign: East Hills MP Glenn Brookes. Credit:Simon Alekna It was marred by a smear campaign which saw Mr Murphy's election posters defaced with the word "paedophile lover" in apparent reference to his former role with the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. Mr Brookes denies involvement in the smear campaign. Election funding laws state that a candidate may fund their own campaign, but the payments must be processed through an official campaign account operated by a separate "official agent" if more than $1000 is spent. China Now Focusing on Europe in Its New Investment Venture: Reports China is focusing on Europe for investment. (Photo : YouTube) China has spent the past few years gradually expanding its roots and influence in neighboring Asian countries, Euro zone superpowers and the United States. The world's second largest economy is acquiring European manufacturing firms, Italian yacht-makers, British cereal corporations and American hotels. It is clear that China is not interested in extending its geographic borders along Russia's incursion Crimea. However, there is also the creation of a number of man-made islands speckling the South China Sea. Advertisement Since the global financial crisis hit international markets in late 2000s, state-owned Chinese companies have focused on acquiring and investing in foreign entities, which effectively bolsters the country's fiscal influence and broadens China's portfolio even as its local economy wanes riling universal markets. As China's internal growth plans soften, officials have shifted their attention overseas. For instance, Germany's largest domestic machinery supplier, The KraussMaffei Group, announced on Monday, Jan. 11, that China National Chemical (ChemChina) would acquire it. According to the BBC, the deal is valued at approximately $1 billion, becoming one of the biggest transactions between China and German companies in history. The chairman of ChemChina, Jianxin Ren, said, "The growth potential of the KraussMaffei Group is tremendous, especially through improved access to the Chinese market, which we can make possible." Ren added that his firm is interested in KraussMaffei's formidable management team and its technological skill, which will benefit Chinese subsidiaries. Seemingly, the company will "maintain its identity and independence." On the other hand, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) acquired a 2-percent share of Italian power grid operator, Terna. The acquisition broadened PBOC's portfolio that already included investment in Enel, Mediobanca, Fiat and Ansaldo, according to Reuters. Furthermore, at the same time Terna came under Chinese ownership, Bright Food purchased Weetabix, the second biggest breakfast cereal producer in the United Kingdom. Reports indicate that China's GDP grew by only 7.3 percent in 2014, which is a sizable increase compared to the rest of the world but representing the country's lowest annual growth rate since 1990. Analysts see 2015's final growth tally will be even worse for China, and a likely negative rebound in 2016 or in the near future. Police cars outside Nepean Hospital. Credit:Rachel Olding He has been charged with shooting with intent to murder, discharging a firearm to resist arrest and detaining for advantage. He is due to appear in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday. A police officer and security guard became involved in an altercation with a man at Nepean Hospital after receiving reports a doctor had been threatened with scissors. Credit:Wolter Peeters Senior Constable Warburton underwent surgery overnight, and Deputy Commissioner Burn said he was in a critical but stable condition early on Wednesday. The security guard was in a stable condition, she said. A spokeswoman for Nepean Hospital said ambulances were diverted to other emergency departments on Tuesday night while a police investigation was conducted. "I'm gonna kill you" An elderly male patient in a room just off the corridor where the shooting occurred told Fairfax Media that the drama began during an argument between two men, one of whom was screaming, "I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill you." He said it sounded as if the men were arguing over a family matter. "One was screaming, 'You took my family,' said the patient, who asked for his name to be withheld. He said a female then intervened and was yelling and screaming at the men. He could then hear a male, believed to be Senior Constable Warburton, telling one of the men to drop their weapon. He could hear a short struggle on the floor before two gunshots rang out. "That was it, we were in lockdown immediately. I couldn't even go out for a smoke." When he was allowed to peek out of his room, he could see a vast amount of blood. "It looked like enough blood to kill somebody," he said. "It looked like something from the movies. There was blood spatter on the walls." The whole incident lasted about 10 minutes, he said. Patients were then moved to other rooms and areas of the ward were sealed off with police tape. However, another patient said he thought the argument was between a man and a woman. "Everyone kept yelling 'Michael, Michael' at the guy," he said. "When the first shot went off, the woman let out this deafening scream. It was horrible. Then when the second shot went off she screamed even louder." He said the alleged offender was swearing and yelling as he was taken away by police. A witness who was in the emergency department at the time told The Daily Telegraph that the alleged offender was holding a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor and was screaming when the officer and security guard arrived. "A guy was screaming and shouting and holding a [weapon] to a woman's throat, we couldn't make out what he was saying," the man, who did not want to be identified, said. He said the patient took the officer's gun during a scuffle on the floor and fired two shots. "He has taken [the gun] out of the copper's holster during the scuffle on the ground," the witness said. "I ran over to the copper. I grabbed the copper and dragged him backwards. "We threw him on a bed. The security guard wore one in the left [leg] the police officer in the left thigh." He said nurses were trying to get everyone away from the gunman. At least one child was among the patients in the emergency department at the time. Deputy Commissioner Burn went to the hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and spoke to the injured officer's family. "For everybody involved, this is a very traumatic situation," she said. "At the moment my thoughts are with the officer, my thoughts are with the officer's family. "I have spoken to his wife, his wife is at the hospital." Police have not confirmed a report that the man in custody following the shooting had been arrested earlier on Tuesday for alleged break-and-enter offences, before he was released on bail. At the time of Naden's arrest in 2012, Senior Constable Warburton spoke to the Blue Mountains Gazette and praised the actions of his dog, Chuck, who had bitten Naden on the leg to stop him from escaping. Naden had been on the run for nearly seven years when police from the Tactical Operations Unit and the Dog Squad captured him in a remote area west of Gloucester in the Upper Hunter. "We'd surrounded the hut, the other two police dogs were near the front and Naden came running out the back entrance where I was," he told the Gazette. "TOU officers were there and proceeded to capture and arrest him [Naden] and in the process Chuck was able to assist - he just came in and bit Naden on the leg to prevent any chance of him escaping. "I think he [Chuck] knew something significant had gone on. "He did a good job and I gave him an extra bone that night." Naden, a former abattoir worker, is serving a life sentence for the murder of one cousin, Lateesha Nolan, and the partner of another, Kristy Scholes. Security guards face violence daily: union Gerard Hayes, the secretary of the Health Services Union, said security officers within the NSW health system were faced with violence daily. "[The shooting] is an outrageous situation. This is an extreme example, of course, but security officers within health are putting up with violent activity every day," he said. Mr Hayes said a surge in the use of the drug ice, a form of crystallised methamphetamine, was particularly concerning for healthcare workers. Police have not said whether the man arrested after Tuesday night's shooting was suspected of taking any drugs. "The ice situation is really getting out of control, particularly in emergency departments. We're seeing a growing number of violence issues, particularly related to ice. This needs to be addressed," Mr Hayes said. He said security guards working in the NSW public health system had no powers to restrain and detain people. They can only "observe and report". He said the guard injured on Tuesday night had no power to restrain the man who was shooting him. The HSU has been campaigning for hospital guards to be able to carry handcuffs and to have greater training and powers to detain people in a way "that's not going to bring a police force into the hospital but [will] be respectful of the hospital setting", he said. NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said she had agreed to a request to meet with the Health Services Union following the shooting. The meeting is expected to take place next week. All of Brisbane has been re-mapped to show where 2011 flood levels would have gone if Wivenhoe and Somerset dams had been differently managed, 2011 floods class action lawyer Rebecca Gilsenan said on Monday. Law firm Maurice Blackburn lodged a class action representing 4000 flood-affected Queenslanders with the New South Wales Supreme Court in July 2014. Alternate Brisbane Valley flood levels have been mapped by January 2011 flood class-action lawyers. By January 2016 that number of 4000 people has swollen to 5500 people being part of the class action, making it Australia's second largest ever class action behind the 10,000 involved in the Victorian bushfires class action. Brisbane floods class action timeline Brisbane City Council officers described a heritage protection condition in CBD's planning scheme as "onerous" in a meeting with property developers, prior to a building approval critics said would threaten historic Customs House. Developer Cbus Property has approval to build a 47-storey tower next to Customs House, despite provisions in the City Centre Neighbourhood Plan that specifically prevent some aspects of its proposal. Critics say a building approved for Queen Street will ruin the heritage value of Customs House. Credit:Michelle Smith The University of Queensland, which owned Customs House, has challenged the council approval in the Land and Environment Court. Among the supporting documents were minutes from a pre-lodgement meeting between Cbus Property and council officers, marked "commercial in confidence". Queensland's generously rewarded premier is set to earn more than the leaders of China, India and Russia combined this year. The Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal has recommended a $6445 raise for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, taking her annual pay to $385,605. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is on a higher salary than the combined annual pay of the Russian, Chinese and Indian prime ministers. Credit:Robert Shakespeare That's about $116,000 more than the combined salaries of Russian President Vladimir Putin ($194,480), Chinese President Xi Jingping ($31,391) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ($43,345) in 2015. Few world leaders will take home more money than Ms Palaszczuk this year. Brisbane and other Australian seaports - are creeping towards an ugly seven-day strike by tug boat crews which could genuinely affect the massive fuel tankers and container ships entering Australian ports. The situation is part of a national strike campaign by tug boat crews in all of Australia's major ports described as "highly irresponsible" by Ports Australia chief executive, David Anderson. Tug boats move container boats into position. Credit:Mytchall Bransgrove In Brisbane a 12-hour strike by tug boat crews begins at 12am Wednesday morning, which is unlikely to have much impact on ship movements. However, a second 24-hour strike in Brisbane has been added by the tug boat crews on Friday with a seven-day strike by the tug boat crews also a possibility. The popular Brunetti cafe on Swanston Street will be forced to relocate when the Melbourne Metro Rail takes over the City Square as a construction site for the $11 billion rail project. Four other businesses in the square are in limbo, awaiting information about the security of their own sites under the Westin Hotel. The viability of the once maligned City Square is also under threat, given the space will be occupied by construction staff for up to eight years. Co-owner Yuri Angele has until 2017 to vacate to enable construction of the CBD South station but is already looking for a new space in Flinders Lane. Jerusalem/Stockholm: Israel summoned the Swedish ambassador on Wednesday to convey what it described as its "rage" at a call by Stockholm's top diplomat for an investigation to determine whether Israeli forces were guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's remarks on Tuesday were the latest in a series of statements to stoke Israeli resentment that has simmered since the Scandinavian country recognised Palestinian statehood last year. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's call for an inquiry into whether Israeli forces are guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians has outraged the Israeli government. Credit:Wikicommons The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that it called in Swedish ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser to reprimand him over what it deemed "another statement by her [Ms Wallstrom] that attests to her biased and even hostile attitude to Israel". It said Mr Nesser was also told of "the rage of the government and people of Israel at the skewed portrayal of the situation". London: Hope mixed with anger and disbelief greeted aid workers bringing the first food and medical supplies in months to the residents of a besieged Syrian town. "You could see a mixture of hope in people's eyes and disbelief that this thing was actually happening," Pawel Krzysiek, of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday. "Many people were coming cheering, shaking our hands, but some of them were shouting angrily 'why did it take you so long?'" he said, speaking by phone from Damascus. The aid convoy arrived on Monday, bringing the first food and medical supplies for months to the western town of Madaya, where 40,000 people are trapped by encircling government forces and local doctors say some residents have starved to death. Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow could give asylum to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad if he is forced to leave the war-torn country. "It was surely more difficult to grant Mr Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be in the case of Assad," Mr Putin told Germany's most popular tabloid, Bild, referring to former US intelligence worker turned whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who was given asylum in Russia in 2013. Vladimir Putin: "We will see if Assad would have to leave his country if he loses the election." Credit:Simon Dawson Mr Putin said it was too early to say whether Russia would have to shelter Mr Assad, whose country has disintegrated in a civil war that has lasted almost five years. "First the Syrian population has to be able to vote, and then we will see if Assad would have to leave his country if he loses the election," Mr Putin said. Medical Salespersons Use Social Media to Dupe Clients into Paying for Unnecessary Treatment Hospital consulting firms use social media to trick men into paying dearly for, often unnecessary, treatment at private hospitals. (Photo : YouTube) Hospital consulting firms are relying on social media to trick men into paying dearly for, often unnecessary, treatment at private hospitals that specialize in male health, particularly sexual health. Such companies train marketers to impersonate medical practitioners when talking to people via social media, including WeChat or Tencent QQ. An ex-employee of a Beijing-based hospital consulting firm, Fang Hui, told Beijing Times that these medical impostors persuade patients to see doctors at private hospitals. Advertisement Fang's former employer operates under the Yingcai Hospital Management Group (Yingcai), which is allegedly an enterprise specialized in medical investment, clinical medical services, and hospital management on its official website. Yingcai's director said that the consulting firms train their workers in different strategies of selecting possible patients and the expertise to communicate with them, the Global Times reported. Fang said, "They use social networking apps, including WeChat, Tecent QQ, and Momo to find potential patients and use various profile pictures on their accounts to attract different groups of people." A market can run up to 30 accounts on WeChat, and Zhang Li (pseudonym), an employee at Yingcai, has six phones to operate over 50 accounts at the same time. According to Chen Minjia, an employee at a hospital consulting firm, they also use "marketing accounts on QQ" to contact latent clients, which could add 200 to 300 people to their friend list daily and send them messages automatically. Zhang said, "Using pictures of beautiful women doctors or nurses can attract men who are seeking affairs and when they start a conversation the marketer will guide the discussion toward health, including sexual health." For instance, the consultant can entice a man by telling him that intercourse should last for 15 to 30 minutes and point out that the patient suffers from premature ejaculation, while utilizing medical terms to earn credibility. However, a number of doctors specialized in male health assert that the duration of intercourse varies based on individual experience and the environment. Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020. Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work. Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri. US Marine Reservists train in the Philippines (Photo : Getty Images) While the United States welcomed the decision of the Philippine Supreme Court to declare as constitutional the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the ruling angered China. That's because EDCA would allow the US military, war vessels and jets to camp in military bases in the Philippines with which China is embroiled in a territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands in South China Sea. Beijing accused Manila of "turning to Uncle Sam" which it called a "stupid move." Advertisement Besides boosting the presence of American military in the region, EDCA would also assure Washington's help to Manila in backing its claim over the disputed islands. With the agreement, the Philippines is counting on U.S. operations to maintain freedom of navigation and overflight in South China Sea. China is using flashing lights and flares to dare and scare Philippine military planes that fly over the Spratlys, reports ABC. In a statement, U.S. State Secretary John Kerry says, "We look forward to implementing this accord, which will increase the interoperability of our armed forces and contribute to modernization and improve our joint capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies," quotes Manilalivewire. Philippine and U.S. cabinet officials discussed locations where the Southeast Asian nation could provide access to American forces for the mutual benefit of the two allies. Visitors take a break at Starbucks Coffee at the Forbidden City on Sept. 6, 2005, in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images) Although China is in the middle of a transition, the Seattle-based company Starbucks will continue with its planned expansion in China. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz shares that the company plans to open 500 more outlets in the Asian giant over the next five years. The 500 would add to the existing 2,000 Starbucks stores opened in China over 17 years. Of the 17 years, the coffee chain enjoyed 10 consecutive years of positive comparable store sales, notes the CEO, reports CNBC. Advertisement At the same time, Schultz also announced that beginning January 2016, all full-time baristas and shift supervisors who had worked for Starbucks China for at least half year would get monthly financial assistance. It would be in the form of a housing allowance expected to cover half of the cost of an employee's monthly accommodation expenses as a number of workers of the coffee shop live far away from their workplace. Starbucks has about 30,000 partners and employees in China. Schultz and other Starbucks officials met about 1,300 of them from Central and Western China in Chengdu on Tuesday at the Starbucks China Partner-Family Forum. Schultz notes that China is the second-largest market of the coffee chain, next to the U.S., and is its fastest growing global market which represents also the firm's most vital and exciting opportunity. He did not discount the possibility that China could one day surpass the U.S. as its biggest market. (L-R): Ambassador Le Yucheng; SAPPRFT Vice Minister Sun Shoushan; NBT-India Chair Shri Baldeo Bhai Sharma; and Indias HR Minister Smriti Irani at the NDWBFs inauguration on Jan. 9 in New Delhi. (Photo : www.newdelhiworldbookfair.gov.in) Words, indeed, can be powerful tools to connect people; more so, nations. Not only did China grace the opening of the 24th New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) on Jan. 9 in New Delhi, India as guest of honor, Beijing-based China Pictorial (Renmin Huabao) also launched an English magazine titled China-India Dialogue the following day. Advertisement A subsidiary of China International Publishing Group (CIPG), China Pictorial now publishes the monthly China-India Dialogue. It covers issues concerning India and India-China relations and follows a theme, reported China.org. The inaugural issue focuses on the theme, Internet plus enterprises. With many local and international companies using the Internet heavily to achieve their respective business endeavors, Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K. Kantha finds the theme a topic worthy of discussion. The Indian ambassador said his country and China will both benefit from the trend. Kantha and Le Yucheng, the Chinese Ambassadors to India, each contributed an essay for China-India Dialogues maiden issue. Kantha wrote about the India-China Economic Cooperation, reported Niti Central. Wen Zhihong, China-India Dialogues editorial director, said that the next theme will touch on poverty relief, according to The Hindu. China Pictorial, which has Chinese and English versions, has been reporting on those issues most important to the people, reflecting dramatic reforms of society and bearing full witness to the rapid development of China for more than 50 years, according to its official website. Founded in 1949, CIPG aims to introduce China to foreign countries through books, magazines and websites, according to the website. Its other subsidiaries include Beijing Review, Center for International Communication Studies, China Today, New World Press and Sinolingua. Lu Cairong, CIPG vice president, and Sun Shoushan, Chinas vice minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), joined Ambassador Le during the launch. Organized by the National Book Trust (NBT) of India, NDWBF is a publishing event that was first held in 1972. Indias Ministry of Commerce and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) act as co-organizers. Usually taking place every two years, the event saw itself getting held every year beginning in 2012. The 2016 NDWBF runs until Jan. 17. To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry. Disclaimer Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 12, 2016 | 07:30 PM | PADUCAH, KY A preadmission conference for West Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges radiography program will be held January 19 at 4 pm in the Allied Health Building, Room E105.WKCTC Radiography Program Coordinator Patty Buchanan will discuss pertinent requirements for the program, including the prerequisite courses, clinical screenings and the selective admission process. Students must attend the preadmission conference to be considered for the fall 2016 semester.The 22-month program consists of five-consecutive semesters and a curriculum of courses in algebra, anatomy and physiology, communication and other general education courses.Upon completion of the program, students earn an associate in applied science degree. Graduates may be employed in hospitals, clinics, physician office and commercial firms. A recent survey showed the average median wage of an entry-level radiographer to be $16-$18 per hour.A radiographer is prepared for x-ray imaging of the human body for diagnostic medical purposes, with an emphasis on radiation protection, quality patient care and imaging procedures. For more information about the preadmission conference or the colleges radiography program, contact Patty Buchanan at 270-534-3431 or patty.buchanan@kctcs.edu By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 12, 2016 | 06:57 PM | PADUCAH, KY The City of Paducah is in the process of working out some of the final details of an ongoing downtown demolition project. Commissioners introduced two ordinances at their Tuesday meeting relating to the demolition project at 432 Broadway. The board introduced an ordinance for a $158,725 contract with Artisan Contractors of KY, LLC for the construction of a masonry wall. The 18 by 114-foot wall will be constructed on the exterior of 430 Broadway once the structure at 432 Broadway is demolished, which is expected to be complete by the end of February. The bid opening for this contract was held December 18. Regarding the demolition project, Mayor Gayle Kaler said, This is not anything we wanted to do, but we approached it the right way. In December 2015, the Department for Local Government notified Mayor Gayle Kaler that the city will receive federal Community Development Block Grant funds in the amount of $500,000 for the demolition project. A match of $125,000 is required from the city. The city had to own the building in order to submit the grant application. The other ordinance is for a change order increasing the amount paid to Darnell Streel and Construction, LLC by $600, for reinforcing steel columns under the steel beam that supports the adjacent building. The increased cost is reportedly due to the removal of a portion of the wood platform in the front of the building that is conflicting with a steel brace location. This change order brings the contract with Darnell Steel up to $20,350. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 12, 2016 | 10:24 PM | PADUCAH, KY The Paducah Jazz Ensemble will host its popular Valentine-themed ballroom dance on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 8 - 10:30 pm, at the Robert Cherry Civic Center in Paducah. Live dance music will be provided by the celebrated Paducah Jazz Ensemble, directed by veteran saxophonist and long time band member, Ron Roberts, a retired secondary school administrator and music educator. Admission is $12 with an advance reservation or $15 at the door. Group discounts are available for groups of eight or more. To make an advance reservation or for more information, call 270-898-0180, message the band via their FaceBook page, or email paducahjazz@gmail.com. All payment will be taken at the door the night of the event. Cash or check only accepted - no credit cards. Coffee, sodas and light snacks will be available at the concession stand. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 13, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 13, 2016 | 11:52 AM | PADUCAH, KY As part of ongoing reconstruction of US 45/Kentucky Avenue in Paducah, a contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has reopened South 16th Street where it crosses the US 45/Kentucky Avenue construction zone. With South 16th Street open to traffic, the contractor will now be closing South 21st Street where it crosses the US 45/Kentucky Avenue work zone. The contractor is continuing to pour concrete pavement working westward along the eastbound lanes of Kentucky Avenue. Due to the number of concrete trucks delivering material to the paver, Kentucky Avenue will be closed to all traffic during daylight hours to facilitate the work. As the paving progresses westward, South 21st Street will be closed at the Kentucky Avenue intersection. At this time, South 21st Street is expected to close sometime Wednesday afternoon and remain closed for 4 to 6 days. This work is part of a reconstruction project along US 45-Business/Kentucky Avenue in Paducah from Otis Dinning Drive to Walter Jetton Boulevard, a distance of just over a mile. As a reminder, businesses all along this work zone have access from the rear or via side streets. While accessing some businesses along Kentucky Avenue requires diligence, business owners in this area would appreciate your continued patronage. Signs are up indicating access points for many businesses along the work zone.. By The Associated Press Jan. 13, 2016 | 03:51 PM | FRANKFORT, KY Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul has asked party leaders to include him in Thursday's televised debate. The Fox Business Network did not include Paul because an average of recent polling in Iowa and New Hampshire did not have him in the top five. A poll released Wednesday from the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics has Paul in fifth place in Iowa with the support of 5 percent of likely caucus goers. The poll was not released in time to be considered for the debate, but it was conducted before the deadline. Paul said his campaign has asked Republican party leaders to include the poll and put him in the debate. Paul does qualify for a debate earlier in the day, but has said he would skip it. By The Associated Press Jan. 13, 2016 | 06:12 AM | FRANKFORT, KY They want to say thanks, but apparently just not to the folks around the Paducah area.The Kentucky Lottery is giving away a total of 1,500 free Powerball tickets, ahead of the record-breaking drawing for a $1.5 billion jackpot.Multiple media outlets report that state lottery officials are planning today's giveaway as a way to thank players.The tickets, each worth $2, will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis and will be distributed evenly among four locations.The tickets will be handed out at a Kroger supermarket in Louisville at 10 am. A Kroger in Bowling Green and another in Nicholasville, near Lexington, will have the tickets at 2 pm. The location for the event in Covington had not yet been released, as of Tuesday night.Total Powerball sales in Kentucky ahead of the $900 million drawing Jan. 9 were more than $15.4 million. By Kentucky News Network Jan. 13, 2016 | 06:54 AM | WASHINGTON, DC Reaction to President Obama's final State of the Union address runs along party lines among members of the Kentucky delegation to Washington. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the President is a good salesman, but he doesn't think he could sell to the American people that things are getting better. Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul says Obama is a leader with a record of failure in search of any meaningful, positive legacy. Republican congressman Hal Rogers says eight years ago, Obama promised the country "hope and change" and it's clear he hasn't delivered. The lone democrat in the Kentucky delegation, Congressman John Yarmuth, says under President Obama, the country emerged from the Great Recession, revitalized manufacturing, invested in education and job training, and made access to affordable health care a right, not a privilege. Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a checkpoint north of Baghdad on Tuesday, wounding a senior intelligence officer and killing four police, security officials said. The bomber attacked the convoy of Colonel Qassem al-Anbaki, the head of police intelligence in Diyala province, at a checkpoint, army and police officers said. The blast in the Jdaidat al-Shatt area, south of Diyala capital Baquba, also killed four policemen, including a first lieutenant, and wounded nine other police, the officers said. A doctor at Baquba General Hospital confirmed the toll. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are a tactic frequently used by Sunni militants in Iraq, including the Islamic State jihadist group. The attack followed two blasts, one of them a suicide bombing, that targeted a cafe north of Baquba the day before, killing 20 people. Iraq declared victory over IS in Diyala early last year but that has not brought an end to attacks by the jihadists. ISIS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since dealt the jihadists significant defeats. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered the minister of local development to hold those responsible for the deadly incident accountable Two sisters were killed and three others injured late on Monday after their residential building collapsed in the Nile Delta's Sharqiya governorate. The dead bodies of the two sisters, aged eight and 17, were pulled from the rubble as rescue workers continued to dig through the debris of the building located in Miniya El-Qamh city to find survivors. The health ministry's undersecretary in Sharqiya, Sherif Makeen, told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that the injured were in a stable condition but two were suffering from fractures and one from a suspected skull fracture. Makeen said that the injured would need psychological treatment due to the trauma sustained during the collapse. Following the deadly collapse, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered the Minister of Local Development Zaki Badr to present a report about the accident in order to hold those responsible accountable. The four-story building had two illegal floor extensions, Sharqiya's governor Khaled Said said in a press statement on Tuesday. Building collapses are commonplace in Egypt and usually take place and lives due to violations of building specifications, illegal extensions, and lax construction. Search Keywords: Short link: Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/01/2016 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire intends to follow up with Global Affairs Canada following the death of an Oak Lake woman who became ill while visiting Cuba in November. Barbara Johnston, 54, died Dec. 29 at the Brandon Regional Health Centre after getting sick in Cuba more than a month earlier. Johnston was initially taken from her resort, the Melia Cayo Santa Maria, to a clinic on the Cayo Santa Maria island before being transported to a mainland Cuban hospital, where she was treated for septic shock for more than a week. Submitted Brandon Sun Barb Johnston with her dog Sammy. Johnston died at Brandon hospital on Dec. 29 after getting sick in Cuba a little over a month earlier. Her family said the hospital conditions in Cuba were substandard. Her family said the conditions at the Arnaldo Milian Castro Hospital in Santa Clara were substandard, including no running water, no antiseptic and no blankets. When the family reached out to the Canadian consulate in Cuba for help, they were largely ignored, according to Barbaras son Derek Johnston. (The consulate said) they dont have time to run around and help every sick person in Cuba, said Derek, who flew to Cuba with his brother Riley after learning of his mothers illness. Meanwhile, shes in the ICU on the edge of death. A request for a translator resulted in a list of local service providers. The majority of the numbers were out of service, according to Derek. A collapse in Cuba On Monday, Maguire called the consulates reply unacceptable. I think there needs to be recognition that these consulates need to be more responsive, Maguire said. Through my office, we will be working with the family to find out where the breakdown was and how things can be improved. Maguire said his office was involved on the file near its beginning. He said there was good communication between advocates and government officials in Canada, but there appeared to be a collapse in Cuba. The results were not what we expected in a developed country like this, Maguire said. There is a relationship between Canada and Cuba and there are going to continue to be thousands of people heading south every month to holiday there, so its one of those things that I think there needs to be a greater awareness. Global Affairs Canada has 12 indeterminate Canadian-based staff in Havana, the capital city of Cuba, according to Amy Mills, a spokeswoman for the department. Another 44 locally engaged staff make up a total of 56 employees working on the Caribbean island. Canada has an embassy in Havana and a consulate in Varadero and Holguin. Global Affairs Canada is aware of a Canadian citizen who was hospitalized in Cuba, Mills said in an email. Canadian consular officials provided consular assistance and were in contact with the local authorities. To protect the privacy of the individual concerned, further details on this case cannot be released. A Brandon Sun request to speak directly to someone in the department was not granted. Mills said the department encourages Canadians to consult the Travel Advice and Advisories (TTA) for Cuba for updated information. Insurance company dragged feet The TTA for Cuba states you shouldnt expect medical services to be the same as in Canada. It goes on to say that: Generally, Cubas medical services are acceptable, although basic medicine and equipment are not always available. Emergency and ambulance services are very limited and response times are slow, especially in rural areas. The Johnstons are also upset with their insurance company, which they believe dragged its feet on two fronts getting funds to Cuban hospital officials and getting Barbara out of the country. Bruce Bumstead/Brandon Sun files Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire. She was insured through her CIBC Aventura credit card. An official with CIBC wasnt available for comment yesterday. While the insurance is offered through the CIBC, where Barbara worked for 35 years, it is handled by a third party, Global Excel Management. Marie-Eve Ellement, with Global Excel, confirmed that the company is the authorized claims administrator for Barbaras medical insurance policy. However, they directed inquiries to Royal and Sun Alliance (RSA) Canada. Although Global Excel is an independent entity, it maintains a key client relationship with RSA, according to its website. Amalia Kyriacou, corporate communications manager for RSA, said privacy concerns prevented the company from providing details in regards to any individual client claims or complaints. General questions posed to RSA were also not answered. The cause of Barbaras death, according to her family, wasnt determined, despite being life-flighted out of Cuba to the Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Dec. 3. On Christmas morning, doctors told her family that she only had 48 hours to live. Three days later she was life-flighted to Brandon where she died early Dec. 29, surrounded by family. Prior to leaving Cuba, Derek said he spent every peso in his wallet, because no one from our family is ever going to return to that country. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 12/01/2016 (2472 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A former Kurdish rebel who fled to Canada to begin a new life is now headed to prison after trying to smuggle opium into Winnipeg through the mail. Hussein Khalilzadeh Nikbin, 49, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession for the purpose of trafficking and was given a six-year sentence under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers. Nikbin was described as an essential cog in an international drug operation which was exposed by an undercover police operation in the fall of 2013. RCMP Handout On September 17, 2013, the RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit were advised that a parcel had been seized by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the Montreal Mail Procession Centre containing opium. The probe began when officials with Canada Border Services Agency intercepted a package at a Montreal mail-sorting plant which had been sent for Turkey and was destined for an address in Winnipeg. It was addressed to Kven Anders. This was very similar to the name of Kevin Anderson, which Nikbin had previously changed his name to, court was told. RCMP were brought in and got legal authorization to open the package and found 840 grams of opium hidden inside a painting. They installed a tracking device and allowed the package to continue on its journey while setting up surveillance on the intended destination. There were also wiretaps of Nikbins phone in which several conversations were intercepted where he was speaking in Kurdish to a man called Toronto about being anxious for the package to arrive. Police then watched as Nikbin went to a Shoppers Drug Mart location to pick up his delivery from an undercover officer playing the role of a Canada Post employee. That was easy, Nikbin told a female friend moments later, according to a hidden audio device inside the package. He was arrested later that day and has now been in custody for the past 28 months without bail. Lawyers said Tuesday opium is rare in Winnipeg and they believe the drugs were ultimately destined for British Columbia, where Nikbin had most recently been living. The street value is more than $40,000. Defence lawyer Tony Kavanagh told court his client has lived an interesting life and has two bullet scars to prove it. He fought Iraqi forces in the late 1980s before immigrating to Canada and eventually becoming a citizen. He has spent time working as a chef in both Winnipeg and Churchill and is now married with three children. He has no prior criminal record and will not be deported upon his release. RCMP Handout The package seized contained about eight hundred grams of opium concealed in a wooden picture. NIkbin became desperate for money after he lost his job as a manager with Swiss Chalet in early 2013 because of corporate downsizing, court was told. He was given time-and-a-half credit for pre-trial custody, leaving him with 30 months left on his sentence going forward. Police originally charged Nikbins female friend as being part of the drug operation, but those offences were dropped Tuesday following Nikbins guilty plea. www.mikeoncrime.com The League of Women Voters will hold its annual forum on government this Saturday, featuring a number of local and state officials. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Winona History Center, with the forum from 9:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. State lawmakers expected to attend include Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona. Local speakers will include Winona Mayor Mark Peterson, Goodview Mayor Steve Baumgart, Winona County Recorder Bob Bambenek, and County Commissioner Marie Kovecsi, among others. Lynn Theurer, LWV voter services chair, said the group hopes to address a number of issues in the hourlong presentation, which will start with statements from the panelists before moving into open discussion. This is an open public forum, Theurer said. There should be ample time for those who attend to ask questions. Topics are expected to range widely, from topical, timely and close to Winona issues, including mental health services funding, juvenile criminal procedures, housing and undocumented workers rights, national topics and more general discussion of immigration reform, election transparency and education reform. One topic that crosses sections of several of the issues is voters rights, Theurer said, which will likely appear in several ways throughout the discussion, in everything from election funding to rights of felons to vote in Minnesota. Voting rights are essential to us as citizens, Theurer said. Stephanie Nuttall, president of the Winona LWV and moderator for the event, said the forum will also be informative for attendees and give people in Winona County a chance to interact with their elected officials. The number of Egypt's new parliament's committees will be increased from 19 to 30 to accommodate the large number of deputies and to ensure that an adequate and proper discussion of laws and national issues takes place After two procedural meetings on Sunday and Monday, Egypt's new parliament the House of Representatives decided on Tuesday that its 19 committees would begin meeting to discuss 341 presidential law-effect decrees that have been passed since the removal of former president Mohamed Morsi from office in July 2013. On Tuesday afternoon, speaker of the house Ali Abdel-Al told MPs that the most senior MP in each committee would temporarily act as its chairperson until the 341 decrees are discussed and reviewed in line with article 156 of the constitution. "Later on and until parliament's internal bylaws are amended so that they are in line with the new constitution, MPs can elect a chairperson, two deputies and a secretary-general for each committee," Abdel-Al said. Abdel-Al's decision came after deputies rejected on Monday night a proposal that six committees be formed to discuss the 341 laws that have been issued by former interim president Adly Mansour and incumbent President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and to revise parliament's internal regulations to go in line with the new constitution. Abdel-Al said parliament has less than 13 days to discuss the 341 presidential law-effect decrees and as a result all the 19 committees should prepare reports about these decrees for discussion by Saturday, 16 January. "If we are not able to finish these presidential decrees within the 15-day period, all of Egypt will stumble into a severe constitutional gridlock," Abdel-Al said. Abdel-Al told parliament on Tuesday that parliament should begin on Sunday discussing the reports that will be prepared by the 19 committees on the 341 decrees. On internal regulations, Abdel-Al indicated that in accordance with article 224 of the constitution, parliament will continue adopting the old regulations (passed in 1979), but would exclude articles that contravene the new constitution. In addition, a special committee will be formed to review laws that are deemed to be urgent and of utmost importance. These include the terror and protest laws. Sirri Siam, an independent MP and former chairman of the Higher Council for Judges, will head the committee. Renowned lawyer Bahaa Abu-Shuqa will head the constitutional and legislative committee. Abu-Shuqa is the oldest MP and thus was the parliament speaker on Sunday until Abdel-Al was elected. Parliamentarian Aly El-Moselhy will head the economic committee. El-Moselhy was a member of ousted former president Hosni Mubaraks National Democratic Party, and he was also minister of social solidarity during Mubaraks reign. The budget and planning committee will be headed by MP Kamal Ahmed. Ahmed handed-in his resignation from the parliament on Tuesday but it was rejected. Ahmed was an opponent of Mubarak, and he previously stated that he was a member of the Nasser-era Arab Socialist Union in his youth. He said he opposed the open-door policies of late president Anwar El-Sadat, and the privatisation of the public sector. Controversial lawyer and Zamalek club chairman Mortada Mansour will head the human rights committee. Mansour is renown for filing lawsuits against his critics. He has often been seen on television waving a Compact Disk (CD) against his opponents and threatening that he has information against them. Mansour recently said he doesnt believe 25 January 2011 to be a revolution but an uprising, hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood. Informed sources said the pro-government parliamentary bloc In Support of Egypt also proposed that the number of parliamentary committees be increased from 19 to 30. The proposal, submitted by many MPs affiliated with this coalition, stated that new committees such as a one on African affairs could be formed while the old committees should be separated into independent ones. "A committee such as the media, culture and tourism one, for example, can be separated into three independent committees," said leading official of the bloc Osama Heikal. He told reporters that the separation of committees has become necessity in order to accommodate parliament's unprecedented number of MPs (596) and so that a thorough and adequate discussion of laws can take place. "If a committee for solely media affairs was formed, it would allocate greater time to discuss press and media affairs, but if it remains part of a larger committee it would be quite difficult to revise laws on these affairs in a short time," Heikal said. The possible increase in the number of committees would warrant a new election to choose the heads of these committees. Search Keywords: Short link: Military families stationed overseas can use manufacturer coupons up to 6 months after the expiration date. This program has been alive and doing well since 2007. Military families can save thousands of dollars each year, making life living overseas more affordable for them. This project is supported by the American Legion Auxiliary 146 Beaver Dam. We have sent coupons to Tokyo, Japan, Germany and Italy. In general, our military families can only use regular manufacturers national brand coupons such as from newspaper inserts, coupon mailings, store displays and coupons you may receive directly from the manufacturer. They cannot use In Store Only coupons. We all love printable coupons from the Internet and in some cases, military families overseas are able to use them too. However, if they are able to use them, they can also print them on their own so its probably best not to send these types of coupons. Unless you happen to have a handful that are expired, those would be great. There are two grocery categories of coupons, food and non-food. They cant use restaurant coupons. Note: Food, baby and pet coupons are the most requested coupons and usually needed more than non-food. Food item ideas are dairy, bread, food, canned goods, beverages, water, candy, meats and frozen foods etc. Non-food idea items are baby/child cleaners, toiletries, make-up, paper products, vitamins, medicines, pet foods, etc. Therefore, start clipping those coupons regularly and you can drop them off at the American Legion Veterans Center, 300 Beichl Ave., Beaver Dam, in the white mail box back by the garage or give them to any auxiliary member. Just be sure to clip them neatly first, so they will be easier to sort, and to mail. Make sure that the expiration date is visual or they well be rejected at the grocery stores. Also clipping the coupons neatly will help us to keep the costs down in shipping. We prefer the coupons to be no more than three months expired because of the time to mail them overseas and for the families to receive them in time for use. Any monetary donations are also welcomed to help with shipping costs. Checks can be made payable to American Legion Auxiliary 146. Thank you for your support. Lois Levenhagen, president, Beaver Dam American Legion Auxiliary 146 A new compensation plan will lead to higher job satisfaction and keep more teachers in the Portage Community School District, most school board members agreed Monday. The plan, approved on a 5-1 vote at the boards regular meeting, recognizes teachers for years of service by providing them with annual $500 increases to their base salaries and also provides chances for increases through voluntary participation in the Professional Growth Incentive (PGI) program. Its really a new direction, said board member Dan Brown, who headed the districts 12-member compensation team made up of administration, teachers and board members. We want to give teachers credit for the steps they take for personal and professional growth. Under the new plan, teachers using PGI are given up to two years to complete Professional Learning Opportunities (PLOs) to earn growth incentives. PGIs are approved by their building principal and are paid for the same year theyre completed. A teacher can earn only one PGI per year, which is paid in addition to the increase for years of service. Teachers can earn a $500 salary increase using PGI in three ways: Accomplishing two PLOs; accomplishing one PLO plus a distinguished rating in one of six areas of Educator Effectiveness, the statewide evaluation system for teachers; or by accomplishing one PLO plus participating in a points system, needing to earn 50 points in two years. Examples of the points system include serving on a city government committee, earning 10 points; serving on a building or district committee, at 5 points per committee; university credits, at 5 points per credit; and service club membership, at 10 points. Teachers can earn a $1,000 salary increase using PGI if theyre in their summative evaluation year, occurring once every three years, and they gain a distinguished rating in two areas of Educator Effectiveness. Teachers have five PLOs to choose from: facilitation of professional learning (for example, becoming an expert in an area and sharing that knowledge with colleagues); publication in an educational professional journal; writing and executing a student-based grant; conducting and sharing results of action research (if not part of a masters program); and achieving new certification or Department of Public Instruction (DPI) licensure. To be eligible for PGI, teachers must complete a full year of teaching. Teachers already on plans of improvement recipients of poor evaluations are not eligible. Additionally, teachers who earn advanced degrees or national certification will also receive stipends for each of the years employed in the district. Masters degrees, for example, will result in stipends of either $4,000 or $2,000, with the higher payment for a degree the district views as important to the teacher and department. The plan, board member Fred Reckling said, is a continuation of the pledge the board made, three years ago, to retain exemplary employees after the passage of Act 10 eliminated salary schedules. Everyone has a chip in this game, said Reckling, who also served on the compensation plan team. This is all for the benefit of this district. I dont think theres any program that exists anywhere close to what we have here. Margaret Rudolph, director of business operations, said in light of an unpredictable Consumer Price Index, the boards plan is a way to make sure teachers at least get $500 and they might get more. The CPI, District Administrator Charles Poches had pointed out, is the only thing school boards use to negotiate wages with local unions after Act 10 was passed. But the compensation plan allows teachers to see what their future might look like. This, Poches said, provides for individual flexibility. They can choose where their career pathway will go. But a big step forward is not a final step, he said. Board members can re-evaluate the plan later to determine necessary changes. This is a living document. Its the boards living document. Concerns The district presently employing 187 teachers will budget a minimum of $25,000 to be paid to those who achieve their PGI. If district payments exceed $25,000 in one year, an individual will receive their PGI the following year. People who qualify but have to wait for payment will get priority that next year, Rudolph said. Board members Chad Edwards and Connie Shlimovitz wondered how the plan might look down the road. I hope we dont get to a point where we cant afford it, because thats a really bad message to send, Edwards said. Rudolph said that based on past trends for compensation opportunities, they dont expect an unmanageable number of participants. Others reiterated that as a living document, the plan can be changed if the district encounters trouble. Theres some people feel that whoever earns it, gets it (right away), Rudolph said. But thats really hard to budget. Shlimovitz, who later voted against the plan, said she didnt believe the increase on the base salaries would even satisfy increases in cost of living. Were talking about professionals that are already doing their job, she said, doing everything to maintain their license, and now were adding another thing (for them to do)? So the only way for them to (reach) the cost of living is to do this? School board member Dan Garrigan questioned printed examples listed for local service club membership, as pertaining to the points system, noting he felt groups like Portage Curling Club stood in contrast to groups like Kiwanis. Thats a paid membership to curling, Garrigan said, adding he thought clarifying service club participation in the plan would save the headache down the road. Garrigan abstained from the vote because his wife, Jennifer, is employed in the district. Portage High School students might soon acquire a taste for tapas and paella. Spanish teachers Emily McAleavey and Bethany Loomis are ready to establish a Spanish exchange program based in Madrid for the 2016-17 school year. Their efforts, green-lit by the School Board Monday, are inspired by the success of the schools German exchange program, which turned 40 this year. Students are really excited about the idea of doing an exchange, McAleavey said of the results of a student survey, noting those with friends who participated in the German program are among those showing a lot of interest. I think having students coming here, too, makes them more comfortable going abroad they build that long connection and make friends, who theyll probably stay in touch with in college and beyond. Spanish students would travel to Portage first, likely arriving in late September or early October this year, McAleavey said. Students would then travel to Madrid over spring break in 2017, with students only missing about a week of classes. About 50 students taking the survey expressed interest in the program. The teachers expect that number to drop over time with the end result being between 12 and 20 participants from PHS. McAleavey, in her fourth year at PHS, and Loomis, in her first, are working with Chicago-based travel company, CCI Greenheart, which will soon match Portage with another school and serve as a liaison for them. The company will arrange airline tickets and help plan itineraries, among other services. The cost, at $1,900 to $2,300 a student, is nearly $2,000 cheaper than what many competitors offer, the teachers told board members. Its a beautiful price, Loomis said. With a bit of stalking, Loomis joked, the teachers found a Spanish teacher from Indiana with experience using the company, and theyll continue to lean on her for advice. The price is similar to the cost for student trips to Costa Rica, the most recent of which was in June. Spanish Department trips, held every other year, were revived by McAleavey in 2013 after a 15-year absence at the school, and the exchange program would essentially replace them. The hope, McAleavey said, is the Spanish exchange program will continue for many years. An exchange program, the teachers agreed, offers a more valuable experience for students learning Spanish. It makes it more real, McAleavey said, and the students can appreciate this more when theyre also serving as a host, then staying with them. Costa Rica was a great experience, she added, but the teachers want to add that extra component that gives the kids a well-rounded experience. Participating students would need to be enrolled in Spanish III or higher and have a B grade or better, Loomis said. What were focused on is that this is a language experience, Loomis said. Its not Hey, were going on a trip. Yay, theres beaches. Weve taken kids with low grades on trips and it doesnt go well, Loomis said of her past experience. What they need is that immersion; we want to take what we teach and make it very real for them. On German trips, Loomis said, theres the idea of English as a life preserver. That doesnt exist here, she said of Madrid. Theres no life preserver. ... Theyre really going to have to use the language. Its really about those upper-level students, McAleavey said. Theyre really driven, and thinking, What do I want to get out of my last year of high school? He was born in Columbus on April 20, 1946, to Merlin W. and Bella (Rees) Owen. He grew up on a farm in the town of Fountain Prairie near Fall River. He attended Columbus High School for three years and graduated from Watertown High School in 1964. He went on to school at Stout State University for two years, before joining the Air Force in 1967 for four years. He was stationed overseas to Adana, Turkey, and Frankfurt, Germany, where he met his soulmate, Dagmar I. Schwarz. They were married on May 30, 1972, in Chicago. Jim worked for International Harvester Co. in Waukesha, as a maintenance foreman for 10 years. He attended WCTI for two years in electronics, while working at IH. They moved from Delafield to Milwaukee and he went to work for Schlitz Brewing Co. as a millwright. After five years in Milwaukee, they moved back to their purchased farms in Fountain Prairie where they have lived ever since. They cash-cropped the farm and both worked at ARA in Madison. Jim worked there as a master mechanic for two years. He then went to work for American Packaging Corp. in Columbus as a maintenance mechanic for 10 years. Then from there he was employed at MPI in Deerfield, as a millwright and trained apprentices for 10 years. At the start of working for Enerpac, in Columbus, Jim attended MATC for two years to complete courses in computer logic and Windows programs. After almost nine years as a maintenance repairman/trainer he retired at the age of 65. After a long career in home-based caregiving, Sauk Citys Claudia Luft has gone from having patients with two legs to those with four. She said her retirement fantasy of having a cat rescue became reality nearly 10 years ago when she started Kitties on the Prairie. The rural Prairie du Sac shelter is based in a modest tin building that, at times, houses up to 30 cats, many of which are not adoptable for various health reasons. Many are feral cats. I grew up on a dairy farm and as long as I can remember, I was trying to save animals, Luft said. All through life Ive loved animals and Ive had animals. The turning point for her was a 2002 trip to Best Friends Animal Society in Utah, a no-kill shelter for all kinds of rescue animals. Id never been on a big trip in my life, Luft said. But I went out there and I became obsessed with it. It was a fantasy to do something here in my community. I put an ad in the paper for a building to rent. She found one on Kim ODonnells property west of Prairie du Sac and she and her partner, Oscar Henn, made some modest renovations to make it safe and warm for rescued cats from any background and in any condition. She has taken in countless cats at the shelter, and takes care of them with the help of a small group of volunteers. There is no prerequisite eligibility standards a cat has to meet. She takes in wild ones, sick ones, those with behavioral problems, even terminally ill cats that need comfort and care in their last days. She rarely rejects a cat in need, unless the shelter is too full. No-kill shelter I just learned you cant save them all, Luft said. You have to have some balance. I have to say no sometimes because I have to be able to physically do the work out there and I have to be able to afford it. Covering the costs at the shelter often is the hardest part. The shelter survives on donations alone, and Lufts own money. But the payoff, she said, is immeasurable. Carmel the cat came to Lufts shelter deathly ill, starved and in renal failure. We almost didnt save her, Luft said. She doesnt use the litter box very well and she has eye problems. Shes not really adoptable. Carmels bed is a filing cabinet drawer where she stays warm and comfortable through cold winter days. She will likely live out her life at the shelter. Luft does not like to take strays like Carmel to the Sauk County Humane Society because they may not be seen as adoptable and could be put down if no one takes them. Its so hard on the staff, Luft said. I grieve every time I have to put an animal down. Volunteers Jan Hartleben, a retired school teacher who moved to the area from Florida a year ago, has been volunteering at the cat ranch, as they often call the shelter, since spring. Hartleben regularly takes her young granddaughters to the shelter to help with the cats and works craft shows to help promote Lufts rescue work. Its a huge commitment Claudias made, Hartleben said. She goes out there every day, sometimes twice a day. All the kitties are special needs or in hospice. Luft is a strong advocate of trapping and neutering or spaying. The feral cats who show up get names and often turn out to be friendly, like Frankie, a big gray male cat. Ferals dont have to be killed, Luft said as Frankie leaned into her hand as she petted him. Just look how nice he is. Lance is a large, fluffy cat with a shiny white and black coat who came to the shelter because he wont use a litter box properly. Hes not adoptable because of that, Luft said. Hes been here two years and hell stay here. Its that kind of hope for animals with bleak futures that keeps her going. If theres hope for recovery, they stay, Luft said. I worked with hospice for 30-some years, so its natural for me to nurse them along. The ones with chronic illnesses, those are not adoptable so we become a long-term care facility. If theyre trapped, we spay and neuter them and they stay in the building for several weeks until theyre acclimated. The past 12 months have been emotional for Marge Gibson, who leads the Antigo-based Raptor Education Group as it works to nurse birds back to health. Gibson said the group had both losses and successes as it worked to save bald eagles found injured or distressed. Bald Eagle Watching Days participants will have the chance to celebrate the groups successes as Gibson makes her annual appearance at the event to return the birds to the wild. Gibson plans to release as many as eight bald eagles beginning at 1 p.m. Jan. 16 at Veterans Memorial Park in Prairie du Sac. The release is part of two days of events celebrating the bald eagle around Prairie du Sac. Gibsons clinic takes in about 100 injured and sick eagles each year, and up to 800 total birds. This year she lost a three-year old eagle that died of its wounds from a shotgun, and another 30-year-old eagle that died of organo-phosphate poisoning, a substance that often is placed on carcasses to kill wolves or coyotes. A quarter of the birds we see are lead poisoned, Gibson said. If hunters leave gut piles or the animal gets away and dies, its peppered with lead particles. She said lead is very toxic to eagles, and difficult to treat. You dont get used to it, she said. You have to look at the positives. We have a 70 percent release rate. A few of the releases planned for Bald Eagle Watching Days are among six eagles that Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource wardens in the Antigo area believed were poisoned from substances at a landfill near Antigo. Others include a juvenile eagle that was hit by a fireworks explosive in its nest. Another is a two-year old that suffered from starvation and a broken wing, and another eagle was hit by a car. Theyre very strong and capable and completely ready to go, Gibson said. We never release a bird thats not 100 percent ready. Gibson has been releasing eagles in Prairie du Sac for 25 years because she said its the most ideal spot in the state to release the birds because of the availability of food in the area, especially the fish in the Wisconsin River near the Alliant Energy hydroelectric dam. Its a matter of finding a place thats safe for them like Prairie du Sacs wintering areas where theyre not territorial, Gibson said. Our eagle population up here (in Antigo) is almost a saturated area and occupied. The open water by the dam is perfect. Gibsons group is well known in the state for its work rehabilitating sick and injured birds as well as its educational programs and staff of five ecologists, zoologists and biologists who Gibson said work for very little pay. Its not a job, its a passion, Gibson said. Its such an honor to work with these amazing birds on a daily basis. These birds belong to everybody. They dont belong to us. Theyre not pets. Birds of Prey show Among the presenters at the River Arts Center on Jan. 16 is the Live Birds of Prey show by the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee. The show happens twice at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Among the birds that raptor educator and trainer Lindsay Focht will bring are Valkyrie, a four-year old eagle that came from the east coast. She was a couple months old and harassing picnickers and hunters for food, so she never learned to hunt properly, Focht said. Shes very comfortable around people. Other birds coming with Focht are Tallulah, a 14-year old turkey vulture raised in captivity, Orion, a 17-year old barred owl, Cutright, a peregrine falcon, and Skywalker, a 15-year old red tail hawk. We will do our best to move the birds around the space so everyone can get an up-close-and-personal look at them for a nose-to-beak perspective, Focht said. Cutright was named after Noel Cutright, conservationist and founder of the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory, who died in November 2013. Focht said Orion the owl is a talker. He can be very vocal, Focht said. Theres something very magical about owls. Sharqiya's governor has ordered that some files related to building permits be locked-in his office so that no one would tamper with them Four Egyptian officials were suspended Wednesday and referred to the prosecutor-general following the Monday deadly collapse of a six-story residential building in the country's Sharqiya governorate that killed at least three people, state news agency MENA reported. The officials the deputy head of Minya El-Qamh city, the citys two heads of engineering and the head of coordination are being investigated for negligence and shortcomings in failing to supervise illegally constructed buildings in Minya El-Qamh City. Three bodies were pulled from the rubbleon Tuesday, including two sisters an eight-year-old and a 17-year old. Three others were rescued. Army-backed rescue teams are currently searching for at least six others believed to be dead under the debris. Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt, and usually occur due to violations regarding building specifications, illegal extensions and poor construction. The four-storey building which collapsed in Sharqiya was licensed for four storeys, but owners added two illegal floor extensions, Sharqiya's governor said in a press statement on Tuesday. Following the collapse, Sharqiya's governor Khaled Saeid has ordered that some files related to building permits be locked in his office to avoid tampering. Sources told Aswat Masriya that an adjacent under-construction structure might have impacted the foundation of the afflicted building. Search Keywords: Short link: Strike continues at Racine Case tractor factory with no clear end in sight The suspects are accused of setting up Facebook pages calling for protests on the anniversary of the 25 January 2011 revolution Egypt's security forces arrested two Facebook administrators who are allegedly behind 47 pages on the social media website that "incite against the country's institutions" and "call for protests on the anniversary of the 25 January 2011 revolution," state news agency MENA reported on Wednesday. The two suspects are a 25-year-old man from Giza and a 21-year-old woman from Upper Egypt's Minya governorate. Both defendants admitted to being members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, according to MENA. Their laptops and mobile phones, used to access the Facebook pages, were seized. The two are expected to be questioned by the prosecution, charged and referred to court. Earlier this month, security forces, who say they are fearful of outbreak of violent protests on the 5 th anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, arrested three people who allegedly called for demonstrations on that day on their Facebook pages. In recent days, the authorities have also arrested a number of activists and charged them with calling for illegal protests on the anniversary of the january uprising, including several 6 of April members and one of the co-founders of the anti-Morsi movement Tamarod. Protesting without a permit from authorities was banned by a decree passed in November 2013. Thousands of violators of the decree, mostly supporters of ousted Islamist president mohamed morsi but also many non-islamists - have faced heavy fines and prison sentences of up five years since the law was passed. Search Keywords: Short link: The visit comes after the final court ruling in Cairo officially convicting Mubarak and his sons of corruption The Swiss attorney-general will visit Egypt next Saturday to hold a series of meetings with Egyptian officials regarding the retrieval of the Mubarak's regime frozen assets in Switzerland, said the Swiss embassy in Cairo. Based on initial estimates by the Swiss government, the total amount of assets in Swiss banks is equal to CHF 650 million, or nearly $698 million (LE5 billion). In June 2015, Valentin Zellweger, the director of the taskforce on asset recovery at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), stated that the Swiss government required evidence from an Egyptian court proving that the funds deposited in Swiss banks were obtained through illicit means, whether by corruption, embezzlement or money laundering. Former president Hosni Mubarak and his sons lost an appeal on a conviction for embezzling public funds on Saturday. In an initial verdict in May 2014, the trio were fined a total of LE125 million and required to pay an additional LE21 million to the state. At the time, Mubarak received a three-year prison sentence in the case, while his sons both received four years, reduced to three years on appeal. Mubarak is the first Egyptian president to stand a trial and be convicted of corruption, with the ruling now being final and cannot be further challenged. Search Keywords: Short link: China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Hisham Geneina's has said theft by public officials has cost the teassury LE600 billion in recent years Egypt's newly-elected parliament the House of Representatives is expected to open next week an investigation into top auditor Hisham Geneina's recent statement that state corruption led to the loss of LE600 billion. Geneina is chairman of the Central Auditing Agency (CAA), which acts as the country's main watchdog on public authorities. The CAA has been under the purview of the president of the republic since 1996. On Tuesday night, a large number of MPs affiliated with the In Support of Egypt requested parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Al to entrust a parliamentary fact-finding committee with opening an investigation into Geneina's statement. The request comes just one day after an investigative committee formed by Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Geneina 's statement has inflated figures about corruption in Egypt and that his statement aimed at defaming the reputation of Egypt. Sameh Seif El-Yazal, a former intelligence officer and leader of the In Support of Egypt coalition, said he and 50 other MPs have submitted a memo to speaker Abdel-Al, asking him that an ad hoc fact-finding parliamentary committee be formed to investigate Geneina's claims. "Geneina has deliberately misled the public about corruption in Egypt and his statement was a lot of defamation for Egypt in domestic and foreign circles," said El-Yazal. El-Yazal told reporters Tuesday night that under the request of a majority of MPs, Geneina could be forced to come before parliament to face questioning. Mostafa Bakri, a journalist and a leading MP affiliated with the pro-Sisi bloc, said "parliament could refer Geneina to prosecution authorities to be investigated on his misguided reports about corruption." El-Yazal, Bakri and many other MPs believe that Geneina is loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood and that he is leading a conspiracy on behalf of its leaders to defame the regime of president El-Sisi. Bakri said after the release of the investigative committee's report that Geneina should be dismissed from his position as CAA's chairman. El-Yazal said the report made by the investigative committee on Geneina's statement will be thoroughly revised by the house as parliament is the main supervisory and watchdog institution in the country, and one of its main tasks is to revise CAA's reports about corruption. Joining forces with the pro-Sisi bloc, 25 MPs led by Anwar Esmat El-Sadat, leader of the liberal reform and development party, have Wednesday signed a memo requesting that speaker Abdel-Al summon Geneina to defend his claims before parliament. "We are neutral and we do not want him to come under retaliatory grounds all we want is to reach the truth," said El-Sadat, adding that "it is very important to listen to the two sides of the story; Geneina and those who made the investigative report upon the request of President El-Sisi." Sadat said the fact that CAA is independent does not mean that its chairman is immune to questioning. "Both MPs and CAA are mainly responsible for supervising state authorities and investigating public corruption," said Sadat. On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail visited parliament to congratulate constitutional law professor Abdel-Al for his election as speaker. Ismail said that once parliament's committees are formed, the government will be ready to deliver its policy statement before the House. "This is expected to be at the end of January," said Ismail. Ismail also said that work groups were formed to review reports issued by the CAA after Geneina's statement about corruption. In 1996, after prime minister Kamal El-Ganzouri was dismissed by then-president Hosni Mubarak, it was decided that CAA come under the supervision of the president rather than parliament, which had long been responsible for revising CAA's reports about state authorities. Search Keywords: Short link: Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. UAE trains nuclear regulators 12 January 2016 Share A group of nine engineering graduates from Emirati universities has joined the United Arab Emirates' Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) under the regulator's scheme to develop the country's base of nuclear experts. Class of 2016: FANR's latest intake of engineering graduates (Image: FANR) The group will undertake a year-long regulatory development program to provide them with the fundamental knowledge they need in order to understand the technical concepts applicable to nuclear engineering and regulation. "We're proud to bring on board such a promising generation of young Emiratis who will contribute substantively to the UAEs energy future," said FANR Director General Christer Viktorsson. The new engineers will follow a modular program to develop both technical and "soft" skills, starting with an FANR orientation program and an introductory course in nuclear engineering. They will then undertake an intensive 13-week nuclear fundamentals course at Khalifa University, followed by four eight-week job rotation modules, and an overseas study tour where they will visit an operating plant, complete basic control room simulator orientation and experience a waste storage site. The program will also include participation in a nuclear management course provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The UAE's first nuclear power plant is under construction at Barakah, with the first unit due to start up in 2017. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Wednesday that his cabinet could present its programme to the House of Representatives at the end of the month. Ismail's press statements came after a meeting with the new parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Al. The PM stressed said that there will be cooperation between the cabinet and the parliament. Ismail's cabinet was sworn in by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in September 2015. Based on Article 146 of the constitution, if Ismail's government does not secure the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives within 30 days of convening, the president is to appoint a prime minister based on the nomination of the party or the coalition that holds a plurality of seats in parliament. If a majority in parliament is not reached in support of a newly appointed prime minister and his government within 30 days, the house is dissolved and the president calls for the election of a new legislative body within 60 days from the date the dissolution is announced. Search Keywords: Short link: Stickers, publications, displays, photography or badges and other tools which show sympathy to terrorist groups could lead to fines and jail sentences, according to a draft bill The Egyptian cabinet approved on Wednesday a draft bill that punishes the possession and distribution of stickers, posters and photographs that "stand for terrorist organisations." The draft bill, which adds a new article to the existing criminal code, was proposed to the cabinet by the presidency. The article says that violators are "jailed and fined a minimum monetary fine of LE10,000 and a maximum of LE30,000... for posting, producing, promoting, importing, exporting, transporting or possessing, with intention to trade, distribute, rent or display any printed material, badges, drawings, posters, signs, handmade paintings, photography, or symbolic graphics... that constitute symbols of terrorist organisations, [local or international]." A decision specifying which signs or drawings would be considered symbols of terrorist entities will be issued later. The article also imposes the same penalties on those who knowingly or unknowingly abet violators, whether the prohibited materials were prepared for distribution or put on display. The law also criminalises those who possess any means/equipment of print, recording and broadcasting used to disseminate any material deemed "terrorist" by the authorities. Egyptian criminal law punishes protesting without permit, inciting violence and disturbing social peace. In the past two years, thousands of Egyptians have been arrested, tried and jailed for violating this law. Meanwhile, a number of individuals have already been arrested or jailed for using symbols that the government deems tools which incite violence. In late 2013, a 15-year-old student was arrested for possessing a ruler bearing the "Rabaa symbol," which supporters of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi use to symbolise their fight against the post-2013 government. He was later released. In January, a Cairo court renewed the detention of high school student Mahmoud Mohamed Hussein, who has been detained without trial for over 700 days and accused of possessing ammunition and protesting illegally. However, supporters and family say he was arrested for wearing a shirt with the words "Nation Without torture" and a scarf with the 2011 uprising logo. Human rights groups have described Hussein' as a "prisoner of conscience," and campaign for his release. Search Keywords: Short link: Police officers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama are increasingly using University of Alabama students as drug informants. The practice, which is becoming more common throughout the United States, represents an immense legal and ethical grey area in which American students futures, and in some instances, lives have been sacrificed by police departments looking for easy drug arrests. In February 2013, using information gathered from student informants, the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force arrested 61 University of Alabama students in a pre-dawn drug raid. The majority of the arrests were for relatively insignificant amounts of marijuana or for paraphernalia. Many of the students found themselves charged with trafficking, and among these, several were charged with the felony of selling within a three-mile radius of a school. While most of those arrested were not convicted of any crime the repercussions have been significant. Court fines and attorneys fees numbered in the tens of thousands of dollars for each student. All were forced to attend drug education programs, and all were sanctioned to varying degrees by the university. Many of the students left school or transferred to other colleges. Relationships among University of Alabama students became strained by the persistent suspicions that arose in the aftermath of the raid. The commander of the task force declined to comment on the raid, referring reporters to Tuscaloosa Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Teena Richardson. If it wasnt University of Alabama students there wouldn't have been any controversy. In a drug investigation you go where the investigation takes you and thats as much as I can tell you about that, Richardson stated. Tuscaloosas chief of police likewise defended the raid, stating that he was proud of the bold and aggressive leadership in the task force. The University of Alabama has repeatedly declined to make any statement to the press concerning either the 2013 raid or the use of student informants, except to reiterate that the universitys administration intends to cooperate with law enforcement and will continue to sanction any students found guilty of drug use or drug trafficking. A University of Alabama student recently related his experience as a drug informant to news site AL.com. Identifying himself only as Ryan, he reported how the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force searched his apartment on a warrant for drug trafficking when he was 19. He could avoid arrest, they told him, by cooperating with their demands to snare four or five drug suppliers for them. Thoroughly intimidated, he acquiesced. Over the next few months, the student was wiretapped and sent into cars and apartments to purchase approximately a gram of marijuana at a time as the police listened in. He says that rejection and suspicion from his peers has persisted since the 2013 raid, and he regrets cooperating with the task force. Those who refuse to inform face significant penalties. Referring to himself only as Scott, another student interviewed by Al.com recounts how police came to his house after a student informer bought a small amount of pot from him. The police told him that they had heard that he could buy pounds of marijuana. Though he repeatedly stated that he could only buy an ounce or two, at the most, police doggedly insisted that they knew he could acquire more. They offered him a chance to avoid incarceration by working as an informant. He refused and was promptly arrested. Although the charges brought against Scott were expunged from his record, he was forced to pay over $10,000 in fines and to attend drug education programs. His ability to find work was harmed. He says that the program is actually more dangerous to students than the drug use itself, and says officers are deputizing young, untrained, and vulnerable people. He likens informing to having a target on your back. The use of college students as informers has gained traction throughout the United States in the past decade, even as it has attracted vociferous criticism. Student informers in Florida and North Dakota have been murdered. Legal experts claim that the practice deprives students of their Constitutional rights to counsel and due process. Added to that is the fact that entrapment is rife; police, using students as their bait, create criminals to arrest. In Tuscaloosa, the practice has continued unabated. In April of 2015, 24 people in Tuscaloosa were arrested for possessing or selling marijuana, and for selling within three miles of a school. The number of drug-related charges has increased in the Tuscaloosa area each year since 2008, which the task force proudly attributes to its focus on university students. Of the informant program, Lieutenant Teena Richardson of the Tuscaloosa Police Department has stated, We dont discuss how our informant program works. These arrests have been incredibly lucrative for the police. In 2014, the task force seized over $800,000 worth of cash from drug arrests. $300,000 of this was funneled back into the task forces coffers. In addition, federal grant money increases in proportion to arrests. Many Alabamians have expressed concern over the way arrest-hungry police departments are treating young adults who do not fully understand their legal rights. Along with the anxiety many University of Alabama college students now feel amongst their peers, this points to one of the most tragic consequences of the malignant growth of the American police statethe creation of hostility and suspicion between citizens to the detriment of their unity. It also points to the fact that the war on drugs is, in reality, a war upon the working class. The year 2016 is the last full year of the administration of Barack Obama, the 44th US president. Accordingly, talk of the administrations impact on history has become a frequent theme in the corporate press and political establishment. Obamas legacy, as it is called in the media, is not an insignificant matter. But a correct appraisal of a presidents place in history must begin with an understanding that the conduct of a government is not merely the product of the subjective aims of the president and his cabinet members. The administrations programs and policies are the outcome of the interaction between the material needs of competing sections of the American ruling class and the developing logic of world events. As events drive the ruling classs policy choices, the consequences of those policies in turn impact events, and vice versa. Through this interaction, the true state of social relations and class rule under capitalism emerges. In this context, Charlie Savages new 769-page book Power Wars: Inside Obamas Post-9/11 Presidency is a chilling account of the true state of class rule in the United States. Savages book, published by Little, Brown and Co. in November 2015, examines a major aspect of what the Obama administration will be remembered for: institutionalizing the Bush administrations anti-democratic state repression and establishing a state of permanent war. Savage, who has been writing about war and constitutional issues for the New York Times since 2008, deserves much credit for this meticulously researched work. The author draws on over 150 sources from the Bush and Obama administrations as well as hitherto unreported internal administration documents to give an inside view of the crucial discussions within the Obama White House. In the course of his book, Savage addresses the Obama administrations role in institutionalizing drone assassinations, military commissions, the use of offshore prisons like Guantanamo Bay, indefinite detention, expanded presidential war powers, whistleblower prosecution, mass surveillance, etc. For those readers interested in a detailed, honest, and serious review of these issues, Savages book stands alongside James Risens 2014 Pay Any Price. Risen and Savage share a key weakness: they both accept the framework of the war on terror, which serves as the blanket justification for the abrogation of basic democratic rights. This weakness is much more pronounced in Savage, who combines his descriptions of Obamas unconstitutional programs of drone murder and state surveillance with increasingly hollow paeans to national security and the danger of terrorism. Unlike Risen, Savages book does not attempt to address war profiteering or the relationship between the drive to war and social inequality. Despite its limitations, Risens book struck this reviewer as smart, detailed, and courageous. Though Savage is intelligent and critical, the word courageous does not seem to fit. Ultimately, Savage is a liberal who accepts the Obama administrations position that constitutional rights are subject to a balancing test where professed risks to national security can justify suspension of certain inalienable rights. In this way, Savages deep access to sources in the military and national security apparatus is not only a strength, but also a weakness. Sources have their own reasons for providing information to journalists, and Savage has made clear that he is a politically safe outlet. At his weakest, for example, Savage provides a qualified justification for the Obama administrations crackdown on leaks of information: As a journalist, Iobviouslyoppose the criminalization of unauthorized disclosures. I think this shift in how the government deters leaks and deals with suspected leakers endangers a free society and undermines self-government. But I am also a critic of framing the Obama-era crackdown in terms of a war on whistleblowing. That word sets a very high standardleaks that expose waste, fraud, abuse of power, or illegality. The activists who choose to frame the policy debate in terms of whistleblowing are well intentioned, but they make it too easy for crackdown defenders to discredit the entire line of criticism by pointing to some leak defendants whose disclosures do not meet that standard (p. 389). This approach informs the conclusions Savage draws but does not overshadow the books compelling, well-structured content. Though Savage does not shy away from making a concrete legal analysis of legislation, executive action, and court rulings, he does so in a manner that is informative and accessible. Whats more, readers should not be intimidated by the books lengthSavage skillfully combines a popular writing style with real investigation, making the book an engrossing read. Most importantly, the content summarizes the major events of the last 15 years, with much new, interesting information throughout. A legal framework for the attack on democratic rights After having been elected in November 2008 on a wave of popular anti-Bush sentiment, the Obama administration came to power in 2009 and began to institutionalize the anti-democratic policies of the Bush administration. Savages book sheds added light on how this has been accomplished. The Obama administration, Savage writes, revived the interagency national security lawyers group, a bureaucratic institution from the 1990s that the Bush-Cheney administration had essentially dismantled. This group was operating alongside the hierarchy of policymakers and set the framework within which a decision could be madesuch as, for example, whether killing a particular terrorism suspect was permissible. The structure gave the lawyers the first shot at many decisions, and they remained to address any wrinkles that arose (65). This legal group began to provide pseudo-legal cover for the programs developed in the years that followed. In the aftermath of the Bush administrations policy of midnight-hospital-bed legal coups, sections of the press and the Democratic Party sought to portray the Obama administrations lawyerly attitude to the war on terror as an advance for democratic rights. In fact, the opposite was the case. Later, Savage quotes CIA Director John Brennan at a press conference in September 2011: The interagency lawyers will get together and look at what is being proposed and then have that discussion, that is very rich, about whether or not what is being proposed is consistent with the law and consistent with best practice, or are we actually sort of now going in new areas and new directions. Brennan continued: I have never found a case that our legal authorities, or legal interpretations that came out from that lawyers group, prevented us from doing something that we thought was in the best interest of the United States to do . Can there be shifts [in the law]? Yes. And those shifts are affected whether were attacked, you know, on 9/11, or in other types of threats and challenges to our system . Thats why a Harold Koh and a Jeh Johnson, when they get together and talk about thingsthey really want to wrestle it to the ground. Is there a right answer? Truth is elusiveas is right (278-279). The Obama administrations lawyers never said no to the CIA and merely rubber stamped their actions. In other words, the Obama administrations role has been to provide the military-intelligence apparatus with a blank check to exercise near total authority over the decisions of government. Whats more, Savage writes that after the alleged attempted shoe bomber terror attack of December 25, 2009, Brennan, then Obamas Homeland Security Adviser, became a far more central and influential player [in the Obama administration], a man whom Obama looked for guidance. The president was not alone; at the Justice Department and elsewhere, more liberal members of the Obama legal team, I was told, began to see Brennan as their hero. (95). Anti-Bush Democrats institutionalize the war on terror The involvement of former liberal opponents of the Bush administration in this process sheds light on an essential element of contemporary political lifethe disappearance of any section of the ruling class in favor of defending democratic rights. Though Savage does not make this point himself, he describes the roles of many former anti-Bush figures and explains their transformation under the Obama administration. A few examples: State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh: As Dean of the Yale Law School, Koh was a prominent opponent of the Bush administration. Koh wrote in 2006 that he was opposed to the Bush administrations claim that a War on Terror permits the commander in chiefs power to be expanded into a wanton power to act as torturer in chief (239-240). But as an Obama administration attorney, Savage notes, he had become the chief public defender of the legality of the Obama administrations targeted killing operations (240). Deputy Solicitor General (later Acting Solicitor General) Neal Katyal: During the Bush administration, Katyal served as lead counsel for Guantanamo detainees in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006). But as a lawyer in the Obama administration, Katyal underwent a role reversal. He would personally argue before an appeals court that Obama had the power to hold detainees at Bagram [Air Force Base, Afghanistan], even those captured outside Afghanistan, with no rights to hearings (109-110). Office of Legal Counsel Assistant Attorney General David Barron and Deputy Attorney General Marty Lederman: In response to revelations of Bush administration torture memos in 2004, Barron and Lederman had penned what Savage calls a pointed and idealistic legal document. Denouncing the Bush administration, they wrote that its advocacy model of lawyering, in which lawyers craft merely plausible legal arguments to support their clients desired actions, inadequately promotes the presidents constitutional obligation to ensure the legality of executive action. In 2008, the two lawyers co-wrote a Harvard Law Review article further condemning the Bush administration for misuse of executive power (234). Under Obama, the two co-wrote the 2011 memoranda justifying the drone assassination of US citizens without warrant or trial. The biographies of figures like Koh, Katyal, Barron, and Lederman show the complete disintegration of the liberal establishment and the absence of any constituency within the financial aristocracy for the defense of even the most basic democratic rights. To be continued The Turkish authorities have detained one person over the suicide attack in Istanbul that killed 10 mainly German tourists, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Wednesday. "One person was detained in operations carried out yesterday (Tuesday) evening. The investigation is continuing in a very intensive way," he told a news conference alongside German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. The minister stated that the suspect was not on any wanted list but had registered with Turkey's immigration authorities. Ala said the man's fingerprints were on record with the Turkish authorities, when asked about a report in the Turkish media that the man had registered at an immigration office in Istanbul a week ago. "Your assessment that his fingerprints were taken and there is a record of him is correct. But he was not on the wanted individuals list. And neither is he on the target individuals list sent to us by other countries," Ala told the news conference. *This story has been edited by Ahram Online Search Keywords: Short link: To avoid damaging resignations from his front bench, Conservative UK prime minister David Cameron plans to grant a free vote to cabinet members in the upcoming referendum on Britains continued membership in the European Union (EU). The move was necessitated by estimations that between half and two-thirds (221) of the parliamentary partys 330 MPs support Britain leaving the EU, even though the partys leadership team calculate that when it comes to the crunch only half that number (110) will actively campaign to leave. A recent poll suggested 75 percent of the Tory membership is in favour of a Brexit. Cameron has again proved himself hostage to the anti-European elements within his cabinet. Chris Grayling, the leader of the House of Commons, and Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers told Cameron December 4 that he must clarify his position. Press reports indicate they threatened to openly defy cabinet responsibility if they did not get their own way, or to resign their positions. The two cabinet ministers plan to join fellow cabinet member, the former Tory party leader and current work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith and others in campaigning for Britain to leave the EU. In a move that will deeply disappoint them, Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said he "can't envisage" campaigning to leave the EU if Cameron recommends Britain should stay in. Last October, he indicated that he might vote to quit. Grayling and Villiers dressed up their strong-arming of Cameron as a vital democratic move, designed to give British voters both sides of the argument. The right-wing press response to the news of Cameron's decision was ecstatic. The Daily Mail proclaimed itself delighted that Cameron had heeded their advice, while columnist Peter Oborne opened his column with About time too! Not only are government minsters to be allowed a free vote, but they will also be able to actively campaign and agitate for a no vote and a British exit from the EU. Cabinet members who do so will effectively be campaigning alongside the extreme right-wing Eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). The former trade secretary from Margaret Thatcher's 1980s Tory administrations, Michael Heseltine, had said earlier that such a move would make Cameron a laughing stock around the world and would be a humiliation for the prime minister. Cameron has indeed been humiliated. Speaking on Radio Four, another pro-European former minister from the Thatcher period, Ken Clarke, politely described Cameron's decision as unfortunate, before warning that it threatened to break up the Tory party. Clarke compared the prime ministers predicament to that of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who also faces a hard-line right-wing opposition in his own shadow cabinet. Harking back to his own time in the 1980s cabinet, Clarke echoed Heseltine in calling on those ministers who wish for a no vote in the referendum to do the honourable thing and resign their positions. Cameron has written to his ministers, warning, All ministers should continue to support the position set out in our manifesto and say or do nothing that will undermine the Government's negotiating position." He urged ministers on both sides of the debate to treat each other with appropriate respect and courtesy and to remain, despite differences on this one issue, a united, harmonious, mutually respectful team." In reality, a civil war within the party over EU membership is already in full swing. Both sides are working on the presumption that the referendum will not be held until at least four months after the conclusion of Camerons negotiations but are already making their positions public. Cameron expects negotiations to be over by February and predicts the referendum will be held sometime in the summer rather than later in the year, as was previously suggested. He hopes that an early vote will cut the ground from under any attempt to swing public opinion away from supporting EU membership. In the House of Commons, after the free vote announcement, the MP for Shipley, Tory Eurosceptic Philip Davies, suggested during Prime Ministers Question Time that Cameron's EU negotiations were choreographed and nonsense. Cameron angrily responded, The whole government is behind me, while you carp and cavil at someone who is getting the job done. Cameron has since then been forced to state that he wishes to continue as prime minister and leader of the Tory party even if the no vote proves victorious. He was asked by the BBCs Andrew Marr on Sunday, "If you lose the referendum, do you stay as prime minister? You can't, can you?" He replied, "The answer to that is yes. The question on the ballot paper was whether to remain or leave the EU, not "this politician's future or that politician's future." Such claims are somewhat fanciful. The likelihood of a victorious and emboldened right-wing Eurosceptic wing in the party not immediately calling for Cameron's resignation and his replacement with someone closer to their own views is slim indeed. One possible contender for the party leadership, London mayor Boris Johnson, is waiting to see which way the wind blows and will opt for whichever side looks like it is winning. Home Secretary Theresa May is also understood to be biding her time and waiting for the outcome of Cameron's attempted renegotiations. But she is likely to join her fellow Eurosceptics and campaign for a no vote. The Financial Times stated that some Tory MPs believe Cameron will resign if he loses the referendum, rather than renegotiate Britain's EU exit, before adding that therefore cabinet ministers campaigning for a Brexit are also effectively campaigning for the ousting of Cameron. In his Daily Mail column, Peter Oborne pointed out that Cameron has said before that he will not serve as prime minister past 2020, and so the EU referendum offers the perfect chance for those who want to succeed him to make their pitch. These are not decisions that can be put off much longer. Cameron provoked an angry response from his critics after he told BBC Ones Andrew Marr Show that a Brexit was not the right answer and by suggesting the government was not even planning for the possibility of a vote to leave the EU. I think there is a huge prize for Britain. If we can deal with the things that drive us up the wall about Europe, we can get the best of both worlds and secure our economic future inside this valuable market. Senior anti-EU Tory MP David Davis said it was disgraceful, astonishing not to have a Brexit plan, while others complained that they were gagged while Cameron and other pro-EU MPs were able to campaign for their position freely. The upheavals in global share markets since the beginning of the year have focussed attention on China amid fears that the slump in its stock markets and the falling renminbi (yuan) are symptoms of a far deeper economic malaise. The slowdown of the Chinese economy, which is exposing massive overcapacity in industry and the property market, and high levels of debt, is threatening to trigger an upsurge in the class struggle. The official growth rate for 2015 has been put at 6.9 percent, with the target for the coming year of 6.5 percentdown from 10.6 percent in 2010 and the lowest level in a quarter century. However, numbers of analysts have cast doubt over the government figures. As reported last week in the Financial Times for instance, a poll by Consensus Economics of members of its China panel forecast growth of just 4.8 percent in 2016. So questionable are the statistics that economic pundits turn to other indices, such as the so-called Keqiang index, reportedly created by Premier Li Keqiang, to provide a more accurate gauge of the state of the economy. The three elements of the Keqiang indexrail freight, electricity production and bank lendingare all in decline. The business magazine Caixin reported last week that rail cargo slumped in 2015 by 10.5 percentthe largest annual decline on record. The downturn in China is the product of global recessionary trends. The restoration of capitalism and transformation of the country into the worlds premier cheap labour platform over the past three decades led to a colossal economic expansion. The Beijing regime responded to the 2008 global financial crisis, which hit exports and destroyed 20 million jobs, with a huge stimulus package and a flood of cheap credit that ensured continued high levels of growth. Investment did not take place in productive capacity, however, but in large infrastructure projects and above all, fuelled a speculative frenzy in property, then in the share markets. This strategy, which was premised on a quick recovery from the global crisis and a return to high levels of global growth, has unravelled. Exports have continued to decline, revealing enormous overcapacities, particularly in basic industries. The property market is glutted and prices are stagnant. The Chinese share markets, which reached dizzy heights in the first half of 2015, have collapsed and are now another source of instability. The Chinese government is seeking to transition the economy from one based on manufactured exports to a service economy built on domestic consumption. But the new model is fraught with contradictions, not least of which is the fact that boosting domestic consumption requires higher incomes for working people, thus further undermining Chinas competitiveness as a low-wage export hub. Moreover, the regime is confronting mounting international pressure to accelerate pro-market reforms, including the closure or restructuring of large numbers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)a step that will lead to rising unemployment and falling domestic consumption. For all the hype about Chinas transition, the countrys function in the world economy remains that of a cheap labour platform. All the statistics for manufacturing are bleak. According to a business sentiment index released by Caixin last month, factory employment in China has fallen for 25 months. The official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) for December was up slightly at 49.7 compared to November but still below the figure of 50 indicating growth. Caixins own PMI for December was just 48.2, down from 48.6 in Novemberthe 10th straight month below 50. Premier Li told a seminar in Beijing in November that the government was determined to cut back on overcapacity in traditional industries as well as the large number of so-called zombie enterprises, pointing to steel and coal in particular. Up until now, however, little action has been taken out of fear at all levels of government of rising social unrest. The New York Times last month focussed on the fate of the Longmay Group, the biggest coal company in northeastern China, which announced plans last September to slash 100,000 jobs, or 40 percent of its workforce, at 42 mines in four cities. However, the company, an SOE owned by the Heilongjiang provincial government, delayed the job cuts. Several hundred older workers were laid off but provincial authorities provided a short-term $600 million bailout to overcome the companys immediate debt problems. Deng Shun, an analyst at ICIS C1 Energy, told the New York Times: They are quite worried about social unrest, so they delay. These layoffs should have happened two years ago. The provincial governments fears were well grounded, however, as protests had already erupted before any mass layoffs. In April, thousands marched in the city of Hegang to protest over delayed wages. The organisers were arrested and jailed. In October, the company management only averted another protest by locking workers in the mines on the day of a scheduled rally. Mine workers are well aware that the prospect being held out of jobs in an expanding services sector is illusory. Heilongjiang is one of Chinas most economically depressed provinces, already mired in recession. Economic output fell by 2.2 percent in the first three quarters of last year compared with the same period the previous year. The resentment and bitterness in the working class was voiced by former mineworker now taxi driver, Mr Cui, who told the New York Times: In the 90s, everyone was poor. Now the rich are too rich, and the poor are too poor. Because of the layoffs, everyone is worried. No one has a way to live outside the mines. With the New Year holidays coming, there will be chaos in Hegang. It is not just miners, nor workers in basic industry, who face large job losses. Writing in the South China Morning Post last month, analyst Andy Xie explained: China may have overinvested up to 40 trillion yuan ($US6.1 trillion) since 2009. Its physical manifestation is in empty buildings and industrial overcapacity. After citing estimates that the steel industry has an overcapacity of 200 to 400 million tonnesmore than the total production of any other countryXie continued: The dire situation is common among all commodities industries. New industries like smartphone manufacturing already have a large overcapacity. Even power plants are hugely underutilised. The China Iron and Steel Association has reported that in the first 11 months of 2015, large- and medium-sized steel mills suffered losses of 53.1 billion yuan ($8.18 billion). Wuhan Iron & Steel, a major SOE, announced last month that it plans to eliminate 6,000 jobs within three months, while its parent company could cut 11,000 jobs and slash salaries by 20 percent in 2016. Restructuring is already underway in other industries. Chinas two largest shipping groups merged last month and its two largest train makers, CNR and CSR, came together earlier in the year. Far greater job losses are being mooted amid a debate in Chinese ruling circles about the necessity of eliminating invisible unemploymentworkers who are kept on the books of companies even though there is little for them to do. The government faces mounting levels of debt, much of it accumulated by local governments to fund infrastructure projects and keep zombie companies like Longmay afloat. The countrys debt to gross domestic product ratio has risen by nearly 50 percent over the past four years. In its annual forecast, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences urged the government to make the invisible unemployment more visible in 2016 by allowing more SOEs to go under. Wei Yao, a strategist at Societe Generale, published a note in November saying 1.7 million workers would go in an initial round of sackings to address Chinas most pressing economic issues: capital misallocation, looming growth of non-performing assets and deteriorating productivity. In other words, as is the case around the world, Chinese workers are to bear the burden of the crisis through the destruction of jobs and conditions. The protests by Longmay workers in Heilongjiang Province last year are just one indication of sharpening class tensions. The latest figures from the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin show that the number of strikes and protests more than doubled last year to 2,774 incidents, compared to 1,379 for 2014, with a marked increase in December. Most of the strikes were over the non-payment of wages, which can often be months in arrears, a practice common in the construction industry but now spreading to manufacturing, mining and services. The figures, which are by no means complete, give a glimpse of the seething discontent in the working class that the regime constantly seeks to suppress through state-run trade unions and police-state methods. The constant fear in the Chinese Communist Party leadership is that the vastly expanded working classestimated to number 400 millionwill break out of this straitjacket and destabilise the regimes tenuous grip on power. Detroit public school teachers continued rolling sickouts yesterday, forcing the closure of 24 schools or over one-fifth of the district. This follows Monday when 64 schools were closed, as hundreds of teachers have taken a united stand against the overcrowding of classrooms, unsafe schools, budget cuts and privatization. It is an unprecedented feat by teachers who have used social media and local connections to develop the initiative as a grassroots campaign organized independently of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT). The militancy of teachers has taken both government officials and the teachers union by surprise. Both have gone into overdrive to try to suppress the snowballing protests and prevent them from taking a politically independent form. Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who has presided over millions of dollars worth of cuts to Michigan schools, including the shuttering of entire school districts, issued a statement saying the sickouts came at the expense of the kids, and threatened state retaliation if the struggle continues. Public employee strikes are illegal in Michigan and state legislators have been trying to find a mechanism to categorize sickouts as strikes. In the hopes of carrying out mass firings and/or imposing fines, they also seek to eliminate teachers right to a hearing in the event of victimization. The lead editorial in the Detroit News Tuesday was headlined Fire DPS strike ringleaders, and called for state legislators to make it easier to punish teachers who break the law. Meanwhile, the DFTdiscredited for its willingness to sign onto any concessions contract, layoff and school closure handed down by a succession of emergency managershas been unable to stop or control the sickouts and has gone into crisis mode. For the DFT and its national parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), it is now all hands on deck to try to quell the protests while at the same time trying to prevent further loss of union membership come next June, when members will be able to opt-out under the states right-to-work law. The level of crisis by the union bureaucracy is indicated by the fact that Randi Weingarten, AFT president, is flying into town to address a mass union meeting this Thursday. She will be joined by Michigan AFT President David Hecker and DFT Administrator Ann Mitchell. Weingarten is notorious for her intimate connections with all manner of school privatizers such as the Gates Foundation, as well as her mantra, School reform with us, not against us. Meanwhile, the corporate media, from the local Detroit press to the New York Times and UK-based Guardian, have falsely claimed ousted DFT president Steve Conn is the leader of the protests. But teachers have gone through an experience with Conns brand of pseudo-left racial politics and unprincipled maneuvers with the Democratic Party, and the organizers of the sickouts have specifically dissociated themselves from him. Both the politicians and the union are discovering for the first time the scandalous conditions of the schools. Yesterday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan toured schools with AFT official David Hecker and health and building inspectors. Seeing a dead mouse in Spain Elementary School and four-year-old children who had to wear their coats in class, Duggan admitted it was deeply disturbing. The situation in the Detroit Public Schools is far worse than we ever imagined, said Ivy Bailey. This from the current DFT interim president and former executive vice president! After being shocked, shocked like the police inspector in Casablanca, Bailey has called for public hearings into DPS schools to try to retain some feeble credibility. The list of health and safety violations, as posted on the DFT website, should really be the basis of a series of criminal indictments against the Democratic Party emergency manager Darnell Earley, the state officials, including Republican Governor Snyder, and the DFT/AFT which has colluded with them. The DFT writes: A few examples of current school conditions: Spain Elementary-Middle School: Black mold, the gym floor is buckling, the swimming pool is broken, the boiler has problems and the garden is unusable because of debris. Thirkell Elementary-Middle School: Not enough teachers, so eighth-graders are housed in the gym and pulled out for instruction in core subjects for only an hour or so each day. The ceiling is so compromised that rain and snow pour in. Teachers get just one prep period a month. Osborn High School: The building is literally falling apart. Moses Field School (for students with severe cognitive impairment): Boiler is broken, causing drastic temperature fluctuations; infestations of rats, other rodents, roaches and bed bugs; and no security guard. Palmer Park Preparatory Academy: Pieces of the ceiling are falling on kids heads and rats run around. Jerry L. White Center High School: No heat, no security guard. Bates Academy: Security issues, mice, heating issues, computers are broken. Dossin Elementary-Middle School: Standing water in classrooms, holes in the ceiling, a classroom without power due to black mold in the wiring. Sampson Academy and Douglass Academy for Young Men: No heat. Ronald Brown Academy: A special education class has no textbooks; slimy growth on the walls and crumbling ceilings. Western International High School: Rats, roaches, not enough books, classes with 45 students. Golightly Education Center and Emerson Elementary-Middle School: Classes with 45 students. Mann Elementary School: Untrained teachers forced to administer medication to student suffering severe seizures. Nearly 50 years after Jonathans Kozols sensational expose of substandard education and crumbling infrastructure in the Boston schools, entitled Death at an Early Age, millions of schoolchildren are being subjected to the same or worse learning conditions. DPS teachers and administrators have reported these violations for years with no results. The fact is that they have become endemic, not just in Detroit, but across the United States as education has been systemically defunded. Despite these conditions, Detroit teachers continue to express their determination for the rights of students and teachers. They aim not only to redress the most immediate problems, but to rebuff the efforts of the state to privatize the DPS, destroy pensions and open the schools to the education market. Such an effort will inevitably bring teachers into conflict with both the Democrats and Republicans and the capitalist profit system. Theresa, with seven years at the DPS, told the WSWS, We have to fight. When I was a postal worker they tried to take our pensions away. We had to fight for them then. This is a fight of the whole working class. I make less now than when I started 20 years ago! said another veteran teacher. I went to work in Inkster but they closed the whole district down. So I went from $79,000 a year down to $56,000 to come back to Detroit Public Schools. I lost my home; I couldnt afford it. An Education Achievement Authority teacher added, Conditions are getting a lot worse. Nobody wants to come and teach. So DPS hires teachers who are not even certified. Now they look at the finances and are going to steal our pensions. It's been their plan all along. Earley was sent in to wreck the schools. They send in black capitalists to destroy public schools and send the funds to private entities such as charters. The union does not represent teachers. The sickout has been organized by teachers going on social media and organizing. The teachers need a political force to pull out all their energy. By a vote of 10-4, with one abstention, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), an executive agreement between Manila and Washington for the unlimited basing of US forces and weaponry in the country, was constitutional. Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg signed the EDCA in April 2014 during a state visit by President Obama to Manila. Implementation of the basing deal has been delayed by nearly two years, as the Supreme Court reviewed two appeals questioning the constitutionality of the agreement. The January 12 decision approving the basing deal was timed to coincide with a meeting, called the 2+2 Summit, held at the State Department in Washington between US Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and their Philippine counterparts, Albert del Rosario and Voltaire Gazmin. During a joint press conference all four secretaries hailed the approval of the EDCA as marking a significant development in US-Philippine relations. When the EDCA was initially signed, Washington issued public disclaimers that the basing deal was not about confrontation with China. This pretense has now been dropped. Carter made clear that the basing deal was about our intention to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, whether it be the South China Sea or anywhere else around the world. And the Philippinesand the EDCA decision by the Supreme Court gives us new opportunities herealso is strengthening its role in maritime security, and in that connection were working and now have new opportunities to work with the Philippines. Carter went on to state that the US would be implementing the EDCAi.e., constructing bases and deploying forcesvery soon. He stated were working on this right now and that the 2+2 meeting was holding discussions to this effectvery practical ones over the next couple of hours. US Senator John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also met with Gazmin and del Rosario. He escalated the official attack on China, stating that as Manila finds itself the target of Chinese coercion in the West Philippine Sea and is looking to Washington for leadership, this agreement will give us new tools to deepen our alliance with the Philippines, expand engagement with the Philippine Armed Forces, and enhance our presence in Southeast Asia. The EDCA basing deal is a key component of Washingtons pivot to Asia, the drive to militarily contain China and subordinate its economy to US interests. The United States seized the Philippines as a colony in 1898, launching a bloody, decade-long war to suppress the population. The conflict is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of 200,000 Filipinos from causes directly related to combat. The death toll grows to 1.5 million when the impact of diseases caused by the American policy of forcing large portions of the population into concentration camps is included. With the formal granting of independence to the Philippines on July 4, 1946, the US maintained its military hold in the region through its sprawling bases in the country, particularly Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Base. Throughout the colonial period, a primary function of the US military presence in the Philippines was to ensure by force of arms that Washington had access to Chinese markets and could dictate the terms of US capitalism in the trading ports of Guangzhou and Shanghai. In the wake of the 1949 Chinese revolution, the US bases in the Philippines were used to militarily contain and menace Beijing. When in 1991, Mt Pinatubo buried much of the Clark base under pyroclastic ash over ten feet deep, and then the Philippine Senate voted 12-11 not to renew the US basing lease in the country, Washington lost these strategic military bases. The EDCA provides the legal framework for the re-establishment of a vast US military presence in the country. The spare, 10-page document authorizes the deployment of unlimited numbers of US forces and weaponry in the Philippines at an unspecified number of agreed locations. Subic Bay has been selected as one of these locations. Filipinos will not be allowed to enter any US-controlled location. Just one Filipino military representative will be allowed access, and only with permission secured in advance from the US commander. In addition to the agreed locations, US forces are guaranteed access to all public land and facilities (including roads, ports, and airfields), including those owned or controlled by local government. American forces and civilian contractors will be under the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the US government. Should they be accused of a crime, the Philippine legal system will have no jurisdiction over them. Washington will pay no rent for the use of these facilities and agreed locations. Should US forces vacate a facility, Manila is legally obligated to remunerate Washington for any improvements that may have been made. The EDCA is effectively an end run around the Philippine Constitution, which bans the presence of any foreign troops or bases in the country without the approval of a treaty by a two-thirds majority of the Senate. An examination of the agreement demonstrates that agreed location is but a legal euphemism for a base, and rotational presence means nothing less than military occupation. Two cases were filed against the EDCA before the Philippine Supreme Court. Both were signed by leading representatives of the front organizations of the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and both were flimsy. As the World Socialist Web Site has demonstrated, the CPP is playing an instrumental role in supporting the US war drive against China, by attempting to whip up an anti-Chinese hysteria over the South China Sea in the name of national sovereignty. Given the flagrant unconstitutionality of the deal, the weak character of these appeals is striking. The signatories based their case largely on the claim that Washington was not committed to go to war with China and that therefore the EDCA would not enhance Philippine maritime security. A far more serious challenge to the EDCA came from the Philippine Senate itself, which passed a resolution in November 2015 that the EDCA was a treaty and thus requires Senate concurrence in order to be valid and effective. The full text of the Supreme Court decision has not yet been made available, but the spokesperson for the court, Theodore Te, made clear that the majority decision of the court directly refuted the Senate resolution. Tuesdays decision gives the legal green light to the implementation of the EDCA, which will potentially entail the deployment of tens of thousands of US forces to the Philippines, in direct confrontation with China. It is a major milestone in the imperialist drive to war. The author also recommends: US military basing deal in the Philippines: A step towards neocolonial rule [17 May 2014] The recent plunge to below-freezing temperatures in the northern Midwest and northeast regions of the US brought with it three fatal house fires in Detroit alone since last Saturday. The latest broke out around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday in an Eastside Detroit home, forcing inhabitants, mostly children, to jump out second-story windows to survive. Local news media initially reported that a three year-old boy, KJ, had died in the fire, but it was later reported that he is on life support at Detroit Receiving Hospital. The entire family, including Shirley Love, her two daughters, her niece and her three children, ages 1, 3 and 4, have all been hospitalized. Shirley said when she could not reach the children, who were upstairs, from inside the house, she went outside around the side of the house telling those inside that they would have to jump. Another resident of the home who wasnt there at the time, Montece Wilkerson, told TV reporters later that he could tell that the fire started from a downstairs space heater. A house fire in Eastpointe, a eastern Detroit enclave, killed two women and injured three other occupants on Sunday, two days earlier. The women, 87-year-old Mary Ingram and 61-year-old Margaret Dunaway, were believed to be mother and daughter. Two men, ages 30 and 31, and a 4-year-old boy were treated for smoke inhalation. That home was reported to have no smoke detectors installed. The day before that, a 7-month-old girl identified as Michaela Walker, was killed in a Northwest Detroit house fire that started at 4:30 p.m. Five others, one adult and several children who were inside the home managed to get out of the burning house. One of the children who escaped told reporters that he was in the basement when he heard screams saying to get out of the house. He said he thought the fire started in the kitchen. Up until the recent cold snap, the winter had been somewhat mild. The drop in temperature that began over the weekend was attributed to an Alberta Clipper, according to Weather.com. Starting from Alberta, Canada, a stream of cold air extends across the northern US, bringing winds and, in places downwind of the Great Lakes, lake-effect snowfall. The drop in temperatures, while not unusual for Michigan winters, hits impoverished neighborhoods like those in Detroit especially hard. Many of the older homes are not properly insulated, have old furnaces and are inefficient in conserving heat. Owing to that, the use of electric space heaters as a primary source of warmth is widespread in poorer communities. In 2011, space heaters were responsible for one-third of home heating fires and four out of five (81 percent) home heating fire deaths, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Most house fires occur in the months of December, January and February. On Monday evening, a family of four was killed in an explosion in their Ohio home. The bodies of a couple and their two daughters, aged 8 and 12, were found in their Northfield Center Township home, about 20 miles south of Cleveland. The cause of the explosion is still being investigated. In Chicago, seven firefighters were injured in a multi-alarm apartment building fire in the Rogers Park neighborhood in the early hours of Monday morning. A scheduled meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries this Friday remains in doubt. As a condition for the talks proceeding, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demanded that Pakistan take action against those allegedly responsible for the January 2 terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base in the northern Indian state of Punjab. Indian officials allege that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) or Army of the Prophet Mohammed, carried out the attack, in which a heavily-armed group, believed to have been six-man strong, infiltrated the air base. According to Indian officials, it ultimately took four days to ferret out and kill all the attackers. Meanwhile, seven Indian soldiers were killed and another 20 injured. The air base is located 25 kilometres from the Pakistan border in Punjab, which was divided between the two countries as part of the reactionary 1947 communal partition of the Indian subcontinent. The Pathankot base is considered a key forward base for Indian military operations against Pakistan in the event of war. It hosts MiG-21 Bison fighter jets, MI-25 and MI-35 attack helicopters, missiles, including surface-to-air missiles, and surveillance radar. The base also provides logistical support for security forces operations in Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir, which is in perpetual turmoil due to popular opposition to Indias repressive rule. India has refused to confirm whether it will participate in Fridays meeting. Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval denied a Dainik Bhaskar report that quoted him as saying the talks were cancelled, but he told NDTV: We will talk only if Pakistan takes action. The meeting between the foreign secretaries was announced when Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on the sidelines of a multilateral meeting on Afghanistan in early December. Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was expected to visit Islamabad to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, to set a schedule for resumption of the long-stalled comprehensive peace process between the two countries, which in its latest iteration is called the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue (CAD). Modi boosted the CAD when he made an unscheduled visit to Lahore to meet Sharif on December 25, prompting press claims, both in South Asia and the west, of a major breakthrough. Until recently, Modis Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government had systematically snubbed Pakistan, refusing to relaunch the peace dialogue until Pakistan stops supporting terrorist groups and authorising Indian military-security forces to take more aggressive action in border skirmishes. Islamabad responded to this, by charging that Indian intelligence is supporting various anti-Pakistan groups, including the Pakistan Taliban and Baluchistan separatist insurgents. The Obama administration has been pressing both countries to talk behind the scenes. It is concerned that any conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals would disrupt its broader geo-strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region. Washington is seeking to stabilise the US-installed government in Afghanistan with the help of Pakistani-sponsored talks with the Taliban. At the same time, the US is backing Indias regional power ambitions in order to integrate India ever-more fully into its anti-China military and strategic pivot to Asia. After the Pathankot incident, Modis government demanded strong action by Islamabad against the attackers, although, at least initially, in terms less strident than in the past. According to an Indian External Affairs Ministry statement, when Sharif telephoned Modi last week, Modi strongly emphasised the need for Pakistan to take firm and immediate action against the organisations and individuals allegedly responsible for the attack. The Hindustan Times later reported that Modi had told a meeting of his cabinet ministers bilateral talks would not resume until Islamabad took action against the terror group. It reported Modi as saying: Action is a must. We are going to be very strict about it. Analysts pointed out that the BJP government did not directly blame Islamabad for the attack and seemed reluctant to withdraw from talks, not wanting to be seen to be scuttling the dialogue even before it effectively began. However, Modi was also intent on demonstrating a hard line and backing the military. He visited Pathankot last Saturday to praise the militarys response to the attack. It remains unclear who mounted the assault. Though Indian officials blamed JeM, the group has not claimed responsibility. Some officials and the media also accused the Pakistani militarys Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency of involvement. Three days after the attack, the United Jihad Council, a coalition of groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, said it was responsible, but New Delhi brushed the claim aside. India says it has provided Islamabad with intelligence information, including intercepted messages said to be from the attackers, who allegedly came from Pakistan, to their handlers in Pakistan. The Indian media also reported that Indian security agencies identified five key JeM figures, including its leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, as implicated in the attack. Other reports, however, have pointed to serious Indian security lapses, saying the Indian Intelligence Bureau had earlier warned of terrorist infiltration from Pakistan and indeed knew, as of January 1, that attackers were in the vicinity of the airbase. At the very least, the lengthy attack on such a high-profile and heavily-defended target would indicate a serious breakdown in the Indian military-security apparatus. The Hindu quoted an Army colonel who had known Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Kumar, who was killed in the operation, as saying: It looked as if someone desperately wanted the terrorists to attack Pathankot airbase. Otherwise, how could they fail to nab the terrorists when they knew their location, had so much of time and had so many military resources in the area to hunt them down? Whoever was involved, the transparent aim of the attack was to scuttle the resumption of bilateral talks between the two countries. Such elements are present in both countries and have repeatedly acted to stoke bilateral tensions. In India, Hindu supremacist groups associated with the BJP have organised provocations, including terrorist attacks, to whip up animosity against Indias Muslim minority and Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistani Islamist groups, long patronised by sections of the military-security apparatus, have launched terror attacks inside India. For its part, Sharifs government condemned the assault and is scrambling to save the talks in order to placate Washington and its domestic critics. After a top-level meeting involving Sharif, Army Chief Raheel Sharif, ISI head Rizwan Akhtar, other senior military officials and cabinet ministers, the prime ministers office expressed condemnation of this incident, and reiterated the countrys commitment to cooperate with India to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting our region. Last Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Sharif to highlight the need to stay the course for dialogue, the media reported. According to Sharifs office, Kerry said the India-Pakistan talks were needed in the interest of regional stability. Earlier State Department spokesman John Kirby had called on the two countries to continue their dialogue and address their mutual concerns about terrorism. To put pressure on Pakistan, more than 20 US Republican and Democratic legislators condemned the January 2 attack, expressed support for India, and urged Islamabad to act against those responsible. The BJP government is also seeking to exploit the incident for its own advantage against Pakistan in the conflict over Kashmir, as well as to advance its influence in Afghanistan. It is the US, however, that has been the main destabilising factor in the region by mounting its neo-colonial invasion of Afghanistan, extending the Afghan war to and across the Pakistani border, and promoting Indias regional ambitions militarily and politically. Iran has impounded two US Navy high-speed boats and their crewsten sailors in allthat were found yesterday a mile or more inside the countrys territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. Effectively admitting that the US vessels had violated Iranian sovereignty, an American official said the vessels had suffered mechanical failure. No other details were provided and no explanation was given as to how both boats could suffer mechanical failure. The vessels, which were purportedly travelling from Kuwait to Bahrain, were interdicted by the naval division of Irans Revolutionary Guards near Farsi Island, the site of a major Iranian naval base. According to the New York Times: The waters where the boats were sailing are a frequent location for intelligence collection by the United States, Iran and many Gulf countries. Both the Obama administration and Pentagon appeared to downplay the incident, saying that Tehran has agreed to return the American sailors forthwith. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who on learning of the seizure of the vessels immediately contacted his Iranian counterpart Javed Zarif, said Tuesday evening the US sailors would be released very soon. Appearing on CNN, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said: Everybody should be aware of the fact we have been in touch with the Iranians and they have assured us that our sailors are safe and that theyll be allowed to continue their journey promptly. According to press reports, the sailors will be transferred to a vessel from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft-carrier strike group in international waters Wednesday morning. The CBC reported an anonymous US Defense Department official as saying that it was deemed safer to carry out the exchange in daylight. Obamas Republican opponents were quick to seize on the incident to repeat their charge that Obama is appeasing Tehran and demand a renewed campaign of economic sanctions and military threats against Iran. They, along with a minority faction of the Democratic Party leadership, are bitterly opposed to the nuclear agreement the Obama administration, Russia, China and the major European Union powers reached with Iran last year. Under that agreement, Iran made sweeping concessions, dismantling much of its civil nuclear program and agreeing to the most intrusive-ever nuclear inspections regime, in exchange for the suspension of punishing US-led economic sanctions. Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz called the capture of the US sailors the latest manifestation of the weakness of Barack Obama. Jeb Bush tweeted: If our sailors arent coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obamas humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again. A third candidate for the Republican nomination, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, accused Obama of letting Iran get away with many things and said this would accelerate once the Iran nuclear deal came into force. Thats why as president on my first day in office I will repeal the nuclear deal. Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, one of the most outspoken opponents of the Iran deal, said Irans hostile action was exactly what I and so many others predicted. The nuclear deal would embolden their aggression. The reality is that the US has maintained a massive military flotilla off Irans Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea shores for decades. The nuclear agreement is a neo-colonial unequal treaty extorted from Iran through an economic blockade tantamount to war, a massive US military build-up and years of war threats. Yesterdays incident comes at a critical point in the implementation of the nuclear accord that was reached last July. Sometime next week, officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are expected to confirm that Tehran has dismantled or mothballed much of its civilian nuclear infrastructure and reduced by more than nine-tenths its stockpile of enriched uranium. On Monday, Iran reportedly completed the removal of the core of its heavy-water reactor in Arak and filled it with cement. Once the IAEA certifies that Iran has fulfilled its initial commitments under the nuclear accord, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Frederica Mogherini are to issue a joint statement declaring that implementation of the nuclear accord has begun, the trigger for beginning the roll back of the sanctions and the time-limited parts of the 15-year agreement. Iran has been the subject of bitter disputes within the US political and military-security establishments. The differences, however, are entirely of a tactical characterover how best to maintain US strategic dominance over the Middle East and assert global hegemony. Obama calculates that the nuclear deal gives US imperialism significant leverage over Iran, the better to seek to harness the Islamic Republics bourgeois ruling elite to serve its strategic interests in stabilizing the Middle East and ultimately moving against Russia and China. Since signing the nuclear accord a half-year ago, the Obama administration has continued to ratchet up military pressure on Iran. This has included backing the Saudi invasion of Yemen and stepping up its support for Islamist forces seeking to overthrow Syrias Bashar al-Assad-led Baathist regime, Irans only governmental ally in the region. And, even as the US is bound under the nuclear agreement to dismantle some economic sanctions against Iran, the White House is preparing to impose other sanctions over Irans ballistic missile program. At the same time, the Obama administration has suggested that if Tehran proves useful in arriving at a political settlement in Syria, i.e., in replacing the Assad regime with one more pliant to US interests, it would be willing to move forward to rapprochement with the Islamic Republic. This policy is opposed by other sections of the US ruling class and military-security apparatus. They believe anything but the immediate and total subjugation of Tehran to US strategic interests is unacceptable and fear the detrimental impact of closer ties with Iran on Washingtons traditional regional clients, particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia. In recent days, Saudi Arabia has stepped up its belligerence against Iran, beginning with the provocative January 2 execution of the dissident Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. It has been more than four years since the Obama administration announced its pivot or rebalance toward Asia, which amounted to a comprehensive strategy to militarily encircle China, undermine its economic influence in the region and compel Beijing to submit to Washingtons diktats. Since then, the US has steadily escalated military provocations in the South China Sea, sending warships and strategic bombers within close proximity of Chinese-claimed islets, while encouraging Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and other Asian states to pursue a confrontational approach toward Beijing. Within the Pentagon, there have recently been calls for US imperialism to expand this confrontation. It is not enough to challenge China, the worlds second largest economy, for dominance of the eastern Pacific or even for hegemony over the huge Eurasian landmass. Rather, this confrontation must be pursued globally, according to senior military officials, with particular attention given to growing Chinese influence in Latin America. This approach found expression in an article published in the most recent edition of Parameters, the journal of the US Army War College entitled Expanding the Rebalance: Confronting China in Latin America. The author, Col. Daniel Morgan, is described as a senior officer with extensive White House, inter-agency and international experience. The Army War College functions as a preparatory school for officers being groomed as the Pentagons next top commanders, while also serving as a kind of military think tank, dedicated to elaborating US imperialist strategy. Colonel Morgans article is presented as a warning that Chinas expansion into Latin America might well outflank the US rebalance in Asia. He writes: The rise of Chinese power in the Asia-Pacific region and in Latin America is a growing concern for US strategy. Recent US focus on the Middle East has facilitated Beijings political, economic and military expansion from the Pacific into South America. A new global economy has opened opportunities for growth and development with China and others in the Asia-Pacific. Some countries have responded with commitment to China in terms of economic trade and investment. In addition, governments such as Peru, Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua and Costa Rica have pledged international political support for Chinese interests, arms sales, and military training and education cooperation. These developments challenge US strategy as Chinese presence in both regions is arguably part of an intensifying competition between Beijing and the United States. This developing trans-Pacific interdependency between the two regions creates one integrated problem rather than two separate regional ones. Morgan warns that Chinese trade and investment in the region is creating economic interdependencies and undermining US influence and generating further political, social and economic tensions. Hard economic statistics make clear the source of US imperialisms concerns. In the space of little more than a decade, trade between China and Latin America increased more than 20-fold, from $12 billion in 2000 to $289 billion in 2013. China has become Latin Americas second-largest export market, after the US. It has already supplanted the US as the number one trading partner in Brazil, Chile, and Peru. Beijing has also emerged as a top creditor to the region, with loans to Argentina totaling $19 billion; Brazil, $22 billion; Venezuela, $56.3 billion; Ecuador, $10.8 billion; and Peru, $2.3 billion. In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to invest $250 billion in Latin America over the next decade. Meanwhile, the deceleration of the Chinese economy since 2013 has had a severe impact on a number of Latin American economies, driving down prices on commodities such as oil, copper, iron ore and soya, and fueling deepening political crises in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and other countries. Colonel Morgan condemns China for its no strings attached policy on trade, credit and investment, saying that it serves to strengthen anti-US governments like Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador... Tellingly, he writes, Chinese investment in Latin America impedes US access by providing governments with financing alternatives, and goes on to note that by 2010 Chinese loan commitments to the regions governments exceeded the combined total of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and US Import-Export Bank. In other words, the concern is that Chinese credit deprives Washington of a means of bringing Latin American governments to heel through financial strangulation. The article also presents increased Chinese military ties to Latin America as a threat to US interests, citing recent or pending arms deals with Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and other countries, together with official visits by military delegations as well as military officer education exchanges. PRC [Peoples Republic of China] military presence and influence in the region provides China with strategic options that can overtly or covertly support Chinese activities in the Asia-Pacific, the article states. The United States cannot underestimate the threat posed by Beijings military presence in the Western Hemisphere. An earlier article written by War College professor R. Evan Ellis, entitled The strategic relevance of Latin America for the United States, poses the question even more starkly: To view the matter through a military analogy, Latin America is the unoccupied high-ground overseeing the US position. A responsible commander would recognize that the occupation of that high ground by an adversary poses an unacceptable threat to his force, and thus would dedicate resources to block the adversary from doing so. By this analogy, it would be a grave error for the United States to conclude that, in the absence of serious threats to the United States from Latin America, it is okay to merely watch as potential future adversaries such as Russia and China expand their positions in the region. While such neglect, in the short term, may free up resources to continue other engagements abroad, over the long term, willing cessation of its own neighborhood by the U.S. is the single factor most likely to force the United States into a chaotic retreat from its external engagements. Ellis argues that the Pentagon must stop viewing Latin America through the prism of drugs, organized crime, and border issues, and instead approach it from the standpoint of imperialist strategy and the necessity of eliminating the potential for a powerful extra-hemispheric actor to use the region to harm the United States or impair its ability to act in other parts of the world in the event of a future conflict. A little over two years ago, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared at a meeting of the Organization of American States that The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over, referring to the nearly 200-year-old canon of US foreign policy that endowed Washington with right to use force in preventing outside powers from establishing a foothold in the Western Hemisphere. Initially invoked as a US policy of opposing any attempt by European empires to re-colonize newly independent countries in Latin America, it was turned into a declaration of a US sphere of influence and became the rationale for some 50 direct US military interventions in the region along with the fomenting of CIA-backed coups that imposed fascist-military dictatorships over much of the region in the second half of the 20th century. The line being developed at the Army War College indicates that, as far as the Pentagon is concerned, the Monroe Doctrine needs to be dusted off and re-employed as part of the justification for the explosive growth of US militarism directed against China and at asserting US imperialisms hegemony over all of the worlds strategic markets and resources. The warning is clear: Latin America will not be exempted from the drive toward a third world war that has been generated by the insoluble and deepening crisis of US and global capitalism. The World Socialist Web Site salutes the fight by Detroit teachers against the deplorable conditions in their schools and urges workers throughout the US and internationally to support their stand in defense of public education. On Monday, hundreds of teachers took part in a coordinated sickout that closed two-thirds of the districts 97 schools. On Tuesday, 24 schools were closed. The job actions have been organized independently of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), which has long collaborated in the bipartisan attack on teachers and the public schools. The WSWS condemns the attacks by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and his state-appointed emergency manager, Darnell Earley, who are hypocritically denouncing the teachers and accusing them of abandoning their students. The enemies of school children are not their teachers, but the Republican governor and his Democratic hatchet-man, who are looting school funds and teacher pensions and handing the money over to wealthy bondholders and privately owned, profit-driven charter school firms. The movement in Detroit has been largely organized by rank-and-file teachers associated with the Facebook page DPS teachers fight back, which stresses that it is not associated with any faction of the DFT or its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers. Describing itself as a union within a union, the insurgent movement of teachers is giving voice to the growing militancy and mood of resistance that is spreading among workers throughout the US and around the world. It is no accident that social opposition is taking the form of a rebellion against the existing trade unions, which have long served as industrial police for the corporations and government. Their suppression of strikes, which last year fell to the second lowest level on record since 1947, has allowed the corporate-financial elite to wage a one-sided war against the working class, resulting in the greatest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top of the society in American history. The teachers have entered into struggle only weeks after tens of thousands of workers at Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and Ford clashed with the United Auto Workers union, leading at Fiat Chrysler to the first rank-and-file rejection of a national UAW contract since 1982. Millions of other workers in the airline, steel and telecommunications industries, and public-sector workers, including teachers, state employees and US Postal Service workers, are eager to do battle after more than a decade of falling real wages and sharp cuts in health and pension benefits. President Obama is planning to visit the Detroit Auto Show next week to hail the supposed revival of the former Motor City, which he, along with the rest of the political and media establishment, equates with record profits for the Detroit-based auto companies and the gentrification of parts of the citys downtown. This has been paid for by the slashing of autoworkers wages and benefits under the Obama administrations 2009 forced bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, the gutting of city workers pensions and health benefits, and the privatization of public assets carried out in violation of the state constitution in the 2013-2014 Detroit bankruptcy. This theft of workers income could not have been accomplished without the support of the DFT, the UAW and the other unions. Meanwhile, autoworkers cannot afford to buy the cars they build and hundreds of thousands of city residents live in utter destitution. While the $400-a-ticket charity gala at the auto show this Friday will be the occasion for the wealthy glitterati to show off the latest fashions, furs and jewelry, just blocks away, the citys children are packed into classrooms with 45-50 students in ice-cold, rat- and roach-infested school buildings that have leaking roofs and black mold. Sixty miles away, the residents of Flint, Michigan, a devastated and deindustrialized former center of GM production, have had their water supply poisoned by lead due to the criminal actions of the citys former emergency manager, Darnell Earley, the very same bankers puppet chosen by Governor Snyder to exercise dictatorial powers over the Detroit schools. Detroit is a symbol of the failure of American capitalism, a system that subordinates the basic necessities of life to the profit drive of the corporations and banks. In the first half of the last century, autoworkers in Flint, Detroit and around the country wrenched major concessions from the corporations as a result of mass struggles carried out in the face of violent repression by the auto bosses and the state. The ruling class never forgave the workers, and by the late 1970s, with the international decline of US industry accelerating, the corporate and financial elite initiated a war against the working class. Detroit, which had the highest per capita income in the US in the 1960s and one of the nations best school systems, was ravaged by plant closings, mass layoffs and the decimation of social services. It was transformed into the poorest big city in America. Far from opposing this, the UAW, the DFT and the other unions functioned as junior partners in the attack on the working class. The Detroit schools have been under emergency management for nearly a decade. In 2011, Obamas education secretary, Arne Duncan, called the city ground zero for educational reform across the country. In the mouths of politicians and media commentators, reform is a code word for the dismantling of public education and its transformation into a for-profit, private business openly organized along class lines, with working class youth condemned to dilapidated holding pens where education is made impossible. The Obama administration has fully backed the efforts by Governor Snyder and local Democrats to punish teachers for the educational problems in a district where more than half of the school children live in households below the poverty line, which face the constant reality of hunger, and electricity and water shutoffs. Confronted with these horrific conditions every day and the indifference and hostility of the political establishment, including the unions, teachers have concluded that they have no choice but to fight. In an open letter to parents, a veteran Detroit special education teacher apologized not for the sickout, but for not standing up sooner, writing: I, the teacher you trusted, had power to start a revolution and fight for you, and I didn't fight back. Tonight, I am going to make you a promise that I won't sit quiet any longer. Education is at the center of the fight for social equality. The American ruling class, drunk with profits and hell-bent on stealing everything that is not nailed down, has repudiated the democratic principle that all children, regardless of their socio-economic background, have the right to a high-quality education. While handing trillions to the financial crooks who crashed the economy in 2008, and squandering trillions more in ever-expanding wars, the Obama administration has cut Title I funds earmarked for impoverished districts like Detroit by 11 percent and reduced special education funding by 9 percent. The struggle to defend public education poses the question of who controls societys wealth and decides how it is distributed. Under capitalism, the wealth produced by the collective labor of working people is monopolized by the super-rich, which controls the entire political system and both the Democratic and Republican parties. That is why the fight for education, along with every other social rightto a good paying job, health care, a comfortable retirement, a future for youth free from poverty, war and police brutalityrequires the development of a mass political movement of the working class to put an end to capitalism and institute common ownership of the productive forces and social equality under socialism. The final State of the Union speech delivered Tuesday night by President Barack Obama was a demonstration of the incapacity of the American political system to deal honestly or seriously with a single social question. Obama evaded the real issues that affect tens of millions of working people in America every day of their lives. He painted a ludicrous picture of economic recovery and social progress that insulted the intelligence of his television audienceand went unchallenged by the millionaire politicians assembled in the chamber of the House of Representatives. Summing up what he called the progress of these past seven years, Obama gave first place to how we recovered from the worst economic crisis in generations. The so-called recovery has been a bonanza for corporate profits, stock prices, and the wealth and income of the super-rich. For the working people who are the vast majority of the population, it has been a disaster. By most social indices, the American people are worse off in January 2016 than when Obama took office seven years ago. The real wages of working people have fallen, social services have deteriorated, pension benefits have been gutted, and cities such as Detroit and San Bernardino have been forced into bankruptcy. According to a report by the National Association of Counties issued on the eve of the State of the Union address, of the 3,069 counties in the United States, 93 percent are worse off than before the 2008 financial crash according to at least one of four economic indicators: total employment, the unemployment rate, the size of the economy and home values. In 27 states, not a single county has recovered fully from the 2008 crash and the deep economic slump that followed. These include such major states as Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Obama, however, painted a picture of nearly unblemished economic advance, declaring, The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. He boasted, Were in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the 90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. The president did not acknowledge that the post-2008 recovery is the weakest on record, that the vast majority of the new jobs created have been low-wage and many of them part-time, or that the drop in the unemployment rate is primarily due to the withdrawal of millions of people from the work force because they lost all hope of getting a decent-paying job. He went on, tellingly, to cite the auto industry as a symbol of success, declaring that it just had its best year ever. This perfectly expresses the utter blindness, not just of Obama, but of the entire political establishment. The best year ever was for General Motors, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler, which enjoyed record profits, not for the auto workers who produced those profits. Real wages for auto workers have dropped sharply since the Obama White House forced through a 50 percent cut in wages for all new hires as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of the industry in 2009. Mass discontent among auto workers was expressed at the end of 2015 in the rejection of contracts at Fiat-Chrysler and Nexteer, a major supplier, and in widespread demands for strike action, smothered by Obamas stooges in the United Auto Workers union. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction, Obama concluded. The social position of the American working class has, in fact, suffered a dramatic decline, through the combined efforts of the corporate bosses, the unions and the two capitalist parties, the Democrats and Republicans. The president conceded that economic inequality has grown in the United States, but he described it as the outcome of long-term trends such as globalization and automation, as though the policies of his administrationbailouts for Wall Street, budget cuts and wage cuts for workershad nothing to do with it. In the seven years since the financial crash, brought on, as he admitted, by recklessness on Wall Street, not a single banker or speculator has been prosecuted or jailed. On the contrary, the billionaires have greatly increased their wealth, gobbling up 95 percent of all new income since Obama entered the White House. Obama listed a few other policy successes, claiming that we reformed our health care system, and reinvented our energy sector we delivered more care and benefits to our troops and veterans. He was referring, however, to a series of social disasters: the reactionary attack on health benefits for workers and their families known as Obamacare; the devastation of Appalachia and other energy-producing regions; and the abuse of ex-soldiers, wounded in body and mind, by the Veterans Administration. Obama sought to defend the foreign policy record of his administration from criticism, mainly from the Republican right, where demands are being raised for military escalation in the Middle East and stepped-up attacks on democratic rights at home in the name of fighting terrorism. While he claimed to reject an American role as the worlds policeman, he nonetheless boasted, The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. He continued, Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world, winning the bipartisan standing ovation that always accompanies any mention of American soldiers engaged in combat overseas. Obama indulged in the glorification of killing that has become an essential part of the degraded spectacle that passes for political discourse in America. Describing the US war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, he claimed, With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. He called on Congress to pass an Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS, but vowed to wage war with or without legislative approval. The leaders of ISIS, he proclaimed, will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt Americas commitmentor mineto see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year Then he declared, in language that will be noted by nations all over the world, that when it comes to waging war against potential adversaries, our reach has no limit. Obama concluded his speech with an appeal to his Republican opponents to work with his administration and pull back from the extreme anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has characterized the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. In a clear reference to Donald Trump, he argued that we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This is not a matter of political correctness, but understanding what makes us strong. Obama was making an argument, not so much that racism and bigotry are intrinsically wrong, but that they make it more difficult for American imperialism to maintain its dominant world role. When a politician insults Muslims, he said, it makes it harder to achieve our goals. Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot dead two policemen in Yemen's southern city of Aden, a security official said, in the second such attack in as many days. The assailants opened fire at the traffic policemen at a roundabout in the country's second city before escaping on a motorbike, the official told AFP. There has been a string of killings by militants in Aden targeting members of the security forces and the government, which has set up its temporary base there. Al-Qaeda and the rival Islamic State group (ISIS) both have a foothold in the city, where jihadists occupy government buildings and patrol several districts. On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen killed a police lieutenant colonel from the airport's investigation unit as he left his home. Aden was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and rebels who seized the capital in September 2014 before expanding southwards. Loyalists backed by a Saudi-led coalition have wrested back control of Aden and four other southern provinces since July, but the rebels still hold Sanaa and have besieged the third city of Taez for months. Search Keywords: Short link: The bombing of a heavily trafficked tourist area in Istanbuls district of Sultanahmet killed at least 10 and wounded 15 more, after a 27-year-old bomber detonated a suicide vest near a group of tourists preparing to enter the Blue Mosque on Tuesday. The Turkish government has declared a general ban on media coverage of the incident and the response of the security apparatus. This marks the fourth time the government has imposed a general ban of news coverage of a political crisis in the past year. It is necessary to prevent the public order from being seriously undermined, the Turkish authorities said. The attack has provoked a familiar outburst of threats and moralizing from the Turkish and NATO elites. I strongly condemn the terror incident that occurred in Istanbul, at the Sultanahmet Square, and which has been assessed as being an attack by a Syria-rooted suicide bomber," Erdogan said Tuesday in response to the incident. German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the attack in remarks from Berlin, declaring that the terrorists are enemies of all free peopleindeed, they are enemies of all humanity. We are in close solidarity with the people of Turkey. I mourn for our compatriots, Merkel said. Germanys foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier chimed in with condemnations of the barbaric, cowardly act of terrorism, assuring Germans allies in Ankara that for us, these are very difficult hours of sadness and horror. The feigned sympathy of the top German officials is an expression of moves by German imperialism to forge closer relations with the Turkish elite, as Berlin accelerates its drive to carve out neocolonial spheres of influence in Syria, Iraq and further afield. The Obama administration has issued its own denunciations of the attack, and likewise signaled that the bloodshed will serve as the pretext for further US military involvement in Turkey. We stand together with Turkey, a NATO ally, a strong partner and a valued member of the Counter-ISIL coalition, in the face of this attack and pledge our ongoing cooperation and support in the fight against terrorism, US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said The hypocrisy of the German and Turkish governments denunciations of terrorism and ISIS is surpassed only by those of the US. The US, Turkey, and the NATO powers have all worked systematically to mobilize and arm leading terror groups waging war in Syria, along with their various affiliates and sub-franchises. Southeastern Turkey and the border area are now among the most heavily militarized and surveilled areas on the planet. Turkey has closed the border against refugees from the Syrian war, and the Turkish government has carried out continuous mass detentions and arrests along the border in the past six months. Despite this, ISIS has been able to transfer fighters, weapons, along with smuggling refugees for profit. The flow of ISIS weapons, fighters, human trafficking and commodities has continued. ISIS cells have continued to launch successful attacks within Turkey, with bombings rocking Turkeys cities and towns at regular intervals. Suicide attacks in July killed more than 30 peace activists en route to Kobani. Two suicide bombings in October targeted the capital of Ankaras main train station, killing a total of some 130 people, and an artillery attack struck one of Istanbuls main airports in December. ISIS has run a sophisticated cross-border people-smuggling operation along the Turkish-Syrian border, passenger lists compiled by ISIS immigration department that were seized by Kurdish forces and made available to the Guardian show. Evidence has already emerged making clear that the Turkish ruling elite is collaborating with ISIS in various money-making schemes, including by importing large quantities of oil produced under ISIS control. ISIS was reaping as much as $8-10 million per month in sales, and took in more than $40 million during a one-month period in early 2015, according to unnamed US officials cited by NBC News. ISIS oil exports to Turkey have flowed directly across the border in massive truck convoys, at times including hundreds of vehicles. ISIS commanders operating along the border enjoy full cooperation from the Turkish military, statements by a former ISIS member cited by Newsweek in November show. A lot of people now are invested in the business of extremism in Turkey, a US ex-Treasury Department terrorism official told Business Insider in November. Turkish officials have repeatedly hosted ISIS representatives at compounds owned by Turkish intelligence, as part of efforts to mobilize Al Nusra fighting groups against the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and affiliated Kurdish forces in northern Syria, according to reports in Turkish media. ISIS casualties are frequently evacuated across the border, and allowed to receive treatment at hospitals in Turkey, according to residents of the border area. Attacks such as Tuesdays suicide bombing are not the product of terrorist forces that are external to the power structure within Turkey, and more broadly, to the US and NATO imperialist powers. They are essentially state-sponsored and state-instigated events, carried out by forces that have been armed, trained and supported by Ankara and the Western powers for years. Turkeys assistance to the Islamic State goes beyond providing open borders for ISIS militants, Khairuldeen Al Makhzoomi, from the Near Eastern Department of the University of California, Berkeley, writes, noting that ISIS is now reaping as much as $2 million per day in oil revenues from smuggling operations. Every new terror attack provides an additional pretext for the war policies sought by the Turkish state. Like its allies in Washington, Ankara is determined to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and install a new leadership to serve the interests of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and their US and Western backers. Ankara is also determined to escalate its military operations against the Kurdish minorities both within Turkey and in northern Iraq, where hundreds of Turkish troops have taken up positions in recent months, in defiance of repeated demands by Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi for their withdrawal. In his remarks on Tuesday, Erdogan once again signaled his commitment to continued Turkish military operations in northern Iraq, saying that the latest bombing in Istanbul proved the necessity for Turkish troops to combat ISIS in Iraq. The United States and its allies staged two dozen strikes against Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, the military coalition leading the operations said in a statement. Sixteen strikes in Iraq were concentrated in Mosul, Ramadi and Kisik, where they hit four of the militant group's tactical units and destroyed four of its bunkers, among other damage, the coalition said in the statement, released on Wednesday. In Syria, eight strikes near five cities destroyed an ISIS excavator and oil booster pump generator as well as fighting positions, vehicles and other targets, the Combined Joint Task Force said. Search Keywords: Short link: PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) A Florida Panhandle man has pleaded no contest to a fatal drunken driving crash. The Panama City News Herald reports that 20-year-old Brent Alexander Taylor entered the DUI manslaughter plea last week without a deal in place. A judge can sentence Taylor up to 15 years in prison at a Feb. 4 hearing. The Florida Highway Patrol reports that Taylor's SUV hit a parked motorcyclist, 33-year-old James Thorndyke, in December 2014 and continued about 1,000 feet up the road before pulling over. Taylor later told troopers he didn't realize he had hit anything. The trooper reported smelling alcohol on Taylor, who failed a series of field sobriety tests. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Hundreds gathered outside the historic Florida Capitol building this morning to join Reverend Franklin Graham in a prayer for America. Rev. Graham, the son of Evangelist Billy Graham, is currently on a national tour called "Decision America". He's stopping in all 50 states with the purpose of encouraging Christians to pray for the country and to register to vote in this year's elections. Tallahassee is the Reverend's second stop on the tour after kicking things off in Iowa. Some people drove several hours early Tuesday to make sure they were a part of the event. Reverend Graham said his appearance was not political - despite speaking on the first day of the Florida legislative session. He said he trusts neither the republican nor democratic parties to lead the country -- in terms of Biblical principles. People joined hands and prayed silently for the country, its leaders, and the elections this year. Jordyn Kruzel, a Christian from Sarasota, says he is thankful Rev. Graham came to Florida. "He's so involved with what he does, coming down to Florida," said Kruzel. "It's a huge place to speak. I strongly agree with what he wants to say and how he wants to help other people and preach about his messages. It's wonderful." While much of the crowd was there to support Rev. Graham, a few were there with a different message. A group called Tallahassee Atheists brought signs to the prayer rally. Austin Aycock, the group's leader, says Christians approached them respectfully while they demonstrated, but argues that the Reverend's position on certain issues are discriminatory. "While this is a small number compared to the massive numbers of the Franklin Graham rally, I do think it's important and good to plant a little seed of opposition," explained Aycock. The rally lasted for about an hour. Rev. Graham says his father Billy, who's now 97-years old, sent his prayers and support as well. Rev. Graham called the turnout in Tallahassee "tremendous" but said it also shows the "level of frustration" people have about the direction the country is going. He is already on his way to the next stop of his tour in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party called off plans for a controversial early primary election Wednesday and declared him the winner after no other candidates entered the race for party leader. The early primary vote was to be held February 23, less than a year after general elections in March 2015 in what analysts said was a bid by Netanyahu to clear out any potential rivals. The premier had pushed for the early primary vote. Since he was the only candidate, there were calls to cancel the primary for the rightwing party's 100,000 members, estimated to cost some four million shekels ($1 million, 935,000 euros), and declare Netanyahu the winner. There were reports that Netanyahu preferred to push ahead with the election so his legitimacy as party leader could not be challenged ahead of the next general elections, due in 2019 at the latest. "In these conditions, the election is no longer necessary and Likud leadership has declared the winner as Benjamin Netanyahu," a Likud spokesman told AFP, adding he would be the party's candidate for premier in the next general elections. In arguing for the early primary, Netanyahu has previously said the party must be prepared for all possibilities, with the prime minister heading a coalition with only a one-seat majority in parliament. But some analysts said it fit into a longer-term strategy of keeping rivals at bay and possibly luring others who have left the party back into the fold to broaden the Likud. Netanyahu has been in the prime minister's office for a total of nearly a decade -- fast approaching revered founding father David Ben-Gurion's 13 years. Search Keywords: Short link: A Jewish teacher who was stabbed by a 15-year-old in the southern French city of Marseille believes the teen, an ethnic Kurd, wanted to decapitate him, his lawyer said Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The teenager, who told police he was acting in the name of the Islamic State group, stabbed the 35-year-old teacher in the shoulder and hand in the attack, which took place in broad daylight on Monday. The teacher's lawyer, Fabrice Labi, said his client had told him: "I had the feeling he wanted to decapitate me." The victim Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said the weapon was blunt, which helped limit the damage. The teacher was released from hospital on Monday night. "I told him to stop hitting me but he kept going and I didn't think I would get out alive,", the teacher told La Provence newspaper, adding he had seen "hatred... in the eyes of the attacker." The teacher was wearing a skull cap and used his Torah as a shield to fend off the assailant. It was the third attack on Jewish persons in recent months in the southern French port city, which has the second largest population of Jews in France after the capital Paris. Three Jews were assaulted in October, one with a knife near a synagogue by a drunken assailant. In November, another Jewish teacher was stabbed by people shouting anti-Semitic obscenities and support for the Islamic State group. France's Jewish community has grown used to living under the surveillance of armed soldiers around synagogues and schools since being targeted in a jihadist attack in Paris last January. This weekend, the country marked a year since the attacks which left 17 people dead, including four people gunned down in a Jewish supermarket. According to French government statistics, anti-Semitic acts have soared in recent years, with the number reported between January and May 2015 increasing 84 percent compared with the same period in 2014. The growing insecurity has seen an increase in emigration to Israel, with record departures in 2015 of 7,900 people. "Honestly, I don't know how I will get over this terrible attack," said the teacher, adding he would have to think about no longer wearing his skull cap in public. The prosecutor Robin said the teenager, who will turn 16 in the coming days, "has the profile of someone who was radicalized on the Internet". "He claimed to have been acting for Daesh," he added, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. "You get the sense that he does not have a full grasp of the fundamentals of Islam," he added. The boy even admitted to investigators that he planned to arm himself and kill police as soon as he is released. The prosecutor said the attacker was a "good student" whose family had been unaware of his radicalization. The Israel Air Force attacked a terror cell in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, in a joint operation with the Shin Bet. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Members of the terror cell were planting explosives on the border fence, which they were planning on setting off near an IDF patrol. The Palestinians reported one killed, 31-year-old Musa Za'aytar, and three others wounded in the attack, their condition currently unknown. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group, later identified the deceased as a member, saying he was targeted while planting explosives. IDF troops on the Gaza border (Photo: Roee Idan) In a separate statement, Salah Bardawil, an official from Gaza's ruling Islamic Hamas movement, said Israel was "playing with fire" in the airstrike. He did not elaborate. "Forces guarding the border with Gaza face a growing threat from hostile terror groups attempting to destabilize the situation on the ground," said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. Initially, Israeli farmers were instructed not to come closer than one kilometer rom the border fence in light of the possibility of retaliation from the Strip, but the instruction was later lifted. The airstrike marked a rare flare-up along the Gaza border, which has remained largely calm since a devastating 50-day summer war in 2014. Some clashes have erupted along the border in recent months but most of the confrontations and violence has taken place in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Last month, Israeli security forces stopped another wide-scale attack against IDF troops operating along the Gaza border. A patrol of IDF engineering forces found that an area along the border fence mined with powerful explosives while examining remains of a roadside bomb that detonated two days earlier. The explosives did not go off, but some were connected to remote-controlled detonators. Ten US Navy sailors who were taken into custody by Iran on Tuesday after their two small boats drifted into Iranian waters were released on Wednesday morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had freed the sailors after determining they had entered Iranian territorial waters by mistake. "Our technical investigations showed the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently," the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television. "They were released in international waters after they apologised," it added. Confirming the sailors' safe release, the Pentagon said there were no indications they were harmed while in Iranian custody. US Navy riverine gun-boat (Photo: Reuters) A carefully worded statement did not explain how the sailors and their two riverine command boats ended up being detained by Iran, saying only that "the Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran." The sailors were later taken ashore by US Navy aircraft, while other sailors took charge of the boats and headed towards Bahrain, their original destination. IRGC Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi had earlier said that the two US Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters due to a broken navigation system. The Navy chief of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday that the American boats showed "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country's territorial waters. Gen. Ali Fadavi said the detainees, nine men and one woman, were held overnight at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. US officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island in the middle of the Gulf. They said some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island, and they were picked up by Iran. The incident raised tensions between Iran and the United States, which, along with other world powers, reached a deal last year under which Iran will curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as US officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Secretary of State John Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior US official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said. Officials said the sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the US Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the US lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman. Officials said a radio signal from one of the boats showed that they were on Farsi Island, setting off efforts to contact the Iranians. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission as they traveled between Kuwait and Bahrain, officials said. The Riverine boats are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to the crafts. The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near US warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran was expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the UN nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities detained three Russian nationals suspected of links with Islamic State following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 10 tourists, media reports said on Wednesday. A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed nine German and one Peruvian tourists on Tuesday in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist draw, in an attack Turkey blamed on Islamic State. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack. Russia's Consulate General in the Mediterranean city of Antalya said three Russians had been detained over suspected connection to Islamic State, Russian state news agency RIA said. Police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, Turkey's Dogan News Agency said. It was not immediately clear when the detentions occurred. WASHINGTON - The Republican-led Congress and President Barack Obama's administration, often at odds over Iran policy, are urging the US Supreme Court to let the families of Americans killed in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks collect nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian funds. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in an appeal by the Iranian central bank, Bank Markazi, to reverse a 2014 lower-court ruling that said the money should be handed over to plaintiffs representing hundreds of Americans killed or injured in attacks blamed on Iran. They won a $2.65 billion judgment against Iran in US federal court in 2007. At issue before the justices is whether Congress violated the separation of powers principle enshrined in the US Constitution by passing a 2012 law that specified the funds held in the trust account go toward paying off the judgment. Bank Markazi contends the legislative branch of the US government improperly sought to dictate the outcome of a specific case handled by the judiciary branch. Three years after the launch of an ultra-Orthodox campaign of incitement against Haredim who serve in the IDF, the police arrested three suspects on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Dozens of Haredim protested the arrests outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Wednesday morning. Protesters were holding up signs calling for an "end to the persecution of religion" and demanding to release the suspects. Several protesters were detained. Haredim protest the arrests in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Two Haredi men were arrested in Bnei Brak and a third was arrested in Modi'in Illit. The offenses they are suspected of are violation of privacy and insulting a public official. The court extended the remand of two of the suspects by five days. Police investigation found that the suspects allegedly produced booklets and put up pashkvils (wall poster or broadside in ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhoods often containing polemic text), with photos of Haredi soldiers serving in the IDF, as well as their names, ID numbers, phone numbers, addresses, marital status and religious affiliations. The booklets and pashkavils also included the IDF role of these soldiers, and other details from their army profile. Some of the pashkavil posters included caricatures of Haredi soldiers as pigs, and warned the public against those they called "chardakim" ("charak" is a Hebrew acronym that stands for Haredim who are frivolous and scoff at halacha) who "hunt the souls" (woking to recruit) of others. One of the pashkavils The posters described one soldier as a "common shababnik, bitter, and unsatisfied" ("shababnik" is slang in ultra-Orthodox culture in Israel for a Haredi deprived youth or a yeshiva dropout), another was a "frivolous youth" who is drawn to "trading in souls," a third's "hatred for Torah scholars is driving him insane." Another is described as "a young punk" who is searching for meaning in "the military missionary system," while yet another is a "hedonist on a spiritual decline." Many of the soldiers and officers whose personal details were included in these pashkavils and booklets received phone calls and e-mails which included insults, curse words and threats. Officials involved in the investigation said the police received the names of four suspects, alongside evidence allegedly linking them to the campaign - but not all of them have been arrested yet. Police said the investigation was still ongoing and that further arrests were possible. There have been several violent assaults against IDF soldiers in uniform at Haredi neighborhoods over the past few years. Several months ago, a Givati officer was attacked in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood when he went there to visit two of his soldiers. An ultra-Orthodox IDF officer recently filed a complaint to the police against those behind the incitement campaign. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom will not be welcome in Israel following her call for investigations into the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces and other critical comments, a top Israeli official said Wednesday. Israel's fiery deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, harshly criticised Wallstrom, calling her comments "a mix of blindness and political stupidity". "Israel has decided to close its doors to official Swedish visits," she said in comments broadcast on Israeli public radio. A foreign ministry spokesman later walked back her comments, saying they referred only to Wallstrom and not other Swedish officials. An adviser to Hotovely told AFP that diplomatic relations with Sweden would continue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also serves as Israel's foreign minister. As the controversy erupted, a Swedish delegation including one of the country's deputy parliament speakers, Esabelle Dingizian, was visiting Israel. Wallstrom made the comments on Tuesday while responding to a question in parliament on a controversy raised in December by her statement on the need for Israel to avoid "extrajudicial executions". In Israeli use of force against Palestinian protests, 150 Palestinians have been killed since October. On the Israeli side, 23 Israeli have been killed. Israel firmly rejects accusations that it has used excessive force. Ties between Israel and Sweden plummeted after Stockholm recognised the Palestinian state shortly after Wallstrom's centre-left Social Democrats won a parliamentary election in 2014. A day after the Paris attacks in November claimed by ISIS group, Wallstrom again attracted Israeli condemnation when she said the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a factor in radicalisation. An adviser to Hotovely told AFP on Wednesday that Wallstrom would have no reason to visit Israel in any case because "with that sort of position we really don't have anything to talk about." "What (Hotovely) was really saying is that it can't be that a foreign minister that wants to be an interlocutor... would take such an absurd and unacceptable position," said Uri Resnick, adding that Wallstrom was "blaming the victim". *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: A Swedish delegation has arrived in the country earlier this week to learn from Israel's experience in dealing with security challenges. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Meanwhile, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom on Tuesday called for an investigaton into what she referred to as Israel's "extrajudicial killings" of terrorists who carry out attacks. The delegation of former senior experts in Swedens defense establishment along with former executives in the private sector (for example, the CEO of Ericsson) arrived in Israel on Sunday. It was sent by the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, an independent body that advises the king of Sweden and the Swedish government. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom (Photo: EPA) The Royal Swedish Academy seeks to prepare Sweden for future security challenges and catastrophes, and chose to visit Israel given its positive impression of the methods Israel has developed to deal with both current and future challenges. The delegation, as well as other representatives from the Swedish business sector, come to Israel to develop professional relationships regardless of the Swedish government's policy on Israel. Automaker Volvo, for example, invited Israeli companies to Sweden a few months ago following a successful visit to Israel. The Swedish delegation has toured the country and met with security officials, Knesset members, Foreign Ministry officials and others. Members of the delegation met with MK Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid) and MK Erel Margalit (Zionist Union), among others. They toured the Gaza border area and visited an Iron Dome battery. In addition, they were also scheduled to be briefed by Benny Dagan, head of the Center for Policy Research at Israel's Foreign Ministry, and meet with senior IDF officers during a tour of the Golan Heights. The vice chairman of the Swedish Parliament has also visited Israel this week, while a delegation from the Swedish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to arrive next month. So despite the frequent criticism against Israel coming from Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and his foreign minister, the refugee crisis in Sweden and the country's concern of terror attacks appear to be creating great interest in Israel and its experience in the field. While the knife-wielders are still running amok, the government has decided to increase the quota of Arab workers from the West Bank. An act of trust in a sea of skepticism and suspicion. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A few days earlier, in a defining speech, Abbas emphatically stated that he has no intention of dismantling the Palestinian Authority, which he considers an important achievement of his people. This peace camp was thus stripped of one of its weapons the threat that Abbas will return the keys and put on Israel the onerous responsibility of managing the lives of millions of people. Not everyone shares the concerns and the fears of taking back complete control over the West Bank. In any case, Abbas proclaimed that he would not dismantle the Palestinian Authority in order to end the occupation, as the Left had threatened, and thereby injected life into the status quo, the bete noir of the peace camp. Even the opportunity to eliminate the status quo through negotiations was given a fatal beating when Abbas toppled the pillar of all withdrawal plans, the "settlement blocs," by declaring that every Jew would have to leave from the blocs as well, as they did from the Gaza Strip. Palestinian youth running with knife at a checkpoint in Jenin (Photo: Border Authority) Now, anyone who deluded himself to think that the peace would require the displacement of only 100,000 people (at a cost of $150 billion, 10 times the price of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip), will have to recalculate based on displacing more than 400,000 people. The cost reached would break the Israel's back. Abbas still needs the Palestinian Authority as scaffolding until the construction of the state of Palestine is completed by the United Nations and world powers rather than as a product of an agreement with Israel. However, the world is busy with its own affairs, and will not make itself available to impose a "solution" for Israel unitl the conflict is put back onto the headlines in the form of an intifada controlled, measured and popular. Like Jabotinsky, Ramallah also believes that silence is filth. The status quo and coexistence are pricks in their eyes, and they therefore called for a boycott. But the Arab crowds continue to flock to the Malha shopping mall and Rami Levy supermarket, and tens of thousands make their living inside the Green Line and in the settlements. Israeli Arabs are continuing to integrate into the professional domains of the Jews - from medicine to hi-tech - and in Jerusalem, the phenomenon is permeating to the Arabs of '67, and its a short distance from there to the West Bank. Against this, the knives were drawn, and the Israeli government - which fosters coexistence in spite of everything is acting wisely. Will the status quo survive the new intifada? If it drags on or deteriorates to the use of firearms, there is no chance. At the end of such an intifada we will find ourselves in a new situation, which can be described thusly: More than 400,000 settlers will no longer agree to be subject to the military government and its laws, which were designed for the occupied population that has already freed itself from them. They will also refuse to live in a situation of a construction freeze, while the Arabs are in a building frenzy, with the help of the Israeli government, among others. The Palestinian Authority will be dismantled, and in any case no longer ruled by Fatah and the PLO. In the interim, its possible that the military government, which was not cancelled by the Oslo accords, will return, and residents will be offered a generous autonomy under the management of local authorities. This autonomy will have to undergo a cleaning the disinfection of an education system filled with anti-Jewish teachers and teaching materials, its Treasury will be purged of corruption and theft, and finally, drainage systems will be built along with sewage systems, roads and crossings, the lack of which has stifled the Jewish settlements. This intifada may eliminate the status quo, but it won't stop coexistence. Just like Jewish settlements, it is already part of life here. There are soldiers, now and in the past, who would be willing to swear that they saw Palestinian territory residents holding large, symbolic, wooden keys during protests. These were held by children who weren't born yet during the days of the second intifada, and who only herd of the first intifada from their grandparents' stories. The stories of the key from the house on Bustros Street in Jaffa sound to them like our stories about Matityahu HaChashmonai (of the Hanukkah story -ed) or Ahasuerus (of the Purim story ed) and their like. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter What am I trying to say here? That the private and collective memory is probably not comprised of what is collected in a person's grey matter, but of what's jammed into people's heads day and night. Benjamin Netanyahu imported this way of thinking from the US, and some of his people learned the art as well. They repeat the same words and phrases again and again, until they penetrate the heads of their potential voters. And they don't underestimate the small stuff either. Those who make fun of these tricks is unlikely to go with their political camp anyway. Trump. He may just have the last laugh. (Photo: AP) In today's world, someone like Donald Trump could actually get elected president of the United States. The other side of the political isle will still tell jokes about him, but he may just get the last laugh. The reason for that is that many voters don't care about ideologies, policy, and positions anymore. They determine their vote, for example in the US, by the atmosphere around them, the national and personal mood, and the candidates' slogans. We like acting as the Americans do, and ideologies have fallen out of favor here as well. We, like the Palestinians, pass our memories on to the next generations, mostly by way of small-scale stories rather than the large-scale agendas of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Berl Katznelson, and David Ben-Gurion. Did Jabotinsky really say that a Jewish Prime Minister in Israel would have an Arab deputy? You dont say. Who is this Jabotinsky anyway? Was he even Jewish? When was he a member of the Likud party? To be specific, I mean to say here that Mapai (the Israel workers' party led by Ben-Gurion during the country's early days, which turned into the Israeli Labor party, now the Zionist Union) in all its forms has come to the end of its political life. Nearly all of its leaders have changed its name in order to not remind people of the past, even though it was the party that made history and founded the state. People remember Mapai in its various forms as the root of all evil, and they pass that story down to their descendants. Ze'ev Jabotinsky. When was he a Likud member? (Photo courtesy of the Jabotinsky Institute) Of this we might say that the mind is short, but memory is long. The current government took the leadership reigns, and it will do anything it can to extend the still-stinging memories of the DDT, the discrimination against Sephardic Jews, and everything else that the left considers to be side stories to the grand act of founding the country. At the end of the ideology age, it's time for the jugglers and magicians. Think about it: What do the Likud and Netanyahu really want? What was written in the Likud's official platform for the last elections? No need to rack your brains on this one: It didn't have one. And what was written in the Zionist Union's platform? Here, too, no great work is needed to find out. This means that the two largest political forces in Israel have given up on ideas, visions, and hope. It's just that one of these political forces is more well-liked by the public than the other. PM Netanyahu. His Likud party didn't even have a platform for the last elections. (Photo: Knesset spokesperson) The meaning of this for those who do not favor our current government is this: build up, or look for, a new political force. In order to do this, a new political body needs to arise, which will reject the aura of the social-economic left. And will depart on a new stately-security-related way much like the more moderate parties of today do with their ideologies. In its current makeup, the Zionist Union seems more like a niche party. Niche parties are not serious contenders for leadership. MK Tzipi Livni of the Zionist Union likes to tell people in private conversations that she and her party are the hyphen that connects the words "Jewish" and "democratic" in the famous description of the State of Israel. She won't be able to ride that hyphen much longer. It, too, will break. A radical left-wing activist who was arrested on suspicion of passing on information that led to the death of a Palestinian who sold land to Jews is also suspected of contacting a foreign agent. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The law defines such a suspect as someone who there are reasonable grounds to suspect has collected confidential information on behalf of a foreign state or terrorist organization, or who has carried out any other activity that is liable to endanger state security. A left-wing activist who was arrested on suspicion of passing on information that led to the death of a Palestinian and of contacting a foreign agent (Photo: Ohad Tzvigenburg) The suspect, whose details are under gag order, claimed in a television expose that he had in the past transferred details on sellers of Palestinian land that led to the death of one of them. It is this activity which police believe may endanger state security. In addition, he is suspected of being connected to the commission of a crime. The suspect was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday while trying, according to suspicions, to flee the country. On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court extended his detention by seven days. Because he is suspected of endangering state security, he has been barred from meeting a lawyer for five days. The investigation into the suspect's activities is being handled by the Samaria and Judea District Police. The judge barred the publication of his details out of concern that this may interfere with the investigation. As such, it was also ruled that hearings regarding the suspect and his activities will be held behind closed doors as they will touch on matters of state security. The judge also forbade photographing of the suspect in the court passageways. The suspect's lawyer, Lea Tsemel, said on Tuesday in response to the investigation: "The police are trying to create symmetry between the Duma murderers and my client. The same method and the same practice. It won't help them." A number of left-wing activists arrived at the court on Tuesday in support of the suspect, including Rabbis for Human Rights head Rabbi Arik Ascherman . Ascherman stressed that he was there in his own name and not on behalf of the organization. "I have known and respected him for many years," Ascherman said of the suspect. "He is not a perfect individual, but he has done a lot of good in the world." Ascherman said that as far as he is concerned, the suspect simply boasted and had not done anything more than that. "Because of the severity of the matter we are looking into it seriously. Every Palestinian in the South Hebron Hills knows him. If there is an attack there by Israelis at dawn they all know they can call him, and he'll be there," Ascherman said. According to him, the suspect had good connections with area residents, and not just Palestinians but some of the settlers as well. Ascherman added: "The NGO has frozen its work with the activist until there is a clear horizon. We are taking it seriously. No one like what was said. Nonetheless, Jewish tradition states that even God cannot judge a person until He has examined something himself, and therefore we need to clarify whether there is something more than boastfulness here." The Likud court on Wednesday afternoon canceled the upcoming elections for party head, deciding unanimously that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the chosen candidate and would continue as chairman of the Likud. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter With no one to run against him, the elections would have been between Netanyahu and a blank slip, but the controversial vote will no longer take place. According to the court, the Likud's constitution stipulates that because there is only one candidate, there is no need for primaries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Gil Yohanan/Flash90) Criticism of the prime minister had been heard within the party over the last few days, regarding his insistence on guaranteeing himself another term when there is still no date for the next general elections and with no one to run against him. Senior ministers said that it was a waste of money, with the cost of the primaries coming out at around NIS four million. They suggested holding a reduced, cheaper election. Those around Netanyahu said that he moved forward with the primaries in order not to have to deal with intra-party issues at the same time as general elections. However, others in the Likud explained that the process was intended to head off strong candidates that may have stood against Netanyahu in the future. However, some in the Likud also expressed concern that if primaries did not take place, it would create a legal problem ahead of the general elections namely that any prominent candidate could petition to hold a vote on the party leadership because such a vote had not yet taken place. Yet the same party members also cautioned that a contest featuring Netanyahu alone was problematic in terms of perception. Netanyahu has more than once boasted about the democratic process in the Likud, in contrast to other parties whose lists of MKs are drawn up by the party leader. The democratic process that Netanyahu spoke of would, with the proposed primaries, have in fact skipped over his job. Welfare Minister Haim Katz, who is the head of the Likud's Central Committee, praised the court's decision not to hold primaries. He added that he supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his standing at the head of the party for the next general elections. Iranian media outlets on Wednesday evening published humiliating pictures of US Navy sailors on their knees with their hands on their head, after they were caught by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday when their boats accidentally drifted into Iranian territorial waters. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter US Navy sailors kneeling with their hands on their head as Iranian forces board their boat The 10 sailors were taken into custody at the time, but released on Wednesday after the Iranians determinied they had entered Iranian territorial waters by mistake. The photos show the American sailors with their hands raised to their heads and on heir knees, while Iranian forces boarded the two US boats. Other photos published in Iran show what are likely the sailors' weapons arranged on the deck after a search by the Revolutionary Guard. US Navy sailors kneeling with their hands on their head as Iranian forces board their boat Less than an hour after the photos were published, Iranian state television released video footage of one of the American commanders speaking after his arrest. He apologizes for entering Iranian territorial waters and thanks the Iranians for their "hospitality." US Navy sailor apologizing for his boat entering Iranian waters X The pictures come just hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iran for its cooperation in the release of the Navy sailors. "I want to express my gratitude to the Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter," he said. US Navy sailors in Iranian custody before being released (Photo: AP) That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong, Kerry added. Confirming the sailors' safe release, the Pentagon said there were no indications they were harmed while in Iranian custody. Weapons found after Iranian forces searched US boats that had accidentally entered Iranian waters The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near US warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran was expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the UN nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." On Wednesday, Kerry said that the Iranians had told the US that the central part of their Arak nuclear reactor had been removed. Sweden's Ambassador to Israel Carl Magnus Nesser was on Wednesday urgently summoned to the offices of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was rebuked by Deputy Director-General for European affairs Aviv Shir-On. The meeting occurred following controversial statements by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, according to which Israel should be investigated for executing Palestinians. Shir-On expressed the Israeli government's anger at what he called Wallstrom's twisted presentation of reality, and her biased, even hostile treatment of Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Shir-On told Ambassador Nesser that Wallstrom's words indicate that she does not understand what is happening in the Middle East, and that she is not aware of the difficult situation in which Israeli citizens are exposed to the constant danger of murderous terror attacks. He further told the ambassador that due to these comments by the minister, Sweden should expect to be excluded from any role that pertains to Israeli-Palestinian relations. Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser. Severely rebuked. A Foreign Ministry official clarified that the meaning of the exclusion is that Israel will no longer allow Sweden to promote any projects in the Palestinian terrotories. The Foreign Ministry examined the option of recalling the Israeli ambassador to Sweden for advisement, but it was decided that for now, a rebuke of the Swedish ambassador would be enough. This is the second time in less than two months that the Swedish ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry for rebuke. The last time was in mid-Novermber 2015, when Minister Wallstrom made statements that connected the ISIS attack in Paris to the frustration of the Palestinian people. YORK Patricia Jensen, the mother of the late Tyler Crespi, has filed a lawsuit against York County, York County Sheriff Dale Radcliff and York General Health Care Services, alleging that her son was not given proper medical care while in the York County Jail. At 2 p.m., on May 25, 2014, a Nebraska State Patrol trooper arrested 24-year-old Crespi after a traffic stop on Interstate 80, upon reports he had been driving erratically. Court documents indicate Crespi was found to be in possession of heroin and needles. Crespi allegedly told the trooper he had taken drugs and was taken to the York County Jail. The lawsuit alleges that Crespi also told jail staff and sheriffs deputies that he had consumed narcotics. The lawsuit, which was filed by Scottsbluff attorney Maren Lynn Chaloupka, alleges that jail staff put Crespi on special observation and monitored him in his cell, but his condition deteriorated over the next six hours. At 8:21 p.m., Crespi was found unresponsive and jail staff call 911. He was taken to York General Hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead. The lawsuit says that jail staff had earlier called the hospital after noticing a change in Crespis condition and were allegedly told to have him sleep it off. Chaloupka says in the lawsuit, in the hours between his arrest and his death, Tyler suffered both physically and emotionally, attended to only by county agents and employees who did not care enough to obtain medical evaluation of his drug toxicity and mental illness. The lawsuit indicates Jensen is seeking punitive damages, funeral costs and other relief. The lawsuit was filed in federal court. A grand jury was convened in York County District Court on July 31, 2014, which is protocol whenever someone dies while in the custody of law enforcement. The findings of that grand jury were never released by the court. Gold medal moment for CAP honoree Maj. Gen. Stayce D. Harris, Commander, 22nd Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, presented a Congressional Gold Medal to Ms. Cecelia Bell during a ceremony Jan. 7, at the Milestone Senior Living Facility in Faribault, Minn. honoring Ms. Bell for her service in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. Harris began her remarks by addressing the audience and welcoming everyone to the presentation. "Welcome everyone to a celebration of an American hero, or as I like to say an American 'shero,' Cecelia Bell," Harris said. Since the American Revolution, Congress has commissioned gold medals as its highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. "The first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded in 1776 to General George Washington, so Cecelia, it sounds like you're in pretty good company here," Harris explained. In addition to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal is one of the highest civilian awards in the United States. "The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress to persons who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient's field long after the achievement," said Harris. Born in 1921, Ms. Bell joined the Civil Air Patrol during the summer of 1943 when her older sister Elizabeth "Betty Wall" Strohfus left the local CAP Squadron in Faribault, Minn. to join the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). At this time, Ms. Bell assumed the duties previously held by her sister to assist the local commander. Ms. Bell is a member of the world's 'Greatest Generation,' a term made popular in a book by journalist Tom Brokaw to describe the generation that grew up in the United States during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in World War II. The 'Greatest Generation' also applies to those whose productivity within the wars home front made a decisive material contribution to the war effort. Brokaw argued that these men and women of the 'Greatest Generation' fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the right thing to do. "I would describe Cecelia and many others of her generation as great American heroes and 'sheroes' and I'm deeply honored to be allowed the privilege of presenting her with the Congressional Gold Medal today," Harris explained. "Thank you all for coming," Bell said. "I'm overwhelmed! It was a pleasure to serve and I'm overwhelmed with the presence of all of you! It's wonderful [and] thank you all for being here! It's wonderful [and] I'm very honored!" Lync-Enterprise brings enhanced connectivity to AFRC Air Force Reserve Command recently implemented the Microsoft Lync-Enterprise Instant Messaging system that allows all users across the command to connect, collaborate and share in real time. Lync-Enterprise, part of the Microsoft Office suite, is the upgraded version of the Lync-Standard instant messaging software that Air Force deployed to all users Dec. 15, explained Lt. Col. Clayton Sammons, Air Force Reserve Command Communications Directorate. AFRC invested $3.3 million to extend the much-more capable Lync-Enterprise to all Air Force Reserve members. One of the biggest advantages of having Lync Enterprise is the ability to share your desktop, said Sammons. This includes being able to share PowerPoint slides, shared applications, whiteboard, and screen sharing. The ability to initiate multi-party audio and video conferences allows AFRC personnel to reach the people they need to, globally, in a matter of seconds. Lync-Enterprise has potential to reduce dependence on corporate email because it offers some of the same file and link sharing features of email, but the content is shareable and viewable instantly. Users can drag and drop images, documents and links into the instant messenger dialog box. Users will find much more capable collaboration tools which are helpful when budget constraints prevent travel for training. Desktop sharing is especially crucial in a training environment, said Sammons. I use it in A6 with our bases and tenants, and our Knowledge Managers use it to conduct ad-hoc training on a user's desktop from across the country. Information technology technicians can support users with a virtual "over the shoulder" assist to fix issues, train or explain applications or processes. Lync-Enterprise can be configured in seconds, compared to traditional video teleconferencing that has to be schedules days or weeks ahead because of coordination involved. Its basically VTC capability at your desktop. Any AFR user can now fully train, communicate, assist any other AFR member via a virtual environment, said Sammons. Anyone can be in a Lync session and bring up a collaboration white board that all participants can draw on and interact. Three or more users can interact via video and audio conferencing, a new feature of Lync-E. The Air National Guard, Air Force Office of Special Investigation, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the Air Force District Washington are also Lync-Enterprise capable, according to Sammons. At least seven Afghan forces were killed Wednesday when militants launched a four-hour gun and bomb siege near the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said. "Seven of our security forces were killed and seven others wounded as a result of the terrorist attack," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter. The assault sent terrified students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after a series of strikes on Indian installations in the region. "The incident occurred near the Pakistani consulate, but we are not sure if it was the intended target." Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement it was in contact with its embassy in Kabul as well as Afghan officials, but could offer no further information. Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults -- an attack on the consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. The spike in violence came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise peacemaking visit to Pakistan last month following a tour of Kabul. India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan. The latest attack comes shortly after four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. The discussions between representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China on Monday came even as the insurgents wage an unprecedented winter campaign of violence more than 14 years after they were ousted from power. The so-called "roadmap" talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Islamists. The group is set to hold the next round of discussions on January 18 in Kabul. The Taliban's unprecedented nationwide winter offensive is testing the capacity of Afghanistan's overstretched military and putting pressure on Pakistan to rein in its one-time proxies. In September the Taliban briefly seized the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, and in recent weeks they have seized large swathes of the key opium-rich district of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand, their traditional stronghold. Observers say the intensifying fighting highlights a push by the militants to gain greater concessions during any future direct talks. Search Keywords: Short link: Colorado Reservists to support Southwest Asia airlift ops Approximately 150 Air Force Reservists and four C-130s from Colorados 302nd Airlift Wing have begun a four-month deployment to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Freedoms Sentinel. Assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing based at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, the aircrew, aircraft maintainers and support personnel will provide airlift, airdrop and aeromedical evacuation support to operations throughout the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility. The flying training missions we conduct in Colorado have been critical in preparing our crews for deployment operations, said Col Jay Pittman, 302nd Airlift Wing commander. This scheduled rotation of aircraft and personnel is the fifth deployment of this type since 2005 for the Reserve airlift wing stationed here. Airmen and aircraft from the 302nd AW have deployed and provided airlift support for Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and New Dawn. The 302nd Airlift Wing is one of nine Air Force Reserve C-130 wings with an airdrop and airlift mission located throughout the nation and the only Air Force Reserve C-130 wing assigned the special Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) mission. Turkish authorities detained three Russian nationals suspected of links with Islamic State (ISIS) following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 10 tourists, media reports said on Wednesday. A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed nine German and one Peruvian tourists on Tuesday in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist draw, in an attack Turkey blamed on Islamic State. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack. Russia's Consulate General in the Mediterranean city of Antalya said three Russians had been detained over suspected connection to ISIS, Russian state news agency RIA said. Police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, Turkey's Dogan News Agency said. It was not immediately clear when the detentions occurred. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Istanbul blast but Islamist, leftist and Kurdish militants, who are battling Ankara in southeast Turkey, have all carried out attacks in the past. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer condolences and vowed Turkey's fight against Islamic State, at home and as part of the US-led coalition, would continue. Turkey has become a target for ISIS, with two bombings last year blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. Search Keywords: Short link: According to a recent survey by wealth management firm Yellow Brick Road (YBR), saving to invest in property or buy a home made up 40% of Australians financial New Years resolution. That is well ahead of other financial-based resolutions such as decreasing debts (25%), to budget (15%), save for travel (10%) and get superannuation sorted (7%). In this current environment, you might expect to see property taking a back seat to financial aspirations such as saving and budgeting or consolidating debts, YBR spokesperson Lyndsey Douglas said. However, the Australian dream of owning property and the security that comes with it is still dominant. With a large proportion of Australians still looking to be involved in the property market, Douglas said conditions could soon start to favour buyers. The property market is changing rapidly with some cooling predicted in previously hot areas, she said. The upside is that it might ease some of the affordability pressures faced by first home buyers as competition from other buyers declines. For those that are considering joining the property market, Sam Saggers, chief executive officer of Positive Real Estate, said the time could be right to make a smart purchase. The Christmas and New Year break can really be a great time to buy. People are often on holidays or looking after their kids so there tends to be less buyers around, Saggers said. Youre going to have less people going through open homes which takes away a lot of the fear people often have that theyre going to miss out. That means theres going to be less emotion around and you can find yourself getting a better deal, he said. Saggers believes 2016 is likely to be a year that favours buyers and because of that he recommends investors be more selective in the properties they target. Theres a bit of undersupply at the moment of quality stock and theres a lot of fairly ordinary stock around. Youre going to see the really shrewd investors target that quality stock and thats what people should be looking for, rather than just going after the best bargain. While Saggers recommends buying in the New Year period, for those that miss out he says the remainder of 2016 will provide smother time to buy compared to 2015. Weve seen Sydney peak and the wheels havent fallen off and I think well see a smoother year. Theres been a huge level of investment activity recently and I think this year well see a bit of a return by first time buyers as well as the return of the really shrewd investor. A 15-year-old supporter of the Islamic State (ISIS) group who slashed a Jewish teacher with a machete in southern France has said he was "proud" of his attack, ahead of a court appearance Wednesday. The teenager, an ethnic Kurd from Turkey, told police he did not regret the assault on a Jewish teacher in Marseille, the latest in a string of such attacks in recent months. A source close to the investigation told local media the boy had said he was "ashamed" that he did not manage to kill the 35-year-old teacher, Benjamin Amsellem. The teenager, who was to appear in front of a judge on Wednesday where he faces terrorism charges, said he became interested in militant theories in March 2014 after seeing documentaries arguing that Muslims were persecuting Westerners. "One thing led to another and he came upon militants websites" arguing that in fact it was Westerners that were persecuting Muslims and he "agreed", said the police source. "I don't represent Daesh, they represent me," the teenager reportedly told investigators. Prosecutors have described the teenager as a good student, from a normal background who self-radicalised via the Internet, highlighting the challenge to French authorities in identifying extremists. The attack has sparked debate in France's Jewish community over whether men and boys should stop wearing the skullcap identifying their religion. Zvi Ammar, the leader of Marseille's Jewish community, urged male Jews to stop wearing the kippa "until better days", because of fears for their safety. "Unfortunately for us, we are targeted," he told AFP. "As soon as we are identified as Jewish we can be assaulted and even risk death." However other Jewish leaders rejected the call, with France's chief rabbi Haim Korsia telling AFP: "We should not give an inch, we should continue wearing the kippa." The attack was the third in recent months on Jews in Marseille, the Mediterranean city that is home to the second-largest Jewish population in France after Paris with some 70,000. In October a knife-wielding, drunken assailant attacked three Jews near a synagogue in the city. In November, another Jewish teacher was stabbed by people shouting anti-Semitic obscenities and support for the Islamic State group. France's Jewish community has grown used to living under the surveillance of armed soldiers around synagogues and schools since being targeted in a militant attack in Paris last January. Last weekend, the country marked a year since the attacks which left 17 people dead, including four Jews gunned down in a kosher supermarket. Search Keywords: Short link: According to recent figures from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA), the December 2015 quarter saw the median house price in Perth increase by around 1% to $540,000, the first time in three quarters a rise has been recorded. Listings in the city also fell to 14,539 during the quarter, which REIWA president Hayden Groves said points to the Perth market showing signs of stabilisation. Ben Lamers, director of LMW Buyers Agency, broadly agreed with that sentiment, but said there were some seasonal factors that are currently affecting the market as well. What were seeing at the moment is probably a bit of a seasonal thing, When you come to that November and December period a lot of people delay making a decision, so there were probably some houses that were taken off the market or were delayed in being put up for sale which is affecting some of the figures at the moment, Lamers said. I think if you look broadly at the Perth market, prices have been declining over the past year or so, but I think weve got to the point where were bouncing along near the bottom and it will be interesting to see what happens in the first quarter of 2016, he said. Im not sure that were right at the bottom of the market, but I think were getting to the point where there is some stability in the market and I think 2016 will be the year the market starts to improve a little. That outlook seems to be one that is increasingly being shared by investors, with Lamers claiming interstate investors are setting their sights on the WA capital. The astute buyers from the Eastern seaboard are really starting to pay attention. Were getting a lot of calls from buyers in Sydney and Melbourne at the moment. That probably says they think those markets are too high and Perth is too low, he said For the median price in Perth you can get a really good property in a good location thats going to be pretty close to cash flow neutral. People are starting to think that while other markets have peaked, over the next few years Perth will start to improve. Lamers isnt the only one in the city to have noticed a popularity increase. Liz Sterzel, buyers agent with Property Wizards, said more and more local and interstate investors are looking to buy at the bottom. We are seeing a number of enquiries from Eastern seaboard investors who feel that Sydney and Melbourne are still overheated, and that with Perths market being at a low, the time is now right to invest, Sterzel said. Local West Australian investors with a more up-to-date picture of Perth also seem to be far more positive about the Perth property market, though it is early days yet, she said. Though the heady days of the mining boom may be over, Sterzel said there are other reasons investors should be confident about Perths prospects as long as they do their research. With other industries such as tourism taking up the slack, and population growth still faster than most other states, investors are starting to see reasons to be confident in Perth, she said. Investors who do their research can still find promising properties, with the most popular strategy being to find an add value property with potential to enhance the markets natural performance. While rents in the city may not be where they were during the recent boom times, Sterzel did remind investors that they are still fairly high compared with historical returns. There are some words of caution for investors looking to Perth though, with Lamers stressing that they arent going to see a similar performance compared to what happened during the mining boom. That [mining boom] was a once in lifetime sort of thing. We saw it in the 60s and again in the late 80s and then from 2003 2008, but its not going to be like that now. Its going to be a period of more sustained growth. Recent figures from SQM Research show that total residential listings in Melbourne decreased by 7.2% over 2015. Over the year, the Victorian capital and Hobart, which recorded a 7.8% decline, were the only two capital cities to see yearly decreases. On the other hand, cities such as Sydney (16.2%) Canberra (14.2%) and Darwin (11.6%) all saw significant rises in listings over 2015. Source: SQM Research According to Louis Christopher, head of research at SQM Research, the difference in listings performance in Sydney and Melbourne over 2015 show the different direction the two markets, which have been considered by many in recent years to be the countrys premium locations, are taking. The yearly result is a better indicator of the market. And on that front we are recording large rises in Sydney while Melbourne listings are noticeably down, Christopher said. To me this is yet another indicator of the slow market that Sydney is now experiencing and the contrasting Melbourne market, which this information suggests, is firming, he said. The idea of a firming Melbourne market is one that is supported by Amy Mylius, a buyers advocate with Melbourne based Cate Bakos Property, though some sectors of the market will likely perform better than others. That [a decrease in listings] was something we definitely felt last year and talking to agents there was just a feeling that with the strong capital growth that was being experienced people werent willing to sell, Mylius said. I think people will want to keep capitalising on that this year and we dont think theres going to be a decline anytime soon, especially in the performance of the premium investor stock, the kind of properties that would be attractive to owner occupiers, she said. Mylius said that might not be a circumstance repeated across the entire Melbourne market, especially in the off the plan and high rise sectors. I think there will be a bit of divergence in the market though, the off the plan and high rise stock will probably peter off a bit. The APRA changes mean investors need a 20% deposit for those now and thats having an effect. The thing is while some of those new off the plan and high density properties might be available and their prices might fall away a bit, theyre not always the most attractive in terms of where people want to live. Over the past few years both the magazine and website have grown and developed in accordance with what our readers want, and we take great pride in taking your feedback seriously. The loyalty and honesty of our readers are what keeps Your Investment Property relevant and helps us maintain our positioning as the leading publication for property investors in Australia. Help us provide you with the most valuable content in 2016 by answering three short questions. Click here to provide us with some feedback now. Thank you for your feedback and best of luck for a fulfilling year of property success in 2016! The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on... Egypts main index hit its lowest level in more than two years on Wednesday as foreign investors continued vending their shares. Benchmark index EGX30 dipped 4 percent to 6,205 points with daily stock turnover registered at around LE675 million. "Foreign investors are exiting the market," Eissa Fathy, vice head of the Securities Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online. Non-Arab foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of LE21 million. "There was definitely selling pressure from institutions," Ihab Saied, senior financial analyst at Cairo-based Osool Brokerage, told Ahram Online. Earlier this week, the Central Bank of Egypt issued new regulations to widen the scope of bank clients and to encourage SME funding. The CBE also gave a three-year grace period for banks to limit their loans to a single client to 15 percent of the bank's Tier One capital, down from 20 percent previously. The move aims to expand the banks' client base and mitigate the risks of lending to a few select large clients. Both banks and large companies that are listed in the exchange expect to be negatively impacted by the new Central Bank regulations, said Saied. However, Fathy said banks could profit from targeting their funds towards SMEs. Blue chip Commercial International Bank (CIB) dipped 3.13 percent to LE32.85 per share and Credit Agricole Egypt declined 0.79 percent to LE19.9 per share. Orascom Telecom for Media and Technology fell 6.25 percent to LE0.58 per share and Juhayna Food Industries dropped 1.35 percent to LE7.3 per share. Leading steel manufacturer Ezz Steel lost 7.51 percent to LE7.3 per share. The new CBE regulations also stipulate that the total instalments for a personal car or a non-mortgage housing loan not exceed 35 percent of the clients monthly net income, a move that aims to secure debt repayment. However, this also limits the funding for cars and houses, negatively impacting automotive and real estate companies, said Saied. Automotive assembler GB Auto declined 3.53 percent to LE3 a share and real estate developer SODIC saw the largest decline in the main index, falling 8.64 per share. TMG holding, one of the leading real estate developers, plunged 5.44 percent to LE5.69 per share. Foreign investors are also exiting the market in apprehension of deepening instability in the region, said Fathy. Broader index EGX70 dropped 3.76 percent. Search Keywords: Short link: Sign up to get the latest news delivered to your inbox every week! Kate Middleton and Prince William will be meeting their counterparts in Bhutan during their visit to India and Bhutan in Spring this year. The royal couple is to visit King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan and his wife Jetsun Pema. The young couple is seen as the modern face of the country. Back in Bhutan, tradition forbids public displays of affection. The young royal couple have sparked a trend for couples to hold hands. Advertisement According to International Business Times, this will be the first time that the royal couple will be travelling to the remote mountain kingdom. Bhutan has remained isolated from the outside world until the 1970s. Kensington Palace said in an official statement that Kate Middleton and Prince William will meet the "William and Kate of the Himalayas" on a tour of India and Bhutan. Their trip to will fall around the same time the 25-year-old queen gives birth to her first-born son, Hello Magazine reports. Like Middleton, Jetsun is considered to be a fashion icon in Bhutan, and has been known to favor striking colors. The young queen supports causes involving children and the environment. On the other hand, King Jigme, 35, is known in his country as the "Dragon King." The Bhutan royal couple attended Kate Middleton and Prince William's royal wedding as a guest. This will be Prince William and Kate's first big solo trip following Princess Charlotte's birth in May. There is no denying that Brazil has had a tough 2015 at least in the health front. Last year, the country saw a spike in citizens contracting a mosquito borne virus called Zika and at present it is estimated that between 500,000 to 1.5 million people have been affected. While Zika itself is a nonfatal disease, its spread coincided with an increase in babies born with abnormally small head otherwise known as microcephaly. From 2010-2014, the country documented less than 200 babies born with microcephaly. However in the thick of the Zika pandemic last year, the statistics increased to a whopping 3,000 microcephalic births. The correlation between Zika and microcephaly has not been proven. Despite this, Brazil has already settled into a state of panic with local doctors going so far as to advice women not to get pregnant. Advertisement Earlier in the month, there has also been concern that the virus might become endemic in the U.S. According to experts, the type of mosquito that carry Zika also carries dengue and chikungunya so it is not unlikely that Zika would soon follow the other mosquito borne diseases. Alas, mere hours ago The Wall Street Journal has reported the first U.S. charted Zika patient following the Brazilian outbreak. A woman from Dallas who recently travelled to El Salvador has tested positive to the virus. She has subsequently recovered from the ailment and thus far doctors from the Harris Country Public Health & Environment Services department have explained that as far as is known the virus is not present in the mosquitoes present in the U.S. Mustapha Debboun, Harris County's director of mosquito control was quick to relate that authorities have been doing what they can to prepare for an outbreak. "We really have to be very proactive in trying to stop it. If it's spreading this fast in South America and Latin America, it might do that in the U.S" quipped Debboun. Directed by Assad Fouladkar, 'Halal Love (and Sex)' is the only Lebanese film vying for an award in Sundance Festival's World Cinema Dramatic Competition section Halal Love (or Bil Halal), directed by Lebanese filmmaker and television director Assad Fouladkar, will compete for one of the major awards at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, scheduled to take place between 22 January and 1 February, in Utah, USA. It is the only Lebanese film competing for an award in Sundance Festival's World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. Set in Beirut, the film looks at four couples who are trying to deal with their love relationships, without forsaking their abidance by Islamic Sharia law. The 2015 German-Lebanese production stars Berlin Badr, Christy Bared and Fadia Abi Chahine. It made its world premiere at the 12th edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) as part of the Arabian Nights programme. This is Assad Fouladkars second feature film after his award-winning debut feature When Maryam Spoke Out (or Lama Hekiet Mariam) which came out in 2001. He also directed the famous Egyptian sitcom Ragel Wa Set Settat (A Man and Six Women) that stars Ashraf Abdelbaki, Leqaa Al-Khamissi, Maha Abou Ouf and Intisar. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: According to some insiders, there have been some renewed interest in paleontology following the release of the very successful Jurassic Park films. With the 2015 movie being a smash hit, it is easy to say that more people have expressed interest in the field. New and old enthusiasts alike however would be excited to learn that paleontologists from the University of Bologna have recently discovered an exceptional ancient crocodile from the planet's Cretaceous period. Dubbed Machimosaurus Rex, the fossils of the marine crocodile were discovered in Tunisia by Dr. Federico Fanti and his colleagues. The prehistoric reptile grows to a massive 30 feet and could weigh up to three tons in adulthood. The scientists further explains that the creature is most likely found in the shallow parts of the ocean and is equipped with small rounded teeth and a powerful bit since it is known to prey on turtles and fish. "Machimosaurus rex had stocky, relatively short and rounded teeth and a massive skull capable of a remarkable bite force" explains Fanti. Advertisement While Machimosaurus Rex is not the biggest ancient crocodile charted, its discovery has led to debunk some of the preconceived notions about the genus. Previously, the specific type of ancient crocodile were thought to have gone extinct together with the rest of the dinosaurs at the tailend of the Jurassic Period. However, the recently unearthed fossils of the Machimosaurus Rex prove that the specie was still alive following the mass extinction event and might have existed for the next 25 million years. "Therefore, this discovery sheds new light on the hypothesized mass extinction event at the end of the Jurassic -- a biological crisis currently much less understood than the famous extinction at the end of the Cretaceous that wiped out the dinosaurs" quipped Fanti as reported by the Huffington Post. An up-to-date spot for library staff serving youth around Wisconsin to find relevant news, events, and resources. Links should be correct at the time of publication. If a link is incorrect, please contact the blog administrator within a month of publication. Links on older posts may have changed. Any YSS member wishing to write posts, please e-mail Marge Loch-Wouters at lochwouters@gmail.com. Jerry Can Band will perform on 21 January at downtown Cairo's Dammah Theatre. Jerry Can Band was founded by El-Mastaba Centre in 2003, and is comprised of a group of semi nomadic Bedouins from Sinai. Their performance offers music, poetry, singing, storytelling and dancing. According to El-Mastabas website, the groups songs and poetry recall the exploits of the ancient Arabian Bedouin tribes through stories from Sinai, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Arabian Gulf, recounting their boundless generosity, fables about trusty camels, warnings of the dastardly deeds of sheep rustlers and tales of unrequited love for the girl with beautiful eyes in the next settlement. Their instruments include the Sinai semsemeya (a traditional Egyptian lyre) and the Magroona and the Ney (two kinds of flutes). They also play their music using scraps of army equipment they find in the deserts of Sinai, including ammunition boxes and jerry cans. The band has played locally as well as internationally, including in England Australia and New Zealand. An album titled Waqt Qahwa (Coffee Time) is set for release, produced in collaboration with the British company IPS 30. El-Mastaba Centre promotes artistic creativity through supporting a network of traditional music bands, with a focus on the Bedouin music, the Suez region and its instruments, as well as Sudanese and Egyptian Zar rituals. Programme: 21 January, 8pm El-Dammah Theatre, 30A El-Belaasa Street, Abdeen, Downtown Cairo For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: ISIS Egyptian affiliate claimed responsibility for attacks that took place earlier Saturday against security personnel in Egypt's Giza. "Some elements belonging to our organisation targeted a security checkpoint in Giza's Abu El-Nomors town using light weapons, leaving all security personnel dead," militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis said in a statement released hours after the attack. However, a security source said told the MENA state news agency that unknown assailants shot dead a police colonel along with a conscript in their police vehicle while exiting the colonels farm, heading to their work premises. Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency, mainly based in the North Sinai region, that has killed hundreds of police and troops since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, which swore allegiance to the IS group in November 2014, has claimed responsibility for most of the deadliest attacks on security forces in Egypt. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday reserved for January 21 its judgement in a case in which a 52-year-old Danish woman was allegedly gangraped by nine persons including three juveniles here two years ago. Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja fixed the case for pronouncement of the verdict after concluding hearing the final arguments from the prosecution and the counsel for accused. "Arguments of defence concluded. The case is directed to be listed for judgement on January 21. Defence is also at liberty to file written arguments, if any, within two days from today," the judge said. According to the prosecution, nine accused, all vagabonds, had allegedly robbed and gangraped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers' Club near New Delhi Railway Station. All the nine accused were arrested. The six adult accused - Mahendra alias Ganja (26), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55) - are in judicial custody and facing trial. Three of the accused were juveniles against whom inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) is in progress. The nine accused are facing charges of alleged gangrape, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, dacoity with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt, criminal intimidation and receiving stolen property under the IPC. During the final arguments today, counsel for the accused alleged there were deficiencies in the prosecution evidence and several missing links in the story of the police. Washington: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US-based top global thinktank will launch its India centre in New Delhi in April. The centre which is Carnegie Endowment's sixth international centre, will be headed by top strategic thinker C Raja Mohan, as its founding director, and former journalist Shivnath Thukral will serve as managing director. Carnegie India will produce high-quality public policy research about critical national, regional, and global issues, a media release said yesterday. As with Carnegie's centres in Beijing, Beirut, Brussels, Moscow, and Washington, Carnegie India will be staffed and led by local experts who will collaborate extensively with colleagues around the world, it said. The centre's research and programmatic focus will include the political economy of reform in India, foreign and security policy, and the role of innovation and technology in India's internal transformation and international relations. "We are very proud to add Carnegie India to Carnegie's network of international centres," said William Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The centre's creation has been supported by Carnegie India's Founders Committee, a group of Indian and international donors co-chaired by former cabinet secretary and Indian ambassador to the US, Naresh Chandra, and former United States ambassador to India, Frank Wisner. "India with its strategic partnership with the United States and its growing role in the Asia-Pacific and around the world ? is a significant development on the international landscape and a natural area of focus for Carnegie," said Chandra and Wisner. Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: Choosing a good gynaecologist is very important for a pregnant woman. A good doctor helps you deliver your baby smoothly and let you experience comfortable birthing. Often women end up having the worst gynaecologist during their pregnancy and delivery. So, one should always ask certain questions before finalising one. Here are some questions which you should ask your gynaecologist: What kind of complications often leads to a C-section? A normal delivery or C-section? Such questions might come in the mind of many women during their pregnancy. So, one needs to twist the question to know if your doctor is in support of normal delivery or not. Do you support breastfeeding? We all know the benefits of breastfeeding and breast crawl right after birth. But some doctors might not support it, if one undergoes C-section. So, try to find out whether your doctor is in support of the same. Are you present during labour and delivery? You dont need your doctor during the time of labour but it is good if she/he believes in checking on her/his patient instead of leaving it fully to inexperienced staff. What kind of pain management options are available? Don't forget to discuss the important aspect of labour. Many hospitals are equipped with facilities like an epidural, some prefer to offer hypnobirthing or other medications to ease the pains. So, try to know what options you have so that you can choose your method of pain management effectively. Your opinion on stem cell banking? Try to know what is your doctors opinion regarding srem cell banking. Discuss more details of stem cell banking and why she recommends one. Lahore: Three students were today taken into custody in Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot attack after India provided cell phone numbers of the suspects, bringing the total number of the arrests in the case to 31. "The agencies have picked up Usman Sarwar, a Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) student, a Sahiwal district institution student Saad Mughal and Kashif Jan of Karachi University," Pakistani media reported today. The intelligence agencies reportedly picked up the three students on the cell phone numbers provided by the Indian authorities. Earlier, the Pakistani authorities had dismissed that the cell phone numbers from whom the calls were allegedly made from Pakistan were "unregistered". "The agencies are investigating the alleged links of the three students with Jaish-e-Muhammad," an official said. Dr Yasir Hashmi, a LUMS official, denied Usman Sarwar's arrest. "Sarwar is present in the varsity," he said. The cell phone numbers were linked to the Facebook accounts of Sarwar, Mughal and Kashif. Mughal's Facebook page contains several photographs of armed individuals who appear to be jihadists operating in Kashmir and ropaganda posters vowing war on India. Kashif lists Mughal as one of his contacts and also contains propaganda material. A total of 31 people have been arrested in the case in the country. "The arrests have been made from different parts of the province, including Bahwalpur (hometown of Maulan Masood Azhar), Rahim Yar Khan, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Lahore," a source in an intelligence agency said. Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rehman Rauf have also reportedly been taken into protective custody for interrogation but the Pakistani government has not yet confirmed his arrest. In the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base that began on January 2, six militants were also eliminated in an operation that lasted four days. New Delhi: India on Wednesday strongly condemned the suicide attack in Istanbul that killed 10 people on Tuesday. "India unequivocally opposes terrorism in all its forms and expresses solidarity with the government and the people of Turkey," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. "We extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to those injured in this despicable act." At least 10 people, including nine German tourists, were killed and 15 others injured in the explosion that hit Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday. Turkey blamed terror group Islamic State (IS) for the attack. New Delhi: Describing its relationship with India as "unique and special", Israel on Wednesday said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's upcoming two-day visit to Tel Aviv from January 17 is part of a "bigger picture" congruence of interests in areas of defence, counter-terrorism and trade, among others. Israeli Ambassador Daniel Carmon called bilateral defence cooperation between the two nations as "central pillars" of the relationship, asserting his country was strongly committed to the 'Make in India' initiative in defence manufacturing through technology transfer and joint ventures. Swaraj will also visit Palestine during the trip. "We attach great importance to the visit. This visit is becoming part of what we gradually are trying to see as routine high-level visits and part of tightening of relationship that we are witnessing in the last few years," Carmon said. In Tel Aviv, Swaraj will have meetings with President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Minister of Defence Moshe Ya'alon, Minister of National Infrastructure Yuval Steinitz and Israeli legislators. The Israeli envoy, replying to a question, said the relationship between India and Israel is evolving and that it was more visible in the last-year-and-half. "The visibility is not only ceremonial. The visibility brings with it more activities," he said. Carmon said, "We walk the walk, we talk the talk, visit each other. Because it is a very unique relationship." Issues of mutual interest including ways to enhance cooperation in defence, counter-terrorism, agriculture and water sector will be discussed during the visit. The envoy said Swaraj will be briefed about the current situation in West Asia. "The defence cooperation for many years has been central pillars of relationship. The changing world, changing parameters, changing needs are always something that is on the top of our agenda and always on our radar," he said. He also referred to tests of Barak 8 missile, both in India and Israel, as shining example of joint ventures in the defence spehere. New Delhi: Locals living in adjoining areas of terror-hit Pathankot airbase used to enter the premises after allegedly paying a paltry Rs 20 to security guards to graze their cattle and even shop in the CSD canteen, according to inputs gathered by intelligence agencies. Intelligence agencies have informed the Home Ministry that it was a common practice for many people to enter the sensitive Air Force base with their cattle for grazing after allegedly paying the guards deployed in a few isolated gates in the sprawling premises. Alarmed by the terrorist attack, the Punjab government has now initiated the process of head-count of the Gujjar population living near the airbase who herd cattle to ensure security in the vicinity, the inputs said. There are several shops, including CSD canteen, inside the Pathankot airbase and there have been reports that many locals go to shop there. Some of the locals even made identity cards while some other pay the security guards to enter the premises, the inputs claimed. An IAF spokesperson described as baseless and devoid of facts the inputs gathered by the intelligence agencies. In a pre-dawn attack, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, believed to be belonging to JeM, attacked the Pathankot air base on January 2 killing seven security personnel. Six terrorists were also killed during the encounter. The terrorists were said to have crossed the India-Pakistan border in Punjab and reached the strategically crucial airbase and carried out the attack. An IAF spokesperson described as baseless and devoid of facts the report of how locals living in adjoining areas of Pathankot airbase used to enter the premises after paying as low as Rs 20 to security guards to graze their cattle and even shop in the CSD canteen. Malda: Days after after a team of BJP MPs was denied permission to visit violence-hit Kaliachak in West Bengal's Malda district, senior party leader and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari was on Wednesday denied permission to hold a rally in the area on January 18. However, West Bengal's CM Mamata Banerjee is expected to visit Malda for a rally on January 21, a report in India Today said. Malda's district administration has cited law and order issue to deny permission for Nitin Gadkari's rally.\ BJP has accused Mamata Banerjee government of shielding the accused of Malda violence and indulging to 'appeasement politics' to woo Muslims ahead of Assembly elections. Earlier, a 'fact-finding' team of BJP MPs was stopped from visiting violence-hit Kaliachak by district authorities and turned back from the railway station. The move intensified the war of words between the party and ruling Trinamool Congress in poll-bound West Bengal. New Delhi: Condemning the Italian Government`s stand that the marine accused of killing Indian fishermen off the Kerala Coast would not return to India, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the matter and said that the people must be able to trust the sovereign word of a sovereign government. "I think this is a very serious matter, I don`t know who this senator is except that she has the same last name as the marine, but if she is speaking for the Italian Government then I think we need to take very serious note of this issue," he said. "The truth is that Italy has given solemn undertaking to the Government of India and the Supreme Court when they removed the gentleman from the medical treatment. To say that he can`t come back to India again even when his health is okay is simply unacceptable, it`s also violation of a solemn undertaking by a government to another government and to the government`s highest judicial authorities," he added. Tharoor further said this matter should not be taken lightly `and will not be taken lightly. "Secondly, we know that the Italians are attempting to shift the jurisdiction of this matter to the international law of the sea tribunal and get it adjudged elsewhere. But pending that, they cannot prejudge the outcome by simply refusing to return a charged person to the court that is trying to establish his guilt or innocence. So, this is a matter that the Indian Government must and should take seriously," he said. Expressing solidarity with the people of Kerala, Tharoor said that not just the people of Kerala but the people of India will also take the matter seriously. "We have to be able to trust the sovereign word of a sovereign government. You cannot have a situation where a government promises something to a court and then violates the undertaking and practice. So I urge the government of Italy to be sensible about this, to respect international law. When the person is back in health the person should be returned to face the process, without prejudice to Italy`s ongoing process to shift the venue to another court," he added. Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee, yesterday said Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone`s return is being explored. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has urged Prime Minister Modi to interfere and bring the culprits back to the country. India had granted Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. In a bid to tone down the diplomatic row, Italy reversed an initial decision in 2013 not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit. Delhi: Pakistan on Wednesday arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and "several individuals" belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, and sealed its offices after India demanded action on the group linking it to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks. Azhar's brother Abdul Rehman Rauf has also been arrested, Geo TV said. While the arrest of several individuals was announced in a press release from the Prime Minister's Office, there was no official word on Azhar's detention. Following are some facts about the dreaded terrorist. - Azhar is founder of the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad. - India lists Masood Azhar as one of its most wanted terrorists. - Azhar was born in Bahawalpur , Punjab. - In early 1994, Azhar traveled to Srinagar apparently on a forged Portuguese passport to ease tensions between Harkat-ul-Ansar's feuding factions. - He was arrested by India in February and imprisoned him for his terrorist activities. - In 1995, foreign tourists were kidnapped in Jammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers, referring to themselves as Al-Faran, included the release of Masood Azhar among their demands. - In December 1999, he was freed by the Indian government in exchange for passengers on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC814) that had eventually landed in Kandahar,Afghanistan. - He was exchange for release of 155 passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane. - The hijackers of IC814 were led by Masood Azhar's brother, Ibrahim Athar. - Azhar's release from Kot Bhalwal jail was supervised by an IPS officer, SP Vaid. - Once Azhar was handed over to the hijackers, they fled to Pakistani territory. - JeM allegedly carried out a string of deadly attacks against Indian targets, including the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. - Soon after the Parliament attack in India, Azhar was detained for a year by Pakistani authorities but was never formally charged. - The Lahore High Court ordered an end to the house arrest on 14 December 2002. - Azhar reappeared after a seclusion of six years on On Jan 26, 2014. - He addressed a rally in Muzaffarabad, calling for the resumption of jihad in Kashmir. Egypt has been invited to attend the 13th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which will be held in Turkey's Istanbul next April, according to Turkish press. The Turkish news website Sunday's Zaman quoted foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic on Saturday as saying that "Egypt, the term president of the OIC, would be naturally invited to the summit, but the decision regarding the level of its representation at the summit will be taken by Egypt's own authorities." Egypt will be attending the summit to hand over to Turkey its OIC presidency term, but some Turkish media outlets reported that an unprecedented meeting could take place between President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both presidents have not held talks since Sisi came to power in June 2014. Tensions between Egypt and Turkey have been on the rise since the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Erdogan, following mass protests against his presidency in July 2013. The Islamist Turkish president has repeatedly called for Morsi's release from detention, as the former president is currently standing trial in four separate cases in Egypt. Search Keywords: Short link: Islamabad: Under pressure from India, Pakistan on Wednesday held 12 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, days after the group attacked an Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab. The suspects were detained from different cities of southern Punjab, according to the online newspaper, Daily Pakistan. As per the Pakistani media, the authorities have sealed JeM offices in Bahwalnagar, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzafargarh cities in anti-terror raids. Also, the Pakistani government is mulling sending a team to India for cooperation on the issue of Pathakot attack. Notably, India has linked Islamabad's "prompt and decisive" action to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled on Friday. Earlier in the day, a high-level meeting chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reviewed the prevailing security situation. "The meeting noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistan's commitment to eliminate terrorism from our soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow our territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere, considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident." "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, have been apprehended. The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said in a statement. Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Raheel Sharif, DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Prime Minister`s National Security Adviser Lieutenant-General (r) Nasir Janjua and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were told in the meeting that the arrested people could be possible facilitators of Pathankot attackers. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on Tuesday said there was no reason to distrust Pakistan's assurance of "effective action" against those linked to the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab. Singh had said the Pakistan government had assured of swift action on the inputs given by India about the perpetrators of the attack on the Indian Air Force base in the early hours of January 2. India had said terrorists from Pakistan were responsible for the attack that left seven security personnel dead. All six terrorists were killed in the counter-offensive. India said it had provided what it called "actionable intelligence" to Islamabad to act against those who plotted the audacious attack. New Delhi: Former home secretary and BJP MP RK Singh on Wednesday said the Afghan Police confirmation about the involvement of Pakistan military in January 3 attack on the Indian Consulate only support the argument that the Pathankot and Mazar-i-Sharif attacks were coordinated by the ISI. "At the time of attack on the Pathankot air base, I had said that this attack and the attack on the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan are coordinated. There is no doubt that there was involvement of Pakistan`s ISI in the attack. Now this argument has been supported by the Afghan Police," Singh told ANI. "The attack near the Pakistan Consulate in Afghanistan is a lesson to Islamabad that if you will nurture terrorism, it will harm you as well," he added. He also said Pakistan`s denial that the telephone numbers provided by India were not registered there was completely false. "Pakistan will keep on saying that they need more evidence just like they did after 26/11. However, their strategy is not going to work this time around. The planning of the Pathankot attack was made in Pakistan. The terrorists were trained in Pakistan and had come from there only. India should only provide them with the fingerprints to establish identity of the militants," he said. Reports have emerged that Pakistan has rejected the evidence provided by India in the Pathankot attack and also denied the credibility of the proofs. Seven military personnel were martyred and another 20 injured when six terrorists crossed the border and launched a massive attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in the early hours of January 2. Nangarhar: A suicide bomb attack and subsequent gunfire outside the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad killed at least seven Afghan security personnel on Wednesday. The attack took place not far away from the Indian Consulate located in an area which houses foreign missions. The suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Pakistani consulate and the bombing was followed by gunfire from unidentified terrorists. Afghan security forces swiftly responded to the attack and engaged with the gunmen barricaded in a house near the Pakistan Consulate. The gunbattle continued for nearly four hours. "Seven of our security forces were killed and seven others wounded as a result of the terrorist attack," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter. It was not clear how many terrorists had been killed. Witnesses earlier said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions could be heard and residents and children from a nearby school had been evacuated. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, had earlier said a suicide bomber tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. Indian interests have been targeted twice this month - an attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif (Afghanistan), and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an Air Force base in Punjab. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: In a relief for Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed him to stay back in Italy till April 30. Latorre, who is facing murder charge in India along with his fellow Salvatore Girone for killing two Kerala fishermen, has been allowed to stay in Italy till international arbitration in the case ends. The international arbitration in the case is due to begin on January 18. During a hearing today, the Indian government did not object to extension of marine's stay in Italy till international arbitration ends. The development came within hours of an Italian senator saying that Latorre will not return to India. Latorre was allowed by the Supreme Court in September 2014 to go to Italy initially for four months after he had suffered a brain stroke. His stay there was extended subsequently. "Massimiliano Latorre will not go back to India and work is being done on the possibility of requesting for Salvatore Girone to be able to return to Italy," Senator Nicola Latorre, head of Italian Senate's defence committee, was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency. Girone, the other accused, is still here and Italy has been seeking his return as well. The Supreme Court on July 13 last year had allowed Latorre to stay in Italy for another six months on medical grounds, after the government did not object to his plea. The six-month period ended today. The marines, who were on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', are accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012 after mistaking them for pirates. The Supreme Court which was handling the case suspended the court proceedings relating to the trial of two marines in August last year following an order to this effect by International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) which was approached by Italy for international arbitration. New Delhi: US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall said on Wednesday that Washington would continue to press Pakistan to help India to bring to justice the culprits behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. "We will continue to press Pakistan to take the fight to all terrorist networks in the border region and do everything in their power to help India achieve justice for the Mumbai attacks, which claimed both Indian and American lives," Sewall said at the Vivekananda International Foundation. "India and the United States, both free, inclusive, and democratic societies, face a similar test in overcoming the threat of terrorism while staying true to our most cherished values," she added. She said that India and the US have been brought together by the shared trauma of terrorism, from the attacks against the United States on 9/11 to the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11, to the recent bloodshed in Pathankot earlier this month. "We strongly condemn these attacks and express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. We recognize that terror is too often on India`s doorstep," she added. She said the endurance of terrorism and the rise of groups like ISIS underscore the limits of conventional approaches and tools, insisting on a need for a broader, bolder and smarter approach to turn back terrorism. She said that extremists want a clash of civilizations and they only look forward to terrorise the people. "Throughout history they have sought to divide and to demonize. But the success and prosperity of societies like ours, free, diverse, and enriched by the contributions of all, fly in the face of everything they believe. As we face violent extremists, we must reject their terms of engagement and stay true to ourselves, by upholding religious freedom, ensuring legal protection for all, and speaking out against discrimination and hatred of all stripes," Sewalls said. Delhi: Even as Pakistan on Wednesday detained Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and 'several individuals' belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, India said that they had no official confirmation of the same. "We have no official confirmation on arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, as per ANI. Mohammad Zubair, a minister in the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, told an Indian TV channel that he cannot confirm the detention of Azhar by Pakistani authorities, as per PTI. Meanwhile, Geo TV said that Azhar's brother Abdul Rehman Rauf had also been detained. Pakistan has also said it's considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot as more information would be required to carry forward the process of cooperation with India. Terrorists belonging to the JeM are believed by India to be behind the Pathankot terror attack on January 2 in which seven security personnel were killed. Azhar was released from an Indian prison in 1999 in exchange for release of 155 passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane. (With PTI inputs) Thiruvananthapuram: CPI-M in Kerala today alleged a RSS-Chief Minister Oommen Chandy link behind the UDF government move to seek early hearing of a revision plea in the High Court, challenging a CBI court discharging CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin graft case. "Move of the government to file appeal against CBI Special Court order in the Lavalin graft case, which was closed two years ago, is politically motivated," CPI-M State Seceretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told reporters here. "It is a result of a relation between RSS and Chandy," he alleged. Balakrishnan also said it has become a practice for Congress to rake up the Lavalin case when elections approach in the state. "Chandy was using CBI through RSS', he alleged. Balakrishnan charged that the objective of the government move against Vijayan was to divert the attention of people from the 'Nava Kerala Yatra' led by Vijayan that begins tomorrow. UDF government also wanted to divert people's attention from the latest development in the Solar case in which Chandy is scheduled to depose before the Judicial Commission probing the scam, on January 25, Balakrishnan contended. The CBI special court in Thiruvananthapuram had in November 2013 discharged Vijayan and six others from the case. The case pertains to an agreement with Canadian firm SNC Lavalin for renovation of three hydro electric power projects which allegedly caused a loss of Rs 374.50 crore to the exchequer. The final agreement with the company was signed when Vijayan was power minister in the 1990s in the LDF ministry headed by the late E K Nayanar. Referring to the CBI summons to Kannur CPI-M district secretary P Jayarajan in the 'Kathiroor Manoj murder case', Balakrishnan alleged CBI was functioning now "as per the direction of RSS." The 42-year-old Manoj, a district functionary of RSS, was hacked to death in politically-volatile Kathiroor in Kannur district in 2014. Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which has successfully cracked down on terror elements in recent months, has received an anonymous letter threatening murder of its officers in Pune and Mumbai. "We received an anonymous letter yesterday threatening to kill our officers in Mumbai and Pune. "Inquiry into the matter is on and security has been beefed up around the houses of the officers named in the letter," said a senior ATS officer. Against the backdrop of the ATS's actions in such cases, some of which had an Islamic State angle, there was speculation whether the letter was sent by the dreaded terror outfit although the ATS officer rejected that possibility. In the past couple of months, ATS, particularly its Pune unit, has successfully pursued several terror cases. Recently, the Pune unit had found out about a 16-year-old Muslim girl who had been reportedly radicalised by her Islamic State (IS) contacts abroad and brainwashed into heading for Syria. Wajid Shaikh, one of the four missing youths from Malwani, a suburb of Mumbai, suspected to have joined IS, was also tracked down by the Pune unit of ATS. The ATS has also registered a case against Ayaz Sultan, another youth from Malwani area of the city, who has been missing since October 30. Guwahati: The ongoing political upheaval in Arunachal Pradesh has taken another twist with a two-judge bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising of Acting Chief Justice MR Pathak and Justice T Vaiphei rejecting the petition of two Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) Gabriel Denang Wangsu and Wanglam Sawin that challenged Speaker Nabam Rebia`s decision to accept their resignations. In its ruling, the high court bench ruled, "The statue undoubtedly provides for a contingency of non-compliance with the provision with respect to the giving of reason for the resignation, namely, the speaker shall have to omit such words or phrases or matter while reading out the resignation in the house. No other contingency, much less, penalty, is provided for the Rules for failure/refusal/omission other conditions of rule 200 (1) of the Rules. After examining the case from all angles, we are satisfied that the speaker has not violated any mandatory provision of law in not rejecting the rejection letters of the petitioners, and is rather correct in accepting the resignation letters of the petitioners. In any case, by such omission, no prejudice is caused to the house or the public." Both MLAs had submitted their resignations to the Speaker on September 16 and it was accepted on September 30. Rebia subsequently issued a notification on October 1, saying the two seats had fallen vacant and that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would be informed accordingly. The two MLAs had moved the high court, which on October 9, stayed the notification that declared the Kanubari and Khonsa East Assembly seats as vacant. The court had also then directed the ECI not to go ahead with plans for holding by-polls in the constituencies.The resignation drama is a fall out of internal dissidence within the ruling Congress. Before filing their appeal in the high court, Wangsu and Sawin, had in separate letters to Rebia, withdrawn their resignations stating that they were forced into it by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and that the letters be treated as "invalid, null and void until and unless submitted in person". Many of the 47 Congress MLAs in the 60-member state Assembly have revolted against Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and demanded a change in leadership. The party high command is also aware of the infighting in the party. AICC general secretary Narayan Samy, who is in charge of party affairs in Arunachal Pradesh, said: "We, the Congress, respect the judiciary and humbly welcome the verdict of the Gauhati HC." AICC member Takam Sanjoy said, "The first slap on the faces of dissidents was given by the Arunachal People`s Aadlat at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on January 4, and the second slap has been given by the high court on January 12. The law of the land has finally given justice to the ruling Congress party. Today, the lawmakers who broke the law and disrespected the Constitution are facing this historic humiliation. This is a lesson for all intending to represent the people to learn". "I am upset that the party has lost two elected legislators. However, I have directed the party`s grassroot level workers to get mobilised in Kanubari and Khonsa East Assembly seats which have fallen vacant," said Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Padi Richo. MLA-cum-Parliamentary Secretary Techi Kaso said the court`s ruling had established once again that tampering with the Constitution of India is unacceptable, and those doing so, have and would could continue to get punitive results and outcomes. The speaker on December 15 had disqualified 14 MLAs - Pema Khandu (Mukto), Kumar Waii (Bamang), Kameng Dolo (Pakke-Kessang), Markio Tado (Tali), Jarkar Gamlin (Aalo), PD Sona (Mechuka), Mutchu Mithi (Roing), Kamlung Mossang (Miao), Phosum Khimhun (Changlang South), Wanglin Lowangdong (Borduria-Bogapani), T. Wangham (Longding-Pumao), Lombo Tayeng (Mebo), Kalikho Pul (Hayuliang) and TN Thongdok (Kalaktang) - from the membership of the Sixth Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly under Article 191 (2) read with Para 2 (1) (a) and 6 (1) & (2) and Rule 3 (7) and Rule 6 of the Members of Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of defection) Rules, 1987 made under paragraph 8 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution and notified the constituency seats have fallen vacant, according to an extraordinary gazette. The disqualified MLAs had challenged their disqualification in the Gauahati High Court, which had stayed the disqualification on January 5. The disqualified MLAs had also moved the Supreme Court against Speaker Rebia after hearing the case January 6. The apex court has posted the hearing of the case to January 14. Quetta: At least 15 people were killed in a blast targeting police outside a polio vaccination centre in Quettas Satellite Town on Wednesday, of which most were police officials. There are 15 dead, including 12 police, one paramilitary, and two civilians, a local police official told AFP, adding that at least 10 people had been wounded, nine of whom were police and one a civilian. Initial reports revealed that the attack was conducted to target a security forces convoy on a roadside near the polio centre and was carried out using a times device. Of the 15 killed, 12 were part of the police force, one from the frontier corps and another a civilian. Rescue teams have reached the site of the incident and the injured are being shifted to a nearby hospital, where two are said to be in critical condition. Meanwhile, police and security officials have cordoned off the area and investigation is underway. The nature of the blast however, has not yet been ascertained. Such attacks on security forces are not rare in the region. Two police personnel were shot dead on January 8 when unidentified armed men opened fire at them outside a mosque in Multani Muhala. Egyptian writers Mansi Qandi, Mohamed Rabei and Ibrahim Farghali were long listed for the Arabic Booker in 2016 making it equal with Palestinian authors- the highest number of writers longlisted from a single country The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), known as the Arabic Booker, was announced on Tuesday 12 January, with 16 novels contending for the 2016 prize. Egyptian and Palestinian authors had the equally had the most number of writers from ant country on the longlist. The three Egyptian writers are Mohamed Mansi Qandil for his novel The Black Brigade, Ibrahim Farghali for his novel The Temple of Silken Fingers, and Mohamed Rabei, for his novel Mercury. The IPAF said in a press release that the 16 long listed novels were chosen from 159 entries from 18 countries, all published within the last 12 months. Two of this years longlisted authors have been shortlisted for the prize previously: Rabai al-Madhoun and Mohamed Mansi Qandil both appeared on the IPAF shortlist in 2010, with al-Madhouns book, The Lady from Tel Aviv, now available in English translation from Telegram Books. The chair of this year's judging panel was Taleb Alrefai. The list also includes a number of younger writers and debut novelists. Three long listed writers are under the age of 40, and first novels by Tareq Bakari and Abdennour Mezzine have been included. In addition, two of the long listed authors Mohamed Rabie and Shahla Ujayli have previously participated in IPAFs annual nadwa, or writers workshop, for emerging writers with promise. Ujayli worked on a section of her long listed book, A Sky Close to Our House, during the 2014 nadwa. The full 2016 longlist, with author names in alphabetical order, is as follows: Title Author Country of origin Publisher Here Taleb Alrefai Kuwait Platinum Books Hymns of Temptation Laila al-Atrash Palestine/Jordan Difaf Publications Numedia Tareq Bakari Morocco Dar al-Adab The Temple of Silken Fingers Ibrahim Farghali Egypt Al-Ikhtilef People of the Palms Janan Jasim Halawi Iraq Saqi Books Mariam's Journey Mahmoud Hasan al-Jasim Syria Dar Tanweer, Egypt Desertified Waters Hazim Kamaledin Iraq Fadaat Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba Rabai al-Madhoun Palestine Maktabat Kul Shee Letters of the Storm Abdennour Mezzine Morocco Slaiki Akhawayn Publications Warsaw a Little While Ago Ahmed Muhsin Lebanon Hachette Antoine The Prophecy of Saqqa Hamed al-Nazir Sudan Dar Tanweer, Tunis The Black Brigade Mohamed Mansi Qandil Egypt Dar al-Shorouq Mercury Mohamed Rabie Egypt Dar Tanweer, Lebanon Praise for the Women of the Family Mahmoud Shukair Palestine Hachette Antoine A Sky Close to Our House Shahla Ujayli Syria Difaf Publications The Guard of the Dead George Yaraq Lebanon Difaf Publications The books were selected by a panel of five judges, whose names will be announced in Muscat, Oman, on Tuesday 9 February 2016, at the same time as the 2016 shortlist of six titles. The 2016 Chair of Judges comments on the longlist: The task of choosing this year's longlist was not easy given the high quality of overall submissions, which featured many young, unknown writers in addition to well-established names. However, a strong longlist has emerged, with many of the titles dealing with their subjects in fresh and unconventional ways and using experimental language. The books look at topical concerns from the Arab world from daily life to larger political and social issues and, between them, condemn violence, sectarianism (political, religious and tribal) and current dictatorships. This is the ninth year of the Prize. Professor Yasir Suleiman CBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees, comments: This is an impressive longlist of novels that hail from different parts of the Arab world. They address abiding issues that touch different aspects of our humanity in vivid and often disturbing ways that challenge preconceived ideas. Technically mature and sometimes demanding, the longlist lives up to the IPAF tradition of enticing the readers into new worlds of the creative imagination. The winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2016 will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 26 April 2016, the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. The six shortlisted finalists will receive $10,000, with a further $50,000 going to the winner. The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is an annual literary prize for prose fiction in Arabic. It is run with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London and is funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) in the UAE. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to vacate stay on Centre's notification allowing Jallikattu a popular bull taming sport in Tamil Nadu. The apex court passed the order while responding to certain intervention pleas seeking vacation of its stay on holding of bull taming sport Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. The apex court had yesterday stayed the Centre's notification lifting the ban on Jallijattu, which triggered demands by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and DMK supremo Karunanidhi for an ordinance to hold the event. While, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan assured positive action in this regard, dismayed supporters and organisers of the sport resorted to agitations and road blockades in some parts of the state and downed shutters in various areas, including those in Madurai district, hitting normalcy. In one voice, political leaders of Tamil Nadu demanded an ordinance by the Centre to facilitate holding Jallikattu. Recalling her December's request last year to promulgate an ordinance to enable holding Jallikattu, Jayalalithaa said, "Considering the urgency of the issue, I strongly reiterate my earlier request to promulgate an ordinance forthwith to enable the conduct of Jallikattu." The Supreme Court had on Tuesday stayed the Centre's January 7, 2016 notification, lifting the ban on Jallikattu. It had also issued notices returnable in four weeks to Environment Ministry and Tamil Nadu over the issue. Animal rights groups had strongly opposed the notification. The notification lifting the ban was challenged in the apex court by Animal Welfare Board of India, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and a Bangalore-based NGO. The May 2014 ban on holding the sport was lifted on January 8 by the Modi government in poll-bound Tamil Nadu with certain restrictions. Kolkata: The BJP on Wednesday questioned the propriety of hosting a concert by Pakistani Ghazal Singer Ghulam AIi in the city at a time when Pakistan backed terrorists were launching attacks in the country. State BJP President Dilip Ghosh told reporters, "We don't have any problem with programmes of Pakistani artistes here. But we only pointed out one thing whether organising a music concert with Ghulam Ali, Pakistani artiste would be right at this moment when Pakistan is sending terrorists in our country?" Criticising West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for organising the concert, Ghosh said the money the state uses in organising festivals and programmes, could well be used on the welfare of the minority community in the state. "We would like to add that the amount of money that the state government spends on organising festivals, can well be used for the welfare of minorities in the state", Ghosh said. Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, whose concert was cancelled in Mumbai last year following Shiv Sena protests, yesterday enthralled a packed audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here. Sydney: An American woman hiking in Papua New Guinea with her London-based boyfriend was gang-raped and three of her fingers slashed in a brutal attack along a famous World War II trail, a report said Wednesday. PNG police said the pair, both aged 31, were on the Kokoda Track which runs through the jungles of the island state off Australia`s northeastern tip when they were attacked and stripped of their belongings including mobile phones, shoes, backpacks and 15,000 kina (US$5,000) in cash. "Two expatriate tourists, a male and a female, both 31, were trekking the Kokoda Track and heading towards Templeton Two (a campsite) when they were ambushed by armed men," local assistant Police Commissioner Sylvester Kalaut told The National newspaper of the Monday ambush. "The male trekker was tied to a tree and the female tracker was repeatedly raped before three of her fingers were chopped. The incident took place for an hour before they (trekkers) were set free." Police described the attack as a gang-rape and told the newspaper at least two suspects carrying bush knives and spears were involved. One of them was being held by villagers, The National added, which identified the tourists as American and London-based. The couple fled to a village and were taken to the lawless Pacific island`s capital Port Moresby, where they were given medical attention. Australia`s Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the attack and added that the couple were hiking without a licensed tour operator. There are endemic levels of domestic violence against women in the Pacific region, with a 2013 United Nations study finding that 80 percent of men surveyed in PNG reported physically or sexually abusing their partners. Two years ago, a US academic was gang-raped by an armed mob in the country while conducting research on birds and the impact of climate change in a remote forest on Karkar Island in Madang province. In the same year, a group of eight Australian and New Zealand trekkers were violently attacked by bandits, with three of their porters killed, while hiking on the remote Black Cat track. Four of the eight tourists were also hurt, including one who was speared in the leg. Fort Campbell (Kentucky): Defense Secretary Ash Carter laid out broad plans today to defeat Islamic State militants and retake the group's key power centers in Iraq and Syria. And he announced that a special commando force has now arrived in Iraq. Speaking to troops from the 101st Airborne Division who will soon deploy to Iraq, Carter also said he would meet in Paris next week with his defense counterparts, mainly from Europe, and will challenge them to bring more capabilities to the fight. He said he will be meeting with defense leaders from France, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Each of these nations has a significant stake in completing the destruction of this evil organization, and we must include all of the capabilities they can bring to the field," he said. Carter's broader message signaled the completion of a military plan to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces retake Mosul in northern Iraq and to assist the Syrian moderate forces oust Islamic State militants from their headquarters in Raqqa. He described operations that would send Iraqi forces from the south and Peshmerga forces from the north to encircle and cut off Mosul. But he warned that taking it back will not be quick or easy. Carter announced in December that the US would deploy about 200 special operations forces to Iraq to better capitalize on intelligence and put more pressure on the enemy. "The specialized expeditionary targeting force I announced in December is now in place and is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets," Carter said. His speech offered an upbeat assessment of the anti-IS campaign, saying that coalition-backed forces, supported by the airstrikes, are taking back territory and going after the groups finances. This week airstrikes hit an Islamic State cash center in Mosul. His remarks came a day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, expanding on the message that the US must build and work with local forces in Iraq and Syria to have lasting success. He said the US must not "Americanize" the conflicts because that would allow militants to accuse the West of occupying the country. About 500 troops from the 101st Airborne headquarters group will deploy at the end of February and about 1,300 members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team will deploy to Iraq in late spring. The brigade will be training Iraqi and Peshmerga forces. Brussels: Belgian police have found two apartments and a house used by suspects before they carried out the terror attacks in Paris, prosecutors said on Wednesday. "The investigators were able to identify three premises that have been used by the conspiring perpetrators of the attacks of 13th November 2015," a spokesman for federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said in a statement in English. The premises included a flat in the city of Charleroi where investigators found fingerprints of suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud and of Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up outside the Stade de France on the night of the attacks. Prosecutors also cited a flat in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek already identified on Friday, and a small house in the rural village of Auvelais, near the French border. The Auvelais house was searched on November 26 and the Charleroi apartment on December 9, they said. No traces of explosives or weapons were found in either of those lodgings. All of the accommodation was rented using false names and paid for in cash, prosecutors said. In the case of the Auvelais house, the fake identity was that of a person picked up in Budapest on September 9 by key suspect Salah Abdeslam, who is now on the run. An international manhunt has been underway for Belgian-born Abdeslam, 26, since suicide bombers and assailants firing automatic weapons killed 130 people and wounded 350 in a wave of attacks across Paris. Prosecutors on Friday said that one of Abdeslam`s fingerprints, three hand-made belts for possible use in suicide attacks and traces of explosives were discovered during a search in December of the apartment in the Schaerbeek. Additionally, prosecutors said the investigation had shown that the Seat Leon car, which was used afterwards to commit the Paris attacks, had stopped in the immediate vicinity of the premises in Charleroi and Auvelais. Jalalabad: Islamic State jihadists on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a deadly gun and bomb siege targeting the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city, in the first attack by the group on the Pakistani government. Afghan officials said all three attackers and seven security forces were killed in the brazen assault in eastern Nangarhar province, where the group has made alarming inroads in recent months. The four-hour siege near the consulate comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, locked in a tussle for supremacy with Islamic State jihadists in Afghanistan. In an Arabic statement released via Twitter, the IS group said two of its fighters blew themselves up at the scene by detonating explosive belts, while a third managed to escape unharmed. "The attack lasted almost four hours during which the consulate building was destroyed and tens of its employees were killed together with a number of officers from the apostate Pakistani intelligence services," the statement said. The toll appeared to be exaggerated, with Islamabad saying officials at the consulate itself are safe and accounted for. The brazen assault sent terrified young students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. "This is first attack claimed by IS against the state of Pakistan," Muhammad Amir Rana, a Pakistani security analyst, told AFP. "This is a highly symbolic attack as the Pakistani consulate is a high-profile installation in Jalalabad." There was no immediate comment on the IS group's claim from Islamabad. In a statement earlier today, Pakistan's foreign office "strongly condemned" the attack on its consulate. "The government of Afghanistan has been requested to thoroughly investigate this incident and bring the culprits to book," the Pakistani government said in a statement. "We have requested that details of the investigation should be shared with us." Islamabad has officially denied that the Islamic State organisation is operating in Pakistan, but authorities have expressed fears the jihadists could find recruits among the country's myriad of Islamist militant groups. In May last year, the IS group claimed responsibility for an attack that claimed the lives of at least 43 members of the Shiite Ismaili minority in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani phoned Pakistan's leader Nawaz Sharif today to assure him of greater security for Islamabad's diplomats in Afghanistan following the attack, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. Istanbul: The suicide attacker who detonated a bomb that killed 10 German tourists in the heart of Istanbul's historic district had registered as a refugee just a week earlier, Turkish officials have said Wednesday, raising questions over whether extremists are posing as asylum-seekers to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe. Turkish authorities identified the assailant in Tuesday's attack as a Syrian man who was born in 1988, and said he was affiliated with the Islamic State group. Turkish media, including some close to the government, identified him as Nabil Fadli and said he was Saudi-born. The extremist group has not so far claimed the attack. Meanwhile, Turkish police arrested five people suspected of direct links to the bomb attack which took place just steps from the historic Blue Mosque in Istanbul's storied Sultanahmet district. The suspects were not identified. The bomber had recently entered Turkey, authorities said, and Interior Minister Efkan Ala confirmed reports he had registered with an Istanbul branch of the Migration Management Authority, providing fingerprints that allowed officials to quickly identify him. Ala said the bomber wasn't on any Turkish or international watch lists for IS militants. "This person was not someone who was being monitored," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. "It is a person who entered normally, as a refugee, as an asylum-seeker." The attack wounded 15 people, including nine Germans and citizens of Norway, Peru and South Korea. Six of the victims remained hospitalized yesterday. Although not as deadly as two attacks in Turkey last year that were blamed on IS, Tuesday's bombing had heightened resonance because it struck at Turkey's USD 30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. The fact that the bomber had registered as a Syrian refugee suggests central planning by Islamic State leaders, either to cover their tracks or provoke a backlash in Europe against legitimate Syrian asylum-seekers, said Firas Abi-Ali, an analyst with the security consultancy IHS Country Risk. "It seems to make it less likely this was anything but a centrally commanded operation by the Islamic State," he said. It is not the first time the group has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the huge influx of asylum-seekers into Europe by ensuring that suicide bombers were registered and fingerprinted and would thus be identified as refugees after their deaths. Two of the suicide bombers who died November 13 at France's national stadium had registered in Greece and their forged Syrian passports were found on their bodies. Thousands of Muslims have fled the territory under Islamic State control in Syria and Iraq and the extremists have repeatedly threatened those who leave, saying they will regret their journey to Europe. The Hague: Relatives of those killed in the MH17 air disaster today urged Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to launch a global campaign to obtain radar images which may help pinpoint who fired a missile at the plane. All 298 passengers and crew onboard the Malaysia Airlines flight jetliner -- most of them Dutch -- died when it was shot down en route to Kuala Lumpur over war-torn eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Officials with the Dutch safety board (OVV) concluded in their investigation last year that the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian-made BUK missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels. But they did not say definitively who pulled the trigger. A separate criminal investigation is also underway in the Netherlands to try to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Now the Dutch relatives have written to Rutte to protest that primary radar data was not made available to the investigators by either the Russian or Ukrainian authorities. "We can't accept that people have refused to provide crucial information," the families said in the letter, dated Tuesday and published Wednesday. They are urging Rutte to push either the United Nations or the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to demand that the data is handed over. The Dutch investigators acknowledged that while they were given certain radar data by both Kiev and Moscow, they had not received what is called the "primary radar" from either country. Primary radar, unlike secondary radar, can detect aircraft or unknown flying objects even if they are not equipped with a transponder, according to the ICAO. That means primary radar could possibly trace the trajectory of a missile, for example. The Dutch investigators said in their October report that it was "very unlikely" that the primary radar systems in place could have detected the missile. But the families contended that that finding did not rule it out completely. Under the regulations primary radar data should be kept for 30 days, and longer if it is needed for a crash inquiry. But Russian officials told the Dutch team they had not kept the data because the disaster did not happen in their territory. And Ukrainian authorities said their primary radar systems had been shut down at the time for scheduled maintenance. Kiev's explanation "was hardly credible" while Russia's excuse was "bizarre," the relatives shot back. They are also demanding that the United States hand over its evidence. Only days after the disaster, Washington blamed it on pro-Russian rebels saying they had images showing the missile's trajectory. Yangon: Aung San Suu Kyi`s last-minute decision to join Myanmar peace talks she had previously criticised took some attendees by surprise, and could boost the chances of progress with rebel groups who have so far resisted joining the process. The democracy champion, who led her party to a landslide election victory in November, shared the stage in the capital Naypyitaw with members of the former military junta, which kept her under house arrest for years and persecuted her allies. Suu Kyi has already shown she is willing to do business with former foes, and, despite a constitutional ban on her becoming president, has also made clear that she intends to lead the country. Her appearance at peace talks this week attended by the military, members of parliament and some of the armed guerrilla groups waging local insurgencies across Myanmar underlined that sense of pragmatism, experts said. Until now, Suu Kyi had dismissed the ceasefire agreed last year as a pre-election stunt by outgoing President Thein Sein to win votes in ethnic areas. "Today`s conference shows how the talks over the political transition and change of government in Myanmar are progressing unexpectedly quickly and smoothly as the parties learn to trust one another," said Yohei Sasakawa, a peace envoy for Japan who has been involved in the talks for the last three years. Manila: The Philippines has offered the United States eight bases where it can build facilities to store equipment and supplies under a new security deal, a military spokesman said on Wednesday, amid rising tension with China over the South China Sea. Last year, the Philippines and the United States signed the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) granting Wasington increased military presence in its former colony, rotating ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations. "The list has been prepared many months ago when we had earlier discussions," Colonel Restituto Padilla told reporters, saying five military airfields, two naval bases and a jungle training camp were offered to the United States. "These are still subject for approval and we`re going to hold final discussions about these areas." Three of these bases are on the main island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, including Clark airfield, a former US air force base, and two are on the western island of Palawan, near the South China Sea. The Americans are also seeking access to three civilian seaports and airfields on Luzon, including Subic Bay, a former US Navy base, a senior defence official told Reuters. Last year, more than 100 US Navy ships docked in Subic and two advanced nuclear-powered stealth submarines made visits in the first two weeks of this year. "Subic is important to the Americans because it is one of the few areas in the country where they can actually dock safely," said a defence official, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press. In Washington, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said security cooperation with the US had become more intertwined amid increasing tension over the South China Sea. Critic Gaber Asfour will discuss his newly released book On Culture and Freedom on Wednesday, 13 January at 6:00pm at the Supreme Council for Culture in Zamalek Renowned Arabic literature professor and former culture minister, Gaber Asfour, will discuss his newly released book An Al-Thakafa Wal Horreyya (On Culture and Freedom), on Wednesday, 13 January at 6:00pm in a seminar at the Supreme Council for Culture (SCC). Current Minister of Culture, Helmy El-Namnam, Secretary General of the SCC, Amal El-Sabban, and the CEO of Al-Ahram Institution, Ahmed El-Naggar, will also participate in the seminar, along with writer Sayyied Yassin and former head of leftist Tagammou' party, Refaa't El-Said. 'On Culture and Freedom' was published by Al-Ahram Publishing House. Asfour is a well-known critic and professor of Arabic Literature at Cairo University and he served as Egypt's Minister of Culture twice, in 2011 and in 2014. He is the author of 'In Defence of Enlightenment' and 'Times of the Novel'. He also headed the Supreme Council for Culture and helped establish the National Centre for Translation (NCT), which he also headed. The NCT is considered to be one of the ministry's most successful projects in the past decade due to its structure as well as the effort that Asfour put into it. Programme: Wednesday, 13 January, 6:00pm Supreme Council for Culture, Opera Grounds, Zamalek. Search Keywords: Short link: Riyadh: Aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition have dropped 40 tonnes of aid to Yemen's besieged Taez region, a Saudi charity has said. The aid included medicines, medical equipment and dry food "to break the siege imposed on parts of Taez province," Abdullah al-Rabeeah, director of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, told the Saudi Press Agency yesterday. The 600,000 residents of the southwestern city of Taez have been in dire need as Huthi rebels besiege the community defended by pro-government forces. Many residents have taken to treacherous mountain paths to bring in goods. The United Nations said on December 18 that more than 100 trucks of food aid had arrived in Taez. But local aid groups and sources close to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said rebels seized the relief goods and distributed them in areas under their control. The Saudi-led coalition has since March conducted air and ground operations in Yemen to support local forces against the rebels and their allies. King Salman established the Saudi aid centre last May and the kingdom pledged a total of USD 540 million in aid to Yemen. UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien has previously criticised the coalition's Yemen air war over its heavy civilian toll and for blocking deliveries of fuel and other commercial supplies to Yemen by restricting access to ports. More than 5,800 people have been killed in Yemen since March, about half of them civilians, according to the UN. Algiers: Seven people died when a deliberately lit fire tore through a tourism complex at a beach resort on the outskirts of the Algerian capital today, the civil defence service said. The blaze erupted around 2:30 AM (0130 GMT) at a bungalow in the Azur complex in Zeralda, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Algiers, official news agency APS quoted the civil defence service as saying. A police official later told state television that the fire was of criminal origin, and that three suspects were identified and being sought. All of the seven people killed were Algerians, who were between 25 and 35 years old and included two women. They all died of asphyxiation. One person was also injured, but their life was not in danger. Istanbul: Turkey has detained 68 suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in raids across the country, state media said today. The arrests were made after an IS suicide bomber killed 10 people in central Istanbul yesterday, but the reports did not make clear if there was any connection. Sixty-five people were detained yesterday in raids in Ankara; Izmir on the Aegean; the Syrian border town of Kilis; Sanliurfa close to Syria; Mersin on the Mediterranean; and the southern city of Adana, the Anatolia news agency said. In Ankara, the authorities detained 16 people who were suspected of planning a major attack in the capital, the report said. The 21 people detained in Sanliurfa were also planning an attack at an unspecified location in Turkey, it added. Today, three more suspected IS members were detained in the southern resort city of Antalya. All three are Russian citizens, it added. The reports did not make clear if there was any link to Tuesday's suicide bombing in Sultanahmet Square in central Istanbul, which the authorities said was carried out by an IS jihadist who came from Syria. Most of those killed were German tourists. Long accused of failing to crack down on IS, Turkey has in recent months moved against cells operating on its territory after several deadly attacks blamed on the group. United Nations: Donors have pledged USD 250 million to educate over one million Syrian children this year but an additional USD 500 million is urgently needed to fund the program in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, the UN envoy for global education has said. Gordon Brown yesterday warned that "death voyages to Europe" will soar in 2016 as long as Syria's two million refugee children and millions more displaced inside the country are exploited and don't have the opportunity for education. The organization Girls Not Brides recently reported that the child marriage rate among Syrian refugee girls has doubled from 12 per cent to 26 per cent, he said, and a recent survey estimates that one in three refugee boys and girls have become child laborers. "It's urgent that we provide them education and avoid this exploitation and give these children hope for the future," Brown told a news conference by audio link from Europe. When he was Britain's prime minister in 2009 and head of the Group of 20 leading economies, Brown recalled that a trillion dollars had to be raised to support the world economy, so "it ought to be possible to raise USD 500 million for what is an excellent cause." He pledged to try to raise the money at the World Economic Forum in Davos and an international pledging conference for Syria in London, on February 4, among other places. Brown said Lebanon's introduction of double-shift classes in school has been the greatest success story, educating over 200,000 refugee children from Syria right now "from a negligible number a few months ago." The refugee youngsters go to school in late afternoon and evening, after Lebanese children are finished, he said. The goal, he said, is to double the 200,000 Syrian refugee children now in school in Turkey to over 400,000, increase the number in Jordan from 130,000 to 200,000 in the next few months, and reach one million in 2016. "And by next year every single child refugee would be offered a place in school whether they be in Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey," Brown said. United Nations: The UN's most powerful body is working on a resolution that would impose tougher sanctions on North Korea to reflect its claim that it tested a powerful hydrogen bomb for the first time, a Security Council diplomat said today. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations have been private, said the North's claim that it tested a hydrogen bomb represents "a step change" and the council needs to show that its response also represents "a step change," even if the claim proves to be untrue, which is likely. While there is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, whatever the North detonated underground last week will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. North Korea's UN mission circulated a report today from the country's news agency saying North Korean scientists and technicians "are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs ... capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once as it persistently moves to stifle the DPRK." The country's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Security Council pledged immediately after the January 6 announcement of the nuclear test to swiftly pursue new sanctions. It strongly condemned the test as a "clear violation" of previous UN sanctions resolutions. The diplomat said all 15 Security Council members agree that North Korea should be denuclearized, and this will be reflected in a new resolution. The council last approved sanctions against North Korea after its third nuclear test on February 12, 2013. That resolution was largely negotiated by the United States and China, North Korea's traditional ally. The council diplomat said the United States, which is leading the current negotiations, is moving forward "in a careful, thorough and deliberate way," consulting closely with China but also with other council members, including Japan. The diplomat said a new resolution isn't expected immediately, likely not in less than three weeks. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the US mission to the United Nations. Washington: Delivering his last State of the Union address, President Barack Obama on Tuesday said that the US remains the most powerful country on Earth. "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close," Obama said in his speech. The address came amid nervousness in America about terror and the changing economy. Obama told Americans not to fear the future, while hailing a period of "extraordinary change" laden with both opportunity and the risk of wider inequality. Hailing "US troops as the finest fighting force in the history of the world," Obama said no nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to leadthey call us," he said in his address. "Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears." Obama further accused his critics of playing into the hands of Islamic State by comparing the fight against the militant group to World War Three. Obama, who delivered his last State of the Union speech to Congress before leaving office next year, said it was fiction to declare the United States was in economic decline or getting weaker on the international stage, despite rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates vying to replace him in the November 8 election. "Masses of fighters on the back of pick-up trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence," Obama said, according to prepared remarks. "Thats the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We dont need to build them up to show that were serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the worlds largest religions," he said, referring to Islamic State by an acronym. The remarks were a repudiation of Republican criticism of his strategy against Islamic State and, not so subtly, of Republican front-runner Donald Trump`s call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. (With agency inputs) Tehran: The naval commander of Iran`s Revolutionary Guards told state television Wednesday it probably "won`t take long" for 10 US sailors detained in Iranian territory in the Gulf to be freed. Admiral Ali Fadavi said investigations had concluded "that this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes" and he was waiting to receive "the required order, which probably will be their release." He said a broken navigation system had led the US sailors -- reportedly nine men and a woman -- to stray toward Iran`s Farsi island. The order for their release "won`t take long," he was quoted as saying. "Naturally in territorial waters of the country any naval craft should announce their presence beforehand, especially if they are military," Fadavi added. Iran`s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was briefed about the incident. Fadavi said Zarif had displayed "a strong stance" and had told US Secretary of State John Kerry that "these were our territorial waters and you should apologise," according to the state television report. Two aircraft carriers -- the USS Harry S. Truman and France`s Charles de Gaulle -- were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the Guards said. Washington: US officials were scrambling to recover US Navy personnel who lost radio contact and were apprehended after straying into Iranian waters. Senior US officials said yesterday they had received assurances from Tehran that the crews -- take to Farsi island -- would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. But it appeared likely that the embarrassing crisis would last at least until after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, with whom he struck the Iran nuclear deal. Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, but Kerry and Zarif forged a tie during the long negotiations for the pact and are in regular contact. "He has a close relationship with foreign minister Zarif and that would be a natural point of contact," White House communications director Jen Psaki told CNN. "We have been in touch with the Iranians. We have been assured of their safety and that they will be able to move forward on their journey promptly," she said. "Obviously, any situation like this we take very seriously, and that's why we acted very quickly to get in touch and determine as much as we can." A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one or both of the vessels -- small patrol boats -- may have had a "mechanical incident." Farsi Island lies in the Gulf, roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and houses a base of Iran's Republican Guard Corps, which has its own naval units. The tiny territory extends Iranian waters deep into one of the world's most important shipping lanes, an oil superhighway and potential military flashpoint. "Earlier today, we lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain," a senior US administration official said. American officials did not dispute that the vessels appeared to have been in Iranian territorial waters when they were intercepted by Tehran's forces. "At this early stage," another senior administration official said, there is "nothing to indicate that" Iran had committed a hostile act. Ben Rhodes, a top national security aide for Obama, said the administration was "hopeful we will be able to resolve the issue." Obama is expected to use his much-heralded final State of the Union address to burnish his legacy, hailing, among other things, the nuclear deal with Iran. The deal foresees the Islamic republic scaling back its nuclear program to put a bomb outside its immediate reach in exchange for relief from international sanctions. The deal is to be implemented very soon -- Kerry has said "in the coming days" -- but has been criticized by Obama's US opponents as too soft on Tehran. Hanoi: Hanoi accused Beijing of making "erroneous statements" in the latest round of an escalating diplomatic spat over flights to a disputed reef in the South China Sea. China has conducted several flights this year through Vietnamese airspace to a newly built runway on the Fiery Cross reef in the Spratly Island group, which is claimed by both countries. Vietnam has accused Beijing of threatening regional safety with the "unannounced" flights, but China hit back, arguing it has the right to conduct "state aviation activities". Hanoi fired off the latest barb late Tuesday in the increasingly bitter diplomatic spat, saying China was making "erroneous statements" by claiming it had informed Vietnamese air traffic control about the flights. "Ho Chi Minh... Control Centre did not receive any notification by China of the flight plans," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement released late Tuesday. The flights are "aimed at asserting their illegal sovereignty claims over the Trong Sa archipelago," he said, referring to the Spratlys by their Vietnamese name. Vietnam this year logged at least 46 incidents of Chinese planes flying without warning through airspace monitored by air traffic control in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, according to authorities cited by local media. The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas (Reuters) By Susan Kelly and Caroline Humer (Reuters) - Anthem Inc could save $3 billion annually on drug costs from a re-pricing provision in its current contract with pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Holding Co, the health insurer's chief executive officer said Tuesday. Anthem said it is working to renegotiate the contract this year to avoid overpaying for pharmaceuticals based on current market conditions. It first announced that it was going to rework the contract about two years ago, but it has not previously disclosed an estimate on the cost savings from the move. Anthem's 10-year contract with Express Scripts runs through 2019 but includes the re-pricing clause that became effective Jan. 1, Joseph Swedish, chief executive of the insurer, said in remarks at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. "This represents a substantial adjustment to drive lower care costs for our customers and improve our competitive position in the marketplace," Swedish said. Express Scripts spokesman Brian Henry said the company is in full compliance with the terms of its agreement with Anthem. The contract calls for negotiations regarding a pricing review, but Anthem is not entitled to $3 billion, Henry said in an email to Reuters. Anthem conducted a market analysis to identify the potential savings, which would come primarily from lower generic drug pricing, Swedish said. "We have seen a substantial improvement in market pricing in just the last 12 months," he said. Swedish said in an interview with Reuters at the San Francisco conference this week that the company is still undecided about when and if it will sign a new contract with Express Scripts that would go into effect when the current one expires. Negotiations have picked up pace, he said, and he is hopeful about making a decision in 2016 about how to proceed. Express Scripts values its relationship with Anthem and remains committed to productive discussions regarding its relationship with the insurer, Express Scripts spokesman Henry said. Anthem, which manages Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, is the country's second-largest health insurer. It could become the nation's largest if its proposal to buy Cigna Corp is approved by antitrust regulators. (Reporting by Susan Kelly in CHICAGO and Caroline Humer in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Kenneth Maxwell) (Beijing) The general office of the State Council has created a secretariat to coordinate the administrative affairs of China's major financial regulators, people with knowledge of the matter say. The new body was created by making a bureau that handled paperwork related to the financial services sector independent, the sources said. It will focus on facilitating communication and cooperation between the central bank and the regulators for the securities, banking and insurances industries on administrative issues, the sources said. It will not directly supervise the implementation of any specific policies or regulations, they said. Li Zhenjiang, a former vice president of the Agricultural Bank of China, has been appointed the deputy chief of the new unit in charge of its daily operations, an employee from the bank told Caixin. It is unclear who will lead the new body. The move comes as the current financial regulatory structure, which features the central bank and three separate regulators, has been criticized for lack of cooperation and coordination, especially after the stock market rout last year. Critics say the structure has allowed regulators to pursue their own interests over common goals. They have called for an institutional overhaul, proposing that the banking regulator be merged into the central bank. Some have argued for merging the securities, insurance and banking regulators and also expanding the central bank's authority to cover those fields. In 2013, the central government required officials from all major financial regulators to meet more often for better coordination on policies. It has not said whether it would pursue a different regulatory framework. Setting up a secretariat that answers directly to the State Council will allow the cabinet to get a better handle on financial risk that no regulator could tackle alone, a person close to the situation said. The new secretariat will probably also be charged with coordinating the financial affairs offices under local governments, an official with a financial regulator said. The central government has lacked an institution for regulating those offices, he said. (Rewritten by Wang Yuqian) stock exchange board red electronic minus World markets are open for Monday trading, and they're down. China's CSI 300 is down 1.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is down 2.5%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is down 2.0%. US futures are in the red, with Dow futures down 60 points and S&P 500 futures down 7 points. All this follows last week's bloodletting, which saw the S&P 500 fall 6%. It was the worst first five trading days in history. There is no shortage of explanations for all this: You have the Fed, which tightened monetary policy with an interest-rate hike in December. You have oil prices, which are a struggling to find some sort of bottom. You have China, where we are witnessing a stock market breakdown amid slowing economic growth. And then you have geopolitical risks. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, North Korea, and so on ... You could argue at least some of the market sell-off is justified, as the expectations for earnings have been coming down amid tumbling oil prices. Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and RBC Capital Markets have all warned their clients about this risk to earnings. And while geopolitical risks seem to always be present, experts warn that tensions are unusually high. "There is growing political division in a year with a presidential election in the United States and a foundational political crisis for Europe," Eurasia Group's Ian Bremmer said regarding the geopolitical atmosphere. "Russia, in decline, is led by an increasingly combative and resurgent Vladimir Putin. China is becoming far more powerful, but with a foreign policy that reflects primarily economic (though still strategic) national interests. "This all means a dramatically more fragmented world in 2016 with more intra-, inter-, and extra-state conflict than any point since World War II." But it's not all bad news On Friday, we learned US companies added a whopping 292,000 jobs in December, which was much more than the 200,000 expected by economists. This only adds to the narrative that the US consumer is strong. Story continues In an email Sunday, Wells Fargo's Sam Bullard called consumer spending the bright spot of the US economy. "Against numerous headwinds that have negatively impacted so many other sectors this past year, the resiliency of consumer spending has been encouraging and has promoted the consumer as the primary pillar of support of this economic expansion," Bullard wrote. This week comes with reports on retail sales and consumer sentiment. Perhaps we will get more confirmation about this bullish theme. NOW WATCH: Why Chinese executives keep disappearing More From Business Insider By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump was not in the room during U.S. President Barack Obamas final State of the Union speech, but the Republican presidential front-runner was a looming presence nonetheless. Both Obamas speech on Tuesday and, for that matter, the Republican response by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, took pains to rebuke Trump, the real estate billionaire whose red-hot rhetoric has endeared him to some and dismayed others in the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama and Haley, although from different parties, offered a defense of establishment politics, a plea for optimism and a quest for common ground. Obama seemed to refer specifically to Trumps call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration following a deadly shooting attack last month in San Bernardino, California, by a couple authorities said had been radicalized. We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness," Obama said. Trump has mounted much of his insurgent candidacy on the notion of America losing ground, both economically and in terms of global influence. Obama rejected that idea outright. Its easier to be cynical, Obama said, to accept that change isnt possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions dont matter." Soon after Obama concluded his remarks in the chamber of the House of Representatives, Trump tweeted: "The State of the Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time." While consistently criticizing Obamas record, Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a potential Republican vice presidential choice, also seemed to indict Trump's message. Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference, she said. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference." Like Obama, Haley did not mention Trump by name during her address but she criticized him in an interview on NBC's "Today show" on Wednesday while calling on the Republican Party to be more inclusive. "Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk," she said. Trump responded shortly afterward by telling Fox News that Haley has been "very weak on illegal immigration" for a long time. Paul Sracic, chairman of the politics department at Youngstown State University in Ohio, said Trump was dominating "our political discourse in a way that no one would have predicted even a year ago." "Donald Trump must be smiling tonight," he said, pointing out that the candidate managed to make himself the target of not just the State of the Union address, but also the Republican response. The White House gave Haley credit for defending "American values" in her speech. "She was willing to do something that a lot of other Republicans - leading Republicans - have been unwilling to do," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday. But he stressed that the administration disagrees with many of Haleys positions. Obama flew on Wednesday to Nebraska, a Republican "red state," to promote the big-picture ideas he laid out in his speech. CRUZ WEIGHS IN On Tuesday night, Obama also appeared to single out conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the top challenger to Trump in the Republican race. Cruz has called for a massive bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria to wipe out Islamic State forces. Meeting the threat of Islamic State, Obama said, needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians. Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said Obama made the argument very well that leadership is not bombing the crap out of someone. Cruz quickly countered in a statement. Obama, he said, lectures us on civility yet he has been one of the most divisive presidents in American history. Both Trump and Cruz, who are topping opinion polls weeks before the early nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, have pledged to push the Republican Party in a more confrontational direction, and seek to undo much of what Obama has accomplished as president. Both candidates are likely in coming days to hammer the Obama administration on its approach to Islamic State. Obamas defense of pragmatic politics may also help his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who is trying to stave off a challenge from self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest, said Bannon. Hes taking about holding up the establishment, he said. When the president makes a good case, it helps Hillary more than Bernie. But John Geer, an expert on voter opinion at Vanderbilt University, thought Obama, in his bid for unity, damaged Clintons prospects by not making a stronger case for continuing the Democratic agenda. He didnt put forward an argument why there should be another Democrat for four years, Geer said. I think she would have liked to see that. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Jeff Mason and Megan Cassella; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Peter Cooney and Alistair Bell) Rumble Introducing the recipe for seafood Chijimi (Korean pan cake) made with Nira (garlic chives) and squid. Adding carrots adds a gentle sweetness and the indescribably enchanting texture of fluffy, chewy pancake is almost addictive. Thinly cooked with the flavor of sesame oil and dipped in the authentic homemade sauce, this dish is a delicious dinner or finger food. The recipe can easily be modified for restricted diets, substituting the squid for thinly sliced pork, or even subbing all animal based products with vegetarian ones (roasted vegetables instead of meat - vegetable broth instead of chicken, etc). ============================================================= YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDvC... Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/hungrycooki... ============================================================= 00:38 Prepping Ingredients 01:25 How to Gut a Squid 03:43 How To Make Chijimi Dipping Sauce 05:28 Putting Together the Chijimi 06:43 How to Cook Chijimi Ingredients (for one chijimi) Weak (Cake) flour... 1/3 cup Potato starch ... 2 tbsp Water... 1/3 cup Garlic chives ... 1/3 bunch Carrots ... 1/8 (about 5cm) Squid ... 1/2~1 Salt Torigara (chicken bone) soup stock base (or Hondashi) 1 tsp Olive oil Sesame oil Sauce Soy sauce... 2 tablespoons Vinegar... 2 tablespoons Kochijang... 2 tsp Ichimi chili pepper Sesame oil... 1 tablespoon La-Yu (chili oil) Sesame Cooking Recipe Slice the Garlic Chives into 3~5cm pieces and julienne the carrots. Gut, wash, and prep the squid into about 3-5cm strips. This is a good time to prepare the sauce, so mix the sauce ingredients together to create the dipping sauce for the pancakes. Add cake flour and potato starch, mixing loosely. Add water, salt, and torigara (chicken bone broth concentrate) or a different stock base like Hondashi, and stir until smooth. Lastly, add prepped vegetables and squid into the bowl and mix to incorporate. Place the a pan over high heat and when hot, pour in sesame oil and olive oil. Add the batter made in step 4 into the pan, shape, and cook for 1~1.5 minutes on one side. When solid and lightly browned, flip the pancake and cook the other side through, pressing down with a spatula as needed. Before completely cooked through, pour sesame oil along the rim of the pan and cook for 1~1.5 minutes more until browned. Reduce heat to medium and cook until both sides are both sides are fragrant and of good color. After removing from the pan when fully cooked, cut into bite sized pieces and serve with prepared dipping sauce. Cooking tips Thinly sliced pork is a delicious alternative to squid. This recipe can also be made vegetarian by subbing meats with roasted eggplant or other hearty vegetables, and broth subbed with vegetable broth concentrate. If you like a sweeter dipping sauce, add a pinch sugar when putting the sauce together. If you add an egg the taste will be much richer. However, add more flour to the batter as too small of an amount will result in a heavier, less crispy pancake. A recommended ratio will be about 1 cup of flour to 1 egg. When cutting pancakes, the chives are a little hard to cut and tend to lose their shape so cut them carefully. The pancake is easier to cut if you have a pizza cutter on hand. By Lizbeth Diaz and Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Deeply concerned that the world's most notorious drug kingpin, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, could escape for a third time, Mexico has beefed up security at his prison, reinforcing the floor of his cell and placing a guard on his door 24/7. Guzman, captured on Friday six months after a brazen prison break via a mile-long tunnel that burrowed right up into his cell, is now being held in isolation in another part of the prison, a Mexican security source said. The improved security measures also include reducing the number of inmates, quadrupling the number of cameras on the site and moving Guzman randomly, without warning, to different parts of the prison, Mexico government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told Reuters. "He is being moved randomly from cell to cell ... Since arriving, he's been in eight different cells," said Sanchez. Juan Pablo Badillo, one of Guzman's lawyers, said his client was physically very weak and complained he was being exposed to "brutal psychological pressure". "He is in a different, very cold zone (of the prison) and in complete isolation," Badillo told Reuters on Tuesday outside the Altiplano prison where Guzman is being held. None of Guzman's relatives have visited him yet, Badillo added. Armored vehicles and light tanks stand guard outside the prison walls, while security forces man sand-bagged checkpoints beyond the gates of the prison, which is about an hour from the capital. Local media said cells in the prison had been fitted with electronic sensors, additional CCTV cameras and in some cases a mesh of steel bars to reinforce the floor and stymie any efforts to tunnel out. On Sunday, various senior officials, including National Security Commissioner Renato Sales and Federal Police Chief Enrique Galindo, inspected the improved security measures. "Today, conditions in the prison fully comply with international standards," the National Security Commission, which runs Mexico's federal jails, said after the four-hour tour. An interior ministry security official, who has visited the jail on various occasions, said the problem with housing kingpins like "Chapo" was that they could easily buy off the entire prison staff. In a prison break worthy of Hollywood, Guzman's accomplices apparently obtained the plans to Altiplano and during his 17 months inside built a tunnel fitted with a tiny rail system mounted with a motor bike that he then rode to freedom. Mexico's government detained around two dozen people in connection with his escape, including the former director of the prison. CCTV video footage showed prison officials watching impassively as Guzman ducked behind a shower wall in his cell and out of sight as he escaped through a hole in the floor. En route, Guzman disposed of a bracelet that only he and a few other high-risk inmates had to wear, and smashed bulbs lighting up the tunnel as he fled. In 2001, Guzman bribed guards to help him escape from a prison near the city of Guadalajara after a previous arrest in 1993. He was recaptured in northwestern Mexico in February 2014. "They are very secure centers. The failures only come via corrupting the personnel," said Jose Alfonso Carreon, who was the deputy director of the high-security jail in Tepic in western Mexico, similar to the one which Guzman escaped from, between 2000 and 2012. President Enrique Pena Nieto's government says it plans to extradite Guzman to the United States, where he is wanted on an array of charges including drug trafficking, but officials have cautioned the process could take anything from 1-5 years. (Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Simon Gardner and Sandra Maler) (Beijing) The search giant Baidu Inc. has said private companies can no longer use bulletin board forums popular with certain groups, after an uproar started over firms using a platform for hemophiliacs to promote shoddy services. Baidu said a statement on January 12 that it would no longer cooperate with private companies on promotions that appear on the Baidu Tieba bulletin board forums. The decision came after the host of a Baidu Tieba forum set up by patients with hemophilia a blood disorder wrote online that Baidu replaced him last week with someone from a private company in Xi'an, in the northwestern province of Shaanxi. The former host said that since the new host took control of the 5,000-member forum it has been littered with ads promoting treatment and drugs from unlicensed medical facilities. The former host posted a screenshot of a smartphone chat that he said showed a Baidu agent telling a fellow hemophiliac patient that the company was selling the rights to run the forum to the highest bidder. People who use other Baidu forums for patients suffering from other diseases say they have encountered similar problems last week, although it is unclear when the search company started handing over the forums to private companies. This has prompted many Internet users to complain that Baidu is engaging in unethical business practices. The search engine company has been under fire for years over a business model that gives priority to search results based on how much someone paid. Critics say this has allowed unscrupulous businesses to promote substandard goods and services. In March last year, Baidu got into a squabble with the country's largest private hospital association over paid search results. Baidu told Caixin that the bulletin board forums are not being used for profit. It also denied that the forums were being sold to the highest bidder. Baidu says it has 19 million bulletin board forums with a total of 1 billion members. Ren Wei, vice director of the Media Law Research Center under China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said Baidu should be allowed to profit from the forums, but this will run into problems when the bulletin boards involve matters of public interest. "If Baidu wants to be socially responsible, it should never try to cash in on something it is unable to shield from false advertizing, no matter how profitable it might be," he said. (Rewritten by Li Rongde) Longueuil police are looking for a suspect in connection with a robbery at a Brossard depanneur on Christmas Day. The robbery happened just before closing at 10:30 p.m. The suspect held up the depanneur owner at gunpoint. In a YouTube video released by Longueuil police, the suspect can also be seen threatening the owner's husband at gunpoint and roughing up both victims. Police say the suspect tried to leave with the cash register after he was unable to open it. He took off after the altercation with the victims. Police believe the suspect fled in a dark grey SUV. He is described as a black man in his mid-20s, about 1.80 metres tall, and weighs 75 kilograms. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 450-469-7211. By Ju-min Park and James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - Oh Hyun-min was in middle school when North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013. He remembers feeling elated to hear the news that his country had successfully tested such a "big weapon", he told Reuters. "In that society, I was happy and felt like we had become more militarily powerful," said Oh, who is now 18 and fled to South Korea in July 2013, five months after the test. Behind the theater put on by the North Korean state, news of a nuclear test brings mixed feelings of pride and indifference for ordinary North Koreans. After its fourth nuclear test last week, which North Korea says was a hydrogen bomb, state media showed jubilant people shouting slogans praising leader Kim Jong Un on the streets of the capital, Pyongyang. North Korean state media has shown images of what appeared to be state-organized rallies after each nuclear test, the first of which was in 2006. The celebrations after last week's test featured fireworks, a mass rally and a choreographed dance. "Regardless of how bad Kim Jong Un is, people didn't find having nuclear weapons bad because we thought it made us stronger," Oh said. "It made some people see Kim Jong Un as young and energetic, taking initiative." 'AMBIVALENCE, CYNICISM' But a relentless struggle to survive in impoverished North Korea has meant many people have been too preoccupied to pay too much attention to news of bombs. "Back then I was too busy smuggling in order to make money and eat so I wasn't interested in that kind of thing," said Kim Dan-bi, a North Korean defector who left in 2011 and now lives in South Korea, referring to earlier nuclear tests. Kim was engaged in illicit trade across the China border when she was in North Korea. Her family members are still there. "I think it was the same for people around me who were also too busy worrying about their next meal to care about whether or not there had been a nuclear test," she said. At the same time, the propaganda punch of the nuclear tests holds for many ordinary North Koreans has diminished each time as they begin to realize the pursuit of the weapons means more economic suffering, said Sokeel Park of the Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) organization, which works with defectors. "Amongst people in cities that have more access to foreign information and are the most switched on, there is likely more ambivalence or even cynicism over the use of precious resources for things that bring no tangible benefit to the people and cause worsening relations with the outside world," said Park. That is especially true among the many North Koreans who have turned to private trade to survive after famine in the 1990s ended government hand-outs and crippled a state rationing system, laying the foundation for a now-thriving gray-market economy. Oh, who lives on the outskirts of the South Korean capital, Seoul, said information trickling in to North Korea will slowly challenge the image of nuclear weapons as a source of national pride. "It won't make any quick or big change in one day but the way North Koreans see nuclear weapons will change," he said. "People know enough about making nuclear bombs to know it means there'll be less rice." (Reporting by Ju-min Park and James Pearson; Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel) By John Irish and Marine Pennetier PARIS (Reuters) - The United States has softened its stance on Syria including the future of President Bashar al-Assad to accommodate Russia, opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said, warning the opposition would face a hard choice on whether to attend peace talks this month. Hijab, who was chosen in December as coordinator of the opposition negotiating body to lead future Syria talks, said the opposition still had disagreements with the Syrian government and the United Nations over the talks' agenda. "Sadly, there is very clear backtracking, especially from the United States, with regard to the agenda of the negotiations," Hijab said on Tuesday. "They want the creation of a government whereby the regime would leave us - the opposition - a few ministries." He said this U.S. backtracking had enabled the December U.N. resolution, which had a great deal of "holes and ambiguities". The U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Dec. 18 set out a two-year road map for peace talks, but failed to address the issue of Assad's future. "The Russians and Americans did not cite Assad (during the negotiations) and did not talk about his departure and that is clear backtracking," he said. "When (President Barack) Obama said he (Assad) had no legitimacy, Kerry was making concessions." It also called for an end to the bombing of civilians and on the parties to allow aid workers unhindered access throughout Syria, particularly in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. He took specific aim at the U.S. administration and President Obama over his policies, including proposals to create a no-fly zone to protect Syrians and his handling of Assad's chemical arsenal. "Obama didn't want (a no-fly zone) .. (and) with the red lines on chemical weapons, he took out the weapons, but not those who used them. I don't think history will forgive Obama." DIFFICULT CHOICE The peace talks are scheduled to be held under U.N. auspices in Geneva on Jan. 25. However, with the continued bombing of civilians, Syrian towns being besieged with some citizens starving to death, and differences on the agenda, the prospects of holding the talks to end the five-year-old war appear complicated. "The choice is extremely difficult," Hijab said when asked if the opposition would attend the talks. "If we don't go to the negotiations they will say we don't respect the U.N. resolutions, but our people are being bombed and starved. "If the negotiations are not well prepared they will fail," he said, warning that failure would mean more refugees heading to Europe and more moderates turning to extremism. "If we go and they fail, it would be catastrophe for Syrian society and it would be the world that pays the price." He said there were still disagreements with the United Nations and the Syrian government over the agenda of the talks, primarily the transitional governing body. A senior Western diplomat also said the differences among regional and international actors as well as rivalries among opposition groups was playing into Syrian government hands. "In December 2013 (former negotiator) Lakhdar Brahimi said he was obliged to show something was being done when all sides were not ready for talks. I fear that two years later we will reach the same conclusion. I regret it, but for me I have already seen this happen," the diplomat said. (Reporting By John Irish and Marine Pennetier; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Ralph Boulton) By Suzannah Gonzales (Reuters) - Teachers calling in sick to protest deteriorating school conditions and other issues closed about two-thirds of the Detroit Public Schools on Monday, school district and union officials said. Sixty-four of the district's 97 schools were closed on Monday morning, Detroit Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said. Roughly 46,300 students are enrolled in district schools. The school district is drowning under $3.5 billion of debt and needs to be rescued by the state of Michigan, according to a report released on Wednesday by Citizens Research Council of Michigan, a nonprofit public affairs group. The district has been under state oversight since 2009, but continues to struggle financially due to falling enrollment and hefty pension and debt obligations. Darnell Earley, emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools, has been meeting with the governor's administration and legislators, the district said on Facebook. The city of Detroit exited the biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy in December 2014, but Earley and other officials have said that, unlike Detroit, a bankruptcy by the school system would be harmful because it would shift liabilities onto the state and potentially other local governments. Ivy Bailey, interim president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers said in statements that teachers are being blamed rather than given assistance to help children. She criticized the district's emergency manager for failing to fix the district's crumbling infrastructure, including too many students per class, mold in the classrooms and the disappearance of electives like art and music. "The level of frustration has come to a head," Bailey said. "That frustration has led to the recent sick outs for which teachers are now being criticized." In a call to teachers, Bailey said the sick-outs are being viewed as wildcat strikes and the union needs to be united. She said teachers may have to do a district-wide strike, but an authorization vote is needed first. Story continues Low teacher pay and a teacher shortage are issues, but the focus of Monday's sick-out is the "deplorable conditions of the schools," Bailey told Reuters, saying some schools have rats and crumbling walls. School officials anticipate reopening the schools on Tuesday. "We're hoping that teachers wouldn't keep students out of the classroom more than one day for a protest," Zdrodowski said. Two schools were also closed on Thursday due to teacher absences, the district said on Facebook. (Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Editing by Ben Klayman and Alistair Bell) By Ju-min Park, Jee Heun Kahng and Arshad Mohammed SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea are discussing deploying more U.S. "strategic assets" to the region after North Korea's atomic test last week but not restoring U.S. nuclear arms to the South, a U.S. official said on Monday. North Korea said it tested a hydrogen bomb on Wednesday, displeasing China, its main ally, and the United States, which said it believed the blast was an ordinary atomic test rather than a much more powerful hydrogen bomb. In a show of force and support for allies in the region following North Korea's nuclear test, its fourth since 2006, the United States on Sunday sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber based in Guam on a flight over South Korea. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, said the United States was bringing the situation to the brink of war. South Korean media said the United States may send to South Korea B-2 bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and F-22 stealth fighter jets. A South Koran defense ministry spokesman declined to give details. "The United States and South Korea are continuously and closely having discussions on additional deployment of strategic assets," the spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said. In Washington, the U.S. official said they were discussing deploying "the whole range" of such assets but this meant such things as nuclear-capable bombers rather than restoring U.S. nuclear weapons to South Korea for the first time in about a quarter century. Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush decided in 1991 to remove U.S. nuclear weapons from South Korea. "It could quickly escalate into an arms race, a very dangerous arms race, in the region," said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Asked if such a step might spur North Korea to move more aggressively on its atomic weapons program, the official replied: "That's a distinct possibility." Putting U.S. nuclear arms back in South Korea, he said, "would embolden the North Korean leadership to be more committed to pursuing their (weapons of mass destruction) capabilities and in fact it would give them a very convenient excuse to do so." China called for all sides to avoid raising tensions. "We hope all parties can maintain restraint, proceed cautiously, and avoid successively escalating tensions," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei when asked about the U.S. B-52 flight. 'HIGHEST LEVEL READINESS' The chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff warned that North Korea was likely to carry out further "sudden provocations", a South Korean defense ministry official said. The commander of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea, General Curtis Scaparrotti, urged them to be vigilant. On the diplomatic front, South Korea said its chief nuclear negotiator planned to meet his U.S. and Japanese counterparts on Wednesday to discuss a response to North Korea, and the next day, he would meet China's nuclear envoy in Beijing. South Korea and Japan used a military hotline for the first time after North Korea's test, South Korea's defense ministry said, in a sign the North is pushing the two old rivals closer together. South Korea also said it would restrict access to the jointly run Kaesong industrial complex just north of the heavily militarized inter-Korean border to the "minimum necessary level" from Tuesday. The complex, where South Korean factories employ North Korean workers, is an important source of revenue for the impoverished North. (Additional reporting by Michael Martina in BEIJING; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel and Lisa Shumaker) By Rania El Gamal and Maha El Dahan ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates moved to quash talk of a potential emergency meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Nigeria's oil minister said on Tuesday a "couple" of members had requested a gathering. Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped towards $30 a barrel to a near 12-year low before rising slightly. They have shed almost three-quarters of their value since mid-2014. Such market conditions supported an emergency meeting to review whether OPEC should change strategy, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Abu Dhabi. However, UAE Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui later told the same conference the current OPEC strategy was working, adding that time was needed to allow this to happen -- perhaps between one and 1-1/2 years. "I'm not convinced OPEC alone can change or can solely unilaterally change this strategy just because we have seen a low in the market," Mazroui said. Mazroui added that while the first half of 2016 would be "tough" for the oil market, there would be a gradual recovery later in the year, aided by an expected drop in non-OPEC production. Indeed, OPEC has no plan to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the drop in oil prices before its next scheduled gathering in June, two OPEC delegates said on Tuesday. OPEC's strategy of maintaining production levels, instead of reducing supply to allow prices to recover, has been aimed at defending market share at the expense of higher-cost producers such as those in the U.S. shale sector. The supply glut is likely to be exacerbated in 2016 by the return of Iranian supply to the market, once Western sanctions have been lifted. "I think all the members including Iran have the right to increase their production. I don't think we are going to restrict anyone," Mazroui said. Such prospects have led oil analysts to downgrade their forecasts in recent days, with Standard Chartered saying prices could drop to $10 a barrel. The likelihood of a meeting taking place will hinge on the attitude of OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, which has been at the vanguard of resistance to a production cut. "Saudi Arabia has never held the position that it does not want to talk," Kachikwu said. "In fact, it was very supportive of a meeting before June, at the time when we held the December meeting, if (there was a) consensus call for it." (Writing by David French; Editing by Jason Neely and Dale Hudson) Male Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are seen in this picture. Zika virus is among the viruses spead by the species.REUTERS/Ma Qiang/Southern Metropolis Daily (Reuters) (Reuters) - A traveler who recently returned to the Houston area from El Salvador has a confirmed case of Zika, a virus borne by mosquitoes, health officials in Harris County, Texas, said on Tuesday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control said it has confirmed 22 cases of the disease among returning U.S. travelers since it was first reported in 2007, and is still receiving specimens for testing from travelers who recently became ill. There is no indication that mosquitoes in the continental United States are spreading Zika. But in December Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, confirmed the first locally acquired case of Zika virus in a person who had not traveled outside the island. The Zika virus has gained attention recently because Brazil is investigating a possible link between the infection and cases of infants born with microcephaly, abnormally small head size associated with incomplete brain development, the CDC said. Harris County health officials said they were urging travelers to take protective measures against mosquitoes, such as netting and repellent, if they travel to areas where the infection is present. Zika virus outbreaks have occurred in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, and have been reported in some countries in the Americas, the CDC said. It is transmitted by Aedes species mosquitoes, which also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses and are common in Texas, Florida and elsewhere in the United States. Zika is usually a mild illness with fever, rash and joint pain. There is no preventive vaccine, according to the CDC. (Reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler and Matthew Lewis) News State of Union Less Fiery, More Forward-Looking President Barack Obama used his eighth and final State of the Union address to remind Congress and the viewing American public that he would continue his "fight" this year to implement free community college "for every responsible student." He also gave a plug for a major success of his administration: a record-setting number of high school graduations. That has risen by seven percent, from 75 percent when he came into office in 2009 to 82 percent for the 2013-2014 school year. But other than brief references to an increase in early childhood education, a cut in how much student borrowers need to pay each year on their loans, and boosts in the number of graduates in STEM fields, the speech emphasized other aspects of his two terms in office and his hopes for the future. The pitch for free college first surfaced in last year's State of the Union, when the president cited new programs in Tennessee and Chicago. Tennessee became the first state to try such an initiative, which promised free community or technical college scholarships to graduating high school seniors in exchange for a day's worth of community service, a commitment to meet with mentors before the start of each semester, and maintenance of a 2.0 grade point average. Tennessee Promise, as the program is called, drew more than 35,000 applications during 2014-2015, its first year of operation. Chicago's City Colleges kicked off a similar program last fall, when it opened the Chicago STAR Scholarship, promising a tuition-free education to graduates with a 3.0 GPA who tested "completion-ready" in math and English. Compared to Obama's previous State of the Union addresses, this one was fairly mute on the topic of education. In 2009, for example, the president's first address to the Joint Session of Congress promised reform in multiple areas: new incentives for teacher performance, "innovative" programs to help schools close achievement gaps, offering up support to charter schools and challenging Americans personally to "commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training." His stated goal at that time: "By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world." Eight years later, the country is seeing progress, but the goal is elusive. According to the latest ranking by the international OECD, South Korea leads all countries as of 2013, with 67 percent of the population in possession of some form of higher education, compared to 44 percent for the United States. The State of the Union in 2010 saw Obama pressing Congress to enact limits on how much students would be required to pay toward loans upon graduation. By 2014 the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act addressed that by giving students who enrolled in 2014 or later a choice of limiting their payments to 10 percent of income (down from a stipulated 15 percent) or seeing their debts forgiven after 20 years (down from 25 years) or after 10 years in certain public service careers such as teaching and nursing. A year later the same terms were offered to an expanded pool of borrowers." By 2011 the president used his speech to introduce a new phrase to the American public: "Race to the Top." This competition, as it was termed, originally announced in mid-2009, introduced extra funding as a way to lure states into raising their teaching and learning standards. With the recent enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which hands states more control over education reform efforts, the steam behind the incentive program is dissipating quickly. This was the year when Obama also invited young people to become teachers and encouraged Congress to undertake immigration reform to keep U.S.-born children of undocumented workers "hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools" from being deported. Both of those efforts continue to be works in progress. By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli aircraft attacked a group of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday who the military said planned to detonate a bomb at the border with Israel, and a Palestinian militant faction said one of its men was killed. Local residents in the Hamas Islamist-run enclave said the incident occurred on a beach about 1 km (half a mile) from the Israeli-built border fence in the northern part of the territory. In a statement, the Israeli military said an aircraft "targeted a terror cell" plotting to detonate an explosive device along the Israeli-patrolled frontier. Israel's Shin Bet security service was involved, the statement said, indicating the strike was launched on the basis of intelligence information about an imminent Palestinian attack. Palestinian hospital officials said a 26-year-old man was killed. Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades, an armed wing of the Fatah movement, identified him as one of its members. Fatah is a rival of Hamas, which wrested control of the Gaza Strip from the mainstream Palestinian group in fighting in 2007. But some al-Aqsa squads are still active in the enclave - while largely abiding by a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Over the past few months, the focus of Israeli-Palestinian violence has largely shifted from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel, where Palestinians have carried out stabbings, car rammings and shootings that have killed 24 Israelis and one U.S. citizen. Since Oct. 1 Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 143 Palestinians, 91 of whom authorities described as assailants. Most others have been killed in clashes with security forces. After Wednesday's air strike, Israeli farmers were cautioned by the military to keep away from the Gaza border fence and of possible retaliatory fire from the enclave, local residents told Israel Radio. Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza fought a seven-week war in 2014. (Additional reeporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Dominic Evans) By Philip Blenkinsop and Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will consult industry and its trade partners in response to Beijing's demand that trade barriers against it be relaxed, opening a politically charged debate on Wednesday that will shape future ties with China. The European Union's 28 commissioners discussed for the first time the issue of granting China "market economy status" from December, which Beijing says is its right 15 years after it joined the World Trade Organisation. That status would make it harder for Europe to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods sold at knock-down prices, changing the criteria for determining a fair price. "This issue has to be looked at from all important angles given the subject's importance for international trade and also for the EU's economy," Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said after the commissioners' meeting. "If there are measures to be taken related to this issue then, of course, these individual measures will have to be assessed for impact. Those are the rules, but I can't say yet what those measures will be." In a statement, the Commission said any decision would have an impact on the European economy, but gave no details. The EU is China's biggest trade partner, and China is second only to the United States for the EU. Chinese imports to the EU were worth 302 billion euros ($330 billion) in 2014, more than triple their level at the start of the century. The EU executive, which handles trade issues on behalf of EU governments, said it would fully involve European industry and liaise closely with its biggest trade partners on the issue, acknowledging that would take some time. The bloc is now in a third year of talks with the United States on a free-trade deal. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said Washington was consulting with Brussels on the matter but that any change in China's European trade status was ultimately up to the EU. Story continues "On the market economy status, we are not encouraging the EU to take any particular position. We've not made any decision ourselves on any particular position," Froman told a trade forum held by the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. Froman said U.S. officials were interested in learning more about the EU's perspective on China's evolution toward a market economy. JOB LOSSES The bloc's decision will be taken with EU governments and the European Parliament. Officials have told Reuters one compromise might be to agree on temporary protection against cheaper Chinese exports to protect EU industry. The steel industry in particular has been a fierce opponent of any loosening of trade barriers against China. The industry association Eurofer, which has lodged a series of complaints against China, said Chinese steel production over capacity was some 400 million tonnes, more than twice the total EU steel production of 170 million tonnes. Chinese steel imports into the EU have doubled in the past 18 months, with prices falling by 40 percent, it said. Aegis Europe, a group of about 30 European manufacturing sectors, including metals, chemicals, ceramics and textiles, said Beijing's aggressively export-led economy encouraged its enterprises to dump on foreign markets. Granting market economy status to China would have a huge negative impact on European industry, it said, citing a study saying that to do so would put 1.7 million to 3.5 million European jobs at risk. (Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Larry King and Peter Cooney) ted cruz donald trump The shadow rivalry between real-estate mogul Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) broke out into the open this week, with the two presidential candidates taking their sharpest jabs yet at each other. On Wednesday morning, Trump even declared "there is no way that Ted Cruz can continue running in the Republican primary" because of the senator's birthplace in Canada. "Is he allowed to run for president? If he wins, is he allowed to do it?" the Republican front-runner mused at a campaign rally the day before in Cedar Falls, Iowa. More than any other candidate, Cruz has painstakingly avoided criticizing Trump. But that has started to change. Throughout the day Tuesday, Cruz dropped several new attack lines against Trump. Cruz said supporters of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were validating Trump's Canada argument because they thought the business mogul would be easier for her to dispatch in the general election. "And it may be driven by the fact that the polling right now shows Donald loses to Hillary and loses by a pretty big margin," Cruz told radio host Howie Carr. "But I beat Hillary. And I think that's got the Hillary folks a little bit concerned. And so they're doing everything they can to amplify Donald's attacks." Trump has repeatedly questioned Cruz's eligibility to be president, though most legal experts believe the senator's American mother means he meets the constitutional requirement that presidents be "natural-born" citizens. Cruz also told Carr that Trump "embodies New York values." That came after apparent supporters of Cruz ran a poll in Iowa testing almost the exact same attack line against Trump, according to a Tuesday RealClearPolitics report. Fox News host Megyn Kelly confronted Cruz about that reported message-testing poll during her interview with Cruz on Tuesday evening. Cruz suggested that he had no knowledge of the poll. Story continues "I have no idea what calls are made to whom," he said. "It sounds like you may have had something to do with that message-testing, senator," Kelly said. Cruz deflected by saying only that his surge in the Republican primary had apparently "rattled" Trump. "More and more observers are saying this is coming down to a two-man race between Donald and me," Cruz told Kelly. "And what we're seeing is conservatives are uniting behind our campaign, both in Iowa and New Hampshire, and all across the country. And that seems to have really rattled Donald. He's begun now every speech for a week with extended attacks directed at me." Cruz said he wouldn't "reciprocate" Trump's attacks, but he then noted yet again that Trump had been citing a prominent left-leaning legal scholar to question Cruz's eligibility. "It starts to make you wonder, 'Gosh, why are Hillary Clinton's supporters backing Donald Trump's attacks?'" Cruz asked. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Hillary, in the national polling, beats Donald Trump badly. But I'm beating Hillary in the national polling." Trump then appeared to dispute Cruz's claim about the national polls: Numerous polls have me beating Hillary Clinton. In a race with her, voter turnout will be the highest in U.S. history-I get most new voters! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 In another Tuesday interview, with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Cruz also suggested that Trump didn't have much knowledge of US nuclear policy. Cruz was alluding to last month's debate, in which Trump appeared to dodge a question about the US system, or triad, of basing nuclear weapons on land, aircraft, and submarines. "It is certainly relevant to voters," Cruz told Hewitt of the nuclear triad. "Does a potential commander-in-chief know what the nuclear triad is, much less is he or she prepared and able to strengthen it and keep this country safe?" Cruz further took an apparent shot at Trump for saying last summer that he got military advice from "the shows." Cruz said it was also relevant for voters to consider know how to defeat terrorism, "not just based on what's said on Sunday shows on TV, but actually understanding the nature of the threat." For his part, Trump has been far more aggressive in dishing out attacks at Cruz. At rallies, Trump has repeatedly brought up Cruz's Cuban ancestry and accused him of being too close to the oil industry. And almost every day since last week, Trump has questioned Cruz's eligibility to serve as president: Sadly, there is no way that Ted Cruz can continue running in the Republican Primary unless he can erase doubt on eligibility. Dems will sue! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 Just found out that @tedcruz is spending a fortune on Iowa push polls negative to me. Not nice, but OK! New polls are great. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 Such a serious problem for Ted & the GOP. Great doubt, Dems will sue! Let's all work together to solve this problem. https://t.co/cNl6dmFb6q Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2016 Constitutional law expert #Laurence Tribe of Harvard says "wrong to say it (natural born citizen) is a settled matter-it isn't settled). Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2016 NOW WATCH: Trump received some unexpected laughs on The Tonight Show when he said one of his greatest strengths was bringing people together More From Business Insider CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 2015 University Business Incubator World Rankings were announced yesterday, with Innovate Calgary earning the ranking of sixth in the world. This world ranking comes on the heels of the North American UBI index, which ranked Innovate Calgary third among its North American peers. "To have achieved this ranking is a testament to the world-class innovation in Calgary," says Peter Garrett, president, Innovate Calgary. "At Innovate Calgary we champion the value creation and economic development that results from bringing researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors together. Working in partnership with the University of Calgary, home to some amazing researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs, we have achieved this level of success. We are excited about the impact we have made but we continue to look toward further growth." The 2015 UBI World Rankings assessed over 1270 incubators and reviewed a final 500 applicants to determine the rankings. For Innovate Calgary these rankings showcase the work being done through its university and incubation programs to commercialize research across all sectors. Innovate Calgary has been working with the UofC for over 30 years. This historic relationship has had tremendous economic impact with 71 spinout companies developed, 758 issued patents, and 469 technologies with executed licenses and options in more than 24 countries. In 2015, Innovate Calgary, working with UofC innovators, has created seven spinout companies, had over 100 students participate in entrepreneurial skill development programs, assessed 92 disclosures, had nine issued patents, and finalized 17 commercialization agreements in four countries. Innovate Calgary also has an impactful relationship with community innovators, with 19 licencing and option agreements and 43 issued patents. In the past five years clients of the Innovate Calgary incubation program have attracted $300M USD in investment. In 2015 nearly 400 community startups and entrepreneurs have been supported through Innovate Calgary programs and services. The UBI Global is a thought leader in performance analysis of business incubation around the world. They help business incubators and business accelerators become more efficient and competitive through a comprehensive benchmark where more than 400 incubation programs in over 70 countries participate. "The importance of discovering and identifying these top performing incubators is underlined by our studies, which show that top benchmarked incubators provide almost half of the total economic impact within the incubation market" says UBI Global ceo and co-founder, Ali Amin. "Highlighting some of their best practices will help universities, governments, incubation agencies and corporations to improve the incubators they support." A Top University Business Incubator is an incubator managed or formally affiliated with a university, that provide better value for the ecosystem and their startup clients than their regional or global peers. They stand out from average-performing incubators with better outcomes on economy enhancement, access to funds and post incubation performance indicators. The 2015 UBI World Rankings have set a benchmark for Innovate Calgary's commercialization and incubation goals and efforts. About Innovate Calgary As a leading technology transfer and commercialization centre, Innovate Calgary works closely with startups, entrepreneurs, researchers and investors from the advanced tech sector to take innovation and ideas to the next stage of growth. Innovate Calgary has been successfully contributing to the growth and acceleration of the advanced technology sector for more than 30 years. Our integrated approach to commercialization focuses on facilitating connections among stakeholders and offering a comprehensive range of programs and services to achieve success. OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The first of a six-coin series released in 2016, Daniel in the Lion's Den depicts God's faithful servant Daniel surviving a night with bloodthirsty lions engraved in 2 oz of .999 fine Silver. As revealed in chapter 6 of Daniel in the Christian Bible, jealous men observed Daniel in an illegal act prayer. Obliged to follow the law and punish any man petitioning any God or man beside the throne, the king guiltily had Daniel cast into the lion's den. When the king returned the next morning, he found Daniel miraculously unharmed an angel of God had protected him. The scene, as depicted in Gustave Dore's 1860s wood engraving, "Daniel in the Den of Lions," is the inspiration for the U.S.-based Scottsdale Mint's latest Silver coin. With deliberate detail, the coin features Daniel safe among several fierce but peaceful lions. "The Daniel in the Lion's Den coin follows the original series' theme of hope and mercy triumphing over darkness," APMEX Vice President of Merchandising Andrew Martineau said. "Appropriately enough, a portion of proceeds from purchases of this series will support a faith-based human rights organization, the International Justice Mission (IJM). The non-profit operates all over the world to combat grave injustices, including brutality and illegal detention, like the coin illustrates." With a limited mintage of 1,499 coins, Daniel in The Lion's is a collector's item. Each coin comes with a certificate of authenticity telling the story of the coin, its minting specifications and a unique serial number that matches the laser-etched number on the coin. The certificate also features Dore's artwork the design was based off. The Scottsdale Mint issues the coin by the authority of the island of Niue, where it is legal tender. About APMEX, Inc. For more than 15 years, APMEX has been one of the nation's largest Precious Metals e-retailers. Boasting over $6.5 billion in transactions, APMEX was recently ranked the #1 Specialty E-Retailer and #46 out of 500 e-retailers by Internet Retailer Magazine. APMEX has the largest selection of bullion and numismatic items provided by a retailer, boasting more than 10,000 products. Product offerings include all U.S. Mint bullion such as Gold, Silver and Platinum American Eagle coins. APMEX also sells products from leading mints around the world including The Royal Mint, Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint and many others. APMEX is a member of the American Numismatic Association, the International Precious Metals Institute and the Industry Council for Tangible Assets. For additional information, visit www.APMEX.com or call (800) 375-9006. A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=38462 As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently issued an order to send as many workers as possible abroad to earn hard currency, never mind the risk of defections, according to a South Korean government source. This is a relatively unconventional position given that the North Korean regime has tried to limit the number of workers abroad to prevent "contamination" by foreign influences. The source said North Korea has dispatched over 30,000 workers to some 40 countries around the world and plans to send out another 10,000 this year. "The reason is that sanctions by the international community have dried up North Korea's sources of cash," the source added. The North Korean workers abroad make over US$100 million a year in foreign currency. The monthly salary of these workers varies from US$200 to $1,000 depending on region and industry, but they get only 10 to 20 percent of the salary while the regime takes the rest. The share that goes to the regime, which is handled by a Workers Party department known as Room 39, is billed as party loyalty funds, tax, insurance, and accommodation. Room 39 manages Kim's funds and directs businesses earning foreign currency through 17 overseas offices and 100 trade firms under its roof. During Kim Jong-il's reign, it made an average of $300-400 million a year. About $100 million came from workers' salaries, $100-200 million from export of weapons, trade in forged currency and drugs, and another $100 million from economic cooperation with South Korea. But when package tours to Mt. Kumgang for South Koreans came to a halt in July 2008, it lost a steady source of some $50 million a year. North Korea's arms export industry suffered hugely from sanctions imposed by the international community after its nuclear and missile tests in 2009, and the fatal blow came when South Korea halted all trade after the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in 2009. Room 39's annual income has reportedly dropped to $200 million. A diplomatic source said, "Kim Jong-un must be desperate for money because he has to buy gifts and throw parties to ensure the loyalty of his inner circle. North Korea has no other choice but to increase the number of workers overseas." Dispatch of additional 10,000 workers is expected to boost Kim Jong-un's funds to $300 million a year. Foreign tourists are said to be among those killed and injured in a suicide attack in Istanbul's main tourism district. Turkish officials say at least 10 people -- nine of them Germans -- were killed and 15 others injured. Police and ambulances were quickly on the scene of the blast. The powerful explosion heard across much of the city struck late morning in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district the main tourism quarter of the city. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack. "Turkey is a top target for all terrorist groups in the region," he said, adding that "Turkey is fighting against all of them equally." Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the attack is believed to have been carried out by Islamic State. Speaking after the an emergency security meeting he pledged to fight the militant group until it no longer "remains a threat" to Turkey or the world. "Our fight against Daesh (an arabic acronym for Islamic State) that carried out this attack will continue with determination. We will not take a step back in our fight against Daesh, our resolve will continue as in our fight against all terrorist organizations," he said. Known details of the attack were given a news conference following the emergency meeting of senior ministers and intelligence chiefs. The bomber was identified as a 28-year-old described as of Syrian origin, and most of those killed and injured were foreign nationals. Turkey's state-run news agency said Davutoglu spoke on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express his condolences. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Merkel condemned the attack, saying that the "international terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face." North Korea on Tuesday started its own propaganda broadcasts across the border with South Korea blaring out messages criticizing South Korea. The move comes in retaliation for South Korean broadcasts restarted last week in response to the North's nuclear test. A senior Defense Ministry official here on Tuesday said North Korea started loudspeaker broadcasts at around a dozen locations along the front line. But the loudspeakers only have a range of 1 to 3 km, so the propaganda message is barely audible on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone. An official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "The broadcasts sound like someone muttering so we can only tell the gender of the announcer." Either the loudspeakers are outdated or the North does not have enough electricity to crank them up to full volume. "They seem to be chiefly aimed at drowning out the South Korean broadcasts so that North Koreans can't listen to them," the official said. The messages focus on praising and pledging loyalty to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, lauding the North's purported hydrogen bomb test and criticizing President Park Geun-hye. Woking (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British police were on Wednesday accused of orchestrating a cover-up over their investigation into the death of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny, who it is claimed may have been poisoned. Businessman Perepilichny, 44, died near his home in 2012 in the county of Surrey, southwest of London, while out running, with police ruling that he died of natural causes. The cover-up allegations centre on Surrey Police's refusal to hand over documents on the case to legal representatives, claiming that dozens of them qualify for "public interest immunity (PII)". PIIs are granted to documents that if disclosed could put national security at risk, meaning they could only be heard in a closed hearing. Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, representing Hermitage Capital -- the company that Perepilichny was helping to uncover a A150 million ($215 million, 200 million euro) Russian money laundering ring -- told a pre-inquest hearing into the death that Surrey Police had shown "years of disrespect" and were in contempt of court. Surrey Police representative Charlotte Ventham told Woking Coroner's Court that the force "very firmly rebutted and refuted" claims of a cover-up and unlawful procedure. Coroner Richard Travers has scheduled a full inquest for February 29, when he will decide whether to consider foul play as a possible cause of death. In English law, inquests are held to examine suspected violent, unnatural or unexplained deaths. They aim to determine the place and time of death as well as how the deceased came by their death, but do not apportion blame. Legal and General, the law firm with which Perepilichny had a life insurance policy, have claimed that chemicals found in his stomach suggest he may have ingested the poison gelsemium, and that this is sometimes used by Chinese and Russian assassins. Moscow (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday detained a senior prison service official on suspicion of stealing a 50-kilometre (31 mile) stretch of public road, investigators said. Alexander Protopopov oversaw the dismantling of a concrete highway and sold off the slabs as prison service chief in the far northern Komi region, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. The road, which was made up of over 7,000 reinforced concrete slabs, was "dismantled and driven away" over the period of more than a year, between 2014 and 2015. The concrete slabs were subsequently used by a commercial company which also sold them on for a profit, investigators said. Protopopov, now acting deputy chief of the national prison service, faces charges of misappropriating of state property while using his official position, which could lead to 10 years in jail. While heading Komi region's prison service from 2010 to 2015, Protopopov won awards, including a medal for creating "spiritual unity," according to the prison service's website. Other prison service officials participated in the scheme, pretending to dispose of waste, with one arrested so far, prosecutors said earlier. Investigators said the scheme had cost the Russian Federation over six million rubles ($79,000/73,000 euros). Road construction is one of the most corrupt sectors in Russia, with costs much higher than on comparable projects in other countries. The construction of a mountain road for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games cost about $8 billion, with Russian media claiming it would cost the same to slather the 48-kilometre stretch with black caviar. By Jim Finkle MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. government cyber security official warned that authorities have seen an increase in attacks that penetrate industrial control system networks over the past year, and said they are vulnerable because they are exposed to the Internet. Industrial control systems are computers that control operations of industrial processes, from energy plants and steel mills to cookie factories and breweries. We see more and more that are gaining access to that control system layer," said Marty Edwards, who runs the Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT. ICS-CERT helps U.S. firms investigate suspected cyber attacks on industrial control systems as well as corporate networks. Interest in critical infrastructure security has surged since late last month when Ukraine authorities blamed a power outage on a cyber attack from Russia, which would make it the first known power outage caused by a cyber attack. Experts attending the S4 conference of some 300 critical infrastructure security specialists in Miami said the incident has caused U.S. firms to ask whether their systems are vulnerable to similar incidents. Edwards said he believed the increase in attacks was mainly because more control systems are directly connected to the Internet. I am very dismayed at the accessibility of some of these networks... they are just hanging right off the tubes," he said in an on-stage interview with conference organizer Dale Peterson. Edwards did not say whether those attacks had caused any service disruptions or threatened public safety. Sean McBride, a critical infrastructure analyst with iSight Partners who attended the talk, said the increase may reflect more publicity in recent years over risks over cyber attacks, which prompted operators to find more infections. McBride said he could not say if the increase was troubling because he did not know the intent of the attackers. Story continues Edwards and a DHS spokesman declined to elaborate on his comments. ICS-CERT said in an alert this week that it had identified malware used in the attack in Ukraine as BlackEnergy 3, a variant of malware that the agency said in 2014 had infected some U.S. critical infrastructure operators. A DHS official said on Tuesday that government investigators have not confirmed whether the BlackEnergy malware caused the Ukraine incident. "At this time there is no definitive evidence linking the power outage in Ukraine with the presence of the malware," said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Edwards did not discuss the Ukraine attack during his talk. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Miami; Editing by Leslie Adler) Business sentiment for the first quarter of this year fell to a three-year low due to the slowing economy here and in China. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Tuesday that the Business Survey Index for the quarter stood at 81 points, six points down from the previous quarter and the lowest since the first quarter of 2013. It surveyed 2,400 manufacturing businesses nationwide in November and December last year. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists. When asked about what the government should focus on to revitalize the economy, 38.2 percent said "boosting domestic consumption," followed by "easing regulations" (21 percent), "nurturing innovative businesses" (19.4 percent), "labor reform" (13.7 percent) and "financial reform" (5.6 percent). A bar owner in Austria said Wednesday she had banned "all asylum-seekers" after the alleged harrassment of guests, sparking strong criticism from human rights groups. Karin Siebrecht-Janisch, who runs Charly's Bar in the picturesque spa town of Bad Ischl in Upper Austria state, said she took the decision after male migrants had repeatedly harassed her female clientele in recent months. Things escalated on New Year's Eve when "several asylum-seekers" groped a waitress, according to Siebrecht-Janisch. "After that I had enough and I decided to ban them all until we find the culprits. I need to protect my guests and my family," she told AFP. Siebrecht-Janisch said she had also hired bouncers and introduced a two-euro door charge, which she expected "migrants aren't able to pay". However, police in Bad Ischl said they had so far not received any complaints about the 120 asylum-seekers currently living in a local refugee centre. "We've often been called to Charly's for incidents, when there were fights or girls lying around drunk, but not anything involving refugees," a police spokesperson told Die Presse newspaper. Austria has become a major transit country for the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees trying to enter the European Union, with some 1,000-2,000 arriving in Upper Austria on a daily basis at the moment. Although many continue on to Germany and Scandinavia, some 90,000 applied for asylum in Austria in 2015 -- one of the highest rates per capita in the 28-nation bloc. The influx has contributed to a rise in popularity for the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) and prompted tensions within the ruling centrist coalition of Chancellor Werner Faymann. Charly's first made headlines earlier this week when Siebrecht-Janisch posted a status update on Facebook announcing that her bar was now "free of asylum-seekers". Slamming the ban as racist, Austrian rights groups said it also highlighted an important loophole in Austria's legal system. "Inciting hatred against 'foreigners' is illegal, but using the term 'refugee' or 'asylum-seeker' in a discriminatory way is not an offence under current sedition laws," explained Christina Schaefer of the ZARA initiative, which provides legal support to victims of racist attacks. "We've been lobbying for ages to get this changed as it can leave people very vulnerable," she told AFP. But Siebrecht-Janisch insisted she was not being racist. "My Dutch husband is of coloured origin and so are my children. I am just trying to find those responsible and then we can talk about letting those who are innocent back inside." Foreign investment in Thailand plummeted last year, official data showed, the latest sign that the kingdom's once-vibrant economy continues to falter under prolonged military rule. Total investment applied for by foreign companies between January and November 2015 plunged 78 percent from a year earlier to 93.8 billion baht ($2.62 billion), according to figures from Thailand's state-run Board of Investment (BoI) sent to AFP late Tuesday. The figures will do little to cheer junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who seized power in a May 2014 coup vowing to restore stability but who has struggled to kickstart the country's lacklustre economy. After years of impressive growth, Thailand's economy is struggling, mired in high household debt, stuttering exports and low consumer confidence. It also faces stiff competition from increasingly attractive neighbours like Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Particularly worrying for Prime Minister Prayut is a significant drop off in investment from Japan -- historically the largest investor in Thailand by far -- which slumped 81 percent. EU investment also plunged from 86.7 billion baht in 2014 to just 2 billion baht last year. Investment from the United States was also heavily down, while Chinese investment was only down slightly. Krystal Tan, an Asia economist with Capital Economics, said the trend was indicative of deeper fissures within the Thai economy, which was among the slowest growing in the region last year. "The 2015 [FDI] figures are very weak, indicating foreign investor confidence in the economy remains fragile," she told AFP. "More broadly, Thailand's economic competitiveness is on the decline," she added. "The country continues to face significant challenges on the political front that have negative repercussions for business and investor confidence." But Somprawin Manprasert, an economics professor at Chulalongkorn University, said the drop-off was down to new investment incentives, which became effective in 2015, favouring high-tech industries. Story continues "The current flow of FDI represents 'quality' investment rather than 'quantity,'" he told AFP. "All in all, this policy should help propel Thailand to the next stage of development." Thailand has historically been a top choice for investors in Southeast Asia, offering liberal economic policies, a skilled workforce and a strategic location as the gateway to the greater Mekong region. But analysts say years of political instability, including two military coups, have hampered the country's economic potential -- often referred to locally as the "lost decade". Earlier this month the World Bank forecast that Thailand's GDP growth rate would slip from 2.5 percent in 2015 to just 2 percent this year, by far the gloomiest regional prediction. Nearby Vietnam, on the other hand, reported a record number of foreign investment in 2015 and the fastest growth rate in five years at 6.68 percent. SiS International Holdings's (SiS) new asset management arm has launched its maiden real estate private equity fund SIS Real Estate Opportunity Fund. The fund aims to give accredited investors access to undervalued properties in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. We believe that SiSAM's first real estate private equity fund holds a strong value proposition of allowing investors to gain access to real estate opportunities they may have previously missed, or that were typically only open to institutional investors, he added. An accredited investor is defined as one with an annual income of not less than S$300,000 in the past 12 months, ornet personal assets of over S$2 million. Targeting high-end residential, commercial and hospitality assets in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, SiS Real Estate Opportunity Fund aims to acquire quality, undervalued and distressed real estate assets in an opportunistic manner. In Singapore, SiSAM said it is eyeing some luxury homes in the prime Districts of 9, 10 and 11, as well as commercial and hospitality properties. The fund eyes to acquire choice distressed assets "when the time is right, and will lease or sell these properties depending on market conditions." With minimum subscription at S$200,000, the closed-end fund has a target size of S$50 million and an investment term of five years, plus two additional one-year extensions. Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories emailnikki@propertyguru.com.sg More from PropertyGuru: Analyst: Private home prices may fall up to 10% PropertyGuru acquires Ensign Media's real estate businesses A subsidiary of Spanish airline Air Europa illegally charged candidates 60 euros ($65) to apply for jobs as pilots and cabin crew, unions said Wednesday. The final interviews for 100 jobs as pilots and 150 positions as cabin crew at Air Europa Express, the airline's low-cost subsidiary, were held on Tuesday at a hotel in the Mediterranean city of Valencia, they said. "If this time they asked for 60 euros, we have no idea what they may charge the next time," said Isaac Valero, a representative of Spanish trade union, Union Sindical Obrera at Air Europa. The union received a copy at the beginning of January of an e-mail which the airline sent to candidates for jobs demanding the fee, he added. Air Europa Express began operating on Monday. The Spanish Guild of Commercial Aviation Pilots (COPAC) has filed a complaint with the local labour and social security inspectorate "because any selection process should be based on professional criteria," said COPAC spokesman Miguel Angel San Emeterio. "Any type of charge is immoral," he said. Charging to apply for a job is "illegal" because it violates the principle of non-discrimination in access to employment, he added. An Air Europa spokesman did not confirm that job candidates were charged a fee, saying only that the company was "very pleased" with the selection process for staff for its low cost subsidiary. Air Europa, owned by tourism company Globalia, is the third largest air carrier of passengers in Spain. Spain is grappling with an unemployment rate of just over 21 percent, the highest in the European Union barring Greece. The world will heave a collective sigh of relief when west Africa's Ebola epidemic is finally declared at an end after claiming more than 11,000 lives over two years. But with a cure still out of reach, and no vaccine on the market, are we better prepared for next time? Important lessons were learnt the hard way from the unprecedented devastation and suffering wrought on Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- the countries hardest hit by the outbreak which started in December 2013, say experts. Epidemiological protocols were improved. At first, many infected people were not quarantined fast enough or given the right type of care. The World Health Organization's (WHO) much-criticised reaction lag led to an overhaul of epidemic response guidelines. Deployment of medical staff, virus-blocking suits, medicines and other material is likely to happen much faster next time. "We know how to stop the spread," Liberia's chief medical officer Francis Karteh told AFP. "Liberia is no longer at risk like the way it was." The WHO is preparing to declare on Friday an official end to this outbreak, which infected more than 28,600 people and killed over 11,300. Before this epidemic, fewer than 2,500 people were known to have been killed by the virus since it was first discovered in 1976. - Lessons learnt - Karteh said local doctors learnt much from organisations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF or Doctors Without Borders), the Red Cross and the WHO, which deployed staff to help contain the epidemic. A key lesson was the need for quick, safe and hygienic burials of people who died from the virus transmitted through body fluids, and speedily tracing those who had been in contact with them. The new knowledge came in handy after Liberia -- declared Ebola-free -- had two further flare-ups, successfully stopped in their tracks. "During the first outbreak our doctors and healthcare workers were not (familiar with) the disease," said Karteh. "This is why a good number of them (more than 500) died." An ironic upside of the outbreak's massive scale is that it yielded thousands of survivors for medical research. This led to the discovery that Ebola virus can live for several months in the semen, spinal column and eye fluid of survivors -- though the implications and transmission risk are not yet clear. It was also recently found that survivors can suffer vision problems, hearing loss and joint pain for months after being declared cured. - Scramble for drugs - The scale of the outbreak, and the global scare caused when infected doctors started returning home from west Africa to Europe and the United States, provided impetus for the fast-track development of drugs. The resulting pharmaceutical scramble yielded several promising vaccine candidates. But none have yet been tested in general, non-infected populations -- the gold standard for proving efficacy. Similarly, none of the many potential treatments under investigation have so far been proven to work. Many drug studies started when the epidemic was already declining and there were no longer enough patients for clinical trials. Nevertheless, many studies have advanced to the point that testing can continue if there is another outbreak. The frontrunners are ZMapp, a cocktail of three artificial Ebola antibodies made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical in California and Avigan, an antiviral tablet developed by a subsidiary of Japan's Fujifilm Holdings. Both were given to infected medical workers, though it is not sure that their survival was due to the treatment. A lesser-known compound called GS-5734, developed by US-based Gilead Sciences, was given to a Scottish nurse hospitalised with a serious relapse months after her initial recovery. She recovered. Some treatments did not pan out. A study released last week concluded that transfusions of blood plasma from survivors -- despite sky-high expectations -- failed to significantly increase the odds of recovery. On the upside, doctors recently said a malaria drug given to Ebola patients in Liberia seemed to improve chances for survival. For now, the focus remains rapid response, speedy quarantine, and quality care -- including intravenous drip to prevent dehydration -- for those infected. "We learnt a lot during this epidemic," said Michel Van Herp of MSF. "The next epidemic will not be as dramatic." Jean-Francois Delfraissy, French immunologist, said keeping an eye on survivors, and boosting African early alert systems, were crucial to breaking the transmission chain. "Continued research into vaccines, treatments and the virus reservoir, both animal and human, is indispensible," he said. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's new parliament held its opening session on Sunday, state television reported, more than three years after a court dissolved the old Islamist-dominated chamber. The body is expected to choose a speaker on its first day back, and now has 15 days to approve hundreds of laws issued by executive decree during the period when it was suspended. Egypt's last parliament was elected in 2011-12 in the country's first free vote following a popular uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. But a court dissolved that parliament in mid-2012 after ruling that the election laws at the time were unconstitutional. A year later, Mubarak's elected successor, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was himself overthrown by the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The new parliament, which will be dominated by an alliance loyal to now President Sisi, has 568 elected members plus another 28 appointed directly by him. The new assembly was chosen in elections that critics said were undermined by a security crackdown on Islamist and other opposition groups. (Reporting by Mostafa Hashem; Writing by Eric Knecht) By Rafiqul Islam DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh's plan to build a dam on the Ganges River to ease water shortages in its southwest coastal region hangs in the balance as neighbouring India has yet to accept the plan. Bangladesh started work on the proposed Ganges Barrage Project during the tenure of the previous ruling Awami League government in the late 1990s. The country has already completed a feasibility study and the design for the proposed 2.1 kilometre-long dam, due to be constructed at Pangsha in Rajbari district, about 100 km downstream from the Farakka Barrage in Indias West Bengal state. The Ganges, known as the Padma River in Bangladesh, is one of the major sources of surface water in the southwest of the country. Water scarcity and water salinity - made worse by climate change - are common problems in the region, which is why Bangladesh has given the barrage project top priority. Experts say salinity is on the rise in the southwest due to sea-level rise from global warning. The proposed dam would release water through river channels to help dilute the salt levels. However, experts say it will be difficult to push forward with the project in the absence of support from India. INDIAN OBJECTIONS New Delhi sent a letter to the Bangladesh government in early 2015 saying Indian technical experts had evaluated project documents sent by Dhaka and were concerned the dam could cause flooding in India. The Ganges flows out of India on flat terrain from West Bengal. India in the letter predicted that even a slight increase in the rivers water level would cause huge submergence in areas of India bordering Bangladesh. New Delhi asked Dhaka to send the full feasibility study, including scientific modelling, so it could be sure there would be no increase in water levels on Indian territory. Bangladesh Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud told the Thomson Reuters Foundation all the documents requested by India were sent last April, but New Delhi had yet to respond. During a visit to India in November, Mahmud met his Indian counterpart, Uma Bharati, who assured him of a response soon. It will be a hard task for Bangladesh to implement the large dam alone, which is why it has sought cooperation from India, experts say. The two countries are currently locked in a range of political squabbles over water, including over how to share the waters of the Teesta, another cross-boundary river. India may halt the (Ganges) project, showing technical issues that it (says) will pose adverse impacts on Indian territory which is why Bangladesh has sought cooperation from India on the project, said Delwar Hossain, an international relations professor at Dhaka University. However, any project in a downstream country such as Bangladesh has little possibility to cause harm to upstream countries, Hossain said. He said Bangladesh should push ahead to quickly answer any technical questions India raises. At a meeting with the outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh in October, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emphasised the importance of engaging India in the dam project. CHINESE BACKING? According to the feasibility study, around $4 billion will be required to implement the project over a seven-year period, but the government has yet to find the funds. Minister Mahmud said the cost of the barrage project would be recovered within five years through increased agricultural and fish production in the Ganges-dependent area, as well as the 113 megawatts of hydropower the project is expected to generate. A Chinese firm, Hydrochina Corporation, has expressed interest in building the dam, and has already held several meetings with Bangladeshs Water Resources Ministry to discuss financing for the project. According to Hydrochina Corporation officials, the Chinese government is willing to provide $20 billion in concessional loans to South Asian nations over the next five years. We are keen to implement the proposed Ganges Barrage Project. Funding could be managed with government-to-government negotiations, said Zhao Yang, business development manager for Hydrochina Corporation. The Ganges Barrage would create a reservoir 165 km long, covering 62,500 hectares and with a capacity of some 2.9 billion cubic litres of water. According to the minister, the water would be diverted to 26 districts through 123 regional rivers. Building the dam would alleviate water shortages and contamination of water supplies in southwest Bangladesh, experts say. The reservoirs water would be used throughout the year, regulated by water control structures on rivers, to meet demand for irrigation, fisheries, navigation and salinity control. Acting project director Rowshan Ali Khan said the release of water from the reservoir through the Ganges basin river system would help manage siltation problems in river channels and facilitate drainage. It would also preserve biodiversity and forest resources in the Sundarbans, the worlds largest mangrove forest, he added. (Reporting by Rafiqul Islam; editing by Laurie Goering and Megan Rowling :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and corruption. Visit www.trust.org/climate) By Aung Hla Tun and Antoni Slodkowski NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - When Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi spoke warmly on a recent radio show about a critical meeting that followed her landslide election victory, she was referring to talks with the very man who had detained her for 15 years. Listeners might have been surprised by the Nobel peace laureate's gentle tone towards Than Shwe, former head of the junta that ruled Myanmar for nearly half a century. But it was just one of several conciliatory gestures Suu Kyi has made towards her one-time enemies since the Nov. 8 poll, underlining her transformation from persecuted democracy icon to pragmatic politician. Her readiness to forge alliances with even those she once reviled could augur well for Myanmar, no longer a global pariah but still a country fraught with political risk as Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and the military prepare to share power. "We should think of working for the emergence of a brighter future based on the present situation, instead of thinking why we didn't do it in the past," Suu Kyi said after meeting Than Shwe, whose regime kept her locked up in her lakeside Yangon home and prevented her dying British husband from visiting Myanmar. In the month since her election triumph, the 70-year-old Suu Kyi has also held talks - cordial, according to media reports - with President Thein Sein, a former military commander, and armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing. In other mollifying moves, she has called on her supporters to restrain their victory celebrations and warned NLD lawmakers not to call themselves "winners" in media interviews. "It's about smoothening the way," said analyst Richard Horsey, a former senior United Nations official in Myanmar. "It's about building relationships and political positioning, which is very important." The events suggest that Suu Kyi, who often comes across as stern and uncompromising, is settling into realpolitik. The army's powers have not substantially diminished since a shift to semi-civilian rule in 2011: Under the constitution, it is guaranteed 25 percent of the seats in parliament, and controls three big-budget and powerful ministries. Than Shwe resigned as head of state and army chief in 2011 and stepped away from active politics, but diplomats and observers say he retains enough clout to make the closed-door appointment with Suu Kyi a major step in easing her party's formation of government. "It is the truth that she will become the future leader of the country. I will support her with all of my efforts," the former dictator was quoted as saying by his grandson Nay Shwe Thway Aung after the meeting. MASTERING REALPOLITIK Suu Kyi's journey from the barricades to the corridors of power began over three years ago when she won a parliament seat. She cultivated ties with assembly speaker Shwe Mann, another former general who had been part of Than Shwe's inner circle. Shwe Mann was sacked from the leadership of the then-ruling party by President Thein Sein in August, partly because of his closeness to Suu Kyi. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party was trounced in last month's election. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and I meet quite often," Shwe Mann told Reuters last week, referring to her with an honorific. "We got to understand each other during these meetings," he added, calling her "straightforward, courageous and very frank". Now, Shwe Mann advises Suu Kyi on how to navigate the transition and deal with the military. "We thought that it's important to use (Than Shwe's) influence to the best advantage of the country by holding frank and sincere talks," he said. The military has made no official comment on Suu Kyi's meeting with Than Shwe. "No doubt U Than Shwe still has influence on all and enjoys the respects of both the military and the government," said a high-ranking military lawmaker who did not want to be named. "But we can't say for sure that the current commander-in-chief will nod to everything that others say when it comes to national security." Despite her own tribulations at its hands, Suu Kyi has refrained from openly criticising the military and she once admitted to having a "soft spot" for the armed forces. Her father, General Aung San, is the hero of post-colonial Burma, as the country was once known, and one of the founders of its army. Analysts say Suu Kyi is also treading carefully after what happened in 1990, when the military ignored a thumping election victory by the NLD, placed her and hundreds of her party members under arrest, and continued in power. "This traumatic experience is informing their very careful approach," said Horsey, the analyst, referring to the NLD. "It is informing the talk of reconciliation in a broad sense, but more practically Suu Kyi is reaching out to other political forces saying: 'We're going to reach out and work hand in hand.'" (Editing by Simon Webb and Raju Gopalakrishnan) The company claims some 1,200 staff knocked their heads together for four years to study all the existing luxury models and forge technology-sharing deals with suppliers to come up with the G90. The G90, sold as the EQ900 in Korea, is the flagship sedan for Hyundai's new Genesis brand. Hyundai showcased its recently launched Genesis G90 luxury sedan at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday. The Korean automaker said it aims to sell 5,000 G90s in the U.S. per year. Sales of the Mercedes Benz S Class there totaled 21,934 units last year, and of the BMW 7 Series 9,292. But Hyundai believes Genesis cannot compete head-to-head with the established German brands. Instead, it wants to build up its client base slowly by offering excellent quality at cheaper prices. Another reason behind the modest target is a focus on qualitative growth rather than quantitative expansion this year. Early this month, Hyundai set its annual sales target for the new year lower than the previous year, a first for the company, while vowing to focus on research and development to improve quality. Turkey has long been accused of tolerating and even collaborating with Islamic State (IS) jihadists but in recent months it has shown signs of sharply toughening its line against the group. Now, after the suicide attack in Istanbul on Tuesday that killed 10 German tourists and was carried out by an IS bomber from Syria, will Ankara launch an all-out assault against the group to push it out of Turkey and end its presence on the Syrian border? - IS TURKEY NOW CONFRONTING IS? - Turkish officials vehemently deny there has ever been any collaboration with IS, saying Ankara has listed the group as a terror organisation ever since it has first emerged. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said IS has nothing to do with Islam. But analysts and diplomats say that at the start of Syria's nearly five-year civil war, Turkey was actively looking for Islamist rebel allies in Syria to further its aim of toppling President Bashar al-Assad. Reports accused Turkey of becoming a conduit for financial support to jihadists, turning a blind eye to their entry into Syria and even supplying weapons. Yet following a string of deadly attacks by IS inside Turkey in 2015, including a double suicide bombing in Ankara that killed 103 people, Turkey stepped up arrests of jihadists who had built cells inside the country. Security forces moved to seal Turkey's long and porous border with Syria, frequently nabbing and deporting foreign extremists who tried to slip across. "It would be wrong to say Turkey is taking no action against IS," jihadism expert Aymenn Tamimi from the Middle East Forum told AFP. "Border security has been tightened, arrests on domestic IS support networks have occurred, and Turkey is pursuing a strategy to try to drive IS out of the remaining northern border areas in Syria." Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Alan said Wednesday that a week before the Istanbul attack, 220 people identified as members of the group also known as Daesh were detained. In the last two days alone, Turkey has arrested at least 74 IS suspects. - IS TURKEY NOW A PRIME TARGET OF IS? - Analysts note out that unlike other high-profile attacks staged by the group, IS has never claimed formally any strikes in Turkey, possibly in the hope of not further provoking the government into action against it in Syria. The Istanbul attack was markedly different from the three previous deadly bombings blamed on the group in Turkey last year, in that it did not target pro-Kurdish groups but tourists who make a substantial contribution to the Turkish economy. "There is a likelihood that we will see more attacks in urban centres," said Anthony Skinner, director of UK-based political risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. IS supporters have in recent weeks stepped up their rhetoric against Turkey, with ominous warnings to Erdogan appearing in the group's Turkish-language propaganda "magazine" Konstantiniyye. "If Tuesday's attack was perpetrated by the Islamic State, it would reflect a shift in the group's strategy and herald a broader campaign against Turkey," said Firas Abi Ali, senior analyst at IHS Country Risk. He said IS had a "significant logistics and support base network in Turkey" and consequently "most likely has the capability to launch an extended terrorist campaign inside Turkey". - HOW WILL TURKEY REACT AGAINST IS? - Tamimi said "there there is much greater hostility between the two actors now", with Turkey already moving to push jihadists out of the border area that they once controlled with little challenge. "The most immediate solution is that IS needs to be driven out of the remaining border areas," he said. Despite occasional press speculation that an offensive was in the offing, Turkey has not launched any ground operation against IS although it is assisting the US-led air campaign against the group. This contrasts with its relentless offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since July which has seen air and ground operations not just in Turkey but northern Iraq. In his first reaction to the Istanbul attack, Erdogan unequivocally condemned the bombing but then conspicuously spoke at greater length against the PKK. "From a security perspective, Ankara's priority would be to fight the PKK," said Skinner. "The government is trying to significantly erode the PKK to such an extent that the cards will be in favour of the government in negotiations" for a final peace deal with the Kurdish rebels. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polio vaccination centre in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, officials said, in a Taliban-claimed attack. The victims, mainly policemen, had been gathering outside the centre to accompany polio workers on the third day of a vaccination campaign which has been frequently targeted by Taliban and other Islamist militant groups in Pakistan. Quetta is the capital of the restive Balochistan province, which is also home to a separatist insurgency that has been raging since 2004. "There are 15 dead, including 12 police, one paramilitary, and two civilians," a local police official told AFP. Sarfraz Bugti, Balochistan home minister added: "So far 15 people have been injured in the blast, seven of whom are in critical condition." An AFP reporter at the site saw three burned out vehicles that had been blown up in the explosion, while human remains lay strewn across the area, along with items of clothing including the caps and shoes of policemen. Some officials had begun to gather evidence from the scene while others were collecting body parts. Eye-witness Shabir Ahmed, a 32-year-old police constable, told AFP he had been deployed to protect a polio vaccination team that was due to leave for various neighbourhoods of Quetta at 10 am. "Suddenly there was a loud bang and I fell to the ground, I could not see anything, there was dust everywhere," he said. "Then I heard people screaming and sirens of ambulances," he continued, adding he had received shrapnel wounds to his stomach, hands, legs and feet. Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the provincial government, vowed the polio immunisation drive would continue. "We won't allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists to succeed, we will eliminate polio," he said. The attack was later claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging an insurgency against the government since 2007. "We accept the responsibility of attack on security forces in Quetta," a statement on their Facebook page said. - 'Conspiracy against Muslims' - Pakistan is one of only two countries where polio, a crippling childhood disease, remains endemic. Attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by militant attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed nearly 80 lives since December 2012. Islamist groups including the Taliban say the polio vaccination drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims. In 2014 the number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years, falling to 52 in 2015. The most recent attack came in November last year, when unknown gunmen shot and killed the head of an immunisation programme in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district of Swabi. Islamist opposition to all forms of inoculation mounted after the CIA organised a fake vaccination drive to help track down Al-Qaeda's former leader Osama Bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. The terror chief was killed during a US special forces raid in 2011. Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but most impoverished province, is also home to a raging insurgency that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and militants since it re-ignited in 2004, with rebels often attacking government installations and personnel. The province's roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth. By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Earthquakes in Oklahoma in the past week, including one of the strongest ever recorded in the state, have led to calls for the governor to make changes to oil and gas drilling regulations and reduce seismic activity scientists link to the energy industry. Two large earthquakes were recorded in northwest Oklahoma on Wednesday, including a magnitude 4.8 quake. The quakes were part of a surge in seismic activity over the past several years. Scientists have tied a sharp increase in the intensity and frequency of quakes in Oklahoma to the disposal of saltwater, a byproduct of oil and gas extraction, into deep wells. Oil fields have boomed in Oklahoma over the past decade thanks to advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. State Representative Richard Morrissette, a Democrat who has said the state's Republican leaders are not doing enough to address the problem, will host a public forum at the Capitol on Friday to discuss the rash of earthquakes. He wants the state to halt operation of injection wells at quake sites and do more to prevent them from causing quakes. "No one in a position of authority is taking this seriously," said Morrissette, who accused the state's leadership of bowing to pressure from the energy industry. Morrissette is hoping to build grassroots support to take on the oil and gas drilling industry, a powerful player for decades in the state and a major source of employment. The industry is Oklahoma's largest source of private capital spending and tax revenue and accounts for about 10 percent of the state's annual economy, according to the Oklahoma State Chamber, which represents more than 1,000 Oklahoma businesses. Although the quakes last week caused no major reported damage or injuries, they left many Oklahomans shaken. Firms providing quake insurance saw a surge in calls inquiring about coverage. "We don't have overall data on how much injection is going on in this area, but we attribute most of the earthquakes these days to deep injection of produced oil wastewater," said Jerry Doak, director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. State leaders have been instituting changes, but critics said they have not gone far enough. In response to the quakes, Governor Mary Fallin, a Republican, said last week that the state has been regulating disposal wells, taking some steps to limit their injection rate and depth of their injections. "Science is ever-evolving as to what actually causes earthquakes. We know that disposal wells can cause earthquakes, but not all earthquakes. There are fault lines that are just natural in Oklahoma," she told The Oklahoman newspaper. Energy companies have also been responding. Phillips 66 has overhauled how it plans for earthquakes, a sign U.S. energy companies are starting to react to rising seismicity around the world's largest crude storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, site of many disposal wells. The changes include new protocols for inspecting the health of crude tanks, potentially halting operations after temblors, and monitoring quake alerts. The strongest quake recorded in Oklahoma was a magnitude 5.6 that struck in November 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey said. (Reporting by Heide Brandes; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Poland on Monday sought to downplay tension with EU and NATO partner Germany over comments by German politicians that Warsaw earlier slammed as "anti-Polish". Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski took the rare measure of summoning the German ambassador after several German and other European politicians criticised recent media and justice reforms by Poland's new right-wing government as an erosion of liberties. "We don't have tense relations with Germany," Waszczykowski told reporters following Monday talks in Warsaw with Germany's ambassador, Rolf Nikel. "A visit by German politicians to Poland would be the best solution, so they can see that Polish democracy is not doing as poorly as they might think," he added. Nikel echoed the Polish minister, describing their talks as "constructive" and Polish-German relations as a "treasure we wish to safeguard so they can flourish". Relations between Berlin and Warsaw have been strained since the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) returned to power in Poland in October after eight years in opposition. Tens of thousands of Poles have since taken to the streets to protest swift moves by the PiS to enact legislation giving it control over Poland's top court and its public broadcasters. On Sunday, Polish foreign ministry spokesman Artur Dmochowski refused to say what German comments Warsaw interpreted as being "anti-Polish" and which politician had uttered them. But last month, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, compared the political situation in Poland to a "coup", prompting Prime Minister Beata Szydlo to demand apology. Schulz went further Sunday, telling a leading German daily that the PiS's moves constitute a "dangerous 'putinization' of European politics", drawing a comparison to the hardline governing style of Russian strongman, President Vladimir Putin. The eurosceptic PiS has also said it will financially support EU efforts to tackle the refugee crisis, but has made it clear Poland would not take in migrants. The stance has put it on a collision course with Germany, which took in 1.1 million asylum-seekers last year -- the largest group among them coming from Syria -- and has called on all EU members to accept their fair share. COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's new government on Saturday presented its plan for a new constitution aimed at devolving power and preventing the sort of ethnic tensions that led to a long and bitter civil war that ended in 2009. The move comes as reformist President Maithripala Sirisena's administration takes some steps to promote post-conflict reconciliation and address alleged war crimes committed during the 26-year conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels. Sirisena, who unseated former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa in a bitterly contested poll last year, promised a new constitution to strengthen democracy and fundamental rights. According to the document presented to parliament on Saturday, the government intends to strengthen democratic rights, promote national reconciliation and establish a political culture that respects the rule of law. The new constitution will also guarantee fundamental rights and freedoms that assure human dignity and promote responsible and accountable government, it said. "The main idea is to devolve power to the grassroot level and strengthen democracy in order to prevent another war," a ruling party legislator who is close to the president told Reuters, asking not to be named. Some opposition members, however, have alleged that the new constitution has been drafted to please some Western nations and to dilute the main religion, Buddhism, in Sri Lanka. The government has rejected such accusations. Ethnic minority Tamils were often favoured for higher government positions under British colonial rule. After independence in 1948, many lost their positions as successive governments pursued language and other policies favouring the majority Sinhalese population. Tensions erupted into a fully fledged armed conflict in 1983 that only ended when government forces seized the last areas controlled by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "The extremists in the south and the north have caused the loss of thousands of young lives ... We must ensure reconciliation and harmony so that we will never go back to war. I believe now, through our past bitter experiences, we must prepare ourselves for future challenges," President Sirisena told the parliament. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal; editing by Digby Lidstone) GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria said after meeting representatives of the United States, Russia and other major powers on Wednesday that Syria peace talks were still planned to start in Geneva on Jan. 25. Staffan de Mistura told reporters they had discussed access to the government-besieged town of Madaya, where the first aid deliveries were made on Monday to starving civilians after three months. "This meeting was essential in order to move forward on the Geneva talks, and there are issues still, and very much at stake, that's why I needed to consult them," he said. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Anne Patterson said the talks were still "on track" for Jan. 25 and she had had a "good conversation" with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and senior officials from Britain, China and France. "Everyone's primary concern is humanitarian access given some of the dire situations that are taking place inside of Syria," Patterson told reporters. Syrian rebel groups said earlier on Wednesday they would not take part in the peace talks unless humanitarian articles in the latest U.N. resolution on the conflict were implemented. The groups, who include the powerful Islam Army, mentioned articles 12 and 13 of a resolution passed late last year, which calls for humanitarian access to all in need and the cessation of attacks on civilians. De Mistura's office issued a statement saying that officials from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council had agreed to push for "sustained and unimpeded access to a number of besieged areas" in Syria's civil war. "The Special Envoy and his team will continue working hard to issue the invitations in order to ensure maximum inclusivity, with a view to starting the intra-Syrian Geneva Talks on 25 January," it said. The opposition council told de Mistura that the Damascus government would have to take goodwill steps, including a prisoner release, before they would go to negotiations. Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Twitter that Gatilov would meet representatives of various opposition groups on Thursday. It also said the international powers needed to do more work to agree lists of groups to be regarded as terrorists. Patterson said the United States and Russia were working "very assiduously" on the question of defining terrorist groups. They had been discussing "the terrorism issue in the whole Syria-Iraq corridor" for months, and military and intelligence contacts were continuing. (Reporting by Tom Miles, writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) Not only does it want all Netflix content to pass through censors, the agency also demands that Netflix get an operating license Netflix CEO and Co-Founder Reed Hastings at CES 2016 Indonesian movie fans may need some time until they can totally Netflix and chill as the Indonesian Film Censorship Agency (LSF) urged the American film streaming platform to file a censorship request with the agency. They also stated that Netflix has not obtained operating licenses from the Ministry of Communication and Informatics. Last Saturday, we watched the movies [available on Netflix] There are some movies that we have [banned] from being screened in the cinemas, said Ahmad Yani Basuki, Chairman of LSF, on Monday in an interview with Tempo. Although he did not mention a specific title, he stressed that some movies are not suitable for Indonesian viewers. Also Read: [Podcast] HOOQs Michael Smith on Asias online video streaming market According to Law No. 33/2009 on the Movie Industry, movies that are going to be screened in Indonesia must first obtain a censorship letter from LSF. Scenes that exhibit violence, gambling, drug abuse, pornography and scenes that may lead to sectarian conflict, blasphemy, or encourage criminal acts and the degradation of human rights may lead to a movie being banned from the country. Basuki also threatened to recommend that the Ministry of Communications and Informatics block the service if Netflix fails to submit the required documents, especially since Netflix is believed to not have obtained operating licenses from the Ministry. We reminded [Netflix] if they dont want to apply for licenses, then dont enter [Indonesia], Basuki closed. Netflix recently launched its service in 130 new countries, including almost all of Asia except North Korea and China. Also Read: These are the 16 jobs Netflix is hiring for in Asia On Wednesday, Minister of Communications and Informatics Rudiantara finally responded to LSF by stating that Netflix must obtain a license to legally operate in Indonesia, as with the case of Uber. Story continues To obtain it, companies need to fulfill requirements such as opening a local office and hiring employees. Tax regulation will also require Netflix to pay corporate income tax and value added tax for every transaction. [Netflix] must become a permanent business establishment in Indonesia, as it operates in Indonesia, he said as quoted by Kompas. Enjoy 2-for-1 tickets to Echelon Indonesia 2016 now. Do not miss out on Indonesias biggest international tech conference! Image Credit: Netflix The post [Updated] Indonesias film censorship agency has eyes on Netflix appeared first on e27. Some 180 of the nearly 8,000 Cuban migrants who were stranded in Costa Rica for months entered Mexico by bus under a deal to help them reach the United States. Four buses carrying the Cubans crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border in Ciudad Hidalgo, many looking exhausted as they lugged backpacks and suitcases to an immigration office. Migration agents gave them 20-day visas to make their way to the border with the United States, which has a policy dating to the Cold War allowing entry to Cubans fleeing their Communist-ruled island. "We didn't agree with communism, with the Castros, and we felt oppressed," said Yumiley Diaz Riva, 21, who worked at a school in central Cuba until she left in October with her husband, leaving their one-year-old son behind. "We didn't want to bring him on this difficult journey," she said, adding that she planned to be reunited with her son once she reaches Tampa, Florida. The Cubans arrived in Mexico under a pilot program between Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala that could be expanded to the 7,600 other islanders still stuck in Costa Rica due to neighboring Nicaragua's refusal to let them in. The path involved an overnight flight from Costa Rica to El Salvador, thus skipping over Nicaragua, a Cuban ally that has closed its border to Cubans since mid-November. The 109 men and 71 women were put on four buses bound for Guatemala and then on to the Mexican border, on a 13-hour journey organized by the regional governments and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Costa Rica's migration director, Kathya Rodriguez, concluded that the pilot program was an "absolute success" and provided a "great opportunity" to coordinate the departure of the others. Yet Costa Rica and the other governments involved insist that each migrant pay the trip's $555 cost, leaving open the question of what will happen to those without funds. And 2,000 other migrants remain stranded in Panama by Costa Rica's own mid-December decision to close its border to any more Cubans. They will have no access to the air bridge. Thousands of Cubans have left the island in recent months over concerns that the US-Cuba diplomatic thaw will prompt Washington to drop its policy of giving them automatic residence when they set foot in the United States. - Fear of Mexican gangs - According to Costa Rica's migration service, 28 flights would be needed to transport all the Cubans from the 38 shelters now housing them. The government hopes to organize two flights a day. Some have expressed fear over their passage through Mexico, where drug cartels often prey on migrants. "We've heard a lot that in Mexico there are gangs like the Zetas that make attacks on roads and that there are dangerous zones," said Yordani Casanova, a 33-year-old who left his herbal drinks business in Cuba to journey to the United States with his wife. Many of the Cubans have already experienced extortion and kidnapping threats on their northward odyssey, which started in Ecuador and put them on smuggling routes. After arriving in Mexico, some were unsure whether they would continue by bus or take a plane to the border, though they had spent much of their savings already. "It's hard over there (in Cuba) because the salary is barely enough to survive," said Fermin Ramirez, a 46-year-old quality control technician. - Anxiously awaiting turn - For the thousands of Cubans remaining in Costa Rica, the departure was cause for hope and celebration. "This is a blessing. If all goes well with this trip, we others will soon be able to travel," said Joel Gonzalez, a 34-year-old Cuban staying in a shelter on the grounds of a Methodist church in the northern town of Liberia. But there was anxiety among those unable to come up with the money to travel. Another Cuban in a Liberia shelter, Yandy Herrera, said: "I have just 4,000 colones ($7.50) in my wallet. I can't even call my family in Cuba because it's expensive: it costs more than a dollar a minute." FETC Building Relationships and a Culture of Innovation Students with smartphones at school aren't a problem. Not teaching them how to use that phone to learn is a problem, said a leading educator during the opening session of FETC 2016 in Orlando. "Not only do we have access to all the information in the world, we have access to each other," George Couros, division principal of innovative teaching and learning of Parkland School Division in Alberta, Canada, said Tuesday at the FETC convention at the Orange County Convention Center. For today's students, a smartphone is like a pencil was to students in the past. "This is not technology to these kids," he said. "They call it normal." Couros recommended embracing Twitter and other social media as useful innovations, rather than trying to limit them in schools. "They are a conduit to knowledge," he said, "A lot of our educators have no idea what is going on right now. This is something that could really push our learning." Couros delivered the keynote address at Tuesday's executive summit a day before the main convention. The gathering, which runs through January 14, brings together thousands of educators with the creators of the latest in technology and educational materials. Couros showed dozens of examples of students using social media to raise money for worthy causes and to organize their lives in positive ways. Their efforts required that they learn to communicate, plan and execute complex projects something that often is the goal of education. With the astronomical advances in technology, teachers often struggle to bring those digital resources into the classroom. But it's not all about brainpower. Couros said he believes "meaningful change happens when you first connect to people's hearts." He urged the teachers to adapt the technology already in students' hands to good uses. "The biggest gamechanger will never be a technology," said the Canadian. "It will be an educator who looks at themselves as an innovator." He warned teacher not to focus on standardized tests, which are now used to gauge students' progress often to award raises for school employees. "No teacher has ever had a kid say a standardized test changed their life," Couros said. In his view, changing a student's focus means changing what is taught. "How do we develop this in the course of our lives," he asked. "You can't change people. You have to create the environments in which they can embrace these things. Does your school facilitate learning or does it promote compliance? Every single kid you teach walked into school curious. We stifle this." Couros said teachers have many opportunities to be creative and to help students learn in new ways with digital technologies, such as smartphones and laptop computers. "Isolation is a choice educators make," he said. "We really want to put our kids in the space where they're creating stuff." He said he believes students should have a professional social network, a digital portfolio and an aboutme.me page when they graduate from high school. "Technology will never replace great teachers," he said. "Don't think about what you can do (in the classroom) on Monday. Think about your legacy." Read more about Couros at ConnectedPrincipals.com or follow him on Twitter at @gcouros, or read his blog at georgecouros.ca. Seoul and Washington are considering adding a drill that would practice a preemptive strike on North Korean nuclear weapons to regular annual exercises in March. This type of drill is dubbed "4D" or "detect, disrupt, destroy, and defend." The two countries already approved the 4D operation concept in principle at their annual Security Consultative Meeting in November last year and are now working out a detailed plan, spurred by the Norths nuclear test last week. "The two countries are discussing ways to reflect parts of the 4D concept during the joint annual exercises in March and then develop it as a full-scale operational system," a Defense Ministry official said. Reuters quoted an American official on Monday as saying that Seoul and Washington are not considering redeploying tactical American nuclear weapons that were withdrawn from South Korea in 1991. Meanwhile, meetings of chief nuclear negotiators from Seoul, Washington and Tokyo take place Wednesday, while the South Korean envoy also meets his Chinese counterpart on Thursday and his Russian counterpart next Tuesday, according to the Foreign Ministry. Seoul will try to persuade Beijing and Moscow to take strong sanctions against Pyongyang. "Unless Beijing and Moscow join strong sanctions against the North, we could end up with a new cold-war situation pitting Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo against Pyongyang, Beijing, and Moscow," a researcher with a government-funded think tank speculated. By David Ingram (Reuters) - Lawyers for Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, asked a federal judge on Monday to delay a deposition by her scheduled for Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit brought by seven women who allege the entertainer sexually abused them. The lawyers said in papers filed in U.S. district court in Massachusetts that the sworn interview should be delayed pending an appeal on whether Camille Cosby could be required to testify at all. On Dec. 31, a federal magistrate judge in Massachusetts rejected arguments by Camille Cosby, the comedian's wife of almost 52 years and his business manager, that the deposition would represent an "undue burden." Cosby lawyers argued the intimate nature of the questions expected during the deposition justified a delay, noting that their ability to object to such evidence at trial would not spare their client embarrassment. "The Magistrate has suggested that the plaintiffs may ask Mrs. Cosby about the most intimate details of her marital life, including her husband's sexual 'proclivities,'" Camille Cosby's attorneys wrote. "A trial objection will do Mrs. Cosby little good if the private and intimate details of her marital life are discussed during deposition and released to the media thereafter." The Dec. 31 ruling came a day after Cosby, 78, was charged with sexually assaulting a woman who prosecutors say the comedian plied with drugs and alcohol in 2004, the only criminal case filed against the entertainer. More than 50 women have come forward to accuse Cosby, best known for his role in the 1980s television hit "The Cosby Show" of sexually assaulting them after plying them with drugs or alcohol. Cosby has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and many of the allegations involve decades-old incidents. Cosby is free on $1 million bail, and his lawyer has said the entertainer is not guilty and will not consider a plea bargain. The Massachusetts civil lawsuit against Cosby was filed in December 2014 by Tamara Green, later joined by six other women, who contend that Cosby sexually assaulted or abused and then defamed them by calling each a liar, court documents said. Cosby last month counter-sued the women, claiming that they had defamed him by accusing him of sexual assault. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy also rejected arguments by Camille Cosby that she lacked any first-hand knowledge of the events at issue, and that the court should protect her from "unnecessary harassment" by limiting the scope of the subpoena. (Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Sandra Maler) By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran expects the International Atomic Energy Agency to issue a "final" report on Friday confirming the Islamic republic has met all its obligations under its nuclear deal with world powers, an Iranian minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Under the terms of the agreement, known as the JCPOA, international sanctions against Iran will be lifted once the IAEA, the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog, confirms Iran has restricted its nuclear programme. "The IAEA will issue its final report on Friday to confirm Iran has met its commitments under the JCPOA," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, according to the Fars news agency. The IAEA declined to comment on the report. A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog saying Iran has kept its promises under the nuclear deal is a crucial precondition for sanctions relief to kick in. The IAEA will, however, continue to regularly report to its member states on Iran. "What we're expecting is that the IAEA final report will be able to say that Iran is in compliance," said a senior western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Our expectation is that (the report would be submitted) at some point either right at the end of this week or at some point next week," he said. Under the agreement reached in July last year, Tehran promised to reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to below 300 kg (660 pounds), cut the number of its installed uranium-enriching centrifuges to around 6,100 from 19,000, and decommission the Arak heavy water reactor. Tehran has drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at the Fordow and Natanz enrichment sites within the last few months, and shipped tonnes of low-enriched uranium materials to Russia. However there are contradictory reports in state media about the fate of the Arak heavy reactor and it is not clear if Iran has removed the core of the reactor and filled it with cement, as promised. INSPECTORS CALL On Tuesday, the spokesman for Iran's atomic energy agency said IAEA inspectors had arrived in Iran to verify the final steps. "The technical work under way is very demanding, but the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran has been trying to do it as fast as possible," Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency. Araqchi said on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Federica Mogherini, the European Union's representative for foreign affairs, would issue a joint statement on Saturday or Sunday on the implementation of the deal and the lifting of EU, U.S. and U.N. sanctions. "Implementation will be very soon," said a senior Western diplomat. "Everything is ready for the lifting of sanctions. The U.S. and European Union are ready. To some extent its just about pressing the button," the diplomat added. Iran, keen to export oil freely again once sanctions are dismantled, has repeatedly said that it has enriched uranium only to create an alternative source of electricity. The IAEA's Board of Governors passed a resolution in December ending its long-running inquiry into whether Iran once had a secret nuclear weapons programme or so-called "possible military dimensions" (PMD). Iran released 10 U.S. sailors on Wednesday after holding them overnight, bringing a swift end to an incident that had rattled nerves ahead of the expected implementation of the nuclear deal. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; additional reporting by Francois Murphy and Shadia Nasralla in Vienna, John Irish in Paris; Michelle Nichols in New York; editing by Andrew Roche and Giles Elgood) DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran took steps on Monday to try to limit the diplomatic damage from an attack on Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran by an angry mob, laying blame on a top security official and saying some of those who carried out the attack were being interrogated. Iranian officials appear to fear that the Jan. 2 storming of the embassy by a mob protesting Riyadh's execution of a leading Shi'ite cleric may derail moves to end years of isolation with the West following the signing of a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in July. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and some other states have broken off ties with Iran over the attack. The United Arab Emirates downgraded relations while some others recalled their envoys in protest. The Tehran government quickly distanced itself from the attack, saying the protesters had entered the Saudi embassy despite widespread efforts by the police to stop them. "Based on primary investigations the mistakes of Safar-Ali Baratlou, Tehran province's deputy governor for security affairs, were proved and he was promptly replaced due to sensitivity of the case," the interior ministry announced in a statement published by the Fars news agency on Monday. Some of the attackers have been identified, captured and interrogated, Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. President Hassan Rouhani asked Iran's judiciary last week to urgently prosecute those who attacked the Saudi embassy "to put an end once and for all to such damage and insults to Iran's dignity and national security." The robust moves to reprimand and prosecute those guilty of the embassy attack was unusual for Tehran. Iran still celebrates the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran every year and refers to it as the Second Revolution. Since then, Iranians carried out attacks on several other embassies in Tehran, including those of Kuwait in 1987, Saudi Arabia in 1988, Denmark in 2006 and Britain in 2011, most of which led to a breach in diplomatic relations. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Richard Balmforth) The 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada last week saw a poor showing for Korean companies as the event focused on virtual reality, drones and electric vehicles. Korean IT firms were considered global leaders until very recently, with Samsung and LG spending millions of dollars this year to set up mammoth showcases for their TVs, refrigerators and air conditioners. But U.S., Chinese and Israeli tech companies proved a bigger draw with cutting-edge products that have the potential to carve out new markets, despite having smaller booths. On current showing, Korean IT companies could become extinct in 10 to 20 years. Sports and wellness-focused venture capital firm Will Ventures has picked up $150m for its sophomore fund, almost triple the total it collected for its debut vehicle in 2020. How much does it cost to buy a second home in France? France is our nearest neighbour and second favourite place to buy a holiday home - find out how much it costs to buy a property across the channel Why Brittany hit the right note for our TV property hunters from Manchester This couple bought a home in France with Jonnie Irwin on A Place in the Sun last year - here's how they're getting on now! Cost of living crisis: how does life in rural France compare? The cost of living in the UK is rising fast across the country - but how does this compare to other countries? How much cheaper is it to live in France? Which areas of France have the cheapest property? Rural France is much loved for its laid-back lifestyle and culinary traditions but also its affordable property. Where can you find the cheapest property for sale in France? Getting a visa: Good tidings (and the latest tips) Our Editor Liz Rowlinson takes a look back at what it's been like for house hunters moving abroad since Brexit, and what's in store for 2022 Meet the TV show couple who moved to France the day before lockdown Despite making tabloid headlines for refusing to step inside one of the properties that Laura Hamilton showed them on an episode of A Place in the Sun, this couple moved into their dream home with the help of the show How long does it take to register with the French healthcare system? We asked the experts at the British Embassy in Paris six key questions about healthcare in France after Brexit. Here's what they said... How to get free healthcare when you retire to France Can you still access healthcare in France as a pensioner, now that the UK has left the EU? We asked the experts... By disabling a cell receptor, geneticists have produced pigs resistant to a disease that has killed millions of pigs and cost pork industries billions of dollars. Three modified pigs challenged intramuscularly and intranasally with an isolate of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus showed no clinical signs of illness, whereas seven unmodified pen mates also challenged with the virus had respiratory disease signs and fever, according to correspondence published online Dec. 7, 2015, by Nature Biotechnology. Researchers with the U.K.-based animal genetics company Genus, the University of Missouri, and Kansas State University developed and tested the modification. Dr. Bill Christianson, chief operating officer at the Genus subsidiary Pig Improvement Company, said the modification has produced exciting results but is in the early stages of development, and estimating when it could be available would require speculation. But he acknowledged that company officials had made public statements that sales probably were five years away. These pigs were used in a study that indicated deleting genetic material connected with a certain cell receptor could provide protection against the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. (Courtesy of Nic Benner/University of Missouri) Where the pigs would be sold will depend on disease prevalence, regulations, and market demand, he said. Officials with Genus have started discussions with regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he said. In November, the FDA granted approval for the first genetically engineered animal intended for sale as food: an Atlantic salmon modified by AquaBounty Technologies to grow to market size in about half the time of conventional Atlantic salmon. The agency has determined that under current regulations, recombinant DNA constructs intended to affect the structure or function of bodies of engineered animals qualify as drugs. Dr. Christianson said that, while the AquaBounty salmon were modified through addition of genetic material from other species, the PRRS-resistant pigs are modified only to remove a gene connected with production of a protein needed for PRRS infection. He expressed hope the agency would decide case by case how to regulate animals engineered through gene editing without addition of genes from other species. Raymond Bob Rowland, PhD, one of the researchers who helped develop the PRRS-resistant pigs and a professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, said the genetically modified pigs are the first in his 20 years of research on PRRS that remained free of infection when challenged with the PRRS virus. The experiments had shown the genetic change could eliminate PRRS, he said. He described PRRS as a stealthy virus that kills some pigs, increases others vulnerability to other pathogens, causes untold animal suffering, and is the biggest bugaboo in modern pork production. Dr. Rowland expects further refinements will lead to modifying only part of the protein so that the modified protein will no longer allow the virus to bind to cells yet still will remain functional, although he noted the pigs developed so far have lacked any known abnormalities. The protein, known as CD163, removes excess hemoglobin from pigs blood and belongs to a group known as scavenger receptors, he said. Dr. Tom Burkgren, executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, said that, if the pigs truly are resistant to all PRRS viral strains, their development is monumental. And, because breeding pigs today are more often bought, rather than raised within the same company, he expects pig production companies would accept use of proprietary breeding pigs from Genus. Dr. Derald Holtkamp, an assistant professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, noted that his National Pork Boardfunded study conducted in 2010 and 2011 indicates almost 10 million pigs and $664 million are lost each year through a combination of deaths and failures to reproduce related to PRRS. Those losses are part of the market of about 110 million pigs slaughtered in the U.S. each year. The pork industry has made incremental progress in controlling PRRS, and transmission of the virus has declined since the industry also began fighting porcine epidemic diarrhea in spring 2013, Dr. Burkgren said. The prevailing theory holds that PRRS transmission declined as farms increased biological controls during the PED outbreak, he said, yet he noted that this view remains unproven. But a PRRS isolate that has spread in the past few years has been destructive, killing pigs and causing abortion storms, Dr. Burkgren said. The losses are severe, yet not out of the ordinary, a stark reality of life with PRRS. Dr. Holtkamp said he would not want to speculate how much impact the introduction of PRRS-resistant pigs could have. But, depending how quickly they were added, their introduction could result in dramatic short-term price declines for pigs, he said. The emergence and elimination or control of diseases have set precedents for rises and falls, respectively, in pork market prices, he said. Examples are the devastation caused by porcine circovirus type 2 and development of a vaccine as well as the more recent deaths of millions of neonatal pigs from PED and the implementation of biological controls that have reduced its spread. While Dr. Holtkamp also cautioned against assuming PRRS would be eliminated within the next decade, he said the gene-editing technology used in the modification has great potential. Remember that scene in Top Gun when Tom Cruise sings, Youve Lost that Loving Feeling in the bar? All of us are working so hard to create that loving feeling and make sure our members never lose it. In this increasingly complex and fast moving time, making it easy to use the credit union is the clearest path to creating that love that lasts. One example of this is my Delta Gold AMEX card. Yes, I know it is not a credit union card and I do have a bit of guilt about that. While my mortgage, HELOC, checking and savings are all with a credit union, as a frequent flyer I am rewards chaser and I could not find a credit union credit card with rewards that match my lifestyle. I think I will talk more about that in my next article. Anyway, I booked a trip to Key West last August and ten days before my trip, in mid-December, I received an email from them letting me know I was ready for my trip. They used data they already had about me, airline and hotel purchases made with the AMEX card, to provide additional service. They informed me that they updated my file to reflect my travel and there was no need for me to contact them to let them know I would be making purchases from Key West. They reminded me to download their mobile app and enable push notifications to enable them to alert me of potential fraudulent activity on my account and, in many cases, allow me to resolve concerns instantly. Guess which card I used on vacation? Whenever I have an experience that causes me to have that loving feeling with a company and pledge my loyalty, I ask myself, How can credit unions create that Tom Cruise moment for their members? Lets look at this email through the lens of offering more value to the credit union member. Big Data Credit unions already collect a ton of data on their members. Data can come from applications, transactions, and conversations. Many credit unions use big data to send targeted promotional offers to specific members which is great for growing the credit union. Fewer credit unions use big data to increase service and reduce member effort, like AMEX did in the example above. How might your credit union use the data you collect to better serve the member? Digital Strategies and the Omni-Channel Experience The email I received had links to their website, a link to download their mobile app, and a toll free phone number specific for gold card holders. I had channel choices and I have used all three channels, which are all integrated with each other. The power of a well designed website and easy to use mobile app allows me to take care of my needs 24/7. It makes my life easier when I can serve myself, not to mention that it increases operational efficiencies because it frees up staff to help members who need more consultative services. Are your website and mobile app easy to use? Is your call center well versed in these digital channels? Have you watched a member use your website and mobile app? Is it as intuitive as your web designer thinks it is? Ease of Use When we reduce the effort the member has to exert to join the credit union, apply for a loan, or resolve a problem it creates loyalty. That increases when we anticipate their unspoken needs. When was the last time your credit union looked at the critical member experiences with the goal of understanding the member journey? Doing this can help you identifying the pain points and focus on making using the credit union effortless. Credit unions chase that loving feeling that leads to loyalty because loyal members use more products and services and thus are more profitable. The member experience is more than a smile during a transaction. It starts with your website, the first place people go to research your credit unions products, it continues with the smart use of big data and wins the hearts of members by making their financial life easy. Make 2016 the year that your members melt into that loving feeling for your credit union through that powerfully easy member experience.. Filene Research Institute has studied these important topics and invites you to explore them too. Below are some Filene Research Institute resources for your exploration. Big Data Digital Strategies and the Omni-Channel Ease of Use Member Effort Benchmarking: Measuring Ease of Use Report available January 27th at Filene.Org Filenes Member Journey Advisory Services Japanese companies plan 50bn wind fund The Development Bank of Japan and Japan Wind Development Company plan to launch a 50bn ($423 million) wind energy fund in April. The Japanese government last year announced a plan to boost renewables' share of electricity supply to 22%-24% by 2030 from around 4% in 2013, but wind is expected to account for just 1.7%, or 10GW. The domestic wind industry association, however, believes 36GW could be achieved by 2030. Most of the growth in Japanese renewables is expected to come from the solar photovoltaic sector. Trina and Grenergy in JV for Chilean solar China's Trina Solar and Spain's Grenergy Renovables have formed a joint venture to build solar in Chile. Trina claims to be the world's largest solar panel manufacturer, and Grenergy is a Madrid-based renewables developer with operations across Latin America. The pair will have a 50:50 stake in the company, which will see Grenergy build projects using Trina's technology. Grenergy said the partnership could result in 60MW of capacity in Chile, with the potential for expansion into other markets in Latin America Grenergy currently also operates in Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The first projects to be undertaken as part of the deal are two distributed solar plants with a combined capacity of 6MW. Santander's Cubico does first deal in Brazil Cubico Sustainable Investments the renewables and water investor created by Santander last year has bought two wind farms in Brazil. The deal, which included debt, was closed late last year and Cubico co-owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Santander and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board - claims it was the largest acquisition of operational wind in Brazil in 2015. It includes the 182MW Caetes plant and the 210MW Ventos do Araripe I plant. Cubico has also opened an office in Sao Paulo. It now owns seven plants in Latin America, and has a focus on Mexico, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. Goldman Sachs backs US rooftop firm with equity investment Goldman Sachs has got behind a US rooftop solar firm in a $25 million deal. Ten K Solar will use the equity investment from the bank's Alternative Energy Investing Group to support the expansion of its US and global operations, having had three consecutive years of "triple digit growth", it claimed. Other investors in the company include Oaktree Capital Management and Greencoat Capital. Piper Jaffray & Co. served as Ten K's financial advisor for the transaction. Impax sells stake in Irish wind farm to Canadian fund Impax Asset Management has sold its 51% stake in the 24MW Ballycadden wind farm in Ireland to the Greystone Infrastructure Fund of Toronto. No financial details were disclosed. The Ballycadden project was connected to the grid in 2013 and represents Greystone's first investment in European renewables. Jeff Mouland, head of the Greystone Infrastructure Fund, said the company is "actively pursuing other high quality assets in Ireland and across Europe". Impax is currently building several other wind projects in Ireland and "remains committed to developing and building out its project pipeline ... to 2020 and beyond," said director Ryan Cameron. The London-based specialist investor announced in September that it was in exclusive talks to sell the Ballycadden project. (LINK) Eversheds provided legal advice to Impax on the transaction, while A&L Goodbody served as legal advisor to Greystone. Dominion Virginia plans $9.5bn for clean energy infrastructure by 2020 Dominion Virginia Power, a major US electricity generator, said it plans to invest almost $2 billion each year, up to 2020, to reduce the emissions intensity of its fuel mix and upgrade the grid in Virginia and North Carolina. Increased spending on solar power will be a significant feature of the plan, it said, without giving further details. The new commitment comes on top of plans to build a $5 billion gas pipeline that will help the company reduce its use of coal. Both plans will help the utility meet its obligations under the proposed US Clean Power Plan, Dominion Virginia said. Allianz enters Finnish wind space with latest acquisition Allianz Capital Partners has entered the Finnish renewables market with the acquisition of a 21MW wind park in the country. The site sold by wind energy firm OX2 for an undisclosed price is not yet built, but has the permits in place to begin construction, and is expected to be commissioned at the end of the year. OX2 will remain responsible for the commercial and technical management of the project. In November, Allianz announced plans to cut its holdings in coal-intensive companies in favour of renewables. Foresight Group increases AUM by 33%, appoints partners UK environmental investor Foresight Group increased its assets under management by 33% in 2015, to 1.8 billion ($2.6 billion). The firm, which also invests in non-environmental private equity opportunities, has fully deployed its Foresight Environmental Fund and its UK Waste Resources and Energy Investments Fund, with a combined value of 138 million, invested in assets expected to generate 126MW of renewable energy. Foresight Group also expanded its team by 47% in 2015, and on 1 January promoted three directors at the firm James Livingstone, Dan Wells and James Samworth to partners. Rame Energy and Santander sell Chile wind farms London-listed Rame Energy and Santander Investment Chile have sold two wind farms, with a combined capacity of 15MW, to InterEnergy Holdings, a private equity fund based in the Caribbean. Rame said it expects to receive $4.4 million for its 20% stake in the facility, but no other financial details of the transaction were disclosed. The Raki and Huajache wind farms are located in the Bio Bio region of Chile and have a 10-year power purchase agreement with EKA Chile, a partnership between AkzoNobel and Celulosa Arauco. InterEnergy already owns 86MW of wind capacity in the Dominican Republic, and is building a 215MW wind project in Panama. State of the Union Address: Obama Pushes TPP but Protesters Disagree by R. Robertson Under the watchful eye of the Department of Homeland Security, members of the California Alliance for Retired Americans sang in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco, "We are here to tell Pelosi, Help us stop the TPP!" They were protesting the trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that Obama praised in his final State of the Union address yesterday. Retired Americans are particularly concerned that if Obama's favorite trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, passes in Congress prescription medicine prices will be driven upwards. Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the industrialized world and protesters in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco yesterday said that Congress should be working on ways to reduce drug costs, rather than making this problem worse with a bad trade deal. They said that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would further increase prescription drug costs while lining the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry. While the focus of the protest was on drug costs, speakers also pointed out that the deal, if passed, will intensify downward pressure on wages and threaten jobs, food safety, internet freedom, and even our democracy. Nantes: Up to 3000 people gathered outside the Nantes Court of Justice to support those facing eviction by construction company Vinci for construction of the #NDDL airport that is widely opposed in the community. The judge announced at 12:10 in the courtroom, that the decision will be made Monday, January 25 at 14 h 30. Protests also occurred in Brest, Rennes, Quimper, Caen, Lyon, and outside the Vinci headquarters near Paris. President Hollande has said that no work will start until all appeals are exhausted. The French state has refused to concel the project despite wide community opposition and the hypocrisy of building a new airport when pushing internationally for the Paris Agreement climate treaty. Construction of the airport is widely seen as out of step with commitment to reduce carbon emissions and preserve wetlands with the signing of the UN Paris agreement at the end of COP21 on December 12, which the French state worked so hard diplomatically to bring to fruition. Lawyers for the construction company, Vinci, argued the legal concept of "economic welfare of the region and the country" to legitimize the airport project. It seems that the CEO of Vinci, Xavier Huillard, said that it was not certain that the airport NDDL would even happen, according to Francis Lemasson, secretary of the CGT union confederation. According to Reporterre (fr), "Mr. Lemasson expressed surprise that an event takes place outside the headquarters of Vinci.It supports opponents but notes that NDDL is a subject little discussed in the entrprise because employees do not wish to make statements which challenge the group. The CGT Vinci has never taken an official position against the airport project." At 11:30 Thomas Dubreuil, lawyer of ACIPA, recalled before the start of the hearing that "the work can not legally begin as of today", partly because of new protected species discovered on the site by naturalists (fr). Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project has a footprint of about 1400 hectares of which over 80% are currently considered as wetland. Dubreuil also stressed "the moderate alternative" proposed by citizen workshop for the optimization of Nantes Atlantique (fr), according to Reporterre. On Saturday 20,000 people mobilised on the Ring road of Nantes showing the strength of community opposition to the airport. Story based on a storify mashup of tweets, articles and videos of the protest which I curated. Photo by @atmoterra via twitter The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has lashed out at the Abia state government for trying to drag it into the state politics even as the group is not interested in who emerges governor of the state. [article_adwert] The governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu was removed by an appeal court following petition from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Vanguard reports that Mr. Bonnie Iwuoha, the commissioner for information and strategy accused APGA of being behind the agitation for an independent Biafra state championed by IPOB. READ ALSO: Why Uwazuruike Postponed Fasting And Prayer Mr. Emma Powerful, the media and publicity officer of IBOB said it was concerned about the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra and warned the state government not to drag its name in the politics of the state. It is disappointing that Abia State Government and its Governor Ikpeazu, who was recently removed by the court as governor of the state, have done nothing to ensure the release of Mr. Kanu, an Abia State indigene, or spoken against the action of the Federal Government that has continued to detain Kanu even after two competent courts of jurisdiction had granted him bail, instead they are trying to make misguided statement against IPOB. The Abia State Government should bury its face in shame for doing nothing to ensure the release of a son of Abia State who is being persecuted for no justifiable reason, instead it is talking about APGA sponsoring us. The people that Iwuoha claim to be sponsoring us, are they not the people that told the soldiers to shoot in Onitsha. We do not want to join issues with Iwuoha and his governor because they will soon be unemployed, and they are looking for people to blame for their woes. IPOB has no business with any political party in the country because our concern is not Nigerian politics or state politics, our concern is the release of our leader and actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra. READ ALSO: Biafra Passport Is Accepted All Over The World - MASSOB Involving us with any political party is an insult to us, we are warning that such association of IPOB with any political party in Nigeria should stop forth with, and the removed governor should face his case in court and should not blame IPOB for his woes. Source: Legit.ng The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order for the arrest of Government Tompolo Ekpemupolo. Militant Lord, Sir Tompolo Tompolo is to be arrested in connection with a multi-billion naira fraud involving land contracts for the construction of a Nigerian Maritime University (NMU). READ ALSO: Antigraft War: Yakassai Lashes Out At Buhari [article_adwert] According to Sahara Reporters, the former Niger Delta militant has had bank accounts belonging to him frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Two companies linked to Tompolo, Mieka Divers Ltd and Global West Vessel Specialists Nigeria Ltd, had their accounts frozen by the EFCC because of their use in fraudulent exchanges. The EFCC said it wishes to question Tompolo about the illicit sale of N13 billion in land from him to the federal government. According to reports, the government wanted to construct the Nigerian Maritime University (NMU) and had diverted public funds through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to the militant. Tompolo is reportedly hiding in the Niger Delta creeks; he has rejected all allegations that the land deal was fraudulent, asking the EFCC to contact former President Goodluck Jonathan for clarification. On Thursday, December 10, 2015, Tompolo was wanted for questioning by the EFCC and had refused to honor their invitation claiming he was in court against the ant-graft body. Meanwhile, former Niger Delta militants have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the EFCC to desist from plaguing the ex-militant leader, Tompolo. According to the former agitators who met under the auspices of the Transformed Niger Delta Ex-militants Forum, some people who were envious of Tompolo wrote a petition against him to the anti-graft agency. They urged the EFCC to follow the rule of law in its dealings with the ex-militant leader. Tompolo who has been taken to court on a 40-count criminal charge of unlawful conversion, was charged alongside Patrick Akpobolokemi, a former boss of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Source: Legit.ng Adeyanju Deji, the Peoples Democratic Partys director of new media, has narrated how he visited Olisa Metuh, the PDP's spokesperson, who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week. Olisa Metuh told Adeyanju Deji many things about his ordeal in the hands of the EFCC. In a series of tweets, posted on Wednesday, January 13, Deji stated that even though Metuh looked grey and tired, he said that he was strong and nobody would break him. Deji further quoted Metuh saying: They have tried to blackmail & spoil my name. Just imagine all they have said about me. Telling lies against me. First they said I was collecting N5million Naira monthly from office of NSA, imagine if u were my staff how u will feel hearing that. Imagine how all the news people & my staff working with me felt when they heard I was collecting N5milion Naira from Dasuki. They will say so this man was a wicked man. So he was collecting money from Dasuki & other places & was always telling us no money. Then they said I received N1.4billion, another big lie. All what they wanted was for everybody to see me like a common thief & hate me. READ ALSO: Olisa Metuh Tears Own Statement He Made To EFCC, Tries To Swallow It [article_adwert] Finally they came back to say I only got N400million. I have made a statement that former president asked me to do an assignment 4 him. In my statement, I stated that former president Jonathan gave me an assignment, he asked for an account & I gave him my company account. I got N400m which I used for the job he asked me to do. I gave a report to him of job done & he was satisfied. I have a copy of the report I submitted to the former president. EfCC asked me who I shared the money to & said it's not their buz. That if they have any evidence against me, they should charge me to court. I have not called anyone's name & will never call anyone. It is not a crime to carry out an assignment for a president & successfully do it as well. I have no regrets. They asked me for a copy of my report to the former president. I asked them are they the Court? I stated in my statement that it is a lie that I was collecting N5m Naira monthly from Dasuki or anyone in GEJ's government. I stated they should investigate me thoroughly. If I have ever received any kobo from any parastatal or agency then I will plead guilty." Deji noted that Metuh commended the PDP and all members of the party for the great job during the governorship elections in Bayelsa state. READ ALSO: Why We Released APCs Chieftain, But Detain PDPs Spokesman EFCC Boss Continuing his narration, Metuh was quoted to have said: Imagine the EFCC boss sent my lawyer to me to ask me to return some of the money from the N400m. Unbelievable. Deji this government are not interested in democracy or civil liberty at all. You are guilty once they say so. Reason why they are doing media trials is because they have noting to offer this nation. That's why they are doing this Telemundo. All what we told them is the same thing the IMF woman came to tell them. We told them u can't borrow to fund 2016 budget. What we told them about Dollar is what they have finally agreed to do now. They have no ideas or clue about governance. They don't believe in democracy or the notion of "innocent before proven guilty." They want to silent every critic." Meanwhile, the PDP's lawmakers in the House of Representatives have ordered the anti-graft agency to release of the party's spokesman within 48 hours. According to them, it is unconstitutional to detain anyone who has not been charged for a crime by a competent court of jurisdiction. Earlier this week, Metuh filed a suit through his lawyer before a Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking his immediate release from custody. In the suit, the spokesman claimed that his arrest was part of a sinister plan of the ruling All Progressives Congress to silence the opposition. Source: Legit.ng Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, January 13, sealed off the Abuja house of former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) during President Jonathan's administration, Air Chief Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh located at No 19 Kumasi Crescent, Wuse II. The house allegedly belonging to the former CDS is being occupied by his son, Tony Badeh and family. Tony Badeh who is a pilot, and family were already out of the country as at the time the anti-graft agency stormed the house, a source who prefers to be anonymous disclosed to Legit.ng in Abuja. The source also told our correspondent that the son of the former CDS, Tony Badeh had fore-knowledge of EFCC's visit and had to quickly travel to South Africa with his family yesterday. Speaking on what transpired, Badeh's gateman, Mr Timothy in a discussion with other domestic staff said there was little he could do. A visibly sad Timothy also said he had to call his boss, Mr Tony Badeh and who then instructed him not to resist the EFCC officials or deny them entry into the house. " When they came here I did not resist them. I only called my Oga who told me to allow them," a sad Timothy disclosed. One of the neighbours who craved for anonymity also disclosed to Legit.ng that security officials have been monitoring the house for about 2 weeks. "They have been coming here for a while. I mean the SSS and police people. The last time they (EFCC) came we learnt that they (the Badehs) didn't receive the letter from them" This statement was however corroborated by a resident in the area who simply gave his name as Mohammed. Mr Mohammed told our correspondent that the EFCC and some security operatives had earlier stormed the house to seize close to 15 new exotic cars parked in the compound before sealing it off. "The EFCC before sealing the house drove out close to 15 fine fine cars to unknown locations. It was when I knew that something is not going on well." [article_adwert] Meanwhile, efforts to reach the EFCC spokesperson as at the time of filling this report proved abortive. Meanwhile, Adeyanju Deji, the Peoples Democratic Partys director of new media, has narrated what transpired when he visited Olisa Metuh, the PDPs spokesperson, who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last week. In a series of tweets Deji stated that even though Metuh looked grey and tired, he said that he was strong and nobody would break him. Source: Legit.ng A police officer remains in a stable but critical condition after being shot with his own gun during a struggle with a man at a Sydney hospital last night. Police were called out to Nepean Hospital near Penrith around 10:30 last night following reports of a man threatening a doctor with scissors. During a struggle with the 39-year-old suspect, a police officer lost control of his firearm. He was then shot in the upper leg, while a security guard suffered a gunshot wound to his calf; a police source confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that both men were wounded by the same bullet, when it passed through the officers leg and hit the security guard. A witness who didnt want to be identified told the Daily Tele that the alleged gunman was holding a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor. A guy was screaming and shouting and holding [a weapon] to a womans throat, we couldnt make out what he was saying, he said. He says he ran over to help after the suspect then took the officers gun during a scuffle on the floor and fired off two shots. I ran over to the copper. I grabbed the copper and dragged him backwards. We threw him on a bed. The security guard wore one in the left [knee] the police officer in the left thigh. The hospital was placed into lockdown following the shooting, with emergency services asked not to transport patients to the area. All that we know at the moment is that there were reports of an incident and police responded with security, said Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn. There was a struggle, and during that struggle the police officer did lose control of his firearm. There were a number of shots fired and the circumstances and the exact detail will now form part of that critical investigation. Both men are being treated at Nepean Hospital. The alleged gunman who police say is a known ice addict has been arrested, and is assisting police with inquiries. No charges have been laid. Photo: Nova. It takes a village to save an elephant. That's what an elephant keeper from David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation's Elephant Orphanage Project told a group of villagers last Friday during its "Orphaned Elephant Awareness Campaign," which urges local Zambians to report lonely elephant calves as soon as they see them. Around that same time, the keeper spotted a baby elephant in need, completely proving his point. GRI GRI The little elephant was all alone on a small island in the Zambezi River. Local fishermen suggested the calf may have been on the island by himself for nearly two weeks, since no herds had been seen on the island for that long. GRI Dodo Shows Soulmates Dog Goes Everywhere In His Dad's Kangaroo Pouch GRI Because they wanted to be sure his family wasn't coming back for him, rescuers waited a few days, monitoring the elephant to make sure he was OK. When no family showed up, rescuers sedated the calf and carried him to the little boat that would take him off the island. It took 10 people to lift and carry him. Then they moved him to a van and drove him to the elephant orphanage. GRI GRI They named the year-old baby Muchichili. "[This] is the Goba word for Winterthorn, a tree that grows in abundance on the island where he was found," read a press release about his rescue. GRI GRI "When Muchichili saw the other elephants at the nursery, he was very excited and sought close contact with them. The two older elephants took great interest in the new member of their herd. During his first night at the nursery, Muchichili allowed the keepers to handle him and it seems like he is desperate for company after his time alone on the island." We're so glad little Muchichili now has a whole little village to call his own. GRI GRI GRI GRI GRI GRI GRI As a K9 officer, Boone is trained to put his life on the line every day in the name of justice. But after he became the victim of a crime himself, and at the hands of his partner, no less, the system he defends seems lacking in teeth. On Tuesday, Deputy Brett Berry, from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department, in Minnesota, pleaded guilty to charges of animal cruelty against Boone stemming from an incident that occurred last June. Surveillance footage taken at the scene, a casino parking lot where the officer was training Boone, shows Berry repeatedly striking the dog and throwing him against the ground, as KARE 11 news reports. Boone, who is trained to adhere to his partner's commands, appears confused by Berry's aggression and tries to find help at the casino's entrance, but the beating continues. Fortunately, Boone survived the ordeal without serious injury. Warning: Readers will likely find the video disturbing Sometimes having a reason to live can be the best medicine. When Ellie was discovered by No Kill Kern (NKK), a dog rescue in Bakersfield, California, she was on the verge of death. Jackie Cameron, executive director of NKK, was visiting a local shelter last month to pick up a different dog when the staff begged her to come see a terrier mix they had in the back. The dog, Ellie, was estimated to be between 12 and 14 years old and had been living outside at an abusive home before a neighbor called animal control to coordinate her rescue. No Kill Kern No Kill Kern "When I went to go see her, she was actually in the back, in the quarantined area, in a kennel by herself," Cameron told The Dodo. "She was just laying on the ground, basically out of energy, very close to dying." She was just skin and bones, but since the public shelter had limited resources and was unable to treat her, Cameron knew that if NKK didn't take her in she would probably be dead by the next day. No Kill Kern Dodo Shows Foster Diaries This Pregnant Pittie Foster Story Is The Happiest Thing Ever No Kill Kern And so Cameron scooped Ellie up and rushed her to the Bakersfield Veterinary Hospital. There, doctors discovered she was malnourished and on the verge of going into a diabetic coma. But despite Ellie's dire predicament, there was no denying her joyous, fierce spirit. No Kill Kern No Kill Kern "She was a very sweet girl and all she wanted to do was be held." Cameron said. "I've never met a dog that just wanted to be held so much." No Kill Kern No Kill Kern But Ellie still needed a reason to keep fighting. She got one two days later. The neighbor who had called animal control to save Ellie from her previous owners reached out to NKK and asked if Ellie's son had come with her to the new rescue. Until that point, Cameron said, NKK was unaware that another dog had originally been picked up with Ellie. Buster and Ellie joined a foster home together and from then on the two dogs were inseparable, as Buster took on the role of his mother's caretaker before she passed away on January 12. No Kill Kern No Kill Kern "A lot of people don't give dogs the credit they deserve for their emotional capability," Cameron said the day before Ellie's death. "[Buster] knows when his mom doesn't feel good and he knows what to do to comfort her." Cameron explained that whenever Ellie felt down and went to her bed to rest, Buster was quick to go lay right by her side. No Kill Kern No Kill Kern Thanks to several acts of kindness, Ellie got to spend the remainder of her life happy and surrounded by those who loved her most, including her incredibly loyal son. More than 80 whales have washed ashore on this beach - and no one knows exactly why. YouTube/Ruptly On the south coast of India, the whales have been stuck on land since Monday without any way of making it back home to the sea. "The cause of mass strandings in pilot whales remains one of the great mysteries in the social behavior of whales and dolphins," C. Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, told The Dodo. Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs "Although strandings of some species, such as beaked whales, are now known to be the result of human disturbance, such as navy sonar or seismic surveys, the mass strandings of pilot whales seems to be a natural phenomenon that results from their strong social bonds," he added. That means, he said, that they may be intentionally beaching: "The close social bonds presumably results in a kind of 'herd panic' or 'herd cohesion,' bringing the entire social group (the pod) into the shallow waters and at risk of stranding." Of the dozens of whales who have washed ashore, 45 have died and the remaining 36 have been pushed back out to sea, Al Jazeera reported. Seeing their plight, locals have worked tirelessly to help the remaining mammals who are still alive return home. "The older ones that succumbed to injures returned, but the younger ones responded well," Deepak Bilgi, wildlife warden of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, who led rescue efforts, said to Al Jazeera. "Scientists investigating say it is disorientation. However we have sent one of the whales for autopsy." With luck, scientists will discover the real reason the whales are beaching, and save more of the animals in the process. It takes care and compassion to save the life of an animal in need - but sometimes a power tool, too. A fisherman in Finland named Tarmo Tolvanen is being hailed a hero this week after he came to the rescue of a critically endangered Saimaa ringed seal who had become stranded on the icy surface of Lake Saimaa. It is believed that the animal had been stuck there for days after bitter cold temperatures caused his entrance into the water to freeze over rapidly, leaving him trapped. Fortunately for the seal, Tolvanen came equipped with a way to resolve this dire situation. Warning: You may want to lower your volume, as the video is rather loud. Following news that My Chemical Romance guitarist FRNKIERO has decided to say Fuck it and make his way down to Australia despite the cancellation of Soundwave 2016, another band from the departed festivals lineup is following suit. British outfit Bring Me The Horizon, one of the biggest draws on the Soundwave 16 lineup and the band that first raised suspicions that something wasnt right with the event, are looking to announce new Aussie tour dates ASAP. The band let the cat out of the bag in a message to fans in South East Asia, writing, Due to the cancelation of Soundwave fest in Aus, we have had to look at reworking our South East Asian dates to fit around our new Australian dates. We will make an announcement on the rearranged dates asap. We look forward to getting to see our fans in Japan and Singapore later this year. The band had previously stated their intentions to tour their latest album, Thats the Spirit, Down Under. Commenting on the cancellation of Soundwave back in December, the band said they were gutted to hear of its departure, adding, Soundwave was without a doubt the best touring festival weve ever been a part of and we are sad to see it go. Due to the cancelation of Soundwave fest in Aus, we have had to look at reworking our South East Asian dates to fit Posted by BRING ME THE HORIZON onTuesday, January 12, 2016 For anyone hoping to catch us we are sorry, but dont fret we are working on our own headline tour to bring to you lot down under for sometime next year. Its going to be a special one, so we will see you there! Despite being announced as part of the lineup two months prior, Bring Me The Horizon revealed early in December that they had not yet been confirmed for Soundwave 2016, giving fans the first indication that something was up with the beloved heavy music festival. After looking at sites across the Washington region, and the country, General Dynamics is proposing to build a headquarters in Reston, about a 15-minute drive from its space in Falls Church. The defense contractor has filed papers with Fairfax County, saying it wants to build a 190,000-square-foot office building to house about 200 employees. The company leases about 175,000 square feet in an office building it shares with other tenants. The lease expires in March 2019, and the new space would allow it to design its headquarters. Company officials looked at hundreds of sites in the D.C. region and the U.S., and selected this property in Reston, said Lucy Ryan, a General Dynamics spokeswoman. General Dynamics, which often deals with classified material, would also have a security fence and a small guard house near the entrance. The company chose the new location because the natural features of the site afford privacy, the application says. Tight security is typical at major defense headquarters. This security facility has intentionally been positioned as to not be visible from Sunset Hills Road, furthering the design concept of understated development, the application says. The proposal calls for a five-story building, with underground parking for 300 spaces. General Dynamics has 8,000 employees throughout Virginia and had sales of $30.9 billion in 2014. In its application, the company also proposes two possible expansions in the future. One would be a 30,000-square-foot addition that would essentially create a sixth floor, according to the plans filed with the county. The other option would expand the building to the north. Loren Thompson, a defense consultant, said it was no surprise that the company decided to stay in Northern Virginia, close to the Pentagon and Washington Dulles International Airport. I think the business climate in Northern Virginia is generally more favorable to corporate headquarters than the District or Maryland, he said. This is the normal corporate planning process that unfolds when a lease is up. But if youve followed GD over the years, you know the financial implications would have been paramount in their decision of when to move and where to move. The vacant site is on the south side of Sunset Hills Road, north of the Dulles Airport access road and west of Hunter Mill Road. Fairfax County Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) is holding a community meeting to discuss the plan at 7 p.m. on Jan. 20 at South Lakes High School. While this development will go through the standard Reston planning and zoning committee review process, I wanted to also give the community an early opportunity to talk about the development and address any concerns, she said. Its good having them choose us, and well work with them as well as we can, she said. If bad news comes along from a debt collector, dont be intimidated. Even if you owe money, you have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. (iStock) Four more down, so many more to go. The Federal Trade Commission recently smacked down four debt-collection outfits and their affiliates that the agency said engaged in abusive practices. This latest round of action is part of a federal, state and local effort around the country to target deceptive debt collectors. Ive personally been on the other end of a telephone call with a collector trying to bully me into paying a debt I didnt owe. The person was attempting to collect some medical payment that he claimed was owed by my deceased brother. As I recall, he first tried to make me feel guilty, arguing it was my moral obligation to pay my brothers debts. When I didnt fall for that ploy, he became belligerent. I hadnt co-signed on any debt for my brother, so I knew I was under no obligation to pay. The shame of it is that many people would feel guilty or think they were obligated and would fall for something like this. Here are some of the tactics the companies involved in the recent FTC cases were alleged to have used: One collection operation, doing business under a number of names, demanded payment from consumers for payday loans and other debts even though the companies could not prove that the people owed the money. Employees even pretended to be law-enforcement officials, according to the FTC. The agency said the ill-gotten gains in this case came to $4 million. Another group of affiliated companies also had debt collectors impersonate law enforcement officials and threaten to arrest people. Employees also pretended to be process servers and told people they would be sued and their wages garnished. The companies have agreed to a federal court order that bans them from debt-collection activities and imposes a judgment of $2.2 million, which the court said represents the companies debt-collection revenue. Another company sent people letters or postcards that were designed to look as if they had come from a municipal court. The correspondence contained intimidating language such as Warrant For Your Arrest, Final Notice Before Arrest and Pay Your Fine Now Avoid Going to Jail. Other recipients were told that their vehicles could be impounded or that they would not be able to renew their drivers licenses. An order imposed a nearly $200,000 judgment, but it was suspended because of an inability to pay. A separate debt-collection outfit tried to collect payday loans that were not owed. Employees of this company were prolific in their pretending, according to the FTC. They claimed to be affiliated with a law firm, with a government fraud task force and with federal and state agencies. The collectors had obtained access to information about people who had merely inquired online about payday loans. The company was found to have violated federal law by telling consumers family members, employers and co-workers about the supposed debts. Debt collectors can try to locate you, but they are generally not allowed to discuss your debts with other people. People working for the company used profanity and did not provide information in writing about the debts, according to the FTC. In all, this debt collector was ordered to pay more than $4.4 million for using deception and threats to collect on the phantom payday loans. Under the settlements to which they all agreed, the four companies neither admit to nor deny any of the allegations, a spokesman for the FTC said. These cases bring to 130 the number of actions the FTC has taken in the past year in an enforcement initiative called Operation Collection Protection. Even if you owe money, you have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You have a right not to be lied to or abused. The debt collector has to tell you how much you owe and the name of the creditor. You also have a right to dispute the debt. Find out more about your rights at consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection. To help inform consumers, the FTC is releasing a series of videos with personal testimonies of peoples encounters with fraud. The first one deals with debt collection. The first video, Fraud Affects Every Community: Debt Collection, can be found at ftc.gov. It features Bryan Noyes, a military veteran from Maine, who got help in fighting a collection action over a debt he did not owe. The next video will feature people pretending to be government employees and be in Spanish with subtitles. Definitely dont ignore a debt-collection action, but dont let anyone intimidate you either. Readers may write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or michelle.singletary@washpost.com. To read previous Color of Money columns, go to wapo.st/michelle-singletary. Say the name Jules Verne and most people will think immediately of his most famous books: A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, From the Earth to the Moon, Around the World in Eighty Days. I always remember the rapture with which I devoured the first three of those titles when I was in sixth and seventh grade. (The last two, along with Master of the World and Michael Strogoff, I enjoyed as Classics Illustrated comics, read surreptitiously in various drugstores.) As introductions to the adventure story, these Voyages Extraordinaires, as Verne called his marvel-filled journeys, remain unrivaled even now. In France, most of Vernes many works first appeared as part of an educational series for young people. These original Hetzel editions much sought after by collectors were hefty, oversize volumes, their cover designs a collage of hot-air balloons, caparisoned elephants and similarly colorful exotica, while the texts themselves were abundantly illustrated with steel engravings. More than just books, Hetzels seemed little worlds of wonder in which to lose oneself. Yet aiming to instruct as well as entertain, Vernes novels also regularly dispensed fact-rich paragraphs about the worlds geography, the culture of various nations and the latest discoveries real or projected of modern technology and science. When reading Verne, you didnt simply go off on a comet or explore the oceans in a submarine, you learned a lot about the physical world and its wonders. [Looking back at the best books of 2015] That said, The Self-Propelled Island, first published in 1895 as Lile a helice, and now available in a new edition from the University of Nebraska Press, somewhat overemphasizes description. As its title suggests, the novel focuses on an artificial island, a gated community restricted to the super-rich, that has been motorized to cruise the worlds oceans. Verne consequently offers us a Cooks tour of the Pacific, in a double sense: The books chapters resemble the log of a prolonged holiday excursion, similar to those sponsored by the famous travel agency, while its characters frequently contrast their contemporary adventures with those of Captain James Cook. Throughout we are regaled with detailed information about the inhabitants and customs of Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji and the New Hebrides. All this ethnological and historical data prove partly justified when a French enthusiast, hungry for local color and eager to meet real cannibals, almost gets himself eaten. Aside from its tendency toward leisurely travelogue, The Self-Propelled Island consists largely of slapstick comedy, prescient satire of capitalist privilege and melodrama. Ultimately, it develops into another of Vernes pessimistic, late-in-life cautionary tales about technology and society, a chronicle of progressive disillusionment leading to disaster. The book begins as a surreal farce. The four members of a Parisian string quartet, stranded a few miles from their next gig in San Diego, find themselves kidnapped by the social director of Standard Island. The rich nabobs of that artificial paradise hunger for live, classical music, having had to content themselves hitherto with listening to concerts via the radio-like theatrophone. To give just two performances each month for a year, these four musicians of very different temperaments Zorn irascible, Yvernes phlegmatic, Frascolin calm, and Pinchinat overflowing with joviality are offered a small fortune. How can they refuse, especially because the island has already set sail for tropic climes and wont return to Southern California for many months? Nonetheless, the grouchy cellist Zorn keeps insisting that things will end badly. Verne doesnt supply an exact date for the novels action, though it must be early in an imaginary 20th century. He mentions battery-powered electric carriages, moving sidewalks and bathrooms with the latest modern refinements: faucets thermometrically programmed for hot and cold water, basins emptying automatically, water heaters, curling irons, sprayers of fragrant essences dispensing on demand, rotating fans running on electricity, mechanically activated brushes. On a walking tour of this floating utopia, Vernes quartet learns of devices such as the telautograph, which sends the written word the same way the telephone sends the spoken word and the telephote, which records images. Wristwatches, when consulted, pronounce the time aloud, like a steampunk version of Siri. The city library even rents out phonographic books, and some periodicals are printed on edible sheets with chocolate ink, so that they can be read, then eaten. Milliard City is the center of Standard Island. The avenues and streets are laid out geometrically, with handsome squares and green spaces. Since the island follows the sun and avoids the infectious microbes of the mainland, its inhabitants hardly ever get sick. The schools are good, but Verne notes that the students lack drive and curiosity. Perhaps they dont need them. Their parents, like nearly all the islands 10,000 residents, are American millionaires and several are billionaires. Manual workers might be taken aboard for specific tasks, but are sent back to their own countries as soon as possible. The whole ridiculously expensive, luxurious enterprise is designed to foster a quiet, happy life free from all care. Unfortunately, this Jewel of the Pacific isnt quite the peaceful retreat it was intended to be. Northern Yankees, largely Protestant, live on its larboard, or port, side, while Southerners, mainly Catholic, reside on the starboard. Their respective leaders, the Chicago wheeler-dealer Jem Tankerdon and Nat Coverley, a banker from New Orleans, hardly speak to each other, and the rivalry between their two camps is fanatical. When young Walter Tankerdon and Dy Coverley fall in love a la Romeo and Juliet, the family antagonisms are even further exacerbated. To these plentiful internal tensions in lotus land, Verne adds an external threat. In Hawaii, a mysterious Malay ketch begins to follow Standard Island, remaining just out of sight until apparently being rammed by a passing steamer and forced to signal for help. Once rescued, Captain Sarol and his crew are permitted to remain in Milliard City until they can be set safely ashore in the New Hebrides (now the nation of Vanuatu). Theres clearly something fishy about these Malays. But what is their dastardly plan? If you havent read Jules Verne since childhood, now is the time to rediscover him. The University of Nebraska Presss admirable Bison Frontiers of the Imagination imprint includes The Chase of the Golden Meteor, The Lighthouse at the End of the World and other Verne novels. However, this edition of The Self-Propelled Island eschews any critical apparatus, except for Volker Dehss excellent introduction, and leaves out the original period engravings. By contrast, the Verne titles from Wesleyan University Press in its Early Classics of Science Fiction series, such as the recent edition of Five Weeks in a Balloon, as well as the works published in Oxford paperback and in the scholarly Palik series from BearManor Media, do provide these useful extras. If, by some sad mischance, youve never read any Verne, you couldnt do better than begin with the relatively concise yet thrilling A Journey to the Center of the Earth in William Butchers annotated translation for Oxford Worlds Classics. Michael Dirda reviews each Thursday in Style and is the author, most recently, of Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living With Books. Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Allison Silberberg, the new mayor of Alexandria, as a University of Southern California graduate. Her master of fine arts is from the University of California at Los Angeles. This version has been corrected. The horse had only one eye. Thats what director Amber McGinnis Jackson immediately noticed when a staff member at Misty Manor Riding Stable in Marriottsville, Md., led a red-and-white pinto gelding toward her. The horse, named Titan, had a big splash of white on the right side of his face and a deep socket where his right eye should have been. For anyone familiar with the play Equus, Titans missing eye was especially startling, and Jackson is very familiar with the work. Her Constellation Theatre production of Peter Shaffers 1973 classic, about a young man fascinated by horses but who ultimately blinds them, begins previews Wednesday at Source Theatre. In preparation for the production Jackson hadnt been riding in years, and many of her cast and crew members had never been on a horse she decided to take everyone on a field trip. On a freakishly warm Sunday in December, they headed to Misty Manor in Howard County, where the employees tried to match their personalities to the farms horses. We were motivated to do a bit of character study, Jackson said. We tried to see how, for example, they responded to human touch. After being shown how to tack up the horses with western saddles and bridles, the group spent an hour on the trails, riding over wooded hills and through a river. Back at the stable, the group gave the horses rubdowns and learned more about the grooming techniques the actors would pantomime in the show. As theater folks who spend a lot of time in dark spaces with no windows, it was great to get outside and have an adventure, Jackson said. Jackson said she was struck by how quickly her cast and crew members bonded with the horses, many of whom came from rescue situations. Titan, for example, had developed cancer and had his eye removed. While on the trails, most riders talked only to their mounts instead of chatting with each other, stroking the horses necks during long periods of silence. That was fascinating to me, Jackson said. It was important that we give people a chance to experience the horses majesty. On Sunday, Logan Circle residents and theatergoers will have a chance to experience a little majesty themselves with the emphasis on little when Constellation partners with Smucker Farms and Peppermint Pony party services to present a Pony Pop Up on 14th Street NW. From noon to 3 p.m., anyone can stop by to meet a miniature horse and a pony. And as Constellation Theatre Artistic Director Allison Stockman proudly notes, they do have the proper permits to have a pony parade on 14th Street, and the theater will clean up the all the pony poop. An arts advocate in office Artists who live and work in Alexandria have reason to be optimistic now that the city has a mayor with a masters of fine arts degree in playwriting. Allison Silberberg, a graduate of UCLA, was sworn in last week. The Democrat was a surprise winner in last years primary, defeating incumbent Mayor William D. Euille after just one term on the city council. Silberberg entered UCLA interested in theater, but she gravitated toward film and television in graduate school and ending up interning for a film director. After graduation, she was hired as a writer on the sitcom Mamas Family. The show then went into syndication, and many writers who were starting in Hollywood had their careers thwarted by the 1988 writers strike. Although her career long ago shifted toward public-policy writing and public service, Silberberg says that her degree will influence her work as mayor and that she will be a strong supporter of Alexandrias arts groups, including MetroStage. NEA board appointment President Obamas latest appointment to the board governing the National Endowment for the Arts should be a much-needed advocate for American theaters. Diane Rodriguez, associate artistic director of Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, was recently confirmed by the Senate to join the National Council on the Arts, the board that has veto power over grants recommended by NEA staff members and panelists. She will replace Joan Israelite, a George W. Bush appointee. At CTG, Rodriguez has had a 21-year career in various roles, including associate producer and director of new-play production and co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum. I was speechless when I first received the call from the White House in 2014 and Im thrilled that the appointment is official, Rodriguez said in a statement. I look forward to sitting at the table and representing our nations theater artists and companies. And certainly, when I look back at my career which has taken many turns, this will be a major highlight. As an artistic discipline, theater has not fared well under the Obama administration. The presidents controversial appointee to run the NEA, Broadway producer Rocco Landesman, famously dissed theater beyond New York. Grant programs funding theater journalism fellowships and productions of classic American plays and musicals were canceled, and the position of NEA theater director was vacant for more than a year until Greg Reiner, former executive of New Yorks Classic Stage Company, took the job last summer. Rodriguez will be sworn in next month and take her seat on the council in March. Ritzel is a freelance writer. Q. How can I help my seventh-grader be more responsible about her schoolwork? She is struggling in school but doesnt help herself by seeking out what she needs to know, and low grades dont seem to bother her. Im getting a vibe from teachers that middle school is all about parents backing off and students taking the lead. But on her own, our daughter is disorganized, unfocused and ambivalent about the results of this behavior. Should we let her fail? (And by fail, I dont mean an assignment . . . I mean FAIL fail, because that is a very real possibility at this point.) A. There are a couple of key facts I am missing here. No. 1, I dont know if this is a new phenomenon or if this has been going on a number of years. Second, I am guessing, since you dont mention it, that she doesnt have any known disabilities or diagnoses. Suffice it to say, before you do anything, make sure she has a thorough checkup. Are her eyes and ears okay? Is she physically ship-shape? Next, be sure she is doesnt have any undiagnosed learning disabilities. So many failing children are seen as disorganized and unfocused, when really they are truly doing their absolute best to stay afloat. And even if this is a new problem, it doesnt mean that there isnt a disability or attention disorder underfoot. Some children scrape and fight through for quite a long while, creating elaborate coping strategies. And then they hit a wall. [Mom is afraid to give up friends whose daughters are mean] Seventh grade is also the year that many young women get their periods, wreaking hormonal and emotional havoc. I am wondering whether she is experiencing some physical and emotional changes that are feeling scary and big to her. I also dont know what struggling in school means. It is pretty well known that American children are dealing with unneeded homework stress, and the country and educational system dont really understand what homework does or doesnt do (and we stick with what we know, effective or not). So, as we shuffle along, our children are developing some serious anxiety and depression problems. On to your biggest parenting question: Should we let her fail? I have been writing long enough now to know that this is going to make people angry, but here goes: It depends. You can find studies to support the importance of failure. (I have given a couple of talks on it myself.) You can find others about the damage that failure can inflict on children. I suggest skipping these articles and figuring out your own daughter. If we remove the reductionist nature of grades and schoolwork, what is the real problem here? Why doesnt your daughter care about her schoolwork? There is nothing you can do until you answer this question. And I get it. That is completely maddening. Nothing would make me happier than giving you some pat, easy 1-2-3 answer. In lieu of that, here are some questions that I always wonder when a child appears to not care about her work: [A tween impervious to the stink-eye] Have you hassled, nagged, helicoptered, bothered, sat directly next to her, forced, bribed or punished her throughout her academic career? If the answer is a moderate to strong yes, you may have raised a child who is dependent on you to organize herself, complete her work, find her motivation. Essentially, the natural developmental drive to complete tasks has been stifled. You have a 5-year-old in a 12-year-olds body. And if you read this and go into some kind of guilt trip or panic, let me assure you that you are not alone. Well-meaning teachers are expected to assign kindergarten students homework well before it is developmentally appropriate. This requires parents to sit next to their children and begin the cajoling and mentoring and, essentially, tutoring. One year turns to two turns to three, and poof! Youve got a bad habit. Trust me, I have yet to meet a parent who wakes up and says, How can I undermine my childs learning today? But parental over-involvement in homework handicaps children. You havent helicoptered (thats a verb now, huh?) her work, but have you gone out of your way to prevent her from experiencing the consequences of her work (or lack thereof)? Have you run every forgotten assignment to her at school? Have you packed her backpack every morning? Have you written excuses to the teachers when they were not warranted? If so, you have not allowed your daughter to struggle, find a solution, give up, seek help at school or feel the sting of failure or the joy of success. If you leave her to her own devices now, she doesnt have any devices. She doesnt have any experience, self-esteem or resilience to rely upon when the going gets tough. How is failure viewed in your home? Have you let her know that you will support her, love her, accept her no matter what? Have you let her know that her homework is but one small aspect of her life? Is the message that failure is dire? (It is not). If failure is avoided and feared in a family, the children will either become perfectionists and anxious, or they will withdraw completely. Abdicate. Failure is so uncomfortable, it cannot be faced. What if the parents didnt worry about failure? What if you said to her, Hey, no matter what, I believe in you and I love you. If you fail, then we learn what needs to happen. We have your back. We are all in this together. What if failure were welcomed? [Mom is afraid to give up friends whose daughters are mean] Is this child in danger? Depressed? Being bullied? Feeling unsafe at home or in school? So many of the behaviors of tweens and teens dont clearly point to the actual problem. This necessitates that we become strong and compassionate listeners. We want to know about her interior world and how she is coping and maturing. Will this failure push her into a place of anger and deeper depression? Will she feel abandoned? Will this failure lead to a deep fracture in your relationship with her? I hope that these questions lead you to a place of deeper understanding, whether that understanding is about yourself, your child or your entire family. I cannot answer your real question: Should we let her fail? Try changing the question to What is this scenario really about? How can I best understand, support and love my daughter in this scenario? Keep it simple, keep it kind and keep it easy (or as easy as you can). More from On Parenting: How to help middle schoolers living in a sometimes scary place Preparing for haircuts when your child has special needs The smart economics of Norways parental leave, and why the U.S. should consider it Also at washingtonpost.com Read a transcript of a recent live Q&A with Leahy at washingtonpost.com/advice , where you can also find past columns. Her next chat is scheduled for Jan. 21. Dear Amy: I am a 22-year-old woman. My father is Muslim and was born in Kuwait. My mother was Catholic and was born in the United States (but converted after being with my father). I was raised Muslim. Personally, I do not necessarily follow the religion, but I do have respect toward it for my parents sake. I am currently in a very serious relationship with a 21-year-old Christian American man, who is as equally nonreligious as I am. The relationship is very serious, and we have talked about marriage and our futures together almost daily. Since my parents are very devoted in their faith, I have never talked to them about my relationship (or about any of my previous relationships). I know they do not expect me to have an arranged marriage, but we have never spoken about it before, except when I was young and that was when I wasnt even allowed to be friends with boys (taboo in the religion, or at least in my fathers eyes). I would like some advice on how to approach the situation to talk to them and make them understand. When my mother saw a picture of me hugging a guy, she said it would kill my father. I dont want to upset them. I know it will be easier to start with my mother, since she is the American one, but I just do not have that type of relationship with her. Wondering Wondering: Based on my cursory knowledge about the issue of Muslim/Christian marriages, while a Muslim man is permitted to marry a Christian woman, a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a Christian man and stay in the faith. My reading about this issue and my instincts based on your letter tell me that this is going to be tough. You should start by asking your parents an open-ended question about what their expectations are of your relationships. If your hugging a man would kill your father (and if your mother tells you this), you can expect both of your parents reaction to be challenging. You and your guy must think and talk realistically with each other about what your lives would be like either without your parents in it, or with them (and other family members and members of the community) pressuring you regarding this relationship. In order for you to live the life you want to live, you may have to emancipate yourself from your parents and your religion (he may have to do the same). Despite all of this, I want to encourage you to exercise your freedom to love the person you want to love, finding the strength to face your challenges together. Dear Amy: My husband and I live overseas and recently got married. We plan to return to the United States this summer, in part to attend my cousins wedding in the home town our parents share. We both come from large extended families, so many family members will be traveling to attend my cousins nuptials. My husband and I were thinking of asking my cousin and his fiancee if they would mind if we hosted a wedding celebration (not a full wedding) of our own a week after they tied the knot. Can you weigh in regarding if our request is justifiably practical or if it is just rude to intrude on the timing of my cousins nuptials? We cant travel home very often, but we do not want to detract attention from their wedding. Are we being practical or just gauche? Practical or Gauche Practical or Gauche: It would be gauche (graceless) to preempt your cousins wedding by planning a celebration to take place just before his; as it is, your idea seems practical and potentially fun (although traveling family members may find extending their own vacations challenging). Keep your plans simple, and as a courtesy run it by both your cousin and his fiancee first. I hope they will embrace the idea to keep the party going. Dear Amy: Appreciative Out West doesnt like the response of no problem when they say thank you. I use no problem as a response to a thank you all the time. To me it translates to, It was my pleasure. Im glad to help out any time. Feel free to call me if you need anything. My goal is to put the person Ive done something for at ease for the next time. No Problem No Problem: I got a huge response to this letter. Thank you for the translation. Amys column appears seven days a week at www.washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribpub.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. A recent definition of "politically correct" is seen in the American Heritage College Dictionary, but the phrase has had many meanings over the years. (The Washington Post) The phrase has become inescapable again. In campaign speeches, media headlines and your Twitter feed: politically correct. But what does it actually mean? Depends what year it is, and whom youre asking. These days, for GOP candidates, its a catch-all synonym for liberal cowardice or caution whatever it is thats keeping America from being great, or something. But politically correct is a linguistic weapon that has changed hands many times. Its been a literal term. An ironic joke. A snide insult. To some, the term has even represented a positive ideal, a righteous label worn proudly. 1932: We looked over the program, but are sure that few farmers would ever understand it. Of course, it is politically correct to the last letter. Harrison George, a leader of the U.S. Communist Party, on its support for the United Farmers League in the Communist newspaper The phrase began to circulate in American communist circles in the 1930s and 40s, at first as a straightforward term meaning the proper language to use, or the proper position, for a member of the U.S. Communist Party to take on a particular issue, says L.D. Burnett, an adjunct professor of history at Collin College in Texas. It was used primarily to demand political orthodoxy. Until some people within the party began to snicker about it, she adds: It was also used jokingly kind of in an eye-rolling, tongue-in-cheek fashion to refer to those doctrinaire sticks in the mud. [Why Trump may be winning the war on political correctness] 1934: All journalists must have a permit to function and such permits are granted only to pure Aryans whose opinions are politically correct. Even after that they must watch their step. The New York Times, describing a clampdown in Nazi Germany Already, the phrase was taking on shades of irony here used to describe the rigid orthodoxy of a fascist government. Obviously, the Times reporter didnt consider those Nazi-approved views to be the correct ones. 1964: Im here to tell you that we are going to do those things which need to be done, not because they are politically correct, but because they are right. President Lyndon B. Johnson at the convention of the United Auto Workers In the 60s, the phrase reappeared in left-leaning political and activist circles. Here, Johnsons use is fairly literal, describing government actions that he saw as not only politically advisable passing a civil rights bill and a medical-assistance plan for the elderly but also morally justified. [The GOP turns political correctness into the mother of all straw men] 1979: In America among many political lesbians, bisexuality is regarded as a betrayal . . . [therefore] the politically correct thing is to define oneself as a lesbian. Anthropologist Deborah Goleman Wolf in her book, The Lesbian Community By the dawning of the feminist sex wars of the 60s and 70s, the phrase was applied in a variety of ways sometimes as a fairly neutral term to describe another groups orthodoxy or vulnerability to political pressure, and sometimes with a tiny hint of judgment, as in this quote. But it became a blatant insult only as the feminist debate over sexuality escalated, hitting a fever pitch in . . . 1982: Politically Correct/Politically Incorrect Sexuality The title of a controversial panel discussion at the Barnard College Conference on Sexuality This conference marked a pivotal point in that debate, Burnett says. Feminists who opposed pornography and certain sexual behaviors were labeled politically correct by their pro-sex counterparts in the movement a term meant as a sneer, suggesting that those women were succumbing to patriarchal influence. [Donald Trump says were all too politically correct. But is that also a way to limit speech?] 1985: If both Democrats and Republicans believe the deficit is the key issue for the 1986 elections, then voting for a balanced budget is the politically correct thing to do. The New York Times Even into the 1980s, you still saw the phrase being used almost literally, though hints of cynicism were creeping in. Here, the writer suggests that cutting federal spending was very much in vogue. 1986: The Cosby Show is, to use a hideously canting phrase, politically correct. Terry Teachout in National Review magazine By the mid-80s, politically correct was being leveled by some conservative critics with heavy doses of irony against what they viewed as feel-good liberal pieties. In a disdainful review, Teachout scolded the sitcom for glossing over the complexities of race relations. 1986: Its delicious . . . and even more important, its politically correct. A waitress quoted in a Washington Post article about fair-trade Nicaraguan coffee And yet! There were still the liberal activists who wholeheartedly embraced the term, such as at a restaurant in the ever-earnest Maryland enclave of Takoma Park. 1988: It was politically correct not to go in there. A community preservation society leader quoted in the New York Times This guy also used the phrase proudly to explain why locals in the staunchly left-wing Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco boycotted a chain restaurant. 1989: P.C. and Proud A slogan and general attitude assumed by certain campus activist groups in the late 80s and early 90s Melanie Huff and her friends adopted the phrase during their years as AIDS advocates in graduate school. We were into the idea of using inclusive language, says Huff, now an associate dean at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. There was nothing at all negative about trying to attain language usage that was non-offensive. Still, the phrase was hardly mainstream, until . . . 1991: The notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land. And although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred, it replaces old prejudice with new ones. George H.W. Bush, in a commencement address at the University of Michigan By the early 90s, more people were growing outraged by political correctness in higher education, and fewer activists were flying the P.C. banner as a glorified ideal. When the first President Bush declared that free speech was under siege by P.C. culture, mainstream America [began] to latch onto this term, Burnett says. Thats when political correctness appeared on the nightly news. More than 25 years later, you can still find it there. But instead of describing a culture clash within academia, its now a broad-brush insult directed against any ideological opponent. As someone who has spoken the phrase with pride, Huff now thinks its not salvageable, even for those who once used it in what they hoped was a spirit of inclusiveness and open-mindedness. Its such a term of ridicule, she says. Even those of us who would still want to strive to that as a conceptual goal wouldnt use that term. A woman takes a picture of freshly fallen leaves in the District. A group of Northwest Washington residents is hoping to ban certain gas-powered leaf blowers in the city. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) James Fallows, national correspondent for the Atlantic magazine, incisively analyzed President Obamas Dec. 6 address on the Islamic State, guiding readers through its contents and what the speech conveys about the presidents leadership style. A few days later, he employed the same authoritative voice to write about a topic usually raised only during municipal spats: noisy leaf blowers. Its a change I knew about, but couldnt quite believe, until I saw it in person yesterday, Fallows wrote in a Dec. 11 blog post on the Atlantics website that introduced readers to a high-end leaf blower he discovered. This is the emergence of battery-powered leaf blowers . . . which take us much closer toward the Holy Grail of equipment that is both (1) powerful and (2) quiet. Fallows, who served as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and later as editor at U.S. News & World Report, is part of a crusade in his upper Northwest Washington neighborhood of Wesley Heights to ban loud leaf blowers with two-stroke engines in the city. The writer has elevated the fight with a high-profile platform, chronicling his thoughts on leaf blowers and involvement in local politics in a series of posts he calls Leafblower Menace. The titles include Historys Greatest Monster and What the devil does in his spare time. Writer James Fallows has been vocal in leading a movement against leaf blowers. (Patrick McMullan Co.) Fallows and his wife, journalist Deborah Fallows, joined with neighbors to lobby city leaders for a ban, scoring a victory when D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced legislation this month that would prohibit the sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers in the city by 2022. Ive been getting complaints about leaf blowers for years, Cheh said. The couple have traveled the country in recent years to write about residents participating in their communities for a series in the Atlantic on civic engagement. Fallows and his wife have owned a home in the District for decades, but they had not been similarly involved. In November, Fallows attended his first Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting a D.C. government body known for going into laborious and nuanced discussions about issues such as zoning, liquor licenses and, yes, leaf-blower noise. Fallows, who wrote speeches for Carter during the Camp David Accords and once wrote that the president personally signed off on his requests to use the White House tennis court, characterized the range of issues covered at the ANC meeting as impressive. After writing about this for a while, I decided to see what it was like to be engaged in our own community, Fallows said. I personally never liked the sound of leaf blowers . . . but I decided to get involved because of the public health issue. [How bad for the environment are gas-powered leaf blowers?] Municipal leaf-blower battles are nothing new, long irking residents across the country during leafy fall months. Fallowss neighbors have been fighting these raucous air-spewing machines for decades. Haskell Small, a composer and concert pianist who is helping to lead the leaf-blower battle in Wesley Heights, was quoted in a 1997 Washington Post article, describing the sound as piercing. When I try to compose or write a letter, there is no way for me to listen to my inner voice, and the leaf blower blanks out all the harmonic combinations, Small said at the time. Small had pushed for an ordinance to cap the noise level of leaf blowers in the neighborhood. D.C. law now says that leaf blowers cannot exceed 70 decibels as measured from 50 feet away. (A normal conversation typically is about 60 decibels.) Equipped with decibel readers, Small and Fallows said they often measure sounds exceeding 80 decibels and complain that sound ordinances are not enforced. Even Cheh conceded that there is not much the city can do to enforce it. The fight is gaining momentum, in part, because residents are framing it as a public-health issue. The two-stroke engine mixes fuel with oil, which does not undergo complete combustion. These engines emit a number of toxins, such as carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide, which leaf-blower operators inevitably inhale. Municipalities throughout the country, including nearby Takoma Park, Md., have moved to ban them. [Takoma Parks citizen activists have a new target] You find two-stroke engines in poorer countries because theyre cheap, Fallows wrote in a blog post, citing a 2004 National Institutes of Health study showing that two- and three-wheeled vehicles in India with the engines account for a significant amount of air pollution. You dont find them in richer countries because theyre so dirty and polluting. Because this type of leaf blower is inexpensive and efficient in removing leaves, not everyone is in favor of banning it. Conrad DeWitte was the lone ANC representative to vote against a proposal recommending that the D.C. Council enact a ban. Opponents argue that it is not feasible to expect lawn companies and residents to dispose of leaf blowers in favor of more expensive, eco-friendly options. Gasoline engines are also very useful in helping homeowners (and/or their contractors) perform routine yard maintenance conveniently, quickly, and cheaply, DeWitte wrote in an email. I think the utility of these modern conveniences outweighs any annoyance from noise produced during the occasional use of these machines. Fallows, Haskell and other neighbors say the solution could be in an electric-powered leaf blower that is powerful and, of course, quiet. They hired a lawn company that uses a cordless electric leaf blower that costs about $350 and uses a $900 rechargeable battery. Zack Kline, owner of A.I.R. Lawn Care, said that he hosted a leaf-blower demonstration for a few neighborhood residents at Haskells home. Theres a lot of industry pushback, Kline said. Local government intervention is good. For now, Fallows probably must commute to the Atlantics headquarters at the Watergate if he wants to write in quiet during the fall months. Chehs legislation has been referred to committee. If it does pass, it would not be fully phased in until 2022. I do a lot less writing at the house, Fallows said. People are attuned to different things, and the particular timbre of the leaf blowers just affects me. Anne Arundel County The following were among incidents reported by Anne Arundel County police. For information, call 410-222-8050. GLEN BURNIE ROBBERIES Crain Hwy., 7900 block, 9:45 p.m. Jan. 5. An armed male grabbed cash from a register and fled on foot. Ferndale Rd., 6:34 p.m. Jan. 5. An armed male stole cash from a business and fled. Ritchie Hwy., 7300 block, 7:31 p.m. Jan. 4. Two armed males stole video gaming systems, cash and phones from a business and fled. Ritchie Hwy., 7900 block, 9:14 p.m. Jan. 5. An armed male assaulted a clerk at a store during an attempted robbery but fled without cash. LINTHICUM HEIGHTS AREA ROBBERIES Elkridge Landing Rd., 800 block, 10:43 p.m. Jan. 5. Three armed males entered a hotel room, stole property and cash from a female and fled on foot. LOTHIAN AREA ROBBERIES Sands Rd., 1:20 a.m. Jan. 1. A male was assaulted and robbed by a person who implied they had a gun. The robber produced a knife and demanded more cash. A fight ensued, but the assailant fled when officers arrived. PASADENA AREA ROBBERIES Mountain Rd., 4400 block, 4:45 p.m. Jan. 2. An armed male robbed a gas station and fled. SEVERN AREA ROBBERIES Annapolis Rd., 1600 block, 8:21 p.m. Jan. 4. An armed male grabbed cash from a register at a gas station and fled. Annapolis These were among incidents reported by the Annapolis Police Department. For information, call 410-268-9000. ROBBERIES Bay Ridge Rd., 900 block, 9:30 p.m. Dec. 30. A male forced a man, 39, into a vehicle and drove to an ATM, where he was forced to attempt to withdraw cash but was unable to. The male held the man overnight and was arrested the next morning when they returned to the bank. An Annapolis man, 35, was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, first- and second-degree assault, handgun on a person and use of a firearm in a felony or violent crime and three counts of theft. Newtowne Dr., 700 block, 1:30 a.m. Dec. 3. During an argument, a male assaulted an acquaintance, took cash from the females clothing and fled. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Chase St., 600 block, 11 a.m. Dec. 29 to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 3. Jewelry was stolen from a home. Church Cir., 8:30 a.m. Jan. 3. Two youths went into a hotel room without permission. Two Annapolis youths, 14 and 17, were charged with fourth-degree burglary, trespassing, destruction of property, and rogue and vagabond. Fairhope Ct., 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 5. A front door at a home was forced open, but nothing was reported stolen. Forest Dr., 1900 block, 8:30 p.m. Dec. 30 to 8:30 a.m. Dec. 31. Sunglasses, a cellphone, jewelry and paperwork were stolen from a vehicle. Gemini Dr., 1200 block, 12:15 to 9:10 p.m. Jan. 4. A bicycle, accessories, a laptop computer, an iPad and jewelry were stolen from a home. Halsey Rd., 400 block, 8 p.m. Dec. 30 to 8 a.m. Dec. 31. A gift card was stolen from a vehicle. Halsey Rd., 10:30 pm. Dec. 30 to 5:15 a.m. Dec. 31. Cash was stolen from a vehicle. Moreland Pkwy., 1900 block, 4:30 p.m. Dec. 30 to 9:45 a.m. Jan. 3. Property at a business was destroyed, but nothing was reported stolen. Porter Dr., 1oo block, 10 p.m. Jan. 1 to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 2. A backpack, cash and childrens toys and clothes were stolen from a vehicle. Ritchie Lane, 1500 block, 8:30 to 9 p.m. Dec. 30. A side door at a home was forced open, but nothing was reported stolen. Second St., 500 block, 8:30 p.m. Jan. 2 to 6:30 a.m. Jan. 3. Stamps were stolen from a vehicle. DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY President St., 1000 block, 2 a.m. Jan. 3. A vehicle window was shot with a bullet. WEAPONS Madison St., 1100 block, 7:53 p.m. Jan. 3. A female was shot in the upper body and several vehicles were struck with bullets in the area. The female was listed in stable condition at a local hospital. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Hudson St., 8 p.m. Dec. 26 to 10 a.m. Dec. 27. A 2002 Ford F-550 tow truck was stolen. Howard County These were among incidents reported by the Howard County Police Department. For information, call 410-313-2236. CLARKSVILLE AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Morning Dew Ct., 6300 block, 3 p.m. Dec. 31 to 1:44 a.m. Jan. 1. Someone forced entry through a bathroom window at a home, but it was unclear whether anything was stolen. COLUMBIA AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Broken Land Pkwy., 9600 block, 3:38 p.m. Jan. 6. Stereos were stolen from two vehicles, and windows on four vehicles were broken. Clocktower Lane, 9700 block, 3:30 a.m. Jan. 1. Items were stolen. Endicott Lane, 5400 block, 7:39 p.m. Jan. 3. Electronics, purses and shoes were stolen from a home. Hickory Ridge Rd., 10400 block, 11 p.m. Jan. 1. A window screen was cut at a home, but nothing was reported stolen. Rain Dream Hill, 10600 block, 11:54 p.m. Jan. 6. A bedroom at a home was ransacked. Reservoir Rd., 8300 block, 5:59 p.m. Jan. 2. A vacant residence was broken into, but it was unclear whether anything was stolen. Stevens Forest Rd., 5700 block, 7:31 p.m. Jan. 2. Two TVs were stolen from a home. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Crystal Run, 11200 block, 3 to 11 a.m. Dec. 31. A 2015 Toyota Camry was stolen. Lambskin Lane, 9100 block, Dec. 29 to Dec. 30. A white 2014 Toyota RAV4 was stolen. ELKRIDGE AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Old Jessup Rd., 7900 block, 10:07 p.m. Jan. 2. An air compressor was stolen from a business. Washington Blvd., 7500 block, 7:10 p.m. Jan. 2. A guitar case was stolen from a business. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Dorsey Run Rd., 7100 block, 11:54 a.m. Jan. 6. A 2005 gray Honda Odyssey van was stolen. ELLICOTT CITY AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Leyden Way, 4700 block, 3 to 10:30 a.m. Dec. 31. A purse and vehicle were stolen from a home. A Columbia male youth, 17, was charged with auto theft and burglary. Maryland Ave., 3700 block, 4:21 p.m. Jan. 4. A green Mazda Protege was stolen. Red Branch Rd., 9100 block, 1:59 a.m. Jan. 4. Cash and paperwork were stolen from a business. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Goose Landing Cir., 8800 block, Jan. 5 to 10:23 a.m. Jan. 6. A 2006 Subaru Tribeca was stolen. Millwheel Pl., 5600 block, 9:27 a.m. Dec. 31. A 2010 Nissan Xterra was stolen. A Columbia male youth, 17, was charged with auto theft. HANOVER AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Skipton Dr., 6400 block, 4:17 p.m. Jan. 6. A homeowner returned home and found someone in the basement. The person fled. There were no signs of forced entry, and nothing was reported stolen. INDECENT EXPOSURE Sandpiper Ct., 6200 block, 10:32 a.m. Jan. 4. A male exposed himself in front of a window at a home. JESSUP AREA ROBBERIES Washington Blvd., 7900 block, 2:25 p.m. Jan. 4. A male demanded cash from an employee at a hotel, but the employee refused and the male fled. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Ashwood Rd., 8300 block, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 4 to 7:30 a.m. Jan. 6. A 2002 Yamaha dirt bike was stolen. LAUREL AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Sweet Maple Lane, 9800 block, 9:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Dec. 31. Two TVs were stolen from a home. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Red Jacket Way, 8000 block, 8:18 p.m. Jan. 3. A 2011 Jeep Wrangler was stolen. Arlington County Invasive Plant program needs volunteers to remove invasive plants: 9-11 a.m. first Saturdays, Haley Park; 2-4:30 p.m. second Sundays, Gulf Branch Nature Center; 10 a.m.-noon third Saturdays, Tuckahoe Park; 2-5 p.m. third Sundays, Long Branch Nature Center; 10 a.m.-noon fourth Saturdays, Benjamin Banneker Park; 10 a.m.-noon fourth Sundays, Fort Bennett Park. Information: environment.arlingtonva.us. To register, call 703-228-1862. Arlington Neighborhood Village needs volunteers to help senior citizens with various tasks. Must pass a background check. arlnvil.org. Community Tax Aid seeks volunteers to assist low-income taxpayers at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites in Arlington and Alexandria. Training will be held through Jan. 18. Volunteers sign up for one four-hour volunteer shift per week between early February through April 15. For information, go to communitytaxaiddc.org or email volunteer@communitytaxaiddc.org. Travelers Aid needs volunteers to help travelers at Reagan National Airport. Must be able to work evenings and weekends, and commit to six months. Parking provided. 703-417-3975, travelersaiddca@mwaa.com or travelersaiddca.com. Virginia Hospital Center Auxiliary in Arlington County offers opportunities to help on information desks, the surgical center and in gift shops. 703-558-6401. Wildlife Rescue League needs hotline volunteers, transporters and wildlife rehabilitators. 703-391-8625 or volcoord@wildliferescueleague.org. Volunteer Alexandria: Call the numbers below or contact Volunteer Alexandria at 703-836-2176, mail@volunteeralexandria.org or volunteeralexandria.org for information on the following opportunities: Alexandria Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Activities seeks volunteers for the Martin Luther King Community Fitness/Childhood Hunger Awareness Program, 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday. handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org. The Morning Bishop Theater Playhouse needs volunteers for the annual Martin Luther King Community Summit, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday. handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org. Ten Thousand Villages will hold an open house featuring volunteer opportunities, 7-9 p.m. Thursday. 703-684-1435 or volunteer.truist.com. United Community Ministries needs an assistant community center supervisor, handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org; and a food pantry assistant, handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org. Volunteer Alexandria needs volunteers for the Martin Luther King Emergency Preparedness Project, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org; and participants for the Martin Luther King Family Volunteer Day, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org. Volunteer Arlington: Call the numbers listed below or contact Volunteer Arlington at 703-228-1760 or volunteer.truist.com for information about the following: Arlington County DHS Aging and Disability Services Division seeks personal advocates for people 60 and older. Training provided. Must be 18 and complete a background check. 703-228-1733 or volunteer.truist.com. Arlington library system seeks a tech instructor for computer classes at the central library. 703-228-7688 or volunteer.truist.com. Bikes for the World seeks volunteers to prepare donated bikes for overseas shipping, 2-8 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday and 2-6 p.m. Feb. 3. Training provided. 703-740-7856 or volunteer.truist.com. Compiled by Ria Manglapus TO SUBMIT AN ITEM Email: axliving@washpost.com Fax: 703-518-3001 Mail: Volunteer Opportunities, The Washington Post, Alexandria-Arlington Local Living, 526 King St., Suite 515, Alexandria, Va. 22314. Details: Announcements are accepted on a space-available basis from public and nonprofit organizations only and must be received at least 14 days before the Thursday publication date. Include event name, dates, times, exact address, prices and a publishable contact phone number. THE DISTRICT Man who was fatally shot is identified A man who was fatally shot on Sunday evening in Southeast Washington has been identifiedby D.C. police as Sergio A. Verastegui, 21, of Springfield, Va. He was killed in the 2000 block of 32nd Pl. SE. Few details have been released. MARYLAND Appeals hearing is set in Freddie Gray case A Maryland appeals court said it will hear arguments March 4 on whether a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray should be forced to testify against his colleagues. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ordered the hearing Tuesday, one day after it put a hold on the trial of the only officer facing a murder charge in the Gray case. Baltimore prosecutors say they cannot secure a conviction against Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. who was driving the police van in which prosecutors say Gray suffered a severe spinal injury unless jurors hear the account of Officer William G. Porter, who awaits retrial after his first ended in a hung jury. A Baltimore judge had ordered Porter to testify, at the prosecutors request, but there are questions about whether forcing him to take the stand would jeopardize his right to a fair trial. Charles County man is killed in home A man was killed in Charles County early Tuesday when two masked gunmen entered the house where he was living. The Charles County Sheriffs Office said they think the victim was intentionally targeted by people who went to the house to rob the man. They said it was not a random event. His identity was withheld until relatives were notified. Snake gets a pardon from police officer A man in Prince Georges County called authorities Sunday evening about a snake found in his mothers apartment in the 1000 block of Marcy Avenue in Oxon Hill. Normally, such calls go to the countys animal control unit, but patrol Officer Logan Peed decided to take it on. Peed guided his night stick behind the black snakes head and grabbed it from behind, said Officer Tyler Hunter, a police spokesman. Like you would see on Animal Planet, he said. The snake was let go in nearby woods. Man arrested in Texas in slaying A third person has been arrested in Texas in the death of the man whose body was found Dec. 22 in the Northwest Branch Park area in Silver Spring, Montgomery County police said. Leonardo Siguenza-Neiros, 20, of Riverdale Road in Lanham, was taken into custody in the death of Denis Vitalino Montufar-Bautista, the county police said. Police have said that the killing was gang related. The suspect was arrested Monday in Lewisville, Tex., on a Montgomery warrant, the police said. A police statement said he is being charged with first-degree murder. THE REGION New flight service will be offered at BWI Allegiant Air, a Nevada-based airline that runs low-cost flights, said Tuesday that it will offer new service this spring from Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport. The service will include nonstop flights to BWI from Savannah, Ga.; Cincinnati; Tulsa; Asheville, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Lexington, Ky. The first flights will begin in April. We noticed youre blocking ads! Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. A federal judge said Tuesday that a young woman who was the central figure in a sensational Rolling Stone story of a gang rape at the University of Virginia will have to turn over documents related to the retracted article as part of a pending defamation lawsuit. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Glen E. Conrad said in court that he plans to grant most aspects of a motion from lawyers for U-Va. associate dean Nicole Eramo, who is suing Rolling Stone for its depiction of her in a 2014 article about rape at the campus here. The story focused on allegations that a U-Va. student named Jackie was brutally assaulted at a U-Va. fraternity and that U-Va. officials were callous in their handling of the case; the story was later debunked, and Eramo is seeking communications Jackie had with the magazine and others at the time. Lawyers have asked Jackie to turn over documents in her possession related to the article and Rolling Stones reporting. Jackies legal team has argued that her status as an alleged victim of sexual assault largely protects her from the request. Jackie is not a party to the lawsuit, and the court has redacted her last name from documents; The Washington Post generally does not identify people who say they were victims of sex crimes. [Catfishing over love interest might have spurred U-Va. gang-rape debacle] Eramos lawyers wrote in court documents that Jackie fabricated the 2012 gang rape that was the focus of the Rolling Stone article, and they argue that the magazine recklessly published the account, which fell apart under media and police scrutiny. Columbia University has released its report on Rolling Stone's retracted story detailing an alleged rape at a U-Va. fraternity. The Post's T. Rees Shapiro - who first reported inconsistencies in the Rolling Stone article - explains the key findings in the report. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) The lawyers also wrote that Jackies gang rape claims might have been the result of a catfishing scheme to attract the romantic interest of a classmate. Shortly after the alleged attack, Jackies crush began to openly question her about the supposed ringleader of her sexual assault, whom she named as Haven Monahan, a U-Va. junior. An investigation by the Charlottesville police found that no one by that name had ever been a U-Va. student, and efforts to locate him were not successful. Eramos lawyers claim that Haven Monahan is a figment of Jackies imagination. [Lawyers for U-Va. dean: Jackie lied to Rolling Stone about gang rape] In court, Conrad said that he was likely going to call on Jackie to hand over her communications with U-Va. administrators and staff, Rolling Stone and the author of the article, Sabrina Rubin Erdely. The judge said that he was still considering other requests filed by Eramos lawyers, including communications from Jackie to friends and family related to the article. We are pleased with the courts decision, said Libby Locke, a lawyer representing Eramo. Jackie was the primary source for Rolling Stones false and defamatory article. It appears that Jackie fabricated the account of the sexual assault portrayed in Rolling Stone, and that Rolling Stone knew she was an unreliable source. We look forward to moving forward with discovery and taking this case to trial. Conrad said that Jackies communications with Rolling Stone and Erdely likely would be integral to Eramos lawsuit. Jackies lawyers declined to comment Tuesday. One of Eramos lawyers, Tom Clare, said in court that text messages or e-mails from Jackie about her attack could show that she was not a reliable source. Clare said that Jackie apparently gave significantly different details about her assault in accounts she gave to Rolling Stone and members of the U-Va. administration. A lawyer for Rolling Stone, Elizabeth McNamara, said that Jackie never mentioned the name Haven Monahan to Erdely or the magazines fact-checkers. The superintendent of the fast-growing Loudoun County school system has proposed a budget that for the first time would top $1 billion, a marker of the rapid transformation of a once-rural school district that now serves more than 76,000 students. Superintendent Eric Williamss proposal for next school year calls for $86.7 million more than this years budget of $981 million an 8.8 percent increase. If approved, it would expand the districts offering of full-day kindergarten, direct more teachers to schools with large populations of at-risk students and increase teacher salaries. Students get one shot at their education to be empowered, Williams said after presenting his proposal to the school board last week. Its important that we get this right in terms of the amount of money and in terms of allocation of those resources. The proposal could face resistance by the Board of Supervisors, which furnishes the largest chunk of the school budget. Williams is asking for $717 million from county taxpayers, which is about $58 million more than the county provided this year. But county officials have signaled that the board can provide only between $15 million and $20 million more than last year, leaving a significant gap that might have to be made up through cuts. That gap could grow if the governors budget proposal, which would deliver $26 million more in state aid to Loudoun schools, is slashed. Williams was able to see his full request funded last year with the help of county surplus money, a situation officials might be hesitant to revisit this year. But it marked a major shift for the county board, which had not fully funded the school boards budget request in at least a decade. School Board member Tom Marshall (Leesburg) said the fact that last years budget relied on one-time surplus funds puts the school board in a very precarious position to try to get our budget through. Im hopeful but skeptical, Marshall said. Williamss proposal would allow the district to get about 75 percent of the countys kindergartners in full-day classes by spending $9.5 million to hire additional teaching staff. The new classes would use available classroom space and not require additional construction. The district is the only one in Northern Virginia that does not offer universal full-day kindergarten. About one-third of Loudoun kindergartners are in full-day classes this year, and all of the districts at-risk students including English language learners, special-education students and students who qualify for free- and reduced-price meals, a measure of poverty receive full-day classes. Until the 2015-2016 school year, about 20 percent of kindergartners were in full-day classes, and the district did not have enough space to serve its at-risk population. [Why wealthy Loudoun County does not have universal full-day kindergarten] Williams also wants to hire more special-education teachers and send additional teachers to schools where there have been surges in the number of special-education students and English language learners. He said the high-performing district, which boasts above-average graduation rates and SAT scores, still needs to work on helping its neediest students. The population of at-risk students in the county has grown faster than the general population, with the number of students who qualify for free- and reduced-price meals doubling since 2009. It comes down to these opportunities for improved student achievement, Williams said. Williams, like other area school superintendents, said he is concerned that the district is not offering competitive teacher salaries and worries about losing out on top talent, especially in the midst of a national teacher shortage. He wants to allocate $18.5 million to give teachers a salary step increase and boost salaries for mid-career teachers to help with recruiting and retention. Thats a concern that has been echoed by school board members, who worry that Loudoun, where the average teacher salary of $65,581 puts it in the bottom tier of D.C.-area school districts, will lose teachers to neighboring districts. The superintendents proposal to raise teacher salaries would make us more competitive, said board chairman Eric Hornberger (Ashburn). Jesse Matthew Jr. glances toward the gallery while appearing in Fairfax County court on Nov. 14, 2014. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) The police came at 4:41 a.m. and knocked on the door, waking up Jesse L. Matthew Jr., who padded barefoot to the entry of his apartment here. A pit bull barked inside. Whats up? Matthew asked. Police responded that they wanted to talk. About what? he asked. It was Sept. 19, 2014, six days since anyone had seen or heard from Hannah Graham, a tall auburn-haired University of Virginia sophomore. Charlottesville police and the community had been working feverishly to locate Graham, 18, with a national television audience watching. Testimony in Albemarle County Circuit Court and court documents released this week offered new details about the investigation that led police to Matthews apartment that early morning. Matthew now faces the possibility of the death penalty on charges related to Grahams disappearance and death. Detectives on the Graham case said they also found evidence that linked Matthew to the case of another young woman who mysteriously vanished in Charlottesville in 2009 and was later found dead. Hannah Grahams body was found on Oct. 18, 2014, near in a wooded area on an abandoned property outside Charlottesville. (Handout/Reuters) Police had arrived at Matthews apartment with a search warrant for his 1998 orange Chrysler coupe, which detectives had observed in surveillance footage near the last place Graham was seen alive. Grahams closest friends had told police that the teenager had been at a restaurant in Charlottesville that night, and during a raucous dinner, Graham drank and joined her friends dancing in a conga line. Graham later went to a party at a nearby apartment and was last seen by friends there around 12:15 a.m. Sept. 13. Matthew also had been out enjoying that Friday night on the downtown mall, a pedestrian promenade lined with restaurants and bars, according to court documents. A photograph captured Matthew at the Blue Light Grill at 12:05 a.m. He used a debit card to pay a $22.95 tab at the Tempo restaurant at 12:18 a.m. At 12:44 a.m., video footage shows Graham appearing disoriented while walking around McGradys Irish pub on Preston Avenue. Twelve minutes later, Graham sent a text message to friends indicating that she was lost. Surveillance cameras then caught Graham heading east, running and walking briskly toward the downtown mall. Video footage at 1 a.m. showed Graham walking near Fellinis, a quaint Italian spot next to the mall. In an affidavit signed by Charlottesville police officer Lisa Best, the detective wrote that a witness saw Graham walking by herself before she was approached by a tall black man with a scraggly beard and dreadlocks later identified as Matthew. Grahams last known communication with friends came at 1:05 a.m., when she sent a Snapchat message to her former French teacher at West Potomac High School in Fairfax County. But because Snapchat messages are deleted as soon as they are received, the contents of Grahams message are not retrievable. Charlottesville police released surveillance video of 18-year-old University of Virginia student Hannah Graham walking near Sal's Pizza in the early morning before she disappeared September 13. (Charlottesville Police) The witness who saw Matthew and Graham together told police that she felt the interaction seemed suspicious, and she and a friend decided to follow Matthew and Graham into Tempo, on the downtown mall. Best wrote that the witness and her friend sat next to Matthew and Graham at the bar and watched him buy drinks using a debit card. Best wrote that Matthew spent $15.30 on drinks at the bar on Sept. 13 at 1:10 a.m. At 1:18 a.m., cameras at the Red Pump restaurant a block north of Tempo showed Matthew and Graham walking arm in arm. Jesse Leroy Matthew, Jr., was the last reported person to be in the company of Hannah Graham, police wrote in an affidavit. It was reasonable to believe that Graham left the restaurant with Matthew and was in his vehicle when they left the area. When police finally caught up to Matthew on Sept. 19, detective James Mooney told Matthew that they wanted to talk. Have you heard about the missing girl weve been asked to investigate? Mooney asked. Yeah, Matthew replied. Mooney then told Matthew about the video showing him walking with Graham. Wed like to figure out what happened down there, where she may have gone, those types of things, Mooney said. Like I was really drunk, Matthew said. You dont remember that? Mooney said. Matthew replied that he remembered being at the downtown mall. We saw you drive off in your car, you werent too drunk, you were driving fine, Mooney said. Detective Lee Gibson then told Matthew: Weve got to hear your side, especially since youre down there. Let me get some socks, Matthew said. When he returned, Matthew and the detectives stepped out front and continued talking. Did she leave with you? Was she in the car? Mooney asked. Umm, Matthew replied. Because were going to find that out and Id rather hear that from you, Mooney said. After she left with you, where did she end up? What are you talking about? Matthew said. Should I talk to a lawyer? As police spoke to Matthew, Louisa County Sheriffs Office detective Buck Garner and his seven-year-old bloodhound Shaker circled the apartment complex. The dog had found Grahams scent at the front and back door to Matthews residence, on the inside of the passenger door of his car and near the dumpster outside. Earlier in the week, they had traced Grahams scent to an industrial site about a mile and a half from Tempo, where the dog had discovered a pool of Grahams scent that indicated something powerful happened here. That September morning, Mooney told Matthew that he was not under arrest and that it was up to him to decide whether he wanted to talk with a lawyer. Then Im going back in my house, Matthew said. Before a tow truck arrived to take Matthews car, he was adamant that he retrieve papers from inside his glove box. Matthew then told police that the documents were paperwork I need because Im going on vacation and Im getting my passport. When police asked about the trip, Matthew told them he was going to a friends wedding in Cancun, Mexico, in November. Later that morning, police seized Matthews apartment, searching for evidence related to Grahams disappearance, including her Citizen Eco-Drive watch, her iPhone 5s in a pink case and the midriff top and black pants she was wearing that night. Police also found a cigarette butt in his vehicle that they say allowed detectives to link his DNA to the 2009 death and disappearance of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, who went missing after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. The next day, Matthew walked into the Charlottesville police station and asked to speak with a lawyer. After the meeting, a police surveillance team trailed Matthew but lost him after he sped away in a light blue 1997 Nissan Sentra. Charlottesville police then issued a wanted poster for his arrest. After a nationwide manhunt, Matthew was apprehended four days later on a beach in Galveston, Tex., about 395 miles from the Mexico border. Grahams body was found on Oct. 18, 2014, near in a wooded area on an abandoned property outside Charlottesville. Grahams parents, John and Sue, later visited the scene, where autumn leaves of amber, crimson and gold shaded the ground below. We just wanted to see where she was, John Graham said at the time. It was very peaceful. Josh Huff, Jo Sullivan, Nicole Musho and Scott Beadle in the Prince Georges Little Theatres Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. (Andrew D. Culhane) THU 14 Alls Well That Ends Well The Rude Mechanicals stage Shakespeares comedic tragedy about the daughter of a famous doctor who is promised the husband of her choice if she cures the ailing king. Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., through Jan. 23. Howard County Center for the Arts, 8510 High Ridge Rd., Ellicott City. 410-313-2787. www.rudemechanicals.com. $15; seniors, students and military $12. Narrative in Black Identity A mixed-media exhibit from Antonio McAfee, Tiffany Jones and Stephen Towns that celebrates African American heritage and identity. Through Feb. 28. Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Rd., Laurel. 301-377-7800. arts.pgparks.com. Free. FRI 15 Selma Winner of the Academy Award for best original song, the historical film follows Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders during the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches. 5 p.m. Deerfield Run Community Center, 13000 Laurel-Bowie Rd., Laurel. 301-953-7882. www.pgparks.com. Free. SOMD Jeopardy tournament The Great Mills High School Engineering Club hosts its seventh annual fundraising tournament with Jeopardy!-style STEM game for youth, followed by an adult tournament. 6:30-9 p.m. Great Mills High School, Auditorium, 21130 Great Mills Rd., Great Mills. 301-863-4001. schools.smcps.org/gmhs. Spectators $5. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike The Prince Georges Little Theatre stages the Tony-winning comedy about three middle-aged siblings, two of whom still live at their family home while the third supports them. Friday and Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday and Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. Bowie Playhouse, 16500 White Marsh Park Dr., Bowie. 301-937-7458. www.pglt.org. $22, seniors and students $17. SAT 16 Life After Death: Stories of Those Who Survived Grief Cola McGill Productions presents a series of mini sketches that portray the stages of grief. 7-9 p.m. Joes Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker Hill Rd., Mount Rainier. 301-699-1819. www.joesmovement.org. $25. DMVs Got Talent Comedian Tanya Lewis hosts a showcase of local talents, including singers Willie Blount and Souls 4 Real and dancer Marvin Hodge. 8 p.m. Harmony Hall Regional Center, 10701 Livingston Rd., Fort Washington. 301-203-6070. arts.pgparks.com. $15, seniors and students $12. SUN 17 The Lure of Sea Glass Author and sea-glass expert Richard LaMotte discusses his newest book about the role and history of the colorful gems and collection efforts. 2 p.m. Calvert Marine Museum, maritime history hall, 14200 Solomons Island Rd., Solomons. 410-326-2042. www.calvertmarinemuseum.com. Free. MON 18 Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here A multimedia exhibit featuring more than 100 books, broadsides, paintings, letterpress work and more that were created for the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here festivals in San Francisco, Boston and London. The festival, with events throughout the D.C. area, is a response to a 2007 car bombing on Baghdads traditional bookselling street. Through March 12. Brentwood Arts Exchange at Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Ave., Brentwood. 301-277-2863. arts.pgparks.com. Free, donations welcome. Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast Maj. Gen. Linda Singh, the 29th adjutant general of the Maryland Military Department, serves as keynote speaker at the 12th annual breakfast. 9 a.m. St. Marys College of Maryland, Campus center, Great Room, 18952 E. Fisher Rd., St. Marys City. 240-895-4310. www.smcm.edu. Breakfast $10, program free. Reservations requested. The Local Legacy of Slavery Chris Haley, nephew of Roots author Alex Haley, speaks at this Martin Luther King Jr. Day program. Arrive at 2 p.m. for a African American Highlight Tour in the Maritime Gallery. Meet-and-greet at 2:30 p.m., lecture at 3 p.m. Calvert Marine Museum, 14200 Solomons Island Rd., Solomons. 410-326-2042. www.calvertmarinemuseum.com. $9, seniors and military $7, ages 5-12 $4, age 4 and younger free. TUE 19 Re-Invention Winston Harriss exhibit uses printmaking, digital manipulation and recycled artwork to create images that promote self-awareness and spiritual enlightenment. Through Feb. 28. Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Rd., Laurel. 301-377-7800. arts.pgparks.com. Free. WED 20 Pub quiz Bring or form a team to answer a variety of questions for prizes. 7-9 p.m. New Deal Cafe, 113 Centerway, Greenbelt. 301-474-5642. www.newdealcafe.com. $1 per participant. Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett from staff reports Pharaoh, a standard poodle, and Pam Kelley, 70, of Brookeville practice a Bob Fosse-inspired routine at one of the training schools. (Lisa M. Bolton/The Washington Post) If dance classes are on your to-do list for 2016 but you are struggling to find a willing partner, you might want to consider enlisting your dog. Its called canine freestyle, said Darlene Chroniger, who shuttles her demo-dancing dogs between two schools in Prince Georges County Greenbelt Dog Training and Canine Training Association where she has been teaching since 2001. Dog dancing began in England, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States almost at the same time in the late 1980s, inspired by a dramatic form of dressage in which the horses gaits are set to music. Now its a legitimate dog sport sanctioned by the World Canine Freestyle Organization , Chroniger said as she unpacked Shetland sheepdogs Gracie, 9, and Mandy, 5, from their crates at the Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department, the rental home for Greenbelt Dog Training. Chroniger is 68 and has a slight dancers build. She ran a (human) dance studio for 25 years before she retired in 1993 and took up dancing with her dog. Her class attracts a loyal following of about 25 pedigreed and mix-breed canine friends and their handlers. We have puppies fresh out of obedience school, up to champions who have won many titles, the Davidsonville, Md., resident said. A recent Sunday workout at the fire station welcomed dogs of various sizes and abilities, including an 11-year old Pembroke Welsh corgi named Stretch, whose back legs are paralyzed from a neurological disease. Stretch does his dancing while tucked into a red-wheeled doggy cart with vanity plates that read Rockin It. His owner, Angie Hicks, 50, from Odenton, Md., is a program specialist for the U.S. Mint. They started dancing seven years ago. At the time, her corgi was an able-bodied lowrider, a nickname for the breed, which has big ears, a long torso and stubby legs. Stretch also has a three-page resume of medals and titles in several dog sports. The team now competes in the Handi-Dandi Division of WCFO, for dogs (and people) with special needs. The two-hour class warms up to Natalie Coles version of Pink Cadillac. It goes on to combine rote drills and occasional outdoor potty breaks with exercises that introduce new moves and improve old ones. Chroniger alternates using Gracie and Mandy to demonstrate techniques. Among the regulars is an 11-year-old whippet named Whisper, a breed that handler Bevalee Crawley, 47, said is best known for chasing stuff. Crawley, a Largo resident, said she cannot dance, but that didnt seem to concern Whisper, who has four coordinated feet. Crawley and Whisper showed off the fundamentals: twists, turns, spins and subtle paw tapping, woven neatly together to Adeles Hello. The dog and owner maintained eye contact as they executed the maneuvers, something Chroniger said is essential in any obedience training. It helps that every handler has lots of treats and kind words to dispense when things go right (or even nearly right). Former dancer Pam Kelley, 70, her wrist in a cast from a recent spill that had nothing to do with her dog, got Chronigers praise for what Kelley calls her Bob Fosse-inspired opening for a number she is working on with her standard poodle, Pharaoh. In the dance, Kelley, who lives in Brookeville and teaches fitness classes in Montgomery County, did a deep bend from her knees with her back to Pharaoh. On command, the dog stood up on his hind legs, with his paws on her shoulders, a dog plie of sorts. The class is about practice, and helps participants put together routines for competition, in which you get points for technique and artistry. But unlike other dog sports, youll see untraditional moves like a handler crawling on the floor with the dog weaving through her arms, Chroniger said. Also, teams come dressed to dance. Hicks and Stretch performed a pas de deux from Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker for a dance video contest sponsored by Dogs Can Dance, an online dog-dancing training site. In it, Hicks wore a blue leotard and matching tutu and Stretch sported a Christmas-themed bandana with dangling jingle bells. The next WCFO competition in the area will be at the Canine Training Association in Beltsville this summer. But many students dont compete. They just come to exercise their dogs [and themselves] and have fun, Chroniger said. And, if they show the right behaviors, she welcomes them to join the ScentSations, a volunteer group that performs in area nursing homes and other institutions. If we do a freestyle routine or just some tricks to brighten a persons day or distract someone in pain, thats a blessing and time well spent in dog school, Chroniger said. Skirble is a freelance writer. Maryland Democratic leaders struck a tone of defiance the day before the opening of the 2016 General Assembly session, vowing to fight for schools and other priorities and threatening to block Gov. Larry Hogans efforts to change spending rules if they would mean reduced funding for education. Mandate relief is code word for cutting public education, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert) told a cheering crowd at the partys annual legislative luncheon. He said it would be a cold day in hell before he would allow Hogan (R) to move forward with changes that would automatically slow or eliminate planned increases in funding for schools in years in which the economy falters. This governor ran for public office talking about cutting waste, fraud and abuse, Miller said. K-12 education is not waste. Funding the Chesapeake Bay [cleanup] is not abuse. Last week, Hogan announced that he wanted state law changed to allow for automatic cuts in mandated spending increases if revenue drops. The governor did not specify which mandates he wants to alter. Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer criticized Miller for his remarks, arguing that the General Assembly also has reduced mandated education spending during past budget shortfalls. Lawmakers say those decisions are theirs to make, however, and should not become automatic when revenue drops, which is what Hogan is proposing. On Tuesday, Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) told Democratic lawmakers and other party members that they cannot afford to flounder during the legislative session, a little more than a year after Hogan upset an incumbent Democratic lieutenant governor to win the governorship. [What to expect when Maryland lawmakers return for 2016 session] This year, were going to Annapolis to support the issues that our voters voted us to support, Busch said. Were going to stand up for the Democratic values, which are so important to the people who sent us here. Miller used saltier language in telling Democratic legislators who hold strong majorities in both chambers not to be complacent. Instead, he said, they must work together to find ways to lead alongside Hogan, a first-time officeholder who successfully battled cancer last year and has high approval ratings across the heavily Democratic state. D. Bruce Poole, the chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, told legislators that they need to band together during the session, which ends shortly before the April 26 primary election, when voters will choose nominees for one U.S. Senate and two U.S. House seats. What happens in the 90 days in Annapolis is going to define the Democratic Party the entire year, Poole said. Busch said he is not looking for a repeat of last year, when the governor refused to release $64 million in education funds to several counties and cut spending for transportation projects in Prince Georges and Montgomery counties and Baltimore City. The heartbeat of the state of Maryland lost money that they should have gotten, Busch said. This year, were going to go back and make sure they get what they deserve. Democrats said they are planning to overturn vetoes by Hogan that dealt with taxes for online hotel-booking sites, voting rights for former inmates, drug paraphernalia and criminal-asset seizures. Earlier in the day, members of the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association and Baltimore County States Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger held a news conference calling on the General Assembly not to overturn Hogans vetoes of the bills concerning drug paraphernalia and asset forfeitures. If enacted, they said, both measures would hurt law enforcement. Miller disagreed, arguing that the asset-forfeiture bill balances things between the police and the public, and said the legislature is poised to move on both measures. Leaders are still counting to see whether they have enough votes to override Hogans veto of a bill that would restore the right to vote to felons who are on parole and probation. But they said they have the votes in place to reverse the governors other vetoes. [All of Hogans vetoes could be overridden] Miller, who has served in the General Assembly for nearly 50 years, told those at the luncheon that he doesnt need to be lectured about the budget by Hogan, who is starting his second year in office. Busch reminded the assembled Democrats that Hogan needs their votes in the General Assembly to enact his policies. We are the policymakers. We are not here to be a rubber stamp. It has to be a two-way street, Busch said to cheers. Its not that we dont want to work with the governor. We want to have an equal [amount of] room at the table with the governor of the state of Maryland. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan acknowledges a standing ovation as he takes the podium to address the General Assembly. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly are likely to spend much of the next three months in a tug of war with Gov. Larry Hogan (R) over his tax-relief proposals and his plan to revamp the budget process. But on Wednesday the opening day of the 90-day legislative session in Annapolis there was none of that. Instead, it was a day to congratulate lawmakers whose children had been born over the past nine months, say farewell to a retiring U.S. senator and catch up with old friends. Families are here, babies are here, congressional people from Capitol Hill are here, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. told reporters, explaining why the legislature would wait until next week to try to override vetoes of bills dealing with online hotel-booking sites, voting rights for former inmates, drug paraphernalia, criminal-asset seizures and funding for an arts center in Annapolis. There was some sniping. Hogan blasted Democrats for criticizing his budget ideas; Miller (D-Calvert) groused that Hogans recent proposals have been recycled from Democratic ideas without collaboration or credit. But mostly, there was celebration, with lawmakers taking care to recognize the many staffers, family members, friends and other lawmakers who were sitting in the galleries and in the chambers. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced his 2016 tax-relief plan on Tuesday, including an additional $480 million in revenue cuts, which he says will deliver tax relief to the "most vulnerable Marylanders." (GovHogan/Youtube) [Seven things to watch during the General Assembly session] Retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Prince Georges County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), Baltimore County Executive Kevin B. Kamenetz (D) and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) were each welcomed in turn. I forgot to recognize my niece, said Sen. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince Georges), standing up for a second time to welcome a guest. Each chamber took ceremonial votes to reinstate their leaders: Miller as Senate president, Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden (D-Baltimore) as president pro tem, Del. Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) as House speaker and Del. Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) as speaker pro tem. Busch delivered remarks aimed at inspiring delegates, reminding them of such commitments as improving education, restoring the Chesapeake Bay, advancing renewable energy, providing health care for children, delivering services for the developmentally disabled and maintaining the states long-standing AAA bond rating. We have passionate debates over these issues, Busch said. And thats where these debates should take place. McFadden, who has served in the Senate for 20 years and as president pro tem since 2007, was tearful as he thanked his colleagues for their votes. House Speaker Michael E. Busch is sworn in after a ceremonial vote on the opening day of the Maryland General Assemblys 2016 session. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Miller was seated on the Senate floor when Ramirez nominated him to return to the podium where he has stood for the past 28 years. He is the Michael Jordan of politics, Ramirez said of Miller, who is believed to be the longest-serving state senate president in the United States. He is a living legend. Miller thanked the senators for the good wishes they have offered to his wife, who recently broke her hip. He welcomed his daughter and grandson, and gave silver-wrapped gifts to Minority Leader J.B. Jennings (R-Baltimore County) and Sen. Justin D. Ready (R-Carroll), both of whose wives have had babies since the legislature last convened. In what she called her final speech before the two chambers, Mikulski, the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress, thanked lawmakers for working with her to represent the states interests. We put Maryland families first working with you, she said. When it comes to fighting for Marylands fair share, it was Dont mess with Maryland. Then Miller introduced Hogan, whom he called his longtime friend. [Defiant Democrats say their will fight for their priorities] The governor, who was joined by Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R), received a standing ovation. He gave Miller a slight hug and a slap on the back before delivering a 42-second welcome. Im very much looking forward to working with each one of you on both sides of the aisle to try to continue to make some progress here, Hogan said. I want you to know Im always available to you. Pick up the phone, let us know what you want to talk about. As Ive said before, I dont care which side of the aisle the ideas come from, we want to just come up with good ideas to help the citizens of our state. Hours earlier, Miller had complained that Hogan was, in fact, forgetting where some of his ideas had come from specifically the allocation of money to bulldoze blight in Baltimore and a proposal unveiled Tuesday to ease taxes for the poor and senior citizens. These proposals are old Democratic ideas rehashed, Miller told host Marc Steiner during the Annapolis Summit, an annual first-day-of-session broadcast on WEAA (88.9 FM). After the session, Miller gave more indications of the battles to come, calling Hogans modest tax-relief proposals little bills that arent worth a hill of beans in terms of the state budget. He said Hogan and lawmakers need to talk about the state income tax if they want to address a tax that affects everybody, including businesses looking to locate in the state. Later in the session, lawmakers will debate whether Maryland should join a handful of other jurisdictions in the country that allow assisted suicide and require paid sick leave. They also will consider bills to address poverty and other problems in Baltimore, reform the criminal justice system, improve the business climate, increase college affordability, boost retirement security and expand early voting. On Wednesday, Cardin, who once served as Maryland House speaker, warned them not to become bogged down by the type of partisan gridlock that has plagued Congress in recent years. So many Marylanders depend upon what youre going to do during these next 90 days, he said. Take advantage of that opportunity by working together, by listening to each other. Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report. Prince Georges County These were among incidents reported by the Prince Georges County Police Department. For information, call 301-772-4710. District 1 HQ: Hyattsville 301-699-2630 ASSAULTS Annapolis Rd., 7000 block, 7:44 p.m. Dec. 29. East-West Hwy. and Toledo Terr., 7:26 a.m. Jan. 1. Arrest made. Inlet and Jodie streets, 10:43 p.m. Dec. 31. Oakcrest Dr., 7300 block, 11:40 a.m. Jan. 1. Arrest made. Preston St., 8600 block, 6:09 p.m. Dec. 30. Arrest made. 14th Ave., 8200 block, 4:13 a.m. Jan. 1. Weapon reported. ROBBERIES Ager Rd., 6500 block, 8:54 p.m. Dec. 28. Arrest made. Legation and Topton streets, 10:25 p.m. Dec. 29. Riggs Rd., 7300 block, 8:02 p.m. Jan. 3. 14th Ave., 8300 block, 3:40 a.m. Jan. 1. BREAK-INS Cheverly Cir., Unit block, 9:44 a.m. Jan. 2. Residential. Princeton Ave., 7300 block, 10:14 a.m. Jan. 3. Residential; arrest made. Princeton Ave., 7500 block, 4:10 p.m. Dec. 31. Residential. Riggs Rd., 9100 block, 5:05 a.m. Dec. 29. Commercial. Riverdale Rd., 7500 block, 3:38 p.m. Dec. 29. Residential. Stanwood St., 8300 block, 12:51 p.m. Jan. 3. Residential. 19th Ave., 9300 block, 2:25 a.m. Dec. 30. Residential. 26th Ave., 9800 block, 2:54 p.m. Dec. 28. Residential. 38th St., 4000 block, 10:48 a.m. Jan. 3. Residential. THEFTS Annapolis Rd., 6600 block, 6:42 p.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Annapolis Rd., 6600 block, 1:22 p.m. Jan. 1. Annapolis Rd., 8400 block, 3:01 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Annapolis Rd., 8400 block, 3:10 p.m. Dec. 29. Baltimore Ave., 9500 block, 3:24 p.m. Jan. 2. From vehicle. Belcrest Rd., 6700 block, 10:53 a.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Forest Rd., 6400 block, 11:56 a.m. Dec. 28. Highview Terr., 7000 block, 4:40 p.m. Dec. 29. Lackawanna St., 2200 block, 1:17 p.m. Dec. 30. Limestone Pl., 9200 block, 3:28 p.m. Jan. 3. Milestone Way, 9600 block, 10:22 a.m. Dec. 30. Milestone Way, 9600 block, 5:39 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Oland Ct., 7900 block, 2:21 p.m. Dec. 28. Potomac Ave., 8400 block, 12:44 p.m. Dec. 30. West Park Dr., 7200 block, 12:56 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. 38th St., 3800 block, 1:31 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Landover Rd., 6400 block, 5:17 p.m. Dec. 31. Rhode Island Ave., 5000 block, 8:26 p.m. Jan. 2. 16th Ave., 8200 block, 3:48 p.m. Dec. 31. District 2 HQ: Bowie 301-390-2100 HOMICIDE 97th Ave., 6700 block, 3:48 p.m. Dec. 28. SEXUAL ASSAULT Erland Way, 6200 block, 6:57 a.m. Jan. 1. A sexual assault was reported. ASSAULTS Ellen Ct., 3500 block, 10:31 a.m. Dec. 28. Ivy Hill Lane, 3700 block, 9 p.m. Dec. 31. Arrest made. John Rogers Blvd. and Old Marlboro Pike, 4:09 p.m. Dec. 28. ROBBERIES Apollo Dr., 9800 block, 11:04 a.m. Dec. 29. Commercial. Autumn Ridge Ct., 10100 block, 12:28 p.m. Jan. 1. Carjacking; arrest made. Franklin Ave., 9700 block, 8:58 p.m. Dec. 29. BREAK-INS Commerce Ct., 15800 block, 12:54 p.m. Jan. 2. Commercial. Dubarry Ave., 9600 block, 8:36 a.m. Dec. 31. Residential. Franklin Ave., 9500 block, 9:47 p.m. Dec. 30. Residential. Pewter Ct., 1100 block, 6:47 a.m. Dec. 30. Residential. Pewter Ct., 1100 block, 8:01 a.m. Dec. 30. Residential. Shadywood Ct., 12000 block, 2:15 p.m. Dec. 30. Residential. Shepherd Lane, 5800 block, 3:11 p.m. Jan. 2. Residential. Streamside Dr., 700 block, 3:50 p.m. Dec. 29. Residential. Underwood St., 9600 block, 10:34 p.m. Dec. 31. Residential. THEFTS Shoppers Way, 800 block, 7:09 p.m. Jan. 1. Broadleaf Dr., 10500 block, 7:04 p.m. Dec. 28. Burton Lane, 8400 block, 10:59 a.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Catalba Ct., 1700 block, 6:52 a.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Catalba Ct., 1700 block, 7:34 a.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Collington Rd., 4300 block, 3:25 p.m. Dec. 30. Crain Hwy. SW, 600 block, 4:33 p.m. Dec. 31. Crain Hwy. NW, 2400 block, noon Dec. 30. From vehicle. Crain Hwy. NE, 4100 block, 12:18 p.m. Dec. 28. Dunloring Pl., 11400 block, 6:39 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Dunwood Crossing Dr., 3300 block, 8:50 a.m. Jan. 2. From vehicle. Emerald Way, 15700 block, 12:06 p.m. Jan. 1. Glenndale Oaks Way, 10100 block, 11:34 a.m. Dec. 30. Good Luck Rd., 9800 block, 9:34 p.m. Jan. 1. Greyfield Ct., 9600 block, 5:20 p.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Harry S Truman Dr., 700 block, 4:42 p.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Juniper Dr., 9600 block, 10:10 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Laurel Bowie Rd., 7400 block, 8:37 a.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. McCormick Dr., 1400 block, 10:01 a.m. Dec. 31. Mitchellville Rd., 4200 block, 6:35 p.m. Dec. 30. Mitchellville Rd., 4600 block, 12:59 p.m. Dec. 28. New Orchard Pl., 800 block, 2:52 p.m. Dec. 29. Perrywood Ct., 13500 block, 9:19 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Pewter Ct., 1100 block, 7:25 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Pewter Ct., 1100 block, 7:31 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Pleasant Hill Lane, 900 block, 7:46 p.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Saddle River Dr., 4300 block, 3:57 p.m. Dec. 28. Summit Cir., 9700 block, 7:50 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Sycamore Heights Ct., 1800 block, 10:10 a.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Campus Way S., 10500 block, 11:15 a.m. Jan. 3. Chester Grove Rd., 3200 block, 10:11 a.m. Jan. 2. Crain Hwy. and Queen Anne Rd. SE, 9:03 a.m. Dec. 28. Endsley Pl., 3600 block, 4:20 a.m. Dec. 31. Idlewild Dr., 13400 block, 7:42 a.m. Dec. 29. Parklawn Pl., 16100 block, 7:32 a.m. Jan. 1. Spring Branch Dr., 14100 block, 8:15 p.m. Dec. 28. Stockbridge Ct., 4400 block, 10:06 a.m. Jan. 3. District 3 HQ: Palmer Park 301-772-4900 HOMICIDE Brooks Dr., 2300 block, 5:52 a.m. Dec. 29. SEXUAL ASSAULTS East Lombard St., 7000 block, 5:26 a.m. Dec. 30. A sexual assault was reported. Lakehurst Ave., 2600 block, 6:34 a.m. Jan. 3. A sexual assault was reported. Unknown location in Landover, 10 a.m. Jan. 3. A sexual assault was reported. ASSAULTS Donnell Dr., 3400 block, 7:22 p.m. Jan. 1. Hampton Mall Dr., 8800 block, 4:46 p.m. Dec. 29. Weapon reported; arrest made. Kenilworth Ave., 1700 block, 11:50 a.m. Dec. 30. Weapon reported; arrest made. Marlboro Pike and Walters Lane, 7:28 p.m. Dec. 28. Shooting. Paldao Terr., 700 block, 10:36 p.m. Dec. 31. Weapon reported. Parkway Terrace Dr., 3600 block, 6:14 p.m. Jan. 2. Arrest made. Springdale Ave., 3400 block, 2:53 a.m. Jan. 1. Shooting. Suitland Rd., 4500 block, 9:12 p.m. Dec. 29. Wesley St., 1300 block, 10:16 p.m. Dec. 31. ROBBERIES Baltic St., 5900 block, 12:27 a.m. Dec. 30. Brooks Dr., 2300 block, 1:25 a.m. Jan. 1. Carjacking. Donnell Dr., 3400 block, 6:22 p.m. Dec. 29. Donnell Dr., 3500 block, 9:48 a.m. Dec. 30. Commercial. East Cedar St., 7100 block, 8:46 p.m. Dec. 29. Ivyleaf Ave. and Seat Pleasant Dr., 9:14 a.m. Jan. 3. Keystone Manor Ct., 6800 block, 4:55 a.m. Dec. 28. McHugh Dr., 9100 block, 2:31 p.m. Dec. 29. Commercial. Nova Ave., 800 block, 8:56 p.m. Dec. 30. Arrest made. Silver Hill Ct., 5000 block, 8:30 a.m. Dec. 30. Suitland Rd., 4800 block, 9:12 p.m. Jan. 3. Walker Mill Rd., 6800 block, 4:48 a.m. Jan. 1. BREAK-INS Barlowe Rd., 7600 block, 1:07 a.m. Jan. 2. Residential; arrest made. Marlboro Pike, 7000 block, 10:39 a.m. Dec. 30. Commercial. Norman Dr., 2900 block, 9:40 a.m. Jan. 3. Residential; arrest made. Nye St., 1400 block, 8:25 p.m. Dec. 29. School. Swan Terr., 7700 block, 6:42 p.m. Jan. 1. Residential; arrest made. Victorianna Dr., 500 block, 3:15 p.m. Dec. 29. Residential. 61st Ave., 700 block, 8:47 a.m. Dec. 31. Residential; arrest made. THEFTS Addison Rd. and Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy., 1:40 p.m. Jan. 3. Ardwick Ardmore Rd. and West St., 7:28 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Bain Dr., 700 block, 6:59 a.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Central Ave., 9000 block, 6:45 a.m. Jan. 1. Arrest made. Darcy Rd., 7800 block, 12:32 a.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Dodge Park Rd., 3400 block, 3:12 p.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Donnell Pl., 7100 block, 11:08 a.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Gibbs Way, 8400 block, 2:51 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Greeley Rd., 7200 block, 10:07 a.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Gunther St., 4900 block, 5:29 p.m. Dec. 28. Hampton Park Blvd., 100 block, 3:48 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Hill Rd., 100 block, 3:46 p.m. Jan. 3. Arrest made. Insey St., 6600 block, 9:19 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Landover Rd., 7300 block, 7:22 p.m. Dec. 30. Arrest made. Lee Jay Ct., 5000 block, 2:33 p.m. Dec. 28. Marlboro Pike, 4800 block, 12:06 p.m. Dec. 28. Maryland Park Dr., 200 block, 7:08 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Pennsylvania Ave., 6500 block, 2:32 a.m. Dec. 31. Regency Park Ct., 5600 block, 8:22 p.m. Dec. 31. Ritchie Marlboro Rd., 1400 block, 5:12 p.m. Jan. 1. Round Hill Lane, 3500 block, 1:16 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Silver Hill Rd., 4500 block, 3:25 p.m. Jan. 1. Silver Hill Rd., 5400 block, 5:53 p.m. Jan. 1. Silver Hill Rd., 5800 block, 3:13 p.m. Dec. 29. Silver Hill Rd., 5800 block, 5:21 p.m. Dec. 30. Suitland Rd., 3900 block, 7 p.m. Dec. 29. Suitland Rd., 3900 block, 12:08 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Suitland Rd., 4100 block, 8:40 p.m. Dec. 29. Suitland Rd., 4700 block, 12:53 p.m. Dec. 30. Sunset Lane, 3000 block, 5:14 p.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Tailgate Terr., 500 block, 5:20 p.m. Dec. 28. Tweed Way, 600 block, 8:13 a.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Vermont Ct., 6700 block, 4:57 p.m. Jan. 2. Warfield Dr., 400 block, 7:47 p.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. 60th Ave., 700 block, 6:06 p.m. Dec. 28. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Addison Rd., 6300 block, 2:22 p.m. Dec. 28. Vehicle recovered; arrest made. Ashdale Rd., 7900 block, 2:33 a.m. Jan. 1. Barlowe Rd., 7600 block, 3:13 p.m. Dec. 28. Central Ave., 8600 block, 1:15 p.m. Dec. 30. County Rd., 2100 block, 6:46 a.m. Dec. 29. Elkwood Lane, 1500 block, 10:01 p.m. Jan. 3. Hil Mar Dr., 6300 block, 7:58 a.m. Dec. 29. Lorring Dr., 2700 block, 6:06 a.m. Dec. 31. Marlboro Pike, 5300 block, 10:52 a.m. Dec. 29. Marlboro Pike, 6300 block, 3:57 p.m. Dec. 28. Marlboro Pike, 7600 block, 12:13 p.m. Dec. 28. Maygreen Ave., 3100 block, 7:31 a.m. Dec. 29. Parkway Terrace Dr., 3500 block, 8:07 p.m. Jan. 1. Possum Ct., 300 block, 5:11 a.m. Dec. 30. Virginia Ave., 2300 block, 10:49 a.m. Jan. 2. West Forest Rd., 6800 block, 4:05 p.m. Dec. 31. District 4 HQ: Oxon Hill 301-749-4900 SEXUAL ASSAULT Middleton Lane, 5600 block, 10:31 a.m. Dec. 31. A sexual assault was reported. ASSAULTS Branch Ave., 4000 block, 12:25 p.m. Dec. 29. Dallas Pl., 4500 block, 7:02 p.m. Jan. 3. Indian Head Hwy., 5100 block, 1:14 p.m. Jan. 2. Arrest made. Livingston Rd., 11700 block, 10:26 p.m. Dec. 30. Weapon reported. Sharon Rd., 5100 block, 1:41 p.m. Dec. 30. Weapon reported; arrest made. Southview Dr., 1500 block, 2:54 a.m. Jan. 1. Weapon reported. Waterfront St., 200 block, 3:27 a.m. Jan. 1. ROBBERIES Audrey Lane, 600 block, 3:59 p.m. Jan. 3. Colebrooke Dr., 2900 block, 4:32 a.m. Jan. 2. Dunlap St., 3700 block, 11:48 p.m. Dec. 29. Carjacking. Hartford Hills Dr. and Old Branch Ave., 5:29 a.m. Dec. 31. Irvington St., 700 block, 10:40 p.m. Dec. 29. Marcy Ave., 1000 block, 5:51 p.m. Dec. 28. Rena Rd., 4400 block, 7:48 p.m. Jan. 3. Southern Ave., 2400 block, 2:18 p.m. Jan. 3. Southview Dr., 1100 block, 8:12 p.m. Dec. 29. St. Barnabas Rd., 3600 block, 8:17 p.m. Jan. 2. Carjacking. St. Barnabas Rd., 3800 block, 7:38 p.m. Dec. 28. Wheeler Rd., 4400 block, 4:54 a.m. Jan. 3. Carjacking. BREAK-INS Allentown Rd., 7500 block, 5:58 a.m. Dec. 31. Commercial. Caltor Lane, 9900 block, 7:15 p.m. Dec. 30. Residential. Deer Park Dr., 4500 block, 5:05 p.m. Dec. 29. Residential. Fisher Rd., 5900 block, 5:03 p.m. Dec. 28. Residential. Hill Way, 5500 block, 5:50 p.m. Dec. 29. Residential. Old Branch Ave., 4500 block, 10:55 a.m. Dec. 28. Residential. Old Branch Ave., 4500 block, 12:57 p.m. Dec. 28. Residential. Oxon Hill Rd., 6100 block, 9:14 a.m. Dec. 28. Commercial. Palmer Rd., 1100 block, 2:09 a.m. Jan. 1. Residential. Poplar Rd., 6700 block, 11:10 p.m. Jan. 3. Residential. Rena Rd., 4500 block, 5:16 p.m. Dec. 29. Residential. Sachem Dr., 5600 block, 1:25 p.m. Jan. 3. Residential. Telfair Blvd., 4400 block, 5:21 p.m. Dec. 30. Residential. Waterfront St., 200 block, 2:37 p.m. Jan. 1. Residential. 21st Ave., 4000 block, 11:28 p.m. Jan. 3. Vacant residential. THEFTS Abbington Dr., 7500 block, 4:40 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Accokeek Rd., 1700 block, 2:21 p.m. Dec. 28. Audrey Lane, 700 block, 8:58 p.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle. Bluffwood Ct., 800 block, 2:13 p.m. Dec. 29. Bock Rd., 6800 block, 11:40 a.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Branch Ave., 3700 block, 4:20 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Branch Ave., 4100 block, 2:27 p.m. Jan. 3. Colebrooke Dr., 2600 block, 10:54 a.m. Dec. 30. Curtis Dr., 3200 block, 7:18 p.m. Dec. 31. Curtis Dr., 3300 block, 9:27 a.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Good Hope Ave., 3100 block, 6:42 a.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Good Hope Ave., 3100 block, 4:18 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Good Hope Ave., 3100 block, 2:31 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Iverson St. and Owens Rd., 8:43 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Livingston Rd., 6100 block, 5:25 p.m. Dec. 31. Livingston Rd., 15700 block, 8:19 p.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Medinah Ridge Rd., 2100 block, 1:35 p.m. Jan. 2. From vehicle. National Plaza, 100 block, 2:02 p.m. Jan. 1. Old Branch Ave., 5600 block, 12:37 p.m. Jan. 2. From vehicle. Oxon Hill Rd., 6700 block, 2:17 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Oxon Hill Rd., 6700 block, 3:01 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Oxon Hill Rd., 6700 block, 3:26 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Oxon Hill Rd., 6800 block, 5:07 p.m. Jan. 2. Oxon Hill Rd., 6800 block, 5:51 p.m. Jan. 2. Palmer Rd., 1000 block, 7:10 a.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Palmer Rd., 1100 block, 10:05 p.m. Jan. 2. From vehicle. Rickey Ave., 3400 block, 11:27 a.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Riverhill Rd., 7500 block, 1:39 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Riverhill Rd., 7500 block, 5:01 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Sandy Bar Dr., 1200 block, 9:24 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Silver Hill Rd., 4000 block, 1:21 p.m. Jan. 2. From vehicle. St. Barnabas Rd., 3600 block, 2:58 p.m. Dec. 28. Arrest made. St. Clair Dr., 2400 block, 12:15 p.m. Dec. 31. St. Moritz Dr., 6000 block, 12:18 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Summertime Dr., 4700 block, 8:43 a.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Talbert Dr., 100 block, 7:41 p.m. Dec. 31. From vehicle. Telfair Blvd., 4300 block, 12:31 p.m. Dec. 30. From vehicle. Waterfront St., 200 block, 8 a.m. Jan. 1. Waterfront St., 200 block, 3:23 p.m. Jan. 1. 23rd Pkwy., 4300 block, 3:03 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Auth Pl., 4700 block, 1:06 p.m. Dec. 29. Auth Rd., 5400 block, 8:11 p.m. Dec. 28. Black Hawk Dr., 5800 block, 9:22 a.m. Dec. 29. Deal Dr. and Kennebec St., 9:37 a.m. Dec. 29. Fisher Rd., 5900 block, 6:21 a.m. Jan. 1. Gaither St., 1900 block, 8:08 a.m. Jan. 2. Glassmanor Dr., 4900 block, 8:37 a.m. Dec. 29. Huntley Square Dr., 3300 block, 11:25 p.m. Jan. 2. Vehicle recovered. Livingston Rd., 6700 block, 12:24 p.m. Dec. 30. Livingston Rd., 14000 block, 4:19 a.m. Dec. 30. Marcy Ave., 1200 block, 6:31 p.m. Dec. 28. Middleton Lane, 6100 block, 4:13 p.m. Jan. 2. Morris Ave., 5200 block, 2:06 a.m. Dec. 31. Silver Park Dr., 3500 block, 8:37 a.m. Dec. 28. Southview Dr., 1400 block, 1:17 a.m. Dec. 31. St. Moritz Dr., 5900 block, 8:33 a.m. Jan. 1. 21st Ave., 4400 block, 5:03 p.m. Jan. 2. 23rd Pkwy., 4400 block, 10:05 a.m. Dec. 28. 31st Ave. and Charlie Ct., 1:19 p.m. Dec. 29. District 5 HQ: Clinton 301-856-3130 HOMICIDE Kilbourne Dr., 3900 block, 4:41 a.m. Jan. 3. ASSAULTS Ballard Lane, 8900 block, 8:32 p.m. Jan. 1. Alcohol-related; arrest made. Old Alexandria Ferry Rd., 6400 block, 1:07 a.m. Jan. 3. Arrest made. BREAK-IN Croom Station Rd., 6000 block, 11:09 a.m. Dec. 30. Residential. THEFTS Crain Hwy. SW, 5700 block, 3:08 p.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Crestwood Ct., 7500 block, 11:46 a.m. Dec. 28. Cross Road Trail, 12200 block, 12:39 p.m. Jan. 2. Marlboro Pike and Woodyard Rd., 9:29 a.m. Dec. 29. Oakpost Ct., 7500 block, 7:55 a.m. Dec. 29. From vehicle. Redwood Ct., 7600 block, 1:35 p.m. Jan. 3. From vehicle. Rosaryville Rd., 9900 block, 1:40 p.m. Jan. 2. Woodyard Rd., 6000 block, 12:35 p.m. Dec. 28. Woodyard Rd., 8800 block, 7:51 p.m. Dec. 29. Woodyard Rd., 8900 block, 3:19 p.m. Dec. 29. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Allentown Rd., 7000 block, 12:48 a.m. Dec. 30. Arcus Ct., 12600 block, 12:37 p.m. Jan. 2. Bellefonte Lane, 8200 block, 8:02 a.m. Dec. 28. Brandywine Rd., 14000 block, 4:07 p.m. Dec. 28. District 6 HQ: Beltsville 301-937-0910 BREAK-INS Gorman Ave., 8100 block, 11:20 p.m. Jan. 3. Residential. Holger Ct., 5800 block, 3:13 a.m. Jan. 2. Residential; arrest made. THEFTS Northview Ct., 8200 block, 2:58 p.m. Dec. 30. Sandy Spring Rd., 7900 block, 11:45 p.m. Dec. 28. From vehicle; arrest made. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT Kent Rd., 16100 block, 8:56 p.m. Dec. 29. Vehicle recovered. Greenbelt These were among incidents reported by the Greenbelt Police Department. For information, call 301-474-7200. ASSAULTS Greenbelt Rd., 6000 block, Jan. 1. Hanover Dr., 7200 block, Jan. 5. ROBBERY Greenbelt Rd., 7500 block, Dec. 30. Robbery reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Breezewood Ct., 6100 block, Dec. 31. Cherrywood Lane, 5900 block, Dec. 30. Edmonston Terr., 9100 block, Dec. 31. Edmonston Terr., 9100 block, Jan. 1. Greenbelt Rd., 6100 block, Jan. 2. Shoplifting. Springhill Ct., 6200 block, Dec. 31. VEHICLE THEFTS Breezewood Ct., 6100 block, Jan. 3. Hanover Pkwy., 6900 block, Jan. 2. Hanover Pkwy., 7800 block, Jan. 5. VANDALISM Springhill Lane, 9200 block, Jan. 4. Malicious destruction. DEATH INVESTIGATION Hanover Pkwy., 6900 block, Jan. 4. Death investigation. Hyattsville These were among incidents reported by Hyattsville police. For information, call 301-985-5060. ROBBERY Hamilton St., 2900 block, 5:06 p.m. Dec. 23. Robbery reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Ager Rd., 5400 block, 1:51 a.m. Dec. 26. A suspect was arrested after he broke into a fast-food restaurant and stole cash. Belcrest Rd., 6200 block, 6:28 p.m. Dec. 22. Trespassing. Belcrest Rd., 6500 block, 4:19 p.m. Dec. 22. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 4:23 p.m. Dec. 20. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 4:59 p.m. Dec. 20. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 3:49 p.m. Dec. 21. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 4:48 p.m. Dec. 21. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 6:14 p.m. Dec. 21. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 5:01 p.m. Dec. 22. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 5:55 p.m. Dec. 22. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 8:48 p.m. Dec. 22. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 9:16 p.m. Dec. 22. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 3:38 p.m. Dec. 23. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 9:03 p.m. Dec. 23. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 4:57 p.m. Dec. 24. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 12:36 p.m. Dec. 26. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 12:57 p.m. Dec. 26. Shoplifting. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 4:12 p.m. Dec. 26. East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 5:44 p.m. Dec. 26. Shoplifting. Hamilton St., 2900 block, 7:54 p.m. Dec. 25. Trespassing. Hamilton St., 3800 block, 10:31 a.m. Dec. 24. Trespassing. Madison St., 4000 block, 2:55 p.m. Dec. 21. Trespassing. Madison St., 4000 block, 4:31 p.m. Dec. 21. Nicholson St., 2700 block, 12:36 p.m. Dec. 22. Someone broke into an apartment in this area and removed property. VEHICLE THEFT East-West Hwy., 3500 block, 9:11 p.m. Dec. 21. VANDALISM Hamilton St., 3900 block, 1:54 p.m. Dec. 20. Vandalism to automobile. Nicholson St., 2900 block, 10:46 a.m. Dec. 22. Laurel These were among incidents reported by Laurel police. For information, call 301-498-0092. ROBBERY Mulberry St., 8300 block, midnight Dec. 21. Robbery with firearm. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Ashford Blvd., 8100 block, midnight Dec. 24. Ashford Blvd., 8300 block, midnight Dec. 22. Theft from motor vehicle. Baltimore Ave., 14700 block, midnight Dec. 19. Shoplifting. Baltimore Ave., 15600 block, midnight Dec. 19. Theft from motor vehicle. Bowie Rd., 14900 block, midnight Dec. 24. Dorset Rd., 15600 block, midnight Dec. 31. Fairlawn Ave., 1000 block, midnight Dec. 19. Shoplifting. Fourth St., 14700 block, midnight Jan. 4. Theft from motor vehicle. Lafayette Ave., 600 block, midnight Dec. 22. Unforced burglary. Lafayette Ave., 600 block, midnight Jan. 2. Unforced burglary. Millbrook Lane, 15700 block, midnight Dec. 20. Theft from motor vehicle. Montrose Ave., 300 block, midnight Dec. 26. Shoplifting. Montrose Ave., 300 block, midnight Dec. 30. Theft from building. Philip Ct., 14700 block, midnight Dec. 28. Theft of motor vehicle parts and accessories. Second St., Unit block, midnight Dec. 30. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Chapel Cove Dr., 7800 block, midnight Dec. 22. Motor vehicle theft reported. Seventh St., 900 block, midnight Jan. 1. Motor vehicle theft reported. 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran: report From:English.news.cn | 2016-01-13 09:33 WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ten U.S. sailors were detained Tuesday on the Farsi island in the Gulf by Iran's military which seized two U.S. Navy boats reportedly drifting into Iranian waters, U.S. media reported. It was unclear whether the American sailors who were aboard the small riverine boats had strayed into Iranian territorial waters before they were captured, the NBC News quoted senior Pentagon officials as saying. The sailors, including nine men and one woman, were reportedly on a training mission moving between Kuwait and Bahrain around noon when their boat experienced "mechanical difficulty" and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been on the phone with Iranian officials in an attempt to gain the release of the American sailors. One senior U.S. official was quoted as saying that the Iranians understood that it was a mistake and had agreed to release the Americans in international waters within hours, the report added. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told U.S. media that the U.S. was monitoring the situation and "it's not entirely clear what happened." He added that the sailors were safe and were expected to be released by the Iranians without a long delay. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the U.S. military, after contact with Iran, had received assurances that the American crew and the boats would be "returned promptly." The incident occurred at a time when the U.S. is prepared to lift some of the sanctions on Iran as part of the implementation of a historic deal reached last July on Iranian nuclear program after prolonged diplomatic negotiations. But new tensions flared up recently after the U.S. slammed what they called Iran's "highly provocative" actions of firing unguided rockets last month near U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf including the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. TEHRAN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran will hold massive navy drills in the northern areas of Indian Ocean in the coming days, a senior Iranian navy commander said Sunday. The exercises code-named "Velayat 94" will be staged by January 20, Navy Lieutenant Commander Rear Admiral Gholamreza Khadem Bigham was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying.Full Story Arab League denounces Iran's "intervention" into Arabs' affairs CAIRO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Arab League (AL) chief accused Iran of provocative acts on Sunday, as Arab foreign ministers discussed the ongoing political feud between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Egyptian state-run Ahram online reported. Al chief Nabil al-Arabi urged the Arab countries to adopt a strong and clear common position, calling on Iran to stop all forms of interference in the affairs of Arab nations.Full Story Maryland Buyer-Grower Expo scheduled for Wednesday Local food buyers and distributors are invited to attend the Maryland Department of Agricultures Buyer-Grower Expo on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, N Room, 550 Taylor Ave., Annapolis. The wholesale trade show aims to connect local farmers and processors with grocery stores, restaurants, schools and other buyers and distributors. Buyers can peruse more than 400 exhibitors, including produce farmers, artisan cheese and ice cream producers, beef and bison farmers, seafood vendors, and others selling locally grown and made food. Buyer admission is free. To register, go tomarylandsbest.net, or contact Stone Slade at 410-841-5779 or stone.slade@maryland.gov. Public input is sought on new conservation plan The Prince Georges County Planning Department of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission seeks public input on the new Resource Conservation Plan, which addresses environmental, rural and agricultural concerns in the county. Community meetings were held this month, but residents and stakeholders can learn about and share their thoughts on the plan by visiting pgplanning.org. For information, contact C.J. Lammers, project manager, at 301-952-3026 or cj.lammers@ppd.mncppc.org. WSSC to begin replacing water mains in College Park The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission recently announced that workers will begin replacing 2.84 miles of water mains in College Park in the spring. Work is scheduled to be finished by fall 2018. The water mains, installed in the 1930s through the 1960s, will be replaced by ductile iron piping, which WSSC says will reduce the frequency of water main breaks. For residents whose water service is galvanized pipe, WSSC will replace the portion between the public main and the property line at no cost to homeowners. Streets scheduled for service include 49th Place, 50th Avenue, 50th Place, 51st Avenue, 51st Place, 52nd Avenue, 53rd Avenue, Hollywood Road, Huron Street, Iroquois Street, Kenesaw Street and Narragansett Parkway. Water service might be interrupted for a few hours at a time during construction, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and trees might need to be removed or pruned to accommodate the work. Residents will be notified in advance if removal is needed. Residents may sign up at wsscwater.com to receive email or text message alerts when water service is disrupted. For information, call 301-206-8358 or email vincent.sorra@wsscwater.com. A former Woodbridge daycare provider pleaded guilty to abusing toddlers at the Minnieland Academy. Sarah Jordan faces a maximum sentence of 41 years and is being held without bail. (WUSA 9) A former Woodbridge daycare provider pleaded guilty to abusing toddlers at the Minnieland Academy. Sarah Jordan faces a maximum sentence of 41 years and is being held without bail. (WUSA 9) A judge on Wednesday found a former day-care worker guilty of emotionally and physically abusing seven toddlers who were in her care at the Minnieland Academy in Woodbridge. Sarah A. Jordan, 31, of Woodbridge, was convicted of seven felony counts of child cruelty and six misdemeanors in a bench trial before Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Tracy C. Hudson. She faces a maximum sentence of 41 years and is being held without bail until her sentencing, set for May 6. Jordan showed no emotion as the verdict was rendered. Parents of some of the children wept in the courtroom. Jordan had pleaded not guilty and denied all accusations that she sprayed children full force with a hose and pitted some children against each other to fight, among other acts. Sarah Jordan (Prince William County Police) Jordan worked at the day-care center until August 2013 and was arrested three months later. She originally was charged with 39 abuse counts, but many were dismissed by the trial judge, who said prosecutors had not presented evidence to support them or that there was no proof that the alleged acts occurred within the time frame needed to meet the statute of limitations for bringing charges. Former co-workers of Jordan testified Monday about incidents they witnessed. Jordan and former Minnieland co-worker Kierra N. Spriggs, 26, also of Woodbridge, were arrested after the Virginia Department of Social Services found that two workers it did not name abused toddlers by feeding them Flamin Hot Cheetos and stepping on their toes, in addition to spraying them with a hose. Spriggs is scheduled to go on trial in March. On Wednesday morning, Jordans attorney questioned her about specifics in the accusations. Adrian Showells asked Jordan whether she had ever tripped children in her Minnieland classroom, encouraged them to fight or hit each other, intentionally sprayed them with water, dumped water on a child, put a child in a bucket of water or stepped on childrens toes intentionally. Jordan repeatedly replied No. Jordan said that when she engaged the children in water play, she would use a hose, but never in a cruel manner. I used [the hose] to get the children wet, she said. Like a sprinkler. Jordan said she would never spray a child directly in the face because it would be mean and dangerous. Showells declined to comment after the verdict. Prince William Commonwealths Attorney Paul B. Ebert said his office was happy with the verdict and for the children and the families and hope it will send a message to others in the community. Former U.S. attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., left, and Vincent H. Cohen Jr., who is joining the Dechert law firm. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) The citys former top prosecutor, Vincent H. Cohen Jr., has joined the Dechert law firm as a partner in its litigation group in Washington. Cohen, who oversaw a series of high-profile public corruption investigations in the District, will represent individuals and companies in high-stakes litigation, such as sensitive government and internal investigations, government enforcement matters, and complex civil and criminal litigation, according to the firms website. Andrew J. Levander, chairman of the firms policy committee, said in a statement that Cohens experience at the highest levels of government provides him with a sophisticated and unique background that will allow him to handle our clients most challenging legal problems. At the U.S. attorneys office, Cohen was the principal assistant to former U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., who led the long-running probe into former D.C. mayor Vincent C. Grays 2010 campaign. Cohen served as acting U.S. attorney after Machen stepped down in April, and he had hoped to succeed him. But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) recommended veteran Justice Department official Channing D. Phillips for the job. Cohen was asked repeatedly during the interview process by a commission advising Norton about the status of the investigation and why it was taking so long, according to two people who took part in the interview. Phillips, who was nominated in October, announced last month that the office was shutting down the probe, meaning that Gray would not be charged. [U.S. Attorneys office shuts down investigation without charging Gray] Cohens partner position is a return to the private sector, where he worked from 2003 to 2010, practicing civil and criminal law at an international law firm and later at a boutique firm specializing in high-stakes litigation. Police in Alexandria have charged a 17-year-old in connection with an incident in which a man was found slain in Beverley Park. (Courtesy of Alexandria Police) Police on Wednesday said they had arrested or otherwise taken into custody several MS-13 members they believe are linked to the slayings of two young men found dead in Alexandria parks crimes that authorities said were a chilling reminder of the gangs violent rise in the region. Alexandria Police Chief Earl L. Cook said the incidents are not connected, and in only one case was the killing explicitly motivated by a desire to further MS-13 or its business. But he said detectives believe MS-13 members perpetrated both slayings, and that the incidents demonstrated a recent resurgence in the gangs activity. We have a tremendous problem right now with gang violence, and weve seen it increase tremendously, Cook said. And now it has visited the city of Alexandria, which only says none of us are immune from it. [In brutal killings, authorities see an attempt by MS-13 to rebuild] The gangs activity has hardly been a secret. The FBI in 2014 noted an uptick in violence, attributing it to an attempt by gang leaders in El Salvador to revive their U.S. operations and make more money. Eduardo David Chandias Almendarez was found slain in December. (Alexandria Police Department) In October 2014, federal prosecutors in Alexandria unsealed an indictment against thirteen purported MS-13 members in relation to an attempted murder at a Prince William County School and with three killings across Northern Virginia. Authorities have said killings last year in Montgomery, Loudoun and Fairfax counties have been connected to members of the gang. [An MS-13 assassination plot is thwarted] The two Alexandria killings represent half of the citys four homicides in 2015. Although Cook said police had arrested suspects in both cases, few details were available Wednesday. Police officials said although most of the suspects were MS-13 members, the victims were not. They said none of the victims or suspects involved were thought to be in the United States legally. Police said a 17-year-old was charged with murder in the death of 24-year-old Jose Luis Ferman Perez, whose body was found Nov. 9 by a person walking through Alexandrias Beverley Park. The medical examiners office said Wednesday that he died of stab wounds to the head and neck. Two others an adult being held in a different state and a 16-year-old girl were also taken into custody in Perezs slaying, but their status was unclear Wednesday, police said. Alexandria police spokeswoman Crystal Nosal said that investigators were exploring the girls possible role in the incident, and the man could be charged with murder once he returns to Alexandria. She declined to name the 17-year-old because he was charged as a juvenile. Cook said Perezs killing was not motivated to further MS-13, although he declined to say what might have led to it. Police said the 17-year-old and the man were believed to be MS-13 members, and the 16-year-old girl was an MS-13 associate. In the other case, police said they had charged Edwin Alexander Guerrero Umana, 18, of Arlington in the death of 22-year-old Eduardo David Chandias Almendarez, who was found slain Dec. 4 in Four Mile Run Park. The medical examiners office said he died of cuts to the head, neck, trunk and extremities. Alexandria police arrested several suspected MS-13 gang members, including a 16-year-old girl, in connection with the killings of two young men found dead in Alexandria parks in 2015. (WUSA 9) Almendarez, whose name is also spelled Almendares on social-media accounts, was targeted, and his slaying is thought to be gang-motivated carried out to advance the gang, police said. They declined to provide more details. Efforts to reach family members of Almendarez, Umana and Perez were unsuccessful Wednesday. Antonio Olivo and Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report. The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilots of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 were confused by the planes technology, which directly resulted in the 2013 crash as the plane landed in San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Pilots are so used to using automation technology in the cockpit that experts are worried that some of them lack the skills to manually fly planes. That concern was summarized by the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Transportation, who took the Federal Aviation Administration to task this month, saying the agency does not know how many pilots are capable of actually taking the controls if their electronic systems go dark. While airlines have long used automation safely to improve efficiency and reduce pilot workload, several recent accidents, including the July 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, have shown that pilots who typically fly with automation can make errors when confronted with an unexpected event or transitioning to manual flying, the inspector general said in a letter to the FAA. [Read the DOT inspector generals report] Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed while the pilots were attempting a landing at San Francisco International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the crews reliance on automation was a contributing factor. Weve recommended that pilots have more opportunity to practice manually flying the aircraft, said Robert L. Sumwalt, who spent 32 years as an airline pilot before joining the NTSB in 2006, pointing to the issues raised by his own agency. The FAA responded to the inspector generals letter with a commitment to enhance training requirements. A well-trained flight crew is the single most important safety asset on any flight, the Air Line Pilots Association said in response to the inspector generals letter. Airline pilots skills are continuously monitored throughout their careers. ALPA supports the Federal Aviation Administrations proven effectiveness in its oversight of pilot training. The autopilot, developed by Sperry Corp. in 1912, is so ubiquitous that pilots commonly refer to it as George. It is a safe bet that even before the captain turns off the seat-belt sign, George is flying the plane. Twentieth-century pilots had to enter much of the data needed for their autopilot systems, but now much of it is electronically uploaded into the planes flight management system. Cockpits are so loaded with electronics that planes virtually fly themselves, although the FAA requires pilots to be hands-on for takeoffs and landings while a plane is below 500 feet. In addition to the autopilot, pilots use a new system known as En Route Automation Modernization, which governs their routing and helps them get around congested airspace and bad weather. The changes that have been made in the past decade have been monumental, Sumwalt said. But there are situations in which a pilots skill at the controls will determine the fate of the airplane. When pilots respond successfully, the event makes no news. When they do not, however, their failure can make for gruesome reading. In 2009, a Colgan Air flight from Newark to Buffalo crashed after its pilots fumbled when a stall warning went off. The crash killed 50 . [Pilots spoke of ice on wings before deadly crash in N.Y.] The same year, an Air France plane en route from Brazil to Paris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after the autopilot malfunctioned and crew error caused the plane to stall. All 228 aboard died. [Air France 447 black boxes reveal new details about crash] And in 2014, an AirAsia plane crashed into the Java Sea after the autopilot kicked off in bad weather and the pilots bad decision put the plane into a stall that led to 162 deaths. In the 2013 Asiana Airlines crash, the plane clipped a sea wall while landing in San Francisco, killing three and injuring 187. We talked about the pilots overreliance on the auto throttle system in the NTSB report on the crash, said Sumwalt, who flew for Piedmont Airlines and US Airways, logging 14,000 flight hours. The general rule of thumb is that any time youre not sure what the automation is doing, you should disconnect and fly manually, he said. Well aware that gadgetry had overtaken the role of the pilot in the cockpit, the FAA in 2013 told airlines that they needed to promote hands-on flying to be sure that pilots keep their skills up. But the inspector general, in a letter to the FAA, said the agency had not followed up to make sure they did. FAA has not determined whether air carriers have increased manual flying opportunities as a result of issuing its recommendation to the industry, the inspector generals letter said. FAA has not ensured that air carrier training programs adequately focus on manual flying skills. In responding to the letter, the FAA said it would develop guidance for the airlines on appropriate training and set standards to ensure pilots demonstrate that they have maintained their hands-on skills. Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train wreck, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia. The NTSBs 10 Most Wanted list for 2016 underscores the need for rail safety. (Patrick Semansky/AP) The risk of a disastrous tank car explosion in a major city and preventing tragedies like last years fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia dominated the discussion Wednesday as the National Transportation Safety Board issued its priorities for 2016. The NTSB sent a stern message to Congress and federal regulators about the potential consequences of delays in installing automatic-braking technology to prevent high-speed derailments and in replacing rail tank cars that carry volatile flammable loads. NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart invoked the memory of a runaway train that derailed in flames in Lac-Megantic, Canada, in 2013, killing 47 people and burning down more than 30 buildings. Weve been lucky thus far that derailments involving flammable liquids in America have not yet occurred in a populated area, Hart said. But an American version of Lac-Megantic could happen at any time. Instead of happening out in the middle of a wheat field it could happen in the middle of a big city. He said a federal requirement that railroads replace tank cars with a safer generation of tankers by 2025 was much too long to wait. [Deadline for train safety technology undercut by industry lobbying] NTSB board member Robert L. Sumwalt, who headed a safety board delegation sent to the Philadelphia Amtrak crash that killed eight and injured more than 200 last May, said a congressional decision to extend the deadline for installing automatic-breaking technology known as Positive Train Control was very frustrating. Every day that PTC is not in place we run the risk of another Amtrak crash, Sumwalt said, declining to say whether Congress or the railroads deserved most of the blame. Is it going to take another five years or another three years for it to be implemented? If thats the case, thats unacceptable. Federal Railroad Administration head Sarah Feinberg has made clear she intends to hold the railroads to strict deadlines to expedite PTC installation and get the outmoded DOT 111 tank cars replaced. [Feds tell railroads they must meet deadlines for live-saving technology] Ed Greenberg, spokesman for the American Association of Railroads, said PTC is a full-time focus of the freight rail industry, which already has spent $6 billion on installation. But the reality is this technology is not off-the shelf, it had to be developed from scratch and isnt just about plugging in or turning on components, it is a complex step-by-step process, both in terms of safety engineering and implementation, he said. Hart was unsympathetic to the complexity of the challenge. In 2008 after a PTC preventable collision in Chatsworth, California, killed 25 people and injured for than 100, Congress passed a law mandating PTC implementation by the end of 2015, Hart said, listing the number of accidents it could have prevented since 2008. Now its 2016, and according to the 2008 law, such tragedies should be things of the past, but the railroads missed the deadline. Every PTC preventable accident death and injury on tracks and trains affected by the law will be a direct result of the missed deadline. Hart pointed out that Amtrak successfully met the deadline for installation of PTC in the Northeast rail corridor, but most of the big freight rail companies fell far short. [Life-saving technology has been turned on for Amtrak trains] The role of the NTSB is to investigate accidents and make recommendations on safety issues to Congress and federal regulatory agencies. The NTSBs Ten Most Wanted list of recommended safety improvements includes: --Improve federal rail transit safety oversight. Hart: We have seen far too many fatalities and injuries on rail mass transit. --Promote collision avoidance technology for cars and trucks. Hart: Seat belts are standard equipment rather than a luxury option and the same should be true for collision avoidance technologies. --Eliminate operator distractions. Hart: Technology has saved countless lives. [But] We have recommended prohibiting all cell phone use, including hands free, because a drivers mind must be on their driving. --Prevent loss-of-control by small plane pilots that has killed 1,200 people since 2008. Hart: The fatal accident rate has been stubbornly resistent to improvement for many years. --Curtail drunk and drugged driving. Hart: Recently we are seeing prescribed, over the counter and recreational drugs are exacerbating the problem of impaired driving. --Require fitness for duty reports for public vehicle operators. --Expand use of data recorders on planes, trains, ferries and buses. --Improve protection of passengers riding in vehicles. --Reduce fatigue-related accidents. Mayor Muriel Bowser, left, and D.C. Council member Jack Evans talk in September. Evans is making a bid to be chairman of Metros board. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Metros board is set to select either Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Jim Corcoran or D.C. Council member Jack Evans as its next chairman, and Corcoran appears to have broader support before a key meeting this week, officials said. The election of a chairman will give the transit agency new leaders in both of its top positions as it seeks to recover from one of its most difficult years in recent history. In November, the board named a new general manager, Paul J. Wiedefeld, after a prolonged search slowed by sharp divisions on the 16-member panel. The new chairman will replace Mortimer L. Downey, a veteran transportation executive who is stepping down after a year partly because of his frustrations with the job. Board members are scheduled to discuss picking the next chairman in executive session at a regular meeting Thursday. The selection is due by the next regular meeting on Jan. 28. Corcoran said Tuesday he would be honored to be considered for the chairmanship, but he needed to discuss it with the full leadership of the chamber of commerce he has headed for nearly six years. Evans confirmed that he would like to get the job but declined to comment further. [Everything you need to know about Metros new boss, Paul Wiedefeld.] Although board members and other officials said Corcoran and Evans (D-Ward 2) were both strong candidates, several predicted Corcoran would be selected. That was partly because he was seen as acceptable to all factions on the board and thus able to rebuild consensus among the fractured group. I think he won support as someone whos an honest broker, who doesnt have an agenda, said a senior state official in Virginia, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. By contrast, Evans has been allied with a group of new board members who have pushed hard for nearly a year to shake up the agency. Evans and other representatives from the District and Maryland pressed for the next general manager to be a turnaround specialist who would move aggressively to solve problems with finances, safety and reliability. Others on the board stressed finding someone with experience with transit operations. Corcoran is the favorite because hes a compromise candidate, said a board member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because no vote has been taken. The board, in addition to picking the general manager, oversees Metros strategy and approves its budget. The panel often struggles to resolve differences among its three jurisdictions the District, Virginia and Maryland and last year was especially trying. The year began with a deadly smoke incident at the LEnfant Plaza Metro station and was followed by disputes over finances, expanding the system, a derailment and service disruptions. [Federal officials order Metro to fix more than 200 safety issues] The Virginia official said the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) came out strongly for Corcoran after representatives from Maryland and the District Transportation Departments staff members expressed their support for him in December. We were told, quite frankly, by Maryland and D.C. representatives that they had coalesced around him, the Virginia official said. Corcoran was reluctant at first, but he agreed to consider the job when Richmond said it would support him. Corcoran also wanted to ensure that conflict-of-interest problems wouldnt arise because of his work with the chamber, known until recently as the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. Its members include companies that do business with Metro. Board members said Corcoran, if selected, would have to recuse himself from any discussions involving firms that belong to the chamber. Asked why other Metro board members would support Corcoran, the Virginia official said it was partly because he joined the board 11 months ago and thus couldnt be blamed for the prior deterioration of the system. He wasnt there when all this [bad] stuff happened, the official said. District Transportation Director Leif A. Dormsjo, who also is a Metro board member, demurred when asked whether his staff members had told Virginia that they supported Corcoran over the Districts Evans. It is more accurate to indicate that I contacted VA to communicate that the board should pick the best person for the job of chair and not be locked into a rigid rotation, which had been the Boards past practice, Dormsjo said in an email. Dormsjo continued: Both Mr. Corcoran and Mr. Evans have demonstrated outstanding leadership since joining the Board. If the past practice of rotating the chairmanship were followed, then a Maryland board member would become the next chair. This has put Maryland in a delicate position. It wants to preserve the principle that a rotation should be followed, partly so it is sure of getting the chairmanship next time if it wants it. In the current process, however, the Maryland candidate would be Prince Georges lawyer Keturah D. Harley, and board members said she was inclined against taking the job. They said she was concerned about the time commitment and her relative lack of experience on the board, which she joined in April. Harley did not respond Tuesday to emails and a phone message requesting comment. Some of Virginias most powerful business people, college presidents and elected officials want to use nearly $40 million in taxpayer dollars to create a grant program that they say will grow the economy through regional collaboration. Sponsors of legislation filed Tuesday in the General Assembly establishing the initiative say it will combat Virginias slowing economic growth and a decline in federal defense contracts that had sustained jobs and manufacturing industries for decades. But good-government groups and strict conservatives questioned the wisdom of elected officials shifting decisions to handpicked business and education leaders who are not held accountable by voters. One part of the grant program, GO Virginia, would set up a state board to establish regional councils that can apply for money to create jobs, training programs and other economic development projects. The state board and the regional councils would be led by business people who would have wide-ranging authority to set grant guidelines, choose the grant winners and shut down projects that dont perform as expected. A second program would give cities and counties that work together a large chunk of the income tax revenue from new jobs they had a hand in creating. House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights), who filed the GO Virginia grants bill with Del. Luke E. Torian (D-Prince William), said the effort is unlike existing boards, departments and councils also devoted to economic growth. Theres never been a proposal before where weve tried to bring all the various people together. Its not just new infrastructure per se, its also them trying to come up with innovative cost-saving strategies and rewarding them for that, he said. Anna Scholl, executive director of the left-leaning ProgressVA, said the program raises questions about how much authority lawmakers are giving corporations to disburse public funds and whether the board has representation from true mom-and-pops or only large corporate interests. Is this corporate welfare or is this about new employers that will create good-paying jobs in the commonwealth? Those are questions that need to be answered before this sails through the General Assembly, she said. The bills represent the first detailed look at an initiative hatched more then a year ago by well-established political donors on both sides of the political aisle. Two dozen power brokers and influential Virginians trumpeted GO Virginia in a polished nine-minute video. Boosters include Dominion chief executive Thomas F. Farrell II and John O. Dubby Wynne, chairman of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and former chief executive of Landmark Communications. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is on board, too his two-year budget includes $38 million to fund the effort and pay for two new state employees. [Va. lawmakers, McAuliffe poised for fight and compromise this session] Despite support among Democrats and Republicans and groups from across the state, the concept could raise the ire of those wary of government intervention in the free market. Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) questioned the program before the bills were released, saying that instead of goodies for friends of those in power, the money would be better used to fix roads. Some conservative claim they want hands off of business. Well, it looks like GO Virginia is a handout to business, he said. Cox countered that business people not government will lead what he called a bottom up effort using firsthand experience in what has worked for their companies. We applaud GO Virginia for offering a Reaganesque prescription for our stagnant Virginia economy one that relies on the creative ingenuity of free people and the productive potential of free enterprise, Cox and Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Rockingham) wrote in a op-ed that appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week. The Virginia Business Higher Education Council, whose board members include Farrell and Wynne, hired the lobbying giant McGuireWoods to craft the bills, with input from lawmakers and business using models from Michigan, Georgia, Indiana and Colorado. If there is anything that can begin to change the paradigm so that what government spends on job training, research and economic development actually matches what job-creating businesses need and the marketplace is demanding, it is this initiative, said Frank Atkinson, chairman of McGuireWoodsConsulting. Coxs bill sets up a 23-member Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board, including 12 business people, eight lawmakers and the state secretaries of commerce and trade, education and finance. The House, the Senate and the governor can each appoint four business people. Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment (R-James City) and Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) filed a slightly different Senate version of the bill. The board will create eight to 10 regional councils made up of 11 to 21 members, including some small-business representation. Each council will receive $500,000 in start-up money to figure out the regions needs. Then they can apply for grants from a pool of money divvied up by population and a separate pool of competitive dollars. Grant applications will be public, with an exception carved out for the discussion or development of potential grants at the regional council level. A second grant program, Virginia Collaborative Economic Development Act, rewards cities and counties that team up to promote economic development. Localities that create at least 200 new jobs and an economic impact of at least $25 million will receive a grant equal to about half of the income tax withholding from the new jobs. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership will get a cut as well. Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) and Sen. Frank M. Ruff Jr. (R-Mecklenburg) filed one version, Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax), Del. J. Randall Minchew (R-Loudoun) and Del. Matthew James (D-Portsmouth) filed another. Ruff said hell offer an amendment to lower the threshold to 25 jobs and $1 million for communities with above average unemployment rates. That would apply to his Southside district that has suffered huge losses with the erosion of tobacco and textile industries. Anything that we can do on the state level to increase employment should be our goal and this works toward that process, he said. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) could be in danger of losing his seat if a new congressional map for Virginia stands. (Lawrence Jackson/AP) Republican lawmakers in Virginia want Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to stop a new congressional map from taking effect until after the 2016 elections. The Supreme Court is planning to review a federal panels ruling that the states congressional map, drawn by a Republican legislature, illegally packed black voters into the district of Rep. Robert C. Scott (D) to dilute their overall influence. The map approved by that panel would move some of Scotts reliably Democratic voters into Rep. J. Randy Forbess district, making it harder for the Republican to win reelection. It also shifts voters in three other districts. [Judges impose Va. congressional map that adds likely Democratic seat] The ruling immediately moves more than 1 million people in parts of central and southeastern Virginia. On Tuesday, the Republicans involved in the lawsuit asked the high court not let that happen before the justices rule. Should the Supreme Court find that the previous map was constitutional, they wrote, the result would be electoral chaos, mass voter confusion, an immense waste of taxpayer and private resources, and possibly a postponement of the election itself. If the ruling comes after the June 14 primaries, they added, the damage would be even worse new primaries would have to be scheduled. No matter how one handicaps the likelihood of reversal, it is far too high to expose the Commonwealth, the Republicans wrote. The possibility of a reversal also forces candidates to campaign and collect signatures in both potential districts, they noted. The three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia previously ordered the General Assembly to redraw the congressional map, but after a special session ended with no action, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) asked the judges to take over. One judge on the three-person panel broke from his colleagues in the 2014 ruling, saying that a remedial map was neither required, nor permitted. The map the panel chose most profoundly affects Forbes, putting the heavily black cities of Petersburg and Richmond in his territory. His district follows a diagonal path between Chesapeake and western suburbs of Richmond. But Rep. Dave Brat (R), who unseated Eric Cantor, then the House majority leader, in a 2014 primary, would also lose some of his most conservative supporters in a district just north of Scotts and Forbess. Brat faces a primary challenge from a more moderate Republican, Henrico County Sheriff Mike Wade. Reps. Scott Rigell and Robert J. Wittman, both Republicans, get slightly more friendly seats as all of Newport News moves into Scotts district. Of Virginias 11 representatives, eight are Republicans and three are Democrats. Under the map ruled unconstitutional, which was drawn in 2012, Scotts district went from a voting-age population that was 53.1 percent African American to one that was 56.3 percent African American. Under the new map, that proportion drops to 45.3 percent while the black voting-age population in Forbess district rises from 31.3 percent to 40.9 percent. Forbes said in a statement that he was confident that the Supreme Court will conclude that the overreach . . . is not appropriate. The challenge to Virginias congressional district map and similar ones around the country were brought by attorney Marc E. Elias and funded by the National Democratic Redistricting Trust. Elias is general counsel to Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and worked for McAuliffes campaign. Elias could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Gov. Terry McAuliffe painted an upbeat picture of Virginias economy and political climate in a major speech as the General Assembly reconvened Wednesday while also making a last-ditch effort to save his Supreme Court pick and threatening to use his veto pen in defense of liberal causes. In a nearly hour-long State of the State Address, McAuliffe (D) zigged and zagged between the two seemingly incongruent roles he has alternately played since assuming his first elective office two years ago: bipartisan fence-mender and Democratic stalwart. McAuliffe urged Democrats and Republicans to put partisanship aside for the good of the commonwealth. He spent much of the speech touting goals with broad bipartisan appeal, such as economic development, K-12 and higher education, and veterans services, sprinkling in the names of Republicans who have worked with him in those areas. If we work together over the next 60 days, we can expand economic opportunity to Virginians in every corner of the commonwealth and from every walk of life, he said. And we can show the world yet again that here in Virginia, we do not back down from a challenge. We do not let petty partisan squabbles stand in the way of progress our families deserve. At the same time, McAuliffe threatened to veto any bills that seek to loosen controls on guns or restrict rights to abortion and gay marriage. He renewed his pitch to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. And he zinged the GOP for spreading misleading information about his plan to begin charging tolls on some lanes of Interstate 66 inside the Beltway. Perhaps most pointedly, McAuliffe put Republicans on the spot by imploring them not to unseat Supreme Court Justice Jane Marum Roush. McAuliffe had used a recess appointment in the summer to install Roush, a highly regarded former circuit court judge from the Washington area. Republicans, upset that McAuliffe did not consult them on the choice, intend to remove her. Allowing politics to deny this qualified and distinguished jurist a full 12-year term would send a dangerous message about this commonwealths respect for the independence of the judicial branch, he said in his remarks to the chamber soon after the judge entered, to applause from the Democrats corner. McAuliffes speech to lawmakers, in the ornate House chamber, capped the opening day of the 60-day session, which will set the course for state spending over the next two years. The session will be a critical one for McAuliffe, who at the halfway point of his term is trying to wrangle a legislative legacy out of a Republican-controlled House and Senate. His proposed $109 billion state budget, which includes $1 billion in new spending for K-12 and higher education, will be central to his efforts. Republicans shared McAuliffes optimism that they could find common ground in some areas but balked at certain goals, including expanding Medicaid and saving Roush. Howell said McAuliffes speech was full of pomp and circumstance and exaggerated the states economic recovery. I dont feel the economy is booming, as he insists it is, Howell told reporters. We still have a very fragile situation in Virginia. Theres a lot of people living on the edge, a lot of people unemployed. House Majority Leader Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) reiterated McAuliffes view that he can work with Republicans on veterans care centers and K-12 education funding. I think the last part of the speech was disturbing, especially sort of the real hard-nosed, Ill veto, Ill veto, Ill veto, and that probably tainted a lot of the speech for us. But having said that, I do think there are a lot of areas where we can work together. McAuliffes speech went over well with Democrats. I think the governor made a compelling case for all of us, on both sides of the aisle, to spend the next 59 days focusing on areas of bipartisan agreement and working together to move the commonwealth forward, said Del. Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax). The campaigns are over, the results are in: The GOP has the votes to kill any bill they dont like, the governor has enough votes to sustain a veto of any bill he doesnt like. So lets work on the things we both like. The session comes as Virginias 2017 governors race is already well underway. Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who appeared at a morning news conference with abortion-rights activists, is the Democrats only declared candidate. Republican political strategist Ed Gillespie, who is seeking the Republican nomination, stopped by the Capitol to visit Republican lawmakers. The General Assembly session began with all the usual pomp and one highly unusual circumstance. One minute before the House gaveled in, it closed out a special session that had been left to linger since summer a move aimed at preventing McAuliffe from giving Roush a second recess appointment. McAuliffe did it anyway, and Roush has continued to serve on the bench. But Republicans expect to unseat her by appointing someone else to the slot as early as next week. The 40 senators and 100 delegates, gathering in the white-columned building that Thomas Jefferson designed, were meeting for the first time since last falls fiercely contested and highly expensive elections. The contests left the two parties just about where they started off: Republicans held on to their slim majority in the Senate and their commanding sway in the House. Every incumbent senator and delegate was reelected. [McAuliffe unveils $109 billion budget plan] The Senate convened shortly after noon with seven new members two Democrats and five Republicans. The new members were sworn in en masse on the Senate floor and then recognized individually as their relatives watched. The GOP has a 21-19 majority in that chamber, just as it did last year. The House has 11 freshmen four Republicans and seven Democrats. The GOP boasts an overwhelming 66-34 majority in that chamber, but with one fewer Republican than last year, it lacks the numbers to override McAuliffes vetoes. In a nod to transparency, newly reelected Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) made permanent a 48-hour waiting period before voting on the final budget bill. He also did away with the practice of holding impromptu committee meetings at members desks as an important signal to the public that we are committed to openness. But in the Senate, reporters were ousted from the floor by Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment (R-James City), who tangled bitterly with the media last year over news reports about his affair with a Richmond lobbyist. Two large tables for the media, normally placed just below the dais, were removed before the Senate gaveled in, and reporters were sent to the Senate gallery. Norment also proposed removing language allowing reporters on the floor a change that was approved, over Democrats objections, as part of a broader package of mostly arcane Senate operational rules. Asked about the new rules, Norment first coyly feigned ignorance: What new rules? When pressed, he indicated that he had nothing to say to reporters on that or any other matter. As you will find probably through the session, I have no comment. Norments move drew criticism from Northam, who as lieutenant governor presides over the chamber but learned only an hour before the session began that the tables had been removed. Were looking for more transparency here as we make policy, Northam said, not less. Bilateral trade between Croatia, Poland expands significantly From:English.news.cn | 2016-01-13 12:30 ZAGREB, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Croatia's exports to Polandincreased by 24 percent to 146 million euros (158 million U.S.dollars) in the first 10 months of last year, more than the totalexports in 2014, Croatian Chamber of Economy (CCE) said onTuesday. Its imports from Poland went up by 22 percent, exceeding 435million euros. Croatia mainly exported medicines, aluminium foil and textileproducts to Poland and imported cigarettes, toiletries andfurniture. Meanwhile, Polish companies were interested in investing inCroatia, particularly in energy sector, such as renewable energyand gas projects, according to CCE. Poland is currently the 15th largest export market for Croatianmanufacturers. Enditem Responding to calls that his administration has not done enough to help this city and its lead-poisoned water supply, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) dispatched his states National Guard on Tuesday to help distribute clean water. More than 30 National Guard troops are expected to be on the ground by Friday, where they will go door to door to hand out water bottles, filters and testing kits to residents in this city of nearly 100,000. The move comes amid rising anger here after it took 19 months for state officials to address a health crisis caused by the government itself, when it changed the source of its water to save money. Evidence has emerged that suggests state officials knew of the enormity of the problem and appeared to ignore or even downplay it. For Gladyes Williamson, 61, a former worker at the Buick engine plant in Flint, apologies, free water and promises are meaningless. She, like many people in this city with a well-documented history of chronic unemployment and blight, says she believes they are the collateral damage of a coverup. She stood outside city hall Monday lugging a jug half-filled with orange water she says has been flowing out of her tap all summer. We are expendable, she says. 1 of 37 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The controversial case over dangerous lead in water in a Michigan city View Photos Anger over the levels of lead in the water in Flint has led the mayor to declare a state of emergency. Caption Anger over high levels of lead in the water in Flint has led the mayor to declare a state of emergency. Jan. 25, 2016 Flint resident Angela Hickmon, 56, chants during a protest outside City Hall in downtown Flint. Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP Wait 1 second to continue. As the scandal grows, the political fallout has only just begun. A joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency is now seeking answers into the timeline of events. Dan Wyant, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the agency tasked with switching Flints water supply, resigned last month. And the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and National Resources Defense Council, among others, filed a class action lawsuit against the city, state and county, on behalf of the citizens of Flint, claiming officials had knowledge of dangerous levels of lead in the water but did nothing to protect the public health. At the center of the controversy is Snyder, who declared a state of emergency last week, three months after Oct. 1, when he says he knew the water was tainted. The declaration resulted in promises of more testing and the distribution of water at local fire stations. On Monday during a news conference in Flint, Snyder offered few specifics about what the states next response would be. He told residents where they could pick up water, home testing kits and tap filters, and said officials would test water in schools and day-care centers. He pledged that he was seeking federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, along with guidance from a task force he established. It does take some time for us to put a request together [to FEMA] for specific assistance, and were undergoing that process, he said. But for residents like Williamson, time is running short. She likes to start her morning like anyone else: with breakfast and a shower. But for her, that means preparing her morning coffee with bottled water she now has to buy in bulk, and driving 14 miles twice a week to her sisters house in nearby Clio to bathe. Her one word to describe her new life: Pathetic. The crisis first became known in April 2014, after the city stopped getting its water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and switched to the regional Karegnondi Water Authority, which uses Lake Huron as its source. But there was no pipeline yet built to Flint, so the city used water from the Flint River as a stopgap measure. Soon, residents complained of foul-smelling water pouring out of faucets in sometimes strange colors. Months of public complaints of health problems followed, including reports of skin rashes, that led to little action by the city. By April, independent testing by Virginia Tech showed elevated levels of lead in the water. Then in September, researchers at Hurley Medical Center in Flint reported that blood tests showed that lead contamination in children younger than 5 had nearly doubled since the water changed, and in areas in Flint where lead levels were highest, contamination in children tripled. According to the Centers of Disease Prevention and Control, children under age 6 are most at risk from lead exposure, as even low levels can cause permanent brain damage. The researchers recommended that the city stop using Flint River water as soon as possible. The city was found in violation of federal Safe Drinking Water Act provisions since January 2015 and the EPA is conducting an audit of the water system it says will publish sometime this year. A state task force also concluded in December that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality violated the federal lead and copper rule, which calls for treating water to avoid pipe corrosion problems. The task force said the departments failure to do so led to the contamination of Flints water. Because the Flint River waters high chloride content wasnt treated as required, it weakened the citys aging water distribution system, which contains a high percentage of lead pipes and plumbing, the task force said. That led to a perfect storm for lead leaching into drinking water, according to the Hurley report. By the time the city unplugged from the Flint River and switched back to the Detroit system in October, some in Flint had been drinking the water for more than 19 months. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at Hurley who co-authored the report, says it will likely take a minimum of 10 years before any, possibly deadly, health consequences surface. All of these are long-term problems. Theyre irreversible, says Hanna-Attisha. The state is bearing the brunt of the blame because the decisions leading up to the crisis were made while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, in place since 2011. Emails requested through the Freedom of Information Act by Virginia Tech show that EPA officials were aware of the crisis as early as last summer and that both state and federal officials failed to take public health concerns seriously and even downplayed them when presented with independent testing results. After reporters first started making inquiries into the water crisis, a trail of the email correspondence suggests a certain indifference. Apparently its going to be a thing now, wrote Karen Tommasulo, a spokesperson at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in July 2015, when passing on a reporters early inquiry about Flint water. Other emails show a more serious lack of concern. In July 2015, Brad Wurfel, another MDEQ spokesperson, wrote to administration officials that residents of Flint do not need to worry about lead in their water supply, and the departments recent sampling didnt indicate an imminent health threat from lead or copper. Wurfel resigned Dec. 30. Sara Wurfel, his wife, was Snyders press secretary until November, when she resigned to take a job in the private sector. Other email threads show that the state was warned by certain EPA officials as early as February 2015 that Flints water likely contained lead and that the state hadnt properly used corrosion control methods to mitigate the lead from leaching into the water. On Feb. 27, EPA water specialist Miguel Del Toral, wrote state officials to say that the method they were advising residents to follow to test water in their homes would not necessarily provide accurate results and, in fact, would provide false assurance to residents about the true lead levels in the water. He also warned that there was likely particulate lead in the water. Private emails among state officials show they were alerted to to the crisis. Snyder said he waited until last week to declare a state of emergency for both Flint and Genesee County because he needed a formal request from the county to act. He also said that, since October, the state conducted over 700 water tests and distributed more than 12,000 water filters to residents, among other efforts. Those actions were not good enough. Weve worked hard but we need to get more connection to the citizens of Flint, he said. State Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D), a Flint resident, characterizes the states actions as deny a problem and then discredit the people and then delay action. Theres no question they are spinning, and why they are spinning I dont understand yet, he says. The administration is acting like this is a public relations problem for the governor and not acting like this is a public health crisis, and that is the problem. In the meantime, social media and volunteers are becoming key factors in moving water into the hands of those who need it most. Churches and social service agencies are using social media to get the word out that water is needed in Flint, and caseloads are arriving daily, from both individuals and companies from as far away as California and North Carolina. Nearly 150 cases of bottled water sit on the community room stage at First Trinity Missionary Baptist in downtown Flint where, starting Tuesday, volunteers began giving away water twice a week. At Mission of Hope across town, water is stockpiled down hallways, in the basement, and along stairs. While people are free to take a case each, mountains of tied plastic bags holding five bottles each are set aside for those who show up on foot, including the homeless or those who cant afford a car or dont have money for gas. I do everything with the water, says Christine Brown, 55, as she tramps through the snow to load a case of water into the back seat of her car. I dont use Flint water for nothing. Laid off from her city job in 2008, she has been unemployed ever since. She shows up at Mission of Hope for water on the days she can afford the gas to fill her car. This is very hard on people. Really hard, she says. Mary Kennedy-Jacob, 50, a schoolteacher, says that while she can afford to outfit her house with filters and buy water, she worries about the homeless and elderly who are isolated. She says the nearly two-year delay in getting Lansing officials to recognize the problem has exacerbated tensions. You can feel the despair. How can this be happening in the United States of America? she asks. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, who took office in November, says that while her office remains hindered by state management, her role is to push Snyder and federal officials to take more action. Weaver declared a state of emergency in Flint in December, one month before the governor. He has been responding since I put that in place, she said. Next week, she is meeting FEMA officials in Washington. While three administrators are on the ground already, Weaver says she wants action expedited to bring immediate resources to residents there, even if it takes the National Guard to help. Thats what we need and what we deserve to have happen, she says. Weaver says she is mindful of not making the situation political. Im trying to do what I was elected to do. I can use my energy getting angry with him, but that doesnt help getting our needs in the city of Flint, she says, adding that she is looking forward to the outcome of the federal investigation. Two blocks away at First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, Katrina Tillman preps water to give away. While she is angry at the sluggish response from state officials, she says she is proud of the grass-roots actions the people have taken to help each other. This city has come together in a way we did not expect to, she said. Flint is a hurting town, but maybe this is what it takes. Flint, about 70 miles north of Detroit, is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Forty percent of the citys population lives below the poverty line, making it the second most poverty-stricken city of its size in the nation, according to U.S. Census data. The city was on life support as it was and really, this is the last thing they needed. Its the financial equivalent of pulling the plug, says Marc Edwards, a national expert on municipal water quality at Virginia Tech, who has been leading a team of researchers in conducting tests of the citys water. Edwards estimates that correcting damage from corrosion to the Flint water system will cost between $20 million and $200 million. The city says the replacement cost for an entirely new system is estimated at $1.5 billion. Guarino is a freelance writer. Capital aims to woo more top-level foreign workers 2016-01-13 10:03 Foreign students talk with recruiters from local companies at a job fair in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, April 25, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] Beijing has become the country's second city to ease procedures for bringing highly qualified foreign talent, and experts said other cities nationwide will follow. The Ministry of Public Security announced on Tuesday a pilot policy for Beijing, especially for its high-tech hub Zhongguancun, to facilitate foreigners in entering and staying in the capital. The policy, consisting of 20 new measures that will take effect on March 1, targets specific groups of foreigners: high-end foreign professionals, overseas Chinese who graduated from foreign universities and start businesses in Beijing, foreign students in the capital and foreigners who work for entrepreneurial startups in the city. The policy marks the nation's second pilot program, after the Shanghai Technology Innovation Center was granted 12 favorable policies in July. The move is intended to attract more overseas high-level talent to Beijing, especially to the Zhongguancun National Demonstration Zone, to provide a steady stream of foreign talent for scientific and technological innovations, said the ministry's Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration. The policy will be implemented first in Zhongguancun, a high-tech hub of the capital that covers 488 square kilometers and has more than 20,000 companies. The bureau also said the pilot policy is meant to serve the development of Zhongguancun and will meet Beijing's demand to build a national science and technology innovation center. The Center for China and Globalization is the only think tank to participate in making the policies. Its director, Wang Huiyao, who also is president of the South China Global Talent Institute, said the policies are a breakthrough. Wang said overseas Chinese with a doctoral degree received in other countries will be given permanent residency, no matter how long they stay in the capital. Foreigners who have worked for companies in Zhongguancun for four years, with at least a six-month stay each year, will be given the permit as well. "The threshold will be lowered for overseas Chinese and high-end foreign talent, which is definitely a real benefit for them," he said. The ministry said visitors from some countries will be allowed 144-hour, visa-free stays in the capital. Wang said that six days is more than enough time to attend conferences or travel to Beijing, and that previously the visa application process was a headache for international conference organizers. Wang said Beijing's policies were announced only half a year after Shanghai's and will be duplicated by other cities or areas that have high-tech zones or free trade zones, such as Tianjin. Highlights of pilot policy for Beijing The Ministry of Public Security will take the following steps to facilitate the work application and permanent residence procedures for expats in Beijing, especially in the Zhongguancun National Demonstration Zone: 1. The ministry will set up a service desk in Zhongguancun to shorten the time in which applications are approved. 2. Foreign students at higher-education institutions in Beijing will be allowed to have part-time jobs and start their own businesses in Zhongguancun. 3. Students from overseas universities will be allowed to have short-term internships in Zhongguancun. 4. The ministry will streamline the process for foreigners employed by startup companies in Zhongguancun to get visas issued by ports of entry and long-term residence permits. 5. The ministry will provide easier access to permanent residency for foreigners with doctoral degrees. PHILIPPINES Court backs pact on U.S. troop presence The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday declared as constitutional a defense pact that allows U.S. forces, warships and planes to temporarily base in local military camps, in a boost to the United States efforts to bolster its presence in Asia amid increased Chinese assertiveness in the region. Ten of the courts 15 members also ruled that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which was signed by U.S. and Philippine officials in 2014 and has a 10-year life span, is an executive agreement that does not need Senate approval, court spokesman Theodore Te said. The ruling will bolster the United States efforts to reassert its presence in Asia and dovetails with Philippine efforts to harness Americas help in addressing Chinas aggressive acts in the disputed South China Sea. Left-wing Philippine activists said they would consider filing an appeal, adding that U.S. military presence will not ease their countrys worries about China. The court decision came ahead of high-level U.S.-Philippine talks on Tuesday in Washington on defense, security and economic cooperation. The long-simmering disputes in the South China Sea involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have escalated in recent years. Tensions have been especially high since Beijing transformed seven disputed reefs into islands on which it is building runways and facilities that rival claimants say can be used militarily. The 2014 defense pact allows the Americans to stay in facilities within Philippine military camps, where they can also station warships and fighter jets. At least eight local camps have been designated as harboring areas for the Americans, including some located near the South China Sea, according to the Philippine military. Associated Press GERMANY Deportation rules to be eased after attacks Germany will make it easier to deport criminal foreigners amid public outrage over New Years Eve assaults in Cologne, officials said Tuesday. Authorities say 561 criminal complaints have been filed in connection with the assaults, with about 45 percent involving allegations of sexual offenses, and most of the suspects identified are foreign nationals. Many asylum seekers who commit crimes avoid deportation because the danger they face in their home country is considered greater than the reason for deporting them. With this proposal, we are significantly lowering the hurdles for the possible expulsion of foreigners who have committed crimes in Germany, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in Berlin. Under the proposal, which needs the approval of the cabinet and Parliament, even a suspended prison sentence would be grounds for deportation if someone is found guilty of certain crimes. These include homicide, bodily harm, sexual assault, violent theft and serial shoplifting. Youth sentences would be covered, too. A sentence of more than one year would further increase the likelihood of deportation, de Maiziere said. Police say most of the suspects in the Cologne attacks are thought to be foreigners, including at least some asylum seekers. Many were described as being of Arab or North African origin. The assaults have heightened tensions over Germanys migrant influx. Nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived last year. Associated Press 4 Israelis indicted in Eritreans death: Four Israelis were indicted Tuesday in the beating of an Eritrean migrant they allegedly mistook for an attacker during an October shooting. Habtom Zerhom fled for cover when an Arab man fatally shot a soldier in the town of Beersheba. The indictment says a security guard mistook Zerhom for the attacker and shot him. A mob attacked Zerhom as he lay on the floor. He died in a hospital. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Israeli troops fatally shot three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including one who the military said tried to stab a soldier, as months of unrest continued. Autopsy shows U.S. woman in Italy was strangled: An autopsy has determined that an American woman whose body was found last week in her apartment in Italy was strangled with an object such as a rope or a cord, a prosecutor said. Ashley Olsen, 35, had been living in Florence for about three years. Her body was discovered with bruises and scratches on the neck. Scores of whales wash ashore on Indian coast: More than 80 whales have washed ashore on Indias southern coast, officials said. The top government official in the southeastern port town of Tuticorin said rescuers took at least 36 of the mammals back to sea, but they appeared to be disoriented and some found their way back to the beach. Local officials have asked experts from a nearby marine park to help assess why the whales are washing ashore and to help return them to the ocean. Canadian pilot dies after falling into Antarctic crevasse: A Canadian helicopter pilot died at an Australian Antarctic base a day after he landed his aircraft on an ice shelf, stepped out and plunged into a crevasse, officials said. David Wood, 62, was working on a fuel-loading operation on the remote ice shelf when he got out of the helicopter and fell 66 feet, the Australian Antarctic Divisions director said. Wood was rescued several hours later but died of his injuries. From news services Russia is emerging as an essential diplomatic and security partner for the United States in Syria, despite the Obama administrations opposition to Moscows support for President Bashar al-Assad. Russian-American cooperation on Syria now includes regular diplomatic, military and intelligence contacts. Moscow and Washington have evolved a delicate process for deconfliction in the tight Syrian airspace, where accidents or miscommunication could be disastrous. Administration officials see working with Russia as the best of a bad set of options. An administration that has had trouble living with Russian President Vladimir Putin, especially after his actions in Ukraine, finds that it cant live without him in Syria. Washingtons hope is that Putin will support U.S. efforts to negotiate a cease-fire because he concludes its the only way to avoid a quagmire. While we remain skeptical of Russian interests and intentions in Syria, we also believe that they will be an essential part of any political solution to this conflict, one senior administration official explained Tuesday. The degree of communication we have with them reflects that view. Putin this week seemed to take a public step toward the U.S. position that Assad must go eventually. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild released Tuesday, Putin hinted that he might grant Assad asylum. He said granting asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden was far more difficult than to do the same for Mr. al-Assad. The Russian leader also said Assad has made many mistakes in the course of the Syrian conflict. Putins reference to asylum was taken very seriously by the White House, a second administration official noted Tuesday. I think he was sending a signal about where he stands that was consistent with what Russian officials have been telling the United States in private, the official said. Syria was also the subject of a phone call Monday between Secretary of State John F. Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They talked about plans for a Jan. 25 U.N.-sponsored meeting in Geneva to organize a common opposition front. Kerry and Lavrov are likely to meet in Europe next week for more talk about the Syria negotiations, including how to keep Iran and Saudi Arabia on board. Another Russian-American channel involves CIA Director John Brennan. His conversations include exchanges about Islamic State terrorists that threaten both countries, and crises such as the shoot-down of a Russian jet by Turkey in November. Brennan explained the counterterrorism dialogue in November at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Weve been exchanging information. I think it needs to be enhanced. But I am determined to continue to work with my Russian counterparts because of the importance that I think we each can bring to this issue in terms of our insights, our information, our data, and sharing it. An important booster of Russian-American cooperation is Jordans King Abdullah II. U.S. officials believe the monarch has sought a special relationship with Putin and hopes soon to coordinate military activities with Russia against the Islamic State. Already, there is a joint Jordanian-Russian military coordination center in Jordan; the Jordanians hope it could be the bridge to a cease-fire in the south between rebels and the Assad regime, and a coordinated assault on the Islamic State. So far, though, the Russians have continued pounding the anti-Assad rebels in southern and northern Syria alike. For the past year, Jordanian officials have been discussing with their U.S. counterparts the creation of a forward operating base inside Syria that could be a rallying point for Sunni forces against the Islamic State. Described as a modern-day Fort Apache, this base would be organized by special forces from Jordan and other Western and Arab coalition partners; U.S. officials, long skeptical of such a move, appear more supportive. The crowded skies over Syria pose a special challenge. The United States and Russia have agreed on a memorandum of understanding that mandates maintaining professional airmanship at all times, the use of specific communication frequencies and the establishment of a communication line on the ground, according to Lt. Col. Kristi Beckman, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Central Command . U.S. and Russian pilots operate at safe distances, she said, and if Syrian planes are near, it is standard practice for us to stand off until the airspace is clear. For President Obama, the willingness to work with Putin is an act of foreign policy realism or desperation, depending on your point of view. Some would argue that in Syria, the two converge. Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Protesters demonstrate in front of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of Virginia in late 2014, in response to a report of a sexual assault there that police later said did not happen. (Ryan M. Kelly/Associated Press) In her Jan. 10 op-ed, When fair game is foul play, Kathleen Parker asked, Isnt the operative feminist principle that the woman is always to be believed? The Jan. 10 Metro article Catfishing may be hook in U-Va. case answered that question by recounting the now-discredited account of a gang rape at the University of Virginia. I am 60 years old and grew up during the feminist revolution. The lesson never was that the woman is always right simply because she is a woman. Feminism is about giving the sexes respect and equal treatment, not replacing male superiority with female superiority. Jane Roach, Crofton In her Jan. 10 op-ed, A rule that is un-American, Ruth Marcus asserted that the constitutional requirement that only a natural born citizen be eligible for the presidency is an insult to the millions of naturalized Americans. As a naturalized American, I disagree. The 46 years I have spent in this country have made me increasingly aware that I could never represent this country, notwithstanding having a much longer and broader international experience than most Americans. I lived in several countries on two continents before coming to the United States. I love this country, I would not want to live anywhere else, and I have wonderful and close friends here. But my total life experience has been considerably different, and that would disqualify me. A president must have a feel for this country, and you dont acquire that by observing and learning, but by living. The constitutional requirement could be modified by stressing where you have lived since you started growing up more than where you were born. If the United States has not been the country you have known your whole conscious life, you should not qualify for the presidency. Paul Feys, Frederick The most venomous part of the Republican Party has seized control of the national dialogue. This forced President Obama to use his final State of the Union message Tuesday to battle against intolerance, anger, pessimism and despair. Even more tellingly, the Republican designated to reply to him, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, effectively joined hands with a man she otherwise criticized. She implored her party to reject the siren call of the angriest voices. For one moment, at least, Obama had realized his dream: A part of red America came together with his blue America to share responsibility for the nations frustrations. Yet the limits of this cease-fire were brought home with a speed facilitated by the technology of instant communication: Haley had barely issued her plea against rage when Twitter was engulfed by it directed her way by voices at the right end of her party, particularly from enthusiasts for Donald Trump. The siren call struck back. There were paradoxes and ironies galore in the presidents address. A dispassionate perspective might acknowledge the successes of a president who took over when the nations economy was in free fall and a new global Great Depression was a genuine possibility. Obama was not wrong to assert that unemployment has been cut in half on his watch, that the United States has the strongest, most durable economy in the world, and that anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. But Obama, like all Democrats, is caught up in a dilemma. It involves problems that he and his party know they have an obligation to solve. As the president himself said, globalization and technological change mean that workers have less leverage for a raise. Companies have less loyalty to their communities. And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top. The very ire that Obama and Haley want to contain is thus being fed by economic forces that progressives and social democrats around the world are having great difficulty taming or redirecting. This frustration is aggravated by fear of terrorism, global disorder and the mass movement of people across national boundaries. Obama did a far better job Tuesday than he has in recent months of defining and defending his approach to foreign policy. His driving question: How do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman? And after citing Pope Franciss injunction against imitating the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers, the president warned that the nation is only weakened and its safety compromised when politicians insult Muslims . . . when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names. Obama expressed regret that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better during his presidency. It was useful for him to support a variety of reforms in how campaigns are financed and legislative districts are drawn. In light of attacks on voting rights by the Supreme Court and in some Republican-held states, it was especially important that he stressed the need to make voting easier rather than harder. But his diplomacy and self-criticism understated the deep costs of the obstruction directed his way by partisan opponents throughout his presidency. If you wonder why Americans are so dispirited, consider a Pew survey finding that on the political issues that matter to them, 79 percent of Republicans and those who leaned that way thought they were losing, and so did 52 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Overall, those who saw themselves on the losing end outnumbered winners 64 percent to 25 percent. When nearly two-thirds of us feel like losers, it should be no surprise that the current rage is rage. Haleys comments and the reaction they drew from the GOPs rejectionist caucus suggest that leaders of the Republican Party may realize they miscalculated in spending years stoking indignation among the faithful. Who, really, can blame rank-and-file Republicans for taking their alienation seriously and turning to Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) as the most forceful expressions of it? The media and the Democrats also bear responsibility. The networks see Trumpian wrath as a ratings magnet and act accordingly. Democrats have stashed their debates in the far corners of the television schedule and have not found a way to balance touting their achievements with answering legitimate discontent. The president took a stab at this on Tuesday. It was a decent effort. It will take a lot more to subdue the furies. Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Cultural exhibition "Blooms of Vitality, Colors of Life" launched in Singapore From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-01-13 15:38 A cultural exhibition, "Blooms of Vitality, Colors of Life", which showcases Chinese culture in Singapore, was launched?in Singapore?on Jan 9. The exhibition was officiated by Baey Yam Keng, parliamentary secretary for Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, at Singapore Conference Hall adjacent to the building of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Center (SCCC). "Blooms of Vitality, Colors of Life" is Singapore's first multimedia exhibition on local Chinese culture, which amasses information and materials provided by some 300 local agencies, clan associations, cultural organizations and individuals last year with an investment of 550,000 Singapore dollars (381,260 U.S. dollars). Organized by the SCCC, the exhibition explores Chinese culture in the city state from perspectives of humanities, and presents its vitality through poetic narratives. The exhibition showcases the evolution of Singapore's unique Chinese culture with vivid expressions, interactive exhibits and special visual projections with four sections. The exhibition will open to the public from Sunday to Jan. 31. A series of specially designed "Cultural Weekends" activities will be held during the period, including "My Singapore Story" micro film showcase, topical lectures, new music creations and multicultural dances. In his last State of the Union address, President Obama took shots at Republican presidential candidates, expressed one of his "few regrets," and said he's "as confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) In his last State of the Union address, President Obama took shots at Republican presidential candidates, expressed one of his "few regrets," and said he's "as confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) President Obamas final State of the Union address was part stump speech for the third term hell never have and part melancholy addendum to the first speech that propelled him to national attention. Far more than with George W. Bush in 2008, Bill Clinton in 2000 or Ronald Reagan in 1988, the roiling presidential campaign was an unmentioned but omnipresent subtext of the speech. While Obamas two-term predecessors referred only glancingly to the impending elections, his would-be Republican replacements were the unnamed but unmistakable targets of his critique. Indeed, Donald Trump was watching; the speech, he tweeted, is really boring, slow, lethargic, which raises the question of what, exactly, he imagines serving as president is like. Obamas intended audience wasnt so much Trump, et al., but voters tempted by Trumps ugly, divisive message. Americans shouldnt be seduced, Obama argued, by those peddling fiction about Americas economy in decline or American military strength waning. Likewise, calls to carpet-bomb civilians . . . may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage. Take that, Ted Cruz. Nor do overblown claims that the fight against the Islamic State is World War III. Take that, Chris Christie. And addressing the revolt against political correctness that is the oddly energizing force of the 2016 campaign, Obama renewed his call to reject any politics . . . that targets people because of race or religion. There have been stretches when Obama exudes the attitude that he cant wait to get out of town, to be freed from having to deal with dumb politicians and dumber politics. Hed rather be browsing in a bookstore than schmoozing with senators. Tuesday night, with his gracious nod to the new House speaker, Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and Ryans interest in issues of poverty, reflected a different Obama, the one reluctant to pack his bags. Even more, the one sorrier not to have another shot, now that he has a better grasp of how to do the job. Which leads to the sadder-but-wiser president, and the contrast to the uplifting Obama, circa 2004, with his vision of uniting red and blue America. The older, grayer Obama grasps that achieving a better politics is not simply a matter of goodwill and trying harder; he rues that his presidency has instead left the parties more divided than ever. We have to change the system to reflect our better selves, he said, citing nonpartisan redistricting, voting rights and campaign finance reform. Specifically, I believe weve got to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families or hidden interests cant bankroll our elections. Terrific, but the question arises: Where has this guy been for the past seven years, especially on the issue of campaign finance reform? Its great for him to talk about it, but hes done nothing for the last seven years, said Democracy 21 President Fred Wert-heimer. Its a fundamental failure of his presidency. Still, he credits the administration for helping to stop some legislative changes that would have made matters even worse. In 2008, Obama put the nail in the coffin of the public financing system for presidential campaigns, becoming the first presidential candidate since Watergate to run a campaign fueled entirely by private money. Obama vowed then that he was firmly committed to reforming the system as president. Uh-huh. More broadly, Obama has denounced the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision, most notably in his 2010 State of the Union address, but has put no real effort into fixing the mess created by the rise of super PACs and, even worse, the gusher of undisclosed dark money to groups that claim exemption from reporting requirements. Obamas Internal Revenue Service has repeatedly postponed writing rules that would force these phony social welfare organizations to disclose political spending. The Federal Election Commission remains as dysfunctional as it was the day he took office. And campaign finance reform advocates have been beseeching the administration for years to shed at least some sunlight on dark money through an executive order that would require federal contractors to report such contributions. Such an order would not solve the dark-money problem, but it would be an important start. I cant do these things on my own, Obama said of his promised political reform agenda. The executive order is one thing he can. And it wouldnt require that third term. Read more from Ruth Marcuss archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. As the author and primary sponsor of Delawares opt-out bill, I was hard-pressed to understand the position in the Jan. 9 editorial Opting out of accountability, supporting Delaware Gov. Jack Markells (D) veto of a bill that would allow parents to opt their children out of standardized testing. The governor is not standing up for accountability in vetoing the bill but rather standing firmly against parents wishes and rights. The legislation does not suggest or give an imprimatur of state approval, leading or even encouraging parents to think its okay, even desirable, for children to duck these tests. In truth, the legislation reaffirms the rights of parents to opt their children out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment without fear of academic or disciplinary repercussions. It provides an organized process and time frame and mandates alternative educational activities during testing times. This bill is about parental and, of course, childrens rights. Who ensures the rights of children? Parents. Children are entitled not to be fearful and not to be humiliated and to go to school and learn. This bill ensures those rights. It says children may be excused from the test and engage in an alternative learning experience. John A. Kowalko Jr., Newark, Del. The writer, a Democrat, represents the 25th District in the Delaware House of Representatives. The editorial on opting out of standardized testing gave a hint as to why many educators feel strongly about the proliferation of mandated testing in the schools. Many parents who are having their children sit out are doing so not because a test seems too hard, as the editorial asserted, but because the tests are being misused to evaluate teachers, because the school year is being hijacked by endless test preparation, testing and retesting, and because the tests reward fact-regurgitating and the covering of huge amounts of material at the expense of learning skills, which are much more important but not easily assessed. The editorial mentioned Delawares bragging rights in improving education, which represents the mind-set of competition that has been enormously destructive to education. It has given rise to Race to the Top and the absurdity of ranking schools on the basis of how many Advanced Placement tests their students take as if education were some sort of sport. If schools have anything to brag about, it ought to be the extent to which they have been able to excite students about ideas, to help students figure out what to do when they dont know what to do and to understand that an attempt that doesnt work is as valuable to their progress as one that does. None of these is easily testable. Joan Reinthaler, Washington In his final State of the Union address, President Obama returned to the optimism that he personified in his first campaign but applied it only to America. For the rest of the world, Obama was pessimistic, even fatalistic. It is as though the only way he can process his failure in Syria, and the vast humanitarian catastrophe still unfolding there, is to convince himself that failure was inevitable and will be repeated many times. The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia, Obama said. And instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan, in parts of Central America, in Africa, and Asia. Why would a president ask Americans to assume that the problems of Central America, say, are intractable and inevitable? Of the regions seven small nations (total population: 42 million), some, such as Costa Rica, have been enviably stable for decades. Others, its true, have problems: gang violence in El Salvador; corrupt, pseudo-leftist, Venezuela-fueled authoritarianism in Nicaragua. In his last State of the Union address, President Obama took shots at Republican presidential candidates, expressed one of his "few regrets," and said he's "as confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) But Mexico, with far more entrenched challenges, has in 20 years moved from an apparently hopeless case to a lower-middle-class nation grappling with its still serious problems by means of a multiparty democracy and attracting more returning migrants than it sends north. Why would we assume that El Salvador or Honduras cant accomplish as much? If Obama wants to think in decades, why not look back to South Korea, which not so many decades ago was an impoverished military dictatorship that development experts generally despaired of? Or Estonia, three decades ago a similarly impoverished captive of the Soviet Union? Today, both are prospering democracies. And as unlikely as their successes might have seemed decades ago, no U.S. president would have written them off. On the contrary, it was the U.S. commitment to a peaceful democratic future for both their regions, on opposite sides of the globe, by presidents as different as Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, that paved the way for their success. Why would Obama set his sights lower for Afghanistan or Africa? Age-old conflicts are a reliable default excuse. Yes, Shiite-Sunni strife dates back centuries. But ancient hatreds exist everywhere, from Northern Ireland to South Carolina to Alsace-Lorraine. Whether they are managed or explode is the result of political choices. It is not a matter of destiny. The late diplomat Richard Holbrooke, in his memoir on negotiating an end to the Balkan war, recalls Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger declaring in 1992, Until the Bosnians, Serbs and Croats decide to stop killing each other, there is nothing the outside world can do about it. The excuse then, too, was a theory of ancient hatreds, Holbrooke wrote, 100,000 deaths later. Those who invoked it were, for the most part, trying to excuse their own reluctance or inability to deal with the problems in the region, he wrote. Yugoslavias tragedy was not foreordained. It was the product of bad, even criminal political leaders. . . . Once they realized that the United States, at the height of its global influence, was disengaged, they proceeded rapidly on their descent into hell. Obamas confusion about Syria is evident and understandable. Four years ago his senior advisers supported a modest intervention to forestall a civil war that might spin out of control, spreading beyond Syrias borders and fostering extremism. The president rejected their counsel, and the results are more dire than anyone could have imagined: Hundreds of thousands dead. Millions displaced. The entire continent of Europe strained by refugee flows and terrorism. Children starving to death. In his end-of-year news conference last month, Obama seemed to acknowledge the disaster when he defended his Libya intervention by saying that, without it, we could have had another Syria. But in an almost surreal moment Tuesday night, he pointed to Syria as an example of his smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power. Thats our approach to conflicts like Syria, where were partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace, the president said. It is sad enough that the United States, having pledged after Rwanda to never again allow such a humanitarian catastrophe, stands aside while a nation is destroyed. It would compound the damage if the country allows itself to be convinced that this is the best we can do. Read more from Fred Hiatts archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Justin Tanner, 36, throws his arms in the air as he reacts to President Obama during a watch party at Busboys and Poets. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Among the 20- and 30-something politicos and wonks crammed into the community room at Busboys and Poets in NoMA Tuesday for a State of the Union watch party, some talked with pride about what had been accomplished over the past seven years of the Obama presidency, while others expressed impatience that time was running out to address still-pressing issues. The event was organized by IMPACT, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping young professionals of color working in politics and policy. Then the room let out a collective cheer when the presidents image appeared on the giant screen. Michelle Obama also was cheered each time she appeared on camera. They turned my boy all the way gray! said Russell Cox, 33, an MBA student at American University, referring to how the presidents physical appearance has changed since he made his first speech seven years ago. The young black professionals who turned out for a watch party attended by about 150 people had grown up politically with Obama. As they gathered for the first black presidents last State of the Union speech, Nina Smith, a director of the nonprofit group, asked them to confront the fact that we are going to be in a post-Obama America. She asked them to take to Twitter, using the hashtag, #IMPACTSOTU16, and answer this question: What do you want to see from President Obama in his last year? Brandon Andrews pressed them to answer right away. Close Guantanamo, said a man in the back. 1 of 37 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The scene as Obama delivers his final State of the Union address View Photos Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Caongress. Caption Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Jan. 12, 2016 President Obama enters the chamber to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Address for-profit prisons, said Rebekah Caruthers. Get rid of money in politics, offered Rich Owen, 36, who said in an interview that corporations and wealthy individuals have too much influence on policy. Congress would have autonomy to do what is best for the country as opposed to whats best for Wall Street or the Koch brothers, he said. But he said he doesnt think Obama will take on the challenge. I think hes been a little bit too safe, he said. Think about the hell were catching as black men in this society, he said, arguing that the lack of progress on gun control and prison reform is because of corporate interests who want to preserve the status quo. Caruthers, in a separate interview, picked up the theme. With over 2 million-plus Americans in prisons and they are disproportionately African American men, the school-to-prison pipeline the only way to alleviate all of that is to take for-profit prisons off the table, said Caruthers, a consultant. She said it was imperative that Obama focus on making some progress on long-standing needs of black communities during his final year in office. Caruthers, 34, worked on Obamas campaign in Florida in 2008. Were proud of him, but we dont want him to forget us, she said. I think he keeps the community close to his heart, but we have to have stronger policies in this last year. Adia Jordan said it has taken awhile for the economic recovery to kick in, but she thinks Obama has made a difference. Look at gas prices, she said, the lowest weve seen in a long time, points Obama reiterated in his remarks. In his last State of the Union address, President Obama took shots at Republican presidential candidates, expressed one of his "few regrets," and said he's "as confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Throughout the address, eyes darted between the giant screen and electronic devices, their fingers typing or swiping. They paused often to applaud and cheer, as when Obama mentioned the fate of Osama bin Laden and joked about offering advice to those members of Congress who might be eager to get back to Iowa. The evening was particularly poignant for Justin Tanner, 36, a member of the IMPACT board who works in the Obama administration. Tanner, a Howard University graduate who went on to Vanderbilt Law School, said he would never have entered public service had it not been for Obamas candidacy. He helped organize a fundraiser for the candidate in 2012, where he met Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Tanner went to work as a legislative aide for Reed and, in 2014, moved to Washington to join the administration. He literally changed the trajectory of my life, Tanner said, referring to Obama. Weve grown up with him for the last seven years. After the speech, Andrews, who also is a director of IMPACT, asked the crowd if they were pleased with the speech. He asked if anyone had not heard about a particular issue. One woman said she would have liked to have heard him talk more about police shootings and criminal justice reform. Andrews said Obama co-sponsored events with IMPACT when he was a senator, and it has been empowering to see IMPACT members join the presidents administration. Its a little bittersweet to see him go, but its exciting to see the professionals of color who are working in the space because of Obamas rise. President Obama called Tuesday for a stepped-up war on cancer, but with hundreds, even thousands, of types of cancer and an ever-increasing number of specialized therapies for them, experts say there is no true moonshot approach to tackling the nations second-leading cause of death. The intensified research effort, which Obama said would be led by Vice President Biden, may instead be more like a swarm of fighter jets scrambling to take on numerous adversaries in an ever-changing battle. A single approach to cancer...aint going to happen, said Jose Baselga, president of the American Association for Cancer Research and chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Cancer, weve learned, is far more complex than weve ever imagined. Every single tumor is different. Yet top cancer specialists agree on several big ideas that might push the boundaries of research and therapy for the 1.7 million people diagnosed each year. Chief among them is creation of a huge database of diagnostic and treatment information from all cancer patients that clinicians and researchers would use to study different disease types and respond with specially targeted drugs. Genomic testing has revealed that lung cancer, for example, is actually at least half a dozen kinds of different cancers, said Richard L. Schilsky, chief medical officer for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The only way we will learn everything that we continue to have to learn will [be by] aggregating large data sets, he said. Several organizations already have launched smaller data bases. Cancer experts who met with Bidens staff last week to suggest initiatives want the government to create or fund a bigger one. Those experts also called for insurance coverage, via Medicare and perhaps private insurers, of genomic testing of tumors, said Barrett J. Rollins, chief scientific officer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who attended the meeting. Patients currently bear the cost of that often-critical testing. And just this week, major pharmaceutical, biotech and insurance companies announced a collaboration to accelerate the next generation of immunotherapy which unleashes the bodys own immune system to fight cancer. Officials said that work must be underpinned by research at the National Cancer Institute. After years of flat or declining funding, the institutes budget was increased by $260.5 million, to $5.21 billion, for fiscal 2016. About 70 percent of the money goes for research. It starts, to some degree, with robust, sustainable and annual funding increases, said Jon Retzlaff, managing director for science policy and government affairs at the American Association for Cancer Research. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington on Tuesday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) As the nations first black commander in chief, Obama has walked a political tightrope when it comes to addressing issues of race from his perch in the White House. In January 2015, Obama delivered what were his most robust comments on race of any of his State of the Union addresses directly discussing the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and the then-upcoming 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma. We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York, Obama said last year. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son cant walk home without being harassed. But in this years speech which followed a year of protests in such cities as Chicago and Minneapolis and even riots in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal neck injury in police custody the president did not directly address race or policing. He opened Tuesday nights speech by calling for criminal- justice reform as a proposal with bipartisan backing sits awaiting congressional approval. President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address, but did not mention issues of race or policing. Here's what he said during last year's speech. (Victoria M. Walker/The Washington Post) He did not directly tackle the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, or the national discussion of race and policing that has underscored many of the domestic policy debates at the heart of the 2016 presidential race. Voices that help us see ourselves not first and foremost as black or white or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant or native-born, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed, Obama said, in the closest to a direct mention of race in his 2016 speech. Voices Dr. King believed would have the final word voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love. In his last State of the Union address, President Obama took shots at Republican presidential candidates, expressed one of his "few regrets," and said he's "as confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) In his last State of the Union address, President Obama took shots at Republican presidential candidates, expressed one of his "few regrets," and said he's "as confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) President Obama focused Tuesday on the pessimism coursing through an electorate now preparing to replace him, recasting the campaign-trail anger as a simple fear of change and a growing danger to the country. His last State of the Union address, which he promised would be short but stretched for nearly an hour, returned to themes he has highlighted before. His message underscored his faith that government can and must help unsettled citizens through a changing economy and culture. He said he believed that most Americans put country before party but that their voices were drowned out by Washingtons partisan politics. On the eve of the first primary contests, Obama also struck a note of deep concern for a nation he has only a year left to govern. Although he argued against Republican claims of Americas economic and military decline, he acknowledged that his successor will inherit a political culture more divided than the one that existed when he took office amid deep recession and a pair of wars. Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he said. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. His remarks were echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who, in the official Republican response, also sought to counter the vitriol that has flowed from GOP candidates most especially from Donald Trump. 1 of 37 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The scene as Obama delivers his final State of the Union address View Photos Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Caongress. Caption Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Jan. 12, 2016 President Obama enters the chamber to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Obamas admission came during the closing passage of a speech that started much like a traditional State of the Union, with a list of plans and priorities, but ended with a presidential assessment of the state of the nations character. Much of his impassioned, rising rhetoric revisited initiatives that have struggled to take hold during his time in office, including his early effort to repair U.S. relations with the Islamic world. The rise of the Islamic State and the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have provoked sharp anti-Muslim statements on the campaign trail and acts of arson, vandalism and other violence across the country. Obama used his closing chapter to warn against anger and a politics that he said runs against American values. We live in a time of extraordinary change change thats reshaping the way we live, our planet and our place in the world, he said. And that change and uncertainty, he said, have activated a particularly virulent strain in our politics. Without mentioning GOP front-runner Trump, Obama took aim at his often divisive message, including his call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants. When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer, Obama said. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. It betrays who we are as a country. Haley, in her Republican response, was equally blunt, calling on Americans to show strength during anxious times and avoid the siren call of the angriest voices. In what was clearly a rebuke of Trumps anti-immigrant statements, she spoke of herself as a proud daughter of Indian immigrants and said that no one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country. Haley, like Obama, didnt mention Trump by name, but she made clear that she wanted to distance her party from the billionaire and his heated rhetoric. Much of Obamas speech focused on the priorities that have consumed his presidency. He spoke of broadening economic opportunity for all Americans, spurring innovation, forging new alliances and negotiating with enemies. He emphatically summed up the lessons hes taken from 15 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that America cannot try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. Thats not leadership; thats a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us, Obama said. Its the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq and we should have learned it by now. The president floated virtually no major new ideas beyond his call for a moonshot effort to cure cancer, a priority of Vice President Biden, whose son died of a brain tumor last year. For the loved ones weve all lost, for the family we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all, Obama said. His speech was primarily a discourse on the state of Americas politics, a theme hes hit in virtually all of his past addresses. I will not give up on trying to change the tone of our politics, he said early in his presidency, in his first official State of the Union. In subsequent State of the Union speeches, Obama emphasized the positive, focusing on Americans common values and shared dreams. Last year, he assumed a more chiding tone. Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns, he told the lawmakers assembled in the House chamber. Imagine if we did something different. This year, as he prepares to campaign for a Democrat to succeed him, Obama was reflective, worrying that too many Americans have lost faith in the countrys political system, believing it to be rigged against them. For the first time in his presidency, Obama prominently took some of the blame, suggesting that one of his biggest regrets was his own failure to bridge partisan divides. He outlined steps that he believed were necessary to fix Americas bitterly divided politics, including a halt to gerrymandered electoral districts. We have to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, he said. And he called for new limits on fundraising so that a handful of families and hidden interests cant bankroll our elections. He promised to press for reforms to make it easier for Americans to vote. But the most essential changes he advocated cant be achieved by new regulations or laws. Obama, a president whose love of country and Christian faith have been questioned by his political opponents, spoke of something less concrete and much harder to realize. Democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens, he said. It doesnt work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice or that our political opponents are unpatriotic. He spoke of the need to compromise and cast aside the most extreme voices in the countrys democracy. Here, Obama seemed less certain about how to achieve those goals. We have to change the system to reflect our better selves, he said. He called on Americans to vote, speak out, and stand up for the weak and vulnerable in society. He pressed for people to stay active in public life. Time and again, he spoke of the difficulty of achieving the change that he aspired to. What Im asking for is hard, he said in one moment. It wont be easy, he said a few minutes later. His call for a better politics, he said, was inspired by people beyond the Beltway, often ignored in the countrys roiling political debates. In the final lines of his speech, Obama invoked them. They were new immigrants and factory workers, soldiers who sacrificed for their brothers in arms and an elderly woman who waited in line for hours to vote. Many were the sorts of people who populated Obamas earlier State of the Union addresses. Theyre out there, those voices, he said. They dont get a lot of attention, nor do they seek it, but they are busy doing the work this country needs doing. President Obama enters the chamber to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Jan. 12, 2016 President Obama enters the chamber to deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Embarking on a final year in office, President Obama gave his seventh State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. President Obama and his Cabinet members fanned out across the country Wednesday, hoping to drive home the key messages in the presidents State of the Union address in a series of campaign-style living-room and town-hall meetings. Obama traveled to Omaha, where he met with Lisa and Jeff Martin and their family in the bedroom suburb of Papillion. Lisa, an English teacher, had written to the president as a new mother in January 2015 about her worries for her newborn son Cooper in the face of climate change and other environmental threats. The president and his 18-vehicle motorcade descended on the modest home, and the president sat for a half-hour chat in the living room, decorated with a sign that read Bless this house with love and laughter. Young Cooper was a little bewildered and pointed at some of the microphones belonging to the press and the cluster of reporters jammed inside the house. Look at these things. Crazy, Obama said to the infant. He then dispensed a bit of advice: If you cant say anything that they might quote you on he said, before trailing off. Afterward, Martin introduced Obama as he delivered a speech at the University of Nebraskas jam-packed Baxter Arena. The venue which opened in October, and was festooned with LED banner lights saying Welcome to Obama holds about 8,000 people but White House officials estimated that an audience of 11,000 attended the speech. President Obama is no stranger to the word "change," but as president, he found it more difficult than he anticipated to actually get things done in Washington. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Its still got that new arena smell, the president joked, prompting applause from the enthusiastic crowd when he recalled that he won one electoral vote in Nebraska during his first White House bid. I was pretty excited about [it]. And then four years later, I got whupped all across this state. It it was not pretty. It was not pretty. But I love Nebraska anyway. The president largely reprised his Tuesday speech using many of the exact same phrases as he urged greater political tolerance and suggested there were ways the two parties could still work together. Nebraska boasts a political culture of civility, Obama said, and people treating each other with respect. And so thats part of the reason why I wanted to come back here today. Because, as I said last night, America is at its best when we see each other as one people, he added. Not Democrat first, not Republicans first, but Americans first. Thats our priority. And, and thats harder to do during political season. I understand that. Alluding to the coming presidential primary contest across the river in Iowa, Obama said the ads were filled with some doom and some gloom. He has a much sunnier view of the nations outlook, he said. Its not what I see every day, he said. Thats not what I see in communities and neighborhoods all across this country. Speaking to students in Omaha, Obama touted his proposal, stalled in Congress, to allow students to attend community college tuition free for two years. After the speech the president headed to Baton Rouge, La., where he will hold a town hall Thursday to highlight the newly elected Democratic governors plan to expand Medicaid coverage there under the Affordable Care Act. and engage in a Twitter question-and-answer session online. Before heading off to tout his domestic policies in the heartland, Obama briefly turned his attention to foreign affairs. Just after arriving at Joint Base Andrews, the president went into the lounge for a five-minute meeting with Jordans King Abdullah, who has been visiting Washington this week. White House spokesman Josh Earnest described it as a social visit. View Graphic What we learned from analyzing applause patterns in Obamas eight State of the Union speeches. [Obama aims to bridge a divide on guns thats as wide as ever] Cabinet members are also hitting the road. On Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch planned to meet in Boston with current and former inmates to discuss how they can best re-enter society. She was later set to deliver a speech at Harvard Law School about criminal justice reform. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter is delivering remarks at Fort Campbell, Ky., to soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who are about to be deployed to Iraq to train and assist Iraqi security forces fighting the Islamic State. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, meanwhile, gave a speech Wednesday at the National Defense University in Washington focused on the administrations foreign policy priorities for the year, before meeting with a group of refugees at a resettlement center. During his speech, Kerry said the debate over refugees on the campaign trail was pretty nasty politics, adding: People make statements designed to scare people with no basis in the facts. We can both maintain the highest security standards and live up to our best traditions as Americans, welcoming those in need of help, he said. That is who we are. That is what we do. That is how we wrote our history. But it is unclear how much impact these efforts will have, given Republicans determined opposition to nearly all of the presidents agenda. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday that the Senate would take up legislation next week to suspend the federal resettlement program for Syrians and Iraqis seeking asylum. It would require the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and director of national intelligence to certify that these refugees, along with any asylum seeker who has visited either Syria or Iraq in the past five years, do not pose a security threat to the United States before they can be admitted. Senate Democrats are prepared to block the measure, which has already passed the House. But the fact that the Senate will vote on the proposal, a week after the president implored lawmakers to show more tolerance toward those seeking U.S. refuge, highlights the current divide between the two parties. The main thrust of Obamas State of the Union address on Tuesday night focused on fixing the nations broken politics. In the hours after the speech, one of his top advisers gave some sense of how the president hopes to repair the damage that he conceded has grown worse on his watch. [Obama calls not unifying the country one of his few regrets in office] White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told reporters Wednesday that the president wants to make sure the institutions of this government and democracy are functioning, something that has not happened amid all the partisan rancor of the last few years. But McDonough said the real change must take place outside Washington. This is not just a question of who controls the next Congress or who the next president is, he said at breakfast held by the Christian Science Monitor. McDonough said the president will continue to speak to Americans about big policy issues as he did in a recently televised town hall meeting on his executive order on guns. He also said that Obama will turn to more intimate settings such as the one scheduled in Omaha on Wednesday. In the coming months, the president will spend more time talking with Americans in small groups and living rooms, McDonough said. Those meetings will take place in both red and blue states, he added. One sign that Obamas road trips could be bumpy was the initial refusal of Nebraskas Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, to accept an invitation to be part of the welcoming party for Obama at the airport, saying he did not have time. After a public flap, Ricketts said he had found time to meet Obama at the airport. This democracy is hard work, and we want to make sure it is the American people who were driving that change, McDonough said. When it came to the presidents not-so-veiled criticisms of Republican presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) in his speech Tuesday, McDonough was cautious to the point of being indecipherable. The president believed that it was important that there be an alternative argumentation to rebut the prevailing wisdom in some of the public debate right now, he said. Even in the face of some political resistance, the administrations outreach will continue for the next two days: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy will tour a solar panel facility in Toledo on Thursday, for example, while Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will head to Denver on Friday to discuss the effect of climate change on the nations economic growth. The White House also held its third annual Big Block of Cheese Day on Wednesday, an event jointly inspired by President Andrew Jacksons 1837 open house (which featured a 1,400-pound block of cheese) and an episode of the television series The West Wing that celebrated the long-forgotten event. Roughly 50 administration officials including Vice President Biden and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, as well as first lady Michelle Obama answered the publics questions via Twitter. Eilperin reported from Washington. Greg Jaffe and David Nakamura, in Washington, contributed to this report. Crowds line up to hear Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Reno Event Center on Jan. 10 in Nevada. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post) Lindsay Legault-Knowles is the kind of voter the Republican Party is desperate to rouse. She is white and from working-class Vermont. She fears the changes happening all around her. Its hard for me to have friends, she said, because everyone seems to disagree. She drove here on a cold January night to make phone calls on Ted Cruzs behalf. The presidential candidates wife showed up, too. With a silk Hermes scarf draped over her shoulders, Heidi Cruz, a former Goldman Sachs executive, sat down at the campaign office next to the college student, who wore a Confederate flag T-shirt. They came from different Americas and never once spoke but shared a mission: to find more people with backgrounds like Legault-Knowless, one call at a time. Their encounter illustrated the urgent imperative of Republicans historically the party of business, money and power to broaden their coalition with many more white working-class voters. As the nation diversifies and the GOP struggles to adapt, the presidential hopefuls see this demographic bloc as the key to taking back the White House. Some of them have never voted, Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said. Its staggering. If they can be convinced to come out and vote, we win. Lindsay Legault-Knowles volunteers at Sen. Ted Cruzs New Hampshire headquarters on Jan. 6. (Robert Costa/The Washington Post) There has been a debate within the party and the political class about whether Republicans need to diversify to win or whether it just needs to attract more of its core constituencies. So far in 2016, led by Cruz and Donald Trump, the election has moved decisively toward the latter. The exceptions, such as Jeb Bush and Lindsey O. Graham, are either out of the race or on the edges of it. Trump is making the most visceral, raw appeal to people who feel left out of the economic recovery and ignored by the political establishment. He espouses hard-line views on immigration that border on nativism, protectionist trade policies and a tough approach with countries like China, Japan and Mexico that he portrays as thieves of U.S. manufacturing jobs. [These are the towns that love Donald Trump] Cruz, a Texas senator, is taking a similar tack, especially on immigration, airing a provocative television ad last week that depicts illegal immigrants racing across the U.S. border in suits and high heels to steal jobs from Americans. By contrast, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is trying to connect with working-class voters through policy ideas. He advocates expanding vocational education and sings the virtues of manual labor. Bushs aspirational economic message echoes Rubios. Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich also make biographical overtures; the former talks about his unlikely journey as a son of Cuban immigrants, while the latter highlights his upbringing in a hardscrabble Pennsylvania steel town. Theyre my peeps, Kasich said of blue-collar voters in a recent interview. People who think, I get screwed, I get nothing. Thats where I grew up. . . . Thats who I am. Thats my DNA. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) talks about vocational education and manual labor at a town hall meeting Jan. 7 at Nashua Community College in New Hampshire. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) Yuval Levin, the editor of the conservative National Affairs publication, said the primary has become a menu of options for the party as it searches for a way to bring them back. One side says well focus on immigration and trade; the other focuses on cost-of-living concerns and market-driven solutions and not so much about culture. The mission is not limited to the campaign trail, however. Within the GOPs congressional ranks, some reform-minded lawmakers, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), are pushing anti-poverty policies. Ryan co-hosted a presidential candidates forum in South Carolina over the weekend devoted to those issues. Mitt Romney, the GOPs 2012 presidential nominee, has been encouraging party leaders to develop better policies to address wage stagnation. For instance, he supports raising the federal minimum wage, a departure from Republican orthodoxy. As a party we speak a lot about deregulation and tax policy, and you know what? People have been hearing that for 25 years, and theyre getting tired of that message, Romney said in a recent interview. He added, I think were nuts not to raise the minimum wage. I think, as a party, to say were trying to help the middle class of America and the poor and not raise the minimum wage sends exactly the wrong signal. Republican strategists describe the partys relationship with working-class voters as a long flirtation that has veered between an all-out embrace in the years of Ronald Reagan and a drift away in the George W. Bush era. [Trump upends GOP message on the economy] Whites without college degrees made up 41 percent of the overall electorate in 2012, though that share has declined steadily over the years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. They made up a core part of Bill Clintons coalition in 1992 and 1996 but have moved away from Democrats in recent elections. President Obama lost this bloc by 25 percentage points to GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, the widest margin since Reagans 1984 landslide, according to national network exit polls. As Republicans face difficulties winning over Latino, young and women voters, maximizing support and turnout among working-class whites is critical. I think the Republicans are doing this out of necessity, said Tad Devine, chief strategist for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Theyre being backed into a demographic corner right now. On the campaign trail, Trump fashions himself as a prophet for the aggrieved and downtrodden. Last week in Claremont, N.H., he bemoaned the skeletal remains of the regions once-booming manufacturing economy and he laid blame on the political leaders of both parties. Im taking our jobs back from China, Trump exhorted. You people know better than anybody about jobs leaving an area. Look what happened to you? What the hell? . . . You look throughout New England, its still scarred all over the place after many years. The night before, he was in Lowell, Mass., sounding his familiar refrain about undocumented immigrants, whom he cast as shadowy villains responsible for sabotaging peoples livelihoods and degrading the countrys pride. Trumps campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said the candidates words for the working class are deliberately personal. People dont feel like these jobs have disappeared, he said. Theyve been stolen, and they dont mind if someone is speaking forcefully about taking them back for blue-collar Americans. More than anything, Trumps rhetoric on immigration has captured the attention of working-class whites who say they had been falling away from party politics. [One year, two races: Inside the GOPs bizarre, tumultuous 2015] None of [the candidates] are saying what they should be saying Get them out of here except Trump, said Tim Labelle, 73, a retired auto mechanic who voted for Obama in 2008. Theyre taking our jobs, and theyre gonna take over our whole country if we dont put an end to it. Trump claims he has widespread support from unionized workers. But Richard L. Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said in an interview that Trump is trying to confuse them with blatant racism. Theyre not going to be duped by somebody saying, I know we brought this engineer in for $25,000 when the average wage is $75,000, but dont worry about that. Worry about this other guy raking your lawn, doing jobs that people normally dont want that dont even pay minimum wage, Trumka said. He tries to make it seem as if these guys over here really are your enemy. Cruz is echoing Trump on immigration, including recently calling for a border wall. In one of his latest ads, titled Invasion, businessmen and women stream across the border to show what Cruz calls the economic calamity of illegal immigration. Explaining the strategy, Roe said: The Republican argument can no longer be just about taxes and spending. Its got to speak to the working poor and the culture. Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, said immigration is a useful frame for the underlying issue of the campaign. Its not the issue, Brooks said. Its a reason for explaining the pain being felt by the working class and the working poor, who have tenuous employment and are making $11 to $15 an hour, are not college-educated, and mostly nonreligious. Like Cruz and Trump, Rubio has also sought to strike a hard-nosed posture on immigration, distancing himself from failed Senate legislation he co-sponsored that would have provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. But the tone of his pitch to working-class voters is different. Addressing a bundled-up crowd last week at a New Hampshire community colleges auto shop, Rubio talked up his plans for paid family leave and a child tax credit. Surrounded by tool boxes, he said that young people need to learn tangible skills. What you do here in this center, we need more of, Rubio said. We need to be teaching more people to be welders and plumbers and pipe cleaners, auto mechanics and airplane technicians. Back at Cruzs headquarters one night last week, Legault-Knowles and Heidi Cruz were joined by Bob Smith, a former U.S. senator and the campaigns New Hampshire chairman. While the two women worked the phones, Smith, a towering Vietnam War veteran and former high school teacher, surveyed the room. The people were all talking to, they are fed up with broken promises, Smith said. Republican, Democrat theyre ordinary working men and women, and theyre not for anyone. They feel like outcasts. And theyre up for grabs. Scott Clement in Washington contributed to this report. Internet helping Guizhou lift millions out of poverty From:China Daily | 2016-01-13 09:15 Liu Yuankun, second left, vice governor of Guizhou province, answers questions about poverty alleviation in Guiyang, Jan 12, 2016. [Photo by Yang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn] With the booming development of e-commerce and big data technology, a southwestern Chinese province aims to lift millions out of poverty as the nation is making its final five-year dash to make all of its 1.3 billion people live a comfortable life. In Guizhou province's five-year plan to develop society and the economy between 2016 and 2020, big data and big poverty alleviation are highlighted as two major strategies, according Liu Yuankun, the province's vice governor who is in charge of poverty alleviation. "This means we will make full use of big data technology to reduce poverty," said Liu. According to the province's schedule, more than 3 million of the remaining 6.23 million people living below poverty line will be lifted out of poverty by the end of 2017 and all will shake off poverty by 2010. With the help of big data technology, a "poverty alleviation cloud" has been built, an electronic platform that pools all updated information about residents living below the poverty line such as their location, the causes of their poverty, how much subsidies they get and by what kind of poverty alleviation project they are covered, said Liu. " By following the data stored in the 'poverty alleviation cloud', we are able to deliver more precise and targeted help to those in poverty," added Liu. Statistics show that Guizhou managed to lift 5.29 million people out of poverty from the beginning of 2011 to the end of 2014, which means that more than one million people in the province shook off poverty annually during the period. Weining, a gathering place for Yi, Hui and Miao nationalities, is one of Guizhou's poorest counties because although it has favorable natural conditions to grow apple trees it's very difficult for local residents to sell them due to poor marketing skills. However, now with the help of WeChat, the most widely used instant messaging and also one of the most influential e-commerce mobile app in China, local residents are able to sell ten tons of apples in a week, said Chris Nebe, CEO of Monarex Hollywood, who is currently shooting a documentary about Guizhou. Rough estimates reveal that the province lifted 1.3 million out of poverty in 2015. Nationwide, China was the first developing country to meet the Millennium Development Goals target of reducing the population living in poverty by half ahead of the 2015 deadline. Over the past three decades some 700 million rural residents across China have shaken off poverty. "The Chinese Internet has helped Chinese people overcome poverty and I think this is a great success," said Nebe. By the end of 2015, China still had 70.17 million people in the countryside living below its poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($376) in annual income by 2010 price standards. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local governments and Party committees in November to place poverty alleviation at the top of their work agenda. But helping more than 70 million shake off poverty will be much harder than the lifting of 700 million out of their impoverished conditions that has been achieved in the past more than three decades, since those still living in destitution are either stranded in rural areas that are hard to reach or endure difficulties that they cannot overcome on their own. "Internet has become a tool for poor Chinese people to make a better life," said Nebe. Chris Nebe, left, CEO of Monarex Hollywood, shoots a documentary about Guizhou province in Guiyang, the province's capital city on Tuesday. [Photo by Yang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn] A newly aggressive Hillary Clinton emerged here this week and her campaign took on fresh urgency as polls suddenly showed the Democratic presidential front-runner in real danger of losing the first two primary contests to insurgent rival Bernie Sanders. Here in Ames, Clinton launched her sharpest attacks yet by ripping into Sanders on issues such as health care and gun control. She portrayed the senator from Vermont as naive and his proposals as unrealistic and, seeking to undermine the central argument of his candidacy, alleged that he could not be trusted to take on entrenched interests. If youre going to go around saying youll stand up to special interests, well, stand up to the most powerful special interest stand up to that gun lobby, Clinton said, citing Sanderss 2005 vote to grant immunity to gun manufacturers. Dont talk to me about standing up to corporate interests and big powers, she added. Ive got the scars to show for it, and Im proud of every single one of them. Later Tuesday, the campaign released a new ad in which Clinton doesnt mention Sanders by name but implicitly criticizes him by saying its time to pick a side with or against the gun lobby. Im with him, Clinton says of Obama, suggesting that Sanders is not. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses cheering supporters at a rally at the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa, on Sunday. (Scott Morgan/Reuters) Although Clinton and Sanders have been tweaking each other since the fall, the Democratic contest has been a sleepy affair compared with the rollicking Republican race. But it is coming to life ahead of a debate Sunday, the last before the Feb. 1 caucuses here. Clinton has seemed this week to relish playing the aggressor in what she has dubbed the lets get real period of the race. Sanders has been drawing contrasts, too, ticking off differences with Clinton on Social Security, energy and other policies at his rallies. Clintons combative approach is part of a broader effort by her campaign and her allies to blunt Sanderss apparent momentum. Her campaign has begun flooding Iowa and New Hampshire with a wave of surrogates that includes her husband, former president Bill Clinton; their daughter, Chelsea; Lena Dunham, the star of the HBO series Girls; and a troupe of female senators. [Clinton is vulnerable in Iowa. But she may be invincible in the end.] Clinton has also rolled out major endorsements this week designed to highlight her differences with Sanders on gun safety: Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman who survived a 2011 assassination attempt in Arizona, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The former secretary of state has tried to highlight her perceived electability, her ability to withstand Republican attacks in the general election and her readiness to occupy the Oval Office. She recalled at length in Ames her time in the White House Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden raid one of the most tense days of my life, she said. Campaign officials said they long expected the race to be close, and her organization is designed for a protracted battle well past the Super Tuesday contests in March. In Iowa specifically, the Clinton team is confident that its organizational muscle and data-driven strategy will prevail. Stump speeches by GOP presidential candidates reveal that theyre planning for a race against Hillary Clinton in the general election. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Since the campaign started, we have said this race will be a competitive, tough race that would tighten and wed have to earn the nomination, spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. We have built a tremendous grass-roots organization in Iowa fueled by enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton and her record that is set to compete and win. In New Hampshire, Sanders enjoys a home-field advantage as a neighboring senator and has been tied or leading in the polls for months. But he is showing new strength in Iowa, where Clintons lead appears to have vanished, and is also catching up in national surveys. A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday showed Clinton trailing Sanders here, 49 percent to 44 percent. Despite Clintons frequent visits, army of community-based organizers and early investment in TV advertisements, she does not appear to have captured peoples imaginations the way Sanders has. The crowds at his town hall meetings have swelled even beyond his campaigns expectations. In high school gyms and community centers across the state, Sanders has been feverishly embraced by a mix of young and older voters in recent days. People wave dark-blue signs handed out by the campaign promising A Future to Believe In, and many leave saying they are excited about caucusing on his behalf. [Hillary Clinton could win Iowa but still lose the battle of expectations] Danniella Vajgrt, 33, said she had been leaning in Clintons direction but decided Sunday to caucus for Sanders after hearing him speak in Marshalltown. Im seeing all these things broken in this nation, and these are the things he wants to fix, said Vajgrt, who works with special-needs children and adults. Not everyone who attended the Sanders event at a roadside Best Western was ready to commit to him, however. Elly Mack, 62, a nurse, said she was moving his way, in part because of his sincerity, but she doubts he can win the nomination. Im pretty sure Hillary is going to be the candidate, Mack said. I like her experience, but Im just not quite there. Even before Christmas, some top Clinton supporters here were growing nervous, both because of Iowas history of volatility in the closing weeks before the caucuses and because they saw Sanders as primed for a late surge. There have been hints of those qualms in recent fundraising appeals from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. Im not trying to be dramatic about this (I swear! Im really not!), but theres a situation developing in Iowa and New Hampshire that could change the course of this election, he wrote last week. Clinton remains the favorite to secure the nomination, in part because of Sanderss inability so far to make inroads with minority voters. But if she were to fall short in Iowa and New Hampshire, she would have to brace for a costly slog and, should she prevail, risk entering the general election as damaged goods. This is going to be a long nomination process, said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver. Theres no knockout blow by either candidate at the beginning of this race. In some quarters of the Democratic firmament this week, there have been fresh signs of uneasiness with Clintons candidacy. Vice President Biden, who decided against a campaign of his own last fall, praised Sanders in a CNN interview Monday and said that while no one questions Bernies authenticity on income inequality, the subject was relatively new for Hillary to talk about. I never thought she was a prohibitive favorite, the vice president said, adding, Everythings sort of coming down to Earth. The fluid state of play in Iowa brought uncomfortable flashbacks for Clinton, who finished in a crippling third place in the 2008 caucuses. In her Ames speech, she mused about how difficult it is for a president to implement his or her ideas in Washington, however wonderful they may sound on the campaign trail. It was an implicit dig at Sanders. [Clinton and Sanders try to erode each others strengths in tightening race] I wish we could have a Democratic president who could wave a magic wand and say, We shall do this, and we shall do that, she said. That aint the real world were living in! Clinton used a similar magic wand line in 2008 to go after then-Sen. Barack Obama, saying he was naive for thinking he could unite Washington. She is responding to the Sanders threat by trying to tap into the goodwill Democrats here still feel toward Obama, casting herself as his rightful heir and the dependable protector of his legacy. One of Obamas Cabinet members, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, jetted to Waterloo on Monday to endorse Clinton. There, and again the next day in Ames, Clinton said Sanderss single-payer, Medicare for all health-care proposal would jeopardize Obamas Affordable Care Act by shifting health-care decisions to the states, many of which have Republican governors. Addressing a few hundred Democrats on the frozen campus of Iowa State University, Clinton mocked Sanderss mantra of a political revolution and said, If thats the kind of revolution hes talking about, Im worried, folks. Chelsea Clinton echoed her mother at a campaign stop Tuesday in New Hampshire, saying that Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare and strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance. Sanders spokeswoman Arianna Jones said these attacks are wrong. Though Sanders has not released the specifics of his single-payer plan, Jones said it would provide health care to every man, woman and child, and save middle-class families $5,000 a year. At the Brown and Black Presidential Forum on Monday in Des Moines, co-moderator Jorge Ramos, a Univision news anchor, asked Sanders if he had noticed Clinton becoming more aggressive. Yessssss, the senator said, drawing out the word. It could be that the inevitable candidate for the Democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today. Wagner reported from Marshalltown, Iowa. Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday. (Alexei Nikolsky/AP) Russia will ship small arms to Afghanistan next month, a top diplomat announced Wednesday, expanding Moscows role as the United States winds down its military mission and the Taliban and other militants appear to gain ground. Russia is concerned that extremist factions in Afghanistan could spill over the northern borders into former Soviet Central Asian countries where Russia has a major military presence. The decision also bolsters Russias role in a nation that was a Cold War-era ally and the scene of Moscows disastrous military intervention in the 1980s. [Russia shares intelligence with Taliban to undercut the Islamic State] It comes at a time when Russia is expanding activities outside its borders, conducting wide-ranging airstrikes in Syria and pushing for a bigger international role to resolve a series of conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere. The shipment of small arms will take place in February, but Russia has no plans to ship other weapons, said President Vladimir Putins special envoy for Afghanistan. For now this is quite sufficient, the diplomat, Zamir Kabulov, told the Interfax news agency. The United States and its allies have withdrawn most of their military presence over the past year, leaving Kabul searching for new partners in its efforts to fend off the Taliban. Russia has trained Afghan air force pilots in the years since a U.S.-led alliance toppled the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But Afghan officials in recent months have pushed Moscow to increase its aid. Russia has sent arms to Kabul after being paid by intermediaries, including India and the United States. Last fall, a series of Afghan officials visited Moscow to request helicopter gunships and heavy weaponry. In 2011, the Defense Department signed a contract with Russias arm sales agency, Rosoboronexport, to supply the Afghan military with Russian-made helicopters. The agency had been hit with Western sanctions after Russias military incursion into Ukraine, but in November it was granted a U.S. exemption to maintain the helicopters. Putin said in October that the situation in Afghanistan was close to critical and has signaled an openness to increasing his nations role there. But any significant escalation would come with extreme caution from Moscow, where memories of Afghanistan as a graveyard for Soviet troops remain powerful. The 1979-1989 war there cost thousands of Soviet military lives and was a factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet army battled insurgent forces that were backed by the West and attracted Islamists fighters such as Osama bin Laden. Even now, military casualties are one of the most politically sensitive subjects in Russia. Last month, Russia announced that it had begun limited information exchange with the Taliban in order to combat the Islamic State, which has a growing presence in Afghanistan. The unusual arrangement came as Russia grows concerned that the Islamic State could pose a domestic terrorism threat. Read more: Russia is a new front for Islamist militants NATO versus Kremlin in Syria Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged China to help ensure that North Korea feels pain over its recent nuclear test as the international community looks to Beijing to exert its significant influence over Pyongyang. Tensions are running high on the Korean Peninsula after the test last week, with propaganda volleys across the tense border between the two Koreas and shots fired Wednesday after a Northern drone briefly flew into Southern airspace. With the U.N. Security Council looking to punish Pyongyang for its latest provocation, Park made it clear that Beijing holds the key. We will make every effort for the strongest sanctions against North Korea by taking new actions. Chinas role is significant here, she said during a rare news conference. A true partner offers a helping hand in difficult times. We believe China will play its role as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. [Reported North Korean nuclear test signals snub of China, fraying ties] 1 of 9 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad These countries have tested nuclear weapons View Photos Since 1945, eight nations have detonated such weapons. Caption Since 1945, eight nations have detonated such weapons. North Korea North Koreans watch a news broadcast on a video screen outside Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 6, 2016. The nation claims that it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, but the claim drew skepticism. Kim Kwang Hyon/AP Wait 1 second to continue. China, the closest thing North Korea has to a friend, has previously used its veto power to ensure that multilateral sanctions are not so severe as to cause its fragile neighbor to collapse, although Beijing did allow a significant expansion of sanctions after Pyongyangs 2013 nuclear test. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made little secret of his disdain for Kim Jong Un, the young North Korean leader, and critics of North Korea hope that Beijing will be sufficiently angry this time around to support even tougher sanctions. Sanctions are useless unless they cause pain and bring about changes in North Korea, Park told a select group of reporters at her New Years news conference. The international communitys response to the North Korean nuclear problem this time must be different from the past. Relations between China and South Korea have steadily improved under Park and Xi, who has visited the South but not the North. But Beijing has maintained its trade ties and aid delivery to North Korea so its nuclear-armed neighbor maintains its stability. The Security Council is formulating a new round of sanctions, while the United States also looks for ways to ratchet up the pressure on North Korea to relinquish its nuclear program. The White House has vowed to isolate Pyongyang, and the House has passed a bill aimed at further curtailing North Koreas access to the international financial system. Meanwhile, American, Japanese and South Korean nuclear negotiators met in Seoul on Wednesday to talk about a coordinated response to the test. [A North Korean H-bomb? Not likely, experts say.] 1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What life looks like inside North Korea View Photos Scenes from inside the hermit kingdom. Caption Scenes from the hermit kingdom. April 14, 2016 A girl dances ballet at the Mangyongdae Childrens Palace in the Pyongyang suburbs. The large facility, opened in 1989, has hundreds of rooms for various activities, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science, sports, music and dance practice. Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue. North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, claiming that it detonated a hydrogen bomb which is enormously more powerful than the three atomic devices it previously tested. But seismic readings suggested that the bomb had a yield similar to what was seen in the earlier tests, leading experts to say that North Korea might have set off an atomic device that contained hydrogen isotopes and then claimed that it was a more powerful weapon. Either way, the test has reignited tensions on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea resumed broadcasting messages critical of Kim from speakers lined up along the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, and it sharply curtailed access to a jointly run industrial park on the northern side of the border. In response, North Korea started broadcasting its own messages critical of Park across the DMZ, although military officials said the speakers were too weak for the messages to be clearly heard, according to local reports. North Korean propaganda pamphlets also were found in northern parts of Seoul and towns close to the DMZ, apparently carried across by big plastic balloons mirroring a practice of South Korean activists who send anti-Kim leaflets northward. Stop the psychological warfare broadcasts that light the fuse of war, one of the brochures said, according to Yonhap News Agency. Knock out the gang of Park Geun-hye who aggravated North-South relations by resuming anti-North psychological warfare broadcasts, another said. Separately, South Koreas military fired warning shots at a North Korean drone that briefly entered Southern airspace in the DMZ, sending the vehicle back into the North. Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report. Read more: China reluctant to join U.S. in punishing North Korea over cyberattacks Why is North Koreas hydrogen bomb test such a big deal? This artist mocks North Korea with its own propaganda What do we know about Kim Jong Un? Very little. That makes this guy an expert. An Afghan member of the security forces stands guard as a man helps schoolchildren run from the site of clashes near Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad, capital of Nangahar province, on Wednesday. (Mohammad Anwar Danishyar/AP) The Islamic State claimed it carried out an attack on a Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan on Wednesday that killed seven Afghan security personnel. No casualties were reported among those inside the consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, officials said. Our security forces say that the target of the attack was the Pakistani Consulate, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, an aide to the governor of Nangahar province. The consulate has suffered some damages, but no one has been wounded or killed inside it." The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the attack in a statement released online. Nangahar is the stronghold of the Islamic States so-called Khorasan branch, which has battled both the Afghan government and the Taliban. Wednesdays assault came three days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited Jalalabad, the provincial capital, and declared that the Islamic State has no room in the Afghan society. The attack showed a level of orchestration previously not seen from the Islamic State in Afghanistan, raising concerns that the group's ability to carry out complex operations is increasing. Afghan officials have acknowledged that the group, which recently launched its own radio station in Nangahar, is growing stronger. [A new Islamic State radio station spreads panic in eastern Afghanistan] Ghani telephoned Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to express his concern and grief about the attack, according to a statement from Sharif's office. Ghani also promised more security for Pakistani diplomats in Afghanistan. The attack, the first in years to target Pakistani officials in Afghanistan, took place nine days after a similar assault on an Indian consulate in northern Afghanistan. It also coincided with diplomatic discussions aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan in which Afghan and Pakistani representatives are taking part. On Monday, officials from those countries, China and the United States met in Islamabad to begin crafting a road map for peace talks with the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan. [Four-way talks on Afghanistan start, with much to overcome] Whichever group carried out the attack, they want to disrupt the peace talks, said Najib Mahmood, a political science professor at Kabul University. Officials vowed not to let that happen. The terrorists behind Jalalabad attack today are exactly the type of enemies & spoilers we all need [to] identify & oppose [with] all means available," the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Janan Mosazai, said on Twitter. The attack began about 8 a.m. when a suicide bomber targeted a police vehicle outside the Jalalabad consulate, clearing the way for two assailants to enter a building next to the compound, according to Atta Ullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the Nangahar governor. Security forces exchanged gunfire with the attackers for nearly three hours before overcoming them, officials said. Seven members of Afghan security forces, including two police officers, were killed, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi. More than 10 people, including civilians, were wounded. Until the Islamic State claimed responsibility Wednesday afternoon, it was unclear which group had mounted the attack. The Taliban regularly conducts such strikes against the Afghan government, international aid workers or foreign troops. But the Talibans main faction, led by Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, denied involvement. The Taliban has also distanced itself from the attack on the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e Sharif on Jan. 4 in which Afghan security forces repelled a group of gunmen attempting to lay siege to the facility. Three attackers and a police officer died in the day-long standoff, which came a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Afghanistan. Wednesdays attack was seen by some as an attempt to punish Pakistan for its prominent role in planning peace talks. Many terrorist groups might not see peace as being in their best interests, Mahmood said. Two other attacks also roiled the region Wednesday. In the Pakistani city of Quetta, an explosion outside a polio immunization center killed at least 14 people, most of them policemen. The Pakistani Taliban asserted responsibility. In the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, a botched suicide bombing injured a civilian, according to local media. Mohammad Sharif in Kabul and Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report. Read more: The Islamic State is making these Afghans long for the Taliban The chaotic war in Afghanistan Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world Police secure the area after an explosion in central Istanbul, where Turkish police sealed off a central square in the historic Sultanahmet district after a large explosion. Jan. 12, 2016 Police secure the area after an explosion in central Istanbul, where Turkish police sealed off a central square in the historic Sultanahmet district after a large explosion. Osman Orsal/Reuters For the past 35 years, Nuri Sahin has sold carpets in the historic center of Istanbul. He cant remember a time when business was so bad and fears that it will only get worse. Just a smattering of tourists ventured to the plazas and cobbled streets near his shop on Wednesday, a day after a suicide bomber thought to be linked to the Islamic State killed at least 10 people after approaching a group of German tourists and detonating his vest. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities carried out raids across the country, arresting one person in connection with the attack, according to Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala. Terrorist attacks are nothing new for Turkey, but Tuesdays bloodshed marked a possible pivot point: the Islamic State apparently turning its focus toward the tourism sector in a country that draws about 40 million visitors a year. The attack took place near three of Istanbuls most famed tourist attractions: the Blue Mosque, the Ottoman-era Topkapi Palace and the Hagia Sophia, a former mosque and Christian basilica thats now a museum. The tourists will be scared for a year, said Sahin, 47. This is the first time weve had anything like this in the heart of our tourism area. [Turkey key to Islamic States underground economy] His colleague, Suleyman Bala, 33, witnessed the blast as he sat near the Obelisk of Theodosius, an ancient Egyptian monolith. The square was relatively quiet, he said, with just two tour groups: one of Germans, another of South Koreans. When the blast went off, he dropped to the ground. It was all around me, body parts, blood, he said. So many pieces of people and people running, people scared. Germanys Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that all 10 who died were German citizens. Previous reports had said a Peruvian was also killed. Seventeen were injured, and 11 remain in the hospital. Turkish authorities have blamed the Islamic State for the attack, though the group has not asserted responsibility. During a visit to Istanbul, Germanys interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, said there was no reason to think that the attack was directed specifically at Germans, who make up the largest group of visitors to the country. The number of Russian tourists began to drop after Moscow advised its citizens not to visit amid worsening relations following Turkeys downing of a Russian fighter jet in November. [NATO faces new Mideast crisis after downing of Russian jet by Turkey] With the bomb attack Tuesday, the Islamic State risks a harsher crackdown from Turkish authorities, who have been criticized for not doing enough to prevent the country from being used as a conduit for supplies and recruits. But the militants appear increasingly desperate to strike overseas as they lose territory in Iraq and Syria. In a joint news conference with Maiziere, Ala said that a woman was detained late Tuesday in Istanbul in connection with the attack, but he gave no further details. It was one of a series of raids in the wake of the attack against suspected Islamic State cells. In the Mediterranean city of Antalya, three Russians were detained for allegedly providing logistical support to the militant group, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Six other suspected militants were arrested in raids in the province of Izmir on the Aegean coast. The alleged bomber, a 28-year-old Syrian named Nabil Fadli, was not on any militant watch list but had registered and given fingerprints at an immigration office a week before the blast, Ala said. Quoting security sources, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily said that he had registered for asylum in Istanbul on Jan. 5 with four other men. The pan-Arab daily newspaper al-Hayat reported that the man was born in Saudi Arabia but left at age 8 with his family. The bombing took place just yards from the citys Blue Mosque, whose nine domes and six minarets are one of the most recognizable features of the citys skyline. Its just very, very sad, said Kate Burton, a 36-year-old Australian tourist, wiping away tears as she and her husband went to buy flowers to lay at the scene of the blast. You get to know the locals, you really feel for them. She said they would not be deterred from visiting again. But Sahin had his doubts. Ive never seen it like this in my life, he said, adding that business was already down 70 to 80 percent. We are scared now that the third world war is coming. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. The Justice Department has brought on a well-respected election law professor to oversee its voting section and lead the departments battles over voting rights during this presidential election year. Justin Levitt of the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles has begun serving as the deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division at a critical time, with Justice Department lawyers litigating several voting-rights cases across the country. Levitt will hold the position, which does not require Senate confirmation, until next January. Levitt, 41, takes charge as the Justice Department awaits high-profile court decisions on voting rights in North Carolina and Texas. The presidential election this year will be the first since a divided Supreme Court invalidated a critical component of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Also, more restrictive voting laws will be in effect in 15 states for the first time in a race for the White House. The biggest change since the last presidential election is unquestionably the Supreme Courts decision [on voting rights], Levitt said in an interview in his fifth-floor office at Justice Department headquarters. Before the decision in Shelby County v. Holder, the Voting Rights Act required nine states, primarily in the South, and jurisdictions in six other states to receive pre-clearance from the U.S. attorney general or federal judges before making any changes to election or voting laws. The court, in its June 2013 ruling, did not strike down the Voting Rights Act or the provision that calls for the special scrutiny of states with a history of discrimination. But it said that Congress must come up with a new formula based on current data to determine which states should be subject to the requirements. Former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. said the decision is a serious setback for voting rights and has the potential to negatively affect millions of Americans across the country. Now, instead of trying to prevent potentially unfair voting laws from going into effect, the department has to respond to the laws which may go into effect while lawyers for the federal government are trying to stop them including in the North Carolina and Texas, which the department sued in 2013 after the Supreme Court ruling, Levitt said. Republican lawmakers in the states that have passed restrictive voting legislation say the laws are needed to combat voter fraud. But critics argue that the legislation, including voter-ID requirements, will disenfranchise voters and could hurt turnout primarily among minority voters. Levitt would not discuss specific cases, except to say that although the department is hampered by the Supreme Courts 2013 ruling, there is an immense amount going on in the voting section to make sure that the rules we play by are fair, not just focused on this election, but well into the future. One of the cases the department is litigating in Texas was brought under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group. The voting sections approximately 70 attorneys also enforce laws on the accessibility of voting for the elderly and those with disabilities, along with members of the military and U.S. citizens living abroad. While the primaries are still weeks away, Levitt said that ballots have been sent abroad for voters from New Hampshire who are serving in the armed forces or otherwise living abroad. The 2016 election season has begun, Levitt said. In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, President Obama vowed to make voting rights a priority. Weve got to make voting easier, not harder, and modernize it for the way we live now, Obama said. And over the course of this year, I intend to travel the country to push for reforms that do. Levitt, a Harvard Law School graduate with a masters degree in public administration, was a law clerk to Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He then served as counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. In 2010 he joined the faculty at Loyola Law School, focusing on election administration and redistricting. A lot of people who care about voting care because theyre devoted to a candidate, but for me, the part thats most important is the voter. Voting is the way we stand up to make the world we want to live in, Levitt said of his interest in the issue. For the next year, he is commuting between the District and California, where he joked that his wife is single-parenting their big dog. Justin is one of the most thoughtful and savvy election-law thinkers out there, with one foot in the academy and the other in the trenches of the voting wars, said Richard L. Hasen, an election-law expert at the University of California at Irvine and the author of The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown. The details of new voting laws across the country and the litigation brought by the Justice Department affect elections large and small not just the presidential race. Levitt said that ensuring that voting nationwide works as it should is a dream job for anyone who cares about a just electoral system. Its something that I am both fascinated by intellectually but I also feel viscerally, Levitt said. Talk to somebody whos been deprived of their right to vote and you get a very strong sense of how very much this matters. Secretary of State John F. Kerry signs a bobblehead figurine of himself as he meets with a group of refugees at a refugee resettlement center in Silver Spring, Md., on Wednesday. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters) The United States will increase the number of refugees it admits to allow in more people fleeing violence in Central America, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday. In a speech at the National Defense University, Kerry said the expansion of the Refugee Admissions Program will be directed toward people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, to offer them a safe and legal alternative to the dangerous journey many are currently tempted to begin, making them easy prey for human smugglers who have no interest but their own profits. The United States already plans to admit 85,000 refugees from around the world in the fiscal year that began in October, but only 3,000 spaces are set aside for Central Americans. The total allotment is 15,000 more refugees than in the previous year and includes 10,000 Syrians referred by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees under a special vetting process that typically takes 18 to 24 months. The ceiling for refugees is even higher for 2017, when it will rise to 100,000. [White House invited Syrian refugee to Obamas State of the Union address] Kerry did not say how many more Central American refugees would be admitted and when the expansion would take effect. The State Department said refugees will be selected for resettlement in the United States in collaboration with the UNHCR and a number of nongovernmental agencies it works with to orient and relocate new refugees around the country. Among those who will be considered in need of refugee protection are people targeted by criminal gangs, human rights defenders and those who may be at imminent risk of harm. Since the Syrian crisis began with peaceful anti-government protests in 2011, the United States has donated more than $4.5 billion in humanitarian aid related to Syrians alone. Most has gone directly to help shelter, feed and clothe refugees, but some has helped governments in neighboring countries that are burdened with massive numbers of refugees. Officials say that helping refugees near the countries they have fled will prevent them from going to other countries, as has happened in Europe when humanitarian aid to Syrians dried up. President Obama plans to hold a summit at the U.N. General Assembly this fall in which he will urge nations to provide even more humanitarian admissions and funding for refugees from around the world. Refugees already are at the center of a divisive debate in the presidential primary campaigns. Republican Donald Trump has proposed building a wall along the Mexican border and called for a ban on Muslim immigrants. The admission of more refugees from Central American countries comes amid an immigration crackdown in which women and children from the region were rounded up and deported after they were denied asylum. On Monday, more than 100 Democrats signed a letter accusing the Obama administration of inhumanely deporting refugees threatened with violence in their home countries. The White House has said it will not stop the raids. Kerry defended the stepped-up admissions as a response to the worst global refugee crisis since World War II. We can both maintain the highest security standards and live up to our best traditions as Americans by welcoming those in need of our help to this great country of ours, said Kerry. Thats who we are. Thats what we do. We have the ability to protect ourselves even as we maintain our welcome, he added. After the speech, Kerry visited a refugee resettlement center in Silver Spring, Md., to meet with volunteers and speak with some refugees themselves. I know sometimes it will look hard, he told them. It is hard, but you are very welcome, and you will find America a land of enormous possibilities. Dont lose faith, okay? One of the hackers who boasted last fall of breaking into the private email account of the CIA director apparently has struck again this time targeting the director of national intelligence. A prankster who goes by the nickname Cracka told a reporter for the online magazine Motherboard that he had broken into a series of accounts linked to National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper. They included his home telephone and Internet, his personal email and his wifes Yahoo email account, according to the site, which is owned by Vice. The reporter, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, said Cracka provided him screenshots of some of that material but not Clappers personal email. A spokesman for Clapper, Brian Hale, said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was aware of the matter and reported it to the appropriate authorities. The FBI is investigating. Cracka also claimed to have changed the settings on Clappers home phone number, provided by Verizon FIOS, so that every call would be forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement, Motherboard reported. The ODNI confirmed that. When the hacking group known as Crackas With Attitude, or CWA, last year gained access to Brennans account, they said it was in opposition to U.S. foreign policy and support to Palestine. One of the hackers who cracked Brennans account last year told Wired magazine that he gained access by posing as a Verizon worker and tricking another employee into divulging Brennans personal information. Using that data, the hackers were able to reset the password on Brennans AOL account, Wired reported. It is not clear whether Cracka similarly used social engineering to gain control of Clappers FIOS account or employed another method. Iraqs government will spare no efforts to expel Islamic State forces from the country, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said. (Haidar Mohammed Ali/AFP/Getty Images) Iraqs prime minister vowed Tuesday to keep up the fight against the Islamic State, a day after an suicide bombing by the militant group on a shopping mall in Baghdad killed 18 people and a wave of retaliatory attacks targeted Sunni mosques. Touring the destroyed mall in the eastern, Shiite-dominated area of New Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi described the attack as a desperate attempt by militants after they lost control of the key western city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. Iraqs government will spare no efforts to expel Islamic State forces from the country, Abadi said. Gunmen stormed the Jawhara Mall on Monday after setting off a car bomb and launching a suicide attack at its entrance. Iraqi forces surrounded the building, landed troops on the roof and killed two gunmen and arrested four. Along with the 18 killed, about 50 people were wounded. After the attack, an online statement purported to be from the Islamic State said that the group had targeted an area where Shiite Muslims gather and warned of worse to come. Mannequins stand behind a broken window at a New Baghdad bridal boutique damaged by a car bomb explosion that killed at least 18 people Tuesday. (Khalid Mohammed/AP) Later Monday, back-to-back suicide attacks in the Shiite-dominated town of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province, killed at least 24 people and wounded 52. And in a crowded area in southeast Baghdad, a car bomb killed at least five people and wounded 12. Mobs attacked several Sunni mosques in Diyala in apparent retaliatory attacks, prompting security forces to impose a curfew in the area, Sunni lawmaker Raad al-Dahlaki, said. Sheik Abdul-Latif al-Himaim, head of the Sunni Endowment, a quasi-governmental agency that oversees Sunni mosques, said an imam was killed and two mosques were destroyed. Others were damaged, he added. Alarmed by the Muqdadiyah events, the U.N. special representative for Iraq, Jan Kubis, called on all sides to refrain from being drawn into a cycle of reprisals and warned in a statement that the perpetrators seek to take the country back into the dark days of sectarian strife. Iraq is going through its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops. In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State blitzed across large swaths of the countrys north and west, capturing the key city of Mosul and most of Anbar province. Last month, the group suffered a significant defeat when Iraqi forces drove the extremists out of Ramadi. But the Islamic State still controls much of northern and western Iraq. Ever since Dodge unleashed its 707-horsepower Hellcat Challenger and Charger, fans of the Jeep brand have eyed the supercharged V8s enviously from across Fiat-Chryslers corporate architecture. To them, the question was never if, but when a brand new Jeep would house the Hellcat engine under its hood. Well, consider that question no longer relevant. After more than a year of speculation and whispers in the night, Jeep CEO Mike Manley has confirmed a Hellcat-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee and its coming to market before the end of 2017. The Jeep boss dropped the Hellcat detail on the floor of the Detroit motor show in an interview with journalist Brian Makse, as seen below. RELATED: Hauk Designs Has Built a 707-HP Hellcat Jeep Wrangler While the news helps clear the air about the hot-hot Hellcat Jeep, many questions remain unanswered, and likely will for some time. In 2014, Jeep trademarked the Trackhawk moniker, which suggested a higher performance Jeep was in the works, however its still unclear if thats destined for the Grand Cherokee nameplate, though likely. In August of last year, reports emerging from a Jeep dealer conference in Las Vegas suggested the rumored Hellcat Jeep Grand Cherokee would sport all-wheel drive and notch zero to 60 mph times of just 3.5 seconds. Again still unconfirmed, but exciting nonetheless. The other big Jeep news out of the Detroit motor show concerns the more rough-and-tumble Wrangler model line, which will now officially receive a pickup truck variant before the close of 2017. With its best sales year ever enjoyed in 2015, plus models like the Hellcat Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler pickup on the way, its hard to find a brighter star these days than the Jeep brand. RELATED: This is What a $108,000 Jeep Wrangler Looks Like By Marcin Goettig WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland dismissed European Commission concern on Friday that a new law on state-run media threatened media freedom, warning Brussels not to interfere in its affairs on the basis of "biased and politically-engaged" reports. Simultaneously, the government, run by the euroskeptic Law and Justice (PiS) party, gave teeth to the new law by naming a former PiS member of parliament to head state television. The European Union's executive has written to Poland asking how the new law tallies with EU rules on media freedoms - a sign of disquiet in Brussels that PiS policies could undermine democracy. The PiS has long aimed to overhaul rules on public broadcasters to ensure they defend what it defines as national interests. The party has signaled earlier plans to "depoliticize" the state media. Replying to the letter, the foreign ministry said Poland fully recognized media freedom and the Commission may have been provided with misleading information with a bias against the Polish government. "Exposing the Polish Government to interventions inspired by unjust, biased and politically engaged enunciations might have an undesirable effect, which is to be carefully avoided," the Polish foreign ministry said. The Commission is to discuss the issue in Brussels on Jan. 13. NEW LAW Under the new law, approved on Thursday by President Andrzej Duda, the treasury minister has the right to appoint heads of state-run broadcasters - a prerogative he used on Friday to name Jacek Kurski, a former PiS member of parliament, to head state television. The heads of state media were until now appointed through public contest organized by the National Broadcasting Council, a constitutional body set up to protect the freedom of speech. "Competences of the National Broadcasting Council, including competences the aim of which is to ensure media pluralism, stay untouched," the Polish foreign ministry said in the letter. "There is no EU law that would require a media market regulatory body to have the power to determine the composition of management boards of public media companies," the ministry said. The law drew criticism from within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In a statement, Isabel Santos, who heads the human rights committee of the OSCE parliamentary assembly, expressed alarm at "measures that undermine the independence and impartiality of media" in Poland called on its leaders to repeal it. PiS, which ousted the governing centrist party by a wide margin in the October election, rejects such criticism. It says it has a broad mandate to redesign the country to reflect its Catholic values and independence from the EU in Brussels. In December, the EU executive expressed concern over an overhaul of the rules governing Poland's constitutional court, demanding their introduction be postponed. European lawmakers returned to work on Friday after the holiday break to find their mailboxes overflowing with letters from supporters of the Polish government and dismissing charges that Warsaw is eating away at democratic freedoms. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the European Parliament said its lawmakers had received "hundreds of spam e-mails over the past days ... assuring us that democracy in Poland is doing fine and that now the situation is finally much better than under the previous government." Members of the parliament's Greens group received "hundreds, probably at this point thousands of these e-mails", said a spokesman, Richard More O'Ferrall. "PiS is using good old-fashioned propaganda that Poland remembers from the past. However, a lie told often will not become the truth," said ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt. (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Editing by Richard Balmforth) By Scott Malone (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday brokered a compromise on whether to release evidence in a defamation suit brought against comedian Bill Cosby by seven women who accuse him of sexually assaulting them. Cosby's attorneys wanted to seal all evidence in the case for at least 14 days. This would likely include depositions by Cosby and his wife Camille on topics covering sexual matters. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy rejected their bid. Instead, he said he was inclined to give each side up to seven days to make the case for whether individual pieces of testimony should be sealed. Tamara Green sued Cosby in December 2014, accusing him of lying when he publicly denied having sexually assaulted her, and six other women have since joined in the lawsuit. Cosby, 78, filed a countersuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts last month, accusing the women of defaming him. The seven are among more than 50 women who have come forward to publicly accuse Cosby of sexually assaulting them after plying them with drugs or alcohol in alleged attacks carried out over a number of decades. Hennessy said that once he had received a request for deposition evidence to be sealed, the other side will have up to seven days to challenge. "Traditionally things like pretrial depositions have not been conducted in public," Hennessy said. "There is the potential for abuse, damaging reputations, revealing private information about people." Joseph Cammarata, an attorney for the women, acknowledged that depositions of witnesses including Cosby and his wife, Camille, would delve into personal matters. "Are we going to talk about the sexual history? Of course. Are we going to talk about the extramarital activity? Yes," Cammarata said. "We already know these subject matters." The accusations toppled Cosby from his pedestal as one of America's most-admired comedians, who built a long career on family-friendly humor. He was best known for his role as the dad Heathcliff Huxtable in the long-running 1980s television hit, "The Cosby Show." Cosby has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Last month prosecutors in Pennsylvania charged him with a 2004 sexual assault days before the statute of limitations on that alleged crime was to expire. One of Cosby's attorneys, Marshall Searcy, noted that those pending criminal charges may well influence how much Cosby says in any deposition. Cosby's right to avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution will "really come into play," Searcy said. Cosby, who was not present at the hearing at federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, faces several additional civil suits. Many predictions of childbirth are somewhat reliable the sex of a baby, for example, and the due date, as well as the presence of certain significant medical problems. But no prediction in childbirth is an exact science including the seemingly basic question of how big or small a newborn will be. Story: Mom Sues Doctor Over C-Section Fight: I Was Treated Like a Child That final point was made even clearer recently by researchers who found that a significant number of women are being erroneously told that they would be having big babies. And the study, published in Maternal and Child Health Journal in December and based on the data of 1,900 women surveyed by Childbirth Connection, further showed that mothers who believed they were having big babies were nearly five times more likely schedule a C-section even though the large majority of their babies wound up weighing less than 8 pounds 13 ounces (the medical definition of a large baby). Estimating weight is still an imprecise science. But the study is really more about communication than anything else, one of the researchers, Eugene R. Declercq, a professor at Boston University School of Public Health, tells Yahoo Parenting. Figuring that a baby will be big, rather than too small (and then at greater risk of problems), he notes, should be conveyed as good news, with no question about it being able to be delivered vaginally. But based on the studys findings, thats not whats happening, as a doctor telling a mom-to-be that her baby will be big has a profound effect, and contributes to undermining womens confidence they can deliver the baby, Declercq told the New York Times. Story: Women Told to Avoid Giving Birth in Hospitals in U.K. That article, published on Monday, told the story of Maryland lawyer Katy Clemens, 37, who wanted to give birth naturally. But when an ultrasound suggested her baby would weigh 11.5 pounds, her doctors bullied her into scheduling a C-section which she agreed to, only to reveal a baby weighing just 7 pounds 13 ounces. Story continues They said the estimates are never off by more than a pound. You imagined a baby that was 30 percent bigger, Clemens told the Times, noting that the surgery was unnecessary and might have caused breathing problems for her son at birth, as its a complication more common in C-section babies. Fewer than 8 percent of babies born in the United States meet the medical definition of a large baby, the story noted, while nearly one in three babies in the United States are born by cesarean section something that may be influenced by exaggerated estimates of fetal birth weight, Declercq said. Assessing fetal size is part of good care knowing if its particularly small or large and whether there might be any issues at birth, notes Eileen Beard, a nurse-midwife and senior practice adviser at the American College of Nurse-Midwives, a professional organization representing midwives in the U.S. But, she tells Yahoo Parenting, women were made to birth babies, so size generally isnt a problem. Estimating the size of a baby in utero isnt like taking a teaspoon and measuring something, she says, but rather is an assessment, often based on what are called Leopold maneuvers standard, manual procedures named after gynecologist Christian Gerhard Leopold which are not exact, because of factors including the size of the mother and her abdominal tone, as well as the babys positioning. Ultrasound is a wonderful tool, she adds, but its not always accurate. In the recent study, Declercq says, about two-thirds of the women had relied on ultrasounds for weight estimates. I think theres a lot of casual attitude about surgery, and our society has become very tolerant of it and doesnt always view C-section as major surgery, Beard says. But I think obstetricians are becoming more sensitive to the fact that the cesarean rate is way too high. Fetal weight, she adds, is just one factor Id look at in making an overall assessment, because midwives have a holistic view of care. So [weight is] just one little piece of the whole picture. We look at the whole woman and her ability to give birth and her confidence in giving birth, and we stress the importance of informed consent when discussing C-sections or any other interventions. That said, Women have to be informed consumers. And a provider has to take the time to make sure she understands the risks of major surgery, Beard notes. I think if more women were informed about the risks, then the cesarean rate would be lower. Women in general have great trust in their providers, but many may not realize the variation in care thats out there. Top photo: Getty Images Please follow @YahooParenting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Have an interesting story to share about your family? Email us at YParenting (at) Yahoo.com. A sign posted in the bathroom of a pizza place in Charlotte, North Carolina, has earned the restaurant praise on social media. Juli Ghazi, the owner of Pure Pizza, posted a sign in her restaurants unisex bathroom about five months ago saying its available for people in the LGBTQ community, single fathers with daughters, single mothers with sons and adults with aging parents who may have disabilities, WSOC-TV News reported. Related: Restaurant Fires Customer Who Berated Employee With Autism The sign began to go viral after patron Larken Egleston took a photo of it and posted it on Facebook on Jan. 9. (Photo: Larken Egleston) The note reads: We have a UniSex bathroom because sometimes gender specific toilets put others into uncomfortable situations. And since we have a lot of our friends coming to see us, we wanted to provide a place for our friends who are: -Single Dads with daughters -Single Moms with sons -Parents with disabled children -Those in the LGBTQ community -Adults with aging parents who may be mentally/physically disabled Thank you for helping us to provide a safe environment for everyone. Related: A Letter to Nike About Their First Shoe for People With Disabilities The attitude Pure Pizzas bathroom policy exhibits is the epitome of the neighborhood that I, and Pure Pizza, reside in, Egleston told The Mighty via Facebook message. Plaza Midwood is one of the most inclusive and diverse parts of Charlotte, and those of us that moved here did so knowing and embracing that dynamic. While there will inevitably be those that disagree with Pure Pizzas policy, it serves as a reminder to those of us who live here why we love Plaza Midwood and why we love Pure Pizza and its owner, Juli. The feedback from customers and those in the Plaza Midwood community has been positive, according to KSDK.com. Ghazi said about a month ago a mom who has a disabled teenage son came in for lunch and teared up when she saw the note on the bathroom. She explained to Ghazi that because the teen has reached puberty, the mother doesnt feel comfortable taking him into womens restrooms. Story continues Related: To the Only Person Who Didnt Leave the Walmart Bathroom When My Son Needed Help The reason I listed several instances [in the letter hanging in the bathroom] is to bring awareness to why gender neutral restrooms are often necessary, Ghazi told KSDK. My hope is to shine a light that its not dirty perverts or molesters eager to hang out in a unisex bathroom, but individuals that have legitimate reasons to be there, and for others to find compassion rather than animosity. Related: Get more on the story from this video. By Melissa McGlensey More from The Mighty: What the Starbucks Barista Didnt Know When She Wrote Smile on My Coffee I Let My 4-Year-Old With Autism Use My Camera. Heres How He Sees the World. What Ill Never Tell You as a Special Needs Parent Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and executives from American technology giants lined up on Tuesday to urge the Obama administration to renegotiate the terms of an obscure arms control agreement that has fueled an acrimonious fight over between Washington and Silicon Valley. The pact in question, known as the Wassenaar Arrangement and in place since 1996, deals with the export of military technology and dual-use goods such as certain types of lasers. It was revised in 2013 to discourage the sale of software such as the spy program FinFisher to authoritarian regimes that could be used for surveillance purposes. When the Commerce Department last year issued a proposed rule for how to implement the new rules, security and tech firms went on the warpath, arguing that it was written so broadly that it restricted their own efforts to make secure software Those tensions were on full display at a hearing Tuesday before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where executives from Microsoft, Symantec, and software giant VMware all said they believe American diplomats should scrap the 2013 revision and return to the drawing board. Security experts should not have to pick up the phone in the middle of the night to call in an export control advisor to determine whether they can share certain technical information about an ongoing attack, said Cristin Flynn Goodwin, an assistant general counsel at Microsoft. The 2013 revision added intrusion software to Wassenaars list of controlled goods. It defined such software as programs capable of extracting or modifying data and other hacking capabilities. When the Department of Commerce went to interpret that rule, it considered a wide variety of programs subject to the arrangement, including programs to carry out penetration testing. Penetration testing involves examining programs for security vulnerability and is a bedrock tool for creating secure software. Officials from the Departments of State and Commerce said Tuesday that while they recognize their proposed rule which sought to implement the 2013 revision was written far too broadly, they expressed skepticism that they would set the diplomatic wheels in motion to renegotiate the agreement. Vann H. Van Diepen, the principal deputy assistant secretary for international security and nonproliferation at the State Department, said that the proposal for the rule had missed the mark, he said no decision had been made to renegotiate Wassenaar. Repeatedly pressed by lawmakers on whether the Obama administration would be willing to do so, Van Diepen said that 31 of the 41 countries party to Wassenaar had already implemented its hacking provisions and had done so without controversy. Van Diepen said he hoped to learn from those countries experience to draft a more narrow rule. Wassenaar, he noted, operates on consensus and rewriting the 2013 provision would require the unanimous consent of countries that have already moved ahead with implementation. The Commerce Department, charged with writing the rule, has since pulled it and has said it will rewrite it. Several lawmakers praised the departments willingness to respond to criticism and reconsider the rule. Kevin Wolf, the assistant secretary for export administration at the Department of Commerce, said the next iteration of the Wassenaar rule will once more be published as a proposal for the public to comment on. It remains unclear when the Obama administration will finish writing the rule. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers backed the tech executives and lambasted the Obama administrations proposed rule. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called that language simply unworkable. Rep. James Langevin (D-RI) argued that the administration was pursuing the wrong approach in trying to restrict the availability of surveillance software such as that sold by the Italian firm HackingTeam to governments in Sudan and Ethiopia using the Wassenaar Arrangement. Some critics of Wassenaars approach argue that using a system that has been primarily designed to control the export of physical military hardware tanks and missiles, for example is ill-suited to restrict the sale of code. Van Diepen said that Wassenaar has experience in regulating the export of software to control military systems, and that those controls have worked quite well. But technology executives argue the requirement to secure export licenses for software that could be used to breach computers only hampers their efforts to create more secure computer systems. We are trying to take a physical construct that has worked pretty well for 20 odd years and drop it into the digital world, Iain Mulholland, vice president for engineering trust and assurance at VMware told the committee. GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images The latest advisory comes in the view of a martial law imposed by Putin in parts of Ukraine. #DP DP bristles at prosecution probes targeting top officials of previous administration The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) strongly protested prosecution investigations that led to arrest warrant requests for former top officials of the previous Moon Jae-in gov... As Obama's presidency comes to a close, he made his final State of The Union Address last night, and it went a little something like this... Assuming you don't have an hour to spare, here are the key points: "If anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change youll be pretty lonely." Reportedly eyeing the Republics in the chamber, he added: "debating our military, most of Americas business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree its a problem and intend to solve it." Regarding terrorism, he said: "ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt America's commitment - or mine - to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden." As for Trump, he had this to say: "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalised, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country. As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into our respective tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do or share the same background. We cant afford to go down that path." Obviously Trump and likes of Rupert Murdoch didn't receive Obama's speech too kindly, taking to Twitter to say... The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic - very hard to watch! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 O speech proclaims great virtue of Iran nuclear deal. Tomorrow's headlines: "Iran grabs ten US sailors"! Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 13, 2016 They're usual combined brand of fearmongering and belligerence was in the minority. Here's what the likes of Amy Schumer, Kerry Washington, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and more had to say. Surreal. I kinda can't believe that's his last SOTU. Well done Sir. @POTUS #SOTU kerry washington (@kerrywashington) January 13, 2016 When I was 10 I ruined the Easter family photo because I was moody, fussy & didn't want to be there.That's how every GOP looks at the #SOTU. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (@jessetyler) January 13, 2016 His last #SOTU @potus was brilliant,eloquent & confident. Big shoes to fill. Prabal Gurung (@prabalgurung) January 13, 2016 "Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose" Obama Amanda Seyfried (@AmandaSeyfried) January 13, 2016 No matter who wins in 2016, they should farm out their #SOTU speeches to Obama to deliver Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) January 13, 2016 Watching tweets from #Republican Presidential candidates. Please, can we not have a classy moment? #SOTU Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) January 13, 2016 Thank you Barack. Thank you. One more year to go. Let's get criminal justice reform done this year! #SOTU Russell Simmons (@UncleRUSH) January 13, 2016 And, yes, Kim Davis was there... I thought I imagined seeing her in the audience. Was she really there? Really? #SOTU #Kathy https://t.co/4EOixnRFwJ Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) January 13, 2016 Kim Davis in there wearing one of Bill Cosby's old sweaters! How she get a ticket? #sotu Arsenio Hall (@ArsenioHall) January 13, 2016 Embattled clerk Kim Davis in the audience for #SOTU pic.twitter.com/tCDsjUSBFm KOMO News (@komonews) January 13, 2016 Via THR Grab yisser headphones, for Colin Farrell is lending his dulcet tones to a virtual tour of Dublin Rising 1916-2016. Google invite you to step back in time to the streets, events, and people who shaped history... It's sometimes eery, very compelling, and - above all - informative. Speaking at the launch earlier today, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: 2016 is an important year that allows us to explore and understand the events not only of 1916, but the subsequent events that led to the establishment of our independent state. In acknowledging our past, we are creating stronger foundations for a more vibrant and shared future. I want to congratulate Google, Ireland 2016 and the cultural partners who have come together to create this unique online experience." #dublinrising. Visit the streets, events and people who shaped history 100 years ago https://t.co/LxSBDYDF0s Derek Hand (@dhand67) January 12, 2016 Of his involvement Farrell added: "Growing up in Dublin, the events of 1916 are a key part of our schooling and culture and I'm glad now that anyone around the world can learn more about it and see why it had such an impact on modern day Ireland just by picking up their phone or computer." According to UTV Ireland: "The tour was developed by Google in partnership with Ireland 2016, with expert advice from archivists and historians... As part of the experience, the National Library of Ireland has shared two significant items from their online collections. Joseph Plunkett's notebook and a draft of the notice of the rebel surrender are now also available to view online." Major Lazer had a big year in 2015 with the global success of 'Lean On' - which now officially has over 1 billion YouTube hits - and now they're set to make history in 2016. Historically, international relations between the US and Cuba have been bad for several decades - meaning that no US musicians have (officially) been sanctioned to travel to or play the country. However, Major Lazer will become the first big American act to play on Cuban soil since the Cold War, when they travel to the capital city Havana to play a gig in March. President Obama has lifted the embargo on US to Cuba travel and removed the country from its 'terrorist sponsor' list, which leaves the door open for other similarly big American acts to follow suit. What's more, their gig on March 6th will be free to attend. Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true" For a while there we did think we would only ever look at Aaron Paul and see Breaking Bad's Jesse Pinkman, however the actor is managing to successfully shake off any typecasting with roles in the likes of blockbuster 'Need for Speed', drama 'Fathers and Daughters', and this upcoming new tv series from Hulu. The actor returns to the small screen in this brand new drama called The Path, which he stars in alongside True Detective's Michelle Monaghan and Hannibal's Hugh Dancy. The ten-episode series sees Aaron Paul star as husband and father of two Eddie Cleary, who finds himself involved in a controversial cult which sees him go through a crisis of faith that has detrimental consequences for every aspect of his life. Michelle Monaghan plays his wife Sarah, who struggles to keep their marriage afloat as her husband gets further and further involved in this organisation and with cult leader Cal Roberts (Hugh Dancy). The series comes from Friday Night Lights and Parenthood executive producer Jason Katims, while Aaron Paul will also serve as a producer on the show. If the trailer is anything to go by, it all looks like a very eerie affair but it's already easy to tell that Paul is definitely putting in another award-winning performance. Check out the trailer; The Path will premiere on streaming service Hulu on on March 30, 2016. Another one bites the dust. In the wake of the executive producer walking and the announcement of two virtual unknowns to appear alongside Chris Evans, it now seems that former F1 driver is the latest to jump ship for the BBC's new incarnation of the show. As it turns out, the Scotsman will be fronting racing on rival station, Channel 4. They must be thrilled after Chris announced he had to give up TFI to concentrate on his new presenting duties for Top Gear. As for the rumours that Chris Evans was finding driving a car while talking a bit tricky, a BBC spokesperson leapt to his defence, saying: "The truth is that Top Gear producers have been blown away by how quickly Chris has taken to talking to camera whilst driving at speed, a skill which has taken some presenters a long time to master. On the upside, if you're into cars, between Coulthard's new venture, the old Top Gear hosts launching their Amazon Prime show, and this new version of Top Gear, there seems to be a plethora of vehicular-related shows wheeling their way towards you in the coming months. Regarding who's going to step into Coulthard's newly vacated hot seat, the favourite appears to be Zoe Ball. Watch this space. Via huffingtonpost.co.uk AWARD 1 I won the second prize in policy category of the African Information society Initiative ( AISI) awards 2004 which is annually organized by the United Nations- Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA) based in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. On the first photo above standing with other awardees after the Ceremony at the National Settlers monument in Grahamstown, South Africa.This was during the 8th Highway Africa Conference.The second photo shows the cross section of Jounalists from different African countries who attended the ceremony. AWARD 2 I also won the AISI-GKP/SDC Media Award special reporting on WSIS process and Africa, and conferred with the award in Tunis, Tunisia during WSIS summit in 2005. See the photo above. AWARD 3 Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Stigma denial and Discrimination " associated with HIV/AIDS . This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT ). On the Photo above President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, ( then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony.This was at Maelezo auditorium in Dar-es-Salaam September 2005. AWARD 4 Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Vulnerable Children " associated with HIV/AIDS This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT) AWARD 5 Winner of the National ICT Media Award organized By SWOPNET in the Country. On the photo above Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General ( Rt) Saidi Kalembo was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony which was held at New Sarvoy Hotel in morogoro town.I was awarded a Mobile phone and a tape-recorder. AWARD 6 I participated in the Media Competition in writing about VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) in Tanzania which was held between July 15th and October 30th 2008 whereby I emerged among the top five winners. The competition was under the program known as Tanzania bila Ukwimwi inawezekana which literally means, Tanzania without AIDS disease transmission is possible. This is a program which was organized by the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT) under TACAIDS funding. In the photo, I am being presented with a certificate of participation by the Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) Dr. Fatma Mrisho in a colorful ceremony which was held on 22nd December 2008 at Tanzania Information Centre in Dar es Salaam. AWARD 7 AWARD 8 AWARD 9 Google Site Translator Get the Google Site Translator widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! What is the difference between the trading book and the banking book of a bank? The trading book is an accounting term that refers to a... Sven Biscop, Jo Coelmont, Margriet Drent and Dick Zandee (Egmont The Royal Institute for International Relations) In June 2016, the European Council will start to discuss the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy, whose current preparation is within the agenda of the High Representative, Federica Mogherini. The importance of this initiative is given by the gradual changes in the international security system, to which the European Union must inevitably adapt. On a global scale, the hegemony of the developed West is slowly but surely being replaced by a multipolar system, which is characterized by increasing tensions between the United States and China as well as a general shift of the economic and political influence towards the Asia-Pacific region. The EU should therefore focus more on the belt of medium-sized regions of its wider neighborhood, stretching from West Africa across the Indian Ocean, Central Asia to the Arctic. In the relations with its closest neighboring countries, the EU should adequately grasp the challenges arising from the East and South, whether it is a revisionist Russia or regional instability in Syria and North Africa resulting in terrorist threats and migration waves. Given that up to 90 percent of Europes trade takes place at sea, the EU should be actively contributing to the improvement of naval safety in a global context. As expected, the global strategy will also significantly affect the EUs Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). Due to the turbulent situation on Europes borders in the past few years, the military and civilian units have been deployed ever closer to the European territory under the CSDP (for example, Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean). This leads to the linking of external and internal security dimensions, which could result in closer cooperation of the CSDP and NATO components, both of which remain the main guarantors of the defense of the EU. The global strategy also presents an ideal opportunity for the subsequent drafting of the White Paper on Defense, where the ambitions and goals set out in the strategy received a more concrete character, and which would also evaluate the EUs overall potential to achieve them. For example, in order to make the Union in the future operational in its wider neighborhood without the assistance of the United States, the White Paper must set out specific requirements towards the Member States that they will subsequently implement in their multi-year defense plans. Some members could eventually opt for a joint deeper integration in matters of security and defense, thereby de facto partly fulfilling the essence of the permanent structured cooperation, as laid out in the Lisbon Treaty. (The study can be downloaded here: http://www.egmontinstitute.be/events/european-strategy-european-defence-and-the-csdp/) ChemChina-led consortium's German acquisition hailed by analysts Updated: 2016-01-13 21:01 By Cecily Liu(China Daily Europe) China National Chemical Corp's acquisition of Germany's KraussMaffei for 925 million euros ($1 billion) is being seen by analysts as a significant deal that will aid an accelerating trend of Chinese industrial upgrades through overseas acquisitions. China National Chemical Corp., known as ChemChina, announced on January 11 that it will acquire KraussMaffei from Canadian private-equity firm Onex Corp, although the transaction is still subject to regulatory approval. If successful, the deal will rank as the biggest outbound investment from China into Germany, according to data provider Dealogic. KraussMaffei makes equipment that processes plastics and rubber. The acquisition will be led by a consortium headed by ChemChina, but also includes private-equity firm AGIC Capital and Chinese state fund Guoxin International Investment Corp. Danae Kyriakopoulou, a senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said the acquisition is "much more than just a financial deal". For KraussMaffei, it represents new opportunities to spread its technology and products into the wider Chinese market and on ChemChina's side, it represents an opportunity to gather knowledge of Germany's high tech industries that can then be taken home as China seeks to move up the global value chain into more sophisticated production lines, Kyriakopoulou said. "Finally, the deal's additional significance is to provide a further piece of evidence to the claim that despite troubles at home, China's companies still have large piles of cash which are looking for returns. These are most likely found in European firms that are struggling to otherwise access capital for investment in today's economic situation in Europe," Kyriakopoulou said. The KraussMaffei deal fits into a trend of Chinese firms buying Germany's high technology industrial companies to upgrade their technology, which can be explained by China's strategy of achieving a structural shift from manufacturing focus to high value-added knowledge economy. Last year ChemChina acquired a majority stake in Pirelli, the world's fifth-largest tire maker, in a 7.1 billion euro deal. In 2012, Chinese construction-equipment company Sany Heavy Industry Co. bought Putzmeister Holding, a maker of high-tech concrete pumps. Zhang Ying, associate dean for China business and relations at Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, said the KraussMaffei deal demonstrates that Chinese outbound acquisitions in recent years are becoming more wide-ranging, not only in terms of the scale and scope of acquisitions, but also in terms of the strategic target of Chinese firms on the value chain. "ChemChina acquiring KraussMaffei can be seen as one of many keynote cases in upgrading Chinese firms' position in the global value chain," Zhang said. Ren Jianxin, chairman of ChemChina, said that his consortium is investing in KraussMaffei's strong management team and technological expertise, which will help to benefit ChemChina's position in the chemical machinery business. Ren added that he expects the growth in advanced manufacturing and lightweight components in China's automotive industry will continue, which will provide a huge development opportunity for the high-end plastic injection molding industry; ChemChina and KraussMaffei are well positioned to take advantage of this trend, he said. To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com We want your comments and your story tips! geniusofdespair@yahoo.com (use ALL caps in subject line) afarago@bellsouth.net. Actually I never look at my email, Genius, so write to Gimleteye. In the Forward, for the first time Sara Kabakov writes publicly under her real name about the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of (now ex-rabbi) Marc Gafni when she was a young child: I am the woman [Marc] Gafni molested when she was 13 years old. This is the first time I am telling my story in my own name. If [abused] children are lucky, someone will notice there is something wrong. But too often, the police are not involved, and these children are unlikely to be protected. I wasnt. Each morning after being molested, I would wake up and walk into the living room, and see him wildly shuckling, rocking back and forth while beating his chest. He said he was doing teshuvah, repenting for what he had done the night before, and he told me that I should join him in doing teshuvah, too. I didnt pray or do teshuvah, but just stared at him in disbelief. He really believed that I was a partner in sin. And then it would happen again: After every fervent bout of repentance, he would wake me up in the middle of the night the following week. Over the years, when I told people about the abuse I endured at Gafnis hands, many asked, Why didnt you tell anyone? Thats a good question. But a better question is what happened when I did tell. It was almost as if I had told no one. People in the Jewish community who had the power and stature to make the abuse stop did not step up. In 1994, I wrote a letter to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who had ordained Gafni, and told him my story. I never received a response. (Riskin since rescinded Gafnis ordination.) [I]n 2004, Gary Rosenblatt. editor and publisher of The Jewish Week of New York, interviewed me for an article in his newspaper. The subhead above the section where I was quoted anonymously was, In Love or Abusive? To him, it was a question to ponder. The cost of telling my story was to have it subtly discredited. TRENTON, N.J. - A husband and wife from Lakewood, New Jersey, were sentenced today for their roles in a conspiracy to kidnap a Jewish man and force him to give his wife a religious divorce, known as a get, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. David Wax, 53, who previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, was sentenced to 84 months in prison. Judy Wax, 51, who previously pleaded guilty before Judge Wolfson to an information charging her with misprision of a felony, was sentenced to two years of probation. Judge Wolfson imposed both sentences today in Trenton federal court. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: David Wax admitted that in October 2010, he and his conspirators agreed to force a Jewish man to give his wife a get, a document which, according to Jewish law, must be presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. David Wax lured the victim from Brooklyn, New York, to Waxs home in Lakewood on Oct. 17, 2010, under the pretense that the victim would work on Talmudic books that David Wax was publishing. When the victim arrived, he was brought upstairs, blindfolded, handcuffed and bound. The victim was then assaulted by Wax and his conspirators until he provided the get. Judy Wax admitted that she and her husband later replaced a blood-soaked carpet in their home in order to conceal the kidnapping. She also admitted to knowingly failing to notify the authorities of the kidnapping. The family of the victims wife paid David Wax approximately $100,000 to obtain the forced get. His conspirators received approximately $50,000. In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced David Wax to two years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark, with the investigation. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Joseph Gribko and Sarah Wolfe of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Trenton. Defense counsel: David Wax: Mitchell J. Ansell Esq., Ocean, and Edward Dauber Esq., Newark, New Jersey Judy Wax: Steven Secare Esq., Toms River, New Jersey. Israels haredi Minister of Health Rabbi Yaakov Litzman published a plan today to legalize the widespread production and sale of medical marijuana. Above: Rabbi Yaakov Litzman Haredi Health Minister Releases Plan To Legalize Medical Marijuana Shmarya Rosenberg FailedMessiah.com Israels haredi Minister of Health Rabbi Yaakov Litzman published a plan today to legalize the widespread production and sale of medical marijuana, Ynet reported. Litzman, a top member of the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party, wants there to be no restrictions on the number of medical marijuana dealers. Under Litzmans plan, anyone who meets basic quality and safety requirements would be able to get a license to sell. Litzman also does not intend to have the Ministry of Health restrict the number of farms allowed to grow marijuana as long as they grow it approved greenhouses and have a license. However Litzman wants strict separation between the different stages in medical marijuana production growing, processing, and distribution and medical marijuana would be sold as buds, in bulk, or as cigarettes. Four months ago Litzman said medical marijuana would be legalized, but it will [have to] be [produced and sold at] the same standard as medicine. The plan still needs to go through a public comment and review process before it can be adopted by the government. Dozens of haredim staged a protest this morning outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court where three haredi men who were arrested yesterday for their alleged roles in harassing haredi IDF soldiers were being arraigned. Above: An excerpt from one of the pamphlets allegedly produced by the three men. It depicts a pig dressed as an haredi soldier enticing haredi children and snatching their souls. Haredim Protest, Arrests Made, As Haredi Men Who Incited Against Haredi IDF Soldiers Arraigned Shmarya Rosenberg FailedMessiah.com Dozens of haredim staged a protest this morning outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court where three haredi men who were arrested yesterday for their alleged roles in harassing haredi IDF soldiers were being arraigned, Ynet reported. Initial reports yesterday on the arrests reported that only two haredim were arrested. The three who are at this point only facing charges of violation of privacy laws and insulting a public official were arrested because they are believed to be key haredi activists behind the 3-year-long campaign to demonize haredi IDF soldiers and incite violence against them. As part of that campaign, the three men allegedly published the names, photos, IDF duties, haredi religious affiliations, and personal and family contact information of haredi soldiers and recruiters. The pamphlets and pashkvils (wall posters) the three men allegedly produced also depicted haredi soldiers as pigs who hate Torah scholars and who are out to snatch the souls of pure innocent Jewish children. As an alleged result of those materials, haredi IDF soldiers and recruiters received waves of threatening emails, letters and phone calls, and some were physically attacked. Law enforcement officials involved in the investigation told Ynet police have the names of four suspects and evidence linking them to the incitement campaign. Some, but not all, of those four men have been arrested, and more arrests are still possible. This morning, the court extended the remand of two of the three suspects by five days while outside, haredi protesters held signs that called for an "end to the persecution of religion" and that demanded the three haredi men be released. Several protesters were detained by police in the scrum. Haredi rabbis vehemently oppose haredim serving in the IDF or civilian national service because doing so would "weaken" the Torah study haredi rabbis profess protects the Land of Israel and its Jews from annihilation. However, when Hamas rockets were landing in southern Israel, almost every haredi yeshiva evacuated to the center and north of the country for safety reasons. Zionist Orthodox yeshivas, whose students serve in the IDF, did not evacuate and did not close. Related Post: Police Bust 2 Haredim For Alleged Incitement To Violence Against Haredi IDF Soldiers. Various Posts On Attacks On Haredi Soldiers. Internal documents distributed by the IDFs Zionist Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate and the Manpower Department to various IDF units show the IDFs Jewish Awareness section, which was under the direct control of the rabbis, forced secular Jewish combat soldiers to have monthly conversations with IDF rabbis on the subject of acquaintance with and connection to Jewish heritage, tradition and sources, strengthening the fighting spirit, mission and motivation to serve." Report: Secular Soldiers Were Forced To Undergo Religious Brainwashing By IDF Chief Rabbinate Shmarya Rosenberg FailedMessiah.com Is the IDF a secular army representing and defending a secular multi-ethnic and multi-religious state? Or is it a Jewish army operating under halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) that represents a Jewish state with a minority non-Jewish population that are second class citizens at best? Internal documents distributed by the IDFs Zionist Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate and the Manpower Department to various IDF units show the IDFs Jewish Awareness section, which was under the direct control of the rabbis, forced secular Jewish combat soldiers to have monthly conversations with IDF rabbis on the subject of acquaintance with and connection to Jewish heritage, tradition and sources, strengthening the fighting spirit, mission and motivation to serve, Haaretz reported. Non-combat soldiers were only required to have these talks every other month. The talks apparently centered on things like the Jewish right to settle and control the entire biblical Land of Israel and the need not to be merciful toward enemies along with more traditional Orthodox belief. Married secular soldiers and apparently even Druze soldiers and Christian soldiers were also forced to attend two sessions per year on family strength, the Orthodox view of family life drawn from halakhic and other rabbinic sources. Under the orders of the IDF Chief Rabbinate, those mandatory lectures were presented by the IDFs Orthodox rabbis or by outside rabbis approved by the IDF rabbinates Jewish Awareness Section. A female combat officer described one of these family strength sessions to Haaretz. The main message [conveyed by the rabbi who taught the class] was that I have to give my spouse the feeling that he holds the reins in the house [in order] to keep the marriage going. According to the rabbi, that is the key to peace in the house, the female combat soldier said. The Jewish Awareness section was removed from the rabbis control earlier this week by the IDFs chief of staff after repeated violations of IDF rules and regulations by the rabbis, including one notorious lapse in which the Jewish Identity Sections rabbis told combat soldiers just before crossing over the boarder into Gaza that it was forbidden under halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) to show mercy to the enemy. That teaching was presented in way that justified indiscriminate fire against civilian areas. Related Post: IDFs Jewish Identity Section Taken From Exclusive Control Of Zionist Orthodox Rabbis After Repeated Abuses. A charity and support group for ex-haredim has warned the British government that corporal punishment is widely used in unregistered haredi schools. Ultra-Orthodox Schools Still Use Corporal Punishment, Say Campaigners National Secular Society (UK) A charity and support group for former Ultra-Orthodox Jews has warned the Government that corporal punishment is widely used in unregistered Orthodox schools. In a submission on the regulation of "out-of-school education settings" which provide more than six hours of education per week, the GesherEU support network said that "corporal punishment is still in use in a number of the yeshivot and unregistered ultra-Orthodox primary schools." The group said up to 5,500 pupils could be studying in such settings. One former pupil quoted in the consultation response reported that "hitting children was part of [the] routine; I personally was hit almost on a daily basis." Proposals set out by the Government include plans to ensure that corporal punishment is not a practice adopted in out-of-school settings a move welcomed by the National Secular Society. In 2011 the NSS called on the Government to implement the recommendations of an independent report on physical punishment and extend the ban on physical punishment in schools and other children's settings to supplementary schools. Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "Corporal punishment of children breaches their fundamental rights to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity. Its legality in out-of-school educational settings breaches their right to equal protection under the law. The lack of progress on this issue has given us cause for concern, especially in light of the well-documented evidence of abuse of children in out-of-school settings, including madrassas and yeshiva. Like GesherEU, we're keen to see children in such settings adequately safeguarded." In addition to concerns about corporal punishment and poor hygiene standards at Orthodox schools, GesherEU made strong criticisms of the teaching at such institutions. The group cited anonymous testimony from a former pupil of one Orthodox school, who said that "no secular studies were taught at all" during long school days from 8 until 6, and classes would "sit all day long and study religious texts." GesherEU said that schools were failing their pupils: "In many cases they do not even teach them to speak English or simple arithmetic. They teach in Yiddish and Yiddish is spoken at home. Many young men leave with almost no ability to speak English. We have to support young men in particular that do not have one GCSE to their name, cannot get a job, and have no skills to manage their lives." An emergency inspection of one strict Charedi school recently reported that the careers advice "focuses only on steering boys towards continuing with their academic studies in religious institutions." The inspectorate was criticized by GesherEU for failing to challenge registered Charedi schools which "teach only in Yiddish, indoctrinate the young children and fail to teach the basics." Update 2:05 pm CST The Independent reports the statement of a former haredi yeshiva student also noted that: We didnt know who the at-the-time prime minister was, or for that matter, any information about current events, e.g. the royal wedding, or Olympic Games. Most of us couldnt even speak a most basic form of English, thus practically ensuring that any interaction with the outside world is disabled. But most importantly, the Independent reports the following: squirrel chasing bird Here is what you need to know. President Obama gave his final State of the Union address. Touting his record over the past seven years, Obama discussed the fight against ISIS and other terrorists as well as immigration, gun control, equal pay for equal work, and raising the minimum wage. China's trade surplus widened. China's exports fell 1.4% compared with last year, which was far better than the 8% drop that was anticipated. Imports tumbled 7.6%, leaving China's trade surplus at $60.09 billion, far above the $53 billion that was expected. A Chinese customs official blamed weak external demand for the drop in exports. The Chinese yuan was little changed at 6.5749 per dollar. Eurozone industrial production disappointed. Eurozone industrial production fell 0.7% month-over-month in November, missing the 0.3% drop that economists were forecasting. Year-over-year data also disappointed, growing 1.1% compared with the 1.3% that was expected. Portugal posted the steepest drop, plunging 4.9% YoY. The euro is down 0.3% at 1.0825. Greece received a bid from China for a stake in one of its ports. China's Cosco Group was the only bidder for a majority stake in the debt-ridden Port of Piraeus. Greece's privatization fund has asked China to submit an improved offer by next week, the Associated Press reports. IMF head Christine Lagarde warned on more US rate hikes. Christine Lagarde said interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve risked hurting emerging markets if they were too aggressive. "The key issue going forward will be the pace of normalization," Lagarde told a banking conference in Paris. "We agree that it should be gradual as announced, as stressed actually by the Fed, and based on clear evidence of firmer wage or price pressures." According to Reuters, the International Monetary Fund head also warned on the potential for volatility in the foreign-exchange market. Story continues Ford announced a special dividend. The automaker announced a $0.25-per-share special dividend, in addition to its regular $0.15-per-share dividend. According to Ford, the $1 billion supplemental dividend "reflects the company's strong financial performance in 2015 and robust cash and liquidity levels." The company also announced it expected to earn $10 billion in 2016, about the same as in 2015, Reuters says. Three Italian groups filed antitrust complaints against McDonald's. Codacons, Movimento Difesa del Cittadino, and Cittadinanzattiva say McDonald's franchise system harms the consumer, and they want European Union regulators to examine their claims. AFP reports that the groups believe McDonald's forces franchises into long contracts and charges them rent well above market value. According to the groups, the margins McDonald's has on real estate in France are 63% to 77%. If found guilty, McDonald's could be forced to pay up to 10% of global sales and have to restructure its business. CSX beat on earnings. The railroad giant announced earnings of $0.48 per share, edging out the $0.46 Bloomberg consensus. Revenue tumbled 12.9% to $2.78 billion, missing the $2.84 billion that was expected. "With negative global and industrial market trends projected for 2016, full-year earnings per share are expected to be down compared to 2015," chairman and CEO Michael Ward said in the earnings release. Stocks around the globe are up. France's CAC (+1.4%) leads the gains in Europe after Japan's Nikkei (+2.9%) paced the advance in Asia. China's Shanghai Composite (-1.9%) lagged. S&P 500 futures are up 11.25 points at 1,936.25. US economic data remains light. Crude-oil inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET before the Fed's Beige Book and the Treasury budget are released at 2 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 3 basis points at 2.14%. NOW WATCH: Why Chinese executives keep disappearing More From Business Insider Whether it is due to President Barack Obama's pledge to make gun control a centerpiece of his final year in office or a byproduct of terrorism, both foreign and domestic, and concerns about greater regulation, U.S. gun sales and permit applications have soared. The last five weeks of 2015 ranked among the 10 biggest weeks ever for firearm background checks, and Black Friday was the single biggest day for gun purchases on record, with more than 185,000 background checks processed. The wave of applications came partly in the aftermath of the shootings in San Bernardino, California, last month and followed a now-familiar pattern in which a shooting occurs, there are calls for greater restrictions on gun sales, and gun sales escalate. In the aftermath of a high-profile shooting, most people denounce the act. Some sense an opportunity. The FBI says a correlation between background checks and gun sales can't be drawn because its numbers include checks for gun permits, and they aren't necessarily linked to gun sales. The figures do provide a basis for estimating gun sales activity, though, and the inescapable conclusion is that 2015 was a good year for gun companies - and a good time to own stock in them. Surveys show, however, that the number of households where guns are owned has not gone up, and that suggests that most firearms growth is coming from existing owners who are adding to their collections rather than first-time gun buyers. There aren't many options for investors who want to buy stocks in gun companies. Springfield, Massachusetts-based Smith & Wesson (SWHC) is the domestic leader in an industry that is splintered and scattered around the world. Many of the well-known names - i.e., Glock and Colt - are privately owned and/or based outside the U.S. Smith & Wesson, with better than one-sixth of the domestic handgun market and nearly one-tenth of the long gun market, may be the best option for investors looking for gun company stocks. Story continues Fourth-quarter numbers are incomplete - on the eve of the president's disclosure earlier this month of his executive order to require more gun sellers to run background checks, Smith & Wesson reported that sales in the current quarter could be 20% higher than expected - but the third quarter saw the most guru activity in Smith & Wesson stock in a year. Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio) sold his stake, and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) reduced theirs, but Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) acquired a 520,012-share stake and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) added to existing stakes. Greenblatt raised his stake by nearly 7,644%, in the process becoming the company's leading shareholder among the gurus; Jones doubled his stake. Smith & Wesson has a P/E of 20.6, a forward P/E of 14.3, a P/B of 5.5 and a P/S of 2.1. GuruFocus has given Smith & Wesson a Financial Strength rating of 8/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10. 1452718234970.png Smith & Wesson sold for $21.04 per share Wednesday. Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. (RGR), a Southport, Connecticut-based firearms manufacturer, does not disclose its market share, but if industry estimates are accurate, it has a competitive market share in handguns and rifles - and, unlike Smith & Wesson, it pays a dividend. In the third quarter, Sturm Ruger didn't see as much activity among the gurus as Smith & Wesson did. In fact, it was virtually the same as it has been, but all of the activity involved buys whereas most quarters see at least one guru selling part or all of a stake in the company. Jones and Simons bought new stakes in the third quarter, and Greenblatt increased his existing stake by nearly 340%. Sturm Ruger has a P/E of 33.2, a forward P/E of 8.8, a P/B of 4.6 and a P/S of 2.0. GuruFocus has given Sturm Ruger a Financial Strength rating of 9/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10. 1452719098849.png Sturm Ruger sold for $51.78 per share Wednesday. A Gallup survey in October 2014 indicated that less than half of Americans favored more restrictive gun laws. A year later, Gallup found that a majority of Americans favored stricter laws, but a poll released just before the president announced his new executive orders indicated that only one in 50 Americans believes guns are the nation's most urgent problem. To view data on various industries, visit the Industry Overview page. Not a premium member of GuruFocus? Try it free for 7 days . This article first appeared on GuruFocus. ted cruz Donald Trump hasn't always been on the same page as constitutional lawyers. But at least a few are starting to provide some validation to Trump's continued questions about US Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) eligibility to serve as US president. In the last week, the Republican presidential front-runner has said repeatedly that Cruz should seek a legal ruling over whether Cruz who was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father is, in fact, a "natural-born citizen." "He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don't know how the courts would rule on it. It's an additional hurdle that he has," Trump said last week. On Wednesday, Trump claimed that "sadly," there's "no way that Ted Cruz can continue running" for president unless he "can erase doubt on eligibility." A handful of prominent legal scholars have come to agree with the premise of Trump's question. Although there seems to be no question that Cruz's mother's status as an American citizen ensured that he was naturalized at birth, Article II of the US Constitution requires that a president be a "natural-born citizen." Some constitutional-law experts have argued that the framers likely included this language to refer to only those born within US borders. Writing in The Boston Globe, Laurence Tribe who taught US President Barack Obama and Cruz at Harvard Law School said that it's unclear whether a more modern interpretation of the Constitution allows a person of Cruz's status to run. "The constitutional definition of a 'natural-born citizen' is completely unsettled, as the most careful scholarship on the question has concluded," Tribe wrote. He claimed that Cruz's own rigid interpretation of the Constitution on many issues would likely disqualify the senator. "Needless to say, Cruz would never take Donald Trump's advice to ask a court whether the Cruz definition is correct, because that would in effect confess doubt where Cruz claims there is certainty," he wrote. Story continues Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School and a former Obama administration official, largely echoed those sentiments. He wrote in Bloomberg View that although a 1790 law suggested that Cruz should be eligible, significant legal ambiguity exists within the law itself and the Constitution. "On the merits, I agree with Cruz: The Naturalization Act of 1790 counts in his favor, and because he was a US citizen at birth under US law, the better view is that he is natural born," Sunstein wrote. "But University of San Diego constitutional specialist Michael Ramsey, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, put it well: 'It's a mystery to me why anyone thinks it's an easy question.'" And Mary Brigid McManamon, a constitutional-law professor at Widener University's Delaware Law School, argued in The Washington Post on Tuesday that Trump was on to something because of a key distinction. "Cruz is, of course, a US citizen. As he was born in Canada, he is not natural-born," she argued. Ted Cruz Donald Trump Cruz on Tuesday provided his hardest-hitting defense of Trump's questions about his eligibility. He said that Tribe is a left-leaning legal scholar, and claimed he is a supporter of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Tribe himself has not appeared to officially offer Clinton his support. "I do think it's interesting that Hillary's key supporters are doing everything they can to echo Donald's attacks on me," Cruz said in an interview on Wednesday. He continued: "It may be driven by the fact that the polling shows that Donald loses to Hillary, and loses by a pretty big margin. But I beat Hillary, and that might have the Hillary folks a little concerned." Cruz also said that Trump "embodies New York values" in a radio-show interview. Some conservatives have agreed with Cruz, suggesting that it's not a coincidence that Tribe and Sunstein, both considered left-leaning legal experts, would raise questions about Cruz's eligibility. "I think it's the worst kind of self-serving crap that really turns people off of politics in this country," veteran GOP strategist Liz Mair said of the questions about Cruz's eligibility. "Some people will say or do literally anything for their preferred guy to win, or for an opponent they dislike to lose, and the fact is, Cruz has a lot of haters and detractors on both sides of the aisle." Ted Cruz To that end, Cruz hasn't received backing from much of the same Republican establishment that provided former Republican nominee and Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) with support when questions surrounded his 2008 bid. McCain, in fact, suggested that the issue was "worth looking into." And for their part, Democrats have seemed to enjoy the squabble over Cruz's eligibility. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last week that he found it "ironic" that Republicans would consider nominating Cruz considering the so-called birther attacks, fueled by Trump, that prompted Obama to release his long-form birth certificate in 2011. "It would be quite ironic if after seven or eight years of drama around the president's birth certificate, if Republican primary voters were to choose Sen. Cruz as their nominee, somebody who actually wasn't born in the United Sates and who only eight months ago renounced his Canadian citizenship," Earnest said last week during his daily press briefing. Earnest smiled when asked if the president was enjoying watching Trump's questions about Cruz's eligibility following the president's own long battle with Trump over his place of birth. "I don't know if he does, but I sure do," he said. And polling has shown that the tactic could pay off for Trump in Iowa, the key first nominating state, where Trump and Cruz are currently running neck-and-neck. According to a Public Policy Polling survey released on Tuesday, only 32% of likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa said that someone born outside the US should be allowed to serve as president. The same poll found that 47% of respondents think that being born outside the US should make someone ineligible. NOW WATCH: Here's how President Obama starts every morning More From Business Insider NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The cabinet has cleared the launch of the country's first major crop damage insurance scheme from the next fiscal year, a move that would further strain government finances but help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to woo rural voters ahead of key elections. Stung by criticism of ignoring the concerns of rural India where over two-thirds of the country's 1.25 billion people live, the government on Wednesday fielded as many as three cabinet ministers to underline the importance of the scheme whose budget will more than double in three years. Modi is trying to placate rural voters after the impact of unseasonal rains and two straight years of drought on agriculture dented his popularity and contributed to a humiliating loss for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in elections late last year in the largely rural state of Bihar. Further elections are due in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam this year. "It is a historic day," Modi tweeted after the scheme was announced by the ministers of agriculture, home and parliamentary affairs. "I believe the prime minister's crop insurance scheme, inspired by the well-being of farmers, will bring about a huge change in the lives of farmers." Several debt-laden farmers committed suicide last year, and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that delays in clearing payouts for crop losses were the "biggest reason for destroying farm families". The government would now ensure faster settlements by increasing the use of technology, including smartphones to capture crop data. It would also reduce premiums to be paid by farmers to 2 percent for summer-sown crops and 1.5 percent for winter crops. The current premium share for farmers can go as high as 40 percent, which is one of the main reasons that only about a tenth of India's estimated 263 million cultivators opt for crop insurance. New Delhi will more than double the budget for the crop insurance scheme to 77.50 billion rupees ($1.16 billion) in the fiscal year beginning April 2018. (1 = 66.8500 rupees) (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Keith Weir) By Xiaoyi Shao and Sue-Lin Wong BEIJING (Reuters) - China's total trade fell in December but far less than expected, with exports outperforming many of its regional peers after the country let the yuan depreciate sharply, highlighting fears of a currency war among Asia's trade-reliant economies. "The trade data support our view that, despite turmoil in Chinese financial markets, there has not been a major deterioration in its economy in recent months," Daniel Martin, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, said in a note. Exports from the world's largest trading nation fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday, much less than a Reuters poll forecast for an 8 percent drop and moderating from November's 6.8 percent decline. They also sharply outperformed exports from neighboring countries such as Taiwan and South Korea, analysts noted, and came in the face of entrenched weakness in overseas demand. December imports fell 7.6 percent, receding for the 14th straight month but not as sharply as feared, possibly due to factories stocking up on crude oil, iron ore and other materials as global resource and commodity prices continued to fall. Indeed, China's crude oil imports hit a record high, while copper imports were the second highest on record. Economists had forecast an 11.5 percent import slide, after an 8.7 percent drop in November. The combination produced a $60.09 billion trade surplus for December, compared with economists' expectations of $53 billion and November's $54.1 billion. "Another large trade surplus provides a cushion for the People's Bank of China in the face of soaring capital outflows," Capital Economics' Martin said. While Asian stock markets cheered the China data surprise, economists and the customs department said exports will face further pressure in 2016 due to sluggish global demand. "Companies tend to have to fulfill their contracts by the year end ... and they'll increase the amount they're exporting in December," customs spokesman Huang Songping said. Story continues "This doesn't represent a trend (for 2016). In previous years we've seen exports improve in December. The situation in the first quarter still be relatively severe." Some economists also raised concerns that the better-than-expected export data could be partly due to currency speculators using false or exaggerated trade invoices to get capital out of China and evade further declines in the yuan. "As both imports and exports to Hong Kong broke with trends in a major way, it suggests the figures are likely driven by capital flight," Oliver Barron of NSBO said in a research note. For the full-year, total trade was $3.96 trillion, down 8 percent from 2014 and China's worst performance since the global financial crisis. The government had started the year with a target for 6 percent growth. TROUBLED WATERS China last week allowed the biggest fall in its yuan currency in five months and stock prices plunged, sparking concerns about the health of the world's second-largest economy, though there has been little evidence so far that conditions have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. While risks abound, most economists believe the outlook for China's economy hasn't changed, with most sticking to long-held predictions that it is facing a prolonged and gradual loss of momentum rather than a dramatic slowdown. The central bank has allowed the yuan to weaken more than 5 percent against the dollar since August and sources told Reuters there is some pressure from policy advisers to allow an even sharper fall of as much as 10-15 percent, which would add to fears of competitive devaluations around the world. But economists aren't sure if even a 10 percent depreciation in the yuan would provide much of a boost to China's exports given persistently weak global demand. Also, while the yuan has softened considerably against the dollar, it hasn't weakened as much against other currencies in trade-weighted terms. Despite the more modest drop in imports in December, China's actual consumption still appears sluggish, which is boomeranging on already depressed global commodity markets. While its crude oil imports in 2015 hit a record 6.71 mln barrels per day, its fuel exports also hit an all-time high of 693,300 bpd as refiners had to look abroad to clinch sales. Likewise, even as its iron ore imports rose, China's steel exports surged nearly 20 percent on the year. China's economy likely grew by around 7 percent in 2015, in line with the government's official target, the top economic planning agency said on Tuesday. Still, such a level would be the slowest pace of expansion in a quarter of a century, and down from 7.3 percent in 2014 as weak exports, industrial overcapacity and faltering investment drag. Some China watchers believe real growth levels are already much weaker than official data suggest, reinforcing expectations that the government will have to roll out more stimulus measures this year to avert the risk of a hard landing. China will release fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 economic growth data on Jan. 19. (Reporting by Xiaoyi Shao, Sue-Lin Wong, Meng Meng and Pete Sweeney; Editing by Kim Coghill) People sit in front of the company logo of Baidu at its headquarters in Beijing December 17, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon BEIJING (Reuters) - Baidu Inc is in talks to invest in Indian ecommerce start-ups including Zomato, BookMyShow and BigBasket, a spokesman for China's top online search provider said on Wednesday. "The Indian market represents an enormous opportunity for us to connect more people with services, and we plan to put more resources there in the future," the spokesman said in an email. Baidu declined to comment on possible investment amounts or time frames. India's technology start-up market is booming as more and more people shop online in a country where about 20 percent of a population of 1.3 billion are connected to the Internet. The ecommerce market could grow in terms of the value of goods sold to $220 billion by 2025 from $11 billion in 2015, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimate. That growth potential has attracted investment from global technology giants such as China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. Zomato is India's leading restaurant search provider, BookMyShow is the country's top online seller of movies and events tickets while BigBasket is an online grocer. Zomato is not actively looking to raise funds right now but has been "in touch with Baidu to explore synergies and alignment", a Zomato spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters. BigBasket did not reply to an email seeking comment, while BookMyShow could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Paul Carsten; writing by Devidutta Tripathy; editing by David Clarke) hillary clinton Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat for an interview on Tuesday with CNN's Alisyn Camerota, who grilled her on a number of topics dogging her presidential campaign. Those topics included her chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), surging in recent primary polls. But the Democratic front-runner downplayed that data and argued that presidential races naturally get closer as Election Day approaches. "I've been in these elections before, they always tighten up as people begin to make up their minds, as they look at the candidates that's totally predictable," Clinton said. She also brushed off another question, about a recent poll by Quinnipiac University that showed her trailing Sanders in Iowa. She cited a different Public Policy Polling survey released on Tuesday that showed her leading in the Hawkeye State. "I don't pay any attention to this," Clinton insisted. "I don't feel that it's a good reflection about who will actually come out on caucus night." Clinton also downplayed Vice President Joe Biden's recent critique of her campaign. Biden said it was "relatively new" for Clinton to talk about income inequality, but "no one questions Bernie's authenticity on those issues." However, Clinton said she had long addressed the income-inequality issue, though she was had been relatively quiet on all domestic policy during her four years in the Obama administration. "Today he clarified what he said and said he was talking about me when I was secretary of state," Clinton said. "Well when I was secretary of state, I couldn't talk about domestic policy. There's an unwritten rule when you're secretary of state, you do not talk about domestic policy." There was one prospect that Clinton seemed to enjoy: A potential run against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump "It would be amazing and I would look forward to it," Clinton said, laughing. NOW WATCH: Affluenza teen and his mother detained in Mexican resort town More From Business Insider Getty Images cameron crowe david bowie tca copy Cameron Crowe has been thinking about what to say about David Bowie since his death on Sunday. The writer and director faced reporters during Tuesday's Television Critics Association press tour in support of his upcoming Showtime series about tour crews, "Roadies," when a reporter asked him if he had anything he wanted to share about Bowie. A former music journalist, Crowe's experiences informed the Oscar-winning music film he wrote and directed, "Almost Famous." "Over the last couple of days I've had a chance to really think about it," Crowe answered. "David Bowie's impact is so huge in that he presents himself now as a role model to artists that may need to remember that it's not about branding. It's about a restless need to be creative and to continue being creative, and David Bowie was the anti-branding artist, and for a young musician or artist of any kind, anybody coming up, it's great to look to Bowie and see that seismic effect he's had on people, not because he kept doing the same thing that worked again and again, but because he always shook it up and he always served the gods of creativity, and that was the lesson I got from him then and today." Crowe said he met the rock star after expressing to friends of Bowie's that he'd love to interview him. Bowie himself called Crowe to set up the interview in Los Angeles. It would be a short trip for Crowe, who was living in San Diego. "He said, 'Come up here. I'm staying at this house. Let's meet, and let's spend some time together,' and I spent six months straight with David Bowie at that time, the period with little breaks to go back to San Diego, but basically I was in this whirlwind with him in the period between 'Young Americans' and 'Station to Station,'" Crowe recalled of the 1975 adventure. via GIPHY Crowe took copious notes during the time, and Bowie set no limits on access. "He said, 'Ask me anything. Watch me create. Watch me produce. Watch me sad. Watch me happy.'" Story continues He would end up writing about Bowie for Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Cream magazine. "Everybody wanted the story, so it was a great help for my career then," Crowe said. Bowie died late on Sunday night after losing his 18-month battle with cancer. Read more live coverage from the Television Critics Association press tour. NOW WATCH: David Bowies last music video is a poignant meditation on mortality More From Business Insider donald trump Real-estate tycoon Donald Trump lamented Iran's lack of respect for the US after the US said Tuesday that some of its sailors were being held by the Middle Eastern country. Trump cited the issue while giving examples of his ability to talk about current topics without using a teleprompter "like our president and half of these politicians" do. "We speak about current events," Trump explained at a Tuesday-night rally in Cedar Falls, Iowa. "Like, as an example, the boats got captured," he continued. "Now, maybe by the time we get out, we get them back. But maybe not. Because the Iranians like to taunt us because they don't have like respect for our leaders, right?" Trump then immediately proceeded to another current topic: his website traffic. Iran said it would return the 10 sailors and their two boats, but they will reportedly spend the night there. The boats apparently experienced mechanical difficulties, according to US officials, and drifted into Iranian waters during a training mission. The semi-official Fars news agency in Iran said that there was GPS equipment on the boats, according to The New York Times. The news agency reportedly said the equipment would "prove that the American ships [were] 'snooping' around in Iranian waters." Trump is a prominent critic of the US' policy toward Iran, especially the deal struck to curtail Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Trump has previously said he would be much tougher than President Barack Obama toward Iran, and would demand the country release other Americans held there. NOW WATCH: These are the biggest risks facing the world in 2016 More From Business Insider QUITO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Ecuador has reached a deal to pay Occidental Petroleum Corp roughly $980 million by April to compensate the company for seizing its oil field in the Andean country, the attorney general said on Tuesday evening. Ecuador has negotiated down a 2012 arbitration award from the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes requiring it to pay the U.S.-based company $1.77 billion. While Ecuador remains opposed to the arbitration decision, Attorney General Diego Garcia said the country was obligated to pay Occidental. If it does not pay the arbitration award, Ecuador could be exposed to asset seizures. "We're conscious that the award is enforceable, and if Ecuador doesn't honor it, even if we're right, it could be enforced," Garcia told television channel Ecuavisa, adding that the country would finish paying by April. The payment is a further hit to the OPEC nation's finances, which are reeling from the slide in energy prices. Ecuador seized Occidental's field known as Block 15 in 2006, saying its sale to Andes Petroleum had been carried out without government consent. At the time of the contract termination, Occidental was Ecuador's largest oil investor, extracting about 100,000 barrels per day. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer) TipRanks You dont get to head one of the worlds largest banks if you dont know a few things about economics and so when J.P. Morgans CEO Jamie Dimon speaks, investors listen. And lately, what Dimon has to say isnt nice to hear. "We're just getting closer to what you and I might consider bad events," was the warning Dimon issued on J.P. Morgans earnings call last week. So, what are these bad events, then? The CEO thinks another 20% decline for the S&P 500 is not out of the question, a drop which w What to Expect from GlaxoSmithKline's 4Q15 Earnings on February 3 A look at GSKs performance GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is a multinational pharmaceutical company with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. It reports its financial results in British pounds. Further details about the company are discussed in GlaxoSmithKline: A Must-Read Overview. GlaxoSmithKline is set to release its 4Q15 earnings and full-year 2015 earnings on February 3, 2016. Analysts estimate its EPS (or earnings per share) to be 0.38 pounds for 4Q15. GSKs stock has returned nearly 0.6% during 2015, while its competitors Sanofi (SNY), Merck and Co. (MRK), and Novartis AG (NVS) had declined by -3.1%, -4.6%, and -4.1%, respectively. The iShares Global Health Care ETF (IXJ) returned ~5.4% during the same period. Investors can read earnings reviews for other companies on our Pharmaceutical Earnings Overview page. 4Q15 revenue estimates Analysts estimate the revenues for 4Q15 to increase by ~2.8% at 6.36 billion pounds, as compared to 6.19 billion pounds for 4Q14. Apart from multiple new product launches, the company is focused on the proper integration of the Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare division, which it acquired from Novartis in March 2015. Key revenue drivers include HIV products in the Pharmaceuticals segment, meningitis vaccines and flu vaccines in the Vaccines segment, and Flonase and oral health products in the Consumer Healthcare segment. In this series, well discover what investors can expect from GSKs 4Q15 earnings. Analysts recommendations GlaxoSmithKlines stock price increased by nearly 0.6% during 2015, and the analysts estimated that its stock has the potential to return 15.3% over the next 12 months. Analysts recommendations show a 12-month targeted price of $46.65 per share compared to the last price of $40.35 per share as of December 31, 2015. Also, 50% of analysts recommend a buy, and 50% of analysts recommend a hold, according to Bloomberg consensus. The changes in analysts estimates and recommendations are based on the changing trends in the companys stock price. Story continues Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Warren Buffett, Chairman, CEO and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway takes part in interviews before a fundraising luncheon for the nonprofit Glide Foundation in New York September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Senior U.S. Democratic lawmakers asked federal regulators to investigate whether Clayton Homes, the mobile home unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), targets minority borrowers with discriminatory lending and collection practices. A letter on Tuesday from Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and fellow committee members Michael Capuano, Emanuel Cleaver and Keith Ellison called on the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to "pursue appropriate corrective action" against Clayton. It followed a report last month by the Seattle Times newspaper and online BuzzFeed News accusing the largest U.S. mobile home builder of exploiting black, Latino and Native American borrowers by driving them into subprime loans they cannot afford, and harming communities by repossessing homes after borrowers default. That report also claimed that Clayton's corporate culture condones racism, including against its own workers. The representatives said the "disturbing business model" described in the report was "highly problematic," in light of Clayton's "uniquely broad control of the manufacture, sale and financing of manufactured homes." Their letter was reported earlier by the Seattle Times. In a statement on Wednesday, Clayton said it was disappointed that the newspaper's reporting is being "accepted as fact rather than challenged as an unfortunate cobbling together of incomplete data and outlying anecdotes." Last month, the Maryville, Tennessee-based company "categorically and adamantly" denied discriminating against borrowers, and defended the practices of two lending arms, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc and 21st Mortgage Corp. "Race and ethnicity are never considered in pricing or structuring our loans," the company said. Clayton also said it does not tolerate discrimination against its workers. As of Sept. 30, Clayton borrowers were current on roughly 95 percent of their loans, Berkshire has said. Story continues Buffett did not respond on Wednesday to an email request for comment sent to an assistant. At Berkshire's annual meeting last May, Buffett said he made "no apologies whatsoever" about Clayton's "exemplary" lending. He spoke in response to a question about an earlier Seattle Times story saying that Clayton trapped borrowers into unaffordable loans on depreciating homes. A CFPB spokesman said that the agency was reviewing Tuesday's letter and "takes allegations of discriminatory or predatory lending practices very seriously." The Justice Department was also reviewing the letter, a spokeswoman said. Berkshire bought Clayton for $1.7 billion in August 2003. The unit generates roughly 2 percent of overall pretax profit at Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire, which owns close to 90 businesses, including the Geico auto insurer, BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream stores. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown) On Wednesday, The Boston Globe reported that manufacturing giant General Electric Co GE is moving their global headquarters to Boston. The report also said that company executives had contacted Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to let them know they should expect a formal announcement about the move soon. GE has been contemplating a moving since this past summer when Connecticut lawmakersthe company is currently headquartered in Fairfield, CTpassed a budget that included a tax increase of $1.2 billion despite multiple protests from large corporations located in the state. New York, Georgia, and Providence, Rhode Island were among other locations that vied as possible suitors for the companys relocation. GE already has many businesses located in the Boston area, so it makes sense that the company chose the city as the new location for their headquarters. These include ventures in life sciences, jet engines, and Current, a new lighting business. In other company news, GE reportedly has plans to cut 6,500 jobs In Europe. These cuts will take place at energy businesses that are part of the companys $10.3 billion acquisition deal of French company Alstom SAs power business According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, roughly 765 jobs will be eliminated in France, most of them coming from Alstoms headquarters outside Paris and at an electric grid business. The job cuts are part of a restructuring plan, and reflect about 14% of the 48,000 workers that are employed in GEs power and water units in Europe. Apart from France, the move will impact jobs based in Germany and Switzerland as well, along with other cuts across the continent. This is a necessary step to increase the competitiveness of the former Alstom businesses and generate the synergies we have targeted, a GE told the Journal. We will work constructively with employee representatives throughout the process. Story continues The job reductions do not come as a surprise, however, as the move was expected since GEs acquisition of Alstom; the company made a promise to its investors that it would cut $3 billion in annual costs from the combined operation by 2020. Currently, GE stock is trading up a slight 0.26% to $28.72. The company holds a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report GENL ELECTRIC (GE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The logo of U.S. conglomerate General Electric is pictured at the company's site in Belfort, April 27, 2014. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler PARIS (Reuters) - General Electric plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years, including 765 in France and 1,300 in Switzerland, the company said on Wednesday. A GE spokesman in France said GE was sticking to its pledge to create 1,000 net jobs in France in the next three years as part of its acquisition of Alstom's energy business. He added that the company was looking at job cuts at its headquarters in Levallois and La Defense, but not at Belfort, the heart of Alstom's former energy unit. He said that unions had been informed on Tuesday and that talks would start on Wednesday. The jobs concerned were mainly in support functions such as human resources, legal and communication. "This is a plan, which could change following discussion with employee representatives," he said. He gave no details on which other countries would be hit, but GE said in a separate statement that it had begun talks with workers in Switzerland, where 1,300 jobs could be impacted by the measures. Those cuts were expected to be in the gas and steam power businesses, which have experienced a slump in recent years. GE's takeover of Alstom's energy business - which includes gas and steam turbines, wind turbines, turbines for hydro dams and power grids - added about 65,000 employees to GE's workforce of about 305,000 and significantly expanded GE's reach in the global market for power generation equipment. The head of GE's power division said in September the company would seek to wring out $3 billion in cost savings over five years from the Alstom acquisition. (Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg, Gwenaelle Barzic in Paris and John Miller in Zurich; Writing by Geert De Clercq; Editing by James Regan) The logo of U.S. conglomerate General Electric is pictured at the company's site in Belfort, April 27, 2014. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler (Reuters) PARIS (Reuters) - General Electric plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years, including 765 in France and 1,300 in Switzerland, the company said on Wednesday. A GE spokesman in France said GE was sticking to its pledge to create 1,000 net jobs in France in the next three years as part of its acquisition of Alstom's energy business. He added that the company was looking at job cuts at its headquarters in Levallois and La Defense, but not at Belfort, the heart of Alstom's former energy unit. He said that unions had been informed on Tuesday and that talks would start on Wednesday. The jobs concerned were mainly in support functions such as human resources, legal and communication. "This is a plan, which could change following discussion with employee representatives," he said. He gave no details on which other countries would be hit, but GE said in a separate statement that it had begun talks with workers in Switzerland, where 1,300 jobs could be impacted by the measures. Those cuts were expected to be in the gas and steam power businesses, which have experienced a slump in recent years. GE's takeover of Alstom's energy business - which includes gas and steam turbines, wind turbines, turbines for hydro dams and power grids - added about 65,000 employees to GE's workforce of about 305,000 and significantly expanded GE's reach in the global market for power generation equipment. The head of GE's power division said in September the company would seek to wring out $3 billion in cost savings over five years from the Alstom acquisition. (Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg, Gwenaelle Barzic in Paris and John Miller in Zurich; Writing by Geert De Clercq; Editing by James Regan) The conglomerate announced on Wednesday it will relocate its corporate headquarters to Boston, Mass., confirming media speculation. The company said its new headquarters will be located in the Seaport District of Boston where employees will begin to move this summer. The move will be completed by 2018. The decision came, GE (NYSE:GE) said, after more than three years of consideration. It whittled down a list of 40 potential locations in a formal review last June. We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations. Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities. Massachusetts spends more on research & development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world, the company said in a statement. As it completes the move, the company said it will sell its offices in Fairfield and 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City in an effort to offset costs. Shares of GE were little changed following the announcement. Related Articles U.S. Navy Riverine Patrol Boats Iran remains on an aggressive footing toward the US six months after the completion of the landmark Iran nuclear deal. At the end of December, an Iranian war ship fired unguided missiles within 1,500 yards of a US aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran arrested US citizen and businessman Siamak Namazi in October and arrested a US green card holder the following month. In November, Washington Post reporter and US citizen Jason Rezaian, who had been imprisoned in Iran was over a year, was secretly sentenced to a prison term of undisclosed length on espionage charges. Finally, on Tuesday, two apparently disabled US Navy riverine patrol boats reportedly floated to Farsi Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf. Iran seized the ships and 10 US personnel, then promised to release the vessel "promptly," US officials said. But despite the apparent escalation, one thing seems certain as fallout: The situation is unlikely to have any bearing on the implementation of the Iran deal, which is scheduled to take place later this month. Like other nuclear arms-related agreements, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and a US-led group of six world powers is predicated on the separation of nuclear proliferation from all other issues. The JCPOA says nothing about Iranian behavior in the Middle East or Iran's strategic posture towards the agreement's various parties. The thinking behind it is that the prevention of nuclear proliferation is of such overriding importance that it's worth pursuing it on a separate track from other potentially complicating concerns. Nuclear Missile Ukraine This philosophy has underpinned several successful US non-proliferation efforts since the end of the Cold War. Story continues The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, the landmark US-led effort to secure loose fissile material in four post-Soviet states, wasn't conditioned on Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, or Kazakh cooperation in any other sphere. The agreed framework with North Korea did not require any North Korean action on any non-nuclear areas, even though it was signed on the cusp on a famine that would kill between 600,000 and 2.5 million people. More recently, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and Russia, which entered into force in early 2011, is just about the only aspect of the US-Russian relationship unaffected by the crisis over Moscow's aggressive policies in Ukraine. The New START's survival reveals the depths of the US' and allies' conviction that nuclear-proliferation issues can and should be considered separate of prevailing geopolitical factors. The treaty entails US and Russian inspection of each other's nuclear arsenals in order to ensure compliance, which means that Russian weapons inspectors have visited US nuclear weapons facilities even after the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis. The JCPOA operates on a similar premise. And the measurement of the deal's success depends on whether Iran meets the agreement's stockpile control benchmarks not on whether it becomes a constructive global citizen. And Iran has complied with the letter of the JCPOA so far, exporting nearly all of its fissile material, claiming to have modified the core of its heavy water reactor at Arak, and taking centrifuges offline. Iran nuclear The JCPOA assumes that nuclear proliferation is a matter of such overwhelming importance that it's counterproductive to tie it to comparatively more mundane political or strategic questions. At worst, this dis-aggregation sets the stage for nuclear blackmail: States realize that non-proliferation is such an outsized concern to the US and its partners that bad actors can extract concessions and gain dramatic freedom of action simply by threatening to go nuclear. But in a best-case scenario, the separation reduces global nuclear tensions even in spite of mutual suspicion and even hostility. If the Iran nuclear deal proceeds even in spite of Iranian hostility towards US citizens and military targets, it might lead policy-makers to eventually rethink the wisdom of such dis-aggregation, which has shown little proven ability to moderate Iran's behavior. It hasn't even gotten Iran to stop engaging in unhelpful behavior within the nuclear sphere, as Tehran has stymied an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into its nuclear weapons program and tested two nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in the months after the deal was reached. And the idea might be thrown out altogether if Iran takes its newfound freedom of action as a signal to violate the JCPOA outright by flouting regulations that are, inevitably, non-binding under international law. NOW WATCH: Heres footage from the Sean Penn interview that helped Mexican forces recapture El Chapo More From Business Insider Istanbul Turkey A suicide bomber linked to the terrorist group ISIS killed 10 people near Sultanahmet square, a popular tourist district in Istanbul on Tuesday, marking a significant change in the terrorist group's strategy toward Turkey, experts say. And ISIS' new focus could lead to more attacks in Turkey's popular tourist areas and undermine US efforts to help secure a porous border that the jihadists frequently use to their advantage. ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh) has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Turkish government said the bomber was linked to the group. Four people have been detained in connection with the bombing, Turkish officials said Wednesday. ISIS has been known not to claim attacks inside Turkey, possibly to agitate ethnic tensions as various groups in the country blame one another. What makes this attack different from others that have occurred in Turkey over the past year is that this one targeted tourists. Nine of those killed in the Istanbul bombing were German nationals, according to Turkish officials. Previous terrorist attacks inside Turkey have been aimed at local political actors. An October attack, for example, targeted a pro-Kurdish peace rally in the Turkish capital of Ankara, and other attacks have targeted Kurdish or leftist national groups. Turkish police and Kurdish militias have been clashing in southeastern Turkey, and Turkish government officials have been ramping up rhetoric denouncing ethnic Kurds who want an autonomous region that stretches along the shared borders of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. "This is the first [attack] thats not aimed at a group linked to the national Kurdish movement," Aaron Stein, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Business Insider. "Its the first one that is uniquely aimed at foreign tourists inside of Istanbul." Story continues "Clearly this is an attack inspired by or at least similar to some of the attacks youve seen in Tunisia and to a far lesser extent the one you saw in Paris," he added, referring to the November Paris attack that left 130 people dead. The Istanbul bombing represents a "clear change in tactics [for ISIS] inside Turkey," according to Stein. "They're attacking Turkish interests and those linked to the state rather than Kurdish nationalism that would operate underneath the state," Stein said. "That is the clear difference here. One outcome of the attack is that tourists who may have been going to Turkey may cancel their trips now because the balance inside Turkey has moved to this urban center of Istanbul directly." Istanbul bombing There could be several possible motives for targeting tourists, experts say. Damaging Turkey's economy is just one. "By striking in the heart of Istanbul's old city, which has many mosques, museums and tourists, but few Turks, ISIS is targeting Turkey's lucrative tourism industry, which brings the country more than $30 billion in revenues," Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Business Insider in an email. And though the nationality of the victims of this latest attack might be a coincidence, Stein pointed out that Germans constitute the largest number of foreign tourists who visit Turkey each year. "I definitely think that youll see an effect on the Turkish economy," Stein said. "... Tourism is a massive industry inside of Turkey, and any sort of dip will affect their economy, and were already dealing with a decrease in Russian tourists in Turkey." Indeed, some German tourists are already returning home after the attack, and the German government has warned tourists in Turkey to stay away from crowded, open areas. Istanbul bombing The Istanbul attack is especially chilling, considering that "every tourist would walk right by" the part of the city the attack took place in, Stein said. Sultanahmet square is very close to the Blue Mosque, one of the top tourist destinations in Istanbul. And attacking Germans could serve dual purposes for ISIS. The bombing hits at Turkey's largest tourist segment as well as German policy. "ISIS seems intent on creating an anti-refugee backlash in Europe, hoping to fuel already rising anti-Islam sentiments on the continent," Cagaptay said. The bombing could "drive further backlash against German Chancellor Merkel's pro-Syrian refugee policy," Cagaptay said. This argument is strengthened by Turkey's admission on Wednesday that the suicide bomber who was allegedly responsible for the attack entered the country as a refugee and wasn't on a terrorism watch list. The Turkish government also said that, though the bomber is thought to have been an ISIS member, the terrorist group is being used as a "subcontractor" by "secret actors." Another motive for ISIS could be centered on the US and Vice President Joe Biden's upcoming planned visit to the country. "By bringing the war to Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, ISIS also aims to preemptively undercut Turkish-US cooperation against that group, which was meant to start in a matter of weeks following Biden's visit to Turkey on January 23," Cagaptay said. "The Turkish-US plan is to take a 60-mile-long territory held by ISIS across the Turkish border in Syria, plugging the last gap for ISIS access to Turkey and Europe from Syria." The oft-porous border between Turkey and Syria has served as a major transit point for both foreign fighters traveling to Syria to join ISIS and fighters who are already in ISIS territory and want to get into Europe to stage attacks. Cagaptay said that ISIS "knows that this move will cripple its finances and recruitment drive and prestige and is, therefore, acting preemptively to hurt Turkey so Ankara will stand down or at least cool off against the group." Strategic security firm The Soufan Group predicted that more of these types of attacks inside Turkey will likely occur. "The suicide bombing in the heart of Istanbuls still thriving tourist industry ... is an all-too-replicable attack," the firm wrote in a note on Wednesday. "Such attacks do not require much planning, communication, or skill outside of assembling the explosive vest." NOW WATCH: These are the biggest risks facing the world in 2016 More From Business Insider wow air This week, Icelandic budget airline WOW Air unveiled a set of new flight deals from Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport: $199 one-way tickets to various destinations in Europe, and $99 straight to Iceland. Yes, you read those numbers right. The $199 flights have a one-hour stopover in Keflavik, Iceland, before allowing you to jump to 18 different cities in Europe, including London, Paris, and Berlin. For a long-haul transatlantic commute, that's a steal; a quick online price check with traditional carriers shows nonstop flights for later this month going for $1,200 and up, and one-stop options hovering in the $700 range. With more than two stops on your route, you're still going to have to shell out $518. Meanwhile, budget transatlantic air rival Norwegian Air is posting prices upwards of $275. So what's the catch? WOW Air is a notorious budget carrier, along the lines of the Spirit, Ryanair, and Allegiant brands. They identify as part of the "ultra-low-cost long haul" category, in which they're shooting to become the industry leader. Currently rated at 2.5 stars on Yelp, you're going to have to pony up for traditional carrier amenities. It's $25 for an aisle seat; $10 for seat assignment in advance; up to $48 for an extra five inches of legroom; a $48 fee for "overweight" carry-on luggage, which means anything over 11 lbs.; and $67 or more for checked luggage. Reviewers also mention that in-flight refreshments are not free. Still, since they launched Boston and Washington, DC low-cost routes in 2015, they've grown substantially, running at 90% capacity this year and expecting to double their passenger capacity this year. "We have had a tremendously positive response to our low prices on our current transatlantic routes and this gives us confidence that passengers will take up the chance to travel even further afield," said CEO and Founder Skuli Mogenson in a statement posted on their site. Story continues You'll be flying in one of three new Airbus A330-300 aircraft that WOW purchased just for these routes, each holding up to 340 passengers. And there will be no "upgrades" to business class, as WOW flies single class only. Don't get too excited about making an affordable last-minute escape to Europe this winter, though. A quick search shows that their $199 deals are booked out to most destinations through the fall of 2016. But you know what they say: Paris is always a good idea. It'll be lovely next October, especially for just $199. NOW WATCH: The 10 best cities in the world, according to travelers More From Business Insider SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Electronics Inc on Wednesday said it will invest 527 billion won ($435.67 million) on new solar panel production facilities in South Korea over the next three years, aiming to triple its capacity by 2020. The South Korean firm said in a statement it would add six new solar panel production lines at Gumi, a city about 200 kms (124 miles) southeast of Seoul, by the first half of 2018. LG already has eight panel production lines in Gumi. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates) TORONTO, ON and VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - January 13, 2016) - A made-in-Canada blood test that identifies people at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is exclusively available to Canadians through LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services ("LifeLabs"). The test, called Alz-ID, is Health Canada approved and available by LifeLabs through an exclusive partnership with Canadian health technology company Phenomenome Discoveries of Saskatchewan. Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory loss, thinking and behaviour, with the average onset at about age 75. For those experiencing possible warning signs or who are concerned about someone who is, Alz-ID helps assess their risk of developing the disease so they may work with their healthcare provider to help reduce the risk. "In recognition of Alzheimer's Awareness Month, we are pleased to highlight the Alz-ID test which LifeLabs has made available to Canadians through our partnership with Phenomenome Discoveries," says Sue Paish, President and CEO of LifeLabs. "Alz-ID is a made-in-Canada innovation helping patients become more actively involved in managing their own health. By identifying their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, patients can work with their healthcare providers to discuss further cognitive testing and lifestyle changes that may help reduce their risk. LifeLabs is committed to helping Canadians improve their personal health knowledge." Alz-ID is a simple blood test that measures plasmalogen, a type of compound in the blood. Low levels of plasmalogen have been linked to decreased mental function and increased Alzheimer's risk. In an extensive study conducted in partnership with Rush University in Chicago, Illinois -- one of the leading institutes for Alzheimer's disease research -- Phenomenome Discoveries confirmed earlier findings that low levels of plasmalogen are highly predictive of a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. A person with low blood plasmalogens has a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than a person with healthy levels [source: http://alzidlabtest.com/]. The Alz-ID test categorizes results into one of three risk categories: people at increased, average, or decreased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The test does not diagnose Alzheimer's disease and being high-risk does not automatically mean a person will get Alzheimer's disease. Alz-ID results should be used in conjunction with other diagnostic tests to asses a patient's overall risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. "We are pleased to expand our partnership with LifeLabs for the exclusive distribution of the Alz-ID test in Canada," says Dr. Dayan Goodenowe, President and CEO of Phenomenome Discoveries. "Identifying people with specific risk factors empowers those Canadians to take control of their own health and take proactive steps to reduce their risk to combat this disease before it begins." Individuals experiencing possible warnings signs and who are concerned about their risk should speak with their family physician about getting the Alz-ID test. The test is not reimbursed by provincial health insurance plans but may be covered by extended private health insurance plans. Healthcare providers should visit http://alzidlabtest.com/ for more information about how to order the test. Alz-ID is a trademark of Phenomenome Discoveries Inc., registered in Canada and in use in other countries. About LifeLabs: www.LifeLabs.com LifeLabs is a Canadian-owned company with over 50 years of experience providing laboratory testing services to help health care providers diagnose, treat, monitor and prevent disease in patients. In communities across British Columbia and Ontario, LifeLabs delivers cost-effective, convenient access to laboratory testing services which are essential for optimal outcomes in health care. LifeLabs employs approximately 5,400 professionally trained staff and delivers over 100 million laboratory tests, supporting 19 million patient visits annually. In 2013, LifeLabs acquired BC Biomedical in British Columbia and CML HealthCare in Ontario making LifeLabs the largest community laboratory in Canada. LifeLabs is indirectly owned by OMERS Administration Corporation, whose interest is managed by Borealis Infrastructure. About OMERS Private Markets ("OPM") OPM (Borealis Infrastructure and OMERS Private Equity) invests globally in infrastructure and private equity assets on behalf of the OMERS pension plan. Investments are aimed at generating superior, risk-adjusted returns to help deliver strong and sustainable pensions to OMERS members. OPM's diversified portfolio of largescale infrastructure assets exhibits stability and strong cash flows, in sectors including energy, transportation and government -- regulated services. OPM has offices in Toronto, New York, London and Sydney. OMERS is one of Canada's largest pension funds with net assets of CAD$72 billion. For more information, please visit www.omers.com. About Phenomenome Discoveries: http://www.phenomenome.com/ Phenomenome Discoveries Inc. (PDI) is a health research company with a novel and patented metabolomics technology. We use this technology to investigate how diseases arise, determine who is most likely to develop a disease, and design mechanism-based restorative therapies that treat the causes of disease rather than the symptoms. Through this integrated approach, our ultimate goal is to prevent diseases from developing. PDI is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Through collaborations and partnerships with researchers and companies worldwide, PDI is a global health research company. By Rory Carroll SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards laid out his agenda during his inaugural address on Monday, pledging to expand Medicaid, enact education reforms, and find long-term solutions to the state's large budget deficit. Edwards, the first Democrat to hold the office of governor in Louisiana since 2008, said he planned to begin accepting federal funding on Tuedsay to expand healthcare to residents through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. "Your tax dollars should not be going to one of the 30 other states that have expanded Medicaid when we are one of the states that expansion will help the most," Edwards, 49, said during the address. He also said he planned to work with the legislature, local lawmakers and businesses to find permanent solutions to the state's $1.9 billion budget deficit, which he called his top priority. In June the state approved a budget that credit analysts at Moody's accused of being over-reliant on one-time measures, an assessment then-Governor Bobby Jindal disputed. "We can no longer afford to lurch year to year cobbling together temporary fixes and expecting to realize permanent sustainability," Edwards said. Edwards takes over from Jindal, a Republican who had been criticized for focusing on his presidential campaign at the expense of Louisiana. He dropped his bid for the White House in November. Edwards also called out the state for its low marks in education, saying it must make college more affordable while working toward a goal of funding higher education with 50 percent state support and 50 percent tuition and fees. For K-12 education he said the state should end what he called the overuse of costly standardized testing and shift power over budget and educational decisions to local school boards. Edwards also called on the state to raise the minimum wage, fight poverty, and ensure women and men receive equal pay for equal work. (Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Sandra Maler) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was one of the select few in the crowd at President Obama's final State of the Union address, as an invited guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. Nadella was the only business leader in attendance, we hear. "Satya is honored to attend the 2016 State of the Union and learn more about the presidents vision for Americas future," says a Microsoft spokesperson. As CNN Money reports, President Obama is going to discuss the importance of computer science and engineering education to young Americans. Given Microsoft's investments and donations in that area, Nadella fits right in to that agenda. "Microsoft has been a leader in expanding access to computer science in K-12 classrooms, and in Teach.org, a private public partnership to increase awareness of and support for the teaching profession," says the White House press release. Similarly, Obama is expected to talk about the importance of parental leave, which Microsoft recently expanded to include a 12-week paternity leave. And so, expect President Obama to shout Nadella out publicly, as an example of everything he's asking for in the world of business. NOW WATCH: Here's how much the presidency ages you More From Business Insider Google Car Over the course of the 1.3 million miles that Google's self-driving vehicles have cruised around public roads since September 2014, the cars failed 272 times, according to a new report for the Department of Motor Vehicles that Google just published. Each time, the cars "disengaged" from their autonomous mode, giving control to the the driver. Of the failures, 13 would have resulted in crashes, according to Google's simulations. There were 69 additional times when the drivers of the cars decided to take control of their own accord. Why? Google's report lists a handful of reasons. The most popular: Perception discrepancies. In 119 cases, one of Google's cars disengaged because its sensors did not correctly identify an object. The example Google lists is one of its cars mistaking an over-hanging branch for an obstacle. The second most common cause of disengagement was software discrepancies. That's a catch-all category where Google lumps all situations where "apparent software inadequacies" don't fall into other categories (for example, this would include map or calibration problems). Here's a chart showing all of the causes for disengagement and how often they led to a car ceding control to a real driver: Google Cars Late last year, the DMV drafted self-driving car rules that would force a licensed driver to be present in the front seat of an autonomous vehicle at all times. Google expressed its "grave disappointment" at this ruling, but the public interest group Consumer Watchdog took today's report as a sign that the move was prudent. "The DMV got it exactly right and is putting our safety first," director John Simpson said in a statement on the report. "How can Google propose a car with no steering wheel, brakes or driver when its own tests show that over 15 months the robot technology failed and handed control to the driver 272 times and a test driver felt compelled to intervene 69 times?" Google, on the other hand, is predictably optimistic. Story continues "The number of autonomous miles we are driving between immediate manual control disengagements is increasing steadily over time," the company writes. Earlier today, the CEO of the autonomous car project, John Krafcik, reiterated that Google is fully committed to total autonomy as a way to dramatically cut down on vehicle-related deaths. NOW WATCH: This self-installing car seat is designed to eliminate human error More From Business Insider Nigerian foreign exchange operators are coming under new restrictions, As oil prices have dropped over the last 12 months, Nigeria has been faced with a major foreign exchange crisis as the resource, its main export, accounts for a majority of its foreign exchange earnings. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says monthly foreign exchange earnings have dropped by 69% as a result of the fall in oil prices. While earnings have crashed, the countrys import bill remains high thus leading to a depletion in dollar reserves. To prevent further depletion of its foreign reserves, Nigerias Central Bank imposed strict foreign exchange restrictions aimed at limiting supply. These included blocking debit cards usage abroad and also banning over-the-counter deposits of foreign exchange at local banks. The restrictions have been widely criticized, most recently by IMF boss, Christine Lagarde during a visit to Nigeria last week. Now, the Central Bank is finally lifting some of the restrictions as Nigerians can now make foreign exchange deposits at local banks and also use bank cards abroad. The restrictions on use of debit cards have made life difficult for Nigerians who holiday abroad as well business owners who need to source foreign exchange. Lifting the restrictions will do little to close the wide margin between the official exchange rate 199 naira to the one dollar and the parallel market rate of 260 naira as the parallel market continues to thrive. The bank has blamed this on foreign exchange dealers and announced it will stop selling dollars to them, forcing bureau de change operators to source foreign exchange from autonomous sources. The lifting of restrictions should ease the pressures on the market but frustrations remain that the Central Bank is putting off a devaluation of its currency. While the CBN has defended its latest move as yet another measure against what it sees as persistent speculative attacks on the naira, many are likely to take a cynical view on this, viewing it as yet another excuse by the central bank to avoid dealing with what is widely perceived to be an overvalued currency, Manji Cheto, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence told Quartz. Story continues The banks statement does not hint at an impending devaluation of the currency and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari stated during a media chat last month that a devaluation was not on the cards. Still, there are faint hopes that, at the apex banks next monetary policy meeting (Jan. 25), could provide an chance to consider a devaluation. Right now though, it seems like the CBN is willing to use all options available to it, even draconian oneswith devaluation viewed as an absolute last resort, Cheto said. Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief the most important and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea's invitation to this month's World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland has been revoked, after Pyongyang carried out a fourth nuclear test in defiance of a United Nations ban. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said early on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong would go to the resort town of Davos for the gathering of the world's business and political elite from Jan. 20-23, but later said he was no longer welcome. There was no immediate reaction from North Korea, which last sent a delegation to the forum in 1998. Philipp Roesler, a member of the WEF managing board, told a Geneva news conference the forum had invited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) late last year because "there had been some convincing, encouraging signals out of the DPRK that there may be an opportunity for international global dialogue". "But we have all seen what has happened last week," Roesler said, referring to the nuclear explosion. "We decided after the nuclear test that ... there will be no opportunity for an international global dialogue in the spirit of the World Economic Forum. "Therefore we could not maintain our invitation to DPRK." South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict "bone-numbing pain" after the nuclear test, and called on China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbour. South Korea is sending a delegation to Davos which the WEF said would be led by Choi Kyung-hwan, who stepped down as South Korea's finance minister on Tuesday in preparation to run in parliamentary elections in April. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend, as will U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 418-2 to pass legislation that would broaden sanctions on North Korea. Ri spent two decades in Switzerland as ambassador and representative at the United Nations in Geneva. He acted as surrogate father to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when Kim was a student at a Swiss school. Global security will loom large at the Alpine forum, which will be attended by more than 2,500 people, including business leaders, finance ministers, central bankers, billionaires and celebrities like U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Irish musician Bono. The new leaders of Argentina and Canada will be there, the WEF said. British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu are also expected. There will be more than 250 panel discussions and workshops ranging from "The War on Water" to "The State of Artificial Intelligence". The over-arching theme will be Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution to discuss how governments, companies and people can deal with and profit from technological change. (Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins in New York; editing by Stephanie Nebehay and Andrew Roche) Photographer | CNBC. Obama and Congress need to focus on tax reform and other crucial policies in 2016, says CAT CEO and Business Roundtable Chair Doug Oberhelman. As we officially enter an election year, the national conversation rightly focuses on the state of our union and, just as importantly, our economy. We closed 2015 with some positive momentum toward boosting economic growth and confidence when Congress and the administration found common ground and enacted three major bills Trade Promotion Authority, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 and the PATH Act of 2015. But then 2016 began with unsettling economic and political events around the world, enough to remind U.S. policy makers to stay focused on policies that will bring stronger, sustained economic growth. Economic strength has underpinned America's world leadership for the past 70 years, and remains the necessary foundation for our future. So, let's resolve we will not be satisfied with subpar growth in this New Year. Six years into an economic recovery, we're still bumping along at an unsatisfactory 2 percent average annual growth rate. It's no wonder, since we have the highest combined corporate tax rate in the developed world, an antiquated international tax system, shortsighted protectionist fervor and a regulatory onslaught. The unemployment rate may be 5 percent, but the workforce participation rate is at a 35-year low. The members of Business Roundtable, whose companies generate more than $7 trillion in annual revenues and employ nearly 16 million workers, are resolved to help America achieve its greatest economic potential. We urge President Obama and Congressional leaders to spend 2016 focusing on crucial policies the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, tax reform and smarter regulations that can drive growth and opportunity to match Americans' dreams and ambitions. First, we can create jobs here at home and strengthen our economy through trade agreements that open up markets for U.S. companies. Ninety-six percent of the world's population lives outside the United States. Those are consumers and businesses that want to buy American products and services; limiting their choices only limits our growth. Story continues Passing Trade Promotion Authority was only a first step. The next is for Congress and the administration to quickly address the remaining issues and enact the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP will eliminate or reduce about 18,000 foreign tariffs on American-made products and allow U.S. companies to sell more U.S. goods and services to 500 million people in Asia-Pacific markets, while also protecting workers, consumers and the environment. We only need to look at other successful U.S. trade agreements to see what growth TPP could bring. For example, trade with our free trade agreement (FTA) partner countries supports more than 17 million American jobs, and 47 percent of U.S. exports go to these FTA partners, according to studies by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. Next, let's create more jobs with pro-growth tax reform. Our current business tax system makes U.S. companies less competitive in global markets and U.S. workers pay the price through lower wages and fewer job opportunities. Our uncompetitive tax system also drives businesses out of the United States. A 2013 study by economist Laura Tyson found that switching to a territorial tax system would incentivize U.S. multinational companies to repatriate $1 trillion in foreign earnings, boosting U.S. GDP by at least $208 billion and creating at least 1.46 million additional jobs. Democrats and Republicans both agree that our country needs a modern tax system. Let's get it done. Yes, it's an election year. But 30 years ago, in an election year, President Ronald Reagan and a Democratic-controlled Congress worked together to enact tax reforms that ushered in two decades of remarkable economic performance, what President Reagan called "The American Miracle." Finally, it is past time for Congress and the administration to ease the burden of regulations that stifle innovation and growth. The Code of Federal Regulations has grown from 22,877 pages in 1960 to 175,268 at the end of 2014; and the fall 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions contains thousands of regulatory plans from 30 different federal agencies. You can envision an economy suffocating under a web of red tape as large and small businesses face another year of new requirements. Let's target real problems with common-sense regulations that protect worker safety and health, and the environment, and still allow innovation and investment to flourish. Our economy and our workforce need the vitality and certainty that will come from these three smart policy choices the Trans-Pacific Partnership, permanent tax reform and a more rational approach to regulation. When there is vitality, the American worker sees opportunity at every turn. When there is certainty, companies are more likely to invest in the new technologies, manufacturing and products that create jobs and support local communities. The federal government has unique power through law and regulation to create or destroy economic confidence and private sector job creation. This year, government leaders can choose policies that will help America achieve its greatest economic potential, or instead settle for economic mediocrity. For the state of our union, and our economy, let's choose to reach our greatest potential. Commentary by Doug Oberhelman, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and the new chairman of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers leading U.S. companies. For more on the Business Roundtable's growth agenda, visit www.businessroundtable.org/growth. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. More From CNBC sotu biden ryan President Barack Obama took apparent shots at Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the final State of the Union speech of his presidency, according to his prepared remarks. Obama spent part of his speech discussing America's fight against the terrorist group ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh). After outlining what the US was doing to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, he said "instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world ," including in the Middle East, among other regions. "Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees," Obama said, according to those prepared remarks. "The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage." That called to mind Cruz's advocating "carpet bombing" ISIS "into oblivion." Experts have cast serious doubt on this strategy, cautioning that it's imprecise and has the likely potential to kill innocent civilians. Obama also denounced insults to Muslims, an implicit reference to the rhetoric most bombastically pronounced by Trump, who has proposed to temporarily bar all Muslims from traveling to the US. "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer," Obama said. "That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country." That wasn't Obama's only implicit shot at Trump. The real-estate mogul has campaigned on the slogan "Make America Great Again" and often talked about how America is losing power and needs to start "winning" again. Story continues "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth. Period," Obama said. "Its not even close," he added, repeating that phrase several times. He continued: "We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead they call us." Obama also might have been referring to Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie with comments about World War III, noting that "over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into [ISIS'] hands." Christie said in December that we're "already in World War III." For his part, Trump called the speech "boring": The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic - very hard to watch! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 NOW WATCH: Here's how President Obama starts every morning More From Business Insider rand paul Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Kentucky) presidential campaign is making an 11th-hour play to be included in Thursday's main-stage Republican debate. Though Paul did not make the primetime Fox Business debate, a new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll of Iowa released Wednesday found Paul in fifth place in the Hawkeye State. As first reported by Politico, Paul's support in Wednesday's survey would have bumped the senator up to fifth place in an average of recent polls there. That would have qualified him to participate in the primetime debate, according to Fox Business' debate rules. But Fox Business said only polls released through 6 p.m. ET on Monday could be considered toward qualification. The senator's campaign is attempting to pressure the network to consider Wednesday's poll in the average. "We are telling them today that they should be counted," Paul said of Fox Business during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I think that the polling shows that we should be [included]," he added. "We are clearly ahead of of some of the candidates." Paul did qualify for a spot on the earlier debate stage, but the senator said Monday that he would not participate in any debate that did not recognize his campaign's "top-tier" status. The Bloomberg Politics/Register poll is known among many polling analysts for being one of the most reliable polls in the country. Wednesday's poll was conducted within the time frame that would theoretically have allowed it to count in the average toward debate qualification, had it been released before 6 p.m. ET on Monday. Other networks have made accommodations for candidates in past debates. CNN allowed a last minute Fox News poll to influence the network's decision to permit Paul to be onstage for the previous GOP debate. The network also amended the criteria for a debate last year that allowed former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to participate on the main stage. Story continues Fox Business seemed to not be budging. "We announced the criteria in December and clearly stated the polling needed to be conducted and released by Monday, January 11th at 6pm/ET," a Fox Business spokesperson told Business Insider in an email. NOW WATCH: Here's how President Obama starts every morning More From Business Insider What's Eating Saudi ArabiaLow Crude or Geopolitical Tensions? (Continued from Prior Part) Understanding Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Syria To begin with, investors should understand that although the current geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are on religious grounds, such tensions can still affect the dynamics of the crude oil market. Middle East countries as net exporters of crude oil are still dominating factors in determining crude oil prices. We should also remember that Syrias Assad regime is supported by the Shia community, where the opposition from the so-called rebel groups in the country represents the Sunni population of that region. This Sunni rebel group has been supported by Saudi Arabia, whereas Russia and Iran are backing Assad in Shia-dominated Syria. To be sure, the kingdom is experiencing heavy expenditures in supporting the fight of these rebel groups in Syria. With Russia involved in Syria, Assads war against both the rebel groups and ISIS, or the Islamic State, has intensified. And this directly impacts Saudi Arabias pocket as they finance their end of the war. Theories behind Russias presence in Syria Experts say that Saudi Arabia in mid-2015 wanted Russia to withdraw support from the Assad regime. The kingdom also pressured Russia by not cutting crude oil production and lowering crude oil prices, as Russian (RSX) economy is highly dependent on crude oil. But soon after that, Moscow decided to start airstrikes against ISIS and other rebel groups. As Russia and Saudi Arabia are the most prominent players in the global crude oil market, their direct conflict indicates a market share war with each other. Moreover, we might infer that Russias presence in Syria is what has pressured Saudi Arabia to cut crude production and raise crude prices in order to sustain expenditures on Syrian fonts. But Saudi Arabia is neither cutting the production nor withdrawing support from the rebel groups fighting against Assad in Syria, and experts are suggesting that the target of Saudi Arabias asset dilution is just one of many measures that the kingdom has taken to sustain its fiscal deficit. Russia and Saudi Arabia are also strong competitors in Europe (FEZ) as well as in Asias crude oil markets. Story continues Gazprom Pao (OGZPY), Lukoil Pao (LUKOY), and Tatneft Pao (OAOFY) represent large-cap Russian ADRs in oil and as a sector. The graph above shows the performance of RSX since crude oil started its plunge. In the next part of this series, well discuss the growing geopolitical tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The United States and Saudi Arabia remain in discussions about the sale of four Lockheed Martin Corp warships and other equipment despite Riyadh's rejection of the initial U.S. offer, according to sources familiar with the matter. Saudi Arabia, grappling with 12-year low oil prices, balked at both the price offered by the U.S. Navy for the four frigates, and the proposed seven-year timeframe for delivery of the first ship, said two of the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The U.S. government in October approved the sale to Saudi Arabia of up to four Lockheed multi-mission warships valued at up to $4.3 billion, plus associated training, engineering and logistics, which would bring the total value of the deal up to $11.25 billion. The ships are based on the steel monohull-designed Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that Lockheed is building for the Navy together with Italy's Fincantieri SpA. Lockheed declined comment on the deal since it is a government-to-government transaction. U.S. officials said they do not comment on ongoing arm sales negotiations. However, the sources said it was not unusual for arms sales to include some back-and-forth about price and schedule, and expressed confidence that an agreement would ultimately be reached. Some arms sales take years to negotiate. They said they did not believe Saudi's rejection of the initial offer was related to a flareup in tensions with Iran, or a memorandum by Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordering the Navy to truncate its own purchases of the LCS program and a more heavily armed frigate version at 40 ships instead of 52 ships. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday as Chinese trade data lifted the mood in Asia, helping oversold Philippine stocks recover for a second day, while a rally in banking shares sent the Thai benchmark to a more than one-week high. The Philippine composite index was up 2.2 percent, further regaining lost ground after Monday's 4.4 percent fall. Technical-led buying was active but indicators still pointed to weak market, said Manila-based broker Regina Capital. "In a down trending market, seeing this pattern suggests a potential rally but take note that its signal strength is weak," it said. "We need the index to keep its 6,300-6,279 support range intact to prevent further declines to as low as 6,000." In Bangkok, focus shifted to earnings announcement as banks kicked off a reporting season this week. Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank each rallied more than 4 percent after a broker upgrade. The broader SET index climbed 1.4 percent to the highest since Jan. 4. "Overall, the SET index should continue a fragile recovery, driven by low valuations of major sectors and expectation for a modest recovery in Thai macro momentum," said broker KGI Securities in a report. Indonesia was up 0.9 percent, building on Tuesday's gains. Stocks in Singapore and Malaysia traded slightly higher, giving up most early gains while Vietnam drifted into negative territory. Asian shares, as measured by MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, rose 1.6 percent after China's total trade in December shrank much less than expected, but still likely consigned the economy to its weakest annual growth in 25 years. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS Change at 0530 GMT Market Current Prev Close Pct Move Singapore 2692.60 2691.78 +0.03 Kuala Lumpur 1642.63 1641.37 +0.08 Bangkok 1272.76 1255.30 +1.39 Jakarta 4552.85 4512.53 +0.89 Manila 6470.41 6330.55 +2.21 Ho Chi Minh 564.14 564.26 -0.02 (Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap in Bangkok and Erik dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Anand Basu) BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose in line with Asia on Wednesday, with Philippine shares climbing almost three percent on foreign-led buying and the Thai index hitting a two-week high, helped by banking shares. The Philippine composite index ended up 2.6 percent, recovering from a deep oversold condition seen on the previous two days, with its 14-day Relative Strength Index at 36.6 at close. The level of 30 or below means shares are oversold. Shares of top index gainer San Miguel Corp surged 15.4 percent after the conglomerate said it was interested in acquiring SABMiller PLC's Grolsch and Peroni beer brands. Gains in banks led by Kasikornbank and Siam Commercial Bank sent the SET index 1.9 percent up to 1,278.61, the highest close since Dec. 30. The share rally came ahead of bank earnings releases due out by next week. Stocks in Singapore and Malaysia posted modest gains while Vietnam retreated amid selling in blue chips. Fund flows were mixed, with the Philippines reporting net foreign buying for the first time in four days of 250 million peso ($5.27 million), stock exchange data showed. Malaysia saw a fifth straight day of foreign outflows, worth a net 71 million ringgit ($16.23 million) on Wednesday, and Indonesia posted net foreign selling of 47.5 billion rupiah ($3.44 million) after net buying on Tuesday, data showed. Asian shares as measured by MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were up 1.3 percent. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS Change on day Market Current Prev Close Pct Move Singapore 2696.50 2691.78 +0.18 Kuala Lumpur 1642.54 1641.37 +0.07 Bangkok 1278.61 1255.30 +1.86 Jakarta 4537.18 4512.53 +0.55 Manila 6494.13 6330.55 +2.58 Ho Chi Minh 560.37 564.26 -0.69 Change on year Market Current End 2015 Pct Move Singapore 2696.50 2882.73 -6.46 Kuala Lumpur 1642.54 1692.51 -2.95 Bangkok 1278.61 1288.02 -0.73 Jakarta 4537.18 4593.00 -1.22 Manila 6494.13 6952.08 -6.59 Ho Chi Minh 560.37 579.03 -3.22 Story continues ($1 = 47.4700 Philippine pesos) ($1 = 4.3750 ringgit) ($1 = 13,820.0000 rupiah) (Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap in Bangkok and Erik dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi) (Adds details, analyst quotes) By Emily Chow KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Sime Darby Bhd , the world's largest palm oil planter by land size, says the drying effects of El Nino and a prolonged drought could lower its palm oil and fresh fruit bunch production in its current financial year. Sime Darby Plantation has estimated that the El Nino weather effect and prolonged drought would affect about 6 percent of its palm oil production in Malaysia, and 8-10 percent in Indonesia in the next one to two years, the company told Reuters by email. "The recent haze would have a similar compounding impact with the prolonged dry period affecting fruits and disrupting oil extraction as well as crop production," said Franki Anthony Dass, managing director of Sime Darby Plantations, the plantation and agri-business arm of Sime Darby Group. Lower productivity levels in Malaysia, the world's No.2 palm oil producer, could help lift benchmark prices of the vegetable oil. Palm oil's March contract closed 1.2 percent higher on Tuesday evening at 2,411 ringgit ($551.09) per tonne, but down about 3 percent since the start of the year. The Malaysian plantations-to-motor-conglomerate also expects to see a decline in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production this year due to the El Nino impact. Forecasts for its Malaysian FFB output stood at 5.58 million tonnes, down from 5.94 million tonnes the year before, and forecasts for its Indonesian FFB output is seen at 2.75-2.81 million tonnes, down from 3.05 million tonnes a year ago. However, overall FFB output for the group in the financial year ending June 2016 is seen up at 10.05-10.11 million tonnes from the year before, due to its acquisition of Papua New Guinea-based New Britain Palm Oil. Sime Darby recorded 8.9 million tonnes of FFB output the financial year before. "New Britain Palm Oil is expected to contribute about 1.72 million tonnes of FFB for financial year 2015/2016," said Dass. Analysts have forecast declining FFB yields this year in anticipation of a dry El Nino weather impact. Sime Darby's expectation of a 6 percent decline for its Malaysian operations is significant, but not totally unexpected, said Alan Lim, an analyst at MIDF Research in Kuala Lumpur. Story continues "It is not a surprise as the Australia Bureau of Meteorology has formally announced the El Nino since May 2015. Hence, the market had already look ahead into lower FFB production by plantation companies," he said. "The net impact to earnings is not expected to be huge, as CPO prices usually increase during the period of insufficient supply globally. Historically, the impact of CPO prices to earnings will more than offset the loss in FFB production." Sime Darby saw falling net profits in its last earnings announcement. Its net profit for first-quarter ended September 2015 fell 34 percent on weaker demand in its consumer business and low commodity prices. The company had acquired New Britain Palm Oil in March 2015 for $1.7 billion, adding 135,000 hectares of land to Sime Darby's total land bank. ($1 = 4.3750 ringgit) (Editing by William Hardy and Keith Weir) By Dustin Volz and Jim Finkle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday it was helping Ukraine investigate an apparent attack last month on the country's power grid that caused a blackout for 80,000 customers. Experts have widely described the Dec. 23 incident at western Ukraine's Prykarpattyaoblenergo utility as the first known power outage caused by a cyber attack. Ukraine's SBU state security service has blamed Russia for the incident, while U.S. cyber firm iSight Partners linked it to a Russian hacking group known as "Sandworm." In an advisory, DHS said they had linked the blackout to malicious code detected in 2014 within industrial control systems used to operate U.S. critical infrastructure. There was no known successful disruption to the U.S. grid, however. DHS said the BlackEnergy Malware appears to have infected Ukraines systems with a spear phishing attack via a corrupted Microsoft Word attachment. The DHS bulletin from the agency's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT, is the first public comment about the Ukraine incident. A report released by Washington-based SANS Inc over the weekend concluded hackers likely caused Ukraines six-hour outage by remotely switching breakers in a way that cut power, after installing malware that prevented technicians from detecting the intrusion. The attackers are also believed to have spammed the Ukraine utilitys customer-service center with phone calls in order to prevent real customers from communicating about their downed power. DHS and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. (Reporting by Dustin Volz and Jim Finkle; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Andrew Hay) (Adds remarks from White House deputy national security adviser) * North's Kim calls for nuclear arsenal expansion * Davos invitation to North Korea withdrawn * U.S. House sanctions vote nearly unanimous By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) - South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict "bone-numbing pain" after its latest nuclear test, and urged China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbour. With tension high on the border after the North's fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots towards what Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone. It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters. The North's nuclear test angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons. The World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for North Korea's foreign minister to attend its annual Davos meeting because of the nuclear test. It was to have been the country's first participation in the event in 18 years. The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country's nuclear arsenal, urging the "detonation of more powerful H-bombs", the North's state media reported. North Korea said last week it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb but the United States and various experts doubt that, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of an atomic bomb, in 2013. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more "provocations" by the North including "cyber-terrorism" were possible and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics. Story continues "We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally," she said in a speech. Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China has stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate the North's nuclear programme. China is the North's main ally and trade partner but it opposes its bombs, while China's ties with South Korea have grown closer in recent years. "I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North's fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability," Park said. "I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further." Sung Kim, the special U.S. representative for North Korea policy, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday and said the three agreed that a "meaningful" new sanctions resolution is needed from the Security Council. "I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution," he said. In Washington, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said China could and should put more pressure on North Korea. "We understand their concern about instability on the Korean peninsula, but the fact of the matter is that the current status quo is destabilising where you have nuclear tests," he told a news briefing. Rhodes said it was important the United States and its allies developed capabilities to respond and referred to Sunday's U.S. B-52 bomber flight over South Korea, missile defence and military cooperation with both South Korea and Japan. 'FINANCIAL PRESSURE' China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China's efforts towards a denuclearised Korean peninsula would continue. "This is in everyone's interests and is everyone's responsibility, including China and South Korea," he said. The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was brought up for a vote only after North Korea's latest test. "(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate Kim Jong Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule," said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure. To become law, it must also pass the U.S. Senate and be signed by President Barack Obama. The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North. South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border. South Korea's military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped from North Korean hot air balloons. South Korean financial regulators met computer security officials at 16 banks and financial institutions and urged vigilance in the face of possible cyberattacks by North Korea, although none has been detected. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim, James Pearson, Jee Heun Kahng, Hooyeon Kim, Dahee Kim and Se Young Lee in SEOUL, Tom Miles in GENEVA, Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Howard Goller) By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict "bone-numbing pain" after its latest nuclear test, and urged China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbour. With tension high on the border after the North's fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots towards what Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone. It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters. The North's nuclear test angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons. The World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for North Korea's foreign minister to attend its annual Davos meeting because of the nuclear test. It was to have been the country's first participation in the event in 18 years. The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country's nuclear arsenal, urging the "detonation of more powerful H-bombs", the North's state media reported. North Korea said last week it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb but the United States and various experts doubt that, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of an atomic bomb, in 2013. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more "provocations" by the North including "cyber-terrorism" were possible and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics. "We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally," she said in a speech. Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China had stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate its nuclear programme. China is North Korea's main ally and trade partner but it opposes its bombs, while Beijing's ties with South Korea have grown closer in recent years. "I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North's fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability," Park said. "I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further." Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday and said the three agreed that a "meaningful" new sanctions resolution was needed from the Security Council. "I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution," he said. In Washington, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said China could and should put more pressure on North Korea. "We understand their concern about instability on the Korean peninsula, but the fact of the matter is that the current status quo is destabilising where you have nuclear tests," he told a news briefing. Rhodes said it was important the United States and its allies developed capabilities to respond and referred to Sunday's U.S. B-52 bomber flight over South Korea, missile defence and military cooperation with both South Korea and Japan. Rhodes also said that President Barack Obama chose not to mention North Korea in his State of the Union address on Tuesday as he did not want to give Kim Jong Un the attention. "He likes attention and probably would like nothing more than the president to spend a lot of time to talk about it in the State of the Union," Rhodes said. "We didn't particularly feel compelled to give him that attention." 'FINANCIAL PRESSURE' China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China's efforts towards a denuclearised Korean peninsula would continue. "This is in everyone's interests and is everyone's responsibility, including China and South Korea," he said. The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was brought up for a vote only after North Korea's latest test. "(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate Kim Jong Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule," said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure. To become law, it must also pass the U.S. Senate and be signed by Obama. The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North. South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border. South Korea's military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped from North Korean hot air balloons. South Korean financial regulators met computer security officials at 16 banks and financial institutions and urged vigilance in the face of possible cyberattacks by North Korea, although none has been detected. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim, James Pearson, Jee Heun Kahng, Hooyeon Kim, Dahee Kim and Se Young Lee in SEOUL, Tom Miles in GENEVA, Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Howard Goller) Ciudad Hidalgo (Mexico) (AFP) - Some 180 of the nearly 8,000 Cuban migrants who were stranded in Costa Rica for months entered Mexico by bus under a deal to help them reach the United States. Four buses carrying the Cubans crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border in Ciudad Hidalgo, many looking exhausted as they lugged backpacks and suitcases to an immigration office. Migration agents gave them 20-day visas to make their way to the border with the United States, which has a policy dating to the Cold War allowing entry to Cubans fleeing their Communist-ruled island. "We didn't agree with communism, with the Castros, and we felt oppressed," said Yumiley Diaz Riva, 21, who worked at a school in central Cuba until she left in October with her husband, leaving their one-year-old son behind. "We didn't want to bring him on this difficult journey," she said, adding that she planned to be reunited with her son once she reaches Tampa, Florida. The Cubans arrived in Mexico under a pilot program between Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala that could be expanded to the 7,600 other islanders still stuck in Costa Rica due to neighboring Nicaragua's refusal to let them in. The path involved an overnight flight from Costa Rica to El Salvador, thus skipping over Nicaragua, a Cuban ally that has closed its border to Cubans since mid-November. The 109 men and 71 women were put on four buses bound for Guatemala and then on to the Mexican border, on a 13-hour journey organized by the regional governments and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Costa Rica's migration director, Kathya Rodriguez, concluded that the pilot program was an "absolute success" and provided a "great opportunity" to coordinate the departure of the others. Yet Costa Rica and the other governments involved insist that each migrant pay the trip's $555 cost, leaving open the question of what will happen to those without funds. Story continues And 2,000 other migrants remain stranded in Panama by Costa Rica's own mid-December decision to close its border to any more Cubans. They will have no access to the air bridge. Thousands of Cubans have left the island in recent months over concerns that the US-Cuba diplomatic thaw will prompt Washington to drop its policy of giving them automatic residence when they set foot in the United States. - Fear of Mexican gangs - According to Costa Rica's migration service, 28 flights would be needed to transport all the Cubans from the 38 shelters now housing them. The government hopes to organize two flights a day. Some have expressed fear over their passage through Mexico, where drug cartels often prey on migrants. "We've heard a lot that in Mexico there are gangs like the Zetas that make attacks on roads and that there are dangerous zones," said Yordani Casanova, a 33-year-old who left his herbal drinks business in Cuba to journey to the United States with his wife. Many of the Cubans have already experienced extortion and kidnapping threats on their northward odyssey, which started in Ecuador and put them on smuggling routes. After arriving in Mexico, some were unsure whether they would continue by bus or take a plane to the border, though they had spent much of their savings already. "It's hard over there (in Cuba) because the salary is barely enough to survive," said Fermin Ramirez, a 46-year-old quality control technician. - Anxiously awaiting turn - For the thousands of Cubans remaining in Costa Rica, the departure was cause for hope and celebration. "This is a blessing. If all goes well with this trip, we others will soon be able to travel," said Joel Gonzalez, a 34-year-old Cuban staying in a shelter on the grounds of a Methodist church in the northern town of Liberia. But there was anxiety among those unable to come up with the money to travel. Another Cuban in a Liberia shelter, Yandy Herrera, said: "I have just 4,000 colones ($7.50) in my wallet. I can't even call my family in Cuba because it's expensive: it costs more than a dollar a minute." Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos Holdings Inc LDOS is an American defense company that provides scientific, engineering, technical, and systems integration services. It operates in four main segments: defense solutions; health, energy, and civil solutions; cybersecurity solutions; and corporate solutions. The companys customer list is impressive, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Intelligence Community which includes the National Security Agency (NSA). Lets take a look at why investors should watch out for LDOS. Impressive Zacks Rank Currently, Leidos is sitting confidently at a Zacks Rank #2 (Strong Buy), spurred by recent positive earnings estimate revisions. Over the past 60 days, current quarter estimates have risen from $0.63 per share to $0.66, while current year estimates have increased from $2.72 to $2.75 per share. Investors should take not that Leidos industry, Aerospace/Defense, is 42 of 265 total industries ranked on the Zacks Industry Rank, falling in the top 16%. This suggests good standing at the beginning of a new year, especially in comparison to other industries out there. Strong Style Scores In addition to a Strong Buy ranking, Leidos Zacks Style Scores are very notable. Growth Boasting an A in this category, the company is seeing current cash flow growth of 277.01% and projected EPS growth of 4.79%. Its return on equity, from the past 12 months, is 21.08% Value Despite a score of B, Leidos still has strong Value scores. Its Price to Cash Flow (P/CF) ratio is 5.39, with a Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 18.34 and a Price to Sales (P/S0 ratio of 0.77. Momentum Like its Growth Score, Leidos has an A ranking in the Momentum category. Compared to its industry, the defense company is excelling, with both a positive 12 week price change of 18.73% and estimated quarterly EPS change of 6.59%. Story continues Future Contracts In December, Leidos was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) solutions including hardware and modifications; specialized communication solutions and networks; signals processing capabilities; and systems integration. Because the defense industry is highly competitive, it is important for companies like Leidos to secure work contracts for present and future time frames. Since the company works primarily with the United States Federal government, Leidos fortunately has a steady stream of work coming in. Bottom Line Leidos Holdings may face serious competition within its industry, which includes big names like Boeing Co BA and Lockheed Martin LMT, but they are the only company that holds a Strong Buy ranking on the Zacks Rank. Right now, LDOS is a fantastic growth and momentum stock to add to your portfolio, and one that should not be overlooked. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BOEING CO (BA): Free Stock Analysis Report LOCKHEED MARTIN (LMT): Free Stock Analysis Report LEIDOS HOLDINGS (LDOS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) The case of a drug ring was sent to New Taipei prosecutor's office Wednesday after two of its members were arrested earlier this month at an airport for trying to smuggle in heroin from Vietnam, the police said. Just what constitutes a French family these days and how does it differ to New Zealand families? Information is taken from my own observati... Historian PhD, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine, 2009-2011), college teacher, retired director of NEH affiliates in DC and Florida, Fran offers a multi-layered perspective on current issues, culture and community. A different voice. A unique perspective. From the bottom up. During the winter of 2016 Nebraska Extension will host 18 Beef Profitability Workshops to help beef producers evaluate their operations to make them more profitable thorough the latest research information. Locally, a meeting will be held at 1 p.m. March 3 at the Cass County Extension Office at the fairgrounds in Weeping Water. Examples of some of the topics that will be presented at each location by presenters: *Harvesting crop residues does it affect future crop yields *Balancing the Ranch for Protein *Mineral Nutrition *Windrow Grazing *EPDs and Bull Selection *Fencing and Watering Options on Crop Residue *Managing Risk on the Average Sized Cow-Calf operation *Composting Livestock Carcasses *Evaluating & Valuing Cull Beef Cows & their Carcasses *Cow Deprecation- (2nd largest cost) *Hay and Land Grazing Rates *Global Market Landscape *Forage Testing and What the Numbers Mean *Economics in the Beef Industry and Beef Outlook *Livestock Outlook A team of UNL Extension Educators, including Steve Pritchard, Larry Howard, Dennis Bauer, Gary Stauffer, Jim Jansen, Steve Tonn, and Steve Niemeyer will present information as well as practical approaches for the beef producer. These workshops have been held across Nebraska for the past Twelve Years. Workshops are sponsored by Nebraska Extension. The cost is $15 but may vary from location depending on local sponsorship. Pre-register by calling the Cass County Extension office at 402-267-2205 by February 29th to ensure there are enough handouts and refreshments. For more information or assistance, please call Steve Niemeyer, UN-L Extension Educator in Garfield, Loup and Wheeler Counties at 308-346-4200 in Burwell or sniemeyer1@unl.edu PLATTSMOUTH The traditional model of high school education has stayed along the same core-classes path for many decades. Students in Plattsmouth could be walking on a new trail of school-based learning as early as next year. Plattsmouth Board of Education members heard a presentation Monday night about a proposal to adopt a wall-to-wall academies structure at Plattsmouth High School. PHS Principal Jeff Wiles led a discussion that included comments from local teachers, students and community members. He said the new academies would allow students to gain knowledge both in the classroom and through business partnerships and job shadowing. Im really excited about this concept, Wiles said. With wall-to-wall academies, all kids will be involved in learning about subjects they will need for their future individual careers. At the same time, the academies will be driven by the way kids learn today. Those two things go hand in hand. Wiles said the goal of the academy system is to provide students with educational tools they will need for either college, the workforce or the military. Plattsmouth students would participate in one of three academies that would revolve around different career and educational subjects. Each academy would embed core subjects such as math, science, social studies and language arts with career and technical programs. The first academy would feature business, education, hospitality, human services, performing arts, media and communications subjects. Specialized programs of study in the first academy would include the PHS High School of Business, culinary arts training and education careers. The proposed faculty list for the first academy would include one business teacher, three performing arts instructors, one physical education teacher, one family/consumer sciences teacher and two instructors in each core subject of math, language arts, science and social studies. The second academy would revolve around science, technology, engineering, aeronautics and mathematics classes. Specialized units of study would include Junior ROTC, SkillsUSA and certified nursing assistant programs. The proposed faculty list for the second academy would include one physical education teacher, two Junior ROTC instructors, one family/consumer sciences teacher, one business teacher and two instructors in each core subject of math, language arts, science and social studies. Areas of study in the third academy would include agriculture, architecture, art, construction, manufacturing, transportation and logistics. Specialized programs of study would include diesel mechanics and SkillsUSA. The proposed faculty list for the third academy would include one physical education teacher, one art teacher, one business instructor, two industrial technology instructors and two teachers in each core subject of math, language arts, science and social studies. Foreign language classes will be included in all three academies. Special education teachers will continue to help students with topics such as language arts and communication skills. Wiles said advisory boards filled with administrators, teachers, school board members, business professionals and college representatives would oversee each of the three academies. He said they would help forge partnerships between students and various community organizations, area businesses and local post-secondary institutions. PHS freshmen would take a class to help them identify their learning and career interests. They would fill out an academy selection worksheet and learn about topics such as communication, time management and resume building. Students would then choose which one of the three academies they would like to enter at the beginning of their sophomore years. Wiles said students will be obligated to remain in an academy for one school year. If they discover they do not like the career paths in that academy, they may switch to one of the other two academies in later years. Switching academies would not affect students in terms of their total credit hours for graduation. Seniors would complete a capstone project that would utilize either internships or portfolios. Students would be able to earn industry certifications, take part in business mentorships and participate in advanced educational programs. Plattsmouth High School teachers David Davis, Monica Olsen, Lisa Johnson and Dawn Danauskas, PHS guidance counselors Sabrina Ayala and Jim Knierim, PHS student Kaleb Church and Plattsmouth Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cindy Cruse all spoke in favor of the proposal. They told board members the academy system would help students begin to zero in on possible career choices. A lot of times high schoolers dont know what they want to do yet, and thats okay, Ayala said. But this will be a way to help them start to figure that out. It will help them see what classes theyll need to take and it will help them organize their future plans much better. I think it would be a very good system for them. Ive seen the positive impact of a small academy, so it will be amazing when there are large academies, said Danauskas, who leads the local High School of Business program. Ive seen firsthand how much it helps students to complete an academy path. It doesnt matter whether they will be going into construction or music. It will be something that will definitely help them in their futures. There are still several steps Plattsmouth officials must take before the wall-to-wall academies program would be implemented. The district must apply to the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) for permission to establish the career academies program. The NDE established written protocols for career academies at state high schools in November 2013. The document, known as Rule 47, contains 17 pages of regulations and provisions schools must follow in order to adopt the program. Wiles said Plattsmouth would be just the third high school in Nebraska to implement a wall-to-wall academies system if the plan is approved. Omaha Benson is currently the lone high school that has a similar learning structure. He said Kearney High School will adopt the system when construction on a new high school building is finished later this year. Wiles told the board that local school and community members had spent the previous three years researching the wall-to-wall academies concept. He said he was confident it would allow students to walk on a successful path toward their chosen careers. I want kids to get the best possible education at Plattsmouth High School, Wiles said. I think this is a common-sense approach to education. Weeping Water Chamber of Commerce is hosting its annual Chamber Awards Banquet at Slattery Vintage Estates Banquet Hall. The event is open to the public and tickets are available at the Weeping Water City Hall, Grandpa Snazzys, Uptons Market or Meeske Hardware. Tickets are $10 in advance or $13 at the door. Nomination forms for three award categories are available: Community Service Award, Business of the Year Award and Business Person of the Year Award. Forms are at Weeping Water businesses and need to be submitted by Jan. 15. Everyone who turns in a nomination form will be entered into a drawing for $50 in Chamber Bucks. Awards for the ongoing Shop Local Campaign will also be awarded at the banquet. The chamber also welcomes anyone to become a member to help promote the community. Annual dues are $50 for businesses or $20 for individuals. These dues should be forwarded to Connie Eidenmiller at First Nebraska Bank. A big day is planned Saturday at the Strategic Air & Space Museum near Ashland. Saturday is the museums annual indoor air show and also marks the opening of a new traveling exhibit, Science & Art. The indoor air show will feature radio-controlled (R/C) models. The model pilots will demonstrate loops, flips and barrel rolls in the museums climate-controlled Durham Restoration Hangar. In the cold and snowy winter months, the museum offers its more than 30,000-square-foot restoration hangar to local R/C clubs. The clubs will demonstrate their skills in a space that has 60-foot ceiling height which enables them to practice acrobatic dives. The SAC Museum Drone Club will be onsite to discuss the new FAA regulations which were effective Dec. 21, 2015, and how to fly unmanned aerials in safe fly zones. Several R/C clubs will fly throughout the day beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding at 2 p.m. Viewing will be set up in Hangar B and the Gilbert M. & Martha H. Hitchcock Observation Gallery. The indoor air show also will include display and information booths from several R/C clubs, an ultralight club, UNL and more. An ultralight aircraft presentation will be held at 1 p.m. in the museums theater. Ultralight aircraft are one seat, fixed-wing aircraft that are used for recreational flight. A pilots license is not required to fly an ultralight. Science & Art, a traveling exhibit from the Museum of Discovery in Arkansas, opens Saturday at the Strategic Air & Space Museum and will be on display through April 10. The highly interactive exhibit will introduce visitors to works of art that illustrate how science and art intersect in real life. Science & Art is organized into five mini exhibits featuring project created by artists who have specific masteries in scientific areas. The displays are designed to show that art and science have much in common. The first stop in the gallery features origami sculpture work by Robert Lang one of the worlds leading origami masters with more than 500 designs catalogued and diagrammed. Langs work shows how following simple folding rules and some basic mathematical principals allows the creation of a complex and 3D world of art made from paper. Visitors may fold their own work of art to take home. Visitors will then be directed to the Beautiful Worm, which combines biology and photography, offering a unique look into the world of scientific research as interpreted through art. This part of the exhibit showcases research of the C. elegans worm by Ahna Skop, assistant professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin. A microscope with a video head will allow visitors to look at live specimens and illustrates what researchers such as Skop have learned from this creature. Visitors also will see the creations of 1-Bit Music inventor Tristan Perich. The 1-Bit is part art, part physics and part mathematics. 1-Bit compositions are delivered to listeners via an on/off switch, micro-chip battery, earphone jack and volume control all squeezed into a plastic CD case. Wearable computers also can be found at the Science & Art exhibit. Leah Buechley, assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, uses electronics and textiles to build soft, wearable computers. A display of Buechleys work allows visitors to select and see the different LED display patterns designed and programmed into the fabric. Electronic artist and computer scientist Scott Snibbe will round out the exhibit. He will introduce visitors to the concept of the nano-scale. Three Drops is a multimedia experience that requires participants to move in front of a large screen to interact with projections of water at the macro, micro and then nan-scale and allows them to experience how the physical properties of water change at these three different scales. The Strategic Air & Space Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults, $11 for seniors and military, $6 for youth over 4 years and free for museum members. Like many vehicle enthusiasts, Jeff Sherwood first took an interest in cars during his teenage years. At that time, Sherwood began working on cars and continued to pursue this hobby into his adulthood modifying vehicles in one way or another. While he thoroughly enjoyed enhancing his various vehicles (including rebuilding the motor on a 1966 Chevy Nova and adding a blower), Sherwood always wanted a street rod. His own vintage vehicle, modified in appearance. In 1990 he found his street rod in the form of a 1937 Ford Club Coupe. When I bought the car the 1937 Ford models had just started to become a popular hot rod to have, Sherwood said. Although the vehicle was in one piece, it was not in the best shape. So, in 1992, this Fremont car connoisseur began working on rebuilding the Ford into his own customized creation. With assistance from his brother-in-law, Jody Carnahan, Sherwood rebuilt the 1937 Ford in his home garage. The process began by removing the vehicles entire body from the frame and remaking the car from there. Sherwood also received assistance from Dave Phillips at Phillips Paint & Body in Columbus, who designed the Fords new paint job; and J.J. Fritz at C & J Upholstery in Fremont, who tailored the vehicles interior upholstery. The most challenging aspect was making all of the parts fit. We took an old car and made a new car with cruise control, power steering, electric windows and suicide doors, Sherwood noted. I also added a fuel injected motor and air conditioning. The entire project took Sherwood and his customizing collaborators 22 years to complete. His new hot rod was finished in July 2014. After working on his Ford for more than two decades, rather than let this newly modified vehicle gather dust in a garage, Sherwood decided to show off his Ford in several car shows, including: John C. Fremont Days; West Points Last Fling Before Spring; Plattsmouths Cruizin Main; Applefest in Woodbine, Iowa; and the Good Guys in Des Moines. This is the first hot rod I have assembled from scratch, he said. I am very happy with the end result of my car. Looking back, the only thing I would have done differently is adding air ride. As a longtime Snap-on Tools client, Sherwood also chose to enter his customized vehicle in the 2016 edition of the Snap-on Snap-shots calendar. This calendar, which is distributed worldwide, features full-color photographs of different kinds of vehicles from various eras. Criteria to enter included: the car being unique; good picture quality; and being a Snap-on customer. For most of my career I have had a Snap-on dealer the tools are high quality. After I completed my car, I simply asked my Snap-on dealer what a guy had to do to get his car in the calendar. My Snap-on dealer gave me the paperwork and we submitted everything, Sherwood noted. He submitted his registration and photos of his Ford in February 2015; and by April Sherwood was notified that his vehicle was chosen from more than 200 entries to be published in the calendar. Photographs of the exterior and interior of his 1937 Club Coupe will appear in August. Sherwoods car was selected for inclusion in the calendar based on its mint condition, as well as the appearance of the inside of his vehicle, which had white interior and red design that caught the eye of the judges, notes Colleen Smidel from Wild Impact Marketing for Snap-on Tools. For being selected for inclusion in this years calendar, Sherwood also received five complimentary Snap-shots calendars. Now that his longtime dream of having his own hot rod has come to fruition, Sherwood does have other vehicles in mind to restore, including his 1966 Chevy Nova and a 1963 Chevy Pickup. Until then, once the weather warms up and the roads improve, Sherwood is happy to just take his classy red Ford out for a spin. My wife (Bonnie) and I enjoy taking the car for drives and going out to eat, he said. Jeff and Bonnie Sherwoods family includes: son and daughter-in-law, Jack and Ashely Sherwood and grandson, IJ; and daughter, Katie Sherwood. The Snap-shots calendar may be purchased for $13.95 (plus shipping/handling) from a Snap-on franchise. Thirteen years have passed and Sandy Keck is still waiting. Waiting for someone to come forward with any information that might help investigators determine who killed her mother. Waiting to see whoever killed her mom brought to justice. And waiting for closure. Almost a decade and half has passed since Jeanne Feyerherm Kassebaum was found dead in a Jacuzzi in her West Point home. She was only 54. She was very young to be taken from us, thats for sure, said Keck, who lives in Omaha. Keck describes her mom as a creative person. She had a knack for decorating and designing. Her home was impeccable. Everybody said it looked like a page out of a magazine, Keck said. Feyerherm Kassebaum was also particular about her appearance. She had a great sense of style she always looked fabulous, Keck said. Years before her death, Feyerherm Kassebaum was married and living in Iowa. After that marriage ended in divorce, Feyerherm Kassebaum moved to Omaha where she worked as a manager at Mangelsens. Keck said her mom helped that business grow, but wanted to move back to her hometown. So she returned to West Point and began working at the Scribner Bank. She married Gary Kassebaum, someone shed known for years and who was a good friend of a relative. Keck said they were married for about five years, during which he bought Boomers Lounge, a strip club in Fremont. Keck said her mom hadnt wanted him to buy the business and their relationship began to deteriorate. They were estranged at the time of her death in August 1999. Feyerherm Kassebaum lived in Cottonwood Chimes, a lake development north of West Point. On Aug. 21 -- a Saturday she didnt show up for work at the bank. She was never late, Keck said. So when she didnt arrive, bank employees called a relative. Family found Feyerherm Kassebaum in the Jacuzzi. At first, local police thought she must have slipped and fallen into the tub. We knew it was more than that, Keck said. We knew it was not an accident. I know my mom, Keck continued. She never used that tub. She hated cleaning it. Whats more, her mother had just had her hair done the night before in Omaha, Keck said. She wasnt one to take a bath the next day after an appointment -- and if she did it would have been in regular tub in the guest bathroom. Within 24 hours, we got the State Patrol involved, she said. A couple days after her funeral, authorities told family members that Feyerherm Kassebaums death was a homicide. That was no surprise to Keck who saw marks on her mothers neck that a mortician had respectfully tried to cover with makeup. Years passed. The investigation ended up in a cold case file. Each time a new investigator took on the case, hed have a stack of files to go through. Ive worked with a number of investigators, Keck said. Most recently, Nebraska State Patrol investigator Melanie Lueders has taken on the case. We continue to press on and hopefully continue to follow leads and eventually get the person responsible behind bars, she said. Lueders thinks many people may not realize the case hasnt been solved. Enough time has passed that people who didnt want to come forward with information years ago may decide to do so now. Some people might think the information they have is so minute that it wouldnt help anyway. We just want them to know that any information could be what it takes to solve the case, Lueders said. Lueders wants to solve the case. Jeanne deserves justice, she said. She and her family deserve to have justice for whats happened to her. Feyerherm Kassebaums death has been tough for her family members, which include grandchildren, siblings, godchildren and Kecks cousins. She was the glue in our family, Keck said. She made every holiday an event Everything was a special occasion. She knew what everyone was doing and made everyone feel special. Its never been the same without her. Keck has missed being able to pick up the phone and talk to her mom. She thinks about holidays they didnt get to spend together and trips they never took. Her mom wasnt around to see grandchildren graduate from high school. She wont be here to help Keck plan her daughters wedding someday. Shes missed so many things and weve missed so much of what she was to us, Keck said. Keck hopes people come forward with information. The family is offering a $30,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction. The State Patrol is offering a reward of up to $1,000. Those who have information that might help in solving this case are asked to call the statewide Crime Stoppers number at 1-800-422-1492 or log onto the Nebraska Crime Stoppers website at www.nebraskacrimestoppers.com. People can remain anonymous. In the meantime, Keck continues to wait. Theres a hole in my heart that wont ever go away, she said. And as strange as it sounds, the anger is what keeps me going. You get sad and you just want to give up, but the anger isnt going to go away. She was wrongfully taken from us and were not going to quit until we have justice for her. University of Nebraska-Lincoln students needing a place on campus to pull an all-nighter or finish a project were out of luck until this week. Now night owls and early birds alike have a 24-hour-a-day home in Adele Hall Learning Commons, which opened Monday on the first floor of Love Library North. The $10 million project named for alumna Adele Coryell Hall, a 1953 graduate, lifelong Husker fan and mother of Hallmark Cards Inc. chairman Donald J. Hall, has created a unique space where students can collaborate in private study rooms, computer labs and active learning spaces. This space is very reflective of our needs, UNL Dean of Libraries Nancy Busch said. We wanted to turn this space into something collaborative, and putting a learning commons in the library was seen as a great way to recruit more students and enliven the center of campus. As the Internet became an ubiquitous part of student life and in many ways eliminated the need for reference works to be stacked in the librarys north annex, a campus master plan identified the 30,000-square-foot area as a place that could recapture the what it called the academic crossroads at UNL. Designed by Holland Basham Architects and built by Sampson Construction, the commons has four distinctive areas, including a traditional space with long rows of tables and modern lights meant as a quiet study area. The northern half of the building features more active student areas, with a computer hub and areas with furniture that can be rearranged to allow for specific needs. Between those areas is the Dunkin Donuts franchise that opened Monday and connects to a hallway bisecting the building where reception areas and reference desks can be found.The final area still under construction will become the Digital Learning Center, a space with some 200 computers for students to use in self-paced, computer-aided learning. It will open in the fall, Busch said. Once the weather warms up, students will be able to spill out onto a terrace to the north, where there will be more than 100 seats. Throughout the commons are 18 study rooms for groups of different sizes and booths and other sitting areas tucked away in nooks for students to find private spaces to do their work. While UNL said the learning commons and each of its spaces was designed with utility in mind, how each of the spaces will be used is entirely up to students. Regina Flowers, who started work Friday as the learning commons manager, said she will try to keep the space flexible as students identify different needs throughout the school year. Im excited for the potential for students to create collaborative work and ... do that 24/7, she said. More than $7 million of the project was paid through private donations, UNL said, with several areas named in recognition of donors. The Kit and Dick Schmoker Study Center fills the entire north side of the building and is named for 1960s graduates. The Henning Family Cafe is named in recognition of Candy and Tom Henning of Lincoln and their daughters. Dr. Barbara Arnold, Class of 65, has the central information and technology support desk named for her. There, technology and expert help is available 24 hours a day. Busch said the donations received thus far are a testimony of the important role of libraries to the university and to alums. This is the place that most people have studied, she said. A lot of people remember fondly their times in Love Library when they were going to school here. This is one of the attractions we have, and for us its testimony to the kind of support we have. UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said the Adele Hall Learning Commons will be the core of the students academic experience. It returns Love Library to its central place in the academic environment of a modern 21st-century university, he said in a news release. Within hours of its opening on Monday, students had claimed the private study rooms and spread out across tables and booths as the spring semester got underway. It appeared as though we had a hit on our hands, Busch said. UNL will monitor activity and attendance at the center to see if keeping the commons open around the clock makes sense. His first reaction wasnt to call the police. Instinct took over. Retired Lincoln firefighter Mark Munger was on his way back to Lincoln from visiting his daughter in Des Moines on Friday. He had just stopped for gasoline and gotten back onto Interstate 80 on an unusually windy day. The trailer hitched to a vehicle in front of him started to teeter. In a matter of seconds, the car swung dramatically to the left, and tumbled in seemingly endless loops until it plopped upside down on the median. It was the most violent thing Ive seen in my life and Ive seen a lot of things, Munger said. While others called police, Munger could only think that he needed to get to the vehicle as fast as he could and help in any way he could. Munger dodged debris from warped, body-size pieces of what used to be the trailers side paneling to shattered glass until he was finally able to pull his car onto the shoulder. Then, he got out and ran. Sprinting down the wrong way of the interstate to the wreckage 50 yards away, he realized that potentially more dangerous than the actual wreck could be oncoming traffic crashing into the scene. As he ran, he waved both arms in the air frantically, directing traffic out of the way. He spent 35 years of his life doing this kind of thing. He might have retired six years ago, but all of his quick response instincts came back easily. Its like riding a bicycle, Munger said. If youre in the emergency services as a professional, I dont think you forget. To help people is just part of my psyche, my blood, my DNA. Theres no way that I could have not stopped. As he got closer to the wreckage, Munger scanned the ground for bodies that might have flown out. He didnt see any and climbed to the drivers side, got on his stomach in the snow and peered in the window. I could not believe people were still in the vehicle, Munger said. I thought I was running back to a car full of dead people. By then, more vehicles had pulled over. Munger could hear people yelling Are they alive? Munger was able to pry the smashed car doors open and help the two children in the back get out. Next was their mom. Much to Mungers surprise, no one suffered any major injuries just a few cuts and bruises. Munger fashioned a sling out of his T-shirt for one of the girls who had a broken arm. Munger and the girls and their mom waited in another womans car to avoid the bitter cold. To calm the situation down, Munger told them that as a firefighter he had seen things like this uncountable times. Even though he had assisted people at all kinds of accidents in the past, this one in particular was one Munger hadnt ever experienced. It was so different in the fact that I watched it all unfold right before my eyes rather than pulling up minutes after, he said. So to watch the crash in front of you is disconcerting. Munger said that if theres one thing anyone should learn from this horrific accident, its that seat belts save lives. If those folks hadnt had seat belts on, there is no way they could have survived, he said. I dont know how many times that car rolled over, but it was a bunch and every window was knocked out, every airbag deployed, every safety device. (Their seat belts) saved their lives. In an abrupt change of plans, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Tuesday he will greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival at Offutt Air Force Base on Wednesday and welcome the president to Nebraska. Ricketts decided to accept a White House invitation to greet the president at the airfield before resuming his own schedule of preparing his State of the State address to the Legislature scheduled for Thursday and a budget briefing slated for Wednesday evening. The governor does not plan to attend the president's speech Wednesday at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "I'm grateful to my staff who worked so hard to rearrange my schedule so that I could welcome the president to Nebraska," Ricketts said in a brief statement. Ricketts, a Republican, had come under some criticism for his earlier decision not to greet the Democratic president because of his work load this week. It will be Obama's first scheduled appearance in Nebraska, coming during the last year of his presidency. The governor said his earlier decision not to welcome the president had everything to do with his own schedule and no relation to partisan politics. Former Gov. Mike Johanns, a Republican, greeted Democratic President Bill Clinton on his only presidential trip to Nebraska in 2000 when the former president addressed an event at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. One day you wash up on the beach, wet and naked. Another day you wash back out. In between, the scenery changes constantly. Dusit Island Resort Chiang Rai will host the PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2016 (AT&RTCM2016) from February 17-19, 2016. AT&RTCM 2016 is a three-day niche event that brings together public and private sectors involved in adventure travel and responsible tourism to discuss new opportunities for promoting environmental protection and social sustainability within the industry. The programme comprises a one-day conference, followed by a one-day travel mart, and includes two complimentary half-day tours. The choice of the destination reflects the growing importance of dispersing tourists to emerging destinations, following successful events in Bhutan and Nepal in previous years. Mr. Shannon Stowell, President, Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), USA, will be delivering the Keynote Address on Increasing our Adventure Tourism Competitiveness. In his Keynote Address he will examine how destinations and companies can assess the market value and competitiveness of the adventure tourism sector, including market size and segmentation. He will delve into two indices that measure tourism competitiveness: the Adventure Travel Development Index and the World Economic Forum. Other confirmed speakers include Hamish Keith, Co-Owner & Managing Director, Exo Travel Thailand; Mei Zhang, Founder, WildChina; Judy Karwacki, President, Small Planet Consulting & Jubilee Travel; John Roberts, Director of Conservation Activities, Anantara Resorts and Spas Worldwide; Willem Niemeijer, Founder & CEO, Khiri Group; Yin Myo Su, Chairperson, Inle Heritage Foundation; Ben Fleming, Marketing Manager, Tourism Authority of Thailand LA Office; Sarah Mathews, Head of Destination Marketing APAC, TripAdvisor; Ryan Bonnici, Marketing Director, Hubspot; Damien Del Porto, Director- Marketing, Khiri Group; Wouter Schalken, Tourism Component Manager, Samarth-Nepal Market Development Programme; Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, Executive Director Advertising and Public Relations Department, Tourism Authority of Thailand; Ajay Jain, Editor, Kunzum Travel Mag; and Ric Gazarian, Avid Traveller, Author, and Documentary Producer. The former capital of the great Lanna Kingdom, Chiang Rai is a fascinating province filled with cultural and natural wonders. Located in northern Thailand, tourists can escape the crowds and visit remote hill tribes and spot exotic wildlife. Attractions range from ruins of ancient settlements and Buddhist shrines to magnificent mountain scenery and hill tribe villages. Chiang Rai is also a centre for community development projects, helping rural villagers develop their attractions without adversely affecting their natural and cultural assets. Click here for the AT&RTCM2016 programme for more details about the event. The nominees have been revealed for the 19th annual D.I.C.E. Awards, which will take place on Thursday, February 18 at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Hosted by comedian, podcaster, voice actor, and cartoonist Pete Holmes, the ceremony is the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' chance to honor the year's finest video games and their creators. Crystal Dynamics' Rise of the Tomb Raider tops the list of nominees with nine award nods, followed by CD Projekt Red's eight award nominations for The Witcher 3. Ori and the Blind Forest, Fallout 4, Her Story, The Order: 1886, and Stars Wars Battlefront also received multiple nominations. Other games in the running include Batman: Arkham Knight, Destiny: The Taken King, Rocket League, Lara Croft GO, Life is Strange, and Undertale. As well as shining a light on 2015's best and brightest, this year's ceremony will honor Satoru Iwata with a Lifetime Achievement Award, while Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima will be this year's Hall of Fame inductee. You can check out a partial list of nominees below, or head on over to the official awards website for the full thing. Game of the Year Bloodborne Fallout 4 Ori and the Blind Forest Rise of the Tomb Raider The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Fallout 4 Life is Strange Rise of the Tomb Raider The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Undertale Adventure Game of the Year Batman: Arkham Knight Life is Strange Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Ori and the Blind Forest Rise of the Tomb Raider Action Game of the Year Destiny: The Taken King Helldivers Just Cause 3 Star Wars Battlefront Splatoon Mobile Game of the Year DomiNations Fallout Shelter Lara Croft GO Pac-man 256 The Room Three D.I.C.E. Sprite Award SM comments on submarines, non-submarine weapons & major international events. If Australia wants truly independent foreign/defence policies, we are so isolated that we need to develop a convincing deterrent far sooner than any Aus SSNs arrive (or not) in the 2040s. Deterrent is mainly against China. We do not know if we will ever again see the equivalent of the siberian traps. We can see a super volcano at work, but that is likely to be... FOREST CITY - Four students made the suggestion and most of the high school embraced it. Jericho Baker, Emily Banken, Ryleigh Lillquist and Payton Skjeie are juniors at Forest City High School. The four students completed the HOBY leadership program last summer. The program encourages participants to complete volunteer hours during the year following HOBY. The students took that encouragement and an idea they learned at HOBY to their fellow students. "One of the things (HOBY emphasizes) is using leadership skills to give back to the community," Baker said. The four students asked other students and staff members to make blankets for children at the University of Iowa children's hospital. Students and staff made tie blankets during several weekly Wednesday advisor/advisee sessions. Students and staff responded positively as they made several hundred blankets. "We let them know about doing it for kids," Lillquist said. "Kids in the hospital and most of them fighting for their lives." Students were asked to donate fleece material and other students made the tie blankets. "This was for a good cause," Banken said. "Students donated more than I thought." "I think they enjoyed doing something that was different," Baker said. Students said the staff also responded favorably as some teachers donated material and made blankets. The tie blankets will make the hospital rooms even better for kids, Lillquist said. "They try to make the rooms as homey as they can," she said of the children's hospital. FOREST CITY - Residents lost a convenient location when Spahn & Rose closed its retail store in Forest City last week, Forest City Chamber of Commerce Director Kathy Rollefson said. "As someone who is in the middle of a home improvement project now, it was very convenient," Rollefson said of the lumber yard and hardware store. Spahn & Rose closed the store immediately the day it was announced on Jan. 4. The company posted a letter from company president and chief executive officer John P. Hannan on the front door announcing the closure. Spahn & Rose has five full-time employees at the Forest City store. Rick Miller, the companys regional vice president, said the company is looking at possible transfers for employees. Miller was at the store Jan. 4. Rollefson said she was surprised the store had closed. She had just shopped with Spahn & Rose for Christmas gifts. "I had items lined up I wanted to order for our home improvement projects," Rollefson said. Spahn & Rose was also a "very good chamber member," Rollefson said. "They participated in a lot of promotions." Rollefson recalled that during one recent summer, the store changed one its events to coincide with a chamber promotion. Spahn & Rose has a store in Osage. Hannans letter said its hoped that customers can be served from the Osage location. Miller said the Forest City store was the second Spahn & Rose site to close since January 2015. The company operates 25 stores in three states and is based in Dubuque. Hannans letter said the company is transferring merchandise from Forest City to other locations. An advertisement in this week's Summit announces a 50 percent sale for Jan. 15. If you currently have an ongoing project with Spahn & Rose we can assure you that we will see that project through to completion, Hannans letter said. DES MOINES A day after Gov. Terry Branstad called on lawmakers to address significant racial disparities in criminal justice, Iowas chief justice added his voice to the call to end racial disparity and modernize the jury system. Racial disparity is a community problem requiring community solutions, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady said in his sixth annual State of the Judiciary report to the Legislature. Cady outlined measures the Judicial Branch has taken to address racial disparities in the system, including training 716 judges, magistrates and other staff to recognize implicit biases that contribute to disparities. Three counties Linn, Johnson and Scott, he said, are collaborating with Georgetown University to eliminate racial disparity in the juvenile justice system. It has reduced school referrals to juvenile court by 61 percent. We will always face challenges in delivering on our promise of justice for all, challenges that are overcome when our values and virtues guide the actions we take and the decisions we make, Cady told the joint session of the Senate and House. Justice, he added, is important to every Iowans, and the condition of justice is vital to the overall health and prosperity of this state. To the end, Cady laid out five other priorities: Protecting children. Providing full-time access to justices Operating an efficient full-service court system. Operating in an open and transparent way. Providing faster and less costly resolution of legal disputes. Like the governor, he also called for lawmakers to address the dark underworld of human trafficking that exists in many Iowa communities. Progress has been made, Cady said, in increasing confidentiality of juvenile court records to realize the common goals of public safety and the best interest of our children. He highlighted the success of business courts and a process to expedite and lower the costs of civil litigation. Close to 400 civil actions have been fast-tracked, which exceeded Cadys expectations, and after an evaluation last summer, the Iowa Bar Association declared. Both the bench and the bar are highly satisfied with the initiative. The Judicial Branch also is working toward expanding access to court documents. With statewide electronic filing, court users and the public have more access than ever. However, he added, the public and media do not have access from their own computers. He called for modifications in pretrial release programs that will not compromise public safety, but mitigate the adverse impacts job loss, separation from family, debt and the likelihood of future incarceration that stem from arrest. Achieving racial impartiality in delivering justice is a journey, Cady said. One stop on that journey is modernizing the jury system to give greater assurance that randomly selected jury pools represent a fair cross-section of each community. The Judicial Branch will begin to collect information on the racial composition of juries to determine if the process can be approved. When all Iowans have full confidence in the fairness of our jury system, justice is delivered, he said. DES MOINES Iowa wildlife officials are asking hunters to be sure of their targets after another recent shooting of a large wolf-like animal mistaken for a coyote. The 103-pound animal shot by a late-season muzzle-loader deer hunter on Dec. 28 or 29 in Van Buren County has been sent in for DNA testing, said Vince Evelsizer, furbearer and wetlands biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Officials are still waiting for DNA results from a 98-pound animal shot by a coyote hunter in Northwest Iowas Osceola County on Dec. 5. The hunters names have not been released pending the investigation. Both animals were mistaken for coyotes, which at 30-35 pounds are much smaller than the average 70-100-pound gray wolf. We want to be sure to encourage folks to be sure of their target when theyre hunting, said Evelsizer, of the DNRs Clear Lake office. Test results will determine if the animals shot in December were wild wolves, which are protected by state and federal laws, or if they were wolf hybrids. There is no breeding population of wolves in Iowa, but experts say theres an estimated 2,500 wild wolves in Minnesota and another 1,500-2,000 in Wisconsin and Michigan. Adult wolves can roam hundreds of miles. In 2014, two wolves were shot in eastern Iowa. MASON CITY A Mason City man arrested in July after shooting a BB gun outside a local bar was given a deferred judgment on a felony weapons charge Monday. Jordan Scott Adams, 19, was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a Class C felony, after the shooting at the Eleven bar at 11 S. Federal Ave. on July 26. Officers were called at 1:30 a.m. The criminal complaint from the Mason City Police Department states Adams shot a BB gun at Eleven while it was open and people were standing outside. At least one person as struck with a BB, according to the complaint. Officers were told that the gunman was on the Southbridge Mall roof. Before officers arrived, a window of an SUV parked in the city-owned lot across the street from Eleven was shot out along with one of the front windows of the Eleven bar/Chop restaurant. Adams pleaded guilty in November to the intimidation with a dangerous weapon charge as well as two counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief, a serious misdemeanor. He was put on probation for three years for intimidation with a dangerous weapon. A $1,000 civil penalty was suspended. Adams received a 30-day jail sentence and a $315 fine on each of the criminal mischief charges. The jail sentences are to be served concurrently with each other. ROCKWELL The leader of a Rockwell church whose parish center was severely damaged by fire Tuesday says plans are in the works to rebuild. Multiple fire departments responded around 7:38 a.m. to reports of smoke and flames at the Sacred Heart Parish Center, formerly the Sacred Heart Catholic School. The center is located next to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 305 Elm St. E. The school closed in the 1970s and has been used as a parish center since then for Sacred Heart, which has 180 families. It also hosted community events. Its a big loss for the church, parish secretary Helen Cahalan said Tuesday morning as she headed to the community center to make coffee for first responders. Its sickening. Rockwell Fire Chief Mark Lowe said no one was hurt and the building was unoccupied at the time of the fire, which continues to smolder. Its a controlled burn now, he said late Tuesday afternoon. Itll probably be actively burning for the next day or two. The Rockwell Fire Department is checking the site regularly to ensure the fire does not spread. The Rev. Rod Allers said although the center is considered a loss, the church plans to rebuild a similar building by fall. In the meantime, the Lutheran church has offered space to Sacred Heart, who used the center for religious education, wakes and visitations and to host a popular turkey dinner and Irish fair, as well as a community gathering place for estate auctions, family reunions and fundraisers for locals in need. It also housed offices and an apartment for the parishs groundskeeper, whom Allers identified by only his first name, Mark. He lost everything, Allers said. Most of my grief is in the loss of his personal belongings, which he cant get back. Allers believes Mark who takes care of mowing, snow removal and setting up events is staying with family. He said the parish had offered him a motel room, money whatever he needed. Allers lives on campus in a separate home, which was not damaged. The church building, which sustained repairable smoke damage, will have services on Sunday. Due to the extensive damage at the center, Allers said there will be no investigation. The parishs insurance company has reviewed the building, where the fire is believed to have started in the roof. It is suspected to be electrical Allers said arson and cooking-related mishaps have been ruled out. Allers says he has a tremendous amount of gratitude for the communitys first responders and those who assisted them Tuesday with warming stations, hot drinks and sandwiches. We dont give enough gratitude to our volunteer fire departments who take time off work to try to save a building thats important to the community, he said. There was truly an outpouring of support to get them through the day. Firefighters from Rockwell, Sheffield, Swaledale, Dougherty and Mason City were at the scene for the majority of the day. Lowe said the departments used portable heaters and generators to keep water flowing, since firefighters faced sub-zero temperatures and brisk wind chills. Brandon Wilson, a volunteer training officer for the Sheffield Fire Department, suited up quickly as his department arrived around 8 a.m. Tuesday. He said the clothing would help protect him from the elements. The gear keeps us warm, he said, as he pulled a balaclava over his head. We just have to keep moving and do our best. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office and Iowa State Patrol also provided assistance. ORCHARD He had flashbacks for years. It could be a sound. It could be a smell. It could be a touch. It could be almost anything, said John Ross of Orchard, recalling the effects of the year he spent in Vietnam. They Served With Honor: North Iowa's Vietnam Veterans The Globe Gazette will publish 50 stories starting on Veterans Day about North Iowas Vietnam Veterans. The stories will appear on Sundays Whatever it is will put you back in the war zone. You cant help it, said Ross, 65. Im over most of it now but I still cant watch movies about Vietnam and I dont go to fireworks shows. I can watch them from a distance but I cant handle the sound. Ross was drafted into the Army and was in Vietnam for 364 days in 1970-71. I was actually there exactly a year but I lost a day coming back, he said with a laugh. During that time, he was shot down twice once in a helicopter and once in a plane. The helicopter was headed into a hot zone when we were hit. I would call it a controlled crash. We hid in a crater and were really pinned down. I kind of knew how Custer felt, said Ross. Youre not really scared. But you do wonder whos next and is my number up? The incident with the plane came at a time when the company clerk helped Ross make arrangements to get home for a few days to see his girlfriend and future wife, Paula. He flew back into one area of Vietnam and then took another plane to get back with his company. When that plane left the runway, it was hit by enemy fire when it was about 500 feet off the ground. We did kind of a half-roll down and landed on another runway. We got out of there safe but it was pretty intense, said Ross. He said the experience of being in a war is hard to explain. Its like youre waiting for the school bully to come after you and it can happen when youre eating, when youre sleeping, any time. Youre under this stress 24-7, he said. Ross said today he often gives talks to school children about his days in Vietnam. I have to vary it, depending on the age of the kids. But Im often asked why we were there. I tell them about an old man over there who always shook my hand when he saw me. Why did he do that? Because as long as I was there as long as we were there the North Vietnamese wouldnt come down and steal everything he had, he said. And he didnt have that much a few things in a little hut. But it was all he had, and we protected it for him. Ross said his homecoming back in the U.S. was not pleasant. When we were flying back, we were to land in Seattle. We were told to get into civilian clothes as soon as we could. If we didnt have any with us, go buy some, we were told, said Ross. It wasnt long before he found out why. When I first got back in the U.S., it was bad. If people knew I was a soldier in Vietnam, they were vicious. I was spat on and called a baby killer, he said. Even when I got home to where I lived at that time, Austin, Minnesota, the townspeople werent very nice. It got to the point where you didnt tell anyone you were a vet and it was even difficult getting a job, he said. At the urging of Mitchell County Sheriff Greg Beaver, Ross reluctantly went to the Operation LZ reunion last summer in Forest City. I didnt want to go but it turned out to be therapeutic, he said. When he thinks of his days in Vietnam, many memories come to mind, said Ross, but one in particular stands out. Anytime I held a wounded soldier in my arms, they always wanted two things Mom and God, as in God, please dont let me die. SEATTLE, Jan. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the Merchant Risk Council announced the finalists of the MRC Vegas 2016 METAwards. Start-up finalists include: Feedzai, Riskified and Shape Security. Established finalists include: InAuth, NuData Security and SiftScience. The METAwards, MRC Emerging Technology Awards, honor solution providers in both the start-up (under 3 years) and established (over 3 years) categories whose creative innovations and advanced technologies have contributed to the commercial and operational success of eCommerce merchants. This year the winner of the start-up category will receive a free year of MRC membership, a $15,000 value. The winner of the established category will receive sponsorship rights of the 2017 METAwards presentation including valuable stage time during the general conference. The 2016 finalists were selected by a unique panel of industry experts based on product relevance, industry impact and technological innovation. Finalists are invited to present their products at MRC Vegas 2016, March 7-10 at the Aria Resort and Casino, where attendees will vote live on a winner in each category. MRC METAwards nominations included submissions from global solution providers, third-party vendors, card brands, processors and acquirers. Developments included: measuring, monitoring or mitigating card-not-present fraud, advancing data security, improving online payments acceptance and processes, etc. Find more information about the METAwards or MRC Vegas 2016. About the MRC: The MRC is an unbiased global community providing a platform for eCommerce fraud and payments professionals to come together and share information. As a not-for-profit entity, the MRCs vision is to make commerce safe and profitable everywhere by offering proprietary education, training and networking as well as a forum for timely and relevant discussions. The MRC was launched in 2000 at the start of the eCommerce boom by a small group of industry professionals from leading consumer brands, with the ultimate goal of combating online fraud in the card not present space. Since its inception, the MRC has also added online payments to its portfolio, expanding its presence further into eCommerce. The MRC is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and has offices in Madrid, Spain and Dublin, Ireland. Los Angeles, Jan. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading Beverly Hills orthodontist Mahtab Partovi, DDS of 360 Orthodontics introduces a faster, more comfortable and authentic approach to enhancing patients smiles with the Partovi Method. Offering a wide variety of handpicked custom braces, cutting-edge technologies, and specialized techniques, Dr. Partovi has mastered the Hollywood smilethe natural way. From the start, my goal has been to deliver patients a straight, healthy, captivating smile that is all their own, said Dr. Partovi. Many people still associate orthodontics with pain and years of treatmentI wanted to change that. So many advancements have been made in the industry, whether in regards to the bracket systems available or the supplementary technologies used. What Ive managed to do with the Partovi Method is compile the most effective of those strategies to deliver patients dramatic results in less time, with less discomfort, and without the need for veneers or prosthetics. The Partovi Method goes beyond traditional teeth straightening to encompass everything from tooth shaping to gum contouring to teeth whitening. Patients can choose from a selection of custom braces (with options that promise to align teeth up to 60 percent faster than traditional metal braces), as well as accompanying technologies to further reduce discomfort and maximize results. The added bonus: because Dr. Partovi specializes in dramatic smile makeovers using patients real teeth, the results achieved are truly permanent. While there is definitely a time and place for veneers, many patients can receive the same caliber of results using just what their mama gave them, said Dr. Partovi. Thats one of the great things about the Partovi Method; it is an investment that will actually last a lifetime. I absolutely love watching my patients confidence transform when they see what a significant change can be made in such a short amount of time. However, a natural A-List smile is only part of what sets the Partovi Method apart from the crowd. The lauded orthodontist is also known for her highly personalized and holistic approach to treatment. Taking into consideration the whole patienttheir lifestyle, age, and hobbiesDr. Partovi is able to design a treatment plan that is affordable and practical with results that cater specifically to the individual. For more information or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Partovi today, please visit http://www.360orthodontics.com. ### About Dr. Partovi Dr. Partovi is a leading Beverly Hills orthodontist taking an authentic approach in delivering patients of all ages a Hollywood smile that is truly their own. Using a wide range of cutting-edge orthodontic treatments, she has delivered thousands of patients a natural alternative to cosmetic dentistry. In addition to providing the most advanced and most effective orthodontic solutions available, Dr. Partovi is also known for her transparency in offering traditional braces at more than half the cost of other orthodontistssimply because she can. Her honest approach extends throughout her entire Los Angeles practice, 360 Orthodontics, which was carefully designed as a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly haven where patients may receive sustainable and highly personalized care. Dr. Partovi regularly donates her time and services to a number of important charitable organizations, including Covenant House, Hearts of Los Angeles, Special Olympics Special Smiles, and more. MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aarti Bowman, senior vice president of investor relations for First Tennessee Banks parent company, First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE:FHN), has been honored by Institutional Investor magazine as one of the top investor relations professionals in the nation. Bowman was named to the magazines 2016 All-America Investor Team and was voted the No. 1 investor relations professional in the mid-cap banks category. In addition, First Horizons overall investor relations program was named No. 1 in the banks/mid-cap category. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cb4f1494-0b95-429b-83c0-00676d5cabdf Aarti is a talented professional who leads our efforts to serve the investment community with the same high level of differentiated service we give our customers, said William C. B.J. Losch III, First Horizons executive vice president and chief financial officer. First Horizon is committed to delivering a high-quality investor relations program known for timely, accurate, relevant and transparent information. This award is well-deserved recognition for Aarti and our broader team that includes professionals from IR, accounting, legal and credit. The Institutional Investor rankings feature the countrys best investor relations executives, professionals and programs. More than 2,100 portfolio managers and analysts voted across 45 sectors to determine the top professionals in each category. The Best Investor Relations rankings are an aggregate of rankings across eight performance attributes. Voters, who work at firms that collectively manage $7.1 trillion in U.S. equities, could nominate up to four companies in each category. About First Horizon The 4,200 employees of First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE:FHN) provide financial services through more than 170 bank locations in and around Tennessee and 26 FTN Financial offices in the U.S. The company was founded during the Civil War in 1864 and has the 14th oldest national bank charter in the country. First Tennessee has the largest deposit market share in Tennessee and one of the highest customer retention rates of any bank in the country. FTN Financial is a capital markets industry leader in fixed income sales, trading and strategies for institutional customers in the U.S. and abroad. First Horizon has been recognized as one of the nation's best employers by Forbes, Working Mother and American Banker magazines. More information is available at www.FirstHorizon.com. FHN-G MEXICO CITY, Jan. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empresas ICA, S.AB. de C.V. (BMV:ICA) (NYSE:ICA), the largest infrastructure and construction company in Mexico, stated that it has agreed with an equity investor to engage in a series of future transactions related to certain of the low income real estate assets of its housing development subsidiary, ViveICA. ICA does not expect that the transactions, if completed, will result in cash generation for the parent company, but does expect them to provide additional working capital for the assets subject to the transactions. ICA will inform the market when and if any material transactions are completed. This press release contains projections or other forward-looking statements related to ICA that reflect ICAs current expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from actual results or events due to important factors such as changes in general economic, business or political or other conditions in Mexico, Latin America or elsewhere, changes in capital markets in general that may affect policies or attitudes towards lending to Mexico or Mexican companies, changes in tax and other laws affecting ICAs businesses, increased costs, unanticipated increases in financing and other costs or the inability to obtain additional debt or equity financing on attractive terms and other factors set forth in ICAs most recent filing on Form 20-F and in any filing or submission ICA has made with the SEC subsequent to its most recent filing on Form 20-F. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to ICA on the date hereof, and ICA assumes no obligation to update such statements. Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. is Mexico's largest infrastructure company. ICA carries out large-scale civil and industrial construction projects and operates a portfolio of long-term assets, including airports, toll roads, water systems, and real estate. Founded in 1947, lCA is listed on the Mexican and New York Stock exchanges. For more information, visit ir.ica.mx. SAN DIEGO, Calif., Jan. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Larry Chiavaro, Executive Vice President of First Associates Loan Servicing will be leading a panel titled "Funding & Liquidity in Marketplace Cloud Lending" at the 2016 Cloud Lending Summit & Expo. In this highly anticipated panel discussion, Chiavaro and other industry leaders will provide insights into securitization, working with institutional investors, crowdfunding, secondary markets and more. The event will be presented by the International Institute for Business Information & Growth (iiBIG) and the Cloud Computing Association (CCA) and will be held on January 19-20, 2016 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Chiavaro is serving as Faculty Advisor for the summit, which will bring together leading marketplace lenders, investors, technology vendors and advisors. "As the cloud lending industry continues to experience exponential growth, it's crucial to keep informed of the latest technology, best practices and trends" said Chiavaro. "This conference offers an opportunity for platforms and investors to share valuable insights and build long-term strategic relationships". A leader in the online lending industry, Chiavaro has more than two decades of progressive experience in the consumer finance industry working with banks, investment banks, finance companies and credit unions. He has a wealth of industry leadership in the mortgage, auto finance industries and more. "Larry Chiavaro has been absolutely invaluable as the Faculty Advisor for the conference" said Don Buford, CEO of iiBIG. "He is one of the most well-connected professionals in the space and has brought together the industry's top leaders for this event". First Associates has 30 years of experience in the consumer finance industry and is the leading cloud lending loan servicer. First Associates has participated in both rated and unrated marketplace lender securitizations in 2015, involving the industry's top firms. As a bridge between originators and capital markets, First Associates is a trusted intermediary for, and advisor to, the diverse participants in the securitization process from sponsors to rating agencies. About iiBIG The International Institute for Business Information & Growth, LLC (iiBIG) is a boutique business-to-business conference organization founded in 2006 specializing in conferences, seminars and real-time meetings for executives in the investment/financial services, life sciences/clinical research; and IT/Cloud Computing sectors. Their events are designed for BIG thinkers, those who occupy leadership roles in their companies and organizations who know the value of taking a step back from the exigencies of their day-to-day responsibilities in order to focus on the BIG picture. For more information, please visit http://www.iibig.com. About CCA The Cloud Computing Association (CCA) is an independent membership organization, founded by iiBIG in 2012. The organization is dedicated to building a community of end-users and service providers of cloud-based solutions and products. Their mission is to promote the adoption and use of cloud-based technologies by large-cap and small to middle-market enterprises (SMEs) across all industry sectors. To achieve its mission, the CCA creates online and face-to-face opportunities where cloud-based providers and end-users can meet, network and learn about the challenges and benefits of adopting cloud-based technologies to promote commerce, enterprise-wide efficiencies, effectiveness and cost-savings. About First Associates Loan Servicing, LLC Based in San Diego, First Associates Loan Servicing is the fastest growing third-party loan and lease servicer in the United States. The company offers a wide range of solutions for a variety of asset classes including marketplace lending, automotive, motorsports, business, retail purchase finance, solar, timeshare and student loans. First Associates has world class management and staff, full SSAE 16 II audit, best-in-class IT infrastructure, as well as strong institutional relationships with commercial and investment banks, finance companies, investment funds and credit unions. First Associates leads the consumer finance industry in providing customized technology and customer service solutions for its partners. The company is celebrating its 30-Year Anniversary in 2016. For more information, please visit http://www.1stassociates.com. This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/01/prweb13163612.htm We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Governor Cuomos announcement last week that 30 subway stations would be completely closed for months at a time in order to properly revamp them was greeted with groans by riders. But a disruption of epic proportions potentially looms for New Yorkers who rely on the L train to get in and out of Manhattan. Like the R trains Montague Tube, the L trains Canarsie Tube was flooded with saltwater and severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy. The Montague Tube was shut down and repaired in 13 monthsone month and $58 million under budgetwhile riders found other ways to get to work. The project to repair the Canarsie Tube is projected to take three years, and the MTA is considering shutting down service between Manhattan and Brooklyn entirely to get it done, according to MTA sources familiar with the initiative. In this scenario, Manhattan-bound L service would terminate at Bedford Avenue, the lines busiest station. More than 300,000 New Yorkers ride the L train on an average weekday. When the Montague Tube was damaged by Hurricane Sandy it had 65,000 daily riders. Another option being weighed is to keep one of the two tunnels open while repairing the otherthere are separate Manhattan-bound and Brooklyn-bound tunnelsleaving room for limited service. If one tunnel is down, how bad will the L train be in the mornings just going one way? one source says. Itll be packed beyond belief. Itll be a fight. Is that the smartest way to do it if its going to be the difference of a year? I dont know. In either case, to get L train riders where they need to go, the MTA is planning on increasing M train service, adding two cars to G trains, and running a system of shuttle buses; the sources say that the tunnel work is slated to begin in late 2017. A bid outline for the tunnel repairs that was made public last year stated that the work would cost OVER $50 million and that the contract would last 40 months. The Montague Tube cost the MTA $250 million. Tunnel repairs are covered by Sandy relief funds from the federal government. The Canarsie Tube after the MTA pumped out the saltwater that flooded it during Hurricane Sandy (MTA New York City Transit / Marc A. Hermann) Unfortunately we all knew this day would eventually come on the Canarsie line, because this is, once again, the legacy of Sandy, says Richard Barone, the Director of Transportation Programs for the Regional Plan Association. It really depends on how quickly it takes the MTA to get the job done versus the severity of the shutdown. So if they can get it done in a year, but they have to shut both tunnels down, its one thing. If it takes them three or four years to do it, and they have to alternate shutting down the tunnels, you have to question, which is better? Is it better to get it done faster but with massive disruption? Is it even possible to do that? Is there an another alternative that these folks can take to get to Manhattan for work? Dr. Robert Paaswell, an engineering professor at City College of New York and Director Emeritus of the University Transportation Research Center, believes that a complete shutdown is the wisest course of action, and likened it to Governor Cuomo's announcement to take "30 stations put them out all at once, design build whole new station, let people walk in there and say, 'Wow, this is the MTA.'" (Or in the MTA's words, "get in, get done and get out.") "[Cuomo's] absolutely right," Paaswell said. "Thats the way to do it." Youre going to have to take some lumps, people are going to be inconveniencedget it done as quickly as possible, then reopen with a new system, Paaswell says. I hate to be hard about itthats why Im not the head of the MTA, because I dont have to make that decisionbut if I were, I would get it done as quickly as possible. Paaswell, who was the executive director for the Chicago Transit Authority from 1986 to 1989, argued that a one-tunnel system wouldnt be able to handle the line's growing ridership. Youre doing one track at a time, all of a sudden you have a summer thunderstorm and the track floods or a signal goes down and you have no tracks and that was the only option and people havent even thought of other ways to get around, and youre screwed, Paaswell says. Either way, the MTA is going to have to get very creative, according to Barone: "There isnt really much redundancy here except for a portion of the M." Barone suggested networks of bus services that mirror the Canarsie line, installing express bus lanes on bridges, and telecommuting as possible ways to alleviate the strain. "Are there other things you can do to help with demand?" Barone wonders. "Maybe management kind of shifts people to work other times of day, to get them to kind of actually work at home a few days a week? Theres other options out there." Ferries would only have a limited impact, Barone says, because you have to get people to the ferry. Its really a waterfront to waterfront type of mode. Once you look at all these, all these individual mitigation measures, you add them up and say, well, is there still a deficit? If there is still a significant deficit, then you have to say, we cant really shut it down completely, Barone said. Both experts compared the MTAs dilemma to that facing New York, New Jersey, and the federal government over the tunnels under the Hudson River, which are in dire need of repair that will likely cut their train capacity by three quarters. It shows that the lack of investment in infrastructure over the last thirty, forty years is really hurting the city now, Paaswell says. Governor Cuomo at the Transit Museum, announcing the closure of 30 subway stations for months at a time in order to facilitate repairs (Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo) MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said that shutting down the Canarsie Tube entirely "is one of several options that were considering." "On the one hand [with] Montague, which has lower ridership and abundant redundant options around there, we were able to close it down with relatively little customer impact. The ability to get in get it done and get out was a huge factor in being able to do it with as little pain as possible for our customers," Lisberg said. "At the other end, right now were doing dozens of weekend closures to do Sandy repair work on the A/C/E and F lines because those under-river tunnels were both damaged in Sandy and need work as well. Its frustrating for people who use those stations on the weekends, we know, but we decided that that was still preferable to doing full shutdowns on those kinds of tubes. So somewhere in the middle of those, we have to deal with Canarsie." Lisberg could not comment specifically on how the MTA would get customers where they need to go in the event of a complete shutdown. "Anything and everything will be on the table," he said. It also wasn't immediately clear if the federal relief funding can be used towards mitigating the impacts of a shutdown. According to Barone, the ideal situation will allow the MTA to simultaneously repair the Canarsie Tube and knock out $300 million in upgrades to the line, including new entrances on Avenue A and Bedford Avenue, and three power substations, allowing for two additional trains every hour. The problem I think that people have today, is that they don't really believe that it will be done [in three years], Barone says. "People were surprised with the Montague. That happened better than people thought, earlier than people thought. If they deliver the Second Avenue Subway in December of 2016 as they promised, if they start delivering things when they say they're going to deliver them, then people have confidence. If the MTA keeps showing that it can get things done on time, then people might be okay with that, if you couple it with: we're giving it back to you better than we took it away." Lisberg said that while nothing had been finalized, "The logical thing to do is to piggyback the station work and the elevator work and the substation work on the Sandy work, so we absolutely will be combining that work as much as possible so we can minimize the impact on our customers. We will make sure it all gets combined as much as possible." This week, the second annual United States edition of the Caputo Cup Pizza Competition arrived in New York City, seeking to crown a champion dough slinger in the American city with unquestionably the best pizza. For 14 years, Italys most prestigious pizza contest had been held in Naples. This time, master pizza chefs from around the world came together for a two-day pizza extravaganza at Neapolitan Express Studio in Harlem, which began with a giant pizza summita smorgasbord of pizza-centric programming, according to organizerson Monday, and ended with the pizza-making competition on Tuesday. Over 100 chefs competed for first place in one or both categories: best Neapolitan and best New York style pizza. Contestants cooked their pizzas live in front of a small audience and three esteemed food critics. Each competitor came equipped with his/her own pre-made dough to knead, toss, sauce, cheese, and oil up while the entire audience looked on, salivating. After the judges got their tastes, audience members (myself included) politely swarmed the area for morsels of airy, cheesy goodness. Two massive blank $1,000 checks were propped up above each of the two pizza ovens, where they dangled like carrots, urging on the competitors. The top prize for two cheesy-pizza-champions included entry to the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, a pallet of fancy Caputo pizza flour, and as event organizer Carlo Orlando put it, bragging rights. Regardless of the potential dough at hand, every pizza connoisseur I spoke with seemed less concerned with winning and more interested in connecting with other passionate pros in attendance. According to Joe Fugerea Seattle-based pizzeria owner whose resume includes having once cooked 30 custom pies for President Barack Obama and delivering them directly to Air Force OneItalian culture brings more collaboration than competition. He also shared with me Obamas preferred style of pizza: "extra spicy." Every single slice looked delicious to the untrained eye, but if listening closely, one could hear the wiser whispers of pizza prophets critiquing the nuances of each pie, mainly the consistency of the dough. Ultimately, Jesus Solis from Forcella in Brooklyn took home top honors in Neapolitan, while, surprisingly, Norma Knepp of Norma's Pizza in Manheim, PA won first place in New York style. Yes, a pizza from Pennsylvania had more New York style than the pizza made by NYC pizzaoilos. We demand a recount. The fifth and final suspect in the alleged gang rape of a young woman in a Brooklyn playground was arrested yesterday. The last arrest came as one suspect claimed his smartphone video from that night shows the victim gave consent. The NYPD says that the 18-year-old and her father, who were in the Osborn Playground in Brownsville on Thursday night, were approached by a group of five males around 9:10 p.m. The father says one of them was armed and ordered him to leave. When the father complied, police say that each of the males raped the woman and then fled before the father returned with police officers. The father, 39, apparently took 20 minutes to get help; while he says he asked bodega clerks to use their phones because his daughter was being raped, clerks say that he appeared drunk, never mentioned the attack and never explained he needed to call the police. Two of the suspects claim that the father and daughter were having sex in the playground when their group arrived. A police source told the Wall Street Journal that the allegations were made in separate interviews, "They indicated that the father is the one who put her in this compromised position and they took advantage. One of them says, Well take it from here." Relatives of suspect Ethan Phillip, 15, showed reporters video from his smartphone. From the NY Times: The smartphone video that emerged on Tuesday was brief and cryptic and showed only the woman, who could only be heard mumbling at times. Whether it might help the defense or the prosecution was unclear. Billy Sullivan, 24, said the video, less than 30 seconds long, was recorded Thursday at Osborn Playground by his younger brother, Mr. Phillip, 15. He said it portrays a fresh snippet of dialogue that would help the argument that any sex was consensual. She said yeah, an unidentified male voice is heard saying on the video, played for a reporter on Tuesday by Mr. Sullivan as he and his mother stood in the doorway of her home. Then a male voice is heard saying: If you said yeah, its lit, like, you know what I mean. I could tell you a freak. And here's the Post's account: One of the boys took out his cellphone and recorded video catching the woman with her pants down as her father stood nearby, the suspects relatives said. In a short clip of the footage viewed by The Post, a young woman can be seen sitting on the ground rocking back and forth and grinning. There is the sound of young men laughing in the background. One of the teens says to the older man, Can we have some of that? according to a law-enforcement source. A teen can then be heard telling the girl, You said, Yeah. Thats what Im saying, its lit [OK], like you know what I mean? I could tell you a freak. The police are in the process of obtaining search warrants to view the footage. They are also seeking the gun that was allegedly shown in the incident. The suspectsDenzel Murray, 14; Shaquell Cooper, 15; Ethan Phillip, 15; Onandi Brown, 17; and Travis Beckford, 17, who was apprehended at his high school yesterdaywere all charged with rape, criminal sex act and sexual abuse. Their lawyers say they are innocent. Kenneth Montgomery, who is representing Murray, said, "What are we really doing here? Have we not learned our lessons from the Central Park Five?" And Brown's lawyer Spencer Leeds said his client was arrested due to political pressure, "Apparently it was the mayor who kind of forced the polices hands, putting it out there that the community was at risk when theyre not at risk." Bratton has said on Monday, "At this juncture, we have no doubt she was raped." Investigators are sifting through details of the attack. The Daily News reports, "A source said the alleged victim who was clearly injured and traumatized after the attack, according to police was in foster care and living out of state until last summer. The man who was with the woman is her biological dad, who lost custody when she was just 3 years old, a source said. The accusers mother is not in her life, the source said." The source added, "Its complicated." Leeds insisted, "This case is on its way to disappearing. There's a belief in the neighborhood in the Brownsville community that the complaining witness and the father have had sexual intercourse." Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said that the police erred in waiting to tell the public about the incident; while some community leaders were notified on Friday, the police didn't tell the media until Saturday night. Bratton said, "Theres no denying that the department should haveI the police commissioner, our press officeput some information out on Friday." De Blasio, who was told about the incident on Sunday, said that while he is in constant communication with top NYPD officials, I should have been informed certainly on Friday, and weve all had that conversation. This was a very horrific crime and a very unusual crime, and I should have been informed more quickly." La tricolor, la de la estrella solitaria, la mas linda de todas. Distintos apelativos para hablar de la bandera nacional, la cual se oficializo en 1818. Pero, sabias que la bandera chilena actual no ha sido siempre la misma? Antes de nuestra bandera hubo dos mas. Conoce mas detalles sobre este tema. Durante la etapa de la Patria Vieja, por iniciativa de Jose Miguel Carrera, Chile tuvo su primera bandera, con tres franjas: azul, blanca y amarilla, que representaban la majestad, la ley y la fuerza, atributos del estado, segun el literato Camilo Henriquez o, segun otra teoria, el cielo, la nieve cordillerana y los campos de dorados trigales. Flameo por primera vez, el 4 de julio de 1812, bordada por Javiera Carrera, hermana de Jose Miguel, siendo ella quien inculco el ideal de la independencia, a sus hermanos menores. El 30 de septiembre fue al igual que la escarapela, oficialmente adoptada, aunque ningun decreto legalizo su uso. La vida de este simbolo se extinguio, luego Opinion Destination Sharjah Come November and all roads will lead to Expo Centre Sharjah. Every year, we wait for this moment to arrive. The 41st edition of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) is all set to begin from Nov.2. Everybody in the UAE is super excited for SIBF. Lots of authors of international repute will grace the much-loved event. A total of 1,632 exhibitors from 83 countries will attend the event. I am also looking forward to meet and listen to a few of them. -- Thomas JeffersonSyndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesnt trust you. Thats an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? It's all here (Backups here and here An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. -- Robert A. HeinleinAfter all the serious stuff here, maybe we need a funny picture of a cantankerous cat The armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon, with calls by Ammon Bundy and his followers to turn federal land over to local and private control, has renewed a contentious debate played out in the last Montana Legislature and across the West. Catalyzed by the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, several Montana-based conservation organizations, including the Montana Wildlife Federation and Montana Wilderness Association, took aim at supporters of transferring federal lands to state control. The legislative transfer movement and anti-government militia movement displayed in Oregon share a common ideology, the conservation groups say. It is one thing to advocate for your agenda in the democratic process, it is quite another to invade public lands, hold a local community hostage, and make threats of armed violence, Dave Chadwick, MWF executive director, wrote. Proponents of the public land transfer cant stick their heads in the sand and pretend like their rhetoric isnt fueling this criminal behavior. Welcome to the dark periphery of the lands transfer movement, a movement that demonizes federal land management agencies, stokes fear and anger throughout the West, and gives ideological and rhetorical support to a well-armed cadre of militia members and other anti-government extremists, some of whom are now occupying Malheur, wrote Ted Brewer, MWA communications director. Montanas leading transfer proponent, Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, believes that linking the legislative and anti-government movements is not a fair assertion. I think the protest in Oregon is in response to frustrations prevalent all throughout the Western states with federal lands, but their action is quite a different course of action than what I am doing through the constitutional process so that there can be a much stronger local voice, she said. Fielder sponsored a pair of bills last session related to federal land transfer. One would have prohibited the state from selling transferred lands and the second prohibited the federal government from selling land. Neither was voted out of committee. Another bill by Rep. Kerry White, R-Bozeman, created a task force to study the feasibility of federal land transfer. Gov. Steve Bullock later vetoed the legislation after White amended it to remove transfer language in favor of a general federal land study. The Oregon occupation came as area ranchers Steven and Dwight Hammond, who claim long-running conflicts and harassment by the Bureau of Land Management, returned to prison on arson convictions for setting fires that burned federal land. Hammond supporters have criticized the prosecution as heavy handed for trying them under a domestic terrorism law. On her Facebook page, Fielder recently suggested that the Hammonds should be pardoned in an effort to end the occupation peacefully. When asked what she thinks should happen to those occupying Malheur, Fielder reiterated that efforts should be taken to diffuse the situation. No one should be thrown in jail, and I really dont know, but hope cooler heads can prevail, she said. The attention surrounding the Malheur occupation could have both positive and negative effects on future legislative efforts, Fielder said. It has successfully brought an important issue to the forefront -- that these ranchers were tried as terrorists for setting a backfire that was no different than what the federal government says is good land management, she said. Fielder has long been critical of federal land management, particularly in places like her district, which has seen a steep drop in timber jobs. While a potentially dangerous situation like the one in Oregon could occur in Montana, Fielder says one of her goals is ensuring the transfer debate remains a civil process. Im afraid well see more of whats happening in Oregon unless people can be more engaged in the decisions that impact their lives, she said. When it comes to federal land management, what the majority of people want is better recreation access and environmental health and not a federal land service that leaves these lands untended. Fielder believes federal land agencies are systematically dysfunctional and unaccountable to the local communities they impact. Environmental interests have gone to great lengths to stifle the transfer debate, with many of those attacks personal in nature, she contends. The proponents of increased federal control have tried to suppress and dirty us who favor local control, Fielder said. They smear good people participating in a legitimate government process, and that started the day I filed for office. Rep. Ed Lieser, D-Whitefish, introduced a resolution during the last session opposing federal land transfer. The resolution was voted down in committee, but Lieser feels that public sentiment in Montana is largely against pursuing a transfer. Many transfer opponents argue that federal lands belong to all Americans, and that the state of Montana could never afford to manage the lands, leading to an inevitable sell-off into private hands. My impression at least for Montana is that there is not a majority appetite for pursuing it, he said. It had the opportunity to be tested, and it just never got any traction. The Oregon occupation is fairly narrow and small, but highly vocal, Lieser said, and he does believe it shares an ideology with the transfer movement. I think it does definitely tie into the national or western U.S. movement in transferring federal lands to the state, he said. The legislative efforts are undoubtedly in my mind connected to this sentiment some have that theyre not getting the results on the ground theyd like to see. Montana has been creative in collaborating with federal agencies through efforts such as hiring a liaison to work with the Forest Service, Lieser said. Those efforts should continue, along with federal initiatives to better fund firefighting and expedite environmental analysis for needed timber projects, he believes. Lieser agreed with Fielder that a situation similar to Oregons could easily occur in Montana. In certain segments of our state -- impoverished communities dependent on the commodities historically provided by federal lands -- I do think there is a great deal of frustration for not getting access, he said. As a career Forest Service employee, Im sympathetic and think there are opportunities to make improvements, but taking over a facility by armed individuals is not the solution. Authorities are seeking three suspects in connection with the theft of a pickup truck and credit card in Helena last week. At 5:42 p.m. Friday, police reported, two males were looking through an employee's jacket on a counter at Power Townsend, 1387 Custer Ave. The employee's keys were later found to be missing, and the two males were seen circling around the parking lot in a blue, older-model pickup truck, apparently trying to determine which vehicle the keys belonged to. At 5:57 p.m. Saturday, the vehicle was reported stolen from the 1300 block of Custer Avenue. The vehicle is a 2006 gray Chevy Silverado with Montana license plate No. AAE332. At 8 p.m. Saturday, police reported, a third male used the victim's credit card to purchase gift cards at Target. It is also believed the male used the credit card at two other stores and a local gas station. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Detective Gerald LaChere at 447-8475. Recognizing the harder work that students put into excelling in Advanced Placement classes was the focus of comments by 15 Capital High School students and teachers at Tuesday nights school board meeting at Ray Bjork Learning Center. During the public comment period, they asked the school board to consider moving toward offering weighted grades for the more academically rigorous AP classes. Several also requested the district consider offering honor diplomas. A weighted grade would award 5.0 for an A in an honors class and 4.0 for a B, compared to an A in a regular class, which is now 4.0 and a B is 3.0. One freshman pointed out that by taking an honors class at Carroll College, he is risking a lower grade point average and said that very few of the CHS valedictorians were taking AP classes. Weighted GPAs would take into account the greater academic demands, he said. All of the students who spoke up said they were taking the harder classes, despite the risk of getting a grade of B or lower, but they worry that they may not get scholarships or admission to elite colleges. CHS freshman Mariah Thomas said she was teetering on the edge of an A or B in one of her honors classes. If she gets a B, it will knock her out of any chance to be a valedictorian. Weighted GPAs are a need in this school district, she said. I hope you consider it ... A number of the students said they knew that it was too late for weighted grades to help them, but asked the board to consider taking action because they had younger siblings who would be entering high school. One student said her brother refuses to take AP math because it could risk his 4.0. Theres little initiative for students to push themselves and take risks, she said, when the students hard work isnt recognized. CHS teacher Shaun Deola said the high school teachers heard a presentation this fall on encouraging more rigorous academics and were told to look at Adlai Stevenson High School in Illinois as a model. That high school has had weighted GPAs for 25 years, he said. While the more rigorous classes help students do much better on ACT tests, a number of prestigious colleges are getting rid of using ACT scores as a criteria for selecting students, said teacher Jay Partridge. Its clear honors and AP classes will become much more important, he said. Following the meeting, superintendent Kent Kultgen said that any proposal on weighted grades needed to be discussed by the high school faculty and then brought forward to the administration and board. This was the first time the topic has been discussed at a board meeting, he said. In his inaugural State of the District report, Kultgen said the district had to create a habit of always getting better, rather than resting on its accomplishments. A few achievements Kultgen highlighted include: Increasing graduation requirements (two more credits in math) beginning with the class of 2020. Improved ACT scores by high school juniors for two consecutive years, which moves Helena into the top tier of AA schools in Montana. Maintaining the graduation rate, (which was 86.7 percent 2012-13 school year, according to an OPI report). Creating and maintaining Professional Learning Communities and early release Mondays, so staff can do better collaborative planning. Learning from the failure of the school bond issue in June and hiring a professional facilitator to guide and conduct community listening sessions. Meeting with the city of Helena, Lewis and Clark County, East Helena and East Helena School District officials to improve communication. Adopting new social studies curriculum and purchasing the materials for teaching it. Implementing better fiscal planning, which increased the general fund reserve from zero to 2.8 percent. Earning an award from the College Board AP Honor Roll recognizing school district for increasing access to AP coursework, while students maintained high success in the courses. In the coming months, Kultgen said he will move forward on facility planning by meeting with staff at each school. A professional survey company will launch a community survey this month to gain more ideas and opinions on school facility needs. The board will then move toward adopting a community-led vision for guidelines for meeting facility needs, he said. In other matters, the board heard a presentation from community development and planning director Sharon Haugen on some of the benefits and impacts of creating a Tax Incremental Financing District to help boost development in the Railroad District. In a TIF district, a property generating $1,000 in revenue that increases its property taxes to $1,500 would pay the original base value of $1,000 into general fund coffers, she said, but the $500 in increased value goes into a special redevelopment fund for projects in the TIF district. When TIF districts or tax abatements are done, the school district still receives the full amount it levies for, according to school district business services administrator Kim Harris. If the school district levies for $30 million, she said, that is the amount it will receive and the mil rate is adjusted accordingly. The school districts mils are not capped, Harris said. This can mean that everyones taxes go up a tish, she explained, because any difference in tax value is spread out over everyone. In other matters, the board approved a bid of $399,072 by Tri-County Mechanical and Electrical of Helena to replace the 80-year-old boiler in Helena Middle School. MISSOULA -- Montanas superintendent of public instruction motored to Missoula on Wednesday to trumpet another record graduation rate last school year. Denise Juneau said the number hit 86 percent for the first time since the state began gathering and compiling such information in 2000. Dropout rates continued their downward trend to 3.4 percent. Thats a reduction of more than a third since 2009, when the statewide graduation rate was under 81 percent. We have a lot to be proud of, Juneau told a morning gathering in the front lobby of Sentinel High School. Her stage was well-chosen. Missoula County Public Schools led all Class AA school districts in both graduation and dropout rates, and Sentinel topped both categories for Montanas largest schools with a 92 percent graduation rate and just 14 dropouts from a four-year cohort of 277 students. The Missoula community implemented Montana's inaugural Graduation Matters initiative in January 2010. This is where it all started, Graduation Matters Missoula, learning what was going on on the ground here and scaling that up statewide, Juneau said. We talked to a lot of other communities across the state where it made sense to bring people to the table, have conversations about public education, look at the data, be truthful about it, and then figure out what everybody in the community -- from small businesses to nonprofit organizations, parents and students -- can bring to the table to help make sure every kid stays in school. Today, 53 communities across the state have followed Missoulas lead in Graduation Matters. But the reality is we continue to lose far too many students, MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane said. Fifty-seven students dropped out of Missoulas three AA schools in the 2014-15 school year. That is unacceptable, stressed Ted Fuller, principal of Sentinel. We have to continue to focus on ending high school dropouts much like we focus on ending homelessness and hunger. If theres something that we should collectively as a community and as a state work to end its students leaving high school, because we know the disadvantage that puts them at. More opportunities Studies show graduating from high school means higher paying jobs and more opportunities. "According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, Montana will see a $6 million annual boost to the state's economy from the graduates we've had since 2009," said Juneau, who assumed office that year and is challenging Ryan Zinke for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. "You're welcome," she added with a grin. All four MCPS high schools topped the state graduation rate of 86 percent, led by Seeley-Swan, a Class C school, with the only 100 percent mark in western Montana. Hellgate ranked fourth among the 14 AA schools with an 88.5 percent rate. Big Sky was eighth at 86.1 percent. Sentinel was the only AA school in Montana with a graduation rate above 90 percent. Helena Capital was second at 89.7 percent, followed by Glacier High of Kalispell at 88.9. Hellgate and Flathead High of Kalispell (87.9) rounded out the top five. Billings Senior brought up the rear in Class AA at 80.1 percent. Class AA district graduation rates ranged from Missoula County Public Schools 89.2 percent to Billings schools 82.1 percent. Bozeman, which led the state last year, fell to third behind the Missoula and Kalispell districts. Five Class A schools in western Montana graduated their core four-year cohort classes at a clip of 90 percent or better. Frenchtown led the group at 97.75 percent, followed by Corvallis (95.73), Hamilton (94.73), Polson (90.83) and Stevensville (90.24). Deer Lodges 97.73 percent graduation rate led area Class B schools. Eureka (95.38) and Troy (94.12) in Lincoln County and Bigfork (93.06) in Flathead County also topped 90 percent. Granite County schools in Philipsburg and Drummond paced Class C schools in the region with graduation rates of 94.74 and 94.12, respectively. Also receiving high marks were Victor (93.94), Charlo (93.75), and St. Regis (93.33). The worst graduation marks in western Montana were posted by a pair of Ravalli County high schools -- Darby (72 percent) and Florence (78.95 percent). Emphasis on Indian country Juneau said her office is placing emphasis this year on Graduation Matters in Indian country, hiring a temporary coordinator for the project. Roughly a third of the 53 communities that have embraced Graduation Matters have significant American Indian populations. We know that gap still exists, Juneau said. Its going in the right direction, but its still too large and we really need to dig in and focus on how those Graduation Matters communities might look, because the context is different from, for instance, Missoula. Fuller said while Missoula administrators recognize the importance of graduation and dropout rates, we focus relentlessly on making graduation matter. He added he deserves no credit for the state-leading numbers at MCPS and at Sentinel. The credit goes to people like our custodians who have extra food in their break room for students who dont have enough, Fuller said. It goes to the teacher whose students, along with chemistry, learn to serve the greater good by collecting 40,000 pounds of food for the local food bank. And it goes to things like Sentinel offering the first dual-credit class for students with disabilities. That pilot class is believed to be the first of its kind in the state. It begins Jan. 25 in partnership with Missoula College, which made 10 scholarships available for Sentinel students. Its called Workplace Communication, and each student will receive a college credit for completing it. The Sentinel principal said the class is important in both a pragmatic and symbolic sense. It makes the statement to these students that you are capable of continuing your education, said Fuller. We expect you to, and were going to give you a head start. If worse came to worse and lawmakers in either Washington or Oregon pass legislation that could lead to a partial shutdown of the coal-fired power plants in Colstrip, Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, wants Montana to be ready. Legislators should have a draft bill to handle the fallout from the possible closure of Units 1 and 2 ready to go, Brenden said Wednesday as the Environmental Quality Council discussed the coal plant's future. Lawmakers from Oregon and Washington presented their proposals by phone to members of the Montana's Environmental Quality Council on Wednesday. Puget Sound Energy, Colstrip's largest owner, wrote a bill introduced Tuesday in the Washington Legislature that would allow the utility to buy out Talen Energy's interest in the plant's newer Unit 3, on the condition that it move to decommission the two oldest units. The bill comes after Washington lawmakers last year rejected legislation calling for Puget Sound Energy to shut down Units 1 and 2. In Oregon, Portland General Electric and PacificCorp. two more Colstrip owners helped write legislation to wean that state off coal-produced electricity by 2035. The final version of that bill is now being drafted for the upcoming Oregon legislative session, said Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, chairwoman of the Oregon House Energy and Environment Committee. Oregon's legislation would prohibit the state from using electricity from Colstrip by 2035, but the Oregon utilities could sell the power to other customers or on the open market, Vega Pederson said. Colstrip is owned by six utilities that are headquartered in other states, and only one NorthWestern Energy uses Colstrip electricity to power homes and businesses in Montana. Washington Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, the chairman of Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee, said his state's legislation could change over the course of the legislative session and he plans to listen to what Montana officials have to say. "We will work together to get a solution that benefits both states," he said. It takes a total of 76 legislators to call a special session in Montana; one can also be called by the governor. We need to draft a bill just in case the state of Montana needs it, Brenden said. I think we should be ready to call a special session. We cannot kill Montanas economy and we cant kill certain areas in Montana, Brenden said. Its just too darn important. State Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte, said one issue overlooked in the discussion about the power sent out of state by Colstrip is Montanas own industries. Everybody talks about 1 and 2, the power going to Washington, Keane said. Washington takes 300 megawatts and the big industries in Montana take 300 megawatts. REC Silicon, which operates just outside Butte, is the No. 1 user of electricity in the state and gets its power from Colstrip, Keane said. Montana Resources copper mine in Butte uses at least 50 megawatts 24/7, 365 days a year, Keane said. If the mine had to go on the open market to buy that power, he said, it would increase its operating costs by $9.5 million a year. It would be detrimental to the state of Montana, and I think this is going to be one of the biggest issues we face in the next legislative session, Keane said. State Sen. Rick, R-Wolf Creek, called the trip Montana legislators took to Spokane to meet with their counterparts last year beneficial. They realized they were way out in front of some legislation they shouldnt have been, he said. Montana made the decision long ago to allow out-of-state utilities to own Colstrip, and the plant's future is largely out of the state's hands, said Anne Hedges, deputy executive director for the Montana Environmental Information Center. "If we want to have a say in how the closure of Colstrip occurs over the next 20 years, the time is now to step up," Hedges said. Montana Rep. Ed Lieser, D-Whitefish, said the state has little leverage to influence the out-of-state legislation. He backed a recommendation by Rep. Janet Ellis, D-Helena, that state officials focus on lobbying Washington state lawmakers to include a site cleanup and job-training package in its bill. "The best thing to do is to cut the best deal we can for the citizens of Colstrip," he said. But Keane, Brendan and Republican Sen. Rick Ripley, R-Wolf Creek, said the focus must be on protecting the plant. Rep. Kerry White suggested a bill in the 2017 session to buy Colstrip with money from the state's coal severance tax fund. The committee voted to send Keane and Ripley to Olympia to testify on the Washington state bill. The Associated Press contributed to this report. MURPHYSBORO When friends and neighbors are facing a crisis, Southern Illinoisans want to help. For some, that means taking semi loads of grain or household items to higher ground, delivering boxes and packing supplies or carrying boxes and furniture to a truck or trailer. For others, helping means cooking and delivering a hot meal. When the men of St. Andrew's Church were asked to help move furnishings out of St. Anns Church and Parish Hall in Raddle, Sharee Langenstein talked to a friend who is not physically able to move furniture, but wanted to help. They decided to cook for the volunteers and families whose homes are in danger of flooding. I put the idea on Facebook and it grew into a large, wonderful thing, Langenstein said. The idea of making chicken and dumplings was shared by friends of friends and online, including Bottoms Flood Evacuation Information Facebook page. Langenstein was seven months pregnant when derecho winds hit in May 2009. She remembered not being able to do much and having to rely on others to help her. Its my way of giving back for the help I received in 2009, she said. Donations poured in from Kroger, Walmart, One Hot Cookie, Pats BBQ and 17th Street Barbecue. Individuals brought chickens, flour, cans of vegetables and cookies. Pats BBQ donated use of catering equipment to keep food hot. Volunteers began showing up at Murphysboro Knights of Columbus Hall at 7 a.m. Tuesday to cook. Weve had more volunteers than we can handle, Langenstein said. Volunteers were sent with four trays of dumplings, trays of green beans and cole slaw, and cookies to St. Anns Catholic Church in Raddle. An identical delivery was made to Grand Tower community center. Extra volunteers were sent to serve food and deliver to those who could not make it to the church or community center. A second delivery of more dumplings was made to both locations. Many volunteers, like Stephanie Marler and Mary Hiser, saw the notice on Facebook and decided to help. Volunteers came from Alto Pass, Makanda, Ava and Carbondale, as well as Murphysboro. Thats what it takes, the whole area. People from the Bottoms are busy cleaning out their houses, volunteer Debbie Bost Pittman said. When a representative of Jackson County Health Department showed up around 11:30 a.m., some of the volunteers were a little nervous. The department is doing a survey of volunteer efforts related to the potential flooding. The federal government will reimburse the county for a portion of the money spent on flood-fighting efforts. In-kind donations can be included in that amount. Volunteers also served food on Jan. 6. For information, check the Bottoms Flood Evacuation Information page on Facebook. DECATUR Updated flood hazard maps for a portion of Macon County are moving into the final stages of being adopted. Preliminary map panels shown during meetings Tuesday at the University of Illinois Extension office in Decatur provided information for Stevens Creek, Spring Creek and their tributaries. Property owners in Decatur, Forsyth and unincorporated Macon County, which are the communities affected by the revisions, should take note of the information before the maps are finalized and consider whether to carry flood insurance, said Shelly Fuller with the Illinois State Water Survey. The maps are used to administer the National Flood Insurance Program, which is run through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. They need to be aware of the risk level they're at, Fuller said. This information provides a better idea of where flooding might happen. Flooding can occur anywhere, although she said it is more likely in some areas identified along the watershed. The updates were needed to get rid of discrepancies between different maps being used, particularly in Decatur and Macon County, Fuller said. The proposed changes provide a lot more detail, which Fuller said is helpful in planning for floodplain management. They really didn't match up, Fuller said of the previous maps. Now they've done the entire watershed. It's detailed and more accurate. Staff from FEMA and the Water Survey were on hand during the meetings to answer questions from local officials and residents and help look up information about specific properties. Some residents might not realize the risk level they're at or if it has changed and whether they will be required to carry flood insurance by being at high risk, Fuller said. Communities are required to update ordinances related to participating in the federal flood insurance program before the new maps go into effect or face being suspended from the voluntary program, she said. The timeline of when the maps would become effective is somewhat uncertain, depending on if appeals challenging the technical data are received, Fuller said. If no appeals from communities are received, Fuller expects the maps to go into effect by mid-2017. A 30-day comment period for nontechnical issues is open through Feb. 10, Fuller said. A 90-day appeal period will occur at some point following that, she said. The new maps can be found online at www.fema.gov/preliminaryfloodhazarddata. Comments can be submitted by email to mlfuller@illinois.edu. Fair play can sometimes be a raunchy racket. In the midst of Hillary Clinton's promising presidential bid, a blast from the past blew through the back door and rattled the joints of the political edifice of Clinton. Juanita Broaddrick, the Arkansas woman who has claimed that in 1978 then-state Attorney General Bill Clinton raped her, said that Hillary Clinton is "not the one" to talk about violence against women and tweeted that she is an "enabler." As a heckler promptly inserted herself into a Clinton rally, Donald Trump wasted no time posting a heat-seeking ad on Instagram linking her to a gallery of famous sexual predators and deviants, including alleged rapist Bill Cosby, sexter Anthony Weiner and, of course, her own husband. Except for the latter, these connections are inarguably tenuous. Hillary Clinton's involvement with Weiner is primarily through his wife, Huma Abedin, a close adviser. As for Cosby, the ad shows Clinton in a photograph with the once-brilliant star. How many thousands of others were happy to be caught in the same frame with Cosby, long before anyone knew of his alleged predations? What does any of this have to do with Clinton? She isn't, after all, a guilty party. Then again, one is judged in part by the company one keeps. The question of character isn't always what did you do but what were you willing to tolerate. Trump's ad-meister smartly associated Clinton with a cast of characters whose values can't be heralded as exemplary. It's unlikely, however, that anyone's mind will be changed by what is already known. Many younger voters, who may not be as familiar with Clinton history, were shaped by a world that bears little resemblance to their parents', and they may well find such revelations short of earth-shattering or even interesting. The Trump ad, though obviously dishonest, is nonetheless shrewd. Trump took Clinton's most-shining moment, her defense of women and her 1995 speech at the U.N.'s Fourth World Conference on Women, and turned it against her. As the images flick past, we hear then-first lady Clinton's famous words: "Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights, once and for all." And then, "Let's keep fighting for opportunity and dignity." The ad's finale in bold letters is a question posing as a statement: "True Defender of Women's Rights." This is unfortunate. Clinton was brave to say those things in 1995 in Beijing and she truly has influenced and improved the lives of millions of women around the globe. For these achievements to be tarnished by Trump is unfair and, one might say, Clintonesque. If chickens really do come home to roost, the Clintons can't pretend to be bystanders to the idiom. It is a fact of recent history that women's rights have been selectively defended by Hillary Clinton's vast, left-wing support group, especially when it has come to her husband's extramarital proclivities. When then-President Clinton had his dalliance with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, it was a clear case of sexual harassment by the very definition promoted by feminists. That is: a person in a superior workplace position making, or responding to, sexual overtures toward an employee, regardless of consent. Where were feminists when Lewinsky was scuttled away to a life of lonely infamy? Similarly, when Paula Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, claiming that he had exposed himself to her in a hotel room when he was governor of Arkansas, the sisterhood dismissed Jones as a political pawn of the right. This was surely true, but it didn't necessarily negate her claim. Isn't the operative feminist principle that the woman is always to be believed? Or is it only certain women? When Judge Susan Webber Wright rebuffed Jones' claim, she ruled in part that Jones had failed to prove she had suffered damages from her encounter. Nary a peep from the girls' team. Yet, rewinding to the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas, feminists had no trouble believing that Anita Hill had suffered distress while working for Thomas a decade earlier because of lewd comments he made in her presence. Wherever one stands on these histories, a double standard is undeniable. This is what Trump hinted at, and what Clinton will have to navigate as she seeks to convince voters not only that she deserves to live once again in the White House but that her husband does as well. Just in time for the 2016 election, the Roberts Court has found yet another way to stack the deck in favor of the rich. By all appearances at Monday's argument, the five Republican-appointed justices are ready to upend a 40-year precedent guiding labor relations in favor of a new approach that would deplete public-sector unions' finances and reduce their political clout. The case, from California, involves arcane issues of "agency fees" and member opt-outs, but make no mistake: This is about campaign finance, and, in particular, propping up the Republican Party. Citizens United and other recent rulings created the modern era of super PACs and unlimited political contributions by the wealthy. Because there are fewer liberal billionaires (and those who are politically active, such as George Soros and Tom Steyer, tend to shun super PACs in favor of their own projects) the only real counterweight to Republican super PACs in this new era is union money. And the Supreme Court is about to attack that, too. The only question is how big a loss Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will be for the unions. It's virtually certain to be another step toward American oligarchy. Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the Democratic appointees, contended that there were good arguments on both sides of the case, but no compelling reason to "overrule a compromise that was worked out over 40 years and has lasted reasonably well." Americans have already come to see the court as another political branch of government. Lawyer Michael Carvin, leading the anti-union side Monday, gave further justification for that impression. In front of the justices, he dismissed the notion "that anything could happen adversely" to unions as a result of the case. But then he went out to the Supreme Court plaza and, in front of a cheering crowd, told the truth: "It may limit their revenue somewhat, but of course they can compensate for that by being less involved in things like politics." And that's exactly the goal. The huge political consequences of the case were unstated in the chamber, but the argument was at times as partisan as a debate in Congress. The argument was mostly for show, because there was little doubt the 1977 Abood decision will go down. This will make it easier for public-sector workers who benefit from collective bargaining but who don't want to be in unions to avoid paying fees to the union, even for nonpolitical functions. The conservative justices left no doubt where they stood. Chief Justice John Roberts dismissed as "really insignificant" the unions' argument about free riders. Scalia informed the union's lawyer that his argument "doesn't mean anything to me." Breyer reminded his colleagues that when the court jettisons precedent, it's usually to right an egregious or basic wrong, such as the Plessy v. Ferguson precedent justifying segregation. "I don't see anything too basic in the lines you're drawing," he told Carvin. Carvin invoked Thomas Jefferson, saying the third president thought it "sinful and tyrannical" to require "people to give money which they don't wish to give." It's not known how Jefferson would have felt about public-sector unions. But what's sinful and tyrannical is for billionaires to take over the electoral process and the government, and for the highest court in the land to take aim at the last remaining counterweight. SPRINGFIELD -- Changing the way Illinois legislative districts are drawn is one of Gov. Bruce Rauners priorities, and he may get some help this year from outside the General Assembly. Despite the Republican governors stance on the issue and his ongoing stalemate with legislative Democrats, putting the once-a-decade redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission has widespread bipartisan support, said Jim Bray, spokesman for the group Independent Maps. The change would require an amendment to the Illinois Constitution, and the group is making the third attempt in four election cycles to put the issue to voters. The Independent Map Amendment needs 290,216 valid petition signatures to get on the November ballot. At the end of 2015, supporters had gathered more than 483,000 of the 600,000 signatures they hope to collect by the early May deadline. People want to be able to have fair elections, and they want to have choices when they go to the polls, Bray said. They dont want to have the politicians deciding who gets elected. Currently, the legislature redraws boundaries following each census, which critics say allows the majority party to carve up the state to its own political benefit. Because Democrats were in power after the 2010 U.S. Census, the current map was drawn in their favor. The process protects incumbents and discourages people from running for office, Bray said. In 2014, for example, 60 percent of House and Senate races were uncontested. If you like the status quo in Illinois and the way things are going in the General Assembly and you like your choices when you go to the polls, you should oppose this, Bray said of the redistricting reform effort. While the group has the backing of some Rauner supporters, such as billionaire Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto, who state records show donated $100,000 to the effort and more than $200,000 to the governors campaign, its backers also include prominent Democrats, such as William Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon. State Rep. Mike Smiddy of Hillsdale is one of several sitting Democratic legislators supporting the effort. Another supporter is Republican state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield, who represents a safe GOP district and is currently unopposed in the November election. Its great for me; I dont have a problem with that, obviously, Butler said. But I think for the people of Illinois, its bad when we dont have competitive districts. A similar proposal in 2010 didnt make it to the ballot because supporters didnt gather enough signatures. A circuit court judge removed a 2014 proposal from the ballot, ruling that it went beyond the scope allowed for a voter-driven amendment. Bray said Independent Maps learned from the previous attempts and is confident that this amendment will pass muster with the (Illinois) Supreme Court. Yesterday, along the Tzater-Aygehat highway in Armenias Lori Province, a young tall broad-shouldered man was taking a flock of sheep to graze. The sheep, following the rules of the road, kept to the side of the roadway, munching on what little grass they could find. They were headed to the village of Aygehat. The shepherd, crock in hand, followed the herd through the snow. Seyran Virabyan told me he is from the village of Tzater. Its a five kilometer walk from Tzater to Aygehat. Seyran makes the journey every day to graze the flock on the fringes of Tzater fields. 30 of the 80 sheep are mine, says Seyran, carefully watching that the flock doesnt enter the Aygehat fields sown in the fall. Is the sheep business profitable? I ask Seyran. Its village work. What would we do otherwise? Profitable or not, what can we do? Seyran answers, adding that he also owns two cows. He complains that he cant take what he produces to market. Otherwise, life would be better, he says. Seyran, 35 and single, lives with his mother widowed sister and her young child. Somehow, he takes care of them all. The house is ours. Whatever we make is ours. And my mom and sister arent sitting at home with their arms crossed. Village life is good, thank God. I also have two hectares of land that I cant cultivate, says Seyran. He says that in the winter the sheep dont produce much and that in the summer all they get is milk from the lambs. I ask Seyran if hes ever taken out a loan in order to work the land. - I dont need a loan, thank God. So we dont live all that great, but we get by with the sweat off our brow. - Seyran, do you have a sweetheart? - Not yet. But I will, and Ill get married. So youre putting me on TV or something? - Do you want me to? - NahWhat do you mean do I want to? - So, do you call yourself a farmer? - Far from it. Can you be a farmer with thirty sheep and two cows? Some folks have 100 cows and who knows what. They have equipment. But I get by just fine and am in debt to no one. Can you increase your livestock with the money you make? - Now, we have no meadowland or pasture. There is no grazing land in Tzater. I have to take these sheep elsewhere to graze. In the summer, we travel 60-70 kilometers up in the mountains. Theres grazing over in Ardvi. If I was living there Id be the richest guy around. No joke. - So go and find yourself a girl in Ardvi. - Nope, I'll stay in my village. Im used to it. - If you go to Ardvi, you can build a house, find a pretty girl and settle down. - No, no. I dont even leave my village and you want me to move to Ardvi for the grazing? One day some other work will come along. Do we need stuff to be rich? How do you know if the country will continue like this? Its unknown. I said goodbye to Seyran. On the way back from Mghart I saw that Seyran was still grazing his flock on the fields adjacent to Aygehat. The driver of our car honked the horn as we passed by. Seyran waved his arm in return. Seyran felt it was beneath him to leave his native village of Tzater and move to Ardvi for a bit more money in his pocket. It then struck meHow many have left Armenia for exactly same reason? A porridge of history as it relates to current events in the news - history can let us into the back door and see why things are the way they are. Thank You Terry Hooper-Scharf Please consider supporting Comic Bits Online because it is a very rare thing in these days of company mouthpiece blogs that are only interested in selling publicity to you. With support CBO can continue its work to bring you real comics news and expand to produce the video content for this site. Money from sales of Black Tower Comics & Books helps so please consider checking out the online store. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. Brush up your skills: Madison stylist to open new beauty school in February Alex Wong/Getty Images(MANCHESTER, N.H.) -- Chelsea Clinton made her way around New Hampshire on Tuesday in attempt to convince voters that they should support her mother, Hillary Clinton, as the next president. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, is practically tied with Clinton in voter polls. He now leads Clinton by a slim margin in Iowa for the first time. Until now, Chelsea Clinton has shied away from directly naming Sanders in her speeches. She took a shot at the Vermont senator when asked by a young voter how to best galvanize young Americans, who are excited about Sanders' candidacy. The youngest Clinton was on the defensive. I never thought that I would be arguing about the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare in the Democratic primary, Clinton said at an event in Manchester. Senator Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare and private insurance. She then went on to say that she believes her mother has a more robust" record on health care than anyone else in the race. The Clinton campaign has said that Chelsea Clinton will continue stumping for her mother on the campaign trail. She will join her father, former President Bill Clinton, in Iowa for a joint campaign event this weekend. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Steven Avery listens to testimony during his murder trial at the Calumet County Courthouse in Chilton in this 2007 photo. Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were convicted in the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. PHOTO BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Like many of us, Strang, one of Avery's defense attorneys in the 2007 murder trial featured in the Netflix series "Making of a Murderer," binge watched the series last week. Ald. Samba Baldeh, a Muslim American, was among more than a dozen guests invited to the State of the Union because of their faith. The invitations were meant to show support after a wave of anti-Muslim events and rhetoric across the country. Authorities are continuing their investigation of the December crash that killed an Endeavor firefighter with no charges filed against the driver. According to an initial report by the Wisconsin State Patrol, the fatal crash happened at dusk on Dec. 11 when the Endeavor Fire Department responded to another crash on southbound Interstate 39 in the town of Moundville. A tanker truck was pulled to the left side of the road, and one of the responding firetrucks was pulled up behind the tanker. A 54-year-old Waunakee man was approaching the scene in a Nissan Versa when, according to the report, a cell phone dropped to the floorboard. When the man looked up after picking up the phone, his vehicle was approaching the scene and traffic on the right side blocked him in. The driver swerved left to miss the tanker, hitting firefighter Lawrence Millard. Millard, 56, of Endeavor, was taken to Divine Savior Healthcare in Portage and then airlifted to University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. The mans vehicle was reportedly damaged, though the airbag was not activated, and the driver was uninjured. Millard was honored in a funeral held at Portage High School on Dec. 20, filling the 560-seat gym to capacity with added seating and many more outside, with attendees including emergency responders from across the state and Gov. Scott Walker. The Marquette County District Attorneys Office has not filed any criminal charges against the driver who, according to the Wisconsin State Court Systems online records, has not faced criminal charges in Wisconsin, traffic or otherwise. The State Patrol report described the drivers inattentive driving and improper overtaking. Testing for alcohol and drugs has been performed, though results are still unknown. Authorities at the scene reported that he appeared normal. Marquette County Sheriff Kim Gaffney declined to offer an estimated time frame to finish the investigation, saying in an email that his office and the State Patrol are continuing to investigate and will discuss results with the Marquette District Attorneys Office when the investigation is complete. An Illinois man with an extensive rap sheet faces five new charges, including two felonies, after allegedly punching a Racine County Sheriffs Office deputy and leading deputies on a short chase last Friday night. Douglas R. Welle Jr., 36, of the 19000 block of West Lakeview Avenue in Mundelein, Ill., was charged on Monday with felony counts of battery and attempting to flee a traffic officer, and misdemeanor counts of drug possession, resisting arrest and obstruction in connection with the incident that started at about 7:30 p.m. Friday in Yorkville. If convicted on all counts, Welle could face eight years in prison and $40,000 in fines. Welle appeared in Racine County Circuit Court on Monday, court records indicate. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20 and Welle was in the Racine County Jail as of Monday night. According to the Sheriffs Office, deputies Friday night responded to reports of a man attempting to flag down cars near Highway 45 and Spring Street. Deputies located a vehicle matching the description at a gas station at the intersection, the report said. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Welle, was located in the gas station restroom, court records indicate. Deputies discovered that Welle had multiple arrest warrants from Racine and Kenosha counties, from McHenry County, Ill., and was listed as armed and dangerous, the report said. While a deputy handcuffed Welle, the suspect allegedly spun around and hit the deputy in the head, the report said. The deputy attempted to use a Taser on Welle, who got back into his car and fled west on Spring Street. Welle stopped a mile west of Highway 45, exited the vehicle, and fled on foot north through a farm field, the report said. A perimeter was set up and a K-9 dog was called to the scene. Welle was located in the field and taken into custody with the assistance of the Sheriffs Offices K-9 Nitro, who bit Welle on the left leg. Welle was treated at Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints hospital in Racine, then taken to the Racine County Jail. According to court records, Welle has at least 10 previous convictions. He has been convicted three times in Illinois for driving under the influence, twice for felony theft, and for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of marijuana. President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated a Madison lawyer for a long-vacant opening on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Donald K. Schott, a partner with the Madison office of Quarles & Brady, was nominated to fill the post on the Chicago-based court that was vacated in 2010 by Judge Terence Evans, who took senior status and then died in 2011. Schott was one of several names sent to Obama by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) after the federal nominating commission chaired by Baldwin and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Oshkosh) failed to agree on a full slate of candidates to recommend to Obama, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in May. Don Schott will be an outstanding Federal Judge and his experience, qualifications and expertise will serve Wisconsins proud tradition of a strong and independent judiciary well, Baldwin said in a statement calling for the Senate to act quickly to confirm him. On Tuesday, Johnson said in a statement that he was disappointed by the process that resulted in Schotts nomination, but would give him a fair review. Now that Mr. Schott has been nominated, I plan to review his file and conduct other appropriate vetting before making any determinations, he said. Schott is not the first nominee for Evans seat at the 7th Circuit. In 2010, Obama nominated then-UW law professor Victoria Nourse, but Johnson prevented a confirmation hearing. Schott has worked for Quarles & Brady since he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1980, except for a period from 1983 to 1985, when he was legislative liaison for Gov. Tony Earl, a Democrat. He returned to the firm and became a partner in 1987, representing clients in issues that include securities regulation, corporate governance, health care and environmental disputes. Born in Lynwood, California, Schott was raised in Port Edwards. He received his bachelors degree from UW-Madison in 1977 and his law degree in 1980 from Harvard Law School. Schott on Tuesday declined to comment about the nomination. In addition to Schott, Obama nominated Myra C. Selby, a former associate justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, to a post vacated in February by Judge John Daniel Tinder, who took senior status. Wisconsin education officials released results Wednesday from the beleaguered Badger Exam, the one-off state standardized test given for the first and final time last spring. The results showed that 51.2 percent of public school students in grades three through eight were proficient or advanced in English language arts and fewer than half, 43.7 percent, were proficient or advanced in math, according to the state Department of Public Instruction. Whether to cheer or bewail those numbers is more subjective than ever this year. Comparisons with the previous Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) are not possible because of significant differences between the two tests, DPI said. And because of the Badger Exams fleeting existence, students performance on future tests cannot be measured against this years results. Thats left local school district officials to ponder how much significance to give the scores. Its more powerful to look longitudinally at more years of data, said MaryBeth Paulisse, director of curriculum and assessment for the Middleton-Cross Plains School District. With the Badger Exam, unfortunately, were not able to do that. The results still are helpful, she and others said, but as one data point on a continuum of assessment results. Simultaneously Wednesday, state officials released the results of last years first-ever testing of nearly all high school juniors on the ACT college admissions exam. The statewide composite score was 20, out of a possible 36. As with prior years, scores from both the Badger Exam and the ACT reflected pronounced achievement gaps across racial, ethnic and income groups, a persistent trend state Superintendent Tony Evers called most troubling. For instance, while 60 percent of white third-graders tested proficient or advanced in English language arts, the comparable figures were 19.8 percent for black students and 35.3 percent for Hispanic students. Economically disadvantaged students had a composite ACT score of 17.4, compared to 21.3 for those students who are not economically disadvantaged. Badger Exam The Badger Exam was built around the controversial Common Core national academic standards by a group of states called the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Wisconsin leaders began to sour on the test due to significant cost overruns and technical glitches that delayed its administration and diminished some of its trumpeted attributes. Gov. Scott Walker, in his biennial budget proposal last year, stripped funding for the test. Its replacement, to be called the Wisconsin Forward Exam, will align to state academic standards, of which the Common Core standards are a part. But it is being developed by a different vendor and will no longer be associated with the Smarter Balanced consortium. That means that this spring, Wisconsin students will take a different state exam for the third time in three years. Its not an ideal scenario, as any new test comes with an understanding that the first year may have some bugs, said Andrew Statz, executive director of accountability for the Madison School District. There can be technical problems, he said, and students need some time to become familiar with a new tests approach and format. When a test is brand new, you really do take that into account when looking at results, Statz said. For that reason, districts tend not to make sweeping curriculum changes or establish new performance goals based on first-year scores, he said. Statz said the districts internal testing through the Measures of Academic Progress test, or MAP, remains the primary, consistent way Madison tracks student academic growth over time. As for this years Badger Exam results, Id file it under, Good to know. Thanks, he said. Last spring, 367,327 students statewide took either the Badger Exam or the new Dynamic Learning Maps exam, which measures the academic progress of students with significant cognitive disabilities. The scores reported by DPI include results from both tests. More than 700 students, or about 7 percent, of elementary and middle school students in Madison opted out of taking the tests, compared to about 2 percent statewide. Several firsts DPI officials say the Badger Exam has value in that it is the first to measure how well students are meeting the new academic standards the state adopted in 2010. Evers called the results a good starting point for Wisconsins more rigorous testing program. The Badger Exam broke new ground in other ways, too. It was completely computer-based, replacing pencil-and-paper exams, and it was more dynamic, incorporating short writing responses and interactive elements. Prior tests relied mostly on multiple-choice questions. Paulisse, with the Middleton-Cross Plains School District, said many teachers and students preferred it over the WKCE. They found the format and type of activities more interesting and engaging, and we thought the questions better addressed our curriculum and the states standards, she said. The Badger Exam initially was intended to be adaptive or able to adjust the difficulty of the questions based on how the test taker answered previous questions but that element later was dropped because it wasnt ready. School districts got Badger Exam results over the summer and shared individual student scores with teachers and parents at that time. But until Wednesday, when DPI released the data, districts could not share publicly their schoolwide and districtwide results. Consequently, districts did not know until Wednesday how they scored relative to other districts. Tim Schell, director of curriculum and instruction for the Waunakee School District, said his district will compare itself to numerous benchmark districts across the state, ones that are similar in size, demographics and per-student spending to Waunakee. If we see that a district similar to us has much better results in, say, math with low-income students, well look at what that district does, he said. Like many district officials, Schell said he hopes for more stability and fewer surprises in future tests. Weve got a bit of a Groundhog Day scenario going on, he said, referring to the 1993 movie in which Bill Murrays character repeats the same day over and over. It was a steep learning curve with the Badger Exam, and it will be another steep learning curve with the Forward Exam. From an implementation standpoint, I hope the state is able to stick with this one for a while. ACT assessment For the first time in state history, all public high school juniors had the opportunity to take the ACT. The state picked up the cost about $56 per student. This was really valuable to students, said Ann Franke, director of curriculum and instruction for the Verona School District. If the cost was a barrier, it has now been taken away. With this new statewide ACT measure, there is potential for confusion, as there now will be two differing ACT numbers released each year. Historically, ACT results have been released annually for all public and private school graduates who took the test during their high school career. For last years graduating class, the composite score was 22.2. That score represents about 73 percent of all graduating seniors, whereas this new measure represents almost all high school juniors. For that reason and others, comparing the two numbers would be misleading, DPI officials say. In addition to reporting the composite ACT score for all juniors Wednesday, DPI said it took an additional step and converted the scores into performance levels. Those results show that 45.7 percent of juniors who took the ACT were proficient or advanced in English/language arts and 35.9 percent achieved at those levels in math. State Journal reporter Molly Beck contributed to this report. The state Assembly passed a bill on Tuesday lifting a decades-old restriction on new nuclear power plant construction in Wisconsin. The bill, which is opposed by environmental groups but received unanimous bipartisan support in committee, would place nuclear power ahead of natural gas, oil and coal on the states prioritized list of energy sources. The list guides the Public Service Commission when it considers proposals from utility companies. Bill author Rep. Kevin Peterson, R-Waupaca, said Tuesday that he introduced the bill to start a discussion about whether nuclear energy should be harnessed in Wisconsin, and to spark a move away from fossil fuels. It doesnt say were going to go to nuclear energy, it doesnt say were going to build a plant, he said. Proponents of the bill say the state needs as much flexibility as possible to comply with federal goals for halting carbon emissions. Opponents say it doesnt make sense to put nuclear power ahead of natural gas, which emits less carbon dioxide than coal. They also say the bill will open the door to siting of more nuclear waste storage facilities in the state. The restrictions were enacted after the 1979 meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said the state needs to wean itself off coal dependence but that nuclear energy was a dangerous option. She and Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said studying the use of renewable energy resources is a better option that doesnt include the safety risks of nuclear energy. Lets be visionary here, Taylor said. Lets be leaders here. The way forward is not nuclear power. Nuclear power plants cannot be built in Wisconsin under current state law unless a federal storage facility for the waste from nuclear plants across the country exists. No such facility exists. Funding for a storage facility in Nevada was pulled by President Barack Obama, leaving nuclear plants to store waste on-site. The Assembly approved the bill on a voice vote, with a number of Democratic lawmakers opposing the legislation. The bill heads to the Senate, where a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, didnt respond to a request for comment. Wisconsin is currently home to only one operational nuclear power plant. Its located near Two Rivers on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Petersen told reporters he hasnt heard of any utilities looking to build a new nuclear plant. A number of union chapters covering engineers, pipefitters and construction workers, as well as Alliant Energy, the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the states largest business group, all have registered in support of the bill, according to state Government Accountability Board records. Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday he supports a bipartisan bill that would make defrauding the states economic development agency a felony. His comments came the same day an Assembly committee heard testimony on a bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of 28 representatives and 11 senators that would make fraud against the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., a Class E felony. Committee members praised the bill. For the one or two cases where somebody can point to something like that, absolutely somebody should be prosecuted whether they did it to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., or whether they did it to the Department of Commerce in the past or whether they do it to any other state agency that gives out grants, Walker told reporters Wednesday at a separate event. If people give out fraudulent information there should be consequences. The bill comes in the wake of a Wisconsin State Journal report in May that found a struggling Milwaukee business owner received a $500,000 WEDC loan in 2011 despite including misinformation about past lawsuits and the projects partners on his loan application. Building Committee Inc., owner William Minahan made a maximum contribution to Walkers campaign, hired a top lobbyist to help secure state funding and met with top Walker administration officials before receiving the loan. Walkers then-Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch pushed WEDC officials to provide the company additional funding. The agency sued the company and has received a financial judgment, but the loan has not been repaid. So far no law enforcement agency has said they are investigating the BCI deal. Asked if he was aware of an investigation, Walker said not off the top of my head. Id have to go back and look. Discussions about this case and the one in Green Bay have been fairly public. In the Green Bay case, the state loaned $1.2 million in 2011 to Green Box LLC owned by De Pere-area businessman Ron Van Den Heuvel. The Brown County Sheriffs Office has been investigating Van Den Heuvel for months for potential fraud against WEDC. Van Den Heuvel has denied such allegations, but as of Jan. 5 had yet to repay the state, according to WEDC. Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, a sponsor of the WEDC fraud bill, cited both of those cases in testifying in support of the bill he sponsored along with Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Powers Lake. Any fraud against the taxpayer is significant, but these types of cases can cost taxpayers millions of dollars with one stroke of the pen, Hansen told the Assembly Committee on Jobs and the Economy. Kerkman noted the bill couldnt be used to prosecute past cases of fraud. She also responded to concerns that fraud can already be prosecuted, saying it would give district attorneys an additional tool. I hope it never has to be utilized, but there are cases when fraud does occur, as the Senator pointed out, Kerkman said. I hope that its a deterrent for anyone who wants to take tax dollars from us in this state. James Buchen, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Economic Development Association who was the only member of the public to testify, raised concerns that the bill would have a chilling effect on economic development in the state. He said companies might be worried if they seek state assistance premised on creating a certain number of jobs, but due to changing economic conditions they create only half of the promised number of jobs, that they will be accused of committing fraud. The consequence might be fewer deals being done, fewer opportunities, less economic development and less jobs as a result, Buchen said. Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, said he supports economic development but asked Buchen what other steps the Legislature could take to restore confidence in WEDC. Those headlines we saw provide a chilling effect on this Legislature in continuing to support WEDC, Allen said. WEDC spokesman Steven Michels said the agency will work with the Legislature. The state Assembly wisely voted Tuesday to lift an unnecessary restriction on nuclear power production in Wisconsin. The Senate should now pass Assembly Bill 384, which enjoys bipartisan support. Building another nuclear reactor in Wisconsin would be expensive and difficult, given strict regulation to ensure safety. But thats no reason to remove it as an option for the future. Technology could help bring down the price and diminish the danger of radioactive waste. In fact, researchers are studying ways to recycle used nuclear fuel to create low-carbon electricity. Wisconsin gets about half its electricity from burning coal, which spews carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. The federal government is restricting carbon pollution, forcing utilities to find alternatives. Thats why Wisconsin power companies support AB 384 because it provides flexibility in meeting ambitious clean energy goals. Lots of business groups and unions favor the bill, too, because they want reliable energy and jobs. Some environmentalists are supportive because nuclear reactors dont emit greenhouse gasses, which are warming the planet. AB 384 would lift a 1983 moratorium on the construction of nuclear plants. The moratorium demands a federal storage facility for nuclear waste before Wisconsin can build more reactors. The federal government has stopped pushing for a nuclear waste repository in Nevada. So the moratorium is effectively a ban on modern facilities here. Wisconsin has three aging nuclear plants, only one of which still produces energy near Two Rivers, about 45 miles southeast of Green Bay. The other plants in Kewaunee and near La Crosse in Genoa have closed because of market forces, including lower-priced natural gas. Like the Point Beach nuclear plant in Two Rivers, they continue to securely store spent fuel rods on site. With improving technology to reduce and recycle nuclear waste, Wisconsin shouldnt let the federal governments inaction on a repository stop it from considering new ways to produce low-carbon energy. Nor should Wisconsin fear scare tactics by opponents of AB 384 who suggest the bill will open the door to a nuclear waste dump here. If the federal government cant locate a repository in the barren Nevada desert, it doesnt stand a chance of doing so in beautiful, lake-rich Wisconsin. The 1983 moratorium, adopted in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, forbids modern reactors from being built here if they burden ratepayers. Thats a subjective restriction that could be applied to any form of energy to stop progress. Critics of nuclear power say Wisconsin should focus on solar and wind energy instead. But utilities are already doing that, and its only making a dent in carbon emissions. The two reactors at Point Beach produce more electricity than solar and wind projects combined. Moreover, AB 384 would continue to prioritize conservation, efficiency and renewable energy ahead of nuclear power. If an advanced nuclear reactor were ever built in Wisconsin, it almost certainly would go on the site of an existing reactor. AB 384 doesnt grant permission for anything. It merely allows Wisconsin to keep its energy options open as the world strives to reduce its reliance on dirty coal. [Editor's note: This editorial has been updated to reflect a correction. The original misstated the location for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor. The defunct plant is located 25 miles south of La Crosse in Genoa.] Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Government's social security reforms are in the right direction, BOG head says [02] French ambassador reiterates France's support to Greece [03] Photo exhibition for refugees in Mytilene [04] Police investigates the case of a body found in a freezer [01] Government's social security reforms are in the right direction, BOG head says The government's proposals on social security reforms are moving in the right direction, Bank of Greece (BoG) governor Yannis Stournaras late on Tuesday said in an interview with Skai TV, adding that he is now in open communication with the Finance ministry and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The proposed reforms are serious as they improve the condition in the medium term and reduces the cost of the social security system as of 2018; however, he expressed reservations about this transition period. He argued that the social security reform is necessary, as from 2010 and onwards macroeconomic conditions have deteriorated. Despite the cuts, the major pension cuts, pensions as a percentage of national income, are well above the European average. Stournaras did not rule out the possibility of a new Grexit danger, but he was optimistic. BOG governor estimated that the impact of the capital controls on the real economy will be considerably less than initially estimated and that capital controls will be probably lifted within the year provided that there is a positive evaluation of the Greek program. Referring to the negotiations with the creditors from 2010 onwards, he admitted that mistakes have been made from both sides. [02] French ambassador reiterates France's support to Greece French Ambassador to Greece Christophe Chantepy sent a message of support and hope that Greece will exit the crisis in 2016, at an event held on Tuesday at the ambassador's residence to celebrate the New Year. In 2016, as in 2015, France will continue to support Greece, said the French envoy noting that Europe can't exist without Greece and Greece can't exist without Europe. Moreover, he stressed that Greece should continue with the implementation of the difficult but necessary reforms along with France's assistance as was the case with the signing of July 13 agreement. Chantepy's closed his speech in Greek saying "I hope to return the love that the Greeks have offered us with our support" and made reference to the warm welcome he experienced in Greece during the first four months of his tenure. [03] Photo exhibition for refugees in Mytilene Photographic Society of Mytilene organises a group photo exhibition entitled "Refugees" at the society's exhibition venue, at the Lower Fortress of Mytilene from January 25 to February 5. The photos of the members of Mytilene Photographic Society will be sold at the symbolic price of 20 euros each in order cash to be collected that will be offered for the supply of basic essentials for the refugees. The exhibition will be inaugurated on January 25, at 18:00. [04] Police investigates the case of a body found in a freezer Police is investigating the case of a body found on Tuesday in a freezer in an apartment at the Athens district of Kallithea. The body, which belongs to a 65-year-old pensioner seaman, was found with hand and feet bound and the mouth sealed with tape. Police also found bloodstains in the freezer. According to the coroner, the body was in the freezer for approximately one year during which the victim's brother had reported his missing. Police's investigation mainly focuses on a 45-year-old Bulgarian national with whom the victim lived and had a child together. A few days before the pensioner's disappearance the woman had left with her child for Bulgaria and did not return to Greece. The Greek police had sent a message to Interpol in order to locate the suspect in Bulgaria. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Relevant minister, mining multinational's CEO meet to discuss contentious Skouries project [02] PM Tsipras says he's certain govt majority safe ahead of pension reform bill [03] Draghi says Greek waiver depends on program compliance [01] Relevant minister, mining multinational's CEO meet to discuss contentious Skouries project Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis on Wednesday called on Canadian mining multinational Eldorado Gold to recall its decision to suspend work at some of its Halkidiki prefecture sites, before any dialogue between the the latter and the government can begin. "From now on, a precondition for any dialogue is for the company to repeal the decision [for the suspension of works]. We cannot discuss under conditions of blackmail," he said after a meeting with Eldorado Gold Chief Executive Officer Paul Wright. On his part, Wright described the meeting as very constructive and said: "We had a very cordial and constructive discussion, which provided the company with the to opportunity to explain the background of its decision, which was communicated yesterday... We're here as an investor, not to participate in politics." The head of Eldorado's subsidiary in Greece (Hellas Gold), Mihalis Theodorakopoulos, said the dialogue has started and will continue. [02] PM Tsipras says he's certain govt majority safe ahead of pension reform bill Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday expressed his certainty that a government majority in Parliament is sufficient to pass a new draft bill on the tough social security reforms, as required by the country's institutional creditors in the coming days. "It is a reform that the governments of the last 20 years didn't dare touch, although they saw that social security was being led to an impasse, with funds draining and the explosion of the black labour," Tsipras was quoted as saying to French channel Canal+. "The government majority is sufficient because there's a clear and fresh popular mandate," he added. Asked about the progress of the country's bailout program, the prime minister said the government is one step before the first program review which will conclude with the implementation of the social security reforms. [03] Draghi says Greek waiver depends on program compliance Following a successful recapitalisation exercise, the demonstration of strong commitment to and compliance with a new macro-economic adjustment programme and ownership of the programme were keys to enhancing the confidence of depositors and market investors in the Greek banking system, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in a letter replying to Greek Eurodeputies Dimitris Papadimoulis and Stelios Kouloglou on Wednesday. In his letter, Draghi presented three specific criteria which must be met in order for government bonds to be eligible for purchases under the ongoing public sector purchase programme (PSPP). Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article A fleet of UFOs was captured on tape by a passenger on board of a jet airliner heading to Taiwan. The man managed to film this amazing proof of UFOs on planet Earth until he was asked to turn off his phone due to the landing policy. After the case was reported to, analysts and UFO hunters tried to find a reasonable explanation for this peculiar sighting, but ended up without any reasonable justification, apart from a UFO scenario, therefor closing the case unexplained. The bright UFOs appearing on the plane window do not resemble to any known crafts. They appear relatively small in size and their shape is likely to be circular or round. Also, the strange orbs are flying at a lower altitude than the jet airliner, right above the clouds that provide a perfect cover up from ground radars and other devices that could spy on them. Are these flying orbs following or spying on the plane? Or is it that theyve been spotted and filmed by pure coincidence? From what the witness revealed, it appears that a powerful light coming from the window captured his attention. He stated that: I was on the airplane of Eva Airline from Canada to Taiwan. It was October 16, 2014, 30 minutes before landing. The first clip was only five seconds. I saw a bright light flying under. In the second picture I saw three UFOs in my camera. The third video I have is 38 seconds and it shows about eight UFOs flying under the plane. I used slow motion to film the video until they asked me to turn my camera off due to landing policy. The location is at the northeast of Taiwan. We can see clearly how the bright orbs are flying just above the clouds while at the same time maintaining the same speed as the plane. They dont appear to have an organize formation like a military squad would, therefor raising a lot of questions about their origins. Could these be alien crafts? Or is it that the military is testing their new toys? After further analyzing this case, we have found a lot of similarities between these UFOs and the bright orbs reported all over the world. The objects are flying at the same altitude, which most of the time is just above or below the clouds and have the same characteristics in shape and brightness. Also at a closer look, they appear to pulsate, thus explaining the powerful ray of light which drawn the attention of the witness. These curious bright orbs were seen by UFO hunters countless times and are either interfering with the chem trails, or they perform bizarre rituals on the night sky by executing some law-defying maneuvers. This however, is a rare case surprised from above, and it reveals an alarming number of these orbs, as well as an oblivious attitude towards our earthly aircraft. Why are these UFOs not going for a cautious approach, behind the plane or even on its sides? Is it because they are already used to our extreme ignorance or maybe because were talking about military technology here? Whatever the case, this phenomenon is becoming more and more alarming, and as their numbers appear to increase, so is their level of ignorance towards us. If these orbs are indeed of extraterrestrial origins, military devices or even artificial intelligence, we are yet to find out, and based on their fearless behavior, it might not take that long until they publicly reveal themselves to the world. You can also view the case of the fallen UFOs that are strongly resembling to the orbs from the video. From what we know, the military immediately secured the objects and NASA declared that they were only space debris from the ISS. By Locklip What health reform means for the people of Illinois A blog by IllinoisHealthMatters.org By Howard Foster - Republicans have been in charge of both Houses of Congress for a year. The results: more spending, debt and as was reported on Friday, a doubling of the number of H-2B visas for foreigners. Not a single federal program has been cut. The leadership blames the President. Why bother passing laws that will be vetoed? Why, because thats what you were sent there to do. That justification is also patently false. They have also taken the trouble to repeal Obamacare knowing full well that would be vetoed. The real reason: Republicans just dont want confrontation. Had they repealed the Department of Education, for example, which the base would love to see happen, instead of renewing a modified version of No Child Left Behind, they would have to explain themselves to the rest of the country that believes the federal government has an important role in public education. That would be a challenge and would surely alienate a significant portion of the electorate that is basically pleased with the role of the federal government, or if pressed, favors an expansion. It would make the 2016 campaign a real choice of two visions. The Republicans in power fear they will likely lose such a race. I can think of no other reason for what occurred in 2015. The leadership is right that cutting government programs is unpopular. Prior attempts in the Reagan and Clinton eras ended with shutdowns and Republicans depicted a s callous, etc. Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and Chief Executive Roland Folger is hopeful of a favorable outcome regarding the restrictions on high-end diesel cars in Delhi-NCR. Mercedes Benz hopes the ban on high-end diesel models does not go beyond March 31. By Press Trust of India: The country's largest luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz India, which on Tuesday launched its maiden SUV Coupe, the GLE 450 AMG Coupe, reiterated that if the ban on registration of high-end diesel cars in NCR continues beyond March, it will have to review its business plans in the country. The all new sporty SUV, the GLE 450 AMG Coupe, comes with a 3-litre petrol engine and is pitted against the BMW X4 and X6. The machine is priced at Rs 86.40 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai). The GLE 450 AMG Coupe is the first performance SUV Coupe from the Mercedes stable in the country and is a product without a predecessor, Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director and Chief Executive Roland Folger said. Regarding the restrictions on high-end diesel cars in Delhi-NCR, he said he was hopeful of a favourable outcome. advertisement ALSO READ: Mercedes Benz launches GLE450 AMG Coupe; priced at Rs 86.4 lakh "I hope the ban on high-end diesel models does not go beyond March 31. I hope the Supreme Court takes a long term view that really helps control emissions and air pollution. But if the ban stays for longer, then we will have no other option but to review our business plans here," he told PTI. The company has overtaken its rival Audi by a wide margin, selling 13,502 units in 2015, up 32 per cent from 10,201 units in 2014, to become the top luxury carmaker in India after five years. Folger, who took over last October, said, "It is not fair if the regulation and the final Supreme Court view favours just one section of the industry." "If the regulation is pitted against us only, then it is not a fair. But if we have long term, sustainable plans, then I welcome them. It cannot be that somebody gains at the cost of the other," Folger argued. When asked whether the company is ready to meet the new emission norms, with the government advancing the migration to BS VI directly from BS IV by 2020, he answered in the affirmative. ALSO READ: Audi sells 11,192 units in India in 2015; loses top slot to Mercedes "Yes, all we need is to realign our sourcing model. We already sell Euro VI models in Europe and the US. So, we can easily meet the new emission norms well before the deadline, say as early as 2017," he said. He admitted that the ban has impacted sales, as Delhi-NCR is the largest market for the company, with a volume share of 20 per cent. "But all this 20 per cent loss in diesel model sales is not getting translated into actual losses as a lot of customers are switching to petrol variants. In fact, the demand for our petrol models has more than doubled," Folger said. He said the company already offers seven of its models in the petrol variants as well -- A, B, C, E, S, CLA and GLA Classes. It also offers petrol variants in all its AMG models. When asked whether he will be able to maintain the huge lead the company managed to clock last year in terms of sales and market share ramp up, he answered in the affirmative. "I am sure we can maintain this lead we already have as our model offerings have positively changed over the last year, helping us give all customers what they want. ALSO READ: Mahindra, Toyota, Mercedes move Supreme Court against diesel ban "The start-up millionaires offer a great opportunity for us. So are the moneyed youth who number aplenty in this country now. So am very optimistic about this year," he added. He attributed the massive rise in sales, the biggest ever for the company here, to "the unsurpassed product drive and the network expansion, supported by comprehensive service and financial programmes...despite unfavourable market conditions and a slowing economy." Folger said last year the company's SUV sales grew at the fastest at 100 per cent, followed by the AMG models which grew 54 per cent and the sedan portfolio (comprising the CLA, C-Class, E-Class and the S-Class) with 43 per cent rise, taking the overall growth to 32 per cent at 13,502 units. When asked about his budget expectations, he evaded a direct answer, saying, "Let us see what it offers." The powerful 450 AMG is not to be confused with the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 Coupe, as Mercedes-AMG is a separate brand. The car can attain 100 kmph in just about 5.7 seconds, Folger said. advertisement He said the company will be launching 12 models this year, a slight scale down from the past year when it bombarded the market with 15 launches. It will also add 10 more sales and service networks to its existing 82 centres spanning 40 cities. In 2015, Mercedes added three new products -- the GLA, CLA and the Mercedes-Maybach S 500 -- to its local production portfolio and doubled the production facility to become the country's largest luxury car manufacturer. It assembles 8 models at its two facilities at Chakan which has an installed capacity of 20,000 units. ALSO READ: Mercedes sells 13.5K units in 2015,to launch 12 products this year During 2015, the company which entered India in 1994, increased its cumulative investment in its production facility to Rs 1,000 crore, the highest for any luxury carmaker in the country. More and more students wishing to pursue their doctorates at Hyderabad's Osmania University are returning disappointed. With the university's gradually decreasing number of faculty members, as many as 200 PhD seats have been slashed. By India Today Web Desk: More and more students wishing to pursue their doctorates at Hyderabad's Osmania University are returning disappointed. With the university's decreasing number of faculty members, as many as 200 PhD seats have been slashed. Sources have informed that despite around 50 faculty members retiring from Osmania University every year, fresh hands are not being recruited. Sixty more professors would be retiring in the next academic year. The staff shortage has become a threat to the university's PhD admissions. The Telangana State Federation of University Teachers Association (TSFUTA) has said that the number of PhD seats have been reduced by 200. Sources say that the number of seats may drop further, if such a situation continues. The president of TSFUTA, Battu Satyanaraya, stated that 50 per cent of the total number of teaching posts at OU is lying vacant. There are only 600 regular faculty members against the 1,200 sanctioned posts. They are involved in research work themselves, apart from guiding multiple PhD students. advertisement The university registrar, Professor E Suresh Kumar, told telenganaonline news portal, "We are planning to announce the admission notification next month. We are hoping that the process will be completed soon." Kumar also informed that the state government had been contacted regarding the next conduction of the State Eligibility Test (SET), but there hasn't been any response yet. On approval, the OU would be conducting the SET this year, as well. Click here to get more education news. Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here . Swami Vivekananda passed away on this day, July 4, 117 years ago, somewhat mysteriously. Here are the facts about his incredible life. By India Today Web Desk: A simple boy from an aristocratic family of North Calcutta, Narendranath Dutta, more commonly known as Swami Vivekananda, grew up to inspire generations and became the spiritual guide for an entire nation and even beyond. He passed away on this day, July 4, 117 years ago, somewhat mysteriously. While his disciples say he attained Mahasamadhi, medically, it was the rupture of a blood vessel that is reported to have killed him. Vivekananda suffered from asthma and diabetes but was reportedly in good health on the day of his death. On July 4, 1902, Swamiji woke up early and went to meditate at the Balur Math for three hours. That evening, he retired to his room at 7 pm asking not to be disturbed. At around 9.10 pm, he passed away while meditating. advertisement The cause behind the rupture of the blood vessel in his brain remains unknown. His disciples say that the blood vessel break was caused when he attained Mahasamadhi. At that time, an energy opening was created at the crown of his head, called the brahmarandhra and the piercing of this caused the blood vessel to rupture. Fulfilling his own prophesy from six years ago In August 1896, six years prior to his death, Swami Vivekananda spoke to yet another disciple of Ramakrishna, Abhedananda, and confided in him that he probably wouldn't live for more than 5-6 years. When Abhedananda was taken aback and asked Vivekananda not to think about death at such a young age, he reportedly said, "You do not understand. My soul is getting bigger and bigger every day, so much so that my body can hardly contain it. Any day it may burst this cage of flesh and bone." The concept of the soul getting as big as to burst out of the body may seem strange but as per the Vedanta philosophy, the soul is pure consciousness which can connect to the all-pervading consciousness of the universe. What Vivekananda possibly meant was that his consciousness was expanding beyond human limits; it was going into the super-conscious zone. This meant that the human body would be unable to contain it and thus, would need to be let go. He thus fulfilled his own prophecy that said he would live to see 40. Swamiji was cremated in Belur, on the bank of Ganges, on a sandalwood pyre opposite to the place where Ramakrishna was created 16 years earlier. The most admired Hindu monk of the modern era, Swamiji spread the words of humanity and brotherhood among all men and women and called for global integrity through spiritual upliftment. The National Youth Day is celebrated on 12 January every year on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. Image source: Scoopnest On his 117th death anniversary, we remember some awe-inspiring things on Swami Vivekananda: Swamiji had lost his father at a young age in 1884. His family was suffering from poverty as there was no earning member At this time, Swamiji would often lie about having lunch invitations so that his family members get to eat a larger share. In his words, "On such days, I had very little to eat, sometimes nothing at all. I was too proud to tell anyone..." Before being initiated as a monk, Narendranath had sought divine influence from many sectors. He met Debendranath Tagore, founder of the Brahmo Samaj and father of Rabindranath Tagore, in 1880 When he asked Tagore if he had seen God, Tagore replied, "My boy, you have the Yogi's eyes" No one could help Narendranath with his question about God until he met Ramakrishna Paramahansa in 1881 When he asked the same question to Ramakrishna, the latter replied, "Yes, I see him as I see you, only in an infinitely intenser sense." This was a far more satisfactory answer to Narendranath Narendranath learned more and more about Hinduism, read Vedic literature religiously and followed every progressive idea that spread around the world His knowledge of the world amplified as he could relate spirituality with humanity. He was initiated as a Hindu monk After Ramakrishna's death in 1886, Narendranath sought refuge in a dilapidated house in Baranagar, Calcutta (now Kolkata). He named the house 'Ramakrishna Math' This was the first memorial house to Sri Ramakrishna In 1888, Narendra adopted the life of a 'paribrajaka' or wandering monk and travelled across India with just a kamandalu (water pot) and two books, the Bhagavad Gita and the Imitation of Christ He met many sadhus and fakirs and gathered knowledge about other religions. He also met princes and maharajas Maharaja of Khetri, Ajit Singh gave him the name Vivekananda, which means the bliss of discerning wisdom During his journey across India, he travelled to Kanyakumari, the southern-most tip of India around 90 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala Swamiji swam across 500 meters from the shore to two big rocks, which were described to be touched by the Divine Mother 'Parvati' He swam amid sharks and stormy waves of the Gulf of Mannar and reached the rocks where he meditated for three nights and three days Swami Vivekananda started his journey to the western world in May 1893. His famous speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago took place on September 27, 1893 There, Swamiji promoted the ancient religion of Hinduism and called for global brotherhood beyond any discrimination Many people don't know that Swamiji was rejected as a delegate to this convention as he was not a member of any bona fide religious organisation such as the Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society that were present there Swamiji spoke to professor John Henry Wright of the Harvard University, who arranged for his place at the delegation His proposal was supported by Brahmo Samaj representative Protapchandra Mozoomdar At the parliament, he addressed the gathering as "sisters and brothers of America." This phrase instantly closed the cultural and religious gap between India and America as Swamiji went on to promote Hinduism as "the mother of religions... that has taught the world tolerance" advertisement advertisement Read | 10 quotes by Swami Vivekananda: The visionary who changed the way Indian youth think Read | 9/11, the day when Swami Vivekananda introduced Hinduism to the West: Read his full speech here A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people, most of them police, outside a polio eradication centre in Pakistan's western city of Quetta. Pakistani volunteers rush an injured victim from a bomb blast in a commercial area to a local hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Photo: AP By India Today Web Desk: A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people, most of them police, outside a polio eradication centre in Pakistan's western city of Quetta on Wednesday, the latest militant attack on the anti-polio campaign in the country. Militant group Jundullah, which has links with the Pakistani Taliban and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomb ripped through a police van that had just arrived at the centre to provide an escort for vaccination workers engaged in a drive to immunise all children under five years old in the underdeveloped western province of Balochistan. "It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene," Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief told Reuters. "The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign." advertisement Ahmed Marwat, who identified himself as a commander and spokesman for Jundullah, said the group was responsible. "We claim the bomb blast on polio office. In the coming days we will make more attacks on polio vaccination offices and polio workers," he said by telephone. Teams in Pakistan working to immunise children against the virus are often targeted by Taliban and other militant groups, who say the campaign is a cover for Western spies, or accuse workers of distributing vaccines designed to sterilise children. The latest attack killed at least 12 policemen, one paramilitary officer and two civilians, and wounded 25 others, officials said. They estimated the bomb contained about five kilograms (11 lb) of explosives. Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the World Health Organization says. The campaign to eradicate the virus in Pakistan has had some recent success, with new cases down last year, but violence against vaccination workers has slowed the effort. The accident that occurred on Highway 69 in Mayes County near Chouteau in rural Oklahoma last week killed 32-year-old Bhaskar Jha, his wife Annu Jha, 31, and their two children aged 1 and 3. By Press Trust of India: In a tragic accident, six Indians, including four of a family, were killed in the US state of Oklahoma when their speeding mini van collided head-on with a tractor-trailer on a highway under wet road conditions, police said. The accident that occurred on Highway 69 in Mayes County near Chouteau in rural Oklahoma last week killed 32-year-old Bhaskar Jha, his wife Annu Jha, 31, and their two children aged 1 and 3. Bhaskar, who hails from Madhubani district in Bihar, was driving the ill-fated vehicle and apparently lost control because he was travelling too fast for the wet road conditions, The Kansas City Star reported. The report also identified the fifth deceased as Agni Pal Singh, 34. The sixth was a woman, who was not identified by police. advertisement Investigators said it was raining at the time of the crash and the mini van was driving too fast for those conditions. They added that the area of the highway between the towns of Mazie and Chouteau is especially dangerous during bad weather. Bhaskar's relatives in New Delhi said that he was working as a senior associate with Cognizant Technology Solution for over one year and that the news was broken to them by company officials. "We are still waiting for the dead bodies and it has already been five days since the accident took place," said Bhaskar's younger brother Prem Shankar Jha. They said Singh was Bhaskar's colleague and the sixth deceased person was the former's wife. Their eight-month-old child is the lone survivor of the horrific mishap and is undergoing treatment for serious injuries. Prem said he has approached the Ministry of External Affairs and requested its intervention to speed up the process of repatriation of the dead bodies. The Ministry has requested the Indian Consulate in New York to provide all possible assistance, he added. The girl complaint to her parents on Tuesday of being molested by an elderly gentleman whom she called "dadu" in the playschool. By India Today Web Desk: A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 62-year-old man in a playschool in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The owner of the playschool and his father-in-law have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act today. The girl complained to her parents on Tuesday of being molested by an elderly gentleman whom she called "dadu" in the playschool. Ghaziabad Police has lodged an FIR under sections of the IPC including 376 (rape) and 377(unnatural sexual offences). Relevant sections of POCSO Act have also been invoked in the FIR against the accused. The girl was sent for a medical examination by the police. President Barack Obama knocked Republican presidential candidates for anti-Muslim rhetoric and accused critics of playing into the hands of Islamic State. By Reuters: President Barack Obama knocked Republican presidential candidates for anti-Muslim rhetoric and accused critics on Tuesday of playing into the hands of Islamic State in a speech aimed at setting an optimistic tone for his last year in office. Obama, delivering his last State of the Union speech to Congress before leaving office next year, said it was fiction to declare the United States was in economic decline or getting weaker on the international stage. In a direct slap at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, Obama said insulting Muslims hurt the United States and "betrayed" its identity. "When politicians insult Muslims ... that doesn't make us safer," he said, drawing applause from the crowd in the House of Representatives chamber. "It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals." EARLIER DEVELOPMENTS (ALL TIMES ET) advertisement 10:52:30 PM In the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley took a softer tone on immigration than the harsh rhetoric often heard from her party's presidential candidates. "Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America," Haley said in a speech delivered from Columbia, the state capital. Following Obama's lead, she appeared to use the speech as an occasion to respond to Donald Trump, the front runner for the Republican nomination who has called for a ban on allowing Muslims to enter the United States. "Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference," she said. "That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference." Haley's speech was praised by both sides of politics. Former Obama strategist David Axelrod tweeted: "Really effective speech by @nikkihaley. Avoided the Response to SOTU curse." Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Haley, who is being touted as a possible Republican running mate, tested well with voters. "This is the highest we've ever tested a #SOTU response." 10:25:44 PM President Obama wrapped up his final State of the Union address with a forceful statement of confidence in the future of the United States. "I believe in change because I believe in you," Obama said in his closing remarks, generating a standing ovation. "That's why I stand here as confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong." Obama received about a dozen standing ovations during his address, but just a handful were fully bipartisan. In addition to the standing ovation that greeted the entry of First Lady Michelle Obama, the other bipartisan applause moments came after his comments on cutting red tape and outdated regulations, when he announced Vice President Joe Biden would lead a cancer "moonshot" initiative and when he lauded the U.S. military as the finest fighting force in the world. Several more moments won big applause from the Democratic side of the chamber. Those included Obama's remarks on: * Making college affordable * Food stamps not causing the financial crisis * Biden securing new resources for National Institutes of Health * His administration's clean energy achievements * The Islamic State not being representative of one of the world's largest religions * His request for new authorization to use military force * Terrorists finding that Americans have long memories and the U.S. reach has no limits * His assertion that "we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS 9:52:13 PM Twitter traffic on the hashtag #SOTU has exploded since President Obama started delivering his final State of the Union address, with more than 761,000 tweets using the tag, up by roughly 500,000 since Obama's speech began. Jeers at House Speaker Paul Ryan's lack of participation counted heavily among the tweets. According to social media analytics firm Zoomph, #PaulRyan was among the top hashtags during the speech. Ryan appeared only to have applauded Obama when the president mentioned U.S. military personnel. Author and New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) tweeted: "After curing cancer, we should cure the problem that prevents Paul Ryan's hands from joining even for things he agrees with. #SOTU." 9:38:26 PM While President Barack Obama was widely expected to focus on gun control in his final State of the Union address, the word "gun" appeared just once in the prepared text of his speech when he quickly summarized several proposals he's already made. advertisement Obama symbolically had a chair left empty in the box where First Lady Michelle Obama was sitting in honor of those who have died from gun violence. The hashtag #EmptySeat was trending heavily on Twitter in response to the gesture. The single reference to "gun" compared with four mentions of "climate change" and 15 to the "economy." Obama apparently has delivered on his promise to keep this year's speech shorter: The text of his speech unofficially comes in at 5,438 words versus 6,776 in his 2015 speech. 9:22:21 PM The White House released a post (bit.ly/1Q3P2oz) by Vice President Joe Biden explaining his new task, heading an initiative to find a cure for cancer. President Barack Obama was expected to detail Biden's role during the State of the Union speech Tuesday night. "I know that we can help solidify a genuine global commitment to end cancer as we know it today?-?and inspire a new generation of scientists to pursue new discoveries and the bounds of human endeavour," Biden wrote. 9:13:00 PM advertisement President Barack Obama has entered the U.S. House of Representatives to deliver his final State of the Union speech as U.S. commander in chief. Obama has taken the podium and has begun. He promises to keep this speech, his eighth, "a little shorter," joking that many in the audience need to get to Iowa, site of the first U.S. party caucuses ahead of November's presidential election. According to an advance text of his speech, he will rebuff talk from critics that America is in economic decline as "political hot air." 9:04:57 PM President Barack Obama will call on Congress to end the practice of drawing congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters. Too many Americans feel "the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest," Obama said, according to a copy of the speech released by the White House. First Lady Michelle Obama has arrived in the House chamber for her husband's final State of the Union address, wearing a mustard-colored dress. Members of Obama's cabinet have also arrived, as have the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. 8:56:55 PMThe White House has posted the text of President Obama's speech (bit.ly/1nh7MFI) and he will describe ISIS militants as "killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed." advertisement Separately, however, he said claims that the ISIS fight is World War III are "over the top." Still, he urged Congress to pass authorizations to use military force against ISIS. Obama is also expected to say that Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Beau died from a brain tumor, will lead a new effort to make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. 8:49:53 PM U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has entered the House of Representatives chamber ahead of President Obama's State of the Union address, shaking hands with several of members as he arrived. House Speaker Paul Ryan, attending his first State of the Union in his new capacity, greeted the vice president as he walked up the steps. "How's it going Joe?" Ryan said. The two men aren't strangers. They debated during the 2012 campaign as the respective vice presidential nominees for their parties. Also spotted on the House floor: Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Obama, meanwhile, is enroute to Capitol Hill from the White House. The White House posted video on Snapchat of him climbing into his car, nicknamed The Beast. 8:36:29 PM With about 30 minutes to go until the State of the Union, social media traffic was heavy, with the hashtag #SOTU tweeted more than 171,000 times. Other top hashtags on Twitter, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph, include #kimdavis, referring to the woman who was jailed last year over the same-sex marriage license controversy but then invited to the speech. Also in the mix were #tcot, referring to "Top Conservatives on Twitter" and #P2, a hashtag for progressives. Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson took to Twitter to criticize Obama for speaking while American military members were being held in Iran. "When President Obama takes the stage tonight, there will still be 10 United States military members being held captive by Iran," Carson tweeted. 8:26:15 PM President Barack Obama has no plans to speak about the Iranian seizure of U.S. Navy sailors in his final State of the Union address, CNN reported Tuesday. "There are no plans to address this issue," White House communications director Jen Psaki said in a CNN interview. "He's tracking this closely, he's following this closely but the State of the Union will not be about this issue." The president will, however, "absolutely" tout the nuclear deal he reached with Iran and other world powers last year, she said. In the latest development on the seizure, a U.S. defense official said plans were in place for Iran to return the 10 sailors to a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday. 8:05:43 PM President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged U.S. leaders to "fix our politics" and lift Americans' standard of living in a final State of the Union speech designed to contrast his vision for the country with Republican presidential campaign rhetoric. Obama, who is delivering his last annual speech to Congress before leaving office next January, said political discourse was meant to be messy, but - in an apparent nod to proposals by Republican candidates such as Donald Trump - required "bonds of trust" between citizens.Obama's speech, scheduled for 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT on Wednesday), is one of his few remaining chances to capture the attention of millions of Americans before the Nov. 8 election of a new president who will take office next January. 7:52:40 PM In the latest teaser leading up his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama touted his record on the economy and health care. "More than 14 million jobs, nearly 18 million people now with health coverage together, we've pulled ourselves out of yesterday's crisis to put us on a stronger course for tomorrow," Obama said in the message posted at www.whitehouse.gov. Still, Obama said his speech will stay focused on the future. "Tonight I'll lay out a vision for an economy that's even stronger, a country that's safer, and a union that's more perfect. "Because with one year left in my presidency, I'm still fired up and ready to go." 6:59:43 PM In the White House's latest Snapchat clip ahead of the State of the State speech, Edith S. Childs, the retired nurse who coined President Obama's notable "Fired up" campaign chant in 2008, is shown singing the refrain. Wearing a cream-colored suit and pumping her fist, Childs is featured on The White House Official Snapchat Story singing: "Fired up! Ready to go!" again and again. Childs will be a special guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. 06:43:51 PM President Barack Obama is set to tell Americans on Tuesday that while the country faces extraordinary change, the nation can overcome the challenges it faces if Americans come together, the White House said. "It will only happen if we fix our politics," Obama will say, according to excerpts of his State of the Union address provided by the White House. "The future we want - opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids - all that is within our reach," will say. 6:16:53 PM President Barack Obama made a brief appearance on Facebook on Tuesday as he finalized the text of his last State of the Union address. The president, sitting at his desk, said he was making last minute changes and added touches to his speech. "There's a lot of work that still needs to be done," Obama said, adding that he wanted to make sure that the American people understood his proposals. "We've got some big choices ahead," he said. 6:06:01 PM Hardly a quiet few hours for the White House in the run up to President Obama's swan song State of the Union address later on Tuesday. As the president goes through his final preparations for the speech: Iran has taken 10 sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats into custody, although Iran has told the United States that the crew members will be "promptly" returned, U.S. officials said. And at least 145 congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, are condemning the Obama administration's immigrant deportation efforts. 6:00:01 PM Ahead of his final State of the State speech, the White House tweeted that President Barack Obama would share a few thoughts live on Facebook before the event. Obama's speech before a joint session of Congress is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, indie rock band EL VY was gearing up for the pre-speech performance at 7:45 p.m. ET. The White House posted clips of the band's warm up on Snapchat. 3:59:38 PM U.S. President Barack Obama will talk about the prospects for self-driving cars in his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to government officials, the first time the president has used the annual speech to tackle an important issue facing the auto and technology industries. 2:27:44 PM Millions of Americans were discussing President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address on Tuesday on top social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, debating anticipated speech topics such as gun control, terrorism and healthcare. 2:05:14 PM U.S. President Barack Obama voiced regret for failing to unite Washington since taking office on a wave of hope in 2009, as he prepared to give a State of the Union speech on Tuesday to launch his final year in the White House. Asked about his inability to heal America's political divisions, Obama told NBC's "Today" show, "It's a regret." The president planned to speak optimistically about America's future in his speech in Congress, one of his few remaining chances to capture and hold the attention of millions of Americans before the Nov. 8 election of a new president who will take office next January. The Democratic president will give his final State of the Union address as campaign rhetoric for November's presidential election intensifies with candidates fighting over illegal immigrants, wage inequality and violence. 9:00:22 AMPresident Barack Obama said he could envision Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump giving a State of the Union address - but in a comedy skit. In a "Today" show interview ahead of his final State of the Union address, the Democratic president was asked if he could envision Trump, the billionaire developer known for his bombastic style, making his own State of the Union speech as president. "Well, I can imagine it - in a 'Saturday Night' skit," Obama said, referring to the NBC's long-running late-night comedy show "Saturday Night Live." "Look, anything's possible. And I think, you know, we shouldn't be complacent." In his biography, written by noted film journalist Bharti S Pradhan and recently released by BJP veteran LK Advani in Delhi, Shatrughan talked at length about his early struggling days in Bollywood. By Giridhar Jha: Bollywood veteran and senior Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Patna Sahib Shatrughan Singh, currently in the news for his recently-published biography, Anything But Khamosh, said his life story was an inspiration for youngsters. "I have been getting feedback from sections of people on my biography but it is the youngsters who seem to have liked it the most," he told Mail Today on Tuesday. "I have been receiving calls from the students of different institutions. I have met many of them who told me that my biography has inspired them." In his biography, written by noted film journalist Bharti S Pradhan and recently released by BJP veteran LK Advani in Delhi, Shatrughan talked at length about his early struggling days in Bollywood. "I was the first student from Bihar to have enrolled in the acting course of the Film Institute of India (now Film and Television Institute of India)," he said. "I had no family background nor did I have any godfather in the industry but I was the first actor from Bihar to make it big in Bollywood by virtue of my hard work and determination. This seems to have inspired the readers of the younger generation today." advertisement Shotgun, as he is popularly known, said the underlying message of his life story was that one should always follow one's heart and do things which one liked rather than following others. "I was the least educated in my family of doctors and scientists but I chose to follow my heart and became an actor first and then the health minister of the country," he said. "I would not have achieved anything big in life had I tried to pursue a career in keeping with the traditions of my family." The BJP MP said he had failed to leave his mark as a student at Patna Science College before he joined the film institute in Pune but he was invited as the chief guest at its diamond jubilee ceremony in Bihar, 12 years after he had left the institution. On the controversy over the absence of any leader from Bihar at the book launch in Delhi, Shatrughan said since his biography was to be released in Mumbai and Patna as well, many people from these two places were not invited. We've seen many facets of Prince on Bigg Boss 9--bully, lover boy, aggressive player, calculative strategist--and he's revealed several aspect of his personality in the show, barring one. Prince is not his real name. By India Today Web Desk: In last night's episode, Imam Siddique, a former contestant who has been reintroduced to the show in the final two weeks to spice things up, managed to do something that no one else has done till now. He got a revelation out of Prince Narula, and a personal one at that. Prince is not the contestant's real name. The Chandigarh lad was named Braveer by his parents, but he changed it to Prince before stepping into the world of showbiz. In last night's episode, when Imam was having a chat with the housemates, Prince actually spoke up and revealed that his real name Braveer means someone who never gives up. Imam advised him that if he wants to win the show he should use this name. "Braveer has 'brave' in it which you are...You are not Prince, you are faking it." advertisement Giving Keith's example, Imam told Prince that if he really wants to be one, he should learn princely qualities from Keith. Ever since he participated in MTV Roadies X2, reality TV actor Prince Narula has been making waves on the small screen. An aspiring actor and fitness freak, he went on to win the show and also MTV Splitvilla back-to-back. He's now rocking Bigg Boss 9 and is the only contestant to have earned a place for himself in the finals. From being tagged a side hero to winning the Ticket to Finale task, the 25-year-old has come a long way. He is even touted as the strongest contender to win the show right now. China-India Mobile phone and Component Manufacturing Summit will be held on January 13. By Indo-Asian News Service: In an endeavour to gain from the Indian government's Make in India initiative, over 100 Chinese handset- and component-manufacturers have come here to assess the Indian market for future investment, Wu, founder and CEO of Mobile World (Shoujibao), Shenzhen, has said. "The main purpose of this visit is to understand the Indian market. More than 100 Chinese handset- and component-makers have come with this purpose. They want to invest in India," Wu told IANS in an interview. He said the companies became interested in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China last year and his talks on Make in India initiatives of his government. "The three things that drew us to India are its population, the vastness of the market and the Make in India drive by its government," Wu said. advertisement The Indian Cellular Association (ICA), the apex body representing the mobile handset industry in India, in association with Mobile World (Shoujibao), is organising "China-India Mobile phone and Component Manufacturing Summit" on January 13. Wu confirmed that the representatives will also meet government officials during their week-long visit to India. "We wanted to understand the nuances of the Make in India initiative." "We are interested in India because we feel India and China, with their big populations, have a lot of potential. If both the countries work together, they can come out with best results," he said. Major Chinese players like Techno, Gionee, Coolpad, Holitech, Wingtech, Camera King, Galaxy Core, Poxiao, Vivo, Sprocomm, Nubia, ZTE, Meizu, Water World, Transsion, Huiye, Mafe, Obi, Sinwoo, Far-Sighted Mobile, Vikin, Miki, Sop, HuaLong, Wind-Mobi, Nuwei, Ramos, and Huawei are expected to attend the summit. Wu said most of the companies were from central and south China provinces. In addition to the Chinese companies, the Indian mobile industry will be represented by major players like Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Spice, Vodafone, and Intex at the summit. The representatives of the Chinese companies also plan to visit offices and factories of Indian mobile brands like Micromax and Lava to understand their operations. Villagers in Chitradurga, Karnataka, tried to beat a bear to death, but the animal has seemingly escaped the attempt. By India Today Web Desk: After weeks of being terrorised by a bear, villagers of Uppanayakanahalli in Chitradurga, Karnataka, took matters into their own hands and attempted to beat the animal to death this morning. Armed with sticks and stones, the angry villagers attacked the bear as soon as they spotted it in the village. The bear, who is said to have attacked a farmer on Tuesday afternoon, bit a police constable today which enraged the villagers even further. Said to be angry at the forest officials' inaction despite repeated complaints being lodged, the villagers launched an all out assault on the bear and succeeded to trap it in a net. While it is believed the animal managed to escape before being killed, it has not yet been confirmed. Watch the video clip of the bear being brutally attacked here: advertisement Comedy Nights With Kapil actor Kiku Sharda was remanded to 14-day judicial custody today in a case related to hurting religious sentiments. Comedian Kiku Sharda who plays the popular character of Palak in Kapil Sharma's show Comedy Nights With Kapil was today arrested for 'hurting' religious sentiments of the followers of a Sirsa based religious sect Dera Sacha Sauda. The Kaithal police which arrested Kiku from Mumbai on Wednesday morning produced him in the local court today. He was later remanded to 14-day judicial custody. He was booked under section 295 A of IPC on January 1 on the basis of a complaint filed by the followers of sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Eight other people have been booked in the case. The complainants had told the police that the actor mimicked the religious sect leader on a show and thus their religious sentiments were hurt. They had also protested against the actor who later apologised but they went ahead with the criminal proceedings against him. advertisement Sources said Kiku was arrested on early Wednesday morning when he was shooting for the last episode of the popular show. Kiku gave a statement saying, "the act was unintentional he did not meant to hurt anybody's emotions and whatever." As soon as news of Kiku Sharda's arrest broke, Twitter erupted with posts by fellow comedians in criticism of the action taken against the comedian. By India Today Web Desk: Comedian Kiku Sharda's arrest, for hurting the religious sentiments of the followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, has led to yet another debate over freedom of speech. The comedian was arrested this morning and sent to a 14-day judicial custody by a local court in Kaithal, Haryana. The moment the news broke, social media erupted with posts critical of the action against the 40-year-old. Also read: Comedian Kiku Sharda arrested for hurting religious sentiments Comedians like Tanmay Bhatt, Ashish Shakya (AIB co-founders who were booked last year for the infamous 'roast' of actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh), Vir Das, and Suresh Menon took to Twitter to vent their anger. Also read: I was only doing my job, says Kiku Sharda Section 295A needs to go. Or modified. Or something. It gives every religious group ammo to go after anyone. Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) January 13, 2016 Section 295A for the longest time has been used to threaten artists. Even cops sometimes cant help but arrest because of the pressure. Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) January 13, 2016 Number of times ive seen cops go "Sir religion ke bare mein kuch bologe toh hum bhi nahi kar sakte hai kuch" Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) January 13, 2016 The damned law needs to fucking change or go. Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) January 13, 2016 Who are these followers who filed the case ??? please mention them too on social media Suresh Menon (@sureshnmenon) January 13, 2016 You know what hurts religious sentiments? Religious sentiments. Not comedy. Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 13, 2016 If someone spoofs you or parodies you it means they created a ridiculous version of you. When you take offence, you're doing exactly that. Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 13, 2016 The essence of parody humour is outrageousness that cannot under any circumstances be taken seriously. The intent itself is irrelevance. Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 13, 2016 Let's get something straight. If you are offended by any comedy and take it seriously. It means you don't understand what comedy is. Contd.. Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 13, 2016 Comedians spend their lives going to literally any lengths to make fools of ourselves...for you....& then get accused of embarrassing others Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 13, 2016 Congratulations India on speedily arresting someone for comedy. Now maybe you can do the same for actual crime soon. Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 13, 2016 This is sad beyond words. Oppression of artists to save the religion-based frauds EVEN from jokes! Middle East hi bana do desh ko. ???? (@varungrover) January 13, 2016 People like @Gurmeetramrahim must be made fun of. Its an absolutely necessity for the country to move forward. Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) January 13, 2016 And yes. All gods must be ridiculed. They created the universe and life! Surely they can handle a joke. Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) January 13, 2016 I mimicked politicians like Lalu ji,Mulayam ji, Atalji,Modi ji etc,never faced protest-Raju Srivastav on Kiku Sharda pic.twitter.com/81MEY4goey ANI (@ANI_news) January 13, 2016 advertisement The Kaithal police, which arrested Kiku from Mumbai on Wednesday morning, produced him in the local court in Kaithal today. He was booked under section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code on January 1 (outraging the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief) on the basis of a complaint filed by the followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Eight more people have been booked in the case. Talking to the media before being remanded to judicial custody, the actor said, "I am just an actor, I am given the script, the clothes, the get up. I was given a script by the writers of a show for Zee TV and I performed it to the best of my abilities. I did not expect that the look will hurt anyone's religious sentiments." TV actor Vishal Thakkar, who was recently accused of rape by his girlfriend, has gone missing since January 1. By India Today Web Desk: According to a report by Asian Age, the 31-year-old-actor was depressed over the 'rapist' tag. The daily reported that the actor went missing on the morning of January 1 from Fountain Hotel at Ghodbunder Road (Thane) while taking a tea break. Vishal was on his way back from a resort in Ahmedabad after celebrating New Year's Eve with girlfriend Rajani Rathod when he disappeared. The couple decided to halt at the Fountain Hotel for tea from where the actor went missing. "While having tea at Fountain, Vishal told Rajani he had to meet a friend in Andheri and left. Thereafter, Rajani tried looking for him but in vain. His phone too is switched off ever since. Nobody knows about his whereabouts", investigating officer Jayvant Padvi was quoted as saying by Asian Age. advertisement He added, "During the investigation, Rajani told us that he has been suffering from depression of late because he hasn't been getting work. His frustrations had strained the couple's relationship and they would quarrel frequently. We are looking into all aspects. We haven't reached any conclusion so far. Investigations are still on." Vishal's parents filed a missing person's complaint at Mulund Police station in Mumbai on January 6. In October last year, Vishal was accused by his girlfriend of rape. She had even lodged a complaint against him at Mumbai's Charkop police station. The couple later sorted out their differences and his girlfriend withdrew her complaint. However, Vishal was depressed over not getting work due to his tarnished image. Vishal was last seen in the Colors show Thapki Pyar Ki. He's also featured in small roles in films like Munnabhai MBBS and Chandni Bar. The Supreme Court today granted time till April 30 to one of the two Italian marines accused of killing fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012. By India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court today granted time till April 30 to one of the two Italian marines accused of killing fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012. India had granted marine Massimiliano Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. The second Italian sailor facing trial, Salvatore Girone, is being held in the Italian embassy in New Delhi. On Tuesday, reports in Italian media said that Latorre will not return to India to face trial. "Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone's return is being explored," said Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee. Latorre did not provide details and did not immediately respond to calls. When contacted, the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry did not confirm or deny Latorre's comments. advertisement The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. Italy and India have been at loggerheads over who has jurisdiction over the case, and Italy has sought international arbitration. The fallout from India's arrest of the marines has damaged wider relations between Italy and India, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. In 2013, Italy reversed an initial decision not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit, in a bid to tone down the diplomatic row. By India Today Web Desk: Hrithik Roshan celebrated his 42nd birthday bash at a hotel in Mumbai. All big names of Bollywood were part of the birthday celebrations. And why not. After all, it's not every day a Hrithik Roshan invites 200 people to his birthday party. ALSO SEE: Hrithik Roshan shares his 'first birthday selfie' ALSO READ: Hrithik Roshan's new Rolls Royce has cost him a whopping amount of money While the January 9-10 party was among the biggest birthday bashes Bollywood has seen in recent times, the party wasn't without its share of the drama. The party saw much naach-gaana, hugs and kisses, and loud music till the wee hours of the morning. And that was the problem. Roshan's birthday party, which took place at AER Lounge, Mumbai's 'highest rooftop bar' (that's how the official website describes the place), caused much trouble for common people. A report in MidDay has said that cars were double-triple parked near the hotel, creating chaos at the venue. advertisement However, what made the cops pay a visit to the hotel is a complaint from a south Mumbai resident. Ashraf Khan, who was passing by AER at 1.30am, has been quoted by the tabloid as saying, "Several cops were stationed at the hotel gate for bandobast but they did nothing to stop the loud music. I asked the cops on bandobast whether the party had special permission to continue late into the night, but the cops denied this. They said they had been posted there as several big celebrities were attending the bash." After speaking to the policemen, Khan phoned in a complaint at 2am. After half an hour, Ashraf had to call the police control room yet again since the music still hadn't stopped. "I made another complaint to the Worli police station at 2.45 am, then again at 3 am, but the Worli cops too did not come to the spot to stop the loud music. Cars had also been parked haphazardly, creating a traffic jam," Khan told MidDay. At 3.05am that night, Ashraf called the police the third time, after which they finally arrived at the scene. The tabloid has quoted a senior official from the Worli police station as saying, "We had already gone and fined the hotel manager Rs 12,500 once at 1.30am. When we got the complaint, we went back and fined the manager the same amount again. This time, the party came to an end." In all, Hrithik Roshan's big bash cost the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, the hotel AER Lounge is a part of, Rs 25,000 in fines. Hyundai plans to start production of the new Accent in Mexico in July 2017 and build 20,000 of them that year. The Accent would be the first Hyundai car to be made in Mexico. By Reuters: Hyundai Motor Co is planning to build the new version of its Accent small car at a Mexican plant owned by sister company Kia Motors next year, two people familiar with the matter said, shifting some output of the low-margin vehicle out of high-cost South Korea. The Accent would be the first Hyundai car to be made in Mexico, giving the automaker access to the country's cheap labor that along with its proximity to the North American and South American markets has attracted so many of its rivals. "As labor costs in Mexico are just one fifth of that in Korea, Hyundai will be able to save a lot in small car production and better compete with rivals which have manufacturing presence in Mexico," said Ko Tae-bong, auto analyst at Hi Investment & Securities. advertisement ALSO READ: Hyundai to make Santa Fe Sport SUV at Alabama plant Accent production in South Korea, where small car demand has been sluggish, would fall by roughly half, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. But he added that the move is likely to be offset by plans to build a new higher-margin subcompact SUV at home - a sign that the automaker is unwilling to antagonize its strike-prone workforce. Hyundai plans to start production of the new Accent in Mexico in July 2017 and build 20,000 of them that year, said the person, adding that it aims to make 76,000 in 2018 and 100,000 the year after. He also said Kia plans to build its Rio subcompact at the Mexican factory, which is set to begin operating in May with production of the Forte compact. The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter publicly. ALSO READ: Hyundai India to launch 2016 Elantra soon In an emailed response to Reuters' inquiries, Hyundai said it is considering building Hyundai vehicles at Kia's Mexican factory but nothing has been decided. The automaker also said it is considering introducing subcompact SUV models in South Korea, the United States and Europe. It currently only has subcompact SUV models in markets such as China and India but the segment has become increasingly popular with consumers in more developed economies too. High labor costs and the small size of the domestic market have discouraged Hyundai and Kia from adding capacity in South Korea for over a decade. Demand for subcompact cars has been weak, with Hyundai exporting 94 percent of the Accents made at home and Kia shipping 97 percent of its Rio production overseas. Last year, Hyundai sold 61,486 Accents in the United States, and 18,280 in South Korea. ALSO READ: Hyundai reveals its new hybrid, the Ioniq Hyundai and Kia made 44 percent of their vehicles at home in 2014, according to IHS analyst Ian Park. The research firm predicts that South Korea, which ranks fifth in global car production, will cede its position to India in 2017 and then fall behind Mexico the following year. India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks, scheduled to be held on January 15 is likely to be rescheduled. By India Today Web Desk: India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks, scheduled to be held on January 15 is likely to be rescheduled after the fatal terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in Punjab. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sources told India Today that the dates for the talks was decided by Pakistan and not India. However, there is no official confirmation yet from the government. India is waiting for Pakistan's response on the leads given by the Indian government on the Pathankot attack. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has shared initial evidence of Pakistan's role in the Pathankot terror attack with Islamabad. Following the development, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had assured that Islamabad is swiftly carrying out investigations in a transparent manner and will bring the perpetrators to task. advertisement Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is scheduled to travel to Islamabad on January 15 to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to chalk out a roadmap to carry forward the engagement under the newly-announced "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue". Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said that the foreign secretary talks would be held on January 15. However, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval was quoted as having said that talks can be held only after Pakistan takes action against terror groups. ALSO READ No lack of coordination between forces in Pathankot attack: Army Chief Dalbir Singh Pathankot attack: Illegal entry was allowed at airbase for Rs 50, reveals NIA probe Pathankot attack: Let's wait, we have no reason to doubt Pakistan, says Rajnath Singh India is preparing dossiers on terrorists based in Pakistan, including alleged mastermind of the Pathankot airbase attack Abdul Rauf, seeking a ban on the militants under the United Nations Security Council resolution. By Abhishek Bhalla : India is preparing dossiers on terrorists based in Pakistan, including alleged mastermind of the Pathankot airbase attack Abdul Rauf, seeking a ban on the militants under the United Nations Security Council resolution. Other than Rauf, names of members of Indian Mujahideen who fled the country and are reportedly based in Pakistan could be part of the list. Rauf is the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar who had to be released by India after the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 from Kathmandu as terrorists took the flight to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1999. India's efforts earlier to get Azhar in the UN sanctions list failed as China had opposed the move. Sources said names of Bhatkal brothers Iqbal and Riyaz, who fled to Pakistan, are also expected to figure. Some other Indian Mujahideen members who have reportedly joined ISIS will also figure in the list of wanted terrorists who India wants to be put under the UN sanctions list. advertisement Although reports suggest that IM members Sultan Armar Shah from Bhatkal, Karnataka and Mohammed Sajid also known as Bada Sajid died fighting for ISIS, their names are expected to be part of the list since there is no official information on their killing. "There are about 10-12 individuals who have been put on the list and a detailed report is being prepared that will be sent to UN," said a senior government official. The proposal to ban them under United Nations Security Council resolution 1267, will be sent by the Ministry of External Affairs based on reports prepared by the Min-India wants UN to ban Pak ultras, readies list istry of Home Affairs giving details of investigations establishing involvement of the individuals in terror cases. The resolution was adopted unanimously on 15 October 1999, as the Council designated Osama bin Laden and his associates as terrorists and established a sanctions regime to cover individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and/or the Taliban. The move is significant as Rauf and his brother JeM chief Masood Azhar have been identified as handlers of the terrorists who entered India from Pakistan and attacked the airbase in Pathankot, killing seven security personnel. While bodies of four terrorists were found, it is suspected that two other terrorists who were part of the attack were blown off as their bodies have not been found. Sources said the decision to seek a ban on Pakistan-based terrorists was taken to put pressure on Pakistan to act as intelligence reports indicate that more Pathankot-like attacks could be carried out by Pakistani terror outfits. Even as Pakistan is claiming to have begun cracking down on those who are responsible for the attack, intelligence inputs indicate that military installations in border areas are still a vulnerable target. Also Read: JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar main Pak handler of airbase attack Indian companies are expected to get a 60 per cent slice of the contracts for the Rs 80,000 crore Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project that is being bank rolled by the Japanese government. By SPS Pannu: Unlike the Delhi-Mumbai dedicated western freight corridor project where all the contracts have gone to Japanese companies or joint ventures led by Japanese companies a provision is being made in the bullet train project to give the civil construction contracts to Indian companies, a top Railways official told Mail Today. The western corridor project is also being financed by a loan from the Japanese government. "Indian companies should be able to get around 60 per cent of the total business that will be generated by the project. This would include the construction of bridges, embankments and laying of tracks," he added. "The Japanese companies will provide the bullet trains, hi-tech signaling equipment and electrification work related to the project," he explained. Indian companies such as L&T, Tata Projects and IRCON are participating in the western dedicated railway freight corridor project as part of joint ventures in which Japanese companies have a majority stake. Leading Japanese companies such as Mitsui are implementing the project. advertisement The government is of the view that the Indian companies have picked up the requisite civil engineering expertise to take up construction work independently on the bullet train project. The agreement for the country's first bullet train project was signed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on December 12. According to senior officials the government will fast-track land acquisition for the projects and detail discussions related to the soft loan that Japan is extending for the project will be carried "out in parallel." A senior official said, "We expect the project to be completed in five years from the zero date when all the clearances and land acquisition has taken place which could take around a year. The track for the bullet train will run largely parallel to the existing Mumbai-Ahmedabad railway and will be completely fenced to ensure safety." The high-speed bullet train project will be built on the Shikansen model known for its reliability and safety. Japan has offered an extraordinary package of approximately $12 billion (around Rs 80,000 crore) and technical assistance, on very easy terms for the project. Bullet train between the two cities will cut travel time on the 505 kilometre route from eight hours to around three. The bullet train is expected to operate at speeds of above 300 km per hour. Also Read: Cabinet clears $14.7 billion bullet train deal ahead of Shinzo Abe trip Japan will build India's first bullet train: List of fastest trains To narrow the trading gap, the Modi govt has since taking office pushed Beijing for greater market access for Indian IT and pharmaceutical companies Raghuram Rajan sounded a word of caution about Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign that assumes an export-led growth path of China. (PTI) By Ananth Krishnan: India's already large trade deficit to China has ballooned to a record $ 45 billion in 2015, according to new trade data released on Wednesday, underlining an increasingly lop-sided trade relationship that has begun to strain bilateral ties. Bilateral trade between both countries reached $ 71.63 billion in 2015, failing to meet an ambitious $ 100 billion target set by both countries, according to data released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC) in Beijing. This marked a slight increase from last year's $ 70.59 billion figure. Of this, Indian imports from China accounted for as much as $ 58.25 billion, showing a 7.4 per cent increase, while Indian exports to China fell by 18.2 per cent to $ 13.38 billion. The GAC said China's overall foreign trade surplus for the year widened to $ 562 billion, up 56.7 per cent from the previous year. The numbers underlined the growing strains in China's trade, with exports falling by 1.8 per cent on account of slow global demand and imports declining as much as 13.2 per cent, reflecting the slowdown in the Chinese economy. advertisement India's trade deficit of $ 44.87 billion will add further strains to the trading relationship. While China became India's biggest trading partner in 2011, the deficit has since continued to widen, fuelling an increasing number of anti-dumping disputes. While India imports Chinese machinery, in sectors from power to telecom and infrastructure, exports to China have largely comprised unfinished products, such as iron ore and chemicals. The increasingly lop-sided trading figures are in part due to the slump in Chinese demand for ores, as the country deals with a slowdown coupled with excess capacity in several sectors, especially in the steel industry, and also due to mining bans in Orissa and Goa that have led to Chinese firms looking elsewhere for ore imports. To narrow the trading gap, the Narendra Modi government has since taking office pushed Beijing for greater market access for Indian Information Technology and pharmaceutical companies. The efforts have so far had measured results, Indian officials say. While there is greater inclination among provinces in China to do business with India - Indian IT companies have recently signed agreements to undertake large-scale projects in the southern province of Guizhou - companies have generally struggled to make inroads as far as China's large State-owned enterprises are concerned, barring some contracts with Chinese banks. Both countries last year set up a high-level task force to deal with economic issues including the trade deficit, but officials said it has so far made little headway. Also read: India set for record trade deficit with China in 2015 By Reuters: Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday that was followed by a deadly gun battle lasting several hours. Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least seven members of the security forces died during the attack by the radical Islamist movement which has so far avoided striking high-profile Pakistani targets. The attack, which comes amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, resembled an assault on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last week. Witnesses in Jalalabad, the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan, said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions could be heard during the battle and residents and children from a nearby school were evacuated. advertisement Nangarhar, the province in which Jalalabad is located, has become the main Afghan stronghold of Islamic State (IS), which has battled the Taliban for leadership of the Islamist insurgency. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. Islamic State said on its official Telegram messaging service channel that three members wearing suicide-bomb vests carried out the attack, which it said had killed dozens of people including "several Pakistani intelligence officers". It said two suicide attackers had been killed while a third escaped. Pakistan condemned the attack but said all members of the consulate staff were safe, with one official slightly injured by broken glass. Last week, a group of attackers barricaded themselves in a house and resisted security forces for about 24 hours after a suicide attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. The group responsible for that attack has not been identified but the incident fuelled suspicion in India about militants sponsored from Pakistan and it cast a shadow over the latest effort to improve relations. Tension between India and Pakistan has risen since the attack on its consulate and on an Indian air base that killed seven Indian military personnel near their border. India has blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militants. A rare meeting between the foreign secretaries of both countries had been tentatively scheduled for later this week, but it is unclear if it would still happen after the attacks. A decision is not expected before Wednesday evening, Indian officials said. Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States also met this week to try to resurrect efforts to end nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, even as fighting with the Taliban intensifies. Pakistan says many Pakistani Taliban militants, who are separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, and are fighting to bring down the Pakistani state, have sought refuge in Afghanistan from a Pakistani army offensive. Also read: 7 dead in explosion near Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad By India Today Web Desk: Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad has been detained, Pakistan's Geo News has reported. Pakistani media reports suggest that Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf and brother-in-law Ashfaq Ahmed are being questioned by Pakistani authorities over their alleged role in Pathankot terror attack. Jaish members were picked up in a raid in Bahawalpur. | 10 things to know about Masood Azhar Also Read: Relief and surrender The banned terror group run by Masood Azhar is believed to be behind the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot. Hamid Mir of Geo News said, "Though we are being told that he has been taken under protective custody but our sources say that he has been arrested." However, India said there has been no official confirmation from Pakistan over Azhar's reported detention. "We do not have any official confirmation on Masood Azhar's detention," Vikas Swarup, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs said. advertisement The detention of Azhar and his men has come less than 48 hours before Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in Islamabad. The terror attack in Pathankot had raised questions over the talks between the two neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is likely to visit 7 RCR to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is expected to meet Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj before visiting the PM. Also Read: At Kathmandu airport a diplomat passes a bag to a transit passenger... Earlier in the day, Pakistan claimed that it has arrested several JeM men and sealed its offices in raids conducted across the country. A press statement issued by the Pakistan government claimed that several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended. "The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," the press statement said. Also Read: Who goofed at Amritsar, the CMG or the NSG? The announcement followed a high-level meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired in Islamabad to review the progress in the investigation against Pakistani masterminds of Pathankot terror attack.India has said that all six terrorists who raided the IAF base and got killed were Pakistanis and belonged to JeM. Also Read: Pan-islamic fundamentalism: Exporting terror The Wednesday meeting was also attended by Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar. India has said that it has provided "actionable intelligence" to Pakistan to act against those who masterminded the Pathankot attack, which took place just a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprised visit to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. Also Read: Relief and surrender Return of a Fire Breather At Kathmandu airport a diplomat passes a bag to a transit passenger... Caged menace Who goofed at Amritsar, the CMG or the NSG? Pan-islamic fundamentalism: Exporting terror Pakistan has detained Masood Azhar, chief of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is blamed by India for the Pathankot attack. Pakistani media reports say that Azhar and his other associates have been put into protective custody and are being quizzed over their role in the January 2 attack on Pathankot air base. By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan has detained Masood Azhar, chief of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is blamed by India for the Pathankot attack. Pakistani media reports say that Azhar and his other associates have been put into protective custody and are being quizzed over their role in the January 2 attack on Pathankot air base. | 10 things to know about Masood Azhar The detention of Azhar and his men has come less than 48 hours before Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in Islamabad. The terror attack in Pathankot had raised questions over the talks between the two neighbouring countries. The big question is will the Foreign Secretary-level talks go ahead after what can be seen as a sea change in Pakistan's response to terror India's terror concerns? Azhar's detention is very significant as far as relationship between India and Pakistan is concerned, say some experts. Others are of the opinion that New Delhi need to trade cautiously amid the latest development. "I think the action taken this time, against Masood Azhar ... it shows a change of Pakistan's attitude towards India's concerns. The action paves the way for the talks to go ahead. I would expect some kind of announcement concerning Foreign Secretary-level talks soon," said senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan. advertisement Speaking on the show To The Point, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, India and China and head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan, expressed the hope that things between India and Pakistan move towards the right direction following the latest development. "We must not underestimate the significance of the move that has been taken by the Pakistan government. It seems both the civilian and military rulers are on the same page," Qazi added. Former diplomat Kanwal Sibal described Azhar's detention as a surprise move and pointed out that roads to Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan have been cleared now. "I am surprised by Pakistan's action as I didn't expect such prompt action by them. The arrest of Masood Azhar clears the road for Foreign Secretary-level talks. This is the maximum one could have expected from Pakistan at this stage. The detention doesn't address the core issue but it is a good first step," Sibal said. "I agree that Foreign Secretary-level talks should go ahead. This is certainly a dramatic step, how decisive it would be will depend on how the preventive custody of Masood Azhar progresses and what kind of interrogation is done," former Indian diplomat Rakesh Sood told Karan Thapar. Also Read Pathankot attack: Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar detained in Pakistan Relief and surrender Return of a Fire Breather At Kathmandu airport a diplomat passes a bag to a transit passenger... Caged menace 1971 Indo-Pakistan war hero Lt Gen JFR Jacob passed away today morning at the age of 93. Here's all you need to know about him. By Shreya Biswas: Retired Indian Army Lieutenant General JFR Jacob passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 93. He is best remembered for his role in bringing victory to India in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, and the liberation of Bangladesh. Here's all you need to know about this hero: Who was JFR Jacob? Born in Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1923, Jack Farj Rafael Jacob grew up in a conservative Baghdadi Jews household under the British rule. His family had originally come from Iraq and settled in Bengal in the mid-18th century. Jacob did his schooling from Victoria School in Kurseong, West Bengal. Living in the boarding school, he visited home only during school holidays as a boy. As a teenager, Jacob was strongly influenced by wartime poetry. In his interview to The Times of Israel, he said that his family had taken in a family of Jewish refugees from Hitler's Europe. advertisement Unmarried and childless, Jacob wrote a moving open letter to the youth of Delhi at 93, addressing them as his "sons and daughters". Photo: Pakistan Defence Forum His role in World War II Jacob had joined the British army at the age of 18 "to fight the Nazis". Although initially his father disapproved of his enlisting, he later on accepted the decision. After graduating from Officer's Training School Mhow in 1942, Jacob fought in World War II in northern Iraq, North Africa, Burma (now Myanmar), Sumatra, etc. When the war was over, he went on to graduate from artillery schools in England and the United States, where he got special training in advanced artillery and missiles. His role in the Indian Army Jacob joined the Indian Army after the Independence, and went on to serve for 37 years in different ranks. "The only place I encountered anti-Semitism was from the British in their army. Among Indians it does not exist," he said in his interview to The Times of Israel. After being promoted to Brigadier in 1963, he fought in the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War. Later on, Jacob was promoted to Major General in 1967. How Jacob helped win the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War? Then Major General Jacob served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. When the war was at its peak, then-Chief of the Army Staff SHFJ "Sam" Manekshaw wanted to invade into East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and capture the towns of Chittagong and Khulna. Some Indian Army officers, however, were unsure about this move. Jacob then came up with the "war of movement" plan, which was to capture all of East Pakistan including Dhaka by avoiding the towns in between and using secondary routes to reach the capital city. This plan, carried in just 15 days, made the Indian Army's incursion of Dhaka successful. Signing of the surrender document. Photo: Shiv Aroor/ Twitter On December 16, 1971, Jacob was sent to get a surrender from Pakistani Army commander, Lt. General A. A. K. Niazi. In one of his interviews, he narrated how he reached Dhaka unarmed and accompanied by only one staff officer, carrying just the draft surrender document. Handing the document to General Niazi, which asked for Pakistan Army's unconditional surrender, Jacob gave him 30 minutes to decide. Niazi accepted the conditions. Also read: Behind Pakistan's defeat After the signing of the document that gave birth to a new nation, Jacob reminisces in the interview having "hitched a ride in a truck" on his way back. Pakistan's National Defence College in a study had written that the credit of the victory "really goes to General Jacob's meticulous preparations in the Indian eastern command and to the implementation by his Corps commanders". After his retirement from the Army Jacob retired from the military in 1978 and went on to be appointed as the governor of Goa, and then as the governor of Punjab. He has also penned books on his experience in the Army, namely Surrender at Dacca: Birth of a Nation and An Odyssey in War and Peace: An Autobiography Lt Gen. J.F.R. Jacob. During the latter part of his life, Jacob was settled in New Delhi. Jacob with PM Narendra Modi. Photo: Narendra Modi/ Twitter By Saurabh Singh: Even as Lenovo gears up to phase out Motorola - one step at a time - a company executive's statement that the Moto E (and the Moto G ) were well on their way out as part of the whole consolidation process hasn't gone down very well with fans. Hold your horses though. Looks like the Moto E and Moto G won't be discontinued, for now. A Motorola representative has told The Verge that senior VP and president of Lenovo China and APAC Chen Xudong's remarks have been misunderstood and the company has no plans to phase out Motorola's top selling budget phones. "Although we are simplifying the combined Motorola and (Lenovo) portfolio, we have no plans to retire Moto G, our most successful smartphone, or Moto E," according to the Motorola representative. advertisement The whole round of speculations began when Motorola took to its official blog to stress that "As we work closer together, Motorola and Lenovo are aiming to streamline our overall product portfolio and focus on two product sub-brands -- Moto and Vibe." While Moto by Lenovo will focus on high-end premium phones, the company's Vibe range will cater to the budget-conscious buyers. This suggested that budget Moto phones like the Moto E and Moto G would be discontinued. Adding fuel to fire was Xudong's statement that all Motorola phones (in 2016) will have at least a 5-inch display. Also Read: RIP Moto E, Lenovo says no small Moto phones in 2016 Still, there are few points to ponder over here. Lenovo's Moto and Vibe phones - it should seem -- will be targeted towards different target audience, moving forward. They will also be targeted towards different regions. While Moto branded phones will greatly focus on US markets, Vibe phones will target Asian nations like China and India. While Moto phones are available in India and are quite popular here, Lenovo's Vibe phones aren't available in US markets. Since the report is coming from a US publication, chances are Lenovo may not kill the Moto E and Moto G there. The same cannot be said about their chances in India though. Guess, we'll just have to wait and watch how things turn up in the days to come. Kiku, popularly known for playing the character of Palak in Kapil Sharma's show Comedy Nights With Kapil was booked under Section 295 A of IPC on January 1 based on the complaint filed by followers of sect chief Gurmeet Ram Raheem. By India Today Web Desk: Stand-up comedian Kiku Sharda, who was today arrested for hurting the religious sentiments of the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda, was in the evening released on surety bond of Rs 1 lakh. After he was granted bail Kiku has now been taken by the Fatehabad police from Kaithal on protection warrant. According to reports, two cases were registered against him -- one in Kaithal and the other in Fatehabad. Kiku, popularly known for playing the character of Palak in Kapil Sharma's show Comedy Nights With Kapil was booked under Section 295 A of IPC on January 1 based on the complaint filed by followers of sect chief Gurmeet Ram Raheem. The local court in Kaithal, Haryana sent Kiku to a 14 day judicial custody. advertisement However, later in the evening, Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim said, "If he has apologized, no complaint from my side." I was busy shooting OnlineGurukul; just got to know, devotees are hurt due to Kiku's action.If he has apologized, no complaint from my side; GURMEET RAM RAHIM (@Gurmeetramrahim) January 13, 2016 According to the complaint Kiku's mimick of Gurmeet Ram Raheem on the show had hurt the sect's religious sentiments. Gurmeet Ram Rahim's followers had organised a protest against the actor who later apologised, but they went ahead with the complaint. Also read Comedian Kiku Sharda arrested; sent to judicial custody Kiku Sharda arrest: Fellow comedians lend support and vent their ire on Twitter Comedian Kiku Sharda has apologised for hurting the religious sentiments of the followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect. He says he was only following the script. By India Today Web Desk: Talking to the media before being remanded to judicial custody, the actor said, "I am just an actor, I am given the script, the clothes, the get up. I was given a script by the writers of a show for Zee TV and I performed it to the best of my abilities. I did not expect that the look will hurt anyone's religious sentiments." Apologising for hurting the sentiments of the followers of the Dera, Kiku said, "I've been in the industry for 13 years and my job is to make people laugh. It was unintentional; as an actor I don't say no to work," he said, adding, "I am a God-fearing person. Ours is a religious family and I respect all religious gurus." Here's what he said: advertisement Kiku plays various roles on Comedy Nights With Kapil on Colors TV, and was arrested earlier today and sent to a 14-day judicial custody, for hurting the religious sentiments of the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The Kaithal police, which arrested Kiku from Mumbai on Wednesday morning, produced him in the local court in Kaithal today. He was booked under section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code on January 1 (outraging the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief) on the basis of a complaint filed by the followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Eight more people have been booked in the case. Also read: After Kapil Sharma's exit, Sidhu to have a bigger role on Comedy Nights The complainants had told the police that Kiku mimicked the Dera Sacha Sauda sect leader and thus their religious sentiments were hurt. Also read: Here's what Sunil Grover feels about SRK's reaction to his Gerua act The followers of the sect had also protested against the actor, who later apologised. However, they went ahead and pressed criminal charges against him. The actor had even tweeted an apology, saying: "Dosto the act on TV was not to hurt anyone's feelings. My apologies to @Gurmeetramrahim ji and his followers. Let's spread happiness." Sources said Kiku was arrested on early Wednesday morning when he was shooting for the last episode of the popular show. Also read: Guess, who would be Kapil Sharma's guest on the last episode of Comedy Nights? Kiku has been playing the dual roles of Palak and Palak's mother Pankhuri on Comedy Nights, and sometimes also that of Lachcha, the milkman. His role became even more prominent when Sunil Grover, who plays, Gutthi, left the show to start his own show with Manish Paul on Star Plus called Mad in India. During this phase, Palak emerged from Gutthi's shadow and became one of the most popular characters on the show. Kiku has also participated in dance reality show Nach Baliye 6 with wife Priyanka, and in season 7 of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in character as Palak. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari was today denied permission to hold a rally in Malda. By Manogya Loiwal : After a three-member BJP delegation was refused entry into Kaliachak in Malda in West Bengal on Monday, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari was today denied permission to hold a rally in the area on January 18. The local district administration has cited law and order trouble as a reason to put the minister's visit to the district on hold. Interestingly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to visit Malda for a rally on January 21. The BJP will hold its rally in South Dinajpur instead. However, the date of the event is yet to be decided. The development comes at a time when the Mamata Banerjee government is already facing flak for refusing other parties to visit the violence-hit district. After the BJP delegation was turned away, CPM leader Mohammed Salim was also denied entry into the area. advertisement Tension erupted in Malda last Sunday, following a massive protest rally by Muslim groups against the hate speech of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari. However, police officials claim that the entire violence was carried out to terrorise the local administration, which is trying to crack down on the poppy empire, take revenge against the police and destroy crucial evidence at the police station. Over two dozens police vehicles, including one belonging to Border Security Force (BSF), were torched during the protest. Kaliachak police station was ransacked as an irate crowd went on a violent rampage at Muslim-dominated Sujapur area in the district. Watch video here: Also read: The inside story of Malda violence CCTV footage helped to unmask Malda riot handlers, say cops Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan will not be held on January 15 as New Delhi wants to wait and watch developments amid reported detention of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar By India Today Web Desk: Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan will not be held on January 15 as New Delhi wants to wait and watch developments amid reported detention of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar. Sources told India Today that both India and Pakistan have mutually agreed to hold the talks later. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Foreign Secretary-level talks was on the agenda of the meeting but there has been no official statement from the government yet. Sources said that decision on Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan will be taken on Thursday after NSA Ajit Doval returns from Paris. Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting. The meeting was also attended by Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif, the country's intelligence chief, Director General Intelligence Bureau and other security officials and top ministers. advertisement "In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the Government of Pakistan is considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India," a press statement issued after the meeting said. The press release claimed that several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad have been apprehended by the Pakistan government. "The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," it added. Sources said that it is this statement that India is considering as a positive step towards taking things between the two countries forward. While reports in Pakistani media claimed on Wednesday evening that Azhar and his close associates have been put under preventive custody in raid conducted by Pakistani authorities, New Delhi made it clear that there has been no official confirmation on detention of top JeM men. "We do not have any official confirmation on Masood Azhar's detention," Vikas Swarup, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs told reporters in New Delhi. Also Read India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks likely to be rescheduled Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar detained, reports Pakistan media JeM chief Masood Azhar detained: How decisive is Pakistan's action? No official confirmation about Masood Azhar's detention: India By India Today Web Desk: If you have been using OYO Rooms to pull off those budget vacations of late, there's good news. Not too long from now, the service is set to make your international trips cheaper as the company has now forayed into the overseas market with the the launch of its operations in Malaysia. Commenting on the development, OYO Rooms Founder & CEO Ritesh Agarwal said, "Taking the company international has always been on the cards but we wanted to achieve clear market leadership in India before heading overseas." Agarwal pointed out that OYO's model is highly suited for countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America due a large internet population living in them. In India alone, OYO Rooms' service has become a favourite among travellers who like to travel on a budget. Currently, the company has a total of about 40,000 rooms on offer, spread across 160 cities in India. The locations includes major metros like Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai and Kolkata on one hand, and regional hubs, top leisure destinations, as well as pilgrimage towns on the other. The main objective of the service is to provide travellers with standard rooms at comparatively cheaper prices, with tariffs starting at as low as Rs 1,000. (With inputs from PTI) --- ENDS --- The banned terror group run by Masood Azhar is believed to be behind the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot. By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan has claimed that it has arrested several Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives and sealed its offices in raids conducted across the country today. The banned terror group run by Masood Azhar is believed to be behind the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot. A high level meeting was chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today to discuss the prevailing security situation in the country. The meeting was attended by Ministers of Interior and Finance, Advisor on Foreign Affairs and Director General Intelligence Bureau, among other top ranking officials. "The meeting noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistan's commitment to eliminate terrorism from our soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow our territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere, considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident," a press statement issued by Pakistan said. advertisement The press release claimed that several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad have been apprehended by the Pakistan government. "The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," the press statement added. The Pakistan government is also considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot. "In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the Government of Pakistan is considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India. The meeting reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue," the press statement said. On Tuesday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said Islamabad has promised effective action on leads provided by India regarding involvement of Pakistan based terror groups. "There was no reason to distrust them so early. We should all wait (for Pakistani action)," Rajnath Singh had told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Greater Noida. ALSO READ No lack of coordination between forces in Pathankot attack: Army Chief Dalbir Singh Pathankot attack: Illegal entry was allowed at airbase for Rs 50, reveals NIA probe Pathankot attack: Let's wait, we have no reason to doubt Pakistan, says Rajnath Singh Military surplus boots were available for Rs 300 in the market whereas a sweater or a tracksuit with an Indian Army symbol emblazoned on it costs between Rs 500 to Rs 800. By Siraj Qureshi: The recent Pathankot terror attack has shaken the entire country. The terrorists who attacked the Pathankot air base were wearing army fatigues. Keeping this in mind, the open sale of police and army uniforms has been restricted in the entire country. The restriction has hardly had any effect on the 'Chhipitola' market in Agra, where these uniforms, insignia, rank badges etc. are being openly sold and are being misused by criminals to waylay travelers on the highways. When India Today visited this market, military-rejected equipments were being sold to collectors as well as refurbishers. Military uniforms were available for a price between Rs 300 to Rs 3000. Military surplus boots were available for Rs 300 in this market whereas a sweater or a tracksuit with an Indian Army symbol emblazoned on it costs between Rs 500 to Rs 800, while T-Shirts bearing UP Police logo could be seen hanging openly in many shops. advertisement Talking to India Today on the condition of anonymity, a uniform seller said that these uniforms, specially the military camouflage uniforms were popular among the rural population of the region, where it was considered fashionable to wear military gear among youth training for military or police recruitment. However, he did not deny the possibility that this uniform could also be used by criminals to commit crimes in the guise of the military or the police. Another shopkeeper Ashish Jain said that following the Pathankot attack, they have been instructed not to sell these uniforms. The administration has instructed shopkeepers to ask for ID cards from people who buy these uniforms. Also read: Pathankot attack: Salwinder Singh provided safe passage to drug smugglers, reveals NIA Pathankot terror attack: Pakistan arrests several Jaish-e-Mohammad men A Sikh bus driver in Los Angeles was brutally assaulted and called a terrorist and a suicide bomber, the victim's representatives said today over two months after the incident was reported to the police. By Press Trust of India: A Sikh bus driver in Los Angeles was brutally assaulted and called a terrorist and a suicide bomber, the victim's representatives said today over two months after the incident was reported to the police. The Sikh Coalition group, is representing the victim Balwinder Jit Singh, who worked as a bus driver for 17 years. While he was being beaten by a passenger on November 6, Singh kept his foot on the brake of his bus to ensure the safety of the pedestrians and passengers. The assault left Singh in the hospital with a black eye, swollen and bruised face and jaw, and infection in his eye. "Two months later, he continues to suffer from blurred vision and pain," the Sikh Coalition said. Singh, who is on the board of a recently-vandalised Gurdwara in Buena Park, has retained the Sikh Coalition to represent him in this ongoing criminal investigation. Although he immediately reported the incident to the police, he delayed going public because he didn't know how to do so until he contacted the Sikh Coalition. advertisement "I know that sharing my story sheds further light on the bigotry and hatred faced by communities across the nation. These crimes cannot be tolerated," he said in a statement issued through Sikh Coalition. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff?s Office, the individual responsible is currently in custody with the Los Angeles Police Department in a different criminal case. Police say the suspect potentially faces only misdemeanour assault charges for attacking Singh. "These charges fail to capture the violent nature of the attack, and the anti-Sikh bias that precipitated it," the statement said adding that the Sikh Coalition's legal team is working with the local sheriff's department and the FBI to push for a hate crime investigation and prosecution. "In the face of hateful rhetoric and the current climate of fear, we must ensure that all bias-based incidents are thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice," said the Sikh Coalition's senior staff attorney Gurjot Kaur. "We cannot fight hate if law enforcement agencies ignore or fail to recognise hate crimes," she added. The car has been seized by the police and the driver is absconding. After hitting the officer, the driver allegedly left the Audi car and ran away. (ANI photo) By India Today Web Desk: An Air Force officer was killed today after being hit by a speeding car while he was supervising the parade for Republic Day. The incident took place early morning when Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud was supervising the parade at Red Road in Kolkata. After hitting the officer, the driver allegedly left the Audi car and ran away. The car has been seized by the police and the driver is absconding. Civilians are usually barred from entering the Red Road when the practice is on. ALSO READ Salman Khan will not go to jail in 2002 hit and run case Lalu recently called up Darbhanga civil surgeon to take steps for the reinstatement of some female health workers, who had been removed from Darbhanga Medical College Hospital a few months ago. By Giridhar Jha: Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav may be trying to enforce discipline in his ministry in a bid to assert his authority but he can hardly prevent his father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad from calling the shots. Lalu recently called up Darbhanga civil surgeon to take steps for the reinstatement of some female health workers, who had been removed from Darbhanga Medical College Hospital a few months ago. The RJD chief called up the health officials after the Mamta workers from Darbhahga sought his intervention to solve their problems. The Darbhanga civil surgeon is learnt to have issued a letter to the DMCH superintendent on Monday and made reference to Lalu's 'directive' while seeking their reinstatement. The issue kicked up a storm on Tuesday with the Opposition accusing Lalu yet again of functioning as the "super chief minister" of the state. But a non-chalant Lalu brushed aside the allegations. advertisement The RJD president admitted that he had called up the civil surgeon after four Scheduled Caste Mamta health workers had approached him complaining about their removal from DMCH. "I had called up the officials to know why they had been removed," he said. Refusing to take cognizance of the allegation of the BJP and other Opposition parties, Lalu said thousands of people came to meet him every day to get their problems solved. "Should I drive them out (of my house?)" he asked. Lalu's son and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said his father, as head of the party in the government, did not do anything improper. Tejashwi said even the senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had recently visited the newly-built Patliputra railway station. "In which capacity did Sushil Modi visit the station? He must have gone there as the leader of the party," he said. Meanwhile, JD (U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said the BJP leaders themselves called up the district magistrates and SPs every now and then and were unnecessarily raising a hue and cry. Also Read: Tejaswi Yadav hits back at BJPs jungle raj-2 allegations Lalu keeping checks on Bihar hospitals though Tej Pratap Yadav is the health minister The Supreme Court today continued with the stay order on bull taming contest Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu that is held during Pongal festivities beginning on Thursday. By India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court today continued with the stay order on bull taming contest Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu that is held during Pongal festivities beginning on Thursday. An apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice N.V. Ramana declined to lift an earlier order that put on hold a central government notification allowing Jallikattu and bull races. Rejecting the contention of petitioner Radhakrishnan, the bench said they were not inclined to vacate their order of Tuesday prohibiting Jallikattu -- on grounds of cruelty to the bulls. The court said they were "unimpressed" by the submission made by the petitioner seeking a lifting of the stay. Appearing for the petitioner, counsel N. Raja Raman told the court that Jallikattu was a part of Tamil tradition and culture and was being carried on for thousands of years. advertisement The Supreme Court had on Tuesday passed a stay order on the Modi government's lifting of four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu in poll-bound Tamil Nadu. The court had said that Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and the Centre should file a detailed response within a week. The court was responding to a petition filed by Animal Welfare Board of India, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and a Bangalore-based NGO against the practise. The decision to allow Jallikattu, days before the traditional harvest festival of Pongal begins along with bullock cart races in other parts of the country, had come through a government notification despite strong objections by animal rights groups. Jallikattu, also known Eruthazhuvuthal, is a bull taming contest played in Tamil Nadu as part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. Also Read Jallikattu: Supreme Court tames government order, issues stay Jallikattu duel not over yet: The culture vs cruelty debate Jallikattu row: Jayalalithaa writes to PM, wants ordinance in favour of bull taming sport Sylvester Stallone apologises to Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan for not mentioning their names in his acceptance speech at Golden Globes 2016. By India Today Web Desk: Action star Sylvester Stallone, who won the Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for Creed at the awards this year, thanked his co-star Michael B Jordan and director Ryan Coogler on social media. ALSO READ: Golden Globes 2016: Sylvester Stallone, Kate Winslet named best supporting actors The actor took to Twitter to apologise and thank his Creed team as he tweeted, "Samuel Jackson is upset that I foolishly forgot to mention the brilliant Ryan Coogler and MB Jordan he is right I owe them everything (sic)" advertisement Stallone, 69, had to face backlash on social media after he forgot to mention his co-star Michael B Jordan and director Ryan Coogler's names in his acceptance speech. Samuel L Jackson took a dig at the star on Twitter as he wrote, "#waitwaitwait, Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan, Thanks for acting with me!!! Loved Sly but, (sic)" he wrote. #waitwaitwait, Ryan Coogler & Michael B Jordan, Thanks for acting with me!!! Loved Sly but... Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) January 11, 2016 Even Selma director Ava DuVernay did not spare Stallone as she tweeted, "Well. Im gonna go ahead and thank RYAN COOGLER + MICHAEL B JORDAN since no one else is. Thank you, brothers. Good work. #smh #goldenglobes, (sic)" . Well. I'm gonna go ahead and thank RYAN COOGLER + MICHAEL B. JORDAN since no one else is. Thank you, brothers. Good work. #smh #goldenglobes Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) January 11, 2016 Only a few people know that Stallone came back on stage during the break, right after his award, to thank Jordan and Coogler, and Jackson was fast to consider that. Samuel L Jackson after knowing the fact tweeted, "General consensus... Caught up in the moment. Im good with that, ok?! Off camera thanks, works!, (sic)" he wrote. General consensus... Caught up in the moment. I'm good with that, ok?!Off camera thanks, works! Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) January 11, 2016 Sylvester Stallone paid a tribute to his late son too on the Golden Globes stage. He said that his role in the film was inspired by his relationship with his real-life son. "To be frank, any time you can vent emotions that are real, I think it's very, very helpful. Most importantly I wanted to respect his (son's) memory, and I think we did," Stallone said. Sage, the eldest son of Sylvester and Sasha Czack, was found dead in his Studio City, Los Angeles home in 2012. "There was no lack of coordination between various forces in Pathankot," Gen Dalbir Singh said. By India Today Web Desk: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Dalbir Singh Suhag held a press conference on the Pathankot attack today, saying that there was no lack of coordination between the forces. "There was no lack of coordination between various forces in Pathankot," Gen Dalbir Singh said. He added that jawans were unarmed and inside the building where terrorists were holed up. The Army had to ensure their safety before blowing up the building. "Reports that only two columns of the army were deployed were wrong as eight were deployed," he said. He also said that he had given three directions to commander; security of assets, containment of the contact and maintenance of a strong cordon. "It is easy to say a lot about the way the op was conducted but the commanders on the ground were given full independence to make the right decisions," he said. advertisement When asked about whether the decision to call in the NSG to handle the Pathankot operation was correct or not, he said, "NSG is the best force to deal with hostage situation, was a good decision." "I have asked all my Army commanders to review and ensure security of all military establishments after Pathankot attacks," Gen Dalbir Singh added. "Indian Army is ready to take any task. I don't want to comment on Defence Minister statement about action against enemy. Presently we are dealing with proxy very well," he said. Gen Dalbir Singh also spoke about Pakistan and its role in Pathankot. "Medicines and arms make it clear that the terrorists have come from Pakistan. We have strong evidence about that," he said. Also read: Pathankot-like attacks will keep happening, says Pervez Musharraf: Pakistan By India Today Web Desk: These medical interns saved an accident victim's life while bystanders were busy clicking photos. The fear of being dragged into legal formalities and the fear of being accused of hit and run, people tend not to stop and help when they come across road accidents. What bystanders often do is to indulge in recording, clicking the photos of horrific accidents using their mobile phone cameras, without a speck of guilt, almost gaining sadistic pleasure. But not all are so! Dr Faizah Anjum and Dr Savitri Devi, who intern with Apollo Hospital Secunderabad, proved it, and how! Faizah and Savitri were returning home on January 10 night when they came across a horrific road accident. The victim presumed dead by the crowd around him, and they were engrossed in taking photos and making videos on their mobile phones. advertisement Faizah and Savitri took charge of the situation right away, and used their skill and knowledge to revive the victim, despite having no medical instruments handy. They used a pen to keep the tongue from falling into the throat and sustained airway. One of them folded a newspaper and blowed air into the victim's lungs and the other gave him chest compressions. The ambulance had not arrived, so they continued CPR (Caridopulmonary resuscitation) for 25 minutes. Once the ambulance reached, they gave the victim the necessary first aid. The victim who had revived full heartbeat by then was rushed to the hospital. This thoughtful, courageous act by two young doctors was shared by a Facebook page called India's Doctors and has, by now, gone viral with over 25,000 shares and almost 1,00,000 likes. Turkish security forces have detained four people in connection with a suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 German tourists, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, center, accompanied by his wife Sare, left, and German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, second right, visit a victim of Tuesday's explosion in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, at an hospital in I By Reuters: Turkish security forces have detained four people in connection with a suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 German tourists, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday. Davutoglu also told a news conference that six of the people wounded in the blast remained in hospital. Germany's foreign minister says his country won't make any further immediate changes to its travel advice for Turkey but could do so in light of the investigation into Tuesday's Istanbul bombing. The Foreign Ministry advised Germans after the attack to avoid crowds in public places and outside tourist sites in Istanbul. Ten Germans were killed in the bombing. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday travel advice will be adjusted "when we know more about the background to the crime, particularly the background of the perpetrator" and what his motive was. Steinmeier and Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there's no indication Germans were targeted specifically. advertisement De Maiziere said he sees "no reason to refrain from traveling to Turkey" and no reason for people already there to break off their trips. Germany has sent a team of specialist investigators to Istanbul following Tuesday's blast in which 10 Germans were killed. The US House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously to pass legislation to broaden sanctions over North Korea's nuclear program. Ko Yun-hwa (L), Administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, points at where seismic waves observed in South Korea came from, during a media briefing at Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Reuters By Reuters: The US House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously to pass legislation to broaden sanctions over North Korea's nuclear program, while South Korea called on China to play a key role in the response to the North's nuclear test last week. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his isolated country's nuclear arsenal, state media reported on Wednesday. Last week's nuclear test was North Korea's fourth, although the United States and experts doubt the North's claim that it was of a more powerful hydrogen bomb, as the blast was about the same size as that from an atomic bomb test in 2013. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said further provocations by the North including "cyber-terrorism" were possible. She noted that Beijing, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate the North's nuclear program. advertisement China is the North's main ally and trade partner. "I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North's fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Park said in a televised speech. South Korea and China have grown increasingly close in recent years. "I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further," she said. "The best partners are those that will hold your hand in difficult times." Park said Seoul and Beijing were discussing a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had told his Chinese counterpart that China's approach to North Korea had not succeeded. While China last week urged North Korea to stick to its denuclearization pledges and avoid action that would make the situation worse, it also said it did not hold the key to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. U.S. SANCTIONS VOTE The U.S. House measure passed by 418-2, with overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday. Senate leaders said they expected to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in early 2015, but was not brought up for a vote until after Pyongyang announced last Wednesday it had tested a hydrogen bomb. "(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule," said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure. To become law, the legislation must be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Barack Obama. Party leaders touted the overwhelming vote as Congress' response to what they termed Obama's failure to respond to Pyongyang's action. Also read: Powerful US bomber flies over South Korea as standoff deepens House moves on North Korea sanctions bill after bomb test By Press Trust of India: Travis Kalanick, the co-founder and CEO of taxi-hailing service Uber, the most valuable start-up, will be in the city next week to address students of IIT-Bombay and share his own success story. Kalanick, on his maiden trip to India, is among other top executives who will be in town to take part in the governments Start-up India event scheduled for January 16. He will be sharing the stage with over 40 CEOs and founders of start-ups, including SoftBanks Masayoshi Son, at IIT-B, one of the country's premier centers for start-up incubation. Kalanick will be addressing the students on January 19. Uber is also partnering with Invest India, an initiative under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, and has already launched UberExchange, a start-up mentorship programme. advertisement The five-year-old US taxi aggregator, which is valued at USD 70 billion, had announced last year it would invest USD 1 billion to build its India business. At IIT-Bombay, Kalanick will speak to entrepreneur hopefuls on how to build a business, drawing parallels from his own entrepreneurial journey, and what it takes to build the worlds fastest-growing start-up. The session is expected to see an attendance of over 2,500 students, start-up enthusiasts and local entrepreneurs. Uber had a shaky start in the country after one of its drivers was arrested for raping a woman passenger in December 2014. The company is also under regulatory glare for alleged predatory pricing and business practices in many other countries. Following these developments, the company has been investing heavily in safety measures in all markets, including here, Uber India President Amit Jain had said earlier. Uber India has a driver base of over 1.5 lakh and is growing at about 40 per cent every month. The company is up against Ola, the country's top taxi aggregator. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola has raised USD 1.3 billion of funds from major investors with a valuation of around USD 5 billion. Globally, Ubers rival Lyft announced last week that General Motors (GM) had partnered it to launch self-driving cars. The American auto giant had invested USD 500 million in San Francisco-headquartered Lyft as part of a USD 1-billion round funding. By India Today Web Desk: Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy today seeked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to bring back the accused Italian marines to the country after reports said that the marines, accused of murdering Indian fishermen off Kerala coast will not return to India for their trial. "Italian naval officers committed crime on Indian land and they are liable to obey the Indian rules. The UDF Government had taken a very strong stand on this point and at the time the UPA Government gave us their full support. My only request to the Indian government is to take strong steps to bring these culprits to India and to ensure that trial continues under the Indian law," Chandy said. A senator on Tuesday said that one of two Italian marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen will not be returning to India to face trial after being allowed home temporarily for medical treatment. advertisement India had granted Massimiliano Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. It was not clear when or if Latorre would return to India. The second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, is being held in the Italian embassy in New Delhi. "Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone's return is being explored," said Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee, according to Italian media. Latorre did not provide details and did not immediately respond to calls. When contacted, the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry did not confirm or deny Latorre's comments. The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. Italy and India have been at loggerheads over who has jurisdiction over the case, and Italy has sought international arbitration. The fallout from India's arrest of the marines has damaged wider relations between Italy and India, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. In 2013, Italy reversed an initial decision not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit, in a bid to tone down the diplomatic row. ALSO READ Italian marine will not return to India for trial: Senator Supreme Court adjourns hearing in Italian marines case By Javed Anwer: Pornhub, a popular adult site that streams videos, has come out with its annual report, and according to its data it seems that Indians are fairly prolific when it comes to watching porn. The website says that in 2015, India was third in the list of countries that brought maximum traffic to the site. The first was the US, second was the UK and third was India, which marked an improvement of one position for our country compared to the years 2014 when the third slot was occupied by Canada. "India knocks Canada out of 3rd place with a one rank position gain, though this year's most notable chart climbers are Japan and the Philippines in at 12th and 16th place respectively, thanks to the 3 spot jumps achieved by each. Belgium makes a return to the list this year, rounding it out in 20th place," Pornhub noted on its blog. advertisement Though all of this is also fairly understandable. India has over 300 million web users and watching porn is something that is fairly common for anyone with access to an internet connection. Across the world, when people get web connection they invariably watch porn. So with the number of internet subscribers growing, number of people watching porn is also going to grow. China is another country with a huge mass of web-connected people. However, China often blocks websites like Pornhub so its data doesn't reveal anything about porn-watching habits of China. Coming back to India, Pornhub says that the country loves "teen porn" and, obviously, porn that is "Indian". Though Pornhub also noted some changes in what Indians watch. "Some interesting changes over in India. While the vast majority of top, gaining and relative searches here contain 'indian,' search terms 'japanese' and 'indonesia' both made some impressive leaps to get into the top 10 list with 14 and 47 place jumps respectively. Bollywood babe Sunny Leone is the top searched porn star," noted the website. Indians are also watching porn for slightly longer duration. "India added over a minute to their now 9:30 average since last year, whereas France's 9:09 average visit length remains exactly the same to where it was at in 2014," notes Pornhub. Also more women in India are watching porn. "Within our top 20 countries, the proportions are up across the board as well. The Philippines still holds in down with the largest share of female viewers at 35 per cent, up from 34 per cent last year. India's proportion went up from 26 per cent in 2014 to 30 per cent this year," said the site. According to Pornhub majority (60 per cent) of its viewers in India use a mobile phone to access its site. In comparison, only 27 per cent use a desktop computer. " " . Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Congressional Democrats continued to tangle with the Obama administration over a series of immigration raids carried out over the holidays before President Obama's final State of the Union address to Congress. Democrats, led by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, have protested a number of raids carried out in southern states by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers against illegal immigrants from Central America -- 121 adults and children who had been ordered to leave the country by a judge. More than 130 House Democrats signed on to a letter to the White House Tuesday calling on the White House to suspend the raids. House Democrats have met repeatedly with administration officials on the raids. On Tuesday, members met with White House chief counsel Neil Eggleston in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis office. The administration has defended the raids as a necessary to deter illegal immigration into the United States from Central America. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Tuesday morning he believes the White House is moving towards a resolution on the raids, after a conversation with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, who has been in constant communication with White House officials and attended the Tuesday meeting with the White House council, said she was not aware of any imminent pause to the operations. We hope that it will be heard. We have not been informed of that ... in the House side, she said. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, suggested in a news conference Tuesday the administration was out of step with the Democratic Partys presidential candidates on the issue. If you look across the political spectrum, whether it's martin OMalley or Bernie Sanders, or Hillary Clinton. They're all pretty clear. The response has been very broad in rejection. So we're asking them, pause, stop, reconsider, make sure nobody is sent to their death, he said. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD? Through Repentance in the name of The LORD Jesus Christ, and thereby living in Truth; Righteousness; Holiness and complete Surrender to The LORD Jesus Christ. Living day by day while watching and waiting for the imminent return of The LORD Jesus Christ, the darling of heaven. That is the bride of Christ that Jesus Christ is coming to snatch and rescue to heaven. ARC Advisory Group will host its European Industry Forum (EIF) in Amsterdam (NL). The European Industry Forum is part of ARCs series of co... Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has signed and enacted the law No 916- V amending Ukraine's Code of Criminal Procedure in part of criminal proceedings which fall within the jurisdiction of investigative bodies of the prosecutor's office, the press service of the head of state has said. This law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 24, 2015. The document regulates a conduct of pre-trial criminal inquiries by investigators of the prosecutor's office during the period when final and transitional provisions of Ukraine's Criminal Procedure Code will be in force. In particular, the amendments will ensure that investigators of the special investigation division of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office continue comprehensive and consistent work on inquiries into high-profile criminal proceedings related to crimes against activists of the Revolution of Dignity in November 2013 - February 2014 and other crimes committed by the previous authorities. Earlier provisions of the Code envisaged that starting from November 19, 2015 investigators of the prosecution agencies were deprived of the right to conduct pre-trial inquiries into criminal proceedings pertinent to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. From November 26, 2015, investigators of the prosecution have to hand over these criminal proceedings to the Bureau. "Analysis of criminal proceedings which are at the stage of pre-trial inquiry of the special investigation unit of the Main Investigation Department revealed facts pointing to the creation of a criminal organization by representatives of the previous regime; with regard to this and under Part 1 of Article 255 of Ukraine's Criminal Code a suspicion has already been announced to a number of individuals, including Ukraine's former president Viktor Yanukovych. During the pre-trial investigation all the links of this chain are examined as a whole, including the links in the regions and the center [of Ukraine]; systematic abuses in economic, financial, governmental and law enforcement areas," the press service said. At the same time, legislative acts adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, in particular regarding the activities of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State Investigations Bureau, may have significant negative impact on the investigation of crimes against Maidan and state interests which have been committed by representatives of the previous authorities within a criminal group. In this way, cases on abuse and embezzlement of state resources by former high-profile officials have to be transferred to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau; cases on killings of law enforcers on Maidan have to be passed to the National Police; cases on crimes against activists of the Revolution of Dignity have to be transferred to the State Investigations Bureau. "Taking into account interconnection of these proceedings, the dispersal of them among three different pre-trial investigative bodies will create obstacles to the effective inquiry in particular cases, moreover, it will make the investigation of activities within one criminal organization completely impossible," the source said. The Verkhovna Rada has adopted the above-mentioned law in order to overcome the negative consequences discussed. The numerical strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been increased to 250,000 of personnel last year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said. "We have increased the numerical strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to 250,000, have repaired 34,000 and have bought 3,500 pieces of military hardware, have changed the personnel training system, the control and communications system and have conducted a partial mobilization last year. In particular, these measures enabled to restrain the Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine," Poltorak said at a meeting with Austrian Ambassador to Ukraine Hermine Poppeller in Kyiv on Tuesday. Chiefs of several structural departments of the defense agency also participated in the meeting on the Ukrainian side, attache for defense affairs at the Austrian embassy Erich Simburger accompanied Poppeller, the Defense Ministry press service reported. The sides discussed the current situation in Ukraine on the whole and in the area of the military operation in Donbas, as well as the activity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. If this was the restoration of the combat capability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, formation of new units and detachments in 2015, this is the conducting of cardinal reforms in the Ukrainian army in 2016, Poltorak said. "There are some problems, but we understand them and are ready to solve [them], as we want some changes. It is important so that the conducted reforms will be active and irreversible," he said. In this regard, the minister suggested holding a meeting with the head of the Austrian defense agency soon. "The cooperation between our defense agencies is very interesting and important in terms of sharing the experience and establishing the necessary dialogue," Poltorak said. The presence of international representatives in Donbas is as necessary as the sanctions against Russia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told foreign ambassadors on the occasion of Christmas and New Year. "This is why it is important to combine them [the sanctions against Russia] with a broad and efficient international presence in Donbas to help implement the Minsk peace plan as soon as possible," the Ukrainian president's press service has quoted Poroshenko as saying. The sanctions against Russia will be a too long acting instrument and they should also be supported for the sake of peace in Donbas, the president said. Poroshenko said that the peaceful resolution of the Donbas conflict required "local elections in Donbas in keeping with Ukrainian laws and OSCE standards and restoration of full control over the Ukrainian border with Russia." The president added that it was important not to put the 'Crimea matter' on the back burner and to use an international mechanism for its resolution. Head of the Bundestag Committee on EU Affairs Gunther Krichbaum and members of the Committee will visit Kyiv in early February, Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnyk has said. "We agreed on the visit of Head of the EU Committee of the Bundestag Gunther Krichbaum and its members to Kyiv at the beginning of February," he wrote in Twitter. The diplomat also noted that the main topics of the visit will be the introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukrainians, the EU stabilization mission in Donbas and Nord Stream 2. To the best of my ability I write about my experience of the Universe Past, Present and Future These comments came in the wake of an Arab League summit over the Saudi-Iranian discord. In that meeting, the Saudis called for an earnest and coordinated response to the Iranian attacks, which representatives of the United Arab Emirates blamed on a deliberate effort by Iranian authorities to neither protect the embassy nor respond to the mob within a reasonable span of time. Fox News reports that only three members of the Arab League refused to sign on to the Saudi resolution, whereas 18 regional powers are now expected to support whatever currently-unspecified next moves might follow the breaking of diplomatic ties. Only 11 votes are needed to pass a resolution within the Arab League. While Fox News could not specify which nations refused to sign on to the resolution, the Huffington Post published a report on the same day which indicated that there are certainly some nations in the region that depend on Iran and Saudi Arabia simultaneously, and cannot afford to alienate either Sunni or Shiite domestic populations by showing clear preference for one side or the other in this largely sectarian conflict. Regarding the practical connections among these countries, the Huffington Post points out that Saudi Arabia is a major source of financing and support for the Pakistani military, as well as being a source of employment for many Pakistani migrant workers. Meanwhile, Iran is a prospective partner in a number of near-term economic plans for Pakistan, including an energy-sharing agreement that is expected to take effect soon after Iran is granted relief from economic sanctions under its nuclear agreement with the West. Since Western diplomacy has not yet been noticeably affected by the diplomatic break between Iran and much of the Arab world, many of the anticipated effects of the nuclear agreement remain unhampered for the time being. That is to say, Western nations continue to express interest in expanding their own trade relations with and investments in Iran. Oil Price points out, for instance, that Denmarks foreign minister visited Tehran on Monday with a delegation consisting of representatives from 58 companies. The visit highlights expectations that Denmarks exports to Iran could increase by 72 million dollars after the lifting of sanctions. Oil Price adds that Germany and India will both be competing with Denmark for investments in aspects of the Iranian renewable energy market. All of this suggests a strong outlook for Irans post-sanctions economy, but this assessment is widely disputed. And the discord between Iran and the Gulf States promises to both highlight these disputes and strengthen the case for a weak outlook by diminishing Irans economic relations with some of its nearest trading partners. Al Arabiya reported on Monday that the United Arab Emirates described Irans impact on the UAE economy as being greatly exaggerated. At the same time, Western analysts have suggested that the potential impact of Saudi Arabia and its allies on Iran is tremendous, giving them the advantage in any near-term economic war that grows out of the current diplomatic break. This is due in no small part to the Saudis ability to convince other OPEC member states to hold down oil prices in order to stonewall a possible Iranian recovery. But some other analysts question how probable such a recovery would be in any event. Along these lines, IranWire issued a report on the Iranian economy on Monday, in which it argued that the current government has only managed to remove the minus sign from major economic indicators, and would not be likely to do much more even under changing conditions. The article suggested that factors such as government corruption, a slow pace of economic reforms, political instability, and low consumer demand due to a persistent recession would affect the success of foreign businesses and limit their investments. Naturally, the factor of political stability is affected by the current regional discord, and its impact on the Iranian economy may in turn mitigate the prospects for foreign investment and recovery. This anxiety relates not just to Irans tests of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles or shows of force in the Persian Gulf, but also to human rights violations and especially the ongoing political imprisonment of American citizens and permanent residents. With this in mind, UPI reports executives from 25 different news outlets signed a letter that was delivered to Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urging him to take serious action to secure the release of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent and American-Iranian dual citizen who has been held in Iran for 500 days and was recently given an undisclosed prison sentence for unspecified charges related to espionage and collaboration with Western governments. Rezaians case is arguably relevant to the nuclear agreement in part because it illustrates some of the ways in which Irans behavior has remained unchanged even during and after a long period of negotiation with the US and its allies. When the nuclear negotiations resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, many American critics were particularly troubled by the fact that Rezaian and three other American citizens were left stranded, rather than being released as a precondition to any agreement. The Obama administration, on the other hand, argued that the two issues were separate. And it intimated that a nuclear deal could encourage a moderating trend inside the Iranian regime that could make negotiations over the fate of American citizens easier. Six months after the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, many Western critics and international human rights advocates see no signs of this moderating trend. Rezaian is one example of the persistence of arbitrary detentions, press repression, and general human rights issues. But the situation for native Iranians illustrates the problem much more extensively. As Iran News Update pointed out last week, a number of human rights reports have emphasized the continuation of former abuses through the end of 2015. Iran Human Rights, for instance, kept tabs on a number of mass executions that took place in the waning days of the year. The same website has since gone on note that the rapid pace of Irans executions has kept up into the start of 2016. The site noted that two prisoners were hanged on Saturday in one northern Iranian prison and 12 others were moved into solitary confinement in preparation for executions in another prison in the same region. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Activists News Agency has released a report looking back over the Iranian month of Azar, which spanned parts of November and December, and found that 48 executions had taken place during that period. This was a notable increase over the previous month, and early indicators from the end of December and the beginning of January give no indication that this rate has fallen off substantially. HRANA also notes that while some human rights topics such as the conviction of Jason Rezaian have gotten a good deal of exposure in the international press, others have been conspicuously under-reported, leading to tacit encouragement of more of the same behaviors on the part of the Iranian regime and its judiciary. This observation reflects longstanding criticisms of the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and six world powers in July. Various human rights advocates have suggested that the world communitys narrow focus on the nuclear issue would distract attention from serious human rights issues, and would possibly give Western powers incentive to neglect those issues in favor of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. These criticisms were reiterated on Sunday by The Tower when it claimed that between the signing of the nuclear agreement and the present date, Iran has been cracking down in individual rights with increasing fervor. This claim leads in turn to the argument that the nuclear deal itself has empowered Iranian hardliners while alienating moderates, in contrast to the apparent expectations of the Obama administration and its supporters. While activists and news outlets may differ in terms of the extent to which they blame the nuclear deal for the current state of affairs, The Tower has been joined by many other commentators in observing that the regime is in the midst of a serious crackdown on dissidents, moderates, and anyone deemed to be at odds with the fundamentalist Islamic ideology at the heart of the regime. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran pointed to Hila Sedighi as one of the very latest examples of this crackdown after the 30 year-old poet and civil activist was arrested at the airport on Thursday upon returning from a trip to the United Arab Emirates. The International Campaign points out that this comes after arrests and sentencing of several other prominent poets in the past few weeks, as well as filmmakers and artists. The organizations executive director, Hadi Ghaemi said, The mounting arrests of young artists in Iran is yet another indication of the suffocating domination of security and intelligence agencies over the Judiciary. And the recentness of Sedighis arrest indicates that that situation remains unchanged with the start of the New Year. Furthermore, HRANA indicated on Monday that the mistreatment of such political prisoners is also an ongoing problem, as evidenced in part by the fact that 27 individuals have been identified in Urmia prison as having been improperly integrated into the general prison population in spite of the traditional separation of political prisoners, violent offenders, and others. Such integration often subjects political prisoners to beatings by other prisoners and is utilized as a punitive measure. While it is by no means certain that the bill would pass, it certainly has the support of virtually the entire Republican Party as well as many Democrats who agree that the president has maintained an excessively soft policy toward the Islamic Republic, which is regarded as a state sponsor of terrorism as well as a regular violator of international human rights laws and UN Security Council resolutions. Nevertheless, if congressional rules do not allow for a divided Democratic minority to block the bills passage as they did in the case of a resolution of disapproval for the Iran nuclear deal, then President Obama will exercise his veto power, thereby necessitating that the House and Senate muster a three-fourths majority to get the legislation passed. The president has justified this obstruction by saying that the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act would prevent the US from fulfilling its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, insofar as it would link promised sanctions relief to issues that are not directly related to the Iranian nuclear program. But the Obama administration has also repeatedly pointed out that the deal does not prevent the US from sanctioning Iran over its human rights abuses and support for international terrorism. This would seem to open up the possibility of retaining sanctions on specific entities by way of re-categorizing those sanctions in line with demonstrated abuses. However, the Obama administration may be wary of any such move, since a number of Iranian officials have indicated that they would see any new sanctions including non-nuclear sanctions as violations of the JCPOA and a reason to walk away from their own obligations. This wariness was arguably illustrated by the US Treasury Departments apparent decision to hold back the implementation of sanctions that it had announced last month in response to Irans October violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning development and testing of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. The administration has subsequently come under fire from both Republicans and Democrats for what they fear will give the Iranian regime that it will not face serious consequences for even transparently provocative actions. On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Chris Coons joined in this chorus of criticism, telling reporters that he was both publicly and privately urging the president to move forward with the sanctions, according to The Hill. But even as leading Democrats contribute their voices to this issue, there is doubt as to whether Obama will respond positively. And for that reason, other American legislators are moving to take matters into their own hands. For example, Wicked Local reported on Tuesday that Democratic Representatives Joe Kennedy III and Ted Deutch introduced the Zero Tolerance for Terror Act last week, which would expedite the process by which Congress itself could impose new sanctions on Iran for its terrorist or ballistic missile activities. The case for circumventing the president on such matters may likely be bolstered this week after two small US naval vessels reported strayed just inside the boundaries of Iranian territorial waters and were seized. As of late Tuesday, ten American sailors were being held by the Islamic Republic in what many are sure to see as a show of force akin to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps test fire of unguided missiles within about 1,500 yards of a US aircraft carrier at the end of December. The Obama administration responded to the capture of the ten American sailors by downplaying the threat they face and repeating unnamed Iranian officials assurance that the individuals would be released promptly and unharmed, perhaps as early as Wednesday morning. But several of Obamas critics, including Republican presidential hopefuls seized on the incident to expose Obamas purported weakness on the international stage. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum described the presidents response as feckless, according to CNN. And Texas Senator Ted Cruz said it was the latest manifestation of the weakness of Barack Obama [and evidence] that every bad actor views Obama as a laughingstock. Obamas apparent decision to take these provocative developments in stride contradicts not only the approached advocated by much of the US Congress, but also the current activities of US allies in the Middle East, many of whom have downgraded relations with Iran in recent days, as well as taking other actions to expose the Islamic Republics aggressive behaviors. These foreign powers may also be a source of support for congressional advocacy, especially as they highlight supposed incidences of terrorist intrusion by Iran into other regions of the Middle East. The Gulf Times noted on Tuesday that Kuwait had sentenced two individuals to death for alleged ties to a Tehran-led terrorist operation that had stockpiled large quantities of explosives and weapons inside Kuwait. Twenty-four others were also sentenced to various prison terms. This comes only days after Bahrain broke up a Shiite militant organization with ties to the IRGC, thereby pointing to a demonstrated, ongoing pattern of infiltration by Iranian hardline agents into other countries in the region. I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM. [email protected] Founders Announce Acquisition of Magento eCommerce Practice of Pixafy The founders of business technology firm [email protected] today announced that they have acquired the eCommerce practice of Pixafy, a Magento Gold Partner specializing in developing world class eCommerce websites. Pixafy Services, LLC (Pixafy) will continue to deliver Magento Enterprise B2C and B2B websites for clients, who will now have access to [email protected]'s broad technology stack, with the support of their highly regarded professional services team. Pixafy Services will also serve as [email protected]'s Web & eCommerce arm. Alex and Edward Solomon, co-presidents and founders of [email protected] and the owners of Pixafy Services, have significantly expanded their company's footprint across North America since [email protected]'s founding in 1996, helping midmarket companies across the U.S. and Canada grow their businesses. [email protected] is known nationally for providing unmatched implementation, consulting and support across the Sage, NetSuite (News - Alert), Salesforce, Microsoft, and Magento product portfolios, and are experts at integrating third-party systems across platforms. "The acquisition enables us to leverage an amazingly talented team of certified Magento developers who have built an impressive portfolio of elegant, engaging and robust B2B and B2C eCommerce websites," said Alex Solomon, co-president and co-owner of [email protected] "Our Pixafy Web and eCommerce practice will enable us to simultaneously expand the strong Pixafy brand and existing business, while allowing [email protected] to more comprehensively serve middle market companies as a one stop shop for all their business technology needs." As a Magento Gold Solutions partner and an internationally recognized leader in the field, the Pixafy team brings extensive knowledge and expertise regarding Magento platforms. Their certified Magento Developer Plus and Front End Developers work with partners throughout the Maento ecosystem in building complete eCommerce solutions for B2B and B2C customers. [email protected]'s owners are committed to growing the Pixafy Services practice by providing enhanced support to Pixafy clients and giving [email protected]'s middle market customer base access to industry-leading eCommerce capabilities. Ross Glick, a digital marketing expert, will serve as the Managing Director of Pixafy Services. Ross was the founder and CEO of iNDELIBLE Media, and has an extensive background in business development, brand marketing, design, IA/UX, eCommerce, content production and online distribution. "I'm really looking forward to working with both Pixafy and [email protected] clients in developing world class websites and eCommerce solutions," said Mr. Glick. "We have such a deep bench of design and development talent, particularly when we combine the capabilities of Pixafy Services and [email protected] I'm delighted and honored that Alex and Eddie asked me to lead Pixafy Services, considering their industry-wide reputation for integrity, the quality of their work and their complete focus on customer service." About Pixafy Services, LLC Pixafy Services, LLC (Pixafy), is a leading Magento Gold Solutions partner, specializing in developing world class Magento Enterprise powered eCommerce websites. Their NYC based team of Magento Experts custom develops world class Magento Enterprise sites. Pixafy partners with leading Design, Strategy, and Branding firms to bring a client's vision to life and execute sophisticated B2C and B2B builds for clients including K-Swiss, Nobel (News - Alert) Biocare, Topps, and Living Proof. Pixafy's sole focus is helping organizations be as successful as possible with the Magento platform and it's ecosystem of technology partners. Pixafy also provides custom PHP development and retained Magento Continuous Improvement services. For more information please call 1-212-596-7404 or visit www.pixafy.com. About [email protected] Founded in 1996 as a network support company, [email protected] has evolved into a provider of a full range of IT services and solutions, including ERP, CRM, HRMS, document management systems, eCommerce & web development, and systems integration. Headquartered in NYC with offices across North America, their professional services staff of 180 plus supports over 6,000 clients. The company has received numerous awards for its high level of client satisfaction. Partnerships with proven technology leaders, including Sage, NetSuite, Magento, Abila, Microsoft, Dell (News - Alert), HP, Citrix and VMware, allow [email protected] to deliver a range of unbiased, integrated solutions that bring its clients every competitive advantage possible. For more information on [email protected] please call 1-800-719-3307 or visit www.netatwork.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160112006406/en/ [January 12, 2016] Fitch Affirms Moreno Valley Unified School District, CA's GOs at 'AA-'; Outlook Stable Fitch Ratings has affirmed its 'AA-' rating on the following Moreno Valley Unified School District (the district), CA's (News - Alert) general obligation (GO) bonds: --$1.5 million GO bonds, election 2004, series A; --$32.1 million GO refunding GO bonds, series 2007. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are secured by an unlimited ad valorem tax pledge on all taxable property within the district. KEY RATING DRIVERS BALANCED BUDGET, SOUND RESERVES: Positive financial performance continues to add to sound reserve levels. Structurally balanced operations are expected, largely attributable to rising revenues. RISING DEBT PROFILE: Overall debt ratios are above average and will likely keep rising due to continued issuance from a recent debt authorization. Growing carrying costs for long-term liabilities should remain manageable and amortization is average. WEAK, IMPROVING ECONOMY: The local economy remains relatively weak with limited job growth and below-average income levels. The unemployment rate, while still above average, has come down significantly and taxable assessed value (AV) has almost fully recovered to pre-recession levels. RATING SENSITIVITIES SATISFACTORY RESERVES: The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that the district's budget will continue to be structurally balanced and that drawdown of reserves for non-recurring uses will remain within projected levels. Negative rating action would likely occur if those expectations are not met. CREDIT PROFILE The district provides public education for grades kindergarten through 12 to approximately 34,000 students in Riverside County. The district's boundaries cover approximately 43 miles and include portions of Moreno Valley and Riverside City. POSITIVE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE The district is expected to record a $9.5 million (3% of spending) operating surplus in fiscal 2015 (draft audit) following two years of positive results, benefitting from significantly increased state funding as well as prior expenditure reduction measures. Financial performance for fiscals 2016 through 2018 is expected to remain solid as the district continues to benefit from generally improved state funding and the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), as a result of its high targeted student population (85%). Despite a declining average daily attendance (ADA) trend due to competition from charter schools, the district is currently projecting a 17% increase in LCFF receipts for fiscal 2016. While increased expenditures are likely to offset some of the district's revenue gains, Fitch expects financial operations to remain balanced in the near term. Fitch expects expenditure pressures to continue due to increased labor and Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) costs. SOLID FUND BALANCES Unrestricted general fund reserve level has remained relatively stable historically at around 15% of spending despite volatility in revenues. Management plans to fund capital projects by using a portion of the currently solid unrestricted fund balance (fiscal 2015 draft audit at $56.4 million or 17% of spending). Fitch expects reserves to stay at or above the district's 10% informal reserve policy due to conservative budgeting and financial management. WEAK, IMPROVING ECONOMY The local economy remains relatively weak with below-average income levels. In November 2015, the unemployment rates in the city of Moreno Valley and Riverside County improved significantly from prior years but were still higher than state average (5.7%) at 6.6% and 6.2%, respectively. Income levels in Moreno Valley are below average with per capita income at 60% of the California average. The district's poverty rate at 20% is worse than the state average of 16%. AV growth accelerated to 7.9% and 6.4%in fiscal 2015 and 2016, respectively, and AV is now only 2% below its pre-recession peak. ANTICIPATED INCREASE IN DEBT The district's debt profile has weakened significantly, due mostly to recent debt issuance. Overall debt ratios after the recent $103 million in new debt are above average at 5.4% of market value or $3,360 per capita. The district received voter authorization (with 64% support rate) in June 2014 for $398 million in GO debt to finance a new high school, retrofit existing school sites, and address other district-wide capital needs. The first issuance of $103 million was completed in April 2015. Three additional issuances are currently planned between 2018 and 2024. If issued in full, the proposed additional debt would more than double the district's current direct debt load. The expected increase is factored into the rating. OPEB AND PENSION PRESSURES The district's fiscal 2014 contributions for other post-employment benefits and pensions were manageable at 6% of general fund spending. Future increases in contribution rates, however, appear likely based on the relatively weak funding levels of the OPEB and statewide pension plans. Carrying costs for debt service, pension and OPEB are manageable at 12% of governmental fund spending as of fiscal 2014 but likely to take up an increasing amount of the budget going forward, as all three components are expected to rise. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Fitch recently published an exposure draft of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015). The draft includes a number of proposed revisions to existing criteria. If applied in the proposed form, Fitch estimates the revised criteria would result in changes to less than 10% of existing tax-supported ratings. Fitch expects that final criteria will be approved and published by Jan. 20, 2016. Once approved, the criteria will be applied immediately to any new issue and surveillance rating review. Fitch anticipates the criteria to be applied to all ratings that fall under the criteria within a 12-month period from the final approval date. In addition to the sources of information identified in the applicable criteria specified below, this action was informed by information from CreditScope, IHS (News - Alert) Global Insight, and Zillow Group. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 10 Sep 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=869942 Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=686015 U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=685314 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=997782 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=997782 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160112006538/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Months After Media Storm, Hola Helps Brazilian WhatsApp Users Avoid Blockade TEL AVIV, Israel, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month, the Brazilian government shut down WhatsApp, effectively limiting the freedom of information to its citizens. Within a couple of days, 269,000 people turned to Hola, a popular VPN service, to continue using the messaging app despite the censorship. WhatsApp had been accused by a local judge of refusing to communicate with a court in a criminal case. After not responding to the court request, the app was ordered to be blocked in Brazil for 48 hours by the telecommunications companies, until the order was overturned by a higher judge 12 hours later. While many Brazilians downloaded alternative messaging apps, such as Telegram, others preferred to rely on VPN services to continue their WhatsApp service. Most VPNs cost between five to ten dollars a month. In a country as Brazil, where the average monthly wage is $778, a VPN approaches 1% of monthly family income, a disproportionate amount of money to spend on such service. VPNs are so expensive because they need to pay for the costly servers through which their users' traffic pass, and they ought to make a profit from it, as well. The reasn why hundreds of thousands turned to Hola is probably that the service is free of charge. Hola's peer-to-peer (P2P) nature, in fact, does not rely on any server, so there is no underlying cost of service. Its users surf the internet anonymously by securely routing through other users' computers when these are not in use. Hola is free for non-commercial use only - in the meanwhile, Hola profits from Luminati, the same proxy service offered to businesses for commercial use. This enables Hola to provide the non-commercial service free of charge. Such practice didn't present any issues, until May 2015, when a group of hackers found a series of vulnerabilities in the system, which they exposed on a website called "Adios, Hola!" Multiple media outlets covered the event, claiming Hola was an unsafe solution for VPN users. Users were urged to uninstall the service. A Twitter user shared, "I just saw the news about Hola and had to uninstall it I'm so sad now but what can you do." https://twitter.com/leia_han/status/605772795289550849 Founder Ofer Vilenski released a statement assuring that the vulnerabilities found in the system had been promptly fixed. Shortly after, the company launched a bug bounty program, offering rewards to hackers who could find and report bugs in the application. "Hola became popular so quickly that as we were busy making the technology scalable we had some security oversights on the way," said Vilenski. In the statement, he wrote: "We have since done internal and external security audits, overhauled our security and our internal processes. We have not seen a similar event since, but remain vigilant." Months after the event, Twitter users went back to sharing how useful the service is. Since its launch in 2008, the service has been used by 60 million people in multiple countries to democratize the Web. In March 2014, for instance, surfers located in Turkey installed Hola to access popular social networks Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, blocked by the government after allegations of corruption. For additional information please contact: Sivan Shapira Marketing Director https://hola.org/ SOURCE Hola [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 13, 2016] Cadwalader Intranet Recognized Among Top 10 by Nielsen Norman Group NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, a leading law firm to global corporations and financial institutions, is featured in the Nielsen Norman Group's 2016 Intranet Design Annual, which identifies the 10 best-designed corporate intranets of the year. Cadwalader is the first U.S. law firm to earn a spot on the list. The winning intranets, chosen by expert review based on design and usability from a field of hundreds of nominations, are highlighted here: www.nngroup.com/news/item/2016-intranet-design-awards/. Launched in July of 2015, Cadwalader's new intranet, Cadwalader Connect, was conceived by the firm's Knowledge Management Initiative Team, comprised of Cadwalader lawyers and other professionals. The platform integrates tools and data, new technologies and new processes to create a convenient access point for many of the firm's systems. "The firm identified the need for a knowledge management system that enhances our ability to address clients' needs and that supports our culture nd coordination through improved internal communication," said Patrick Quinn, Cadwalader's Managing Partner. "Cadwalader Connect allows us to leverage powerful tools to efficiently manage our business, strengthen internal and external relationships, provide efficient access to data, and deliver exceptional legal services to our clients." Cadwalader Connect fosters collaboration and communication across the firm's global offices through enhanced search capabilities; partner-focused financial dashboards; a robust firm directory; a single global platform with multilingual functionality; and a cohesive, modern design that supports the firm's branding. Nielsen Norman Group is a consulting firm that researches and evaluates interface and user experience (UX). The company helps clients design websites, applications, intranets and new products. About Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, established in 1792, serves a diverse client base, including many of the world's leading financial institutions and corporations in more than 50 countries. With offices in New York, London, Charlotte, Washington, Houston, Beijing, Hong Kong and Brussels, Cadwalader offers legal expertise in antitrust, banking, corporate finance, corporate governance, energy, environmental, executive compensation, financial restructuring, health care, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, private wealth, real estate, regulation, securitization, structured finance, tax and white collar defense. For more information, visit www.cadwalader.com. Contacts: Kara Fitzsimmons +1 212 504 6708 [email protected] Kimberly Brooks +1 212 504 5652 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150709/234447LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cadwalader-intranet-recognized-among-top-10-by-nielsen-norman-group-300203850.html SOURCE Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP "Not wearing the kippa can save lives and nothing is more important," Marseilles Jewish community leader Zvi Ammar said. PARIS- Jews in Marseille should avoid wearing the kippa in the streets, the head of the Jewish community in the southern French city said on Tuesday, a day after a teenager attacked and slightly injured a teacher there who wore the traditional brimless cap. The teenager, a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who was armed with a machete and a knife, said he had acted in the name of the militant Islamic State group, French prosecutors said. "Not wearing the kippa can save lives and nothing is more important," Zvi Ammar told La Provence daily. "It really hurts to reach that point but I don\t want anyone to die in Marseille because they have a kippa on their head." France, home to both the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in Europe, has been under a state of emergency since Islamist militants killed 130 people in coordinated attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. In other attacks claimed by the Islamic State, militants last January targeted a Jewish supermarket in Paris. proxima AMIA/Atentado. Oficializan la designacion de Cimadevilla en la Unidad Especial de Investigacion, que no sera secretaria The Jamestown Foundations mission is to inform and educate policy makers and the broader community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information. Utilizing indigenous and primary sources, Jamestowns material is delivered without political bias, filter or agenda. It is often the only source of information which should be, but is not always, available through official or intelligence channels, especially in regard to Eurasia and terrorism. Jeffrey D. Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University Shreveport. If you're an elected official, political operative or anyone else upset at his views, don't go bothering LSUS or LSU System officials about that because these are his own views solely. This publishes five days weekly with the exception of 7 holidays. Also check out his Louisiana Legislature Log especially during legislative sessions (in "Louisiana Politics Blog Roll" below). Studying abroad in South Korea in her last semester of college afforded Mattoon resident Emily Strawn not only a change of scenery but also the sense of adventure she was looking for at this stage of her life. "I have always been interested in different cultures so some of my desire to study abroad stemmed from that," said the December 2015 graduate of Grace College and Theological Seminary of Winona Lake, Ind. She earned a bachelor's degree in counseling with a minor in general science. "I guess I kind of wanted to go out with a bang. It's not every day that you get the opportunity to live in a different country for four months." To enter the study abroad program, she said she endured an intense application process including two applications at her school and another application specific to the school in Handong. The first application at Grace was just a basic application including her name, GPA, etc., while the second one was a checklist with criteria such as letters of recommendations from teachers and having the dean of students sign it. It was "not a process I want to relive anytime soon," Strawn said. "It was a lot of work." Approximately 60 international students participated, including students from countries like the US, Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, Mexico, Madagascar, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The students studied at Handong Global University in Pohang South Korea. "While I was there, we had the largest number of international students that the school has ever had," she said. "I met so many great people from so many countries. I really got a view on multiple cultures, and I have friends in a number of countries now. If I ever go traveling again, there are places that I can stay in Korea, England, Hungary, Mongolia, and Malaysia. "I even made new friends from the States that I could go visit if I wanted to. It really was just an amazing experience." Strawn stayed in an international dorm where everyone spoke English, sharing a room with three other girls. "The weird part about the rooms is that the shower is not separated from the sink at all. There is not a separate cubicle for the shower or anything. There is a drain in the middle of the floor, and there was a handheld shower faucet. Water got everywhere. It was interesting to figure out where to put your clothes so they wouldn't get soaked while you were showering," she said. One of many highlights of her trip was traveling with nine other girls from the school to Jeju Island. "We did all sorts of things while we were there: hiking, going to a famous cafe, visiting a Hello Kitty museum, and visiting an optical illusion museum. "My favorite part of the trip was going horseback riding. I had never been before so I was really excited," Strawn said. "Basically all they do is put you on a horse and have you hold onto a bar on the saddle while the horse walks around a short trail, but it was still exciting to me. "The best part, though, happened after we were finished riding. The people running the ranch had us pose individually for pictures while we were on the horses. We could buy one picture for 15,000 KRW (Korean Won), which is about $15. "When I was waved over to the computer to see the picture, I was so excited. This was a new experience for me and the picture would have made a great souvenir. The woman working pulled up a photo on her computer and smiled at me. She then pointed at their display frame and explained the prices and everything to me. "There was just one problem: The picture was definitely not me. The girl in the picture was Western, certainly, but still not me. So I told the woman that it wasn't me and she just looked so confused. She did start looking through more pictures, however she kept coming back to the same picture of the other girl. "I never did get my picture." She said the story was worth a good laugh, though. Staying in another country didn't come without a few challenges. There was a time when she and a friend noticed a language barrier. It was their first time traveling out of the Pohang, and they became "hopelessly lost" she said. They ended up asking some of the locals for help and they said "No English, no English." Fortunately she and her American friend were able to share their map with the South Korean natives, and they were able to figure out where the girls were staying. They took the time to walk the girls back to their hotel. "To experience such kindness from strangers was really a blessing," Strawn said. Other challenges besides the language barrier included a difference in the way food was prepared and a bit of homesickness. "I never really got the hang of Korean, although I can understand more than I can speak. So there was a definite language barrier. I became quite skilled at reading nonverbal cues by the time I came home," she said. Adjusting to spicy foods was another challenge and a shock to her system; however, she said, "On the bright side, I have a much higher tolerance for spice now." She was in Korea from August until December, but didn't really get homesick until around Thanksgiving. "I think it was the fact that the holidays were starting and I wasn't with my family. That was really difficult," Strawn said. "I felt like I was missing out on so much. I'm just glad I was able to come home in time for Christmas." For Strawn, traveling to South Korea is something she wants to do again and she desires to share the experience with her family; she is the daughter of Dennis and Melinda Strawn of Mattoon. She said if she wins the lottery she is taking her whole family there. She wants them to see all the places she enjoyed and to meet her Korean friends. "I wouldn't enjoy the 11-plus-hour plane ride to get there, but I would absolutely go back. In fact, I really want to go back." On Feb. 25, University of Illinois Extension will host a Soil and Water Management Seminar to be presented via webinar in Arthur and Shelbyville. The presentations begin at 9:00 am and are completed at 2:30pm. The first topic will focus on soil health. Dr. Anthony Yannarell of the University of Illinois will present Harnessing Plant-microbe Interactions to Improve Soil Health. Two presentations will focus on the use of technology in soil and water management. Dennis Bowman, University of Illinois Extension, will present Using Drones for Water Management. Next, Ron Collman, Illinois NRCS State Soil Scientist will inform participants about Using LIDAR and other Remote Sensing for Soil and Water Management. Dr. Laura Gentry from the Illinois Corn Growers Association and University of Illinois will address nitrogen fate and management. The title of her presentation is The 3 Fates of Nitrates: 1 is GREAT; 1 we HATE; and 1 we TOLERATE. To complete the seminar, two presentations will address water resources and management. Kevin Erb from the University of Wisconsin Extension will focus on water management. His presentation is titled, Getting Water to Where Roots Need It. Finally, Dr. Jim Angel, Illinois State Climatologist will present, Extreme Precipitation, Extreme Erosion. The University of Illinois Extension Unit 19 will offer the seminar at the U of I Extension office in Arthur located at 122 S. Walnut. It will also be offered at the U of I Extension office in Shelbyville located at 1125 W N Second St. Certified Crop Advisors can receive 4.5 hours of continuing education credit in soil and water management by attending this seminar. The registration fee for the seminar is $45.00, which includes lunch. The deadline for registration is Feb. 19. Preregistration is required at both locations and can be completed on-line at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/ccdms/ , or by calling Dave Shiley, U of I Extension at 217-543-3755. Questions may also be addressed to Shiley at the above phone number. About the photos, and permission to use All photographs (unless otherwise noted) on these web pages are the exclusive property of Jim McCormac, and are protected under United States and International copyright laws. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, stored, distributed or manipulated without written permission. All rights are reserved. All photographs are available for purchase. If interested in an image(s), please feel free to contact me at: jimmccormac35 AT gmail.com If you contact me requesting free photos, the reply may be long in coming :-) I've been taking photographs for a few decades, but never became fully engaged in photography until 2003. That's when I got my first digital camera. Since then, photography has become a passion and a steadily growing addiction. If you delve back far enough into this blog, you will see photos that were made with a range of cameras. Early on was a Canon Rebel DSLR, followed by a Nikon D7000. I've since returned to Canon, and use their gear exclusively. My current camera bodies are a Canon 6D II and 5D IV - both are awesome cameras, each with their primary use. The lens bag includes a number of Canon lenses that collectively cover most bases, ranging from macro to super telephotos. I do lots of macro, and my typical flash gear is the Canon Twin-Lite setup, or sometimes a diffused Canon 600 speedlite. If the gear needs three-legged stabilization, it is mounted on either an Induro tripod, attached to an Induro Gimbal head, or a Gitzo 3542 tripod and Wimberly WH-200 head. Finally, I've got a GoPro Hero, which is fully waterproof and can be used for underwater work. Sometimes I even use the camera or video feature on my iPhone 7 smartphone - it's amazing how good phone cameras have become. December 30 - Tropical Yoga and River Cruise I attended the 6:30am free yoga class on the pavilion near the pool. I didn't get as hot and sweaty as I'd expected, given the warm and humid climate, but apparently I attracted the nasty stinging flies and ended up with several bug bites (that still haven't completely healed more than a week later!). With just enough time to grab breakfast, including the huevos duros that Mr. E had ordered for me tucked into a napkin, we climbed back onto the bus for about a 2-hour drive to the site of our River Cruise up in the very northern part of the country. We had a pause along the way to get a closer look at some pineapple fields and also slowed down as we crossed a little bridge surrounded by trees full of iguanas and a sloth in a tree along the side of the road:During the 2-hour river cruise, we got to see quite a bit of wildlife, including birds, a crocodile, some iguanas, several "Jesus Christ" lizards (they skim or "walk" across the top of the water), and even a rather angry white-faced monkey that didn't appreciate being stared at by humans:We traveled far enough north to hit the border with Nicaragua! And when the boat turned around, we were north of that boundary, so I guess technically we visited two new countries during this trip.After the cruise, we had lunch at a local restaurant and then piled back onto the bus to return to the hotel. We discovered a fabulous "towel dog" on the bed -- such a fun thing for the housekeeping staff to create for guests!Lots of folks hit the pool when we got back, but Mr. E and I decided to take advantage of the cloud cover to do a walkabout for almost an hour to get some activity after being on the bus for such a long time. We also were able to take time to admire the beautiful grounds of the resort, particularly the flowers and fruit trees:We eventually found our way to the pool again for some laps and finally got our pool-side cocktails as well -- a Guaro Sour for me (my new favorite, made with the national Cacique rum, simple sugar, and citrus) and a Toucan Tico for Mr. E. Our day finished with a return to the El Rincon bar to finish our card game and bid farewell to the bartender. Wednesday, January 13, 2016 On The Legislative Campaign Trail With The Latest Positioning, Plus: The Case Of The Missing Hispanics, And: Guv's Pizza Party Doesn't Inspire Humility Don't look for House Majority Leader The seat leans his way--he's won his past two elections with 54 percent--but the ABQ NE Heights district is changing some. Besides, Gentry is a key player in the effort to keep the House under Republican control, so the Dems hope to divert his energy. Insiders report this session will be the last hurrah for Dem Rep. Dona Irwin of SW NM (Grant, Hidalgo and Luna). Her retirement would leave an opportunity for the R's to pick up her seat, say the experts, but the Dems maintain they can hang on to the seat. Expect a spirited battle. Irwin has served since 1999. Down in Las Cruces, it's adios time for GOP Rep. Terry McMillan, say the Alligators. The medical doctor, who has won two exceptionally tight races against Dem Joanne Ferrary, is bowing out. And guess who will run for the seat? GOP State Representative Sarah Maestas Barnes is a rising star in the GOP but the Dems think her ABQ North Valley and NE Heights seat should belong to them. They promise a stiff challenge and say they will roll out their candidate soon. Barnes has the edge at the opening bell. MISSING HISPANICS? A Senior Alligator writes: Albuquerque Economic Development announced its new 77 member board of directors this week and we noted only one or two Hispanic members on the important business recruitment group. The announcement made no mention of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber among its associate members. One of the attractive features of Albuquerque has been its ethnic diversity and accommodating community atmosphere and at times it has been used as a business recruiting asset. Apparently, the current Albuquerque business leadership sees little or no advantage in promoting the diverse Albuquerque culture. How is that working for you? NO HUMILITY We have to put up with these folks. Their job is to slow and control information the public should be getting raw and directly from someone with knowledge. What we dont have to put up with is rude, yelling, name-calling children swinging the governors name around as if it held weight with us. She works for us, as does (Michael) Lonergon. Hes got it backwards. Besides, were in a Democrat-controlled county. She works at not acknowledging us.You would think after her peeetzaaaa party her office learned some manners and maybe a little humility. Sadly, thats not so. In other post pizza party media abuse, we told you how the Governor's political operatives were on social media bitching that the Santa Fe New Mexican did not report the arrest of one its reporters for traffic tickets, a reporter who has written about the federal grand jury probe of the administration. Then there was the slamming of the door in the face of photographers and news reporters by Martinez's security detail when they chased her down to ask questions about the pizza party. She was rushed away in her SUV. And the list goes on and on. . . The media bear some of the blame. For example, earlier this month Martinez had her first news conference since the pizza party to unveil her state budget. As far as can be ascertained, no reporter took the opportunity to ask the questions about the holiday party that Martinez refused to answer in December when her security slammed the door on them and whisked her away. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. ( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 As the Legislature nears the start of its 30 day session next Tuesday politics will weigh heavily. All 112 legislative seats--70 in the House and 42 in the Senate--are up for election in November (after a June primary). Time to check out the campaign trail.Don't look for House Majority Leader Nate Gentry to get a free ride. The Dems say to keep Gentry busy they will field a candidate and throw some money at the race.The seat leans his way--he's won his past two elections with 54 percent--but the ABQ NE Heights district is changing some. Besides, Gentry is a key player in the effort to keep the House under Republican control, so the Dems hope to divert his energy.Insiders report this session will be the last hurrah for Dem Rep. Dona Irwin of SW NM (Grant, Hidalgo and Luna). Her retirement would leave an opportunity for the R's to pick up her seat, say the experts, but the Dems maintain they can hang on to the seat. Expect a spirited battle. Irwin has served since 1999.Down in Las Cruces, it's adios time for GOP Rep. Terry McMillan, say the Alligators. The medical doctor, who has won two exceptionally tight races against Dem Joanne Ferrary, is bowing out. And guess who will run for the seat? Joanne Ferrary . The R's have a candidate in the wings ready to fight to keep it. Will the third time for Ferrary be a Dem charm?GOP State Representative Sarah Maestas Barnes is a rising star in the GOP but the Dems think her ABQ North Valley and NE Heights seat should belong to them. They promise a stiff challenge and say they will roll out their candidate soon. Barnes has the edge at the opening bell.A Senior Alligator writes: Humility is not a lesson that comes easily--or even at all--to the Martinez minions. Those on her press staff continue to berate and bully the media, despite her being busted for the audacious actions at her infamous boozy holiday pizza party. Here's the latest example of the abusive behavior that percolates on the Fourth Floor and then drips down to places like the newsroom at Espanola's Rio Grande Sun In other post pizza party media abuse, we told you how the Governor's political operatives were on social media bitching that the Santa Fe New Mexican did not report the arrest of one its reporters for traffic tickets, a reporter who has written about the federal grand jury probe of the administration. Then there was the slamming of the door in the face of photographers and news reporters by Martinez's security detail when they chased her down to ask questions about the pizza party. She was rushed away in her SUV. And the list goes on and on. . .The media bear some of the blame. For example, earlier this month Martinez had her first news conference since the pizza party to unveil her state budget. As far as can be ascertained, no reporter took the opportunity to ask the questions about the holiday party that Martinez refused to answer in December when her security slammed the door on them and whisked her away.This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) please donate...it helps me write more gooder! Despite lacking a coast, Nebraska stands to reap benefits from a massive twelve-member trade agreement that would break down trade barriers among a dozen Pacific nations, said the United States top agricultural negotiator Tuesday night at a University of Nebraska lecture series. A lot of my job right now is making sure people understand the benefits of this agreement to U.S. agriculture and to the economy as a whole, said Darci Vetter, the chief ag diplomat for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Vetter, a Nebraska native, bookended the 90-minute UNL Heuermann Lecture at the Nebraska Innovation Campus with Clayton Yeutter, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture and U.S. trade representative who is also a Nebraska native. They discussed the history of U.S. trade since World War II and current efforts, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership currently before Congress and ongoing negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, an agreement between the United States and European Union. Vetter said some members of the European Union are still dealing with ramifications of the global financial crisis, especially countries like Greece, Italy and Spain. They need a shot in the arm. They need to find a way to invigorate the European economy and deal with the United States would provide that, Vetter said. One of the biggest agricultural challenges for negotiators, she said, is addressing the differences in the way governments regulate farm and biotechnology products such as genetically modified corn, she said. We have to find a way to deal with trade in the products of biotechnology where the EUs approval system for those products is slow and infused with a political element that treats our products unfairly, she said, adding that science should be the guide in making such decisions. The Trans-Pacific partnership between the United States and 11 other nations, including Japan, Australia and Chile has becoming an election year pinata with presidential hopefuls on both sides of the political aisle bashing it. President Barack Obama has called for Congress to pass the deal but some Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been quoted in national media saying it would be a mistake to push it during the election season. The U.S. Trade Representatives office released the full text of the agreement on November 5. Congress gets to make an up or down vote on it without offering any amendments before President Obama puts his pen to it. Congress will then get one more final vote on the deal, Vetter said. Vetter grew up on an organic farm near Marquette. She was nominated to the trade post by President Barack Obama in December 2013 and confirmed the following July. A native of Eustis, Yeutter grew up with Nebraska farm dirt under his sneakers. He currently lives in Maryland outside of Washington D.C. President Ronald Reagan tapped Yeutter to be the United States Trade Representative in 1985, a post he held for eight years. Pesident George H.W. Bush picked Yeutter as his agriculture secretary in 1989 to 1991 then made him counselor to the president in 1992. Yeutter also has held director positions in several corporations, including ConAgra Foods and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Video of all Heuermann Lectures is available online at http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu. Ameritas Life Insurance Co. is suing a former broker's insurance company for more than $1.3 million. That's the amount the company says it is still owed from paying back clients who were bilked out of more than $2.5 million by Jason Muskey. The Pennsylvania man worked as a registered broker for Ameritas Investment Corp. from June 2006 to June 2014. During that time, Muskey stole money from more than two dozen clients, including his own mother and other family members, and used the money to buy property, big-ticket items such as boats and automobiles, and vacations. He was convicted of mail fraud, money laundering and other charges last year and in October was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. In a lawsuit filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court, Lincoln-based Ameritas said the total amount it has paid so far to reimburse former clients of Muskey is $2,547,221.50. Muskey had a bond through Federal Insurance Company, and Ameritas says in the lawsuit that all the losses should be covered by Federal, minus a $500,000 deductible. To date, according to the lawsuit, Federal has paid Ameritas a little over $700,000. Ameritas is alleging bad faith, breach of contract and unjust enrichment on the part of Federal and is seeking payment of $1,337,474.32. In addition, Ameritas says in the lawsuit that there are still at least two complaints from former Muskey clients that have not been resolved, and it is seeking an order that Federal pay any future losses related to those claims. Ameritas declined to comment on the lawsuit, and officials from Federal Insurance could not be reached for comment. Krispy Kreme will open its first Lincoln location Tuesday. The store at 6410 O St. near Gateway Mall will open at 5:30 a.m. and offer a number of prizes for early birds. The very first person in line will get a punch card for a free dozen glazed doughnuts once a week for a year while the next 99 people will get free doughnuts once a month for a year. The first hundred customers also will receive a personalized Krispy Kreme Lincoln T-shirt. Tim France, Krispy Kreme's field marketing representative for Nebraska, said the 2,650-square-foot store is one of the chain's newer concept stores and has an enhanced coffee bar area. It will seat about 50 people and has a drive-through. The store will be open 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 5:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. It will employ about 40-50 people, most of them part time. Though Krispy Kreme doughnuts have been available at various retail outlets in Lincoln for years, this is the first company store in the city. "A lot of folks from Lincoln have been requesting one," France said. He said Krispy Kreme does not have any current plans for more stores in Lincoln, but expansion is a possibility at some point. "We'll have our eyes open for some other places," France said. Krispy Kreme is the second-largest doughnut chain in the U.S. behind Dunkin' Donuts, which on Monday opened its fourth Lincoln location Monday at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's new Learning Commons. The final numbers are in. Nebraska farmers in 2015 set new records for production of both corn and soybeans. The state's producers grew 1.69 billion bushels of corn and 306 million bushels of soybeans, both of which were up 6 percent over 2014, according to the USDAs crop production report released Tuesday. Nebraska cornfields yielded an average of 185 bushels per acre, up 6 bushels from the previous record high set in 2009 and tied in 2014. Farmers harvested 9.15 million acres of corn for grain, which was 2 percent more than in 2014, according to the USDAs National Agricultural Statistics Service. Average soybean yield came came in at 58 bushels per acre, another record and up 4 bushels from the previous year. The area of soybeans harvested was 5.27 million acres, down about 1 percent from 2014. Sorghum production also was up significantly in 2015, with an estimated 23 million bushels harvested, 76 percent higher than in 2014. The average yield was 96 bushels an acre, which tied the previous high set in 2011 and was 14 bushels higher than the average in 2014. Oil sunflower production was up 47 percent from the prior year, coming in at 42.7 million pounds for 2015. Non-oil sunflower production was 36.8 million pounds, double the amount produced 2014. The USDA estimated corn harvested across the United States this market year to be 13.6 billion bushels, which is lower than its previous estimate of 13.654 billion bushels. USDA on Tuesday also cut its estimated national average yield to 168.4 bushels from 169.3 bushels. U.S. soybean production came in at 3.93 billion bushels, which is 51 million bushels less than previously estimated. Average soybean yield is estimated at 48 bushels per acre. USDA also released its grain stocks report Tuesday. Nationally, corn stocks reached 11.2 billion bushels as of Dec. 1, up slightly from the same date the year prior and the biggest total ever for the period. Soybean stores totaled 2.715 billion bushels, up 7 percent compared with 2014 and about the previous record of 2.701 set in December 2006. In Nebraska, corn stocks as of Dec. 1 sat at 1.39 billion bushels, up 8 percent from 2014. Nebraska soybean stocks totaled 214 million bushels, up 3 percent from 2014. Wheat stored in Nebraska totaled 52.1 million bushels, up 17 percent from a year ago. Henrys on South is for sale. Owner Andrew Fuller said that after operating the neighborhood bistro near 33rd and South streets for three years, its time to move on and do something else. I have a 6-year-old and with all these long nights I want to be there for my family, he said. I need to do something that is more 9 to 5. Fuller opened Henrys -- named for his son -- in December 2012, taking over the location once occupied by neighborhood favorite Caffe Italia. Henrys, too, became a hit with area residents, with reservations often needed, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Fuller closed his restaurant for two months this summer, reopening in September after a remodel and refocus. The restaurant extended its hours past 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings to become more of a lounge. Henrys improved and enhanced its lighting, furniture and sound system to complement the change in direction. Were going to let our hair down a little bit, Fuller said at the time. Itll be more relaxed, more of a social atmosphere. Fuller said he holds the lease to his location through 2019. His goal is to find somebody to step in right away and keep it operating as a bistro. But if he cant find any takers, hell look for other options, which may include using the space for something else, he said. For now, though, its business as usual. Anyone interested can reach Fuller at the restaurant or contact him through the restaurants website (henrysonsouth.com). Author celebrates Nebraska beer Barnes & Noble, 2910 Pine Lake Road, will host a book signing by author Tyler A. Thomas for Nebraska Beer: Great Plains History by the Pint (The History Press) at 2 p.m. Saturday. Thomas, co-founder and managing editor of NebraskaFoodie.com, and I judged a food competition last April when he told me about his book. He traveled all over the state to chronicle Nebraskas brewing history, which stretches back to the 1800s. He interviewed brew masters and shares their stories, including Lincoln beer makers Empyrean Ales, Blue Blood, Zipline, Ploughshare and Modern Monks. The book sells for $21.99 and is available at local bookstores and online retailers. Jeff's Top 5 second edition I'm putting up my first category online, asking readers what's the best soup in Lincoln. You can go to JournalStar.com/entertainment/dining on Friday (Jan. 15) to vote. I'll run the readers picks along with mine next Friday (Jan. 22). Gluten-free at Chevys Fresh Mex While the corporate office of Chevys Fresh Mex doesn't promote gluten-free dining, the Lincoln restaurant does. Chevys culinary manager Jessie Nelson reached out to me to say the Lincoln site has a special gluten-free menu. It's not available digitally yet, but you can find it on the Lincoln Chevys Facebook page at https://goo.gl/28KOnR. Tickets on sale for cigar festival The ninth annual Nebraska Cigar Festival is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at Pla Mor Ballroom, 6600 W. O St. Tickets include six hand-rolled cigars, two beverage tickets, snacks and more. Smoking is allowed indoors thanks to a waiver from the state. Tickets are $75 and available at nebraskacigarfestival.com. Ann Morse of Lincoln, peacefully met her Lord on Sunday, January 10, 2016. "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24. Ann was born in Battle Creek, Mich., on May 16, 1934, to Claude A. and Elizabeth A. Mulligan. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1956 with a degree in communication and later went on to pursue a second certificate in Library Science at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Married to her husband, Bill Morse, in June of 1956, they enjoyed 54 years of marriage before his passing in 2010. Together they created a beautiful family. Ann was a student of the Word of God and an instrument of His message to others. She taught Sunday school and led many Bible studies over the course of her lifetime. She attended Grace Chapel, PCA for many years. She also enjoyed leading scouts and working with children in school during her time as a para. She taught English as a second language to many refugees through Lincoln Public Schools and the Lincoln Literacy Council. Ann is survived by her children, Gini Morse (Janyss) of New Haven, Conn.; Teri Criss (Brian) of Rapid City, S.D.; Will Morse (LaNette) and Debbie Grenemeier (Dirk) of Lincoln; her grandchildren, Will (Alanna), Amber, and Cody Morse; Grahm and Cassie Grenemeier; and Lydia, Grady, and Abigail Criss as well as great-grandsons William and Henry Morse and her sister Martha Mulligan. Celebration of life service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 16, at Grace Chapel, 40th and Sheridan Blvd., in Lincoln. In lieu of flowers, direct memorials to the Heartland Cancer Foundation or the People's City Mission. Each week, the Lincoln Journal Star will bring you a list of the upcoming holidays dedicated to the foods we eat -- or need to try. Here's the holiday fare for Jan. 13-19: Jan. 13 -- National Peach Melba Day. French chef Auguste Escoffier invented the Peach Melba in the late 1800s as a tribute to Australian soprano Nellie Melba. Originally called Pecheau Cygne or Peach Swan, the dessert of peaches, vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce, was served in a swan shaped ice sculpture and topped with spun sugar. Jan. 14 -- National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. Harking back to the days before modern refrigeration, pastrami was created by brining and seasoning raw meat, then smoking and steaming it. Romanian Jewish immigrants are credited with bringing pastrami to the U.S. in the 19th century. New York kosher butcher, Sussman Volk created the very first pastrami sandwich in 1887. The sandwich was so popular, that Volk closed his butcher shop and turned it into a restaurant featuring the pastrami sandwich. Jan. 15 -- Strawberry Ice Cream Day. First Lady Dolley Madison invented strawberry ice cream in 1813, and served it as her husband President James Madisons second inaugural banquet. Fun fact: Historically, strawberries were consumed for medicinal purposes. Ancient Romans credited the fruit with curing depression, sadness and kidney stones. Jan. 16 -- Fig Newton Day. Like the strawberry, the fig found popularity as a medicinal food. Until the late 19th century, many physicians believed most illnesses were caused by digestive problems. Doctors recommended a daily intake of biscuits and fruit, i.e. the fig roll. In 1891, Philadelphia baker Charles Roser patented a machine that inserted fig paste into the thick pastry dough. That same year, the Kennedy Biscuit Company bought Rosers recipe and began mass production of the Fig Newton in Newton, Massachusetts. Jan. 17 -- National Hot Buttered Rum Day. Hot buttered rum dates back to 1650 when Jamaica began importing molasses to Colonial America. Colonists in New England opened distilleries, and began adding distilled rum to hot beverages such as toddies and nogs creating hot buttered rum as well as eggnog. Jan. 18 -- Peking Duck Day. This Beijing dish dates back to the imperial era. Peking Duck is prized for its thin, crisp skin -- in fact, most authentic versions contain mostly skin and little meat. Ducks bred specially for Peking Duck are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is eaten with scallion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings. Jan. 19 -- Popcorn Day. Nebraska produces more than 300-million pounds of popcorn per year -- making it one of the top two popcorn producing states in the nation. While some tout popcorn as a healthy alternative to more fattening snacks, popcorn also is known for its high protein and iron content. Popcorn has more protein than any other cereal grain, and contains more iron than eggs, spinach, peanuts or roast beef, according to the National Popcorn Institute. The mother of a 24-year-old man who died of a drug overdose in the York County jail in 2014 is suing the county, its sheriff and a hospital, claiming jail staff knew he had taken drugs and failed to give him proper medical care. Tyler Crespi's mother, Patricia Jensen, filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Sheriff Dale Radcliff, unnamed deputies and jail staff and York General Healthcare Services in federal court last week. "Because he took drugs and had no money to pay for medical care, his law enforcement keepers and the hospital refused to provide the medical care he urgently needed," Scottsbluff attorney Maren Lynn Chaloupka wrote in the lawsuit. "Seven hours and 26 minutes after his arrest, Tyler Crespi was dead." At 2 p.m. on May 25, 2014, a Nebraska State Patrol trooper arrested Crespi for driving erratically after a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in York County and found him in possession of heroin and needles, according to the lawsuit. Crespi told the trooper he had taken drugs, and when he was taken to the jail, he told the jail staff and deputies the same thing, Chaloupka writes. Rather than get Crespi medical treatment, jail staff put him on special observation and monitored him in his cell, she said. His condition deteriorated over the next six hours, the lawsuit says. Staff called the hospital after noticing a change in Crespi's condition and were told to have him sleep it off, the lawsuit says. Chaloupka alleges the jail and hospital have a practice of evaluating inmates with medical issues at the jail instead of taking them to the hospital, which treats inmates under a contract that compensates it for less than the Medicare/Medicaid rate. That process is driven by the county's desire not to pay for inmate's health issues and the hospital's desire to avoid providing care compensated at a low rate, the lawsuit says. At 8:21 p.m., the suit says, Crespi was found unresponsive and jail staff called 911. He was taken to the York hospital, where he died of a drug overdose, according to the lawsuit. "In the hours between his arrest and his death, Tyler suffered both physically and emotionally, attended to only by county agents and employees who did not care enough to obtain medical evaluation of his drug toxicity and mental illness," Chaloupka writes in the suit. Claiming jail and hospital staff acted with deliberate indifference, Jensen is seeking punitive damages, funeral costs and other relief. Radcliff declined to comment because the lawsuit is pending. Calls seeking comment from York General Healthcare Services officials weren't returned Tuesday afternoon. The maternal grandmother of a 2-year-old left alone in a bathtub last week said he died at 8:20 Wednesday morning. Jase Queen was rushed to the hospital Thursday night after he nearly drowned during a bath. Court documents say his stepmother, Jacqueline Cooley, was bathing him in about 10 inches of water when she left the room to get a towel. She couldn't find one and came back a couple of minutes later with a pillowcase to find him face down in the water, according to the documents. She pulled him out, saw that he was turning blue and screamed for his father, then did CPR until rescue crews arrived, documents say. Jase was small for his age and had Down syndrome, according to the court documents and his biological mother, Tabitha Davis, who lives in Texas. Lincoln police are investigating the drowning and the state has taken temporary custody of William and Jacqueline Cooley's five other children, documents say. On Friday, Lancaster County Juvenile Judge Reggie Ryder ordered the children, ages 15 months to 13 years, be placed in foster care. The Cooleys were cited for misdemeanor child neglect in October after officers investigating an anonymous tip found the six children filthy and the home unsanitary, documents said. Prosecutors dropped those charges in December when the couple agreed to complete a diversion program. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services workers tried to meet with them to evaluate the situation several times between mid-November and mid-December, but the Cooleys either rescheduled appointments or did not answer the door, the affidavit said. Davis said she wasn't aware of the October incident until Jase was rushed to the hospital last week. The family has started an account to help take Jase to Texas to be buried near family, his mother said. To contribute, go to gofundme.com/4k5n8nf3. Like a lot of Nebraskans, Karen Shoemaker thought her governor should welcome the president when he came to visit, even if it meant breaking a date with her. Good on you, Governor, she wrote on Facebook Wednesday morning. Good on you. Then she continued: However, the rest of the story is that Governor Ricketts wont get to meet me at the One Book One Nebraska Proclamation ceremony because of his change in plans Ive been ditched for the POTUS. Shoemaker lives in Lincoln and is a faculty member in the Master of Fine Arts Writing Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is also the author of the The Meaning of Names, the story of anti-German sentiment in Nebraska during World War I and the pick for this years One Nebraska read. Her Facebook friends commiserated after she shared her tongue-in-cheek tale of being jilted for President Barack Obama. And they cheered a few hours later, when she updated her post. The 10 a.m. ceremony in the Warner Chamber at the Capitol went great, she wrote. And guess what? The governor showed after all, making six proclamations including hers. He was heading to meet the president later, Shoemaker wrote with glee. With a copy of my book for the president. I kid you not. A gift from me to the president! The author scribbled an inscription to the leader of the Cornhusker state in one copy of her novel -- and a hurried second to the leader of the free world. It made her day, Shoemaker said later. I have been smiling or laughing ever since. The presidential parade arrived in Omaha a day early, in time for Air Force Tech Sgt. Matt Cunningham to grab dinner with his folks. Thirty-three secret servicemen, dogs and dog handlers, sedans and limousines and another vehicle that searches for bombs. The Lincoln Pius X graduate helped haul it all in a whopping Boeing C-17 that touched down at Offutt Air Force Base around 11 a.m. Tuesday. "They hop on Air Force One, and we haul the rest of their stuff for them," said Cunningham, 29. The C-17's cargo hold is 88 feet long and 18 feet wide, big enough for tanks, semitrailers, school buses and even the president's helicopter, Marine One. Cunningham, an aircraft loadmaster, makes sure all that weight is distributed properly. His latest load was just a fraction of the gear and manpower accompanying President Barack Obama to Nebraska this week. He hauled the president's parade detail; other planes bring more stuff. The president will speak at Omaha's Baxter Arena on Wednesday after making his State of the Union address in Washington on Tuesday night. Cunningham will miss Obama's Wednesday visit, taking advantage of a free trip home. His parents, Mike and Lisa, still live in Lincoln; he planned to hang out with them Wednesday after entertaining his crewmates with beers Tuesday night. The crew has run all kinds of missions over the past 11 years, from dropping relief in the Philippines to helping troops withdraw from Afghanistan, Cunningham said. Being stationed at Dover Air Force Base, about 90 miles from the White House, his cargo often includes the president's posse, or items for the vice president or first lady. "I've never met any of them," he said Tuesday. "We get here before them. They come. They leave before us." He occasionally tweets the president, however: "I never got a response or anything." A Lincoln woman's fight against gun violence scored her a personal invitation to greet President Barack Obama in Omaha on Wednesday. Amanda Gailey, associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is among 10 members of the group Nebraskans Against Gun Violence who will attend the president's speech at the White House's invitation. She is the only one who will also get a chance to meet Obama in the greeting line outside Baxter Arena. About 8,000 people are expected to attend the president's speech. Doors open at 1 p.m., and all available tickets have been claimed. The president will arrive at Offutt at 2 p.m., the White House announced Tuesday night. Obama's UNO speech is scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m. The president will hold a living room discussion with a family in the Omaha area prior to his public appearance, the White House said. "I think it's just wonderful that Obama has made this a policy priority," Gailey said Tuesday. "I hope that it results in bringing this issue to the forefront of the political conversation in our state as the legislative session begins." Nebraskans Against Gun Violence supports restrictions on who can access "dangerous weapons" and measures that promote safe storage of firearms. Obama's recent decision to broaden the group of gun sellers who are required to conduct background checks was "really important mostly because they have put the issue forward as a major policy point," Gailey said. Family members of Kerrie Orozco, the Omaha police officer killed last year, also plan to meet with Obama during his visit. "We don't know many of the details," said Kristin Fearnow, attorney for Orozco's husband, Hector. He and his three children intend to meet the president together, and Hector Orozco will give him a letter urging him to support the Kerrie Orozco Act, a proposal by Nebraska Congressman Brad Ashford that would expedite the citizenship process for spouses of first responders killed on the job. Orozco also will express disappointment about the sentence one year of probation given to the Georgia woman who bought the gun used to kill Kerrie Orozco in May, Fearnow said. Lt. Gov. Mike Foley and a handful of state senators will attend Obama's speech, including Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld and Omaha Sens. Tanya Cook and Heath Mello. The Legislature will adjourn at noon to accommodate the president's visit. Dave Vrbas and his son, Jack, will also attend. Jack, 9, a third-grader at Lincoln's Hill Elementary, convinced the stay-at-home dad to drive to Omaha Sunday for tickets. "Going was completely his idea," Vrbas said in a Facebook message. "I mentioned that Obama was going to be there, and he was adamant about going." The pair snapped a selfie holding their tickets outside the arena. "When I posted the pic on Facebook, his principal liked it, so I assume she's OK with him being absent," Vrbas said. Meanwhile, a coalition of labor, farm and clean energy groups announced plans to demonstrate in opposition to the proposed Trans-Pacific trade agreement outside Baxter Arena. Included in the group will be representatives of the Nebraska AFL-CIO, the Communications Workers of America, Nebraska Farmers Union and Bold Nebraska. In an abrupt change of plans, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Tuesday he will greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival at Offutt Air Force Base on Wednesday and welcome the president to Nebraska. Ricketts decided to accept a White House invitation to greet the president at the airfield before resuming his own schedule of preparing his State of the State address to the Legislature scheduled for Thursday and a budget briefing slated for Wednesday evening. The governor does not plan to attend the president's speech Wednesday at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "I'm grateful to my staff who worked so hard to rearrange my schedule so that I could welcome the president to Nebraska," Ricketts said in a brief statement. Ricketts, a Republican, had come under some criticism for his earlier decision not to greet the Democratic president because of his workload this week. It will be Obama's first scheduled appearance in Nebraska, coming during the last year of his presidency. The governor said his earlier decision not to welcome the president had everything to do with his own schedule and no relation to partisan politics. Former Gov. Mike Johanns, a Republican, greeted Democratic President Bill Clinton on his only presidential trip to Nebraska in 2000 when the former president addressed an event at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. CHADRON A former Dawes County jailer accused of at least unintentionally aiding an escape attempt has taken a plea deal. Sherry Whitinger, 31, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of introducing escape implements. Prosecutors dropped a charge that she'd had sex with an inmate. Her sentencing is set for March 2. She's denied intentionally aiding the escape attempt. Whitinger had provided inmates with a cellphone that was recovered from an inmate who surrendered before he could get out of the county courthouse during his escape attempt in September. Authorities say he was not the inmate with whom Whitinger had sex. Nebraska law says jailers or other law enforcement officials who have sex with inmates have committed sexual assault. Jan. 21-24 Comedy lower case, written by Lincoln playwright Stephen Enersen, Lincoln Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St. Details/tickets: 402-489-7529 or lincolnplayhouse.com. Jan. 21-Feb. 28 Upcoming UNL Glenn Korff School of Music performances: Jan. 21, Kevin Hanrahan with guest artist Jeff Jones; Jan. 22-24, Winter Festival for Winds and Percussion; Jan. 25, 12th annual Celebration of American Song; Jan. 26, David Hall; Jan. 29, Chiara String Quartet; Jan. 31, Clark Potter, viola; Feb. 2, John Bailey; Feb. 9, Rebecca Fischer and Ann Chang; Feb. 19-20, Spring Strings Honors Orchestra; Feb. 19 & 21, Opera The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach); Feb. 23, Concordia String Trio; Feb. 25, Percussion Ensemble; Feb. 28, Wind Ensemble. Details and tickets: 402-472-6865 or breetz2@unl.edu. Jan. 22 Nebraska Jazz Orchestra concert, Learning from the Master, featuring guest artist Dave Sharp and the Young Lions All-Star Band, 7:30 p.m., The Cornhusker Marriott, 333 S. 13th St. Details: 402-477-8446 or njo@artsincorporated.org. Jan. 23 Lincolns Symphony Orchestra performance, Anton Miller Plays Mozart, 7:30 p.m., Lied Center for Performing Arts, 12th and Q streets. Details/tickets: 402-476-2211 or lincolnsymphony.org. Feb. 4-14 Forever Plaid production by Stuart Ross, on stage at the newly remodeled Johnny Carson Theater inside the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Details and tickets: liedcenter.org or 402-472-4747. Feb. 11-21 The citys Abraham Lincoln Birthday Celebration will present Civil War Voices, an award-winning musical by local attorney Jim Harris, at the Haymarket Theatre beginning Thursday, Feb. 11. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11-13 and 18-20, and 2 p.m. Feb. 14 and 21. The musical features Omaha vocalist Camille Metoyer Moten and musical arrangements by composer Mark Hayes. Cornhusker Bank is the presenting sponsor. For tickets, visit haymarkettheatre.org. For more details on the musical, visit civilwarvoices.com. Feb. 11-27 Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, Studio Theater, 2710 N. 48th St. Nebraska Wesleyan Theater is marking the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeares death with a series of shows written or inspired by the Bard. Desdemona is a new take on Othello from the perspective of the classics female characters. Tickets: theatre.nebrwesleyan.edu, 402-465-2384. Feb. 12-21 Anne of Green Gables, Lincoln Community Playhouse, 2500 S. 56th St. Details/tickets: 402-489-7529 or lincolnplayhouse.com. Feb. 13 Nebraska Wesleyan Honors Festival Concert, 2:30 p.m., ODonnell Auditorium, 50th and Huntington Ave. Admission charged at door. Details: 402-465-2269. Abendmusik concert My Funny Valentine, 8:30 p.m., First-Plymouth Congregational Church, 2000 D St. Back by popular demand, Tom Trenney serenades concertgoers from the Steinway piano, singing another unique and unexpected collection of love songs from the Great American Songbook. To complete the evening, at 7 p.m. attend a pre-concert fundraising dinner prepared by Abendmusiks own chef Jeremy Bankson and served by the Abendmusik Board. Details: 402-476-9933 or info@abendmusik.org. Feb. 14 Lincolns Symphony Orchestra performance, Lemony Snicket, 2 p.m., ODonnell Auditorium, 50th and Huntington Ave., Nebraska Wesleyan University. Details/tickets: 402-476-2211 or lincolnsymphony.org. Feb. 18-27 Nebraska Wesleyan Theater production of Othello, Miller Theater, 51st and Huntington Avenue. Tickets: theatre.nebrwesleyan.edu, 402-465-2384. Feb. 21 Midwinter Nights Dream concert by the Nebraska Brass, 3 p.m., Friedens Lutheran Church, 540 D St. Tickets: 402-477-7899 or at the door before the concert. Arts for the Soul All These Years performance by past and present members of the Celtic ensemble Solas as part of the bands 20th anniversary tour, 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 840 S. 17th St. Details: fpclincoln.org or 402-477-6037. Feb. 25 Blake Shelton concert, 7:30 p.m., Pinnacle Bank Arena. Details/tickets: pinnaclebankarena.com. Feb. 26 LIFE IN COLOR, Your Kingdom Awaits, 9 p.m., Pinnacle Bank Arena. Details/tickets: pinnaclebankarena.com. Feb. 28 Lincoln Civic Orchestra Concert with Nebraska Wesleyan University senior soloists, 4 p.m., ODonnell Auditorium, 50th and Huntington Ave. Free admission. Details: 402-465-2269. The workshop is for anyone who is experiencing the ending of a marriage or significant relationship. The format consists of a weekly presentation followed by small group discussion focusing on a different topic each week. The workshop is open to all and is sensitive to varied faith experience and beliefs. CHICAGO It used to be that staring at a computer screen all day was bad for your eyes. Now we interrupt that staring to look at our smartphones, smartwatches, tablets and e-readers, all while keeping an eye on the TV. And that, it seems, is especially bad. Three-quarters of people who use two or more devices simultaneously report symptoms of digital eye strain, compared with just over half of people who use one device at a time, according to a survey of more than 10,000 people that was released last week by The Vision Council, a trade group representing manufacturers and suppliers of the optical industry. Symptoms include, in order of prevalence, neck/shoulder/back pain, eye strain, headache, blurred vision and dry eyes. Twentysomethings are the most likely age group to say they suffer symptoms, at 73 percent, and are also the most likely to say they juggle multiple devices and read the news on smartphones, whose small screens require extra eyeball exertion. A common problem Its the problem everyone has but no one knows they have, said Dr. Justin Bazan, a Brooklyn-based optometrist and medical adviser to The Vision Council. Millennials are experiencing the most symptoms but also have most normalized it. While heavy screen time has been a way of life for many years, the proliferation of all sorts of digital gadgets has made it more difficult to escape. Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents said they use digital devices for five or more hours a day. Sixty-five percent of respondents overall said they experience symptoms of digital eye strain, which typically develop after two or more hours in front of a screen, a share that has remained about steady since the group started issuing its annual survey in 2012. Women, who are more likely to be device multitaskers, are more likely to report symptoms than men. Digital eye strain, which used to be called computer vision syndrome, is becoming more widely recognized as a diagnosis, said Geoffrey Goodfellow, associate professor at the Illinois College of Optometry and an attending optometrist at the Illinois Eye Institute. It is, for the most part, a temporary problem. The discomfort typically results from the tiny muscles in the eye working overtime to focus on objects in close proximity and adjust to different lighting levels, Goodfellow said. Failure to blink, which happens when people are concentrating, also dries out and irritates eyes, he said. Most people recover after taking a break. Even those who are glued to their tablets until bedtime typically feel refreshed by the time they reach for their smartphones in the morning to turn off their alarm and check email, Goodfellow said. Possible permanent effects But there are concerns about more permanent effects. Some emerging research has linked cumulative and constant exposure to the high-energy blue light emitted from digital screens with damage to the light receptors at the back of the eye. That could lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is the loss of central vision, Goodfellow said. Evening exposure to blue light wavelengths, important for color perception and being alert during the day, has also been shown to disrupt the melatonin that regulates circadian rhythms, making it hard to sleep. Yet a third of Americans who are aware of the potential damage dont do anything to curb their exposure, according to The Vision Council survey. It will be interesting to see, 30 years from now, what is the long-term toll on our eyes from using all of these devices, Goodfellow said. Blurring, headaches Even though its not known if theres lasting physical harm, Vinnie Sikka can attest to the effect on short-term workplace productivity. Sikka estimates he spends 10 to 14 hours a day in front of a computer screen, much of it scrutinizing PowerPoint or Excel spreadsheets on his laptop. About six hours in, he said, his eyes start to give out. Text blurs. Headaches creep up. Errors go unnoticed. You start seeing exclamation points when theyre actually 1s, said Sikka, who works from his home office in Darien as a freelance procurement consultant and runs a side venture selling custom dress shirts online. Early in his career, he could handle that heavy screen time. But now, at the ripe age of 36, I tend to jumble things, he said. In equations that I should be able to do in my sleep, I will have a brain freeze and put something thats not correct at all, Sikka said. Sikka tried an anti-glare guard on his screen, but it had little benefit, and he takes breaks from the office every few hours to give his eyes a rest. He has an astigmatism that has worsened over the years. Though it has not been connected to computer use (he gets his eyes checked by his wife, an optometrist and a colleague of Goodfellows at the Illinois Eye Institute), underlying conditions can exacerbate eye strain. CALEDONIA April Weatherston, wife of state Rep. Tom Weatherston, R-Caledonia, plans to continue running for village trustee despite being diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer and being treated in the intensive care unit at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. April filed nomination papers earlier this month to run for the village trustee seat held by incumbent Ed Willing. The race is one of two contested elections for village trustee in the April 5 election. April, who is director of insurance services at HNI Risk Services and serves on the Caledonia Community Development Authority, was admitted to Froedtert on Jan. 7 after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer that aggressively attacks blood cells, organs and the immune system, Tom said. April usually gets pretty run down during Christmas, but this year she seemed more run down than usual, Tom said Wednesday. We tried all the usual things, but she just kept getting worse and worse and worse. After several visits to her doctor and to Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints hospital, April was taken to Froedtert. She has been in the intensive care unit since Jan. 7, Tom said. She plans to fight the disease, run her campaign, and get elected trustee, Tom said. We have talked about it, and her goal is to get better, get back out there and serve, he said. She wants to provide guidance in her community. The Weatherstons, who have been married for 37 years, have spent almost every hour of the past week together at Froedtert. Tom has posted updates on Aprils condition on his private Facebook page. So far, Tom has missed only one legislative session, and said he plans to be at the annual State of the State address on Tuesday. The couples son, Charles, and his wife, Amy, have arrived in Racine from Denver to help take care of April. She has her good days and her bad days, Tom said. Many people have asked what they can do, and I have told people the best thing they can do is to give blood. Right now April is going through blood faster than they can give it to her. Tom also thanked his friends and constituents for their thoughts and prayers. Wisconsin is our adopted home and the people here have always been so very good to us, he said. We have always tried a way to give back to the community. We both have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. Willing posted a message on his Facebook. Please say a prayer for my challenger in the board race this spring, he wrote. Today, April Weatherston was diagnosed with myeloma cancer and admitted to the hospital ICU with the danger of organ failure. Lord, be with her, and bring her back to strength. RACINE Police deployed pepper spray to break up an altercation between two female students at Park High School at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, police and school officials confirmed. Paramedics responded to the high school, located at 1901 12th St., at 11:23 Tuesday morning after a report of someone having difficulty breathing, Racine Fire Department Battalion Chief Paul Madden said. Stacy Tapp, Racine Unified School Districts chief of communication and community engagement, confirmed that rescue responded because of the effects of the pepper spray, which police deployed to break up the fight between the students. Both students were cited for disorderly conduct, according to Racine Police Lt. Al Days One of the students was transported to the hospital to be checked out as a precaution, according to Tapp. She added that every other student in the vicinity of the incident was checked and found to be OK. In November, a similar incident was reported at Horlick High School, 2119 Rapids Drive, when police ended a lunchroom fight with pepper spray. Speaking about the use of pepper spray, Tapp said, We work very closely with our local law enforcement in Racine. We trust them to utilize their training and experience to do the right thing in those types of situations and ensure that our students are safe. No new evidence related to the 2007 homicide conviction of Steven Avery has been brought forward for review, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said Monday. Thousands have called on Gov. Scott Walker and President Barack Obama to pardon Avery following the release of a popular 10-part Netflix documentary recounting Avery's wrongful conviction of a 1985 sexual assault, his release from prison 18 years later, and raised questions about the subsequent convictions of Avery and his nephew for killing 25-year-old Teresa Halbach. Walker, who does not issue pardons, tweeted Monday that documentary viewers "should read unanimous Court of Appeals opinion b4 jumping to conclusions." Law enforcement officials who were involved in the Halbach case have criticized the series, which is told from the perspective of Averys family and defense attorneys. Schimel said Monday if evidence not heard by a jury that raises doubt about the convictions of Avery and nephew Brendan Dassey was brought to the DOJ, "wed certainly take that seriously." But so far, none has, he said. "The jury heard the information thats presented in this movie. They also heard much, much, much more information that wouldnt fit in that somehow didnt make it into this 10-hour program," said Schimel. "(Avery and Dassey) both have been afforded appeals. With Mr. Averys case, his case was even looked at by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which did great work to get him exonerated the first time around when he was convicted of a crime he didnt commit. They looked at it this time and they havent found, at this point, a case to pursue." The documentary chronicles the investigation and trial in the murder of Halbach, whose charred remains and vehicle were found on Avery's property in November 2005. Dassey was also convicted of homicide, sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse in the case, which drew nationwide interest because Avery was previously exonerated with DNA evidence. The film includes exclusive access to Avery's family and focuses on his defense attorneys' contention that the members of the Manitowoc Sheriff's Office ignored other possible suspects and planted evidence to ensure a conviction. At the time, Avery was suing Manitowoc County for $36 million for his wrongful conviction. Those who dispute the framing defense, including former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, who prosecuted the case to avoid a possible conflict of interest, emphasize Avery's DNA was found in Halbach's vehicle, her DNA was found on a bullet that investigators matched to Avery's gun and that Avery had asked specifically for Halbach to be sent over to photograph a vehicle for Auto Trader Magazine. Avery's appeals have been rejected all the way up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Dassey, who did not testify against Avery, was convicted based on statements he made to police during hours of interrogation that he later recanted when he took the stand in his own trial. His case is being appealed in federal court. Schimel said he hasn't seen the documentary and has "little interest" in watching it after reading an "objective review" from a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter who covered the trial. "As a prosecutor, for all those years, the worst thing that I could imagine would be being responsible for putting a person in prison for a crime they didnt commit. So thats a priority for me," Schimel said. "However, Mr. Avery and Mr. Dassey both had trials." It is clear that the agenda of the government is to align with the goals of the United Nations as our government moves us closer to what they call a New World Order. This agenda, although this is by no means a complete listing, calls for a country with no borders; international law, not U.S. Constitutional law; Common Core Educational system; legalization of immoral, sinful acts of man against one another and God; removing property rights; more restrictive laws against free speech; and further limiting our God-given rights of worship and other liberties we have been blessed with by our creator. The state Supreme Court has allowed three district attorneys to intervene in a court case related to a shuttered John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walkers recall campaign. The 5-0 decision, with two justices not participating, allows Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, Iowa County District Attorney Larry Nelson and Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to appeal the courts decision to end the probe to the U.S. Supreme Court. The district attorneys did not respond to a request for comment on the decision. In a separate 4-1 decision with Justice Shirley Abrahamson dissenting, the court denied without explanation a request by Chisholm and two of his assistant district attorneys for a separate request to intervene over a specific matter relating to the preservation of records obtained in the investigation. The court originally ordered investigators to destroy or return those records, but in December said the records should be delivered to the Supreme Court. Chisholm opened the John Doe investigation in August 2012 based on evidence collected in a previous John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walkers Milwaukee County office that resulted in six convictions of Walker aides and associates. After Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen declined to take over the case, it expanded to four more counties where subjects of the investigation resided. The five district attorneys in those counties later agreed to consolidate the case under one special prosecutor, who served dozens of subpoenas in October 2013. A new judge assigned to oversee the case quashed the subpoenas in January 2014. In July the Wisconsin Supreme Court halted the probe, saying it had no basis in law. The investigation was looking into coordination between Walkers campaign and so-called issue advocacy groups. In December the court removed special prosecutor Francis Schmitz from the case, leaving no one to represent it. Two of the five district attorneys initially involved in the case, both Republicans, declined to intervene. Chisholm, Nelson and Ozanne are all Democrats. Withering on the Vine The Demographic Time Bomb is Most Marked in Japan The demographic time bomb whereby the elderly population assumes a greater and ... 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Vacuous Greenism Anti-Fracking Luddiocy Think of any technology that involves carbon based energy and its utilisation, and the lunatic fringe can be found ... "It is Finished": the Sixth Word from the Cross It is Finished: our Lords Sixth Word from the Cross What is history? That simple question covers a multitude of complexity, profundity... JURIST Guest Columnist Robert A. Sedler of Wayne State University Law School discusses the validity of censoring disparaging trademarks The Constitution changes everything. When the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) refused to register as a trademark the name of an Asian-American rock band, The Slants [official site], on the ground that the name disparages and is offensive to Asian-Americans, that action brought into play the First Amendments guarantee of freedom of speech. The US Supreme Court has interpreted that First Amendments guarantee of freedom of speech very expansively, and the constitutional protection afforded freedom of speech is perhaps the strongest protection afforded to any individual right under the Constitution. It is also fair to say that the constitutional protection afforded to freedom of speech in the US is seemingly unparalleled in other constitutional systems, and that in the US, as a constitutional matter, the value of freedom of speech generally prevails over other democratic values, such as equality and human dignity. The Supreme Court decides First Amendment questions under what I have referred to as The Law of the First Amendment. The law of the First Amendment consists in large part of concepts, principles, specific doctrines and precedents that the court has developed over the years in the process of deciding First Amendment cases. In many cases, once the appropriate concept, principle, specific doctrine or precedents have been identified and applied, the parameters for the resolution of the First Amendment issue have been established, and the result is often fairly clear. The application of most of the components of the law of the First Amendment involves strict scrutiny, which imposes a very high burden on the government to justify the restriction on freedom of speech. A few of the components involve intermediate scrutiny, which still requires substantial justification for the restriction. The most important First Amendment principle in terms of its application in actual litigation is the principle of content neutrality. Under this principle, the government may not proscribe any expression because of its content, and an otherwise valid regulation will violate the First Amendment if it discriminates between different types of expression based on their content. One aspect of the principle, to which the court has recognized no exceptions, is that of viewpoint neutrality. The government cannot regulate or legislate in reference to expression in such a way as to favor one viewpoint over another viewpoint. Thus, a law prohibiting the display of a sign in front of a foreign embassy that tends to bring the foreign government into public odium or public disrepute violates the First Amendment, since it only prohibits displays of the foreign government that are critical of the foreign government and not display that are favorable to it. So does a federal law that allowed the wearing of American military uniforms in a portrayal only if the portrayal did not tend to discredit the military. The viewpoint neutrality aspect of the principle was the basis of the courts invalidation of federal and state laws prohibiting the burning of the American flag because these laws authorized burning as a proper means of disposing of a torn or soiled flag, but prohibited burning as a means of protest or criticism of government policy. The court has also held that viewpoint neutrality applies to governmental regulation of speech that is not itself constitutionally protected, such as fighting words: this being so, a law prohibiting only fighting words expressing a message of racial hatred, but not fighting words expressing a message of racial tolerance, violated the First Amendment. The viewpoint neutrality aspect of the principle also constrains the government when it provides funding or other benefits to groups or individuals. The court has held that a regulation of a federal agency funding local legal assistance programs that prohibited those programs from engaging in representation involving efforts to amend or challenge the validity of existing welfare laws was impermissible viewpoint discrimination and so was unconstitutional. Similarly, while the First Amendment does not require that the government allow private groups to parade on the public streets, if the government does allow such parades pursuant to a parade permit law, the law must contain narrow, objective and definite standards, controlling the discretion of the licensing official, so that the licensing official will not be able to deny the permit based on the content of the parade. Finally, the viewpoint neutrality requirement applies even when the government claims that the speech at issue is commercial speech and so not entitled to the same protection as non-commercial speech. Applying the viewpoint neutrality requirement, the court has held violative of the First Amendment a state law that prohibited pharmacies from selling or disclosing pharmacy records that revealed the prescribing practices of individual doctors and that prohibited the use of this information by pharmaceutical manufacturers. This was because the law permitted the use of this information by those who wished to engage in certain educational communications, such as academic organizations, for use in countering the messages of brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers, and in promoting the prescription of generic drugs. Another important principle is the protection of offensive speech. Under this principle, the government cannot prohibit the expression of an idea on the ground that the idea itself or the manner in which the idea is expressed is highly offensive to many people. As the court stated in Texas v. Johnson: If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society itself finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. Thus, any time the government tries to justify a restriction on expression on the grounds of its offensiveness, that justification is necessarily improper. A public university, for example, cannot constitutionally justify a ban on racist speech on the ground that it expresses a highly offensive idea or that it is very offensive to the victim groups. The author was counsel for the plaintiffs in these cases. Nor can a city with a large Jewish population, including many Holocaust survivors, ban a march by self-styled Nazis with Nazi uniforms and swastikas. Likewise, the court has held that the First Amendment protects the right of a religious group to picket on a public street near the site of a military funeral with the message that the death of American soldiers in combat is Gods punishment for Americas tolerance of homosexuality. Nor can the state prohibit the expression of an idea on the ground that the manner in which the idea is expressed is highly offensive to many people, such as a persons appearing in public wearing a jacket expressing his opposition to the military draft by the use of an unseemly expletive. The principle of protection of offensive speech also applies to the governments regulation of commercial speech, so the government cannot prohibit an advertisement for contraceptives on the ground that such advertising would be offensive to many people. Under the void on its face or overbreadth doctrine, laws that by their terms include within their prohibition a substantial amount of protected speech are invalidated on their face. In such a circumstance the courts analysis does not go beyond the terms of the law, and it does not matter whether the activity of the party asserting the overbreadth challenge is itself constitutionally protected. Applying the law of the First Amendment, it is clear, as the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held, that the provision of sec.2(a) banning the federal registration of a trademark that is disparaging is void on its face for overbreadth. It violates both the principle of content neutrality and the principle of protection of offensive speech. Under the principle of content neutrality, the government cannot deny The Slants the benefits of trademark registration because of its disagreement with the idea that the The Slants are trying to express in their trademark, namely that Asians should be proud of their cultural heritage and should not be offended by stereotypical descriptions. Under the principle of protection of offensive speech, the government cannot deny The Slants the benefits of trademark registration because it finds that the use of the term Slants would be highly offensive to many persons of Asian descent. It is as simple as all that. It should be noted that the governments efforts to uphold the ban on the ground that trademark registration is government speech and that trademark registration is a government subsidy on which the government can impose the condition that it not be disparaging cannot be supported under the doctrine relating to government speech or the doctrine relating to unconstitutional conditions. The government speech doctrine applies only when the government itself is conveying a message, such as when the government sponsors a display on public property or when the government issues an automobile license containing a message such as the state motto or the message of the holder of the license that the state has endorsed. Trademark registration is not government speech, because it does not convey any message other than that the mark is registered. As to conditions on governmental subsidies, it is questionable whether trademark registration constitutes a government subsidy for First Amendment purposes. In any event, whenever the government provides a subsidy, it cannot under the unconstitutional conditions doctrine, impose a condition that violates the First Amendment rights of the recipient. The only condition that the government may impose on the granting of a subsidy, consistent with the First Amendment, relates to government speech in the sense that the government may require that the recipient of a subsidy not contradict that message that the government is trying to convey with the grant of the subsidy. Since federal law prohibits the use of federal funds to subsidize abortion, the government may require that recipients of federal funds for family planning adhere to the governments policy that abortion is not a recognized method of family planning and not provide counseling regarding the use of abortion as a means of federal planning or make referrals for abortion as a means of family planning. As stated above, the government is not trying to convey any message by the registration of a trademark, so that it may not impose the condition that the trademark not be disparaging on the registration of the trademark. Thus the imposition of this condition violates the First Amendment. Finally, it does not matter under the law of the First Amendment that a person can still use the trademark even if federal registration is denied. Federal registration of the trademark is a very valuable governmental benefit, and the government cannot deny a benefit on ground that violate the First Amendment. Robert A. Sedler is Distinguished Professor of Law at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan. He received an B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Suggested citation: Robert A. Sedler, Disparaging Trademarks and the First Amendment, JURIST Academic Commentary, January 13, 2016, http://jurist.org/forum/2016/robert-sedler-first-amendment.php. This article was prepared for publication by Dave Rodkey, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary service. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org The European Commission (EC) [official website] announced [press release] Wednesday that it has begun the first assessment of the Rule of Law [materials] in Poland, a member state, concerning the EU policy of Media Freedom and Pluralism materials] as well as changes in the nations Constitutional Tribunal. The Rule of Law encompasses the core principles protected by the EU. The investigation comes after newly enacted legislation [JURIST report] creating a national media council in Poland, which has the power to appoint leaders of public media stations. European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans [official profile] began debates to assess the Polish policies under Rule of Law Framework and sent a letter to the Polish government to initiate communication about meeting the framework. In December Poland enacted [JURIST report] a law requiring its highest court to have 13 judges present, as well as a two-thirds majority vote to make a ruling. The Law and Justice (PIS) [website, in Polish] is allegedly the driving force behind these new laws. The PIS party, a conservative party elected in October, holds an overwhelming majority [BBC report] of positions in the Polish government including the lead in both parliamentary houses and the presidency. Earlier last month the leader of the European Parliament [official website] compared PIS rise to power in Poland to a coup [BBC report], leading to the government to call for an apology. Prior to this political upheaval, Poland faced criticism for hosting a CIA-operated secret prison [JURIST report], where terrorism suspects were held and tortured between 2002 and 2005. An investigation [JURIST report] into the prison has been ongoing in Poland since 2008. Four individuals on Monday filed suit [complaint] against the government of Israel in US federal court over injuries they say they claim were inflicted by the Israeli Defense Forces during a deadly 2010 raid. The plaintiffs, Americans David Schermerhorn, Mary Ann Wright and Huwaida Arraf and Belgian national Margriet Deknopper, are seeking damages [Al Jazeera report] for their injuries caused by rubber bullets and stun grenades, among other things. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that because the ship, an aid convoy called Challenger 1, was flying a US flag, US law should apply aboard the vessel. Lawyer, Steven Schneebaum, further called the attack illegal under international law and a war crime [WP report]. The complaint claims that more than 150 protesters were injured during the confrontation. The Challenger 1 was part of a six ship aid flotilla which was attempting to cross through Israels naval blockade of the Gaza Strip in which ten civilians were killed. The May 2010 raid continues to generate controversy. In November a Spanish judge effectively issued an arrest warrant [JURIST report] for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ordering law enforcement to alert him if Netanyahu sets foot in the country, so that he may reopen the investigation into the attack. Earlier last year judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked [JURIST report] for the courts prosecutor to review her decision not to investigate the 2010 Israeli raid of a flotilla headed for the Gaza Strip. In 2014 a Turkish court called for international arrest warrants [JURIST report] for four former Israeli military chiefs involved in the interception. In 2012 a Turkish court opened the trial [JURIST report] in absentia for the former Israeli military commanders accused of killing nine Turkish citizens aboard the Mavi Marmara as it attempted to pass through the Gaza blockade. The UN criticized [JURIST report] Israel in 2011 for using excessive and unreasonable force during the interception. The UN Security Council called [JURIST report] for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation into the raid in June 2010. [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday in Bruce v. Samuels [SCOTUSblog materials] that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) [materials, PDF] requires prisoners to pay filing fees on a per-case, not a per-prison basis. The particular question in the case was when a prisoner has more than one case or appeal pending, does the PLRA cap the prisoners filing fee requirements to 20 percent of the prisoners monthly income. The court stated that for each case that a prisoner files, the PLRA requires that the prisoner pay filing fees for that case. The court reasoned that PLRA generally refers to cases individually and provides instructions on a case-by-case basis. This indicates that a per-case approach is more in line with the intentions of the statute and the PLRAs goal of deterring frivolous claims. The case arose [Oyez summary] when prisoners in the Special Management Unit (SMU) of the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The SMU of the prison is for gang-affiliated and other disruptive individuals. The prisoners claimed that the SMU violates the Eighth Amendment since it houses gang-affiliated prisoners but does not separate members of rival gangs. The prisoners moved to proceed in forma pauperis, which would allow them to waive filing fees. The parties engaged in more filings regarding the collection of filing fees and the ability of other prisoners to join the case. The lower court held that the PLRA does not allow the prisoners to completely waive their filing fees, as they must pay a percentage of their monthly income. [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF] Wednesday in the cases of Bank Markazi v. Peterson [transcript, PDF] and Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle. In Bank Markazi v. Peterson [SCOTUSblog backgrounder], plaintiff Deborah Peterson, representing hundreds of victims of Iran-sponsored terrorist attacks, brought suit against Bank Markazi, otherwise known as the Central Bank of Iran, seeking compensation through the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002. Before the case was decided, Congress passed the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, which included a section stating, the financial assets that are identified in and the subject of proceedings in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran shall be subject to execution in order to satisfy any judgment to the extent of any compensatory damages awarded against Iran for damages for personal injury or death caused by an act of [terrorism]. This edict from Congress became the rationale behind the District Courts ruling, and Second Circuits [official websites] affirmation [opinion, PDF], against Bank Markazi. In intervening in the affairs of the courts, Congress put the onus on the Supreme Court to rectify the apparent disjunction between Congresss power to legislate and the judicial branchs power to decide cases. In Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle [SCOTUSblog backgrounder], the Supreme Court is asked to determine the extent of Puerto Ricos sovereignty as it relates to legal double jeopardy. Two men, Luis Sanchez Valle and Jaime Gomez Vasquez, were charged with violating a local Puerto Rican law criminalizing the sale of firearms without a license. Prior to trial, both men were independently charged under federal laws substantially similar to those already charged. Both men were found guilty on the federal charges, and both sought and were granted dismissal of the local charges, arguing double jeopardy. The Supreme Court previously proscribed double jeopardy, ruling two sovereign nations may independently try one defendant for the same crime, but two entities that are part of the same sovereign may not. The Supreme Court is now asked by the Puerto Rican government to determine the nations sovereignty. If the Court rules that the defendants may be charged under both sets of laws, it naturally follows that Puerto Rico is an independent sovereignty. If the Court rules otherwise, Puerto Rico remains a commonwealth under the power of the United States. The Chinese Urgent Action Working Group [advocacy website] said Tuesday that Swedish human rights worker Peter Dahlin was detained earlier this month on suspicion of endangering state security. It is believed by rights groups that the detention is part of a crackdown [BBC report] on rights lawyers and members of groups seeking reforms of the countrys legal system. Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, a non-profit co-founded [Reuters report] by Dahlin, provides training for uncertified rural defense lawyers of potential human rights abuse victims. The foreign affairs ministry of Sweden has posted [text] on Twitter about the matter, saying that the Swedish embassy is looking into this and has requested to visit him. Chinese state media recently criticized [JURIST report] detained human rights lawyers for undermining the rule of law. Last month prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was released [JURIST report] after receiving a suspended sentence. Pu was detained in 2014 on a charge of causing a disturbance after he attended a weekend meeting that urged an investigation into the 1989 crackdown of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and was subsequently denied [JURIST reports] bail. The Tiananmen protests began in April 1989 with mainly students and laborers protesting the Communist Party of China. The Chinese government declared martial law in May and initiated the violent dispersal of protesters by the Peoples Liberation Army on June 4. [JURIST] Human rights experts from the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) [official website] joined in sending an open letter [text, PDF] Monday urging the US government to shut down the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay on its fourteenth anniversary. The letter mentioned the recent steps by the Obama administration [official website] to close the facility, but noted that 104 prisoners still remain at Guantanamo without trial outside the reach of US law. The letter urged that those responsible for mistreatment of detainees be held accountable and for the US to end impunity for violations of international humanitarian law in the war-on-terror as several organizations have decried the facility at Guantanamo as an arbitrary detention facility. The letter also called on the US to provide access to redress for those who have been and are currently detained. The Obama administration has promised to close Guantanamo but has struggled due to Congressional opposition to relocating detainees to the US, as well as the slow process of transferring prisoners to other countries. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told Fox News Sunday that President Barack Obama intends to fulfill [JURIST report] his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility before leaving office. This month there have been multiple detainees released from Guantanamo, with 13 more detainees on the schedule for release this month [JURIST report]. In November the US Senate passed [JURIST report] the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA) [text, PDF], which prohibits Guantanamo detainees from being transferred into the US. Obama signed the bill into law, despite the fact that it could delay his plan to close the prison. The NDAA comes after the Department of Defense said [JURIST report] they were sending teams to review three Colorado prisons as part of Obamas efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in October. The Guantanamo Review Task Force (GRTF) was created in response to a 2009 presidential executive order [text, PDF] to review the status of all detainees. In September White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said Obama was considering a wide array of options [JURIST report] for closing the prison. UN human rights experts called [press release] Monday for a review of the UKs draft Investigatory Powers bill [text, PDF]. They fear that the present draft of the bill could threaten freedom of expression and association. The bill is intended to govern how UK authorities monitor suspects under surveillance. In a report [text, PDF] to the Joint Committee on the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, the group cited broad definitions and disproportionate procedures to authorize surveillance as causes for concern. The experts claim [UN News Centre report] the lack of transparency could prevent individuals from ever knowing they are subject to such surveillance which will stifle fundamental freedoms. Surveillance and data collection have been a worldwide topic of discussion, particularly after Edward Snowden leaked top-secret [JURIST report] US National Security Agency (NSA) documents in 2013. In December China passed a new anti-terrorism law [JURIST report] that requires technology companies to provide information to the government obtained from their products and make information systems secure and controllable. In October the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied [JURIST report] a motion by the American Civil Liberties Union to halt the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA. The court ruled that Congress intended for the agency to continue its data collection over the transition period, and the new legislation was to take effect November 29. In June the French Parliament adopted [JURIST report] a new surveillance bill that would give French intelligence serves the authority to monitor Internet use metadata. In February the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) ruled [JURIST report] that the UKs mass surveillance of citizens Internet use violates human rights law. In July 2014 civil liberties groups sued [JURIST report] the UKs Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, alleging that the agency accesses data from undersea cables in violation of the rights to private life and freedom of expression. [JURIST] UNICEF [official website] said [press release] Tuesday that approximately 24 million children living in crisis zones are out of school, further threatening the future of their societies. Nearly one in four children between the ages of six and 15 in conflict are out of school. South Sudan has the largest number with 51 percent of children out of school, followed by Niger (47 percent), Sudan (41 percent) and Afghanistan (40percent). UNICEF Chief of Education Jo Bourne [official profile] said that children [n]ow unable to learn even the basic reading and writing skills, are at risk of losing their futures and missing out on the opportunity to contribute to their economies and societies when they reach adulthood. The press release noted that because of the difficulty of collecting data on children in high conflict areas, the numbers listed might be inaccurate. Last year UNICEF announced [JURIST report] a plea to raise $14 million in an effort to support the thousands of children migrating to Europe from war-torn Middle Eastern nations. In July Human Rights Watch accused Syrias main Kurdish militia of violating [JURIST report] the child soldier ban under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Specifically, Article II of the Protocol states that Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces. states that children under the age of 18 should not be recruited to armed groups for any reason. Earlier last year the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Juan Mendez called for modifications and alternatives to the detention processes [JURIST report] of children in order to ensure their human rights. Demanding accountability It is shameful if our fellow citizens die from cold due to the absence of some urgent but rather simple measures EU contributes 2 million to UNHCR to support Bhutanese refugees The European Union (EU) has contributed Nrs231 million to UNHCR for providing protection and sustainable solutions for refugees from Bhutan in Nepal. Govt team starts study on dry port in Far West The government has begun a study for the development of dry port at Chandani Dodhara in Kanchanpur district, the far-western region of Nepal. Intl community briefed on crisis Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa on Tuesday briefed the international community on the countrys political situation. Norways Statkraft pulls plug on Tamakoshi-III Norwegian company Statkraft has notified the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) of its decision to discontinue the development of the Tamakoshi-III Hydroelectricity Project. Snowfall adds to suffering of Gorkha quake survivors Quake survivors living at Gupsipakha temporary camp in Laprak have been reeling under the shortage of drinking water following a snowfall in the area. Transformer explosion up by three-fold in Lalitpur The number of transformer explosion in Lalitpur increased by almost three-fold last month compared to the previous one, Nepal Electricity Authority said. PRAISES: -Varied opportunities to share Christ in Philippines - via regular school librarian assignment, school chapel presentations; integration of scripture into neighborhood storytimes, + more -Hospitality and assistance of various folks with U.S. re-entry needs -Car purchase: 2012 Honda CRV; re-acclimation to driving -Secured a Lexington KY apartment - ground level / no stairs. Move in: October 22 Specific PRAYER CONCERNS 1. Yes. Its important to cast my votes early and avoid the lines on Election Day. 2. Yes. With nearly two weeks of early voting, its a more convenient way to take part. 3. No. Its better to wait until Election Day, in case any last-minute information surfaces. 4. No. Im not planning to vote early or on Election Day. It isnt worth my time. 5. Unsure. It depends on how the campaigns are shaping up. Ill play it by ear. Vote View Results Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. Mike Dunleavy the governor of the US state of Alaska is intending to introduce legislation that will repeal the two state boards which regu... Authorities in Abim district have blamed the poor performance of pupils in the 2015 Primary Leaving Exams (PLE) on cultural factors. According to the PLE results released yesterday, Abim district was one of the worst performing with a high failure rate. The Abim Resident District Commissioner Shaban Kachimate tells KFM that residents have not been so keen to support their childrens education. He cites Female Genital Mutilation which is done for initiation after which the girls are married off. Meanwhile educationists want the ministry of education to task district education officers and school heads where Primary Seven failure rate was high to explain the cause. The 2015 Primary Living Exam results that were released yesterday indicated that over 82,900 pupils failed. Districts like Amudat, Yumbe, Kween and Lamwo got less pupils with first grades and their general performance was bad. The executive director Private Schools Teachers Association Patrick Kaboyo, the high failure rate implies that the education officials were not doing their work effectively. Story By Dianah Wanyana INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Bills to give teachers and schools a one-year reprieve from being punished for poor student performance on ISTEP exams passed by overwhelming margins on Tuesday, one in the House and one in the Senate. Both measures, which received bipartisan support, are the GOPs answer to dismal student 2015 ISTEP scores, which plummeted about 20 percent from 2014 after stringent new performance standards pushed by Republicans, including Gov. Mike Pence, went into effect. The bills are moving quickly through the Legislature so theyll land on the desk of Pence, who says he will sign them into law. The measure that passed in the House 95-1 would spare teachers from having merit pay withheld due to student scores. Minutes later in the Senate, a 48-1 vote moved forward a bill that would prevent schools from being assigned a lower A-F grade for the same reason. Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, is the bills author. Due to the challenges with last years ISTEP+ test, the Legislature made it a priority to prevent it from negatively impacting schools, Kruse said. This bill is the right thing to do for our state and highlights that lawmakers understand the concerns of students, teachers and schools dealing with the problem-plagued 2015 ISTEP+ test. Each bill now goes to the other chamber for consideration. Critics of the new standards say they were hastily put in place without proper testing and troubleshooting after GOP lawmakers withdrew Indiana from national Common Core standards. Some conservatives called the math and science standards a federal takeover of education. Officials had predicted a double-digit drop in passing rates, and the prediction came true. Now, leading House Education Chairman Bob Behning wants to hire a third-party to re-grade the exams due to problems with the administration and scoring of the tests that have been uncovered in recent months, including a months-long delay in getting scores out to schools and parents. Democratic Rep. Terry Goodin says the bills approved Tuesday, commonly known as hold harmless measures, dont just give a reprieve to educators but also let GOP leaders off the hook for a problem of their own making. Were actually having hold harmless for legislators and our governor, said Goodin, whos also a school superintendent from Austin. We need to have a real conversation about throwing the ISTEP test out, putting those millions of dollars in the classroom. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High 46F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low around 30F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Terre Haute has been informed by the State Board of Accounts that the most recent audit of the city finds there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. With a private business, such an audit would indicate the business must either liquidate or substantially change the way it operates. With a city or county, however, liquidation is not an option generally considered. That leaves substantial change as the best course of action. Not so fast. Change in the way a local government operates requires leadership, political courage and guiding principles. If a community lacks any of that, there is a third option, i.e., confiscating even more money from taxpayers and continuing operations in pretty much the same way as before. Some mayors, commissioners and council members gravitate to option three. They imagine they can kick the financial can down the road for a few more years; their crisis need not be faced, just delayed. In such an approach, nobody mentions tax increases, but rest assured that is exactly whats on the table. Fees imposed for services previously paid by property tax without a corresponding decrease in the property tax levy, is a tax increase. Converting municipal services (transit, utilities, etc.) to a public corporation with its own tax rate without a corresponding decrease in the property tax levy, is a tax increase. Dramatic increases in municipal utility rates corresponding to dramatic increases in PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) from a utility are a particularly egregious tax increase. Of course, there is the renewed push for open tax increases in the form of food and beverage taxes and the mother lode, local-option income tax. A stultifying burden of taxes already is imposed by national, state and local governments. How can anyone seriously conclude that government needs more? Such a proposal does not reflect courageous and principled leadership, but quite the opposite. My experience is that, in a financial crisis, there might be cursory political mention of reducing expenditures, but it is usually made only for cover-yourself purposes only in passing and never with specifics. Nor is there reference to the hugely costly, counterproductive and ethically suspect economic development efforts of the typical failing city. There is a better way than imposing another round of tax increases and economic development. Indeed, it has been outlined in detail by the Indiana Policy Review Foundation in numerous journal articles beginning more than a decade ago. Writers with backgrounds in business, government and academia have provided specific steps that local government can take to change the way it operates in the face of financial challenges. In doing so, it can free its citizens to take responsibility, create opportunity, embrace real economic development, build community and live their lives as they see fit. If there are those in your community with leadership skills, courage and principles, it is time for them to step up that or wait for the letter from the State Board of Accounts to show up in your city hall mailbox. Ryan Cummins, a former chairman of the appropriations committee of the Terre Haute Common Council, is an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation. Check back often for news and commentary about Kentucky by David Adams. Contact via email: kyprogress(at)yahoo.com or Lexington area telephone 537-5372. Hoping to inspire goodwill toward the less fortunate, WalletHubs analysts compared the 150 most populated U.S. cities across 16 key metrics to determine where Americans are most economically disadvantaged. Our data set ranges from poverty rate to food-insecurity rate to percentage of maltreated people. Hunger, poverty and homelessness pervade every country even the worlds richest and most powerful democracy. One might assume, however, that the extent of such problems in far less developed nations dwarf their levels in a first-world economy. But the facts reflect a different truth. According to Feeding America, food insecurity plagues every U.S. county. In 2014, 48.1 million individuals lacked access to adequate food and 46.7 million lived in poverty. The National Low Income Housing Coalition classifies 10.3 million of those in poverty as extremely low-income renter households whose income is at or below 30% of the area median income. Three-quarters of that group have insufficient resources to cover other basic necessities including utilities, food and health care after allocating half of their income to housing. As a result, those who cannot afford a roof over their heads must take to the streets or shelters. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly 580,000 people children comprising almost half were homeless on any given night in 2014. Such staggering realities beg the question: How are local governments combating these epidemics? On the heels of our report on the most charitable states, WalletHubs analysts compared the 150 most populated U.S. cities to find the highest concentrations of economically disadvantaged people. We analyzed each city across 16 key metrics such as the percentage of households receiving public assistance, food-insecurity rate and percentage of maltreated people. Our findings, as well as expert commentary and a detailed methodology, can be found below. Cities with the Lowest Populations in Need 1 Fremont, CA, 2 Huntington Beach, CA, 3 Irvine, CA, 4 Overland Park, KS, T-5 Rancho Cucamonga, CA, T-5 Sioux Falls, SD, 7 Pembroke Pines, FL, 8 Gilbert, AZ, 9 San Jose, CA, 10 Virginia Beach, VA Wisconsin rankings: 23 Madison WI, 115 Milwaukee, WI Cities with the Highest Populations in Need 141, Richmond, VA, 142 Birmingham, AL, 143 Brownsville, TX , 144 Augusta, GA, 145 Jackson, MS, 146 New Orleans, LA, 147 Memphis, TN, 148 Cleveland, OH, 149 Atlanta, GA, 150 Detroit, MI The child-poverty rate is highest in Detroit, eight times above that of Fremont, Calif., which has the lowest. The adult-poverty rate is highest in Detroit, six times above that of Overland Park, Kan., which has the lowest. The number of homeless residents per capita is highest in Honolulu, 87 times above that of Las Vegas, which has the lowest. The unemployment rate is highest in Detroit, six times above that of Lincoln, Neb., which has the lowest. The percentage of households lacking health insurance is highest in Hialeah, Fla., eight times above that of Worchester, Mass., which has the lowest. The violent-crime rate is highest in Detroit, 40 times above that of Irvine, Calif., which has the lowest. From the public files of the La Crescent Police Department. Monday, Jan. 4 Houston County Sheriffs Office background check regarding permit to carry firearm, Main St. Houston County Sheriffs Office background check regarding permit to carry firearm, Main St. 1:07 a.m. Emergency medical, Willow St. 9:30 a.m. Assisted Winona County Sheriffs Office with emotionally disturbed person, I-90. 11:52 a.m. Property damage motor vehicle accident, Skunk Hollow Rd. 2:40 p.m. Home security alarm, Grandview Terrace. Homeowner accidentally set it off. 3:05 p.m. Houston County Sheriffs Office background check regarding permit to carry firearm, Main St. 3:15 p.m. Trouble with party, Shore Acres Rd. Harassment restraining order violation and identity theft. 5:41 p.m. 911 hang up, S. Oak St. Officer investigated. Tuesday, Jan. 5 2:28 a.m. Abandoned motor vehicle, Hwy. 14/61. Vehicle towed. 5:04 a.m. Welfare concern, S. Third St. 11:11 a.m. La Crescent resident obtained fingerprints. 11:42 a.m. 911 hang up, S. Oak St. 12:25 p.m. Traffic complaint, Hwy. 14/16/61. Road rage incident. Involved parties interviewed. 6:01 p.m. Barking dog complaint, Larch Ave. 7:12 p.m. Parking enforcement, Lancer Blvd. 7:15 p.m. Illegal dumping of tires, Hwy. 14/16/61. Under investigation. 8:40 p.m. Agency assist with traffic stop, Hwy. 26. Driver cited for traveling 95 in a 55 mph zone. 8:58 p.m. Burglar alarm reported, S. Walnut St. All was OK. 11:05 p.m. Foot patrol/door checks, Kistler Dr. Wednesday, Jan. 6 1:00 a.m. Assisted Houston County Sheriffs Office with a reported domestic assault, Hwy. 26. 10:09 a.m. Emergency medical, Paar St. 10:30 a.m. La Crescent resident requested a live trap. 10:44 a.m. La Crescent resident applied for a permit to purchase a firearm. 11:41 a.m. Trouble with party, S. Hill St. Subjects involved had left prior to law enforcement notification. Residents are asked to immediately call during witnessed events, as police department will attempt to keep complaints anonymous if so requested. 12:37 p.m. 911 call from business, S. Oak St. Problem with phone system. Seeking a remedy. 3:12 p.m. Adult abuse report, Lancer Blvd. 3:33 p.m Brownsville resident request for driving record. 5:07 p.m. Driver was cited for expired registration, N. Second St. 6:30 p.m. Driving complaint called in, Hwy. 14/61. Vehicle was stopped and warned for speeding. 10:59 p.m. Harassment reported, Kistler Dr. Thursday, Jan. 7 Standby while Minnesota state officials conducted a building code inspection. 1:58 p.m La Crescent resident requests extra patrol. 2:52 p.m. La Crescent resident requested a live trap. 3:20 p.m. School bus stop arm violation reported, S. Fourth St. Driver cited. 10:41 p.m. Building check/extra patrol, Kistler Dr. Friday, Jan. 8 4:49 a.m. La Crosse driver was cited for driving after suspension after officers were called to the scene of an accident, Hwy. 14/61. 8:17 a.m Assist county with traffic control for a snow plow stuck on hill, Crescent Hills Dr. 8:40 a.m. Citation issued to a La Crescent woman for fire code violations, S. Oak St. 1:01 p.m. Issue with student, S. Oak St. Saturday, Jan. 9 2:33 a.m. Suspicious activity, N. Elm St. Subjects identified and contact made with parent. 12:17 p.m. Assist La Crosse Police Department with locating a party in La Crescent, Grandview Terrace. 4:06 p.m. Motor vehicle unlock, S. Oak St. 6:56 p.m. False fire alarm, S. Second St. Sunday, Jan. 10 12:12 a.m. Foot patrol and door checks, Kistler Dr. 3:54 a.m Emergency medical, Cedar Dr. 5:13 a.m. Gas drive-off reported, S. Third St. 10:08 a.m Fire, Hillview Blvd. 6:43 p.m. Assisted Minnesota State Patrol with traffic control on an accident on I-90. 7:48 p.m. Emergency medical, Hwy. 16. 10:09 p.m. Assisted Houston County Coroner with a deceased 72-year-old female, Cortland Ln. The Black River Falls Police Department is looking to replace its aging unmarked squad and replace it with a small truck. Police Chief Scot Eisenhauer told the citys Committee of the Whole that the 2008 unmarked investigator vehicle quickly loses oil and is becoming a safety issue that can be replaced now because of 2015 budget savings. This vehicle is becoming unsafe as a patrol vehicle and I feel has been abused, Eisenhauer wrote in a member to Mayor Ron Danielson. This is a good year to do this. The department has two marked Chevrolet Tahoes and the unmarked 2008 Chevrolet Impala, which has been in two accidents since being purchased for the department. A seal between its transmission and engine now leaks oil heavily, the transmission slips when it is put into drive and this past Tuesday indicated it was losing engine power while Eisenhauer was driving it. Eisenhauer brought an overall $22,000 quote on a small Chevrolet Colorado pick-up truck to the committee last month after trade-in and repair savings, and the council asked him to look into state bids for vehicles and bring the information back this month for consideration. Eisenhauer, also the departments investigator, said its becoming more common for police departments to utilize small trucks because of duties officers conduct, like moving traffic control barricades, picking up road debris and transporting evidence, like bicycles. He said he plans to make a new vehicle a marked squad to help keep the departments presence visible in light of the PD not having an officer completely dedicated to investigations. We only have three cars, so its best to have them all marked, he said. We want people to see us when were out there. Eisenhauer said hes looking into various vehicles and pricing and hopes to get the unmarked squad replaced now so that one of the other squads doesnt come due for replacement at the same time. We want to see what prices are out there and what we can get for our money, he said. There are a lot of different options that fit the city. Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers are proposing reforms designed to increase safety at the states prisons and calling for swift legislative action. Corrections officers have raised concerns about unsafe working conditions caused by state budget cuts, inadequate staffing, equipment shortages and poor leadership, said state Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, whose district includes the Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution. Legislation drafted by Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, and circulated last week for co-sponsors calls for increased training for new correctional officers, limits forced consecutive overtime shifts and would allow the officers to collectively bargain workplace safety issues. Proposals also require that prisons staff at least five first responders, guard towers and perimeters 24 hours a day. No one wants to see a death or a riot to spur the kind of action that I think we need to have in our corrections department, Erpenbach said. Its not a situation where institutions are just in Republican districts or Democratic districts. Theyre across the board, so we should be working together on this. Efforts to address prison staffing shortages by Gov. Scott Walkers administration and the state Department of Corrections have failed, said Erpenbach, who called on the governor and DOC Secretary Ed Wall to meet with corrections officers to find ways to recruit and retain employees. We have people with a lot of experience who are just saying, The hell with this, and theyre walking out the door, Erpenbach said. Corrections is that last place that can afford to lose somebody because its a bad workplace. The governors office and DOC did not respond to requests for comment. In January 2015, the state Department of Justice launched an investigation into Lincoln Hills School for Boys, a juvenile prison in Irma. The FBI is looking into potential crimes, including sexual assault, child abuse and intimidation of victims and witnesses, while there have been other reports of assaults on correctional officers and inmates, Shilling said. You talk to any officer in any institution around this state it is very difficult to justify getting out of bed and going to work that morning knowing you might not be going home that night, Erpenbach said. There may be an incident where youre beaten up, which seems to be happening weekly now. You may be ordered to a second shift. Erpenbach expected to introduce the legislation this week. We have people with a lot of experience who are just saying, The hell with this, and theyre walking out the door. Corrections is that last place that can afford to lose somebody because its a bad workplace. Joe Erpenbach, D-Middleton, drafter of legislation A mental health worker at the Tomah VA Medical Center has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting patients on the hospitals troubled psychiatric unit. Charles W. Davis, a peer support specialist, made lewd comments and gestures, exposed himself to female patients and received oral sex from a patient in his office, according to court documents. Davis, 47, was arrested last week by the Tomah VA police and booked into the Monroe County jail. He was released on a signature bond last week Tuesday and is expected to be charged this week. Potential charges include sexual assault by therapist, lewd and lascivious behavior and intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse, although Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger said those charges could change. A 26-year-old veteran who was receiving treatment for past military sexual trauma said Davis rubbed her leg under the table during a new patient orientation meeting while a member of the VA police was making a presentation, according to an affidavit filed in Monroe County Circuit Court. Davis began making comments about her appearance within a week of her arrival, made lewd gestures toward her and later groped her in his office, the document states. Davis called her into his office in late December and exposed himself, according to the affidavit. A 32-year-old veteran told police she met with Davis after entering the VAs substance abuse program in March and that he made sexual comments when he met her in the hallway, according to the affidavit. She said Daviss behavior got worse when she returned to the VA in November after a hiatus, and that he sent her sexually explicit photos and videos that she believed were of himself. The veteran said Davis invited her to his office in December where she performed oral sex on him, according to the affidavit. Both women said Davis rubbed his crotch and made lewd gestures while they were in meetings and he thought no one else could see him, the affidavit states. Davis could not be reached at either of the numbers he provided to the court. According to the VA, Davis was hired in 2013 as a housekeeper and promoted several months later to peer support specialist. Peer support specialists, who have experienced mental illness or substance abuse themselves and have specialized training, are certified in Wisconsin by the state Department of Health Services. A VA spokesman was unable to say last week whether Davis had that certification. Victoria Brahm, acting director of the hospital, sent an email to all employees after Daviss court appearance last week saying, there has been an unfortunate incident in our medical center. I wanted you to be aware in an effort to be transparent and foster trust. Brahm said a patient reported inappropriate behavior by a peer support specialist on Thursday and he was removed from clinical duties and placed on administrative absence. The statement did not name Davis. The investigation began two days earlier when a VA staffer reported allegations of Daviss sexual misconduct with patients on the VAs psychiatric ward, according to the affidavit. The investigation is being led by the Tomah VA Police Department with assistance from Tomah city police. The Tomah VA has been plagued with scandals since a story by the Center for Investigative Reporting last year detailed high levels of opioid prescription at the facility, which patients dubbed Candy Land because physicians there dispensed prescription painkillers so freely, and a pervasive culture of intimidation and retaliation against employees who spoke out. A 35-year-old Marine veteran died in the hospital from a lethal combination of prescribed medications. At least three top officials including the medical chief of staff and the centers director were later fired. In November a nurses aide was cited for disorderly conduct after allegations that he shoved a patient in the mental health unit. The VA has yet to identify the aide or release reports requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued a statement calling the recent allegations deeply disturbing. If they are true, and if patients at the Tomah VA suffered sexual assault, it would be an absolutely deplorable violation of the duty this nation and the VA owe to the finest among us, especially those seeking relief for physical and emotional wounds, Johnson said. Nearly one year after serious problems at the Tomah VA came to widespread attention, it is of utmost importance that the VA protect our veterans from wrongdoers. I will continue to hold VA officials accountable while also addressing the other problems that have engulfed the Tomah VA. LA CRESCENT, Minn. Hollie J. Briggs, 62, of La Crescent died surrounded by the people who loved her deeply Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, due to complications of the acute onset of a pulmonary embolism. Hollie was born Dec. 18, 1953, in Rochester, Minn., to Lyle and Joyce (Fieck) Briggs. She was raised in Houston, and graduated from Houston High School. She received her bachelors degree in education from Winona State University and later her masters degree. Hollie taught elementary education for a couple of years in Houston, and then taught special education and elementary education at La Crescent schools for more than 40 years. She was currently teaching the second grade in La Crescent. Teaching was her love and her life. Hollie was an avid reader who enjoyed cross stitching and shopping. Most of all Hollie loved people and was a very proficient hugger. She is survived her sister, Mary Kay Briggs, and Mary Kays three children; and by many friends and chosen family. Hollie was preceded in death by her parents, Lyle and Joyce. There will be a memorial service for Hollie at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, at the La Crescent High School Fine Arts Center, with the Rev. Allen Hanson officiating. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Saturday, also at the auditorium. Those attending the visitation and service are asked to wear bright and cheerful colored clothing in recognition of Hollies upbeat personality. Burial will take place in the Spring at Money Creek Cemetery in Money Creek. In lieu of flowers, donations are preferred to Merchants Bank, where a fund is being created to help the educational needs of the children at the La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School. Hoff Funeral and Cremation Service in Houston is assisting the family. Leave a memory of Hollie and sign her online guestbook at www.hofffuneral.com. MADISON Legislators moved closer toward lifting Wisconsins ban on new nuclear power plants Tuesday, with the Assembly passing a bill that would do away with the moratorium despite Democrats warnings about dangerous meltdowns and radioactive waste. Approved on a voice vote in the Assembly, the measure now goes to the state Senate. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald didnt immediately respond to an email inquiring about the bills chances. Right now, state regulators cant approve a new nuclear power plant unless a federal facility for storing waste from nuclear plants nationwide exists and such a plant doesnt burden ratepayers. No such national facility exists, so nuclear plants store their waste on-site. Rep. Keven Petersens bill would erase the storage facility and ratepayer clauses from state law, clearing the way for new plants. The Waupaca Republican told reporters before the vote that nuclear energy is evolving and some reactors can now process their own waste. He added that nuclear energy is a viable alternative to help the state meet new federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The rules require Wisconsin to reduce carbon emissions by 41 percent over the next 15 years, stoking fears that utilities will raise rates to cover upgrades and hurt large commercial energy customers. Petersen also said the moratoriums ratepayer clause duplicates other sections of state law that require regulators to determine any new power plant wont burden ratepayers. New nuclear plants would still have to meet that standard, he said. Minority Democrats railed against the bill during a brief floor debate. Hiding corpses The state Assembly also approved a tougher penalty for hiding a corpse. Right now, hiding a corpse is a Class G felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. The Republican-authored bill would classify the crime as a more severe Class F felony punishable by up to 12 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. The Assembly approved the bill on a voice vote Tuesday. The Senate approved the bill on a voice vote in June. The measure now goes to Gov. Scott Walker for his signature. Anti-heroin bills The Assembly also approved a package of bills designed to slow the spread of heroin. One bill would require opiate dispensers to enter prescriptions into a statewide database within 24 hours. The other bills in the package would require police who find an opiate prescription at an overdose scene to enter it in the database; methadone and pain clinics to register with the state, require treatment programs using methadone to report the number of people receiving the medication annually to the state. The Assembly approved all four bills on voice votes. The proposals now go to the state Senate. Floor decorum Minority Democrats in the state Assembly are angry after a Republican representative made an obscene gesture toward their leader on the chamber floor. Senate Minority Leader Peter Barca, a Kenosha Democrat, rose on Tuesday to argue with Rep. Bob Gannon over a news release Gannon issued last week complaining about Milwaukees homicide rate and how more homicides occur in black neighborhoods with high unemployment rates. Gannon, a Slinger Republican, made an obscene gesture toward Barca. The minority leader looked shocked and demanded Republican leaders reprimand him. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, hurried out of his office and whispered to Gannon, who then stood up and apologized for making what he called an improper gesture in the heat of battle. TOMAH A former Tomah woman is in custody in connection with the shooting of her estranged husband Nov. 24 shooting in South Carolina. Authorities arrested Katlyn Ellen Gottbeheat, 30, of Anderson, S.C., on Tuesday. Clint Daniel Moore, 23, of Iva, S.C., is accused of shooting Gottbeheats estranged husband, Justin Marshall Pritchett, at point-blank range outside a tavern in Anderson. Gottbeheat is accused of driving Moore from the scene. An arrest warrant dated Dec. 8, 2015, charges Moore with attempted murder and Gottbeheat as an accessory. Carl Anderson, deputy chief of the Anderson County Sheriffs Department, said early Tuesday he believed the two are still in South Carolina. He replied, I dont think so, when asked whether he thought the couple had fled to Wisconsin. I think theyre still in the area, Anderson said. Theyve been able to stay out of sight. Pritchett told a South Carolina television station that Moore and Gottbeheat had been living together and the shooting stemmed from a bitter custody dispute. He said Gottbeheat lured him outside, where Moore shot him in the left shoulder. He said the gunshot wound resulted in an 11-day hospital stay. Pritchett said he has custody of the couples daughter. Moore is described as a white male, 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds, with hazel eyes and medium length blondish-brown hair. He is considered by investigators to be armed and dangerous. Gottbeheat is a 2003 graduate of Tomah High School and has no criminal record in Wisconsin. Authorities say the couple may have been driving a blue Chevrolet sedan, possibly a Cavalier. Anyone with information about the shooting or who knows the whereabouts of Moore is asked to contact Anderson County Sheriffs Department investigator Patrick Henry at 1-864-260-4420 or pchenry@andersonsheriff.com. People who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC. ONALASKA The Onalaska mayoral race heated up Wednesday as former Common Council member Jack Pogreba formally announced his candidacy while incumbent Mayor Joe Chilsen filed paperwork with Wisconsins Government Accountability Board to appeal the city clerk ruling that would keep him off the ballot. Pogreba said he hopes to promote the citys first term with a part-time mayor during a press conference outside Onalaska City Hall Wednesday. Meanwhile, Chilsen appealed Onalaska City Clerk Cari Burmasters Monday decision about a problem with his paperwork that left him off the ballot. I want to promote Onalaska as a great place to live, work, raise a family and play, Pogreba said. I want to promote the Onalaska area business community to open up more businesses in the community and with that, possibly looking at the waterfront district and the TIF district. Pogreba has lived in Onalaska for 30 years, raising four children with his wife, Susan. In my years of living here, the city has grown and expanded, and we want to keep that growth and expansion going, Pogreba said. While a council member, Pogreba served as chairman of Onalaskas Board of Public Works, and the Administrative and Judiciary Committee, which he said gave him great insight into how Onalaskas government works. Pogreba said his time on the council was successful due to his ability listen to business owners and address their concerns. Pogreba also said he would look after Onalaska residents interests, making sure were going to be an affordable place to live and make sure were not going to overburden the taxpayer. Pogreba may be the only candidate on the ballot after he successfully challenged Chilsens nomination papers. Because two pages of the papers were missing Chilsens street address, Chilsen lost 27 valid signatures from his previous total of 219, leaving him short of the 200 signatures required. Chilsen originally decided to let Burmasters decision stand but said he changed his mind after a similar anomaly cropped up in the Onalaska School Board race. The school board clerk, Brian Haefs, allowed the signatures to stand, which paved the way for incumbents Ann Garrity and Tim Smaby to get on the ballot, despite the challenge from newcomer Jake Speed. Im forcing the GAB to do the right thing, Chilsen said. What the ruling is is what the ruling will be, but I want the ruling to be consistent, Chilsen added. Nothing in particular prompted Pogreba to look over Chilsens paperwork, Pogreba said, adding he had always planned to examine the nomination petition. I heard rumors that Joe had had problems getting his signatures, and actually, people were circulating papers for other candidates through my neighborhood, so I thought, Lets just take a look at the papers and see if any of Joes (supporters) are my neighbors, Pogreba said. Pogreba declined to go into detail about the circumstances around the paperwork issue, citing pending legal issues. Pogreba responded to criticism that he waited until the last hour before filing his complaint by saying he needed to accommodate his work schedule. Pogreba, a full-time equipment manager at Woodmans, is also running against La Crosse County Board Supervisor Mike Giese for the District 17 seat. Working with the county board and the mayor position will be a benefit for the city of Onalaska. It will open up doors, Pogreba said. Pogreba believes he could work to cut costs on both the city and county level by representing Onalaska in both roles. Pogreba added that he has already discussed balancing the government positions and his job duties with his employer, saying it will be no problem at all. The American Red Cross is appealing for donations of blood and platelets to stanch a looming shortage resulting from the fact that holiday activities and winter illnesses have sapped supplies. Were appealing for people to roll up their sleeves and donate, said Heather Schurhammer, team supervisor at the agencys La Crosse Blood Donor Center. Because of the holiday months, the weather, sickness and vacations, were down a little, Schurhammer said. The shortage is national, prompting local branches to ramp up collection efforts, such as a community drive that began Tuesday in La Crosse and continues today, Thursday and Saturday. The extra effort will take place from 10:30 to 5:30 p.m. today and 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. today at Cary Services Building at 3400 Losey Blvd. S. and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the donor center at 1427 Hwy. 16. The potential of a shortage varies from year to year, Schurhammer said. It is frequent, like in the summer when people are on vacation and in activities, she said. The need never goes away. Some days, I wish I didnt need to be here because that would mean were all OK. Normal winter illnesses such as colds and flu also decrease donations, because you cant donate if you have a cold or the sniffles, Schurhammer said. Although statistics arent broken down by localities, donations were down by 50,000 nationally because various conditions cut blood drives by about 1,700, according to the national headquarters. We encourage our generous donors who are eligible, as well as new donors, to make an appointment to give blood or platelets and help ensure blood products continue to be available for patients, said Todd Kulman, external communications manager for the Red Cross Badger-Hawkeye Blood Services Region, which covers Wisconsin, Michigans Upper Peninsula and parts of Illinois. Every two seconds, Kulman said, a patient in the U.S. needs blood. HOLMEN Doug Schober and the Holmen Area Fire Department have reached an agreement in which Schobers resignation as fire chief is effective Dec. 31, 2015, and he receives a payout for accrued sick leave. The board, composed of members from the village of Holmen and the towns of Onalaska and Holland, suspended the 15-year chief in November after firefighters complained of mismanagement. In December, it decided to hire an investigator to examine the complaints. The Holmen Area Fire District Association Board approved the agreement Monday night. Schober said in an emailed press release Tuesday that the parties are grateful to have resolved the matters between them and are thankful to those on both sides who worked towards that effort. The release emphatically referred to the end of Schobers employment with the district as his retirement. This is a draft of a mutual agreement which would result in Schobers resignation as of Dec. 31, 2015, said Jessica Kirchner of OFlaherty Heim Egan & Birnbaum Ltd., legal counsel for the fire district. The agreement includes a payout of benefits he (Schober) accrued. He has accrued sick leave over the years, and (the agreement waives) any claims he might file against the fire department or fire association. The agreement outlining the conditions of Schobers resignation resulted from an investigation into the management of the fire department under Schober. The HAFDA board voted in December to hire an outside investigator to look into charges of mismanagement brought by firefighters against Schober. I think this is the right thing to do, said HAFDA board member Chuck Olson. Olson represents the village of Holmen on the board. Assistant fire chiefs Bill Bulawa and Wes Linberg assumed the Schobers duties after he was suspended, and Rolly Bogert, the fire district board chairman, said the association will not advertise for the position of fire chief at this time. Were staying with the current set-up at this point, said Bogert. The claims of poor management were brought to the HAFDA by firefighters and members of the public during a special meeting in September. MADISON A Tomah man who wrote on his Facebook page and told a security guard that he planned to kill President Barack Obama when the president was in La Crosse last summer was convicted Tuesday of two counts of making threats against Obama. A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about 4 hours Tuesday before finding Brian Dutcher, 55, of Tomah guilty of writing a Facebook comment about assassinating the president on June 30 and then telling a La Crosse Public Library security guard on July 1 that he planned to assassinate Obama when he visited La Crosse the next day. Dutcher did not testify during the trial. Each count carries up to five years in prison when Dutcher is sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Conley on March 15. According to court documents, Dutcher told the guard, The usurper is here, and if I get a chance, Ill take him out and Ill take the shot. On his Facebook page, he wrote, Thats it! I will be in La Crosse. Hopefully I will get a clear shot at the pretend president. Killing him is our CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY! In closing arguments Tuesday, Dutchers lawyer, Stephen Meyer, said the government hadnt proven that Dutcher made a true threat against Obama, as required by law. Instead, Meyer told the jury, Dutcher made his comments out in the open, making them little more than careless talk and obvious political exaggeration. If it is an actual threat, Brian Dutcher goes dark, Meyer said. A true threat is not posting it on Facebook for 114 friends to see. Meyer also questioned why the response to the threat was slow, if the library security guard, La Crosse police and the Secret Service considered it to be a true threat. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger said that the response wasnt instantaneous because Obama wasnt scheduled to be in La Crosse until the day after Dutcher uttered the threat at the library. Police found the Facebook threats, made a day earlier, after Dutcher made the threat to the library guard July 1. Pfluger said that while the First Amendment guarantees free speech, Dutcher crossed the line when he made the threats. And when asked by police later what he meant by them, Pfluger said, Dutcher reiterated the statements and said that he meant what he said. Dutcher never said that he didnt mean what he said, she added, and never said that he was joking when he made the statements. Meyer said that police searched Dutcher and his van and found no firearms, only a slingshot. Are we dealing with Bart Simpson or are we dealing with a federal case? Meyer asked. Under the law, Pfluger said, prosecutors did not have to prove that Dutcher intended to carry out the threats. She added that Dutcher had told police he used the slingshot to hunt small game and that it could have been used to injure a person as well. Groups permitted to accept corporate campaign contributions under a new law must report them to state regulators, a vote by the state Government Accountability Board has confirmed. The board cast the unanimous vote Tuesday. In doing so, the board reversed its public statement last week that such reporting is not required by the law. Speaking to the accountability board at its regular meeting Tuesday, board director Kevin Kennedy acknowledged that statement was inaccurate. Republican legislative leaders and the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau had contended the law required such reporting. In response to press inquiries, it was stated there was no reporting of this activity, Kennedy said. That was an incorrect statement. The answer was: We havent addressed it. That shouldve been the answer. Board members debated how such contributions should be reported at their December meeting but didnt reach a conclusion. Signed by Gov. Scott Walker in December, the law makes the biggest changes to Wisconsin campaign finance regulations since the 1970s. One of its provisions creates a new way for corporations, barred from making direct political contributions in Wisconsin for more than century, to influence campaigns. It allows political parties and legislative campaign committees, the partisan campaign groups in the Legislature, to accept corporate, union and American Indian tribe contributions, provided the contributions go into separate accounts. Such contributions are capped at $12,000 a year under the law. Tuesdays vote confirms that activities relating to those accounts must be reported to the state. Kennedy, speaking to reporters after the board meeting, described the confusion as part of the normal process when state agencies iron out how to implement new laws. This was a bill that got rushed through in a hurry, Kennedy said. There are a lot of kinks to work out. The board will cease to exist after June 30, when it is succeeded by new elections and ethics commissions created by a related law that Walker also signed in December. Wednesday, January 13, 2016 This post highlights SIGA Technologies, Inc. v. PharmAthene, Inc., Del. Supr., No. 20, 2015 (Dec. 23, 2015). At the end of 2015, the Delaware Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming its earlier holding that where parties have agreed to negotiate in good faith, a failure to reach an agreement based upon the bad faith of one party entitles the other party to expectation damages so long as damages can be proven with "reasonable certainty." Francis Pileggi, on his excellent Delaware Commercial and Business Litigation blog, provides a succinct summary of the case, available here. The parties to the suit entered into merger negotiations to develop a smallpox antiviral drug. Due to the uncertainty of the merger negotiations, the parties also entered into a non-binding license agreement, the terms of which would be finalized if the merger fell through for whatever reason. While nonbinding, the preliminary license agreement contained detailed financial terms and benchmarks. When the merger was terminated, SIGA proposed terms for a collaboration that departed from the preliminary license agreement. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery finding that SIGA's acted in bad faith. The question of the case became what damages were due from the bad faith breach of a preliminary agreement to "negotiate in good faith, when all essential terms have not been agreed to by the parties? The first gem in the opinion, and something I'll be working into my damages lectures for first year contracts this spring, is that: when a contract is breached, expectation damages can be established as long as the plaintiff can prove the fact of damages with reasonable certainty. The amount of damages can be an estimate. What constitutes reasonable certainty changes whether the party is establishing damages are due versus the amount of the damages. And here is the second gem: the standard of proof can be lessened where willful wrongdoing contributed to the breach and the uncertainty about the amount of damages. where the wrongdoer caused uncertainty about the final economics of the transaction by its failure to negotiate in good faith, willfulness is a relevant factor in deciding the quantum of proof required to establish the damages amount. -Anne Tucker https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/business_law/2016/01/delaware-supreme-court-enforcing-preliminary-agreements-awarding-expectation-damages.html Sounding more like the candidate of hope and change, U.S. President Barack Obama looked past members of Congress and delivered his final State of the Union message straight to the American people. I want to focus on the future, the president opened his speech to a packed chamber in the House of Representatives. He added, America has been through big changes before wars and depression, the influx of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to expand civil rights. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. With the first contest of the 2016 campaign a mere three weeks away in Iowa, Obama repeatedly addressed the harsh tone of the political debate. He said that, talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air. And when politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer. The president declared that, democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesnt work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic. It will only happen if we fix our politics, he said. During an appearance on the Today show before the speech, the president expressed regret on his inability to change the tone of partisan politics. In a rare moment of reflection, he added, Things that Ive done well during the campaign, I've not always done well as president." In the hour-long speech, Obama recited the accomplishments of his last seven years in office, from the affordable care act to education reform, from climate change to job creation, and from an agreement to contain nuclear Iran to efforts to contain the Islamic State. Despite the presidents attempts to present his vision of a bright future for America, many Americans are not convinced. A CBS/New York Times poll released earlier in the day shows that Americans are equally divided on Obamas performance as president. Forty-six percent of Americans approve and 47 percent disapprove. More importantly, a public opinion poll taken last month for NBC/Wall Street Journal shows that seven out of 10 Americans believe that the country is heading off on the wrong track. Republican response South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley delivered the official Republican Party response following the speech from Obama. She said, The Presidents record has often fallen far short of his soaring words. As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. Haley added, Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it. A daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley agreed with Obama on his call for civility in the immigration debate. She said, "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome." Among those in attendance as guests of the first lady were a gay rights activist and a Syrian refugee. And there was an empty chair for the victims of gun violence. Im Jim Tedder. Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English. Jim Tedder was the editor. Crew members from two small U.S. Navy boats are being held by Iran. Pentagon officials said Tuesday that Tehran has promised them that the crew and boats will be "promptly" returned. A senior U.S. defense official told VOA Tuesday there are 10 U.S. sailors on the two boats. A U.S. official confirmed there were nine men and one woman. The boats were traveling between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. CNN reported that one of the boats might have had mechanical problems. Washington has been in communication with the Iranians, who have promised to "promptly allow them to continue on their journey," the senior defense official said. A senior administration official says Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone at midday Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, shortly after the incident occurred. U.S. officials said that the incident happened in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island. The news comes less than a month after U.S. officials accused Iran of launching a rocket test near U.S. boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. I'm Jim Tedder. UPDATE without audio: Farsi Island is home to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base. That may be why the sailors were quickly detained, said Matthew Kroenig, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Councils Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, to VOA Tuesday. Most countries would do the same thing if foreign sailors came that close to a naval base, Kroenig explained. It also came just hours before President Barack Obama was to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. Part of the address is expected to address concerns of Congress over a nuclear deal between Tehran and Western powers. That deal was reached last year. The deal is set to curb Iran's nuclear program. In return, Western governments will lift economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The United States military has confirmed that Iran released 10 American Navy sailors Wednesday. The sailors were detained Tuesday after their two small boats entered Iranian territorial waters. In a statement, the Defense Department said there was no report that any of the nine men or one woman were harmed while they were held. The sailors were on two small boats in the Persian Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain when American forces lost contact with them on Tuesday. American officials said the sailors were detained near Farsi Island, which holds a large Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base. Matthew Kroenig is a senior fellow at The Atlantic Councils Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. He says the naval base may be the reason the sailors were so quickly detained. He told VOA most countries would do the same thing if foreign sailors came that close to a naval base. Earlier, Irans Revolutionary Guard said the sailors had been released after the United States apologized for the entry into its waters and promised it would not happen again. General Ali Fadavi is the Navy chief of the Revolutionary Guard. Iranian state television reported he said a problem with the ships navigational system caused them to enter Iranian waters. But the New York Times newspaper reported that the Defense Department and the State Department said one of the boats had suffered mechanical problems as it sailed to Bahrain from Kuwait on a routine mission. The newspaper reported that Iran appeared to have accepted that explanation. The New York Times spoke with a well-known Iranian expert about the incident. Hamidreza Taraghi is close to the countrys senior leaders. He told the newspaper that the quick release of the sailors showed how much Irans relations with the West had changed since a nuclear agreement between Iran and Western powers was signed. President Barack Obama did not talk about the incident during his yearly State of the Union speech Tuesday night. But he said the nuclear agreement helped the world avoid another war. The agreement is expected to be put into place in the next few days. Im Christopher Jones-Cruise. This report was based on information from VOANews.com. Additional information came from the New York Times. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, or visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story navigational adj. (always used before a noun) guiding the moving of a ship over an area of water routine adj. done or happening as a normal part of a job, situation or process; ordinary mission - n. a job that someone is given to do; a project From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report. Does a manbun look good on top of a dadbod? Or would it be a good hairstyle for an ammosexual? And do you really want your kids to Netflix and chill while you are out? You can answer that question if you learn about the choices for Word of the Year. Choosing a Word of the Year The competition is fierce. Categories include: most useful, most creative, most unnecessary, most outrageous, most euphemistic, most likely to succeed, least likely to succeed, most notable hashtag, and most notable emoji. Last year, the American Dialect Society or ADS included a new category: most notable hashtag. The hashtag #Blacklivesmatter was the ADS Word of the Year for 2014. Hashtags are an important part of modern communication, said Ben Zimmer, linguist and Wall Street Journal writer. Zimmer also heads the ADS committee that chooses words for the Word of the Year vote. Even though something like #Blacklivesmatter is clearly a few words that are stuck together in the form of a hashtag, it is working as a unit in an interesting way, and it is becoming a kind of a vehicle for expressing political and social ideas, Zimmer said. Allan Metcalf, presdent of the American Dialect Society, agreed with the new category for emojis . Although they are a kind of pictographic language you read about them, there are articles about them. And it is pointed out that after all, Chinese for example, when written down, is kind of symbolic. It represents not the sounds, but the images. Everyone agrees that Chinese as a written language, is a language, so I think it fits in perfectly well. Here are the winners in some of the categories. We have left out phrases that include profanity. Go to the ADS site to see the complete list. Most Useful They: Our previous story announced this top winner, which also won in the most useful category. The definition is gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier. A non-binary identifier is a word that does not show whether an individual is male or female. Many languages have a third-person pronoun that is neutral in this way. English does not. Microaggression was almost a winner. Microaggression means an indirect form of racism or bias. Ammosexual was the winner in the most creative category. It refers to a person who likes guns a great deal. This word was used to talk about the people who want to show their guns by carrying them in public or posting photos of themselves with guns in social media. Manbun was the winner in the most unnecessary category. What is a manbun? It is a mans long hair pulled up in a bun. Dadbod was a favorite on social media for some time this year. It refers to the overweight body shape of a typical father. Someone joked, Dadbod is unnecessary because we also have the word, father figure. (This joke plays with the word figure meaning a body shape as well as a role model.) Netflix and chill won in the most euphemistic category. This is an invitation to have a sexual encounter. Ghost was the winner in the most likely to succeed category. In this way, it is used as a verb. It means to suddenly end a relationship by cutting off communication, in person or online. Sitbit and hoverboard competed for least likely to succeed. Sitbit is a play on fitbit, a device that measures how much exercise a person does. Sitbit, instead, rewards an inactive lifestyle. Among hashtags, the nominations were: #JeSuisParis: expression of solidarity after the Paris terror attacks #LoveWins: celebration of Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage #SayHerName: call to bring attention to police violence against black women. #StayMadAbby: this makes fun of the plaintiff in a University of Texas affirmative action lawsuit #StayWoke: exhortation to remain vigilant and informed (used by #BlackLivesMatter movement) The winner in this category was #SayHerName. Sonja Lanehart, editor of the The Oxford Handbook of African American Language said this hashtag should be chosen because it is a term that criticizes violence against women. The other new category, MOST Notable Emoji, is new for 2015. The choices were: : heart eyes (romantic, passionate). : winking face (humorous, flirtatious). : information desk person (sassy, sarcastic). : eggplant (male genitalia, sexual innuendo). : 100 (keep it 100, keep it real). The winner in this category is eggplant or purple vegetable. Whats in a name? Ask Caitlyn The American Name Society chose their Names of the Year from these categories: trade names, place names, personal names, and fictional names. The winners are: Charlie Hebdo, the name of the French satirical weekly magazine that was part of a popular hashtag in support of free speech in France, #jesuischarlie. Terrorists attacked the offices of the magazine in January 2015. Iman Nick, Ph.D., is president of the American Name Society. She said the choice shows That a single name can be used as a unifying factor for a political movement. In this particular situation, it is a political movement to support freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Denali is the winner in the place name category. It is the new official name given to the Alaskan mountain that was called Mount McKinley. Denali is a Native-American name for the mountain. The three names Rey, Finn and Poe won in the fictional name category. They are three characters from the movie Star Wars. These names will probably become popular baby names, said one society member. Caitlyn Jenner won in the personal name category. The Vogue magazine cover showing transgender Jenner was titled, Call me Caitlyn. It shows the power of a person deciding to change their name, commented one member of the society. What youve seen is an individual person who has decided to define the self and doing that in ways that before would have been criminalized, Nick said. The overall name of the year for 2015 is Caitlyn Jenner. Im Jill Robbins. And I'm John Russell. Now it's your turn. What new word became popular in your country in 2015? What do you think of the choices for the English Word of the Year. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story emoji - n. a small digital image or icon used to express an idea, emotion, etc., in electronic communication suffix n. a letter or a group of letters that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning or to form a different word pictograph n. a pictorial symbol for a word or phrase. transgender adj. of or relating to people who have a sexual identity that is not clearly male or clearly female euphemism - n. a mild or pleasant word or phrase that is used instead of one that is unpleasant or offensive father figure n. an older man who is respected and admired like a father Now its your turn. What new word became popular in your country in 2015? What do you think of the choices for the English Word of the Year? Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page. At least 14 people were killed Wednesday when a bomb tore through a polio vaccination center in southwestern Pakistan. The New York Times reported that 13 of the dead were police officers at the site in Quetta. Authorities said 23 people were wounded. Area doctors told reporters that five of the wounded are in critical condition. The police officers guard the health workers at the clinic. The health staff are often targeted by Islamist militants in Pakistan, according to the New York Times. A spokesperson for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in a statement to reporters. The Pakistani Taliban is an extremist alliance of militant organizations. They are waging an insurgency against the state of Pakistan. The alliance is responsible for killing thousands of Pakistanis in recent years. A senior Pakistani police officer told reporters that the suicide bomber had at least seven kilograms of explosives strapped to his body. The bomber walked into a group of security forces and health workers, and detonated the device. The incident happened during a three-day immunization campaign to eliminate polio from Pakistan. Such immunization campaigns meet resistance. Religious groups see the anti-polio campaign as a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslims. Islamist militants suspect that the health centers are homes for espionage. At least 80 people have been killed in related immunization center attacks since 2012. Despite the attacks, 2015 saw a big drop in polio cases in Pakistan. Health officials said the country saw an 84 percent decline in polio cases last year. I'm Kathleen Struck. Ayaz Gul wrote this story for VOAnews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. What do you think about this bombing at the Polio immunization facility in Pakistan? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story polio n. a serious disease that affects the nerves of the spine and often makes a person permanently unable to move particular muscles detonate v. to explode or to cause to explode insurgency n. a usually violent attempt to take control of a government conspiracy n. the act of secretly planning to do something that is harmful or illegal sterilize v. to make someone unable to produce children Social media is part of the war in Syria. International aid trucks drove into the town of Madaya, which is held by rebels, on Monday. At the same time, supporters of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad used social media to mock starving residents. The United Nations hopes to start peace talks between Assads regime and the opposition leadership on January 25. The social media campaign shows that it might be a difficult negotiation in two weeks. The Guardian newspaper reports that residents of Madaya had to eat leaves and grass to survive. This is because Assads forces prevented aid from entering the town. A social worker in the town said the people were dying in slow motion. Assad supporters posted photos of skeletons on Twitter. They added a hashtag that approved the starvation of residents of Madaya. One television channel in Lebanon said the photos of starving residents of Madaya were not real. A portion of the Hezbollah militant group based in Syria supports Assad. They say the residents of Madaya and the opposition forces brought the starvation campaign on themselves. The food aid arrived on Monday. Workers left on Tuesday, promising to return soon with more help. One aid worker from the International Red Cross called his first impression of the town heartbreaking. The United Nations humanitarian office says up to 400 people may need to be evacuated for medical treatment. The UN says it is also concerned about 400,000 more Syrians in locations cut off by the war. Syria is not the only Middle East country where civilians are suffering. On Monday, the Islamic State terror group carried out a series of attacks that killed at least 46 civilians. Another 100 people were injured. IS militants said they were targeting Shiites. One attack killed at least 18 at a Baghdad shopping mall. In Muqdadiyah, at least 23 people were killed by a pair of suicide bombers. Later, a car bomb exploded at a market in Baghdad, killing five more. The U.S. State Department called the attacks barbaric acts of terrorism. Im Dan Friedell. This report was based on information from VOANews.com and the Guardian newspaper. Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. How do you feel about the civilians suffering in Syria and Iraq? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story mock - v. to laugh or make fun of someone resident - n. a person who lives in a place skeleton - n. the bones that support the body of a person or animal heartbreaking adj. causing great sadness, disappointment, etc. evacuate - v. to remove from a dangerous place impression n. the effect or influence that something or someone has on a person's thoughts or feelings barbaric - adj. very cruel or offensive This is Whats Trending Today... The White House is officially on Snapchat. The announcement came ahead of President Barack Obamas final State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Followers of the White House Snapchat will get a behind-the-scenes look at the final preparations before Obamas speech. The White House is also streaming the State of the Union on YouTube and, for the first time, on the Amazon website. The White House said in a blog post that the Snapchat account adds to its social media presence. The blog said it was part of the administrations strategy of "meeting people where they are" and providing Americans with a "multitude of ways to engage with their government." Snapchat has 100 million daily users. Snapchat also has an official #SOTU -- or "State of the Union" -- live story. Fellow politicians have tweeted about taking part in the live story: The White House accounts first Snapchat was a photo of the Oval Office: Over on Twitter, where the hashtag #SOTU trended worldwide ahead of the speech, one user hinted that the White House pets have already made an appearance on Snapchat: Snapchat is a mobile application that permits users to receive photos and videos that disappear after they are viewed. However, the White Houses Snapchats cannot legally disappear. Government rules require presidential administrations to keep official records. That means all White House snaps will be preserved for history. And thats Whats Trending Today. Im Ashley Thompson. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story ahead - adj. in or toward the front; before behind-the-scenes - adj. working or happening privately, without being seen by the general public stream - v. to transmit video and audio material over the Internet multitude - n. a large number hinted - v. suggested pets - n. animals keep around the house for fun or pleasure engage - v. to win and keep the attention of someone or something preserved - v. saved; protected LEXINGTON,Neb. It may not seem like it, but its been more than 10 years since the cornerstone was laid at the Lexington Public Librarys 907N. Washington location on Dec. 16, 2005. To mark the 10-year anniversary of the Lexington Public Library at its current building, the Friends of the Library hosted an open house on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. to serve cake and refreshments. A wall of poster board was filled with historical highlights of the librarys history from the Carnegie Library (located on North Washington in the former Will Weinhold law office), to the library site formerly used by the YMCA, to the current building on 907 N. Washington. Various former library staff, members of the library Board of Directors and most of the Friends of the Library attended the event. Friends of the Library are volunteers from the community who fundraise and assist the library with various events and serve as ambassadors of the library. Longtime Assistant Library Director Edna Shultz, now retired, reminisced about how the library has changed while talking to Pat Longly, a member of the librarys Board of Directors. Back in the late 1980s-early 1990s we had 200 students for summer reading we had no computer system, we just gave them books and had them read, Schultz said. The introduction and rapid mainstream use of computers has changed the feel of the library, Schultz said. There is no more paper card catalogue, no more vertical files, Longly said. Longlys mother worked as a librarian at Lexington Public Library when she attended high school. Schultz also noted that the limited amount of space in the former library building on the corner of 10th Street and Washington, had a limited amount of space for the book shelves, constantly forcing her staff to weed out unnecessary books. This is an not an issue the current library needs to deal with too much just yet, she said. Penny Knapp, who served as the president of the librarys Board of Directors when the library opened at its current location, said the library always held a special place in her heart. Ten years has gone really fast, Im just as delighted today with the library as I was when I walked through it as it was being built, Knapp said. There are so many people who worked hard to get it built. Its a highlight of my life and a beautiful facility, she said. During the planning phase of the library, Knapp said she visited anywhere from six to eight other public libraries in Nebraska to view building layouts, designs and borrow ideas she liked. Knapp noted that the library would never have been built at its current location without the strong community support through private donations. She also said she was very thankful for the support of James Doyle, district court judge, who vocally supported the project. Linda Miller, who served on the Library Board for 20 years, said the planning process for the new library 10 years ago was a long process with ups and downs. We had a fundraising campaign and raised about $50,000 in late 1980s to purchase the house just north of the old library. Initially we thought we would expand the library north, Miller said. Miller said in the late 1980s through early 1990s, library staff expected to stay at the building on the corner of Washington and 10th Street even though there were always problems with snow getting stuck in the crevices of the sloped zig-zag roof. Also, the former librarys 5,000 square feet provided a limited amount of space, she said. It took the establishment of a building committee and some new library board members to help get the planning process for the new library more organized within the community, Miller said. Public forums to solicit community members comments and insights were held, with multiple sites considered for the building of the library, Miller said. There were lots of letters to the editor. We looked at a location by Plum Creek Park. The building committee had to look at floor plans and locations, but it could not show a site and model so one bond measure failed, she said. The current site of the Lexington Public Library, on North Washington Street, formerly was taken up by two brick apartment buildings. When the site was ultimately chosen as the site for the library the buildings had fallen into disrepair and were vacant, Miller said. Miller said ultimately the site and current building was more than worth the wait and planning. Our current building has 18,000 square feet, more than three times the space of the old building. I remember speaking at the dedication ceremony. I remember saying that although some people disagreed on some things that doesnt matter now because now we have this building, Miller said. A lot of people are passionate about this building, just like a lot of people are passionate about the Y and the Fieldhouse.Lexington is a very giving community, she said. Lex library timeline Sources: Plum Creek to Lexington 1866-1939, by Russ Czaplewski and Lexington; Pieces of the Past, compiled and edited by Danny Gruber. 1886 The Reading Room began in a building on Cayuga Street (now Washington Street) where the Majestic Theater is now located. The ladies of the W.C.T.U. raised the funds and accepted donations of books. 1891 The entire library was donated to the city schools. The WestWardSchool (BryanSchool) served as somewhat of a library until it was destroyed by fire in October of 1896. 1907 Council pledged $1,000 for a Carnegie library and a library board was appointed. Support for the Carnegie Foundation did not come through at this time. 1910 A library was started in the MethodistChurch. People were asked to donate books of proper moral tone. By the end of the first year, it contained 645 volumes and 123 individuals had read more than 2,200 volumes. 1918 Building began on the Carnegie Library with the formal opening in June of 1919. 1965 Groundbreaking for the library on the corner of 10th and Washington. 1966 The new library opened on June 1, 1966 with a formal dedication on Oct. 2, 1966. 2004 October 7, a groundbreaking was held for the present library. 2005 November, moved into the current library with a dedication on Dec. 16. LEXINGTON,Neb. - Jared Woody addressed the school board about what he called a serious safety issue. Woody said bus driver Michael Hodges struck a stopped suburban at Morton Elementary on Jan. 6. The suburban was driven by Woodys domestic partner. Woody said Hodges, who was driving a bus at the time, then left the scene. Hodges said he was unaware that hed hit another vehicle, Woody reported. How could he not realize he hit a 9,000-pound suburban? Woody questioned. What if it had been a small child stepping off of that curb? He said the driver was guilty of leaving the scene of an accident and should be fired immediately. Hodges wasnt cited in the incident. Woody said he didnt understand why the Lexington Police Department didnt handle the situation accordingly. He said hes talking to the county attorneys office to have charges filed. Woody said after the meeting that $300 damage was done to the suburban. The school board did not comment on the issue. Lexington Public Schools Maintenance and Transportation Supervisor Bo Berry said police were contacted after the incident and the matter addressed with the driver. Hodges has been a driver with LPS for one year,Berry said. Lexington Police Chief Tracy Wolf said that officers responded and took the initial report. Wolf said it appeared as though the sidewall of the buss tire may have hit a small area on the front of the suburban as the suburban was parked in a yellow zone, and there was minimal damage to the suburban. The accident report listed the amount of damage as below $200, Wolf said. Wolf added he is certain Hodges was not aware that he hit anything. To be leaving the scene of an accident, there has to be intent, Wolf said. If you dont know you hit something, there isnt any intent. - This story was amended to reflect the driver's claim that they were not parked in a yellow zone, but rather stopped, waiting to park. This website is inclusive of tolerant people of all faiths, without exception. Neither anti-Semitism nor Islamophobia nor homophobia should ever be acceptable to anyone. We must all strive to live in peace and harmony with each other, regardless of religious affiliations, or none. Intolerance is the mother of strife and conflict. Mark Alexander We Britons are Europeans!Wir Briten sind Europaer! Nous, les Britanniques, sommes europeens ! Mark AlexanderEmail me at:markalexander.librabunda@gmail.com Motorolas 2014 Moto X smartphone may not be cutting edge anymore, but the 5.2 inch full HD smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 802.11ac WiFi is still a pretty usable device. And if you have a carrier unlocked model, Motorola has been rolling out Android 6.0 updates for the phone. But if you bought your phone through a wireless carrier, you might be stuck on an older version of Android. Now Motorola is giving Verizon customers a way to take matters into their own hands: you can now request a code that will let you unlock the bootloader on the Verizon 2014 Moto X. This will void your warranty, but it will also let you load third-party firmware including custom ROMs based on Android 6.0. You should keep in mind that unlocking your bootloader will wipe all data from you device, so make sure to backup anything important before you get started. Looking for custom firmware that will run on this model? The xda-developers forum is here to help. Note that the code-name for the 2014 Moto X is Victara and the model number for the Verizon version is XT1096. Motorola will not send you an unlock code if you have an AT&T model at least not yet. via Android Central Blog Archive April (1) March (27) February (28) January (29) December (31) November (28) October (25) September (30) August (28) July (28) June (29) May (29) April (26) March (29) February (27) January (30) December (31) November (20) October (24) September (28) August (29) July (26) June (27) May (31) April (26) March (21) February (23) January (28) December (30) November (29) October (25) September (29) August (28) July (30) June (27) May (29) April (26) March (27) February (27) January (28) December (26) November (25) October (25) September (23) August (22) July (27) June (21) May (24) April (21) March (26) February (25) January (28) December (24) November (28) October (19) September (23) August (29) July (25) June (27) May (23) April (25) March (27) February (25) January (31) December (14) November (22) October (25) September (25) August (23) July (25) June (21) May (24) April (23) March (26) February (21) January (29) December (31) November (25) October (24) September (27) August (25) July (16) June (17) May (25) April (25) March (23) February (24) January (28) December (19) November (24) October (21) September (23) August (21) July (12) June (15) May (22) April (22) March (28) February (29) January (24) December (28) November (16) October (27) September (19) August (22) July (31) June (27) May (16) April (18) March (16) February (19) January (27) December (25) November (30) October (27) September (24) August (31) July (23) June (23) May (20) April (29) March (29) February (27) January (29) December (29) November (21) October (29) September (31) August (21) July (31) June (30) May (27) April (29) March (31) February (28) January (32) December (30) November (30) October (30) September (30) August (31) July (32) June (30) May (31) April (29) March (32) February (29) January (31) December (9) New Delhi: Banks and financial institutions today pitched for increasing tax deduction limit to Rs 2.5 lakh from currently Rs 1.50 lakh under 80C of Income Tax Act and bringing down maturity period for tax-free fixed deposit schemes to one year to promote domestic savings. During their pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, they also demanded tax should be deducted on interest of above Rs 50,000 as against current Rs 10,000. In his opening remarks, Jaitley said there was considerable improvement in the opening of Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSDAs) in 2015-16 following launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). He also said the setting-up and structure of Bank Board Bureau will help in performance Public Sector Banks. After the meeting, HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri said certain tax specific suggestions were made so as to encourage domestic savings. "One major point that came out of the meeting was the overall savings in our country needs to be increased much further through a series of actions that needs to be taken so that we have domestic savings to create capital formation," Yes Bank Managing Director Rana Kapoor said. Suggestion regarding enhancing limit to Rs 2.5 lakh or Rs 3 lakh under section 80C were made, Kapoor said, adding it was proposed to bring down lock-in period on tax free fixed deposits to one year from 5 years so that more depositors come into the system. According to Finance Industry Development Council Chairman Raman Aggarwal from banking perspective there was unanimous demand to increase 80C limit from the current level of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2-2.5 lakh. It was also discussed putting affordable housing in priority sector with infra status. Puri also said the key issues were how to address growth and how to address the fact that given the reduction in nominal GDP there is a reduction in tax collection. "Everybody was of consensus that public expenditure is necessary and if that is necessary then a balance will have to be done between fiscal deficit and expenditure and may be it has to be delayed," Puri said. Government has taken various steps to boost public investment through scheme like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana to boost the overall rural economy. GST will see the light of the day and the Bankruptcy Bill will also turn out to be a game changer for spurring economic activity and confidence, Kapoor added. PTI In the first year of implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) norms prescribed under section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, the concerned companies, according to Institutional Investors Advisory Services (IIAS), spent Rs 5,240 crore on CSR activities. IIAS points out that this amount fell short by 26% the CSR spend such companies ought to have made---2% of the last three years profits. Yet the amount constituted a 75% increase vis-a-vis 2013-14. This is not an inconsistency given the magnifying effect of the base year or first year in a statistical analysis. Nor are the companies not complying with the mandate fully or partially going to be hauled over coals because all that a partially or fully delinquent company has to do is to set out reasons in its directors report for non-compliance in the manner of disclosure erasing guilt. In view of this large heartedness on the part of the Parliament, a delinquent company need not apprehend any penalty. In a way therefore CSR is voluntary even for the specified companies (net worth Rs 500 crore or turnover Rs 1,000 crore or profit Rs 5 crore). Sachin Pilot the then Minister of Corporate Affairs was thus going overboard and exaggerating when he claimed without batting an eyelid that India was first to make CSR mandatory. There is a view, seemingly cynical, that the bulk of the CSR spend in 2014-15 was on areas dear and convenient to individual companies despite the solemn warning by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs that a company shouldnt be making a virtue of necessity. To wit, the TVS group, famous as much for its kosher (used in a broad sense) kitchens as for its products cannot explain away its food expenses as CSR activity unless outsiders, may be in the locality, were also fed and the group kept separate account of such altruism. Of course, such a fussy accounting, so to speak, strictly isnt necessary given the fact that at the end of the day no penalty stares a delinquent company in its face. Be that as it may. The exhortation contained in section 135 that first a company must reach out to its neighborhood has made life that much easier for the corporates which in their own enlightened self-interest keep their surrounds, be they at their factories or headquarters, spick and span including by constructing public toilets, construct roads and schools. The Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had in his earlier stint as chief minister in the year 2010 made bold to abolish MLAs local area development fund that then entitled each MLA to Rs 1 crore per annum to invest on a project close to his heart in the constituency he was voted from on the ground that the primary duty of an MLA was to legislate. He also made no secret of his objection to MLAs dalliance with projects on the ground that often tantalized them into corruption and swindling. One believes that should he become Indias Prime Minister or Minister of Corporate Affairs he would not only abolish MPs local area development fund which presently stands at a whopping Rs 5 crore per year but also scrap section 135 on the ground that the business of a business is business. That must be his worldview of local area development. If MLAs shouldnt dabble in it, so mustnt corporates. It is one thing for an individual to have a conscience and worry about his social responsibility but quite another for a company with no body to be kicked and no soul to be damned to agonize over its social responsibilities. In the USA that is why individual social responsibility as opposed to CSR has been a fad. It is Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who do extensive philanthropy from their personal wealth rather than the companies Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft respectively they have promoted. Companies would have behaved like a good corporate citizen by eschewing racism, treating women as equal, paying their taxes fairly and reducing pollution to the bare minimum. Poverty alleviation, fighting hunger, education etc. finding mention in schedule 7 of the Companies Act by way of examples of CSR are best reserved for and addressed by government holistically. An MLA/MP/company can build a toilet with pipeline and tap for water supply as well as halogen bulb outside and a CFL bulb inside but only the local government can ensure continuous supply of water for flush out and electricity for nocturnal use. Shilpa Shetty Kundras foray into the mobile space with Viaan mobile phones will hit the market in a couple of weeks and will be exclusively showcased on ShopClues. The company, an online marketplace dedicated to the middle class, which raised around $100 million in the latest round and entered the coveted Unicorn club, has had a few leading brands that make products exclusively for Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns to be sold on the platform. The capital raised will be used to focus on building and rolling out new products to enable the SME (small and medium enterprises) merchants to digitize their business and to further entrench itself as the e-commerce operating system on the cloud. The company said it is not profitable yet, but looking at becoming profitable in the first half of 2017. We are the only e-commerce player who has worked on scale and profitability. Though right now 10 percent product are developed exclusively for Shop Clues. By end of 2016, we expect 15-20 percent orders to be made exclusively for our platform, said Radhika Aggarwal, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer. In October 2011, the Gurgaon-based company was founded Sandeep Aggarwal, Radhika Aggarwal, Sanjay Sethi, Mrinal Chatterjee and Devesh Rai who lived in the US then. The idea took shape in Sandeep Aggarwals mind on a trip to India when he noticed that the consumer interactions on the internet did not mirror with what was happening offline. Aggarwal is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and renowned wall-street analyst who bootstrapped the company with his own funds and angel money that he raised from his friends and family till he first received institutional funding to the tune of $4 million in January 2012. The idea enthused his wife Radhika, who was working in the retail sector, and their friends too, who then moved to India with family and set up home in Delhi. Most of the co-founders have left ShopClues. Sanjay Sethi, co-founder, is the CEO and Radhika is the Chief Business Officer. ShopClues GMV has grown over 4 times since January 2015, and the business is shipping out over 3.5 million items on a monthly basis, attracting a traffic of more than 100 million visits a month.The company sells 3.5 million products on a monthly basis. Our customers are not brand-driven but value-driven. We are in the price point play, says Aggarwal. She added, You may get an iPhone at a cheap price on Shopclues but that is not the market we are catering to. Our focus is the mass market in India. We are very close to Walmart in the US. Aggarwal claims that their target audience are those who will go to the local kirana to shop for their daily requirements and trudge to the mall once a month or so. We wanted to be a horizontal player. We have 350,000 SMEs on our site which we expect to go up to 700,000 by end of 2016. The biggest change, says Aggarwal, was when the company was planning to raise funds. "Earlier, we would be asked questions that tried to understand if the money to be raised would be burnt. However, now we feel that ShopClues is understood as a frugal company with capital efficiency in the ecosystem. This is reflected in our investors who want to know about profitability. That is a huge change in perception that we have built over the years," says Aggarwal. Around 60 percent of the companys orders come for Home and Kitchen; and Fashion categories. The average selling price on the platform is Rs 1,100. The largest sold item on the platform are screwdriver sets at Rs 99 and onion and garlic chopper. The company has sold a million units of the chopper in the last two months, says Aggarwal. By Mahesh Bhalla Over the years I have met scores of people looking to do their own start-up. Almost without exception, these have been well meaning youngsters, passionate about their idea. And over time, I watched a number of them make the same mistaken assumptions. I am capturing here the top 9 questions that I believe would be of relevance to anyone looking to venture out on their own: 1. Have you discussed your idea with lots of relevant people? Not surprisingly, I find that a number of would-be entrepreneurs are very cagey about discussing their idea and garnering feedback, for fear of plagiarism. Today, everyone has dozens of ideas, and every would-be entrepreneur is too busy pursuing their own venture, to be copying someone elses. Bouncing your idea off of many people is a great way to check on your assumptions and plug gaps in the business plan. 2. Do you have the right team? Team is probably the Number One reason for a start-up to get funded. Or not. Make sure that you have a set of co-founders who have complementary skills, and the right chemistry between themselves. 3. Is the idea scalable? Investors are keen to know How big can this animal get? Scalability is key to getting support for your idea. Frankly, if with the idea you are hoping to turn out a profit of only a couple of lacs, then I would rather pass your idea by. 4. Is it unique? Is your idea differentiated enough or are you a me-too? Ideas that are me-too, or easily replicable due to low entry barriers may not get support. No, but no thank you, India does not need another e-commerce site. Or food delivery app. Or laundry. 5. Whats your go-to-market strategy? Products dont sell by themselves. You need to have a detailed plan for reaching out to your customers. It is a myth that great products sell themselves. The road to perdition is littered with the carcasses of great products that no one ever heard of. 6. How are you planning to use the funds that you raise? There are kosher fund uses, like building or refining the product, or investing in a sales team, or developing the go-to-the-market strategy. Asking for crores to spend solely on marketing will be met with a dose of healthy skepticism. And money required exclusively to pay salaries to the founders, will pretty much be realized only in their dreams. 7. Who will vouch for you? People prefer to be associated with persons having a positive reputation. Or even a neutral one. They will actively avoid controversial people. Do make sure that you have a set of references that provide credibility. These could be your erstwhile employers, managers or even professors from college. 8. Whats your Plan B? Most start-ups fail due to a gap in the cash bridge - an inability to raise the next round. Make sure that you have planned for contingencies, well out into the future. 9. Whats the real world problem you are trying to solve? Is your idea going to make peoples life easier and give them back some time? Is it going to make an existing system faster, cheaper and generally more efficient? Or, are you trying to make a differentiated-and-never-before recipe of papdi chaat, which is cute, but doesnt really impact peoples lives. Authors caveat: These are based upon my personal experiences. This list is by no means authoritative, and does not apply in all scenarios. It is meant to serve as an indicative check-list for planning, as one goes about planning the funding pitch. The author is president of Qwikcilver Solutions. He is an angel investor and actively involved in the start-up space. ISLAMABAD Pakistan has arrested the head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group on suspicion his outfit masterminded an attack this month on an air base in Pathankot, two officials said on Wednesday. Maulana Masood Azhar, an Islamist hardliner who was blamed for a 2001 attack on India's parliament, was detained two days ago along with his brother and brother-in-law and will remain in protective custody for at least 30 days, a senior intelligence official told Reuters. Pakistan said earlier in the day that it had arrested several members of Azhar's group and sealed off its offices as it investigates Indian assertions that the Jan. 2 attack, in which seven military personnel were killed, was the work of the Pakistan-based militants. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan - longtime, nuclear-armed arch-rivals on the Indian subcontinent - are set to hold a rare, previously scheduled meeting on Friday, part of a budding diplomatic thaw after decades of hostility. But India has demanded Pakistan take "prompt and decisive" action over the Jan. 2 air base attack before the meeting goes ahead. "We will keep them (Azhar and brothers) for as long as we need to carry out our investigation over India's claims about the attack. We are resolved to take this investigation to its conclusion," the senior intelligence official said. A senior government official close to the investigation said that Azhar, who has been placed under house arrest in the past but never prosecuted, would be prosecuted this time if evidence connected him to the attack on the Pathankot air base. On Wednesday, Pakistan took the unusual step of announcing a high-level team to investigate the incident, naming some of the country's top counter-terrorism officers and officials from both military and civilian intelligence. India's foreign ministry had no immediate comment, but said earlier it would decide late on Wednesday whether Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar would travel to Islamabad on Friday for the meeting. Islamabad, which India has long accused of backing Islamist militant attacks, promised to get to the bottom of who was behind the assault on the air base after India handed evidence to Pakistan that it said implicated Jaish-e-Mohammad. The Pakistani prime minister's office said the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack, and it wanted to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot air base. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, have been apprehended," the office of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said. "The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are under way." Jaish-e-Mohammad (Army of Mohammad) has long fought Indian forces in India's part of the disputed region of Kashmir. It is blamed for the 2001 assault on India's parliament that brought the two countries to the brink of war. India also holds Pakistan-based militants responsible for the 2008 Mumbai shooting attacks that left 166 dead. But a surprise Dec. 25 visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet Sharif raised hope that stop-and-start talks between the bitter rivals might finally yield progress. (Additional reporting by Syed Raza Hassan in Karachi and Douglas Busvine in New Delhi; Editing by Mark Heinrich) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi grilled "crusader" Prashant Bhushan on the credentials of his Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which has challenged the allocation of 4G spectrum to Reliance Industries Ltd's Jio on the ground that it was given at cheaper rate for internet use and was later converted into voice telephony. The bench questioned Bhushan on whether his laundry list of PILs can be allowed to take the "system for a ride". "Prashant Bhushan, you have an image of a crusader. But can you become the centre for public interest litigation? Can the system be taken for a ride in such a manner? We cannot allow this. We must be satisfied that you have a committee which scrutinizes the complaints and allows only genuine ones to be converted into public interest litigations," the Bench told Bhushan. "Has this matter (Jio telecom) been examined by the committee? We must have the confidence that when CPIL files a petition, it is not prompted by someone who has a vested interest even though the cause may appear genuine. If a corporate rival gives documents for filing of a PIL, will you do it? Why would that corporate source not come out in the open and pursue the litigation in its own name? Why should CPIL be a front for settling corporate rivalry or personal vendetta? CPIL should not become proxy litigant. It should not become an instrument in the hands of commercial players," the Bench told Bhushan. Responding to a tidal wave of questions, Bhushan said CPIL was set up by ex-SC judge V M Tarkunde in the late 1980s when the concept of public interest, similar to the class action suit in the US, was taking root in India. Bhushan said a committee comprising senior counsel Fali Nariman, Anil Divan, Kamini Jaiswal, Shanti Bhushan and himself scrutinizes any PIL before it is filed, report Bar and Bench and Daily Mail. "We gave PIL, you created Centre for Public Interest Litigation. Now we must move to next stage of credibility. A lot of (court's) time goes into it (hearing the PILs). How much hours of court's time goes into it. There must be an inbuilt mechanism," the bench of Chief Justice T.S.Thakur, Justice A.K.Sikri and Justice R. Banumathi told Prashant Bhushan. Chief Justice Thakur asked Bhushan: "Why should we hear PILs filed by CPIL. You are a professional litigant. Can you become a 'centre' for PIL. Can anyone walk into your office and tell you 'I want to file a PIL'." Bhushan said his NGO was now operating from his office though its founder members were Fali S Nariman, Shanti Bhushan, Rajinder Sachar and Anil Divan. Bhushan said the committee has authorized advocate Kamini Jaiswal to file public interest litigation on behalf of the NGO. So is it just Kamini Jaiswal and you sitting in your chambers and deciding. Our impression is that you have no mechanism to verify the credibility of your information, asked Justice Thakur. Reporting on this hearing, Bar and Bench quotes Justice Thakur saying that whenever a PIL is filed by CPIL, the court should have the confidence that the same is not at the instance of a party which is trying to settle a score. So are Your Lordships suggesting that we should have a research wing?, asked Bhushan, reports Bar and Bench. You should have an investigative wing. It will help you and us, said Justice Thakur. Thakur said that when a petition is filed by CPIL, the court usually considers it seriously while the same petition might be treated indifferently if filed by a party with commercial interests. When you come to us, we take you seriously. But when a commercial competitor comes to us, we might not. This competitor knows this and might send a proxy to you with documents and information which you otherwise dont have access to. You have to establish a credible mechanism to justify that a particular case is fit to he agitated, said Justice Thakur. Bhushan said that Whenever a commercially interested person comes to us, we look at the information given by him with great suspicion. It is only after the Committee scrutinises the information and is satisfied that aside from the commercial of interest of the informant, there is public interest involved that we decide whether to file a case or not. "If these five eminent persons file an affidavit saying they have examined the contents of the PIL filed by CPIL, then the courts will not waste its time examining the maintainability of the public interest litigation," the Bench said, reports The Times of India. "The eminent persons who are promoting CPIL must file affidavits saying they are satisfied with the issue. We will entertain only those PILs which are accompanied by such affidavits," the Bench said. Bar and Bench reports that there were also questions about the funding of CPIL, to which Bhushan replied that there is hardly any funding and most of the work is pro bono. The hearing in the case continued for the whole day and the court reserved its verdict. With IANS and PTI inputs (Disclosure: Firstpost is part of Network18 Media & Investment Limited which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited.) A Mumbai police officer has received a letter, reportedly from the terrorist group Islamic State, where a Pune ATS officer ACP Bhanupratap Barge and his family have been threatened of death. Barge has been associated with several terror probes in the past, including the de-radicalisation of a 16-year-old Muslim girl from Pune who was in touch with the IS, reports DNA. CNN-IBN reported that the authorities received the letter around two weeks ago and have initiated a probe. According to the ATS, the girl got attracted to the IS ideology after watching a documentary on television and subsequently following related news on Al Jazeera channel, reports Zee. Later, she used the Internet to get in touch with ISIS contacts and got in touch with about 200 young people from different countries. An interrogation of her revealed that she was told to come to Syria for medical education and for further initiation, Barge had said, reports the Hindustan Times. One of two Italian marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala almost four years ago will not be returning to India to face trial after being allowed home temporarily for medical treatment, a senator said on Tuesday. India had granted Massimiliano Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. It was not clear when or if Latorre would return to India. The second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, is being held in the Italian embassy in New Delhi. "Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone's return is being explored," said Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee, according to Italian media. Latorre did not provide details and did not immediately respond to calls. When contacted, the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry did not confirm or deny Latorre's comments. The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. In August 2014, by 15 votes to six, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) chaired by its president Vladimir Golitsyn, had ruled in the Enrica Lexie case that, Italy and India shall both suspend all court proceedings and shall refrain from initiating new ones which might aggravate or extend the dispute submitted to the Annex VII arbitral tribunal. It had further instructed both countries to report to the tribunal by 24 September on their compliance with the ruling. Italy and India have been at loggerheads over who has jurisdiction over the case, and Italy has sought international arbitration. The latest statement by the Italian senator is just going to make matters worse for both the nations. India had sought to prove that the killing of two Indian fishermen Valentine Jelastine and Ajeesh Pink off the coast of Kerala on 15 February, 2012 by the two Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone was infact a double murder at sea, in which one fisherman was shot in the head and the other in the stomach. Meanwhile, Italy has always maintained that they were killed as part of anti-piracy operations and that the case was covered by Article 97 (pertaining to collision or any other incident of navigation concerning a ship on the high seas) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The fallout from India's arrest of the marines has damaged wider relations between Italy and India, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. In 2013, Italy reversed an initial decision not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit, in a bid to tone down the diplomatic row. With inputs from agencies Pakistan has arrested 12 Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives for their alleged involvement in the Pathankot terror attack, following Indias demand that the Nawaz Sharif government take action against the terrorists, reports Daily Pakistan. The police has also traced and sealed the offices of the JeM in Bahwalnagar, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzafargarh. The arrests were made after receiving information from India and the government is planning to send a special investigative team to Pathankot in order to probe the tragedy and gather more information they require to carry forward cooperation, reports CNN-IBN. Sources told NDTV that Pakistan conducted raids in Gujranwala and Jhelum regions, and questioned the family of one of the Jaish leaders. During the intervening night of 1 and 2 January, terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Pakistan via the Indo-Pak border, attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot. They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for around three days in which seven security personnel were killed. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has recently said there are indications that some of the materials used by the terrorists were made in Pakistan. Top government sources told PTI that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is understood to have spoken to his Pakistani counterpart ex-General Nasser Khan Janjua and shared all relevant evidence, including voice data. However, Alok Bansal, director, Centre for Security and Strategy, India Foundation, had earlier observed, Though a section has claimed so, its not clear whether JeM is involved in Pathankot attack or not. If it is involved itll be better for the Indian government to pressure Pakistan government, as JeM and Masood Azhar have distanced themselves from Pakistani establishment. Even Pakistan government may take a strong step against it, and apprehend a few JeM members. With inputs from PTI New Delhi: Continuing with its probe in the audacious terror strike on Pathankot air base, NIA today recovered a Chinese-make wireless set from the vehicle of senior Punjab police officer which was hijacked by terrorists before abandoning it a kilometre away from the IAF facility. A Home Ministry spokesman said a NIA team found the wireless set in the car in which the terrorists travelled to the Air Force case on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. The spokesperson said that the data in the wireless set had been deleted and the equipment was sent to CFSL Chandigarh for a joint examination with experts from National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) for retrieving the deleted data. This wireless set is similar to one recovered from the site of attack in Sambha on March 20 last year, the spokesperson said in a statement. The NIA teams, after establishing route taken by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists from the point where Superintendent of Police-rank officer Salwinder Singhs car was hijacked to the IAF base, were looking for clues with the help of local villagers. NIA teams are collecting CCTV footage on the route taken by terrorists to Air Force Base, the spokesperson said. NIA teams with Punjab police and local villagers are carrying out searches in the nearby villages on the route taken by the terrorists for evidence left behind by terrorists like clothes, electronic devices, the spokesperson said. In the meantime, questioning of Singh, who is posted as Assistant Commandant in the 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police after being shunted as SP (Headquarters) of Gurdaspur continued for the third day today. Singh was questioned for the third consecutive day today. His cook Madan Gopal and Baba of the Mazaar are being summoned to NIA headquarters here tomorrow for examination, thespokesperson said. The questioning is continuing to ascertain various facts related to the case, official sources said, adding that Singh is allegedly changing statements quite often. Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists who attacked the Air Force base hours later may be confronted with the SP and Gopal. Somrajs statement that Singh had come to the shrine for the first time before the attack and that his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and Gopal had visited the dargah twice the same day had raised eyebrows as the police officer had earlier claimed he was a regular visitor to the place. The shrine is located a few kilometres from Bamiyal, the village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated into India before mounting the attack. Terrorists attacked the Pathankot IAF base during the intervening night of January 1 and 2 and managed to kill seven security personnel including a Lt Col of elite NSG. So far only four bodies of terrorists have been recovered after an 80-hour-long gun battle. PTI Pakistan has detained Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), reports its top news channel Geo News. Many JeM operatives were part of the United Jihad Council which claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base on 1 January. Officials have also reportedly detained Azhar's brother Rauf. Azhars detainment comes on the heels of the arrest of 12 JeM members earlier on Wednesday after Pakistani security forces conducted raids in multiple locations across the country. The arrests were made after receiving information from India and the government is planning to send a special investigation team to Pathankot in order to probe the tragedy and gather more information they require to carry forward cooperation, reports CNN-IBN. Sources told NDTV that Pakistan conducted raids in Gujranwala and Jhelum regions, and questioned the family of one of the Jaish leaders. However, there is no official confirmation yet on Azhar's detention, MEA sources told CNN-IBN. During the intervening night of 1 and 2 January, terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Pakistan via the Indo-Pak border, attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot. They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed. Azhar is also one of the three terrorists whom India released after terrorists hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu to Delhi on 24 December 1999. With inputs from agencies New Delhi: Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who played a key role in the 1971 war which broke up Pakistan and created Bangladesh, died in New Delhi on Wednesday, a hospital said. The 93-year-old passed away around 8.30 am at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) due to pneumonia, a hospital official said. He had been admitted on 1 January. Born in the Bengal Presidency under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978. Jacob was the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to Pakistan's eastern wing seceding and becoming an independent Bangladesh. Jacob also served as the governor of Goa and Punjab. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences at the veteran's passing. RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 13, 2016 Lt Gen JFR Jacob & I interacted often. Had a memorable interaction when he presented his autobiography to me. pic.twitter.com/h32apAvBrm Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 13, 2016 Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu also tweeted his condolences: Gen Jacob,decorated war veteran,true patriot,very good human being.Sad to know his passing away.We were good https://t.co/ggtXo0MYQw. Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) January 13, 2016 In her condolence message, Congress President Sonia Gandhi hailed Jacob as a "brave son of India". "The country stands proud of his life, work and service to the nation as a soldier and patriot," she said. "A brave son of India, his role in the Bangladesh liberation war has a special place in the war history of the world," she added. With inputs from PTI and IANS New Delhi: Silence can "embolden" criminals and it is therefore important for public figures and private individuals to speak out "pro actively" against hatred, a senior US official on Wednesday said, referring to the Dadri lynching case. Delivering a lecture on 'Democratic Values and Violent Extremism' at Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi, Sarah B Sewall, US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights talked about the need to end "stifling regulation" on civil society. "Ensuring freedom calls for most than just enforcing laws. It means pro actively speaking out---as both public officials and private citizens. Silence can embolden the criminal and cruel---as in the lynching of a Muslim man last September, or the burning of churches in Odisha," she said. Sewall's comments assume significance at the backdrop of the criticism faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "silence" on the Dadri lynching episode, wherein a 50-year-old man was lynched to death by a 200-strong mob over beef eating rumours in Uttar Pradesh. The official cautioned the leaders from falling into the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling and or discrimination against one religion. "Our own experiences remind us that no religious or political ideology is immune to violent extremism, from the history of White supremacists in the US to Maoist extremists here in India. "Learning from the past we must avoid the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling, and discrimination against any religious or ethic group--including our Muslim bothers and sisters. That defies not only our deepest values, but strengthen the lies that the group like ISIS profess that democracies are somehow incompatible with Islam," she said. Against the backdrop of Centre's crack down on some NGOs like the GreenPeace, Sewall noted that allowing citizen groups to peacefully speak around sensitive topics, can help in dealing with violent extremists in the society. She said the civil society and citizens can also go a step further in building ties with communities targeted by violent extremists for recruitment. "Governments can give the civil players a real seat at the table in policy development and ensure they have access to the resources and information they need to fully contribute. Interestingly, the US official came out in support of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for "praising" Indian Muslims for their fight against extremism and said the world was looking for this type of action from leadership. Sewall suggested that the government can train religious leaders to use new communication platforms to curb extremism. PTI Suspended for two long years and forced to run from pillar-to-post for relief, Tamil Nadu cadre Indian Forest Services officer Sampat Lal Gupta has finally been vindicated. In a letter dated 29 December, 2015, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has informed the state government of Tamil Nadu that "the Central Review Committee... recommended revocation of his suspension". The letter goes on to request the Tamil Nadu government to "revoke the suspension of Shri Sampat Lal Gupta, IFS, TN:97, with immediate effect and adhere to the extant rules/guidelines and complete all the disciplinary proceedings initiated/pending against him within prescribed time limit." But close to two weeks have gone by, with the Tamil Nadu government yet to follow the Centre's directions. Gupta though relieved says that the battle is not over yet. "This is a belated and partial justice given to me," he said. "It is not complete justice. My fight for complete justice will continue." Gupta was suspended by the Tamil Nadu government on 31 December, 2014 when he was District Forest Officer (DFO) in Vellore. His suspension came a few months after he took action against errant forest department officials allegedly in cahoots with the red sanders smuggling mafia. Around June 2013, Gupta returned from an official trip to Delhi to find that four acres of forest land containing red sanders had been completely cleared. Red sanders are an endangered species and it is illegal to fell them. Gupta launched an investigation into the violation and alleges that his harassment began when he gathered evidence to prove collusion of junior and senior government officials. His representations to government show that he did not receive his salary for six months following the crackdown the state government appears to have blamed it on an administrative fault. His suspension order borders on the bizarre flimsy charges such as him being late by 15 minutes for a meeting, for not being 'courteous' to juniors and seniors, and not giving log book and diaries to the department for three months. Firstpost has in its possession, documents showing the reports made by Gupta to the Principal Secretary of Environment and Forests in the state government. In that he claims that the suspension order against him was "deliberately precipitated and engineered, with the help of corrupt government staff and corrupt forest contractors... who not only connived with the smugglers of red sanders, but also helped the encroachers in grabbing government land." The report goes on to state that "no action was taken by the CF (Conservator of Forests), Vellore and the PCCF, Tamil Nadu, to curb such dangerous and illegal activities, even after submission of my written reports." "I have been kept on suspension for two years for doing my duty towards the nation and towards Tamil Nadu," said Gupta. Less than two weeks after his suspension order arrived, Gupta, who was posted in Chennai while on suspension, received a frantic call from his wife who was in Vellore. Gupta alleges that a posse of forest department officials along with police had arrived to "raid" his residence in Vellore. When his wife asked them for a search warrant, the group left without showing her one. The principal secretary in the state forest department could not be reached for comment, despite calls and messages. No probe has been ordered into the allegations mentioned in Gupta's report either by the state government. The spotlight turned on red sanders smuggling in April 2015 following the encounter deaths of 20 men from Tamil Nadu for alleged red sanders smuggling in the forests of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. The forests bordering Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are rich in red sanders trees, endangered species with a ban on their felling. While locally red sanders does not fetch a good price, internationally the wood is in much demand as it is a key ingredient used in cosmetics, medicines and is prized for its hardiness when made into furniture. The wood sells for up to Rs 80 lakh per tonne in some Asian countries, while it fetches only a quarter of the amount within India. In 2013-14 alone, 42.32 tonnes of red sanders were seized by customs department officials in Tamil Nadu. In 2006, Gupta was transferred abruptly from Sathyamangalam in Erode district in Tamil Nadu, within just eight months of a crackdown on sandalwood smugglers. Gupta had, at the time, arrested 15 persons including personnel of the Special Task Force, who are meant to protect the forests but helped smugglers instead. Gupta paid the price for cracking down on the sandalwood smuggler-politician nexus. Will the Tamil Nadu government, at least now, order a probe into red sanders smuggling in the state? An enquiry is likely to reveal an intricate web of corruption and collusion, with the red sanders mafia functioning boldly with the blessings of officials and politicians alike. Who will bell that particular cat, is the million dollar question. The author tweets @sandhyaravishan The Wednesday morning blast near the Indian mission in Jalalabad, Afghanistan is being referred to by officials as a suicide attack. Worryingly, it took place only 200 metres from the mission building, reports NDTV. This is the third attack on an Indian consulate in Afghanistan in 10 days. Local Afghan officials told AFP that they are investigating the incident. Times Now reports that four Afghan policemen were killed but all everyone in the Indian consulate are safe. According to Hindustan Times, the blast actually occurred at the Pakistani mission which is close to the Indian mission. The suicide attacker was trying to join a queue to get a visa to Pakistan, but when he was not allowed to enter the building, he blew himself up. The Pakistani consulate has now been sealed off. Incidentally, on 5 January, an explosion took place 400 metres away from the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad after explosives were placed in a garbage can. While a police spokesman said investigators were trying to determine the target, Indian officials claimed that the Indian mission was not the target. "The Indian Consulate was not the target," a source told PTI, adding, Pakistan Consul General's house in Jalalabad was closer to the blast site than the Indian mission which was 400 metres away." Indian officials in Afghanistan are concerned after the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif was attacked in a 25-hour gun and bomb siege from 3 to 4 January. Three armed assailants were killed after they mounted an attack on the diplomatic mission from a nearby building. Meanwhile, Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, told Tolo News on Tuesday that the attackers involved in the Mazar-i-Sharif siege were Pakistani military officers. "We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 percent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation," Sadat reportedly said. Sadat said the attackers officers from across the border were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege. "The attackers were military personnel. They were educated and well prepared and had intelligence. They fought us and only by Allah's grace were we able to control them and eliminate them," Sadat was quoted as saying by Tolo News. The police official said efforts were underway to track down, identify and detain those who assisted the attackers to gain access to the building that was opposite the Indian Consulate. "We are jointly working with the NDS director and have spoken about this especially as they came here not able to speak in Dari or Pashtu but speaking in Urdu. It means obviously there is someone who guided those attackers and helped the attackers," Sadat said. With inputs from AFP and PTI Kerala has been in the news cycle for the last few days for many things. From Supreme Court asking about why women could not be allowed in the Sabarimala temple (and the opinion was divided across the state) to news the emerging that Kerala is set to achieve 100 percent primary education (we all know Kerala is leads the way in literacy numbers). In November last year, Kerala had announced a transgender policy the first state to do so in India. According to NDTV, the policy hopes to give 25,000 transgender people in the state a platform to be able to demand a right to "equality, dignity, development and expression". More recently, adhering to the tenets of the policy, Kerala on Wednesday, announced that there would be a justice board set up to exclusively for the transgender community a move that is aimed at ensuring justice for the community. MK Muneer, Minister for Social Welfare was quoted by the network, "We hope this policy will help us in getting transgenders formal education, employment and more. In Kerala, most of them are seen begging and or being forced into the sex market." Kerala government also hopes to introduce "seperate gender columns for transgender people in all government forms for jobs, as their next step." According to a report on Hindustan Times, the board is a "first-of-its-kind", and is a part of the state's transgender policy. The board will exclusively hear transgenders and their experiences and bring them into the mainstream. The board will also provide free legal aid to transgenders in cases of discrimination and violence against them. We're hoping that other states take a cue! New Delhi: Apparently not willing to antagonize West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the centre will not send any official team to West Bengal, as demanded by BJP, as of now to probe the violence in Malda. A decision has been taken by the central government not to send any team of officials to West Bengal to study the violence in Malda where protesters had set fire to a police station and damaged several vehicles, leading to tension in the area. "As of now, no central team will visit. Since law and order is a state subject, let the West Bengal government handle the situation," a Home Ministry official said. A three-member BJP delegation had on Tuesday met home minister Rajnath Singh and demanded a high-level probe into the Malda violence, alleging it had links with fake currency and narcotics trade and infiltration. Accusing the Trinamool Congress government of protecting criminals involved in the incident of "anarchy and terror", the BJP team led by general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is also the in-charge of party's West Bengal unit, had met Singh, who "assured" them of appropriate action. "Leaders linked with TMC were also involved in it. It is not only a matter of state but that of national security. People who do illegal activities there were leading it," Vijayvargiya had said. He alleged that 'pro-Pakistan' slogans were raised by the crowd which also targeted establishments of a particular community. Tension gripped West Bengal's Malda district on Sunday after a mob torched the entire police station and several vehicles during a protest rally. PTI By N R Mohanty Even in the heydays of the Left Front, Malda, the border district adjoining Bangladesh, remained the political fiefdom of ABA Ghani Khan Chaudhury, a veteran Congress leader. For 13 years, he was a Congress MLA from Sujapur constituency in Malda where the epicenter of the current troubles, Kaliachak, is located. He then went on to become an MP from Malda for 26 years till his death in 2006. Even after Ghani Khans death, Malda remained a Congress bastion, with his son winning the election in 2009 and 2014. But with the dwindling fortunes of the Congress and with Abu Nasar Khan Chaudhury, Ghani Khans brother who became an MLA in 2011 from Sujapur as part of an arrangement between the Congress and the TMC joining the ruling party in 2014, Mamata reckons that it is her chance to wrest Malda from the Congress fold. That brings us to the dynamics of the electoral politics in Malda. Vote bank politics is a glaring reality of India. Malda is a classic Muslim-dominant district (over 52 percent). In fact, Muslims constitute almost 90% of the population in the Kaliachak block where violence erupted on January 3 this year. Though Congress and Left Front have used Muslims as vote bank for years, they do not seem to be a match for Mamata Banerjee in the current political scenario. So Mamata is on an all-out drive to consolidate Muslim votes. That brings the BJP into the contest, because BJP is the only party willing to make a communal polarization against Muslims for the consolidation of Hindu votes. Given the BJPs monopoly in the matter, it has come to the forefront to take on TMC on the Malda issue. BJP is supposed to be a party practising majority (Hindu) communalism in Indian politics but in Malda, BJP claims to have come to the rescue of minority Hindus against the depredations of majority Muslims. BJP, a marginal player in the West Bengal politics so far, hopes the Malda window would open up its prospects in the state. Let us understand the economic dynamics of the region along with the social composition. The area is a hub of cross-border criminal activities. Kaliachak is a major centre for trade in illegal weapons. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has gone on record, saying that large areas in the district are under lease for poppy cultivation and narcotics money is responsible for a flourishing illegal weapon industry. Illegal migrants (from Bangladesh) are apparently engaged in a big way in peddling fake Indian currency notes (FICN). This social and economic mix makes Malda a powder keg. This scenario has to be kept in mind while analyzing the developments on 3 January. Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamaat (AASJ), a Muslim outfit, had called for a protest march against a Hindu Mahasabha leaders offensive comments on Prophet Muhammad made a month ago. A self-styled Hindu leader from Uttar Pradesh, Kamlesh Tiwari, had made the derogatory comment that Prophet Muhammad was the first homosexual on earth. He apparently made that comment a day after Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan called RSS leaders homosexuals; he said that is why they did not get married. Clearly, Azam Khans and Kamlesh Tiwaris are scourges of Indian politics and they deserve to be behind the bars (Tiwari has been sent to jail but Khan is roaming free, a case of minority appeasement?) The AASJs call to protest was not spontaneous; it was held exactly a month after Tiwaris comment. So the protest march was organized with careful planning, with more than a fortnights notice. The organizers had duly informed the police and taken its permission to hold the march. This calls into question the motive of the state administration why did they not make enough police arrangements if they had given permission for the congregation. After all, it was a Muslim majority area and it was a religious protest march. It could turn volatile. The state authorities could argue that the area did not have a history of communal conflagration in the last six decades. But it should have known that given the changing contours of politics and economy, the situation could anytime explode. If they did not anticipate it, they did not deserve to be in power. It is possible that only a few hundred fringe elements, out of the lakh-strong Muslims who gathered for the protest march, took part in the arson and looting. But then only a handful of fringe elements of the Hindu community entered Akhlaqs house and killed him in Dadri. In Kaliachak, no one was killed, but one Hindu youth was shot in the leg, but many Hindu shops were burnt in the nearby Baliadanga locality inhabited by the Hindu families. So it was a kind of Dadri in reverse. The question is: why did this group of fringe elements attack the Kaliachak police station when they had no quarrel with the state government? And why did the violent mob only destroy the police documents but did not touch the weaponry lying in another room of the same police station? Is it because these goons wanted to destroy the police record of the continuing cases regarding narcotics, fake currency and illegal arms? And the more important question that comes to mind was the state administration an accomplice in this criminal-communal play? TMC says that it was not communal incident; it was a criminal incident. But, clearly, it was a criminal incident with communal overtones. The state government arrested 10 criminals but six are already out on bail. The rest will most probably be out in the next few days. Thereby, Mamata Banerjee has sent out a message loud and clear that Muslims must support her if they want protection against any state action for the crimes of fringe elements within their community. That gives the BJP an open field to assure the fringe elements within the Hindu community in West Bengal to go berserk and still enjoy its support. Malda presages a communal tinderbox in the run-up to the elections in April. Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhars detention by Pakistani law enforcing agencies is perhaps the biggest newsbreak that India was expecting for long. However, the expectation had never been as intense as in the week following the Pathankot terror attack. If true, this would count as one big achievement of the new-found bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. This could pave the way for the much debated foreign secretary level talks to be held in Islamabad on 15 January. Pakistan media reports said Masood Azhar, his brother Mufti Abdur Rahman Rauf and their close aides were being questioned at an undisclosed location in connection with the Pathankot attack. But given the kind of historical distrust that India has for Pakistan, this big bang news was met with initial cynicism or at best with guarded acceptance. Pakistan has not acted against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and has mostly remained in the denial mode over it and other attacks too. It was thus only natural that people here didn't buy Sharif's assurance to Modi in the phonic conversation they had after the Pathankot attack that he will take "prompt and decisive action" against terrorists. This is the first ever occasion when the topmost Pakistani authority had accepted, at least tacitly, of their soil being used for terror activities in India. This time around the debates and discussions didn't focus on state or non-state actors, at least not to the extent it used to be in the past. Maulana Masood Azhar's name evokes a great deal of bitterness in public memory in India. The hijacking of IC 814 in the last week of December 1999, killing of Rupin Katyal on board and release of hostages after securing release of Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar still rankle. After his release Azhar founded Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000 which gained notoriety for its alleged role in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and some other high profile terror attacks, the latest being the attack at Pathankot air base. Sheikh was arrested in 2002 by Pakistani authorities for the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl. Zargar was found to be training Islamic militants in POK. Of the three of them released on 31 December, 1999, Azhar remained in public memory as the face of the terror in India. Prior to Azhar's detention news break, leading Pakistani newspaper Dawn had reported: `Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday said the government wants to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot air base in India for further investigation. In a statement, the PMO also confirmed the arrests of several members of the Jaish-i-Mohammad militant group, which India suspects of involvement in what was nearly week-long siege of the Pathankot Indian air base earlier this month. The statement was issued after a high-level meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the country's security situation. The PMO statement further elaborated that Jaish-i-Mohammad offices in the country were being traced and sealed. The meeting expressed national resolve not to allow our territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere, the statement said It was also noted that considerable progress has been made in the investigations, being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident Masood Azhar's detention by Pakistan, even if for the records, would be read as a positive signal by top Indian authorities at Raisina Hill in New Delhi and be seen as the Pakistan PM fulfilling his promise to PM Modi that he will take prompt and decisive action and thus give a green signal for foreign secretary Jayshankar to travel to Islamabad as scheduled on 15 January. While there could be endless debate on whether this action is decisive or an eyewash the fact remains that for the first time Pakistan is at least seen to be doing something substantive to meet India's demands and go with the positive sprit that was seen during Modi's surprise landing at Lahore. Last week, External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup had put Pakistan on notice on foreign secretaries talks by saying at a media briefing that "the ball is in Pakistan court. We are waiting for Pakistan's action on actionable intelligence..we are not giving any time frame...prompt means prompt". Though he didn't say exactly that the talks have been called off or put on hold the message was more than clear -- conditions apply. Modi government had its position clear: Pathankot terror attack has put renewed focus on cross border terrorism and India was not ready to tolerate it. Since the time Pathankot terror attack took place, within a week of his bold surprise visit to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif, Modi has faced flak from various quarters about the twists and turns his government had made with relation to Pakistan. He was also under tremendous domestic pressure from his social constituents and support base. He was faced with a difficult challenge how to negotiate peace when sections of Pakistan's establishment continued to pursue with cross border terrorism in complete disregard to his and Sharif's overtures for peace. But by first attaching firm conditions for foreign secretaries talks and now by getting Pakistan to detain Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf, seal Jaish-e-Mohammad's offices and properties, Modi has addressed to his domestic constituency and conveyed the message that he cannot be taken to be soft. It's a different matter though that the JeM chiefs arrest by Pakistan will unleash another debate -- how much of it was under American pressure. The possibility that Pakistani officers were involved in the attack on the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan changes the equation vis-a-vis India attending the foreign secretary-level meeting on Friday. Not a little, but drastically. It is now a whole new ball game changing a bilateral hostility into a multi-lateral one. The report based on eyewitness accounts from Afghan military that they saw it with their own eyes might have a grammatical redundancy but it still is a stark indictment seeing that it occurred much after the attack in Pathankot. And there was a fatality. It puts all the previous scenarios and theories to nought and brings up the question of what exactly is going on and how deep is in the ISI paw in the cookie jar? If the evidence to back this statement is forthcoming, India has to rethink its whole strategy. If Pakistani military advisors or boots-on-the-ground are executing attacks on Indian diplomatic territory in third countries then the option of India finding no reason to distrust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's overtures of moving against the perpetrators is entirely invalidated. The Pakistani prime minister who must have been feeling pretty chuffed about pushing New Delhi into a corner with his cooperative approach and concessions in moving against the masterminds, or at least the foot-soldiers, must have been shaken by the badly-timed confessions of the Afghan eyewitnesses. This sort of rocks his boat and capsizes the credibility he has tried to build in the last three days. If they are orchestrating anti-India violence in Afghanistan, then all these stabs at cooperating with India and taking concerted action are a bit of a charade. The prism then shifts to another pattern and not one that New Delhi or Prime Minister Narendra Modi can take lightly or dismiss as mutually exclusive from the attack in Pathankot. Before Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar packs his diplomatic passport, it is incumbent on the government to get a full report on the Afghan fallout and factor it into the current equations. It makes sense to postpone the talks until the winter fog lifts on the integrity of Sharif's promise to do something about his nest of vipers. Even if India concedes to his display of sincerity, the fresh evidence from the Afghans is truly damning and must not be set aside. Getting to the negotiating table without clarity on this new dimension would be conceding too much space and that is unwarranted. Delay will not be harmful for the now. If these officers were choreographing hostility in Afghanistan, it has to be seen well within the realm of probability that their colleagues were all involved in the Pathankot assault. India just cannot afford to separate the two acts of violence against sovereign territory occurring in the same timeframe. Time to hold back a bit and give things a little breathing space before getting to a meeting. Istanbul, Turkey: The guide of a group of German tourists who were targeted by a suicide bomber in Istanbul said she heard the moment the attacker released his explosive charge and then shouted 'run!' to her clients, a report said on Wednesday. A suicide bomber of Syrian origin blew himself up in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district on Tuesday morning, killing 10 tourists, most of them Germans, in an attack blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Turkish tour guide Sibel Satiroglu told the police she saw the moment the bomber detonated himself after blending into a group of 33 German citizens visiting the Obelisk of Theodosius, one of the city's most eye-catching sites. "I heard a 'click' sound while I was telling the group about the obelisk. I thought it (the sound) was strange and looked around," she said, quoted by Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper. "Among the group was a young bearded man who looked like a Turk. He had a innocent face and was wearing modern clothes. "I saw the young man pull the pin and I shouted 'Run!' in German ('Lauft weg!'). Then we started to run away, and the bomb instantly exploded." Another 15 people were wounded, at least nine of them from Germany. Satiroglu herself was injured in the leg and suffered temporary hearing loss. Hurriyet said the German group had on Monday evening checked in a boutique hotel in Galata district on the other side of the Golden Horn from Sultanahmet. Four other Germans in the group had decided not to visit Istanbul at the last minute, it said. Germans are by far the most frequent foreign visitors to Turkey, with 258,613 arriving in November 2015, accounting for 15 percent of all arrivals. AFP Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong will ban the import and export of ivory, the city's leader announced Wednesday, in a "historic" move hailed by animal welfare activists. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told lawmakers in his annual policy address that officials were determined to crack down on the trade in Hong Kong. The southern Chinese city is a major hub of ivory sales and has been criticised by environmentalists for fuelling the illegal trade that leads to rampant poaching across Africa. "The government is very concerned about the illegal poaching of elephants in Africa. It will kick start legislative procedures as soon as possible to ban the import and export of elephant hunting trophies," Leung said at the Legislative Council on Wednesday. He added ministers will "actively explore other appropriate measures" to phase out the local ivory trade. But he did not specify when the ban would be put in place. Hong Kong has one of the busiest container terminals and airports in the world and often seizes ivory traded without authorisation. Ivory seizures reached a record 8,041 kilogrammes in 2013. The announcement was warmly welcomed by animal welfare activists -- but they urged new laws to be implemented as soon as possible. Alex Hofford from conservation group WildAid told AFP: "We are delighted that the Hong Kong government has finally announced that they will start to phase out the local ivory trade." He added: "We're now urging the chief executive to set a timeline and follow through with concrete action as soon as possible." Elephant tusks are used in traditional medicine and to make ornaments with demand high in Asia and the Middle East. Ivory is also popular with Chinese collectors who see it as a valuable investment. 'Historic step' A report by advocacy group Save the Elephants published in July said Hong Kong's ivory market is helping push elephants towards extinction. "History has shown that legal ivory sales only serve to provide a cover for illegal trade, which fuels the rampant poaching we see across Africa. Hong Kong has always been the epicentre of that trade," Peter Knights of WildAid said in a statement, describing the announcement as a "historic step". Knights added the end of the trade "may be in sight" with prices falling in China, a key market. According to official figures, 242 tonnes of ivory were sold in Hong Kong between 1990 and 2008, an average of around 13 tonnes a year. Since 2010, recorded sales have slowed to just a tonne a year. China accounts for 70 percent of world demand for ivory, according to wildlife NGOs. They say China's zeal for ivory is responsible for the death of 30,000 African elephants each year. There are now an estimated 470,000 African elephants living in the wild, compared to 550,000 in 2006, said the NGO Elephants Without Borders. The international trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to some 600,000 by the end of the 1980s. AFP Pakistan did it. Or at least it seems like they did. Almost a week after Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that India will wait till Pakistan takes action against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack, several Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were arrested and their offices sealed as part of a crackdown following the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force Station earlier this month. The assault pointed to a pattern of deadly onslaughts that Indian and Pakistani officials say are designed to derail reconciliation efforts between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Days after the United Jihad Council claimed responsibility for the attack, details emerged about the identity of the gunmens handlers: JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, Ashfaq Ahmed and Kashim Jaan. And then, an audio clip featuring a monologue popped up on JeM websites, reportedly celebrating the Pathankot attack and mocking India, which incidentally has been taken down. The clip, uploaded to alqalamonline.com, featured 'startling disclosures' about how the attack was executed, The Times of India reported and stated that the 13-minute address by JeM was transcribed by a magazine in Bahawalpur, Azhar's hometown. 'India was watching Lashkar and not Jaish' Relatively new compared to other Islamist jihadi groups, JeM has ascended the ranks of global terror networks quickly. Founded in 2000 by Azhar, who was released by India after the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in Kandahar, the outfit's last major mission was the attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December, 2001. Catapulted by popularity after Azhar's brazen release, the outfit claims that it will use violence to force withdrawal of Indian security forces from Jammu and Kashmir, with each of its offices in Pakistan serving as schools of jihad. For more than five years, intelligence services across the world have warily watched the rebirth of the Jaish-e-Muhammad. "People threatening to snatch away jihad from us can't even snatch away your wooden toothbrush," Abdul Rauf Azhar, the military chief of the Jaish, and brother to Maulana Masood Azhar, is heard saying in a video. Considered to be the biggest danger to India after Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish has managed to raise enough funds for a lavish new 16-acre headquarters in Pakistan's Bahawalpur. According to South Asia Terrorism Portal, Azhar was the general secretary of the newly established Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) in 1994 and was on a 'mission' in Jammu and Kashmir when he was arrested on 11 February. When he was released, the HuA had been included in the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations which had compelled the outfit to rename itself as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). However, Masood Azhar decided to float the new outfit JeM rather than rejoin his old outfit. He was also reported to have received assistance in setting up the JeM from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden and several Sunni sectarian outfits of Pakistan. JeM quickly gained notoriety for its attacks in Indian Administered Kashmir (IAK), and later in India and Pakistan. It carried out the first suicide attack in the history of the Kashmir conflict on 19 April, 2000. Later in December of 2001, following the attack on Parliament, the US State Department added JeM to its foreign terrorist organisation list. Pakistani authorities arrested Azhar on 29 December, 2001 for his supposed involvement in the attack, but he was released a year later after the Lahore High Court ruled his arrest unlawful. Jaish's slow but sure rise was acknowledged by the US and India for the first time in their joint statement in January of 2015 when they equated the terror group with global threats like LeT, (Dawood Ibrahim's) D-Company and Haqqani Network. Little noticed by the world, Jaish, according to experts, owes its growth to the fact that Indian intelligence watched LeT and not them. The big difference is that the Lashkar is being watched by the world, and the Jaish isnt, a senior intelligence official told The Indian Express. But the JeM, which is believed to have ties with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, has long since broadened its scope of operations. Soon after it was formed, the group turned its attentions westward, as American troops kept arriving in Afghanistan. Pakistan was forced to begin shutting down Jaishs operation in 2003, after the Indian and US administration exerted pressure. The growing fissure between General Pervez Musharrafs military regime and the Islamists, though, was key: following two assassination attempts on Musharraf carried out by Jaish associates, the army came down hard on the group. In 2014, Azhar came into view again, holding his first public rally in years. It was a well-organised event, with thousands ferried to the venue. The rally took place in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The occasion the launch of a book written by Afzal Guru. The same year, JeM marked its return to the Valley with a pre-dawn suicide attack on an army camp in Uri. In November, it launched a similar attack on an army camp in Kupwaras Tangdar area, triggering fears that the JeM was gaining ground in Kashmir once more, at a time when the number of local youth joining militancy had seen a sharp rise. Jaish, now an enabled-outfit, funded by hard cash, began to expand and innovate. Unlike LeT, which primarily worked for the freedom of Kashmir but carried out attacks in other parts of India including in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Kolkata and Gujarat, JeM's operations fanned out. Data by SATP shows that JeM activities have increased steadily since 2012. From minor suicide bombings in Jammu and Kashmir till the Indian Parliament attack in 2001, Jaish has grown by leaps and bounds. "The life of nations depends on martyrs. The national fields can be irrigated only with the blood of the best hearts and minds," Azhar wrote in his book Fathul Jawwad. Hard cash is JeM's foundation The outfit is run by mobilising hard cash. The organisation revived the al-Rahmat trust, once run by Allah Baksh, the father of the Azhar brothers. The trust began soliciting funds in Pakistan and the Gulf monarchies, to build 313 mosques and seminaries, according to reports. Even though a few countries have banned al-Rahmat in November 2010, the US imposed sanctions calling it the operational front for JeM, and the UAE followed it continues to operate through publicly-advertised bank accounts in Pakistan. Jaishs weekly magazine al-Qalam, in which Azhar publishes under his pen-name Saadi, is openly sold along with other daily which glorifies Taliban violence. Anticipating the ban on its funding activities and asset freeze in 2002, JeM withdrew most of its bank assets, dispersed some of it among low-ranking members for safekeeping, and invested in legal businesses. The group began to raise money through legal activities that include commodity trading, real estate, and production of consumer goods, an extensive research by the Stanford University, mapping militant organisations across the world, revealed. However according to Livemint, in 2013 ISI began to cultivate Azhar, in an effort to use pro-government jihadists as a counterweight to anti-Pakistan jihadists. He found a ready pool of cadre in southern Punjab. Having no alternative ideology like Marxism or Liberalism which may challenge the feudal stranglehold, Deobandi militancy remains one of the few ways to counter it, social scientist Tahir Kamran told the publication. Talking point again Whether Pakistan's bold step of apprehending several JeM terrorists and detaining Azhar himself will yield any results is still unknown, the fact that JeM has become a talking point and made it to the headlines is not good news. Not for the security of the nation, not for the political situation in Kashmir or for ties between India and Pakistan. Jordan: When Syrian war refugee Lina Mahameed saw TV reports of the recent Paris attacks, she recognized her own story reflected in the brutality. The 41-year old artist is now drawing portraits of some of the 130 people killed in the Nov. 13 attacks in the French capital, for which the extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Mahameed said they fell victim to the same fanaticism that killed her 16-year-old son Yasser at the beginning of Syria's civil war. "When these French people died in Paris, I felt their pain," she said in her living room in the Jordanian capital of Amman, wearing a speckled headscarf. "I felt what every mother feels when she loses someone to such a criminal act," Mahameed said, gesturing with a wine-colored pencil. "Their tragedy is like our tragedy." Mahameed found photos of the victims on the Internet, and used print-outs for pencil sketches of their faces: a young blonde girl seated before a meal, a bespectacled man in a green jacket smiling calmly, a dozen people staring straight at the camera. Mahameed is now filling in the portraits' colors. She is working in her Amman apartment, where the walls are covered with canvases of beauty and disaster: elks in a golden forest; a frowning clown with a handful of balloons; children behind barbed wire, screaming next to splattered blood; a man clutching a stomach wound; a half-finished painting of Damascus' Umayyad Mosque, symbolic of home and the cultural heritage she, too, fears is targeted by extremism sweeping the world. When asked, she brings a portrait of Yasser from the back room On April 24, 2012, Syrian government tanks shells blew up part of the family home in the southern town of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad that quickly turned into a civil war. When the family fled across the street, a sniper killed Yasser. Government forces kept the body for 15 days before the family could bury him. Mahameed, left with three children, hopes the portraits will warm the hearts of the victims' families, though she hasn't figured out how to deliver the drawings. "We are martyrs, and they are martyrs," she said. "Innocent people don't have anything to do with politics or other countries." Mahameed was encouraged to paint by her father, an architect, and she had her first exhibition at age 14. She sold paintings in Syria and the United Arab Emirates before marriage. Motherhood slowed her career, but the war brought it to a halt. After the death of Yasser, the family spent a year on the move, trying to evade street battles. The Mahameeds decided to flee Syria when government soldiers entered their lodging and saw a picture of Yasser with the label of "martyr." "They said he wasn't a martyr, but a terrorist," Mahameed said. Troops poured gasoline in their rooms and set fire to the building. The family left for Egypt where they lived for eight months before Mahameed decided to split from her husband. She flew to Amman in August 2013, along with 16-year-old daughter Ronza and sons Usama, 9, and Rayan, 6. Mahameed hopes to leave Jordan soon because she is unable to work legally. Through the tragedies, her art has remained. She believes it can chase away some of the dark images she says have infected the psyches of Syrian children, including that of Usama whose notebooks are filled with war scenes. "We must heal psychologically, and draw out these dark ideas from inside them," Mahameed said. AP Talk, no talk, postpone talks, agenda free talks, talk but with no terror attack, assure no more attacks and we will talk, talk but without mention of Kashmir, talk terrorism and no Kashmir, talk about cultural exchange and music programmes, or talk, talk whatever might happen. There is no dearth of options, suggestions, expert inputs for Modi government, like governments earlier on how to shape relations with a troublesome neighbour like Pakistan. Media reports on National Security Advisor Ajit Doval favouring postponement of foreign secretary level talks until Pakistan shows some progress on investigation of men and conspiracy behind Pathankot attacks has once again exposed the fragility of the idea of resuming talks with Pakistan. Hundreds of hours of airtime have been spent on discussing Pakistans complicity and involvement in attack on an air force base in Pathankot. Evidence ranging from markings on syringes and medicines is being bandied about to convince Indians and the world that Pakistani military has sponsored this attack. So what is new? We seem to be so busy convincing ourselves that Pakistan based terror groups are still active. It would be naive to believe that just because Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a dramatic gesture in stopping over at Lahore, and reportedly said abh to aana jaana laga rahenga (there would be constant travel and meetings between the two) that cross-border terrorism would end! It would be equally incorrect to assume that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs engagement with Modi precludes all intervention and ownership of policy towards India by Pakistans powerful generals. Army Chief Raheel Sharifs public persona and his popularity among vast sections of people would give any political leader sleepless nights. But, that is Pakistan where civilian leaders get their moments of glory and public adulation under the tight gaze of Rawalpindi cantonment. Gen Sharif has got Facebook pages and Twitter handles praising him and thanking him for Operation Zarb-e-Arb launched against terrorist groups attacking Pakistani towns and cities after Peshawar school attacks. The Army Chief has his photos painted on trucks, buses, on banners and buntings across the country. He has treated by many as a messiah who will end everything that plagues Pakistan, from terrorism to corruption. He and his men control every policy decision that involves India. Modi government's efforts to join the Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement that would give India land access to Afghanistan via Pakistan has been stalled by the Army which, controls India-specific policies. This is known and not hidden from anyone in the government of India and foreign policy circles. Modi and BJP led a campaign against UPAs alleged soft line towards Pakistan. The electorate was made to believe that Modi government would not talk until cross-border terrorism ended. It will not end until the Pakistan Army decides. And Pakistan Army is unlikely to change its policy towards India irrespective of the familiarity and cordial ties between political leaders. Soon after coming to power Modi government tried to put its electoral promise on dealing with Pakistan into action by calling off talks when the envoy in New Delhi met Hurriyat leaders, and for months did not officially talk until the breakthrough meeting between two NSAs in Bangkok. The government seemed to realise that holding no talks is not an option that it assiduously promoted among Indias voters in the run-up to elections. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj travelled to Pakistan for Heart of Asia conference and on return announced a change in strategy in Lok Sabha that the two countries must continue to talk. Change in outlook towards Pakistan was then dramatically articulated by Modi by his stop over for tea in Lahore. The bonhomie was under attack when heavily armed terrorists attacked Pathankot airbase. What to do now? Continue with FS level talks on 15 January or put it off for some time or put it off until Pakistan shows credible steps to arrest those who planned the Pathankot attack? The choice is not easy. After saying that abh to aana jaana laga rahega PM Modi signalled that no incident or attack could derail the resumption of talks between the two countries. Something many have advocated for long. The crux of the problem, however, is not the timing of talks but, frankly what is the bottom line? What is the base level of security problem or infiltration from Pakistan that is acceptable to Indias political parties and leaders for relationship with Islamabad to be cultivated? Pakistans military will not end its patronage of India-focussed terror groups, it will continue to create obstacles for India to deepen engagement with Afghanistan and finally, it will remained steadfast in keeping the Kashmir issue alive globally. At Tuesdays last State of the Union Address President Barack Obama mentioned Afghanistan and Pakistan as countries that would remain unstable for decades and as possible haven for terrorists. India needs to debate, discuss and reach a consensus on how it wants to deal with Pakistan. Talk now or no talk, or talk later has to be based on serious introspection. It cannot be based on knee-jerk reactions and TV anchors. Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2015 09:35:57 +0000 From: "Mrs. Mary Shloss." Subject: Greeting from Cpl. Mary Shloss. Hello My Dear, Hope all is going well with you over there? Am sorry to write you this massage without knowing you in person before, although there is something important that prompted me to contact you which I will tell you everything in my next mail. I will like to know you better and I will now tell you briefly about myself too. I am by name, Lnace Cpl. Mary Shloss, 43 years old, a native of Hammond, Indiana in United States. I am a soldier working with the United Nations Peace Keeping troop in Afghanistan on war against terrorism. It would be a pleasure to know more about you and I believe we can establish a good friendly relationship. Please do send your picture if you have free time. Friendly Regards, Lance Cpl. Mary Shloss. Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2015 21:10:37 +0000 From: "Mrs. Mary Shloss." Subject: Thanks for your response. Hello My dear, How are you doing over there, I hope all is well with you? Like I told you in my previous mail that I am a soldier working with the United Nations Peace Keeping troop in Afghanistan assigned on war against terrorism. My dear, I want you to know that we are always being attacked by insurgents and during one of our rescue mission we came across a safe box that contains huge amount of money that belongs to the militant supporters working with the over-thrown government of Afghanistan, we believe the money meant for buying weapons and ammunition for terrorism attacks. The amount of the money in the safe box was $15,000,000 Dollars and it was unanimously agreed among us (the 6 Army officers) at present on that rescue mission that the money will be shared among us and which we did. Out of the total fund, my share was $2.5 Million Dollars (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars). I am therefore, seeking your assistance to evacuate my share of this money out of this country (Afghanistan) to your own country for a safe keep on my behalf till I come over to your country. I want you to stand as the recipient beneficiary to the fund and please keep it safe for me, so that as soon as am through with my mission here in Afghanistan, I will fly down to meet with you over there in your country. You will assist me to invest it in a profitable venture and I will give you 20% of the total money for your assistance after you have received the money. Please reply back to me if you are willing to work with me so that I can arrange on how the fund will be delivered by a diplomatic courier service. I hope you will understand that this issue I am sharing with you is between 2 of us and we have to keep it with top secrecy and confidential. Your urgent reply will be needed. Best regards. Lance Cpl., Mary Shloss. Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:44:06 +0000 From: "Mrs. Mary Shloss." Subject: SEND ME YOUR DATA. Hello my dear, May the good God continue to bless you and your family for your kind and prompt response to my email, indicating your willingness to assist me to receive these funds for investment purposes in your country or in any country of your choice. I am well impressed by your person and I feel I have found the right person, but time will tell. As you know, the success of our plans will depend on our total mutual trust. I want everything to be clear to you right now, but I appeal to you to read carefully. The deal is all about the money I made here, and I have it kept safely in a box and stored in an abandoned trench here in Kabul. Due to the United Nation restriction policy on Afghanistan, there is a plan to move some troops out of Afghanistan, so I will be among the people that will be relocated. You have to know that I cannot take this money to the United States because I am a military personnel, they would want to know how I come about it. Due to this reason, I have made an arrangement with a Red Cross diplomatic agent to move this fund out from here. The question is who will be in charge of the money in my absence? This is exactly why I needed your help. I want to guarantee you that you will not stand any risk, as I have mapped out the strategy to move this money out of here safely through a Diplomatic means. You have to keep everything confidential to yourself till you receive the fund as a personal consignment. Finally, I want you to stand as the beneficiary to receive the fund and keep it safe under your custody so that as soon as I come to your country, you will assist me to invest it. Like I said earlier, I will give you 20% of the total money for the assistance after you have received the money. I believe now that I have trust on you. Please be aware that where we are now we can only communicate through our military communication facilities, which are secured so nobody can monitor our emails, thereafter, I can explain in details for your understanding. I will suggest we reach each other via email, because our calls might be monitored. Secondly, I have to be sure who I am dealing with. Please if you can handle this business, you should try to send me your personal information as follows, including your id card. Your Name: _______________________ Your Address_________________ Your Phone Number_________________ Your Occupation___________________ Your Nearest Airport______________ Your country_______________ I hope to read from you soon. Regards, Mary Shloss. Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 09:33:05 +0000 From: "Mrs. Mary Shloss." Subject: DEPARTURE SCHEDULE/DELIVERY ARRANGEMENT. Hello Dear. Accept my greetings from the USA Afghanistan Military Base to you. How was your day and how about your work? I hope that you are in good health, as for me, I am fine. I have as at yesterday, finalized with the delivery company by completing with the registration of the consignment in your name as I have received from you your contact information. Thank you again for your follow up and heeding to directions. As I have mentioned above concerning my conclusion of arrangement here, I am doing everything possible to make sure you receive the funds successfully. I have also made contact with the courier firm that will handle the delivery of the fund to you; they are competent enough and reliable to undertake this delivery assignment. I want to tell you that every arrangement has been perfected, so you don't need be worried about anything because, with my personality this transaction with you is 100% hitch-free. What I need from you is trust and sincerity. As I have arranged with the delivery firm, they will tag the consignment as a Diplomatic Luggage before departure to their diplomatic lodge in Germany and you will be receiving it as a personal luggage. Understand that I have handed the consignment to the courier delivery firm through their agent here in Afghanistan; they will have transit in Dubai before departing to , of which they told me that the Agent will arrive on or before this week. According to arrangement, they will contact you upon their arrival in as I have submitted your contact details to them. It may interest you to know that, here in the USA Afghanistan Military Base, government provides us with all our need(s), and our reimbursements are paid to our bank account(s) in our country till we get back home after our assignment here, so as far as we remain in Afghanistan, we cannot receive or send out money for any reason whatsoever, but I have paid already for the registration of the consignment in your name prior to departure time and I have placed a shipment instruction to the shipping company for the release of the consignment to you directly, upon your arrival to their office in Germany, when they invite you. Note that the delivery Agent does not know the content of the consignment; this is for security reason(s). Please you should kindly inform me as soon as the delivering agent contacts you upon their arrival. As a matter of information, understand that you will need to keep aside some money which you will use to settle the delivery firm's "Handling Charge" and "Clearance Fee" as soon as they arrive Germany, the amount is only $2,760; and note that I would have settled the bill here, but the condition given to me by the delivery agent was that, the recipient of the registered consignment (that is you) will perform the settlement of the above charges there in Germany. As my partner, you will have to take back the money that you will spend to settle the above charges as soon as you are in receipt of the consignment and keep the balance for us. This is my assurance and words of confidence to you. Please permit me to stop here for now, and I will be waiting to receive your feedback as soon as you read this mail from me, to enable us ascertain the way forward. Thank you and take good care of yourself. Yours, Mary Shloss. If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more.... One of our Storyteller Missions staff, Erica Ho, shares an experience she had with a group of Clemson students on a Storyteller Missions trip to Uganda. While these students are preparing for their futures, they went to Uganda with the hope for change--in themselves and in those they served. I recently returned from another wonderful Storyteller Missions trip to Uganda. My love for the country and people expands with each step I take on the red clay paths. This particular trip was very special because I had the opportunity to take 18 Clemson University students. (Go Tigers! I hail from class of 2005.) I spent a lot of time observing them in action and pondering how this trip, and others like it, would impact their future. First of all, this sampling of students represents future innovators and thinkers. As we bused across Uganda we discussed excessive plastic use, solutions and passions for children with special needs. I was encouraged to hear them thinking outside themselves rather than letting monetary gain fuel their college ambitions. Exposing such students to the needs across the globe only fuels, rather than discourages, their hope for change. They are able to meet and see, first hand, ministries and individuals who have committed their lives to fighting malaria, poverty and unclean water. And most importantly, they learn that it literally takes ALL a person can give to be involved in such a fight. Fortunately we place our hope in Jesus and recognize the peace and hope he provides to those who have given their lives in this way. I believe that working alongside those in the field gives students a chance to ponder what their impact on the world will ultimately be. They are given a chance to gain inspiration from Ugandan bus drivers who have put 7 siblings through school and ministry leaders who humble themselves, taking side work when necessary, to fund their outreach. They find themselves at the feet of these heroes of the faith, praying over them, laying hands on them and encouraging them for the days ahead. I find that college students lack the social boundaries that adults adopt as they grow older. I watched as my team sought out night guards, restaurant employees and sat in the front with our drivers to learn more about their lives. They asked questions, became students of the culture and served until well after dark. They worked through jet-lag, sickness and difficult emotions. They solidified callings and career choices. They allowed God to speak to them through their experiences and new acquaintances. They said yes to the uncomfortable. I've read so many articles recently that criticize the intentions of short term mission trips. And I agree, without specific goals and careful partnerships these trips can easily slide into territory I call Missional Tourism. We actually discussed that quite a bit on this trip and I was once again encouraged to hear and see that these students were far from that category of thought. This trip and others like it open up the world to college students. They are the future missionaries, givers, adoptive parents, sponsors and non-profit managers. Their involvement at an early age ignites a passion that prevents apathy. They will likely be involved in any one of the capacities mentioned above. They will also find their mission at home. Service fuels service. Without short-term missions it is very difficult to bring students into the sacred work of the missionary. And without willing and open missionaries it is impossible to open the eyes of the next generation. I pray that as we move forward as organizations and individuals we can continue to form goals that incorporate both with healthy objections. And as ministry leaders let us keep the young in mind. 1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." Investing in students, and leading by example, equals investing in the future of ministry. - Erica Ho Storyteller Missions already has more than a dozen trips planned for 2016, with many more to come. Do you want to be a Storyteller for orphans who have no voice? Check out the available trips and begin planning your 2016 trip...and hope for change. www.StorytellerMissions.org Washington: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley used the formal Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday to try softening the tough stance toward immigrants embraced by some of the party's leading presidential candidates, urging Americans to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices." Haley, herself the US-born daughter of Indian immigrants, said the country is facing the most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State group, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," she said in her prepared remarks. "We must resist that temptation." Haley did not mention the Republican presidential race. But the front-runner so far, real estate mogul Donald Trump, has called for deporting millions of immigrants in the US illegally. Two other contenders, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have battled over which of them has the tougher record on the issue. No one who works hard and follows the laws "should ever feel unwelcome in this country," she said. Mentioned by some as a potential vice presidential candidate, Haley said the US should continue admitting "properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion" an apparent reference to calls by Trump to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. She also hewed closely to long-time Republican demands in the immigration debate, saying: "That does not mean we just flat out open our borders." The nation's youngest governor at 43, Haley also seemed to try smoothing some of her party's more combative edges. She said Republicans "would respect differences in modern families" perhaps suggesting more tolerance toward same-sex couples and said it isn't necessary "to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference." Without offering specifics, she said that while Democrats bear much responsibility, Republicans "need to accept that we've played a role in how and recognize why our government is broken." Haley has gained national prominence for helping to end the display of the Confederate battle flag on Statehouse grounds last year after half a century, a move that followed last June's slaying of nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The flag was flown by forces supporting the secessionist, pro-slavery Southern states in the American Civil War. Polls have shown public concerns over terrorism and national security have become a top issue ever since the November attacks that killed 130 people in Paris and the December mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Ever since, Republicans on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress have been emphasizing the issue. At the same time, many Republicans feel the party must do a better job of appealing to Hispanics and other minority voters if they are to compete effectively in national and many statewide elections. They're also eager to win more votes from women, who preferred Obama over his Republican opponents by more than 10 percentage points in his 2008 and 2012 elections and have favored the Democratic presidential candidate in each election since 1992. Haley is the third consecutive woman chosen by Republican leaders to deliver their party's response to Obama. Haley said the nation's problems also include an economy that's not boosted family income, a national debt that's too high and Obama's health care law, which Republicans have long asserted has failed. She said a Republican president would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. AP You can watch Haley's address here: Chauffeur Nader Rida allegedly drove around in his shiny black Mercedes hire car selling cocaine on the streets of Haymarket. Police arrested Mr Rida on December 15, when he was allegedly caught selling two grams of the drug in a car park in Sydney's CBD, and charged him with several drug supply offences. Police arrest Nader Rida in Haymarket after a two-month investigation. Credit:NSW Police The 41-year-old on Wednesday faced Downing Centre Local Court, where police documents described him as a family man, with a full-time job and "minimal" criminal history. Mr Rida, from Turrella, in Sydney's south, was this week charged with three new supply offences, as well as a stolen property charge relating to $340 cash found in his car, the court heard. The Spirit of Tasmania II broke free of its moorings and crashed into a pier in Port Melbourne during a wild storm on Wednesday. Witnesses said the ship drifted until it was at a 90-degree angle to Station Pier by about 6pm and collided with part of the pier, causing damage to the front of the vessel. By 8pm, tugboats had towed the Spirit of Tasmania II back in line with the pier, and it was then secured. An elderly woman is believed to have lost half her arm after an being attacked by a saltwater crocodile in Wyndham, in Western Australia's North West. It is understood the woman, who is well-known in the community, was struck by the crocodile at Three Mile Creek around 2.30pm on Wednesday while walking her dogs. Wyndham man Paul Cavanagh said his nephew and son-in-law picked the injured woman up on the side of the road and took her to Wyndham Hospital after seeing she was missing her arm just above her elbow. "She was standing on the side of the road just shocked," he said. Washington: The crew of two small US Navy craft are being held by Iran, but American officials have received assurances from Tehran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly. However, the semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran said that the boats had illegally travelled more than 1.5 kilometres into Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island, in the Persian Gulf. It said that forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards navy had confiscated GPS equipment, which would "prove that the American ships where 'snooping' around in Iranian waters". Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the ten crew-members and the vessels will be returned promptly," Mr Cook said. CHINA A court in northern China sentences a former vice minister of public security to 15 years in jail for accepting bribes. Li Dongsheng is the latest senior figure to fall in President Xi Jinpings anti-corruption drive. INDONESIA The jailed radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, 77, appealed yesterday to an Indonesia court to have his conviction for funding a terror training camp overturned, arguing that his support for the camp was an act of worship. The leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network filed a judicial review of his 2011 conviction, when he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for setting up the camp in Aceh province. A higher court later cut the sentence to nine years. IRANs state TV says that an Iranian Phantom fighter jet has crashed close to the Pakistan border, killing two pilots. It reported that the crash took place yesterday some 45 miles west of Konarak Air Base, around 900 miles southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran. The report said that the cause of the crash was unknown but investigations were ongoing. The pilots were on a training assignment. CAMBODIA Two trucks transporting Cambodian garment workers to their factory crashed yesterday, killing five of the workers and injuring 65 others, officials said. The accident occurred early Tuesday morning as one truck sped up to overtake the other but collided with it, causing the vehicles to spiral out of control, said Ma Savath, a district governor in Kampong Speu province, about 40 km southwest of the capital, Phnom Penh. GERMANY wants to ease the rules for deporting foreign criminals in the wake of the New Years Eve assaults in Cologne, two senior officials said. MEXICO Actor Sean Penn tells AP he has nothin to hide, after photos published yesterday indicate Mexican agents apparently kept a very close watch on the actress who led Penn to a meeting with Joaquin El Chapo Guzman and may have even followed and photographed the Hollywood figures as they set out for the supposedly secret meeting. USA Natalie Cole was remembered as a loyal friend, the best and bossiest big sister, and a worthy successor to her famous fathers legacy in a joyous and music-filled funeral highlighting her Baptist faith yesterday. The two-hour, 50-minute service at West Angeles Church of God in Christ was filled with affection for the daughter of crooner Nat King Cole, who established her Grammy-winning career before intertwining her fathers musical legacy with her own in their hit Unforgettable. Chinas auto sales rose 18.3 percent in December over a year earlier on explosive demand for SUVs, pushing the years total sales to 21.1 million, an industry group reported yesterday. Drivers in the worlds biggest auto market by the number of vehicles sold bought 2.4 million cars, minivans and SUVs last month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The months total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 15.4 percent to 2.8 million. Auto sales suffered an unexpectedly sharp contraction from June through August, rattling a global industry that is counting on China to drive revenue growth. Demand rebounded in September after Beijing cut sales taxes on vehicles with smaller engines. Chinas auto market has been cooling since growth peaked at 45 percent in 2009 but last years plunge prompted analysts to cut growth forecasts. Sales have been dented by measures imposed by Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities to curb smog and congestion by limiting new vehicle registrations. Last month, half the vehicles in Beijing were ordered off the road on alternate days after the Chinese capitals air pollution spiked to dangerous levels. Longer-term, demand is expected to be helped by the Communist Partys October decision to allow all couples to have two children, easing restrictions that limited many to one. SUV sales rose 60.7 percent in December over a year earlier to 794,000 vehicles, according to the CAAM. Sales for the year were up 52 percent at 6.2 million. Sales by Chinas domestic auto brands, which benefited from strong demand for lower-priced vehicles, rose by 15.3 percent to 8.7 million vehicles. General Motors Co. said sales of GM- brand vehicles by the company and its Chinese manufacturing partners rose 14 percent in December to 445,227. Full-year sales grew 5.2 percent to a record 3.6 million vehicles. Volkswagen AG, which competes with GM for the status of Chinas most popular auto brand, said December sales edged up 0.3 percent in December but gave no total. The company earlier blamed its failure to match overall market growth on its lack of a model in the popular low-priced SUV segment. Ford Motor Co. said December sales rose 27 percent over a year earlier to 124,768 vehicles. Full-year sales edged up 3 percent to 1.1 million. Nissan Motor Co. sales in December rose 15 percent to 159,100. For the year, sales grew 6.3 percent to 1.2 million. BMW AG, Europes biggest luxury automaker, said 2015 sales of BMW and Mini brand vehicles rose 1.7 percent to 463,736. It blamed the slowdown on Chinas cooling economy and government frugality measures that have hurt a wide range of luxury goods suppliers. South Koreas Kia Motors Corp. said December sales rose 28.1 percent to 88,531. Joe McDonald, Beijing, AP The University of Macau (UM) has announced that the online application system for entrance examinations for the 2016/2017 academic year opened yesterday, and that the deadline for applications is February 19. In addition, the UM stressed that students with special talents in academia, sports, music or community service can apply for the Preferential Admission Scheme, which will award successful applicants with between 10 and 30 bonus points toward admission. This year, the scope of awards and qualifications that make an applicant eligible for bonus points has expanded. Applicants may accrue bonus points if they hold awards from science or art-related competitions, certificates of high-level musical accomplishment, or awards received under the Macao Youth Volunteer program. The UM says its first priority is nurturing local talent. The preferential scheme is therefore only available to applicants who are Form Six students of Macau secondary schools at the time of their application. Various other scholarships have been made available again this year. The UM Outstanding Student-Athletes Admission Award Scheme, for example, seeks to encourage outstanding athletes to pursue academic studies simultaneously. The university says that this scholarship includes a full waiver of tuition fees and, in some cases, a partial or full waiver of residential college fees. The Government and Transmac Transportes Urbanos de Macau S.A.R.L. have reached an agreement to amend the latters public bus service contract. The revised contract will be signed shortly, according to an executive order published in the Official Gazette this week. The amendments follow advice given by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) after they had completed an analysis in 2013 of the citys public bus service contracts. Transmac operates two groups of public bus routes in Macau. Public bus service operator Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau S.A.R.L. (TCM) signed a revised contract with the government in September 2015. The contract with the bus service operator that replaced the bankrupted Reolian New Era was signed in 2014. Both of these contracts already complied with the suggestions from the CCAC. According to a statement issued by the Government Information Bureau, the authorities and Transmac have worked closely on drafting the amendments to the contract and to ensure the operation of normal, uninterrupted public bus services during the negotiation period. The statement mentions that under the amended contract, Transmac will need to take more obligations and will be subject to supervision from the government under the public services concession system. The companys income will be linked to the quality of service provided. It then adds that further details of the revised contract will be announced at a later time. However, the contract provisions will be similar to those included in the contracts signed with New Era and TCM. A woman was in stable condition at a hospital after she was attacked by a crocodile yesterday on Australias northwest coast, officials said. The woman, in her 70s, was attacked in a creek near the town of Wyndham in Western Australia state, a Department of Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing departmental policy. Wildlife rangers were headed to Wyndham to destroy the estuarine crocodile, the spokeswoman said. The womans condition was stabilized at Wyndham Distract Hospital and she was to be flown east to the larger Royal Darwin Hospital for further treatment, said Western Australia Country Health Service spokesman Peter Cogan. Cogan provided no details of her injuries, but said her condition remained stable. Crocodile numbers have boomed across Australias northern tropics since they became a protected species under federal law in 1971, and they are an increasing threat to humans. AP Workers in Senado Square have been seen preparing Chinese New Year (CNY) festive decorations to mark next months entry into the Year of the Monkey. A red and golden CNY stage was installed, featuring a red silhouette of a monkey and winding dragons, which are customarily present each year. Nearby is a circular installation with large octagonal components also featuring monkey motifs. Some octagons present monkeys with a semi- Western appearance, while others look definitively Chinese. In the middle, atop a flower podium, sits the legendary Monkey King instantly recognizable by his golden headband which, according to Chinese folklore, serves as punishment for when the Bodhisattva Guanyin deems the charming character to be misbehaving. Numerous monkey lanterns are also featured alongside the larger installations. These may represent the monkeys that follow the Monkey King after he demonstrates his prowess and bravery in the early chapters of popular folk tale Journey to the West. Behind the flower podium, and all along the road from Senado Square on the way to St. Dominics Church, hang innumerable red lanterns decorated with auspicious Chinese characters to ring in the new year. Staff reporter Nile Rodgers suspected a couple of years ago that his old friend David Bowie might have health problems, but had no idea he was terminally ill. I was being honored by my charity (the We Are Family Foundation) and they thought the most appropriate person to give me the award was Bowie, said Rodgers, who produced Bowies platinum-selling Lets Dance album. And he did give me the award, but he had to give it by film. His speech was lovely, charming and really, really big-hearted. But I could see that he wasnt well. Bowie died Sunday night at age 69 after an 18 month battle with cancer, news that stunned his millions of admirers and inspired worldwide grieving. Though he rarely made public appearances in recent years, Bowie had just released a new album, Blackstar on Friday, his birthday. Few suspected he had only days to live. His death showed how a life- threatening diagnosis can lead to secrecy or an equally strong compulsion to share. Public figures such as Dr. Oliver Sacks and Christopher Hitchens openly and vividly chronicled their battles with cancer, and Rodgers has blogged about being treated for prostate cancer. (He has been cancer free for five years, he says). But others celebrities such as Bowie, Nora Ephron and Jackie Collins managed to hide their illnesses from all but those closest to them. When Ephron died, in 2012, even good friends such as Meryl Streep didnt know she was sick until near the end. Collins published a book last summer and toured as she was fighting breast cancer, the severity of her health kept even from her sister, actress Joan Collins. I just felt like she didnt need it in her life, Jackie Collins told People magazine shortly before she died, last September. Rodgers said he never asked Bowie about his physical condition. I didnt want to pry, he said. Everyone deals with their health in their own way. Rodgers friendship with Bowie dates back more than 30 years, when both were spending time in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood. They first spoke in the early 80s, and quickly vibed, Rodgers explained. They agreed to work on an album, with Rodgers producing new versions of such songs as China Girl and Cat People. The result, the well-named Lets Dance, came out in 1983 and became one of Bowies biggest commercial successes. Rodgers, who co-founded Chic and has produced Madonna, Mick Jagger and many other artists, says Lets Dance was an easy recording that took just 17 days to complete. It was a real meeting of the minds, he said. A Connecticut resident, Rodgers had returned from the West Coast last weekend when he received a call telling him Bowie was dead. Hillel Italie, New York, AP Photographs of an extravagant wedding in Zhongshan have gone viral, according to the South China Morning Post citing local reports, and this has provoked a series of critical and sarcastic responses from social media users. The bride, who is from Macau, was wearing at least forty gold bracelets around her neck and a golden headdress in her hair, the pictures show. Meanwhile, the groom was dressed like the Qin dynasty emperors of antiquity, and was accompanied by other male guests decorated as soldiers from Chinas final dynasty, the Qing. According to local daily publication Southern Metropolis News, a guest at the wedding said that the groom was originally from the Zhongshan area but had moved to Macau. His family does business. They are very rich, the guest explained. According to the same reports, a photo of wedding gifts at the event shows stacks and stacks of paper money, along with many other gifts that appear to be made of gold. Pictures of the happy couple provoked a critical reception on social media, typical of those who deem such extravagance to be distasteful. Be careful, your neck may be dislocated! wrote one netizen, according to the SCMP, while another said, Lady, is your neck sore? I can help you wear [your gold] for a while. A third simply added, I dont understand the world of the filthy rich. The Mandarin word Tuhao () is often used to describe mainland Chinese people who are very wealthy but uncultured. Critics often mock what they consider to be a lack of good taste and sophistication to complement excessive wealth. Staff reporter The France Macau Business Association (FMBA) introduced its donation beneficiaries for this year at its press conference yesterday at Grand Lapa. This year, FMBA will support Architecture Sans Frontiers Macau (ASF), a local non-profit organization working with different sectors of society to promote being a sustainable community, highlighting environmental conservation, cultural diversity and heritage. The other beneficiary will be Cradle of Hope, a non-profit organization that supports orphan children from when they are born to 18 years of age. The Chairman of FMBA, Rutger Verschuren, says that it wasnt easy finding a charity to support, as there are several charities in the city. Every year, we choose a charity beneficiary and this time it wasnt easy to find because there are a lot of charities in Macau. ASF has a connection with France, which is very important, but it is still local and thats a unique combination for us because we have strong support from the local community, Mr Verschuren said. ASF launched its first pilot of the Humanitarian Project in 2013 called Project Yolanda, which was done in collaboration with Macau Anglican College, the Rotary Club of Macau and other local organizations. Project Yolanda was undertaken to assist in the aftermath of the disastrous storm that hit the Philippines in 2013. The association aimed to help restore five schools that needed assistance for reconstruction in Roxas City, Philippines. We started with rebuilding two classrooms in one of the high schools in the city called Dumulog National High School, because it was in the most need of help, said the founding president of ASF, Dominic Choi, while presenting pictures of the rebuilt classrooms. In October 2015, the two classrooms were completed. Apart from fundraising locally in Macau, ASF has successfully donated over 1,000 books, laptop computers and bookshelves with the help of its donors. However, he noted that there is more to be done. This years project is named Project Cradle and they are targeting the younger group aged between birth and six- years-old. They need to ensure the environment is safe, rather than dealing with a beauty and aesthetic issue, said Choi. He added that they conducted a site visit to see the areas that need assistance, as they lack professional advice when it comes to architectural counseling. FMBA and ASF are expecting estimated expenses totaling MOP400,000 for Project Cradle, and are hoping to finish the project within two to three months with the assistance of professional volunteers. The FMBA Charity Gala Dinner 2016 will be held on January 22 at the Grand Ballroom of MGM Macau with the theme of Shanghai le Paris de lOrient. All proceeds from the event will be given to its beneficiaries. A suicide attack on a polio vaccination center in southwestern Pakistan yesterday killed 15 people, mainly police who had gathered to escort health workers, who have been repeatedly targeted in recent years by Islamic militants, officials said. The bombing of the polio center on the outskirts of Quetta killed 13 police, a soldier and a civilian, said Shahzada Farhat, a police spokesman in the city. Another 23 people were wounded. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives among the police officers, said provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti. Were in a war zone, he added. The bombing happened outside the polio center shortly before vaccination teams were due to be dispatched to local neighborhoods as part of a three-day immunization campaign, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, the local police chief. Hours after the attack, Ahmad Marwat, who described himself as a spokesman for Jundullah, or Army of God, a little-known militant group, claimed responsibility without explaining why the center was targeted. He warned of more attacks on polio teams in the future. Polio workers in Pakistan, and their police escorts, have been targeted in recent years by Islamic militants who accuse them of working as spies for the United States. The attacks intensified after a Pakistani doctor was arrested on charges of running a fake hepatitis vaccination campaign in the city of Abbottabad as a cover for a CIA-backed effort to obtain DNA samples from Osama bin Laden ahead of the 2011 U.S. raid that killed him. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where polio is endemic, and the attacks have hindered vaccination campaigns. Some Pakistanis are also suspicious about the vaccinations, fearing it will sterilize their children. Shah, the police chief, said the security forces were the primary target of yesterdays attack. He spoke to reporters from the scene, which was strewn with blood and debris, as rescuers took the wounded to hospitals. Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, where a low-level insurgency has long been waged by Baloch separatist groups demanding a greater share of the regions natural resources or outright independence. Al-Qaida, the Taliban and other Sunni militant groups are also active in the region. Tens of thousands have been killed in Pakistan over the past decade in attacks mainly targeting security forces and the countrys Shiite minority. Abdul Sattar, Quetta, AP Sean Penn has come under heavy fire from the media, which claims that his account of the meeting with El Chapo is too sympathetic to a man believed to be a mass-murderer and that his rag-to-riches version of the cartel leaders narrative whitewashes his past. As the 55-year-old actor made the news this week, some media outlets were recalling earlier incidents that allegedly reveal Penns violent past. In 1986, while in Macau shooting Shanghai Surprise with his then-wife Madonna, Penn was arrested by police for dangling a Portuguese journalist off his hotel balcony after discovering him hiding in the room. While his marriage to Madonna involved at least one incident of domestic abuse, he also allegedly fired guns at a helicopter during his wedding reception with the pop star. The actor, who holds some controversial left-leaning opinions on world politics, has also reportedly said that he hopes his critics die screaming of rectal cancer. In light of his violent history and the events that unfolded this week resulting in the capture of El Chapo, the Daily Mails Ian Birrell mockingly remarked: In his mind, however, he is an aid worker, diplomat and peacemaker, as well as a reporter. Hong Kongs Chief Executive (CE), Leung Chun-Ying, delivered his 2016 Policy Address yesterday, drawing praise and criticism from fellow lawmakers in the HKSAR. The Policy Address, which this year adopted the theme of Innovate for the Economy; Improve Livelihood; Foster Harmony; Share Prosperity, generated mixed reactions from the CEs pro-Beijing camp. Finance sector lawmaker Ng Leung-sing appeared pleased with the address, giving it a score of 85 marks out 100 according to some reports. He said that it was very substantial in terms of content. There are quite a few measures on the macro level and theyre not just empty statements Like it was said in the address, our position as an international financial center is still sound, Ng added. But Liberal Party leader, Vincent Fang Kang, criticized the address for its vagueness and failure to tackle the difficulties faced by ordinary residents of the HKSAR. Pan-democrat lawmakers were predictably dissatisfied with the Policy Address, highlighting the CEs failure to mention the recent scandal involving the five missing booksellers. This is the policy address, but what is in it? Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) accredit Labour Party legislator Lee Cheuk-yan with having said. He [Leung] did not mention Lee Bo at all, or the security issues associated with one country, two systems. According to the agency, the lawmaker walked out during the speech with several of his party colleagues, one of whom described the address as a betrayal of Hong Kong, and an act of kissing ass, all so that he [Leung] can be re-elected. However, the Chief Executive did make reference to the Basic Law in the conclusion of his address; promising to uphold Hong Kongs core values such as human rights, freedom, democracy, the rule and law and clean governance, and that the government will fully and faithfully implement the principles of one country, two systems. leungs smart city starts with free wi-fi CY Leung said yesterday that the government is considering developing the HKSAR into a smart city, which would include the expansion of free Wi-Fi services. Such services would be made available at bus stops and shopping centers. Hong Kong, which has ranked first globally in technology infrastructure for five consecutive years, currently has over 17,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots. Leung wants to double the number of hotspots within three years to provide the free services at all public rental housing estates, public hospitals, markets, park, sitting-out areas, promenades and tourist spots. The internet is of increasing importance to us, Leung said, adding that the speed of Wi-Fi connections should also be improved and security ought to be enhanced. South Koreas president yesterday urged North Koreas only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyangs recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. Park Geun-hyes comments came as Seoul said North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing her and her government as mad dogs as Cold War-style propaganda warfare continued between the rivals. South Korea, the United States and others are pushing hard to impose fresh sanctions and other punitive measures on the North for what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb test one week ago. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the Norths diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is seen as key. Park said in a nationally televised news conference that South Korea will push as hard as it can for strong sanctions that can force change in North Korea. But, she said, Chinese help is crucial. Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner, Park said, referring to China and South Koreas need to punish the North. I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role. Beijing has recently shown signs that its losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocation. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. Responding to the Norths test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China, to end business as usual with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment on the North. In the wake of the nuclear test, the two Koreas have settled into a Cold War-era standoff. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border, and the North is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Park said South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool. Park said past broadcasts helped frontline North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyangs authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth, she said. Her military announced yesterday it has found hundreds of anti-Seoul leaflets near the western portion of the Koreas border. The Defense Ministry believes those leaflets were floated over by the Norths military. It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the Norths claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. Hyung-Jin Kim, Seoul, AP The Philippine Supreme Court yesterday declared as constitutional a defense pact that allows American forces, warships and planes to temporarily base in local military camps, in a boost to U.S. efforts to reassert its presence in Asia as China rises to regional dominance. Ten of the 15 members of the high court also ruled that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which was signed by U.S. and Philippine officials in 2014 and has a 10-year lifespan, is an executive agreement that does not need Senate approval, court spokesman Theodore Te said. EDCA is not constitutionally infirm as an executive agreement, Te said at a news conference after the justices long-awaited vote. The ruling will bolster U.S. efforts to reassert its presence in Asia and dovetails with Philippine efforts to harness Americas help in addressing Chinas aggressive acts in the disputed South China Sea. Washington immediately welcomed the courts decision, saying the defense pact is a mutually beneficial accord that will bolster both countries ability to respond to disasters and strengthen the Philippines military. Left-wing activists said they would consider filing an appeal, adding that U.S. military presence wont solve the countrys worries over China in the disputed waters. This is another sad day for Philippine sovereignty, said left-wing activist Renato Reyes, who was one of those who challenged the legality of the defense accord before the high court. We maintain that the EDCA is not the solution to the problems of Chinas incursions. The Department of Foreign Affairs said that with the courts decision, the Philippines and the U.S. can finalize the full implementation of an agreement that is a critical component of efforts to strengthen national security and disaster relief capabilities. This decision bodes well for deepening our defense cooperation with a key ally, and will redound to improving our capability to perform our mandate to protect our people and secure the state, said armed forces chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri. The Philippines has turned to Washington as it scrambles to strengthen its military, one of the most ill-equipped in Asia, to deal with an increasingly assertive China in the South China Sea. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said the courts ruling boosts the ongoing military modernization program, and will introduce the armed forces to the most modern equipment, which will allow a generational leap in our abilities. The long-simmering disputes involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have escalated in recent years. Tensions have been especially high since Beijing transformed seven disputed reefs into islands on which it is now constructing runways and facilities that rival claimants say can be used militarily in an already very tense region. Nearly a century of U.S. military presence in the Philippines ended in 1992 when Americans shut their bases, including the largest military facilities outside the U.S. mainland, after Filipino senators voted a year earlier not to renew the lease on the bases amid a tide of nationalism. A resurgent territorial dispute with China in the mid-1990s, however, prompted Manila to reach out to Washington. In 1998, the U.S. and the Philippines signed the Visiting Forces Agreement, allowing large numbers of American forces to return to the country for joint military exercises each year. The 2014 defense pact allows the Americans to stay in facilities within Philippine military camps, where they can also station warships and fighter jets in a presence that Filipino officials hope will serve as a deterrent against Chinese aggression in disputed territories. At least eight local camps have been designated as harboring areas for the Americans, including some located near the South China Sea and in areas prone to natural disasters, according to the Philippine military. Teresa Cerojano, Manila, AP All 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran after drifting into its territorial waters a day earlier have been freed, the U.S. and Iran said yesterday. The Navy said the American crewmembers returned safely and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. The sailors departed the island at 8:43 a.m. GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors presence in Iran, the U.S. statement said. The Revolutionary Guards official website published images of the detained U.S. sailors before their release showing them sitting on the floor of a room. One was a woman with her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. After determining that their entry into Irans territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters of the Persian Gulf, a statement posted online by the Guard said. Gen. Ali Fadavi, the Navy chief of Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted earlier yesterday by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown that the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of mechanical problems in their navigation system. U.S. officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident. U.S. officials had said on Tuesday that Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. Fadavi said the American boats had shown unprofessional acts for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the countrys territorial waters. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as innocent passage. The sailors were nonetheless allowed to make contact with the U.S. military based on Irans responsibilities and Islamic mercy late Tuesday, he said. Fadavi said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif had a firm stance during a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on their presence in Irans territorial waters and said they should not have come and should apologize. The Revolutionary Guards 200,000-strong force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system. The Guards naval forces are heavily dependent on fast-moving armed speedboats that can be used in teams to swarm much larger vessels. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press yesterday that the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Ali Akbar Dareini & Adam Schreck, Tehran, AP If Chinas financial woes spell doom for Germanys automakers, somebody forgot to tell Daimler. Its Mercedes-Benz brand recorded a 31 per cent jump in China sales in December, according to figures released on Friday, bringing the 2015 China increase to 33 per cent. Chinese buyers have snapped up 500 high-end Mercedes Maybachs every month since the model launched in the country in the February. Yet regardless of that success, Daimlers shares have gyrated violently whenever China sneezes, as have other German automaker stocks. Daimler and BMW have lost a combined 24 billion euros (USD26 billion) in market capitalization since the start of December on fears their China sales will come unstuck if the yuan falls and the Chinese economy stalls. A devalued Chinese currency would harm the ability of local buyers to afford luxury-imported vehicles and push up the cost of importing components from Europe for the vehicles the carmakers produce in China. But to an extent, weve been here before. When the Chinese stock market crashed in August and Chinas central bank moved to devalue the yuan, some analysts predicted German automakers would soon be forced to warn on profits. It didnt happen. Make no mistake, China is hugely important for Germanys automakers. BMWs China sales increased from 11.6 per cent of the total in 2010 to 21.6 per cent in 2014. But a plunging Chinese stock market doesnt lead automatically to carmageddon (stocks arent widely held), nor must a devaluation prove disastrous (German carmakers are manufacturing an increasing proportion of vehicles locally with Chinese joint venture partners). Daimlers exuberant sales somewhat exaggerate the health of Chinese demand. Its performance is explained partly by its rebound from a faulty Chinese sales and distribution model that Daimler has since fixed. Some German carmakers have fared less well of late in China, with Audi recording a 1.4 percent sales drop in 2015. In the first 11 months, BMW sales only rose by 2.4 percent, compared to the double-digit growth it enjoyed there in the past. Yet Mercedes-Benz is selling cars that rich Chinese consumers evidently still want. Sales of the S-Class saloon are booming, regardless of the supposed new modesty in China after a crackdown on corruption. China accounted for one-third of all S-Class sales last year. Admittedly, competition with local Chinese carmakers has increased, putting pressure on the prices German automakers can charge. Yet, thanks in part to a tax cut for small-engine vehicles, the overall Chinese car market is expected to expand about 5-7 percent in 2016, which isnt too shabby under the circumstances. And amid all the wailing over the yuan, its easy to forget that until recently the euro was the sharply devaluing currency causing policymakers concern. As euro-dollar hedges taken out two years ago start to fall away this year, German carmakers should start to enjoy more of a boost to U.S. profits. Even if the yuan suffered a 20 percent correction against the euro, hedging would cushion much of the short-term pain for German automakers and it would return the yuan to levels last seen in 2012-2013 a period when BMW and its compatriots had no complaint about China profits. Providing investors can be reassured that Chinas rulers have not lost control over events, the sell-off may therefore be a buying opportunity, at least as far as Daimler is concerned. Because of its range of sporty new models, Daimler is beloved by analysts. Yet its stock trades at only 7.7 estimated earnings for the next 12 months, a discount to BMWs 8.6 times. That makes Daimler a luxury investors can afford. Chris Bryant, Bloomberg The Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, claims that cases of human smuggling between mainland China and Macau were intensively fought during the last year. The police arrested more than 1,800 illegal immigrants within the first three quarters of 2015, the Macao Daily News reported. The number of instances of individual smuggling has increased. One of the factors behind that increase, according to local authorities, has been the stringent visa policies for both mainland China and Southeast Asian residents. Wong believes that 99 percent of the smugglers came to Macau to pursue work illegally. Wong pointed out that the Customs services and other security forces have been working together, mentioning that in the event of a suspicious case, all documents on the smugglers will be shared in order to prevent their ill-intentioned actions in the short-term. Meanwhile, the Judiciary Police will focus on information analysis, identifying and using important clues to investigate the smuggling groups. Secretary Wong clarifies that cooperation has been running smoothly. Since Handover Day last year, Macau is now officially administrating a sea area of 85 square kilometers. Maintaining maritime order and security became a top priority for the region in order to take full advantage of the areas potential. A predominantly one-topic blog: how is it that the most imminent and lethal implication for humankind - the fact that the doctrine of "Mutually Assured Destruction" will not work with Iran - is not being discussed in our media? Until it is recognized that MAD is dead, the Iranian threat will be treated as a threat only to Israel and not as the global threat which it in fact is. A blog by Mladen Andrijasevic JEROME A Jerome woman was sentenced Monday to three years of probation for defrauding her insurance company. Natalie Nadine Orosco, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of felony insurance fraud Nov. 16, according to a statement by Attorney General Lawrence Wasdens office. By pleading guilty, Orozco admitted to knowingly providing a false statement to her insurance company, American Family Insurance. Fifth District Judge John K. Butler sentenced Orosco to two to five years in prison but suspended the sentence and put her on the three-year probation, the attorney generals office said. She was also ordered to pay $1,662 in restitution to American Family Insurance, a $500 fine and serve 100 hours of community service. Orosco was charged May 22, 2015, with two counts of insurance fraud, but one count was dropped by the prosecution, court records said. Deputy Attorney General Krista Howard from the Insurance Crime Unit prosecuted the case. American Family Insurance contacted the Idaho Department of Insurances Fraud Investigation Unit after discovering Orosco defrauded the insurance provider, the attorney generals office said. Orosco reported in April 2013 her engagement ring was lost and also filed a report with the Twin Falls Police Department saying her ring was lost with a value of $15,000, the attorney generals office said. The insurance company investigated the claim and found that Orosco pawned the ring in 2012 and reclaimed it in April 2013, just a day before she filed her insurance claim. TWIN FALLS College of Southern Idaho President Jeff Fox says hes ecstatic and grateful about a possible boost in higher education funding. Education was the major focus of Gov. C.L. Butch Otters State of the State address and budget proposal released Monday. He calls for increasing spending on community colleges by 9.6 percent. If approved by legislators, it would have a wider impact beyond community colleges, Fox said. Its actually funding the future for Idaho. As the states economy improves, the governor has recognized the importance of education as the economic engine, Fox said. At the legislature, the last couple of years focused on K-12 spending, he added. Otters budget proposal includes an extra $5 million for the Idaho Opportunity Scholarship for a total of $10 million. Its available to students attending in-state colleges and universities. Plus, Otter is proposing a new scholarship the Completion Scholarship with $5 million in funding. It would provide help for Idahoans who left college, with the goal of encouraging them to finish their degree. Right now, CSI doesnt have a good mechanism for bringing back students who drop out, Fox said. As the legislative session ramps up, CSI officials are also waiting to see what happens with their budget requests. CSIs vice president of administration Jeff Harmon who oversees college finances wasnt available to comment Tuesday. In May, CSI sent off a request for about $549,000 in state money for fiscal year 2017 for a few initiatives.Theres a good chance most of them will be funded, Fox said. Some unfunded requests are being carried over from the 2016 fiscal year. But the colleges top priority is new: $238,800 to hire four new employees for the dual credit program. The student service specialists would help with advising, admission, registration and payments. Dual credit which allows Idaho high school juniors and seniors to take college-level classes has grown exponentially. Now, high school students make up 30 percent of CSIs student body. More than 4,000 students from 32 Idaho counties are expected to take CSI dual credit classes this school year. The growth can be linked partly to a Fast Forward program, launched in 2014 by the Idaho Department of Education. Juniors can get reimbursed for up to three dual credits (typically, one class) or $195 to pay for exams. Seniors can get six dual credits reimbursed or $390 for exams. In its 2017 budget request, CSI is also asking for $90,700 to hire an institutional researcher. Data can uncover trends such as why students may not be graduating. Plus, the state and federal governments require tons of reporting, Fox said. CSI also wants to hire quality adjunct faculty members on a temporary basis to work with at-risk students struggling with math and science, Fox said. Those are areas people find as a barrier to success. TWIN FALLS | Eastern Idaho got a state-funded crisis center in Idaho Falls in 2014. Northern Idaho got a state-funded crisis center in Coeur dAlene in December 2015. The Magic Valley could be next. Gov. C.L. Butch Otter is proposing $1.72 million in funding for another crisis center to be built in southern Idaho. Does this mean the Magic Valley? It could, but there is a competitive application process and a possibility that, if Twin Falls were to go for it, it would be competing with an application from the Boise area. And for an application to win, it would need strong local buy-in and commitment to provide some of the money after the initial state money runs out. The centers are open 24 hours a day and provide a temporary place for people having mental health or substance abuse crises, providing police with a place to take them other than to jail or a hospital. While people are there, they can be connected with mental health and addiction services. Its just much more of an effective and humane way, said state Department of Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan. So far, the state has funded the two centers in Idaho Falls and Coeur dAlene. If lawmakers leave the third one in the 2016-2017 budget, it would likely go in the southwestern or south-central area of the state, Shanahan said. Local law enforcement agencies and others seem to be in favor of bringing it to the Magic Valley. We toured the Eastern Idaho facility, and I think its a great benefit to the community, said Lori Stewart, spokeswoman for the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office. It offers help and resources to people who might otherwise fall between the cracks. It gives them a place to go where there are immediate resources. We would love to have it here. We are extremely supportive of the idea, said Brian Pike, deputy city manager for public safety in Twin Falls. Weve had background discussions with the major stakeholders the Department of Health and Welfare, Twin Falls city and county about how it would benefit the area. We want to make sure its sustainable once state funding runs outs. If were chosen, we want to make sure we can move it forward. Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, said she would like to see a crisis center in the Magic Valley, but that local government, law enforcement and health-care providers are going to have to do their homework and figure out what they need to do if they want one. Idaho Falls competed with applications both from Coeur dAlene and from Boise for its center. We looked at pretty much the community involvement there, as far as what kind of investment do we have, or stakeholder involvement do we have, from law enforcement, hospitals, counties and cities in the area, Shanahan said. What the center does From its opening in mid-December 2014 until the end of last year, the Behavioral Health Crisis Center of East Idaho received 2,359 visits, Director Brenda Price said. We start with a nursing assessment, Price said of a routine patient visit. The nurse will start the interview, and a case manager will sit in, if available. We make sure the individual is medically stable, and once thats determined, a case manager will do a full assessment. After the assessment, clients are referred to sources in the community, most often mental health counselors or substance abuse agencies, Price said. Just doing that can be a huge step because people often dont know where to turn for help. We also see a number of patients who are suicidal, Price said. So the case managers do an evaluation to try to reduce that risk. The center is open 24 hours a day, and the longest a patient can stay during one visit is 23 hours, 59 minutes. Some people have had more than one period of care, Price said. Some conditions are chronic, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. But many of the clients we see, we help them manage anxiety or recover from depression, and just see them once. Were keeping them out of the hospital, keeping them living independent, keeping them happy about their lives. The benefits Law enforcement often gets called when a person is having a mental health or substance abuse crisis, and that puts officers under pressure, Pike said. The officers have to make an assessment, and that puts them in a tough position, Pike said. If the person hasnt committed a crime, well do they pose a harm? The officer is in a tough position if something happens after that contact. Right now the only options are to arrest them or put them in a protective custody hold. But with a crisis center in the Magic Valley, local law enforcement agencies could refer or take people who are in crisis to the center. In eastern Idaho, 21 law enforcement agencies have referred clients to the crisis center, and according to Price, the officers are seeing the difference. When youre law enforcement, youre always making judgement calls, Price said. Good on them bringing them here, theres a difference between crime and crisis, and officers are noticing that. With the added resource of the crisis center, law enforcement agencies and hospitals in eastern Idaho are saving both time and money. In just more than a year, Behavioral Health Crisis Center of East Idaho has saved law enforcement agencies an estimated 1,165 hours by referring 259 clients to the center, Price said. The savings are just as dramatic for hospitals, which have saved an estimated $281,124 in emergency room costs by referring 228 clients to the crisis center, Price said. Hospitals have also helped divert 138 inpatient hospitalizations, saving hospitals an estimated $483,000 on inpatient hospital services. This center saves money, Price said. We have people who have been homeless and using drugs come in here and decide they want a different life. They get connected. They get a job and become tax payers. You cant beat that. When theyre functioning at a higher level, they can get housing and stabilize their family. Its a system savings. Those kind of net-positives are what the governor and others look at when spending the money to establish the center. Out of the initial $1.72 million in state money, $200,000 would be earmarked for finding a location and the rest would go toward initial operating expenses. The role of local government and various community organizations in providing financial support starts with helping the center get set up. In both Coeur dAlene and Idaho Falls, local groups had to donate items such as construction, furnishings or bedding. The goal, Shanahan said, is for the communities to pay half the operational costs after two years, thus freeing up state money to open more crisis centers. Anyone who benefits from having this facility, were hoping will see the value of it and help to contribute to the expenses of it, he said. Speaking to lawmakers last year in his State of the State address, Gov. C.L. Butch Otter dared legislators to be bold in a lofty, inspiring speech. So as you begin your deliberations today, dont limit yourselves. Think big. Be bold. Act decisively. Reflect the Idaho values you were sent here to represent, the governor said. And as you consider the magnitude of the work ahead and how it will benefit the citizens we serve, keep looking up toward higher aspirations. This year in his speech, delivered Monday in the Capitol, Otters eyes werent so much turned upward as they were buried in tissues he reached for often during his address before a joint session of the Legislature. Clearly, the governor has a nasty cold. Otter has a good health plan, but the same cant be said for 78,000 Idahoans caught in the so-called coverage gap. They dont qualify for Medicaid and dont earn enough for tax credits that could help them buy insurance on the state-run exchange. Last week, the governor presented his plan to insure those people, by redirecting $32 million from cigarette taxes. Essentially, the plan robs Peter to pay Paul, since it would erase cigarette tax money already earmarked for important state projects like aquifer recharge. Under Otters plan, those projects would have to find new funding sources. Where? Well, nobody quite knows for sure. Otter hardly mentioned the plan in his State of the State speech, even though its likely to be one of the most hotly debated issues of this session. Democrats were quick to pounce, rightly pointing out that Otters proposal offers the opposite of a comprehensive insurance policy it would not cover hospitalizations or prescriptions, for example. And further, Democrats said, Idaho wouldnt have to be spending any of this money had it adopted the federal Medicaid expansion program under Obamacare. Theres exactly zero chance the Idaho GOP will do an about-face and adopt a federal program engineered by their worst enemy, Barack Obama. So lawmakers will have to play the cards they dealt themselves and find the funding here at home. Two Magic Valley lawmakers Rep. Fred Wood of Burley and Sen. Lee Heider of Twin Falls, chairmen of the Health and Welfare committees in their respective chambers have already spent countless hours working toward a solution. Whatever compromise is struck, it will have to come with the blessing of these men, who, lucky for us, are both level-headed and pragmatic lawmakers. But now the clock is really ticking. The session is underway, and the leadership has promised it will be a short one. Money will be hard to come by, especially if lawmakers champion Otters call for an additional $160.5 million in education spending and $5 million to fix the states broken public defenders system both worthy causes deserving of the money. As much as lawmakers would like to cut taxes (it is, after all, an election year), now clearly isnt the time. If anything, an increase in the cigarette tax is worthy of consideration to help fund expanded insurance. There are real needs, and its going to take real money to satisfy them. Let the session begin. If spending money means good governing, then Mike Simpson is your man. This so-called omnibus bill is a complete disaster, but to the liberal side it wasn't enough yet. Mr. Simpson took very little time writing op-eds to defend his support. Things like, it's good for Idaho. We added $600 million to fight fires instead of language to treat fire suppression as a natural disaster. In another article by Tom Vilsack on the same day as this bill he says he won't let any more Forest Service money be used for this. That's been about $700 million. So where does that leave us. My math (that isn't Common Core) says we will be short $100 million. And the "Waters of the United States" that is so critical for our ag-based economy wasn't included either. But the money for refugee settlement was kept intact and even added to. Every day there is a new article on the corruption of every phase of government. The government accountability office, which is supposedly non-political, says in the last 10 years we have lost $1.3 trillion in Medicaid over payments and EIC fraud. That is $140 billion a year almost. Waste and fraud weren't even addressed in this bill. Even the defense budget, which we do need, has tremendous waste and fraud. But we didnt shut down the government, only added to our debt. Congressman Simpson consistently votes against our other three representatives to the federal government, but he is smarter than they are, you know. And this is governing. He has been in Congress since we had $5.5 trillion in debt and even one year almost a balanced budget. We are now in debt about 19 trillion and he has voted for most of it. Our Constitution gives the power of the purse or the checkbook to the House, of which he is a member but he seems to ignore that fact. He is a very poor congressman and his votes show that. He only votes for appeasement, and in the end those votes hurt both our state and our country now and in the near future. We owe our kids and grandkids more than that. This cant go on, and he will probably be re-elected because he has an R behind his name. Congress could have come up with a bill that would have done exactly like this one but without all the extras but Christmas was coming. That is the very reason Mr. Trump will be elected. If he does only about a third of what he says it will be a tremendous improvement to what we have now. Morris L. Greenwell Hazelton Mutunga says 80% politicians not fit for public office SGR deal was structured to earn huge commissions Fighting graft cartels leads to exile or death Judiciary, investigators, EACC corrupt Anger against corruption to determine 2017 poll outcome OUTGOING Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has said Kenya is run by mafia-style cartels of political chiefs and corrupt business people. Eighty per cent of political leaders are not fit to hold office and corruption has never been worse in the bandit economy, he said. In an interview with Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad published yesterday, Mutunga said Kenya harbours mafia-style criminals like Al Capones mob in 1920s America. They collect millions every day, he said. The influence of the cartels is overwhelming. They do illegal business with politicians. If we do not fight the cartels, we become their slaves. But leaders who do take on the cartels must be prepared to be killed or exiled, Mutunga said. His five-year term expires on June 1 and the 69-yearold jurist has already made waves by saying hate speech has pushed Kenya to the edge of an abyss of ethnic violence in next years election. In his interview, Mutunga said President Uhuru Kenyatta is dedicated to fighting corruption and this has set cartels against each other. Whenever President Uhuru talks about cartels, he is angry, maybe because the cartels are messing up his political programme or he genuinely wants to dismantle them. He is serious, Mutunga said. Corruption reaches from the very bottom to the very top, he said. Yes, I am now at the top. Im riding a tiger, hoping the monster will not devour me. But as long as I fight the cartels and they are protected, you cannot achieve anything. You are taking these people into a corrupt investigating system, through a corrupt anti-corruption system, and a corrupt judiciary, the CJ said. He added: If our constitution and clause Chapter 6 about corruption were implemented, I am sure 80 per cent [of politicians] would not be suitable for political leadership. Mutunga said a bribe collected by a policeman from a motorist is shared all the way up to police headquarters. Larger cartels make money through trafficking illegal migrants, counterfeit money, weapons, drugs and consumer goods, he said. Some operate along ethnic lines, sometimes overshadowing the government, the CJ said. In Kenya, the counterfeit economy is worth $1.2 billion (Sh122 billion) annually, according to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. It supports politicians in a big way, Mutunga said. He said the $3.8 billion (Sh388.7 billion) standard gauge railway being built by a Chinese company should have been divided up among different companies in Kenyas best interest. Now we deal only with the Chinese. The deal is based on commission. Guys are saying: we just had expensive elections where we spent Sh10 billion ($100m). We have to get it from somewhere. Or we have to think about the election in 2017 and we need a war chest. So you have all that stealing. Losers on big tenders come to court and say: under the constitution this tender for the railroad did not have public participation. It was single sourced, it was corrupt, Mutunga said. He said Kenyas army fighting militants in Somalia protects traders smuggling goods into Kenya through Kismayu port. He cited a UN report and Journalists for Justice. The army denies the accusations. Jailbreak! Man, it took me a while to get this guys up, especially considering they are not all that well done. But anyway, here they are. I was part of t... 9 years ago Two U.S. naval small boats with 10 sailors onboard were hailed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps after they allegedly violated the countrys territorial waters. Ben Rhodes, a deputy White House national security adviser, said they are working to resolve the situation and free the sailors, underlining that it is a situation that they track very closely. The incident occurred hours before President Obama delivers his State of the Union address and days before sanctions imposed on Iran are to be eased following the nuclear agreement. FARS news agency reported that the boats illegally entered Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf for about two kilometers and were equipped with three 50-caliber machine guns. NBC reported that the two boats strayed into Iranian waters after one of them had mechanical difficulties while Ben Rhodes stated that the boats were on Patrol in the Persian Gulf and were reportedly coming from Kuwait going to Bahrain before being arrested near the Farsi Island. A U.S. official said Iranian authorities informed them about the safety and well-being of our personnel and they have received assurances that the sailors will promptly be allowed to continue their journey. Some Republican presidential candidates are calling for a response once the sailors are freed. Secretary of State John Kerry had a telephone discussion with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif over the issue according to a source. Tensions between the two countries are being eased by the nuclear agreement reached in July last year. This is not the first time Iran has seized western sailors in the Gulf. In March 2007, 15 British sailors were detained by Iran off Iraq and held for 13 days. Sectarian violence could increase in Iraq after an attack by the Islamic State targeting Shias provoked revenge attacks against Sunni mosques. At the height of Iraqs civil war, which began nearly a decade ago with the ousting of Saddam Hussein, such mosque attacks often unleashed revenge killings and counter-attacks across the country. Authorities are trying to calm down the situation by condemning the attacks. Abdul Lateef Al Himayim, head of Iraqs government body overseeing Sunni religious sites, said the extremist group is in a desperate attempt to destroy Iraqi unity. The attack back by the extremist group was condemned by the international community and the UN signaled that such actions would drag the country back into the ark days of sectarian strife. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday that Baghdad is facing a double shock arising from ISIS attacks and the sharp drop in global oil prices. There are claims that the Shia militants who have been instrumental in helping government forces fight the Islamic State were among those involved in the revenge attacks. Amal Omran, a Shiite member of the Diyala council, blamed the mosque attacks on infiltrators seeking to smear the image of the militias. At least seven Sunni mosques and dozens of shops in eastern Iraq were attacked with Molotov bombs and ten people reportedly shot in Muqdadiya, 80km northeast of Baghdad. The attacks were perpetrated in retaliation to the ISIS attacks against Shias that left 50 people dead on Monday. In an apparent new move to broaden its propaganda, the Islamic State launched a satellite channel from Mosul on Sunday under the name Bein HD4 and it is being broadcasted on Nilesat, an Egyptian satellite company. Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom criticized Israels military actions against Palestinians and urged for the vital need to investigate the deaths in the recent outbreak of violence in the interest of accountability. Her comments during a parliamentary debate triggered reactions from Tel Aviv with the foreign ministry stressing that such statements were irresponsible and delusional for they support terrorism and encourage violence. The latest surge of violence which began since early October is characterized by daily knife stabbings, car ramming and shootings by Palestinians targeting Israeli civilians and soldiers killing 21 people. Israels security personnel and armed civilians have also killed at least 133 Palestinians. The majority was killed during confrontations with security forces and 83 of the casualties are said to be those who committed or attempted to attack Israelis. Wallstrom called for a thorough, credible investigation into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability. The UN, U.S. and E.U. expressed concern saying that while they recognize Israels right to self-defense, restraint is necessary to ensure the violence does not escalate further. Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups have often lamented that Israels security forces use excessive force against Palestinian attackers even when they have been neutralized but authorities say it was necessary due to the danger that the troops are exposed to in such situations. The Swedish foreign ministers statements directed at Israel have always been met with strong reactions following the recognition of Palestine as a state by the Social democrats after they took over power in the 2014 general elections. Last year, she said the violent actions of Palestinians could be justified by the frustration they have been faced with due to Israels 48year occupation of their lands. Following the suicide bomb attack in Istanbul Tuesday that killed 10 tourists, including eight Germans, Turkish authorities have detained around 68 alleged members of the Islamic State group nationwide as they believe that the group was behind the attack although the group has not claimed responsibility yet. Three of those arrested are Russian citizens. In a phone call with President Erdogan, Chancellor Angela Merkel described the attack as a murderous act. The suicide attack which took place in Sultan Ahmet Square in central Istanbul is said to have been carried out by a man who entered the country from Syria. Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper identified the bomber as 27 year old Saudi Arabian born Nabil Fadli who left Saudi Arabia together with his family at the age of eight. The newspaper added that he held a Syrian citizenship. According to Turkish based Hurriyet newspaper, security forces had been warned by the intelligence services weeks earlier of a possible suicide attack with foreigners as targets. The effects of the attack was easily felt as the Turkish Lira stayed under pressure but avoided sharp losses as it reached 3.0488 to a dollar; its lowest since the bomb attack in September. Tourism is one of the sectors expected to suffer most from the increasing bomb attacks and analysts think that a depreciation of the currency is possible because of unfavorable broad economic backdrop. The negative effect of the terrorist attack has been short-lived but the general mood in the market is lira-negative, said XTB Securities in a note and a trader added that the lira traded in accordance with emerging markets after the initial reaction to the news. Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen The Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Tuesday said it is working towards registering eight million new voters ahead of the next year General Election. The Electoral Body is to launch a major countrywide campaign next month targeting at least four million new voters, after it emerged that the ongoing registration attracted only 156,000 new voters. If it meets the target of eight million, the number of registered voters in the country will increase to 22.4 million. The commission, led by Issack Hassan, said it had presented a budget to the Treasury for its electoral activities up to 2017, but admitted that lack of enough funds could affect the planned voter registration exercise. The National Treasury allocated the commission Sh500 million for voter registration against a request of Sh2 billion ($ 300 million). According to Hassan, his institution has ruled out buying more bio-metric voter registration (BVR) kits due to lack of sufficient funds. Due to the financial constraints we cannot buy more BVR kits and despite the challenges, we are ready to conduct a free and fair election, Hassan told reporters. He also urged politicians to mobilize their supporters to register. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara appointed a new cabinet on Tuesday following the resignation of Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan and his government last week. Ouattara, who won a second five-year term with nearly 84 percent of the votes, last October, reappointed Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan as finance minister of the worlds largest cocoa producer. Duncan was already renamed prime minister last week. The new cabinet was announced during a press briefing at the presidents office in the commercial capital, Abidjan, late on Tuesday. Most key people of the 36-member cabinet stayed in place. We want to move quickly to make sure that things on the ground progress speedily, Duncan said after the new cabinet had been announced. That explains why the framework of the government has been retained. There are a total nine women among the 36-member cabinet, Kablan said. Among the major changes, Sansan Kambile, previously the governments secretary general will now serve as justice minister, replacing Mamadou Gnenema Coulibaly. Albert Toikeusse Mabri, formerly planning minister, replaces Charles Diby Koffi as foreign minister. The defence portfolio will continue to be held by president Ouattara himself. Shortly after winning the presidency in October, Ouattara has promised to reduce poverty, promote ethnic and political reconciliation, write a new constitution and share the benefits of an economic boom more widely following nearly a decade of crisis that culminated in a civil war in 2011. Cote dIvoire is the worlds top cocoa producer, and its economy has been steadily growing at around 9 percent per annum in recent years but large segments of the population say they have not benefitted from this. The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may hold an emergency meeting in the first quarter if prices remain at current levels, Nigerian oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, said in an interview in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. We did say that if the price hits the 35 dollars per barrel, we will begin to look at an extraordinary meeting, Kachikwu said at the Gulf Intelligence UAE Energy Forum. The US crude oil price tumbled below $31 a barrel Tuesday, extending a sell-off that has pushed it to more than 12-year lows amid a global supply glut, a strong dollar, and tepid demand. Members are already engaged in informal discussions with some non-OPEC producers, including Russia, to join any future production cut to shore up prices, Kachikwu said. Saudi-led Gulf exporters within OPEC have so far refused to cut production to curb sliding prices. They [Gulf Arab producers] have poured cold water on previous calls for early meetings by cash-strapped members such as Venezuela and Algeria, saying that output cuts wont work without the participation of big non-OPEC producers. Kachikwu, who was president of OPEC until the end of December, said that member states differ on the issue of intervention. One group feels there is a need to intervene. The other group feels even if we did, we are only 30 to 35 percent of the producers really, as 65 percent of supply comes from non-OPEC countries, he said. Unless you have this 65 percent (of) producers coming back to the table you really wont make any dramatic difference, he added. OPEC members, generally heavily dependent on petroleum revenues, have reeled during this oil-market downturn. French telecoms giant Orange on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel of India to acquire the latters operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone by 31 March 2016, as part of its strategy of investing in emerging markets. These acquisitions, according to Airtel, will be implemented in partnership with Oranges subsidiaries in Cote dIvoire and Senegal. The French-based telecoms provider said that the two deals mark an important step forward in Oranges dynamic growth strategy and will bring the groups African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016. The two transactions are subject to customary regulatory approvals. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros, Bharti Airtel said in a statement. As a reminder, in July 2015 Bharti Airtel entered into exclusive talks with Orange regarding the sale of four of its mobile operations in Africa, namely Chad, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso. Airtel has operations in 17 countries across Africa. It entered Africa in 2010 by acquiring Zain Telecoms assets for $10.7 billion, one of the largest acquisitions by an Indian telecom company. Besides, the company is divesting 15,000 towers to different companies in 13 countries in Africa. These acquisitions provide a clear illustration of Oranges international development strategy, which places a priority on accelerating growth in high-potential, emerging markets where the Group is not already present. Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. An Open Access Review Journal Encouraging Critical Engagement with the Continuing Process of Inventing the Middle Ages The goal of this blog and its posts are to bring you timely, relevant and important news from Frankfort. Opposition wants to meet PM over election issues By Messenger Staff The non-parliamentary opposition has expressed readiness to meet with Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili with regards to the proposed electoral reform. The appeal has been adopted at the meeting of the parliamentary inter-party group."The opposition welcomes your great desire to ensure the maximum participation in the important decision-making of our country, as well as your readiness to start meetings with representatives of society, businessmen and NGOs in the near future.Based on the abovementioned and the urgency of the issue, we express our readiness to meet you concerning the further developments of the electoral reform, says the appeal signed by the New Rights Party, the United Democratic Movement, the National Democratic Party, Free Georgia, the Civil Alliance for Freedom, the European Democrats, the Labor Party, the Patriotic Alliance, the Political Movement of Veterans and Patriots, the Union of Traditionalists and the Christian-Democratic Party.The signatories hope that Kvirikashvili will attempt more constructive cooperation with the opposition than his predecessor."The former Prime Minister believed that he would earn points by ignoring the oppositional political parties, but we all saw what he earned. We do hope that Giorgi Kvirikashvili will not be so stubborn and inadequate. We hope that we will be able to speak to him about the electoral system, said the representative of the Democratic Movement, Giorgi Akhvlediani.Georgia has a mixed electoral system in which 73 lawmakers in 150-seat Parliament are elected in 73 majoritarian, single-mandate constituencies; the remaining 77 seats are allocated proportionally under the party-list contest among political parties, which clear a 5% threshold.The opposition demands that the majoritarian component be scrapped, dubbing it unfair.However, the majority stresses that it is a complicated process and postponed introducing any electoral changes until after 2016. As compensation, the majority has offered the redistribution of certain electoral districts.The Georgian Constitutional Court delivered a verdict in May, 2015, which read that theexisting electoral districts undermine the equality of votes because of the misbalance in size of single-mandate constituencies some range from having over 150,000 voters, while others have less than 6,000.It is unlikely that the Georgian Dream coalition will scrap the majoritarian system, as they will be relying on it to assure their victory in the upcoming elections.However, constructive dialogue is necessary between political parties, especially with regards to state-important issues.Readiness for cooperation should be from all sides; the opposition should not assume that the sole task of opposition parties is the blind criticism of the ruling majority. However, the Government should also consider its relations with the opposition, and consider areas of compromise and cooperation. The News in Brief Two Georgians detained by Russian forces in Bershueti Two Georgians were detained by Russian border guards on Monday at the delineation line around the breakaway territory of South Ossetia. Saba Sekhniashvili and Lasha Glurjidze were trying to go to the Trinity Church, which lies in the village of Bershueti. Sekhniashvili managed to run away and avoid capture, but Glurjidze was detained and taken to Tskhinvali, the administrative center of the de facto republic, the perimeter of which has been patrolled by the border service of the Russian FSB since late 2008. Glurjidzes mother told journalists that her sons mobile phone was turned off soon after his detention. She said that her son wanted to light candles in the church together with some friends, when eight soldiers appeared. According to Davit Tsertsvadze, the head of municipality in Gori, the church stands on Georgian-controlled territory and the youngsters did not cross the de facto border. He says locals often go to the church. In November, Russian border forces detained three people in another village near the perimeter. They were on the way to church for Saint Georges Day when they were detained. Detainees are usually kept in a detention facility in Tskhinvali until they pay a border violation fine. (DF watch) New head of Georgian Dream Democratic Georgia to be appointed in spring The next congress of the Georgian Dream Democratic Georgia party will be held in the spring. The partys Executive Secretary Irakli Kobakhidze has told IPN. The new head will be elected on during the congress. According to the preliminary plan, the congress will be held in the spring. We cannot specify the precise date yet as we have not agreed on it, Irakli Kobakhidze said. Kobakhidze says the issue of candidates has not been solved yet. The post has been vacant since the former Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, left the position. (ipn) I would like to thank you for becoming a family member of each and every Georgian citizen PM to Patriarch I would like to thank you for becoming a family member to all the people living in Georgia, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili addressed the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness Ilia II, at a solemn dinner dedicated to his birthday. Kvirikashvili read an SMS from the Justice Minister aloud, which read that up to 60 000 babies were born in Georgia in 2015 and 48 000 people died. The number of those born has been more than those of dead for recent three years and the trend continues. Your initiative of baptizing children of those families where there are at least 3 children has greatly influenced Georgias demographic data. This initiative alone would cement your place in history if there were no other examples of your actions I would like to wish you to live long and be healthy, the PM told the Patriarch. (IPN) EU experts to improve Health Care Waste Management System in Georgia Experts from the European Union (EU) are coming to Georgia to support development of the Georgian Health Care Waste Management System (HCWM). The EU experts will provide information and recommendations on the revision and harmonisation of the Georgian HCWM regulations in order to align them with the EU norms and standards. The mission aimed to strengthen the existing Georgian management system of the Health Care Waste produced by medical settings. The European experts will come to Georgia within the framework of the EU the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission (TAIEX) Programme. The mission will take place between 18 and 22 January 2016. Beneficiary Institutions in Georgia will be the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia and the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health. (Agenda.ge) WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY? I can no longer remain in todays Demo Party that is now under the control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively undermine our freedoms, are hostile to people of faith, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after opponents.TULSI GABBARD Florida Gov. Rick Scott kicked off the 2016 state legislative session by touting his familiar goals for growing jobs, the economy and education funding. Scott touched on many statements during his State of the State address that PolitiFact Florida has previously fact-checked, as well as campaign promises we are tracking on our Scott-O-Meter . Scott made no mention, however, of one of the most controversial topics the Legislature will wrestle with this year: whether to allow open carry in Florida and allowing guns on college campuses . He also avoided talking about the death penalty, which unexpectedly became a new issue for legislators just a few hours before Scotts address when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Floridas death penalty system unconstitutional. As for what he did say, heres the PolitiFact Florida guide to its accuracy (well be updating with more work as we publish it). For more of our Scott coverage, check out his full Truth-O-Meter record . Keep reading here. @JeremySWallace In a move aimed partly at promoting unity in the Florida Legislature, the Senate easily passed legislation on Wednesday that ranked as a top priority of the Florida House. By a 37-0 vote, the Senate on Wednesday approved a new water policy bill that is being pitched as a plan to control pollution, restore natural water flows in springs and rivers and develop alternative waters supplies. It was no accident that the bill (SB 552) a top priority of House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island - passed the House shortly after Senate President Andy Gardiners top priority passed and was sent to the House for its approval. The Senate, by a 39-0 vote earlier, approved legislation to expand education options for special needs students in Florida. On Friday, the House will be in a position to pass top priorities for both legislative leaders. That puts the chamber in a far different posture than in 2015, when both issues died bitterly at the end of the Legislative session while lawmakers battled over health care policy issues and the state budget. The session ended when Crisafulli adjourned the House in April, days earlier than it was scheduled to end. That required lawmakers to hold a special session in June to pass a state budget before the July 1 deadline. Gardiner acknowledge the water bill was a top priority for Crisafulli, who he called a friend. He said too much has been made of the acrimony from last years session. He said he and Crisafulli have a good relationship and are working well together. Were off to a good start, Gardiner said. @JeremySWallace The first bill to pass the Florida Senate in 2016 was a piece of unfinished business from the disastrous conclusion of the 2015 session. The Senate voted 39-0 on Wednesday morning for legislation that promises to provide new post-secondary education options to students with special needs. Specifically it sets aside $8 million for colleges, universities and other schools to create higher education and transition programs for students with intellectual disabilities. It also designates $1.5 million for a statewide coordination center to help students with unique abilities and their parents find programs and services. Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said he envisions a clearinghouse that can help parents of special needs children find what kind of programs might be out there to help them. "Whenever a family finds out they have a child with unique abilities, we as a state say 'here are your list of options, here are the post secondary options,'" Gardiner said of his vision of how a key part of the legislation will work. The bill has been a top priority for Gardiner, but it was among dozens of proposals that died suddenly at the end of the 2015 Legislative Session. While the measure passed in the Senate 2015, it never made it to a vote in the House before the annual session ended abruptly over a budget dispute between the two chambers. "It was a really emotional and special day," said Gardiner, who has a son with down syndrome. But while a bill to help special needs students would seem uncontroversial, the bill did spark minor opposition from Democrats in the Senate because of a provision that would provide $14 million for school districts and charter schools that want to require school uniforms. Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, questioned why that provision was being included in a bill that deals primarily with students with special needs, given the uniform funding would not be limited to just special needs students. State Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, responded to Gibson saying the bill was about educational choice and the school uniform funding would be an option for schools. House Republicans sent mixed signals to Floridas immigrants Wednesday as one committee unanimously passed a bill to accept federal money to provide health insurance to 45,000 legal immigrant children, while two other committees passed measures that crack down on migrants who are in the state illegally. Farm and domestic workers from Homestead to Tampa appeared at the House Civil Justice Committee to urge lawmakers to reject HB 675 by Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, that would impose penalties of up to $5,000 a day on police, school and other local officials who fail to detain migrants facing deportation orders. The protestors then crowded into the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee to oppose HB 9 by Rep. Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, that would make it a felony for people to defy federal deportation orders. Despite the protests, and impassioned pleas from children and elders, both committees approved the bills along party-line votes with Democrats in opposition. The group warned that the bills will harm the ability of law enforcement to earn the trust of immigration communities, unnecessarily divide families and lead to massive costs for local governments. Story here. Gaby Garcia-Vera of the Florida Latina Advocacy Network in Miami spent nearly an hour translating the testimony of many of the workers and family members who came to the hearing. This is my family, he said. This is what Florida looks like when you invest in people and say they have dignity and we hope that you stand with us and fight against efforts to separate us and criminalize our families and seek to destroy the communities that we have helped build. Pamela Gomez with the Florida Immigrant Coalition in Tampa said that although she is an American citizen from the Dominican Republican, members of her family are undocumented and she lives in constant fear they could be detained or deported. As an African-American woman every day I go out into a community and when I see people with uniforms, I dont know they are going to deceive me or treat me with dignity, Gomez said. I fear for my parents. I fear for my brothers. my sisters and everyone behind me, and that should not be a fear that I live with. Metz said that while the appeals pull at the heart strings, his bill was designed to strengthen the rule of law. If we are going to have a porous border, people are getting here without a legal system, and when they get to our state we are saying we want the laws enforced, Metz said. He cited the murder of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco last July by a man who had been deported to Mexico five times and who has confessed to shooting her. That should never happen anywhere, and the intent of this bill is to make sure it never happens in the state of Florida, Metz said. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava urged the committee to honor the dignity and discretion of our local law enforcement to detain when necessary for public safety and said that the decision by the county to limit its cooperation with federal immigration authorities is saving the county $1 million per year. Miami-Dade adopted the policy against complying with federal immigration detention rules in 2013 because the jail had to bear most of the detention costs, and police feared the detentions would deter victims and witnesses of crimes in immigrant communities from coming forward. Under the policy, the county wont hold detainees for 48 hours to allow immigration officials to pick them up, unless there is a warrant for an arrest. Six other counties Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Palm Beach and Broward have enacted policies that also do not enforce federal deportation orders without a warrant. Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, said Metzs measure will put law enforcement, children and the public at risk because it subjects police to punitive measures if they fail to report and what was once trust will become fear and anxiety. People will be afraid to deal with the police. Crime victims, domestic-violence victims, human-trafficking victims, witnesses to a crime, even reporting a crime, will have a chilling effect based on this bill, she said. The mood was different in the House Health Innovation Subcommittee where Republicans ended their resistance to taking federal money for the uninsured and unanimously approved HB 89, which could draw as much as $30 million in federal Medicaid money to pay for health care for uninsured legal immigrant children. The bill, by Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, and Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, would steer the federal assistance through the states Kidcare program. While it does not expand Medicaid, it could help offset the cost of uncompensated care borne by hospitals. As many as 32,000 children could be eligible, and while some estimates say the cost to the state will be $500,000 other estimates predict it will result in a net savings of $230,000. The federal government gives states the option of insuring lawfully residing immigrant children and waiving the traditional five-year waiting period for public assistance. Despite these numbers, Florida Republicans have refused to insure these children until now. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said in his speech to the House chamber on the opening day of the session Tuesday that he believed it was time to pass the bill long-sought by Diaz and Garcia. These are kids that are here legally, who went through the system, whose parents worked hard to come here the right way to this country, Diaz told the committee. Yet the broken immigration system rewards them with the same emergency room care as someone who is not here legally, he said. What message does Florida send to those who go through the proper immigration channels? He predicted that by offering primary and preventive care to uninsured children at the earliest ages, the measure would save the lives of tens of thousands of people across the state. If theres one kid in Florida that we could help for this bill, were doing a damn good job, he said. @PatriciaMazzei The Republican Party's immigration split was reflected Tuesday in the two responses hand-picked party members gave -- one in English, one in Spanish -- to President Obama's final State of the Union address. The Spanish version, offered by a Cuban-American congressman from Miami, was decidedly softer. Here's what South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said in English: No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country. At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We cant do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined. We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries. I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to Americas noblest legacies. Here's what Miami Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said in Spanish (translation is ours): No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love the United States should ever feel unwelcome in this country. It's not who we are. At the same time, it's obvious that our immigration system needs to be reformed. The current system puts our national security at risk and is an obstacle for our economy. It's essential that we find a legislative solution to protect our nation, defend our borders, offer a permanent and human solution to those who live in the shadows, respect the rule of law, modernize the visa system and push the economy forward. I have no doubt that if we work together, we can achieve this and continue to be faithful to the noblest legacies of the United States. There were other differences in the speeches as well. Haley and Diaz-Balart each briefly mentioned their personal backgrounds, which are obviously not the same. Haley spoke about the Charleston shooting and removal of the Confederate flag (which she referred to only as a "symbol that was being used to divide us") while Diaz-Balart spoke more generally about "tragedies" in South Carolina and California. Diaz-Balart didn't make veiled references to presidential front-runner Donald Trump, while Haley warned against the "noise" in politics. And Diaz-Balart mentioned Cuba and Venezuela: Unfortunately, there are still countries where basic liberties are not respected and were governments don't represent their people. Mullahs in Iran, devoted to radical Islam and with nuclear ambitions, prohibit dissidence and jail independent journalists as 'spies.' In North Korea, the people remain isolated from the rest of the world without Internet access or mass media. And here, in our own hemisphere, the Cuban people have not had a free election in more than 57 years, and political detentions and oppression keep increasing. And the Venezuelan people suffers the existence of political prisoners and corruption in the most important democratic institutions. @PatriciaMazzei The Jeb Bush campaign on Wednesday welcomed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump to Florida by rolling out more endorsements from Florida House members. The 22 new names mean Bush can now claim backing from more than half the House GOP caucus (looks like 43 of 81 members). He had already secured the backing of 20 of 26 Republican state senators (and from House speakers past and present). Florida lawmakers began their annual session Tuesday. Trump will appear at a campaign rally Wednesday evening in Pensacola. Bush's long list of endorsements hasn't pushed the former governor to the top of the polls, not even in Florida. His campaign, however, has continued to highlight the support as a sign of an expansive, national organization that it's leveraging to knock on doors in early balloting states ahead of primaries and caucuses. Here's the list of the latest Bush endorsers, some of whom had already made their preference clear (on social media, for example): @PatriciaMazzei President Barack Obama dedicated a (short) paragraph in his final State of the Union address Tuesday to U.S.-Cuba policy. A year ago, he had only just announced his administration's plans to normalize diplomatic relations with the island. "Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy. It set us back in Latin America," Obama said. "That's why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people. So if you want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere, recognize that the Cold War is over. Lift the embargo." @PatriciaMazzei Allies of Marco Rubio defended their presidential candidates against attacks by allies of rival Jeb Bush on Wednesday -- even though Bush is trailing Rubio in the polls. Conservative Solutions PAC released a video calling Bush's campaign a "train wreck." Its pro-Bush counterpart, Right to Rise USA, has targeted Rubio in a recent spate of web and TV advertising. "Jeb Bush: After spending millions on his train-wreck campaign, he's fallen to throwing mud at Marco Rubio," the pro-Rubio video begins. Michael-in-Norfolk disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability, or availability of information or material displayed on this site and does not claim credit for any images or articles featured on this site, unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyrighted to it's respectful owners. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies, and Michael-in-Norfolk does not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the images or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact Michael-in-Norfolk via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. Michael-in-Norfolk contains links to other Internet sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience and are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information or content in such site has been endorsed or approved by this blog. "The wonderful Middle East Institute blogger Michael Collins Dunn noted the other day , the former Egyptian Defense Minister and Intelligence chief . . ." Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy "Michael Collins Dunn is the editor of . He also blogs. His summarizes a lot of material on the Iranian election and offers some sensible interpretation. If you are really interested in the Middle East, you should check him out regularly. Gary Sick, Gary's Choices "Since were not covering the Tunisian elections particularly well, and neither does , Ill just point you over . Its a great post by MEI editor Michael Collins Dunn, who . . . clearly knows the country pretty well." alle, Maghreb Politics Review "And bookmark that blog! Good posts, long posts, fast pace." again. "Ive followed Michael Collins Dunn over at the Middle East Institutes since its beginning in January this year. Overall, it is one of the best blogs on Middle Eastern affairs. It is a selection of educated and manifestly knowledgeable ruminations of various aspects of Middle Eastern politics and international relations in the broadest sense. davidroberts at The Gulf Blog "Michael Collins Dunn over at the indefatigable and ever-informative puts forward an focusing on what he sees to be some level of distortion of coverage of the Yemani conflict. " davidroberts at The Gulf Blog "What's amazing about this blog is not just the range of subjects covered but the clear expertise of the blogger in discussing them." John T., commenting on "Time Out for Something Completely Different: Punic and Berber Influences on Etruscan?" "Michael Collins Dunn, editor of the prestigious , wrote an interesting ' ' on the Berriane violence at his . It is a strong piece, but imperfect (as all things are) . . . kal, Middle East JournalMiddle East Institute Editors Blog Got some ideas about economics, policy, science, art or whatever, and you can write? Let us know here , we're looking for contributors! Mayor John Engen said Tuesday the city of Missoula will seek court supervision of Mountain Water Co., considering recent "shenanigans." Last week, The Carlyle Group sold the Missoula water system to Liberty Utilities, whose parent company is based in Canada, and the deal closed without full review by Montana regulators. "We're not convinced that they won't engage in other actions that aren't in the best interests of the citizens," Engen said. "So we're going to ask the court to understand what they're doing, monitor what they're doing and make sure we're not letting the folks we serve suffer at the end." Mountain Water General Manager John Kappes, though, said the sale hasn't changed the ethics of the employees at the water company or quality service for water users. "We continue to provide this community good service with the same employees. This transaction didn't change that," Kappes said. One day after the news broke that Mountain Water had changed hands, the city continued to march toward a purchase, and the mayor pointed to the sale as yet more evidence that Carlyle, Liberty and Liberty's parent company in Canada are untrustworthy. Kappes, though, maintains that Mountain staff continue to serve water customers as well as they ever have, and he cautioned the city against attempting to take the utility prematurely before the Montana Supreme Court issues a verdict in the eminent domain appeal. Meanwhile, the Montana Public Service Commission prepared to issue questions to the parties that transferred the Missoula water system outside its purview, an act its communications director said "shocked" the agency and was a first in Montana. *** The sale to Liberty was pending before the PSC, but the transfer without PSC approval came as a surprise to city officials, who are in a court process to buy Mountain Water. On Tuesday, the mayor said the city will not expedite its purchase of the water utility despite the change in ownership. He said the city plans to wait until the court has determined all related fees so he can take an exact purchase price to the Missoula City Council. "But we continue to reserve the right, at any time, if we feel that it's necessary or the system is somehow at risk, to take it sooner," Engen said. In June, Missoula County District Court ruled public ownership was "more necessary" than ownership by a private company, and it gave the city the right to use its power of eminent domain to buy Mountain Water. In November, three water commissioners determined the value of Mountain Water Co. to be $88.6 million. Officials said Liberty, which is owned by Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp. of Canada, paid $327 million for Mountain Water plus two other water companies in California. Kappes declined to comment on whether Liberty was prepared to accept $88.6 million for the Missoula water system. He said the defendants disagree ownership by the city is necessary, so they appealed the decision to the Montana Supreme Court. That appeal is pending. Liberty's Katy Cook directed questions to Kappes. *** Global investment firm Carlyle bought Mountain Water in 2011 with approval by the Montana Public Service Commission. In their final order, commissioners set conditions on the sale from a private family-owned business to the multinational Carlyle. "Those conditions include one that ensures the Commission will fully evaluate any future proposal by Carlyle to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of Mountain," according to the order. In the order, commissioners explained their rationale. They did not believe Carlyle intended to own the water utility for the long term, and they were concerned that a series of short-term owners would result in a "loss of stability" for the company. Commissioners said they were restricted from dictating the number of years an owner must keep an asset, but they had authority to place conditions on the sale. So they opted to put in place "rigorous financial and structural ... measures," including one that allowed the PSC to fully vet any future sale. Public Service Commission proceedings include public hearings and scrutiny, which did not take place in the sale to Liberty Utilities. Kappes, though, declined comment on the truncated sale process. "The decision to close the transaction ... was Liberty's business decision. I really can't speak to that business decision," he said. Kappes said the acquisition price will not affect rates, and any rate increases due to system improvements will go before the Public Service Commission for approval. He also said Liberty Utilities is based in the U.S. Mayor Engen, who has questioned the legality of the sale, said Mountain Water remains under the control of Missoula County Disrict Court, and the city will eventually own it. "The stock of Mountain Water is now owned by faceless, nameless investors from somewhere else. But for the city of Missoula, nothing has changed with regards to our rights to the assets," Engen said. "So, we're still in exactly the position we were last week, even though the stock may have changed hands." *** According to the mayor, the sale is yet another example that Carlyle and Algonquin aren't acting in good faith. "Based on what you've seen from Carlyle and what you're seeing from Algonquin, I'm not sure why there is any reason for any citizen of Missoula to trust either of those companies to do any of the things they say they're going to do," Engen said. He also said Kappes cannot be taken at his word if he purports to speak on behalf of a parent company because he isn't privy to higher-level conversations. "If John Kappes as a representative of Liberty Utilities is telling you something, I would not trust Liberty Utilities. Remember, this is the guy who wasn't above the line on most of this information, and my understanding is that Mr. Kappes, because this deal closed, made a whole lot of money," Engen said. In court, Kappes admitted he was in the dark on some of Carlyle's plans, but he said he knew what was necessary to run the company locally. He was slated to receive shares from the sale by Carlyle, but he said Tuesday the shares have yet to be finalized. He declined to disclose their worth, noting the deal is between him and the equity firm. On Monday, the parties to the sale filed notice that they were withdrawing their transfer application with the Public Service Commission. However, the PSC hasn't acted on the notice of withdrawal, so it's still an active docket, according to Eric Sell, communications director. On Tuesday, he said commissioners will solicit comments from the parties regarding their notice; a District Court judge had stayed PSC proceedings on the matter, but she agreed to partially lift the restrictions to allow the agency to question Carlyle, Liberty and Mountain Water. Montanas superintendent of public instruction motored to Missoula on Wednesday to trumpet another record graduation rate last school year. Denise Juneau said the number hit 86 percent for the first time since the state began gathering and compiling such information in 2000. Dropout rates continued a downward trend to 3.4 percent. Thats a reduction of more than a third since 2009, when the statewide graduation rate was under 81 percent. We have a lot to be proud of, Juneau told a morning gathering in the front lobby of Sentinel High School. Her stage was well-chosen. Missoula County Public Schools led all Class AA school districts in both graduation and dropout rates, and Sentinel topped both categories for Montanas largest schools with a 92 percent graduation rate and just 14 dropouts from a four-year cohort of 277 students. The Missoula community implemented Montana's inaugural Graduation Matters initiative in January 2010. This is where it all started, Graduation Matters Missoula, learning what was going on on the ground here and scaling that up statewide, Juneau said. We talked to a lot of other communities across the state where it made sense to bring people to the table, have conversations about public education, look at the data, be truthful about it, and then figure out what everybody in the community from small businesses to nonprofit organizations, parents and students can bring to the table to help make sure every kid stays in school. Today, 53 communities across the state have followed Missoulas lead in Graduation Matters. But the reality is we continue to lose far too many students, MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane said. Fifty-seven students dropped out of Missoulas three AA schools in the 2014-15 school year. That is unacceptable, stressed Ted Fuller, principal of Sentinel. We have to continue to focus on ending high school dropouts much like we focus on ending homelessness and hunger. If theres something that we should collectively as a community and as a state work to end, its students leaving high school, because we know the disadvantage that puts them at. *** Studies show graduating from high school means higher-paying jobs and more opportunities. "According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, Montana will see a $6 million annual boost to the state's economy from the graduates we've had since 2009," said Juneau, who assumed office that year and is challenging Ryan Zinke for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. "You're welcome," she added with a grin. All four MCPS high schools topped the state graduation rate of 86 percent, led by Seeley-Swan, a Class C school, with the only 100 percent mark in western Montana. Hellgate ranked fourth among the 14 AA schools with an 88.5 percent rate. Big Sky was eighth at 86.1 percent. Sentinel was the only AA school in Montana with a graduation rate above 90 percent. Helena Capital was second at 89.7 percent, followed by Glacier High of Kalispell at 88.9. Hellgate and Flathead High of Kalispell (87.9) rounded out the top five. Billings Senior brought up the rear in Class AA at 80.1 percent. Class AA district graduation rates ranged from Missoula County Public Schools 89.2 percent to Billings schools 82.1 percent. Bozeman, which led the state last year, fell to third behind the Missoula and Kalispell districts. Five Class A schools in western Montana graduated their core four-year cohort classes at a clip of 90 percent or better. Frenchtown led the group at 97.75 percent, followed by Corvallis (95.73), Hamilton (94.73), Polson (90.83) and Stevensville (90.24). Deer Lodges 97.73 percent graduation rate led area Class B schools. Eureka (95.38) and Troy (94.12) in Lincoln County and Bigfork (93.06) in Flathead County also topped 90 percent. Granite County schools in Philipsburg and Drummond paced Class C schools in the region with graduation rates of 94.74 and 94.12, respectively. Also receiving high marks were Victor (93.94), Charlo (93.75), and St. Regis (93.33). The worst graduation marks in western Montana were posted by a pair of Ravalli County high schools Darby (72 percent) and Florence (78.95 percent). *** Juneau said her office is placing emphasis this year on Graduation Matters in Indian country, hiring a temporary coordinator for the project. Roughly a third of the 53 communities that have embraced Graduation Matters have significant American Indian populations. We know that gap still exists, Juneau said. Its going in the right direction, but its still too large and we really need to dig in and focus on how those Graduation Matters communities might look, because the context is different from, for instance, Missoula. Fuller said while Missoula administrators recognize the importance of graduation and dropout rates, we focus relentlessly on making graduation matter. He added he deserves no credit for the state-leading numbers at MCPS and at Sentinel. The credit goes to people like our custodians who have extra food in their break room for students who dont have enough, Fuller said. It goes to the teacher whose students, along with chemistry, learn to serve the greater good by collecting 40,000 pounds of food for the local food bank. And it goes to things like Sentinel offering the first dual-credit class for students with disabilities. That pilot class is believed to be the first of its kind in the state. It begins Jan. 25 in partnership with Missoula College, which made 10 scholarships available for Sentinel students. Its called Workplace Communication, and each student will receive a college credit for completing it. The Sentinel principal said the class is important in both a pragmatic and symbolic sense. It makes the statement to these students that you are capable of continuing your education, said Fuller. We expect you to, and were going to give you a head start. In preface to commenting on Stewart Brandborgs opinion piece on wilderness issues (Dec. 21), I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the service that he and others like Howard Zahniser, Mardy and Olaus Murie, and Aldo Leopold rendered in establishing the framework of our National Wilderness Preservation System. These men and women fought for decades to establish a legacy that benefits all Americans from active users to passive appreciators. Nonetheless, I must offer an alternative perspective to Brandborg's injunction to resist the fuzzy, fuzzy Neverland of collaboration when addressing critical wilderness issues. The Wilderness Preservation System certainly made my career with the U.S. Forest Service immeasurably more rewarding. In my final career assignment, I was supervisor of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, a forest of 6.3 million acres, including 1.2 million acres of congressionally designated wilderness. In addition, the H-T has about 3 million acres of roadless areas, de facto wilderness as it were, that was the subject of intense battles to determine what part should be formally included by Congress in the Wilderness Preservation System. Managing wilderness is also challenging and much more than a passive exercise in let it be. Stewardship of designated wilderness areas is bound by the mandates of the 1964 Wilderness Act. And therein lie many of our management challenges. The introductory section of the 1964 Wilderness Act is inspiring and oft-quoted: an enduring resource of wilderness where earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man But as a counterpoint to these two paragraphs of poetic vision, the Wilderness Act concludes with two pages of exceptions allowing various non-wilderness practices to continue. A cynic might say, Yeah right, untrammeled by man except for multiple airstrips, irrigation reservoirs and ditches, livestock grazing, mineral exploration and mining all allowed under the 1964 act. What lessons can we draw from these contradictions in the 1964 act? The most stalwart wilderness proponents will point to these contradictions as ample evidence of the dangers of compromise. As executive director of the Wilderness Society in 1964, Stewart Brandborg no doubt vigorously discussed the concessions that wilderness advocates and their congressional allies should make to enact a wilderness bill. In the final analysis, I believe that we would not have had a Wilderness Preservation System instituted in 1964 without concessions to other interests. Alliances had to be built with some who were not fully aligned with wilderness protection. In the end, the perfect did not become the enemy of the good. And for the future? First, we must manage designated wilderness to minimize impacts on the values outlined in the Wilderness Act and to eliminate, by all legal means, incompatible uses. Within the limits of public health and safety, ecological forces like wildfire should be allowed to play their natural role. Keeping the wild in this wilderness should be our ultimate metric. Second, we must proceed on the wilderness designation question. The fight for a comprehensive statewide Montana wilderness bill has seemed never-ending. Progress has been piecemeal. I do not believe further progress can be made without bringing various interested parties to the table despite the dangers these parties might perceive in such a process. Yes, this will involve collaboration and compromise. Wilderness advocates will not be fully satisfied. Some areas may get other designations such as National Recreation Area status to accommodate non-wilderness recreation uses. I certainly cannot speak for the Montana Wilderness Association or local representatives of the Wilderness Society, but I applaud their hard work on efforts such as the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project as they engage other groups such as Pyramid Lumber and motorized recreation clubs. I know they wrestle with difficult questions in meeting with other interest groups: Have we given too much? Does this affect our core principles? For me, there are multiple payoffs for such efforts. Not only is there the prospect of additional wilderness designation and better stewardship of our natural resources, but we also further the goal of a more civil society where citizens with diverse interests can exchange ideas and work together. On Jan. 4, the Montana Republican Party appealed Judge Brian Morris' decision to conduct a trial. Matthew Monforton's reason: Montana has been conducting unconstitutional primary elections that infringe upon the Montana Republican Party's First Amendment rights to control its own messaging. Over and over, Matthew Monforton fills his court documents with astounding confessions. We learn that Republicans of the tea-party persuasion get elected by misleading the voters about their true beliefs. Monforton assures us that the open primary forces candidates into "self-censorship," "chills the Party's message" and "dilutes messages." Republican candidates "adulterate," "avoid issues" and "modify their message." Monforton's meaning could not be clearer. If the voters know what right-wing Republican candidates want, they will elect the Democrats. Carole Mackin, Helena KALISPELL Two of its officers shot a man who allegedly aimed a rifle at them during a welfare check Tuesday afternoon, the Kalispell Police Department said. According to a news release from the department, the officers responded to a residence off Three Mile Drive at 1:19 p.m. following a report of a suicidal woman in the home. When officers arrived they made contact with the female at the front door, the release said. The officers entered the residence to conduct their investigation, and as they spoke to the woman, a male appeared from a room at the back of the residence with a rifle in his hands. One of the officers ordered the man to drop the weapon, but the male did not comply with the officers commands, raised his rifle and pointed it at the officers. Both officers fired at the man, who was struck, dropped the rifle and fell to the floor. The officers provided first aid until medical personnel arrived and transported the suspect to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where he was taken into surgery, the release said. The department said his condition is not known. The woman was also taken to the hospital for an evaluation, according to the release. The two officers have been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation, as is the Kalispell Police Departments policy for any officer involved in a shooting. The Flathead County Sheriffs Department is investigating. All names associated with the incident are currently being withheld, the department said. HELENA Tom OConnell, administrator of the state's Architecture and Engineering Division, uses a laser pointer to highlight maroon paint peeling away to reveal the white plaster under it around the dome of the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol building. See that whole section, thats water coming through and causing damage and you see how close it is to the artwork, OConnell said last week on a tour of the Capitol. The artwork is seven paintings by the Cincinnati firm F. Pedrettis Sons, oil on canvas painted in 1902 and hung like wallpaper around the dome of this room. Theres the Gates of the Mountains, which Montanas first and fourth Gov. Joseph Toole asked to be depicted. Across the dome is Meriwether Lewis catching his first glimpse of the Rockies. To the side, President Benjamin Harrison and Secretary of State James G. Blaine sign Montanas Constitution. These are not the most valuable paintings in the Capitol that would be the massive C.M. Russell painting at the other end of the building in the House chambers but from an historic standpoint you still want to protect them, OConnell said. The skylight will be fixed this year. Its the top priority among the deferred maintenance projects in the Capitol, said Steve Baiamonte, administrator of the General Services Division. Thats not because its in the worst shape among the six in the building. There are four large skylights and two small ones, all built in either 1901 or 1911 except for the one over the barrel vault, which was put in around 2000 when the vault was resorted during an extensive renovation of the Capitol. The others are probably about equal shape because theyre all roughly the same age, give or take a decade, Baiamonte said. *** The General Services Division, which is the landlord and steward of the Capitol, as well as all state-owned buildings within a 10-mile radius of Helena, gets money appropriated from the Legislature for deferred maintenance projects like this. This biennium, Baiamonte said, the division was appropriated $3.2 million for projects that also include flooring, fire suppression work and elevator improvements. OConnells department oversees all architecture and engineering projects on state-owned facilities in the complex. It has hired A&E Architects of Missoula to work on the skylight. A&E representatives have been to the Capitol twice, the most recent time to look at the skylight from the superstructure above it and begin figuring out the best way to address the leak. At this point, its not known how much it will cost to remedy the situation, Baiamonte said. We always look at not what is low bid or the cheapest, but what is best for the building and all the users. OConnell said he thinks a full replacement is needed for the original skylight, which is made of thin steel and glass. We think itll take a new structure. If its anything different than that, Id be extremely surprised because the structure and technology of how you do a skylight today is completely different. It shouldnt be a long-term construction project, but itll be a tricky one because the stained glass and artwork need to be protected. You talk about removing a skylight like this, and youve got some very delicate surfaces under there, OConnell said, pointing to the stained glass. Baiamonte said its feasible to wrap up work by the end of the year. We dont want to be tearing this thing apart when the snow is flying. In a perfect world, wed have it done by fall. OConnell wants something done before the Legislature gathers at the start of 2017. Its something weve done and can show them thats an obvious improvement, he said. *** Lots of capitols were built in the early 1900s and skylights were a common feature. In some ways they had better taste than we do now, OConnell joked. The skylight above the House chamber is in about the same shape as the one to be replaced. If we were going to do a second one, the next one would be over the House chambers, Baiamonte said. The superstructure there is 10 years newer built in 1911 but over more than a century, a decade's worth of difference doesnt mean too much. Even though it sits over the room with the most expensive piece of artwork in the Capitol, the massive C.M. Russell painting Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians, this skylight isnt a priority because the art isnt at risk from water damage. In the House, the damage would be more typical to stenciling or corbels or anything, where the skylight is theres no risk to damage of art on canvas, OConnell said. Crews did some major plaster repairs in that space earlier this year, Baiamonte said. Beads made of plaster were water-damaged and drooping like a loose pearl necklace. The area in jeopardy is right here, OConnell said, pointing to areas near the gallery seating. The beads basically detected and was loose here and curled and hung down. Again, thats from water. HELENA Montana regulators have unanimously approved a settlement that seeks to end a years-long battle over the proposed expansion of a coal mine in central Montana. The Montana Board of Environmental Review on Tuesday OK'd a deal that allows Signal Peak Energy to proceed with an often-criticized expansion of its operations at the underground Bull Mountain Mine. The seven-member, governor-appointed panel posed no questions and made only minor tweaks to language included in the agreement, one board members lauded as a fair deal for environmentalists and coal miners alike. Discussion ahead of that vote cut a sharp contrast with testimony heard only hours earlier at the state Capitol, where the settlement provoked a nearly two-hour back-and-forth between state officials and environmentalists speaking in front of Montanas Water Policy Interim Committee. The deal is meant to avert a threatened shutdown of most of Signal Peaks operations at Bull Mountain, where a state panel in 2013 rejected expansion plans environmentalists said could contaminate nearby water supplies. The company had threatened to lay off about two-thirds of its employees if those plans weren't allowed to go ahead. An eight-member committee of state legislators took no action for or against the planned expansion Tuesday morning, but asked plenty of questions about the legal settlement that will allow it to proceed. Meanwhile, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality has already started a revised environmental analysis called for under the agreement. That revision is expected to be completed within six months. Department head Tom Livers didnt necessarily agree with environmentalists characterization of flaws in his agencys assessment of the mine expansions impact on nearby groundwater sources. He said the DEQ had to pony up $30,000 to settle legal disputes over that assessment with the Montana Environmental Information Center. MEIC attorney Derf Johnson declined to comment on the size of a related settlement his group reached with Signal Peak. State Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said similar legal arrangements threaten the states economic future. The market on coal is bad right now, but so is the (market) on cattle, Ankney said. Does that mean we take cattle ranchers to court and challenge them? As long as we allow these groups to sue and settle, were going to put this state out of business. Signal Peak cut about 20 percent of its workforce last month amid a continued downturn in the coal market. Arch Coal Inc., the nations second-largest coal company, plans to file for bankruptcy protection on Monday. MEIC attorney Johnson said his group is also concerned with a state report on environmental conditions at Rosebud Mine, in Colstrip. Johnson did not rule out legal action over those concerns. "Two expatriate tourists, a male and a female, both 31, were trekking the Kokoda Track and heading towards Templeton Two (a campsite) when they were ambushed by armed men,"The male trekker was tied to a tree and the female tracker was repeatedly raped before three of her fingers were chopped. The incident took place for an hour before they (trekkers) were set free." An American woman hiking in Papua New Guinea with her London-based boyfriend was gang-raped and three of her fingers slashed in a brutal attack along a famous World War II trail, a report said on Wednesday. PNG police said the pair, both aged 31, were on the Kokoda Track which runs through the jungles of the island state off Australia's northeastern tip when they were attacked and stripped of their belongings including mobile phones, shoes, backpacks and 15,000 kina (US$5,000) in cash. local assistant Police Commissioner Sylvester Kalaut told The National newspaper of the Monday ambush....Police described the attack as a gang-rape and told the newspaper at least two suspects carrying bush knives and spears were involved. One of them was being held by villagers.The couple fled to a village and were taken to the lawless Pacific island's capital Port Moresby, where they were given medical attention.Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the attack and added that the couple were hiking without a licensed tour operator. WASHINGTON Faced with the prospect of definitively resolving the status of Puerto Rico, the Supreme Court on Wednesday explored ways in which to render a narrow decision. But a lawyer for the Obama administration was adamant that the courts decision should be based on the fundamental ground that the commonwealth is a territory of the United States without independent sovereignty. The case concerned the Constitutions double jeopardy clause, which forbids subsequent prosecutions for the same crimes. The Supreme Court has said that the federal government and the states are independent sovereigns, meaning that the same conduct can be prosecuted separately in state and federal courts. The question in Wednesdays case, Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, No. 15-108, was whether Puerto Rico was also a separate sovereign and therefore able to pursue a subsequent prosecution for the same crime after a federal conviction. Whether Puerto Rico is a separate sovereign is a deeply contested matter of politics and pride. The case involves Luis M. Sanchez Valle and Gomez Vazquez, who were prosecuted on gun charges in local and federal courts in Puerto Rico. They pleaded guilty to the federal charges and asserted that they could not be prosecuted for the same crimes in local courts under the Constitutions double jeopardy clause. The sentimental title of The Lovers suggests a hopeful tale of youthful romance, of passion and perseverance against the backdrop of a war-ravaged Afghanistan. Zakia and Ali, the journalist Rod Nordlands Afghan Romeo and Juliet, are Tajik and Hazara, Sunni and Shia, disparate ethnicities and rived sects. They live in Bamiyan, where the Taliban destroyed two famed sandstone Buddhas in 2001. They fall in love as teenagers, exchanging flirty glances in the fields of their village, skirting elders and convention. Soon their parents find out; marriage is deemed impossible, and Zakia runs away to a shelter. The two elope but remain sentenced to a life on the run, with Ali facing criminal charges after Zakias family lodges a kidnapping case against him. Zakia and Alis tale is, however, only the epidermal layer of The Lovers; underneath is an insight into the architecture of Western saviordom and the choices it imposes on those on whom it bestows its benevolence. I would become their best hope to survive, entangling myself in their lives in ways that threatened my own values and professional ethics, Nordland writes, admitting that his articles on the couple in The New York Times exposed them to danger. But words and deeds rarely match, and if Nordland, who is The Timess Kabul bureau chief, perceived threats in pursuing the story, his account does not betray such sensitivity. In one instance, Nordland, along with a videographer and a photographer, descends upon a remote house where the couple have taken refuge. How they get there is notable: Alis poverty-stricken father, who supports the relationship, could not afford the cost of a taxi, and agrees to take Nordland if he can accompany him. Ali knows the plan, but whether Zakia agrees is never revealed. Earlier in the chapter Nordland tells us how the couples portraits, published with a Times story, have been splayed all over Afghan media, making it harder for the couple to hide; but this possibility does not give him pause. When they reach the house, Zakia is in the womens quarters. The photographer, semi-fluent in English, breaks in anyway and takes her picture, claiming not to understand the custom. Zakia and Ali later get a ride to another hiding spot in the journalists cars, and Nordland slips Ali a thousand dollars. Grace Board of Directors Approves Separation of GCP Applied Technologies Separation Expected to be Completed on Feb. 3, 2016 COLUMBIA, Md., Jan. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the previously announced plan to separate Graces Construction Products segment and Darex Packaging Technologies business from the remaining businesses of Grace to form GCP Applied Technologies Inc. (GCP or GCP Applied Technologies). The planned separation, which is expected to be generally tax-free to Graces U.S. shareholders, is expected to be completed on Feb. 3, 2016. Today's announcement marks another important milestone towards the completion of our business separation, which will create two independent, industry-leading companies, said Fred Festa, Grace Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. As independent companies, we believe Grace and GCP will benefit from enhanced strategic, operating, financial, and investment flexibility and are poised to generate significant value for our shareholders. We look forward to completing the final steps in this process. GCP Applied Technologies will have customers in more than 110 countries, operations on six continents, and a team of 2,500 employees. Through applied knowledge and service excellence, GCP Applied Technologies will provide premier specialty construction chemicals and specialty building materials for many of the worlds most renowned structures, and packaging technologies for the best-known consumer brands. After the separation, Grace will own and operate the Companys existing Catalysts Technologies and Materials Technologies operating segments, excluding the Darex Packaging Technologies business. Grace expects to continue to be a global leader in process catalysts and specialty silicas, and a high margin, technologically advanced business focused on sales and earnings growth, strong cash flow, and high returns on capital. Transaction Details The separation will occur by means of a pro rata distribution to Grace shareholders of all of the outstanding shares of GCP Applied Technologies. The distribution remains subject to satisfaction of the conditions described in the preliminary information statement included with GCPs Registration Statement on Form 10 initially filed on Aug. 5, 2015 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). In the distribution, Grace shareholders will receive one share of GCP Applied Technologies Inc. common stock for every one share of Grace common stock held as of the close of business on Jan. 27, 2016, the record date for the distribution. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to the distribution, the distribution of GCP Applied Technologies common stock is expected to occur on Feb. 3, 2016. No fractional shares of GCP Applied Technologies will be issued. Shareholders will receive cash in lieu of fractional shares. Trading of Grace and GCP Shares Beginning on or about Jan. 26, 2016, it is expected that when issued trading will begin for shares of GCP Applied Technologies common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol GCP WI. GCP Applied Technologies common shares are expected to begin regular way trading on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, on the NYSE under the ticker symbol GCP. Also beginning on or about Jan. 26, 2016, and continuing through the distribution date, it is expected that there will be two markets in Grace common stock. Grace shares that trade in the regular-way market under the symbol GRA will trade with an entitlement to shares of GCP Applied Technologies common stock to be distributed pursuant to the distribution; shares that trade in the ex-distribution market under the symbol GRA WI will trade without an entitlement to shares of GCP Applied Technologies common stock. Grace shareholders are urged to consult their financial and tax advisors regarding the particular consequences of the distribution in their situation, including, without limitation, the specific implications of selling GCP Applied Technologies shares and the applicability and effect of any U.S. federal, state, local, and foreign tax laws. Grace shareholders who hold common stock on the record date and decide to sell any of their Grace common stock before the distribution date should consult with their stockbroker, bank, or other nominee to understand whether the shares of Grace common stock will be sold with or without the entitlement to GCP Applied Technologies common stock pursuant to the distribution. No action is required by Grace shareholders in order to receive GCP Applied Technologies shares in the distribution. Grace expects to mail the information statement regarding the separation to all Grace shareholders entitled to receive GCP Applied Technologies shares in the distribution. The information statement is an exhibit to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed by GCP Applied Technologies with the SEC, and describes GCP Applied Technologies and its business, including details regarding the separation and distribution and certain risks of owning GCP Applied Technologies shares. For more information, please consult the full Registration Statement on Form 10 filed by GCP with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov and visit Graces Investor Relations site. About Grace Grace is a leading global supplier of catalysts; engineered and packaging materials; and specialty construction chemicals and building materials. The companys three industry-leading business segmentsGrace Catalysts Technologies, Grace Materials Technologies, and Grace Construction Productsprovide innovative products, technologies, and services that enhance the products and processes of our customer partners in over 155 countries around the world. Grace employs approximately 6,500 people in over 40 countries and had 2014 net sales of approximately $3.2 billion. More information about Grace is available at www.grace.com. This announcement contains forward-looking statements, that is, information related to future, not past, events. Such statements generally include the words believes, plans, intends, targets, will, expects, suggests, anticipates, outlook, continues, or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, expected financial positions; results of operations; cash flows; financing plans; business strategy; operating plans; capital and other expenditures; competitive positions; growth opportunities for existing products; benefits from new technology and cost reduction initiatives, plans and objectives; and markets for securities. For these statements, Grace claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Like other businesses, Grace is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause its actual results to differ materially from its projections or that could cause other forward-looking statements to prove incorrect. Factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements include, without limitation: risks related to foreign operations, especially in emerging regions; the cost and availability of raw materials and energy; the effectiveness of its research and development and growth investments; acquisitions and divestitures of assets and gains and losses from dispositions; developments affecting Graces outstanding indebtedness; developments affecting Grace's funded and unfunded pension obligations; its legal and environmental proceedings; uncertainties that may delay or negatively impact the separation transaction or cause the separation transaction to not occur at all; uncertainties related to the companys ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the spin-off; the inability to establish or maintain certain business relationships and relationships with customers and suppliers or the inability to retain key personnel during the period leading up to and following the separation transaction; costs of compliance with environmental regulation; and those additional factors set forth in Grace's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, which have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are readily available on the Internet at www.sec.gov. Reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on Grace's projections and forward-looking statements, which speak only as the date thereof. Grace undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revision to the projections and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this announcement. Media Relations Rich Badmington T +1 410.531.4370 rich.badmington@grace.com Investor Relations Tania Almond T +1 410.531.4590 tania.almond@grace.com AXIM Biotechnologies Featured in Marijuana Documentary Cannabis is Medicine Documentary Features World Leaders in Cannabis Research, Explains AXIM Biotechs Clinical Trials on Patented Cannabinoid Release Chewing Gum for Pain and Spasticity in Multiple Sclerosis NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (OTC:AXIM) is pleased to announce that the Companys efforts on clinical development of a patented cannabinoid-based medical chewing gum will be featured in a documentary to be released in the first quarter of 2016. The documentary Cannabis is Medicine is produced by Jordan Guzzardo, Emmy award-winning documentarian and photojournalist. Cannabis is Medicine features the compelling personal stories of individuals with different symptoms and conditions who have benefitted from AXIM's products. From New York to the Netherlands, the documentary interviews international leaders in cannabinoid sciences and regulatory authorities who discuss the medical benefits as well as the legal, political and clinical hurdles faced while bringing to market the worlds first patented controlled-release cannabinoid chewing gum, MedChew Rx. AXIM Biotech is focused upon unique proprietary delivery mechanisms for the introduction of cannabinoids (i.e. THC, CBD, CBG, CBN, etc.) and finding solutions for conditions for which there is currently no effective treatment including: MS, spasticity, pain, Parkinsons disease, Alzheimers disease/dementia, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), psychosis, PTSD, autism, RLS (restless leg syndrome), glaucoma, IBD, IBS, and Crohns disease. The documentary is scheduled for release in March 2016 and is anticipated to be submitted to multiple national and international film festivals. AXIM Biotech has been featured by media outlets including: Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Marketwatch, ABC, NBC, CBS, Telemundo, WGN, Univision, Marijuana Investor News, FOX Business, MainStreet.com, MJ Freeway, Chemical & Engineering News, Dental Tribune, Pharmaceutical Commerce, Dental Products Report and MJI News. For more information, visit AXIM Biotechs website. To arrange for media interviews, contact Andrew Hard, Public Relations Spokesperson, at Andrew.Hard@CMWmedia.com or call 888-829-0070. About AXIM Biotechnologies: AXIM Biotechnologies (OTC: AXIM) is an innovative biotechnology company focusing on research, development and production of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products where we prioritize the well-being of our customers while embracing a solid fiscal strategy. For more information, visit the Company website at www.AXIMBiotech.com. FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. LEGAL DISCLOSURE AXIM Biotechnologies does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act (US.CSA). The company does sell and distribute hemp-based products. Contact Info North American Address: 18 East 50th Street, 5 Floor New York, NY 10022 +1 844 294 6246 European Address: Boelewerf 32, Unit 3 2987 VD Ridderkerk, The Netherlands +31 10 8209 227 Copper Fox Completes Flow-Through Investment in Carmax Mining Corp. Copper Fox Metals Inc. ("Copper Fox" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CUU)(OTC PINK:CPFXF) announced today that the Company has, through its wholly owned subsidiary Northern Fox Copper Inc. ("Northern Fox"), closed a previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Carmax Private Placement") in Carmax Mining Corp. ("Carmax") (TSX VENTURE:CXM) pursuant to which Copper Fox has indirectly acquired an additional 30,000,000 common shares of Carmax on a flow-through basis (the "Flow-Through Shares") at a price of $0.05 per Flow-Through Share for an aggregate subscription price of $1,500,000. The flow-through proceeds raised in the Carmax Private Placement will be used by Carmax to fund its anticipated expenses to be incurred in its 2016 exploration program on its copper-gold molybdenum Eaglehead property located in the Dease Lake area of the Liard Mining Division of the Province of British Columbia. Immediately prior to the completion of the Carmax Private Placement: After the completion of the Carmax Private Placement, Copper Fox now beneficially owns and controls, through Northern Fox, 66,566,528 common shares of Carmax, representing approximately 65.4% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Carmax on an undiluted basis, or 68.2% on a fully diluted basis presuming the exercise of the Existing Warrants and all other outstanding warrants and options of Carmax. Mr. Stewart, President of Copper Fox stated, "The completion of this private placement yields a number of positive results for Copper Fox including; increasing its equity interest in Carmax, increases Copper Fox's metal inventory of copper, gold and molybdenum and provides funding to continue exploration of this project. Copper Fox is very pleased with the technical advances made at Eaglehead since its initial investment and, along with Carmax, are looking forward to commencing the 2016 program which is expected to get underway in early June." All of the Carmax securities beneficially owned and controlled by Copper Fox are registered in the name of Northern Fox. Copper Fox indirectly acquired the Flow-Through Shares for investment purposes. Depending on economic and financial conditions, Copper Fox may indirectly acquire further common shares of Carmax (through market or private transactions) from time to time for investment purposes. Northern Fox relied on the minimum amount investment exemption in section 2.10 of National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus and Registration Exemptions in acquiring the Flow-Through Shares under the Carmax Private Placement. The Carmax Private Placement constitutes a "Related Party Transaction" under Policy 5.9 of the TSX Venture Exchange which adopts Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101") as a policy of the TSX Venture Exchange. Copper Fox relied on the exemption from the application of MI 61-101 provided for in Section 5.1(g) of MI 61-101 (downstream transactions). In addition, Carmax relied on the exemptions from the valuation requirement and minority security holder approval requirement in Sections 5.5(c) (distribution of securities for cash) and 5.7(b) (fair market value not more than $2,500,000) of MI 61-101, respectively. The Carmax Private Placement remains subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. About Copper Fox Copper Fox is a Tier 1 Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: CUU) focused on copper in Canada and the United States with offices in Calgary, Alberta and Miami, Arizona. Copper Fox has four primary assets with associated resources and reserves as noted below: For further information on these projects, please refer to the Company's website at www.copperfoxmetals.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors Elmer B. Stewart, President and Chief Executive Officer Neither TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange Inc.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is generally identifiable by use of the words "believes," "may," "plans," "will," "anticipates," "intends," "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "projects" and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions. Forward-looking information in this news release include, without limitation, statements about: the expected use of the proceeds from the Carmax Private Placement; and the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange for the Carmax Private Placement. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Copper Fox and its subsidiaries have made numerous assumptions. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Copper Fox's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include the possibility that: final approval for the Carmax Private Placement will not be obtained from the TSX Venture Exchange; and Carmax may not incur the necessary Canadian exploration expenses within the time required under the Income Tax Act (Canada). A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Copper Fox is disclosed in Copper Fox's continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and Copper Fox disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Star Navigation Announces Agreement with ISONEO Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SNA) (OTCBB:SNAVF) ("STAR" or the "Company"), and Solutions Isoneo Inc. (ISONEO), a subsidiary of Artal Group in France, are pleased to announce their agreement to cooperate on multiple aerospace projects. STAR will provide its expertise in real-time on-board systems monitoring and tracking. ISONEO will bring its expertise in complex sensors interfacing, information integration, and its Group expertise in avionics integration environment at aircraft manufacturer and OEM levels. The intent is to provide a multi-purpose real time data gathering and analysis solution for all aerospace applications from research projects to flight tests, and new commercial application insertion. The companies have started integrating various medical, bio monitoring and environmental detection sensors with the STAR-A.D.S. platform and its ground-services capabilities. The first applications are expected to reach the market by Fall 2016. About Star Navigation: Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. owns the exclusive worldwide license to its proprietary, patented In-flight Safety Monitoring System, STAR-ISMS, the heart of the STAR-A.D.S. System. It is the first system in the world to feature in-flight data-analysis, monitoring and diagnostics with a real-time connection between aircraft and ground. Its real-time capability of tracking performance trends and facilitating incident-occurrence prevention enhances aviation safety and improves fleet management while reducing costs for the operator. Star's MMI Division designs and manufactures high performance, mission critical, flight deck flat panel displays for defence and commercial aviation industries worldwide. About ISONEO: Solutions ISONEO Inc., part of the Artal Group, is an engineering consulting company and IT services. It provides solutions for the management of systems, especially for the integration of complex integrated systems, testing and simulation, in areas as diverse as aeronautics (avionics and Air Traffic Management), Defense and Security, Space, and sustainable development. Certain statements contained in this News Release constitute forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words "may, "would", "could", "will" and similar expressions, as they relate to Star or its management are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect Star's current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause Star's actual performance or achievements to vary from those described herein. Should one or more of these factors or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Star does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this release. Copyright 2022 HT Digital Streams Ltd All Right Reserved Manlai Baatar Damdinsuren with two of his adjutants. Damdinsuren was Mongolian patriot and nationalist who took part in revival of Mongolian... Motoring-Malaysia.blogspot.my is an award winning Malaysian motoring / automotive / car news & reviews website or auto blog. It is where we rant and rave about cars, trucks, buses, motoring, motor vehicles and any interesting automotive industry related stuff. Unswayed in our point of view and darn proud of it! It's not about the numbers...it's about passion. Since 2006 and going strong. Thanks to a $533,550 federal grant, the Anaconda school district preschool will expand its staff and hours. The preschool, at 1410 W. Park St., serves children ages 3 to 5 with and without special needs, said Norah Barney, preschool-to-2nd grade principal at W.K. Dwyer Elementary in Anaconda. Now Anaconda offers three classes. The class for 3-year-olds serves students with identified disabilities for over 3 hours a day. Two full-day classes for 4-year olds serve students with and without disabilities. We implement the grant fully this year, said Barney, in her third year at the helm. Full implementation means its a full-day program with a full staff. Previously, the preschool had only one teacher and one paraprofessional to work with two classes of 15-to-20 students. The grant -- heavy on developing preschool programs to better prepare young students for the upper grades in public schools -- has allowed Anaconda to hire two more classroom teachers and two more paraprofessionals to better handle the classroom sizes. Now Anaconda offers a class for 4-year-olds with and without disabilities for over two hours a day. It serves kids with developmental delays, autism, orthopedic impairments or other health issues. Also new: two full-day classes for 3-year-olds, mirroring the full-time kindergarten schedule, Monday through Friday. Previously, the preschool offered only a half-day program four days a week. Our district has a high percentage of students with Individualized Education Plans, Barney added, noting that federal law requires public schools to write and follow such plans. Were trying to use this money to make a difference early on. About 22 percent of all Anaconda students in grades kindergarten through 12 are on an IEP program to guide them through their disabilities, she said. The main purpose of the grant is to help preschool programs grow. It required Anaconda to hire a family engagement coordinator equivalent to a social worker at separate Head Start programs. She connects families to various social services and teaches mini-parenting sessions. Her role is to get in there, get a relationship going, to get parents engaged and to keep them engaged, added Barney. The Anaconda preschool has 22 4-year-olds and eight 3-year-olds enrolled. Butte Superintendent Judy Jonart will know by next fall how much her district will receive. She said the money will help enhance professional teacher development and allow scholarships for early-childhood educators, as well. It will also build the early-childhood work force by ensuring high accreditation and licensure standards required by the state, Jonart added. Butte and Anaconda qualified for the grant because both districts have already implemented the Striving Readers Program, providing more teaching support for students struggling with reading skills. Anaconda is slated to receive $454,550 in the second year of the grant. The 16 Montana district recipients are from the highest need communities, said OPI spokeswoman Emilie Saunders. HELENA A Lewis and Clark County sheriff's deputy faces a felony charge of assault with a weapon after allegedly hitting and pulling a gun on a man he called "an ISIS" while drunk at a party. Phillip Jay Clark, 49, was arrested Monday morning. He is accused of pointing the gun at the man's chest three times with his finger on the trigger. Court documents filed by an assistant state attorney general say Clark brandished the gun during a bonfire outside his home on Dec. 4. Court documents say an agent with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Anne Dormady, "spoke with a series of witnesses" who attended a bachelor party and then a nighttime bonfire hosted by Clark and others. The alleged victim, identified as C.F., is a friend of Clark's neighbor, the documents note. C.F. told the investigator Clark was "super intoxicated" and "excited" when he arrived at the gathering. "He said Clark, 'Got a little bit violent and a little bit aggressive right away.' He said it seemed like Clark wanted to fight. He said after shaking Clark's hand Clark, 'pulled out his gun, pointed it at me and then laughed, handed it to somebody else like we were about to fight ...'" the court documents say. Court documents do not list the type of gun allegedly used by Clark. The documents say C.F. told the investigator Clark hit him in the ribs, then asked the victim to name the capital of Thailand, responded "Bangkok" and hit him in the groin before the man could respond. "C.F. had long hair on his head, facial hair and he is half-Asian," court documents note. Later during the bonfire, Clark is accused of becoming aggressive toward the man again and calling him "an ISIS" while brandishing his gun. C.F. reported a friend telling him to flee. "He said as he ran away he was '100% positive he was gonna start shooting,'" the documents say. Clark's private attorney, Mathew Johnson, said the agent failed to speak with his client and other witnesses. "My client was very surprised that charges were filed without an investigator talking to him," Johnson said. Anastasia Burton, deputy communications director for the Montana Department of Justice, said she could not comment "as the case is still under review." Pause An interview with Clark "would include self-defense claims," Johnson said, adding that he looks forward to proving his client's innocence during trial. Clark was booked into the county jail at 9:23 a.m. Monday. Clark's bond was originally set at $50,000, but when Clark appeared in justice court, he was released on his own recognizance with certain conditions, including a GPS monitor. The case began, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said, after his office received a call from a citizen, who filed an officer complaint. "Upon initial investigation, we found the complaint warranted further investigation," Dutton said in a press release. The case was then forwarded to the Montana Department of Justice investigation division to avoid a conflict of interest and "any sense of impropriety," he said. County Chief Administrative Officer Eric Bryson said Clark "is currently an employee of Lewis and Clark County." Bryson declined to comment on whether any restrictions have been put on Clark's job. According to a 2000 article in the Independent Record, Clark was hired that year as a deputy. He had spent five years as both a detention officer at the jail and a reserve deputy previously. HELENA (AP) The state Supreme Court has rejected an environmental group's challenge to the reclamation plan for the proposed expansion of an open-pit gold mine near Whitehall. It's not clear how the decision will affect the Golden Sunlight Mine, which laid off 135 employees in late November because of low gold prices and the instability of a mine wall. A spokesman for Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp., the parent company of Golden Sunlight, did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment. The state Department of Environmental Quality approved the expansion permit in January 2014. It required the installation of dewatering wells to keep the water table below the pit to prevent pollution of groundwater. It called for the installation of an in-pit sump pump to prevent groundwater contamination if a dewatering well failed. The permit also required backfilling and the planting of trees and grass. The Montana Environmental Information Center sued the Department of Environmental Quality, complaining the permit did not require Golden Sunlight to completely backfill the area after mining ended. The center argued the state constitution guarantees a "clean and healthful environment" and state law requires land disturbed by mining to be returned to its previous condition. The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the center's arguments had already been litigated and rejected by a District Court judge in another case involving the same mine. The center did not appeal the earlier decision. The justices also found that state regulators had adequate reasons to keep part of the pit unfilled and requiring a sump pump as backup for the dewatering wells. The option to fully backfill the pit did not include installing the sump pump, court records said. Jim Jensen, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, said Wednesday the court's decision may be irrelevant because of November's cutbacks. But he said Montana's mine reclamation requirements "now are not really very meaningful, or may not be ... because of the basis of this decision." He said he and the center's legal counsel were still reviewing the decision. Golden Sunlight applied for the expansion permit involved in the Supreme Court case in September 2012, when gold was selling for about $1,700 an ounce. It is now selling below $1,100. The mine also as an application pending with the state to dig another pit north of the existing mine. Golden Sunlight still has about 30 employees operating a cyanide-vat system to leach ore from an underground mining project. The mining work is being done by a contractor, the mine's general manager, Dan Banghart, has said. The armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon, with calls by Ammon Bundy and his followers to turn federal land over to local and private control, has renewed a contentious debate played out in the last Montana Legislature and across the West. Catalyzed by the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, several Montana-based conservation organizations, including the Montana Wildlife Federation and Montana Wilderness Association, took aim at supporters of transferring federal lands to state control. The legislative transfer movement and anti-government militia movement displayed in Oregon share a common ideology, the conservation groups say. It is one thing to advocate for your agenda in the democratic process, it is quite another to invade public lands, hold a local community hostage, and make threats of armed violence, Dave Chadwick, MWF executive director, wrote. Proponents of the public land transfer cant stick their heads in the sand and pretend like their rhetoric isnt fueling this criminal behavior. Welcome to the dark periphery of the lands transfer movement, a movement that demonizes federal land management agencies, stokes fear and anger throughout the West, and gives ideological and rhetorical support to a well-armed cadre of militia members and other anti-government extremists, some of whom are now occupying Malheur, wrote Ted Brewer, MWA communications director. Montanas leading transfer proponent, Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, believes that linking the legislative and anti-government movements is not a fair assertion. I think the protest in Oregon is in response to frustrations prevalent all throughout the Western states with federal lands, but their action is quite a different course of action than what I am doing through the constitutional process so that there can be a much stronger local voice, she said. Fielder sponsored a pair of bills last session related to federal land transfer. One would have prohibited the state from selling transferred lands and the second prohibited the federal government from selling land. Neither was voted out of committee. Another bill by Rep. Kerry White, R-Bozeman, created a task force to study the feasibility of federal land transfer. Gov. Steve Bullock later vetoed the legislation after White amended it to remove transfer language in favor of a general federal land study. The Oregon occupation came as area ranchers Steven and Dwight Hammond, who claim long-running conflicts and harassment by the Bureau of Land Management, returned to prison on arson convictions for setting fires that burned federal land. Hammond supporters have criticized the prosecution as heavy handed for trying them under a domestic terrorism law. On her Facebook page, Fielder recently suggested that the Hammonds should be pardoned in an effort to end the occupation peacefully. When asked what she thinks should happen to those occupying Malheur, Fielder reiterated that efforts should be taken to diffuse the situation. No one should be thrown in jail, and I really dont know, but hope cooler heads can prevail, she said. The attention surrounding the Malheur occupation could have both positive and negative effects on future legislative efforts, Fielder said. It has successfully brought an important issue to the forefront that these ranchers were tried as terrorists for setting a backfire that was no different than what the federal government says is good land management, she said. Fielder has long been critical of federal land management, particularly in places like her district, which has seen a steep drop in timber jobs. While a potentially dangerous situation like the one in Oregon could occur in Montana, Fielder says one of her goals is ensuring the transfer debate remains a civil process. Im afraid well see more of whats happening in Oregon unless people can be more engaged in the decisions that impact their lives, she said. When it comes to federal land management, what the majority of people want is better recreation access and environmental health and not a federal land service that leaves these lands untended. Fielder believes federal land agencies are systematically dysfunctional and unaccountable to the local communities they impact. Environmental interests have gone to great lengths to stifle the transfer debate, with many of those attacks personal in nature, she contends. The proponents of increased federal control have tried to suppress and dirty us who favor local control, Fielder said. They smear good people participating in a legitimate government process, and that started the day I filed for office. Rep. Ed Lieser, D-Whitefish, introduced a resolution during the last session opposing federal land transfer. The resolution was voted down in committee, but Lieser feels that public sentiment in Montana is largely against pursuing a transfer. Many transfer opponents argue that federal lands belong to all Americans, and that the state of Montana could never afford to manage the lands, leading to an inevitable sell-off into private hands. My impression at least for Montana is that there is not a majority appetite for pursuing it, he said. It had the opportunity to be tested, and it just never got any traction. The Oregon occupation is fairly narrow and small, but highly vocal, Lieser said, and he does believe it shares an ideology with the transfer movement. I think it does definitely tie into the national or western U.S. movement in transferring federal lands to the state, he said. The legislative efforts are undoubtedly in my mind connected to this sentiment some have that theyre not getting the results on the ground theyd like to see. Montana has been creative in collaborating with federal agencies through efforts such as hiring a liaison to work with the Forest Service, Lieser said. Those efforts should continue, along with federal initiatives to better fund firefighting and expedite environmental analysis for needed timber projects, he believes. Lieser agreed with Fielder that a situation similar to Oregons could easily occur in Montana. In certain segments of our state impoverished communities dependent on the commodities historically provided by federal lands I do think there is a great deal of frustration for not getting access, he said. As a career Forest Service employee, Im sympathetic and think there are opportunities to make improvements, but taking over a facility by armed individuals is not the solution. Angela McLean is Dillon Kiwanis guest DILLON Angela McLean will be the featured speaker at the Dillon Kiwanis meeting at noon Wednesday, Jan. 13, at the Beaverhead Brewery, 218 South Montana Street, in downtown Dillon. Visitors are welcome. McLean, former Montana lieutenant governor, will speak about her new position as director of American Indian and Minority Achievement for the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. Butte for Bernie group meets Jan. 20 Butte for Bernie, a local group supporting Bernie Sanders for president, will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, at Carpenters Union Hall, 156 W. Granite St. At this meeting, members will regroup, share feedback, brainstorm, and plan events for the coming months. Everyone is welcome. Young Musicians' Club members needed Young Musician's Club will be signing up new and returning students for music lessons from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, in the auditorium of East Middle School. YMC provides affordable (scholarships available) music lessons with excellent teachers on many instruments. Details: Tom Patton, 406-490-1537, Bruce Schuelke, 406-782-8767, or Maggie Perkes, 406-498-1496. Trapper education class set in Butte A free trapper education class is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Butte area office, 1820 Meadowlark Lane. An adult must accompany youth who are under 12 years of age. Pre-registration is required by contacting Vanna Boccadori at 406-494-2082. There will be a one hour break for lunch. Topics will include trapping equipment, trap setting, ethics, rules and regulations, furbearer identification, and fur handling. The class is sponsored by the Montana Trappers Association and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Class participants will receive a certificate of completion, the Montana Trappers Association trapping handbook, and other informational material. However, please be aware this class does not certify participants for Montanas wolf trapping season. All would-be wolf trappers needed to have completed a formal wolf trapping certification class held in the fall. The historic Clark Chateau will come alive this summer, not only as a portal to Buttes past but also a home to the humanities. The mansion, built in 1898 by Copper King William A. Clark in French Renaissance Revival style, will soon undergo about $21,000 in electrical and plumbing upgrades to make it more user-friendly. Discussions taking place now also could result in a large donation of historic furniture. The four-story, brick home at 321 W. Broadway St. will be open five days a week come June, with home tours available and four art exhibits through the summer. But theres also a series of lectures, literary readings and presentations planned for adults and an eight-week program in which 10 selected teenagers will explore history, arts and culture. If all goes well, the combination of offerings could chart a new course in keeping one of Buttes most cherished treasures viable. It will be a marriage Im hoping will be highly successful, said Ellen Crain, director of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives. Crain and her staff took over management of the chateau in late 2013 after Chief Executive Matt Vincent severed a longstanding lease and a $35,000 annual payment to the Butte-Silver Bow Arts Foundation to maintain the mansion. He said the group no longer had the financial or organizational ability to oversee it. The Archives, with help from Butte historian Mitzi Rossillon, held several public exhibits in 2014, refinished oak floors in two rooms and made other capital improvements and held several forums to solicit ideas for the chateaus future. They chose a proposal by Carson Becker and Callison Stratton, relative newcomers to Butte, they call The Root in the Bloom. The chateau will be a venue, they say, where new communities can blossom and grow around shared intellectual and creative passions. I thought this would be an amazing place for a humanities program, said Becker, a playwright and screenwriter who teaches each fall at Columbia College in Chicago. I thought this should be a public place for lectures and youth outreach a place where it could become a living, breathing space. Stratton earned a masters degree in public history and cultural heritage from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and came to Butte because her boyfriend is attending Montana Tech. She and Becker started talking about a possible program for the chateau and then refined it into a solid proposal. Its a beautiful piece of architecture on its own that is full of history, Stratton said. We really want to use the space not just as a historic tour space but also as a humanities project. The adult program will feature at least three lectures, with one likely presenter being Edwin Dobb, an editor and independent writer who co-wrote and co-produced the 2009 documentary film Butte, America. There are plans for at least one dramatic reading by either Becker or another playwright from Butte, Bozeman or Missoula. Artists for gallery space will be solicited locally, and all artists and presenters will be asked to donate some of their time to the youth program. Ten young people ages 14 to 18 will be chosen from applicants to be part of that youth program, which will include approaches to historical research, workshops on theater, poetry and prose, photography and film and dance and music, among other areas. The workshops will take place primarily in the fourth-floor ballroom of the chateau. The participants might be asked to do a personal, oral history of their family and perhaps take part in a radio play, among other activities, and will do volunteer work in the mansion. Becker has been part of youth outreach programs focused on literary fields and creative writing in Chicago, New York, Honolulu and Independence, Kan. Many kids today are technology savvy and have their noses in the phones, Becker said, but can broaden their horizons through the humanities. Adults can do it as well, and Becker, who moved to Butte to help fix-up a Victorian house, says there is a curiosity here for such endeavors. We have been really pleasantly surprised at the level of creative energy and community building pushing forward here, she said. Butte is such a mythic place. Becker will oversee humanities program with help from Stratton, who also will keep the doors to the chateau open by organizing volunteers, ensuring the front desk is manned and making sure things in the home are working. Rossillon said the electrical and plumbing upgrades, which are being funded through a state grant, will be done without tearing into walls or damaging the fabric of the home. She and Crain said they will serve another purpose as well. It is not a burden on the taxpayer and it will assist the (county) government in doing maintenance so hopefully we can get a nonprofit in there and they can just concentrate on serving the public without being worried about roofs leaking or windows falling apart, Crain said. She said she hopes the summer humanities program launches itself and can become that nonprofit partner to oversee day-to-day operations of the chateau. HELENA Montana regulators have unanimously approved a settlement that seeks to end a years-long battle over the proposed expansion of a coal mine in central Montana. The Montana Board of Environmental Review on Tuesday OK'd a deal that allows Signal Peak Energy to proceed with an often-criticized expansion of its operations at the underground Bull Mountain Mine. The seven-member, governor-appointed panel posed no questions and made only minor tweaks to language included in the agreement, one board members lauded as a fair deal for environmentalists and coal miners alike. Discussion ahead of that vote cut a sharp contrast with testimony heard only hours earlier at the state Capitol, where the settlement provoked a nearly two-hour back-and-forth between state officials and environmentalists speaking in front of Montanas Water Policy Interim Committee. The deal is meant to avert a threatened shutdown of most of Signal Peaks operations at Bull Mountain, where a state panel in 2013 rejected expansion plans environmentalists said could contaminate nearby water supplies. The company had threatened to lay off about two-thirds of its employees if those plans weren't allowed to go ahead. An eight-member committee of state legislators took no action for or against the planned expansion Tuesday morning, but asked plenty of questions about the legal settlement that will allow it to proceed. Meanwhile, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality has already started a revised environmental analysis called for under the agreement. That revision is expected to be completed within six months. Department head Tom Livers didnt necessarily agree with environmentalists characterization of flaws in his agencys assessment of the mine expansions impact on nearby groundwater sources. He said the DEQ had to pony up $30,000 to settle legal disputes over that assessment with the Montana Environmental Information Center. MEIC attorney Derf Johnson declined to comment on the size of a related settlement his group reached with Signal Peak. State Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said similar legal arrangements threaten the states economic future. The market on coal is bad right now, but so is the (market) on cattle, Ankney said. Does that mean we take cattle ranchers to court and challenge them? As long as we allow these groups to sue and settle, were going to put this state out of business. Signal Peak cut about 20 percent of its workforce last month amid a continued downturn in the coal market. Arch Coal Inc., the nations second-largest coal company, plans to file for bankruptcy protection on Monday. MEIC attorney Johnson said his group is also concerned with a state report on environmental conditions at Rosebud Mine, in Colstrip. Johnson did not rule out legal action over those concerns. The shadowy Americans for Prosperity, funded by the Koch brothers, and best known for claiming to speak for millions (and millions and millions) of Montanans, has recently submitted guest opinion pieces to several Montana daily newspapers making wild claims about the costs to Montana consumers and our economy from a clean energy plan that has yet to even be developed. Their sky is falling screed claims that Montana electricity consumers will find their electricity costs rocketing to unbearable levels if Montana transitions to an energy portfolio that reduces carbon dioxide emissions. Their claims of gloom and doom are shared by a few corporate interests operating in Montana, interests content to wallow in the status quo. As an eight-year member of the Montana Public Service Commission, six as chair, I was exposed to countless studies from many sources explaining the basis for the price of electricity consumed by the retail customer. The simplistic notions articulated by AFP that clean energy will drastically raise electric rates are based on the faulty notion that electricity from coal fired plants is always the cheapest supply available. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a commissioner, I supported the inclusion of Colstrip 4 (coal-fired generation) in NorthWestern Energys rate base because of representations that it would be a cost-effective power source. By the time I left the commission at the end of 2010 and to my everlasting chagrin, that one source had quickly become the second-most expensive electricity resource in NorthWesterns portfolio. The most expensive were two weirdly priced fossil fuel burning plants, Colstrip Energy Limited Partnership and Yellowstone Energy Limited Partnership. The least expensive power in the NorthWestern portfolio? The Judith Gap wind farm with costs half that of Colstrip 4. Half! That was how the power sources lined up when I left the PSC at the end of 2010, and according to recent reports from that agency, that is still how they line up today. While the AFP cites to a study from a firm I have never heard of to make their wild claims, a study by Synapse Energy Economics, a company nationally recognized for credibility, suggests that clean energy standards actually have the potential for less expensive electricity by 2030. As a commissioner, I learned how hard it is to project energy prices very far in the future, and theres no question the federal Clean Power Plan will pose challenges for our state. It has already prompted serious discussions about the future of energy production, the health and quality of our air, the viability of our agriculture, and how best to preserve existing jobs while creating new ones through renewable energy. The key is, Montana has flexibility to adopt its own plan that works best for the future of our state. In the coming months, under the leadership of the Bullock administration, some of Montanas most talented individuals across the political and economic spectrums will be brought together to design a plan that fits the nature and character of this state. All the while, we should keep in mind the thousands of Montanans whose jobs are directly threatened by unchecked climate change in the outdoor recreation industry and in Montanas biggest industry, agriculture. In their attempt at a pre-emptive strike on that plan to be developed by and for Montanans, Americans for Prosperity have chosen to utterly dismiss the proven capacity of Montanas innovators, entrepreneurs, and problem solvers to come together to create reasonable solutions to common challenges. Finally, Americans for Prosperity suggests that Montana should refuse to comply with the Clean Power Plan and should, instead, file some more federal lawsuits. More lawsuits? Holy cow! Hey, maybe that is their plan for prosperity, employing more and more armies of attorneys in a never-ending series of unproductive lawsuits. In Montana, we shouldnt stand for that. We must rely on innovation, real solutions and a future that protects jobs and our kids. -- Greg Jergeson of Chinook served eight years on the Montana Public Service Commission (2003- 2011). For six of those years, he was chairman of the commission. Jergeson also served in the Montana Senate for a total of 24 years. He is retired. When it comes to militia members taking over Oregons Malheur National Wildlife Range, many people are confused by whats perceived as a random act, or they pass it off as the actions of some renegade kooks. Its dangerous to minimize events through these lenses. The Oregon Occupiers represent the latest incarnation of county supremacy, a well-established doctrine of right-wing movements. Sometimes county supremacists claim county commissions can exert control over all the land within their boundaries and ignore environmental regulations, thereby jumpstarting local economies through extractive industry. Other times, the focus is on the county sheriff keeping federal agencies from enforcing tax, firearms, environmental, and other laws. Frequently, as in Oregon right now, right-wing militants promote both versions simultaneously. The Oregon Occupiers repeatedly say they wont leave until the federal government relinquishes the land to the local community to use for ranching, logging, and otherwise stimulating the local economy. Initially, the Occupiers claimed they would leave if asked by the local sheriff. When the sheriff did so, the insurrectionists questioned whether he was upholding his responsibilities. Rumors abound that they may convene their own illegitimate court and sentence the lawman to death. While claiming they dont want violence, many of Occupiers tend to wax poetic about armed conflict with federal agents. The militia movement itself has increased by about 40 percent in recent years. The point: The Oregon invasion is grounded in well-established ideology and represents the latest flashpoint for an anti-government movement that should concern us all. There is growing speculation as to why law enforcement seems to be taking a lackadaisical approach to the Oregon Occupiers. On one hand, officials dont want to create martyrs to fuel an already-increasing militia movement. Federal agencies no doubt want to avoid disasters like Idahos Ruby Ridge and the siege of the Branch Davidians in Waco, which served as catalysts for the creation and mobilization of the militia movement during the 1990s. Remember, this movement spawned the likes of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. However, there is concern that the insurrectionists will get away scot-free as anti-government activists did during the standoff with Nevadas Cliven Bundy. Despite militia snipers literally taking aim at federal officials, Bundy and his supporters faced no legal repercussions. Given that, its not surprising that Bundys sons are leading the Oregon Occupiers, and many of those seizing the wildlife range tout their accomplishments in Nevada. Militia supporters want another victory in Oregon, while the vast majority of America wants these false patriots held accountable for their illegal actions. Whats happening in Oregon is both influencing and reflecting mainstream public policy debates. This notion of transferring/privatizing federal lands is an outgrowth of county supremacy that has, in recent years, started to gain traction in legislatures across western states. Last session, Sen. Jennifer Fielder (R-Thompson Falls) sponsored legislation to transfer federal lands in Montana to the state. Prior to her election, she worked extensively with groups in Sanders County that pushed county supremacy and have concrete links to the Militia of Montana. Recently, she has taken to social media to defend the Oregon Occupiers cause. The ideologies driving the Oregon insurrectionists and right-wing movements consistently find their way into the political mainstream. We cannot afford to sit around and hope situations like the one in Oregon resolve themselves. That gives these Instead, local communities need to respond. Thats what is happening in Oregon. The local community didnt ask the militia to take action. Instead, the militia is there on its own behalf hoping for a revolution. Armed militants tend to dominate news coverage. However, if you look and listen closely, the local community is finding its voice and courage to tell the outsiders to leave. Without standing up and saying these groups dont represent us, the loudest and angriest voices begin defining our communities. If that happens, we all lose. -- Travis McAdam has researched and written about right-wing movements for the last 20 years, including for over a decade as a staffer for the Montana Human Rights Network. He writes from Butte, America. Comment Policy Advance Indiana allows you to post comments via this blog subject to the guidelines set forth herein. You understand that any comments you post are your own and are not those of Advance Indiana. You further understand that Advance Indiana is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced in your comments. Unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive, or otherwise objectionable comments are not acceptable. If you think any content posted or otherwise included in Advance Indiana violates the guidelines set forth herein, then please alert Advance Indiana. Advance Indiana reserves the right to pre-screen, edit, and remove any post as it deems appropriate. You specifically acknowledge that Advance Indiana has no obligation to display any post submitted or otherwise provided via Advance Indiana. The county's preferred site for its vehicle and maintenance shops is centrally located, several blocks west of South Montana Street, south of Interstate 15-90, northwest of a cemetery and north of Greenwood Avenue. A triangle tract of land just to the east of the area and south of a neighborhood would be developed as open space. MUSCATINE, Iowa Touting his executive experience as governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee brought his Republican presidential campaign to Muscatine on Tuesday afternoon. Huckabee took a short tour of Fabricator's Plus in Muscatine then spoke to a group of about 40 people. The candidate didn't mention any of his Republican rivals by name but focused his criticism on the current occupant of the White House, President Barack Obama. Huckabee said Obama didn't have the experience to be president when he ran in 2008 after serving a short time in the U.S. Senate. "Our country is struggling, struggling monetarily. Our economy is in far more trouble than the President will admit when he gets to the State of the Union," Huckabee said. He also chided the president on issues of terrorism and immigration. "We pay the price for somebody so lacking in executive skills," Huckabee said. Huckabee talked about manufacturing as the backbone of the American economy. "It always amazes me that in so many communities across America there are people that go to work every day making things that make our lives better. They make things that are part of products that we use but we don't think about somebody having to make those pieces and parts of those products," Huckabee said standing in a large warehouse at Fabricator's Plus. Mark Lofgren, of Muscatine, made some opening remarks prior to Huckabee's comments. "One thing I'll say about Gov. Huckabee, he knows his principles and sticks with them. He doesn't care whether the talking heads on these shows say something about him. He knows where he stands," Lofgren said. Huckabee served as Arkansas governor from 1996-2007. He won the Iowa caucus in 2008. The 2016 Iowa caucus is Feb. 1. "I want to put a sock in the mouth of all those New York pundits who pompously sit there in their nice studio lighting and tell you in Iowa what you're going to do and who you're going to vote for. Every four years you prove them wrong but they never seem to learn the lesson," Huckabee said. He asked those in the crowd to come out and caucus for him. "Let nothing keep you from going out to the polls. Just like Mark said, this is going to be an important night for Iowa. You are going to be the first people in all of America to vote in the 2016 election. "If the weather is bad, go anyway. If there's ice on the streets, put chains on the tires and go anyway. Let nothing keep you from that caucus if you are going to caucus for me. If for some irrational, thoughtless reason, you think you might caucus for somebody else, it's going to be cold out there that night folks. There could be ice and snow and sleet and dangerous conditions. I urge you to stay home where it is warm," he said to laughter from the crowd. Huckabee talked about growing up in the small town of Hope, Arkansas, like former President Bill Clinton. Huckabee was serving as governor while Clinton was in the White House. "I am asking you to give Hope one more chance," he said. WILTON, Iowa Officials in Wilton believe it's time for a local industry to clear the air or pay the consequences. City council members agreed with Mayor Bob Barrett on Monday night that the Vitalix plant at 403 W. First St. should receive a 30 day notice to resolve the odor problem that residents complain about or face a fine, as authorized in a nuisance ordinance the council approved in 2013. The ordinance calls for a $750 fine for a first offense and $1,000 fines for subsequent offenses. City Administrator Chris Ball said he would take the council's request to the City Attorney. Vitalix manufactures animal food by cooking molasses and mixing it with chemicals, but complaints about the smell first came to the council in October of 2013, shortly after the plant opened. Barrett said he and Ball and then-Mayor Ira Bowman were told by Vitalix officials at a Dec. 21 meeting that a plant expansion was planned, including a facility to capture the smell. But Barrett said the smell has been noticeable outside his house and in his garage. "They do seem like good guys," he said. "With that said, it's over several conversations several complaints we do have a nuisance ordinance in place. I do think we need to put them on notice that we will use it." Barrett noted the complaints began surfacing right before he stepped down from the council. "It's my opinion it's long enough," he said. Budget report The budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 may include a hefty increase for road maintenance. Ball reported the last council indicated it wanted to spend more on seal coating, and he recommended doubling the budgeted amount to $100,000. Ball also suggested adding a summertime employee to coordinate park activities. "We really don't have money in the budget to do that," he said. "We could use the emergency levy." The emergency levy can be implemented annually to raise more money for the General Fund. Ball said it could also be used to address several ongoing maintenance issues at City Hall. No decisions were made Monday night, but a work session was scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 25, prior to the 7 p.m. meeting, to discuss the budget and to review the procedures of tax-increment financing (TIF). As Chinas stock market resumed its plunge last week, the Chinese governments foray into the securities industry is changing focus again. In an effort to stop the latest meltdown, Chinese securities regulators once again revived their unpredictable rule-making and halted the intense wave of stock-market probes which they had started during the last market upswing that caught scores of senior executives in state-owned firms, top-flight Chinese traders and high-profile international investors. Malfeasance may or may not be common in Chinas securities market, but it certainly did not rise and decline abruptly in recent months. The real problem for China is not the misconduct of market participants its the incompetence of securities regulators. Due to the legal systems lack of checks and balances, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the agency overseeing Chinas stock market, has long engaged in arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement. Now that share prices in China have plummeted again, the regulatory body is very likely to look for the next scapegoats to blame. For years, regulatory enforcement without legal certainty has depressed both domestic and foreign investors in China, who desperately need a rule-based securities market. As Chinas dollar-denominated $80 billion Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program created to allow foreigners access to Chinas capital markets keeps growing, inconsistent enforcement will surely become even more disturbing for international investors, most of whom come from countries with the rule of law. Chinas probes on insider trading, for example, have been alarmingly inconsistent. Although the Securities Regulatory Commission is empowered by law to fine firms and individuals whenever it sees fit, from 2001 to 2007 it imposed fines in only two cases, compared to 36 in 2014 alone. In this years boom-and-bust cycle, the agency loosened enforcement while share prices were surging, then started hunting for scapegoats after stocks plunged. Instead of building legal certainty by consistently catching and punishing misdeeds, the regulatory body has tried to use its enforcement powers to steer market direction. Underlying the inconsistent enforcement is the Securities Regulatory Commissions unchecked powers given by Chinas weak judiciary. Last year, the commissions action in Chinas highest-profile insider trading case was challenged in court by one of the accused traders. The legal proceedings highlighted the lack of constraints on the regulatory body, and the difficulties private parties face in fighting unjust enforcement. The insider trading case arose from a 2013 computer malfunction at Everbright Securities, a Chinese brokerage firm. The glitch caused the firms proprietary trading unit to take a 7-billion-yuan long position, pushing the benchmark index up by 6 percent. The firm later unwound its position by placing sell orders and index shorts. The Regulatory Commission decided that the erroneous buy was a form of inside information held by Everbright, and that its subsequent sell was an act of insider trading. The agency punished the firm and its executives with a record fine of 438 million yuan. The head of Everbrights proprietary trading unit brought the case to court, arguing that the mistaken buy was not inside information. The oral argument in the case exposed both the regulatory bodys broad discretionary powers under the law and the courts determination to uphold the agencys decisions with little regard for facts. It is shocking to realize how much freedom the China Securities Regulatory Commission has to define the misconduct it is supposed to punish. In court, the agency cited a legal provision stating that any information the Commission recognizes as important, and as having a marked effect on the trading prices of securities is inside information. Because the regulatory body recognized Everbrights long position as inside information, it viewed the subsequent unwinding of the position as insider trading. Although the firms trading chief argued hard against this point, the judges were apparently uninterested. Unsurprisingly, because there is no separation of powers between the legislature and the securities regulatory agency, the judiciary simply has no real role to play. Nevertheless, the judges did challenge one key point. They asked the agency three times: since Everbrights proprietary trading unit was investing the firms own money, would the commission view all transactions big enough to have a marked effect automatically as inside information? Shouldnt all traders making those transactions be required to disclose such inside information before being allowed to make subsequent trades? The commissions point person kept avoiding the questions by citing Everbrights obligation to disclose information as a listed company, an issue completely irrelevant to the disclosure obligation of a market trader. The questions suggest that the judges realized that a ruling for the regulatory body would have a detrimental effect on Chinas financial development. Nonetheless, they still ruled for the agency. The courts verdict has vividly exposed the frailty of Chinas legal system. The verdict largely rephrased the commissions argument as it was, being completely silent about the debate between the judges and the agencys point person. To date, Chinas judiciary remains too weak to get in the way of the countrys regulatory body and the powerful Chinese government it reports to. While the Chinese government ostensibly considers regulatory agencies in western countries such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as the model for its securities regulation, it still doesnt realize what is missing from its own system. The China Securities Regulatory Commission doesnt need more investigations it needs more checks and balances on its investigators. There is no lack of desire in China for opening up its securities market to more international investors. But, without clear rules and consistent enforcement, China always has to face an inconvenient truth: even if you build it, they wont come. Weifeng Zhong is a research fellow in economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] South Africans are likely to see red if Eskom is granted permission to increase electricity tariffs by 17%, according to AfriBusiness. Eskom requested a 25% increase in electricity tariffs in 2015, which the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) denied after the public, corporate South Africa and other organisations had objected to the proposed increase, said AfriBusiness spokesperson Stefan Pieterse. Pieterse called on members of the public and the private sector to submit written applications to Nersa to attend public hearings of Eskoms application or to comment on it. The Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business (PCB) CEO Melanie Veness told the Witness on Tuesday that she believed the proposal was outrageous in the current economic climate and, if implemented, would have a devastating impact on job creation, economic growth, and would, in particular, severely affect businesses that rely on electricity, such as manufacturers. Businesses have been hit with very high electricity tariff increases in the recent while, she said. Eskom submitted an application for the 2013/14 financial year in November 2015. The Regulatory Clearing Account application process requires Eskom to submit a quarterly report. The methodology used to determine Eskoms tariffs allows the utility, after the financial year-end, to submit its so-called Regulatory Clearing Account application based on the financial statements. These quarterly reports are then used to predict possible tariff increases more accurately and to communicate these to users in good time. Eskom said in December that an approval of the application would improve its ability to meet financial commitments and enhance its balance sheet. In its application to Nersa, Eskom said it wanted to recoup, among others, R11.7bn for a shortfall in revenue, R8bn in costs associated with the utilitys peaking open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) plants and R2.4bn for primary energy costs. Eskom said the shortfall in revenue was primarily due to lower than anticipated electricity demand. The power utility said it had not included any revenue lost because of load shedding in 2013/14. Public hearings are due to take place from 18 January to 5 February 2016. Fin24 More on Eskom Eskom Koeberg contract ruled unlawful Eskom to the rescue for Zimbabwe The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services has scheduled hearings into the regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services in South Africa. According to Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, the hearings are scheduled for 26 January 2016. The hearings are intended to consider the following: Necessary Policy interventions on how to govern OTTs Regulatory interventions on the guidelines to regulate OTTs Impact of OTTs on competition Is there a need for the OTTs to be defined as telecom services or telecom infrastructure should they be subject to licensing and regulatory obligations (such as legal intercept and emergency call access)? This follows calls by Vodacom and MTN for OTT services to be regulated in South Africa, as well as the recent blocking of Viber, Skype, and WhatsApp by mobile networks in Morocco, said Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub and MTN SA CEO Mteto Nyati previously called for services like WhatsApp and Facebook that run over the top of networks to face greater regulatory scrutiny in SA. Nyati called for Icasa to level the playing fields between operators and OTT players. Joosub said the regulatory authorities needed to look at implementing rules and regulations for OTT players. More on regulating WhatsApp in South Africa Vodacom CEO speaks about blocking WhatsApp Vodacom wants WhatsApp regulated in South Africa WhatsApp doesnt owe you a damn thing, Vodacom and MTN As owner of this blog, I bear no responsibility to what other contributors/bloggers may post. I encourage all to speak freely without indulging in libel or defamatory content. Anyone who feels offended by any posting can email me and I will remove the offending article if appropriate. Contact me at redbeansg@yahoo.com redbean Jesse Larson said his favorite thing about owning a small business is that he can grow the company as he sees fit. From sales to operations, I have a say in everything, Larson said. I just love building every aspect of the business. It seems to be working. Together with his brother Sam Larson, we just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Larson Bros Painting. The business has about 20 employees. 1. What was your first job? My first job was at Ace Hardware in Concord, California. I started when I was 14 and I worked in every department at some point through high school. 2. How did you get into this business? I started painting in college with my fathers painting tool kit (he and my grandfather worked on a painting crew before I was born). Even being so young, I built a loyal following that expanded each year. By the time I graduated, I had a legitimate business. 3. What is the biggest challenge your business has faced? Locating great employees. We prefer to hire from other industries and train as apprentices through our system because of how difficult it is to find great experienced painters locally. 4. Whats the biggest project youve done? Probably a renovation at Francis Ford Coppolas new winery, the White Doe in Geyserville. 5. Who do you most admire in the business world? Brian Scudamore, who founded 1-800-Got-Junk? I read about how he cleaned up the junk-hauling industry. Id like to make that same kind of impact on the painting industry, which is known for painters that do not live up to their word and promise an experience that they cant deliver on. 6. What is one thing you hope to accomplish in your lifetime that you havent yet? Having kids. Im still fairly young and its in the near future for me, but its the biggest challenge I plan to undertake. 7. If you could change one thing about your business, what would it be? Unfortunately, our industry is known for cash business and under-the-table employees because companies can charge less by not paying taxes and workers compensation. Because its so common, customers dont always realize that hiring companies that arent functioning legally leaves the customer liable. These businesses are also usually run by less-experienced or capable owners. Its also common for painters to over-promise on quality and customer satisfaction in order to win a bid. 8. Whats something people might be surprised to know about you? I speak fluent French. I studied in France in college and I make at least one international trip a year because I love to travel. Occasionally, I meet a French customer and I try and perform the estimate in French. 9. What was your childhood ambition? I wanted to own a grocery store since I was in elementary school. I used to draw layouts of how my grocery store would look and how it would function. 10. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be? My painting shop. It sounds dull, but I love business and making systems that help us function better. When I work at my shop I get to see tangible evidence of an efficient system. I would welcome any of our customers to come look at it, too. Bonus questions for online: Which three people would you most like to have dinner with? Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and Ayn Rand. Whats the worst job you ever had? Electrician assistant at a Dow Chemical factory. I worked in this capacity during a summer break in college and I really liked it, but in comparison to my other job experience it was probably the least exciting. What job would you like to try/not try? Try: Teacher. Not try: Mover. Whats on your to-do list? We are redesigning our website right now, which is a big to-do for us. Weekly beauty parlor appointments may belong to a bygone era, but downtown Napa has a new blow-dry salon hoping to bring this tradition to a new generation. Whirlwind Blow Dry Lounge officially opened Nov. 20. The shop is strictly for blow-dry styling, braids and updos. They do not offer cuts or color. Co-owner Stacie Harrold describes the blow-dry lounge as having a vintage feel with blow-dryers from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. One customer review on Yelp said the retro look of the shop reminded her of the television show Mad Men a comparison that the shops owners gladly embrace. We love the Mad Men era and the customer comment! Harrold said. We designed the salon to have a vintage, but modern feel. We have over 15 vintage dryers and curlers displayed around the salon along with some classic movie star prints with unforgettable styles. For many customers, visiting a blow-dry lounge is a new concept and experience, Harrold said. Some women instantly fall in love with the idea and will come in on a weekly or biweekly basis, she said. We both love and have fond memories of our grandmas frequenting salons back in the 50s and 60s, Harrold said. Its a shame that era faded away. Harrold and co-owner Shannon Hunsaker are longtime business partners, and each has had a career in advertising and the arts. For 16 years, they owned and operated an advertising company focusing on commercial advertising and production in the Napa Valley, Harrold said. Hunsaker has lived in Napa Valley for more than 18 years. Harrold has lived here for 13 years. Both women spent time in Southern California and San Francisco, where they enjoyed going to blow-dry salons. After moving to Napa with their families, however, they both found it difficult to get appointments for blowouts with their local stylists. The women teamed up and, with the expertise of consultant and stylist Chris Bell, they decided to open a blow-dry lounge in downtown Napa. After more than a year of planning, Whirlwind Blow Dry Lounge came to life, Harrold said. We really liked the idea of the era when you visited a salon on a weekly basis to be styled, she said. We have a great team of stylists, many with blow-dry salon experience. Harrold describes their stylists, as well as the shops desirable location on Main Street, as amazing. We have a lovely view of the river and new park connecting us to the other side of Soscol, Harrold said. The salon is located across the street from BurgerFi in the Opera House Plaza, behind the Opera House. Its right in the heart of downtown Napa, and we are very fortunate to be in such a great location. We really love the feel of the shop. Among all the salons services, the Give It a Whirl, which costs $40, is the most popular request, Harrold said. Its basically a blowout with some bounce, she said. For $70, the shop offers Pile It High, which is an updo of the customers choosing. And on Wednesdays, Whirlwind does a happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. offering its signature blowout for $35. We also offer makeup and have a private lounge exclusively for groups, Harrold said. We can accommodate wedding parties, little gal parties or just friends getting together before a night on the town. The product lines used by the shop include Living Proof, Kevin Murphy and Moroccan Oil, which are also available for sale. The shop uses makeup products from Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics. Whirlwind Blow Dry Lounge is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays. We need to jump-start Calistogas commitment to making our city green. Two years ago on Jan. 1, 2014, the city of Calistoga started off the new year by distributing 1,000 reusable bags at Cal Mart, Puerto Vallarta market, La Corona market and Wappo Market. The new bags were to replace single-use plastic bags commonly in use then. We took a stand in setting an example in Napa County and in the state of California since at that time neither Napa nor St. Helena, or the state, had yet passed their ordinances. Since then, California became the first state to pass a law with restrictions on single-use plastic bags. Immediately outside money started pouring into the state to overturn the law; we will vote in November on the initiative placed on the ballot by the out-of-state plastic manufacturers. Still other municipalities including the cities of Sacramento and American Canyon, have continued to go ahead with their own bans. Id like to see Calistoga take another leadership role in line with the 195 countries that, in mid-December in Paris, came together in a historic promise to move forward in an effort to keep the Earths temperatures from exceeding 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels. (A rise of 2C is considered the most the Earth could tolerate without risking catastrophic changes to food production, sea levels, fishing, wildlife, deserts and water reserves. Even if rises are pegged at 2C, scientists say this will still destroy most coral reefs and glaciers and melt significant parts of the Greenland ice cap, bringing major rises in sea levels.) Let us join in using the power of the sun, start installing solar panels on city buildings. We can start right away by installing solar panels on the roof of the Monhoff Center, which is now being repaired. Next would be the senior apartments that are to be built at 611 Washington St. And then there is the new Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Helena and Calistoga that will be built next to the Community Pool on Washington and Oak. This would implement goals in the citys Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2014. In east Napa, a new development of nine houses in a pocket neighborhood is being planned as a net-zero project that will include solar hot water and electricity. Solar installers are making it easy to do this. They custom size and design the system. The cost of the panels and installation does not need to be paid up front, but can instead be leased for a fixed number of years. The difference in the reduced PG&E electric bill goes toward the solar panels. Plus, the city will be able to limit the future cost of electricity. That is now completely at the whim of PG&E and is also totally unpredictable. In addition PG&E is already implementing Time-of-Use and Peak-Day pricing for business. They will be increasing their efforts to maximize their profits, so these plans will probably extend to home users next. I urge the leaders of the city to put Calistoga at the forefront of committing to action for the Earth. Make use of renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions. Leave fossil fuels in the ground. Karen Chang Calistoga Napa Valleys animal rescue operation is looking for a permanent home, and American Canyon may have the perfect spot. Last month, the city was approached by the Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County about a parcel of undeveloped land near the wetlands known as Clarke Ranch. The nonprofit organization, which has been around for 25 years, has never had a permanent place of its own to hold, rehabilitate, and release back into the wild wounded, sick or orphaned animals and birds. Instead, it has had to rely on a Napa veterinary and the homes of numerous volunteers to care for the hundreds of creatures it takes in each year. So the rescue centers vice president, John Comisky, made a pitch to the City Council just before the holiday break about building a facility at Clarke Ranch. Were hoping Clarke Ranch is a possibility, said Comisky, that there would be a spot out there for us. Comisky said the new facility, which would include an animal hospital and visitor center to conduct education and outreach, would require 3-5 acres of space. Clarke Ranch is approximately 20-25 acres in size, but cannot be developed for private use and must be reserved for public benefit, according to the terms the city agreed to when it bought the land back in the 1990s. City leaders reacted favorably to the rescue centers proposal, and said they would include the organization in discussions expected to take place this year to create a master plan for Clarke Ranch. I think that would be a great match, said City Manager Dana Shigley. Its exactly the kind of thing that would be good out there. Councilmember Mark Joseph agreed, saying: Conceptually, its an exciting idea, and seems consistent with the role weve talked about for Clarke Ranch. Comisky said his organization was still in the early stages of launching a capital campaign to raise money for building the new center. He added that his group is talking to other communities in addition to American Canyon about locating the facility somewhere once they have the funds to break ground. The rescue center helped nearly 1,200 birds and animals last year, according to Comisky. That work was largely done out of peoples homes functioning as satellite care centers where everything from squirrels and skunks to foxes and turkey vultures were nursed, fed, exercised, and prepared for returning back to their natural habitats. We handle all animal life but are prohibited from handling big game animals, said Comisky about his organization, which is licensed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and permitted through the U.S. Department of the Interiors Fish and Wildlife Division to rehabilitate migratory birds. We cant handle wild cats or bears, he added. We can handle fawns but not adult deer. The center gets help from Silverado Veterinary Hospital in Napa, which performs intake services on birds and wild animals brought in by residents. But it is the only operation of its kind in the area to carry out its mission without a real base of operation. At this time, Napa County is the only North Bay county that does not have a physical wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility, according to the groups website. Two Napa County organizations helping victims of sexual assault received a donation of new T-shirts this week, thanks to the nonprofit The Grateful Garment Project (TGGP) and two Bay Area apparel businesses, Greenlight Apparel and Reva Wear. Nearly 2,300 new T-shirts were shipped out to 95 California organizations that help sexual assault victims, as well as commercially sexually exploited children and human sexual trafficking victims. With the help of about two dozen fabulous volunteers we successfully shipped 95 boxes of brand new T-shirts to SART facilities, rape crisis centers, safe houses, and shelters across the state, said TGGP Executive Director Lisa Blanchard. We cant thank Greenlight Apparel and Reva Wear enough for their generous donation. Those shirts are going to help 2,280 people feel like someone cares after experiencing a terrible trauma. Two organizations in Napa County -- Napa Emergency Womens Services, and Solano and Napa SANE/SART -- received 24 T-shirts each to help future clients. The mission of TGGP is to ensure that every victim of sexual violence who crosses the threshold of a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) facility, or who seeks medical attention and/or law enforcement involvement, is provided with whatever new clothing, toiletries, snacks, and other miscellaneous items that he or she may require. The organization currently stocks clothing closets and supplies local service providers at 61 locations in 25 of Californias 58 counties. Many highbrow French foodies perceive doggy bags as American and, synonymously, uncouth. But Un doggy bag, sil-vous plait, may become a more common request if environmentalists have their way. A new law in France requires large restaurants to provide take-away containers, or les doggy bags, to any customers who asks for one. Aimed at cutting back on food waste, the initiative launched at the beginning of 2016 and applies to establishments with at least 150 diners a day, reports France24. More than 100 restaurants in Paris are already in compliance with the new regulation, but shifting behaviors is another thing entirely. As one opinionated diner told Reuters, Its not in the French culture, it never has been. How come Americans wear a revolver on their belt and French people dont? Point taken. But are doggy bags really American? Heres a brief history. Roman roots Todays doggy bags are the descendant of a tradition among Roman nobility that was, surprisingly, a sign of courtesy. In the 6th century B.C., banquet guests wrapped their leftovers in napkins and brought them home, etiquette expert Dorothea Johnson wrote in her book Tea & Etiquette: Taking Tea for Business and Pleasure. It was considered rude to do otherwise, a suggestion that the food was not good. The practice stagnated until the scarcity of the WWII years, when the modern doggy bag was born. Literal bags for dogs In the 1940s, food shortages affected Americans of all classes. Economical pet owners were encouraged to minimize waste by feeding their dogs table scraps, says Smithsonian Magazine. San Francisco eateries were the first to start offering leftover food packets for patrons to bring home to their pets, but the practice soon spread around the country. And as Americans realized that Fido doesnt need foie-gras, more and more of them started asking for take-away containers for themselves. As The Washington Post documented, by the 1980s the country had firmly latched on to the idea of doggy bags. There was even doggy bag art: one Georgetown waiter folded his aluminum foil containers origami style into nearly any animal you could think of. D.C. even legalized wine doggy bags, because although wasted wine doesnt have the same environmental impact as wasted food, its just as lamentable. People around the world warmed up to the idea, too. But France has been a hold-out, until the government gave them a gentle push a few days ago. While only time will tell if French connoisseurs really adopt the practice, it remains to be seen if its actually an effective way to manage food waste. The U.S. sends more than 30 million tons of food to landfills every year, so maybe were not the best role model. Napa County has decided that property it owns along the Napa River in the bustling Oxbow district has a higher and better use than being a small corporation yard for storing gear and janitorial services. The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declared the 2.2 acres at 933 Water St. as surplus. That means the for sale sign should be going up at some point. Oxbow Public Market hums with activity, and the Culinary Institute of America plans to revitalize the empty Copia building. Now the county wants a piece of the action. What the propertys highest and best use is remains a question. A study done for the county by Jones Lang LaSalle found that the property might be worth up to $6.6 million for multifamily housing and $11 million for a hotel. It deemed a resort-style destination hotel the best use. But the county isnt necessarily going that direction. The firm ACA Financial Guaranty controls the adjacent south parking lot of the Copia complex, and that site could be targeted for development of some type. Water Street really works best looking at Copia at large, Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht said. The city of Napa and ACA would be the lead for master planning the area, county Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Larry Florin said. The city would issue the permits for what could be built there. Money from a land sale could go toward building a new county jail, officials have said. The site has some constraints. Although 2.2 acres, the developable portion will be 1.84 acres should a planned flood wall be built. A 1992 county report noted petroleum hydrocarbons had been found in the soil and groundwater, raising the need for further environmental review. Napa County uses the site for janitorial operations, surplus storage and housing staff from its communications departments. These functions will move to the countys South Campus in Napa Valley Commons and a county maintenance yard on California Boulevard. The county has one task remaining before it can legally sell the property to a private developer. First, it must make the land available at fair market price for 60 days to government agencies. County supervisors also talked about what might eventually happen to property on Old Sonoma Road that is home to the Health and Human Services Agency. The agency is to move to the South Campus in late spring. Then the county will have another property that it can declare surplus and sell. Supervisors on Tuesday talked about wanting to see residential development there with an amount of affordable housing that is above the norm. There are not that many 8.5-acre parcels with full infrastructure, with public transportation, with (nearby) schools available in the city of Napa, Supervisor Keith Caldwell said. If were ever going to move the needle, this is going to be the project. He talked of working with the city of Napa on zoning. He talked about doing the environmental work and other permitting chores ahead of time, then entering into an agreement with a developer. The Jones Lang LaSalle report said the site could sell for $4 million to $14 million for multifamily housing, depending on whether the county sells the entire property or a portion. How much land might be used for housing is a question mark. First, the county must decide what to do with three century-old buildings along the crescent driveway to the complex. In 2011, Napa County Landmarks put the buildings on its at-risk list. A county study says they appear eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. It certainly appears to be housing versus landmarks, Florin said. Maybe theres an elegant solution that combines them. But the Board of Supervisors isnt quite ready to declare the Health and Human Services Agency complex as surplus property. The county will need this land for about another half-year. WASHINGTON - The number of patients harmed by contaminated medical scopes in recent years far exceeds previous estimates from federal regulators, according to findings in a Senate health committee report published Wednesday. During a three-year stretch from 2012 to 2015, specialized devices known as duodenocopes were linked to more than two dozen outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant infections that sickened at least 250 patients in the United States and Europe, the inquiry found. It also details a woefully inadequate warning system, in which manufacturers failed to inform health officials to potential problems linked to their devices, hospitals failed to alert federal regulators about outbreaks and the Food and Drug Administration was slow to identify the problem and alert the public. "Patients should be able to trust that the devices they need for treatment are safe and effective," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., whose staff began investigating the issue a year ago, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, this investigation makes clear that current policies for monitoring medical device safety put patients at risk, and in this case, allowed tragedies to occur that could have, and should have, been prevented." Duodenoscopes are used in hundreds of thousands of procedures each year in the United States to drain fluids from pancreatic and bile ducts blocked by cancer tumors, gallstones and other conditions. During a typical procedure, a flexible, lighted tube is threaded down the throat and stomach and into the top of the small intestine. Unlike other endoscopes, duodenoscopes have a movable "elevator" mechanism at one end that allows the instrument to maneuver into ducts and fix fluid-drainage problems. That intricate design can make the devices difficult to sterilize between uses. Doctors consider duodenoscopes an important tool in detecting and treating medical problems early and in a minimally invasive way. But in recent years, the devices also have been linked to the spread of a growing number of antibiotic-resistant "superbug" infections. An outbreak involving contaminated scopes last year at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles left at least two people dead, and officials said scores of other patients potentially were exposed to the dangerous bacteria. At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, also in Los Angeles, four patients were infected by a superbug after undergoing a duodenoscope procedure. A Connecticut hospital said it had contacted nearly 300 patients who might have been exposed to a dangerous type of drug-resistant E. coli after undergoing duodenoscope procedures. Since 2012, other outbreaks have occurred at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital near Chicago, where 44 people were infected, and at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, where at least 32 patients became ill and 11 died. Such incidents prompted the FDA in February to alert doctors and hospitals that duodenoscopes can be difficult to sanitize between uses and "may facilitate the spread of deadly bacteria." The agency also sent warning letters to the primary manufacturers of the devices -- Olympus, Pentax and Fujifilm -- saying the companies failed to adequately report problems with the devices and, in some instances, failed to ensure that they could be cleaned properly between uses. But Wednesday's Senate report documents a deeper history of infections linked to tainted scopes than previously reported. Investigators detailed dozens of outbreaks at hospitals from New York to Florida to Wisconsin, as well as overseas as hospitals in Germany, France and the Netherlands. "These outbreaks infected at least 250 people with life-threatening illnesses, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a dangerous superbug that is resistant to our most potent antibiotics and that kills about half of those it infects," they wrote. The report spreads blame among device manufacturers, hospitals and the FDA, as well as what investigators say is an insufficient, outdated system of oversight that prevents health officials from spotting potential problems with medical devices in general. Device manufacturers failed to adequately test whether their scopes could be properly cleaned in a real-world setting, and didn't meet requirements to self-report problems quickly to regulators. Many hospitals also were slow to report infections to manufacturers and federal agencies. And the FDA, in part hamstrung by an ineffective surveillance system, failed to spot the deadly infections linked to contaminated scopes quickly or to alert the public. The report calls for a series of legislative and regulatory changes aimed at helping officials more rapidly identify and combat problems with medical devices. The FDA said in a statement it will "carefully consider" the recommendation's from Wednesday's report, and that mitigating the risk of deadly infections associated with duodenoscopes is a "top priority" for the agency. "We agree with the senator that a broader approach to understanding how well duodenoscope devices work in real-time use is critical to public health," the agency wrote. "The FDA has taken several actions to address the issue of duodeoscope-related infections and will continue to work to protect patients, while ensuring access to these important devices for those who may benefit from minimally invasive procedures." Mark Miller, a spokesman for Olympus Corp. of the Americas, said the company had cooperated with Senate investigators, providing documents and answering questions. "Although we do not agree with all of the report's conclusions, we are closely reviewing the recommendations in the report as part of Olympus' ongoing efforts to increase patient safety associated with use of Olympus duodenoscopes." A spokeswoman for Pentax said the company is reviewing Wednesday's report and that it "will continue to work with Congress, FDA and the industry to reduce the risk of infection in flexible endoscopy." A spokeswoman for Fujifilm said patient safety remains the company's top priority, "and we are committed to working together with all stakeholders, including patients, hospitals, regulators and lawmakers, to ensure the long-term sustainable use of duodenoscopes." The landscape of the 2016 election is seismic. Deep beneath the surface of our daily lives, three tectonic plates have collided, and a tsunami now pounds us. The names of those plates are income inequality; overcriminalization and excessive punishment in the U.S. Code, to quote Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan; and demographic transition. On the first two, right and left are actually, weirdly enough, experiencing a meeting of the psyches, or something of the sort. But the third issue casts everything in the light of racial questions and makes the strange fact of latent bipartisan agreement almost impossible to see. Income inequality began its remarkable climb in the early 1980s, and the income share of the top 10 percent now exceeds the level of the 1920s. In the summer of the 1992 party conventions, as I remember it, commentators had noticed that income inequality was rising, but it was too early to tell whether the curve would descend again. The arc of history didnt turn, and now income inequality is at historic heights. Much of the United States is suffering from wage stagnation, and the money-soaked presidential campaign is largely being paid for by a very small number of Americans. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Donald Trump are both tapping into these issues. Both disavow super PACs and promise, with quite different degrees of moral seriousness, to reverse the decline experienced by lower-income segments of the population. Sanders wants to reverse that through redistribution. Trump appears to have placed a gamblers bet on something of a racial protection racket. He stands ready to make his largely white crowds great again by protecting them from a variety of intruders and competitors, generally of different ethnic backgrounds, while he asks for a nice fee in the form of a hefty tax break for the wealthy. As to overcriminalization, mass incarceration also began its remarkable climb in the early 1980s and has now reached globally historic levels. The Black Lives Matter campaign against police violence has turned our phone cameras on fundamental issues of race, yes, but not only on those issues. It has also focused our eyes on clear examples of an excessive growth of state power, well-exemplified by the war on drugs. The effects of the growth of the penal state ramify well beyond city streets, all the way, for instance, to the Gulf of Mexico. Kagan criticized overcriminalization and excessive punishment in a Supreme Court decision that reversed the felony conviction of John Yates, a commercial gulf fisherman who was accused of throwing 72 undersize grouper overboard when caught with them by a federal agent. On the basis of Sarbanes-Oxley, a law meant to rein in accounting shenanigans, Yates was charged with destroying, concealing, and covering up undersized fish to impede a federal investigation. That is, he was thought to be guilty of tampering with any physical object that might have evidentiary value in any federal investigation into any offense, an act that exposes you to a possible 20-year prison sentence. Until the Supreme Court intervened, throwing grouper overboard could be life-altering. Every Republican candidate has raised the issue of governmental overreach as a major problem to be tackled in this election. Now if you are following me, youll notice that I just did something very strange. I just suggested that the Black Lives Matter campaign and the motley cast of characters seeking the Republican nomination are on the same page on something. Ive proposed that they share a concern for excessive state power. As if the activists from Ferguson, Missouri, might now be thinking, Where was Ammon Bundy when we needed him? As if Trump fails to see potential allies in the Black Lives Matter protesters who turn up at his rallies. Why dont these voices on right and left sing in harmony? Because of race. This brings me to the third seismic issue, the remarkable demographic transition underway in this country. It also brings me to rancher Cliven Bundy, Ammons father, notorious for saying in 2014 that he wondered whether blacks werent better off as slaves. The United States days as a home to a white majority are, for all intents and purposes, done. Children born in 2011 are members of this countrys first majority-minority birth cohort. And children who entered kindergarten in fall 2014 were on track to be the first majority- minority school cohort. We may be no more than a dozen years from the entrance of majority- minority age cohorts into our voting ranks. These facts are forcing upon us, at long last, the question of what will become of the remarkably long-lived tradition in many parts of this country of white social and political control. As a Trump supporter was quoted in a recent Washington Post article as saying, Something has to be done because were shrinking, were being taken over by people that want to change what America is. She added, You cant say it nicely. The deep question here is whether we will pursue the politics and policies of something like apartheid South Africa or complete, at last, the dream too long deferred of a racially egalitarian democracy. The Republicans are, at best, split on this question. The Democrats are certainly for the latter, but they have been able to avoid engaging too deeply on the issue because they consider the voters who agree with them to be firmly in their camp already. With regard to income inequality and concerns about excessive growth in state power, right and left are rubbing up against each other in ways that are awkward, embarrassing and uncomfortable for everyone. Thats one thing that this election season is teaching us, and thats why the potential effects are seismic. But heres the other thing its teaching us. The question of our racial future divides us utterly, and this third issue makes it impossible for us to see the potential points of solidarity that the political quakes have cast upon our shores. Riding high on the crests of this tsunami are some fundamental matters that we must certainly face and about which we may, stunningly, but possibly, agree. Yet the danger from the quake is none the less for that, and the challenge of figuring out how to master this moment is nothing if not thoroughly daunting. If only we could do it together, despite our racial history. Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. CANBERRA, Australia Canadian pilot dies after falling into Antarctic crevasse A Canadian helicopter pilot died at an Australian Antarctic base a day after falling into an icy crevasse. The Australian Antarctic Division said David Wood fell 66 feet into the crevasse and remained there for three hours after landing on a remote ice shelf 104 miles northeast of Australias Davis Station late Monday. A rescue team from Davis was able to retrieve the 62-year-old then flew him by helicopter to a medical facility at Davis in a critical condition. He died on Tuesday as officials planned an air evacuation to Australia The division said Wood had more than 30 years experience as a pilot and had worked extensively in both the Antarctic and Arctic. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Prominent female Saudi rights advocate arrested Human rights groups and activists say one of Saudi Arabias most prominent human rights advocates was arrested. Samar Badawi is the sister of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was lashed 50 times last year and is serving a 10-year prison sentence for insulting the kingdoms influential religious establishment. She is also the wife of human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence on charges related to his work, which included defending Raif Badawi. Amnesty International and the Center for Inquiry say the arrest on Tuesday of Samar Badawi is believed to be linked to her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her husband. ANNAPOLIS Court sets March hearing on Freddie Gray witness dispute Marylands second-highest court has scheduled a March hearing on a dispute that has stalled the murder trial of a Baltimore police officer in the death of Freddie Gray. The Court of Special Appeals said Tuesday that it will hear oral arguments March 4 on whether Officer William Porter must testify against Officer Caesar Goodson. Goodson drove the van in which Gray suffered a fatal neck injury. Porter testified at his own trial that he told Goodson that Gray had asked for medical help. Porters trial ended in a hung jury. Hes awaiting retrial. The trial judge has ordered Porter to testify against Goodson despite Porters assertion that he has a right not to incriminate himself. On Monday, Goodsons trial was suspended until the matter is resolved. MEXICO CITY Mexico ruling may jeopardize case of missing students An appeals court ruling is threatening to derail Mexicos effort to prosecute suspects in one of its most notorious crimes of recent years: the disappearance and presumed murder of 43 students in Guerrero state. The injunction orders the state judge overseeing the case to correct flaws in its case against 22 police officers who are accused of killing four people on the night the students vanished. It was issued late last year but not yet publicized. The case of the missing students is one of the most widely protested examples of human rights abuses in Mexicos recent history, and it has shaken faith in all levels of government. The injunction found prosecutorial errors including inconsistent testimony and scant evidence, and said if they cannot be fixed, the accused must be exonerated. PARIS Jewish leader in France asks faithful to forego kippa A leading Jewish authority in the French city Marseille has asked fellow Jews to refrain from wearing their traditional skull cap to stay safe after a machete-wielding teen attacked a Jewish teacher. Zvi Ammar, head of the Israelite Consistory of Marseille, said on Tuesday that he is asking Jews to go without the kippa until better days. He called this the hardest decision of his life, but said he prefers being criticized for making this decision than regretting one day if by misfortune something very grave occurs. Ammar spoke on TV stations BFM and iTele. A 15-year-old Turkish Kurd was arrested after attacking a Jewish teacher in a Marseille street. He told police he acted in the name of the Islamic State group. An investigation for terrorism has been opened. BUDAPEST, Hungary Hungary court rejects appeals of 3 convicted of killing Roma Hungarys supreme court has rejected the appeals of three men sentenced to life in prison for a series of attacks against Roma in which six people were killed and several injured. Zsolt Peto and brothers Arpad and Istvan Kiss were found to have carried out nine attacks, mostly on the outskirts of rural villages, against Roma, also known as Gypsies. Their sentences exclude the possibility of parole. One of the victims was a 5-year-old boy, Robika Csorba, shot to death along with his father outside their home. Tuesdays decision by the supreme court means the appeals process has been exhausted for the three men. Their driver in some of the attacks, Istvan Csontos, is already serving a 13-year prison sentence. The best of Katmandu packages revolve around the axis of three places in Nepal - Katmandu, Nagarkot, and Pokhara. Within the axis of these three locations, you will find everything you expected from a Nepal tour and much more. A Nepal holiday is a once in a lifetime trip that people often get addicted to. The beauty and hidden indulgences of this country, the hospitality of the people, and the warmth of the culture will leave you craving only for more of this charm. For a family vacation, it's perfect; for a honeymoon, romantic; and for adventurers - Nepal has all of the very best. To find the real beauty of Nepal, you'll have to discover the country slowly. With all the experiences and immense pleasures that this country has to offer, you'll be overwhelmed by options. Nepal tours are often set out by professional tour managers, and they can figure out a schedule that will let you absorb the beauty and sensual experiences of the land slowly and enjoyably. Though planned Katmandu packages are not for thrill seekers like mountaineers and adrenaline junkies; there are some unique adventures like paragliding and single propeller plane rides for the family on a holiday. Thus, over all, a Nepal holiday has something for everyone to indulge in. Before you decide upon a Katmandu package, remember there are some things you just cannot miss - Nagarkot - Located deep in the pristine mountains at over 2,500 ft, this little hill station has to be a part of every good Nepal holiday. You can see 10 of the tallest peaks in the world from this beautiful hill station, and thus have one of the most panoramic views of the Himalayas. Pokhara - This small town about 200 km from Katmandu has some of the beautiful lakes and holiday spots necessarily a part of any proper Nepal holiday. Since Pokhara is also the starting point for trekking trails towards the Annapurna, it is also a hub for adventurers and adventure sports enthusiasts. Apart from these two beautiful places, there is always The Royal Chitwan National Park with its rich abundance of Flora and Fauna. A Nepal holiday must include an elephant back safari to see wild elephants, rhinos, tigers, and even some rare species like the Gangetic Dolphin. Another most sought after part of a good Nepal tour is Jomsom, famous for its temples and religious experiences. These are some of the best bits that should be a part of your Katmandu packages for a complete Nepal experience. epal is one of the well known and distinguished destinations in the world. The world highest mountain Mt. Everest (8848m) is designated here with others 8 of the 14's 8000+m snows capped peaks of the world. Every year thousands of trekkers travel to Nepal for the trekking and tour adventures. She possesses a natural diversity of panoramic landscapes, Himalayan vistas, fast flowing rivers, cultural variety and historical monuments of ancient significance. It is the land of birth place of Lord Buddha, a land of peace, so the hospitality and treatment towards our guests is always our top most responsibility as we believe 'Guests are the incarnation of Gods'. You'll be worry free in the lap of nature during your every adventure package in the Himalayas. Here especially, famous trekking destinations are Annapurna region, Everest region, Langtang region and some of the newly opened and restricted regions of higher possibilities. Some of top 5 trekking packages as well liked by visitors are described as below. 1. Annapurna Base Camp Trek Annapurna Base Camp trekking lies in the foothills of the Annapurna mountain range with the highest altitude of 4130m. The journey begins with either flight or drive to the beautiful Pokhara city. This trip provides the excellent views of Annapurna range, Machhapuchhure, Dhaulagiri, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna and many other snow capped peaks. Also popularly known as ABC Trek, this is prominently one of the most experienced regions of the tourist. You can have the experience of a typical Nepalese lifestyle and have close view to the tradition and customs. With this trek, you can also join other famous trekking trails of this region like Sanctuary, Ghorepani Poonhill and Jomsom Muktinath etc. 2. Annapurna Circuit Trek After ABC, the round travel to the whole of Annapurna circuit is another popular and courageous trekking package. The circuit trekking is organized for normally 20 days of journey starting from Besisahar and ending the round at Pokhara. During the trek you'll travel through Manang, popular for Manangi people, and the ever challenging Thorongla pass (5416m). This trek is visit to religious pilgrimage center Muktinath, ancient medieval valley Kagbeni and Marpha. You have the opportunity to enjoy the natural hot spring bath at Tatopani and have an incredible closest Mountain View from Ghorepani Poonhill. 3. Everest Base Camp Trek The Everest Base Camp trek is one of the most adorable trekking in Nepal that takes you to the world highest peak Mt. Everest (8848m) base camp. You'll start your journey with an exciting mountain flight to the one of the world's dangerous airports at Lukla. The trekking continues through Everest National Park with a chance to have glimpses of rare birds and animals. Traveling through various traditional villages and old classical trading route for 7-8 days, we reach to Kalapatthar and EBC. You'll be surrounded by the snowcapped peaks in the heart of Khumbu glacier. This trek is also popular as you got to catch the trans-Himalayan lifestyle of the Tibetan Plateau. 4. Langtang Valley Trek If you want to try on something very different route, less frequently visited and less crowded, Langtang valley trek can be the best option for you. Langtang trek is short for 10 days that offers you varieties of rhododendron, bamboo forests, majestic waterfalls and snow-capped Himalayas. You will take off your adventurous journey after a Kathmandu bus drive to Syabru basin. You visit ancient Buddhist monasteries and glaciers and also enjoy the local tradition and culture. This trekking also can be continued to Gosaikunda lake and hidden valley Helambu. 5. Upper Mustang Trek As enlisted by Lonely Planet (2013), Upper Mustang region is the top third best trekking destination in the world. This is the voyage you'll never want to miss being an adventure lover and nature explorer. The Trans- Himalayan Mustang Region is also known as the Last Forbidden Kingdom. The trail of the journey is through following the salt caravan route of the ancient days. The purpose of the Upper Mustang trek is the capital of Upper Mustang, walled city Lo Manthang. Tiji Festival influenced and celebrated by Tibetan Buddhism is another major attraction of this area. Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu serves as the main gateway into the Himalayan country of Nepal. Travellers can take flights to here from India, Southeast Asia, Middle East and East Asia. A number of tourist attractions in Kathmandu are near the airfield and visiting them can be a good way to keep the Nepal tour package cost a little low. As the city is the national capital, it has places of interest related to many aspects like religion, history and culture. The three most incredible sites to visit in the city are Pashupatinath, National Museum and Kopan Monastery. Pashupatinath Many holiday package deals include a visit to the prominent Hindu temple of Pashupatinath. It is widely held to be the earliest Hindu temple in the Nepalese capital, with evidence dating it to around AD 400. The revered complex - located on the banks of the Bagmati River - has numerous shrines. Reflecting the traditional architectural style of the country is the square-shaped two-storey pagoda structure of the principle temple. Its four doors are covered with sheets of silver, while the pagoda roof is adorned with gold. The sanctum of the shrine contains wooden idols of the presiding deities and a golden statue of Nandi - the divine bull of the lord. Funeral cremations are held on the banks of the river, where platforms have been built specifically for this purpose. National Museum A visit to the National Museum may also help in keeping the Nepal tour package cost down as the establishment is located about 15 km from the airport. Exhibitions on natural history, prehistoric stone tools, traditional dolls, weapons, portraits and religious sculptures are organised in the main museum building. This building also contains objects, stolen from the country and then brought back, and some artefacts, excavated from the Mustang region. Some of the most-prized objects here are a rock from the moon, whale bones and the Bir Gun. Juddha Jatiya Kalashala or the Art Gallery building displays stone, terracotta, bronze, wood artworks and ornate paintings. Statues of deities like Garuda, Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma, Baban Bhairava, Goddess Lakshmi and a manuscript of the Iranian Epic, Shahnama, are its main attractions. The ground floor of the Buddha Art Gallery building has three sections, namely Southwest Terai, Kathmandu Valley and Northern Himalayan Zone. They contain artworks and excavated artefacts, including bronze, wooden and stone sculptures, and skull-shaped ritual cups. Mandalas that are the most important symbolic drawings of Tantric Buddhism are exhibited on the first floor of the building. Kopan Monastery Another good place that may be explored by making holiday package deals is Kopan Monastery. Entering from its main gate, visitors walk up a flight of stairs to reach the main temple. A statue of Goddess Tara is seen on the right side of the stairway. On the entrance porch of the temple are idols of four guardian deities of Tibet and a large depiction of the Wheel of Life. Idols of Je Tsongkhapa, his two disciples, Lord Buddha, Manjusri and Maitreya, and paintings of Indian scholars are inside the shrine hall. In the centre of the hall is a stupa, dedicated to the founder of the monastery. Near the temple is a large prayer wheel, containing pictures and mantras, dedicated to Avalokitesvara. The debate house next to the hall has idols of Indian scholars and the various manifestations of Goddess Tara. Relics of a great Buddhist teacher are kept inside the Tantric College, outside which are eight stupas. The top floor of the Chenrezig Gompa houses the remains of the former abbot of the monastery, and the complex also contains a stupa dedicated to him. A statue of Avalokitesvara stands in front of the Thousand Buddha Relic Stupa. Paying a visit to these three amazing places in Kathmandu may reduce the Nepal tour package cost as they are close to the international airport. Herman K. Trabish, May 13, 2015 (Utility Dive) Hydropower has long been a secondary member of the renewables family, pushed to the edges of sustainability discourses by past ecological damages and the booms in wind and solar energy. But now, climate change and the need for clean and flexible baseload power is forcing hydro back into the spotlight, and forcing utilities and environmentalists alike to take a second look at the resource. Technological advances are allowing utilities and environmental groups to reconsider the power of flowing waters that now provide over 7% of U.S. electricity and could be much more, according the latest market report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Utilities backed away from hydropower because opposition from environmentalists made it too challenging, explained DOE Wind and Water Power Program Manager Hoyt Battey. It didnt have the best public image for a long time because of some very legitimate concerns about its impact on waterway ecosystems. But we are getting a lot better at dealing with and mitigating those impacts. From its experience of almost four decades of work to protect U.S. waterways,American Rivers, a waterway conservation group, now believes hydropower done right is an important part of our nations energy mix. But the key lies in getting it right. Badly developed hydropower has caused species extinctions and put others at risk. It must be sited, operated, and mitigated responsibly, American Rivers says. And the group remains very skeptical of the need for new dams or projects that dewater healthy streams. But climate change looms. Contemporary environmental laws and values and effective oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) now make it possible to develop new hydropower capacity. America could double its hydropower capacity without building a single new dam, American Rivers' website asserts. Hydropower development has a troubled history, The Nature Conservancy concurred. But its emissions-free renewable base-load capacity and potential to provide storage capacity and flood control cant be ignored. While some dams impacts clearly outweigh their benefits, in many places the most important question may not be whether to build a dam but rather aboutwhere and how hydropower is built, Managing Director Giulio Boccaletti wrote. If we fail to engage with the hydropower community, we will miss an enormous opportunity for positive impact. State of the hydropower market There are 2,198 active U.S. hydropower facilities, representing 79.64 GW of capacity, by far the biggest of the renewables, according to DOEs just-released "2014 Hydropower Market Report." Most of the capacity is in large projects built between 1930 and 1970. Federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, own nearly half of the capacity at very large dams. Publicly owned utilities, state agencies, and electric cooperatives own another 24% of capacity. The rest, mostly small sites, is privately owned. Half of U.S. capacity is in Washington, California, and Oregon. At least 84% of the facilities do double service in recreation, flood control, irrigation, navigation, and/or water supply. Production varies year to year and seasonally but 2013s capacity factor was 39%, 2012s was 40%, and 2011s was 46%. The long term trend is toward a decreasing capacity factor due to the aging of facilities, the impact of environmental regulations, and reallocation of water. On the other hand, hydropowers average availability factor is 5% to 10% higher in the summer when electricity demand is higher. And 39 GW of U.S. capacity is rated as highly flexible. Growth opportunities There are growth opportunities for hydropower in four different classes, DOE's Battey said: Upgrades at existing hydropower facilities to increase efficiency and capacity Upgrading non-power dams (NPDs) to generate electricity New stream-reach development (NSD), which is building new hydropower facilities in untapped waterways Pumped storage hydropower facilities There is a 12 GW technical potential for new capacity in NPD development, according to a 2012 DOE study. The much more controversial NSD could provide another 65 GW of new capacity, according to a separate DOE assessment. Those 65 GW and 12 GW estimates are technical potentials, not practical resources, Battey said. You are never going to develop everything available. The forthcoming DOE HydroVision study is about figuring out what is reasonable and practical to develop, he added. It is a complicated question. Utilities in hydro Investor-owned utilities own a little less than a quarter of U.S. capacity and have been involved in hydropower since it became a significant power source. But there hasnt been a lot of interest recently except in facility upgrades, Battey said. There were easier, less contentious, less risky forms of generationto focus on. Regulatory uncertainty caused by litigation over environmental controversiesis being resolved. In the Pacific Northwest, where pushback has been aggressive, they had record salmon runs last year, showing how dramatic the improvement in minimizing impacts has been in the last 30 years, Battey said. We know so much more about low impact, more sustainable hydropower now. For continued development of existing infrastructure, a lot of the conservation groups are on-board. Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern Company, and Duke Energy are among the investor-owned utilities leading the sector, Battey said. Leaders on the municipal side are American Municipal Power in the Midwest and public utility districts in the Pacific Northwest. Duke Energy has 33 hydropower facilities in its Carolinas territories, according to Spokesperson Lisa Parrish. The utility has no plans for new builds but regularly upgrades their efficiency to get more generation and capacity from the same amount of water, Parrish said. The flexibility of this renewable energy resource is key to a reliable electric system and makes the inclusion of other renewable resources possible. Hydropower growth slowed to just 1.48 GW between 2005 and 2013, mostly in the form of facility upgrades and retrofits. At least $6 billion was invested in that period. There are 331 projects representing 4.37 GW of capacity in the FERC and Bureau of Reclamation Lease of Power Privilege pipeline, with 407 MW under construction and 315 MW approved for building. To drive growth, DOE is working to overcome four significant barriers, Battey said. Research and development (R&D) on more efficient, lower cost, more modular technologies for NPD sites Extending awareness to public and private developers about those NPD opportunities where current technology could be cost-effective Classifying hydropower as renewable in more state renewables mandates Streamlining regulatory, permitting and licensing procedures FERC heads the process but a lot of other federal agencies are involved, Battey said. Data in the market report shows some projects can get approved quickly but some can take ten or more years. Recent Congressional legislation was well-received by the industry and will be soon prove useful at removing some of the red tape, he added. Pumped storage Dukes pumped storage hydroelectric technology is more important than ever because its quick start up time provides flexibility the utility needs, Parrish said. Pumped storage functions like a giant water battery. Duke uses excess power from its inflexible plants to pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir. At a moments notice, Parrish explained, the stored water can be used to meet peak demand for electricity. Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) is most of the global and U.S. utility-scale energy storage and is regularly used around the world for ancillary grid services to bolster reliability, according to DOEs market report. The U.S. has 42 PSH facilities representing a 21.6 GW capacity, but only one 40 MW site has been built since 1995. None are presently in construction though existing facilities are being upgraded. Most operating facilities were built between 1960 and 1990 to store the excess generation of nuclear and fossil plants that do not dial down and are expensive to turn off during periods of diminished demand. I smirk when I hear there is no way to effectively store energy because we have had it for a long time, Battey said. As the need for additional storage and grid flexibility develops, there are huge opportunities in pumped storage. At large scale, storing off-peak power and selling it at peak demand periods is cost competitive and extremely reliable, he added. Between 2000 and 2014, according to the North American Electric Reliability Council, PSHs availability factor has been above 90% every summer but as low as 75% in some fall and spring seasons. There are 51 PSH proposals under FERC consideration, representing 39 GW of potential storage capacity. But only three have submitted license applications. The others are working on permitting. The FERC did issue go-aheads on the 1,300 MW Eagle Mountain and the 400 MW Iowa Hill projects in California last year, driven by the urgency of an increasing renewables penetration as the state rushes toward a 33% renewables by 2020 mandate. Current PSH technology is only cost competitive at very large capacities, Battey said. But todays electricity markets more typically require stored capacity of 50 MW to 100 MW for 8 hours. For capacity markets and for ancillary services like spinning and non-spinning reserves and other regulation services the larger facilities wouldnt be economic. DOE is funding research on ways to develop PSH at a scale that would serve the fast response needs of a grid with increasing levels of variable renewables, Battey said. There are already advanced technologies being deployed in Europe and Asia that have almost as much flexibility as natural gas plants. Hydro's wild card: Climate change Hydropower, along with other renewables, is key in the fight against climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it, but it is also subject to the climatic impacts as well. As Utility Dive has reported, the severe drought that has strapped California and other Western states for four years is severely hampering hydropower outlet. Snowpack after this past winter, a crucial measure of future reservoir levels and hydro output, was only 3% of the average this year in parts of California, and the state's largest reservoirs are filled to just 66% of average conditions. The situation has gotten so bad that Energy Secretary Moniz said there is "certainly a risk" that California could face brownouts this summer. "Hydropower is a renewable," he said, "but if you look historically, there is actually quite a bit of fluctuation from year to year, depending upon what happens over the winter." Several hydropower producers have asked federal regulators to loosen restrictions on reservoir water releases. In April, PG&E requested a one year variance of license requirements for its 206 MW Mokelumne river project. The utility wants to cut water flows in one area 60%, and said snowpack on April 1, 2015 was the lowest since records began in 1918 only 13% of average conditions. Still, Argus noted that California hydro output was above where it was a year before in April, and DOE still expects hydro to grow, despite drought conditions in the West. The report points out that a number of hydro facilities have already implemented climate change adaptation strategies, and that new technologies can help dams generate more power with less water. "For instance," the report reads, "Reclamation has installed new wide head range turbines at Hoover Dam that allow more efficient operation over a wider range of reservoir levels than the turbines used until now." The effects of climate change on precipitation are expected to be highly localized as well, scientists say. While a warming climate can exacerbate droughts and other severe weather events, it is also expected to raise precipitation levels in the aggregate, which could assist in more hydro generation in some areas. For all its struggles past and present, Battey still expects hydropower to have a significant and growing role in the U.S. generation mix throughout the 21st century. Hydropower is not always the first renewable energy resource people think of, he said. But it is still a growing and developing resource that offers a lot of opportunity. Tweet NoBusiness Records is pleased to announce a new archive release from its series of important musicians and group recordings from the 70s and 80s, which either were never released before or released on small private labels but long out of print and now newly remastered.This release is dedicated to William Hookers early music and covers his most important works during the period from 1975 to 1989. Newly remastered material is now presented in a 4 CD boxed set.is an artistic whole, a vast circle of vision and execution. A body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his compositional agenda and the science of the modern drum kit. As a player, Hooker has long been known for the persuasive power of his relationship with his instrument. His work is frequently grounded in a narrative context. Whether set against a silent film or anchored by a poetic theme, Hooker brings dramatic tension and human warmth to avant- garde jazz. His ability to find fertile ground for moving music in a variety of settings that obliterate genre distinctions offers a much-needed statement of social optimism in the arts. A disciplined, adaptive, and energetic approach to his medium insures that the oeuvre of William Hooker will continue to grow thicker and richer.Released in 1977, but assembled from live dates in 75 and 76, Is Eternal Life, was the first of many fruits of William Hookers activism. A double LP [heard here as Disc One], it was a brash assault on the smugness of the gatekeepers. It features the earliest recorded work of two of our eras defining tenor players:andThe essential qualities of Hookers drum language and unique approach to band leadership are heard here in their fullness. Any vestiges of beats or swing are swallowed by a smearing constancy; super fast rolls are stacked and interleaved holograpically with crashes and high hat chatter to fashion structures that are functionally more tonal than temporal. These spaces and platforms are the sonic basis for the improvisations of whomever William has brought onstage with him. These other voices in this case Hasaan Dawkins,, and, in addition to David Murray and David S. Ware are contained by this idiosyncratic approach to drum sound, even as they are supported and informed by it.The second disc in this set expands the documentation of Hookers sophomore album, Brighter Lights, originally released in 1982. Like Is Eternal Life, this record was pressed on Hookers 501C-3 record label Reality Unit Concepts. Brighter Lights features Alan Braufman on alto sax and flute and pianist, who William still works with frequently. In this set of duets, we can hear how Hookers vigorous embrace of the kit provides a compelling canvas for soloists and draws his accompanists into territory that exceeds any contrived expressionisms of free jazz cliches. In addition to the sides that made up the original LP, the second disc contains a stellar performance with Dawkins and altoistThe third disc in this set features takes from a 1988 live date at Roulette. With the lateon trumpet and the under-recordedon tenor, the three tracks on Disc Three provide excellent examples of William Hooker as a composer keenly aware of the complex interactions between instrumentalists and between their lines and his drumming. Campbell was a virtuosic colorist whose sense of humor and depth meshed well with Hookers long form constructions. Williams digs into the spaces implied by Hookers busy patterns to build melodic extensions that bring an almost vocal-like quality to the work.Closing out this set, the fourth disc was recorded in 1989 and also features a trioWilliam with saxophonistand trumpeterand marks one of the last sessions where Hooker will be identified exclusively with the jazz improvisation scene. By the early 90s he has begun side projects with a host of rock/punk guitarists, although his style never fundamentally changed in pursuit of these novel collaborations. Barnes and Keene are well equipped to populate the architecture that Hooker erects. His power-packed, swing-free drumming and Salvador Dali- inspired brushwork can be heard as incentives for longer, perhaps more deliberate phrasing on the part of the tonal improvisers. Keene and Barnes work together as a unit, a pair of interconnected engines churning out light and shadow, harmony and tension, in equal measure. The fourth disc is an extended solo performance called Continuity of Unfoldment. This work is a rare opportunity to hear this very lyrical drummer/percussionist without support or augmentation. Listening here is like watching time-lapse video of a Buddhist sandpainting and may provide the high point of this very well- assembled collection. OSCE sends mission to Armenia to assess situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Jeff Bezos warns that U.S. economy may face recession Kiev says nearly 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been damaged Raisi: Iran will use all its capabilities and potential to end war in Ukraine Qatar gets first pandas in Middle East Armenian president delivers lecture at St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia More than half of Britons think Liz Truss should resign Bloomberg: Putin and Erdogan's cordial relationship arouses Western anger Dutch government invests up to 3.5 billion in military procurement Erdogan discusses latest developments in Ukraine with Zelenskyy School in Paris expels student from class for denying Armenian Genocide Germany would like to participate in EU observer mission to Armenia U.S. is considering plan to co-produce weapons with Taiwan Poland to buy K239 Chunmoo from South Korea Air defense system repels several missile attacks by Ukrainian troops at Kakhovskaya HPP Baku court does not definitively terminate criminal prosecution of Yunus spouses Liz Truss has no plans to resign CSTO countries agree on draft agreement on standardization of military equipment EU countries agree to sanction eight people and organizations over Iranian drones Congressman David Price meets with rector of Yerevan State University Chairman of Amsterdam City Court visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan ASPU supports process of unification of universities Deputy Chief of Police on new draft law: 'Citizen of Azerbaijan' is extremely relative notion Benny Gantz: Israel will not supply weapons to Ukraine Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Turkish soap operas Armenia lawyer arrested Remains discovered during renovation of Ministry of Culture building in Tbilisi are transferred to Armenian Pantheon Dollar goes up, euro falls in Armenia IRGC special forces conduct helicopter operations on third day of exercises on border with Azerbaijan MFA: France position on achieving Armenia-Azerbaijan peace is unchanged Foreign Minister: Iran will not allow blocking its communications with Armenia Kremlin: Russia does not intend to close borders amid introduction of martial law in four regions EU mission delegation visits some border communities of Armenias Gegharkunik Province (PHOTOS) Armenias Papikyan attends defense ministers assembly in India Brusov university rector: Armenia education minister offered me a high position in new university, I declined Putin imposes martial law in new territories of Russia Yerevan to host Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting Putin holds meeting of Security Council Armenia MOD spox: Azerbaijan still preventing search operations Iran announces retaliatory sanctions against EU Russian Defense Ministry reports on strike on military facilities in Ukraine Artsakh Foreign Minister receives Ruben Vardanyan Israel calls Australia's refusal to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel 'pathetic decision' Armenia to tighten penalties for overloading of trucks Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey army elite units conduct demonstration military drills Luxembourg parliament speaker: Azerbaijan aggression is direct attack on Armenia sovereignty Russia Investigative Committee chief confirms theory of Crimean Bridge explosion accomplices Uruguay vice president: We express our solidarity with Armenian people GeoProMining's ZCMC has tripled tax payments to the state budget of Armenia Yerevan judge to be arrested Paul Krekorian unanimously elected as LA City Council President ThePrint: Armenia eyes procuring Akash missiles, loitering munitions from India Armenia MP to international colleagues: Azerbaijan intends to carry out new aggression Ukraine military hits Energodar city hall Armenia PM: We hope Azerbaijan will cooperate in clarifying destiny of our compatriots Newspaper: Where is 1991 declaration by which Armenia, Azerbaijan once recognized each other's territorial integrity? Azerbaijan fires at Armenia positions at midnight PACE lawmakers call for Azerbaijan militarys immediate withdrawal from Armenia Australia reverses decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel capital Armenia MPs meet with European Parliament colleagues, reflect on recent Azerbaijan attack Nouriel Roubini: In some sense, World War III has already started EU considers paying Elon Musk to provide Starlink Internet to Ukraine U.S. will continue to take practical, aggressive steps to make it difficult for Iran to sell drones to Russia German Prosecutor's Office searches Deutsche Bank headquarters Head of Germany's national cybersecurity agency fired amid reports of ties to Russia Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies condemns Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenian territory Spanish minister: EU is far from solution to energy crisis Fake Azerbaijani names of Syunik province communities removed from Google Maps and Google Earth apps Artsakh President presents details of meetings held in Yerevan to MPs Lavrov: Russia sees no point in maintaining its previous presence in Western countries UAE: OPEC+ decision has no political motive Opposition to David Price: Right to self-determination is the right of people of Artsakh to survive Iran is ready to negotiate with Ukraine to resolve ambiguities Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly: 47 PACE deputies made written statement condemning Baku's aggression Lapid will discuss Kiev request for Israeli systems with Kuleba Morawiecki: Poland is not afraid of losing EU funds Armenian President meets with Sofia Mayor Speaker of Armenian National Assembly to Norway FM: Withdrawal of Azerbaijani Armed Forces from Armenia is a priority Nikol Pashinyan receives delegation headed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt Iran responds to Borrell's garden and jungle statement: EU needs to accept realities or it will continue to wither U.S. says that limiting Russian oil prices is not aimed at OPEC OSCE sends mission to Armenia to assess situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Jeff Bezos warns that U.S. economy may face recession Kiev says nearly 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been damaged Raisi: Iran will use all its capabilities and potential to end war in Ukraine Qatar gets first pandas in Middle East Armenian president delivers lecture at St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia More than half of Britons think Liz Truss should resign Bloomberg: Putin and Erdogan's cordial relationship arouses Western anger Dutch government invests up to 3.5 billion in military procurement Erdogan discusses latest developments in Ukraine with Zelenskyy School in Paris expels student from class for denying Armenian Genocide Germany would like to participate in EU observer mission to Armenia U.S. is considering plan to co-produce weapons with Taiwan Poland to buy K239 Chunmoo from South Korea Air defense system repels several missile attacks by Ukrainian troops at Kakhovskaya HPP Baku court does not definitively terminate criminal prosecution of Yunus spouses Liz Truss has no plans to resign CSTO countries agree on draft agreement on standardization of military equipment EU countries agree to sanction eight people and organizations over Iranian drones Congressman David Price meets with rector of Yerevan State University Chairman of Amsterdam City Court visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan ASPU supports process of unification of universities Deputy Chief of Police on new draft law: 'Citizen of Azerbaijan' is extremely relative notion Benny Gantz: Israel will not supply weapons to Ukraine Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Turkish soap operas Armenia lawyer arrested Remains discovered during renovation of Ministry of Culture building in Tbilisi are transferred to Armenian Pantheon Dollar goes up, euro falls in Armenia IRGC special forces conduct helicopter operations on third day of exercises on border with Azerbaijan MFA: France position on achieving Armenia-Azerbaijan peace is unchanged Foreign Minister: Iran will not allow blocking its communications with Armenia Kremlin: Russia does not intend to close borders amid introduction of martial law in four regions EU mission delegation visits some border communities of Armenias Gegharkunik Province (PHOTOS) Armenias Papikyan attends defense ministers assembly in India Brusov university rector: Armenia education minister offered me a high position in new university, I declined Putin imposes martial law in new territories of Russia Yerevan to host Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting Putin holds meeting of Security Council Armenia MOD spox: Azerbaijan still preventing search operations Iran announces retaliatory sanctions against EU Russian Defense Ministry reports on strike on military facilities in Ukraine Artsakh Foreign Minister receives Ruben Vardanyan Israel calls Australia's refusal to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel 'pathetic decision' Armenia to tighten penalties for overloading of trucks Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey army elite units conduct demonstration military drills Luxembourg parliament speaker: Azerbaijan aggression is direct attack on Armenia sovereignty Russia Investigative Committee chief confirms theory of Crimean Bridge explosion accomplices Uruguay vice president: We express our solidarity with Armenian people GeoProMining's ZCMC has tripled tax payments to the state budget of Armenia Yerevan judge to be arrested Paul Krekorian unanimously elected as LA City Council President ThePrint: Armenia eyes procuring Akash missiles, loitering munitions from India Armenia MP to international colleagues: Azerbaijan intends to carry out new aggression Ukraine military hits Energodar city hall Armenia PM: We hope Azerbaijan will cooperate in clarifying destiny of our compatriots Newspaper: Where is 1991 declaration by which Armenia, Azerbaijan once recognized each other's territorial integrity? Azerbaijan fires at Armenia positions at midnight PACE lawmakers call for Azerbaijan militarys immediate withdrawal from Armenia Australia reverses decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel capital Armenia MPs meet with European Parliament colleagues, reflect on recent Azerbaijan attack Nouriel Roubini: In some sense, World War III has already started EU considers paying Elon Musk to provide Starlink Internet to Ukraine U.S. will continue to take practical, aggressive steps to make it difficult for Iran to sell drones to Russia German Prosecutor's Office searches Deutsche Bank headquarters Head of Germany's national cybersecurity agency fired amid reports of ties to Russia Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies condemns Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenian territory Spanish minister: EU is far from solution to energy crisis Fake Azerbaijani names of Syunik province communities removed from Google Maps and Google Earth apps Artsakh President presents details of meetings held in Yerevan to MPs Lavrov: Russia sees no point in maintaining its previous presence in Western countries UAE: OPEC+ decision has no political motive Opposition to David Price: Right to self-determination is the right of people of Artsakh to survive Iran is ready to negotiate with Ukraine to resolve ambiguities Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly: 47 PACE deputies made written statement condemning Baku's aggression Lapid will discuss Kiev request for Israeli systems with Kuleba Morawiecki: Poland is not afraid of losing EU funds Armenian President meets with Sofia Mayor Speaker of Armenian National Assembly to Norway FM: Withdrawal of Azerbaijani Armed Forces from Armenia is a priority Nikol Pashinyan receives delegation headed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt Iran responds to Borrell's garden and jungle statement: EU needs to accept realities or it will continue to wither Pashinyan: No one can accuse Armenia of evading its obligations Congressman: U.S. was not active in terms of security in Armenia, but now situation is changing Indian defense company Solar group says it has received orders from Armenia for 'Pinaka' missiles Price: U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan will not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia Military expert assesses possibility of new hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan Russian Embassy: Armenians' attitude towards Russians who moved to Armenia remains very friendly Clarification by Price: What Could Armenian-American military cooperation look like? Armenian Defense Minister visits DEFEXPO exhibition in India President of Artsakh talks about results of discussions held in Armenia Borrell angers UAE with his comparison of world outside Europe to 'jungle' Public Council formed in Artsakh China Daily: Party's anti-graft efforts generate fruitful outcomes Price: We demand that Azerbaijan return to its initial positions Aghajanyan: This visit should be seen as another stage in dynamic development of Armenian-American relations Ukraine will officially ask Israel for transfer of air defense systems Head of National Assembly Commission: 2023 state budget turned out to be biggest in Armenia's history Turkey conducts test launch of its own ballistic missile over Black Sea Students of Brusov State University hold protest outside building of Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia Armenia MFA: Yerevan has always openly and publicly stated its position on dialogue with Turkey Research leaders at Emory University and the University of Georgia recently agreed to the reciprocal use of core facilities at the two institutions. Cores are available for the use of researchers from either institution at the same rates and terms offered to internal faculty users. The aim of the Memorandum of Understanding is to create a greater availability of research support services for faculty at both institutions, to minimize duplication of resources, and to expand research collaboration opportunities. At Emory, the agreement includes 14 core facilities in the Emory Integrated Core Facilities. Cores encompass imaging, immunotherapy, genomics, proteomics, flow cytometry, transgenic mouse and animal models, electron microscopy, cancer tissue, biomarkers and flow cytometry. At the University of Georgia, the agreement includes 16 core facilities encompassing imaging, electron microscopy, bioexpression and fermentation, analytical services, isotopes, pathology, flow cytometry, genomics, x-ray diffraction, nanotechnology, monoclonal antibodies, proteomics and mass spectrometry, quantitative biology, and statistics. "We are very pleased to offer researchers at both Emory and UGA greater access to each others' core facilities," says Michael Zwick, PhD, assistant vice president for research in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center and assistant dean of research in Emory University School of Medicine. "At Emory, we have been working hard to better organize and consolidate our shared service centers, and this is an excellent time to pursue greater collaboration with our partner institutions in Georgia for the benefit of our faculty and our research mission. We hope to expand this kind of facilities collaboration with our other partners," says Zwick. Emory Integrated Core Facilities are available for use by researchers throughout Emory University. They receive support from Emory University School of Medicine, Winship Cancer Institute, the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the Emory-Children's Pediatric Research Center, and the Emory Neuroscience NINDS Core Facilities, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The Georgia Research Alliance also has provided support for both Emory and UGA cores. Information about Emory University core facilities is available on a new website. Information about core facilities at the University of Georgia is available here. The nine schools that make up Emory University have extensive plans for the spring semester. Here's a roundup of what's new and noteworthy, as listed by each school. CANDLER SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY Noteworthy events: Candler's Bishop-in-Residence, Woodie W. White, will present thoughts on the state of race relations in his annual "Letter to Martin Luther King Jr." in Cannon Chapel on Jan. 21. All are welcome. On March 1, The Leadership and Multifaith Program (LAMP), a collaborative endeavor between Candler and Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, will host a symposium on "Food, Farming, and Faith." Rabbi Dr. Jonathan K. Crane, Emory's Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar of Bioethics and Jewish Thought, will keynote. New exhibit: The spring exhibit at Candler's Pitts Theology Library will be on Haggadot, texts for the Passover Seder. Pitts' collection of over 600 Haggadot is one of the largest in the South. Co-sponsored by Emory's Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, the exhibit runs from March 7 through June 30, and is open to the public, with free tours offered. Learn more and register for a tour. Learn more at candler.emory.edu EMORY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Strategic planning: Emory College's top priority this semester is to finish the development of a new strategic plan that will produce both a forceful statement of ambition for the college, and a clear path forward to achieve its goals and priorities. College faculty working groups and administrators spent fall semester developing the initial goals and guiding principles around four main areas: undergraduate education; faculty excellence; research, scholarship and creativity; and philanthropy, communications and public engagement. The working groups delivered their reports on guiding principles and goals in December to the Faculty Senate. This semester, the planning process will expand to all stakeholders in the Emory College community (faculty, students, staff and alumni) to best identify and prioritize the initiatives and tactics needed to achieve the strategic goals. Updates can be found on Emory College's strategic planning website. Student scholarships: More than 7,000 prospective students applied to the Emory Scholars program for fall 2016, setting a new record of applicants for the highly competitive program. About 100 finalists will be invited to the Emory Scholars Finalists Week in late March, where they will be considered for membership in the program, which includes full-ride Woodruff Scholarships and other merit-based support. Learn more at college.emory.edu GOIZUETA BUSINESS SCHOOL New book: Sandy Jap, professor of marketing, is the author of "Partnering with the Frenemy: A Framework for Managing Business Relationships, Minimizing Conflict, and Achieving Partnership Success" (Pearson FT Press, Dec. 21, 2015). Jap's research focuses on helping to anticipate, prevent and solve the problems that lead close professional relationships to implode applicable to businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and any other group whose success depends on ongoing external partnerships. New research: Work done in part by Goizueta's Mike Lewis shows increasing cigarette taxes pushes some consumers to products with more nicotine. Financial resolutions: Clifton Green, associate professor of finance, shares insights on best practices for those financial resolutions consumers make heading into the new year. Undergraduate conference: The annual Undergraduate Business School Leadership Conference, organized and run by Goizueta BBAs, will feature Zander Laurie as keynote speaker. The conference will be held Feb. 18-20 on the Emory campus. Laurie, a Goizueta alumnus, drew national attention when he took over as CEO of SurveyMonkey after Dave Goldberg's death. He has served as GoPro's senior vice president of media since November 2014. Learn more at goizueta.emory.edu LANEY GRADUATE SCHOOL Annual competition: The Three-Minute Thesis or 3MT is an academic competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia. The Laney Graduate School 3MT competition serves as a skills development program that challenges students to explain their research project either through verbal communication (in three minutes or less) or by written abstract (350 words or less). Both competitions are judged by a panel comprised of a diverse group of professionals (academic and non-academic). 3MT finals will take place in April. Intensive grant writing workshop: Taking place Feb. 25-28 at Amicalola Falls State Park in North Georgia, this event of the LGS Grant Writing Program is for students who are starting to work on grant or post-doc proposals that will be reviewed by interdisciplinary review committees such as Fulbright. Participants' draft proposals receive sustained and focused attention from an interdisciplinary group of peers and faculty members. Participants also engage in sessions about writing for an interdisciplinary audience, methodological questions, and more. Mentor awards: In spring 2016, LGS will issue a call for nominations for the Eleanor Main Graduate Mentor Awards (the Faculty Mentor Award and the Graduate Student Mentor Award). Established in 2014-15, the awards are a highly visible way to recognize the importance of mentoring and reward those who do it well. The awards are presented annually during Commencement, and each carries a significant monetary prize. Learn more at graduateschool.emory.edu SCHOOL OF LAW Incoming class: Emory Law welcomes new students from 12 countries for our Juris Doctor (JD), Juris Master (JM), Master of Laws (LLM), and Master of Comparative Law (MCL) degree programs. Visiting faculty: Margo Bagley, Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law and Joseph C. Carter, Jr. Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, returns as a visiting professor. Bagley's research focuses on U.S., international and comparative patent law issues, particularly biotechnology and pharmaceutical protection. Paul Koster, managing partner of Daley Koster, will also visit in the spring. Koster has expertise in government law, community association law, professional liability and employment law. Faculty news: Mary Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, returns after spending the fall semester at the Library of Congress as the Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance. Michael Kang was recently named the David J. Bederman Research Professor. Upcoming event highlights: Jan. 14: Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, speaks at Emory Law Feb. 11: Randolph W. Thrower Symposium: "Redefined National Security Threats: Tensions and Legal Implications" Feb. 26: Emory Law hosts a hearing of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Learn more at law.emory.edu SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Pipeline to health professions: The School of Medicine, in collaboration with Emory College of Arts & Sciences, Atlanta Public Schools and Atlanta Area Health Education Center, has received a three-year, $1.8 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services for the Emory Pipeline Collaborative (EPiC), to prepare economically disadvantaged students from Atlanta high schools for entry into health professions. Recognition and appointments: Nine medical school faculty members were recognized as members of the "Emory 1% Club" for having their NIH proposals ranked in the top 1 percent by reviewers, and 18 new faculty members joined the MilliPub Club, which recognizes faculty who have published one or more papers in their careers that have garnered more than 1,000 citations. Centers and consortiums: The American Medical Association announced that Emory's School of Medicine and 19 other medical schools will join the 11 founding members of its Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. Diversity and inclusion: The SOM launched a Diversity & Inclusion Committee made up of faculty, students and staff. Learn more at medicine.emory.edu NELL HODGSON WOODRUFF SCHOOL OF NURSING New website: The School of Nursing recently launched a new website. The innovative new site makes it easier than ever to learn about the school's programs and apply for admission in approximately 20 minutes. New programs: The School of Nursing will launch its first-ever "Introduction to Professional Nursing" course exclusively for Emory College of Arts and Sciences students in spring 2016. This new course will explore the multifaceted roles of registered nurses and nurse practitioners in today's health care system. Students enrolled in the "Introduction to Professional Nursing" course will hear from health care leaders and will participate in patient care simulations in the School of Nursing's state-of-the-art simulation lab. New facilities: The School of Nursing recently opened the Wesley Woods Graduate Simulation and Skills Facility located at the Wesley Woods Center on Clifton Road. The multifaceted simulation lab, along with the current Charles F. and Peggy Evans Center for Caring Skills located in the School of Nursing, will be used to promote quality patient care and safety. Events: Dr. Nzinga Harrison, chief medical officer for Anka Behavioral Health and an adjunct faculty member at the School of Nursing, will be the keynote speaker for the 2016 Virginia Lee Franklin Conference on Feb. 26 in the Cox Hall Ballroom. The conference theme is PTSD: Neurobiology, Treatment and Research. Tickets are available online. Learn more at nursing.emory.edu. OXFORD COLLEGE New facilities: Construction of the new Oxford science building is complete. It will open to students for spring semester, and a public grand-opening ceremony for the 57,500-square-foot facility will take place Feb. 21. Ground was recently broken on a new dining facility, located at the intersection of Pierce and Asbury streets, across from the current dining hall. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of the year, and students will be served there beginning in spring semester 2017. Experiential learning: The number of travel courses will expand with the addition of a sociology course in political economy and sustainability that will include travel to Spain; a course in French art, cinema and literature with travel to southern France; and an economics course with travel to Costa Rica. Oxford will inaugurate course-independent internships during the academic year, with two programs in the lineup for spring semester. Commencement: Commencement will be Saturday, May 7, at 10 a.m. on the college quad. The commencement speaker will be Henry Anthony 71Ox 73C 88B, vice president of human resources for the Rollins Corporation. Learn more at oxford.emory.edu ROLLINS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Milestones: The Rollins School of Public Health celebrates its 25th anniversary as a school and 40th as a program. As part of the anniversary celebration, the James W. Curran Scholarship Fund was created in honor of James W. Curran's 20 years as dean. Many friends, faculty and alumni have contributed, along with the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation, which pledged $10 million to the new scholarship endowment. The anniversary was also marked with the renaming of two previously endowed chairs. Paige Tolbert now holds the O. Wayne Rollins Chair of Environmental Health and Colleen McBride is now the Grace Crum Rollins Chair of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education. New award: The Rollins Alumni Association marked the anniversaries by creating a new award to honor leaders who have consistently inspired others through their dedication and commitment to the school. The inaugural Outstanding Leadership Award was presented to Martha Alexander 86MPH, PhD, Nancy Hunt 87MPH, and Dennis Jarvis 88MPH. New grants: In collaboration with Georgia Tech and Emory's schools of Medicine and Nursing, RSPH Associate Dean of Research Gary Miller has been awarded an $8.3 million grant by the NIH to establish a National Exposure Assessment Laboratory. Can a university serving almost 15,000 students on a campus spanning more than 600 acres provide a one-stop shop for resources that address issues ranging from emotional support to veterans' services, academic assistance, financial emergencies, and simply adapting to social life on campus? The answer is a confident "yes," according to Adrienne Slaughter, director of Campus Life's new Office of Student Success Programs and Services, which combines such resources under a single umbrella. In 2014, Emory Campus Life undertook a major organizational restructuring. The goals included consolidating student-facing services for optimal synergy and impact, and strengthening communication and collaboration among the division's scores of programs and services. Slaughter sees the creation of her office as a microcosm of the larger restructuring. "Student Success is here to help students succeed psychologically and emotionally, socially and financially, as well as academically," Slaughter says. "In all of these areas, we help students remove obstacles that we know have tended historically to impede student success." Help available around the clock For the Office of Student Success, restructuring means managing a range of outreach initiatives that directly serve students, including the three-year-old Student Intervention Services (SIS) Team of 10 trained Campus Life staff members led by Slaughter. With rotating on-call assignments, a team member is always available 24/7 by phone or email to coordinate the University's response for students experiencing acute distress and to facilitate their access to resources and support. An extreme example of acute distress would be a student experiencing deep depression or thoughts of suicide. Students in such circumstances or someone who is aware of the situation should immediately contact the SIS Team. SIS also assists students with less urgent crises, including short-term financial emergencies, academic challenges, transportation needs, and other issues. For example, every year a number of students need help with housing. "We have had students whose only residence is Emory, so they have no place to go when campus is closed," Slaughter says. "And, at the same time, we have some international students who simply cannot return home during such periods in the school year." First-generation college students While the SIS Team serves students across Emory's remarkably diverse population, other Student Success initiatives are more targeted. The 1915 Scholars Program provides academic and social support for Emory's first-generation college students. Established in 2014-15, the program now serves more than 30 first-year and sophomore students. Slaughter has revamped the initiative to provide each scholar with a mentoring team that includes a student peer, Campus Life staff members across several disciplines, and an Emory University alumnus. Emory's 1915 Scholars also receive specialized orientation activities, academic workshops, community-building events and information sessions on available resources. Student Success plans to launch a newsletter to keep families of 1915 Scholars informed and identify ways they can support their students. "Many of our 1915 Scholars come from homes that are able to assist them in school in various ways; others do not," Slaughter says, explaining that first-generation students are at greater risk to leave school after their first year than are other students. "The Office of Student Success is committed to increasing the odds for them and all students at Emory." Support for scholarships, veterans Slaughter also serves as a liaison with several other Emory scholarship programs. The Emory Advantage initiative assists students whose families have incomes of less than $100,000 and need financial aid. The program makes an Emory education affordable by reducing the amount of money a family must borrow to pay for their student's education. The Office of Student Success serves as Emory's liaison with a coalition of 36 colleges and universities that partner with QuestBridge, a national nonprofit organization that connects talented students from low-income backgrounds to four-year scholarship opportunities with member institutions. Slaughter's office also works closely with the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program provides financial support to outstanding racial and ethnic minority students to help them complete their undergraduate degree programs in any field they choose. In addition, Student Success helps to deliver services for Emory students who are military veterans. Slaughter is planning a series of workshops for veterans and their families. The sessions will address topics such as coping with PTSD, transitioning back to civilian society, and coping with the demands of a college education. A safe, welcoming space for students Slaughter emphasizes that Student Success initiatives all have the same ultimate goal to foster students' self-discovery through academic and personal growth. "To do that, we help students learn to be responsible and accountable to themselves and others," she says, pointing out that the need is shared by students across the racial, ethnic, gender, cultural and class lines of our global society. "Our bottom line is that the Office of Student Success offers all Emory students a safe and welcoming space, access to resources, and judgment-free guidance and assistance," Slaughter says. "We meet our students where they are and assist them with the needs they have. It does not matter who they are or where they come from, their socioeconomic or other circumstances. We welcome all Emory students. In addition to her new role as director of Student Success, Slaughter continues to serve as a case manager with Campus Life's Student Health and Counseling Services. She is a licensed clinical social worker with more than 20 years of experience that includes rigorous clinical training and assignments as a behavior analyst, a psychotherapist, a clinical care manager and an instructor. Slaughter holds a master's in social work and a bachelor's in sociology. For more information on Campus Life's Office of Student Success Services and Programs, visit success.emory.edu. Posted by Mark Williams | January 13, 2016 In a tight competition between six of the newest pickup trucks sold in the U.S., the all-new 2016 Nissan Titan XD won one of the most coveted awards in the pickup truck segment: Cars.com's Best Pickup Truck of 2016. The Titan XD separated itself from the competition with a strong showing in the three key categories in which new or significantly revised models were judged: power, capability and value. The other nominees in this year's competition were the Chevrolet Colorado diesel, the GMC Sierra 1500, the Ram 1500 Rebel, the Ram 3500 Heavy Duty and Toyota Tacoma. All were model-year 2016 pickups. The winning Titan XD impressed our judges with its powerful Cummins V-8, sturdy ladder-frame construction and quality interior. As a completely new model that attempts to deliver more torque and comfort to truck-loving customers, this is an impressive execution. Congratulations to the 2016 Nissan Titan XD for resetting the bar in the full-size pickup truck segment. Manufacturer photo 22:06 Sanjeev Khanna, former husband of Indrani Mukerjea and her co-accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, today filed a bail application in the sessions court in Mumbai contending that the investigators have failed to find any possible motive to commit the crime on his part. "It will come up for hearing on Saturday," said his lawyer Shreyansh Mithare. The application states that Khanna has been wrongly implicated in the case. 'After reading the chargesheet, the role which is attributed to Khanna cannot be held sufficient to implicate him in the alleged murder....It isn't the prosecution case that he has strangulated Sheena,' it says. Nor does the chargesheet suggests that he benefited from the crime and none of the witnesses has explained what motive Khanna could have had, the bail plea says. The bail application also says that Khanna was in Mumbai on the day of the murder only to meet his daughter Vidhie. '(Khanna) had only come to Mumbai because Indrani had called him so that he could take Vidhie to Kolkata for a few days to spend some time with his family and celebrate the his birthday. But he could not meet Vidhie as Indrani wanted to go to Kolkata herself first and 'inspect' his family environment to decide if Vidhie would be comfortable staying with Khanna and his family, it says. Khanna has also denied the CBI's allegation that he tried to access Sheena's email account. 'On seeing the emails, he duly forwarded them to Indrani without sensing any wrongdoing,' the bail application says. He was implicated solely on the basis of the fact that he had met Indrani Mukerjea during the period when the alleged murder took place, it says. BENGALURU: With Chinese economy sliding and sale of mobiles saturating, over 100 Chinese firms plan to set up joint ventures in India to make mobile phones for local and global markets, an electronics apex body official said. "Over 100 mobile phone and component manufactures from China are coming to New Delhi on January 13 to explore joint ventures in the country with Indian partners to make mobile phones for global market," Elcina representative Vinod Sharma told IANS here on the margins of an electronics event. Organised by the mobile handset industry apex body Indian Cellular Association and China's mobile industry service platform Mobile World (Shoujibao), the visiting delegation will discuss collaborations and investment opportunities for setting up a manufacturing hub in the country. "The delegation's visit is a part of China's 'Go to India' strategy for tapping the huge potential to manufacture electronics products in our country and meet the growing demand for smart phones with more features," said Sharma, who is managing director of Noida-based Deki Electronics Ltd. As the Chinese move also meets the 'Make in India' initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government-promoted fast track task force will extend support to the apex bodies in setting up mobile handset and component manufacturing facilities in the country. "We are committed to set up a robust mobile phones and component manufacturing ecosystem in the country to make India a manufacturing hub for mobile phones," ICA president and task force chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said in a statement here. Major Chinese firms like Techno, Gionee, Coolpad, Holitech, Wingtech, Camera King, Galaxy Core, Poxiao, Vivo, Sprocomm, Nubia, ZTE, Meizu, Water World, Transsion, Huiye, Mafe, Obi, Sinwoo, Far-Sighted Mobile, Vikin, Miki, Sop, HuaLong, Wind-Mobi, Nuwei, Ramos and Huawei are expected to be part of the entourage to explore collaborative opportunities. "Instead allowing Chinese firms to dump their products in India without quality and latest features or apps, it is better to allow them to come and make in India as it would bring investments and create thousands of jobs," said Sharma. The day-long summit is an outcome of Modi's visit to China in May 2015 and the central government's efforts to woo investments and technology from Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) destinations like China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the US. "Our companies are keen to participate in the 'Make in India' campaign and set up mobile handset & component manufacturing facilities here. I am sure they will invest in India, which offers a great opportunity for our industry," Mobile World founder and chief executive Wu said in the statement. Set up by the department of information and technology to promote large-scale mobile manufacturing in India, the task force is mandated to achieve a production target of 500 million mobile phones and create 15 lakh jobs by 2019. Also Read: Researchers Develop a System To Treat Type 1 Diabetes Via Smartphone Road Ministry to Deploy Aircraft to Monitor Highway Projects Can schools punish students for off-campus online speech? In January 2014, Reid Sagehorn, a student at Rogers High School in Minnesota, jokingly tweeted "actually yeah" in response to a question about whether he had made out with one of his high school teachers. The public school, acting on the tweet, suspended him for seven weeks. Sagehorn, a member of the National Honor Society, fought the suspension in a federal court, claiming the actions of school officials violated his First Amendment right to free speech. Did the school have the right to punish him for his off-campus expression? It turns out no. In August 2015, a federal judge rejected the school officials' motion to have the case dismissed. After all, the court found that Sagehorn made the post while away from campus, during nonschool hours, without using the schools computers. And last month Sagehorn collected a settlement of more than US$400,000. Sadly, Reid Sagehorns case is not unique. For at least the past 15 years, schools across the nation have engaged in Orwellian overreaches into the homes and bedrooms of students to punish them for their off-campus, online expression regarding classmates, teachers and administrators. Despite the bevy of cases, the issue of whether schools can punish students for off-campus, online speech remains unresolved. Cases where school kids were suspended For instance, in April 2015, a federal court in Oregon considered a case called Burge v Colton School District 53 in which an eighth grader was suspended from his public middle school based upon out-of-school comments he posted on his personal Facebook page. And in September 2014, a federal court in New York considered a case called Bradford v Norwich City School District in which a public high school student was suspended based on a text-message conversation he had with another student regarding a third student while outside of school. Judge Glenn Suddaby observed in Bradford that the Supreme Court has yet to speak on the scope of a schools authority to discipline a student for speech that does not occur on school grounds or at a school-sponsored event. Silence from the Supreme Court Indeed, a key problem here is that the US Supreme Court has never ruled in a case involving the off-campus speech rights of students in the digital era. Public school students do possess First Amendment speech rights, although those rights are not the same as those of adults in nonschool settings. A case in point is the Supreme Courts famous 1969 proclamation in Tinker v Des Moines Independent Community School District that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. A key problem has been the silence of the Supreme Court on free speech rights of students. Jeff Kubina, CC BY-SA In this case, a divided court upheld the right of students to wear to school black armbands emblazoned with peace signs as a form of political protest against the war in Vietnam. The majority reasoned that such speech could be stopped only if school officials had actual facts to believe it would lead to a substantial and material disruption of the educational atmosphere. But Tinker was an on-campus speech case. And although the Supreme Court has considered three more student speech cases since Tinker, none involved either off-campus or digital expression. A chance to resolve the issue Schools today are trying to exert their authority far beyond the schoolhouse gate. Some courts have allowed these efforts and others have rejected them, but now the Supreme Court has a prime opportunity to resolve the matter in a case called Bell v Itawamba County School Board. In January 2011, a Mississippi high school student, Taylor Bell, was suspended from Itawamba Agricultural High School after he posted, while away from campus during nonschool hours, a homemade rap video to Facebook and YouTube. In the video, Bell criticizes in no uncertain terms two male teachers for their alleged sexual harassment of minor female students. A version of rap that describes the resulting controversy is available online. In August 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit narrowly ruled that high school officials in Mississippi did not violate the First Amendment speech rights of Bell when they punished him for posting the video because it allegedly threatened two teachers. In a ruling against Taylor Bell, the Fifth Circuit majority concluded that the rule from the Tinker case applies to off-campus speech: when a student intentionally directs at the school community speech reasonably understood by school officials to threaten, harass, and intimidate a teacher, even when such speech originated, and was disseminated, off-campus without the use of school resources. One of the judges in the case, James Dennis, writing in dissent, ripped into the majority for broadly proclaiming that a public school board is constitutionally empowered to punish a student whistleblower for his purely off-campus Internet speech publicizing a matter of public concern. Judge Dennis stressed that the rule from Tinker, which requires school officials to reasonably predict a substantial and material disruption will be caused by speech before it can be stopped, does not apply to off-campus speech cases. Why the Supreme Court should hear the Taylor Bell case Some minors inevitably will post and upload while away from campus and using their own digital communication devices allegedly disparaging, offensive or threatening messages and images about fellow students, teachers and school officials on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat. The key question, then, is whether and to what extent public schools, consistent with the First Amendment, may discipline students for their off-campus speech. In November 2015, Bell filed a petition with the US Supreme Court asking it to hear his case. As Bells attorneys argue, the court should take the case because whether or not Tinker applies to off-campus speech cases has vexed school officials and courts across the country. In December, the organization I direct, the Marion B Brechner First Amendment Project, filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the court to take the case. Briefs from the attorneys for the school are due January 20, and the court will decide whether to hear Bell later this spring. The bottom line is this: public school students deserve the right to know, pre-posting and pre-texting, what their First Amendment rights are when they are away from campus. They must, in other words, be given fair notice. The court should hear Bell to let them know precisely what their rights are. It is an issue not likely to go away soon. This article originally was published in The Conversation on Jan. 12, 2016. Afghan security forces battled gunmen barricaded in a house near the consulate, which the attackers had apparently tried to enter, a Pakistani news report said. Xinhua news agency reported earlier that a blast took place near the Pakistani consulate, located in an area which is also home to the Indian and Iranian consulates as well as a private school. "The bomb attack targeted a police vehicle near the Pakistani consulate," a security source told Xinhua. But a report in Dawn online newspaper said the fighting erupted near the Pakistani consulate after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing as many as six people. It quoted a security source as telling Afghanistan's Tolo News that the suicide bomber, who pretended to be a visa seeker, detonated himself after being prevented from entering the consulate. "Officials said three attackers are inside the consulate and a gun battle between security forces and attackers is ongoing." The blast comes 10 days after a terror attack near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city. --Indo-Asian News Service pku-ab/mr ( 212 Words) 2016-01-13-13:25:35 (IANS) The operations would last until the militants are eliminated in the area to ensure lasting peace there, Xinhua quoted deputy to Jowzjan province police chief Abdul Hafiz Khashi as saying. Taliban militants, who intensified their activities with the start of the new year, are yet to make any comment. --Indo-Asian News Service pgh/bg ( 83 Words) 2016-01-13-18:49:37 (IANS) Congress today took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his jibe of strong PM and dared him to sack Food and Civil Supply Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for the Ministers clean chit to Pakistan in the Pathankot terror attack. In a tweet, the principal opposition party quoted from a speech by Mr Modi -- delivered as the BJP chief campaigner prior to the 2014 general elections -- in which he had questioned then Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs authority as a strong PM. In the speech, Mr Modi had said Mr Ram Vilas Paswan -- then part of the UPA -- had suggested that all migrants from Bangladesh be accorded Indian citizenship....I do question to PM (Dr Singh), if you were a strong Prime Minister, why did not you sack Paswan immediately. Now, Mr Paswan is the member of present Modi government and has showed a soft corner for Pakistan and given clean chit to the neighbouring nation, the Congress added and dared the Prime Minister to sack him. Modiji agar aap mazboot Prime Minister hein tau unhe mantri pad se kyon nahin hata rahe,the Opposition party said sarcastically. Some media reports yesterday had quoted Mr Paswan as saying that Pakistan itself was victim ofterrorism...had that nation supported terrorism, they would have not been attacked by terrorists. UNI SS SW AE 1617 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-534210.Xml BJP MLA Vijender Gupta said the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Delhi has completely collapsed for the lack of effective control and management at the apex level. He said the poor and needy are not being given wheat, sugar and rice from the ration shop, because these are being siphoned off in black market. Gupta further alleged that the entire matter is in the knowledge of the Chief Minister and the Food and Civil Supply Minister, but no action is being taken in this connection. He said the Central Government has released the entire quota of the sugar to the Delhi Government, but more than 52 percent of the total ration allocation is sold in the black market. (ANI) Following Islamabad's sluggish pace on acting on the evidence providence provided by India in the Pathankot attack, the Congress on Wednesday asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will persuade his Pakistani counterpart and 'friend' Nawaz Sharif to take concrete action against the 'provable' information. "Will Modi ji persuade his friend Nawaz Sharif to take decisive, timely and concrete action against the provable evidence which reflects a complicity in terrorism in Pakistan? How does he propose to protect India's internal and external security including our missions?" Congress leader Randeep Surjewala told ANI. Branding the Pathankot attack as a failure by the Centre, he added that the terror strike also indicated towards intelligence failure and raised serious concerns over internal security and the Centre's failure to fight and tackle terrorists. He also pointed out the conflicting stands being taken by the government over the policies regarding Pakistan. "One one side, the Defence Minister says that 'pain must be inflicted on those who hurt us' but Home Minister Rajnath Singh says he completely trust Pakistan and there is no reason to distrust them. Which one is true Modi ji and when will you take a decisive action against terrorism?" Surjewala added. Earlier, Parrikar had taken an offensive stand and said that incidents such as the Pathankot terror attack would continue to take place till the time the terror groups and attackers are not made to feel the pain which they inflict on others. "What I am saying is that history tells you that those who damage you, if they don't realise the pain they inflict, they don't change," he said. However, Rajnath took a passive stand and expressed confidence that Pakistan will come through in the investigations in the Pathankot attack and said that Islamabad should be given more time to take concrete action. "Pakistan government has assured that they will be taking swift action in the Pathankot attack probe. I think we should give them more time. Moreover, there is no reason to doubt Pakistan's assurance," he said. Meanwhile, the Congress has been attacking the 'soft' stand taken by the Centre towards Islamabad especially over the Pathankot attack and have said that the government was not bringing Pakistan's role in the terror strike onto the international arena strongly enough.(ANI) Indefinite strike in south Kashmir Pulwama to protest authorities' refusal to allow construction of a Martyrs' Memorial in Shahidee park at main chowk entered 14th day today.Meanwhile, hardline Hurriyat Conference (HC) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for holding peaceful protests across the Kashmir valley after Friday prayers against the governments decision.People are also demanding release of all youths and separatist leaders arrested after eruption of massive protests following the killing of two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants in an encounter with security forces at Gursoo, Pulwama on December 31 morning.Adequate security forces and state police personnel remained deployed in the main town and other sensitive areas to prevent any law and order problem.Business and other activities remained paralysed in the main Pulwama town and adjoining areas. Streets wore a deserted look with only security forces deployed on both sides as vehicles remained off the road. Work in government offices, banks and other institutions also remained affected.Rashtriya Rifles (RR), CRPF and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police killed two LeT militants in a night-long operation at Gursu, Pulwama . One of the slain militant was identified as Manzoor Ahmad Bhat while another was a foreign national.However, immediately after the burial of the militants, people clashed with security forces when they were refused permission to build a memorial there. UNI BAS SV RK1030 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-535448.Xml According to sources, the technology and internet conglomerate plans to recruit 1000 people for its Research and Development centre in 2016. Starting with a mass hire of 200 people in February of 2016 itself, the company will ramp up the number to reach 1000 people within 2016. Rumours have been ripe that Samsung top brass are likely to join Letv soon. The internet conglomerate, who plans to hold its launch event on January 20, will hire 1,000 engineers for its Research and Development center in Bangalore by the end of the year 2016, according to the industry resource. (ANI) The Congress Party on Wednesday launched a full-fledged attack on Islamabad after Afghanistan Police confirmed that Pakistan Army officers were behind the January 3 attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif and said this has only bolstered India's assertion. "It was certain that there is involvement of Pakistani military in the attack on the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan. The confirmation from the Afghanistan Police has only bolstered our assertion that the Pakistani military is also involved in the terrorist activities taking place in India as well as abroad," Congress leader Pramod Tiwari told ANI. "India should not only protest but also put forward its assertion strongly so that Pakistan can learn a lesson from it and such incidents do not occur in future again," he added. Echoing similar views, Congress leader P.L. Punia said that the Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan should not take place in such an atmosphere. "The attack on Mazar-i-Sharif was done by Pakistan military as per the Afghan Police. It is very unfortunate. If such is the case, where is Indo-Pak relation heading to?" Punia told ANI. (ANI) Police said the deceased were identified as Kottaparam Rajeevan (45), his wife Chithralekha (32) and their son Amal (11), while daughter Amitharaj (9) has been admitted in a serious condition at AKG Cooperative Hospital, here. Rajeevan was working as a pigmy agent of a bank, and was also the unit secretary of Sivapuram Mandalam Congress Committee, The body of Chithralekha and Amal were found in their bed room, while the body of Rajeevan was found hanging at his residence. Cops inquest the body after they were alerted by local residents in early hours . The reason for taking extreme step is not known, police added.UNI AK KVV AK 1110 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-535483.Xml The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) officer, who is investigating the cases of youth trying to join the militant organisation ISIS, received death threat on Wednesday. The Maharashtra ATS received an anonymous letter, threatening to kill officer Bhanupratap Barge, who is based in Pune and investigating the cases of youth trying to join the ISIS. Last month, a Pune-based teenager was deradicalised after she was attracted to the ISIS ideology after watching a documentary on television and subsequently started regularly monitoring news on Al Jazeera channel. "The girl was interrogated by the ATS after monitoring her movements for many days on getting information about her. It confirmed her initiation by the ISIS. The interrogation of the girl revealed that she was ready to go to any extent to carry out the ISIS directive," Barge had said last month. The girl later used the Internet to get in touch with the ISIS contacts and got in touch with about 200 young persons from different countries. Her interrogation revealed that she was told to come to Syria for medical education and for further initiation. (ANI) Hearing about a dozen public interest litigations related to lack of facilities for the treatment of the disease, Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjay Yadav directed to provide detailed information about setting up of labs while the government counsels informed that about Rs 1.5 crore would be required for this purpose. The court also directed the state regime to send proposals to the Centre to set up such laboratories in other places besides medical colleges. The next hearing in the case has been fixed on January 28. During hearing, the petitioners informed that there are six medical colleges in the state, of which laboratories are in state capital Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior and that too run by the Centre. Despite being major divisions, there are no laboratories in Indore, Sagar and Rewa, the petitioners pointed out.UNI XC-BDG SV RK1300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-535598.Xml A Met department spokesman told UNI that the tremors, fifth during the past about three weeks, which were felt at 0134 hrs lasted for a few seconds. He said the epicentre of the quake, was somewhere in the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan. There was no immediate report of any loss of life or damage to property. UNI BAS SV RK1211 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-535511.Xml Former home secretary and BJP MP R.K. Singh on Wednesday said the Afghan Police confirmation about the involvement of Pakistan military in January 3 attack on the Indian Consulate only support the argument that the Pathankot and Mazar-i-Sharif attacks were coordinated by the ISI. "At the time of attack on the Pathankot air base, I had said that this attack and the attack on the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan are coordinated. There is no doubt that there was involvement of Pakistan's ISI in the attack. Now this argument has been supported by the Afghan Police," Singh told ANI. "The attack near the Pakistan Consulate in Afghanistan is a lesson to Islamabad that if you will nurture terrorism, it will harm you as well," he added. He also said Pakistan's denial that the telephone numbers provided by India were not registered there was completely false. "Pakistan will keep on saying that they need more evidence just like they did after 26/11. However, their strategy is not going to work this time around. The planning of the Pathankot attack was made in Pakistan. The terrorists were trained in Pakistan and had come from there only. India should only provide them with the fingerprints to establish identity of the militants," he said. Reports have emerged that Pakistan has rejected the evidence provided by India in the Pathankot attack and also denied the credibility of the proofs. Seven military personnel were martyred and another 20 injured when six terrorists crossed the border and launched a massive attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in the early hours of January 2. (ANI) "India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments," Modi tweeted, after Jacob, 93, died at a hospital here. "Lt Gen Jacob and I interacted often. Had a memorable interaction when he presented his autobiography to me," Modi added. --Indo-Asian News Service pku-mr/ ( 96 Words) 2016-01-13-13:57:35 (IANS) London copper rose on Wednesday, bouncing off near six-year lows, after yuan weakness helped to shore up China's trade balance in December, allowing traders to take profits on short positions as selling in the market slowed.China's total trade fell last month but far less than expected, with exports outperforming many of its regional peers after the country let the yuan depreciate sharply, highlighting fears of a currency war among Asia's trade-reliant economies.A move by China's central bank to halt the yuan's steep deterioration also breathed calm into the country's stock markets and quelled some of the jitters in commodities.However, with China's economy still struggling, selling was expected to resume."We will see more price weakness in 2016, but a bottoming out process will likely take place during the second half of the year," said U.S.-based analyst Ed Meir of INTL FCSTONE.Meir said that while demand from China was still struggling, low prices across metals and oil would force producers to cut output, sowing the seeds for a recovery later in the year.INTL sees a 2016 low of $3,850 a tonne on copper, a high of $5,200 and an average price of around $4,600, Meir told the Reuters Global Base Metals Forum.Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had climbed 0.8 percent to $4,384 a tonne by 0239 GMT, reversing a small loss from the prior session. The contract is down nearly 7 percent this year. Prices plumbed their lowest level since May 2009 at $4,350 a tonne on Tuesday.Shanghai Futures Exchange copper pared early losses to trade down 0.2 percent at 34,810 yuan ($5,293) a tonne.China's imports of copper in December rose 15.2 percent from the month before to 530,000 tonnes, as low prices spurred bargain hunting, but were down by 0.3 percent for the whole of the year, customs data showed."China's commodity imports surged across the board as low prices induced opportunistic buying," said ANZ in a note."This should be mildly supportive for commodity markets...However, with an early Chinese New Year, we don't expect the gains to be long-lasting."The country exported 430,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products in December, down from November's 450,000 tonnes."With export arbs fading, domestic curtailments having jumped at the end of 2015, and nearly half of Chinese aluminium capacity still losing money on an operating basis, exports are likely to fall back in the coming months," said Citi in a note.In other metals, LME aluminium climbed 0.6 percent, finding support from news China may stockpile the metal. But in China, aluminium prices hit their lowest in more than a month.REUTERS SA RK1355 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-535805.Xml : India Institute of Technology (IIT) in Dharwad has reached almost final stage withInstitute of Water and Land Management (WALMI) giving its consentfor utilisation of its campus as temporary campus, informed officialsources of Dharwad District administration here today. It may be recalled that the Union Human Resource Ministry hadsanctioned an IIT to Karnataka and the expert committee aftervisiting several places of the state chose Dharwad as suitable placefor II campus. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) has sent a list ofdevelopment works to be taken up for lunching educational activitiesfor the next four years to the Nodal officer and also DeputyCommissioner of Dharwad district Rajendra Cholan, apart from sanctioningits consent for starting IIT activities in WALMI complex near Dharwad. Shiv Prasad, of IIT-B in an e-mail message has reportedlysubmitted detailed information about IIT activities. Prof Prasad has reportedly appealed the district administration working as nodalagency for IIT to take action not only to focus on educational activities, but also to take suitable action to monitor survey of trees, geographic condition of 507 acres of landsanctioned for establishment of permanent campus, before handing over theworks of reconstruction of gate to Public Works Department(PWD). He has also asked the district administration to hand over the charge ofWALMI campus to IIT for future, till the allotment of permanentcampus. The professor has also asked for a comprehensive survey on WALMI campus. The IIT district administration sources said they are badly in need of a building comprising 13000 sq,mtr before launching an IIT. . The IITB has also suggested the administration to ensure infrastructure for establishment of campus in WALMI at Dharwad, sources added.UNI XR KVV RSS 1310 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-535609.Xml US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall condemned the recent attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot and asserted that both Washington and New Delhi have been brought together by shared trauma of terrorism. "We have also been brought together by the shared trauma of terrorism, from the attacks against the United States on 9/11 to the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11, to the recent bloodshed in Pathankot earlier this month," Sewall said at the Vivekananda International Foundation today. "We strongly condemn these attacks and express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. We recognize that terror is too often on India's doorstep," she added. She also said that both India and the US bring justice to terror groups like Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "For India and the United States, the choices we make, the example we set, will influence the world in profound ways. So let us show the world that, as we bring justice to extremist groups like ISIL, we can prevent the next generation of threat from emerging by empowering our communities, embracing our diversity, and staying true to our common values," she said. "From expanding intelligence sharing, to cracking down on illicit terrorist financing, better securing our borders, ports and public transportation, and helping to train thousands of Indian security personnel, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with India and all countries in the region against this common threat," Sewall said. (ANI) American transportation network company Lyft has announced a partnership with the National MedTrans Network that will provide senior citizens in New York City get rides to non-emergency medical appointments. According to the Tech Crunch, Lyft has introduced a web application called Concierge that allows its partners to call Lyfts online on the behalf of someone who may not have a smartphone to do it themselves. After the rider's name, pick-up and drop-off addresses are entered, a Lyft driver will be dispatched when the time comes. "Around 3.6 million Americans miss or have to delay medical care because they don't have the transportation to get where they need to go. With this effort, Lyft hopes to help seniors in NYC get used to the lingo their grandkids have been using when they talk about grabbing a Lyft. But more seriously it may also give Lyft an opportunity to see the full potential of Concierge, which could plausibly have major market potential as Lyft for Work looks to increase their partnerships," Lyft said in a blog post. "Using transportation-as-a-service like this, the health plans and government agencies we partner with, are significantly reducing fraud, saving costs, and improving the patient experience," said Billy McKee, president of National Medtrans Network. San Francisco based Lyft operates in about 65 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, with plans to expand domestically and internationally.(ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday condoled the demise of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War veteran Lieutenant General (retired) JFR Jacob and praised him for his 'impeccable service to the nation'. The Prime Minister took to Twitter to express his condolences, "Lt Gen JFR Jacob & I interacted often. Had a memorable interaction when he presented his autobiography to me". "RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments," he said in another tweet. Expressing her grief, Sonia Gandhi described the war veteran as 'brave son of India' and said he has a special place in the war history of world. "Congress President Smt.Sonia Gandhi has expressed her condolences on the demise of Lt. General J F R Jacob.. A brave son of India, his role in the Bangladesh liberation war as Chief of Eastern command has a special place in the war history of world," the INC official twitter handle quoted Gandhi as saying. "The country stands proud of his life, work and service to the nation as a soldier and patriot, Smt. Gandhi said," the INC twitter handle added. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar recalled Lieutenant General (retired) Jacob's stint as Governor of Goa and lauded him for his service to the nation. "Deeply saddened to hear of Lt Gen JFR Jacob's demise. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. I will always cherish the memories of working with Lt Gen JFR Jacob during his stint as Governor of Goa. May his soul rest in peace," he said in series of tweets. Lt. Gen. Jacob breathed his last this morning in the national capital after prolonged illness. He was 92-years-old. Born in the Bengal Presidency under British India, Lt. Gen. Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978. He was best known for his role in India's victory in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the liberation of Bangladesh. He also authored the book 'Surrender at Dacca' in which he explained the surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops in 1971. Post retirement, he also served as the Governor of Goa and Punjab. (ANI) Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today asserted that the Army is fully capable and prepared to carry out any task government assigns to it, in wake of the Pathankot terror attack.Addressing his annual press conference on the eve of Army Day, Gen Suhag said the Army was fully in command during the four-day operation at the Pathankot Air Base, the mandate of which was successfully carried out by Army soldiers, along with other agencies. Asked about what option should be exercised to teach a lesson to those, who were constantly harming India, among surgical operation, cross-border strike or direct war, the Army chief said the decision in this regard will have to be taken by the government. "But, let me assure you that Army is fully capable and prepared to carry out any task, which is assigned to it". He refused to comment directly on Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that the elements, who are harming India, should also be inflicted the similar pain. UNI MK RJ 1433 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0379-535844.Xml Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today expressed profound grief and sorrow over demise of Bangladesh war hero Lt Gen (retd) JFR Jacob.Sharing his heartfelt sympathies with the members of the bereaved family, Mr Badal prayed to the Almighty to give courage to them, his friends and relations to bear the irreparable loss in this hour of grief.Jacob, (92), also a former Punjab governor, passed away at Army Hospital in New Delhi this morning after prolonged illness. Mr Badal said Jacob was an able administrator, an astute military officer and a dedicated soldier, besides being a fine human being, who played a vanguard role in India's victory in Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and liberation of Bangladesh.UNI NC RJ-RP1550 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-535922.Xml A couple of days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said pain will be inflicted upon those who hurt India, Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Wednesday said the army was ready for any kind of operation. General Dalbir Singh, however, did not explain the nature of operations. Asked at the army's annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15 about Parrikar's comment, General Dalbir Singh said he cannot comment on what the minister said, but added: "The Indian Army is capable of doing everything. These are government decisions, whatever task the government gives us we are ready." General Dalbir Singh was asked whether covert, surgical operations or direct war would be the right response to the proxy war launched on India from the other side of the border. In one of the strongest statements following the January 2 attack on the Pathankot air base, Parrikar on Monday said pain must be inflicted on those who hurt India. The minister said the time, manner and place of the response will be decided by India. He, however, refrained from naming Pakistan, and referred to "individuals and organisations" that hurt India. --Indo-Asian News Service ao/pm/dg ( 208 Words) 2016-01-13-16:51:36 (IANS) Lt Gen Jack Farj Rafael, also called "JFR" Jacob, who passed away here today, would be remembered for his key role in the nation's victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war that saw the liberation of Bangladesh. The highly decorated officer, who later served as Governor of Punjab,was the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 war and negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops.During his 36-year career in the army, he also fought in World War II besides the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. He later also served as the Governor of Goa.Born in January 1923 in Kolkata, his family were Baghdadi Jews originally from Iraq who settled in India in the middle of the 18th century.In 1942, Jacob graduated from the Officers Training School Mhow and was posted to Northern Iraq in anticipation of a possible German attempt to seize the oil fields of Kirkuk.He trained with Glubb Pasha's Arab Legion.In 1943, he was transferred to an artillery brigade that was dispatched to the North Africa Campaign to reinforce the British army against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps.From 1943 till the end of the war, Jacob's unit fought in the Burma Campaign against the Japanese Empire and after the defeat of Japan, he was assigned to Sumatra.After the World War II, he attended and graduated from artillery schools in England and the US, specialising in advanced artillery and missiles.Jacob returned to India following the Partition, and joined the Indian Army.He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier in 1963.During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Jacob commanded an infantry division, which later became the 12th Infantry Division, in Rajasthan. During this period, Jacob composed an Indian Army manual on desert warfare.Jacob was promoted to Major General in 1967 and in 1969, became Chief of Staff, Eastern Command, under Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.His immediate superior was Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command. He was soon tasked with dealing with the mounting insurgencies in Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram.UNI RBE RP1427 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0109-536105.Xml "The grants released under-sub plans should be utilised andsevere action may be initiated against those officers who fail indischarging their duties," he added. Speaking at a meeting in which he reviewed implementation ofvarious sub-plans meant for SC/ST, he said that the funds releasedshould be spent in the current financial year itself. Mr Siddramaiah said that officials should sincerely implementschemes aimed at ensuring supply of Drinkig Water, Road developmentand other infrastrucutre building. The Chief Minister said that at any cost the amount sanctioned should not beallowed to lapse and priority should be given to maintain quality of work. The students should not be deprived of facilitiesprovided by the state government and funds meant for them should beutilised fully, he added. Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H K Patil, whowas also present, called upon the officials not to fall pry tocommissions given by contractors for sanctioning various ruraldevelopment works. Top priority should be given for maintainingstandard of work, Mr Patil added.UNI MSP KVV RSS 1600 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-536001.Xml Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kashal ordered the Deputy Commissioners and Health officials to complete the enrolment of blue card holders under Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna to provide free treatment facility to weaker section of the society, besides setting up March 31 as deadline to dispose of the pending revenue cases older than one year. Presiding over the meeting of health officials yesterday, he said that Punjab Government would provide free treatment up to 50,000 at 311 hospitals of the state . Besides that in case of accidental death or permanent disability, insurance cover of Rs 5 Lakh would also be provided to beneficiaries. Principal Secretary Health Vinni Mahajan informed that out of 311 hospitals empanelled under the scheme of which 170 hospitals belong to private sector. The chief secretary also ordered the health officials to arrange required equipments in civil hospitals and medical colleges to provide all kind of treatment facilities to patients. He also asked the Deputy Commissioners to evaluate the empanelment of hospitals so that new eligible hospitals may be added in the list by keeping in view the travel distance for the card holders. Taking a serious note of delay in supply of kits for card making by the United India insurance company, he instructed the representatives of insurance company to provide 500 more kits to speed up the card making process.UNI XC CJ AS1700 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-536038.Xml Around 2,000 people were rendered homeless when 500 shanties along the Brace Bridge station at Taratola on the Sealdah-Budge Budge section of Eastern Railway were reduced to ashes in major fire today. Police said some people suffered burn injuries but could not specify. As many as 12 fire fire engines have been deployed to combat the flames, which disrupted movement of train traffic this afternoon.State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim rushed to the site along with KMC officials.UNI PC PL SW NS1800 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-536417.Xml The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to the 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana' (PM Crop Insurance scheme), a new scheme for farmers' welfare, that aims to reduce premium to a low level of two per cent. Addressing a press conference here, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said under the 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana', there will be a uniform premium of only two per cent to be paid by the peasants for all Kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for all Rabi crops. The government plans to implement the scheme from next Kharif season. Describing it as a path-breaking scheme for farmers' welfare, the Union Home Minister said in case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by the ryots will be only five per cent. Under the new scheme, Farmer's share of premium has been substantially reduced. The government will provide subsidy on premium, to be paid by the peasants.Under the scheme, it is envisaged to enhance the coverage of area under schemes from 23 per cent at present to 50 per cent of the gross cropped area in the next three years. ''The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and balance premium will be paid by the Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities,'' the Union Home Minister said. There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90 per cent, it will be borne by the Government. ''The new Crop Insurance Scheme is in line with One Nation One Scheme theme. It incorporates the best features of all previous schemes and at the same time, all previous shortcomings/weaknesses have been removed,'' the Minister said. Earlier, there was a provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. This capping was done to limit Government outgo on the premium subsidy. This capping has now been removed and farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction. The use of technology will be encouraged to a great extent. Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments.''This year, the farmers have been severely hit by vagaries of the weather. In this context, the scheme will act as a 'social security shield for the farmers in the country','' the Union Home Minister said.He said the new scheme addresses the lacunae in the previous National Agriculture insurance schemes.More UNI AR-NY RJ 1855 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-536627.Xml Doors of the famous Sri Sri Haigriva Madhab temple of Hajo, about 40 km from Guwahati, were closed and its chief priest launched an indefinite fast in protest against a ban by the Gauhati High Court on traditional fight of Bulbul birds in its premises, scheduled for later this week. Gauhati High Court, hearing an appeal by Animal Welfare Board of India yesterday, had stayed the Bulbul birds fight in Haigriva Madhab temple, scheduled to be held on January 15 coinciding with Bhogali Bihu celebrations in keeping with a centuries-old tradition. The Bulbul birds fight was banned in the temple last year by the Kamrup district administration, in line with a related ban ordered by the Supreme Court on animals and birds fights. But the temple committee, led by its chief priest Shibanath Sharma, had appealed successfully against the ban at Gauhati High Court and had procured a go-ahead for holding the traditional fight in December last. However, the Animal Welfare Board, which was an appellate before the Supreme Court in the original order banning animal and bird fights, had filed a petition before Gauhati High Court yesterday, demanding a ban on Bulbul fight at Haigriva Madhab temple. A single judge bench of Justice Rumi Kumari Phukan had yesterday ordered a stay on holding Bulbul fights in the temple till January 20, when the matter will be taken up by the court again. Protests have erupted in Hajo against the Court order, with residents sitting on a demonstration outside the main temple since this morning. The doors of the temple have been closed in protest against the decision, while the chief priest has announced of sitting on an indefinite fast. The Bulbul fights are for appeasing the Lord. We could not hold it last year due to the court ban, which we had respected. This year, we started the preparations after getting the legal green signal but this last minute ban has hurt the religious sentiment of our people. I shall sit on a fast till the matter is resolved, Mr Sharma was quoted as saying by the local television channels. Bulbul birds are captured and tamed by the local people especially for these fights, held on Sankranti of the month of Magh, coinciding with Bhogali Bihu celebrations in the state. The birds are set free after the fights, which are believed to have been held for centuries to appease Lord Vishnu, the presiding deity of the Sri Sri Haigriva Madhab temple.UNI SG PL RJ AS1827 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-536075.Xml Seven Bangladeshis with suspected terror links with terrorists were arrested from Makhdoom Sarai locality under Town police station area in the district late last night Additional Superintendent of Police(ASP) A K Gupta told media persons here today that police raided their hide-out following a tip off and arrested them along with five of their local accomplices. Two pistols and as many live cartridges were also seized during the raid, Mr Gupta said adding that during interrogation, it came to light that the arrested used to sell crockeries during the day to conceal their identities. Prima facie, the arrested are suspected to be linked with terrorists, he informed and that their link was being established. Five of their local accomplices arrested were natives of Kanpur and Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh and were partners in dacoity, the ASP said adding that looted gold jewellery, 20 cell phones and a tab was also recovered from them. "Fake Aadhar cards and Voter cards were seized from the hideout", Mr Gupta said and added that no valid document was found relating to their stay in India.It was being investigated how they came to Indiawithout any valid document and also about their links with terrorists, he informed.UNI XC KKS PL DJK AS1814 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-536302.Xml Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said the Assam government has definite evidence suggesting involvement of RSS and BJP workers in the incident of preventing Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhis entry into Barpeta Satra. In a statement here, Gogoi said after inquiring into the entire episode, the Assam Government has access to a definite proof of RSS and BJP workers involvement in instigating a section of people against the entry of Gandhi in Barpeta Satra. In view of this, Mr Gogoi said the 'satra' and other religious institutions should not be used for narrow political gains and should be left for religious and spiritual activities only. The Congress had alleged that the RSS had orchestrated opposition to Mr Gandhi's visit to the Barpeta Satra (Vashnavite monastery) last month. The state government had also ordered an inquiry into the matter. UNI SG PL RSA AS1817 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-536393.Xml In the wake of India emerging as thestart-up capital of the world and a major destination for innovationby fledling entrepreneurs in the IT sector, Google has proposed aprogramme for the young achieve their vision. Under the programme, under the commitment by Google to fuelIndia's startup ecosystem, Google India MD Rajan Anandan said thecentre had provided great impetus to the startups in the country andGoogle was ready to help such entrepreneurs. ''With the startup programme by the govenrment gaining groundGoogle will stand by the young to promote their vision. Thegovernment's stand if a foresight in providing a platform to theStartups in the country to engage Industry leaders and successfulentrepreneurs to come together and drive the spirit ofentrepreneurship forward in the country,'' he said. Mr Anandan said Google would carry forward the vision and alignwith 'Start-up India Stand Up India' efforts, with a special sessionfocussing on early stage startups by providing them a platform topresent their ideas to the world under our Launchpad Program. A Google release said five innovative startups have beenshortlisted through a robust selection process by the company and avote had been called for in next two days to decide the best. Topthree startups from these votes will receive an invite to join thenext Google Launchpad Week and one final winner will be selected byour eminent panel of judges comprising of key VCs, Google globalleaders and Government Representatives who will hear the pitcheslive and win USD one million in Google cloud credits. They will also be eligible for consideration to the LaunchpadAccelerator Program in July 2016, provided they meet the programcriteria, the release added. Google Launchpad program focusses on providing startups with thetechnology support, mentorship, invites to special events, onlineresources, expertise and community to launch and scale their productEveryone is invited to help these startups achieve their vision.UNI RS VV AK1830 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-536509.Xml Hailing the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana by the Central Government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Wednesday said it was for the first time after Independence that the Fasal Bima Yojana had been simplified, and various problems faced by farmers rectified. "After this scheme, the farmers will be paid speedily using technology. Besides, many new disasters have been included in the disasters' list," he said. "Earlier, there was no provision for compensation for crops destroyed by water-logging in fields and harvested crops destroyed by rain, but now theses have been included," he said. "Under the UPA's capping arrangement, the compensation amount had reduced and premium has gone up from 22-57 percent. The capping has now been removed, and premium has been pegged at 2 percent for kharif and 1.5 percent for rabi and 5 percent for commercial crops. This will enable the farmers to buy crop insurgence at lower premium," said Shah. "The financial burden, however, will be borne by both the Centre and the state governments," he said, adding that under the scheme, the financial burden on the Centre will be five times more than what it was under the previous scheme," he said. The Centre has also set up a target to increase coverage from 23 to 50 percent, and using scientific methods, the government wants to take the scheme to reach small land holders.(ANI) City-based Kannada Kriya Samiti and other organisations based inBelagavi today welcomed the appointment of the Rural Development andPanchayat Raj minister to handle the boundary dispute and thanked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for his decision. Committee member Siddangouda Patil, Raghavendra Joshi and Kannada Action committee president Ashok Chandargi told UNI heretoday that the repeated request for a minister to take care of theboundary dispute had been realised. They said Mr Patil was apt to take over as the nodal minister allissues related to the boundary dispute and hoped that a momentumwill be given into the long standing border dispute with Maharashtra. Maharashtra government had already appointed its Minister forPublic Works Department (PWD) Chandrakant Patil as the nodalminister to look into same matters. Kannada organisations are planning a felicitation function tohonour Mr K Patil, they said. ''We will submit our demands related Border dispute to theMinister on that day,'' they said. The demands of Kannada activists include formation of BorderProtection committee with its regional office in the city, a statelevel committees to ensure that the border issue is settled as perthe recommentations of the Mahajan Commission, the activists said. All other Kannada organisations and Action committee leadersRagavendra Joshi, former Mayor Siddanagouda Patil also welcomed theappointment of Mr H K Patil.UNI HVN RS VV AK1910 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-536582.Xml Hailing the detention of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar by the Pakistan Government in connection with the Pathankot terror attack, former Pakistan ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani on Wednesday said the arrest of any terrorist, especially a terrorist mastermind, is a positive step, but the question is will Islamabad have sustained action? "However, in Pakistan, we have had such steps in the past, the question is that will we have sustained action, and will we end the so-called India exception to action against terrorists, if that happens that will really be good for Pakistan. It will be good for the region, and it will be good for the world. I do not see that as a definite conclusion though," he said. "Pakistan has been under pressure from rest of the world to end terrorism for a long time, but Pakistan should end terrorism from its soil for its own sake, not just because of other countries. That said Pakistan has been able to resist such pressures in the past, finds excuses, take short steps forward, the steps backward. I hope that this time things will be different ," he added. When asked about the possibility of India calling-off the meeting of Foreign Secretaries, he said, "Whenever India cancels talks as a result of actions by terrorists, it empowers terrorists. So, it might actually be a good idea to go ahead with the talks, but have fewer expectations than people have voiced in the past." "India and Pakistan should continue their dialogue without high expectations. There is no need to expect much from a dialogue that takes place under the shadow of terrorism on one hand, and on a reluctance to talk about what Pakistan considers being the core issue," added. Haqqani. Almost 48 hours before the scheduled meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, Pakistan Media earlier today reported that Masood Azhar was detained. Media reports suggested that Masood Azhar was also taken into protective custody and was being questioned. Geo English re-tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying, "Jaish-e-Mohammad offices being traced, sealed." "Pakistan to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot airbase," tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister's Office earlier. The Pakistan Government on Wednesday said it had arrested several members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which is suspected of being behind the Pathankot Air Base attack earlier this month. The Pakistan PMO in a statement said the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack, and it wanted to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot Air Base. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended," the office of Prime Minister Sharif said. "The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," it said. The statement was released after Prime Minister Sharif chaired a high-level civil-military meeting in Islamabad to discuss the regional security situation and the investigation into the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack. The meeting was attended by attended by top civilian and military leaders, including Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PM's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, and other senior officials. (ANI) Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh today joined in the festivities of twin festivals of Lohri and Bihu. More than 40 students from Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast joined him in the function organised by the DoNER ministry in collaboration with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a social organisation. Lohri festival is being observed today all over North India including Jammu and Kashmir, while Bihu is being observed in Assam and other parts of Northeast. Incidentally, both festivals mark the beginning of the New Year. It was the idea of Dr Jitendra Singh, who holds independent charge of the DoNER ministry and represents J and K in Parliament, to have a joint celebration of the two festivals. Talking to the youth, he shared that both J and K and the Northeast have much in common and it was a providential coexistence that they also celebrate a common festival at the advent of New Year, with the only difference being in the terms of nomenclature. Joint celebration of the two festivals will not only help in reinforcing India's unity in diversity but would also help in bringing closer to each other two different remote regions of the country through the children who are still in their formative years. The impressions acquired by the children will stay with them for the rest of their lives, he felt. Expressing his greetings on Lohri and Bihu, the minister thanked the officers of DoNER Ministry, the CRPF commandants and the social activists for having supported the idea and cooperated in successful observance of this festive occasion.Naveen Verma, Secretary and senior officers of the ministry as well as Resident Commissioners of Assam, Mizoram, Manipur and some other states were also present, a statement said here.UNI SD RJ RSA 2001 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0005-536862.Xml In fast-paced developments, Pakistan cracked the whip on terrorists involved in the attack on Pathankot airbase and detained Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Azhar Masood and some others, while National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan are understood to have held discussions in Dubai, brightening the prospects of Foreign Secretary-level talks, tentatively scheduled to be held in Islamabad on January 15. According to Pakistan media reports, Islamabad authorities today detained Masood Azhar, whose outfit,JeM, India believes, was involved in the lethal attack on the vital frontier airbase. The JeM chief and some of his accomplices have been taken into custody, following a high-level meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to review progress on the investigation into the Pathankot terror attack. Azhar was released from Jammu Jail after Air India Flight IC 814 was hijacked to Kandahar and along with several others to free passengers in 1999. Azhar, his brother and a few others are suspected to have handled the attack on Pathankot airbase, that resulted in the death of seven security personnel and killing of six ultras, about 10 days back. India had told Pakistan that the Foreign Secretary level talks would be held, only if Pakistan took decisive action against the culprits of Pathankot terror attack. The South Block is expected to issue a statement on the developments late tonight. According to sources, NSA Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Naseer Janjua met in Dubai to discuss the latest situation arising out of the terror attack and the fate of the peace dialogue. There was so far no official word about the NSAs meeting.MORE UNI NAZ-SS-NB RP -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-536876.Xml The sessions court here today posted the next hearing of Govind Pansare murder case to January 22 after the defence lawyer told the court that he has filed a petition in the Bombay high court seeking to transfer the case outside this district on the ground that the supporters of the slain veteran CPI leader may influence the hearing of the case. Earlier, on December 30 last year, Judicial Magistrate First Class R D Dange had entrusted the Pansare murder case to the district sessions court for regular hearing and it was scheduled to commence from today. Due to security reasons, the Kalamba jail authority could not produce the prime accused Sameer Gaikwad in the court today also. Then, Additional Sessions Judge L D Bille decided to have video conferencing (VC) with accused. Judge Bille informed Gaikwad via video conferencing that a regular hearing would now be held at sessions court and asked him whether he had nominated the defence lawyer for this case and whether he had any complaints. To which, Gaikwad told the Judge that he had filed a writ petition in Bombay high court praying to transfer the murder case in some other courts including at Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg or Mumbai as no lawyer from Kolhapur was ready to take up his case. He complained that Bharat Patankar, a progressive leader, had tainted the atmosphere in the district against him in this case. On this ground, his lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar had filed a petition in the high court pleading to transfer the case to other courts including Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg or Mumbai. After recording his statement, Judge Bille deferred the next hearing of the case to January 22.More UNI SSS SS AJ RSA NS2115 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-536783.Xml Mr Kumar expressed his grief over the death of five people when a vehicle carrying them overturned under Belchhi police station area in Barh sub-division. The Chief Minister ordered the authorities concerned to ensure better treatment facilities to those who sustained injuries in the incident. Official sources said compensation would be paid to victims by the state disaster management department. Five people were killed while several others had injured when a bus carrying them overturned near Ekdanga village under Belchhi police station area in Barh sub-division. The critically injured passengers admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital while rest were being treated in local hospitals. Local people had set ablaze the vehicle to vent their ire against the accident.UNI KKS BM RSA AN2127 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-537060.Xml He hoped that Pakistan would take further action, and things would not be abrogated midway as had been done with Hafiz Saeed, chief of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, who was freed. On the proposed Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan, the Congress leader said he was not sure about the fate of the talks. Almost 48 hours before the scheduled meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, Pakistan media earlier today reported that Masood Azhar had been detained. Media reports suggested that Masood Azhar was also taken into protective custody and was being questioned. Geo English re-tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying, "Jaish-e-Mohammad offices being traced, sealed." "Pakistan to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot airbase," tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister's Office earlier. The Pakistan Government on Wednesday said it had arrested several members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which is suspected of being behind the Pathankot Air Base attack earlier this month. The Pakistan PMO in a statement said the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack, and it wanted to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot Air Base. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended," the office of Prime Minister Sharif said. "The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," it said. The statement was released after Prime Minister Sharif chaired a high-level civil-military meeting in Islamabad to discuss the regional security situation and the investigation into the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack. The meeting was attended by attended by top civilian and military leaders, including Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PM's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, and other senior officials. (ANI) Commenting on media reports on the arrest of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar in connection with the Pathankot terrorist attack, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put pressure on Pakistan to prosecute the JeM chief. "We request Government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put adequate pressure on Pakistan to ensure that Maulana Masood Azhar is not only detained but arrested and booked for perpetuating and perpetrating terrorist activities in Pathankot, as also for various other crimes against India, that he continues to commit," Surjewala told ANI. "Let us know the charges under which Masood Azhar has been detained in Pakistan. He is a terrorist who was exchanged for hostages in the Indian Airlines flight in Kandahar, Afghanistan when BJP Government was in power. International law warrants that such a person should be handed over to India for prosecution in accordance with Indian law," he added. Asking the government to act as a matured nation, he said detention of Masood Azhar is a step forward, but detention and preventive custody is one thing and arrest is totally a different thing. Almost 48 hours before the scheduled meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, Pakistan media earlier today reported that Masood Azhar had been detained. Media reports suggested that Masood Azhar was also taken into protective custody and was being questioned. Geo English re-tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying, "Jaish-e-Mohammad offices being traced, sealed." "Pakistan to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot airbase," tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister's Office earlier. The Pakistan Government on Wednesday said it had arrested several members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which is suspected of being behind the Pathankot Air Base attack earlier this month. The Pakistan PMO in a statement said the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack, and it wanted to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot Air Base. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended," the office of Prime Minister Sharif said. "The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," it said. The statement was released after Prime Minister Sharif chaired a high-level civil-military meeting in Islamabad to discuss the regional security situation and the investigation into the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack. The meeting was attended by attended by top civilian and military leaders, including Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PM's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, and other senior officials. (ANI) The junior doctors associations (JDA) of VSSIMSAR, Burla have demanded strong action against the absconding doctors who are staying in Burla for few days in a month but receiving full month salary from the state exchequer. These absconding doctors are doing nothing but depriving poor patients of their legitimate rights of medical services, said the JDA office bearers at a news conference here today. The JDA further demanded an impartial enquiry into VSSIMSAR authorities showing undue favour to HLL Company for all its alleged illegal activities in the campus. The company, they said has been allotted a three stair building in the campus for various activities, including installation of the MRI machine, but nothing has been done so far and the company gets lot of financial benefits from the VSSIMSAR, alleged the JDA office bearers. JDA President Dr Sankar Ramchandani and General Secretary Dr Samartha Mishra submitted their nine-point charter of demands before the government for smooth functioning of the hospital. They demanded uninterrupted water and electricity supply to the college and hospital which is yet a dream here in spite of regular demands by students and patients. The JDA of VSSIMSAR resorted to cease work since Tuesday on nine point charter of demands. The cease work agitation is all likely to continue as the MBBS students and house surgeon have extended their support to the agitation.UNI XC DP BM RSA AN2307 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-537093.Xml Leaders of political, social and religious oganisations paid tearful tributes to Air Force Garud Commando shahid Gursewak Singh at the Bhog ceremony held at the gurudwara of his native village Garnala near here today. On the occasion, Health Minster Anil Vij paid tributes on behalf of Prime Minister Narenda Modi, Chief Minster Manohar Lal Khattar and BJP president Amit Shah. He said that the Haryana government was committed to offering government service to one of he members of the bereaved family and the district administration had been directed to take action in naming the Ambala-Naraingarh road in the name of Gursewak Singh. He said hat the financial aid already announced would be increased after consultation with the quarters concerned. Mr Vij announce financial aid Rs 10 lakh and SAD MP PremSingh Chandumajra announced grant of Rs 5 lakh to raise suitable memorial of the shahid in consultation with the family members. The link road linking Naraingarh road to village Garnala had already been named after the name of shahid Gursewak. Congress national secretary Shakil Ahmed was present to pay tributes to the shahid on behalf of his party leaders. Twenty five officers from the Air Force also attended the ceremony to pay their last tributes to their brave Garud commando. Besides, leaders and representatives from the political parties and people from the village and surrounding areas were present in thousands who gave tearful send off to their brave son who sacrificed his life while fighting with terrorists at the Patahankot Airbase on the night of January 2. UNI XC VS RSA RAI2309 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-536882.Xml A six month old child whose samples were collected at district hospital Jammu and tested at Dr Rajinder Prasad Govt. Medical College Tanda today, were found H1N1 positive and remaining two samples collected at SMGS Hospital Jammu were found negative. Dr SC Jariyal Head of the Micro Biology department of the DRPGMC Tanda told UNI that the college had received three samples from Jammu today which were collected on January 11 at District hospital Jammu and SMGS Hospital Jammu. He said that the sample of infant collected at District hospital Jammu was found positive. Vineet Chawdhry Additional Chief Secretary ( Health) told UNI that the Himachal Pradesh government had received a formal request from the Jammu and Kashmir government that in view of non availability of the testing facilities for H1N1 at Jammu the samples may be got tested at DRPGMC at Tanda which was nearest to Jammu. He said it was legitimate duty of this government to come out for the help and provide interstate facility for testing of the samples of suspected Swine flu patients. He said that the Himachal government accepted the formal request of the Jammu and Kashmir government and extended the help. He confirmed that three samples were received today for the H1N1 testing at DRPGMC Tanda from Jammu.UNI XC RSA RAI2255 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-536986.Xml According to the Dawn, adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, on Tuesday said Pakistan will not send ground troops to Saudi Arabia or any other country. Speaking to the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee at the Parliament House, Aziz said that matters between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have not been settled yet. However, he said that Pakistan will share intelligence with Saudi Arabia to counter terrorism. Aziz asserted that Pakistan was playing its role to diffuse tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. "An emergency meeting of OIC foreign ministers has been summoned in Jeddah where Pakistan would present important proposals to reduce Iran-Saudi tensions," he said. The announcement comes a day after Saudi Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman visited Pakistan and held meetings with army chief General Raheel Sharif and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Earlier, Pakistan had twice rejected calls by the United States for joining alliances against the militant Islamic State (IS) group on the same pretext. (ANI) US President Barack Obama vigorously defended his legacy while striking an optimistic tone for the future in his final State of the Union address on Wednesday. He pushed back against the negative tone of the current presidential race, arguing the US has the "strongest, most durable economy in the world", BBC reported. His focus was on cementing his legacy rather than unveiling new policies. The speech highlighted his team's accomplishments such health reform and rapprochement with Cuba. "For my final address to this chamber, I don't want to talk just about the next year," he said. "I want to focus on our future." Government benefit programmes like Medicare and Social Security should be strengthened, not weakened, he said. Obama touted his signature health care law and said there must be ways Democrats and Republicans can work together to boost economic security, despite disagreements. For the current year, he urged Congress to pass legislation on criminal justice reform and prescription drug abuse. Paid leave and raising the minimum wage were also mentioned as policy objectives, along with making higher education more affordable and improving education. He urged for the importance of work on climate change. "If anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it," he said. "You'll be pretty lonely, because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it." Speaking about the IS and its fighters, he said they are dangerous, but they do not threaten the country's national existence. He urged for Congress to pass authorisation of military force against the so-called IS. "But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, (IS) will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt America's commitment?-or mine?-to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden," he said. --Indo-Asian News Service pku ( 339 Words) 2016-01-13-08:35:35 (IANS) China has detained a Swedish national who worked with human rights lawyers on suspicion of endangering state security, a rights group said today, describing the charges as "baseless". Peter Dahlin was taken into custody on January 4, the group said, amid a growing crackdown on rights lawyers and foreign groups working on legal reform. Rights groups say the crackdown aims to rein in dissent, but the Chinese government denies this. Dahlin, 35, is the co-founder of the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, which promotes human rights and rule of law in China by supporting public interest lawyers and academics, among others. "China Action is dedicated to promoting human rights within the existing legal framework of the People's Republic of China and has only ever advocated non-violent, informed reliance on Chinese law," the group said in its statement. "In spite of this, Peter has been arbitrarily detained on spurious accusations." The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed the man had been detained. A spokesman for the Swedish embassy in Beijing said it had been in touch with Chinese authorities about meeting him, but gave no further details. Chinese authorities had not yet allowed embassy officials or others to contact him, Dahlin's group said, adding that he suffers from Addison's Disease and requires medication. Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said he did not know about the detention. China has detained or formally jailed several foreign nationals in recent years, sometimes over their proximity to what it perceives as sensitive information. "This action is just the most recent in an extra-legal or illegal pattern of apprehending civil rights lawyers," said Lionel Jensen, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame who researches Chinese nationalism. "These are dark days in China, to be sure." China formally arrested several Chinese human rights lawyers on suspicion of subverting state power after months of secret detention, one of their colleagues said on Tuesday. At least two Japanese citizens were arrested on suspicion of espionage last year and a Canadian couple was arrested in 2014 amid a crackdown on foreign Christian groups along the country's sensitive border with North Korea. REUTERS SA CS1027 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-535461.Xml Iran detained 10 US sailors aboard two US Navy boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran.Late on yesterday, a US defense official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a US Navy vessel in international waters early today.Both US and Iranian officials described the sailors, whose boats may have inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters, as safe and well-treated. US defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized.White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN that "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly."Official Iranian news outlets confirmed the detention of the 10 Americans. "The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats two kilometers inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said.Officials from Iran and the United States were negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported.News of the incident came hours before President Barack Obama made his final State of the Union address to the US Congress prior to leaving office in January 2017.Obama did not mention the crew's detention in the hour-long speech, but he did tout the nuclear deal with Tehran, saying "the world has avoided another war."The White House expects the situation to be resolved quickly.Washington and Tehran, which have pursued a partial detente in recent years, both appeared eager not to let the boat incident escalate further.Obama, a Democrat, has made the Iran nuclear accord a centerpiece of his foreign policy, and Republicans vying to succeed him have assailed him over the deal.Iran, meanwhile, is eager for relief from punishing economic sanctions under the landmark nuclear accord it forged with six world powers last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days, following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured US Secretary of State John Kerry that the US sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another US official said.The seizure of the 10 sailors nonetheless underscored the potential for clashes that could derail diplomacy, especially in the Gulf's tense and crowded shipping lanes.Precisely what happened to the two US boats remained unclear.A senior US defense official said the United States had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain.Another US official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters.SAILORS SAID TO BE SAFEIn a statement, Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed it seized the boats and said the sailors were safe and well. It said France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was near the seized US boats.They were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the US officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot (12-meter) long, high-speed patrol boats used by the US Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters.Republican officials and presidential candidates, who opposed the Iran nuclear accord, used the incident to criticize Obama."It's just an indication of where the hell we're going. I mean hopefully they get released and fast," businessman Donald Trump, who leads the Republican field in the race for US president, said at a rally in Iowa. The election Is November 8.The seizure of the sailors and their craft was the latest reported incident between US and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks.The US Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on December 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so.Previous Iranian seizures involved British sailors and marines.In June 2004, Iran arrested six Royal Marines and two naval personnel - part of a US-led force in Iraq - for straying into its waters, stirring diplomatic tensions between the two. Following negotiations the eight were freed three days later.In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen - eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines - in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. They were held for 13 days.In November 2009, Iranian naval vessels detained five Britons on a racing yacht en route from Bahrain to Dubai. They were released a week later.REUTERS SA RK1045 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-535496.Xml A first group of 180 Cubans chosen from thousands stranded in Costa Rica boarded a flight to El Salvador on Tuesday as part of a pilot program agreed by Central America countries last year to allow the migrants to continue toward the United States.An estimated 8,000 Cubans have been stuck in limbo along Costa Rica's northern border with Nicaragua, since Nicaragua in November shut its borders, saying that Costa Rica had sparked a "humanitarian crisis" after Costa Rica issued transit visas to more than 1,000 Cubans."The pilot operation ... has been successful so far," said Costa Rica's foreign minister, Manuel Gonzalez.Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and Honduras will meet next week to evaluate the first trip, Gonzalez said."We would hope ... that maybe about a week after (that meeting) we can put this plan into effect daily."Costa Rica is hoping to run at least two flights a day, he said.The flow of migrants from Cuba has surged as the process of a detente between Washington and Havana stirs fears that preferential US asylum rights for Cubans may soon end.Central American countries last month agreed to a pilot program to start allowing the migrants to move toward the United States.REUTERS SA RK1049 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-535515.Xml Ten sailors aboard two US Navy boats were seized by Iran in the Gulf , and Tehran told the United States the crew members would be promptly returned, US officials said."We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN.A senior U.S. defense official said yesterday the US had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. US officials told Reuters it was unclear how or if the boats became disabled.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured US Secretary of State John Kerry that the US sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another US official said.While both sides appeared eager not to let the incident escalate further, it came at a delicate time for US Iranian relations. Iran and six world powers forged a landmark nuclear accord last July.Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities.Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said Iranian Revolutionary Guards had detained the vessels after they "illegally" entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf. The two boats were seized near Farsi Island 2 km inside Iranian territorial waters, it said.Officials from Iran and the United States are negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized.News of the incident broke as US President Barack Obama prepared to make his final State of the Union address to the US Congress. He is due to leave office in January 2017.They were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot long, high-speed patrol boats used by the US Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters.It was the latest reported incident between US and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks.The US Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so.Previous Iranian seizures involved British sailors and marines.In June 2004, Iran arrested six Royal Marines and two naval personnel - part of a U S led force in Iraq for straying into its waters, stirring diplomatic tensions between the two. Following negotiations the eight were freed three days later.In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen - eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines - in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. They were held for 13 days.In November 2009, Iranian naval vessels detained five Britons on a racing yacht en route from Bahrain to Dubai. They were released a week later.REUTERS MI KU RAI0525 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-535381.Xml US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton expanded her plan to tax the wealthiest Americans by saying she would close tax-avoidance "loopholes" that allow investments to be routed through low-tax countries and put in tax-deferred retirement accounts."My plan is kind of simple: we go after the wealthy to pay for what the middle-class working people and poor people need," Clinton said yesterday at a campaign stop in Ames, Iowa.."I think that's a smart way to help fund some of our priorities," Clinton added.Clinton said she would end the "Bermuda reinsurance loophole" that allows hedge fund managers to route investments through an insurance company in a low tax country such as Bermuda to avoid paying a higher tax rate.Clinton also said she would close what she calls the "Romney loophole," which allows wealthy individuals to shield large sums of money in individual retirement accounts from taxation.Her proposals come after a plan announced Monday to add a 4.0 per cent income-tax surcharge on earners of more than 5 million dollar per year.Clinton has reiterated her support for the Buffett rule, named after billionaire investor and Clinton endorser Warren Buffett, which would institute a minimum tax rate of 30 per cent on those earning more than 1 million dollar per year.Clinton, long the Democratic party's front-runner for the nomination, is unveiling her plan to tax the wealthy amid slipping poll numbers in the key early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire as her chief rival, US Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, has wooed supporters with his plan to address income inequality.Yesterday, a Quinnipiac poll saw Sanders win a five-point lead over Clinton among likely Iowa caucus-goers. In New Hampshire, Sanders outpaced the former secretary of state by 14 points, securing 53 per cent of the party's support, a Monmouth University survey said. The polls had an error margin of 4.4 and 4.8 points, respectively.Iowa voters will kick off the nation's nominating race with caucuses held on February 1, and New Hampshire voters will cast ballots in the first-in-the-nation primaries on February 9. REUTERS MI KU RAI0735 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-535392.Xml Deeply concerned that the world's most notorious drug kingpin, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, could escape for a third time, Mexico has beefed up security at his prison, reinforcing the floor of his cell and placing a guard on his door 24/7. Guzman, captured on Friday six months after a brazen prison break via a mile-long tunnel that burrowed right up into his cell, is now being held in isolation in another part of the prison, a Mexican security source said. The improved security measures also include reducing the number of inmates, quadrupling the number of cameras on the site and moving Guzman randomly, without warning, to different parts of the prison, Mexico government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told Reuters. "He is being moved randomly from cell to cell ... Since arriving, he's been in eight different cells," said Sanchez. Juan Pablo Badillo, one of Guzman's lawyers, said his client was physically very weak and complained he was being exposed to "brutal psychological pressure". "He is in a different, very cold zone (of the prison) and in complete isolation," Badillo told Reuters yesterday outside the Altiplano prison where Guzman is being held. None of Guzman's relatives have visited him yet, Badillo added. Armored vehicles and light tanks stand guard outside the prison walls, while security forces man sand-bagged checkpoints beyond the gates of the prison, which is about an hour from the capital. Local media said cells in the prison had been fitted with electronic sensors, additional CCTV cameras and in some cases a mesh of steel bars to reinforce the floor and stymie any efforts to tunnel out. On Sunday, various senior officials, including National Security Commissioner Renato Sales and Federal Police Chief Enrique Galindo, inspected the improved security measures. "Today, conditions in the prison fully comply with international standards," the National Security Commission, which runs Mexico's federal jails, said after the four-hour tour. An interior ministry security official, who has visited the jail on various occasions, said the problem with housing kingpins like "Chapo" was that they could easily buy off the entire prison staff. In a prison break worthy of Hollywood, Guzman's accomplices apparently obtained the plans to Altiplano and during his 17 months inside built a tunnel fitted with a tiny rail system mounted with a motor bike that he then rode to freedom. Mexico's government detained around two dozen people in connection with his escape, including the former director of the prison. CCTV video footage showed prison officials watching impassively as Guzman ducked behind a shower wall in his cell and out of sight as he escaped through a hole in the floor. En route, Guzman disposed of a bracelet that only he and a few other high-risk inmates had to wear, and smashed bulbs lighting up the tunnel as he fled. In 2001, Guzman bribed guards to help him escape from a prison near the city of Guadalajara after a previous arrest in 1993. He was recaptured in northwestern Mexico in February 2014. "They are very secure centers. The failures only come via corrupting the personnel," said Jose Alfonso Carreon, who was the deputy director of the high-security jail in Tepic in western Mexico, similar to the one which Guzman escaped from, between 2000 and 2012. President Enrique Pena Nieto's government says it plans to extradite Guzman to the United States, where he is wanted on an array of charges including drug trafficking, but officials have cautioned the process could take anything from 1-5 years. REUTERS MI KU CS0856 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-535409.Xml The United States criticized the government of the Caribbean island nation St Lucia on Tuesday for failing to prosecute police accused of keeping death-lists and killing suspected criminals during a misguided campaign to attract tourists. Twelve people were fatally shot between 2010 and 2011 under a previous government dealing with a crime wave it believed was damaging the tourism industry that drives the economy of the tiny nation famed for verdant mountains and pristine beaches. The government of Prime Minister Kenny Anthony has made "no meaningful progress" towards criminal prosecution in the 10 months since the investigators from Jamaica delivered a report on the killings, the US embassy for Barbados and the eastern Caribbean said in a statement. The embassy commended St. Lucia for introducing a new "use of force" policy designed to help protect human rights, and praised the police for taking rights training, but said the government needed to do more to uphold the rule of law. After the killings, the United States suspended assistance to the police department on the island of 163,000 inhabitants and top police officers have been barred from travelling to the United States. In parts of the report made public by Anthony last year, the investigators concluded police had worked from a hit-list and staged shootouts in several of the killings. Anthony previously admitted he saw such a list while he was in the opposition. REUTERS SA CS1117 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-535568.Xml Putin said that it was 'more difficult' to grant asylum to Snowden than it would be in the case of Assad, Fox News reports. He said that, however, first the Syrian population should vote following which he would see if Assad has to leave his country if he loses the election. The Russian President rejected what his American counterpart said about the United States being the 'chosen nation', saying that he does not take it seriously. He even recited part of a German classic from the 1800s in its original language from memory. Russia is also carrying out drone strike in Syria to bomb ISIS strongholds and well as Assad's opposition groups. Putin has been accused of killing civilians in the process. (ANI) Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed the death toll, adding that seven policemen were injured in the Nangarhar province of Jalalabad. However, local security sources said civilians have also been injured, including a consulate staff member. The attack took place at about 9:00am local in Jalalabad after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the Pakistan Consulate and opened the way for at least two attackers to enter. The siege ended after almost four hours. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as yet. (ANI) At least 20 people were killed and more than 20 injured in two terror attacks outside the Pakistan Consulate in Jalalabad and near a polio centre in Quetta today. While 14 people died and 10 were injured in an explosion near the polio center, six were killed and 11 injured, when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Pakistan Consulate in Jalalabad. Afghan security forces exchanged fire with gunmen, barricaded in a house near the Pakistan consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing at least six people and wounding 11, the Dawn reported from Kabul, quoting officials. Afghanistan's Tolo News reported that five policemen guarding the consulate were killed, and three children and a consulate staff member were among those injured.However, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah denied it, saying "All Pakistanis working at the Pakistan consulate in Jalalabad are safe..,..no one has been injured," he said. Witnesses said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions were heard and residents and children from a nearby school had been evacuated. Officials said three attackers are inside the consulate and a gunbattle between security forces and attackers is ongoing. Earlier, Attaullah Khogyani, Spokesman for the provincial Governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. The nature of the blast could not be independently confirmed. Local Afghan officials said they were investigating the incident outside the consulate, which is near the Indian and Iranian diplomatic missions. A hospital and school are also situated in the area, which is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The area around Pakistan consulate in Nangarhar province was sealed off after the attack. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast in Jalalabad, which is the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan. Nangarhar province is home to a number of insurgent groups and criminal gangs. Pakistan said many Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who are separate from, but allied with the Afghan Taliban and are fighting against the Pakistani state, have sought refuge in Afghanistan from Pakistani Army offensives against them in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal regions, the report said. There have been several bomb blasts in Afghanistan over recent weeks at a time, when efforts are underway to restart a peace process with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tension between Pakistan and India. In Pakistan, at least 14 people, including 13 policemen, were killed and over 10 injured in the explosion near a polio centre in Quetta's Satellite town, the Dawn reported, quoting Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti. "The blast was apparently carried out by a suicide bomber," said Mr Bugti. We will not bow down before terrorists," said Mr Bugti, adding that the blast was an effort to disrupt peace in Balochistan. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Quetta Syed Imtiaz Shah is quoted in the report as saying ''seven to eight kg explosives were used in the blast..,.. most of the victims were policemen, who laid down their lives to guard polio workers. The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta, where an emergency has been imposed. Dawn also quoted Dr Rasheed Jamali of Civil Hopsital as saying, ''at least five critically injured victims were shifted to Combined Military Hospital Quetta for treatment. Eyewitnesses at the site said they heard firing after a loud blast rocked the area. The glass windows of nearby buildings shattered due to intensity of the explosion. Police and rescue workers reached the site soon after the blast, while security forces have cordoned off the area. The nature of the blast is unknown as yet. Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, while strongly condemning the blast, directed the police to submit a report about the incident promptly."We cannot tolerate the terrorism," he said in a statement issued to press soon after the explosion.President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast in Quetta. ''The premier said government is committed to stamp out extremism from the country and operation will continue till elimination of all terrorism,'' the Radio Pakistan reported.UNI XC SS RJ 1508 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-535878.Xml Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said today that oil prices will continue to fall in the near future, given that the production will not decrease. "We see that no one reduces the production of oil, and, most likely, we will soon observe further decline in oil prices," Siluanov said addressing the Gaidar Forum here.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said yesterday that its Reference Basket of petroleum blends fell in value by 4.88 per cent, reaching the same level as on October 1, 2003, or 27.07 dollar per barrel, mainly due to prolonged global oversupply and the OPEC unwillingness to cut production out of fear of losing market share.He noted that the Russian budget has not adapted itself to the slumping oil prices, so the government will have to make decisions to change the budget policy."I want to say that in current conditions enterprises and the private sector have largely adapted to the new conditions, but the budget, the state companies, the state sector are yet to adapt to those conditions," Siluanov said."We are yet to take a whole number of decisions to change the budget policies," he added.According to the experts, Russian oil companies are ready to withstand falling oil prices which have already dropped to 30 dollar a barrel, but it is still far from hitting rock bottom.Analysts and traders predict 20 dollar per barrel which is highly possible due to speculation in stocks and the strengthening dollar.In December 2015, the Russian Energy Ministry asked biggest oil producers to carry out 30 dollar stress tests. Their results have not been made public but statements from company representatives and analysts show that 30 dollars is not critical and companies are ready to withstand even lower prices. Taking into account the fact that for major Russian oil companies production costs are relatively low, the further drop in oil prices would not prevent them from keeping or even expanding their shares in the market.UNI XC AJ SW 1616 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0109-536097.Xml Besides this, two gunmen, barricaded inside a house near consulate were also killed ending the siege, Geo TV said quoting Deputy Interior Minister Ayoub Salangi. The reports said that the attack took place at about 9:00 am local time after asuicide bomber detonated explosives near the Pakistan Consulate. At least twoother attackers were also involved in the onslaught. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up afterbeing prevented from entering the building. Officials said earlier during the siege that the consulate was under attack and thatinsurgents had entered the building. But once the siege was over, security officials said the consulate had not been stormed in and that attackers had fired on the mission from a building next door. Consul general Farmanullah Khan Yousafzai, however, told TOLO news that themission had been under direct attack. The attack, which came amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, resembled an assault on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last week,the reports pointed out. There has been no claim of responsibility for either attack.UNI XC SS RP1805 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-536461.Xml Attorneys for Bill Cosby are due in court today to ask a federal judge in Massachusetts to seal all testimony related to a defamation lawsuit brought by seven women who have accused the comedian of sexual assault.Tamara Green sued Cosby in December 2014, accusing him of lying when he publicly denied having sexually assaulted her, and six other women have since joined in the lawsuit. Cosby, 78, filed a countersuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts last month, accusing the women of defaming him.The seven are among more than 50 women who have come forward to publicly accuse Cosby of sexually assaulting them after plying them with drugs or alcohol in alleged attacks carried out over a number of decades.The accusations toppled Cosby from his pedestal as one of America's most-admired comedians, who built a long career on family-friendly humor. He was best known for his role as the dad Heathcliff Huxtable in the long-running 1980s television hit, "The Cosby Show."Cosby has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Last month prosecutors in Pennsylvania charged him with a 2004 sexual assault days before the statute of limitations on that alleged crime was to expire.He faces several civil suits.Cosby's attorneys are scheduled to argue before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy in Worcester, Massachusetts, that any testimony related to the lawsuits be kept under seal until trial."The law is clear: trial - not discovery - is the 'fact-finding' process in which the public has a common law and constitutional interest," Cosby's attorneys wrote in a filing this week. "Mr. Cosby's undisputed privacy interest and his need for protection from annoyance, embarrassment, and undue prejudice establish good cause to enter the limited protective order he seeks."Attorneys for the women have argued that the request is unjustified."Cosby himself has sought out publicity when it suits him - for example, by defaming the plaintiffs as liars in 2014," lawyers for the seven women wrote. "That being so, the public should know all of the material facts surrounding this case, regarding whether defendant Cosby's private conduct comports with his public persona."Cosby testified in 2005 that he had obtained the sedative drug Quaaludes, popular in the 1970s, intending to give them to young women he desired to have sex with, according to court documents unsealed in July as part of a separate legal proceeding.REUTERS CJ NS1742 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-536429.Xml A worker was killed in an accident at the most productive copper mine of Chile's Codelco , which has suspended operations there, the state-owned company said today. The accident occurred at the El Teniente underground mine, 80 kilometers south of Santiago. It produced 356,000 tonnes of copper in the first nine months of 2015. "Given what occurred, operations there were immediately suspended, and internal procedures were put into effect, while notifying the relevant authorities, who will determine the cause of this accident," Codelco said in a statement. The company is the world's largest copper miner. REUTERS CJ NS1805 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-536511.Xml The French government today banned three religious groups linked to a mosque in the east of Paris that was closed in December for being at the heart of a jihadist recruitment network, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.Cazeneuve said the groups tied to the Lagny-sur-Marne mosque, where guns, munitions and jihadist documents were found, had been dissolved because "their leaders over the last few years had incited hatred and called for jihad".France, which is in a state of emergency, has clamped down on individuals and places of worship - including "organisations cultuelles" - with links to radical Islam since attacks by Islamic State militants in Paris in November that killed 130 people."There is no place in the Republic for structures that provoke, call for terrorism and incite hatred," Cazeneuve said.The mosque's former president, known for radical sermons, fled to Egypt in 2014 with about 10 worshippers. Authorities accuse him of playing a role in the indoctrination and recruitment of volunteers for Syria.Muslim officials have yet to comment on the ban.Cazeneuve also said that since the start of 2015 he had proposed that about 30 people be expelled from France for inciting hatred. REUTERS CJ AS1831 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-536598.Xml Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar was on Wednesday detained in connection the Pathankot terror attack, reported Pakistan Media. Media reports suggest that Masood Azhar was also taken into protective custody and was being questioned. Geo English re-tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying, "Jaish-e-Mohammad offices being traced, sealed." "Pakistan to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot airbase," tweeted Pakistan Prime Minister's Office earlier. The Pakistan Government on Wednesday said it had arrested several members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which is suspected of being behind the Pathankot Air Base attack earlier this month. The Pakistan PMO in a statement said the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack, and it wanted to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot Air Base. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad have been apprehended," the office of Prime Minister Sharif said. "The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," it said. News of the arrests comes 48 hours before a rare meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries is tentatively scheduled to take place. The statement was released after Prime Minister Sharif chaired a high-level civil-military meeting in Islamabad to discuss the regional security situation and the investigation into the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack. The meeting was attended by attended by top civilian and military leaders, including Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PM's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, and other senior officials. India had claimed that Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists based in Pakistan were responsible for the attack on January 2 which left seven Indian security personnel dead. All six terrorists were killed in the counter. In a telephone conversation with his Indian counterpart following the attack, Prime Minister Sharif had assured Narendra Modi that Islamabad would not hesitate to take "prompt and decisive action" if the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the attack on the Indian airbase was proved beyond doubt. The developments today came amid renewed efforts by Islamabad to ease diplomatic tensions with India. The high-level huddle also follows two separate terrorist attacks earlier on Wednesday-a suicide bombing near the Pakistani consulate in the Afghan border city of Jalalabad, and a separate suicide blast in Quetta targeting policemen guarding a team of polio vaccination workers. (ANI) The European Union is seeking talks with Colombia at the World Trade Organisation over what Brussels says are discriminatory measures against Europe's spirit drinks, the European Commission said on Wednesday."EU spirits face higher taxes than local brands through higher national consumption tax and higher local charges," the Commission said. "Colombia's regional authorities ... impose market-access restrictions for imported spirits."Consultations are the first step in the WTO's formal dispute settlement mechanisms.Colombia is the largest market in the Andean Community, which includes Peru and Ecuador, representing more than a third of EU spirit exports to the region and worth 41.2 million euros ($44.6 million) in 2014, industry body SpiritsEurope said in a statement welcoming the move.REUTES CJ AN1926 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-536721.Xml With barely 48 hours to go for the Foreign Secretaries' scheduled meeting of the two countries, a flurry developments were witnessed on both sides of the divide with Pakistan detaining Jaish-e-Mohammed Chief Masood Azhar, the dreaded mastermind said to be behind the Pathankot attack, while New Delhi was abuzz with a series of meetings on the highest level. Masood, who was freed by India in exchange of hostages of the Kandahar hijacking, was taken into preventive custody, Pakistani media reported. Meanwhile, India continued to play its cards close to its chest, with hectic parleys being held at various levels. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was supposed to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his arrival from Colombo. NSAs of both the sides are also understood to be meeting in Dubai. Islamabad also proposed sending a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot to get additional information required for further progress into the investigation. The action followed yet another high-level military-civil meeting to discuss the progress on investigation into the case. The meeting took place even as official word from New Delhi on the fate of the Foreign Secretary level talks was still awaited. India has linked the talks with the action Pakistan takes to nail the culprits of Pathankot attack, who, it believes, came from across the border. A statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said after today's meeting, based on the initial investigations in Pakistan and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed had been apprehended. ''The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway,'' it added. UNI MK RSA 2026 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0090-536957.Xml Hours after Pakistan government claimed to have traced and sealed offices of Jaish-e Mohammad(JeM) and apprehended individuals belonging to JeM, a Pakistani channel reported that JeM chief Masood Azhar has been taken in 'protective custody.'"Pakistan on Wednesday held the chief of banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) Maulana Masood Azhar following certain clues with regard to an attack on an Indian airbase in Pathankot," ARY News reported.Officials of the law enforcement agencies took Maulana Masood Azhar into protective custody and "questioned him pertaining to the Pathankot attack," the channel said, citing sources. The law enforcers also apprehended some close associates of Azhar and "grilled them with regard to the attack" that led to accusations against Pakistan shortly afterwards, the channel further said in a report that could not be independently verified.JeM founder Azhar, who was freed by Indian government in exchange of hostages of Indian Airlines flight in December 1999, returned to attack Indian Parliament exactly two years later. His younger brother Abdul Rauf Asghar had organised the hijacking. Sworn to destruction of India and America, Azhar has asked Pakistani government to lift ban on jihad. He operates in Pakistan-held Kashmir where he says jihad is not officially banned.More UNI PRA RSA 2035 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0384-537012.Xml At least two people were killed and three others severely injured on Wednesday when an avalanche engulfed skiers in the French Alps, including of a group of school children from Lyon and their teacher. The avalanche occurred at about 1500 GMT and hit a black-rated ski trail at the Deux-Alpes resort in the department of Isere, eastern France, which had been closed to the public, Xinhua quoted France Info, French news radio channel, as saying. A group of around 10 schoolchildren from a secondary school from Lyon and their teacher who took the trail were engulfed by the avalanche. --Indo-Asian News Service sku/ ( 118 Words) 2016-01-14-02:25:35 (IANS) Yaounde (AFP) - A suicide bomber killed 12 worshippers Wednesday at a mosque in northern Cameroon, an area regularly targeted by Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists, officials said. The blast struck the mosque in the village of Kouyape, in Kolofata district north near the Nigerian border, at around 5:30 am (0430 GMT) during morning prayers, a security source said. "The provisional toll is 13 dead (including the suicide bomber) and one person who was seriously injured. The mosque was virtually reduced to ashes," said Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of the region. Bakari asked locals "not to let down your guard" following "these barbaric, cowardly and nebulous acts." Since July last year Cameroon's far north has been hit by a series of attacks blamed on Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. "Eleven worshippers were killed at the scene. A twelfth died of their wounds in hospital," the security source said, adding that the attacker was praying alongside other worshippers when he blew himself up. The imam of the mosque figured among the victims, another security source said. The bombing came after two people were killed overnight in the same area in another attack blamed on Boko Haram, the security source said. Cameroon has beefed up its military presence along the Nigerian border as part of a regional coalition, after years of doing little to stop Boko Haram fighters using its territory as a rear base to arm and equip themselves. Since late November the Cameroon army has carried out operations in several border areas aimed at weakening Nigerian jihadists active in the region. Sources say the operations have significantly weakened Boko Haram's capability, forcing insurgents to turn away from direct confrontation with the military in favour of suicide attacks, increasingly staged by women and girls. Boko Haram in the past year stepped up cross-border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon while continuing shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself. Story continues The group has increasingly targeted imams and traditional chiefs for their opposition to the Islamists. Cameroon has meanwhile banned the Islamic veil in a bid to pre-empt suicide bombings staged by attackers wearing the full-face veil. Boko Haram's six-year campaign for a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has killed at least 17,000 people and made more than 2.6 million others homeless. Despite the offensives launched by regional forces, the group maintains strongholds in areas that are difficult to access, such as the Sambisa forest, the Mandara mountains and the numerous islands of Lake Chad. In recent years, online influencers have evolved. In the past, it used to be all about owning a blog and writing articles. These days, writing is no longer what people usually do. Instead, photos, videos or short-form content posted on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have taken over. Yet when it comes to a serious topic such as finance, nothing beats (at the moment) good old fashion writing. We review 5 great local financial blogs that you should be following if you want to live a financially prudent life. Do note that we are excluding websites from this list and will only be focusing on blogs that are run by a single personality. 1. Cheerful Egg Cheerful eggs Source Cheerful Egg is one of those blogs that has been around for quite some time. The writer, Lionel, spends his time writing from a perspective of how personal finance lessons can be learnt from everyday events that happen around us. Articles such as What Penang Char Kway Teow taught me about investing and 5 things about money I wish I told my 20-year old self are some of the regular reads that you can find on his blog. The best thing about the articles from Cheerful Egg is that you do not need to be a finance graduate or an expert in finance to be able to relate to the articles. The blog hardly ever go into technical matters or review financial products. It simply shares on how our everyday life is ultimately one big personal finance journey. Dont expect the articles from Cheerful Egg to pop up on your Facebook feed. The blog currently does not have any Facebook presence. If you want to read the articles, you got to bookmark the page on your browser and head directly like what people used to do 10 years ago. ASSI Source Better known by his loyal readers as AK, AK acts like an online vigilante in the scene as he brings his no-nonsense approach towards personal finance. The blog is well known for covering stocks (particularly REITs). It also frequently discusses how people can maximise their CPF dollars. Story continues AK practises what he preach. Despite only being in his early 40s, AK has accumulated a sizeable fortune on his CPF Special Account simply by doing no-brainer things like voluntary topping up to his account during his younger days while the rest of the Singaporeans were busy complaining. He is a savvy stock investor who recognises the importance of keeping a balanced portfolio that include both risk-free assets such as CPF monies and higher returns assets such as stocks. Many retail investors would do well by following the advice that AK dishes out. 15 hr work week Source My 15 Hour Work Week is a blog that believes having the right perspective about money is every bit as important as making the right investment decisions. The idea behind 15 Hour Work Week is that people do not need to work long hours in jobs they hate as long as they can make better financial decisions in life. Believe it or not, the 29-year old writer behind this blog is currently semi-retired and has already slowed down his working pace in life. The portfolio he has built up (which you can view on his blog) in his early 20s is evident of the smart decisions he has made by starting his investing journey early. The message behind My 15 Hour Work Week stands in contrast to what young adults are frequently being exposed to in the working world. Rather than to blindly follow the work long hours, earn more money, spend more money and impress people around you teachings that some young people adopt,15 Hour Work Week would rather embrace a slower pace of work, earn less money, spend less money and invest more mentality. Investment Moat Source Investment Moat is what you would expect from a typical investing blog. There are tons articles written about local stocks, some articles about financial planning and the occasional insight that the writer shares for his readers to mull over. The great thing about Investment Moat is that it provides, in our opinion, the most independent outlook on local stocks that you can find in Singapore. There is no worry about any of conflict of interest that you would typically associate with the research department parked under a brokerage firm that just wants you to trade more. As with all investments made, you are advised to do your own due diligence and research. With the various tools, analyses and write-ups available on Investment Moat, this investing journey becomes much easier and less lonely. Budget Babe Source The youngest blogger on our list (both from an individual age and a blog age perspective), Budget Babe also happens to be one of the very few female finance bloggers in the Singapore scene. Budget Babe tells it as how she sees it. She is critical on lousy insurance instruments such as Investment-Linked Policies (ILPs) and makes no apologies for her opinion. There are people (usually those from the financial sector) who would not agree with her viewpoint. Yet at the same time, Budget Babe can be seen as someone who is simply taking the perspective of how an average Singaporean may feel about the financial industry. What she shares exemplifies what could be wrong about the industry. She does not try to make her articles more palatable just so that the critics would not criticise her. It is also important to remember that being the youngest among the financial bloggers, Budget Babe would provide a different perspective on money matters that might be more relatable to younger, female readers. Articles such as why you shouldnt buy an expensive engagement ring provide readers with a different take on the true meaning of money, and may potentially change the materialistic nature of our culture. Who is your favourite financial blogger in Singapore? Are we missing out on someone? Share with us your thoughts on Facebook. DollarsAndSense.sg is a website that aims to provide interesting, bite-sized financial articles which is relevant to the average Singaporean. Subscribe to our free e-newsletter to receive exclusive content not available on our website. Follow us as well on Instagram @DNSsingapore to get your daily dose of finance knowledge through photos. Top Image The post 5 Financial Blogs In Singapore That You Should Already Be Reading appeared first on DollarsAndSense.sg. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama delivered his seventh and last State of the Union. The over 5,400-word speech looked back at his time in office and ahead to the future issues America will likely face after he leaves office. Obama touched on four main topics: the economy, climate change, national and global security without America being the world's policeman, and the shifting political landscape. Without naming any of the presidential hopefuls of 2016, his speech was short, sweet and in true Obama fashion hopeful. "The future we want opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids all that is within our reach," Obama said. "But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates." Obama then urged audiences to vote. This SOTU was also arguably the most accessible ever. Audiences were able to patrol the address via multiple platforms, including YouTube, the White House's website and even Snapchat. That means there was no shortage of reactions to all the happenings at SOTU including, but not limited to, Obama himself. Below are the top things people are talking about from the 2016 SOTU: 1. The Republican response to the State of the Union by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Haley responded to Obama's SOTU by warning Americans against the temptation of "the angriest voices," supposedly an allusion to GOP candidate Donald Trump, whose often outlandish remarks about immigrants and Muslims have been met with no shortage of backlash, NBC reported. "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country," she said, according to NBC. Story continues Her comment came in the middle of a heated debate sparked about Muslims and immigration, a debate largely fueled by Trump. Republicans' responses to Haley were mixed: Really effective speech by @nikkihaley. Avoided the Response to SOTU curse. For a candidate who came in on a Tea Party wrecking ball wave, #NikkiHaley warning against following "angriest voices?" That is RICH. #SOTU NikkiHaley does not speak for me, or any other conservative in this near post obama apocalypse. #getajob SouthCarolina's #NikkiHaley as a first generation Immigrant knows NO US #HISTORY She's an Immigrant-RINO plant https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/687115513802158080 ... 2. Ann Coulter's own response to Haley Among the harshest responses was one by Trump supporter Ann Coulter, who, during her live tweeting of Haley's response, declared that "Trump should deport Nikki Haley." Haley was born to Indian immigrants, the New York Daily News reported. Trump should deport Nikki Haley. Then Coulter voiced a not-so-sensitive comment about Muslim immigrants from Haley's immigration-friendly speech. Nikki Haley says "welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of religion." Translation: let in all the Muslims. 3. Michelle Obama's dress For SOTU, FLOTUS rocked a Narciso Rodriguez marigold dress, which sold out online at Neiman Marcus just hours later. Twitter exploded by commenting on how great Michelle Obama looked, possibly even outshining her husband. 4. Conservative Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis being in attendance A surprising guest at the invite-only SOTU was Kim Davis, who is known for being jailed last year over refusing to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples, which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of in June. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan's team had allegedly given her a ticket without his knowledge. Davis said she wanted to attend SOTU as an "encouragement" to "all Christians," CNN reported. At sight of her, Twitter went straight for the kill: Everyone is making fun of Kim Davis because she's a bit awkward looking but please remember she's also a terrible human being. #SOTU Why does Kim Davis keep showing up? pic.twitter.com/IVeEHF1WpN 5. Bernie Sanders' face and his mysterious yellow piece of paper One of the key topics of discussion for Obama was the worrisome American economy, which he said needs change, a Then viewers caught the face of Democrat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who often goes against the big-bank grain. Resting Bernie Face. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/00OibTP1IV https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYkRhwOUkAAIAp9.jpg:large Bernie Sanders listening intently. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/xU21956Axc https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYkN9HeVAAAg7E5.png:large Later in the speech, Sanders is seen pulling out a yellow piece of paper from his jacket. The internet exploded with all of the (mostly non-political) possibilities: What's that yellow paper Bernie Sanders is getting out of his pocket? A takeout menu? #SOTU pic.twitter.com/VYpW3NOrbU https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYkOlDFU0AAM9Gf.png:large I hope Bernie Sanders just took the Powerball numbers out of his pocket. #SOTU 6. Trump finding SOTU "really boring" and Obama's indirect jabs The GOP candidate tweeted out that that Obama's SOTU was "really boring, slow, lethargic very hard to watch!" Obama made multiple indirect jabs at Trump for his anti-Muslim opinions, including, "When politicians insult Muslims ... that doesn't make us safer." Tall, thin beauties still dominate magazine covers and ad campaigns, but with the inclusion of plus-size fashionistas and those with disabilities, fashion campaigns often include a more diverse array of women. Now, an India-based clothing brand is breaking ground with their newest model. Apparel company Viva N Diva named prominent acid attack survivor Laxmi Saa the face of its newest campaign, Face of Courage. This opportunity to represent an apparel brand was a platform for me to set an example for women like me to be confident and have courage despite their physical appearances, Saa told BBC News. The behind-the-scenes shoot for Saas photos proclaims beauty lies in the eyes while showcasing her posing for the camera in multiple outfits. When she was 15, Saa was attacked by a 32-year-old man after she rejected his marriage proposal. Her experience is common among survivors, with perpetrators often seeking revenge against women who have romantically rejected them. Over the past 10 years, Saa has campaigned for harsher punishments for offenders and advocated for strict regulations on the sale of acid, which is sold as a bathroom cleaner and is easy to purchase at local stores in India. Indias Ministry of Home Affairs reported roughly 300 cases of acid attacks in 2014, although advocacy group Acid Survivors Trust International estimates there are many as 1,000 acid attacks in the country annually. Many cases go unreported, as victims fear further reprisal and legal cases often prove fruitless. A 2015 report from Acid Survivors Trust International found that acid attack victims spend years awaiting litigation and receive little financial compensation for medical costs related to their disfigurement. The attacks are seldom fatal, but they often leave women blind, deaf, disfigured, and in need of surgeries to repair the damage. With their physical appearance greatly altered, many women are shunned from their communities and unable to find work or support. Story continues The problem is not just in being a victim, but also your victimization by the society, Saa told BBC News. We are treated as if we are good for nothing and as if our lives are a waste. As one of Viva N Divas representatives, Saa proves to other survivors that life goes on after an acid attack. She is being treated much like any model in terms of compensation and profit sharing from the campaign, according to the Hindustan Times. She also hopes her participation in the campaign proves to perpetrators that their goals to injure, maim, and otherwise demoralize women have been unsuccessful. This was also a platform for me to send a clear message to criminals that women will not lose courage, even after they are attacked with acid to destroy their physical beauty, Saa said. Related stories on TakePart: A Cafe Run by Acid Attack Survivors Attracts Visitors From Around the World Indias Caste System Punishes Man by Ordering Rape of His Sisters Women in India Are Turning a Taboo Topic Into Mainstream Conversation Original article from TakePart Mexico offers many tempting coastal options for retirement. One of the best is Mazatlan. Mazatlan lies about nine miles south of the Tropic of Cancer on the Pacific Ocean. It enjoys sunny winters and year-round warm waters that draw visitors from the rest of North America, including from elsewhere in Mexico. But Mazatlan is more than another city by the beach. Founded in 1531, Mazatlan also boasts a historic colonial center, meaning retirees here can enjoy the best of both beach and city lifestyles. Mazatlan's colonial center, the heart of this city and an important part of its appeal, begins at the beach. Colonial centers in most Spanish-colonial cities are just a few blocks of colonial-style architecture, but the historic district in Mazatlan is large and diverse, offering a range of property styles and prices. The authentic Spanish-colonial setting offers easy access to the beach and provides traditional rather than resort living. Until recently, this area was best described as seedy and decaying. This is changing quickly. Mazatlan's historic zone is undergoing a renaissance. More of its old structures are being restored month by month, and this neighborhood is increasingly attractive and walkable. Scores of formerly tumbled-down homes have been carefully restored and brightly painted by new owners. The streets are being repaired and sidewalks are being rebuilt and widened by the city. As Mazatlan's historic heart continues to clean itself up and attract more attention, the city's restaurant scene is blossoming. Hidden away among the now-restored old buildings are fine-dining establishments where chefs work hard to impress. Ground zero for the historic center's renaissance is the square called Plazuela Machado, which is now surrounded by a collection of pleasant outdoor cafes and international restaurants. At the west end of the plaza is Teatro Angela Peralta, the city's most famous theater, which opened its doors in 1874. Story continues About four blocks west of Plazuela Machado is Olas Altas (or "high waves"), the nearest beach to the Centro Historico. Olas Altas is a crescent-shaped sandy cove about a quarter mile around whose shore is lined with cafes, restaurants and a couple of hotels. Early each morning, the tables at these seaside venues fill with locals and expats who come to enjoy a good cup of coffee and breakfast by the sea. Walk just two blocks north and two blocks east from Plaza Machado, and you're in the middle of a bustling downtown that is authentically Latin American, with hundreds of small shops, banks, businesses, produce markets and parks. Another thing that makes Mazatlan an interesting lifestyle option is the ability to live among the locals or other expats. Mazatlan is a city of almost a half-million people. When you move here, you can choose to be part of the established American community, speak mostly English and ease your way into Mazatlan aided by people like you who've already made a move. Or you could opt to become part of a Mexican environment, where you'd speak mostly Spanish and immerse yourself in this country's rich culture. In addition to its historic downtown, Mazatlan offers almost 20 miles of beautiful beaches. The city boasts mile after mile of well-maintained, sandy beaches with warm, swimmable waters. Much of this beachfront is bordered by a wide boardwalk that is normally busy with people strolling, jogging or biking. Thanks to the diverse community, Mazatlan offers both local shops and Mexican supermarkets, large and small. There is also big-box shopping from Home Depot to Walmart. It's possible to find anything you might be looking for, including items that can be hard to find in most of Latin America. The favorable exchange rate for Americans makes Mazatlan especially affordable right now. At the current rate of exchange between the U.S. dollar and the Mexico peso, everything from dinners out to a new home is a bargain. The best property buys are often priced in Mexican pesos or Canadian dollars, but many of the properties for sale are bargain priced compared with other beachfront markets around the world. When considering the purchase of property in Mazatlan, note that desirability is gauged by the distance from Plazuela Machado. Proximity to the beach in this area, while desirable, is secondary. If you're interested in the purchase of a home in the historic zone, also understand that changes to the facade are not possible. The city is strict about preserving the integrity of its historic properties. Any renovation work on these gems is subject to architectural review, and city building inspectors roam the streets looking for violators. Non-original homes in the Old Town don't have this restriction. Prices are highest in the area around Plazuela Machado, but still very reasonable at today's exchange rate. You could own in a prime area for as little as $150,000. Outside the coveted zone around Plazuela Machado, prices drop sharply. You don't have to go far to find houses going for asking prices around 350,000 or 400,000 Mexican pesos. At the current exchange rate, that's as little as $20,000. Kathleen Peddicord is the founder of the Live and Invest Overseas publishing group. By Rafiq Shirzad JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, stoking fears over the spread of the ultra-radical movement in Afghanistan. Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least seven members of the security forces died during the attack by the Islamic States, which hitherto had not struck high-profile Pakistani targets in Afghanistan. The attack, which coincided with efforts to restart the stalled peace process with Taliban insurgents and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, added a dangerous new element to Afghanistan's volatile security mix. "This is a major concern for us if they carry out more attacks like this," an Afghan security official said. "We have enough problems to deal with already." Nangarhar, the province in which Jalalabad is located, has become the main Afghan stronghold of Islamic State (IS), which has battled the Taliban for leadership of the Islamist insurgency, attracting many former Taliban militants. But IS has not so far been regarded as ready to organize and mount a complex attack involving suicide bombers and gunmen hitting a major urban target, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. Witnesses in Jalalabad, the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan, said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions could be heard during a battle that lasted several hours, and residents and children from a nearby school were evacuated. Islamic State said on its official Telegram messaging service channel that three members wearing suicide-bomb vests carried out the attack, which it said had killed dozens of people including "several Pakistani intelligence officers". It said two suicide attackers had been killed while a third escaped. Pakistan condemned the attack but said all members of the consulate staff were safe, with one official slightly injured by broken glass. The attack carried echoes of one last week on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, when a group of assailants barricaded themselves in a house and resisted security forces for about 24 hours after a suicide bombing. Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met this week to try to resurrect efforts to end nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, even as fighting with the Taliban intensifies. In Pakistan on Wednesday, at least 14 people were killed in am explosion near a polio vaccination center in the southwestern city of Quetta. (Additional reporting by Ahmad Sultan and Mirwais Harooni and Andrew MacAskill in Kabul, Tommy Wilkes in Islamabad and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Editing by Robert Birsel and Miral Fahmy) Johannesburg (AFP) - The trial in South Africa of a Danish man accused of mutilating women and storing pieces of their genitals in his freezer was deferred on Wednesday until next month, the prosecution said. Peter Frederiksen briefly appeared before a district magistrate court in the central city of Bloemfontein where the state asked for the case to be heard by a higher court due to the severity of the charges. "The case was postponed to February 26. They have transferred it to a higher court, which is the regional court," Phaladi Shuping, spokesman for the National Prosecution Authority, told AFP. Frederiksen, a 63-year-old gun shop owner, was arrested in September after police discovered frozen female genitals, surgical equipment and pornographic photographs of children at his house in Bloemfontein. He faces a slew of charges including two counts of conspiracy to commit murder -- one linked to his wife's death -- three counts of assault, two of bigamy, and production and distribution of child pornography. His 28-year-old wife Anna Matseliso Molise, who was set to be the state's star witness in the trial, was gunned down in October outside her house in Maseru, capital of neighbouring Lesotho. Frederiksen was arrested in September and has been denied bail. New York (AFP) - The new Argentine government reopened talks with bondholders in New York that for years have blocked the struggling country's access to global capital markets. Officials said they plan to submit a proposal later this month, which they hope will finally provide a resolution to the long-running financial crisis. Talks between bondholders and representatives of the new government of President Mauricio Macri, who has pledged to reform and revitalize the Argentine economy, opened in Manhattan under the guidance of the court-appointed mediator Daniel Pollack. "We'll be presenting Argentina's proposal during the week of Monday, January 25 to Pollack and to the holdout firms" Luis Caputo, an official representing Buenos Aires said at the close of five hours of negotiations on the first day of talks. The previous administration of Cristina Kirchner had refused to compromise with the creditors, mainly hedge funds it branded "vultures," after a US court ordered the country to pay the full value of bonds that Buenos Aires defaulted on some 15 years ago. The leaders of the so-called "holdout" group, the hedge funds NML Capital and Aurelius Capital Management, bought up Argentine debt cheaply around the time of the default and over the next decade refused to join 93 percent of bondholders in restructuring the debt. Speaking in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, Argentine Economy Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said the South American country would negotiate "with toughness" but was committed to finding an agreement. On Tuesday, Macri said he hoped for a "reasonable agreement" with the creditors, who have demanded 100 percent payment of their bonds even though most of the creditors in the country's $100 billion default in 2001 accepted sharp losses in a negotiated debt restructuring. "We will tell the mediator that there has been a change, another vision for our debts and how to stop being a defaulter and to resolve the pending issues," Macri said. Story continues To the great dismay of Argentina and its restructured bondholders, NML and Aurelius won a New York court judgment in 2012 that ordered Argentina to repay the full value of their bonds. The decision roiled the sovereign bond world. The court said, moreover, that Buenos Aires could not make payments on the restructured bonds without first paying off in full the two hedge funds. And it forbade banks from handling any other bond payments before the hedge funds were paid. Kirchner's government refused, and talks on an ostensible compromise went nowhere. - Heavy price tag - The two hedge funds hold about $1.3 billion worth of bonds, whose accrued value is now about $1.7 billion. Last October, the New York court further ruled that 49 other holdouts were covered by the 2012 ruling and also had to be paid first, adding another $6.1 billion to the sum Argentina is ordered to pay. Pollack has said the total amount owed to holdouts is around $10 billion. The Argentine economy minister said the US court ruling gave the creditors lavish interest payments -- up to 95 cents out of every dollar Buenos Aires has been ordered to pay, in the case of certain bonds. "That is what we want to discuss quickly and resolve the problem," he said. But he blamed the Kirchner administration for the heavy price tag. "This is the cost of washing our hands of the problem for more than 10 years," he said. With foreign reserves believed to be at less than $30 billion, Kirchner's government said it could not afford to pay, and Macri's government will face the same challenge. The conservative new president has launched into a program of difficult structural reforms for the economy that includes a more than 30 percent devaluation of the peso. He has indicated he wants to resolve the problem with the bond holdouts quickly, as it impedes the country's access to global capital markets. Within days of assuming office on December 10, Macri sent representatives to let Pollack know the country was ready to negotiate in earnest. Vienna (AFP) - A bar owner in Austria said Wednesday she had banned "all asylum-seekers" after the alleged harrassment of guests, sparking strong criticism from human rights groups. Karin Siebrecht-Janisch, who runs Charly's Bar in the picturesque spa town of Bad Ischl in Upper Austria state, said she took the decision after male migrants had repeatedly harassed her female clientele in recent months. Things escalated on New Year's Eve when "several asylum-seekers" groped a waitress, according to Siebrecht-Janisch. "After that I had enough and I decided to ban them all until we find the culprits. I need to protect my guests and my family," she told AFP. Siebrecht-Janisch said she had also hired bouncers and introduced a two-euro door charge, which she expected "migrants aren't able to pay". However, police in Bad Ischl said they had so far not received any complaints about the 120 asylum-seekers currently living in a local refugee centre. "We've often been called to Charly's for incidents, when there were fights or girls lying around drunk, but not anything involving refugees," a police spokesperson told Die Presse newspaper. Austria has become a major transit country for the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees trying to enter the European Union, with some 1,000-2,000 arriving in Upper Austria on a daily basis at the moment. Although many continue on to Germany and Scandinavia, some 90,000 applied for asylum in Austria in 2015 -- one of the highest rates per capita in the 28-nation bloc. The influx has contributed to a rise in popularity for the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) and prompted tensions within the ruling centrist coalition of Chancellor Werner Faymann. Charly's first made headlines earlier this week when Siebrecht-Janisch posted a status update on Facebook announcing that her bar was now "free of asylum-seekers". Slamming the ban as racist, Austrian rights groups said it also highlighted an important loophole in Austria's legal system. Story continues "Inciting hatred against 'foreigners' is illegal, but using the term 'refugee' or 'asylum-seeker' in a discriminatory way is not an offence under current sedition laws," explained Christina Schaefer of the ZARA initiative, which provides legal support to victims of racist attacks. "We've been lobbying for ages to get this changed as it can leave people very vulnerable," she told AFP. But Siebrecht-Janisch insisted she was not being racist. "My Dutch husband is of coloured origin and so are my children. I am just trying to find those responsible and then we can talk about letting those who are innocent back inside." Detroit (AFP) - Beneath the hoods of the cars showing in Detroit this week lie engines that are as powerful as ever, but are smaller and, helped by direct injection, guzzle less gas. Automakers have subbed out stainless steel for aluminum and other lighter-weight materials, and added more gears to let engines run in "sweet spot" mode more often, so that their cars and trucks can save money on fuel and emit less climate-harming pollutants. But with gasoline prices now nearly half of what they were just two years ago, the question is, do consumers care? Or will a surge in sales of higher fuel-consuming cars and trucks, especially sport utility vehicles, erase recent efficiency gains on US roads? The improvements to gasoline-based internal combustion engines that automakers have made show how greater efficiency has been mainstreamed throughout the industry, and not just on the electric and hybrid cars that steal most of the glory. Under pressure from government regulation, fuel economy in US cars has risen 26 percent since 2004, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. - Signs progress is flagging - Yet there are signs of flagging progress. Fuel economy for the fleet overall was unchanged at 24.3 miles per gallon in 2014, the last year with full data, according to the EPA report. Data from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute suggest fuel economy fell in 2015, with a significant drop in the last months of the year. With gasoline prices so low, customers appear less pressured to buy more fuel-efficient cars, not to mention electrics and hybrids. Of the 17.5 million cars US automakers sold in 2015, less efficient pickup trucks and SUVs dominated the market and grew much faster in sales than other types. "You hear a lot of noise about demand for hybrids not being so big," Honda executive vice president John Mendel said at a launch Monday of its Ridgeline pickup truck. "When (gasoline) was four or five bucks a gallon, everybody was clamoring for anything -- a hybrid, ... something to take the sting out." Story continues - Focus shifts to SUVs, pickups - To boot, Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager at Toyota, said his company has lowered production of some fuel-efficient models, while taking steps to lift output of SUVs and pickups. Government pressure since the late 2000s to improve fuel consumption has spurred the gains. President Barack Obama has set the goal of cars getting 54.5 miles per gallon (4.36 liters per 100 km) in 2025, compared to about 29 miles per gallon in 2014. Compliance is determined on gains of individual models and also whether the average efficiency of an automaker's overall fleet is improving enough. Trucks and SUVs are not expected to get the same mileage as sedans and subcompacts, only to improve their mileage each year. The result has been not only an unprecedented number of hyper-efficient electric and hybrid vehicles in the US fleet, but also the significant improvements in gas-powered cars. But with trucks and SUVs now dominating sales, automakers have to keep improving the performance of those vehicles. Some industry officials gripe that many of the easiest and cheapest changes have already been made, and meeting the 2025 targets will be hard. Achieving gains has become more difficult now that the easiest changes -- the "low-hanging fruit" -- have been implemented, said Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "You need more and more advanced technology to meet ever-increasing fuel economy standards," Newton said. Others say there is still lots of potential. "There's lots of room to get efficiency from these engines before we get rid of the internal-combustion engine," said General Motors executive vice president Mark Reuss Tuesday at a launch of the new GMC Acadia SUV Tuesday, which weighs 700 pounds (318 kg) less than the version it replaces. Still, automakers say they are not counting on the government to walk back the fuel targets. "It's a poor bet to base your business case on somebody changing the rules at the last minute," noted Honda executive vice president John Mendel. Toyota, which has enjoyed the profitable surge in truck and SUV sales, has also unveiled a revamped Prius and in October launched the Mirai, a fuel cell vehicle. "We're starting to get ready for a world that doesn't have any more gas engines by 2050," Fay told AFP. "Long way away ... but investing in that today." London (AFP) - London commuters were left baffled after a rail company blamed delays on "strong sunlight" in the midst of cold and wintry weather this week. "Apologies we are having issues dispatching trains due to the strong sunshine this morning," Southeastern railway company informed travellers through its Twitter account Tuesday, blaming the "low winter sun". While delays due to snow or wet leaves on the tracks are familiar to commuters in Britain, many responded to this new reason with humour and disbelief. "Train delayed due to sunlight!" wrote Twitter user Zuzanna Sojka, telling the train company: "I admire your creativity!" User Paul Malyon called it "the weakest excuse ever" while others responded to ask whether trains might next be delayed due to "too many clouds" or "moonlight". "How do they go on in hot countries where they have sunshine all the time?" asked Julie Clarke. Britain experienced just a few hours of sunlight on Tuesday, and temperatures between -2.3 and 8.6 degrees Celsius (28 to 47.5 degrees Fahrenheit) according to the Met Office, but it was enough to delay trains in the southeast London district of Lewisham. A spokesman for Southeastern explained that the glare from the low angle of the Sun "made it impossible for some drivers to see the full length of their train in their mirrors before leaving stations". "When this happens they have to get out and check to ensure everybody has got on or off their train safely before they can move," the spokesman explained. "This can take a little more time but thankfully for all it doesn't happen very often." Madrid (AFP) - More than 30 Basque nationalists on trial in a high-security facility near Madrid were spared jail Wednesday, after signing a judicial deal in which they admitted their links to the armed ETA group. The 35 defendants stood accused of carrying out political activities to back ETA, a band blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a four-decade campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France. They were charged with "participation in a terrorist organisation" because of activities such as press conferences and meetings even though their parties -- which included Batasuna, the now-defunct political wing of ETA -- were banned. "We're relieved, it was unhoped-for," said Aurore Martin, a 36-year-old French national who was one of the accused. The trial kicked off in the outskirts of Madrid on December 3 in a high-security annex of the Audiencia Nacional, Spain's top criminal court, and had been due to last until March. "The 35 separatists who were on trial admitted the offence of participating in a terrorist organisation and in return prosecutors made a commitment not to seek jail terms for them," Araiz Urko, the lawyer for three of the defendants, told AFP. Among the accused was another French national, Haizpea Abrisketa, as well as former leaders of the Batasuna party. They faced prison terms of up to 10 years if convicted in a trial they had branded purely "political" in nature. "It is clearly a political persecution trial since the serious crime that the 35 are accused of is of having carried out political work," one of the accused, Pernardo Barrena, told reporters in December on the day of the first hearing. Their defenders had also branded the trial "anachronistic" since many of the accused are now members of Sortu, a legal, nationalist party created in 2011. ETA in October 2011 declared a "definitive end to armed activity" but it has not formally disarmed nor disbanded as the Spanish and French governments demand. The group wants negotiations over several issues, such as the fate of around 400 ETA prisoners, before it breaks up. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A number of the Paris attackers used two apartments and a house in Belgium as possible safe houses in the weeks in leading up to their coordinated shooting and suicide bomb assault on the French capital, investigators said on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors said in a statement, summarizing some of their findings, that the Paris attack plotters had rented an apartment in Brussels and another in the city of Charleroi at the start of September. They had also rented a house in the town of Auvelais, some 55 kilometers (35 miles) south of Brussels, at the start of October. All three were rented for a year, and paid in cash. The tenants gave false identities. Investigators found DNA traces of one of the attackers, Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up in Paris on Nov. 13, the prosecutors said. In the Charleroi apartment they found mattresses and fingerprints of both Hadfi and Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian who had fought in Syria and was believed to be one of the plot leaders. He was killed after a siege in St Denis, near Paris, on Nov. 18. The house in Auvelais contained several mattresses. Investigators have also established that the Seat Leon hatchback used in the Paris attacks stopped near the suspected safe houses in Charleroi and Auvelais. Another vehicle, a BMW rented by a suspect, stopped near all three locations. Prosecutors said last week that they had found a possible Paris attacks bomb factory in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek, with traces of explosives and handmade belts. [L8N14S18C] (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) In a piece from David Graham showing how close the race is between Clinton and Sanders in key polling, David notes how she is pulling out various stops. In particular, she has spent the last few days assailing Sanders for being, in her view, soft on gun controldespite the Vermonters D-minus rating from the NRA. Along those lines, a reader predicts that Sanders would wipe the floor with Trump and refers to the video seen above: Obama called her Annie Oakley in the 2008 primary because of her proud pro-gun stance, but now ALL OF A SUDDEN she is supposed to be some kind of anti-gun crusader? Come on. Clinton appeals to a smaller and smaller segment of the Democratic electorate. She is BORING. Sanders has ALL of the excitement because he actually stands for something and is principled. She is so very obviously nothing but a panderer who changes her tune depending on which way the wind blows. H.A. Goodman in The Huffington Post looks at the record from the last time Clinton ran against a fellow Democrat: According to a 2008 New York Times article titled Clinton Portrays Herself as a Pro-Gun Churchgoer, Clintons rhetoric on the 2nd Amendment differed greatly from todays attacks against Sanders: Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada has welcomed its 10,000th Syrian refugee, the government announced Wednesday, although almost two weeks behind schedule and far fewer than it had originally planned to resettle by now. A plane carrying asylum seekers landed in Toronto late Tuesday, putting the number of arrivals at 10,121 since November, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals took office. In a statement, Immigration Minister John McCallum called it a "significant milestone" on the way to meeting the Liberal's overall pledge to take in 25,000 Syrians. "Many people have worked day and night to bring these refugees to Canada," he said, "and Canadians have opened their communities and their hearts to welcome them. "Canada continues to set an international example with its response to the worst refugee crisis of our time." Trudeau had promised during an election campaign last year to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by December 31. The European migrant crisis was full-blown and images of drowned Syrian child Aylan Kurdi whose body washed up on a Turkish beach appeared on the front page of most dailies, leading the Liberals to criticize the Tory government of not doing enough for Syrian refugees. But after the Liberals assumed power the target date was pushed to the end of February, following criticism that the new government was moving too fast amid security concerns in the aftermath of deadly attacks in Paris, as well as due to logistical issues. A new interim target of taking in 10,000 by December 31 was set, but only 6,000 Syrians travelling from camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey made it onto Canadian soil by year's end. Outside parliament, McCallum said: "There's little doubt in my mind that 25,000 will have arrived by the end of February." "But I think now attention should turn or has turned to the resettlement," he said. "We have now demonstrated, I think, an ability to get the machine up and to deliver the refugees to Canada. The next phase -- and it won't be easy, it won't always be totally smooth -- is to... ensure that they find a place to live and get services that they require." Story continues The minister dismissed concerns about possible clashes such as those that occurred recently in Germany, saying the situations are "quite different." Last week, newly-arrived Syrian refugees were pepper-sprayed at a welcome event in Vancouver in an attack condemned by Trudeau. "We are obviously very mindful of the situation in Germany and the problems that Germany has been having, but let me remind you that we are talking about 25,000 Syrian refugees (while) Germany has accepted close to a million. "Most of them (coming to Canada) are not single men. Most of them are family members, whereas Germany accepts everybody that comes to its borders," he added. The UN refugee agency estimates that more than four million Syrians have fled the civil war ravaging their country. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the total number of dead at more than 260,000 people. Canada takes in an average of 250,000 refugees from around the world each year. State of the Union watchers buzzed when Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan remained in his seat as President Barack Obama announced a renewed drive to find a cure for cancer. But optics aside, Obama's rollout of the new initiative, to be spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden, has turned out to be one of the very few SOTU planks garnering support from members of both sides of the aisle. "Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer," Obama said Tuesday. "Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources that they've had in over a decade." "And because he's gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, I'm putting Joe in charge of Mission Control," he said. "For the loved ones we've all lost, for the families that we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once and for all." Biden understands that loss viscerally. His son, Beau, died of brain cancer in May. From a practical standpoint, the years the vice president spent in the Senate afford him a critical understanding of how deals get made in the District, including how lawmakers when it comes to federal funding. Biden, seemingly buoyed by bipartisan positivity about his "moonshot" mission following the address, sounded optimistic Wednesday. "The Republicans have already reached out. This is a place where there's really common ground," he said on Good Morning America. "I think we can generate a consensus here." House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, like many Republicans, didn't care for most of Obama's speech. The fight to defeat cancer was something the one thing he said he could get behind: "I want to cure cancer with him," McCarthy said of Biden, per CNN. Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also had Biden's back. Story continues Republican Rep Fred Upton, a cancer cure advocate, praises Obama's #SOTU call pic.twitter.com/hAzL05ldNw https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYlRmYgUEAAOPTc.png:large Long road ahead: While Obama and Biden couched the plan in ambitious, ringing tones, the science and treatment community warns against expecting fast, easy answers, as Mic's Jordyn Taylor reported Wednesday. This matter of life and death, of course, is a matter of money and the Obama administration has not been a time of boosted funding for medical research, according to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network lobbying arm. The group noted in December that the omnibus fiscal year 2016 federal spending bill included a $2 billion increase for medical research at the National Institutes of Health and a $264 million increase for cancer research at the National Cancer Institute. That funding came as a relief after several zero-growth budgets that "stifled innovation and forced researchers to abandon promising projects," the group said. On Wednesday, the group's federal relations director, David Pugach, told Mic, "There is clear and continued support from both sides of the aisle to make progress in a disease that is expected to kill 590,000 people in America this year. We hope members of Congress embrace this historic opportunity to reduce death and suffering from cancer." "If this disease has touched your life, I want to hear your story." - VP Biden http://go.wh.gov/Cancer-Moonshot #SOTU pic.twitter.com/PtT8S26Yy0 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYkaR9wUwAAtzJf.jpg:large In a Medium post coinciding with Obama's address, Biden also sounded a note of urgency. "I know that we can help solidify a genuine global commitment to end cancer as we know it today and inspire a new generation of scientists to pursue new discoveries and the bounds of human endeavor," he wrote. "We must move forward right now. I know we can." By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) - Missing out on the hot technology stocks known as the "FANG" group last year came back to bite some well-known mutual funds. Funds like the AMG Yacktman Fund and the Gabelli Asset Fund that avoided Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and Google - now Alphabet Inc dramatically underperformed peers that loaded up with the fast-rising tech stocks, according to a review by Thomson Reuters Lipper unit. In fact, despite a volatile year in which active managers faced shifting trends in many sectors, it seems that simply choosing to overweight the FANG group was the path to beating the market. Without them, the S&P 500 Index would have declined 2.7 percent last year; instead it fell 0.7 percent, according to Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. For the year, among 228 funds reviewed by Lipper, those that had less than 5 percent exposure to the FANG group fell 1.3 percent on average; funds with more than 10 percent exposure rose 6.4 percent. Shares in Amazon and Netflix more than doubled last year as both added more content and subscribers to their competing video-on-demand-services. Facebook rose 34 percent as the social media giant continued to increase mobile ad revenue, while Alphabet also increased revenue and showed more cost discipline, boosting its shares 47 percent. Of the four, all but Amazon have outperformed the S&P 500 so far in 2016 through Tuesday, although it is far too soon to say if the group will repeat its performance for investors in 2016. Broadly speaking, those managers who liked the FANG stocks last year still do, while those who missed the boat still don't want to get on board, especially now the shares are that much more expensive. "Even with the frothy multiples, people don't appreciate the earnings power of these companies," said Jonathan Sherman, managing director of the FANG-heavy $14.4 billion JPMorgan Large Cap Growth Fund. All four companies are disrupting their industries and can justify their high prices, Sherman said. The fund had 17 percent of assets in the four companies and a total return of 7.6 percent last year, beating 72 percent of peers, according to Lipper. But Jason Subotky, manager of the $8.6 billion AMG Yacktman Fund, which held none of the four stocks, sounded unrepentant, despite trailing 96 percent of peers last year. "We're not remotely interested in paying prices like these," he said. Christopher Marangi, who runs the $2.6 billion Gabelli Asset Fund,, has been fielding calls from clients concerned about missing out on the FANG play. His fund trailed 85 percent of peers with a loss of 5.87 percent last year, and held just a small stake in Google parent Alphabet. The four companies "generally do not offer enough margin of safety for us to purchase - too much potential value sits in a future which has a great degree of variability," he said. He said that eventually "Our hope is that we get the calls from clients thanking us for keeping them out of certain speculative areas." (Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Linda Stern and Frances Kerry) KABUL (Reuters) - An explosion was heard in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday close to foreign consulates including those of India, Pakistan and Iran, witnesses told Reuters. There was no immediate confirmation of the cause of the blast or of any casualties or damage. There have been several bomb blasts in Afghanistan over recent weeks at a time when efforts are underway to restart a peace process with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tension between Pakistan and India. (Reporting By Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Robert Birsel) The final album by David Bowie, released just two days before his death, has soared in sales and looked set Tuesday to top charts around the world. "Blackstar" is on course to be the first number-one album in the United States for the artistic legend, who lived his last years in New York but enjoyed more mainstream success in his native Britain. Billboard magazine, which publishes the benchmark US chart, said sales of "Blackstar" were forecast to surpass those of Adele's blockbuster "25," which has spent seven weeks at number one. Bowie's previous album "The Next Day," which came out in 2013 after he was absent for a decade, rose as far as number two on the US chart. In Britain, the Official Charts Company said "Blackstar" was on course to top the weekly list and predicted that 13 more of Bowie's albums would re-enter the top 100. Britain's chart will come out late Friday, while the US list will be released over the weekend. "Blackstar" led Apple's iTunes download chart for Monday, the day Bowie's death was announced, in virtually every developed country, according to sites that track the data. Several other Bowie albums suddenly appeared or re-entered near the top of the iTunes charts including "Nothing Has Changed," his career-spanning hits collection released in 2014. On streaming leader Spotify, "Blackstar" songs as well as classic Bowie hits such as "Heroes," "Under Pressure" with Queen, and "Let's Dance" were rising on charts that look at the past week's most-heard songs, with Bowie's catalog ascending especially quickly in France. Bowie released "Blackstar" on Friday, his 69th birthday, enjoying widespread acclaim as the British music legend again proved his innovation with a hard jazz sound. Few people knew at the time that Bowie was dying of cancer and had released "Blackstar" as a final artistic statement, with wistful reflections from one of modern music's most influential figures. Rough Trade, the taste-making British store that also runs New York's largest record shop, said it would donate all proceeds from sales of Bowie's work in January to cancer research. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police informed mining company Samarco Mineracao S.A. that some of its executives are accused of crimes relating to a dam burst in November that killed 17 people, a company representative said on Wednesday. Brazilian news website G1 said miner Vale SA, which co-owns Samarco along with BHP Billiton , Samarco Chief Executive Ricardo Vescovi, and a consulting firm that had audited the broken dam were also accused of unspecified crimes. The federal police could not be reached to confirm the report. In Brazil, only prosecutors, not police, can press formal charges and open a lawsuit, but the police accusations could be a sign charges are on the way. Vale said in a statement it had been surprised by reports of the accusations and would prove that Vale was not responsible. Vale and Samarco are already facing civil lawsuits over the November disaster but individual executives of the companies have not yet been prosecuted in what the government considers Brazil's worst-ever environmental disaster. Samarco said in a statement it did not agree with the accusations as a technical analysis of the causes of the dam burst had not been completed. (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Bill Rigby) Brussels (AFP) - A deal on reforms Britain has demanded to stay in the European Union will be put in writing by early February for EU leaders to discuss later that month, a European diplomat said Wednesday. British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is reasonably confident of an accord for the changes in four key areas, ahead of a referendum on a possible "Brexit" from the bloc, expected in mid-2016. "I think that a concrete draft could be put on the table in early February," the European diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "Between now and February, the process continues." Officials from Britain, the other 27 EU governments, and the European Commission were having "intense discussions" in a bid to hammer out an agreement, the diplomat added. EU leaders will hold a summit in Brussels on February 18 and 19 at which they have said they hope to reach a deal. The referendum must be held by the end of 2017 but Cameron on Sunday gave his clearest hint yet that it could come later this year, telling the BBC: "I would like to see a deal in February and a referendum that will follow." Cameron said his most controversial proposal -- a four-year ban on top-up benefits for migrants -- was "still on the table" but he could agree to an "equally powerful" plan to tackle so-called benefit tourism. His other demands -- for the European Union to give Britain safeguards against more political integration, to protect countries that do not use the euro currency and to boost economic competitiveness -- face much less opposition. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders warned however on Wednesday that Cameron could not expect an "a la carte" form of EU membership for Britain. "There are red lines for us," Reynders told journalists in Brussels. "We will not go backwards unless everyone (all 28 EU states) decides that we will generally transfer some powers back to individul states." Story continues Reynders also voiced caution over Cameron's demands for protections for non-euro nations. "Cameron is afraid that the steps we take in the eurozone could harm the City, for London's position... but it's a bit strange to worry about the euro when he is always telling us he wants no part in it. He has to figure out what he wants!," the Belgian said. "Nor can we have countries that are not members of the euro and do not want to be blocking procedures in the eurozone. "So we have to find formulas, and there are formulas" for a deal, he added. Ouagadougou (AFP) - Burkina Faso's new President Roch Marc Christian Kabore took the helm of the defence ministry as he unveiled a new government lineup Wednesday in a nation with a history of coups. Kabore, only the third civilian president of nine in office since independence in 1960, kept the defence and veterans' affairs portfolio for himself as had his predecessor Blaise Compaore, who was overthrown by an uprising in 2014. Reform of the army is a key consideration in a country where the military has often played a disproportionate role in politics and whose history is peppered with coups and attempts to overthrow the government. Headed by Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba, a former economist and central banker, the 30-member cabinet includes seven women, among them Aridjatou Rosine Coulibaly Sori who takes up the key economy and finance portfolio. Longtime mayor of the capital Ouagadougou, Simon Compaore -- no relation to the ousted former leader -- becomes deputy head of the government and takes on decentralisation and interior security. Foreign affairs meanwhile went to a former journalist, Alpha Barry, who founded FM radio Omega and worked as a correspondent for Paris-based French-language network Radio France Internationale. "This is a fighting government, a government which will be engaged," Thieba told reporters. "Given the sacrifices made by our youth and our people, it is up to us to rise to the challenge, to concentrate on the struggle we must wage against underdevelopment, injustice, impunity and poverty," he said. - A strict ethical code - Thieba also said his ministers would observe a strict code of ethics and good behaviour, saying he would not tolerate any breaches. "Every time there is a failure in terms of ethics or integrity, there will be zero tolerance," he said. Kabore, the first civilian to be democratically elected leader of this poor west African country, was elected with more than 53 percent of the vote in November's presidential poll and has pledged to reform institutions and modernise the government through greater social justice, democracy and freedom. Story continues He vowed to build "a new Burkina Faso" by fighting youth unemployment, improving education and modernising the health system in this country of 17.4 million where more than 46 percent of people live below the poverty threshold. As well as bolstering democracy, the government must also tackle huge youth unemployment in a nation where 70 percent of the population is under 30. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in October 2014 when Compaore sought to extend his rule, forcing him to step down after ruling the country with an iron fist for 27 years. Cambodia's UN-backed court heard chilling details on Wednesday of the mass murder of Muslim women by Khmer Rouge soldiers, the latest grisly testimony in the trial of two top leaders of the ruthless communist regime. "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, 89, and the former head of state Khieu Samphan, 84, are being tried for genocide of ethnic Vietnamese and Muslim minorities, as well as for their regime's use of forced marriage and rape. The pair have already been handed life sentences in a previous trial that focused on the regime's forced evacuation of Phnom Penh into rural labour camps and murders at an execution site. Up to two million Cambodians died under Khmer Rouge rule from 1975-1979, including an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 Cham Muslims and 20,000 Vietnamese. Before these charges were filed, the mistreatment of the two minority groups was rarely discussed. Cham survivor Math Sor, who was a teenager when the regime took power, told the court she was captured with about 30 other women in her northeastern village by Khmer Rouge cadres and tied up in a house. Twenty of the captives -- those who said they had Cham parents or were not fully Khmer -- were then taken to a pit several metres away, she told the UN-backed court. "I heard the screams of 'please don't rape me'," recounted Math Sor, who lost eight relatives, including her parents and two pregnant sisters, during the Khmer Rouge's brief but brutal rule. She then watched soldiers behead the women through "a crack in the wall" of the house where she and the others were held. The soldiers also forced Cham Muslims in her village to eat pork, speak Khmer, and cut their hair, she told the court. Last September, the court heard how copies of the Koran were "collected from houses and burned" by Khmer Rouge troops. The Khmer Rouge regime dismantled modern society in Cambodia in their quest for an agrarian Marxist utopia. Many key leaders have died without facing justice, including "Brother Number One" Pol Pot who died in 1998. Shoe designer Charlotte Olympia is teaming up with Agent Provocateur on a racy new lingerie collection. The design brains behind the luxury footwear brand, Charlotte Dellal, will work on three lingerie sets and accompanying shoe designs for the lingerie house, Vogue UK reports. The pieces will incorporate Hollywood glamour, as well as her leopard print and cat motifs. The two fashion powers previously joined forces in 2012, when Dellal designed two pairs of shoes for Agent Provocateur. "I've have been collecting Agent Provocateur's beautiful lingerie for years," Dellal told Vogue. "I almost have more lingerie than shoes! Both brands share similar sensibilities -- we're feminine, playful and love glamour." The collection will be available from January 18, priced from 95 (approximately $137). China has formally arrested on "subversion" charges two more human rights attorneys held in secret for six months, a lawyer said Wednesday, bringing the total accused to nine as a sweeping crackdown intensifies. More than 130 attorneys and legal staff were summoned for questioning in July, in what campaigners call the fiercest attempt yet to silence activists attempting to redress injustices in China's tightly controlled courts. Wang Yu, of Beijing's Fengrui law firm which is at the centre of the crackdown, has been formally arrested on suspicion of "state subversion", which carries a maximum sentence of life in jail, her lawyer Li Yuhan told AFP. Wang's husband Bao Longjun is accused of "incitement to state subversion", which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, Li added, citing relatives. It is the first time the couple's family have been notified of their whereabouts, more than six months after they were detained. Their son, Bao Zhuoxuan, 16 is also being held under a form of house arrest, friends say. The teenager was nabbed in October after crossing overland to neighbouring Myanmar, according to state-run media. Over the past decade a small group of a few hundred Chinese lawyers attempted to use the court system to seek redress -- sometimes successfully -- for what they considered egregious rights violations. They include victims of forced home demolitions, illegal "black jails", dissidents jailed for their writing, and others detained for practising their religious faith. State media -- which in the past sometimes praised rights lawyers' efforts -- have called the attorneys a "criminal gang" who created public disorder by organising protests outside courthouses to illegally sway verdicts. China's ruling Communist Party does not tolerate organised dissent and has tightened controls on civil society under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. Story continues Wang Yu is best known for defending Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, as well as alleged victims of forced demolition and sexual assault. State television has previously broadcast footage of her in court raising her voice to remonstrate with officials, and quoted a court staffer as saying her behaviour had "not showed legal spirit". It has also shown Wang and her husband breaking down in tears on hearing the news of their son's capture. The arrests of seven other lawyers and their staff on "subversion related charges" were confirmed to AFP on Tuesday. They include the founder of Fengrui Zhou Shifeng, and 24-year-old legal assistant Zhao Wei. "She pursued democracy, fairness and justice. She absolutely posed no threat to the state or the people's interests," her mother Zheng Ruixia told AFP Wednesday. "It's thought crime. It's because she had certain thoughts, and the authorities want to attack those thoughts." The United States expressed concern about the charges, and about what State Department spokesman Mark Toner called an "ongoing crackdown against lawyers in China." "The United States urges China to drop these charges and immediately release these lawyers and others like them detained for seeking to protect the rights of Chinese citizens," he said. China said on Wednesday that it has detained on suspicion of "endangering state security" a Swedish man who aided human rights lawyers. By Megha Rajagopalan BEIJING (Reuters) - China has detained a Swedish national who worked with human rights lawyers on suspicion of endangering state security, a rights group said on Wednesday, describing the charges as "baseless". Peter Dahlin was taken into custody on Jan. 4, the group said, amid a growing crackdown on rights lawyers and foreign groups working on legal reform. Rights groups say the crackdown aims to rein in dissent, but the Chinese government denies this. Dahlin, 35, is the co-founder of the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, which promotes human rights and rule of law in China by supporting public interest lawyers and academics, among others. "China Action is dedicated to promoting human rights within the existing legal framework of the Peoples Republic of China and has only ever advocated non-violent, informed reliance on Chinese law," the group said in its statement. "In spite of this, Peter has been arbitrarily detained on spurious accusations." The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed the man had been detained. A spokesman for the Swedish embassy in Beijing said it had been in touch with Chinese authorities about meeting him, but gave no further details. Chinese authorities had not yet allowed embassy officials or others to contact him, Dahlin's group said, adding that he suffers from Addison's Disease and requires medication. Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said he did not know about the detention. China has detained or formally jailed several foreign nationals in recent years, sometimes over their proximity to what it perceives as sensitive information. "This action is just the most recent in an extra-legal or illegal pattern of apprehending civil rights lawyers," said Lionel Jensen, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame who researches Chinese nationalism. "These are dark days in China, to be sure." China formally arrested several Chinese human rights lawyers on suspicion of subverting state power after months of secret detention, one of their colleagues said on Tuesday. At least two Japanese citizens were arrested on suspicion of espionage last year and a Canadian couple was arrested in 2014 amid a crackdown on foreign Christian groups along the country's sensitive border with North Korea. (Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Clarence Fernandez) The Philippines booted the U.S. military out of the country 25 years ago, deriding the American troops as unwelcome guests and living symbols of colonialism. Now, fearful of a rising China, Manila is asking Washington to send them back. The push got a major boost Tuesday when the Philippine Supreme Court approved a landmark defense cooperation deal with the United States that paves the way for American forces to deploy to an array of bases throughout the country. The new deal represents a concrete success for the Obama administrations rebalance to Asia and reflects a broader trend in the region as Chinas smaller neighbors seek to push back against Beijings expansionist claims in the contested South China Sea. Manila, for instance, fears Beijing could seize control of the disputed Scarborough Shoal after repeated clashes with Chinese coast guard vessels over fishing rights. It sees the American military as a powerful friend that can help it counter China. Leaders in both Manila and Washington hope the pact will serve as a deterrent to Beijing and help convince the Chinese that pressuring its neighbors into giving up their territorial claims is actually not in Chinas interest, according to Ernest Bower, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The accord had been negotiated in April 2014, but a legal challenge had held it up in court for months. The court ruled that the pact did not amount to a treaty that would need approval from the countrys Senate and instead could stand as an executive agreement under the authority of the countrys president, Benigno Aquino III. The court ruling was announced hours before Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter held talks with their Philippine counterparts in Washington. The decision will free up tens of millions of dollars in U.S. funds set aside for modernizing the Philippine navy and other forces, which have lagged behind other states in the region. In return, the United States will have permission to land aircraft and send ships to various bases, as well as to pre-position military equipment and supplies in the country. Story continues As Manila finds itself the target of Chinese coercion in the West Philippine Sea and is looking to Washington for leadership, this agreement will give us new tools to deepen our alliance with the Philippines, expand engagement with the Philippine Armed Forces, and enhance our presence in Southeast Asia, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement. Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Bill Urban said that the agreement will benefit both countries and allow U.S. forces to rotate forces through the country on temporary deployments. But the accord does not provide for permanent U.S. bases in the Philippines, Urban told Foreign Policy. The Philippines had said previously that the pact will likely grant the U.S. military access to eight bases, including two in the strategic South China Sea Antonio Bautista Air Base and Naval Station Carlito Cunanan. Under the deal, both governments will work out which bases will be opened to the Americans, and in some cases, the United States will help make improvements to some facilities, officials said. But its likely that the naval base at Subic Bay, once a sprawling hub for the U.S. Navy, and Clark Air Base will be included in the mix. The agreement also supports the Pentagons new strategy that calls for dispersing its warplanes and naval ships if necessary to reduce the potential threat posed by Chinas formidable missile arsenal. China has accused the United States of meddling in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and insisted it has a historic claim to much of the disputed waters. But Beijing has alarmed its neighbors by building artificial islands on top of reefs or rocks at a frenetic pace, in a bid to push through its far-reaching claims in the strategic waterway. The United States has insisted it will uphold the right to freedom of navigation by sailing and flying near the man-made islands. By granting wider access for U.S. naval vessels and aircraft in the Philippines, the deal could allow the United States to stage more freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, as well as improve its monitoring of Chinese activity, analysts said. Photo credit: TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images BEIJING/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish man detained in China last week was suspected of acts detrimental to the country's national security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday in its first comments on the case against the foreign human rights and legal reform advocate. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said it had summoned China's ambassador over the case on Jan. 8, a meeting that also touched on the disappearance of a Swedish citizen in Thailand, who is one of several missing publishers and book vendors with business in Hong Kong. "We take a serious view on the fact that the embassy has not yet been allowed to visit the Swedish citizen detained in China," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Ekberg said. Peter Dahlin, the 35-year-old co-founder of the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, was taken into custody Jan. 4, the organisation said. "Swedish citizen Peter Dahlin has been put under coercive measures in accordance with the law in Beijing on suspicion of engaging in acts that harm China's national security," said ministry spokesman Hong Lei at a regular briefing. "This case is currently being investigated." Coercive measures generally refers to detention. Hong added that China would allow for the Swedish embassy to carry out consular work. Dahlin's organisation had previously said consular officials had been unable to communicate directly with Dahlin, and the embassy said it was working to set up a meeting. The group supports public interest lawyers, academics and others in China to promote rule of law, according to a statement from the organisation. Dahlin's detention comes amid a widening crackdown on rights lawyers and foreign groups working on legal reform. Rights groups say the crackdown aims to rein in dissent, but the Chinese government denies this. The Swedish Foreign Ministry had earlier confirmed a Swedish national had been detained, but has not named Dahlin or given further details, citing privacy concerns. China has detained or formally jailed several foreign nationals in recent years, sometimes due to their proximity to what it perceives as sensitive information. (Reporting By Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Sven Nordenstam; Writing By Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore/Jeremy Gaunt) By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) - The number of mainland Chinese tourists to neighboring Taiwan halved in the weeks before this weekend's elections, several Taipei-based travel agencies said, as Communist Party rulers in Beijing discouraged visits to China's diplomatic rival. Taiwan elections are always sensitive in China, which regards the self-ruled island as a breakaway province, worried that the democratic free-for-all across the Taiwan Strait could cause people to wonder why their own government won't allow free polls. Chinese tourists were put off visiting Taiwan because of the "highly politicized" atmosphere, a Beijing government spokesman said back in October, but would not say if Beijing was telling people not to go. Those who did make it were curious to see democracy at work. "I very much hope to see (the elections) because we still cannot see that on our side of the world," said a 30-year-old tourist from Beijing who gave his name as Max. "It's a rare opportunity... I want to witness the civil rights that democracy brings to people," he said, looking forward to joining one of the traditionally boisterous election rallies the night before the polls. Hundreds of residents of Hong Kong, the Chinese-ruled territory rocked by pro-democracy street protests in 2014, have also flown to Taiwan for the polls. Taiwan votes in a new president and parliament on Saturday, when the China-friendly Nationalists are expected to be defeated by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a party Beijing loathes. "I'M JEALOUS" The DPP's Tsai Ing-wen is likely to become the first woman president on the island - and in the Chinese-speaking world. A Chinese Communist Party member who gave his name as Wong, on a eight-day tour to Taiwan, said he was impressed by the freedom of speech the island enjoys after seeing election flyers and campaign trucks on the streets. "In China, democracy is just a word, but in Taiwan they put it into practice," he said. "I'm jealous." At least 18 political parties and 530 candidates are registered to run for the island's 113-seat parliament, with election campaigns broadcast live by more than half a dozen news channels. "It's so cool - seeing a female leader get elected," said a 21-year-old Chinese visitor surnamed Yang. "Her style seems very refreshing." But some mainland visitors were not so impressed. "Taiwan is part of China, so they should only support the Communist Party," said a middle-aged man from China's eastern province of Jiangsu who declined to be named. "It's too extreme and it's a waste of money," he said, referring to election flyers and campaign motorcades. China has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province since Chiang Kai-shek's defeated ruling Nationalists fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists. It has never renounced the use of force to ensure eventual unification. "China is too autocratic and Taiwan is too free-wheeling," said a mainland tourist who only gave her surname as Han, watching the change of guard in front of a giant statue of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China who is revered by both mainland China and many in Taiwan. "How nice it would be if we could have a balance from both sides." (Additional reporting by Hong Kong newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie) BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry warned Japan on Wednesday not to take "provocative" action around a group of disputed islets in the East China Sea, saying Tokyo would have to accept the consequences. On Tuesday, Japan said it had told China that any foreign naval vessel entering Japanese waters for reasons other than "innocent passage" will be told to leave by a Japanese naval patrol, signalling a potential escalation in a long-running dispute. Last year, Chinese navy ships sailed near the disputed isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, the Japanese government said. Asked about the Japanese announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China had the right to carry out "normal navigation and patrol activities" around the islands. "We advise Japan against taking provocative acts or doing anything to raise tensions, otherwise it will have to accept responsibility for everything that happens," he told a daily news briefing, without elaborating. In an editorial on Wednesday, the influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times said if Japan sent its navy in, China would have to send in its warships too. "China can send as many warships to the Diaoyu Islands as Japan does," said the newspaper, which is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily. The dispute over the uninhabited islands, which are under Japanese control, has been a major sticking point in Japan and China's often contentious relations in recent years. Late last year, a Chinese coastguard vessel with what appeared to be gun turrets entered territorial waters claimed by Japan near the islands, Japan's coastguard said, adding that it was the first such incursion by an armed Chinese vessel in the area. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Miral Fahmy) BEIJING (Reuters) - The mayor of one of China's most dynamic cities has emerged as the front-runner to become Premier Li Keqiang's lieutenant to help tackle the slowing economy and turbulent financial markets, sources said. Huang Qifan, 63, mayor of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing since 2010, is tipped to replace Yang Jing, 62, as secretary-general of the State Council, or cabinet, two sources with ties to the leadership and two financial industry sources told Reuters. "Huang Qifan did an excellent job in Chongqing," one source with leadership ties said. "Hopefully, his appointment would boost investors' confidence and stabilize the stock market." The planned personnel change comes after renewed turmoil in China's stock and currency markets sparked fresh concerns that the regulatory structure was not up to the task of maintaining market stability as economic growth stalls. The central bank's move to soften the exchange rate last week triggered panic selling in shares. (Reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim and Kevin Yao; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Pete Sweeney) Iman and David Bowie (Photo: Getty Images) Sweet memories from a close friend. After the tragic loss of rock legend David Bowie on Sunday, January 10, many stars have reached out to his wife, Iman, to share their memories and their support. Fellow 80s supermodel Christie Brinkley took to Instagram on Tuesday, January 12, to tell fans a special story about her part in Bowie and Imans family. PHOTOS: Stars Gone Too Soon Christie Brinkley (Photo: Getty Images) Iman always told the story in such a charming way, she began, captioning the photo of Bowie and Iman cradling a baby. It took two blondes to get me pregnant David Bowie and Christie Brinkley! You see Iman explained to me, in Somalia they say if you are having trouble getting pregnant you must hold a baby all day so I handed her my baby, Sailor, and she held her all day long and sure enough, it worked! After 7 years trying without luck Iman got pregnant! So beyond her great beauty and business savvy, and beyond Bowies music and art, I always felt a sweet connection to this stunningly gorgeous and creative couple. Today my heart aches For Iman, and Alexandria for their untimely and unbearable loss. My deepest sympathy @the_real_iman. Brinkley, 61, also is mom to daughter Alexa Ray Joel, 30, with second ex-husband Billy Joel, and Jack, 20, with third ex-husband Richard Taubman in addition to Sailor, now 17, whose dad is Peter Cook. PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths in 2015: Stars Weve Lost Iman, 60, and the late rock legend welcomed their daughter, Alexandria, in 2000. I stumbled onto bliss, he said in an interview with the New York Daily News in 2002. And I have no intention of finding my way back out. Im frighteningly happy. I dont see ever wanting to change things in my personal life. Iman and I are very happy, and we have the most fabulous baby. Bowie died two days after his 69th birthday following an 18-month battle against liver cancer. 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Clintons proposal would raise an estimated $15 billion a year over the coming decade by targeting a tiny fraction of 1 percent of the wealthiest taxpayers. Her chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has vowed to raise trillions of dollars in tax revenue over the coming decade to fund free college tuition and expand Social Security benefits. Related: Clinton's Capital Gains Tax Plan Aims At Long-Term Investment Echoing billionaire investor Warren Buffetts rule of thumb that Americans making more than $2 million a year should pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent, Clintons proposed surtax would nick tax filers with adjusted incomes of over $5 million with a tax rate of as much as 43.6 percent on income from wages, businesses and partnerships, and between 27.8 percent and 47.4 percent on capital gains, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Tax Foundation. While potentially tens of millions of middle and upper income taxpayers would be impacted by Sanders federal tax proposals, which have yet to be formally unveiled, only about 35,000 of the wealthiest taxpayers would be hit by Clintons proposed new top tax bracket, according to the Tax Foundation. Sanders has hinted he will propose a large increase in the top marginal income-tax rate, now 39.6 percent. He has also proposed slightly increasing the payroll tax rate to cover expanded Social Security benefits, which means that even low-income families would have to pay more. Internal Revenue Service data show that the top 400 taxpayers who made an average income of $265 million in 2013 paid a 22.9 percent federal income tax rate, up from 16.7 percent in 2012, according to Bloomberg. Clintons surtax proposal would build on increases advocated by the Obama administration that took effect in 2013. Story continues Bernie Sanders $18 Trillion Price Tag If Elected President Hillary is talking about raising taxes on a small subset of 1 percent of taxpayers. Bernie Sanders is talking about taxing just about everyone. Its a huge difference in scale, Alan Cole, an economist with the Tax Foundation, said on Tuesday. Moreover, the wealthiest Americans can afford clever tax lawyers and accountants to find ways to blunt the impact of the proposed surtax. And there is no indication that Clintons proposal would be accompanied by reductions in a myriad of tax loopholes and write-offs that would help many keep their adjusted tax income below $5 million. Clintons push to raise the top tax rate for the wealthiest people in the country comes as Sanders continues to gain momentum in his challenge to her for the Democratic presidential nomination. The latest polls show the Vermont senator leading Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, the sites of next months first presidential caucuses and primary election. This is Clintons second major proposal on taxes. Last July, she proposed a change in the top capital gains tax rate to foster long-term growth. Related: The Pros and Cons of Bernie Sanders $50 Billion Tax Idea Clinton embraced the so-called Buffett Rule last December, when she held a joint campaign appearance with Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska. Taken together, the Buffett Rule and Clintons 4 percent surtax would have the effect of significantly raising top earners taxes on capital gains, which are currently taxed at 23.8 percent top rate, according to Bloomberg. The rate was 28 percent when former President Bill Clinton took office in 1993, but was cut to 20 percent during his presidency. Clinton said a change in the federal tax code that favors nurses and truck drivers over hedge fund managers could pay for job, infrastructure, and health-research initiatives, according to Bloomberg, but Sanders and his aides say her plan isnt bold enough. At a time of grotesque income and wealth inequality and when trillions of dollars have been transferred from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent over the last 30 years, Secretary Clintons proposal is too little too late, Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - A septuagenarian Colombian drug lord who has admitted to conspiring to traffic cocaine sold in the United States was ordered on Wednesday to spend 11 years in a U.S. prison, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said. Salomon Camacho Mora, 71, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Walls in Newark, New Jersey, 15 months after pleading guilty. The defendant was also ordered to forfeit $1.6 million and eight Colombian properties. A lawyer for Camacho did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Known to associates as "Papa Grande," meaning Big Daddy, and "El Viejo," meaning Old Man, Camacho was originally indicted in 2002 but remained a fugitive until he was captured in Venezuela in January 2010. The U.S. Department of State has said Camacho was responsible for the shipping of as much as nine metric tons (10 tons) of cocaine to the United States in 1999 and 2000 alone. The State Department once offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest, a sum typically reserved for major traffickers or senior cartel leaders. In his guilty plea, Camacho admitted to buying multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine from processing labs in Colombia, and arranging for their transport through Venezuela for later sale in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, prosecutors said. Camacho had worked with multiple cartels, as well as with the late drug lord Pablo Escobar, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has said. The case is U.S. v. Camacho Mora, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 02-cr-00714. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Tom Brown) Berlin (AFP) - German prosecutors said Wednesday they had received several criminal complaints against the suspended police chief of Cologne and officers for failing to prevent a spate of violence against women blamed on migrants. "Several criminal complaints were filed against the former police chief of Cologne and other police officers in connection with the events at Cologne main rail station," said the state prosecutor for the city of Aachen. "The complaints, which include the accusation of failing to render assistance, were received today," said the prosecutor in a statement, adding that they will be examined. More than a week on from the alleged crime spree on New Year's Eve, Cologne police said they had received 561 criminal complaints over the violence. Police have said that groups of men of "Arab or North African appearance" allegedly groped and robbed women in a large crowd of revellers in the city centre. Two rapes were also reported. In the wake of the rampage, Cologne police have also come under fire for failing to prevent the violence. Police chief Wolfgang Albers was suspended Friday by regional authorities in a bid to restore public confidence in the force. By Aaron Ross KINSHASA (Reuters) - At Kinshasa's hectic Victoire roundabout, banners urge people to back "dialogue for the good of Congo", but to many the timing of President Joseph Kabila's call for political talks less than a year before he is supposed to step down is highly suspicious. "If they thought that we had to have the dialogue, why the dialogue at the end of the mandate?" 38-year-old technician Chine Tshiboko asked, to nods from a crowd of men around him in the capital of one of Africa's biggest and most chaotic states. Under Democratic Republic of Congo's constitution the president is allowed only two terms. Kabila will complete his second this year, but has refused to promise to leave power at elections due in November. With little public support for altering the constitution to allow Kabila to run again, his opponents believe he has opted instead for a "glissement", or "sliding" of the electoral calendar to prolong his days in power. Already, local and provincial elections scheduled for last year have failed to happen, and some of Kabila's allies have suggested delays of up to four years in the presidential election to clean up inaccurate and incomplete voter lists. [nL8N12V0P4] Apart from a flare-up a year ago when at least 40 people were killed, the apparent delaying tactics have averted major confrontation. But an emboldened opposition is refusing to participate in the proposed "national dialogue" which it sees as a Kabila gambit to cling to power, and the glissement strategy could soon hit the buffers. A coalition of opposition parties and activist groups has announced a series of rallies from next week and the powerful Roman Catholic Church has called for protest marches on Feb. 16. [nL8N14S2T6] "The next round of bargaining may happen in the streets of Kinshasa," said Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group at New York University. Kabila became president in 2001 after his father's assassination and then secured two terms under the current constitution by winning elections in 2006 and 2011 - the latter marred by massive fraud, according to observers. The government says it does not have the money or capacity to hold the local, provincial and national polls that are all slated before the end of 2016, an argument his opponents dismiss as a stalling tactic. In the 55 years since independence, Congo has never had a peaceful transfer of power, and the demise of long-term autocrat Mobutu Sese Seko in the mid-1990s helped to provoke regional wars that sucked in nine other countries and killed millions. DIALOGUE The government denies it is trying to delay the polls and has thrown its weight behind the national dialogue, arguing that this is the only way to resolve the impasse. The normally taciturn Kabila delivered three speeches on the subject in one month alone late last year, and state media have blanketed the airwaves with appeals to participate. The largest opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), says it supports the dialogue idea, although it has imposed strict conditions on its participation, insisting on an international mediator and no delay to the presidential vote. Andre Alain Atundu, the spokesman for Kabila's ruling coalition, said he was confident the UDPS would join once the United Nations appointed a mediator, as both sides want, though he said the dialogue would go ahead regardless. However, most of the other major opposition parties are boycotting the negotiations, suspecting they will be used to extend Kabila's mandate, possibly by installing a power-sharing transitional government and then later trying to change the constitution. PROTESTS Either way, protesters will soon be on the streets, testing the government's ability to manage popular pressure and hold together an increasingly fragile coalition. Though opposition parties struggled to mobilise large crowds at rallies last year, the Church's intervention could prove critical in a country where 40 percent of the population identifies itself as Catholic. Vital Kamerhe, president of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), another large opposition party, said the protests would present Kabila with a stark choice. "There will only be two options," he said. "Either the government carries out massacres, or the government says to itself, no, the lesser evil and that which is good for everyone is to organise the elections." Significant protests could place Kabila's coalition under strain. Analysts, however, say it is difficult to predict the reaction of security forces and that Kabila's shrinking majority due to defections has allowed him to buy time with his remaining allies by exercising increased patronage. Pascal Kambale, former Congo country director for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, predicted that increased isolation would force Kabila to start negotiating his departure, but doubted street pressure would force him out this year. "I expect some kind of glissement, a dialogue without amending the constitution but agreeing he will be there for two or three years," Kambale said. Others in Kinshasa fear violence if the dialogue is spurned. "The presidential majority is telling us that if you don't come to the dialogue we will be at war," said lawyer Landri Pongo Onya. "They have declared war on the people." (Reporting by Aaron Ross; Editing by Ed Cropley and David Stamp) Slaterthumb A U.S. congresswoman is calling out a leading astronomy educator who violated the sexual harassment policy at the University of Arizona, saying the case highlights a larger problem of holding known offenders accountable in higher education. The astronomer, Timothy Frederick Slater, now holds a prestigious position at the University of Wyoming, where he conducts research and mentors graduate students. But a 2004 investigation at Arizona concluded that Slater created a hostile work environment by regularly subjecting students and employees to unwanted sexual conduct such as gifting a student a cucumber-shaped vibrator, going to strip clubs for lunch and openly commenting on womens bodies. Slater, who remained at Arizona for four years after the investigation, admitted in an interview with Mashable on Sunday that he violated the sexual harassment policy at the university but said that he has since reformed. Even though the events in question happened more than a decade ago, the case highlights a more publicly stated concern among scientists recently that sexual impropriety is a problem in the scientific community, and specifically in astronomy, a field long dominated by men. See also: Scientific societies grapple with how to stop harassment among their members A recent scandal Slater may be the third space scientist to be publicly accused of sexual harassment in recent months. The field was recently rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct by Geoffrey Marcy, a noted exoplanet hunter at University of California at Berkeley, whose name had been floated as a contender for a Nobel Prize in Physics. On Jan. 5, officials at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena announced that one of its faculty members had recently committed unambiguous gender-based harassment of two graduate students. A spokeswoman for CalTech, citing privacy issues, declined to comment further, but hours after this story was published, Science magazine reported the person was Christian Ott, a professor of theoretical astrophysics who studies gravitational waves. Story continues Geoffrey Marcy Image: AFP/Getty The Slater case now raises questions about how such complaints are handled and shared when faculty and staff move to new institutions, as Slater did when he joined the University of Wyoming in 2008. In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Education on Monday, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif. cited the Slater case and called on the departments civil rights office to clarify whether reports of misconduct must be disclosed when they move to a different institution. The Slater case, while lurid, is just a symptom of a much larger problem how to prevent harassment, and effectively deal with it when it occurs, the letter said. In some ways, the situation is reminiscent of the Catholic Churchs coddling of child-molesting priests. As in the Church, universities protect perpetrators with slap-on-the-wrist punishment and secrecy, while victims are left alone to try to put their academic careers and lives back together. In a speech on the House of Representatives floor Tuesday, Speier said she planned to introduce legislation to require schools to share information about disciplinary proceedings. When violators move between schools, the university they are moving to should be aware of their past conduct, Speier said. Students enter astronomy to study the stars, not their professors sex life. A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said it received the letter and looked forward to responding as we continue our efforts to ensure that all students are able to learn in environments free from sexual harassment. Fundamental flaw The University of Arizona did what it was supposed to do in investigating and ending activities that had created a sexually hostile workplace in 2004, a university official said in a statement provided to Mashable on Monday. Following an extensive investigation, the university made a finding that its policy prohibiting a discriminatory workplace had been violated, took appropriate personnel actions, and ended the harassment. The University of Wyoming confirmed in a statement that officials inquired about an allegation of sexual harassment but found no barriers to UW hiring Dr. Slater. Multiple sources said that the University of Wyoming never saw or received the report that came out of Arizonas investigation. University of Wyoming Image: University of Wyoming It wouldnt be released but it would be discussed, the Arizona spokesman said. And in this case, I believe it was. However, Joan Schmelz, a physics professor at the University of Memphis and chair of the American Astronomical Societys Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy from 2009 to 2015, said the Slater case exposes a fundamental flaw in the current system. How could Slater, she asked, start a new job at the University of Wyoming with a clean slate? Slater later posted a statement on a website regarding the Arizona investigation. One person, responding to Slaters online statement, called on prominent science organizations to cut ties with the Slaters group, which focuses on science education. Seriously, @nasa, @theAGU, and @BlackPhysicists you are listed as partners on this organization's website. You should strongly reassess. Ashlee Wilkins (@ashleenwilkins) January 11, 2016 Slater speaks In a hours-long phone conversation on Sunday with Slater and his wife, Stephanie, Slater said he received sexual harassment and management training after the investigation. What I can say is that the sexual harassment training worked really well for me, Slater said. I can say that one of the things I realized in the sexual harassment training is that science can be a real tough place for women. I think the most important lesson for me has been that youve got to have really strong boundaries between your personal and your professional life, he added. If I was going to do anything differently, I think Id have been more careful about that. Stephanie Slater, a prominent physics and astronomy education researcher in her own right, said the allegations had resurfaced due to hysteria in the astronomy community. Many of us in the astronomy community are sort of worried about the witch hunt thats going on post-Marcy, she said. Im not apologizing for Geoff Marcy. But I am saying that the process was illegitimate, and its having a quite chilling effect in our community. The Slaters said that while they knew about Speiers plans to publicize the case, they had not been contacted by the congresswomans office. It seems odd to me that a legislator will release a document without at least talking to the people that the document is about or at least getting permission from the University of Arizona to do so, Timothy Slater said. We would love to sue the bejesus off a congresswoman who has violated a witnesses confidentiality rights by distributing a confidential document, Stephanie Slater said. Jackie Speier Image: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Associated Press In October, when BuzzFeed reported that Marcy, a prominent exoplanet hunter at the UC Berkeley, had sexually harassed students for years, the story made public a broader issue that had long been discussed more privately within the astronomy and planetary science community. The problem of sexual harassment isnt just limited to astronomy. In a study published in 2014, 64 percent of the more than 600 respondents from scientific fields said they have been sexually harassed while doing field work. Top researchers can wield a lot of power in their specific fields as they can control access to grant money and jobs, people in the community have said. A survey presented at a major astronomy conference in Florida last week suggested that sexual harassment is an ongoing problem in space science. While the survey, which drew from a self-selected sample of 426 people, cannot reliably be considered representative of the astronomy community as a whole, it suggests an alarming trend, Christina Richey, chair of the American Astronomical Societys Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy, said during a presentation of the results on Jan. 5. I would like to have people think about what weve lost in science because of the students whove been basically pushed out of the field because they have nowhere to go after having been harassed by an adviser, astronomer Meg Urry, president of the American Astronomical Society, said during the presentation. Its an extraordinary amount of damage. I want to get you naked Slater began his career as a Kansas high school science teacher in 1989 and has since become one of the most renowned names in astronomy education. Slater said that, over the course of his career, he has received more than $30 million in federally funded grants, and in developing the curriculum for a new generation of astronomy teachers, has received several awards and prestigious appointments. In 1996, he took a job as a physics professor at Montana State University, where he founded the Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) program that his wife Stephanie today runs as an independent nonprofit. In 2001, he was hired as an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona. Officials there launched an investigation into Slater in 2004 after several people approached the administration to discuss sexually charged conduct they were experiencing in the College of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, according to the report documenting the inquiry. Steward Observatory Image: Norma Jean Gargasz/Getty Images Interviews with several of Slaters former colleagues and the Slaters themselves corroborated many of the details described in the report. Officials interviewed at least 10 witnesses who worked with Slater and told investigators that he routinely made lewd jokes and behaved inappropriately. Investigators described a work environment where sexual innuendo was frequent and tolerated and boundaries were often blurred. Slater and another senior member of his lab often invited graduate students to lunch and lap dances at strip clubs and and even gave students sex toys such as chocolate handcuffs and the cucumber-shaped vibrator as gifts. One woman who worked for Slater told investigators that he regularly told her that she would teach better if she did not wear underwear. Once, she said, he grabbed her underwear through her dress, stretched it and snapped it, and said Youd look a whole lot better without these on. The woman also told investigators that she once complained to Slater that the room they were working in was too cold. Slater, the woman said, responded by looking at her breasts and comment[ing] that he thought they were supposed to get hard and stand out when they were cold, and that it must not be too cold. On other occasions, she said, Slater told her: I want to get you naked and Stand up, turn around half the boys in your class are going home to masturbate after watching you teach. The report mentions one of Slaters colleagues identified in the report as Witness J whom Mashable was able to identify as Edward E. Prather, a postdoctoral researcher who ran CAPER with Slater. One witness identified as Witness H told investigators that Prather seemed to encourage Dr. Slater in his sexual behavior. Returned to good standing In their statement on Sunday, the Slaters named Prather as someone who was also investigated and found to have violated the schools sexual harassment policy. Prather, now a tenured professor at the University of Arizonas College of Astronomy and executive director of its Center for Astronomy Education, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Chris Sigurdson, a spokesman for the University of Arizona, confirmed to Mashable that Prather was also investigated. He was given remedial and corrective actions to complete, Sigurdson said. Once those were done fulfilled, he was returned to good standing with the expectation that he would never repeat the violation. Investigators also examined whether Slater retaliated against witnesses by firing them or cutting their funding. At least two women witnesses B and D said they believed he retaliated against them after suspecting them of triggering the schools sexual harassment review. Ultimately, the report did not find that retaliation had occurred. Officials were more conclusive on the harassment claim, however, writing at the time that there is substantial evidence that Dr. Slaters sexual conduct was ongoing, and probably occurring more than once every day. In his own comments to investigators, Slater said he was probably inappropriate sometimes and confirmed several particular details, including the report that he once gave a female graduate student a pickle or cucumber-shaped vibrator at a pre-marriage party. However, he denied other claims, such as discussing blow jobs or physically snapping a females underwear through her dress. Such conduct, he said, crossed a line that he successfully maintains. The investigators were not persuaded and concluded that given Dr. Slaters admitted record of conduct, it is in no way outside the bounds of reasonable conjecture that these incidents could well have occurred. Slater continued working at the university until 2008. A smear campaign Slater left the University of Arizona for the University of Wyoming, where he holds an endowed chair for excellence in higher education. The report documenting the alleged sexual misconduct was confidential at the time of his hire, but it resurfaced at the end of 2015. In November, Pamela L. Gay, an astronomer at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, got hold of the report. Gay told Mashable that someone sent it to her anonymously in the hopes that she could bring it to light, and that she subsequently spoke to at least one person familiar with the investigation. 2015-01-12-pamela-gay Image: BDEngler/Wikimedia Sigurdson, the Arizona spokesman, authenticated the report and said it was released by the schools public records office by mistake in 2010. Gay also emailed colleagues at the International Astronomical Union, where she serves on a committee, warning them about more problems since he got to Wyoming. Gays complaint prompted a lengthy exchange between the Slaters and the IAU, which ultimately declined to pursue her concerns. In a response dated Dec. 7, Slater admitted to poor judgment while at Arizona, but said that no complaints or investigations of sexual harassment had been lodged against him since and refused to suspend his work on the symposium. A University of Wyoming spokesman confirmed that the university has not received any complaints of civil rights discrimination against Dr. Slater, nor has it opened any investigations. Citing a 2006 performance review at Arizona, his initial vetting at Wyoming and a 2014 department-wide investigation of racial discrimination, Slater wrote that it would not be a large exaggeration to say that I have been subject to more instances of scrutiny than any other astronomy professor in the United States for more than a decade. In his letter, Slater accused Gay of waging a jealousy-motivated smear campaign. My wife, Stephanie, and I are admittedly very, very successful in our field, which causes more than a small amount of jealousy, Slater wrote. Dr. Gay and her comrades are our direct competitors, and have unfortunately engaged in this kind of gossip against us for years. When the IAU declined to act, she said, she sent the report to journalists. I did this when I realized that astronomy is currently not able to protect its community members from abuse, and that real change would only be possible with public and political pressure acting from the outside, Gay said in an email. The Slaters have since threatened to sue Gay. On Wednesday, Timothy Slater filed a version of his letter as a sexual harassment complaint with Gays university, accusing her of violating its sexual harassment policy by making frivolous and malicious sexual harassment charges against him. The university dismissed the complaint against Gay. Miriam Kramer covers space science for Mashable. Contact her at miriam@mashable.com. Sergio Hernandez is a U.S. & World reporter at Mashable. Contact him at sergio@mashable.com. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. ET This story was updated to reflect information from the Jan. 12 Science report. UPDATE: Jan. 13 5:10 p.m. ET This story was updated to reflect the dismissal of Timothy Slaters complaint against Gay. New York (AFP) - Lawyers for Bill Cosby have demanded a Pennsylvania court drop the first criminal sexual assault charge filed against the disgraced comedian since dozens of women publicly accused him of abuse. His lawyers filed the petition in Montgomery County on Monday, asking the court to dismiss the charge that forced the megastar turned pariah to post bail for $1 million on December 30. He is next due in court on February 2. The petition demands the court throw out the charge because it violates a 2005 agreement that Cosby would never be prosecuted over allegations of assault made by Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University in Philadelphia. The newly elected district attorney "repudiated the agreement" and Cosby was "wrongfully charged," his lawyers wrote. They said an "inexcusable" 10-year delay since the alleged 2004 incident had also "greatly prejudiced Mr Cosby." The former TV legend has lost his eyesight and "with it his ability to identify the physical appearance of witnesses and accusers as well as review other pieces of evidence," the petition stated. "Justice requires that the court dismiss the charges at this stage." A stony-faced Cosby appeared in court in Elkins Park, in the Philadelphia area, on December 30 in connection with the aggravated indecent assault charge but did not enter a plea. Constand says Cosby assaulted her at his Philadelphia suburban home in 2004. If found guilty, the 78-year-old -- who has surrendered his passport to the court -- could face up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. More than 50 women have publicly claimed abuse by the pioneering black comedian, who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and pater familias in the hit 1980s sitcom "The Cosby Show." But his attorneys repeatedly deny any wrongdoing by the veteran TV actor whose career spanned four decades. Prosecutors say the charge stems from new evidence in the case that came to light in July, prompting the reopening of the investigation. Statutes of limitations have prevented most of the women who have accused the comedian of sexual assault from taking legal action. In the Pennsylvania case, the statute of limitations was set to expire early next year. Washington (AFP) - It looked like a marriage that could bring together the storied history of a century-old magazine and the culture-changing dynamism of Facebook. But it didn't work. The New Republic, a leading voice on the US political left wing since 1914, is up for sale again after Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes decided to throw in the towel less than four years after he bought the magazine. Hughes, 32, invested more than $20 million in an effort to bring The New Republic into the digital era. But on Monday, he acknowledged it was not working, saying, "I underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today's quickly evolving climate." Hughes, a Harvard roommate of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and part of the original team at the social network, had faced friction with the editorial staff. It turned into a full-scale revolt in 2014 when Hughes decided to shake up the top management and reconfigure the publication as a digital media organization. Tina Brown, the former editor of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, captured some of the venom Hughes aroused in her reaction to the latest development. "Can't believe Hughes is unloading @NewRepublic after breaking it. Feckless rich dilettante smashes toy. @chrishughes," she wrote on Twitter. Former New Republic staffer Jonathan Chait said Hughes had "a wildly unrealistic business strategy" that was aimed at ending losses. This strategy "ignored all the evidence that was presented to him by people at the magazine including the fact that the magazine had never made money in its entire history," Chait told AFP. Chait said the moves by Hughes sparked widespread departures, with many going to the online Huffington Post. "None of them were reluctant to write online," he said. "They simply no longer trusted management." - A 'distinct culture' - Story continues The small but respected magazine, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014 with an event attended by former president Bill Clinton among other notables, has survived over the years thanks to a series of benefactors. "The New Republic was a small niche, with a very distinct culture," said Columbia University journalism professor Susan McGregor. "The idea that you could treat it as a blank slate that can simply be remade as a digital media outlet doesn't really appreciate the fact that this organization has a deep history that is not going to be transformed simply because suddenly you ask people to have a Twitter account." It's not clear if the troubles at The New Republic are a harbinger of things to come at other media outlets led by Internet entrepreneurs -- such as the Washington Post, bought by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, or First Look Media group launched by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. McGregor said people who have been successful in Internet ventures have been attracted to media because "it's a way to make your mark in a very public way that is much more appealing than just making a lot of money." Jay Bolter, a professor of communication at Georgia Tech University, said the two worlds are very different. "There can be a cultural clash between journalists who have strong assumptions about their work and their audience and this new digital world that has a totally different background," he said. Hughes said he will be seeking someone else to take over the publication, whether an individual, a larger digital media company, or a think-tank. "Although I do not have the silver bullet, a new owner should have the vision and commitment to carry on the traditions that make this place unique and give it a new mandate for a new century," he said. Thousands of metres above sea level, high on the Tibetan plateau, hundreds of Tibetan Buddhist devotees in brilliant hues of pink and blue gathered for the Gedong festival. Lamas young and old mixed with festival-goers wearing traditional garb to watch the religious Cham dances at the Ganden Sumtseling monastery in Shangri-La. Masked, costumed monks portrayed a host of ghosts and deities from the pantheon of Tibetan Buddhist mythology, to the sounds of lamas playing traditional instruments -- crashing cymbals, drums and deep, vibrating ceremonial horns. Tsering Choetso, a 52-year-old farmer, said the true meaning of the festival was hard to explain in a language other than Tibetan, but described it as a chance to "pay our respects to our deities as well as our departed ancestors". "A ghost is a lesser deity in a world that resembles hell," he said. "We believe that if we come here and watch and dance, we won't be afraid of them if we encounter them in our afterlife." Though Buddhism is one of China's five officially sanctioned religions, the country's ruling Communist Party accuses the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of trying to split the country, calling him a "wolf in sheep's clothing". China, which has ruled Tibet since the 1950s, has been accused of trying to eradicate the region's Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and large-scale immigration by Han Chinese. But Beijing insists that Tibetans enjoy extensive freedoms and that it has brought economic growth to the region. During the Cultural Revolution expressions of ethnic identity, such as religious activity or local festivals, were brutally suppressed. The 17th century Ganden Sumtseling monastery -- often called "Little Potala" for its resemblance to Lhasa's iconic palace -- was itself heavily damaged. Now it has been extensively renovated, rebuilt and developed into a commercial tourist attraction, complete with hefty entrance fees, with the festival promoted as a key opportunity to visit. Story continues The town in which it sits, in an ethnically Tibetan area of China's Yunnan province, was previously known as Zhongdian. But it was renamed in 2001 as a tourism strategy seeking to capitalise on the fictional mountain paradise described in James Hilton's 1933 novel "Lost Horizon". Chinese security forces, which have sometimes put on huge shows of strength at temple events, appeared to be entirely absent from the festival. For one of the monastery's lamas, who gave his Chinese name as Lurongzhuxi, the event was a way of bringing the cosmology of his religion to life. "In our daily lives, few have the experience of witnessing deities," he said. "Nevertheless, we strongly believe they exist and are everywhere. Today's Cham dance could be interpreted as a reminder of their existence." New York (AFP) - Slender and pale, David Bowie counted the dour Thin White Duke among his many incarnations. But his first love was African-American music and his views on race, like his music, were often ahead of their time. After the British rock legend's shock death from cancer on Sunday at age 69, a video went viral online of a dapper Bowie in 1983 accusing then-nascent MTV of ignoring African-Americans, a trend "rampant through American media." Bowie persists politely as MTV host Mark Goodman insists that the network needs to "play the music that we think an entire country is going to like" and appear meaningful to "a 17-year-old" outside big US cities. "I tell you what maybe the Isley Brothers or Marvin Gaye means to a black 17-year-old. Surely he's part of America as well," Bowie said, referring to classic African-American acts. Bowie, a skilled actor who was an MTV favorite in the 1980s, was hardly risking his career through the interview and, soon afterward, Michael Jackson broke through the network's color barrier. But the episode was just one that showed Bowie to be a leader on racial issues, even as his fan base was largely white. Early in his career as he performed in the American South, which was just ending official discrimination codes, Bowie insisted on playing with African-American musicians and would whisk the band out of town immediately after concerts to avoid trouble. In 1975, as he exited his early glam-rock phase, Bowie became one of the first white performers on "Soul Train", the television show that was a must-watch for many African-Americans. Bowie performed two songs that would be among his most famous -- "Fame" and "Young Americans". The songs appeared on his "Young Americans" album, recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, the legendary center of soul music in Philadelphia. - From soul to Hitler - The soul phase was not a sudden fad for Bowie, raised in a modest household in the London area. Story continues "The one thing that really turned me on to wanting to be a musician, wanting to write, was black music -- American black music -- Little Richard and John Coltrane in the 1950s," Bowie told Record Collector in a 1993 interview. Bowie said he was eight years old when he first heard Little Richard, the pioneering R&B and funk artist. "I found it all very exciting -- the feeling of aggression that came through the arrangements. It was like breaking up the sky -- his voice broke out of the skies -- an extraordinary voice," Bowie said. In one of the most visible signs of his comfort on race, Bowie in 1992 married Somali-born supermodel Iman, a relationship that lasted until his death. In a 1993 interview with Arsenio Hall, Bowie said the couple's celebrity status shielded them from bigotry but voiced dismay that interracial couples were more common in Europe than the United States at the time. But Bowie's record on racial equality was marred by a flirtation with a philosophy that could hardly be further removed -- Nazism. Just a year after appearing on "Soul Train", Bowie was detained on the border of the Soviet Union and Poland for a collection of Nazi memorabilia. His Thin White Duke persona was grim and consciously Aryan and Bowie described Hitler as an early rock star. Bowie later took pains to distance himself, saying he was out of his mind on drugs. He said he never embraced anti-Semitism but developed a misguided fascination with the Nazis over their search for the mythical Holy Grail in Glastonbury, England. - 'My little China Girl' - Bowie definitely declared himself off fascism after transformative years in the late 1970s in West Berlin. During the period Bowie wrote with Iggy Pop the song whose legacy has been among the most contested -- "China Girl". The original lyrics -- "I'm a mess without my little China Girl" -- were often thought to be metaphorical, using street slang for heroin. But Bowie's 1983 version made no mistake that it was about white male fetishization of Asian women. With a Chinese-inspired guitar riff by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, Bowie appears in the video dancing in Sydney's Chinatown, trying to woo an Asian woman by slanting his eyes with his fingers. Bowie described the video as an over-the-top parody of racial stereotypes and an indictment of "invasion and exploitation." But not all were convinced. In a widely read 1993 essay, academic Ellie Hisama acknowledged that Bowie intended irony but said the video still reflected Asian stereotypes by depriving the girl of any voice. The actress herself -- Geeling Ng, now a restauranteur in Auckland -- told the New Zealand Herald after Bowie's death she remained "utterly proud to be China Girl." Praise for Bowie has also come from prominent African-American artists including rapper Kanye West, who called him "one of my most important inspirations." "So fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime," West tweeted. Geneva (AFP) - More than 40 heads of state and government will attend next week's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, which this year is focused on "mastering the fourth Industrial Revolution," organisers said Wednesday. Those heading to the Swiss resort town for the high-level annual gathering also include 2,500 "leaders from business and society", the WEF said in a statement. The headline guests include British Prime Minister David Cameron, US Vice President Joe Biden, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. President Mauricio Marci of Argentina, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, are also due to attend. North Korea, however, is no longer welcome to participate in this year's gathering following its nuclear weapon test, organisers said on Wednesday. "After the nuclear test ... we informed them (North Korea) that participation in Davos will be subject to existing and possible forthcoming sanctions" WEF spokesman Yann Zopf said in a statement. Describing the theme -- the Fourth Industrial Revolution -- WEF founder Klaus Shwab said it "refers to the fusion of technologies across the physical, digital and biological worlds which is creating entirely new capabilities and dramatic impacts on political, social and economic systems." "The purpose of our meeting this year is to build a shared understanding of this change," Schwab said in a statement. The WEF said the American delegation travelling to Davos will be largest in the history of the forum inaugurated in 1974. Aside from Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Ashton Carter are expected to appear, as will Attorney General Loretta Lynch who has shot to global prominence through her investigation of top FIFA executives. This year's forum runs from January 20 to 23. Donald Trump Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and other GOP candidates panned President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday night. Toward the end of Obama's speech, the Republican presidential front-runner fired off a tweet criticizing the speech for being "boring." "The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic very hard to watch!" Trump tweeted. Other Republican presidential candidates also slammed the speech. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) posted a series of tweets going after Obama's claims about the American economic recovery and the president's rhetoric on national security issues. The economy might be the best this President can do. But it's not the best America can do. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/3s6HCb8348 Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 13, 2016 They're not just "killers and fanatics." They're radical Islamic terrorists. Still can't call them by name. #SOTU Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 13, 2016 Safer? ISIS on the rise. North Korea testing nukes. Syria in chaos. Taliban on march. This president is living in a different world. #SOTU Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 13, 2016 Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) livetweeted much of the speech, knocking Obama's policies on a variety of issues and poking fun at the president's addresses in general for being "painfully bad." Story continues Is it true @POTUS thought about doing this #SOTU without Congress? After all, he does everything else without them. #Constitution Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) January 13, 2016 .@POTUS pats himself on the back for giving us an Affordable Care Act that nobody can afford. #SOTU Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) January 13, 2016 .@BarackObama's speeches are like @TSA pat downs, Arab relations & untreated rashes. Painfully bad. But it will get worse. #SOTU Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) January 13, 2016 And several candidates used the speech to take shots at their presidential rivals. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) released a five-minute rebuttal to Obama's speech, criticizing Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton for her role in the multi-national coalition's 2011 military intervention in Libya. "What we saw was a leader with a record of failure in search of any meaningful positive legacy," Paul said. "President Obama and Hillary Clinton took us to war in Libya without Constitutional authority. The next president will have the daunting task of rebuilding an overextended military." Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina also panned the speech, quickly pivoting in her statement to attacks on Clinton and Trump. "We cannot elect Hillary Clinton to the White House. She has promised throughout her campaign to extend and expand Barack Obamas failed policies. And, like this President, she has always put politics ahead of problem-solving," Fiorina wrote on her Facebook page. "We need a nominee who can beat Hillary and who will finally hold her accountable. One thing is clear: Hillary Clinton will wipe the floor with Donald Trump." NOW WATCH: Hard to forget this 2015 video of Putin and his prime minister working out for the cameras More From Business Insider The Hague (AFP) - Dutch police confirmed Wednesday they have found a way to hack into messages on Blackberry data-encrypted smartphones, which claim to be the worlds most secure communications devices. The news first leaked in December on a Dutch blog Misdaadnieuws.com which revealed that the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) had broken into Blackberries equipped with the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption programme. Even deleted emails could largely be recovered, although police could not hack into the phones from a distance, but had to have them in their hands, the website said, linking to a number of excerpts from what it said were NFI reports. The institute, which helps police in retrieving forensic evidence in Dutch criminal cases, told AFP the reports were authentic. We can confirm that these reports were indeed from NFI, the spokesman said. It could prove a blow to Blackberry, which is beloved by many governments including in the United States, where White House officials are routinely issued with the devices in a bid to keep email communications as secure as possible. Reporters, businesspeople and criminals have also long been attached to the smartphone which in its heyday was dubbed the Crackberry so addicted did users become. Blackberry, a Canadian company, said in a statement: We are confident that BlackBerry provides the worlds most secure communications platform to government, military and enterprise customers. It added however that it could not comment on this claim as we dont have any details on the specific device or the way that it was configured, managed or otherwise protected. The company also did not have any details on the nature of the communications that are claimed to have been decrypted. Blackberry was a pioneer in the smartphone market, but has gradually lost out to stiff competition as consumers have shifted to devices running on Google Android and Apples IOS operating systems. It now holds less than a one percent share of the smartphone market. According to one of the extracts published by the Dutch website dating from January 2015, the police had extracted some 325 encrypted emails from a Blackberry 9720 and managed to open 279 of them. The method relies on a programme UFED4PC created by the Israeli company, Cellebrite, it said. The Hague (AFP) - Dutch secret services fear as many as 70 Dutch children may be growing up among Islamic State jihadists, warning in a bleak new report about life under such a "totalitarian" regime. "Life among ISIS, unravelling the myth" was released late Tuesday by the intelligence services, the AIVD, in a bid to spell out to families, police and aid workers the true hardships and dangers facing those who travel to Iraq and Syria. It paints a stark picture of life under a regime where "violence is inherent", new male recruits to IS are interrogated for days to ensure they are not spies, and children are routinely taken to watch executions of those sentenced to death by harsh Sharia courts. Thousands of foreign fighters from Western Europe as well as Gulf countries have been attracted to IS ranks in the past two years wanting to support its goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria and beyond. Among them are more than 200 Dutch nationals, including about 50 women. Of the 70 Dutch children now feared to be living among the jihadists, a third were born in either Iraq or Syria, while the rest had been taken there by their parents, the report said. Propaganda put out by IS "paints an idyllic life in the 'caliphate', which is just not consistent with the reality," the Dutch services said in a statement. "Intelligence research shows conditions are truly deplorable." From the moment new recruits arrive in an IS hub such as its stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, men and women are separated. Women, who from the age of nine have to be veiled, have one main function within IS -- to have as many children as quickly as possible, the report said. Single women are kept together in a house and only allowed out once a week until they are married off. Children go to school from the age of six, where they are taught English and Arabic but also given lessons in "the ISIS doctrine and the correct interpretation and implementation of jihad." Story continues "Life for children in ISIS areas is associated with death and destruction," the report says, describing their daily experiences as "hard and traumatising". Many IS-held towns are under constant air strikes by the US-led coalition, and children may have to deal with the death of their parents, risk getting injured and are regularly exposed to gruesome scenes. A spokeswoman for the AIVD would not reveal how the information in the 16-page report was obtained, saying only "intelligence gathering is our business." But Inge Oevering told AFP Wednesday it was primarily aimed at professionals and relatives, to understand what foreign fighters and their families are going through. While the secret services would "hope to dissuade" people from leaving the Netherlands to join IS, "we are not under the impression that they would listen to us." PARIS (Reuters) - France must keep up reforms to boost growth and fight rampant unemployment, central banker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday, days before President Francois Hollande unveils fresh economic plans. Hollande's conversion to business-friendly economic reforms in 2014 is seen at risk of running out of steam as the unpopular French leader seeks to soothe left-wing voters ahead of elections next year. "Growth depends first and foremost on ourselves and the reforms we will carry out," Bank of France governor Villeroy de Galhau told Europe 1 radio. "Victory against unemployment will not come from a series of sprints and stops, it's a long-distance race that requires a lot of continuity and team spirit." Villeroy de Galhau, who is also European Central Bank Governing Council member, urged the government to do more to boost apprenticeship, cut red tape for the jobs market and ease up talks between labor unions and employers. While analysts think Hollande will press on with reforms of France's strict labor laws - which make it difficult for companies to dismiss permanent staff and could act as a brake on a weak economic recovery - they say the proposed overhaul could be watered down, and the pace of change slow. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Yann Le Guernigou; Editing by Andrew Callus) Quito (AFP) - Ecuador said Wednesday it will cooperate with Swedish prosecutors after they formally requested permission to interrogate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at his hideout in the Ecuadoran embassy in London. "We will cooperate with the Swedish authorities so they can take some statements. We have said that from the beginning," said Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino in an interview with news site Ecuadorinmediato. He said the interrogation would take place under Ecuadoran law because the 44-year-old Australian, who faces a rape allegation, "is under our country's jurisdiction." He said he did not know "exactly what the procedure is," but that Ecuadoran prosecutors would carry out the questioning -- though Swedish prosecutors could also be present, he added. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy since 2012. He has repeatedly refused to travel to Sweden to answer to the rape allegation, saying he fears he would then face extradition to the United States and trial over the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified US military and diplomatic documents in 2010. Patino questioned why it had taken Swedish authorities "so long" to agree to question Assange under Ecuadoran law, and said it fueled "suspicions." "We believe there really is a process of persecution" against Assange, he said. Last March, Swedish prosecutors offered to question Assange in London, dropping their demand that he come to Sweden. But Quito refused to allow an interrogation until the two countries signed an agreement on general legal cooperation -- which they finally did in December. Swedish prosecutors dropped a sexual assault probe against Assange in mid-August after the five-year statute of limitations expired. But they still want to question him about a 2010 rape allegation, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations. Assange has denied all the allegations and insisted the sexual encounters were consensual. Screenshot of the Barabas website Tuesday, January 12, 2016. Theres been plenty of fallout from Sean Penns interview with Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the most significant piece of which has been the elusive Mexican drug lords capture, six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison. But for the owners of Barabas, a mens clothing store with two locations in Los Angeles, the most exciting thing to come out of Penns Rolling Stone article, which details the actor's meeting with El Chapo, are photos of the Sinaloa cartel boss sporting Barabass flashy designs. According to TMZ, Barabas Fantasy and Crazy Paisley button-downs each priced at $128 have been flying off the shelves since images of Guzman rocking the same styles first circulated over the weekend. SLIDESHOW Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman >>> The L.A. store, whose slogan is Good words, good thoughts, good deeds, is hardly trying to distance itself from the kingpin, whose notoriously organized and ruthlessly violent enterprise is the biggest supplier of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine in the United States. Photos of the 57-year-old Guzman are displayed prominently on Barabas Facebook page, as is a promotional flier of sorts encouraging Barabas shoppers to like the story on Facebook and Instagram for a chance to win a free El Chapo shirt. Barabas is offering a chance to win the Chapo shirt on Facebook and Instagram. After a brief crash, presumably caused by a combination of curious media and shoppers eager to get the Chapo look, the Barabas website is back up and running, with a photo of Penn and Guzman, clad in a Fantasy button-down above the words Most Wanted front and center. In case of future technical difficulties, however, the store has posted a link on its Facebook page to Amazon, where the Chapo shirt can also be purchased. Paris (AFP) - The "alarming" outlook for emerging countries hit by collapsing oil prices is more worrying than China's economic slowdown, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said Wednesday. "We are much more worried about the prospects for emerging countries outside of China, and in particular raw material producing countries", than the Asian giant's economic woes, leading S&P economist Jean-Michel Six told a news conference. He said falling oil prices that had been a "blessing" for consumers in developed nations had now turned into "bad news" for the world economy. And he highlighted the risks of falling oil prices that have now slumped close to $30 a barrel for "the growth and geopolitical prospects in the emerging countries" heavily dependent on commodity prices and especially oil. "We are in a zone of uncertainty and weakness which is becoming alarming," Six, who is chief economist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told reporters. Brazil is an "extremely serious" case after falling into recession last year, the S&P official warned, pointing to the multi-faceted impact on it from US monetary policy, China, commodity prices as well as its economic policy and governance. China, on the other hand, where concern about its economy has rattled global markets since New Year, is less worrying, he indicated. He said a slowdown in an economy in the throes of transitioning from export-led investment to a domestic consumer focus is welcome. "It would be desirable for the Chinese authorities to abandon the seven percent (of GDP) target (for growth)," he added. By Dan Williams and Anna Ringstrom JERUSALEM/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Israel summoned the Swedish ambassador on Wednesday to convey what it described as its "rage" at a call by Stockholm's top diplomat for an investigation to determine whether Israeli forces were guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's remarks on Tuesday were the latest in a series of statements to stoke Israeli resentment that has simmered since the Scandinavian country recognized Palestinian statehood last year. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that it called in Swedish Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser to reprimand him over what it deemed "another statement by her (Wallstrom) that attests to her biased and even hostile attitude to Israel". It said Nesser was also told of "the rage of the government and people of Israel at the skewed portrayal of the situation". Rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force to quell a surge of Palestinian street attacks that has been fueled in part by Muslim agitation at stepped-up Jewish visits to a contested Jerusalem shrine, as well as a long impasse in talks on founding a Palestinian state on Israeli-occupied land. The bloodshed has raised fears of wider confrontation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have all expressed concern, saying that while they recognize Israel's right to self-defense, restraint is necessary to ensure the violence does not escalate further. Since Oct. 1, Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and gun attacks have killed 24 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 143 Palestinians, 91 of whom authorities have described as assailants. Most others were killed in clashes with security forces. "It is vital that there is a thorough, credible investigation into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability," Swedish media quoted Wallstrom as saying during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday. She earlier described the Palestinians' plight as a factor leading to Islamist radicalization - comments seen in Israel as linking it to the November gun and bomb rampage in Paris. Pushing back on Wednesday, Deputy Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told reporters that Wallstrom's censure risked "encouraging Islamic State to take action throughout Europe". Hotovely called for a halt to official Swedish visits to Israel - a measure that political sources said was overruled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, asked to clarify Israel's position, said Wallstrom "would not be especially welcomed here. Were she to visit, she would not be received by Israeli officials." Responding to Israel's summoning of the envoy, Wallstrom's spokesman noted an EU call in October for an investigation into Israeli tactics and said: "We want to have good relations with Israel and have an active dialogue, including about values." (Writing by Dan Williams; Edting by Mark Heinrich) Addis Ababa (AFP) - Ethiopia's government Wednesday said it would abandon plans to expand the capital Addis Ababa into surrounding areas of Oromia federal region after almost two months of protests reported to have left scores of people dead. "OPDO (...) ruling party of Oromia region has decided to abandon the project between Addis Ababa and Oromia ... because its own people have been asking questions and protesting," said communication minister and government spokesperson Getachew Reda said. Human Rights Watch said last week that at least 140 people had been killed in Ethiopia in two months in a crackdown on anti-government protests sparked by the plan to expand the capital into farmland. It said the protests "may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence". The number reported by HRW was almost double the previous toll of 75 the group gave in December. The Ethiopian government had put the death toll at five. The protests began in November when students opposed government proposals to take over territory in several towns in the Oromia region, sparking fears that Addis Ababa was looking to grab land traditionally occupied by the Oromo people, the country's largest ethnic group The government spokesman said Wednesday that "OPDO decided to stop the project". "The plan was never to expand Addis Ababa to Oromia but to coordinate the development efforts of Addis Ababa and surroundings towns around Finfine region," he said. The Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO), a member of Ethiopia's EPRDF ruling coalition, currently holds all seats in the local Oromia Parliament. OPDO central committee took its decision after three days of discussion in Adama town, EBC state television announced on Wednesday. With at least 27 million people, Oromia is the most populous of the country's federal states and has its own language, Oromo, distinct from Ethiopia's official Amharic language. ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The Ethiopian government has cancelled plans to set up a new economic zone around the capital, the state broadcaster said on Wednesday, after weeks of protests against the move that opponents said would displace farmers. A government masterplan to create the zone in Oromiya region around Addis Ababa had sparked some of the worst civil unrest in Ethiopia in a decade and highlighted challenges facing the nation as it seeks to industrialise its agrarian economy. Some opposition figures said in December about 90 people were killed, others said the toll was now much higher. There was no official toll. The government lamed the violence on "armed gangs". Opponents blamed heavy-handed police tactics. The Oromo People Democratic Organisation (OPDO), the regional party that is part of the EPRDF coalition that rules the Horn of Africa country, decided to scrap the plan after a three-day meeting, the state broadcaster announced. "A decision has been made to fully annul the disputed masterplan," it said, citing a statement from the party, adding the decision followed public consultations. Under the government's 25-year plan, land in the Oromiya region around Addis Ababa was to become part of a zone with new infrastructure to attract investment. The government has worked on the development plan for several years, sparking some small protests in 2014. But when it emerged in mid-November last year that land was to be leased near Ginchi, a town in the area, bigger protests erupted. Demonstrators, many of them students who joined farmers, regularly clashed with police after that. On Tuesday, before the decision to scrap the plan was announced, Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, said protests had subsided but that at least two people were killed and others arrested in recent days. Merera also suggested some of the protesters were angry about more than simply the masterplan, including the May election when no opposition candidates won a seat in parliament. "The protests are only the tip of the iceberg. It is all down to frustration and anger over a range of issues," he said. Rights groups and Western governments have praised Ethiopia for its success in developing a nation once brought to its knees by famine, but also criticise the authorities for clamping down on opponents. The government insists it allows free expression. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Heinrich) By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The head of Europe's food safety watchdog has written to a group of nearly 100 senior scientists strongly rejecting their criticisms in a row about the safety of weed-killer ingredient glyphosate. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises European Union policymakers, issued an opinion in November that glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer. That was at odds with a view from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), sparked outrage among environmental campaigners and divided the scientific community. The IARC said in March that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans" while environmental groups have been calling for a ban on glyphosate. Ninety-six academics from around the world signed an open letter to European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, dated Nov. 27, urging EU authorities to ignore the European watchdogs's opinion. "We urge you and the European Commission to disregard the flawed EFSA finding on glyphosate in your formulation of glyphosate health and environmental policy for Europe," the letter said. It was written by Christopher Portier from the U.S.-based non-governmental organization the Environmental Defense Fund. Portier was also a specialist consulted during the IARC's research on glyphosate. The letter called for "a transparent, open and credible review of the scientific literature". EFSA's opinion could lead the 28-member European Union to renew approval for glyphosate, which was brought into use by Monsanto in the 1970s and is used in its top-selling product Roundup and many other herbicides around the world. In a reply to Portier dated Jan. 13, EFSA Executive Director Bernhard Url described glyphosate as "a keenly debated issue". "I strongly disagree with your contention that EFSA has not applied open and objective criteria to its assessment," Url wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters. Url said representatives of EFSA and the IARC would meet early this year to clarify differences of view between the two bodies and that the IARC evaluations "represent a first step". EU sources said the meeting would probably take place in Brussels in mid-February. EFSA, based in Parma, Italy, also noted its reply was to Portier and the scientists who signed the letter, not the IARC. "We should not compare this first screening assessment with the more comprehensive hazard assessment done by authorities such as EFSA, which are designed to support the regulatory process for pesticides in close cooperation with member states in the EU," Url said. No one at the European Commission or Monsanto was immediately available for comment. A spokeswoman for IARC told Reuters the Lyon-based agency did not wish to comment at this point. (Additional reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Dale Hudson and David Clarke) By Gabriela Baczynska and Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union began an unprecedented inquiry on Wednesday into whether Poland's new conservative, Eurosceptic government has breached the EU's democratic standards by taking more control of the judiciary and public media. The first use of the EU executive's new Rule of Law Framework could in principle eventually lead to sanctions such as the suspension of Poland's voting rights. But the main impact now may be to further sour relations among EU member governments already strained by multiple crises and mounting nationalism. "The European Commission does not wish to put into question any of the democratic choices made by the Polish people," its deputy head, Frans Timmermans, wrote to the Polish justice minister in a letter on Wednesday that was seen by Reuters. "However, the European Union is founded on a common set of values ... which include in particular the respect for the rule of law," he added. "There can be no democracy and respect for fundamental rights without respect for the rule of law." The decision, by consensus, followed intense debate at the weekly meeting of the European Commission. Its 28 members, one from each EU state, weighed whether to continue informal talks with Warsaw or launch a formal confrontation which might harden attitudes within Jaroslaw Kaczynski's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said it should not be seen to be "bashing Poland" and officials had indicated the executive might hold off on triggering a formal review. But diplomats said Warsaw did itself no favors in Brussels by its combative reactions ahead of the Commission debate. One key minister dismissed criticism from EU powerhouse Berlin as "silly" and reminded Germans of their World War Two crimes in Poland, while a pro-government magazine depicted Chancellor Angela Merkel as Hitler on its cover, and Juncker as a Nazi general. Timmermans, who has responsibility for human rights on the executive, pushed his colleagues hard to launch the procedure, sources familiar with the meeting told Reuters. The Dutchman promoted the mechanism when he was foreign minister in The Hague in 2014 as a response to criticism the EU had failed to curb authoritarian measures by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. WARSAW UNFAZED The Polish government played down the Commission's move. A spokesman called it "standard procedure" and a "fact-finding operation by the European Commission on the basis of some speculation that has surfaced in western Europe". Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski, visiting the European Parliament, said: "We are ready for dialogue." Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told Reuters he found Timmermans' statements "contradictory", however, and Szymanski said the EU risked "taking sides" against PiS in Polish politics following its election victory in October. Timmermans said the Rule of Law Framework would usher in a "structured dialogue" with Warsaw. He and the Commission would review Polish responses by mid-March, after working with the Council of Europe, the pan-European human rights watchdog. Critics accuse Kaczynski and his party ally Prime Minister Beata Szydlo of rolling back judicial independence and freedom of speech. Supporters say the government is entitled to uphold Catholic and national values, independent of Brussels. PiS has packed the constitutional court with its appointees and changed the court's voting system, curbing its ability to censure legislation. It has also passed a law giving the government direct control over the appointment of public media chiefs. The procedure pits the Commission against by far the biggest of the ex-Communist eastern states that joined the EU a decade ago. Poland's seat on the Commission is held by a former minister in the previous, pro-European, center-right government. The row comes at a time when the Union may be more divided than at any time in its six-decade history, including between east and west and rich and poor states, over a variety of major crises, including how to handle a big influx of Syrian refugees. Several eastern leaders have cited popular rejection of Muslims to justify opposing efforts by Brussels and Berlin to force all EU states to take in quotas of asylum-seekers. Senior EU officials have noted that, unlike Orban in Hungary, the Polish government has already faced substantial domestic protest at its actions, including demonstrations. Penalizing a state for a "serious breach of (EU) values" under Article 7 of the EU treaty by, among other things, suspending its right to vote in EU councils is a "nuclear option" that has so far never been used. Juncker says it is unlikely to be applied against Poland, which leaves the bloc with few means except persuasion. Orban has already said he would veto sanctions -- a move that would in any case be considered only after a process under which the Commission can recommend changes to national legislation and then wait to see if they are implemented. (Additional reporting by Wiktor Szary in Warsaw; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Catherine Evans) No one will ever accuse the National Security Agency of being champions of privacy. But General Michael Hayden, a former Director of the NSA, does see some value in preserving secure end-to-end encryption on the web without giving government agencies their own backdoors they can use to break it in the name of intelligence gathering. Per CNN, Hayden told a cybersecurity conference in Florida this week that breaking encryption would not make Americans safer even if encrypted communications do pose new challenges for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. FROM EARLIER: Want to save money by buying your own modem? Comcast will attack you with unstoppable pop-ups I actually think end-to-end encryption is good for America, Hayden said. I know encryption represents a particular challenge for the FBI. But on balance, I actually think it creates greater security for the American nation than the alternative: a backdoor. Hayden went on to explain that even if there were some merits to banning the use of end-to-end encryption, he was skeptical of the governments ability to actually enforce such a law. When was the last time you saw the success of legislation designed to prevent technological progress? Hayden asked rhetorically. Its just not gonna happen. Major tech companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook have all come out in favor of maintaining secure end-to-end encryption that does not have any backdoor for government access. Their argument is that encryption is so vital to making secure transactions on the web that anything that undermines it will be a net harm to consumers. The FBI has been on the other side of the debate and late last year director James Comey explained that his agency could not read communications between a suspected terrorist and his partners overseas because he was using encrypted communications. In May, when two terrorists attempted to kill a whole bunch of people in Garland, Texas, and were stopped by great local law enforcement that morning before one of those terrorists went to attempt mass murder, he exchanged 109 messages with an overseas terrorist, Comey explained. We have no idea what he said because those messages were encrypted. And to this day, I cant tell you what those messages said with that terrorist 109 times the morning of that attack. Thats a big problem, and we have to grapple with it. Story continues However, it seems that while Hayden is sympathetic to this argument, he also sees that breaking encryption could do more harm than good, even if it does give law enforcement agencies a temporary boost in intelligence gathering. Related stories Tim Cook defends Apple's stance on encryption: 'We're America, we can have privacy and security' ISIS Paris attackers used encrypted apps to communicate, investigators say BlackBerry CEO rips Apple's stance on privacy and encryption More from BGR: Apples iPhone 7: Everything we know so far This article was originally published on BGR.com By Dave Graham LOS MOCHIS, Mexico (Reuters) - Immensely rich from flooding the United States with cocaine, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman could afford the fastest cars on earth - but in an ironic twist of fate, the one he hijacked as he tried to avoid recapture was a clunker. Guzman and a top henchman stole a white Volkswagen Jetta at gunpoint as they emerged from a drainage tunnel on Friday after crawling a mile through an underground drain from a house they were using. Mexican marines had raided the house. With 113,218 miles (182,208 km) on its odometer, the grubby car was well past its prime. The seats were torn and the leather steering wheel cover was peeling off. A local mechanic said on Tuesday the owner of the vehicle said the transmission was damaged. Guzman ditched the car after driving around a mile, and stole a second vehicle, a red Ford Focus. After stealing that car, witnesses said, he obeyed the rules of the road and waited at a stop light for around two minutes. "They respected the law," said Karim Barajas, 42, who works at a car repair shop opposite where Guzman dumped the first car and took the second. "They set off normally, nice and slow." The capo, who is now back in the same maximum security prison he escaped from six months ago, almost got away. Federal police chasing reports of stolen cars had no idea they were onto the world's most wanted drug lord. "No-one knew who was in the cars," said local police chief Gerardo Amarillas. (Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) By David Shepardson (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday it was declaring a $1 billion supplemental cash dividend and that it expected to have operating profit of at least $10 billion in 2016, roughly the same as its earnings in 2015. Ford shares were down about 3 percent from Tuesday's close to $12.45 in post-market trading. The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker said it expected record 2015 pre-tax profit, excluding special items, "in the upper half of Ford's guidance of $10 billion to $11 billion." Profits this year will be at least as high "excluding special items." The $1 billion supplemental cash dividend or $0.25 per share is in addition to the first quarter regular dividend of $0.15 per share, the same as in the first quarter of 2015. The $1 billion supplemental cash dividend "reflects the company's strong financial performance in 2015 and robust cash and liquidity levels." "As we close out 2015, we are benefiting from six consecutive years of consistently strong results, and our performance is allowing us to reward our shareholders," said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO. Ford said it expected North America to sustain its strong performance in 2016 with an operating margin of 9.5 percent or higher. The company expects its Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific operations to all be profitable in 2016. "In 2015, we achieved a breakthrough year as promised," said Fields. "For 2016, we're looking forward to delivering another outstanding year." (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler) Like a good comedian, Mary Singh Rai picked from her three identities to best suit her listener. When Im with Americans, I like to think of myself as one, the native of Yuba City, California, said in a 2012 interview. But in some ways, the then-89-year-old with the light brown skin and wrinkled cheeks epitomized the American dream more than many others. A daughter of immigrants, Rai was the result of an unlikely coupling of a Mexican mother and Punjabi father in the Golden State and decades later, her dual ethnicities were still reflected in her distinctly Hispanic last name and Indian maiden name. This led to some awkward conversations with their Punjabi-Mexican children whod grown up eating chicken curry enchiladas, attending Catholic Mass and making pilgrimages to Sikh gurdwaras In the early 1900s, a generation of working men from Punjab a region between the Indian and Pakistani border laid down their rifles, headed West and picked up farming tools. Many had served in the British Royal Army or its police forces but decided to search for a better life a hemisphere away, in the fertile lands of Southern Californias Imperial Valley. Forming migrant-worker gangs, the Punjabi men were often called Hindu crews, but they were really an eclectic mix of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims who toiled in hopes of earning enough to pay for their wives and children to join them in the land of opportunity. Instead, they found themselves stranded in a country that soon passed a wave of immigration legislation, effectively closing its borders to foreigners. Meanwhile, Mexican women were also flocking to California. Following the bloodshed of the Mexican Civil War of 1910, thousands of widows headed for the Imperial Valley, children and possessions in tow. There they could work the cotton fields for the Indian men who by now oversaw most of the farms. The California Alien Land Act of 1913 prohibited most immigrants from owning land, but many worked out deals with white landowners to sign property records on their behalf. And while most of these middle-class men were still technically married, it mattered little when faced with an unbridgeable distance from their loved ones. Story continues The Punjabi men wanted housekeepers, children and sex, says Karen Leonard, an anthropologist at the University of California, Irvine. But it wasnt an easy merging of ethnicities, she adds, noting how it was seen as Punjabi bosses ripping the pretty women away. Angry Latino men fought with their wannabe brothers-in-law and sometimes took women back by force. Laws forbidding interracial marriage made getting marriage certificates difficult unless the men and women simply listed their ethnicities as brown, thereby skirting the legislative constraints. The Punjabi men appreciated that their new brides looked a bit like the women back home, cooked similar dishes and were familiar with rural life. The women, meanwhile, benefited from a boost in social standing by marrying men who owned farmland, spoke English fluently and were generally, despite being foreigners, middle class. Midway through the 20th century, county records showed at least 378 marriages between Punjabi-Mexican couples in California alone, according to a study of genealogies in Leonards book Making Ethnic Choices: Californias Punjabi Mexican Americans. But discovering love didnt mean finding acceptance. With each passing year, xenophobic sentiment made progress difficult. The Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 made travel between India and the U.S. nearly impossible. In 1923, the Supreme Court ruled that Indian men were racially ineligible for naturalized citizenship. They had to fight incredibly hard to get the rights that we value today, says Samip Mallick, executive director of the South Asian American Digital Archive. A breakthrough finally came in 1946, with the Luce-Celler Act, which loosened U.S. immigration laws and ended the ban against noncitizens owning land. This meant the long-settled immigrants could send for their Punjabi sons and daughters if their children, now well into adulthood, were willing to come. This, according to Leonard, undoubtedly led to awkward conversations with the Punjabi-Mexican children whod grown up eating chicken curry enchiladas, attending Catholic Mass and making pilgrimages to Sikh gurdwaras, and working farms that might now be given to half siblings. The Punjabi-Mexican boys, she says, were suddenly in danger of losing their inheritance. Mary Singh Rai, who passed away in 2013, was one of the last of the first-generation Punjabi-Mexicans. Subsequent generations have mostly married outside the unique culture, which means the legacy of these unlikely marriages is found primarily in oral family histories that cherish the promise of a better life in the New World. Related Articles Paris (AFP) - France has banned three Islamic associations which ran a mosque in a Paris area shut down following November's jihadist attacks, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday. The mosque at Lagny-sur-Marne was closed in early December as part of a huge security crackdown after 130 people were killed in a coordinated series of shootings and suicide bombings in Paris on November 13. The Islamic State group claimed the attacks. "There is no place in the French Republic for groups which incite, and which call for terrorism or call for hate," Cazeneuve said as he announced the decision on Wednesday. The government's spokesman Stephane Le Foll said after a cabinet meeting: "The fight against preachers of hate will be total." He said the three banned groups "were clearly taking action to incite jihad". The main group was is called "Retour aux Sources", which loosely translates as "Back to our roots". LONDON (Reuters) - G4S, the world's largest security company, said on Tuesday it had fired four of its workers over allegations of unnecessary force and improper language at a British training centre for young offenders. Last week, the company said it had suspended seven members of staff at the Medway Secure Training Centre in Rochester, southeast England, and referred the allegations to British police, local authorities and the Ministry of Justice. G4S said it became aware of the allegations after receiving a letter from the BBC's current affairs programme Panorama, which had an undercover reporter working at the centre. The company, which runs the centre on behalf of the government, said on Tuesday the three other members of staff would remain on suspension pending further investigation. It had also identified an additional staff member, who has been removed from operational duty. "We are appalled by the behaviour of certain members of staff at Medway Secure Training Centre shown in the programme and I would like to apologise personally to any young people involved in these incidents," said Paul Cook, managing director of G4S Children's Services in a statement. (Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by Mark Potter) New York (AFP) - US industrial conglomerate General Electric said Wednesday it was moving its corporate headquarters to Boston to gain a technology edge from the city's concentrated pool of talent. "Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities. Massachusetts spends more on research and development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world," said Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and chief executive, in a statement. US media suggested there were tax motives behind the move, since corporate taxes were raised last year in the neighboring state of Connecticut, where GE has had its headquarters in Fairfield for more than 40 years. GE said though that it had been mulling the relocation for more than three years, and in June 2015 launched a formal review of 40 potential locations. "Boston was selected after a careful evaluation of the business ecosystem, talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other important company assets," GE said. It said it already employs nearly 5,000 people across Massachusetts, in various businesses including aviation and energy. GE said the relocation would have no significant impact on its finances, citing incentives provided by Massachusetts and Boston. It said it also would sell its offices in Fairfield and at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York to help offset the cost of the move. About 800 employees will work at the Boston headquarters. The relocation will be done in stages, with the full move completed by 2018. BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged four people with setting up a far-right organization that planned to carry out attacks on ultra-conservative Islamists and refugees. The three German men and a woman, aged between 57 and 23, started up a cell, known by the English name of Oldschool Society, in late 2014 and planned to carry out arson and nail-bomb attacks in May 2015, prosecutors said in a statement. The target was a shelter housing asylum seekers, near the town of Borna, some 30 km (19 miles) from the eastern city of Leipzig. The attack never took place. "At a first meeting of the group in mid-November 2014 it was discussed how to manufacture explosives as well as attacks against Salafists (ultra-conservative Islamists) and asylum seekers," the statement said. For that purpose, two of the accused traveled to the Czech Republic to purchase pyrotechnic explosives on the black market. The members tried to work out ways of increasing the power of the explosives they bought. The four were held awaiting trial. There are almost daily attacks on refugee centers in Germany, which last year allowed in 1.1 million asylum seekers. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Richard Balmforth) By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming is likely to disrupt a natural cycle of ice ages and contribute to delaying the onset of the next big freeze until about 100,000 years from now, scientists said on Wednesday. In the past million years, the world has had about 10 ice ages before swinging back to warmer conditions like the present. In the last ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, ice sheets blanketed what is now Canada, northern Europe and Siberia. In a new explanation for the long-lasting plunges in global temperatures that cause ice ages, scientists pointed to a combination of long-term shifts in the Earth's orbit around the sun, together with levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They said the planet seemed naturally on track to escape an ice age for the next 50,000 years, an unusually long period of warmth, according to the study led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. But rising man-made greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century could mean the balmy period will last for 100,000 years, they wrote in the journal Nature. The findings suggest human influences "will make the initiation of the next ice age impossible over a time period comparable to the duration of previous glacial cycles," they wrote. "Humans have the power to change the climate on geological timescales," lead author Andrey Ganopolski told Reuters. He said the lingering impacts of greenhouse gases in a far distant future did not in any way affect the urgency of cutting emissions now that are blamed for causing downpours, heat waves and rising seas. "The earlier we stop, the better," he said. Almost 200 governments agreed a deal in Paris last month to shift from fossil fuels to combat climate change. Last week, another group of scientists said humanity had become a force in shaping the planet's geology and suggested an "Anthropocene epoch" began in the mid-20th century with factors such as nuclear tests and industrialization. "Like no other force on the planet, ice ages have shaped the global environment," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute and an author of Wednesday's study. He suggested a new epoch might instead be called the "Deglacial". Some past studies have suggested that global warming can delay ice ages, but Thursday's study laid down clear rules. It said the start of past ice ages coincided with low levels of solar energy reaching the Earth in northern summers, like in current times. But an ice age had not begun because of relatively high, apparently natural, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since before the Industrial Revolution. (Study at: http://www.nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature16494; Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Tom Heneghan) By Joseph White DETROIT - (Reuters) - General Motors Co said Wednesday it will launch next month a new website to help resell thousands of vehicles returned to the company from leases, employee vehicle programs and rental car companies. Consumers will be able to browse a collection of about 30,000 vehicles, which GM said will all have fewer than 37,000 miles on their odometers, and then arrange to buy them from franchised dealers. (Reporting By Joe White; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) ORLANDO, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 13, 2016 / Gray Fox Petroleum Corporation's CEO, Daniel Sobolewski would like to inform the shareholders that as of January 11th, 2016 the Nevada SOS does reflect the recent name change from Gray Fox Petroleum Corporation to Grey Fox Holdings Corporation, (GFOX). Grey Fox Holdings Corp. is currently going through the process that FINRA requires for such name change. We expect the OTC Markets to be updated, and reflect such name change in the very near future. Furthermore, the company is excited to announce that it is currently working on a new website. The website will provide details on the direction the company is going. It will also provide frequent updates on the progress Grey Fox Holdings Corp. will be making in opening the upcoming "Graffiti Junktion" franchised location. For more information on Graffiti Junktion, please visit the company's website, http://www.graffitijunktion.com/. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT This news release includes forward-looking statements that reflect Gray Fox Petroleum, Inc.'s current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. Gray Fox Petroleum, Inc. has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words and phrases such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "should," "typical," "we are confident" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Gray Fox Petroleum, Inc. and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, prospects of opportunities in the remainder of 2013 and beyond, to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Contact: Gray Fox Petroleum Corp. Daniel Sobolewski, CEO 407.415.0013 dbcaptialllc@gmail.com SOURCE: Gray Fox Petroleum Corporation Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was infatuated with actress Kate del Castillo and his desire to see her again contributed to his downfall after six months on the run, officials said. Del Castillo, a Mexican-American who played a drug kingpin in a television series, brokered the now-notorious meeting between Guzman and US actor Sean Penn at an undisclosed jungle clearing in October, three months before the fugitive's capture. The government officials said investigators had monitored Penn and Del Castillo, taking photographs of the actors when they landed in Mexico, before their get-together with Guzman. Following the meeting, troops entered Guzman's remote mountain stronghold in northwestern Mexico in order to flush him out "toward a city," a government official said on condition of anonymity. Marines nearly captured Guzman in the mountains straddling the states of Sinaloa and Durango on October 6. But Guzman grabbed his cook's daughter and used her "as a human shield," holding her in front of him as a helicopter hovered overhead, prompting the soldier to hold fire, the official said. Guzman eventually made his way last week to the seaside city of Los Mochis in his native Sinaloa state, where he was captured Friday in a deadly military operation. The other factor that led Guzman to Los Mochis was that he was "really very interested in meeting the actress again," the official told reporters. "This was an almost obsessive interest that turned into another incentive to go down to the city, where he wanted to meet with her," the official said, adding that Guzman did not see the 43-year-old actress again. Another official said Guzman, 58, used the codename "hermosa" ("beautiful") when referring to the actress, who became famous for her role as a drug lord in the TV series "The Queen of the South." DVDs of the show were found in the house that marines raided in Los Mochis. Story continues Guzman fled the house through a tunnel during a gunfight between troops and his henchmen, but he was caught later after he had stolen a car, capping a months-long manhunt involving 2,500 investigators and federal forces, officials said. - Meeting investigated - One of the world's most-wanted criminals was returned to the same prison he escaped from six months ago when his henchmen dug a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel that opened into a hole in his cell's shower. Guzman is regularly being moved to new cells in different floors and a guard is posted in front of it 24 hours per day to prevent him getting away once more. Penn, in an article published by Rolling Stone magazine on Saturday, said del Castillo had been in contact with Guzman while he was in prison through letters after the kingpin's attorney approached her. The drug lord wanted to make a film about himself but "would entrust its telling only to Kate," Penn wrote. President Enrique Pena Nieto's spokesman, Eduardo Sanchez, said the clandestine meeting between the actors and Guzman was under investigation. "What's being investigated is the actions. People are not being investigated," Sanchez said. Sanchez said the government "regrets any acts of collaboration between any citizen and members of organized crime" or that a Mexican citizen "does not share" information that would help arrest a criminal. Legal experts doubt that the actors will face charges, especially if their meeting with Guzman is seen as journalistic work. But they could face money-laundering charges if there was a transaction for a film made with "money from illegal sources," legal expert Juan Velazquez told AFP. Del Castillo sparked uproar in 2012 when she wrote on Twitter that she believes "more in Chapo Guzman than the governments." She later said that her messages to Guzman were "ironic" but Penn wrote in Rolling Stone that the kingpin sought to send her flowers afterwards. - Prison beefed up - Guzman is now back at the Altiplano maximum-security prison some 90 kilometers west of Mexico City while authorities seek to extradite him to the United States. As well as moving him from cell to cell, officials said other steps have been taken to prevent Guzman -- who escaped from another prison in 2001 -- from breaking out a third time. After his July 11 escape, a dozen prison officials were detained and security was increased with extra surveillance cameras and metal rods in the floors to prevent new tunnels. "Each and every each one of the flaws have been fixed," an official said. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - International hacking movement Anonymous said it attacked hundreds of Thai government websites on Wednesday over death sentences handed down to two migrant workers for the murder of two British tourists. A court sentenced Myanmar migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 22, to death on Dec. 24 after finding them guilty of murdering tourists Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, on a beach on the island of Koh Tao in 2014. Witheridge had been raped and bludgeoned to death, according to police, and Miller suffered severe head injuries and was left to drown in the surf. But the investigation drew allegations of police incompetence, torture and mishandling of evidence. Police rejected the complaints but protests erupted in neighboring Myanmar after the verdict, with many people there believing the two workers, who denied killing the tourists, were scapegoats. Some rights workers say they believe police forced the two into confessing under duress. Police denied that. In a message posted on the 'We Are Anonymous' Facebook page the hacking group said it had shut down Thai judicial websites in protest over the verdict. "Anonymous shuts down all Thai Court of Justice website in protest over the Koh Tao murder verdict. Anonymous is supporting the campaign to ask tourists to boycott Thailand," the group said. It also posted a black and white graphic of a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, an image associated with the Anonymous movement, with a blindfold over his eyes and the words: "Failed Law. We Want Justice!" The group listed more than 200 websites it said it shut down. The Civil Court of Thailand's main website was not immediately accessible but the Courts of Justice website, which the group said it had hacked, was running as normal late on Wednesday. Police Colonel Somporn Daengdee, deputy chief of the police Technology Crime Suppression Division, said police had not received reports of government websites being hacked but were looking into it. In an emotionally charged Facebook post on Tuesday, Witheridge's sister criticized the investigation and the police. Miller's family has said it supported the court verdict and the work of the police. This month, Anonymous, a loose-knit international network of activist hackers, said it was responsible for cyber attacks on Thai police websites in protest against the Koh Tao verdict. Police confirmed the attacks but said they were not on confidential data. Reuters was unable to verify who carried out the attacks. (Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Robert Birsel) Sydney (AFP) - Romania's Simona Halep fought off big-serving Czech Karolina Pliskova to reach the semi-finals of the Sydney International on Wednesday. The world number two had been tested in two tight previous matches, and Pliskova again made things difficult for Halep. Halep had early breaks in both sets only to be pulled back, before the tournament top seed closed out for a 6-4, 7-5 win over the Czech fifth seed in one hour and 38 minutes in blistering heat. "It was tough today. Was very close. She's playing well, and she's strong with the serve," Halep said. "I expected that she's going to hit all the balls, so she did. Against her you don't have rhythm too much, so that's why it's tough to play." Halep finished with slightly more winners than Pliskova, 22 to 21, but far fewer errors, 33 to 43. The Romanian is battling an Achilles injury and admitted to feeling pain during her opening victory over Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia late Tuesday. It followed her late withdrawal from the Brisbane International last week. Halep will face former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last four after the Russian fought back from 1-5 down in the opening set to knock out Italian Sara Errani 7-6 (7/1), 6-0. Halep leads Kuznetsova 3-2 in their previous meetings. "I know that she's playing a lot of topspin, so it's a different player tomorrow, different style," Halep said of facing Kuznetsova. "I expected a tough one. Of course every match at this level is very tough, but I believe I have my chance." Elsewhere Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig ended Australia's Samantha Stosur's run, 6-4, 6-4 and will face eighth seed Belinda Bencic in the semis after the Swiss beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 in an evening match. "It's a very important win for me coming through three rounds of quallies and obviously coming through in the main," Puig said. "I've lost to her twice before, so it was a pretty big win for me today considering the amount of times I played her." Hanoi accused Beijing of making "erroneous statements" in the latest round of an escalating diplomatic spat over flights to a disputed reef in the South China Sea. China has conducted several flights this year through Vietnamese airspace to a newly built runway on the Fiery Cross reef in the Spratly Island group, which is claimed by both countries. Vietnam has accused Beijing of threatening regional safety with the "unannounced" flights, but China hit back, arguing it has the right to conduct "state aviation activities". Hanoi fired off the latest barb late Tuesday in the increasingly bitter diplomatic spat, saying China was making "erroneous statements" by claiming it had informed Vietnamese air traffic control about the flights. "Ho Chi Minh... Control Centre did not receive any notification by China of the flight plans," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement released late Tuesday. The flights are "aimed at asserting their illegal sovereignty claims over the Trong Sa archipelago," he said, referring to the Spratlys by their Vietnamese name. Vietnam this year logged at least 46 incidents of Chinese planes flying without warning through airspace monitored by air traffic control in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, according to authorities cited by local media. State media also reported that Vietnam sent a protest letter about the flights to Beijing, as well as the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Beijing began work in 2014 on a 3,000-metre (9,800-foot) runway on Fiery Cross reef, around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from China's island province of Hainan. China's claim to almost all of the South China Sea puts it at odds with regional neighbours the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, which also stake partial claims. Hollywood has long been an ATM for Democratic candidates and Hollywood unions are a pretty sure bet for endorsements and thats exactly what Hillary Clinton got today from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. IATSElogo Hillary Clinton is the only candidate that reached out to discuss issues affecting members of the IATSE, said IATSE International President Matthew Loeb of the former Secretary of State just weeks before the Iowa caucus. Clinton is running behind challenger Sen. Bernie Saunders heding towards the February 1 first vote of the 2016 primary season. She spent her valuable time discussing our unique issues and challenges with me, demonstrating not just her support of workers in general, but also that she is concerned with the well-being of members of the IATSE. The 125,000 member strong unions General Executive Board voted to back Clinton in what was an unanimous show of hands, so to speak, on January 11. Not that the backing of the ex-NY Senator is any surprise last July, IATSE put out a statement applauding Clinton for calling out companies that misclassified workers as independent contractors. A not-uncommon occurrence in Hollywood, such classifications affect the unions membership directly often. IATSE backed Barack Obama in 2008 and in 2012, as did the AFL-CIO. Related stories Obama's Final State Of The Union Dips To All-Time Low - Update Obama's Last State Of The Union Viewership Dips In Early Numbers Ron Meyer & Donna Langley Praise Obama's Gun Violence Executive Orders Hillary Clintons presidential campaign sent a slew of tweets from her official account about President Obamas final State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. Clintons account began tweeting about an hour before Obama took the stage with a message claiming America cant afford to have a Republican president follow in his footsteps. The next tweet shared a blog post about an empty chair the White House arranged to have in the audience to represent the victims of gun violence. The post was written by Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose 6-year-old daughter was killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Marquez-Greene argued Clinton will finish the work Obama has started on gun control. The third tweet was the only one personally signed by Clinton, indicating that it came from her rather than a staffer. America is better because of @POTUS leadership. Proud to call him my friend. Lets build on his progress. #SOTU -H pic.twitter.com/c8pn7VktTh Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 Other tweets from Clintons account expressed agreement with parts of Obamas speech and praised his record. .@POTUS is right: Progress isnt inevitable. We have a choice between pushing forwardor undoing all the work weve done. #SOTU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 .@POTUS is confirming what we know: Our economyand our countryare stronger under a Democratic president. #SOTU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 Thanks to @POTUS, 18 million Americans are covered under the ACA. We wont put their health care into the hands of Republicans. #SOTU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 We cant afford a president who wont admit climate change is real. Its real. Its a fact. And we will take action. #SOTU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 .@POTUS has kept the economy strong and the country safe. Thats what the president needs to do. Thats the job. #SOTU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 Couldnt agree more with @POTUS: We need to make voting easier, not harder. #SOTU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 Clintons account also retweeted several messages from her campaigns rapid response site, The Briefing. Those tweets highlighted parts of the speech that Clintons campaign argued would have been different if a Republican were president. Story continues If we elect a Republican in 2016, the next #SOTU would probably sound a little different. pic.twitter.com/kwmwDppcDz The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) January 13, 2016 Who could disagree with this? A Republican president, if we elect one in 2016. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/bVvE6lnXmk The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) January 13, 2016 2016 matters: A Republican #SOTU would have some different thoughts on campaign finance. pic.twitter.com/3ZweaytK3b The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) January 13, 2016 If a Republican president were giving this #SOTU, you might hear something different about voting rights. pic.twitter.com/rGDFAfvv0a The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) January 13, 2016 Clintons account also sent out a Spanish tweet that praised Obama for keeping the economy strong and the country safe. Clintons State of the Union tweetstorm concluded with a link to a petition and a message thanking Obama. Seven years of progress. We need to build on itnot go backwards. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/LlLjQi2AS4 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 13, 2016 In total, Clintons account sent out 17 tweets and retweets about the State of the Union address. According to a Twitter spokesman, Clinton gained about 1,859 followers during the speech. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., her top rival in the Democratic primary, was in the audience for the speech, along with the other members of Congress. He only sent out one tweet about the State of the Union and gained about 1,062 followers. Ronda Rousey shot to the top of the mixed martial arts world to become its biggest star in record time. Her first professional fight was in 2011, and by 2015, she was on top of the world as the UFC womens bantamweight champion. That feat is all the more impressive when you consider women werent even in the UFC until Ronda made the organization reconsider. Youd think all that success and acclaim and adoration would make Rondas transition to Hollywood easier. But while it has helped her land high-profile bit parts in movies like Furious 7 and Entourage, theres still a lot of skepticism towards her ability to pull off larger roles. A long profile on movie studio STX takes you deep into the sausage-making process behind filmmaking, and it has some interesting details on how Ronda Rouseys role in the upcoming Peter Berg movie Mile 22 was downsized considerably. Originally, the movie was set to star Ronda Rousey and The Raids Iko Uwais in a race to the Jakarta airport to escape the country, battling bad guys the whole way. It was light on plot, but heavy on violent martial arts. Sounded pretty good, but then the studio got involved. Via Fightland: Raising concerns about the fighters admittedly wooden performance in Furious 7, the studio head pushed Berg to find a big-name star, like Will Smith, to take on the part of Silva, a shadowy intelligence hack whos shoveled s**t on four continents whose role in the movie was tertiary: nothing a superstar would normally consider. And sure enough, Smith turned down the role (despite his love of MMA) and it eventually went to Mark Walhberg, who agreed to the movie only if his part was beefed up and he became, rather than the tragic turncoat who dies in the films third act, its star, and possibly the center of a new franchise. Berg signed off, as did Fogelson, and the film was rewritten, and Rousey was once more pushed into the role of the fighter without much acting weight to carry, yet another Randy Couture or Rampage Jackson. As Fogelson said, with true Hollywood sugar, the new script will allow Ronda to do everything she can and should do without having to carry any undue acting weight. Story continues So, we had what sounded like another movie like The Raid, but now its been turned into some sort of Indonesian Bourne vehicle for Mark Wahlberg. We can only hope therell still be a focus on the action and martial arts Marks karate as Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights was pretty on point, after all. This just goes to show you how unsure Hollywood is about Ronda Rouseys ability to actually carry a movie. Theyre willing to overlook a solid performance in The Expendables 3 to crap on her Furious 7 role, which consisted of three lines. Three lines! And this was before Ronda lost to Holly Holm via headkick knockout. Who knows what kind of doubts Hollywood is harboring about her now that shes no longer the invincible superhero. If youre wondering why Ronda is taking some time off to concentrate on acting, its probably because shes already proved herself in the cage. Now she has to do the same on the big screen. And as you can see, shes got an uphill battle ahead of her with a lot of doubters expecting her to fail. Its enough to make an immediate rematch with Holly Holm sound like the easier route to take. (via Fightland) HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said on Wednesday that he placed a great deal of emphasis on the case of a missing bookseller and has raised the issue with mainland authorities. Lee Bo, 65, a shareholder of Causeway Bay Books and a British passport holder, went missing from Hong Kong in late December. Four associates involved in publishing or selling literature critical of Beijing have also gone missing in mysterious circumstances over the past few months. The disappearances have stoked fears of mainland Chinese authorities using shadowy tactics that erode the "one country, two systems" formula under which Hong Kong returned to China. (Reporting by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Kim Coghill) All the leading candidates to succeed him weighed in on President Obamas final State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. Democrat Hillary Clinton posted a slew of tweets about the speech. She also released an ad during the address in which she expressed support for Obamas executive actions on guns. Clinton and her campaign have increasingly focused on gun control as polls show her top rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, running a close race in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Clintons team has argued she has a record of more aggressively favoring gun control than Sanders. SLIDESHOW President Barack Obamas final State of the Union address >>> Sanders was in the audience for Obamas speech along with the other members of Congress. He only posted one tweet about the address, which he dubbed important. The president reminded us not to be afraid of change, but to wield it to improve the lives of all Americans, Sanders wrote. Sanders also discussed the speech in an appearance on MSNBC, praising Obamas call for campaign finance reform and increased efforts to fight climate change. I was thinking that maybe the president was paying attention to my basic speech there, Sanders said. On MSNBC, Sanders was also asked about Clintons implication that he doesnt back Obamas gun control efforts. Sanders said he very strongly supports the president on gun control and noted his voting record in Congress earned him a D- rating from the National Rifle Association. He suggested Clintons attacks were motivated by her fading lead. I think what Secretary Clinton knows is that she is in trouble now in New Hampshire and Iowa, said Sanders. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump reacted to the speech with a trio of tweets. In one, he criticized the Obama administrations nuclear deal with Iran as terrible. Trump then slammed Obamas address as really boring, slow, lethargic very hard to watch! He doubled down on that critique in his final message. Story continues The State Of The Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time. New leadership fast! he wrote. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chose not to attend the speech. He defended that decision and criticized Obamas remarks in an interview on NBC News. I think the speech tonight surprised nobody. It was more of the same. It was sadly, I think it was less a State of the Union than it was a state of denial, Cruz said. President Obama demonstrated just how out of touch he is. He told the American people the economys doing fantastic. Thats not what Im hearing from the men and women across this country. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Bill Clarke/Roll Call via Getty Images, Charlie Neibergall/AP, Jae C. Hong/AP, Susan Walsh/AP Cruz also attacked the president for not referring to recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., which were carried out by sympathizers of the jihadist group the Islamic State (also known as ISIS). Once again, President Obama refused even to say the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less demonstrate any clarity, any vision any plan to destroy them, Cruz said. On Twitter, Cruz posted several similar messages. He also retweeted a post from conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg that referred to the widespread impression that some of Obamas comments seemed to be directed at Cruz and Trump. So, will Barack Obama charge Donald Trump and Ted Cruz rent since its clear theyve set up residence in his head? Goldberg asked. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted out a video in which he also criticized Obamas response to terrorism, among other things. Barack Obama released terrorists from Guantanamo, and now theyre plotting to attack us. Instead of fighting to fund our troops, he fights to fund Planned Parenthood. He spies on Israel and cut a deal with Iran, Rubio said. His plan after the attack in San Bernardino? Take away our guns. And while ISIS is beheading people and burning them in cages, he says climate change is our greatest threat. America needs a real commander in chief and a president who will keep us safe. The Hague (AFP) - The International Criminal Court on Wednesday postponed a landmark hearing to confirm charges against an alleged Al-Qaeda militant accused of ordering the destruction of monuments in Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu. The case is the first to be brought by the world's only permanent war crimes court over the extremist violence that rocked Mali in 2012 and 2013. It is also the first time that a jihadist has appeared before the court in The Hague and the first ICC case to feature the destruction of religious buildings and historical monuments. The court said in a statement that judge Cuno Tarfusser had granted a defence request to postpone the confirmation of charges hearing against Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi. The case will now be heard on March 1. Faqi's lawyers asked for the postponement, saying not all evidence in the case had been disclosed. They also said there had been a delay in providing a computer for their client and that the court's move to new headquarters in December had affected their preparations. A former civil servant in the Malian government in 2011, Faqi was handed over to the ICC in September last year by authorities in Niger. A Tuareg leader also known as Abu Tourab, he is accused of war crimes over the deliberate destruction of buildings at a UNESCO-listed desert heritage site in 2012. Nicknamed the "City of 333 Saints", Timbuktu, which is located around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) northeast of Mali's capital Bamako, was overrun by Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in early 2012. In June of that year, the militants destroyed more than a dozen of the city's mausoleums dating back to its golden age as an economic, intellectual and spiritual centre in the 15th and 16th centuries. Faqi was a leader of Ansar Dine, a mainly Tuareg group which held sway over Mali's desert north, together with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and a third local group, until being routed in a French-led offensive in January 2013. Are immigrants to blame for Americas economic rut? In his recent cover story for The Atlantic, David Frum points to that belief as a major reason for the dynamics of the Republican primary, particularly Trumps rise. In his final State of the Union address, President Obama pushed back against those who would answer that question in the affirmative, saying, Immigrants arent the reason wages havent gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns. Is Obama right? The extent to which immigration impacts wages is a contentious and layered question. Critics of current immigration policy often cite the work of the economist George Borjas, a professor at Harvard, who finds that in both the long and short run, the impact of immigrants on wages can be deleterious, particularly for low-skilled workers. But Borjas also finds that the opposite can be true, and that the outcome on wages depends largely on the size of demand and the consumer base in a particular area of for a particular product. A recent paper from researchers at Indiana University and University of Virginia advances the finding that immigration can boost the economy overall since an influx of immigrants can actually create jobs in a local economy, as new residents generate demand for everything from housing, to haircuts, to restaurants. The wage effect is a bit less clear, the paper concedes. The research found that an influx of immigrants can cause a decline in wages for tradeable professions (things that can be outsourced like manufacturing or engineering) but can cause an increase in the wages for local workers in non tradable professions (jobs that must be done locally, like waitresses, retail, or hospitality professionals). More From Our Partners The Next Economy But on the bigger picture, Obama is right: The discussion of just how much wage suppression immigrants might be responsible for is a bit beside the point. The presidents argument during the State of the Union address was probably not that wage redistribution and suppression doesnt exist, but instead that the level of wage dampening that immigration is actually responsible for in the broader scope of the problem pales in comparison to the wage suppression that has occurred since multi-billion dollar companies decided to prioritize rewarding shareholders first and workers last. Obama is certainly not the first to draw a connection between corporate priorities and low wages. A recent report from the Brookings Institution found that over the past several decades, the payrolls of the largest companies (by market cap) have gotten much smaller, and not because jobs have en masse gone to immigrants willing to work for less. Jerry Davis, a professor at the University of Michigan and the author of the paper, postulates that the new generation of leaner companies is largely related to changes in how the stock market and shareholders assessed value. By the 1990s it was widely agreed among executives and investors, and many policymakers, that corporations existed primarily to create shareholder value. Other stakeholders were relevant, but at the end of the day, increasing market value was the dominant objective, he writes. The result? Massive corporate reorganization to cut back on labor spending via outsourcing, lowered wages, or layoffs. Recommended: What If You Bought All 292 Million of the Possible Powerball Combinations? The recession, of course, plays a role in the current predicament. The strength [in corporate profits] is directly related to the weakness in hourly wages, which are still growing at just a 2 percent nominal pace. The weakness of wages and the resulting strength of profits are telling signs that the US labor market is still far from full employment, Jan Hatzius, the chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs wrote in a 2014 research note. Thats because many companies have learned to be leaner, they hire fewer employees, and still benefit from continually growing productivity. And because the country is still not at full employment, they can keep paying workers less. All of this serves to boost the companys bottom line, while workers are unable to participate in those benefits. And keeping those profits high is of critical importance to corporate boards who have to report back to shareholders every three months for quarterly earnings reports. Thinning profit margins or missed earnings can tank a stock price, enraging shareholders and leading them to pressure company executives. That, some economists have said, means that companies place much more value on producing quick, quarterly gains, instead of focusing on strategies that produce long-term success (with the possibility of growing pains) and thriving companies that could better care for employees. The presidents statement points to the idea that such a dramatic and systemic shift in the way large corporations value and reward millions of workers has had a much more drastic impact on the broad national trend of stifled wages over the past decade than immigrants depressing wages in the shrinking low-skill labor market.Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. China and US Dollar Force Crude Oil Prices to the Floor (Continued from Prior Part) WTI-Brent spread The WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil discount over Brent crude oil is $0.39 per barrel for the week ending January 8, 2016. This week, it narrowed to $0.14 per barrel on January 11, 2016. It widened to $0.41 per barrel on January 12, 2016. WTI-Brent spreads movements The WTI-Brent spread was volatile this week. China and Japans decreased crude oil consumption and equity market crashes impacted Brent crude oil prices. On the other side, decreased gasoline and heating oil consumption impacted WTI crude oil prices. The WTI-Brent spread turned positive after the US crude oil export ban was removed. However, it turned negative due to a rise in US crude oil inventory levels. Also, less-than-anticipated demand for gasoline and decreasing refinery inputs put pressure on WTI crude oil prices. Due to widespread selling in the equity market, the entire energy sector experienced trouble. It fell to multiyear lows. A rise in the US Dollar Index also put pressure on crude oil prices. The WTI-Brent spread widened in the last week due to WTI crude oil prices falling more than Brent. The prices fell due to US gasoline and distillate inventory builds. Impact A wider WTI-Brent spread means a lower price for WTI crude oil compared to Brent crude oil. Lower WTI prices yield less revenue for the US crude oil producers like Oasis Petroleum (OAS), Chevron (CVX), Hess (HES), Apache (APA), Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) compared to international crude oil producers. Pioneer Natural Resources accounts for 3.8% of the Energy Select SPDR (XLE). Browse this series on Market Realist: By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led Congress and President Barack Obama's administration, often at odds over Iran policy, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to let the families of Americans killed in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks collect nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian funds. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in an appeal by the Iranian central bank, Bank Markazi, to reverse a 2014 lower-court ruling that said the money should be handed over to plaintiffs representing hundreds of Americans killed or injured in attacks blamed on Iran. They won a $2.65 billion judgment against Iran in U.S. federal court in 2007. The money is currently held in New York in a trust account at Citibank, part of Citigroup Inc. At issue before the justices is whether Congress violated the separation of powers principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution by passing a 2012 law that specified the funds held in the trust account go toward paying off the judgment. Bank Markazi contends the legislative branch of the U.S. government improperly sought to dictate the outcome of a specific case handled by the judiciary branch. The families accused Iran of providing material support to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shi'ite Islamist political and military group responsible for the 1983 truck bomb attack at the Marine compound in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen. They are also seeking compensation on behalf those killed or injured in other attacks they linked to Iran, including the 1996 Khobar Towers truck bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. service members. The lead plaintiff in the case is Deborah Peterson, who originally sued in 2001 on behalf of the estate of her brother, Marine Lance Corporal James Knipple, who was killed at age 20 in the Beirut bombing. The high court's action comes at a delicate time in U.S.-Iranian relations. The United States and five other world powers reached a deal with Iran last July to lift certain American, European Union and U.N. sanctions in exchange for Iran accepting limits on its nuclear program. Congressional Republicans strongly opposed the nuclear agreement championed by Obama. In the Supreme Court case, the Obama administration, the Senate and a legal group representing leaders of the House of Representatives all filed court papers backing the plaintiffs. The unity shown by the White House and Congress might normally carry significant weight with the justices, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law. But because the case raises a question of the relationship between Congress and the courts, it could have "less effect than in other contexts," he said. A ruling is due by the end of June. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) Tehran (AFP) - The final implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is expected by Sunday, the country's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said, quoted by state media. A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, concluding that Iran had fulfilled its obligations under the agreement, will come out on Friday, broadcaster IRIB cited Araghchi as saying, paving the way for sanctions to end. The IAEA findings would be followed by "reaching the end of the line and the announcement of the implementation during Friday, Saturday and Sunday," the official IRNA news agency quoted the minister as saying. There was no immediate confirmation from the IAEA of Araghchi's comments about the timing of "Implementation Day" when the deal comes into effect, but US and European officials have said it could be just days away. In Washington, US Secretary of State John Kerry did not confirm a specific date for implementation, but reiterated that it was expected to come rapidly. "Implementation Day -- the day on which Iran proves it has sufficiently downsized its nuclear program and can begin to receive sanctions relief -- will take place soon, likely within the coming days," Kerry said. "And when that happens, it will make us and our partners around the world more safe and secure." Araghchi said an announcement about implementation would be made jointly by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. - 'Year of prosperity' - Under its July deal with the P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- Iran agreed to take measures to limit its nuclear activities. One such step involves making changes to the core of a heavy water reactor at its Arak nuclear site to ensure it cannot be used to make atomic weapons. Reports emerged on Monday that Iran had removed the core at Arak, but a top official later denied this was the case, insisting Tehran was still working on a deal to redesign the reactor with the help of China and the United States. Story continues But Araghchi said the new core's redesign would be done by an Iranian company, citing a "reliance on domestic capabilities" to modernize the reactor. Under the deal, Iran has reduced the number of its centrifuges -- fast-spinning machines that enrich uranium -- and transferred the bulk of its low-enriched uranium stockpile to Russia. The IAEA must verify that Iran has fulfilled all of its obligations before sanctions can be lifted. On Monday, President Hassan Rouhani said the country was about to enter "a year of economic prosperity", with sanctions lifted, and said his government had delivered on its promises. "The government is running the country under sanctions not under normal circumstances. God willing, in the coming days we will witness a rolling up of the sanctions scroll in this country," he said. On the back of the nuclear deal -- Iran has always denied seeking a bomb -- Rouhani wants to make greater inroads in domestic policy. But Rouhani has faced criticism from hardline groups about the nuclear deal, with opponents warning it could lead to "infiltration" by the United States. By Phil Stewart and Parisa Hafezi WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran detained 10 U.S. sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran. Late on Tuesday, a U.S. defense official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday. Both U.S. and Iranian officials described the sailors, whose boats may have inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters, as safe and well-treated. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized. (http://tmsnrt.rs/1Q3Zb4n) White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN that "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly." Official Iranian news outlets confirmed the detention of the 10 Americans. "The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats two kilometers inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said. Officials from Iran and the United States were negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. News of the incident came hours before President Barack Obama made his final State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress prior to leaving office in January 2017. Obama did not mention the crew's detention in the hour-long speech, but he did tout the nuclear deal with Tehran, saying "the world has avoided another war." The White House expects the situation to be resolved quickly. Washington and Tehran, which have pursued a partial detente in recent years, both appeared eager not to let the boat incident escalate further. Obama, a Democrat, has made the Iran nuclear accord a centerpiece of his foreign policy, and Republicans vying to succeed him have assailed him over the deal. Iran, meanwhile, is eager for relief from punishing economic sanctions under the landmark nuclear accord it forged with six world powers last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days, following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another U.S. official said. The seizure of the 10 sailors nonetheless underscored the potential for clashes that could derail diplomacy, especially in the Gulf's tense and crowded shipping lanes. Precisely what happened to the two U.S. boats remained unclear. A senior U.S. defense official said the United States had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. Another U.S. official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters. SAILORS SAID TO BE SAFE In a statement, Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed it seized the boats and said the sailors were safe and well. It said France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was near the seized U.S. boats. They were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the U.S. officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot (12-meter) long, high-speed patrol boats used by the U.S. Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters. Republican officials and presidential candidates, who opposed the Iran nuclear accord, used the incident to criticize Obama. "It's just an indication of where the hell we're going. I mean hopefully they get released and fast," businessman Donald Trump, who leads the Republican field in the race for U.S. president, said at a rally in Iowa. The election is Nov. 8. The seizure of the sailors and their craft was the latest reported incident between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks. The U.S. Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so. Previous Iranian seizures involved British sailors and marines. In June 2004, Iran arrested six Royal Marines and two naval personnel - part of a U.S.-led force in Iraq - for straying into its waters, stirring diplomatic tensions between the two. Following negotiations the eight were freed three days later. In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen - eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines - in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. They were held for 13 days. In November 2009, Iranian naval vessels detained five Britons on a racing yacht en route from Bahrain to Dubai. They were released a week later. (Additional reporting by Idrees Ali, Arshad Mohammed, Andrea Shalal, Eric Beech, Jonathan Landay and Jeff Mason in Washington and Sam Wilkin and William Maclean in Dubai; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by Tom Brown, Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker) DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Tehran had asked the United States for an apology after its sailors were arrested for "violating" Iran's waters. "Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was in touch with U.S. Secretary of State Kerry," the Guard's naval commander, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, said in an interview broadcast live on state television. "Zarif took a firm stance as the sailors had violated Iran's territorial waters and asked the United States for an apology," he added. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Ten American sailors whose U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian waters on Tuesday have been captured, and are now being detained by Iranian military forces, CNN reported. The as-yet-unidentified American sailors, consisting of nine men and one woman, were reportedly on a training mission aboard two vessels when they entered Iranian waters and were taken into custody by Iran's coast guard, according to NBC News. Another U.S. Navy ship The sailors are being detained on Iran's Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday. Officials also told NBC that one of the U.S. Navy vessels "may have experienced mechanical failure and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters." Speaking to CNN, a U.S. official said that the ten sailors "W ," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes y. CNN is also reporting that Secretary of State John Kerry is in touch with contacts in Iran and working to "resolve the matter." As of Tuesday evening, Reuters reported that Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had spoken with Secretary Kerry and "assured" him "that the U.S. sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly." As of Tuesday evening, CNN was reporting that "Zarif assured Kerry the sailors were being treated well and would be released." The two vessels the 10 sailors had been piloting were riverine patrol boats, designed for navigating rivers, reports Reuters. Jan. 12, 2016, 7:42 p.m.: This story has been updated. Tehran (AFP) - Iran moved to head off a potential crisis days before the expected implementation of its nuclear deal with world powers by releasing 10 US Navy soldiers it had detained in the Gulf. A dramatic series of events started with the sailors -- nine men and a woman -- being taken into custody after their two patrol boats drifted into Iranian territory late on Tuesday. US and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which unfolded as the nuclear accord edged toward its final steps, with a top Iranian official saying the deal should be implemented by Sunday. The sailors' detention raised alarm in Washington but after informal talks with Tehran, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had been set free. "Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the Gulf," said a statement read out on state television, noting the sailors had not entered Iranian waters intentionally and had no "hostile intent". Video footage showed the Navy personnel with their hands on their heads as they were apprehended. But other footage showed them eating a meal and drinking water, some smiling, while sitting on Persian rugs. One sailor told Iranian state television that the crew had been treated well during their detention. "It was a mistake and that was our fault and we apologise for our mistake," he said. The Pentagon confirmed they had been freed and that there was no indication that the sailors had been harmed. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran," it said. - 'Broken navigation system' - Admiral Ali Fadavi, the naval commander of the Guards, said an investigation established that "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes". Instead "a broken navigation system" had led them astray, he said. US officials had said one or both of the boats experienced mechanical problems and had been taken to Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf. The island houses a base of the Guards, which has its own naval units. Story continues Radio contact was lost with the two vessels -- riverine patrol boats under 65 feet (20 metres) in length -- while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations, but US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif five times about the issue on Tuesday. Kerry told him the sailors' release could be turned into a "good story" for both sides, according to a senior US official. "That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong," Kerry said in a statement. Zarif said on Twitter: "Happy to see dialog and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the #sailors episode. Let's learn from this latest example." Iran's Guards often take a tough approach in what it considers the "Persian Gulf". Relations with Washington were strained by claims last month that Iran fired rockets close to a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf. Last year, Iranian patrol boats seized the Maersk Tigris, a cargo ship sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, which meant it was under US protection. And in March 2007, Iranian patrols captured 15 British Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel, interrogated them and held them for 13 days before releasing them. - Iran 'testing the boundaries' - The smooth resolution of the latest crisis was a testament to the close working relationship developed by Kerry and Zarif during the nuclear talks, which concluded in July with a deal between Iran and the P5+1 powers of the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany. The accord foresees Iran scaling back its activities to put an atomic bomb outside its reach in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Iranian media as saying that UN nuclear inspectors would issue a report on Friday that would be followed by announcement of the deal's implementation by Sunday. Kerry, who has been criticised by President Barack Obama's opponents in the US congress as too soft on Tehran, last week said the agreement would be implemented "in the coming days". Those rivals used the incident in the Gulf to hammer on this point, calling on Obama to make a statement and warning Iran must release the sailors. "Iran is testing the boundaries of this administration's resolve," Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said. The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a measure aimed at blocking the nuclear deal, but abruptly cancelled the vote because nearly one third of lawmakers were absent. The vote is to be rescheduled for the week of January 25. In a further potential strain on bilateral relations, the US Supreme Court Wednesday waded into a sensitive case over whether the families of victims of attacks Iran is accused of financing or facilitating should finally receive $1.75 billion in compensation from frozen Iranian funds. Survivors and representatives of more than 1,000 American victims of terrorism, including the suicide bombing of a military barracks in Beirut in 1983 which killed 241 US soldiers, are demanding payment from funds of Iran's central bank being held at Citibank in New York. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey has long been accused of tolerating and even collaborating with Islamic State (IS) jihadists but in recent months it has shown signs of sharply toughening its line against the group. Now, after the suicide attack in Istanbul on Tuesday that killed 10 German tourists and was carried out by an IS bomber from Syria, will Ankara launch an all-out assault against the group to push it out of Turkey and end its presence on the Syrian border? - IS TURKEY NOW CONFRONTING IS? - Turkish officials vehemently deny there has ever been any collaboration with IS, saying Ankara has listed the group as a terror organisation ever since it has first emerged. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said IS has nothing to do with Islam. But analysts and diplomats say that at the start of Syria's nearly five-year civil war, Turkey was actively looking for Islamist rebel allies in Syria to further its aim of toppling President Bashar al-Assad. Reports accused Turkey of becoming a conduit for financial support to jihadists, turning a blind eye to their entry into Syria and even supplying weapons. Yet following a string of deadly attacks by IS inside Turkey in 2015, including a double suicide bombing in Ankara that killed 103 people, Turkey stepped up arrests of jihadists who had built cells inside the country. Security forces moved to seal Turkey's long and porous border with Syria, frequently nabbing and deporting foreign extremists who tried to slip across. "It would be wrong to say Turkey is taking no action against IS," jihadism expert Aymenn Tamimi from the Middle East Forum told AFP. "Border security has been tightened, arrests on domestic IS support networks have occurred, and Turkey is pursuing a strategy to try to drive IS out of the remaining northern border areas in Syria." Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Alan said Wednesday that a week before the Istanbul attack, 220 people identified as members of the group also known as Daesh were detained. In the last two days alone, Turkey has arrested at least 74 IS suspects. Story continues - IS TURKEY NOW A PRIME TARGET OF IS? - Analysts note out that unlike other high-profile attacks staged by the group, IS has never claimed formally any strikes in Turkey, possibly in the hope of not further provoking the government into action against it in Syria. The Istanbul attack was markedly different from the three previous deadly bombings blamed on the group in Turkey last year, in that it did not target pro-Kurdish groups but tourists who make a substantial contribution to the Turkish economy. "There is a likelihood that we will see more attacks in urban centres," said Anthony Skinner, director of UK-based political risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. IS supporters have in recent weeks stepped up their rhetoric against Turkey, with ominous warnings to Erdogan appearing in the group's Turkish-language propaganda "magazine" Konstantiniyye. "If Tuesday's attack was perpetrated by the Islamic State, it would reflect a shift in the group's strategy and herald a broader campaign against Turkey," said Firas Abi Ali, senior analyst at IHS Country Risk. He said IS had a "significant logistics and support base network in Turkey" and consequently "most likely has the capability to launch an extended terrorist campaign inside Turkey". - HOW WILL TURKEY REACT AGAINST IS? - Tamimi said "there there is much greater hostility between the two actors now", with Turkey already moving to push jihadists out of the border area that they once controlled with little challenge. "The most immediate solution is that IS needs to be driven out of the remaining border areas," he said. Despite occasional press speculation that an offensive was in the offing, Turkey has not launched any ground operation against IS although it is assisting the US-led air campaign against the group. This contrasts with its relentless offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since July which has seen air and ground operations not just in Turkey but northern Iraq. In his first reaction to the Istanbul attack, Erdogan unequivocally condemned the bombing but then conspicuously spoke at greater length against the PKK. "From a security perspective, Ankara's priority would be to fight the PKK," said Skinner. "The government is trying to significantly erode the PKK to such an extent that the cards will be in favour of the government in negotiations" for a final peace deal with the Kurdish rebels. The largest jackpot in US history shot up to $1. 5 billion on Tuesday, driven by record sales as people flock across state lines and international borders to buy tickets, a lottery executive said. To win the jackpot, a ticket holder has to match all numbers on five white balls and one red ball selected at the twice weekly Powerball draw -- next due on Wednesday at 10:59 pm (0359 GMT Thursday). The winner can choose to be paid the full jackpot in annual installments over 29 years -- or take a one-off cash payment of $930 million -- before taxes. Through last Saturday about $1.75 billion in Powerball tickets have been bought since the last jackpot win on November 4, Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery and chair of the Powerball game group, told AFP. At the last draw on Saturday, 25 people matched the first five numbers -- winning $1 million each -- and three others had paid a bonus netting them $2 million each but no one claimed the then $950 million jackpot. Grief said sales were record breaking and could not rule out that the jackpot would again rise before Wednesday's draw. "Sales are doing exponentially more than we've ever done before," he said, adding that they were more than double what they were before the last record US jackpot of $656 million in March 2012 -- won by ticket holders. "I'm hearing anecdotally and through news outlets, millions of people who have never played Powerball before are indeed purchasing a ticket," said Grief. Some retailers scoring the biggest sales are in states bordering the handful that do not participate in the Powerball, he said. "People are flocking over from those states to stand in line and buy lottery tickets," he said. "You do not have to be a citizen of the US, people are coming from Mexico and Canada to purchase tickets," he added. Forty-four US states take part in the Powerball along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The world's richest lottery is Spain's annual Christmas "El Gordo," which in 2015 handed out 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) but which capped individual wins at 400,000 euros and handed out thousands of smaller prizes. By Hilary Russ TRENTON, N.J. (Reuters) - New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney said on Tuesday the state should take over Atlantic City and, if it does not, he would support a bankruptcy filing for the gambling hub. Sweeney and two other state senators said they planned to introduce legislation that would give the state even more control of the city's financial management. Sweeney did not provide further details during a press event on Tuesday. The city must already have its budget and hiring approved by a state board, has a state monitor and is overseen by Emergency Manager Kevin Lavin, appointed by Governor Chris Christie nearly a year ago. A spokesman for Lavin said the emergency manager did not have a comment on Sweeney's plan. Sweeney said more control is necessary because Mayor Don Guardian and the city council have not done enough to reduce the size of government, despite layoffs that have already occurred. The legislature has been finalizing legislation calling for casinos to make set payments in lieu of taxes. That is aimed at stabilizing Atlantic City's tax base, which has been eviscerated by casinos' declining value because of competition from neighboring states. Lawmakers are growing tired of working on that and other measures to help Atlantic City while suggestions that would reduce costs or create revenue - such as selling the city's water utility - remain unrealized, Sweeney said. Atlantic City has about 39,000 residents but an operating budget of about $262 million. That equals $6,717 per person, which is "completely unacceptable and unsustainable," Sweeney said. Newark's budget, by comparison, costs about $2,736 per person and Paterson's about $1,700, he said. If the legislature does not act on the forthcoming plan quickly, "I will support a declaration of bankruptcy for Atlantic City," Sweeney said. "We have to do what needs to be done to bring financial stability and responsibility to the city." An aid to Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian did not immediately reply to a request for comment. But Guardian said the proposals for a state takeover or bankruptcy was "Atlantic City's Pearl Harbor," according to the Associated Press. (Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Andrew Hay) By Olzhas Auyezov and Mariya Gordeyeva ALMATY (Reuters) - Lawmakers loyal to Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev asked him on Wednesday to call a snap parliamentary election, which would allow the veteran leader to reaffirm his grip on power before discontent over economic hardship peaks. The vote was originally due to take place at the end of this year or early 2017. But if oil prices remain depressed or fall further, the Central Asian nation's economy may suffer heavy damage by that time, making it harder for Nazarbayev's allies to retain total control over the legislature. Holding the poll early would minimize that risk, according to political analysts who see the move as orchestrated and expect Nazarbayev to approve it in the coming days. The two previous parliamentary elections, in 2012 and 2007, had also been called early. The falling price for oil, Kazakhstan's biggest export, drove a 45 percent depreciation of the local tenge currency last year, its biggest drop against the dollar in 20 years. From Jan. 1, the government increased state pensions by 9 percent and boosted public sector salaries by up to 40 percent, partly offsetting the impact of the depreciation. "In line with tradition, elections are being held early in order to take advantage of the effect from increased public sector payouts," said political analyst Aidos Sarym. "The economic situation will worsen in the future and the authorities will not be able to achieve the desired result without excessive strain." The lower house of parliament voted unanimously for a resolution seeking an early election. There are no opponents of Nazarbayev in the 107-seat lower house, which is dominated by his Nur Otan party and routinely approves bills drafted by the government. The World Bank said last week it estimated that Kazakhstan's gross domestic product growth had slowed to 0.9 percent in 2015 from 4.4 percent a year earlier. This year, the bank sees just a slight acceleration to 1.1 percent. Running the campaign during the winter, when temperatures in some regions of the country fall below -40 degrees Celsius, also means there will be much fewer people at any opposition rallies, Sarym said. Kazakhstan has never held an election judged free and fair by Western observers. Another political analyst, Alexander Knyazev, said the move towards a snap poll could also be a precaution against risks related to potential transfer of power from 75-year-old Nazarbayev who has no apparent successor. "Some personnel rotation is needed in order to ensure their loyalty," Knyazev said. Nazarbayev himself, in power since 1989, was re-elected for another five-year term last April. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Ryan Woo and Andrew Heavens) Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet his Saudi counterpart Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in London on Thursday amid concerns over the dramatic breakdown in relations between his country and Iran. On the eve of the trip, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said "they'll discuss a range of issues, bilateral and global issues, including obviously Iran and the ongoing crisis in Syria." Washington and Riyadh have been close allies for decades but in recent months there has been mounting discord over the US diplomatic outreach to Iran, which Saudi Arabia sees as a dangerous enemy. Kerry now spends more time on the phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif than he does with al-Jubeir, most recently on Wednesday when he called Tehran five times to secure the release of captured US sailors. The State Department, nevertheless, insists that it retains close ties with Saudi Arabia and remains critical of what it calls Iran's destabilizing role in the region, illegal ballistic missile program and sponsorship of extremist groups. Kerry talks in London will be a new occasion for Kerry to try to reassure Jubeir that Washington remains committed to their alliance, and to prepare the way for Syria peace talks later this month. Saudi Arabia has taken a role in international efforts to broker an end to the Syrian civil war, coordinating a coalition of opposition and rebel groups that will send a joint negotiating team to Geneva on January 25. For its part, Iran backs Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia which supplies some of the most effective forces defending his rule and which Washington regards as a terrorist army. Saudi Arabia marked the New Year with a mass prisoner execution, killing a respected Shiite cleric alongside several alleged Sunni terrorists. Protests erupted in Shiite Iran, and the Saudi embassy was sacked. Riyadh held Tehran responsible for the mob attack and broke off ties. Kerry has urged both sides not to escalate the situation and has sought assurances that the pair's spat will not undermine the Syrian talks. The United States is also giving logistical and intelligence support to a Saudi-led coalition fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen, despite expressing concerns about the civilian toll of allied bombing. The words failed turnaround seem to go hand-in-hand with discount retail. First Sears (SHLD) was under siege by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert (who subsequently became CEO in 2013) and continues to be met with investor scrutiny. And then theres J.C. Penney (JCP), which has endured the two-year war that billionaire Bill Ackman waged against its leadership. Even highly revered Terry Lundgren of Macys (M) is being pressured by activist firm Starboard to strike real estate deals. And now Kohls (KSS) is the latest to face the harsh glare of underperformance. On Sunday The Wall Street Journal reported that Kohls is considering taking the company private or even the possibility of a breakup. Kohls has been criticized for its heavy reliance on its owns brands (that havent been popular) and slowness to adapt to the ecommerce space, Morningstar equity analyst Bridget Weishaar wrote in a research note about the company. In an attempt to address some of these concerns, CEO Kevin Mansell launched the Greatness Agenda in the fall of 2014, particularly focusing on a new customer loyalty program and an expanded beauty department (the store didnt really have one before). And it boasted what it called a clear purpose: To inspire and empower families to lead fulfilled lives. Investors werent impressed -- shares are down 17% over the past 12 months -- but have climbed more than 2% since the reports about going private and are now at about $50. In her research note, Weishaar points out that the discount retail space has been flooded with competition, most notably through growth of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross, and Nordstrom Rack. She has a price target of $60 on the stock, which is based on average annual revenue growth of about 1.5% over the next five years. In the face of increased competition, a major draw for companies like Sears to go private is their belief that the business is undervalued and they can make changes as they see fit -- without being under the watch of activist shareholders. Story continues This reasoning is reminiscent of Dells $24.9 billion deal to take itself private in 2013. A year after the deal was completed, Michael Dell penned an op-ed that is essentially one big sigh scream of relief. He wrote: Privatization has unleashed the passion of our team members who have the freedom to focus first on innovating for customers in a way that was not always possible when striving to meet the quarterly demands of Wall Street. Though Dell didnt name names, its hard to forget that Carl Icahn was the lead hijacker among the small group of vocal investors Dell mentioned. The outspoken activist investor even created a Twitter account (and used some poetic license) to make his lambasting of Michael Dell as public as possible. All would be swell at Dell if Michael and the board bid farewell. Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) July 24, 2013 In an interview with CNBC in November 2013, Dell said, They were just trying to talk the price up...The person in question didnt own a share of the stock until after the deal was announced and had no long-term intentions or good intentions for the company or its shareholders. So did the arduous path to privatization pay off? From Dells perspective, a definitive yes. In December 2015 the company publicly disclosed its quarterly financial results for the first time since going private. Though revenue declined by 6% year-over-year in its quarter ended in July, revenues were up 5% for fiscal year that ended January 2015. Notably, it included the details of a $67 billion deal to buy cloud computing company EMC, which Dell noted might not have been feasible in todays environment for public companies. Michael Dell teamed up with private equity firm Silver Lake to take the company private at $13.65 a share, which was a 25% premium over its closing price before news leaked of a potential buyout. That means for average investors, despite Icahns disgruntlement, the price should have been palatable. Dell ultimately says the bid was the highest price available for its buyout. Dells saga could be a snapshot look into the future of Kohls. If and when the deal is actually announced, how much would Kohls be worth? In a research note, Stifel Nicolaus retail analyst Richard Jaffe said Kohls could be worth up to $95 a share, which represents about an 89% premium to its current price. If that were to be the case, shareholders would be satisfied, though hungry activists might find it a prime target to pursue. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Wednesday pushed China to back harsh sanctions on Pyongyang over its latest nuclear test, as troops fired at a suspected North Korean drone that crossed the tense inter-Korean border. The defence ministry said the drone effected a brief incursion, but then swiftly returned to the North side when South Korean troops fired a series of warning shots. Any shooting on what is probably the world's most heavily militarised border is rare and a cause for concern, but there was no exchange of fire with the North Korean side and the incident showed no immediate sign of escalating. But it fuelled already heightened tensions on the frontier, where the South has been blasting high-decibel propaganda broadcasts into the North as punishment for last week's nuclear test. Earlier in the day, President Park told an annual press conference that the test was an "unacceptable challenge" to global security that had to be met with unprecedented severity. "The international community's countermeasures... must differ from the past," Park said. As well as working with the United Nations to adopt the "strongest" resolution to penalise North Korea, Seoul would also discuss additional "punitive sanctions" with the United States and its allies, she added. - China must 'act' - The president stressed that China, North Korea's main ally and economic benefactor, would be critical in securing an effective Security Council resolution. Noting Beijing's public admonishments of Kim's regime over its nuclear programme, Park said it was time for China to move beyond rhetoric. "I believe China is aware that if its strong determination is not put into actual, necessary actions, we will not be able to prevent a fifth or sixth nuclear test," she said. Her comments echoed those last week of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had urged China to take a tougher line with North Korea, warning in a call to his Beijing counterpart that it cannot be "business as usual". Story continues North Korea says last week's test was of a miniaturised hydrogen bomb -- a claim largely dismissed by experts who argue the yield was far too low for a full-fledged thermonuclear device. But whatever the nature of the device, it was North Korea's fourth nuclear test since 2006, and further evidence of Pyongyang's intention to continue developing its nuclear weapons capability in the face of international censure. "An additional North Korean provocation can take place any time," Park said, adding that Seoul and Washington were discussing the transfer of further US "strategic assets" to the peninsula. A nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber flew a highly-visible mission to the peninsula on Sunday, and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, as well as B-2 stealth bombers and F-22 stealth fighter jets, are understood to be among the additional deployments being considered. - Nuclear war clouds - In a meeting with his nuclear scientists in Pyongyang on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said the talk of sanctions and movement of strategic weapons was "bringing dark clouds of a nuclear war" to the peninsula. And he urged them to build up a nuclear force "capable of making nuclear strikes at the US-led imperialists anytime," the official KCNA news agency reported. The North's military muscle-flexing was slightly deflated Wednesday by expert analysis of its most recent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test in December. Pyongyang hailed the test as a great success and released a video which, researchers at the at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies concluded, had been heavily manipulated and edited to cover up a "catastrophic" failure. North Korea "manipulated the footage in an attempt to obscure this result, but one clip plays for two frames too long. The rocket appears to explode," said Catherine Dill, a research associate at the centre. Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait's parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a request by the oil-rich Gulf state's government for $10 billion in additional funds for military spending during the next 10 years. Defence Minister Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah said the money, which is to be placed in a special fund outside the budget, would be used to purchase new fighter jets, tanks and air defence systems. Sheikh Khaled said it was time to modernise the army's weapons since existing ones were bought more than two decades ago. The funds would be withdrawn from state reserves. The government had earlier requested double the amount but later settled on $10 billion with the promise to include additional funds within the annual budgets when needed and depending on the financial situation, Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh told parliament. Kuwait is looking to upgrade its firepower amid increased security concerns in the region linked to the rise of the jihadist Islamic State group and sectarian conflicts. The emirate is a member of the US-led coalition that has been bombing IS targets in Syria and Iraq since last year and is also taking part in a Saudi-led coalition pounding Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. But it is unclear if the additional funds are also linked to those operations. The government does not publish specific figures for its defence budget. Several reports have recently linked Kuwait to several arms deals amid regional turmoil. The Eurofighter consortium said in September that Kuwait agreed to buy 28 Typhoon warplanes in a deal worth 7-8 billion euros ($8-9 billion). In November, Kuwait signed 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) worth of fixed and provisional military deals led by the purchase of 24 Airbus-built Caracal helicopters. Paris said Kuwait would purchase the helicopters for 1.0 billion euros, with an option for a further six. Further deals included provision of French light armoured vehicles and patrol boat maintenance. Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait's Shiite lawmakers boycotted parliament Wednesday, a day after a mass sentencing of members of the minority to prison or death for belonging to an Iran-linked cell. All nine Shiite MPs stayed away from the national assembly, which held a secret debate on the impact of regional conflicts on Kuwait, following attacks on Sunni-ruled ally Saudi Arabia's diplomatic missions in Iran. One of them, Saleh Ashour, said: "The anger of Kuwaiti Shiites has reached its peak in recent days with followers of a complete sect" being accused of acting as "agents for Iran and being members of (Lebanese Shiite militia) Hezbollah." At the same time, authorities are failing to take action against people taking part in fighting in Iraq and Syria, Ashour said on Twitter, a reference to members of Sunni jihadist groups. Abdulhameed Dashti, another Shiite legislator, wrote on Twitter that he was boycotting the 50-seat parliament for the day. Sunni MP Ahmad al-Azemi told reporters that "Shiite MPs boycotted the session in protest against the verdicts." "They are sending a message which we reject. Court verdicts must be respected," said Azemi, who also called on the government to expel the Iranian ambassador. The unprecedented boycott comes after a lower court on Tuesday sentenced 22 people, all but one of them Kuwaiti Shiites, who were charged with spying for Iran and plotting attacks in the Gulf country. Two defendants, including an Iranian tried in absentia, were sentenced to death while 19 were handed jail terms ranging from five years to life. Another was fined 5,000 dinars ($16,500) while three were acquitted. The court said the cell members had links with Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Shiites form around 30 percent of Kuwait's native population of 1.3 million. The oil-rich emirate has witnessed a rise in sectarian tensions due to regional strife. Following the debate, parliament said it rejected practices that "undermine the security of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)," and expressed "total and unlimited support for Saudi Arabia." Kuwait recalled its ambassador from Iran to protest the attacks on the Saudi missions, and summoned Tehran's ambassador to express its disapproval. The attacks, carried out by protesters angry at Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, prompted Riyadh to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Nick Kyrgios will be fit for next week's Australian Open despite pulling out of his Kooyong Classic match against David Goffin with a foot injury on Wednesday. The outspoken Australian had called for a medical time out at 3-2 in the first set of the exhibition event before winning it in a tiebreaker against his Belgian opponent and called for the trainer again at 1-1 in the second. The world number 30 carried on briefly but opted to quit at the next changeover while trailing 3-2. "Hate withdrawing, so sorry to everyone @KooyongClassic," Kyrgios posted on Twitter. "I just have to make sure I'm right for next week & I will be." Kooyang Classic tournament physiotherapist Rob Hanna said the Australian had a soft tissue inflammation and that he would be fine with rest and ice packs. "It was there a little bit this morning when he hit up before the match," Hanna was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press. "He got to 2-3 in the first set and said he noticed it a bit more and that's why he called me out." Kyrgios, 20, is in good form, having helped Australia win the mixed-team Hopman Cup event in Perth last week, where he beat British world number two Andy Murray. The Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year, begins in Melbourne on Monday with Kyrgios aiming to improve on his quarter-final appearance last year. (Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly/John O'Brien) Ever since Ammon Bundy and his group of antigovernment protesters first arrived in Harney County, Ore., several months ago, Sheriff David Ward says reports of vandalism, harassment, and intimidation against local law enforcement and other members of the community have been on the rise. And now, as their armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge enters its second week, reports of such behavior are continuing to flow in. While not direct physical threats, these activities are clearly designed to try to intimidate, Ward said, in a statement released Monday. In addition to seeing strangers drive slowly or idle outside their homes, Ward said U.S. Fish and Wildlife employees and their families in particular have reportedly been approached by self-identified militia members attempting to engage them in debates about their status as federal employees. Many of these confrontations are taking place as their employees are grocery shopping, running errands with their families and trying to lead their day-to-day lives, Ward said. SLIDESHOW Armed militia standoff in Oregon >>> U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Megan Nagel confirmed in an email to Yahoo News that as folks from out of town arrived over the past few weeks, harassment of our employees has increased. Nagel said that while staff is continuing to work on other duties from other locations, to the best of their abilities, all conservation activities on the refuge have been suspended in light of the occupation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been in close communication and planning with its employees to ensure that they and their families remain safe, Nagel said. Ward himself has also described being subjected to similar acts of intimidation. He said he received death threats via email and, at a community meeting last week, told Harney County residents that his parents had been followed in their car and that his wife left town after her tires were slashed. Story continues In his Monday statement, Ward specifically noted the recent arrival over the weekend of out-of-state members of like-minded groups like the 3% of Idaho and the Oath Keepers of Oregon, who showed up in response to a Call to Action from an umbrella group called the Pacific Patriots Network. They claim to be here in peace, but we continue to see behavior by some that is concerning, said Ward, who was unavailable for an interview or comment Tuesday. There are continual reports of law enforcement officers and community members being followed home; of people sitting in cars outside their homes, observing their movements and those of their families; and of people following them and their families as they move around the community. Harney County Sheriff David Ward meets with members of the Pacific Patriots Network, January 9, 2016. (Photo: Jim Urquhart/Reuters) Bundy reportedly asked the armed supporters to leave the refuge shortly after their arrival. Yahoo News reached out to representatives from the Pacific Patriots Network, 3% of Idaho, and the Oath Keepers of Oregon for comment on the sheriffs statement, as well as clarification on whether any of their members have remained in town despite being asked to leave the refuge. They could not be reached. Sheriff Ward met with Bundy on neutral ground last week, offering the group safe passage out of town if they would agree to leave. Bundy declined, later telling press that well take that offer, but not yet. Since then, neither Bundy nor any of the other occupiers have given any indication of when they plan to leave, and authorities have made no effort to get them to do so whether through negotiations or by force. Ammon Bundy (right) meets with Harney County Sheriff David Ward along a road south of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, January 7, 2016. (Photo: Jim Urquhart/Reuters) In the meantime, Bundy told reporters this week that the occupiers have been pouring through government records found inside the refuge buildings theyve seized, searching for evidence of wrongdoing against local ranchers. Members of the group were also seen using a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service backhoe to tear down part of a government fence in order to let one ranchers cattle through to graze on the refuge. Removing fences, damaging any refuge property, or unauthorized use of equipment would be additional unlawful actions by the illegal occupiers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement published by ABC News. Any movement of cattle onto the refuge or other activities that are not specifically authorized by USFWS constitutes trespassing. Exactly what kinds of consequences might eventually face Bundy and his fellow occupiers is unclear. But at a community meeting Monday, Harney County Judge Steve Grasty said he plans to make them pay for the estimated $60,000 to $70,000 a day its cost to bolster security in Harney County since the occupation began. Were going to send Mr. Bundy the bill, Grasty said. Related video: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polio vaccination centre in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, officials said, in a Taliban-claimed attack. The victims, mainly policemen, had been gathering outside the centre to accompany polio workers on the third day of a vaccination campaign which has been frequently targeted by Taliban and other Islamist militant groups in Pakistan. Quetta is the capital of the restive Balochistan province, which is also home to a separatist insurgency that has been raging since 2004. "There are 15 dead, including 12 police, one paramilitary, and two civilians," a local police official told AFP. Sarfraz Bugti, Balochistan home minister added: "So far 15 people have been injured in the blast, seven of whom are in critical condition." An AFP reporter at the site saw three burned out vehicles that had been blown up in the explosion, while human remains lay strewn across the area, along with items of clothing including the caps and shoes of policemen. Some officials had begun to gather evidence from the scene while others were collecting body parts. Eye-witness Shabir Ahmed, a 32-year-old police constable, told AFP he had been deployed to protect a polio vaccination team that was due to leave for various neighbourhoods of Quetta at 10 am. "Suddenly there was a loud bang and I fell to the ground, I could not see anything, there was dust everywhere," he said. "Then I heard people screaming and sirens of ambulances," he continued, adding he had received shrapnel wounds to his stomach, hands, legs and feet. Anwar ul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the provincial government, vowed the polio immunisation drive would continue. "We won't allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists to succeed, we will eliminate polio," he said. The attack was later claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging an insurgency against the government since 2007. Story continues "We accept the responsibility of attack on security forces in Quetta," a statement on their Facebook page said. - 'Conspiracy against Muslims' - Pakistan is one of only two countries where polio, a crippling childhood disease, remains endemic. Attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by militant attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed nearly 80 lives since December 2012. Islamist groups including the Taliban say the polio vaccination drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims. In 2014 the number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years, falling to 52 in 2015. The most recent attack came in November last year, when unknown gunmen shot and killed the head of an immunisation programme in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district of Swabi. Islamist opposition to all forms of inoculation mounted after the CIA organised a fake vaccination drive to help track down Al-Qaeda's former leader Osama Bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. The terror chief was killed during a US special forces raid in 2011. Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but most impoverished province, is also home to a raging insurgency that has claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and militants since it re-ignited in 2004, with rebels often attacking government installations and personnel. The province's roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth. (Reuters) - Canada's Magna International Inc said Wednesday it expected total sales to rise an estimated 10 to 11 percent this year, helped by recent acquisitions including that of German transmission parts maker Getrag. Magna said it expects total sales of between $34.6 billion and $36.3 billion in 2016, up from an estimated $31.3 billion to $32.6 billion in November 2015. Magna Chief Financial Officer Vince Galifi said the company would be open to making future acquisitions, even as it expects Getrag to generate stronger sales for Magna through 2018, especially in Asia. "We expect to continue to pursue M&A opportunities," he told analysts. Galifi and Magna CEO Don Walker were speaking at the Deutsche Bank 2015 Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit. The Aurora, Ontario-based company, which also assembles vehicles under contract, said it expected capital spending of $1.8 billion to $2.0 billion in the year ahead, compared with an estimated $1.5 billion last year. Magna said its operating margin was likely to be in the high 7-percent range. The company had said in November it expected an operating margin of 7.7 percent in 2015. In a note to clients, Canaccord Genuity analyst David Tyerman said Magna's 2016 and 2018 guidance "appears only slightly lower than our expectations." Tyerman had estimated an operating margin of 8.3 percent. Magna, whose customers include General Motors Co , Volkswagen AG , BMW and Ford Motor Co , said in November that operational problems at three of its North American plants would spill into the first half of 2016. Problems at the metalforming plants, two in Canada and one in the U.S., continued to generate losses during the fourth quarter, but should be corrected by year's end, the company said. Magna said it expected total sales of $34.6 billion to $36.3 billion this year. In November, the company forecast 2015 sales of $31.3 billion to $32.6 billion. Galifi said the company is looking at strategies to grow in new technologies such as driver assistance features popular in the burgeoning connected car market. "We do want to be bigger in the area," he said. "It's a very active discussion internally." Magna shares traded 1.86 percent higher at C$51.50 in early afternoon trading in Toronto. (Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Ted Kerr and G Crosse) If there was a theme to Ricky Gervaiss performance at Sundays Golden Globe Awards, it was that pop cultures purported transgender moment is awfully funny. He pretended that he thought Eddie Redmayne, who plays a transgender woman in The Danish Girl, was actually female. He speculated about what Jeffrey Tambor does with his testicles on Transparent. And toward the beginning of his monologue, Gervais said that he himself had changed a lot in a year, but not as much as Bruce Jenner, obviously. There was a short pause. Some laughter from the audience. Then a follow-up joke. She became a role model for trans people everywhere, showing great bravery in breaking down barriers and destroying stereotypes. She didnt do a lot for women drivers, but you cant have everything, can ya? Some online reactions called Gervaiss routine transphobic, and on Tuesday, Gervais responded. Suggesting a joke about Caitlin Jenner is automatically transphobic is like suggesting a joke about Bill Cosby is automatically racist, he wrote on Twitter. A few hours later: I made a joke about Caitlyn Jenner killing someone in her car. Im #TransportPhobic. Recommended: The End of Al Jazeera America Gervais is right that its silly to label every joke about a trans person as transphobic. He also has a pretty good case that the car joke wasnt hurtful to trans people. It was hurtful to Jenners reputation, perhaps (though its not like the fatal car crash at issue went unpublicized), and also to anyone who suspects that a good way to help end stereotypes about women is to stop making jokes that rely on them. Yet Gervaiss defense misses the point of the annoyance he sparked (yes, annoyance: Many comedians who face any sort of criticism like to say theyve offended and outraged entire nations, but that often gives them too much credit). The regressive part of his Jenner routine was in the first joke, the one where he played for laughs the mere fact that Bruce was now called Caitlin. Story continues Thats fundamentally the same joke he made about Tambor and Redmayne. Theres not a lot to it. Its content, simply, is this: Its funny when people previously seen as men change themselves to be seen as women. This supposed punchline, as should become clear to anyone who thinks about it for a moment, results from and feeds the stigmas that trans people face. The idea that presenting as something other than the gender you were told you had at birth is a fundamentally hilarious propositionwhether because of the methods involved or because of the intentions behind doing sois a very obvious sign of devaluation. The very work of Jenner, Tambor, and Redmayne, not to mention the many transgender writers and advocates across media, is in part about explaining and combating this fact. Recommended: What Happens When a Video Game's World Ends? Gervaiss joke is also among the most elemental joke kinds there are: the joke of difference. It stems from the idea that the otherwhatever the other may be to the speaker and the audienceis inherently freaky. It accounts for part (and only part) of the perceived humor in blackface, or mocking accents, or any number of other worn-out tropes that routinely upset swaths of the population just trying to live their lives. It is also usually not a very good joke, both because people have heard it so many times and because it reinforces something thats definitionally boringthe status quo. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Maryland man who prosecutors say traveled to Somalia to join the Islamist militant group al Shabaab and fought against Kenyan soldiers pleaded not guilty to U.S. terrorism charges on Wednesday. Maalik Alim Jones, 31, entered his plea in a soft voice in federal court in Manhattan, two days after prosecutors announced his indictment on five counts including that he conspired to provide material support to al Shabaab. "We intend to go ahead and fight these charges," Irving Cohen, his lawyer, told reporters after the hearing. If convicted at trial, Jones faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum term of life. Al Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government and impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has links to al Qaeda and has carried out attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia. According to authorities, Jones, who was born and lived in Maryland, traveled in 2011 to Kenya. Once there, authorities said, he traveled by taxi to Somalia, where he was brought to an al Shabaab training camp. Jones subsequently trained with al Shabaab for three months, reading and interpreting the Koran and learning how to handle weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and rocket-propelled grenades, authorities said. Following his training, Jones became a member of a specialized fighting force within the militant group known as Jaysh Ayman that carried out attacks and raids across the border in Kenya, prosecutors said. He participated in a battle against Kenyan soldiers in the Somali town of Afmadow, where he was injured by a missile, resulting in him being hospitalized, Jones told authorities, according to court papers. Jones also appeared in at least two al Shabaab videos, including one with fighters who participated in a June 14, 2015, attack on a Kenyan Defense Force base in Lamu County, Kenya, in which two Kenyan soldiers were killed, prosecutors said. He was taken into custody by Somali authorities on Dec. 7 while he was attempting to procure a boat to depart for Yemen, authorities said. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Tom Brown) President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will welcome business owners, activists and heroes when Obama delivers his final State of the Union tonight. From a 12-year-old hunger activist (pictured) to Vietnam War veterans, from small business owners to the CEO of Microsoft, the Obamas will have 23 official guests in all. In addition, there will be one seat left vacant in honor of victims of gun violence because, according to the White House, they need the rest of us to speak for them. Also Read: Obama Warns Democratic Candidates Not to Oppose Gun Control in NY Times Op-Ed The White House has full bios on each of the guests. Heres a whos who: Sue Ellen Allen (Scottsdale, Ariz.) Criminal Justice Reformer A former prison inmate, she founded Ginas Team, which supports women who are incarcerated in Arizona prisons and helps them give back to the community upon their release. Gloria Balenski (Schaumburg, Ill.) Letter Writer She credits the presidents economic and health care initiatives with helping her family recover after she lost her job, their sons college savings dried up, her husbands auto-industry job was threatened, and her husband suffered a heart attack. (He has recovered.) Jennifer Bragdon (Austin, Texas) Community College Student A full-time worker, wife, and mother of a 1-year-old daughter, she benefits from flexible community college programs to pursue her dream of becoming a middle school teacher. Edith Childs (Greenwood, S.C.) County Councilmember A grandmother of six, she came up with the famous Fired up! Ready to go! chant that helped propel President Obamas 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Cynthia Cindy K. Dias (Las Vegas, Nev.) Veterans Homelessness Advocate A Vietnam veteran and nurse, she lost her home and job due to post-traumatic stress but moved into Veterans Village, a Las Vegas non-profit where she became a major force in supporting and housing all homeless veterans in Las Vegas. Story continues Mark Davis (Washington, D.C.) Small Business Owner The founder of WDC Solar, he trains low-income residents of the nations capital to install solar panels and prepare for green tech jobs. Cary Dixon (Huntington, W.Va.) Opioid Reform Advocate The mother of an adult who has a substance abuse disorder, she speaks out on eliminating the stigma that is often attached to those affected by substance abuse. Lydia Doza (Klamath Falls, Ore., and Anchorage, Alaska) STEM Advocate A student at Oregon Tech, she encourages Native American children to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Refaai Hamo (Troy, Mich.) Syrian Refugee The Ph.D. holder, who now lives in Michigan, gained attention on the website Humans of New York for his story of struggle after a Syrian government bomb killed seven of his family members, including his wife, and he failed to find work or medical care in Turkey, where he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Lisa Jaster (Houston, Texas) Ranger School Graduate The engineer and mother of two, a 2000 graduate of West Point, was on active duty in the Middle East for seven years before she became just the third woman to graduate from Ranger School and the first female Army Reserve officer to do so. Mark Luttrell (Shelby County, Tenn.) Shelby County Mayor The longtime corrections and law enforcement leader is a Republican mayor who has worked to reform the criminal justice system through rehabilitation programs and special courts for cases involving drugs, mental health and veterans. Dannel P. Malloy (Hartford, Conn.) Connecticut Governor The governor has successfully implemented many of the presidents key progressive initiatives, including the Affordable Care Act, gun control and a $10.10 minimum wage. Braeden Mannering (Bear, Del.) Hunger Activist A 12-year-old sixth grader in Delaware (pictured), he started the non-profit Braes Brown Bags (3B) to give homeless and low-income residents of his community healthy food and empower young people to take the lead on hunger relief and healthy eating. Satya Nadella (Bellevue, Wash.) Microsoft CEO The powerful tech exec has overseen Microsofts initiatives to expand computer-science education and offer substantial paid leave to new parents. Jim Obergefell (Cincinnati, Ohio) Civil Rights Activist An accidental activist, his name became famous when the Supreme Court upheld marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case in which he was the lead plaintiff. Kathleen OToole (Seattle, Wash.) Seattle Police Chief For the past two years, she has worked to improve the Seattle Police Departments work in community policing, including initiatives involving body cameras and better officer morale. Ryan Reyes (San Bernardino, Calif.) Activist His partner, Larry Daniel Kaufman, a job trainer for adults with developmental disabilities, was on his lunch break when terrorists attacked the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino; Kaufman saved four people before he was shot and killed. Ronna Rice (Greeley, Colo.) Small Business Owner She is the CEO of the family business Rices Lucky Clover Honey, which has been in operation since 1924 and recently expanded in Asia, creating growth and job opportunities. Cedric Rowland (Chicago, Ill.) Affordable Care Act Navigator As the lead navigator for Near North Health Service Corporation in Chicago, he works with people to find the best and most affordable health care plans under Obamacare. Naveed Shah (Springfield, Va.) Veteran A native of Saudi Arabia, he immigrated to the U.S. with his Pakistani parents, grew up in the D.C. suburbs and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2006, after which he served in Iraq. Earl Smith (Austin, Texas) Veteran The veteran met Barack Obama on the campaign trail in 2008, when he gave the then-candidate a military patch that he had worn while serving in an artillery brigade in Vietnam and kept for four decades. Spencer Stone (Sacramento, Calif.) U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant, Hero He received a Purple Heart and a promotion for his heroics in preventing, along with three others, a terrorist attack on board a train bound for Paris last August, an event that made global headlines. Oscar Vazquez (Fort Worth, Texas) Veteran, Dreamer and STEM Leader He moved to the Phoenix, Ariz., from Mexico at age 12, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University but couldnt find work without legal status. After he got a green card in 2010, he enlisted in the Army served a tour in Afghanistan, and is now a U.S. citizen. Related stories from TheWrap: 'CBS This Morning's' Gayle King to Interview President Obama, First Lady on Super Bowl Sunday Obama Warns Democratic Candidates Not to Oppose Gun Control in NY Times Op-Ed 'American Sniper' Widow Challenges President Obama on Gun Control: 'Very Tough Pill to Swallow' (Video) By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hollywood star Sean Penn lied when he reported that Mexican kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman told him he is the world's foremost drugs trafficker, and he should be called to testify, one of Guzman's lawyers said on Wednesday. Guzman was recaptured on Friday, six months after staging a spectacular prison break through a tunnel in his cell floor. While on the run, Guzman met secretly with Penn at a jungle hideout - a move the government says was "essential" to his capture. Penn published an article in Rolling Stone magazine on Saturday in which he quotes Guzman boasting about his drug shipments and laundering money through major Mexican and foreign companies. (http://rol.st/1PXKv56) "Its a lie, absurd speculation from Mr Penn," Juan Pablo Badillo, one of a team of Guzman lawyers, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "In a way, yes, it does complicate it (his defense). Mr Penn should be called to testify to respond about the stupidities he has said," Badillo added. He said that based on years of working Guzman, he was certain he would not make such a self-incriminating statement. "He (Guzman) could not have made these claims... Mr Guzman is a very serious man, very intelligent," Badillo said. "Where's the proof? Where's the audio?" Neither Penn's publicist nor Rolling Stone replied to requests for comment on Wednesday. In the article, Penn said he was not allowed to record his in-person conversation with Guzman. The Mexican fugitive later sent Penn a 17-minute video of answers after security issues stymied plans to hold a follow-up interview in person, and it does not contain the reported comments. Penn, who met Guzman along with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, wrote that Guzman proudly volunteered information on his illegal activities. "I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats," Penn quoted Guzman as saying. A government spokesman said on Tuesday that Mexico was not directly investigating Penn or del Castillo but rather the circumstances around the meeting. Instant messages among Guzman, one of his lawyers and del Castillo published by local paper Milenio on Wednesday show that the kingpin initially had no idea who Penn was. They also show Guzman and del Castillo flirting. BID TO AVOID SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Badillo said he was poised to file a legal challenge on behalf of Guzman, whom he has represented since 1993, against his being held in isolation. He rejected the government's assertion that Guzman was being moved regularly from cell to cell as a security precaution. The legal challenge is not a new tactic for Guzman's lawyers. Badillo filed seven previously during Guzman's incarceration and after his escape. Badillo successfully filed a challenge while Guzman was on the run seeking to bar security forces from killing him as they sought to capture him. He declined to elaborate on his wider legal defense strategy, which is aimed at avoiding Guzman's extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on an array of charges. Mexican daily Milenio late on Tuesday published alleged private messages between del Castillo and Guzman. Badillo said he believed reports about them having a close relationship were "pure speculation." Badillo said he saw no conflict in accepting payment for legal services from a wanted drug trafficker, saying all Mexican's have a right to a defense in court. He declined to say how much Guzman pays him. (With reporting by Simon Gardner, Anahi Rama and Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City and Jill Serjeant in New York; Editing by Christine Murray and Cynthia Osterman) By Michael O'Boyle and Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein CULIACAN/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's public enemy No. 1, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was nabbed last week after a gunfight and high speed getaway bid. But his more discreet partner is flourishing, moving tonnes of drugs to the United States and laundering the profits at home. Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada jointly heads the powerful Sinaloa cartel and, with Guzman behind bars again and facing possible extradition to the United States, it falls to Zambada to maintain the gang's ranking as the world's largest. In the past few years, Mexican security forces have captured or killed almost all the leading kingpins who had dominated drug trafficking over the last two decades. Guzman, the most prominent of all, was recaptured on Friday, six months after his second escape from maximum security prison. That leaves Zambada, 68, as the most senior capo still standing. "He is the patriarch," said Antonio Mazzitelli, the U.N. representative on drugs and crime in Mexico. Zambada was listed as a defendant in a U.S. case as long ago as 1978, when Colombia's Pablo Escobar was just starting his trafficking career. Unlike Escobar, who was shot dead in 1993, Zambada has never been arrested and is still selling cocaine. For the past eight years, the U.S. Treasury Department has designated a business network owned by his ex-wife and children as a money-laundering front. But most of the companies are still open. There are two secrets to his success, experts say. He keeps a low profile and spends heavily on alliances with politicians and police. "Zambada is very careful," said Javier Valdez, a founder of Sinaloan weekly newspaper Riodoce, describing him as a man who rarely travels and avoids big cities. "He controls the Sinaloan police; he has businesses in many sectors." Rarely photographed, Zambada keeps away from the limelight. In Culiacan, the beating heart of Mexican drug trafficking and the center of his power, his presence is felt everywhere, although he is rarely seen. Children grew up drinking Santa Monica milk from a dairy the United States said was a front organization. Others pass through the kindergarten, aquatic park and shopping center owned by relatives and associates. At the kindergarten and dairy nobody would speak on record. One kindergarten employee denied the business had a connection to Zambada. At the dairy, asked about ownership, a manager said: "That's a delicate subject." In the small town of Salado, rumored to be Mayo's home turf, locals warned Reuters reporters not to pry into Zambada's life. "Don't even mention his name," an old woman selling tortillas hissed. Zambada was born in a village nestled among low mountains called El Alamo, on the outskirts of Culiacan. Until recently he was known to arrive there to hand out money and children's' gifts at Christmas, in the style of old drug lords. In a rare interview to Mexican news magazine Proceso in 2010, Zambada said he had come close to arrest on four occasions, crawling through river beds to flee soldiers. On the whole, he said, he was more careful than his friend Guzman. He is also more afraid of serving time, saying that he'd rather die. Guzman, by contrast, was flirting with celebrity life in the months before his capture, granting an interview to Hollywood star Sean Penn, exploring options to make a biopic of his life and even trying to register his name as a trademark. Gerardo Amarillas, police chief in the city where Guzman was captured, said a desire to be flashy and famous led to the demise of many drug lords. "It kills them, in the sense that their lifestyle carries risks," Amarillas told Reuters. BILLIONAIRES Zambada's faction of the Sinaloa cartel is a family business with sons occupying top trafficking positions and his daughters owning businesses, according to U.S. court documents and government statements. In 2013, Mexico's authorities froze two of the dairy's bank accounts. Two people currently working for Santa Monica said it now belonged to a Culiacan-based company called Nuthree. Neither Nuthree nor the dairy could be reached for official comment. Several of Zambada's relatives are in prison, including three of his sons. Others have died violently. One son, Vicente Zambada, gave dramatic testimony in a plea deal with the U.S. government in 2013 that showed how central his father was to bringing drug money back from the United States, as well as to shipping cocaine and heroin. Vicente Zambada earlier said he was a DEA informant and critics allege that by snitching on rivals he helped cement the Sinaloa cartel's dominance. Born into poverty, Ismael Zambada once said it was "stupidity" to suggest he might have enough wealth to feature in the Forbes billionaires list, like Guzman. Still, part of Vicente's plea deal was an agreement to hand over $1.3 billion in assets. The U.S. government is seeking to confiscate another $2 billion of assets shared by Zambada, Guzman and other associates, according to an indictment unsealed in 2015. In multiple indictments and statements, the U.S. government has created a picture of the elder Zambada as an astute businessmen, managing many of the cartel's financial operations. HOMEBODY While Guzman led the cartel into battle with rivals to expand its control of trafficking routes, Zambada is more closely associated with maintaining its core strength in Sinaloa state. It is too early to say what impact Guzman's arrest will have on the Sinaloa cartel, and there are rumors that his eldest son Ivan could take over. But it was Zambada who kept things running when Guzman did his two previous stints in prison. In an indictment unsealed in Illinois in September, Zambada and Guzman are named as the leaders of the cartel and accused of importing massive shipments of cocaine as well as heroin and methamphetamine into the United States. Their alliance has been extraordinarily successful and their cartel has been the main winner of a drugs war that killed more than 100,000 people since 2007. One faction of the cartel broke off until its leader was killed but, unlike other gangs, the Sinaloa cartel remains a relatively stable group. "(It) is the only real cartel; it was established and keeps on operating as an association of businessmen," said Mazzitelli. A map published last year by the Drug Enforcement Administration (http://www.dea.gov/docs/dir06515.pdf) is testimony to Sinaloa's success. Apart from Texas and New Mexico, the whole of the United States, from New York to Los Angeles, is shown as being under the influence of the Sinaloa gang. (Writing and additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Kieran Murray and Cynthia Osterman) By Suzannah Gonzales (Reuters) - The Michigan county already reeling from lead-contaminated drinking water in the city of Flint has seen a spike of Legionnaires' disease resulting in 10 deaths that may or may not be related to the water crisis, officials said on Wednesday. Genesee County, which includes Flint, had 87 cases of Legionnaires' from June 2014 to November 2015. State officials told a news conference they could not conclude that the increase was due to a switch in the source of Flint's water. "That just adds to the disaster we already are facing with respect to elevated lead levels," Governor Rick Snyder said. About half the cases were connected to Flint water and half were not, according to Nick Lyon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Legionnaires is a type of pneumonia caused by inhaling mist infected with the bacteria Legionella. The mist may come from air-conditioning units for large buildings, hot tubs or showers. Genesee County and Michigan health departments are investigating the increase as are the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Snyder said. Snyder called in Michigan National Guard troops, who arrived on Wednesday to help distribute bottled water, water filters, testing kits and other supplies to Flint residents. The governor, who has been accused of waiting too long to intervene in the crisis, also requested support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has appointed a disaster recovery coordinator to help Michigan. Financially strapped Flint was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched its source of tap water to the nearby Flint River in April 2014 from Detroit's water system 60 miles (100 km) to the southeast to save money. Flint returned to the Detroit water system in October after tests found some children had elevated levels of lead in their blood and lead was found in higher-than-acceptable levels in the water. The city said in December lead levels remained well above acceptable levels. Snyder has apologized for the state's mishandling of the situation and declared a state of emergency in Genesee County to bring in additional state resources. Last week, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit said it was investigating the lead contamination of Flint's water. Flint residents have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city and state of endangering their health. MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A Minnesota philosophy professor pleaded guilty on Wednesday to trafficking in rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory in violation of U.S. laws that protect endangered species, prosecutors said. Yiwei Zheng, 43, a St. Cloud State University professor, was accused of importing and exporting horns and ivory and objects made from ivory, sometimes acquiring the items through online auctions and selling them to buyers in China, prosecutors said. He could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined $500,000. Sentencing is scheduled for May 9 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. U.S. law prohibits the import, export, transportation, purchase or sale of endangered species. Zheng pleaded guilty to smuggling ivory from the United States to China in April 2011 and exporting rhino horns in July 2010, knowingly in violation of the endangered species act, prosecutors said. "Cases like this are important to curb the market for rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory to help ensure the survival of those species across the globe," Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Provinzino said in a statement. Zheng operated an online business called Crouching Dragon Antiques in which some of the objects sold were made with ivory and rhino horn, prosecutors said. The value of illegal transactions documented in the case was up to $1.5 million, prosecutors said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Chicago identified a parcel in May 2011 that Zheng was shipping to Shanghai at a listed value of $35, prosecutors said. They said a wildlife inspector found that the package contained carvings from ivory and investigators determined that they were worth nearly $7,000. Zheng also bought rhino horns from a person in Florida for more than $20,000 and sent them illegally to China, where they were sold at auction for about $68,000, prosecutors said. Rhino horn sells at street prices higher than gold in Vietnam where a belief, which has no basis in science, has grown in the past few years that it can cure cancer. Though the ivory trade is largely curbed globally, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an estimated 100,000 African elephants were killed by poachers between 2010 and 2012, according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences. (Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis) By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - Direct-selling and e-commerce company Natural Health Trends Corp rejected allegations that Chinese authorities were investigating it, reversing a drop in its shares fueled by reports about raids in its offices in Beijing. The company's shares shot up as much as 22 percent to $23.30 on Wednesday, recovering from a 17 percent drop earlier in the session. Natural Health, whose subsidiaries sell personal care and wellness products under the NHT Global brand, said Chinese government authorities told the company that there was insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation. No computers or other company property had been removed from its offices by the authorities. The stock has fallen 50 percent this year, with volume soaring since Jan. 7 after reports that China's government was investigating the Los Angeles County, California-based company for violating multi-level marketing laws. Natural Health said on Wednesday its staff attorney and branch manager met with the Beijing Chaoyang District State Administration For Industry & Commerce (SAIC) and the Public Security Bureau at its Beijing office on Monday. Several public security officials also visited the company's Guangzhou office as part of a routine examination on Wednesday. The Guangzhou office is applying for a direct selling license, the company said. The company said it believes that some Chinese accusers, working in tandem with parties making online posts, have been aggressively pressing the Beijing City government to conduct an investigation of the company. The stock had fallen 9 percent or more in eight of the past 12 sessions, coinciding with a rout in Chinese stock markets. The Shanghai composite index is down 16.7 percent so far in 2016. On Tuesday, traders and financial publications shared online links to photos that they said showed State Administration for Industry and Commerce officials inside the office of NHT Global in Beijing on Monday. Reuters has not been able to confirm the raid report, and the SAIC was not immediately available for comment. The company also said on Wednesday that it has raised its stock repurchase program to $70 million from $15 million. Shares of $10 million have already been bought back. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Don Sebastian) By Abdoulaye Massalaki NIAMEY (Reuters) - Four people arrested for ties to an attempted coup in Niger in December have confessed to the plot and asked for clemency, the defence minister said on Wednesday. At least 13 people, including a civilian, had been arrested, Defence Minister Mahamadou Karidio said. Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou said on national television on Dec. 17 that the coup had been foiled. There have been several coups in the landlocked West African nation, which the West sees as an important ally against terrorism, since independence from former colonial ruler France in 1960. Issoufou took power a year after a coup in 2011. He is expected to win a second term in a February election but critics have said he has become increasingly authoritarian. Karidio added that Hama Amadou, a principal opposition figure and presidential candidate, had been questioned as part of the investigation. Lawyers went on a 24-hour strike on Monday to protest against what they called arbitrary detentions by the secret service, which the bar association said was denying access to clients. "I can confirm with honour that at least four people have confessed to having prepared a coup d'etat, starting with their leader," Karidio told journalists on Wednesday. "They asked for clemency." Karidio did not name those said to have confessed but said a head of an artillery battalion, an air base commander and the army's former inspector-general were among those arrested. Family members of the accused were not immediately available for comment. The defence minister said the presumed head of the botched coup plot had a list naming 10 other officers, but it was not yet clear whether they were involved. Another 10 civilians and three customs officers were under investigation for ties to the plot, Karidio said. Military sources said they were being held for questioning by the president's secret service. Amadou, once a friend to the president, was arrested upon his return from exile in November on suspicion of ties to a baby-trafficking ring. On Jan. 9 he was authorised to stand in elections but was denied release from prison two days later. (This version of the story corrects attribution in 12th paragraph) (Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama on Wednesday discussed the situations in the Middle East, Ukraine and on the Korean Peninsula in a phone conversation, the Kremlin press service said. The two leaders agreed that the recent nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, if confirmed, is a gross violation of the United Nations Security Council's resolutions, and must be given tough international response. Pyongyang said last Wednesday that it had successfully tested its first H-bomb. It marks the fourth nuclear tests in total, after atomic bomb detonations in 2006, 2009 and 2013. On the protracted conflict in eastern Ukraine, Putin emphasized that Kiev must fully abide by its obligations under the Minsk agreement, conduct direct dialogue with Donbass, coordinate constitutional reform with the region, and bring into force laws on special status and amnesty. On the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Putin stressed the need to form a broad coalition to battle the IS and other extremist groups, and called for the speedy preparation of list of terrorist organizations, while noting that there should be no double standards in this vetting process. The two leaders also discussed military cooperation on fighting radical Islamism in the Middle East. With respect to the ongoing spat between Saudi Arabia and Iran triggered by Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, the leaders urged both sides to de-escalate the tensions. BERLIN (Reuters) - German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday that the security situation in Germany had not changed after a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people, mainly German tourists, in Istanbul on Tuesday. "We know Germany is also a target for terrorists and so a general danger certainly cannot be denied but at the moment there are no concrete indications of attack targets but the authorities are very, very alert," he told broadcaster ARD. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Nick Macfie) During his seventh and final State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama gave a speech that didn't shy away from a number of heavy topics. Yet one comment from the president had Twitter up in arms, and offended users tweeted en masse about what they believed to be a big gaffe on Obama's part namely, that the Middle East's problems date back thousands of years. "As someone who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, I know this is a dangerous time," Obama said. "But that's not because of diminished American strength or some looming superpower. In today's world, we're threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states." "The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia," Obama continued. The key word in question was "millennia," a timeline that was hotly debunked on Twitter in the hours after the presidential address. Actually, no, the Mid East isn't suffering a "millenia" sectarian conflict. It's stoked by selfish players seeking regional dominance. #SOTU Contemporary conflicts in the Middle East are not "millennia-old," they're the direct result of modern era imperialism & colonialism #SOTU OK, we've been had, we've been took, hoodwinked, bamboozled,run amok & condemned to endure "conflicts that date back millennia". #SOTU Also, what conflict in ME started a millennia ago? Incredible faithwashing of political situations mitigated by US/EU foreign policies #SOTU These mid east conflicts don't date back millennia, they date back to various US interventions and 'nation building' campaigns #SOTU Weakest moment of the speech is the claim that the Middle East is embroiled in conflicts that date back millennia. No. #SOTU SOTU Conflicts date back millenia? that's a long time. Not so sure about that. #Everythinghasahistory and lets get that history right In all seriousness, the idea that Middle Eastern conflicts "go back millenia" is ahistorical and dangerous. #SOTU The core problem with the representation of Middle Eastern history is, of course, that it's false. But beyond that, it could "feeds two dangerous and mistaken beliefs" to frame relations in the region in such a light, Vox reported, in that it could perpetuate a mindset about the territory that could breed misunderstandings about its people and the Muslim religion and perpetuate biases against the refugees fleeing the area in search of security. Story continues That type of representation is in stark contrast to the core themes that permeated the rest of Obama's address. At one point, Obama sublty took aim at Republican presidential hopeful and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, when he decried the candidate's position on Muslims, particularly his on Muslim immigrants entering the U.S. "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer," Obama said. "That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country." Yet despite the president's "millennia" mistake, many reacting on Twitter had positive thoughts about the message Obama was aiming to communicate to the American people and to the world. Among the topics he discussed were a dire need for political cooperation across party lines; the legacy and the future of the American government; terrorism and fear surrounding the threat of the Islamic State group, or ISIS; climate change; and international diplomacy, among other issues. Great @BarackObama speech for his last #SOTU . Must Watch it . Politics and Leadership at its best. #WHJedi https://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/687110537172234240 ... One of my favorite lines in #SOTU: "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close." -@POTUS @POTUS just made case for an even more perfect Union. #YesWeCan #NoMoreEmptyChairs #SOTU In his last #SOTU, #POTUS calls for BOTH protecting the right to vote & the integrity of the vote. @Unite4Democracy #RestoretheVRA #cwa @POTUS outlined a confident & optimistic vision for our nation. Much achieved but work remains http://1.usa.gov/1N6t5i3 #SOTU I'm glad he reminded everyone of the remarkable record of last 7 years: 14 million jobs created, 17 million getting health coverage. #SOTU Proud of our progress and the bold vision of innovation and equality that @POTUS has laid out for our nation. Let's get to work. #SOTU Meanwhile, despite Obama's call for increased understanding and cooperation across the political aisle, users reacting to the SOTU address were, perhaps unsurprisingly, starkly divided. Set aside the Union, Obama's mind is in a state of confusion, delusion and decay. #SOTU http://www.mikehuckabee.com/2016/1/huckabee-responds-to-obama-s-address ... They're rerunning the #SOTU. No human being should be forced to sit through that thing twice. #GenevaConventions @krauthammer on foreign policy in #SOTU: "It was completely disconnected from reality. He actually spoke of Syria as some kind of success." In his #SOTU @POTUS said we need to "fix our politics." He's right-but only God can fix our nation: http://on.fb.me/1mY1Gdz #DecisionAmerica Ryan on Obama: If everything were as great as he said it was, 2/3 of the American ppl wouldn't say the country is on the wrong track #SOTU I applaud Obama's optimism. But I have a real problem basing that optimism on what govt has done or is likely to do. #tcot #tlot #SOTU Despite the polarized response on Twitter, an instant poll from CBS News during the event showed that the vast majority of viewers approved of the remarks and proposals Obama made during his address earning the president a 91% approval rating on his seventh SOTU speech. Berlin (AFP) - At least 10 Germans were killed in the suicide bombing that ripped through the historic heart of Istanbul, Germany's foreign ministry said Wednesday. "I must relay the sad news that we now have 10 dead Germans among the victims" from Tuesday's attack, ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli told reporters. She said seven wounded Germans were being treated in hospital in Istanbul, five of them in intensive care. Chancellor Angela Merkel had on Tuesday reported eight dead German nationals from the blast. Chebli indicated that two more had subsequently died in hospital. It was not immediately clear whether the total toll cited by Turkish authorities remained at 10. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday after talks with his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul that there was no indication that the attack had specifically targeted Germans, adding there was no need for nationals to cancel travel plans. NEW YORK (Reuters) - North Korea's foreign minister will attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland this month, organizers said, stepping on the international stage just weeks after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in defiance of a United Nations ban. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Wednesday that Ri Su Yong would be going to the Swiss resort town of Davos for the gathering of the world's business and political elite from Jan. 20-23. North Korea last sent a delegation to the forum in 1998. South Korea is sending a delegation which the WEF said would be led by Choi Kyung-hwan. But Choi stepped down as South Korea's finance minister on Tuesday in preparation for running in parliamentary elections in April. It was unclear if he would still be going to Davos. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be attending as will U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 418-2 to pass legislation that would broaden sanctions over North Korea's nuclear program. Currently there are no plans for any bilateral meetings with the North Korean foreign minister, a spokeswoman for the WEF said. Ri spent two decades in Switzerland as ambassador and representative at the United Nations in Geneva. He acted as surrogate father to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when Kim was a student at a Swiss school. Global security will loom large at the Alpine forum, which will be attended by more than 2,500 people, including business leaders, finance ministers, central bankers, self-made billionaires and celebrities such as U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Irish musician Bono. The leaders of Argentina and Canada, both voted into office near the end of 2015, will be attending, the WEF said. British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu are also expected to attend. There will be more than 250 panel discussions and workshops ranging from "The War on Water" to "The State of Artificial Intelligence." The over-arching theme will be Mastering Fourth Industrial Revolution to look at how governments, companies and people can deal with and profit from rapid changes in technology. (Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; editing by Grant McCool) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, emphasized the need to work toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine and address the conflict in Syria, the White House said. Obama told Putin that a key next step in resolving the Ukrainian crisis was for all sides to agree on the modalities of local elections in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the White House said in a statement. The two leaders also "noted the necessity of taking steps to foster productive discussions between representatives of the Syrian opposition and regime under United Nations auspices, principally by reducing violence and addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian people," the statement said. They also discussed the "importance of a strong and united international response" to North Korea's recent nuclear test. Separately, the Kremlin said in a statement that Obama and Putin expressed support during their phone call for an easing of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by David Alexander and Sandra Maler) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said he could envision Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump giving a State of the Union address - but in a comedy skit. Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, spoke to NBC's "Today" show in interviews aired on Tuesday hours before Obama was to give the final State of the Union address of his presidency. The Democratic president was asked if he could envision Trump, the billionaire developer known for his bombastic style, making his own State of the Union speech as president. "Well, I can imagine it - in a 'Saturday Night' skit," Obama said, referring to the NBC's long-running late-night comedy show "Saturday Night Live." "Look, anything's possible. And I think, you know, we shouldn't be complacent." Biden was more wary, not ruling out a Trump victory in November's U.S. presidential election. "Yes, I think it's possible," he said. If that were to happen, Biden said, he hoped Trump would get "a lot more serious about the issues." "He is divisive I think he'd have to acknowledge that he's very divisive and that's not healthy," Biden said. "We always do best when we act as one America. We always do poorly when we appeal to our fears and our differences. In the interview, which was taped on Monday, Obama said he regretted that he has not realized his goal of unifying Americans, especially in Washington. Still, he said he did not think voters would be swayed by Trump's divisive approach. "I'm pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn't try to divide is that isn't looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating," Obama said. Trump frequently uses racially charged rhetoric. He has said he would deport all undocumented immigrants and in December called for an outright ban on Muslims entering the United States. For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, Tales from the Trail (http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/) (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Megan Cassella; Editing by Bill Trott) Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone on Wednesday, discussing crises in Ukraine and Syria, the White House said. "They spent a significant portion of their time discussing the need for the Russians to live up to the commitments that they made in Minsk -- to end their support for separatists that are destabilizing Ukraine right now," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels agreed a new truce deal Wednesday that goes into immediate effect and replaces one broken just hours after its signature at the end of last month. Kiev's pro-Western leaders and the insurgents are fighting over an industrial region the approximate size of Wales that is home to about 3.5 million people and the center of the splintered former Soviet nation's coal and steel wealth. Russia firmly denies allegations of orchestrating and backing the war in order to keep some leverage over Ukraine in the wake of its decision to establish closer trade and political relations with the European Union. Earnest also said that Obama and Putin have also discussed ongoing efforts to end Syria's brutal civil war. They discussed the "effort to try to bring about a political transition inside of Syria." "Both the United States and Russia have a vested interest in seeing that occur." By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged to undertake a historic push to develop a cure for cancer, tapping Vice President Joe Biden to lead the effort. Obama, in the last State of the Union address of his presidency, said America must use its spirit of innovation to help tackle the challenge of cancer. "For the loved ones we've all lost, for the family we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once and for all," Obama said. As Biden smiled from his seat behind the president, Obama said he would put the vice president in charge of "mission control" for the effort. Biden, who lost his 46-year old son to brain cancer last year, received a standing ovation from lawmakers when Obama made the announcement. Following his son's death, Biden said he would not run for president in 2016, but he promised he would focus his remaining time in office on working on a "moon shot" to end cancer. In a blog post released during the State of the Union address, Biden said the White House would focus on increasing public and private resources to fight the disease and to improve information sharing among researchers and medical professionals. "It's personal for me," Biden said, regarding the push. He will travel on Friday to the University of Pennsylvanias Perelman School of Medicine to speak with physicians and next week he will meet with experts at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the initiative. The cancer initiative will build upon the $2 billion increase in funding approved for the National Institutes of Health last year, White House chief economist Jason Furman told reporters ahead of Obama speech. Earlier this month, private companies and academic cancer centers joined together to launch their own mission to fight cancer. The Cancer Moonshot 2020 program is aimed at developing a vaccine-based immunotherapy to combat cancer by the end of the decade. Companies involved include Celgene Corp , Amgen Inc and NantKwest Inc . In his speech, Obama also stressed that the United States should continue to help fight against disease in African countries and around the world. "Right now, we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and we have the capacity to accomplish the same thing with malaria," Obama said, noting that he would push Congress to fund this effort in 2016. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler and Lisa Shumaker) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called on Tuesday for America to fix its political system to stop the practice of gerrymandering congressional districts, reduce the influence of money in politics, and make voting easier. "Democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn't matter, that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest," Obama said, according to his prepared remarks. "Too many Americans feel that way right now. It's one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler) To put President Obamas last State of the Union speech in context, I reread his first. Placing them side-by-side illustrates not just the way Obamas agenda has changed during his terms in office, but the way Americas entire political debate has changed. The first thing that stands out is how the decline of economic terror has created space for other terrors. In 2009, Obama pleaded with Americans not to trigger a run on the banks: You should also know, he insisted, that the money youve deposited in banks across the country is safe. He talked about Americans being economically ruined: The job you thought youd retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon thats now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. By comparison, Americas current economic conditions are placid. In 2009, unemployment was the preeminent issue in American politics. Today, its one among many. In his 2009 State of the Union, Obama mentioned the word deficit 17 times. This year, he mentioned it once. Even the Republicans running to succeed him dont bring it up that much. Because of the magnitude of the fiscal crisis, economic debatesover bank bailouts, the economic stimulus, and Obamacaredominated American politics during Obamas first few years. The Tea Party focused overwhelmingly on the size of government. By contrast, the culture wars seemed like an afterthought. Obama didnt mention gun violence in his first State of the Union. He didnt mention police brutality. He didnt mention immigration. He didnt mention American Muslims. Recommended: Why Is Bernie Sanders Overtaking Hillary? He mentioned all those topics this year. As the economic crisis has receded, it has created a space that cultural anxieties now fill. Conservatives now focus on immigration in a way they havent since Pete Wilson and Pat Buchanan ran for president in 1996. Democrats stress gun control to a degree they havent since the early Clinton years. Terrorism has returned to center stage not merely because of the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, but because fear of economic calamity no longer looms so large. Story continues The decline of economic terror has created space for other terrors. The second thing that stands out when you compare Obamas first and last State of the Union speeches is the scaling back of Americas ambition in the greater Middle East. In his 2009 speech, Obama promised a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to be shepherded by a high-profile envoy, Richard Holbrooke. He also promised to seek progress toward a secure and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors, and appointed a second high-profile diplomat, George Mitchell, to pursue that. Today, the nation-building project that Holbrooke tried to launch in Afpak and the diplomatic effort that Mitchell tried to launch between Israelis and Palestinians are distant memories. In this years State of the Union, Obama mentioned neither the Israeli-Palestinian peace process nor the Afghan War. Both were ambitious, American-dominated, efforts to remake a far-off corner of the greater Middle East. This year, Obama signaled that such initiatives were a thing of the past. His speech was hardly isolationist. He mentioned Cuba and Ebola and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But the clear implication was that in the Middle East and South Asia, America has lowered its sights. These two shifts are interconnected. Obama took over a nation he considered overstretched. Americas economy, he believed, was too weak to sustain the overseas commitments George W. Bush had assumed. Seven years later, Obama has reduced those commitments, though not as much as he might have liked because of ISIS. And Americas economy is stronger. The country, in Obamas view, has regained its balance. Unfortunately for him, large chunks of the American public have not. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. President Obama promised a non-traditional State of the Union speech Tuesday night one offering an optimistic message about how the two warring political parties could set aside their differences and build together a better future. Weve done some big things together over these past seven years, and were not finished, the president assured supporters and the media in an emailed message shortly before he delivered his eighth and final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Related: Trump Plays the Birther Card on Cruz -- and Its Working While much of his speech indeed addressed the need for a cooperative effort on the economy, the environment, energy production, new technology and cancer research, Obama wasted little time in delivering a thinly-veiled rebuke to GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump for engaging in the politics of fear and unbridled attacks on minorities and immigrants. Without ever mentioning the bombastic billionaire businessman by name, Obama cautioned politicians against exploiting fear of the future and urged voters to reject those politicians who target minority groups and Muslims in the name of restoring American greatness. America has been through big changes before wars and depression, the influx of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to expand civil rights, the president said. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. With less than a month before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary formally kick off the 2016 campaign, presidential politics permeated the evening on Capitol Hill, with Obama jokingly offering to provide campaigning tips to Republican and Democratic candidates alike. Related: Cruz Wont Send Jack Boots to Deport 11.3 Million Illegal Immigrants Story continues But he grew deadly serious in criticizing Trump and other GOP candidates engaging he what he deemed the politics of fear and divisiveness. Trump, the leading GOP presidential candidate, has shocked many in both parties with his harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric, his promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, his threat to deport all 11.3 million illegal immigrants and, more recently, his proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the country in the wake of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion, the president said. This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal, it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. Related: How One Tragic Event Could Change Nikki Haleys Political Future South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India who was tapped to deliver the Republican response to Obamas speech, used part of her speech to decry the angriest voices in American politics. Haley, who gained national prominence last summer for leading her state in mourning after a white supremacist shot and killed nine parishioners in an historic black church in Charleston, cited a number of threats to the U.S., including home-grown terrorism. We are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since Sept. 11, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it, she said in a speech delivered in South Carolina. But she also spoke out against rampant anti-immigrant bias and warned that the country may be moving down a dangerous path. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices, she said in her prepared remarks. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country, she added. At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. Haley told reporters in Columbia, S.C., last month that Trumps call for barring Muslims other than U.S. citizens was absolutely un-American and unconstitutional, according to The Hill. She added that Trumps plan defies everything that this country was based on. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Washington (AFP) - The United States will launch a "moonshot" effort to cure cancer, President Barack Obama declared, assigning his deputy Joe Biden to lead the effort. Comparing the scale of the challenge to the successful US mission to put an astronaut on the moon, Obama said the drive would receive the same effort as clean energy research. "For the loved ones we've all lost, for the family we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once and for all," Obama said in his final State of the Union address. Last year, Vice President Biden's son Beau -- a politician and former military officer aged only 46 -- died after suffering a stroke caused by brain cancer. The tragedy touched many Americans, and Biden -- after shutting down speculation that he would make a run for the White House -- has since emerged as a champion of cancer research. - 'It's personal' - "It's personal for me," Biden said in a statement issued as Obama was using his address to name him the leader of the national fight. "But it's also personal for nearly every American, and millions of people around the world. We all know someone who has had cancer, or is fighting to beat it. They're our family, friends, and co-workers." Biden vowed to find ways to boost public and private funding for cancer research and treatment and to reorganize the effort, declaring: "This is our moonshot." "Over the next year, I will lead a dedicated, combined effort by governments, private industry, researchers, physicians, patients, and philanthropies to target investment, coordinate across silos, and increase access to information for everyone in the cancer community," he said. "Here's what that means: The federal government will do everything it possibly can -- through funding, targeted incentives, and increased private-sector coordination to support research and enable progress. Story continues "We'll encourage leading cancer centers to reach unprecedented levels of cooperation, so we can learn more about this terrible disease and how to stop it in its tracks." Biden described cancer as a growing threat to wider populations and already the leading cause of death worldwide. He said that more American patients would be allowed into clinical trials of new potential remedies, and more community doctors will be involved in cutting-edge research. Work on the project was to begin immediately. On Friday, Biden will visit the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine to talk to American experts. The following week, he will head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland -- an annual get-together for billionaire investors and world-class scientists seeking funding. "That is the history of the journey of this country. If theres one word that defines who we are as Americans, it's 'possibility'," Biden said. "And these are the moments when we show up." In his final State of the Union address, President Obama gave the greatest defense to date of his foreign policy strategy, and particularly his approach to the fight against ISIS, arguing his efforts had kept the country safe in a time of extraordinary change. The president took direct aim at his critics, both on Capitol Hill and on the 2016 campaign trail, who have, often in highly personal terms, bludgeoned him over his handling of world affairs. Related: The Big Challenge in Obamas Final State of the Union Address Obama said such criticism, like charges that Americas economy is in decline, is political hot air. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close, the president said. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know thats the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead. They call us. Obama devoted the lions share of the speechs foreign policy section to the war on ISIS, acknowledging the threat posed by terror groups like it and al-Qaeda. But he pushed back against the type of rhetoric that has become a trademark of the GOP presidential primary. But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands, Obama said, in what may have been a jab at Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), who have painted the conflict as a war between civilizations. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages they pose an enormous danger to civilians, they have to be stopped, but they do not threaten our national existence. The president rattled off familiar talking points about the progress being made by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, including nearly 10,000 airstrikes and reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria. He also called on lawmakers to vote on a new war powers resolution. Story continues Take a vote, he said. But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt Americas commitment or mine to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Related: ISIS Cash Goes Up in Smoke as US Targets Terror Groups Finances The president touched on other global hot spots like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa, as places where extremists are establishing safe havens. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage, he told the chamber, taking aim at Sen. Ted Cruz (TX), another Republican presidential contender who skipped the address to be on the campaign trail. In an interview with NBC News, Cruz responded by again criticizing the president for not using the words radical Islamic terrorism and not mentioning recent attacks. He didnt say a word about the Paris terror attacks. He didnt say a word about San Bernardino. He didnt say a word about the Philadelphia police officer who was shot 13 times by a terrorist pledging allegiance to ISIS, Cruz said. And I think the American people, theyre tired of having a president who will not even acknowledge the evil were facing, much less do anything serious to stop it. In his speech, Obama also made no mention of the fact that two U.S. Navy boats had been seized in the Persian Gulf by Iran and 10 sailors stand accused of spying. While the situation has yet to play itself out, the absence could come back to haunt the president. Republicans lawmakers criticized the omission. But Obamas State of the Union address was focused less on specific situations and more on broad principles about Americas leadership role in the world, as when the president once again dug in his heels against the idea of deploying U.S. forces to every country that falls into crisis. Thats not leadership; thats a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us, he said. Its the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq and we should have learned it by now. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: At his final State of the Union, President Barack Obama faced head-on what Republicans have argued is one of the most prevalent American fears: the threat from the Islamic State group, or ISIS, the terrorist organization that inspired recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Speaking before Congress and a bunch of guests, Obama asked for the approval of an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, against ISIS, which would grant him the explicit authority for continued military action against the group in Iraq and Syria. While he called "protecting Americans" the number one priority, he urged the nation to avoid building up or overstating the threat into a "World War III" a statement that earned him the ire of many conservative viewers. Obama's SOTU failed to satisfy the many skeptical conservatives who believe he's has been too soft on ISIS even with his proposed AUMF and has been downplaying the true level of their threat. GOP candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted, "Tonight's speech was less a State of the Union and more a state of denial," following with a tweet that said, "We need a president who will defeat radical Islamic terrorism." We need a president who will defeat radical Islamic terrorism. #SOTU Similarly, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said that Obama's "lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice sound bites," but fail to actually solve problems. But Obama stayed strong on his stance, asking specifically for a new AUMF. "If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL," Obama said, also adding that about 10,000 executed airstrikes have already targeted ISIS leaders, training camps and weapons. Story continues "But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hand," he said. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages -- they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That is the story ISIL wants to tell. That's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit." This is not the first time Obama has advocated for a new AUMF, which asks for limited ground troops for three years, and also repeal the previous AUMF, ABC reported. Last April, the proposal failed to gain its 218 votes, The Hill reported. Still, Obama has been bombing under the 2001 AUMF, Vox reported. But the 2001 AUMF authorized military action against al-Qaida, which split with ISIS in 2014, so it's been stirring controversy within Congress and has been somewhat of a standstill for Obama. "If you doubt America's commitment or mine to see that justice is done, just ask Osama bin Laden," Obama said. Here's a clip of Obama talking about ISIS in his State of the Union: Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself in a bitter election fight in recent days to decide the leader of his party -- even though he was the only candidate. Netanyahu pushed for an early primary vote for his Likud party, less than a year after general elections, in what analysts say was a manoeuvre to clear out potential rivals. But since he was the only contender, opponents harshly criticised the plan to hold the costly primary for the rightwing party's 100,000 members, calling it essentially a coronation for the politically savvy premier. On Wednesday, the party called off the vote and declared Netanyahu the winner. "He made sure that he is the only candidate," said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew University. "He wanted to make sure that he is the only one -- that he is going to be the head of the Likud ahead of the next elections." The early primary was the result of political gamesmanship within the Likud and reflected Netanyahu's strategy as he looks ahead to the next general election, due in 2019 at the latest, analysts say. The 66-year-old has shown himself to be a shrewd political operator. He has been in the prime minister's office for a total of nearly a decade -- fast approaching revered founding father David Ben-Gurion's 13 years. But the US-educated Netanyahu can also be divisive, and he is not without potential challengers from within his party. Welfare Minister Haim Katz, who has been aligned with Netanyahu rivals, won a vote to become chairman of Likud's powerful central committee in late December. Netanyahu at the same time pushed for approval of a February 23 primary -- less than a year after general elections held in March 2015. - 'Ludicrous' spending? - Analysts called it a move by Netanyahu to prevent the committee undermining his bid for another term. The winner of the primary -- declared to be Netanyahu on Wednesday -- will in theory be locked in as the Likud's candidate for prime minister in the next general elections. Story continues The tight timeframe before the primary vote meant it was unlikely challengers would be able to mount a credible campaign against him. When the deadline for candidates arrived Sunday, Netanyahu was confirmed as the only person in the race. That led to questions over whether the party should push ahead with the vote at an estimated cost of about four million shekels ($1 million, 935,000 euros) or simply declare Netanyahu the winner, particularly when turnout was likely to be low. "This is one of the most ludicrous ways to spend four million shekels from the state coffers," columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israeli newspaper Maariv. But there were also been reports that Netanyahu preferred a vote be held to ensure his legitimacy cannot be challenged. "If he's nominated and not elected, then two years from now some contenders can say: 'Well, you were nominated; you were not elected. Let's have primaries,'" said Bar-Ilan University political scientist Shmuel Sandler. Caspit and others argued that voters should at least be allowed to cast ballots "for" or "against" Netanyahu if an election were held, rather than turning in blank ones that count for nothing if they oppose him. Such critics in Israel's rough-and-tumble political scene even went as far as to compare his moves to that of a tin-pot dictator. - 'A brand name' - In pushing for the early primary, Netanyahu said the party must be prepared for all possibilities, with the premier heading a coalition with only a one-seat majority in parliament. But some analysts say it fits into a longer-term strategy of keeping rivals at bay and possibly luring others who have left the party back into the fold to broaden the Likud. It comes at a time when opinion polls have not been particularly kind to Netanyahu, who has faced criticism over his government's failure to halt a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that began in October. His wife Sara has also been questioned in an investigation into allegations that the couple used public funds on purchases and repairs for their private home. They have dismissed the probe as a smear campaign. In a poll released in recent days, around 32 percent said they were satisfied with Netanyahu's job performance. But the Likud finished firmly ahead of its left-wing rivals from the Zionist Union in March elections, and Netanyahu holds a nationwide stature that opponents would have trouble overcoming for now, analysts say. "They have a brand name," Sandler said of the Likud and its leader. London (AFP) - The chancellor of Britain's Oxford University on Tuesday warned history should not be rewritten to meet modern notions of what is acceptable, in an apparent rebuff to a student campaign to remove a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes. The student push to remove the statue from Oriel College has ignited a debate about Britain's colonial past and whether one of the country's most revered educational establishments should distance itself from that history. Chris Patten told a ceremony to appoint a new vice-chancellor that many of the university's greatest buildings were erected using the "proceeds of activities that would be rightly condemned today". "Education is not indoctrination," he said according to media reports, in an apparent reference to the Rhodes campaign. "Our history is not a blank page on which we can write our own version of what it should have been according to our contemporary views and prejudices." The university was not immediately available to verify the comments. Rhodes was a Victorian-era tycoon and politician who founded the De Beers diamond company, created Rhodesia -- now Zimbabwe and Zambia -- and is seen as a founding father of South Africa. Revered by some and reviled by others as a racist, his legacy remains controversial 100 years after his death -- including Oxford's Rhodes scholarship, which boasts many high-profile recipients. The campaign to remove his statue was inspired by a popular movement that forced the removal of a statue of the famous imperialist from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford group aims to "decolonise the space, curriculum, and institutional memory" of the university, and says Rhodes is currently celebrated in an uncritical way. The university has so far agreed to remove a plaque honouring him and to conduct a six-month "listening exercise" on whether to remove his statue. Story continues One of the leaders of the campaign, Ntokozo Qwabe, is himself a recipient of a Rhodes scholarship and has faced accusations of hypocrisy in the media and online. In response, nearly 200 recipients of the scholarship sent a statement to Britain's Guardian newspaper on Tuesday saying the award does not "buy our silence". "There is no clause that binds us to find 'the good' in Rhodes' character, nor to sanitise the imperialist, colonial agenda he propagated," they said. Pakistan said Wednesday it has arrested several militants belonging to the group believed to be behind a fatal attack on an Indian air base, a move that could help soothe irritated relations with New Delhi. The announcement came as Islamabad said it was considering sending a team to investigate the January 2 attack on the Pathankot air base, in what observers hailed as a "genuine" bid to salvage a nascent peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals. The attack -- a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside disputed Kashmir -- threatened to undermine improving relations with Pakistan after decades of fractious ties. It came just a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian leader to visit Pakistan in 11 years. India says the assault, which left seven soldiers dead, was carried out by the banned Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan had arrested "several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad", adding that progress was being made in the investigation. It was not clear what role they are believed to have played in the attack. Sharif's statement also said that Pakistan was considering sending a special team to Pathankot to seek "additional information" to spur the investigation, adding the decision was being made in consultation with the Indian government. It is the first time Pakistan has suggested it could send a team to join the probe into the attack. In 2008, Islamabad turned down New Delhi's demand it dispatch the head of its intelligence agency to India after Pakistani militants carried out a series of high-profile attacks across Mumbai that left 166 people dead. Security analyst Talat Masood told AFP the suggestion Pakistan could send a team shows Islamabad was making a "genuine and sincere" effort to find out who was responsible, and "wants to fully cooperate with India". Story continues Sharif's statement came after a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by top government and military officials including army chief General Raheel Sharif. Pakistan's military typically takes a hawkish attitude to India. The meeting noted "considerable progress" in the Pathankot investigation, and said the offices of Jaish-e-Mohammed -- which staged a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that brought the two countries to the brink of war -- are being sealed. "The meeting reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue," Sharif's statement said. Modi had urged his Pakistani counterpart to take "firm and immediate action" against those behind the attack, adding that New Delhi had passed on "specific and actionable information" about the incident. By David DeKok HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A 12-year-old girl was accidentally shot to death in a central Pennsylvania town by a local constable who had come to evict her family from their apartment, Pennsylvania State Police said on Tuesday. Ciara Meyer died when Constable Clarke Steele fired a single shot at her father, Donald Meyer, 57, who had pointed a rifle at him after an exchange of words, according to Trooper Rob Hicks. The bullet passed through Meyer's arm and struck the girl, who was standing behind her father. She was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident that took place in Duncannon, about 120 miles (193 km) northwest of Philadelphia. The landlord had filed papers on Nov. 30 with the local magistrate to evict the Meyer family from their $660-a-month apartment because of unpaid rent of $1,452.60, according to online court records. The family did not contest the eviction, which became final on Dec. 30. They had been ordered to vacate the apartment by 10 a.m. on Monday, which is when Steele arrived to put them out, police said. Meyer has been charged with aggravated assault and three other offenses over the incident, police said. The local district attorney is investigating whether the constable will face any charges. (Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Sandra Maler) Washington (AFP) - The decision to donate Philadelphia's two main newspapers to a nonprofit organization highlights the deepening woes of big US dailies, but also suggests a possible lifeline for the troubled industry. The Philadelphia Inquirer, part of a media group that includes the Philadelphia Daily News and the online site Philly.com, will be the largest and most prominent daily to operate as part of a tax-exempt public benefit corporation. The idea has gained ground in recent years as metropolitan newspapers struggle with declining print circulation and advertising, with readers turning to the Internet for news, mostly for free. A plan announced Tuesday by 85-year-old Gerry Lenfest, the sole owner and chairman of Philadelphia Media Network, puts the newspapers under the aegis of a new tax-exempt organization known as the Institute for Journalism in New Media, operated with the local Philadelphia Foundation. Lenfest will provide $20 million in seed money and hopes the plan will allow the groups to maintain a tradition of independent public service journalism and investigative reporting. A handful of other US dailies have tried this formula in an effort to preserve the local journalism seen as an important element in civic life. The most well-known example so far has been the Tampa Bay Times, owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute. But Poynter and the newspaper have been money-losers in recent years. The Philadelphia plan would keep the existing news groups as for-profit entities under the umbrella of the foundation, which could receive tax-exempt contributions from civic groups and other benefactors. - A 'promising' model - Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, said the Philadelphia plan "sounds promising" "If it works, I think you'll see this sort of ownership arrangement tried in other cities," Kennedy told AFP. "What I like about it is that the newspapers themselves will continue to be operated as for-profit entities, which means that they are free to sell advertising -- thus keeping their revenue base diverse -- and endorse candidates." Story continues But Kennedy said one risk is that the newspapers could be seen as serving the interests of their benefactors and that "someone will need to watch the watchdog." Gordon Borrell, a media consultant at Borrell Associates, also was upbeat on the idea, saying the traditional newspaper business model "really doesn't work anymore." Borrell said newspapers could take a page from National Public Radio, which raises funds from members or others "willing to support a free press." "It's a question of wether the business model of newspapers is good anymore and really can support the hiring of good journalists," he said. "What's happening in Philadelphia with the move to a nonprofit model may foretell the future, particularly of larger newspapers. The question is will the public support free journalism with what is essentially membership fees or donations. I think they will." - Raises questions - Some media observers say there are still many issues unresolved. Media analyst Ken Doctor, who writes the blog Newsonomics, said the plan raises more questions than it answers. "On its face, it's an acknowledgement of how low-profit newspaper companies have become," Doctor said, adding that the structure of a for-profit within a larger non-profit may be complicated. "It's unclear what the tax, and pension obligations, impact may be," he said. "Most importantly, the big question is what it means to the news coverage that greater Philadelphia will get. Will the transfer and gift mean fewer layoffs and buyouts in the future. Will any of the recent staffing cuts be reversed?" Rick Edmonds, a Poynter media analyst who worked at both the Tampa and Philadelphia newspapers, said there is no guarantee of success. "The structure does not immunize us from the business model and digital challenges the rest of the industry faces," Edmonds said in a blog. "Or from newsroom downsizing. Even if not operated to maximize profits, the Times, and now the Philadelphia papers, need to be well-run, adaptive businesses or they won't have much of a future." The Inquirer had been among the largest and most prestigious US dailies but went into a downward spiral as it lost readers and advertising to online news operations. It saw several ownership changes and a bankruptcy filing as it slashed its newsroom. Lenfest said in a statement that his goal "is to ensure that the journalism traditionally provided by the printed newspapers is given a new life and prolonged, while new media formats for its distribution are being developed." He will be the initial chairman of a 10-member board for the Institute, which will also include prominent journalists, academics and members of the philanthropic community. MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has offered the United States eight bases where it can build facilities to store equipment and supplies under a new security deal, a military spokesman said on Wednesday, amid rising tension with China over the South China Sea. Last year, the Philippines and the United States signed the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) granting Washington increased military presence in its former colony, rotating ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations. "The list has been prepared many months ago when we had earlier discussions," Colonel Restituto Padilla told reporters, saying five military airfields, two naval bases and a jungle training camp were offered to the United States. "These are still subject for approval and we're going to hold final discussions about these areas." Three of these bases are on the main island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, including Clark airfield, a former U.S. air force base, and two are on the western island of Palawan, near the South China Sea. The Americans are also seeking access to three civilian seaports and airfields on Luzon, including Subic Bay, a former U.S. Navy base, a senior defense official told Reuters. Last year, more than 100 U.S. Navy ships docked in Subic and two advanced nuclear-powered stealth submarines made visits in the first two weeks of this year. "Subic is important to the Americans because it is one of the few areas in the country where they can actually dock safely," said a defense official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press. In Washington, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said security cooperation with the U.S. had become more intertwined amid increasing tension over the South China Sea. The Philippines has filed a protest against China's test flights from an artificial island in the South China Sea, a foreign ministry spokesman said, describing the actions as "provocative" and a violation of an existing informal code. Every year more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped through the South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, which China claims almost entirely. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China's official Xinhua news agency, in an English-language commentary, said the EDCA would only escalate tension and "could push the situation to the brink of war". "The deal is groundless because China, which sticks to a defensive defense policy, has never coerced any country on the South China Sea issue," it said. (Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing vy Nick Macfie) MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp said on Wednesday it is interested in acquiring SABMiller PLC's Grolsch and Peroni beer brands, its President Ramon Ang told Reuters. Anheuser Busch InBev SA , which agreed to buy SABMiller for $100 billion plus, has been seeking potential bidders for Grolsch and Peroni, sources close to the process told Reuters last month. The biggest brewer in the Philippines joins a number of international suitors for the beer brands. San Miguel, which kicked off an aggressive expansion in 2008 to add power, mining, telecommunications, oil refining and infrastructure to its stable of food, beverage and beer businesses, continues to seek acquisitions to boost revenues. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Miral Fahmy) Poitiers (France) (AFP) - Dozens of live pigs tumbled out of a truck that overturned on a French motorway Wednesday, but showed little appetite for their sudden freedom. "Most of the animals stayed near the vehicle," a road safety official, Captain Jean Chevassu, told AFP. "Two or three pigs... strayed further. It wasn't too hard to recover them." The driver of the tractor-trailer lost control, leaving the vehicle lying across the two-lane road near the western city of Poitiers, shutting it for most of the day. The impact tore a hole in the roof of the truck, through which most of the some 180 pigs emerged onto the road and into the surrounding forest. Twenty-six died on the spot, while another 13 with severe injuries were put down. Veterinarians teamed up with highway officials and police to coax the animals into makeshift pens created using movable traffic barriers and the road's guard rails. One of the errant pigs met its fate further down the road, when it was hit by a car, Chevassu said. The driver was hospitalised with slight injuries. It can be fun to fantasize with co-workers how you would buy your company or retire en masse if the office pool won the lottery. And with Powerballs record-setting payout at $1.5 billion, there are probably more colleagues playing what-if. But the elation of hitting the jackpot can quickly turn into nasty lawsuits if the office pool was sloppily put together. Its not without precedent. Two bakery workers in Chicago sued co-workers after they were left out of the winning office pool. Their suit was eventually dismissed. An Ohio man out on medical leave sued his lucky co-workers for not chipping in for him, as he claimed was routine. He also lost his case. But a group of New Jersey construction workers won $20 million from a colleague who claimed the winning ticket was his personal one and not one he bought on behalf of the office pool. Related: The Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When You Win Powerball To keep such contention out of your office pool, consider these tips from the New York State Gaming Commission: 1. Elect someone to be responsible for collecting and keeping track of the contributed money. 2. That person should maintain a list of all participants, note who opts out and distribute the list to everyone who is on it to make sure theres no confusion. For those who are absent, have the group chip in to cover that person or, at the very least, email that person to see if they want to be included. 3. Decide who should buy the ticket, where it should be purchased and when it will be bought. 4. Make a copy of the ticket or tickets and distribute before the drawing. This is especially important if the buyer is also purchasing their own tickets. 5. Check with your states lottery commission to see if it limits how many checks can be issued for one prize. If theres a limit, consider limiting the office pool to that number. Related: Heres How States Profit from Powerball Madness If the office pool is bigger than the state commissions limit and the group wins, there are a few other options for collecting. First, the winners can form a limited liability company listing each person in the pool as an owner. The lottery will pay the LLC and the group leader will distribute individual checks. Or, they can create a trust that lists each pool member. Winnings go to the trust and the group leader gives out each individuals share of winnings. The last option is to elect a number of people in the pool to receive the prize, deal with the taxes and distribute funds to everyone else. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Thomas Escritt THE HAGUE (Reuters) - International prosecutors said on Tuesday they still had enough evidence to prove charges against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto over post-election violence even though half a dozen witnesses have withdrawn their testimony. Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua arap Sang, stand accused of stoking ethnic tensions to unleash an orgy of violence that drove their political opponents from their homes after a 2007 presidential election. Lawyers for the two men want judges to throw out the charges of crimes against humanity brought against them, saying the loss of the six witnesses who withdrew their testimony had fundamentally undermined the case. The case is seen as a test of the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court which, since being set up 13 years ago to end impunity for the gravest international crimes, has handed down just two convictions and struggled to put powerful leaders on trial. Asked by presiding judge Chile Eboe-Osuji whether the remaining evidence was sufficient to secure a conviction, prosecution lawyer Anton Steynberg said: "Your honour, my submission is: yes, it is." Steynberg said he would focus not on the "credibility, reliability and cogency" of the evidence but on the volume of available material. The lawyer said he had evidence of fighters being transported between settlements in Kenya's Rift Valley region to take part in fighting, and he read aloud from statements of witnesses who claimed to have witnessed the discussions of "elders" who had coordinated violence. "The elders were talking politics, how the results (of the elections) were rigged," he said, reading from a witness statement describing how they monitored attacks by ethnic Kalenjin fighters that drove ethnic Kikuyus away. Steynberg cited satellite images of alleged arson attacks in the town of Eldoret, which hit a high on January 1, 2008, at the peak of the unrest in which 1,200 people were killed. Ruto's high-powered legal team, headed by London barrister Karim Khan, scored a victory on Tuesday, persuading judges to allow evidence to be heard in public over the objections of prosecutors who worried it could endanger remaining witnesses. "We oppose the prosecution proposal that the public not be able to hear the quality of the evidence," Khan said. His team will seek to persuade judges later this week that there is no case to answer. (Editing by Gareth Jones) By Nick Brown and Megan Davies SAN JUAN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's creditors are not waiting for the island to make the first move in the next round of debt restructuring talks, discussing among themselves possible alternatives to a broad exchange offer being pushed by the U.S. commonwealth, several sources said this week. Facing $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, Puerto Rico is trying to solve an economic crisis before it hits substantial debt payments in May and July. Debt restructuring talks with creditors, which have slowed in recent weeks, are expected to pick back up this month, and Puerto Rican leaders have said they will propose a so-called superbond, a universal exchange offer available to many sets of stakeholders. But creditors holding some of the $13 billion in general obligation debt backed by Puerto Ricos constitution, as well some of the $15 billion of debt at its sales tax authority COFINA, have held preliminary restructuring talks without Puerto Rico advisers present, according to three sources close to the talks. Some holders of Government Development Bank debt were involved as well, two of the sources said. The talks are preliminary, sources said, and do not mean stakeholders are unwilling to listen to proposals from Puerto Rico, but they may indicate mounting resistance to a superbond. They also reflect skepticism that Puerto Ricos superbond pitch will come to fruition any time soon, two of the people said. Restructuring talks have moved slowly on the island, and there were no publicized meetings in the final weeks of 2015, when Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla focused mainly on lobbying unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress to pass legislative action on Puerto Rico, and on finding a way to avoid default on most of $1 billion of debt payments due on Jan. 1. Reorg Research, a restructuring industry publication, reported in November that general obligation and COFINA creditors were hoping to unveil their own plans to restructure Puerto Rico's debt, but with major debt payments due in May, pressure is now mounting for formal plans to be proposed. Sources indicated that local officials are attempting to schedule a meeting with creditors but the date is in flux and some sources doubt the talks will take place any time soon. The talks by general obligation and COFINA creditors could include a proposal that Congress grant Puerto Rico access to some form of bankruptcy, though it is too early to know for sure, said two of the sources. Under current federal law, the Caribbean island can neither declare bankruptcy itself nor put its municipal agencies into bankruptcy, to the chagrin of Governor Padilla, who says Puerto Rico needs a restructuring framework to enforce repayment cuts on hedge funds who bought its debt at steep discounts. Two of the sources said a creditor proposal would not likely include a superbond, with one adding that it would aim to allow more flexibility for different creditor sets to be treated differently. (Reporting by Nick Brown and Megan Davies; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's long-awaited audited 2014 fiscal statements are close to release and should be ready by the end of January or the beginning of February, an official said on Wednesday. The U.S. territory is far behind on filing its audited statements and in September was criticized by powerful Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican, for not having up-to-date audited figures. "It is in the final stage," Office of Management & Budget Director Luis Cruz Batista told reporters regarding the 2014 fiscal statements. "Auditors need to undertake a process where they need to be satisfied with the necessary information to provide an opinion. They should be ready by the end of this month, first week of February." (Reporting by a contributor in San Juan, writing by Megan Davies; Editing by Bernard Orr) By Fiona Ortiz CHICAGO (Reuters) - Convicted criminals and crime victims, high-level local officials and former police officers made public recommendations on who should lead Chicago's embattled police department at a packed community hearing on Tuesday. The Chicago Police Board, the body that must screen candidates and recommend three possible new police chiefs to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, listened to almost more than an hour of input from mostly black Chicagoans concerned about racism on the force, the high level of police killings and slow and ineffective discipline of police misconduct. Emanuel fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy in December following protests after the city released video of a white police officer shooting 16 times and killing a black teenager in October 2014. The officer faces trial for murder. "The new superintendent will have to come prepared with an effective plan to train and address issues of subconscious racism and bias and overuse of excessive force," said the Cook County clerk of the Circuit Court, Dorothy Brown, one of about 25 people who took the microphone for two-minute speaking turns at an auditorium on the south side of Chicago. Another speaker, Jack Sullivan, who said he was a criminal with a long rap sheet and bullets in his back, called the police the "biggest gang in the city." "They kill and get away with it. It's swept under the table. ... If you want to be superintendent, walk in Englewood with me," he said, echoing sentiment of many speakers at the hearing who said they wanted a new police chief who can connect with the community. Many speakers said they want a black chief. Chicago, the country's third largest city, is about one-third African-American, but crime and complaints of police violence are concentrated in black neighborhoods. The city has had three black police chiefs in the past. Tuesday's hearing organized by the Chicago Urban League was moved to a larger hall due to the high level of interest. It was heated, but did not reel out of control like town halls last year with Emanuel. Story continues Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot said the board would weigh seriously all public recommendations in the national search, which is expected to conclude in late February. The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a probe of the use of lethal force by Chicago police. Members of the department have shot and injured or killed about 400 people in the last eight years, 75 percent of whom were black. (Editing by Leslie Adler) By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A record number of asylum seekers in Britain are being left destitute, and planned legislation could plunge thousands more into poverty, the British Red Cross said on Wednesday. The charity said it had supported more than 9,000 refugees and asylum seekers who were destitute last year, compared with 7,700 in 2014. The youngest was less than one year old and the oldest was 81. The Red Cross said an Immigration Bill, being debated in the House of Lords - Britain's upper parliamentary chamber - was expected to reduce asylum support further. Some 29,000 people applied for asylum in Britain between September 2014 and October 2015, 19 percent up from the previous year. Nearly 44 percent of destitute asylum seekers supported by the Red Cross were from Eritrea, Sudan, Iran and Syria, which are among the biggest sources of refugees. British Red Cross asylum expert Karl Pike described the situation as a "quiet crisis". "Refugees should not be left destitute, having fled awful violence and persecution," he said. "People refused by the system, but who the Home Office accept cannot return to their home country, should not be left with nothing." The Home Office had no immediate comment. Those supported by the Red Cross included people who had been granted refugee status but had not been given enough time to change to mainstream benefits from asylum seeker support. The Red Cross said research in one northern region found two-thirds of asylum seekers with no access to public funds went hungry regularly, and one-quarter were hungry every day. More than three-fifths had no fixed accommodation and more than half reported worsening health. Some had been destitute for up to eight years, it said. The Immigration Bill aims to limit support for failed asylum seekers and their dependants to those who are destitute and cannot safely return to their home country. The Red Cross says proposed changes in the Bill could push thousands of other failed asylum seekers into poverty. It also wants asylum seekers granted refugee status to be given more time to move to mainstream benefits or paid work before asylum support is withdrawn. (Editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org) By Steve Holland CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Long viewed by the Republican establishment and many donors as one of their rising stars, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has been struggling to make his mark in the race for the party's 2016 presidential nomination in a field led by mavericks Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Regarded as well-spoken and telegenic, Rubio began facing criticism a few months ago when he was perceived as campaigning too little in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two states where next month party members will cast their first ballots. Rubio, 44, may still have a breakthrough, but with 20 days to go until Iowa's Feb. 1 nominating caucuses, the first-term Florida lawmaker faces questions about his campaign strategy in a race for the Nov. 8 election made up of 11 candidates dominated by the billionaire Trump and U.S. Senator Cruz of Texas. His prospects reach a critical moment at a Thursday night debate in South Carolina when he tries to position himself as the consensus alternative to Trump and Cruz and distance himself from such establishment candidates as former Florida governor Jeb Bush and governors Chris Christie of New Jersey and John Kasich of Ohio. Republican experts say he seems to be straddling two political lanes, trying to win over establishment Republicans as well as anti-establishment conservatives who favor Cruz. The debate, on the Fox Business Network, is due to begin at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday (0200 GMT on Friday). The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio has drawn support by stressing his working-class upbringing in Las Vegas and Miami as the child of a bartender father and a mother who was both a maid and a cashier. But voters and party operatives suggest he has until recently failed to commit to the intimate face-to-face politicking considered mandatory by voters in either Iowa or New Hampshire, which has a Feb. 9 primary. Rubio aides acknowledge the high stakes of the coming weeks. "I feel good but we've got to close strong," said Rubio's New Hampshire state director, Jim Merrill. A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed Rubio on Wednesday at 6.7 percent, compared to 15.2 percent little more than a month ago, falling from second place to fifth among Republicans after Trump, Cruz, Bush and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. A QUESTION OF COMMITMENT Some voters have cited a tendency by Rubio in past months to stick to well-honed talking points on the stump instead of mixing it up at town-hall meetings where people can ask questions. This has raised concerns he might lack necessary experience. "There's a lot of people who were very interested in him and continue to be, but in Iowa it just seems like he hasn't fully committed himself to aggressively campaign in the state and that's causing some pause," Iowa Republican strategist Doug Gross said. Dennis Thorell of New Durham, New Hampshire, said Rubio needed a longer resume of accomplishments than U.S. senator and former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Thorell said Rubio might be better suited for the vice presidency or another top job in a Republican administration. "He hasn't had any experience running anything," Thorell said while listening to Rubio in Concord, New Hampshire, last week. "He did very well in the legislature down in Florida and was mentored by Jeb (Bush) but he hasn't run anything." Rival candidates for the Republican nomination have assailed Rubio also for his absences from the U.S. Senate during hearings and floor votes, raising further questions about how he spends his time. Defending his record of missed votes, Rubio has said the majority of his time is spent in service to his constituents and his Senate committee work, both of which he says continue unabated. ADVERTISING BOOST Rubio aides told Reuters they plan a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign for New Hampshire and expect to outspend all rivals on the TV airwaves in the state. The aides said Rubio has plans to be a major presence in both Iowa and New Hampshire in the final stretch, with a schedule that will include plenty of give-and-take with voters in informal settings such as town halls. They said Rubio's schedule is as heavy as any of his rivals, but that much of it has been at behind-the-scenes fund-raising events that have been essential to get him the resources needed for the final push. Republican strategists say Rubio's path to the nomination would have to start with at least a third-place finish in Iowa presumably behind poll leaders Cruz and Trump, which would deliver him some momentum going into New Hampshire. If Rubio goes on to place high in Iowa and do well in New Hampshire, he and his aides will see it as the realization of a strategy of going for broke at the right moment in the states that render the first judgments in the presidential race. "From the get-go we said we didn't want to peak in September, we wanted to peak in February. It's starting to grow. It feels like it's starting to happen for us," Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said. Republican analysts say Rubio appears to be as well-placed as any of his rivals in the drive to become the establishment Republican favorite. He is drawing increasingly larger crowds in New Hampshire and has a solid organization in the state. "I think he suffered from the perception that he hasn't been here as much and worked it as hard as some of his competitors," Republican strategist Steve Duprey said. "If he puts the pedal to the metal, he could do very well." For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, Tales from the Trail (http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/). (Additional reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Caren Bohan and Howard Goller) Without a doubt, the biggest change to the educational landscape in England over the next few years will be the growth of so-called academies and free schools, both modeled at least in part on U.S. charter schools. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would like every government-funded school in England to be a free school or academy by 2020. At present, they represent 60 percent of the countrys roughly 2,000 state-supported secondary schools. The governments academies program was launched in the 1990s under former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Initially, they were confined to inner-city areas. Now, though, any school can seek academy status. Failing schools, however, are forced to become academies with new private sponsors andusuallya new principal (or headteacher, as school leaders are called in the U.K.). More From The Education Writers Association Education Writers Association A mantra appears to have been adopted by Conservative politicians whichroughly summed uptranslates to academies and free schools are good, and state-maintained, local-authority schools are bad. So, what exactly are these schools? Both free schools and academies are run by private sponsorsnormally faith-based groups, teacher-led cooperatives, or private companiesmany of whom will already have a track record in running fee-paying private schools. They have freedom to pay whatever salaries they like (within their budget) and freedom to ignore the national curriculum for state-supported schools. They are not allowed to select students by ability and will normally take in students from a specific geographical area surrounding the schools. The only difference between free schools and academies is that free schools are new schools while academies are existing schools (run by local authorities, our equivalent of states) that have converted to academy status. Story continues A mantra appears: Academies and free schools are good, and state-maintained, local-authority schools are bad. The Conservatives say academies and free schools are good because they have more freedom to be innovative, set their own curriculum and reward teachers they consider to be outstanding. Proponents of such schools also often argue that state-maintained, local-authority schools are too hide-bound by bureaucracy to innovate. But the Governments pro-academies and free-schools rhetoric comes despite a report by the influential House of Commons select committee on educationwhich has an inbuilt majority of Conservative members of Parliamentwarning that there was as yet, no evidence to suggest that academies performed any better than local-authority schools. (The free-school movement, it argued, was too much in its infancy to draw any conclusions.) Recommended: The Power of the High-School Mentor In addition, there has been no move to replicate the initiative in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, which have their own devolved education systems. It is purely an English initiative. From my own perspective, I can see that there have been significant improvements in some schools as a result of adopting academy statusparticularly among those serving disadvantaged inner-city communities. However, the massive expansion of the program has left the government short of private sponsors to take over the number of schools ministers want to become academies. Indeed, they are providing courses to train academy sponsors who have taken over schools in how to run themwhich conjures up an image of horses and stable doors and bolting to me. On free schools, the program has shifted in emphasis, too. A number of the first few sponsors were parent-led initiativesbut it soon became evident that taking on the task of running a government-funded school alongside the commitment to a full-time job was too much. Most of the applications now come either from or are backed by sponsors who already run schools. Although free schools are seen in some respects as akin to U.S. charter schools, this approach especially draws on a model adopted in Sweden, whereby faith-based groups, community groups, parents, and teachers could receive state financial backing to set up their own schools. Some of the free schools are remarkably innovative. They include bilingual primary schools, oases in a desert of poor language provision throughout the U.K. education system. Recommended: The Plot Against Paul LePage The trouble is the government has decreed that all new schools must be free schools. Local authorities cannot open their own schools to combat a shortage of school seats in their area. At a time when the school population is expanding due to a rise in the birth rate and immigration, this can leave communities without enough school seats, if there are no sponsors around who want to start up a free school. As a result, existing schools are being told they must expand to meet the need andin the case of some of the most popular schoolsrisk losing their popularity, sometimes gained because they have been of a manageable size. My verdict on Englands free-school and academies initiatives is this: They offer some good ideas but are not a panacea for improving the education system. If the Government is truly committed to school choice, as it professes to be, why not let local authorities throw their hats into the ringand bid for new provision, too. This post appears courtesy of the Education Writers Association . Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she would consider being the vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party this year. The rising political star revealed that she is open to the possibility in an appearance on NBC News Today show Wednesday, a day after delivering the GOP response to President Obamas final State of the Union address. If a candidate wanted to sit down and talk, I would sit down and talk, she told host Matt Lauer. I think thats a big decision. Its a family decision. Its a state decision. Its something Id have to think about. But I absolutely would sit down and talk with anyone that wanted to talk about it. Despite speculation that Haley is being prepped to join the Republican ticket, she said that she has not given the prospect much thought even if people in the media do not believe it. Its worth noting that her speech the night before did not merely target the Obama administration. She warned against the siren call of the countrys angriest voices and said Republicans share the blame for our current state of affairs and should look in the mirror. "I was given an opportunity to say what I think, and I appreciate that from Speaker [Paul D.] Ryan and Senator [Mitch] McConnell, she said. Its likely that the Republican establishment tapped Haley to deliver the SOTU response not simply to criticize Democrats but to distance the GOP from its current frontrunner, Donald Trump, whose dominance in the polls continues unabated. Last June, in the wake of a domestic terrorist attack, Haley rose to national prominence by calling for the Confederate flags removal from South Carolinas state capitol. Her critiques of the nativist rhetoric thats galvanized segments of the Republican base further cemented her image as a tolerant and inclusive alternative. Nikki Haley speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on Sept. 2, 2015. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised Haleys speech as providing a clear vision for a better tomorrow. Story continues Proud of my friend @nikkihaley for delivering a positive & uplifting response to Pres. Obamas #SOTU. Clear vision for a brighter future, he tweeted. Similarly, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Haley stood in stark contrast to the president, whom he accused of not confronting the reality of his failing policies. The young governor, he said, is one of the most effective leaders in our party. She has turned conservative principles into real solutions in South Carolina, he said in a statement late Tuesday. The vision she outlined for our country was inclusive and optimistic, and perhaps most important, it was grounded in reality. This is someone whos done the tough work of governing. I think that showed in her remarks, and I commend her on a job well done. But not all conservatives shared this enthusiasm, particularly those who capitalize on the same sense of disenfranchisement as Trump. They were disappointed the response was not a full-blown partisan attack. Laura Ingraham, a conservative political commentator, described Haley as an establishment fave who should have teamed up with Obama for a joint-rebuttal of Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. She said Haley missed her opportunity to stand with the working people who want borders enforced and government shrunk. The Haley speech was an echo of GWB, Jeb, Lindsey Graham-style Republicanism. Well see how popular these views are as primaries begin, Ingraham tweeted. Ann Coulter, a controversial conservative pundit, went a step further calling for Trump to deport Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Coulter took issue with Haleys belief that no one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country, defining it as code for open borders. On the Today show, Haley said she respects her critics and understands their opinions but disagrees. I think a lot of what were trying to do is say those angriest voices are not helpful, she said, echoing her response from the previous night. When asked if that was a reference to Trump, Haley replied, He was one of them, yes. He was one. There are other people in the media. Theres people in my state. I think were seeing it across he country. But yes, Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk. Related video: Saint Laurent is heading to Los Angeles to present its Autumn/Winter 2016 collection. Part one of the men and women's collection will go on show at the city's legendary dance venue, the Hollywood Palladium, on February 10, the week of the 58th Grammy Awards (taking place February 15). Part two of the collection will be showcased in the traditional context of Paris Fashion Week on March 7. "Saint Laurent at the Palladium" is artistic director Hedi Slimane's tribute to the Los Angeles music scene. The designer previously oversaw the music exhibition "California Song" at the LA Museum of Contemporary Art in 2011. The news is accompanied by a video campaign titled "Saint Laurent at the Palladium," a revamping of the Hedi Slimane Diary, a photography project launched in 2006. TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia could improve its core capital strength by 40 to 60 basis points if it chooses to sell its stake in Thanachart Bank Pcl, Chief Executive Brian Porter told RBC's Canadian Bank CEO Conference. Scotiabank may consider strategic options for its 49 percent stake in Thanachart Bank, Thailand's No. 2 car loan provider which is majority-owned by Thanachart Capital Pcl , Reuters reported in December. "We'll see what happens there, but I've always categorized Thanachart as an investment. If we were to realize some value there would be anywhere from 40 to 60 basis points of common equity tier 1," Porter told the conference. (Reporting by Matt Scuffham) Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli prosecutors on Wednesday called for life sentences for two young Jews convicted of burning alive a Palestinian teen, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of the 2014 Gaza war. The request was made at an emotional hearing in a Jerusalem court for the two, who were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street and subsequently killed him. Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the attack on Abu Khdeir but his lawyers say he suffers from a mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time. The court has found that he committed the crime but is yet to rule if he is mentally competent. The two others were 16 when they were charged in 2014 but are now adults. They cannot be identified by court order. The prosecutor said the attacks came against the backdrop of ideological hatred and called for life sentences. The court is due to hand down its sentence on February 4, with the ruling on Ben-David's sanity expected two days earlier. -'You were the same age'- Both of Abu Khdeir's parents took the stand in the hearing to call for severe sentences. The two defendants bowed their heads when Abu Khdeir's mother began to speak. At one point she addressed the two teenagers, both of whom were wearing skullcaps. "My son Mohammed was the same age as you. Why did you do this to him?" Suha Abu Khdeir asked through tears. "I know my son won't come back but I want them to be punished to be a lesson and so this doesn't happen to any other mother." His father Hussein, speaking in Arabic, told the three judges "we are living in a nightmare. I wake up in the night screaming." He called on Israeli authorities to demolish the houses of the assailants' families as they regularly do with Palestinians convicted of attacks. The court's actions are being closely watched at a time of renewed Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Story continues A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis began in October. Abu Khdeir's parents have previously expressed doubt that they would get justice. The killing was part of a spiral of violence that led to a 50-day war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian militants in summer 2014. Abu Khdeir was kidnapped from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on July 2, 2014 and beaten, with his burned body found hours later in a forest in the western part of the city. A forensic report showed smoke in his lungs, indicating he was alive when set alight. It was seen as revenge for the abduction and later killing of Israelis Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach from a hitchhiking stop near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli authorities said the suspects had decided to kill an Arab in revenge and equipped themselves with cable ties, petrol and other materials before randomly choosing Abu Khdeir. They had allegedly tried to kidnap a child in east Jerusalem the day before, but were thwarted by the youth's mother. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Multiple grand slam champion Maria Sharapova has declared herself fully fit and ready for next week's Australian Open after having her preparations hampered by a forearm injury. The Russian world number five was forced to withdraw from the Brisbane International last week with the ailment, sparking fears she might miss the first grand slam of the year which begins on Monday. The 2008 Australian Open champion and last year's runner-up opted to arrive in Melbourne early to practice rather than seek matches at one of the other warm-up tournaments taking place across the country this week. "The injury was a bit of a roadblock but the great thing is that I've been healthy the three days and everyone's been away playing so I've had a lot of court time which has been really beneficial," Sharapova was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press on Wednesday. The 28-year-old, who missed the U.S Open last year because of a leg injury, was among a quartet of top players who were a doubt for Melbourne because of nagging ailments. World number one Serena Williams (knee), Simona Halep (Achilles) and Garbine Muguruza (foot) all pulled out of matches last week but Sharapova said it was understandable for players to be wary ahead of a major. "I think everyone sees the bigger picture and that's one of the things that I thought about -- you want to do what you can to be healthy and be a part of the grand slam so sometimes that's a decision you have to make." (Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by John O'Brien) Dubai (AFP) - The activist sister of prominent jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was released on Wednesday after being detained in the kingdom, Human Rights Watch said. Amnesty International said earlier that Samar Badawi was arrested on Tuesday in the Saudi city of Jeddah with her two-year-old daughter and questioned by police for four hours before being transferred to prison. "She's OK," HRW's Adam Coogle told AFP. "Technically she was bailed out in the morning. Then she had to go for mandatory questioning," he said, adding she had since been released. Badawi could not immediately be reached for comment. She is the sister of Raif Badawi, the blogger arrested in 2012 and later sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, a decision which generated worldwide outrage. Only the first 50 lashes of the punishment have been administered, in January last year. Samar Badawi is also the ex-wife of her brother's lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, a rights activist who himself is serving a 15-year prison sentence. She has campaigned tirelessly for his release. A source familiar with her case told AFP that "they suspect she was running Waleed's account" on Twitter. She remains under investigation. HRW said she was questioned on Tuesday "about her human rights activism generally and whether she controls al-Khair's Twitter account. Badawi denied that she controls the account." Raif Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, earlier posted on Twitter that her sister-in-law was detained for allegedly managing Khair's account. A source with knowledge of Samar Badawi's activities said she had stopped tweeting from her own account about a month ago. Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, said her arrest "demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission." Story continues Rights groups say she has been under a travel ban since December 2014. "The arrest... is the latest example of Saudi Arabia's utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities' intent to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent," London-based Amnesty said. Raif Badawi co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network Internet discussion group, which promoted free speech and sought an end to the influence of religious leaders on public life in one of the world's most conservative countries. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand climbed as much as 1.5 percent against the dollar on Wednesday, mainly reflecting a recovery in global risk appetite after better-than-expected Chinese trade data. The rand remains hostage to worries about the ailing local economy, which is beset by a crippling drought and uncertainty over fiscal policy after a bungled cabinet reshuffle in December. The rand briefly touched a session high of 16.4200 to the greenback in early Johannesburg trade and was 1.14 percent firmer at 16.4800 by 0645 GMT compared with Tuesday's close. Stocks were also set to open slightly firmer at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange's Top-40 futures index adding 0.26 percent. This was in line with Asian shares which made their first real rally of the year on Wednesday after Chinese trade data beat expectations, offering a rare chink of light for the global economy. The rand has had a bumpy start to the year, tumbling on Monday as much as 9 percent to a record 17.9950 on technical short-selling in volatile Asian trade. "Local sentiment has recovered somewhat from the shock of Monday. This has allowed for some rand gains but caution is still high and liquidity still slightly constrained," Rand Merchant Bank currency analyst John Cairns said. "The 'flash crash' damage is still evident in wider bid-offer spreads, most importantly in the spot market but more accentuated in the derivative space." On the debt market, the yield for the benchmark government bond maturing in 2026 added 5 basis points to 9.615 percent from Tuesday's closing level. (Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Joe Brock) SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea fired warning shots on Wednesday near an "unidentified flying object" over its border with North Korea, a military official told Reuters, while a news agency said it was a suspected North Korean drone. The object returned to the northern side of the border following the warning shots, the official at South Korea's joint chiefs of staff told Reuters. The South's Yonhap News Agency reported that South Korean forces fired about 20 machinegun rounds at the suspected North Korean drone. The official declined to say how many shots were fired. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel) South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Wednesday pushed China to back harsh sanctions on Pyongyang over its latest nuclear test, as troops fired at a suspected North Korean drone that crossed the tense inter-Korean border. The defence ministry said the drone effected a brief incursion, but swiftly returned to the North side when South Korean troops fired a series of warning shots. Any shooting on what is probably the world's most heavily militarised border is rare and a cause for concern, but there was no exchange of fire and the incident showed no immediate sign of escalating. But it fuelled already heightened tensions on the frontier, where the South has been blasting high-decibel propaganda broadcasts into the North as punishment for last week's nuclear test. Earlier in the day, President Park told an annual press conference that last week's nuclear test was an "unacceptable challenge" to global security that had to be met with unprecedented severity. - China must 'act' - "The international community's countermeasures... must differ from the past," Park said. As well as working with the United Nations to adopt the "strongest" resolution to penalise North Korea, Seoul would also discuss additional "punitive sanctions" with the United States and its allies, she added. The president stressed that China, North Korea's main ally and economic benefactor, would be critical in securing an effective Security Council resolution. Noting Beijing's public admonishments of Kim's regime over its nuclear programme, Park said it was time for China to move beyond rhetoric. - Nuclear war clouds - "I believe China is aware that if its strong determination is not put into actual, necessary actions, we will not be able to prevent a fifth or sixth nuclear test," she said. Her comments echoed those last week of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had urged China to take a tougher line with North Korea, warning in a call to his Beijing counterpart that it cannot be "business as usual". Story continues Park's entreaties went largely ignored at the regular foreign ministry briefing in Beijing, where the spokesman reiterated China's standard line about working with all interested parties to resolve the issue and achieve a "durable pace" in the region. North Korea says last week's test was of a miniaturised hydrogen bomb -- a claim dismissed by experts who argue the yield was far too low for a full-fledged thermonuclear device. But whatever the nature of the device, it was North Korea's fourth nuclear test since 2006, and further evidence of Pyongyang's intention to continue developing its nuclear weapons capability in the face of international censure. "An additional North Korean provocation can take place any time," Park said, adding that Seoul and Washington were discussing the transfer of further US "strategic assets" to the peninsula. A nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber flew a highly-visible mission to the peninsula on Sunday, and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, as well as B-2 stealth bombers and F-22 stealth fighter jets, are understood to be among the additional deployments being considered. In a meeting with his nuclear scientists in Pyongyang on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said the talk of sanctions and movement of strategic weapons was "bringing dark clouds of a nuclear war" to the peninsula. And he urged them to build up a nuclear force "capable of making nuclear strikes at the US-led imperialists anytime," the official KCNA news agency reported. The North's military muscle-flexing was slightly deflated Wednesday by expert analysis of its most recent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test in December. Pyongyang hailed the test as a great success and released a video which, researchers at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies concluded, had been heavily doctored and edited to cover up a "catastrophic" failure. North Korea "manipulated the footage in an attempt to obscure this result, but one clip plays for two frames too long. The rocket appears to explode," said Catherine Dill, a research associate at the centre. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. force of special operations troops has arrived in Iraq and is preparing to work with Iraqi forces to go after Islamic State targets, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday. Carter disclosed the deployment in a broad speech to U.S. soldiers that sought to underscore American efforts to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, both in Iraq and Syria. "The specialized expeditionary targeting force I announced in December is now in place and is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin going after ISIL's fighters and commanders," Carter said at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While the force was expected to number only about 200, its deployment marks the latest expansion of U.S. military pressure on Islamic State. It also exposes American forces to greater risk, something President Barack Obama has done only sparingly. The force is separate from another deployment last year of up to 50 U.S. special operations troops in Syria to coordinate on the ground with U.S.-backed rebels fighting in a civil war raging since 2011. Carter said that smaller group of forces had already established contact with rebels, as well as new targets for airstrikes and "strikes of all kinds." "These operators have helped focus the efforts of the local, capable forces against key ISIL vulnerabilities, including their lines of communication," Carter said. Republicans have sought to portray U.S. President Barack Obama's strategy to defeat Islamic State as flawed and insufficient, as the militants plot or inspire attacks far beyond their self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Obama, in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, warned against overstating the fight against Islamic State militants, but said his administration is focused on destroying the extremist group. Carter's speech emphasized advances by Iraqi forces -- including retaking control of the city of Ramadi -- and by U.S.-backed rebels in Syria. "President Obama is committed to doing what it takes as opportunities arise, as we see what works, and as the enemy adapts until ISIL is delivered a lasting defeat," he said. Carter was addressing soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, 1,800 of whom will deploy to Iraq in the coming months, largely to train local forces. Carter also flagged a meeting next week in Paris with defense ministers from six nations -- France, Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Alan Crosby) Washington (AFP) - US spy chief James Clapper's personal online accounts have been hacked, his office confirmed, a few months after CIA director John Brennan suffered a similar attack. Clapper's Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed the hack on Tuesday but refused to provide details. "We are aware of the matter and we reported it to the appropriate authorities," spokesman Brian Hale told AFP. A teen hacker who goes by "Cracka" claimed to have hacked Clapper's home telephone and Internet accounts, his personal email, and his wife's Yahoo email, online magazine Motherboard reported. Cracka told Motherboard that he had changed the settings on Clapper's Verizon account so that calls to his home were rerouted to the California-based Free Palestine Movement. Cracka is part of the "Crackas with Attitude" group, which broke into Brennan's personal email account last year. Hackers from the group have said they are teenage high school students. The Powerball jackpot has hit a record-setting $1.5 billion -- and that means big profits for the 44 states participating in the lottery. For Maryland, lottery profits are the fourth-largest contributor to its general fund, which largely supports public education. In fact, the majority of the states earmark the profits from lottery revenue for education, both K-12 public schools and public colleges and universities. Related: The Other Powerball Numbers You Need to Know Other programs benefit as well. In Colorado, lottery money funds outdoor, wildlife and conservation programs, while Pennsylvania dedicates its profits to services for older residents. In Iowa, New Jersey and Texas, Powerball money supports veteran services. And in Kansas, North Dakota, Louisiana and Washington, money from the lottery funds programs for gambling addicts. Heres what your state does with proceeds from Powerball and other lotteries. (The only states that dont participate in Powerball are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah.) State How Lottery Profits Are Spent Arizona education, health and human services, environment and economic initiatives Arkansas scholarships and grants for in-state colleges and universities California education such as computer labs, accelerated reading programs, arts and music programs, and Advanced Placement classes Colorado outdoors, conservation, parks and wildlife, education Connecticut general fund, which supports public health, libraries, public safety, education and more Delaware general fund, which supports public and higher education, health and social services, public safety, prisons, family service and environmental programs District of Columbia general fund which supports education, recreation and parks, public safety, housing and senior and child services Florida education, including college scholarships Georgia education, specifically pre-K and college grants and scholarships Idaho public schools and college campuses Illinois K-12 public education, roads and bike trails Indiana pension funds for local police, firefighters and teachers, and the Build Indiana Fund Iowa Iowa Veterans Trust fund, general fund Kansas problem gambling addictions fund, prisons, juvenile detentions and economic development projects Kentucky general fund, K-12 education, college scholarship and grant programs Louisiana problem gambling programs and education Maine general fund that supports local schools, higher education, health services, among other programs Maryland general fund, largely education Massachusetts general fund for city and town aid Michigan school aid fund Minnesota general fund, environment & natural resources funds, game & fish fund Missouri public education from K-12 to higher learning Montana general fund, which supports education, health, and public safety among other programs Nebraska lake improvements, wildlife habitats, education and need-based scholarships, state fair and recycling projects New Hampshire public education New Jersey education (including school nutrition, school contruction and renovation and higher education grants), centers for developmentally disabled, state psychiatric hospitals and veteran services New Mexico college scholarships New York education North Carolina education, including school constrcution, school staff, pre-K, college scholarships and need-based financial aid to UNC schools North Dakota general fund, compulsive gambling and treatment programs and drug task force Ohio elementary, secondary, vocational, and special education programs Oklahoma education, including K-12 compensation and benefits; college grants, loans and scholarships; and teachers' retirement system Oregon economic initiatives, education, state parks, wildlife and enhancing watersheds Pennsylvania programs that support senior residents Rhode Island general fund which supports education, human services, public safety among other programs South Carolina college scholarships, K-12 public education and public libraries South Dakota general fund and capital construction fund Tennessee college scholarships and grants and after-school programs Texas education and veteran services Vermont education Virginia pre-K, textbooks, school breakfast and other K-12 public education Washington education, economic development, stadium and exhibition center, and problem gambling programs West Virginia education (pre-school through college), senior citizen services, tourism and state parks Wisconsin property tax relief Wyoming state treasury and state fund for education Sources: State Lottery Associations Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The Family Tree star Steven Grahym and Mercedes Morris have joined the second season shoot for the Jennette McCurdy-starring outbreak thriller Between for Netflix and Rogers Media's City network in Canada, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Grahym will play a mysterious visitor with an answer to an epidemic destroying a small town, while Morris (Forest Fairies) will play a cult leader in Pretty Lake. The homegrown drama about a mysterious disease that kills anyone over age 21 has started shooting six new episodes in Toronto through March 11, 2016 and will also stream on Shomi in Canada. Michael McGowan and Rick Bota are directing the second season of Between, with Sam Egan showrunning. McCurdy is returning for the sophomore run, along with Jesse Carere, Justin Kelly, Kyle Mac, Ryan Allen and Shailyn Pierre Dixon. The second season will see McCurdy's character Wylie and Adam, played by Carere, attempt to find the cause of the deadly virus as they look to survive. The series' first season focused on the power vacuum that accompanied a government quarantine around the town, Pretty Lake, leaving mostly high schoolers to fend for themselves. Netflix ordered Between as its first original Canadian production after it was developed by Rogers Media. The drama streams simultaneously on Rogers Media's City network and in all Netflix territories outside Canada. The series is produced by Don Carmody Television and Mulmur Feed Co., in association with Elevation Pictures Corp. Between was created by Michael McGowan, and is executive produced by McGowan, Don Carmody, David Cormican and Naveen Prasad. Elevation Pictures is handling worldwide distribution for the series. Read More: Jennette McCurdy Reveals Details of "Raw" Role in Netflix's 'Between' NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed one of two Italian marines facing murder charges over the deaths of two Indian fishermen to stay in his home country until April 30 following heart surgery. The decision defuses a possible judicial standoff after an Italian senator said the day before that Massimiliano Latorre would not return to face trial as he had been due to by this Friday, having earlier been allowed home for medical treatment. "We allow him to stay in Italy until April 30 on health grounds," a three-judge bench of India's highest court said in its order. The Supreme Court set a hearing on April 13 to take up the case of the marines, who stand accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast almost four years ago. They were part of a military security team protecting an Italian oil tanker and say they mistook the fishermen for pirates. The Italian government, which is at loggerheads with India over the case, said the Indian court could not make any decisions regarding Latorre before an international arbitration hearing at The Hague that it has requested The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg ordered India to suspend legal action against Latorre and the second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, pending the hearing. "(Latorre) can therefore stay in Italy for the entire duration of the international arbitration process," Italy's foreign ministry said in a statement. Girone is still at the Italian embassy in New Delhi. The fallout from India's arrest of the marines has damaged wider relations between Italy and India, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. Prior to Latorre's return, outrage among Italians at the pair's imprisonment was writ large on banners, suspended from prominent buildings in some city centres, that read "We will bring the marines home". In another case this week, a court in Tamil Nadu sentenced 35 crew members of a private American ship - 25 of them foreigners - to five years in jail for illegal possession of arms in Indian waters. (Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty, additional reporting by Isla Binnie in Rome; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Tom Heneghan) STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish prosecutors have requested permission to question Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy in London over rape allegations and are waiting for a response, the Prosecution Authority said on Wednesday. "It is not possible to estimate when we will receive an answer," the prosecution authority said in a statement. It said the request was submitted recently, but did not specify when. Questioning will be carried out by Chief District Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and a police investigator. Assange, 44, took refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations, which he denies, that he committed rape in 2010. Assange says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States, where he could be put on trial over WikiLeaks' publication of classified military and diplomatic documents, one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history. Last month, Ecuador and Sweden signed a pact after half a year of negotiations that would allow Assange to be questioned. (Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Dominic Evans) Stockholm (AFP) - The Swedish state prosecutor's office said Wednesday it had formally asked Ecuador for permission to interrogate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a rape allegation. "The written request was recently sent by the justice ministry to the state prosecutor's office in Ecuador. It's not possible to know when Ecuador will reply," the Swedish prosecutor's office said in a statement. Sweden and Ecuador signed an agreement in December on general legal cooperation between the two countries, a deal expected to allow them to move forward with the interrogation of the 44-year-old Australian. Ecuador had demanded that such an agreement be in place before it would let Swedish prosecutors interview Assange. Prosecutors want to question Assange on a rape allegation that dates back to 2010, but he has repeatedly refused to travel to Sweden and has been holed up at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012. Assange fears that if he leaves the embassy, he could eventually face extradition to the United States and a trial over the leaking by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010. Last March, Swedish prosecutors offered to question Assange in London, dropping their previous demand that he come to Sweden to answer to the allegations. But Quito refused to allow such a meeting until a bilateral judicial agreement was in place. Swedish prosecutors dropped a sexual assault probe against Assange in mid-August after the five-year statute of limitations expired. But they still want to question him about the rape allegation, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations that expires in 2020. Assange has denied all of the allegations and insisted the sexual encounters were consensual. Jerusalem (AFP) - Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom will not be welcome in Israel following her call for investigations into the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces and other critical comments, a top Israeli official said Wednesday. Israel's fiery deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, harshly criticised Wallstrom, calling her comments "a mix of blindness and political stupidity". "Israel has decided to close its doors to official Swedish visits," she said in comments broadcast on Israeli public radio. A foreign ministry spokesman later walked back her comments, saying they referred only to Wallstrom and not other Swedish officials. An adviser to Hotovely told AFP that diplomatic relations with Sweden would continue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also serves as Israel's foreign minister. As the controversy erupted, a Swedish delegation including one of the country's deputy parliament speakers, Esabelle Dingizian, was visiting Israel. Wallstrom made the comments on Tuesday while responding to a question in parliament on a controversy raised in December by her statement on the need for Israel to avoid "extrajudicial executions". A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis erupted in October, and there have been allegations that Israel has responded with excessive force in some cases. Twenty-three Israelis and an American have been killed in the attacks. At the same time, 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks. Many of the Palestinian attackers have been young people, including teenagers. A number of them have attempted attacks with kitchen knives in what some analysts have described as virtual suicide missions. Israel firmly rejects accusations that it has used excessive force. Ties between Israel and Sweden plummeted after Stockholm recognised the Palestinian state shortly after Wallstrom's centre-left Social Democrats won a parliamentary election in 2014. Story continues A day after the Paris attacks in November claimed by the Islamic State group, Wallstrom again attracted Israeli condemnation when she said the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a factor in radicalisation. An adviser to Hotovely told AFP on Wednesday that Wallstrom would have no reason to visit Israel in any case because "with that sort of position we really don't have anything to talk about." "What (Hotovely) was really saying is that it can't be that a foreign minister that wants to be an interlocutor... would take such an absurd and unacceptable position," said Uri Resnick, adding that Wallstrom was "blaming the victim". By Camillus Eboh ABUJA (Reuters) - Authorities in Switzerland are in talks to arrange the return to Nigeria of $300 million confiscated from the family of its former military ruler, Sani Abacha, Nigeria's foreign minister said. The corruption watchdog Transparency International has accused Abacha of stealing up to $5 billion of public money during his five years running the oil-rich nation, from 1993 until his death in 1998. Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said $700 million had already been repatriated from Switzerland, adding that he met Swiss representatives last week for further talks. "They have also now recovered, in the same context, another $300 million of which there is ongoing discussion to have that repatriated as well," he told journalists on Monday. In 2014, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement for the West African country to get back the funds, which had been frozen, in return for dropping a complaint against Abba Abacha, the son of the former military ruler. He was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud and forgery in April 2005, after being extradited from Germany, and subsequently spent 561 days in custody. In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds held by the younger Abacha be frozen. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May, has made tackling corruption a priority. He has asked the Britain and the United States for help recovering money stolen from Africa's biggest economy by some of the country's elite over several years. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram, editing by Larry King) If you own a mortar and pestle, pick it up off its shelf and take a look at it: the curved lip, the deep bowl. Feel the thick, oblong weight of the pestle in your palm. More often than not, these things are hefty, made of smooth marble, or wood that brings the hidden pattern of the trees grain to the surface. There are porcelain mortar-and-pestle sets, as fussily Victorian as rosebud-lipped dolls, and sets blown from clear or jewel-toned glass. There are rough basalt molacajetes made from the detritus of ancient volcanoes. Throughout their long history, mortars and pestles have varied dramatically in size, style, and material depending on their purpose. Chemists and pharmacists, for example, have traditionally used small porcelain sets for trituration, the process of grinding chemical compounds. In parts of the Middle East, meat is pounded into kibbeh in mortars two or three feet wide. The Chalon and Mutsun people in Californias Salinas Valley ground up acorns and grains by carving shallow depressions into bedrock. In Papua New Guinea, pestles are often carved into elaborate birds heads; the Taino, an indigenous tribe in the Caribbean, used small figures endowed with enormous phalli. Still, the essential elements of design remain the same: a bowl and a club, used to crush and grind. Recommended: A Low-Fiber Diet Means a Less Diverse Microbiome And modern-day mortars and pestles, no matter the composition, connect their owners to this ancient culinary and material history. The design has changed very little over the past several millennia: When you use it to grind spices into powder or make food into paste, youre using essentially the same tool as the Aztecs, the Celts, the Sioux, the ancient Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Romans, to name just a few. Six-thousand-year-old molacajetes discovered in Mexicos Tehuacan Valley are nearly identical to what a waiter might use to mix guacamole in a contemporary Mexican restaurant. The mortar and pestle offer a rare example of a stable technology, surviving thousands of years without significant refinement. More From Our Partners Object Lessons But while the design has remained more or less static across time and space, the uses for the mortar and pestle have changed significantly. While todays iterations are viewed as tools for serious cooks (or at least those aspiring to become serious), some ancient cultures treated them as indispensable, go-to tools for preparing grain. The books of Exodus and Numbers, for example, both describe how the wandering Israelites, after gathering manna from the desert, would prepare it in their mortars. (This purpose hasnt disappeared entirely, thoughsome survivalists and off-the-grid purists still endorse the merits of grinding grain with a mortar and pestle, choosing to pound their morning oats into porridge as they await societal collapse.) The medicinal uses of the mortar and pestle have similarly changed over time from ubiquitous items to specialty tools. The two items were once a key part of health care delivery: Theyre mentioned in the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus (the oldest preserved medical text, dating to 1550 B.C.E.); in Satire VII, the Roman poet Juvenal describes their role in preparing medicinal ointments and tinctures. The mortar and pestle are painted onto apothecary shelves in Italian frescoes and illustrations from the 14th and 15th centuries. They were so integral to the development of pharmacology that in 2005, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia hosted an exhibition of mortars and pestles, showcasing their multiple roles as practical tools, historical objects, and pieces of art. In many labs today, scientists still use mortars and pestles to grind chemicals into powder. But while some specialty pharmacies still use them to compound medicines, their role in the pharmaceutical industry is now more symbolic than practical: Some drugstores (including, at one point, Walgreens) use the image of a mortar and pestle in their signs. Recommended: Consciousness Is Not Mysterious For the vast majority of us, though, the mortar and pestles primary use is in cooking. In part, the mortar and pestle remain timeless because their design still works, but their appeal in the kitchen extends beyond usefulness and into ritual. Modern kitchens are stocked with gleaming machines, ready at the press of a button to shred fresh herbs or to systematically churn seeds into dust. But by applying muscle to transform ingredients into paste or powder, the mortar and pestle help the cook form a bond with his or her food. These two tools on the shelf, inseparable partners, promise work, intimacy, and an elegant testament to the staying power of simple things. This article appears courtesy of Object Lessons. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Donald Trump has spent most of the past two weeks relentlessly concern-trolling his closest competitor for the Republican presidential nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, about his eligibility for the presidency. Over and over, Trump has urged Cruz, who was born in Canada to a U.S. citizen mother and a Cuban father, to go to the courts to seek a declaratory judgment finding that he does in fact meet the constitutional requirement that a president be a natural born citizen of the United States. For the most part, Trump has been couching his comments about Cruzs status in the guise of worry about a Democratic assault on the Texans legitimacy were he to actually be elected. In a tweet on Tuesday, for instance, Trump wrote, Such a serious problem for Ted & the GOP. Great doubt, Dems will sue! Let's all work together to solve this problem. Related: David Brooks (Slightly) Unfair Attack on Ted Cruz Political reporters and commentators, including this one, have dismissed Trumps comments about Cruzs birth in Canada as a transparent attempt to muddy the political waters to create doubt on the part of Cruz supporters about his viability while at the same time playing to the anti-immigrant sentiments that appear to be motivating much of Trumps political support. Under long-established law, children born to U.S. citizens are automatically citizens themselves, regardless of where they are born. Therefore, the thinking goes, there is no question about whether or not Cruz is eligible for the presidency. On Tuesday, though, Trumps suggestion that Cruz has a constitutional problem received some unexpected support from a pair of law professors who, in separate op-ed pieces in The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, argued that it is far from clear that Cruz meets the natural born citizen requirement. The more high-profile of the two was attorney and Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe, who penned an article for the Globe noting that the courts have never actually adjudicated the question of what makes someone a natural born citizen. In the article, he sides with Trump, arguing that under the definitions common when the Constitution was drafted, Cruz would not be considered natural born. Story continues Related: Bushs Awkward and Unfunny Ad Attacks Rubios Boots [T]he legal principles that prevailed in the 1780s and 90s required that someone actually be born on US soil to be a natural born citizen, he wrote. Even having two US parents wouldnt suffice. And having just an American mother, as Cruz did, would have been insufficient at a time that made patrilineal descent decisive. The more interesting and arguably more convincing article though is the Post piece by Widener University Law School Professor Mary Brigid McManamon. A legal historian, McManamon lays out the common-law definition of natural born citizen as it would have been understood at the time the Constitution was drafted. She also points out that Congress established a process for the automatic naturalization of children born abroad to U.S. citizens. Her point is that any person who must be naturalized even if the naturalization occurs simultaneously with his or her birth, does not meet the definition of a natural born citizen. She, like Tribe, makes no argument that such a requirement is just or desirable only that a plain reading of the Constitution and the common law concepts on which it relies, requires it. Related: Trump Plays the Birther Card on Cruz and Its Working Cruz is, of course, a U.S. citizen Because of the senators parentage, he did not have to follow the lengthy naturalization process that aliens without American parents must undergo. Instead, Cruz was naturalized at birth, she writes. McManamon also points out that automatic naturalization has not always been part of U.S. law meaning that the children of citizens born abroad have not always been considered citizens. Congress simply does not have the power to convert someone born outside the United States into a natural-born citizen, she concludes. Cruz pushed back on Tuesday against the arguments being made against his eligibility, but did so mainly with ad hominem attacks against those questioning his eligibility. Related: Cruz Demands information on the Parents of Accused Terrorists It is more than a little strange to see Donald relying on, as authoritative, a liberal left-wing judicial activist Harvard Law professor who is a huge Hillary [Clinton] supporter. It starts to make you think gosh, why are Hillarys strongest supporters backing Donald Trump? Notably, Cruz didnt directly address the merits of the claim. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: BANGUI (Reuters) - Two losing candidates in Central African Republic's presidential race demanded on Tuesday a manual recount of ballots cast in last month's first-round vote, saying that widespread irregularities undermined the credibility of the results. The election appears set to head to a second round after provisional results showed two ex-prime ministers - Anicet Georges Dologuele and Faustin Archange Touadera - in the lead but neither winning an outright majority. Observers have praised the mainly peaceful nature of the Dec. 30 polls, which many hope will help put an end to years of deadly inter-religious bloodshed. However, Andre Kolingba and Martin Ziguele, who finished third and fourth and are both members of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for Transition (AFDT) political platform, are disputing the result. "The AFDT demands ... an audit of the collection chain for electoral data, a manual recount of candidates' ballots, and the publication of the recount," AFDT member Nicolas Thiangaye said at a news conference attended by the two candidates. Kolingba and Ziguele lodged complaints with the constitutional court following the announcement of the provisional results by the elections commission last week. The court is charged with certifying those results and is expected to make a ruling this week. Central African Republic descended into turmoil in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian nation, provoking reprisals by Christian militia fighters. Around one in five Central Africans has been displaced in the ensuing violence, leading to de facto partition along religious and ethnic lines. "The organisation of these elections by the National Elections Authority was tarnished by dysfunction and numerous irregularities which are of a nature to discredit the results of the polls," the AFDT said in a separate statement. Some 20 of the 30 candidates vying to lead the former French colony had previously voiced objections to the vote and urged vote counting to be halted. But most of them have since changed their position. (Reporting by Crispin Dembassa-Kette; Writing by Joe Bavier) By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday released a proposed acquisition timeline and requirements for two new heavy U.S. icebreakers that could cost $1 billion each and said it would meet with interested companies during an industry day in March. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft told an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that notice was intended to get information from companies about their ability to build and develop icebreakers that would be in use for 40 years and to explore options such as leasing. The Coast Guard document was posted on a federal website but details were released only to potential bidders since they are subject to export controls and other restrictions. Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc, which built the newest U.S. icebreaker and delivered it in 1999, said it was "absolutely interested" in building icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard. General Dynamics Corp, the other large U.S. military shipbuilder, has also expressed interest in the program, as have other shipyards, according to the Coast Guard. President Barack Obama in September called for the United States to accelerate plans to buy at least one new heavy icebreaker for the U.S. Arctic by 2020, instead of the previous goal of 2022. Each ship is likely to cost around $1 billion. Melting sea ice in the region has increased traffic and could open the Arctic to more shipping, mining and oil drilling, increasing the potential for ships to be stuck in ice that still covers the region for much of the year. Zukunft said the United States also needs icebreakers to resupply national security infrastructure in Antarctica. He gave no details about funding for icebreakers, and said the Coast Guard's fiscal 2017 budget request was still being finalized with the White House Office of Management and Budget. Zukunft said companies could look at licensing existing designs built in other countries to speed up the process. Story continues Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said she was optimistic that 2017 budget request, due to be released on Feb. 9, would include initial funding for icebreakers. The United States has only two operational icebreakers, plus another heavy icebreaker that is not in commission. Russia has 42 icebreakers with another 12 ships planned or under construction, and China has two, Zukunft said. The Coast Guard and Navy have warned that as the Arctic opens to tourism and oil drilling, the United States risks not having enough capacity to carry out search and rescue and oil spill response missions. Zukunft said a recent study concluded that the Coast Guard needed three heavy and three medium-sized icebreakers, but the current floor was at least two heavy icebreakers so one vessel could free the other if it became trapped in ice. It would also be too costly to buy and build just one icebreaker, he said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Meredith Mazzilli) By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court's chief justice voiced concern on Wednesday that Congress trampled on the authority of the U.S. judiciary by passing a law dictating that families of Americans killed in attacks blamed on Iran get nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian funds. Other justices signalled support for the more than 1,000 Americans waging a long legal battle seeking compensation for the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks they say Iran orchestrated. The nine justices heard an appeal by Bank Markazi, Iran's central bank, of a 2014 lower-court ruling that stated the frozen funds, held in New York in a Citibank trust account, should be handed over to the plaintiffs. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, seizing on an argument made by Bank Markazi, appeared troubled that Congress improperly sought to direct the outcome of a legal dispute by passing a 2012 law specifically to help the American plaintiffs obtain the Iranian funds in this case. The money would go towards satisfying a $2.65 billion judgement against Iran the families won in U.S. federal court in 2007. During a one-hour argument in a case before the top U.S. court at a delicate time in American-Iranian relations, Roberts defended the role of the judiciary and emphasized that the authority of Congress is limited. "Their job is to pass laws. Our job is to decide a case. When there's a dispute under one of the laws they pass, that's our job," Roberts said. At issue is whether Congress violated the separation of powers principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that gives specific authority to the government's executive, legislative and judicial branches. The 2012 law stated the Iranian funds should go towards paying off the judgement. Roberts used the analogy of a "strongman" leader of a foreign country calling a judge on behalf of an ally to tell him how to rule in a case. "Im not sure I see what the difference is here," Roberts said. Other justices indicated they did not see the law as infringing upon the judiciary's independence as Roberts did. Justice Antonin Scalia said Congress regularly enacts narrow laws that affect ongoing legal cases. This is allowed so long as it does not undo an already-decided case, Scalia added. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted the case before the court concerned judgements in 19 different lawsuits that were consolidated, casting doubt on whether Congress was meddling in a single case. The plaintiffs accused Iran of providing material support to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shi'ite Islamist political and military group responsible for the 1983 truck bomb attack at the Marine compound in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen. They also sought compensation related to other attacks including the 1996 Khobar Towers truck bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. service members. DEFERENCE TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer suggested the case be viewed from a foreign policy perspective. In foreign policy disputes, courts generally give deference to the executive branch. In the Iran case, President Barack Obama's administration and congressional leaders support the plaintiffs. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who often casts the deciding vote in close cases, wondered if Congress has more leeway when the U.S. has "very delicate relations" with the country in question, as with Iran. But Kennedy grilled lawyers on both sides. He bristled when the Obama administration's lawyer, Edwin Kneedler, said that as long as Congress makes a change to the underlying law when it passes a bill, it does not matter whether the new law has broad application or affects only one ongoing legal case. "I find that a very odd distinction," Kennedy said. The lead plaintiff in the case is Deborah Peterson, whose brother, Marine Lance Corporal James Knipple, died in the Beirut bombing. A ruling is due by the end of June. The case comes a critical moment in U.S.-Iranian relations. A landmark accord reached by the United States and five other world powers to lift economic sanctions in exchange for Iran accepting limits on its nuclear programme is expected to be implemented in the coming days. Earlier on Wednesday, Iran released 10 U.S. Navy sailors after holding them overnight, saying it had determined their two U.S. Navy patrol boats had entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf by mistake. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict "bone-numbing pain" after its latest nuclear test, and urged China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbor. With tension high on the border after the North's fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots toward what Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone. It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters. The North's nuclear test angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons. The World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for North Korea's foreign minister to attend its annual Davos meeting because of the nuclear test. It was to have been the country's first participation in the event in 18 years. The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country's nuclear arsenal, urging the "detonation of more powerful H-bombs", the North's state media reported. North Korea said last week it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb but the United States and various experts doubt that, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of an atomic bomb, in 2013. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more "provocations" by the North including "cyber-terrorism" were possible and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics. "We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally," she said in a speech. Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China had stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate its nuclear program. China is North Korea's main ally and trade partner but it opposes its bombs, while Beijing's ties with South Korea have grown closer in recent years. "I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North's fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability," Park said. "I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further." Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday and said the three agreed that a "meaningful" new sanctions resolution was needed from the Security Council. "I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution," he said. In Washington, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said China could and should put more pressure on North Korea. "We understand their concern about instability on the Korean peninsula, but the fact of the matter is that the current status quo is destabilizing where you have nuclear tests," he told a news briefing. Rhodes said it was important the United States and its allies developed capabilities to respond and referred to Sunday's U.S. B-52 bomber flight over South Korea, missile defense and military cooperation with both South Korea and Japan. Rhodes also said that President Barack Obama chose not to mention North Korea in his State of the Union address on Tuesday as he did not want to give Kim Jong Un the attention. "He likes attention and probably would like nothing more than the president to spend a lot of time to talk about it in the State of the Union," Rhodes said. "We didn't particularly feel compelled to give him that attention." 'FINANCIAL PRESSURE' China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China's efforts toward a denuclearised Korean peninsula would continue. "This is in everyone's interests and is everyone's responsibility, including China and South Korea," he said. The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was brought up for a vote only after North Korea's latest test. "(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate Kim Jong Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule," said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure. To become law, it must also pass the U.S. Senate and be signed by Obama. The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North. South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border. South Korea's military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped from North Korean hot air balloons. South Korean financial regulators met computer security officials at 16 banks and financial institutions and urged vigilance in the face of possible cyberattacks by North Korea, although none has been detected. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim, James Pearson, Jee Heun Kahng, Hooyeon Kim, Dahee Kim and Se Young Lee in SEOUL, Tom Miles in GENEVA, Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Howard Goller) (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday ordered a woman who is a central figure in a debunked story about rape at the University of Virginia to turn over documents related to the article as part of a pending defamation suit, the Washington Post reported. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Glen Conrad said in court he planned to grant most aspects of a motion from lawyers for a University of Virginia associate dean responsible for dealing with sexual assaults on campus. The associate dean is suing Rolling Stone for its depiction of her in the 2014 article about rape at the school, it said in an article posted online. Libby Locke, a lawyer for associate dean Nicole Eramo, said she was pleased with the court decision regarding the woman, known as Jackie, who is a key figure in the story. "It appears that Jackie fabricated the account of the sexual assault portrayed in Rolling Stone, and that Rolling Stone knew she was an unreliable source," Locke said in a statement sent by email. A lawyer for Rolling Stone was not immediately available for comment. Three University of Virginia graduates in July filed a defamation lawsuit in New York against Rolling Stone magazine, its publisher, Wenner Media, and a journalist, over a now-debunked article describing a fraternity gang rape. The three men, all 2013 graduates and members of Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity at the center of the story, claim the magazine was negligent in publishing the article, "A Rape on Campus," by Sabrina Rubin Erdely. They are seeking damages for defamation and infliction of emotional distress. Rolling Stone apologized in December 2014 for "discrepancies" in the account after the story sparked a national debate over sexual violence on college campuses. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Sandra Maler) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies staged two dozen strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, the military coalition leading the operations said in a statement. Sixteen strikes in Iraq were concentrated in Mosul, Ramadi and Kisik, where they hit four of the militant group's tactical units and destroyed four of its bunkers, among other damage, the coalition said in the statement, released on Wednesday. In Syria, eight strikes near five cities destroyed an IS excavator and oil booster pump generator as well as fighting positions, vehicles and other targets, the Combined Joint Task Force said. (Reporting by Washington Newsroom) UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations education envoy Gordon Brown appealed on Tuesday for $500 million to allow half the two million Syrian children who are refugees in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan to go to school and offer their families an alternative to fleeing to Europe. The former British prime minister said the aim was then to get all two million refugee children in school in 2017. Brown said that while some 400,000 Syrian children have made their way to Europe and other countries to escape Syria's five-year civil war, there are still some two million refugee children in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. "Unless we take action to deliver educational opportunity then we have thousands of children on the streets, they are vulnerable to child trafficking, they are vulnerable, obviously, to radical extremism," Brown told reporters. He said they were also at risk of child labor and rates of child marriage were also increasing. Brown said that using a "double-shift" system, some 207,000 Syrian children were now being taught in schools in Lebanon in the afternoon and evenings after Lebanese children had completed their classes earlier in the day. "This is a ray of hope for children, the majority of whom have not had the chance of education since they left Syria. It gives families a choice now where they thought previously they had no alternative but to leave for Europe," Brown said. The aim was to have some 400,000 Syrian children in Lebanon in school this year, along with 400,000 Syrian children in Turkey in school - up from 200,000 - and 200,000 Syrian children in Jordan - up from 130,000 - he said. "Over these next few weeks the pressure is on to raise an additional $500 million to ensure that a million children who are refugee children are in school," Brown said, adding that in 2017 "we want to be able to say that every single refugee child is being offered, boy and girl, the chance of education." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler) By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The U.S. Peace Corps has suspended its projects in El Salvador over safety concerns as the Central American nation struggles to stem rising murder rates and gang violence. The Peace Corps, an overseas volunteer program, said in a statement that due to the "ongoing security environment," about 55 Peace Corps volunteers working across El Salvador on social and youth development programs were no longer safe in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates. "The agency will continue to monitor the security situation in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador to determine when the program can resume," said a statement published on Monday on the embassy website. El Salvador, a nation of 6.4 million people, is racked by drug-fueled violence, with entire city neighborhoods controlled by powerful gangs known as maras. El Salvador's murder rate surged 70 percent in 2015 due to increasing battles between security forces and the country's two most powerful gangs - the Barrio 18 criminal group and their rivals, the Mara Salvatrucha(MS-13). In August alone, 907 murders were recorded across the country in the highest monthly toll since the 1980-1992 civil war. The last time Peace Corps volunteers withdrew from El Salvador was at the start of the civil war. More than 2,300 Peace Corps volunteers have worked on community projects across El Salvador since 1962. In neighboring Honduras, Peace Corps volunteers left the country in 2012 over security concerns. (Reporting by Anastasia Moloney, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org) Minsk (AFP) - Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels agreed a new truce deal Wednesday that goes into immediate effect and replaces one broken just hours after its signature at the end of last month. The latest ceasefire was negotiated between Moscow and Kiev envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk with the help of a senior negotiator from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Both Ukrainian and OSCE officials said the latest initiative was pushed forward by Boris Gryzlov -- a former Russian parliamentary speaker whom President Vladimir Putin handpicked as his personal envoy to the negotiations earlier this month. Gryzlov is seen as both a close ally and confident of Putin who brings a much greater degree of credibility to truce talks that had been conducted by much lower ranking and less known Russian officials in the past year. Ukrainian media cited sources as saying that Gryzlov had conducted a rare private meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev before heading off to Minsk. "Russian representative Boris Gryzlov proposed making another attempt at reaching a ceasefire," Russian news agencies quoted OSCE negotiator Martin Sajdik as saying in Minsk. "This proposal was supported by all of the meeting's participants," Sajdik was further quoted as saying. There was no immediate comment from Gryzlov himself or the representatives of Ukraine's separatist Lugansk and Donetsk regions. A spokeswoman for Poroshenko's peace negotiator said the new truce would go into immediate effect in honour of the "Old New Year" holiday that is celebrated Wednesday in ex-Soviet republics according to the Julian calendar. "Ukraine stresses that without a ceasefire, there can be no de-mining or a proper solution to outstanding political, humanitarian and economic issues," Ukrainian spokeswoman Darka Olifer wrote on Facebook. "That is why Ukraine supports the latest initiative of Russian representative Boris Gryzlov." Story continues Kiev's pro-Western leaders and the insurgents are fighting over an industrial region the approximate size of Wales that is home to about 3.5 million people and the centre of the splintered former Soviet nation's coal and steel wealth. Russia firmly denies allegations of orchestrating and backing the war in order to keep some leverage over Ukraine in the wake of its decision to establish closer trade and political relations with the European Union. The previous "New Year and Christmas" truce was struck on December 22. It was broken the following morning and yet again failed to bring an end to a 20-month conflict that has now claimed more than 9,000 lives. Three Ukrainian soldiers and two rebel fighters have been reported killed since the start of the year. - Prisoner swap - The OSCE's Sajdik said that the sides had agreed to meet again in Minsk next week in order to assess the degree to which Wednesday's call for all sides to lay down their arms was being observed. He added that Ukraine and insurgency leaders had declared their intention to release a combined total of more than 50 prisoners of war as soon as all the technicalities had been resolved. "The sides have agreed to provide more details about this no later than next week." Poroshenko has repeatedly vowed to immediately return home hundreds of soldiers captured by rebel forces across the shattered war zone. The issue is one of many that has kept the foes from agreeing the terms of a final solution to one of Europe's deadliest conflicts since the Balkans wars of the 1990s. Kinshasa (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday said it deplored the sudden dismantling of a camp for internally displaced persons in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing authorities of driving out thousands of vulnerable people. The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the country, Rein Paulsen, said in a tweet that Tuesday's camp closure in the restive North Kivu province saw "4260 people forced to move". "Unacceptable," he added. "I regret the manner in which this dismantling was carried out and I am very concerned by the collective punishment imposed on these vulnerable displaced people," he said in a separate statement. The residents were "chased from their homes and the site was completely razed by the authorities," the statement added. Paulsen's office said the development came a week after a firearm was discovered in the camp. Noting that humanitarian workers in the zone had had little time to prepare, the OCHA said it would seek to make "recommendations" to authorities to "avoid such abrupt (camp) closures" in future. Berthe Zinga, who coordinates the country's National Commission of Refugees, told AFP that attempts by humanitarian organisations to keep the camp open had fallen on deaf ears. "We had pleaded... but unfortunately the camp was closed," said Zinga. No provincial authority spokesperson was immediately available to comment on the move. In December 2014, authorities already closed nearby camp Kiwanja, holding some 2,300 people, with barely any warning after discovering six firearms. They also announced plans to close other camps for the displaced in the province for security reasons. The UN in turn urged the government to respect "international humanitarian law" in the war-ravaged country which last September counted some 1.6 million displaced persons, including some 600,000 in North Kivu province. Elections are due later this year and political tensions are running high. The UN on Monday said 7.5 million people -- nine percent of the population -- were in need of humanitarian aid including food. New York (AFP) - A prominent American art dealer has gone to court in a fight with a British collector -- reportedly representing the Qatari royal family -- over a Picasso sculpture valued at more than $100 million. The work, "Bust of a Woman (Marie-Therese)," dated 1931, is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as part of the largest exhibit of sculpture by the Spanish master in 50 years. Larry Gagosian, who has worked with members of the Picasso family for years, is asking the federal court in Manhattan to reject the opposing side's claim to the sculpture. He contends that he purchased it in May 2015 from the daughter of the artist, Maya Widmaier-Picasso, for $105.8 million, according to a legal action he filed in federal court, viewed Wednesday by AFP. The subject of the bust, Marie-Therese Walter, was Picasso's mistress and model for several years and the mother of Widmaier-Picasso. Gagosian said he had so far paid $79.7 million for the work, or 75 percent of the purchase value. He also said he had concluded a sales agreement with a New York buyer, who expects to take possession of the sculpture once the exhibit ends on February 7. Gagosian further states that he received a letter in October from a British trading firm, Pelham Europe, asserting its ownership of the sculpture and threatening to have it seized in New York. That firm, founded and headed by a former expert from Christie's auction house, Guy Bennett, contends that it reached an agreement in November 2014 to purchase the work from Widmaier-Picasso for 38 million euros ($41.3 million at current rates). It says the broker Connery, Pissaro, Seydoux served as intermediary. But the artist's daughter renounced the sale after a first payment of only six million euros, according to Gagosian's legal filing. A clause in the contract stipulated that the sale would only be considered as final once the entire price had been paid, court papers said. Story continues The British company was working for the royal family of Qatar, Gagosian told The New York Times. As The Times noted, the case is complicated by the nature of Picasso's family -- his many wives, muses, children and grandchildren have for years wrangled over his valuable creations. MoMA did not respond to AFP's request for comment, and Pelham Europe could not immediately be reached. Washington (AFP) - The House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday aimed at blocking implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, but abruptly cancelled the vote because nearly one third of lawmakers were absent. The Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act, which would bar the US administration from lifting certain sanctions against Iran, passed by a vote of 191 to 106, a low total by any measure in the 435-member chamber. Some 137 members missed the vote. In a rare procedural move after presiding Republican Bradley Byrne brought the gavel down and deemed the bill passed, House officials scrapped the vote. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who took up the post in late October, has made a point of sticking to rules designating the timing for House votes, many of which are held open at length as lawmakers make their way to the chamber. "The speaker made an announcement on the floor last week about keeping vote times closer to the allotted time," a Ryan aide told AFP. "While we'll continue to make that a priority, because many members missed this important vote, it was vacated and we'll revote when we return." Major votes often have a 15-minute time limit. House staff said Byrne gavelled the Iran bill vote closed after 19 minutes. "Ryan does not like tardiness," a House official said. The vote is to be rescheduled for the week of January 25. Love the article on Gaddaf i Samosa Iyoha Hello from Johannesburg I was amazed to find a website for Africans in Hungary . Looks like you have quite a community there. Here in SA we have some three million Zimbabweans living in exile and not much sign of going home ... but in Hungary??? Hope to meet you on one of my trips to Europe; was in Steirmark Austria near the Hungarian border earlier this month. Every good wish for 2011. Geoff in Jo'burg I'm impressed by ANH work but... Interesting interview... My comment to the interview with his excellency Mr. Adedotun Adenrele Adepoju CDA a.i-- B.Ayo Adams click to read editor's mail We must rise above tribalism & divide & rule of the colonialist who stole & looted our treasure & planted their puppets to lord it over us..they alone can decide on whosoever is performing & the one that is corrupt..but the most corrupt nations are the western countries that plunder the resources of other nations & make them poorer & aid the rulers to steal & keep such ill gotten wealth in their country..yemen,syria etc have killed more than gadhafi but its not A good investment for the west(this is laughable)because oil is not in these countries..when obasanjo annihilated the odi people in rivers state, they looked away because its in their favour & interest..one day!I think from what have been said, the Nigerian embassy here seem to be more concern about its nationals than we are for ourselves. Our complete disregard for the laws of Hungary isn't going to help Nigeria's image or going to promote what the Embassy is trying to showcase. So if the journalists could zoom-in more focus on Nigerians living, working and studying here in Hungary than scrutinizing the embassy and its every move, i think it would be of tremendous help to the embassy serving its nationals better and create more awareness about where we live . Taking the issues of illicit drugs and forged documents as typical examples.. there are so many cases of Nigerians been involved. But i am yet to read of it in e.news. So i think if only you and your journalists could write more about it and follow up on the stories i think it will make our nationals more aware of what to expect. I wouldn't say i am not impressed with your work but you need to be more of a two way street rather than a one way street . Keep up the good work... SylviaHe is an intelligent man. He spoke well on the issues! Thanks to Mr Hakeem Babalola for the interview it contains some expedient information.. Ten U.S. Navy sailors and the two boats they had been captaining from Iran's custody Wednesday, CNN reported. The sailors, nine men and one woman, were held during the night at a naval base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, after what Iran described as alleged "trespassing." U.S. government officials lost contact with the patrol boats as they charted a course from Kuwait to Bahrain, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told the AP. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook told the AP. According to a statement from the U.S. Navy, the sailors were uninjured while in Iran's custody, but it would launch an investigation into the series of events that caused their captivity. "The sailors departed Farsi Island at 8:43 a.m. GMT, aboard the two Riverine Command Boats that they had been operating when they lost contact with the U.S. Navy," the statement read. "The sailors were later transferred ashore by U.S. Navy aircraft, while other sailors took charge of the RCBs and continued transiting toward Bahrain, the boats' original destination." BREAKING: 10 #USNavy Sailors safely returned to US custody today, after departing Iran - http://1.usa.gov/1mXGLr8 According to the New York Times, state-run media outlet Islamic Republic of Iran News Network reported, "The detained U.S. Marines, after it was realized that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was unintentional, and after the Marines apologized, were released into international waters in the Persian Gulf," citing a report from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran holds 10 American sailors; U.S. ... http://reut.rs/1JJwl8d via @Reuters @MSadidoost @G4VUSA @MyHumanCompass pic.twitter.com/MUGaFhGvHA https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYlwvHgUsAAK26M.jpg:large Iran' 10 U.S sailors depart Farsi Island, unharmed, after being detained by Iranian authorities for <24hrs. pic.twitter.com/B1ZgSn8VWx https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYmIkuFWQAAbE9T.jpg:large The incident began Tuesday evening, when many in the U.S. were focused on President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, which he delivered before Congress and viewers at 9 p.m. Eastern. During his speech, Obama , warned that extreme partisanship would only damage progress and touched on what he says is a noticeable rebound in the U.S. economy since he took office. Yet on Tuesday, Obama also spoke of America's role as a world leader, among other things, and of the importance of using that power diplomatically, without acting as the world's police. Story continues It could be that Iran's swift release of U.S. soldiers is representative of the kind of international diplomacy Obama alluded to during the State of the Union address, particularly regarding its recent dealings with Iran, considering U.S.-Iran relations have been taxed by two years of negotiations to sign a nuclear deal. Or, at least, Iran's rapid release could reflect how tensions have "eased" between America and Iran since reaching that nuclear agreement diplomatically in July, according to Al Jazeera. The terms of the deal are simple enough the U.S. will lift an embargo on Iran that's lasted over a decade and the Iranian government will hand over the majority of its plutonium and agree to routine inspections of its nuclear weaponry. According to the New York Times, in the coming days. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores on Tuesday said two of her nephews who have been indicted on drug trafficking charges were kidnapped by U.S. authorities, her first comments on the case since their arrests sparked a scandal last year. Franqui Flores de Freitas, 30, and Efrain Campo Flores, 29, were arrested in Haiti in November in an operation involving the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The two were later indicted in New York on charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine, an embarrassment to President Nicolas Maduro. "We have evidence that the DEA was here on Venezuelan territory violating our sovereignty and committing crimes on our territory," said Flores, who is also a congresswoman, when asked about the issue by reporters at the legislature. "The DEA committed the crime of kidnapping, which the (legal) defense will prove." The United States embassy in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two met with a DEA informant in Honduras in October and asked for help in sending 800 kilos of cocaine to the United States, according to a source knowledgeable of the situation. Opposition critics have described the two as "narconephews," and say the case signals a broader involvement of Venezuelan authorities in smuggling drugs from neighboring Colombia toward the United States and Europe. Socialist Party officials call the accusations an attempt by Washington to smear the leftist government, and insist drug interdiction efforts have improved since the 2005 expulsion of the DEA. "They have tried to link high-ranking government officials to make it look like Venezuela is complacent with the drug trade, and it turns out that major drug traffickers are arrested here," Flores said. (Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra Maler) ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House is pleased that Iran released 10 U.S. sailors it had detained but continues to have concerns about Tehran's sponsorship of terrorism and threats to Israel, a spokesman said on Wednesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he was not aware of any discussions between Washington and Tehran about a U.S. apology for the incident and noted one "certainly" had not been given. Earnest said U.S. President Barack Obama had not mentioned the incident during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night so as not to elevate the issue and jeopardize the sailors' release. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Jeff Mason; Editing by Susan Heavey) The murder case that inspired Amber Alerts for missing children remains unsolved 20 years later. Click photo for more images. (Yahoo News) ARLINGTON, Texas Unlike terror bulletins or weather warnings, the mayday for missing children has a namesake: Amber. Its a shame my daughter had to be butchered and had to go through what she went through for us to have the Amber Alert, but I know she would be proud of it, Donna Williams said during a recent visit at her home. On Wednesday, two decades will have passed since a stranger snatched 9-year-old Amber Hagerman off her bicycle from a vacant supermarket parking lot in broad daylight and drove away in a black pickup truck. Undated family photo of Amber Hagerman in her Girl Scout uniform. Click photo for more images. (Courtesy of the Hagerman Family) She screamed once and was kicking, Jimmie Kevil, the only witness to ever step forward, told me in 1996, when I covered Ambers abduction as a young reporter for the Dallas Morning News. The case of the brown-haired, blue-eyed Girl Scout abducted shortly after Christmas quickly gripped the country. A national TV audience watched as Ambers parents, then-Donna Whitson and Richard Hagerman, held a near-constant vigil, pleading that her captor let her go. But near midnight on Jan. 17, the nude body of a child with her throat slashed was found in a creek behind an apartment complex less than 5 miles from where Amber went missing. Police identified the body as Ambers by matching a thumbprint from a school safety card a far cry from the child ID apps now offered on todays smartphones. Its bittersweet, Williams said of the warning system thats made her daughter a household name. Theres another part of me that wonders what would have happened if we would have had the alert when Amber went missing. Could it have helped bring her back to me? How Amber Alert started In the days following the girls funeral, Diana Simone, a Fort Worth mom who had never met Amber, called a local radio station with an idea: If broadcasters can alert the public to severe weather, then why not do the same when a child is abducted? They were saying Amber was taken at 4 oclock in the afternoon, thrown in a pickup truck and driven somewhere, and that nobody saw anything. Im sorry, thats not possible, said Simone, now 71. The problem was not that people didnt see them, its that they didnt know what they were seeing. Story continues Simones only request as the idea went from brainstorm to reality was that the resulting program bear Ambers name. That she would be remembered always, and that what happened to her would be remembered always, so you dont ignore the alerts, Simone said. SLIDESHOW Who killed Amber Hagerman? Murder case that inspired Amber Alerts remains unsolved 20 years later >>> Today, the Amber Alert Program is used across the nation and in more than 20 other countries. The warnings, which trigger sometimes-startling smartphone notifications and are published on billboards and across social networks, have led to the rescue of nearly 800 missing kids, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Williams doesnt own a smartphone and spends little time online. But she cant escape hearing her childs name when the alerts appear on TV or the radio. Of course I think of my daughter first, she said. I have to accept that the alerts are always going to be there. Justice for Amber? Recognition of the Amber Alert Program has taken Williams to the Oval Office to meet two U.S. presidents. In 2006, the Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring the programs dedication to the rapid recovery of abducted children. But 20 years of ceremonies, sit-down dinners and candlelight vigils havent delivered what Williams yearns for most: to know who killed Amber and why. The detectives call when they get a hot lead or something, but nothing ever comes of it, she said. How can he get away with this? I cant comprehend how you cant catch someone like that. Arlington police Detective Ben Lopez inherited the case in 2010 when Jim Ford, the original lead investigator, retired. Click photo for more images. (Jason Sickles/Yahoo News) The Arlington Police Department has investigated nearly 7,000 leads in the case. Two or three tips still trickle in each month. Its definitely frustrating that we havent solved it and arrested somebody by now, said Detective Ben Lopez, who inherited the case six years ago when Jim Ford, the original lead investigator, retired. Lopez was a rookie patrolman with a 2-year-old daughter of his own at home on Jan. 13, 1996. Amber was taken about 10 minutes before he hit the streets for his night shift. If you weren't on a call, you were looking for her, recalled Lopez, now 47. Two decades later, documents, notes and other case items fill 54 cardboard storage boxes at the Arlington Police Department. But detectives still have little more than the suspect description that Kevil, a retired machinist, saw from his nearby yard 20 years ago: a white or Hispanic male age 25-40, under 6 feet tall, medium build, driving a late-1980s or early-1990s model full-size American-made black truck. It would be better to have some better descriptors, to narrow it down a lot more than that, Lopez said. The abandoned store parking lot where the abduction occurred is about two blocks from where Ambers grandmother still lives today. A self-service laundry in the same parking lot was full of customers, but police believe many of them were in the country illegally and may have left when they saw patrol cars arriving. Despite a one-time $75,000 reward and the promise that they wouldnt be deported, no laundry customer ever came forward. Theres a possibility that someone knows something and just hasnt come forward for some reason, Lopez said. I certainly hope thats the case. A reporter and Ambers mom reconnect I hadnt seen Ambers mom in many years before last week. Her long hair, brown at the time of tragedy 20 years ago, is now showing streaks of gray. We hugged at her front door before both letting the reason for the reunion get to us. Reporters arent supposed to cry, I said apologetically. Yall are people too, she reminded me. Amber Hagermans mother, Donna Williams, stands in a bedroom full of her daughters memories. Click photo for more images. (Jason Sickles/Yahoo News) Williams has tried to stay preoccupied with odd jobs through the years, but she has been hit with more than the average share of heartache in the years since her daughters murder. Two months after Ambers funeral, Williams fiance was killed in a car wreck. Her older sister was found dead at age 32 from a seizure disorder in 1998. Then in the summer of 2009, her husband of nine years died of a massive heart attack and her father succumbed to cancer. Its like Im sort of a voodoo doll, Williams said. It seems everybody that I love ends up dying. Counseling has helped a little, but she still struggles with her place in life. Theres a part of me that wants to be happy, she said. But then theres a part of me that says I cant, that I shouldn't be happy. Some years Williams cant handle the heartache that accompanies the anniversary of her daughters murder; 2016 will be one of them. I dont want to do a candlelight vigil, she said during my visit. Everybody wants me to do it because its 20 years, but I cant. When weve done them in the past, it takes us two weeks to get back to normal. Instead, Williams channeled her energy to penning an open letter to her daughters unknown killer. She read part of it to Yahoo News last week, but decided at the last minute this week not to go through with her plans to get it published and rent a post office box where the killer could contact her. I still want justice for Amber, but I cant deal with everything right now, she told me. I miss her a lot. Jason Sickles is a national reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles). South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley delivered the official Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night and her response is facing some angry backlash from within Haley's own party. Speaking from the South Carolina state Capitol on Tuesday night, Haley criticized Obama for not living up to his rhetoric, but she also referenced failures within the Republican Party, saying, "We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: While Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone. There is more than enough blame to go around." Suggesting Republicans shared responsibility for "problems facing America" did not go over well with some conservatives. Conservative pundit Ann Coulter attacked Haley on Twitter during the speech, saying at one point, "Trump should deport Nikki Haley." Haley's parents immigrated to the United States from India, and were the first Indian immigrants in the town of Bamberg, South Carolina. Haley spoke of the importance of continuing to welcome immigrants into the United States during her rebuttal. Trump should deport Nikki Haley. J@s@sF-ingChr@st - even GOP response to Obama's SOTU is a paean to immigrants. And GOP can't figure out why Trump is sweeping the country. Other conservatives on social media echoed Coulter's thoughts, and criticized the Republican establishment while expressing support for Trump. Everything wrong with GOP #SOTU response in 4 words: Nikki Haley tells Americans tired of being ignored to "turn down the volume." To the glee of our corrupt media, Nikki Haley is attacking our own frontrunner. The GOP Establishment is garbage. @nikkihaley #Trump understands how angry American voters are with *weak* & *spineless* GOP/DNC on immigration, etc. #SOTU response was awful @nikkihaley You misunderstands the situation, though. It's not Donald Trump being loud, it's We the People being loud through Donald Trump. Within the Republican establishment though, Haley's rebuttal to the speech received praise. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus tweeted his support following Haley's rebuttal, saying "Fantastic balance and substance. Our party is the new, young and diverse party." Wrapping up an interview with MSNBCs Thomas Roberts on Wednesday, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump sent his warmest regards to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was scheduled to appear later in the program. Trump, a master of political theater, seems to be savoring the implications for later this fall of a startling turn of events in the Democratic presidential race that has thrust Sanders ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire while shrinking Clintons once sizable lead in the national polls. Related: Bernie Sanders Tells Vermont Voters: Trump Is a Pathological Liar Of course its too soon to predict whether Sanders campaign surge is a sign of things to come or a temporary boom that will fade as the campaign moves beyond Iowa and New Hampshire to southern and western regions less hospitable to the independent Vermont senator. But its no longer possible to dismiss out of hand the possibility of a general election campaign pitting Sanders -- a self-styled democratic socialist who champions the middle class and despises Wall Street against Trump, a hard edged capitalist who favors tax cuts for the rich, deporting 11.3 million illegal immigrants from the country and temporarily barring Muslim from entering the U.S. Trump holds a commanding two to one lead over his nearest rivals in the national polls and is running far ahead in New Hampshire, home to the first primary of the political season. In Iowa, hes gaining on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) after raising doubts about Cruzs eligibility to serve as president. Sanders, meanwhile, has pulled ahead of Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire with his themes of income inequality and the excesses of the billionaire class. And now he now threatens to overtake the former secretary of state in the nationwide race. Related: Clinton Facing a Long Fight as Sanders Fundraising Soars As the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses rapidly approaches, a newly released New York Times/CBS News poll shows that 48 percent of Democratic primary voters nationwide support Clinton, while 41 percent back Sanders. Story continues Clinton is losing altitude rapidly. Only a month ago, she led Sanders nationally by 20 percentage points. The new poll suggests that her biggest problem may be a generational divide in which primary voters under the age of 45 favor Sanders by roughly two to one. Meanwhile, two state polls released on Tuesday further highlight the Clintons challenge. A Quinnipiac University poll showed that Sanders has taken a slim lead over Clinton in Iowa, 49 percent to 44 percent, after Clinton had led for months. And a survey by Monmouth University gave Sanders a double-digit lead in New Hampshire. The dramatic change in political fortunes has rattled Clintons campaign and prompted the former first lady to sharpen her attacks on Sanders portraying him as weak on gun control, belittling his plan for a single-payer government health care system, and questioning whether he has the gumption to stand up to special interest groups, from the barons of Wall Street to the National Rifle Association. Related: Trump vs. Obama: Smackdown over State of the Union If youre going to go around saying youll stand up to special interests, well, stand up to the most powerful special interest stand up to that gun lobby, Clinton said in Ames, Iowa, referring to Sanderss 2005 House vote to grant immunity to gun manufacturers from law suits related to shootings, according to The Washington Post. Clinton insists that shes not nervous about the latest turn of events, but thinks its time to move from introducing herself to voters in the early primary states to drawing sharp contrasts between her and Sanders. During his appearance on MSNBC today, Sanders suggested that Clinton was getting desperate by distorting his record on guns and health care. At one point, he called her tactics on the gun control issue mean spirited. Sanders cited recent polls showing that he would do better against Trump than Clinton in a general election campaign, and argued that he has already demonstrated the fundraising clout and crowd appeal to carry him to victory. Sanders and Clinton will square off again on Sunday during the final Democratic presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses. Not only do we have enough money to wage a very strong campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, were working in Nevada, in South Carolina and in many other states as well, Sanders said. I think the American people are tired of establishment politics, establishment economics. They want to see leadership stand up to the billionaire class. Our message is resonating all across the country, and yes, we have the energy, we have the funding, to take this to the convention. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York police officer who took a bullet to the ankle during a shootout with a suspect was hit with friendly fire, police officials said on Tuesday. Officer Sherrod Stuart, 25, was shot in the Bronx around 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT) on Saturday after he and other officers responded to the scene of a large fight involving guns, bats and knives. Stuart, a plainclothes officer, and his partner chased one of the people fighting, who opened fire, police said. The officers returned fire, and Stuart was struck in the right ankle. He is expected to recover fully. Police initially believed the suspect, Christopher Rice, had shot Stuart, but forensic analysis showed the bullet was from a police gun, Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a press conference. Rice, who was shot four times during the confrontation, has been charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Grant McCool) By Edward Krudy ALBANY, NY (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday presented a $145.3 billion budget that keeps operating funds growth at 1.7 percent for a sixth year, while promising an infrastructure development plan that he said will be the largest in the state's history. Cuomo, a Democrat, has consistently presented himself as a responsible steward of the state's finances, capping spending at under 2 percent since he took office in 2011. The governor outlined his budget as he delivered his sixth state of the state address in New York's capital, Albany. He has tied his governorship to big infrastructure projects and has spent the year touring the state, promising a program to equip New York for the next 100 years. "After many years of bad performance for our state the arrows are finally pointing in the right direction," Cuomo told a packed convention center. Cuomo's plans include rebuilding New York City's Pennsylvania Station for $3 billion, expanding rail services to Long Island by adding a third track for $1 billion, building a $1 billion extension to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and revamping regional airports. He has also promised $22 billion for upstate transport over the next five years. The funds, which will primarily go to repair roads and bridges, are aimed at creating parity between upstate and downstate spending on transport, Cuomo said. (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Frances Kerry and Alistair Bell) Harare (AFP) - A Zimbabwean court has acquitted a legislator of insulting President Robert Mugabe's wife Grace, who is seen as a possible successor to the veteran leader, an independent daily reported Wednesday. Justice Wadyajena was accused of shouting "abusive or insulting language" at a fellow ZANU-PF party member who had a portrait of Grace Mugabe and pro-Grace slogans emblazoned on his car. "The aspect of insulting the First Lady is no longer there," Givemore Muvhiringi, Wadyajena's lawyer, told the News Day. "The court agreed with us, so they said he won't be prosecuted," Muvhiringi said, adding that his client may still face a charge of disorderly conduct. Wadyajena, 35, was alleged to have shouted at the owner of the car in the resort town of Victoria Falls during the annual conference of the ruling ZANU-PF party in December. Wadyajena was quoted in court papers as having told Muduvuri: "You are a fool as well as that mother of yours." The first lady is referred to as "mother" by the ruling party supporters. Wadyajena has been linked to a party faction loyal to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is another potential candidate to take over from Mugabe. Mugabe, 91, who has led the country since independence in 1980, has avoided naming a successor and his party has been riven by infighting between factions jostling to succeed him. Prime Minister Modi inaugurates National Youth Day Chhattisgarh, Wed, 13 Jan 2016 NI Wire The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, delivered the inaugural address for the National Youth Day at Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh, via video-conferencing from Race Course Road. The Prime Minister said that Swami Vivekananda, whose birth anniversary falls today, was an inspiration for all youth, and a shining example of how much could be accomplished in a short time-span. The Prime Minister said youth from different parts of India, assembled in Chhattisgarh today, represent its diversity but are united in one mantra, of serving Mother India. He said this united resolve had one day brought us independence, and is today taking India to new heights. He said 125 crore people are united in an objective of taking the nation to new highs. He said a nation which was so abundantly youthful, should have objectives and dreams which are boundless. The Prime Minister said a youth, by definition, is one who works towards his future goals, unmindful of the past. The Prime Minister laid stress on harmony and togetherness, saying that without peace, unity and harmony, development cannot have any meaning. However much we develop, peace is our first requirement, the Prime Minister said, adding that India has shown the world, that a land of such diversity, has a unique spirit to stay together. This is the heritage of our forefathers, the Prime Minister said, which extends from Ved to Vivekananda, and Upanishad to Upagrah. Shri Narendra Modi said that India's objective is to give its youth the capabilities and skills to make this century an Indian century. He praised the State of Chhattisgarh for progress in this direction despite the problem of Naxalism. The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of "dignity of labour" and said it must be inculcated among people. He said India's objective for development should be to transform the lives of the poor, and in the villages. He urged the youth to witness the launch of the "Start-up India" event in Delhi on January 16th. The Prime Minister urged the youth to think of concrete objectives for the years 2019 and 2022 the 150th anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi, and the 75th anniversary of independence. Source: PIB Political, Situational, and other News Affecting Wentzville, St. Charles County, St. Louis Metropolitan, Missouri, and the Nation as a Whole. Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at | Categorized as Soycomplex: US Dec 1 stocks were 2,715 billion bu, which were 27 million below the average pre-report trade estimate. US 2015 harvested acreage came down 600,000 million acres, and yield was reduced to 48.0 bu/acre. That took the US 2015/16 crop down to 106.95 MMT versus the 108.35 MMT forecast a month ago, and now little different compared to 106.88 MMT a year previously. There were no changes to output from Brazil (100 MMT) or Argentina (57 MMT). China's crop was increased to 12 MMT (up 0.5 MMT from last month). Chinese imports were unchanged at a record 80.5 MMT. Brazil's exports were unchanged at 57 MMT, Argentina's were raised from 11.25 MMT to 11.8 MMT and those of the US lowered from 46.68 MMT to just under 46 MMT. World ending stocks were estimated at 79.28 MMT versus 82.58 MMT a month ago and the average trade idea of 82.57 MMT. The change in relationship between beans, meal and oil was noted. "Since reaching a low in September, the share of oils value in soybeans has climbed to near 33 percent in December," they said. "While this is still below the 20-year average of 35 percent, it marks the highest value-share for soybean oil since May 2013. Prices for soybean oil, which reached a 10-year low in late 2015, have begun to rise in conjunction with other vegetable oils. Reduced global supplies of rape and sun oil, along with slower growth year-to-year in palm oil production, hold the potential for a tighter market and continued price strengthening for all oils. Demand for soybean oil is particularly keen, in part due to its relative abundance as well as the narrowing of its price premium to palm oil," they noted. Under the daily reporting system the USDA also revealed 140,000 MT of US soybeans sold to unknown destinations for 2015/16. Jan 16 Soybeans closed at $8.90 3/4, up 9 3/4 cents; Mar 16 Soybeans closed at $8.74 1/2, up 13 1/4 cents; Jan 16 Soybean Meal closed at $274.70, up $5.90; Jan 16 Soybean Oil is at $29.01, down 7 points. Corn: Corn closed around 6-7 cents firmer, helped by a USDA report that can maybe best be described as "not as bearish as it might have been". That appeared to encourage some profit-taking, helped by spillover support from wheat and soybeans. "World corn production for 2015/16 is lower with reductions for India and South Africa more than offsetting the gain for Canada. Global trade is little changed overall. Exports are raised for Brazil and Canada but lowered for the United States and India," was their opening gambit. India's corn crop is now expected to be the smallest since 2009/10 at 21 MMT and is 1.5 MMT below that forecast a month ago and 2.7 MMT under what was produced in 2014/15. Production in Brazil (81.5 MMT) and Argentina (25.6 MMT) was left unchanged from last time. Canadian output was raised by 1.3 MMT to 13.6 MMT, and South Africa's lowered from 12.75 MMT to 12.0 MMT. World 2015/16 ending stocks were almost identical to the 211.9 MMT predicted a month ago at 211.85 MMT. The average trade guess for those were 212.51 MMT. US Dec 1 corn stocks came in 34 million bushels below the average pre-report trade estimate. "Since the release of the November WASDE report, US and Black Sea corn quotes have dropped slightly. U. corn export prices have been pressured by a relative lack of competitiveness. In comparison, Argentine and Brazilian corn quotes are up (and are now above US Gulf prices), supported by continued strong foreign demand and seasonally tightening old crop supplies," they said. Mar 16 Corn closed at $3.56 3/4, up 5 cents; May 16 Corn closed at $3.62 1/4, up 4 3/4 cents. Wheat: For once wheat led the pack higher. The USDA's winter wheat plantings report, separate to their WASDE report, is what the market focused on. That had US all winter wheat seedings down to the lowest since 2010, including a drop to at least a 30 year low in plantings of HRW wheat, according to Reuters. The total winter wheat area of 36.61 million acres is 7.2% lower than a year ago and more than 2 million under the lowest trade guess. The USDA estimated seedings of HRW wheat, the largest wheat area by class, at 26.5 million acres, the lowest on records going back to 1986/87. SRW acreage was shown at 6.72 million, while the range of estimates was 6.40 to 8.539 million and the average guess 7.166 million. On the flip side, the US Dec 1 wheat stocks figure of 1.738 billion bushels was a five-year high that exceeded market expectations by 40 million bushels. The WASDE report provided the bearish input. "The projected glut in 2015/16 global wheat supplies is pressuring export prices to the lowest level since July 2010. While world production and consumption are forecast at a record and global trade at a near-record, stocks continue to build. Although lower prices are stimulating additional demand, it is not enough to offset burdensome supplies. Exporter stocks are generally available to the world, and are therefore inversely related to global prices," they said. US 2015/16 wheat exports were left unchanged at 22 MMT, with Europe's lowered 1 MMT to 32.5 MMT. Argentina's exports were upped 1 MMT reflecting recent changes in duties and quotas, Canada and Ukraine both got a 500,000 MT increase to their exports in 2015/16 to 21 MMT and 15.5 MMT respectively. World wheat ending stocks were raised from 227.3 MMT to almost 230 MMT. Mar 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.81 1/4, up 12 1/4 cents; Mar 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.78, up 15 3/4 cents; Mar 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.05 1/2, up 10 3/4 cents. 12/01/16 -- General: A big day, with a deluge of data from the USDA to wade through. Bear in mind also that fund money was sitting on some fairly large open short positions in wheat, corn and beans heading into today's reports, so nervousness may have played a part in a bit of volatility. Crude oil continues the pressure in the outside markets with new lows again today as it seems inextricably drawn to test a fall below the $30/barrel mark.Soycomplex: US Dec 1 stocks were 2,715 billion bu, which were 27 million below the average pre-report trade estimate. US 2015 harvested acreage came down 600,000 million acres, and yield was reduced to 48.0 bu/acre. That took the US 2015/16 crop down to 106.95 MMT versus the 108.35 MMT forecast a month ago, and now little different compared to 106.88 MMT a year previously. There were no changes to output from Brazil (100 MMT) or Argentina (57 MMT). China's crop was increased to 12 MMT (up 0.5 MMT from last month). Chinese imports were unchanged at a record 80.5 MMT. Brazil's exports were unchanged at 57 MMT, Argentina's were raised from 11.25 MMT to 11.8 MMT and those of the US lowered from 46.68 MMT to just under 46 MMT. World ending stocks were estimated at 79.28 MMT versus 82.58 MMT a month ago and the average trade idea of 82.57 MMT. The change in relationship between beans, meal and oil was noted. "Since reaching a low in September, the share of oils value in soybeans has climbed to near 33 percent in December," they said. "While this is still below the 20-year average of 35 percent, it marks the highest value-share for soybean oil since May 2013. Prices for soybean oil, which reached a 10-year low in late 2015, have begun to rise in conjunction with other vegetable oils. Reduced global supplies of rape and sun oil, along with slower growth year-to-year in palm oil production, hold the potential for a tighter market and continued price strengthening for all oils. Demand for soybean oil is particularly keen, in part due to its relative abundance as well as the narrowing of its price premium to palm oil," they noted. Under the daily reporting system the USDA also revealed 140,000 MT of US soybeans sold to unknown destinations for 2015/16. Jan 16 Soybeans closed at $8.90 3/4, up 9 3/4 cents; Mar 16 Soybeans closed at $8.74 1/2, up 13 1/4 cents; Jan 16 Soybean Meal closed at $274.70, up $5.90; Jan 16 Soybean Oil is at $29.01, down 7 points.Corn: Corn closed around 6-7 cents firmer, helped by a USDA report that can maybe best be described as "not as bearish as it might have been". That appeared to encourage some profit-taking, helped by spillover support from wheat and soybeans. "World corn production for 2015/16 is lower with reductions for India and South Africa more than offsetting the gain for Canada. Global trade is little changed overall. Exports are raised for Brazil and Canada but lowered for the United States and India," was their opening gambit. India's corn crop is now expected to be the smallest since 2009/10 at 21 MMT and is 1.5 MMT below that forecast a month ago and 2.7 MMT under what was produced in 2014/15. Production in Brazil (81.5 MMT) and Argentina (25.6 MMT) was left unchanged from last time. Canadian output was raised by 1.3 MMT to 13.6 MMT, and South Africa's lowered from 12.75 MMT to 12.0 MMT. World 2015/16 ending stocks were almost identical to the 211.9 MMT predicted a month ago at 211.85 MMT. The average trade guess for those were 212.51 MMT. US Dec 1 corn stocks came in 34 million bushels below the average pre-report trade estimate. "Since the release of the November WASDE report, US and Black Sea corn quotes have dropped slightly. U. corn export prices have been pressured by a relative lack of competitiveness. In comparison, Argentine and Brazilian corn quotes are up (and are now above US Gulf prices), supported by continued strong foreign demand and seasonally tightening old crop supplies," they said. Mar 16 Corn closed at $3.56 3/4, up 5 cents; May 16 Corn closed at $3.62 1/4, up 4 3/4 cents.Wheat: For once wheat led the pack higher. The USDA's winter wheat plantings report, separate to their WASDE report, is what the market focused on. That had US all winter wheat seedings down to the lowest since 2010, including a drop to at least a 30 year low in plantings of HRW wheat, according to Reuters. The total winter wheat area of 36.61 million acres is 7.2% lower than a year ago and more than 2 million under the lowest trade guess. The USDA estimated seedings of HRW wheat, the largest wheat area by class, at 26.5 million acres, the lowest on records going back to 1986/87. SRW acreage was shown at 6.72 million, while the range of estimates was 6.40 to 8.539 million and the average guess 7.166 million. On the flip side, the US Dec 1 wheat stocks figure of 1.738 billion bushels was a five-year high that exceeded market expectations by 40 million bushels. The WASDE report provided the bearish input. "The projected glut in 2015/16 global wheat supplies is pressuring export prices to the lowest level since July 2010. While world production and consumption are forecast at a record and global trade at a near-record, stocks continue to build. Although lower prices are stimulating additional demand, it is not enough to offset burdensome supplies. Exporter stocks are generally available to the world, and are therefore inversely related to global prices," they said. US 2015/16 wheat exports were left unchanged at 22 MMT, with Europe's lowered 1 MMT to 32.5 MMT. Argentina's exports were upped 1 MMT reflecting recent changes in duties and quotas, Canada and Ukraine both got a 500,000 MT increase to their exports in 2015/16 to 21 MMT and 15.5 MMT respectively. World wheat ending stocks were raised from 227.3 MMT to almost 230 MMT. Mar 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.81 1/4, up 12 1/4 cents; Mar 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.78, up 15 3/4 cents; Mar 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.05 1/2, up 10 3/4 cents. Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at | Categorized as At the finish, Jan 16 London wheat was up GBP0.80/tonne at GBP111.00/tonne, Mar 16 Paris wheat was EUR1.50/tonne higher at EUR170.75/tonne, Mar 16 corn rose EUR1.00/tonne to EUR159.50/tonne and Feb 16 rapeseed was EUR1.25/tonne firmer to EUR365.25/tonne. The pound worked lower following news that UK industrial output fell 0.7% in November - the largest monthly decline since Jan 2013. That in theory should aid exports and hinder imports going forward. Before we have a look at what the USDA had to say late in the say though, the news that the market had to go on prior to that included a background of high EU and UK corn imports so far this season. EU data shows that Europe has imported 6.93 MMT of corn so far in 2015/16, against the 9.35 MMT shipped in during the whole of last season. Corn imports for the past 5-years average 8.37 MMT, so we certainly look to be on target to in for an above average season this time round. Meanwhile at home "UK corn imports in November were at their highest monthly level since March 2014 at 259 TMT, according to the latest HMRC data, despite ample supplies of domestic feed wheat this year," said the HGCA. UK wheat exports in November were substantially less than the volume of corn imported, at 195 TMT, although imports dropped to little more than 82 TMT (with Finland interestingly the largest supplier). Season to date UK wheat exports are 655 TMT, around 5 TMT less than those of a year ago at this time, with Spain that largest home taking 242 TMT of that total. Late in the afternoon, the news from Washington was that the USDA have estimated US winter wheat plantings for their 2016 harvest down 7% this year "At 14.8 million ha, the US winter wheat area is provisionally the smallest since that for harvest 2010 with sharp falls in both the Hard Red Winter (-9%) and Soft Red Winter (-5%) wheat areas," noted the HGCA. "The year-on-year decline in the winter wheat area is also more than was expected before the reports release; the largest fall expected in a pre-report poll by Reuters was -3%," they added. Is the cure for low prices, low prices? Maybe in the States, where the average grower has a few more options open to him than his EU counterpart - where wheat sowings for 2016 are already seen little changed (and with French winter wheat plantings beating even last year's highest since 1936 total to supposedly be the largest in 80 years). As far as the 2015/16 marketing year goes, the USDA dropped expectations for EU wheat exports by 1 MMT to 32.5 MMT citing the "slower than expected pace and sluggish export licenses" seen so far. Production here in 2015 was tweaked even higher than last time, and is now seen at a record 157.66 MMT. The combined effect of those takes EU 2015/16 ending stocks up to a hefty 18.95 MMT - we haven't seen carryout that high since 2005/06. Ukraine's wheat exports were boosted 500,000 MT to 15.5 MMT "based upon a significantly faster pace of feed-quality wheat shipments, particularly to Southeast Asia." Argentina was seen picking up 1 MMT extra worth of wheat export business this season "on the announced elimination of export taxes and quotas by the incoming government." Canada's exports were upped 500,000 MT to 21.0 MMT "on the continued strong pace of trade to date and a larger than anticipated crop." The morning headlines might read a bit bullish for US wheat, but the fine print doesn't seem to do so as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Note too that fund money was carrying a sizeable short position in wheat, and also in fact corn and soybeans, into today's reports so a knee-jerk reaction may not have been entirely unexpected. 12/01/16 -- EU grains traded lower for most of the day heading into the release of various production and stocks data from the USDA due at 17.00 London time. That was a bit late in the EU session to make a dramatic difference to closing levels, but did nevertheless drag things into the green, with the official closes of the day being at, or near, the day's highs.At the finish, Jan 16 London wheat was up GBP0.80/tonne at GBP111.00/tonne, Mar 16 Paris wheat was EUR1.50/tonne higher at EUR170.75/tonne, Mar 16 corn rose EUR1.00/tonne to EUR159.50/tonne and Feb 16 rapeseed was EUR1.25/tonne firmer to EUR365.25/tonne.The pound worked lower following news that UK industrial output fell 0.7% in November - the largest monthly decline since Jan 2013. That in theory should aid exports and hinder imports going forward.Before we have a look at what the USDA had to say late in the say though, the news that the market had to go on prior to that included a background of high EU and UK corn imports so far this season.EU data shows that Europe has imported 6.93 MMT of corn so far in 2015/16, against the 9.35 MMT shipped in during the whole of last season. Corn imports for the past 5-years average 8.37 MMT, so we certainly look to be on target to in for an above average season this time round.Meanwhile at home "UK corn imports in November were at their highest monthly level since March 2014 at 259 TMT, according to the latest HMRC data, despite ample supplies of domestic feed wheat this year," said the HGCA.UK wheat exports in November were substantially less than the volume of corn imported, at 195 TMT, although imports dropped to little more than 82 TMT (with Finland interestingly the largest supplier).Season to date UK wheat exports are 655 TMT, around 5 TMT less than those of a year ago at this time, with Spain that largest home taking 242 TMT of that total.Late in the afternoon, the news from Washington was that the USDA have estimated US winter wheat plantings for their 2016 harvest down 7% this year"At 14.8 million ha, the US winter wheat area is provisionally the smallest since that for harvest 2010 with sharp falls in both the Hard Red Winter (-9%) and Soft Red Winter (-5%) wheat areas," noted the HGCA."The year-on-year decline in the winter wheat area is also more than was expected before the reports release; the largest fall expected in a pre-report poll by Reuters was -3%," they added.Is the cure for low prices, low prices? Maybe in the States, where the average grower has a few more options open to him than his EU counterpart - where wheat sowings for 2016 are already seen little changed (and with French winter wheat plantings beating even last year's highest since 1936 total to supposedly be the largest in 80 years).As far as the 2015/16 marketing year goes, the USDA dropped expectations for EU wheat exports by 1 MMT to 32.5 MMT citing the "slower than expected pace and sluggish export licenses" seen so far. Production here in 2015 was tweaked even higher than last time, and is now seen at a record 157.66 MMT. The combined effect of those takes EU 2015/16 ending stocks up to a hefty 18.95 MMT - we haven't seen carryout that high since 2005/06.Ukraine's wheat exports were boosted 500,000 MT to 15.5 MMT "based upon a significantly faster pace of feed-quality wheat shipments, particularly to Southeast Asia."Argentina was seen picking up 1 MMT extra worth of wheat export business this season "on the announced elimination of export taxes and quotas by the incoming government." Canada's exports were upped 500,000 MT to 21.0 MMT "on the continued strong pace of trade to date and a larger than anticipated crop."The morning headlines might read a bit bullish for US wheat, but the fine print doesn't seem to do so as far as the rest of the world is concerned.Note too that fund money was carrying a sizeable short position in wheat, and also in fact corn and soybeans, into today's reports so a knee-jerk reaction may not have been entirely unexpected. Comments Policy Comments that are excessively crude, obscene or profane - especially when they consist of nothing more than gratuitous insults or aspersions upon the character of authors or other commenters - will be vigorously discouraged. Therefore, if you find your comment has been deleted, you will know why. Riyadh has re-appointed its former envoy to Morocco Abdelaziz Khouja as the new Saudi ambassador to the North African country, a move described by analysts as meant to consolidate further Saudi-Moroccan alliance amid Saudi-Iranian diplomatic turmoil. Abdelaziz Khouja known as an expert of Morocco has been confirmed by Riyadh last Monday, January 11, as the new Saudi envoy to Morocco. Khouja had served in the same position for eight years between 1996 and 2004. The appointment of the 76 years old veteran diplomat comes as Saudi Arabia is trying to cement its alliance with the North African country amid diplomatic tension with regional rival Iran. Khouja is considered as someone who knows very well the Moroccan kingdom and could help Riyadh further strengthen ties with Rabat. Khouja is replacing departing Abderrahmane Mohammed Al Judai who took the position in 2014. Morocco is a strategic partner to Saudi Arabia and has longstanding, historic diplomatic and military ties with Riyadh which is actively building a strong network of allies to counter Irans influence in the Gulf region. During the latest Arab League meeting, Rabat lashed out at Teheran for being the instigator of the instability in the Gulf region and for breaching international conventions on protection of foreign missions in reference to the attacks on Saudi missions in the Shia-dominated country. Analysts also argue that Khoujas appointment is strategic as it aims at spoiling Irans efforts to thaw ties with Morocco after it reopened its mission in Rabat last June following a degradation of ties in 2009. Khouja is very knowledgeable of his countrys tense relations with Iran as he served as Saudi envoy to Lebanon (2004-2009) a country known to be a diplomatic battle ground between the two rival regional powers which support opposed sides in the Lebanese political spectrum. The outlawed Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist movement in Mauritania (IRA) indicated security forces arrested 7 of its militants following a protest demanding the release of leaders of the organization locked up for two years in prison. The organization has condemned what it calls violation and breach by authorities of the right to protest guaranteed by the constitution. It also condemned harassment on its militants who only demand the release of their leaders and permission to have access to them. Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid and Brahim Ould Bilal respectively President and Vice-President of IRA have been sentenced to two years in prison after they were arrested in 2014 in an anti-slavery campaign in the south of the country. Also in November last year, 17 GNOs including Amnesty International demanded immediate and unconditional release of the two activists. The Mauritanian regime has banned IRA which it accuses, alongside other organizations, for using the slavery issue in Mauritania to make money. The regime argues that the phenomenon still exists only in some small parts of the country. However, the Mauritanian Parliament last year justified the fight against slavery practice in Mauritania by adopting a law declaring the practice a crime against humanity, and increasing sentences to 20 years in prison as opposed to five to ten years in the past. German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday urged Algeria to quickly enforce the deportation agreement signed between the two countries so that Algerian migrants denied asylum could return home. According to press reports, Angela Merkel is getting concerned by Algierss foot-dragging to execute the deportation of Algerian nationals who have been denied asylum. Media also report that the deportation agreement has been tabled again following German authorities uneasiness in front of the growing number of arrivals of Algerian and Moroccan illegal migrants over the past years. Germany also calls on Algiers to fast-track the agreement after it surfaced that a number of Algerians were involved in cases of violence against women reported on January 1, in the German city of Cologne. The German federal police indicated that 32 migrants including 9 Algerians were involved while Cologne local police on the other hand identified 19 suspects among whom 14 Algerians and Moroccans. In response to Chancellor Merkels requests, Algerian Premier Sellal urged German authorities to ensure that the expelled migrants were truly Algerians. Sellal indicated that Algeria will not tolerate involvement of its nationals in the violence cases reported in Cologne. Germany has long been looking to block all asylum applications for Algerian and Moroccan nationals even though last week Chancellor Merkel said no decision was made yet before adding that asylum seekers from these two countries stand less chance than Syrians and Iraqis refugees. Cote dIvoire Presidency Tuesday unveiled the new cabinet said to drag the country to emergence envisaged by President Ouattara who has been vested with a new mandate. The new cabinet is made of 36 secretaries including nine women compared to 5 in Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncans previous team. Four new women are making their debuts in the new cabinet. Civil Society activist Euphrasy Yao has been appointed new Secretary for Women Promotion, Family and Child Protection. Mariatou Kone President of Social Cohesion Program has been made Secretary in charge of Solidarity, Social Cohesion and Victims Reparation. Paulette Badjo Ezouehu, a well-known lawyer, Head of the National Human Rights Commission, who headed the countrys probe commission into post-electoral violations and crimes, has been promoted to the Department of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The fourth new comer is Ly Ramata Bakayoko, named Secretary for Higher Education. Besides, former junior Minister of Economy and Finance Kaba Niale has been promoted Minister in charge of Plan and Development. Only a few and expected names have been removed. Cisse Bacongo former Minister of Civil Services has been replaced by Pascal Abinan KOUAKOU. Charles Koffi Diby former foreign Minister bore the brunt of the recent diplomat showdown between Paris and Abidjan after a French international arrest warrant was issued against Speaker of the Ivorian Parliament Guillaume Soro while he was in France on an official mission. He is replaced by Abdallah Albert Toikeusse MABRI. Furthermore Badaud Darret and Gnenema Coulibaly respectively Minister of Water and Forest and Minister of Justice have also been replaced. The new cabinet nicknamed Combat and mission to reach emergence has been also bolstered with nine advisers as collaborators to the president and the Prime Minister. The Secret to Happiness is the Joy of the Lord; and the joy of the Lord is His manifest presence in your life. It is our Privilege and Responsibility to Glorify God; and we glorify God by manifesting His character every moment and in every situation. Humility and Pride You can tell a humble man that he has a problem with pride and he will agree with you; but if you tell a proud man that he has a problem with pride, he becomes your enemy. This one thing I know for sure, that whenever there is a problem with my relationship with the Lord, it is not His fault. Some people are just plain lazy; some people are just overly sensitive to gravity; others are simply economical with their energy. It's not enough to preach the Gospel; you must be the Gospel. If you can describe your life in a nutshell, there's a good probability that you're a nut. As a good Canadian, I'd like to apologize in advance for anything I might say that offends you; sometimes my mouth hits high gear while my brain is still in low. Never allow the thought, "I am of no use where I am"; because you certainly can be of no use where you are not. Oswald Chambers We cannot even begin to approach the Truth until we are willing to go wherever the Truth leads us. The newest object of idol worship is 'my opinion'! Suffering is the only experience we have in common with every other human who ever lived. The federal government is ramping up its efforts to ID and track buyers of Manhattan real estate who use shell companies and LLCs to shield their identity, the Times reports. The announcement comes months after the Times released a damning investigative series about the use of shell companies to shield scandal-plagued buyers in one of Manhattan's most prestigious buildings, and months after the city imposed less extensive disclosure requirements on shell companies involved in real estate transactions in the city. The new initiative, which will target buyers of properties asking more than $3 million, will also zero in on all-cash buyers. It is the first time the federal government has required real estate companies to disclose identifying information about all-cash buyers, the Times says. The measure is part of an effort to monitor money laundering in the United States. The Times elaborates: The use of shell companies in real estate is legal, and L.L.C.s have a range of uses unrelated to secrecy. But a top Treasury official, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, said her agency had seen instances in which multimillion-dollar homes were being used as safe deposit boxes for ill-gotten gains, in transactions made more opaque by the use of anonymous shell companies. The initiative is being directed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network within the U.S. Treasury, and will function in part by requiring title insurance companies to ascertain buyer identities then submit them to the Treasury. The initiative will require that parties that own at least a 25-percent stake in the property be identified by name by the title insurance companies. The initiative is being launched in two markets in the country that are a destination for foreign buyersManhattan and Miami-Dade Countyand will run from March through August. If the Treasury deems that enough fishy activity is occurring, permanent channels for reporting requirements will be set up across the country. Here's an alarming stat: Nearly half of houses in the country worth $5 million or more were purchased through shell companies or LLCs. In 2014, 54-percent of sales over $5 million in Manhattan were to shell companies. U.S. Will Track Secret Buyers of Luxury Real Estate [NYT] People No Longer Allowed to Buy NYC Condos Anonymously [Curbed] Scandal-Plagued Foreigners Park Millions In Midtown Condos [Curbed] After less than three years, Al Jazeera America is shutting down. The news isnt terribly surprising no one was watching the cable news network, which began in August 2013 with a promise to offer sober and in-depth reporting on the news of the day, clearly throwing shade at other, louder, and far more successful cable news networks. CEO Al Anstey wrote in a staff memo, according to the New York Times, that the decision was driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace. A year ago, the Times published a report in which employees complained about a culture of fear and being constantly afraid of losing their jobs: Lots of tears at AJAM. people are on the 2016 trail, in the middle of stories. Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) January 13, 2016 Last year, two people who used to work at Al Jazeera America sued the company, accusing it of anti-Semitism and sexism. The network will officially shut down on April 30. Employees are understandably upset, especially those not in the office today. One employee told CNN, There are executives here in tears. Doom and gloom. CNN also reports that 700 700! people could lose their jobs because of the upheaval. Unsurprisingly, Al Jazeera has tried to put a positive spin on all of this on its website, noting that the company plans to expand its digital presence and bring new global content into America later this year, even though it wont be doing it through its American offshoot. Al Jazeera is based in Qatar and owned by the Qatari government. Al Jazeera America became a thing after its parent company purchased Current TV, the channel started by Al Gore that was performing dismally. As the Intercept notes, the fact that the network has been losing money may have become increasingly untenable as the networks owner and funder, the Government of Qatar, is now economically struggling due to low oil prices. This January 11, 2016 photo shows Osborn Playground in Brownsville. Photo: Bebeto Matthews/AP/Corbis Shortly after a fifth suspect was taken into custody for the alleged rape of an 18-year-old at a playground in Brooklyn, the four other suspects were arraigned at Brooklyn Criminal Court. What are we really doing here? one of the suspects lawyers said. Because the mayor gets an action and a politician says to do something, we havent learned that is how sometimes justice is perverted? Have we not learned our lessons from the Central Park Five? One of the defense attorneys mentioned a video shot by one of the suspects, a video that allegedly showed what happened shortly before the alleged attack. The New York Times and New York Daily News were both shown the reported ten-second video by a brother of one of the suspects. The Daily News says that the video shows a smiling girl whos naked from the waist down supposedly the victim sitting with a young man. There are a few snippets of dialogue; according to the Times, a male voice says, She said yeah If you said yeah, its lit, like, you know what I mean. I could tell you a freak. Two suspects told the police that the sex was consensual. Two suspects also told the authorities in interviews, according to the Journal, that the daughter was having sex with her father when they arrived. An official told the newspaper, They indicated that father is the one who put her in this compromised position and they took advantage. A suspect allegedly said, Well take it from here. There are conflicting stories about the fathers status when he left the scene, according to Reuters. Representative Hakeem Jeffries said that he allegedly drank to the point where he became intoxicated The initial reports were that he was threatened with a gun but that seems to be based on his version of events. No gun has been recovered yet. Regardless of the circumstances of what happened, one law-enforcement official told the Times, it does not mean she was not a victim of a pretty horrific attack What appeared to have happened is that the father may have put her in that compromised position. However, The Wall Street Journal reports that video from a nearby school bolstered the victims and fathers account, according to chief of detectives Robert Boyce. Everything she said seemed credible, and her fathers narrative was exactly the same, Boyce said. The teenagers allegedly approached the woman, who was drinking beer with her father at Osborn Playground in Brownsville last Thursday night in a place where they hoped the police wouldnt notice them and told the father to go away. The father told the authorities that one of the teenagers had a gun, and that he rushed to a nearby bodega asking for help. CNN reports that the person working at the bodega had no idea what the man was talking about since he was so frenzied and incoherent, and told him to leave. One worker at the bodega told the New York Post, He was swaying side to side. He asked me, Lend me your phone. I said no. The father eventually found police officers, but the woman who had been screaming for help was all alone at that point. I was just really scared, the woman told WABC. I didnt know what to do. I was in a panic mode. She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment; she was covered with cuts and bruises. Reuters says that the victim lived on the West Coast and had been put up for adoption at a young age she had only reconnected with her father very recently. Police originally said each one of the five suspects raped the victim, but the Times noted that the victim told investigators she was raped by at least one of the suspects and forced to perform oral sex on two others two of the suspects told investigators they witnessed those sex acts, but described them as consensual between the woman and the three other suspects. The fifth suspect, Travis Beckford, was arrested on Tuesday morning. The 17-year-old was taken into custody at his high school, according to The Wall Street Journal. The four other teenagers being held 14-year-old Denzel Murray, 15-year-old Shaquell Cooper, 15-year-old Ethan Phillip, and 17-year-old Onandi Brown were all charged as adults. The charges include rape, forcible compulsion, participating in a criminal sex act, and sexual abuse, according to CBS News. Two of the suspects were reportedly brought to the police by their mothers, per the Daily News. Their bail ranges from $10,000 to $50,000. DNA evidence is still being processed and collected it might be a week before the results of this part of the investigation are complete, according to DNAinfo. Denzel Murray, 14; Ethan Phillip, 15 and Shaquell Cooper, 15 are suspects in the gang rape of an 18-year-old. pic.twitter.com/0pbVa5Mxrg NY Daily News Video (@NYDNVideo) January 12, 2016 Jeffries added that from a public policy perspective, everyone at the city, state and federal level needs to re-engage in Brownsville and help the residents better pursue the American dream. Brownsville has been left behind as Brooklyn has become one of the hottest places to live in the nation. The so-called Brooklyn Renaissance has clearly left the good people of Brownsville behind. https://t.co/7nQYv2F6Ix Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) January 12, 2016 On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he wished he had been told about the incident earlier. It was Sunday around noon from one of my aides from City Hall when he was notified, he told reporters, according to the New York Post. I should have been informed certainly on Friday. I should have been informed more quickly. NYPD Commissioner Bratton added, Theres no getting around the fact that in this instance we did not push information quickly enough. This post has been updated. You will never live this down, Marco Rubio. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images Marco Rubios most glaring vulnerability in the Republican primary is his previous, since-retracted support for comprehensive immigration reform. But other vulnerabilities exist. Breitbart News is publicizing a 2008 video in which an even-more-boyish-looking Rubio can be seen advocating cap-and-trade. Conservatives are responding with what they profess to be shock. Rubio: I support giving the EPA a mandate to start a Cap & Trade program and a Carbon Tax. https://t.co/XQ35XNi0ow Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 13, 2016 Wow. 2008 VIDEO: Marco Rubio Pushed For Cap and Trade As Florida State House Speaker - https://t.co/HclLAt1ZL0 John Nolte (@NolteNC) January 13, 2016 But in 2008, lots of Republicans favored cap-and-trade. John McCain who, for those who have forgotten, was the Republican presidential nominee endorsed it. So did his running mate, Sarah Palin. (See Palin affirming her support at 34:00 of her debate with Joe Biden.) Newt Gingrich did, too. Cap-and-trade was a policy with Republican roots, the thinking conservatives alternative to command-and-control regulation, which would harness the power of markets and apply it to control an undeniable externality. But there are fewer thinking conservatives these days, and they have gotten much less thoughtful. Yesterdays mainstream Republican stance is todays socialist plot. So Rubios spokesman is heatedly denying the accusation Charlie Crist made the same allegation in 2010 and it was debunked then, Rubio spokesman Alex Conant emailed Breitbart. Fact is that Marco stood up to Charlie Crist to defeat cap-and-trade even though he is saying the very thing his spokesman denies on video: Florida should position itself for what I believe is inevitable, and that is a federal cap-and-trade program. Florida should do everything it can to be an early complier so it can access early compliance funds and so that it can help influence what that cap-and-trade looks like at the federal level. So Im in favor of giving the Department of Environmental Protection a mandate that they go out and design a cap-and-trade or a carbon-tax program and bring it back to the legislature for ratification some time in the next two years. Do Republicans have serious grounds to fear that Rubio would turn around and support cap-and-trade if elected? Of course not. Rubio is a party man. He will do what Republicans want. But being a party man is also Rubios liability. In 2013, support for immigration reform was the mainstream stance of the GOP it was actually the major policy recommendation in the partys postmortem. In 2008, cap-and-trade looked like mainstream Republicanism, too. Rubio is a politician who knows how to locate the mainstream position within his party. His dilemma is twofold: Politics is a business where youre supposed to pretend everything you believe at a given moment is a matter of deep moral conviction, and the convictions he needs to deeply believe in in order to stay in the heart of his partys consensus keep moving farther right. One day, if youre real lucky, youll have enough money to buy one of those apartments, and then never live in it. Photo: Richard Levine/Demotix/Corbis Manhattans skyline has grown more and more crowded with expensive living spaces that remain empty for most of the year, thanks to the fact that they may have been purchased by people many of them foreign millionaires and billionaires who were probably only looking for an easy place to anonymously funnel their money. As the New York Times reported last year, About $8 billion is spent each year for New York City residences that cost more than $5 million each, more than triple the amount of a decade ago, according to the website PropertyShark. Just over half of those sales last year were to shell companies. Using shell companies to buy real estate is legal, but it could be masking something else that isnt. As Andrew Rice wrote in a New York Magazine story in 2014: And as the Miami Herald reported in 2014: To suggest that reputed Spanish drug lord Alvaro Lopez Tardon liked the finer things in life would be an understatement. Before his arrest in Miami, he bought 13 bayfront condos, including a $1 million-plus penthouse at the Continuum in South Beach, and 17 luxury cars, including a 2008 black Bugatti Veyron for $1.2 million and a 2003 black Ferrari Enzo for almost $1 million. Thats excluding Florida sales taxes. Now the U.S. Treasury wants some names. According to the New York Times, the department will now be tracking luxury real-estate purchases in New York City and Miami-Dade County the hottest destinations for people trying to pay for multi-million-dollar condos in cash in order to try and tamp down on money laundering. Title-insurance companies dealing with shell-company purchases will have to reveal the names of those people behind the sale for the first time. This is something that will not make rich buyers or the real-estate market happy if you cant buy up the seemingly endless supply of ungodly expensive real estate anonymously, how many people left will be interested in making the purchase? The information found by the Treasury will then be put into a database for any law-enforcement agencies that might be interested in potentially misbegotten gains, per the Times. The reporting requirement will only be in place for a few months, from March to August. If things look bad, it could lead to permanent changes. The sailors were released before you woke up this morning. Photo: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps The ten sailors detained by Iran yesterday an event that caused a quick and mighty political whirlpool were released on Wednesday and are now heading toward their intended destination, Bahrain. Secretary of State John Kerry released a statement saying, That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong. According to the New York Times, a state-run media network reported that The detained U.S. Marines, after it was realized that their entry into Irans territorial waters was unintentional, and after the Marines apologized, were released into international waters in the Persian Gulf. Happy to see dialog and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the #sailors episode. Lets learn from this latest example. Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 13, 2016 He added in a speech later in the day at the National Defense University, I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago. In fact, it is clear that today this kind of issue was able to be peacefully resolved and efficiently resolved and that is a testament to the critical role that diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure and strong. The two patrol boats coming from Kuwait were reportedly dealing with mechanical problems, and may have accidentally drifted into Iranian waters. They were detained at Farsi Island after Iranian officials freaked out and thought the sailors were engaging in unprofessional behavior. However, according to NBC News, Navy chief General Ali Fadavi later conceded on TV, It was not for espionage or other harmful purposes. The U.S. Navy, which is investigating how this whole thing happened, says, There are no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention. Released photos show they mostly appeared to have suffered from boredom. Photo: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Iran, on the other hand, appeared happy to gloat about the episode a bit, judging from the news clips below, which were filmed yesterday and not in the 80s. Fars news shows the video of capturing the US navy sailors pic.twitter.com/7kbsUe8kDR Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) January 13, 2016 The video of capturing the US navy sailors released. pic.twitter.com/ufJHTPR3TP Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) January 13, 2016 The incident happened as the nuclear deal continues to go into effect economic sanctions could start being lifted this week. Unsurprisingly, many critics of the Iran deal used this moment to criticize it. If our sailors arent coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obamas humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again. Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 12, 2016 Iran toys with U.S. days before we pay them, ridiculously, billions of dollars. Don't release money. We want our hostages back NOW! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 Conservatives also made note of a report from Iran that said Kerry has apologized for the incident something the State Department quickly said was not true. Absolutely ZERO truth to rumors that @JohnKerry apologized to Iran over Sailors. Nothing to apologize for. John Kirby (@statedeptspox) January 13, 2016 Senator Tom Cotton, who wrote a letter to Iran last year reminding its leaders that Republican legislators would still be around when Obamas term was completed, was also very upset. President Obama did not mention the sailors during his State of the Union address last night not even, as Slate points out, to applaud the conflicts quick resolution. He also didnt mention the U.S. citizens currently imprisoned in Iran. The brother of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian was watching the speech in the House chambers as the guest of Representative Jared Huffman. Rami Kurdi whose brother-in-law, former Marine Amir Hekmati, was also imprisoned on espionage charges was also at the State of the Union, watching with his wife, Hekmatis sister. He told NPR, We would love to hear Amirs name. Amir served his country honorably. Hes a decorated Marine. Wed love to hear that every efforts being made for Amir and, least of which, that hes mentioned. A few weeks ago, U.S. military commanders accused Iran of firing rockets not too far away from an American aircraft carrier and several other ships. The ships were given 23 seconds of warning. One Navy spokesperson said, Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional, and inconsistent with international maritime law. The U.S. has considered sanctioning Iran for its recent ballistic-missile tests punishments that would not affect the nuclear agreement. Senator Chris Coons told The Hill earlier this week hes not sure whats taking so long. I dont know why the administration has hesitated, but I am urging them publicly and privately to move ahead with those designations, he said. Unsurprisingly, Iran has called any possible sanctions illegal meddling. Back in 2007, Iran captured 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines after accusing them of entering their waters and kept them for nearly two weeks. Thenprime minister Tony Blair was angered by the fact that the hostages were forced to go on TV and apologize for their actions, saying, Nobody should be put in that position in terms of basic humanity. A drug deal gone bad. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Toward the end of 2014, Russell Reitz, a genial Southern California pharmacist and serial entrepreneur, decided it was time to sell his latest business. Reitz, in his 60s, had, during his 30-year career, collected a doctorate, several patents, and a respectable fortune. Hed started his newest venture, R&O Pharmacy, a few years before with his friend and business partner Robert Osbakken, leasing space in a low-rise office park about an hour northwest of Los Angeles. But then Osbakken was diagnosed with cancer and grew too sick to work. Reitz didnt want to go it alone. He contacted a broker and solicited several bids. Interest was limited. R&O wasnt a retail business but a specialized dispensary for gastroenterology patients. With tinted windows and modest signage, it wasnt the sort of place youd go to for cough medicine. The highest offer came from a man named John Carne, who represented Philidor Rx Services, a rapidly growing network of mail-order dispensaries. His bid was modest, just $350,000. Reitz had sold his previous firm for millions, but with an ailing business partner, he couldnt wait for other options. He learned that, despite national ambitions, Philidor had not yet received a license from the California State Board of Pharmacy. So he agreed to sell, but on the condition that before Reitz stepped down, the company would obtain its own pharmacy credentials. They couldnt use Reitzs. Carne agreed, and in December 2014, Reitz signed a contract. They would take over the lease, and I was retained to manage the business on salary for another 18 months while Philidor got its own license, Reitz told me when I visited R&Os office in November. What should have been a routine deal was, in hindsight, the first step in the biggest and most bizarre business scandal of the past year, one that would immolate a Wall Street darling, permanently tarnish an $8 billion mutual fund, and evaporate $50 billion in market value. More than that, it would expose the new tradecraft of the pharmaceutical industry, which increasingly relies on technically legal but ethically dubious business practices to squeeze out profits at the expense of patients, insurers, and the American economy. This past fall, 32-year-old pharma bro Martin Shkreli he of the Wu-Tang album and perp-walk hoodie became the face of an industry that put profits over public health. But while Shkreli could be written off as an anomaly, the players Reitz was dealing with were not so easily dismissed. These companies, following the peculiar profit-maximizing logic of a single McKinsey consultant, are the future of the pharmaceutical industry. R&O sits in an anonymous office park in Camarillo, California, facing a blank expanse of asphalt surrounded by pine trees. When I first visited, I found the door locked with Reitz (pronounced Ritz, like the cracker) seated inside alone. Clean-shaven, wearing a modest plaid shirt, with his frameless reading glasses nested in his salt-and-pepper hair, he did not look like an agent of capital destruction. His manner was detached, and as he walked me through the sordid tale of identity theft, price-gouging, and controversial billing practices, only once did his voice rise from its baseline register of California mellow. The signs that something was off started early: Following the sale to Philidor, R&O was immediately inundated with thousands of prescriptions from doctors using Philidors mail-order service. Philidor would send R&O bulk orders of branded pharmaceuticals, and Reitz would dispense these to patients. Payment later arrived at the pharmacy in the form of paper checks from health insurers, with each check covering hundreds of patients. Twice a week, Reitz packaged these checks into a bundle and mailed them to Philidors headquarters in Pennsylvania. The total value of each bundle was usually over a million dollars. Patient volume was just part of it the prescriptions that Philidor was filling were also extraordinarily expensive. Reitz, who specialized in complex treatments, was used to filling pricey prescriptions, but he had never seen anything like this. Pharmaceutical companies sometimes tried to justify high prices by pointing to the cost of intellectual-property development, but many of the drugs Reitz was dispensing were branded combination pharmaceuticals, consisting of two generic medicines rolled into one. Take Solodyn, a prescription-strength acne cream. Any compounding pharmacist could earn huge, and I mean huge, profits selling this at $130, Reitz told me. Just take two raw powders, dissolve, and mix. Philidor was selling Solodyn for more than $500 per treatment cycle. Most of the overpriced prescriptions R&O was filling were for simple dermatological conditions. In addition to Solodyn, there was Retin-A, another acne cream. There was Elidel, an eczema treatment. There was Jublia, a topical treatment for toenail fungus, with a list price of over $1,000 for an eight-milliliter bottle. It turned out that almost all of these drugs were being manufactured by the same company, a company that had, over the past few years, become one of Wall Streets hottest stocks: Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Valeant had a checkered history. The company was founded as ICN Pharmaceuticals in 1960 by a flamboyant Serbian entrepreneur named Milan Panic. Panic was known for the extravagant claims he made about the health benefits of his companys drugs, for picking up sexual-harassment complaints, and for his brief stint as the first prime minister of post-socialist Yugoslavia. ICN was known for its continual underperformance. In 2002, ICNs board of directors forced Panic out and the company was rebranded as Valeant. Valeant then lost money for five straight years. In 2007, the companys chairman sought outside help from J. Michael Pearson, who ran the global pharmaceuticals wing of the McKinsey consulting group. Pearson had no medical background, but in his 23 years at McKinsey, he had developed a reputation for blunt and brutally honest business advice. When it came to pharma, he had a radical philosophy. Historically, the typical pharmaceutical concern charged high prices for drugs while spending 20 percent of its budget on research and development, a model that had worked well. By the aughts, however, the returns from R&D had declined, so, Pearson advised, pharmaceutical companies should cut their research budgets accordingly and instead focus on acquiring proven drugs. The high prices, however, could stay. In fact, Pearson reasoned, they should be a lot higher. Valeants directors loved this philosophy. They loved it so much they decided they wanted to hear it all the time. In 2008, they persuaded Pearson to become Valeants CEO and put his philosophy into practice. Pearson shut down most of Valeants lines of research and laid off most of its scientists. He also aggressively raised the prices of many of Valeants drugs, sometimes by three or four times. The company began turning impressive profits. This unorthodox approach attracted the interest of the Sequoia Fund, an $8 billion mutual fund founded by a business-school classmate of Warren Buffett. Sequoia had outperformed the S&P 500 for more than four decades, although most of this success could be attributed to a single investment: its outsize position in Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, which had appreciated from $70 to $200,000 a share. But by 2010, opportunities for further growth seemed limitedBuffett himself had said as much. Early that year, fund managers started selling Berkshire to buy Valeant. Their position grew after Pearson announced he was selling Valeant to Biovail, another pharma company Sequoia owned stock in. Based in Ontario, Biovail was also a historical loser the Globe and Mail once called it corporate Canadas favorite punching bag and its drug portfolio was unimpressive. But it had one asset that interested Pearson: a shell company in Barbados that could shelter Valeants intellectual-property assets from the IRS. From a legal perspective, it was Biovail that acquired Valeant. In all other ways, Pearson retained control. The new company kept the Valeant name, and although it was technically domiciled in Canada, the companys operations were run out of offices near Pearsons house in New Jersey. Known as an inversion, this scheme reduced the companys effective U.S. tax rate to less than 5 percent. Valeant was the first publicly traded pharmaceutical company to ever pull it off. Valeant began to grow explosively. By the end of 2010, the stock had appreciated by 78 percent. This in turn made it Sequoias largest holding, supplanting Berkshire Hathaway. Valeants low tax bill and scant R&D budget freed up large amounts of cash. Pearson used this money to acquire other firms, running the Valeant playbook: Buy a new company, stuff its patents and trademarks in a tax shelter, fire scientists, dispose of underperforming drugs, and dramatically jack up prices for the best sellers. Over the next four years, Valeant stock went up 1,000 percent. The company made more than 30 acquisitions and, following its 2013 purchase of the contact-lens manufacturer Bausch & Lomb, moved into medical devices as well. The pace of life in Valeants C-suite was blistering, and the company was always closing a dealat the end of 2014, it completed an acquisition at 8 p.m. on New Years Eve. By the start of 2015, Sequoias investment in Valeant represented 20 percent of its assets. This concentrated holding was an issue for the board members of Ruane, Cuniff & Goldfarb, the company that ran the Sequoia Fund. In particular, Sharon Osberg, Warren Buffetts friend and bridge partner, worried about Valeants business practices and its expensive valuation. Osberg spoke to Buffett daily, and she shared these concerns with the Berkshire boss. Soon, Charlie Munger, Buffetts business partner, was offering his unsolicited opinion on Valeant. At a March 2015 shareholder meeting in Omaha, Munger said he was holding his nose and opined that debt-fueled acquisitions were not a sustainable strategy for growth. He later added that he found Valeants pricing deeply immoral. When Sequoia hosted its own annual meeting in May, the funds manager Robert Goldfarb defended the funds investment against Mungers assessment. While Sequoia had some reservations about how the company accounted for its acquisitions, Goldfarb said, it had complete faith in Pearson. Above all, he could be relied upon for complete disclosure. Hed built his entire reputation on blunt, straight talk. Mungers comments exposed a rift in the value-investing community, but didnt affect Valeants stock. It continued to rise, hitting an all-time high on August 5 of $263 per share, 15 times what Sequoia had originally paid for it. A week later, a Bloomberg News article observed that, owing almost entirely to this one investment, Sequoia had outperformed both the S&P 500 and 99 percent of all other American mutual funds. Berkshire Hathaway, meanwhile, had lagged. Sequoia had sold it at just the right time. By the end of February 2015, it was clear to Reitz that something was wrong. Tiny R&O Pharmacy had now filled nearly $20 million worth of prescriptions in just a few months. Even with the large number of new patients, and the markups as high as 500 percent, he couldnt account for all that growth. The numbers didnt add up. In March, Reitz received an audit from one of his pharmacy benefit managers. A uniquely American invention, benefit managers work with the health insurer to control costs. The audit showed that, in addition to the business Reitz oversaw personally, R&O was filling thousands of prescriptions all over the country. These prescriptions had been filled with Reitzs name and pharmacist-identification number, but they were dispensed to patients that Reitz had never heard of. Many were for medications that R&O didnt carry, and a few were even backdated to before R&O had been sold. When Reitz called Philidor to object, the Philidor representative told him not to worry, as the companys lawyers had signed off on this practice. Reitz rarely raised his voice, but now he found himself yelling into the phone, demanding to see a signed legal document authorizing the use of his credentials. Send me the documents! he said loudly. The Philidor rep promised the company would. According to Reitz, it never did. Instead, it continued using his name to fill scripts all over the country. It also pressured Reitz to sign off on the audit, which it needed to get paid. He refused. Signing off on the payer audit meant Reitz would be retroactively approving the dispensation of the drugs. I was fearing both civil and criminal liability, he told me. I could lose my pharma license. Eventually, Philidor stopped pestering him about it. Instead, it got another Philidor employee to sign the audit. Meanwhile, patients were complaining about Philidors business practices. To begin with, the co-payments on some of these drugs were absurd: $100 for an eight-milliliter bottle of toenail-fungus remover? Worse yet, Philidor was enlisting patients in an unadvertised auto-refill subscription program that automatically delivered more toenail-fungus remover and charged them ongoing co-pays to do it. Getting unsubscribed from this program was, according to patient complaints, almost impossible. As summer began, Reitzs employees began to sense the stress that their boss was under. One of them, on his own initiative, began researching Philidor. He soon found something that Reitz had missed. In 2013, before Reitz had ever heard of it, Philidor had filed an application with the California state pharmacy board. But the companys corporate officers had provided the wrong details, and its application had been denied. The main purpose of the R&O purchase, it now seemed, was to get Reitzs credentials. It was using Reitz as a front. Like the managers of the Sequoia Fund, Bill Ackman tended to buy concentrated stakes in just a few companies and hold his positions for many years. And, like Sequoia, he had, as the director of Pershing Square Capital Management, a large amount of capital under his control about $20 billion. Unlike Sequoia, Ackman didnt always look for good managers. Sometimes he looked for bad ones. Ackman was an activist investor. That meant he invested in companies that were destroying shareholder value through dumb decisions. When he found one, he bought a large stake in it and forced it to change course. This confrontational approach, combined with his good looks, had made him an investment-media icon. And his successful investments with Pershing, combined with the fees he charged investors, made him one of the wealthiest people on Earth. Ackman had been watching Valeants rise and believed Pearson was on to something. In February 2014, the two began cooperating, buying shares of Allergan, the maker of Botox. Allergans core product was sound injecting poison into the faces of celebrities was good business but it had spent the last decade redistributing the Botox money into an expensive research-and-development campaign that had failed to deliver. It was exactly the sort of thing Pearson had warned about back at McKinsey. Ackman believed that Allergan would be worth more if the company scaled down its research program and focused on selling Botox. He wanted Valeant to make a bid for Allergan. Pearson, in the midst of his acquistion spree, agreed. The two men announced their campaign during a flashy public presentation on April 22, 2014. Ackman addressed the media with a practiced gloss. Pearson was less polished as he laid out the usual Valeant strategy: If he was put in charge of Allergan, he would fire most of its scientists, raise the companys drug prices, and move its intellectual property to Valeants offshore tax shelters. As he spoke, Ackman looked on, enchanted. Ackman is a contrarian, so perhaps it was Pearsons lack of adorability that made Ackman love him. The plan to buy Allergan failed. The companys management objected to the proposed R&D cuts and sold itself instead, also in an inversion, to the Irish firm Actavis. Still, Ackman turned a neat profit from the play. At the beginning of 2015, he bought a stake in Valeant directly, promoting the virtues of Pearson to whoever would listen. In 2015, Forbes added Pearson to its list of billionaires. Annual reports listed his salary as just $1.75 million a year, but he was granted enormous bonuses in the form of stock compensation. In essence, he was paid like a hedge-fund manager. In 2014, Pearson took out a $100 million loan from Goldman Sachs, using his stock holdings as collateral. He then donated $30 million to his alma mater, Duke. His string of successes brought accolades from the business press, but Pearson remained a cipher. What subculture of the business world did he really belong to? McKinsey cultish, corporate, and brutally honest? Hedge funds contrarian, arrogant, and overpaid? Or Graham and Doddsville bargain hunters wonky, self-deprecating, and deliberately out of fashion? It was difficult to tell. In February, Valeant completed its largest acquisition to date, purchasing the gastrointestinal specialty firm Salix Pharmaceuticals for $11 billion after a fierce bidding war. Of the six contenders for the stock, all had either already performed tax inversions or had plans to do so. Ackman praised the deal, noting the tax efficiencies. In May, following Mungers negative comments, Ackman joined Sequoia in defending Pearson. Valeant was facing increasing public criticism for its price-gouging and tax avoidance, but it wasnt Pearsons job to make people happy. Nor was it his job to pay his fair share in taxes or to cure cancer. It wasnt even his job to keep patients healthy. His job was to make the stock go up. He had done so. Ackman compared him to Warren Buffett. Other hedge-fund managers began crowding into Valeant, pushing prices to new heights. An analysis of shareholder filings by the research company Novus revealed that by the end of June, 96 different hedge-fund managers owned stakes in Valeant, including John Paulson and George Soros. Street traders had a term for this kind of stock: a hedge-fund hotel. Still, a smaller contingent of investors was taking Mungers side. There were a number of reasons to be suspicious about Valeant. The spate of acquisitions and the use of offshore holding companies had made the companys corporate structure extraordinarily complex. The company had shut down its Barbados office and moved its intellectual property to shell companies in Luxembourg and Ireland, but the majority of its revenue came from the United States, where its profit margins were three times higher than anywhere else an invitation for scrutiny from the IRS. Additionally, Valeant had taken on a large amount of debt. Most of this debt came cheaply, but at the beginning of 2015, the company was paying a billion dollars a year in interest payments. Then, in April 2015, Howard Schiller, the CFO who had organized the financing on these deals, unexpectedly quit his post. There was something else odd about Valeant. The drugs it was acquiring werent exactly blockbusters. Valeant preferred durable products, meaning the drugs it was acquiring were already off-patent or would be shortly. For the most dedicated Valeant bears, this was the big question: How, exactly, in the face of increasing generic competition, was the company managing to charge the exorbitant prices that it did? In July, Reitz took a drastic step. He stopped sending Philidor its checks. Instead, he confiscated them and hid them in a secure place. (He wouldnt tell me where, although he did say Theyre not underneath my mattress. His lawyer would later reveal that some of the checks had been cashed in an R&O bank account.) Hundreds of patient complaints, a dozen exasperated letters, and a heated phone call with a corporate representative had not gotten the companys attention. This did. Philidor began to send Reitz emails, demanding he remit its money. Reitz demanded that Philidor stop using his credentials and explain why it hadnt told him about its rejected pharmacy application. Locked in a standoff, the exchange escalated. I have been asked several times now to sign off on payer audits that reflect these types of transactions, Reitz wrote. I am not aware of any authority that would permit these types of practices. At the end of August, Reitz closed the doors on R&O and let his employees go. Philidor was still using his credentials, and he couldnt bear the risk any longer. By now he had amassed more than $20 million in payments. This was Philidors money, theoretically, but the checks were made out to R&O. Until Philidor transferred R&Os pharmacy license out of his name, he was keeping them. He received numerous phone calls from Philidor representatives, as well as a tense visit to his office, demanding that he turn the checks over. With each refusal, he was transferred further up the corporate ladder. Soon, he was talking to Andrew Davenport, Philidors CEO. Reitz said no to him too. Finally, in September, Davenport referred him to the man who seemed to be in charge: Robert Chai-Onn, the chief legal counsel of Valeant. In early September, Chai-Onn mailed a pointed letter to Reitz, demanding he turn over the money he was hoarding. Dear Mr. Reitz, Chai-Onn wrote, It has come to our attention that R&O Pharmacy has outstanding invoices to Valeant Pharmaceuticals reflecting gross invoiced amounts due of $69,861,343.08. Valeant is contacting you so that you may take the requisite steps to ensure immediate payment. This was an extraordinary development. Reitz had long suspected there was some kind of relationship between Valeant and Philidor. Now he had concrete proof. The letter from Chai-Onn indicated that Valeant, the pharmaceutical industrys answer to Berkshire Hathaway, was overseeing Philidor, a shady mail-order pharmacy inappropriately filling prescriptions for its drugs. And Chai-Onn, a member of Valeants C-suite, was acting as a collection agent for the whole scheme. Chai-Onns letter made clear that the checks Reitz had been bundling and sending to Pennsylvania, once cashed, were showing up as revenue in Valeants quarterly reports to investors. In Reitzs view, his identity had been stolen, and Wall Streets pharmaceutical darling was using it to turn a profit. On October 6, 2015, Reitz sued Valeant. There were two possible options, his lawyer wrote in his initial complaint. First, Valeant was engaged in a massive conspiracy to defraud. Second, Valeant itself was being defrauded. The lawyer wasnt sure which. Exhibit A in the complaint was Chai-Onns letter. Valeant filed a counterclaim against Reitz, portraying him as a rogue agent who took delivery of millions of dollars of product without paying for it. A spokesperson from the company denied all claims of fraud. Even before Reitzs lawsuit, Valeant was encountering problems. In September, news broke that Martin Shkreli, the CEO of the newly formed Turing Pharmaceuticals, had acquired the rights to a little-used toxoplasmosis drug named Daraprim and was raising its price from $13.50 to $750 a pill. The headlines caused an uproar. In response, Hillary Clintons campaign tweeted: Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow Ill lay out a plan to take it on. The tweet spooked Valeant investors. Shkreli had no connection to the company, but he was copying their business model. Then, in early October, the New York Times profiled a retired Michigan carpenter whose co-pay had quintupled after Valeant jacked up the price of his liver drug. The next week, Valeant announced it had received subpoenas from U.S. Attorneys in Massachusetts and New York related to a probe of its pricing practices. Then the bomb went off. Roddy Boyd, a journalist with the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation, found the court filing containing Chai-Onns letter to Reitz. On October 19, he published a long account of Philidor and Valeants dealings with the pharmacist. The story was picked up by a short seller named Andrew Left, who runs a one-man firm called Citron Research. (Its corporate logo is a lemon.) Left probably misreading both Boyds story and Reitzs email claimed in his newsletter that Valeant was engaged in sales fraud to book false revenue and compared the company to Enron. PHANTOM ACCOUNTS, he wrote. Valeants stock plummeted. The Sequoia Funds profits were wiped out for the year. So were Ackmans. On October 26, the company organized an emergency investor conference call, during which Pearson attempted to allay investor concerns. The revenues from Philidor were real, he said, though the company was not a subsidiary of Valeant. Nevertheless, he conceded, Valeant was Philidors only customer. And Valeant had paid the company $100 million for an option to acquire it. The terms of this deal meant that Philidors sales were rolled into Valeants accounting, and therefore Valeant reported its consolidated earnings to the SEC as if the two were one. This confusing explanation was not the kind of straight talk Valeant investors were accustomed to. So did Reitz work for Valeant or Philidor? Pearson seemed to be saying that legally, Philidor was Reitzs employer, but that financially, Valeant was. After the conference call concluded, the stock continued to fall. Why did Valeant need Philidor, anyway? Why not sell its drugs directly through retail pharmacists? The answer was that without Philidor, patients would never pay for Valeants overpriced drugs. Insurers and independent pharmacists both understood that Valeant was price-gouging and encouraged patients to accept generic alternatives. Philidor provided a distribution channel that avoided the helpful pharmacist. Patients were prescribed Valeant drugs at the doctors office, then offered coupons to cover their co-pay if they routed their prescriptions through Philidor. They never set foot in a pharmacy at all. After a patient was prescribed a Valeant drug, an astronomical receivable was sent to the patients insurer. Sometimes it would pay it. More often it wouldnt. If it did, Philidor would cash the check, then kick the profits upstairs to Valeant. If it didnt, a protracted negotiation began, as Philidor representatives submitted various bids to try to figure out how much the insurer was willing to pay, which in most cases was likely a lot less than the listed price but still high enough to turn a healthy profit. On October 30, Valeant announced it was cutting all ties with Philidor and that the impact on earnings would be significant. By the first week of November, Valeant was down 70 percent from its peak. Sequoia experienced large investor outflows, and two of its directors resigned, including Osberg, Buffetts bridge partner. Ackmans fund went sharply negative. Nevertheless, Sequoia stuck with its investment. In a letter to investors, Sequoias manager Goldfarb praised Pearson and contended that Philidor notwithstanding he remained a valuable dispenser of much-needed straight talk. After lamely defending the research pipeline of a company that had fired nearly all its scientists, he came to a remarkable conclusion: One lesson of recent events is that sometimes doing everything legally permissible to maximize earnings does not create shareholder value. Investors continued to hammer Valeant. One of the sellers was CEO Mike Pearson himself. The loan hed taken from Goldman Sachs to donate money to Duke had been collateralized with his holdings in Valeant stock, and, as the stocks value plummeted, that collateral dwindled. On November 6, Goldman sold these escrow shares to pay off the loans remaining balance. Pearson commented on the forced sale with characteristic lack of affect: It was not my desire that shares be sold now. Three days later, in a conference call with Pershing investors, Ackman defended his position in the stock. He, too, was sticking with Valeant. When an investor raised concerns about Valeants sizable debts, Ackman conceded that Valeant was the most highly leveraged stock hed ever owned. That debt can be added to a growing list of Valeants woes: Theres the possible criminal probe into its relationship with Philidor; price-gouging subpoenas from the U.S. Attorneys offices in two states; a civil insider-trading lawsuit brought by former Allergan shareholders over its involvement with the failed Ackman deal; an antitrust probe into its control over certain portions of the contact-lens market; the unplanned demise of a critical distribution network; and the unwanted attentions of presidential candidates searching for a villain. Then, on Christmas, Pearson was hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia. Four days later, Valeant announced that Pearson would be taking a medical leave of absence. In the interim, the company would be run by a management triumvirate that would in turn be monitored by a second triumvirate, drawn from the companys board. Following the announcement of this confusing structure, the stock fell once again. On January 6, the company revised the structure, naming former CFO Howard Schiller interim CEO. Still, on Wall Street theres always a bull case. Having reached the end of its acquisition spree, the company now manufactures over 1,000 different product lines. Its two most prominent investors have stuck with it in fact, during the recent downturn, Ackman nearly doubled his position. In late December, the company struck a deal with Walgreens to replace the lost Philidor sales channel. Valeant stock closed the year fluctuating near $100 a share down almost two-thirds from its peak, but still up more than five times since Pearson assumed control. In a larger sense, though, the fate of Valeant may not matter. Pearsons strategies tax inversions, decreased R&D, and shameless profiteering are no longer the berserk ideas of some left-field consultant but standard practice for the entire industry. Ironically, one of the most trenchant critics of this development is former Biovail CFO Brian Crombie, the man who oversaw the original tax shelter in Barbados. The logical extension of whats happened is that there should be no American pharmaceutical companies and no R&D, Crombie told me. But they should do all their sales in America. On November 23, Pfizer, Americas largest pharmaceutical firm, announced its intention to merge with Allergan, the manufacturer of Botox that Valeant had sought to acquire. The deal was a clone of Valeants acquisition by Biovail. This time, Allergan, now based in Ireland and offering an attractive tax shelter for on-patent drugs, will acquire the much larger Pfizer, with the resulting company keeping the Pfizer name and management structure. The new Pfizer will be able to extract massive profits from the American health-care system while paying almost nothing in return. From an economic perspective, the inverted modern pharmaceutical company is a rational wealth-maximizing actor, but in medical terms it is something else: a parasite. At the end of my visit to R&O last November, Reitz followed me out of the pharmacy. It was three in the afternoon on a Monday, but he was already closing up shop. The Philidor scandal had left R&O irremediably tainted, and the pharmacy benefit managers had terminated their relationships with the company. Reitz was continuing to dispense a few prescriptions left over from summer, sometimes delivering them by hand, but the business was effectively doomed. Still, Reitz wasnt a victim. He was too canny for that. Most targets of identity theft go to the police. Reitz instead withheld his employers unlicensed profits and cashed them in his own accounts. Ultimately, this led to the demise of Philidor and the dissolution of Reitzs contract, but it also put him at significant legal risk. If Reitz had failed in his due diligence on Philidor, it, too, had failed in researching him. Beneath the serene disposition was a stubborn man, whose intransigence and practical shrewdness had exposed Valeants business practices and torched two Wall Street legends. They tried to bulldoze me, Reitz said. Why they kept me around, I dont know. *This article appears in the January 11, 2016 issue of New York Magazine. In the words of Pete Venkman, I bet youll be thinking about me, after Im gone. Photo: Mark Wilson/2016 Getty Images The White House hinted that this years State of the Union address, Obamas last, wouldnt include the usual list of boring policy proposals, and the president kicked things off by claiming the speech would be much shorter than usual. Neither of those things turned out to be true, but the address was different mainly because a significant amount of time was devoted to rebutting the worldview of various GOP presidential candidates. Also, the Statler and Waldorf routine that takes place behind the president was a bit of a letdown; Joe Biden resisted the urge to gesticulate at audience members and new addition Paul Ryan seemed committed to moving as little as possible. Heres a look at the highs and lows. Most Heartwarming Moment Involving a Supreme Court Justice: Moment When Someone Should Have Shouted You Lie!: Tonight marks the eighth year that Ive come here to report on the state of the Union. And for this final one, Im going to try to make it a little shorter. Most Troubling Ad-Lib: There was no reference to the opioid crisis in Obamas prepared remarks, but the problem has grown so serious that the president decided to mention it in the first two minutes of his speech. I hope we can work together this year on some bipartisan priorities like criminal-justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription-drug abuse and heroin abuse, he said. Most Engaged Presidential Candidate: As Obama started dishing out the Donald Trump insults, Senator Bernie Sanders decided to take notes. Least Engaged Presidential Candidate: Though the real winners are Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who chose not to attend. Line That Confirms Ted Cruz Was Smart to Skip the Speech: The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage. Most Well-Received Jab at Congress: We also need benefits, and protections that provide a basic measure of security. Its not too much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and a retirement package for 30 years are sitting in this chamber. Most Unwanted Shout-Out: I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty. America is about giving everybody willing to work a chance, a hand up, and Id welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers who dont have children. This was the only reaction Ryan could muster: Speaker Ryans Greatest Achievements in Stillness: The Micro-Nod. The I Like Voting Rights, But Not Enough to Move. The Thank God Thats Over Hand Tap. Best Tangential Dig at Climate-Change Deniers: Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didnt deny Sputnik was up there. We didnt argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and 12 years later, we were walking on the moon. Biggest Surprise Assignment: President Obama asked Joe Biden to cure cancer, which the vice-president said should be Americas next moonshot following his son Beaus death. Tonight, Im announcing a new national effort to get it done, Obama said. And because hes gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, Im putting Joe in charge of mission control. Biden told Ryan the task was news to me. Most Suspicious Response to the Line The United States of America Is the Most Powerful Nation on Earth: Do they know something that we dont? Best Subtle Trump Attack: America has been through big changes before Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future, who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, who promised to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. Best Obvious Trump Attack: We need to reject any politics any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness. This is a matter of understanding just what it is that makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal, it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot Im standing on tonight that to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad, or fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it what telling it like it is, its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. It betrays who we are as a country. Biggest Sign That There Werent Many Trump Supporters in Attendance: Pretty much everyone in the room was anti-Islamophobia. Most Self-Deprecating Moment: Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. Least Dramatic Performance by a 2015 Meme: Most Inspiring Call to Action: Changes in our political process in not just who gets elected, but how they get elected that will only happen when the American people demand it. It depends on you. Thats whats meant by a government of, by, and for the people. What Im suggesting is hard. Its a lot easier to be cynical, to accept that change is not possible, and politics is hopeless, and the problem is, all the folks who are elected dont care, and to believe that our voices and our actions dont matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future. Biggest Signs That Nothing Is Actually Going to Change in Washington: Best Summary of the General Response to the 2016 State of the Union: Role model Sean Penn. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/2016 Getty Images Ive decided that 2016 is the year I learn to play the piano, work fewer hours without taking a pay cut, and call my grandparents more often. Youve probably made your personal resolutions already, too. But what if we all set some 2016 goals that melded the personal with the political? Here are a few feminist resolutions to consider. Channel one ounce of Sean Penns egotism. There is so much to be learned from the actors foray into geopolitically contentious journalism. Next time you find yourself claiming that you cant try something new because youd be terrible at it, read Penns Rolling Stone interview with Mexican drug lord El Chapo and remind yourself to let your ego soar like an owl that flies among falcons. Feminist bonus points for gratuitously mentioning your genitals in your recounting of the experience. Stop shaving your legs. Or your armpits. Or grow out your bush to Joy of Sex proportions. Think of it less as a feminist statement and more as an experiment in how you feel about conforming to traditional feminine expectations. For hetero ladies, embracing a little extra hair also functions as a feminist litmus test for your boyfriend. You might hate it, you might love it. Either way, youll probably learn a little something about your relationship with your body and your gender. Hang out with an older feminist who doesnt believe you care about anything. In a Times interview last week, Democratic leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, Heres what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided. As if. Clearly Wasserman Schultz just doesnt know what weve been up to so its up to younger feminists to clue her in. She also believes marijuana is a gateway drug, so you might pair your cross-generational feminist summit with a casual vaping session. Call out casual racism. Start practicing your best who farted? face in the mirror for the next time youre at a social event and someone implies that all Asians look the same or tries to engage in a pseudo-intellectual debate about whether blackface is truly offensive. In 2016 there is no time for staying silent in the moment and shaking your head about it later. Refuse to collaborate with a man. This might sound distinctly uncharitable after all, misandry is mostly an internet joke, right? but if you want to get full credit for all your hard work, research says you shouldnt partner up with a man. Hell see greater benefits to your collaboration than you will. Work with women or work alone, whenever you can. See if you come out ahead by 2017. Actually show up at a Black Lives Matter march. You fave the tweets. You post the articles to Facebook. You discuss the latest incident of police violence with a rage that you genuinely feel. This is the year you start showing up in person, too. Find a local chapter so you know when and where to make your views known. Start the Guilt Project. Thanks to your holiday binge-watch of Making a Murderer, youve heard of the Innocence Project, which opens decades-old cases to overturn wrongful convictions. After 2015s Bill Cosby revelations, its clear that we could use a Guilt Project a squad of lawyers and investigators to follow up on long-ignored claims that a certain man is a serial rapist. Because you know Cosby isnt the only one. Vote. For real, cast a vote. And make sure all of your friends are voting, too. Every election cycle, pollsters claim that young women are crucial to deciding the outcome. And every election we fail to turn out in droves. In the 2012 presidential election, less than half of young women showed up to vote. This is the year that changes. Occupy federal territory until the Hyde Amendment is repealed. Admittedly, this is a pretty big resolution. But if a mostly male group of incoherent activists can take over federal grounds with the flimsiest of ideological reasons and no backup snacks, theres no reason we couldnt use their tactic much more effectively. And what better goal than repealing the Hyde Amendment, which for years has prevented poor women from using federal money to exercise their right to an abortion? Plus, it actually sounds pretty fun to hang out in a compound with a crew of pro-choice women. Lets make this happen, and invite Debbie Wasserman Schultz. If Sean Penn asks nicely, he can cover it for Rolling Stone. The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein just as long as fem-ass ms J or Dicksinson don't return then im down for it. i missed all of the boys and girls season though. Reply Thread Link Right? MIss J is great! Reply Parent Thread Link He is a Chris Brown stan. What does he know. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link da fuck is this comment even? Reply Parent Thread Link what is this terribly sized icon? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link How the fuck is fem ass going to be written as an insult on ONTD? Don't play. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link FUCK THIS COMMENT. I live for Miss J's flawless existence and spot-on commentary. Reply Parent Thread Link wtf is this #masc4masc comment. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Delete this misogynistic comment Reply Parent Thread Link I really like Miss J. And I hope they bring back Nigel. Reply Parent Thread Link ugh @ these replies. Miss J is literally the worst. He's just so unappealing to look at and always acts such a damn fool and brings ANY little credibility this show has down to next to nothing. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lol, here's another one for your inbox. since you're bored. Reply Parent Thread Link I quote this far too often Reply Parent Thread Link my life's motto Reply Parent Thread Link LMFAO Wise words to live by. Reply Parent Thread Link What I strive for, every day. Reply Parent Thread Link this released a shit ton of endorphins in my brain thank u Reply Parent Thread Link a quote i have framed in my office tbh Reply Parent Thread Link "I was rooting for you; we ALL were rooting for you" Reply Thread Link I wasn't trying to be exact dude Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lol I hate it when people quote my favorite quotes/movies wrong. Reply Parent Thread Link omfg at that picture Reply Thread Link What a waste of perfectly good food. And now I want greek salad. Reply Parent Thread Link OMG ikr, the greek salad shoot is probably my all time fav Reply Parent Thread Link that shoot made me so hungry Reply Parent Thread Link Why is she posing in a bowl of Greek salad?! I know their photoshoots are dumb but this is extra dumb. Reply Parent Thread Link VH1 is the best place for it to go, imo, because the show got better when they added guys and started letting them drink more and where else but the channel that gave us Flavor of Love would give us more of that? Reply Thread Link exactly guys made it 10 times better like a BigBang single Reply Parent Thread Link Adding guys was boring imo. Reply Parent Thread Link Yes but girls only. I can't handle the hook up storylines. Reply Thread Link Well that explains why the last cycle's group only went to Las Vegas for their trip when they went to Korea the year before Reply Thread Link At least they still got to fly there though. I couldn't stop laughing this cycle when they all took a bus to Vegas. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link they went to south korea? and I missed that shit??????// Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I was so disappoint. I wanted them to go somewhere cool and exotic like Astana, Kazakhstan. Reply Parent Thread Link I would miss the ridiculousness of this show if it didn't come back. Though another host could be awesome. Reply Thread Link lol what in the world Reply Parent Thread Link i love joanie (the blonde girl in the far back) just sits there and doesn't care, lol. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This cycle was so fucking good <3 Reply Parent Thread Link lmfaooo this cycle was gold Reply Parent Thread Link It won't be the same without Tyra but I'm sure they can find other crazy people for an interesting judging panel, please do it! Also keep the guys. It won't be the same without Tyra but I'm sure they can find other crazy people for an interesting judging panel, please do it!Also keep the guys. Reply Thread Link I need to rewatch some of the earlier seasons. Tyra is truly a gift sometimes. Reply Thread Link eva's season and carridees go hard Reply Parent Thread Link "And what is on this human pizza? Is it turkey pepperoni or real pork swine?" The model's face when she asks that cracks me up every time I see it. Reply Parent Thread Link the earlier seasons were true reality show gems Reply Parent Thread Link i rewatched a ton over the summer since they're all on prime. i think i got to cycle 11? (the one with annaleigh tipton) before i had to stop. the first 3 cycles were so good, and then they devolved into more and more gimmickiness. Reply Parent Thread Link Bring back Make Me a Supermodel and 8th & Ocean, too. Reply Thread Link 8th and Ocean from MTV? That was straight up garbage. God I was so happy the ratings were bad Reply Parent Thread Link I was a sucker for all the model/fashion shows from back then. Can't fuck with antm much after Whitney won, though. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lol I loved Make Me A Supermodel. One of the guys showed up as a prop in RuPaul's Drag Race years later. I think he might've been the winner or runner up, he got pretty far and went on to be RuPaul's furniture. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yes! The men on that show were so delicious. Reply Parent Thread Link oh mY GOD 8th & Ocean i've erased that from memory, i want to rewatch it now Also what happened to The Face ? Edited at 2016-01-13 11:25 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Without Tyra it's just going to be like any of those other modeling shows. Like, just let it die. Reply Thread Link Exactly Tyra or gtfo Reply Parent Thread Link Nope I would watch it. I love Australia's Next Top Model and the sometimes horrible Germany's Next Top Model. Reply Parent Thread Link Australia's next top model really is the superior top model. Reply Parent Thread Link I had no idea Australia's Next Top Model went so hard until I watched the episode where the girls were putting crap in the other one's bed and being totally unapologetic about bullying her. It seems way less contrived and way more messy because it's just a bunch of 16-year-old girls competing against each other and they seem to have basically no supervision (at least the season I saw) Conversely, Korea's Next Top Model was interesting to me because the house dynamic was pretty good the whole time and nobody really fought. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ditch tyra + kelly cutrone keep miss j + male contestants bring back noted fashion photographer nigel barker Reply Thread Link nigel would be epic. Reply Parent Thread Link i'm down Reply Parent Thread Link Andreeeee! He was great even though sometimes I had no idea what he was saying. He actually knew what the fuck he was on about. Reply Parent Thread Link Andre was pretty funny Reply Parent Thread Link yaaas! love him Reply Parent Thread Link this came out sounding very anti-woman but i can't at tyra's 17,000 oxford dictionary new word submissions and kelly's rudness & inconsistent judging. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link No to male contestants tbh Reply Parent Thread Link YES AT ALL OF THESE. Reply Parent Thread Link I'd watch again. Esp for Nigel. His IG is legit one of my favourite ~celebrity accounts. Reply Parent Thread Link oh my god how is this real?! Reply Parent Thread Link VH1 had the absolute best reality TV shows ever Reply Parent Thread Link WHAT IS THIS????? Reply Parent Thread Link yass my fave, they should bring it back Reply Parent Thread Link SCREAMING I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS BUT IT'S ALL BACK TO ME NOW I LOVED THE SOVIET Reply Parent Thread Expand Link YESSSS Reply Parent Thread Link AHAH YEEEES THIS WAS A HOT ASS MESS Reply Parent Thread Link YES! I rewatched this a few weeks ago. I miss VH1's ~Celebreality~ Reply Parent Thread Link VH1 is amazing Reply Parent Thread Link this is like Zoolander come to life omfg Reply Parent Thread Link why have i not seen this before? it's hilarious! Reply Parent Thread Link OMG i've been searching for this show for years! i completely forgot the premise lmao Reply Parent Thread Link I AM SCREAMING OMFG THIS SHOW WHAT THE HELL?! Reply Parent Thread Link omg, yes! best show EVER. i was OBSESSED with the papi model Reply Parent Thread Link I totally forgot about this show, I miss camp like this. Reply Parent Thread Link PEOPLE DIE TO BE US, BRO. Reply Parent Thread Link Investors in uranium producers and explorers could be in for a banner year of growth and opportunity, making the nuclear fuel an outlier compared to other mined commodities whose prices continue to stagnate. Those with positions in companies like Cameco, Paladin Energy and Uranium Energy Corp could finally see their patience rewarded after many quarters of lost market capitalization due to weak uranium prices. In the years following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor meltdown in 2011, uranium has had a rough ride, with prices slumping from about US$60 a pound before the disaster, to a nine-year low of $28 in 2014. Uranium has been hurt by a supply overhang prior to Fukushima, Germany and Sweden planning to phase out or scale back their reactor fleets, and Japan, a major uranium importer, shutting down all its nuclear reactors for safety checks, thus crimping demand. Last year however saw an improvement, and though prices did not reach the expected $40 threshold, the $39 per pound average represented an increase of almost one percent, putting uranium as the best-performing mined commodity of 2015, according to Macquarie, the Australian investment bank. (It is a sign of the times that a barely-positive price increase registers as a top commodity performer) At $39, the price was up 18 percent in 2015 compared to $33 in 2014. Reasons for the price uptick included supply disruptions at two of the world's largest uranium mines, Rossing in Namibia and Olympic Dam in Australia; the delay of Rio Tinto's Ranger 3 Deeps mine, also in Australia; and the lack of buying by U.S. utilities. In the United States, five reactors have closed since 2012. Related: Bearish Sentiment Takes Complete Hold Of Oil Markets There is growing evidence that the uranium rebound is expected to continue, and accelerate, in 2016. The reasons have less to do with the much-hyped recent climate change conference that had world leaders embracing renewable energy sources and nuclear power, than a confluence of supply and demand factors that has the radioactive material on an upward price trajectory. Nuclear power rising: the China factor At the heart of the uranium resurgence is an increase in nuclear reactor capacity, led by China. India, as well, will be a key driver of uranium demand, with the country aiming to generate a quarter of its electricity from nuclear by 2050, compared to just four percent in 2013. The restart of four Japanese nuclear reactors, and 20 back online by 2020, is also crucial to the uranium market. But by far, the biggest reason to be bullish about uranium on the demand side has to do with China. In its five-year plan covering 2016 to 2020, China plans to spend $1 trillion to expand its atomic capacity to 250 gigawatts, which would account for 25 percent of the world's nuclear power. To accomplish its goal, the country is investing $78 billion to construct seven new reactors a year for the next five years. By 2030 China plans to have 110 reactors in operation; it currently has 27. The Chinese can't produce enough uranium to meet the demand. The Macquarie report highlights China's staggering stockpiling, noting that by 2016 the country will have nine years of consumption (at 2020 levels) in its inventory. China only produced 1,450 tonnes of uranium in 2015, but consumed 8,160 tonnes. To fill the yawning gap, China is stockpiling, producing more, and buying equity shares in foreign projects, notes Sydney Morning Herald. In a recent interview with The Energy Report, notable uranium analyst David Talbot said his firm, Dundee Capital Markets, is predicting uranium demand to grow by six percent annually until 2020, when demand will reach about 219 million pounds. In 2014 global uranium demand was 172 million pounds. Related: How Low Oil Prices Are Transforming Global Politics In Startling Ways Another equity investment company, New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald, has uranium demand hitting 201 million pounds by 2018. The firm notes that current uranium stockpiles and material from mining operations will not be enough to match new demand for the nuclear fuel. Supply overhang to lessen by 2017 Despite steep price declines resulting in production cuts and deferments of new uranium mines, the uranium market remains oversupplied. Analysts quoted by Reuters recently said estimates range from a global surplus of 20 to 27 million pounds in 2015, falling to between 7.5 and 10 million pounds by 2020. So how can this be good for the uranium price? It's not, but supply should tighten by 2017, analysts say. The current supply problem boils down to utilities not contracting enough uranium to whittle down the surplus. Talbot, in his Energy Report interview, says that over the past three years, only 35 percent of the uranium consumed in nuclear reactors was replaced by utilities. However, We expect this to put pressure on utilities to replace expiring long-term contracts, especially as 2017 approaches. Related: Oil Prices Tank Ahead Of Inventory Reports Rob Chang, an analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald, noted in a year-end interview with The Energy Report that utilities' needs for uranium will become about 20 percent uncovered sometime between 2017 and 2018, meaning that a significant amount material needs to be secured before then, otherwise their reactors will be forced to operate below capacity, which is not ideal since there still is strong demand for electricity globally. So what does it all mean for the uranium price? Chang figures that uranium mines are not economic at the current price, and the only reason they are still producing is to meet long-term contracts which pay above $50 per pound. He thinks the breakeven costs for new uranium mines run around $70 to $80 a pound, so for an incentive, he predicts the supply-demand equilibrium to be $80 over the long term, likely rising to between $90 and $100 a pound. Dundee said in September that uranium spot prices are expected to reach $55 a pound in 2016, and while the firm has yet to come out with a new price forecast, Talbot says uranium investors should be ready for a quick uptick, even from one large contract, as happened in 2010 when China started buying uranium from Cameco and Areva SA. Lower uranium prices have moved investors away from the sector, but when the price turns, it often happens quickly. So investors come back in, and the stocks rebound quickly, he told The Energy Report. By Andrew Topf of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Friends, Oilmen, Economists, I come not to bury Sieminski but to praise him. In case you don't know (I confess I didn't) Adam Sieminski is the Administrator of the US Energy Information Administration, or the EIA. He, or more likely someone in his organization, publishes a monthly forecast of oil production for the U.S. It is called the Short Term Energy Outlook and in this post I am going to take a look at some of those forecasts over the past few years to see how Adam and his team have done. First though, let me get on with the praise before I get the shovel. The EIA website is a fantastic resource and it puts just about every other organization that monitors oil production and consumption data to shame. They are also pretty transparent, for example the Drilling Productivity Report is one of the key tools the EIA uses to make their forecasts, yet they lay out their methodologies pretty clearly. If you read that report carefully you can see that production from the average U.S. shale play is now clearly in decline. Related: Does The U.S. Have A Middle East Strategy Going Forward? But the forecasts in that report only reach out to next month. What if we want to know what will happen in a year or two's time? That's where the Short Term Energy Outlook comes in. I have looked back over the last couple of years to try and assess how great these forecasts are. Picks up shovel, starts digging. Well not so good actually. This chart shows a selection of forecasts from January 2014 through to January 2016. Frankly they are all over the shop, but then the EIA have had to deal with a miracle and then a murder. Miracles are by definition hard to forecast, I mean who knew that you could feed five thousand with just five barley loaves and two small fish. (Click to enlarge) EIA Short Term Energy Outlook The miracle I am referring to is the U.S shale miracle, kicked off by shale pioneer George Mitchell who realized that combining two well proven technologies, horizontal wells and hydraulic fracking could coax gas and oil from the least promising rocks. The shale oil revolution got going in 2012 but even in 2014 the EIA forecasters couldn't quite believe how rapidly U.S. oil production was growing. Their forecasts lagged production for most of 2014. Related: Crashing Oil Prices And Dropping Rig Count Take Their Toll On U.S. Output But trouble was brewing, and forces far from Texas and North Dakota decided that it was time that this miracle should be put to the sword. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi took on the role of Brutus, opened up the taps and the oil price collapsed. That choked off the flow of capital that has fed the shale oil boom. The collapse in the oil price was followed by a slump in the rig count and finally by an inexorable fall in U.S. oil production. Though that only came after the industry demonstrated far more resilience than forecasters, including me, believed possible. (Click to enlarge) Related: Statoil CEO: Expect Volatility Now, Price Spike Soon But if we focus in on Lower 48 oil production, which excludes Alaskan and Federal Gulf of Mexico production, the picture is even clearer. Production went up in a straight line and it's coming down nearly as fast as it grew. The die is cast, the coming collapse in production is clear, and the EIA's forecasts are catching up with reality and it won't be long before the market is in balance again. Of course once the price recovers we will get another miracle, though next time round I think the EIA will do a good job of forecasting the resurrection of the U.S. Shale industry. By Steve Brown More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran has quickly ballooned into the worst conflict in decades between the two countries. The back-and-forth escalation quickly turned the simmering tension into an overt struggle for power in the Middle East. First, the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric prompted protestors to set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations and kicked out Iranian diplomatic personnel. Tehran banned Saudi goods from entering Iran. Worst of all, Iran blames Saudi Arabia for an airstrike that landed near its embassy in Yemen. Saudi Arabias Sunni allies in the Arabian Peninsula largely followed suit by downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran. However, recognizing the dire implications of a major conflict in the region, most of Saudi Arabias Gulf State allies did not go as far as to entirely sever diplomatic relations, as Saudi Arabia did. Bahrain, the one nation most closely allied with Riyadh, was the only one to take such a step. Related: $20 Oil Is Now A Distinct Possibility As Chinese Demand Wanes Many of them are concerned about a descent to further instability. Nations like Kuwait and Qatar have trade links with Iran, plus Shiite populations of their own. Crucially, Qatar also shares a maritime border with Iran as well as access to massive natural gas reserves in the Persian Gulf. These countries are trying to split the difference between the two belligerent nations in the Middle East. "The Saudis are on the phone lobbying countries very hard to break off ties with Iran but most Gulf states are trying to find some common ground," a diplomat from an Arab country told Reuters. "The problem is, common ground between everyone in this region is shrinking." The effect from the brewing conflict on oil is murky, but for now it is not having a bullish impact. In the past, geopolitical tension in the Middle East, especially involving large oil producers, would add a few dollars to the price of oil. This risk premium captured the possibility of a supply disruption into the price of a barrel of crude. However, recent events barely registered in oil trading. That is because the global glut in oil supplies loom larger than any potential for a supply disruption. Oil dropped to nearly $30 per barrel on January 12 and oil speculators are not paying any attention to the tension in the Middle East. Also, the conflict could simply manifest itself in an intensified battle for oil market share. Iran has put forth aggressive goals to ramp up oil production in the near-term. And Saudi Arabia continues to produce well in excess of 10 million barrels per day while discounting its crude in several key markets, particularly in Europe in order to box out Iran. Related: Crashing Oil Prices And Dropping Rig Count Take Their Toll On U.S. Output But what if the current Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran turned hot? Saudi Arabia has a variety of reasons to not back down, not the least of which is the very real sense of being besieged on multiple fronts. An article in The New Statesman by former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, John Jenkins, clearly laid out the threats that Saudi Arabia sees around every corner: extremists at home; a growing Iran; toppled allies from the Arab Spring; low oil prices; and a fractured relationship with the United States. The nuclear deal between Iran and the West was confirmation on the feeling in Riyadh that it is becoming increasingly insecure. Already the two rivals have engaged in proxy battles in Yemen and Syria, supporting opposite sides in those wars. A full on direct military confrontation would be something entirely different, however. It would have catastrophic consequences for oil markets, even when taking into account the current supply overhang. Dr. Hossein Askari, a professor at The George Washington University, told Oil & Gas 360 that a war between the two countries could lead to supply disruptions, with predictable impacts on prices. Related: Rig Count: Capitulation? If there is a war confronting Iran and Saudi Arabia, oil could overnight go to above $250, but decline [back] down to the $100 level, said Askari. If they attack each others loading facilities, then we could see oil spike to over $500 and stay around there for some time depending on the extent of the damage. While not impossible, war is speculative at this point. Also, $250 and $500 per barrel are numbers pulled out of thin air, and may seem a bit sensationalist. But despite the glut in global oil production somewhere around 1 mb/d the margin from excess to shortage is thinner than most people think. OPEC is producing flat out and spare capacity is actually remarkably low right now. The EIA estimated that OPEC spare capacity stood at just 1.25 mb/d in the third quarter of 2015, the lowest level since 2008. As a result, even though it remains a remote possibility, direct military confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran could well put oil back into triple-digit territory in short order. By James Stafford of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Senior-level sources in numerous Middle Eastern governments have privately expressed bewilderment at recent and current U.S. government strategies and policies toward the region. But a closer examination of U.S. policies, now almost entirely dictated by the Obama White House, shows no cohesive national goals or policies exist, but rather an ad hoc set of actions and reactions, which are largely dictated either by ideological positions, ignorance, whim, or perceived expedience. This is unique in U.S. history. In short, the consistent pattern of policies developed over the past century has now been broken up, apart from some of the physical consistencies of legacy military deployments and basing, and by some trade and weapons program commitments. Even there, military deployments have contracted substantially in the past few years, and new U.S. defense systems sales to the region have been lost to suppliers from France, Russia, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Germany, Pakistan, and others Related: Bearish Sentiment Takes Complete Hold Of Oil Markets In the 18 months until January 2016, the U.S. missed possibly $12- to $15-billion in sales of defense and energy systems in the Middle East, and a range of major new defense acquisitions from non-U.S. suppliers are under consideration by Middle Eastern states. At the same time, some of the U.S. major traditional allies in the region Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, in particular have felt compelled, for their own survival, to turn their back on Washington because of a perception of a divergence in values and goals. Most U.S. policy officials especially in Defense insist that U.S. commitments and strategies in the region have not changed, but the actions and policies dictated directly by the Barack Obama White House, and mirrored at Secretary of State level, have proven antithetical to most states in the greater Middle East, with the exception of Turkey and Qatar. Some regional states, such as Oman, are concerned; others, such as Ethiopia and Djibouti, are now left feeling strategically abandoned. Related: How Low Oil Prices Are Transforming Global Politics In Startling Ways The sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from their deployment at the Ethiopian air base at Arba Minch from where Reaper UAV sorties were conducted against al-Shabaab in Somalia was done in September 2015 without forewarning to the Ethiopian Government in Addis Ababa, and kept secret until an Ethiopian website disclosed it in early January 2016. The U.S. had signed a series of multi-year supply agreements with Ethiopian companies to support the base in the weeks leading up to the withdrawal, a firm indication that the decision to vacate Arba Minch was sudden and hastily planned. The Arba Minch withdrawal coincided with growing U.S. hostility toward the Government of Djibouti which is strategically integral to Ethiopias fortunes and the very pointed siding of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Djibouti. This resulted in Saudi and UAE strong military commitments to Eritrea (to compensate for the loss of their Djibouti basing in the war in Yemen), another blow to Ethiopian security. But it also coincided with the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Addis Ababa to talk at the African Union, where he was accorded a very mixed reception based on his insistence on African states accepting his Obamas stance on gay marriage, among other things. Related: Oil Prices Tank Ahead Of Inventory Reports Significantly, although President Obamas team was warned against such provocations in advance of his Addis and Nairobi visits, most Obama Administration officials do not understand what they have done to offend some of the nations in the region. Even Kerrys support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the rift with Djibouti did not win their support for Washington, as both states feared that the U.S. now supported Iran rather than the lower Persian Gulf states. The Iranian Government, however, has been under no such illusions, even among those who supported the G5+1 treaty with Iran to end some of Iranian nuclear weapons programs in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. They, too, see U.S. support for the Saudi coalition against them in Yemen. The net result has been a bonanza for the PRC, and the deal by Djibouti to welcome a PRC naval base in the country was confirmed and cemented when Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh met in South Africa with Chinas President Xi Jinping in early December 2015. This was a strategically successful gathering of African leaders with Chinas leader within weeks of the Indian summit in New Delhi with African leaders. The U.S. has done nothing of consequence to rebuild its position, which means that the strategic framework in the Middle East and Africa will, within a decade, be profoundly different from the beginning of the 21st Century. By Gregory Copley via Defense and Foreign Affairs Special Analysis More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Nature has often been described in the verse Little fish have smaller fish, upon their backs to bite em; / Smaller fish have lesser fish; / And so, ad infinitum. We see in it the inevitable, albeit infinitely variable, hierarchy of the natural world. It follows, then, that regional strategic dynamics are subordinate to, often caused by, greater global trends, even though we, as humans, tend to focus on, and react to, the issues which we feel threaten or benefit us. Of course, the strength of the trends determines some of the outcomes: strong local trends may expand to resist or overwhelm weak global or trans-regional trends. But, in essence, greater is greater. And, as the Cold War saying about quality versus quantity went: quantity eventually has its own quality. So where are we today? What are the essential trends, visible now, which determine long-term outcomes? Periods of transition between rising powers and declining powers have been described in terms of the so-called Thucydides Trap, when fear within a static or declining power (historically, Athens) of a rising power (historically, Sparta) makes war seemingly inevitable. The phenomenon today applies not only to the China-U.S. dynamic as has been widely remarked but to the Middle Eastern imbalance, the north-south imbalance, and so on. Related: Chinas Refiners Report Glut In Distillates Accompanying this sliding vertical scale of strategic power balance is the sliding horizontal scale of population volatility and movement, characterized by the breakdown of the Westphalian nation-state concept; by so-called globalization; urbanization and hysteria-driven migration; and the peaking and imminent troughing of global population numbers. Thus do we reach the four-dimensional chess game. And we see visible the prospect of a check-mate from Persian shah mat: the king is dead, or helpless in the present global game. Of course we also see, then, the prospect, or natures necessity, for a new game, a new king. It should not be surprising that these longer-duration mega-trends ultimately drive and dominate shorter-duration regional or mono-cultural trends, although the direct influence may not be immediately perceivable. And so we focus on immediate threats; we react, rather than see the broader, longer strategic terrain. Right now, much of the world concerns itself with the threat of terrorism as the specter which dominates the question of the survival of Western civilization, or is the precursor to Islams End of Battles. However, it is worth recognizing the reality that no terrorist phenomenon has ever sustained itself for any meaningful duration or achieved strategic outcomes in the absence support from a nation-state or wealth society. Does anyone, after introspection, believe that the current phenomenon of Islamist terrorism, including its metamorphosis into territory-holding entities such as the Islamic State or (briefly) Boko Haram, has not been without major state support since before even the al-Qaida movement? Does anyone believe that the leftist terrorism of the mid-Cold War period was not supported by state sponsors, ranging from the USSR and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and their allies? Does anyone believe that the Irish terrorism of that same period was not also supported by states or societal bodies (including criminal organizations)? Related: EIA Forecasts Miss the Mark, But Do Better Than Most There is an entire industry in the security sphere which has as its rice-bowl the study and parsing of Islamist ideology and sectarian differences. The sectarian differences do have strategic importance, but not because of the differences themselves, or the dialectic in which each social group engages, but because as social groups they represent the modes of social cohesion which enable populations to exist and manage their affairs in their geographic spaces and environments. This is as much a part of the survival logic because it creates a political hierarchy as the terroir dictate of crop rotation. Now, and for the foreseeable couple of decades, the Thucydides Trap means that the world is not only in a period of potentially changing its power balance, or correlation of forces, it is in a period of dark uncertainty at very many levels, from global to regional to societal. That means, essentially, that most powers are weak, and therefore are cautious about behaving in a precipitous manner. Or they perceive that there is opportunity (or the imperative to act) because of the weakness of others. This, in turn, means that sovereign governments will continue, perhaps increasingly, to use proxy forces, such as terrorist groups, to achieve strategic outcomes. In some respects, the desired strategic outcome is merely to achieve paralysis or stalemate in a geopolitical arena. But in almost every instance the guiding hand of such policy is power politics, rather than ideology or theology. Related: Get Ready for Irans Oil: Sanctions Could Be Removed Next Week We can and often do spend vast amounts of our attention analyzing religious or ideological trends rather than looking at the underlying geopolitics. This is presently the case in the terrorist/insurgency jungles of the Middle East and Central Asia. The main problem is that we listen to what the operational protagonists the willing idiots, as Lenin would describe them say and believe, and insufficient time analyzing the core motives of their deep sponsors. Ideology and theology are carrier waves, not the message. Do they motivate willing idiots? Without doubt. But to deal primarily with the carrier wave aspect is to be reactive and tactical; not strategic and in control of events. Who prospers in this greater Thucydides Trap? Those who prize core geopolitical principles, including national and civilizational identities; those who preserve strategic self-sufficiency. Those who do what they must for the decades ahead, not what is comfortable for the present. By Gregory Copley via Defense and Foreign Affairs Special Analysis More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: This blog was created because of the overwhelming amount of 1 track MP3's I recieve from people all over the world, asking if I can split these recordings into tracks. These recordings are split and edited in my own interpretation and perception of the recordings sent to me. Saying a Republican is against unions, especially public sector unions, is kind of like saying the sky is blue or water is wet. It's not a surprise, and by now, it's a sad cliche. But last week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie struggling to get traction in a GOP primary dominated so far by political outsiders and monsters said that teachers unions were "the single most destructive force [in] public education in this country." It's tempting to ignore this demagoguery Christie seems unlikely to win the nomination given current polling, and I am unlikely to change the mind of anyone reading this, whether they agree with Christie or not but I won't. It's also tempting to send in a two-word column in response to his comments, but this is a family website. So instead, let me get into this a little to explain some of how I know Christie is wrong, and to talk a bit about what might really be destructive in public schools right now. I know I have been through much of this before, most recently last year when suburban legislators proposed and pushed through a plan to remove control of some schools from the elected school board in the city of Milwaukee. The authors were not coy about their disdain for unions, writing into law that teachers in the schools of this so-called Opportunity Schools Partnership Plan were prohibited from joining a union, any union. One of the primary authors told his conservative media allies that the plan was designed to liberate schools from under the thumb of "the unions." They can't answer the question how it's possible for the best schools in the state to be staffed with union teachers and haven't expressed an interest in attacking the unions in schools within their district borders. They can't explain why they have no similar plan for the non-union private schools that are failing Milwaukee's students at the same rate or faster than the unionized public schools. But Christie goes beyond the standard GOP position that unions are merely bad to make a much bolder claim: that the presence of unionized teachers is, again, "the single most destructive force [in] public education in this country." To defend his point, Christie explained that teachers unions in New Jersey get this, you will be amazed collect dues from their members. That's why Christie's bumper stickers really ought to read "Master of the Obvious 2016." Moreover, he said, the unions "pay nothing toward teacher salary, teacher pension or teachers' healthcare." This may have to do with how the teachers unions are not actually the employers of those teachers. Indeed, the dues come out of the teachers' salaries, so using the dues to pay salaries would be, oh man, I can't even think of a way to complete that sentence because the argument is so dumb. Come on, Christie. What he misses is that the unions do provide valuable support and professional development for their members, funded by dues. They provide grants to schools and districts to pursue innovations and new ideas including, for example, a recent National Education Association grant to Milwaukee to expand its aquaponics and urban farming programs. The dues seemed to be Christie's best evidence, though, since he called the total union dues collected in New Jersey "a $140 million political slush fund to be able to reward their friends and punish their enemies." This is very different, I am sure, than, say, the heir to the Busch beer fortune, whose money is intended only to reward the fully meritorious, like Chris Christie. That's not evidence of destruction in schools, though. Fact is, he'd be hard pressed to offer evidence of actual destruction of the US public schools system as a whole. As I noted late last year, our students' scores on the NAEP test ("the nation's report card") have held steady or gone up in recent years, holding at all-time highs. Our nation's graduation and college matriculation rates are at historic highs. All of this while teachers unions have, though under attack, maintained relative strength compared to the overall rate of unionization in the private sector. Are there problem areas? Absolutely the nation's poor and minority children are still lagging their rich and white peers, though this generation will have a considerably smaller gap than that of Christie's generation for sure. And the perception of school quality remains an issue, with polls consistently showing that even if parents think their own children's schools are doing fine, they believe the system as a whole is terrible. There is a long history behind that, and we don't need to go all the way back to 1983's "A Nation At Risk" again today. But as Christie demonstrated last week and as Wisconsin's Republicans have demonstrated over the last five years there is no downside for a politician on the right to attack public schools and demagogue against the teachers and their unions. The downside is instead for schools and students, and it comes from what I believe is the real "single most destructive force in public education" today: the right-wing anti-government, anti-tax resistance to funding public schools at the level they need. Earlier this month, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities released a new report comparing spending in fiscal year 2014 to spending in 2008, before the Great Recession hit. It makes sense that the recession caused some cutbacks, but the report notes that in 2014, five years into recovery mode, most states had not returned spending to pre-recession levels, and the total national funding for all states was lower in 2014. Even in the preliminary budget data for the current school year, the report says, at least half of all states are still below pre-recession levels in terms of funding their schools. Guess what political party is running most of those states, including most of those with the biggest cuts since 2008 Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, Wisconsin long past the point of recovery? Hint: Chris Christie wants to be their king. We can bicker back and forth over whether school funding is really what promotes student excellence, but at the very least, I think we can all agree that less is probably not really helping students more. Just one data point to think about: CPBB notes that schools have cut nearly 300,000 teaching positions across the country while student enrollment has grown by more than 800,000. Here in Wisconsin, schools are getting a triple whammy. Not only is funding for schools still below pre-recession levels (by nearly $500 per student between 2008 and 2014 in 2014 dollars, according to state data), schools are being hit by the expansion of the state voucher program and will probably get kneecapped by a proposed law limiting how often and when they can go to referendum to make up the funding shortfalls from the state. In other words, we ought to be thanking our teachers and celebrating our schools for being able to keep up performance so well over the last few years in spite of the devastating cuts in funding. How long can we keep it up? How long can states like ours, with cuts to funding, keep up with states like Minnesota or Vermont that have boosted funding in recent years? Christie, after knocking unions, went on to say that schools need more changes than just breaking the unions, including new technology that can help kids learn at their own pace and help teachers more easily personalize learning. "Every kid should just be carrying an iPad," he said. "Theyre more comfortable working on that stuff than they are lugging those books around." Look, here I am in agreement with the man. I've said as much in this space in the past. But guess what? All that takes money. Just imagine what it would take to give every kid an iPad (or Chromebook or Surface or whatnot). Not only are you investing in the technology, you need training for teachers and students, Wi-Fi infrastructure in schools and significantly boosted broadband infrastructure within districts, and licenses for the electronic versions of textbooks (publishers won't start giving away their content just because it's pixels instead of pages). So let's get this straight, shall we? Unless you're a demagogue like Christie, the actual evidence is pretty strong that unionized teachers are not a threat to school achievement, and real school budgets have been devastated since the recession by the reactionaries in Christie's party that would rather cut property taxes by a few dollars per homeowner than invest in our children. With luck and hard work, 2016 will not see Christie's demagoguery prevail. He will not be anyone's king. Then we just have to work on funding schools again. Milwaukees Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. is pleased to announce its financial support of Radio Lifeline, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that provides smallholder farmers with access to information and sustainable tools that can lead to improved lives and livelihoods in some of the most challenged coffee growing regions in the world. Over the past 10 years Radio Lifeline has helped farmers address many of these challenges head-on through its Coffee Lifeline and Black Earth projects. The Coffee Lifeline project is a radio communications project that connects stakeholders across geographic, political and economic borders, providing a platform for the exchange of vital information that can help to increase crop yields, improve a familys health and lead to more resilient producer communities. Since 2005, Coffee Lifeline has broadcast over 500 radio programs to the coffee producing communities in East Africa. These weekly broadcasts contain information that includes agronomic best practices, cooperative development and sustainability, climate change, early childhood and maternal health, HIV/AIDS education, nutrition, food security, economic diversification, financial literacy as well as a series of childrens stories featured at the close of each broadcast. The Black Earth Project is a research project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of biochar when used as a soil amendment by smallholder coffee farmers in Rwanda. Biochar is produced through a process called pyrolysis, or the burning of dried biomass in a low or zero oxygen environment. The process prevents combustion and the usual release of carbon dioxide, black carbon and other greenhouse gases associated with traditional charcoal production methods. The project presents a farm-centered approach to biochar production by utilizing various forms of agricultural crop residues, including dried corn stalks, grasses, rice hulls and coffee pulp as well as cow manure and wood chips. Harvest data collected in July 2015 from coffee trees treated with applications of biochar demonstrated an average 35% increase in yield, with some cooperatives experiencing as much as a 70% increase. Input costs of biochar-treated trees were reduced by an average of 50%. "When used as a soil amendment, biochar can increase crop yields, reduce nutrient leaching, help retain moisture, reduce soil acidity and improve surrounding water quality while significantly reducing the need for additional irrigation and fertilizer inputs. Biochar has increasingly been cited as an effective approach to carbon sequestration as it can remain stable in the soil for thousands of years," said Peter Kettler, Executive Director of Radio Lifeline. Anodynes founder Matt McClutchy remarked that "Anodyne is proud to assist Peter and his Coffee Lifeline and Black Earth Projects make real and positive changes in the lives of coffee farmers in Africa. Everyone here at Anodyne looks forward to many years of playing a part in the success of the Coffee Lifeline and the Black Earth Project." MANITOWOC To try and understand what all of this has been like, take a trip to Manitowoc County. About an hour and a half north of Milwaukee but still 30 minutes shy of Green Bay, on a flat and flavorless stretch of Interstate 43 where on this January day the drab, white-and-brown landscape of snowy farmland is touched up only by red barns and blue flashing police lights going the opposite way, past the adult book store and the anti-abortion billboard in seeming juxtaposition, past the fireworks shop and the Kellnersville sign with no options listed under gas and attractions, and just south of the county line, theres an exit for State Highway 147 toward Maribel/Mishicot. Take it. About five miles east of I-43, on an unremarkable and until-recently uncongested stretch of WI-147, past the archery range at Maribel Sportsmans Club and the leafless trees of the Richard J. Drum Memorial Forest, over the bridge spanning partially frozen West Twin River but not as far as that of East Twin River and between two Christmas tree farms, with black smoke billowing from some bonfire too distant to send a smell and only the sounds of tires on asphalt and the whoosh of passing cars, theres an intersection with a wooden post and two chillingly non-ironic signs bolted to it: Avery Road, Dead End. Take it. About 400 yards down the road, past the black-and-yellow "Averys Auto Salvage" billboard, adjacent to a great gravel quarry with its menacing DANGER warning that reads "Active Pit: Keep Out!" and onto an unpaved path behind a row of dense pine trees that, unlike their counterparts naked in winter, hide everything beyond them, theres a green trailer with peeling paint and, parked in front, Dolores Averys Hyundai Elantra with its handicapped permit and a candy cane hanging from the rearview mirror. A meeting here was mutually agreed upon 64 hours prior, but now theres no answer at the door after numerous knocks. The Averys Auto office is closed, and two dogs one tiny mongrel inside the home and a squat basset hound outside are barking hostilely, knowingly, because this isnt the first time theyve encountered an interloper. And then, suddenly, theres a red sedan speeding down the driveway straight at the visitor, drawing alongside at the very last second, spitting out an angry Charles Avery shouting through his cigarette that, "We aint doing no interviews!" and offering a very severe suggestion to get the hell off the property. Definitely take it. Back at the entrance to Avery Road, theres a minivan pulled over with a cell phone pointed out the window snapping pictures of the signs. In front of the infamous "Avery's Auto Salvage" display, there are dozens of footprints in the snow, where locals grumble that looky-loos take smiling selfies to post on Facebook. And just a quarter-mile down the highway, an out-of-place Prius pulls a U-turn on two-lane 147, narrowly avoiding getting stuck in the icy ditch to double back and check out the notorious property belonging to the junkyard family that for so long wanted to leave the world alone but now cant get the world to let it be. It is here, amid the farmland and the fields and the forest and the fires, in this barely corporated, backcountry no-mans-land the remote reaches of the 21st-most-populous county in Wisconsin where humble is the default persona and everybody knows everybody, that internet curiosity has found its epicenter. It is here that a grisly tragedy a decade ago recently spawned a sensationally engrossing documentary thats become an instant phenomenon and, in the process, made Manitowoc the current capital of popular culture. A few miles east of the property on WI-147, which becomes Main Street in Mishicot (population: 1,442), regulars at a local bar disdain the lurid limelight cast on their hometown. In nearby Two Rivers, they say the unwanted attention will get worse before it gets better. And in the city of Manitowoc, the county seat with that courthouse and that sheriffs department, nearly 14 rural miles south of the Averys, theyre already sick and tired of this whole thing. While true-crime fanatics obsess over every possible theory, piece of evidence and alternative suspect, and a nation of Netflix-viewers calls for pardons, new trials, punishment for law enforcement (including, disturbingly, death threats to sheriffs) and a revamping of the entire U.S. justice system, the people in the place where everything actually happened are simply not interested. Manitowoc County residents, caught in a murder-made media maelstrom they never asked for and are not benefiting from, just wish it would all go away. The case, the documentary and now the fallout. This is the story about the story about the story. A county fatigued "Making a Murderer" chronicles the surreal story of Steven Averys exoneration of a rape for which he spent 18 years in prison and his subsequent conviction of the murder of Teresa Halbach, for which hes now serving life in prison. It particularly focuses on Averys trial, raising serious questions not only about police procedure and suspect investigation, but also about the systemic, socioeconomic issues of criminal defense. By now, though, everyone knows that. The web television series appeared on Netflix last month, one week before Christmas. What took documentarians Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos 10 years to fastidiously film and painstakingly produce was, within days, binge-watched by millions, thanks to critical acclaim and breathless word-of-mouth and social-media buzz. America collectively injected itself with the compelling thriller, streaming the 10 hour-long episodes and then satisfying cravings by discussing the show on social streams and consuming all content that concerned it. This website provided plenty; it was often the vanguard of original information in the wake of the documentary. And while countless hours spent poring over courthouse records and interviewing jurors unearthed more shadiness than even "Making a Murderer" had portrayed, three days in the county also revealed other details strong distrust of the media, sad weariness of the story, a sense that the area wasnt fairly depicted and, most fundamentally, the feeling that the series was a work of fiction that didnt change many minds in Manitowoc of Averys original, enduring guilt. Across the street from where Avery was convicted of the 1985 first-degree sexual assault of Penny Beerntsen and freed in 2003 through DNA testing is the Courthouse Pub, an upscale restaurant where men in suits drink bourbon, women wearing scarves sip red wine and the dinner entrees are all at least $20. The Wi-Fi password is "innocent" (the staff insists its been such since before the documentary) and the bill comes in a parking-ticket envelope that gives out-of-towners a brief scare. Eventually, after phone numbers are looked up and dialed and voicemails reveal "memory full," a couple of reporters decide the only recourse is to drive out to the Avery property at night and knock on the door, a last-resort journalistic tactic thats detested even by people who havent had to deal with unrelenting press for a decade. They also decide that a Swiss Army knife will be brought along. The drive from downtown Manitowoc (population: 33,736) to the property is 25 minutes a distance that doesnt really come across in the documentary, which presents a meddling sheriffs department and a troublemaking family as constantly tangling in each others close-by affairs. In reality, the reclusive Averys live 15 miles away and, while deputies do have jurisdiction in Mishicot, there are only a few to patrol a vast area; its not as though theyre waiting in squad cars down the block to ambush a lingering, preying Avery. Spatially, Manitowoc is larger, more developed and much more spread out than its depicted in the documentary not surprising since most of the series' action takes place in just a few locations. Eventually turning onto Avery Road, past the Auto Salvage sign thats become a destination point for sight-seekers and proceeding toward the cluster of meager buildings, headlights vaguely illuminate a line of broken-down vehicles, giving the place a graveyard feel unrelated to its violent past. Parking in front of the home of Allen and Dolores Avery, Stevens parents, a fingers-crossed knock on the trailer door brings an unexpected sight. Rather than an angry rebuke or no answer at all, its Mrs. Avery standing in the entryway, surprised to see visitors at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday, but not actually upset. She looks exhausted, more worn than in the documentary, and doesnt say much watching and nodding as reporters hastily, apologetically explain why theyre at her door. After mentioning that shes about to go to sleep, Dolores Avery listens to a pitch for a sympathetic interview and agrees to meet on Saturday, after the business closes. But the next day, Steven Avery will get a new legal team that forbids the family to talk to the press, thus leading to Charles Avery saying his mother "mustve misunderstood" and sternly instructing the visitor returning on Saturday to "hit the road!" Upon leaving, the next trip is to the residence of Barb Tadych, Steven Averys sister and the mother of Brendan Dassey, who was convicted of assisting his uncle in Halbachs murder but whose case is now in federal appeals court. The house is completely dark, so a call is made instead. Unexpectedly, Tadych answers and, after initially saying she cant talk about legal proceedings and also has to wake up early, remains on the phone for a poignant 10-minute conversation. On this past Thursday evening, Edward Archer shot and critically wounded Officer Jesse Hartnett, a Philadelphia police officer, in an unprovoked attack. Mr. Archer proclaimed that he was a disciple of the international Islamic terrorist organization known as the Islamic State and that he shot Office Hartnett in the name of Islam. I watched the initial press conference and saw the look of anguish, anger and determination on the face of Police Commissioner Richard Ross as he detailed, with photos, the filmed attack on Officer Hartnett. While Mr. Ross described the horror that Officer Hartnett must have felt when Mr. Archer reached inside the officers vehicle and shot him multiple times and point blank range, he also took time to praise the courage of Officer Hartnett who, though critically wounded, exited his patrol car when Mr. Archer sought to flee and fired several times wounding Mr. Archer seriously enough that his fellow officers were able to locate and arrest Mr. Archer. And then, in what is one of the most bizarre moments I have witnessed, the mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney (D), took his time at the podium, not to express his gratitude for the courage and bravery of Officer Hartnett, not to condemn yet another attack on police officers, and not to condemn the actions of yet another adherent to the Islamic terrorist group, the Islamic State, but rather to go on at length that this attack had nothing to do with Islam stating: In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what youve seen on the screen, That is abhorrent. Its just terrible and it does not represent this religion in any way shape or form or any of its teachings. This is a criminal with a stolen gun who tried to kill one of our officers. It has nothing to do with being a Muslim or following the Islamic faith. So too was President Barack Obama who, through his spokesman, steadfastly refused to acknowledge that the incident was a terrorist attack let alone an Islamic terrorist act, preferring instead to say that the matter is still under review idiot. Political correctness is killing us. It is making us addlepated. In the face of facts, we choose fantasy. In this instance, what part of the declarations by the would-be killer would lead you to believe that this had nothing to do with Islam? Was it the part where Mr. Archer proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State? Or maybe the part where he declared that he shot Officer Hartnett in the name of Islam. Or maybe it is the part where he yelled Allahu Akbar. Apparently, Mr. Kenney, another white liberal male, assumes that he speaks authoritatively on behalf of Islam and the Quran. Like his fellow liberals with their heads planted firmly in the sand, or perhaps some dark bodily orifice, Mr. Kenney could not see any relationship with Islam but he could see that this did demonstrate a need for further gun control ignoring the fact that Mr. Archer used a gun stolen from the police moron. But this is all about Islam. Islam is the sine qua non for the Islamic State and its practice and encouragement of terrorism. The whole concept of the Islamic State is based on the establishment of a caliphate and, in doing so, the establishment of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the caliph in essence the leader of all Muslims. The Caliph is supposed to embody the essence of the Quran and other Islamic teachings. He can only remain Caliph so long as he adheres to these teachings. By extension the acts and edicts of the Caliph define expected conduct of his Islamic followers. In this instance, al-Baghdadi, having declared the Islamic State as a caliphate has defined terrorism as not only acceptable conduct, but expected conduct. Whether you believe that al-Baghdadi and his followers represent true Islam is irrelevant. Their movement, their caliphate, their conduct is all based upon their interpretation of Islam. They proceed in the name of Islam and have, by declaring a caliphate, stated that their acts are the accepted and expected acts of Islam. To say that al-Baghdadi and his followers have nothing to do with Islam is deliberately ignorant. It is like saying that wine has nothing to do with grapes. Not all grapes are made into wine, but all wine comes from grapes. Most assuredly, not all Muslims support the barbaric violence of the Islamic State, not all Muslims practice jihad, and not all Muslims are Islamic terrorists. But all Islamic terrorists are Muslim, all of them justify their acts in the name of Islam, and all believe that these acts are required of them under Islam. When I was in college inane and irrelevant comments received a routine response Bite Me! Its time to bring that custom back. Mayor Kenney Bite Me!. President Obama Bite Me! And for those who feel compelled to remind me that there are such things as dandelion wine, currant wine and Liberal whine Bite Me! Six years ago, Dilip Shanghvi, the promoter and Managing Director of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, was clear and confident when asked two questions that were key to the company's future - Is it risky to over-depend on the US market? And, is it possible to maintain the sky-high margins of more than 40 per cent? "US is the biggest market, and is going to remain so in the future. Margins may go down as base increases, but we will try to maintain 'above industry average' growth and returns. We are looking at giving maximum shareholder returns every year," he had said. This was the period when Sun was considered a miracle wrought by Shanghvi. In 2007/08, for instance, its net profits were over 44 per cent of sales. A year before that, the figure was 36 per cent (see Sliding Margins). The key was its ability to make complex high-value generic drugs with limited competition. Though Ranbaxy, Cipla and Dr. Reddy's were bigger in sales, Sun Pharma was, and still is, sitting on huge cash, despite the numerous acquisitions over the years. Sun's big moment came in 2014, when it became India's largest drug company after acquiring the troubled Ranbaxy Laboratories from Daiichi Sankyo in an all-stock deal. It also became one of the top 10 Indian companies with sales of over Rs 27,000 crore as well as the world's fifth-largest specialty generics company. But this growth had come at a cost. In 2014/15, the merged entity's profit margins were only 16 per cent, mainly due to costs related to integrating the troubled Ranbaxy. A year before, they were 19.6 per cent, without Ranbaxy (in 2013/14, it had taken a huge hit due to a patent case settlement). In 2014/15, Lupin's margins were 19 per cent and Dr. Reddy's 14.9 per cent. Sun's profits were Rs 3,141 crore without Ranbaxy in 2013/14 and Rs 4,541 crore (including Ranbaxy) in 2014/15. Since the past eight months the merged entity has been trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange, nervous investors have been asking two questions - is Shangvi's magic fading? Or, is the slump just a small hitch in Sun's glorious journey over the past one decade? Most experts that we talked to for the story agreed that though Sun faces an eclipse, at least for the next one-two years, as it grapples with integrating Ranbaxy and resolving old and fresh issues raised by the US Food and Drugs Administration, or USFDA, regarding manufacturing practices both at Ranbaxy and its own plants, it will, more likely than not, regain its shine. Double Blow - 2015 "100 per cent compliance, enhancing R&D productivity and strong business growth are the key priorities for Sun Pharma as a combined entity," the company had said while announcing the completion of the merger on March 25, 2015. The markets also reacted positively to the merger. From Rs 891 on 25 February, the stock rose to Rs 1,168 on April 6, making Shanghvi India's richest businessman, overtaking Mukesh Ambani. But this was short-lived. From there, the stock fell to Rs 764.15 (as on December 22), taking the market capitalisation to Rs 1.83 lakh crore, eroding Rs 93,000 crore of investor wealth. Of course, signs of trouble with Ranbaxy were clear even at the peak. For instance, while announcing the merger, Sun had said that the remedial action at Mohali, Dewas, Poanta Sahib and Toansa facilities of Ranbaxy, which were banned by the USFDA for violating manufacturing standards, was on track. But when its own plants also got into trouble with the USFDA, it was really a bolt from the blue, and a big one at that. In May 2014, it was issued a warning letter and import alert for violations of current good manufacturing practice regulations for finished pharmaceuticals from its facility in Karkhadi in Baroda that makes cephalosporin drugs. Sun maintained that the plant's contribution to its overall revenues was negligible. More trouble was brewing. In July, Sun said it was resolving manufacturing discrepancies found by the USFDA at its Halol facility in Gujarat, and that this was causing some supply constraints in the US for some products. It also warned that the situation would continue for some more time till the remedial steps were completed. In spite of Sun's regular updates to the USFDA on remedial measures since the September 2014 inspection, it was issued a warning letter a little more than two weeks ago. Some analysts, though, maintain that the issues at Halol are not serious and may not lead to the USFDA ban. "As far as Halol is concerned, there have been no new product approvals. While for the approved products, supplies from Halol continue, there has been some supply disruptions due to the ongoing remediation efforts," said a company spokesperson. But investors are wary. "The worrisome factor is the warning letter even after the company said it had taken corrective action," says Sarabjit Kour Nangra, Vice President, Research (Pharma), Angel Broking. The Halol plant is crucial as it contributes 7-9 per cent of Sun's overall revenues and 15 per cent of US revenues. Also, the company was planning to manufacture a host of injectable products at this facility by 2020. Even though Sun has acquired one more injectable facility in the US (Pharmalucence), not all products can be shifted to that facility. "The focus is on remediating Halol," said the spokesperson when asked if there were plans to move production of injectable products to other facilities. Analysts, however, see hope in Sun's several USFDA-compliant plants (out of 48) that have been audited in the past 15 months without negative observations. Diverse Issues Experts say one of the biggest problems was that these manufacturing issues came up at a time the management was already grappling with integrating Ranbaxy. The integration had seen the exodus of several key Ranbaxy executives, many voluntarily and some as part of the merger process in which Sun's executives took over the key responsibilities, though the company spokesperson says that not all exits were a result of integration. Sanjiv Kaul, Managing Director, ChrysCapital Investment Advisors, who was with Ranbaxy before 2004, says, "While there is little doubt that the Ranbaxy deal was a very astute move and a shrewd investment decision, the integration could have been better planned and managed." An industry veteran, who has known Shanghvi for long, says his major problem today is the sheer diversity of challenges he is facing at the same time. "There are just too many priorities today. People who are running a company should not be actively involved in the integration as this makes them take eyes off the company," he says. As part of the integration exercise, Sun is planning to divest some non-core strategic assets. For instance, it recently sold a plant in the US. "We are going to implement synergies ahead of time and realise full value by 2017/18. While significant costs related to the integration have been incurred, and some costs will continue, the benefits will be visible going forward," Shanghvi recently said in a con-call with analysts. The company spokesperson said they were committed to $300 million synergies by year three of the merger. Sun has already warned that consolidated revenues will remain flat or decline over 2014/15. It has also said that profits may also be adversely impacted due to certain expenses/charges arising out of integration as well as remedial actions. Sunshine Ahead The first two quarters of 2015/16 were bleak for the company. In the first quarter, sales were flat at Rs 6,522 crore, while the net profit was Rs 479 crore, due to a one-time Rs 685 -crore spend related to impairment of fixed assets and goodwill and other related costs as part of the integration. In the second quarter, net sales were Rs 6,803 crore, down 15 per cent over the same quarter last year, while the net profit was Rs 1,107 crore. However, analysts say Sun has the potential to shine brighter in the coming years considering the high-value limited-competition products in the pipeline. "Sun has multiple catalysts which could limit the damage. Low competition in the base business of Gleevec (blood cancer drug) and Xenazine (acne drug), coupled with faster-than-expected ramp-up of Keveyis (a drug for paralysis from Sun subsidiary Taro) and Ximino (acne drug of Ranbaxy) could surprise investors positively," say Kumar Saurabh and Amey Chalke, analysts with Motilal Oswal. The analysts are also betting big on a novel molecule from the company, MK 3222, now in the third phase of clinical trials. Sun has also lined up quite a few products for the US market. Its 154 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) are awaiting approval with the USFDA. The US market contributes 48 per cent to its overall revenues. Analysts expect Sun to post a revenue of Rs 28,400 crore this year, Rs 33,690 crore in 2016/17 and Rs 36,540 crore in 2017/18, without acquisitions. Net profit is expected to be flat this year at Rs 4,390 crore, but jump to Rs 6,860 crore next year and to Rs 9,150 crore in 2017/18. The future will be bright unless the USFDA issues become more complex and the integration with Ranbaxy fails. Still, the earlier profit margins are unlikely to be touched as global generic drug sales dynamics have changed due to rising competition from new players in high-value limited-competition product segments. The son of a Professor of Veterinary Sciences, Rana Atheya had become a pet expert by the time he was a young man, picking up details about domesticated animals from his father. But in pursuit of his engineering degree from MJP Rohilkhand University, Uttar Pradesh, and later an MBA from Coventry University, UK, the dog-lover in him waited in the wings only to reappear as a blogger on his pet subject - how to adopt animals, train them and what to feed them. Finally, in 2007, the trigger to migrate from BlogSpot.com to DogSpot.in came from a friend. "Why blogspot; why not dogspot?," the friend had quipped. There was no looking back since then. He bought the domain name, DogSpot.in, and started populating it with content on weekends, while he still kept his job. The response was encouraging. In 2011, he teamed up with childhood friend Ankur Tandon, the Chief of Operations at DogSpot, and Shalesh Visen, who owned a web solutions company (now the Chief Technology Officer, DogSpot), to launch e-commerce services on DogSpot.in. "Content and community existed; we added another C -commerce," says Atheya. But, no one was willing to invest as the pet products category was almost non-existent. The three friends pooled in Rs 2 lakh and hired an intern to run the e-commerce venture under PetsGlam Services. "We decided to do it on our own to prove that there is a market for it and that it can be profitable," he adds. "We did invest ahead of the curve in this company. But that only means we will make money in six years instead of three, which is fi ne with us" DogSpot.in caught the fancy of pet lovers and pet owners as it provided them an interactive and informative platform. "You can buy normal dog food at any store. We cater to the special needs of a family member - your dog. That's why we have a community and content around pets. It is not like a grocery vertical; it is a super-specialised vertical and not just commerce," Atheya asserts. Within one year, the company got its first round of funding from friends and family - a princely sum of Rs 50 lakh. "Since we were starting a new category and no one had bought dog food online, we had to invest in inventory," Atheya says. Even then, there was resistance from all quarters - from logistics partners to payment gateways. Barely one year later, India Quotient invested `1 crore in DogSpot. In 2014, it attracted investments from Unilazer Ventures, promoted by Ronnie Screwvala, and GrowthStory's K. Ganesh, followed by a second round of funding by India Quotient. By December 2015, it claims to have raised a little over $1 million (approximately `6.68 crore). In January 2016, the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, invested an undisclosed amount in DogSpot in his personal capacity. Knowing Tata's passion for start-ups and love for dogs, Atheya merely tried his luck by contacting him through R. Venkat, a close associate of Tata, on e-mail, and it paid off. Other investors in this round were Dheeraj Jain and Ashok Mittal. Investors vouch for Atheya's conviction and dedication to the pet products business. "I wouldn't have invested in this company if it wasn't for Rana," says Anand Lunia, Founder-Partner, India Quotient. Besides, he believes, India is seeing a pet population explosion - 10-15 per cent growth every year. He attributes this to late marriages, early retirement and increasing number of families with a single child, which makes a case for a companion or friend. Rising incomes and bigger houses, too, make it conducive for middle-class families to adopt a pet. "When the pet becomes the child's friend, he becomes a baby. People are willing to spend to feed and groom them well," says Lunia. It is not surprising then that several players, such as Pupkart, PetShop18, Petsworld and Heads Up For Tails (HUFT), have mushroomed in the past few years. Several online marketplaces, such as Amazon, Indiamart, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Big Basket, too, are selling pet products. Atheya considers HUFT, which was launched around the same time as DogSpot.in, to be a serious competitor. Six months ago, DogSpot launched its own line of products. "We were earlier looking to be a traditional e-commerce marketplace, aiming at growth on the GMV (gross merchandise value) side. We were growing 20-30 per cent month-on-month. But looking at how the e-commerce landscape has changed over the past year, I realised that we need to have a sustainable business model," says Atheya. He believes that this is a great opportunity to build brand DogSpot, and sustain the company with competitive pricing and better margins. The company's contribution margins have risen from 4 per cent to 20 per cent in the past six months, he claims. Today, the site hosts 3,000-plus products from across 170 brands. The company earns four times the margin from its own label compared to other brands. It has launched products across 12 categories, including biscuits and treats, supplements, grooming, bowls and feeders, collars and leashes, t-shirts, mats, toys, etc. Experts are roped in from across verticals in the pet products categories to make high-standard and niche products (such as shampoos specific to dog breeds, based on their hair length and texture) and it conducts field tests among its dog-owning employees. "We even taste all the biscuits," adds Atheya. He believes his company has an upper hand because it can alter and re-launch a product based on feedback from its community. "There are no known brands in this space apart from Pedigree. With the credibility and critical mass we have gathered, we are creating barriers so that no horizontal player can enter this space. We are making habit-forming products of high standard and high quality to become the super specialist that pet owners seek," he says. It is retailing products through online marketplaces, pet shops and veterinary clinics, though its own site drives maximum sales. The home-based pet boarding and grooming facility that his wife Vizal runs in Gurgaon, called PetSpot, also houses its products. DogSpot, which has a team of 20, does not have a manufacturing unit of its own. It hires contract manufacturers for its private labels and ships products from its 5,000 sq. ft warehouse in Gurgaon, which doubles up as its office. Atheya says the website gets around 20,000 unique visits and the company ships around 200 orders per day. On average, customers make monthly purchases worth Rs 2,000-3,000. DogSpot also runs a customer care service with the help of an expert to solve pet owners' queries and facilitate adoptions. It has tied up with NGOs, such as Friendicoes, SPCA and Precious Paws to run fundraising events, adoptions and donations. Till date, it hasn't invested in marketing the site or products, but is active on Facebook. The company broke even six months ago, after having burnt a lot of money till July 2015. The new round of funding has added a spring in Atheya's step. From the existing 300 under the private label, he plans to have 1,500 products in a year. The focus will be on repeat buying categories, including treats, biscuits and shampoos. After launching an economical range earlier, DogSpot is now focusing on a premium range by entering into exclusive partnerships with brands such as Petmate for travel kennels, FURminator for specialised grooming products, and Spotty for in-home toilet training products. The company clocked revenues of around Rs 6 crore (source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs) in 2014/15, and aims to double it in 2015/16. The pet products market, Atheya estimates, is worth Rs 2,000 crore today, expected to grow at 30-40 per cent per year. Lunia says investor interest is still not very high in this category, but is confident that newer players will come in. "We did invest ahead of the curve in this company. But that only means we will make money in six years instead of three, which is fine with us," he says. According to TechSci Research, the pet food market in India will cross $270 million by 2019. This category is certainly not going to the dogs. The Science & The Circus Indian born Nobel Laureate Venkataraman Ramakrishnan calls the Indian Science Congress a "circus" in a newspaper interview after hearing some of the topics discussed in it, including Homoeopathy and Astrology. Shia-Sunni or oil rivalry? After Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia executed 47, including Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, its Embassy in Shia-dominated Iran was attacked and ransacked by an irate mob in Tehran. Saudi Arabia announced breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and its allies Bahrain, Sudan and UAE also either broke off ties or downgraded their relationship. But more than the Shia-Sunni rivalry, analysts see the event as the after-effect of oil rivalry. Both sides have refused to curtail production to steady global oil prices. The H-Bomb North Korea leader Kim Jong Un claims his country has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Scientists in many countries though doubt his claims. No More Incredible The government drops Aamir Khan as brand ambassador of Incredible India campaign. His supporters perceive this as the backlash to his intolerance comments in an interview a month ago. The Selfie Copywrong A Federal Judge in the US says that the monkey whose selfie went viral on the net does not own the copyright. TECH-ENABLING INDIA WHAT: i-Bharat 2016 WHEN: January 11, Federation House, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The second edition of the FICCI-Department of Electronics & IT event is titled 'Embracing Technology: Transforming India'. It aims to discuss the various technologies and government policies that could enable smart cities, implement Digital India and e-governance. The first shock of the year has already registered. On January 7, the BSE Sensex fell 554.50 points - or 2.2 per cent - to touch 24,851.83, its steepest drop in the past three months. Indeed, stock markets around the world followed suit, all due to China devaluing its currency by 0.51 per cent to 6.5646 against the US dollar earlier in the day - its lowest levels since March 2011. But to many market watchers, it came as no surprise. "Equity markets in India are expected to be volatile for global reasons," says Sankaran Naren, Chief Investment Officer, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund. "For investors, hybrid funds would be the best way to tackle the situation for the next six months." The Chinese Yuan appreciated significantly in the past four years relative to many of its trading partners' currencies, rendering Chinese exports less competitive than before in an economy much focused on exports. To beat this trend, the Yuan was devalued in August last year and has now been devalued again. There is every chance of further devaluation in coming months. This could impact several segments of domestic industry in India - tyres, tiles, steel and more - if Chinese offerings become cheaper than local goods. "What China does will have a huge bearing on India, putting pressure on the current account deficit and the rupee," says Saurabh Mukherjea, CEO-Institutional Equities, Ambit Capital. China is making structural changes to its economy to shift focus and become a domestic consumption-led economy. However, until that process is complete, to keep its exports competitive, its currency is likely to be forcibly depreciated. The difficulties of the Chinese economy, however, are not the only global threats. "There is need for caution not just because of China, but also due to the likelihood of oil exporting countries selling off their investments, as well as concerns of war in West Asia," says Naren. The drop in crude oil prices, beginning roughly around the time the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government took charge, has been a very lucky break for India, saving it around $70-80 billion, but it has also shaken the economies of the oil producing countries, some of which have gone from healthy surpluses to staring at deficits. They could well sell off part of their global equity holdings to reduce debt, which in turn would put pressure on Indian equities. As for war, the depredations of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the growing standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran make it a distinct possibility. "In the first half of 2016, there are known (unknowns) and unknown unknowns," says Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank. "I've entered 2016 with a conservative mindset." Kotak feels a combination of things could go wrong in the first half of 2016 due to developments in the US, China and oil producing nations. For instance, with US corporate bond spreads increasing, he feels there could be a credit accident globally or in large companies. Domestic Issues 2015 was not a particularly happy year for the bourses in India. The euphoria of 2014, with the swearing in of the new NDA government, having faded, the Chinese devaluation, a sub-normal monsoon and indifferent corporate earnings took their toll. On December 31, the Sensex closed at 26,117 points, 5 per cent below its level exactly a year ago. The first months of 2016, too, are likely to be uncertain, but many experts feel the dangers are only for the short term. "Looking forward five years, it is a great time to be in India and build businesses," says Kotak. "The countries I would really bet on are US and India." Prateek Agrawal, Head of Business and CIO, ASK Investment Managers, agrees about India. "December 2015 quarter results are likely to be the worst, after which corporate performance will improve. I expect the second quarter of 2016/17 to be a bumper one. All this will give a fillip to the market. Global developments will not matter all that much if there is strong domestic corporate growth." Ambit Capital's Mukherjea, however, remains sceptical. "The earnings growth of large-cap companies is likely to remain weak over the next couple of years," he says. "The benchmark indices are likely to remain under pressure. Our Sensex estimate by the end of 2016/17 is around 29,000." Much will depend on the policies pursued by the government and the Reserve Bank of India, as well as the adoption of advanced technology. "We like companies which have consistently expanded whilst maintaining balance sheet discipline," he adds. Kotak too worries about the balance sheet discipline. "The high debt of many Indian companies is a concern," he says. "They have to bring down debt. In an environment where wholesale price index (WPI) is negative, high leverage is dangerous." "There are many known (unknowns) and unknown unknowns at play. I have entered 2016 with a conservative mindset" One important silver lining for the equity markets is the growth of mutual funds, especially the rise in the number of retail investors using systematic investment plans (SIPs). The average monthly inflow into mutual funds through the SIP route in recent months has been around Rs 2,500 crore. Mutual funds were the unsung heroes of the equity market in 2015 and the same is expected this year. As is the case every year, the forthcoming Budget will impact the market, with the extent of government spending playing a key role in reviving sectors such as infrastructure. The implementation (or otherwise) of further reforms, especially the passing of key reform bills including the Goods and Services Tax bill, will also make a big difference. The monsoon too will be crucial - after two consecutive years of below average rains that badly affected rural spending, it is hoped that the Gods will be benevolent in 2016. A dramatic surge in import of steel from China, Japan and Korea has battered the domestic steel industry. Numerous policy interventions have not helped. Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar tells BT's Rajeev Dubey and Sumant Banerji that while the government is considering more measures to restrict imports, the sector may remain under stress for some more time. Edited excerpts: BT: How severe is the distress in the domestic steel industry? Tomar: This sector is deregulated and keeps fluctuating as per the overall market. It is true that there are lots of problems right now and we are aware of it. Industry is also trying to wriggle out of it. After a long time there is stress in this sector. The impact of this is on everything. BT: How do you plan to tackle the surge in import of steel? Tomar: We imposed safeguard duty, increased anti-dumping and import duty, and our intention is to improve the situation. But even after that there is lot of stress. Industry has been arguing for more protection. When the right time comes, we will look into the merit of those arguments because protecting the interests of the steel industry is without doubt a priority for us. This sector brings in a lot of investments, there is a lot of exposure of banks, and it is also a big employment generator, providing direct employment to seven lakh people and indirectly 35 lakh people are affected by it. It also contributes two per cent to GDP. We are worried but confident that we will sail through this time of crisis. BT: There are reports that China is selling steel at prices lower than production cost. How do you manage that? Tomar: China's dumping is a major concern and they are selling at a cost lower than their own production cost. It may be their strategy, but without doubt it is damaging us. We are considering how best we can protect the domestic industry from getting impacted by this dumping. I have met the FM (Arun Jaitley) as also (commerce minister) Nirmala Sitharaman over this issue and discussed it at length. Principally, everybody is agreeable to protecting the domestic industry, but at the same time, the forward course of action will depend on the merit of laws, customs, procedures and arguments, and representation by the industry as per the laid-down procedure substantiated with data and statistics. In today's scenario, imports from China, Japan and Korea are hurting us. We have FTAs with Japan and Korea, but we cannot go back and undo that and have to honour our commitment. At the same time, we have to look for a way out. BT: Has there been any impact of the safeguard duty imposed in September? Tomar: Initially, there was some impact. But the stress is still intense. In my view, the way those countries are behaving, they can continue for another year, year and a half. But the way we are thinking, we may be able to wriggle out of it. BT: Have you heard of plants being shut or capacity utilisation falling? Tomar: I have not received any information about any major plants shutting down in the domestic market. I don't think that will happen either. Of course, capacity utilisation has come down, because we are in a slowdown and that has impacted every company, big or small. Demand should increase and we are also in favour of it. We are also trying our level best to do that. At the same time, our industry should also grow and be profitable. Our domestic industry should not be impacted by anything. Public investments planned by the government of India and low base of per capita consumption will be the growth drivers. BT: Considering the distress right now, do you think there is a need to review the roadmap for the sector including SAIL's own capacity expansion plans? Tomar: We keep reviewing SAIL's plans from time to time. It is true that even our vision of 300 mtpa and SAIL's 50 mtpa by 2025 should be impacted in the current scenario and we will definitely review this at some point of time. It looks daunting in today's time, but we should not shy away from it. Right now the market is not favourably inclined towards achieving these numbers, but it will not stay like this forever. If we have to achieve the vision of 'Make in India', then demand for steel will obviously go up. We should be able to meet that demand and not fall short. A few months ago it was the directive that nurses had to declare their white privilege before attending to their patients. NOW The Medical Board of Australia draft code of conduct that will apply to all Australian doctors requires doctors to be culturally safe and comply with a patients beliefs about gender identity and sexuality, with no provision given for a doctor to differ in their professional judgements. .We are concerned with the possible interpretation of culturally safe, that it should not impact on good health outcomes and good medical practice, the group has stated. We are concerned that respectful practice is significantly different to respectful of the beliefs and cultures of others and that this change also could impact on good health outcomes. Respect for a patient does not equal respecting cultural beliefs and practices that may be antithetical to good medical practice. Other possible areas of conflict rel Pakistan would not deploy his forces to foriegn soil: Sartaj Aziz ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office shared with the National Assemblys Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday broad contours of Pakistans involvement in the Saudi-led 34-nation counter-terrorism coalition and said it would not entail deployment of troops on a foreign soil. The committee was given an in-camera briefing by the Foreign Office on the counter-terrorism coalition announced by Saudi Arabia and the diplomatic standoff between Iran and the kingdom which started with the execution of Saudi dissident Sheikh Nimr. Conversations with members of the committee revealed that Pakistan was looking forward to training security forces of the member countries, providing military hardware and sharing intelligence. Additionally, there are indications that Pakistan would work with Saudi Arabia for developing a narrative that could counter extremist ideology. The two countries will involve their clergies for this purpose. Pakistan earlier confirmed its participation in the coalition when it was announced last month, but said it would decide the extent of its participation after it received details about the initiative from Saudi Arabia. Last weeks visits by Saudi Arabias defence and foreign affairs ministers provided clarity about the coalition to Pakistani authorities. The sense emerging from the NA committees meeting has suggested that Pakistan may have picked the activities in which it intends to participate. In a late evening statement on the committees meeting, the Foreign Office said: The facets of cooperation and different activities of the coalition will be decided after consultative meetings, which will be hosted by Saudi Arabia in the near future. The members who spoke to Dawn said they had been assured that the policy of not committing troops in any conflict situation remained unchanged and would be strictly adhered to. Pakistan, they implied, would have limited cooperation with the coalition in line with its policy of fighting terrorism and extremism. The committees chairman Awais Leghari said Pakistans participation in the alliance would not be against any country. It would be only against terrorism, he added. We want to send a clear message to our neighbour (Iran) that we are not trying to isolate anyone, Mr Leghari said. The committee also discussed tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran which, it is feared, may have a fallout on the region, particularly on Pakistan which has deep sectarian divisions. The members were told that Pakistan would continue to pursue a balanced approach on the dispute and might contribute to defusing the situation at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and other multilateral forums. A special session of the OIC is planned for Jan 16. The FO statement tried to dilute the impression about Pakistans even-handed approach in the dispute. It said: The adviser informed the committee that Saudi Arabia is a close friend of Pakistan. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy multi-faceted cooperation, including in the fields of defence and counter-terrorism. Pakistan has affirmed that any threat to Saudi Arabias territorial integrity will evoke strong response from Pakistan. Recent high-level contacts between the two countries have further strengthened these ties. The committee, according to members, was informed that Pakistan felt that it was still not the right time for mediating and would wait for the right opportunity. Sharing their assessment of the situation, FO officials said there was also no immediate threat of the situation degenerating into an armed conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Mr Leghari said political parties and the government were now on the same page vis-a-vis the Saudi-Iran dispute and participation in the counter-terrorism coalition. He said the meeting provided an opportunity to the members to register their parties point of view on the issue. Mr Leghari said the members had expressed their concern over the emerging issue and hoped that parliament and the countrys political leadership would defuse the tensions between the two brotherly countries to avoid disunity in Muslim Ummah which can benefit the enemies. He said the committee members helped in forging a consensus across the party lines on this critical issue. Youtube in Urdu launched ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday that a localised domain of the popular video sharing website YouTube, which has hitherto been blocked in the country, had been launched. The news came as Google formally announced the launch of Urdu language support and local domain services for YouTube in Pakistan. But the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) seems unaware of these developments and maintains that YouTube is still blocked in the country. A two-judge Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, was told by Additional Attorney General (AAG) Aamir Rehman that a 25-member complaint cell had been set up to monitor offensive websites, which could move to block a site bearing blasphemous or objectionable content on the receipt of a complaint. To date, the AAG said, PTA had closed over 49,899 objectionable websites, of which 10,500 were said to be blasphemous sites. Another 10,000 websites were proxy sites that helped users access blocked websites. However, the AAG conceded that the websites that used secure protocols (https) could still not be blocked. But we now have the technology to remove unwanted content from YouTube, PTA Director General Nisar Ahmed told the court. However, the court deplored peoples tendency to use technology for subversive purposes. There is a difference between other sites and YouTube, which is an educational device that helps people by providing knowledge, Justice Isa observed, adding that all Internet users should not be punished for the follies of some, who seek out pornographic sites. I am unable to understand why people look for blasphemous content on the Internet in the first place, the judge regretted. A gun can kill, but it also helps protect the lives of many, the judge observed, adding that YouTube also had many positive things to offer. In its order, the bench asked the AAG, PTA DG and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to highlight effective measures dealing with the scourge of pornography and objectionable content on the Internet. One way to discourage access to objectionable content, the PTA DG said tongue-in-cheek, was to shut down the Internet entirely, but hastened to add that YouTube was a useful tool that was even used by his children for help with their studies. In a post on the web giants Asia-Pacific blog, Gautam Anand, Director of Operations and Content for YouTube Asia-Pacific, also announced the launch of localised services for Nepal and Sri Lanka. In his message, Mr Anand said that this would allow users to access vibrant South Asian content thats already available on YouTube, which we hope will become just a little easier for people in these countries to find. Though most Internet users in Pakistan can only access the website through the secure (https) protocol, the YouTube logo now bears the words PK. It is still not entirely clear whether the version of YouTube accessible to users in Pakistan is youtube.com.pk or youtube.com/pk. Wajahus Siraj of the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan explained, YouTube PK appears to be a version specifically for Pakistan, but it certainly is not a localised version. When contacted, a PTA official told mediamen that YouTube is still banned in the country and refused to provide technical details. According to a source in the Ministry of Information Technology, the government is negotiating with Google over the launch of a localised version of YouTube (youtube.com.pk) for Pakistani users. It took a lot of explaining but Google has agreed. It will take some time before it is officially announced that YouTube is accessible again, the source told reporters last week. Fahad Desmukh of Bytes For All, the digital rights group that was the original petitioner in the YouTube case before the Lahore High Court, told mediamen that Google officials had told them they had no agreement with the government over what would be filtered on YouTubes pk domain. The official said that all government requests for removal would be assessed independently at Googles offices in California. He said that even Googles team didnt have a clearly defined policy about what exactly would be filtered and every request would be assessed individually. However it was his understanding that they would not entertain any requests to take down content of political nature, Mr Desmukh told reporters Sao Noan Oo is the descendent of the saophas, or hereditary rulers, of the Shan princely state of Lawksawk, in southern Shan State. She is the author of the memoir, My Vanished World: The True Story of a Shan Princess. Born in 1931, she now resides in the UK and also writes under the name Nellie Adams. Following the recent election in Burma, 2016 could be another historic year for the country. A civilian party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, has won the 2015 general election. Judging from the election results, one could think that there would be a change of government, from dictatorship to democracy, but will this happen? Soon after she won the election, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led the people in her constituencythe township of Kawhmu in Rangoonto clean up the rubbish of packaging materials, which are the consequences of Western food and drink companies gaining access to Burma. This campaign inspired many and was followed up by people in other parts of the country, including many townships in the Rangoon region as well as in Lashio, Taunggyi, Monywa, Moulemein, Meikhtila, Indaw, Tavoy, Myeik, Kyaukpadaung and Shwebo. Dobama (We Burmans) Association, Bogyoke Aung San 'had to go' so he and his members of the Constitution Drafting Committee were assassinated on July 19, 1947. Cleaning up the rubbish is a safe and easy task where the population can become freely and voluntarily involved, a task of which even the dictators will not disapprove. But scrubbing away the political dirt that has plagued the country for more than half a century is going to be a very different and difficult job; the most difficult part of the task will be putting the broken pieces of the Union back together. Two successive military regimes destroyed the Union which was established in 1947 through the Panglong Agreement, signed by the Burmans represented by Bogyoke Aung San, and leaders of the Shan, Kachin and Chin. Some of the Burmese Nationalists did not approve of the Constitution based on the Panglong Principles. According to the Burmese(We Burmans) Association, Bogyoke Aung San 'had to go' so he and his members of the Constitution Drafting Committee were assassinated on July 19, 1947. The institution did not approve then, and judging by the tone and reading between the lines of speeches made by many of the members, it does not seem that they do now. The two military regimes broke up the Union and tried every possible means to put it back together in a different shape and form. In spite of having usurped absolute power and using extreme force to bully and terrorize non-Burman ethnic nationalities into conforming to their ideology, the Tatmadaw has failed to make Burma whole again. It is human nature that the greater the force used, the more that the people will resist or rebel. In his New Year's speech, Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services, said on behalf of the Tatmadaw, I wish all my beloved national people, health and happiness. Who does he meant by the phrase my beloved national people? Definitely not the Shan and other non-Burman ethnic nationalities, as he is still declaring war on them. Actions speak louder than words. In 1947, the Panglong Agreement was signed so that the non-Burman ethnic nationalities might live together as a Federal Union. They envisioned a union of equal states, with a center that is federal and constituted by member states working together in a functional and friendly manner. But the Tatmadaw as an institution cannot accept the fact that Burma cannot be converted into a unitary nation state. Whether they like it or not, it is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country with defined territorial boundaries, each territory with its own rights of internal self-determination. The ethnic nationalities have the same rights as the Burmans. There can never be peace in Burma, nor can the conflict be resolved, until the Tatmadaw understands and accept the rights and needs of the other nationalities. They must examine their own hearts and put themselves in the place of those whose rights they violate. With the Burmese military there is a complete lack of consideration and compassion for the non-Burman ethnic nationalities as human beings: how they feel, how much they suffer and how they feel when they lose their families or when these loved ones are killed or raped by the Burmese soldiers. Even during the 'peace process,' the Tatmadaw still continues to bomb and burn Shan villages, causing people to flee just because they happen to exist in their own homeland with their own identity. These refugees would like to return to their own homes and villages, and this has also been refused. What have ordinary, innocent villagers ever done to the Tatmadaw to deserve such treatment? The members of the Tatmadaw, like other dictators in the world, including Syria and Libya, seem to have nothing in their hearts but anger, hate and resentment for those who hold different ideologies and values than themselves. General U Min Aung Hlaing, in his speech said, I promise solemnly that the Tatmadaw will work with national people in harmony and unison and in oneness for further enhancing peace and stability and prosperity of the country in the year. May you all enjoy peace of mind in this New Year. When the General said 'oneness,' does he mean, one unitary nation, one ethnicity, one language, one culture and one religion? And does 'peace and stability' have to be maintained by using extreme force and terrorizing the people into submission and silence? Now that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has won the election, it is time that the Tadmadaw Institution give way to the incoming newly elected government, and let them get on with the job of politics, democratization and mending the Union. They might do a better job. In a true and genuine democracy, the military is accountable to the government and not the other way round. Many people are pinning their hopes on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to change the country for the better. On the eve of her NLD landslide election victory she announced that her first priority was to amend the Constitution to be genuinely federal, by accommodating homegrown ethnic political parties MPs. And she told Khun Htun Oo of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) that she would not field NLD candidates in SNLD Constituencies, but according to the news, she has already forgotten her intentions. Undoubtedly, she had to work with all the political players, but as a leader and her father's daughter, she will have to be strong enough to resist being manipulated, influenced, indoctrinated or threatened by the Tatmadaw or her own NLD members. Her father was a good man who had the making of a fair and just leader with high principles and values. The 1947 Panglong Agreement is the most historically significant and politically defining document of Burma. It symbolizes the coming together of various nation states, which were formally ruled by Britain to form a new nation state, the Federal Union of Burma. All the territories and ethnic nationalities agreed to establish a union of equal, self-determining states; politically it was envisioned by all, both Burmans and non-Burman ethnic nationalities, as a union of co-independent and equal national states, described in the Burmese language as 'Pyidaungsu'. Having elections and economic progress are not enough to appease the ethnic nationalities. The re-adoption of the 'Panglong principles' and their inclusion in the Constitution are essential if there is to be lasting peace and reconciliation between the Burmese politicians and other ethnic nationalities. The Panglong Agreement is the only glue that can put the broken pieces of the Union of Burma together. The past Burmese rulers must also understand and recognize that they destroyed the Union, and have wronged the non-Burman ethnic nationalities by invading their homelands and robbing them of their human rights, thus damaging the long-term relations between the Burmese political-military institution and the other ethnic nationalities. The Panglong Accord, like the genes in the DNA of human beings, is a permanent part of every ethnic nationality; it is written in their hearts and will be passed down from generation to generation. Bogyoke Aung San said that in order for the ethnic nationalities to be loyal and not leave the Union, the Burmans would have to make sure that they would want to stay in the Union and not leave. So far, since his assassination, the Burman political institution has not yet shown anything good that would make the ethnic nationalities want to stay. But even after such horrendous treatment, the ethnic nationalities are willing to reconcile and work together in the Union, but not by force, war or threat; it must come from sensible discussion and from the hearts and the willingness of the peoples concerned. By Sao Noan Oo / Special Contributor to Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N) It has taken a watchdog outside group, the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, to ferret out this waste. The coalition, driven by its sharp curiosity, frequently uses the Maryland Public Information Act to request public records and keep track of district decisions and spending. We commend the coalition for its important work on this front. It is saving county residents money as inappropriate spending has been uncovered. July 16, 2014 If You Enjoy My Articles, Please Consider Supporting My Writing By Giving A Donation Of Any Amount. Thank you! Meteorologist Paul Douglas writes about Minnesota weather daily, trying to go beyond the "highs" and "lows" of the weather story to discuss current trends and some of the how's and why's of meteorology. Rarely is our weather dull - every day is a new forecast challenge. Why is the weather doing what it's doing? Is climate change a real concern, and if so, how will my family be affected? Climate is flavoring all weather now, and I'll include links to timely stories that resonate with me. Otter sets tone for K-12 funding and a quiet session By Kevin Richert Idaho Education News BOISE - There was no mistaking Gov. Butch Otters top priority in his 10th State of the State Address Monday. Otter spent roughly half of his time talking about education and education funding. He used the televised address to tout a wish list of funding initiatives most of them rooted in the recommendations from his education task force of 2013. A State of the State Address is also a governors one best chance to set the tone for the session to follow. Here too, there was no mistaking Otters tone. He clearly wants legislators to set a budget, backfill the K-through-career school system and go home. There werent really new initiatives in Otters budget request, which would boost K-12 funding by 7.9 percent. New money, to be sure, but continued funding of task force recommendations: The career ladder, passed in 2015, would get a $39.9 million infusion of cash. School districts would finally see discretionary funding return to pre-recession levels, at a cost of close to $30 million. Administrators and education groups have been lobbying hard for this money, saying it gives districts the flexibility to cover a host of operational needs. A new literacy proficiency initiative is in line for $10.7 million. The shift to mastery-based learning would get a $1.1 million funding infusion. In 2013, the task forces recommendations were billed as a five-year, $350 million plan. Otter wants to pick up the pace; in Year Three, he says he sees the opportunity to fully restore discretionary dollars, ahead of schedule. By focusing on K-12 funding, Otter spent Monday reinforcing a topic of common ground. By all indications, the Legislature appears ready to follow last years 7.4 percent budget increase for K-12 with a similar effort in 2016. On Thursday, at a legislative preview sponsored by the Associated Press, House Speaker Scott Bedke went so far as to predict that a robust K-12 funding increase seems to be a foregone conclusion. About two hours after Otter wrapped up his speech, his State Board of Education met by conference call, and unanimously gave a blanket endorsement to the 2016-17 budget proposals. Otters 35-minute speech sidestepped some potential sticky issues starting with taxes. A month after a legislative working group adjourned without recommendations for retooling tax code Otter was silent on the tax topic. His budget does contain some tax relief; by conforming to federal tax codes, Idaho would make permanent about 50 tax breaks that are already on the books. Conformity isnt cheap it would cost $17.2 million for the rest of the 2015-16-budget year, and $28.7 million in the budget year that begins July 1. On the other hand, conformity doesnt have the political sex appeal of a more aggressive tax cut. Tax relief wasnt the only omission in Otters speech. He took a pass on any number of hot-button topics from refugee relocation to gun control to public lands and the ongoing-armed standoff at an Oregon federal wildlife refuge. In past years, such topics could have made for an easy applause line. And any of these issues like the unexpected child-support fracas of 2015 have the potential of derailing and delaying the 2016 session. This year, Otter and legislative leaders are pushing for a short session, and presumably a quiet session. Bedke has floated a St. Patricks Day target for adjournment, which may be on the optimistic side. By what he didnt say and what he did say Otter made clear his wishes for a session devoid of dramatics. It is my sincere wish that we undertake our work together in this legislative session without keeping one eye on the upcoming election. That's easy for Otter to say. Unlike his audience of legislators, his name wont appear on a ballot this year. The two-year terms of all 105 lawmakers end this year. Some will have May primaries followed by general elections in November. Starting Tuesday, legislators will have their chance, as a body, to set the priorities and the tone for the 2016 session. Youth Task Force makes drug, alcohol prevention a countywide effort NEWPORT Any motorist traversing Highway 2 has most likely seen the billboard featuring students from Pend Oreille County school districts, pledging to remain drug and alcohol free. No, those arent models; they are actual students from Newport, Cusick and Selkirk School Districts, all of whom work together with the Pend Oreille County Youth Task Force (YTF). The cost of the billboard, which is $500 per month, is split between YTF and the Panther Community Coalition of Selkirk. Launched in 2007 by a group of concerned citizens, government agencies, business people and non-profit organizations, the YTFs goal is to prevent and reduce substance abuse by collaborating with community partnersprovide education, resources, and empower youth. Funding sources for the YTF include a Drug Free Communities Support Program (DFCSP) Grant, awarded through the Office of national Drug Control Policy, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is a grant for five years. The grants give YTF a budget of $125,000. Funds go to community events, training and education, public awareness, and the salary of two full-time employees, Martina Coordes and Carrie McKinley. The DFCSP grant expires at the end of September. Coordes said the organization is reapplying for the competitive grant in March. I think were pretty good at what we do, said Coordes, project coordinator and prevention specialist for county counseling services. Even if the funding disappeared tomorrow, the coalition would stay afloat. There is no funding that requires these people to show up. They do it because this is important to them. A point of reference for the YTF is the Washington State Health Youth Survey, given to sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th graders at all three school districts in the county every two years. The surveys are anonymous and students are not required to participate. The last Healthy Youth Survey was administered in 2014. The next one will be given in Oct. 2016. Eighty percent of the sophomores surveyed said they had received anti-alcohol messages concerning ill effects of underage drinking, which was only slightly lower than the Washington State average. Roughly 65 percent of teens also said their parents talked to them about not drinking alcohol, which was higher than the state average of 60 percent. However, more than 50 percent of sophomores said their perception of alcohol is that its easy to obtain, compared to the state average of 50 percent. Over 10 percent of 10th graders admitted to riding with a driver who had been drinking, which was lower than the state average of almost 20 percent. The Cusick School District, which is a part of the YTF through their own community-based group, The Panther Coalition, is concerned about increased access to marijuana for youth. There are apprehensions that legalization of marijuana in Washington has made it more readily available and legitimized its use, said Chris Evers, Cusick School Social Worker and Student Assistant Specialist. Research has shown that students who use marijuana by the age of 15 are three times more likely to have left school by the age of 15, Evers said. Teenagers who use marijuana daily are 60 percent less likely to complete high school or obtain a university degree. They are seven times more likely to attempt suicide, and our rates in (Pend Oreille County) are already disproportionately high. Evers added that the coalition has made strides in combating the issue of drug and alcohol use in Cusick schools. She cited the use of positive social norming like the billboard on Highway 2, and the fact that Washington Drug Free Youth (WDFY) membership at Cusick School District is at nearly 70 percent of 6th through 12th grade students. The Life Saving Task Force, the youth segment of the Panther Country Coalition has sent students/youth to prevention conferences and they have completed several school-wide activities, Evers said. Were committed to continuing our efforts to improve our school and assist our community through positive, active prevention activities. Marijuana use and perception of the harm it can cause was one of the issues brought up in the HYS. In 2004 about 60 percent of sophomores perceived that there was no or low risk from trying marijuana one or two times. Over the years, that number slowly declined to just over 40 percent in 2010, spiked to almost 60 percent in 2012, then slightly dropped to 50 percent in 2014. The HYS survey also revealed that 24 percent of 10th graders in Pend Oreille County thought there was little or no risk of using marijuana regularly. That is a concern for us, and were looking at ways to work with the YTF to better educate our students about choices concerning alcohol and marijuana, said Tony Moser, Principal at Sadie Halstead Middle School in Newport. Moser said that there have been three discipline referrals to his office for drug and alcohol issues so far for the 2015-2016 school year. I can speak for every student, but is there a perception that marijuana is okay for you because its legal? With some kids, sure. Alcohol still held sway as the most used substance by minors in the survey though, with 18 percent of Pend Oreille county sophomores singling it out as their first choice. Marijuana and cigarettes followed this at 12 percent, prescription painkillers or over the counter drugs to get high at four percent, and all other illegal drug use at 3 percent. For teenagers that used electronic cigarettes, Pend Oreille County matched the state average of 19 percent. They (electronic cigarettes) are easier to hide, theres no odor, and they can look like anything from a pen to a tube of lipstick, Coordes said. Plus theres the notion that they arent as bad for you as regular cigarettes, because a lot of the studies on their effects havent come back yet. Long-term goals for the YTF are to broaden its scope of influence in the community at large by 10 percent by 2017, said Coordes. This means reaching out to groups and individuals with influence that are not currently working with the coalition and building up the YTF youth coalition. The Youth Task Force and Martina Coordes have provided guidance and funding for several Selkirk School District events, including curriculum material, guest speakers, and assemblies, said Jane Reed, school psychologist, speech and language pathologist for Selkirk School District. Her expertise and experience have been valuable in providing Selkirk students with not only information, but helping them examine their own goals and values. Were grateful for her input and collaborative assistance in keeping our students safe. For more information on the YTF, or how to join, contact Martina Coordes or Carrie McKinley at 509-447-5651. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Teacher David Ko instructs an ethnic studies class at Washington High School in San Francisco. A Stanford study found students benefit from such courses. Here, Ko is explaining an assignment about the role of advertising in reinforcing cultural stereotypes. A high school ethnic studies course examining the roles of race, nationality and culture on identity and experience boosted attendance and academic performance of students at risk of dropping out, a new study by scholars at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) found. The study looked at ethnic studies classes in a pilot program in San Francisco high schools, and compared academic outcomes for students encouraged to enroll in the courses with similar students who did not take them. The researchers found that students not only made gains in attendance and grades, they also increased the number of course credits they earned to graduate. "What's so unique about this program is the degree to which it helped the students who took it," said Emily Penner, co-author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at the GSE. "Schools have tried a number of approaches to support struggling students, and few have been this effective. It's a novel approach that suggests that making school relevant and engaging to struggling students can really pay off." Thomas S. Dee, a professor at Stanford GSE and director at the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis, was the other author of the report, which was posted Jan. 11 as a working paper on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). District debate The findings come as educators and policymakers in Arizona, California, Oregon and other states debate adding or taking away such curriculum from their schools. While ethnic studies proponents contend the courses can help address academic disparities by aligning individual student experiences with curriculum, opponents have argued they are anti-American, teach divisiveness and may displace opportunities for students to take electives of their choice. Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation proposing to require ethnic studies courses statewide, and the Arizona legislature also balked at a similar measure. Still, a number of California school districts including Los Angeles, Pico Rivera and Oakland require ethnic studies or are moving in that direction. San Francisco voted to expand its program to all 19 high schools last year when early findings from this study indicated positive gains for students. Significant gains The study was conducted in collaboration with the San Francisco Unified School District as part of a research-practice partnership with the GSE. Bill Sanderson, assistant superintendent at SFUSD, said the partnership "allows the district to validate promising practices and expand successes in multiple schools to have the greatest impact on students." The ethnic studies course offered in San Francisco focuses on the experiences and identities of racial and ethnic minorities, uses cultural references in teaching and aims to enhance social and political awareness. In one lesson, for example, teachers ask students to look at the role of advertising in reinforcing cultural stereotypes and the idea that some values and people are "normal" while others are not. "Culturally relevant pedagogy embeds several features of interventions designed to reduce stereotype threat, such as explaining stereotypes and identifying external forces that contribute to academic challenges," Dee said. "Ethnic studies may be effective because it is an unusually intensive and at-scale social-psychological intervention." For the study, Dee and Penner gathered data from three San Francisco high schools participating in the pilot ethnic studies program from 2010 to 2014. Enrollment in ethnic studies was automatic for students who had eighth grade GPAs below 2.0 and voluntary for those with GPAs above 2.0. The scholars narrowed their observations to a population of 1,405 ninth graders, and compared attendance rates, GPA and grade credits earned for students who came in closest to each side of the 2.0 threshold. Looking at students near the cutoff allowed for the best analysis of the program because a student with a 1.99 GPA, for example, was likely to be very similar to a student with a 2.01 except that one student was encouraged to enroll in the course, while the other was not. "It's similar to a randomized trial where one group of people are assigned to a treatment and another similar group is asked to take a placebo," explained Dee, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. The researchers found that attendance for those encouraged to enroll in the class increased by 21 percentage points, GPA by 1.4 grade points and credits earned by 23. Boys, Hispanic students stand out There were positive effects across male, female, Asian and Hispanic groups of students, the study said, but the improved outcomes were particularly concentrated among boys and Hispanic students. The study also found significant effects on GPA specific to math and science. Grade point grew in English language arts, as well, but less so. Sample sizes of white and black populations, specifically, were too small to reliably estimate separate effects. "To be confident we were getting the effect of the course and not the fact that these kids were flagged as needing extra help because of their GPA, we looked for similar patterns in high schools that did not offer ethnic studies," Dee said. "We found no evidence the early warning indicators were causing the effects. "The results are highly encouraging," he added. "This is the first causally credible evidence on the academic effects of culturally relevant pedagogy." Dee and Penner cautioned, however, that the study had the benefit of examining a well-implemented program whose enrollment formula enabled a research design that allowed for causal inference. "The evidence for San Francisco is very strong," said Dee. "Whether what works there would work in other school districts is not yet determined. But the magnitude of the effects in San Francisco merits enthusiasm." The paper was funded through the Stanford-SFUSD partnership and a Postdoctoral Training Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The researchers presented their findings at the Association for Public Policy and Management conference in November 2015. The paper has not yet undergone peer review. Explore further Impact of social-emotional learning on academic achievement More information: The Causal Effects of Cultural Relevance: Evidence from an Ethnic Studies Curriculum. The Causal Effects of Cultural Relevance: Evidence from an Ethnic Studies Curriculum. www.nber.org/papers/w21865 Modeled origin of air observed in the tropical Western Pacific during the CONTRAST and CAST campaigns. Air histories go back 10 days or until the air encountered precipitation and strong vertical winds. Polluted air (red paths) originates from regions with active fires (green) in Africa and Southeast Asia. Clean air (blue paths) originates from the Southern Hemisphere and over the Pacific Ocean. Credit: Daniel Anderson As decision makers from around the world congregated in Paris to prepare a global climate agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), many discussions focused on how to reduce greenhouse gases, including ozone. While efforts to limit ozone precursor emissions tend to focus on industrial activities and fossil fuel combustion in the United States and China, a new study suggests that future regulations may need to address the burning of forests and vegetation. The study, which was published online January 13, 2016 in the journal Nature Communications, indicates that these types of "biomass burning" may play a larger role in climate change than previously realized. Based on observations from two aircraft missions, satellite data and a variety of models, an international research team showed that fires burning in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia caused pockets of high ozone and low water in the lower atmosphere above Guama remote island in the Pacific Ocean 1,700 miles east of Taiwan. "We were very surprised to find high concentrations of ozone and chemicals that we know are only emitted by fires in the air around Guam," said the study's lead author Daniel Anderson, a graduate student in the University of Maryland Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. "We didn't make specific flights to target high-ozone areasthey were so omnipresent that no matter where we flew, we found them." Two research planes on complementary missions flew over Guam measuring the levels of dozens of chemicals in the atmosphere in January and February 2014. The British Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146 research aircraft flew during the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST) mission. The aircraft that flew during the CONvective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) mission was the HIAPER (High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research), a Gulfstream V jet sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Atmospheric Research and modified for advanced research. Taken together, the data collected by the two aircraft gave research collaborators a detailed view of air masses spanning tens of thousands of feet from the ocean surface to the stratosphere. Credit: Loretta Kuo/Shawn Honomichl For the study, two research planes on complementary missions flew over Guam measuring the levels of dozens of chemicals in the atmosphere in January and February 2014. One aircraft flew up to 24,000 feet above the ocean surface during the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council's Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST) mission. The other flew up to 48,000 feet above the ocean surface during the CONvective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) mission. "International collaboration is essential for studying global environmental issues these days," said CAST Principal Investigator Neil Harris of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry. "This U.S./U.K.-led campaign over the western Pacific was the first of its kind in this region and collected a unique data set. The measurements are now starting to produce insight into how the composition of the remote tropical atmosphere is affected by human activities occurring nearly halfway around the world." Researchers examined 17 CAST and 11 CONTRAST flights and compiled over 3,000 samples from high-ozone, low-water air parcels for the study. In the samples, the team detected high concentrations of chemicals associated with biomass burninghydrogen cyanide, acetonitrile, benzene and ethyne. "Hydrogen cyanide and acetonitrile were the smoking guns because they are emitted almost exclusively by biomass burning. High levels of the other chemicals simply added further weight to the findings," said study co-author Julie Nicely, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. University of Maryland chemistry graduate student Julie Nicely provides real-time analysis of data collected off the coast of Guam. Credit: Ross Salawitch Next, the researchers traced the polluted air parcels backward 10 days, using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and precipitation data, to determine where they came from. Overlaying fire data from NASA's moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite, the researchers connected nearly all of the high-ozone, low-water structures to tropical regions with active biomass burning in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia. "The investigation utilized a variety of models, including the NCAR CAM-Chem model to forecast and later analyze chemical and dynamical conditions near Guam, as well as satellite data from numerous instruments that augmented the interpretation of the aircraft observations," said study co-author Douglas Kinnison, a project scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. In the paper, the researchers also offer a new explanation for the dry nature of the polluted air parcels. "Our results challenge the explanation atmospheric scientists commonly offer for pockets of high ozone and low water: that these zones result from the air having descended from the stratosphere where air is colder and dryer than elsewhere," said UMD Professor Ross Salawitch, the study's senior author and principal investigator of CONTRAST. Salawitch holds joint appointments in the university's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. "We know that the polluted air did not mix with air in the stratosphere to dry out because we found combined elevated levels of carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and ozone in our air samples, but air in the higher stratosphere does not contain much naturally occurring carbon monoxide," said Anderson. The researchers found that the polluted air that reached Guam never entered the stratosphere and instead simply dried out during its descent within the lower atmosphere. While textbooks show air moving upward in the tropics, according to Salawitch, this represents the net motion of air. Because this upward motion happens mostly within small storm systems, it must be balanced by air slowly descending, such as with these polluted parcels released from fires. Based on the results of this study, global climate models may need to be reassessed to include and correctly represent the impacts of biomass burning, deforestation and reforestation, according to Salawitch. Also, future studies such as NASA's upcoming Atmospheric Tomography Mission will add to the data collected by CAST and CONTRAST to help obtain a clearer picture of our changing environment. More information: "A pervasive role for biomass burning in tropical high ozone/low water structures" Nature Communications, dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10267 Journal information: Nature Communications "A pervasive role for biomass burning in tropical high ozone/low water structures" Longin is in a tall field of emmer. Credit: Photo credit University of Hohenheim. We've come a long way from the days of hunting and gathering. With advancements in science and technology, we're now a society that hunts for the best price and gathers coupons. Since less of our energy is going to finding and killing our next meal, we have time to be more discerning about the ingredients used in our food. For many, this means getting "back to the basics," preferring items that are healthier and made with natural ingredients. Even the food pyramid encourages us to eat whole wheat over refined grains. Taking that advice, discerning consumers are seeking out alternatives to basic white bread. They are turning to Old World grains like spelt, emmer, and einkorn. However, reviving ancient grains in modern times isn't without its challenges. That's where Friedrich Longin comes in. Longin is the head of the Wheat Group at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. One of the Longin's goals is to evaluate the potential of old forgotten crops in modern agriculture. He hopes to learn more about how to best grow these grains on modern farms, and how to best use them in modern baking. The group decided to compare the ancient grains spelt, emmer, and einkorn with the more common bread and durum wheat varieties. But it wasn't easy to get the research up and running. Because the grains are so old - emmer was the main cereal crop in Egypt during the time of the pharaohs - it took Longin and his team a couple of years to get enough seeds to plant their research fields. Once the fields were planted and growing, researchers studied the height of the plants in the fields, the amount of grain harvested from each crop, and the amount and quality of protein contained in the grains, among other things. From left to right, einkorn, emmer, and spelt are shown. The top row shows the sticky hulls intact with the kernels. The middle row shows kernels with hulls removed The bottom row shows normal bread wheat kernels for comparison. Credit: University of Hohenheim-T. Wurschum. They found that even with little fertilizer, emmer and einkorn plants were unfortunately tall. "Tall plant heights lead to a high risk of lodging" explains Longin. Lodging is when the stem of the grain breaks during a strong wind or storm because the ear is too heavy. Lodging reduces the yield and quality of the grains. Growers will need to keep the crops standing until harvest by using reduced fertilization, among other techniques. They also found that the ancient grain crops did not yield as much as the common bread and durum wheat crops. And while the ancient grains contained high amounts of protein, the quality of the protein was not as good as in the modern crops. The amount and quality of protein in grains is important when using them for baking. Nevertheless, bakers can deliver premium products by using more traditional methods, such as low temperature dough preparation. None of these findings discouraged Longin and his team. "We are happy that this research now delivers deep insights into the agronomic and quality performance of spelt, emmer, and einkorn" said Longin, especially because bringing back these ancient grains comes with additional perks. Adding these crops will enrich biodiversity, which largely reduces a crop's vulnerability against disease, and reduce fertilizer and pesticide use in the fields. A sampling of breads made from emmer and einkorn. Credit: University of Hohenheim. Additionally, these grains taste good and are good for you. Longin explains, "Spelt, emmer, and especially einkorn have a fuller aroma profile than bread wheat - slightly nutty, fine tasting, most often coupled with a fresher feeling in the breads. In beer, spelt, emmer and einkorn deliver a sounder and deeper aroma." The grains are also rich in minerals. Einkorn even contains lutein, which is important for eyes and nervous systems. Longin and his team have plenty of work ahead of them yet to establish these Old World grains in the New World. But farmers, millers, bakers, brewers, and consumers can look forward to these ancient grains becoming more growable, profitable, and available. Longin's research is published in Crop Science. Explore further Sensory properties, another criteria for wheat breeding More information: C. F. H. Longin et al. Comparative Study of Hulled (Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt) and Naked Wheats (Durum and Bread Wheat): Agronomic Performance and Quality Traits, Crop Science (2016). C. F. H. Longin et al. Comparative Study of Hulled (Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt) and Naked Wheats (Durum and Bread Wheat): Agronomic Performance and Quality Traits,(2016). DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2015.04.0242 A new study of rock ants (Temnothorax albipennis) conducted by Edmund Hunt and colleagues at the University of Bristol, UK suggests that ants don't get distracted by social information when on the move, only fully responding to it when at rest. Such sporadic monitoring of the social environment may reduce information overload and enhance the robustness of complex societies. Credit: Edmund Hunt, University of Bristol, UK Ants don't get distracted by social information when on the move, only fully responding to it when at rest, a new study from the University of Bristol, UK indicates. Such sporadic monitoring of the social environment may reduce information overload and enhance the robustness of complex societies, the researchers suggest. Edmund Hunt, a PhD student in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, and colleagues tracked the movement patterns of lone rock ants (Temnothorax albipennis) exploring a large arena outside the nest, both when the arena was clean and when it contained chemical information (pheromones or other cues) left by previous nest-mates. The researchers discovered a relationship between the duration and average speed of an ant's movements, and also established that movements mostly fluctuated around a constant average speed. The average speed increased in anticipation of a longer movement, suggesting that movement durations were somehow determined in advance. This was the case both when chemical information was absent and when it was present, suggesting ants probably only fully respond to social information in between movements. Edmund Hunt said: "An intermittent response to social information would help the individual ant by reducing the burden of information it has to process when moving around in its crowded society. It could also benefit the colony as a whole by moderating positive feedback effects, which may otherwise propagate social information of poor quality through the system. This would compromise the effectiveness of the ants' decentralized task allocation system. "Such intermittent responsivity to aspects of the social environment during movement may have implications for the way we understand other complex adaptive social systems, including human ones." The research is published today in Royal Society Open Science. Explore further Ants show left bias when exploring new spaces More information: 'Ants determine their next move at rest: motor planning and causality in complex systems' by Edmund R. Hunt, Roland J. Baddeley, Alan Worley, Ana B. Sendova-Franks and Nigel R. Franks in Royal Society Open Science: rsos.royalsocietypublishing.or /10.1098/rsos.150534 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science 'Ants determine their next move at rest: motor planning and causality in complex systems' by Edmund R. Hunt, Roland J. Baddeley, Alan Worley, Ana B. Sendova-Franks and Nigel R. Franks in Researchers have developed an app that blocks third parties from identifying an individual's location based on what they search for online. Credit: Jonathan Cohen, Binghamton University Researchers who developed an app that blocks third parties from identifying an individual's location based on what they search for online received a "best paper" award at a recent conference. A research team led by Linke Guo, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Binghamton University, received a Best Paper Award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) GLOBECOM Conference, Symposium on Communication & Information System Security, in San Diego on Dec. 7 for their paper titled "Privacy-preserving Verifiable Proximity Test for Location-based Services." Globecom is one of two flagship conferences of IEEE communication society. Organizers received more than 3,000 submissions this year with only 949 paper accepted into competition. Just a single paper was honored in 12 different categories. "This is really attached to daily life," said Guo, who presented the paper with graduate students Gaoqiang Zhuo and Qi Jia. "The trend of people using searches and social networks on smartphones which aren't well-protected is going up. Sometimes people share too much information. This is a way to help provide some security." "With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others we provide a huge amount of data to the service providers everyday. In particular, we upload personal photos, location information, daily updates, to the Internet without any protection," Guo said. "There is such a chance for tragedy if that information is used to in a bad way." Smartphones send gobs of data to servers in the background of local searches, GPS directions or check-ins for foodie apps. If the app developed by Guo and his team is developed further, it could help hide that information. The app is not currently available to the public, but it may be in the future. "When we release personal information to the Internet, it is out of our control, and can be easily searched and used for malicious purposes," Guo said. "We are trying to provide a more efficient and feasible solution to make sure that kind of information is secure." Explore further Study shows popular apps interact with risky websites Leo constellation. Credit: ESA (Phys.org)A team of astronomers led by Aurore Blazere of the Paris Observatory has discovered ultra-weak magnetic fields in metallic-line stars Beta Ursae Majoris and Theta Leonis. Motivated by a recent detection of a weak, circularly polarized signature in spectral lines of a similar type star, Sirius A, the researchers received a signal believed to be of a magnetic origin, using deep spectropolarimetric observations of these two peculiar stars. What they found may prove that weak magnetic fields could be more common in the photospheres of intermediate-mass stars. Beta Ursae Majoris and Theta Leonis belong to a group of chemically peculiar Am stars. Their spectrum has strong and often variable absorption lines of metals such as zinc, strontium, zirconium, and barium and deficiencies of a few elements, particularly calcium and scandium. In the search for magnetic fields of these two interesting metallic-line stars, the scientists used data from the NARVAL spectropolarimeter, installed at the two-meter Bernard Lyot Telescope (TBL) in the French Pyrenees. They published a paper online describing their results on Jan. 8 in the arXiv journal. NARVAL enables astronomers to detect stellar magnetic fields with unprecedented precision. It is specially designed and optimized to detect stellar magnetic fields through the polarization they generate in photospheric spectral lines. For their study, the scientists used data from NARVAL observation campaigns conducted from 2010 to 2014. Analyzing these data, they detected a circularly polarized signal coming from the two Am stars. According to the astronomers, all signals observed up until now have roughly the same shape, with one positive lobe roughly symmetric about the line center and occupying most of the width of the line profile. "The circularly polarized signal observed for both stars covers most of the width of the line and is mostly symmetric about the line centroid. In both cases, a positive lobe dominates the signal," the researchers wrote in the paper. They assume that these signals must have a stellar origin as previous observations of an Am type star, Sirius A, show similarly shaped signatures. Sirius A was studied using three different scientific instruments including NARVAL, and according to the research team, these studies confirm their hypothesis regarding Beta Ursae Majoris and Theta Leonis. "From an empirical point of view, we stress that the signatures recorded so far for Sirius A display a similar shape using three different instrumental setups and three different models of CCD detector and two different reduction pipelines, giving strong confidence in a stellar origin of the polarized signature," the paper reads. The research provides new clues to the weak polarized signatures produced in the photospheres of intermediate-mass stars. It indicates that weak magnetic fields could be widespread in this stellar class. The study also leads to a conclusion that these signatures could be indirect tracers of surface convective motions. However, some puzzling questions remain unanswered like the origin of this weak magnetism of Am stars. The paper offers only a few hints to the physical ingredients involved in the generation of these weak surface magnetic fields. This is due to a small number of Am stars observed so far and polarimetric signatures close to the detection limit. The astronomers underline that a physical model able to produce a convincing reproduction of the peculiar polarized signatures reported for the type of stars described in their study still needs to be developed. They also note that unveiling surface features on weakly magnetic Am stars requires a very sensitive method, such as the one used in a previous study to detect very faint starspots on Vega. The new methods and models should advance our knowledge regarding physical origin and basic properties of these stellar magnetic fields. Explore further Strong magnetic fields discovered in majority of stars More information: Detection of ultra-weak magnetic fields in Am stars: UMa and Leo. arXiv:1601.01829 [astro-ph.SR] Detection of ultra-weak magnetic fields in Am stars: UMa and Leo. arXiv:1601.01829 [astro-ph.SR] arxiv.org/abs/1601.01829 Abstract An extremely weak circularly polarized signature was recently discovered in spectral lines of the chemically peculiar Am star Sirius A. A weak surface magnetic field was proposed to account for the observed polarized signal, but the shape of the phase-averaged signature, dominated by a prominent positive lobe, is not expected in the standard theory of the Zeeman effect. We aim at verifying the presence of weak circularly polarized signatures in two other bright Am stars, beta UMa and theta Leo, and investigating the physical origin of Sirius-like polarized signals further. We present here a set of deep spectropolarimetric observations of beta UMa and theta Leo, observed with the NARVAL spectropolarimeter. We analyzed all spectra with the Least Squares Deconvolution multiline procedure. To improve the signal-to-noise ratio and detect extremely weak signatures in Stokes V profiles, we co-added all available spectra of each star (around 150 observations each time). Finally, we ran several tests to evaluate whether the detected signatures are consistent with the behavior expected from the Zeeman effect. The line profiles of the two stars display circularly polarized signatures similar in shape and amplitude to the observations previously gathered for Sirius A. Our series of tests brings further evidence of a magnetic origin of the recorded signal. These new detections suggest that very weak magnetic fields may well be present in the photospheres of a significant fraction of intermediate-mass stars. The strongly asymmetric Zeeman signatures measured so far in Am stars (featuring a dominant single-sign lobe) are not expected in the standard theory of the Zeeman effect and may be linked to sharp vertical gradients in photospheric velocities and magnetic field strengths. Journal information: arXiv 2016 Phys.org Acuity Brands, Inc. To Showcase Precise Indoor Positioning at #nrf16 ATLANTA January 12, 2016 Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) today announced that it will be showcasing its new LED lighting-based indoor positioning technology at the Microsoft Retail Industry Group booth at the National Retail Federations (NRF) 2016 Annual Convention & EXPO, January 1719, in New York City. ByteLight(TM) Services from Acuity Brands helps retailers deliver a tailored mobile-enabled shopping experience when coupled with opt-in, permission-based mobile loyalty apps. These apps engage customers in real time exactly where they are in the store. ByteLight Services is an end-to-end solution that employs the Microsoft Azure integrated cloud services platform for computing and data analytics. The analytics derived from shopper location data provides retailers with opportunities to make better-informed decisions, strengthen customer relationships and improve store operations. Light-based indoor positioning is proving to be, through millions of square feet and hundreds of thousands of installed beacons, the most viable and accurate technology platform to bridge in-store and online shopping and enhance the customer experience. This includes sending promotions or suggested accessories to shoppers mobile devices as well as helping them find items, and get assistance quickly, said Steve Lydecker, Acuity Brands Lighting Senior Vice President of Applied Integrated Solutions. Microsoft Azure is the ideal cloud services platform for ByteLight based on its complete, flexible and scalable technology and Microsofts proven leadership in Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud computing. Retailers are on a quest for innovative ways to connect with customers, and offering personalized marketing through mobile devices offers an opportunity to enhance the shopper experience by increasing promotion redemption rates and nurturing a deeper level of customer engagement, said Marty Ramos, CTO, Retail, Consumer Products & Services at Microsoft Corp. Innovations such as Bytelight Services, powered by our Azure cloud services solution, enable retailers to unlock the power of their data for in-store personalized marketing with insights that once only online retailers could capture. To see a demo of ByteLight Services during NRF, visit the Microsoft Retail Industry Group Booth 2803, at the Javits Center. Click here for more information on lighting-based indoor positioning services, and other Acuity Brands lighting solutions. About Acuity Brands Acuity Brands, Inc. is a North American market leader and one of the worlds leading providers of indoor and outdoor lighting and energy management solutions. With fiscal year 2015 net sales of $2.7 billion, Acuity Brands currently employs approximately 9,000 associates and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with operations throughout North America, and in Europe and Asia. The Companys products and solutions are sold under various brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting(TM), Winona Lighting, Juno, Indy(TM), AccuLite, Aculux(TM), NaviLite and DanaLite, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Carandini, Antique Street Lamps(TM), Sunoptics, RELOC Wiring Solutions, eldoLED, Distech Controls and Acuity Controls(TM). more news: Mi9 Retail Acquires ASC and Forms New Retail Software Jewelry Group Miami, Florida Mi9 Retail, the premier provider of retail merchandising, business intelligence and customer-centric store solutions, is pleased to announce its acquisition of Applications Systems Corporation (ASC), a respected name with a wealth of experience developing software solutions for leading independent and multi-store jewelers. The addition of ASC will reinforce Mi9 Retails position as a leading provider of retail technology solutions and serve as the cornerstone of a new group devoted exclusively to jewelry retailers. ASCs prestigious customers, many of whom have worked with ASC for over 25 years, will join Mi9 Retails existing set of distinguished jewelry customers. Barry Kraft, ASCs Executive VP, will lead the Mi9 Retail Jewelry Group as General Manager. I am excited to partner up with Mi9 Retail to help our devoted customers improve their operations with modern, innovative retail software solutions said Kraft. ASC is proud of its 25 year collaboration with ASCUS, its user group of more than 100 independent jewelers, and looks forward to combining the group with Mi9 Retails Customer Advisory Board. The combined company shares the same philosophy that all customers play an important role in determining the enhancements that are delivered with each new release of software. ASC has been a great resource for the ASCUS group, remarked Joe Lasker, ASCUS President. ASC developed many valuable software enhancements and reports based on the software requirements delivered by the groups participating jewelers. On behalf of our retail jeweler consortium, we are very excited to join forces with Mi9 Retails existing retail jeweler customers and customers at large. With Mi9 Retails recent acquisition of Raymark, and now its acquisition of ASC, both ASC customers and the entire jewelry industry will reap incredible benefits. ASC will now combine its unparalleled industry knowledge with the resources and cutting-edge technologies of Mi9 Retail. Independent jewelers of every size will now have the opportunity to utilize world class software from POS systems to data analysis, mobile applications, CRM and clienteling that will better manage operations and improve customer engagement into the future, commented Craig Rottenberg, President of Longs Jewelers and longtime ASC customer. Mi9 Retail delivers robust merchandise management, retail analytics and store operations software. It also offers best in class retail specific customer-centric applications, including mobile point of sale, mobile inventory management, CRM and mobile clienteling solutions designed to enhance how associates engage shoppers with real-time visibility into product and customer data Mi9 Retails acquisition of ASC is a smart move designed to accelerate growth and expand into new retail markets, noted Joe Skorupa, Editorial Director of RIS News. ASCs client base, composed of independent and multi-store jewelers, will benefit from Mi9 Retails ability to meet or exceed customer expectations for specialty and mid-size retailers, as demonstrated in the recent 2016 RIS Software LeaderBoard report, where Mi9 Retail achieved top marks in head-to-head We look forward to the benefits our Jewelry Groups customers will experience from our combined expertise, said Mi9 Retail President Neil Moses, as we continue to scale the company and deliver advanced technology to our customers across varied retail sectors worldwide. About Mi9 Retail Mi9 Retail, the premier provider of enterprise retail merchandising, business intelligence and customer-centric software, empowers the worlds most successful retailers to build strong personal relationships with their customers, process high volumes of transactions in real time and optimize inventory across all channels utilizing a single, accurate source of the truth. Built using cutting-edge technology, the software minimizes costs of ownership and provides the industrys fastest time to value. The companys global headquarters are located in Miami, FL, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.Mi9Retail.com Other articles of interest: Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser From: Micky Colton Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 11:23:31 +0000 Subject: THANKS. Hello Dear Friend. Thank you for contacting me back. I am sorry if content of this message meets you as a surprise. I am Micky Colton, a soldier US soldier working with the United Nations peace keeping troop in Afghanistan, on war against terrorism. There are many reasons to which makes me contact you and I want you to lend me your trust as I am lending you mine also. Time will not allow me to write in details now, but I shall explain more later. I have in my possession the sum of $2.5 million USD Which I made here in Afghanistan. I deposited this money with a Red Cross agent, but things are no longer comfortable with me as the deposit is with the Red Cross agent and I want the fund moved out from this place. I want you to stand as my beneficiary and receive the fund and keep it safe so that as soon as am through with my mission here in Afghanistan, you will assist me to invest it in a good profitable venture, I am willing to offer you 40% of the total money for your assistance after you have receive the money. Please reply get back to me if you are willing to work with me so that I can send you further information about the movement of the fund. I am in a hurry writing now, so I cannot give all the details now. Your urgent reply is needed if you are willing to assist me on this process. This is confidential and I want you to see it just as I am saying it and nothing risk is attached. Regards, Micky. From: Micky Colton Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 17:46:43 +0000 Subject: DETAILS Hello my dear friend, May the good God continue to bless you and your family for your very kind and prompt response to my email, indicating your willingness to assist me on this funds for investment purposes in your country or any country that you will recommend. Am well impressed by your person and I feel I have found the right person, but time will tell. As you know, the success of this transaction will depend on our total mutual trust. I want everything to be clear to you right now but you have to read carefully. The deal is all about the money I made here, and I have it kept safely in a box and stored in an abandoned mine in Kabul Due to the United Nation policy on Afghanistan, there is a plan to move some troops out of Afghanistan so I will be among the people that will be moving out. I cannot take this money to the United States because since they know me as military personnel, they will want to know how I come about it. Due to this, I have made an arrangement for a Red Cross diplomat agent to move this fund. The question is who will be in charge of the money in my absence?. This is exactly why I need your help. I want to guarantee you that you will not stand any risk in this as I have mapped out the strategy to have this box moved out of here safely Through Diplomatic means. you have to keep everything confidential till you receive the fund as a consignment. Finally, I want you to stand as the beneficiary and receive the fund and keep it safe so that as soon as I come to your country, you will assist me to invest it in a good profitable venture, I am willing to give you 40% of the total money for the assistance after you have receive the money. I believe I can trust you. Where we are now we can only communicate through our military communication facilities, which are secured so no body can monitor our emails, then I can explain in details to you. I will only reach you through email, because our calls might be monitored, I just have to be sure whom I am dealing with. Please if you can handle it, let me know so that I will furnish you on the way forward. Please send your information so that I will furnish you on the modality to follow. Your Name:_______________________ Your Address_________________ Your Phone Number_________________ Your Occupation___________________ Your Age___________________________ Your Nearest Airport______________ Your country_______________ Regards, Micky. From: Micky Colton Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2015 18:29:15 +0000 Subject: Vital Informations. Hello Dear. I am so grateful for your concerns once more and I thank you alot. I am very impressed by your kind of person and I feel I have found the right person, but time will tell. As you know, the success of this transaction will depend on our total mutual trust as I have mentioned in my previous mail. I pray to almighty God to take control so that everything will go smoothly. You don't have to be afraid of anything, I have made all the arrangement on how to carry out this process. I must not fail to explain to you how I came across this fund I want us to use for investment. Few days ago our soldiers had encounter and exchanged bullets with some gunmen and eventually three of our soldiers were injured in the event while over sixteen of the gunmen were killed. I and my group rushed to give medical attention to our men that were injured at the spot where the sixteen gun men were shot to dead, I saw two trunks and showed it to my fellow and we decided to force off the trunks open and discovered huge amount of dollars in it and we did the same to the other trunk and saw the same thing and we quickly took the trunks and counted the money and also shared it among ourselves, and mine is the money I want us to out from here and invest. Please, do not disclose it to any other person, for security reason. I have made all the arrangement on how to carry out the transaction, I will be in your country in two weeks time. Please make sure that you keep everything confidential till you receive the consignment box. The plan: The box will leave from Afghanistan tonight with the Red Cross jet, and arrive Edinburgh Airport in London on 16th December 2015 which is the next day. The red cross jet is going on an assignment to London to get some first aid materials, so I have arranged with the pilot to drop off the diplomat in London, from there the diplomat will get another flight to your country. Upon arrival, once the diplomat calls me with his number, I shall let you have the contact number of the diplomat for you to reach an agreement with him on how and where the box will be delivered to you in your country. I shall let him have your full names, address of delivery and your phone numbers for him to make the necessary logistics involved. Note: It has to be clear to you that the diplomat is not aware of the content of the box as I will only tell him that it contains personal belongings. You are going to help the diplomat to secure the diplomatic yellow tag before he move down to your country to convey the consignment to you, Because I shall instruct him not to open the consignment. The yellow tag is required to avoid the customs and other security agents at the airport not to open the consignment, this is in accordance with United Nation's diplomatic delivery act. Do not be afraid of anything. The diplomat shall make use of his diplomatic immunity to ensure that the box is delivered to you as a diplomatic package which shall be free from any form of check at the airport. The box contains the money and will be protected with a pin code which I will make available to only you alone. You shall not in any case disclose the content of the box to the diplomat for security reasons. I shall tell him that it is person belonging. That is why the diplomatic yellow tag is require from him. As soon as you receive the box, I shall send you the pin code, you shall have in mind that your percentage will be 40% of the total sum while you shall ensure that my own percentage of 60% is intact. As soon as I come over, you will help me to invest it in a good profitable venture. Please, read through this confidential mail and till tomorrow before I can communicate again. Regards, Micky. From: Micky Colton Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 11:39:23 +0000 Subject: DIPLOMAT. Hello dear friend. I just want to informed you that the consignment box have arrived to London, please contact the diplomat who is now in Edinburgh Airport in London now with the consignment box. Contact of the diplomat is as follows Name: Hewitt Kadian Email: delivery4@diplomats.com Phone: +441315102883 Please contact him immediately and update me on the development, bear in mind that the diplomat dose not know the actual content of the consignment, so do not disclose the content to him, for security reason. I pray almighty God so that everything will go smoothly. The box security code number will be send to you as soon as you finalize with the diplomat. The diplomat will direct you on what to do, base on how to get the diplomatic yellow tag to enable him to clear the consignment box over there in London to enable him move down to your destination. Best Regards, Micky. From: "Diplomat Service" Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 13:17:36 +0100 Cc: "Micky Colton" Subject: URGENTE. Hello sir. Micky has instructed me to deliver her consignment box to you in your country, I arrived London airport some hours ago and facing some stress here. Upon arrival of the consignment, there is a little problem that is the reason you have not heard from me. The customs Authority is demanding 1,500 British Pounds for the diplomatic yellow tag fee, of which I am having only about 700 Pounds with me. I explained everything to them that, the content of the consignment box is not made known to me, that's why they required the diplomatic yellow tag. Please I would not want you to keep me waiting for too long here. An immediate payment of the required charges to secure the diplomatic yellow tag is needed to be paid. After the payment, the customs will release the box to me, for my flying to your country Immediately. You have to go to Money Gram or Western Union this moment and Send me the money because there is are Money Gram and Western Union offices inside the airport here where I can collect the money immediately. First name.. Kadian Last Name...Hewitt City: Edinburgh Destination: London. Amount: A800 British Pounds. Once you send the money, please send me the collection details so that I can give it to the Money Gram people to collect the money so that I pay for the yellow tag and collect the box from the customs and continue my Journey to your country where I shall hand over the box to you. Once I receive this money, I shall immediately commence on all the necessary logistics to ensure that I provide the box to you. Please be informed that I must be mobilized with the above mentioned bill before my departure. Best regards. If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more.... America is in the midst of a raging cultural and spiritual war. Forces of Good, Light, Conservatism and a Judeo-Christian Worldview daily battle the forces of Evil, Darkness, Socialism, False Religions and Philosophies. A Good Choice is on the frontlines exposing evil across Americas political and social spectrum. After devoting a significant portion of his State of the State last year to education, Gov. Andrew Cuomo only touched on it briefly on Tuesday. Cuomo proposed increasing education aid by $2.1 billion to $25 billion total. He wants to finally eliminate the state aid take back known as the gap elimination adjustment and provide $100 million to create community schools that would offer additional support services to turn around failing schools. Cuomo also proposed a $200 tax credit for teachers who pay out of pocket for classroom expenses such as paying for food for needy students. They deserve our encouragement, our support, our gratitude, he said. Cuomos speech got off to a dramatic start when Assemblyman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, heckled him, saying you were wrong, and complaining about the underfunding of schools. Barron was referring to the Campaign for Fiscal Equitys lawsuit against the state on the grounds that it was failing to provide students of their constitutional right to a sound and basic education. New York settled the case by agreeing to increase school funding by $7 billion over a four-year period through Foundation Aid, which takes into consideration a districts poverty, property wealth, students with disabilities and other factors. When the recession hit, the state first froze and then cut aid through the gap elimination adjustment. The Alliance for Quality Education said that Cuomo has exacerbated the funding gap between rich and poor districts. A report released by AQE in the spring found that schools statewide are owed $7 billion. The Warren and Washington county school districts are owed about $14.25 million. Cuomo asked him to let him finish and to sit down. Barron was eventually escorted out of the room and the governor continued on with the speech. Were going to come together. We're going to kick the extremists to the side. Just because you yell, doesnt mean you're right. Just because you stand, doesnt mean you're correct. That's what this Legislature is all about, he said Cuomo proposed spending $6.9 billion for SUNY and CUNY colleges and extending the current program of having small built-in increases in tuition through 2020. He also wants to continue the SUNY 2020 competitive grant program, where campuses have sought funding for special projects such as SUNY Adirondacks Regional Workforce Readiness Center. He also proposed increasing use of solar energy on SUNY campuses. He continued his call for a $15 an hour minimum wage, which would affect school districts. Cuomo only touched briefly on education during his remarks, which lasted more than an hour. He touted the accomplishments of the last session to reduce state testing and increase parental participation and local control. Cuomo did not mention teacher evaluations or Common Core in his address. In last years State of the State Address, Cuomo called the teacher evaluations baloney, because results showed that 95 percent of the teachers in the state rated as effective or highly effective. Cuomo pushed for increasing the state test component to 50 percent of the evaluation score. However, 20 percent of the states students in grades three through eight did not take the Common Core state tests, which prompted the governor to appoint a task force to reform the education system. The task force has called for delaying any consequences for teachers from the student tests for four years, while the state phases in a new curriculum replace Common Core. Cuomo acknowledged in his speech that parents had concerns. These reforms were essential, because we saw our parents were losing faith in the system. The education system fails without parental trust period. Our goal was to restore that trust, he said. He said the state Education Department would do it right this time. NORTH CREEK | Barkeater Chocolates has unveiled its newest flavor, a quinoa dark chocolate bar. The artisan chocolate shop is one of only a handful of chocolate makers across the country to develop a quinoa-dark chocolate bar and is believed to be the only commercial chocolatier making the confection in the Northeast. The new flavor melds the crunchy texture of quinoa with the unmistakable taste of gourmet dark chocolate. The bar, called Quinoa Ka-Pow! includes 63 percent dark chocolate, is made with all natural, non-GMO ingredients and is naturally gluten-free. Weve been looking to expand our offerings, and the Quinoa Ka-Pow! provides our customers with a taste that is truly unique, said Deb Morris, co-founder and chief chocolatier at Barkeater Chocolates. Weve spent quite a few months getting the recipe just right, to ensure it met our highest expectations. Barkeater Chocolates is located in North Creek. Barkeater Chocolates has won numerous awards over the years, including a Business Excellence Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2014, and the Adirondack Life 2015 Readers Choice award for Best Chocolate/Candy Company in the Adirondack Park. To celebrate the launch of its newest flavor, Barkeater Chocolates will provide a free full-size bar to everyone who visits the factory store on Route 28 in North Creek on Saturday. Store hours are noon to 5 p.m. POTTER HILL | Virginia T. Lavin, 80, passed away peacefully Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vermont, surrounded by her family, after a six month struggle recovering from surgery. She was the wife of the late Paul F. Lavin who died Feb. 5, 2000, they were married May 18, 1963. Virginia was born April 13, 1935, in West Haven, Connecticut, daughter of the late Frank and Dorotha (Hallenbeck) Travis. She graduated from West Haven High School in West Haven, Connecticut, and attended several colleges pursuing her many careers. They included LPN, antique dealer, feed store employee, sheep breeder and farmer. She retired from Hoosick Falls Central School as a teachers assistant. She was very active in the community. She was a member and secretary at Hoosick Fire Department, a leader of Rensselaer County 4-H for 40 years, a board member at the Hoosick Rural Cemetery, a member of Daughters of the American Revolution and Hoosick elections inspector. Some of her favorite things to do were spending time at her camp at Lake Lauderdale, reading, spinning, weaving, restoring furniture, working and raising her sheep and especially time spent with her border collie, Lily. Survivors include her daughters, LeeAnn Lavin, Leslie Koziol, Wendy Baker, Genine (James) Kopaskie; her son, Richard Lavin; her beloved grandchildren Benjamin Koziol, Jessica Baker-Colver and her husband, Adam, Matthew and Lucas Baker and Kathleen and Emily Kopaskie. Virginia was predeceased by an infant sister and her sister, Barbara Kelly; her son-in-law, Mark Koziol and her grandson, Daniel Koziol. Funeral services will be held at noon, Wednesday, Jan. 13 at Mahar Funeral Home, 43 Main St., Hoosick Falls, NY 12090. Burial will follow the service at Hoosick Rural Cemetery in Hoosick. Relatives and friends may call at the funeral home from 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13 until the start of the service. A luncheon will be held immediately following the burial at Hooskick Falls Fire Department, 664 South St., Hoosick Falls. Memorial contributions may be made to either the Hoosick Fire Department or the Hoosick Rescue Squad through the funeral home. GRANVILLE | A Hicks Road home was destroyed by a fire late Tuesday that apparently started with a cooking accident, officials said. No one was hurt but one woman was left homeless by the blaze, which was reported at 8:59 p.m. at 19 Hicks Road, across the road from Hicks Orchard. Fire that began in the kitchen tore through the two-story home. The elderly occupant was home at the time and was able to get out safely, Middle Granville Fire Chief Marvin Hawk said. There are no hydrants in the area, so tankers from fire departments around the region had to traverse snowy roads to get to the fire scene. Firefighters remained on the scene until after 8 a.m. Wednesday, and then were called back out around 10 a.m. when the fire rekindled. Hawk said the home was to be demolished later Wednesday. An art gallery that sits next to the home was damaged as well. Exactly how the fire started remained under investigation on Wednesday. "We're not sure what happened. We know she was cooking and the fire started," Hawk said. The resident, whose name was not released, was staying with relatives but was unable to salvage any belongings, Hawk said. Washington County tax records show the property is owned by Wilson Real Estate Holding Co., which also owns the property where Hicks Orchard sits. Mutual aid was provided by firefighters from Granville, North Granville, Hampton, Hartford, Whitehall, Fort Ann, Kingsbury, Wells, Vt., and West Pawlet, Vt. Granville Rescue Squad assisted at the scene as well. QUEENSBURY The Town Board has reversed course and will implement an annual financial disclosure report for town officials. Weve had some discussion that we will put together some kind of disclosure form that everyone can live with, 1st Ward Councilman Anthony Metivier announced Monday at the Town Board meeting. Well get something in place. Supervisor John Strough said the board will discuss particulars of the form and which town officials it should apply to at a Town Board workshop meeting Jan. 19. No other town does this, he said, referring to the financial disclosure requirement. But people have said, Queensbury should be the leader. Metivier said significant public reaction and advocacy from The Post-Star editorial board convinced Town Board members to rethink their repeal on Dec. 21 of a little-known section of town law that required town officials to file annual financial disclosure forms, a requirement that had never been enforced. The board voted 4-1 on Dec. 21 to repeal the disclosure requirement, with 4th Ward Councilman William VanNess voting no. Town Board members in December said the requirement was too intrusive and duplicated conflict-of-interest disclosure procedures already in place. Supervisor John Strough has said the requirement was too broadly defined and could be interpreted to apply to more than 50 elected officials, department heads and assistant department heads. Language in the town Ethics Law, enacted in 1997, required town officials to annually disclose financial information, but specific guidelines and disclosure forms were never established. Current and recent past town officials were not even aware of the requirement until recently, when Kevin Conine, chairman of the Ethics Committee, requested copies of the form, which did not exist, Strough has said. Strough had prepared a proposed disclosure form, based on the form that members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors file. The county form requires disclosure of income in categories, ranging from less than $6,000 to more than $100,000. It also requires disclosure of business interests, employment, debts and an itemized lists of investments made directly or by any family member. Third Ward Councilman Doug Irish had objected to disclosing family member investments. Town residents who spoke at a public hearing Dec. 21 said the disclosure requirement would be helpful for the public to know if a town Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals owns property next to property of an applicant. Metivier said Monday that information is readily available through a property tax map database that can be searched on the towns website, queensbury.net. QUEENSBURY | Voters on Tuesday approved a nearly $40 million project to renovate Queensbury High School. The result was 537 votes in favor to 203 in opposition. Superintendent of Schools Douglas Huntley said he was very excited about the result. "I feel good. Its great to live in a community that supports public school education the way Queensbury does. It provides a great opportunity for our children," he said. Huntey said the district would be contacting the architects on Wednesday to begin drawing up final plans. Weve been working on this for three years. Were in very good shape to get started, he said. The target completion date is 2019. Turnout was very light, with about 5.5 percent of the 13,540 registered voters within the Queensbury Union Free School District casting ballots. Huntley said the snow might have had an effect. Also, he said it was just this one proposition and there werent any other questions on the ballot. The project would improve safety and energy efficiency and improve the academic space. The front of the school would get a revamp with a new media center and community multi-purpose room occupying the current wood gymnasium space. A new gym would be constructed as part of a 16,000-square-foot addition to the rear. Classrooms would get a makeover to include more flexible, movable furniture to allow for group collaboration, and add white boards and LCD projectors on the walls. A small addition to the STEM wing of the building would create three new classrooms. The current science laboratories are too small, so the district is turning three classrooms elsewhere in the building into two science labs. The front entrance would be redesigned to create secure vestibules, and energy-inefficient windows and walls would be replaced. Site improvements, including drainage upgrades and work on two grass fields, improved traffic flow around the high school and additional parking, would be included in the project. The price tag is $39.74 million. State aid would pick up $26.55 million of the cost, nearly 71 percent. The local share is $13.19 million, which would be paid by debt that is coming off the districts books. Voters at the polls in early evening expressed strong support for the project. Steve Adler said he believes the safety, program and energy efficiency upgrades are needed. He also liked that there would be no net increase in taxes because the debt from this project would replace debt coming of the districts books. You cant beat being tax neutral, he said. Mark Frederick said he voted for the project because he believes the high school renovation is long overdue, citing the energy inefficient windows and walls. Elizabeth Kenny also voted in favor. I think schools are an important part of our community, and I think the facility at the high school needs to be upgraded, he said. WARRENSBURG The school district is mourning the unexpected death of one of its high school students. In a letter on the districts website, school officials said they informed all students on Wednesday morning and provided on-site grief counseling. The district is also in contact with the Council for Prevention for additional help. It encouraged parents to monitor their child for signs that they are experiencing grief. Signs might include: mood changes, guilt or anger, sleep issues, loss of appetite, withdrawal, sadness, inactivity or boredom, bitter or hostile behavior, inability to accept help or carelessness leading to accidents. If these signs continue for a length of time, parents are asked to notify the school. The school district said the family has requested that they not be contacted as they process their loss and mourn in privacy. Editor: This is regarding the letter of Dec. 9 from Stiling Knight. Cowardly really! The Russian military fighter plane that was flying over Turkish air space was warned to leave Turkish air space, after refusing to leave it was shot down by a Turkish fighter plane; equal combat forces. A Russian military fighter shot down a JAL civilian airliner with more than 200 sleeping civilian passengers. Russia claimed the airliner was flying over their territory; no warnings were issued. Russian forces shot down a Malaysian civilian airliner with more than 200 passengers and again no warnings or survivors. That, Mr. Knight is "Cowardly." President Putin is probably happy that you have his back. JOE ROTA Granville Reading tonight about Swedish police investigating alleged officer-led coverup of sexual assaults by migrants ...From what I've seen online, a card carrying liberal like myself should be ignoring these news bites about women being attacked by migrants .... only the conservatives are bringing them up .... but part of being a liberal is being a feminist, so I'm not going to ignore them. ANOTHER BLOG FROM NEVILLE STEPHENS ON BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY. Titled 2016 Agriculture Budget Analysis, the report narrated government promises from the 2013 Budget to the 2016, adding not a single promise was met over the period under review. "On page 86, paragraph 273 of the 2013 budget statement for instance, government committed to increase the number of AMSECs to cover at least 170 districts in order to provide mechanization services to farmers who cannot afford their own machines. This was not achieved by the end of the budget year. "On page 84, paragraph 392 of the 2014 budget statement, government committed to continue to address the challenges confronting the mechanization of agriculture along the value chain among other interventions facilitate the expansion of coverage of private sector led Agricultural Mechanization Services Enterprise Centres (AMSECs) to 148 Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in 2014. On page 73, paragraph, 348 of the 2015 budget statement, government committed to increase the 89 Agricultural Mechanization Service Centers (AMSECs) currently operating in 62 Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies to 130. Though the issue of expanding the AMSECs keep appearing in the budget statements since 2013, not a single AMSEC has been added," the report said. The failures, notwithstanding, government in the 2016 budget is again promising to procure 50 tractors with the requisite components to support Agricultural Mechanization Services Enterprise Centres (AMSECs). The report said the development is affecting small holder farmers, especially in the rural areas. "This development is not good to small holder farmers especially crop farmers who are in dire need of mechanization services such as tractors, processions and especially combine harvesters. Many farmers in 2015 could not harvest their rice due to non-availability of combine harvesters. On Fertilizer subsidy the report said, Government again failed to deliver on its promises of providing the required fertilizer quantity for farmers. Out of a target of 180,000mt of fertilizer promised in the 2015 budget, the report said that only 90,000mt was provided and even not all of it got to the farmers. The report said that could have dire implications on an already shrinking agriculture sector which grew by 0.4% instead of a projected 3.5% in 2015. Since the 1970s, millions of people have moved abroad to study, work and advance their lives. Nigeria was one of the countries most impacted by this shift, but the tide is now turning. Nigeria has become Africas biggest economy, and many of the same workers who moved abroad are returning to put their skills to use in their home countries, including Mohammed Mijindadi Over the past decade, Nigeria has maintained an impressive growth rate of approximately 7 per cent, according to the African Economic Outlook. Many are hoping to capitalise on this growth opportunity while making a difference in the country that they know and love. Mohammed moved to Philadelphia in the United States in 2001, at a time when Nigeria was facing increasing instability in its education sector, and obtained a degree in civil engineering from Temple University. His background and previous adversity motivated him to work harder to gain education and work opportunities. As a minority, I had to work four times as hard to keep up with or get ahead of my peers, he continued. But that in itself was a great challenge that really pushed me to continue to succeed. Mohammeds relentless drive brought him great reward. After graduating from Temple University, he received an MBA from Penn State and then joined GE in the companys Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (ECLP). After spending 10 years in the U.S., Mohammed felt the need to return home. The U.S. was very different from Nigeria, and I missed the family-structured communities of my home country. When the opportunity arose to execute a large rail project in Nigeria, I raised my hand for the job. Even though I was an ECLP with less than two years experience, GE gave me a chance. Mohammed is delighted to bring his expertise to his home country and make a lasting impact on the infrastructure in Nigeria. He has found his return home inspiring. I am amazed by how the people of Nigeria continue to thrive amidst uncertainty. There is a contagious hunger to constantly adapt and develop strategy to meet the ever changing needs of the region. " We are engaging stakeholders, the Bank of Ghana as well as the Microfinance institutions as to how to protect depositors' funds as well payback the investments. It is a two- way thing, these companies have also given out loans that need to be collected. So we will lead the way in both processes." Mr. Amponsah stressed. More public attention was drawn to the activities of DKM Microfinance, God is Love Fun Club and other microfinance companies predominantly in the Brong Ahafo Region who have been operating illegally, when president Mahama addressed the issue in his meeting with the press to mark his third year in office. The President denied any links between his wife, Lordina Mahama or himself and DKM Microfiance. Such literacy, and an understanding of technology in general, will also be crucial for university students. They will have to develop the ability to collaborate across multiple contexts, filter and synthesise information from a variety of sources. These skills will be necessary if students are to contribute to the world in the 21st century. We live in a world where the phone in your pocket has more processing power than the computers that were used to put men on the moon. But what is being done to make better use of the affordances of technology in higher education? Not much, unfortunately. In general, academics continue along traditional lines of thinking and practice that seem to ignore technological progress and its accelerating rate of change. To address these challenges, higher education institutions must ask what steps they can take to ensure that their students are relevant in the future. The following suggestions may help the academy to think differently about how technology is used in the classroom. Access is increasing One common rationale for not bringing technology into the classroom is that access to technology is not uniformly distributed among students. This is especially true in a country like South Africa, where I teach, and on the African continent as a whole. But access to textbooks is uneven, too, and no-one would use that as a reason to ban textbooks in class. Things are changing faster than we think. When I started teaching in 2009, incorporating technology into the classroom was challenging. Few of my students had laptops or even computers at home. We didnt have good access to wifi in lecture halls, so we had to use the computer labs. Now every student in my classroom is encouraged to use phones, tablets and laptops to search for new information thats relevant to our topic, and to synthesise it for sharing in our discussions. They can do so because smartphones are ubiquitous. Students can also collaboratively author course notes for the module. The network is what matters But merely providing access to devices does little to help students learn. Many studies still centre on access to the device, as if handing a student a tablet will magically develop the skills needed to use it effectively. It is time to change academics' thinking to prioritise the network over the device. The device is simply a window onto the network. The United Nations weighed in on this debate in 2011 when it declared that access to the internet should be recognised as a basic human right. There is also a shift from vertical communication channels that privilege hierarchies of control to horizontal structures like networks that embody coordination, cooperation and collaboration. The power of the internet is not that it provides us with new and innovative means of sharing cat videos. It is a new communication paradigm that is constructed through community engagement and participation. It allows new forms of interaction between people, information and devices. Preparing to adapt As technology progresses and its influence becomes clear in every aspect of society - apart from higher education - universities need to ask if the next 50 years are going to look anything like the last 50. It seems as if the most important skill people can learn is how to adapt to a constantly changing world. If this is true, then academics may need to radically change what is prioritised in the curriculum, as well as how they teach students to learn. How can academics prepare students to be successful in a world that we cant predict? Incorporating technology into the classroom allows academics to help students develop the skill set needed for engaging meaningfully in the 21st century. Academics cannot continue with the notion that higher education is about providing students with access to specialised knowledge. Universities and individual lecturers cannot plan curricula for the lowest common denominator in terms of digital literacy and then base teaching and learning practices on that. In a letter signed by authorities of the GES, it stated that, "As a result of the collection of illegal fees from students of Mfantsipim School, you are directed to immediately step aside from responsibilities as the Headmaster of the school, pending further investigations into the illegal collection. It said the Central Regional Director of Education, Mr Bartholomew Ofori has been directed to act in his stead. Some heads of senior high schools (SHSs) found culpable in the charging of illegal fees will lose their jobs, the GES has noted. President John Mahama last year has also threatened to sack senior high school heads who charge unapproved fees. According him, such fees put extra burden on parents, thus making nonsense of governments efforts of providing affordable and accessible education for every citizen. Read more: Mahama threatens to sack SHS heads over illegal fees The statement said we wish to bring to the attention that government has submitted proposals to Parliament for amendment of the relevant sections of the Income Tax Act 2015 (Act 896) to reverse the imposition of 1 percent withholding tax on interest earned by individuals. In this regard, financial institutions are directed to suspend the imposition of 1 percent withholding tax on interest earned by individuals, the statement added. The tax imposition on interests is part of provisions in the new Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896) which came into force on January 1, 2016. According to HISPAG, the recent investigation into NHIA activities by the BNI has delayed payment of their claims. But, NHIA Communications Manager for the Greater Accra Region, Selorm Adornoo has told Accra-based Joy FM, the Authority is ready to pay the outstanding claims. What will happen this time round is that the claims we make will be to facilities which are in good standing, I mean service providers who have active valid credentials or accreditation status with the NHIA or those whose applications have already been submitted for renewal, he said. We just want to ensure that our systems are a bit more stringent now. We just want to ensure that our service providers take a bit seriously the systems we have established as NHIA, Mr. Adornoo added. The BNI began investigations into NHIA activities some six months ago at the instance of President John Mahama. According to the BNI, some medical facilities have been falsifying documents and submitting bloated claims to the NHIA. This follows a release of a clearance letter by the Ministry and copied to the Ghana Registered Nurses Association on Tuesday. According to the Health Ministry, 97 Staff Nurses, 31 Staff Midwives, 2,333 Enrolled Nurses, 599 Community Health Nurses and 234 Allied Health Professionals are to be employed. All facilities are to ensure that, staff to be engaged have their documents processed early and placed on the Mechanized Payroll to enable the Controller and Accountant Generals Department effect payment of their salaries in time to reduce the incidence of arrears to be paid to staff, a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer at the Ministry, Tony Goodman stated. Over 5,000 graduate nurses and midwives have continuously registered their displeasure over Government's inability to employ them since completing their studies in 2013. Several of them have subsequently picketed at the Health Ministry with others being arrested for picketing closer to the Flagstaff House. General secretary of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association, Perpetual Ofori Ampofo has welcomed the move to have the aggrieved nurses employed. "Yesterday, we received a letter of clearance which indicates that 3,060 of them are going to be given employment because their clearance has now been secured. This includes community health nurses, a few registered nurses," she told Accra-based Joy FM. Ms Ofori Ampofo further debunked reports that the latest postings will be at the detriment of nurses who trained at private institutions. "Was Parliament or any of its Committees at any point in time briefed on the decision of GoG to accept Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? If Parliament or any of its Committees was involved, kindly furnish the name(s) and the date(s)?" the group asked. OccupyGhana's concerns follow public criticism over the decision of government to house the two former terror suspects. The two ex-detainees: Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, arrived in Ghana on Thursday January 7, 2016 for a two-year stay as part of a deal reached between the United States of America and the Government of Ghana. Below are the rest of the demands by OccupyGhana to government STATUS OF MESSRS. MOHAMMED OMAR BIN ATEF & KHALID MUHAMMAD SALIH AL-DHUBY Pursuant to Article 21 (f) of the 1992 Constitution, OccupyGhana writes in respect of the above-mentioned former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay Prison, whom you have confirmed the Government of Ghana (GoG) has agreed to accept to live in Ghana for a period of two years, after which period they may opt to leave Ghana. We of OccupyGhana are alarmed by the conduct of GoG in respect of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby respectively and demand that you answer the following issues: 1.What are the real names and any aliases of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby that are known to GoG? 2.Prior to the detention of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby, what were their professional/vocational/occupational backgrounds? 3.When did GoG execute an agreement with the government of the United States for the acceptance of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? 4.Why did GoG make an announcement to Ghanaians of the acceptance of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby only after FOX News had broken the news? 5.Was Parliament or any of its Committees at any point in time briefed on the decision of GoG to accept Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? If Parliament or any of its Committees was involved, kindly furnish the name(s) and the date(s). 6.Are Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby among former Guantanamo Bay Prison detainees who have expressed fears at any time of torture or persecution if they returned to Yemen, their home country? 7.Has Yemen confirmed to GoG that Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby risk criminal trial if they return to Yemen? 8.If there is no confirmation that Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby do not risk a criminal trial if they return to Yemen, why has GoG accepted them to live in Ghana? 9.Why did GoG agree to accept Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby when the United States as the country that has primary responsibility for the two and other Guantanamo Bay detainees and former detainees is unable to do so because of strong opposition to settle even a single of the former detainees on American soil? 10.Did GoG consider the fact that some former Guantanamo Bay Prison detainees have joined terrorist organisations on their release before agreeing to accept Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? 11.Did GoG consider the fact that some former Guantanamo Bay Prison detainees have engaged in propaganda warfare by speaking out publicly against their detentions and justifying terrorism before accepting Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? 12.What legal status has GoG given Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? 13.Do Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby have a right to work whilst in Ghana? 14.Do Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby have the opportunity for family reunion whilst in Ghana? 15.Do Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby have the right to access public services, including housing, education, medical care, socialization and integration programs whilst in Ghana? 16.Do Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby have voting rights whilst in Ghana? 17.Will GoG grant Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby residence permits whilst in Ghana? 18.Will GoG grant Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby refugee status whilst in Ghana? 19.Is GoG aware that restrictions on the movements of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby whilst they are in Ghana can only be ordered by a court and not the executive branch of Government? 20. Did GoG consider that by agreeing to accept Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby, Ghana and its citizens worldwide can be viewed by terrorists organisations as collaborators with the United States in its fight against terrorists such that the country and its citizens may be targeted for terrorist attacks? 21. Are there any financial gains to Ghana for its acceptance of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby? 22. If there are any financial gains for Ghanas acceptance of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby, into which bank account(s) of the Republic of Ghana would the said financial gains be paid? 23. If there are any financial gains for Ghanas receipt of Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby, what uses would the said financial gains be put? We trust that you would use your good offices to furnish OccupyGhana responses to these questions within a week of your receipt of this communication. Yours in the service of God and Country, Nana Sarpong Agyeman-Badu (0264771508) For OccupyGhana cc: The Chief of Staff Flagstaff House Accra Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament Parliament House Accra Hon. Majority Leader Parliament House Accra Hon. Minority Leader Parliament House Accra The suspects, Molih Williams, Molih Klinsman, Peggy Aki, Ebiyaibo Amos, David Jacobs, Apetimiyi Onyinie, Piano Saniyo and Picolo John have all been repatriated based on the orders of Minister of Interior, Mark Woyongo. Read more: Two Ghanaians Indicted In Nigerian Pirates Trial According to the Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of the Ghana Police, Commissioner of Police (COP) David Asante-Apeatu, arrangements were made with the Immigration Service to facilitate their deportation after the Interpol office at Lagos had been alerted. They were deported on January 7, 2016. See related: COP David Asante-Apeatu explained that, the suspects were deported to Nigeria for "proper prosecution since the incident happened in Nigerian territory." "Due to the nature of piracy, international cross-sectoral partnership is vital and this is a typical international co-operation between the two police agencies," he added. He said the Attorney General's department is working hard to retrieve the money that has been lost in corruption scandals stating that the "AG has saved Ghana hundreds of millions of dollars, as part of judgement debt, in defending us." But, the Executive Secretary of Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem has argued that the amount retrieved so far is not enough. "Well, there is some progress but 70 million out of how much outstanding. We don't know what the total outstanding is," he told Accra-based Joy FM. "We know we are not in the revolutionary era that is why we have the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney Generals and the Senior State Attorneys to prosecute cases on the behalf of the people of Ghana. So yes, we should follow due process. But we have the people that should make sure we follow the due process; they know the law. "It doesn't appear to be that strong commitment to take up such matters and follow them fast so that we reach a conclusion," Vitus Azeem said. He further asked government to come out with specific figures in relation to how much money have been retrieved from the judgement debt report and how many people have been sanctioned so far. This is in fulfillment of the company's promise to reward the driver for his bravery after he rammed his taxi into two suspected armed robbers on a motorbike leading to their arrest. A statement signed by Marketing and Public Relations officer, Christal Beeko said Nana Yaw couldnt hold back his joy, he knelt down with his hands lifted and thanked God for his blessings." During the presentation, the Director of Koala, Mr Imad Wolley expressed his heart felt gratitude to the taxi driver for his outstanding bravery which saved the life of his staff, the statement added. According to him, some of the questions were sweeping and rather disappointing, which he believed gave the President much room to operate. "To be very honest with you, a lot of us were disappointed with some of the questions asked. And it is not just media observers, analysts or academics; when you monitor the social media, even the citizens themselves have expressed some level of disappointment at some of the questions that were being asked," Dr Etse Sikanku told Accra-based Joy FM. Touching on the specifics, the lecturer said "there were questions about the cab driver, questions about what the president thinks about in the night, questions that you know very well that this is just an opportunity for the president to take control and just explain." The Communications lecturer was however quick to add that there were some 'bright spots' during the encounter, particularly, with some of the journalists that asked follow-up questions. He said such questions compelled the president to come out with specifics on a subject matter. He however applauded the president for being civil and not antagonistic in his approach to answering some controversial questions raised. Journalists had the opportunity to meet and ask President Mahama questions on a wide variety of issues. The media asked the president questions pertaining to the economy, corruption, former Guantanamo detainees, fuel price hikes, power crisis and security. But the questions asked the President according to KKD were disappointing. "I thought the President did a good job speaking very calmly and very clearly...my greatest disappointment, however, was with our journalists," he said. In an interview on Starr FM, the entertainment icon said, "There was a bit grandstanding on the side of the journalists and you could tell very clearly that people had come there with predetermined questions instead of listening to what the President had to say." Dr Nkrumah, who claims to be a son of former President Kwame Nkrumah, was disqualified for not meeting the criteria and conditions for filing, according to General Secretary Nii Armah Akomfrah. "He presented a fraudulent cheque and that was the basis [on which] the party disqualified him. The party required a banker's draft or cash; he presented a cheque. We worked around it, we tried to find a way, and in the end we could not admit him because there was no sufficient fund to be able to admit him," Mr Akomfrah explained. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! This follows an injunction application by of one of the disqualified contestants in the parliamentary primaries, Nanburi Derrick. The petitioner asked the court to over turn the decision of the party and also from holding the primary in the constituency. Read more:NDC primaries results declaration Nanburi Derrick was disqualified during the vetting for joining the National Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2012 general election. A Tamale high court presided over by his lordship Charles Gyamfi-Danquah formally granted an indefinite injunction on the party from holding the Bunkprugu Constituency primary. My Lord, l do not know of any invisible forces within the party, he said. Read more: Suspects in NPP Headquarters raid granted bail Mr Essuman was answering question through a cross-examination from Mr Abdul Aziz Mohammed, counsel for the 11 accused persons held in relation to the ransacking of the partys headquarters. The accused persons include Bismark Osei Danso, a contractor and Ali Iddrisu, a unemployed. The rest are Razak Ebenezer Aduful, Abdulai Wudu, Kwame Adu Annan, Nii Teiko Ayi-Bontey, Micheal Agoha, Shamzu Dinni, Obed Yawson, Rakia Ali Mohammed and Ben Okyere . They were charged with unlawful entry; being on premises for unlawful purpose and causing unlawful damage. See also: NPP accuses State of sponsoring raid at party HQ They pleaded not guilty to all the charges and were granted bail in the sum of GH10,000.00 with two sureties each. They were said to have unlawfully entered the premises of the NPP with the intent to commit crime and intentionally causing damage to 14 wooden doors of the office worth GH 28,000.00. The counsel for the accused persons tendered a newspaper publication on the NPP raid through the prosecution witness. The Court then adjourned the case to Wednesday January 13. Accompanied by stalwarts from the region, on Wednesday, January 13, 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo visited the site of the explosion, after which he, together with the MP for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh; Eastern Regional NPP Executives; and Members of Parliament, made a donation, comprising 250 bags of cement, 400 pieces of roofing sheets, and an undisclosed amount of cash to the victims of the explosion.It will be recalled that on December 23, 2015, an explosion occurred at a quarry site in Adoagyiri, which, according to Police investigators, was caused by the presence of explosive materials in containers at the site. In addition to the loss of life and injuries to some persons, properties worth millions of Ghana cedis in nearby communities were also destroyed.The NPP presidential candidate explained that, in the aftermath of the explosion, he deemed it important to assess at firsthand the extent of destruction, and also see what he, together with the party, could do to help assuage the pain and suffering of the victims.Nana Akufo-Addo urged those in-charge of the distribution of the items to ensure that all the victims affected by the tragedy are presented with their share of the items. With this years election some 10 months away, Nana Akufo-Addo admonished the electorate to use this opportunity given to them by God to remove this incompetent government and vote in an NPP government, which is coming to improve the lives of Ghanaians. To the gathering, he said: I want you to trust me. I am humbly asking Ghanaians to give me and the NPP the chance to implement the good plans we have for this country. We are going to change the fortunes of our country, and bring about prosperity for all and jobs for our youth, so our young people can live lives of dignity. Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the MP for the area, Nana Akufo-Addo noted, has in his period of being in Parliament done tremendous amount of work for the constituency. To this end, he asked the electorate to vote for the Elephant in 2016, and return Hon. Annoh-Dompreh as MP and Akufo-Addo as President. The NPP presidential candidate also reiterated his commitment towards the setting up of a Zongo Development Fund aimed solely at solving basic infrastructure problems existing in Zongo communities across the country. In 2012, I stated that if God gave me the opportunity to lead this country, I was going to implement something never witnessed in our history. I said that an NPP government was going to manage prudently our economy in such a way that we would have the funds to establish a Zongo Development Fund. I still stand by this promise and when, by the Grace of God, I win the 2016 election, I will establish the fund to address the developmental needs of all Zongo communities across the country, he added. Visit to Adoagyiri Chief Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Event Producer Clementine Vervelde talking to the press said "the idea behind this edition of Love IsThe Musical is to take the exploration of the theme of love to a new elemental level that resonates with everyone at a very deep part of their soul. The reference to a journey or a quest or a search of love is one that the audience will understand and connect with. At the end of the day, those in attendance will go home having watched more than just a show, but having enriched their personal experience and understanding of what love is, Vervelde said. Telling a musical story of three female characters a poet, a professional dancer and a businesswoman who are on a journey in search of love, the musical show follows their journey of discovery as they attempt to answer the question What is Love? To be preceded by an art exhibition entitled Love Becomes Art, the night will also witness comedians including Gordons, Igos and Emma Oh Ma God as well as performances by Yinka Davies and dance group Ijodi. Created and directed by Ice Nweke, Love IsThe Musical is produced by Ixtreme and Limitless Mind Africa. The fear of detection and worse still, seizure of said precious ingredients. So what exactly happens to food items when they're seized at the airport? The Great Big Story did a story revealing what US customs officials do with seized food items at the John F Kenedy International Airport, New York. Narrating some experiences she's had on the job, US Customs supervisor Ellie Scaffa, who collects prohibited items and disposes of them said she's been threatened by Haiti with voodoo over food. She further explained that customs agents confiscate meat, animals, and produce not because its harmful to humans, but because the foreign diseases and pests they carry can be harmful to US agriculture. Processing an average of 1.5 million passengers and 400 to 600 pounds of fruits and vegetables each day, there's never a dull moment in JFK. Chukwunyere Chimezie, before the crimes was the manager at a company producing sachet water owned by Mrs. Towechi Ejike Nmezi (now deceased). The murder suspect confessed that he strangled Nmezi on July 21, 2012 around 08:00 PM and bolted with her BlackBerry phone. He also admitted to doing the same to his brother whom he had lived with in 2015. Concerning his reason for the atrocity, he makes this claim, There is this spirit that sometimes takes control of me and asks me to do things. This spirit was asking me to commit suicide. But I met a man of God who delivered me. I made a confession to him and turned myself over to the Police. To finance the CCTV project, the Federal Government made a first installment payment of $70.5 million (15 per cent) while Chinas Exim Bank provided the balance of $399.5 million as a loan to be repaid at 3% interest per annum over a 10 year period. Today, though some 2,000 cameras have been installed by ZTE, representing but a fraction of the total expected, the project is yet to be successfully tested or commissioned. Investigations by Thisday Newspaper in 2013 showed instead that the project was bedeviled by dysfunctional systems and components, broken units occasioned by explosions from installed batteries of the CCTV cameras, for example at an intercession between the Kashim Ibrahim Way and Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse 2, as well as incomplete units at various parts of Abuja, concluding that the CCTV project appears to have added nothing to the arsenal available to Nigerias security outfit. Unfortunately, the inability of the contractor to deliver the project has been further underscored by the growing cases of armed theft, traffic crimes, vandalism, rape, and most notably, terror attacks in the major cities and the Northern part of the country. As some observers opined, the botched CCTV project involving ZTE and their local partners should in fact be treated on a par with the on-going , which can be summarized as a case of security funds divergence; this divergence of funds otherwise earmarked to bolster the countrys fight against terrorism has led to the loss of hundreds of military and civilian lives especially in the North Eastern part of the country, and also in Abuja, which has come under several deadly attacks over the past few years with little or no leads as to the capture of the attackers. Interestingly, Zambia, another African country where ZTE operates, terminated a $210 million CCTV contract with the company in 2013 because of alleged corruption. More recently, on the 7 of January this year, the largest sovereign fund in the world, Norway's $820 billion oil fund blacklisted ZTE due to concerns about corruption. The company was excluded on the basis of a recommendation from the fund's own ethics council which confirmed that ZTE is facing corruption charges and or investigation in 18 countries around the world including Nigeria. It is therefore imperative that the federal government avoids the errors and pitfalls of the last administration by ensuring that relevant government agencies carry out their due diligence exercises in the selection of project contractors. This will not only save increasingly scarce financial resources, but also the lives of innocent Nigerians both military and civilian, who are the unfortunate victims of the callous actions of compromised foreign contractors and their local partners. Cases such as the Abuja CCTV contract and the on-going arms deal investigation have greatly damaged Nigerias international reputation and further projected the negative image the country has acquired over the past few years; it is incontrovertible therefore, that the handling of these 2 cases will show the seriousness of the administrations anti-graft war to the international community. If state and federal agencies are able to apply international best practices in the award, monitoring and evaluation of public contracts, the countrys daunting fight against the twin evils of corruption, and by extension terrorism, will certainly have a greater chance of success. The late Mrs Idongesit Ekpo, had been the wife of a tricycle rider before she had been shot dead by a police officer, identified as Aremu Musesiu, following an attempt to collect bribe from her husband, Mr Godwin Ekpo. The incident had reportedly taken place at the Obalagbe Bus stop, at the Isheri Osun area of Lagos State, in 2015.The Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Owoseni Fatai, on behalf of the Inspector General, Mr. Solomon Arase, had reportedly made the presentation on Monday, January 11. Speaking on the scholarship, Mr Fatai said: For now, it covers up to secondary school level and the Scholarship Trust Fund is expected to cover higher level education, subsequently. Punch Metro reports that the pastor, Mr Ayo Rapheal, had been kidnapped during the Sunday service being held at the RCCG Resurrection Parish located at Kabba junction, Lokoja. Eyewitness accounts reveal that the kidnappers who were about 10 in number, had reportedly stormed the church at about 9am, ordering the congregation to lie face down on the ground. One of the eyewitnesses had said: The pastor was dragged out of the church into the bush while the abductors shot sporadically into the air to facilitate their escape. There have been no reports of casualties, but some of the church members are reported to have sustained injuries in their bid to escape the church as the gunmen shot into the air. The scene of the incident is reported to have been located in Bandar Baru Bangi, located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia's West Coast peninsular. The passer-by's are reported to have been returning from church service when they heard a sound. Thinking it was a kitten stuck in the drainage, a man had stopped to help, only to discover it was a baby, before raising alarm. The newborn baby boy had been found covered in his own poo, wrapped in only a grey shirt. Spokesman for the local police, Willey Richard, had revealed that the man who had made the disheartening discovery had opened the drainage to find the tied plastic bag moving. The baby reportedly still had its umbilical cord attached upon discovery, before the local police patrol team had arrived at the scene to take the baby to nearby Kajang Hospital. Onuoha of Pipeline area, Kubwa, was also charged with criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging of his duty, an offence that contradicts Section 267 of the Penal Code. According to the police prosecutor, Babajide Olanipekun, the accused, on January 2, 2016, had assaulted Sergeant Elijah Ochoyoda, at Pipeline Police outstation, an action that deterred the policeman from performing his lawful duty right at the police station. Read the letter here: "My name is Ikechukwu and what I have to share with your readers has been eating at my soul and if I don't get a reliable solution, it could lead to my death. I got married to my wife, Nneka four years ago and we have a son whom I love dearly. Before I got married, I was doing well in my business but due to the economic situation in the country, things became tough for me and I had to close down my business and has been hustling since last year to make ends meet for my family. That was when a friend introduced me to a pastor with the assurance that if the man prayed for me, things would go back to normal. I started attending the man's church and within a short while, I made sure my family attended the church too. We became so dedicated that we became a reference point. I was made an elder in the church while Nneka was made the women fellowship leader and she became so close to the pastor, so much that she was free to visit his house at anytime and help him in household chores. Little did I know that my wife and the pastor had started an affair until his secretary leaked the secret to me. At first, I would not believe that until the lady started giving me updates on their dalliances. On the day I caught her red handed, the secretary had called me to go to a hotel in town, that my wife who had told me she was going for evangelism with the pastor were lodged there. I went to the hotel out of curiosity and true to what the lady said, I with our pastor in the same room almost nude. It was apparent they had had sex all through the night because they were still locked in each other's arms when I knocked on the door pretending to be one of the hotel's cleaner. They were both shocked to see me but after I had seen them, I just closed the door and went out. Back home, I called her mother and brother and told them everything, telling them that Nneka should not come back to my house or I would kill her. It has been six months now and she has been begging me, sending emissaries to talk to me to forgive her and take her back, at least for the sake of our son. I want to ask your readers to advice me. Should I forgive her and take her back? Mind you, I am still hurting from her betrayal. Ikechukwu." The teaser for the day was: How Nigeria voted: 39% - I will forgive him/her 8% - I will never forgive him or her 53% - I will forgive him/her but the marriage would not continue The body of the girl, Felister Murugi, who was still in secondary school, was found dumped in an abandoned 100-feet borehole having been strangled to death and with evidence of rape. Murugi went missing on Sunday, January 10, from the home where she lived with her grandmother, Anne Wanjiku, who fired the suspect from her farm a few days earlier. According to Wanjiku, she met the man on her way to church on the day of the incident but she did not know he was headed to her home. He arrived at the home and asked for the deceaseds phone number, only to trace her to where she was, kidnapped her and raped her before strangling her. Police and the search team followed a trail of blood stains on Wanjikus farm, 50 meters away from her home, to where the body had been dumped. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Daniel Iya, said in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, that the training, became imperative, following the outbreak of the disease in the state. The commissioner said that one patient had died of the disease, one confirmed case, and six other suspected people being quarantined. Iya urged the health workers to be committed to the efforts to curtail the spread of the disease in the state. "As health professionals, we play a key role in containing the spread of Lassa Fever in our communities and we must take the responsibility of doing so to the best of our abilities. Ndume said ''The budget cannot be missing. A copy can be laid, it is a symbolic copy, the budget will be in custody of both Chambers. It cannot be stolen, it cannot be missing. Once the budget is laid in the National Assembly, it has become the property of National Assembly. When asked about the Senate President, Bukola Sarakis visit to the Villa, immediately news of the missing budget broke, Ndume said ''Saraki's visit to Villa is for Senate to know the President's priority. We want to see how we can fast track the passage of the budget before the end of February. What is before the Senate is proposal, once the president signs it, it cannot be amended, we can turn the budget upside down, it cannot be missing. The Islamist group whose origins are in northeastern Nigeria has stepped up attacks in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger since last year. Many of the recent Cameroon attacks have been conducted by women. Another senior local official said at least 10 people died. Boko Haram has waged a six-year campaign for an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria. Neighbouring countries joined an offensive against the group this year and the conflict spilled across their borders, displacing tens of thousands of people. When the President ran for political office in 2003, who was his running mate? Dr Chuba Okadigbo. And in 2007? Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. If he hated Igbos would he run with them? the presidential aide said when asked if Buhari hates Igbos. That shows you the respect and the regard he has for Igbos, it was political reality that compelled him to come south-west in 2011 and in 2015, he added. Buhari has been accused of marginalizing Igbos due to his appointment of Northerners into prominent positions in his administration. The Bring Back Our Girls group has however demanded an apology for the incident and urged the army to transport the parents to Abuja. This was contained in a statement released by the group on Tuesday. It reads: Towards our earlier announced march together with the parents of our abducted Chibok girls and the Chibok community to re-engage with the president on the matter of their rescue this Thursday 14 January, a delegation of parents left Chibok this morning Tuesday 12 January for a 2-day journey to Abuja. Despite their meagre income, the over 120 parents were determined and paid the bus fare from Chibok to enable them to partake in the march to re-engage with the president after the first meeting of 8 July 2015. At about 8 am, we received information that they had been barred from proceeding by soldiers. We wondered if this was perhaps a random solitary act of some overzealous checkpoint leader or an action directed from the military high-command. Not wanting to speculate and escalate without establishing the facts behind the episode, we reached out to the administration through Pastor Tunde Bakare a well-respected citizen and co-advocate of the cause of our Chibok girls. We were subsequently informed the buses carrying our Chibok girls parents had been allowed to proceed on the journey to Abuja. However, only this evening, we were again informed that the checkpoint officers in Askira had allowed only 4 of the bus load of parents and held back 3 but we can factually confirm that 5 buses in all were held back 2 in Chibok and 3 in Askira. Tonight, the top echelon of the military and security team reached out apologising for the uncalled for and regrettable incident. Reasons adduced were that the fragile security context could have exposed such a large contingent of the parents to risks. Whilst we appreciate the legitimate safety concerns, we are convinced however that it could have been better handled with dignified treatment of parents who have been heartbroken over the last 638 days of their daughters captivity. We therefore demand: I. a public apology to parent for this avoidable and unfortunate episode, and II. a public commitment that the military will transport them out to Abuja tomorrow to enable them lead the march to meet with the president on Thursday. The military has accepted and confirmed to us that it will fully handle the movement of the remaining remaining parents to Abuja tomorrow Wednesday 13 January. The parents are all set to re-embark on their botched journey while we await the arrival of the set that successfully left Chibok earlier today for Abuja. In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) they said that they had already put in place measures to ensure that their clients do not get infected with Lassa fever. Mr Mohammed Sani, the Supervisor of Drumstix (Ajomobis Kitchen) at Asokoro told NAN that the eatery was doing well in the area of sanitisation to avoid the occurrence of Lassa fever. "We fumigate our vicinity every two weeks and at night after closing we apply pesticide in and outside of the building. "After closing for the day, we keep our plates, spoon and trays in water based sanitiser and washed them in the morning. "We have what we call three bucket system of cleaning; soapy water to mob, warm water to clean and sanitiser to sanitise the area, he said. At Chicken Republic located at Wuse II, Abdulsalam Adburahuf, the Manager told NAN that at the outbreak of Lassa fever; the eaterys head quarters in Lagos sent an email to all the branches to improve in sanitisation. "We have adhered to the instruction; we have fumigated the whole vicinity both back and front. "The eatery have trained all her staff in the prevention and control of Lassa fever. "We dont have rats in and around our eatery; therefore, we believe that Lassa fever will not be the portion of our clients, Sani said. Mr Ahmed Jimoh, the Supervisor of Mr. Biggs at Wuse II said that the eatery was conscious of hygiene, adding that it fumigates the surrounding twice in a month. Jimoh said that the eatery uses pesticide to ensure that rats and other insects do not come near the vicinity. "We always clean our floor with water and sanitiser to make sure we disinfect our chairs, plates, spoon and trays. "We also keep an eye on our staff to make sure they adhere to the policy of cleanliness in the eatery, he said. Mr Ademola Torise, the Manager of Mama Cass at Garki 2, told NAN the company would continue to do more in the area of fumigation. Torise said that its policy of cleanliness had checkmated the possible cause of outbreak of Lassa fever. "We do not have rats in our eatery and we have always ensured that they do not come near. The accused include Abdulahi Yakubu, 30; Usman Chamaya, 27, and Abubakar Aba, 30, who are commercial tricycle operators; Azeez Adesanya, 51, a plumber, and Salihu Mohammed, 22. Others are Mohammed Ali, 20, and Tanko Zimbo, 21, both traders, as well as Baba Lawal, 23, a security man. The accused are facing charges of breach of peace, conspiracy and assault. The Police Prosecutor, Insp. Clement Okuoimose, told the court that the accused committed the offences on Jan. 11, at Johnson Street, Ikeja, Lagos. He said that the accused and others still at large conspired to assault one CSP Amabua Mohammed by beating her. "The accused jointly beat up the policewoman by punching her all over her body and in the process, damaged her left eye," he said. Okuoimose said that the police got information that a man used to ride one unregistered tricycle to convey passengers and robbed them. "The police got a tip-off from some informants that one particular unregistered 'Keke NAPEP normally picked passengers along Oba Akran and robbed the passengers of their belongings. "So the complainant trailed the tricycle to Ikeja under bridge and luckily for her, she sighted the tricycle and gave it a hot chase. The prosecutor said that the complainant later alerted the police, who quickly rushed to the scene and arrested some of the accused while others escaped. The offences, Okuoimose said, contravened Sections 166, 171 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. According to him, section 171 prescribes a three-year jail term for an accused found guilty The accused all pleaded innocence of the offences and the court granted them bail in the sum of N500,000 each with two sureties each in like sum. The government is serious about ending corruption, and Nigeria can be great if we stop corruption, the government will stop at nothing to ensure that stolen monies are returned and looters brought to book, Osinbajo said. The country has the resources for all to live reasonably a decent life and we owe our country with the opportunity to do well, the whole country is waiting for the promised change and by the grace of God we will deliver, he added. The statement reads: My attention has been drawn to insinuations in certain quarters of my purported repayment of some monies I was allegedly given by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). For the record, let me categorically state that I had nothing to do with the former NSA while he was in office. I cannot remember meeting him at any time while he held sway. It is therefore shocking for me to be accused of receiving something from someone I never had any relationship with, not to talk of refunding money he gave me. There is therefore no reason for me to make any refund. Also, I have not been contacted by any security agency on this matter to warrant any action of that nature on my part. Dasuki is at the center of a massive money laundering investigation and i s alleged to have supervised the looting of $2.1 billion in funds which were meant for the procurement of arms for Nigeria's military. He was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on December 1, 2015 and handed over to the EFCC the day after. The former NSA is reported to have implicated several prominent persons in the deal including former governors, ex-ministers and members of the PDP. Dasukis lawyer however denied the report that his client had become an informant while the former NSA said that ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan was aware of the transactions he had made. Jonathan has however denied authorizing the release of the stated funds despite the former NSAs claim that he got the necessary presidential approval for the transactions. The abductors were said to have made the reduction after serious negotiations with Olabimtans family members, according to Sahara Reporters. These boys [the kidnappers] gave us a tough time. It was a serious of negotiation. We had to start begging them to release Mr. Olabimtan, pricing the freedom of a fellow man like pricing food stuff, a source close to the family said. They were initially demanding for N20 million but they asked us how much do we have before they finally concluded we should pay N5 million for the quick release of our darling leader. Right now, the family is reaching out to political associates and friends in order to raise the fund. But, I know by the grace of God, our leader would return very unhurt," he added. Recently, following the release of Jafaru Isa, a political associate of Buhari by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the PDP raised an alarm, saying Mr. President was using the war against corruption to settle political scores. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun after a meeting with Buhari in the Presidential Villa, has issued a statement denying the accusations, saying Nigeria must be sanitised. He said The APC was not in office at the national level in the last 16 years. So, the issue of whether somebody is PDP or not PDP does not arise. We have a nation to cleanse. The President has committed himself to that and we should support the cleansing whatever way it comes. We are not being apologetic about that at all. It is not a witch-hunt. It just happened that the dramatis personae of the period all happened to be on one side of the political divide. We have absolutely no intention to pressurise our nation into a one-party state. It is not in our interest to do so because we need a vibrant opposition." The call followed the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Rep.Chris Azubogu (PDP-Anamba). The lawmaker represents Nnewi North/Nnewi South and Ekwusigo federal constituencies in the green chamber. He called for increased presence of relevant Federal Government agencies charged with the responsibility of managing disaster and emergencies in Nnewi town. He said that several of such agencies and institutions were not located in the town in spite of the presence of several industries and factories contributing to the economic growth of the country. Azubogu noted that the disaster was an inevitable outcome of rapid development, population growth and accelerated infrastructure development in the town. "When the next disaster will occur and what the immediate precipitating factors will be is not known. "What we can do is to regulate standard of behaviour to limit the likelihood of occurrence and their severity when they inevitably occur, through the deployment of resources and technology for timely and effective response, he said. The Speaker, Yakubu Dogara referred the matter to the Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness for further legislative action. President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, stated this in an address to welcome the senators from the Christmas and New Year recess. According to him, it is time for the senate to work in the interest of Nigerians. "Our vision is to substantially enhance the economic wellbeing, liberty and safety of our people. "It is my earnest hope that the period of recess has afforded us more opportunity to reflect on this enormous task as we now enter into the business end of delivering on our agenda. "Distinguished colleagues, 2016 must be the year of transparency and delivery. "We must demonstrate to the Nigerian people who put us in office that we are working in their interest to ensure a progressive and inclusive national development plan. "The overarching objective of our agenda remains to work with the executive arm to find solution to economic stagnation, wastefulness, discrimination, unemployment, insecurity, corruption and impunity,'' he said. Saraki charged committees and members to sit up, attend meetings and carry out functions of oversight with more dexterity ``but without spending so much''. He said that the senate would remain resolute in its bid to curb all unnecessary expenditure, especially while carrying out its oversight function. He recalled that before the end-of-year recess, Ad Hoc Committee on Constitutional Review was constituted, and therefore urged the committee to brace up to the assignment. Saraki advised it to consolidate the various items that the 7th Senate had exhaustively considered and passed as key areas to concentrate upon. "This, in my view, will ensure that the process is expedited and the cost reduced significantly in line with our fiscal consolidation objectives. "In this regards, all unnecessary travels and tours should be eliminated, he said. Leadership reports that the pastor made this revelation during the just concluded Deeper Life Leadership Strategy Congress with the theme: DAWN (Disciple A Whole Nation) for a reputable church in Lagos. Kumuyi shared that he cheated death in a close air mishap while traveling from Monrovia to Accra Ghana back to Nigeria. The clergyman also revealed that he escaped death in two separate road accidents that injured his right ankle and left knee, between March and October, 2015. The popular pastor is not afraid of death, however. He was quoted as saying I know if anything happens, I will go up there to meet my Lord. Professor Micheal Adikwu gave this advise while addressing Matriculation 3,900 Students in different faculties of learning, during the school matriculation ceremony. Adikwu said that the institution is one of learning and that he expects students to maintain sound moral values. He stated that the University of Abuja as a microcosm of the Nigerian society, is bedeviled with a number of challenges that require urgent attention. Some of which include inadequate or non-availability of some basic facilities, acute shortage of hostel accommodation, lecture halls and laboratory spaces transportation among others. The university management is however committed to doing its best to overcome some of the major problems within the shortage possible time, he said. Oloyede and other Board of Trustees of the NASFAT-owned institution shared their worries during a courtesy visit to Aregbesola in Osogbo, on Monday, January 11. According to the Pro-chancellor, a group of people claiming the land is theirs have resorted to getting thugs seize the tools of bricklayers who were working on building a perimeter fence for the school. Oloyede said, While fencing our land, which has a C of O, some people came and harassed us. The problem is not with the Osogbo community but with some persons. Your predecessor signed the C of O. We heard that they are saying that no compensation was paid on the land. They brought 50 thugs from Ibadan and they are still there now. We heard that the building they are erecting on our land has no approved plan. We want Mr. Governor to intervene in the crisis. Sahara Reporters report that the Federal Government had brought a motion to stop the 21 commercial banks, in which MTN has funds, from releasing money to the telecoms giant. The FG seeks an order of Mareva injunction [a court order which requests assets be frozen] restraining the aforementioned banks from releasing, making a sale, transferring, or paying any of the monies maintained by the plaintiff MTN, read the motion, in part, according to Sahara Reporters. MTN Nigeria had been fined a whopping $5.2 billion by the NCC in October, 2015 for failing to disconnect about 5.1 million unregistered SIMs. The fine had come as a result of MTNs failure to adhere to regulations which the NCC had put in place to combat the increase in kidnappings and Boko Haram attacks, both of which often required mobile phones. The corruption watchdog Transparency International has accused Abacha of stealing up to $5 billion of public money during his five years running the oil-rich nation, from 1993 until his death in 1998. Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said $700 million had already been repatriated from Switzerland, adding that he met Swiss representatives last week for further talks. "They have also now recovered, in the same context, another $300 million of which there is ongoing discussion to have that repatriated as well," he told journalists on Monday. In 2014, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement for the West African country to get back the funds, which had been frozen, in return for dropping a complaint against Abba Abacha, the son of the former military ruler. He was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud and forgery in April 2005, after being extradited from Germany, and subsequently spent 561 days in custody. In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds held by the younger Abacha be frozen. The election appears set to head to a second round after provisional results showed two ex-prime ministers - Anicet Georges Dologuele and Faustin Archange Touadera - in the lead but neither winning an outright majority. Observers have praised the mainly peaceful nature of the Dec. 30 polls, which many hope will help put an end to years of deadly inter-religious bloodshed. However, Andre Kolingba and Martin Ziguele, who finished third and fourth and are both members of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for Transition (AFDT) political platform, are disputing the result. "The AFDT demands ... an audit of the collection chain for electoral data, a manual recount of candidates' ballots, and the publication of the recount," AFDT member Nicolas Thiangaye said at a news conference attended by the two candidates. Kolingba and Ziguele lodged complaints with the constitutional court following the announcement of the provisional results by the elections commission last week. The court is charged with certifying those results and is expected to make a ruling this week. Central African Republic descended into turmoil in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian nation, provoking reprisals by Christian militia fighters. "The organisation of these elections by the National Elections Authority was tarnished by dysfunction and numerous irregularities which are of a nature to discredit the results of the polls," the AFDT said in a separate statement. Both Obamas speech on Tuesday and, for that matter, the Republican response by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, took pains to rebuke Trump, the real estate billionaire whose red-hot rhetoric has endeared him to some and dismayed others in the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama and Haley, although from different parties, offered a defense of establishment politics, a plea for optimism and a quest for common ground. Obama seemed to refer specifically to Trumps call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration following a deadly shooting attack last month in San Bernardino, California, by a couple authorities said had been radicalized. Trump has mounted much of his insurgent candidacy on the notion of America losing ground, both economically and in terms of global influence. Obama rejected that idea outright. Its easier to be cynical, Obama said, to accept that change isnt possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions dont matter." Soon after Obama concluded his remarks in the chamber of the House of Representatives, Trump tweeted: "The State of the Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time." While consistently criticizing Obamas record, Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a potential Republican vice presidential choice, also seemed to indict Trump's message. Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference, she said. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference." Like Obama, Haley did not mention Trump by name during her address but she criticized him in an interview on NBC's "Today show" on Wednesday while calling on the Republican Party to be more inclusive. "Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk," she said. Trump responded shortly afterward by telling Fox News that Haley has been "very weak on illegal immigration" for a long time. Paul Sracic, chairman of the politics department at Youngstown State University in Ohio, said Trump was dominating "our political discourse in a way that no one would have predicted even a year ago." "Donald Trump must be smiling tonight," he said. "He managed to make himself the target of not just the presidents State of the Union address, but also the Republican response. CRUZ WEIGHS IN Obama also appeared to single out conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the top challenger to Trump in the Republican race. Cruz has called for a massive bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria to wipe out Islamic State forces. Meeting the threat of Islamic State, Obama said, needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians. Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said Obama made the argument very well that leadership is not bombing the crap out of someone. Cruz quickly countered in a statement. Obama, he said, lectures us on civility yet he has been one of the most divisive presidents in American history. Both Trump and Cruz, who are topping opinion polls weeks before the early nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, have pledged to push the Republican Party in a more confrontational direction, and seek to undo much of what Obama has accomplished as president. Both candidates are likely in coming days to hammer the Obama administration on its approach to Islamic State. Republican strategists keyed on Obamas statement that the militant group was not a threat to our national existence, and mentioned the detention by Iran of 10 U.S. Navy sailors after two ships were reported to have crossed into its territorial waters. Republicans will disagree with the president that our enemies are not getting stronger and will likely quickly cite Iran has 10 American sailors in its possession at this very moment, said Republican consultant Ron Bonjean. Obama did not address the sailors' detention in his speech and Iran released the U.S. sailors on Wednesday after holding them overnight. Obamas defense of pragmatic politics may also help his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who is trying to stave off a challenge from self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest, said Bannon. Hes taking about holding up the establishment, he said. When the president makes a good case, it helps Hillary more than Bernie. Last year, the Philippines and the United States signed the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) granting Wasington increased military presence in its former colony, rotating ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations. "The list has been prepared many months ago when we had earlier discussions," Colonel Restituto Padilla told reporters, saying five military airfields, two naval bases and a jungle training camp were offered to the United States. "These are still subject for approval and we're going to hold final discussions about these areas." Three of these bases are on the main island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, including Clark airfield, a former U.S. air force base, and two are on the western island of Palawan, near the South China Sea. The Americans are also seeking access to three civilian seaports and airfields on Luzon, including Subic Bay, a former U.S. Navy base, a senior defence official told Reuters. Last year, more than 100 U.S. Navy ships docked in Subic and two advanced nuclear-powered stealth submarines made visits in the first two weeks of this year. In Washington, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said security cooperation with the U.S. had become more intertwined amid increasing tension over the South China Sea. The Philippines has filed a protest against China's test flights from an artificial island in the South China Sea, a foreign ministry spokesman said, describing the actions as "provocative" and a violation of an existing informal code. Every year more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped through the South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, which China claims almost entirely. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China's official Xinhua news agency, in an English-language commentary, said the EDCA would only escalate tension and "could push the situation to the brink of war". Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg Finding Peace of Mind: Discover These Five Places in Europe to Unwind Victor Fuentes 40-acre property in the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge turned from a sprawling oasis in the desert into a dried up patch of barren land in a matter of a mere few years. In August 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service diverted the creek from the property where Victor and his wife Annette Fuentes, the leaders of the Ministerio Roca Solida had founded the Patch of Heaven church camp, citing the need to preserve endangered species including the Ash Meadows speckled dace the that inhabit the refuge. Sometimes, I dont sleep over this, Victor Fuentes said recently, overlooking the grim picture from one of the churchs camp buildings. The Fuenteses purchased the property in 2007 for $500,000 after they were drawn to its beauty. Victor Fuentes, a Cuban exile-turned a Christian pastor said they poured money and labor into the project, turning it into a gem in the desert complete with amenities and a babbling brook its main treasure. Victor Fuentes still remembers the days when they were doing baptisms at the camp. Affected by the excessive heat and deprived of water, the vegetation at the camp soon withered, leaving a thin line of dead of trees near where the creek used to be. A flock of Canadian geese and other birds that had been attracted to water dont come to the Fuentes property anymore. The only thing that grows along the perimeter of the church camp now is weeds. Victor Fuentes describes the view outside the windows of his church camp as depressing. The December 23, 2010 rainfall resulted in $86,000 damage to the property after torrents of water gushed across its perimeter when the channel built by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wasnt able to accommodate it. The property incurred additional damages when a heavy storm swept through southern Nye County in October 2015. The damage estimate is now close to $225,000. On a recent tour through the property, Victor Fuentes surveyed the damage that had been wreaked by the last October flood. Cell phone videos recorded by Annette Fuentes show the floodwater rushing across the road leading to their property, something the Fuenteses claim wouldnt happen if the direction of the creek hadnt been changed. Joseph Becker, Fuentes attorney who also serves as a director and chief legal officer for NPRI Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation in Reno said the federal government had violated multiple constitutional rights in one swoop by diverting the creek away from the Fuentes property. After filing an administrative claim against the government in late 2011, they had to wait 13 months until the government acknowledged the filing and said it wouldnt pay anything. The case grew complex over the last four years, frustrating both Becker and the Fuenteses, who said that fighting a governmental agency in court has been a tough task. The seemingly simple case, as Becker put it, now involves several legal claims including negligence and free exercise violation. We (also) asked for injunctive relief to restore the land to what it was before, to put the water back, he said. Becker said they are now awaiting a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on whether former refuge manager Sharon McKelvey, who resigned upon being sued, may be held liable for damages to the church camp. Christy Smith, project leader for the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and several other representatives declined to comment, citing a pending legal case. Becker said they are also awaiting a decision from the Federal District Court on cross motions for summary judgment on the tort, free exercise and due process claims. Becker also argued that the failure of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to get the Clean Water Act permit and moving vested water rights away from the camp prior to diverting the creek constitute due process violations. In some ways, the reasons for doing what they did are legally irrelevant, but I do think they tell the story, Becker said. Report In a way, Becker said the Fuenteses are bearing the brunt of excessive government presence in Nye County where it controls more than 90 percent of the land. Expert report conducted by Blaine Reely, a civil engineer and hydrologist regarding hydrologic impacts to private property said that the construction of the dam and the channel located north and east of the Fuentes property resulted in a significant change to hydrologic regime and character of the property. The USFWS, their consultants and contractors, did not follow reasonable standards of the industry during the planning, design, engineering and construction of the Carson Slough Diversion Channel project, the report said. Specifically, the USFWS failed to consider potential adverse impacts to the plaintiffs property which resulted in flood damage, a continued increased risk of flooding and the potential for future loss of property as well as injury and/or loss of life to residents and visitors. Becker said he doesnt charge Victor Fuentes legal fees as a nonprofit, yet he has to bill for their out-of-pocket expenses such as traveling to various courts across the country and filing fees. The figure is in the tens of thousands of dollars. Any amount of money that we have, we have to use it for the case, Victor Fuentes said. On July 22, 2014, Nye County officials passed a resolution that references the Fuentes case asking the director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Dan Ashe to resolve the dispute by remitting damages and restoring surface waters to Ministerio Roca Solidas church campgrounds. In a follow-up letter on Jan. 5, 2016, Nye County commissioners said the agencys conduct and action in Fuentes case caused many in Nye County to view federal management actions over land within the county and state with a mixture of distrust and anger. Nye County is perturbed and irritated that your agency has not only ignored us, but has also conspicuously dismissed and delayed owning up to and remediating the damages caused to Ministerio Roca Solida for almost five years, the letter reads. The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge owns all of the bordering land around the Patch of Heaven. The Fuenteses are among a handful of people who still own properties in within the refuge boundaries that stretch across 23,000 acres. History Several maps that date back to the 1800s and 1900s show that the creek has always been on the land where the Fuentes property now stands. Refuge officials cut off the water and moved it to a higher elevation in the name of historic restoration, but Becker argued that the action contradicts historical records. What they have done is theyve cut off the water in the name of historic restoration even though theres no history to indicate that ever happened, they moved it to a place where its never been to a higher elevation side of the churchs property and they made a channel that hardly accommodates a spring flow, let alone any heavy rain, he said. Theres no history that where those buildings are has ever been flooded before until after they moved the water, Becker said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asserted that what they have do was to protect the endangered fish, but Becker claimed that in fact, the number of fish decreased as a result of those actions. It doesnt seem like what they did had any benefit on the fish population at all, he said. Becker said they have done a lot of depositions, filed cross motions for summary judgement. They had a hearing on a cross motions for summary judgment in July 2015, but Victor Fuentes said he had been very frustrated with the dragging. Much has been done, Becker said. We have gone all the way up to Supreme Court on the takings issue, but they didnt hear it yet. They may still do it. Future The case has garnered attention over the years that the Fuenteses had been trying to prove in court that the brook belongs to their property. But Becker said its not unique as conflicts between government and individuals on property rights occur fairly often. The reason the Fuenteses liked the babbling brook is because it served for meditational and recreational purposes and they wanted water for baptisms. Without water, the property is worth significantly less, Victor Fuentes said, although they dont have an estimate. Now, if the government isnt going to restore the property to how it was, then its resolved in a complete taking of the property, as Fuentes cant operate a camp that is constantly subject to flooding, Becker said. Since diversion of the creek, the amount of donations have diminished as did the number of groups visiting the church camp. Staying at the camp during the rain is now dangerous, Annette Fuentes said. Fortunately, the two times that this has happened, nobodys been here. But when they bring them in the buses, they drop them off Friday night, they come back Sunday, she said. While the injunctive relief filed by Becker said the government needs to restore the watershed to where it was before, he said the price could be too high. Its not really clear what will happen, Becker said. If the water could be restored to its pre-August 2010 situation, wed love to keep the camp, because this was their vision. Its not clear that that can still physically be done, he added. Becker said he fears that if the restoration costs are going to be high, the government may just file a condemnation action and take the property. In that case Becker said the government should pay its market value. Ultimately, Fuentes is also fighting to get reimbursement for his legal expenses. We are trying to get justice. If they are ultimately going to take it, then they should also pay for the damages that they caused in the meantime, the loss of use in the meantime and all the costs that weve incurred trying to ensure the justice is done, Becker said. But the property also has a lot of emotional value, as Fuentes said his family and members of the church and the community poured their soul into the place. Not only our labor, but our own finances, we put it over here to make this happen, he said. That was our vision. Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77 Area veterans looking to start a business now have an ally on their side, in the form of a new program courtesy of the Nevada Small Business Development Center. The program, called Boots to Business Reboot, is described as a free entrepreneurial education program offered to Nevada veterans by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in partnership with the Nevada Small Business Development Center. The curriculum provides assistance to all military veterans who may be evaluating self-employment opportunities. Business Counselor Allan Parker is one of two veterans presenting the program in Pahrump. He said the new Boots to Business Reboot program is also being rolled out nationally for veterans and their spouses who might have an interest in going into business for themselves. We will be talking to them about the fact that they picked up quite a few skills while serving in the military, which would be applicable to going into a business of some type, he said. We give them some indication of various businesses that had been started by veterans in the past, and we tell them some of the things they have to think about when going forward. One important aspect Parker mentioned was whether the prospective business owner can provide a service thats valuable to the community. We have a lot of assessment tools and we talk about the fact that they have to try to marry an interest with a market need, he said. They might have an interest in something, but if there arent prospects out there, who would be interested in what you are going to sell, or produce? One of the aspects we talk about is market research to make sure what you want to offer by way of a product is a need in the community. Roughly eight basic topics will be discussed from introduction to business ownership, to financing the venture, and market research. We talk to them about some of the initial steps of organization, where you have to have a legal structure, he said. You can be a self-proprietorship or an LLC. We also talk to them about the need for planning. Once you do a business plan, we talk to them about the fact that there are lots of resources that are available to help start businesses such as chambers of commerce, small business development centers or the Small Business Administration. We tell him about the fact that financing might be necessary in some cases. Boots to Business Reboot is a two-step program. Step one is a full-day training event providing veterans with an overview of business ownership as a career vocation. Parker said the second step takes the veteran even further into the world of starting a business, by way of a free eight-week online Foundations of Entrepreneurship course. Step two is where they actually have the opportunity to take an eight-week program which goes into much more depth of the nuts and bolts of actually starting a business, he said. This entire program is all free. All they need to do is register and sign up for it and we can go forward from there. We are conducting this in Las Vegas, Henderson, Laughlin, and of course Pahrump. Parker urged interested veterans to strike while the iron is hot, as the economy is showing positive signs of improvement in the last few years. He noted there are some indications from the Economic Development Authority that there are businesses who are looking at Pahrump and Nye County as possibly places to start businesses or relocate businesses into. Pahrump and all of Nevada is finally coming out of the deep dark days five to six years ago, and we are coming back, he said. We see signs of life and a good indication is the fact that home sales have picked up and home prices are increasing in value. We are coming into 2016 with cautious optimism. Additionally, Parker said veterans should also take time to think about exactly what they want their business model to be prior to embarking on such a venture. A lot of times, when veterans leave the military, they have a lot of ideas that they have thought about from their military service, he said. We ask if they have a business idea and whether its something they think would be of value to the community. They may not necessarily want to just go to work for another employer, but go into business for themselves. During the class, Parker will be joined by former Marine Hank Pinto, who has served as a business counselor at Small Business Development Centers in Arizona and Nevada, assisting new and seasoned entrepreneurs with business start-up, planning, budgeting and forecasting. Parkers background in corporate America includes management positions in sales, marketing, finance and business operations. He is presently the business development advisor for the Nevada Small Business Development Center, providing technical expertise and training assistance to small businesses, and director for the Nye County Regional Economic Development Authority, where he serves as president. The Boots to Business Reboot class is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 23, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., on the second floor of the Pahrump Chamber of Commerce building at 1301 S. Highway 160. Those interested can reserve a spot at (775) 784-1717. Additional information can be located online at www.nsbdc.org. Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. The old railroad town of Shoshone, California is being overrun by prospectors hoping to strike it rich. The small town, population 31, has seen long lines thanks to Powerball Lottery fever, which will see tonights drawing for an estimated $1.5 billion at 8 p.m. On Saturday, hundreds of would-be multi-millionaires, mostly from Pahrump 30 miles away, waited in line at the Charles Brown General Store and Gift Shop for four-plus hours to secure their respective winning lotto tickets for Saturdays drawing. Pahrump resident Loyal Watkins arrived in line at 11:30 a.m., when the payout was more than $900 million. Right now I probably have another two hours before I reach the counter to get a ticket, he said. I want to win some money and thats why I came out here. I usually start playing the lotto when it gets to at least $200 million because anything less would ruin me. Ive never won before, but one ticket is all it takes. I got here at 11:30 this morning and now its 1:30. I still have a ways to go. Pahrump resident Mary Neese must have arrived a few hours before Watkins, as she was more than 50 yards in front of him. Neese said she and her husband decided to take a trip to Shoshone just to try out their luck. It was a nice day to take a drive from Pahrump along with the dog and just enjoy the trip and talk to people, she said. I normally play lotto, but especially more when its this big. This is our third time out here because we came out last Saturday and it was nothing like this. We were able to walk in and I got my tickets and walked out because it only took just a few minutes. I dont pick my own numbers, I let them do it. We will spend $20 because it only takes one ticket with the right numbers. Nevada residents have to drive to California or Arizona because Nevada law does not allow for a lottery. Powerball is legal in 44 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The lottery involves drawing five white balls numbered one to 69, along with a red Powerball number between one and 26. According to lottery experts, people have much better odds literally making an accurate shot in the dark, as the odds of correctly selecting the winning combination of numbers stands at one in 292.2 million. The odds of being struck by lightning this year are one in 1.19 million, making it about 246 times as likely as winning the Powerball jackpot. Winners can choose one lump sum or have their payments doled out in annual installments. If theres a winner tonight, they will be able to accept a one-time payment of nearly $930 million. And thats after taxes. Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. Two Pahrump residents are in custody on preliminary attempted murder charges after an early Saturday morning shooting that sent one person to the hospital. Lee Anthony Daniels, 46, and Desiree Lewis, 36, were arrested in Las Vegas and booked on multiple felony charges in connection with the 12:11 a.m. shooting at the Pahrump Nugget Hotel-Casino. Daniels is being held in the Nye county Detention Center on $500,000 bail and Lewis is being held on $250,000. Both are scheduled to appear in Pahrump Justice Court on Jan. 19. The victim, a female whose name is being withheld, was transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas by helicopter after she sustained the non-life threatening injury to a leg. She is cooperating in the investigation. Nye County Sheriffs deputies and detectives responded after it was reported that a black adult male fired one round at a female inside the cafA after a verbal altercation had ensued between them. According to police, the male was then observed fleeing with another white female adult in a red vehicle. The incident was witnessed by several employees and customers, as well as captured on video surveillance. Jeremy Jenson, vice president of the Golden Casino Group that oversees the Pahrump Nugget, said in a statement the altercation took place between two couples in the Golden Harvest Cafe, which remained close until 3:20 a.m. One witness, who was in the parking lot during the shooting told the Times the suspects vehicle headed north on Highway 160. None of the other bystanders were injured. Daniels and Lewis were located in Las Vegas and arrest warrants were obtained. Both were arrested with the assistance of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Other preliminary charges listed for Daniels and Lewis include battery with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge a weapon in a casino and possession of firearm by prohibited person. The Nye County Sheriffs Office is asking anyone with information regarding this case, and who has not yet been interviewed by detectives to contact the Sheriffs Office at 775-751-7000. Arnold M. Knightly is the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times. Contact him at aknightly@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @KnightlyGrind DES MOINES A day after Gov. Terry Branstad called on lawmakers to address significant racial disparities in criminal justice, Iowas chief justice added his voice to the call to end racial disparity and modernize the jury system. Racial disparity is a community problem requiring community solutions, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady said in his sixth annual State of the Judiciary report to the Legislature. Cady outlined measures the judicial branch has taken to address racial disparities in the system, including training 716 judges, magistrates and other staff to recognize implicit biases that contribute to disparities. Three counties Scott, Linn and Johnson , are collaborating with Georgetown University to eliminate racial disparity in the juvenile justice system, he said. It has reduced school referrals to juvenile court by 61 percent. We will always face challenges in delivering on our promise of justice for all, challenges that are overcome when our values and virtues guide the actions we take and the decisions we make, Cady told the joint session of the Senate and House. Justice, he added, is important to every Iowan, and the condition of justice is vital to the overall health and prosperity of this state. To that end, Cady laid out five other priorities: Protecting children. Providing full-time access to justices. Operating an efficient full-service court system. Operating in an open and transparent way. Providing faster and less costly resolution of legal disputes. Like the governor, he also called for lawmakers to address the dark underworld of human trafficking that exists in many Iowa communities. Its not the first time he has told lawmakers of these priorities, Cady reminded them, and we remain committed to fulfilling them today. Progress has been made, Cady said, in increasing confidentiality of juvenile court records to realize the common goals of public safety and the best interest of our children. He highlighted the success of business courts and a process to expedite and lower the costs of civil litigation. Close to 400 civil actions have been fast-tracked, which exceeded Cadys expectations, and after an evaluation last summer, the Iowa Bar Association declared, Both the bench and the bar are highly satisfied with the initiative. To increase openness and transparency, Cady said the court heard oral arguments in four communities and visited 30 high schools and colleges. The judicial branch also is working toward expanding access to court documents. With statewide electronic filing, court users and the public have more access than ever. He added, however, the public and media do not have access from their own computers. He called for modifications in pretrial release programs that will not compromise public safety, but mitigate the adverse impacts job loss, separation from family, debt and the likelihood of future incarceration that stem from arrest. Cady offered no specifics, but said the judicial branch will work with the Department of Corrections, county attorneys and defense attorneys to find ways to improve the system. Achieving racial impartiality in delivering justice is a journey, Cady said. One stop on that journey is modernizing the jury system to give greater assurance that randomly selected jury pools represent a fair cross-section of each community. The judicial branch will begin to collect information on the racial composition of juries to determine if the process can be approved. When all Iowans have full confidence in the fairness of our jury system, justice is delivered, he said. Davenport police made an arrest Tuesday in another of city's armed robberies from 2015. The case closed this time is the Aug. 18 robbery of the Mother Hubbards Cupboard store at 7522 Northwest Blvd. Korey Randall Ross, 31, of Davenport, is charged with one count of first-degree robbery. According to the arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police detective Mark Dinneweth, Ross went to the Mother Hubbards Cupboard at 2:30 a.m. Aug. 18 armed with a handgun. He threatened to hit the clerk with the gun while at the same time demanding money from the cash register. After getting the money, Ross fled the store, according to Dinneweths arrest affidavit. Security cameras at other businesses in the area caught Ross fleeing the store. First-degree robbery is a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years, 70 percent, or 17 years, must be served before parole can be granted. Ross was being held without bond Tuesday night in the Scott County Jail. He will make a first court appearance Wednesday morning. Testimony will resume Wednesday in the trial of an 18-year-old charged with stabbing a Bettendorf High School classmate last spring. Drew W. Romkey, 18, is charged with willful injury causing serious injury. Prosecutors say he stabbed Jacob Woodard, 18, four times on April 11. Assistant Scott County Attorney Steven Berger told jurors in his opening statement that this is not a case of whodunit. Berger said Woodard was riding in a car belonging to Robert "Jackson" Gallagher, in the 6100 block of Lakeshore Circle, when Romkey spotted them and began to follow in his own car, Berger said. They wound up in a cul-de-sac, and thats where the tragedy in this case occurred, Berger said. Berger said Woodard got out of the car, went around to Romkeys car, and the two struggled. During the struggle, Romkey stabbed Woodard. One of the blows to Woodard's abdomen hit an artery, Berger said. One of Romkeys attorneys, Katherine Drummond, told jurors in her opening statement that her client had been attacked and beaten, which was video recorded, that day. Jurors will not be able to see the video because it was deleted, however, she said. Drummond said jurors will hear conflicting evidence and testimony and added there was no car chase that preceded the stabbing. She also argued that medical evidence and testimony at trial will dispute prosecutors' claims that Woodard was stabbed four times. My client is innocent, and Im confident, Im confident that you will agree with me that he should forever remain that way, Drummond said. Most of Tuesdays testimony centered on an incident that happened two days earlier involving Romkey and Gallagher, who is the son of Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher. The two had a heated argument that began over a girl Romkey was dating, several former and current students testified. Gallagher had at one time dated the girl, according to trial testimony. During the incident, the two hurled insults at one another, and Romkey challenged Gallagher to a fight, a 17-year-old girl testified. Another student, a 17-year-old senior, said Gallagher told him after class that he did not intend to show up for the fight with Romkey. The trial is expected to last through Friday. Prior to the start of testimony Tuesday, attorneys selected seven women and five men who will decide the case. Attorneys also selected two alternates, one man and one woman. The Davenport Police Department is sharing on its Facebook page this warning from the Internal Revenue Service. "The IRS is warning of an aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, has been making the rounds throughout the country. "Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, but are not. These con artists can sound convincing when they call. They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling. "Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or drivers license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting. Or, victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information. If the phone isn't answered, the scammers often leave an urgent callback request." IRS says it will never: 1) Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill. 2) Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe. 3) Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card. 4) Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. 5) Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying. If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue if there really is such an issue. If you know you dont owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, youve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484. The Davenport Police Department reminds the public they should never provide personal information over the phone unless they are sure of who they are a speaking to. If you are a victim of fraud where money has been taken, and you reside within the City of Davenport, please call 563-326-7979 between the hours of 7am and 7pm to file a report. The Scott County Board of Supervisors appears headed toward hiring a Dallas-based firm to help it find a new top administrator. Supervisors debated the merits of three firms at their committee-of-the-whole meeting Tuesday, and reached a consensus on hiring Waters & Co., a unit of St. Paul, Minn.-based Springsted Inc. The board is seeking to replace County Administrator Dee Bruemmer, who plans to retire later this year. A few weeks ago, the board agreed to hire an executive search firm to help in the effort. Ten companies applied for the job, and the list was narrowed to three firms, using the ratings of the five supervisors who employed a matrix to assess each of the firms. In addition to Waters & Co., the Mercer Group Inc. of Atlanta and Florida-based Colin Baenziger and Associates were in the top three. Waters scored the best of the three, said Mary Thee, the county's human resources director. Carol Earnhardt, a supervisor and vice chair of the board, said she was impressed with Waters' approach to involving the community via a survey, as well as online recorded interviews aimed at assessing how candidates think on their feet. Waters' bid for the work was $22,500, Thee said. Mercer's bid was $20,500, while Colin Baenziger and Associates came in at $24,750. The board is expected to take action at its meeting Thursday. Bruemmer has been the county's top administrator since 2008. Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, criticizing President Barack Obama as too inexperienced to have been handed the White House in 2008, questioned Wednesday whether Republicans are poised to make the same mistake this year. Huckabee met with about 70 people Wednesday at the Iowa Machine Shed, the 37th of 150 stops the campaign plans to make in the final month before the Feb. 1 caucuses. There, the former Arkansas governor blasted the president for what he said was few accomplishments in his short stint in the U.S. Senate. "Would we as Republicans make that same mistake?" Huckabee asked? "Wouldn't that be a little hypocritical if we did that?" Huckabee also was critical of rivals who he said are currently holding elective office, but are straying from them to campaign. "I've never personally had a job that would pay me $174,000 a year where I didn't have to show up," Huckabee said. "If you don't want the job, then have the integrity to resign from that job and go seek the job you want. But don't continue to let all of us in this room pay your paycheck." Attendance, or lack of attendance, rather, has been an issue in the GOP primary for weeks now. Many of the barbs have been aimed at Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. But Cruz also has been faulted for the same thing. So has New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Later, Huckabee told reporters the criticism could apply to all the senators in the race, as well as some of the governors. When asked specifically about Sen. Ted Cruz, who is leading in Iowa, Huckabee said, "He was a good lawyer, a good lobbyist. But I don't see in him that he has ever sat at the desk and been the chief executive and made personally and singularly those tough decisions." Huckabee, who was Arkansas' chief executive from 1996 to 2007, has long highlighted his experience in the governor's mansion, as well as his fights with the Clintons, to bolster his argument for winning the GOP nomination. But in a year when politicians with resumes have fallen out of favor with some voters, Huckabee felt the need to tell the crowd Wednesday that he's never gotten a paycheck from Washington, D.C. "Don't blame me," he said. A new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll says Huckabee is winning the support of 3 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa. In 2008, Huckabee won Iowa. And a Tipton man who backed him then and was at the Machine Shed on Wednesday said he'll support him again. "I still believe in what he says," said Ernie Jennings, who is retired. Jennings said he had considered Cruz, but "Gov. Huckabee seems a little deeper." He added the question of experience matters to him, too. "I think they need a little more hair on their chest before they get into the race for president," he said. Changing the way Illinois' legislative districts are drawn is one of Gov. Bruce Rauner's priorities, and he may get some help this year from outside the General Assembly. Despite the Republican governor's stance on the issue and his ongoing stalemate with legislative Democrats, putting the once-a-decade redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission has widespread bipartisan support, said Jim Bray, spokesman for the group Independent Maps. The change would require an amendment to the Illinois Constitution, and the group is making the third attempt in four election cycles to put the issue to voters. The Independent Map Amendment needs 290,216 valid petition signatures to get on the November ballot. At the end of 2015, supporters had gathered more than 483,000 of the 600,000 signatures they hope to collect by the early May deadline. "People want to be able to have fair elections, and they want to have choices when they go to the polls," Bray said. "They don't want to have the politicians deciding who gets elected." Currently, the Legislature redraws boundaries following each census, which critics say allows the majority party to carve up the state to its own political benefit. Because Democrats were in power after the 2010 census, the current map was drawn in their favor. The process protects incumbents and discourages people from running for office, Bray said. In 2014, for example, 60 percent of House and Senate races were uncontested. "If you like the status quo in Illinois and the way things are going in the General Assembly and you like your choices when you go to the polls, you should oppose this," Bray said. While the group has the backing of some Rauner supporters, such as billionaire Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto, who state records show donated $100,000 to the effort and more than $200,000 to the governor's campaign, its backers also include prominent Democrats, such as William Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon. State Rep. Mike Smiddy of Hillsdale is one of several sitting Democratic legislators supporting the effort. Another supporter is Republican state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield, who represents a safe GOP district and is currently unopposed in the November election. "It's great for me; I don't have a problem with that, obviously," Butler said. "But I think for the people of Illinois, it's bad when we don't have competitive districts." A similar proposal in 2010 didn't make it to the ballot because supporters didn't gather enough signatures. A circuit court judge removed a 2014 proposal from the ballot, ruling that it went beyond the scope allowed for a voter-driven amendment. Bray said Independent Maps learned from the previous attempts and is "confident that this amendment will pass muster with the (Illinois) Supreme Court." CEDAR FALLS, Iowa Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump highlighted two new polls of Iowa Republicans showing him the states front-runner once again as candidates make their final sprint to the Feb. 1 caucuses. Rather than try lower expectations, Trump told a crowd of about 2,000 people packed into West Gym at University of Northern Iowa that he wants to win the state and then the nomination. Its too close. I dont like it, so we have to change it, Trump said of some Iowa polls that have given a slight edge to Republican Ted Cruz. I dont want to come in second. I want to win in Iowa. He also made his desire to win clear in reiterating criticisms of that closest competitor. By the way, Ted is totally against ethanol. Please remember that, Trump said. And Im for ethanol. Cruz said at a stop last weekend in Oelwein that its utter nonsense that he opposes ethanol, and described his position as phasing out the renewable fuel standard along with getting rid of other mandated energy subsidies after five years and raising the blend wall for fuels. Trump also questioned whether Cruz is a natural-born citizen, as he was born in Canada to an American mother. Trump stressed that it is an area of unsettled law, though many legal experts have said Cruz is eligible, according to Politifact. It is certainly a complicating factor, Trump said. I want to win it very much on the merits, and I dont want to win it on technicalities, but thats more than a technicality, that is a big, big factor. Trump also knocked Iowans for their past support for caucus-winners who did not ultimately go on to win the nomination. You guys havent picked a winner in a long time. I hate to tell you this. I dont want to be a wise guy, Trump said. I want to have a mandate. If we win Iowa, I think were going to run the table. He also criticized the two leading Democratic presidential candidates, saying he thought Hillary Clinton would be the nominee even though she should probably be in jail and said he dreams of running against socialist Bernie Sanders. His warm-up acts, former "Apprentice" runner-up Tana Goertz and Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, also made clear Trump's desire to win by stressing the importance of caucusing for Trump and offering tips on how to do so. Trump also hit on his usual topics in an abbreviated 38-minute speech and took a slightly more muted tone on some issues where hes been outspoken. He spoke of having Muslim friends and Hispanic friends and said many are good people. He said that Mexicans crossing the border are taking advantage of the United States, but added that theyre welcome if they come here legally. While Trump said the Syrian refugees could be like the proverbial Trojan Horse, he added that he doubts they are but stressing the need to be cautious. Those statements paled to previous comments hes made about those two particular populations that brought out protesters to brave the zero degree temperatures to stand against Trump. I think were seeing his hateful speech is starting to incite violence against people in this country, so even though, its really, I mean, its dangerously cold outside, its really important that we take any opportunity we can to stand up to him, said Chris Schwartz, of the progressive Americans for Democratic Action of Iowa thats supporting Sanders. Schwartz said Trumps views are not only increasingly hateful and increasingly dangerous but oftentimes simply vague about how hed implement them. Its going to be huge. Its going to be great. Thats not convincing for, I think, most Americans, Schwartz said. Early in the protest that brought out more than two dozen protesters, despite the cold, who chanted Bigots cant be president Schwartz said he had few people challenging the protest. I think theyre too cold to react, Schwartz said. In other areas during Trumps speech, however, he was just as outspoken as he is known to be. He stressed more than once his support for the Second Amendment, saying at one point near the end of his speech, When a sicko hears gun-free zone, one of these sick people, thats like candy; thats like I want a piece of apple pie. The poses remain the same. Crow, warrior II, downward dog you name it, they do it. But Michelle Ladwigs hour-long yoga sessions held inside Quad-City pubs and restaurants typically dont follow the traditional flow, if there is such a thing, taught in studio classes. Coined Tippi Yogis, the 48-year-old aims to bring yoga to the masses. I think the unknown makes people feel uncomfortable, she told me after a recent class at Brix, a pizza restaurant and bar in Moline. I wanted to give people a place to practice that wasnt so intimidating. After a few cocktails, Ladwig promises any and all of those prohibiting self-conscious thoughts will quickly dissipate. Naturally, at Tuesdays lesson in a sectioned-off room at Brix, 425 15th St., Ladwig and her five students positioned beer or mixed drinks next to their multi-colored yoga mats. In between extra-tough stretches, the active, close-knit group of Gen Xers in their 30s, 40s and early 50s, paused for well-deserved, synchronized sips, sporadic dance parties and sing-a-longs. Its more fun, Jennifer Brockway, 37, said. I cant be quiet so this is perfect for me. In February, Ladwig will lead her $10 yoga classes at Brix on the first Sunday of the month, at Me & Billy in Davenport every Monday and back at Brix on Tuesdays. Proceeds from her Sunday classes benefit local charities. Initially, when the yoga instructor, who teaches English at Scott Community College by day, launched a once-a-month class in Sept., 2014, she reserved the drinks for afterward. But someone got brave and did it before, added Ladwig, who ends her classes with cheers, instead of Namaste. It might have been me I dont remember. Turn that dial If you enjoy the sounds of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and the Beach Boys, tune in to WQUD-FM 105.5. The new oldies/classic country radio station, which also will play hits from the Beatles and Elvis, has debuted in the Quad-Cities, Alma Gaul reports. Broadcasting out of Erie, Ill., Vintage Radio is not so much talk, but more about the music, according to one station representative. Taxpayers beware Con artists claiming to be Internal Revenue Service employees have launched an aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, according to Davenport police. Authorities warn that the callers use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers, and tell victims they must promptly pay the IRS owed money through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If you dont answer, expect an urgent callback request, according to the IRS. If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue if there really is such an issue. Feel the Bern? With less than three weeks to go before the Feb. 1 caucuses, one new poll says that Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has overtaken Hillary Clinton. Ed Tibbetts reports a Quinnipiac University Poll released Tuesday said that Sanders, a senator from Vermont, is leading Clinton, 49 percent to 44 percent. Meanwhile, four percent of the poll's respondents said they were for former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. Clinton, however, was seen as the most electable, with 85 percent of respondents saying she has a good chance of winning the general election, compared with 68 percent for Sanders. Sanders, though, led among people who said this would be their first caucus, 66 percent to 26 percent. Clinton was favored among those who have attended in the past, 52 percent to 41 percent. GO & DO Chicago-based Revolution Brewing, known for producing some of the "dankest" beers in the Midwest, will host a Tap Takeover tonight at Radicle Effect Brewerks in Rock Island. The bar, located at 1340 31st St., will begin serving five of the windy city brewerys beers, including its black India Pale Ale and its barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout, at 6 p.m. The Semper Fidelis Club of the Quad-Cities is seeking volunteers and new members to help plan and host a state convention in June in the Quad-Cities. The Quad-City club is an affiliate of the Iowa Association of Colored Women's Clubs, which is, in turn, affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs based in Washington, D.C. The local group is hosting the 2016 state convention in June, and members met Wednesday at Palmer Hills retirement community, 2617 Maplecrest Road, Bettendorf, to plan the event. For more information or to help, contact Barbara Wommack at 563-359-8677 or Essie Green at 309-373-5831. Transgender people in both Iowa and Illinois are protected by law. That means, businesses, government agencies and school districts take steps to watch out for the diverse individuals in the Quad-Cities. Ellen Reilly, learning support specialist for the Davenport Community School District, oversees 45 counselors in K-12. Reilly has a focus on mental health and the social/emotional health of students. There are a few transgender students in the district, and the goal is to make the students feel safe and secure in school. "Its a learning curve for all of us," Reilly said. If a student approaches school officials and asks for recognition as a transgender person, the first thing that is done to start a conversation, Reilly said. "Do the parents know?" is the main question. "If a student does not want us to disclose to their parents, thats a difficult situation." "Fortunately for us, most students do have parental support," she said, and the students tend to be self-aware and strong. "They know who they are," Reilly said, noting the sexual identity is more of an issue for adults around the youths. There are agencies and organizations in the Quad-Cities to help the students, and referrals are made when necessary. One such agency is The Project Quad-Cities (TPQC) in Moline. Clyde Lipp, program manager, said the organization offers free testing for sexually transmitted diseases and case management for those who are HIV positive. Tim Kelly, also a program manager at TPQC, works with transgender clients, some of whom he identifies on the streets of the Quad-Cities. Kelly said there is a lack of medical services for those identified as transgender people. Reilly said students are coming out as transgender younger than ever. Kelly and Lipp from TPQC agree. "There are very different and challenging dynamics for these kids," Lipp said. Kelly offers transportation to some of the children he meets, such as to substance abuse agencies to treat a drug or alcohol problem. He said some parents won't follow-up on help for their children, once they learn of the transgender identity. Lipp said the children suffer depression, anxiety and a sense of isolation. "It's a lack of ability to live authentic lives," he said, noting that society is neither very welcoming or understanding when it comes to transgender people. Young people these days are in touch with issues of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, including accepting the individuals, said Reilly, with the Davenport schools. "Youth are much more accepting than adults are." The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has bigger problems than Gov. Bruce Rauner. The U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to deal a massive blow to AFSCME and other public unions nationwide. Rauner and AFSCME are deadlocked after months at the negotiating table. AFSCME considers the four-year pay freeze Rauner wants a non-starter. Rauner's administration, facing a veritable budget crisis and multi-billion dollar shortfalls, says its bonus package more than compensates for the freeze while rewarding the best employees. The dreaded "impasse" label has been kicked around since Friday. But neither side will admit who said it first. Meanwhile, AFSCME's real threat sits in Washington. On Monday, the Supreme Court sounded what should be the retreat call for Illinois's largest public union. AFSCME should heed the warning and start actually negotiating before it's too late. Ten Californian teachers are suing, claiming that state laws requiring them to pay teachers' union dues violates their First Amendment rights. The 10 teachers don't agree with the union's political agenda. And, therefore, state law essentially forces them to fund a fundamentally political public organization, they argue. The court's typical swing vote wasn't exactly feeling the Obama administration's argument, on behalf of the public unions, that collective bargaining roles are apolitical activities. Everything public unions do -- because of their place within the public sphere -- is inherently political, Justice Anthony Kennedy correctly noted. Many critical points are matters of public concern, Kennedy said. AFSCME should take heed. Public employee compensation is a highly political issue. Forcing anyone to fund an agenda is likely an attack on their free speech. And the Supreme Court's apparent distaste for outdated precedent would strip public unions throughout the country of captive funding streams. Even in Illinois, the days of out-sized union clout might be waning. The fact is, AFSCME has ignored Kennedy's rational perspective for months. Illinois is broke. Rauner is facing compounding budgetary shortfalls. And the Democratic-held Legislature, in concert with AFSCME, spent its time unsuccessfully moving to strip the democratically elected Rauner of his executive right to bargain with the unions. It's not as if AFSCME's peer organizations haven't seen the writing on the wall. The Teamsters, the Laborers' International Union of North America and the Service Employees International Union, all have struck deals with the Rauner administration, which is pitching essentially the same exact package to AFSCME. AFSCME, not Rauner, is the problem here. Supreme Court justices hinted Monday that they might soon strike down decades of precedent and gift Rauner the very right-to-work zone that he couldn't hammer through in his first year in office. The tea-leaf-reading class predicts a substantial political upheaval if the decision weakens public unions. Labor's typically pro-Democratic funding arms would be neutered if the high court strikes down mandatory dues, pundits say. It would be a massive victory for Republicans in a post-Citizens United world, packed with Super PACs and politically active not-for-profits. Again, unions are political machines. Nothing more. Nothing less. AFSCME, like too many other public unions, has forgotten that the taxpayer foots the bill for its members. It has forgotten that its members enjoy a budget-busting pension, the likes of which haven't been available in the private sector for decades. It's forgotten that those very same taxpayers are grappling with stagnant wages, rising taxes and, thanks to Illinois's massive pension debt, reduced services. AFSCME has forgotten that its members work for the citizens of Illinois. But the Supreme Court might soon deal it a rude awakening. In December, women in Dubuque caucusing for Sen. Bernie Sanders met to discuss the election. I created this group because there needed to be more input by women. We found that Sanders policy ideas support women more than the other candidates. Sen. Sanders has a record of supporting economic opportunity for middle-class women and women in poverty. He has stood up to big banks and the military industrial complex, both of which have harmed women throughout the world. The war in Iraq, as well as other military engagements, has created an unstable region, creating extremists who generated policies which have perpetuated violence, rape, and human trafficking. Sen. Bernie Sanders has predicted this instability since 2002. As a woman supporting Bernie Sanders, I urge women to caucus for him for the following reasons: Sen. Sanders has a long-term vision, rather than short-term band-aides Sen. Sanders cannot fix everything, which is why he is calling for a unified movement against greed Sen. Sanders has a reverence for the social, political, economic and ecological consequences of climate change Sen. Sanders committed to appointing progressive members to the Supreme Court. I am a feminist. And I am caucusing for Bernie Sanders. Brynn McDonnell Dubuque A sapphire and diamond brooch in the shape of a fern from the President of Sri Lanka. We haven't seen this one yet. A diamante brooch from The Queen's Royal Lancers. I assume this refers to the Royal Lancers Badge we saw The Queen wear in May 2015. A sapphire and silver brooch from HMS Ocean, which Her Majesty has already worn. The Queen wears her HMS Ocean Brooch Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Jewellery, Joel Rouse/ Ministry of Defence During her trip to New Zealand and Australia with The Prince of Wales, she received a pair of white gold earrings from the Mayor of Nelson, a brooch from the National President of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, a bracelet from an individual, a brooch from a member of the public, and a pewter ANZAC brooch from the Mayor of the City of Albany. While visiting Ireland, she was given a pair of pearl earrings from an individual and a set of silver jewelry (a pendant and chain, earrings, and a bangle) from another individual. She was also given a gold brooch from the Principal of the Claddagh National School. She promptly wore her Irish Claddagh Brooch for the next few days of the trip. Listed among The Prince of Wales' gifts from his solo trip to the Middle East is a brooch from the Crown Prince of Kuwait, and I wonder if that was intended for his wife. He also received a gentleman's wristwatch and other gifts from the Crown Prince. The Duchess of Cornwall wears her Irish Claddagh Brooch Northern Ireland Office, licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons The royal family released the annual royal gift lists today, reporting those items given to them as official gifts throughout the previous year. (They do this every January: 2014 2012 .) Buckingham Palace's list includes 92 official gifts for The Queen, among them a marzipan model of the Brandenburg Gate and a black handbag from her trip to Malta.There are just a few jewelry items of note:Buckingham Palace also released gifts from other family members, including a door plaque that says "Princess Sleeping" in Welsh for The Princess Royal. The Countess of Wessex cleaned up on a trip to the Czech Republic, where she was given a jeweled brooch, an evening dress, three pairs of earrings, two brooches, and a crystal pendant. You can see one of her brooches at the Countess of Wessex Blog , and she wore the evening dress to the wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden In contrast to Buckingham Palace, which releases all official gifts, Clarence House releases only those given on official overseas trips. There are not many jewelry items listed for The Duchess of Cornwall, most probably of a smaller, more personal nature:Since only gifts given on overseas trips are published for The Prince of Wales and his family, and there were no such trips for The Duchess of Cambridge last year, there are no jewelry additions to report for her. Prince William (and other members of the family) were given plenty of gifts for Prince George and Princess Charlotte, though.Official gifts are those received during an official engagement or in connection with an official royal role. These gifts are not the private property of the royal recipient. Members of the royal family can use these gifts for their lifetime; on their death, they are passed to the monarch, who will decide if they should become part of the Royal collection or continue to be used by the deceased's successors. The official gift policy was created in 2003 following issues with distribution of gifts; it can be read here Eli Rabett Eli Rabett, a not quite failed professorial techno-bunny who finally handed in the keys and retired from his wanna be research university. The students continue to be naive but great people and the administrators continue to vary day-to-day between homicidal and delusional without Eli's help. Eli notices from recent political developments that this behavior is not limited to administrators. His colleagues retain their curious inability to see the holes that they dig for themselves. Prof. Rabett is thankful that they, or at least some of them occasionally heeded his pointing out the implications of the various enthusiasms that rattle around the department and school. Ms. Rabett is thankful that Prof. Rabett occasionally heeds her pointing out that he is nuts. Either the big guns will get you or I'll load up the trike with Talibanfan and pay you a visit. PIERRE South Dakota honored Korean War Veterans with an Ambassador for Peace medal ceremony Tuesday, Jan. 12, in Pierre. The South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs (SDDVA), in collaboration with the Republic of Korea, hosted the event in the Capitol Rotunda. The Ambassador for Peace medal is bestowed in an expression of appreciation from the people of the Republic of Korea for those who served in Koreas land, air and sea from Jun. 25, 1950 through Oct. 25, 1954. Applications for awards presented at this ceremony had to be submitted by Oct. 29, 2015. However, the S.D. Department of Veterans Affairs will continue to work with veterans to secure their medals. It has been an honor to work side by side with the MVPA on this ceremony, said Larry Zimmerman, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs. They recognize what these heroes have given and as a token of their sincerest appreciation they will present them with an Ambassador for Peace Medal which symbolizes their adoration and appreciation for their service and sacrifice. Clara Mae Selk STURGIS Memorial services for Clara Mae Selk, 82, of Sturgis, were Sunday, Jan. 10, at 2 p.m., at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses, 2250 Moose Dr., Sturgis. A private family interment was Tuesday, Jan. 12, at Black Hills National Cemetery, Sturgis. After declining health, Clara entered Sturgis Regional Senior Care in June of 2013. She passed away Thursday, January 7, 2016, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Clara Mae Selk was born July 28, 1933, in Kidney, Michigan to Fred and Martha (Mahoney) Smith. She attended school in Penny Pog, Michigan. While Clara was working in Bad Ax, Michigan, she met Henry Selk who was stationed in the U.S. Air Force at Port Austin, Michigan. They married May 4, 1953, in Kidney, Michigan. Shortly thereafter, Henry was stationed on a radar site in Ontario, Canada, and Clara went back home to live with her folks for a year. They moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for several years before they were shipped by the Air Force to Skull Thorpe, England from 1957 to 1960. Upon their return they were stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base for a year before Henry was discharged. Clara Mae and Henry were baptized in March of 1962, symbolizing their dedication to Jehovah. In 1972, they were asked to go to Sturgis, SD, to help start a congregation there, where they have since continued to live. Clara loved watching Wheel of Fortune, collecting things, (including beanie babies, rings, and small diecast VW bugs) and garage saleing (she was even nick-named the Garage Sale Queen). Her favorite activity was spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved sitting and listening to Henry play his guitar and sing to her, especially if the song was, I love You Because. She will be deeply missed and forever loved. Those left to mourn her passing include her husband of 62 years, Henry; son, Steven (Sue) Selk of Ankeny, IA; daughters, Cindy Steele (Orville, deceased) of Black Hawk, SD, and Sharon (Jeff) Gartner, of Winona, MN; 4 grandchildren; 5 great grandchildren; her dear friend, Rita Gerard of Sturgis; and many other dear family members and friends. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.kinkadefunerals.com. PIERRE | Gov. Dennis Daugaard broke from the South Dakota Republican Partys mold Tuesday and asked the Legislature to increase the state sales tax by one-half cent. He wants more than $60 million for improving teachers pay, from an average of just over $40,000 to $48,500, and $40 million for cutting property taxes. South Dakotas average pay for teachers is the lowest in the nation and is $8,000 behind North Dakota, Daugaard said in his State of the State address, delivered to a joint assembly of representatives and senators in the House chamber. This is the year, Daugaard said. This is the year to get out of last place. This is the year to act. South Dakotas state sales tax is 4 percent, where it has been since 1969. Estimates are the 0.5 percentage point increase in the sales tax would generate more than $100 million. To make his plan balance, however, the governor would need to roll in $19 million of pension fund levies already being collected locally by school districts. His plan includes several other moving parts. The governor kept his plan secret from the public until a few minutes into his State of the State speech opening the 2016 legislative session. Republican legislators will decide the fate of his proposal during the 37 working days that remain in the session. For the sales-tax increase, he needs a two-thirds majority in each chamber. The House members are 58 Republicans and 12 Democrats. The Senate members are 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats. "To do two tax increases in a row, back-to-back is tough," House Majority Leader Brian Gosch, R-Rapid City, said, referring to fuel tax increases that lawmakers approved last session for road and bridge funding. Rep. Jacqueline Sly, R-Rapid City, who last year co-chaired the governors Blue Ribbon Task Force on Education, acknowledged that persuading two-thirds of the Legislature to support a sales tax hike could be a challenge, and encouraged her colleagues to be open to the increase but also to other revenue options that may arise. I think that anytime were looking at a change in tax revenue and asking for more, that there is a process and some will support and that some wont, she said in an interview with the Journal. The work begins now as legislators; talking to people and seeking support for that, or maybe seeking another path if that is needed. Pressure has mounted to raise teacher pay, which a state task force studying education funding said is the lowest of the 50 states and District of Columbia. South Dakota's average teacher pay of $40,023 in 2013-14 lagged an average of the six states that border it by $11,888 a year and was $8,643 behind the next lowest neighbor, North Dakota, according to the group. South Dakotas two major education organizations representing teachers and school boards immediately gave their public support for Daugaards plan. Democratic legislative leaders said they want a one-cent sales tax increase with the tax repealed on food purchases. Daugaards plan would offer the first substantial amount of property tax relief since Bill Janklows time as governor. Daugaard also would change the school-aid formula, basing it on teacher-student ratio and school size. Daugaard generally followed the recommendations of the blue ribbon task force on teachers and students that he appointed in 2015 to study topics such as whether there is a teacher shortage. Sly said she was pleased Daugaard accepted many of the task force recommendations, including the sales tax hike to raise new and consistent money to raise teacher pay. It indicates that the work of the task force was really looked at and considered, Sly said. She said she was intrigued by the governors idea to use some of the sales tax money to provide some property tax relief for South Dakotans. People who are paying property taxes feel really burdened right now, so I think that could be good to offset some of that burden, Sly said. Daugaard's plan called for mentoring of new teachers, recruitment of more people into the teaching profession and rewards for nationally recognized teachers. He also recommended a variety of financial changes for school districts, such as counting all other revenue including traffic fines, bank taxes and wind taxes as part of local effort in calculating state aid; capping reserves in three years; restricting capital-outlay taxes; holding schools accountable on teacher pay; and encouraging consolidation of non-classroom responsibilities such as bookkeeping. Daugaard also asked that Northern State University expand its e-learning center to provide more classes to high schools through videoconferences and Internet communications. He emphasized that not every teacher will make the target salary of $48,500, and that not every teacher will get a raise of $8,500, and that not every school district will be guaranteed that level of funding. Daugaard also wants to encourage efficiency from school districts, and will push incentives to share services across districts. He's also proposing to reinstate caps on school reserve funds so that new state dollars are actually used to increase teacher pay. The proposal sends the message that the state needs to do everything it can to attract and retain teachers and that "it's no longer acceptable to be 51st," said Mary McCorkle, president of the South Dakota Education Association, a more than 5,000-member education professionals' organization. South Dakota's Democratic legislative leaders also welcomed Daugaard's plan to put new revenue toward teacher pay, but said more money is necessary. Democrats proposed a 1-cent sales tax increase, with a corresponding exemption on food, to put about $130 million toward a target average teacher salary of $50,000 and other programs. On other issues, the governor again exhorted legislators to consider an expansion of the Medicaid health coverage program for disabled and low-income people. Daugaard's position is a departure from other Republican governors nationally who have declined to expand Medicaid because they oppose President Barack Obama's federal health overhaul. But Daugaard has said the state's costs for expansion would have to be covered by savings in part by expanding access to services that are fully funded by the federal government. That would free funds for boosting potential enrollment by about 50,000 residents. The deal needs the backing of the federal government, the Legislature and South Dakota's Native American tribes, who are a key part of the plan. Tribal members would see more accessible and improved health care if the changes go through, according to a group Daugaard established to study expansion. The governor asked skeptical Republican lawmakers to reserve judgment on the expansion plan until the state receives final word from the federal government. The Republican governor said he shares some of their concerns. To the tune of about $8 million a year, Rapid City school officials sounded grateful to Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Tuesday over his proposals to raise teacher pay. An upbeat Superintendent Tim Mitchell said in a Tuesday press conference that Daugaard's plan could be "the biggest funding win for education in our state to date." By Mitchell's estimate, the local district would receive about $7.8 million more annually from the state. Rapid City school board member Dave Davis called the plan "an extremely bold move." Davis served on the task force that urged the state to raise the pay of South Dakota public school teachers or risk losing the best to higher-paying states. "We haven't had a governor with the guts to do it," Davis said. Daugaard wants to raise the state sales tax by a half-cent, generating more than $100 million a year. Most of that would go back to local school districts with the intent of Daugaard that the money be spent to pay teachers. The remainder, about $40 million, would be pledged statewide to property-tax relief. The average pay for a schoolteacher in the state was just more than $40,000 in 2013-2014, the lowest in the nation. Daugaard's goal is to raise the average teacher's pay to $48,500. Katy Urban, spokeswoman for the RCAS, said the average teacher in the district makes about $46,000 a year. Of the additional $7.8 million the RCAS would receive under Daugaard's plan, $2 million would go into the general fund for pensions, untouchable for operations, leaving $5.8 million in state money. The RCAS Board of Education would then have the option of using some or all of that $5.8 million on teacher pay. Mitchell said there technically would be no restrictions on spending that amount, but he added that Daugaard expects districts to use at least some to bolster teacher pay. For the 2015-16 school year, the RCAS took $4.1 million from the capital outlay fund, placed it in the general fund and used it on allowable expenses, not including salaries, which cannot be paid for by capital outlay. But by using that $4.1 million on the allowable expenses, the district freed up money to give sizable raises to many teachers. If the district receives the $5.8 million, the board could use it to sustain the raises granted this year, plus have $1.7 million for salaries or other general-fund expenses. Mitchell also said the board could pay back to the capital outlay fund the $4.1 million from the $5.8 million. But in that circumstance, he said, the payback probably would be temporary, as the district would need more money from capital outlay to sustain the raises granted this school year. Under the current law, the permission to use capital outlay money for general-fund expenses expires in two years, but Daugaard is proposing that continue past 2018. Daugaard's plan "gets a little complicated," Mitchell said, but is still a positive for the district. "Without this money," he said, "we would be looking at more massive cuts" in the district. Daugaard also wants to cap how much money school districts can keep in reserve. Mitchell said that isn't a concern in Rapid City. "We've spent that all down," he said. Some serious bucks are slipping through the fingers of South Dakota residents thanks to a generous allotment of tax exemptions. Considering that around 80 percent of our state's tax revenue come from sales and use taxes that amounted to about $1.2 billion in 2014, it's amazing to me that we leave nearly that much on the table by a pretty darn liberal distribution of exemptions that amounted to nearly $1 billion in 2015. I hope you'll take the time to to check out this eye-opening list of exemptions and ask yourself if it can be pared down to a point where a serious amount of those exempted potential revenue sources can be harnessed and put to work in our state. After going through the list myself I'm pretty dismayed. About a third of the exemptions $350 million are given to the "Agriculture Group," many of which look more like favors than a reasonable recognition of the fact that many of the sales (feed, fertilizer and livestock, for example) are effectively wholesale in nature. Those should be exempted. But I have reason to question others. For example, non-ag businesses have to pay sales taxes to mechanics, fuel providers and for insecticides. Ag producers don't. Those three exemptions alone total almost $60 million a year. That kind of money would go a long way in this state, and it doesnt put much of a dent in the states net farm income in recent years, which generally hovered around $4 billion a couple of years ago. I get that the ag production industry has some vicious swings, but I also know from my many years as a commodity broker and livestock feeder that risk-management opportunities abound, many of which cant be employed by other businesses that constantly deal with risk. As to those other business, some get some interesting exemptions themselves. Consider that advertising agencies don't have to charge sales tax on their services, exempting them from nearly $20 million a year in collections for the state. Meantime, commodity brokers in the "Financial Group" don't have to charge up to $7 million worth of sales taxes. Insurance company agents don't collect $3.5 million for selling their products. Even rodeo clowns get a break, not having to charge rodeos for their services. Since when did the rodeo clown lobby get so much clout? There are more. It's a long list, worthy of the intense review that should be on the legislative agenda. Given the tightness of funding in this state, theres exempted money that could be dedicated to improving teacher salaries and paying infrastructure repair. A comprehensive examination of the exemptions is long overdue. People and businesses that are spared from paying sales taxes are gaining just as much benefit from the services that sales taxes provide as the rest of us. I think there's room for spreading out the obligation and helping out with the state's fiscal challenges. Tournament of Roses float worthy investment The Rapid City Journal is misguided as to its opinion of the S.D. Department of Tourisms investment in the state and Tournament of Roses. Annually the economic impact from tourism on the state hovers around $2 billion. Tourism generates $300 million in local and state taxes, as well as close to 28,000 jobs. The taxes brought in by tourism reduce every S.D. households state taxes by $880. Every dollar the state spends on marketing returns $5 in taxes to South Dakota. The Journal failed to note this years Rose Parade theme, Find your Adventure, celebrated the National Park Services Centennial 2016. A number of National Parks throughout the U.S. were featured in the parade. Mount Rushmore is a double hitter this year as a national memorial, as well as the 75th anniversary of the completion of the monument. By far the greatest tourism draw in the state is Mount Rushmore. The Tournament of Roses parade is broadcast by multiple networks and viewed by millions globally. Advertising to that magnitude of an audience should have cost millions. The state is fortunate to receive such a great value for their expenditure. Money well spent Department of Tourism. Judy Allen, Rapid City Trump would hurt US economy as president Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy four times. When a business files for bankruptcy that is an admission of ultimate failure of that business. When a business files for bankruptcy that is absolute failure of leadership of that business. Donald Trump has built his fortune on the backs of his creditors and taxpayers. Does our fragile economy really need someone that is an expert on bankruptcy? Donald Trump would be a huge anchor dragging down our economy. Republicans have no time for facts (per Romney) and do not have time for logic and common sense. Studies have proven (one by a Republican) that Democratic presidents and their policies are far superior in economic results than that of Republicans. These studies covered several decades. Why do we want Republican extremists now to further damage our economy? Howard Reid, Belle Fourche 744 CSC Elevator Maintenance Service RFP Chadron State College is soliciting specific proposals from qualified vendors to provide Elevator Maintenance Services that will adequately meet the needs of the College while promoting the greatest extent of competition that is practicable. Prices quoted should include all taxes and fees, hourly rate, and travel costs. Pricing quotation should include full service maintenance for the traction elevator and quarterly maintenance service for the hydraulic elevators. All inquiries for information or requests for a Proposal Offering Form should be directed to: Chadron State College Dale Grant, Vice President for Administration and Finance 1000 Main Street Chadron, NE 69337 Chadron State College reserves the right to reject any or all proposals or parts thereof, and to waive any irregularities of any RFP. The College also reserves the right to negotiate on any proposal and accept whatever proposal will be in the best interest of the College and the State of Nebraska. Publish Jan. 13, 20 and 27, 2016 Moscow court dismisses complaint over investigation into Egyptian plane crash MOSCOW, January 13 (RAPSI) Moscows Basmanny District Court on Wednesday dismissed a complaint against investigators which had been filed by families of passengers killed in the Kogalymavia crash in Egypt, RAPSI reports from the courtroom. Families accuse investigators of inaction during their investigation of the crash that killed 224 passengers aboard. As of today, nobody knows whats going on with the case, under which articles it is being investigated and whether investigators have already returned from Egypt, the lawyer for the relatives of the victims, Igor Trunov, said earlier. The families initially requested that the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, look into the allegations. Bastrykin did not respond to a request, and families turned to court, Trunov said. The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia, crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula on October 31. The airliner was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia. A militant group linked to Islamic State said in a statement that it had brought down the plane in response to Russian airstrikes in Syria. Lithuanian court denies EUR 30,000 bail for Russian national accused of 1991 crimes MOSCOW, January 13 (RAPSI) The Vilnius District Court refused to release Russian national Yuri Mel, 47, who stands charged with involvement in clashes in January 1991 after declaration of independence from the USSR, on 30,000-euro bail, Interfax reported on Wednesday. On March 12, 2014, Mel was arrested on Kaliningrad's border with Lithuania. Two days later he was placed in detention. The court has repeatedly extended Mels detention. On December 11, his detention was extended for three months. Mel stands charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He may be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. Lithuania's Prosecutor General's Office has declared 79 citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine suspects in the criminal case opened in the aftermath of the clashes. They are suspected of battery, murder, endangering other's wellbeing, as well as unlawful military actions against civilians. A court in Lithuania has issued European arrest warrants for the suspects who reside outside Lithuania. Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990. Moscow denounced the move as illegal and put an economic blockade on the country between April and late June 1990. In January 1991, a series of unauthorized protests swept across Lithuania after which Soviet military forces entered the republic. On the night of January 13, Soviet armored vehicles and tanks rolled into the center of Vilnius. Soviet troops clashed with civilians at a local TV tower, leaving 14 dead and over 600 injured. Security personnel later claimed that the clashes were a result of a provocation, and that the victims were killed by sharpshooters. On June 4, a court in Vilnius acquitted Boleslav Makutynovich and Vladimir Razvodov, former officers of riot police special unit, who were suspected of committing crimes during the clashes in 1991. The former riot police officers, who live in Russia, were tried in absentia. Denver CO Agrium Wholesale, Agriculture Specialties a leading supplier of agriculture fertilizer products, has created a unique opportunity for a student enrolled in an agriculture-focused college or university program to become the first ESN Smart Intern. This two and a half month internship will focus on the production, marketing and sales of industry leading speciality fertilizer, ESN, which is the only polymer-coated controlled-release fertilizer available for broad acre crops.We created the ESN Smart Intern program as part of our ongoing commitment to support the next generation of agricultural innovators. The successful applicant will receive valuable hands-on learning and insights into the core business areas of marketing, sales, manufacturing, communications, public relations and agronomy within a leading global company, says Todd Latimer, Marketing Manager, Agriculture Specialties. We are pleased to provide an opportunity for young people to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to agriculture at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving.Students are asked to submit a video or other multi-media application online at www.esnsmartintern.com by March 16, 2016. Applicants must share their understanding of how smart fertilizer usage is advancing sustainable agriculture practices and explain how this technology positively influences profitability, efficiency and environmental stewardship. The top student submissions will be posted on a microsite built specifically for the program and associated directly with ESN Smart Talk. One final student will be selected as the 2016 Agrium Wholesale, Agriculture Specialties ESN Smart Intern.For more information, visit www.smartnitrogen.com/linkgoeshere or @SmartNitrogen on Twitter. THOMPSON FALLS The Thompson River Animal Care Shelter is a no-kill facility unless there is no other choice, and in 10 years has euthanized only two dogs. Up until Thursday night, it had only been one. A distemper outbreak at the shelter has volunteers scrambling, and with the possibility of thousands of dollars in veterinary bills on the horizon prompted a plea for help on gofundme.com. TRACS co-founder Wanda Thorpe was transporting seven puppies to the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital on Friday, the day after an eighth puppy that was suffering severe seizures at her home was put down. They were part of 60 dogs 32 adults and 28 puppies TRACS took in a month ago from a California animal rescue group. The group rescued the dogs from two different high-kill California shelters in Madera County where 85 percent of the animals taken in are euthanized, Thorpe said. Most of the dogs are Maltese mixes or terrier mixes. Unfortunately, one of them had distemper, Thorpe said in a telephone interview as she transported the puppies to the Pullman, Washington, hospital. *** The dog that was the source of the sometimes-fatal virus has also died, but not before exposing several more, apparently during the plane trip to their new shelter. We thought they had kennel cough, Thorpe said, and dogs that appeared ill were given antibiotics and separated from the others. Dogs with puppies were also isolated, which is how Thorpe ended up with 10 of the 60 at her home. She took two adult females and their eight puppies that appeared healthy, but after distemper was identified as the culprit, one of the adult dogs tested positive for it. She pulled through it, Thorpe said, and now were trying to keep the babies alive. Its going to be a huge expense, but their little lives are worth it. In all, five adult dogs and all eight of the puppies she took into foster care tested positive for distemper, Thorpe said. A lot (of the adults) that did contract it pulled through with the help of the antibiotics wed been giving them, Thorpe said. Well be testing again this weekend. *** Owners of more than 20 dogs from the group that were adopted out before the distemper was discovered have been contacted, and those animals have either shown no signs of the virus or have tested negative, according to Thorpe. Were delighted about that, she said. The adult dogs have shown no symptoms, and there were seven or eight puppies adopted, and they all tested negative. Shelters in Coeur dAlene and Sandpoint also took in dogs from the same flight, but none have come down with the virus. Theyve both been through it before, though, and now only take dogs of a certain age that have been vaccinated for distemper, Thorpe said. That will be our protocol in the future. *** Those shelters told Thorpe it cost them between $1,500 and $2,000 per animal to treat their distemper outbreaks. Going off that, Thorpe figured she could be looking at as much as $14,000 in veterinary bills for the seven puppies she was taking to Pullman. They are the cutest little buggers, Thorpe said. Theyll be very placeable, very desirable, if we get them through this. Thorpe said she is in contact with Sandra Newbury, the director of the University of Wisconsin Shelter Medicine Program and an assistant professor at Wisconsins School of Veterinary Medicine. Newbury is guiding the testing procedures for TRACS dogs, she said. Thorpe said distemper is an ugly virus there is no real treatment for the virus. All you can do is treat the symptoms and try to get them through it. TRACS will remain closed for adoptions or intake until the situation is resolved, Thorpe said. The only other time a dog was euthanized at the shelter was because of concerns it might be carrying the rabies virus, Thorpe said. That turned out not to be the case, but the shelter acted on the side of caution, she added. Half-year elk hunts, wolf and lion management and what to expect in deer quotas lead the list of topics as Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff convene their annual season rules conversations in January. Hunters will have plenty to talk about, and plenty of options to talk in western Montana, where Region 2 has a dozen listening sessions scheduled in communities around Missoula. The tentative rules and regulations, available for review and comment now at fwp.mt.gov, include statewide and local regulations for antelope, black bear, bighorn sheep, bison, deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, mountain lion and upland game birds. Regional wildlife manager Mike Thompson said elk policies would probably top the agenda. An elk shoulder season pilot project in four hunting districts of Region 4 has generated thousands of phone calls to game wardens in the Smith River drainage between White Sulphur Springs and Cascade. Any hunter with an unfilled elk license can seek permission to hunt antlerless elk on private land in that area through Feb. 15. The goal is to reduce elk numbers on ranches and farms where theyre relatively safe from both human and feral hunting pressure. On Dec. 11, the FWP Commission authorized six of the states seven regions to explore their own shoulder season ideas for the 2016-17 fall and winter. Some could start as early as Aug. 15 and run through February. But before anything is imposed, the commissioners ordered each region to get public feedback on the proposals. That will be a big part of what we talk about, Thompson said. We have a handful of those weve proposed here in different local areas. *** But the conversation wont end there. Another topic many hunters may look forward to is a new way to untangle the system of elk licenses, permits and special permissions that has bedeviled the application process. Currently, hunters can buy a license over the counter to take antlered elk, but must enter a lottery for an additional permit to kill bulls in certain districts in the state. Still other districts allow bull hunting but use the lottery to award antlerless cow permits. And others, such as parts of the southern Bitterroot Valley, require hunters to request a free permit to use their bull license there. Were trying to simplify the tools we use for harvesting antlerless elk, Thompson said. One idea is to make the B (antlerless) license a second license, which would allow you to take two elk. Ironically, the hottest topic in past January listening sessions has been the crashing elk populations across much of western Montana. Now, 44 hunting districts across the state are over population objectives, prompting the early and late opportunities around the regular five-week hunting season in October and November. Elk numbers have been growing on private land in general, Thompson said. Its the public land where weve not been able to get control of them. During the commission meeting, landowners and hunters raised a bunch of questions that need answering with the future policies. Several ranch managers said it was hard enough to handle hunting permission requests and keep their livestock safe during the regular season adding four or five months of that wasnt something they were excited about. Some hunters, on the other hand, warned that Montana could be moving toward a situation like Colorados, where elk live mostly on private land and property owners charge steep fees for access. FWP game management bureau chief John Vore said the overall aim is to have at least half the annual elk harvest take place during the regular hunting season, which will require landowner participation. *** Beyond the elk questions, Thompson said he hoped to hear how some other seasonal tweaks have been working out. For example, the states wolf-hunting season has removed its quota limits, and also seen considerably quieter debate over wolf management. While some areas, including hunting districts along the Montana-Idaho border, continue to face intense predator pressure, other places are reporting a noticeable decline in wolf presence. Western Montana is also nearing delivery of a comprehensive mountain lion management plan that could rearrange how that species is pursued and killed. The multi-year review is looking at several different strategies and their results, and wont be presenting any major change ideas yet. Weve been trying to slow down a little bit and let people catch up with the regulation changes weve made in the past, Thompson said. Theres still plenty to fine-tune things. Rethinking Africa is a forward looking blog dedicated to the exchange of innovative thinking on issues affecting the advancement of African peoples wherever they are. We provide rigorous and insightful analyses on the issues affecting Africans and their vision of the world. Ben Voth Last night, President Obama gave his final State of the Union speech before Congress and some members of the Supreme Court. His speech was more about the long-term future and less about the immediate year remaining. The president's speech can be usefully compared to President George W. Bush's speech of 2008. This is important, because then-senator Obama gave an almost five-minute response to the president's speech in 2008. In 2008, President Bush made a number of points that remain salient today. Interestingly, President Bush called upon Congress to pass legislation reining in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the housing supports of the federal government. President Bush had repeatedly called for such reforms in his eight years as president. The Democratic control of the Senate and House beginning in January 2007 ensured that Barney Frank and Harry Reid would maintain the lax regulations encouraged by massive donations to the campaign of aspiring Senator Obama and other Democrats. Of course, that legislation did not pass, and those federal mortgage guarantee programs would inflate the housing bubble to its disastrous end in the summer of 2008 all to be blamed on President Bush and not the Democratic Congress that refused the reforms. In 2008, President Bush also celebrated the success of the Surge in Iraq that gave rise to the Anbar Awakening and a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq from 2006 and 2007. He warned that premature reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq would lead to a resurgence of al-Qaeda in Iraq and elsewhere. Senator Obama responded by saying that Iraq was not a success and that history would judge President Bush negatively. In last night's speech, President Obama laid Vietnam and Iraq back to back as clear examples of American failure confirming his response in 2008. The White House Twitter feed also celebrated as a success that President Obama has deployed 14,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today. This is apparently not an indication of failure or deception. President Obama refused to comment on the ten U.S. Navy sailors abducted by Iran and stuck to his strident line that "[n]o nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin." Iran dared, and the president refused Speaker Ryan's request for a report and some personal reassurances for the public on the matter. In 2016, President Obama did take time to point to his own accomplishments on the economy, energy, and foreign policy. He lamented his foremost regret that the partisan tone of Washington has increased rather than decreased. This connected well with his rather partisan attack against President Bush in 2008, when he explained how the president was wrong about most of his judgments, from tax cuts to Iraq. Obama's remarks last night emphasized that he had been successful even though some in the chamber might disagree. He enjoyed that humorous insight into the evening with some frequency. Therein lies the character flaw that in many ways defines President Obama and drove higher his greatest disappointment of increased partisanship. He does not share credit. He alone brings change. Those who agree with him contribute to and aid that change, but his opponents have nothing to offer. Did President Obama think that the election of Republicans to the House in 2010 led to or helped reduce the deficit? The president did not acknowledge or suggest that. Did the president think that Republicans or their constituent states and citizens helped bring about two-dollar gas that the president thought so remarkable to comment upon last night? No. In fact, his not so distant mocking of two-dollar gas and Sarah Palin's ridiculous notion that such a goal was achievable was far from the text of his remarks last night. Did the president commend President Bush for providing emergency loans so the auto industry could, as he noted, sell more cars in 2015 than at any other time in its history? No. President Obama did all these things even when he did not. The president's egocentric view of the world, through which he sees himself as uniquely gifted at political insights that his opponents so sorely lack, is symptomatic not only of his presidency, but also of the broader intellectual culture that supports him. In fact, the most stirring aspect of the president's speech last night was a call for Americans to rediscover their formerly perceptive characters that they apparently possessed in some prior past perhaps when Lincoln was president. And while the president and his supporters probably see those remarks as positive and idealistic, they epitomize a habit of failing to see how those who differed with him actually made America and the world a better place over the past eight years. The moral superiority of the president was so evident that not surprisingly, the president was swept into his own emotions. By the end of the speech, he was raising his voice and shouting the conclusion. The speech contained attacks that were not subtle on Donald Trump and the political base of the nation that agrees with him. President Obama knows better, and America will be better, insofar as we agree with him. The lead into the president's conclusion just like President Bush's 2008 speech was "we the people." Ostensibly, the president would again realize that 'we the people' are the government not he. But that was not what the president explained last night. We can become the good people of America again, if we listen to him. But we must reject the leadership of those names we shall not mention tonight like Donald Trump. It was a warning from the future by a political sage of vast intellectual superiority. The condescending have condescended. President Obama has not matured much from the reactive remarks he made against President Bush in 2008 to this final State of the Union in 2016. This lack of growth led to his biggest regret the growing impasses of partisanship in our nation. Ben Voth is an associate professor and director of debate at Southern Methodist University. He is an adviser at the Bush Center and debate fellow for the Calvin Coolidge Foundation. Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next. OUR SPONSORS Our sponsors offer the best services available and make The View From Fez possible. Please visit them by clicking on images below WARNING for European visitors European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies. Coppins was the country home for the Duke and Duchess of Kent and their family. It also welcomed a host of royalty, including kings and quee... Contributions to the Turner Report/Inside Joplin can be sent to: Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Apt. G, Joplin, MO 64801. Send information, news tips, documents, or comments you prefer not to share on the blog or on Facebook to rturner229@hotmail.com. Five killed in Saudi strike in Sanaa SANAA, Jan. 12 (Saba) A Saudi airstrike has targeted a car in Nehm district of Sanaa province, killing five citizens and injuring a woman. The car was carrying people displaced from Mareb province when was targeted by the aggression warplanes in Naqil Fardat Nehm, a local official explained. The official condemned the targeting of citizens by the aggression war aircrafts, calling on the honorable and free people of the world and humanitarian organization to pressure on the Saudil-led coalition countries to stop their aggression and crims against the Yemeni people. BA Saba Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [12/January/2016] Indian Cultural Forum, January 13, 2016 full text of Nayantara Sahgalas speech on January 8, 2016 in Hyderabad: Let me begin by wishing us all a happier New Year than the past year has been. Last year, we had to watch a series of events that attacked our democratic right of freedom of expression and our culture of secularism. It was a dangerous trend that we could not ignore, and we did not ignore it. Many of us took action against it, and the general public reaction against this trend sounded a note of warning to those who were responsible for it. But the danger is by no means over. Just the other day I was planning to see the movie Bajirao Mastani in Dehra Dun where I live, but a bunch of people turned up at the cinema and stopped it from being shown. The same thing has happened in Mumbai and I donat know where else. And it has happened with other movies, books, book launches, music concerts, exhibitions of paintings and so on. A gang turns up, maybe armed with sticks and stones, or black paint, or guns, and forces the closure of whatever they disagree with. It has become so usual, that apart from a small paragraph in the newspapers, nothing happens to the thugs who go on behaving this way. There have been incidents of violence against free expression before, but they didnat have the protection of people in power. Now the attack on dissent is both official, to wipe out history and science and replace them with mythology; and unofficial, by thugs, who have gone to the extent of murdering and lynching those who disagree with them. So the question is, Are we going to let other people dictate what we should read, or look at, or listen to? In the last year and a half this has become a question we canat ignore. This is why many writers like me returned our Sahitya Akademi Awards in protest against the murder of three writers a two of them well-known rationalists who had refused to kowtow to superstition. When these assassinations were followed by the brutal lynching of a poor blacksmith, Mohammad Akhlaq, on the excuse that he was a beef eater, the whole country was shocked and revolted. Many scientists, historians, film makers and film stars spoke up against the rising tide of hatred in the country, and the trampling of human rights. The President, and earlier the Vice President, had already spoken out against this ugliness. It was clear these were not isolated incidents. They are not just part of a fringe mentality that wants to control the way we live and think, and eat and worship. They are part and parcel of the outlook known as Hindutva whose objective is to establish a Hindu rashtra a which will divide Indians into Hindus and Others, treating all others as second-class citizens. So these incidents are an attack on our Indianness, and on the very meaning of India, which chose, at independence, to reject a religious identity, and become a secular democratic republic. One way of raising our voices against this threat is by holding festivals of literature like this one, where writers and readers and critics can get together to discuss and debate, and agree or disagree. This way, we give public notice of the fact that writers will go on writing the stories they want to write, publishers will go on publishing them, readers will read what they wish to read, and that none of us will toe the line of those who want to make rules about how we should think, or live, or worship, and they certainly cannot tell us what we should or should not eat. Life and literature are not in separate compartments, which is why our fight for the freedom to write has become a much larger one connected with our lives in general. In the past year, we have heard strange announcements that will affect our daily lives unless we vigorously oppose them. We have been hearing that women must be home before dark, that married women must confine themselves to looking after their homes, and not work outside their homes. Apparently their job in life is to stay pregnant, since we are told that a Hindu wife should produce a certain number of children so that the Hindu population increases. We might well ask ourselves, is this for real? But what else can we think, when these fantastic statements come from leading lights of the ruling Hindutva ideology, and no one in authority has contradicted them? Women are always the worst victims of fundamentalism, so how is such a mindset, if it is allowed to have its way, going to affect the lives of Indian women a barring the wealthy, independent upper crust, and those who are lucky enough to live in a liberal environment? We are already coping with a primitive mindset in parts of our society that forbids menstruating women, or any women, from entering temples; a mindset that aborts female foetuses, that persecutes or kills women for more dowry, that savagely punishes inter-religious or inter-caste marriages, and that calls rape the fault of the way women dress. Crimes against women are commonplace among us. Do we really need a fundamentalist mindset to make such thinking socially acceptable, and respectable? As it is, we are living in a world where the Taliban and ISIS and other fanatics are making life hell-on-earth for those who disagree with them, and reducing women to sub-human status. So we donat need any home-grown fanatics adding their own brands of madness to the madness that already surrounds us. Debate and dissent are part of Indian tradition, and they have never been confined to intellectuals. We have heard voices from the ground up, protesting against the Bhopal gas disaster, taking part in the Narmada Bachao Andolan, in the Chipko movement in Uttarakhand to protect the forests from destruction, on nuclear issues, and on many other issues that affect the lives of the aam-admi. And this right to dissent is particularly important today on the national level when we have to decide whether we want to go on building a modern society in the 21st century, which will remain open to knowledge and reason, or be pushed backwards into unreason, superstition, and ignorance. Raising our voices against the backward tide has made a difference. I have noticed that Christmas was allowed to be Christmas this year and there was no nonsense about calling it agood governance daya . Gandhi Jayanti, which was reduced to Jharoo Day last year, has not quite been restored to a day of remembrance of one of the greatest men of all time a but at least Ministers wielding jharoos have not filled the TV screens. In a democracy, public opinion has a huge role to play in reversing an evil tide. And fiction and films influence public opinion, not by making political statements or polemics, but by the stories they tell and the way they tell them. The greatest of these have always involved themselves with the controversies of their times, whether these were political, social or economic. I am reminded of a film classic of the 1940s called The Great Dictator, produced and acted by Charlie Chaplin. At a time when Europe was occupied and terrorised by Hitler, Chaplin made him a ridiculous figure and a laughing stock in a hilarious comedy. We have no shortage of creative genius in our many languages and in our film world. So it is a great time for creative people to go to work a through wit, irony, satire, and sheer comedy a on all that is happening today. So let me wish us all a year of great writing. And let me end by rejecting Hindutva and wishing us all a New Year of Hindustaniat and insaniyat. Oregon Marijuana Rules Advisory Committee to Meet January 25 Many or all of the 77,620 registered OMMP patients will be affected by these changes, and should be heard. Oregon medical marijuana farm, 2015. Photo by Bonnie King, Salem-News.com (PORTLAND, Ore.) - The next regular meeting of the Oregon Health Authority's Marijuana Rules Advisory Committee will be held Monday, January 25 from 9:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. The topic is: marijuana labeling and testing . The Marijuana Rules Advisory Committee was established after the passage of HB 3400 and SB 460 during the 2015 legislative session. The committee is reviewing rules for limited marijuana retail sales and residency; growers and processors; dispensaries; OMMP cards and registry; grow site registration; and labeling, concentration and testing. The meeting is open to the public, at the Portland State Office Building (PSOB), 800 NE Oregon St., (Room 1A, first floor), and will include a public comment period. For more information, contact the Oregon Health Authority's Office of the State Public Health Director at 971-673-1222 or health.webmaster@state.or.us, or visit the Marijuana Rules Advisory Committee website at www.oregon.gov/oha/mmj/Pages/RAC.aspx. _________________________________________ Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Click On Our Advertisers Ads Most of our ads have links to take you directly to their Websites. Just click on an ad and away you go. The Southern District of Florida blog was started in 2005 by David Oscar Markus , who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis. Print Media/Music/Video selections: RonDoids does not own the copyright to certain media posted within our site. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use." If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). Might misguided mens rea reform concerns derail federal sentencing reform's momentum? | Main | "'Not Ordinarily Relevant': Bringing Family Responsibilities to the Federal Sentencing Table" January 13, 2016 In wake of Obergefell, Alaska legislator introduces bill to ban marriage between inmates In this post right after the Supreme Court's landmark marriage ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, I asked in my post title "Might prisons struggle with new SCOTUS jurisprudence on fundamental right to marry?". To date, I have not yet seen many stories suggesting post-Obergefell prison problems. But this local Alaska story, headlined "Bill would ban prison marriages, but not for the reason you think," suggests the Last Frontier could be one of the first states to change its prison marriage laws since the ruling. Here are the basics: In his younger years, Anchorage Republican Rep. Bob Lynn served as a police officer in Tucson, Arizona. Last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, that decision and Lynns firsthand experience merged in his mind. On Friday, Lynn introduced House Bill 218, which would prohibit marriages at the states prisons. Lynn said the bill is a matter of fairness. If a same-sex couple falls in love within a prisons walls, he doesnt want them to have the ability to get married and share a cell with their spouse. Weve got a lot of prisoners who have a spouse outside the prison, he said. Thats not fair to them where somebody in the jail can have their spouse in there. Lynn said the bill would apply to same-sex and heterosexual couples alike; a person would not be able to get married to an inmate on prison grounds.... To accommodate a married same-sex couple who commit a crime together, Lynns bill includes a provision that would prohibit the Department of Corrections from putting the couple into the same facility. It also toughens the ban on conjugal visits currently a regulation of the department by putting it into law. That makes the ban tougher to overturn. I suppose I can (sort of) see the logic of wanting to preclude two convicted spouses from being able to live together while serving their prison terms, but I have a hard time fully understanding why that concern would or should justify a blanket prohibition on allowing prisoners to marry the person of their choice if that other person also happens to be in custody. And because the Supreme Court has long suggested that only "legitimate security concerns" can justify "placing reasonable restrictions upon an inmate's right to marry," I could readily see a successful constitutional challenge to this blanket prisoner marriage ban if it were ever to become the law in Alaska. January 13, 2016 at 02:36 PM | Permalink Comments Yes, the provision at best overboard. The concern is not novel -- e.g., the integrated by sex military raises the possibility of married personnel being on the same base or married couples of different ranks being in service at the same time. This could also be a concern in the militia and other places. The reality of the situation also is people will continue to be "couples" in prison even without a right to marry. Marriage would actually yet again promote conservative purposes in various ways (various conservatives support same sex marriage for that very reason) since it would be an explicit reason to separate inmates. Posted by: Joe | Jan 13, 2016 2:54:01 PM Overbroad too. Posted by: Joe | Jan 13, 2016 2:54:37 PM There's also a potential for prisoners to force other prisoners to marry them, which would make it harder to prevent prison rape and might also endanger the forcibly married prisoners' assets. There's enough potential for abuse in a prison setting that a ban on inmate-inmate marriage makes sense. What I don't understand is the ban on conjugal visits - what's that supposed to achieve beyond gratuitous pettiness? Posted by: Jonathan Edelstein | Jan 13, 2016 4:04:05 PM "potential for prisoners to force other prisoners to marry them, which would make it harder to prevent prison rape" This seems a bit of a reach. The prison rapist is likely to not go to that much trouble, including leading to their own assets affected as well as the other responsibilities of marriage. Again, they don't have to ban marriage in that case. It makes perfect sense to separate married couples; thus, marriage can inhibit rape. and might also endanger the forcibly married prisoners' assets Will the ban be applicable to any party that might in some fashion be possibly subject to coercion such as relatives of prisoners? Is this only applicable to prisoners? I don't really know how much the assets would in fact be endangered and again a total ban of marriage should not be necessary. Since this is a protected liberty interest, merely making some sense doesn't seem to justify a total ban under Turner v. Safley. Posted by: Joe | Jan 13, 2016 11:40:21 PM Inmates should be denied the "right" to get married--whether it is same sex or not. Posted by: Beldar From Remulak | Jan 14, 2016 2:08:02 PM Gay marriage. Not a gay idea. A lawyer idea. Family law is nearly dead, as only a suicidal fool, who is a productive male, would get married. Gay median income is a full standard deviation higher than the average heterosexual income. That means a gay person making more than 50% of other gay people and less than 50% of other gay people is making more than 84% of heterosexual people. Being gay, competent, and rich, does not make one a suicidal fool. In countries that have had gay marriage for a decade, very few gay people are falling for that lawyer trap. So House Bill 218 is a pointless gesture. Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 15, 2016 8:05:20 AM I'm not sure I follow the premise. Why do inmates marrying grant them the right to share a cell together? Posted by: Erik M | Jan 15, 2016 7:20:20 PM Post a comment Unless Prez Obama goes off script, do not expect much SOTU talk about criminal justice reform | Main | In wake of Obergefell, Alaska legislator introduces bill to ban marriage between inmates January 13, 2016 Might misguided mens rea reform concerns derail federal sentencing reform's momentum? The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new Atlantic piece headlined "A New Hurdle in the Push for Criminal-Justice Reform: A disagreement between a House Republican and the Obama administration creates a challenge." Here is how the article starts: The stars seem to have aligned. An unlikely coalition of liberals and conservatives has coalesced around criminal-justice reform, as the public appears to be paying more attention to fatal police shootings and mass incarceration. President Obama has worked to gin up momentum for reform, and is expected to press for action during his final State of the Union address Tuesday evening. Even with that common ground, however, tensions are bubbling up. A debate over the burden of proof for criminal convictions now threatens to throw a wrench into the effort to overhaul the nations criminal-justice system. That debate was on full display Tuesday during a conversation between House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and The Atlantics Washington Editor-at-Large Steve Clemons at an Atlantic Exchange event. The Republican chairman suggested that the House of Representatives wont approve a criminal-justice deal without changes to the way the U.S. criminal code determines criminal intent, despite the fact that the White House opposes the changes. A deal that does not address this issue is not going anywhere in the House of Representatives, Goodlatte said when asked if he would oppose a deal that did not include such a provision. It has to be overcome. This is a critical element to doing justice in this country. The disagreement points to the possibility that negotiations will break down. It highlights the challenges, and potential pitfalls, of assembling a left-right coalition, and raises the question of how much various interests at play will be willing to compromise. The dispute also threatens to stall sentencing reform, an issue that the president has elevated as a top priority in his second-term. At stake is a question of fairness. Goodlatte, along with conservative and libertarian organizations, support legal changes that they say would protect citizens from being unfairly charged with crimes they unknowingly committed. The White House, along with liberal organizations, believe that altering the burden of proof could make it more difficult to prosecute criminal activity. Critics also fear the proposal could let big business off the hook for illicit activities that lawyers could claim a company didnt know were illegal. That conflict could derail sentencing reform. Goodlatte indicated Tuesday that he would not support an effort to deal with criminal-intent and sentencing reform separately as a way of bolstering the odds of passing legislation to cut down on mandatory minimums for certain offenses. As the question in the title of this post suggests, I think Rep. Goodlate is 100% right that a provision clarifying that nobody should face serious federal criminal charges without federal prosecutors having to prove the accused had a significantly culpable mens rea is "a critical element to doing justice in this country." Indeed, one of the reasons I stopped considering myself a "liberal" as that term is now understood is because of these kinds of issues where so-called "liberals" seem eager to deny a premise I consider fundamental in a liberal society, namely that one should not be treated like and branded a serious criminal by the government unless and until that government can prove an individual has acted and thought like a serious criminal. Notably, I know that at least one serious criminal justice reform group, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is supportive of mens rea reform. Consequently, I suspect and fear the "liberal organizations" against this kind of reform are the same type that were cheerleading the laws contributing to mass incarceration passed during the Clinton era when Democrats were eagerly trying to earn political points by being even tougher on crime than their political adversaries. Blah. Some recent and older related posts: January 13, 2016 at 01:55 PM | Permalink Comments I think this horrible story will hurt more: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/01/12/0112-3-stabbed-to-death-on-north-side.html Posted by: federalist | Jan 13, 2016 9:31:00 PM I have addressed the mens rea many times. A Latin phrase, the language used only one place, in church. Supernatural power. Impossible to do. Copied, word for word, from the analysis of mortal sin in the Catechism at Paragraph 1857. Violation of the Establishment Clause by its supernatural state and copying from a religious text. We have often reviewed the worthless nature of eyewitness testimony. We have demanded that it be verified by physical evidence, especially in death penalty cases. Most exonerations have come from refutation of witness testimony by DNA technology. Now we are not just into false memories of physical events by witnesses. We are into testimony about internal motivations by drunk people, with no recall of the crime themselves in half the cases. Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 14, 2016 9:04:20 AM On Jan. 6, the White House organized a briefing at the OEOB to mobilize its allies to support its sentencing reform agenda. The White House staff raised the obstacle of mens rea reform. They said that enacting a default standard of "knowing" would be utterly unacceptable. My recollection is that in the proposed revision of title 18, U.S.C. (Criminal Code), reported in 1980 by the House Judiciary Committee (then controlled by Democrats) the legislation proposed that, "in the absence of language to the contrary, a knowing state of mind will be required for conduct, results and circumstances. This comports with the usual interpretations of the general intent requirement of current law." (H. Report 96-1396, p. 35, Sept. 25, 1980 to accompany H.R. 6915, 96th Cong.). The White House identified a couple of crimes that it felt needed a different state of mind. Surely the Administration could identify those offenses and include specific amendments in the mens rea legislation. I suspect that many career bureaucrats in federal prosecutorial agencies don't want sentencing reform, and they have latched onto this issue, exaggerated its importance, and will try to use it to scuttle the bipartisan reform. Posted by: Eric Sterling | Jan 14, 2016 11:00:08 AM "Critics also fear the proposal could let big business off the hook for illicit activities that lawyers could claim a company didnt know were illegal." Mens rea reform wouldn't do this. Very few crimes require knowledge that the acts were illegal (e.g., anti-kickback statutes); rather it's knowledge of the act. Posted by: federalist | Jan 14, 2016 12:26:39 PM Lack of knowledge of the million laws and regulations on the books is not an accepted excuse to crime. That is why each of us is guilty of three federal falonies a day. Mens rea refers to intent and knowledge of what the defendant was doing in the actus reus, in the criminal and harmful act. Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 14, 2016 11:36:13 PM Post a comment "Wanted man sends police department selfie to replace mug shot" | Main | Might misguided mens rea reform concerns derail federal sentencing reform's momentum? January 12, 2016 Unless Prez Obama goes off script, do not expect much SOTU talk about criminal justice reform The White House has now released here the "Remarks of President Barack Obama As Prepared for Delivery State of the Union Address." And, despite much early buzz that criminal justice reform was going to get some serious attention, it seems that the only part of the speech that even gets close to mentioning this topic comes at the very outset: Tonight marks the eighth year Ive come here to report on the State of the Union. And for this final one, Im going to try to make it shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa. I also understand that because its an election season, expectations for what well achieve this year are low. Still, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach you and the other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for working families. So I hope we can work together this year on bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse. We just might surprise the cynics again. Given Prez Obama's so far uninspired record in this space, I suppose I should not be too surprised or disappointed that all the criminal justice buzz leading up to this speech was just more smoke and mirrors. And, if Prez Obama ends up walking the walk on what some have called "mass clemency," I will not be troubled that he did not talk the talk about criminal justice issues in this final SOTU. Still, I am now far less excited to hear him deliver the speech. January 12, 2016 at 09:01 PM | Permalink Comments He named checked the issue at the beginning of the speech. Obama did more than "this space" gave him credit for at times, but keep pushing. Posted by: Joe | Jan 12, 2016 9:13:50 PM Cops are thugs. They are the agents of the vile prosecutor lawyer. In utter failure. They are pigs. I would like to see the defense bar provide a public service. It would be a yearly assembly program in every high school. "Who the Police Are,and How to Talk to Them, and Live to Tell About It." The stupid defense bar will never do that. Why? These pieces of filth, are agents of the prosecution as well. They are worse than the police, being the messengers of the prosecution, and the peddlers of their misleading plea bargains. They do not want to prevent any arrest, so people have to hire them. Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 12, 2016 9:28:47 PM S.C. writes: "The stupid defense bar will never do that. Why? These pieces of filth.." Your drivel is tiresome. Get a life. More importantly, get the right prescription. Posted by: anon | Jan 12, 2016 11:32:39 PM Anon. What do you think about the high school assembly I have proposed, "Who the Police Are,and How to Talk to Them, and Live to Tell About It?" Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 13, 2016 6:27:06 AM Anon. Should an appellate finding of inadequacy of representation mean lawyer malpractice per se? Explain why not? Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 13, 2016 10:46:32 AM Anon. Should all plea deals presented to defendants without making them review the 50,000 civil consequences of a criminal conviction represent unilateral mistake, lack of informed consent, and make all plea contract void, not voidable? Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 13, 2016 10:48:02 AM Anon. What do you think about that crazy exoneration rate? In a quarter of the cases, you allowed your boy to falsely confess. The list of your failures and betrayals can be quite long. Now explain to me how you defense lawyers are not the bitches of the prosecution and the traitors to your client, in violation of numerous Rules of Conduct. I can enumerate those if you wish. Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 13, 2016 10:50:40 AM Anon. What do you think about the study showing that pro se criminal defendants have the same success rate in obtaining jury verdicts as public defenders? Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 13, 2016 10:55:10 AM Anon. From a professionalism point of view, what do you think about the fact that clients are plentiful and fungible, but prosecutors, to whom you owe your job, are not? You displease a client and he fires you, you can find 100 others to take his place. You deter a prosecutor by personal legal attack, such as total e-discovery on their personal computers, and referral of all the child porn to the FBI for investigation. He quits, you lose your job, because there are fewer cases. Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 13, 2016 10:58:59 AM Post a comment A few (too) quick thoughts on the post-Hurst hydra | Main | Unless Prez Obama goes off script, do not expect much SOTU talk about criminal justice reform January 12, 2016 "Wanted man sends police department selfie to replace mug shot" The title of this post is the headline of this local article sent my way by a helpful reader. And though one mght think the article comes from The Onion, it seems from these details that this vanity tale is not a tall one: A wanted man in Ohio was not happy with his mug shot and decided to do something about it. Donald A "Chip" Pugh, 45, of Lima, Ohio has a warrant out for his arrest after failing to appear in court for a DUI, and is also a person of interest in several other cases including an arson and vandalism, according to the Lima Police Department Facebook page. Despite the charges, Pugh felt the need to send a selfie of himself to the police department to replace the mug shot posted, saying: "Here is a better photo that one is terrible." The photo shows Pugh wearing a suit and sunglasses in a car with a sunroof. In response, the department posted on it's Facebook page: "We thank him for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPD about his charges." January 12, 2016 at 07:32 PM | Permalink Comments Post a comment This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world. A new app launches today which aims to create both a viable social network and dating service for members of the BDSM and leather communities. KNKI, as the app is called, seeks to carve out a space free from the censorship that often accompanies posting adult content on sites like Instagram and Facebook. However, not content to merely be some sort of adult-themed Kinkstagram, the app also hopes to connect like-minded individuals in the BDSM community for both on and offline play. The company describes the app as a "dating app" that simultaneously assists with "keeping up with your entire kinky social network." And just to make sure there's no confusion, the company further adds that they're "a social network for BDSM as well as dating app." Based out of New York, the makers of KNKI have already found at least one interested party in the Bay Area (surprise, surprise) Kink.com. When KNKI approached us with the platform, we immediately got it, Kink.com's head of social media Jessica Reid explained in a press release. As a sexual community, we have to walk on eggshells on most social networks, even when doing basic education and activism. KNKI gives us an opportunity to have those discussions without worrying about whether well be banned. KNKI founder Carl Sandler detailed in the same release his motivation to build the app. "This is an exciting time for the community," wrote Sandler. "More and more people are able to talk about sexuality and identity openly, and I wanted to create a mobile app that matched the new power. The app is free to download, and, like many social media companies, KNKI hopes to enlist city-specific "ambassadors" to spread word of the brand. Perhaps unlike other companies hoping to play in the social media sandbox, however, KNKI lists being "an active member of the BDSM community" as one of the ambassador prerequisites. Notably, as part of the "KNKI code," the company prominently declares its ambassadors "will never engage in, or turn a blind eye to, dangerous or non-consensual behavior in our community." While this seems like a no-brainer, it is perhaps notable in light of recent allegations of sexual assault made against repeated Kink.com performer James Deen (Kink.com cuts ties with the adult star after the allegations began to surface). Time will tell if KNKI is here to stay, but if a company that melds BDSM play with app dating can get a foothold anywhere, SF will likely be the place. All previous BDSM coverage on SFist. As the northwesternmost -ist site, it falls upon us to report on news coming from our friends in Oregon for example, the armed ranchers who took over a federal building, or the firearms enthusiasts who waved guns at President Obama as he met with victims of a mass shooting. But this Oregon tale doesn't involve a gun...but what the subject of this tale has in his pants is still not an indication that he's happy to see you. For, as reported by Fox 29, a man shopping at Portland's A to Z Pets last week swiped $200 worth of merchandise, in the form of a "black pastel ball python." Which he hid in or very near his drawers. Owner Christin Bjugan says that she got a call on Friday that the snake was gone, then "spent the better part of her Saturday reviewing surveillance footage" at the store. Through the magic of her many cameras, she saw a man reach into the python's cage, then, as she put it: "You'll see him put it in his pants -- yuck. Just drops it right in the front." Shortly thereafter, the man who Bjugan says she's seen in her store in the past Bjugan fled while "trying to act like there's not a snake in his pants." "He's lucky it wasn't feeding day," she said. "Feeding days are on Mondays. And they're very hungry." As of Monday afternoon, the suspected snake snatcher remains on the loose. As does, it appears, the snake. Better watch out, you Vanilla-Ice-looking python purloiner, you...as Bjugan said, yesterday was feeding day so god only knows how hungry that serpent is today! You might be doing Sober January, and if so, kudos! (Commiserate with my thoughts on it from last year, which are playing out again, on schedule, this January.) Here are some non-booze-related, and a few booze-related, events to fill out your week's dance card. TUESDAY, JANUARY 12 SMALL-SCALE COMEDY SHOW: Some People Like Us is the name of a show produced by local comics Casey Ley and Kaseem Bentley, who say their popularity is to do the fact that "they are so funny and likeable and have racial and sexual minority statuses that straight white people feel good about laughing at." Tonight's lineup at the wee Cinecave at Lost Weekend Video includes Steve Hernandez, Julia Loken, and James Fritz. 1034 Valencia Street, 8 p.m. $10 CAT FUNDRAISER: You've probably seen plenty of people seeking help on Kickstarter or GoFundMe when their pets need emergency medical care. Well, one local writer is doing you one better and throwing a rock show fundraiser for her cat Eugin, who was hit by a car and needed some surgery. It's called "Hang In There" and it's at El Rio, and no, the cat won't be there. The cat averse need not attend. 3158 Mission Street, 8 p.m. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13 COMMEMORATIVE FILM SCREENING: The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) was clearly a film project that was close to the late David Bowie's heart it inspired him to do his last theatrical collaboration, a piece called Lazarus starring Michael C. Hall that is just finishing a run Off-Broadway now. Join some fans to watch the perversely glam sci-fi film, and be sure to "Bring your own food, drinks, drag personas & otherworldly fashions." The Lab, 2948 16th Street, 7 p.m. Free BOWIE TRIBUTE SHOW: The First Church of the Sacred Silversexual continues the outpouring of love for Bowie with a tribute concert at Slim's including two sets by the church band and performances by Bernadette Harris, Lauren Cohen, Andi Stardust, Phatima Rude, Beatrix Carr, Bruna Palmeiro, Jordan L'Moore, and more. 333 11th Street, doors at 7:30 p.m. $10, or $35 includes prix fixe dinner. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14 ART OPENING: ArtHaus is launching their GREAT EXHIBITION OF 2016, which is what they call their latest group show of works in various media by Bay Area and New York artists including Carolyn Meyer, Franc DAmbrosio, John Wood, Marc Lambrechts, Serena Bocchino, and Andrea Arroyo. 411 Brannan Street, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free BENEFIT FOR MURALISTS: A group of longtime tenants who are artists responsible for murals throughout the Mission, known as the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, are in danger of losing their space. The Mission Economic Development Association has agreed to buy the space from the owner on their behalf but they're trying to raise $200K for help with the down payment. The Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Benefit will feature an array of artwork for sale, but you can also just donate to the cause here. BOWIE SING-ALONG: Fun new movie house Alamo Drafthouse is doing their part for the Bowie memorializing with this late-night event, a music video party with booze, and lots of sing. Whether it's be it "Heroes," "Young Americans," or "Suffragette City," we should hope you know the words. 2550 Mission Street, 10:55 p.m., $5. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 GERMAN FILM: The 20th annual "Berlin and Beyond" film fest kicks off Thursday at the Castro, and centerpiece film We Are Young. We Are Strong. from director Burhan Qurbani makes its Northern California premiere. The film recounts some violent xenophobic riots that broke out in 1992 in Rostock from the perspective of three characters, including a Vietnamese immigrant. The full festival guide is here. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. 6 p.m. $13-$15. Tickets here. GUERRILLA DYKE BAR: Though the bar is already LGBT friendly, Virgil's Sea Room in the Mission will become a total lesbian bar for one night this week, open to "dykes and all their queer friends" and "always trans-inclusive." 3152 Mission Street, 8 p.m. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 GLAM ROCK CABARET: Speaking of all things Bowie, Berkeley's Shotgun Players are hosting their glam rock-themed Shotgun Cabaret event Hawkmoon this weekend, for two nights only. The performance/party includes live, female-fronted Black Sabbath cover band Bobb Saggeth, and features "three rooms with character-driven environments exploring gender, misogyny, PTSD, and schizophrenia." 1201 University Avenue, Berkeley. 7 p.m. $12/$15 DRAG BIRTHDAY: It's local drag star and Oasis co-owner D'Arcy Drollinger's birthday, which means no cover and some good times. Also, if you stick around a couple hours, the birthday segues into the one-year anniversary of Mother and Oasis itself, with a big show, as usual, around 11:30 or midnight. 298 11th Street, 9 p.m. Free before 10 p.m., $10 after. HORSE DANCING: The show that somebody at the Miami Herald used the superlative phrase "the most beautiful spectacle ever seen" to describe, Cavalia's Odysseo, closes its latest run in SF this weekend. It's an "equestrian and acrobatic extravaganza," and if you or a young girl in your life loves horses, this show featuring 70 horses and 45 international dancers/acrobats should blow your/her mind. AT&T Park, 1051 3rd Street, 8 p.m. $88 SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 GERMAN FILM & CONCERT: The "Berlin & Beyond" festival is celebrating 20 years with this closing party at the Castro featuring a 1927 film, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, and live accompaniment by Berlin-based electronic band ALP. The event promises to "take us back in time to a Berlin of a bygone era" through music and archival visuals. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. 8 p.m. $15 Last month's Star Wars opening brought with it plenty of opportunities to celebrate all things Jedi, most notably that large-scale lightsaber battle on December 18 in Sue Bierman Park. The event, organized by Canadian non-profit Newmindspace, brought thousands of Star Wars enthusiasts together in an attempt to set a record for the world's largest lightsaber battle. Unfortunately for the city of San Francisco. However, it appears the organizers may have been seduced by the Dark Side, as the company's local connection allegedly misled them about city permits leaving taxpayers with a bill in the thousands of dollars. Unlike the unpermitted Valentine's Day pillow fight which frequently requires massive amounts of city cleanup, the passionate enthusiasts/nerds that attended the lightsaber battle took the time to clean up after themselves. This time around, however, Hoodline reports that the sheer act of all that battling on park grass did some serious damage. "The grass is not being reseeded," Joey Kahn of the Recreation and Park Department told the publication when it inquired about closure signs. "The area was closed due to damage from the unpermitted Light Saber Event that occurred a few weeks ago. Their unpermitted, for-profit event cost San Francisco taxpayers $5,220-$2,000 in damage to the turf and $3,220 for park rangers." Those who frequent Sue Bierman Park, which is to be the site of the Super Bowl City Stage, will just have to get used to the now semi-mud pit as reseeding efforts cannot take place until after Super Bowl 50. "No [restorative] work will be done until after the Super Bowl and after the area dries sufficiently," noted Kahn. Battle organizers, for their part, have admitted that things did not go exactly as planned. "Newmindspace is a non-profit... and works with local, independent organizers, and the organizer for this particular event was Nikki Sparks," explained organization co-founder Kevin Bracken in a statement. "She misrepresented the permit situation in SF as well as in San Diego and we are not working with her on future events. We will be personally supervising all of our future events instead of using our hub-and-spoke model," he added. While at first blush this may read like a complete passing of the buck, it appears that Nikki Sparks was happy to be on the receiving end of said buck. "I organize fan and geek events and have never had a problem before," Sparks explained. "We usually just kinda show up and do our thing and we have never gotten in trouble." As to the damage done to the park? Well, parks are there to be used, right? "I pay taxes here," noted Sparks, "and I feel like this cost way less than some of the annual parades they put on, and we were able to bring joy to 2,000 people, including parents and children." "I do not plan on reimbursing the city," Sparks helpfully explained. It seems that in this battle between the forces of Light and Dark, the only clear losers are the taxpayers of San Francisco. Previously: Video: Friday's Rainy Lightsaber Battle "This government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of the way." Henry David Thoreau "Free association . . . the only true form of society." Pierre-Joseph Proudhon This blog is about the political struggle I am engaging in Singapore. The title "Singapore Alternatives" is chosen because my only political dream is to build a true alternative in Singapore. Alternative to PAP government, of course. As the Alternative, the political party must be able to have the visions and policy insights to lead Singapore. I will write on various policy views and personal beliefs that I think is crucial in building up the Alternative. All constructive comments are welcome. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Monday that security at the Mexican border needs to be tightened not just to halt illegal immigration but to stem terrorist groups he said are sneaking across into the U.S. SIOUX CITY | Two metro Sioux City school administrators on Tuesday welcomed Gov. Terry Branstads bid to extend the state sales tax for school infrastructure, but expressed qualms about other details in the governor's proposal. Branstad has called for a 20-year extension of the tax, which otherwise would expire in 2029. But the Republican governor wants to redirect a share of future proceeds to address water quality issues. In his annual condition of the state address Tuesday, Branstad touted his plan as a monumental investment in both education and water quality funding without raising taxes. The idea for the 1 percent school infrastructure tax started in the late 1990s in Sioux City, as local leaders looked for an alternative to raising property taxes to replace a long list of crumbling and aging school buildings. Sioux City Superintendent Paul Gausman said he supports an extension of the sales tax, which has helped the district finance 16 renovation or construction projects since local voters first approved the tax in 1998. The tax was expanded statewide in 2008. With the tax scheduled to sunset in 2029, Sioux City officials said they have limited bonding authority left to fund additional projects. A 20-year extension, Gausman said, would help the district replace one or more aging elementary schools and modernize the three high schools that are nearly 50 years old. Gausman joined Branstad at a news conference last week in Des Moines where the governor announced his plan. Gausman said he would like to learn more details about the governor's proposal, as well as other related bills that may be introduced in the House or Senate, before he endorses a specific idea. My number one goal is to get that state penny for school infrastructure extended, he said Tuesday. Branstads plan would bring an additional $250 million to $300 million to Sioux City, Gausman said, which would benefit students and staff. However, the superintendent said it is critical to consider the best interests of the students, community, employees and school board when determining a plan to support. I celebrate the governor is willing to talk about the extension and I celebrate he recognizes what this means to education, he said. Im so thankful to hear so many local leaders talk about the penny tax because they recognize how beneficial that would be for the states schools. Sergeant Bluff-Luton Superintendent Rod Earleywine said he has some reservations with Branstad's plan to redirect a portion of the revenue to non-school infrastructure projects. It was voted in by the other people of each county for specific uses, he said. Earleywine said the district generates about $1.2 million a year from the school infrastructure tax, which is used for remodeling projects, maintenance and roof repairs. Last September, Sergeant Bluff-Luton voters rejected a $45 million bond issue that would have paid for a new high school and other facilities. Earleywine said extending the school sales tax for an additional 20 years would not generate enough additional revenue on its own to service the debt for such a large building project. HOLSTEIN, Iowa | One Carli nearly stole the show from another Carly on Tuesday at Midwest Deli in downtown Holstein. It happened when little Carli Friedrichsen, of Holstein, raised her hand to ask a question of Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who had just concluded a campaign talk before a packed house of 105 people. The Galva-Holstein Elementary School kindergartner, one of three people named Carly in the crowd, asked Fiorina, "Can I be president, too?" As the crowd laughed and roared approval, Fiorina leaned closer and answered her new friend. "Absolutely, you can!" Fiorina exclaimed. "Here's the thing: You've got to want it really bad. You've got to know what you want to do with it. You're going to have to work really hard. You're going to have to ignore a lot of people that tell you to sit down and be quiet." The crowd applauded as one Carly ended the exchange with a question for another Carli. "Would it be OK if I got there first?" As Friedrichsen smiled and nodded, Fiorina added, "Maybe I'll kind of warm the chair for you." Fiorina pitched her abilities in much the same way throughout her stop in Holstein on Tuesday, noting that she's the best candidate in a crowded Republican field with her leadership experience, conservative principles and a work ethic and view not colored by years of work within the government, a federal government she contended is bloated, inept and corrupt. "I'm running for president because I'm angry," said the former secretary who rose in the business world to the position of CEO at Hewlett-Packard. "I think it is time for citizens to stand up to the political class and say, 'Enough.'" Fiorina lauded a bill that has sat idle in Washington, D.C., for two decades. The bill, she said, aims to reduce the federal tax code from 73,000 pages to three pages. "Seventy percent of Americans need professional help to give the government money," she said. She added, "Do you know we have more IRS agents than CIA and FBI agents combined?" While those present chortled in frustration, Fiorina took aim at GOP front-runners Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, saying that Cruz hasn't made an executive decision in his career, while Trump, if nominated, will present a gift to presumptive Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton because of his penchant for insulting women. "I've known men like Trump for years," Fiorina said, adding that men like him bully women and flatter women, but then cannot deal with a woman who is a peer. Many politicians circle Iowa prior to the first-in-the-nation caucuses and promise to cut government spending. Such pledges have been ringing hollow for a half-century. "Managers accept the status quo, as do politicians," she said. "A leader challenges the status quo to solve festering problems." Fiorina said she would encourage more prayer in public circles, not less. She would challenge ISIS from her first day in the Oval Office, via U.S. Special Forces, bombs and by attacking the funding sources used by terrorists. "I've been with her from the very start," said Ken Buell, of Holstein. "She stays on-point and doesn't get wrapped up in all the dramatics." "She doesn't just say what she's going to do, she says how she'll do it," said Fiorina supporter Gretchen Cooney, of Holstein. Jamie Buelt, of Polk City, Iowa, told Fiorina she remained her second choice, trailing only candidate John Kasich, of Ohio. What frustrated Buelt is that in receiving calls from polling agencies, Fiorina's name wasn't listed as an option for several questions. In so many words, Buelt wanted Fiorina to make her case. "Polls don't win elections, votes do," Fiorina said. "If we believed in polls, we wouldn't have had President Ronald Reagan. We would already have had (President) Hillary Clinton." Surveying the room, the candidate, who is running sixth in the latest Fox News poll, said, "Are you going to believe in the polls and the pundits? Or, are you going to go by what's in your heart?" SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to stealing at least five vehicles during a seven-month period. Mackquiber Bracamonte-Mujo, 28, entered his written plea Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court to six counts of second-degree theft and one count each of commission of a specified unlawful activity and driving while license barred. According to court documents, from May 15 through Dec. 15 Bracamonte-Mujo stole several motor vehicles and sold them, stripped parts off of them for sale or used the vehicles to commit other crimes. He also was found in possession of three stolen iPads. SIOUX CITY | A 12-year-old student who brought an unloaded gun to North Middle School Monday morning has been suspended indefinitely while school officials and police investigate the incident. The sixth-grade male student, who has not been identified, also faces criminal charges in juvenile court, said officer Chad Sheehan of Sioux City Police Department. The student will face some type of concealed weapon on school property charge, Sheehan said. School officials will determine how long the student's suspension lasts -- or if he will be expelled -- in the coming weeks, said school superintendent Paul Gausman. The process will not exceed 45 days. Gausman said school officials chose to not lock down North Middle since they quickly determined that the gun was unloaded and that there were no remaining threats to students. In addition, after early investigations, it was determined that the student never intended harm to any students or staff, Gausman said. We had no reason to believe that anyone was ever in danger, he said. However, Gausman stressed the incident is not being taken lightly. The event that took place yesterday at North Middle is very serious. We take that very seriously -- the safety of our students and staff members. It is of paramount importance to us, he said. School officials received a tip that a student was bringing a gun to school Monday morning before classes began. Officials worked with law enforcement personnel to locate and detain the student, Gausman said. Parents were notified of the situation by an automated message around 6 p.m. Monday evening, Gausman said. When asked why parents werent immediately notified, the superintendent said school officials were working to ensure the safety of everyone on campus. Our first action in a case like this is to make certain were doing everything we can to keep the students safe and our staff members safe. All of our energies go toward that work, he said. While the use of eminent domain is something that should always be used as a last resort, it is an important component of bringing projects for the public good to fruition. The majority of landowners across the Dakota Access route in Iowa and the other three states have agreed. Eminent domain gives government the right to acquire private land when doing so is clearly in the public interest. Despite the political rhetoric from some presidential candidates, the fact is very few major infrastructure projects in America have been built without some use of eminent domain. Dakota Access serves that public interest by bringing to market crude oil in the safest possible way and allowing us to continue our energy independence and stay competitive on a global scale. It is time we allow our state to move forward. Dakota Access will be good for Iowa and our economy. - Justin Boyd, Sioux City Two new polls suggest a significant tightening of the Democratic race for president in Iowa, with one of the surveys saying Bernie Sanders has overtaken Hillary Clinton. A Quinnipiac University Poll, released Tuesday, said that Sanders, a senator from Vermont, is leading Clinton, 49 percent to 44 percent. Four percent of the poll's respondents said they were for former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. The five-point lead for Sanders is a turnabout from last month, when the Quinnipiac poll had Clinton leading by 11. Meanwhile, a Public Policy Polling survey, also out Tuesday, said Clinton is leading Sanders, 46 percent to 40 percent, but that's down from the 18-point lead it gave her last month. The new Public Policy Polling survey had O'Malley at 8 percent. With less than three weeks to go before the Feb. 1 caucuses, there have been indications of a closer contest. Clinton has taken a sharper tack against Sanders, criticizing him for a 2005 vote to give the gun industry liability protections. Also, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, released Sunday, said Clinton was leading by only 3 points in Iowa. All three polls portray a gap in how men and women are breaking in this race. Clinton is winning women, while Sanders is leading among men. The new Quinnipiac poll says men prefer Sanders, 61 percent to 30 percent, while women favored Clinton, 55 percent to 39 percent. The Public Policy Polling survey had Clinton leading among women, 52 percent to 36 percent, while Sanders was winning men by a 46-39 margin. The Quinnipiac poll was conducted Jan. 5-10, and 492 likely caucus-goers were surveyed. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. The Public Policy Polling survey asked questions of 580 likely Democratic caucus-goers between Jan. 8-10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. The Quinnipiac poll's administrators say Sanders' surge appears to be based on caucus-goers' belief that he's a better fit for them. By double-digit margins, poll participants said Sanders more closely shares their values and that he's more honest and trustworthy, said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the poll. "Iowa may well become Sen. Bernie Sanders' 'Field of Dreams,'" Brown said. On issues in the Quinnipiac poll, Sanders was the favored candidate on the economy, 51-39 percent. Thirty-five percent of the poll's participants called it their most important issue. Clinton, on the other hand, was the favored candidate on the second most important issue, health care, but only by a narrow 48-43 margin. On their third most important issue, climate change, Sanders held a wide advantage over Clinton, 51 percent to 32 percent. Clinton was seen as the most electable, with 85 percent of respondents saying she has a good chance of winning the general election, compared with 68 percent for Sanders. Sanders led among people who said this would be their first caucus, 66 percent to 26 percent. Clinton was favored among those who have attended in the past, 52 percent to 41 percent. PIERRE, S.D. | Lawmakers should pass a half-cent sales tax increase to improve South Dakota's lowest-in-the-nation teacher pay so it's competitive with neighboring states, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Tuesday in his State of the State address. The sales tax increase would raise more than $100 million in the upcoming budget year, most of which would be put toward helping raise the state's target average teacher salary to $48,500 per year. If approved, it would be the first permanent increase to South Dakota's sales tax rate of 4 cents per dollar in nearly half a century. About $62.4 million from the sales tax hike would go toward teacher salaries, and about $40 million in additional revenue from the increase would go to property tax relief, according to the governor's office. "This is the year," Daugaard told lawmakers in his speech on the first day of the 2016 legislative session. "This is the year to get out of last place. This is the year to act." Daugaards plan to increase teacher pay won praise from Dakota Valley High School Principal Jerry Rasmussen, who also serves as president of the School Administrators of South Dakota, or SASD. Rasmussen said the SASD executive board invited the governors chief of staff to explain how the new funding formula would work and how it would affect the states school districts. We pushed back on a few of the tenants of the plan, and they responded positively, Rasmussen said in a statement Tuesday. We know there are still pieces that we will work with the Legislature on during the legislative session. At this point, we dont want to pass on a good plan waiting for a perfect plan. It takes two-thirds support to pass a tax hike through the Legislature, and it could face opposition among Republicans in both GOP-held chambers. "To do two tax increases in a row, back-to-back is tough," House Majority Leader Brian Gosch said, referring to fuel tax increases that lawmakers approved last session for road and bridge funding. But pressure has mounted to raise teacher pay, which a state task force studying education funding said is the lowest of the 50 states and District of Columbia. South Dakota's average teacher pay of $40,023 in 2013-14 lagged an average of the six states that border it by $11,888 a year and was $8,643 behind the next lowest neighbor, North Dakota, according to the group. Daugaard also wants to encourage efficiency from school districts, and will push incentives to share services across districts. He's also proposing to reinstate caps on school reserve funds so that new state dollars are actually used to increase teacher pay. The proposal sends the message that the state needs to do everything it can to attract and retain teachers and that "it's no longer acceptable to be 51st," said Mary McCorkle, president of the South Dakota Education Association, a more than 5,000-member education professionals' organization. South Dakota's Democratic legislative leaders also welcomed Daugaard's plan to put new revenue toward teacher pay, but said more money is necessary. Democrats proposed a 1-cent sales tax increase with a corresponding exemption on food to put about $130 million toward a target average teacher salary of $50,000 and other programs. On other issues, the governor again exhorted legislators to consider an expansion of the Medicaid health coverage program for disabled and low-income people. Daugaard's position is a departure from other Republican governors nationally who have declined to expand because they oppose President Barack Obama's federal health overhaul. On Wednesday, December 16, 2015 9:36 PM, MRS.MICHELLE OBAMA wrote: FROM MRS. MICHELLE OBAMA, LAST NOTICE How are you today? I am Mrs. Michelle Obama and I am written to inform you about your Bank Cheque Draft brought by the United Embassy from the government of Benin Republic in the white house Washington DC which contains the sum of $22.000.000 millions us dollars credited from the bank of America, the delivery of your funds has been mandated to be deliver to your address on THURSDAY being 17th of dec, 2015 to you as soon as you get back to me with your home address and your cell phone number. Bear in mind that I have taking my time to be in charge of your funds as instructed by my husband to ensure that you received your funds successfully from the white house to reduce the economy and Im the only one that has your funds in regard to my husband Mr. Barack Hussein Obama II and you will have to pay the sum of $550.00 only before your Bank Cheque Draft will deliver to you on THUESDAY the reason why the fee is required is to have your funds clearance paper from the origin of the funds to avoid any harassment from the authority and you are also expecting to be announce as winner of the said amount by THURSDAY as soon as your fund is delivered to you. So you are urgent advised to get back to me with your home address and also the payment information today for immediate effect of your delivery. Note that the $550 is the only fee and final payment you have my assurance. However, according to our agreement with the originated Benin Republic, all our communications should be on email for record purpose so follow my instruction accordingly, even if you dont have the $550 try to borrow it and send it immediately because this is your life opportunity and I dont want you to lose the chance any more. Please I will advice you to urgent make the payment this morning via western union or money gram money transfer to the listed cashier information as instructed you by the originated authority. I will look forward to received your email today with the payment to enable the origin secure the required clearance papers required at White House Benin to deliver your funds. Note that it will take only 14hrs to deliver your Bank Cheque Draft in receipt of the $550 payment. Please find the payment data below to send the $550via western union or money gram. Receiver Name: EMMANUEL UBA Country Benin Republic City Cotonou Question: Urgent Answer: Needed Amount: $550.00 MTCN reference number............ Sender Name........... Sender's Telephone Sender's Address........ I look forward to your respond to your email with the payment today. Regards Mrs. Michelle Obama The White House (Official Residence of the President of the US) 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC 20500 USA Time and again, American enterprises have blamed slow Internet speeds for hurting their business. Luckily, the situation seems to be improving now even though the United States has a lot of catching up to do. According to the FCCs 2015 Measuring Fixed Broadband America report, Internet speeds have tripled between March 2011 and September 2014, jumping to 31 Mbps from 10 Mbps. While the growth is impressive, it pales in comparison to what consumers in many other countries get. The United States ranked 25th in broadband speeds out of 39 countries sampled in 2013, and lags behind countries like France, Canada and Luxembourg. Key Findings Apart from revealing the rise in Internet speeds in the U.S., the report presents some other important insights such as: Among major Internet Service Providers, Cablevision Systems Corp. led with average download speeds of 60 Mbps, followed by Verizon Communications Inc and Charter Communications Inc each with around 50 Mbps. Consistency of speed is more important to customers who frequently use applications that are both high bandwidth and sensitive to variations in actual speed, such as streaming video. Video accounts for more than 60 percent of the U.S. Internet traffic. Maximum advertised speeds increased from 37.2 Mbps in September 2013 to 72 Mbps in September 2014. Actual speeds experienced by most ISP subscribers are close to exceeding the advertised speeds. What This Means for Your Business Emphasis on boosting high-speed Internet in the U.S. has gained momentum in the past few years. The situation has assumed importance especially because of the increasing competition from countries such as South Korea and Japan where Internet works faster. Businesses in these countries have benefited enormously from high-speed broadband, whereas their American counterparts have suffered due to slow net connectivity. Last year when the FFC adopted the new Net Neutrality rules, many expected broadband connections to get faster. Net Neutrality regulations, however, did not make ISPs deliver faster Internet to consumers. In fact, broadband companies argued that with the additional regulatory requirements, they may have to slow down on their investments in new and existing networks. Despite this, consumer demand for faster net connection has been on the rise, and the industry is stepping up its efforts to meet these expectations. Google and AT&T are offering up to 1,000 Mbps in several cities. Following in the footsteps of these two giants, Comcast is testing its own 1,000 Mbps service in Philadelphia. The U.S. may have a long way to go before it can match the high-speed Internet connectivity available in other parts of the world. But he FCC data still shows positive sign that the country is moving in the right direction. The U.S. Defense Department on Tuesday released photos showing the type of small Navy patrol boats that are being held by Iranian authorities, along with 10 U.S. crew members. Two of the riverine boats drifted into Irans territorial waters in the Persian Gulf after one of the reportedly experienced mechanical problems while traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain. Rescue teams from the Harry S. Truman Strike Group which includes the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman responded, apparently too late, and remain in the vicinity. A senior defense official confirmed the incident and said the crew members will be freed. But the statement didnt specify when one report indicated they may have to spend the night in Iran or whether the vessels would also be returned. via Defense Tech.Uh. Wow.So it was Riverines and not the Maritime Security bubbas.The Riverines had fashioned themselves to be the "new" Naval Infantry. They have been doing missions ashore and have trained with Dutch Marines. Additionally they've been trying to (and with success) muscle themselves aboard amphibious ships, displacing US Marines because they were "Forward" and "Faithful".But they surrendered without a shot? I can't wait to read the after action on this one. There are many fitness goals out there that we desire. Some of us want to be leaner and others wish to put on muscle mass. The thing is, for you to achieve your fitness goals, you need to The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. Aldus "Al" Conover of Solomons, MD passed away on Saturday, January 9, 2016 at the age of 87. A third generation firefighter, Al was born and raised in Atlantic City, NJ. He was the youngest of three boys whose father was Atlantic City's fire chief for ten years, rising through the Civil Service ranks for 47 years. In high school, Al worked as a short order cook and water-skied with the Evening Star Yacht Club and was a member of the Atlantic City Tuna Club. After high school, Al enlisted in the Navy, going through boot camp in Bainbridge, MD, and submarine school in New London, CT. He was assigned to the USS Scabbardfish out of San Diego, CA and over a two year period docked at exotic far eastern ports from Pearl Harbor to Peleliu, Palau, Okinawa, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tsingtao. He was discharged as Petty Officer 3rd Class in San Diego. Al returned to Atlantic City to work for the American Dredging Company, restoring the Atlantic City beaches. When the company moved on to Connecticut, he stayed but found jobs were scarce at that time. Al was a jack-of-all-trades, doing sheet metal work to roofing, until he spotted an ad for the firefighters' examination in Washington, DC. After passing the physical and written tests, he was appointed to the DC Fire Department. His first Engine House was so quiet, he asked for a transfer to a more active engine company and worked out of the No. 1 Engine Company downtown with the White House in its jurisdiction. At the time of the 1968 riots, Al was in charge of the Engine Company covering H Street Corridor when they worked 12 straight nights of 14 hour shifts to control burning buildings. Al moved from rooming houses to apartments until he net Sandra Shaffer through a fellow fireman. Sandra was from Allentown, PA, and worked as a registered nurse. She spent most of her career working in orthopedic practices, then at Southern Maryland Hospital until retiring. They bought a house in Upper Marlboro and after a couple of years bought another nearby, this one with a community pool, an important feature for their three daughters: Doris who lives in Upper Marlboro, Robin who lives in Huntingtown and Elizabeth who lives in Brandywine. There are eight grandchildren. Al retired from the Fire Department after 25 years. At that time, Sandra was going through a period of depression and he needed to be with their girls for swim meets, roller-skating and horseback riding activities. He was with Security of Southern Maryland Hospital for 13 years until his second retirement. Over the years, the Conovers took many cruises the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Canary Islands and West Coast to Mexico, etc. Sandra loved cruising, but Al preferred more active pursuits, especially enjoying their Redskins season tickets. Al was the beloved husband to the late Sandra Conover and loving father to Doris Conover, Robin Dillion Beuster and Elizabeth Conover Brooks. He was the devoted grandfather to eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He is also survived by one brother, John Conover and numerous other family and friends. Arrangements provided by Lee Funeral Home. PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. (Jan. 12, 2016)Police in Calvert Co. report that a home in the 3900 block of Thunder Hill Road in Prince Frederick was invaded and the occupants assaulted Tuesday around 6:24 p.m. Sheriff's deputies and state troopers responded to the residence. Upon arriving, troopers made contact with a 21-year-old male with facial and head injuries and a 24-year-old white female with no injuries. During the course of the investigation, the victims told troopers that three African American males knocked on the door. One of the victims opened the door and the three suspects entered the residence and proceeded to assault them. After the assault, the suspects fled from the scene. The three assailants are described as: SUSPECT 1: African American male, 6 feet tall SUSPECT 2: African American male, 5 feet, 06 inches tall SUSPECT 3: African American male, 5 feet, 08 inches tall The suspects had on jeans and hooded sweatshirts. One sweatshirt was black, another sweatshirt was green and the third sweatshirt was blue. The victim was transported to a local area hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. Anyone having additional information pertaining to this investigation and/or other crimes is urged to contact Trooper First Class K. Morris of the Maryland State Police-Criminal Enforcement Division, Central South Region at 410-535-1400, "TIPS" Line at 1-888-210-1450 or 410-257-4925 or email at: msp.centralsouth@maryland.gov. Students Rebecca Webster and Nicolette Coluzzi with Julie King, professor of Anthropology (center). (Submitted photo) ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. (January 13, 2015)St. Marys College of Maryland in partnership with the Calvert County Historic Preservation Commission recently received funding from the National Park Services Underrepresented Communities Grant. The College and CCHPC will work with the Piscataway Conoy Tribe to document seven historically significant Piscataway Indian landscapes in Calvert, Charles, Prince Georges, and St. Marys counties.The Underrepresented Communities Grants are intended to expand the nations listing of historic places to include sites, structures, and landscapes associated with underrepresented groups and communities. While the Piscataway Indians have called this region their home for centuries, only one significant landscapethe Piscataway capital on Piscataway Creekhas been formally designated a National Historic Landmark. This project will identify additional settlements in an effort to raise awareness of Southern Marylands rich indigenous history.Francis Gray, chair of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, welcomes the work to be done by St. Marys College and Calvert County. This is a long overdue effort to record, document, preserve, protect, and raise awareness of our ancestral homeland. These places encompass many locations that represent significant events in Piscataway Conoy history and bring both tremendous joy and solemn tears to our eyes."St. Marys College and CCHPC plan to undertake additional research at two important landscapes, including Cecocomoco (near Chaptico) and at Briscoe Gray (near Battle Creek). The work will be led by Calvert County Historic Preservation Specialist Kirsti Uunila, and St. Marys College Aldom Plansoen Professor of Anthropology Julia A. King.The project proposed by the College and CCHPC was one of only 11 funded nationwide the by National Park Services Underrepresented Communities Grant. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 13, 2016)Tax cuts plans Gov. Larry Hogan offered Tuesday were so modest and mainstream that the worst a Democratic Party spokesman could say about them was that two copied proposals by Democrats and Hogan didn't say how he would pay for them. The $480 million in tax relief spread out over five years targets tax breaks for new manufacturing, businesses, retirees, and families making less than $53,000. "I can't imagine any member of the legislature from any party having a problem with providing tax relief to retirees on fixed incomes, struggling working families, or struggling small businesses," Hogan told reporters. The people of Maryland are demanding tax relief and "Anyone that isn't favor of that probably doesn't deserve to be in the legislature. I can't imagine how anyone who could vote against common sense measures." Bringing back manufacturing In order to bring back manufacturing jobs, Hogan proposes eliminating the state corporate income tax for 10 years on new manufacturers in areas designated as Empowerment Zones. That includes Western Maryland, the lower Eastern Shore, and Baltimore City. Individuals who earn less than $65,000 per year and are employed by new manufacturers in Empowerment Zones would pay no state income taxes. This is similar to a plan offered last session by Sen. Roger Manno, a Montgomery County Democrat, with several Republican co-sponsors. Testimony supporting it came from U.S. Rep. John Delaney, a Democrat who represents Western Maryland, and from Matt Palmer, then a Maryland Chamber of Commerce lobbyist who Hogan recently hired for his own legislative staff. In response to a reporter's question, Hogan said his proposal was very similar to one implemented by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom he noted was a liberal Democrat cutting corporate taxes at the same time Gov. Martin O'Malley was raising them. Another Hogan proposal would raise the Earned Income Tax Credit for families making $53,000 or less. The tax credit for low and moderate income families has long been popular with Democrats, especially to offset the regressive nature of some tax hikes, such as the 2007 increase in the sales tax. Democrats, including Sen. Richard Madaleno, D-Montgomery, were planning to offer similar plans this session. Hogan also proposed reducing the business filing fee of $300 a year to $100 over the next four years, and reducing other unspecified fees. The governor also wants to raise the extra $1,000 personal income tax exemption for taxpayers 65 and over that already exists to $5,000 over the next four years. Think tanks praise and criticize Hogan's plans won immediate predictable praise from Christopher Summers, president of the free-market Maryland Public Policy Institute, who attended Hogan's announcement. In a statement, Summers said: "If enacted, this tax package would send a long-overdue signal to residents and entrepreneurs that Maryland is finally a more welcoming place to live or start a business. We are especially heartened to see Governor Hogan endorse our proposal to accelerate the Earned Income Tax Credit, a bipartisan idea to reward work and help Maryland's working poor climb the ladder of opportunity." Benjamin Orr of the progressive Maryland Center for Economic Policy also praised the tax credit but criticized the manufacturing tax cut. "Governor Hogan's proposal to strengthen the state Earned Income Tax Credit is a boost for families that work hard for low pay," Orr said. "That's good news for Maryland's economy. But the tax cuts for manufacturing "would undermine existing businesses that pay their fair share toward essential services and they subsidize low-wage work. This won't create jobs; it will take resources away from schools and other building blocks of a strong economy and true job creation." (Jan. 11, 2016)Despite limited mental capacity, a feeding tube, a wheelchair and the inability to speak, a child with cerebral palsy must take the same standardized tests in Maryland as his classmates.But the Maryland State Education Association wants to give students with disabilities the chance to opt out of grade-level testing, depending on their needs, parents' wishes and any testing accommodations allowed.Some of these students function as infants, not school-age students, said veteran special educator Betsy Perry of Montgomery County during her testimony to Maryland's new Testing Commission in Annapolis Monday.Perry added that it may be unreasonable for certain students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) to achieve grade-level results even with special accommodations.An Individualized Education Program is a document required by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that outlines how children with disabilities will be supported in their education.A 2013 report for the Maryland state Board of Education identified 103,788 special education students ages 3-21. Classifications included intellectual disability, hearing impairment, deafness, speech and language disability, visual impairment, emotional disability and orthopedic impairment.MSEA strongly supported creation of the testing commission signed into law by Gov. Hogan. The 19-member commission includes several teachers, parents, school board members and school superintendents, but Monday was the teachers union first chance to actually testify.Among six recommendations, MSEA asked that exceptions to standardized testing be made for special education students when typical accommodations are not permitted.According to Perry, one of four teachers MSEA invited to testify, the question when determining accommodations is, How much support do you need to provide to even the playing field?She told the commission that special educators serve students across the spectrum, whether they struggle with speech impediments or suffer from medically fragile conditions. Some are equipped for grade-level exams with just one or two adjustments, but that is not the case for all students with disabilities.For a child who is extremely medically fragile, school is there to improve their quality of life, she said in an interview. It should be comfortable, it should be entertaining. A child in that situation needs to learn how to master basic life skills, like sitting at a table, before they memorize the names of particular historical scientists.Maryland public schools allow various forms of IEP accommodations in the classroom. These include a human reader or audio recording of the test questions; a human reader or text-to-speech for recording answers; or a personalized math reference sheet. Yet PARCC, an English and math assessment required for students in 3rd-8th grades and high school since 2014, does not allow for these and several other accommodations. PARCC stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and was an outgrowth of the Common Core curriculum.IEP students must take the test anyway and schools are held accountable for their scores.According to Bill Reinhard of the state education department, under federal law, all but 1% of the most medically fragile students must be assessed in state tests.In response to an open-ended MSEA survey, special educators voiced concerns about this requirement. Many feel frustrated and helpless when it comes to preparing certain IEP students for the PARCC test, the commission was told.According to the PARCC Accessibility Features and Accommodations Manual, IEP students may not be assessed off-grade level or take a version of the test that has been modified to make it easier. The manual states that accommodations that provide access to students on assessments should be based on their needs as students with disabilities or English learners[,] not their lack of content knowledge or skills.Perry believes that a student on a severe end of the disability spectrum should not necessarily be expected to know the same information as their peers. These students are instructed at their functioning level, which may not match their grade level.There needs to be a test that assesses [personal] growth. I don't know if [certain students] will ever reach the bar, but I want to set high expectations, said Perry, who added that it is not fair to compare IEP student results to the results of their peers.Perry added that special educators are also pulled to proctor tests for children without IEPs.Students, parents, and teachers depend on these services, she said. I believe that [these students] need every moment of service. Anytime they're taken away from their learning is time that they do not get back.MSEA presentersvice president Cheryl Bost, assistant executive director Sean Johnson and press secretary Steven Hershkowitzalso recommended the following: create state and local teams to collect and report testing data; put a cap on the time districts spend on testing every school year; mandate monthly reporting about district tests to parents; change the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment to a sampling test; replace the high school-level PARCC with SAT, ACT or Accuplacer; shift to performance-based assessments.MSEA defined a good test as one that aligns with the curriculum, informs teachers' instruction, provides timely feedback and effectively measures critical thinking, complex skills and subject mastery.When it comes to standardized testing for, we need far more flexibility and thoughtfulness, said Perry.For more information about the Maryland State Education Association, visit www.marylandeducators.org To learn more about PARCC, go to www.parcconline.org/about/states/maryland For IEP fact sheets and evaluations, go to marylandpublicschools.org/msde/divisions/earlyinterv/Special_Ed_Info.htm Business tax forms. (Jan. 11, 2016)Conventional wisdom states that small business is the engine that drives Americas economy. This is certainly true in Maryland. According to the latest U.S. Small Business Administration data there are over 500,000 small businesses in Maryland, and over 80% are single person companies with no employees.They encompass every industry from the construction trades to scientific, technical and professional services. Over 80% of all Maryland firms exporting goods internationally are small businesses, and they generated almost 30% of all export revenue. It is apparent that helping Marylands small businesses succeed is good public policy.Unfortunately, Maryland has garnered a reputation as one of the least business friendly states. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant. Perception is reality.Rather than curse the darkness, lets light a candle to illuminate a fiscally sound path forward that helps people start successful small businesses, and not end up as micro-corporate welfare. Therefore, we should concentrate on assisting the smallest firmsparticularly during their formative stage, the first five years when the majority of failures occur.Many of these failures are the result of negative cash flow, where the upfront expenses overwhelm the business before it can earn enough revenue to stay solvent. My small business investment totaled over $4,000, and I did not become solvent for over six months. Entrepreneurs with less cash, or needing more equipment, space and employees are even more vulnerable.A review of the Maryland taxes, fees, and regulatory overhead provides an excellent starting point. Not all taxes and fees are equal, and the personal property taxes looks like an excellent place to begin.Although there is no state personal property taxes for businesses, each county, municipality, and special taxing unit may collect personal property tax. The State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT) calculates the value of the personal property annually, and local governments collect the revenue.Every jurisdiction has a different tax rate, from zero for Frederick and Talbot counties to $5.62 per $100 of assessed value for Baltimore City. There are also numerous exemptions that further confuse the situation.In addition, the SDAT and local government overhead costs to administer personal property taxes are much higher than for income, or sales taxes. Furthermore, all of this business personal property is in addition to the 6% state sales tax. Am I the only small business owner that believes that I am paying double taxes for the same item? Business personal property taxes are a very inefficient and regressive way to fund the government.A review of SDAT data makes it very difficult to fully assess how much personal property tax revenue would be lost if there was an exemption for small businesses. Elected officials worry about an erosion of business personal property tax revenues. Any real loss of revenue might lead to cutbacks in critical services and programs.These issues provide a considerable inertia against any reduction in the personal property tax. Fortunately, this outcome should not happen for the 24 large jurisdictions. The single-person businesses are overwhelmingly limited liability companies (LLCs).Therefore, all company revenue (net of expenses) is considered to be their personal income for both Federal and Maryland income tax purposes. The personal property tax is a legitimate business expense which is deducted from the business owners income. Any reduction in personal property tax revenue would be offset by increased personal income taxes. Baltimore City and Charles County might see some small revenue loss, because their personal property rates are higher than their piggyback income tax rates.If done properly these losses should be negligible, and increases in business activity should grow the tax revenues to offset them. The small municipalities may feel a significant impact, and their plight should be addressed in any reduction in the personal property tax.In Governor Hogans first General Assembly legislative session, he proposed exempting up to $10,000 of local personal property from taxes. The General Assembly's commission to study Marylands business climate will recommend tax changes this month.I believe that a reasonable compromise can be found that gives small businesses relief from personal property taxes, helps grow Marylands economy, and is fair to taxpayers. The General Assemblys 2016 legislative session begins Wednesday.I strongly urge the governor and the General Assemblys leaders to enact legislation that either eliminates, or reduces personal property taxes for Marylands smallest and most vulnerable businesses. (AVERUSA) The US Army has created a website to establish online assistance in applying for discharge upgrades. An upgrade of a discharge classification for a veteran could mean access to benefits that were previously denied by the veterans other than honorable status, including disability compensation, separation pay, and education benefits under the GI Bill. The Army Review Boards Agency (ARBA) reviews discharges of former soldiers, except those given by reason of a sentence of a General Court Martial or over 15 years since discharge. The purpose of the review is to determine if the discharge was granted in a proper manner, i.e. in accordance with regulatory procedures in effect at the time, and that it was equitable, i.e. giving consideration to current policy, mitigating facts, and the total record. According to the New York Times, a 2011 Obama administration policy generally grants an honorable discharge to any veteran who was kicked out for homosexuality unless there were aggravating factors, such as misconduct. Records from the Department of Defense show 80 percent of the nearly 500 requests submitted since 2011 received an upgrade. In 2014, Stars and Stripes quoted AVER spokesman Denny Meyer, saying LGBT veterans who served and sacrificed in silence during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as those who served before and during Dont Ask Dont Tell in the Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan, deserve to see their service recognized and honored at long last. You can visit the Army Discharge Review Board at: http://arba.army.pentagon.mil/adrb-overview.cfm Charlie Lanigan is standing up for the little guy and taking his fight to the people. To raise awareness of a LGBT media companys legal battle against a corporate giant, Lanigan has become a traveling messaging machine. He arrived in South Florida last weekend in a bright red jeep sporting the logo of his new company, Hey, Buddy! I started Hey, Buddy! because I love my dog and I decided that underdogs need help, Lanigan said over dinner at Rosies in Wilton Manors. Out Front needs our help. Out Front is a 40-year-old LGBT media company headquartered in Denver and owned by Jerry Cunningham. The company prides itself on being one of the nations oldest continuously running, independently owned and operated LGBT publications. That, however, apparently means next to nothing to the suits at CBS. A division of the corporate broadcasting system, CBS Outdoor, changed its name to Outfront Media Inc. in a Nov. 2014 rebranding effort that has directly affected Cunninghams historical gay publication. This is David verses Goliath and the battle thus far has been unrelenting, says Cunningham in a video posted on the website HelpOutFront.com. Enter Lanigan, who left his job as a data warehouse analyst/architect to travel the country in support of Out Front and the legal expenses incurred from taking on a media giant. Lanigan said he believes there are ulterior motives at play. Do you think winning the right to marry will stop homophobes?, Lanigan asks. No! Did racism go away with civil rights? No! The fight is not over. They want to hurt gay owned businesses. Looking at the company logos offers a case study in confusion. In an interview published last November by the Denver Business Journal, Cunningham says he has received calls from people seeking advertisement space on one of Outfront Medias billboards, while his advertisers have sent checks to Outfront Medias New York headquarters by mistake. Some of the clients advertising on Outfront Media billboards (Chick-fil-A, Cracker Barrel, Salvation Army) have a track record of hostility toward LGBT community. Lanigan, meanwhile, is decrying the media giants attempted takeover of a beloved gay publications brand as dishonest and insincere. Out Front is so gay!, Lanigan said. Its a gay community built with the blood, sweat and lives of members of the LGBT community and their allies. You (CBS) may have the money and you may get away with it legally, but I must tell you, you cant make yourself gay with money. To follow Lanigans cross country travels, visit Hey-Bud.com or to offer aid to Out Fronts legal defense fund, visit HelpOutFront.com In what could be a watershed moment of global proportions a court has agreed to hear Chinas first same-sex marriage case. Homosexuality is not illegal in China but same-sex couples have no legal protection. The country itself is becoming more tolerant of homosexuality, which until 2001 was listed as a mental disorder and considered spiritual pollution. The case will be heard within six months. Today, an emerging gay community is busting Chinese stereotypes. There are gay support groups and web sites helping people explore their sexuality and meet potential partners. Gay venues are popping up in most cities. In 2010 Shanghai held its first Gay Pride Week. There is no religious condemnation and anti-gay violence is rare. A Mr. Gay China pageant was even planned in Beijing. It did not happen. The police shut down the contest hours before it was to open, but significantly, even if not realistically, they simply said that the nightclub hosting the event had failed to follow proper permitting procedures, and no exceptions would be made. But what did not happen was as important as what happened. No one got arrested, humiliated, or hauled off in handcuffs. The police cited the bar for not having a license or permits. Change will be slow but it is in motion and gaining momentum. In China, gay rights have been progressing for a decade now. A notable change occurred during the late 1990s and early 2000s with the removal of hooliganism from the criminal law, a de facto decriminalization of homosexuality. In April 20, 2001, the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders formally removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Even the first government-backed gay bar opened in southwestern Yunnan. The Chinese Government explained that the reason behind the bar is to promote AIDS Awareness. The bar is meant to be an educational hot spot for folks to help address rising HIV rates in Chinas Yunnan province. The city of Dali where the bar is located is on the top ten lists of Chinese cities with the largest number of HIV cases. The media flocked to the small city on opening night. A couple of years ago a gay dating app called Blued was launched, users can post daily messages and photos, profiles include age, height, preferred sexual positions and blood type (which is associated with compatibility in China). Most users opt for pseudonyms. Like most apps it has a geolocation feature that calculates the distance between two users. Once the closet doors start bursting open the gay community in China will be the largest in the world. Activists said that the courts acceptance of the same-sex marriage case is encouraging because signals some official willingness to address discrimination against LGBT people. From the standpoint of improving visibility and awareness this case is no doubt already a victory. Facing increasing irreverence in a post Obergefell v Hodges world, Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage fired off a press release condemning President Obama for inviting Jim Obergefell, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit that legalized same-sex marriage nationally to attend Tuesday's State of the Union address. In a statement released Tuesday, Brown called on Republican members of Congress to leave "an empty chair in the front of the chamber to represent the more than fifty million Americans whose votes in support of traditional marriage were stolen by the US Supreme Court." "It's an outrage that President Obama is honoring the extermination of true marriage in our nation's laws as a result of an anti-constitutional, illegitimate ruling of the US Supreme Court," decried sore loser Brown. "President Obama is trying to honor something that is completely dishonorable because it strips from the law the truth of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and substitutes a fiction from the left that marriage can be anything you want it to be." "The Republican leadership ought to set aside an empty chair in the front of the chamber to represent the more than fifty million Americans whose votes in support of traditional marriage were stolen by the US Supreme Court," Brown said. "It's a national insult that President Obama would celebrate such an affront to democracy." Once an anti-gay financial juggernaut, NOM has fallen on hard financial times amid the wave of national marriage equality. On December 29, 2015, in the eleventh hour of year-end fundraising, Brown lamented his organization's ability to raise $92,160. "I have to admit that my heart sank when I looked at yesterday's fundraising report, a dejected Brown wrote. "We still have $92,160 in unclaimed matching funds that we will lose if more of our supporters do not step up with a critically-needed end-of-year gift." Its the return of the Competitive Workforce Act in Tallahassee and this year it just might get a listen. In a surprising twist, the annual civil rights bill has been introduced by Republicans. Florida Senator Jack Latvala, (R-Clearwater) is co-sponsoring Senate Bill 120, joining Sen. Joe Abruzzo (D-Boynton Beach) to propose a law that would protect LGBT people from discrimination in the workplace, public housing and accommodations. The bill, in years past, has failed to receive a committee hearing. That could change this year with bipartisan support and extra nudging from the corporate world. Supporters of the Competitive Workforce Act include Fortune 500 companies AT&T, CSX, Darden Restaurants, Marriott, NextEra Energy, Office Depot, Tech Data, Walt Disney World Resort and Wells Fargo. As employers competing against other states and even other countries for top talent, they understand more than anybody that creating a welcoming environment that values diversity and a variety of perspectives and experiences gives their companies an advantage to attracting the best and the brightest, wrote Florida Representative Chris Latvala (R-Clearwater) in an op-ed piece published last week in the Tampa Tribune. Chris Latvala is one of 19 House representatives who have gone on record as supporting the Competitive Workforce Act (House Bill 45). He co-sponsored the bill with Representative Holly Raschien (R-Key Largo). The bill seeks to add the words sexual orientation and gender identity to existing statewide non-discrimination protections. In addition to the nine Fortune 500 companies, bill supporters claim the backing of 27 major employers and more than 400 local Florida businesses. Dont look now but Bernie Sanders is surging in Iowa. The U.S. Senator from Vermont, who proudly wears the socialist label on his sleeve, has pulled even with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the latest poll of likely Democratic caucus goers in Iowa. Sanders and Clinton are tied, each with 45 percent support, in a combined survey of three respected polling firms, according to the news organization Real Clear Politics. Additionally, in a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal, NBC News and Marist College, Clinton holds a slim three point lead (48 to 45) in Iowa, site of the nations first caucus on Feb. 1. The Democratic contests in Iowa and New Hampshire could still go either way, Lee Miringoff, Director of Marist College Institute for Public Opinion told the Wall Street Journal. From Iowa, the campaign shifts to New Hampshire for a primary on Feb. 8 where Sanders holds a slim lead in his neighboring state. Sanders sudden rise in the polls has some analysts recalling the 2008 campaign when a U.S. Senator from Illinois made a rapid rise in the polls and eventually knocked off Clinton in Iowa. That Senator, of course, is current U.S. President Barack Obama. But not so fast with the comparisons, okay. The most liberal voters tend to tune in sooner and engage more actively, giving an initial boost to progressive candidates, writes Dan Pfeiffer, a CNN analyst and former White House senior advisor, in a piece in the Washington Post titled Bernie Sanders isnt Barack Obama and 2016 isnt 2008. Pfeiffer goes on to note that Sanders has negligible support and limited name identification among black and Latino voters and faces real challenges Obama did not in expanding the base of his support. Sanders and Clinton will debate Sunday, Jan. 17, which is the last time before the ballots are cast in February. It will air on NBC. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, real estate tycoon Donald J. Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas are neck-and-neck in Iowa polling with each pulling 27 percent according to Real Clear Politics. In New Hampshire, Trump is lapping the field with more than 30 percent support compared to 13 percent for his nearest rival, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. In New Hampshire, Trump has spent more time targeting the states newspaper of record, The Union Leader, which is endorsing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. If their highly unethical behavior, including begging me for ads, isnt questionable enough, they have endorsed a candidate who cant win, Trump tweeted on Monday. The Republicans will debate again in South Carolina on Thursday, Jan. 14, with Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Christie, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Ohio Governor John Kasich participating on the main stage. The debate airs on the Fox Business Network. Last week a Broward County jury delivered a damage award to a bar patron who claimed he was accosted by a bouncer in a nightclub. The verdict was reported in the countys legal newspaper, the Daily Business Review. The piece of this story that caught our eye was that the victim was a gay man who was apparently struck by a gay bartender in a local gay club, now defunct, the Wilton Manors bar once known as The Stable. He sued the parent corporation, Scandals Bar & Lounge, and was awarded $39,787. It was not a major story. We tend not to cover bar fights. If we covered all the bar fights from Key West to North Palm Beach, we would become the South Florida Gay Legal News. But this story was different. This was not an unsubstantiated accusation. This was not someone calling us up screaming on Monday that a bouncer beat him on Sunday. This is a case where a gay man was hurt, his lawyer sued, the case went to trial, and a judgment was awarded. But when we called the owner of Scandals, Ken Kelley, for a comment, he launched two accusatory tirades at SFGN, as if we were doing something wrong, stating, SFGN must be desperate for news. Nonsense. All we were trying to do was report some simple facts about what happened. But Kelley would have none of it. He wrote to us that he determined the incident was a non-issueend of story. We respectfully disagree. While the incident happened four years ago, the jury verdict was last week. So it is timely and newsworthy, whether you like it or not. It certainly was for the Daily Review and they have been around for about one hundred years longer than us. This was a real case where a bouncer was accused of attacking a gay male patron in a gay nightclub in our hometown. Broward Sheriffs deputies may have cleared him of criminal wrongdoing, as Mr. Kelley pointed out to us, but that does not mean he wasnt civilly negligent, or that the bar was not legally responsible for his actions. Ask O.J. Simpson. Finally, we asked Mr. Kelley if he still employs the bouncer in his present bar. We thought you had a right to know if the person is still working at a popular bar you may patronize. Here was Mr. Kelleys unseemly and crude reply to our reporter: The only comment I have to say to you, Norm Kent, and SFGN is that your insistence to publish a story that has absolutely no relevance and is in no way shape or form newsworthy is tabloid journalism at its worst. I will not dignify this effort to cause me and my business harm with any additional communication with you or any other person at SFGN regarding this. Mr. Kelley, my duty as the publisher of SFGN is to the communitys interests, not yours. Reporting the facts and the truth faithfully is what we do, even if it exposes warts and wounds in our own bedroom. Telling unpleasant stories or unpopular news does not mean we have it in for any bar, seek to target any owner, or want to cause their establishment harm. In this particular case, Jeffrey Dinsmore, 39, said a bouncer pushed him so hard that he was knocked down, and it caused him to hit his head on the floor, suffering a concussion. As reported in our story, Dinsmore claimed he later missed three months of work with post-concussion syndrome. He sued Scandals for failure to properly interview, train, supervise, and manage its employees. The Stable could have defended the lawsuit. They chose not to. We asked why; thats called journalism. You had nothing to hide. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes, bad things happen. They may or may not be your fault. Regardless, we are this communitys newspaper, not your personal fluffer. Two separate newspapers reported the results. It makes us neither a terrible paper or tabloid journalists. It keeps you honest and us real. It wasnt a major story until you made it one. Publishing those facts in the South Florida Gay News or the Daily Business Review is simply fulfilling our obligation to report the news. Thats America; thats a free press. Thats who we are, and what we do. After a month-long holiday vacation in Sarasota, Feld Entertainments Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus traditionally makes its first stop of the year in Miami. On Monday, the company, which also produces Disney on Ice and other family arena spectacles, announced its 40 touring elephants would be retired to a Florida sanctuary. This would be our last chance to see the giant pachyderms perform in the ring and so my partner, his parents and I made our way to Miamis American Airlines Arena for The Greatest Show on Earth. We dont catch the show every year. The tickets themselves arent expensive, but when you add in the processing and convenience fees, parking, and then the $8 snow cones, $14 cotton candy, $12 ice cream and $5 bottles of soda, well, a trip to the circus becomes an expensive proposition. We arent even seduced by the $18 and $24 stuffed animals and flashing wands or tempted to get our faces painted for $8 or a computer-generated photograph for $15. Quite frankly, I dont know how a family with children affords a trip to the circus. But there we were, seated in the arena as the lights went down for Circus Xtreme. Changes have been coming to the circus for decades. Ringling Bros. long ago abandoned the traveling big top, preferring to perform in urban arenas with air conditioning and sophisticated light and sound systems. The circus band ditched their spirited marches in favor of pop-infused music. The sequin-bedazzled ringmasterwe counted four costume changesnow sings as he rides around the rings in a motorized platform. The influence of Cirque-style productions has also been growing over the years with aerialists flying through the air on bungee cords a la Believe from one of Chers many farewell tours. Later they would float in the air with billowing mermaid tails. The Mongolian acrobats, a staple of Cirque du Soleil, make an appearance, too. Several traditional circus acts have survived, including the Danguir Troupe, walking the tightrope 35 feet above the arena floor; Gemma Kirby, the human cannonball; and, of course, the clowns. The animal acts included a tightly choreographed pack of two-humped camels, trotting around the ring with beautiful Asian riders performing handstands and tricks on their backs, and the ferocious white tigers who seemed more like giant pussycats under the command of trainer Tabavara Maluenda. Finally, the elephants arrived! Perhaps in response to the animal rights activists who follow the circus train from city to cityyes, the circus still travels by trainthe elephant act focused on messages of education and conservation, justifying their lives in captivity and participation in the spectacle. Im not sure if they arent better off living within the circus. We hear about poachers everyday and their natural habitat continues to disappear as Asia industrializes. I do know they seemed to respond to the audience as they sat and rolled over and knocked giant beach balls around the arena with their trunks. And Im glad we got to see them one last time. So how will the circus survive without elephants? In keeping with the show theme, Circus Xtreme, producers have turned to extreme sportsdaring BMX riders jumping and flipping around the arena on steel ramps and champion trampoline artists bouncing on an off of a large scaffolding, all accentuated with dazzling lighting and pyrotechnics. Oh, and I cant forget the trained poodles. Theyre definitely not exotic like elephants, but they brought the loudest applause for their antics. The elephants may be relegated to history soon, but the circus will go on from town to town, bringing smiles to ladies, gentlemen, children of all ages for many years to come. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus presents Circus Xtreme at the American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami, through Monday, Jan. 18. Tickets start at $10 at Ticketmaster.com. GRAVITY First Light ESO Zooming in on black holes is the main mission for the newly installed instrument GRAVITY at ESOs Very Large Telescope in Chile. During its first observations, GRAVITY successfully combined starlight using all four Auxiliary Telescopes. The large team of European astronomers and engineers, led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, who designed and built GRAVITY, are thrilled with the performance. During these initial tests, the instrument has already achieved a number of notable firsts. This is the most powerful VLT Interferometer instrument yet installed. The GRAVITY instrument combines the light from multiple telescopes to form a virtual telescope up to 200 metres across, using a technique called interferometry. This enables the astronomers to detect much finer detail in astronomical objects than is possible with a single telescope. Since the summer of 2015, an international team of astronomers and engineers led by Frank Eisenhauer (MPE http://www.mpe.mpg.de/2169/en, Garching, Germany) has been installing the instrument in specially adapted tunnels under the Very Large Telescope at ESOs Paranal Observatory in northern Chile [1]. This is the first stage of commissioning GRAVITY within the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A crucial milestone has now been reached: for the first time, the instrument successfully combined starlight from the four VLT Auxiliary Telescopes [2]. During its first light, and for the first time in the history of long baseline interferometry in optical astronomy, GRAVITY could make exposures of several minutes, more than a hundred times longer than previously possible, commented Frank Eisenhauer. GRAVITY will open optical interferometry to observations of much fainter objects, and push the sensitivity and accuracy of high angular resolution astronomy to new limits, far beyond what is currently possible. As part of the first observations the team looked closely at the bright, young stars known as the Trapezium Cluster , located in the heart of the Orion star-forming region. Already, from these first commissioning data, GRAVITY made a small discovery: one of the components of the cluster was found to be a double star [3]. The key to this success was to stabilise the virtual telescope for long enough, using the light of a reference star, so that a deep exposure on a second, much fainter object becomes feasible. Furthermore, the astronomers also succeeded in stabilising the light from four telescopes simultaneously a feat not achieved before [3]. GRAVITY can measure the positions of astronomical objects on the finest scales and can also perform interferometric imaging and spectroscopy [4]. If there were buildings on the moon, GRAVITY would be able to spot them. Such extremely high resolution imaging has many applications, but the main focus in the future will be studying the environments around black holes. In particular, GRAVITY will probe what happens in the extremely strong gravitational field close to the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way which explains the choice of the name of the instrument. This is a region where behaviour is dominated by Einsteins theory of general relativity. In addition, it will uncover the details of mass accretion and jets processes that occur both around newborn stars (young stellar objects) and in the regions around the supermassive black holes at the centres of other galaxies. It will also excel at probing the motions of binary stars, exoplanets and young stellar discs, and in imaging the surfaces of stars. So far, GRAVITY has been tested with the four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes. The first observations using GRAVITY with the four 8-metre VLT Unit Telescopes are planned for later in 2016. The GRAVITY consortium is led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, in Garching, Germany. The other partner institutes are: LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Meudon, France Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany 1. Physikalisches Institut, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany IPAG, Universite Grenoble Alpes/CNRS, Grenoble, France Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofisica, CENTRA (SIM), Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal ESO, Garching, Germany Notes [1] The VLTI tunnels and beam-combining room have recently undergone significant construction work to accommodate GRAVITY as well as to prepare for other future instruments. [2] It would be more accurate to call this step first fringes as the milestone was the first successful combination of light from the different telescopes so that the beams interfered and fringes were formed and recorded. [3] The newly discovered double star is Theta1 Orionis F, and the observations were made using the nearby brighter star Theta1 Orionis C as the reference. [4] GRAVITY aims to measure the positions of objects on scales of order ten microarcseconds, and perform imaging with four milliarcsecond resolution. More information ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the worlds most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the worlds most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the worlds largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become the worlds biggest eye on the sky. NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 12 January 2016. NASA Preparation continues for Tim Peake and Tim Kopra for Fridays 7:55 a.m. EST spacewalk. Today, they will be re-familiarizing themselves with the tools needed to perform the Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) change out. Aside from spacewalk preparation, Commander Scott Kelly and Tim Peake will also be setting up the JAXA Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) equipment. It will be installed into the Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack 2 (MSPR2) work volume inside of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). Commander Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko continue their fluid shift activities with help from Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov. Todays activities are the third part of this experiment in which the Russian Chibis (Lower Body Negative Pressure LBNP) is worn and ultrasound measurements of their eyes are taken. On-Orbit Status Report Electrostatic Levitation Furnaces 1 and 2 (ELF 1 & 2) Setup: Kelly and Peake set up the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ELF equipment for installation in the Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack 2 (MSPR2) work volume in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The crew was unable to complete all of the installation activities today. They will be completed at the earliest opportunity. The ELF is an experimental facility designed to levitate, melt and solidify materials employing containerless processing techniques that use the electrostatic levitation method with charged samples and electrodes. With this facility, thermophysical properties of high temperature melts can be measured and solidification from deeply undercooled melts can be achieved. Fluid Shifts Before, During and After Prolonged Space Flight and Their Association with Intracranial Pressure and Visual Impairment (Fluid Shifts): Kelly and Kornienko continued their Return minus 45 day (R-45) Fluid Shifts activities today in the Russian Segment with assistance from Volkov. This third part of the Fluid Shifts experiment utilizes the Russian Chibis (Lower Body Negative Pressure LBNP) suit during ultrasound measurements. Fluid Shifts investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronauts eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage. Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock Pressurization and Leak Check: In preparation for removal of the Robotics Refueling Mission (RRM) Task Board 4 and the Robotic Micro Conical Tool (RMCT)-1 from the JEM Airlock Slide Table later this month, Kelly has pressurized the JEM Airlock and performed a leak check today. Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Preparation: Kopra and Peake continued to prepare for Fridays Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) EVA. Today, they re-familiarized themselves with the tools needed to perform the SSU change out, installed a long term tether onto the EPIC MDM Ethernet Cable bundle to allow for external stowage without being plugged in, if required. In addition, they packed the Internal Docking Adapter (IDA) EVA bag with the required cabling. Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurements: As part of system health monitoring, Kopra utilized a Velocicalc tool in order to obtain measurements of selected ventilation inlets and outlets within the USOS. Todays measurements took place within the Joint Airlock, Node1, Node 2, Node 3, Cupola, and the Lab. Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: This afternoon, ground controllers are performing a periodic survey of the Scan Testbed Experiment on ExPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC)-3. Once the survey is complete, they will command an Mobile Transporter (MT) translation from Worksite (WS)-7 to WS-2. The move is required in order to provide camera support during Fridays Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) 1B Extravehicular Activity (EVA) and to preposition the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) for next weeks Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) demonstation activity. Todays Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Morning Inspection. SM ??? (Caution & Warning Panel) Test Laptop RS1(2) Reboot RSS 1, 2 Reboot Hematocrit Test MO Experiment Ops Hematocrit Hardware Stowage JEM Airlock Pressurization On MCC GO Regeneration of ??? ?1 Micropurification Cartridge ???? Log-File Dump RGN Initiate drain into EDV FLUID SHIFTS ISS Crew Handover JEM Airlock Leak Check Fine Motor Skills Examination RGN Terminate water drain into EDV MELFI 3 TDR Battery Swap Collect SM and FGB Air Samples Using ??-1? Sampler WRS Recycle Tank Fill ELF S/U- Procedure Review SM Air Sampling for FREON Using ??-1? Sampler XF305 Camcorder Settings Adjustment VEG-01 Plant Photo MSPR2 Software Setup ??? Maintenance MSPR2 Configuration Setup MSPR2 Software Setup KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Experiment Ops EVA Tool Config ALGOMETRIA. Experiment Ops IMS Delta File Prep SM Ventilation System Preventive Maintenance. Group ?1 Evening Work Prep EXPOSE-R. Copy and Downlink Data WRS Recycle Tank Fill INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops IMV Flow Measurement USND2 Hardware installation and activation URYSIS Setup for Operation On MCC GO ??? ?1 Absorption Cartridge Regeneration Preparation of Reports for Roscosmos Web Site and Social Media Video Recording for All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (?????) ECON-M. Observation and Photography Completed Task List Items None Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Scan Test Bed Survey with MSS MT translation from WS-7 to WS-2 Three-Day Look Ahead: Wednesday, 01/13: Fluid Shifts, Sprint Ultrsound, Circadian Rhythms, Medical Emergency Training, Cygnus Cargo Ops Thursday, 01/14: EVA Procedure Review, EVA Tool Audit, Equipment Lock Preparation Friday, 01/15: SSU 1B EVA QUICK ISS Status Environmental Control Group: Component Status Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [???] 1 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1) Off [???] 2 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2) Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Full Up Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Off THE GENERAL Prosecutors Office will check the anti-Muslim statements of Prime Minister Robert Fico, based on a criminal complaint suggesting hate speech and inciting hatred. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The complaint concerning the statement that it is necessary to prevent the creation of compact Muslim community in Slovakia was submitted on January 10 by email, General Prosecutors Offices spokesperson Andrea Predajnova confirmed to the Dennik N daily. She added that the matter will be processed in a standard way and in compliance with the law. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The only way to eliminate risks like in Paris and in Germany is to prevent the creation of compact Muslim community in Slovakia, Fico told the press on January 7, as quoted by Dennik N, in response to the New Years incident in Cologne. The idea of multicultural Europe failed and the natural integration of people, who have other way of life, other thinking, other cultural background and, most of all, other religion, is not possible. Read also: Read also: Fico could be prosecuted for anti-Muslim statements Read more Shortly after these statements, Smer decided to use the words also in its election campaign and started paying for the internet ad saying R. Fico: We have to prevent the creation of compact Muslim community in Slovakia. Fico said in the past that they monitor every single Muslim in Slovakia, as reported by Dennik N. Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar does not see any problems with the claims. Everything needs to be perceived in context, he told the Sme daily, adding he does not think a crime was committed. German politician Aydan Ozoguz of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), however, does not consider the claims standard. I am horrified that an EU member state uses the mistakes in Cologne to stir up the hatred against one religious community, she said, as quoted by Dennik N. The Slovak government is doing the same as a right-wing populist in Germany, specifying that they suspect the whole group and raise concerns from them and refugees to break out of European responsibility. She went on to say that Muslims in Slovakia are afraid of attacks and that Fico is making them out to be chased animals. THE NATIONAL Criminal Agency (NAKA) arrested senior doctor of the urology ward of the hospital in Skalica (Trnava Region), identified as Jozef M. (65), on January 11. Font size: A - | A + He was accused of accepting a bribe. Aside from him, the police detained two patients, who were charged with bribery. The patients were meanwhile released, the TASR newswire reported. NAKA will process the proposal to take the doctor into custody, said Police Corps Presidium spokesperson Michal Slivka, as quoted by TASR. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement If he is found guilty, the doctor could spend from three to eight years in prison. The accused patients are threatened with six months to three years in prison, TASR wrote. Renata Kormanova, head of the Skalica hospital, confirmed to TASR that the NAKA detained a senior doctor of the urology ward, but failed to provide more details. It is a very unpleasant situation which is not good for our hospital, Kormanova said, adding she was surprised by the detention as she has not received any report about corruptive behaviour from patients or hospital employees. She also said that the whole urology ward operates in standard regime. A STRIKE alert declared by representatives of teachers on January 11 is a politically motivated activity, said both Education Minister Juraj Draxler and Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini. Font size: A - | A + The reason behind the claim is that one of the activists will run in the March 5 parliamentary elections. The teachers, however, reject it. Its unambiguously political action, as one of the organisers is open about the fact that the purpose of this initiative is to lower Smers voter support, said Draxler, who called on teachers to not be influenced by it, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He referred to a statement of Ludovit Sebeledi, head of the New Schools Unions (NSO), from an interview in the Dennik N daily. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Draxler in this respect also mentioned the candidacy of Miroslav Sopko from the Slovak Chamber of Teachers, who is running on the slate of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO). Read also: Read also: Slovak teachers initiative declares strike alert Read more With their strike alert disgruntled teachers are warning the government and parliament that if they do not offer specific legislative measures by January 25 to meet their demands within the current electoral period, teachers will go on full strike on that day. Draxler pointed out that the ministry has shown interest in those who want to address the situation in education via a professional discussion. The activists communications became more chaotic at the end of last year, he said, adding that some things that Initiative of Slovak Teachers (ISU) is calling for are in the process of being addressed, such as continual education. Pellegrini, meanwhile, said that some political parties want to abuse teachers in their pre-election fight. I want to call on teachers in Slovakia not to yield to these political pressures, not to be drawn into this political fight of some parties which try only to destabilise the situation within the election campaign, and not to trust empty promises given by politicians who are not responsible for anything now, the parliaments speaker said, as quoted by TASR. He also invited the ISU representatives to discuss the problems. There is room for negotiations but the aim should be to find solutions and prepare the basis for the programme statement of the new government, Pellegrini added. Sebeledi rejected the claims, saying he has never been running for any party or any post, nor is running in this election. He attended all discussions to which NSO was invited and submitted proposals to improve the situation in education. He does not understand why they use one statement, used out of context and try to politicise ISU activities, as reported by TASR. Also Sopko responded by saying that as every person in the country, also he is entitled to run in the parliamentary elections for any party especially to help the Slovak education system with my experience, range of knowledge and visions, as reported by the SITA newswire. Branislav Kocan of ISU meanwhile stressed that their organisation is an apolitical movement of teachers who have been pointing at problems in education for a long time. He also rejected any claims about having a political party in the background, SITA wrote. CONSTRUCTION company Strabag, responsible for hydrogeological investigation of the lands in Nitra, will prepare a strategic park where a new plant of British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover will stand. The site near Nitra where the new strategic park will stand. (Source: SME) Font size: A - | A + The company was picked by state-run company MH Invest, running under the Economy Ministry, without a public competition. It will receive 123 million, the Sme daily reported. According to the available information, there were four firms interested in the bid. The ministry, however, failed to specify who Strabags rivals were, according to Sme. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Read also: Read also: Jaguar Land Rover to build cars in Slovakia Read more Strabag started with a hydrogeological investigation of the lands near Nitra a few months ago, after it was selected by the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO). It picked the firm after its own market survey, without opening a public competition, after addressing several companies and choosing the cheapest bid. Company MH Invest, which is responsible for building a strategic park in Nitra, also did not open a competition, and chose Strabag after a direct negotiation process. This kind of selection of the winning company is allowed by public procurement law in a few cases, for example when the competition concerns copyright or when there is extreme urgency which was not caused by the procurer, as reported by Sme. It is not clear now why MH Invest decided not to open a public competition as it did not answer the dailys questions. The lawyers addressed by Sme assume that the extreme urgency may have been the reason for such a step. Meanwhile, the government decided at its January 13 session to issue a certificate to Jaguar Land Rover, confirming its plans have a status of important investment and that its realisation is in public interest, the SITA newswire wrote. A FIGHTER against oppression, a real personality, and a moral authority this is how people in Slovakia describe priest, communist-era dissident and altruist Anton Srholec, who died on January 7 in Bratislava at the age of 86. Font size: A - | A + Born in Skalica (Trnava Region) on June 12, 1929, Srholec was a political prisoner incarcerated by the communist regime for many years. After the revolution, he took an active part in public discussions and various demonstrations. Despite being a priest, he was persona non grata in the Church for his critical approach to its operations and some of its representatives, according to the Sme daily. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement He, however, was admired by many for his approach to life and his willingness to help people in need. Read also: Read also: Priest, former dissident Srholec died Read more Parting with the priest Srholecs life was marked by many setbacks. He transformed his suffering into love, said President Andrej Kiska during his funeral speech. He found God in loneliness, in the people around him, in their smiles and actions, Kiska said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He was forgiving, while not forgetting the evil that needs to be opposed. Prime Minister Robert Fico called Srholecs departure a great loss for the Slovak public life. He was a lighthouse for all who were searching for a shore in the sea of hopelessness and his life full of hardships was crowned by the work permanently written into Slovak society, Fico wrote in a statement. Srholecs popularity was proven also by the number of people who came to bid farewell to the priest on January 12 in Bratislava and Skalica. In addition to Kiska, the requiem mass in Bratislava was attended by many other representatives of public and political life, from the Anton Srholec Resocialisation Community (Resoty) and the Confederation of Political Prisoners of Slovakia (KPVS). We lost a big person who, I would say, was big not only in the Slovak, but also the European, context, Jozef Banik, deputy chair of the KPVS, told the public-service RTVS. Also among the mourners, was recalled Trnava Archbishop Robert Bezak, whom Srholec supported after he was dismissed from his post, according to the Tyzden weekly. On the other hand, neither Fico nor any members of his cabinet attended. Top representatives of the Catholic Church also stayed away. The only bishop who bade farewell to Srholec was Auxiliary Bishop of Bratislava Archdiocese Jozef Halko, as reported by the Dennik N daily. Persecuted by the communists Srholec decided to study theology, which was not possible in then communist-Czechoslovakia, he tried to illegally emigrate abroad in 1951. However, he was caught and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He served 10, mostly in the uranium mines in Jachymov. After his release in 1960, he was a labourer at construction sites. Later, he worked as a labourer and secretly studied theology, also at the papal university in Torino. In 1970, he was ordained as a priest by Pope Paul VI, yet after he returned to Czechoslovakia, Srholec could not pursue a clerical career, and he was first a sexton and then a popular preacher in the Bratislava church of Blumental. He was also sent to smaller parishes in the vicinity of Bratislava. In 1985, he was stripped of state approval after he had organised religious festivities at Velehrad. He worked again as a labourer and retired in 1989. Srholec addressed people mainly with the testimony of his life, which was heroic in regard to what he suffered in the uranium mines, followed by prosecution and a ban on serving as a priest, said Salesian Society in Slovakia Provincial Jozef Izold. Despite this, it didnt break him, and he was able to encourage others, Izold added, as quoted by TASR. According to the representatives of the Conservative Institute of Milan Rastislav Stefanik, Srholec was aware of the importance of historical memory and made efforts to help people remember the days when freedom was threatened. Active in public life Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Archbishop Jan Sokol refused to consent to Srholecs rehabilitation, meaning that he still could not preach publicly at churches. Even though neither the Salesian order, nor the diocese involved Srholec in pastoral care after the revolution, he stayed in contact with the Salesians, Izold said. Srholec was active in the Helsinki Committee and other organisations, as chairman of the KVPS, and he mostly focused on working with homeless people. In 1992, he founded a re-socialising facility for the homeless, Resoty, in Bratislavas borough of Podunajske Biskupice, which offers a shelter for dozens. Srholec was active in public life, lectured and wrote stories and books. He received many national and foreign awards. In 2003, Anton Srholec received the Order of Ludovit Stur 2nd Class. He received also the Crystal Wing award for his lifelong work in 2014 and the White Crow award for his lifetime contributions in 2015. Srholecs life was also captured in a documentary by director Alena Cermakova, which was introduced to the Slovak cinemas in October 2015. She monitored his life for eight years, accompanied him during the visit to Leopoldov prison, with homeless people, and also searched documents in archives. There is also a new book of interviews with Srholec by Pista Vandal Chrappa, also released in October, TASR wrote. We lose one of the real personalities of Slovak nation, said Ondrej Krajnak, head of the board of the Nations Memory Institute. Don Anton Srholec could win the favour, the hearts, the admiration and the support of people of good will, regardless their social status or religion. With press reports If the Glory of God is a human being fully alive, as the motto of New Yorks Church of the Heavenly Rest has it, what better to serve Him than an Australian-inspired cafe on the premises serving espresso, pour-overs, and avocado toasts? In summer 2015, the New-York-based coffee company Bluestone Lane, which got its start inhabiting nooks of lobbies in coffee deserts like the Financial District, opened its seventh location in its most unusual space yet: a chapel. The church it abuts is no desacralized place on its way to a condominium future, but an active Episcopal congregation. Set at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 90th Street on the Upper East Side, the church is washed by a tide of tourist foot traffic: the Guggenheim Museum is one block down, and Central Park lies across the street. The surrounding neighborhood of Carnegie Hill has been sedately moneyed since the time of Andrew Carnegie, the nineteenth-century steel magnate, whose widow sold the land on which the church is built. The churchs rector since 2013, Reverend Matt Heyd, says the idea for a cafe dates to 2009, when a former priest, Reverend Elizabeth Garnsey, suggested a new use for an old chapel with a separate entrance. A key part of faith is hospitality, observes the youthful Heyd, who seems slightly caffeinated himself. The church wanted to signal that its doors are open to the community. It also saw a potential revenue stream, something few New York churches can afford not to think about. The Heavenly Rest Stop, as the cafe is known, was opened in 2009 by another operator. When its five-year lease ran out, the church rethought the concept, deciding to add table service and more sense of a menu, Heyd says. After scouring New York for a new tenant, the church approached Bluestone Lane, which had grown from its office-lobby origins to open a cafe with food service in Manhattans West Village. Heyd found Bluestone Lanes owners cool and entrepreneurial, and saw in them a passion for hospitality. The church appreciated that Bluestone Lane paid their workers a living wage and was willing to give back to the community financially, though exact terms for outreach have not been set. Bluestone Lane signed a ten-year lease and was given the chance to redesign the chapel, a job it undertook stylishly with the help of Caswell Design Group. White sidewalk tables and chairs flank the entrance, a Gothic arch with a heavy glass door leading into a vaulted stone space. Brass lighting fixtures, antique mirrors, and clean-lined wood-and-metal furniture set the tone for the cafe, which is graced by a skylight, plants, and a pair of brushy abstract watercolors. Tables and benches are set into alcoves, and a communal table runs down the middle, leading the eye to a white, three-group La Marzocco Linea PB. The cafe is a handsome reworking of a space that served in past incarnations as a library and a place for brides to wait before their weddings. In its mingling of Gothic and modern elements, it feels suited to the church itself, whose silvery Art Deco touches make it seem the product of a dalliance between the Chrysler Building and Westminster Abbey. Bluestone Lane serves espresso from the Melbourne roaster Niccolo Coffee and pour-overs from San Francisco-based Sightglass Coffee. True to the churchs plan, there is table service and a menu of light dishes including salads and toasts like the Avocado Smash. At $13, it is priced for the neighborhood, but with heirloom tomatoes, tahini, feta, and Balthazar bread, it is making an effort at least. Rev. Heyd finds that while the original Heavenly Rest Stop drew a mainly tourist crowd, the revamped cafe is gaining popularity with locals, ranging from museum employees to Fifth Avenue dowagers to students from nearby private schools. Though New Wave coffee and the Holy Trinity might seem curious bedfellows, this is not the first food business run at an active New York church. Another Episcopal church, St. Barts on Park Avenue, operates a restaurant and bar popular among midtown office workers. Wine may be the original Christian beverage, but coffee feels just as ecclesiastically apt, its scent having lingered over so many after-church coffee hours. Here, thank God, the coffee is not from a percolator. It seems unlikely that the cafe will generate new parishioners for the Church of the Heavenly Rest, nor is it meant to. Many pass from the cafe through a door connecting to the church proper, but most appear to be in search of the bathroom, not the Lord. That is fine by Rev. Heyd, who says simply, I hope people always feel invited to the church. Alexander Henry is a writer based in Brooklyn. Read more Alexander Henry on Sprudge. Photographs by Liz Clayton. "The most powerful force against a totalitarian system is the truth," Park said. Relations between North and South Korea escalated since Pyongyang's January 6 hydrogen bomb test. While experts have cast doubt on the test's authenticity, several states have called for new sanctions against the country. The UN Security Council condemned the alleged test, adding it would begin work on further anti-Pyongyang measures in a new resolution. Japan's defense minister has expressed fears of an aggravation of the standoff between the two countries after the South's resumption of cross-border propaganda broadcasts. Despite a mutual 2004 agreement to cease propaganda broadcasting, a mid-2015 restart of broadcasting by South Korea led to an escalation of hostilities between the two sides. In August 2015, the two countries exchanged artillery fire, while North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un declared a "quasi-state of war." The situation was later de-escalated on conditions of halting propaganda broadcasts. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Philippine government has protested China's test flights over the Kagitingan Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands archipelago, local media said Wednesday. "We formally protested on 8 January 2016 the recent test flights conducted by China to the Kagitingan Reef (Fiery Cross Reef) and its provocative actions restricting the freedom of navigation and overflight in the WPS (West Philippine Sea)," Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles Jose said, as quoted by GMA News. The Fiery Cross Reef is claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam but is under Chinese control. On January 6, China conducted two test flights in the area, landing on an artificial island in the archipelago, according to Chinese media reports. The airstrip has been under construction since 2014 when the Chinese government began land reclamation activities on the reef. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The volume of trade between Russia and Japan has diminished by almost 30 percent over the past year, Russian lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Wednesday. "In the sphere of trade and economic cooperation, we are going through difficult times. Over the last year, within the first ten months of last year, the volume of trade between our countries reduced significantly, by virtually 30 percent," Naryshkin said during a meeting with Masahiko Komura, vice president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Komura's regular visits to Russia have contributed to establishing inter-parliamentary contacts, as well as developing cooperation in other areas between Russia and Japan, the lower house speaker added. Japanese business leaders are prepared to resume cooperation with Russia in various fields, Naryshkin stressed. He also said that the combination of economic weakness policy, uncertainty about China and the prospect of a higher dollar rates coming out of the US it is a pretty toxic cocktail. Talking about the Chinese Peoples Bank policy the strategist noted that China has let its currency flip over the course of December and into this year, it has brought China in the central focus. In regard to who will be most affected by this situation Ingram said that, emerging markets will suffer and that will cause currency weakness in many jurisdictions. Russia and countries that are highly exposed to commodities have been hit doubly. Right now the environment is extremely unfavorable and there is a very realistic possibility that we might see the crude price well into a $20 which is pretty catastrophic, the strategist said. This scenario is possible because supply and demand are not balanced. Supply has been increased unabatedly. The demand side to the equation hasnt been given enough hearing. As growth momentum weakens that becomes a very important factor as well. The $20 scenario can also occur because we are physically running out of space to store the surplus oil, we know that the space is declining, and the date is being pushed further away but sometime soon it may end up at $20, Ingram noted. The strategist said that he hoped there would soon be more clarity, but the next few months will remain tricky from an investment perspective. PM Davutoglu said a suicide bomber linked to Daesh had crossed into Turkey from Syria, but was not on the country's terror watch list. Right after the attack Ankara imposed a ban on the media coverage of the accident. According to Turkish Anadolu news agency the ban was imposed to restrict the dissemination of information about the explosion that shook Istanbul earlier that day. The ban on the distribution of information will affect all kinds of news, interviews, analyses and other article formats in the printed press, on television, on the radio, via social networks and on the Internet, Anadolu news agency reported. Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based researcher with the Silk Road Studies Program at John Hopkins University, spoke with Radio Sputnik sharing his thoughts regarding the media censorship. According to him the Turkish authorities have become extremely authoritarian and many people have started to assume that by imposing these bans Ankara is trying to either cover its collaboration with Daesh or the incompetence of its security forces. Media Clampdown The second major issue between Brussels and Warsaw is the new media law that was rushed through the Polish parliament before Christmas, which allows the government to appoint the heads of the Polish state media, leading to protests that the move was effectively removing the independence of the broadcasters. In a 45-minute call to Szydlo, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sought to play down the affair. Sources within the EU say that in spite of being in breach of EU principles Poland is unlikely to be subjected to major sanctions for fear of fueling nationalist and anti-EU sentiment within Poland. A group of international journalists last week launched a challenge at the Council of Europe over the new law passed hurriedly before Christmas by the new Warsaw administration that gives it the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters. In a letter signed by the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and others to the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists, the journalists said: "The legislation gives a government minister exclusive powers to appoint and dismiss all members of the Supervisory and Management Boards of TVP and PR, making them wholly dependent on the goodwill and favor of the government. Earlier in the month, Duda signed a decree giving his government power to appoint the heads of public television and radio , triggering widespread opposition from EU leaders and freedom of the press advocates. On December 28, Duda enacted a reform stipulating that 13 out of the country's 15 constitutional tribunal judges must be present at the most important court cases instead of the current nine. The reform will enable the Law and Justice party to influence the tribunal's decisions, according to critics. "We urge the Polish authorities to take measures to improve the situation and propose further changes to the legislation in accordance with international standards of the rule of law," the statement, obtained by RIA Novosti on Wednesday, reads. Briefing reporters after an emergency security meeting in Ankara Vice-Premier Numan Kurtulmus said that the suicide bomber had been identified as a 33-year-old man from Syria. Metin Gurcan warned that the scope of Daesh and related groups activities in Turkey should not be underestimated if we want to avoid the most tragic and unpredictable consequences of what happened in Istanbul. He said that Germany was the prime target of Tuesdays attack, arguing that it could have come in response to Berlins decision to increase their involvement in the ongoing anti-Daesh campaign in Syria. Turkey needs to be in the forefront of the war on terror, otherwise it will have to pay a heavy price, which was so clearly demonstrated by yesterdays blast in Istanbul, Metin Gurcan warned. Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities have imposed a temporary ban on the media coverage of Tuesdays blast, which they believe could hamper the ongoing investigation and inflame the public. Igor Nikolaichuk, a Moscow-based expert on regional security, said the measure had been prompted by a serious political confrontation in Turkey. What the Turks have in their country is a fairly authoritarian regime that can impose a sort of a gag order on the media during such events where all related information is censored in order not to rouse mutual suspicion and a direct showdown between those who support Erdogan and those who dont, Nikolaichuk told Radio Sputnik. Turkish security officials are not ruling out that Daesh could have had a hand in Tuesdays explosion. The Syrian suicide bomber could have belonged to Daesh-allied groups, but I dont think that Daesh is so keen on staging such attacks in Turkey because they have close ties with Turkish leadership. Pro-Ankara terrorist groups unrelated to Daesh are the backbone of the anti-Assad rebellion in Syria. What is really going on now is a destabilization of the entire Middle East and its a pity that Turkey finds itself at the edge of this destabilization. Therefore, Tuesdays terrorist attack could have had many shades and staged by a plethora of different groups, Igor Nikolaichuk said. If it turned out that the Istanbul bomb was set off by a Daesh member, then it will mean that the Turks have reaped what they sowed by helping the terrorists who eventually responded by hitting Istanbul, the countrys show-window, its main tourist hub and shopping center, Igor Nikolaichuk noted. Anatoly el-Murid, another Moscow-based political analyst said that he could not point a finger at any specific group. There are many people in Turkey willing to stage a terrorist attack these days. When you have a country just across the border where a civil war has been raging for almost four years now, when you have armed gangs roaming the streets, you just cant control them. Still, I believe thatTuesdays attack could have been the work of either Daesh or young Kurdish radicals who accuse their elder comrades of collaborating with Turkey. They are fighting their own war against Turkey, Anatoly el-Murid said. The main goal of these terrorist attacks is to sow panic, rather than kill as many people as you possible can. Thats why it really does not matter exactly how many people die in these attacks, he added. On 1 August 2007 the employer terminated Barbulescu's employment contract for breach of the company's internal regulations that prohibited the use of company resources for personal purposes. Barbulescu brought legal action against his dismissal, arguing that "the Yahoo Messenger software was by its nature designed for personal use and that the nature of the instant messaging service had entitled him to expect that his communications would be private. Had he not expected privacy, he would have refrained from disclosing intimate information." However, the ECHR noted in its ruling that "it is not disputed that the applicant's employer's internal regulations strictly prohibited employees from using the company's computers and resources for personal purposes." Moreover, the Court found that: "It is not unreasonable for an employer to want to verify that the employees are completing their professional tasks during working hours." The case went through a series of courts before being referred to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that there had been: "no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, the home and correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights." In its judgement, it said: "It follows that this complaint is manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected." Snoopers' Paradise? However, the ruling is likely to cause a debate on how closely people's emails and messages can be monitored and whether they should only be able to access who the employer is communicating and not the content of that communication. "The decision legalizes reliance on private communications to influence workplace decisions," Michael Burd from law firm Lewis Silkin told the London Daily Telegraph newspaper. "There's been a very strict division between employers' ability to look at private stuff and employers' ability to look at company stuff and this decision will break that down. What's significant about this case is that they were allowed to use the content, not simply the fact of using Yahoo." Ian Brownhill, a lawyer at No.5 Chambers said: "Employers beware though, reading an employee's personal internal correspondence has implications under the Data Protection Act and depending on how you got by the password, perhaps even the criminal law." The Chamber judgment is not final. It could be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a panel of five judges will consider whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and deliver a final judgment. Earlier this week, lawyers representing CAAT sent a letter to the UK government, giving it 14 days to halt the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia or risk legal action. Given the long history of cooperation between Saudi and British authorities, Mr Smith told Sputnik that he believes it is "very likely" the government will resist their call to suspend arms sales and the matter will go to court. "For a long long time now the UK political establishment has supported Saudi Arabia. We've seen this for years and years," he said, adding that such a court case would be damaging for David Cameron's government. "We're hoping for a different response, but if forty years of UK foreign policy is anything to go by, then we have to expect that the government is likely to try and resist it. But having said that, if this does go through court it could be very embarrassing for the UK government, so I think it's in their interest to get this sorted as soon as possible. But it's also in the moral interest of Yemen. The Saudi Arabian government is one of the most repressive government's in the world with a terrible humanitarian record." As a result of the nine-month long military campaign in Yemen, and Riyadh's decision to kill 47 people in a mass execution earlier this month, there has been increased pressure on the government to review its relations with the Gulf kingdom. "What else does Saudi Arabia have to do before the UK government thinks it has gone too far? How many more people need to be tortured, how many more people need to be killed before the UK government decides it's enough?" Smith told Sputnik. CAAT officials have confirmed that should be government the continue with selling arms to Saudi Arabia beyond the January 25 deadline, then it will initiate legal proceedings in the UK High Court. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The project is a joint venture aimed at building a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to provide an additional route for Russian gas supplies to Germany, bypassing the three Baltic states and Poland. "The issues related to the implementation of the Nord Stream-2 project were discussed at the meeting. It was noted that the Italian company Saipem is one of the contenders for the contract to lay the pipeline," Miller told reporters. Gazprom and Saipem have already collaborated in the construction of offshore pipelines. In particular, Saipem took part in the laying of branches of the Blue Stream and Nord Stream-1 pipelines. It was assumed that the company will take part in laying the South Stream pipeline. However, as the project was suspended, the contract with the Italian company was terminated. DONETSK (Sputnik) A delegation of Czech lawmakers will visit the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Thursday to assess the humanitarian situation and consequences of a military operation in the region, the DPR Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. "On January 14, a delegation of Czech lawmakers from the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, Zdenek Ondrace and Stanislav Mackovik will arrive in Donetsk People's Republic. The purpose of the visit is to examine the military operation consequences and humanitarian situation, to talk to civilians, who suffered from [armed hostilities]," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, the Czech lawmakers are expected to visit Donetsk airport, ruined by the shelling, and Oktyabrsky settlement, as well as to hold meetings with lawyers and DPR human rights representatives, who are expected to provide materials on war crimes of the Kiev-led forced in Donbass. Ambassador Marcos de Azambuja, a senior Foreign Ministry official in Brasilia, said that the Israeli government had made a mistake when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter that Dani Dayan would replace Reda Mansour as the countrys new ambassador to Brazil without even bothering to inform the Brazilian Foreign Ministry about the decision. According to Marcos de Azambuja, a former ambassador to France and Argentina, the man responsible for the organization of the 1992 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the countrys onetime representative to the UN and the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the current diplomatic standoff will not last long and relations between the two countries will be back to normal. Marcos de Azambuja described the Brazilian Foreign Ministrys reaction as fully justified: first because, contrary to the established diplomatic practice, Israel had failed to keep Mr. Dayans appointment secret, and, secondly, because Brazil rejects his endorsement of Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank. I believe that the lack of an official Brazilian green light [to Dani Dayans appointment] reflects the governments belief that he is not someone who could contribute to the buildup of the fruitful and mutually-beneficial relations that have existed between our two countries over the past decades, Marcos de Azambuja said. Meanwhile, citing support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Dani Dayan has persisted with his bid to become the country's ambassador to Brazil despite protests from Brazilian diplomats and a delay of approval by Brazil's government. Contrary to reports my nomination as Ambassador to Brazil was not withdrawn. On the contrary: PM Netanyahu asked me to continue and I agreed, Dayan tweeted on Monday. Dayan is a vocal leader of the Israeli settler movement, which seeks to establish colonies in occupied territories of the West Bank, recognized as occupied Palestinian territory by Brazil. Brazil has withheld accepting the ambassador for over five months, waiting for Israel to suggest a different ambassador to avoid a diplomatic row. Netanyahu announced Dayan's appointment on August 5, and the government approved the appointment on September 6. The DJ is proud that the second language in the Kurdistan Region is currently no longer Arabic, but English, adding that the young generation in the region is open to Western culture and English-language music, even to the point of a local "15-year-old girl liking One Direction like [any other 15-year-old girl] in the world." "We have a variety of listeners; we have, of course, expats who come from all around the world; we have the young locals who are more, you know, modern, more open-minded," he said. His show, Matti stressed, helps locals improve English language skills and gives international listeners his perception of the current state of affairs in the region. He revealed a secret of his English-language show's popularity saying "it's non-political, non-war," and it has attracted people who are tired of hearing about Daesh. "We live in a society where 24 hours everybody talks about ISIS," he said. "People like us because they are kind of tired of listening about ISIS every single day since they are surrounded by terrible news, so it's easy to attract people and convince them that hey, do you mind to off politics for one minute and enjoy listening to some great music?'" According to the Iraqi DJ, local artists are always "encouraged" to play at the show's studio."We offer them for free to record music and if we feel that it's radio worth, they definitely play it and we push it," he outlined. The show's staff works on sharing Kurdish music around the world. "We try to have music from here being sent internationally to other cultures, other societies," the DJ said. Matti believes that good music will help to raise the young generation out of the threat of Daesh and other like-minded fearful religious fundamentalists. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed Erdogan's claims, stating that his words were "complete nonsense." The Ministry emphasized that Russia seeks a "sovereign, democratic, secular and united" Syria. President Assad wants to keep Syria united within its current borders and free from Islamic extremism. Erdogan himself said that Moscow supports Assad, that much is true. Now if Russia supports the current Syrian government then it obviously supports its actions as well, such as the fight against terrorists, including Daesh, and its wish to keep the country united and within its current borders. The Russian government always said that it supported the legitimately elected Syrian government, whether it's Assad or no Assad. If peace were established in Syria and people democratically elected someone else, then Moscow said it would support the decision of the people of Syria. Russia has been conducting pinpoint airstrikes in Syria against Daesh positions since September 30. The Russian anti-terrorist campaign began after the Syrian government requested help. By late December 2015, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian planes completed over 5,200 sorties against Daesh targets in Syria. Also in September, Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria established the Baghdad Information Center to coordinate efforts in the fight against the Daesh. The aim of the center is to collect, process, summarize and analyze current data about the Middle East in the context of the fight against Daesh. Not too bad for Russia that according to Erdogan "isn't fighting Daesh." The recent terrorist attack in Istanbul which killed 10 and injured 15 is a grim result of the Turkish policy toward the Daesh terrorist group, Ilias Kouskouvelis, a professor of international studies at the University of Macedonia said. "Turkey is suffering from its policy of establishing informal ties with Daesh," Kouskouvelis said in an interview with Radio Agency 109.4 FM. According to the analyst, since 2011 it has been an internationally recognized fact that Turkey has had ties to the so-called "fighters" in northern Iraq and Syria. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The coordinated UK airstrike was carried out on Tuesday from the UK air base Akrotiri in Cyprus in cooperation with the US-led coalition, operating in Iraq and Syria. "Typhoon FGR4s from RAF Akrotiri, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, used Paveway IV guided bombs to attack the security headquarters compound," the ministerial statement said, adding an initial analysis indicated that the attack had been successful. Mosul is the largest Iraqi city held by Daesh militants. "Four villages have been besieged by rebel groups now for numerous months. Starvation is a fact of the daily lives over there, and the UN has not been able to access these areas because the rebels are blocking, or not allowing aid to enter these areas to feed civilians." This ultimately serves a political agenda of delegitimizing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "Clearly, the reporting has been with an ultimate political agenda, which is the demonization of the Syrian government at any cost, even at the cost of credible sources," Makki says. "Its the fact that the lack of balance and media attention given to these locations [villages]." On the prospects of peace for Syria, Makki insists the United States must be more willing to accept compromise. "[The US] must have a genuine desire to see a rebuilt Syria, a new Syria, one that is not completely US-run," he says. "You dont want to see a puppet state in Syria which is run by the United States, that is something that many Syrian would not find acceptable." In this episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker also speaks with US Army veteran Michael Prysner to discuss the real reasons behind Washingtons ongoing wars in Iraq, and with public sector workers union representative Jeff Bigelow, who explains the troubling future of organized labor in the United States. Fadavi said the US Navy's behavior following the capture was provocative and uncontrolled. "But we communicated an announcement through the international (radio) systems and prevented any further irresponsible moves by them," he said. "Then they came to realize the IRGC Navy has the first and the last word in here." He said Iran claims sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. "The US and France's aircraft carriers were within our range and if they had continued their unprofessional moves, they would have been afflicted with such a catastrophe that they had never experienced all throughout the history," he warned. "They could have been shot, and if they were, they would have been destroyed." On Wednesday, the head of Iran's armed forces said the seizure of the two US Navy boats and their crews should be a lesson to the US Congress trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran. "This incident in the Persian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces' last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the US Congress," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States continues to stay in close contact with Ukraine regarding defense collaboration between the two countries, US Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told Sputnik. On Monday, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly said that Kiev expected to receive the first 2016 military deliveries from the United States in the coming months. The Department of Defense remains in close contact with our Ukrainian counterparts to determine our next steps in defense cooperation, Baldanza stated Wednesday, asked when the United States will provide military aid to Ukraine and what exactly it will be. Indeed, on January 4, 2016 Iran's Permanent Representative in the UN Gholamali Khoshroo expressed his regrets regarding the incident in an official letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: "While emphasizing its obligations in accordance with international law and relevant international instruments, especially The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, the Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its regret over the referred-to incidents and will spare no efforts in arresting and prosecuting all those who brought them about," the statement read. At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent a letter to the UN Secretary General emphasizing that Tehran has "no desire or interest in escalation of tension in [its] neighborhood." "We all need to be united in the face of continued threats posed by extremists against all of us. In fact, from the first days after his election, President Rouhani and I [Javad Zarif] have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilizing extremist violence," Zarif wrote as quoted by Fars News Agency. There is "something rotten" in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On the one hand Riyadh is feeling "betrayed" by Washington who is moving toward new diplomatic relationship with Tehran. Ironically, Iran has rapidly emerged as a leading power after the US invasion destroyed the Iraqi state, Tehran's longstanding nemesis. Unsurprisingly Tehran is now regarded as a rival, a competitor and substantial threat by Saudi Arabia. To add insult to injury, plummeting oil prices have affected the economy of the Gulf monarchy. "But perhaps most significantly, the al-Saud family's rule is facing succession issues in the form of the deceased King Salman's newly empowered 30-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman," Van Buren emphasizes, pointing to rumors of a possible coup against the ruling branch circulating among Saudi royalties. In this light Riyadh needed to make a "tough" step to demonstrate its strength. "Saudi Arabia is exhibiting the psychology of a state that risks losing its dominant position and whose losing hand is growing weaker and weaker. This explains why an otherwise rational actor begins making seemingly panicky and incomprehensible moves," US-based award winning author and president of the National Iranian American Council Trita Parsi writes in his op-ed for Al-Jazeera. Important tweet from Saudi student in Iran. A voice of peace and understanding and more are needed https://t.co/hMHFQSbMd0 Trita Parsi (@tparsi) January 7, 2016 Parsi notes that it is not rising states that tend to be reckless, but declining ones. "Rising states have time on their side," he points out, adding that Tehran has demonstrated a more mature and prudent foreign policy approach, than Riyadh. The Iranian leadership has openly condemned an angry mob for attacking the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran after the beheading of the Shiite cleric, he adds. Safar Ali Baratloo, Deputy Governor of #Tehran province and responsible for security affairs, sacked by Min of Interior over embassy attack. Adnan Tabatabai (@A_Tabatabai) January 8, 2016 By executing al-Nimr Riyadh has evidently made an attempt to provoke Tehran into making erroneous emotional moves. Furthermore, the Saudi leadership has also tried to divert public opinion from serious domestic challenges. "Saudi Arabia is faced with a range of serious challenges, such as monarchical succession and generational shifts in royal leadership, Salafi radicalism, issues of social stability, economic shortcomings (including the expenditure of billions in foreign reserves) and questions regarding the status of the Shia minority," Inaugural Director of the Belfer Center's Iran Project Payam Mohseni emphasizes in his recent article for The National Interest. "The Saudis see escalation with Iran, in parts, as a way to overcome these daunting challenges," Mohseni stresses, adding that Saudi leaders are determined to forge political order inside the country and beyond. However, it seems the only options they could use to achieve their ambitious objectives are Wahhabi sectarianism and bellicosity. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Russia could work with Syrian President Bashar Assad to bring about resolution of Syrias crisis and counter Daesh operating in Syria and Iraq, US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul stated in a speech at the Hudson Institute. "It's a civil war in Syria and Assad has to be part of the solution as well, he's a magnet," McCaul said on Wednesday. "I think the Russians could actually play a constructive role with Mr. Assad." McCaul warned of simplistic notions of destroying the Islamic State that entails "that you push a button or you carpet a bomb." On the GOP side of the aisle, Trump retains his lead in NH, while IA tightens and the search for an "establishment" alternative takes a few surprising turns. Then, speaking of close elections, we're joined by Dr. John Allen Paulos, professor of mathematics at Temple University to discuss the mother of all close elections, and why he believes his November 22, 2000 NYTimes op-ed helped lead directly to the U.S. Supreme Court stopping the ballot count in the Sunshine State, resulting in their (s)election of George W. Bush. After I recount (pardon the pun), just some of the chicanery and still-unexplained anomalies that resulted in the exceedingly close tallies reported by Florida in 2000, Paulos, author of the New York Times best-seller, Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences and, his latest, A Numerate Life: A Mathematician Explores the Vagaries of Life, His Own and Probably Yours, explains how he still "regrets" his mathematical analysis of the race at the time, which ended up being cited by the courts during the legal battle that eventually stopped the tally of paper ballots in Florida. (For the record, yes, had Florida counted all of the ballots in the state at the time, as the Times reported on September 12, 2001 so you are forgiven, if you didn't notice, Gore would likely have won the state, "no matter what standard was chosen to judge voter intent.") "People talk about the 'Butterfly Effect' in dynamical systems (ed note: as opposed to the Butterflly Ballots in Palm Beach County, FL!), where tiny little initial differences lead to huge disparities down the road. This was, in a sense, a case where I was the little butterfly flapping its wings in South America leading, after many intermediate events, to a hurricane in New Orleans." "In retrospect, obviously, I wish I hadn't done that," Paulos tells me about his op-ed, published 15 years ago last month, adding: "As a moral tiebreaker, Gore won almost half a million more votes nationwide. At the very least, they should have flipped a coin" and "Oh, yeah, they should have counted the ballots. That's what should have happened." Finally, speaking of the consequences of elections and actually counting votes to determine the intent of voters, we conclude today's show by discussing how the George W. Bush administration allowed North Korea to obtain the atomic bombs that the rogue nation is once again using to threaten the world. Yes, more fallout from the disastrous Bush Administration, still affecting us today because we failed to count the voters' ballots. You can find Brads previous editions here. And tune in to radio Sputnik one hour a day, five days a week. . If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. Technip, jointly with Japans JGC, is the main contractor for NOVATECHs Yamal SPG pant. Allseas was previously contracted to lay a 900-kilometer undersea pipe for the now-defunct South Stream Project and then the Turkish Stream pipe that was also canceled. Saipem once was contracted by Gazprom to build the first stage of the North Stream pipeline. On December 20 German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said that Berlin would like to see North Stream 2 built as it would bring economic gain also to France and other EU member-states. Provided, of course, that the EU lifted its sanctions against Russia which, in turn, would ensure the energy security of Eastern Europe. The North Stream 2 is scheduled to go on-stream before the end of 2019. Gazprom in September signed an agreement with five European energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and EON SE, to participate in the project to lay two more pipelines under the Baltic Sea to pump an annual 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Germany. Each of the five foreign partners received a 10-percent share in the project, with Gazprom taking the remaining 50 percent. However, the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti on the contrary viewed the interview as Putin's attempt to approach the West, while US magazine Wall Street Online praised Putin's positive comment about German Chancellor Angela Merkel whom he called "a very open person." During the interview, Putin mentioned that he trusts German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, in his opinion, is actually struggling to resolve the current crisis. Deutsche Welle and the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung stressed in their reports that Vladimir Putin is continuing his cooperation with Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad. "Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to view Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a legitimate ruler of his country. However, he demanded a swift constitutional reform and elections in Syria, once the situation in country is stabilized," Neue Zurcher Zeitung wrote. The British newspaper The Guardian also found it noteworthy that the Russian President is continuing to support the Syrian leader. The media source interpreted Putin's statement as a hint that Russia could grant asylum to the Syrian President if he is forced to leave Syria. "It was surely more difficult to grant Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be in the case of Assad," the newspaper quoted Vladimir Putin as saying. The newspaper also cited Putin's statement about the external factors triggering the conflict in the Middle East. The Russian President said that "the conflict would never have become so big if it had not been fuelled by outside of Syria with weapons, money and fighters." WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Reports that US military commanders were ready to inflict scores of civilian deaths or injuries in a precision strike on Daesh offices in Mosul are chilling, the United for Peace and Justice (UPJ) coalition told Sputnik. "The assertion that US commanders had been willing to consider up to 50 civilian casualties from the airstrike due to the importance of the target is chilling, and raises questions about the applicability of International Humanitarian Law," UPJ told Sputnik on Tuesday. UPJ represents a coalition of 1,400 peace organizations in the United States and around the world. Nurse in Montevideo Rosario Piedracueva, a nurse who voluntarily participated in the demonstration, explained the great risks associated with force feeding. "You can break the esophageal wall, a wall of the stomach or nasal septum," Piedracueva told Sputnik, adding that the risks were elevated in the case of prisoners as "they are struggling, they [are fed] against their will." The nurse administered a numbing medication to Deyab before beginning the process to make it less painful, something that does not happen in prison. Daily Ordeal "We must ensure that the tube reaches the stomach," Piedracueva said to the people watching the demonstration, including journalists. When the nurse inserts the tube, Deyab begins twisting, even though his hands are tied. People start turning away, unable to watch. "When the tube is on its way to the esophagus, it causes nausea, which can divert [the tube] towards the lung," Piedracueva explained. Deyab begins to gag, his face reddens, it seems as if he is drowning. He asks Piedracueva to stop, spitting blood. On the second attempt the tube reaches the stomach, and the same liquid nutritional supplement as is used in Guantanamo is administered to the former prisoner. "Imagine how much people suffer when going through this every day, twice a day for 14 years," Deyab says after the painful procedure was over. Monday marks the 14th anniversary since the first inmate arrived in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Despite US President Barack Obamas promise to close the facility prior to leaving office, 103 prisoners still remain there. On top of the pursuit for oil, another one of Blumenthal's emails, sent on April 2, 2011 and titled "France's client/Q's gold" suggested the military intervention in Libya was also designed to stop Gaddafi's plans to use US$7 billion worth of gold and silver assets to set up a new pan-African currency. When #tcot talk about Hillary Clinton, they need to stop talking about Benghazi, and start talking about how she wrecked all of Libya. Ricky Vaughn (@Ricky_Vaughn99) January 6, 2016 According to the email, the establishment of such a currency would undermine French influence on the continent as it would impact the CFA Franc currency, which is guaranteed by the French treasury and used in many west African countries as a link between Paris and some of its former colonies. In addressing Sarkozy's concerns over the new currency, Blumenthal wrote: "This was one of the factors that influenced [his] decision to commit France to the attack on Libya." Despite proposals for the creation of an African currency being well known, many researchers have dismissed suggestions that France was motivated to intervene in Libya in order to prevent its establishment. French investigative journalist Fabrice Arfi, who worked on uncovering alleged links between Sarkozy and Gaddafi, says he's not convinced the Blumenthal memos were a true representation of France's motivations in Libya. "At first glance, this hypothesis [that France's intervention was motivated by Gaddafi's plans for a Pan-African currency] seems far-fetched. Personally, I don't have any elements that accredit this theory, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is false," he told Vice News. Memos Spark Debate Over French Agenda in Libya Additionally, Sarkozy has emphatically denied France was motivated by oil in Libya, while many experts have also raised their skepticism, saying there were many seemingly baseless rumors surrounding the motivations of western intervention in Libya at the time. While there is debate over the validity of Blumenthal's claims, the release of the emails shows that Clinton, along with other top US officials, were unsure of France's agenda in Libya, as many of the emails were forwarded onto her staff for further investigation. New Hilary email reveals Sarkozy attacked Libya partly due to concerns of Qaddafis plan to launch gold backed Dinar pic.twitter.com/wa3Xq1n2cP Silver Watchdog (@Silver_Watchdog) January 5, 2016 There have been many media reports in the past hinting at a connection between France's intervention and pursuit of oil, with the French newspaper Liberation in 2011 publishing a letter from Libya's rebel-backed National Transitional Council, which promised to reserve 35 percent of the country's crude oil reserves for France in return for its "total and permanent support." This suggestion was backed by another previously released Blumenthal email, which claimed that French intelligence officers from the DGSE met with Libyan transitional council figures to discuss the oil industry in the post-Gaddafi-era. The memo, which was dated March 22, 2011 the same week as the military operation in Libya began claimed that French intelligence held a series of "secret meetings" with Libyan officials in the hope of securing favoritism for the country's oil resources. "In return for their assistance the DGSE officers indicated that they expected the new government of Libya to favor French firms and national interests, particularly regarding the oil industry in Libya," the memo read. The problem with Flints water began in April 2014, when the city stopped receiving its water from Detroit, instead shifting to water from the Flint River, which is known to have a high salt content. Corrosive salts in the water damaged the pipes, which contain lead, causing that material to be released into the water, and contaminating it. In October, the state changed the citys drinking water source back from the corrosive Flint River to the Detroit water system. For half a year nothing was done. It was not until January that Governor Rick Snyder issued a state of emergency, declaring, "the health and welfare of Flint residents is a top priority and we're committed to a coordinated approach with resources from state agencies to address all aspects of this situation. The effects of lead-poisoning cannot be reversed. Researchers at the nearby Hurley Childrens Hospital have identified a "rise in blood lead levels of children less than 5 years old" who live in the area. On Tuesday, the Turkish Council of Ministers said that Syrians currently working in Turkey illegally will receive work permits. With this move, the government shows that Syrians will stay and work for Turkey for a long period of time, Turkdogan said. "We will have to pay heavily for this, and the price will be both financial and social and political. This would not add stability to the Turkish economy," according to the expert. Instead of turning to the UN for financial aid Ankara asked the EU. As a result, now Turkey has to fund two refugee camps at the same time. "It is also important that in its refugee camps Turkey gives preference to Sunni Arabs. This discriminatory approach is part of Ankaras wrong policy toward Damascus which is aimed at creating a new Sunni-based state in Syria. The current migrant crisis stems from the wrongful policy in Syria," according to Turkdogan. Turkey should abandon its adventurous plans and adhere to the UN Security Councils resolutions on Syria, he added. Ankara should support peaceful talks in Syria and adopt a policy which would contribute to end the war as soon as possible. "This is the only way to restore peace in Syria and find an effective way to resolve the migrant crisis," the expert concluded. Trot Insider has learned that longtime harness racing industry participant Dr. J. Joseph 'Joe' Johnston of Essex, Ont. passed away suddenly on Tuesday, January 12 at the age of 70. A successful and popular vet in the Windsor area, Johnston was thrust into the national spotlight in the late 1980s as the breeder/owner of A Worthy Lad. That trotting star won 30 races without suffering a defeat before being sold to Swedish interests. Johnston is predeceased by his parents, Ross and Phyllis Johnston, and his first wife, Doris Johnston. Details regarding arrangements an visitation appear in the full obituary, which appears below Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Joe Johnston. Dr. J. Joseph Johnston passed away suddenly at the age of 70 in Windsor, Ont. He was predeceased by his parents Ross and Phyllis (Myers) Johnston; his first wife Doris (Switzer) Johnston; and son-in-law Robert McKerrow. He is survived by his wife Patricia Johnston, children Lisa (husband Scott) Adams; Nicole McKerrow and Justin (wife Vivian) Johnston and step-children Sheryl (husband Brian) Plumb, Jamie (wife Jacqueline) Reinhart and Jeremy Reinhart. He was a devoted Papa Joe to grandchildren Shelby, Mitchell, Zach, Brendan, Ellie, Zander, Owen, Steven, Kaitlyn and Kailyn (husband Donnie) and great-grandchildren Alyssa and Brayden. He will be missed by sisters Janice (Bill) Gale, Judy (Lenny) Bailey and Jane (Denis) McLachlin. Dr. Joe was born in Chatham, Ont. and grew up in Dresden, Ont. surrounded by horses. He followed in his father and grandfathers footsteps to become a breeder, trainer, driver and owner of Standardbred horses. He graduated as Valedictorian from Lambton-Kent High School and went on the study Veterinary Medicine at the University of Guelph where he graduated with the degree Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. He received numerous awards while attending and upon graduation. Winner of the OVC proficiency award, the W.J.R. Fowler Prize and the W.G. Stevenson Memorial Scholarship. He eventually set up shop in Windsor, ON at the Windsor Raceway, where he was renowned for his skills through the horse racing community. Dr. Joe continued to own and breed racehorses and finally stumbled upon his A Worthy Lad. There were talks that the horse was unbreakable, but Lad proved them wrong and went on the win 30 consecutive races and was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Dr. Joe had other interests off the racetrack. He loved following his sons hockey team and eventually became the president of Essex Minor Hockey where he served for many years. Dr. Joe loved the Lord and was a long-time member of Parkwood Gospel Temple. He kept busy during his retirement by working within Windsor schools for their breakfast programs. He was an avid gardener, loved playing bridge and was a crossword puzzle addict. He loved cooking, especially for his family and loved when we all got together so he could tease his grandchildren. Visitation will be held at MORRIS SUTTON FUNERAL HOME, 68 Giles Blvd. E. on Friday, January 15 from 2:00-9:00 p.m. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 16 at Parkwood Gospel Temple, 3005 Temple Drive, Windsor, Ont. at 11:00 a.m. with one hour of visitation prior to the service. The interment will take place at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens with a reception to follow at the church. As an expression of sympathy, if so desired, donations to the Parkwood Gospel Temple Student Ministry Fund, Heart & Stroke Foundation, or the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated. Online condolences and cherished memories may be shared at msuttonfuneral.ca or below this notice. The cruising adventures of Kirk and Mary Sherrill hidden Apple bought Emotient, an artificial intelligence startup that reads people's emotions by analyzing facial expressions, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report did not specify the financial terms of the deal. The tech giant's plans for Emotient were not immediately clear, the Journal reported, confirming the news with an Apple spokeswoman. Emotient's software reads the expressions of individuals and crowds to gain insights that can be used by advertisers to assess viewer reaction or a medical practitioner to better understand signs of pain in patients. San Diego-based Emotient had previously raised $8 million from investors including Intel Capital, the Journal said. Last month, Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk and other prominent tech executives announced $1 billion in funding for an artificial intelligence non-profit called OpenAI. Apple and Emotient did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Recently, Google announced to be working on a new messaging app. The new messaging app will be smart and intelligent and leverage on Googles artificial intelligence technology to offer chatbots that will message like a real person. Facebook M is said to be one of the prime reasons why Google decided to the new messaging app. While leading companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google have their digital assistants, Facebook decided to play on its strength and integrate the assistant within its messaging app. Facebook leads the pack with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which have billions of people connected. Moreover, M will be a hybrid backed by a team of Facebook employees with customer service backgrounds, called M trainers, who can also make travel arrangements and appointments. With inputs from Reuters tech2 News Staff Apple has finally announced a new version of iOS tagged iOS 9.3 preview. The firmware update that is now available for iPhones, iPads and iPods as a beta, adds a few new features, updates existing apps and implements some new workarounds, that many of its users will find useful. Firstly, we have some new features. These include a new display mode called Night Shift, that reduces the blue light coming from your display. According to research, it is the same blue light that many device makers are getting rid off in their respective 'night modes' since it has often been blamed to affect circadian rhythms that disturb a user's sleep cycle. Apple's take however is a bit different and takes things a bit further, with the display automatically deciding when to switch off the blue light by using your iOS devices clock and geolocation to determine when its sunset in your location. The same can be adjusted manually as well. The next interesting new feature is security for the Notes app, that is now available in the form of a password or fingerprint. Notes can now be sorted by date modified, date created or even alphabetically if needed. Keeping notes in the Notes app private indeed goes a long way and certainly adds more value for users who currently use third-party note taking apps like Evernote (offers fingerprint security with paid subscriptions). Touch ID support adds a much needed layer of security and certainly makes the app handy, making it a worthy core feature. The News app that is not available in India for now also sees improvements in the form of feeds or articles that are better tailored to a user's interests. The iPhone app gets a landscape mode and in general will draw the latest stories faster. The much-loved Health app gets a redesign in terms of how data is displayed. The app now displays a user's move, exercise, and stand data, will also track their goals, provided they own an Apple Watch. More importantly, the Health app now delivers better access of health data to third-party apps. CarPlay with iOS 9.3 also gets a couple of new features. New and For You section will now suggest songs handpicked by experts or add music to your playlist based on user preferences. Apple also placed a majority of the new iOS 9.3 beta's focus on education with the introduction of a new Classroom app. The new app allows teachers to guide and keep track of students through a lesson and even keep a tab on their progress. Apart from the new app, Apple also added a Shared iPad feature for situations where the student to iPad ratio was below 1:1. Also added, was an Apple School Manager feature that gives complete access and control to admins, and the ability to create and manage student and teacher IDs if they are hooked up to the Classroom app. In terms of improvements, Apple has added plenty of them, but the major ones include new Touch ID shortcuts for native apps like Weather, Settings, Compass, Health, App Store and the iTunes Store, additional language support for Siri and other bug fixes. Before you head to the beta website and install the same, it is wise to note that betas (both public and developer) come with their fair share of bugs. So proceed only if you are ok with using a buggy iOS 9.3 with plenty of glitches. Else it is wise to use the same on a test device, rather than your daily driver if you simply want to try it out. tech2 News Staff Google's India-born CEO Sundar Pichai has now announced that the annual I/O conference will be held from May 18 to 20. Pichai made the announcement via his Google+ account remembering the first I/O event that was held 10 years ago at Googleplex. Yes, Google I/O is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and the venue is Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. "Well have 3 full days together to dive deep into developer content, code labs, and more. If you cant make it in person, you can still join us via I/O Live and through an I/O Extended event in your local community. Stay tuned to #io16 and +GoogleDevelopers in the coming weeks for more details," he wrote. https://twitter.com/sundarpichai/status/686963501219233792 Though the Google I/O is actually meant for developers, the company has been using the platform to display some of its coolest innovations. For instance, the new version of its Android OS, which will most likely be Android N, going by the nomenclature. Last year, the company had unveiled Android M. One of its coolest announcements was about the standalone Photos app with unlimited storage (depending upon the resolution of images and videos). hidden The verdict is out. Ban or no ban, India is watching more porn than ever. In 2015, India knocked out Canada to grab the third position - after the US and Britain - in visiting one of the worlds largest adult websites Pornhub. In its annual review of how people around the world watch porn, Pornhub found that while the US added 11 seconds to their average time spent on watching porn, India - at 9 minutes 30 seconds - recorded a higher average time with a one-minute increase in the duration of each visit. More and more, we are finding that our users are opting for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets when they visit Pornhub, the website noted. PornHub received 21.2 billion visits in 2015 - 40,000 visits every minute or 2.4 million per hour. In fact, visits from smartphones alone now account for 53 percent of traffic shares, up from just 45 percent last year. Only 36 percent of Pornhub traffic originates from desktop computers worldwide, the review noted. The most famous keyword search among Indians was Indian, including bhabhi, aunty and teen. Bollywood actor Sunny Leone is the top searched porn star in India, the review added. Love remains the most commonly featured word in Pornhub comments. Pornhub viewers in countries like Cuba, Mongolia and Kazakhstan tend to keep their sessions short and sweet, with average visit lengths ranging from just over 5 minutes to around 6.5 minutes, the review noted. In 2015, lesbian was the most searched term on the site. Overall, the majority of visits to the site take place between 9 pm and midnight, after which they drop off drastically between the early morning hours. Traffic then builds back up over the course of the day, with a notable afternoon delight spike at 4 pm, then dipping again during the dinnertime hours after which it begins to climb again at 9. The peak in the afternoon indicates that people are likely logging on at work. [Maybe 4pm is] when they want to rest their brains perhaps and look for distractions? psychologist and sex therapist Dr Laurie Betito was quoted as saying. This is the pattern that is largely followed on weekdays, during which people are likely sticking to a more regimented routine. On the weekend however, peak hours change and vary, when users are sticking to less strict schedules during their days off from work, the review noted. IANS tech2 News Staff The Google Play Store will finally make a comeback in China in 2016, literally after six years! Lenovo chief Chen Xudong made the announcement and also added that all Motorola smartphones launching this year will feature a fingerprint scanner. Lenovo chief also added a few other details regarding the upcoming devices. He stated that all phones this year will at least have a 5-inch screen and will no longer invest time in 4.7-inch displays. Also, Lenovo and Motorola both will merge interfaces into a brand new UI, which we will see in 2017. Spilling more beans on the upcoming smartphones, Xudong added that Moto devices will be targeted at the high-end market and the Vibe series will target affordable/budget smartphone segment. Lenovo, which purchased Motorola from Google in 2014 will now be reportedly ditching the term Motorola when it comes to smartphones, and it will instead continue as a division under Lenovo. All the new devices will eventually make a transition to Moto branding instead of Motorola. Lenovo has completed the Motorola acquisition at $2.91 billion. Google had earlier acquired the iconic smartphone brand and its prized patent portfolio in 2012 for $12.5 billion but struggled to reverse Motorolas years-long decline. tech2 News Staff The anticipated Oppo F1 has made an appearance in Vietnam. The device is now up for pre-order at a price of VND 6,490,000 (approximately Rs 19,400) and will start shipping January 21. The device is also expected to launch in India today. In terms of specifications, the device features a 5-inch display with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution along with a 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 coating for protection along with a 294ppi. It is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor paired with 3GB RAM. It offers an inbuilt storage of 16GB which can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The Oppo F1 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with Color 2.1 launcher on top. On the camera front, the smartphone comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera along with a single LED flash. For selfie lovers, the device includes an 8MP camera with additional features such as Beauty 3.0, live color filters and more. A 2500mAh battery completes the package. Earlier this month, Sky Li, Oppo Vice President and Managing Director of International Mobile Business, had stated that the F series will inherit the excellent camera performance and exquisite design tradition that have earned accolades for Oppos flagship series. The series will bring devices with impressive specs, eye-catching style and amazing prices that will have consumers doing double takes on the excellent specs and build quality. We are very excited to introduce the F series, which will allow an even wider range of users from all around the world to experience Oppos outstanding photography technology, said Li. hidden The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the central government if it was seeking to hike the spectrum usage charge of one percent of the annual gross revenue of telecom companies for 4G services and if it had the powers to do so. A bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice R. Banumathi also asked the central government to state if it, indeed, had the powers to hike the charges, then what was the source of that authority. "What is the logic of an increase?" it queried. The posers to the government came in the course of a hearing of a public interest plea by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation seeking the quashing of the decision permitting Reliance Jio to enter the voice telephony services using 4G spectrum. Reserving the order after the daylong hearing, the apex court gave a week's time to the petitioner, the government and Reliance Jio to file their written notes, along with the citation of the previous judgments to back their contentions. Counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that the official auditor had also flagged that a lower one percent spectrum charge can't be different from what was being charged from the holders of airwaves for 2G and 3G services. "You (the government) will not be justified in levying a lower charge on the grounds that the cost of laying infrastructure is higher," the court observed. "Bhushan's worry is you are getting away cheaply." Senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Reliance Jio, said the services were becoming cheaper. "Reliance Communications is offering a package, which includes a smartphone, for Rs. 7,000." In an apparent jibe at former communications minister Kapil Sibal for his statement that there was "zero loss" to the exchequer for selling the spectrum cheap, the bench said: "Zero loss is also a mistake." The apex court had on May 9 last year issued notice based on the plea that sought a probe into the decision by which Reliance Jio was allowed entry into the voice telephony space using 4G spectrum by paying the price that was determined way back in 2001. The petition had sought a court-monitored probe and alleged the government decision was in violation of the apex court judgment in the presidential reference on the alienation of natural resource by the government to private operators. IANS , an online compendium Feel free to leave comments and ask questions. You can also reach me by email at: info@hoosiercartoonists.com Welcome toof the men and women, writers and artists, stories and ideas that appeared inand other weird fiction and science fiction magazines of the pulp era. This Page has moved to a new address: Sorry for the inconvenience Redirection provided by Blogger to WordPress Migration Service Volleyball results from Thursday Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, 8:34 a.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- The Almont varsity volleyball team beat Madison Heights Lamphere and New Lothrop in a triple header at Almont Thursday. Dryden beat Bay City All Saints... Golf and tennis regional results Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, 5:41 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- Boys' high school tennis regionals and girls' golf regionals took place yesterday. Lapeer girls' golf placed 11th at the Div. 1 regional hosted by Oxford... Friday night football scores Friday, September 30, 2022 10:15 p.m. LAPEER COUNTY Lapeer beat Grand Blanc 39-17 at Lapeer to remain undefeated at 6-0. Almont upset Croswell-Lexington 37-26 North Branch routed Richmond 62-10 Imlay City/Dryden fell to Yale... Summer sports camps/clinics Wednesday, June 15, 2022, 4:40 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- Below is a list of the summer sports camps and clinics that will take place through early Aug. The regular sports update posting of high... 1971 war hero Lt Gen Jacob passes away Lt Gen J F R Jacob (retd), who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka following the 1971 war, passed away on Wednesday. He was 92. Jacob, breathed his last this morning after prolonged illness, according to India media reports. Born in 1923, Jacob is best known for his role in India's victory in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the liberation of Bangladesh. Jacob, then a Major General, served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the war. Born in the Bengal Presidency under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978. The former Indian General also authored a number of books titled 'Surrender in Dhaka', 'Birth of a Nation' and 'an Odyssey in War and Peace' where he has portrayed the days of War of Liberation and the surrender of the Pakistani forces. Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at the death of Lt Gen JFR Jacob. Recalling his contributions to the 1971 Liberation War, the President, in his condolence message, said the people of Bangladesh have lost a genuine friend like him at the demise of JFR Jacob, and the nation will remember him with utmost gratitude for his contribution to the 1971 war. The President prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed his deep sympathy to the bereaved family members. In her condolence message, Sheikh Hasina said, "We've lost a valiant soldier of our great war of liberation. The nation will ever remember the contributions of Jacob with deep respect." The Prime Minster prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed her deep sympathy to the bereaved family members.-- Dhaka, Jan 13 (UNB) `Fight against ISIS is not World War III`: Obama US President Barack Obama waves at the conclusion of his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington on Tuesday . AFP, Washington :President Barack Obama today told Americans nervous about terror and the changing economy that they should not fear the future, in a farewell State of the Union address that drew sharp contrast with Republicans.In an election-year marquee event, President Obama hailed a period of "extraordinary change" laden with both opportunity and the risk of wider inequality.A confident President Obama sought to cast himself as an optimistic foil to foes who warn the country is going in the wrong direction after his seven years in office.While vowing to work to find a cure for cancer, accelerate the shift away from "dirty energy" and end the last remnants of the Cold War by engaging with Cuba, Obama said "America has been through big changes before.""Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears."With less than three weeks until the Iowa caucuses -- the first votes cast in the process to replace him, Obama berated talking points used by Republican candidates, saying "anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction."He also lashed out at rhetoric over the rise of the Islamic State group, which he admitted poses an "enormous danger."But he emphasized: "They do not threaten our national existence." http:/www.ndtv.com/world-news/listing-likely-havens-for-new-terror-obama-names-pakistan-1265198"Over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands," he said."Our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage."Tuesday's primetime address was perhaps Obama's last big opportunity to sway a national audience and frame the 2016 election race.Around 30 million viewers are expected to watch live, a nationwide audience that may only be matched in political terms during the Democratic nominating convention later this year.But it risked being overshadowed by news that 10 US Navy personnel have been taken to an Iranian naval base in the Gulf.Senior US officials said they had received assurances the crews would sail onwards come first light, but Republicans have held the crisis up as evidence that Obama was naive to engage with Tehran.In an unorthodox speech that tried to lift the country's gaze beyond the next year, and beyond his presidency, Obama also tackled the country's broken politics."It's one of the few regrets of my presidency -- that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he said in a moment of personal candor. Record number of asylum seekers in UK are destitute: Red Cross Protesters hold up placards during a demonstration to express solidarity with migrants and to demand the government welcome refugees into Britain, in London. Reuters, London :A record number of asylum seekers in Britain are being left destitute, and planned legislation could plunge thousands more into poverty, the British Red Cross said on Wednesday.The charity said it had supported more than 9,000 refugees and asylum seekers who were destitute last year, compared with 7,700 in 2014. The youngest was less than one year old and the oldest was 81.The Red Cross said an Immigration Bill, being debated in the House of Lords - Britain's upper parliamentary chamber - was expected to reduce asylum support further.Some 29,000 people applied for asylum in Britain between September 2014 and October 2015, 19 percent up from the previous year.Nearly 44 percent of destitute asylum seekers supported by the Red Cross were from Eritrea, Sudan, Iran and Syria, which are among the biggest sources of refugees. British Red Cross asylum expert Karl Pike described the situation as a "quiet crisis"."Refugees should not be left destitute, having fled awful violence and persecution," he said. "People refused by the system, but who the Home Office accept cannot return to their home country, should not be left with nothing."The Home Office had no immediate comment.Those supported by the Red Cross included people who had been granted refugee status but had not been given enough time to change to mainstream benefits from asylum seeker support.The Red Cross said research in one northern region found two-thirds of asylum seekers with no access to public funds went hungry regularly, and one-quarter were hungry every day.More than three-fifths had no fixed accommodation and more than half reported worsening health. Some had been destitute for up to eight years, it said.The Immigration Bill aims to limit support for failed asylum seekers and their dependants to those who are destitute and cannot safely return to their home country.The Red Cross says proposed changes in the Bill could push thousands of other failed asylum seekers into poverty. Seven shops gutted in fire Chittagong Bureau : Valuables of seven shops were gutted in two separate fire incidents in Chittagong on Tuesday morning. Fire gutted valuables worth Tk 4 lakh of five shops at Station Road Kamal Bazar in Patiya upazila. Fire originated from electric short-circuit at a shop around 5:40am, soon spread to four adjacent shops, said Fire Service officials. Fire-fighters extinguished the fire after two hours. Meanwhile, in Agrabad Excess Road, fire originated in the same way around 5:55am and gutted valuables worth Tk 50,000 of two shops. Refugee crisis will shake the world in 2016 Don Melvin : Europe was hit in 2015 with a historic wave of humanity - people, many from the Middle East and North Africa, fleeing violence or poverty, seeking a place to live, a job and a chance in life for their children. More than 1 million people made "irregular arrivals" into the European Union in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration. And the IOM estimates that 3,771 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean, making 2015 the deadliest year ever. European Union procedures groaned to the breaking point. With the EU's external borders as porous as a sieve, exercising zero control over internal borders-those between two EU members-no longer seemed such a grand idea. The free movement of people throughout the EU came under threat. On the migration issue, European unity seemed an unreachable goal. Germany welcomed the newcomers. But Hungary built a wall. And the issue will only increase in importance in 2016, for several reasons: Syrian despotism and ISIS cruelty-no end in sight The biggest group of people seeking safety in Europe came from Syria, where one of the modern era's most brutal civil wars is grinding toward the five-year mark with no end in sight. By some estimates, a quarter of a million people have been killed. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 4.4 million people have fled the country. Talks are taking place. But when on one side you have President Bashar al-Assad, accused of torturing and gassing his own people, and on the other the appalling terrorist group ISIS, there seems little hope of a negotiated solution. The war will likely continue. And the stream of refugees looks set to grow still larger. But the tide of migration sweeping over Europe, combined with the terrorist attacks in Paris, has ensured that migration will play a significant role in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for building a wall along the border with Mexico and for banning Muslims from entering the country. And he's riding high in the polls. Whatever their issue of preference, the candidates in 2016 will have to talk about migration. And they may well find it to be a minefield. The idea that foreigners are coming to the UK to take advantage of the taxpayer-funded National Health Service, and to take jobs away from native Brits, has long played a role in British politics. The refugee crisis has only increased those concerns and bolstered the anti-immigration, anti-EU UK Independence Party, or UKIP. British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold an in-out referendum-a nationwide vote on whether Britain should stay in the European Union or get the heck out-make what's known as a "Brexit." He has said he will hold it by the end of 2017, but many observers think he will do it this year. If so, fears over increased immigration would likely increase the chances that Britons would vote to leave the EU and try to go it alone in their island fortress. European Union or dis-Union? For a group called the European Union, the EU was remarkably disunited in 2015 when it came to the migration crisis. It could not come up with a united response. A plan to resettle refugees by setting quotas for each EU country to accept went nowhere. Beyond that, the idea that there may be jihadis hidden among the migrants entering the EU gained currency with reports that one or more of the Paris attackers had sneaked into Europe posing as a refugee. The signature achievement of the European Union, which began as a free trade zone, has been the free movement of people and goods. You can cross the border between two EU countries (with some exceptions) in your family sedan or your semi-trailer without a border check. But if the outer borders of the EU cannot keep out dangerous people, then countries within the EU will take to patrolling their own borders again. The free movement of goods and people will have collapsed. And with it, the essence of the European Union. (Don Melvin is the CNN News Desk Editor, London). Public univ teachers to continue strike Staff Reporter :The public university teachers continued their strike for third consecutive day on Wednesday against what they call the 'pay disparity'.Classes in all 37 public universities in the country remained suspended, as the teachers did not attend. Vowing to continue the strike, the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association (FBUTA) said that returning to the classrooms would depend on the government's positive response. "If the government meets our demands, we will go back to the classes. So the ball is now in the government's court", said FBUTA President Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed. The FBUTA was briefing reporters on Dhaka University campus on Wednesday. Prof Farid said that they were ready for discussion with the government but they were not getting any effective response from the authorities. Asked whether they were making the students hostage, he rejected the blame and held the government responsible for the dislocation of academic activities. "We don't want to continue our movement harming the students. We want to go back to our classes," he said. FBUTA Secretary General Prof Maksud Kamal said that they believe the problem will be solved soon if the Prime Minister sits with them. Chittagong University Teachers' Association (CUTA) President Prof Abul Mansur said that they have been demonstrating not only for hiking their salaries, but they are fighting to protect their prestige. The teachers said that the latest pay scale for civil servants was discriminatory to the teachers and Bangladesh Bank officials. So, the university teachers have been protesting against the new pay scale since the government announced the 8th National Pay Scale. The teachers sat in discussion with the Education Minister several times, but to no avail.On Wednesday, some exams were taken in some universities but no classes were held.Earlier on Tuesday, the agitating teachers had urged the PM to sit with them, even if only briefly. "We are urging the PM to hold a 10-minute meeting with us in order to resolve the crisis," said Prof Farid.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday criticised the teachers for boycotting the classes. The teachers called for the indefinite demanding the formation of a commission to initiate an independent pay scale for them.The other demands are to remove gap of salary and allowance between senior professors and senior secretaries, and between professors and secretaries; upgrading the status of teachers in the warrant of precedence; and the provision of cars and other allowances for teachers similar to provisions given to senior bureaucrats. Deadly suicide attack targets polio centre in Pakistan 15 killed, 20 wounded as suicide bomber strikes near anti-polio vaccination centre in Quetta city Suicide attack on a polio vaccination centre in southwestern Pakistan kills more than a dozen people. Internet photo Al Jazeera News :A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a polio eradication centre in Pakistan's western city of Quetta, killing more than a dozen people in the latest deadly assault on the campaign to fight the disease in the country.Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said most of the dead were security forces on their way to guard the vaccination centre. "One passer-by was also killed in the explosion," Hyder reported.Two armed groups - the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has links to the Taliban and has pledged allegiance to ISIL - separately claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported. Lifelines - Polio vaccinator: 'Her entire body was bloodied'Over 15 people were killed and 20 others wounded in the blast, officials said."The security officials were in a vehicle outside the centre when the bomber detonated his explosive vest," Balochistan's Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti told journalists. "Health workers, police guards, and personnel from the paramilitary Frontier Corps force were preparing for a door-to-door polio vaccination drive as part of a three-day campaign when they were attacked." Medical teams brought the wounded to Civil Hospital in Quetta, capital of restive Balochistan province."I saw the suicide bomber running towards us, firing at us and then blowing himself up," Samiullah, a security officer and one of the wounded, told Al Jazeera. "Such attacks aiming to stop anti-polio campaigns have happened in the past as well, which have resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. We are trying our best to stop it." Teams in Pakistan working to immunise children against the virus are often targeted by the Taliban and other groups, who say the campaign is a cover for Western spies, or accuse workers of distributing drugs designed to sterilise children. The latest attack comes after the campaign against polio was relaunched in Quetta and other districts of Balochistan on Monday.Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world that remain on the World Health Organization's list of polio-endemic countries."Some religious people believe these polio vaccinations are a Western conspiracy against Muslims. But polio is a major problem here compared to other countries," Hasan Khan, a Taliban and tribal researcher, told Al Jazeera. Notice served on 28 owners Staff Reporter :The Industries Ministry has served legal notices on the owners of 28 tanneries for failure to start relocation work of their factories from Hazaribagh in the capital to the designated industrial park in Savar. "Legal notices have been served on them individually," Project Director and Joint Secretary Abdul Qayyum said on Wednesday. He said, many tannery owners have received the notices.It is noteworthy that Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu in a meeting with the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) on Sunday gave a 72-hour ultimatum to the factory owners to relocate the factories from Hazaribagh to Savar. "The ultimatum expired Wednesday," said Abdul Qayyum adding that they had so far given reminders to tanners 27 times.Asked whether the government has any plan to cancel the plots of those tanners, the official said they have no such intention.He, however, did not mention the names of the owners who have been served legal notices.Industries Ministry sources said, if the tanners fail to shift their factories within the given time, their plot allocations in the leather industrial park in Savar will be cancelled.The Industries Ministry had allocated plots to 155 tannery owners through Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).The tanners will have to invest around Tk 6,000 crore to relocate the factories and to set up new plants and begin commercial production. There are some 195 tanneries at Hazaribagh. Deal to build first LNG terminal on card Anisul Islam Noor : The Excelerate Energy Ltd of the US has sought tax exemption from its income against installation of floating, storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) to facilitate LNG imports, Petrobangla sources said. It also sought exemption from import duty for the FSRU and infrastructure components and permission for its re-export, they said. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) has sought opinion from the Ministry of Finance and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to settle the issue, a senior MPEMR official said. The Excelerate earlier also sought to select a US insurance firm for the LNG terminal project, while state-run Petrobangla wants the project to be insured with Bangladesh's state-run general insurance company-Sadharan Bima Corporation. The issue of selecting an insurance firm is yet to be settled, said officials. The US firm is, however, in final round of negotiation with Petrobangla to ink the final deal to build the country's first LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) Terminal at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal. The consortium of Astra Oil (also of the US) and Excelerate Energy was one of the three short-listed firms in Petrobangla's tendering process in June 2012 to build Bangladesh's first LNG import terminal. The Excelerate later came out independently to build the terminal and started negotiation as the government decided to implement the LNG terminal project under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act, 2010 to relax tender terms, said officials. Petrobangla on January 25 inked a term-sheet for the terminal-use agreement with the Excelerate to build the LNG import terminal after several rounds of negotiations and revising initial fiscal and technical terms. The Excelerate has already carried out a met-ocean study and found building of the terminal viable. The US firm also invited Petrobangla for a closing round of negotiation this month to resolve the pending issues and ink the final deal to build the LNG terminal. The Excelerate Energy has estimated that the project investment would be around $ 500 million of which $200 million will be required to build fixed infrastructure including pipeline and mooring system and $300 million to build the FSRU ship. The US firm will build the terminal within 16 months of signing the final deal. LNG import might start from 2017. The terminal would have a capacity of 5.0 million tonnes per year and a re-gasification capacity of at least 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd). It will have berthing and mooring facilities for LNG tankers with a capacity of 138,000-260,000 cu m, with the construction contract to be awarded on a build-own-operate-transfer basis for 15 years. Separately, Power Cell, a state-owned entity under the MPEMR, is also working to build the country's first onshore LNG terminal at Matarbari on Moheshkhali Island. Power Cell sought to build the onshore LNG import terminal in the south-with a handling capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per year, on a build-own-and- operate basis. Re-gasified LNG from the terminals are expected to be supplied to gas-guzzling industries including power plants and factories. Bangladesh has started works to build infrastructure for using imported LNG for consumers. State-run Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL), is building a 91-km pipeline to carry re-gasified imported LNG from Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal to Anowara in port city Chittagong to facilitate its transmission to user-ends. Petrobangla has also inked a 'confidentiality' deal with Qatar's Ras Gas in Doha in October last year over its planned import of LNG to meet the mounting natural gas demand of the South Asian country. The country is now reeling under acute natural gas crisis with the daily average output of around 2,700 mmcfd against the demand for over 3,200 mmcfd, according to Petrobangla. Bangladesh started facing natural gas crisis from 2009 with rapid industrialisation forcing Petrobangla to ration natural gas supplies to gas-guzzling industries, power plants, CNG filling stations and households. Over 1,200 sued in B'baria Staff Reporter : Over 1,200 unnamed people have been sued in connection with violence in Brahmanbaria district by some Madrasah students. On Tuesday morning some Madrasah students went on a rampage throughout the district town, protesting the death of a fellow student in a clash. They vandalised 12 establishments, set fire to two others and blocked the railway tracks during their daylong violent agitation. Several hundred students from different madrasahs in the town blocked the railway tracks near Brahmanbaria Railway Station, cut train communications on Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Chittagong route for nearly nine hours. Brahmanbaria Railway Station Master Mohidur Rahman lodged the case against over 1200 unnamed people in connection with arson attack, uprooting the railway track and assaulting railway officials. "A gang of miscreants on Tuesday morning beat up the railway stationmaster, launched arson attack and uprooted the fishplates of the railway track. Stationmaster Mohidur Rahman filed the case. Sub-Inspector Mohammad Salahuddin of police outpost of railway station has been assigned to investigate the incident," Mohammad Abdus Sattar, Officer-in-Charge of Akhaura Railway Police Station, told The New Nation. According to sources, many students and locals left the area to avoid the arrest. A tense situation is prevailing in the area till filing of this report on Wednesday night. Besides, superintendent of police of Brahmanbaria district said that government and non-government officials and businessmen filed at least six separate cases against 500-700 unnamed men in connection with arson attack and beating up cops. "Rubel Farazi, officer-in-charge of Brahmanbaria Sadar Police Station lodged case in connection with arson attack and beating up cops," the police super told the New Nation. Apart from them, Ferdous Ahmed, a shop owner of Brahmanbaria high school market, Chamon Sikder, Superintendent of Industrial School, Humayun Kabir, manager of Proshika, a non-government organisation, Dr. Rana Nurus Sams, caretaker of Brahmanbaria sadar hospital, lodged cases against the unnamed men in connection with arson attack and ransacking valuables. The superintendent of police of Brahmanbaria district said, the situation is now under control. "Madrasah student Masudur Rahman, who died in the incident, was buried on Tuesday. We formed a three-member committee to look into the incident. The probe panel has been asked to submit its report within three working days," he said. Let none become victim of torture BB governor urges IGP to ensure punishment to responsible police officer Staff Reporter :Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor on Wednesday demanded exemplary punishment to the responsible police officer for the alleged torture of a BB official. Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor came up with the call in a letter to Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque. "I am requesting you (IGP) to ensure exemplary punishment to the sub-inspector after an investigation so that not only the BB official but also no innocent people become victim of torture in the future," the BB governor chief said in the letter.Golam Rabbi, an assistant director of BB, was allegedly tortured by police on Saturday night.According to the victim, Sub-inspector Masud Shikder of Mohammadpur Police Station and his team beat him up for Tk 5 lakh, on Taj Mahal Road. The officer also threatened to kill Rabbi in "crossfire" and falsely implicate him in narcotics case. "The BB official was subject to abusive words and tortured without any offence. So, I am demanding exemplary punishment to the responsible police officer after an investigation to ensure justice," he added. The BB governor, however, thanked the IGP for closing Masud Shikder from Mohammadpur Police Station two days after the incident. When asked, AFM Asaduzzaman, a General Manager of BB, confirmed to The New Nation that the BB chief sent a demy official (DO) letter to Inspector General of Police in this regard.Meanwhile, Rabbi was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Tuesday with pain in the head and shoulder. India had to make a choice, and chose Hasina denying election Editorial Desk : Former Indian Foreign Minister Mr Salman Khurshid who was holding the portfolio at the time leading to January 5, 2014 controversial election has made critical disclosures in his recently published book about how India handled Bangladesh politics taking sides according to its convenience. In his book 'The Other Side of the Mountain' (Hay House India) he recalled the warm relation he was able to develop with BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia breaking the past ice in relations during her visit to Delhi in October 2012 and then writes "as events in Bangladesh turned to ugly confrontation on the streets between the government supporters and the young aspirational nationalists on one side and the Jamaat-e-Islami radicals on the other (and) we were virtually squeezed into the Awami League camp" and all those initial signs of positive vibes with BNP melted away. He writes as a local English daily published a review of his book as saying India had to make a choice as "there was a real danger of falling between two stools and losing the momentum of the impressive achievements we had been able to make (with Dhaka) But what the Awami League needed urgently before the general election was the deal on Teesta water sharing and the exchange of enclaves." Obviously Sheikh Hasina government wanted to use those achievements to win people's support but actually the exchange of enclaves happened a year later when Congress was voted out of power and the Teesta deal is yet to be signed. Our question is whether it was a good move or a good diplomacy to deprive the people by a bureaucratically arranged election only to get elected a person of Indian choice to form the government in Bangladesh. Instead solving the crisis with the help of people's wishes, India imposed its own chosen government. In our view India has not only violated political ethics and Bangladesh's sovereign interest and made a democratic peaceful solution to this crisis now impossible. The people of Bangladesh expected India to help them realise the dream of a democratic Bangladesh like its help in the liberation war. What Mr Salman Khurshid's book suggests is that India worked closely with the Sheikh Hasina government to hold the non-inclusive election and did everything to keep the opposition out of the race. Being assured of India's choice Hasina had got all courage and confidence to go ahead with the plan of engineering the election in her favour in 2014. The visit of India's Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh to Dhaka one week prior to the election to fix everything and influence HM Ershad to join the election, as representing the opposition. Such open interference in the internal election of a country is just revolting for any respectable people. Such disclosures cancelled out Awami League's claim that they had held a free and fair election and they have protected democracy by holding this election of 5th January 2014. India chose Sheikh Hasina and to our astonishment, everything else became easy to manage. So shameful it is for a free country not to be free to elect its government. The book talks about how delicately India has had to handle its relations with Bangladesh, in the light of the bitter political rivalry between Awami League and BNP. '.As I looked around, there was a virtual storm brewing in Bangladesh between the Awami League Government of Sheikh Hasina (the incumbent prime minister) and the belligerent opposition led by Begum Khaleda Zia' before her visit to Delhi, the author claims. Because of the strong antagonistic relationship between Awami League and BNP India moved not to seek popular verdict. This policy of India was wrong and harmful for maintaining people to people good relationship. Bangladesh needed help from friends to resolve the crisis of leadership by making the leaders accountable to the people. The system of democracy is needed to work for ending personal leadership squabble democratically. . NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs. Monet rahapelien ystavat ovat viime vuosina loytaneet netticasinot ja olleet ihmeissaan. Verrattuna kotimaisen Veikkauksen kivijalkarahapeleihin puhutaan aivan eri tason palautusprosenteista ja lisaksi pelaaminen on aarimmaisen helppoa ja turvallista. Netticasinoiden maara on tana paivana todella suuri ja niita loytyy jokaiseen lahtoon, suurin ongelma aloittelevalla pelaajalla onkin tehda valinta siita, minka netticasinon valitsee. Kaikkien netticasinoiden mainospuheet naet lupaavat kauniita asioita ja niiden lapinakeminen on tietysti tarkeaa. Nyrkkisaantona voidaan kuitenkin jo kattelyssa todeta, etta jos valitsemasi netticasino on lisensoitu ETA-alueella, sen kanssa ei tule olemaan ongelmia, ellei niita itse jarjesta. Kay tutustumassa parhaisiin netticasinoihin osoitteessa www.ilmaiskierroksia.info! Ensimmainen nyrkkisaanto on siis varmistaa, etta valitsemallasi netticasinolla on ETA-alueen lisenssi. Suurimmassa osassa tapauksista se on Maltan eli MGA:n lisenssi. Myos Viron, Englannin ja Gibraltarin lisensseja nakyy ja naissa valvonta on jopa Maltaa tiukempaa. Lopputulema on kuitenkin se, etta ETA-alueen lisenssi takaa suomalaisille verovapaat voitot seka sen, etta niita valvotaan kontrolloidusti. Maailmalla on iso nippu Curacaon lisenssilla toimivia netticasinoita ja niistakin suurin osa on laadukkaita. Ne eivat kuitenkaan ole suomalaisille asiakkaille verovapaita, joten emme suosittele niita. Tana paivana markkinoille on ilmaantunut paljon ETA-alueella toimiva netticasinoita ilman rekisteroitymista. Jos tarkoitus on vain pelata yksittaisia pelikertoja, on varsin helppo suositella naita. Netticasinot ilman rekisteroitymista tarjoavat palvelun tunnistautumisen verkkopankin avainlukulistan avulla ja saman palvelun kautta tapahtuvat talletukset ja mahdolliset voittojen nostot silmanrapayksessa. Normaaleihin netticasinoihin pitaa asiakkaan rekisteroitya, tehda talletukset ja tunnistautua dokumenttien avulla. Tama on lisenssiehtojen mukainen kaytanto, eika kovinkaan monimutkainen, mutta silti monet asiakkaat haluavat yksinkertaista ja nopeaa palvelua. Toki normaalit netticasinot tarjoavat usein asiakkailleen laadukkaita talletusbonuksia ja erilaisia kampanjoita, joten kannattaa tarkkaan punnita, kumman ratkaisun valitsee. Kannattaa myos muistaa, etta tunnistautuminen tehdaan vain kerran, joten mikaan jatkuva riippakivi se ei ole. Suomalaiset asiakkaat ovat netticasinoille tarkeita, joten kaikilla vahankin laadukkailla netticasinoilla on suomenkieliset sivut seka suomenkielinen asiakaspalvelu suomenkielisyys kannattaakin ottaa netticasinoa valittaessa nyrkkisaannoksi. Vaikka tana paivana englanninkielisyys on harvoille ongelma, on suomenkielisten netticasinoiden maara niin valtava, etta suosittelemme niiden kayttoa. Rahansiirrot ovat tana paivana niin hyvassa mallissa, etta niiden kanssa tuskin tulee mitaan ongelmia. Kolme tarkeinta segmenttia: Suomalaiset verkkopankit, luottokortit (Visa, Mastercard) seka nettilompakot (Skrill, Neteller) loytyvat jokaisesta laadukkaasta netticasinosta. Viime vuosien trendiksi noussut verkkokauppa on kehittanyt rahansiirrot niin laadukkaiksi ja nopeiksi, etta niiden suhteen ei ole enaa vuosiin ollut ongelmia. Luonnollisesti netticasinot kayttavat naita samoja palveluita ja hyotyvat kehityksesta. Naiden isojen linjojen jalkeen netticasinon valintaan vaikuttavat luonnollisesti tarjottavat tervetuliaisbonukset uudet asiakkaat saavat tana paivana kovan kilpailun myota merkittavia etuja netticasinoilta ja niita kannattaa luonnollisesti vertailla. Erilaiset talletusbonukset, ilmaiskierrokset seka ilmaiset pelirahat tuovat suuriakin rahanarvoisia etuja ja niiden vertailu on ehdottomasti kannattavaa. Myoskaan useampien tilien avaaminen ja tervetuliaistarjousten kayttaminen ei missaan nimessa ole huono idea. Kun edella mainitut asiat ovat mieleisia ja vaihtoehtoja on vielakin jaljella, mennaan jo nyansseihin. Toki pelivalikoima on yksi kriteeri, mutta taman paivan netticasinoissa tamakin asia on paasaantoisesti varsin samanlainen. Toki useamman samantasoisen netticasinon vertailussa kannattaa yleensa valita se, jossa on eniten peleja tarjolla. Vaikka omat suosikit loytyisivatkin useammasta, voi tulevaisuudessa mielenkiinto nousta joihinkin muihin peleihin ja silloin on tietysti mukavampaa, etta ne loytyvat valikoimista. Viimeisena voidaan nostaa esiin kaytettavyys joidenkin netticasinoiden sivut ovat vilkkuvia, valkkyvia ja epakaytannollisia. Omaan silmaan ja kaytettavyyteen sopiva sivusto on luonnollisesti aina se paras valinta. Tarjonta netticasinoissa on tana paivana valtava ja jokaiselle loytyy varmasti se oma netticasino onnea matkaan! This Blog This blog is not an investment site. The blog's sole purpose is to help the author understand the Bakken and put it in context with global geopolitical events, some of which are very, very political. Posting is done quickly and will contain typographical and content errors. Do not make any investment or life changes based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. See full disclaimer at the tab at the top of the blog for more. Comments are heavily moderated and will not be posted if they do not constructively move the conversation along. By AM Wednesday, January 13, 2016 Share Tweet Share Share Email The following statement was forwarded to TPQ byIt was released by the Campaign in Solidarity with the Strugglerhavingissued by Palestinian organizers inside and outside occupied Palestine, demanding the freedom of, and an end to extradition proceedings against, a Palestinian community leader and former prisoner who is now facing threats of arrest by the Bulgarian state due to the pursuit of the Israeli occupation.Omar Nayef Zayed, a Palestinian Arab citizen, was born in Jenin, Palestine in 1963; liberated from the prisons of the occupation in 1990; living in Bulgaria for over 21 years; has been seeking refuge in the Palestinian embassy in Sofia for approximately one week. He has been forced to seek refuge, to protect himself and his family, because the Bulgarian authorities are attempting to arrest and extradite him to the occupation state, under the pretext of the criminal extradition agreement of the Council of Europe, to which the Zionist state is a party.Omar Zayed, the struggler, refuses to surrender to the Bulgarian authorities for the following reasons:First, because he refuses to deal with his case as a criminal or civil matter or an individual issue; it is a national and collective concern, and first and foremost a political matter and a political issue. He was arrested in 1986 and charged with legitimate resistance to the Israeli occupation, which is a natural right guaranteed under international law.Second, because the sentence issued against him by the Israeli occupation military court is no longer valid, due to various bilateral agreements between the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli state, beginning with the Oslo accords in 1993 and subsequent agreements; his sentence is obsolete and no longer valid for extradition.Third, the struggler Zayed spent over three years in Israeli jails, from 1986 to 1990, and was subject upon his capture by the Israeli military to torture, oppression and deprivation. He conducted an open hunger strike for 40 days in the occupation prisons, which caused him to be transferred to hospital for treatment, and he suffers the physical effects of his experience to the present day.Fourth, since his arrival in Bulgaria 21 years ago, Omar Zayed has built a life: married, with two sons and a daughter, respected Bulgarian laws, and never faced any criminal or other issues in Bulgaria.The liberated prisoner Omar Zayed has repeatedly and consistently declared that he is a struggler for the freedom of the Palestinian people and their national and human cause. His decision to refuse to surrender himself to the local authorities is undertaken as part of his responsibility and national duty to reject the Zionist occupation and its racist and unjust laws, and to confront all attacks against the Palestinian people, its liberated prisoners, and its strugglers, whether in occupied Palestine, in Europe, or anywhere in the world.Campaign of Solidarity with Omar Nayef Zayed26 December 2015Information from Samidoun, Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a network of organizers and activists, based in North America, working to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom. Samidoun developed out of the September-October 2011 hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, seeing a need for a dedicated network to support Palestinian prisoners. We work to raise awareness and provide resources about Palestinian political prisoners, their conditions, their demands, and their work for freedom for themselves, their fellow prisoners, and their homeland. We also work to organize campaigns to make political change and advocate for Palestinian prisoners rights and freedoms.Samidoun seeks to achieve justice for Palestinian prisoners through events, activities, resources, delegations, research and information-sharing, as well as building bridges with the prisoners movement in Palestine. We seek to amplify the voices of Palestinian prisoners, former prisoners, prisoners families, and Palestinian advocates for justice and human rights by translating, sharing and distributing news, interviews and materials from Palestine.We work to organize annually for April 17, the Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners, organizing rallies, events and actions and distributing news and alerts about actions around the world marking April 17.Palestinian prisoners are on the front lines of the Palestinian struggle for liberation on a daily basis. In the jails of occupation, Palestinian prisoners confront the oppressor and the occupier, and put their bodies and lives on the line to continue their peoples struggle to achieve justice and freedom for the land and people of Palestine. Within the prisons, the Palestinian prisoners movement engages in political struggle demanding their rights, securing advances, and serving as leaders to the entire Palestinian movement, inside and outside Palestine.The Israeli occupation has criminalized all forms of Palestinian existence and Palestinian resistance from peaceful mass demonstrations to armed struggle to simply refusing to be silent and invisible as a Palestinian. Palestinian prisoners are men and women and children from every part of Palestine, from every family. Their absence is keenly felt in the homes, communities, villages, towns, labour, womens and student organizations from which they were taken by the occupation. They suffer torture, isolation, coercive interrogation, denial of family and lawyers visits, on a daily basis. And it is their hunger strikes, their calls to the world, their unity and solidarity, and their continued leadership in the Palestinian movement that must inspire us daily and remind us of our responsibility to take action.Samidoun also stands in solidarity with Arab and international political prisoners, and, in particular, political prisoners in the United States and Canada targeted for their work with liberation struggles and freedom movements, including Arab and Palestinian movements, Native and Indigenous liberation and sovereignty struggles, Puerto Rican independentistas, Black liberation organizers, Latino and Chicano activists and many others targeted by racism, colonialism, and oppression, and we recognize the fundamental connections between imprisonment, racism, colonialism, and the criminalization of immigrants, refugees and migrants.Building solidarity with Palestinian prisoners is, indeed, a responsibility. Palestinian prisoners are at the center of the struggle for freedom and justice in Palestine they represent the imprisonment of a people and a nation. The Palestinian prisoners movement has always been at the center of the Palestinian liberation movement and remains so today. Palestinian prisoners stand and struggle on the front lines daily for return and liberation for all of Palestine and all Palestinians. The Canadian and U.S. governments are deeply complicit and directly implicated in the ongoing occupation of Palestine and the crimes of the Israeli state. Rather than standing for human rights, they enable, fund, and support occupation, apartheid, mass imprisonment, land confiscation, dispossession and settlement-building. In response, it is our responsibility to create grassroots accountability, raise awareness, and take action to those Palestinian prisoners who daily struggle for the freedom of their homeland and the freedom of the oppressed of the world. "A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist. Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its 1960 opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC and buttressing The Public Trust Doctrine, Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution. KSN&C is intended to be a place for well-reasoned civil discourse...not to suggest that we dont appreciate the witty retort or pithy observation. Have at it. But we do not invite the anonymous flaming too often found in social media these days. This is a destination for folks to state your name and speak your piece. It is important to note that, while the Moderator serves as Faculty Regent for Eastern Kentucky University, all comments offered by the Moderator on KSN&C are his own opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Regents, the university administration, faculty, or any members of the university community. On KSN&C, all authors are responsible for their own comments. See full disclaimer at the bottom of the page. "The main reason that he wears a harness and tether is that doing so slows him down and makes him constantly mindful of the risks of going overboard as he works on deck and that, in turn, makes him far safer than any gear ever will." John from Attainable Adventure Cruising on Wilson Fitts Why? "It is not just because I love to sail, or because I love to travel. It is the desire to live a more simple life, a place apart from the gross consumption of the modern first world. The desire to teach my children respect for our fragile planet by living with a light footprint. The desire to embrace live in the now, and not postpone it for an amorphous 'someday.' " Behan Gifford "Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea." Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness "Who is staring at the sea is already sailing a little." Paul Carvel "Find what and where you want to be, discard everything that doesn't get you closer to that and laugh like a school girl when you arrive." John Loggins "It is good to have an end to journey toward but it is the journey that matters in the end." Ursula Le Guinn "Life is about having experiences and then keeping those memories. I don't remember what toy you got me for my fifth birthday but I'll always remember having an Easter egg hunt party. The matter of things break down but the nonphysical aspect of experience can't be touched. The memories we make are less frequent but they become more meaningful." 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Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. American dog owners spend nearly $40 monthly for dog food, and for more than 25 years Pinckneyville, Illinois entrepreneur Wade Graskewicz has been scooping up a sizable portion of the dog food market, both domestically and abroad. On his rise in the $23 billion pet food industry, he kept true to his original premise of offering customers a high-quality dog food for an affordable price. Along the way, it was Graskewiczs competitive spirit and tenacity that kept his brand as a serious contender in the marketplace. The birth of Hi-Standard began when Graskewicz and Don Hicks went together and opened a retail store named Hi-Standard Suppliers in 1988. With a focus on sporting goods, outdoor gear and animal food, the store soon grew a strong following in the small town of 5,600. We were selling quite a bit of dog food at that time but no matter how hard I tried, I couldnt get the price point I wanted, Graskewicz said. Sure, there was quality dog food I could purchase but I was buying through a middleman and I couldnt control the price for my customers. In 1990, he bought out Hicks' portion of the business and began focusing even more on his dog food operation. It took some time, but by 1998, Hi-Standard Dog Food was born and Graskewicz was selling three separate lines out of his Pinckneyville store. Upon starting the brand, Graskewiczs first challenge was packaging. He was shocked to learn that he would have to order 40,000 empty bags to sell his dog food. He had anticipated packaging in quantities of 500. Basically, I knew from being in the business for 10 years, what would sell, Graskewicz said. I knew that if I could get in a certain price range, the product would sell. My biggest challenge was packaging and growing the brand big enough. Although Hi-Standards home base is still Pinckneyville, the company manufactures its product in Utah, Tennessee, Ohio and Kansas. To ease the burden of shipping costs, Graskewicz has warehouses in Illinois, Utah, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tennessee. Because the price of shipping has a direct impact on the products sale price, the majority of pet food is still sold closest to the plants where it is manufactured. Another way to broaden their offerings in the industry was to buy out the competition. So, in 2011, Graskewicz purchased both Joy Pet Food and Best Feeds brands. That acquisition expanded their portfolio by 22 new products as well as providing openings into other international markets. The collective brands distribute to 90 percent of the United States, two provinces in Canada, Japan, Ghana, Pakistan and Trinidad among others. Today the brand carries more than 60 different size bags available in 25 different products. Being somewhat reflective, Graskewicz is amazed by his own success story although not surprised by it. Similar to the high-energy hunting dogs showcased on his Hi-Standard packaging, Graskewicz also exudes that same high-energy, highly-competitive nature. I have to credit my success to being so competitive and having such a supportive family, Graskewicz said. In the early years, my mother (Ruby Graskewicz) stepped in and helped out by answering phones and doing billing for me. Otherwise, I was pretty much a one-man show. In the beginning of trying to get the word out about his dog food, Graskewicz would load up his Dodge dually truck with 60 to 80 bags of dog food and tarp it. He would hit the road by 4 a.m., make his deliveries and push to get back to open the store by 8:30 a.m. His early morning trips would take him to places such as Poplar Bluff, Missouri, or Evansville, Indiana. After a long day at the store, he start the whole process over again. Graskewicz said that getting any business off the ground requires a good work ethic. Another element to the business success has been my wife and son, Graskewicz said. My son Skyler was born in 1988 when we started the retail store, so he pretty much grew up in the business. As Hi-Standard Suppliers company president, Skyler Graskewicz knows the industry inside and out. He still works alongside his father, but his primary focus is in shipping and exporting to international markets. My wife Lisa has also been a very big part of my success, Graskewicz said. She is an interior designer and very talented in her own right. She owns Interiors Designed by Lisa and I have to credit her with helping me stay focused and do what I had to do. Today, Graskewicz, 52, is still as excited about moving his company forward as he was when he first started his company. He is busy laying out a multi-year plan for his companys future. However, he keeps the details of that plan close to the vest. I found a niche in this business and found I could make a go of it, however for those just starting out in anything, remember you have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run, he said. My advice for anyone is to take everything slow and be ready for an incredible amount of time and hard work. Equipped with a strong company that has an international reach, Graskewicz feels he can still make another major stride in the next few years that will propel his business even further into the international marketplace. With the launch of our Grain Free and Ultimate products in early this year, along with a full line of treats for both Joy and Hi-Standard, we expect tremendous growth for 2016, Graskewicz said. Just like the pets we create our products for, we will continue to be high performers in our field. I consider growing up as a sixth generation family member of Rendleman Orchards one of the greatest privileges Ill have in life. I was raised in a family and environment where hard-work, dedication, passion, perseverance, and continuing education topped the list of priorities. I began working summers on the farm with my family just after second grade. At the time, I remember being mad at my dad for switching my daily routine from cartoons at Nanas to seeding vegetables and washing buckets in our greenhouses. However, that moment began shaping me into the agricultural professional and forever farm girl that I am today. Currently, I am a District Sales Manager for Asgrow DEKALB at Monsanto Company. Throughout my territory in south central Minnesota, I work with many successful corn and soybean farming operations. In these operations, the ultimate goal and measure of success is yield. Thousands of publications have been written on how to maximize yield and profits for these operations. Since farmers are paid on their yield, in bushels per acre, this directly determines their income each year. Whether it be seeds, traits, equipment, chemistries, fertilizers, or agronomic/climate software programs, the latest technologies within each of these sub-categories will be key in maximizing their bushels per acre. Growers begin planning their technological inputs for the next year well before the current year harvest even begins. For example, germplasm and trait selections for seed are made on an acre-by-acre basis usually beginning in the summer and continuing through harvest, as growers are able to continually monitor plant health, agronomic packages, chemical response, and of course final yield numbers. Fertilizer selections are also planned well in advance, being spread immediately after current year fall harvest to prepare ground for planting the next spring, and once again on a field-level basis based on the type of ground and yield goals for those acres. Updated equipment technologies provide growers with precision, accuracy, and efficiency. Whether it be a planter, sprayer, combine, grain cart, etc., selecting proper equipment and using its full technological potential allows for things like variable rate planting and custom applications just to name a few. And in the past few years, we have really seen agronomic and climate software increase in the marketplace. These program offerings all vary by provider, but allow growers to monitor weather, plant health, yield, nitrogen levels, real-time field imagery, and many, many other services directly from their iPad, computer, phone or equipment monitor. I expect this technological sector to grow rapidly in the coming years as accuracy and data from capabilities improve. In summary, Im privileged to work each day with many, many successful row crop operations. Although success rests on many factors, it all comes down to ability to maximize yield at the end of the day. Planning ahead, utilizing the newest technologies and new ones coming through R & D pipelines are best practices to name a few. I enjoy spending a good portion of the winter and summer months with growers at industry/university trainings, trade shows, conferences, and field days, where again, we all remain focused on maximizing yield and all the steps we must take to get there. CARTERVILLE Regional food aggregation facilities or food hubs have been hailed as a way to get more local food into grocery stores and restaurants and more money into local farms. Across the country, various versions have succeeded and failed. How can farmers and eaters in our region benefit from lessons learned across the U.S.? Farmers and friends of local food are invited to join the Southern Illinois Farming Alliance in a series of four National Good Food Network webinars and discussions exploring food hub models. Each session will include a 90 minute webinar followed by discussion. Webinars are scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. every other Wednesday in January and February, beginning Jan. 13, at John A. Logan Community College, room H123. Topics for the 2016 Southern Illinois Faming Alliance Webinar will include: Jan. 13, Food Hubs: Viable Regional Distribution Solutions; Jan. 27, Grower's Experiences Selling Their Crops through Food Hubs; Feb. 10, Talk is Cheap ... and Efficient! Facilitating value chain development without costly new infrastructure; and Feb. 24, The Million Dollar Question: What is break-even and viability for different food hub models? Webinars will begin at 6 p.m. Registration is required. Sign-up at fwsoil.org/online-registration for more information about attending. Small farmers struggle to make a living In the morning, Courtney Smith walks around the skinny dirt paths of her farm, sips dark cof Young farmers across the country are being encouraged by the growing local food market, said Reanna Putnam, Southern Illinois Farming Alliance coordinator. However, they are often discouraged by challenges along the way between being brand-new and firmly established. We want to explore how food hubs may help address the needs of Southern Illinois farmers as they develop their capacity for larger markets while addressing consumer demand at retail and wholesale levels. This Food Hub webinar series will not give us all the answers for regional farmers. Were confident though that it will help us ask the right questions, so we can grow more food and farmers, said Kathleen Logan Smith, executive director of Food Works. Food Works is a nonprofit focused on sustainable food systems development and farmer education in Southern Illinois. The organization facilitates the Southern Illinois Farm Beginnings course for new or transitioning farmers and Southern Illinois Farming Alliance, a vibrant network of small, sustainable farmers and ranchers. For more information about the webinars or Food Works, contact Kathleen Logan Smith or Reanna Putnam at 618-370-3287 or email info@eatsouthernillinois.org. WEST FRANKFORT When the temperature drops, typically, the energy bills begin to increase. Ameren Illinois customers were able to find some relief from energy bills when the power company partnered with the Marion Crosswalk Community Action Agency to provide up to $300 per bill, said Stacey Young, supervisor of community and public relations for Ameren Illinois. Ameren officials were at the West Frankfort Outlet Mall from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday. Young said customers filled out some paperwork to verify they were Ameren customers with an active account. Then, customers had to verify their income to make sure they made less than a certain income threshold. She said Ameren and Crosswalk were looking at the poverty level based on state guidelines. Franklin County is an impoverished county and we recognize that," Young said. "We know that with the state budget, there are some difficulties getting some help to low-income individuals and we have dollars earmarked to help with that." She said that Crosswalk is one of the 27 agencies Ameren is teaming up with to provide energy assistance. Ameren Spokesman Brian Bretsch said the organizations saw more than 400 customers and gave away about $100,000 in bill credits to customers. Ameren President Richard Mark was in attendance, visiting with customers. He said often the need for energy assistance is bigger in areas farther away from urban areas. I knew there was a need here and our goal was to get out and try to help communities throughout the state, not just the large urban areas, he said. He said the reception from customers was great and many of them told the president they were appreciative of the help. The power company also gave energy efficient lightbulbs and information on how to save money on energy costs. It is just refreshing to come out and get to talk to some of our customers, Mark said. And it really makes us feel good that customers appreciate us being here and the help they get from this energy program is needed. Ameren officials expressed their gratitude to West Frankfort Mayor Tom Jordan for allowing the company to host the event in the outlet mall. Jordan said he was ecstatic that Ameren even asked. It was a no-brainer to give them this space, he said. Jordan said he loved what Ameren was doing, and he applauded the power company for its efforts. We are just glad to share in the process and make this (outlet mall) available to them, he said. Changing the way Illinois legislative districts are drawn is one of Gov. Bruce Rauners priorities, and he may get some help this year from outside the General Assembly. Despite the Republican governors stance on the issue and his ongoing stalemate with legislative Democrats, putting the once-a-decade redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission has widespread bipartisan support, said Jim Bray, spokesman for the group Independent Maps. The change would require an amendment to the Illinois Constitution, and the group is making the third attempt in four election cycles to put the issue to voters. Rauner sees steps in right direction despite lack of budget As a first-time candidate running for Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner vowed to shake up Spr The Independent Map Amendment needs 290,216 valid petition signatures to get on the November ballot. At the end of 2015, supporters had gathered more than 483,000 of the 600,000 signatures they hope to collect by the early May deadline. People want to be able to have fair elections, and they want to have choices when they go to the polls, Bray said. They dont want to have the politicians deciding who gets elected. Currently, the Legislature redraws boundaries after each census, which critics say allows the majority party to carve up the state to its own political benefit. Because Democrats were in power after the 2010 census, the current map was drawn in their favor. The process protects incumbents and discourages people from running for office, Bray said. In 2014, for example, 60 percent of House and Senate races were uncontested. If you like the status quo in Illinois and the way things are going in the General Assembly and you like your choices when you go to the polls, you should oppose this, Bray said. Sanders' campaign says it has required delegates in Illinois SPRINGFIELD Bernie Sanders presidential campaign on Wednesday announced a full slate of d While the group has the backing of some Rauner supporters, such as billionaire Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto, who state records show donated $100,000 to the effort and more than $200,000 to the governors campaign, its backers also include prominent Democrats, such as William Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon. State Rep. Mike Smiddy of Hillsdale is one of several sitting Democratic legislators supporting the effort. Another supporter is Republican state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield, who represents a safe GOP district and is currently unopposed in the November election. Its great for me; I dont have a problem with that, obviously, Butler said. But I think for the people of Illinois, its bad when we dont have competitive districts. A similar proposal in 2010 didnt make it to the ballot because supporters didnt gather enough signatures. A circuit court judge removed a 2014 proposal from the ballot, ruling that it went beyond the scope allowed for a voter-driven amendment. Bray said Independent Maps learned from the previous attempts and is confident that this amendment will pass muster with the (Illinois) Supreme Court. VIENNA A Vienna Pre-K teacher returned to work Tuesday after nearly a month-long investigation into whether a student accidentally viewed inappropriate material on a school-owned iPad, the district superintendent confirmed. The investigation and the situation is closed, Superintendent Greg Frehner said when reached Tuesday. Jessica Bynums return to the Vienna Grade School comes more than a month after Frehner issued a Dec. 3 letter to parents about the alleged incident. According to Bynums husband, Matt, and one of Bynums attorneys, no inappropriate materials were found on two iPads that were taken from the teachers classroom. Alleged Pre-K incident with iPad under investigation VIENNA In response to a parent inquiry, Vienna Grade School Superintendent Greg Frehner wo Bynums attorney, Anna-based Allen James, said notice of the finding came through the Illinois Education Association as reported to the union by Frehner. James is representing Bynum in a possible defamation case stemming from the allegation. Union attorneys, who could not be reached Tuesday, have represented Bynum in the case involving her employment. Frehner would not comment on the investigation except to say that it was closed, nor would he comment on a remedial warning letter issued to Bynum except to say it addressed corrective actions. Im speaking in generalities in that regard, Frehner said. The letter was given to Bynum upon her return to work after Vienna Grade School Board members voted Monday night to issue it, the superintendent said. James has yet to see the warning letter but said Bynum told him it did not address inappropriate materials on the iPads. His understanding, he said, is the corrective measures addressed a lack of filters on the iPads to prevent pop-up screens and that there was no immediate notification to the principal and superintendent. James said no decision on whether to file a defamation claim against another employee who allegedly made false, public comments on the matter has been made. He and the Bynums are waiting to see what if any discipline is taken at the education administrative level before deciding on a lawsuit. They have a year to file a complaint, James said. The allegation involved a Pre-K student who told another student about a picture of a womans genital on an iPad. The second student then apparently informed a teachers aide, who then reportedly turned the iPad over to Bynum, who was the Pre-K coordinator, James said. At one point, an allegation was made that the photo was of Bynum, he said. There was nothing there. It was all blown out of proportion, James said. It appears there is another employee in the district that wants to cause problems that made additional statements that have now proved to be untrue. He declined to identify the employee. Matt Bynum said his wife has been on paid administrative leave during the investigation into the iPads. The tenured teacher has worked for the school for six years. Shes not doing well. Understandably, she is upset. She has had trouble sleeping at night. She feels like God made her to teach and we just never dreamed we would be treated this way, he said. Matt Bynum also addressed what role the Johnson County Sheriffs Office has played, contrary to previous reports that the case involved a criminal investigation. He talked with Sheriff Charles Harner on Tuesday and was told the Sheriffs Office only sent the iPads to an Illinois State Police forensics laboratory on behalf of the school district. Harner confirmed Matt Bynums statement and said the iPads were returned to the district less than two weeks ago. One of the joys of January is watching the president of the United States and the governor of Illinois issue their versions of the state of things. As these annual spectacles approach, we are reminded of how difficult it is to put lipstick on a pig. While that barnyard analogy might seem a bit harsh, no one can deny theres trouble down at the proverbial farm in Springfield and Washington. President Barack Obama last night gave his final State of the Union address. As The Associated Press pointed out, it was far more optimistic than how most Americans see things. According to a recent Rasmussen survey, less than 30 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction. It is imperative for Obama to turn that perception around, not for the sake of his presidency, but for his successors. This speech was not about legislation, about goading a gridlocked Congress into action. He didnt deliver a list of proposals that would be ignored for the rest of the year. This speech was about framing the debate for the campaign. And he wants that debate to be about his agenda, about national health care, immigration reform, gun violence, the Pacific trade agreement, climate change. While Obama hasnt endorsed either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and we feel safe to exclude from this discussion any talk of Martin OMalley its a safe bet that he favors his secretary of state, who is more simpatico with his approach to those issues. We can read between the lines of this speech and see where he might be feathering the nest for her in the White House. That said, it isnt easy to give a boost to anyones campaign while your approval rating is at 46 percent. And perhaps Clinton and the Democrat leadership are thankful there is no direct endorsement from Obama. Not yet, anyway. Theres little doubt that the presidents approval rating would be much higher had he accomplished more, had he not faced such a hostile Congress for the past five years. We believe gridlock is the reason so few people believe the nation is heading in the right direction. Congress bears as much responsibility as the president. The situation in Washington is oddly mirrored in Springfield, where a Republican chief executive faces a Democratic Legislature that, while not overtly hostile, is clearly obstinate and entrenched. Gridlock plays no party favoritism. Governor Bruce Rauner, on the occasion of his first year in office, blamed a recalcitrant Legislature for everything thats wrong with the state. We havent had a budget in seven months because the Democrats didnt pass a balanced spending plan, he says. The Democrats, falling in behind House Speaker Michael Madigan, respond that Rauner needs to make the hard choices and use his amendatory veto power to balance the budget. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When these two forces meet at the negotiation table, they place immoveable objects on the table. You cant have compromise when both parties have so many non-negotiables. This isnt state government. Its dysfunction. Some critics think the Democrats might be overplaying their hand. By stonewalling the governor, theyre clinging to the status quo, which is what got us into trouble in the first place. There is some truth to that. But its also true that the governor needs to cut the rhetoric and bend more to the political realities in Springfield if he wants to get something, anything, done. He sounds like hes still on the campaign trail, not trying to run the executive branch of state government. The campaign is over, and we need to be about governing, David Yepsen, the director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, told Statehouse reporter Dan Petrella. Yepsen said Rauner might use his State of the State address later this month to reset his agenda to more realistic terms. Wouldnt that be nice? Dont hold your breath. Still, thinking about that pig, it will be interesting to see what color lipstick Rauner pulls out on Jan. 27. Obamas speech last night was about the campaign, not governance. In two weeks, Rauners speech must be precisely the opposite. Two churches and a church-affiliated facility were added to the list of churches burglarized in Orangeburg County this weekend. Ebenezer Baptist Church in Cordova, Willow Swamp Baptist Church in Norway and the Orangeburg-Calhoun Baptist Association offices in Orangeburg were all targeted by thieves in a 15-hour period beginning Sunday morning at 11 a.m. and lasting through Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said the department is conducting a very aggressive investigation into the church burglarizes. Six churches in the Cope area were previously reported burglarized. Officials didnt notice any items stolen in those incidents, but the buildings were damaged. Items were stolen in the latest incidents. The Orangeburg-Calhoun Baptist Association reported a MacBook computer and some receipts were stolen from its St. Matthews Road offices. The burglar caused about $300 worth of damage. The computer was valued at $1,000. In Norway, someone broke into several parts of the Willow Swamp Baptist Church. The only thing that was stolen was an empty deposit bag, the incident report states. At Ebenezer Baptist Church, the burglar broke into the church's office by breaking a window on the front door. A 15-inch laptop computer, valued at $1,000, was stolen. Investigators are working to determine if the rash of church break-ins are related. Investigators are asking anyone with information on the crimes to contact the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office at 803-534-3550 or CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-888-CRIME-SC. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. To see our child's killer brought to justice and face Federal terrorism charges in a Washington DC court, two things need to happen. One: The US has to explain to Jordan the imperative of the Hashemite Kingdom complying with its legal obligations under the 1995 Jordan/US Extradition Treaty whose validity Jordan has disingenuously denied since March 2017. Two: Jordan must arrest Ahlam Tamimi who has lived free in Jordan's capital since 2011 and hand her to US law enforcement officials who will put her on a flight to the US. Azerbaijan plans to increase exports of agriculture products by entering the traditional markets with a larger volume and supplying the products to new markets. Besides oil and gas, the country eyes to export agricultural products to the world markets in the future. President Ilham Aliyev has set improving the export capacity of the agrarian sector as one of the main priorities for Azerbaijan. The South Caucasus nation, with an access to the traditional markets, intends to look for new markets for its high-quality agricultural products which enjoy popularity and are in demand in neighboring countries. In his conclusion speech at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in 2015 and objectives for the future President Aliyev called Russia the main market for Azerbaijani agricultural products. "There is a greater demand for Azerbaijani products in Russia today. Azerbaijan must ensure this demand and enter the Russian market with a greater production volume," he said on January 10. Azerbaijan's northern neighbor Russia is seen as a good market for increasing the export of agricultural products since this country is considered a bridge to enter the Eastern Europe's markets. Also, western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis in late 2014 opened up the huge market for the sale of Azerbaijani products. In this regard, Russian market has a huge demand in Azerbaijan's agrarian products. Besides Russia, Kazakhstan has a demand in food products of Azerbaijan. President Aliyev noted that Kazakhstan has built a modern logistics center and Azerbaijan will start exporting its food products to Kazakhstan in the near future. Azerbaijan is interested in establishing green corridors with neighboring countries to remove restrictions on trade. One of such countries is Kazakhstan. The establishment of a green corridor between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will allow Azerbaijan to export agrarian product to the Kazakh market in huge volumes. The Middle East countries are interested in Azerbaijani products as well. "This issue is discussed during the visits, and Azerbaijan must enter these markets too, because the countrys qualitative products are of great interest," President Aliyev said. Azerbaijan is keen to diversify the national economy and reduce its dependence on petrodollars. This is seen at the safest way to minimize the impact of the ongoing economic crisis to the nation. The most important component of the government strategy on diversification of the Azerbaijani economy is designated to optimizing the structure of non-oil exports, in particular, by increasing the volume and range of agricultural products, and improving its competitiveness on foreign markets. Azerbaijan's agricultural sector plays an important role in providing the 9.6-million population's food security in a best way and increasing the country's export potential. Thus, one could expect that this year and in coming years agriculture will become one of the main sectors with export-oriented products which will bring huge revenues to Azerbaijan's state budget. /By AzerNews/ By Nigar Orujova The government of Azerbaijan is switching to a strict regime of saving in the next 4 years, introducing a number of changes to the budget forecast for 2016. This move is linked with decreasing oil prices on the world markets and switching to the new exchange rate policy of the national currency, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said at a Cabinet of Ministers meeting on January 10. These changes need to pursue such goals as compliance of the income of the consolidated and state budgets to the new conditions, increasing the efficiency of budgetary expenditures, continuing the policy of the compactness of the budget carried out in recent years, keeping the foreign currency reserves, giving the extra incentive to the development of the non-oil sector and entrepreneurship, said the minister. He went on to add that measures are expected to neutralize the possible negative effects of increasing prices for essential commodities on vulnerable populations. Moreover, given the volume of investments in the country and abroad, there must be addressed issues such as preparation of a balanced income and expenditure budget, which will provide a strict regime of saving in 2016 and the next three years, strengthening of the financial discipline and order for economical use of public resources, prevention of waste and unnecessary costs, as well as improvement of the state management system, implementation of reforms in the management of companies, giving an additional boost to the process of privatization of state property, Sharifov said. The minister assured to make every effort to mitigate the negative effects of the global economic challenges on the countrys economy. Despite the vulnerable global economic situation, non-oil revenues of the state budget of Azerbaijan performed at 103 percent in 2015. Last year, the state budget revenues from non-oil sector amounted to 6.95 billion manats ($4.4 billion), which by three percent exceeded the forecast figure and is by 9.5 percent more than in the same period in 2014, Sharifov said. During the reporting period, the total revenue of the state budget is 2.3 billion manats ($1.5 billion) -- or 11.6 percent -- less than the planned volume. The main reason for the decrease in revenues is the reduction in volume of transfers of the State Oil Fund due to the sharp decline in oil prices on the world markets. Therefore it was decided to save foreign exchange reserves of the Oil Fund, the minister explained. The minister said that in 2015, spending on education amounted to 1.605 billion manats ($1.02 billion), which is 3.3 percent more compared to the previous year. Spending on health care in the reporting year amounted to 708 million manats ($451 million) which record a 6.4 percent growth compared to 2014. Expenditures on social protection and social security amounted to 1.857 billion manats ($1.2 billion). About 18 percent of budget expenditures or 2.7 percentage points more money than the year before were directed to the increase of the defense capability and security of the country, ensuring the social protection of servicemen in 2015. About 1.7 billion manats ($1.1 billion) were directed to finance major infrastructure projects through loans raised by the government, and 994 million manats ($634 million) came on this purpose from the State Oil Fund. The government has already cut budget expenditures for 2016, when adopting the state budget in October 2015. State budget expenditures, compared to 2015, fell by 22.9 percent, and compared to 2014, they declined by 13.07 percent. Budget indicators were formed taking into account an oil price of $50 per barrel and the national currency rate of 1.05 manat/$1. /By AzerNews/ By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan has become the second for the number of joint stock companies established in Turkey, being only behind Germany. The countrys businessmen established 46 joint stock companies in Turkey, thus, being second after German entrepreneurs with 84 JSCs, local media reported with reference to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. Also, Azerbaijan left behind Russia for the number of limited liability companies and was the 7th. In general, Azerbaijani citizens and companies participated in the establishment of 158 companies in Turkey's various regions in January-November 2015. This figure was 153 in the same period of 2014. The union said that the number of companies with Azerbaijani capital in Turkey is increasing in a stable temp. The volume of investments made in the newly established companies amounted to about 57 million liras ($19 million). Some 50.7 million liras ($16.9 million) of this volume accounted for Azerbaijani citizens and companies. The volume of investments of the Azerbaijani businessmen in these newly established companies increased by 30.3 percent. Roughly 507 new companies with Azerbaijani capital were founded in Turkey in 2013-2015. The volume of investment made in the formation of their capital was 143 million liras ($47.76 million) currency equivalent. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the US to apologize for trespassing its waters, an Iranian military official said. [US Secretary of State John] Kerry called Zarif requesting Iran to release the detained sailors. Zarif took a strong stance, saying that the sailors were in Irans waters. Therefore the US must apologize, Fars news agency quoted the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi as saying Jan 13. According to Fars Kerry and Zarif have hold a phone conversation following the seizure of two American boots as well as 10 sailors onboard by the IRGC. What has been said about releasing the US Navy crew is speculation and Iran is not going to free them without proper investigation, IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif said. IRGC marine forces seized two US Navy boats January 12 and are detaining them on Iran's Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Sharif assured the US officials that the captives will be treated kindly, but also dismissed any leniency when it comes to national concerns, Fars news agency reported January 13. Ten US sailors aboard the small riverine vessels were on a training mission when one of the boats may have experienced mechanical failure and drifted into Iranian waters, US officials claimed. Pointing out that the crew were found in possession of light and semi-heavy arms, Sharif said if they are proven to have been driven to Iranian waters unwillingly, they will be released, but if proven to have come with intentions of espionage, they will be treated "properly". Earlier reports said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had assured US Secretary of State John Kerry that the crew would be released promptly. /By Trend/ Majlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan has ratified an agreement with the government of Finland for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income during the regular meeting, the Turkmen government said Jan.13. Turkmenistan believes that namely innovations ensured Finland's competitiveness at international level. The message of the State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan said that the experience of Finland, which shows the highest results among the states, where international studies to assess the quality of students achievements were held, was studied during transition of Turkmen secondary schools to twelve-year education system. /By Trend/ /By AzerNews/ By Sara Rajabova Tehran has reportedly released ten American sailors, who had drifted into the countrys territorial waters and were arrested following this incident. The sailors have been released after the U.S. apologized for the incident, Iranian media reported. The IRGC earlier said it seized two U.S. navy boats with 10 sailors onboard on January 12. The IRGC Navy said in a statement released on January 13 that the U.S. navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf illegally. Releasing the photos of the American sailors, the IRGS said its boats escorted the U.S. vessels to international waters to release them there. The United States also confirmed the release of the sailors. An identified U.S. official confirmed to the CNN that the marines had been released and had now boarded the U.S. missile cruiser USS Anzio. The IRGC freed the US Navy sailors after it became clear that the American boats entered Irans territorial waters unintentionally. It added that the U.S. sailors apologized and pledged to not make mistakes again. IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said after the incident that that the U.S. navy boats entered the Iranian territorial waters due to technical problems, adding the incident occurred due to failure of the navigation systems. A senior U.S. defense official said the United States had lost contact with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain, Reuters reported. Another U.S. official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has contacted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the issue right after the arrest of sailors. Zarif reportedly had assured his U.S. counterpart that the crew would be released promptly. There are eight factors that hamper the export of goods from Iran to Russia, Deputy Chairman of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber Qadir Ghiafeh said. Speaking at a conference on Iran-Russia trade obstacles, he said the major problem is high tariffs charged by Russia, Fars news agency reported January 12. Among other problems he named lack of insurance for market risks as well as transportation infrastructure. Lack of export strategy both with enterprises and the government is another problem, he said. Iran has problems with marketing in Russia as well, Ghiafeh stated, adding prices of Iranian-made goods cannot compete in the Russian market. He concluded that there is a high wall of mistrust between Iranian and Russian tradesmen which hampers bilateral trade as well. Russias annual import is close to $300 billion. Iran shares less than one percent of it. Iran exported $151 million worth of products to Russia between March and October last year. About $80 million of the amount fell to the share of agricultural products. In other words, agricultural products account for more than half of the value of exports from Iran to Russia. On the same day, CEO of Iran Trade Development Bank Ali Salehabadi said the bank has opened a line of credit worth 20 million for exports to Russia. We are in talks to turn the line into 300 million, he stated. /By Trend/ Welcome to Trading for a Living, a technical analysis blog on stocks listed in Singapore Stock Exchange(SGX). Objective of this blog is to share ideas in trading stocks. Please note postings in this blog are based on my personal opinions which are neither investment advice nor inducements to trade. The blog owner does not accept any claim for any loss incurred by any reader acting on these postings. You are encouraged to seek professional advice when in doubt. Good Luck and Happy Trading! Sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has appointed Sherwood Dodge as its global head of private equities effective immediately, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Dodge will shape the fund's strategy in private equity, oversee the department and make investment recommendations to ADIA's investment committee. He reports to Hamad Al Dhaheri, executive director of ADIA's private equities department. Dodge spent 25 years with GE and was previously deputy chief executive officer of Hyundai Capital Services and Hyundai Card, joint ventures between GE and the South Korean car maker.-Reuters The Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex Company (ISOICO) has signed a contract with Russian shipyard Krasnye Barrikady (Red Barricades) for oil rig construction and technology transfer, a report said. We are ready to provide ISOICO with the necessary equipment thanks to financial and insurance support of the Russian government, Alexander Ilyichev, Krasnye Barrikady CEO, was quoted as saying by Iran Business News. Under the agreement, the two sides will jointly build rigs for exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Persian Gulf, the report said. The construction cycle is planned not for one year, but for decades, Ilyichev said, highlighting that Iran had also expressed interest in buying new oil tankers for operation in the Caspian Sea. Dana Gas, the Middle East's leading publicly listed natural gas company, has announced some key senior management appointments. Chris Hearne has been appointed as the chief financial officer. Prior to joining Dana Gas, Hearne was with Serica Energy, an international oil exploration and production company listed on the AIM market in London, where he served as chief financial officer and director from 2005. Hearne has over 20 years experience within the oil industry having been CFO and senior vice president of Erin Energy, a NYSE listed company with oil assets across Africa, and with Intrepid Energy North Sea Limited. Hearne was originally an investment banker and has wide experience of corporate finance transactions, including capital markets and M&A, with 10 years with Lehman Brothers International and Robert Fleming & Co. The company also appointed Iman Hill as the technical director in September 2015. Hill additionally holds the positions of general manager for the UAE and Egypt and is currently responsible for delivering the Zora Gas Field project and the GPEA drilling program in both countries, respectively. Prior to joining Dana Gas, Hill held the position of vice president, development and production Africa for Sasol E&P International. She has 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry across numerous geographies, including the Mena region, Africa, Latin America and the Far East. She has worked as managing director and chairwoman of Shell Egypt, and senior vice president for Brazil with BG Group. She has previously served as a non-executive board director of Outokumpu, Europes largest steel company. Hill is a Petroleum Engineer and is a fluent Arabic speaker. Separately, Duncan Maclean has been appointed to the position of legal and commercial director of the company. Maclean joined the company in March 2014 as the commercial and business development director. Previously, Maclean was a partner with the global law firm of Squire Patten Boggs based in Perth, Australia, and was the co-chair of the firms global energy and resources group. He has over 20 years extensive experience of practicing international energy law. - TradeArabia News Service Middle East carriers witnessed international passenger demand jump 9.8 per cent in November, a report said, adding that while capacity rose 11.5 per cent, it caused load factor to dip 1.0 percentage point to 69.4 per cent. According to global passenger traffic results for October announced by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), business conditions across the non-oil producing private sectors of the UAE and Saudi Arabia appear to be strengthening, and this should help sustain solid expansion in air passenger demand for local carriers. African airlines experienced their fifth consecutive month of positive traffic growth in November, posting a 12.2 per cent rise compared to November 2014. However, the trend for the year-to-date so far remains weak, with growth of just 1.3 per cent, reflecting adverse economic developments in parts of the continent, including in Nigeria, which is highly reliant on oil revenues. Over the past few months, exports from Africa have held up better than they did earlier in 2015, and this could be helping boost international air travel on the regions carriers. Capacity rose 9.8 per cent and load factor rose 1.5 percentage points to 65.1 per cent, the report said. November international passenger demand rose 5.6 per cent compared to November 2014, with airlines in all regions recording growth. Total capacity climbed 4.1 per cent, and load factor edged up 1.1 percentage points to 76.2 per cent. Total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 5.9 per cent compared to the year-ago period. Although below the October rate of 7.1 per cent, this largely was owing to the impact of factors that are expected to be short-lived, including the cessation of operations by Transaero, Russias second largest carrier, and labour strikes at Lufthansa. The healthy demand continued despite some softening in economic growth, in large part owing to falling fares. Data for the first 10 months of the year show a 5 per cent decline in average fares in currency-adjusted terms. November capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 4.2 per cent, and load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 78.0 per cent. Consumers continue to benefit from lower fares, which are spurring demand. The economy benefits from the stimulus to consumer spending. And airlines are starting to achieve minimum acceptable profit levels. Its good news all around, but as we open 2016, economic risks are mounting, said Tony Tyler, IATAs Director General and CEO. Domestic Passenger Markets Domestic travel demand rose 6.4 per cent in November compared to November 2014 but results were mixed, with Brazil, Russia and Japan all showing declines. Domestic capacity climbed 4.4 per cent, and load factor improved 1.6 percentage points to 81.1 per cent. Indias strong results reflect notable increases in service frequencies, ongoing economic strength and the timing of the Diwali holiday, which occurred in October in 2014. Air travel in Japan declined but measures of manufacturing activity improved strongly during the month, which should support rising passenger demand. The airline industry is delivering solid financial and operational performance. The industrys return on capital for 2015 and 2016 is expected to exceed its cost of capitala very rare occurrence. This means we are on the path toward financial sustainability. Consumers are benefitting from lower fares, and airlines are able to invest in new aircraft that are more comfortable, quieter and more environmentally friendly. Passenger demand remains strong; however, the ongoing turmoil in the global financial markets and concerns over slowing economic growth in China are casting a shadow over the New Year. 2016 will be a historic year for aviation as States come together at the 39th International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly to discussand I hope agreea market-based-measure that will allow airlines to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020, said Tyler. TradeArabia News Service A Letter of Bishop Fellay to Cardinal Castrillon Menzingen, Switzerland June 22, 2001 Most Eminent Lord, It is with my eyes fixed on the Sacred Heart, whose feast we celebrate today according to his own desire, that I implore, of His mercy, that it might deign to impregnate the lines that follow with His light and His charity. The Jesuit, Bishop Pierre Henrici, at the time secretary of Communio, said in a conference on the development of the Council that at Vatican II two theological traditions, that are deep down incomprehensible to one another, entered into collision. Your letter of May 7 caused me similar sentiments of incomprehension and of disappointment. We have the impression that you are trying to force us to make a choice: either we are to enter into full communion, and then we must be silent concerning the great evils that afflict the Church, that is in the absence of a golden cage, we must accept a muzzle; or we are to stay "outside". We refuse to be forced to chose between each of these alternatives. On the one hand, we have never left the Church. On the other hand, our present situation that is, without a doubt, uncomfortable, is not the effect of any culpable action on our part, but the consequence of a disastrous situation in the Church, against which we have striven, as far as we could, to protect ourselves. The various decisions made by Archbishop Lefebvre were dictated by the determination to not lose the Catholic Faith and to survive in the midst of a universal rout that involves even Rome. We call this a "state of necessity". If we desire to advance beyond the deadlock to which your letter leads, we must change rather profoundly the perspectives, the questions to be asked. In effect, for Your Eminence: We have broken communion. The reasons that we give to justify our actions, and in particular the episcopal consecrations, are entirely insufficient. For since the Church is holy and the Magisterium is always assisted by the Holy Ghost, the deficiencies that we complain about either do not exist or are simply limited abuses. Our problem comes from the fact that our vision of the Churchs history and crises is much too fixed and limited, preventing us from understanding the homogenous evolution brought about by the Council and the subsequent Magisterium, necessitated by different adaptations to todays world. Rome has been exceedingly generous in offering us the structure that was proposed to us. It would be abusive for us to ask for more, and even perhaps injurious towards the Holy See in these circumstances in which Rome took the initiative. No preliminary can be granted, and especially not the Mass, for it would cause trouble in the Church. It seems to me possible to affirm, from our point of view, that, following Popes Pius XII and Paul VI, the Church is presently in a literally apocalyptic condition. It cannot be denied that the dysfunction of the Catholic hierarchy Cardinal Seper said "the crisis of the Church is a crisis of bishops" omissions, silences, deceptions, tolerance of errors, and even of positively destructive acts even in the Curia, and unfortunately even in the Vicar of Christ. These are public facts that can be seen by ordinary men. The affirmation of the existence of these facts is not in contradiction with the Faith in the holiness of the Church, nor in the assistance of the Holy Ghost. But here we draw near to the mystery of the Church, of the joining together and coordination of the divine and human elements in the Mystical Body. In order to remain with the truth of the reality we must hold just as much to the affirmations of Faith as to the acknowledgement of the facts. The First Vatican Council, in the affirmation of the infallibility of the Sovereign Pontiff, explicitly gave the limits to the assistance of the Holy Ghost: "The Holy Ghost was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might disclose new doctrine, but that by His help they might guard sacredly the revelation transmitted through the apostles and the deposit of Faith, and might faithfully set it forth." (Db 1836 in The Sources of Catholic Dogma, p. 456). Obviously, we adhere with our whole heart to the paragraphs of Pastor Aeternus [Vatican I Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ; Ed.] that follow, as well as to Dei filius [Vatican I Dogmatic Constitution concerning the Catholic Faith; Ed.]. But it is precisely here that we draw closest to the heart of the present mystery. For it is in this regard that can be found the novelties of the new theology, that were condemned by the Church under Pius XII, and that were introduced into Vatican II. How can we explain that the Councils great names, its expert theologians, were all sanctioned under Pius XII? De Lubac, Congar, Rahner, Courtney-Murray, Dom Beaudoin (who died just before the Council), and to go back a little further Blondel, Teilhard de Chardin... They would have us believe today that these novelties are but a development in conformity with the past. They were already condemned, at least in their principles. Cardinal Ratzinger himself called Gaudium et spes a counter-Syllabus. (Theologishce Prinzipienlehre, p. 398, Erich Wewel Verlag, Muchen, 1982). We have therefore necessarily to make a choice. To make these doctrines acceptable, it is not enough that they were afterwards approved by a Council that chose not to be dogmatic. The seal of a vote does not transform an error into infallible truth. In fact we have only to read Msgr. Felicis response to the Council on the question of its own infallibility (Notification of November 16, 1964, DH 4350 4351). Furthermore, the problem of the Council is not primarily one of individual interpretations. It comes as well from its lack of precision in the use of terms, and its willful ambiguities (as one of the Councils experts said), that make several differing interpretations possible. It also comes from certain interpretations given by the Holy See itself. If one were to follow the Holy Sees own directions, one would end up with Assisi, in the synagogue or the sacred forests of Togo (Pope John Paul II, Audience of August 22, 1986: "Seeing Assisi in the light of the Council"). How does one explain in the light of the Catholic Faith this key phrase of John Paul IIs theology, that clarifies many passages that would otherwise have been incomprehensible: "man is the path of the Church" (in the light of which this passage from Gaudium et spes 22 can be understood: "For, by his incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man" Cf. Flannery, Vatican Council II, p. 953; Ed.) Likewise: "In the Holy Ghost each person and each people have become, by the cross and the resurrection of Christ, children of God, participating in the divine nature, and heirs of everlasting life" (John Paul II, Message to the peoples of Asia, February 21, 1981, DOC 1894, March 15, 1981, 281). A Magisterium that contradicts the teaching of the past (for example, between todays ecumenism and Mortalium animos) is a Magisterium that contradicts itself (See the Joint Declaration on Justification and the preceding note from Cardinal Cassidy, where is to be found the condemnation and the praise of the term "sister churches") here lies the painful problem. This crisis in the Magisterium constitutes a problem that it is practically impossible to resolve practically. How are we supposed to have the discernment necessary to distinguish between that which truly belongs to the Magisterium and that which only gives the appearance of doing so? Moreover, the nightmare concerns also the Curia and the residential bishops. Here are two very recent examples, taken from a thousand. Was Bishop Tauran faithful to the Catholic Faith when he declared in the Philippines on June 4, 2001: "It would be erroneous to consider the faithful believer of another religion as someone to be converted. He is rather someone to be understood, leaving to God the role of enlightening his conscience. Different religions ought not to enter into competition with one another, but should rather be like brothers and sisters who walk hand in hand to construct the channels of brotherhood, building up a good world in which it is possible to live and to work."? Did Cardinal Kasper express the Catholic Faith, and was he faithful to Saint John, to Saint Paul, and to Our Lord Himself, when he declared in New York: "The old theory of substitution is no longer relevant since the Second Vatican Council. For we, todays christians, the alliance with the Jewish people is a living heritageThere cannot be a simple coexistence between two testaments. Jews and christians, by their respective specific identities, are intimately bound to one another. The Church believes that Judaism, that is to say the faithful response of the Jewish people to Gods irrevocable covenant, has the effect of saving them, for God is faithful to his promises"? However, the first of these is a close collaborator of the Pope, and the second a prince of the Church, recently honored by receiving the purple Cardinals biretta, becoming an elector of the future Vicar of Christ. It is impossible to be in communion with them. They no longer have the Faith. We could quote dozens and dozens of statements of bishops that are equally shocking. What are we to do when the guardians of the Faith fail? Are we to follow them blindly? Do they not merit the same descriptions that Saint Catherine of Sienna used for certain prince of the Church of her time? Such declarations do not place us in the good graces of the Holy See. However, we have much more serious concerns. Thousands and millions of Catholic faithful are losing the Faith and damning themselves on account of Romes failures, this is our concern. "Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat catholicam fidem: nisi quisque integram inviolatamque servaverit, absque dubio in aeternum peribit. Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic Faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity." (Athanasian Creed, Ds 75; The Sources of Catholic Dogma, p. 15). A distinction must be made between Rome and Rome. This is what we strive to do. Pius XIIs words, while yet Secretary of State for Pius IX, ring loud in our ears: "Suppose, my dear friend, that communism is only the most visible of the organs of subversion against the Church and against the Tradition of divine Revelation. Then, we are going to see the invasion of everything that is spiritual: philosophy, science, law, teaching, the arts, the press, literature, the theater and religion. I am obsessed by the Virgins words, that she entrusted to the little Lucia of Fatima. Our Heavenly Mothers standing up against the danger that threatens the Church is a divine warning against the suicide that an alteration of the Faith would mean to its liturgy, its theology and its soul I hear around me those fascinated with novelties who would like to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the Churchs universal flame, reject its vestments, and make it regret its historical past. Well, my dear friend, it is my conviction that the Church of Peter must assume its past, or it will dig its tomb. the day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. It will be tempted to believe that man has become God, that His Son is only a symbol, a philosophy as so many others, and in the Churches Catholics will seek in vain for the red lamp where God wait for them." (Mgr. Roche and P. Saint Germain; Pie XII devant lhistoire, pp. 52 & 53). Paul VI said, in effect, to his friend Jean Guitton, that there is in the Church a type of thinking that is non-Catholic, and that although it is possible that it may become prevalent, it will never be the Catholic Church (Jean Guitton, Paul VI secret). Faced with this catastrophe, how are the faithful supposed to react? Is it permissible for them to react? We follow quite simply the counsel given by Saint Vincent of Lerins in his Commonitorium (N3): What will the Catholic Christian do if some part of the Church happens to separate itself from the communion of the universal Faith? What other position could he hold than to prefer the body as a whole, which is healthy, to the gangrenous and putrid member. And if some new contagion were to try to poison not only a small part of the Church, but the entire Church at the same time? Then still, his great concerns will be to attach himself to antiquity, which, quite obviously cannot be seduced by any lying novelty." These are the questions that are to be considered if we are to try and find a solution. We are but a clear sign of the terrible tragedy that the Church is presently suffering, perhaps the most terrible of all until now, for it is not just one dogma, but all dogmas that are attacked, and this from the pontifical universities themselves down to the desks of elementary schools. The liturgical problem is rather similar. The furthermore, the faithful are obliged to take it upon themselves to find an appropriate liturgy. They can no longer simply go to the parish. This is a fact that does not just affect traditional Catholics. Hence the great transformation in the Catholic world, at least in the old world. Parish life has fallen apart. The growth of ecclesial movements is due in large part to the fact that the faithful no longer find in their parishes the nourishment of which they are in need to live the life of Faith and of grace. The New Mass is not without responsibility in this phenomenon. We cannot sweep this gigantic problem under the carpet. We desire to work without our whole heart and our whole soul for the restoration of the Church. However, we cannot simply pretend that all is well, and that these are but questions of detail. We are ready to explain our Faith to Rome, but we cannot call that which is evil good, nor that which is good evil. May Your Eminence deign to excuse the length of this letter, and the generality of certain statements that ought to have been much better backed up. We are entirely willing to continue this work, if Rome desires it We desire to remain Catholic, we desire to conserve our entire Faith, without abandoning anything. This is the cause of our combat, of our sufferings, and of the opposition that we meet with. We are convinced that we cause no evil to the Church by doing this, even if appearances speak against us. May Your Eminence kindly accept the expression of our devout and religious affection in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, +Bernard Fellay Excerps from the Cardinal's Letter to Bishop Fellay - 7th May 2001 "We have carefully considered the two conditions that you[r] request for the return: the permission for all priests to be able to freely celebrate the Mass of St. Pius V and the lifting of the excommunication that hangs over you... "With respect to the first condition, a certain number of cardinals, bishops and faithful believe that such a permission ought not to be granted for such a permission could create a confusion in the minds of many people who would understand it as depreciating the value of the Holy Mass as it is celebrated in todays Church. It is certain that in the statutes of your reinsertion, you would be offered every guaranty that the Societys members, and all those who have a special attraction to this noble liturgical tradition, could celebrate it freely in your churches and places of worship. You could likewise celebrate it in other churches, with the permission of the Ordinary of the diocese. "With respect to the second condition; the Holy Father has the clear intention of granting it at the time that your return is formalized." Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village See the World for Free The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it. But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival. After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood. It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip! You have a standing reservation to see it all! In four years, Ashlyn Daniels plans to be standing in the stiff white dress uniform of the U.S. Navy, the sun glittering on the surface of the Chesapeake Bay, as she and hundreds of other midshipmen toss their hats into the air. If all goes according to plan, shell see foreign shores, feel the desert heat and speak in languages that twist the tongue. Daniels, a senior at Kelly Walsh High School in Casper, has applied to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The prestigious college prepares students to be officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. Aside from a rigorous application process, acceptance requires an endorsement from a U.S. senator or representative. On Thursday, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso announced he would nominate Daniels, describing her as hardworking and highly motivated. Attending a U.S. service academy is all about responsibility, leadership and academic excellence, he said in a press release. Its an honor to nominate her, and I am confident that if she is offered an appointment, she will represent Wyoming well. Each member of Congress can have five students representing their state in the academy at a time. U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi and Rep. Cynthia Lummis also nominated Daniels for the school, with Enzi praising the nominees patriotism and service. From multiple workout sessions each week to intensive interviews with a retired U.S. Marine Corps general and an Air Force colonel, Daniels last year of high school has included more than the average seniors routine. I make the jokes sometimes with my friends going to UW; its kind of like a trap. You go to school here, and you never leave, she said. I think its cool to live other places for a while. The academy attracts the best and brightest students from around the country. Being a member of that crowd would be intimidating, she admits. There are some kids I know that go there that are some of the smartest kids in the United States, Daniels said. The 18-year-old plans to join the Marines, and eventually the FBI. Those goals were a difficult sell for her family because of the risk factor of being in the military and likelihood that she will be away from Wyoming for long periods of time. But, her plan to enter the Naval Academy eased some of their hesitancy, Daniels said. It would put her in a higher position than the enlisted men and women. The road to the academy began two years ago. Daniels was sitting at a friends house, when her friends father, a retired Marine, told her the Navy is great starting point for the FBI or CIA. She spoke to some recruiters, and had long conversations with her boss, another retired Marine. Then, she started paying attention to her choices at school, attending the more rigorous Advanced Placement and honors classes at Kelly Walsh. She started working out multiple times a week. Since making her decision, Daniels has focused on preparing her body and her mind for the road ahead. I never quit, Daniels said. When I start something, Im going to finish it. She wants to be one of the few women who make it at the Academy, where there is an overwhelmingly male culture. I know that there are a lot of females that dont find that work interesting. That is kind of my motivation, to do something that no one else wants to do, she said. She wants to join the Marine Corps for similar reasons. Its an opportunity to be part of an elite group. They talk about (the Marines) as the tip of the spear, the first fighting force, Daniels said. I guess doing something that different is exciting. Daniels expects a decision from the academy in the next month or two. The congressional support has given her confidence that shell get a placement. But, its still just a piece in her long-term goals. I want to experience different things, she said. Get out of the cold maybe, thatd be nice. About Me Terp Guy 42 At Large World Wide Baltimore, Maryland, United States A life-long practicing Missouri-Synod Lutheran; belligerently pro-Catholic; an idealist who greatly admired President Kennedy, but not a leftist. Embarrassed & angry at Ultra Leftists whove taken over Democratic Party, nationally and here in Maryland. The Democrats I admire are never anti-American; are never congenital liars; they do insist on fidelity to Constitutional Rights like free speech, a free press, due process and equal rights. Leftists loathe all such values. I see noble greatness in Mencken, Giorgione, each and every one of the great Apostles, Tacitus, John F. Kennedy, Pope John Paul, Martin Luther King, Jr., Wilberforce, St. Francis, Luther, Mandela, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, F. D. Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan, Churchill, Milton, Shakespeare. Devoted totally to Debora, Jennifer, Edward, Allison, my parents and, now, L'il John and L'il Cannon. Blindly devoted to my alma mater, the University of Maryland, Admire, greatly, the great Libraries. In awe of Cellists Feuermann, Klengel and Markevitch, Poets Tennyson, Pope, Gray, Baudelaire, Brooke and Thomas, and Writers (too many to list). Devoted to the Orioles, Ravens, intrepid Burnley, and my Terrapins. View my complete profile This blog represents my personal views and is not reflective of the views or opinions held by any company, contractor, client or employer I work for currently or have worked for in the past. These views are not an endorsement to take any action in the markets or of any political position, figures or parties. The city will hold a series of public meetings this month about a proposal to require all private employers to offer paid time off to employees within the city limits. Under the proposal, brought by Councilmember Regina Romero: Businesses would be required to give workers one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employees could begin to use earned sick time after 90 days of employment and could use up to 40 hours a year at a small business one with fewer than 10 employees or up to 56 hours per year at a larger businesses. Businesses would not be allowed to require workers to find someone to cover their shifts while using sick time. Complaints would be filed with the citys Office of Equal Opportunity Programs. Employers who dont follow the rules could be fined. The Tucson Metro Chamber opposed the proposal. This ordinance is ill-conceived and will in turn hurt those it aims to help, the board of directors said in a press release. Other groups opposed include industry associations for restaurants and retailers. Supporters include womens associations and labor unions. The public meetings are planned for: 6-7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Ward 5 Office, 4300 S. Park Ave. 6-7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Ward 6 Office, 3202 E. First St. 6-7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Ward 2 Office, 7575 E. Speedway After more than 40 years in operation, Tucson-based Golden Eagle Distributors will be sold to a Phoenix operation this spring. The sale to Hensley Beverage Co., owned by Cindy Hensley McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, is expected to be finalized in March. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Founded in 1974 by the late Bill Clements, Golden Eagle has branches in Buckeye, Casa Grande, Flagstaff, Show Low and Tempe. Ginny Clements said she and her late husband were close to the Hensley family and thats why she and her team approached them when they decided to sell the business. We felt Hensley is a highly respected organization and cares a lot about their employees and the communities that they serve, like we do, she said. It was a natural choice. Golden Eagle has 430 employees and Clements said she hopes they will all be absorbed by Hensley. This, of course, is something that is entirely up to their management team, she said. We will certainly advocate for just that. We have been successful because of our wonderful employees and thank them for their loyalty. A Hensley spokesman said the company is conducting our due diligence regarding this transaction. Out goal is to develop a model that will, in the most efficient manner, provide the finest level of service to our customers, said Douglas Yonko, vice president of communications. It would be premature at this juncture to speculate on what that ultimate model will look like given that we have just begun the fact-gathering stage concerning out expanded market. Hensleys takeover of Golden Eagle will make it one of the largest beverage distributors in the country. It is the largest in Arizona. Golden Eagle is a fine organization with deep Arizona roots that go back generations, Hensleys president and CEO Robert Delgado said in a prepared statement. This is the kind of opportunity that does not come along often. The 60-year-old Hensley will rebrand Golden Eagle properties, said Andy McCain, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Hensley brands include Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Goose Island and imports such as Stella Artois and non-alcoholic beverages. It was founded in 1955 by the late James W. Hensley and currently employs more than 800 workers. Take a selfie with Poe Local artist Joe Pagac has painted a mural featuring Edgar Allan Poe in the UA Poetry Centers Childrens Area. Pagac, who has was recently nominated for a 2015 Lumie Award for Best Artist by the Tucson Pima Arts Council, painted Poe with a black cat on his shoulder in honor of Poes beloved cat, who sometimes sat on his shoulder while he wrote. The Poetry Center and Big Read Connects Tucson invite you to come by and take a picture of yourself in front of the mural. For the duration of this installation, come and take a selfie and post it to your favorite social media platform using the hashtag #HeadToPoe. 90, of Tucson, went to be with her Lord and Savior on January 6, 2016. She was preceded in death by her parents, Herman and Caroline Oberfeld, her beloved husband, Clarence "Chick" Hawkins, son, Bruce Hawkins, brother, Lester Oberfeld and sister, Gertrude Royce. LaVerne is survived by children, Jerry (Paula), Julie (Mike Feerick), Brian (Grace), Trucynda; her grandchildren, Eric (Shelly), Sarah (Rob Keough), Amy, Chris (Brianne), Ryan (Anastasia), Tiffanie, Bryent, Michael and Nick, and great-grandchildren, Hailey and Jackson Keough. She is also survived by her nieces, Janice (Bud Doolen), Ann Butler and nephew, Gene (Susan) Royce. LaVerne also leaves behind special family friend, Jim Eppler. LaVerne was born at the Stork's Nest maternity home in 1925 and grew up on Alameda Street in the Menlo Park neighborhood. Her father was employed by Southern Pacific Railroad and LaVerne enjoyed a significant amount of her childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico. She graduated from Tucson High School and the University of Arizona. After graduation, LaVerne worked at the Downtown YMCA where she met her future husband, Chick Hawkins. They married on August 26, 1948. LaVerne taught Spanish at Blenman Elementary and later worked with bilingual children at TUSD. She taught second grade at Tully Elementary. LaVerne was also cook, nurse and "mom" to thousands of children at the Triangle Y Ranch camp alongside her husband, Chick, the camp's director. An avid U of A Wildcat fan, LaVerne always wore her red school shirt on game days. She was inducted into the YMCA's Hall of Fame when the organization celebrated its 100 years of service. LaVerne's parents were founding members of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, where she was baptized, confirmed and married. The three most important things to LaVerne were her faith, her family and the University of Arizona Wildcats. The entire family wishes to extend their gratitude on behalf of LaVerne to the staff of Cascades of Tucson and more recently, the staff at the Villas on Houghton for the kindness, love and care she received there. The family would also like to recognize the caring staff at Casa de la Luz Hospice for helping to navigate this difficult journey. Donations may be made in Laverne's name to: DEAR AMY: I am a 22-year-old woman. My father is Muslim and was born in Kuwait. My mother was Catholic and was born in the U.S. (but converted after being with my father). I was raised Muslim. Personally, I do not necessarily follow the religion, but I do have respect toward it for my parents sake. I am currently in a very serious relationship with a 21-year-old Christian American man, who is as equally nonreligious as I am. The relationship is very serious, and we have talked about marriage almost daily. Since my parents are very devoted in their faith, I have never talked to them about my relationship (or about any of my previous relationships). I would like some advice on how to approach the situation to talk to them and make them understand. Wondering DEAR WONDERING: Based on my cursory knowledge about the issue of Muslim-Christian marriages, while a Muslim man is permitted to marry a Christian woman (if she converts, as your mother did), a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a Christian man and stay in the faith. My instincts based on your letter tell me that this is going to be tough. You should start by asking your parents an open-ended question about what their expectations are of your relationships. You and your guy must think and talk realistically with each other about what your lives would be like either without your parents in it, or with them (and other family members and members of the community) pressuring you regarding this relationship. In order for you to live the life you want to live, you may have to emancipate yourself from your parents and your religion. Despite all of this, I want to encourage you to exercise your freedom to love the person you want to love, finding the strength to face your challenges together. DEATH REACHED LAST OF EARPS IN COAST HOME Famous Gun Toting Officer Of Tombstone Dies With Boots Off BRAVERY IS PRAISED Breakenridge Tells of Old Days When He knew Famous Family LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13.(AP)Wyatt Earp, gun-toting peace officer of Dodge City, Kansas and Tombstone, Ariz., frontier days, whose colorful career led him through a dozen fatal conflicts with bad men of the old west, died here today. He was 78 years old. (Morgue Ladys note: Many sources put his age at 80 or 81 when he died.) Wyatt Earp, and Virgil, Morgan and Jim, three brothers, together with Doc Holiday were principal figures in the stormy days of Cochise county, Arizona, where Tombstone is located. Their conflict with the Clanton gang of cowboys, shortly following which Morgan Earp was killed from ambush, and during which two famous gun-men died, was followed by an investigation. The Earps, led by Wyatt, then a deputy United States marshal, were exonerated on the grounds that they had acted as peace officers. Wyatt Earp gained renown when he was chosen as referee of the Tom Sharkey-Bob Fitzsimmons fight in San Francisco. Earp wore a six-shooter in the ring, and no protest was heard after his decision in favor of Sharkey was given. Famous Friends Among the friends of Earp were listed such figures as Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickock, and other famous figures of the early west. In Alaska during the gold rush Earp met Bill Hart, western motion picture hero, Wilson Misner, playwrite, and the late Tex Rickard, all of whom were close friends. Wyatt Earp had been ill for some time. He left his bed the day before Rickard died to visit Misner and to send a telegram to his sick friend in Florida. The exertion caused a relapse. Earp leaves a widow, and a niece, the daughter of Virgil Earp, who died in Oakland, Cal., several years ago. The funeral will be held Tuesday. COL. BILLY BREAKENRIDGE RECALLS EARPS BRAVERY Well, well! Wyatts dead. Thats the last of the Earps! former deputy United States marshal and two-gun man of Tombstones Helldorado days, was thusly epitomized by Colonel William Billy Breakenridge, than whom there is none than whomer as far as a reconteur of the early days of the mining camps are concerned. Found in Room Breakenridge was found in his room at the Old Pueblo club. He was in bed but had not retired. His first impulse upon learning of the death of Earp was to go to Los Angeles for the funeral, he said, but on a moments consideration decided that the trip would be too much for him at present. He only recently returned from the coast, and has for the past few days been confined somewhat by a cold. There were five of the boys, Colonel Breakenridge said, speaking of the Earp family. They were, Virgil, the city marshal; Wyatt, the deputy city marshal, and also deputy United States marshal; Morgan, the policemanall of whom lived in Tombstone; and there was Warren, who lived over in Willcox. Besides those four there was the half-brother, Jimmie, who died at that time. (Morgue Lady's note: James Earp died in 1926.) The colonel had much praise for Wyatt, and said, He made a good officer and was noted as a brave man. All the while he was in Tombstone he held office of some kind, either in the United States marshals office or with the city. Colonel Breakenridge is the author of a recent book on Tombstones true storyHelldorado. The book is probably the most accurate historically of any published about the mining camp, critics have said. In that book the colonel has much to say of the Earps, and the days when Wyatt Earp was a peace officer are there retold for the benefit of all who care to read. The colonel closed with the statement that Wyatt Earp was very loyal and true to his friends. He got into a good deal of trouble because of that loyalty. A man who was demanding Percocet at a northwest-side Walgreens was shot by a Pima County sheriff's deputy outside the store Tuesday. Deputies received reports that the man was armed, said Deputy Courtney Rodriguez, a sheriff's department spokeswoman. The suspect, in his 30s, was taken to Banner-University Medical Center Tucson and was undergoing surgery for a rifle wound, said Rodriguez. He was in critical condition. Shortly before 12:30 p.m., a 911 caller reported a robbery at the Walgreens at 7114 N. Oracle Road, near West Ina Road. Deputies arrived at the store under two minutes. The suspect was inside the Walgreens and at the time deputies did not know the type of threat he was posing so they walked into the store, Rodriguez said. Deputies learned a robber had climbed over the counter at the pharmacy and demanded Percocet. Other 911 callers reported the robber was armed. Deputies found him in the store and chased him out of the Walgreens to the northeast parking lot. Deputies gave commands for the man to stop running, said Rodriguez. At some point during the chase, Deputy Jay Korza perceived a threat and fired his rifle, striking the suspect in the lower back, said Rodriguez. Korza then gave life-saving medical treatment to the suspect. Korza, a 15-year veteran, was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting. She could not elaborate on what led to the shooting, or if a weapon from the suspect was recovered. "Detectives are questioning numerous witnesses," said Rodriguez, adding that several customers and employees were inside the store at the time of the incident. "The suspect was seen with a semi-automatic handgun at the store," Rodriguez said. No customers or deputies were injured in the incident, she said. The suspected robber of a northwest-side Walgreens was carrying a BB gun when he was shot and critically wounded by a sheriff's deputy, officials said Thursday. The wounded man was identified as Masoud Madhoush, 28. He was shot outside the Walgreens at North Oracle and West Ina roads on Tuesday. Madhoush remains in critical condition at Banner-University Medical Center. The sheriff's department said Madhoush was carrying a BB gun that resembled a Desert Eagle handgun. The department on Thursday provided a photograph of the gun officials said Madhoush was carrying. Shortly before 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, a 911 caller reported a robbery at the Walgreens. Deputies arrived at the store in under two minutes. The robber was inside the Walgreens and at the time deputies did not know the type of threat he was posing so they walked into the store, Rodriguez said. Deputies learned the robber had climbed over the counter and demanded Percocet, a painkiller that contains oxycodone. Other 911 callers reported the man was armed. Deputies chased him out of the Walgreens. Deputy Jay Korza, a 15-year veteran, fired his rifle and struck the robber in the lower back, said Rodriguez. No customers or deputies were injured in the incident, she said. A California congresswoman is using a 2005 report of sexual harassment at the University of Arizona department of astronomy to illustrate the need for more open reporting of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the sciences. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., placed the confidential report into the Congressional Record on Tuesday. In a speech, Speier called for a change in law that would require universities to disclose the results of sexual harassment investigations to other universities that are considering hiring their professors. Former UA professor Timothy Slater was charged with creating a sexually charged atmosphere among his students with persistent sexual jokes, meetings at strip clubs and invitations to nude swimming and hot-tubbing. He and current UA professor Edward Prather were found in violation of the universitys sexual harassment policy in March 2005 and required to take training in how to prevent it. Slater left the UA in 2008 to become a professor at the University of Wyoming. Chris Impey, deputy head of the department, a position he also held at the time of the investigation, said he still cant talk specifically about the case, but said severe and pervasive sexual harassment, to me, would require a more serious sanction. The report on the investigation into Slater was inadvertently released by the UA in response to a Freedom of Information request in 2010, said Chris Sigurdson, UA vice president for communications. He said the document obtained by Rep. Speier was judged to not be a public record when a request was made for its release. Somebody forgot or screwed up, he said. Controls have been tightened on that process since then, he said. Sigurdson said the university asked that copies be returned or destroyed. We were assured they had been, but apparently not. Strip clubs every month In August 2004, the UAs Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office began investigating complaints made by several individuals against Slater. The individuals did not file a formal complaint, but the department requested an investigation. None of the witnesses in the investigation were identified by name. The report quoted Witness A as saying Slater frequently told sexual jokes, made invitations to bathe in his hot tub (at house parties), and joked that bathing suits were optional. Witness A also said Slater and his (former) wife gave sex toys to guests and chocolate handcuffs to a graduate student. The witness also said Slater mentioned installing cameras at his house and inquired about the witness sex life. Slaters offensive behavior included stopping in his tracks whenever he sees a woman walk by in a short skirt, even insisting that all conversations cease so he can take in the scene, Witness B said in the report. On a regular basis, Dr. Slater has told Witness B she would teach better if she did not wear underwear, the report said. On at least one occasion he grabbed her underwear through her dress, stretched it and snapped it, and said, Youd look a whole lot better without these on, the report said. Witness B also said Slater told her to stand up, turn around half the boys in your class are going home to masturbate after watching you teach. A conversation between Slater and Witness J, another member of the department, about visiting a strip club prompted Witness E to tell them the conversation made her uncomfortable. They told her they would try to stop in the future. Still, Slater and Witness J made sexual comments in front of her, such as using a rating system to measure freshmen women, Witness E reportedly said. Slater reportedly asked Witness C if she could give some pointers to a visiting graduate student about performing oral sex and later proposed having a threesome. With regard to reports that he had given out sex toys at social events, Slater said in the report that he gave a female graduate student a pickle- or cucumber-shaped vibrator at a pre-wedding party. He did not remember giving a pair of chocolate handcuffs. Slater told the investigator he did not recall saying he planned to install cameras in his house. With regard to stopping to look at women in skirts and commenting on their appearance, he states this was common practice for him and he may have done it one-to-ten-to-a-hundred times, the report said. He denied having a rating system for women. He reportedly said he did not remember telling a female colleague that she would teach better without underwear or snapping her underwear. Slater told the investigator he is sexually overt and says things that are inappropriate, but he said he has his limits and snapping underwear or talking about oral sex went beyond those limits. Slater confirmed he and others in the department went to strip clubs every month and usually offered to buy lap dances for one another. In March 2005, the investigator concluded that Dr. Slater conducted himself in a sexual manner, that the conduct was to some both unwelcome and unsolicited, and that the conduct was pervasive. As such, Slater violated university policy by creating a hostile work environment. Long-standing problem Rep. Speier said in a phone interview Tuesday that the UA report is a reflection of much larger numbers in the scientific community generally. Its a long-standing problem and we need to address it. The American Astronomical Society, at its annual meeting in Kissimmee, Florida, this month, devoted a plenary session to the topic and awarded its Harold Masursky Award to scientist Christina Richey, who has been calling attention to the topic for years. The issue gained prominence last year after University of California, Berkeley professor Geoff Marcy stepped down after he was found in violation of the universitys sexual harassment policies. Buell Jannuzi, department head and director of Steward Observatory, said his principal concern about the release of the UA investigation was that it could make people reluctant to come forward when they are harassed. Prather was also a respondent in the case. At the time, Prather was a postdoctorate researcher employed by Slater. Prather, who is not identified in the report, was also found in violation of the sexual harassment policy, said Sigurdson. He was given corrective action, which he fulfilled in 2005 and was restored to good standing with the institution. When a faculty position opened up some years later, he applied, won it and remains in good standing, said Sigurdson. Sigurdson said he was unable to comment on Slater, who is not a university employee. Sigurdson said the universitys goal in such matters is to stop the harassment, and that goal was met. He said the documents are kept confidential to protect the witnesses and the respondents. indiscretion On his blog at the Center for Astronomy and Physics Education Research (www.caperteam.com), Slater said he was required to take sexual harassment training and management training at the UA. Slater said Tuesday he thought he had put the matter behind him after completing that training. He said his behavior was inappropriate and called it youthful indiscretion. I was a young kid (mid-30s) and all my grad students were my age. We had a pretty tight social network, Slater said. A statement on the CAPER website said Slater has made no attempt to hide his role in, or the lessons learned from these events. It says: CAPER believes that sexual harassment is a serious workplace issue, in which the employer is responsible for ensuring a safe and productive work environment. We stand opposed to the recent attempts to re-appropriate these issues in the name of a social justice war. The statement was written by Stephanie Slater, who is Timothy Slaters wife. Stephanie Slater said she suspects the UA released the report on purpose. In a speech in Tucson on Tuesday, Gov. Doug Ducey vowed to increase funding for career and technical education. The speech was largely identical to his State of the State he delivered Monday, but his address to a packed room at the Tucson Convention Center contained new language on his plans to add funding into Joint Technological Education District. A year ago, Pima County JTED Superintendent Alan Storm called proposed cuts by the state a death knell to technical education. Ducey reminded reporters that a year ago the state was facing a billion dollar deficit and that more details would be announced when he released his proposed budget on Friday. With a predicted surplus for the next budget cycle, Ducey would say only that the state would be able to change the trend line when it came to JTED funding. I know not every child plans to go to college ... their K-12 experience also needs to prepare them for life, which is why Im targeting high-need employment sectors with a new focus on career and technical education, Ducey told the audience at the Tucson Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Ive heard that there is bipartisan support for this, Ducey said. So I challenge the Legislature to get it done. Pressed for details on how the state can afford new programs while lowering taxes, Ducey noted Arizona was growing as a destination for both new businesses and residents, but he did not elaborate. Ducey also stumped for Prop. 123, saying the bipartisan, $3.5 billion plan was the only way to fix the states education system. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the trend line on education funding. The stakes are high, he said. He also dismissed any other potential solution. Gov. Doug Ducey won his office on the strength of the argument that he, a successful businessman, was the one to ignite Arizonas economy. After hearing his state of the state speech twice online Monday from Phoenix and live Tuesday in Tucson I have my doubts. Not doubts that the states economy will grow under Ducey. It has, and it will. But doubts that his single-minded focus on economic growth will yield the benefits for Arizonas way of life that he hopes they will. Take his repeated promise to continue reducing taxes. Together, we will lower taxes this year, next year and the year after, he said in the speech. My question is why, when we cant pay for the states fundamental functions already? Leaving aside sales tax rates, Arizona is a low-tax state. This year, the state is projected to spend less as a portion of residents income than it has in at least three decades. Yet our needs continue to grow with population. One of many crucial examples, an issue the governor seems to be monitoring, is the Department of Child Safety. The caseloads for workers who investigate reports of neglected and abused children have been far above recommended levels for years. We found out in 2013 what happens when the agency must handle more cases than it can: 6,600 cases were simply stashed away as not investigated. But without the money to hire enough case workers or pay them better, we can expect the occasional tragedy or scandal. I got the chance to ask Ducey one question and a follow-up after the Tucson event, and I decided to focus on taxes, asking how he expects to solve Arizonas problems if he and the Legislature keep reducing revenue through tax cuts. Heres what he said: We added 56,000 new jobs last year. We added 100,000 new citizens. Were growing our state and were growing our economy. Were going to be competitive against states like California and Illinois that are going the wrong direction, and states like Texas are improving their quality of life and their environment for businesses. We want to be at the table when these businesses are making decisions about where theyre going to locate, and Arizona is going to be competitive in those decisions. Not hearing an answer to my question, I asked if he thought reducing tax rates would increase tax revenue to the state a common supply-side conception that only works in high-tax situations. Duceys response: I think its part of the entire package. Its, whats the tax burden? Whats the regulatory environment? Are you business-friendly? Is there political consistency? Then, whats the quality of life? Arizona is a great state. We have a great product and package to sell. And we want to be competitive. Those answers left me with the feeling that Duceys plan is to cut taxes, recruit businesses and let the rest figure itself out. But neglected and abused kids, to cite the DCS example, dont need a job they need good protection and services paid for by taxpayers. We also need money to repair roads and bridges. Im even willing to pay more in my income taxes to ensure those things happen. It doesnt take much to make a huge difference, as I found out when I asked the Arizona Department of Revenue last year how much the state would make if we raised the states five income tax rates by either 0.10 of a percentage point or 0.25 of a percentage point across the board. A 0.10 percentage-point increase would yield about $120 million per year, the department estimated. The average tax burden would increase from $1,352 per year to $1,392 $40 per year more. A 0.25 percentage-point increase would yield about $300 million per year, the department estimated. The average tax burden with that increase would go from $1,352 per year to $1,453 a $101 per year increase. Of course, tax increases are not in the cards. That would make us too much like Duceys cherished rival, California. The governor made seven references to California in his state-of-the state speech, arguing that Californias burdensome bureaucracy will benefit Arizona as businesses there move here. Duceys tone was a bit sophomoric, especially for the governor of a state that is arguably doing worse economically than California. He said, Id be remiss if I didnt stop to thank my partner in growing Arizonas economy California Gov. Jerry Brown. The Phoenix area is regularly landing expansions from California companies, as Chris Camacho, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, told me. The pace is about five or six companies a year in industries like financial services, health care, software and technology, he said. Its a nice, steady pace and good for Arizona, for sure. But these dont seem to be much more than table scraps from California. Its economy is growing faster than Arizonas, it has lower unemployment than Arizona and a lower poverty rate. California has been throughout this expansion one of the leaders in the rate of job growth and is now at record employment levels, UCLA economist Jerry Nickelsburg told me. All the major counties are at record employment levels right now. Employment in Silicon Valleys Santa Clara County grew by 7 percent last year, said Nickelsburg, who is senior economist at UCLA Anderson Forecast. Clearly, there is something more to building an attractive state than low taxes and minimal regulations. Ducey pointed to another area of future growth for our state: Arizona should be to the sharing economy what Texas is to oil and what Silicon Valley used to be to the tech industry. Leaving aside the fact that Ducey apparently doesnt know Silicon Valley is still the booming center of tech, the question that struck me is how the so-called sharing economy a business process or concept can be compared to actual industries like petroleum or high-technology. The phrase sharing economy refers to companies such as Uber and Airbnb that allow users to put underutilized assets a car or a guest house to work. I want startups in the sharing economy to know: California may not want you, but Arizona does, Ducey said. It seems he wants those businesses to put their headquarters here. Thats fine and could help Ducey already has a close relationship with Uber and has recruited some of its operations here. But lets hope his vision isnt for our state to be the home of the gig, where we all depend on part-time sharing-economy gigs to pay our bills. Overall, while Ducey laid out a plan for the economic conquest of a political rival, it wasnt clear why the rest of us should abhor California or how that solves our problems and creates the state we want. PHOENIX Organizers of a campaign to force disclosure of dark money in campaigns and a companion measure to open up primaries hope to collect $10 million and possibly as much as $13 million to put the issues on the November ballot and get them both approved. The disclosure comes as two former gubernatorial hopefuls have formed campaign committees, a necessary legal step before they can raise money. But voters will have to wait until later this month days before actually seeing the language they hope to add to the Arizona Constitution. Paul Johnson, who ran for governor in 1998, wants to jettison the current system of nominating and electing candidates for local, state and federal office into what comes closer to a top two system. Put simply, all candidates for any office would run against each other in what is now the primary. Then the two top vote-getters would face off in a runoff. Whats important about that is that the political affiliation of the candidates would not matter. So if the two people with the most votes were Republicans, they would advance to the general election. Terry Goddard, who made runs for governor in 1990, 1994 and again in 2012, is crafting a proposal to close what some consider a loophole in state financial disclosure laws. Current law requires any group that spends money to influence an election to file reports. But those organized under the federal tax code as social welfare organizations argue they need not disclose the sources of their money. That permits various corporations and individuals to funnel large sums of money into TV commercials, billboards and direct mailers while leaving the targeted voters in the dark about who is interested in the race, a factor that might help voters determine how much weight to put on claims. Some measures have been introduced at the Legislature to address the issue. But all are sponsored by Democrats, portending a likely early demise. Campaign consultant Chuck Coughlin said total dark money spending in the last race reached $15 million. In the 2014 gubernatorial race, for example, the $5 million spent on the general election directly by Republican Doug Ducey and Democrat Fred DuVal was eclipsed by the $9 million others spent trying to influence the race. And two Republicans got elected to the Arizona Corporation Commission with $3 million spent by outside groups. Arizona Public Service Co. will neither confirm nor deny putting its own money or that of its parent company into helping influence who would be the next utility regulators. Secretary of State Michele Reagan ran on a platform of exposing dark money, particularly after she was the target of some of that during the 2014 Republican primary. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club spent about $560,000 in a bid to help Justin Pierce. But since her election Reagan has questioned whether it is possible to force greater disclosure. And she is even challenging efforts by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to enact its own disclosure requirements. Coughlin, whose firm HighGround has been involved in many races over the years, said he believes the public is hungry for more disclosure and are willing to support the measure. Were going to assert a right in the constitution that Arizona voters have a right to know this information, he said. While Coughlin said the final language is not yet drafted, the proposal seeks to require disclosure of the source of anyone who puts at least $10,000 into any campaign in the 90 days before an election. Coughlin said it is being written in a way to catch out-of-state funds, requiring anyone who spends money in Arizona to provide a verifiable paper trail of the sources of all cash. So far there is no organized opposition to the measure. That, however, is not the case with Johnsons plan for the top-two primary: The Arizona Republican Party already has formed its own campaign committee to raise money to kill that measure. Johnson, who ran for governor as a Democrat but has since registered as a political independent, said the current system unfairly favors the two major parties even though there are more independents than either Republicans or Democrats. He pointed out it takes more signatures for an independent to run for governor than as a Democrat or Republican. And Johnson said having the state run partisan primaries at taxpayer expenses is unfair. James Browning Jr., who led the prosecution of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst during a sensational 1976 trial, has died in Oro Valley. He was 83. David Browning says his brother died Tuesday after a fall. James Browning was born in Globe in 1932 and attended law school in San Francisco before becoming the prosecutor in San Mateo County. He was appointed U.S. attorney in Northern California by then-President Richard M. Nixon. He rose to even greater prominence when he prosecuted the case against Hearst, who was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 and joined their cause. She was charged with bank robbery and other charges, and Browning helped secure her conviction, squaring off with noted defense lawyer F. Lee Baile As the midterm elections come ever closer, it can feel as if were stewing in a cauldron of tribalism, of our side vs. their side with no middle ground and little agreement on much of anything. That makes it a good time to take a breath and realize the consensus weve reached on some issues that were incredibly contentious not long ago. It gives us hope in the angry days ahead. PHOENIX Two state lawmakers are pushing to make it more difficult for some people to get medical marijuana. And both measures may be illegal. Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, wants to make it a crime for a woman who is pregnant to possess the drug. That would overrule any finding by her doctor that the use of marijuana is appropriate. A more far-reaching proposal by Rep. Jay Lawrence, R-Scottsdale, would strip the right to recommend the use of marijuana from naturopaths and homeopaths. That would leave only allopathic and osteopathic physicians. What makes both proposals legally questionable is that the medical marijuana law was enacted by voters not the Legislature. The Arizona Constitution spells out that voter-approved measures can be altered only with a super-majority vote. Its possible that Townsend and Lawrence could get that margin. But any change needs to further the purpose of the original measure. An attorney whose practice includes issues of medical marijuana says neither one meets that test. The 2010 law allows doctors to recommend marijuana to patients with certain medical conditions. Those range from glaucoma and AIDS to severe and chronic pain. Those who get a recommendation are eligible for a state-issued card allowing them obtain up to 2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Nearly 88,000 Arizonans currently have such cards. Lawrence said his belief is that doctors other than MDs and DOs are essentially in the business of writing recommendations for medical marijuana, and writing them for I dont feel well today. Its a money-making scheme, he said. MDs and DOs will be more responsible. There is some statistical evidence to suggest a basis for Lawrences suggestion that at least one of the two alternative forms of medicine is playing a more active role in letting Arizonans get medical marijuana. Preliminary figures from the state Department of Health Services show that doctors issued 77,639 certifications for patients last year. More than 87 percent of those were issued by naturopathic physicians. As to the reasons for recommendations, the most recent report from the health department finds that more than 77 percent of the recommendations were for chronic pain. The next highest category was cancer at 2.6 percent. Attorney Ryan Hurley said the big legal problem with what Lawrence is proposing is that voters agreed in 2010 to give recommendation-writing privileges to both naturopaths and homeopaths. He said stripping that away violates the Voter Protection Act which sharply restricts the ability of lawmakers to tinker with anything that has been approved at the ballot. Thats also the contention of Chris Lindsey who is an attorney with the Medical Marijuana Project, the organization that crafted the 2010 initiative. He said changing the definition of who can write recommendations diminishes access for patients. These actions are offensive to the voters who supported Proposition 203 and to the patients for whom the measure was designed to help, he said. Lawrence, however, said he believes his proposal can survive a legal attack. It furthers the purpose by restricting the amount of marijuana on the streets and in peoples homes to those who really deserve and need it, he said. Townsend said the purpose behind the 2010 law was to allow the drug to be used to treat various medical conditions. The harmful effects of this drug on the fetus is undeniable and empirically substantiated, she said, saying there is no place for marijuana in managing a pregnancy. Townsend also contends that exposing a fetus to a dangerous drug is considered child abuse and therefore a woman risks losing her child to the Department of Child Safety should she or the child test positive at birth. Lindsey did not dispute there are studies showing harmful effects of marijuana use during pregnancy. But he said Townsends legislation puts the Legislature in the position of deciding which studies are relevant. You can imagine the slippery slope that creates if legislators did so in every area of medicine, he said. And Lindsey said lawmakers should defer to the view of the doctor who is treating the patient. Townsend, however, said her legislation would survive a legal challenge. It is the purview of the Legislature to regulate dangerous behavior when it comes to the protection of the unborn and minors, she said, comparing it to requirements for things like child seats in cars. Therefore, this is a common-sense bill that furthers the protection of Arizonas most vulnerable. This isnt the Legislatures first foray into scaling back the 2010 law. And any legal challenge to legislative intervention would not be the first. In 2012 state lawmakers altered the law to say that college and university students who have medical marijuana cards cannot possess the drugs on campus. Andre Maestas, an Arizona State University Student who was arrested for having the drug in his dorm room is asking the state Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction and rule the new restriction violates the Voter Protection Act because the original law has no such exception. TEHRAN, Iran All 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran after drifting into its territorial waters a day earlier have been freed, the U.S. and Iran said Wednesday. The Navy said the American crewmembers returned safely in their boats and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody. The nine men and one woman were held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after they were detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. The sailors departed the island at 0843 GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return voyage to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. The Navy added that it "will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran." The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained U.S. sailors before their release, showing them sitting on the floor of a room. They look mostly bored or annoyed, though at least one of the sailors appears to be smiling. The sole woman had her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters," a statement posted online by the Guard said Wednesday. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking later to "CBS This Morning," denied that Americans made any apology. "There's nothing to apologize for," Biden said. "When you have a problem with the boat you apologize the boat had a problem? No, and there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice." Gen. Ali Fadavi, the navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted earlier Wednesday by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of "mechanical problems in their navigation system." U.S. officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident. They had said on Tuesday that Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. Fadavi said the American boats had shown "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country's territorial waters. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as an "innocent passage." The sailors were nonetheless allowed to make contact with the U.S. military, based on Iran's "responsibilities and Islamic mercy" late Tuesday, he said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif during the three years of nuclear negotiations, called his Iranian counterpart immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged" with Zarif on the issue, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST as he and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said. Kerry later issued a statement saying he wanted to express his "gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation ?in swiftly resolving this matter." Fadavi said Zarif "had a firm stance" during the telephone conversation with Kerry about the sailors' presence in Iran's territorial waters and "said they should not have come and should apologize." Carter said he was pleased with the sailors' release and he thanked Kerry for his diplomatic efforts. "Around the world, the U.S. Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress, and we appreciate the timely way in which this situation was resolved," Carter said. The Guard's 200,000-strong force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system. Its naval forces are heavily dependent on armed speedboats that can be used in teams to swarm much larger vessels. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press late Tuesday U.S. time that the sailors' boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. The sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission, the officials said. The craft are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to them, they added. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive incident publicly. In an earlier incident, in late December, Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the world's oil. Last February, Iran sank a replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier near the strait and has said it is testing "suicide drones" that could conduct kamikaze missions on naval ships. It has also challenged foreign cargo ships operating in the Gulf, opening fire on at least two in April and May. In one of those incidents, Iran temporarily seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship over what it said was a commercial dispute before releasing it with its crew more than a week later. Meanwhile, Iran was expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." ___ Something about me and whats going on in my world and in my mind. Help India! No Muslim leader or group has yet come up to support him By TCN Staff Reporter, Support TwoCircles New Delhi: Mohammad Aamir Khan, the 30-year-old youth who was acquitted earlier this year after spending 14 years in jail in false terror cases, was on Thursday honoured with award and cash by Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) here at a national program. The Varanasi-based PVCHR honoured Khan with the Jan Mitra Award on the first day of 2-day National Consultation on Testimonial campaign contributes to eliminate impunity for perpetrators of torture in India at India Habitat Centre. Khan was released in January 2012 after 14 years of incarceration. He was named as main accused in 20 low-intensity bomb blasts which took place between December 1996 and October 1997 in Delhi, Rohtak, Sonepat and Ghaziabad. Mohammad Amir Khan (right) being awarded by Nageshwar Patnaik, vice president, PVCHR This is the second time since his release that a civil group has come up to help Khan. Couple of months back he was given a job by ANHAD and now PVCHR of Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi has honoured him with award which carried a cash prize of Rs 60,000. During 14 years of incarceration, Khan lost his father to the shocker of his arrest as a terrorist and mother became almost blind while weeping day and night for his son. His relatives also deserted him believing what told by police and media. His acquittal was a strong slap on both police and media and a strong evidence against the malicious campaign against the community. Yet, beyond paying lip service, no Muslim leader or community organisation came up to stand by him, leave alone supporting him financially. The national consultation on torture began at 10.30 a.m. on 12th July. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission was the Chief Guest. Mr. Pavel Svitil, Minister-Charge daffaires, Delegation of the European Union to India graced the occasion as guest of honour. The first session was to be chaired by Mr. Gautam Navlakha, Consultant Editor-Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) and the speakers were Mr. Sankar Sen, Ex- Director General, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr D. Roy Laifungbam, Chairperson, Human to Humane Transcultural Centre for Torture Victims (H2H) and Mr. Mathews Philip, Executive Director, SICHREM. Human rights defenders from Manipur, Assam, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi are attending the program. TCN series on Aamir Khan: War on terror: If you cant find the terrorist, make one : Part 1 Amir Khan: 14 years in jail, acquitted but still scared of police witch-hunt: Part 2 Media celebrates arrest of terrorists, but ignores their acquittals: Part 3 This is the last in four parts series on Terror tale: The strange case of Akhlaque Ahmed Khan, which is one of the many such intriguing cases where Muslim youths were arrested on mere charges and are damned to spend their youthful years behind bars as under trials. Read Part I here: Over 14 years as undertrial on charges of conspiracy to wage war Support TwoCircles Read Part II here: Similar charges slapped in Delhi and Kolkata Read Part III here: The strange case of Akhlaque Ahmed Khan: Loose ends By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi/ Kolkata: Akhlaque Ahmed Khan was not granted bail ever in the Delhi case (he was subsequently acquitted in 2006), he was granted bails in both the cases that were filed against him in Kolkata. File photo of Akhlaque Ahmed Khan (Courtesy: ToI). On mere charge of alleged conspiracy to wage war against the government an accused is languishing in jail for over 14 years. The story of Akhlaque Ahmed Khan of Kolkata is one of most intriguing, for in the same month in January, 1999 he was made co accused, along with Syed Abu Nasir of Bangladesh and others in two terror cases one in Kolkata and other in Delhi. While in October, 2006 Akhlaque was acquitted from the Delhi case, he is still languishing in Kolkatas Presidency Jail as an under trial in connection with the Kolkata case. What is more intriguing is that he is behind bar, although in the same case the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) had granted him bail way back in April, 1999 as he had failed to furnish the security bond on time. In the first case, in the Alipore court, he was granted bail and later discharged from the case as Police failed to file any charge-sheet against him. As the Police had failed to file the charge-sheet within three months in the ongoing case too, after serving the statutory 90 days period Akhlaque was given the bail order in April 1999, along with two other co-accused Abdullah Salafi, Mritunjoy Das who are since out on bail, on security bonds of Rs 10,000. However, as Akhlaque was anyway not granted bail in the Delhi case and was in Tihar Jail, his counsel advised Akhlaques family to wait for his bail/acquittal in the Delhi case, as he would not be freed even after furnishing the bail bond. The counsel suggested that the bail bond could be deposited even later. After his acquittal in the Delhi case in October 2006, however, as the counsel of Akhlaque approached the Calcutta court, they were faced with what his youngest brother Azad Ahmed Khan describe as harrowing experiences. They had to run from pillar to post, literally, seeking permission to furnish the bail bond, says he, but to no avail. The dilapidated entrance of Masoom Travels. As the charges were already framed in the said case and it was transferred to the session court for trial, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) said that it now has no jurisdiction to pass any order over the case. This was a case, in fact, where even the learned public prosecutor Ashoke Bakshi on November 22, 2006 had rebuked the honorable court and had supported the contention of the advocate for the petitioner and submitted that the order of bail dated 16.4.1999 is still in force and therefore, the learned CMM has committed wrong in refusing to accept the bail bond. In fact he had suggested that the order of bail should be confirmed by the Court of Session and the learned CMM should be directed to accept the bail bond in terms of the order dated 16.4.1999. The fast-track court session court, where his case was being heard, however, observed that the petitioners right to be released on bail stood extinguished on filing of chargesheet on 15.01.2002As the accused who was directed to be released on bail did not furnish the bail bond after the order was passed and remained in custody, he cannot claim the execution of the said order by furnishing bail after filing of the charge-sheet and commitment of the case to the Court of Session. On suggestion of the senior lawyers, Akhlaque had then approached the Cacultta High Court for quashing of charges under 120B/121/121A/122 and other such serious charges relating to criminal conspiracy of waging war against the government and pleaded that he was discharged from the Bhawanipur case (which was pursued in Alipore court) and also acquitted from the Delhi court on similar charges. The defence counsel had said that if some forged documents were at all found, the accused may be tried for forgery. The Calcutta HC had, however, discharged the revisional petition for quashing of the proceeding arguing that the Delhi courts disbelieving the claim of the prosecution cannot be a ground for disbelieving the prosecution case, so far as the present case is concerned. In fact from CMM to Session Court to the HC, Akhaques bail plea was repeatedly rejected considering the seriousness of the charges, even when his mother fell very sick. Akhlaque was not allowed a parole even when his mother died on June 28, 2009. Azad Ahmed Khan, brother of Akhlaque The trial is still on in a fast track court, and consequently Akhlaque awaits his fate. Post-script: This is not the first of its kind case though. In January 2012, Md Amir Khan finally walked free, after he was acquitted in almost 20 cases, but only after spending 14 years in jail. TwoCircles.net was the first news portal to highlight his plight. Kanpur based 42 year old Syed Wasif Haider was in jail for over eight years in several cases from August 4, 2001 to August 12, 2009 when he was finally acquitted from all cases. Police have made goof ups in Mecca masjid, Malegaon and in several such cases, raising serious questions on whole anti-terror operations. However, what is surprising is that, while the Left leaders have been vocal against such police atrocities in Delhi, on face of it, it appears that even their own backyard was not clean (till April 2011 Left Front was in power in West Bengal.) Related: Terror tale from WB: 2 Muslim youths languishing in jail without chargesheet for 5 years Help India! By The Milli Gazette, New Delhi: The situation in Bawana area of North-West Delhi remains sensitive after some anti-social elements are continously trying to instigate Hindu-Muslim violence. Support TwoCircles A few days back on 2 October, some 200 Hindu youths riding motorcycles and cars paraded the area with police protection in the name of preventing cow slaughter. Muslims will be observing Eid-ul-Adha on 6 October, Monday, but no one in Delhi sacrifices cows, respecting the sentiments of the Hindu community. The next day, on 3 October, Hindu youths observed road jam. Posters appeared in the area calling for war to protect cow. Here is one: Hindi Transliteration of the poster: Kat-tee Gaaye, Bat-ta Desh Nahi Sahenge: Gau maata ki roz ho rahi hatya ke khilaaf seedhi jung ka aelaan. Aewam, Hinduon ke dharam par mandara rahe khatrey ke khilaaf awaaz bulnadi ke liye sachchey Hindu Aekrit hon. Hindu Krantikaari Sena ke ghatan ka shapath samaaroh. Sirf un gaoo putron ko aamantrit kiya jata hai Jo apni maa ki garima bachane ke liye apna sab kuch nauchawar karne ke liye taiyyar hon. English translation of the poster: Cow slaughters, Nation Divided Will not tolerate any more: Announcement of direct war against the every day killing of Cows [our mother] and to raise voice against the constant threat to religion of Hindus, truthful Hindus come forward. Swearing ceremony for Hindu Revolutionary Army. This invitation is only for those sons of Cow who are ready to completely submit themselves to save the honour of their Mother [cow]. There are rumours that youths from 50 villages are being mobilised to attack Muslims of the area soon. Late night on 3 October, while parading areas it was found that Hindu youth were themselves trying to release a few cows in the area to be later show as proof of crime. Luckily the police took custody of the animals and arrested a few youth. Yesterday, on 4 October, Station House Officers (SHO) of Bawana and Narela Police Stations had a meeting with Muslim leaders of the area which was also attended by members of Jamiat Ulema Hinds Delhi unit. In the meeting the Muslim side demanded that elders of the Hindu community be invited to solve the problem with a dialogue, to which the police declined. Some Hindu Youths were even protesting this meeting of Muslims and Police and raised slogans against it. Muslim residents of Bawana are in a state of fear and are having sleepless nights as some think the low deployment of police will be inadequate to handle any communal violence. Some Muslims are demanding deployment of Rapid Action Force (RAF) or Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as they do not have faith in the local police. Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, has appealed to Delhi police to take all measures for the protection of the people and to take action against the anti-social elements spreading false anti-Muslim propaganda and instilling hatred between Hindus and Muslims and instigating violence with inflammatory posters. Help India! New Delhi : A BJP delegation led by general secretary and West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayavargiya on Tuesday met union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and demanded a high-level inquiry into the violence in West Bengals Malda district. We apprised the home minister of the Malda incident and requested him for a high-level investigation into the matter, Vijayvargiya told reporters after the meeting. Support TwoCircles The BJP delegation also submitted a memorandum to Rajnath Singh and accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of trying to distort the evidence. The state government through the administration is trying not only to hide the facts but also distort the evidence of wrongdoing in a planned manner, the memorandum said. Claiming that Malda had become a hub for drug trade as the authorities there overlooked opium cultivation, it asked why the Bengal chief minister did not make any effort to stop such cultivation. The BJP leaders also took a dig at Banerjee for her statement that the violence erupted due to BSF personnel. This charge against the BSF is baseless and will demoralise the BSF personnel. There was a planned conspiracy behind the violence, BJP leaders said in the memorandum. The BJP on Monday had said the Malda violence was a planned action and not a communal one. Help India! New Delhi : The Delhi government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it wanted to move a plea seeking to support the Delhi High Courts November 6 order quashing 60 percent quota for the children of group A officers belonging to all India services in elite Sanskriti school here. Allowing the plea for intervention by senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the Delhi government, a bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the listing of the matter for further hearing on January 19. Support TwoCircles We are supporting the Delhi High Court judgment, he told the court as senior lawyers appearing for the central government and Sanskriti School told the court that adjournment of hearing would affect the admission process. Countering the submission, Naphade told the court that high court judgment was of November 6 and the central government and school challenged it much later to stress that fault for the delay could not be put at the doorsteps of Delhi government. He said that January 22 was the last date for submitting the applications for admissions and the actual admission would take place sometime in February. The court was also told that besides the high court judgment, the petitioners have to be cross the hurdles of two notifications of December 8, 2015 and January 16, 2016, issued by Delhi government doing away with any quota except 25 percent for the weaker sections of the society. The Delhi High Court verdict came after it examined the validity of the 60 percent quota for children of group A officers after taking suo motu cognizance of the issue in 2006. While quashing the reservation for the children of the top officers belonging to all India services, it had said: Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian Services disadvantages children of persons engaged in other branches of the Indian Services. It had asked the central government to see whether Sanskriti School could be made a part of the existing Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. The school was allotted land at a premium of Re.1 and a ground rent of Re.1 per annum. The state cannot provide funds to any private individual to establish a school for an elite segment of society, the high court had remarked. Help India! By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net, New Delhi: The representation of Muslims in higher judiciary does not even come close to communitys share in the population of the country, it has been revealed after studying the data made public by the Department of Justice. Support TwoCircles As per 2011 census, Muslims are 14.2% of the overall population but unfortunately there are negligible number of Muslim judges in High Courts and the Apex court. As per the Department of Justice, in the 24 High Courts of the country, out of 1,044 approved strength, the present strength of the sitting judges is 601 while 443 posts remain vacant. Out of these 601 judges, there are only 26 Muslim judges, meaning the community contributes only 4.3% of overall judges. But if one were to go by the communitys share in population, there should have been at least 86 Muslim judges out of 601 sitting judges at various High Courts. Moreover, out of this meager number of 26, eight are scheduled to retire this year while three will retire next year, which means the number could fall well below 20 by the next year. If one looks at state-wise data, the most surprising number comes from Asaam. Even though it happens to be the second-largest Muslim populated state of the country with 34.2% Muslim population, of the 16 sitting Judges at the Guahati High Court, not one is Muslim. Even in Jammu and Kashmir, where Muslims constitute 68.3% of the population, there are only three Muslim Judges out of 10 sitting Judges. One out of these three will retire next year on January 29. Hyderabad High Court and Rajasthan High Court have only one sitting Muslim Judge each and both are due for retirement this year, even though Muslims consist of nearly 10% population in these states. Kerala High Court has the maximum Muslim Judges among all the High Courts. The state has five sitting Muslim Judges, but this number is also less when we consider the communitys population share in the state. Muslims constitute 26.6% of the population in Kerala and hence using that as a parameter, Muslims should have sent nine judges out of 35 sitting Judges to be adequately represented in the Judiciary. Shockingly, at present there is no Muslim Judges in 12 of the 24 High Courts in the country. Granted, that four of the High Courts in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya and Orissa can be ignored due to negligible presence of Muslim community in those regions. But what explains the fact the eight High Courts in Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Punjab & Haryana, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Tripura too have no Muslim Judges despite considerable presence of the community in those respective states? The figures at Supreme Court are more disappointing for Muslim community than High Courts. Out of 26 sitting judges, there are only two Muslim Justices and both are going to retire this year; which means that the Apex Court will be left with no Muslim face this year. Advocate A. Mohamed Yusuff, Joint Convener of National Lawyers Network (NLN) who studied this data, opines that proportionate representation should be given to all marginalised communities including Muslims, SCs, STs and BCs, while filling the vacancy of 443 posts at the various High Courts and five posts at the Supreme Court. Speaking with TwoCircles.net Yusuff said, In order to address the under representation from minorities (at higher judiciary), especially Muslims, proportionate representation should be given while appointing new Judges. But, this is not the only solution, Yusuff says adding; enthusiastic lawyers from Muslim communities should be encouraged and guided for becoming competent Judges by the retiring judges from the community. Nevertheless, even if some Muslims may associate lack of reservation as a reason for under representation at higher judiciary, this has become a patent rationale that the community sights for every of its problem. In this case, it would not be wrong to say that the buck stops at its own door, at least for such scarcity of Muslim judges at higher judiciary. Related Constitution should be amended for reservation in higher judiciary: Madras High Court Judge Help India! In the first part of a three-part series on the missing people of Jammu and Kashmir, Raqib Hameed Naik looks at the courageous work of Parveena Ahangar, the woman who started the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons. Support TwoCircles Srinagar: Over the past 25 years, Pratap Park, an area near Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar, has witnessed numerous protests, thousands of tear gas shells, pellets and bullets fired, and hundreds injured. On the 10th of every month, however, a group of people, mostly women, gather and protest quietly with posters, photographs and small write-ups on family members who have gone missing in the state over the past two decades. In Kashmir, also known as the Valley of Saints, Pratap Park is a reminder of what the state has endured; it also reminds us that despite the pain shared by thousands, they continue to fight for justice in the worlds most militarised zone. The protestors congregate under the banner of Associations of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), an organisation which was started by Parveena Ahangar, a mother whose 16-year-son was picked up by security forces in 1990. Her son has been missing since. It is a fairly common story in the state; a story that brings together hundreds of families who wish to know where their children went, what happened to them. But for these people, reliable information is scant, state governments assistance nearly zero, and hope, their only weapon. As militancy flared up in valley after the rigged elections of 1987, the region witnessed a barbarous clampdown by government forces on the people of Kashmir, with many picked up deliberately mere on suspicion who never came back. The disappearance of large numbers of persons is termed enforced disappearance by the United Nations Declaration on the subject. According to estimates, there are around 8,000 to 10,000 cases of involuntary and enforced disappearances in Kashmir, mainly attributed to the work of Indian security establishments since the onset of militancy. Although on the surface, the national media portrays pictures of normalcy and peace returning to Kashmir, an important question remains: where did 10,000 people or 0.0008% of J&K population (considering 2011 census) vanished? In 1994, it was this question which led Parveena Ahangar, often termed as Iron Lady of Kashmir, to set up APDP. It was her attempt to bring together families of disappeared persons from different parts of Jammu and Kashmir. The pain had to be shared, if one had to fight it. Parveena, 56, was born in Srinagar and got married at the age of 12. Despite not receiving any formal education, she has brought global attention to the issue of forced and involuntary disappearance in Kashmir. Her efforts have ensured that the cause hogs international attention. She has represented the cases of disappearances on various international platforms by travelling to Philippines in 2000, Thailand in 2003, Indonesia in 2005, Chiang Mai in 2006, Geneva in 2008, Cambodia in 2009 and most recently to London in 2014. On the 10th of every month, the family of missing persons, headed by Parveena, seek answers and justice from both the state and central governments on the whereabouts of their loved ones. Not that much happens as a result of this, since the state government does not even acknowledge that such a huge number of people have gone missing in the state. The APDP office, located in Hyderpora, Srinagar, has always been a sacred space for victim families who share and grieve their pain together. Since the last decade, the office has also been providing medicines, clothes and other essential things (purchased from donations) to the deserving victim families, who have lost their lone bread earners. As the hour needle of the clock ticks to 10 in the morning, the APDP office space starts to fill with family members of victims coming from Srinagar to far-flung villages of Kupwara District to collect their monthly stock of medicines and other essentials. Praveena, sitting on a chair in the corner of room welcomes the women coming in with a warm hug. We all have a similar pain. Some among us lost their sons, some lost their fathers and others lost their husbands, she says. A Calendar, where each month denotes one missing person As I sit in the ADPD office, a 2016 calendar hung on the opposite wall catches my attention. This is no ordinary calendar: there is no art, no scenery, and no models promoting a cosmetic product. On the contrary, the month of January in the calendar contains a sketch of disappeared person, a quote of a poet and a little brief about his disappearance. The brief reads: Fifth Rashtriya Rifles, a battalion of Indian Army picked up Abdul Hamid Badhiyari of Boat Colony in Srinagar, the capital city of Kashmir on 20 January 2000. An Auto-driver by profession, Abdul Hamid became a victim of enforced disappearance at an age of 28. His wife Shakeela and his children Adil and Sana are waiting for his return. On the novel idea of printing calendars with 12 enforced disappeared persons dominating the 12 months of a year, Parveena says, We came up with this idea so that everyone comes to how Kashmiris were forcefully disappeared by Indian security forces. It is a message by families of missing persons to the government as who is behind the disappearances of their loved ones.If they are alive unite them with us or if they are dead show us their graves. She adds, We will continue to the print the calendar every year. Parveena would know this calendar much too well. The month of August in the calendar has the sketch of one 16-year-old youth, Javaid Ahmed Ahangar, her son, who was picked up by security forces from his relatives place in dead of the night on 18th August 1990. Before APDP, a fight in vain to find her son My son was 16 and had just passed his tenth standard exams, recounts Parveena. That fateful night on August 18 1990, he had gone to his cousins place to study. A search for a militant named Javed Ahmed Bhat was going in our locality that night. The forces entered in the wrong house which belonged to our relatives where my son had gone to study, the forces shouted Javaid, as my son name was also similar to the name of alleged militant except the surname Ahangar, my terrified son scaled the wall out of fear where he was caught up by the forces and taken away to some unknown location. Parveena was unaware about his son being picked up until a lady from her neighborhood came knocking at their door at 3 am in the morning. My husband opened the door. I was inside another room where I overheard the conversation that my son Famba (nick name of Javaid) has been picked up by Indian security forces. I left my house barefooted and other women of the locality also followed me as we took out a procession to local police station and then to police control room Srinagar to force officials to release my son. In those painful and hard days, Parveena says she used to assure herself that her son Javaid will be let off because he wasnt a militant. But unfortunately, days turned into months and there was no word about her son. Even as she continued her crusade by organising protests at regular intervals, a day came when the Superintendent of Police Control Room, Bashir Dar told her that her son was recovering from his injuries in Army owned BB cantt hospital in Srinagar. I along with other Police officials went there to get my son but unfortunately it turned out to be a hoax as I could not trace him there. I visited the same hospital twice again, believing that may be this time I could find him, but as usual came back empty handed, says Parveena. After months of wait, fed up with police officials lies, Parveena along with the family of Basharat Shah, an M.Com student, who was also picked by security forces from Sopore in Baramulla District, took out a huge procession of protesters to Police Control Room Srinagar where the then SP was quoted by Parveena as saying, Go and file a case in court. So, she moved to court in Srinagar in 1991 which lead to an inquiry in the case. It was proved that three Army officers had picked up my son, tells Parveena. In the later years, she visited several jails and torture centres across J&K to locate her lost son but every time, the harsh reality left her cold. He isnt here, was the most common response. Finally, in 1994 she formed APDP by identifying and gathering together the families with similar stories from across the Kashmir whose kins were subjected to forceful disappearance She fought her case legally till 1997 and the case file was sent to Union Home Ministry for sanction to prosecute the accused Army officers. This was of course, never granted to the state. I had never missed a single hearing during those seven years. I used to leave in the morning and come back in the evening. Numerous times, I along with other victim families organized protests outsides the gates of high court and lower courts. As Parveena continues to recount her ordeal, she talks of one incident in particular. During the proceedings, one of the accused, an Army colonel, came to me and said: Behan, kya chahiye tumhe? Kitna paisa chahiye? (Sister, what do you need? How much money do you need?) I only replied, Muje kuch nahi chahiye, Muje mera beta chahiye (I dont need anything, I need my son.) Parveenas legal fight for justice has left her dejected as she says, I have lost faith in judicial system. The early years and the next generations fight In 1994, Parveena formed the APDP, to help her fight along with the families of other disappeared people. For 5-6 years after 1994, all the victims used to meet twice: on 15th and 30th of every month at my home where we used to discuss our next course of actions. Then, says Parveena, a victim suggested that we start meeting at public places so that people also become familiar about their demands, pain and this suggestion was readily accepted by her after which the victim families starting meeting and organising silent sit-in protests in Partap Park. Since last 15 years, we have been organising a sit on the 10th every month, seeking information, accountability and justice from the Indian Security establishments who are responsible for the disappearance of our family members. Since its inception, APDP has mobilised a large number of students, activists and professionals from different parts of world who through the association have been able to engage on issues of justice, reparation, impunity and legal course besides advocating the harsh struggle of the victim families. In 2005, Parveena was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for her strength and human rights activism. Later, Indian media Channel CNN IBN nominated her for an award, which she rejected on account of the way the pain and tragedies of Kashmiris have been depicted by the Indian media. For Parveena, mainstream Indian media has always been indifferent when it comes to covering the lives of the common people in conflict-ridden Kashmir. Recounting her experience while she was interviewed by a Delhi based journalist, she says, We were on a monthly sit in when a reporter working for a Delhi-based newspaper came to me and asked how many families were presently here in the protest. I replied around 300.He went on to write in his report published in the newspaper, by misquoting my words that there are only 300 cases of disappearance in Kashmir. Two decades after its formation, APDP now is more organised as Parveenas daughter Saima Ahangar joined her mothers fight by taking over the paper work of the association after finishing her senior secondary school. A research on the exact number of disappeared persons is also underway. APDP have already met around 5,000-6,000 cases of enforced disappearances and our rough estimates say that the cases are around 8000-1000, says Saima. An estimate issued by the J&K government in 2009 confirmed 3,429 cases as missing between 1990 and 1999 whereas no tally existed after 1999.Parveen outrightly dismisses these calculations. The State government has always been good at hiding, she says. The courage of Parveena and thousands of families seems endless, even as they continue their struggle to seek answers from the government. Are their loved ones dead or alive? This is our fight for Justice, says Parveena, defiantly. It will only end when rays of justice will pierce through the sky of Kashmir.Part II 3 This blog is about Natural Translation, Native Translation and Language Brokering. For explanations of these technical terms, use the Search box under this message to ask for essential definitions. Between January and October 2015, 1.4 billion EUR was invested in the Portuguese real estate market,with 90% of this investment of foreign origin (according to a study by Cushman & Wakefield). Americans invested about $600 million in these last 10 months. Large International companies see Lisbon as a fantastic opportunity to monetize investments in the renovation of buildings in prime areas. These investments offer owners profitability through short-term rentals or long-term lease. The capital already has a diverse range of projects built or under construction, and although this real estate product continues to have a high demand, new markets continue to emerge. The Asian market has slowed its investments in Portugal,and the US market is looking to Portugal as a gateway to Europe, with its geographical and cultural characteristics. Instability in the Arab world, and the latest political developments in the United StatesmakePortugal an attractive destinationonall levels. Jorge Prospero dos Santos (a young but experienced international real estate manager) had presented Portugal and its fantastic features to US investment for more than 10 years."We started the process of internationalization of investment options in Portugal ten years ago, with the presence of IN'S Group in the NAR Real Estate Exhibit in New Orleans. At that time, it also captured American investors for Brazil, where the IN'S has offices. Portugal has become increasingly fashionable, and has ideal conditions for the right investor.With this in mind, the Eurosuez Group has developed a wide range of different investment options of high quality and guaranteed profitability, and Jorge Prospero dos Santos signed an agreement with the property group in order to attract US investment. Portugal is a country with unique geographical and climatic conditions, a very rich culture, identity, and hospitable people.Adapting to new markets is essential to the sustained growth of the Portuguese property market. According to the study of the Portuguese CIR, the market growth trend in 2016 will remain positive. This growth can be greatly leveraged by North Americans during the first half of 2016, with the help of international real estate managers like Prospero dos Santos. Xi urges confidence in overcoming corruption Updated: 2016-01-13 00:59 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the 6th plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in Beijing, Jan 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING -- China is gaining ground to overcome corruption, President Xi Jinping said at an anti-graft meeting on Tuesday, urging confidence in the campaign. "Party members should maintain confidence in the Communist Party of China [CPC] Central Committee's anti-corruption volition, the campaign's achievements, the positive energy it brings and the prospects of our fight against corruption," Xi said at the start of the three-day sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). "To forge iron, one must be strong," Xi said, citing a traditional Chinese proverb to underline the Party's resolve to become corruption-free. Over the past three years, the CPC has been working hard to redress the problem of being too lenient in managing the Party, and has striven to build a system where officials "do not dare, are not able, and are unwilling to be corrupt." The efforts are paying off, according to the president. The deterrent effect has been fully exerted, and an atmosphere where officials are "unable and unwilling to engage in corruption" is coming into being. The CPC Central Committee remains determined to combat corruption, he said. "(Winning) the people's support is the top political priority," Xi said. He added the anti-corruption drive has boosted people's faith in and support for the Party, and people speak highly of the anti-corruption drive. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012, China has intensified its anti-corruption drive and punished a large number of corrupt officials in accordance with the law, including former senior leaders such as Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong and Ling Jihua. On Tuesday, Li Dongsheng, former vice minister of Public Security, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes. Xi said that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party has incorporated the task of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party into the "Four comprehensives," the strategic objectives outlined in the blueprint for China's future. The CPC has made building Party integrity, clean governance, and the fight against corruption integral to strictly governing the Party in an all around manner, Xi said. The CCDI, in implementing decisions of the CPC Central Committee, has propelled significant and new achievements in building Party integrity, clean governance and battling corruption, Xi said. The Party has continued to correct undesirable work styles including formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. It has also strengthened intra-Party supervision, giving full play to inspection groups and exerting greater efforts in pursuing fugitives and recovering stolen assets, according to the president. The opening of the session was chaired by top graft buster Wang Qishan and attended by leaders including Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli. 8 examples of disciplinary violations Updated: 2016-01-13 08:22 (China Daily) Editor's note: Last year, China intensified its clampdown on corruption and increased investigations aimed at violations of the eight-point austerity rules of the Communist Party of China. New phrases by the anti-corruption authorities have sprung up. Following are corruption charges brought by anti-graft bodies, examples of officials being held for investigation on the charges and comments by experts. 1 Failure to report personal matters, such as true income, assets, children and marriages Sun Hongzhi, former deputy head of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, was expelled from the Communist Party of China on multiple charges, including concealing matters he should have reported to the Party committee where he worked. His other alleged violations include taking bribes, committing adultery and using public money for personal trips and receptions, and using his position to help others get promoted and interfering with business for profit. He was removed from his post in January last year and has been held for investigation by the top anti-graft authority since June. Officials who are CPC members must report personal matters as required by Party disciplines. That was reiterated in the newly revised Party Disciplinary Ordinances. An efficient mechanism must be set up to check whether officials have reported as required. Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Centre for Government Integrity at Peking University 2 Personal use of public vehicles Yue Shuli, head of the housing administration bureau in Wuqing district in Tianjin has been given a "stern warning" for using a public vehicle for personal reasons and registering the vehicle under a company name. According to the local anti-graft authority, Yue was involved in a traffic accident in that vehicle. In the first 10 months last year, anti-graft authorities at all levels announced 7,153 cases of officials using public vehicles for personal reasons. The number accounts for more than a quarter of all the violations during the period. It is the most frequent misbehavior that runs counter to the Party's eight-point austerity rules. Some public officials still hold that it is their prerogative to use public vehicles at will, and they believe appearing in a public vehicle in some places is a symbol of superior status. The investigation of the misuse of public vehicles should be more thorough and complete. Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Centre for Government Integrity at Peking University 3 Violating the spirit of central government policies This month, Lyu Xiwen, Beijing's former deputy Party chief and the first high-ranking official to be probed, was expelled from the Party and removed from her post for serious violations of discipline. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said she seriously violated political discipline and undercut the central authority's guiding principles and major policies. She was suspected of illegally selecting and appointing Party officials and interfering in personal arrangements. She was also accused of intervening in market and law enforcement activities. Such behavior will not only disturb people's thoughts but undermine the unity of the Party and hinder the implementation of its major policies. Officials will face punishment according to Party rules. If the circumstances are not serious, the violator may receive a reprimand and education or may be suspended from duty. Hong Daode, law professor at China University of Political Science and Law 4 Frequent visits to private clubs or expensive resorts He Jiacheng, former vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Governance, has been placed under investigation on charges that include frequent visits to private clubs. Between 2009 and 2014, He served as vice-president of the academy, a training center for middle and senior government officials in the Chinese government, and enjoyed benefits equivalent to those of a minister. He was also accused of using his position to benefit others and to receive large bribes, the prosecutor's office said. The case is still being investigated. Some Party members and officials live luxury lifestyles that are prohibited even if paid for with legitimate income. Discipline comes because extravagant behavior reflects poorly on the Party and creates negative public perceptions. Zhang Jun, deputy head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-graft authority 5 Forming factions within the CPC Zhao Shaolin, former vice-president of the China Aging Development Foundation and a former secretary-general of the Jiangsu provincial Party Committee, has been expelled from the Party on corruption charges and for forming cliques within the Party. The top anti-graft authority also accused Zhao of indulging his son in opening private clubs, aiding in the business interests of his son, attending banquets to give cash gifts and bribes with his son at the clubs. Cracking down on forming factions was put forward at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC in late 2014. Some "tigers" - senior corrupt officials were found to have formed die-hard corrupt relationships. Such factions are likely to bring in severe corruption in a whole area or industry. Wang Yukai, professor of public administration at the Chinese Academy of Governance 6 Failure to instill proper values in family members Zhou Benshun, former Party chief in Hebei province, was expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office for offenses including graft, and for laxity in disciplining his adult children. Zhou's wife, Duan Yanqiu, and his son, Zhou Jing, were also held for investigation. The junior Zhou was a business partner of Zhao Jin, son of retired Jiangsu official Zhao Shaolin and made a name for himself in real estate businesses across the country. The corruption found in an officials' entire family has weakened the Party's governance, jeopardized social justice and resulted in a big loss of State assets. One of the major reasons for family corruption lies in officials' ignorance of laws and regulations and failure to act in line with Party discipline. Wang Jie, philosophy professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee 7 Illicit sexual relationships Liao Yongyuan, former general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation was placed under investigation by the Supreme People's Procuratorate for alleged bribery in June. According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he seriously violated socialist morality by having illicit sexual relations and living an extravagant life. In addition, he violated Party discipline by using his position to benefit others through the appointment of officers and other matters related to business. He also accepted huge bribes, the CCDI said. Liao was expelled from the Party in June. Although adultery is not considered a criminal matter in China, it will seriously offend social morality and break Party discipline. If the officials live an extravagant and licentious life, they will be involved with corruption for sure - sooner or later. It's impossible for them to concentrate on their work and perform their duties to serve the public. Li Wei, lawyer from Beijing Lawyers Association 8 Superstitious activities Bai Xueshan, former vice-chairman of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, was expelled from the Party and removed from his post for serious violation of discipline in November. According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he seriously violated political discipline by going against Party prohibitions and conducting superstitious activities over a long period. In general, superstitious activity has referred to spending public money on things related to religion, or to harboring religious beliefs. In addition, he allegedly abused power to gain benefits for family members and others on business operations - selecting officers and accepting bribes from them. Party members must establish a correct outlook on life and values, seeking truth from facts rather than being addicted to feudal and superstitious activities. Sun Xiaoyang, lawyer from Beijing New Sun Law Firm who specializes in handing corruption cases (China Daily 01/13/2016 page5) China rejects US stance on nuclear test Updated: 2016-01-11 10:47 By Li Xiaokun in Beijing(China Daily USA) B-52 flies over S. Korea after DPRK H-bomb news China rebuffed on Friday a US claim that Beijing's approach to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has failed, saying the key to solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue does not lie with China. "The cause and crux of the Korean Peninsula issue does not lie with China, nor does the key to solving the issue," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing. Still, Hua said China will seek a solution, calling for joint efforts by all sides under the framework of the Six-Party Talks. The talks, which brought together the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, stalled in December 2008. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday that China's approach to the DPRK "has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual". China has said it was not notified before the DPRK conducted what it said was a hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday and "firmly opposed" the test. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Wang told Kerry that Beijing is willing to communicate with all parties, including the US, on the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Also on Friday, Reuters cited a source as saying that the DPRK is seeking a peace treaty involving the US, China and the ROK to formally end the Korean War, and will not stop its nuclear tests until it gets one. "This explosion is mainly for the United States to see," the source said, referring to the nuclear test. "The main objective is to persuade the United States to enter into four-country negotiations to end the war so that there can be everlasting peace on the Korean Peninsula." Fan Jishe, a researcher of US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "China has done much more than what it should do on the issue." He said the US did not want to make tangible efforts, including talking about signing a peace treaty, but sought to shift its responsibilities to China. Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary on Friday that "hostile US policy is the key reason behind the DPRK's nuclear brinkmanship". On Sunday, a US B-52 bomber, capable of delivering a nuclear missile, flew over the Republic of Korea. The long-range bomber, which left from the US Anderson base on Guam on Sunday morning, conducted a low-level flight over the ROK's Osan air base at about noon, the ROK's Yonhap news agency reported. The US military said the B-52 was joined by South Korean F-15 and US F-16 fighters before it returned to its base on Guam after the flight. The ROK and US air forces made the joint announcement when the B-52 arrived, Yonhap reported. The US and the ROK militaries are reportedly considering additional retaliatory measures, including the deployment in the ROK of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is currently in Yokosuka, Japan. The retaliation also includes the deployment of a US nuclear-powered submarine and F-22 stealth fighter. Zhang Liangui, an expert in Korean studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the B-52 flight is a provocation aimed at Pyongyang. "It remains to be seen if the ... flight is a one-time mission or just the start of a sequence of missions. It is also unclear if such a mission is just a protest or a prelude to further action," Zhang said. lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily USA 01/11/2016 page1) Guangxi boosts ASEAN trade Updated: 2016-01-13 08:22 By Huo Yan in Nanning(China Daily USA) The countryside in Luzhai county, Liuzhou city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has become a new tourist attraction. Photos Provided to China Daily Editor's Note: The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, which has a long history of contact with Southeast Asia, thanks to its affinity in language, culture and customs, is set to become China's pathway to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, forming a new strategic pivot in Southwest and Central China's opening up. China Daily spoke with Peng Qinghua, the region's Party chief, to find out more. Q: Guangxi was an important point along the ancient maritime Silk Road. How do you define Guangxi's position in China's Belt and Road Initiative today? Peng: In March last year, President Xi Jinping urged Guangxi to become China's pathway to ASEAN, a new strategic pivot in Southwest and Central China's opening up, and a dynamic portal connecting the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt. The Belt and Road Initiative extends China's opening-up frontiers to West China and the border regions, making Guangxi a direct beneficiary. Guangxi has a long history of contact with Southeast Asia, thanks to its affinity in language, culture and customs. More than 2,000 years ago, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Hepu, a county in southern Guangxi, had shipping lines to India and Sri Lanka, and gradually developed into an important departure port on the ancient maritime Silk Road to Asia's south and southeast. The southeast China economic circle, the South China economic circle and ASEAN's economic circle overlap in Guangxi, the most convenient outlet to the sea for Southwest China. Q: What will Guangxi do to transform President Xi's hope into reality? Peng: Guangxi will take the opportunity of the "Belt and Road" strategy to promote interconnectivity and further opening-up with Southeast Asia. Guangxi is at the crossroads of the economic belt from Kunming to the Greater Mekong Subregion and the economic corridor for Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar. The economic belt extends to Central Asia through Guiyang, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Lanzhou, and the corridor connects Hunan, Hubei and Central China. Guangxi will construct the Xijiang River Economic Belt and make the river a golden waterway to the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong and Macao. Meanwhile, the construction and upgrading of the high-speed road and railway networks connecting Guangxi to the Pearl River Delta will also be speeded up. To the ASEAN region, Guangxi will build a pathway from Nanning to the Indo-China Peninsula and an economic corridor from Nanning to Singapore. We will expedite the construction of the China-ASEAN Port City Cooperation network, which includes the Beibu Gulf ports in Guangxi. Guangxi has an annual cargo handling capacity of nearly 250 million metric tons in its sea ports, more than 100 million tons of cargo-handling capacity in its river ports, and 35 cargo shipping lines to 45 ports in ASEAN countries. The airport in Nanning handles 10 million passenger trips a year, and has routes to 24 airports outside of the Chinese mainland. Guilin, a global tourist attraction in Guangxi, offers 72-hour visa-free transit stays for travelers from 51 countries. By 2020, Guangxi will have more shipping lines and air routes to ASEAN countries, and more cross border optical cables to Southeast Asia. Q: Guangxi is the permanent host for the China-ASEAN Expo. You led a delegation to Brunei, Thailand and South Korea in April to promote the expo. How did your visits go? Peng: The expo has had 12 sessions since 2004, and more than 50 state leaders and 2,300 ministers have participated. The expo has become a window for Chinese enterprises to enter ASEAN, and a bridge for ASEAN commodities to enter the Chinese market. I visited the three countries to promote the expo as a platform, and to explore new cooperation mechanisms. The Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor is an important component of the Belt and Road Initiative. During my visit, the two sides reached agreements on port cooperation, construction of an agricultural-industrial park and a Chinese medicine industrial park, as well as cooperation in planting rice paddies and raising oysters. During my visit to Thailand, the China-ASEAN Expo organized an exhibition of Chinese and Thai commodities and enterprises, which was warmly welcomed by locals, enhanced the expo's influence and created new platforms for Chinese corporations to enter Thailand. During my visit to South Korea, I paid special attention to introducing Guangxi's unique strengths and opportunities in its future development, and extended a warm invitation to its entrepreneurs and investors to visit Guangxi, take part in the expo and make Guangxi a base for exploring the ASEAN market. Q: Guangxi's foreign trade exceeded $40 billion in the first eleven months of last year, up 12.9 percent year-on-year. China's overall foreign trade declined, so how did Guangxi register such a remarkable increase? Peng: Guangxi has maintained a robust momentum in its foreign trade in recent years, rising from $23.33 billion in 2011 to $40.55 billion in 2014. Guangxi's trade with ASEAN rose from $9.56 billion to $19.89 billion. From January to November last year, Guangxi's foreign trade hit $40.12 billion, of which $20.33 billion was with ASEAN. Strong complementarity, bright prospects and great development potential for cooperation between Guangxi and ASEAN, which were released with the construction and upgrading of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, constitute a solid foundation for the fast increase in trade. The establishment of national key development pilot zones, border financial reform pilot zones and he China-Vietnam cross-border economic cooperation zone, the implementation of a series of reforms facilitating trade convenience in customs clearance, as well as the prospering of the service trade and processing industry in the border region all boosted Guangxi's trade with ASEAN. Q: How does Guangxi cooperate with ASEAN countries industrially? Peng: We developed a port industry cluster in the Beibu Gulf, created some cooperation platforms that included the Qinzhou bonded port area, the Pingxiang bonded area, the Nanning bonded area, the Beihai export industry zone, the Dongxing opening-up pilot zone, a border financial reform pilot zone, a China-Vietnam cross-border economic cooperation zone, the Detian-Ban Gioc tourism cooperation zone and a border opening-up economic belt. Currently, many enterprises from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have set up branches in Guangxi. China-Malaysia industrial parks in Qinzhou and Kuantan in Malaysia have embraced their first batch of enterprises. The China-Indonesia economic and trade cooperation one has attracted 27 businesses so far, and the China-Thailand industrial park in Chongzuo has carried out nine cooperation programs with businesses from the two countries. We also encouraged Guangxi businesses to go into the ASEAN market. By the end of 2014, 563 Guangxi enterprises had investments abroad, mostly in ASEAN countries, invested in almost all of their main industries. Within the first 10 months of last year, Guangxi had invested $161 million in ASEAN countries, 10 times that in the same period last year. Guangxi enterprises rely more on industrial parks as a platform in foreign countries than before. Q: Could you describe Guangxi's cooperation with Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao? Peng: We pay special attention to attracting investments from those three places through various promotional activities. Currently, 6,625 Hong Kong enterprises have invested $12.6 billion in Guangxi, accounting for nearly half of the investment from outside the Chinese mainland. Guangdong's total investment in Guangxi is more than 1 trillion yuan. Apart from investment, these enterprises bring advanced technology and management models to Guangxi. And Guangxi's opening-up to Southeast Asia will give these Pearl River Delta enterprises more opportunities in the ASEAN market. Q: What will Guangxi seek to accomplish in opening-up and international cooperation during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20)? Peng: Guangxi will connect with Southeast Asia through five networks: high-speed roads, high-speed railways, ports, airports and information. Guangxi will integrate the final 20 percent of its remote counties into the high-speed railway system, make all of its cities accessible by high-speed rail and turn all of it major rivers into water transportation channels. Guangxi will continue to host the China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, and make efforts to make Nanning the first choice for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's subcenter to ASEAN and the China-ASEAN Investment Promotion Center. Guangxi will encourage enterprises in iron and steel, construction materials, automobiles, engineering machinery and agricultural machinery to pay more attention to overseas markets and seek opportunities for capacity cooperation with foreign partners. Guangxi will open more fields for foreign investment through the "negative list" model, further simplify the procedures for customs clearance, open more service sectors to partners from Hong Kong and Macao, promote e-commerce in the ASEAN market, increase cultural exchanges and communications between young people. Q: How will Guangxi eliminate poverty by 2020, as required by the central government? Peng: By the end of 2014, 5.38 million rural residents in Guangxi lived on less than $1.25 a day. The government organized 250,000 grassroots civil servants to visit each of these families to understand their practical difficulties and conditions. Heads of governments at various levels take the main responsibilities for poverty alleviation, and their performance will be judged on their accomplishments. The government will help to develop home workshops and e-commerce, create jobs for the poor, relocate people living in inhospitable places, provide a special ecological compensation fund for poor people living in places with a fragile ecology to dissuade them from developing polluting industries, improve education and medical care for the needy and promote border trade. The government should cover the poor with a basic welfare net, and provide free vocational training and loan-interest subsidies to arm poor farmers with skills and funding. Li Yang in Beijing contributed to this story. huoyan@chinadaily.com.cn Quick Biography Name: Peng Qinghua From: Born in 1957 in Daye, Hubei province Education: Graduated from Peking University in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy Employment: He worked in the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1983 to 2003, and the Liaison Office of the Central Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from 2003 to 2012 before serving as Party chief of Guangxi. Source: Guangxi government Guangxi at a glance The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region covers an area of 236,700 square kilometers, roughly three-quarters the size of Scotland, and has a population of about 47.54 million. Guangxi's gross domestic product in 2014 was $260 billion, similar to that of Ireland. Guangxi is well-known in China for its ethnic culture, fresh fruit and seafood, and beautiful natural vistas. Guangxi borders Vietnam and has three big ports - Qinzhou, Beihai and Fang chenggang - on the Beibu Gulf coastline. They are important bases for Guangxi's trade with Southeast Asia and its development of emerging industries. The picturesque Karst landscape in northern Guangxi has made Guilin a household name in China. The cities of Hechi, Chongzuo and Baise in the west have rich nonferrous metal resources, and are home to many ethnic groups of people, including the Zhuang, Miao, Yao and Dong. Nanning and Liuzhou are political and industrial centers, respectively. Liuzhou produces more than 2 million automobiles a year, and is the fifth largest auto manufacturing city in China. The cities of Hezhou, Wuzhou and Yulin in the east of Guangxi, bordering Guangdong province, are home to millions of migrant workers. Source: Guangxi government (China Daily USA 01/13/2016 page7) Maldives magic Updated: 2016-01-13 08:10 By Yang Feiyue(China Daily USA) The enchanting archipelago is working to conjure new allure to draw record numbers of Chinese. Yang Feiyue reports. New flights, improved tourism infrastructure and promotional programs are expected to draw new waves of Chinese to the Maldives, especially as the island nation celebrates its Year of Tourism in 2016. Mega Maldives Airlines will launch weekly direct flights connecting Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province, and Ibrahim Nasir International Airport from Feb 1. The airline operates about 30 percent of flights between the two countries, strategy and business development director Mifzal Ahmed says. It currently runs routes from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao. "Zhengzhou is the gateway to Central China, and we think it's a market that will grow," Ahmed says. Flights from Shenyang, capital of northeastern China's Liaoning province, will also be developed in early 2016, Ahmed says, adding that Maldivian, the country's national carrier, is also planning new routes. Mega will also offer free and discounted tickets to Chinese on social media. Air China will soon start direct flights from Southwest China's Chongqing. Chinese are already the strongest force in the Maldives' pillar tourism industry. "President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the Maldives (in 2014) and encouraged Chinese tourists to travel in the Maldives, which has produced a positive effect on local tourism development," says Mohamed Haris, acting managing director of the country's tourism authority. Roughly 323,000 Chinese tourists visited in 2015's first 10 months. The number totaled 360,000 in 2014, accounting for one-third of inbound travelers, up 9.6 percent over the previous year. The archipelago's authorities hope to reach half a million in 2016. It announced big prizes for this year's first and 500,000th Chinese tourist. The Maldives was the third-most popular island destination for travelers who booked through China's biggest online travel agency, Ctrip, during last National Day Golden Week holiday, after Thailand's Phuket and South Korea's Jeju. The travel agency reported a five-fold increase in bookings on Nov 11, a day after the Maldives lifted its state of emergency declared following an alleged assassination attempt on the country's president. The state of emergency was initially declared for 30 days but lifted after just a week. More than 2,000 individual visitors signed up for December visits through Ctrip. "We ensure that our tourists are well taken care of because they're our bread and butter," Maldivian ambassador to China Mohamed Faisal says. "It's like business as usual." The Maldivian side is working with such major Chinese travel agencies as Ctrip, Tuniu and China CYTS Tours Holding. China is also supporting many of the 60 ongoing tourism-infrastructure projects, including a bridge to connect the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport to the capital, Male, by 2018. The bridge will enable visitors to drive to Male in three minutes, avoiding delays caused by turbulent seas. The airport's annual capacity will be expanded to accommodate 7 million passengers that year. The government hopes to by then lure 1.5 million Chinese annually. "We have planned major events internationally and locally," Haris says. The country staged road shows in Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Beijing to introduce new sites in late December. More will be hosted across China this year, as will surf and photography competitions. The Maldives will also upgrade its Chinese-language tourism website. Airports and resorts now offer Chinese-language services and UnionPay banking. The October National Day holiday and Spring Festival, which this year falls in early February, are peak travel periods for Chinese. "The Maldives is an all-year destination," Faisal says. Substantial flight and hotel discounts will be offered in March and April. Resorts are developing itineraries specially for Chinese, whose stays average five days - half of the European travelers'. These cram in more activities, such as fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving, into each day. The Maldives hopes to introduce new offerings to Chinese, such as small guesthouses on uninhabited islands and "safari boats" with dozens of rooms that are like hotels at sea. The country has about 180 such vessels at the moment and is building about 40 a year. All-inclusive rooms cost about $200 a night. Indeed, these developments may mean smooth sailing for increasing inbound Chinese tourism to an already popular island getaway. Contact the writer at yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn The island nation of Maldives offers visitors a variety of activities, such as fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving. It has become one of the most popular destinations for Chinese travelers. Photos Provided To China Daily (China Daily USA 01/13/2016 page9) Deepen reform to ease students' burden Updated: 2016-01-12 10:47 By Xiong Bingqi(China Daily) Test takers make final preparations for the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination in Fuyang, Anhui province, before the exam started on Saturday. [Photo by LU QIJIAN/CHINA DAILY] Chinese students have been busy with exams this week, and many of the questions in their papers have left even their parents puzzled. Just a few days ago, a mother with a PhD was reportedly perplexed by her childs kindergarten homework. Amid all this comes the news that British education authorities have required students to learn the 12 by 12 multiplication table only before passing out of primary schools, something that is mandatory for pupils in grade 2 in China, raising the question: Is it necessary for Chinese students to study so much ahead of British children? Many people have been appealing to education authorities to ease Chinese students' burden. The education authorities have responded by banning extra classes and reducing the number of tests. But Chinese students still have to struggle. First, the distribution of compulsory education resources in China is unbalanced. So, to get their children admitted to good schools, parents overburden them with lessons during the preschool period. Although parents know that forcing their children to study beyond their capacity at a very early stage is not good for their health and mental development, they have no other choice. Second, though the national college entrance examination has undergone reforms over the past years, the basic rule of admission based on test scores has not changed. In fact, the evaluation and admission system has made basic education more difficult, as the aim of tests is not to evaluate students capacity and level, but to rank them. No matter how many marks a student scores in an exam, what matters is only his/her ranking. And its common to hear parents blaming their children for getting 97 out of a maximum 100 points in an exam, because the score places them third from the bottom in their classes. Under such a score-focused education system, students have to wrack their brains to reduce the number of errors even if an exam is not so difficult. No reason to deny China market economy status Updated: 2016-01-12 10:47 By Xu Man(China Daily) The European Union will take the first step on Wednesday to debate on whether to grant China market economy status. The Clause 2 of Article 15 of the Protocol of Chinas Accession to the World Trade Organization says that when another WTO member launches an anti-dumping investigation into the products imported from China, it should not use the prices of products in Chinas domestic market but rather the prices of those products from a third (alternative) country as comparison. This discriminatory practice, to be maintained for 15 years that is, until the end of 2016 has forced Chinese enterprises to often face unfair anti-dumping investigations by other countries. The refusal to grant China rights similar to those enjoyed by other WTO countries has dealt heavy blows to Chinese companies. And its time the WTO prevented other members to stop taking advantage of the discriminatory policy which in a way would also mean recognizing China as a market economy. China is now the worlds largest trading country, and acknowledging it as a market economy would be conducive to promoting global trade. China has been urging other WTO members to recognize it as a market economy, and quite a few, including Russia, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia, have done so. But the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada and some regional trade organizations have yet granted China market economy status. Within the EU, Germany and the United Kingdom have shown a positive attitude toward the move, but some other EU members seem intent on continuing their protectionist policies for fear of losing their advantages in the steel, ceramic, textile and solar power sectors. Some countries are also worried that recognizing China as a market economy will make it more difficult for them to impose anti-dumping charges on China. And some US officials have objected to the EUs move to recognize China as a market economy, arguing that the move would be unfavorable for the US and EU members. Party watchdog must target lazy, incompetent officials Updated: 2016-01-13 07:54 (China Daily) Criminal justice: Felons convicted of serious corruption would be prohibited from seeking shorter sentences, under a third reading of the draft amendment to the Criminal Law. The amendment aims to "safeguard judicial fairness". China Daily The sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the top anti-graft body, opened on Tuesday and will last until Thursday. The speeches in the last couple of weeks by top graft-buster Wang Qishan have sent the message that the momentum of the anti-graft campaign will not slacken and it is aimed at improving governance. Top Party leader Xi Jinping has called for the establishment of clean and efficient governance. As far as governing efficiency is concerned, making China's governments at all levels work as they should is no less important than curbing abuses of power. What has happened in Sanhe in North China's Hebei province is a case in point. Over the last seven years, the unlicensed mining of dolomite ore and calcium carbonate has continued intermittently, which has caused heavy air pollution and serious damage to the local ecology. In the most recent illegal mining rush in December, about 100,000 tons of ore were mined during a single night. Why can't the local government stop such illegal activities? The local government has cited the deficiencies of the local police force and the difficulty in collecting evidence as reasons for its inability to stop the illegal mining, but this is simply an attempt to shirk the blame for its lack of governing competence. No matter how clean the leaders and officials of this government are, they have done a very bad job in protecting the mineral resources that belong to the State from being stolen and the local ecology from being damaged by the illegal mining. For the local officials in charge, both the discipline of the Party and the State law should show no leniency to their poor governance. The strict management of the governing Party does not only mean punishing corrupt elements. It also requires stronger supervision over the work efficiency of Party members, especially leading officials. It is, at the very least, a dereliction of duty for a government employee to be paid without doing any work. And this is as detrimental to the credibility of both the Party and government as trading power for interest. The current CCDI session should also work out ways to deal with lazy and irresponsible officials. China-made Cadillac to be sold in US: GM Updated: 2016-01-13 12:00 By Paul Welitzkin in New York(China Daily USA) GM to also import plug-in version of CT6 luxury sedan Two days after unveiling the first new vehicle from Detroit's Big 3 imported from China, General Motors Co said it also will import the plug-in hybrid version of the Cadillac CT6 luxury sedan to the US from the mainland. The plug-in hybrid CT6 will be made at a plant in China. GM also plans to make the CT6 at a plant in Detroit. Sean McAlinden, vice-president for strategic studies and chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said the expected small size of the potential market for the plug-in hybrid CT6 is a major reason why GM will build it in China. "Hybrid sales were off by 20 percent in the US last year due to low gasoline prices (below $2 a gallon). So the hybrid CT6 would not sell well in the US just like the hybrid Lexus models. We only need a few," McAlinden said in an e-mail. McAlinden said the Detroit plant where the CT6 will be built " will also start to produce the Chevrolet Camaro next year, which will fill out capacity at that plant." The plug-in hybrid CT6 will also be sold in China. "Hybrids make great sense in China compared to EVs (electric vehicles) because of the heavy use of coal to produce electricity," noted McAlinden. GM's move to sell the two Chinese-made vehicles shows that the company is confident in the quality of the products that are produced on the mainland. "Longer term, we should see more of this because GM's Chinese operations have every capability required to provide cars for North America," Eric Noble, president of CarLab, a consulting firm in Orange, California, told Bloomberg. "They would import here instead of from Europe because Chinese consumer tastes align more closely to American tastes than Europe's ever did." Meanwhile, GM's chief US rival, Ford Motor Co, unveiled a new Lincoln Continental full-size sedan Tuesday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It is scheduled to go on sale in the US and China later this year. Lincoln is reviving the Continental as part of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar comeback in which China is expected to play a major role. "We believe there will be a sizable market for this vehicle in the US and China," Lincoln spokesman Stephane Cesareo told China Daily in 2015. Cesareo said the company hopes to have 60 dealerships in the country by the end of 2016. "China represents a critical part of our strategy," he added. "Our goal is to develop a strong network of dealers in the country's major cities." paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com (China Daily USA 01/13/2016 page2) Kaity Tong returns to prime-time Updated: 2016-01-14 06:57 By HONG XIAO(chinadaily.com.cn) Chinese-American news anchor Kaity Tong has returned to weekday prime-time television, co-anchoring a new 6:30-7 pm newscast on WPIX 11 with Brenda Blackmon. "We are thrilled to pair New York news icons Brenda and Kaity at the anchor desk of WPIX 11s newest newscast," said Rich Graziano, president of WPIX 11, in an announcement. With such a rich history in the market, Brenda and Kaity will be a powerhouse anchor duo at 6:30pm, the only local news in New York." Joining WPIX 11 in 1992, Tong co-anchored the stations 10 pm newscast through 2010 and weekend broadcasts after that, becoming one of the most respected and popular local news anchors in the New York market. Born in 1947 in Qingdao, Shandong province, Tong arrived in the US with her family at the age of four and settled in Washington, DC. Tong began her broadcasting career while working on her doctorate in Chinese and Japanese literature at Stanford in the 1970s. She worked as morning editor and producer for KCBS All-News Radio in San Francisco, the top all-news station in the Bay Area at the time. Tong was inspired to become a journalist by her great-uncle Hollington K. Tong, an ambassador to the US from China as well as an acclaimed author, and her mother, a 76th-generation descendant of Confucius, who worked for the Voice of America as a broadcaster and producer in Washington. "I attribute much of my success to my parents, who were very strict about doing well in school, emphasizing studies before play," Tong said. "I especially thank my mother who showed me how to be strong, and determined, even when the going was tough. She taught me to be a survivor and to never give up," Tong added. In 1991, Tong was fired from WABC-TV Channel 7, where she had been working as co-anchor since 1981. The firing caused considerable outrage among the Asian community as rumors spread that Tong's Chinese-American background and her age, which was over 40 at that time, were the reasons she was let go. Tong said she was so grateful for those Chinese who were so supportive of her. "I want to take this chance to let them know that was truly a turning point in my life to have that kind of support from my people, the Chinese people, that I just wont ever forget it," Tong said. As a model of success of a Chinese person making it in the American mainstream market, Tong received a Distinguished Woman award from the Chinese-American Planning Council and Champion of Excellence Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans. Talking about her new broadcast, Tong said, "Brenda Blackmon and I are two women of color she is African American and I'm Chinese American and two women of a certain age we are not 28," she added with a laugh. Because of the revolution in news distribution, Tong joked that her new program is for those who still want to sit in front of the TV and know whats going on in their communities and their boroughs. Blast in Istanbul kills 10 Updated: 2016-01-13 09:17 (Xinhua) Police cordon off Sultanahmet Square after an explosion here in Istanbul, Turkey, January 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] ISTANBUL - At least 10 people have been killed and 15 others wounded in an explosion that hit Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed on a Syrian suicide bomber. The blast, so huge that it could be heard in neighboring districts, took place at around 10:15 local time (0815 GMT) at the square which a renowned tourist hub, killing 10 people and wounding 15 others, according to a statement by Istanbul governor's office. "I was here when the explosion happened ... I heard a very big sound of explosion. The earth below my feet was shaken. Then I felt a burnt smell. Everyone was running upward toward the incident place. Within five minutes the area was full of police and ambulances," an eyewitness told Xinhua. Addressing a gathering of ambassadors in Ankara, President Erdogan referred to a Syrian suicide bomber as the culprit, noting there were foreign citizens among the dead. "This incident once again has shown us that we have to stay united against terrorism," he added. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held an emergency meeting in Ankara with the interior minister and security chiefs after the bombing. Turkey has suffered from a series of deadly attacks. In July 2015, a bombing attack in the border town of Suruc in southeastern Turkey left 34 pro-Kurdish and left-wing activists killed. In October, twin suicide bombings hit the capital city Ankara, claiming a total of 103 lives. Both were blamed on the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Meanwhile, Turkey is also cracking down on the home-grown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is branded as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union as well. The Turkish military said Sunday that a total of 448 PKK militants had been killed in counter-terrorism operations in southeastern Turkey, where tensions have been running high, since mid-December. On Jan 6, a woman carried out a suicide bombing attack on a police station in Istanbul's Sultanahmet, leaving an officer dead and another injured. Aussie police officer shot by patient at hospital Updated: 2016-01-13 11:13 (Xinhua) SYDNEY - An Australian police officer and a security guard are in a critical but stable conditions after an alleged confrontation with a man who was threatening doctors with scissors at a local hospital. Local authorities on Wednesday said a New South Wales Police officer and a security guard were both shot in the leg following an altercation with a man who grabbed the officer's gun at Penrith Hospital in Sydney's Western suburbs late on Tuesday night. Unconfirmed media reports suggest the man held scissors to a female doctor's throat after she had intervened in an argument before the police and security officers had arrived to resolve the situation. New South Wales Police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters outside the hospital on Wednesday the officer who was shot in his left thigh is in a "critical but stable condition", and the incident is not terror-related despite some commentary suggesting otherwise. "(Police) are looking at other issues at play in this story," Burn said. A police spokesperson could not confirm to Xinhua if the 39-year-old alleged attacker, who has been arrested on a series of charges including intent to murder, was under the influence of drugs. The security guard was shot in the calf and remains in a stable condition. Australia's Health Services Union (HSU) secretary Gerard Hayes said the latest incident is just another in a string of attacks against security guards at hospitals as they handle violent patients and visitors. "We have been calling for more powers for hospital security officers for several years but the government has refused to do anything more than instruct our members to call the police in the event of problems at hospitals," Hayes said in a statement. Iran confirms detention of 10 US marines Updated: 2016-01-13 14:42 (Xinhua) TEHRAN/WASHINGTON - Iranian troops have seized two US Navy boats with 10 marines on board after the boats entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday. "At 16:30 (1300 GMT) Tuesday, two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement. The statement added that the US marines are "in good health and being kept in a proper location." "Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces," it said. According to the statement, two aircraft carriers -- the USS Harry S. Truman and French Charles de Gaulle -- were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured. Earlier in the day, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that the two boats were captured by naval forces of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near Farsi island, 2 km inside Iranian territorial waters. Beijing urges caution as Seoul considers THAAD missile system Updated: 2016-01-13 18:58 By ZHANG YUNBI(chinadaily.com.cn) As Seoul announced on Wednesday it was considering deploying the THAAD advance missile defense system, Beijing responded that "hopefully relevant countries will act cautiously and properly to tackle the issue". Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye, after delivering her new year address on Wednesday, told a news conference in the ROK capital that Seoul will review allowing US forces to deploy the THAAD advance missile defense system for national security reasons, the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency reported. In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news conference in Beijing that China's position regarding the anti-missile issue is "consistent and clear". "As one country seeks its own security, it must consider the security interests of other countries as well as the peace and stability of the region," Hong said. Hong said currently "the Korean peninsula situation is of great sensitivity", and the relevant countries, hopefully, will serve the big picture of ensuring regional peace and stability, and cautiously and properly tackle the issue. Europe urged to grant China market economy status Updated: 2016-01-13 20:01 By Fu Jing in Brussels(chinadaily.com.cn) Chinese and European opinion leaders have asked Brussels to grant Beijing market economy status "without hesitation" while the European Union has begun a year-long procedure to decide whether such standing should be granted. The European Commission, the 28-member states' executive was expected to debate among commissioners on Wednesday giving an initial decision while Beijing says it should be granted market economy status automatically on December 11 this year, 15 years after China's World Trade Organization accession. A European Commission spokesperson responded by email to China Daily, saying that "we could not confirm this" but a reliable source confirmed the procedure had begun. The source said the Commission will be giving preliminary assessment and then the 28 member states should be voicing their opinions on the decision. The European Parliament is expected to have the final say. So far, the European Commission is inclined to give China such status, which will allow exports to the European market to have less chance of being charged higher anti-dumping taxes. Fearing competitive Chinese exports may grab greater market share, the United States has been lobbying the European Union to say no. "China should be granted market economy status for the simple reason that China's accession to the World Trade Organization made that abundantly clear," said Fredrik Erixon, director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy. Erixon said there is no way for Europe to maintain current practices in its trade defense investigations of Chinese companies, using companies in other markets as proxies, unless it is going to err on the wrong side of WTO law. "There are forces in the EU that want to deny China that right, mostly for protectionist reasons," said Erixon. He continued that there are those who think it is clever to threaten China with denied accession to market economy status in order to negotiate other trade benefits from China. "That strategy is anything but clever," said Erixon. Erixon has warned that it will force a political dispute with China over an issue where China already made its concessions in its WTO accession obligations - and it will prevent both sides from engaging in more meaningful discussions about a positive trade agenda between the two. He Dongni, vice-president of the China Institute of Reform and Development said the European Union should note the fact that China has already make rapid progress in market-oriented reform while around 80 countries in the world have already granted China such treatment. "My opinion is that the European Union should take such action as early as possible because this will help penetrate deeper into each other's markets after lifting protectionism measures," said He. "The European Union will be benefiting for its increased market access to China, allowing it to upgrade its industrial chain". Chinatown gang leader convicted of murder Updated: 2016-01-13 12:00 By Lia Zhu in San Francisco(China Daily USA) A longtime gang kingpin in San Francisco's Chinatown has been convicted of murder and various racketeering charges and could get life when he is sentenced on March 23, according to the US attorney's office of Northern District of California. Kwok Cheung Chow, 55, also known as Raymond Chow or "Ha Jai", meaning "Shrimp Boy" in Chinese, was the "dragonhead", or leader, of a Chinese-American organized crime gang called "Chee Kung Tong". The group, transformed from a 100-year-old cultural organization into a racketeering enterprise, was found to have committed violent crimes and trafficked narcotics and stolen goods. A federal jury on Jan 8 convicted Chow on charges of racketeering, murder, money laundering and conspiracy. In completing its verdict form, the jury found Chow guilty of all 162 of the charges leveled against him. The charges included 125 counts of money laundering, aiding and abetting the laundering of proceeds from narcotics sales, conspiring to deal in illegal sales of goods (including 50 cases of Hennessy XO and 27 cases of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch) and engaging in the illegal sale of more than 10,000 cartons of cigarettes. Chow was charged with and convicted of arranging the murder of Allen Leung, an official of Chee Kung Tong, in a dispute over money in 2006. He was also convicted of conspiring with others to murder Jim Tat Kong, a gang member, in 2013. Chow was arrested on March 26, 2014, with several others, including Leland Yee, a former California state senator who has pleaded guilty to racketeering and is awaiting sentencing. The prosecution is the result of a nearly five-year undercover investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Marshals Service, the San Francisco Police Department Gang Task Force, and others. "This conviction represents a just and final end to Mr Chow's long-running and deadly criminal career," said FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson in a Monday press release from the US attorney's office. liazhu@chinadailyusa.com (China Daily USA 01/13/2016 page2) Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. For a little while, there. MAGA had a lot of faith that the Durham investigation was going to lead to some kind of version of the Qanon &q... I have a very similar kitchen stove exhaust fan like Monicas. In fact, I had one at my last home that I thought was so powerful it would su... Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), the second largest pension fund in Canada after Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), is looking to open an office in India to invest here directly, said an executive aware of the fund managers plans. CDPD, which manages $240 billion of depositors money, has already hired some executives and is looking for properties, the executive added. As a large investor in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure and real estate, CDPD could look at similar investments here. CDPQs real estate arm, Ivanhoe Cambridge, had entered India in 2007 and shut its office in 2011. CDPQs PE arm, SITQ, also shelved plans to invest in Indian real estate as it could not find the right opportunities. CDPQ & CPPIB: AT A GLANCE CDPQ is second largest pension fund after CPPIB in Canada CDPQ manages funds worth $ 240 billion of Canadian depositors CDPQ is one of the top 10 real estate investors in the world CPPIB manages $ 272 billion of funds CPPIB has invested $ 2 billion in India Set up in 1965, CDPQ is one of the largest institutional fund managers in Canada and North America. A leading PE investor in Canada, it is also one of the 10 largest real estate asset managers in the world. A mail to CDPQ did not elicit any response. The trend of limited partners opening their offices to invest directly here is rising. In October last year, CPPIB opened a 12,000-sq ft in office at Maker Maxity in Mumbais Bandra Kurla Complex. A $272-billion pension fund manager, it has already hired half a dozen full-time employees in the office. Earlier, it had appointed Vikram Gandhi, a former New York-based Credit Suisse executive, as an advisor for direct deal opportunities in the country. CPPIB started investing in India since 2010. It owns a 3.9 per cent stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank; has made $332 investment in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects; has a $200-million joint venture with Shapoorji Pallonji; and has made a $300-million investment commitment with Renuka Ramnaths Multiples Alternate Asset Management. A mail to the CPPIB spokesperson did not elicit response. CPPIB has been investing in India since 2010 and we view it as a key growth market that aligns with our strategy of seeking investments in markets that we believe will deliver attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns, said Mark Wiseman, president and chief executive officer, CPPIB, had said after announcing the opening of the Mumbai office in October 2015. The opening of an office in Mumbai allows CPPIB to develop local expertise, build important partnerships and access investment opportunities that may not otherwise have been available. Wiseman added. From the Mumbai office, CPPIB will focus primarily on growing its portfolio in the country. GIC, another limited partner and Singapore Governments sovereign fund, also has a 5,000-sq ft office in Maker Maxity, Bandra Kurla Complex. GIC is aggressive on India and it has done a Rs 1,992-crore deal with DLF for residential properties. It runs a real estate NBFC with KKR, and runs two platforms with Ascendas and Brigade for property development and investment. Besides, GIC invests in listed securities and has made couple of investments in e-commerce space. Most of the limited partners want to increase their exposure in India given that their comfort on Russia, and Brazil is going down, said a senior fund manager who did not want to be quoted. Qatar Investment Authority and Singapores Temasek also have offices in India. Another senior executive who has a joint venture with a global fund said if limited partners directly invest in Indian assets, it would severely impact the private equity business here. The fund managers who are dependent on fee from limited partners would find it difficult to raise new funds. French telecom major Orange has signed a deal with Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV for acquiring its operations in two African countries, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. The companies did not reveal the size of the deal but analysts said it could be worth $800-900 million. The companies had signed an initial agreement in July 2015 for the acquisition of Airtels operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo-Brazzaville. The agreement over the latter two countries has lapsed. The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of Airtels two subsidiaries for the year ended March 2016, and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtels Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in these two countries at that time. The completion of these transactions was subject to approval by the competent authorities, the company said. Orange will acquire all the two companies share capital. The consolidated yearly revenue of the two is about ^275 million, according to a statement from Bharti Airtel. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Oranges subsidiaries in Cote dIvoire and Senegal, and will add 5.5 million new customers to Oranges subscriber base. Over the last two years, Airtel has raised $1.7 billion from the sale of 8,300 telecom towers in Africa. It is divesting 15,000 towers to different companies in 13 countries in the region to reduce its debt. Airtel, Indias largest telecom player, acquired the assets of Zain Telecom in 17 countries in Africa in 2010 for $10.7 billion in one of the largest acquisitions by an Indian telecom firm. Airtel had raised $9 billion in debt for its African foray. After striking Wednesday's deal for two countries, Airtel has now operations in 15 countries in Africa. Besides, it has over 80 million subscribers in Africa and after this deal, they will be left with 74.5 million users.In an analyst note, Kotak said the two operations being sold have an FY2016E estimated revenues of US$300 mn and we understand that the Ebitda margins are close to 40 per cent for these two combined (significantly higher than Bhartis overall Africa margins of about 20 per cent). "This implies an overall transaction value (EV) of $950 mn or thereabouts," the note said. Airtel has said it has no plans to exit Africa, though analysts say todays deal could be the precursor. An analyst based in Mumbai said Airtel had received good valuation for the two companies because buyers preferred French-speaking to English-speaking markets or Nigeria. We remain fully committed to our Africa operations and will continue to invest in its growth and building a profitable business and accordingly have no plan to exit. These (four) countries represent a relatively small percentage of our Africa business. The proposed transaction along with our recent strategic divestment of towers will help us focus on the remaining countries, Airtel had said, when the initial agreement with Orange was announced. Airtels Africa business is running in losses since 2010. Airtels net debt at the end of 2014-15 stood at over $10.67 billion, while the net loss was $585 million on revenue of $4.2 billion from its African operations. The company has missed targets of 100 million African subscribers (42 million at the time of acquisition), $5 billion revenue ($3.6 billion at time of acquisition) and $2 billion Ebidta by March 2013. OUT OF AFRICA Glenmark Pharmaceuticals aims to keep growing its base business by 18-20 per cent per annum over the next ten years. The drug maker also aims transition to an innovative company with new drug portfolio contributing 30 per cent to the total revenues by 2025. As part of its strategic priorities for the next decade, the Mumbai-based firm also wants to build leadership position in various therapeutic segments, including dermatology and cancer treatment drugs. In a regulatory filing to the BSE, the company said it aims to "continue to grow base business at 18-20 per cent per annum over the next decade." The company also plans to "build global leadership position across core therapy areas of dermatology, respiratory and oncology", it added. Besides the drug firm aims transition to an innovative company with 30 per cent of revenues generated from the innovative portfolio by the year 2025, it said. It also plans to focus on organic growth and leverage internal capabilities and commercial footprint across markets, the company added. Glenmark had reported consolidated net sales of Rs 6,595.25 crore for 2014-15 financial year. Glenmark has a significant presence in branded generics markets across emerging economies, including India. Its subsidiary Glenmark Generics Ltd has a fast growing and robust US generics business. It has 16 manufacturing facilities in five countries and six R&D centres and it employs over 11,500 strong workforce from around 50 nationalities. Glenmark shares today ended at Rs 849.55 apiece on the BSE, up 0.96 per cent from previous close. The Centre is working with manufacturers of chemicals, plastics and allied products to boost their shipments as it expects the segment to play a major role in achieving its vision of USD 900 billion exports by 2020, a senior official said today. "We are working closely with the chemicals, plastics and allied products industry players and implementing strategies to exploit the opportunities for investments and increasing Indian exports," B S Bhalla, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, told reporters here. "With the new and simplified Foreign Trade Policy 2015 in place, we are confident of making Indian products as the most competitive globally," he added. Chemicals, plastics and allied products will play a major role in achieving the government's vision of raising exports to USD 900 billion by 2020, Bhalla said. Currently, companies under four industry bodies -- Plastics Export Promotion Council (Plexconcil), Chemical and Allied Products Export Promotion Council (Capexil), Chemical Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil) and Shellac and Forests Products Export Promotion Council (Shefexil) -- account for exports worth USD 35 billion, Bhalla said. The government has sought suggestions from these councils on bringing modern technology in the sector and exploring new export markets, the official said. Promoting exports has been an important aspect of the 'Make in India' mission. Enhancing domestic output and providing help in accessing markets overseas for Indian products are two aspects of this mission, he said. "We appreciate the joint endeavour by four of our export promotion councils. "While sharing a common vision of making in India and making it for the world, it is time that India offers a complete value chain solution for the sector. "We have the manpower, expertise, enterprise, natural resources and the right policy environment to emerge as the global manufacturing hub and enhance our exports substantially," he said. Chemicals, plastics and allied products reported 5 per cent decline in exports to USD 20 billion in April-October 2015 over the same period last year. The subdued performance was mainly due to overall slowdown in the global economy. Meanwhile, in a major initiative to promote exports of chemicals, plastics and allied products, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is organising an event, CAPINDIA 2016, here from March 20 to 22 to project India as a reliable sourcing hub. The three-day event is being jointly organised by Plexconcil, Chemexcil, Capexil and Shefexil and would be one of the largest such gatherings so far in India. (REOPENS BCM26) The event will showcase the complete value chain in the sector with hundreds of Indian and international buyers expected to explore investment and global trade opportunities. It is expected that small and medium enterprises would get special attention at the conference as bulk of the manufacturing in India is done by them. Over 125 foreign players are expected to attend the buyer-seller meet. Buyers from markets such as Tanzania, South Africa, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus have confirmed their participation. Trade delegations from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Turkey are also likely to attend CAPINDIA 2016. A frightened burglar in Sweden called police today after hiding in the toilets of a pizzeria to escape the wrath of its owner, police said. An alarm at the restaurant, in the eastern Swedish city of Uppsala, alerted the owner to the ongoing break-in at around 3:15 am (0215 GMT). "I put on a shirt, trousers and shoes and I ran," the owner, who lived nearby, told the daily Upsala Nya Tidning. The owner arrived and began fighting with the burglars. Two escaped, but two others ran back into the restaurant and tried to barricade the door against the owner. One of the men eventually locked himself in the bathroom to escape and called police. "Police rescued the two men aged 18 and 19 from the owner's fury and arrested them," police spokesman Christer Nordstrom told AFP. According to the owner, this was the third burglary attempt in two years. 02:05 Anger over flood levee in Echuca A dirt levee wall has been built by residents in Echuca to help prepare for the approaching floods and to protect homes. Rugby league player found dead after vanishing while on holidays Two first grade rugby league players had pleaded for information on social media about the disappearance of their mate - but tragically his body was discovered reportedly inside a nightclub. Severe storm warning issued for Qld 00:38 Many Queenslanders are at risk of widespread severe storms today, as a slow-moving weather system moves east across the state. Mans body located in NSW floodwaters 00:28 A man's body has been recovered in floodwaters in rural New South Wales. Death penalty nixed in Florida WASHINGTON (AP) Floridas unique system for sentencing people to death is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges and not enough to juries to decide capital sentences, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The 8-1 ruling said the states sentencing procedure is flawed because juries play only an advisory role in recommending death while the judge can reach a different decision. The decision could trigger new sentencing appeals from some of the 390 inmates on the Floridas death row, a number second only to California. But legal experts said it may apply only to those whose initial appeals are not yet exhausted. Ohio man shoots son accidentally CINCINNATI (AP) An armed man who believed he was confronting an intruder in the basement of his home Tuesday instead fatally shot his 14-year-old son, who was supposed to be on his way to school, police said. Police said the teen had headed to the bus stop but came back home through a back door. The man said he heard a noise in the basement. Police said when the father opened a door in the basement the boy appeared, startling him. The man told police he accidentally shot his son with a .45-caliber handgun. Wanted man sends cops new mugshot LIMA, Ohio (AP) A man with an arrest warrant told police in Ohio say he didnt like the mugshots they were using, so he sent them a selfie. The gesture followed a department Facebook posting about Donald Chip Pugh, wanted for failing to appear in court and a person of interest in several other cases, including arson and vandalism. Police said Pugh, 45, sent them a picture of himself in a sport coat and wearing sunglasses along with a message stating, Here is a better photo that one is terrible. The Lima News reported Pugh also criticized the photos on a radio show last week. Snow squalls cause pileups in Indiana INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Snow squalls fueled by winds gusting up to 40 mph created blinding conditions on Indiana highways Tuesday, leading to several multi-vehicle pileups include two involving dozens of vehicles that closed Interstate 74 in the southeastern corner of the state, authorities said. The crashes within a half mile of each other about 20 miles west of Cincinnati closed the interstate in both directions for at least six hours, Indiana State Police said. In all, nine people were injured in crashes in the state; none had life-threatening injuries. House sanctions North Korea for test WASHINGTON (AP) House Republicans and Democrats joined together Tuesday to overwhelmingly approve legislation that aims to punish North Korea for conducting its latest nuclear test. Lawmakers passed the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act by a vote of 418-2. The bill proposes stronger sanctions that deny Pyongyang the money it needs for developing miniaturized nuclear warheads and the long-range missiles to deliver them, according to backers. The White House does not oppose the bill, said a senior administration official said. Sanctions would mark a somewhat unusual step by Congress as theyre most often imposed by the executive branch. For congressional Republicans, the effort also serves as a rebuke of President Barack Obama for failing to act earlier. DES MOINES | With the eyes of the political world trained on Iowa, the states Republican and Democratic organizations face high-stakes pressure to deliver a flawless performance at the start of the 2016 presidential selection process Feb. 1. Iowas political parties are working to make the most of a do-over opportunity in the aftermath of a 2012 debacle in the first-in-the-nation Republican precinct caucuses that saw GOP leaders declaring Mitt Romney an eight-vote winner on caucus night only to shift gears days later and declare Rick Santorum the winner by 34 votes once the results were certified. I think the survival of the caucuses could easily be in jeopardy, said Mack Shelley, a professor who chairs Iowa State Universitys political science department, if the result tabulations are not conducted more accurately and Iowa is not able to project a more positive image of the leadoff caucus process on the evening of Feb. 1. Competing states and skeptical media will be watching for any slip-ups that might signal the end of Iowas four-decade run as the first state to test the organizational strength of the candidates seeking to become the most powerful leader of the free world in a venue known for its retail politics. For Iowa to maintain its first-in-the-nation caucus, they need to make sure its done with a high level of integrity, above reproach and it is smoothly operated, noted Bob Vander Plaats, a leading and long-time GOP operative who called Iowas 2012 performance snake-bit by one of the closest political outcomes anywhere and a botched handling of the outcome. Not to worry, say Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, and Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, who are engaged in a bipartisan effort to coordinate scores of caucus sites that face the potential for logistical and technological challenges if Iowas weather would go haywire on caucus night. Were going to be ready, said Kaufmann, who does not rule out a record GOP caucus turnout at nearly 1,700 sites if all the stars align in a race that has brought at least 17 candidates to Iowa and already caused five challengers to drop out before next months balloting has taken place. For starters, Iowas state political parties have partnered with Microsoft to develop a reporting program to tabulate and report caucus results in an accurate and timely manner. They also are feverishly working to train an army of volunteers in all 99 Iowa counties on how to collect and relay their data and testing the system to identify and address potential glitches. Kaufmann also advised Iowans who arent already registered to vote to do it ahead of time or arrive up to 45 minutes early at their caucus sites to avoid delays that could slow the process. It will be as ready to go as anything can be on that night, said McGuire, whose party has attempted to address past complaints of accessibility and inclusiveness by establishing satellite sites for people with work or mobility conflicts and a tele-caucus commencing at the same 7 p.m. start time -- for Iowans stationed in the military or other circumstances making them unable to physically be in the state on caucus night. The IDP will confirm each participant is registered to vote in the state of Iowa, McGuire noted, or inform the person that he/she needs to register. One week before the tele-caucus, all verified participants will receive a phone number and personalized ID number to participate in a process that will run nearly identically to caucuses in 1,681 Democratic precincts statewide. Tele-caucus participants who will determine two delegates -- will be able to align with a candidate or to an uncommitted group by pressing a number on their phone, she said, and there will also be a realignment process. Its not just about the reporting and getting it all in that night which is a large job and I think we do it really well. But its also about the kind of seriousness that all of our people have all over Iowa, McGuire said of the caucus process. I dont think we should underestimate how well Iowa does that and I think thats one of the reasons that were first. Shelley and another ISU political science professor, Steffen Schmidt, expressed concern that the new variations could detract from the flavor and virtues of the retail, down-home, boots on the ground politics that are a leading selling point of caucus backers. Schmidt also said even tested computer systems can glitch or crash, noting a day doesnt pass where one of his students doesnt complain about problems assessing his class online functions. The bulls eye is on both the Democrats and the Republicans, said Schmidt. Our challenge is to keep our fingers crossed, pray to God, and burn some incense somewhere that this thing will actually function the way its supposed to, he added. This is really important. Democracy depends on this working. Im sending them good vibrations. CEDAR FALLS Donald Trump highlighted two new polls of Iowa Republicans showing he is the front-runner once again as GOP presidential candidates make their final sprint to the Feb. 1 caucuses. Rather than trying to lower expectations, Trump told a crowd of about 2,000 people packed into West Gym at the University of Northern Iowa he wants to win the state and the nomination. Its too close. I dont like it, so we have to change it, Trump said of recent Iowa polls that give a slight edge to Republican Ted Cruz. I dont want to come in second. I want to win in Iowa. He reiterated criticisms of his closest competitor. By the way, Ted is totally against ethanol. Please remember that, Trump said. And Im for ethanol. Cruz said at a stop last weekend in Oelwein its utter nonsense to say he opposes ethanol. He described his position as phasing out the renewable fuel standard along with getting rid of other energy subsidies after five years and raising the blend wall for fuels. Trump also questioned whether Cruz is a natural-born citizen. Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother. Trump stressed it is an area of unsettled law whether Cruz is eligible to be president, though many legal experts disagree, according to Politifact. It is certainly a complicating factor, Trump said. I want to win it very much on the merits and I dont want to win it on technicalities, but thats more than a technicality, that is a big, big factor. Trump knocked Iowans for their past support for caucus-winners who did not go on to win the nomination. You guys havent picked a winner in a long time. I hate to tell you this. I dont want to be a wise guy, Trump said. I want to have a mandate. If we win Iowa, I think were going to run the table. He also criticized the leading Democratic presidential candidates. He predicted Hillary Clinton will be the nominee even though she should probably be in jail. He said he dreams of running against socialist Bernie Sanders. His warm-up acts, former Apprentice runner-up Tana Goertz and Iowa Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, stressed the importance of supporters caucusing for Trump. Trump touched on his usual topics in an abbreviated 38-minute speech and took a slightly more muted tone on some issues where hes been outspoken. He spoke of having Muslim friends and Hispanic friends and said many are good people. He said Mexicans crossing the border are taking advantage of the United States, but added theyre welcome if they come here legally. While Trump said the Syrian refugees could be like the proverbial Trojan Horse, he added he doubts they are but stressed the need to be cautious. Those statements paled compared to comments hes made in the past. Protesters braved zero degree temperatures to stand against Trump. I think were seeing his hateful speech is starting to incite violence against people in this country. ... Its really important that we take any opportunity we can to stand up to him, said Chris Schwartz, of the progressive Americans for Democratic Action of Iowa, which supports Sanders. More than two dozen protesters chanted Bigots cant be president. Schwartz said few people challenged protesters. I think theyre too cold to react, he said. At other times, Trump was as outspoken as ever. He stressed his support for the 2nd Amendment. When a sicko hears gun-free zone, one of these sick people, thats like candy; thats like I want a piece of apple pie. Such bluster is what drew Waterloos Jordyn Harper, 17, to see Trump. A Sanders supporter, she attended the event just to hear him yell, not on TV. Trump supporter Tyler Rowe, a sophomore at University of Iowa, knew he was unlikely to see the billionaire TV star in Iowa City, so he made the trip to Cedar Falls. I think hes something different that this country needs, Rowe said. He tells everything exactly like it is, you know, and I like that about him. I think a candidate who does that is honorable About half the audience raised their hands when asked who planned to caucus for Trump, Rowe among them. Hes a caucus captain, so hes been knocking on doors for Trump. Rowe thinks Trump is best for the economy and believes that should be the focus of the next president. All the liberals are about social issues, it seems to me. I mean, those are good issues, but I think this country needs to focus more on the economy right now, Rowe said. INDEPENDENCE | Jurors in Buchanan County will likely begin hearing evidence Jan. 21 in a sex abuse trial involving multiple serious charges. Joshua Jarrett, 38, of Masonville, is accused of committing sex acts over an eight-year period on a young girl beginning in 2002. Authorities charged him with four counts of second-degree sex abuse, four counts of third-degree sex abuse and one count of fleeing to avoid prosecution. Each of the charges is a felony. A conviction could mean a prison sentence of up to 145 years. Jarrett's alleged victim was 6 years old when the alleged abuse first occurred. The crimes happened when Jarrett lived in Winthrop, according to court documents. The U.S. Marshals Service tracked Jarrett in March in Rockwall, Texas, as part of a nationwide sweep for fugitives. He was detained as part of Operation Violence Reduction 7. According to court documents, law enforcement officials considered Jarrett might have also gone to or through Kansas, Georgia and Tennessee. Jarrett waived extradition and was brought back to Buchanan County on March 27. The court set bond at $250,000. Attorneys in the case must still resolve several issues about what evidence and testimony will be admitted during the trial. According to court documents, defense attorneys will likely challenge the alleged victim's credibility using her interview videotaped at the St. Luke's Child Protection Center in Hiawatha during an Iowa Department of Human Services investigation in 2011. During the early interview, the girl reportedly denied suffering any abuse by Jarrett. Buchanan County Attorney Shawn Harden in court documents addressed the girl's comment. " ... She made this denial under pressure from her mother to lie about the lack of sexual abuse perpetrated by the defendant against the victim. This is despite the fact that the victim had reported sexual abuse to her mother" prior to the DHS investigation, Harden wrote. He is represented by Clemens Erdahl of Cedar Rapids and Eric Tindal of Williamsburg. Harden is prosecuting the case with Scott Brown, an assistant Iowa attorney general. WEST UNION A 2012 first-degree murder case regarding a death at Prairie View Residential Care Facility may finally go to trial later this year in Fayette County. Judge Kellyann Lekar recently set Aug. 9 as a start date for proceedings against defendant Matthew Braun, 39, in custody since his arrest nearly 40 months ago. According to the Fayette County Sheriffs Office, Braun beat a fellow resident at the facility in Fayette and severely injured Kris Simpson, 57, of West Burlington. Authorities at the time charged Braun with attempted murder. Simpson later died, and prosecutors upped the charge against Braun. His case never moved to trial because of questions about Brauns competence. Following an August hearing, Judge Richard Stochl ruled Braun, though he has mental illness, understands the charge, is able to assist in his defense and can face trial. At that hearing, defense attorney Matthew Hoffey called on Windsor Heights forensic psychiatrist James Gallagher and Ames psychologist Arthur Konar, both of whom testified Braun is not competent. Gallagher also believes Braun is delusional because he thinks victim Simpson is alive. Gallagher doubts Braun can control his violent impulses, according to Judge Stochls ruling. Defendant Matthew Braun is a very large and intimidating individual. His behavior during the hearing was exemplary; however, he was shackled and in the immediate presence of six armed Fayette County deputies, Stochl wrote. Dr. Gallaghers concerns appear to be more based on the likelihood that the defendant could act out violently during proceedings ... endangering other persons in the courtroom and destroying defendants ability to receive a fair trial, Stochl added. Stochl dismissed Konars evaluation of Braun as incomplete and incompetent. At Brauns hearing, the state countered with Des Moines forensic psychiatrist James Dennert, who evaluated Braun through Plexiglass at the Fayette County Sheriffs Office because of Brauns propensity towards violence, according to court documents. Braun reported hearing voices during (Dennerts) evaluation, but he did not attend to those voices, Stochl wrote in his ruling. Dennert agreed Braun has a mental illness and can be violent, a fact supported by Brauns criminal record. His convictions since 2000 include six for assault causing injury to a peace officer, interference with an Iowa Department of Corrections officer causing injury, willful injury causing serious injury, assault, second-degree criminal mischief, maintaining a disorderly house, violation of a no-contact order and eluding as well as contempt of court and probation violations. The court finds that substantial evidence supports that defendant, while mentally ill, is competent to stand trial, Stochl concluded. Any accommodations that need to be made due to his propensity towards violence can be arranged, he added. The non-jury trial is scheduled to take four days. Prosecutors are Susan Krisko and Tyler Buller, assistant Iowa attorneys general. EDGEWOOD | Tennessee authorities continue to investigate the death of an Edgewood man who was shot during a robbery in Memphis. Lonnie Lee Ludvigson, 48, was working as a trucker around 3:40 p.m. Saturday when a masked gunman pulled him from his vehicle and walked him to a car carrying three other suspects, according to Memphis police. The suspects demanded money, and Ludvigson began to run, and one of the suspects began shooting at him, police said. A nearby witness started yelling, the gunman turned to fire at him, and the witness then returned fire, possibly striking the robber, police said. The suspects drove off in a blue passenger car. Police found Ludvigson unresponsive with a gunshot wound, and he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been made as of Wednesday. As of Tuesday, Memphis has had 10 homicides, according to media accounts. Ludvigson was a graduate of Edgewood Colesburg School and served as part of a medical unit with the U.S. Army in Iraq and Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, according to his obituary. He also attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City and medical school in Chicago and the Caribbean. Services will be Sunday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Edgewood. CEDAR FALLS Police arrested a Cedar Falls man in connection with a Tuesday afternoon bank robbery. Jon Robert Ellingson, 26, of 923 Barnett Drive, was arrested Tuesday night for second-degree robbery. He also was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear for court on an unrelated public intoxication charge. The robbery happened about 1:42 p.m. at the First National Bank, 2421 White Tail Drive, when the lone suspect dressed in a purple University of Northern Iowa sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and his face covered took an undisclosed amount of cash. He went inside and robbed the bank here and then left towards the east and at that point lost sight of him, said Public Safety Director Jeff Olson. Olson said the robber didnt show a weapon but handed workers a note declaring the robbery. No injuries were reported. The trail led across the street to the Thunder Ridge Court shopping center where Ellingson changed his clothing, ditching the UNI sweatshirt, entered a nearby pharmacy and then an apartment building. Olson said officers flooded the area after hearing of the robbery, some heading to the bank while others blanketed the neighborhood. They stopped two people in separate locations. One was ruled out as a suspect, and the other, Ellingson, was detained and brought to the station for questioning. Ellingson had been on foot about three or four blocks from Thunder Ridge, Olson said. Investigators recovered the stolen cash, Olson said. Investigators gathered video footage from the bank and other nearby stores, and officers with the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office, the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources canvassed the area. The FBI also assisted. WATERLOO The Board of Education heard from supporters and opponents of a $47 million bond issue referendum Monday as it unanimously endorsed a plan offsetting the expected cost to property taxpayers. The Feb. 2 Waterloo Community Schools vote would fund building a $35 million career center where all high school students would take career and technical education courses, which are being expanded in the district. It also would pay for $6 million in upgrades to both East and West high schools. An additional $1.27 per $1,000 of taxable value would be levied on district property taxes to pay for the bonds over 20 years. However, the board approved a resolution pledging to maintain the existing property tax rate by repaying the bonds with the help of its 1 percent sales tax revenues and a state income surtax, a tool the district hasnt used in the past. The surtax shifts the increase from property to income taxpayers, a broader pool in the community. The amount district residents will pay is based on a percentage of how much they owe to the state each year. Its not a tax on a persons income, said Superintendent Jane Lindaman. Its a tax on their income tax. Officials anticipate a 4 percent surtax with a cost of about $53 for the average Waterloo resident, who they say pays $1,330 in Iowa income tax. Board member Sue Flynn hailed the surtax for holding down property taxes. She noted it has already been embraced by most all of the smaller communities around us and 82 percent of school districts across the state. What I felt the most positive about, it spreads the responsibility to all residents, she said, including those living in the district who dont own property. Officials have estimated about 80 percent of adults in the district will pay the surtax. But during the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting, Waterloo resident Mike Mootz said he would rather have a property tax increase than adding a surtax. Its too much, OK? Its way too much, he said of the surtax. Mootz also asked why would you duplicate programs offered at Hawkeye Community College in the high schools, calling the benefits zero to minimal for the district. Theres just a lot of things here that need to be tightened up before you ask for an increase. Marvin Weber of Waterloo complained of fuzzy math, fuzzy thinking, fuzzy talking when it comes to plans for the funds. Theres a lot of people who dont even know youre voting on this, he added. I think youre just going to slam it down our throats. Officials have noted both Hawkeye and the University of Northern Iowa support the districts plans, which include phasing in 30 career and technical programs over three to four years. Among the career fields that classes will be offered in are architecture, manufacturing, marketing, information technology, health sciences, education, public safety and agriculture. This will foster more students with more skills, said board member Lyle Schmitt, noting its not in conflict with Hawkeye. To me, the real goal is to have them learn more in the existing K-12 structure. Students arent learning as much as they could. Another four speakers during the public comment period voiced support for the expanded career and technical education, or CTE, programs. Bill Dawson, a district teacher, said many students either cant afford college or dont want to enroll in a four-year program. Were giving them an opportunity to get ahead, he said. Our district can help prepare people for good, well-paying jobs in the trades. Mark Stuenkel of Waterloo said the CTE courses would benefit the disadvantaged students he has mentored. Its giving kids an out, there is an option besides just dropping out, he said. I applaud this committee, I applaud the school district for having the vision to say we believe in you, this will help you, and we know that you can and will shine. DES MOINES | A day after Gov. Terry Branstad called on lawmakers to address significant racial disparities in criminal justice, Iowas chief justice added his voice to the call to end racial disparity and modernize the jury system. Racial disparity is a community problem requiring community solutions, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady said in his sixth annual State of the Judiciary report to the Legislature. Cady outline measures the Judicial Branch has taken to address racial disparities in the system, including training 716 judges, magistrates and other staff to recognize implicit biases that contribute to disparities. Three counties Linn, Johnson and Scott, he said, are collaborating with Georgetown University to eliminate racial disparity in the juvenile justice system. It has reduced school referrals to juvenile court by 61 percent. We will always face challenges in delivering on our promise of justice for all, challenges that are overcome when our values and virtues guide the actions we take and the decisions we make, Cady told the joint session of the Senate and House. Justice, he added, is important to every Iowans, and the condition of justice is vital to the overall health and prosperity of this state. To the end, Cady laid out five other priorities: Protecting children; providing full-time access to justices; operate and efficient full-service court system; operate in an open and transparent way; and provide faster and less costly resolution of legal disputes. Like the governor, he also called for lawmakers to address the dark underworld of human trafficking that exists in many Iowa communities. Its not the first time hes told lawmakers of these priorities, Cady reminded them, and we remain committed to fulfilling them today. Progress has been made, Cady said, in increasing confidentiality of juvenile court records to realize the common goals of public safety and the best interest of our children. He highlighted the success of business courts and a process to expedite and lower the costs of civil litigation. Close to 400 civil actions have been fast-tracked, which exceeded Cadys expectations, and after an evaluation last summer, the Iowa Bar Association declared Both the bench and the bar are highly satisfied with the initiative. To increase openness and transparency, Cady said the court heard oral arguments in four communities and visited 30 high schools and colleges. The Judicial Branch also is working toward expanding access to court documents. With statewide electronic filing, court users and the public have more access than ever. However, he added, the public and media do not have access from their own computers. He called for modifications in pretrial release programs that will not compromise public safety, but mitigate the adverse impacts job loss, separation from family, debt and the likelihood of future incarceration that stem from arrest. Cady offered no specifics, but said the Judicial Branch will work with the Department of Corrections, county attorneys and defense attorneys to find ways to improve the system. Achieving racial impartiality in delivering justice is a journey, Cady said. One stop on that journey s modernizing the jury system to give greater assurance that randomly selected jury pools represent a fair cross-section of each community. The Judicial Branch will begin to collect information on the racial composition of juries to determine if the process can be approved. When all Iowans have full confidence in the fairness of our jury system, justice is delivered, he said. WATERLOO | Quentin Hart is calling for a transparent city budget process. The newly elected Waterloo mayor laid out a budget schedule for City Council members Monday that includes public meetings with department heads, two question-and-answer work sessions and a special meeting dedicated solely to the budget hearing. All of it is expected to be aired on public access cable television. We have a very aggressive schedule coming up over the next couple of months, Hart said. I wanted to make as many of these (meetings) public as we possibly could. The City Council has until March 15 to adopt a spending plan and property tax rate for the fiscal year starting July 1. Hart has instructed department heads to prepare for austerity when preparing their initial budget requests. It is absolutely to hold the line on where youre at and to give 2 percent reduction and 5 percent reduction impact statements, he said. Department heads will present their budgets during televised work sessions from Feb. 3 through Feb. 17. Hart is getting input from council members on times for those meetings to ensure they are able to attend. A work session is slated for the Feb. 22 council meeting, while a similar question-and-answer session is scheduled for Feb. 29. The latter is a fifth Monday of the month, when council members normally would not meet. The schedule includes a March 7 meeting to discuss budget scenarios and a March 10 budget hearing and vote. Hart said he is aware the municipal tax rate in Waterloo is highest among the states 15 most populous cities, and he hopes to change that over time. We have an excellent opportunity this next year to at least pass a city or two up without hitting services too hard, he said. That is the hope. Chief Financial Officer Michelle Weidner noted 75 percent of the citys general fund expenses, excluding debt payments, are tied to personnel costs while 18 percent is contracted services and 6 percent is commodities. We always get, Oh, you just tell us when you have to cut budgets that you have to cut people, you offer them up first, Weidner said. I want to make that clear: Thats because its 75 percent of our costs. A lot of the other costs in those other two categories are not as variable, she added. Yes, you can turn down the thermostat to reduce utilities, but its hard to eliminate utilities, for example. WATERLOO The Northeast Iowa Genealogical Society will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Waterloo Public Library meeting rooms. The group is meeting on Saturday for the January and February meetings. Speaker will be Dr. Jeffrey Copeland, University of Northern Iowa professor and author of Aint No Harm to Kill the Devil. He will talk about his creative process, inspiration and eerie coincidences that he encounters during his research. People may visit a meeting and then are asked to join. For more information, check https://sites.google.com/site/neigsblackhawkcounty/home. Shooting settlement JACOB HASTINGS WATERLOO Am I hallucinating? A $2.5 million settlement in a so-called wrongful death suit? He had a gun, was waving it around, refused to stop and ran from police with the gun, and now we are rewarding the people who helped create the problem in the first place? If the Waterloo Police Department admits no guilt, and the officer was found to be within policy, why are the taxpayers being forced to pony up the payoff money? These kind of slanted, racist lawsuit settlements are just enabling an ever-growing mentality in this country that thinks its OK to ignore our justice system, defy law enforcement and then profit from the consequences. And to think all these years whoever said crime doesnt pay was wrong. Just plain sickening! War-mongering KAMYAR ENSHAYAN CEDAR FALLS The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s quote Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows is the motto of the organization Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, formed right after the 9/11 terrorist attack. They did not want their loved ones to be used as an excuse to fuel the spiral of violence. It is frightening to see war-mongering presidential candidates, allegedly Christians, being exactly what the terrorists are and want us to be: hateful, self-righteous and violent. The total opposite of Martin Luther King and Christ. Have these candidates told you on the campaign trail about their willingness to raise taxes to pay for the costs of their planned wars? Have these tough-talking candidates explained to you when they intend to resign their positions and volunteer to put their own boots on the ground? President Eisenhower in his farewell speech 55 years ago warned against the influence of military-industrial complex: The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. And recently, we have been living with the disastrous consequences of war profiteering ever since Dick Cheney and his friends ordered the invasion of Iraq. We have so much to offer ourselves and the world, and lets repeat the Rev. Martin Luther Kings advice: Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. Trade deficits ROBERT BLAIN CEDAR FALLS Our forefathers knew: Communism is no damn good, and Communist countries are no damn good. Russia going into Ukraine and Syria, China seeking to control the South China Sea and North Koreas nuclear warmongering are all no damn good. Our huge trade deficits with China have financed their military whose weapons are pointed at our airmen and sailors (Google Operation Pivot and Chinas String of Pearls). The Chinese sell us $3 worth for every $1 we sell them: bye-bye U.S. jobs. It was slickly engineered by the transnational corporations and fat cats who control our government. No wonder the current lap dog presidential candidates are mute concerning our overall $400 to 500 billion annual trade deficits. U.S. agriculture benefited immensely from trade with China but for the United States as a whole, it was and is poison. The current turmoil in China has pummeled grain prices, proving a Hooray for me and the hell with everyone else strategy is seriously flawed. Mr. Trump said the people of Iowa were stupid. The part he got wrong was he forgot to add in the other 49 states. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 12, 2016 | 07:45 PM | PADUCAH, KY The first quarter artwork for the 2016 Mayors Art Club currently is on display at City Hall featuring Jason Bailey and Charlotte Erwin. The public can view the artwork through the end of March. With the exception of holidays, City Hall is open Monday through Friday, 8 am until 4:30 pm. Depending upon the Mayor's meeting schedule, access to the artwork in her office may be periodically restricted.Charlotte Erwins work is on display in the Mayors office at City Hall for this first quarter. Erwin, a working artist for 35 years, has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art. Erwin works in mixed media producing images that are rich in color, pattern, and texture. Be sure to visit City Hall to see selections from her Goddess series. Erwin says, The Goddess series is inspired by nature and the human figure.Artwork created by Jason Bailey is on display in the Mayors reception area at City Hall through the end of March. Bailey, who has been painting since the age of 15, likes to describe his work as Contemporary Impressionism. He specializes in oil and plein air painting. Bailey says, I am inspired by being out in nature and painting light and The artists or art groups confirmed at this time to participate in the 2016 Mayors Art Club are as follows: Charlotte Erwin, 1st quarter Jason Bailey, 1st quarter Michael G. Crouse, 2nd quarter Dogwood Trail Art and Photography Contest Winners, 2nd quarter Char Downs, 3rd quarterEach quarter of the calendar year, two artists or art groups have the opportunity to display their artwork in the Mayors office and reception area on the second floor of City Hall. This is the fourth year for the Mayors Art Club. For more information, visit http://paducahky.gov/mayors-art- After a recent search that saw Lucasfilm studio heads searching far and wide for a suitable young man to play a prequelised Han Solo, the list has apparently been whittled down to a mere dozen candidates. Variety have given the world 8 of the 12 names that are allegedly still in the running after auditioning and, well, some of them are interesting choices, and others, not so much. Whoever this young Han Solo ends up being, he's currently rumoured to first appear in Star Wars: Rogue One this coming December. This probably explains why Disney and Lucasfilm are in such a rush to cast what is arguably the most coveted role in Hollywood right now, but none of that is confirmed at this stage. We know from the actors being looked at that the filmmakers are looking for an actor preferably between the ages of 18 to 25 (with two notable exceptions), and that the Han Solo film will be set around ten years before the events of A New Hope. But do those actors currently being considered actually have the chops for the role? Can they nail the Corellian parlance, the Inner Rim drawl? Are they the type to shoot Greedo first and ask questions later? Let's take a look at the eight young actors supposedly in the running and find out. When I was waiting in a bar where were you ? When I was buying you a drink where were you ? When I was crying home in bed where were you ? When I watched you from a distance did you see me ? You were standing in a queue did you see me ? You had yellow hair did you see me ? I want to talk to you all night do you like me ? I want to find out about your life do you like me ? 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within our network, we can never share their stories as well as they can. Which is... A general personal and critical look at Sustainable Energy. More recently a focus on the Economic Crisis in terms of Individual and Community Sustainability. European Commission seeks clarity on Paks II state aid issue 13 January 2016 Share Hungary has so far failed to explain how the Paks nuclear power plant expansion project does not conflict with state aid rules, the European Commission said yesterday. In response, the Hungarian government said the EC's investigation of the matter contains "a number of inaccuracies and misunderstandings" as well as "unfounded and misleading assertions". An inter-governmental agreement signed in early 2014 would see Russian enterprises and their international sub-contractors supply two VVER-1200 reactors at Paks, as well as a loan of up to 10 billion ($10.5 billion) to finance 80% of the project. Paks currently comprises four Russian-supplied VVER-440 pressurized water reactors, which started up between 1982 and 1987. Since the EC first formally expressed its concerns in November last year, Hungary has argued that the project complies with the market economic investor principle (MEIP) - an EC criterion for assessing state aid. But in a report summarised in the Official Journal of the European Union yesterday, the EC said Hungary had not provided sufficient information on whether the investment is profitable on economic terms. It has come to the preliminary conclusion that "there are doubts" as to whether the measure entails state aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU - Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The EC "in particular questions whether the measure could be implemented by any economic investor in the market under similar conditions." The publication of this document also means that the "opportunity has emerged", the EC said, for third parties to make comments in the coming month as to whether the Paks capacity maintenance project involves any state aid. Economic analysis The EC said that information Hungary submitted included an economic analysis for the project that shows a post-tax internal rate of return during operations higher than the weighted average cost of capital and hence the state investment would be profitable - that is, in compliance with the MEIP test. But Hungary has not provided sufficient information whether the investment is profitable on economic terms, taking into account the allocation of risks under the contract, and expectations on future revenues - based on future electricity prices, the EC said. In addition, the EC said it "does not have sufficient elements to conclude whether, should the measure constitute state aid, the conditions for the compatibility with the internal market in accordance with Article 107(3)(c) TFEU are met, in particular whether the aid is necessary and, in particular, if there are market failures that affect new investments into nuclear projects in Hungary and what these market failures are." The EC requires information regarding the "possibilities of new nuclear investments - without state support - and their timing given the specificities of the Hungarian electricity market and its expected evolution and market modelling in this respect". The EC "has doubts" that the notified measure is proportionate, "as, at this stage, it is not clear how and to which extent Paks II will remunerate the state's investment". In addition, the EC is concerned about the project's "possible distortive effects" on competition and trade. "The Hungarian electricity generation market is characterised by a relatively high market concentration with the current Paks nuclear power plant providing some 50% of domestic generation. At this stage not much new capacity is known to join the market, despite the projected generation gap. Therefore Paks II is expected to represent at least one-third of the forecasted domestic demand in 2030 and could thus lead together with the still running/not yet retiring Paks reactors to enhancing the market concentration," the EC said. It also considers that aid to such "baseload capacities characterized by a high load factor and a lower level of levelised cost of energy may serve as a barrier to entry for new market players and displace further down the merit curve a certain amount of existing higher cost generation capacity". The Hungarian Prime Minister's Office yesterday responded to the EC report with a written statement that said: "The Hungarian government takes the view that the decision of the European Commissioner for Competition of 23 November 2015 and the summary published in today's edition of the Official Journal of the European Union contain a number of inaccuracies, misunderstandings, and unfounded and misleading claims. The Hungarian government firmly believes that the Paks II project is competitive and offers an acceptable rate of return also amidst free-market circumstances, and there is therefore no need for resorting to state aid. It also transpires from the decision dated 23 November that even in the wake of preliminary consultations under competition law over a period of almost two years, the European Commission was unable to present a set of well-founded arguments which would refute the position of the Hungarian party which claims that the project involves no state aid." The government noted that Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had "herself stressed" that the EC needs time to conduct a comprehensive investigation and to provide the opportunity for other Member States, market players and third parties to state their comments on the basis of the relevant Brussels procedure. "The government takes the view that the revenues of Paks II will be sufficient to cover all costs, including the capital and capital costs, fuel costs, and the costs of operation, maintenance, waste disposal and disassembly, and the project's anticipated rate of return is in harmony with the level expected by market investors," the statement reads. This was also confirmed by the detailed economic analysis prepared by the Rothschild Group on the basis of international comparative data, it said. This analysis is available in full on the project company's and Hungarian government's websites, it added. Finnish 'twin-project' The EC has overlooked the similarities, the government said, between the Paks expansion project and Finland's plan to build the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant, which also draws on Russia-backed financing. "Regrettably, the European Commission's decision of 23 November neglected the circumstance - which is relevant to the issue of state aid - that in the Hanhikivi 1 atomic power plant project in Finland, which is greatly comparable with the Paks II project in technical terms, private investors, too, undertook to play a role within the boundaries of a consortium who expect an adequate level of profitability from the Finnish atomic power plant project," the government said. Russia's Cabinet of Ministers in January last year approved up to RUB150 billion ($2.3 billion) in funding from the country's sovereign wealth fund for the Hanhikivi 1 project. To be built in Pyhajoki, in northern Finland, Hanhikivi 1 is scheduled to start generating electricity by 2024. The project is owned by Finland's Fennovoima, of which another Finnish company, Voimaosakeyhtio, has a 66% share. The remaining 34% of Fennovoima is held by RAOS Voima Oy, a Finnish subsidiary set up in 2014 by Russia's Rosatom specifically to hold a stake in the company. The Hungarian government statement added: "Despite the fact that the consortium also features municipalities and Russian state-owned actors, the Commission does not call into question whether the 'Finnish twin-project' is implemented on a market basis, without state aid." In its summary published yesterday, the EC "misleadingly" invited third parties to submit their comments regarding the possible involvement of state aid, "despite the fact that they did not at all prove the existence thereof", the government said. Hungary pointed out a "number of methodological errors" related to the EC's calculation of the project's capital cost and rate of return, "which call the well-founded nature of the Commission's conclusion into question", it said. The government said it will respond to the misunderstandings "item by item" in its next submission to the EC. "The Hungarian government is ready to face a formal investigation, as part of which we shall maintain that the project does not involve state aid," it said. Russia has appointed JSC Nizhny Novgorod Engineering Company Atomenergoproekt (JSC NIAEP), a subsidiary of Rosatom, to construct the new Paks units, while Hungary has appointed MVM Paks II Nuclear Power Plant Development Private Company Limited by Shares (Paks II) to own and operate them. Hungary wants to grant investment support to Paks II in the form of equity for the construction of the reactors, arguing that keeping nuclear generation in the national fuel mix is necessary to replace phased out capacity, address the need for new generation capacity and meet European climate objectives. Attila Aszodi, the government commissioner responsible for Paks II, said in November that he still expected construction work to start in 2018, with Paks 5 and 6 starting commercial operation in 2025 and 2026. European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) approved a contract between Hungary and Russia on nuclear fuel supply for the project last April. Then in September Hungary received confirmation from the EC that the project meets the objectives of the Euratom Treaty. That approval relates to Article 41 of the treaty - the requirement that persons and undertakings engaged in certain industrial activities communicate to the European Commission investment projects relating to new installations and also to replacements or conversions. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Crisis Phone Numberspecial noticeIf you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255, available 24/7, and tell them you are a veteran. All calls are confidential.1-888-899-9377A Crisis Intervention Hotline has been established by the VA Heartland Network to assist veterans who may be dealing with a mental health crisis or difficult issue in their lives. The hotline will also aid family members or friends of veterans who need help in assisting a veteran in crisis. Youve got a decent hand. Youre sure of it, but you dont want to bet everything on it because you know the game and know that youll lose. What do you do? That depends in part upon how strong your hand is (or isnt). For example, if you have an ace low flush, you might be tempted to fold, knowing you probably wont make money betting with it. On the other hand, if you hold a pocket pair, you may have enough confidence in the strength of your hand to bet all-in, hoping for a full house or better. In order to get the most from your hand, you need to understand what the odds are against each possible outcome. Heres how you can figure out whether or not you should push your luck with a particular hand. The decision of the player to do the okbet login will provide him good return in the future. This is the platform that is considered as the reliable option. It provides the players with the high stake of the winning. Even a representative is there who will work to serve the people. The Value of A Pair Lets assume weve just dealt two cards and one player has three suited cards and another has four. If the first player bets, then hes going to win about half the time (assuming everyone else folds), so his expected return is 50 percent. The second player has a much tougher time. Hell have a good chance of winning only when he gets three of a kind, which happens 1/4th of the time. So he has a 25 percent chance of winning. When he makes the call, the third player has a 55 percent chance of winning. His expected return is 45 percent. Of course, if the first player loses, then the chances of the third player winning go way up about 80 percent. All of these percentages are based on the assumption that all players will fold. The value of the hand is calculated by taking the probability of winning times the amount you would win if you did win. This gives us a number between zero and 100. Well use $5 as our basic unit for calculating the value of the hands. If you had 10 chips and could choose any five, what would you pick? Well, wed obviously take the top hand, which is worth $50. The second best hand is a little bit worse $45 since youre giving up some equity for the opportunity to win more. So now lets calculate the value of the remaining hands. If the second player chooses a third card, his expected gain is $25, which represents the difference between the two hands. A fourth card increases the expectation to $30, while adding a fifth card drops it back down to $20. Since there are no sixth cards, the value of the hand is equal to the average of the five cards, which is $24.60. The value of a suit We can also figure out the value of a suit by looking at the value of each individual card within that suit. Lets say were dealing a standard deck of 52 cards. One person holds a KQ; the next person has a 7D; and the third has a 2S. Each person has a 20% chance of winning. What is the expected return of having this group of cards? Well, the KQ has a 5% chance of winning, the 7D has a 4% chance, and the 2S has a 3% chance. So the total expected return is 25%. The same logic applies to the other suits, where the probability of winning goes up as the value of the card decreases. For instance, the Aces have a 9% chance of winning, Kings have 8%, Queens have 7%, Jacks have 6%, and Tens have 5%. So the expected returns add up to 36%. Now lets add all of these numbers together to get an estimate of the value of a hand. Assuming that each hand was equally likely to come up, our total would be 60 percent. But we know thats wrong! Not every hand is created equal. It turns out that a royal flush beats the rest of the pack pretty consistently. So were going to adjust our calculations to reflect this fact. Royal Flushes So far, weve assumed that all of the cards were equally likely to come up. Actually, most poker players believe that Royal Flushes are extremely unlikely. In fact, many experts estimate their frequency at less than 0.1 percent. To account for this, lets increase the probability of winning for each card in a Royal Flush by 10 percent. Now when we calculate the value of a Royal Flush, well find that its actually worth 62.5 percent of what it used to be. The value of the cards in each rank will still add up to 100, but theyre now weighted differently. So what does this mean for you? Well, if you hold a Royal Flush, youre probably going to win about 75 percent of the time. And if you hold a hand like QJT, youll win about 75 percent of the time too. And if you hold a straight, youll win nearly 70 percent of the time. In short, the bigger your hand, the more likely you are to win. Of course, even though youre getting a higher hit rate, youll also tend to lose more often. So if you hold a straight, youre almost guaranteed to lose. But if you hold a Royal Flush, youre going to win about one-quarter of the time, and youll win about twice as much money. So youre almost certain to profit from such a hand, but youll also take a lot of losses. Now, I mentioned that youll lose money on any hand. In fact, youll lose money roughly half the time. So if you hold a straight, youll lose about 25 percent of the time. If you hold a flush, youll lose about 40 percent of the time. And if you hold a pair, youll lose 35 percent of the time. In addition, if you hold a set one of the two highest ranks youll lose 35 percent of the time. Finally, if you hold a high card in the lowest rank, youll lose 30 percent of the time. But the interesting thing is that youll lose less money on those losing hands than you do on winning hands. Why is that? Well, suppose you hold a straight. Theres a 65 percent chance youll win. But suppose you hold a pair instead. Theres a 65 percent chance youll win. But you lost on your last hand. So theres now a 75 percent chance that youll lose again. On the other hand, if you hold a straight and lose, theres still a 65 percent chance youll win again. So youre only losing about 15 percent of the time. This means that you can minimize your losses by playing only hands that are reasonably likely to win. So if you hold a straight, youll probably lose around 25 percent of the time. But if you hold a flush, youll probably lose around 40 percent of the time. And if you hold a pair, youll probably lose around 35 percent of the time. And if you hold a set, youll probably lose around 35 percent of the time. But if you hold a high card in the lowest rank, youll probably lose around 30 percent of the time. In summary, the higher the probability that youll win, the lower your loss percentage will be. And the lower the probability youll win, the higher your loss percentage will be. So the optimal strategy is to play only hands whose probability of winning exceeds your expected return. If you hold a straight, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 25 percent of the time. If you hold a flush, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 40 percent of the time. And if you hold a pair, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 35 percent of the time. But if you hold a set, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 35 percent of the time. And if you hold a high card in the lowest rank, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 30 percent of the time. Of course, you shouldnt ignore your opponents actions entirely. You should always give them credit for being smart, making decisions, and doing whatever it takes to beat you. But just remember that youre being punished for having a decent hand. Jan 13, 2016 | By Kira Just one year after a cruel and horrific assault on a defenseless toucan in Costa Rica left it without most of its upper beak, that same bird has had its life, and its singing voice, restored thanks to a 3D printed prosthetic beak. Photos released by the ZooAve animal rescue center in Costa Rica show Grecia looking better than ever with a brand new and perfectly-shaped 3D printed beak that has given the bird a second lease on life. We reported on Grecia almost exactly one year ago when the first proposals were made to 3D print a prosthetic toucan beak. Within a few weeks, a crowdfunding campaign to fund the injured birds prosthetic had raised more than $7,000 (by the end of the month, it closed with a staggering $10,500), proving just how many people from around the world this story had affected. You see, its one thing for an animal to be injured in the wild by their natural predators, for example. Yet for Grecia, there was nothing natural about the attack. Local news outlets reported that a group of senseless teenagers had struck Grecia with a stick while the bird was feeding, breaking most of its upper beak. The gruesome injury left Grecia unable to eat or stay balanced. Toucans also rely on their beaks to preen, defend themselves, and make mating callswithout their beaks, toucans have no chance at survival in the wild. The ZooAve animal sanctuary also reported that since the attack, Grecia has lost the ability to sing. The horrific attack sparked national and international outcry. Costa Rican Presdient Luis Guillermo Solis even went so far as to cite the attack as a reason to pass an animal cruelty bill that would increase fines and would authorize prison sentences between one and six years for the intentional harming, torture or killing of an animal or making a spectacle of the former. The bill is currently still pending in the Legislative Assembly. Luckily, thanks to 3D scanning and 3D printing technology, 3D printing experts were able to reconstruct Grecias upper beak almost to perfection. Toucans have distinctly large, colorful beaks that can be as big as half the size of their body. Despite their size however, they are very lightweight. This is because they are made of keratin, the same substance that makes up human hair and nails. In order to ensure that the 3D printed prosthetic beak would not just look okay, but actually enable Grecia to once again eat, sing, and fly, the 3D printing experts had to design it so that it was at once solid and lightweight, with both a fixed part and a movable joint that could be replaced to compensate for the birds growth. Nelson Martinez, a 3D designer who worked on the project, added that using chemical adhesives could harm the bird or compromise the structure of the beak. Therefore, the designers had to consider using screws. Another factor influencing the designers and animal rescue shelter was time: the gruesome wound had to finish healing before the prosthetic could be applied. In the end, four local Costa Rican 3D printing companies stepped forward to help: Elementos 3D, Ewa!corps, Publicidad Web and Grupo Summerus. Alongside the ongoing care and support from ZooAve, they were able to successfully complete the lifesaving operation. For us, this has been a success, said ZooAve today. The process was not easy. It was a very ambitious process that required the cooperation of several national companies who participated without financial profit, in order to provide Grecia with the best possible prosthetic, and the best quality of life. Over the course of several months, we analyzed, designed and studied the bird, and we learned much about the importance of Grecias beak. The beak fulfills various functions, including preening, feeding, and drawing the attention of the opposite sex, but it also affected part Grecias psychology. This prosthetic gives the chance to have a normal life, within its possibilities. This is the news we need to see every day! said a commenter on ZooAves Facebook page. And that makes me feel that there is still hope. A whole year of work and effort to ensure that a living being such as Grecia could move forward after such an unfortunate event. National pride to everyone who worked on this noble work! The ZooAve animal rescue shelter also confirmed that thanks to the 3D printed prosthetic beak, Grecia is once again singing loud and proud, just like a happy and healthy toucan should. To see more heartwarming stories of how 3D printing has helped to save or improve the quality of animals' lives, check out Tumbles, the adorable puppy who received a 3D printed wheelchair, Cassidy, a two-legged kitten who also got a 3D printed set of wheels, or Derby the dog, whose 3D printed prosthetic legs have him up and running again. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Philton wrote at 2/29/2016 12:52:51 PM:They could had paint it, to look more realistic in the wild... Jan 13, 2016 | By Alec While the initial 3D printing revolution has been largely driven by startups and individual users, more and more governments are beginning to recognize it as a legitimate industry with economic and employment potential. This usually results in subsidies and investments, and the Irish government is the next in line to recognize what 3D printing can bring to their economy. They have just announced a 28.8 million investment plan for 21 next-generation sciences, and nano 3D printing will be among its key targets. The funds are to be used to set up research facilities and purchase equipment, all with the purpose of creating jobs. This investment plan was just announced by the Irish Ministry for Jobs, and will be guided through the Science Foundation Ireland. The Minister for Jobs, Richard Burton and the Minister for Research, Innovation and Skills, Damien English, just announced the details of the investment plans, revealing that a total of 21 exemplary research projects from a variety of sectors will be supported. The projects were selected following a rigorous international review of research groups that require specific equipment and facility investments to address major research opportunities and challenges. The ministers added that the goal of this investment infrastructures is to ensure that Irish specialists will continue to be competitive internationally and that access to modern equipment and facilities will enable them to stay able to secure funding from other sources as well, such as businesses and the European Union. The Minister for Jobs Richard Burton further told reporters that employment was a key target as well. At the heart of our Action Plan for jobs is driving employment growth in every region of the country, he said. We have now put in place individual jobs plans for seven out of the eight regions in the country, and what has repeatedly become clear is that research and innovation must be accelerated right across the country if we are to deliver the jobs growth we need. The Minister for Research, Innovation and Skills, Damien English, added that the government felt compelled to show that they have the best interests of businesses and research at heart. The 21 projects will enable globally compelling research to be undertaken across the country; facilitating greater industry and international collaboration; supporting the training of researchers and demonstrating to an international audience that Ireland on an all island basis, is business friendly and bullish in its pursuit of, and participation in, excellent research, English said. So what sectors are set to benefit? They have chosen to back a wide range of specialisms, including applied geo-sciences, pharmaceutical manufacturing, bio-banking, marine renewable energy, internet of things, astronomy, big data and of course 3D printing. Specifically, they are looking at the development of 3D printed nano materials with an eye on top of the range applications such as 3D printed (smart) implants. This will, however, acquire a state-of-the-art advanced analysis facility to enable researchers to study pharmaceutical effects in real time. In short, Ireland is seeking to raise their own reputation in the scientific market place, and next gen 3D printing applications are set to benefit from this drive. Ireland is increasingly becoming the location of choice for multinational companies to develop and test tomorrows technologies and this investment demonstrates our commitment and expanded ability to engage, discover and collaborate at all levels, says Prof. Mark Ferguson, Director General Science Foundation Ireland. Ultimately, this is about providing Irish researchers in strategic areas with the tools to be world leading. Posted in 3D Printing Technology Maybe you also like: Jan 13, 2016 | By Tess In places like The Netherlands, smoking marijuana legally is nothing to write home about, as the recreational drug was legalized under a policy of tolerance decades ago in 1976. Elsewhere in Europe, as well as in the United States, however, talk of changing drug laws and actually legalizing marijuana has only come about in the past few years, and has been an understandably controversial topic. In 2012, the states of Washington and Colorado made international headlines as they both passed laws effectively legalizing the sale and consumption of marijuana, with limitations of course, and an entire legitimate industry was born. In the wake of the legalization of weed in Washington, two entrepreneurial brothers, Al and Saul Jacobs, decided to break into the bourgeoning market by starting a company that combined their passion for design and technology with their interest in the recently legalized substance, a 3D printed water pipe startup called Printabowl. Their most recent collection, a series of 3D printed water pipes called the Cumulo Collection is a closed collection and has just been released for purchase on their website. As stated on their website, Printabowl reimagines elevation instrument design and production, creating practical pieces of fine art that challenge the limitations previously imposed by conventional production techniques. That is, 3D printing technology has allowed Al and Saul to design and manufacture previously impossible pipe designs that emphasize not only the look and style but also the function of the pipe. The complex and striking water pipes were made using 3D printed molds which were cast in a strong ceramic material and subsequently fired and glazed to achieve the maximum quality, and strength for the final finish. The designs themselves were inspired by organic forms such as crystals and liquids, and were guided by the design principle that complex forms necessitate uncomplicated textures and vice versa. Printabowl founders Al and Saul Jacobs We think of these as pieces of functional sculpture, explains Saul Jacobs. Theyre made to exist and enhance the space we inhabit, not to be tucked away in a cabinet or in a shoebox under your bed. Were excited to be a part of further introducing this aspect of counterculture into everyday life. Alpha, Ferro, and Tesselate pipes The Cumulo Collection consists of three distinct pieces each made from ceramic: the Alpha, a minimal and sleek design, the Ferro, whose texture was inspired by ferrofluid, a magnetically reactive liquid, and the Tesselate, an angular geometric design that was inspired by smokey quartz. The pieces each measure 7.75 inches in height (19.68cm) collection and range in price from $300 to $325. As talks of legalizing marijuana continue to gain sway in certain parts of the world, there is little doubt that 3D printing enthusiasts and innovative makers will contribute to the increasingly legitimate smoking cultures around the globe as Al and Saul have begun to do in an artistic way in Washington. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Malcolm Kyle wrote at 1/13/2016 12:43:07 PM:The discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is the single most important scientific medical discovery since the recognition of sterile surgical technique. As our knowledge expands, we are coming to realize that the ECS is a master control system of virtually all physiology. The total effect of the ECS is to regulate homeostasis and prevent disease and aging. The more we learn, the more we realize that we are in the infancy of this scientific field of study. The ECS is a control system which involves tissue receptor proteins, cellular communication and control, molecular anatomy and the scavenging of oxygen free radicals. This new field of science will change medicine forever and prove cannabis the gold standard for many disease processes. Its effect on scavenging oxygen free radicals is applicable to all disease processes and this is why it has such wide medical application and is considered a cure-all by many. The discovery of the ECS will replace the current medical system of managing and treating disease. Instead of management of symptoms after disease has occurred, we will prevent disease and cancer by manipulation of the ECS. Research and education of medical students involving the ECS is being intentionally restricted by politics. No justification can be made for the restriction of the scientific study of cannabis and the endocannabinoid system. What is the danger of providing government-grown and tested cannabis to researchers? Diversion of research cannabis for non-scientific or recreational purposes does not seem to be a serious threat to national security. By Dr David Allen Heidi Ledford and Jeff Tollefson in Nature: US President Barack Obama isnt going quietly. He began his final year in office by announcing a moonshot to cure cancer in his State of the Union address to Congress on 12 January. The effort will be led by vice-president Joe Biden, whose son Beau died of brain cancer last year. For the loved ones weve all lost, for the family we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all, Obama said in a soaring speech that otherwise offered few new proposals. Instead, the president spent most of the address looking back at his accomplishments over roughly seven years in office. The details of the cancer moonshot are still fuzzy. Biden says that he has consulted with nearly 200 physicians, researchers and philanthropists in the past few months and plans to continue to seek such input. Thus far, he has pledged to increase the resources available to combat the disease, and to find ways for the cancer community to work together and share information. The goal is to double the rate of progress against cancer, achieving in five years what otherwise would have taken ten. The vice-president also pointed to what he sees as key problems that must be tackled. Only 5% of people with cancer participate in clinical trials, he noted in a statement released during the State of the Union speech, and many community oncologists have limited access to the latest treatment advances. Bidens commitment to the programme, which he first hinted at three months ago, has been hailed by patient advocates, researchers and the biotechnology industry. Advances in cancer therapy, including treatments that harness the immune system and target specific tumour mutations, have brought cancer research to an inflection point, says Jose Baselga, a cancer researcher at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and president of the American Association for Cancer Research. Now is the time for a major new initiative in cancer science that supports and builds upon our basic science foundation, Baselga says. More here. Former South Dakota Gov. Harvey Wollman dies, according to family Former South Dakota Governor Harvey Wollman died Tuesday, according to his family. Wollman served as governor from 1978-1979. Strong Growth Across Business Partners and Business Channels Hong Kong, Jan 13, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - 99 Wuxian Limited ( ASX:NNW ) ("99 Wuxian" or "the Company") is pleased to provide a business update for the months of November and December 2015. New business partners - Fujian & Hubei Rural Credit Cooperatives 99 Wuxian has entered into agreements to provide its mobile marketplace and Incentive Cloud Services ("ICS") platform to the Fujian and Hubei Rural Credit Cooperatives, providing reward point redemption and marketing promotion gift redemption. Each respective business is responsible for the management of rural credit cooperatives in the Fujian and Hubei provinces of China. The agreements will provide 99 Wuxian with access to an additional potential customer base of 96.3 million people across 154 cooperatives in rural China. The expansion into rural China represents an important stage in the continued growth of 99 Wuxian as the Company continues to build its potential user base and generate broader awareness of the platform. Expansion of loyalty point redemption platform - Bank of Suzhou 99 Wuxian has expanded its service offering to the Bank of Suzhou to include its loyalty point redemption service. Since November 2015, customers have been able to redeem bank loyalty points through the Bank of Suzhou mobile app. The extended service offering has increased user engagement across the bank's 450,000 mobile banking app users and is driving the rapid adoption of mobile banking across its customer base. The Company's experience with the Bank of Suzhou provides a strong basis for the further expansion of 99 Wuxian's ICS platform to additional bank business partners across China. iBenefit continues to gain scale New business partner 99 Wuxian has entered into an agreement with Hankou Bank, the largest commercial bank in Wuhan. Hankou Bank will use 99 Wuxian's cloud-based iBenefit platform to manage its employee incentive program for its more than 4,000 employees. New supplier agreement 99 Wuxian has partnered with Banyan Tree Holdings Limited ("Banyan Tree"), a leading international hospitality brand that manages and develops premium resorts, hotels and spas. Under the agreement, a premium range of Banyan Tree products, including spa vouchers and skin care products will be made available through 99 Wuxian's employee loyalty management platform, iBenefit. Expansion of operations to the travel industry 99 Wuxian signed its first travel industry contract with the e-commerce platform of Jinjiang Travel ("Jinjiang"), one of the largest travel agents in China. The Company will provide gas card, game recharges and mobile top-up services to Jinjiang staff and its members through Jinjiang's mobile app. As one of the largest travel agents in China and one of only three ticket agents to Shanghai Disneyland, the contract with Jinjiang marks 99 Wuxian's entry into a new market beyond the banking and financial industry. 99 Wuxian is also exploring other collaboration opportunities with Jinjiang. Amalisia Zhang, CEO of 99 Wuxian, commented: "I am pleased to report that 99 Wuxian has secured a number of new contracts across our mobile marketplace, ICS and iBenefit platforms, and has entered into an exciting new supplier partnership with Banyan Tree. Importantly, 99 Wuxian has expanded into the travel market, marking the Company's diversification beyond its core sector of banking and financials. We are pleased with the progress that the Company has made and look forward to providing further updates to shareholders." To view the release, please visit: http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-NNW-901639.pdf About 99 Wuxian Ltd 99 Wuxian Ltd (ASX:NNW) aggregates over 300 million high quality consumers and 155 leading merchants through a marketplace embedded within the mobile apps of China's leading banks, telecommunications and insurance companies. 99 Wuxian enables increased customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention for its business partners by offering consumers the lifestyle convenience of purchasing virtual and physical goods on a mobile device. Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems. (Bloomberg) Billionaire John Paulsons New York hedge fund firm has shut an operation in Bermuda that had been targeted by a Democratic lawmaker as a tax shelter. Paulsons venture, a reinsurer named PacRe Ltd., has stopped writing new coverage, and its insurance policies have expired, according to two people familiar with the venture who asked not to be identified discussing private contracts. The insurance company that partnered with the money manager, Validus Holdings Ltd., will provide an update on the wind-down during its fourth-quarter conference call, one of the people said. The venture has been a target of U.S. officials since 2014, when Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who led the Senate Finance Committee at the time, urged the Treasury Department to crack down on PacRe and similar companies set up by hedge fund managers. He said they were exploiting a loophole that allowed billionaires to benefit from unwarranted and massive tax breaks. Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, pledged to end the Bermuda reinsurance tax advantage. PacRe was started in 2012 with $500 million in capital, to be invested in three of Paulsons funds, Validus said at the time. Paulson, a major donor to Republican candidates, has a net worth estimated at $9.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While he rose to fame with successful bets against mortgage securities in the financial crisis, his subsequent results were less impressive, partly because of losses on gold. Investment Losses Validus said third-quarter investment results included $40.7 million in realized losses relating to PacRe. Paulsons venture also stood out for how little insurance it sold. PacRe was set up in an environment when returns on high-level catastrophe risks were more attractive, and today they are not, Ed Noonan, Validuss chief executive officer, said in an October conference call. Having a business with no premium coming into it isnt a business. Reinsurers sell backup coverage to insurance companies, protecting them against big risks such as natural catastrophes. Paulson, David Einhorn, Dan Loeb and Steven Cohen are among hedge fund managers who have set up reinsurers in tax-friendly Bermuda or the Cayman Islands. Cohen has exited his reinsurer, and companies tied to Loeb and Einhorn are each trading below the prices from their initial public offerings. Preferential Rate While the ventures provide a stable pool of capital that the money managers can use to buy securities, they also offer a tax-advantaged way to invest in a U.S. hedge fund, potentially transforming any short-term capital gains generated by the fund into long-term capital gains, which are taxed at a preferential lower rate. Insurance and reinsurance companies enjoy an exception to U.S. rules meant to prevent tax avoidance through offshore investing vehicles, but the Internal Revenue Service has never clearly defined how much insurance a company must sell to qualify. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson & Co. with Peppercomm, had no immediate comment. Validus said in a statement late Tuesday that the PacRe entity was off risk effective Jan. 1. Missing Expectations Last year, ratings firm A.M. Best withdrew its rating for PacRe, citing a request from the company. A.M. Best said that the alternative asset strategy has not performed as expected during PacRes operating history, producing unrealized investment losses. The ratings firm also noted that the reinsurance market had become more competitive as money managers piled in, pressuring underwriting margins. PacRe had no insurance employees, instead depending on minority investor Validus to handle underwriting. Under pressure from Wyden, the IRS agreed last year to establish rules for the first time that would define which companies can qualify for the favorable tax treatment offered to insurers. In proposed rules issued in April, it said companies like PacRe that outsource their insurance underwriting wouldnt qualify for the tax break. With assistance from Katherine Chiglinsky. AF Safety Center marks 20th anniversary This year the Air Force Safety Center commemorates the organization's 20th anniversary. Since its designation, the basic mission has remained the same: preserving lives and combat capability through mishap prevention. Safety was originally designated under the Office of the Inspector General at Norton Air Force Base, California, shortly after the Air Force became a separate department in 1947. In 1992, safety became a separate entity with the creation of the Air Force chief of safety position. The Air Force Safety Center was activated Jan. 1, 1996, as a result of recommendations accepted from the Blue Ribbon Panel on Aviation in 1995, which consolidated all safety functions at Kirtland AFB. "As we take a moment to remember our heritage, I encourage all Airmen to join us in our commitment to advancing the safety culture for the Air Force," said Maj. Gen. Andrew M. Mueller, the Air Force chief of safety and Air Force Safety Center commander. "Safety messages from our past are just as enduring today. "The lessons we learn will enable the Air Force to safeguard Airmen, protect resources and preserve combat readiness for the future," Mueller continued. The safety center develops policy, and provides guidance, education, training and oversight of the Air Force safety and nuclear surety programs to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of safety education and training, risk management, and mishap prevention. These programs cover aviation, occupational and space safety, as well as conventional and nuclear weapons, directed energy, human factors and other emerging technologies. The safety centers goal is to conserve Air Force resources by eliminating mishaps through proactive hazard identification and risk management consistent with operational requirements. Over the past 20 years, the safety center has worked hard to reduce the number of preventable mishaps. In a snapshot, the Air Force has incurred an average of 24 Class A aviation mishaps per fiscal year producing a rate of 1.15 Class A's per 100,000 flight hours for manned aircraft. Those aviation mishaps resulted in an average of 15 fatalities per year. The last five years were below the 20-year average with fiscal 2014 ending with only seven aviation flight Class A's for a rate of .43 per 100,000 flight hours. Off-duty ground mishaps continue to be one of the Air Force's biggest challenges. On-duty ground fatalities averaged five per year, while off-duty ground fatalities reached an average of 55. The Air Force finished fiscal 2014 with three on-duty and 42 off-duty ground fatalities, marking the lowest fatality rate in 10 years. Current efforts to promote a risk management-based safety culture on duty challenge Airmen to be accountable for their actions off duty. During the past 20 years, weapons safety has developed automated site planning generating more than 20,000 explosive site plans. On the nuclear side, two decades of effort of Independent Nuclear Design Certification and developing and refining the policies and procedures to ensure nuclear surety have continued to strengthen the nuclear enterprise. Weapons safety has also made great strides in the areas of improving radiation safety and the evolving field of directed energy. Recognizing the growing congestion in space and growing reliance upon its use, the Air Force formalized space safety as a mission operations discipline within the safety center in 2013. In just two years, the Air Force's space safety accomplishments earned global status with efforts such as standardizing policy across the Defense Department, academia and civil agencies such as NASA. Achievements included cooperative efforts in the development of small satellites, participation in commercial launch mishap investigations, and as a leader in the international community with regard to tracking procedures. The safety center remains committed to applying lessons learned while identifying new solutions for an ever-expanding array of challenges. "Our history and heritage are the foundation of what we do and who we are; they enable us to maintain a lasting legacy of excellence, Mueller said. "The Air Force commitment to sustain a center of safety professionals reinforces the importance of safety to mission accomplishment." Test team aims at new machine gun for Pave Hawk Arriving in the rain, an HH-60G Pave Hawk landed Jan. 5 at Edwards Air Force Base to begin testing the ballistic dispersion of a GAU-21 .50-caliber machine gun. The Pave Hawk will be at Edwards AFB until Jan. 22 where the 412th Test Wing and 418th Flight Test Squadron are providing the facilities, range safety, photographic documentation and maintenance support equipment. The 96th TW at Eglin AFB, Florida, and the 412th TW partnered up to provide Detachment 1, 413th FLTS from Nellis AFB, Nevada, a location for their test team to accomplish baseline ballistics testing. That location is Edwards AFB's Gun Harmonizing Range. The testing is part of the Air Combat Command's HH-60 defensive weapons system upgrade modification proposal. The modification proposal requires the new weapon to be an open bolt system, have a longer barrel life, a higher cyclic rate of fire, be lighter weight, and have reduced recoil. The selected weapon must also be used currently by other Defense Department services. According to James Cooley, the technical director for Det. 1, 413th FLTS, the closed-bolt GAU-18 defensive system, which has been used on the HH-60, has demonstrated a short barrel life (3,000 rounds), relatively low cyclic rate of fire (550 rounds per minute), high recoil, and is vulnerability to unsafe ammunition "cook-offs." The FN Herstal M3M, designated the GAU-21, is an open bolt system with a barrel life of 10,000 rounds, a cyclic rate of fire of up to 1100 rounds per minute, and reduced recoil over standard .50-caliber weapons due to the use of a soft mount. As a proven weapon system, the current test effort is focused on integrating the GAU-21 into the HH-60G weapon platform using the Gun Mount/Ammunition Handling System, which was designed for the Air Force by the Navy. The objective of this test effort is to evaluate the ballistic dispersion of the GAU-21 .50-caliber machine gun mounted to the HH-60G via the GAU-21 GM/AHS when operated in the fixed forward fire and fixed side fire modes. The Pave Hawk, a variant of the UH-60 Blackhawk used by the Army, is stationed at Nellis AFB. Its primary objective is combat search and rescue. The combat crew of four includes the pilot, co-pilot and two special mission aviators as well as three Air Force pararescuemen for rescue operations. The Combat Search and Rescue Combined Test Force, located at Nellis AFB, is comprised of Det. 1, 413th FLTS and the 96th TW, which fall under Air Force Materiel Command, and conducts developmental testing. ACC's 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron and 53rd TW, also at Nellis AFB, conducts operational testing. The 823rd Maintenance Squadron is also providing aircraft and weapons maintenance support. The Pave Hawk differs from the Blackhawk in its auxiliary fuel tanks, aerial refueling probe and forward-looking infrared. It also has a color weather radar, integrated electronic warfare suite, external gun mount, and ammunition handling system as well as an integrated navigation suite. AFSOC historian retires after 50-plus years of service The longest-serving historian in the Air Force retired at Hurlburt Field Jan. 7. Herb Mason, the Air Force Special Operations Command historian, spent more than 50 years preserving the Air Force story for generations to come. Lt. Gen. Brad Heithold, the AFSOC commander, presided over the ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School (USAFSOS). You all know Herb, hes Mr. AFSOC history, Heithold told the audience. Hes been our historian since we stood up our command in 1991. The general spoke at great length about Mason and how hes been a tremendous asset to AFSOC and the Air Force. Herb, youve done a wonderful job. Weve been blessed to have you, Heithold said. The commander presented Mason the Air Force Outstanding Civilian Career Service Award, which is the highest award a civilian can receive. According to the citation, Mason led the history office in completing 25 consecutive on-time annual historical reports -- a feat unmatched by any other Air Force major command. In fact, the AFSOC history office made history themselves in 2009 when they won the best command-level history report and the best history program in the Air Force. This was the first and only time a history office won both awards simultaneously. That says just a little bit about the quality of the person we had running our history shop, Heithold said. This isnt a guy who settles for mediocrity, status quo or second place. In AFSOC, we strive for first in everything we do, and Herb did that time and time again with quality history reports, he added. Masons legacy extends beyond historic documents; he continuously reached out to air commandos, leaving a lasting impact on the future of AFSOC. Its history that makes you smart, and heritage that makes you proud, Heithold said. Between giving countless tours in our Air Park and educating young folks at USAFSOS, Herb made people smarter and prouder to be a part of AFSOC. During the ceremony, Charlie O'Connell, a representative from the Air Force history office, presented Mason the title page to the first history document that he wrote. This history report covered September through December 1965, which means that 50 years ago today, you were probably working on this report, OConnell said. OConnell also went through history records and discovered that Mason is currently the most published historian in the Air Force. As far as I can tell, you are listed as author on more Air Force organizational histories than anyone else in our system, he said to Mason. On behalf of everyone in the history program, thank you for everything youve done. Then, a very humbled Mason took the floor to reflect on his career and share three big lessons he has learned. Over the years Ive learned that life is not fair, he said. You never make bad decisions, just some are better than others. And, you never have a problem, you have a challenge. He also encouraged the audience to seek change. Sometimes we get caught up in our daily tasks and just do them for the sake of doing them, Mason said. I ask you to keep focus. If whatever you are working on doesnt help the Airmen in the field, then why are you doing it? We need to lean in and truly be a step ahead in a changing world, he added. Thats what makes us AFSOC. Eglin medical group first to find bacteria unseen in humans The 96th Medical Group's laboratory provided the first human blood sample of a spirochete bacteria, known to cause tick-borne relapsing fever, to be cultured at the Centers for Disease Control. The bacteria, Borrelia turicatae, had previously only been cultured in animals, according to Maj. (Dr.) Benjamin Stermole, Eglin Air Force Bases infectiologist. The rare spirally twisted bacteria was found after a primary care doctor ordered a malaria smear sample for a sick Soldier. After review of the patient's blood sample, Dolli Lane, a 96th MDG laboratory technician, realized she had something unusual and alerted others. What she noticed, when scanning a red blood cell sample looking for malaria, was one spirochete was outside the red blood cells. At first, Lane said she wasn't sure what she was looking at. She found a few more spirochetes and decided to pull reference materials and bring in another lab technician to verify what she was seeing. "It was unusual because you wouldn't see this bacteria in the blood we were reading," Lane said. Staff Sgt. Christopher Boyd, the 96th MDG hematology lab section chief, said the spirochete bacteria could have easily been overlooked. It is not typically spotted using the particular slide stain used. In addition, spirochetes are only visible if the blood sample is drawn during a patient's fever spike. The fever is brought on due to increased bacteria volume in the body, according to Stermole. "I thought, 'maybe what she (Lane) saw was caused by one of the substances used to make the slide,'" Boyd said. "When I saw the spirochete slide, it was consistent with that type of bacteria. That's what tipped us off to look into this further." To find a definitive answer about the bacteria, the hospital's head microbiologist, pathologist and infectious disease doctors evaluated the sample. It was decided that the bases lab technicians would send the samples to the CDC to test the bacteria's DNA. "We don't have the equipment needed to identify the bacteria here and neither do our reference labs. It had to be sent to a research lab and CDC is generally the place for anything not available at commercial reference labs," Stermole said. Boyd immediately contacted the CDC to explain the case and emailed photos of what was found under the microscope. As a result, the CDC accepted the samples for review. "This infection doesn't happen very often. The ability to culture this bacteria allows us to study it on a level we haven't been able to before," Stermole said. "The cultures can be tested against different antibiotics to learn which ones are effective. We can also use this human isolate in animal models to see if it acts the same way as previous isolates, which may be found to be different subspecies, he continued. Essentially, we can prove the animal models can adequately represent human infections. There is a lot of information to be gathered after a bacteria DNA is cultured." Within days, the CDC contacted the patient's doctor, the pathologist and the infectious disease doctor. Soon after, they learned the bacteria was Borrelia turicatae. The affected Soldier contracted the bacteria from a tick bite while living in an old stable during a field exercise in West Texas. After the infection identification, the patient was given the correct antibiotic and showed almost 100 percent improvement within 24 hours. Blowing up the competition The 366th Operations Support Squadron won the Defense Logistics Agency Range of the Year award. Although there isn't a trophy or plaque presented, the range personnel have earned bragging rights for their use of excess property. The competition was created by the DLA to heighten ranges interest in using excess equipment for target practice. With a goal of simplifying processes and saving taxpayer dollars, the competition allows ranges to creatively accomplish both. "Generally, the ranges have to buy soft targets that are made of plywood and cardboard," said Curtis Viall, a 366th OSS range operations officer. "An alternative to these soft targets is to use a vehicle that has been deemed excess or unserviceable." The reused vehicles become hard targets, he explained. Unlike the soft targets, they're sturdier and can withstand multiple hits from weapons systems. Not only are the targets durable, but they offer other benefits as well. "Finding valuable ways to utilize excess property, vehicles (and) equipment on the range provides our aircrews realistic tactical targets and saves a significant amount of money," Viall said. "Last year, over a thousand vehicles were reutilized (on) ranges, saving thousands of dollars." The categories of the competition look at layout, overall range capabilities, reutilization totals, cleanliness of the facility, overall appearance, and what's been accomplished using DLA equipment. "We typically acquire tanks, self-propelled and towed artillery, armored personnel carriers, (shipping) containers, (Humvees) and construction equipment," Viall said. "Once at the range the vehicles are prepped to go on range as target(s)." Preparation can include removing shiny surfaces and glass in order to reduce laser reflection, he explained, as well as removing hazardous waste such as oil and transmission fluid. "In some cases targets require no modification and can (go) directly onto the range to be used, but quite often we will make modifications to make them look more realistic," Viall said. Examples of their creative targets include building villages out of shipping containers, using modified satellite dishes to simulate enemy communication infrastructure, simulated tunnel entrances, modifying trailers to pull by remote control vehicles for laser guided bombs, and many other realistic targets. The contract maintenance personnel from Environmental Management Incorporated services used a lot of imagination and skill to get these systems looking more like enemy targets, Viall explained. "We're proud of our OSS range team and the recognition this award highlights," said Lt. Col. Sean Lowe, the 366th OSS commander. "Mr. Viall and his team have built a culture of innovation while developing a world-class training environment. The team's ability to react to dynamic F-15E (Strike Eagle) operational requirements by organically developing full scale tactical targets and threats prepares gunfighters for combat challenges they may face in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan." Those investors which look carefully in 2016 when picking their stocks may be rewarded but the overall sector is under pressure in South Africa Those investors which look carefully in 2016 when picking their stocks may be rewarded but the overall sector is under pressure in South Africa, reports Ortneil Kutama, Africa Property News.com Media Director. Hyprop Investments could perform strongly. The Mall of Rosebank is expected to boost the company as are its African operations. Hyprop upgraded the mall in 2014 and 2015 and it has proven to be highly successful. Hyprop has invested in shopping centres in Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia through partnerships. Fortress Income Fund merged with Capital Property Fund last year to create a mega fund worth over R50bn. Fortress B shares have been coining it since its listing in 2009, as it has been the best performing property stock on the exchange for two years running. This company could still bring market beating returns given how it will dominate industrial listed property. More offshore funds are expected to list on the JSE. Fewer South African funds are likely to join as they are struggling with a weak economy and a shoddy rand. There may be more consolidation of local funds as opposed to new funds joining the exchange. Takeover targets could include Emira Property Fund, an owner of mostly office and retail properties, and Tower Property Fund, a Cape-based company that listed in July 2013 and has made many opportunistic acquisitions since. The funds portfolio is also spread across SA, and has exposure to Croatia in eastern Europe. Accelerate Property Fund could also do well as its Fourways Mall development grows. The suburb of Fourways has required a large degree of improvement and people living in the area have desired a larger mall. Resilient Property Income Fund had a good 2015 and could repeat its impressive performance this year. Resilient, under the leadership of Des de Beer, has grown to be a company true to its name. It has withstood economic weakness and competition from other funds. Resilient own many shopping malls in rural areas and small towns. Resilient has over the past few months been boosted by various accretive acquisitions of lower LSM (Living Standards Measure) regional malls and strong returns from its property funds holdings, many of which are abroad. These include holdings in Rockcastle Real Estate and New Europe Property Investments, among others. In terms of offshore funds already listed on the JSE that could perform well, there are Sirius Real Estate, which was strong company in 2015 and has grown to be the biggest JSE Alternate Exchange company and also Schroder, a recent listing. Sirius owns and manages business parks in Germany. These business parks include flexible office space which is attractive for small and medium enterprises, which are a large driver of the German economy and also storage assets. Over the past five years, under a turnaround management team, Sirius has gone from owning large office buildings to a portfolio of properties suitable for more businesses. At R6.7bn, it needs to migrate from the Alternate Exchange to the main board of the JSE. Schroder Real Estate is also based in Europe. Schroder, which was established by multinational property group Schroder Real Estate, offers local investors exposure to European markets, which are expected to do well this year. Analysts say Schroder will be a welcome addition to the JSE. "I see space for them, as Schroder is a very competent asset management company with an experienced management team and board based in the geographical area in which they invest. This company has a solid history and franchise in their home market and have an advantage over non-European specialists operating in their core markets," says Alternative Real Estate Capital Managements Garreth Elston. In terms of stocks which could surprise on the upside but are quite risky investments, there is Delta Property Fund and Mara Delta. Delta is a government tenant focussed real estate investment trust which has struggled to gain above market returns from some of its assets. Mara Delta is the African arm of Delta. Mara was created through a merger between Delta Africa and Mara Diversified Holdings. It controls more than R6.5bn worth of assets in Africa, making it the largest pan African property fund on the continent. On its own, Delta Africa struggled to make deals quickly enough. Mara will boost the company and should boost its share performance in 2016. Mara Deltas development component has been estimated at $500m to be rolled out over five to 10 years, CEO Bronwyn Corbett says. Stanlibs head of listed property funds, Keillen Ndlovu, has said that the Delta Africa and Mara partnership is a strong move by both parties. He said Mara Delta had more critical mass as compared to funds doing something on their own and having relatively small portfolios. With respect to South Africas listed property giants including Growthpoint Properties and Redefine Properties, investors need to be cautious. These funds are struggling to find acquisition opportunities in South Africa. They are looking at offshore options with Growthpoint likely to acquire more assets in Australia and Redefine with an eye on Europe. New deals may occur in 2016 but the effects on capital appreciation and distribution growth will only filter down in 2017 and 2018. However, Growthpoint and Redefine will improve the quality of their assets with various upgrades. They may also sell off unwanted assets that are too small or too low quality for their portfolios. Finally, Arrowhead Properties could impress yet again. This diversified property group has provided investors with consistent returns for a few years and is run by the skilled team of Gerald Leissner, Mark Kaplan and Imraan Suleman, concludes Kutama. Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it will sell its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to France-based Orange. Airtel had in July last year announced about entering into an agreement with Orange to sell its four subsidiaries Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone, in Africa. The agreements for the remaining two countries have lapsed. Orange and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV have signed an agreement leading to Oranges acquisition of Airtels operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, the company said in a statement. As per the agreement, Orange will acquire 100 percent of the two companies share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euro. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Oranges subsidiaries in the Cote dIvoire and Senegal. Airtel said outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financial of its two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtels EBITDA in these two countries at this time. The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. This acquisition marks a step forward in Oranges growth strategy and will bring the Groups African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016. This is further to the initial agreement signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtels operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville, Airtel said. Lazard and Societe Generale were advisors to Orange for this transaction. Airtel was advised by Arma Partners LLP. Barcelona`s Brazilian star Neymar has been called to give evidence by Spain`s national court on February 2 for alleged fraud surrounding his transfer to Barcelona in 2013. Both the player`s parents, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and former club president Sandro Rosell, as well as two directors of Neymar`s former club Santos have also been called to declare, according to a court filing released on Wednesday. Barcelona and Santos will also have to give evidence via representatives on February 9 and February 1 respectively. Public prosecutors filed for action to be taken against all the parties after a complaint of fraud and corruption was launched by the Brazilian investment fund DIS, which held 40 percent of Neymar`s sporting rights when he played at Santos, at the court in June 2015. DIS has claimed it was cheated of its real share of the benefits of 23-year-old Neymar`s transfer in 2013 because part of the transfer fee was concealed by Barcelona and Santos. The deal was originally valued at 57.1 million euros ($62.1 million) by the Catalan club, but the Spanish judicial authorities have estimated the amount to be at least 83.3 million. DIS received 6.8 million euros ($7.7 million) out of the total 17.1 million that Barcelona paid to Santos, but claims it may also be due a share of the overall transfer payments. In a separate lawsuit, a judge in May 2015 ordered Bartomeu, Rosell and the club itself to stand trial over alleged tax fraud linked to the signing. The scandal over the concealed transfer fee led to Rosell`s resignation as president in January 2014 with then vice-president Bartomeu taking charge. It is alleged the overall fee was split between a number of different contracts between Barcelona, Santos and Neymar himself. A Brazilian court has also taken action freezing $47 million in assets belonging to Neymar over tax evasion allegations between 2011 and 2013. Neymar`s fiscal problems haven`t affected his form on the field as he finished third in FIFA`s Ballon d`Or for the best player in the world on Monday after helping Barca to win five trophies in 2015. However, it has cast some doubt over his future at the club with his father Neymar Sr saying he would seek tax assurances before signing an extension to his Barcelona deal, which expires in 2018. The Shiv Sena on Wednesday said that defeats in local body elections in Gujarat, UP and Maharashtra should trigger alarm bells within BJP. A junior ally in the BJP-led Maharashtra state government, Shiv Sena has also said that an introspection is the need of the hour for the party at the centre. It also said that the Congress win in local bodies polls is only a trailer and the film is yet to begin. Inspite of having a strong leadership in the state and peoples mandate, the Congress is surging ahead. The BJP Chief Minister has to take note of this, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said. The party won handsomely in Lok Sabha polls due to the Modi wave, but history has shown that balloons that fly in the air do not remain there for long, it said. The ruling alliance partner further said that the mistakes which were making people uncomfortable needed to be assessed. If the atmosphere that was created during the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls is now suffocating people, it needs to be ascertained what mistakes are being made that are causing it. The results (of local bodies polls) are an indication that Maharashtras political environment is in danger, it said. The Congress won 105 out of 345 wards in the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls held on Sunday. The NCP won 80 and the Shiv Sena 59 wards. The BJP finished at the bottom of the tally with 39 seats. There have been several indications that despite coming together to form the Maharashtra government, Shiv Sena and BJP have had numerous differences. BJPs dipping fortunes in recent local body elections has, many say, further emboldened Shiv Sena to flex its muscles. On Wednesday, the party said that BJP relegated to a poor fourth place in the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls and bypolls should do introspection to ascertain why it has fallen since an emphatic showing in the general elections. There is severe drought in the state. The government keeps on making announcements but the throats of farmers are parched. Their problems will not end by merely making announcements. The Congress win in the local body polls is only a trailer, the film is yet to begin, the editorial said. Irans Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday it was interrogating 10 American sailors it had detained a day earlier, and dismissed talk of their prompt release. Iran detained the sailors who were aboard two US navy boats in the Gulf in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord. If, during the interrogation, we find out that they were on an intelligence gathering mission, we will treat them differently, Guards spokesman Ramazan Sharif said in an interview with Tasnim news agency. Late on Tuesday, a US defence official had said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors early on Wednesday to a US Navy vessel in international waters. But Sharif said that was speculation. What others say about the sailors prompt release is their speculation, and I dont confirm or deny it, he told Tasnim. IRGC Naval Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi told state television in an interview that a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf had acted provocatively and unprofessionally for 40 minutes by carrying out air and sea manoeuvres after Iran arrested the American sailors. He said the sailors were transferred to Farsi island, near where they had been seized. Tehran had asked Washington for an apology for violating Irans territorial waters, Fadavi added. Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was in touch with US Secretary of State (John) Kerry. Zarif took a firm stance as the sailors had violated Irans territorial waters and asked the United States for an apology, Fadavi said. The multinational team hunting for MH370 will not expand the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean without new clues about the wrecks exact location. More than 80,000 sq km of seabed have been scoured, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Wednesday in its weekly update. The search of the full 120,000 sq km area will be completed in the middle of the year, the bureau said. The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China need credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft before the search area can be expanded further, the bureau said in the statement. Flight 370 was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur in March 2014 when it disappeared with 239 people on board. Investigators concluded that someone on board intentionally disabled the aircrafts tracking devices, and the jet turned south before plunging into the sea off Australias western coast. The only solid evidence so far from the missing Boeing Co. 777 is a wing component that washed up in July on Reunion Island, some 3,800km from the search zone. In December, new analysis of the flight path and satellite communications narrowed down the most likely wreck site, and ships have been focused since then on the southern end of the search zone. Though the effort has not yet turned up any trace of MH370, one of the search vessels found a shipwreck last month that probably dates back to the early 1800s, the bureau said in its update. (With Agency Inputs) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking to firm up delivery on the governance front and is said to be searching for new faces for his cabinet reshuffle. Like this, there are several big decisions in the government and the party seem to be waiting because of the re-election of Amit Shah as the BJP president. In the present cabinet, Piyush Goyal as a Power Minister, Nitin Gadkari as a Highways and Sushma Swaraj as an External Affairs and somewhat Suresh Prabhu as a Railway Minister have outstanding performance. However, if we look at the larger picture of the government then somewhere BJP has left the voters stumped. A cabinet reshuffle, therefore, is urgently needed and fresh talent, if necessary from the displacement, from academia, or the private sector, needs to be instated. Though, the top four portfolios home, finance, defence and foreign ministry are unlikely to see a change. There are other ministers who have been identified as underperformance, might get the axe or be transferred to another ministry. Some ministries may also be reorganised for better governance and some of the better performers may get additional charge of related ministries. PM Modi could cut down the number of ministers from Bihar following the partys humiliating defeat in the last assembly election in November. Amit Shahs election is expected to be by consensus, as everyone wants him to become party president again and they all believe that the BJP has become the worlds largest party under his leadership. With his election to the three-year term, Shah is also expected to lead Prime Minister Narendra Modis campaign in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Immediately, he has to organise the party for the crucial elections in states like West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam, where the party has traditionally had little presence and is hoping to gain the ground. There is also Punjab, where it has been in government for 10 years as the junior partner of the Akali Dal and has to counter anti-incumbency sentiments. In 2017, there is a mega battle in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 72 of the states 80 parliamentary seats, but has lost ground ever since in local body elections and by-polls. This winter session of Parliament began loftily enough with an all-party discussion on the Constitution and Dr. BR Ambedkar, but ended with next to nothing accomplished. In between, there was a shameful and unmitigated chaos. However, this is not the case for the first time, even during the UPAs regime when BJP was in opposition its members also wasted taxpayers money and time in a similar manner. Keeping politics apart, in terms of governance also, a mid-term course correction is mandatory for BJP if they want a chance to win in 2019. Its disappointing version of Congress plus cow rule, as the spurned Arun Shourie dubbed it, has been most underwhelming. After Delhi-Bihars miserable defeat and corporation and Panchayat level elections one can say that the Modi Magic is fading. Its high time, the government is now expected to deliver, and the cabinet reshuffle is must. There has been little, even by way of administrative reform. Moreover, Modi Sarkar took lots of U turns so far; they failed to fulfil the promises made by them at the time of elections. BJP has made volte face on a range of issues black money, Direct Benefit Transfer, Insurance Bill, Henderson Brooks report, the CAGs mandate, rail fare hike, diesel deregulation, Chinese incursions and relations with Pakistan. There are many things which went against the saffron party. One of such thing is price rise especially in food products which proved to be a major discomfort for Modi government. They pledged to bring Achche din for the aam aadmi, but yet are struggling. Rainfall has been lowest in 5 years which has further worsened the problem. Namami Ganga project has flopped and crores of money gone in river and drained. Core sector growth has also slowed down considerably. After witnessing a growth of 4.2 per cent in April, it is down to dismal 2.3 per cent in May last year. Crude oil, natural gas, refinery and steel all these sectors witnessed contraction in the month of May. Loudmouth BJP ministers and abusive Social Media supporters, Modis visit to Pakistan and followed by Pathankot attack has stigmatised his image. Right now, Modi Sarkar need a face lift and some concrete ways to gain public faith, else they will lose public confidence forever. Since independence, BJP comes to power for limited period and then shrinks to all-time lows. I hope history wont repeat for them in 2019. Rahul Gandhi skips Ashok Chavans invitation to tour rural Maharashtra and instead will lead a rally in Mumbai led by Sanjay Nirupam against electricity tariff issue. There is a rift within the Mumbai Congress unit after the partys mouthpiece Congress Darshan in its articles not only held Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru squarely responsible for the present anarchic situation in Kashmir, but also tried to connect party president Sonia Gandhis family to the Fascist dispensation of the 1930s in Italy. Ashok Chavan the blue eyed boy of Gandhis and MPCC team boycotted MRCC chief Sanjay Nirupams official dinner and instead attended Gurudas Kamats private party. Chavan was not only hurt but feels that the article was carried out with malicious intentions of pleasing opposition, to make Nirupams political journey safe. Sources in the party told this newspaper that Ashok Chavan was upset; outraged with the incidents that occurred in the recent past, so he showed disrespect for Sanjay Nirupam. Meanwhile, rebellious Gurudas Kamat is playing his cards well by dividing people among the party, by fuelling the issues. Grassroots Congress leaders are not in a mood to take any chance in the present scenario. He had met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and conveyed his unease over Sanjay Nirupams style of functioning to the party high command. On the other hand, inspite of Ashok Chavans insistence on Rahul Gandhi to accept MPCC invitation to tour drought ridden rural Maharashtra; Rahul preferred to lead a rally in Mumbai against state government and BMC organised by MRCC. Rahul is firming his grip on local politics and party, by taking personal interest concerning to the state of Maharashtra. The Congress vice-president will address party leaders at the Azad Maidan office, lead a protest march from Bandra to Dharavi to highlight high electricity tariff in the city, meet students at NM College and hold a rally, according to the itinerary prepared by the Mumbai unit. He is personally backing Sanjay Nirupam, this may force Ashok Chavan to surrender and cooperate with party workers without any agenda against them. Party sources said Rahul Gandhis visit could defuse the tension for the time being. The main task before Rahul Gandhi will be to end factionalism. Otherwise, it will be difficult for Congress to take on Shiv Sena in the ensuing civic polls, sources said. After a long time, Congress has a reason to cherish the victory in municipal and nagar panchayat polls. Out of 345 wards, Congress won 106 and NCP 82 while the BJP won 45 seats. As a ruling party BJP was expected to do better but its tally of 45 is not a defeat if its previous record is compared. Except Jamkhed of MOS Ram Shinde, BJP lost all remaining nagarpalikas and nagar panchayats. Congress and NCP have retained their tally and BJP has not gone down below its previous total. Smartly Congress and NCP have projected status quo as victory while demoralised BJP which was expected to improve its tally has not made it clear that though things have not been improved still also not changed or gone reverse against the saffron party. The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the ban will continue on the bull-taming festival Jallikattu. The order came on the festival organisers petition who sought apex courts permission to hold Jallikattu during Pongal on January 14, 15 and 16. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had ruled that the bull-taming festival would not be celebrated in Tamil Nadu this year. Hearing a bunch of petitions against the government order, the apex court stayed the Centres notification allowing Jallikattu. The apex courts decision has also sparked protests in several parts of Tamil Nadu. Protesters have tonsured their heads protesting against the order. AIADMK cadres, bull tamers and villagers in Madurai are staging a fast too. The Animal Welfare Board had filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the comeback of Jallikattu. By fixing the next hearing for March, the court effectively ensured that the sport cannot be held this year its usually held to celebrate the winter harvest. State elections in Tamil Nadu are due later this year, and all parties have been urging the Centre to sanction the sport. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who, like other politicians, had lobbied heavily for the event to be allowed, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to use an executive order or ordinance to allow the sport to be held. DMK leader M Karunanidhi also issued a similar appeal to the prime minister. A lot of safeguards are in place and the event must be allowed, the Tamil Nadu government argued in the top court, adding that the sport has been in vogue for centuries. The Centre said that animal rights activists have no fundamental right to challenge the sport. The Supreme Court will hear the matter next on March 15. The four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu was lifted on January 8 by the Modi government in poll-bound Tamil Nadu with certain restrictions. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Wednesday it had released 10 American sailors detained a day earlier, according to the Guards' statement broadcast on state television. Iran detained the sailors aboard two U.S. Navy patrol boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers. Gen. Ali Fadavi, Navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted Wednesday on Iran's state TV as saying: "Investigation shows that entry of American sailors into Iran's territorial waters was due to mechanical problems in their navigation system and that issue is being resolved." On Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN, "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly." Both sides appeared eager not to let the incident escalate. It came at a delicate time for U.S.-Iranian relations, after Iran and six world powers forged a landmark nuclear accord last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities. A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route to Bahrain from Kuwait. U.S. officials told Reuters it was unclear how or if the boats became disabled. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another U.S. official said. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said Iranian Revolutionary Guards had detained the vessels after they "illegally" entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf. The two boats were seized near Farsi Island 1.2 miles inside Iranian territorial waters, it said. Officials from Iran and the U.S. are negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized. News of the incident broke as U.S. President Barack Obama prepared to make his final State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress. He is due to leave office in January 2017. The sailors were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot-long, high-speed patrol boats used by the U.S. Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters. It was the latest reported incident between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks. The U.S. Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so. Previous Iranian seizures involved British sailors and marines. In June 2004, Iran arrested six Royal Marines and two naval personnel part of a U.S.-led force in Iraq for straying into its waters, stirring diplomatic tensions between the two. Following negotiations the eight were freed three days later. In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. They were held for 13 days. In November 2009, Iranian naval vessels detained five Britons on a racing yacht en route from Bahrain to Dubai. They were released a week later. Wire services Pakistans law enforcement agencies have arrested around a dozen people from different cities of southern Punjab on suspicion of their links with terrorists who attacked Indian airbase in Pathankot earlier this month. According to a spokesman for Pakistan Prime Minister Office, Islamabad has decided to share the development with Indian side and send a top level investigation team to New Delhi to further look into the matter. A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was informed on Wednesday that the banned outfit, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), which allegedly conducted Pathankot attack were secretly operating in four cities of Punjab. The offices in Bahwalnagar, Bahawalpur, Multan and Muzafargarh have been sealed and the suspected members have been arrested, top officials briefed the premier. The meeting which was also attended by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhter, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Prime Ministers National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (r) Nasir Janjua and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, was told that the arrested people could be possible facilitators of Pathankot attackers. The participants of meeting agreed that Pakistan would continue acting against terrorists and none of militant groups would be treated with discrimination. Islamabad will now approach New Delhi to exchange more information about the attackers and their link in Pakistan and the matter would be taken to a logical finding, the statement added. The development comes just two days ahead of a meeting between foreign secretaries of two countries, who will lay down a road map of resumption of comprehensive dialogue between Pakistan and India in Islamabad on January 15. Reports by Indian media suggested that New Delhi had clearly conveyed to Islamabad that they will hold any such meeting only if Pakistan would take some serious action against the alleged militants who had links with the attackers of Pathankot airbase. India has alleged that the attack was orchestrated by Jaish, though the United Jihad Council, a group based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack. The evidence provided by India is said to include voice recordings and phone numbers of the terrorists handlers which were traced to Pakistan. However, Pakistan had initially said that phone numbers and call transcripts supplied by India did not check out and that the numbers were not registered there. Makar Sankranti is a harvest festival celebrated by Hindus in almost all parts of the world. The festival marks the transition of the sun into the zodiac sign of Makara Rashi (Capricorn) on its celestial path. The day is also believed to mark the arrival of spring in India. The festival is also regarded as the beginning of an auspicious phase in Indian culture. It marks the end of an inauspicious phase, which according to the Hindu calendar, begins around mid-December. It is believed that any auspicious and sacred ritual can be sanctified in any Hindu family from this day onwards. Scientifically, this day marks the beginning of warmer and longer days compared to the nights in India. In other words, Makar Sankranti marks the termination of winter and beginning of a new harvest or spring season. In almost all parts of India, Makar Sankranti is observed with great fanfare. However, it is celebrated with distinct names and rituals in different parts of the country. In the northern and western states of India, the festival is celebrated as the Sankranti day with special zeal and fervour. The importance of this day has been signified in ancient epics like the Mahabharata too. So, apart from socio-geographical importance, this day also holds a historical and religious significance. As it is the festival of the Sun god, and he is regarded as the symbol divinity and wisdom, the festival holds an eternal meaning to it. As mentioned above, the festival is celebrated differently in different parts of India. Thousands of people take a dip in the holy river Ganga and pray to the sun who gives heat to the people on the earth. The southern parts of India also celebrate the festival as Pongal, and in Punjab, as Maghi. In Gujarat, celebrations are huge as people offer colourful oblations to the sun in the form of beautiful kites. It stands as a symbol for reaching out to their beloved god. In rural and coastal areas, rooster fights are held as an important event of this festival. As the festival is celebrated in winter, food prepared on this day is made to keep the body warm and provide energy. Laddoos (a kind of sweet) made of sesame seeds (til) mixed with jaggery is the festivals specialty. The festival also honours and pays respect to Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Knowledge. Makar Sankranti represents a period of illumination, peace, affluence and happiness. Many fairs are held on this day. The most famous among them is the Kumbh Mela which is held once in every twelve years at one of the four holy locations, namely Haridwar, Prayag (Allahabad), Ujjain and Nashik. The Magh Mela (or mini-Kumbh Mela) held annually at Prayag, the Gangasagar Mela (held at the head of the Ganges River), Tusu Mela in parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal and Makar Mela in Orissa are some of the other fairs celebrated on this day. Jubel DCruz (The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.) President Barack Obama urged Americans Tuesday night in his final State of the Union address to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to put economic and security progress at risk. All the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air, Obama said. So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close, he said. The presidents address to both chambers of Congress and a prime-time television audience was meant to both shape his legacy and put his imprint squarely on the race to succeed him. He defended his record and implicitly urged the public to elect another Democratic president to build on it but acknowledged the persistent anxieties of Americans who feel shut out of a changing economy or at risk from an evolving terror threat. Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals found in State of the Union addresses in which presidents outline their agenda for the coming year. While Obama did not directly call out Republicans, he sharply, and at times sarcastically, struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship. In his most pointed swipe at the Republican candidates running to succeed him, Obama warned against voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background. His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who gave the Republican response to Obamas address. Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. She did not mention the Republican presidential race, but the campaign has featured heated rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from front-runner Donald Trump in particular that has unnerved some Republican leaders. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome, said Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Focused on his own legacy, Obama ticked off a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He touted implementation of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, but made no mention of the 10 American sailors picked up by Iran on Tuesday. The Pentagon said the sailors had drifted into Iranian waters after encountering mechanical problems and would be returned safely and promptly. Tackling one of the most vexing foreign policy challenges of his presidency, Obama vowed a robust campaign to take out the Islamic State group, but chastised Republicans for over the top claims about the extremist groups power. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped, he said. But they do not threaten our national security. The presidents words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates the Islamic States power and is leaving the US vulnerable to attacks at home. Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets: failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he conceded. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. A new study indicates that the number of autism cases in Australia is increasing among younger children. Meanwhile more and more Australian children fall victim to autism . Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a Cleveland osteopathic physician, has been making some big international waves in the media lately. She was invited to speak about her position on vaccination in several places in Australia this March. The audiences would have been small and afterwards she was planning to quietly exit the country. Incredibly, Dr. Tenpenny's visit has become something of a national crisis in Australia with calls for the Prime Minister to deny her a visa. Endless articles in Britain and Australia have labeled her "anti-vaccination," controversial and dangerous. In 2015, I covered what happened to Dr. Sherri Tenpenny when she was invited to speak on vaccine safety in Australia. By Anne Dachel Australia is a country where vaccines are revered. Questioning mandates is not allowed. Researchers from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute have found that 1.5 per cent of all 10 and 11 year olds have an autism spectrum condition, compared to 2.5 per cent of four and five year olds. What is not clear is whether the condition is becoming more prevalent, or if it is simply being diagnosed more effectively. ..."It comes back to the issue of why the incidence of autism is probably increasing and it's probably that people who carry the genetic tendency are getting together with people who also have similar genetic tendencies and that's called assortative mating." Schools must prepare for the increase in children with autism So here's the situation: Australia didnt want Dr. Sherri Tenpenny coming there to speak on vaccines. Australia has recently cracked down on religious exemptions. And Australia has tied welfare payments to vaccine compliance. The autism epidemic only gets worse in Australia but it's the result of genetics and better diagnosing. It can't be the vaccines. Vaccines have to be defended. Here's the latest from Australia. As pressure to vaccinate every child, allow no exemptions and demonize those who worry that an ever-increasing vaccine is doing harm--all gets more intense, the controversy is is more heated. Recently, an "anti-vaccine" mom Australia took the vaccine controversy to the zoo. Jan 10, 2016, Melbourne (Australia) Herald Sun: Melbourne Zoo anti-vaccination event sparks concerns Video: "Can misinformation kill? When it comes to vaccination, most definitely." AN anti-vaccination event for mothers and their unimmunised children at Melbourne Zoo has sparked concern from parents and health authorities. A Melbourne mother advertised the event on Facebook on Saturday, asking other anti-vaccination parents to gather at the zoo on Wednesday. She proposed that the event be moved to next weekend when hundreds of families are likely to pack the zoo if too many parents were working. Jan 10, 2016, Daily Mail: Fury as anti-vaccination mother invites children to a zoo picnic in a move branded 'completely irresponsible' by health authorities 'I so want to put this on council websites as an event for anti-vaccine Moms (sic) and bubs catch up.' Acting Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said it was 'completely irresponsible' for parents to fail to vaccinate. In a statement, Melbourne Zoo director Kevin Tanner said: 'The zoo is a public facility and open to everyone wishing to come to enjoy our wonderful wildlife'. This comes just weeks after a mother was criticised for offering to hold a 'chicken pox party' for anti-vaccination enthusiasts. Jan 11, 2016, 3AW Talk Radio: Surgeon slams 'irresponsible' anti-vaccination logic "There is no connection between vaccination and autism. Absolutely none." The anti-vaccination movement is reportedly planning a meet-up at the Melbourne Zoo, which Dr Cunningham doesn't think is a good idea. "It'd be one of the least responsible things a parent of a child who's unvaccinated could do." The vaccine controversy has entered the political arena in Australia. Yahoo7 News: Pauline Hanson would 'think twice' about vaccinating her children ... One Nation Party leader Pauline Hanson says Australias vaccination program could be linked to rising rates of autism and disease. Ms Hanson revealed on Sunrise this morning that one of her grandchildren has not been vaccinated and that she would think twice before vaccinating her own children again. ... Her comments came after she slammed Victorias acting Health Minister Jenny Mikakos for labeling parents who do not immunise their children as 'completely irresponsible'. ... She accused the government of being irresponsible in the immunisation debate and criticised the nanny approach they are taking by telling people what they have to do with their kids. Ms Hanson went on to tell the Daily Mail that more research needs to be done about the link between vaccination and autism and cancer. Even discussing vaccination negatively on an academic level is attacked. The story of this university thesis was all over Australian news. Jan 12, 2016, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): University of Wollongong criticised over thesis by anti vaccination activist The University of Wollongong has come under fire from members of the medical profession over a thesis claiming collusion between the World Health Organisation and the pharmaceutical industry. The thesis by anti vaccination activist Dr Judy Wilyman claims the 2009 swine flu pandemic was declared by a secret WHO committee, with ties to drug companies that stood to make big profits from the outbreak of the disease. ... Doctors and members of the public are now calling the paper by her "conspiracy theory" and have taken to social media to criticise the university for lacking academic rigour. Does the media take an unbiased position in this story, allowing concerned parents present their position? Do they ask about the science in support of the "anti-vax" parents? Do they hold the manufacturers responsible for their products' safety? Do they ask about possible conflicts of interest? No, to each question. Think about it............The industry NEVER HAS TO DEFEND THE SAFETY OF THEIR PRODUCTS. Health officials, the media, and doctors do that for them at no extra charge. The reality of the whole debate is that VACCINES as a commercial product exist on an exclusive plain. There is nothing like them. They can do no wrong. The regulatory agency in charge of vaccine safety is also the spokesman for the industry. The product is mandated and promotoed by the government. The regulators have become in a sense a branch of the pharmaceutical industry. When that happens, the health and safety of children takes a backseat to profit. Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism. ORLANDO, Jan. 12, 2016 American Farm Bureau Federation voting delegates elected Vincent Zippy Duvall to serve as their new president, succeeding Bob Stallman who decided not to run for re-election after 16 years at the helm of the nations largest farm organization. Scott VanderWal was elected vice president at the 97th American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention Duvall is a poultry, cattle and hay producer from Greene County, Georgia who served as president of the Georgia Farm Bureau for 9 years. He is the 12th president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. We are American farmers and ranchers; the people that lead and feed and fuel the world, Duvall said to AFBF members shortly after being elected. I know youre proud of it, but it is a responsibility that comes to my shoulders that I want to carry each and every day realizing the burdens that youre carrying on your shoulders. Learn about the benefits of subscribing to Agri-Pulse. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. Duvall pledged to AFBF members that he would fight for (their) freedoms around the world through his service as AFBF president. Scott VanderWal is a third-generation family farmer from Volga, South Dakota, and has been president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau since 2004. After being elected, he said he thinks Farm Bureau is right on track as far as helping educate consumers and helping educate people that use our products, but added that he is looking forward to doing more to advance the cause of food security as a national security concern. Both men will serve two-year terms in their respective positions. #30 For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com WASHINGTON. Jan. 12, 2016 - Sen. Lisa Murkowski is holding up President Barack Obamas nominee to run the Food and Drug Administration to force the labeling of genetically engineered salmon. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday approved Robert Califfs nomination as FDA commissioner, but Murkowski, an Alaska Republican on the panel, said she would insist on getting the labeling issue addressed before the Senate votes on him. Murkowski, who has unsuccessfully demanded that FDA require labeling of the fish, said she met with Califf in November and that he didnt give her any warning that . I was really taken back that he was not direct with me, Murkowski told colleagues. He clearly knows that was a priority for Alaskans. I got a little hot under the collar about that. Califf, a cardiologist, is currently FDAs deputy commissioner for medical products and tobacco. Murkowski also said she wanted assurances that the fish wouldnt go on the market before the FDA issues guidelines for labeling the product, a requirement she inserted in the fiscal 2016 omnibus appropriations bill enacted in December. She also continued to insist that labeling be mandatory. I want to make very, very certain that when were talking about these genetically engineered fish for purposes of human consumption that voluntary labeling is not adequate; that it is clear, absolutely clear on its face, what consumers would be getting before such time as this can be introduced into the market, she said. Murkowskis battle with the FDA comes as the food industry is lobbying Congress to pass legislation to preempt state GMO labeling laws and to set national standards for disclosure of biotech ingredients. Are you following food labeling issues? Agri-Pulse is the place for the latest news on the topic. Sign up for a four-week free trial subscription. Murkowski makes a distinction between labeling for animal products and food crops, such as corn and soybeans. The same day the FDA approved the AquaBounty salmon, the agency also formally denied petitions asking it to require the labeling of genetically engineered foods, affirming its longstanding policy that there's no legal basis for mandating such disclosure on products that are essentially the same as their conventional versions. Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., called Califf the right person to lead the FDA. The committees ranking Democrat, Patty Murray of Washington, said Califf's record had made clear that he will be a strong, independent FDA commissioner. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2016 - Soybean growers looking for new markets are welcoming regulations to implement an offshore aquaculture program in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Marine Fisheries Service has released a final rule that will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. It authorizes NMFS to issue 10-year permits to grow species such as red drum, cobia, and almaco jack in federal waters in the Gulf. The American Soybean Association said the rule represents a key early step in the fostering of a domestic offshore aquaculture industry, which will need soybean meal to be successful. Currently, the U.S. imports 91 percent of the seafood Americans eat, contributing to a trade deficit (in seafood) of $11.2 billion, ASA said. A streamlined aquaculture policy will encourage development of a domestic industry that creates jobs, meets growing demand for a safe and sustainable source of seafood, and fosters an additional and growing domestic market for the soybean meal that provides such a valuable source of protein in fish feed. U.S. aquaculture currently accounts for 20 percent of the value of domestic fishery landings, (but) U.S. production still lags behind much of the world despite representing a significant opportunity for coastal communities and domestic seafood production capacity, NMFS said. Soybean growers may not be the only farmers to benefit from the growth of aquaculture. In response to suggestions that it specify which feeds can and cannot be used, NMFS said that the percentage of fish meal and fish oil used in aquaculture feeds has decreased in recent years and continues to decrease, in part because many feeds which are free of or low in fish meal and oil are now commercially available. Like what you see here? Agri-Pulse subscribers get our Daily Harvest email Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. Alternate ingredients being used in aquaculture feeds include soybeans, barley, rice, peas, canola, lupine, wheat gluten, corn gluten, algae, as well as seafood and farm animal processing coproducts, the agency said. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com While Obama did not directly call out Republicans, he sharply and at times sarcastically struck back at critics who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship. In his most pointed swipe at the GOP candidates running to succeed him, he warned against voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background. His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obama's address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from GOP front-runner Donald Trump in particular has unnerved some Republican leaders, she called on Americans to resist the temptation to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome, she said. Focused on his legacy, Obama ticked off a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending the Cold War freeze with Cuba. He touted reaching a landmark nuclear deal with Iran but made no mention of the 10 American sailors picked up by Iran on Tuesday. After holding the men overnight, Tehran released the crew Wednesday. Tackling one of the most vexing foreign policy challenges of his presidency, Obama vowed a robust campaign to "take out" the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but chastised Republicans for "over the top claims" about the group's power. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped, he said. But they do not threaten our national existence. The president dismissed the idea that ISIL poses an existential threat to the U.S., saying that's the story ISIL wants to tell and the message it uses in propaganda to recruit. He said suggestions that the struggle with ISIL will develop into World War III plays into the group's hands. Obama also criticized those who say ISIL represents Islam. He said that is a lie and that rhetoric like that pushes away allies the U.S. needs to win the fight. He was apparently alluding to Republican politicians who have demanded Obama declare war on radical Islamic extremists, and he repeated his declaration that the U.S. will hunt them down and destroy them. Al Jazeera America will shutter its cable TV and digital operations by April 30 of this year, the company announced Wednesday. The decision by the AJAM board was driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace, said AJAM CEO Al Anstey. I know the closure of AJAM will be a massive disappointment for everyone here who has worked tirelessly for our long-term future, Anstey wrote in an email addressed to all the companys employees. The decision was no reflection on the work of that staff, he said. Our commitment to great journalism is unrivaled. We have increasingly set ourselves apart from all the rest. And you are the most talented team any organization could wish for. The announcement of AJAMs closure coincides with a decision by its global parent company to commit to a significant expansion of its worldwide digital operations into the U.S. market. As audiences increasingly turn to multiple platforms, including mobile devices, for news and information, this expansion will allow U.S. and non-U.S. consumers alike to access the networks journalism and content wherever and whenever they want, the Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement. By expanding its digital content and distribution services to now include the U.S., the network will be better positioned to innovate and compete in an overwhelmingly digital world to serve todays 24-hour digitally focused audience. Anstey praised the Al Jazeera America staff as a brilliant team made up of the most committed, professional and dedicated people In the months to come, we will do everything that we can to support you, to work with you and to ensure you are shown the respect you deserve. Despite its initial struggle for TV ratings, the newcomer network was quickly and repeatedly recognized by its industry peers for the excellence of its journalism. Within months of launching, AJAM began collecting prestigious prizes from Peabody, Emmy, Gracie, Eppy and DuPont awards to a Shorty Award, for best Twitter newsfeed, and Newswomens Club of New Yorks Front Page awards and citations from groups such as the National Association of Black Journalists and the Native American Journalism. Anstey said AJAM made slow but steady progress in recent months in growing its audience. Our editorial excellence was demonstrated time and time again on the major stories of recent months, he wrote. And we continue to win praise from our colleagues in the industry and from our viewers for the quality of our output. He vowed that AJAM would maintain its standards of excellence until it goes dark. Between now and April, we will continue to show America why AJAM has won respect and the fierce loyalty of so many of our viewers, Anstey wrote. Through your remarkable work at AJAM, we have shown that there is a different way of reporting news and providing information. The foundation of this is integrity, great journalism, impartiality and a commitment to the highest quality story telling. This will be our lasting impact, and as we produce and showcase the best of our work in the weeks to come, this will be clear for everyone to see. President of Slovakia Meets Assyrian Refugees President Andrej Kiska met with Assyrian Christians from Iraq currently sheltered in the refugee camp in Humenne (Presov Region) on January 11. He already tried to visit them in late December, but his request was rejected by the Interior Ministry, which explained this step with the quarantine that lasted until January 10. "I've come to Humenne to greet children, their moms, fathers and grandfathers, who have been forced by circumstances to flee from their native country and for whom Slovakia will become a second home," Kiska said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. "Although on a small scale, we managed to demonstrate that Slovakia has heart and character, and that we're capable of helping." The refugees are set to stay there temporarily, as the original plan was to see the Assyrians settle in a number of communities within the Nitra diocese that initiated the resettlement. As part of its voluntary contribution towards the resolution of the migration crisis, Slovakia has opted to accept 149 Assyrian Christians, who arrived here in early December. Kiska met the refugees once they were released from quarantine, which entailed comprehensive medical examinations. "They were examined extensively, undergoing even lung X-ray exams and providing blood samples," Interior Ministry's spokesperson Ivan Net If you want evidence that it is still possible for European airports to capture new freighter business, look no further than Munich. The south German airport saw a growth of 9.5% to 236,000 tonnes in the first nine months of 2015, with maindeck cargo being the overwhelming but not the only reason. Freighter volumes were in fact 31% up while belly was up 6%. That follows a 22.7% rise in all cargo volumes and 5.8% rise in bellyhold in 2014. Even more interestingly, the growth was due to exports more than imports. Figures for the first half of last year show outbound cargo up 7% while inbound was up only 3%. If European Union traffic is stripped out, export growth was 8.2% and imports 3.8%. The reason for these strong figures was the start of three new freighter services to the airport. The first, in 2013, was a weekly Cargolux Boeing 747F flight from Atlanta. In April 2014, AirBridgeCargo also started 747F services to Munich, with one frequency a week from April and a second one in November. Yangtze River Express (YRE) launched a 747-400F service five times a week from May 31, 2015, boosting that to six times a week in the recent peak season. The YRE service points to one of the attractions of Munich export cargo to Asia. The Chinese carrier routes its freighters via Munich from Brussels and Amsterdam, and they carry on to Shanghai and Tianjin. Markus Heinelt, director traffic development cargo for Munich, says that this service is operated on behalf of one particular large forwarder which had a special need on this route. Munich in general offers a very attractive market for air cargo, one that has probably been underexploited in the past. The German state of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital, would rank 7th or 8th in the world on GDP if it were an independent country and boasts such industrial giants as BMW, Audi, Siemens and Grundig. The next door state of Baden-Wurttemberg, centred on Stuttgart, adds Daimler, Porsche, Bosch, Carl Zeiss and lots of mid-sized Mittlestand companies to that roster. Given all this, it is perhaps surprising that Munich does not have more freighters. There is a huge backlog of demand, says Heinelt. This area has 43% of all German air cargo, and at present only 35% of it goes via Munich. But four years ago we handled only 29%, so we are getting more and more of the cake. That gives you a nice idea of the potential for the future. If new capacity comes, either bellyhold or maindeck, then it will be accepted by the market. There is also something of a chicken and egg effect at work. The more capacity there is, the more forwarders consolidate cargo at Munich, and the more forwarders consolidate, the more attractive the airport is for freighter operators. A key factor here has been the growth in longhaul belly capacity, particularly since the airports second passenger term-inal opened in 2003 as a hub for Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners. The German carrier in fact put up 40% of the money to build the terminal and has since developed a growing network of longhaul flights from it. A third terminal, joined to terminal two by a people mover and also jointly financed by Lufthansa, is due to open next April and will add capacity for a further 11m passengers to the existing 40m. Destinations that have been added by Lufthansa recently include Mexico, Miami and Cape Town, and doubtless it will be adding more services when terminal three opens. But Heinelt also points to the Gulf carriers, such as Qatar Airways and Emirates, as well as four daily flights from United and one from Delta. The latter will be boosted to twice daily when Delta adds Boeing 767-400 services from Detroit in May to its existing Atlanta service. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways deployed the Airbus A350XWB, for which it is launch customer, on all Munich flights from November 1, and Emirates is to add a daily Boeing 777 service to its existing twice daily A380s from February 1. Indeed, as time goes on, it is getting harder to identify blanks on the map that need to be filled in. Pushed on this point, an airport marketing executive identifies South America (currently only Sao Paulo is served), and some points in Asia. To China the airport already has passenger flights to Beijing (Lufthansa and Air China), Shanghai and Hong Kong (both Lufthansa). Running alongside the belly growth, Munich has been investing in forwarder facilities, which have been built as a second line behind the cargo handling terminals. The first 15,000 sq m of units were full as soon as they opened seven years ago. Two years later, at the request of forwarders, construction of another 16,000 sq m started. Opened three years ago, this facility is now also full. Heinelt says that a third facility is now in the pipeline. We are still in negotiations about this and there are no detailed plans yet, but we think we can go to concrete planning from next year. It is for three clients and they would like to have it more yesterday than tomorrow. He points out that one big advantage that Munich can offer in its forwarding facilities is direct access to the ramp by dolly. They are directly opposite, only 200 metres from the ramp, so no trucking is required, unlike in other airports. They can feed built-up pallets directly to the ramp, bypassing the cargo terminal. All these factors freighters, belly cargo and forwarding facilities feed into each other. Daily belly capacity is secured uplift, Heinelt says. Based on this, forwarding agents develop in Munich more and more and then they need additional capacity, which is interesting for Cargolux, AirBridge and Yangtze. It is the mix of belly and freighter that is attractive for forwarders, and this in turn produces strong demand. In turn this also makes forwarders less inclined to truck to other airports, such as Frankfurt. Reduced trucking means reduced costs and it eliminates double handling, Heinelt points out. But trucking is growing in the other direction, with cargo being fed in from Northern Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and even northern Germany. The latter may sound counter-intuitive as such trucks would have to pass Frankfurt on their journey to Munich, but Heinelt says it can make sense. They are maybe trucking to Munich because of the length of processes at other airports, as service is very fast here. If you have maindeck shipments, it can make sense to build pallets here. Landing slots can be another issue for freighter operators at Europes busy hubs. The two current runways at Munich are now pretty busy during peak hours, though Heinelt says that he does what he can to get freighter operators the slots they want. All would be relieved if a third runway goes ahead, but this is still not certain. A third runway plan has cleared all legal hurdles but in 2012 the City of Munich, which owns 23% of the airport, put the scheme to a popular vote, which produced a slight majority against. This was only binding for a year, but the third runway plan is still a political issue. The airport says it hopes for a decision in the spring of 2016. Share this story Qatar Airways will serve Los Angeles with a fourth weekly Boeing 777 freighter service from January 19, after launching the US west coast maindeck route with a twice weekly frequency to its Doha hub in April 2015. Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker announced the Middle East carriers additional freighter frequency at a landmark event in Beverly Hills to celebrate the launch of a daily, non-stop B777-200 passenger service between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha. Al Baker praised the city of Los Angeles for helping to bring the airline to LAX and spoke about Qatar Airways ongoing growth and expansion in the US and around the world. Los Angeles is one of the great centres of world aviation and will become a vital component in our expanding global network, said Al Baker. Im pleased to welcome Qatar Airways new service between LAX and Doha, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. This new international flight will add more than $600m to our economy, boost our growing tourism sector, and support thousands of new jobs for Angelenos." Los Angeles last week saw another Middle East Gulf carrier add to its passenger bellyhold capacity. Dubai-based Emirates hopes an increase in frequencies between Los Angeles and Dubai will cater for fruit and vegetable exports from the US city. The extra flight, which will be operated by an Airbus 380-800ULR, increases the airlines daily frequencies between the airports to two per day. Emirates said it hoped the flights cargo capacity would be covered by exports of fresh produce from Los Angeles. Share this story Two suicide bombers attacked a mosque in a town near Cameroon's border with Nigeria during morning prayers Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding about a dozen others, the governor of the region said. So far, no group has officially claimed responsibility for the attack which was carried out by two women but the incident in the town of Kolofata is believed to have been the work of Boko Haram members who crossed the border into Cameroon a few days ago, said Midjiyawa Bakari. The town of Kolofata in Cameroon's far north near the border has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram. Another suicide attack blamed on Boko Haram in December in Cameroon killed at least seven people and wounded 30 others, officials said. In September, suicide bombers killed nine people in Kolofata and wounded 18. Boko Haram, which is fighting an insurgency to carve out its own state in Nigerias northeast based upon its extreme interpretation of Islam, began stepping up its attacks early last year on neighboring Cameroon and other countries that have supported the Nigerian military's effort to crush the group. The United States is also sending military supplies and troops to Nigeria to help aid the fight. Since late November, Cameroon's army has carried out operations in several border areas aimed at weakening fighters who have been very active in the region. Sources say these operations have significantly weakened Boko Haram's capability, forcing the insurgents to turn away from direct confrontations with the military in favor of suicide attacks. The group's six-year insurgency has killed about 20,000 people and displaced 2.3 million, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations. Despite the offensives launched by regional forces, the group maintains strongholds in areas that are difficult to access, such as the Sambisa forest, the Mandara mountains and the numerous islands of Lake Chad. Al Jazeera and wire services January 12, 2016 Fayez Youssef believes that ones own happiness emanates from the happiness of others. Youssef is a Coptic Christian calligrapher well-known in Minyas Bassam neighborhood for adorning mosques with the 99 names of Allah and Quranic verses. He developed his talent to strengthen his relationship with his Muslim neighbors and has worked hard to put smiles on their faces in this city 150 miles (245 kilometers) south of Cairo. He could not care less about the opinion of radical Copts who oppose his work, or those embracing a different ideology. He recounted one of the difficult situations he has faced, when a woman objected to his inscribing verses on mosques, or even holding a copy of the Quran in his hand. She screamed in his face, This is the book of Allah. It should only be held by a pure person. Fayez said he was shocked. For a moment, he thought that it would be the last Quranic verse he would ever inscribe in his life. Yet his Muslim colleagues condemned the confrontation and insisted that he carry on. They assured him that religions unite people, rather than divide them, and that he should not be concerned about extremist opinions as long as he is making others happy. He assented because he is well aware that happiness comes from accepting others. Youssef told Al-Monitor that when he saw the eyes of his Muslim neighbors and friends widen with admiration of his work, he stopped charging for it and contented himself with the feelings of happiness and peoples love. He had begun seriously practicing calligraphy when he joined the Egyptian armed forces, where he was chosen to be a member of a military division specializing in lettering and drafting the leaders documents and panels. Youssef took advantage of his enlistment to learn the different forms of Arabic calligraphy and look at all the books and references to develop his skills. After his military service ended, he decided to practice calligraphy as a career, but hardship presented obstacles. He did not have an office, so he bought a small desk that he set up on al-Husseini street in Minya. He worked with the minimum amount of materials needed. Youssef endured all the difficulties for the sake of his passion and became widely known among university students and residents who sensed his talent, creativity, honesty and love for others. Youssef recounted the first time he decorated a mosque. A Muslim friend of mine asked me to adorn a mosque, which was new at the time, and to inscribe the 99 names of Allah on the walls. I was concerned that some Muslims might react angrily to this, yet my friend insisted, particularly since I had previously gifted him with panels I had inscribed with Quranic verses, Youssef said. So, I started with the adornment of Seif Nasr mosque. I made sure to observe all of the customs that Muslims adhere to in the mosque, such as taking off shoes when entering and avoiding being loud. I was convinced that respect must be shown at the mosque, because it is a house of God. I was the focus of the worshippers attention and admiration as I was inscribing, he said. When he finished, Youssef did not bring up the subject of a fee. But those managing the mosque insisted on paying me. I agreed, but I did not care about the amount, since the actual reward was the feeling of joy at my first experience in adorning a mosque, he said. Following that experience, Youssef carried on with his work, and has so far adorned 15 mosques. He has made it clear to everyone that he does not charge at mosques that are built through personal efforts and the peoples contributions. As for mosques that are built at the states expense, he accepts any sum, not caring how much. Recently, Youssef declined payment for adorning the Mosque of the Martyrs. He wanted to share with his Muslim neighbors the joy of reconstructing this mosque, which had been recently torn down. Youssef believes that reading the Quran and learning its verses are the best ways for calligraphers to develop their talent. For this reason he has a copy of the Quran and has learned verses by heart to understand what he is inscribing. Youssef is proud of learning the Quran and has a knowledge of classical Arabic grammar that exceeds that of most Muslims. When Al-Monitor met with him, he told many stories about his childhood, when he used to write Quranic verses in calligraphy on the chalkboard at school. On every Muslim occasion or holiday, he would hang banners inscribed with Quranic verses related to this occasion in front of his house. Youssef also helps Coptic pastors inscribe banners to be hung in front of the mosques during the holy month of Ramadan and Islamic holidays. Churches often present these banners to mosques as a show of interfaith harmony. He donates his fee, regardless of the churchs denomination. Youssef is not concerned about the money or the religion. The only thing he cares about is the peoples eyes, widened with joy, at seeing him inscribe verses they believe in, even if they come from a different religious tradition than his own. January 13, 2016 CAIRO Egypts newly elected parliament kicked off the year by banning live news broadcasts of its sessions. Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Al said the temporary decision came following specific circumstances. During the first parliament session Jan. 10, some members of parliament exhibited inappropriate behaviors that were aired live on TV. One member was heard insulting parliamentary regulations, while member of parliament Murtada Mansour went off-script while reciting the constitutional oath. Mansour refused to acknowledge the 2011 revolution, which resulted in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, and accused his fellow MPs of being informers for Egyptian intelligence agencies. MP Kamal Ahmed, expressing his objection to the way parliamentary sessions are conducted, abruptly resigned. Kamal was quoted in Shorouk newspaper as saying that the actions of some MPs had turned the parliament into a circus. In a Jan. 12 news conference, Abdel-Al said, We are not contesting the role of the media, and reporters will continue to cover the sessions. He denounced the performance of some journalists and cameramen who took offensive shots of some MPs. The Egyptian Constitution allows for completely closed sessions if specific procedures are followed. According to Article 120, The sessions of the House of Representatives are held in public. The House may hold a closed session based on a request by the president of the republic, the speaker of the House, or at least 20 of its members. The House will decide by majority whether the debate in question takes place in a public or a closed session. Shawki al-Sayed, a constitutional law expert and former member of parliaments now-defunct Shura Council, told Al-Monitor, The decision not to broadcast the sessions live is void and contrary to the constitution. He said, The constitution expressly provides for public sessions, which must be broadcast to the public without omissions or editing, and every citizen has the right to see what is happening under the parliaments dome as if he were there himself. Sayed added, The press coverage is not sufficient to impartially and objectively relay what is happening in parliament. The public nature of parliament sessions provided for by the constitution means that sessions should be aired live. Any decision voted by the parliament in a closed session shall be deemed null and void. However, legal expert Issam al-Islambouli rejected the idea that decisions made during closed sessions are null. The public nature of the sessions set forth in the constitution is intended to allow citizens to follow up on the parliament sessions by attending the sessions and does not mean live broadcasting of sessions, he told Al-Monitor. The ban on live streaming comes at the most critical period for the parliament. Members must vote to continue the government and are expected to review more than 330 laws and decrees issued by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and former interim President Adly Mansour in the absence of a parliament for the past three years. Parliament has formed 19 committees to review the laws. Though the broadcasting ban was approved by a majority, MP Samir Ghattas called it a disservice to democracy in Egypt. This decision will further complicate things. This is not the way to solve the problems that arise during sessions, he said. Ghattas added that he submitted a petition to parliament stating that public opinion wants public hearings. I warned that these practices would turn us into a nonviable and nondemocratic parliament, he said. Other MPs defended the decision. MP Mustafa Bakri was quoted by Shorouk newspaper as saying, The decision was made to limit disturbances and to prevent some MPs from exploiting live coverage to put on a show. In an attempt to control the raucous floor, MPs also voted that extended applause during sessions will be limited to major national decisions or events. Parliamentary affairs researcher Yosri al-Azbawi told Al-Monitor, The chaos that marred the first sessions of the parliament reflects the state of division and the weakness of the political parties [particularly the Support Egypt Coalition] and the electoral system that formed this parliament. He added, Closed sessions cannot be a durable solution, and the rule is that the parliament sessions are open sessions. In another development, Abdel-Al ratified Presidential Decree No. 417/2015, extending by three months a state of emergency in some North Sinai areas, where the military is fighting Islamist militants. The speaker made the decision without putting it to a vote, which raised the ire of some MPs. MP Fouad Badrawi slammed the decision, invoking Article 154 of the constitution, which says a state of emergency must be approved by a majority of MPs. In turn, Abdel-Al replied, The approval of the proclamation is not binding. January 13, 2016 The investigative report by Sokolov Prize-winning journalist Omri Assanheim, aired on Channel 2s weekly news show "Uvda" Jan. 8, told the story of right-wing activists operating undercover in left-wing organizations. The show set off a firestorm in Israel. The report focused on two left-wing activists, Ezra Nawi from Ta'ayush and Nasser Nawaja, a researcher for BTselem. The two were documented plotting to hand Palestinian land dealers over to the Palestinian Preventive Security Forces for planning to sell land to settlers. The authentic footage was shot with hidden cameras by ''planted'' activists from the previously unknown right-wing Ad Kan group, which according to its members was founded to disclose the tactics employed by left-wing groups in Israel. The piece at the center of the storm showed Nawi with a huge grin on his face, boasting that a Palestinian land dealer was handed over by him to the Palestinian security forces, and that he was effectively responsible for his death. Activists from left-wing groups offered three responses to the report. The first was that the programs editorial board relied on footage from a right-wing organization that no one had heard of before the report aired. The second was that the Palestinian Authority hasnt executed anyone since 2006, so Nawi was just bragging and so his words should not be taken seriously. The third and most important claim was that the report completely ignored years of important work by human rights organizations in Israel and gave the false impression that left-wing groups employ unscrupulous methods. Michael Sfard, a prominent civil rights attorney, argued on his Facebook page, for example, The report, its editing and the accompanying text led the public to believe that everyone acts this way and it is difficult not to see the connection to the campaigns of the last two weeks by [Justice Minister] Ayelet Shaked, [right-wing organization] Im Tirtzu, [Education Minister Naftali] Bennett and the prime minister against these organizations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also quick to respond to the report. On his Facebook page, he wrote, The report revealed the true face of the extremists among us, whose hatred of the settlement enterprise has literally driven them insane. Anyone who encourages murder cannot keep hiding behind that mask of hypocrisy called concern for human rights. In response to these comments, human rights activists insinuated that the group Ad Kan could be funded by the prime ministers confidant, American casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. However, such a claim is irrelevant and actually harms the activists themselves. In addition, for several years now, BTselem has run the "Camera Project," where Palestinians use cameras provided by the organization to document violence against them by settlers or soldiers. Footage shot in Hebron was even turned into the film "Smile, and the World Will Smile Back," which was screened at many major international film festivals, including the prestigious Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto. There is no question that the footage taken by Ad Kan plants is authentic; the fact that it was filmed with hidden cameras does not detract from its severity. The TV report provoked loud objections on the part of left-wing organizations. They claimed and justly so that even though Nawi and Nawaja acted on their own behalf, the ''Uvda'' editorial board depicted a generalizing and misleading picture. They argued that by doing so, ''Uvda'' stained the actions of those left-wing organizations objecting to the occupation: BTselem, Peace Now, Yesh Din, Ta'ayush and the most controversial of all, Breaking the Silence. All these organizations have been active in the field for years, providing the Israeli public with the kind of perspectives and images of the occupation that most Israelis would generally rather not see. Nawi is not a legitimate example of how these groups have operated over the years. Nawi was convicted in the past for sexual assault of a Palestinian minor, and he was also accused of the illegal use of guns, growing a controlled substance and assault, and even served two terms in prison. Every time he was arrested or convicted, he received the support of human rights activists, who asked that he receive clemency for his illegal activities. In 2009, former Deputy Attorney General Judith Karp testified on his behalf, describing him as the savior and redeemer of the [Palestinian] population. You could call him the Robin Hood of the Wild West. The reports coverage of the role he played as a kind of Robin Hood on the ground delivered a resounding blow to the already controversial image of human rights organizations in the eyes of part of the Israelis. Nawi does not represent BTselem or Yesh Din, nor was he supposed to represent Ta'ayush. If anything, Ta'ayush should be challenged as to why it allowed Nawi the freedom to act under its name. But instead of distancing itself from him, his braggadocio and the way that he praised people allegedly paying for what they did with their lives after he turned them in, the organization chose to act in a strange manner. The Ta'ayush Facebook page practically became a battlefield between right-wing and left-wing organizations. It showed photos of the plants that brought Nawi and the organization down. Among other things, it said there Itzik Goldway is about 23 years old, a reserve sergeant [with the Israel Defense Forces]. In February 2015, he was decorated for his part with 'Operation Protective Edge.' He and his friend Julia were sent to infiltrate Ta'ayush. They [the plants] are proof that within every Israeli lies a little Shin Bet agent until proven otherwise. After the incident, they went traveling in the Far East. The same is true of BTselem. Rather than distancing itself from its researchers activities, the organization chose to respond in a questionable manner, saying, The report in no way dealt with the work Nasser Nawaja did with BTselem. The official response continued, If, however, our name has been brought up, it is important that it is placed in the proper context. The settlers of Mount Hebron will use any means at their disposal to seize control of Palestinian lands in the region, with the support of the state, to dispossess the inhabitants and expel them from their homes. The fact is that approaching the appropriate authorities on this matter can in no way be considered turning them in. Assanheims investigative report was undoubtedly important. It was certainly one of the most dramatic reports aired in Israel over the last few years. It offered a rare glimpse at the Wild West that the West Bank has become in the past few decades. This is all the more important because the Israeli public tends to show little interest in the war that is taking place between the settlers and the Palestinians, and between activists on the left and the right. The tempest that resulted from the report shows that the battle between left- and right-wing organizations in Israel has reached the point of no return. On the ground, they have adopted the very same methods of fighting more commonly used by bitter enemies. Methods of sending spies to penetrate each others organizations, disclosing the names of activists and depicting them as traitors, turning people in to the authorities and celebrating their executions though, in fact, no one has actually been executed. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the very terminology used by leading activists echoes with the kind of demonization more commonly found among enemies. Israel seems to be already mired in a civil war. How tragic it is that its leaders are joining the call to battle. January 13, 2016 On Jan. 12, President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon stood on the dock of Israels naval base in Haifa, looking eagerly to sea. They watched as a slick dark mass glided silently into the harbor. It was the INS Rahav, one of the most sophisticated, ultra-modern submarines in the world, arriving directly from the port of Kiel in Germany. In what other country would the highest tier of political leaders participate in the celebratory reception of a new submarine? Only in Israel, apparently. In their impassioned speeches at the event, the three men competed to be the one to use the most impressive superlatives when describing Israel's power, capacity for deterrence and ability to strike at enemies with unprecedented force far from the countrys borders. The three top leaders had good reason to participate in the launching ceremony for this new submarine, the fifth of its class in the Israeli fleet. According to foreign publications, this submarine, like the others, has the capacity to carry and launch long-range cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads. Foreign intelligence services estimate that the countrys fleet of submarines of this class, six in total by 2019, constitutes Israels life insurance policy. That should deter any foreign power toying with the idea of launching any kind of weapons of mass destruction against the Jewish state. According to regularly published Western intelligence reports, Israels modern submarine fleet provides an extensive capacity to strike back in the event that the country comes under nuclear attack. Israels lethal response could sow destruction on many Iranian cities, even destroying some. Sources in the West also estimate that the large number of Israeli submarines makes it possible for the country to keep at least two at sea at any given moment. While out, they are immune from harm and ready for any potential scenario and order. Reportedly, this fleet is disproportionately larger than that of any other country of the same size. As of now, the fleet is valued at 2.5 billion euros ($2.72 billion, half a billion euros per sub) and bears a vast array of operational, maintenance and logistical expenses. What sets the balance in its favor are the existential threats faced by the Jewish state, including the Iranian nuclear threat and the need for significant comprehensive deterrence in the heart of a Middle East in flames. The timing of the newest submarines arrival was perfect. Its appearance at its new home port coincided with the lifting of suffocating and paralyzing international sanctions on Israels biggest adversary, Iran. According to assessments by Israeli sources, the Iranians will soon be signing a huge arms deal with Russia in an effort to upgrade and refurbish the Iranian military's conventional capabilities, which have aged and worn down over the past few years. The Israeli press reported this week that the Iranians plan to devote over $20 billion to the acquisition of Russian-made weapons systems, fighter jets, tanks and anti-tank missiles. The implementation of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers may remove the Iranian nuclear issue from the agenda for the next decade, but it also replaces it with a regional conventional arms race, which will now accelerate. Inevitably, that race will focus on Israel versus Iran, with the active participation of the Sunni states, which are keeping a worried eye on everything happening around them. Concerned states include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf States and maybe even Jordan. But there is also a minority opinion in Israel that argues that the political and defense establishment, led by Netanyahu, will do everything it can to revive the Iranian threat and ensure that it remains at the top of the agenda. Netanyahu flourishes when Israel is surrounded by threats like Iran. The fact that the Iranian nuclear threat has dropped off the international and Israeli agendas should work to his detriment, especially in a country where the civil agenda always plays second fiddle to existential questions. Many defense experts say that this is why Israel is now trying to replace the Iranian nuclear threat with the threat of conventional weapons from Iran, which continues to arm Hezbollah and is operating multiple terrorist fronts against Israel in various places around the world. Israels new Dolphin-class submarine was built according to the particular specifications and needs of the Israeli Navy. It is 10 meters (33 feet) longer than similar submarines, so as to accommodate a sophisticated gas cell system run by an integrated diesel-electric engine that does not need to draw oxygen above water. The system enables submarines of this class to spend much more time submersed off hostile shores. It is in fact believed that Israel uses its submarine fleet to gather intelligence and conduct operations very far from Israel, right off enemy coastlines. The submarines can maneuver in absolute secrecy, leaving a minimal signature. They are in fact quite close to nuclear submarines. All that they are missing is the nuclear reactor. A vocal public and professional debate in the press and the defense establishment has accompanied Israels massive acquisition of submarines. The person behind the decision to purchase the navys sixth submarine (slated to arrive in 2019) is former Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He initiated the process, despite the opposition of then Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Commander of the Navy Eliezer Merom. Other former chiefs of staff and senior officers also objected, but Barak overcame this opposition and had the purchase approved by the Cabinet. The IDF preferred to invest the billions of dollars that the submarine cost in other weapons systems, but Israels efforts to oppose the Iranian nuclear project were at their high point in the years that the decision was made (2011-2012), and the political leadership was already investing vast sums in that. It seems as though the desire to emphasize and ensure Israels capabilities for deterrence against nuclear threats is what finally shifted the balance in favor of purchasing the sixth submarine. There was a surprising turning point a few weeks ago, when the current chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, decided to retire the oldest submarine of this class as soon as the sixth one arrives three years from now. Israel will make do with five Dolphin submarines. This decision signifies a very prominent shift in Israels defense priorities, one that will keep the General Staff and other top defense officials busy well into the future. South Korea on Wednesday fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed the rivals' border, South Korean military officials said. The North Korean drone was flying dozens of yards south of the border and turned back to the North after the South fired, South Korean defense and military officials said, requesting anonymity because of office rules. The shots didn't hit the drone. Seoul also said that North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing its president and her government as "mad dogs. The incidents came amid tension after what North Korea claimed was a nuclear test, which, if verified, would be the North's fourth. Earlier Wednesday, South Korea's president earlier Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. On Wednesday, President Park Geun-hye said in a nationally televised news conference that South Korea will push as hard as it can for strong sanctions that can force change in North Korea. But, she said, Chinese help is crucial. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Park said, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." South Korea, the United States and others are pushing hard to impose fresh sanctions and other punitive measures on the North for what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb test. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. North Korean drone flights across the world's most heavily armed border are rare but have happened before. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014 Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but they were still considered a potential new security threat. The Associated Press January 13, 2016 Nuclear negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said that the date of the final implementation of the nuclear deal will be announced by Jan. 17, paving the way for the end of international sanctions. Araghchi said that the International Atomic Energy Agency would issue a report Jan. 15 clearing Irans past nuclear activities. He added that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini would announce the day of the implementation of the nuclear deal in a joint statement. Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany reached a landmark nuclear deal in July that required Iran to reduce the size of its nuclear program for the first time in over a decade in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States, the European Union and the UN Security Council. Araghchi said that since the deal was made, many difficult tasks have been completed in order to reach the final implementation phase. He reiterated that Irans Supreme National Security Council and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei both signed off on the nuclear deal. The manner in which sanctions would be removed was one of the more complicated factors in reaching a date for the final implementation of the nuclear deal, Araghchi said. He said that the United States has a number of sanctions on Iran, some related to non-nuclear developments following the 1979 revolution, others related to the nuclear program, and some sanctions linked to both categories. He said that more than 80% of the sanctions are related to Irans nuclear program and that these will be removed with the final implementation of the deal. Due to a number of non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, US-Iran economic relations are not possible, Araghchi said. However, he added that the United States has made it possible for Iran to purchase passenger planes and receive permission to export food products and rugs to the United States. According to Araghchi, even after the implementation of the nuclear deal, there will continue to be challenges and misunderstandings about the technical nature of sanctions. He also said that both sides are aware there will most likely be continuous attempts in the US Congress to derail the deal even after it has been implemented. The Iranian media, particularly Reformist media that have been supportive of President Hassan Rouhanis policies to resolve the nuclear deal through negotiations, have been awaiting this news. Fatemeh Moghimi wrote in Arman Daily, There is hope that with the elimination of sanctions and the investment of European bodies in Iran, we will witness the creation and strengthening of a healthy economy. The op-ed, which was titled The elimination of sanctions and leaving an oil economy, argued that after the nuclear deal implementation, Iran has the opportunity to pursue correct and more desirable economic policies. Moghimi even argued that greater economic cooperation with regional countries can help reduce tensions with neighboring countries. In a meeting with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Tehran, Rouhani said that after the implementation of the nuclear deal, economic, political and regional cooperation between the seven countries involved in the nuclear deal must be increased. January 13, 2016 Did the execution of Saudi dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Jan. 2 kill the opportunity that was on the table for the election of a new president in Lebanon? This question arises in light of the political developments in Beirut and the repercussions of the regional events on the Lebanese situation. Since mid-November, negotiation efforts were deployed between Sunni majority leader Saad Hariri and member of parliament Suleiman Franjieh for the nomination of the latter as the new president of the republic. Had these efforts for a presidential settlement succeeded, this initiative would have ended the presidential vacuum that has been ongoing since May 25, 2014. The efforts started following a meeting held away from the spotlights in Paris on Nov. 17, 2015, between Franjieh, who is close to Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is close to Riyadh and is the leader of the Sunni majority in Lebanon. Despite the slowdown of the presidential initiative in the final weeks of 2015, those who launched it remained somewhat optimistic. They insinuated that with the beginning of 2016, the agreement between Hariri and Franjieh the details of which never came out in the open may come to life, and it would be possible to see Franjieh filling the presidential seat in the first session of the Lebanese parliament to be held for this purpose, which was scheduled for Jan. 7, 2016. However, on Jan. 2, Riyadh executed Nimr, causing successive reactions and repercussions in Beirut. On Jan. 3, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah appeared in a televised speech and launched a sharp attack on the rulers of Saudi Arabia, accusing them of assassinating Shiite dissident Nimr. Nasrallah lashed out at the Saudi family, saying, The blood of Sheikh Nimr today fills the faces, the bodies, the history, the present and the future of Al Saud [family] until the day of judgment. This blood will haunt them down in this life and the afterlife. This blood that was spilled will write the end of Al Saud regime. A few hours later, the opposing Lebanese camp, the March 14 coalition, also reacted to the Saudi event. Hariri issued a statement fiercely slamming Nasrallahs speech, accusing him of loyalty to the Iranian policy in the region. Hariri blasted Nasrallah's statements about terrorism, murder, criminality, sectarian sedition, the exclusion of opponents, the elimination of parties, organizations and clerics and the destruction of their homes and headquarters, asserting that these practices are indeed applied by the Iranian regime and its expansion project to the detriment of Arabs, their states and societies. Within hours following the execution of Nimr in Saudi Arabia, it appeared that the Lebanese arena would feel the aftershocks. It also appeared that, despite the Lebanese tendency toward confrontation between Hezbollah and the Hariri-led Sunni majority team, a fundamental part of the battle between the two camps was an extension of the overall battle raging in the region, between the axes of Iran and Saudi Arabia. In the few days that followed the Nasrallah-Hariri altercation, it seemed that the matter would not end. Since Jan. 2, the Shiite regions across Lebanon (from Beirut to the south and the Bekaa Valley) witnessed a series of protests, activities and events condemning Nimrs execution. Team Hariri, which is close to Saudi Arabia, tried to divert attention from the execution of the Saudi Shiite dissident by putting the spotlight on the blockade imposed on Madaya, a Syrian village near Damascus, which is leading to the starvation of its trapped residents. They alleged Hezbollahs potential participation in this blockade. Hariri and his advocates shifted attention from Nimrs execution to Madayas issue through a series of daily statements made by the MPs and ministers of his bloc. In light of the tensions between Hariri and Hezbollah which reached their peak with Nimrs execution an agreement between the two parties to facilitate the election of a president, irrespective of the candidate, seems to be far-fetched in light of the heated situation. The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, implied on Jan. 4 that his team rejects Hariris presidential initiative, accusing him without naming him explicitly of seeking through this initiative to return to Lebanon to plunder the country anew. In light of this development, it was only natural for the parliamentary session No. 34 set for Jan. 7 and held for the election of the president to fail. The required constitutional quorum which is a two-thirds majority of deputies or 86 MPs currently out of 128, as per Article 49 of the constitution was not reached, and even the main parties involved with the presidential initiative did not attend. Hariri did not return to Beirut from Saudi Arabia where he has been residing since his governments resignation in January 2011. His party claims that he cannot return for security reasons. Franjieh did not attend the parliament session either, whether in his capacity as a deputy or as candidate of consensus between the parties to the presidential conflict. Thus everything is frozen in Beirut. The new battle raging between Riyadh and Tehran has materialized on Lebanese grounds between Hariri and Hezbollah. However, this preliminary outcome may not be the only one. The same regional developments may pave the way for other possible interactions, most notably the two following possibilities: The first possibility is that this Sunni-Shiite conflict outside Lebanons borders between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and in the Lebanese arena between Hariri and Hezbollah will lead to the rapprochement between the Christian forces. This would result in the main Christian parties (Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement) agreeing on a single candidate for the presidency. This would significantly tip the balance of power of the presidential elections. It should be noted that such a hypothesis has been circulated within the political and media circles in Beirut in the first 10 days of 2016. Talks have been spreading about progress in negotiations between the leaders of the two largest Christian parliamentary blocs Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to reach a bilateral agreement approving Aouns candidacy for presidency. The negotiations between Aoun and Geagea started secretly at first more than a year ago. Then they came out in the open on June 2, 2015, following a visit that Geagea paid to Aoun at his house, and the negotiations resulted in a declaration of intent between them. The presidential negotiations followed. MP Ibrahim Kanaan, secretary of the Aoun-led parliamentary bloc, the Change and Reform Bloc, is negotiating with Geageas team and did not deny this possibility. He told Al-Monitor that the negotiations between the two Christian groups have come a long way and a comprehensive agreement is in progress at the governmental, presidential and parliamentary levels. Kanaan said that such an agreement would set a joint vision for the next stage, implying that this agreement may be announced very soon. The second possibility that the current Saudi-Iranian crisis may produce in the Lebanese scene will be materialized if a given settlement is reached for this crisis within a reasonable timespan. This would be the case if the ongoing international interventions contain the crisis and then launch a series of remedies to the lateral crises marring the relationship between Riyadh and Tehran, including the Lebanese presidential crisis, the situation in Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain and Syria, and the bilateral relations. Any settlement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, even a partial one, would lead to a series of small settlements, reaching a solution for Lebanons dilemma and the election of a new president. Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has set the next parliamentary session for the presidential elections on Feb. 8. Until then, we have to wait and see what the chances are of any of these two possibilities. Will the dialogue between Aoun and Geagea lead to an agreement between them or will the crisis stirred by the execution of Nimr lead to a political solution between Tehran and Riyadh? Or on the contrary, will it lead to the annihilation of all chances of political solutions between them from the Gulf to the Mediterranean in Beirut? It is hard to predict what will happen. But if the Lebanese politicians manage to prioritize their internal willpower over the pressuring external factors, Geagea would support Aoun, and the presidential elections would have a bigger and serious shot. But if the external factors prevail, Beirut would have to enter a new stage of waiting for the regional developments to be worked out. January 12, 2016 Rock-bottom oil prices are ravaging Iraq's ability to combat the Islamic State (IS), former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford told Congress at a Jan. 12 hearing. Ford's warning was one of several ominous messages from a trio of former Obama administration officials who painted a far less rosy picture of the fight against IS than the one expected a few hours later in the president's final State of the Union address. Ford told the House Armed Services Committee that the Iraqis' financial woes are the biggest challenge, along with sectarian strife, to defeating IS. "Both the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Erbil are heavily dependent on oil, and oil sales," Ford said. "And low oil prices are really crunching their ability to mobilize resources in the fight against the Islamic State." Some peshmerga fighters hadn't been paid in three months when he visited a few months ago, Ford said. Baghdad, meanwhile, is 95% dependent on oil revenue and based its FY 2016 budget on a $45-per-barrel price almost 50% higher than the $31, 12-year-low recorded Jan. 11. "He is right about being unable to pay," confirmed Karwan Zebari, the director of political and diplomatic affairs for the Kurdistan Regional Government's Washington office. The Obama administration says it is well aware of Iraq's difficulties and has been helping the government not only stay afloat but also plan for a more diversified economy. "It has been a very difficult challenge for the Iraqis for some time now, and it continues to be," an administration official told Al-Monitor. "And as the price drops even more, it makes things even more difficult." The official said the Iraqis have been taking the fight to IS despite their financial woes. "I don't think that correlates to what we've seen recently on the battlefield," the official said. "If anything, the determination and the offensive capability of the Iraqi forces we've seen a tremendous amount of improvement and a tremendous will to fight over the past few months." The United States provided $2.24 billion to the Iraqi central government in FY 2015, the official said, of which $1.6 billion was in Department of Defense security assistance. The request for FY 2016 is $1.245 billion, of which $750 million is for security assistance. The Kurdish peshmerga, meanwhile, have received millions of dollars in US arms and equipment. Just last month, the United States helped Iraq apply for and win a $1.2 billion World Bank loan to help offset the fall in oil prices and the costs of the war against IS. Other efforts have included the suspension of war reparations to Kuwait in December 2014. The Obama administration has also offered technical assistance to the Iraqis to "get their house in order," the official said, and embedded with the Ministry of Finance. In addition, the United States has contributed about $15 million of a $50 million UN stabilization fund for Ramadi, Tikrit and other cities reclaimed from IS. The fund helps pay for public works and rehabilitation of light infrastructure, support for reopening businesses, community reconciliation and restoring local governments, the official said. About 90% of the population has returned to Tikrit since its liberation in March, the source said, "and more than 100 businesses have reopened." More such funding will be requested as more cities get liberated. "There's a complete acknowledgment that there's going to be a need for more than that," the administration official said. The administration is looking into other avenues to help Iraq, the source said, but nothing that is far enough along to be discussed publicly. Former CIA acting Director Michael Morell, who also testified at the Jan. 12 hearing, has previously said that the region's reliance on oil wealth is one of the main reasons why the Obama administration has been reluctant to bomb IS-occupied oil fields and refineries. "There seemed to have been a judgment that, look, we dont want to destroy these oil tankers because thats infrastructure thats going to be necessary to support the people when [IS] isnt there anymore, and its going to create environmental damage," Morell told Charlie Rose in November. "And we didnt go after oil wells. We didnt actually hit any oil wells that [IS] controls because we didnt want to do environmental damage and we didnt want to destroy that infrastructure." Others point out that falling oil prices also undermine IS, which relies on oil sales for a large part of its funding. "It ultimately also hurts [IS]," said House Foreign Affairs member Gerry Connolly, D-Va. "It's not a 100% wonderful thing, but it ain't all bad either." January 13, 2016 Since the outbreak of the current Palestinian uprising in early October in the West Bank and Jerusalem, young people have been the most involved in the daily incidents with the Israeli military. They are either the perpetrators of stabbings or vehicular attacks or the victims. According to a survey published by Al-Quds Center for Political Studies, 45 Palestinians under 20 had been killed as of Dec. 10, 40% of the total dead. Most of them died in field clashes with the Israeli military in some regions of the West Bank, according to the survey. The unrest has led to the formation of the Intifada Youth Coalition, created to lead activities, demonstrations and confrontations with the Israelis. This coalition seems to be a substitute for the organizational field formations that were established in the previous intifadas. The Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) was established by the Palestine Liberation Organization during the first intifada, also known as the stone-throwing intifada, in late 1987. It initially included Fatah and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The second intifada, also known as Al-Aqsa intifada, involved the 2000 formation of the National and Islamic Forces, which included various Palestinian factions such as Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the DFLP, to manage the daily activities of the intifada. The UNLU stopped its activities in 1994 after the end of the first intifada, but the National and Islamic Forces are still operational to this day. The participation of young people in the current Palestinian uprising is not surprising. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics announced in August 2015 that Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a young society and will remain so in the years to come, as youth between the ages of 15 and 29 represent 30% of the total population. Of that group, 37.4% are in the 15-19 age bracket, and 62.6% are 20-29, according to the statistical bureau. Farid Abu Dheir, journalism and communications professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus, told Al-Monitor, The current Palestinian uprising is an indication that the young Palestinian generation has imposed itself on the Palestinian scene, using a number of nontraditional tools, including social media. It is trying to step away from the Palestinian parties, which have been known for decades on the Palestinian arena. He added, Nevertheless, it is difficult for this young generation to step away from Palestinian parties by establishing new organizational formations, rejecting factions calls for organizational events or declining involvement in Palestinian factions. This is because factions are still in control of the Palestinian arena, although they are trying to adapt to the emergence of youth as actors on the arena, not passive figures, as in the past decades. The most prominent feature in the current situation is that the new generation leading it are between 15 and 25 years old. They were born during the Oslo Accord era in 1993. This generation has only witnessed Israeli violations against Palestinians including killings, the confiscation of land, raids of Palestinian cities and the thwarting of the idea of a Palestinian state. They realize that the Palestinian Authoritys (PA) promises have been crushed under the boots of Israeli soldiers as they storm the West Bank. Since the outbreak of the current uprising, dozens of articles in the Palestinian media have discussed the new Palestinian generation. Al-Quds newspaper reported Oct. 26 that this generation has grown up at a time when the Palestinian factions have weakened. It is a generation that wears spiky hairstyles and distressed denim, is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, listens to Justin Bieber, and watches Angelina Jolie movies. This generation may be religious or secular and might not read Marx. Yet it hates the Israeli occupation that has blocked its way to university study, arrested its brothers, demolished its neighbor's house and built settlements. This environment has created a generation that cannot coexist with the Israelis, nor can it adapt to or cope with the occupation, according to the Al-Quds article. The PAs former Minister of Prisoners Wasfi Kabha told Al-Monitor, The new Palestinian generation leading the uprising has overcome factional dimensions and Palestinian partisan considerations. The proof is that it is managing the intifadas daily activities in the absence of organized command centers, unlike during the previous ones. This generation is leading the intifada in the absence of administrative and field structures and is moving forward automatically and spontaneously. He added, At the same time, it seems hard for this generation to establish a new Palestinian organizational front that is separate from the existing Palestinian factions, as the Palestinian community is a partisan one by nature. No matter how hard young people try not to be committed to organizational instructions, their factional affiliation brings them back into the arms of these organizations. It seems clear that the new Palestinian generation is taking the lead after an absence of Palestinian political parties, as the Palestinian political leadership clung to decision-making positions for decades, preventing the youth from assuming leadership roles. Although some of these young people are affiliated with political parties, youth members of some factions are taking personal initiatives like fundraising campaigns to rebuild houses that the Israeli military has destroyed. According to the Palestinian statistical bureau, the unemployment rate among Palestinian youths reached 39% in 2014, and 32,000 Palestinian university graduates enter the labor market per year. The Palestinian youths consider the Israeli occupation the key reason behind their suffering, in the absence of Palestinian policies to resolve these bad conditions, and so they decided to act without seeking permission from the Palestinian organizations and authority. Khalil Assaf, head of the Consortium of Independent Palestinians in the West Bank, which includes dozens of independent national figures from different political backgrounds, told Al-Monitor, Palestinian youths look at political organizations with disdain, as this new Palestinian generation realized that these factions have failed to achieve their political objectives. This is why most of them feel that they are no longer part of these organizations. Thus, they joined the intifada spontaneously in the absence of a leadership, while Palestinian leaders refrained from participating and engaging in it for personal calculations and political considerations. This applies to all Palestinians, be they religious and secular or affiliated with Hamas and Fatah. Perhaps one of the most important features of the current situation is that a new Palestinian generation took to the streets without waiting for instructions from political organizations. Perhaps this generation has overcome and gone beyond these organizations, which may be forced to join and try to keep up with the action on the ground if it continues indefinitely. However, it is not certain that Palestinian leaders will soon defend the youths causes, independent of the Palestinian political organizations. This would necessitate financial capacities that are not available. Therefore, it seems likely that the youths will form lobby groups within their political organizations in the hope of pushing the Palestinian political command to consider the concerns and suffering of the youth. January 13, 2016 Despite the harsh divide among Republican presidential candidates on foreign policy, the importance of Jordan has been a unifying theme. Donald Trump praised King Abdullah on Twitter and Ohio Gov. John Kasich wished in a presidential debate that Jordans king would reign for a thousand years. In stark contrast to the Republicans, President Barack Obama downplayed or did not mention Ammans most critical national priorities the Islamic State [IS], Palestine and the war in Syria during his Jan. 12 State of the Union address. Addressing members of Congress that evening, Obama emphasized, As we focus on destroying [IS], over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. The American leaders assertion that such dire warnings about IS are misguided directly contradict one of Abdullahs main talking points when traveling overseas. Over and over whether at the United Nations General Assembly podium, during an interview with PBS Charlie Rose or even in Kosovo the Jordanian monarch has declared that the battle against IS is a third world war, and I believe we must respond with equal intensity. After IS kidnapped Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh and burned him alive in a cage in February of last year, the Jordanian air force launched a series of strikes against IS targets in Syria and Iraq. Jordan claimed to have killed 7,000 fighters in the days following Kaseasbehs execution. Obamas minimizing of the IS campaign speaks to a fundamental divergence with Abdullah and has led many leading thinkers in Amman to question Americas determination and willingness to, in the presidents own words, degrade and ultimately destroy [IS]." If the worlds strongest and most advanced military cannot defeat a far inferior and less organized group, what are Obamas true intentions? In addition to IS, the State of the Union illustrated a major policy rift with Amman regarding the Palestinian peace process. Obama did not once bother to mention Palestine or Israel in the speech setting up his administrations goals for the upcoming year. Here again, Jordanian leaders take an opposite approach to this sensitive issue. House Speaker Atif Tarawneh said in October, Jordan, under the leadership of King Abdullah II, has placed the Palestinian issue on top of its priorities. Amman raises the urgent need to create a Palestinian state in almost every meeting abroad. The Hashemite Kingdoms difference with the Obama administration is not solely focused on this speech, but rather encompasses a larger policy divide. Since Secretary of State John Kerrys peace efforts stalled in 2014, the United States has not led an ongoing effort to end the Palestinian conflict. White House Middle East coordinator Rob Malley told reporters in November that reaching a negotiated solution between the parties during Obamas remaining term is not in the cards. In contrast to Ammans wishes, the Obama administration no longer prioritizes tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a region filled with violence. Even before the speech, it was difficult to ignore the missing element in Abdullahs Washington itinerary Jan. 12. After traveling thousands of miles, the king initially could not secure a meeting with Obama because of "scheduling conflicts." However, the two did meet briefly Jan. 13 at Andrews Air Force Base before both departed on separate trips. A longtime and dependable US ally despite the Middle Easts turmoil arrives in the US capital, but Obama could not carve out more than about five minutes for the king. In addition to the battle against IS, nearly five years of fighting in Syria have dramatically impacted next-door Jordan. Jordan has absorbed over 630,000 Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations (one diplomat estimates that Syrians represent about 20% of Jordans population), and Abdullah has repeatedly called for decisive action to end the conflict. Yet, in Obamas brief mentioning of the bloody crisis that has killed some 250,000 people, the US president appeared satisfied with US policy. Obama cites Syria as an example of the smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power by partnering with local forces despite the fact that the conflicts violence has only been spreading. It is no wonder that in recent months, Abdullah has met multiple times with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a US rival, during trips to Moscow to discuss developments in the Middle East. The United States provides Jordan with significant financial aid, but mere monetary assistance is no longer sufficient in tackling the regions spiraling crises. With Putin demonstrating decisive action in his military intervention alongside Damascus while daylight grows between Abdullah and Obama over IS, Palestine and Syria, the king may question whether the United States is truly a reliable Jordanian ally during such uncertain times. January 13, 2016 DAMASCUS, Syria Several successful cease-fire truces have been reached in different parts of Syria between the Ministry of National Reconciliation on the one hand and UN delegations and native dignitaries on the other. The regime calls these truces national reconciliations, but many observers wonder if perhaps the agreements just stem from the regimes desire to herd opposition brigades into Idlib in northwestern Syria. Under one of the latest truces, in Homs, the opposition battalions militants took their light weapons on Dec. 8 and left al-Waer neighborhood for the countryside of Idlib in the north after a five-month siege on the city. Also, a deal led opposition fighters in long-besieged Zabadani to leave with their families on Dec. 28 toward Lebanon, Turkey and the Idlib countryside. The truce aimed to implement the September agreement reached in Turkey between an Iranian delegation and one from the opposition umbrella group Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest). On Dec. 1, a delegation of notables representing Jabhat al-Nusra in al-Waer neighborhood met with regime representatives including the head of the General Intelligence Directorate, Mohammed Dib Zaitoun, and the governor of Homs, Talal al-Barazi under UN auspices through UN Ambassador in Syria Yacoub El Hillo. The main directive of the resulting truce, which was implemented Dec. 9, provided for a complete cease-fire between the two parties and the exit of 270 fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra which opposed the truce to the countryside of Idlib in the north. The truce called for medium weapons to be handed over to the Syrian regime, humanitarian corridors to be opened into the neighborhood, the conditions of the remaining wanted people to be settled and a list of detainees held by the regime to be prepared for them to be released. The regime says these truces serves the political solution process, but some activists and media outlets think the regime is seeking to empty these areas to prove its military strength and ability to manage the crisis. They say that the regime wants to kick-start the process of demographic change in the region and that it will not allow the displaced to return to their homes once the situation calms down. In this context, France 24 website reported Dec. 18 that al-Waer residents refused to leave the neighborhood, as the truce had suggested, despite the miserable conditions there. The residents might fear that the Old Homs scenario will be repeated once they are out, and that the regime will never allow them to return. In April, the regime did not allow Old Homs residents to return following the deal between Jabhat al-Nusra and the regime there, even though the deal stated that the civilian citizens would be able to return. Al-Monitor asked Anas Judeh, head of the opposition's Nation Building Movement, about the extent to which these truces might manage to end the armed conflict and solve the Syrian conflict. From the Russian standpoint, the agreements currently reached with armed groups in regime-controlled areas are the result of the Vienna II agreement signed in October 2015 calling for clearing the useful Syrian areas of undisciplined armed groups that are incompatible with international agreements," Judeh said. "This paves the way for a stable environment, which can set the stage for a political process that Russia can apply and invoke with the United States, thus extending the international conflict over how to handle Syria. According to Judeh, Moscow believes that to solve the Syrian crisis, terrorism must be countered first and Syria must be rescued from extremist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State (IS) through Russias military presence. Only then can a transitional phase that includes Bashar al-Assad be discussed. We should be careful not to end up with a serious social fracture or animosities among the Syrian people," Judeh added. "Putting an end to the military conflict and transferring thousands of armed men along with their families to remote regions is not enough. After all, these, along with their children, will only be ticking time bombs. Social, cultural and political work is essential to reintegrate them within the Syrian community. War on the extremist and terrorist ideology is not limited to military means alone, as it also includes cultural, social and political aspects. Instead of ending the conflict, Judeh said, sending fighters to other areas only serves to entrench the problem and might ultimately divide Syria into separate areas controlled by the regime, IS, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Kurds. Some critics say the regime's efforts are an attempt to prove it can reach compromises that could end the Syrian war. The regime, they say, is trying to prove it should be a key player in the next phase, which would enhance its power centers in regime-controlled areas. This would subsequently lead to the deterioration of truces given that they were not reached under appropriate conditions, and especially given the absence of neutral observers. Al-Monitor met with Reem Turkmani, head of the Madani Organization and a member of the board of the Syrian Civil Coalition. Turkmani said, To begin with, what the regime is doing cannot be described as reconciliations. These are agreements whose main parties are military bodies seeking to achieve their interests through negotiations, not fighting. He added, We may witness more local agreements, but there is no guarantee of continuity given the absence of observers, human rights organizations to follow up on the prisoners situation or independent mediators. And there is no political will to reach a solution. Turkmani told Al-Monitor that the best solution is for Syrians be they civilians or militants to stay in their areas. But some of them are forced to leave for two reasons. First, there is no third party, such as international observers, capable of protecting those who are most vulnerable to the risk of arrest. Therefore, some people prefer to leave out of fear of being arrested or forced into conscription, which could lead to their death. Second, not all truces go as smoothly as those in Zabadani and al-Waer. For example, on Dec. 25, there were signs of an unprecedented deal that would have allowed IS militants to exit the southern Damascus districts of al-Qadam and al-Hajar toward Raqqa, the organizations stronghold. Under the deal, buses would have transported the militants through areas under the control of Jaish al-Islam and then head to Raqqa. However, the deal failed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, after Jaish al-Islam Cmdr. Zahran Alloush was killed Dec. 24. But a civilian activist from al-Qadam said Jaish al-Islam wasn't involved at all with the failed truce. "IS is the reason behind the deal's failure. They did not want to get out at once without knowing who would be governing the areas that they were leaving," the activist, who oversees the Facebook page of the Local Council of al-Qadam in Damascus, told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. Jaish al-Islam has nothing to do with this. The buses arrived the morning of Dec. 25 and waited in vain as IS members refused to leave. January 12, 2016 Washington US sailors aboard two small US naval vessels were held by Iran in Persian Gulf waters Jan. 12 after one of their boats experienced apparent mechanical trouble, but Iranian authorities have assured the United States that the sailors will be promptly released and allowed to continue their journey, the United States said. The potentially provocative incident occurred as Iranian officials have been publicly signaling Iran is completing the final steps required in rolling back their nuclear program to launch implementation day of the Iran nuclear deal, possibly within the next week. Earlier today, we lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain, a senior US administration official, speaking not for attribution, said by email Jan. 12. We subsequently have been in communication with Iranian authorities, who have informed us of the safety and well-being of our personnel, the US official said. We have received assurances the sailors will promptly be allowed to continue their journey. According to a tweet by Iranian journalist Sadegh Ghorbani, Irans hard-line FARS news agency reported Jan. 12 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested 10 foreign military troops, probably American," inside Irans territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. Pentagon sources said the US boats may have inadvertently drifted inside Irans territorial waters after one of them had mechanical troubles, the Associated Press reported. US Secretary of State John Kerry was in touch with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after being notified of the incident around midday, and was assured that the crew members are safe and that the situation will be resolved promptly, the Associated Press said. US officials, speaking not for attribution, said they did not see indications at this time that Iran was trying to be provocative, suggesting the encounter between the US sailors and the IRGC on Farsi Island had occurred as a result of mechanical trouble with one of the boats. They are hoping that the incident can be resolved promptly and quietly, and that the 10 US sailors could be released Jan. 13. Kerry has been in direct contact with Zarif to discuss the matter, a US official told Al-Monitor. Iranian Foreign Ministry officials did not immediately respond to a query. The US sailors were reportedly sailing near Farsi Island when one of the boats went aground with mechanical trouble, the Associated Press report said. Farsi Island is near the Iran-Saudi border, where an IRGC base is located, Ghorbani said in a subsequent tweet. The naval encounter comes at a sensitive moment, as the United States, Iran and other world powers expect to officially herald implementation day of the landmark Iran nuclear deal in the coming days. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have arrived in Iran to conduct verification that Iran has taken all the nuclear steps it agreed to in the nuclear deal, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran was cited saying by Iranian media Jan. 12. If and when the IAEA provides such verification, the United States and the European Union will lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. Diplomatic sources have suggested implementation day is likely to come sometime during the week of Jan. 15-20. If the naval incident is defused quickly, it could alternatively highlight the benefits of US-Iran engagement and the robust channel that Kerry and Zarif have built up, some former US officials said. This points to the benefit of successful diplomacy with Iran, Joel Rubin, a former senior State Department official said. US military leaders for years have worried about unintentional incidents at sea that could provoke a crisis. While we don't know for certain if this is the case, it's a good thing that we have the ability to pick up the phone and call the Iranians to resolve this. It's much better than the alternative. On Jan. 9, the US Navy released a short video of an IRGC vessel firing rockets Dec. 26 near US warships in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported. Iran had previously denied the IRGC vessels had launched the unguided rockets. In September 2014, Iran released after several hours a charter aircraft carrying US military contractors from Afghanistan to Dubai that it had forced to land because its flight plan was out of date. . January 13, 2016 WASHINGTON US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter welcomed the release of 10 US sailors Jan. 13, and credited the diplomatic engagement of Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the swift resolution of the incident that occurred when two small US Navy patrol boats sailing from Kuwait to Bahrain apparently drifted into Iranian waters near Farsi Island. I am pleased that 10 US Navy sailors have departed Iran and are now back in US hands, Carter said in a Jan. 13 statement. I want to personally thank Secretary of State John Kerry for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure our sailors' swift return. Around the world, the US Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress, and we appreciate the timely way in which this situation was resolved. Kerry, noting he is a former US Navy sailor himself, expressed gratitude to Iranian officials for helping to resolve the issue quickly and peacefully. I want to express my gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter, Kerry said in a statement Jan. 13. That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure and strong. Kerry spoke with Zarif by phone five times over the course of ten hours on Jan. 12 to try to gain the sailors release, after learning of the incident around noon while in a meeting with Carter and their Filipino counterparts, a senior State Department official said. Kerry was informed by Zarif in the third phone call, about 3:15 p.m., that it was Zarifs understanding from the people holding the sailors that they would be released at dawn Jan. 13, and that they were being fed and treated well, the US official said. The Secretary [Kerry] made clear the most important priority was that [the sailors] be released safely and unharmed and as quickly as possible, the senior State Department official, speaking not for attribution, said Jan. 13. Kerry told Zarif, the official said, if we were able to [resolve] this in the right way, we can make this into a good story for both of us. Foreign Minister Zarif insisted he was working on this and agreed with the imperative of getting this resolved as soon as possible, the US official said. An existing communications channel between the US Navy and the Iranians operating in the Persian Gulf was used to work out the details of the Jan. 13 release, the US official said. The Pentagon said in a statement that the 10 US sailors departed Farsi Island at 8:43 a.m. GMT [3:43 a.m. EST], aboard the two Riverine Command Boats (RCB) that they had been operating when they lost contact with the US Navy. The sailors were later transferred ashore by US Navy aircraft, while other sailors took charge of the RCBs and continued transiting toward Bahrain, the boats' original destination. The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran, the Pentagon said. While Kerry used the phone calls to try to explain the US understanding of how the vessels had apparently entered Iranian waters, initially thought possibly due to a mechanical problem, he never apologized, given there was nothing to apologize for, the US official said. He did not apologize, he explained, the US official said. That the incident was able to be resolved quickly and peacefully really does speak to the importance of using these diplomatic tools, the US official said. Happy to see dialogue and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the sailors episode, Zarif wrote on Twitter on Jan. 13. Lets learn from this latest example. The naval encounter came at a sensitive moment, as the United States, Iran and other world powers expect to officially herald implementation of the landmark Iran nuclear deal in the coming days. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have arrived in Iran to conduct verification that Tehran has taken all the nuclear-related steps it agreed to in the deal, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran was quoted as saying by Iranian media Jan. 12. If and when the IAEA provides such verification, the United States and the European Union will lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. Diplomatic sources have suggested implementation day is likely to be sometime during Jan. 15-20. Current and former US officials said the quick defusing of the naval incident highlights the benefits of US-Iranian engagement and the robust channel that Kerry and Zarif have established in hundreds of hours of negotiations mostly on the nuclear issue. This points to the benefit of successful diplomacy with Iran, former senior State Department official Joel Rubin told Al-Monitor. US military leaders for years have worried about unintentional incidents at sea that could provoke a crisis. While we don't know for certain if this is the case, it's a good thing that we have the ability to pick up the phone and call the Iranians to resolve this. It's much better than the alternative. This piece was updated Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. with additional information from US and Iranian officials. Madison County brewers are optimistic after the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Study Commission voted Tuesday on recommendations that would allow breweries to take advantage of off-premise sales. The Commission said small breweries and brewpubs that produce less than 60,000 barrels of beer per year should be able to sell up to 288 ounces in bottles, cans or growlers. Other recommendations related to the beer industry include: Brewpubs would no longer have to be located in a historic building or economically distressed area. Brewers could directly deliver beer to charity functions, up to two kegs per event. The Commission formed last year after the Alabama Brewers Guild's direct sales legislation died in Montgomery without a vote. Members of the Commission traveled to Colorado and North Carolina in late 2015 to study their alcohol laws. Co-chair Sen. Paul Sanford told AL.com he feels confident the recommendations will pass in the upcoming legislative session. Green Bus Brewing co-owner Jason Sledd said growler sales "can make or break a small establishment" like his downtown Huntsville nanobrewery. "This kind of flexibility is important for the early growth of a small brewery like ours," he said. "We are planning to open this spring and hopefully these recommendations will already be voted into law by the time we open our doors." Eric Crigger, owner of Rocket Republic Brewing Company in Madison, called the recommendations an "amicable compromise" that wholesalers and beer makers can work with in the future. He said to-go sales will "immediately require increased production, the purchase of more equipment, and staff to handle the capacity" at his brewery. "Obviously, consumers directly benefit, should this pass, by completing the brewery experience with the ability to obtain products at the source," he said. "The current system is akin to going to a bakery and having to eat bread by the slice, at the bakery, and not take any bread home." Blue Pants Brewery, which operates in Madison, will be able to sell beers not made for mass distribution if legislation passes in 2016. Brent Cole, co-owner of Salty Nut Brewery, said direct sales would benefit his small business, which is expanding to Yellowhammer Brewing's old facility this month. "This would be huge for us as well as the brewery community in the state of Alabama," he said. "It would help us grow our brand and be able to satisfy the needs of customers who regularly contact us and ask if they can take a brew home with them." Yellowhammer completed one of the state's largest brewing projects last year at Campus No. 805 near downtown Huntsville. If lawmakers agree to allow direct sales for breweries, General Manager Ethan Couch said it would be a "significant cultural change" for Alabama. "Off-premise retail sales is a convenience most tourists expect when they visit local breweries, and it is certainly a change our local patrons would welcome," he said. "Microbreweries have a difficult time putting every style of beer they make into package and on a shelf in local shops. The costs to package beer are substantial, and shelf space is often dominated by the Big Three." Straight to Ale also broke ground last summer on a new brewery, taproom and mixed-use event space at Campus No. 805. The 40,000-square-foot facility is on schedule to open later this year. "If they do in fact pass and become law, they will definitely help every brewery in the state move towards profitability and fund expansion, which translates into more jobs and more tax revenue for the city and state," said Straight to Ale co-founder Dan Perry. "It also moves us closer to what breweries in other states are allowed to do. That is big because we have to compete with a lot of those out-of-state breweries daily." Old Black Bear Brewing launched its first brick-and-mortar facility in November after a long buildout in downtown Madison. Co-owner Todd Seaton doesn't expect a big spike in business if direct sales pass. "I don't personally think direct sales will account for more than at most 1 percent of our total revenue so it's not a show stopper if this doesn't pass," he said. "The more important thing to me is that there's absolutely zero reason for it to not be allowed so it's more a move forward in the cultural development of beer in Alabama." Turkish police in the Mediterranean city of Antalya detained three Russian nationals in a raid on suspected fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkey's state-run news agency said Wednesday, a day after a suicide bomber killed 10 foreigners in a blast at Istanbul's historic Sultanahment tourist district. After Tuesday's attack, which killed German nationals, Turkish authorities blamed ISIL, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pledging to battle the armed group until it no longer "remains a threat" to Turkey or the world. Russia's consulate general in Ankara confirmed the detention of the trio on Wednesday. The reasons for their detention are being clarified, Consul General Alexander Tolstopyatenko said, according to the Tass news agency. The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with ISIL fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. The Russian Foreign Ministry in November said 2,719 Russians had left for Syria to fight for ISIL. Of these, 160 have been killed, 73 have returned and been tried and 36 have been arrested, according to Oleg Syromolotov, the deputy minister of foreign affairs. Meanwhile, Turkey's interior minister Efkan Ala confirmed on Wednesday that the alleged suicide bomber had registered with Turkish immigration authorities but was not on any list of known militant suspects. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Tuesday that the bomber had been identified, was born in 1988, and was thought to have been living in Syria, from where he was believed to have recently entered Turkey. Turkey, which like Germany is a member of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL, has become a target for the group. It was hit by two major bombings last year blamed on the group, in the largely Kurdish town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people at a pro-Kurdish rally in the worst attack of its kind on Turkish soil. Wire services It's been a while since I've written a column espousing the advantages of using a college 529 plan to help fund a college education. Recently I had a reader contest where I asked readers to submit their best money saving ideas to jump-start 2016. One reader, Linda W., focused on this topic and it was full of great tips: Years ago when our children were young, we wanted to open up a college 529 account for them. Alabama was so involved with their prepaid tuition plan that their 529 plan was lacking in growth. It was more beneficial for us to invest in an out-of-state plan and lose the tax benefits offered to those who invest in an Alabama 529. But, we learned some tricks and this has helped us withdraw some of those funds! Each year we roll $10,000 over into a College Counts 529 plan here in Alabama. That does two things, it allows us to take the maximum contribution off our Alabama taxes for married couples, saving us about $500, and it allows all the gains on our out-of-state deposits to now be tax-free in Alabama, (one of the few states to tax gains made in an out-of-state 529 account upon withdrawal of funds) because they will be withdrawn for use from an Alabama sponsored fund! Yes, the funds are managed better, now, in Alabama, and we could let those funds sit in the account, but we usually roll over the funds and withdraw them in less than 30 days to pay college bills. The whole process to move the funds from out-of-state 529, to in-state 529, to the university (via a charge card with cash back for charging tuition and their grace period for making payments!) takes 30 days or less! But the savings are near $1,000! And we always pay $4,000 college costs out-of-pocket, and not with our 529 funds, to snag the $2,500 cash given to us by the American Opportunities CREDIT (not a deduction which results in less in your pocket!). See federal tax instructions for eligible students, expenses and terms. In these high tuition and fees time, it helps to maximize ones college savings and these tips might help others who have set up college funds out of state. We started early enough to be able to pull money out gradually for two kids, thus being able to only have to move $10,000 a year. But even rolling over more, if one needs it, and thus going over Alabama's annual deduction limit, you still receive the benefit of tax-free withdrawals to pay qualified college expenses. And if you have no savings for college at all, still open up an Alabama College Counts 529 as you can send your child's tuition payment there, let it sit for a day, then pull it out and pay the university, or in most cases, your charge bill where you charged their tuition. This will count as a contribution to the 529 account and allow you to take the Alabama tax deduction! Just read up on the process of depositing and withdrawing so there are no surprises! So there! My tips for saving a lot with a little effort! Of course one should consult their tax advisor to confirm the benefits based on their individual status. But these have worked for me and the friends I have helped with their taxes! My comments: The $10,000 State of Alabama income tax deduction that Linda refers to is based on a married couple filing jointly. For single filers, the deduction is $5,000. Also, when doing a rollover from a 529 plan, be aware that you are allowed only one rollover every twelve months so plan accordingly. I would add that the 529 plan is, in most cases, the best way to save for college. While you don't get a federal tax deduction for contributions (and State of Alabama income tax deduction is limited to Alabama residents and limited in the amount of deduction each year), your money grows tax deferred and, when withdrawn for qualified education expenses, it's tax free. You should also be aware that there are two versions of the Alabama 529 plan; an Advisor version where you'll pay commissions and a 'self-help' version with no commissions. For more information visit College Counts 529 Plan. Thank you, Linda for a very thoughtful commentary on 529 plans. 20th Century Fox Don't Edit 20th Century Fox Oscars 2016: Predicting the nominees Oscar nominations will be announced in the early morning on Thursday, Jan. 14, and we think we know what to expect. But as always, we're prepared to stand as corrected as ever. Golden Globe winners, SAG nominations and otherwise serve as nice indicators of what's to come tomorrow, but we're still scratching our heads on a few categories. So here goes nothing. Here are our predictions on what will be nominated in the major categories, along with what could get nominated and what would in a perfect world. Don't Edit Open Road Films Best Picture Spotlight The Martian The Revenant The Big Short Mad Max: Fury Road Bridge of Spies Carol Room Brooklyn Lurking: Sicario, Ex Machina, Inside Out, Straight Outta Compton, Star Wars: The Force Awakens In a Perfect World: When Disney released "Inside Out" last summer, many felt Pixar delivered its finest film yet after a storied output full of masterpieces. Critics and fans agreed it was special, and Disney should have taken note and campaigned hard for this as the first animated best picture winner ever. I think it had a shot, but now it's on the outside looking in and will settle for an Animated Feature win. Don't Edit 20th Century Fox Best Director George Miller, "Max Max: Fury Road" Alejandro Inarritu, "The Revenant" Ridley Scott, "The Martian" Adam McKay, "The Big Short" Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight" Lurking: Steven Spielberg ("Bridge of Spies", Todd Haynes ("Carol") In a Perfect World: J.J. Abrams had the impossible task of reviving and rebranding the greatest franchise in movie history, and he exceeded expectations in the eyes of many with "The Force Awakens." The weight of the world was on his shoulders, and it's as if he shrugged it off, welcomed the challenge and sparked moviegoers' imaginations in a way they honestly didn't think possible anymore. Don't Edit 20th Century Fox Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant" Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo" Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs Matt Damon, "The Martian" Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl" Lurking: Will Smith ("Concussion"), Johnny Depp ("Black Mass") In a Perfect World: Tom Hanks gave a top five career performance in "Bridge of Spies," and nobody even cared. Mark Rylance justly has some momentum as an Oscar contender, but playing another guy who just does the right thing simply personifies everything we love about Hanks as an all-time great leading man. Don't Edit Don't Edit A24 Films Best Actress Brie Larson, "Room" Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn" Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy" Cate Blanchett, "Carol" Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years" Lurking: Alicia Vikander ("The Danish Girl") In a Perfect World: I hate that Larson and Ronan can't both win, but there's scenario where they could. Given "Room" is told from the perspective of her son, I'd argue Larson's Ma is a supporting character. Given the lack of stiff competition in that category, Larson would run away with that category, and Ronan would score best actress. Everybody's happy. Don't Edit MGM / Warner Bros. Best Supporting Actor Sylvester Stallone, "Creed" Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies" Idris Elba, "Beasts of No Nation" Christian Bale, "The Big Short" Jacob Tremblay, "Room" Lurking: Benicio Del Toro ("Sicario"), Mark Ruffalo, ("Spotlight"), Michael Keaton ("Spotlight"), Paul Dano ("Love & Mercy"), Michael Shannon ("99 Homes") In a Perfect World: Alabama native Walton Goggins steals the show as the loudmouth would-be sheriff of Red Rock in Quentin Tarantino's bloody western "The Hateful Eight." For that matter, Kurt Russell does some of his finest-ever work as bounty hunter John Ruth. Don't Edit A24 Films Best Supporting Actress Alicia Vikander, "Ex Machina" Rooney Mara, "Carol" Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs" Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight" Helen Mirren, "Trumbo" Lurking: Kristen Stewart ("Clouds of Sils Maria"), Rachel McAdams ("Spotlight"), Elizabeth Banks ("Love & Mercy"), Jane Fonda ("Youth") In a Perfect World: It's a shame the Oscars don't ever honor magnificant voice work in animated movies because if they did, Phyllis Smith's breakout turn as Sadness in Pixar's "Inside Out" would have frontrunner status. Don't Edit AMPAS Oscars air Feb. 28 The 88th Annual Academy Awards will air at 7:30 p.m. on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Nominations will be announced at 7:30 a.m. (central time) on Thursday on ABC and via YouTube stream, so tune in to see how wrong we are! A Gadsden man was sentenced Monday to years in prison after he pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse charges. District Attorney Jody Willoughby said Robert Dale Kitchens, 31, of Gadsden, entered his plea before Judge David Kimberley on charges of first degree sodomy and sexual abuse of a child under 12 years of age. Kitchens received a sentence of 30 years in prison for two sodomy charges, and a 20 year sentence on the sexual abuse charge. Kitchens was arrested in December 2013 after an investigation began when an eight-year-old girl reported that he has been sexually abusing her, Willoughby said. An investigation determined the abuse had been going on for approximately two years. Gadsden Police, the Department of Human Resources and the James M. Barrie Center for Children were involved in the investigation. Willoughby said in Alabama a person convicted of sexually abusing a child under 12 years of age is not eligible for early release from imprisonment due to good time, probation or parole. "That means that this Defendant, sentenced to thirty years, will actually serve thirty years in the state penitentiary. Hopefully, that knowledge will provide this courageous child, and her family, with some peace." Birmingham police tonight announced arrests against four men - three of them teens - in connection with separate carjackings on Birmingham's Southside last week. Both carjackings happened in the afternoon and one day apart. They also happened only blocks from each other. Police, however, don't believe the two incidents were linked. Police said they are not releasing details of the cases out of respect for the victims. Terrell Banks, 18, is charged with first-degree robbery in one of the crimes. Police say he robbed the victim at gunpoint and took a vehicle. His bond is set at $20,000. According to court records, Banks robbed the victim of a Chevrolet sedan and a cell phone on Jan. 5. Banks was taken into custody Jan. 9, and released on bond Monday, according to court records. He is set to make his first court appearance Feb. 1. The second case happened the following day about 5 p.m., and guns also were involved. Court records say the victim was robbed of a Ford SUV and a cell phone. The three men charged in that case are Tyrese Sanders, 20; Robert Prowell, 18, and Damondre Miller, also 18. Prowell and Miller are both charged with first-degree robbery. Their bond is set at $20,000. Both remained in the Jefferson County Jail Tuesday evening. Sanders is charged with first-degree stolen property. He was released Monday on $20,000 bond. A couple in the Winston County Jail are charged with the capital murder of a baby. Eddie Allen Ogles and Ashley Goven Fields (Winston County Jail) Eddie Allen Ogles, 26, and Ashley Brooke Goven Fields, 24 are accused of killing her 6-month-old daughter, Adalyn Marie Fields. Court records allege the couple used an unspecified weapon against the baby on Dec. 2 with the intention of killing her. She died two days later in a Birmingham hospital. Ogles was arrested on Dec. 29 while Goven was booked the next day. Both are charged with capital murder of a person less than 14 years old. Both are being held without bond. The preliminary hearing is not yet scheduled. A Haleyville attorney who refused to leave the Winston County Jail after being asked to do so has now been there a lot longer than he likely planned - four days to be exact. Jerry Dean Roberson, a self-described personal injury, was jailed Friday afternoon and remained in lockup Tuesday charged with seven crimes ranging from disorderly conduct to possession of marijuana. It all began about 3:30 p.m. when Winston County Jail Adminstrator Sandor Csitar said Roberson showed up at the jail and gained entrance by following two investigators inside. Csitar asked the lawyer why he was in there, and Roberson told him he wanted to see his client. The chief asked him the name of the client, and it didn't match anyone inside in the lockup. "He gave me the name of an inmate we didn't have here,'' Csitar said. Roberson then told him he wanted all of the inmates at the jail to be his clients. He also made several threats while there to sue DHR, but Csitar said he has no idea why. Csitar said he told Roberson several times to leave or he would be arrested, but he refused. Csitar escorted him out of the jail, but Roberson went to the sheriff's office and made threats against officers and deputies there. He then fled the scene. Csitar said Roberson was eventually taken into custody in front of the Gateway shopping market in Double Springs. Csitar said Roberson had marijuana in his pocket at the time of his arrest. Roberson is now charged with third-degree escape, which is a felony, as well as promoting prison contraband, possession of marijuana, obstructing government operations, two counts of disorderly conduct and harassment. Roberson is being held on a $60,000 cash bond. Csitar said he has no idea why the lawyer was so erratic and combative. "I'm used to people showing themselves here,'' he said, "but it's not usually the lawyers." Micah McMullin collage 4-month-old Micah McMullin died about a week after he was found unresponsive at a Homewood daycare. "They are the all-American family, just working hard and loving their child, and somebody's gross negligence just takes their life away from them in a matter of minutes," said Paul Patterson, an attorney representing Micah's parents. (Submitted photos) The parents of a 4-month-old child who died after his breathing was obstructed at a Homewood daycare were not aware of previous citations against the business, their attorney said. Three complaints were investigated at La Petite Academy in the three years leading up to the death of Micah Colin McMullen in December. On Dec. 16, Micah was found unresponsive in a crib at the daycare, located at 2041 Medical Center Drive. He was taken to Children's Hospital for treatment, and he died there Dec. 22. Some staff members are on leave pending the outcome of the investigations, said Lydia Cisaruk, a spokeswoman for La Petite Academy. Last month, attorney Paul Patterson filed a negligence lawsuit against the daycare on behalf of Micah's parents. At the time, doctors believed Micah would need lifetime care and treatment for his injuries. After Micah's death, Patterson has begun amending the initial filing. "They are the all-American family, just working hard and loving their child, and somebody's gross negligence just takes their life away from them in a matter of minutes," Patterson said. According to the suit, an employee at La Petite Academy called them shortly after 11 a.m. Dec. 16 to say that Micah was having difficulty breathing. Both immediately left work and went to the daycare, where they watched paramedics perform CPR on Micah. The suit claims that daycare employees did not adequately supervise Micah, whose airway was blocked by a "pillow type sleeper." Micah was placed on the pillow on the floor before he and the pillow were moved into his crib - a violation of DHR regulations, Patterson said. According to the state's Department of Human Resources, two complaints were received in February 2012 and investigated several weeks later. In response to a complaint about freedom of movement, staff said they put children in high chairs to keep them safe from other children or while they cleared classroom floors. In a second complaint about the staff-child ratio, employees said at times there are more than five infants assigned to one teacher. A third complaint, received and investigated in 2013, also stemmed from concerns about supervision, with 12 infants under the supervision of two teachers. The McMullens were not aware of previous citations against La Petite Academy before their son's death, Patterson said. After Micah's death in December, the daycare was placed on probation for six months by DHR. The daycare has continued working with DHR to fulfill all probation conditions, including additional staff training on state and school policies and procedures encompassing the full spectrum of sleep-related practices. "We will continue to work cooperatively with the relevant state and local agencies as they monitor our operations to confirm we fully meet or exceed all regulatory requirements," Cisaruk said. " We take our responsibility as caregivers very seriously." Investigators are still looking into the incident and have not yet released information about the cause of death. "This case is a tragedy, and the McMullen family needs the prayers of friends and family," Patterson said. Three witnesses testified Tuesday that during two lethal injection executions in 2010 and 2011 they did not see Alabama Department of Correction officers administer a "pinch" test on the arms of death row inmates to make sure they were sedated before being administered the drugs that would kill them. Alabama Department of Corrections attorney Anne Hill, however, testified she witnessed the "pinch" test being performed by an officer at one of the executions. She also said it has never been reported to her that the test - part of a mandatory three-step process to make sure the inmate is unconscious - was not performed at any execution. The testimony is being presented to U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins in a trial of a lawsuit filed by Alabama Death Row inmate Tommy Arthur, who is challenging as cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the state's new three-drug lethal injection protocol. Arthur also claims that Alabama violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection because of the state's failure to consistently or adequately perform the "pinch" test. Watkins has limited this week's testimony to that equal protection claim and to the question of the availability of an alternate method of execution to Alabama's current lethal injection drug mixture. If the judge ultimately rules against Arthur on both those claims, then the trial won't go forward. Watkins has said he won't rule from the bench at the end of this week's testimony, which is expected to end this morning after one additional witness. Arthur's execution has been halted by the courts six times for various reasons. He was convicted in the 1982 murder of Troy Wicker of Muscle Shoals. Three federal public defenders with the Middle District of Alabama testified Tuesday about witnessing administration of the mandatory unconscious assessments during executions. The assessments by corrections officers are to include calling out the name of the inmate, brushing an eyelash, and pinching the back of the inmate's left arm. Assistant Federal Public Defender Matt Schulz testified he did not see a corrections officer pinch Eddie Powell during his June16, 2011 execution. Christine Freeman, executive director of the federal defender's office, was also at that execution and testified she too didn't see the pinch test. Both Schulz and Freeman said they could see clearly through the witness box reserved for inmates' attorneys and family. Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ganter also testified he did not see the pinch test performed on inmate Jeff Land during an Aug. 12, 2010 execution. Hill said that she also had witnessed Powell's execution. She could not recall whether she attended Land's execution. Of the nine or 10 executions she has attended, Hill said, the pinch test was performed at all of them. She said that the officers train on the execution procedures, which have been in place since 2007. Midazolam/pentabarbital Arthur's claims regarding Alabama's three-drug protocol centers on midazolam, a sedative and first drug in the process. He claims midazolam doesn't work to prevent pain during the administration of the other two drugs. Midazolam was the drug used in two botched executions in Ohio and Arizona in 2014 at which the inmates took longer than expected to die, Arthur's attorneys have said. Alabama in 2014 turned to midazolam as the first drug in its lethal injection cocktail after corrections officials said they could no longer get a supply of the drug pentobarbital in part because manufacturers did not want their drugs used in executions. The state also had tried to get the drug through the black market, according to previous reports. Alabama has yet to use the new three-drug combination on an inmate. The state has not performed an execution since July 2013, although it has set to execute Christopher Brooks on Jan. 21. Brooks is seeking a stay of his execution while his and a group of other death row inmates lawsuits are still pending. Under new rules to challenge an execution method as being cruel and unusual punishment, death row inmates must suggest feasible alternatives. Among the suggestions Arthur's attorneys made was use of pentobarbital, which they say Alabama could still get. They also had suggested firing squad, which Watkins quickly rejected as a feasible and available method for the state. Gaylen Zentner, a Utah pharmacist and independent consultant for the pharmaceutical industry, testified that Alabama can get pentobarbital, which can be made by compounding pharmacies. Zentner said that the supplies of the chemicals needed to make the drug are still available through at least one company and there are pharmacies in Alabama that have the expertise to make it. "It's a straightforward process," he said. But under questioning by attorneys representing Alabama, Zentner said he had not asked companies or pharmacies he had contacted whether they would be willing to provide pentobarbital for executions by the department of corrections. Hill testified that she had contacted at least 29 pharmacies and departments of corrections four other states - Texas, Georgia, Virginia and Missouri - to see about getting a supply of pentobarbital in the past year or so. She said she had tried 18 pharmacies in Alabama last month to see if they could compound the drug. "The answer has always been no," she said. Suhana S. Han, an attorney representing Arthur, said that California is considering a drug protocol using pentobarbital and she questioned why that state would do that if it couldn't get a supply. Arthur's attorneys also had suggested another drug, sodium thiopental, be used in the lethal injection protocol. Hill testified she believes the drug is no longer available in the United States and doesn't know of anyone who has been able to import it. Attorneys Adam R. Brebner and Meredith A. Sherman also represent Arthur. Assistant Attorneys General Clayton Crenshaw, Thomas R. Govan, Jr., James R. Houts, and Lauren A. Simpson are defending the state and the department of corrections in the lawsuit. A Birmingham woman faces endangerment charges after authorities say she tested positive for drugs while pregnant. Quiteria Lotonia Tookes, 36, was charged Monday. According to Shelby County court records, she "knowingly, recklessly or intentionally" exposed her unborn child to cocaine. The test was administered to her on Dec. 14 when she was jailed on a bond revocation. Tookes pleaded guilty in September 2015 to a theft charge in connection to more than $500 worth of merchandise stolen from Belk. She has previous convictions for theft and possession of cocaine. She is now charged with chemical endangerment of a child. Her bond on that charge is set at $10,000. The lives of identical twin sisters Shera Grant and Shanta Owens have often mirrored each other. Both of the Birmingham natives graduated from Alabama State University. Both graduated from law school at Louisiana State University. While Grant went to Atlanta after law school and Owens came back to Birmingham, both ended up with jobs as prosecutors. Their girls are both 6 years old and were born four months apart. Their sons are 3 years old and also born four months apart. Their husbands, who they married two months apart in 2003, also have been best friends since kindergarten. Shanta has been a district court judge since her election in 2008. She won a second term and is up for re-election in 2020. Now Shera too is a district court judge after Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Friday appointed her to fill the seat of Jack Lowther. "Ms. Grant is highly qualified, motivated and prepared to be a district judge," according to a statement from Jennifer Ardis, communications director for Bentley. "The governor's office found out about her twin sister during the interview process. Public service seems to be a trait that runs in her family." Grant, 38, Vestavia Hills, said she was "super excited" to be appointed to the judgeship, which handles small civil cases. Shera Grant (Courtesy Taneisha Tucker) "I'm just overwhelmed, overjoyed. ... I think this is a wonderful opportunity to serve the citizens of this county," she said. Grant starts her new job Jan. 25. "I'm really elated ... I'm excited for her," said Owens, who is four minutes older than Grant. "We're grateful to God and grateful to the Governor." Owens said she had one piece of advice for her sister -- to remain the person their mom raised them to be, respectful of everyone and work hard. "I know she'll (Grant) continue to be that person because that's how we were raised," she said. 'Grew up reading' Owens and Grant were raised by a single mom, Loretta Bitten, who has worked as a librarian at the Birmingham Library since they were 9 years old. Their father had died when they were young. "We grew up reading," Owens said. Grant is currently a deputy Jefferson County Public Defender. She also serves on the Vestavia Hills Board of Education. Identical twins on the bench in Jefferson County might be a first. "I checked with several of our tenured members, and we are not aware of identical twins sitting simultaneously on Jefferson County's District or Circuit courts," said Bo Landrum, executive director of the Birmingham Bar Association. "There is, of course, the husband and wife team of Judges Eugene and Annetta Verin on the Circuit Court in Bessemer, and brothers Tom (Circuit civil) and Alan King (probate judge) serving simultaneously ... in Birmingham, but identical twins on the bench at the same time may be a first for Birmingham." Already up for election This would have been an election year for Lowther, so Grant will have to campaign to keep her newly appointed judgeship. The Jefferson County Judicial Commission last month recommended three names -- Grant, John C. Hall and Robert W. Shores -- to Bentley to fill the seat. Seven lawyers applied. The judicial commission had suggested those interested in being appointed to fill the seat before the election should qualify to run for the seat. Grant, Hall, and Shores already plan to run for Lowther's seat -- District Court Place 5 -- in the March Democratic Primary to see who will face Lee Cleveland, who is unopposed on the Republican side, in the general election. Pamela Wilson Cousins, who did not apply for the job, is also running on the Democratic side for the seat. "I want to thank the judicial commission for selecting my name as one of three qualified attorneys to fill this position," Grant said. Updated to note that Tom King was a circuit judge and Alan King is a probate judge Click here for more coverage of the Ebola outbreak. The WHO said Thursday's announcement in Geneva will mark 42 days since the last Ebola cases in Liberia were tested negative. We will remain careful and keep calling on the population to take the necessary measures in preventing reoccurrence, said Francis Karteh, Liberia's chief medical officer and a major figure in the response to the epidemic. Liberia, the hardest hit country in the outbreak with 4,800 deaths, discharged its last two cases the father and younger brother of a 15-year-old victim on Dec. 3. It was the last country affected by an outbreak infecting almost 29,000 people and claiming 11,315 lives, according to official data, which most experts believe is an underestimate. The patients' recovery triggered a 42-day countdown twice the incubation period of the virus before Liberia can be declared free of transmission for a third time. Ebola can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea. In many cases it shuts down organs and causes unstoppable bleeding. The virus is spread through close contact with the sweat, vomit, blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person, or the recently deceased. Liberia was first declared free of human-to-human transmission in May, only to see the fever resurface six weeks later. It was officially credited with beating the epidemic for a second time in September before another small cluster of cases emerged. The virus spread aggressively from patient zero, a Guinean infant who became the first victim, into Liberia and then Sierra Leone. Sporadic cases were also registered in Mali, Nigeria and Senegal as deaths mounted at a dizzying rate, igniting fears in Europe and elsewhere of a virus that transgressed borders and national controls. The epidemic devastated the economies of the worst-hit countries, as crops rotted in the fields, mines were abandoned and goods could not get to market. Strong recent growth has been curtailed in Guinea and while Liberia has resumed growth, Sierra Leone is in a severe recession according to the World Bank, which has mobilized $1.62 billion for Ebola response and recovery efforts. During the two months of peak transmission in August and September 2014, Liberia's capital Monrovia was the setting for some of the most harrowing scenes from the outbreak. The largest Ebola unit ever built opened there with 120 beds in August 2014 but was immediately overwhelmed, with staff forced to turn patients away at its gates, despite more than doubling its capacity. Liberian Defense Minister Brownie Samukai told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the country was facing a serious threat to its national existence. At the time, more than 400 new cases were being reported each week, with uncollected and highly infectious bodies piling up in the streets of Monrovia, a sprawling, chaotic city at the best of times. The international community came under fire for a response that experts felt was belated and insufficient. But while criticized initially for indifference, the West later rallied to the cause, sending thousands of troops and medics to Africa in 2014 and developing possible treatments and vaccines, many of which are still being tested. Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse hover (Contributed photo/USUN) The list is getting longer of universities in Alabama that have prohibited the use of hoverboards on its campuses. Alabama A&M University in Huntsville announced a temporary ban on the boards. The University of Alabama, Auburn University and the University of Montevallo have also outlawed the hoverboards - also known as self-balancing scooters or hands-free segways. There have been reports of the boards catching fire as well as injuries from riding hoverboards across the country. Alabama A&M cited "safety concerns associated with hoverboards that have been raised by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The school issued a temporary ban on the use, storage and possession of the boards. pet scams.jpg (Florence Police Department) The Florence Police Department is warning area residents about online scams involving puppies that are aimed at getting cash out of people's pockets. The department has received multiple complaints about the scams, which involve the sale of purebred puppies from suppliers in multiple states. "The websites offering these pets look legitimate at first glance," the Florence PD writes on its Facebook page. "The scammers say they will accept payment in the form of a money order or wire transfer. Once a payment is sent the buyer then receives harassing phone calls from a 'shipper' demanding more money." The person claiming to be the shipper of the puppy threatens the victim with criminal charges for abandoning the animal if they do not send more money. "This is a scam," the police department warns. "Be wary of any online transaction to an individual who asks for payment via money order or wire transfer." Anyone suspecting fraud in an online transaction should call their local police department and notify the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, located online at IC3.gov. The American Kennel Club and the American Humane Society offer several tips on finding a reputable and responsible dog breeder, including always visiting the breeder's home or kennel in person. Ensure that all of the puppies in the kennel are clean, well fed, lively and friendly, and look for signs of malnutrition such as protruding ribs or illness such as a runny nose and eyes, coughing, lethargy and skin sores. Visiting in person and seeing at least one of the puppy's parents also allows a buyer to see what's in store for the dog in terms of temperament and appearance. To find a puppy through a reputable breeder or to learn more about how to find one, visit akc.org or humanesociety.org. The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) celebrated the opening of it's new College of Nursing building expansion with an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday Jan. 12, 2016. "It is an exciting time to be at The University of Alabama in Huntsville and at the College of Nursing. With the university's focus on increasing student enrollment and retention, our new building will be able to support our growth. In addition, the state of the art technology will serve to enhance and promote student learning and success. This will be the place where students will be educated to become professional nurses, advance practice nurses and nurse leaders who will ultimately transform the health care delivery system," said Nursing Dean Marsha H. Adams. The renovation began in summer 2014. The expansion includes additional classrooms, student gathering spaces, faculty offices, and a 250-seat auditorium. It also houses the College of Nursing's Learning and Technology Resource Center (LTRC), a state of the art facility which includes Charger Hospital, a 16-bed hospital laboratory and five high-fidelity simulation laboratories; 16 table health assessment room, four advanced practice provider clinical examination rooms, an obstetric/pediatric four bed laboratory, an IV practice room, a home health simulation room and two debriefing rooms. The building also features a new larger elevator to accommodate medical equipment, enhanced entry and security features, new handicapped accessible restrooms, and additional breakout spaces and other amenities. Matt Guthmiller talks with engineering and Air Force ROTC students at Bob Jones High School on Tuesday. (Paul Gattis/pgattis@al.com) Matt Guthmiller could have been one of them, one of the students to whom he was speaking Tuesday morning at Bob Jones High School. Wearing a blue pullover, jeans and sneakers and a youngish-looking face that belied his 21 years, Guthmiller could have grabbed a seat in his audience and no one would have noticed. Seemingly so much like them, though, is perhaps why Guthmiller so captivated the interest of his audience and he recounted his 2014 journey to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world when he was 19. Guthmiller visited the Huntsville-area at the invitation of FlyQuest, a non-profit organization describing itself as "providing aviation education and career preparation for underserved youth. The Aberdeen, South Dakota native breezed through his 44-day, 30,000-mile trip aboard a six-seater Beechcraft Bonanza single-engine plane in about 30 minutes before fielding more questions from engineering and Air Force ROTC students at Bob Jones than time permitted. What was the favorite place you visited? Athens, Greece. What was it like when you finally completed the trip? Bittersweet. How much did it cost? About $150,000, raised primarily through sponsorships. How did you occupy your time flying? Listening to music, calling and texting friends and, Guthmiller said, "I got caught up in Game of Thrones." What did you eat? Not a particular fan of Asian or spicy food, Guthmiller said, so he subsisted on, "A lot of Coke and Oreos." The inevitable, How did you go to the bathroom? "Empty water bottles," he said. And the inevitable follow-up: How did you go No. 2? "I had a big trash bag, in case I really needed to." Of course, as an aviation enthusiast who said flying to Mars "would be pretty cool," Guthmiller said one of his stops in Huntsville was a visit to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. He's now a junior at Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying computer science and electrical engineering and frequently does speaking engagements about his flight. "The biggest thing I hoped to accomplish when I decided to go fly around the world is to hopefully show people you can have some seemingly crazy idea - like flying around the world - and actually break it down into a bunch of little pieces, solve each problem one by one," Guthmiller said in an interview before his presentation to the students. "Be persistent and actually do it. I hope that's what the takeaway is from today." Flying has been a lifelong fascination, Guthmiller said. "Aviation is something I've always been interested in," he said. "Growing up, I've always wanted to go play flight simulator games, watch planes take off and land, that kind of thing. it was something that was always with me. "About 41/2 years ago, I got bored one weekend over the summer and realized I could get my pilot's license in a few months when I turned 17. So I talked my parents into letting me do a little 20-minute, $20 intro flight. I think they thought I was probably just going to go and finally get it out of my system. Of course, that didn't really happen." Not exactly. Guthmiller said his life changed on May 3, 2013, when he got an email about a 20-year-old from California planning to become the youngest to fly solo around the world. "I thought, 'Gee, I could do that,''' he said. A year of planning and 44 days of flying later, he did. It was an adventure - from ripping his shorts while climbing on the pyramids in Egypt to the taxi driver who brought him a meal of fish-and-chips to navigating through customs and re-fueling his plane during his 23 stops in 15 countries. "The biggest thing for me was how many incredibly helpful people there were around the world," Guthmiller said. "I couldn't have done it without them." If you thought squirrels were cute, harmless rodents, think again. The Washington Post recently used data from a website called - get ready - cybersquirrel1.com - to determine how many times in the few years the rodents have been responsible for power outages. And it's not just squirrels - the website also tracks outages due to possums, birds, raccoons and other critters. According to Cyber Squirrel's data, there were 137 squirrel-induced power outages in 2015 alone or about 1 every three days. Alabama's had their fair share of animal attacks on its power grid: Feb. 27, 2012 July 5, 2012 October 11, 2012 July 22, 2013 April 10, 2014 April 16, 2014 October 12, 2014 October 13, 2014 Jan. 9, 2015 April 14, 2015 June 20, 2015 Nov. 11, 2015 Dec. 10, 2015 Dec. 18, 2015 These are the known squirrel and animal attacks. But, as Cyber Squirrel points out: "There are many more executed ops than displayed on this map however, those ops remain classified." It's worth your time to check out their website. Welcome to Wednesday's Wake Up Call. On to more serious topics: Obama offered financial help during son's illness, VP says President Obama offered financial help to Joe Biden during the Vice President's son's battle against cancer. Biden said when his son, Beau, became ill, he was prepared to sell his house to help his son's wife and children. The president urged him not to sell his home. "He said, 'I'll give you the money. Whatever you need, I'll give you the money. Don't, Joe -- promise me. Promise me,'" Biden said. "I said, 'I don't think we're going to have to anyway.' He said, 'promise me.'" Biden said he was able to avoid selling his home. Beau Biden passed away last year. Marines adopting gender neutral titles The U.S. Marine Corps is adopting gender-neutral titles. The change means titles such as "reconnaissance man," "fire support man," or "field artillery sensor support man," will be changed to eliminate the male references. The service will keep some titles, such as "midshipman." The change comes as women are incorporated into combat positions throughout the military. News car broken into while crew covering anti-robbery press conference A car from ABC7 news was broken into while the crew was attending a press conference in Washington, D.C. where a new anti-robbery task force was announced. During the conference, thieves smashed one of the car's windows and stole equipment. The break in occurred about 100 feet from where Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Cathy Lanier were speaking. Wearing unearned medals protected under First Amendment The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal law that makes it a crime to wear unearned military medals was a violation of free speech. The ruling comes after a veteran asked the federal appeals court to overturn his conviction for wearing a medal he didn't earn. Elven Joe Swisher of Idaho had been convicted under the Stolen Valor Act after he wore a military medal he didn't earn while testifying in a criminal case. The U.S. Supreme Court had already tossed out another portion of the Stolen Valor Act that made it a crime to lie about having received a military medal. Until tomorrow. An animal rescue group recently assisted in the rescue and rehoming of 31 dogs living in the woods of Natchez Trace State Park, about 120 miles northeast of Memphis. The dogs of various sizes and breeds were living with a homeless man who has lived outdoors in west Tennessee for 16 years, according to Animal Rescue Corps. The man agreed to let the rescue group and members of the community take the dogs after he began suffering from some health issues. According to Animal Rescue Corps, three of the dogs had serious leg injuries and others had broken teeth and lacerations. None of the dogs were vaccinated, and they all had internal and external parasites such as ticks. "Members of the community have been working with this man to improve his way of life and this rescue is part of it," said ARC President Scotlund Haisley. "He wasn't going to abandon the dogs and accept the help for himself without first finding a group to take the dogs. We are very glad to be able to assist." The dogs were taken to an emergency shelter in Lebanon, Tenn. where they will receive veterinary care and vaccinations. Eventually, the dogs will be placed with various shelter and rescue organizations. Visit ARC's Facebook page for updates on when the dogs will be available for adoption. state house mug by julie.JPG (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Alabama is expected to have more state revenue to spend on education next year than this year, although official estimates have not yet been determined, legislators heard today. The legislative session begins Feb. 2, and as always, the main task for lawmakers will be to pass the education and General Fund budgets. Many legislators were at the State House today for the start of General Fund budget hearings and a meeting of the House Ways and Means Education Committee. Kirk Fulford, House fiscal officer for the Legislative Fiscal Office, said LFO analysts would meet with their economist again before nailing down the revenue estimates in time for the start of the session. The budgets will be for fiscal year 2017, which starts Oct. 1. The current education budget, for fiscal year 2016, calls for spending $6 billion from the Education Trust Fund. The revenue estimate for next year is expected to be more than that but less than a $6.4 billion cap set by the Rolling Reserve Act for fiscal year 2017, Fulford said. The cap changes each year because it's based on a rolling 15-year history of revenues, with some adjustments. Rep. Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, the Ways and Means Education Committee chairman, said it's clear that the legislator will have more to appropriate for education in fiscal year 2017 than it did in this fiscal year. "We're just not sure what that number is at this point," Poole said. ... "We'll have the certified estimates right before the session starts, which is the normal timeline." The prospect of increased money for education is likely to spark intense debate about how to use it. State Superintendent Tommy Bice has suggested a 5 percent pay raise for teachers. Public school employees have received one cost of living raise in the last eight years, a 2 percent raise in fiscal year 2014. Gov. Robert Bentley has called for a $20 million increase for prekindergarten. Poole said there are many needs, and lawmakers will need to define priorities over the coming weeks. "It's not hard to identify priorities," Poole said. "But it's hard to identify how many of those you can reach and how effectively until we have our revenue estimate. There are lots of needs." The Legislature is not spending all the education revenue the state receives. Revenues to the ETF exceeded spending by about $140 million in fiscal year 2015. As required by the Rolling Reserve Act, most of that money went into a budget stabilization fund, intended to offset budget cuts when tax revenues decline during economic slumps. For fiscal year 2016, revenues are expected to exceed spending by about $190 million, meaning more money will go into the stabilization fund at the end of the year. Alabama will ask for federal disaster help to cover millions of dollars in damage to roads, bridges and other public facilities from "historic" Christmas week floods, the state's top emergency management official said today. Though an estimated 300 homes were also damaged, that wasn't enough to seek federal disaster relief for property owners, state Emergency Management Agency Director Art Faulkner said. As a result, Gov. Robert Bentley asked the federal Small Business Administration Monday to make small business loans available in the worst-hit areas of Jefferson, Coffee, Montgomery and Morgan counties, Faulkner said. Loans would also be available in the adjoining counties if the request is granted. Faulkner said teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) surveyed the damage alongside the state, and the damage to public infrastructure passed the $6.7 million statewide threshold required to get a federal disaster declaration. 'Damage is significant, historic' Roads, bridges, parks, water treatment plants and other public infrastructure were damaged from the Tennessee Valley to the Wiregrass area of south Alabama. "The damage is significant," Faulkner said. "Once everything is compiled, it will end up being historic in terms of flooding." Unlike a typical rain system that floods a handful of counties, Faulkner said Alabama faced Christmas Eve flooding in the south and central parts of the state, followed by torrential flooding in the Tennessee Valley area on Saturday. "It wouldn't stop raining," Faulkner said. "We couldn't get the floodwaters down. (What made it different was) the sheer volume of water, in some places 11-12 inches in three or four hours, and the multiple days that kept occurring." Fortunately, he said, the levees in Elba and Geneva held and those towns weren't flooded, as well. Request could come Thursday Faulkner's agency is now getting the flood damage data in the format FEMA needs, and then Bentley will make the formal request to President Obama. That could come Thursday. If the president declares a disaster, Faulkner said Washington will pay "a portion of the cost, typically 75 percent, of the damage." The money comes from the federal disaster fund, he said. In the meantime, Faulkner said the state will continue helping where it can. There are still roads and bridges out in places like Macon County, he said. Bernie Sanders FILE - In this March 10, 2015, file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks at the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Legislative Conference and Presidential Forum in Washington. Sanders will run for president in 2016 and seek the Democratic nomination. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) (Pablo Martinez Monsivais) In an effort to court black voters, independent Vermont Sen. and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders's campaign is set to tour historically black colleges and universities, including Alabama State University, on Thursday. But whether Sanders himself will be in Alabama is up in the air. Sanders will travel to South Carolina State University on Thursday to kick off the "Feel the Bern" HBCU tour, where he'll be accompanied by campaign surrogate Cornel West, the campaign announced Tuesday. Sanders and West are expected to speak about issues of interest to young black voters, including criminal justice reform and making colleges and universities tuition-free. A date for the Alabama State stop is yet to be scheduled, and there's a possibility that surrogates for Sanders's campaign will be the featured attraction in Montgomery instead of the Vermont senator, the campaign said. Other HBCUs that will be a part of the tour include Tennessee State University, Jackson State University, Florida A&M University, Virginia State University, Howard University, the Atlanta University Center and Benedict College. A Florida man is accused of using his wife's head as mop to clean up spilled milk. The Daily Commercial reported a Fruitland Park man became angry with his wife early Sunday morning after learning there wasn't any jelly in the house. The husband, whose name wasn't released, had wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. During the argument, the wife spilled some milk, and her husband is accused of pushing her to the ground and using her hair to clean up the beverage. The husband was charged with domestic battery. Education and jobs go hand in hand as the two biggest social issues in the United States. Despite President Barack Obamas reform efforts, massive inequality dominates in both areas. Because of this, social mobility the ability to move up the social ladder remains severely restricted. Living-wage jobs are the best anti-poverty program. Even though unemployment numbers continued to improve over the past year (now at the lowest rate since 2001), wages remain stagnant. African-American workers still see higher unemployment (8.3 percent, compared with 4.5 percent for white workers), lower wages (median full-time earnings of $624 a week, versus $829 for white workers) and employment discrimination. Women still earn less than men. Upward mobility remains difficult for workers who grew up in low-income families. Education, which should ideally provide people with the opportunity to advance, has been the subject of massive debate during the Obama years. High school graduation rates have risen, albeit slowly. There is a growing consensus around the importance of early education. Federal student aid has increased, and income-based student loan repayment programs have expanded. Fewer high school graduates are enrolling in college, compared with earlier years in the Obama administration, in part because the end of the recession means job opportunities that look more attractive than more school. The George W. Bushera No Child Left Behind law, while ostensibly focusing on improving student achievement, succeeded mainly in stigmatizing and punishing schools, teachers and students. Many schools seeking higher test scores have abandoned imaginative and engaging teaching and learning practices, art and music classes and recess. Schools in poor neighborhoods and communities continue to do worse than those in wealthy neighborhoods and districts. Residential segregation by race and class has led to resegregated schools across the country. While No Child Left Behind has given way to the Every Student Succeeds Act, its emphasis on testing remains, to the detriment of children in lower-testing schools. Health care is another crucial driver of inequality. Here again, Obamas reform efforts have been stymied. The Affordable Care Act was passed a little over a year into his first term, when Democrats had a majority in both houses of Congress, and was an early triumph. It increased the number of people with health care coverage and closed loopholes that insurance companies had used to deny coverage. Now coverage cannot be denied to patients on account of existing conditions, children can stay on their parents policies until age 26, many preventive services are covered without copays or deductibles, and many people receive tax credits to help pay for insurance coverage. The Obama legacy is yet to be fully written, but regardless of who succeeds him in 2017, defense of the status quo and partisan politicking remain likely. Making a murderer.JPG The Obama administration has responded to the petition calling for the pardon of two men featured in the "Making a Murderer" series. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he will not pardon Steven Avery, the convicted killer featured in Netflix's "Making a Murderer." More than 130,000 people have signed a petition asking President Barack Obama to pardon Avery, who was convicted of the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach. In response, the White House said the president cannot pardon Avery, or his nephew, Brenda Dassey, who was convicted as an accessory, because they weren't charged with a federal crime. "This clemency authority empowers the president to exercise leniency towards persons who have committed federal crime. However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense," the White House response noted. "Since Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both state prisoners, the president cannot pardon them. A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities." That's unlikely. Earlier this week, Walker posted a message to social media recommending "Making a Murderer" viewers read a unanimous Court of Appeals decision regarding the case. Viewers of the Netflix series on Steven Avery should read the unanimous opinion of the Court of Appeals before jumping... Posted by Governor Scott Walker on Monday, January 11, 2016 Avery, who had spent time in prison for a rape before being cleared of that crime, maintains he didn't kill Halbach, a free-lance photographer. In 2011, the Court of Appeals upheld Avery's conviction. His supporters maintain he was framed by law enforcement. Around 150 people came out to Tuesday's "Remove Roy Moore" rally organized by Equality Wiregrass and the Human Rights Campaign. Chants of "No Moore," and "Sinners hate, God does not," filled the air in front of the Alabama Supreme Court in Montgomery. "Roy Moore has supreme contempt for the law of the United States," said Chuck Miller, the Huntsville-based Alabama state director for American Atheists. Miller is straight but spoke as an ally. "Roy Moore may not be taking away my rights today, but tomorrow, he could be." Last week, Moore issued an order saying that the Alabama Supreme Court's March ruling was still in effect, and that probate judges "have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary" to Alabama's constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. Several people at the rally accused Moore of issuing the order as a publicity stunt, both to garner attention for a future run for governor and to move attention off of his son, Caleb Moore, who earlier this month pleaded not guilty to two drug charges in Pike County. One protester held a sign with Caleb Moore's mugshot that said "Attention Roy Moore: Worry about your own damn family." "I am proud to be here as a native, homosexual of Alabama. I'm about as Alabama as Alabama can be, and my values are love compassion," said James Robinson, Founder and Executive Director of Free2Be, an LGBTQ resource center in Huntsville. "Let's get Roy Moore out of this public office and out of any public office her may one day hope to hold." A counter-protest of about three dozen people formed lower on the steps. Dean Young, who said he's known Moore for more than 20 years and is a longtime supporter of him, said at the counter-protest that Moore was right to defend Alabama's laws. Young pointed out that in 2006, 81 percent of Alabamians voted for an amendment to be added to the state's constitution to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. "This is just another example of Roy Moore defending the people of Alabama," Young said. "A marriage will always been a man and a woman, no matter what anybody says, even five judges on the Supreme Court." A similar protest against Moore was held Saturday in Mobile. President Obama delivers 2015 State of the Union address, Jan. 20, 2015 President Barack Obama shakes hands with then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel as then-Attorney General Eric Holder watches after Obama delivered the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, at the US Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Mandel Ngan, Pool) What do talk radio host Matt Murphy and the youngest participant in the Selma to Montgomery march have in common? They'll both at President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday night, as separate guests of members of Alabama's congressional delegation. Murphy, who hosts his eponymous radio show on WAPI, will be the guest of Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, while voting rights activist Sheyann Webb-Christburg was invited by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham. Members of Congress are given guest tickets to the State of the Union, with some choosing a symbolic reason behind their selection. Sewell's invitation to Webb-Christburg, who was 8 years old in 1965 when she participated in the historic march, is a call to attention for the congresswoman's bill that would restore protections to the Civil Rights Act. Sewell has been a critic of the decision to close driver's licenses offices in the state to fix a budget crunch, saying the move disproportionately affects African Americans and the poor. "My hope is [Webb-Christburg's] presence at the president's address will remind us of the modern day fight for ensuring that ever American citizen has access to the ballot box," the congresswoman said in a statement. "The closure of DMV offices in Alabama last year proves that barriers to voting still exist and that Congress should pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act now!" Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, gave his guest ticket to Tommy Hughes, an Alabamian with Open Doors, an organization that monitors the persecution of Christians around the world, according to the congressman's spokesman. Sgt. Gabriela Torain, an enlisted Marine, is the guest of Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, who asked the commandant of the Marine Corps. to identify a service member whose "distinguished service" made them worthy of the honor. Scott Dawson of the Birmingham-based Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association, a ministry celebrating its 28th year, is the guest of Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, invited a staffer from his D.C. office, while Sen. Jeff Sessions and Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, opted not to use their guest tickets. Sen. Richard Shelby's office could not immediately be reached for comment on whether he was bringing a guest. Perhaps the most high-profile guest of the 2016 speech will be Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who became the poster child for religious liberty among conservatives for her stance not to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage last summer. Davis was jailed for her refusal to comply with the law and was supported by GOP presidential candidates, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. President Obama will deliver his final State of the Union address tonight and there are plenty of ways you can see this year's speech. The address will start at 8 p.m. CST. It will be followed by the Republican response from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Obama's address will be broadcast on all major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, Fox Business Network, C-Span and MSNBC. It will also be live streamed on Amazon Video. The Amazon service will be made available free and on-demand and accessible through various devices. The White House will offer its live stream here. The White House has also made Obama's seven previous State of the Union addresses, complete with annotations, available on its website. The notes provider background and context on the speeches, as well as glimpses of how the speeches came together. Tomorrow, the White House will host Big Block of Cheese Day. Inspired by the show the West Wing, administration officials will make themselves available to answer questions from the public. You can see more how to interact with officials here. mobile police chief james barber.jpg Mobile Police Chief James Barber addresses the media at Police Headquarters on Monday, Oct. 13, 2014. (file photo) Following a rash of violence in Mobile since Christmas, Police Chief James Barber had a message for parents throughout the city on Tuesday: Pay attention to your kids. "We are really appealing to the public to pay attention to your children, who they are hanging out with and take a look at that Facebook page and what they are putting out there on social media and on their phones," Barber said at the Mobile City Council meeting. The chief spoke after council members expressed concerns they are hearing from residents about fear that is beginning to spread into some neighborhoods about violence. Among the concerns is the proliferation of juvenile gun possession and violence. But Barber and the council stopped short of saying any legislative action by the council was needed. "There are laws that address neglectful parents and those who put their children at risk," Councilwoman Bess Rich, who heads up the council's public safety committee, said. "I hope we don't have to get to that point. I believe there is a certain level of parental responsibility about looking after and monitoring your child." The recent crime spree comes at the same time the Police Department, in a news release issued Jan. 4, reported the fewest number of homicides in Mobile in 2015 compared to the previous 15 years. The city saw 23 homicides last year, down from 31 in 2014. Since 1988, the highest number of homicides in the city during one calendar year was 56, recorded in 1995. Barber said the statistics represent "a snapshot in time" and warned that council members and the public shouldn't draw conclusions about trends, including the recent rise of violence since Christmas. Some council members said they are being inundated with emails and social media posts from upset and afraid residents over the recent crime. "The community is crying out and asking what can be done," Councilman C.J. Small said. "Pretty much, they are scared." Some of the recent major crimes include: A 29-year-old woman was shot and killed outside the R.V. Taylor public housing community on Duval Street on Jan. 7. An 18-year-old was shot and later died following a Jan. 2 shooting on Dauphin Island Parkway. The shooting took place at a small apartment complex, and a 14-year-old has since been charged with manslaughter. A 30-year-old man was arrested after he stabbed three employees at a Goodwill store located in Tillman's Corner on Monday. One of the victims remains in critical condition. A 24-year-old man died from a stab wound Friday Three teenagers were shot "It's very irresponsible, I think, for anyone to drop off a child that is 8 years old at the movies," Barber said. "The reality of the world we live in, we aren't going to make good parents out of some of them. We have to figure out ... how do we design an environment that prevents this type of incident from happening." Barber said he's met in recent days with corporate executives from Georgia-based Carmike, Inc., the owners of Wynnsong, about tightening security and surveillance at the theater. Rich said she wants the executives to come before her committee in the coming weeks to discuss what measures they plan to make sure a similar incident does not occur. "The alarming wakeup call was the age of the children," Rich said, referring the age range gathered outside Wynnsong 16. "There are many people dedicated to working with our children through our schools, social service agencies and we have to embrace this as a children problem and try to do whatever we can to prevent them from hurting themselves and others and putting this whole community at risk." Barber and Council President Gina Gregory also noted that part of the problem is the ease of access juveniles have to guns. "Kids don't need to have guns," Gregory said. "Check their backpacks and bedrooms. If they do (have a gun), take them out. Why do these kids have guns? There is no place for them and we've seen the results. We see what happens with kids getting a hold of guns and taking them to a large group and then something happens." Councilman Fred Richardson said that the city should also lean more on its churches. "As a city, we cannot teach morality. It's more of a failure of the church than the city. They can teach, 'thou shall not kill.' The responsibility for the behavior of criminals is a community issue and that includes churches." Barber said he's gotten support from local faith-based organizations since becoming chief in late 2013. "They've made a difference in our communities," he said. Meanwhile, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson defended his administration's - with the council's support - increased spending on police equipment including body cameras. He also credited Barber's proactive approach to crime which includes appearances before the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI to tout anti-crime fighting initiatives started in Mobile. "These are things ... I don't know of another community that has done more to address this issue," said Stimpson, who ran on a campaign pledge more than two years ago to make Mobile the "safest city in America by 2020." "If we don't get everyone engaged, (but) we can't put enough policemen on the streets ... we can do this and we will make progress on this," he said. Raheam Daniel Gibson Authorities arrested two suspects in connection with the Jan. 4 brutal homicide of three family members near Columbus, Ga. Jervarceay Tapley, 17, is charged with three counts of murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, burglary and two counts of theft by motor vehicle, Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren said during a Wednesday press conference, WTVM reported. Tapley is the cousin of one of the murder victims, Caleb Short, 17. A second suspect, Raheam Daniel Gibson, 19, faces the same charges. Gloria Short, 54, her son 17-year-old Caleb Short, and her 11-year-old granddaughter Gianna Lyndsey were found beaten to death in Gloria's home on the 3000 block of Bentley Drive in the Upatoi community. They died of blunt-force trauma. "This case was directed at that house," Boren said. "There's a very strong possibility that more arrests will take place." Investigators believe they have located the murder weapon. According to the Ledger-Enquirer, investigators didn't find signs of forced entry into the house. 1-13ObamaShelbyUnion.jpg (JD Crowe/jdcrowe@al.com) I thought President Obama was pretty relaxed and on point while delivering his final State of the Union speech last night, considering Richard Shelby was right there staring him down as he spoke. It must be hard for Obama to maintain his composure with Richard Shelby always there, standing up to him, giving him the stink-eye, ready to wrestle him to the ground if he gets out of line. Thank God for our ever-present Sen. Richard Shelby. Always here in Alabama when we need him and at the same time always in Washington keeping Obama in line. And thank God for Shelby's creepy mouth-breathing campaign ad voice over guy for keeping us up to speed on Shelby's ever-present rock solid Alabama values 19 million times a day. Shelby's done such a bang-up job of restraining Obama, the president has agreed to step down at the end of his second term. Check out more cartoons by JD Crowe The New Years Eve assaults and robberies in several German cities including Cologne, Hamburg and on a smaller scale in Stuttgart and Frankfurt have set off political tremors across Germany. What exactly happened in Cologne and the other German cities is still far from clear. Police and federal authorities are investigating the incidents, which have prompted more than 600 criminal complaints. So far no one had been held accountable for the attacks, about 40 percent of which were of a sexual nature. This has raised a lot of questions. How could such large numbers of men be organized and perpetrate similar crimes in several cities at once? Why is there so little video evidence of the incidents? Who was behind these seemingly coordinated attacks and for what purpose? Why did the Cologne and Hamburg police fail to handle the perpetrators? Tragically, German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, are panicking amid emotionally charged reactions to reports that nearly all of the alleged suspects in the Cologne incident are of foreign origin. The issue has become a blessing in disguise for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the illiberal Pegida movement, both of which were written off as flashes in the pan less than six months ago. They are surging again, exploiting the fear and wild allegations. For the first time since the refugee crisis began, Merkel has also joined the populist chorus. Her government has announced that its considering new measures allowing authorities to deport asylum seekers and political refugees convicted of the crimes. This U-turn might ultimately spell her downfall. Indeed, the incident in front of Colognes gothic cathedral could well constitute a tipping point. For one, it would be a debacle for Merkels government if German politicians and the public turn against its hitherto courageous stand on the refugee situation. And the blame could be laid squarely at Merkels feet, the one person most responsible for Germanys generous, far-sighted policy toward the millions of refugees fleeing war and repression. Merkel has committed a fistful of blunders handling last years refugee crisis in which more than one million asylum-seekers looked to Germany as a safe haven. But until now she has steered clear of the kind of populism that other European leaders and even some in her conservative Christian Democrats party have stooped to. Merkel had refused to budge to withering criticism from within her own ranks, insisting that Germany and all European Union members grant applicants the right to see political asylum and remain in the EU until their case is adjudicated. Merkel has characterized the acceptance of those fleeing war and persecution as a humanitarian responsibility, but the bottom line has always been a legal one: the right to seek asylum is enshrined in the German constitution, EUs charter and the international law under the Geneva Conventions. Germany is particularly sensitive to this issue. During World War II hundreds of thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and other European fascists landed in concentration camps because many countries refused to accept them. A new wave of conservatism is limiting freedoms within Poland and hurting the countrys relationships with neighbours. Last Saturday morning I was escorted into studio 5 at TVP, Polands state broadcaster. On stage, a punk band called Sexbomb was covering Ca Plane Pour Moi in front of a live audience, including a fairly large number of small children. The madcap TV host was running round, banks of young people manned the phones. And outside the studio, in towns and villages across this large country, thousands of people were out in the street, shaking tins and raising money. The telethon is a Polish cultural institution. In 1992, only a few years after the end of communism, the presenter realised that childrens hospitals were badly underfunded and started the programme to raise money for them. This was the 24th edition. It raises more than $10m a year now. Yet the sight of things like Sexbomb playing on stage appears to have offended the new political and cultural elite in Poland. Politicians have begun complaining that perhaps Catholic charities would do a better job than this. Subtext: the show is too liberal and doesnt, or shouldnt, fit with Polands cultural and social fabric. Protest against European liberalism The threat to the programme has also come about because the new Polish government has passed a new law giving its treasury minister the power to appoint the head of TVP. It follows that the government may decide to take the programme off the air, or at least have it moved to a private channel. Never mind its place in the Polish psyche, the government appears to be on a moral crusade. Read More: Poland enacts court reforms despite opposition That crusade had come about at least in part because of a revolt against the perceived over-liberal standards of the European Union and in particular Germany in a bloc of countries including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The revolt gained momentum because of the refugee crisis. The argument, led by Hungary, that Europe was losing its values, gave the Polish Law and Justice Party a boost before recent elections. That, and a sense in Poland that the previous government under Civic Platform was useless and corrupt, propelled Law and Justice to power on a platform of restoring Polish pride. The telethon doesnt fit the right profile any more, however successful it has been. Law and Justice goes further, planning changes to the constitutional court that would allow it to insert judges compliant with their way of thinking to help ratify new laws. The party also plans changes to Polands education system (will it teach creationism?) and other things too. Friends of Law and Justice point out that the previous government tried to do similar things, so whats so unfair? That is true, but the real change is in how this government sees its neighbours. Tensions with neighbours This description of European liberalism as an insult in Poland has led in particular to a collapse in relations with Germany. There is a double-pronged set of criticisms, firstly that Angela Merkel betrayed Europe with a stupid promise to let in all the migrants, and secondly a view that Germany treats Poland with a mix of economic and social imperialism outsourcing labour in car factories while trying to bully Poland into accepting refugees it doesnt want. The front cover of a political magazine this week has Merkel and her colleagues dressed as Nazis. That rhetoric runs through politics in Warsaw suddenly, and it is hugely damaging to an EU which just over a decade ago was celebrating Poland joining the club and freeing itself from Russian influence. Talking of which, the President of the European Parliament has described Law and Justice as operating politics a la Putin, a reference to the treasury minister getting to decide who runs the newsroom on state TV and presumably whats on the news as well. Implication only good news for Law and Justice. The previous government influenced the media in much the same way, but Brussels and Strasbourg and Berlin never complained because Poland had a pro -European outlook. Thats all changing. How odd that the refugee crisis is allowing right-wing Eastern European governments to enact changes which, many say, attack the civil liberties not of refugees but their own citizens. The opposition New Democracy has elected a new leader, but can reformist Kyriakos Mitsotakis take on Syriza? Until last week, the left appeared unchallenged at the helm of Greece. Conservative New Democracy had been at sea since it lost elections to Syriza a year ago and again last September. It bungled a nationwide election for its own party leadership in November, when software failed. In the defeatist atmosphere, a grand coalition with Syriza to push through painful austerity measures seemed probable. On Sunday, however, the party elected Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a 47-year-old reformist, to lead the party, setting the stage for a confrontation with the ruling leftists, and another turbulent political year in Greece. We have but one purpose: For New Democracy to express all those forces that are opposed to the populism of an incompetent government, Mitsotakis said on Sunday night. The melee of media and supporters in his office exuded the energy of a general election victory. Mitsotakis election has caught Syriza at an especially vulnerable moment. More than 70 percent of Greeks believe that the country deteriorated last year under Syriza, according to a Sunday newspaper survey. More than half believe this year will be worse. The government has a majority of just only three MPs in parliament. Since capitulating to austerity in July, it has been forced into the same straitjacket of unpopular measures as its socialist and conservative predecessors; but public anger at a mandatory pension reform that would result in a 15 percent cut has presented it with its greatest challenge to date, because Syriza had vowed never to touch pensions. The government wont find a convenient crutch with its social security interventions, said Mitsotakis during his election campaign. We will support structural changes. The coming pension cuts are a result of Syrizas policy. New Democracy wont become Tsirpas accessory, he said, referring to the leftist prime minister, Alexis Tsipras. Reform v Populism In its defence, Syriza has responded. Mr Mitsotakis seems to express the hardest neoliberal positions, a party spokesperson said after his election, such as the dismissal of state employees positions which have been rejected by the Greek people. As minister of public administration reform, Mitsotakis presided over 5,000 dismissals from the 620,000-strong state payroll in 2014, and introduced worker evaluations. Syriza repealed the evaluation law and rehired everyone who wanted to return. Mitsotakis political gumption brought him admirers as well as enemies. He stuck to his guns when everybody in the party was against what he was doing, says Ioannis Leonis, a taxi driver. That is very uncommon. But will his MPs now rally behind him? None of New Democracys 75 members of parliament openly declared their support for Mitsotakis during his campaign. Like most Greeks, they expected the winner to be Mitsotakis opponent, the interim party chief Evangelos Meimarakis, a sexagenarian former defence minister who is among New Democracys dominant populists. Magazine: Greece through the eyes of the homeless Mitsotakis is aware that he hails from a minority. Not everyone shouldered the reformist burden of the previous government, he said on January 5. Some people stood forward and some stood back in silence. Yet he appears determined to go on the offensive. New Democracy needs a reboot, he said on the campaign trail. The outsider Mitsotakis was often referred to as the outsider candidate, but he is hardly an outsider to politics. His father served as conservative prime minister. His sister served as mayor of Athens and foreign minister, and lost a bid for the party leadership in 2009. When Kyriakos father, Konstantine, became premier in 1990, the state controlled some 70 percent of the economy. The elder Mitsotakis embarked on an ambitious privatisation programme. He liberalised banking, air transport and telecommunications. A series of public-private partnership deals created the new Athens airport, the Athens Metro, its ring road and Europes largest cable-stayed bridge over the Corinthian Gulf. The government fell before it could set into motion plans to sell public land and privatise refineries and new power plants. The younger Mitsotakis has demonstrated the same liberalising and reformist tendencies. But can he win over his party and the people? He needs to turn to a different clientele, says Andreas Andrianopoulos, one of the key reformers in the elder Mitsotakis administration. If he turns with passion to the private sector he might counter-balance the forces within the state that support Syriza. If he doesnt do this he is lost. Not everyone agrees. If one looks at the ND party, the large majority of its rank and file belongs to the populist and patron-client tradition. If [Mitsotakis] tries to purge all of them he would be risking a break-up of the party, says George Pagoulatos, who teaches political economy at the Athens University of Economy and Business. He believes Mitsotakis should marginalise the populist element and turn New Democracy into a party whose programme and rhetoric and practice are overwhelmingly reformist, even if it carries along the dead wood of a parochial party mechanism. READ MORE: Inside Greeces resurgent anarchist movement History would seem to bear him out. Socialist party reformists alienated their populists, sending them into the arms of an obscure left-wing party. In 2009, that party took only 4.6 percent of the vote. Today it is in power. New Democracy is no stranger to fragmentation. Since the 1990s, it has spawned no fewer than seven rivals, the most formidable being Golden Dawn. Greeks are fatigued with the pace of deceit. Is [Mitsotakis] a good thing? I dont know. Well see, says Maria Thetis, a retired dancer. Weve seen so many people in power, including from the Mitsotakis family, and sometimes I think everyone is playing us for fools. Much is at stake. Greece got where it is by failing to become a more transparent and meritocratic society. The resulting crisis broke the two-party system and brought more extreme parties into parliament. If mainstream politicians cannot persuade their own political machines to change, they stand little chance of convincing the nation. What is making people from the Balkan Peninsula head to Syria and Iraq to join ISIL? Sarajevo, Bosnia In the weeks leading up to her escape from ISIL-controlled territory in Syria, Noora, a Yazidi from Sinjar, was held captive in a three room-house to the northeast of Raqqa. Her captor was a young Bosnian woman who had travelled from the Balkans to join ISIL. She was really beautiful, Noora said, a white woman. She had long blond hair down to her lower back. I had never seen anyone like that, added Noora, who was 25 at the time. Noora, who managed to escape with the aid of a smuggler and one of her brothers, told Al Jazeera how, during the eight months and 12 days she spent in captivity, she met fighters and their wives from Afghanistan, Britain, Germany and Bosnia, among other places. Noora said that unlike the fighters, who she says stripped her of her belongings, rings and necklaces, transported her through territory newly captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL), and sold her into captivity, the Bosnian woman treated her captives fairly. She gave us enough food. She was good to us, recalled Noora, from Dohuk in northern Iraq, one month after she escaped. Nooras name has been changed to protect her identity and the identity of her family who remain in ISIL-controlled territory. Fourteen close family members, including her parents and two brothers, remain in ISIL captivity or are unaccounted for. A recent report published by the Soufan Group, an organisation that provides intelligence services to governments and multinationals, entitled Foreign Fighters, estimates that there are between 200 and 400 Bosnian nationals in Syria and Iraq. While the number thought to have travelled to ISIL-controlled territory from the Balkans as a whole is relatively small estimated to be around 900 by the same report that figure is high enough to have raised concern among the regions security forces. In June last year, ISIL released a 20-minute recruitment video, Honour is in Jihad, aimed at encouraging potential Balkan recruits to come to Iraq and Syria. In the video, a fighter identified as Abu Jihad al Bosni vows to, bring our people out from the darkness and into the light. Fighters from Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo also feature in the footage. Vulnerable recruits In the beginning, when we heard reports of Bosnians travelling to Syria, we were both confused, and concerned, Ahmed Hrustanovic, an imam in Srebrenica, told Al Jazeera on a recent evening, after prayers. In our history, Bosniak history, we never went to another country to fight. We have only ever tried to make own country free and secure. But now, everything is changing. Mirnes Kovac, a Balkans political analyst based in Sarajevo, believes that the crimes committed by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been among the motivators for Bosnians travelling to Syria to join ISIL. There is no crime in Syria that has been committed by ISIL that the regime of Bashar al-Assad did not proceed with an even worse crime, Kovac said. When the international community is not responding in ways it needs to, we have a platform that radicals misuse [to recruit]. The vulnerability of potential recruits, he added, is increased in Bosnia, where, you have a post-conflict, transitional society which has economic issues and high levels of unemployment. Incompetent institutions? Some observers are concerned that state institutions here have yet to develop the competency to fully stem the flow of recruits. [Balkan security institutions] have made efforts to slow recruitment, but its not at all enough, Erwan Fouere, an associate senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies, said. The problem is that the institutions of state [in the region] are weak, parliaments are not functioning as they should. They dont lend themselves, as they should, to supervisory roles to prevent [the] movement of people to Iraq and Syria. If you add to that the very adverse economic situation in which potential recruits live, it does offer a breeding ground for [ISIL recruitment], even, though there isnt necessarily a tradition of radicalism in the region, Fouere concluded. Hrustanovic believes it is the shared responsibility of state security forces, leaders of the religious community, and members of the public to stop the flow of vulnerable Bosnian nationals to join ISIL in Iraq and Syria. But I think the government and security services, should be doing more, he added. The Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) told Al Jazeera in a written statement that it is cooperating with the Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecutors office to take, legal measures and actions against persons and organisations that may be linked to the latest developments in Syria and Iraq. Intelligence gathered, it added, is, continuously exchanged with national and international law enforcement agencies. Late last month, Bosnian police arrested 11 individuals suspected of, terrorism, financing terrorist activities, and recruiting Islamic State fighters. However, Damir Pestalic, an imam in Srebrenica, believes the responsibility lies with government and security forces to do more. The problem of people who are going to Syria [from here], is the problem of the Bosnian government. Figures from the Soufan Group report suggest that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria has more than doubled in the past 18 months. Statistics show a similar pattern for those specifically from the Balkans. Authors of the Soufan Group report contend that this increase is evidence that efforts to contain the flow of foreign recruits to extremist groups in Syria and Iraq have had limited impact. OPINION: ISIL will use Balkans to launch attacks across Europe The first step in stopping this ideology must be for us to familiarise ourselves with it, Kovac told Al Jazeera. We need to understand the context it spreads in, how people are recruited to it and what kinds of individuals recruiters are targeting. We need to understand, how we can tackle it and protect those people, predominantly young and underprivileged, who are exposed to the ideology. Follow Jonathan Brown on Twitter: @jonathaneebrown Follow Benas Gerdziunas on Instagram: @benasge Nearly two dozen kids deemed flight security threats with little recourse to remove the highly secretive designation. Nearly two dozen children, some as young as six weeks old, have been red-flagged as airline threats by the Canadian government with little recourse to extricate themselves from a highly secretive no-fly list. The embarrassing revelations for the government have come to light since January 1, after the father of Adam Ahmed, aged six, posted a photo of an airline computer screen showing his son listed as DHP or deemed high profile. It was the latest in a dozen incidents in which Adam has been stopped for security checks before boarding a flight, with the first occurring when he was only six weeks old. His father, Sulemaan Ahmed, said that he hopes it will be the last time after his Twitter post drew significant media attention and other concerned parents came forward with similar stories. You have to approach the situation with a sense of humour because its just so ridiculous, Ahmed told Al Jazeera. He said on Wednesday that at least 21 children are now believed to be on the no-fly list, a number that keeps growing by the day. Its a rainbow of colours, Ahmed said, describing the ethnicities of red-flagged children. And its not just kids with Muslim-sounding names. READ MORE: Canada pushes through anti-terror bill Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced last week that the government will review the countrys no-fly list formally known as the Passenger Protect Program and he told airlines that children under 18 need not be held up in airports for extra security screening before boarding planes. But the secrecy behind the mysterious no-fly listings has parents and rights activists concerned. It took years for Ahmed to finally be told that his son was even on the list. And even then, the news came from an airline employee, not the federal government. Most disturbing, critics say, is the prospect of getting off the list once youre on it. Even for these children, the road ahead to clear their names appears an arduous one if not an impossibility. Top secret Little has been publicly disclosed about the machinations of the Passenger Protect Program. An estimated 500 to 2,000 Canadians are said to be listed as airline security threats and must be vetted before boarding any flights. About 850 false positives or people wrongly identified as security threats were red-flagged from 2007 when the programme was launched until 2010. No data since that time has been made available. The little that has been explained to Canadians comes from a 2010 parliamentary hearing with testimony from Laureen Kinney, the then director general of aviation security for Transport Canada. Normally, we do not supply the number of names on the list. We consider that information to be security-sensitive confidential information, Kinney told the parliamentary committee. It potentially could inform people who have malicious intent if they had a better idea of the number. People & Power Canadas Lost Women Kinney explained that members of CSIS, Canadas national intelligence agency, and the RCMP, its federal police force, decide who makes it on to the no-fly list. That information must have sufficient background, detail and provenance, if you will, to demonstrate clearly the concern that could be created if this person were to fly. The names that come forward for consideration deal with people who have demonstrated, in some fashion, the capability and intent to pose a threat to aviation security. Absolutely, it is not based in any way on ethnic, cultural, religious or other such factors, said Kinney. A meeting of the Orwellian-sounding Ministry of Reconsideration reviews the no-fly list every 30 days without fail, Kinney noted. That office then advises the public safety minister of any changes that could be made. With such a clearly established protocol, critics say its hard to comprehend how children such as Adam Ahmed mistakenly identified as security threats still remain on the no-fly list years later. Plethora of lists Complicating the situation is the fact that a variety of other no-fly lists may be in play, said Kevin Miller, a spokesman from Public Safety Canada. It is important to recognise that there are many reasons individuals may not be allowed to board a flight or may experience delays at the airport that are unrelated to the Passenger Protect Program, Miller told Al Jazeera in an email. For example, other countries, as well as airlines, maintain various security-related lists with different criteria and thresholds, which may result in delays for individuals traveling to, from, or even within Canada. Yves Duguay, president of security consulting firm HCiWorld, oversaw no-fly lists for Air Canada from 2000-2007. He told Al Jazeera that Canadas system is similar to those around the world. The Passenger Protect Program is an important element or layer of the overall aviation security programme in Canada The value of the PPP lies in its deterrent value, he said. READ MORE: Harpers anti-terror obsession in unhealthy But Duguay also highlighted the need for monitoring measures, adding a balance must be found between preventing an interdicted person from boarding a plane and mitigating the impact of false positives. The security value that is generated through this list can be reduced considerably in the absence of adequate controls and oversight to measure and demonstrate the level of compliance and performance for those tasked with the application, he said in an email. Monia Mazigh is the national coordinator of the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. She said it is impossible to know the effectiveness of no-fly lists since the government has failed to disclose any facts, and has so far refused public consultation. Mazigh knows all too well the dangers of such lists. Her husband, Maher Arar, was mistakenly placed on a threat list and arrested in New York after the September 11 attacks. Arar was one of the first victims of the CIAs extraordinary rendition programme as he was suspected of being an al-Qaeda member and deported to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured for nearly a year before being returned to Canada. A Canadian inquiry later found Arar had been a victim of false and inflammatory information given by the RCMP to the CIA. Thirteen years later, it remains unclear if anything has changed. We suspect that hes still on this US list even today, said Mazigh. Jet Belgraver in Toronto contributed to this report The US economy could grow by 2.7 percent this year, but the beggars on the streets of its financial hub feel no benefit. New York, United States Glistening skyscrapers tell one story about the financial heart of the worlds biggest economy; the homeless bodies sleeping in their doorways tell another. Not every New Yorker is enjoying a rebound from the 2007-2008 financial crash. Rents, already high, are rising even further. Some 60,000 people are without shelter in New York City today more than any other time since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This week, mercury sank below zero for the first time this winter, triggering a row among politicians about how to stop the homeless from freezing to death. Raymie Farmer, who was at one time homeless, says the weather reminds him of the icy nights hed spent on the streets. Sleeping on the subway is cold chilling, the 51-year-old told Al Jazeera. You dont know what to do. Your mind just is wondering what youre going to do the next day what youre going to eat, whos going to buy you a coffee. You couldnt make plans. Tomorrow always brought new problems. You had to go steal. WATCH: Shadow City on New Yorks homelessness crisis Farmers story is all too common. One of 10 siblings, he left home at 14, selling drugs to earn money. Soon, he was using heroin, an addiction that left him dealing, robbing and stealing to satiate his cravings. He spent 28 years hooked on drugs, living in a circle from hospital to prison to sleeping on the subway, he said. He was shot four times in gang fights; one bullet earned him a colostomy bag for 18 months, while drugs and muggings landed him behind bars three times. Attending his mothers funeral in shackles was a sobering moment for Farmer. He describes it as a wake-up call, a choice between drying out and an early grave. You have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired, he said. The Doe Fund, a homeless charity, helped him with finding a job and housing. He still works for them, drug testing the next generation of homeless addicts. Now, out the gutter, he is sporting a tie and carrying his business cards. His kids are doing well. Freezing to death in the US Homeless beggars and their cardboard signs are seen across the city streets today, within eyeshot of such landmarks as Times Square and the Empire State Building. As many as 4,000 people live on New York Citys streets, many of whom are addicts, mentally ill or on parole. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 35 people freeze to death each year in the city of 8.5 million people, a world centre of technology, arts, finance and culture. But they are just the tip of the iceberg: Some 58,000 more sleep in the citys shelters a figure that has grown by 88 percent over the past decade. The Coalition for the Homeless, a charity, blames rising rents, a lack of affordable housing and job cuts for the increase. George McDonald, the president and founder of the Doe Fund, says that many of these people had lost jobs in the 2007-2008 economic crisis and have struggled to get back on their feet in a sluggish rebound. Bad economic conditions, disparities in wealth and housing shortages caused more folks to wind up in shelters, McDonald told Al Jazeera. It takes longer to get out of the family shelter system than it used to. What once took a year can now take two, causing a backlog in the system. Homeless families According to Christy Parque, the director of Homeless Services United, a charity, families make up 80 percent of shelter occupants, including some 23,000 children. About 30 percent of shelter users have jobs, but still cannot afford rent. Its absolutely unfair that people can work full-time yet not afford an apartment, Parque told Al Jazeera. In New York, rents are so high that somebody would have to work a minimum-wage job for about 150 hours a week to pay them. Race plays a part, too. Blacks make up 57 percent of the sheltered homeless, Latinos another 31 percent. Life inside the citys 500 shelters is no cakewalk. They are known for vermin, broken smoke detectors, peeling lead paint and violence against shelter staff and occupants, according to last months audit by a city official. As temperatures drop, government mechanisms are clicking into gear. A repair team has tackled rats and roaches among 12,000 health and safety violations in the citys sprawling shelter system since May. Bill de Blasio, New York Citys mayor, has embarked on a $2.6bn plan to create 15,000 supportive housing apartments over 15 years, where drug addicts, domestic abuse victims, veterans and others can get help rebuilding their lives. The city is deploying teams to fan out across a 13km stretch of Manhattan and persuade the homeless people on the streets some who have lived without a roof over their heads for years to move into a shelter. De Blasio aims to double the number of outreach workers to more than 300 by March and to crack the code of a chronic problem. They scour train stations, under bridges and pavements, offering shelter, medical care and hot showers. Such efforts are praised, but campaigners say that they are only a step in the right direction. Many shelters remain prey to drugs and violence, scaring off the vulnerable and destitute. Police have also been accused of roughing up vagrants to clear the streets. Jesus Morales, who has slept rough for 16 years, filed a lawsuit last month after police threw his identity documents and family photos into a dustbin lorry. If homeless people were white Meanwhile, helping the homeless raises a moral dilemma. State officials want to force them from the streets in sub-zero temperatures for their own safety; city officials say they have to choose to move. Norman Siegel, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said outreach teams lack the skills for handling long-term street dwellers. Also, they are only focused on parts of Manhattan where rich voters live, he added. They should patrol the whole city. Instead of city workers, they should hire people who were once homeless, who understand their needs and could better help these people, Siegel told Al Jazeera. The truth is that we lack the political will. If homeless people were white, it would have been solved long ago. By creating viable options for the homeless, we could halve their numbers in a year. READ MORE: War on drugs and marijuana legalisation Help for the homeless Yet, there is hope. Craig Trotta, 55, spent years living as a junkie and small-time crook, sleeping in Brooklyns doorways. I never had a job in my life; the only thing I knew was how to steal, rob and use drugs, he told Al Jazeera. Thanks to the Doe Fund, he entered a residential, counselling and training scheme that kits newcomers with blue overalls and a street-sweeping job for about $9 an hour, as well as three square meals a day. It is a costly method for a nation that distrusts a nanny state, but supporters say that the city recoups its outlay with lower crime rates. Today, Im employed. I have my son. Im married. I have my car. I have an apartment, Trotta said. I know when I leave today where Im going to rest my head tonight. You know, Im living for a purpose now. Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl Danakil, Ethiopia Salt miners ply an ancient and gruelling trade in Ethiopias northeastern Danakil Depression, one of the hottest and lowest places on Earth. Danakil contains vast salt flats as well as sulphur springs and rumbling volcanoes created by the grinding of three tectonic plates. Yet this inhospitable landscape manages to support the Afar people, a Muslim group straddling the borderlands of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. Each day, Afar miners chop salt from the earth under a blistering sun, then load the minerals on to camels and donkeys which march for days to market towns to the west where the mineral is sold. Danakil salt was once so valuable people used it as currency, but each rough hewn slab fetches only four Ethiopian birr (about 20 cents) at the mine today. With such small profits for such hard labour, the ancient trade may soon give way to more lucrative pursuits. The Danakil also holds large deposits of potash which is used in fertilisers, and numerous mining companies are lining up to begin extraction. READ MORE: Ethiopias tourism industry A railway being built from Djibouti and a new tarmacked road traversing the old salt route may soon render the traditional camel caravan obsolete. Until then, the Afar miners will continue their tough way of life, scratching a living from this desolate stretch of salt. Chinas new year headlines are all about the economy. Official plans call for slower growth in 2016 and beyond, with the 7.5 percent growth target reduced to 6.5 percent. A run of poor results in the manufacturing sector calls even that more modest target into question. Chinas ultimate slowdown, once barely visible over the horizon, has now arrived. The era of easy growth based on Chinas reintegration into the global economy is now over. Comparisons with Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea are inevitable. As these countries caught up with Western Europe and North America, their growth slowed, too. And just like these rich Asian democracies, China now has a declining birth rate and a rapidly aging population. The big worry in the big four countries of northeast Asia is no longer overpopulation: Its how to pay for eldercare. The difference between China and the other countries of northeast Asia is that China is still relatively poor. China still lags well behind Mexico in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, according to IMF estimates for 2015. Chinas GDP per capita of $8,280 is roughly one-third of South Koreas and one-quarter of Japans. Adjusting for Chinas low cost of living doesnt change the overall picture. Economic problems in China As a result, China is now facing rich country problems on a poor country budget. Chinas growing population of retirees is being supported by a shrinking number of workers. Chinas people are demanding increased access to education. And of course China faces prodigious environmental challenges, starting with the poisonous smog that confronts Beijings leaders every time they look out the window. ALSO READ: China and Taiwan: Normal is the new normal To address these problems, China has committed to massive expansions in social security, education, and healthcare. President Xi Jinping has pledged to end poverty in China by 2020. By that same year, China plans to upgrade all of its coal-fired power plants to higher environmental standards, or close them down. And all of these initiatives come in the midst of a major military buildup that includes the construction of Chinas first home-built aircraft carrier. Chinas economic growth It doesnt take an advanced degree in mathematics to figure out that if budget commitments are growing at double-digit rates while the economy is growing at single-digit rates, something has to give. That something is the fiscal deficit. China is going into debt in a serious way. It doesn't take an advanced degree in mathematics to figure out that if budget commitments are growing at double-digit rates while the economy is growing at single-digit rates, something has to give. by Officially, the Chinese government expects a budget deficit of three percent or higher in 2016. How much higher is anyones guess. An inside source quoted by Reuters suggests that the budget deficit might continue to rise even higher in future years. For comparison, budget deficits of three percent of the GDP are the largest allowed under the European Unions Stability and Growth Pact rules, though many European countries have broken that limit. Japan routinely runs large budget deficits. The United States ran budget deficits of eight to nine percent of the GDP in the wake of the 2008 crisis, though these have now come down to under three percent. So a three percent budget deficit is not in itself catastrophic. As with social commitments, the difference again is that the US, Europe, and Japan are all very rich. China is still poorer than Mexico, Russia, or even Brazil. Rich countries have ample fiscal tools for handling budget deficits. The US budget deficit reached a high of 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009. Five years later, it had fallen to just 2.1 percent. Despite a famously paralysed political system, the US still had the budgetary flexibility to handle the massive shock of the Global Financial Crisis. China has nowhere near the fiscal sophistication of the US. Chinas tax revenues are rigidly tied to economic growth: It relies heavily on inflexible taxes that grow at the same rate as the economy as a whole. That was fine when the economy was growing at 10 percent every year. Now it may be more of a problem. State of Chinese banking What China does have is $3.4 trillion in foreign currency reserves, most of it in US dollars. That sounds like a lot of money, until you account for the fact that Chinas currency reserves fell by $409bn (more than 10 percent) in the 12 months through November 2015. Chinas reserves are now 35 percent of the GDP and falling rapidly. ALSO READ: China to pay a steep price in Saudi-Iran conflict These reserves are large but not inexhaustible. Given the scale of Chinas international commitments for the New Silk Road, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New Development Bank (BRICS bank), bilateral aid to African countries, and more China is not as flush with cash at is may seem. And Chinas summer stock market turmoil showed how quickly a large cash pile can disappear. China is not in any immanent danger of default, despite scares over the banking sector and local government debt. What China faces is the same kind of long-term fiscal paralysis that plagues almost every other middle-income country. Over the next five years the Chinese government will go from being cash-rich to cash-poor. As it does, it will find it more and more difficult to deliver on the grandiose commitments it is making in its latest five-year plan. Between 2016 and 2020, China will be transformed from the can-do country with the Midas touch to an ordinary middle-income country like Brazil, Mexico, and Russia. China can only avoid this fate by dramatically increasing taxes on its wealthiest and most powerful citizens. Just like Brazil, Mexico, and Russia, it is unlikely to do so. With good management and good luck, Chinas looming fiscal crisis will unfold in slow motion not in a big bang. No one wants a crash in China, least of all China. But the fiscal crisis of the Chinese state is coming either way. Expect to see a less ambitious, more modest China emerge in its aftermath. Salvatore Babones is a comparative sociologist at the University of Sydney. He is a specialist in global economic structure. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Ankara now knows that ISIL is no counterbalance to Kurdish resurgence in northern Syria. On January 12, on a sunny winter day that visitors saw as a blessing, Istanbul was hit at its most popular tourist spot: A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, known also as the Blue Mosque, next to the ancient Egyptian obelisk placed in the 4th century by the Romans. The immediate victims were foreign tourists 10 people, nine of them from Germany. Also hurt were Turkeys sense of security, its peace, and its tourism industry. In the first hours of the attack, who had carried out the attack was unclear, as the usual suspects included not just the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL), but also Kurdish militants affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). I pointed to ISIL as the likely culprit, as this was an attack that hit Western tourists, which would not be strategically helpful to the PKK, but would be desirable by ISIL. In a couple of hours, the Turkish government announced that the suicide bomber was an ISIL militant: a Saudi-born Syrian citizen. Nabil Fadli, 27, had entered Turkey from Syria very recently. The press also found a photo of him, taken last week when he was in an official office in Istanbul for some paperwork. Heart of Istanbul The question, then, is that if it was ISIL, why did they hit Turkey right in the heart of Istanbul? ISIL militants had carried out two other deadly suicide attacks inside Turkey in the past six months one in Suruc on July 20 and another in Ankara on October 10, killing a total number of 135 people. Both of those bloody attacks, however, were directed at a specific ideological target: the secular, left-wing, pro-Kurdish political line in Turkey. ALSO READ: Open letter to the future ISIL recruit In that sense, both of those attacks could be seen as the encroachment of the ISIL-Kurdish war into Turkish territory, or, as I argued then, the spilling of the Syrian civil war into Turkey. The target was not the secular, left-wing, pro-Kurdish line; it was random tourists, an iconic Istanbul site, and ultimately Turkey itself. by Yet, the latest on Sultanahmet Square was of a different kind. The target was not the secular, left-wing, pro-Kurdish line; it was random tourists, an iconic Istanbul site, and ultimately Turkey itself. On New Years Eve, Turkish policemen had arrested two would-be suicide bombers who were planning another deadly attack in Kizilay, the very heart of Ankara, during the midnight celebrations. Both that unsuccessful plot in Ankara and the sadly successful in one Istanbul show that ISIL is now targeting Turkey directly, with a focus on soft targets. This should come as no surprise, since the conflict between Turkey and ISIL has been deepening since last July, after the first major suicide attack in Suruc and following a United States-Turkey deal allowing US warplanes to use the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey against ISIL. Apostate regimes Soon, ISIL publications had upped the rhetoric against Ankara, condemning it as one of many apostate regimes allying with the crusaders. In the Turkish-language ISIL digital monthly Konstantiniyye (Constantinople), an article promised the conquest of Istanbul and also ran a poem that read: Oh, Istanbul, you have allowed disbelief in your avenues. You have filled your streets with sins, but surely you will be conquered. You will bow down to the takbirs [declarations of Gods unity]. Furthermore, only four days before the attack on Sultanahmet, Turkish forces in northern Iraq, located as the Basiq camp near Mosul in agreement with Iraqi Kurdistan authorities, were attacked by ISIL fighters. Turkish forces had repelled the ISIL fighters and reportedly killed 17 of them. Meanwhile, at home, Turkish authorities have arrested about 1,200 people inside Turkey through the past year, many of them Turkish citizens, for suspected links with ISIL. All of this means that Turkey is at active war with ISIL. It also debunks the conspiracy theory, popular among certain voices within the Turkish opposition, some parts of Western media, and also, lately, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his media that the Turkish government is in secret collaboration with ISIL. That is incorrect and unfair. ALSO READ: How Erdogan lost the liberals It is fair, however, to argue that the Turkish government woke up to the ISIL threat belatedly and only gradually. One reason has been the long-time fixation on the Assad regime as being the only evil in Syria. Another reason was Turkey considering ISIL, at least for a while, as a counterbalance to the Kurdish resurgence in northern Syria. Islamo-nationalist ideology A third one is the latter-day Islamo-nationalist ideology of Turkeys ruling AK party, which assumes that all the problems of the Middle East are created by conspiratorial Western powers and no Islamist actor can ever threaten Turkey, no matter how extreme it is. Moreover, it is also fair to remind ourselves that the authoritarian measures the Turkish government is relying upon in the face of terror do not help. The gag order imposed on the media after every terror attack only makes the opposition more suspicious of the governments intentions. Meanwhile, the condemnation of every critic of the governments war on the PKK as traitors and a fifth column, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did on the very day of the Sultanahmet attacks, serves nothing other than to further polarise the society. With the serious threats coming both from ISIL and the PKK, along with other troubles created by the Syrian civil war, the crisis with Russia, a slowing economy, and declining democratic credentials, Turkey does need national unity as both Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu often call for. But this itself needs a more constructive leadership, which will seek national unity not under the narrow ideological banner of the AK party, but a broad umbrella that will welcome all different colours of Turkeys complex society. Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish journalist, regular opinion writer for Al-Monitor, and author of Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Syrian American in the US accuses the government of refusing to help family members in besieged town near Damascus. A member of a US family trapped and starved in the Syrian town of Madaya is criticising the US government for what he described as total neglect and shocking behaviour towards his family members. Hussein Assaf, a Syrian American from Philadelphia area, told al Jazeera that members of his family were trapped in Madaya about 40km northwest of Damascus. Madaya and Zabadani are towns outside Damascus with more than 40,000 residents which have been besieged for months by government forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters. Assaf, 35, who works for a major US retailer, said that all of his family members were US citizens and have been communicating with the US embassy in Beirut asking for help, but the embassy offered them no help at all, he said. Aid reaches starving Madaya, other besieged Syria towns He added that members of his family with five young children, all US citizens, emailed the US embassy in Beirut on several occasions in the past few months pleading for help, saying: We [are] stuck, we tried to get out of here but we couldnt. There is no way out and the life here is impossible. Theres no food and no medicine We almost died Please we need your help as soon as possible. He said that he could not reveal the names of his family members in Syria fearing for their lives while there. According to the email exchange provided by family members in the US and seen by al Jazeera, the embassy in Beirut offered them no help. Stating in an email that was not addressed to anyone by name, the embassy said: Unfortunately, we are unable to assist you in this issue and you are advised to consider other options. Assaf told al Jazeera that he was shocked and disappointed at this response and at the apparent lack of interest on part of the US government to help his trapped family members in Madaya. We are fourth generation American citizens. My great grandfather served in World War I defending this country, and my brother is on active duty in the US army. We pay our taxes and we are loyal to this country, but in the eyes of this administration it appears to be that we are not American enough to help us in the hour of need. He added: I blame the State Department for turning its back on my family. Assaf said his great grandfather migrated to the US in 1909 and served in the US army in World War I. A spokesman for the US State Department in Washington DC told Al Jazeera in an email that through our Czech Protecting Power, we are making every effort to assist US citizens who are trying to leave Syria. The US has closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012, and US interests there are served through the embassy of the Czech Republic in Damascus. An estimated 400,000 people are living under siege in 15 areas across Syria, according to the UN. Follow Ali Younes on twitter @ali_reports One day in April 2011, Stephen and Renetta Torres rushed home after receiving a call from their neighbors about a large police presencemobile crime lab, SWAT team, armored cars, etc.at their Albuquerque, New Mexico, residence. The police were looking for their 27-year-old son, Christopher, who had been home alone. The officers claimed they had come to serve an arrest warrant for Christopher about a road rage incident months earlier. Christopher, who suffered from schizophrenia, refused to speak to the officers, so they moved in on him, jumping a fence and entering the Torres backyard. According to court documents, from that point, only a few minutes elapsed before Christopher was shot in the back three times by C.J. Brown, a plainclothes officer at the scene. The cops accused Christopher of taking control of Browns gun, but a judge in a civil suit would later rule that the story told by Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officers likely didnt hold water, awarding a $6 million judgment in favor of the Torres family. But Brown was never disciplined over the incident and he remains on the force. Since 2010, the APD has shot more than 40 people. Twenty-seven of the victims died. Yet theres been very little punishment meted out for those incidents. An investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found in early 2014 that the APD engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force including the use of unreasonable deadly force. After the March 16, 2014, shooting of a homeless man named James Boyd by an off-duty cop was captured on a police body camera, the citys hand was forced. The officer who shot Boyd, Keith Sandy, as well as one of his colleagues, Dominique Perez, are currently on trial for murder. Fault Lines spoke to Stephen and Renetta Torres parents about their sons death and the overly aggressive behavior of police in Albuquerque. An edited version of the conversation follows. Before everything that happened with Christopher, did you guys have an idea of what was actually going with the police in Albuquerque? Renetta: I am ashamed to admit that I was probably one of those individuals who, you know, youre watching the news and [the police] are very convincing that [the victims] were armed and they were dangerous, and the officers were in a position where they had no choice but to shoot to kill. Of course since Christophers shooting we went back and did a lot of research, and this is decades-long behavior by the Albuquerque Police Department. Its not a small window of the last seven to eight years. It goes back quite a distance. But I didnt know that. Then you start to look at things a little bit more in depth, and youre not so quick to take whatever theyre spinning and however theyre feeding the story to you. Stephen: Ive always been somewhat of a news hound, and so before this happened with our family, I had heard and I was aware that there were problems in the police department. But like Renetta, I was not aware of the depth of the problems. Once we started doing the research, I mean, you get to a point where after a while you dont want to do it anymore because you dont want to hear anymore about whats been going on. I mean the problems our police department has been having over the last 20 to 30 years with insurance fraud and prostitution and drugs within the police department, abuse of steroids. Renetta: Its truly disturbing to know that kind of thing is going on in your community with officers that are supposed to protect you and protect the public, and that is not at all as it plays out with what is occurring in the community. I think the other tragedy is that the good officers were remaining silent, and basically I think thats just condoning the deeds of the rogue officers. Always the question was: How large was the group, the bad apples? Do they outnumber the good police officers? Do you actually understand what happened, the circumstances leading to Christophers death? Stephen: We will never know the full story, the whole truth, because the story kept changing. Initially they were saying they were coming just to interview Christopher. And then they said, no, they were coming to arrest him. And then they changed their story back to they were coming out to just question him. There was some alleged road rage incident that we never even got full information about. But as we understand it, the police officers came to the front door, rang the doorbell, knocked on the door. Nobody answered. And then one of them walked to the side of the house because he maybe wanted to see what was going on. Or maybe he heard something. And yes, thats when he saw Christopher in the side yard here. And so he approached Christopher and asked him who he was, you know, Are you Christopher Torres? Christopher said, Yes, and supposedly they said, We want to talk to you. Christopher backed up, and I dont know if the officer thought he was getting ready to run or what he thought, but somehow that gave him justification to jump the fence and rush Christopher and tackle him to the ground. Christopher is lying face down on the ground, and these officers are apparently trying to handcuff him, and there is a struggle. And then again the story changes: One version of the story is that one of the officers handcuffs got loose, and they saw the handcuffs loose on the ground. They thought at one point, hes got a knife. And then the other story that finally came out is that one of the officers claimed that somehow during the struggle that Christopher had actually managed to get his hand on the officers gun and take it out of his holster and gain control of it. Hows he able to do that with two officers on his back? Its just, you cant. Its an incredible story. But anyway Christopher is faced down on the ground, the two officers are struggling to try and get him handcuffed and at one point, one of the officers may have told him, You better cooperate, or Im going to shoot you. And thats what they proceeded to do. Officer Brown took his service revolver out and at point blank range, literally with the barrel pressed against Christophers back, he fired three shots into Christopher. The question was: How large was the group, the bad apples? Do they outnumber the good police officers? Renetta Torres mother, whose son was killed by an APD officer What was Christophers funeral like? Was there any simmering anger at the APD there? Stephen: I dont think there was a lot of anger. Christopher was well liked. He was a very gentle person. We didnt realize Christopher had so many friends. The church was packed. Renetta: The church holds a little over 1,000 people. Stephen: And it was overflowing. There was certainly a lot of sadness, a lot of bewilderment, wondering how this could have happened. Renetta: I think that was most of what we were feeling in the days and weeks after Christopher was shot. You just cant believe it happened. I think that Christopher, his health, his well-being and safety was always such a priority for us, and hes taken in the very place that should be his sanctuary. It was hard. Can you give us some context about Christopher, his life, his struggles? Renetta: I think we like to categorize Christophers story as one of being a success. He had a job, part-time job. He was such a warm and caring individual. The day he was killed, just minutes before police arrived, he had been across the street visiting some neighbors who are in their 80s. He went to check on them. Hed gone to the grocery store. Hed help them clean their yard. Hed help them clean their pool. And they were the last people to see Christopher alive. There were people whose lives he had touched that we were not even aware of. But he was very caring. I think he handled his illness with a great deal of grace and dignity. When did you realize that what happened to Christopher was part of a larger pattern of behavior by the APD? Stephen: Those first few weeks we were just in shock, going through the motions of daily life. But a month after Christopher was shot, Alan Gomez was shot, and the circumstances were just so similara needless shooting. Alan Gomez was turned around and walking away from police officers when they shot him in the back. That finally woke me up, and I realized weve got to try and do something. Renetta: Mike Gomez [Alans father], he certainly, I think, started to bring the community of families that had been affected by APD shootings together. Mike, in all of his grief, seemed to recognize there was a need and a call to action, and he started contacting the family members and saying weve got to meet and weve got to talk. And the first meeting was held at his home, and there were about 15 families there. Fifteen families? Stephen: All sharing similar stories. That must have been a big surprise for you guys to see that. Renetta: It was. And their stories were just disturbing. I mean, it was almost too much to bear. I have to tell you for quite a while youre just fearful after you hear these horrible stories of these families that have lost their loved ones at the hands of these rogue officers. Some of them went back to 2007, 2006. As frightened as you are, you know youve got to do something, and theres strength in numbers. I certainly think that we were bolstered by the other families and we just moved forward. But Mike Gomez was very pivotal in getting the families together. I think absent Mike Gomez, who knows, we might have at some point kind of come out of this fog we were in. But I think he certainly mobilized us. European Commission will open case against Warsaw over new legislation that allegedly contravened EU code of law. The European Commission says it will launch a probe over Polands new constitutional court and media legislation that has been criticised as running counter to the blocs fundamental principles about the rule of law. European Union Commissioner Frans Timmermans said on Wednesday that his executive would carry out a preliminary assessment of this matter the first step in a drawn-out procedure that could ultimately lead to suspending Polish voting rights in the 28-nation bloc. Poland government spokesman Rafal Bochenek played down the decision, saying it was a standard procedure that did not influence Polands relations with the European Commission. Bochenek said Timmermans had already been invited to Warsaw for talks on the Polish laws. In December, Polands ruling Law and Justice party, which has a full parliamentary majority, took steps to gain influence in the constitutional tribunal, which is supposed to be an independent arbiter with the power to block the governments legislation. In addition, Polands president signed a law last week that heads towards giving the government full control of state radio and television, a move critics also see as undermining a cornerstone of democracy. The controversial reforms have fueled much political and public opposition in Poland. Tens of thousands took to the streets of the Warsaw to protest against the constitutional court changes. Even before Wednesdays announcement, the Polish government has criticised the EU and some of its leaders for meddling in its internal affairs. The EU has had similar problems with Hungary, and the countrys Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already stressed his support for Poland. So far, the EU has never had to move toward suspending the voting rights of a member state. Assurances given on safe return of 10 US sailors who were captured when the boats drifted into Iranian waters. Iran has detained 10 United States sailors aboard two small patrol boats in the Gulf in an incident that rattled nerves days before the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran. A US defence official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a US Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported. However, a Revolutionary Guards spokesman told Irans Tasnim news agency that talk of the immediate release of the US sailors was speculation: I cannot confirm or deny that. The US sailors were being interrogated, the spokesman told Tasnim. Al Jazeeras Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said the White House was working as quickly as it can to release the boats and the sailors. She added that it was unclear when Iran would release the boats. Both US and Iranian officials described the sailors, whose boats may have inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters, as safe and well-treated. US defence officials said nine men and one woman were on the two vessels. Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, told CNN: We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly. Snooping around Official Iranian news outlets confirmed the detention, saying the the boats were snooping around. Officials from Iran and the US were negotiating to free the crew, Fars news agency reported. News of the incident came hours before President Barack Obama made his final State of the Union address to the US Congress before leaving office in January 2017. Obama did not mention the crews detention in the hour-long speech, but he did tout the nuclear deal with Tehran, saying the world has avoided another war. Washington and Tehran, which have pursued a partial detente in recent years, both appeared eager not to let the boat incident escalate. Obama, a Democrat, has made the Iran nuclear accord a centrepiece of his foreign policy, and Republicans vying to succeed him have attacked him over the deal. Iran, meanwhile, is eager for relief from punishing economic sanctions under the landmark accord it forged with six world powers last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days, following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities. The exact details of the incident still remain unclear, but US officials admitted both ships might have drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters. In a statement, Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Frances Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was near the seized US boats. At least 10 killed in suspected Boko Haram attack on a mosque in town close to border with Nigeria. Two female suicide bombers have attacked a mosque in a town near Cameroons border with Nigeria during morning prayers, killing at least 10 people and wounding about a dozen others, the governor of the region has said. The attack in the town of Kolofata on Wednesday has been blamed on members of Boko Haram who reportedly crossed the border into Cameroon a few days earlier, Midjiyawa Bakari was quoted as saying. The town of Kolofata in Cameroons far north near the border with Nigeria has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram. Nigeria: The defeat of deadly Boko Haram Another suicide attack blamed on Boko Haram in December in Cameroon killed at least seven people and wounded 30 others, officials said. In September, suicide bombers killed nine people in Kolofata and wounded 18. In early 2014, the group stepped up their attacks in neighbouring Cameroon and other countries that have supported the Nigerian militarys effort to crush them. The six-year insurgency has killed about 20,000 people and displaced 2.3 million others, according to human rights group Amnesty International and the United Nations. Palestinians say Israel has severely curtailed gas supplies to the occupied Gaza Strip this winter, fueling a major disruption to ordinary life for most families and exacerbating the harsh impact of the cold weather. Tholfikar Sweirjo, a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestines committee in Gaza, told Al Jazeera the amount of gas entering Gaza has been decreased by at least 50 percent since early December. People are suffering from the shortage especially because a lot of cars had been converted to use gas instead of petrol due to the high prices of petrol, he said. Sweirjo accused Israeli authorities of causing this gas shortage to intensify pressure on Gaza in a bid to push people against Hamas, the group that governs the strip. His statement came a week after the International Middle East Media Center quoted Mohamed al-Abadaleh, a spokesman of an association of fuel and gas station owners in Gaza, as saying: It is week four since the Israeli authorities severely decreased cooking gas supplies for the Gaza Strip. He also said the amount of gas allowed into the Palestinian territory is only 15 percent of what is needed normally. The Israeli Ministry of Energy has not responded to Al Jazeeras requests for comment. RELATED: The future of Gaza looks bleak Ramy Abdu, director of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor who is based in Gaza, told Al Jazeera more than 20 percent of households in the strip do not have any gas, as well as hospitals and schools. Normally we wait a couple of days to obtain our gas ration, but for many it is now taking weeks We are talking about a permanent shortage during winter, he said, adding some restaurants have been forced to close. Abdu said a shortage of electricity has worsened the crisis, since people have to rely more on gas. There has been a deteriotation in electricity supply Normally we have eight to 10 hours of electricity in a day, and now its four to eight hours. He also said Gazas agricultural sector which depends heavily on gas to run greenhouses, especially since Israel sprayed herbicides to destroy vast swathes of crops near the border as part of a no-grow zone has been further hurt by the gas crisis. Over the last 10 years, Israel has imposed a blockade that has made life in Gaza miserable to humiliate and subjugate the people, Abdu said. Ten US sailors freed after they were taken into custody by Iranian authorities, state TV reports. All 10 US Navy sailors detained by Iran after drifting into its territorial waters a day earlier have been freed, the US and Iran said on Wednesday. The US Navy said the American crew returned safely and there were no indications that they had been harmed while in custody. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. : pic.twitter.com/yJskfPW83B (@SharghDaily) January 13, 2016 The sailors left the island at 8:43am GMT aboard the boats that they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the US 5th Fleet is based. The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors presence in Iran, the US statement said. ALSO READ: The personal touch: Zarif, Kerry and 10 US sailors The Revolutionary Guards official website published images of the detained sailors before their release showing them sitting on the floor of a room. After determining that their entry into Irans territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters of the Persian Gulf, a statement posted online by the Guard said on Wednesday. General Ali Fadavi, the navy chief of Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted earlier on Wednesday by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown that the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of mechanical problems in their navigation system. The foreign ministers of both countries, John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif, had been in constant contact, Iranian media said. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before US President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. The incident set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as US officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Iran and the US had no diplomatic relations for more than three decades but tensions have eased after a deal over Irans nuclear ambitions was signed in July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin within days, following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities. The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near US warships and boats passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the worlds oil. Lawyers for three US nationals and one Belgian argue that US law should apply as 2010 flotilla was flying US flag. Four flotilla activists have filed a suit against Israel in a US federal court, seeking damages for injuries they say they sustained during a 2010 Israeli raid on a boat bound for besieged Gaza Strip. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the civil case, who include three Americans and one Belgian national, said on Tuesday that because the ship was flying a US flag, US laws should apply on board. We are arguing that this US-flagged vessel is the United States and therefore the injuries inflicted by the Israeli Defence Forces on the ship were inflicted in the United States, Steven Schneebaum, US Counsel for the plaintiffs, said. The 2010 military raid on the aid convoy killed 10 Turkish activists when Israeli commandos climbed down from helicopters on to six ships bringing what they said were essential supplies to Gazas population. Nine Turks were shot dead in the May 31, 2010, clash when Israeli marines stormed a flotilla organised by a Turkish charity, which ignored orders to turn back as it tried to breach an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Another Turk later died from wounds suffered in the attack. Israel said the flotillas crew had been warned repeatedly before the raid. Apology Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, apologised in 2013 to Turkey for errors that might have led to the deaths of the Turkish activists. Huwaida Arraf, a dual US and Israeli national, was on board a US boat named Challenger 1, which was part of the flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian aid in circumvention of Israels blockade of Gaza. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip more than a decade ago, but it continues to control all aspects of life in the Palestinian territory, deciding who can enter or leave. In 2010, a UN envoy said Gaza was the worlds biggest open prison and called for an end to collective punishment of Palestinians. Arraf said that she tried to communicate with Israeli soldiers as they boarded the boat. We are on an American ship. This is an American boat. Stay away from us. They threw grenades on our boat to startle everybody and they were shooting something a projectile that hit one of my colleagues face. I was knocked down and then my head was slammed into the deck of the boat, she said in an interview with Reuters news agency after she and case lawyers announced the court filing on Tuesday. Israel is expected to answer the complaint within 60 days of its filing. Exact compensation being sought in the case has not been released. In a related case, relatives of a 19-year-old US citizen killed in Israels 2010 storming of the flotilla are suing Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister for the raid. Analysis: The latest attack will put pressure on Turkey to increase its efforts in the war against ISIL. The explosion that struck Istanbuls historic Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday killing 10 people, most of them German nationals was a vulgar display of power by a cornered ISIL, according to Turkish analysts, using the acronym of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group. The location of the latest bombing, metres from popular tourist attractions like the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, showed that this attack was significantly different from the Suruc and Ankara bombings. It is important that this happened in Sultanahmet. It is true, Sultanahmet is in the heart of Istanbul, but this square is also in the heart of the world, said Mehmet Yegin, a political analyst for Istanbuls International Strategic Research Organization (USAK). People from all around the world Americans, Germans, Arabs, Koreans and many others are here every single day. This is a cosmopolitan hub. ISIL was sending a clear message to the world with this terror attack, he told Al Jazeera. Tuesdays blast in Sultanahmet was the latest in a series of bombings that have rocked Turkey in recent months. READ MORE: Sirins story A voice raised and silenced Last summer, ISIL targeted a group of Kurdish activists in the town of Suruc with a suicide bombing that killed 33 people. In October, 102 people were killed at a peace rally in another similar attack, the deadliest on Turkish soil, in the capital Ankara. It is possible to say that by attacking a popular tourist site in Turkey, ISIL sent a message to the entire anti-ISIL coalition. by Ercan Citlioglu, terrorism expert Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a suicide bomber affiliated with ISIL was responsible for the blast. Claiming that an attack taking place in a popular tourist spot like Sultanahmet should not be seen solely as an attack against Turkey, Yegin said. It is dim-sighted to only talk about the effects of this terror attack on the Turkish tourism and economy to say that the purpose of this attack was to damage Turkey. The attack, of course, will cause harm to Turkish economy; this has been mentioned many times after the attack. But we cannot analyse whats going on here in the narrow context of Turkey. There is a lot more going on here. Ercan Citlioglu, a terrorism expert at Baskent Universitys Center for Strategic Research (BASKENT-SAM), agreed. Citlioglu argued that ISIL increased the international impact of this bombing by choosing a site that is frequented by foreign tourists. There are two main terror targets in Istanbul: Taksim and Sultanahmet squares. Sultanahmet is an area frequented mostly by foreign tourists. So militants know that if they attack this site, most of the victims would be foreign nationals. And they also know that killing foreigners will have a stronger impact on the international community. Indeed, the victims of this latest attack were mostly German nationals, he said. It is possible to say that, by attacking a popular tourist site in Turkey, ISIL sent a message to the entire anti-ISIL coalition. Analysts also pointed out that this attack could be seen as ISILs reaction to Turkeys new and strict border policy. Many similar attacks by ISIL, they argued, may be seen in Turkish territory in the future. In the last couple of years, the Turkish government increased its control over its southern borders to be able to contain the fallout from the civil war in neighbouring Syria. The escalating pressure coming from the West to do so, partly caused by the ongoing refugee crisis, also played a significant role in this decision. This development caused a lot of pain for ISIL. Turkeys decision to block border crossings was a lot more significant than its decision to bomb ISIL targets, said Citlioglu. ISIL was receiving most of its new recruits through the Turkish border. But when the government started to control the border, it became harder for the group to add more militants to its fold. I believe this terror attack may be a reaction to this development. READ MORE: The deep roots of Turkeys war on ISIL Analysts agreed that the latest attack would lead to more pressure on Turkey from the international community to increase its efforts in the fight against ISIL and to prioritise it over Ankaras current clash with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). They argued that this attack could motivate the Turkish government to further its efforts to eradicate ISILs presence in Turkey instead of backing down. Recently, Turkey had been fighting ISIL within its borders. The security forces were carrying out operations against ISIL cells, explained Yegin. We know security forces stopped a terror attack in Ankara on New Years Eve. We believe these efforts will escalate after this incident. Turkey, according to Yegin and other analysts, is expected to contribute more to the fight against ISIL outside its borders after this attack. I do not think Turkey will choose to play a more significant role in the military response to ISIL, but it will certainly increase its border security and share intelligence more willingly with its allies. The latest ISIL suicide bombing, which, according to the Turkish government, was committed by a Syrian, also raised questions about the situation of more than a million Syrian refugees living in Turkey. Last years Paris attacks, initially alleged to be orchestrated by Syrian nationals, caused a powerful backlash against asylum-seekers from the Middle East in Europe. Yet, Turkish analysts talking to Al Jazeera argued that the Sultanahmet bombing will not result in a significant change in refugees living conditions in Turkey. Syrians are already not allowed to move freely within Turkey, Bakri Azzin, a Syrian humanitarian worker living in Turkey, told Al Jazeera. Even if you manage to get into the country, you need travelling permission from the government to go anywhere. So, I do not believe government can make life any harder for Syrians in the wake of the Sultanahmet bombing. Azzin also pointed out that the Turkish border had been closed to the refugees for over a year. Nothing is going to change for people trying to get into Turkey from Syria. Analysts also speculated that what happened at Sultanahmet Square is not likely to change Turkish publics attitude towards the Syrian crisis or the refugees. However, the public reaction to the incident was divided as usual: While supporters of the government perceived the terror attack as yet another attempt to weaken the AK party government, the opposition claimed that what happened in Sultanahmet was a direct result of the Turkish leaderships impotence. Turkey is already polarised and tense as it is. This terror attack may strengthen the criticisms about the governments Syria policy, but I do not believe this incident will lead to further polarisation. Events like this one create a need for solidarity against fear and threat, Citlioglu said. I do not believe this incident will change Turkish publics attitude towards Syrians, Azzin said. We all remember the same thing happening in Reyhanli [in 2013], and the Turkish peoples attitude towards us did not change after that. In his final State of the Union address, the US President also criticises those who say armed group represents Islam. US President Barack Obama has wrapped up his final State of the Union address with a forceful statement of confidence in the future of the United States. I believe in change because I believe in you, Obama said in his closing remarks, generating a standing ovation. Thats why I stand here as confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong. Obama also said the US doesnt need over-the-top claims about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group to show the US is serious about defeating it. The president dismissed the idea that ISIL threatens the US existence, saying thats the story ISIL wants to tell and the message it uses in propaganda to recruit. Masses of fighters on the back of pick-up trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages, they pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence, Obama said. He said references to World War III just play into the groups hands. Critical of Republicans Criticising Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, Obama said insulting Muslims hurt the US and betrayed its identity. When politicians insult Muslims that doesnt make us safer, he said, drawing applause from the crowd in the House of Representatives chamber. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. Obama also criticised those who say ISIL represents Islam. He said thats a lie, and rhetoric like that has pushed away allies the US needs to win the fight. He was apparently alluding to Republican politicians who have demanded Obama declare war on radical Islamic extremists. The president repeated his declaration that the US will hunt ISIL down and destroy the armed group that controls territories in Iraq and Syria. Obama received about a dozen standing ovations during his address on Tuesday, but just a handful were fully bipartisan. In addition to the standing ovation that greeted the entry of first lady Michelle Obama, the other bipartisan applause moments came after his comments on cutting red tape and outdated regulations, when he announced Vice President Joe Biden would lead a cancer moonshot initiative, and when he lauded the US military as the finest fighting force in the world. Islamabad has close ties to Riyadh and receives financial aid from the kingdom, but Iran is its next-door neighbour. Pakistan has called for a peaceful resolution to escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, offering to act as a mediator for the two Middle Eastern rivals while refraining from making specific commitments to its ally Riyadh. The South Asian nation, which shares borders with Iran, has been reluctant to take sides in the ongoing diplomatic hostilities despite visits by top Saudi officials. Pakistan doesnt know where to stand because Islamabad and Riyadh have very close ties from the last few decades, Asim Sajjad, a columnist at the Dawn newspaper and professor at Quaid Azam University in Islamabad, told Al Jazeera. Beyond sectarianism: The Saudi-Iran confrontation The Listening Post In the meantime, Iran is the physical neighbouring country of Pakistan. In a statement issued following his meeting with Saudi Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday his country has historically pursued the policy of promoting brotherhood among Muslim countries. READ MORE: Who rules Pakistan? Pakistan has also always expressed its readiness to offer its good offices to brotherly Muslim countries for resolution of their differences, Sharif said in a press conference. Salman also met with the countrys powerful military chief, General Raheel Sharif, who declared Pakistans willingness to stand by Saudi in case of any threat to the Arab states territorial integrity. Any threat to Saudi Arabias territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan, Sharif said in a statement. Bad gesture The diplomatic crisis comes weeks after the kingdom also formed a coalition against terrorism. In both cases, Pakistan came up short of backing Saudi. Its a very hard time for Pakistan to make a final decision whether to support Saudia or Iran, Sajjad said. If Pakistan supports Iran, being a Sunni-majority country, a strong reaction is expected from the people of Pakistan as well as religious fanatics, he said. On the other hand, if Pakistan tries to remain neutral, the move will be considered as a bad gesture to Saudi, which has long been supporting Islamabad economically, Sajjad added. The talks between Pakistan and Saudi were kept highly secret. Syed Kurshid Shah, leader of the opposition in the Pakistan national assembly, cautioned the government against taking sides. Sartaj Aziz, an advisor to the prime minister on foreign affairs, said Pakistan will keep its national and international interests in mind before commenting on the dispute. Safeguarding Pakistans national and international interest is our top priority, he said. After two years of brutal civil war, monitoring chief says all sides are preparing to take the next step towards peace. Juba, South Sudan Warring parties here are poised to form a Transitional Government of National Unity in the hope of bringing to an end more than two years of brutal civil war. A peace agreement, signed by both President Salva Kiir and his opposition rival Riek Machar in August last year, called for the formation of a transitional government for three years. Since Kiir reluctantly signed the deal, progress has been made despite some missed deadlines. A new cabinet has been decided upon with 16 ministries going to the government, 10 to the main opposition, two to the group known as the Former Detainees, and two ministries allocated to other opposition parties. However, Kiir has yet to move his military forces 25km outside of the capital, a key condition on the formation of the national unity government. This failure has slowed down the process, but by far the most contentious issue is Kiirs unilateral decision to split South Sudans 10 states into 28. The president made the surprise announcement in October last year, and many have argued it was not in the spirit of the peace deal. The former president of Botswana and head of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, Festus Mogae, said it is going to have a disruptive effect on progress towards peace. Al Jazeera spoke to Mogae about the transitional government and his hopes for South Sudan. Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana Al Jazeera: Progress towards creating a transitional government has been made but there remain a number of sticking points. Can these be overcome? Mogae: A great many things have yet to be done and one important one that has occurred, unfortunate in its timing, is the creation of 28 states because its inconsistent with what is envisaged in the [peace] agreement and, therefore, it is not acceptable. I think its the timing that is unfortunate and which has created problems, because as a proposal it would have been ideal for discussion in the agreed National Constitutional Amendment Committee. Therefore, its something thats going to cause us some problems. Al Jazeera: What form are those problems likely to take, and will it impact the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity? Mogae: In principal it should not but it is a violation of the agreement and, therefore, the other parties to the agreement are in opposition and they are right. And also it will give them an excuse to violate the agreement in other areas. Thats how its going to create problems for us. Al Jazeera: How would you apportion blame if the opposition refuses to accept the 28 states and declares the peace agreement and the transitional government null and void? Mogae: Well they would both be to blame. The government would be to blame because they did something that started it but the opposition will also be to blame. Just because you have a legitimate complaint, that doesnt free you from your obligations. Everybody is obliged to follow the agreement and, above all, everybody is obliged to follow the spirit of the agreement, because its about creating peace and saving lives and stopping the current activities, which are resulting in untold suffering for ordinary people. Thats why the cessation of all this violence is very important, very very important. Al Jazeera: What do you predict for the future of South Sudan? Mogae: I can tell you what my hope is for South Sudan, I cant predict, as there are too many unknown variables. Theres a great deal of work to be done in a country with a lot of potential. There has to be a government thats separate from the army and a separate police service, as well as a judiciary and a prosecution service. These institutions are yet to be established, so a great deal of work remains to be done. Its time national institutions were established, along with the rule of law, and that human rights are actively protected. Im told that almost every adult has a gun and, at some future time, the government will have to do something about that. A victory against ISIL will depend on an inclusive Iraqi government and new national security forces. On Monday night, terror descended on the Iraqi capital when gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a shopping mall in a busy, predominantly-Shia area, killing and wounding dozens of people and spreading panic among residents. An even deadlier attack almost simultaneously killed at least 20 people in the beleaguered town of Muqdadiyah northeast of Baghdad. A bomb exploded at a cafe, and a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle after people gathered at the scene. The series of attacks that were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, was the nightmare scenario that intelligence and security experts have been warning against as peace and stability remain fragile in Iraq. And, like all bad news, more tragic events followed fast. At least seven Sunni mosques and dozens of shops were firebombed and 10 people were shot and killed in Muqdadiyah the next day in what appeared to be retaliatory sectarian attacks. READ MORE: Can Iraq survive the Iran-Saudi row? For Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the bombings were a desperate move by ISIL after victory [was] achieved through the retaking of the key western city of Ramadi from the group. Despite a number of military setbacks across Iraq in the past year, ISILs manpower and their ability to carry out attacks do not seem to be waning. However, what the escalation indicates is that the prospect of the total defeat of ISIL remains far off. ISILs decentralised networks in Iraq seem to have become more decentralised and still capable of carrying out large-scale attacks. There are two sets of factors that explain why the group remains the most significant threat to Iraq: First, its adaptation to new circumstances and methods, and second, the failure of Iraqs political elite to end the countrys paralysis. What accounts for ISILs ongoing effectiveness in the face of unprecedented onslaught? The answer lies in the groups ever-changing nature. Since its inception as al-Qaeda in Iraq, the organisation has shown a surprising readiness to adapt its mission and tactics. The groups capacity for change is manifested by its ability to be more appealing to recruits and attract new allies, making it harder to find and destroy. Despite a number of military setbacks across Iraq in the past year, ISILs manpower and their ability to carry out attacks do not seem to be waning. The ongoing attacks in Baghdad and other urban centres are the work of enormous sleeper cells adopting new techniques that make them hard to detect. As for the political deadlock, this weeks violence has confirmed that the countrys stabilisation will depend largely on resolving its lingering communal conflicts and establishing an all-inclusive, power-sharing process to replace the current dysfunctional ethnic and sect-based quota system. Much of ISILs recruitment comes from disgruntled Iraqi Sunni Muslims who feel excluded and marginalised. Without fair and effective political representation, many feel that they are left with few alternatives for addressing their grievances and resort to joining violent groups like ISIL. WATCH: The fight for Ramadi A turning point against ISIL Iraqs security problems also have some roots in the Shia militias, which are making a bad situation worse. The militias, which were supposedly created and expanded to fight ISIL, are now assuming more power. The militias rise in political stature and their increasing role in policing neighbourhoods are undermining the security establishment and weakening its resolve to carry out its duties and fight terrorism. This precarious security situation has worsened communal violence and criminality. Armed clashes between tribes and attacks by armed groups which include murder, kidnapping for ransom, rape and other violent crimes are now widespread. For months, residents in Iraqs main port city of Basra have been complaining of pervasive lawlessness as armed tribesmen fight one another over economic interests and influence. In Baghdad and other cities, scenes of unidentified, bullet-riddled bodies strewn in the streets are normal sights. Another bad omen for Iraq that could have far-reaching consequences for the countrys stability is its faltering economy and financial crisis caused by plummeting oil prices. The general assessment is that low oil prices are likely to persist, and given the fluid situation in Iraq, security could deteriorate to the point of chaos. The government has halted spending and imposed sever austerity measures, including the elimination of jobs, higher taxes, and salary cuts for public servants and pensioners. While the security forces will bear the brunt of the decline in revenues, cuts in spending will damage development and could be a precursor of worse things to come. The economic crisis has led to street protests, and emerging troubles are expected to add a new source of instability to the ISIL violence and Iraqs fractious sectarian system. If anything, victory in the campaign again such violence will depend on whether Iraqs feuding factions can agree on an inclusive government and new national security forces that could defeat ISIL and make Iraq safe from the ongoing threat of terror attacks. Israel says foreign minister has a twisted view of reality after she called for an investigation into killings. Sweden reiterated on Wednesday that while it wants good relations with Israel, allegations of extrajudicial killings of scores of Palestinians since the beginning of October must be investigated. Israel shunned Swedens Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom after she called for a probe into allegations that Israeli forces had carried out extrajudicial killings over the past few months of violence in the occupied territories. Emmanuel Nahshon, Israels foreign ministry spokesman, said the Swedish minister had a twisted view of reality. In response the Swedish foreign ministry, in a statement seen by Al Jazeera, said: We want to have good relations with Israel and conduct an active dialogue that also includes values. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy emphasised in October the importance of closely examining circumstances surrounding Palestinian deaths that result from intervention by Israeli security forces. Mainly discourse Since October 1, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 150 Palestinians, among them unarmed protesters, bystanders and alleged attackers. In the same period, lone Palestinian assailants have killed 23 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians. I think its good that Sweden is at least saying something and trying to make some kind of a point about international law, Ali al-Ghussain, researcher and advocate at the Centre for Refugee Solidarity based in Malmo, told Al Jazeera. But the reality is that Sweden has certain agreements with Israel. At this moment in time, its mainly discourse. I dont think its enough. Enough would be making a serious argument for the EU to place sanctions on Israel. That would be significant political action, rather than speech. After calling for the probe, the Israeli spokesman added that Wallstrom was not welcome in the country and said her remarks showed she does not understand what is taking place in our region where Israelis are exposed to the perpetual dangers of murderous terror attacks. READ MORE: UN special rapporteur for occupied Palestine quits The spat comes days after the UNs special rapporteur in charge of investigating human-rights complaints in the occupied Palestinian territories announced his resignation. Makarim Wibisono said he was quitting because he was obstructed in his attempts to investigate claims of abuse by the Israeli military. There are so many reports that criticise Israel, but no action, Ramy Abdu, director of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, told Al Jazeera. Israel knows that is has influence on international and European policy. He said some 95 Palestinian deaths were cases of extrajudicial killings since October 1, as he applauded Swedens Wallstrom. The Swedish foreign minister should be appreciated and encouraged, said Abdu. We as human rights organisations should work more to prove that what was said was right. Follow Anealla Safdar on Twitter: @anealla Analysts say Central Asian nation is under internal and external pressure after decades-long rule of Emomali Rahmon. A nearly two-decade-old peace agreement that ended Tajikistans civil war is quickly unravelling and threatening to plunge Central Asias poorest country back into violence, a new report warns. A ban by the government of hard-line President Emomali Rahmon on the opposition Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) widely considered moderate has caused growing concern both within and outside the country. Given its problems, Tajikistan should be a conflict-prevention priority for the international community, the International Crisis Group said in its January 11 report. Rahmons rule has been marred by corruption, violence and economic tumult, while security in the country which shares a 1,400km-long border with Afghanistan is increasingly deteriorating, the report said. Tajikistan tackles thriving heroin trade Ever since a peace agreement ended a five-year civil war in 1997, Rahmons government has cracked down on both religious and political opposition in the country. IRPT represented the civil wars opposition forces in parliament, but the party lost all of its seats in the March 2015 election, which the report said was riddled with irregularities. The party was banned in August and in September it was branded a terrorist organisation by Rahmon. In December, Tajik lawmakers voted to give Rahmon the title Leader of the Nation, and granted him and his family lifelong immunity from prosecution. But problems continue to arise in the mostly Muslim nation of 8.2 million people. The deputy defence minister, General Abduhalim Nazarzoda a member of IRPT was killed in September by Tajik security forces. He had been accused of organising terrorist attacks by the authorities. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group reported that the 1997 peace agreement that ended the civil war is unravelling. The 1997 peace agreement masked rather than resolved tensions after a brutal civil war, the report said. Its core was IRPT representation of the wars opposition forces in parliament, but Rahmon deprived the party of its parliament seats. RELATED: The trouble with Tajikistan Mahmudjon Faizrahmonov, an IRPT spokesman, told Al Jazeera that renewed unrest appears to be on the horizon. We expect the situation to get worse, he said. The undemocratic policies of President Rahmon will move the country towards violence. There are extremist parties across the border in Afghanistan. Rahmons undemocratic policies play into their hands, but we reject violence. Religious repression is also causing security concerns. Reports indicate that hundreds of Tajiks have left and joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters. In a YouTube video released on May 27, General Gulmurod Khalimov head of the Special Assignment Police Unit of Tajikistan said he had defected to ISIL in Syria because of increasing restrictions on religious freedom in Tajikistan. Rahmon has ruled Tajikistan since 1994 and his current presidential term is expected to end in 2020. Turkey blames a Syrian suicide bomber for killing of ten tourists in Istanbul. President Recep Tayyib Erdogan says Turkey is the primary target for what he called terrorist groups in the region. Turkeys 400 kilometre long border with Syria is also the main entry point for foreign fighters from Europe joining ISIL. And Turkey hosts more than two million refugees escaping the war in Syria, by far the largest number held by any country. So, will Ankara change its policies towards the Syrian crisis? And whats its plan to deal with the threat from ISIL? Presenter: Peter Dobbie Guests: Muhittin Ataman, Deputy General Coordinator for SETA, a Turkish-based political, economic and social research think tank. Berkay Mandiraci, Turkey researcher at the International Crisis Group and Turkish foreign policy specialist. Olivier Guitta, Managing Director of Global Strat consultancy firm. An insight into Chinas struggle to provide healthcare to the most populous country in the world. Editors note: This film is no longer available to view online. Over the past decades, Chinas authorities have been experimenting with different forms of healthcare systems. As living standards rise and society ages rapidly, the country has been struggling to provide healthcare to its 1.4 billion people. China has the worlds largest population and its busiest hospitals. Eighty percent of Chinese patients turn up at big hospitals as their first port of call for even minor illnesses and thus have to wait sometimes for days to get treatment. With unique access, we go to the frontline of one of Chinas oldest hospitals, Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, and a pioneering new primary health centre, to see how reforms are playing out on the ground. We meet patients seeking treatment as well as doctors and nurses delivering care, including a former barefoot doctor brought out of retirement and other outreach doctors. While access to doctors is made easier and cheaper in the big city hospitals, the governments massive rural health insurance scheme has given health coverage to 700 million peasants, who previously had to pay for all their own medical care. We follow a young peasant boy who, together with his whole family, travels from the far north to Beijing for life-saving treatment, partly funded by his familys health insurance. Challenges abound but this massive country is looking at some innovative ways to try to deliver the Peoples Health across China. It is a unique challenge of scale: How to provide healthcare to the most populous country in the world. A divorced single parent in Morocco is determined to work as a wedding videographer despite resistance from her family. In 2004, Morocco implemented the Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana) to improve womens rights within a family and bring positive social change for women. But nine years have passed since the implementation of these reforms and many believe that they have failed to bring real change for women in Morocco. Witness follows Khadija, a single, divorced woman and single parent as she pursues a career as a wedding videographer in Morocco. She has gained a level of independence outside the family home that was previously unthinkable, but her conservative family wants her to remarry and stop working, despite the fact that she is the chief breadwinner. They are ashamed of the fact that she is divorced and appalled that her work means she often works late at night. The film shows how the camera has liberated Khadija, and changed her life, while at the same time forcing her into a daily struggle to maintain her position as a woman in Moroccan society. Editors note: This film was first broadcast on Al Jazeera English in November 2013. FILMMAKERS VIEW By Karima Zoubir Over the past few years I have become increasingly concerned about the extraordinary complexity of womens rights in Morocco. I have noticed how the impoverishment of the lower classes, together with the modernisation of society, has increased social pressure on women and young couples. In modern Morocco, where an increasing number of women are finding independence through employment, young unemployed men see their roles within the family challenged and have all the more a problem seeing women work. Paradoxically, the tougher the economic situation for the families gets, the harder it is for men to see their wives go out and work. As a matter of fact, the status of working women is still considered a luxury, reserved for the wealthier classes of our urban societies. WATCH: Marriage and Divorce in Morocco I felt that I needed to look at the situation of young, divorced Moroccan women who had supposedly benefited from the progressive divorce laws brought in under the reforms. The reforms were ground breaking in terms of womens rights compared with the rest of the Arab world, but I wanted to assess the real situation and highlight the repercussions of divorce on their daily lives. Women can now ask for divorce. One would have hoped that this social progress would, at long last, allow women to choose their own destinies. But unfortunately, this is not the reality. The majority of women asking for divorce have to waive any spousal maintenance while taking responsibility for supporting and raising their children. Under these conditions, divorced women have practically no chance of coping by themselves. And those asking for divorce must accept this punishment, as if it was the just price to pay to simply enjoy their freedom. As a young Muslim Moroccan woman myself, making a film about the situation of these young divorced women very quickly became a necessity. We cannot go on burying our heads in the sand in the face of growing unease about working women in our society. If we do not honestly speak out against the present situation and critically look at ourselves, this unease will continue. Without caricaturing, judging or accusing anyone, I wanted to show simple moments from an ordinary life which viewers would be able to identify with. I am convinced that it will help some women look at their lives and assess their own situation. Khadijas story tells so much about what it means to be a divorced woman attempting to live in the context of changing social standards for women in the Arab and Muslim world today. Forced into getting married early to someone she was not compatible with, Khadija had an unhappy marriage. She decided to take advantage of the relatively new opportunity to divorce. Once she got divorced, her family saw her status as shameful and urged her to remarry. But Khadija refused all she wanted was a job to support herself, her family and most importantly, her son. Due to a certain wave of growing conservatism, there were new employment opportunities opening up specifically for women, but mostly in the wedding sector: either filming the ceremony, taking photographs, serving as waitresses, dancers and playing music. All these roles were previously held by men. However, an increasing number of families were now excluding men from these ceremonies unless they were blood relatives. Khadijas video camera has brought her such unpredicted freedom but also gives our camera, and thus the viewer, an inside look into the extraordinary complexity of a womans position in contemporary Morocco. The marriages of the happy young couples she films starting a new life stand in sharp contrast with her own life as a struggling divorcee. Working as a wedding videographer, Khadija is now the sole breadwinner of her family, taking care of her mother and brothers as well as her son. But she often has to work late hours, which is a source of shame to her family. Her family complains that they are subject of gossip among the neighbours, who criticise her because she comes back late at night. The impossible double standards that have emerged make Khadijas life a constant challenge. She enjoys her job and needs to earn a living. But in some parts of the Arab world, where unemployment is high, a woman holding a job is still frowned upon in some conservative communities. Far from the political and media debates surrounding the family law reforms, Casablanca Camerawomen aims to show the numerous obstacles facing women, obstacles set by a poorer and more conservative Moroccan society. Floridas 2016 legislative session started Tuesday, bringing in hundreds of bills two of which could waive fees and tuition for graduate assistants at state universities. State Senate Bill 1230 and House Bill 1311 were introduced in the House and Senate on Tuesday as the legislatures annual two-month session started. Both bills require state universities to waive fees and tuition for graduate assistants who meet certain requirements. If approved, both bills will take effect July 1. The Senate bill was referred to the Higher Education, Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Appropriations committees Monday. UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes wrote in an email that its too early to speculate how the bills might affect the university. John Hames, a former co-president of UFs Graduate Assistants United, said GAU hopes the bills will pass. We dont know what the outcome will be, but we really appreciate that we have people in the Senate and House who recognize the problem of graduate employment fees, the 34-year-old said. Alec Dinnin, a co-president of GAU, wrote in an email that they will support Sen. Maria Lorts Sachs and Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, who filed the bills in the legislature, while also continuing their own efforts. I would love for progress to be made in the legislature, no doubt about it, and Im cautiously optimistic. But at the same time, I know that we have to keep conducting our own operations here, Dinnin said. Contact Hunter Williamson at hwilliamson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @hunterewilliam. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now A UF student is expanding his clothes donation program in Bangladesh. Robert Felder founded Bearbottom Clothing, an online clothing company, in 2014 after a trip to Bangladesh. During the trip he toured a local factory and it inspired him to start his company, which donates a pair of shorts to a child in Bangladesh for every pair bought, the 21-year-old said. The company now donates shorts to children in poverty all over the country, from hospitals in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to train stations in poorer areas, he said. When Felder first started the company, only factory workers children received the shorts. He chose to have his factory in Bangladesh to give jobs to the community, the UF business management and food and resource economics senior said. To date, weve donated tens of thousands of shorts, which, to put into perspective, is more than the number of people that fill the ODome, Felder said. Jacob Visoky, 22, said he likes the concept behind the company. I think its important for new companies to have a sense of corporate and social responsibility to give back to the communities that are helping to manufacture their products, the UF business management senior said. Felder said he plans to continue expanding his company and his mission after he graduates next Fall. I want to retain the mission of donating shorts to kids in need, he said. Robert Felder (far left) poses for a photo at the factory day care in Bangladesh on June 3, 2015. The 21-year-old said he founded his company, which donates paris of shorts to children in poverty, after visiting a local clothing factory. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Gainesville Police arrested a woman Monday night after police said she assaulted a 93-year-old nursing home resident. At about 8 p.m. Monday, Ashley Michelle Greek, 25, pulled an elderly woman down the hallway of the Brookdale Gainesville Southwest senior center, according to a police report. Greek works as a nursing assistant at the center, located in the 1000 block of SW 62nd Blvd., according to the report. After failing to walk the woman to her room, Greek grabbed the womans arm and bent it behind her back, according to the report. Once in the room, one of Greeks co-workers saw her twisting and yanking the elderly woman in an attempt to put her in bed, according to the report. The woman fell to her knees before kicking Greek in the stomach. Greek then grabbed the womans leg and pushed it back until her knee touched her stomach, according to the report. Another co-worker told police he heard the woman yelling. After forcing the woman onto her bed, Greek aggressively changed the womans underwear by pushing her legs up to her head, according to the report. Greek said she was frustrated the whole day because no one would help her deal with the woman, according to the report. Police charged Greek with battery on a person 65 years or older and took her to the Alachua County Jail where she was released on her own recognizance Tuesday afternoon. Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Members of UF College Democrats gathered at Pugh Hall on Tuesday night to hear President Barack Obama deliver his final State of the Union address. Reflecting on the last seven years, Obama looked back on his self-proclaimed achievements, including an improved economy, the Iran nuclear deal and efforts to end gun violence. Obama also focused on the future. He promised to finish his presidency by working to bridge a bipartisan Congress, improve economic equality and continue to push forward a proposal to make the first two years of community college free. We passed the Affordable Care Act. Over 16 million new Americans are now insured, and thats huge, Amir Avin, a 21-year-old UF finance senior, said. And hes made a lot of other sweeping reforms that have improved the lives of Americans today. Seven years of partisan bickering and failed initiatives were not evident in Obamas speech, even as news broke hours earlier that 10 U.S. sailors were being held by Iran. Instead, Obama spoke optimistically about his plans and hopes for the future. Returning to the community college proposal, Obama said he would continue efforts to get the plan started this year. We have to make college affordable for every American, he said. Later addressing the fight against the Islamic State, Obama urged Congress to pass an authorization of war on the extremist group. He also stressed that America should avoid acting as the worlds police force when trying to keep the U.S. and its allies safe. Critics have condemned the president for what they call a weak response to the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, which ISIS inspired and organized. Obama went on to criticize people who called for a ban blocking Muslim refugees from entering the U.S. following the terror attacks. When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized or a kid is called names, that doesnt make us safer. That isnt telling it like it is, he said. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. Obama also pushed for clean energy as an alternative to coal and fossil fuels. He also praised the Paris Agreement on climate change reached last year. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now I stand here as confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong, Obama said as he concluded. The crowd in Pugh Hall stood and clapped, and the UF College Democrats treasurer reflected on the speech. Perfect, Chris Reilly, a 20-year-old UF political science junior said. It reminded me of why I voted for him last time. Contact Hunter Williamson at hwilliamson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @hunterewilliam. Two men arrested for murder in Alachua County are currently on death row, but Tuesdays Supreme Court ruling offers a slim chance to appeal. The 8-1 ruling stated that Floridas current system violates the right to a trial by jury afforded by the Sixth Amendment. The system gives the judge not the jury the final say in the sentencing process. Danny Rolling, often referred to as the Gainesville Ripper, was executed in 2006, making him the last person from Alachua County to face the death sentence. The Supreme Court ruling may affect the fate of Floridas nearly 400 death-row inmates, but some legal experts said it would likely only affect inmates who have yet to use all of their initial appeals. John Stinneford, a UF law professor, said some inmates will likely file motions asking for a new hearing. They would have a jury that would hear all the evidence and make a decision beyond a reasonable doubt, he said. In its decision, the Supreme Court sided with Timothy Lee Hurst, who was convicted in the 1998 murder of his co-worker at a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant in Pensacola. A jury ruled in favor of the death penalty, but the judge sentenced Hurst to death using his own findings, dismissing the jurys opinion. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote the decision Tuesday, said a judge cannot decide a capital punishment case independently of a jury. The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death, she said. In most courts, in order to sentence someone to death, a jury decides if there was an aggravating factor that led to the crime, said Teresa Reid, a UF master legal skills professor. But in Hursts case, the judge took control of the sentencing, all while staying within the boundaries of Florida law. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now That would be a surprise to a lot of people, Reid said. Reid said the courts decision Tuesday was justified. It really is saying now you have a Sixth Amendment right to have the jury not just a singular judge but to have a jury determine whether or not youre going to live or youre going to die, Reid said. About 25 miles north of Gainesville, in Starke, Michael Ray Lambrix, 55, awaits his death in Florida State Prison. His execution is scheduled for Feb. 11. Lambrix received the death sentence after authorities said he murdered two people in 1983. After several failed appeals by Lambrix, Gov. Rick Scott signed his death warrant in November. And then that clock begins to tick away, Lambrix wrote in a blog post last June. Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo. At a funeral for Carlos Aguilars son, a man helped him do something positive with his loss. That man was Armando Perez, founder of Missing Children Global Network. Perez passed away in 2015, but his foundation lent Aguilar a helping hand this month. Christian Aguilar, a UF student, was reported missing Sept. 20, 2012, in Gainesville. He was murdered Oct. 12, 2012, in Levy County. That same year, Aguilar founded the Christian Aguilar Search and Rescue Foundation, which trains dogs to search for missing people. Our lives are completely different since he (Christian) went missing, and we still arent recovered and if I can give back to the community like the community gave to me during the worst days of my life, I will do it, Aguilar said. However, recent financial troubles almost brought the operation to a halt. Aguilar posted to Facebook on Jan. 6 to announce that sponsors were scarce and he could no longer run the organization. He also announced a partnership with Perezs foundation, in which the Christian Aguilar Search and Rescue Foundation became a division of the MCGN. With the partnership, Aguilar hopes to provide the public with rescue dogs certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said between training for himself and the dogs, along with the costs of transportation, the bill would amount to about $23,000. I didnt know what I was going to get into when I decided to open this foundation, Aguilar said. I didnt know anything about dogs, or how to handle them. These animals give you so much love, so much support emotionally, and they become a part of the family. Fernando Alvarez, a private investigator, volunteers at MCGN, and he said the addition of Aguilars division will make the process of finding missing children faster at no cost to families. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now We do not care if the family is rich or poor, because a child is a child, he said. When Aguilars son went missing, volunteers and professionals searched alongside trained dogs to find Christian. Hunters eventually found Christian inside the Gulf Hammock Hunting Club. Looking back, Aguilar realized the dogs used to search for his son only specialized in finding drugs and providing protection, not recovering missing people. Gainesville Police currently has nine dogs that are trained for several purposes, such as finding drugs. The dogs are able to search for missing people, but its not their sole purpose, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said. The same goes for the Alachua County Sheriffs Office, spokesman Art Forgey said. In the future, MCGN, with the help of dogs trained through the Christian Aguilar Search and Rescue Foundation, hopes to search the remote areas of Florida and recover the remains of missing persons, according to Alvarez. I keep my son in my heart, and he will never go away, Aguilar said. He will never be forgotten and hopefully the people helping me will never give up saving people in the name of Christian. UF student senators from both parties gave their thanks to Michael Christ (Graduate, Access) at his last meeting Tuesday night. Christ joined Student Government as a Students Party senator for Murphree Area in Fall 2013. He left two and a half years later as a graduate senator with Access Party. During his time in Senate chambers, he was the last member of Students Party and was one of the founders of Access in Spring 2015. He spoke against the expansion of SGs budget and was against reforms to the Student Body statutes during Summer 2015. In his goodbye speech, he said he hopes SG will start doing online voting in the future. It will come, eventually. It may not happen this year, it may not happen next year, but its going to happen, he said. We should all want more people voting, he said. Senate President Susan Webster (District A, Impact) said she had a lot of respect for Christ. Senator Christ is somebody whos been a huge impact in Senate. Beyond UF and the Senate, I know hes going to do great things, she said. Student Body President Joselin Padron-Rasines teared up as she spoke about Christ. Thank you so much for the service you provided for the Student Body, she said. Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @melissagomez004. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now UF Student Government held Tuesday nights Senate meeting in the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. Representatives from the Harn, the Florida Museum of Natural History and UF Performing Arts spoke during the meeting, giving SG their thanks for financial awards that have helped increase ticket numbers. Allison VanDenend, assistant director of development for the Harn, said the award money has helped increase the number of students who go to the museum through the free student membership program, which started in 2013 and was funded by SG. Were so grateful for your support, VanDenend said. It really makes a world of difference to students. Were defining new things, breaking boundaries. Darcie MacMahon, the exhibits and public programs director at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said the $72,425 award SG gave the museum last year has increased the number of students that attend the museum. She said about one third of the UF Student Body attended the museum during the 2014-2015 year. Were delighted to have students coming through, MacMahon said. Passed by Unanimous Consent: Approval of Jasmine Salinas-Corona, vice chancellor of Student Honor Code Administration $970.00 funding for the Bhangra Club $2,801.00 funding for Fashion Forward $231.24 funding for the Innovation Academy Lead Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Resolution approved for Commending Graduate Assistants United for Representing the Interests of Graduate Assistants and Successfully Negotiating with UF Administration Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Melissagomez004. Sen. Michael Christ (Graduate, Access) hugs Student Body President Joselin Padron-Rasines on Tuesday night at Christ's last Senate meeting. 2005 .. The Heads of Missions of the European Union and Member States strongly and unequivocally oppose the death penalty in any circumstances. It is a serious violation of human rights and human dignity and cannot be used as an instrument for justice. In this context, we are deeply concerned by reports of at least 4 executions []Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. Andrew M. Mwenda is the founding Managing Editor of The Independent, Ugandas premier current affairs newsmagazine. One of Foreign Policy magazine 's top 100 Global Thinkers, TED Speaker and Foreign aid Critic BY: Abraham Rabinovich January 11, 2016 3:57 pm JERUSALEM The rapidly shifting colors of the geopolitical map of the Middle East projected a surprising new hue over the weekend when nuclear-armed Pakistan warned its nuclear-ambitious neighbor Iran against tangling with Saudi Arabia. After meetings between the Saudi defense minister Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistans military leadership, the Pakistani army issued a statement Sunday asserting that any threat to Saudi Arabias territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan . The spiraling regional tension follows the execution by Saudi Arabia this month of dissident Saudi Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was revered in Iran. A mob in Tehran retaliated by sacking the Saudi embassy. Saudi Arabia promptly severed diplomatic relations with Iran, as did other Sunni-dominant states in the Gulf region and elsewhere. Pakistan normally enjoys good relations with Iran, with which it has commercial ties. As the Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, put it, Iran is an important neighbor, possibly on the verge of an economic breakout as Western sanctions are lifted. However, Islamabad has come under a diplomatic blitz from Saudi Arabia, which has been a generous benefactor in the past, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its fellow Sunni nations. Last week, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, flew to Pakistan to meet with its leaders and was immediately followed by bin Salman. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan sought to avoid too tight an embrace after his meeting with the foreign minister, saying that Pakistan was willing to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but the statement by the generals after their meeting with the defense minister threatening a firm response was that of an ally, not a middle man. Sharif toughened his stance after his meeting with the 31-year-old defense minister, bin Salman, deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia and favorite son of the aging King Salman. The people of Pakistan will always stand with the people of Saudi Arabia , he said. Pakistan holds its defense ties with Saudi Arabia in highest esteem. Apart from its nuclear capability, Pakistan has a standing army of more than 500,000 troops as well as 500,000 reservists. More than any other Muslim nation it has the capacity to stand up to the Iranian armed forces. Although not actually part of the Middle Eastit is considered part of South Asia or the Indian subcontinentit has played a role in the region as a close neighbor and religious affiliate. It has stationed thousands of soldiers in Saudi Arabia in the past whenRiyadh felt threatened by Iraqs Saddam Hussein. It has been Saudi Arabia that was the principal benefactor in this relationship. It has provided generous financial aid to Pakistan over the years and also employs 1.5 million Pakistanis whose remittances home are vital to the Pakistani economy. Although it is a Sunni-majority country, Pakistan also has a sizeable Shiite minority. Violent clashes between the two sects in Pakistan have taken the lives of thousands in recent years, mostly Shiites. Iran has for years been the most assertive nation in the Middle East as it attempts to attain regional hegemony. Its military presence is felt through proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza. However, its sense of manifest destiny has suddenly encountered bumps in the road it had not anticipated. Both its military and political leadership have expressed regrets at the sacking of the embassy. Riyadh is therefore pressing its potential Sunni allies to rally to its side. Some of them would prefer not being pressed. As a senior Pakistani official put it to a Western journalist, his country was part of the Saudi-led Sunni coalition but we will only act in our national interest. Well, I am starting a Wall of Shame for people who show that they have no clue about plants in general. I will be totally fair and I'm not going to expect ... 12 years ago Linking the Cyprus issue to the Kurdish issue of Turkey is the only effective way to [a] uncover Turkish hypocrisy on her approach to majority-minority community relations [b] bring about a fair and permanent settlement to Cyprus' Turkish problem and [c] help bring community status recognition for the close to 20 million Kurds of Turkey. A win-win-win for the Kurdish, Turkish and Cypriot peoples. It may also bring about the first ever truly democratic constitution in Turkey's history! YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. In accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the eastern direction of the Talish village of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) Martakert region on January 14. As Armenpress was informed by Information and Public Relations Department of NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria) and Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic). The NKR authorities have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The first prize winner of many international competitions, dweller of Vienna, famous Armenian pianist Nareh Aghramanyan became the prominent Bosendorfer piano brands 2016 presentable person. Previously this highest honor was awarded to world-famous musicians such as Charles Aznavour, Placido Domingo, Michael Jackson, Vladimir Ashkenazi, Anton Rubinstein, John Williams, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim and others. The privilege of playing the newest 280th model of the piano, shooting and recording was given to me. A number of videos were shot during the advertising campaign including Rachmaninoffs Vocalise by his own development in memory of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Nareh Aghramanyan informed during the interview with Armenpress. The turning point of the pianists career, who is a winner of numerous international competitions, was prestigious Montreal International Competition where, being the youngest participant, 19-year-old pianist was awarded by the three major awards including Grand Prix. After this victory a number of US, English, and German major music managerial agencies signed contracts with Nareh and her concerts activity and CD releases launched. Nareh Aghramanyan has 60-70 concerts annually, the major part of which was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. Nareh Aghramanyan cheered also the audience of Yerevan in autumn of the previous year. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The National Assembly of Armenia has received, according to the established order, the resignation of Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia Karen Andreasyan. Armenpress reports that Head of Public Relations and Media Department of Armenia National Assembly Arsen Babayan posted about it on his Facebook page. I remind that according to Part 3, Article 6 of The Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Human Rights Defender, the Defender's powers shall terminate in case he repeats resignation not later than 10 days after the Defender submits a letter of resignation to the National Assembly (NA). Based on the latter, President of the Republic of Armenia National Assembly informs the MPs about the early termination of the powers of the Defender during the upcoming NA sitting, Babayan posted. According to The Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Human Rights Defender, in case of early termination of the Defender's powers, the new Defender shall be appointed within a month from the date of termination of the powers of the previous Defender. The NA elects the Defender for a 6-year term with the 3/5 of the overall MPs votes from the candidates nominated by at least 1/5 of the MPs. The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia Karen Andreasyan submitted a letter of resignation on January 12. The Ombudsman thanks all his colleagues for the joint work and is hopeful that the human rights protection will remain the priority of our country and society. There will not be any other comments on this, reads the statement posted on the Facebook page of Human Rights Defender Office. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia Karen Andreasyan appealed before his resignation to Human Rights Defender of Uzbekistan connected with the issue of Armenian Aramayis Avakians affiliation to the Islamist extremism. Armenpress reports that Karen Andreasyan wrote in the latter addressed to his colleague that our compatriot had appealed to him. Basing on the principle of voluntary and mutual assistance of human rights institutions, I ask for your cooperation in acquiring information about the physical and psychological condition of A. Avakian, as well as taking corresponding measures to prevent illegal actions towards him, Andreasyan wrote in the letter. As Radio Liberty informs, Aramayis Avakian denied the accusations regarding his affiliation to Islamist extremism during the trial held in Jizzakh region court on January 12. Aramayis and his 4 friends from Uzbekistan were abducted on September 4. It became known later that the the National Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan accused the Armenian young man, having two minor children, of religious extremism, separatism, founding and heading a group that disseminates radicalism, as well as of overthrowing the constitutional order, and robbery. The defendant only partially assumed responsibility for pipe theft. Aramayiss mother claims that her son had been arrested for snatching the fish farm he had rented after the failed attempts of the community leader of Jizzakh. According to Aramayiss lawyer, the defendant will most probably give testimony during the next trial when he is provided with a translator. Avakian was born in Uzbekistan; he is a citizen of the country. His parents left Armenia 36 years ago. The mother of the defendant had appealed to the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia on January 6, stating that his son is being tortured in the isolation ward aimed at forcing him to give testimonies incurring the guilt. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The Syrian-Armenians are descendants of the Armenian families that were saved by Nansen. The idea of patriotism helps them to resist the difficulties they face after moving to Armenia. The External Relations Associate at the Armenian Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Anahit Hayrapetyan told Armenpress. The people who emigrated from Azerbaijan at the end of 80s and at the beginning of 90s appeared here without any ideology, in a crumbling but familiar country, the international community did not pay much attention to the issue in those times. And those people, who emigrated from Syria and had mainly lived in the Armenian ghetto of Aleppo, where visiting a fitness club cost little money, had wonderful businesses, Anahit Hayrapetyan said. The External Relations Associate at the Armenian Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confessed that they made many mistakes during the migration of the refugees from Azerbaijan and the activities of their integration as they were novices and there were many problems. However, she noted that in contrast to the existing conditions required for the integration of the Syrian-Armenians, many mistakes were made even during the flow of Iraqi refugees; there was no coordinated working schedule, credit system. Today the Syrian-Armenians are mainly engaged in restaurant industry in Yerevan and have brought a new level to service sector. However, according to the External Relations Associate at the Armenian Office of the UNHCR, many of the Syrian-Armenians are wonderful software programmers, jewellers and hairdressers. Anahit Hayrapetyan also spoke about the opinions that the newly opened businesses do damage to the businesses of the locals. She noted that if the businesses of the locals decline, it means they do not correspond to market requirements. In reply to the question as how many Syrian-Armenians settling in Armenia are unemployed, UN representative told Armenpress that there are lots of jobs offered but these people need time to learn how to make a living, for instance, with a salary of 60 thousand AMD when a much higher salary is offered for the same job in Syria. She also emphasized that women in Syria do not work, but many of them started to work in Armenia and this is really a brave step taken by them. Anahit Hayrapetyan said that psychological support for integration is also provided to the Syrian Armenians so that they achieve success in new business conditions. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Republican candidate for US president, business magnate Donald Trump is of the opinion that US President Barack Obamas speech was boring. The State Of The Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time. New leadership fast! posted Trump on his Twitter page. Photo by AFP YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. National Assembly (NA) Prosperous Armenia Party Faction MP Mikayel Melkumyan does not see a political force with the potential and ambitions to consolidate the society. The deputy told about this during the meeting with journalists on January 13. I do not see a political force which will be able to put an issue of real regime change and get the support of the society. Maybe it is not so, but my remarks show that. I do not see any changes over the mentioned above till 2017, the deputy said, as Armenpress reports. According to his speech, 2016 is going to be a pre-election year for political forces. Melkumyan noticed that elections are not conducted around projects and ideas in Armenia. Politicians often say that opposition does not succeed to get united as they only yell about the regime change but do not have projects and concepts. It is a result of the fact that the opposition had no chance and conditions of coming to power during the previous 25 years and constantly lost. I think that there will not be any polarized struggle, there will not be "Hot autumn", "Hot spring" and such things, PAP MP added. According to him, political forces will be more active in 2017. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. National Assembly Prosperous Armenia faction member Mikayel Melkumyan does not expect that any political force will form coalition government with the ruling party till 2017. The deputy expressed such an opinion in an interview with journalists on January 13, but he did not rule out the possibility of some type of cooperation with the authorities. For example, both Prosperous Armenia and ARF said Yes to the Constitutional reforms, we voted in favor of the budget. Of course, we represent opposition, but we say that opposition are not those who just shout resignation. But this does not mean that you must be included in a coalition, Armenpress reports, the deputy mentioned. He clarified that a political force that forms a coalition with the authorities, it takes huge responsibility on its shoulders together with the government. What do you think, will any party wish to take responsibility during this complicated year and move towards 2017 elections with that huge burden of responsibility on its shoulders? It is often said that if we do not form a coalition, what resources we will have during elections? There is nothing like that. It is not mandatory to have governor or a minister for having influence, Melkumyan said. He also expressed a viewpoint that political parties will find it unreasonable to form a coalition with the ruling party as little time is left till the 2017 elections. 2016 will be the hardest economic year that is why I see little chances, though I do not exclude anything. Political parties will take a decision. As refers to Prosperous Armenia, there is no such an issue on its agenda, Mikayel Melkumyan concluded. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. USA apologized for its incursion in the waters of Iran. Iran is to release 10 US sailors held for entering its territorial waters, in a swift resolution of an incident that tested newly-improved US-Iranian ties. As Armenpress reports, referring to BBC, they were detained Tuesday after one of their two vessels broke down during a training mission in the Gulf. Iranian state media said the group will be released into international waters after US apologized. It comes at a sensitive time, as the US and Iran try to implement the deal on Iran's nuclear activities. The incursion was "unintentional", a statement from the Revolutionary Guards quoted by state media said. Earlier, the naval commander of the Guards, General Ali Fadavi, said investigations found a navigational failure was to blame. "We have concluded that passage of Americans in our territorial waters was not a hostile passage or for espionage or similar acts," he told Iranian television. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. It is not the first time that PACE has discussed anti-Armenian and one-sided resolutions despite the complaints on the Armenian part. The director of ARF Bureau's Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) and Political Affairs Office Giro Manoyan said the aforementioned during his press conference at Armenpress, when speaking about the two anti-Armenian draft resolutions to be discussed at PACE winter session. According to him, the Armenian side does what it can, simply the support and participation of our society is significant here. It is known that European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) has initiated a petition. Armenias participation in signing the petition will also be useful. The initiators expected 1500 signatures, but they crossed the threshold, and now the target is 2500 signatures, he said, emphasizing that the petition is one way to put pressure on the Assembly MPs. According to Manoyan, it is difficult to forecast the results of the discussions, but he thinks that some work must be done in that direction till the last moment. The role of the OSCE MG co-chair countries is very important: they must be active. First and foremost such resolutions harm the negotiation process they mediate in. Azerbaijans main aim is to change the platform of the negotiations, Giro Manoyan said. He also added that the Armenian delegation may achieve great results if its representatives work with many MPs in PACE. In the end, the adoption of resolutions is not the end of the world, Manoyan states. He also said that the decision will have no positive impact on Nagorno Karabakh issue, but will have a negative one as it will encourage Azerbaijan to continue its unaccepted behavior on the border and during the negotiations. Manoyan added that if the international community has some self-respect, it will not be sold out to Azerbaijan. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia faces serious economic challenges in 2016 mainly preconditioned by the developments ongoing in Russia. MP of "Prosperous Armenia" faction Mikayel Melkumyan expressed such an opinion during the meeting with journalists on January 13. Our economy is not so diversified to prevent the influence of Russian economic complications. Oil prices continue dropping and Russian rouble devaluates. As you know, we lost large-scale transfers due to rouble devaluation. The prices of oil are expected to fall this year, according to different forecasts, and this means rouble will further devaluate. A question emerges: How much money will our compatriots, working in Russia, send to Armenia in current conditions. It is possible that part of our compatriots will not go to work in Russia, remaining in Armenia. We must be able to forecast those external challenges, threats, Armenpress reports, Melkumyan said. The MP said that the Government must display with 4-5 clear steps that Armenia will be able to overcome all the economic challenges, as much as it is objectively possible. First, a very clear policy of anti monopoly and competitive relations must be conducted. This should not only be words, the state must display some will in this regard, the MP said. The second step, according to Melkumyan, is the struggle against corruption. Melkumyan considers the protection of investments as the fourth important problem to be solved by the Government. Ultimately, the most significant step should be active export promotion policy and improvement of credit conditions. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Peter Svitalski on January 13. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia Presidents Staff, a reference was made to Armenia-EU agenda during the meeting. Serzh Sargsyan once again stated that development of relations and cooperation with the European Union continues to remain among Armenias foreign policy priorities. President of the Republic expressed gratitude for the assistance rendered by the EU in reforms in Armenia, emphasizing that particularly after the Constitutional changes Armenia enters a new phase of large scale reforms. Serzh Sargsyan hopedthat the support provided by the EU for reforms will be continuous, considering the effectiveness of the support provided up till now. Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Peter Svitalski hoped that 2016 will convey new quality in Armenia-EU relations and the negotiations over the new comprehensive legal document will be completed until the end of 2016. Ambassador Svitalski reconfirmed EUs interest in supporting Armenia in the development of cooperation and in implementation of the reforms. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The ten US Marines who had trespassed on Irans territorial waters and had been taken into Iranian custody have been released. Armenpress informs Press-TV reports about this. Following the illegal and unpermitted entry of two American Navy vessels into the Islamic Republic of Irans territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf on the evening of the previous day, the vessels stopped, obeying a warning by IRGC vessels, and their crewmembers, who comprised nine male Marines and one female Marine, were placed under arrest. Public Relations Office of Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced, adding, After technical and operational examinations done in interaction with the countrys relevant political and national security authorities and the establishment of the inadvertent and unintentional nature of the entry by the American Navy crafts and their apology, a decision was made to free them. Meanwhile, an unidentified US official confirmed to the CNN that the 10 Marines had been released and boarded US missile cruiser, USS Anzio. Earlier in the day, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the commander of the IRGC Navy, had noted that the trespassing occurred because of technical problems with the navigation systems of the US vessels. Photo by Reuters YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The current year will be complicated for the Eurasian Economic Union; therefore it is necessary to do relevant analysis so that the Union can record economic growth. The assessment belongs to deputy director of Public Policy Institute belonging to Nur-Otan party, Vladimir Telnov. Armenpress reports that in a space bridge organized at Sputnik Armenia media hall Telnov said that there are good and objective preconditions to make EAEU a serious international player and have influence on economic changes. It is necessary to make efforts to further develop the Union. In this regard, it is very important to ensure not only infrastructures, but also technical equipment, Telnov said, adding that it is very important for the Union to closer cooperate with China. In this regard, the Chinese Silk Road project can be very favorable, which can have a serious impact also on EAEU states, Telnov said, adding that Kazakhstan has a huge experience in cooperation with China. Several dozens of documents and agreements are signed; some dozens of Chinese businessmen make investments in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is ready to share its experience with member states. As refers to a single currency, I do not think that it is reasonable at this point. The Union can have different currencies, but it is not important. The important thing is cooperation, he said. Head of the Center of Strategic Development of the CIS Countries under the Europe Institute of the RAS, Alexander Gusev said that considering the developments in currency market and the problems that exist in the European Union over single currency, creation of a single currency is not reasonable. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The world mostly ignored Ed Morse 11 months ago when the head of commodities research at Citigroup said oil could drop as low as $20. ts paying attention now that crude has tipped below $30, Bloomberg agency writes. The $20 number is something you have to talk about, Morse said. When youve seen a $10 price slide and WTI is trading just slightly above $30, the likelihood is fairly great. Clearly oil markets cannot maintain a price at below the $30 level for very long. The question is how much longer. The call for oil in the $20s has grown louder. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. gave a 50 percent chance of oil falling to $20 in September and Morgan Stanley said Monday that a strong dollar could drop oil below $30. Morse was first with the $20 call, although he said last February that it could happen in the first half of last year followed by the market balancing. West Texas Intermediate fell as low as $29.93 a barrel before settling at $30.44 Tuesday, the lowest since December 2003. It traded on Wednesday morning in London at $30.79. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Poroshenko is supported by only 17% of the Ukrainian citizens. Despite signs last year that Ukraine's then-new president was starting to rebuild Ukrainians' trust in their leadership, President Petro Poroshenko is now less popular than his predecessor Viktor Yanukovych was before he was ousted. After more than a year in office, 17% of Ukrainians approve of the job that Poroshenko is doing. This approval rating is down sharply from 47% a few months after his election in May 2014. Armenpress informs about this citing data published by Gallup International. Poroshenko's low approval rating largely reflects Ukrainians' disenchantment with their leadership, which many feel has failed to deliver on what protesters demanded when they took to the streets two years ago. Since the Maidan revolution, Ukraine's economy has been in shambles. Gallup's polls excluded the Donetsk and Luhansk territories, where security continues to be an issue. Poroshenko is not popular in any region of Ukraine. He has the fewest fans in the country's Russian-leaning South and East, where one in 10 or fewer approve of the job he is doing. However, Poroshenko notably also has fewer admirers in the West and South and East than Yanukovych did prior to the revolution. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Vice President of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov who is on an official visit in the Republic of Latvia, met with Deputy Speaker of the Republic of Latvia Saeima Inese Libina-Egnere on January 13. As Armenpress was informed by the Staff of the Vice President of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Baltic States H.E. Mr. Ara Aivazian also attended the meeting. The parties emphasized developing bilateral relations, particularly cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries. Regarding Armenia-EU relations, National Assembly Vice President noted that Armenia is ready to continue political dialogue with the European colleagues. The parties also spoke about the regional developments, noting that there is no alternative to peaceful settlement of conflicts. Any attempt to solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict by military means is reprehensible and must be strictly criticized by the international community. The conflict must be regulated basing on the three known principles. Theres no alternative to the exercise of the right to self-determination of the Artsakh people, Sharmazanov stressed. Deputy Speaker of the Republic of Latvia Saeima noted: We support the OSCE MG and are concerned about the recent use of heavy artillery which resulted in the death of peaceful residents. Regarding the current stage of Armenian-Turkish relations, Sharmazanov noted that Turkey does not fulfill its obligations, continuing to maintain a blockade on Armenia. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian National Archives intends to publish documents on estates of Armenian monasteries in Turkey. Director of National Archives of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan informed about this in the conference hall of Armenpress. There are many talks on the estates of Armenian monasteries in Turkey. We know Catholicosate of Sis is in the judicial process for the purpose to return the estates. A book will be published in 2016 where information on estates of all existing monasteries in Turkey will be presented. We will present documents written in Ottoman Turkish issued by the Turkish authorities, Amatuni Virabyan said. The mentioned book will be available in Armenian and in Ottoman Turkish. Amatuni Virabyan informed that they actively work and cooperate with national archives of other countries. They work with national archives of Italy, France, Iran, Georgia, Russia, Serbia, Poland and other countries. Caucasian front 1914- 1918 "collection including materials on the population of the region and Armenian Genocide will be published during the collaboration with Russia in the current year. Materials of military investigation on activities of Turkish authorities; how they deported, killed Armenians and organized attacks against them on roads is also involved in the book. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The process of digitization of National Archives films will be completely over during the current year. Director of National Archives of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan mentioned about this during the interview in the conference hall of Armenpress. We will finish the digitization of movies this year, about 500 movies have remained. We will finish this process as well and after that we can say that the whole movie collection is available in electronic version, he said. The oldest video kept in the National Archives is the video on funerals of Catholicos Izmirlian in 1911. Besides the first Armenian movie Namus shot in 1925 is also kept as well as the movies which were shot after the latter. According to Amatuni Virabyan, tapes, in any case, will remain. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani TV channels are prohibited to broadcast information about the mass protests all over the country against increase of prices caused by manat devaluation. Armenpress reports Azadlq newspaper was informed about this from a source close to Azerbaijani government. According to the source, the assignment not to illustrate the protests was given from the office of the president of Azerbaijan which was conveyed to all the TV channels without any extra comment. Mass protests started throughout Azerbaijan since yesterday against 50% rise in the prices of all the goods. The protests grew up to clashes with the police resulting in a huge number of arrested. There are protesters who go so far that even threat with suicide. The sharp rise in prices of all types of goods, including consumer goods, started by the devaluation of Azerbaijani national currency manat, which is explained by the economic crisis in the country caused by decline of oil prices. 95% of Azerbaijani exports comprises of gas, oil and crude. 75% of the state budget is formed from the revenues obtained from energy exports. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans announcement about Russias plans to form a quasi-state in Latakia is totally nonsense. Ankara, claiming alleged Moscow's plans to create a quasi-state in the Syrian Latakia, tries to remove suspicion from itself as a country that itself interferes in Syrias domestic affairs. Armenpress reports citing Interfax, Russian Foreign Ministry source told reporters about this. "Statement by the President Erdogan about Russia's plans to create a quasi-state in Latakia - is nonsense. There is an attempt to use the aggravation of relations with Russia in order to remove the main suspicion from Turkey as a country that interferes in Syrian affairs, indicating that allegedly the Russian side interferes in Syrian affairs, "the source said. According to the source, over the years the Russian government has stated that "Syria needs to be a sovereign, democratic, secular and integral state." Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that Russia is now making efforts to develop a zone of its influence in the Syrian Latakia and the surrounding area. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Armenia to Romania Hamlet Gasparyan met with Romanian Prime Minister Dacia Ciolos on January 13. During the meeting Ambassador Gasparyan conveyed the greetings of the Armenian PM to the Romanian PM, and introduced the issues over the exhibition From Ararat to Carpathians: millennium-old history among other issues on the agenda. The exhibition is planned to be held this year which will tell about the rich cultural heritage of Romanian-Armenians. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of MFA Armenia, the Prime Minister of Romania, highly appreciating the role of the Armenian community in Romania dating back to the Middle Ages, highlighted the importance of organizing similar events for developing bilateral relations, as well as for educating the younger generation. An agreement was reached to continue joint work for properly holding the exhibition. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos expressed Romanias full support towards Armenia within the framework of the revised Eastern Partnership policy, as well as in numerous bilateral and multilateral projects. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. RF President Vladimir Putin announced in a meeting with government members that Russia has registered world's most effective Ebola vaccine. "We have registered a vaccine against Ebola that shows, after a series of tests, a very high effectiveness, even higher than the vaccines currently used for Ebola treatment in the world," Armenpress reports, citing Interfax, Putin said at a meeting with government members. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Several people have been killed in rare clashes between Assyrian Christians and Kurds in Syria's al-Hasakah province. Armenpress informs about this, citing Al Jazeera. The province in the northeast of the country is divided and in parts controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kurds and Assyrians. Assyrian and Kurdish sources said there were casualties among fighters in the battle between the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Assyrians in the city of Qamishli on Tuesday. "The city of Qamishli is controlled by Assyrians, but surrounded by Kurdish fighters. The Assyrians were trying to set up checkpoints and were fired at by the Kurds," Afram Yakoub, the chairman of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden, which monitors news related to Assyrians across the region, told Al Jazeera. He said at least one Assyrian and eight Kurdish fighters were killed. Taj Kordsh, a Kurd from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), confirmed that the clashes broke out because of the checkpoints, but gave a different death toll. "Two Assyrian fighters were killed in the clashes and five others were injured," Kordsh said. He added that a civilian had also been killed. "Kurdish fighters say these checkpoints have bothered residents and must be removed," he said. The SDF was founded in Syria's mainly Kurdish northeastern region in October 2015, and is made up of at least 15 armed factions - mostly fighters from the YPG and the Free Syrian Army. This is the first time clashes between Assyrians and Kurds have taken place over the course of Syria's nearly five years of civil war. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of State John Kerry, referring to the arrest and release of the 10 US sailors, thanked the Iranians for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter. Armenpress reports, citing The New York Times, Kerry said that the quick resolution of the issue was a product of the nearly daily back-and-forth that now takes place between Washington and Tehran, after three decades of hostility and stony silence. That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure and strong, he said in a statement on January 13. The crew members of two US patrol boats were detained on January 12 after violating the water border of Iran. STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS-ARTSAKHPRESS. 70 citizens receive treatment against acute upper respiratory infections in Artsakh medical institutions on January 13. H1N1 infection has been diagnosed for two of the 70 patients, whose condition is satisfactory. Armenpress reports NKR Health Ministry informed about this, mentioning that 33 out of 70 patients are children. Pneumonia has been recorded for 41 children, 10 out of which are children. At this point there are no patients receiving treatment at intensive care units. NKR Health ministry calls on not to panic as the epidemiological situation is not complicated. It is also advised to immediately go to doctor instead engaging in self curing in case flu symptoms arise. NKR medical institutions are provided with necessary quantity of medicines. YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Oil prices again dropped after United States Department of Energy publicized data on last weeks energy reserves of the country. Armenpress reports, citing Interfax, Brent crude oil price per barrel is $31.71. According to US Department of Energy, oil reserves of the USA increased by 234 thousand barrels during last week. At the same time, petroleum reserve reached 8.44 million barrels. The current culture clash about some Norwegian child welfare agency having seized a Romanian couples children over physical discipline and the ensuing protests coming mostly from religious groups has a recognizable background: its a rehashing of the century-old conservative vs liberal quarrel. I have respect and admiration for Norway and their altruistic, enlightened and generous foreign policy and foreign aid, but this case may be more than just that. First and foremost, parenting is tough. Most of us come from imperfect families, had imperfect parents, but somehow we survived childhood and became functional adults. We carried some resentments over our education growing up, but we got over it, the resentments being replaced by understanding and sometimes regret for our dead parents and that time of our lives when we had no bills to pay, no worries and everything except us was free. The above is, obviously, where I am, but others may be elsewhere in making peace with dad, depending on their biological and mental age, as well as their circumstances. This may be enough of a factor to understand why people perceive this story differently, but there is far more. When they hear about a child being removed from a family, most people think of parents and their guilt, or lack thereof. But what if you were the child? What could have happened if back when you were a kid, the state intervened and took you out of your family because of real or imaginary abuse? Would you have turned into a better person? Or a criminal, maybe? How would your mom, who kept you in her tummy 9 months, and your father, whod been fidgeting around all that time felt? How would their lives be changed? Could foster parents, who are usually getting money from the government for their trouble provide love and the nurturing environment necessary for a child to thrive? summary In short, the Norwegian state child welfare agency, Barnevernet, did its job, applied the Norwegian law, seized the children of the Bodnariu family, a Pentecostal Norwegian-Romanian couple, and then put them up for adoption. The details were not made clear for privacy reasons (this old escape route used by governments and corporations all over the world wishing to avoid public scrutiny), but according to Christian Today, the couple have been charged with "Christian radicalism and indoctrination." The Bodnariu parents admitted to using spanking to discipline their children, which in Norway is illegal, but court papers do not identify signs of physical abuse, though they mention having subjected a 3-month old to MRIs and Xrays. The Christian press took this as another sign of Christian persecution and rallied support for the besieged family (petition, fb). Barnevernet (the Norwegian Child Welfare Agency, henceforth referred to as B) already has at best a checkered history. In its modern incarnation, it was established by a law in 1992, but approximately 4000 former children in care have sought compensation for the suffering and abuse while living in orphanages or child protection between 1945 and 1980. Of them, 2637 have received compensation, in total $220 million (2010) wiki-b. Maxine . In late March and April 2015 B took away 2.5-month-old Maxine girl whose mother is deaf Norwegian and father is Slovak. As the main reason given was "lack of eye contact between girl and her parents". In April 2015, Lithuanian TV reported that B removes children from foreign families in order to combat the consequences of a history of incest Bhattacharya children : B took the 2 children of an Indian couple working there. Berit Aarset, who heads Human Rights Alert, Norway, has called the incident "state kidnapping". She said [back then], "This is not the first time such a thing is happening in Norway ...the legal system favours the Child Welfare Services and they do what they want all the time... quite often when a Norwegian is married to a non-Norwegian they also do the same thing; they also do this to asylum seekers and in almost every case they say one of the parents have a mental problem just to make their case strong ...that is what has happened in the Bhattacharya case too." Rutkowski kidnappings : In two widely publicized cases, the Polish private investigator Krzysztof Rutkowski has helped children (a Russian-born boy and a Polish girl) escape Norwegian foster care and reunite with their parents. Later Norwegian authorities claim for return of the children has been declined by Polish court as unjustified. Michalak case . In May 2011, the two sons of Eva Michalakova and husband who originate from the Czech Republic were removed by the Child Welfare Services due to suspicion of child sexual abuse by the father; allegations denied by the couple. Michalakova has since divorced her husband and continues to reside in Norway. Michalakova continues to pursue custody of her children through various channels, including the European Court of Human Rights where her complaint was rejected without prejudice for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies. I bet that most people who have an opinion in the Bodnariu case have never heard of the aforementioned facts. Even to a militant atheist and bleeding heart liberal the above interventions, taken from Wikipedia, are bound to be seen as controversial and heavy-handed at best. But perhaps the biggest failure of B is widely known yet not considered such: Breivik and his attack. breivik In case you did not know or forgot, Anders Breivik is a home-grown terrorist / mass murderer who is the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks. Heres what I was writing in a comment on krossfires blog (kross-dem) about one year ago: Breiviks ideas do not exist. I tried to read his manifesto and I stopped after the first two sentences dont even remember what bothered me. In short, Breivik was abused by his mother to get back at his father, who had divorced the madwoman [and fought and lost a custody battle]. He was "sexualized" early in his childhood and she told him daily she was going to kill him. That, according to reports from social welfare services in his childhood. Breivik was angry at a society that failed to protect him and allowed his mother to destroy his childhood. Rather than confront his own demons, he chose revenge. It is possible that Breiviks case, though little talked about in regard to his childhood and what has caused him to turn against the liberals who had nothing to do with his nightmarish childhood, may have radicalized the Norwegian Child Welfare agency (B). Compare that with the horrendous case of child abuse and neglect of Jeffrey Baldwin, one of many here in Canada, where child protection services had ample opportunity to act and proof of abuse and yet either did nothing, or did the wrong thing, leading to the death of innocent children under our very eyes and with the complicit silence of all the organizations and government agencies that are supposed to prevent this from happening. romania The Romanian tradition draws significantly from an interpretation of the Bible that sees disciplining children as justified not just by a cycle of abuse that premeates through generations, but even divinely, by God. The Romanian Orthodox Church never fails to assuage parental guilt by reminding all pravoslavnics of a Romanian proverb: [child] beating is taken from heaven or, in Romanian, bataia e rupta din rai. I have already written more extensively on this when the former Romanian president, Traian Basescu, was accused of having slapped a child during a political rally, while one of his blogger-supporters had earlier discussed how common and understandable beating children (including himself) was in Romania. pentecostal This is a renewal or neo-Protestant Christian church, distinguished by their emphasis on speaking in tongues (which includes glossolalia and xenoglossy) and divine healing. The connection to the early Christianity is called Apostolic. They also think that those who do not accept Christs sacrifice go straight to a literal hell. Baptism (both water and spiritual) is very important. Russell Spittler describes five Pentecostal values: invididual experience orality spontaneity (Quench not the Spirit 1 Thessalonians 5:19) asceticism scripture literality / biblical authority The Pentecostal faith (or sect as it is usually called in Romania) differs from the Norwegian Lutheran faith (a state religion) in its theatrics, which contrast strongly with the Lutheran serverity, but it has asceticism in common. It is very easy to think of Norway as similar to Sweden and other Scandinavian countries in being non-religious and while that is true to a certain extent, its more inaccurate than accurate. All Scandinavian countries (as well as others, such as Switzerland, England etc.) have crosses on their flags, and that is not just about their history, its also about their present. Much like Romania and Denmark, Norway has a state church, Bokmal, which is financed by the state. As of 2007 Article 2 of the Constitution of Norway mandates Evangelical-Lutheran parents to provide a religious upbringing for their children. I bet the latter has something to do with Mohammed being now the most popular name in Oslo. And that is why what the school principal, who is responsible for starting this process.. The process of confiscating the Bodnariu children started when the Vevring School principal, the middle school attended by Eliana and Naomi, called the Barnevernet and expressed her concerns regarding the girls religious upbringing, her understanding that the girls are being disciplined at home, and that she considers the parents and grandmother to be radical Christians; an overriding concern that the principals perception of the parents and grandmothers religious beliefs inhibit and handicap the girls development. (via childrens uncle quoted in Christian press) ..is probably more likely to have been motivated by xenophobic / anti-Pentecostals / inter-faith (where I include atheist vs Christian) friction rather than by concern for the childrens welfare. quarrel As it happens, today is the anniversary of Charles Perrault, fairy tale author extraordinaire, and one of the leaders of the Moderns faction in their quarrel with the Ancients: the great divide between ancients and modernists pertained to the understanding of the relation between liberty/reason and authority (wiki-q) This is interesting to this blog, which borrowed its title from a destroyer of the Ancients. I believe this old quarrel is what were dealing with here as well as what is being played in the population, immigration and many other debates of our times. morals What should societies do? If middle-ground or perfection in child protection is impossible, is it better to err on the side of caution and remove children from potentially harmful situations, and place them in foster care, irrespective of whether their new environment is possibly worse and they suffer some unavoidable trauma as a result of the state action? Is it better to let parents go as far as they want to on the belief that they know best? Is the absence of corporal punishment the most important feature of early childhood education? Is the previous experience of institutionalization, orphanages and foster care in both Norway and Romania irrelevant? This is particularly important for me, as not long ago, my close relative who more than a decade ago died to cancer had married a woman with a child from a previous marriage, who was sexualized early as well and also abused by her. I struggled with the dillema of whether I should be contacting child services as well and decided not to, but now Im not so sure I did the right thing. Sources / More info: fb, petition, wiki-b, patheos-no, cm-no, ct-bod, hn, wiki-q, kross-dem, wiki-p, yt. We were at this place before, and The Blatchford Collection has brought us right back again. The story so far: In the more than full year between the day upon which Alf Conlon was unceremoniously dismissed from his service as ASOPA Principal in September 1949 until the day Charles Rowley took up the office late in 1950 (and then only because a hard boiled colonial official named Harry Maude didnt want it), who was Principal of ASOPA? There are men still strong amongst us, like WT (Bill) Brown, former District Commissioner in Bougainville during the tough days of the early seventies, who frequented ASOPA in the late forties. Bill is customarily forthright in claiming that Wilfred Woof Arthur [left], a World War II RAAF ace, had occupied the principalship in the interregnum between Conlon and Rowley. Bill can remember this as clear as yesterday. But what still evades us is evidence. Now this is a small not a big mystery. But it is no less intriguing for being Lilliputian. In fact, it the more enthralling because Loch Blatchford has documents from this time and the documents reveal - nothing. This Principal, if indeed there was a Principal, was stoic in his silence and dogged in his resolve not to leave his name imprinted on anything. Provoked by Loch, Ruth Fink Latukefu has searched her library and found Wetherell and Carr-Greggs biography of Camilla Wedgwood. On page 206 is mentioned the revolt against Conlon, led by the poet McAuley towards the end of 1949, when staff decided teaching would cease unless Conlon left. (ASOPA PEOPLE has documented John Kerrs account of this dramatic interlude. See The first dismissal: How Kerr got Conlon out of ASOPA here.) So to the contemporary reminiscence. After Conlon left, Camilla Wedgwood wrote, she was taking large classes in a school without a Principal, without an adequate staff and without any Council or indeed real existence, as ASOPA had no statutory functions till the passing of the Papua New Guinea Act of 1949. The School, however, continued to take students, including Bill Brown, and seemed mightily relieved when Rowley [right] arrived to take charge of things. By the way, in a letter to Raymond Firth, Wedgwood described Rowley as a very pleasant sound man as Principal (not brilliant and temperamental, thank goodness) who knows his own mind but is wholly without any desire to become a dictator. Ruths conclusion is that there was no other Principal between Conlon (August 1948-September 1949) and Rowleys appointment late in 1950. But this is another conjecture and so our small mystery remains. It is separate to the cases between PNGSDP and the Slate currently before the courts in Singapore and PNG. Sir Mekere has brought the case as a private citizen because he believes there are serious Constitutional flaws in the Act, and that it is harsh, oppressive and unjust. This is the Act through which the State expropriated PNG Sustainable Development Program Ltd's 63.4 percent shareholding in the Ok Tedl mine and purports to give the State the right to restructure the company into a State entity. SIR Mekere Morauta has begun legal proceedings, in the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea, seeking to have the Ok Tedi Tenth Supplemental Agreement Act 2013 declared unconstitutional and invalid. Sir Mekera said his decision to proceed with the case was based on his rights as a citizen to ensure that the laws of Papua New Guinea are fair and reasonable and comply with the Constitution. "My experience as an economist, a businessman and former prime minister tells me that there are many things seriously wrong with the Act, and that it is having very damaging consequences," he said. 'The Act is a law that is not reasonably justifiable in a democratic society having proper regard for the rights and dignity of mankind. Sir Mekere said he had decided to act now because the State has once again failed to agree to a negotiated settlement of the dispute. He said the Act offends a number of sections of the Constitution, especially Sections 38. 39 and 41 which deal primarily with legal rights and freedoms, whether laws are reasonable and justified or whether they are harsh, oppressive and unwarranted. It also contravenes the UN Universal Declaranon of Human Rights, which states that "everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others" and that "no one shalt be arbitrarily deprived of his property". The Constitution states that a PNG court may take this into account in deciding the constitutional validity of laws. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed 2016-17 budget includes increased funding for the nine school districts in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES system. The Auburn Enlarged City School District would receive the largest amount $27,739,762 in base aid, up from $27,209,053 in the current school year. That doesn't include $211,759 in community schools aid the district would get in the budget. Jordan-Elbridge would get the next-highest total, with $9,425,044 in proposed aid for the 2016-17 school year a 3.1 percent increase over the $9,141,376 received for the current school year. In his joint State of the State and executive budget presentation Wednesday, Cuomo said he wants to increase school aid by $2.1 billion over the next two years and eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a formula that was used in past years to help close the state's budget deficit. The Republican-led state Senate passed legislation this week to eliminate the GEA and erase the $434 million in cuts remaining. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has said that getting rid of the GEA is his conference's top education priority this year. "I've said this very clearly: We will not have a budget if the GEA is not eliminated," Flanagan, R-East Northport, said in a speech last week. "It's been there way too long." While education advocates may be pleased with the elimination of the GEA, they aren't happy with the school aid levels included in Cuomo's budget proposal. Dr. Rick Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium, said the executive budget falls "far short" in providing support to districts around the state. "The proposed $991 million in 'new' state aid is over $1.4 billion less than what the Regents thoughtfully recommended to essentially maintain the status quo for our neediest children and school districts," Timbs said. " PROPOSED 2016-17 BASE AID FOR CAYUGA COUNTY-AREA SCHOOL DISTRICTS Auburn: $27,739,762, up from $27,209,053 2.7 percent increase Cato-Meridian: $8,844,904, up from $8,589,370 3 percent increase Jordan-Elbridge: $9,425,044, up from $9,141,376 3.1 percent increase Moravia: $7,973,790, up from $7,731,329 3.1 percent increase Port Byron: $8,594,122, up from $8,323,857 3.2 percent increase Skaneateles: $3,537,718, up from $3,382,532 4.6 percent increase Southern Cayuga: $5,813,163, up from $5,620,001 3.4 percent increase Union Springs: $6,370,976, up from $6,216,339 2.5 percent increase Weedsport: $5,437,862, up from $5,227,113 3 percent increase Gov. Andrew Cuomo has activated the state Emergency Operations Center and resources have been deployed in response to lake effect snow systems moving through central and western New York. Up to 11 inches of snow is in the forecast for Syracuse, with higher totals expected in northern Cayuga County and Oswego County. The National Weather Service has issued a lake effect snow warning for parts of central New York until Wednesday evening. "As heavy snowfall continues to hit western and central New York, the state will be taking all necessary efforts to support our local partners and keep our residents safe," Cuomo said. "Travel in these areas will be difficult and dangerous as weather conditions worsen, and I encourage everyone who must travel to plan ahead and drive carefully." According to the governor's office, the state Department of Transportation has 1,700 operators and supervisors ready to respond to the winter storms. Equipment includes 652 large plows, 72 medium plow trucks, 150 loaders, 32 trucks with loader-mounted snow blowers, 32 tow plows and nine pickup trucks with snow plows. The agency has more than 202,000 tons of road salt to treat affected highways. The Thruway Authority has moved additional equipment and personnel from Albany and New York City to central and western New York. There are 390 plow operators and supervisors in the Buffalo and Syracuse areas. Resources in these regions include 210 large and medium plow trucks, 32 front-end loaders, 17 large snow blowers and 72,000 tons of salt. There is a travel warning in place for Onondaga County. The Thruway is restricting long tandem trailers on Interstate 90 between exits 31 (Utica, I-790) and 42 (Geneva, Lyons, Route 14) until noon Wednesday. Despite disagreements on a myriad of issues, U.S. Rep. John Katko sees plenty of opportunities for Congress to work with President Barack Obama following his final State of the Union address. Early in his 58-minute speech, Obama mentioned heroin and prescription drug abuse both of which are problems in central New York. Katko, R-Camillus, has said it's "one of the biggest issues" facing the region. Katko said in a phone interview he's also introduced a bill to address the growing synthetic drug problem. Whether it's heroin or synthetic drugs, Katko thinks there are opportunities for members of both parties to work on these issues. "Providing more funding for heroin clinics and get people more treatment. There's a long waiting list for people on heroin to try and get treatment," he said. "We've gotta address that. I thought that was very good." While Obama outlined some priorities for the final year of his presidency, his final State of the Union address gave him an opportunity to reflect on his two terms in office and tout several achievements private sector job growth, low unemployment and sub-$2 gas prices. He said one of his few regrets is that the "rancor and suspicious between the parties has gotten worse instead of better." "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office," Obama said. Katko said Obama seemed wistful looking back on his previous seven years. "I was waiting for him to say he could've gone in a different direction in the course of his presidency and been less confrontational with Congress," he said. "But regardless, he did mention things that he wants to work together with Congress on this year and that's really what I want to focus on." Following the State of the Union, Katko's son, who was his guest for the address, received a thank you from the commander-in-chief. Sean Katko, a junior at SUNY Geneseo and an U.S. Army ROTC cadet at the Rochester Institute of Technology, was his father's guest for the president's address. He wore his military dress uniform for the occasion. The elder Katko said they were walking downstairs in the Capitol when he noticed Secret Service agents were still in the building and Obama was likely close by. "We stood against the wall. They stopped. (His son) shook his hand and the President of the United States said, 'Thank you for your service' to my son," Katko said. "That was pretty cool." Gov. Andrew Cuomo will outline his 2016 agenda today when he delivers the State of the State and executive budget presentation in Albany. While there are several things we don't know about the governor's plans for the year, he's already released more than dozen proposals he wants the state Legislature to consider this session. Raising the minimum wage Cuomo proposed increasing the state's minimum wage from $9 an hour to $15 an hour. The increase would be phased in over a three-year period for New York City and six years for the rest of the state. $300 million for the Environmental Protection Fund One of Cuomo's first announcements was a plan to boost the state's Environmental Protection Fund. He wants to provide $300 million for the EPF, an increase of $123 million over last year's levels and more than double the amount allocated for the fund in 2011-12 Cuomo's first fiscal year as governor. New initiative to combat poverty in upstate cities Cuomo wants to launch the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative, which is modeled after a task force created to address similar issues in Rochester. The goal of the program is to encourage collaboration between business groups, local and state governments and nonprofit organizations in the fight against poverty. The governor's plan includes $25 million that would be provided to 10 cities, including Syracuse and Utica. Downstate investments Cuomo's 2016 agenda includes a plan to expand the Long Island Railroad and install a third line to reduce congestion. Other potential state investments include: - $3 billion Penn Station improvement project. The state would help fund the work, which Cuomo says would transform the facility into a world-class transportation hub. Penn Station, along with the James A. Farley Post Office, would be renamed the Empire Station Complex. - Expanding the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center by 1.2 million square feet and add the largest ballroom in the Northeast. - Modernizing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which provides mass transit service in the New York City area. The plan includes improvements to subway stations and adding Wi-fi hotspots. Expanding MWBE goal Cuomo will call on the state Legislature to expand the minority- and women-owned business enterprises goal to contracts awarded by local governments that utilize state funding. Right now, only state agencies are required to award at least 30 percent of contracts to MWBEs. Economic development Cuomo is proposing a small business tax cut and investments in downtown areas. He also wants to provide funding for a sixth round of the regional economic development council competition. Upstate investments The executive budget proposal will include $22 billion over five years to fund bridge and road repairs. The plan has other components $1 billion for the BRIDGE NY program to repair no fewer than 200 vital local and state bridges and $1 billion for the PAVE NY program to finance local and state road repairs. An additional $500 million would be allocated to improve roads for extreme weather conditions. Cuomo also wants $30 million for upstate mass transit services and a freeze on Thruway tolls until at least 2020. His plan includes a tax credit for frequent commercial and passenger vehicle operators and a 100 percent tax credit for farm-owned vehicles that use the Thruway to transport products. And he's proposing $200 million for a competition to improve upstate airports, including the Syracuse Hancock International Airport. Criminal justice reform Cuomo outlined several ideas in this area, most notably a new plan to offer college courses for inmates in New York correctional facilities. He first proposed this in 2014, but it was rejected by Republicans in the state Senate who didn't want to use taxpayer money on the program. Now, Cuomo said the Manhattan district attorney's office will provide $7.5 million to help fund the initiative. At first glance, it doesn't appear taxpayer dollars will be used to finance the program, at least right now. Municipal consolidation Cuomo has pushed for government consolidations over the years. Now, he's putting his money where his mouth is. He wants to launch a competition that would encourage local governments to develop plans to consolidate and share services. The plan that leads to the greatest reduction in property taxes will be awarded $20 million. Broadband for all This builds off Cuomo's plan to provide $500 million for broadband expansion an idea that was ultimately included in last year's budget. As part of the merger between Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, there will be more than $1 million in investments to help improve broadband availability. The state also unveiled a request for proposals for the New NY Broadband Program. The Seneca County Sheriff's Office reported that a Skaneateles man was caught stealing at the Waterloo Premium Outlets Tuesday and was arrested after deputies chased him on foot. Aaron Aroneck, 25, 6497 County Line Road, Skaneateles, was charged with two counts of fifth-degree possession of stolen property, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration. Deputies were able to place the suspect into custody after tasing him, police said. The sheriff's office reported that Aroneck was arraigned at the town of Junius Court. He was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail or $20,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to reappear on Jan. 21 at the Town of Junius Court. When Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed in 2014 to offer college courses to inmates at 10 state prisons, we argued against doing it with taxpayer money. This week, the governor brought the subject up again, but this time with a plan for having it paid for by a combination of private funding and bank settlement money being held by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. If he can make that happen, we say "Go for it." The biggest argument to be made for education in prisons is that by giving inmates the tools they need to get a job when they get out, that they are less likely to return. This new program would be offered to inmates who already have high school diplomas, and those serving life sentences would not be eligible to participate. With the recidivism rate at about 40 percent in New York, the opportunity to learn a marketable skill, get a high-school equivalency or earn a college degree have value for not just the inmates but society at large. Cutting into the recidivism rate could save money in the long run by cutting the amount of state money being used to keep people incarcerated. And giving prisoners something positive to work on has the potential to make prisons safer for the people who work there. There is always a risk in starting a new program without a long-term plan for funding, but if this program can be paid for without dipping into the general fund, it might be a worthwhile effort. Cuomo envisions educating about 1,000 inmates over the course of five years. Will those inmates then make the best of the opportunity given them and manage to stay out of trouble? This could be a good test to find out if it works. The last reform of the nation's criminal justice system was done in 1967 and therefore, long overdue! Thus, it's a big step forward now that the president has set up a task force that provides meaningful solutions to help law enforcement agencies and communities strengthen trust and collaboration, while ushering the nation into the next phase of community-focused policing. The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing Report explains all aspects of what has to be implemented in order to make the changes that are necessary. It can be found at: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/TaskForce_FinalReport.pdf#page=23. It's also time for the governor of this state to do some serious correcting to the appalling situation in the coming state prison guards' contract negotiations, according to the editorial board of the New York Times (12/25/15). According to the Times article prison guards can beat prisoners nearly to death because their union contract protects even the worst of them from being fired, disciplined or moved into jobs where they could do less harm. In the guard's contract there's a particularly egregious provision that allows guards to essentially obstruct investigations by refusing to answer questions from police agencies. The newspaper article also blames the state prison system, which seems to operate without accountability and has been the scene of countless abuses and assaults. For years I've written letters to the editor in an effort to arouse the public to these injustices inside prisons! The prison guards who have written rebuttal letters in response are no doubt defending the "bad apples" who continue to misquote the truth about my husband's crime and his inside record. The Times article states, the Cuomo administration has to negotiate a contract that allows the state to hold all guards accountable. Joyce Hackett Smith-Moore Auburn MARCELLUS | How did Baltimore Woods Nature Center get its name? The sprawling beacon for outdoor recreation and education that spreads out from 4007 Bishop Hill Road, Marcellus, is made up of five or six different parcels that were acquired at different times, Camp Director Tom Meier said. At one time, the original 99 acres belonged to the Reagan family, Meier said, and either that family or a previous owner used the land for pastures to raise cows. During that time, he said, farmers sent their cows to slaughterhouses in New York City for processing, but legend has it, this particular farmer had some disagreement over pricing with those establishments and sent his animals to Baltimore instead. So, it was Baltimore cows and Baltimore farm and, eventually, Baltimore Woods, Meier said. Local historians, however, suggest that the legend is just that, he said, and do not seem to see much truth in that tale. But, nobody has a better story, Meier said. Though there may be uncertainty about the name, one thing is for certain about Baltimore Woods the nature center celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The organization today known as Baltimore Woods was founded in 1966 as Onondaga Nature Centers the organization that also developed Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville and Cayuga Nature Center in Ithaca. Past In compiling the history of the nature center a few years ago, Meier said he went through the nature centers archives that include old photographs and newspaper clippings going back to the start in May 1966. In that process, just digging through everything, it was interesting to see how it came about and who was involved, he said. It was from the very beginning just the work of some very dedicated community members that wanted to see this happen. That group, he said, started Onondaga Nature Centers and included SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry professors and other prominent people. They had this vision, this idea, that the central New York nature is just interesting and amazing and they wanted to get people connected to it, Meier said. They wanted to create nature centers in communities. Initially, the group looked at 13 likely places to locate nature centers Beaver Lake was on that list, Meier noted, but Baltimore Woods was not and worked with Onondaga County to create something more or something different than a recreation center at Beaver Lake. In the late 1970s, the Save The County Land Trust now called the Central New York Land Trust found the chance to acquire Baltimore Woods as it protected natural areas throughout the region. That group raised the funds and had Onondaga Nature Centers come out to host programs at Baltimore Woods. When the county took over what is now Beaver Lake County Park and Cayuga Nature became its own entity, "that's when things really started to pick up out here at Baltimore Woods," Meier said. At the time, Onondaga Nature Centers was reaching 40,000 students across five counties with its programming. Onondaga Nature Centers subsequently changed its name to Centers for Nature Education to avoid confusion with the new county park. In 2008, Centers for Nature Education changed its name to Baltimore Woods Nature Center since nobody knew what Centers for Nature Education meant. Wed been doing programs out here for decades, Meier said. We hadnt started any more nature centers in the area, which was our original mission. There wasnt an opportunity to do that for a long, long time. With that name change, he said, Baltimore Woods embraced its identity and kept growing returning to its roots in terms of outreach and involvement. A nature center can be more than just the place, he said. Its about the people in the community that it reaches and that are involved in it. Present Executive Director Mary Kate Intaglietta said Baltimore Woods has seen much growth in the past three to four years with expanded programs and, particularly, opportunities for children including its 30th year of summer camp. For 8 weeks, we have hundreds of kids on site really having wonderful opportunities to connect with nature, she said. Were fully focused on nature play to be able to inspire that sense of wonder in the environment. Weve seen a tremendous number in the past three years. Baltimore Woods also expanded its Nature in the City program to reach about 10,000 students in grades K-6 in the Syracuse City School District and kindergartners and first-graders at Casey Park Elementary in the Auburn Enlarged City School District. In terms of on-site programs, Intaglietta credited Meier with starting Natures Little Explorers, which brings preschoolers to the nature center for educational play, and a homeschooling program with the same premise. But, when thinking of the 50th anniversary, Intaglietta said she looks beyond the programs and at the number of people who came together to support the nature center and came to know one another in the process. It is amazing and inspiring to think of all of the friends that Baltimore Woods has who maybe did not know one another," she said. "To think about the amazing things that happen when small groups and large groups of people come together when theyre really committed to a mission or a cause." The executive director pointed to the campaign to name the pavilion after former Executive Director Patty Weisse, the nature centers growing endowment and camp scholarships for children in Onondaga and Cayuga counties as recent examples of volunteer support. She also pointed to the A-team of volunteers that visits the nature center every Wednesday but also comes at other times during the week and gets together for breakfast Tuesday mornings. "Very few of them, if you ask, really knew each other before they came to Baltimore Woods," Intaglietta said. "Whats inspiring for a lot of us in the work we do is ... to see what thats done for the organization in the past 50 years and to see what theyre excited about for the next 50 years. Future In the next 50 years, Intaglietta said she has dreams for the Woods and draws inspiration from a dream that came true a group of volunteers recently put a back deck around the interpretive center that people of all abilities can use to birdwatch or to host a party. I look at the back deck and whats been done in the past year and a half, and I look at the opportunity there, she said. The only way to get to it if you werent able to do steps was to come through the building, where now we have a ramp that stretches around the building and its completely accessible. The executive director said she appreciates what the Baltimore Woods education team does in the community and would like to see it continue to grow the on-site programs. She noted the nature center saw more than 1,000 students in Onondaga and Cayuga counties visit during field trips in 2015. When you think about it, its phenomenal, she said. For some of them, that may have been their first real introduction to being in an environment like Baltimore Woods. Meier recalled a visit from fifth-graders in the Syracuse City School District. For a lot of them, that was the first time theyd ever been out of the city, off of their street, to come out and see the forest and the creek and everything like that, he said. That was really neat to watch. Intaglietta added that many of those students have grown up with Nature in the City, so coming to the nature center allows them to connect with the educators who come into their classrooms. Weve really started to identify some programs that are more geared toward adults and some that are great for families and some that are great for little ones too," Intaglietta said. "Its a pretty special thing to be able to come out to the Woods and participate in one of our programs and explore." Reflections For Meier, the anniversary means 50 years of a community rallying around the nature center and around the nature of central New York and just really embracing that idea, he said. He pointed to the dark ages for the nature center in the early 1980s when it experienced financial difficulties and the executive director was a volunteer before the staff gradually built back up to what it is today. If you look at all the ups and downs the organization has had over the years, thereve always been community members ready to jump in and keep it going and keep it moving forward, Meier said. Every step of the way, its been that committed volunteerism. He also pointed to how many people over those years have connected with" Baltimore Woods and nature as a whole, especially with 30 years of summer camp that sees former campers now bring their children to the program. Ive had campers grow up to be counselors, Meier said. That connection that people have with this place and with nature on a larger scale because of what were doing here, inspiring that sense of wonder and stewardship, is really cool. For Intaglietta, the anniversary means honoring the work that I think all of our predecessors did before us in our roles, noting that many of them still live in the community, take an active interest in Baltimore Woods and offer their advice. Its wonderful to be able to connect and hear that theyre excited about the growth of the organization and to see that we still honor and praise the work that they did, she said. Its a lot of work. Its a lot of growth in 50 years. Its something that were all very, very proud of. But, it all boils down to community. Though Baltimore Woods is a nonprofit organization that relies on memberships, sponsorships and some public funding, it truly relies on community members coming together, Intaglietta said. It is the community that really keeps us going year after year and inspires us to dig deeper and reach farther to continue the work that we do, she said. Chicken takeaway Oporto to undergo revamp in 2016 Australian fast food chicken chain Oporto will be undertaking a fresh approach in its business during 2016. Operating since 1986, Oporto will be updating its restaurants to what the chain describes as a warmer, more authentic natural modern aesthetic. The re-brand will include an update of employee uniforms and the relaunch of the companys Original Chilli Sauce which will be made using fresh ingredients. We retain our traditional recipes where our sauce was hand made by founder Antonio Cerqueria from a family recipe, said Oporto CEO Craig Tozer said. Our customers have told us that our refurbishments so far have brought us up to date, making Oporto a fun, vibrant place for them to visit and enjoy the famous Bondi Burger and Portuguese flame grilled chicken that we all love, Tozer said. About Oporto Oporto was established in Sydney in 1986 by founder Antonio Cerqueira who started selling Portuguese style chicken out of a North Bondi shop. The first Oporto franchise store opened in 1995 and now there are more than 140 stores across Australia. According to a 2013 Roy Morgan Research study Oporto had been steadily gaining popularity amongst Australians with 28 per cent of the population having visited the chain at least once. Edgell introduces ready-to-eat legume salads range Simplots Edgell bean brand has introduced a new ready-to-eat salads range into Australian supermarkets. The range includes the following: Red Kidney Bean Salad: Red kidney beans, quinoa and black beans in a smoked paprika dressing Red kidney beans, quinoa and black beans in a smoked paprika dressing Chick Pea Salad: Chick peas and buckwheat with a lightly spiced honey and lemon infused dressing Chick peas and buckwheat with a lightly spiced honey and lemon infused dressing Lentil Salad: Lentils , brown rice and chick peas in a mild curry spiced dressing Lentils brown rice and chick peas in a mild curry spiced dressing Cannellini Bean Salad: Cannellini beans, risoni and red kidney beans in a balsamic dressing All of the salads achieve a 4.5 star rating as part of the Federal Governments health star rating system. Edgell says that they are all high in protein and come in a bowl format for convenient eating. An AUD$600 000 advertising campaign will be undertaken to help launch the product. The salads are available now from Woolworths supermarkets in 200 gram servings for AUD$3.49 each. The salads will also be available at independent supermarkets supplied by Metcash. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has signed an eight-figure contract with IBM to modernize the central bank's automated clearing house services as the industry gradually moves to speed up payments for the digital age. It's a project that's likely to be mirrored at banks around the country in the next year or two, as the ACH system evolves from settling payments in the current one to five days to same-day settlement starting in September (per changes in NACHA rules), and on to faster payments beyond that. "There's a lot of change happening in the ACH world," said Keith Melton, director of commercial payments at IBM and a member of the Federal Reserve's Faster Payments Task Force. "The windows to process ACH transactions are going to get smaller and smaller. Not only do central operators at the clearing house and the Fed need systems that can handle those changes, the commercial banks will as well." The move comes at a time when the Federal Reserve keeps prodding the industry to catch up with countries like the U.K. and Singapore, where payments already happen at the speed of the Internet. The Atlanta Fed serves as the central operator for the ACH network. Billions of ACH and check payment transactions electronically flow through its systems each year. Brian Egan, senior vice president of the retail payments office of the Atlanta Fed, said its current mainframe system already supports same-day settlement. It's an optional service right now, used by a small number of banks in low volumes. The new technology will help the Fed adjust and scale up as all banks shift to quicker settlement times, Egan said. However, the motivation behind the software purchase is a general need to cut costs and become more efficient, Egan said. "We've been trying to modernize our payments processing infrastructure to take advantage of changes taking place in technology and ultimately reduce cost," he said. "That's what this effort is about, trying to streamline and make more cost effective and efficient our current processing platforms in the electronic check and ACH space." The IBM Financial Transaction Manager for ACH software will be used to upgrade the system the Fed uses to input, process, clear, settle and provide billing and accounting functions for all ACH payments in all 12 Fed districts. The Atlanta Fed has already been using IBM's Financial Transaction Manager to handle electronic checks for four years; the Fed bank processes 30 million electronic checks a day. Having ACH and electronic check payments on the same platform will help lower costs, Egan said. Fewer tech support people will be needed, for instance, since there's only one system they need to understand, not two. The bank also uses the IBM software as its core processing engine. "We think by bringing the check and ACH systems together, we can reduce the number of environments we have to support," Egan said. "We think we can reduce some of the technical folks we need to support changes because of the [more intuitive] user interfaces. These cost takeouts won't happen until after we've gotten implemented and into production, so that's a couple of years away." The Fed's software demands are somewhat unusual for one thing it processes more than 100 million items a day. One might think its options for a new system would be limited. However, when Egan's team sent out a request for proposals, it received responses from six vendors. (It also considered building its own system in-house.) "A couple of them, after we had some dialogue with them, decided to opt out of the discussion, but we still had detailed conversations with four," Egan said. IBM's system appeared to provide the best cost proposition over the next five to 10 years, Egan said. Another factor was that IBM's software met most of the Fed's requirements. Also, moving from a mainframe to a distributed application "gives us the capability to be more nimble in some respects," Egan said. "We don't have to get programmers to go do changes now, as happens with a mainframe. There are more user interfaces created in this system that allow the end user to make changes and get things done faster than we could in past." The timetable for the project has not yet been set. The Fed signed the contract with IBM at the end of last year and is having its first meetings with the vendor this week. "We're doing a detailed deep dive in the system and what it does and how we should go about building a project plan, when they can deliver some of the requirements they've laid out," Egan said. "Once we have that, we'll develop a project plan with time frames. Our goal is to get this in as quickly as we possibly can." Egan estimates it could be three years before the new ACH is fully in production. "Traditionally when we've done these big programs, they take 18-36 months to accomplish, sometimes longer," he said. "It depends how much work we have to do with testing interfaces as we build a project plan. We want to make sure that when we put this in that ACH payments continue to flow because you still want to get paid." Under the Hood IBM says its FTM system, which has been around since 2011, is used by banks in other parts of the world, such as Lloyds in the U.K. and another customer in Singapore, to support their countries' faster payments initiatives. Egan said he doesn't expect financial institutions that use the Fed to feel any difference from the new system for some time. They will not need to make corresponding changes to their payments systems and the new IBM software will be transparent to them. Eventually, however, the system should allow the Fed to offer them new services. For instance, better data gathering in the IBM software will let the Fed offer banks better monitoring of their customers' payments. They could flag any payment that's over a certain limit, such as $1 million, and provide instructions about whether or not to process the file. "It would give them some capability to manage credit risk, customer risk and financial risk with a customer who may be sending more value than the bank would like them to send," Egan said. It will be interesting to watch how commercial banks cope with the move to same-day settlement and faster payments, and how many have to invest in software the way the Fed has. Editor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com. Weve established that the current U.S. government is not capable of handling the growing threat of Islamist Lone Wolf attacks, and that the grassroots public is the best approach to curtailing the threat. Curtailing Jihadi action consists of three steps: Obtaining appropriate weapons Learning all there is to know about their care and use Preparing ourselves to act in response to Jihadi attacks The first is largely accomplished, for which we can thank President Obama. So disruptive has his tenure been, so polarizing his rhetoric, that he, one of the most antigun politicians alive, has acted as the greatest gun salesman in human history. Millions of Americans have armed themselves over the past seven years, and not only with handguns, but with military-style long arms. Yet another wave of purchases will greet his latest executive actions, which he claims are a response to the San Bernardino shootings but would have accomplished absolutely nothing to disarm the Jihadi operatives his policies allowed into the country. A few more executive decrees and we will have fully achieved the state attributed to us by Admiral Yamamoto when the Imperial Japanese Army proposed invading the U.S.: You will find a rifle behind every blade of grass. Americans have taken the first necessary step by arming themselves, like the patriots of the revolutionary era. Those who are armed need to consider if they have the weapons necessary to overcome a potential Jihadi threat. Those who have not yet purchased such weapons should do so. After the weapons are in hand, you will need to educate yourself in their functions and capabilities. Americans believe they have an instinctive understanding of weaponry handed down from the frontier epoch. Do not fall for this. Modern firearms are complex mechanisms that can be mastered only through study, repetition, and familiarity. Make the effort. Take courses, read firearms websites, find and question experts. Learn basic weapons tactics. These are more complex than you may think, and many are counterintuitive. (For instance, a building should not be defended from within. Instead find cover outside and engage attackers from there.) Learn basic tactics for handling workplace shootings. There are a number of YouTube videos dealing with these in detail. For years, people were told merely to flop over and give up. Today, its understood that all present must attack, and attack relentlessly, with whatever weapons are available. (They speak in terms of throwing coffee cups, desk phones, computer keyboards, etc. But 9mms would probably work better.) Stay informed about Jihadi tactics and targeting. As with anything else, these evolve and change over time. (But dont be hypnotized by these. Many Jihadi wasps are abnormal, and their targeting eccentric. Lutchman, for instance, intended to bring on the Islamic apocalypse by massacring the habitues of a local bar where he had been snubbed.) Learn the warning signs of Islamist conversion: Muslim clothing, unkempt beards (or niqabs for women), sudden devotion to daily prayers, hostility and belligerence to kaffirs of all types, but Jews in particular. Do not ignore these signs. Recall the neighbor who noted extremely suspicious activity on the part of Malik and Farook but refused to report them for fear of profiling. If it even exists, profiling is a venial sin. Enabling the massacre of dozens of your neighbors is a mortal sin. When the time comes, it is highly unlikely -- to say the least -- that the FBI, Delta Force, or Homeland Security will appear out of the clouds, so it is best to stand up rather than be relegated to the headlines as a victim of workplace violence. That said, not everyone is capable of legal violence. Many women, the elderly, and certainly children should flee a terror attack. As for the rest of us, we should not -- we cannot -- accept such a course of action. There are certain dues that a member of a civilization must pay. Defense of his fellows is one of them. This does not mean that we should all aim at becoming John McClanes. Keep in mind that most armed confrontations end when a weapon is produced. The majority of criminals break at this point, and there is no reason to doubt that the type of loser attracted to Islamism will prove any more resilient. If a firefight does ensue, it is best to suppress the attacker and prevent him from continuing his slaughter than to rush him. (This is particularly true if more than one is involved.) Contain the attackers on a single floor or section of a public space and await the authorities. On arriving, police are likely to be confused, frightened, and flicking through their PC manual to discover what the right move is. Clearly and firmly inform them as to what is happening, point out where the attackers are hidden, and get out of their way. While in some cases, you will be turning control over to incompetents, cowards, and the type of compulsive who needs to tick off every last subclause in the rulebook before taking action (as occurred at Cheshire, Connecticut, resulting in three murders under the most horrifying circumstances imaginable) there is nothing you can do about it. If forced, for whatever reason, to take down the terrorist yourself, do not act as executioner. This is not your place, and in any case, its better to have a whimpering misfit to display as the typical Jihadi terrorist (recall the Zappaesque Richard Reid or Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his exploding undies) than a corpse that ISIS can raise to the level of martyrdom. Some of the preceding may shock some readers. But it shouldnt. On September 24, 2014, in Moore, Oklahoma, Alton Nolen, a convert to Islam, committed an act of jihad that has since been buried deep by the media and government, probably on the grounds that it might provoke bad thoughts in the beta class. Nolen was an ex-con converted in prison that had been released early for unknown reasons. After adequate prayer and study, Nolen struck out at the deadliest enemy of the ummah that he could find, a 54-year-old grandmother who worked with him at Vaughan foods. After beheading her, he was taking out after another woman when he was shot by companys CEO, Mark Vaughan, a part-time deputy. So no -- its not out of the question at all. There are thousands or Nolens in this country. They must be met by tens or hundreds of thousands of Vaughans. This is how the country was established and maintained for many generations. It is actions like this that cleared the frontier and set the framework of the American republic in place of pure chaos. Actions like this cleared San Francisco of criminal gangs in 1851 and 1856. An action like this destroyed the James gang in Northfield, Minnesota in 1876. An action like this in 1946 overthrew a criminal gang that had seized the town of Athens, Tennessee while the townsmen were fighting overseas. These are not the actions of fascists or degenerates, but the acts of free men goaded beyond endurance. Direct action, taken legally by citizens in support of the general peace, is how Americans do things. It is the whimpering beta of the past few decades, plaintively asking why nobody will do anything, that is the exception in American history. We need to return to the traditional expression of citizenship in this case, the one that James brothers despised and that Yamamoto feared. As time passes, more organized action must be taken against Islamist influence. It is common knowledge that students in schools across the country have been subject to Islamic indoctrination, taken on tours of mosques, taught to memorize passages of the Koran, and even led in repeating the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. All of these have been excused as multicultural education. (Try teaching a public school class the Shema or the Pater Noster and see where that gets you.) Clearly, the only way to halt this is to get on the school board and act. Similarly, many priests and ministers -- and, hard as it to believe, a few rabbis -- have allied themselves with Islamists of various stripes on the grounds of ecumenism. These are then utilized as what the Soviets called useful idiots, shields for illicit behavior. Pressure from laymens organizations could help curtail this. The same must be said about city councils, political committees, public service organizations such as YM/WCA, scouting organizations, and so on. These have been or will be targeted by Jihadi sympathizers and their collaborators. Action must be taken in all these cases. Warn your kids -- young girls in particular -- against indoctrination and all other types of approaches. Remember Rotherham, where over a thousand young girls were turned out by Islamic pimps while the government, police, media, and their fathers, uncles, and brothers looked the other way. This is still occurring in Rotherham and other British towns. There will be attempts to duplicate it in the U.S. It must not happen to our girls. These are all long-term efforts. What is urgent is to assure that we are defended against Jihadi attacks, both organized and by Nasarian wasps. Once again: the government will not protect us. We are on our own. Self-defense is not a crime; reacting to a threat is not paranoia. We are at war -- in war, you do not make excuses. I was working five blocks away from the WTC in September 2001. Hundreds of people whom I knew -- whom I travelled with, whom I spoke to, whom I worked beside -- were massacred in that apocalypse. Witnessing others fall to the same forces is unacceptable to me. It is time to strike back, as our fathers struck before us. Last weekend I listened briefly to some local Binghamton, NY persons I do not know give their opinion of Martin Luther King over the radio. They talked about his sense of community as going beyond ones immediate family and neighborhood. They talked about a new world order reminiscent of an international community out of Orwells 1984. This is a dangerous goal given the makeup of the United Nations, where many nations are not our friends. One of them interviewed expressed that Kings greatness came from his rooting within the Gospels, believing in peaceful means to accomplish worthy goals. Today, we rarely hear anyone in our national public discourse express strength through religion, let alone Christianity. It was shocking to my ears to hear these ideas conflated especially as the world is on fire. The same weekend the History Channel reran its series on World War I and II, where many leaders hoped for world peace, but instead guaranteed thirty years of war and 100 million deaths. Sadly, it is not in the nature of many maniacal leaders who prefer dictatorial powers to accept a world at peace. They reject a representative republic which is American-inspired. Some of our people think that we are the cause of so much destruction, but we have only been a nation for over two hundred years. We were late to the two World Wars and ended the conflagration. Our country is so fragmented. One group thought that through the cult of personality of President Obama, the worlds ills could be corrected. This was the same type of madness that led Germany to install Adolf Hitler (a dominating personality) as chancellor during the 1930s. The controlled and restrained approach to war-fare that President Obama has chosen in battling Islamic terrorists, whether they are ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban, the Islamic mullahs of Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood has not contained the ideology. This appeasement reminds one of Britains Neville Chamberlain and his hope to avoid war. It was utterly futile then and will be so now. Other groups believe that they can elect a new president to repair the disease that has taken hold of America. This country is like a large ship. It cannot be swiftly turned around. The act itself renders us vulnerable as we are out of defensive position. No one president can reverse the many ills affecting America. It is time to remove the party bureaucracy and established bosses who have given us the present mess. Our economy is weak; our treasury is depleted through deficit spending, and we cannot manage our foreign policy objectives. The election in 2016 will give the nation the opportunity to end dependency and reverse the destruction of our manufacturing base. Yet, 45% of the nation is prepared at the outset to continue with similar policies (and elect a Democrat). Santayana had warned that history could only serve a lesson to one willing to learn. To be sure, most Republican candidates cannot fix what ails our country. They have never created any business assets, personal wealth, maneuvered political obstacles, built anything, created significant numbers of jobs, managed destructive governmental rules, nor provided a national consensus for a new direction. The election of 2008 was a wave election in which Obama was able to move the nation toward socialism. We must halt this movement to safeguard our Constitution and restore our national purpose. This effort will take unity among the competing entities of the Republican Party. Four years ago this division gave us the re-election of Obama over a decent man, Mitt Romney. Three remaining candidates do have experience as governors. This is a helpful background, but does not guarantee success. There is too much ego and too little statesmanship among our politicians; a far cry from our founding fathers. Ronald Reagan would not recognize this Republican Party in which his eleventh commandment is routinely ignored. The election of 1980 was a wave election in which Reagan moved the country toward more self-reliance. He did not complete the job and the federal government continued to grow. The effort to restore federalism is far from completed; under this concept, federal government has three competing branches and the states have sovereignty. The national politicians have usurped power over the past 100 years, but the greatness of America lies in its people and ability to renew its institutions as the need arises. The rise of Trump is not a fluke, but it reflects anger with the establishment. His vocabulary is inflammatory; he is braggadocio to a fault. The establishment opponents do not understand the frustrations of the citizenry. Our conservative leaders have not redeemed their promise to halt Obamas Executive Orders, his damage to our military, the bleeding of our treasury, the division among the races, illegal immigration at the expense of citizens and states, and loss of national pride and exceptionalism. Our nation is resilient, but our politicians have created this mess. We would benefit from fewer politicians, the new aristocracy which most Americans resent. The list of problems is substantial. A president would be successful if a few of these issues could be corrected. The trajectory could be fixed, which would allow American ingenuity to repair the damage caused by politicians. The Federalist Papers were written to provide the intellectual basis for the Constitution after the failure of the Articles of Confederation was recognized. Our founders understood the desire for ever-increasing power and attempted to mitigate this risk. At various times the Congress and the Supreme Court have exerted their power, but they are overwhelmed by the president in our modern world. The system is subject to the mediocrity of our politicians. This may be a wave election akin to that of 1860. Lincoln was forced to remake the union through war. Let us hope that the next president will remake the coalition that allows us to escape our morass. Australia's one-term Prime Minister above ... Events of interest from a libertarian/conservative perspective below In the mid-19th century an early British feminist, Caroline Norton, involved in a law case resulting from her disastrous marriage, wrote that the law must be changed. Women, she held, were not appealing for an exceptional law in their favor; on the contrary they were appealing not to be made an exception from the general protection of the laws. Her argument is still pertinent in view of continuing Islamic subordination of women by legal and other means. Indeed, the essence of it has led to discussion of the issue in a bill introduced in October 2015 by another Caroline, Baroness Cox in the House of Lords. This legislation is intended to outlaw gender discrimination in the Islamic sharia courts in the U.K. It would make illegal anything that constitutes discrimination, harassment, or victimization on grounds of sex. The surprising announcement on January 8, 2016 that Shamim Qureshi, a Bristol Crown Court Judge, had been granted permission to sit as a presiding judge on a sharia court, the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT), in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, set up in 2007, has drawn extra attention to the issue of discrimination against women, as well as the appropriateness of mixing official, national, secular law with religious law. The MAT, which has undermined the rights of women, has jurisdiction over issues such as Islamic divorce, inheritance law, wills, and family mediation. Parenthetically, its leader, Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, is a political activist. He led a demonstration of the Muslim Action Forum on February 8, 2014 in Downing Street, outside the gates of the official residence of the British prime minister, objecting to the cartoons, caricatures, and depictions of the Prophet in Charlie Hebdo, a month after Muslims had massacred 11 of the CH journalists in Paris. There are two issues involved. The purpose of the Cox bill is to restrict the powers of sharia courts, now estimated to number 85 in the UK, and sometimes referred to as sharia councils, to help vulnerable women who need protection from exploitation and to end gender discrimination by Muslims. It addresses the problem of religiously sanctioned gender discrimination. The second issue is to question the growth of an alternative Islamic quasi-legal system that undermines the fundamental principle of one law for all. The disapproval of sharia law results from the reality that it condones domestic violence and physical abuse against women, and that it undermines equal rights and protection under the law. Under sharia law, the process of halala allows a man to divorce his wife by uttering the words I divorce you, three times, divorce can be had by mail, and polygamy to the extent of four wives is allowed. Women are handicapped on issues of child custody, inheritance provisions, and rules of evidence in trials as womens testimony accounts for only half that of men. The inequality is that the rule in MAT is that male heirs in an inheritance dispute receive twice the amount of women involved. This is a special problem since not everyone is aware of the national, secular law. Moreover, women are often pressured by their families to go to the sharia courts or councils. And women may be abused because of the nature of the closed communities in which they live. The evidence is strong that sharia councils operate in a discriminatory and unacceptable fashion. Sharia courts deal mainly with religious questions, but some also incorporate sharia law into legally binding arbitration. The issue of quasi law, or a parallel legal system, is growing, even in criminal law. For example, there are 100,000 Muslim marriages in the UK not registered with civil authorities and therefore not recognized by English law. Regarding criminal law, the sharia courts claim jurisdiction over domestic violence and bodily injury. According to the British Arbitration Act of 1996, whose intention was to clarify principles by which arbitration should be conducted, certain civil disputes can be resolved according to the law of another legal system, in this case sharia principles. But this does not entail rejection or repudiating adherence to the fundamental principles of British law, especially nondiscrimination. Freedom of religion is a cardinal principle, and it is undesirable to interfere with theological beliefs of those who voluntarily practice particular faiths. Similarly, there should not be official intrusion into private life, but limits on them are appropriate to protect the lives of women and people of non-Muslim faiths, and to punish acts of violence and discrimination. The conclusion must be that if practices under a different culture or jurisdiction, such as sharia law, are recognized as incompatible with the culture and jurisdiction of the national country, they should be prohibited. The ultimate law is the law of the country. The problem is that official authorities may be unwilling to take such action because of political correctness or fear of offending the minority community. This was the case of what has been called the Rotherham complex. In August 2014, an official report recorded that in Rotherham, an industrial town in northern England, gangs of local men almost all of whom were alleged to be Pakistanis, raped, coerced by drugs and alcohol, and sold more than 1,400 girls, all white, over the past 14 years. To its shame the Labour Party local council not only failed to halt this abuse but sometimes denied what had happened and even perpetuated it. By their standard of institutionalized political correctness, to act against the Muslims alleged perpetrators would be racist. In the present climate when murders and massacres in the United States, France, and other countries are being committed by Muslims on the basis of fulfillment of sharia law, when mass migration to democratic countries is rapidly increasing, and when the number of sharia courts is growing in the U.S. as in European countries, attention must be paid to the crucial problem of Islamic discrimination against women. Ten U.S. sailors who were taken prisoner by Iran when two small boats were patrolling near Iranian waters have been released along with their vessels, the Navy has confirmed. The U.S. claims one of the small Riverine Command Boats experienced mechanical difficulties, strayed off course, and then disappeared from radar. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured the boats and took the sailors prisoner, accusing them of "snooping" and demanding an apology from the U.S. government. Initially, the Iranians said they would release the sailors and their boats at dawn Iran time. But after an "investigation" that confirmed the navigational problems, the sailors were let go mid-afternoon Iran time. Washington Post: According to the Navys press release, the sailors departed Farsi Island, where they were held, at 8:43 GMT (3:43 a.m. Eastern Time). They were transferred ashore by U.S. Navy aircraft, while other sailors took charge of the vessels, called Riverine Command Boats, and continued on the way to Bahrain, the boats original destination. According to the statement, the Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the Sailors presence in Iran. Irans Fars News Agency first reported the release. Fars quoted a statement by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps saying Iran has released the U.S. marines and their vessels in international waters after its investigations showed that they had gone astray during their voyage in the Persian Gulf. In its statement, the IRGC pointed out that its investigations show that the U.S. combat vessels illegal entry into Iranian water was not the result of a purposeful act, Fars said. There appeared to be a bit of equivocation from Iran earlier Wednesday, with Iranian officials saying talk of an imminent release was speculation. An Iranian Revolutionary Guard spokesman, General Ramezan Sharif, indicated that the Irans next move and its timing will be determined by an investigation. Later, however, Iranian officials said they had determined that malfunctioning navigation devices were responsible for what they called the intrusion. Following technical and operational investigations and in interaction with relevant political and national security bodies of the country and after it became clear that the US combat vessels illegal entry into the Islamic Republic of Irans waters was the result of an unpurpuseful [sic] action and a mistake and after they extended an apology, the decision was made to release them, the statement reported by Fars said. The Americans have undertaken not to repeat such mistakes, it added, and continued, The captured marines were released in international waters under the supervision of the IRGC Navy moments ago. For a while it appeared that the well-known factionalism in the Iranian government might lead to a prolonged crisis. The prisoners could have become pawns in a power play among different elements in the government. But with the Revolutionary Guards under the control of Supreme Leader Khamenei and the lifting of sanctions just days away it appears that cooler heads prevailed in Tehran, and the Americans were released more or less in a timely manner. The Iranians made darn sure that they kept the sailors and the boats during the time that the president was giving his state of the union speech. Obama never mentioned the incident and ended up congratulating himself for doing such a fine job negotiating the nuclear deal. It's not surprising that we "apologized" when Iran committed the provocative act of seizing our boats and our people. The president and Secretary Kerry have become experts at groveling before the petty tyrants of the world and making it clear that just about everything is the fault of the U.S. I question the apology only because if, indeed, the boats strayed into Iranian waters as a result of navigational problem, that wasn't the fault of the U.S. government, and no apology was needed. But Iran needed to further humilate the U.S., and President Obama was glad to oblige. One in six American men will develop prostate cancer. It is the most common cancer after skin cancer, and the second biggest cancer killer for men. Two Israeli scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel promise an almost miraculous cure, now in clinical trials at New Yorks Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It is the culmination of 20 years of basic research by plant scientist Avigdor Scherz and cancer researcher Yoram Saloman. Professor Scherz took a naturally occurring form of chlorophyll from aquatic bacteria: chemically modified by Prof. Scherz's lab at Weizmann to fit the team's pharmaceutical needs. Once the photosensitized drug is injected, it meets up with the second crucial element in this therapylightat the targeted tumor site from highly focused fiber-optic lasers that have been inserted near the tumor. As the chlorophyll absorbs the light, it can then interact with the third component in the processoxygento produce oxygen radicals. This interaction initiates a fast cascade of pathophysiological events that cause instantaneous closing of the blood vessels leading to the tumor, followed by oxygen and nutrient deprivation at the tumor site, as well as other active processes that kill tumor cells. In 24 to 48 hours, the tumor undergoes complete necrosis. The treatment, called vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy or VTP, is a one-time 20- to 30-minute procedure. There have been no side effects in urination or sexual function. The Israeli team foresees applications for breast, ovary, lung, and pancreas tumors. The latter has no effective treatment to date and has been a tragic death sentence. As I read about these medical breakthroughs from Israel, my mind goes to Germany today, and yesteryear. The Nazis killed off their Jewish citizens, their best and their brightest, out of envy, greed, and spite. Attracted by Nazi Jew-hatred, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood allied with Hitler. The Arabs price for their allegiance, valuable because of the promise of sabotaging the British in the oil fields of the Middle East, was to deny Europes 6 million Jews refuge in Palestine, their only lifeline. Germany, Britain, and America under FDR had the same policy in this regard do not upset the Muslim Brothers, it being preferable to let Europes Jews be wiped out by Hitler by forbidding Jews refuge in their own Palestinian Jewish homeland. Divine justice has brought that evil decision back to haunt us. The jihadi movement is Hitlers enduring gift to us. The Third Reich sent Eichmann to Egypt to train the Muslim Brothers in anti-Semitic propaganda, bomb-making, and other sabotage techniques, giving birth to the modern jihadi movement. The Nazis built the Muslim Brothers up from ten thousand to a million members. Ayatollah Khomeini listened to Nazi-Arab broadcasts from Berlin every day of the war years. (Read my column on Hitlers jihadi legacy here, and more from Dr. Matthias Kuntzel here). We are all suffering the consequences today. We had a second chance. If the world had stood behind Israel in the face of the post-war 60-year anti-Semitic Islamic onslaught seeking to destroy them, we would have marginalized and starved the jihadi movement long ago. But Europe chose to indulge the Arabs in their Jew-hatred, only partly to kowtow to the oil-rich Arabs. It was also Europeans pleasure, and the pleasure of European and American leftists in particular, to pretend the Jews were the bad guys. Now Germany is inviting the jihadis out of their Middle Eastern hellhole and into their midst. In her misguided invitation for the Muslim invasion of Europe, German chancellor Merkel is driving out the rest of Europes Jews, who are targeted by Europes hate-filled Arabs, and consigning Germany and Europe to cultural and demographic suicide. The Arab population of Europe has been terrorizing Europes Jews and forcing the younger generation to flee for many years now, but the rest of Europe considered this acceptable. The final tragic chapter in Europes self-destruction is at hand, with anti-Semitism at its core at every step. And then my mind goes to the other side all those lost Jewish lives. Would cancer have been cured decades ago if not for the Nazi-Arab pact of evil that wiped out 6 million precious lives? Jews undoubtedly have genetic gifts, but much of their cultural flowering is from Judaism itself, a religion that fosters reading, thinking, and debating in other words, individualism and freedom. Merkel is instituting the final purge of Judaism from Europe and substituting a million followers of "submission" (thats the translation of the name Islam). Luckily, this time around, the Jews of Europe do have a place to flee and to flourish, and to develop their gifts of life for the benefit of the rest of us. Men over sixty have a special reason to be grateful to Israel this week. Last night, President Obama gave his final State of the Union speech before Congress and some members of the Supreme Court. His speech was more about the long-term future and less about the immediate year remaining. The president's speech can be usefully compared to President George W. Bush's speech of 2008. This is important, because then-senator Obama gave an almost five-minute response to the president's speech in 2008. In 2008, President Bush made a number of points that remain salient today. Interestingly, President Bush called upon Congress to pass legislation reining in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the housing supports of the federal government. President Bush had repeatedly called for such reforms in his eight years as president. The Democratic control of the Senate and House beginning in January 2007 ensured that Barney Frank and Harry Reid would maintain the lax regulations encouraged by massive donations to the campaign of aspiring Senator Obama and other Democrats. Of course, that legislation did not pass, and those federal mortgage guarantee programs would inflate the housing bubble to its disastrous end in the summer of 2008 all to be blamed on President Bush and not the Democratic Congress that refused the reforms. In 2008, President Bush also celebrated the success of the Surge in Iraq that gave rise to the Anbar Awakening and a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq from 2006 and 2007. He warned that premature reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq would lead to a resurgence of al-Qaeda in Iraq and elsewhere. Senator Obama responded by saying that Iraq was not a success and that history would judge President Bush negatively. In last night's speech, President Obama laid Vietnam and Iraq back to back as clear examples of American failure confirming his response in 2008. The White House Twitter feed also celebrated as a success that President Obama has deployed 14,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today. This is apparently not an indication of failure or deception. President Obama refused to comment on the ten U.S. Navy sailors abducted by Iran and stuck to his strident line that "[n]o nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin." Iran dared, and the president refused Speaker Ryan's request for a report and some personal reassurances for the public on the matter. In 2016, President Obama did take time to point to his own accomplishments on the economy, energy, and foreign policy. He lamented his foremost regret that the partisan tone of Washington has increased rather than decreased. This connected well with his rather partisan attack against President Bush in 2008, when he explained how the president was wrong about most of his judgments, from tax cuts to Iraq. Obama's remarks last night emphasized that he had been successful even though some in the chamber might disagree. He enjoyed that humorous insight into the evening with some frequency. Therein lies the character flaw that in many ways defines President Obama and drove higher his greatest disappointment of increased partisanship. He does not share credit. He alone brings change. Those who agree with him contribute to and aid that change, but his opponents have nothing to offer. Did President Obama think that the election of Republicans to the House in 2010 led to or helped reduce the deficit? The president did not acknowledge or suggest that. Did the president think that Republicans or their constituent states and citizens helped bring about two-dollar gas that the president thought so remarkable to comment upon last night? No. In fact, his not so distant mocking of two-dollar gas and Sarah Palin's ridiculous notion that such a goal was achievable was far from the text of his remarks last night. Did the president commend President Bush for providing emergency loans so the auto industry could, as he noted, sell more cars in 2015 than at any other time in its history? No. President Obama did all these things even when he did not. The president's egocentric view of the world, through which he sees himself as uniquely gifted at political insights that his opponents so sorely lack, is symptomatic not only of his presidency, but also of the broader intellectual culture that supports him. In fact, the most stirring aspect of the president's speech last night was a call for Americans to rediscover their formerly perceptive characters that they apparently possessed in some prior past perhaps when Lincoln was president. And while the president and his supporters probably see those remarks as positive and idealistic, they epitomize a habit of failing to see how those who differed with him actually made America and the world a better place over the past eight years. The moral superiority of the president was so evident that not surprisingly, the president was swept into his own emotions. By the end of the speech, he was raising his voice and shouting the conclusion. The speech contained attacks that were not subtle on Donald Trump and the political base of the nation that agrees with him. President Obama knows better, and America will be better, insofar as we agree with him. The lead into the president's conclusion just like President Bush's 2008 speech was "we the people." Ostensibly, the president would again realize that 'we the people' are the government not he. But that was not what the president explained last night. We can become the good people of America again, if we listen to him. But we must reject the leadership of those names we shall not mention tonight like Donald Trump. It was a warning from the future by a political sage of vast intellectual superiority. The condescending have condescended. President Obama has not matured much from the reactive remarks he made against President Bush in 2008 to this final State of the Union in 2016. This lack of growth led to his biggest regret the growing impasses of partisanship in our nation. Ben Voth is an associate professor and director of debate at Southern Methodist University. He is an adviser at the Bush Center and debate fellow for the Calvin Coolidge Foundation. Most of us have locks on our doors. We do not think twice about securing our homes from unwanted intrusion. Yet now the opposition to common sense has increased in Western cultures, to the point where it is now controversial to get foreigners to ask permission before invading another country. There are a significant number of people in the West who believe that everyone in the world has the right to come and go across all international borders. The reasons for this irrational thinking are explicated in a series of essays I have written regarding the suicide of the West. In the first such essay, Culture Matters, I identified the substantial difference between major world cultures on basic behavioral outcomes under the headings of life, liberty, and property. In particular, it is shown that increasing Muslim population within a country is negatively associated with freedom and positively associated with terrorism and female genital mutilation. It should be the consensus of all well-meaning and informed people to end the immigration of people born into such cultures into the West, with the exception of non-Muslim asylum seekers. After decades of Muslim terrorism, the West is now experiencing the fruits of hijrah, the Muslim invasion, in Europe. The bodily integrity of Europes women is being sacrificed upon the altar of multiculturalism to the insatiable god of jihad. However, only one American presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, has had the decency to offer to protect Americans by barring the entry of more Muslims. This power is undoubtedly a legal, constitutional prerogative of the president, under 8 USC 1182, Inadmissible Aliens. For this proposal he has been roundly condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Within my own community, the Jewish-American community, politics have long leaned to the left, unfortunately. The left, of course, is not known for correcting its course based on new evidence; one stays loyal to the old platitudes, no matter the human cost. In the past, one could at least rely on the common sense of the observant Orthodox community and the nationalist Zionist community. Alas, it seems those days are now gone. Both the Orthodox Union and the Zionist Organization of America (both of which I have supported in the past) have condemned Trumps proposal to protect America from becoming Eurabia. OU: Neither partisan politics nor xenophobia can have a place in that debate (concerning the allegedly Syrian alleged refugees). ZOA: Many, ourselves included, think Trumps suggestion to exclude any and all Muslims from coming to America excessive and ill-conceived. The hypocrisy is unbearable. Israel has an immigration policy offering citizenship only to Jews, and possibly others to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Israel has rightly resisted pressure to accept millions of descendants of former Arab residents of the land of Israel, pressure that would result in the dissolution of the Jewish character of the state. In particular, Israel will not accept an influx of millions of Muslims. This policy has been supported by the American Jewish community. The question is now obvious. This policy of barring Muslim immigration is good enough for Israel, so why should it not be good enough for America? Suppose the open-borders supporters were to get their way. We already have accumulated enough evidence by observing Europe to know that the Muslim invaders will attack women and Jews first, raping the first, murdering the second. Is that what the Jewish establishment wants? They should speak with some Jewish refugees from Arab countries in the Middle East, to find out how their distant cousins the Arabs will treat them. God did not send His prophets the Bible as a suicide manual. Just as houses have doors, so does every country have the right to an absolutely secure border, and to decide who can enter. I urge the OU and the ZOA to withdraw their statements, and to allow the American political process to play itself out. I know I will feel much safer, and America will be much safer, with President Trump in the White House. Any other president will put America at existential risk. Surak is a patriot and a scholar. When Pat Toomey, former president of the conservative Club for Growth, was elected a senator from Pennsylvania, we knew he'd be a tough fighter. We just didn't know that he'd be a tough fighter for getting Obama's kooky leftist judges confirmed. Even the Republican leadership, which is far from right-wing, doesn't want to confirm any more judges, but Toomey is to the left of Mitch McConnell on this one. On Monday evening, something exceptional happened in the Senate: Lawmakers confirmed a Circuit Court judge nominated by President Barack Obama. Luis Felipe Restrepo of Pennsylvania became only the second Circuit Court judge approved in the past year, and the 12th federal judge overall, an approval rate slower than any time since 1969. Toomey was hammered for months as Restrepo's nomination stalled, and he now has four Pennsylvania district court nominees moving through the confirmation process. It may upset the conservative base, but a few confirmations could be helpful to Toomey, who faces a tough path to reelection this fall. Who is this Restrepo that Toomey was pushing? A sleazy criminal defense lawyer: In 2005, he was appointed to represent a member of a transnational criminal gang accused of capital murder. Restrepo presented a successful mitigation defense during the penalty phase of trial and his client avoided a death sentence. 2 In another capital case, Restrepo convinced the government to withdraw its notice to seek the death penalty after he presented evidence of his client's mental disability. 3 In United States v. Cantero, Judge Restrepo represented a juvenileone of the few charged in federal courtwho faced multiple offenses arising out of a kidnapping and carjacking. At sentencing, the victim testified on the defendant's behalf, and Restrepo convinced the court to depart downward from the sentencing guidelines. Here are Toomey's own words on the subject, in response to a liberal newspaper that criticized him for not supporting even more leftist judges: As a senator, I have become accustomed to being criticized for things I have done. But it is a little harder to hear criticism for things that I have not done specifically, your editorial board's false assertion that I am somehow delaying the nomination of Judge L. Felipe Restrepo to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ("Unjust Delay: Toomey Is to Blame for a Stalled Nomination," May 10 editorial). Even worse, your board then ascribed a false motive for the actions that I never took. I fully support the president's proposal to elevate Judge Restrepo to the 3rd Circuit, just as I supported his confirmation to the federal district court. In 2012, I joined Sen. Bob Casey in asking the White House to nominate Judge Restrepo to the district court, I urged my colleagues to vote for Judge Restrepo and I happily voted for his confirmation. Sen. Casey and I have worked closely together to identify, vet, recommend and confirm 15 judicial candidates for the federal bench in Pennsylvania. Judge Restrepo's confirmation to the 3rd Circuit will mark 16. Only two states California and New York have had more judges confirmed to their federal benches during this time. This is a record of bipartisan accomplishment to be celebrated, not to be misrepresented. Toomey could have said that he wouldn't support Restrepo, because of his record helping awful criminals avoid jail time. He could have said that he would do everything he could to stop Obama's judges because of their pro-illegal alien and anti-business and anti-police agendas. Even in Pennsylvania, that would have been popular. But the easier thing to do for Pat Toomey was to collapse and become a "me too!" Republican. I supposed he's worried about his upcoming re-election; after all, if a Democrat unseats him, the new senator will undoubtedly be a rubber stamp for Obama's judicial nominees. Just like Pat Toomey (who has a "D" rating from Conservativereview.com). This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site. In his State of the Union address, the president bragged about how well the economy is doing, saying, "The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world." Oh, really? A study by the National Association of Counties has found that of the 3,069 counties in the US, 93% still have not recovered from the Great Recession. Only 214 counties have seen their economies return to pre-recession levels. Wall Street Journal: Nationwide, 214 counties, or 7% of 3,069, had recovered last year to prerecession levels on four indicators: total employment, the unemployment rate, size of the economy and home values, a study from the National Association of Counties released Tuesday found. The reality is slowing population growth and industry shifts mean some parts of the country will likely never fully recover. But by the end of last year, more counties had not recovered on any one of the four indicators, 16%, than had recovered on all of them. Americans dont live in a single economic place, said Emilia Istrate, the associations director of research and outreach and one of the studys authors. It tells you why many Americans dont feel the good economic numbers they see on TV. As was the case in 2014, when just 65 counties had fully recovered, most of those that bounced back are in states benefiting from the energy boom. Last year, 72 of the recovered counties were in Texas, the most of any state. Nebraska followed with 22. Minnesota, Kentucky, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas each had at least 10 fully recovered counties. Meanwhile, in 27 states, not a single county had fully recovered. Some of the nations largest counties finally recovered from the recession in 2015, including the counties containing Denver, San Francisco, San Jose, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio. In 2014, no county with more than 500,000 residents had fully recovered. Last year, 17 of 126 had. The recovery is spreading out from the energy-rich center of the countryin part because a massive drop in oil prices is reversing job creation there while providing an economic benefit to larger metro areas near the coasts. Numerous counties on the West Coast, Nevada, New York, Florida and the Carolinas recorded better than 4% economic growth last year, the NACo study found. (The entire country appears to be growing at about a 2% rate.) But a large swath of counties in Texas, Illinois and other states in the middle of the country suffered economic contractions last year. This is not an "uneven" recovery. This is a non-recovery. Livingston County, Ill., where I live, has an "official" unemployment rate of 6%. That is hilariously wrong. The actual rate is almost double that figure, as many of the unemployed have simply given up looking for work or are working two or more part-time jobs. Economic activity in my small town of Streator is at a near standstill. In the six years I've lived here, several retail outlets including K-Mart have closed, while there is already talk that the Walmart Super Store that opened four years ago may be shuttered. A major employer St. Mary's Hospital and Trauma Center has virtually closed, at a cost of about 500 jobs. Several factories that employed about 1,500 workers have gone bankrupt or moved on in the last six years. The president complains that the economic naysayers refuse to take into account job growth and other measures of success. As studies like this show, it is the president who lives in a dream world while the rest of us toil away, barely getting by. The United Methodist Church has approved a motion to divest its pension interests from Israel. The pension board of the United Methodist Church one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States, with more than seven million members has placed five Israeli banks on a list of companies that it will not invest in for human rights reasons, the board said in a statement on Tuesday. It appeared to be the first time that a pension fund of a large American church had taken such a step regarding the Israeli banks, which help finance settlement construction in what most of the world considers illegally occupied Palestinian territories. There are no illegally occupied Palestinian territories, because the area in question was once part of Jordan, never part of an independent nation. Jews have lived there since biblical times, though there were fewer before 1948 because the "Palestinians" kept massacring them in pogroms. It is curious that the Methodists have unilaterally decided that these lands belong to the "Palestinians." I don't see them calling for divestment from China over Tibet, or from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Or, as human rights are concerned, divestment from Iran and a whole host of other Islamic countries who execute women and homosexuals. Arabs in the Middle East have the most human rights in Israel, not in other Arab countries. Jews are not to be found in other Arab countries, or else they would be killed. But the United Methodist Church doesn't seem to care about these facts. No, it's only the Jews they care about. This mirrors a similar move by the United Church of Christ to divest from Israel. By singling Israel out and holding it to a higher standard than any other nation on the Earth, the United Methodist Church leadership shows itself to be anti-Semitic. There is an ugly strain of anti-Semitism among some mainline protestant denominations like the United Methodists and the United Church of Christ. They should be held up to shame and ridicule. Their unjustified discrimination stains the virtue of their entire organizations. They claim to be religious people. What will God think of Christians who hate their Jewish brothers? This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site. This blog is written solely by John Ray, who has a Ph.D. degree in psychology and 200+ papers published in the academic journals of the social sciences. It does occasionally comment on issues in psychology but is mainly aimed at giving a conservative psychologist's view on a broad range of topics. There are very few conservative psychologists.The blog originated in Australia and many (but not most) posts discuss Australian matters. Australians have an unusually good awareness of events outside their own country. Australian newspapers feature news from Britain and the USA not as an afterthought but as a major part of their coverage. So Australians do tend to have a truly Western heart, which is the reason behind the old name for this blog. So events in Australia, Britain and the USA all feature frequently here, plus occasional coverage of other places, particularly Israel.SCOTUS is the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the landThe "GOP" stands for "Grand Old Party" and refers to the Republican party. The GOP is at present center/Right, while the Democrats have been undergoing a steady drift Leftwards and now have policies similar to mainstream European Leftist parties.The ideological identity of both parties has however been very fluid -- almost reversing itself over time. In the mid 19th century, the GOP was the party of big government and concern for minorities while the Democrats advertised themselves as "The party of the white man" -- an orientation that lasted into the mid 20th century in the South. The Democrats are still obsessed with race but have now flipped into support for discrimination AGAINST whites.Was Pope Urban VIII the first Warmist? Below we see him refusing to look through Galileo's telescope. People tend to refuse to consider evidence if what they might discover contradicts what they believe.Climate scientist Lennart Bengtsson said. The warming we have had the last 100 years is so small that if we didnt have meteorologists and climatologists to measure it we wouldnt have noticed it at all.The term "Fascism" is mostly used by the Left as a brainless term of abuse. But when they do make a serious attempt to define it, they produce very complex and elaborate definitions -- e.g. here and here . In fact, Fascism is simply extreme socialism plus nationalism. But great gyrations are needed to avoid mentioning the first part of that recipe, of course.Beatrice Webb, a founder of the London School of Economics and the Fabian Society, and married to a Labour MP, mused in 1922 on whether when English children were "dying from lack of milk", one should extend "the charitable impulse" to Russian and Chinese children who, if saved this year, might anyway die next. Besides, she continued, there was "the larger question of whether those races are desirable inhabitants" and "obviously" one wouldn't "spend one's available income" on "a Central African negro".Hugh Dalton, offered the Colonial Office during Attlee's 1945-51 Labour government, turned it down because "I had a horrid vision of pullulating, poverty stricken, diseased nigger communities, for whom one can do nothing in the short run and who, the more one tries to help them, are querulous and ungrateful."The book,, authored by T.W. Adorno et al. in 1950, has been massively popular among psychologists. It claims that a set of ideas that were popular in the "Progressive"-dominated America of the prewar era were "authoritarian". Leftist regimes always are authoritarian so that claim was not a big problem. What was quite amazing however is that Adorno et al. identified such ideas as "conservative". They were in fact simply popular ideas of the day but ones that had been most heavily promoted by the Left right up until the then-recent WWII. See here for details of prewar "Progressive" thinking.R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reasonFranklin Delano Roosevelt was a war criminal. Both British and American codebreakers had cracked the Japanese naval code so FDR knew what was coming at Pearl Harbor. But for his own political reasons he warned no-one there. So responsibility for the civilian and military deaths at Pearl Harbor lies with FDR as well as with the Japanese. The huge firepower available at Pearl Harbor, both aboard ship and on land, could have largely neutered the attack. Can you imagine 8 battleships and various lesser craft firing all their AA batteries as the Japanese came in? The Japanese naval airforce would have been annihilated and the war would have been over before it began. FDR prolonged the Depression . He certainly didn't cure it. WWII did NOT end the Great Depression . It just concealed it. It in fact made living standards worse Joe McCarthy was eventually proved right after the fall of the Soviet Union. To accuse anyone of McCarthyism is to accuse them of accuracy! The KKK was intimately associated with the Democratic party . They ATTACKED Republicans!People who mention differences in black vs. white IQ are these days almost universally howled down and subjected to the most extreme abuse. I am a psychometrician, however, so I feel obliged to defend the scientific truth of the matter:The average African adult has about the same IQ as an average white 11-year-old and African Americans (who are partly white in ancestry) average out at a mental age of 14. The American Psychological Association is generally Left-leaning but it is the world's most prestigious body of academic psychologists. And even they have had to concede that sort of gap (one SD) in black vs. white average IQ. 11-year olds can do a lot of things but they also have their limits and there are times when such limits need to be allowed for. America's uncivil war was caused by trade protectionism . The slavery issue was just camouflage, as Abraham Lincoln himself admitted . See also here Leftist psychologists have an amusingly simplistic conception of military organizations and military men. They seem to base it on occasions they have seen troops marching together on parade rather than any real knowledge of military men and the military life. They think that military men are "rigid" -- automatons who are unable to adjust to new challenges or think for themselves. What is incomprehensible to them is that being(to use the extreme Prussian term for following orders) actually requires great flexibility -- enough flexibility to put your own ideas and wishes aside and do something very difficult. Ask any soldier if all commands are easy to obey. Last year was a good year for Huawei, they posted some of their best sales figures and made a lot of money. More than that however, it was an important year for the overall brand image of the Chinese firm. No longer just a suspected Chinese spy, the company partnered with Google to deliver the excellent Nexus 6P, arguably the best Nexus device ever made and one of the best devices from 2015. Partnering with Google gives any smartphone brand a little more credibility, but for Huawei it was doubly important, as the Chinese brand had been struggling with their image for years now. Huawei also burst onto the scene earlier in the year on their own steam, with the Huawei Watch. First making waves during Mobile World Congress last year and going up for sale last Fall, the Huawei Watch is easily one of the best-looking Android Wear watches out there, and now Google is making it a little easier to get your hands on one, if you purchase a Nexus smartphone as well, that is. For those that purchase a Huawei Nexus 6P from the Google Store theyll receive a coupon code to save $50 on a purchase of a Huawei Watch. Whats nice about this, is that customers dont need to use the code against a Watch at the same time, but have up until September 2016 to claim the discount. Its unclear just how long Google will be issuing these coupons for, but were sure that Huawei had a lot to do with this discount as well, after all the Google Store is perhaps more an intermediary and distributor than anything else for their Android Wear products. Regardless, this is a good deal and one that should help people get one of the nicest-looking Android Wear watches available right now. Advertisement The Huawei Watch was an impressive device when we reviewed it earlier last year, and it still is, with Huawei launching new versions during CES 2016 last week. The Jewel and Elegant versions of the Huawei Watch wont be on sale for a little while yet, and its not clear whether theyll be eligible for this discount, but there has to be a reason Google has left the window open for so many months. European regulators have been on Googles backs after accusing the company of abusing its power in web search. As we all know Google is the top dog when it comes to searching for anything on the web. We also know that they use that tool in just about every bit of technology that they develop. In retaliation to the antitrust officials of Europe, Google has hired on Caroline Atkinson who was a former senior advisor to the Obama administration. While working under Obama, Atkinson was the Deputy national security advisor. When Group 8 and Group 20 summit meetings would come around, Atkinson served as Obamas representative. Before Atkinson became an advisor of Obama, she began her career as a journalist and was also a official at the International Monetary. With so much international experience, Google figured that it would only be right to have Caroline Atkinson as their leader in their global public policy. Through the years of Googles growth, competition and privacy have become great concerns to the company and also many other Silicon Valley businesses. By hiring former government officials, Google can diminish those concerns and paint a better image of their company. Google isnt the only company that has hired on a former government official. If we look back in time, David Plouffe who was a former advisor, joined Uber in 2014. Former press secretary Jay Carney became an employee of Amazon last year. These silicon valley companies have made such a huge impact on the world that they need people with governmental expertise to keep them out of hot water. Advertisement Caroline Atkinson will do a great job leading Googles Public Policy. Ms. Atkinson will be replacing Rachel Whetstone who left for a job at Uber. Google has high respect for Atkinson and Kent Walker of Googles general counsel said that they are thrilled to have her part of the team. Hopefully Atkinson can bring peace between Google and the Antitrust officials in Europe. With Google being such a large company, it creates a target for others to shoot at. Since Atkinson has been with the Obama administration since 2011, there should be no doubt that she wont be able to get things under control. Since 2005, Googles Canada operations have been in the IT haven Kitchener-Waterloo metro of Ottawa. They dont have their own building, however; their office is located in a shared building. Specifically, theyve been limited to a space in the Tannery building in Kitchener, a building thats also used by Communitech and Desire2Learn. Such a space is no longer fitting to their operations, it would seem; last year, Google announced they wanted to expand, get more engineers on board and get themselves into a bigger home. It seems that their announced wish has finally come to pass. Tomorrow, on January 14, 2016, Google plans to have a grand unveiling of a new facility in Kitchener that takes up an entire city block. The building theyll be taking up residence in is Breithuapt Block and was once a massive rubber manufacturing facility. The new 185,000 square foot office is all set to house over 350 Googlers for now. There was no word on hiring, but a building the size of a city block is sure to leave plenty of room for more workers. Googles Canadian arm launched a blog to track their exploits, giving some possible insight into the type of work that will be taking place in the massive new facility. The gamut of possibilities here is fairly wide, of course. Everything from Project Loon and self-driving cars to a localized Android division to cater more closely to the Canadian market could be possible, as well as completely new initiatives that are as-yet unannounced. With the available space and the number of workers that could be housed here, its anybodys guess as to the future directions the companys Kitchener office could take. Advertisement Alongside the new facility, Google also plans to take the wraps off some of their locally developed products in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Hopefully, this should give some extra insight into future developments. VR is apparently set to take the spotlight, with a big unveiling of some sort, involving new technology, being promised. A new revision of Cardboard or perhaps a full-fledged VR system to compete with Samsung, HTC and Oculus are possible, of course, but no further word was given. Over the past decade or so, Google has become known as a Silicon Valley giant thats more than happy to try new things and perhaps sometimes take a wild stab in the dark. One project that theyve been working on for a while, and see very real consumer promise in, is the self-driving car. Partnering with Lexus, Google have been testing these cars in California for some time now, attracting their fair share of attention. Now, Google has just released their first set of disengagement figures which lists all the times a human driver had to take over from the system in question in order to prevent an accident or collision. It turns out that, over a 14-month period, Googles self-driving cars have gotten themselves into a lot of near-misses. The figures were released just this month, and cover the period of September 2014 to November 2015 and in that time shows that Googles self-driving cars suffered 341 disengagements across a period of 424,000 miles. This figure is shared between the fleet of both a modified Lexus RX450h as well as the custom self-driving cars of Googles design. Out of these 341 disengagements, 272 of them were due to the car itself, where it might have reported a systems failure or something to do with the car. Google says that the majority of these cases are small hiccups, but in the other 69 disengagements a human driver took over on their own steam. This is often due to the human supervising the car predicting that the car is about to do something dangerous or something that could lead to a suggestion that would end up being dangerous. Google said that in 56 of these, they calculated little change of an accident or something similar happening. Advertisement Despite the fact that the Californian authorities require Google to hand over this data, Google has openly admitted that theyve fiddled with the figures. Google is only required to record instances that could possibly be dangerous, and the Internet giant admits that their supervisors have taken over many thousands of times. The Mountain View firm never liked these regulations in the first place, and it seems like theyre doing everything they can to minimize any damage done by these figures. One interesting thing to note however, was that in all of these disengagements, the average time a human driver took over was 0.8 seconds. We guess that the human race isnt all that slow, after all. Letv hasnt been a part of the smartphone world for that long, theyve announced their first smartphones in April last year. Despite the fact this company is relatively new to the smartphone world, and the fact that the availability of their devices is quite limited at the moment, theyve managed to sell 4 million devices in 8 months they were available last year. The companys Letv Le 1, Le 1 Pro, Le Max and Le 1S handsets have been selling quite well. That being said, Letv will expand to the U.S. really soon, theyre already selling accessories and their smartphones will follow soon. That being said, Letv has announced worlds first Snapdragon 820-powered device during CES in Las Vegas earlier this month, the Le Max Pro, and now they have some additional news to share with us. Letv has held a press conference in China and has basically announced that theyre re-branding, theyve introduced LeEco logo, and the theme of the conference was A New Eco World. This is what LeEco had to say: The new logo consists of the letters L and E, conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world with its simple and elegant design. The four strokes which comprise LE each represents one of the four tiers of the Le Ecosystem Platform, Content, Device and Application. The dot formed by the overlapping of two strokes symbolizes the pivot of the entire ecosystem: EUI and Le Fans. The connection and interaction between the letters L and E expresses the LeEco spirit of constant disruption, breaking boundaries and eco synergy. The three colors of blue, red and green plus the all-inclusive color of grey represent the integration of technology, culture and the Internet within the Le Ecosystem. Advertisement The company has also said that LeEco is looking beyond the Chinese domestic market to compete with global Fortune 500 giants such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix. Sounds interesting? Well, it sure is, Letv has a big appetite for success, they already proved that. Le Holdings Vice President of strategy added the following: The word TV has been eliminated from all sub-ecosystem logos, showing that LeEco has fully grown from a video website in 2004 into a full-featured eco world integrating Platform, Content, Device and Application. After the full implementation of LeEcos seven sub-ecosystems in 2015, LeEcos strategic focus in 2016 will be on globalization, global open ecosystem, and achieving perfect synergy among the sub-ecosystems. So, it seems like the company is all about global expansion, but they wont be named Letv after all? Well make sure to reach out to the company and see if we can get more details, but judging by the info released by the company, Letv is gone. It is also worth mentioning that Mr. Ablimit pointed out that the company is aiming to grow in U.S. and India in 2016., but they also plan to expand to Southeast Asia markets, including Hong Kong. Having been the white box OEM of choice for multiple European wireless carriers, Chinese telecom equipment and electronics company, ZTE, launched a couple of new brands over the past year or so in an effort to better compete in the high-margin premium smartphone segment. While Blade continues to remain ZTEs bread and butter sub-brand in its homeland, the companys ambitious plans of becoming one of the three largest smartphone vendors in the US means its Nubia and Axon brands have to actually see more action when it comes to product launches. Thats exactly what seems to be happening now, with the launch of an upper mid-range phablet called the ZTE Axon Max in China. The device carries a price-tag of 2,799 Yuan ($425), and can be purchased from online retailer JD.com (also known as Jingdong Mall). The Axon Max is a large screen phablet that clearly pays a lot of attention to aesthetics. The device is carved out of metal, and comes with an integrated fingerprint scanner on the back. The handset features a 6.0-inch Full HD 2.5D Super AMOLED display panel thats manufactured by Samsung. Its powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 SoC that incorporates an octa-core application processor. The phone also comes with an AK4961 audio chip, which suggests that ZTE wants to emphasize on the acoustic superiority of the Axon Max over its nearest competitors in the market. The smartphone also comes with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of built-in storage that can be further expanded with the help of a microSD card. Advertisement Taking a quick look at the cameras that come with the latest phablet from Axon, the device rocks a 16-megapixel primary camera on the rear, while a 13-megapixel front-facing shooter takes care of selfies and video calls. The smartphone carries a 4,140 mAh battery, and the inclusion of a new-gen chipset means that the phone is also Quick Charge 3.0 compliant, allowing the device to get 60 percent charged in just about one half hour. Theres no word on when the ZTE Axon Max might launch in international markets, but seeing as it has already made its debut in China, it shouldnt be long before interested buyers worldwide can get their hands on the device. Whether absorbing an art exhibition or grabbing a bite before a show, all those dollars add up to big business for Flagstaff arts and culture. In 2012, Americans for the Arts released Economic Prosperity IV. The most comprehensive study of its kind, the low-cost tool found the non-profit arts and culture sectors to be a $135.2 billion industry nationwide. The Flagstaff Arts Council collected data from 37 local non-profit organizations and 1,332 audience members at cultural events like Flagstaff Symphony concerts and NAU Art Museum exhibitions. AFTAs model determined these sectors to be a compelling economic driver, with a combined $73 million annual budget and $7.6 million in state and local tax revenue. In a partnership between the Arts Council and the City of Flagstaff, another round of data collection is about to be underway. Economic Prosperity Five will survey participating non-profits and cultural event attendees now through the end of 2016 and present the results in summer of 2017. Apples to apples In the surveying years 2010-2011, the non-profit arts and sciences sectors proved to be a $72,938,282 industry in Flagstaff alone. Yet with an industry standard of compiling an economic impact study every five years, Arts Council Executive Director John Tannous noted its time to collect new data. It is not the same study exactly, but it uses the foundation of the prior study, and improves on it, he said. AFTA has been doing these studies for 25 years. They have built a strong program. Project economists with the Georgia Institute of Technology customized the analysis models for each study region offering reliable results, noted the study guidelines. But these numbers dont just look pretty on a page. The 2012 study was incredibly helpful in that it's the first time a study was conducted that included the entire non-profit arts and sciences sector in Flagstaff, including arts programs at NAU that serve the community, Tannous said. For us, the most exciting part of doing this again five years later is that we'll have our first comparative tool to see growth for the sector. We will be able to compare apples to apples, this study to the last. That will be a first for the arts in Flagstaff. Bolstering the BBB Annually, the voter-approved BBB tax allocates a portion, $400,000, for the Arts Council to administer in grants to art and science programs, projects and individuals. The 2012 study found for every one of those dollars, 64 return to the local economy from tourists and residents. With this study and other factors presenting the arts and sciences as such a driving force, Tannous said its effects surface in new initiatives like Artbox Institute or beautification programs. With the arts allocation expected to increase this year, Tannous noted other programs could be on the rise, and outlined the reasons for the study. We the voters have approved the BBB fund, and we deserve regular reporting and assessment on the progress of the fund, Tannous said, noting this study, plus the Arts Councils regular and Annual Report to City council are parts of the sum. The BBB Revenues have been going up, and this study shows that the arts and sciences play a big part in that growth. Secondly, he said, arts and science non-profits can use this information to draw funding support so donors can see quantifiable evidence of the arts strong support of the Flagstaff economy. Tannous added, The biggest outcome was that funding for the arts and sciences through the City of Flagstaff remained mostly level throughout the recession, and now we're hoping its poised to begin rising. The numbers The $73 million figure represents direct expenses of the 37 non-profit organizations that participated in the last study from the Museum of Northern Arizona to Northern Arizona University and smaller NPOs like the Artists Coalition of Flagstaff. It also includes attendees spending at local businesses, as 1,332 audience members reported on questionnaires at the events over the course of one year. Karl Eberhard, the City of Flagstaffs arts liaison, Community Design and Redevelopment Manager and Historic Preservation Officer, noted the BBBs Arts & Science fund is the primary information source. For us, there are two basic parts: One is our contract with the Flagstaff Arts Council and the other is Public Art. Sometimes within the Arts & Science fund and sometimes under other funds there are other investments that dont fit these two however, We coordinate with the Flagstaff Arts Council on these contract portions so as not to duplicate data, Eberhard said. In weighing the benefits of this comprehensive study, Eberhard explained the City and the Arts Council are on the same page: Understanding the economics is important for any community. Without knowledge of a sectors contribution, any such decisions are made blind, he said. For us, the arts sector is strong a vital part of our local economy. It is often portrayed as extra or something less than an important part of our local economy. The prior study has shown otherwise. The decision by 13 current and former Grand Canyon National Park employees to write out extensive complaints of discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment in the parks river district was our last shot, our only hope for making change, one of the letters authors said. The September 2014 letter, which was addressed to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, spurred a more than year-long investigation by the Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General that was summarized in a report released Tuesday and confirmed the validity of many of those complaints. The community of people that got together, we knew this was our one and only chance to make the difference, said the woman, a former employee at Grand Canyon National Park, who asked to remain anonymous. Everyone banded together. We said, We have seen this happen time and time again. Its time to make something happen, she said. The woman complimented the ground covered by the inspector generals report but said she would have liked to have seen more of an emphasis on the hostile work environment created by the men in the parks river district who were the subjects of the complaints. There were so many years where I struggled to get the work done that I needed to get done because I was facing these hostile people, she said. I was in these situations where they were preventing me from being able to hire the people I needed to hire or work with the people I needed to work with or get to places I needed to get to. The men's actions were the driving force behind several women's decisions to leave their jobs at the park, she said. The woman, who worked at Grand Canyon National Park for about 10 years, said she saw two of her supervisors resign because of the stress of the situation and the inability to complete their work. It is a big deal and Ive seen it happen with a number of women and all as a result of working with the river district, she said. With the investigation complete, the woman struck a hopeful tone when asked whether she believes it will spur change within the parks river district. I do, she said. Transfer balls: Manchester United want Guardiola, Messi, Kroos, Niguez, Cavani and Gomes Manchester United will seek to make Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola their manager. To help him settle in at Old Trafford, United will sign Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, who Pep used to manage. This we know because we read it in the Daily Star. The paper adds that Manchester United can afford both Pep and Messi because they have lots and lots of cash from Adidas. Will Messi will want to play for Manchester United following a path trod by Argentine players Juan Veron and Angela Di Maria, both who flopped at Old Trafford after big money moves? Question asked, question answered. Its not going to happen. Next up is Toni Kroos. Fichajes says the Real Madrid player is going to either Chelsea or Man United. The Express says both clubs have approached the players agent with 40m in their hands. Can we trust the Express to be right? Lets look at the papers past reporting on Kroos: The Express later declared: MANCHESTER UNITED have agreed a deal with Bayern Munich for attacker Toni Kroos Sticking with the Daily Express, we learn that United want Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez, 21, who wants to remain in Spain. The Independent says United want Valencia play-maker Andre Gomes, 22, because Niguez wont return their calls. Lastly, the Manchester Evening News says Edinson Cavani could be of interest, as could Mats Hummels, who in January 2015 caused the Daily Star to scream: Borussia Dortmund star Mats Hummels AGREES 37m Manchester United deal. He didnt. He went nowhere much like reporting on Manchester United targets. Anorak Posted: 13th, January 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) - Perugia, January 13 - A Perugia appeals court on Wednesday granted a defence motion to reopen the trial of Somali national Hashi Omar Hassan, who was convicted for the murder of Italian reporter Ilaria Alpi and cameraman Miran Hrovatin in Somalia in March 1994. The court agreed to admit new evidence that has since emerged that could reverse the conviction. The defence is seeking exoneration for their client, who was released to the custody of social services in June last year after serving 16 years of a 26-year sentence. Alpi, 32, and Hrovatin, 45, were ambushed and shot in their jeep in Mogadishu by a seven-man commando on March 20, 1994. Photos taken of the dead body of Alpi, who worked for public broadcaster RAI's third channel, and a medical report on the deaths, along with other key evidence including Alpi's notes, camera and video cassettes, mysteriously went missing on the journey back from Africa to Italy, fuelling suspicions of a cover-up. In February last year, a key witness for the prosecution said that Hassan was "innocent". Speaking to RAI Channel 3, Ahmed Ali Rage claimed that he was asked to testify against Hassan. "I did not see who fired the shots," he reportedly told RAI 3, recanting his testimony. "I wasn't there, they asked me to implicate a man," Rage was quoted as saying by the broadcaster in a statement. The slain journalist's mother Luciana Alpi was present at today's hearing. She hugged Hassan before proceedings began, wishing him good luck. "Ahmed Ali Rage never showed up in person" to give evidence, Alpi said. "We're lawyers," she said of herself and her husband, Ilaria's father. "We understood perfectly that something was wrong, and we've always supported (Hassan)". "Justice has been denied" so far, she said. "I want to give Ilaria and Miran truth and justice before I go," she said. (ANSA) - Rome, January 13 - Italy's food and agribusiness sector is going strong thanks to the Expo world's fair held in Milan last year, Premier Matteo Renzi wrote on Facebook Wednesday. "We have had encouraging results, also thanks to the extraordinary springboard that was Expo," he wrote. "Just a year ago no one believed (in the project). You'll never make it, they said...Today Milan Expo is a worldwide successful case study, a symbol of a wholly Italian ability to get things done, in a city - Milan - that rediscovered its own beauty," the premier wrote. (ANSA) - Rome, January 13 - Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday welcomed at Rome's Fiumicino a group of 11 Kenyan students who survived last April's massacre at Garissa University. The students will spend nine months at Perugia's University for Foreigners thanks to an Italian foreign ministry grant. "The cultural response is fundamental when faced with terrorism," Gentiloni said as he welcomes the students, six young women and five men. "We wanted to give this signal immediately after the Garissa attack in which terrorism killed 147 people to show how cooperation with students from that university could be a response to terrorism". The attackers were from the Al-Shabaab Somali Islamist militant group. Kenya's Ambassador to Italy, Josephine Wangari Gaita, was also present when the group arrived. "I thank Italy for giving these young people the chance to continue their studies in a peaceful environment," Wangari Gaita said. "I'm certain they will make us proud. God bless them and bless Italy and Kenya". The Coconino County Detention Centers very own Mother Theresa has retired at the age of 84. Flagstaff native Theresa Arias has spent more than 30 years of her life as an employee of the Coconino County Sheriffs Office. Along the way, she has touched the lives of thousands of inmates, Sheriffs employees and community members. At her retirement party Tuesday, some of the men and women she worked with over the years took time to thank the woman they called mom or Mother Theresa for shaping them into better people. She was sort of like our mom here at work, said Cathy Allen, commander of administrative and support services at the jail. She taught all of us, whether it was inmates or employees. She helped us grow up and be the people that we are today. In a lot of cases, she taught us right from wrong. Arias was working at a local grocery store when, in 1970, a woman she knew asked if she would consider applying for a job at the jail, which was then located downtown adjacent to the Coconino County Courthouse. She went in for an interview and was hired as a jail matron the title for female deputies in those days. After 11 weeks of training, she became one of only four women on staff as matrons. Her job was to help in the office and take care of the female inmates a responsibility she took quite seriously. I was always taught to treat people the way that you would like to be treated, no matter what the circumstances were, and thats what I always did, she said. You treat them like humans. Like the other matrons, she had to accompany the male patrol deputies whenever they transported female inmates, but she never wanted to be a patrol officer. Arias still keeps in touch with about 10 of her former inmates. Sometimes, those women who were once in her care at the jail now come to her house and sew with her. She also had a profound influence on many of the young deputies who would go on to be leaders in the Sheriffs Office. Retired former jail commander John Koenig has known Arias for about 38 years. She is the godmother to his youngest daughter, his friend and the person who taught him to make tamales a fond memory he shares with countless other Sheriffs Office employees and their spouses. There are three or four people in the history of this department that had a major impact on my career, he said. Theresa is probably the one that had the greatest impact on me. Others who were inspired by Arias include current Sheriff William Pribil who she affectionately calls Billy Boy and Chief Deputy Jim Driscoll, who is running to be the next sheriff after Pribil retires this year. Both men started working for Arias at the jail in 1974. Theresas received a lot of awards, all well-deserved, but for me, she was one of the people who helped mold my career, Driscoll said. He credited Arias with holding the rest of the Sheriffs Office accountable, both setting an example with her own honesty and integrity and by letting them know, in no uncertain terms, when they were messing up. Her signature move was flipping her shoe. When Arias first started at the jail, the man who supervised the juvenile inmates taught her how to flip the slip-on shoe off her foot. Soon, she was able to flip the shoe off her foot and, in one motion, send it flying across the room with astonishing accuracy. It turned out to be a useful skill that she used to discourage young deputies from using foul language or marking up the jail walls with their boots. You always knew where you stood with Theresa and if you stood there too long, you caught a shoe in the back of the head, Driscoll said to a chuckling crowd. That was her way of saying, Those are my walls. My people paint those walls. She was the same way with the inmates. Tom Florman, the Sheriffs Offices communications systems manager, recalled how Arias would often talk frankly but compassionately with them about the poor choices they had made that had landed them behind bars. Often, he said, inmates who had been arrested again after their release from jail would seem more worried about disappointing Mother Theresa than about the arrest itself. That says something about the respect they had for her and the impact she had on them, Florman said. This is actually Arias third retirement. She first left in 1990 after 20 years in the department as a deputy and then as the first female sergeant in the Coconino County Sheriffs Office. She worked in records for a few years and retired again before Sheriff Pribil asked her to come work at the jail again part time. What would I do? she asked Pribil. Whatever you want, he said. So, in 2001, she started a program teaching the female inmates how to sew. One purpose was to mend the uniforms, blankets and other cloth goods the jail uses. Some of them have never threaded a regular needle, so its really an experience for them, Arias said. I was surprised that so many of them didnt sew. They soon started making blankets to donate to charity using material donated by local thrift stores and sewing machines donated by Odegaard's Sewing Center. The students would also make purses, stuffed animals, aprons, Christmas stockings and anything else Arias could think of that would help Flagstaff residents in need. Shes the one that always finds that niche, Allen said. If theres something that could be done to make things better, she just knows what that is and she jumps right in and does it. She never asks for permission. Arias has taught hundreds of women how to sew during the programs 14-year history. They start out making pot holders. Once they master the basics, Arias teaches each woman how to sew blankets a skill they can carry into the outside world when they leave jail. She loves seeing the pride in her students eyes. They usually keep the very first one that they make, she said. Theyre so proud of it because its the first thing they ever sewed. The jail has donated thousands of items sewn by Arias students to charities like the Salvation Army, Hope Cottage, Saint Vincent de Paul and Sharon Manor, as well as a local dialysis center, the Pediatric Care Unit at Flagstaff Medical Center and the cross-category classroom for special needs children at Marshall Elementary School. Detention Center Commander Matt Figueroa credits Arias with helping the community of Flagstaff see, for the first time, the jails mission of rehabilitating the women in its care and helping them reconnect with their community. She has been instrumental, he said. Her program, the sewing program, is basically the first program that has been able to (bridge) the jail and the community to get them back together. The jail is now looking for a replacement to keep the program going. Its time to move on, said Arias, who jokes that she still doesnt feel a day over 21. Ill be 85 my next birthday and I think somebody else should take over. She plans to spend her third retirement traveling, first to her dream vacation in Rome and then to visit her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. She has also volunteered to continue mending the inmates clothing from home. I enjoyed my job, she said. It wasnt like a job, really. I did what I wanted to do when I wanted to and how I wanted to do it. (ANSA) - Rome, January 13 - The foreign ministry in Rome said on Wednesday that Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre will stay in Italy for the duration of the international arbitration of his case and that of a fellow serviceman accused by India of killing two Indian fisherman during an anti-piracy mission in 2012. The ministry cited the August decision by the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), which said that both countries must suspend any judicial proceedings against the pair pending an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the case. On Wednesday the Indian Supreme Court decided to extend Latorre's permit to stay in Italy until April 30. New Delhi allowed Latorre to return to Italy for treatment after he had a stroke in 2014. His previous permit was set to expire on Friday. The other marine, Salvatore Girone, is not permitted to leave India. (ANSA) -Palermo, January 12 - The Sicilian town of Cinisi, known as the birthplace of slain anti-mafia activist Giuseppe (Peppino) Impastato, has distanced itself from a former mobster after he celebrated his 100th birthday there with fireworks on January 6, La Repubblica newspaper reported Tuesday. Cinisi Mayor Giangiacomo Palazzolo expressed his displeasure at the incident involving Procopio Di Maggio, who has one son serving life imprisonment while another was murdered in 2000 and his body dumped in the sea. "Today Di Maggio is harmless but this is a story that gets up my nose," he told the daily. Separately Palazzolo told a RAI radio news bulletin that the ex-mobster was in violation of an ordinance banning firework displays. "He has been fined and reported for failing to observe an administrative order. The town is not mafioso, he celebrated with relatives in a restaurant, 35-40 people on his own account," the mayor said. Cinisi and the story of Peppino Impastato rose to international fame in 2000 with the award-winning film I Cento Passi (One Hundred Steps) by Marco Tullio Giordana starring Luigi Lo Cascio in the role of the journalist and political activist who was assassinated in 1978. One hundred steps was the number of steps it took to get from the Impastato family home to the house of local Mafia boss Gaetano Badalamenti. Badalamenti was subsequently convicted for ordering the assassination. (ANSA) - Bari, January 13 - Companies that supply the Petruzzelli theatre in Bari paid bribes to its director at least eight times in less than two months, the chief prosecutor in the southern Italian city said on Wednesday. Prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe told a news conference that overall the theatre's director Vito Longo was paid 20,000 euros in bribes related to supplier contracts between October 29 and December 4 last year. "Investigations are still underway, it's a short period but we decided to intervene straight away because we could not allow more crimes to be committed," Volpe told the news conference. The investigation has led to the arrest of five people for crimes including corruption. It focuses on three contracts for theatre lighting supplies and cleaning services which prosecutors say were awarded in exchange for money and other benefits. Volpe said he had decided to share videos that show Longo receiving the envelopes filled with money from company executives because they are effective footage and could serve as deterrents. The probe was launched after another business executive complained to police about news articles discussing potential irregularities in theatre contracts, which he viewed as defamatory. Wiretaps and video footage in Longo's office then led police to make the arrests. (ANSA) - Turin, January 13 - The terrorism trial of three environmentalists opened Wednesday in Turin. The three activists from the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) - two Italian and one Swiss national - were arrested in Switzerland in April 2010 and convicted of plotting to attack an IBM research facility near Zurich. They are being tried in Italy on charges the explosive they allegedly planned to use in that attack was obtained and stored in northern Italy. A Digos anti-terror police investigator testified Wednesday that the explosive came from the same lot as that used in two failed attacks in Italy - one on a zootechnical institute in San Cesario sul Panaro in Modena province in 2006, and one on a high voltage power line in Liguria in 2008. "The targets could fall within environmentalist campaigns," he told the court. (ANSA) - Rome, January 12 - Italian towns dominated the top 10 in travel search engine Trivago's online reputation rankings for 2016 out Tuesday, with Turkey's Goreme on the winner's podium. Matera in Basilicata, which is set to be European Capital of Culture in 2019, placed second while the hilltop town of San Gimignano in Tuscany came in third. Meanwhile the baroque town of Lecce in Puglia was in sixth place while Sorrento in Campania took the ninth spot in the Trivago Global Reputation Ranking 2016. (ANSA) - Rome, January 12 - Premier Matteo Renzi praised Roberto Giachetti, an MP with his Democratic Party (PD), ahead of primaries to select the centre-left's mayor candidate in local elections in Rome later this year. "The primaries will decide, but Giachetti is certainly someone who knows Rome like few others, he's even been head of the city cabinet (under former mayor Francesco Rutelli)," Renzi told Repubblica TV. "He is a Roman and an AS Roma supporter. We'll see if he stands". Rome is currently being run by an extraordinary commissioner, Francesco Paolo Tronca, after former PD Mayor Ignazio Marino was forced out last year following an expenses scandal. (ANSA) - Rome, January 13 - The foreign ministry in Rome said on Wednesday that Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre will stay in Italy for the duration of the international arbitration of his case and that of a fellow serviceman accused by India of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012. The ministry cited the August decision by the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), which said that both countries must suspend any judicial proceedings against the pair pending an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the case. Also on Wednesday, an international tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said it will hold a preliminary hearing on the case on January 18, sources close to the case told ANSA. "It will be a procedural meeting...to define provisional rules in order to move forward on the jurisdiction issue," the sources said. India's Supreme Court on Wednesday set an April 13 hearing date for the government to present a document detailing how it intends to proceed under the arbitration procedure Italy opened in The Hague and that India has adhered to. India's Adjunct Attorney General Pinky Anand had requested "more time" on the case. Meanwhile in India, that country's Supreme Court decided to extend Latorre's permit to stay in Italy until April 30. New Delhi had allowed Latorre to return to Italy for treatment after he had a stroke in 2014. His previous permit was set to expire on Friday. The other marine, Salvatore Girone, is not permitted to leave India. As well, Oommen Chandy, the governor of the southern Indian state of Kerala off whose coast the 2012 incident occurred, demanded that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensure that Latorre returns from Italy when his leave for medical treatment expires. "Today we will ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back the marine Massimiliano Latorre to India in the scheduled time frame of his permit," Chandy said. "Modi must intervene in a decisive way". The chair of the Italian Senate defence committee, Nicola Latorre, said Tuesday that Latorre will not go back to India pending arbitration in The Hague. - TEL AVIV - Airbnb ads for affordable accommodation in a 'family atmosphere', immersed in nature and close to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, have sparked protest from Palestinians after it was found that the tourists were unaware that the homes were actually in controversial settlements in the West Bank. The issue was brought to the public's attention in recent days by a left-wing Israeli blog, Siha Mekomit. A spokesperson for the international website Airbnb, which links travellers looking for accommodation and those that want to rent rooms or apartments for short stays, has denied any wrongdoing after criticism from Palestinians and broadcaster Al Jazeera. ''We follow laws and regulations on where we can do business and investigate concerns raised about specific listings,'' Jerusalem Post quoted the spokesperson as saying. The investigation by Siha Mekomit - which has raised international interest - showed that West Bank settlers had rejected the request of a make-believe ''US citizen of Palestinian origins'' to stay at their place. One of the settlers responded that the situation was a ''bit tense'' but that in the future they would be happy to host them. The ads for the accommodation present the places, instead, as a perfect location for relaxation in a pastoral environment. Siha Mekomit said that Airbnb should be criticized as well for supporting the economy of the Jewish settlements, which the international community sees as illegal and not part of Israel. It should also be made clear to the website's users that the villages are in controversial areas, the blog stressed. (ANSAmed). TUNIS - The seaside resort of Mahdia, a typical fishermen's town some 200 km south of Tunis, well-known for its silk production, is preparing to celebrate this year the 1,100th anniversary of its foundation. For the occasion, the city, in cooperation with the European Commission, has announced the inauguration of a museum dedicated to the sea. It will see the light where the municipal market is currently located, in a building called ''the fisherman's home'', which will become part of the tourist circuit. Boats and historic fishing gear will be on display inside to showcase trades connected to fishing and the sea. Mahdia, halfway between Hammamet and Djerba, the ancient Tunisian capital of the Fatimid Caliphate, is famous for its white sandy beaches in secluded spots that are ideal for those who want to admire natural beauty while exploring history and visiting monuments. Another highlight is a cemetery with white tombs called Marabout overlooking the sea, close to a lighthouse, from which an incredible view can be admired. PHOENIX -- Environmental groups have the legal right to challenge the failure of the U.S. Forest Service to restrict the use of lead ammunition, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In a brief opinion, the three-judge panel said the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council had shown a link between the use of lead ammo by hunters and the poisoning of endangered California condors. More to the point, the judges said that group members provided enough evidence that they are personally being harmed because of the use of the ammunition. That's because they said they intend to keep visiting the Kaibab National Forest which spans both sides of the Grand Canyon National Park. Tuesday's ruling is more than a setback for the Forest Service which has refused to enact such a ban. It also is a defeat for the National Rifle Association which intervened in the case and denied there was any harm to the condors from the ammunition. But Tuesday's ruling does not guarantee that the Forest Service will be forced to act. It simply gives the environmental groups a chance to make their case. The lawsuit, filed in 2012, is based on the fact that condors and other birds are essentially scavengers, feeding on animals that have been shot with lead ammunition but are not retrieved by hunters. Lead ingested has a cumulative effect. Challengers said there were 46 condor fatalities between reintroduction in 1996 and 2011 where a cause of death could be determined. Of that 21 were due to lead poisoning and another two of suspected lead poisoning. The lawsuit seeks to force the Forest Service to ban the use of lead ammunition in the area. In 2013 U.S. District Judge Stephen McNamee dismissed the case, ruling that matters of hunting are usually left to each state. Anyway, the judge said, condors have a range that runs from Nevada through southwest Arizona to the New Mexico border. McNamee said that means they could still be exposed to lead even if the use of such ammunition is banned in the forest. But the three-judge appellate panel, in Tuesday's unsigned opinion, said the fact that condors might ingest lead elsewhere did not mean the Forest Service should do nothing. They said any limit on lead will at least partially address the problems. In a prepared statement, Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, said the ruling is a significant victory. "Lead ammo has taken a long, terrible and deadly toll on California condors and it's time for it to stop,'' she said, saying federal forest officials have the power to do something about it. "We will never save these beautiful birds unless we fix the lead problem.'' Istanbul: media, suspect arrested is ISIS-linked woman Suicide bomber had applied for asylum in Turkey (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, JANUARY 13 - The person arrested last night in a security operation following Tuesday's attack in Istanbul is a woman allegedly linked to ISIS who is suspected of involvement in the organization of the attack, according to Turkish media. Announcing the arrest at a press conference, Interior Minister Efkan Ala did not provide details on the suspect's identity. Local media also reported that the suicide bomber who killed 10 foreigners in Tuesday's attack in Istanbul has applied for asylum in Turkey on January 5, a week before the attack. Identified as Nabil Fadli, 28, the attacker was a Syrian born in Saudi Arabia. He allegedly applied for asylum at the immigration office of Zeytinburnu, in Istanbul, together with four other men. In the following days Fadli, who had just entered Turkey from Syria, reportedly lived at his declared address in Istanbul. Investigations are ongoing to try to identify the men who were with him. (ANSAmed) ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with the suicide attack Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala on Wednesday told a joint press conference with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere. De Maiziere travelled to the Turkish city on Wednesday morning and will visit the location of the attack later today. Ten were reported dead in the attack, including at least eight German tourists, while 11 others are being treated in hospital for injuries, including nine Germans, one Norwegian and one Peruvian, said the minister, adding that two of the hospitalized German tourists are in critical condition. BRUSSELS - Three hiding places were used in Belgium to prepare terror attacks in Paris, prosecutors said Wednesday. One was in Brussels, on rue H. Berge in the Schaerbeek district, another in rue du Fort in Charleroi and a house in rue Radache in Auvelais, in the province of Namur. Several media outlets reported today that Abaaoud, who died when the hiding place in S. Denis was stormed by police, was hiding in a house in Charleroi shortly before the attacks. According to federal prosecutors, the apartment in Schaerbeek was rented under a fake identity, Fernando Castillo, on September 1, 2015, for a year. Explosives were found in the flat, along with a precision scale, traces of home-made TATP explosive, belts, the design of a person wearing a suicide vest. A digital print of Salah Abdeslam and DNA traces of Bilal Hadfi were also found. The fake identity used for the apartment in Charleroi was Ibrahim Maaroufi. It was rented on September 3, 2015, also for a year. When it was searched on December 9, prints belonging to Bilal and Abaaoud were also found though no weapons or explosives. The flat in Auvelais was rented for a year on October 5 last year under the name Soufiane Kayal. The same fake identity was used by one of the two people taken by Salah in Budapest on September 9, 2015, said the federal prosecutor. Rents were paid cash to the owners. The prosecution also said that before November 13, the Seat Leon later used for the attacks was seen near the houses in Charleroi and Auvelais. Spain:Socialist Lopez elected president Congress of Deputies Foreign minister, government Pp-Psoe-Ciudadanos at 95% (ANSAmed) - MADRID, JANUARY 13 - The Socialist Paxti Lopex, a former Basque regional premier, has been elected president of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, the lower house, in the second round of voting. Lopez garnered 130 votes in favour, against 61 supporting Podemos candidate Carolina Bescansa. Lopez was elected thanks to a deal between Psoe and Ciudadanos, which obtained the backing of the Pp. He was voted by 90 Psoe MPs and 40 lawmakers from Ciudadanos. The 123 lawmakers from the Pp and two from Izquierda Unida, along with nationalists, returned a blank voting slip. After the agreement that led to the election of Lopez, outgoing foreign minister, Jose Manuel Gracia Margallo from the Pp, said he considered ''95%'' likely the formation of a government backed by Pp, Psoe and Ciudadanos. So far, however, Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez has ruled out a coalition with the Pp. According to Garcia Margallo, however, the challenge of secession, relaunched by the new president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont, will bring ''necessarily to an agreement between the two major parties that have explicitly declared their respect towards the Constitution''. (ANSAmed). Airbnb lists settlement accomodation as 'immersed in nature' Website responds to complaints from Palestinians (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JANUARY 13 - Airbnb ads for affordable accommodation in a 'family atmosphere', immersed in nature and close to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, have sparked protest from Palestinians after it was found that the tourists were unaware that the homes were actually in controversial settlements in the West Bank. The issue was brought to the public's attention in recent days by a left-wing Israeli blog, Siha Mekomit. A spokesperson for the international website Airbnb, which links travellers looking for accommodation and those that want to rent rooms or apartments for short stays, has denied any wrongdoing after criticism from Palestinians and broadcaster Al Jazeera. ''We follow laws and regulations on where we can do business and investigate concerns raised about specific listings,'' Jerusalem Post quoted the spokesperson as saying. The investigation by Siha Mekomit - which has raised international interest - showed that West Bank settlers had rejected the request of a make-believe ''US citizen of Palestinian origins'' to stay at their place. One of the settlers responded that the situation was a ''bit tense'' but that in the future they would be happy to host them. The ads for the accommodation present the places, instead, as a perfect location for relaxation in a pastoral environment. Siha Mekomit said that Airbnb should be criticized as well for supporting the economy of the Jewish settlements, which the international community sees as illegal and not part of Israel. It should also be made clear to the website's users that the villages are in controversial areas, the blog stressed. (ANSAmed). The Travel Catering Expo (TCE) serves the Middle East, Africa and South Asias requirements for the products, services and technologies required for its booming travel catering industry. Now in its third successful edition, the event will attract key players from the global travel catering sector, including Actiapply, Deeko Bahrain, Delta Dailyfood, Donna Tina Di Salvatore Capalbi, Europro S.A., Grands Vins De Gironde, Henan Hengtai Aluminium Technology, Jiangsu Canasin Tablelinen, Laurieri SRL, Les Grands Chais de France, Sola Airline Cutlery B.V. and Zibo Rainbow Inflight Products, amongst over 75 companies participating at the event. The Middle East has carved the biggest chunk of the global travel catering market, estimated at US$15 billion, with an annual growth rate of five percent, due to the rapid increase in passenger volumes, expansion of regional airline fleets and the high priority given to the tourism sector by the regions governments. TCE 2016 is designed to reflect the strong growth opportunities in the regional travel catering industry and the crucial role it plays in enabling airports, airlines, hospitality and cruise industries to differentiate themselves against competition and increase their customers loyalty. TCE 2016 welcomes the support of Emirates Flight Catering, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Food Point and Dubai Airports and will be collocated with the 16th edition of the Airport Show and the 4th edition of the Global Airport Leaders Forum. The event will also welcome leaders and experts from the global air travel industry, giving TCE 2016 attendees access to unparalleled business opportunities. PHOENIX -- Two state lawmakers are pushing to make it more difficult for some people to get medical marijuana. And both measures may be illegal. Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, wants to make it a crime for a woman who is pregnant to possess the drug. That would overrule any finding by her doctor that the use of marijuana is appropriate. A more far-reaching proposal by Rep. Jay Lawrence, R-Scottsdale, would strip the right to recommend the use of marijuana from naturopaths and homeopaths. That would leave only allopathic and osteopathic physicians. What makes both proposals legally questionable is that the medical marijuana law was enacted not by the Legislature but by voters. The Arizona Constitution spells out that voter-approved measures can be altered only with a super-majority vote. It's possible that Townsend and Lawrence could get that margin. But any change needs to "further the purpose" of the original measure. An an attorney whose practice includes issues of medical marijuana says neither one meets that test. The 2010 law allows doctors to recommend marijuana to patients with certain medical conditions. Those range from glaucoma and AIDS to severe and chronic pain. Those who get a recommendation are eligible for a state-issued card allowing them obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Nearly 88,000 Arizonans currently have such cards. Lawrence said his belief is that doctors other than MDs and DOs are essentially in the business of writing recommendations for medical marijuana, "and writing them for 'I don't feel well today.'" "It's a money-making scheme," he said. "MDs and DOs will be more responsible." There is some statistical evidence to suggest a basis for Lawrence's suggestion that at least one of the two alternative forms of medicine is playing a more active role in letting Arizonans get medical marijuana. Preliminary figures from the state Department of Health Services show that doctors issued 77,639 certifications for patients last year. More than 87 percent of those were issued by naturopathic physicians. What makes that figure even more remarkable is that there are only 763 licensed naturopaths in Arizona, compared to more than 13,000 MDs. As to the reasons for recommendations, the most recent report from the health department finds that more than 77 percent of the recommendations were for chronic pain. The next highest category was cancer at 2.6 percent. Attorney Ryan Hurley said the big legal problem with what Lawrence is proposing is that voters agreed in 2010 to give recommendation-writing privileges to both naturopaths and homeopaths. He said stripping that away violates the Voter Protection Act, which sharply restricts the ability of lawmakers to tinker with anything that has been approved at the ballot. That's also the contention of Chris Lindsey, who is an attorney with the Medical Marijuana Project, the organization that crafted the 2010 initiative. He said changing the definition of who can write recommendations diminishes access for patients. "These actions are offensive to the voters who supported Proposition 203 and to the patients for whom the measure was designed to help," he said. Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet... SecAF makes first official visit to Travis Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James visited Travis Air Force Base Jan. 8 to meet with Airmen, discuss her priorities and see firsthand the base's mission and capabilities as the western seaboard's mobility air forces hub. To begin her visit, James received a detailed mission brief from senior base leaders to discuss cornerstone functions of the installation such as the seamless total force integration of three separate wings, the employment of three major mobility weapons systems and Travis AFBs strategic location serving as the lifeline to the Pacific theater. Throughout her day-long visit, James ate lunch with Airmen, toured a number of facilities to include Air Mobility Command's largest aerial port and held an all call to speak to the greater base populous. During her all call, she discussed her three main priorities: taking care of people, balancing today's readiness with the modernization needs of tomorrow and making every dollar count -- as well as the challenges faced by today's Air Force operating within the parameters of a fiscally constrained environment. "Today's Air Force is the smallest it has ever been, with the smallest number of people," she said. "And at the same time, the number of missions we fly around the world has skyrocketed ... we have got to do better." James also spoke on the importance of mobility airpower, more specifically Travis AFB's role to the mission of Global Reach, and the capabilities the men and women here present to the strategic Air Force vision. "You all are playing a crucial role in our Air Force and national defense because nothing happens without rapid global mobility and that's what Travis is all about," she said. "What's going on here is extremely impressive. Travis features a highly integrated total force, three major mobility weapons systems and one of the largest aerial ports and hospitals. Then you add on the mission-set of the contingency response wing. It's a very unique blend." James re-emphasized her capstone message, "Nothing happens without rapid global mobility. "Thank you again for the long days, the long deployments and time spent away from home," she continued. "I know this takes its toll. I hope that in the next year or two we will have changes that will ease this somewhat. But truth in advertising, I think we are going to remain a very busy Air Force." Please Donate In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation. Racist PayPal Tries to Close Down My Blog As you can see from this article PayPal have removed my blog. I would therefore ask people to make any future donations to the following: Name of Account: Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre Account No: 04094107 Sort Code: 09-01-50 Reference: Web donations Army, Air Force collaborate on education, innovation Gen. David G. Perkins, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), visited officials from Air Education and Training Command Jan. 7-8 to collaborate with Air Force leaders on advancing education and innovation within the respective military services. Perkins spoke with Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, the AETC commander, and Air University leaders at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, broaching on several subjects affecting both commands, from the future of recruiting to the emergence of new technologies. TRADOC is the Army counterpart of AETC. As you deal with a very fast changing world, everybody wants to innovate so you want to be at the cutting edge, Perkins said. One of the keys to innovation is a wide-level of collaboration. Those units that collaborate a lot tend to innovate a lot. Army and Air Force leaders discussed employing technologies to train and educate Soldiers and Airmen, not just in the classroom, but in perpetuity when they return to their units. Leveraging new technologies for continual education is vital to reach and recruit younger generations entrenched in an information-saturated world. We talked about things like leveraging the Cloud and personal devices, Perkins said. The generation of Airmen and Soldiers were recruiting are very comfortable in doing things on their personal devices. They want the information right there in front of them; they want to be able to customize how they receive information, so we have to change our education systems to facilitate that. Recruiting is a challenge, as industry, colleges, and the military services vie for the same pool of potential applicants, Perkins elaborated. Numbers for those who qualify for both the Air Force and Army have decreased in recent years. AETC and TRADOC officials are adapting to the changing recruiting environment by directing recruiters to actively educate potential recruits on the many opportunities offered through military service. The challenge in many ways in the recruiting environment is that as the military has gotten smaller, fewer and fewer Americans have any personal contact with the military whatsoever, Perkins said. They dont have any firsthand experience, so many folks dont think of it as an option. They dont know about the professional development, leader development, and the educational opportunities offered in both the Army and the Air Force. So, we have to get our recruiters to spend time educating parents, as well as recruits, about these opportunities. Perkins also traveled to Austin, Texas, meeting with retired Adm. William H. McRaven, the University of Texas chancellor, to start a dialogue on the similar challenges each faces in administrating a large, complex university system. They shared ideas on developing learning tools that can be distributed in a very disperse manner, Perkins explained. One of the topics of interest discussed between Perkins and AETC leaders was the relatively new Army University. Army University officials integrated 70 separate TRADOC internal school programs under one university system while syncing instruction with a variety of other TRADOC institutions. Air University is similar in structure. Last year, Army officials began a process to understand, visualize and describe ideas framed by the Army Operating Concept. The ideas in the AOC are foundational for shaping the strategy for the future of the Army, which includes developing adaptive and innovative leaders and officers. Army University plays a huge role in that respect, Perkins said. What we need are adaptive leaders who are critical thinkers and can exploit the initiative, Perkins said. We not only have to train them to do certain tasks, but we have to educate them on how to learn, because the world is changing so quickly. Great organizations are learning organizations. When people graduate from Army University, we dont want them to leave Army University; we want them to take Army University with them to their unit. Army University is located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Army University was established July 7, 2015. Best Shopping Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Shopping category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. All the latest Ashbourne news. Ashbourne is an historic market town in Derbyshire. Situated on the southern edge of the Peak District, it is known as the 'Gateway to Dovedale' and the 'Gateway to the Peak District'. Ashbourne is famous for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match, which has been played since at least 1667, although its origins may date back centuries earlier. Ashbourne became a Fairtrade town in March 2005. The popular Tissington Trail, which follows the route of the former Ashbourne to Buxton railway, starts on the edge of town. Keep up to date with the latest news from the town by signing up for our newsletter. The former head of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Orthodox Church and Society, dismissed in December over alleged disagreements with the Patriarch, denounces he no longer finds space in the press; for years he was the spokesman of the most intransigent positions taken by the Patriarchate. Moscow (AsiaNews) Since his dismissal last December as head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for Relations between Church and Society, because of differences with the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin has been denied space to defend his positions on almost all the national media. In a post on his personal Facebook page Chaplin states that some news sites as Newsru.com. are trying to avoid any of my statements from being carried on almost all Russian media. The Archpriest believes that "the highest church leadership may be involved in this (I have the right to assume that the directive was given by the Patriarch himself ) and the leaders of President of the Russian Federation ". Chaplin backed up his claims with some facts. For example, on December 28 a press conference announced already long ago and that was to be held at the headquarters of the agency Interfax was canceled; December 29, the state agency Russia Today reported his comments in connection with the dismissal - wanted by the Synod but never published them. On January 5, another pre-recorded interview for Channel Life News, on issues related to the Christmas celebrations never aired. "The RSN (the Russian News Service) invited everyone, except me, to discuss my dismissal," writes the Archpriest, noting that the only exceptions to this trend was Echo of Moscow Radio, the Snob newspaper and Dozhd TV, all usually critical of the Kremlin. Some Russian media, such as the Moskovski Komsomolets, commented immediately after Chaplins post by pointing out that the priest, formerly spokesman of the more conservative positions of the Church, has "radically changed his attitude to the Church leaders, accusing the Patriarch of autonomously making decisions on the life of the Church. " The comments accompanying Chaplins post on Facebook also did not seem very supportive of his complaint and some have criticized his decision to make his "personal" disagreements with the Patriarch public. Immediately after the dismissal, the archpriest had hinted at the fact that he expected to be deprived of visibility in the national media and has not ruled out the possibility of creating its own media outlet. (MA.) by Kamran Chaudhry Overnight on 6 January, a fire partially destroyed the Christian place of worship. Some media have blamed Christian-Muslim tensions for the incident. For local clergyman, this is a conspiracy to stoke tensions in the area. Some people started reporting on it without getting the facts straight. Lahore (AsiaNews) The fire that partially destroyed the Apostolic church on 6 January in Baath, some 40 kilometres north of Lahore, was not set following a row between Christians and Muslims over its loudspeakers during Muslim prayers, this according to the churchs pastor, Rev Yaqoob Saroya. Spreading such news is a conspiracy to stoke tensions in the area. Christian and Muslim community elders in the Punjabi village back the clergymans account. For them, media are spreading false news. In fact, some reports claimed that before the incident local Muslims had asked Christians to turn off the churchs loudspeakers to avoid disturbing their prayers. The church pastor allegedly said no and the fire was thus a retaliation by Islamic extremists. "We found foot and hand prints on the Church wall", said Rev Yaqoob Saroya, "suggesting someone climbed in but nobody reached out to us regarding the use of loudspeakers; there was no conflict. In fact, a neighbouring Muslim family helped in extinguishing the fire. Someone uploaded a video of Church building on fire on Facebook and people started reporting on it without getting the facts straight". Abdul Hameed, the local Muslim nambardar (landowner exercising governmental powers) said that local Muslims are looking for the culprit who broke into the church. "We feel grief and stand together with Christians because all religious places of worship are the same. The devil (i.e. the arsonist) does not deserve forgiveness. We cannot live without the support of Christians, he said. They are our backbone," he added. Rev Saroya reiterated that Christians are free to worship. "Five police officers are stationed at the church during the service, he explained. Rumours about the blaze are a conspiracy to stoke tensions in the area. We live like brothers. A Christian NGO said we should file a complaint against someone with police; another told us that we should not have repainted the church so soon (see video). This does not help minorities or the country. Police said the fire was caused by an electrical problem. The flames destroyed part of the building, chairs, carpets, curtains and the electrical system. Peter Dahlin, 35, founded an NGO that supports lawyers in rural areas of the country. His girlfriend, a Chinese citizen has also disappeared. The government prevents Swedish embassy from contacting with the man, who also suffers from a rare disease of the endocrine system. Clamp down on individual freedoms increasingly severe. Beijing (AsiaNews) - The co-founder of an NGO operating in China was arrested on his way to Beijing International Airport and for the past 10 days has been held at an unknown location. The man is a Swedish citizen: the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm confirmed his detention, but so far has not been permitted to contact him. Peter Dahlin is 35 years old and was on his way to Thailand when he was detained: His Chinese girlfriend has also disappeared without trace. The China Urgent Action Working Group - the name of the NGO - is an organization that provides assistance of various kinds to Chinese lawyers who work in rural areas of the country. It also supports groups working for human rights in China. The group's spokesman says the co-founder was arrested on charges of "endangering state security. Peter was arbitrarily arrested on the basis of false accusations. " The communist authorities are preventing any contact with the activist, a clear violation of international law. Dahlin also suffers from Addison disease, a chronic disease of the endocrine system that requires daily care. It is not clear if the police are allowing the necessary treatment. Dahlin's arrest was announced the day after the formal charging of seven other Chinese lawyers: they all disappeared in the summer of 2015 during a nationwide sweep against the lawyers, and now are under investigation for "subversion" . In addition to lawyers, Beijing seems to have decided to clamp down further on NGOs. In September 2015 the Department for the organization of the Communist Party of China "strongly urged" non-governmental organizations, trade unions and foundations linked to civil society to "increase the number of Party members within their own decision-making bodies" . The initiative, according to the official Xinhua news agency, "is necessary now more than ever. These institutions must be guided in the right direction through policy decisions made by the central government". In addition, the new guidelines make some 1,000 NGOs operating in the country "illegal" for "endangering national unity, targeting state interests or violate public order." These are the same charges used against human rights activists and religious leaders whom the government wants to silence: they are so broad in scope anything could fall into these terms. Police took into custody Rev Gilbart Biswas in Tongi, where one of the largest Muslim gatherings is held each year, for his suspicious behaviour, namely preaching the Gospel and selling booklets. Two million pilgrims from 150 countries attended this years event. Dhaka (AsiaNews) Bangladeshi police detained Rev Gilbart Biswas for preaching the Gospel and selling religious booklets during Bishwa Ijtema, the second largest Islamic pilgrimage in the world after the Hajj, which is held every year in Tongi (near Dhaka), on the banks of the Turag River. The clergyman was taken into custody last Saturday. Deployed to provide security to the event, police justified his arrest on "security grounds" because of his suspicious behaviour. One officer said that "no one can proclaim the Gospel on other religious sites." In reality, the Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees every citizen the right to profess, practice and propagate their faith. "We are very concerned about the arrest of Rev Gilbart Biswas, said a fellow clergyman, anonymous for security reasons. He did not commit any crime and was arrested illegally by the police, which has not yet released him." Now the judge wants to read the booklet Rev Gilbart Biswas distributed, he added. After reading it, he will give his verdict." The Bishwa Ijtema (Global congregation or World Meeting in Bangla) is an annual event organised by the Tabligi Jamaat (Society for the spread of the faith), a transnational religious and non-political movement that seeks the spiritual reform of Islam. The event, which includes moments of prayer and preaching, draws millions of people from all over the world. This year some two million people from 150 nations took part in the event. The government deployed more than 5,000 police agents to ensure security. For Fr Rifat Bader, his country is a model of coexistence between Christians and Muslims. During the Year of Mercy, charity events will be open to everyone. Muslims and Christians are outdoing each other in helping Iraqi refugees, who have a lot to tell. After Gaza and Bethlehem, the Holy Land Coordination visits Jordan. Amman (AsiaNews) - "Pope Francis words are a source of encouragement for us and a dual message to the international community: be like Jordan, which keeps doors open to refugees, but, at the same time, help the country to provide assistance and help so that these doors may always remain open, said Fr Rifat Bader, head of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Amman. Fr Bader spoke to AsiaNews about the pontiffs recent words of praise for Jordan, during a speech to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. "Our country is a model of coexistence and dialogue because of its wise leaders, he said. Christians are not persecuted, and religion is not a pretext for conflict and violence." This includes the mercy restaurant, which offers free meals to 500 people, refugees and other people in difficulty. For the priest, this initiative heeds the popes call for the Jubilee Year. It is a symbol of what the Church does, and we are proud of that. When it comes to helping refugees, there are no differences in terms of religion, Christian or Muslim, Fr Rifat said. The guiding principle is that of an open door, which is a source of pride but also responsibility for the country. Aid includes scholarships (funded by the Italian Bishops Conference) that "allow 2,500students, Christians and Muslims, to go to school." According to United Nations sources, Jordan has taken in at least 600,000 refugees. Jordanian authorities have higher figures: 1.4 million, about 20 per cent of all refugees. One refugee in five lives in the Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps, in the north, most of the other are in the cities. With respect to Iraqi Christian refugees, who arrived in the summer of 2014 following the advance of the Islamic State (IS) group in Mosul and the plain of Nineveh, the local Caritas has led the way in providing support. Our Lady of Peace in Amman is one of the facilities that offer shelter and hospitality, under Fr Nadim Alamat. "Muslims and Christians in Jordan are outdoing each other in helping Iraqi refugees, the clergyman said. The latter fled barbarism and attacks by Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group). In Jordan, local Christians have had the opportunity of meeting their co-religionists from Iraq who have had to leave everything they had behind, except their faith in Jesus. We want to thank God for they tell us because they provide an" opportunity of faith, encounter and personal enrichment." Meanwhile, the annual visit by the Holy Land Coordination of bishops got underway on 7 January until tomorrow. A delegation of bishops and prelates met the Society of St. Yves, in Bethlehem, to learn more about the controversy surrounding the Cremisan Valley, including the area of Beir Onah. During the visit, the Coordination also met people who had their land seized to build the Separation Wall. The delegation, which included prelates from Europe, North America and South Africa, as well as several representatives of Catholic clergy and lay organisations, also travelled to Gaza before coming to Jordan, where it visited some refugee camps. The visits goal is to highlight the Church's work with communities in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East. Iranian authorities released ten US sailors whose boats had drifted into Iranian waters due to mechanical problems. Irans Revolutionary Guards, who described the sailors as Marines, confirmed their release following their apology. Back in the US, republican presidential hopefuls use the incident to heap scorn on Obamas weakness. Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) Iran on Wednesday announced the release of ten US sailors it had detained in the Gulf when their patrol boats drifted into Iranian territorial waters. The incident could have triggered a new diplomatic crisis that crippling US sanctions against Iran in the balance. Following the nuclear deal with Tehran, the latter can be removed by a vote of the US Congress. "It was determined that the detained American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally. Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the Gulf," said a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards read out on state television. An investigation established that "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes, said Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards Naval Forces. For its part, the Pentagon issued a statement that confirmed the sailors were free. "There are no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention," it added, noting, "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran." Earlier, US officials said they had received assurances from Iran that the crews would be allowed to sail onwards come first light, noting that one or both of the boats had suffered mechanical problems and had lost radio contact. Despite the goodwill shown by both sides, the incident could not escape the ongoing battle in US politics. In fact, US President Barack Obama was delivering his last State of the Union address as the incident unfolded. In his speech, the US leader stressed the need to open new channels of communication with Iran and not demonise the Islamic world, citing Pope Francis who said that to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. By contrast, Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, used the event to take a swipe at the US president. Obama's humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again, said the real estate mogul turned politician. Likewise, for Senator Marco Rubio, Iran is testing the boundaries of this administration's resolve to see how far they can get away. Reacting to the incident, General Hassan Firouzabadi, the hard-line head of Iran's armed forces, said, "Those US Congressional lawmakers that come up with a new obstacle for Iran every day don't seem to have correct information. "I hope that the incident, he added, which probably won't be the last mistake from American forces in the region, will be a lesson for stonewallers in the US Congress." Ahram Online, by Gamel Essam El-Din Egypt's new parliament will open an investigation into Hisham Geneina's claims about state corruption, which he said led to the theft of LE600 billion File Photo: Hesham Genena In this Tuesday, April 16, 2014 photo, (AP) Egypt's newly-elected parliament the House of Representatives is expected to open next week an investigation into top auditor Hisham Geneina's recent statement that state corruption led to the loss of LE600 billion. Geneina is chairman of the Central Auditing Agency (CAA), which acts as the country's main watchdog on public authorities. The CAA has been under the purview of the president of the republic since 1996. On Tuesday night, a large number of MPs affiliated with the In Support of Egypt requested parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Al to entrust a parliamentary fact-finding committee with opening an investigation into Geneina's statement. The request comes just one day after an investigative committee formed by Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Geneina 's statement has inflated figures about corruption in Egypt and that his statement aimed at defaming the reputation of Egypt. Sameh Seif El-Yazal, a former intelligence officer and leader of the In Support of Egypt coalition, said he and 50 other MPs have submitted a memo to speaker Abdel-Al, asking him that an ad hoc fact-finding parliamentary committee be formed to investigate Geneina's claims. "Geneina has deliberately misled the public about corruption in Egypt and his statement was a lot of defamation for Egypt in domestic and foreign circles," said El-Yazal. El-Yazal told reporters Tuesday night that under the request of a majority of MPs, Geneina could be forced to come before parliament to face questioning. Mostafa Bakri, a journalist and a leading MP affiliated with the pro-Sisi bloc, said "parliament could refer Geneina to prosecution authorities to be investigated on his misguided reports about corruption." El-Yazal, Bakri and many other MPs believe that Geneina is loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood and that he is leading a conspiracy on behalf of its leaders to defame the regime of president El-Sisi. Bakri said after the release of the investigative committee's report that Geneina should be dismissed from his position as CAA's chairman. El-Yazal said the report made by the investigative committee on Geneina's statement will be thoroughly revised by the house as parliament is the main supervisory and watchdog institution in the country, and one of its main tasks is to revise CAA's reports about corruption. Joining forces with the pro-Sisi bloc, 25 MPs led by Anwar Esmat El-Sadat, leader of the liberal reform and development party, have Wednesday signed a memo requesting that speaker Abdel-Al summon Geneina to defend his claims before parliament. "We are neutral and we do not want him to come under retaliatory grounds all we want is to reach the truth," said El-Sadat, adding that "it is very important to listen to the two sides of the story; Geneina and those who made the investigative report upon the request of President El-Sisi." Sadat said the fact that CAA is independent does not mean that its chairman is immune to questioning. "Both MPs and CAA are mainly responsible for supervising state authorities and investigating public corruption," said Sadat. On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail visited parliament to congratulate constitutional law professor Abdel-Al for his election as speaker. Ismail said that once parliament's committees are formed, the government will be ready to deliver its policy statement before the House. "This is expected to be at the end of January," said Ismail. Ismail also said that work groups were formed to review reports issued by the CAA after Geneina's statement about corruption. In 1996, after prime minister Kamal El-Ganzouri was dismissed by then-president Hosni Mubarak, it was decided that CAA come under the supervision of the president rather than parliament, which had long been responsible for revising CAA's reports about state authorities. Pope Francis began a new cycle of general audience catechesis on mercy in the biblical perspective. The term merciful "evokes an attitude of tenderness like that of a mother towards her child". An invitation to pray for the victims of the attack in Istanbul, for the victims and that the hearts of the violent be converted. Vatican City (AsiaNews) - God is merciful. He himself says so in the Bible, when he reveals Himself to Moses, evoking "an attitude of tenderness like that of a mother towards her child" said Pope Francis today as began a series of catechesis dedicated, in this Jubilee of Mercy, to the mercy of a God who describes Himself as "gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." And at the end of the audience, the Pope also asked for prayers for the victims of the attack in Istanbul, that "the Lord, the Most Merciful, give eternal peace to the dead, comfort to the families, firmly unite all of society, and convert the hearts of the violent ". Pope Francis walked among the eight thousand people present in the Paul VI, stopping to bless and greet them and even taking a baby in his arms. He told them that "today we begin the catechesis on mercy in the biblical perspective, so as to learn about mercy by listening to what God teaches us through his Word. We begin with the Old Testament, that prepares us and leads us to the full revelation of Jesus Christ, in whom the Father's mercy is revealed. In Sacred Scripture, the Lord is presented as 'merciful God'. This is the name, through which He reveals Himself, so to speak, His face and His heart. He Himself, as told in the Book of Exodus, reveals Himself to Moses as follows: "The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness" (34.6). In other texts we find this formula, with some variations, but always the emphasis is placed on the mercy and love of God who never tires of forgiving (cf. Gen 4.2; Joel 2:13; Ps 86.15 ; 103.8; 145.8; Ne 9:17). Let us now look at the words of Sacred Scripture that speak of God one by one ." "The Lord is 'merciful': this word evokes an attitude of tenderness like that of a mother towards her child. In fact, the Hebrew word used in the Bible suggests the bowels or even the womb. Therefore, the image suggests that of a God who is moved and melts for us as a mother when she gathers up her baby, wanting only to love, protect, help, ready to give everything, even all of herself. A love, therefore, which could be defined in a good way as 'visceral' '. "Then it is written that the Lord is 'pitiful', meaning that he grants graces, is compassionate and, in His magnitude, bends over the weak and poor, always ready to welcome, to understand, to forgive. It's like the father in the parable as told by Luke (cf. Lk 15.11 to 32): a father who does not close in resentment at having been abandoned by his young child, but instead continues to wait for him, he created him, and then runs to him and embraces him, does not even let him finish his confession, (as if he covers his mouth) so great is the love and joy to have him back; and then he goes to call the eldest son, who is angry and does not want to celebrate, the son who has remained at home living like a servant rather than a child, and the father bends over him, inviting him to enter it invites to enter, trying to open his heart to love, so that no one is excluded from the celebration of mercy". "Of this merciful God it is also said that He is 'slow to anger', literally, 'of great breath', that is, with a wide-ranging patience and ability to endure. God knows how to wait, His times are not those of impatient men. He is like the wise farmer who waits, gives time to let the good seed grow, despite the weeds (cf. Mt 13,24-30). " "And finally, the Lord proclaims Himself 'great in love and fidelity'. This is such a beautiful definition of God! It encapsulates it all. Because God is great and powerful, but this greatness and power unfold in His in loving us, we who are so small, so incapable. The word 'love', used here, indicates love, grace, goodness. It is not the love of soap opera. It is love that takes the first step, which does not depend on human merit but by an immense generosity. It is the divine solicitude that nothing can stop, not even sin, because He knows how to go beyond sin, overcome evil and forgive. An unbounding faithfulness, the last word of God's revelation to Moses. God's fidelity never fails, because the Lord is the Guardian that, as the Psalm says, never falls asleep but continuously holds watch over us to bring us to life: He will not let your foot slip he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. (121,3-4.7-8). "This merciful God is faithful in His mercy and Paul says a great thing: 'If you are not faithful to Him, He will remain faithful because He cannot repudiate himself'. Fidelity, mercy is the very being of God. God is totally and always reliable. A strong and stable presence. This is the certainty of our faith. So, in this Jubilee of Mercy, let us entrust ourselves totally to Him, and experience the joy of being loved by this God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness'. Most of the victims were security officers. Another 20 people injured. Taliban suspected, after having fought vaccination for years as a "Western conspiracy" to sterilize Pakistani children. Quetta (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At least 14 people died this morning in the explosion of a bomb near a polio vaccination center in Quetta, Balochistan (south-west of Pakistan). Most of the victims were security guards patrolling the clinic. Another 20 people were injured. Minister of Balochistan province, Sarfaraz Bugti, said that the attack occurred before security officers began patrols around the structure: "We live in a war zone - he added - and I can say nothing about the nature of the explosion. " Pakistan, together with Afghanistan, is the only country in the world where polio is still endemic. Clinics for vaccination are always controlled by the security forces, as the subject of frequent attacks by the Taliban. The militiamen consider vaccination a Western conspiracy to sterilize Pakistani children and of infiltrating spies among health care workers. Pakistan remains a strong prejudice against vaccines. In 2012 the government blocked the distribution of anti polio medicines to 250 thousand children after threats from some Taliban groups. The opposition to vaccines is also religiously motivated. During the latest round of vaccinations, parents of more than 21 thousand children refused treatment, 21% of which for religious reasons. They fear the introduction of impure substances into their childrens bodies. After international pressure, last March the Pakistani authorities arrested more than 470 parents and issued a warrant for the arrest of hundreds of others, for opposing the vaccination campaign. In August 2015, religious leaders and Muslim scholars came out stating that the polio vaccine does not go against the precepts of Islam and reflects the practices of the Sunna. 2014 was one of the worst years for the number of attacks on clinics and number of infections (306) registered in the country. In 2015, vaccination reached new areas of Pakistan and polio cases declined. Police detained Samar Badawi with her two year old daughter. After a four-hour interrogation they brought her to Dhaban prison. The woman is charged with managing the social media profile of activist and ex-husband Waleed Abulkhair, currently serving 15 years in prison. Activists: "overwhelming evidence" of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Saudi authorities have arrested Raif Badawis sister. Raif is a famous blogger and human rights activist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a thousand lashes for "insulting Islam". Amnesty International reports that Samar Badawi was taken yesterday in the latest case of abuses committed in Saudi Arabia against human rights and civil dissent. Moreover these blatant violations have not prevented the appointment of Riyadh to the head of the Council for Human Rights at the UN. Police stopped Samar Badawi yesterday morning in Jeddah, along with her two year old daughter. The police, after having interrogated her for four hours, ordered her transfer to the prison in Dhaban. Raifs wife, Ensaf Haidar, immediately posted a tweet explaining that her sister was arrested for having managed the social profile (WaleedAbulkhair) of her ex- husband - and prominent activist - Waleed Abulkhair. The man is serving a prison sentence of 15 years. Human rights groups condemned the detention of Raif Badawis sister, Samar, who is "the latest example of the contempt of Saudi Arabia for Human Rights" and the "overwhelming evidence" of the will of the authorities to "repress any form of peaceful dissent. " For four years the 31 year old Badawi has managed the Liberal Saudi Network, a site that encouraged discussion on the internet of the most important current events, politics and religion. He was arrested in 2012 and sentenced in first instance to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. However, the judges of the Court of Appeal considered the sentence too mild and increased the sentence to 1,000 lashes, 10 years in prison and a fine of 193 thousand euro. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2015 Saudi, who punished him for having created a "liberal" blog - later closed and of "insulting Islam through digital media." The blogger was subjected to the first 50 lashes in January. In 2015 Raif Badawi received two major awards for his actions in favor of freedom of thought: the Pen Pinter Prize for "the simplicity of his liberal goals" and the Sakharov Prize, the European equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. Saudi Arabia applies a strict version of Islamic law (Sharia) and does not tolerate any form of political dissent. Internet and social media such as Facebook and twitter are highly popular in the Kingdom. However, the authorities forcibly suppress all criticism, dissent or calls for change. by Christopher Sharma Snow has covered the villages of Laprak, Barpak and Ghyachchok, in Gorkha district. Residents cannot go out and gather wood to keep warm. Helicopters cannot take off because of thick fog. Survivors complain that since last years earthquake reconstruction funds donated by the international community have not yet been spent. Kathmandu (AsiaNews) Heavy snowfall in Nepals upper regions has affected 5,000 people stuck in temporary shelters since last Aprils deadly earthquake, which killed more than 9,000 people. Snow began falling on mountain villages last Friday (8 January), after rain and hail had quickly brought down the temperature. However, the government was able to organise rescue operations and aid distribution only on Monday. Although the authorities dispatched troops army and rescue teams, the latter have been hard pressed to reach the mountainous area. Bad weather has grounded helicopters and affected telephone lines. As of yesterday, no team had yet reached the population. In the villages of Laprak, Barpak and Ghyachchok, in Gorkha district, snow is still falling, making it hard for residents to go out, to go to work or simply gather firewood to keep warm. In the village of Barpak, 1,372 people still live in makeshift shelters, after surviving the earthquake. AsiaNews was able to reach by telephone one survivor in Barpak, Fulkumari Lama. "We are dying of hunger and cold. Please come quickly to save us, she said in a desperate appeal. Seniors and children are the ones who suffer the most, she added. Many have no food in the tents. We cannot go out. Many tents have folded under the weight of the snow and we cannot communicate well with the outside because phone lines are unstable." Speaking about the situation, Chief District Officer Uddhav Timilsina said, The government has deployed a rescue group, which came back to report on local conditions after the snowfall. Since the area is covered by a thick fog, rescue operations are very complicated." For his part, the government through spokesman Sherdhan said that it plans to give 10,000 (US$ 95) to each family to buy clothes and other items". However, survivors complain that since the quake nine months ago, reconstruction funds (US$ 880 million from the government and US$ 4.1 billion from international donors) have not yet been spent. Last month, Nepals parliament set up the Reconstruction Authority to manage the money. A lawsuit brought by law students in San Diego, California against a private law school will head to trial after a judge ruled that the school used false data to advertise student employment prospects. Graduates of the 2011 Thomas Jefferson School of Law graduating class claim the law school lured them with inflated data about the schools employment outcomes and are demanding restitution. Thomas Jefferson defended its data, saying the graduates were exaggerating their reliance on the data when deciding whether or not they would enrol in the school, arguing that many students didnt have a choice of law school and were only accepted at Thomas Jefferson. But Superior Court Judge Joel M. Pressman rejected the schools argument, adding that they never established whether the statistics were even accurate. The fact that TJSL was the only school accepting plaintiffs does not render the employment statistics immaterial. Plaintiffs still had a choice in accepting and attending TJSL, he wrote in a decision. Former law students have attempted to take action against law schools for deceptive marketing on at least a dozen other occasions in the US but according to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, have all been thrown out of court. The school has, however, managed to escape the threat of a class action after the court denied the case class-action status. Between 2011 and 2015, applications to the school reportedly fell by more than 50 per cent and in 2013, cut teaching and admin jobs after failing to meet enrolment targets. The school hit further financial trouble in 2014 and was forced to restructure its debt after blowing a bond payment deadline, Law Blog reported. Aspects of the Maori Community Development Act allowing officially designated Maori Wardens to evict drunken or disorderly Maori from pubs or gatherings and confiscate car keys, could soon be repealed. The Minister of Regulatory Reform, Steven Joyce, has said parts of what has been deemed New Zealands most racist law should be struck off the books. Joyce expressed his confidence that the government would look at the issue although it is unclear whether the laws will be scrapped as part of the Statutes Repeal Bill issued last October or not. NZ Lawyer asked Nick Wells, partner at Chapman Tripp and head of Te Waka Ture the firms Maori Legal Group, about the background of the Maori Community Development Act and why it is taking so long to be repealed. The historys an interesting one and it goes to show how far New Zealand has come since the 1960s, he said. The Act also set up the Maori Council to look at the social and economic development of Maori. Maori Wardens and Community Officers were also assigned to keep an eye on community wellbeing. We havent had any Community Officers for some years now, Wells said. There just under 900 or so voluntary Maori Wardens now. They have always been seen as playing a positive role in their communities. The Maori Council has also played a significant role in the development of Maori in Aotearoa but its role into the future requires some thought, he added. This is due to the rising asset base, economic programs and social initiatives of the Iwi which could be seen to reduce the scope of the Councils own activities. As well as investigating the Maori Councils role in New Zealands more contemporary environment, Wells suggested that the sections containing race-based offences be completely removed. They are an ugly historical remnant, and no longer fit with our values or sense of identity. Most New Zealanders would find these provisions repugnant, he said. The Act is also difficult to enforce because it affects all those descended from Maori, including those of mixed descent. How could a Warden in a pub figure out in this day and age that someone is descended from Maori? Its beyond me and shows just how ridiculous and unfair the Act is. When asked why it has taken so long for the act to be repealed, Wells says the main reason is that it has simply been forgotten by most. No ones actually enforced it for years. Because its largely been left alone, it probably didnt come up into the limelight not until someone pointed out these abhorrent bits. It would have only taken one person to protest say one person to have their car keys grabbed or be ejected on the basis that theyre Maori and all hell would have broken loose in the media. That would have brought it into sharper attention much sooner. Up until now, repeal of these offensive provisions has been delayed because the government has been looking at the Act as a whole rather than examining the individual parts, Wells says. While theyve been thinking about the Act as a whole, theyve had to consider the role of the Maori Council and the role of the Maori Wardens as theyre still very active and that has slowed down the reform process. In hindsight, they should have just repealed the ugly, unruly and offensive pieces right away. About Me Bagsy Born Beeston, Notts 1946, my family moved to Dorset 1959. Joined the Royal Navy age 15 years and 50 days serving 10 years. In frigates firstly then over 5 years in the Submarine Service as a Seaman/Diver, reaching the dizzy heights of Leading Seaman, before leaving to join the Merchant Service, working in Ocean Salvage and Harbour Tugs, passenger / cargo ships, trials vessels, etc. Qualified as Mate (Chief Officer) in 1976 and as Master (Captain) in 1978. For my final 20 years of 47 I worked in the Offshore Oil Industry initially on the drilling rig Stena Hunter, then the accommodation barge Borgland Dolphin and finally the Floating Production Platform Buchan Alpha. On the rigs I forged a number of long lasting friendships several of whom shared some of my extensive travels. Setting foot on Caymen, Bermuda, Bahamas and The Azores in March 2013 brought my countries / autonimous regions total to 148. The best, undoubtedly, was Antarctica, followed by Australia, Mongolia, Belize, Zimbabwe, China and Madagascar, in no particular order. Love to all our readers, your in my thoughts. Bagsy View my complete profile International students looking to start their studies in Australia in 2016 are being urged to get their applications in soon as the immigration department is expecting a large number of applicants this year.Those who are already in Australia are also being urged to make sure they put in an application to continue with their visa if it needs to be renewed or reviewed. "We expect to receive a large number of applications from prospective students looking to start studying in 2016, so lodge your application early as it can take some time for your application to be decided," said a spokesman from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). "If you are looking to continue studying in Australia, compile all the necessary documents and lodge your application early. This means we can process your application faster, however, each application presents with unique circumstances and some applications will take longer than average to finalise."The documents needed for those already in Australia include evidence of Overseas Students Health Cover (OSHC), your Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE or eCoE) from an Australian educational institution, evidence of financial capacity and English language proficiency.Applicants may not need to provide all of these documents depending on their nationality and intended course of study."However, it is still a good idea to have these documents prepared as they may be requested by your education provider," the spokesman pointed out. "If we do ask for further information or documents from you, provide these quickly, and provide them online through your ImmiAccount rather than by email."Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the number of international students who are having their visas cancelled in Australia.The most up to date figures shows that hundreds of students studying in Australia from overseas were deported last year and thousands more left voluntarily.The data supplied to the Senate, showed that 298 were actually deported and10,949 had their visas cancelled due to a wide range of breaches to their conditions. Most came from China, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.Some 520 had claimed to be studying at universities or vocational colleges but were not genuine students, nine supplied bogus documents and 20 were found to have given false information in their visa application.But Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, pointed out that most of the 450,000 foreigners who study in the country are genuine and that Australia has one of the most stringent visa screening processes in the world. More people than ever are visiting Australia, many of them from China with the latest data showing a rise of 21.6% in the number of Chinese.The number of annual Chinese visitor arrivals reached one million for the first time in the year to the end of November 2015, the figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows. Overall there were 669,000 visitor arrivals during November 2015, an increase of 10.8% relative to the same period of the previous year, taking the figure for the 12 months to November 2015 to 7.34 million, an increase of 7.2%.Holidaymakers make up much of the increase with leisure arrivals up 7.1% year on year while business travel slowed with a drop of 5.3%.Chinese visitor arrivals have increased from 100,000 in the year 2000 to one million by January 2016, with an average annual growth rate of 18% since 2010. The figures also show that Chinese arrivals grew two to three times faster in most months in 2015 than total overall arrivals to Australia.Overall some 53% of arrival were people on holiday, 20% people visiting friends and relatives and 13% arriving to study in Australia.Visitor numbers from Singapore, South Korea, Japan and the United States also increased, up 14.3%, 13.8%, 11.4% and 10% respectively.The latest figures were welcomed by Richard Colbeck, Minister for Tourism and International Education. He said that recently implemented Government measures, such as opening a new Australian Visa Application Centre in Chengdu, China, and streamlining visa application processes, were making it easier for Chinese tourists to come to Australia and will support continued growth into the future.Tourism Australia Managing Director, John O'Sullivan, added that the key to building a market now worth $7.7 billion annually to the Australian economy had been moving away from traditional group tours and aggressively targeting China's rapidly emerging middle class."Our marketing, distribution and partnership strategies are all now geared towards targeting this new breed of young, independent traveller with the desire and the financial means to explore our country. That's where we are focusing our resources and I'm delighted to say that is what is driving these impressive results," said O'Sullivan.Tourism Australia has undertaken several recent initiatives to boost Chinese tourism such as building an elite network of travel agents in China who are specially trained to sell tour packages to high-yielding clients.In recent years, Tourism Australia has also signed major strategic marketing agreements with China's largest carriers, including China Southern, China Eastern and Air China.O'Sullivan said those Australian tourism businesses which understood and were willing to adapt to the needs of Chinese visitors would derive the biggest benefits.The strong growth in visitation from China is set to continue with Tourism Research Australia forecasts estimating arrivals to double to two million and their spending to grow 7% per year to reach $13.7 billion by 2024/2025. Hi guys! This is my first post as a new member. I moved to New Zealand 7 years ago form England and am now a permanent resident of New Zealand. Before my 31st birthday(29/09/15) i applied for a Working Holiday Maker in Australia. I was then asked to submit police certificates from the UK and NZ as i have 2 convictions for drink driving in NZ and no convictions in the UK. This was the first and 2nd time i had never been in trouble with the law in any country and am still highly ashamed of my actions a couple of years ago. I have not been in trouble with law since and do not intend to be dealing with them again. My WHM application was forwarded to the Visa Applicant Character Consideration Unit (VACCU) in Melbourne for assessment due to my convictions in New Zealand. I have never been to prison in any country. i served a 6 and 12 month driving ban for DUI and completed a 6 month probation scheme with a probation officer to talk about my convictions etc and address the problems i had then, WE would meet once every 2 weeks for half an hour maximum. So my question is, in everybody elses past experience with the Australian Immigration, how likely are they to refuse my WHM application for my drink driving convictions an secondly how long should this process take at VACCU, they received my application from the department of immigration and border protection Perth on 17/12/15 Sorry for such a long post but am becoming a little nervous that it is taking so long. I would like to hear from anybody that would be willing to give me any information and would be willing to answer any questions you have for me. I look forward to hearing from you. Regards G The Land Rover range is expected to get the addition of a 3.0-litre V6 and a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol motor. The Range Rover Evoque is likely to get a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine. Land Rover is looking to introduce a range of petrol engines for its SUVs in India. Currently, only select variants of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are available with the option of a 5.0-litre Supercharged V8 petrol engine, while the rest of the Land Rover line-up uses diesel engines only. With a rise in demand for petrol cars across the country, and the Delhi governments ban on diesel engines with displacement of 2.0-litres and above, Land Rover has decided to expand its petrol SUV line-up. The new petrol engines are likely to be a 236.7bhp, 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged motor and a larger 335.4bhp, 3.0-litre supercharged V6. The Range Rover Evoque is likely to be powered by the 2.0-litre four-cylinder, turbo-petrol motor which will come paired with a nine-speed automatic gearbox. The larger Discovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover could get the 3.0-litre Supercharged V6 petrol motor paired with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Currently, Land Rover SUV line-up in India consists of the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover and the Range Rover LWB. California Air Resources Board rejects Volkswagen's proposal to fix the 2.0-litre engines affected in its emissions scandal. Volkswagen's plan to fix the cars affected by its emissions scandal in the US have been rejected by government officials. In a statement, California's Air Resources Board (CARB) said it has rejected proposals put forward by VW to rectify cars with its 2.0-litre diesel engine, saying the proposals lack detail and contain gaps in information. The CARB also says that VW's documentation lacks enough information for a "technical evaluation", as well as not addressing "overall impacts on vehicle performance, emissions and safety." CARB chair Mary D Nichols said: "They continued and compounded the lie, and when they were caught they tried to deny it. The result is thousands of tons of nitrogen oxide that have harmed the health of Californians. They need to make it right." Volkswagen boss Matthias Muller is due to meet with Gina McCarthy, the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), later today. A response from Volkswagen stated: "Today's announcement addresses the initial recall plans Volkswagen submitted to CARB in December. We are committed to working co-operatively with CARB and other regulators, and we plan to continue our discussions when we meet with the EPA." Although the CARB's statement does not openly discuss more financial compensation for US owners, the group says it will "continue its investigation and technical evaluations with the EPA to return the vehicles to legally required emission levels, determine mitigation for past and future environmental harm, and assess penalties." Although this rejection only applies to VW's fix for 2.0-litre engines, a fix for the firm's 3.0-litre engines is due to be submitted to CARB next month. This rejection is likely to form part of questions being put to VW's UK boss Paul Willis today, who is due to appear before the Transport Select Committee to give more evidence on the scandal. Willis, who already gave evidence in October, has already confirmed that UK owners affected by the scandal won't receive compensation. Owners in the US have been offered a 'goodwill' package, but Willis believes compensation funds in this country should be used to ensure the uptake of the firm's technical fixes. The German company has decided to assist the Berlin-based team in their quest to send an automated vehicle to the Moon. If youre wondering what the Ingolstadt-based carmaker wants to do on Earths natural satellite, well have you know they want to send their Audi lunar quattro automated vehicle on a little trip.Audis involvement in the project features a team of ten employees from several technical departments that will help out the Berlin-based group. The engineers from Audi will assist them in their endeavor to further develop and enhance their rover. At the same time, Audi Concept Design department in Munich is refining the form of the lunar rover.So the engineering group that had the unfortunate inspiration of calling itself Part-Time Scientists will receive specialized help from Audi engineers. The plan is to develop a rocket that will travel more than 236,121 miles (380,000 kilometers) over the course of five days and that is supposed to land close to the 1972 site of NASAs last manned moon mission, Apollo 17.Once on the moon, the autonomous vehicle must then drive a distance of at least one-half of a kilometer (a bit over 1/4 mile) and shoot and transmit high-resolution pictures back to Earth. If any of these conditions isnt met, the approximately $30 million prize offered by Google wont be awarded.The place where the Audi lunar quattro is supposed to land is near the Moons equator and experiences huge temperature fluctuations of around 300 degrees Celsius. The lack of atmosphere and conditions in the region change the outside temperature from 120 degrees Centigrade to -200.Audis lunar rover has o maximum speed of 2.2 MPH (3.6 km/h) and features two stereo cameras to help it navigate itself using 3D images. A third camera studies terrain and materials, besides shooting high-resolution panoramic images.The lunar rover prototype developed by the Part-Time Scientists has already received two prizes of $750,000 each. The team won these monetary awards for the optical systems on the vehicle and the development of the lunar rover itself.Since the German premium trio of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz has always involved a healthy competition between the three brands, we cant help wondering if the other two premium brands from Deutschland will join Googles big Moon race. Just weeks ago, the first images of the future seven-seat BMW X1 were leaked through a patent filing in China, and recently, our collaborating photographers shot a few images of an X1 seven-seat prototype during testing. The prototype being tested features a lot of different design elements compared to the standard X1.Put alongside the European BMW X1, the seven-seat variant destined for the Chinese market features a modified roofline, an entirely different front fascia and a modified rear end. Furthermore, the BMW X1s headlights have a new design, while the taillights benefit from a different graphic.The prototype in this articles photo gallery probably features a modified version of the UKL platform of the BMW Group. This technical platform is used both by the MINI and the BMW brands and gave life to cars like the BMW 2-Series Active Tourer, 2-Series Gran Tourer, X1, MINI Cooper hatchback, and others.Using the UKL platform would help BMW reduce development costs for the Chinese-only seven-seat X1 version. The design changes that the car has undergone dont exclude the possibility of using the UKL technical platform.The BMW X1 seems to be a popular choice for variations bound for the Chinese market, as other spy shots have shown. For example, an electric variant of the first generation BMW X1 was uncovered in Munich with a different design and wearing badges of the Zinoro brand , only sold in China.BMW isnt at its first Chinese-only model, the German company developing several cars for the worlds largest new car market. And its rival carmakers Audi and Mercedes-Benz do the same. Such strategies are applied to cater to the specific needs of Chinese consumers. For now, BMW officials have yet to reveal any information regarding this particular variant of the X1. This is usually the case with such prototypes. The car is a seven-seat CUV and has received new exterior styling, more technology and improved driving dynamics and comfort. Infinitis QX60 now has a sharp front end, with a large grille and new head and rear lights.The profile of the three-row family car hasnt changed so much, but the rear of this Infiniti lost some chrome trim for a more clean look, while the rear bumper got a different air diffuser. The car is available in new colors and can be ordered with more alloy wheel designs.While its platform brother, the Nissan Pathfinder, lost its hybrid variant, Infiniti will still offer a hybrid version of the QX60. Other improvements brought by the facelift include liquid-filled active engine mounts, a reconfigured suspension, a revised steering system, and several tweaks to improve handling, stability and comfort. The crossover is available both in front-wheel drive and all-wheel-drive variants.Regarding technological features, the QX60 got a Forward Emergency Braking system with pedestrian detection, marking the brands first system of this kind. Furthermore, the car comes with Infinitis Predictive Forward Collision Warning system.The Infiniti QX60 has also received some interior revisions meant to raise the comfort level available for its passengers. The car features improved sound proofing, uprated cabin materials and new connectivity solutions.The cabins insulation has received specific attention and the manufacturer claims its QX60 CUV brings class-leading noise, vibration and harshness levels at a constant speed.The new QX60 wasnt the only novelty from Infiniti shown at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. The Japanese brand also displayed the new Q50, QX30 and the Q60 sport coupe. Nissans premium branch is going through an important product offensive to increase its sales. Last year marked excellent sales results for this brand, but its far from the three German premium carmakers that top sales charts in the segment. The information on the recall is yet to be confirmed by more national traffic safety organizations, but we already have news arriving from Japan and France regarding the W800.The first of the defects affects motorcycles manufactured between December 17, 2010, and December 4, 2015, meaning 2011-2016 model years. The problem lies with the electrical wiring harness. In certain motorcycles, said harness may have been improperly installed and could become damaged in the areas below the fuel tank.With the harness becoming trapped between the W800's tank and the edge of the frame, some of the wires could be exposed and make contact with the bike. This might lead to a short circuit that could affect the functioning of the engine or even stall it altogether increasing the risk of a crash.Vehicles with VINs between JKBEJ800AAA015861 and JKBEJ800AAA026549 are expected to pay a visit to the nearest Kawasaki dealer to have their wiring harness inspected and replaced at no cost. Also, a new protective cover will be installed, and the wiring will be rerouted.Other W800 motorbikes may suffer from cracks that may appear in certain parts of the intake manifold assembly. According to Japanese sources , heat generated by the engine contributes to the decay of the throttle body holder.Repeated heat cycles tend to harden that component, and it may crack, with the vibrations also helping the process. Excessive amounts of air may thus be drawn into the engine, wreaking havoc with its performance and causing it to run erratically, also increasing the risk of a crash. The defective parts will be replaced with stronger ones.Kawasaki says that 5,973 motorcycles fall under the recall, and 11 reports have been filed but no accidents are known at the time of writing. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA ECU 2012-2014 VT750CA, VT750C2, and VT750C2F 2011-2016 VT750C 2013-2016 VT750CS 2010-2016 VT750C2B 2013-2014 VT750C2S. Honda and theannounce that 22,142 Shadow motorcycles are expected at dealerships for inspection and repair. Officialpapers say that Honda discovered that the wire of the bank angle sensor may rub against the wire harness joint connector.Engine vibration seems to be the cause, plus the less-than-optimal positioning of the joint connector. Repeated rubbing between the two parts may lead to a sensor malfunction and loss of signal from it.In case the bike'sloses signal from the bank angle sensor, the engine may stall while riding, significantly increasing the risk of a crash.Honda says that there is no warning for the Shadow customers, so they should have their bikes inspected by an authorized dealer. The dealers received a notification from Honda that forbids any sales of bikes in the Shadow line-up prior to being inspected and repaired.The OEM already prepared an updated version of the bank angle sensor which the dealers will install in place of the old one. At the same time, they will also relocate the joint connector, with both operations free of charge.In a letter addressed to the dealers, Honda says that even if they might find that certain motorcycles have already been recalled previously and had the bank angle sensor replaced, the current recall is a new one and has to be treated as such.Replacement parts have already been supplied from the first week of January 2015, the same source mentions. These are the affected Honda Shadow models, grouped by model years: BREAKING ALL THE RULES Sites BREAKING ALL THE RULES Entry BREAKING ALL THE RULES Portal BREAKING ALL THE RULES Site BREAKING ALL THE RULES News BREAKING ALL THE RULES Forum Breaking All The Rules Facebook BATR News BATR Site Index SARTRE Commentary SARTRE Commentary Facebook Forbidden History Reign of Terror Stuck on Stupid Totalitarian Collectivism Radical Reactionary Inherent Autonomy Global Gulag Corporatocracy Negotium Strappado Wrack View from the Mount Solitary Purdah Dueling Twins Varying Verity Deja vu from SARTRE Nest Gems Blog NeoCon Watch Washington Merry-Go-Round M A R K E T S Daily Business Report HOPE 911 - "War of Terror" BATR SARTRE Facebook BATR SARTRE Twitter World at War Facebook World at War Newsletter 2016 Election Race Facebook Uncensored Political Newsletter 2016 Election Race Twitter BATR YouTube Video Site BATR YouTube Channel BREAKING ALL THE RULES Channel BATR SARTRE Videos BREAKING ALL THE RULES Videos BATR SARTRE Tumblr RealPolitik Montage - Video Bijou BATR Videos Facebook BATR Forum Facebook BATR Site Map Nest Gems Site Archives S-C-V-HN "Global Gulag" Archives "Strappado Wrack" Archives "View from the Mount" Archives Cohocton Wind Watch Citizen Power Alliance The Daily Business Report features the most significant news about money, markets and commerce. The resulting concept car penned in La Jolla, California, features an unapologetic styling that explores future development possibilities for the freshly-launched Titan. The exhibit is called Nissan Titan Warrior Concept and features a Cummins V8 5.0-liter turbo diesel engine borrowed from the Titan XD.While maintaining the wheelbase and length of the Titan XD Crew Cab, the Warrior Concept has a height of 81.5 inches and features 37-inch tall off-road tires. The vehicles body was widened by three inches on each side, adding up to a total of 86.6 inches. The alloy wheels themselves are dedicated to this task, having a size of 18x9.5 inches, and a dark matte finish.Painted in a custom matte-gunmetal color dubbed Thunder, the Titan Warrior Concept features accents in Magma Orange, and black highlights. The resulting exhibit is a car that looks ready to go off-roading and actually win a race or two.However, the interior isnt like the one of a Baja trophy truck, but that of a dependable daily-driver with all the comfort features expected of a modern vehicle. The customized work continues on the interior, where the designers milled the steering wheel from a block of aluminum and modified certain trim elements, along with other features.The designers at Nissans Californian studio wanted to make a car for those who appreciate something that's not mundane and things that others dont have. This endeavor was inspired by Project Titan, a crowd-sourced customization project for the first-generation Nissan Titan. The Project Titan sent two veterans of the US military in a unique adventure in Alaska.The design team responsible for the new Titan Warrior Concept stated that they were also inspired by the brands off-road heritage, that includes participations in Baja and Paris-Dakar races. Photo of the Mirai-based Kymeta research vehicle courtesy of Toyota. Toyota has developed a research vehicle based on the Mirai fuel cell sedan that uses Kymeta satellite communications technology to explore heavier data transfers from a connected vehicle. The vehicle was shown at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. Toyota and Kymeta have been jointly researching flat antennae, embedded in the car, to support satellite distribution of huge amounts of data to a vehicle since September of 2013. With an exclusive right for development and testing of the on-car antenna, Toyota lent the company research vehicles for test driving. The automaker is working to install a data communication module into more of its vehicle lineup, according to a release. Mirai Creation Investment Limited Partnership, a fund where Toyota participates as an investor, provided an investment of $5 million to Kymeta this month to enhance future technology research and development. Toyota expects acceleration of the joint research with Kymeta through the investment. Kymetas satellite antennas remove the need for mechanical components by using software and liquid crystal technologies to electronically track and steer towards satellites. The lightweight, flat profile of the antenna also allows for seamless integration during vehicle assembly or easy aftermarket installation. Photo of Hyundai Genesis courtesy of Hyundai. Hyundai Motor America is recalling 11,142 2015 model-year Genesis vehicles so dealers can replace Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 tires that are at risk for developing cracks in the tire sidewall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported. The cars in question were manufactured from March 3, 2014, to Feb. 9, 2015, and are equipped with Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 tires installed as original equipment. Hyundai dealers will replace the factory tires with tires of another brand, free of charge, according to NHTSA. The recall is expected to begin on Feb. 19. Vehicle owners can reach Hyundai customer service at (855) 671-3059. Hyundai's number for this recall is 138. Originally posted on Automotive Fleet Boeing and Airbus reported upbeat year-end results recently, with both companies saying they delivered the most airliners ever in 2015 a total of 762 for Boeing, and 635 for Airbus. Global passenger traffic in most key regions is increasing, said Randy Tinseth, a Boeing VP for marketing. Our customers continue to perform well in the marketplace. However, Boeing also said last week new orders for 2015 totaled 768, about half as many as 2014, when the company took in a record 1,432 orders. Airbus said on Tuesday it ended the year with 1,036 new orders in hand. Analysts have cited last years dive in oil prices as a factor in slowing orders for new airplanes the low prices encouraged airlines to keep flying their old gas-guzzlers rather than upgrade to more efficient, but more expensive, new airplanes. Despite the slowdown, theres plenty of work to keep the doors open at both companies at years end, Boeing had a backlog of 5,795 orders to fill, and Airbus reported a backlog of 6,787 aircraft. Airbus also said it plans to build up to 50 airplanes a year at its new facility in Mobile, Alabama, its first factory in the U.S., which opened in September. Boeing CEO Ray Conner said his team did a fantastic job last year getting airplanes built and delivered to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. This will continue to be our focus, he said. He added that the companys backlog will help ensure a steady stream of deliveries for years to come. A familiar growl will return to the skies over Yellowknife in Canadas Northwest Territories Wednesday as the iconic Buffalo Airways returns to the air. The cargo and passenger carrier, made famous by the reality TV series Ice Pilots NWT, was grounded six weeks ago by Transport Canada over safety and administrative concerns. Transport Canada restored the companys operating certificate late Tuesday but said the company, owned by Buffalo Joe McBryan and his family, will be on a short leash to ensure it maintains the programs and paperwork it rectified during the long suspension. In a news release, TC said it will closely monitor Buffalo to verify that its corrective action is implemented and sustained. It did not offer details on the shortcomings or their solutions. Buffalo uses mainly 1940s- and 1950s-era DC-3, C-46 and DC-4 piston-powered aircraft to serve far-flung Arctic communities with freight and passenger service. The television show often depicted in-flight emergencies and other problems. It also showed a well-developed feud between the elder McBryan and Transport Canada officials. Reports from Yellowknife said Joe McBryan had agreed to step out of the management role at the carrier but he will continue as a pilot on the DC-3 that offers scheduled service between his home of Hay River and Buffalos Yellowknife headquarters. During the grounding, passenger service was suspended but Buffalo maintained its cargo flights using chartered aircraft. None of the companys more than 100 employees was laid off during the suspension. 13 January 2016 17:21 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Rajabova The settlement of the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and restoration of the countrys territorial integrity will remain key foreign policy priority of Azerbaijan in 2016 as part of its internationally-recognized territories is still under Armenian occupation. Restoration of territorial integrity and elimination of consequences of Armenian occupation policy will remain a priority for Azerbaijans foreign policy in 2016, said Foreign Ministry in a statement summarizing the major milestones of the year of 2015. Though no tangible results were achieved in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process last year, Azerbaijan could draw attention of international community to the conflict, expose invader Armenias lies and exhibit the countrys right position on the problem. The country's diplomatic activities focused on strengthening international efforts aimed at resolution of the conflict within the framework of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally-recognized borders of Azerbaijan. In this regard, 2015 was marked with a series of decisions by prestigious international institutions, according to the ministry. The 42nd session of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted a resolution in late May condemning Armenias continuous aggression against Azerbaijan. In the resolution entitled Aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, the organization demanded from Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands and implement all UN Security Council resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The member states stressed the importance of resolving the conflict based on Azerbaijans sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders. The decisions of Europes important political and legal institutions in 2015 also reflected the need to eliminate the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, according to the foreign ministry. The European Court of Human Rights confirming the fact of occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia with its decision dated June 16, has rejected Armenias claims allegedly it has not occupied Azerbaijani lands. The decision has identified that Armenia has had a decisive influence on the separatist regime established in Azerbaijans occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region from the first days of the conflict and that it maintained effective control over the occupied territories. The Foreign Ministry said with this decision ECHR legally justified the position in the international community who refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan that was formed with use of force against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and observed with other serious violations, including ethnic cleansing. Furthermore, inadmissibility of the use of force against the territorial integrity of states, and the illegality of the situation created with this mean was highlighted in the resolution at a meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly last July. The resolution initiated by Azerbaijan, voiced support to the resolution of conflicts in the OSCE area within the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders and the right of the displaced people, driven from their homes by force, to safely return to their homes. In November, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has made firm decisions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. PACEs political affairs committee approved on November 4 the draft resolution for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces and other irregular armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the establishment of the full sovereignty of Azerbaijan in these territories," within the framework of the OSCE Minsk process. Afterwards, PACE committee on social affairs adopted on November 23 the draft resolution on "Intentional Deprivation of Residents of Azerbaijani Border Regions of Water." The document condemned Armenias deliberately creating an environmental crisis in the occupied lands and an environmental aggression and demanded the Armenian leadership to stop using water resources as political influence or pressure tool. Both draft resolutions will be discussed for adoption in the PACE session in January. Despite the calls and requirements of the international community Armenia continued its illegal activities in the occupied territories and attempted to hold so-called "elections" in these areas. These steps that counteract the international rule of law were unequivocally condemned by the international community. The Foreign Ministry said as a result of the enlightening events on Armenia's aggressive policy and its consequences, active has been done for the recognition of the Khojaly genocide, committed by the Armenian vandals in 1992, in the international arena. The OIC Council of Ministers adopted a special resolution on the genocide and Guatemala legislative body, as well as legislative structures of Pennsylvania, Arizona and Connecticut states of the U.S. adopted resolutions on the genocide. The ministry also defined the protection of its independence and sovereignty, and worthily representing Azerbaijans national interests on international arena as one of the priorities of the countrys foreign policy in the next year. 2015 remembered with the growth of the international prestige of Azerbaijan and strengthening of its role and place in the international arena. Last year, Azerbaijan has expanded both bilateral and multilateral international relations, as it aims to realize its wide opportunities in and potential in the regional and international level. The country acted as the organizer of events, and had a positive impact on the processes in the international arena and the problems faced by the states and nations. The country will pay special attention to development of bilateral relations on a balanced and equitable basis in the current year. The ministry said implementation of major regional energy and transportation projects, and participation in intercultural dialogue will be aimed at strengthening Azerbaijans position in political, economic and humanitarian spheres. -- Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 14:59 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has received Charles Kupchan, Senior Director for European Affairs at the US National Security Council, Azertac state news agency reported. The sides discussed the development of the Azerbaijani-US bilateral ties in a variety of fields. They expressed satisfaction with the establishment of partnership relations between the two countries in a number of fields. The parties stressed the importance of expanding energy cooperation, which has a rich history, with the support of the US. Touching upon the fight against international terrorism and cooperation in the field of security, the sides noted the significance of successful activity of Azerbaijani servicemen as part of the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. They also exchanged views over the current state and prospects of democratic processes in Azerbaijan. During the conversation, the parties discussed the regional situation, and the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They also stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation even further. After Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991, Washington established diplomatic relations with Baku in 1992. Azerbaijan and the United States enjoy a strong strategic partnership founded on shared values and interests. Today, Azerbaijan remains a staunch ally of the U.S. in its fight against international terrorism. Azerbaijani troops have been serving in Afghanistan shoulder to shoulder with U.S soldiers, just as they did previously in the Balkans and in Iraq. Economic and commercial relations are also developing dynamically. The U.S. is one of the largest investors in Azerbaijan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 10:11 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed condolences to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the deaths of people in an explosion at the Sultanahmet square in Istanbul. I was deeply saddened by the news of loss of lives and injuries as a result of an explosion in Sultanahmet square in Istanbul, said the message of the president. We are extremely outraged by this ruthless terror attack, and underline the necessity of jointly fighting against all forms of terrorism in the most resolute manner. On the occasion of this tragedy, on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to the bereaved families and loves ones of those who died, the fraternal people of Turkey, and wish the swiftest possible recovery to the injured, the message said. May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace! An explosion hit the Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul on January 12. A suicide bomber blew himself up near the central mosque when tourists were passing by. The blast tore through a crowd of visitors gathered near the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district, and killed 10, injuring 15 people. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 17:32 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Rajabova Armenias destructive position in the peace talks to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still hinders the conflict resolution. For over 20 years, Yerevan has been deliberately delaying the conflict resolution attempting to maintain the current status quo that means keeping part of Azerbaijans internationally-recognized territory under the occupation. MP Elman Mammadov said as a result of the destructive position of Armenia in 2015, there has been no progress in the negotiations process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He blamed the Armenian military junta for such a situation, noting that as long as the criminals are in power in Armenia, one should not expect progress in the conflict resolution. They are interested in maintaining the status quo. In fact, if the conflict is resolved, their power will end, the MP believes. Recently, President Ilham Aliyev said Armenia wants to maintain the status quo as long as possible and is unwilling to withdraw its troops from the occupied territories and accepts negotiations as a process, trying to buy time. Armenia doesnt want peace, the president said addressing a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, dedicated to the social and economic development in 2015 and the objectives for the future. Mammadov said the president once again outlined the position of Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that the country will not accept the occupation of its lands and will free them with every means. The MP also spoke about the ineffectiveness of the OSCE Minsk Group, an international framework established to mediate over peaceful resolution of the conflict. The co-chairs of the Minsk Group act as a party supporting Armenia, rather than a mediator in the conflict resolution. Despite the fact that Armenia is a country-aggressor, and occupied our lands, no pressure imposed on the country. On the contrary, it enjoys support, and we are very sorry about this, Mammadov said. The MP believes that in such a situation, Azerbaijan has only one way, that is, to build up its military, economic strength, every day, every hour, as well as to enhance the prestige and continue to seek a solution to the problem. Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, over 4,000 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled. The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day. -- Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 13:00 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan has become the second for the number of joint stock companies established in Turkey, being only behind Germany. The countrys businessmen established 46 joint stock companies in Turkey, thus, being second after German entrepreneurs with 84 JSCs, local media reported with reference to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. Also, Azerbaijan left behind Russia for the number of limited liability companies and was the 7th. In general, Azerbaijani citizens and companies participated in the establishment of 158 companies in Turkey's various regions in January-November 2015. This figure was 153 in the same period of 2014. The union said that the number of companies with Azerbaijani capital in Turkey is increasing in a stable temp. The volume of investments made in the newly established companies amounted to about 57 million liras ($19 million). Some 50.7 million liras ($16.9 million) of this volume accounted for Azerbaijani citizens and companies. The volume of investments of the Azerbaijani businessmen in these newly established companies increased by 30.3 percent. Roughly 507 new companies with Azerbaijani capital were founded in Turkey in 2013-2015. The volume of investment made in the formation of their capital was 143 million liras ($47.76 million) currency equivalent. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan plans to increase exports of agriculture products by entering the traditional markets with a larger volume and supplying the products to new markets. Besides oil and gas, the country eyes to export agricultural products to the world markets in the future. President Ilham Aliyev has set improving the export capacity of the agrarian sector as one of the main priorities for Azerbaijan. The South Caucasus nation, with an access to the traditional markets, intends to look for new markets for its high-quality agricultural products which enjoy popularity and are in demand in neighboring countries. In his conclusion speech at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in 2015 and objectives for the future President Aliyev called Russia the main market for Azerbaijani agricultural products. "There is a greater demand for Azerbaijani products in Russia today. Azerbaijan must ensure this demand and enter the Russian market with a greater production volume," he said on January 10. Azerbaijan's northern neighbor Russia is seen as a good market for increasing the export of agricultural products since this country is considered a bridge to enter the Eastern Europe's markets. Also, western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis in late 2014 opened up the huge market for the sale of Azerbaijani products. In this regard, Russian market has a huge demand in Azerbaijan's agrarian products. Besides Russia, Kazakhstan has a demand in food products of Azerbaijan. President Aliyev noted that Kazakhstan has built a modern logistics center and Azerbaijan will start exporting its food products to Kazakhstan in the near future. Azerbaijan is interested in establishing green corridors with neighboring countries to remove restrictions on trade. One of such countries is Kazakhstan. The establishment of a green corridor between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will allow Azerbaijan to export agrarian product to the Kazakh market in huge volumes. The Middle East countries are interested in Azerbaijani products as well. "This issue is discussed during the visits, and Azerbaijan must enter these markets too, because the countrys qualitative products are of great interest," President Aliyev said. Azerbaijan is keen to diversify the national economy and reduce its dependence on petrodollars. This is seen at the safest way to minimize the impact of the ongoing economic crisis to the nation. The most important component of the government strategy on diversification of the Azerbaijani economy is designated to optimizing the structure of non-oil exports, in particular, by increasing the volume and range of agricultural products, and improving its competitiveness on foreign markets. Azerbaijan's agricultural sector plays an important role in providing the 9.6-million population's food security in a best way and increasing the country's export potential. Thus, one could expect that this year and in coming years agriculture will become one of the main sectors with export-oriented products which will bring huge revenues to Azerbaijan's state budget. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 12:28 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova The railway line which has for decades connected various countries will now link continents thanks to the implementation of the North-South International Transport Corridor. Being an important route from India to Finland, the North-South transport corridor will reduce the cargo delivery period via various important routes twofold-threefold. This was announced by Javid Gurbanov, head of Azerbaijan Railways at the International North-South transportation corridor: new directions, developments and perspectives" international dialogue forum on January 12. Azerbaijan enjoys both advantageous geographical position at a crossroads between East and West and developed transport infrastructure, which pave the way for the country to become a regional transport hub. The North-South corridor is expected to turn Azerbaijan into a major transport hub and increase the goods' turnover among member states. The turnover of goods between India and the EU is 25.5 million tons of cargo a year and delivery can take up to 60 days. With the launch of the North-South Corridor through Azerbaijan, the delivery period will be reduced to 14-20 days, that is, twofold-threefold," he noted. Today, development of the western segment of the North-South transport corridor is in the focus of Iran and Azerbaijan. The North-South railway, which is a part of the North-South corridor, is expected to serve as a bridge to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. "Negotiations are underway with the Iranian side, and a protocol was signed last year," Gurbanov stated. "The railway, we are going to build, will connect the Persian Gulf to the Baltic Sea. This is a new route for logistics companies that can deliver cargo both from Astara and Amirabad through Azerbaijan and the Black Sea to Ukraine and Europe, which is beneficial in terms of distance and period. After the removal of sanctions imposed against Iran the trade turnover with the EU will increase significantly, and we can use both sea and railway transport for cargo transportation." Currently, Azerbaijan and Iran are working over the project on joining their railway systems to develop the North-South corridor. It will be possible after the Iranian side completes construction of the Gazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran) rail, with a total length of over 350 kilometers. Mohsen Pour Seyyed Aghaei, the Head of the Iranian Railways, said his country plans to commission the Gazvin-Rasht railway in 2017, while the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway will begin in 2016 and finish in 2019. These railways are part of the North-South railway corridor. The implementation of the Gazvin-Rasht-Astara railway project requires an investment of $1.5 billion. But this project is a priority for the Iranian government and we will ensure the necessary funds, he said. Aghaei also noted that despite the economic pressure that Iran is facing due to low oil prices, it has all the opportunities to implement transit projects going through its territory. First option is to link Iranian Astara and Azerbaijani Astara through a railroad. Iran together with Azerbaijan has made a commitment that the process will be completed by the end of 2016. In this case, goods will be transported from Bandar Abbas to Gazvin via railway. Then they will be transported to Astara by other vehicles and then - transported via the Azerbaijani railways, Aghaei said. The second option envisages cargo transportation via Irans Amirabad port. Within four months we will create the opportunity to direct the loading of goods directly on to ships at the port. Then from Amirabad the ships will be delivering the goods to Baku's Alat port and then to Georgia via railway." he added. The forum ended with signing of an agreement on the development of mutual cooperation by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Iran signed. Experts believe in the importance and capabilities of the North-South corridor. The capacity of this corridor is estimated at more than 20 million tons per year. The North-South route suggests three routes - the trans-Caspian (in fact, the sea route between Russia and Iran with an access to the railway), the eastern (a railway link to the east of the Caspian Sea) and the western (via Azerbaijan). They say that establishment of railway communication between Azerbaijan and Iran and the development of the North-South transport corridor will open significant prospects for the development of cargo and passenger traffic between Europe and Asia. Azerbaijan, in turn, will be able to increase its transit potential: it will bring great benefits not only to the country, but also to the region as a whole. The corridor will make greater contribution to the diversification of Azerbaijan's economy and make the country even more efficient and more resistant to any potentially possible global crisis. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 12:46 (UTC+04:00) Azercell Telecom continues to realize different social projects directed to support the development of education in Azerbaijan. The Company finalized the selection process for the Student Bursary Program 2015, annually held since 2008. Company CEO Vahid Mursaliyev met with the winners of the Student Bursary Program and presented them special certificates on January 12. Mr. Mursaliyev extended his congratulations to the students and wished them a successful career path. Over 1,200 students from different universities in Baku, as well as regions, applied to this program. The multi-staged selection process started on October 1 and 24 students were qualified for the title of Azercell Scholar. These students will receive a monthly scholarship in the amount of AZN 200 each from Azercell till their graduation. The winners are students of higher institutions located at Baku and various regions of Azerbaijan. Thus, the students of Baku Higher Oil School, State Oil and Industry University, Baku State University, Qafqaz University, Academy of Public Administration under the President of Azerbaijan Republic and other institutions in Baku, as well as Gandja, Mingachevir, Nakhchivan and Lankaran State Universities became Azercells honored scholars. The selection process consisted of several stages. At the first stage the applicants passed written tests with logical questions and then submitted essays in English on different topics. At the final stage the students were invited to face-to-face interviews with the representatives and experts from Azercell's management positions. As a result, students who successfully passed all stages of the selection process, have been awarded with the scholarship. Student Bursary Program's advantage is not only about the financial support. Along with the scholarship, these young people will get a chance to enrich their knowledge on telecommunications, participate at Azercell's corporate events, receive various training courses, as well as take an internship at Azercell. The Student Bursary Program is aimed to provide special care to the successful students and support their development as future specialists. This project held under the sustainability strategy of Azercell Telecom will help to strengthen the company's corporate social responsibility activities and contribute to the welfare of our society. Azerbaijani leading mobile carrier Azercell Telecom will continue to support various projects focusing on the development of young professionals. Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996 and since the first years sustains a leading position in the market. Azercell introduced number of technological innovations in Azerbaijan: GSM technology, advance payment mobile services, M2M,MobilBank, GPRS/EDGE (mobile internet), 24/7 Customer Care, full-time operating Azercell Express offices, mobile e-service ASAN imza (ASAN signature) and others. With 48,2% share of Azerbaijans mobile market Azercells network covers 99,8% of the countrys population. In 2013, the number of Azercells subscribers reached 4,5 million people. In 2011 Azercell deployed 3G and in 2012 the fourth generation network LTE in Azerbaijan. The Company is the leader of Azerbaijans mobile communication industry and the biggest investor in the non-oil sector. Azercell is a part of TeliaSonera Group of Companies serving 186 million subscribers in 17 countries worldwide with 27,000 employees. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 16:40 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova The companies that are doing business in Azerbaijan, or planning to do so, would be able to enjoy the simplified licensing procedure also in 2016. Expert Vugar Bayramov told Azernews that simplification of the licensing procedure has allowed the companies and entrepreneurs to get licenses in a simple way, which will positively affect the business doing. "The simplification of the licensing procedure, decrease of their number, application of online license portals offering issuing licenses, reduced amount of duties, issuance of perpetual licenses, and most important - online issuance of licenses have allowed to get licenses without making any illegal payments and avoid illegal procedures," he noted. The Economy and Industry Ministry issued 264 licenses to entrepreneurs through the ASAN service centers in 2015. Some 202 licenses were issued in Baku while 62 licenses - in Azerbaijan's regions. Bayramov believes that the number of licenses to be issued in 2016 will increase as these procedures were simplified at the end of 2015. "More entrepreneurs are expected to turn to the ASAN service centers to get licenses. Furthermore, licenses for some sectors, including, taxi service and production, import and sale of alcohol drinks, were cancelled," he added. Thus, the main quality factor in licensing is not the number of licenses, but easing an access to licenses and increasing the number of non-licensed fields. "The licenses are issued perpetually. If earlier the licenses were issued for 5 years, currently, they have become perpetual. This means that the entrepreneurs getting licenses in 2015 will use it perpetually and will not apply for getting a license in coming years," the expert stated. Given this, the expert expects increase in the number of entrepreneurs applying for licenses in 2016, adding that this process will stabilize since 2017. "Thus, the measures taken in the licensing field were very important. Our calculations show that the licensing system of Azerbaijan is at the level of the licensing systems of the developed countries for the quality of steps taken in this field," Bayramov said. The government is keen on developing the entrepreneurship activities throughout the country. In this regard, a presidential decree issued on December 21 canceled 22 types of licenses, and narrowed a list of the licenses required for doing business in Azerbaijan from 59 to 37. Also, in early October, licensing procedures for entrepreneurship were simplified, paving the way for encouraging business transparency in the country. Moreover, the number of inspections among entrepreneurs was also reduced for two years. Asked about the possible increase in number of the issued licenses, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Economy and Industry Ministry Abbas Aliyev said the ministry is ready and will continue to issue licenses through the ASAN service centers to entrepreneurs in 2016. "Business entities will get licenses through the ASAN service centers without any obstacles," he noted. Aliyev also stated that some 19,000 licenses have been issued for entrepreneurs so far. After applying the new system, their number was decreased by 75 percent. The remaining 25 percent, which were not terminated, are considered perpetual, he said. Currently, the cost of the state duty for a license varies between 220 manats ($141)-11,000 manats ($7,069) depending on the type of activity. No state duty is required for the reissuance or recovery of the license. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 11:01 (UTC+04:00) Closure of the border with Syria is not the best way for Turkey to fight terrorism, Armagan Kuloglu, a retired Turkish major general, told Trend in an exclusive interview Jan. 12. An explosion at Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul on Jan. 12 killed 10 and injured 15 people. It was reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up near the central mosque when tourists were passing by. On Jan. 12, after the terrorist attack in Istanbul, several Turkish media outlets reported that Ankara can close the border with Syria for security purposes. Authorities have so far made no comments on these reports. Kuloglu said that currently there are Turkish citizens who have close ties with terrorists in Syria and previously were trained in terrorist camps, adding that they can organize attacks in Turkey. Therefore, Kuloglu believes that the closure of the border with Syria will not solve problems of terrorism in Turkey. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 11:46 (UTC+04:00) European markets are currently not a viable destination for the export of Turkmen gas, expert of the British University of Glasgow focusing on the Central Asia, Luca Anceschi believes. Earlier, European Commissions Vice President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said that the EU expects to receive Turkmen gas in 2019. The best route for delivering Turkmen gas to Europe would be a 300-kilometer long gas pipeline running through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani coasts by further connecting it to the Southern Gas Corridor gas pipelines system. Anceschi said that building far-flung pipelines (for Turkmen gas supplies to Europe) appears an increasingly unlikely endeavor at times of very low oil and gas prices. "Turkmenistan continues to be reluctant to open its fields to foreign firms, especially those from the West. Also, the Trans-Caspian pipeline project which can allow Turkmen gas supplies is opposed by Russia and Iran." Anceschi stressed that in fact Russia is seeing that Turkmen gas flowing to the West will significantly dilute its leverage on European supplies. He added that Tehran does in turn oppose the Transcaspian pipeline as it aspires to become the key transit country for a pipeline carrying Turkmen gas westwards after the lifting of sanctions. The expert also stressed that the proposal to supply Turkmen gas to Europe has nothing to do with demand considerations but it does rather represent the net effect of a series of geopolitical and geo-economic factors. Meanwhile the expert noted that Gazproms decision to suspend gas purchases from Turkmenistan since early 2016 provoked unease in Ashgabat that China is expected to become its only customer in the long term. To avoid this dependence, the identification of new export routes for Turkmenistans natural gas has now become an urgent priority for Ashgabat, he said. Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of gas reserves - 17.5 trillion cubic meters of gas. Currently, the country produces more than 75 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and it is planned to increase production to 230 billion cubic meters by 2030, most part of which will be exported. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 11:22 (UTC+04:00) Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the U.S. to apologize for trespassing its waters, an Iranian military official said. [US Secretary of State John] Kerry called Zarif requesting Iran to release the detained sailors. Zarif took a strong stance, saying that the sailors were in Irans waters. Therefore the U.S. must apologize, Fars news agency quoted the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi as saying on January 13. Reportedly, Kerry and Zarif have hold a phone conversation following the seizure of two American boots as well as 10 sailors onboard by the IRGC. The IRGC Navy declared that the US navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf illegally. The boats were sized at 16:30 (GMT+3:30) on January 12, according to the statement. The Iranian side reports that the arrested US sailors including one woman are safe and are being held in an appropriate place. Earlier, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the US military lost contact with two small US boats en route from Kuwait to Bahrain, confirming that the 10 sailors on the boats were in Iranian custody. Cook also claimed that U.S. had been in contact with Iran and rested assured that they would be returned. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 14:50 (UTC+04:00) The Turkmen Parliament has ratified an agreement with the government of Finland for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income during the regular meeting, the Turkmen government reported on January 13. Turkmenistan believes that namely innovations ensured Finland's competitiveness at international level. The State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan reported that the experience of Finland, which shows the highest results among the states, where international studies to assess the quality of students achievements were held, was studied during transition of Turkmen secondary schools to twelve-year education system. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 16:20 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Sadigova Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has instructed the countrys Parliament to draft a new edition of Constitution by May 2016 and to submit it to the Council of Elders for consideration and approval. The president said the Parliament should continue the work on improving the countrys legislation. "We need to pay a special attention to drafting of new laws, which serve to further strengthening of legal and economic foundations of the state, based on the democratic values of our nation," the president noted. Earlier, a meeting of the Constitutional Commission was held under the chairmanship of President. The large-scale work was held to collect, analyze and summarize the proposals on the improvement of the Constitution that were received from activists of public organisations, citizens, specialists in different sectors and experts, Turkmen media reported. Particularly, the proposals concern such important issues as the implementation of the science and technology policy of the Turkmen state and international cooperation in this field, the further development of a multiparty system and equality of public associations before the law and strengthening of the constitutional guarantees of freedom of thought and expression. It was proposed to include the provision on extending the term of office of the President of Turkmenistan from five to seven years in the draft Constitution (Article 52) with a view to ensure the successful implementation of ambitious long-term programs. Meeting participants also considered the possibility of introducing the post of Plenipotentiary Representative for Human Rights. The priority objectives of the constitutional reform also include the necessity to improve its Section III that provides the constitutional legal framework for the system of state power and government of Turkmenistan and specifies the authorities, rights and duties of the President of Turkmenistan, the Cabinet of Ministers, the judiciary and local authorities. --- Follow Laman Sadigova on Twitter: @s_laman93 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 16:01 (UTC+04:00) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invested a record amount in the Central Asian region, in 2015. Last years total investment rose 75 per cent to 1,402.3 billion from 803 million, in 82 different transactions following 71 projects in 2014. This brings the total EBRD financing in Central Asia to just over 10 billion. Kazakhstan reported the largest total volumes; Tajikistan and Mongolia tripled and quadrupled investment compared with the previous year; and the Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan kept up pace with 2014. EBRD Managing Director for Turkey and Central Asia, Natalia Khanjenkova, said the Bank is ever more dedicated to the market transition of the economies of Central Asia, and last years record investment is only one of the areas where the Bank has boosted activity. "We are also actively engaged in supporting policy reform on green energy, diversification, the investment climate and the role of the private sector. An upcoming EBRD-FT Central Asia Investment Forum on 18 February in Istanbul will discuss ways of boosting investment in the region even further," she said Within the region, the largest EBRD investment was made in Kazakhstan with 708.6 million in 2015, versus 567.5 million in 2014, which was the previous record. Janet Heckman, EBRD Director for Kazakhstan, said in Kazakhstan the EBRD continued to expand with a record 30 projects across all sectors of the economy, including SME financing, energy efficiency and climate change mitigation, municipal and regional infrastructure and agribusiness. Mongolian investment increased more than four times year-on-year, to 467.3 million in 2015 compared with 117 million in 2014. Matthieu Le Blan, the EBRD Head in Mongolia, said 2015 was an exceptional year for the EBRD in Mongolia in many ways. "Not only did the Bank invest at levels equal to about 4 per cent of Mongolias GDP last year, but it has also reached out to new sectors of the economy, such as telecoms and the knowledge economy. The signing of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine project was a milestone. The EBRD arranged a US$ 1.2 billion syndicated financing, the largest in the Bank's history, as part of a US$ 4.4 billion international financing package. This project will shape the future of Mongolia. Tajikistan was another record breaker, with investments of 166 million in 2015 close to three times the 2014 record of 62 million, which in turn was an increase of over four times on 2013s investment of 14 million. Richard Jones, EBRD Head of Tajikistan, said: The Bank invested in a record 15 projects across all sectors. Landmark transactions included an equity investment into Auchans first hypermarket in Central Asia, financing of Coca Colas new plant, and a loan to the state energy utility Barki Tojik for upgrades necessary for the CASA 1000 electricity transmission project. The EBRD also provided investment and advisory support to the financial sector, local enterprises and municipal infrastructure, and will build further on this during 2016. In the Kyrgyz Republic, the EBRD invested 48.6 million in 2015 (34.8 million in 2014) and inTurkmenistan 11.9 million in 2015 (the same amount as in 2014). Masaru Honma, EBRD Director for Central Asia, added: The external environment facing Central Asia remains very challenging. Remittances have fallen sharply in Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic, while exports are down in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia. In these circumstances, EBRD financing will continue to play an important role in the region in 2016. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) responded to another challenging year for financing in 2015 by delivering huge impact on the ground in over 30 countries where it operates throughrecord investments of 9.4 billion. The rise in investment from 8.9 billion in 2014 came as emerging markets worldwide witnessed the worst year for capital inflows since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008 and as banks continued to reduce their exposure to a number of EBRD economies. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 17:06 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova The Turkmen parliament has ratified a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Iranian government on cooperation in the field of trade shipping in the Caspian Sea. The document was signed during Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's official visit to Tehran in November 2015, the Turkmen government reported. Turkmenistans statistics show that the trade turnover with Iran exceeded $2.62 billion in the first nine months of 2015. This figure is 2.2 percent more compared to the same period of 2014. During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Ashgabat in March last year, the two countries agreed to increase the volume of trade turnover to $60 billion in the coming 10 years. Moreover, a number of large-scale joint projects have been implemented by the two countries during the years-long cooperation. In general, Iran is keen on expanding mutual cooperation with Central Asian countries in various fields, in particular, in the field of rail transport. In this regard, the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, which is the part of the North-South international transport corridor, was constructed with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank. It is 925 kilometers long, with 85 kilometers in Iran's territory, 700 kilometers in Turkmenistan, and the remaining 140 kilometers in Kazakhstan. Preliminary estimates show that annually, 3-5 million metric tons of cargo will be transported via this route. In the long term, this figure will increase to 10-12 million metric tons. This railway joins the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea through Iran and then continues to St. Petersburg and northern Europe via Russia. Experts lauded the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway as a success, calling it beneficial for the three countries in terms of developing ties and increasing trade between them. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 16:25 (UTC+04:00) About 463 citizens of Turkey were diagnosed with swine flu since the beginning of 2016, Turkish Health Ministry reported on January 13. Some 14 people died from swine flu during this period in Turkey, according to the ministry. Over 2,905 people suspected with swine flu appealed to the countrys hospitals since the beginning of this year, among whom were also citizens of other countries. Some 181 people died from swine flu in 2015 in Turkey, according to Turkish Health Ministry. The virus A/H1N1 has been detected at the end of March 2009 in Mexico, the United States and Canada, where the first fatal cases were registered. In Apr. 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the swine flu pandemic, gradually raising the level of threat. In June 11, 2009 for the first time in more than 40 years, WHO has officially announced the introduction of the sixth - the highest level of pandemic threat of the rapid spread through the world of influenza A/H1N1. More than 19,000 cases of infection with H1N1 flu with fatalities have been registered, and infected people were found in most countries of the world, according to WHO. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 13 January 2016 18:18 (UTC+04:00) By Sara Rajabova Iran is in anticipation of receiving its frozen assets as the international sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic are believed to be removed soon. The country expects the nuclear deal, aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reached with world powers to be implemented in the coming weeks, enabling the country to trade through international financial systems, receive its frozen assets, and resume oil trade on international markets. Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif has said Iran has $30 billion of frozen assets outside the country that will be unblocked next week immediately after the removal of anti-Iran sanctions following the implementation of the nuke deal, Iranian media reported. There have been voiced conflicting statements about the total volume of these funds ever since the historic nuclear deal with the West was announced on July 14, 2015. Estimates range anywhere from $20 billion to $180 billion. U.S. President Barack Obama initially offered an estimate of approximately $100 billion. CBIs deputy director for currency management, Gholamali Kamyab estimated the total value of Irans foreign assets that have been blocked as a result of recent sanctions at $89.6 billion, excluding those in the U.S. whose status wont change as a result of the agreement. Seif further said that unblocking Iran's frozen assets and facilitating interactions with the world will improve the situation for Iran's banking system and show its effects on the Iranian economy. He added that the unfrozen assets will be handed over to the CBI immediately after the implementation of Iran nuclear deal. Sanctions have paralyzed Iran's economy and hindered the flow of huge wealth that the country could obtain from its oil and gas exports. In 2013, Iranian GDP shrank 5 percent, while unemployment, as Iranian media reported, rose to about 40 percent. A U.S. Congressional study indicated that the Iranian economy is 20 percent smaller today than it would have been without sanctions. The lifting of financial and economic sanctions will bring huge investments to the country, and automatically fuel recovery and growth. However, experts warn that an incorrect usage of the blocked assets will have negative effects on the countrys economy. They believe that the sudden flow of incomes to the country as a result of the sanctions removal could lead to economic problems, if not realized under proper control. Experts say the main point is to treat the received assets as capital and use it for long term investment and not for current expenditures. -- Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The amount of M&A deals in the baked goods sector in the UK increased by 25% year-on-year in 2015, according to new research. Statistics from Smith Cooper Corporate Finance showed there were 25 deals completed in 2015, up from 20 the year before. While the value of the deals last year fell by 38% from 2.8bn to 1.3bn, by comparison in 2014 transaction value was buoyed by the sale of United Biscuits by Blackstone to Yildiz. According to an analysis carried out by Smith Cooper, the number of deals completed in the baked goods sector has remained steady over the last few years at circa 20 deals a year (source: Market IQ). And 2015 represented an increase in deal volumes to 25, but this has failed to reach the heights of 2006/2007. One deal carried out in 2015 was the acquisition of Just Desserts by Finsbury Food Group. Darren Hodson, partner at Smith Cooper Corporate Finance, said: The baked goods sector is a classic mature market and therefore it is ripe for consolidation. In recent years the industry has faced pressure the main area being the change in consumer tastes from traditional white slice products to artisan/healthier/lower-carbohydrate products. Hodson added: At Smith Cooper we are currently progressing transactions in this sector and we know there is market appetite for higher-margin profitable businesses that have developed customer or product niches. It is not surprising to see that the volume of deals has increased, although they are still significantly down on 2007 levels. He said he believed there had been three factors influencing M&A within the baked goods sector: Recent industry pressures (such as pricing, changing trends and declining bread sales) have meant that the large food groups have not developed a strategic focus on the sector. European and US firms have not seen the UK as a prime geographical focus for investment. Food groups did not want to create a greater exposure to volatile wheat/flour prices. But he added: There are some signs that the three factors above have started to ease. There are some long-term market trends resulting in growth sectors (such as artisan breads, flatbreads, thins, etc) which should continue to highlight acquisition opportunities. Stability has returned to the UK economy and this will improve overseas appetite for UK acquisitions. Finally, market expectations are that flour/wheat prices will continue to decrease impacting revenues but perhaps improving profitability. Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email sunnews@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes New research by the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) has suggested customers will simply opt for cheaper, poorer quality alternatives if a tax on sugar is introduced. The report by the IEA said that customers would simply choose cheaper, higher-calorie options if faced with a sugar tax. It said that demand for sugary drinks, snacks and fatty foods was inelastic people tended to be unresponsive to price hikes and did not significantly change their shopping habits. Christopher Snowdon, director of lifestyle economics at IEA and author of the report, said that evidence from Denmark, Hungary, Finland and the US showed levies on fat and sugar changed consumers shopping habits, but had very little effect on obesity. He said: In Denmark a 13.1% increase in the price of butter resulting from the Danish fat tax was associated with a modest 5.5% decline in sales, and in Finland, when the price of soft drinks rose by 7.3%, consumption fell by less than 1%. Snowdon also said it was worth noting that Denmark later dropped the tax he suggested that the same effect would be mirrored here. Low income households hit hardest He said: Not only would it [a sugar tax] do little to deter individuals from buying unhealthy items but low income households that spend a higher proportion of their income on food and drink would be hit particularly hard. The Taxpayers Alliance agreed it said that a sugar tax would hit those on a lower income hardest, and has called the idea regressive. Divided by borders, united by purpose More than half a million refugees have entered Croatia, and Baptists have been part of the response, writes Elvis Dzafic, Cordinator of Volunteers for the Croatian Baptist Aid Since the beginning of the migrant crisis, 568 439 people have entered the Republic of Croatia. A few days ago, the camp in Slavonski Brod (a city in Eastern Croatia, on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina) was covered in the first snow, as evidenced by the photograph of the snowman with arms wide open, the snowman is the camp's symbol of hospitality and welcoming to refugees in Croatia. In search of a safer life, in search of freedom and dignity, many were forced to leave their homes, leave years of hard work, leave everything they owned, and start their life-changing journey; a journey of hope, journey towards a better life. That "journey of hope which began in Syria, and went through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria to finally come to Germany, was not easy. As a matter of fact, that was a "journey through hell, and Croatia found itself at the centre of, and therefore became witness to the biggest migrant crisis in the history since World war II. Touching stories and tragedies In the midst of that hell, a truly touching story happened in Slavonski Brod, that we were able to witness. One of the refugees that recently passed through Croatia while his family stayed in Turkey waiting for the dealers of boats (who charged 1000 Euros per person) to take them to Greece, received a message through WhatsApp that a part of his family along with 80 other people is in the boats in the Aegean sea. They were in big trouble due to storms and rough sea. He managed to give this information to the Croatian police, who immediately responded and notified the officials in Greece, who then successfully did their job and saved those people. There are a lot of stories that witness that Croatia is in the centre of the biggest migrant crisis but unfortunately, not all of them finish with a happy ending. Due to the cold, difficult weather conditions, fatigue, and hunger of the refugees, Croatia is, along with Greece, the second EU country that was faced with the death of some of the refugees. The recent tragedy of a dying baby in the camp in Slavonski Brod truly made all of us volunteers think about life and death and their meaning. The grief in the eyes of the mother and her husband is indescribable. There are no words. Even though the temperatures are below 0 Celsius, the cold, the fatigue of a journey that seems to have no end made a lot of the refugees disappointed and incredibly sad. A lot of them came lost and afraid. On the one hand there is a strong will to live, on the other hand, fear and trembling became a normal part for many people. That was the Christmas and New Years atmosphere for many refugees in the camp in Croatia. A lot of volunteers that are working in the refugee camp truly want to make life better for the refugees they meet. Recently, my friend David, who came all the way from USA where he left his wife and four children to come here to volunteer and help the refugees, found himself in an interesting situation. During a conversation with the refugees, which is as important as sharing humanitarian aid, we met a man from Syria who, during a conversation with us, showed us his necklace with a cross on it. He told us that he was a Christian and asked us to pray for him. That man left everything he had in Syria and started the journey with his wife and two sons. He managed to come to Croatia, but unfortunately the life story for his wife and one of the sons ended in Greece in the cold sea. In a terrible tragedy with the boat, part of the people drowned and among them were his wife and son. While we were talking, with tears in his eyes, he took out his cross and told us: Please pray for me and my child. Pray that God will be our strength to make it safely to Germany. I have lost everything in life but not the hope for my son. I want to help my son have a normal life. Those were difficult, but at the same time encouraging words that came from that mans mouth in the midst of a refugee camp. The power of faith and commitment to the Lord gave this man the strength to continue the journey after the tragedy in Greece. After we prayed we helped him to change his childs clothes, and prepared him for the rest of the journey by giving him food, dry socks, and water. 170 volunteers from 22 different countries Over half a million people so far have gone through the camp in Croatia. Since the first day of the refugee crisis there are a lot of volunteers from different Protestant Churches working inside the camp. They differ on some theological issues and opinions, but are united with the purpose of working together and helping the refugees. There were 170 volunteers from 22 different countries (USA, UK, Germany, Spain, France, India, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, etc.) that through the Protestant Evangelical Alliance have come to work in the refugee camp in Croatia. The volunteers are working on different projects that are changing due to the changing needs of refugees. During the summer, they distributed water, food and clothes. Now during the winter weather, the needs are very different. Due to extreme cold and snow that covered the camp, volunteers are working on distributing winter packets - winter caps that contain gloves, a scarf, and socks. The cost of one of these winter packets is around 12 Euros. Every day about 700 packets are distributed. With distribution of winter packets, there is a project of high energy food distribution - muesli bars, peanuts, walnuts, energy bars, chocolate, and bananas. With food and winter packets, volunteers are also distributing winter footwear. Around 80 pairs of different sized boots are distributed on a daily basis to people that pass through the camp. We hope that we will be able to raise the number of shoes we distribute to 150 per day. Even though thousands of people daily pass through the camp, our abilities are limited, and we cannot cover all needs. We believe that our God is a God who provides. We didnt find ourselves in this crisis by accident. Therefore, dear sisters and brothers, dead friends, keep us, volunteers, in your prayers. The importance of talking to the refugees With different projects inside the camp, the most important thing to us is talking to the refugees. Our vision and mission on Earth but also in the camp is to talk to them, pray for them, and show them Christ in action. God gave us the great commission that we read about at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, and we want to follow it and be Christs witnesses to those who still dont know him. It isnt easy for volunteers to spend 24 hours in the camp working in this cold, but being a witness also sometimes means being a martyr in a way. However, Christ and the people we are trying to help are worth the sacrifice. It is our wish to help these people on their journey from hell to heaven. That is the journey with salvation as its goal. We want to persevere in this, because we believe it is important. Our abilities are limited. We need your help because together we are stronger. We might be divided by borders or different opinions, but our purpose and our God is that which unites us. Whatever little we do can change someones life for the better. United in Spirit we help because we love those people. We are thankful to God for the blessings of a safe and warm home, family that supports us, the job that we have, and everything that is necessary to live a dignified life. Your help can go a long way. Join us to make life better for all who desperate for it and need our help. We help because we love the people. The story originally appeared on the website of the European Baptist Federation and is republished with permission Baptist Times, 13/01/2016 The three branches of Nebraska government, at odds the past four months over aspects of administration and oversight of the states juvenile justice program, have worked out a compromise. It comes in the form of a bill (LB917), introduced by Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, that allows Inspector General for Child Welfare Julie Rogers to obtain court records within five days for complaints and deaths of children the office is investigating, without having to seek them in a public way. State Court Administrator Corey Steel said the Office of Probation Administration would work with the courts to have judges orders allow the inspector general to have access to probation records upon a complaint or the death or serious injury of a child. Rogers who is charged with investigating complaints related to state wards, children who have been the subject of calls to the Department of Health and Human Services hotline, child care centers, and juveniles being served by Probation Administration has had trouble getting records and information from probation, even though it was allowed by state law. The courts had concerns about separation of powers between the three branches of government. The agreement that we came to for our office to access juvenile probation records, Im excited to get started on, to trust that the process will work, Rogers said Tuesday at a briefing for reporters. The compromise means the juvenile justice program will not have to move out of the office of Probation Administration, as legislators had been planning when the branches reached an impasse in the fall. Im very thankful that we didnt have to disrupt families and children in the process, said Krist, and that everyone came to the table in good faith and decided that we had some changes that we could make and should make, and we did. Krist, who has been a key negotiator between the Legislature and the judicial branch, said the changes would not infringe on judicial independence. But the Legislature had to be allowed to provide oversight of the program, particularly over the financial side, he said. It took awhile to get to where we are, Krist said. I think were there. ... I have great faith that this will work. With the bill, there would be no doubt what the categories of data are that will be requested and provided, Krist said. And it clarifies that any possible misconduct by an employee of the juvenile services division would be reported immediately to the office of Probation Administration. Steel said he, Krist and Rogers worked through the concerns over six weeks, and its a compromise with which the judiciary can live. The juvenile justice program was moved within the past two years from HHS to Probation Administration. But problems quickly cropped up about oversight of the program and interpretations of the duties of the legislative branch and judicial independence. In her annual report, Rogers raised concerns about juvenile justice reform since those cases were transferred last year. She said the probation office had not followed state law designed to improve transparency and accountability, denying access to some information on how it is operating, including rules, policies and procedures. Rogers has been required to request case information each time she needs it from the courts, and to sometimes appear in court. At least a couple of times judges have denied access to information sought in investigations. State Probation Administrator Ellen Fabian Brokofsky has said the report was highly critical of an entity that was working to improve the system, just as the office of inspector general was. Brokofsky said the probation office got involved in the first place because the courts had seen a lot of low-income kids becoming wards of the state when they could have been served well in the community. BEIRUT Siege and starvation have left the rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya in a nightmarish state not seen elsewhere in the country, a U.N. official who traveled there said Tuesday, as some 300 residents fled and desperately needed humanitarian aid arrived. The former mountain resort, besieged since last summer by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, came to international attention in recent weeks as reports of starvation emerged and activists shared images of emaciated children and old men widely on social media. Sajjad Malik, the U.N. refugee agencys chief in Damascus, told journalists that the very grim picture was the result of a blockade of food, medicine and other supplies that left the town in a desperate situation. There is no comparison to what we saw in Madaya, he said from Damascus by telephone to Geneva. It is a place where you could see there are people, but there is no life... What we saw is something that was pretty horrible. Malik described seeing shivering, malnourished children and young adults, saying most of them had not had bread or rice or vegetables or fruit for months. He said a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice would sell there for $300, and noted one account of one person selling a motorcycle to buy 5 kilos of rice. A day earlier, the U.N. said that about 400 people in the towns hospital needed to be evacuated immediately for medical treatment as starvation and other factors had left them on the brink of death. Syrian authorities, rebels and aid groups have yet to respond. The U.N. goal was to obtain safe passage to evacuate the 400 later on Tuesday. U.N. officials said it was too early to determine whether anyone had died of hunger. But the aid group Doctors Without Borders has said that 23 people died of starvation at a health center it supports in Madaya since Dec. 1, including six infants and five adults over 60. Various U.N. officials have described how locals had been forced to forage for food, such as risking walks in minefields to collect grass or cooking up leaf soup, and were burning cardboard to stay warm in their homes. Madaya is not the only place in Syria suffering from siege, an age-old tactic of war that belligerents continue to use despite international laws banning it. The U.N. says some 15 municipalities across Syria are currently blockaded, with no one able to get in or out. Two Shiite villages in the north, under siege by rebels, face similar circumstances, with food and medicine scarce. Residents are said to be eating grass to survive and undergoing surgery without anesthesia. On Monday, convoys carrying food, medical and other supplies reached Madaya around the same time as another convoy arrived in the twin Shiite villages called Foua and Kfarya which are far more remote and difficult for media to access. The operation marked a small, positive development in a bitter conflict now in its fifth year that has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced millions of others and left the country in ruins. Another tiny improvement in Madaya came with the evacuation of some 300 civilians, mostly women and children, who left the town near the Lebanese border on foot and were then transported to government-run temporary shelters. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks both sides of the conflict, said the civilians had separately arranged with government forces to leave the city, with some heading to shelters set up in schools and similar places in the area and nearby capital, Damascus. The harshness of the recent starvation reports have underscored the urgency for new Syria peace talks that the U.N. is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25. The U.N. says 4.5 million Syrians are living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas and desperately need humanitarian aid, with civilians prevented from leaving and aid workers blocked from bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other supplies. Elsewhere in Syria, the official state news agency SANA said the army has seized full control of a strategic rebel-held town in the northwestern province of Latakia, a stronghold of Assads minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. SANA said army units backed by pro-government militiamen from the National Defense Forces captured Salma on Tuesday. Salma is in the mountains of Latakia province and is predominantly inhabited by Alawites. The SANA report, which would mark a significant military victory, could not be immediately confirmed. Opposition activists earlier reported fierce clashes between Syrian pro-government troops and insurgents in and around Salma. The situation for over 1 million refugees in neighboring Lebanon meanwhile appears to be worsening because of new residency laws. Human Rights Watch said the Lebanese laws are putting the refugees in danger by preventing them from renewing their residency, arguing that the policies set the stage for a potentially explosive situation. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, the New York-based rights group said in a report published Tuesday. Of the 40 refugees interviewed for the report, only two have been able to renew their residencies since January 2015. Last week, Lebanon forcefully repatriated 407 Syrians after they were left stranded at Beirut airport. Amnesty International called the action an outrageous breach of Lebanons international obligations. The previous poll on Eastern NC NOW showcased what are many of OUR Constitutional Republic's certain obstacles to remain viable, where the top encumbrance to that continuance as a functioning Republic was the Biden /Harris Wide Open Southern Border. Understanding this overwhelming concern to real America citizens: Do you believe it important to challenge the veracity of those legislated concerns of Democratic Socialists by transporting Illegal Migrants to their Sanctuary cities, counties and states for their direct care? Yes; test the depth of their sense of well being by giving Democratic Socialists an opportunity to enact all Sanctuary provisions in their communities to test how much they truly do care. No; the Biden /Harris Wide Open Southern Border Project is designed to only inundate "Red States" to begin their Demographic Upheaval for the benefit of we Democratic Socialists, our politics. 'Safe harbor' credits could cost nearly $1 biillion, five times more than projected CJ Photo by Barry Smith Gov. Pat McCrory, at left, fields questions from Time Warner Cable News' Tim Boyum Wednesday during an economic forum at RTP. RALEIGH State officials, lawmakers, and renewable energy consultants attempted Tuesday to downplay the $937.8 million cost of tax credits sought under the state's new Safe Harbor Act - a total more than five times higher than initial projections.Members of the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy also discussed who would monitor compliance for those receiving the 35 percent state tax credit for renewable energy investment and how rigorous that process would be. Some worried the program will be a drain on state finances that will provide large banks and insurance companies a windfall at the expense of taxpayers.state Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said after the meeting. In December Carolina Journal reported the $937 million estimate, provided by the state Department of Revenue.Rucho was a primary sponsor of the bill allowing renewable energy companies, under specific restrictions, to remain eligible to claim the tax credits after the credit program expired Dec. 31.Rucho said.When the legislation was debated in April before the Senate Finance Committee, Jonathan Tart of the legislature's Fiscal Research Division said applications would be limited mostly toat a cost of $183.5 million.As it turned out, 201 applications and $1.9 million in application fees were submitted to the state Department of Revenue by the Oct. 1 deadline.Tart told commission members Tuesday.the actual fiscal impact for some time.Rucho said he anticipated only 50 to 60 percent of the credits would be taken.Tart confirmed. That does not mean the full tax breaks won't be received.Under the Safe Harbor Act, the tax credits can be spread out over a decade, Tart said. A recipient of the credit may use it to offset no more than 50 percent of tax liability in a single year. Instead of losing part of a credit if it exceeds the 50 percent threshold, the tax break can be pushed forward.Tart said of the projected tax credits. If some projects aren't pursued, or don't meet requirements of the Safe Harbor Act, those tax credits won't be issued.Thomas Boothby, a renewable energy industry accountant with Dixon, Hughes, Goodman of Charlotte, said his company has worked to varying degrees with roughly half of the Safe Harbor applicants.Boothby said.His firm's clients saw the act asin case weather delays, a backlog of permitting, or some unforeseen setback at the very end of the projectIt was unclear from Boothby's testimony how many of those projects were in the pipeline when the Safe Harbor Act was passed, and why the numbers provided then by Fiscal Research were so far off.The gap between projections and applications prompted Rep. Ken Goodman, D-Richmond, to wonder how the fiscal note got written, and whether its numbers presented a realistic cost to the state.Boothby said.Developers must certify by March 1 they qualify for the tax credits, according to Nelson Freeman, Revenue Department legislative liaison, but total credits actually taken would not be disclosed until the Revenue Department releases its 2018 Economic Incentives Report.To be eligible, Freeman said, a project smaller than 65 megawatts must have incurred costs and partial construction of at least 80 percent. Projects 65 mw and larger must have been 50 percent complete to qualify for the credit. An independent engineer and certified public accountant must submit notarized copies of written reports verifying eligibility.House Majority Leader Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, asked about the Revenue Department's level of vigilance and review of those reports.Freeman said.to do that.Hager also expressed his disapproval that companies receiving tax credits for investments in renewable energy projects can sell or transfer them to other parties.Hager said Duke Energy, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Bank of America, and other large banks and insurance companies end up with most of the tax credits The renewable credits are "a sweetheart deal," Rucho said. "It doesn't seem very fair that the taxpayers are picking up the burden that should be done strictly by the private sector."Rep. John Szoka, R-Cumberland, took issue with Rucho. He said renewable energy companies have spent at least $2.6 billion in qualifying expenses alone in North Carolina, and more in ancillary costs.Szoka said. If you're looking for work, you may want to look in Lakeland. A new report from the state Department of Economic Opportunity says the Lakeland-Winter Haven area leads Florida in job growth, with an increase of 4.1 percent last year. "Things are good in Polk County, and especially Lakeland-Winter Haven, said Terry Ottinger with the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce. Ottinger said construction of homes and businesses is helping to lead the way. "We have seen a tremendous amount of construction of restaurants and hotels, he said. The job and economic growth has been good recently for the financial services sector, too. Allen & Company in Lakeland said it has increased its staff by about 20 percent in the past year. "We've really been on a hiring spree, said president Keith Albritton, who is excited to see local businesses on the rebound. "Just go look at our local hospital Lakeland Regional Health, and you will see the health care sector is booming in our area. Because guess what? We need it because of our growing population." Lakeland Regional Health is spending millions of dollars on a new complex along Hardin Boulevard. The positive job outlook wasn't limited to Polk County. In terms of raw jobs added, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area led the state with more than 40,000 jobs added. Pasco County commissioners on Tuesday approved a loan for almost $23 million to extend State Road 56 near Wiregrass to Zephyrhills. Right now, when you drive past the Shops at Wiregrass on State Road 56, youll eventually hit a dead end. But after Tuesday's decision, those lanes should be extended within the next few years. Its going to be a four-lane highway, Commissioner Mike Moore said. What thats going to do is open up some extraordinary economic development opportunities. Last year, the Florida Department of Transportation agreed to fund the extension of S.R. 56 from Wiregrass Ranch to Zephyrhills with only two lanes. But Zephyrhills and other stakeholders wanted four. "Every road in and out of Zephyrhills is two lanes, Zephyrhills City Manager Steve Spina said. Theres a lot of congestion. On Tuesday, the Board of County Commissioners approved taking out the loan to extend S.R. 56 from two lanes to four. This is a four lane highway that will open us up hopefully down to Tampa and the Port, also to Interstate 75, Spina said. The county and the City of Zephyrhills will only have to pay back 3 percent of the loan, while 97 percent will be paid by developers and land owners. I potentially see more economic opportunities when it comes to office space, Moore said. Obviously, homes built along the corridor, more commercial opportunities. Construction is expected to begin this fall. The project is slated to be finished in 2019. The total cost is more than $65 million. The widow of the Pasco man shot and killed in a movie theater in 2014 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Nicole Oulson is now suing Cobb Theaters, a theater employee and the company that owns the land the theater sits on. The lawsuit says Cobb Theaters and an employee failed to enforce the company's prohibition on weapons. Oulson's husband, Chad, was shot and killed during an argument over texting in the Wesley Chapel theater in January 2014. Oulson is seeking more than $15,000 and a jury trial. She alleges she suffered physical, psychological and economic damage as a result of the shooting. Nicole Oulson was shot in the hand during the altercation. Curtis Reeves, 73, is facing second-degree murder charges in Oulson's death and is awaiting trial. His defense plans to use the "stand your ground" law to have the charges dismissed. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. We have been talking for some time about the El Nino developing in the subtropical Pacific Ocean and what it could mean for the weather in our area. We speak of a more active jet stream which can bring potent storm systems and weather disturbances across the Gulf of Mexico and into west-central Florida. Well, this pattern is taking shape for the next few days. The high clouds that we have had have been transported in on the fast jet stream coming from the west southwest. A strong low pressure area in northern Mexico will move into the western Gulf of Mexico by Thursday. A surface low pressure area is expected to develop. Its warm front will be across South Florida by Thursday evening. With the very strong jet stream and our winds switching around from the southeast, strong to severe thunderstorms will develop Thursday night in the gulf. The waters are warm enough to generate some instability leading to some more intense storms in the gulf. These storms are expected to move into west-central Florida and the Tampa Bay area on Friday morning. The water temperature just offshore is cooler, so there is the possibility of some storm weakening. With that said, we are expecting a round of rain and embedded thunderstorms during the morning hours on Friday. This may impact the morning commute as well. The main threat would be damaging wind and the possibility of an isolated tornado. There are some questions that still remain in the details of the forecast. Mainly, with a lack of instability over land due to cooler temperatures, will the storms in the gulf be able to maintain intensity as they move our way? That is something that we will be watching closely Friday morning. After that, a similar storm system will move through Sunday. There is some more uncertainty with that system as the exact track of the low for Sunday remains in question. Stay tuned.... The crew of two small U.S. Navy craft are being held by Iran, but American officials have received assurances from Tehran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said. U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island, situated in the middle of the Persian Gulf. They say it stemmed from some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats, causing them to run aground. The troops were picked up by Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said. Kerry learned of the incident at about 12:30 p.m. EST as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said. This comes on the heels of an incident in late December, when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The officials were not authorized to discuss the sensitive incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Guiseppe Barranco/Photo Editor Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Guiseppe Barranco/Photo Editor Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Guiseppe Barranco/Photo Editor Show More Show Less 5 of 5 Beaumont police and FBI agents Monday evening arrested a second suspect in connection with the Chase bank robbery last week, authorities said. Kenderrick Greer, 33, was arrested in the 5300 block of Fannett Road on a federal bank robbery warrant, police said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's two weeks into 2016 which means about 71 percent of Americans have managed to keep their New Year's resolutions so far. It also means people who resolved to get fit this year are looking for new ways to keep their weight loss goal interesting. RELATED: Best gyms in Houston, according to reviews Healthstatus.com examined both daily and workout routines to see how many calories people burn during common activities. From raking the yard to jogging to Zumba, the health site shows which activities burn the most calories. Some of the results were surprising. Who knew raking the leaves for an hour, which burns about 315 calories, would be comparable to playing doubles tennis for the same about time, which cuts about 336 calories? Click the slideshow above to see how many calories you're actually burning during different activities. Press Release: Contact: Crystal Feldman Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory announced two cabinet-level personnel changes today.At an Executive Mansion ceremony, Governor McCrory announced the appointment of Jeff Epstein as North Carolina's Secretary of Revenue to replace Lyons Gray, who the governor had appointed to serve on the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Gray's immediate move to the North Carolina Utilities Commission is an interim appointment to replace Susan Rabon who resigned effective January 1. The governor also named Industrial Commissioner Chairman Andrew (Drew) Heath to succeed outgoing Budget Director Lee Roberts who is returning to the private sector.Governor McCrory said.Customer service was greatly upgraded under Secretary Gray's tenure. A second taxpayer assistance call center was opened in Guilford County. The agency expanded electronic filing for many taxpayers. Gray, who was appointed in January 2013, also led efforts that have reduced fraudulent tax returns and bolstered the agency's audit division.Under the governor's and Roberts' leadership, North Carolina ended the previous fiscal year with a $445 million budget surplus. Roberts has spearheaded the governor's $2 billion Connect NC bond proposal, which will go before the voters in March. Roberts, who was appointed in August 2014, also has driven Project Phoenix, Governor McCrory's plans to better utilize government facilities across the state, and directed the NC GEAR effort, which led to a series of restructuring and reform initiatives. Roberts was also instrumental in finalizing the sale of the Dix property.Epstein has served as Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Revenue since April 2013. In the Fall of 2013 Governor McCrory appointed Epstein as Acting Secretary while Gray was on medical leave.After graduating from The American University with a B.S. in Finance, Epstein served in the Reagan White House before moving to his current hometown of Charlotte. There Epstein had an extensive career in business and real estate and held numerous community service roles.Heath was appointed by Governor McCrory to be Chairman of the North Carolina Industrial Commission in 2013. At the industrial commission, Heath implemented Governor McCrory's directive to form the Employee Classification Section to combat employee misclassification abuse. Heath also oversaw an employer compliance program, established to ensure that North Carolina workers are insured for on-the-job injuries. The program has increased the number of businesses in compliance and increased penalties assessed and collected from non-compliant businesses.An attorney, Heath graduated with a B.S. in Management from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. While attending the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at Indiana University, Heath served as a legal intern in Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' Office of the General Counsel. He also served on the Board of Directors of the New Hanover County Bar Association. Hundreds of Southeast Texans are expected to come together on Saturday to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy with a parade through Beaumont's South End. Participants of the annual event will gather at 10 a.m. in front of Lamar Institute of Technology - at the corner of University Drive and Lavaca Street. The parade route goes from LIT to King Middle School on Avenue A. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The parallels between Avril Falgout and Janis Joplin go way beyond them both being born in Port Arthur. Falgout, an 18-year-old local artist, is a nonconformist with a sense of wanderlust that matches the angst and free spirit of the late blues singer. For several months, Falgout has been building a life-sized papier-mache sculpture of Janis Joplin for the Museum of the Gulf Coast. RELATED: New Janis documentary doesn't get local screenplay If you go What: Janis Joplin sculpture unveiling/birthday celebration When: 2 p.m. Saturday Where: Museum of the Gulf Coast, 700 Procter St., Port Arthur Extras: A prize will be given to the best-dressed "rock star" guest. Birthday cake and refreshments will be served. Details: (409) 982-7000; www.museumofthegulfcoast.org See More Collapse Falgout settled on Joplin as a subject because she admires her as an artist and as a person who aspired to be different in a time when it was trendy to do as you were told and act like a lady. The museum's curator plans to display the piece in the permanent exhibit dedicated to Joplin. The sculpture will be revealed during a ceremony on Saturday, four days ahead of what would have been the late singer's 73rd birthday. Joplin died from a heroin overdose on Oct. 4, 1970. She was 27. Falgout used the famous photo of Joplin sitting cross-legged, arms outstretched, on her psychedelic Porsche as inspiration for her sculpture. RELATED: Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche going on the auction block Falgout, who had no formal training at the time, created her first papier-mache sculpture at the age of 13. It was something that just came to her one day while sitting in class. She said she ignored the rest of the lesson and thought about how to execute the piece when she got home. The result was a 4-foot-tall sculpture of a woman titled "Mother Earth," which was shown at The Art Studio in 2013. While attending Port Neches-Groves High School, Falgout said she wore clothes that she created, including layered skirts that emulated 17th Century fashion. Like Joplin, Falgout said she was ridiculed by her Port Arthur peers for her unique style. Falgout said she thinks the kids who started calling her "the school pilgrim" meant to insult her, but her friends made it into something positive, something to celebrate. Since she started sculpting, Falgout said she has met people in the local arts community who made her feel welcomed and encouraged her creativity. RELATED: Relic from Janis Joplin's home sold on 'Pawn Stars' Falgout is currently completing her high school education through the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities at Lamar University. Lamar art professor Xenia Fedorchenko, who specializes in print making, became Falgout's mentor last year. First approached by Falgout, Fedorchenko said she didn't know how much assistance she could actually give. Fedorchenko said Falgout acts more like a graduate student than she does a high school or even an undergraduate student. Falgout always completes assignments within the guidelines, but she does it in a way that benefits her work and purpose, Fedorchenko said. When asked a question, Falgout pauses before answering right away, according to Fedorchenko. "She's thinking about how to contribute to the conversation," she said. RELATED: Janis Joplin honored with postage stamp Falgout graduates at the end of the semester. Her tentative plan is to move to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she will study art history. See photos from Janis Joplin's career through the years in the gallery above. MHeath@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/mheath31 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Just five months ago humanity got its first glimpse of the Plutonian surface, and the questions raised as the photos beam in are stacking up. The latest: are those giant alien snails traversing the former planet's vast ice caps? The images in question arrived back on Earth on Christmas Eve, snapped by the New Horizons probe during its July flyby of Pluto, and published by NASA in January. Among the vastness of marvels revealed in these photos from billions of miles away, some dark apparitions are attracting the highest scrutiny. RELATED: Strange sightings in NASA photos They dot a plane of solid nitrogen, frequently appearing along snowy pathways similar in form to the slime trails left by earth snails on concrete. They seemed domed, though irregular, in shape. They vary in size from a suburban house to an office building. Alien snails, right? Probably not. According to NASA, the dark forms dwell on the "Sputnik Planum," a plain of solid nitrogen hundreds of miles across, divided by the trails into irregular cells. (Nitrogen freezes around -340F under Earth pressure.) Those cells, according to estimates, are created by creeping fluid motion in the deep icy surface. William McKinnon, a leader in the New Horizons imaging team, equated the motion to a lava lampgiant blobs, warmed slightly by Pluto's modest internal heat, rise and break the surface like slow-bubbling lava. The supposed snail paths are created at the perimeter of each great blob. As for the snails themselves: NASA calls them dirty-icebergs, tinted by debris, naturally pushed into the troughs between the cells of the Sputnik Planum. Click through our slideshow to see the dirty Plutonian icebergs, plus astounding close-ups of the distant world. Jeff Fusile, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia president, plans to build stronger relationships between the payer and medical providers, according to Northwest GA News. Here are five insights: 1. Although BCBS of Georgia is the state's dominant payer, it has a history of causing issues over contract negotiations with physicians. 2. Mr. Fusile wants to incentivize physicians to promote healthy lifestyles among their patients. Currently, BCBS pays wellness management companies for their efforts, but Mr. Fusile proposes paying the physicians directly for their efforts. 3. Another proposal involves paying physicians and hospitals regular lump sum payments before rendering services. 4. Mr. Fusile hopes these ideas, and others, will smooth relations between BCBS and physicians, placing the payer in the physicians' favor. 5. The Medical Association of Georgia commented the relationship with the payer has been improving. On Jan. 12, President Obama defended the Affordable Care Act in his final State of the Union Address, according to Washington Times. Here are five highlights: 1. President Obama implored Americans to reject Republican political attacks on the healthcare law. 2. He said the ACA has issued significant dividends in the last six years. 3. President Obama will head to Nebraska and Louisiana to urge residents to sign up for coverage before enrollment closes. 4. Tens of thousands of Americans lost taxpayer subsidies because they failed to file 2014 returns. 5. So far, more than 11.5 million customers have enrolled in coverage this year. More healthcare news: Dr. Keith Meister to perform outpatient surgery on MLB manager Jeff Banister 5 key notes Words to inspire 10 encouraging quotes for ASC administrators Healthgrades appoints Scott Broker CEO, member of the board of directors: 4 highlights Nearly a year after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed spending $700 million to rebuild the ailing Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, the funds remain unused, according to Politico New York. Despite the fact there has been no real objection to the renovation project, the state has not announced a plan to allocate the money. New York's health experts have long debated how to handle Brooklyn's struggling healthcare services. The borough struggles with a large Medicaid population, poor health outcomes and several bankrupt hospitals. Some experts have called for hospitals to close their doors, while others seek a refurbishing of services. Gov. Cuomo announced the plan to spend $700 million on Brookdale Hospital in his 2015 budget. The plan was to build a new hospital to replace the existing one. Bob Megna, Gov. Cuomo's then-budget director, said the state would partner with another health system to help with the new hospital's construction and administration, according to the report. However, so far, the state has not identified a suitor. In the meantime, Brookdale and other Brooklyn hospitals, such as Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and Wyckoff Hospital, are relying on substantial state subsidies. In 2015, Brookdale received roughly $100 million, according to the report. State Sen. Kevin Parker has urged the state to find a solution to improve healthcare in Brooklyn. Conversations with the state health department are ongoing, he told Politico. Healthcare executives are optimistic about their organizations' financial performance in the year ahead, according to recent survey by Capital One. More than 250 senior healthcare executives responded to the survey, which asked about their outlooks for their individual organizations and the industry as a whole for 2016. The survey was conducted shortly before the J.P. Morgan 34th Annual Healthcare Conference, which is being held Jan. 11-14 in San Francisco. Here are six findings from the survey. 1. Forty-one percent of healthcare industry executives expect mergers and acquisitions to be their preferred growth strategy for this year, outpacing organic growth through revitalizing and updating existing offerings. 2. Sixty percent of respondents expect stronger financial performance from their businesses in 2016, while 35 percent anticipate performance that equals last year's results. 3. Only 5 percent of respondents expect weaker financial performance in 2016 than last year. 4. Eighty-nine percent of respondents anticipate their capital needs will be the same or higher this year than in 2015. 5. Respondents said implementing the Affordable Care Act and regulatory scrutiny are the top two challenges facing the healthcare industry in 2016. 6. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they expect to benefit from the ACA in 2016, while 38 percent said they anticipate no benefit from the law this year. More articles on healthcare finance: 55 hospitals sue HHS over changes to Medicare reimbursements 2 Texas hospitals file for bankruptcy: 5 things to know Moody's: 3 challenges facing the healthcare industry in 2016 The American Hospital Association has sent a letter urging the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to withdraw its draft recommendation to cut payment rates to hospitals participating in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. In December, MedPAC considered a package of draft recommendations related to the hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems. The package included a recommendation to reduce the payment rates for 340B hospitals' Part B drugs by 10 percent of the average sales price and direct the program savings from reducing the payment rates to the Medicare-funded uncompensated care pool. "This recommendation is outside of the scope of MedPAC's mission, lacks a clear purpose and penalizes certain hospitals for their ability to obtain discounts on the items and services they purchase," wrote Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president for public policy analysis and development, in a letter to MedPAC chairman Francis J. Crosson, MD. The AHA urged MedPAC to withdraw the draft recommendation and, instead, to undertake an analysis of the trend of rapidly rising drug prices. MedPAC is slated to vote next week on payment recommendations for fiscal year 2017. More articles on healthcare finance: 55 hospitals sue HHS over changes to Medicare reimbursements 2 Texas hospitals file for bankruptcy: 5 things to know Moody's: 3 challenges facing the healthcare industry in 2016 New Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) has signed an executive order to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to report from The New York Times. Here are five things to know about the decision. 1. The governor signed the executive order shortly after taking office. Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) staunchly opposed Medicaid expansion. 2. Under the expansion, 298,000 uninsured adults in Louisiana will be eligible for Medicaid, according to The New York Times, which cites an analysis last year by the state's Legislative Fiscal Office. Additionally, 224,000 other adults with private insurance would also be eligible. 3. Expanded Medicaid coverage is expected to take effect July 1. 4. In talking about the decision, Gov. Edwards cited poverty and health in the state. "We are consistently ranked one of the poorest and unhealthiest states, and this cycle will not be broken as long as anyone in Louisiana has to choose between their health and their financial security," he said Tuesday at a signing event at the Louisiana Capitol, according to The New York Times. He added, "This will not only afford them [Louisianans who will be eligible for Medicaid] peace of mind but also to help prevent them from slipping further into poverty and give them a fighting chance for a better life." 5. Republicans control both houses of the Louisiana Legislature. However, the governor can make changes to healthcare policy unilaterally, and Medicaid expansion falls under that, Travis Scott, the president of nonpartisan policy group Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana told The New York Times. The Louisiana Legislature could potentially find ways to disrupt or block Medicaid expansion, although Mr. Scott noted he hasn't seen strong indications that will happen. More articles on healthcare finance: 5 latest CFO moves in hospitals, health systems For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Jan. 4-8 Meridian Health signs Patientco for RCM service NYC Health + Hospitals President CEO Ram Raju, MD, has unveiled his plan for bringing financial stability to the distressed public hospital system, according to a Crain's New York Business report. The plan includes 16 initiatives, and progress has already been made in some of the areas, Dr. Raju said during a speech at John Jay College in Manhattan on Monday. The initiatives include expanding the health system's outpatient services and increasing membership in its MetroPlus Health Plan. Dr. Raju said patient satisfaction scores are his top priority, as those scores can affect reimbursement rates, according to the report. For the plan to be successful, Dr. Raju said he will need buy-in from hospital leaders, board members and labor representatives. "Frankly, wrapping our heads around accomplishing this will involve a level of strategic thinking that is very new to us," said Dr. Raju during his speech. NYC Health + Hospitals has faced financial troubles in recent years. The health system ended fiscal year 2015 with a $58.1 million loss, according to the report. More articles on healthcare finance: 55 hospitals sue HHS over changes to Medicare reimbursements 2 Texas hospitals file for bankruptcy: 5 things to know Moody's: 3 challenges facing the healthcare industry in 2016 2016 has barely begun, but already EHR vendor Epic is proving active in the health IT space. Here are five points on what Epic and some of its users have been up to in 2016 thus far. 1. Employee numbers and physical space growth. Verona, Wis.-based Epic grew in 2015 by approximately 1,400 employees last year, and the company plans to continue expanding in 2016. The company hopes to open the first three buildings of a five-building expansion of its Verona campus announced last year. Additionally, Epic is completing its Wizards Academy, an expansion that also includes five new buildings. Due to the company's rapid growth in footprint and workforce, more roads leading to and from its campus are in the works. 2. Mayo Clinic data center deal. This year, Epic and Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., entered into a $46 million, sale-leaseback deal for Mayo's data center. Under the agreement, Mayo is selling the 62,000-square-foot data center to Epic. Mayo will then lease the center for at least four years, with the option to continue the deal indefinitely. In 2015, Mayo announced its intentions to implement Epic's EHR and revenue cycle platform. 3. Denver Health's under budget implementation. Out of control EHR implementation costs made headlines in 2015. In a notable break from this trend, Denver Health's CEO Arthur Gonzalez told The Denver Post the system is scheduled to go live on the Epic EHR this year, and the project remains under budget. Though the project is not past its price point, Denver Health's former CIO Gregory Veltri has expressed concerns about the implementation. He resigned due to a disagreement over the decision to switch to Epic. 4. Hospitals seek new employees to work with the Epic EHR. EHR implementations are massive undertakings calling not only for capital investment, but significant manpower, as well. South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., is in the process of implementing the Epic EHR. As part of the process, the hospital is hiring more than 50 people to provide support. Additionally, a number of hospitals working with Epic have posted job listings for new talent. The following 11 hospitals have posted listings on online job seeker websites for employees to work with Epic's platform: Boston Medical Center Henry Ford Health System (Detroit) Lahey Health (Burlington, Mass.) MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) Northwestern Medicine (Chicago) Penn Medicine (Philadelphia) Piedmont Healthcare (Atlanta) ProMedica (Toledo, Ohio) Providence Health & Services (Renton, Wash.) Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.) University Medical Center New Orleans Click here to view the full list of job postings. 5. Partners HealthCare to integrate quality solutions into Epic EHR. Hospitals and health systems are leveraging their EHRs to explore how health IT can be used to improve operations. For example, Partners HealthCare, based in Boston, signed an agreement to roll out QPID Health software solutions across all 10 of its hospitals and physician organizations over the next two years. QPID provides solutions designed to help healthcare providers meet quality goals and decrease costs. QPID will integrate with Partners eCare, an Epic-based system. Tens of thousands of British medical residents Tuesday went on strike in the first physician strike in the country in four decades, according to The New York Times. Roughly 4,000 nonurgent operations were cancelled as a result of the strike, and it potentially could create "real difficulties for patients, and potentially worse," Prime Minister David Cameron said, according to the report. The junior physicians, as they are called, which includes physicians in graduate medical education, are striking over a pay and working condition dispute. The National Health Service, England's public health system, wants to increase the physicians' pay, but reduce the number of hours physicians are able to receive overtime pay for on the weekends, according to the report. The move is meant to create a true seven-day healthcare service, which would improve weekend treatment, according to the report. However, the residents feel it adds strain to excessive work schedules and poses a patient safety risk. Contract discussions have been underway for years, according to the report. Residents previously planned to strike in December, but postponed it in the hopes of negotiating with NHS. Failed progress reinstated the strike in early January. NHS said the thousands of procedures cancelled will be rescheduled, and now patients will have an even longer wait for treatment, according to the report. More articles on integration and physician issues: 20 physician resolutions for 2016 St. John's Hospital to cut physician residents and fellows: 4 things to know AMA: Top 9 issues affecting physicians in 2016 Lawrence Cohn, MD, a renowned cardiologist, died Sunday of a stroke at 78 years old. Dr. Cohn died at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he carved a celebrated career as a heart surgeon, according to The Boston Globe. Dr. Cohn was known as a pioneer of minimally invasive heart valve surgeries, performed more than 11,000 surgeries throughout his tenure and participated in New England's first heart transplant, according to his profile in the Globe. He passed on this expertise to others, by being a mentor to many who went on to lead cardiology departments around the country and the globe. He wrote more than 400 papers and was lauded with many awards, including the prestigious Paul Dudley White Award from the American Heart Association. Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University also awarded him an honorary master of medicine and the University of Paris awarded him an honorary doctorate. A San Francisco native, Dr. Cohn earned his bachelor's in American history at University of California Berkeley and went to Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine. He trained at Boston City Hospital, the National Institutes for Health and at Stanford. He was then recruited to Brigham and Women's by the "legendary Boston heart surgeon" John Collins, Jr., MD, who called Dr. Cohn one of his greatest recruits, according to The Boston Globe. Dr. Cohn was actively involved in the community and known for his attention to both staff and patients. His wife, Roberta, who met him at age 11, said Dr. Cohn told people, "'I fix broken hearts,'" according to the Globe. In addition to his wife, Dr. Cohn is survived by two daughters, two granddaughters and a grandson. More articles on integration and physician issues: 20 physician resolutions for 2016 Military physicians push for Pentagon to adopt medical advances gained in Iraq, Afghanistan Physicians: Don't miss this memoir on mortality by Dr. Paul Kalanithi Governor McCrory, Secretary Skvarla Share N.C.'s Economic Successes at Small Business Summit News Release: Small Businesses Employ Half of the State's Workforce Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory and N.C. Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla, III joined over 200 business and education leaders today at the 7th annual small business summit to celebrate North Carolina's economic successes. "Small businesses employ half of North Carolina's workforce and play an important role in our economy," said Governor McCrory. "I am proud of all the success our state and small businesses have shared this past year, and I look forward to continuing to work together to grow our economy and prepare for the future." Small Business Fast Facts: North Carolina has 833,107 small businesses - those with 500 or fewer employees. Nearly 1.6 million North Carolinians work for a small business - about half our total private workforce. In FY 2015, the Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs put more than half a billion dollars into North Carolina's small businesses. Small companies dominate North Carolina's construction industry - providing nearly 82% of the total employment in that industry. Small companies employ nearly 60% of those working in the professional, scientific and technical services industry. Under Governor McCrory's reforms, North Carolina employers paid off a $2.5 billion unemployment insurance debt to the federal government, saving businesses $600 million in taxes and fees. Governor McCrory also signed historic tax reform into law that is projected to save hardworking North Carolina families and business owners $4.4 billion during the first five years of tax reform. Since January 2013, North Carolina has added the sixth most jobs in the nation and created over 250,000 private sector jobs. North Carolina's employment growth is among the strongest in the nation. Economists anticipate that N.C. will add approximately 100,000 new jobs in 2016 and it is expected that at least half will be in small businesses. North Carolina community colleges play an instrumental role in training our small business workforce. All 58 community colleges across the state operate Small Business Centers, which helped establish 771 start-ups in North Carolina and advised more than 5,800 entrepreneurs over the past year. North Carolina Community Colleges also partner with the SBA and U.S. Department of Defense in the "Boots to Business" program to provide training and advice to military personnel looking to start their own businesses. In 2015, "Boots to Business" served 700 servicemen and women in N.C. and is part of Governor McCrory's effort to make North Carolina the most military and veteran-friendly state in the nation. Contact: Crystal Feldman govpress@nc.gov The Service Employees International Union and a cadre of 13 civil liberties and pro-choice organizations are asking the Oregon Attorney General to carefully examine the proposed merger of two Catholic health systems: Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services and Irvine, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health System, according to the Portland Business Journal. The two health systems have requested a waiver from Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum from the standard review process. The SEIU, the nation's largest nurses union, and the 13 other organizations, led by the National Health Law Program and ACLU of Oregon, have written in opposition to the waiver, citing concerns over the merger's potential impacts on access to certain healthcare services, as well as possibly higher prices. In particular, the groups are worried the merger would restrict or reduce reproductive, women's health and end-of-life care due adherence to the Catholic doctrine. "As a merged hospital system, we are concerned that market concentration and reduced healthcare services due to religious restrictions may create barriers to access," SEIU Local 49 President Meg Niemi wrote in a letter to Attorney General Rosenblum, according to the report. Providence Health & Service's already large market share has driven concerns regarding the potential increase in prices of healthcare services if a merger with St. Joseph Health System is approved. Providence owns and operates eight hospitals in Oregon, more than any other health system in the state. It manages nearly 20 percent of the state's acute care hospital beds, SEIU told the Portland Business Journal. St. Joseph has 16 hospitals in California, Texas and New Mexico. "Yet it is unclear how the benefits of such power and any achieved efficiencies will be achieved," Ms. Niemi wrote, according to the report. "Not only are we unsure where the benefits of the consolidation will be reaped, we are concerned that St. Joseph's higher prices could creep into Oregon hospital operations." Susan Berke Fogel, director of reproductive health for the National Health Law Program, has requested an independent healthcare impact statement regarding the merger. In a statement, Providence said the two systems have proposed to merge to "increase and improve services" and reduced access will not be a result. The statement says: "Both health systems are Catholic and have long-standing histories of serving their communities, especially for those most in need. Our goal in coming together is to address significant social and health needs, such as access to care. These problems exist at a very large scale and we want to solve these problems on the scale at which they exist." The U.S. Department of Labor has closed its five-year investigation into Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System over allegations that its ownership of a health benefits company poses a conflict of interest, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. The department is not taking any enforcement action at this time. However, it said it has reserved the right to bring a legal case against the health system in the future. The investigation started in late 2010 after whistle-blower Joe Vincoli urged the Labor Department to scrutinize CHS' part ownership of for-profit MedCost, which administers health plans and contracts with hospitals and physician offices for medical services. MedCost provides benefits to more than 20,000 CHS employees, according to the report. CHS and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., co-own MedCost. Baptist is not affected by the Labor Department's ruling. While CHS maintained its arrangement with MedCost did not pose a conflict of interest, Mr. Vincoli said it may have enabled the hospital chain to take advantage of its employees, according to the report. Under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, employers are prohibited from using companies they own to provide health benefits for employees, unless it is in the employees' best interest. However, CHS is not bound by the federal law because it is technically a government entity called a "hospital authority," and the measure excludes governmental employers. While CHS is tax-exempt and has the power of eminent domain, critics say it doesn't resemble a government agency in other important aspects. For instance, board members are not appointed by elected officials and there is no period for public comment at their meetings, according to the report. Reports from the Labor Department show its investigation concentrated on determining whether the hospital system is really a governmental agency, according to the report. In a Dec. 29 letter to CHS' attorneys, a regional director for the Labor Department wrote: "Although we believe that your arguments support CHS as a governmental entity, as CHS presently exists, may be incorrectthis is to advise you that at the present time we are closing our investigation of the Plan," according to the report. The Labor Department may revisit the matter after the U.S. Treasury Department finalizes criteria to help agencies determine if retirement plans are governmental, according to the report. A former Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center employee has been charged with two counts of invasive video recording after investigators found he secretly videotaped nude patients at the Waco, Texas-based hospital, according to a KWTX report. Investigators determined 41-year-old Johnny Basye secretly videotaped at least two nude female hospital patients. The investigation into Mr. Basye began on Dec. 21 when a woman turned over a computer hard drive that contained nude images of at least two women who were patients at Hillcrest. Waco police sergeant W. Patrick Swanton told KWTX it was obvious the two women were patients because they were wearing "hospital clothing." "We can tell you that within hours of being alerted to this issue, we involved the appropriate authorities," the hospital said in a statement issued to KWTX. Mr. Basye worked at Hillcrest for less than a year and has since been terminated, according to the hospital's statement. More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits: 10 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Physician gets 9 years for role in $20M fraud scheme 5 False Claims Act trends, cases that will fuel recoveries in 2016 Healthcare has no doubt made giant strides in patient safety in recent years: According to an HHS report released in December, hospital-acquired condition rates dropped 17 percent from 2010 to 2014, leading to 87,000 fewer patient deaths in hospitals. However, there is always room for improvement in the journey toward zero patient harm. Several issues arose in 2015 that shed new light on patient safety threats. The Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality editorial team chose the following 10 patient safety issues for providers to consider in 2016, presented below in no particular order, based on the events and trends from 2015. Medication errors. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality calls medication errors "one of the most common types of inpatient errors," as nearly 5 percent of hospitalized patients are affected by adverse drug events annually. New evidence uncovered in 2015 shows that medication errors are not just a problem for inpatients: They abound during surgeries as well. In fact, medication errors occur in some form in nearly half of all surgeries, according to research from Massachusetts General Hospital published in October. Mistakes in labeling, incorrect dosage, neglecting to treat a problem indicated by a patient's vital signs, and documentation errors were the medication errors that occurred most frequently. "We definitely have room for improvement in preventing perioperative medication errors, and now that we understand the types of errors that are being made and their frequencies, we can begin to develop targeted strategies to prevent them," said Karen Nanji, MD, lead author of the study. Diagnostic errors. Diagnostic errors were thrust into the spotlight late in 2015 thanks to an Institute of Medicine report titled "Improving Diagnosis in Health Care." The report asserts that diagnostic errors account for 6 to 17 percent of hospital adverse events and roughly 10 percent of patient deaths, indicating definite room for improvement in this space. "The report launched an important conversation about a serious patient safety issue with broad impact across the continuum of care," Tejal Gandhi, MD, president and CEO of the National Patient Safety Foundation, wrote in a December blog. The new year provides an opportunity for hospitals to focus efforts to improve this serious patient safety issue. The IOM report outlines several possible solutions to remedying diagnostic errors, including partnering with patients and their families, as well as fostering teamwork between and among healthcare providers. Discharge practices to post-acute, home care. Hospital discharge can be a critical moment in a patient's care. A study from the early 2000s found nearly 20 percent of patients experience an adverse event within three weeks of discharge, and many of those events could be prevented. This important safety issue necessitates more attention in 2016 thanks to the launch of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model in April. The CCJR will make hospitals responsible for the care quality and cost of joint replacement patients for a full 90 days post-discharge, giving hospitals a financial incentive to focus on this important patient safety issue. Workplace safety. It is hospitals' duties to keep patients safe, but some experts argue patients cannot be safe unless healthcare workers feel safe themselves. "If healthcare providers are safe, then we will have safer patients," says Deborah Grubbe, a healthcare consultant with DuPont Sustainable Solutions. "Because healthcare providers won't have to focus on their own safety and thinking they'll get hurt, [they'll] be able to spend all their energy and alertness in providing good care for the patient." This sentiment applies to a myriad of worker safety issues, from needlestick injuries to injuries from lifting patients to fear of being assaulted by a patient. Unfortunately, these staff safety issues are still a problem moving into 2016. To that end, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration launched a webpage in December 2015 providing information and strategies for healthcare workplace violence awareness and prevention. Hospital facility safety. Issues with hospitals' facilities can sometimes put patient safety at risk. Several times in 2015, the safety of hospital patients was compromised or nearly compromised because of building or maintenance problems. For instance, a Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration report released in April cited one Florida hospital's handling of a sewage leak as a patient safety issue, including its failure to ensure the sewage was cleaned up properly and failure to conduct an infection control risk assessment. The investigators also reported finding live rats above the affected ceiling tiles and air conditioning supply vents leaking condensation over food prep tables. Legionnaires' disease is another issue tied to the structure of a hospital, as Legionella outbreaks "are commonly associated with buildings or structures that have complex water systems, likehospitals," according to the CDC. In 2015, several organizations from the healthcare, construction and engineering industries formed a task force to create uniform guidelines for the heating, ventilation and air condition of operating rooms, sterile processing departments and endoscope procedure rooms to ensure patient safety. In light of these issues and events, hospitals may wish to consider re-evaluating the maintenance protocols for their facilities to ensure patient safety this year. Reprocessing issues. The issues surrounding certain medical scopes and their link to infections resurged in 2015 and are sure to carry over in to 2016 as healthcare providers hone best practices to prevent further scope-related incidents. In fact, the ECRI Institute listed "inadequate cleaning of flexible endoscopes before disinfection" and the resulting risk of infection at the top of its 2016 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list. Experts have emphasized the importance of using the right tools and following protocol to the letter to prevent infection, while some hospitals have begun culturing scopes after reprocessing to check for bacteria. Meanwhile, some members of an FDA advisory panel recommended mandatory sterilization of duodenoscopes to prevent spread of infection. Sepsis. According to the CDC, more than 1 million cases of sepsis occur each year, and up to half of people who get sepsis will die, making it the ninth leading cause of disease-related deaths. While sepsis is not a new patient safety concern, it gets a new spotlight for 2016 thanks to CMS: The agency added the Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Early Management Bundle to the fiscal year 2016 Inpatient Prospective Payment System Final Rule. "What's driven much of CMS' response to sepsis is the gradual increase in sepsis across the nation," Edward O. Blews III, MD, assistant professor of infectious disease and associate medical director of hospital epidemiology at Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center, said in a December webinar on sepsis protocols. Hospitals that meet compliance with the sepsis early management bundle can help lower sepsis mortality as well as costs associated with treating sepsis (which, according to Mike Abrams, president and CEO of the Ohio Hospital Association, can reach anywhere from $22,000 to $57,000 per case). "Super" superbugs. Superbugs defined by Brian K. Coombes, PhD, of McMaster University in Ontario as bacteria that cannot be treated using two or more antibiotics continue to pose a threat to patients, and they appear to be getting stronger: A CDC report published in December revealed a particularly dangerous set of CRE strains is cause for public health concern in the U.S. "Newly described resistance in Enterobacteriaceaehighlight[s] the continued urgency to delay the spread of CRE," the report reads. The strains have been named the "phantom menace" by some scientists, and they aren't the only superbugs infectious disease specialists and healthcare providers will be keeping an eye on in 2016 researchers in China published data on a bacteria found in pigs, broiler chickens and humans that contains a gene that makes it resistant to all forms of antibiotics, including "last resort" drugs used to beat the toughest antimicrobial resistant bugs. The gene responsible for resistance is called mcr-1, and has also been identified in Denmark. The gene has been found in E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria, according to the Chinese study. Small steps like boosting the focus on antibiotic stewardship can be taken this year to help combat the spread of these surreal-sounding organisms. The cyber-insecurity of medical devices. In July 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an official warning to hospitals asking they reconsider using the Hospira Symbiq Infusion System, a computerized pump that is widely used to deliver general infusion therapy, after it became apparent that with some ease, hackers could remotely access the device and alter dosages. But experts have been sounding the alarm on the cybersecurity of medical devices for some time now. In 2011, Jay Radcliffe, senior security consultant and researcher for security data and analytics company Rapid7, wowed audiences at the Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas when he hacked his own Medtronic insulin pump. Cybersecurity concerns have graduated from a health IT-specific worry to one that carries patient safety risks serious enough to be on everyone's radar. Many medical devices connect to and operate on hospital networks that are already rife with vulnerabilities, and even if the goal isn't to hurt patients who may be connected to the devices, hackers can hopscotch onto the network from the device's entry point, gathering protected health information and exploiting vulnerable data. In the next year, there will likely be some organized pushes to secure those devices or at least a push to put manufacturer, federal and healthcare providers' feet to the fire to start drumming up solutions. Going transparent with quality data. Most health systems query patients about their experiences and satisfaction with physicians during their hospital stays. But few opt to put those ratings online for all to see, although there's reason to believe the practice can improve patient safety. "When everyone physicians, patients, institutions, and the press is privy to data on performance, physicians will develop a greater sense of accountability to deliver quality care," Ashish K. Jha, MD, a patient safety researcher at Harvard University's School of Public Health in Cambridge, Mass., wrote in a post on Harvard Business Review in October. Aggregated ratings can be helpful learning tools for reviewing individual employee performance, and they also incentivize medical staff to double check their work and pay more attention to areas where slip-ups can impact their ratings, and ultimately the safety of those in their care. At some institutions, ratings are displayed internally, enabling side-by-side comparisons that might produce insights into best practices or encourage a healthy sense of competition. In the future, this kind of openness could become a necessity for hospitals and health systems who want to compete in a market with an increasing focus on transparency. In addition to fostering quality improvement, facilitating this kind of feedback and discussion has the capacity to highlight low points in patient care of which administration may not have previously been aware. While under state financial management in 2014, Flint, an industrial town near the base of Michigan's 'thumb,' began pulling its water supply from the notoriously grimy Flint River. The water was sourced there rather than from Lake Huron through Detroit's water system in an effort to cut costs. The decision was reversed in October 2015, but not before it resulted in hundreds of lead poisoning cases in children due to toxic levels in the Flint River. In December, Flint's mayor declared a state of emergency, which has drawn national attention to the small town. The National Guard arriving on the scene early Wednesday to distribute clean water and other supplies. Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, director of Flint-based HurleyMedicalCenter's Pediatric Residency Program, was one of the first to notice the trend of toxic lead exposure cases. She has fought denial of the crisis from Michigan officials while working to save the lives of poisoned children in an underserved population already short on resources. Dr. Hanna-Attisha spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about how she became involved in the crisis and HurleyMedicalCenter's efforts to provide treatment and resources to Flint residents. Editor's note: This article has been lightly edited for clarity and style. Question: When did you first become aware of the crisis? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: In late August, we were hearing about lead in the water and a team led by Marc Edwards, PhD, [a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg], was investigating. They had been alerted by a family who had elevated lead levels in their water, and they reported lead throughout the Flint water system. When I heard about lead in the water, we got mobilized. Pediatricians know lead it's a well-known neurotoxin. The CDC and the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics recommend no safe level of lead in a child. Lead should never be in contact with a child. So when we heard about lead in the water, we wanted to see if that was getting into the bodies of children. Q: How were your results first received? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: We released our research findings at a press conference on Sept. 24. Medical research isn't intended to be released at press conferences, it's intended to be released in peer-reviewed journals, which it now is but at the time we had an ethical and moral obligation to share what we saw with the community. And what we saw was that in Flint, the percentage of children with elevated lead levels doubled and in some neighborhoods it actually tripled. In one of the city's wards, the rate went from 5 percent to almost 16 percent of kids tested showing elevated lead levels. We had to share this information. There was a good week and a half, two weeks of the state disputing our research findings, but after we spoke with them and after they really looked at their numbers, they saw their findings were consistent with ours. Q: How many cases have there been? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: Since the water switch happened, there have been over 200 children with elevated lead levels. However, this grossly underestimates the exposure. We screen for lead at 1 and 2 years of age as per Medicaid and CDC mandate, however lead in water affects different age groups differently. We screen between the ages of 1 and 2 because that's when children have hand-to-mouth activity, that's when they're crawling and getting lead paint from their house and their soil. But lead in water affects a different age group utero babies and babies on formula. Young infants who are drinking lead-tainted water mixed with powdered formula. And lead has a short half life, it only lasts in your blood about 28 days, so when we screen those kids at the ages of 1 or 2, we have missed their peak and their level is no longer elevated. This is a population-wide exposure. Anybody who drank this water or cooked with this water (because cooking actually concentrates lead in your water) from April 2014 until end date not set, because the water was still unsafe, is still exposed. Q: Beyond treating poisoning cases, what has the hospital done to take on the crisis? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: I direct our pediatric residency program, so I train residents and medical students on becoming pediatricians. We've always had kind of an advocacy and public health focus. People come to Flint to do their training because they want to work with underserved communities and make a population health impact. So it's kind of an untold story, but this has all been about education. We are training the next generation of physicians to do this kind of work residents have been involved with the meetings with the mayor since the beginning. At the very first meeting when we disclosed our findings, there was a resident nervously sitting next to him. It's our obligation to train that future workforce who looks beyond the one patient in that one exam room. Hurley also has a robust research department as an academic medical center affiliated with Michigan State University. We've been doing research for quite some time, so they continue to be actively involved. In conjunction with our pediatric department, we also have a department that focuses on the community's wellness. My pediatric clinic is actually on the second floor of a farmer's market it's the only clinic in the country that we know of that is co-located with a farmer's market and that is purposeful to address the social determinants of health. There are no grocery stores in Flint, our patients have limited access to nutrition and there are other social determinants of health that impede their health outcomes. We're across the street from a central bus stop in the middle of downtown Flint to address our patients' transportation barriers. So we have been and continue to be proactively addressing the non-medical issues our patients have to optimize their health and outcomes. In our wellness department, we're offering cooking lead-focused classes to help mitigate exposure risk through nutrition and we've created a recipe book in collaboration with Michigan State University where we demo a certain lead-focused recipe each week. Q: Have you noticed any changes in Flint since the switch back to the Detroit water system? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: The water switch happened Oct. 16, but the water is not safe yet because the corrosive water with a lack of corrosive control significantly damaged our infrastructure. So it aged our pipes and we also lost that protective seal that was in our pipes, so that's why we're still in this public health state of emergency. People should still be using water filters and cold water and so on. The water is a lot better than it was before we switched, but it's still not entirely safe. Q: What measures are you taking to make sure that hospital water is clean? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: We have a hospitalwide filter system, and the hospital does routine testing of its water and then for very vulnerable populations infants for example. We just used ready-to-feed formula, so we've been taking proactive measures from the onset. But our hospital is about 120 years old and the damage to our infrastructure is still unknown, so there's a lot of investment that needs to happen in terms of continued monitoring and remediation. Q: What are people following the crisis in Flint missing out on when they just read the headlines? Dr. Hanna-Attisha: We have a community with a populationwide trauma, so we're really trying to convey a message of hope. Not every kid is going to have every problem related to lead exposure, and I feel that this really is a state of emergency now because if we can throw every evidence-based intervention at these children from early education to nutrition to healthcare, we have a chance to build a model public health program that can really mitigate the impact of exposure. I'm hoping we can turn lemons into lemonade and help our children, who are already dealing with so many toxic stresses from poverty to unemployment to violence, to get the interventions they need to overcome this exposure as well. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below It is understood Asda is trying to get out of taking on the site near Monkstown, which had been identified for a major branch Supermarket giant Asda looks set to pull the plug on plans for a 25m store in Co Antrim that was earmarked to create up to 300 new jobs, it can be revealed. It is understood Asda is trying to get out of taking on the site near Monkstown, which had been identified for a major branch. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph yesterday, Asda chief executive Andy Clarke, who was in Northern Ireland to meet buyers and industry members, would not confirm whether the store close to Newtownabbey was one of the developments the chain said it would have to re-assess. It is understood Asda had agreed to buy the site and had submitted a planning application for the 40,000 sq ft development, but it is now believed it no longer wants to go ahead with its plans. "Where there is space available to build a new spot, and it's right for us and the community, we want to open space," Mr Clarke said. "The challenge in the last five years is that commercial sites have been less viable." Asda is spending 3m on refitting and revamping some of its stores in Northern Ireland. Mr Clarke also said some new developments may go ahead in the next few years, but he would not say how many or unveil their location. "We have got a number of sites that we would like to open, and [it is] not yet concluded whether we will get consent for them," Mr Clarke said, adding that while the number was unquantifiable at the current moment, it would be more than one. Asda now has 17 stores in Northern Ireland, and has seen its market share grow by around 2% in the last year. Mr Clarke said, economically, Northern Ireland was a "more challenging" place to do business than other parts of the UK. "That shows us the Northern Ireland consumer looks to us for value, and is one of the reasons we are outperforming other parts of Great Britain," he added. Mr Clarke did not speak specifically about where new stores would be located or whether those already earmarked to open would get the go ahead. "The Northern Ireland market continues to be important, offering great potential, [but]the wider UK market context may mean that we have to re-assess our involvement in some developments," the chief executive said. Asda is celebrating more than a decade in business in Northern Ireland. Following a visit to the firm's Dundonald store, Mr Clarke said he was also meeting First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness during his trip to Northern Ireland. And despite concerns over the future of potential Asda developments, Mr Clarke told how the company was committed to "investing and growing" the business in Northern Ireland. "We've enjoyed 10 years of strong retailing here and look forward to more growth in the future," he added. "There's no doubt that the retail sector as a whole has permanently changed to reflect the shopping habits of customers today." The CSeries has been hit by repeated delays Struggling aerospace firm Bombardier is still holding out hope for a billion dollar bailout from the Canadian government. Reports in Canada say the new Liberal administration, led by Justin Trudeau, is considering several options to shore up the loss-making planemaker. Last October, the regional government in Quebec pledged $1.3bn (660m) to help Bombardier bring its long-delayed CSeries jet to market, taking a 49.5% stake in the programme. Mr Trudeau - whose home province is Quebec where Bombardier employs at least 18,000 people - has been under pressure to match that amount with federal funding since he took up office in November. The Globe and Mail newspaper has reported that government officials are actively examining whether to provide direct investment or credit financing to Bombardier. According to an unnamed senior federal official: "It will move fairly rapidly. If anything happens, it's going to happen this winter." Credit financing would be the less controversial option because it does not involve Canadian taxpayers' money. There has been a fierce debate in the country about the Bombardier bailout request. A strongly worded editorial in the Toronto Sun newspaper in November urged the Trudeau government not to hand over money to what it called "a failing aerospace company". It added: "Trudeau should keep his hand on his wallet and make sure federal taxpayers don't sink another huge pile of cash into a company that is lurching from one self-inflicted crisis to another. "Bombardier has become a byword for corporate welfare, having been on the take from Ottawa since 1966." So far, the new jet has failed to meet commercial expectations, with just 243 firm orders. It is now over three years behind schedule and more than 1bn over budget. The first CSeries jets are due to be delivered shortly to Swissair, and should be in service next year. Around 300 people work on the CSeries production line in Belfast, and the Belfast Telegraph understands that wing and fuselage parts for around 20 jets have been completed at the firm's plants here. The company employs approximately 5,000 people in Northern Ireland, although there has been a series of lay-offs in the past 18 months. Last week, it was confirmed that 60 agency workers would lose their jobs because of a downturn in customer demand. Bombardier's Belfast operation is trying to cut operating costs by a fifth over the next two years, but staff recently rejected a two-year pay freeze. The Enterprise Minister, Jonathan Bell, has held talks with senior Bombardier managers in Canada and Belfast. He said both he and Invest NI would "continue to support the company across a number of areas". Supermarket Morrisons cheered improved trading as it revealed a surprise rise in sales over the festive season. The Bradford-based grocer reported a 0.2% rise in like-for-like sales excluding fuel in the nine weeks to January 3 in a marked turnaround after recent hefty sales declines. Morrisons chief executive David Potts said: "We are pleased with our improved trading performance over the Christmas period. "While there is, of course, much more to do, we are making important progress in improving all aspects of the shopping trip." The group said it was "beginning to attract customers back" as the Christmas performance marked its first rise in sales in around four years and confounds expectations of a sharp fall. It follows a 2.6% drop in the previous three months and comes after a disappointing performance last year, when sales fell 3.1%. Morrisons notched up the sales increase despite further falls in prices - down 3.2% excluding fuel over the period - as this was offset by a significant rise in sales by volume. It added that the number of transactions rose 1.3% on a like-for-like basis. Figures for the six weeks to January 3 showed an even better performance, with comparable sales up 0.5%. But Morrisons said it would close another seven stores, following its announcement last September that it was shutting 11 stores, putting 900 jobs at risk. It also agreed the sale of 140 local convenience stores last September for around 25m to concentrate on its larger supermarkets. Ann McGregor, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry Northern Ireland's small businesses are low in confidence as they head into 2016, a survey has said. And one in six firms fear that they will contract in size during the coming year, according to the latest research from the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, led by Ann McGregor. Northern Ireland was one of the worst performing regions in the UK. And manufacturers in the province were struggling with sales, both domestically and overseas. But some were feeling more optimistic - and two-thirds expected their business to grow this year. Companies told the survey that they were feeling more confident about cash flow, and were intending to take on more staff. But small businesses were "the least optimistic" heading into 2016. Factors such as the introduction of a National Living Wage are set to hit lower-paying employers. According to the Chamber, one firm will add around 400,000 to their wage bill over the next four years, as a result of the increase. According to the survey, which was carried out before the Fresh Start Agreement in November, a majority of businesses here - more than four in five - believe the Executive is holding back both international and investment from within Northern Ireland. Christopher Morrow, policy manager for the Chamber, said while the survey "shows that businesses are trying to be optimistic about the year ahead, however there are a number of challenges facing them". "Competition has been constantly cited as a key issue for members alongside rising costs. Northern Ireland businesses feel that they cannot be as competitive as their counterparts in other parts of the world with our manufacturers in particular suffering due to increasing costs, issues around exchange rates and global economic conditions." The survey - which is made up of responses from more 300 firms, accounting for 22,500 jobs - also highlighted ongoing concerns about spending cuts. The services sector saw an increase in sales, both here and with exports, and fewer firms took on new staff. Michael Jennings, partner at business advisory firm BDO, said businesses here needed "political stability" in order to grow. And he said from the firm's own experience, "our outlook may be slightly more positive" than what's reflected in the survey. "Despite their optimism for business in 2016, many respondents do not expect the local economy to grow, noting concerns that instability in the Northern Ireland Executive is holding back business investment." Competition among other businesses continues to be the greatest concern for businesses in 2016, with the political situation at Stormont and a strong pound also major issues for firms here. "Proposed public spending cuts represent significant change for the local economy," Mr Jennings said. "However, it could prove to be a valuable opportunity for the private sector to gain access to skilled labour... it is hoped the private sector will be able to absorb many of the employees being released from the public sector." Concepts in state Justice Reinvestment Act included in federal sentencing proposal RALEIGH U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is trying to push through criminal justice reforms in Congress modeled on measures he helped shepherd through the North Carolina General Assembly when he was speaker of the House.Tillis, a first-term North Carolina Republican, is hoping that the federal government will adopt strategies contained in the 2011 Justice Reinvestment Act in North Carolina"It's a money saver in the justice system that can be redeployed to making communities safer," Tillis said.The bipartisan federal Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act includes several concepts that were inspired by North Carolina's criminal justice reforms. It would reduce prison sentences for certain nonviolent drug offenders while increasing prison terms for violent criminals and adding two new mandatory minimum sentences. The legislation also seeks to reduce the number of repeat offenders by expanding education, job training, drug rehabilitation, and faith-based programs.In 2014, the Council of State Governments Justice Center released a study showing the benefits the state gained through the judicial reform measures.The study showed that the state saved $48 million in the 2013-14 budget year. The reforms also allowed the state to close 10 prisons. In addition, with fewer inmates behind bars, the costs of the criminal justice system dropped by $500 million, easing the need for the construction and operation of new prisons.The prison population dropped by 8 percent, or nearly 3,400 people, the study showed. In addition, overall prison admissions dropped by 21 percent because fewer people were convicted of misdemeanors and there were fewer probation revocations.North Carolina probation officers now have more leeway to respond to probation violations swiftly. Previously, officers had to request a court hearing before they could conditions after violations by offenders.The reforms gave probation officers more time and tools to supervise felons being released from prison and required felons to have more supervision upon their release from prison.The Council of State Governments study showed that 85 percent of people leaving prison who had been convicted of felony offenses left prison without any supervision. The North Carolina reforms require every person with a felony conviction to receive nine or 12 months of post-release supervision.Tillis said he expects that the changes, if adopted, will pay off for federal taxpayers as well. The proposal, part of an overall sentencing reform bill, has cleared committee. He hopes it will be brought before the full Senate during the first quarter of 2016. Premium Margaret Canning Opinion Conservatives have gone back to traditional territory with a mini-budget that just might cost the party the next election Many of the measures in Kwasi Kwartengs first big statement as Chancellor had been trailed in advance changes to stamp duty, the cancellation of both the rise in National Insurance and the rise in corporation tax, and bringing forward a cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19 pence. Actor Conrad Phillips, who featured in an episode of Fawlty Towers, died at the age of 90 on Wednesday after a short illness, his family confirmed. Born Conrad Havord in London in 1925, he enlisted in the Navy at 17 by forging an older birth date on his ration book before studying at Rada and appearing in both repertory theatre and on the West End stage. He landed his best known role as the eponymous hero in ITV's The Adventures Of William Tell in 1958, which featured cameos from Christopher Lee, Michael Caine and Sid James among others, and lasted for 39 episodes. An early accident on set where Phillips fell down a 12-foot drop and injured his knee and ankle led to him filming the final episode from a wheelchair and contributed towards the severe back pain, two replacement knees and replacement hip that brought a premature end to his acting career in 1991. Among his notable TV roles was as Mr Lloyd in the 1975 Wedding Party episode of Fawlty Towers, playing the father of a family that hotelier Basil (John Cleese) mistakenly believes to be a wife-swapping group involving maid Polly. Towards the end of his career, he would play Stefan, William Tell's mentor, in Crossbow, a 1987 updated version of the Swiss folk tale, that included guest appearances from Brian Blessed and Roger Daltrey. He died at his home in Chippenham, Wiltshire. He is survived by wife Jennie, daughters Kate and Sarah, and grandchildren Alice and Leo. Pamela Smyth is chief make-up artist on TV's Game of Thrones while her husband Mark Lowry is an art director on the hit HBO show. They live in Crawfordsburn with sons, Lex (12) and Myles (11). Name: Pamela Smyth Age: 49 Occupation: Make-up artist Relationship to Mark: Wife After I left school, I became a make-up artist, though I actually got into the profession by accident. Initially I worked as a hair model but would end up doing all the other girls make-up at shows. I really enjoyed it and kept getting asked back to do more shows so I decided to do a beauty course. As my career took off, I did further training at Pinewood Studios where I learned about special effects and film make-up. Soon I was getting asked to work on films and television programmes - that proved a fantastic opportunity. I suppose you could say that I am an eternal student as I am always taking new courses. It is, however, important to stay ahead in this industry so you need to constantly want to learn new things. As well as being a student, I also teach - I have a make-up school called the Make-up Department. My youngest son Myles (11) has Asperger's Syndrome and I've also studied psychology. Learning more about the condition has enabled us to help him cope. My husband Mark works as an art director and we met when we were both working on a film called, Korea, in Dublin. I thought he was gorgeous but he seemed quiet and very involved in his work. I just assumed nothing would happen but at the end of the film he asked me out - and we have been together ever since. We got married in 1998 and renewed our vows in a special ceremony in 2008. We hope to do the same in 2018 for our 20th anniversary, with the boys there. Mark is a very strong character. When you meet him for the first time he tends to be quiet and seems shy but once you get to know him he is very chatty and friendly. There is no nonsense with Mark, he only says things he means, so you always know where you stand with him. We've just finished working together on the sixth series of Game of Thrones. Still, when I say 'working together', the reality is that we were lucky with our schedules if we got to see each other at breakfast. The two of us have worked on the show from the start and it does take up a huge chunk of our lives. I work longer hours than Mark, as I am in charge of all the make-up teams and have to oversee the look of all the 14,000 extras. Mark is brilliant at home, though. When I am busy he really looks after the boys and me, doing all the cooking and shopping." Name: Mark Lowry Age: 47 Occupation: Art director, film and television Relationship to Pamela: Husband I grew up in Dublin and studied film at college there - fortunately, I've worked in films and television ever since. As an art director I am in charge of set design and how a show looks. In recent years I've spent a lot of my time working on Game of Thrones which is fantastic and I love it. The budget for the show enables them to do amazing things. We get to be very creative and the sets and special effects are spectacular. My family are my main priority in life, though, and things revolve around Pamela and our two boys. She works long hours, so I try to help out at home as much as possible. When I first saw Pamela I was working on a film set - I thought she was gorgeous but well out of my league. She was very glamorous and head of the make-up department, while I was a lowly artist on the set. I thought she wouldn't even look at me - but I was wrong and we ended up going out. We were on a four-week holiday to America when I proposed to Pamela. The time felt right and I decided to ask her in my apartment one night. But when I started talking to her Pamela actually thought I was dumping her so it was a complete shock to her when I asked her to marry me. Pamela has so much energy and is always doing something. She works on films, runs a business, teaches and sorts the family out. She is so talented and works hard to keep at the top of her game. She even designed our dream home and was the project manager on the whole job which was a mammoth task. When we're not working, we enjoy having time out together as a couple to go travelling - this year we're going to Boston for five days, just the two of us. Sometimes when we go out we have to bring her contact book with us, but that's just something I have to live with, as she needs to be able to keep in touch with people to make all the things in her life run smoothly." Face to face with celebrities Wednesday 13th January 2016 Picture by Darren Kidd / Press Eye. Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister, Jonathan Bell, is pictured with Austin McGillian, Chairman and Asa McGillian, Managing Director of Apeer, after announcing that the Ballymena window manufacturer is to create 25 new jobs in the town as part of a 1.7m investment. Twenty five new jobs have been created in Ballymena as part of a 1.7million investment by window manufacturer Apeer. The firm successfully launched its new maintenance-free Lumi window system for the residential housing market and is now investing in additional equipment, skilled personnel and marketing to maximise sales. Invest NI has offered the business 399,000 to support its expansion. Enterprise Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell said: Apeer is an ambitious company, undertaking a comprehensive growth strategy to boost its market share across Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Its investment in innovation and continuous improvement measures, supported by Invest Northern Ireland, will ensure Apeer has the resources, skills and equipment in place to maximise the sales potential of its new window range. The 25 new jobs to be recruited in the coming months, the majority of which are manufacturing roles, is very positive news for Mid and East Antrim and will generate 375,000 annually in additional salaries to the local economy. Apeer manufactures and supplies a range of uPVC door panels, GRP external composite doors, fire doors, decorative glass units and commercial glass. Invest NIs support includes an employment grant for the 25 new jobs as well as R&D assistance to develop and commercialise the Lumi window range. Invest NIs R&D assistance is part funded by European Regional Development Fund. The Executive has "bottled it" on cutting air passenger tax because of the impact on the public finances, the managing director of Belfast International Airport claimed. Northern Ireland risks missing the boat as airlines receiving new aircraft plan routes for next year, Graham Keddie added. He said ministers could pick up the bill for Air Passenger Duty (APD) to compete with Dublin's tax free status, which has prompted enormous growth south of the border based on low fares. Mr Keddie claimed: "We are pointing business across to a foreign country. "Our devolved central government is abdicating responsibility to deal with this." He said worry about the block grant impeded any real development. Ryanair announced plans to fly from Belfast to London Gatwick later this year but said new European routes were uncertain while most of their profits were eaten up by tax. Cuts to APD in Northern Ireland separately from the rest of the UK would see Treasury reducing the amount it provides Stormont to run public services. Ministers have to decide whether that risk and cost would be adequately rewarded by widespread economic growth. Mr Keddie said: "The Northern Ireland Executive are, to put it in colloquial terms, bottling it." Airline chiefs gave evidence on APD to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster. Stormont's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Deti) has already cited an assessment which found that reducing APD was not a strong tool for promoting economic development, unlike corporation tax. It is working to develop an air route development fund. Despite overwhelming corporate support, the Executive has come under fire from trade unionists favouring more public spending for agreeing to cut the business levy. Committee member Lady Sylvia Hermon, Independent representative for North Down, said it was odd that Northern Ireland was prepared to take a huge cut in the block grant to accommodate corporation tax but not accept a smaller reduction for APD. Mr Keddie said: "We are an island beyond an island, we need air transportation. It is not a luxury, it is crucial to our development." He approached the Executive with Ryanair for additional support months ago. He said they also asked ministers for 200,000 to entice an airline to operate to Munich in Bavaria but that did not proceed. George Best Belfast City Airport chief executive Brian Ambrose said the airport could deliver 10 European routes over time with more favourable tax treatment. Gavin Robinson, DUP MP for East Belfast, said Jet2.com had begun operating from Belfast to Italy in spite of APD. "There are clearly other factors at play irrespective of what APD is charged." A Deti spokeswoman said an expert assessment found that any reduction in short-haul APD would result in increased passenger numbers using Northern Ireland's airports. However, the assessment also identified that, when the cost to the public finances in Northern Ireland is taken into consideration, APD is not considered to be a strong economic development tool. "The tax is imposed and set by the UK Government and therefore Northern Ireland ministers have stated that the onus must be on HM Treasury to deal with APD at a national level. "Air connectivity is an important driver for economic growth and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (which includes Invest NI and sponsorship of Tourism Ireland) is in ongoing contact with Northern Ireland's airports and airlines to discuss route development opportunities. "Work to progress an air route development fund for Northern Ireland is ongoing and the Deti minister intends to be in a position to announce the way forward before the end of the financial year. Nigel Barden, First Minister Arlene Foster,Terence Brannigan, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Laura Briggs and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell at an event to showcase local produce (Press Eye) Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th January 2016 - First Minister, Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness are pictured with Nigel Barden, BBC Broadcaster; Terence Brannigan, Chairman Tourism NI; Laura Briggs, BBC Good Food and Enterprise Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell at an event in the Ulster Hall which showcased a range of local produce as the opener for the Year of Food and Drink 2016. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th January 2016 - First Minister, Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness are pictured with Nigel Barden, BBC Broadcaster; Terence Brannigan, Chairman Tourism NI and Laura Briggs, BBC Good Food and Enterprise Trade at an event in the Ulster Hall which showcased a range of local produce as the opener for the Year of Food and Drink 2016. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. New First Minister Arlene Foster has attended her first joint public engagement with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. The Democratic Unionist leader and the Sinn Fein veteran were guests at a dinner in Belfast's Ulster Hall to mark the launch of a tourism drive to promote Northern Ireland's locally produced food and drink. The initiative is the mainstay of Tourism NI's marketing campaign for 2016. Mrs Foster, 45, replaced the retiring Peter Robinson as First Minister on Monday having already succeeded him as DUP leader last month. With Mr McGuinness having struck up unlikely friendships with both Mr Robinson and his predecessor as DUP First Minister, the late Ian Paisley, observers will be closely monitoring the working relationship that develops between the republican leader and Mrs Foster. Arriving at the banquet, Mrs Foster said: "The quality of our food is a major reason why people come to Northern Ireland. Food tourism already generates over 350 million per year to the local economy, but I believe there is significant room for further growth. "Tonight's event gives us the opportunity to unashamedly restate that Northern Ireland's food and drink heritage is not just unique, but among the finest tastes and flavours to be found anywhere in the world. "As the next 12 months of food and drink experiences unfold, there will be no better time for locals, visitors and global markets alike to enjoy a true taste of Northern Ireland." Mr McGuinness added: "We have a wealth of high quality, safe and wholesome foods available to the processing, food service and retail sectors. Our produce has world leading traceability and safety controls and is produced on farms with a strong track record in quality assurance systems and high animal health and welfare standards. This makes our produce very attractive to the global market. "We must drive quality, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship which will increase employment capacity in the food and hospitality sectors. I urge everyone with a role to play to do everything they possibly can to support this initiative to develop, enhance and promote the food and drink product at home and abroad." The Year of Food and Drink 2016 initiative, which has a different theme for every month, has promised to put food and drink at the heart of the visitor experience. NI Water is battling spiralling debt along with plummeting profits, it can be revealed. Top officials from the organisation are set to be questioned by members of the Department for Regional Development Committee (DRD) today. The grilling follows a review of NI Water's annual report and accounts for 2014-15, carried out by the Public Finance Scrutiny Unit. The report, seen by the Belfast Telegraph, questions a number of payments made off payroll, the 145,000-150,000 pay packet of NI Water chief Sara Venning, an increase in loans and debts, a drop in profits and a low number of female workers. A source close to the DRD Committee said NI Water appeared to be in a "shambolic state" and questioned its liquidity. A spokesman for NI Water said it was confident it can address the issues raised. NI Water's debt has increased from 19m to 23m, its loans have increased by 33m and its profits are down by 50m since 2013-14. The study found that NI Water's annual report failed to publish sickness absence data and personal data-related incidents. It also questions the salary of chief executive Venning (right). She receives a salary in the band from 145,000 to 150,000 - almost six times the median remuneration of the workforce (24,796). NI Water said the drop in median salary compared to the chief executive was because of the payment of salary arrears to former employees and a reduction in the overtime payments made to employees during the year, along with increased numbers of apprentices and part-time employees. The report also highlights that just 21% of its workforce is female. It concludes that there are a "number of areas where transparency could be enhanced". NI Water is one of Northern Ireland's largest companies. It was originally set up as a Government-owned company in April 2007. Following the Assembly's decision to defer the introduction of domestic water charges, it now receives the majority of its funding via subsidy. This subsidy means it is now designated as a Non-Departmental Public Body. NI Water has experienced some turbulence in previous years, having had five chief executives in eight years. In late 2010, some 450,000 people were left without supply after freezing weather caused chaos. More than 40,000 homes were off mains supply and at the height of the crisis, there were one million calls to NI Water. Some were left without water for more than a week. Former NI Water chief executive Laurence MacKenzie resigned in the wake of the crisis. The previous year, chairman and interim chief executive Chris Mellor and three other board members were sacked over controversy regarding the awarding of contracts. Its first chief executive, Kathryn Bryan, left in 2008 in the wake of controversy surrounding the miscalculation of future revenue. Ms Venning replaced Trevor Haslett, who stepped down in August 2013 citing "personal reasons". A spokesman for NI Water said it was continuing to transform infrastructure. "NI Water's annual report and accounts have been subject to a full audit from three perspectives - statutory accounts, regularity and the regulatory accounts," he added. "In respect of all audits conducted, their accounts are confirmed as not subject to any qualifications, giving a true and fair view and are prepared in accordance with the company's licence conditions. "It should be noted that the figures relating to the level of debt, remuneration and profit were contained in our annual report and accounts, which were published in September and which have been open to scrutiny since then. "This report is reflective of a company which has continued to successfully transform delivery of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland. "Since 2007/08, we have invested 1.7bn in Northern Ireland's water and wastewater infrastructure. This is helping us to improve our processes to deliver higher levels of service to our customers, become more efficient and see us better placed to prepare for the challenges which lie ahead." Boyce alleges professional misconduct by AG, inaction by State Bar CJ Photos by Don Carrington Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce (top photo) has asked a court to force the N.C. State Bar to acknowledge allegations of professional misconduct by Attorney General Roy Cooper starting with Cooper's 2000 campaign. The lawsuit Precedent involves Cooper attorney RALEIGH A longstanding feud between Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce and state Attorney General Roy Cooper that appeared to be over in 2014 reignited last week, when Boyce filed a complaint against the North Carolina State Bar claiming that Cooper should be investigated for professional misconduct.Boyce claims that starting in 2000, Cooper knowingly made false statements that harmed the reputation of Boyce and his law partners. Seeking to force an investigation, on Jan. 5 Boyce filed a formal complaint in Wake County Superior Court against the North Carolina State Bar, the state agency that regulates attorneys.In the complaint, Boyce says that as an attorney he has an obligation to report the professional misconduct of other attorneys to the State Bar. According to the complaint, Boyce has notified the State Bar on multiple occasions about Cooper's alleged misconduct but the State Bar has not responded. Boyce also believes the State Bar has a conflict of interest in the matter because Cooper also serves as the attorney for the State Bar.Boyce is asking the court for a declaratory judgment forcing the State Bar to acknowledge Boyce's claims of Cooper's misconduct; declare that the State Bar has a conflict of interest in the matter; and refer the matter to an appropriate alternative agency for investigation, findings of fact, and discipline if appropriate.The dispute began in 2000, when Cooper was the Democratic Party's nominee for attorney general and his main opponent was Republican Dan Boyce, Gene's son. Cooper won that race and has served as attorney general since then. He currently is a Democratic candidate for governor.The Boyces and their law partners Philip and Laura Isley in 2000 filed a defamation lawsuit against Cooper based on ads run by the Cooper campaign committee. The lawsuit alleged that Cooper and his committee ran a political ad that was defamatory and constituted an unfair and deceptive trade practice. It also charged that Cooper and his committee participated in a conspiracy to violate a North Carolina law prohibiting false ads during election campaigns. A trial court judge dismissed the lawsuit, but appellate courts ruled in Boyce's favor on several occasions, and in 2014 the matter was scheduled to go to trial.The dispute appeared to be over in April 2014 when Cooper issued a written apology to Boyce for statements Cooper's political campaign made in the political ads. The parties signed an agreement ending the civil action, but Boyce's complaint before the State Bar says Cooper's conduct is a separate issue that the State Bar must address.Boyce has been practicing law since 1956. He served as assistant chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, working with U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., on the investigation of President Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign.When asked for comment, Boyce told Carolina Journal the information in the complaint spoke for itself.Noelle Talley, Cooper's spokeswoman, told CJ the attorney general's office had no comment on the complaint.One week before the 2000 election, Cooper's campaign started running a television ad that read:The ad contained several untrue statements. When the advertisement was running, the Boyces and Isleys were partners at the Boyce & Isley law firm in Raleigh. Dan Boyce did not work on the lawsuit referenced in Cooper's ad (the Smith case), and the Boyce & Isley law firm had not been created. The Smith lawsuit was filed by Gene Boyce and attorneys from the Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice law firm.Gene Boyce was not running for attorney general, and he did not charge taxpayers $28,000 an hour. Legal fees in class-action lawsuits are set by the judge, and the final payment to the attorneys was much lower than the amount alleged in the ad.On the second day the ad ran, Boyce & Isley notified Cooper's committee in writing about the statements in the ad and requested that an immediate retraction. Cooper ignored the request and continued running the ads, the lawsuit stated. Gene Boyce said Cooper's ad ran at least three times a day for seven days on more than 20 television stations.The Boyces and Isleys filed their lawsuit the day before the election, naming Cooper, the Cooper (political) Committee, and campaign aide Julia White as defendants. In three court filings in 2003 and 2008, Cooper stated,Gene Boyce assumed the lead role in the lawsuit against Cooper.Boyce told CJ in 2013.Boyce's complaint states that the State Bar recently set a precedent for the Cooper situation in handling a complaint against Faison Hicks, an attorney who works for Cooper. Since Hicks previously had served as counsel for the State Bar, the State Bar referred the Hicks complaint for an independent review by the Ethics Counsel for the State Bar of Georgia for a probable cause determination.In 2014 the State Bar became aware that on two occasions, Hicks signed forms stating he attended continuing legal education programs sponsored by the State Bar. Hicks claimed full credit for his attendance even though he had not attended enough hours to qualify for the credit he claimed.Rule 8.4 of the North Carolina State Bar provides in part that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer toHicks acknowledged that he had not attended all the credit hours he claimed, even though he signed the attendance forms.Instead of handling the discipline through the State Bar, the matter was referred to Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens.Stephens wrote.By issuing a reprimand, Stephens added,Hicks is still employed by the N.C. Department of Justice. This is the first look at footage of the making of a movie that never was - which a Newry actress helped mastermind. Newry actress Aoife Madden was one of a gang of five which pretended that unnamed Hollywood A-listers would star in a multi-million pound production that would be shot in the United Kingdom. A BBC4 documentary will show how a movie called Landscape of Lives became a 100,000 production called Landscape of Lies. They said that a Jordanian company was backing the film to the tune of 19m. But the film Landscape Of Lives was never made and the only footage shot was seven minutes of "completely unusable quality" filmed in a flat and costing just 5,000. When HMRC followed up checks they found the production was a fraud and a means of claiming millions in tax breaks. It later transpired that Madden, niece of Sinn Fein politician Conor Murphy, was part of a team of bogus film-makers who fraudulently claimed 2.7m in tax rebates by pretending to shoot the movie A Landscape Of Lies. The investigation led to HMRC's first prosecution for film tax relief fraud. The producers were arrests and charged and released on bail. During this time they decided to try and make a movie and so they tried to cover up the scam by shooting a film called A Landscape of Lies on a small budget - a new version of the original title which was Landscape of Lives. The film was released on DVD in 2011 and starred former EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman and Loose Women star Andrea McLean. HMRC later claimed that the movie was a sham all along and that the real intention from the outset was to "defraud the public purse of nearly 1.5m in VAT along with nearly 1.3m in film tax-credit claims." The producers behind it all were convicted in 2013. Madden pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to cheat the Revenue before the trial and was jailed for four years and eight months in 2013. Bashar Al-Issa, 34, a former Iraqi national who is now British, of Rodney Court, Maida Vale, London, described as the orchestrator of the fraud, was jailed for six-and-a-half years by Judge Juliet May, sitting at Southwark Crown Court in central London. Two other defendants in the scam - Tariq Hassan, 52, a Pakistani national, of Willingale Road, Loughton, Essex, and Osama Al Baghdady, 51, an Iraqi national of Lowther Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, received four-year jail sentences. A fifth defendant, architect Ian Sherwood, 53, of Esher Drive, Sale, Manchester, who allowed his offices to be used for the fraud, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail. Judge May said the fraud had been based on an "entirely bogus film project". Now in never before seen footage a BBC 4 documentary will chart the story of A Landscape of Lies. It will be shown on BBC4 on January 24. A damning council report has thrown doubt over the future of Northern Ireland's only zoo after it lost more than a million pounds last year. The report, due to be discussed at today's meeting of the city growth and regeneration committee, found that compared to others in the UK and Ireland, Belfast Zoo has the lowest number of visitors, charges the least and earns the least income per visitor. It has also found: Declining visitor numbers. High staff costs. Significant overspends in a number of areas. No comparisons of costs with other zoos. The cost of the zoo is rising every year, while income is falling. Belfast Zoo cost 2,822,838 to run last year - but income was just 1,758,500, leaving a major shortfall of 1,064,338. It welcomed 272,588 visitors in 2015, who spent on average 6.45 per visit. This compares poorly with other zoos in the UK and Ireland. Dublin Zoo's annual income is 14,106,558, Chester Zoo's is 26,199,677 and Edinburgh Zoo's is 10,862,365. Belfast Zoo's visitors came primarily from Northern Ireland, with just 3% from outside the UK and Ireland. A plan has been devised for improvements at the zoo, which includes a recommendation to find savings, controls on overtime, a review of ticket prices, and a setting of savings targets. Belfast Zoo was opened in 1934. It is currently home to more than 1,000 animals and 150 species on its 55-acre site, including elephants, bears, monkeys, lions and a kangaroo. However, Ulster Unionist councillor Chris McGimpsey blasted the zoo in its current state as "a joke". He said for the zoo to be sustainable it needed a major investment and revealed he was planning to propose that the council look at other alternatives for its future - such as Stormont taking it over its running. "Eight per cent of the visitors are from outside Belfast, which makes my case for me - Belfast should not be paying for it," he argued. "Zoos are a thing of the past; Victorian peep shows, not what people want any more. "We are taking animals that normally would have been on flat plain land and we stick them on a hill overlooking Belfast Lough in areas which are just too small. "It is virtually impossible to run a zoo without there being massive concerns about animal welfare." Mr McGimpsey added: "I will be bringing forward a motion to the February meeting of the council asking for serious consideration as to whether or not Belfast can afford this - 2m a year, 40,000 a week. How can we afford to take 40,000 and throw it away every week?" Jennifer Cardy with her cherished bicycle, which was found during the intensive search for her The father of schoolgirl Jennifer Cardy said last night that Robert Black, the serial killer who murdered his daughter and who has died in Maghaberry Prison, "would be spending eternity in the flames of Hell". Andy Cardy, who revealed that he and wife Pat had a premonition that Black was about to die, said: "Unless he sought and found redemption with the Lord, which is very unlikely, he will be a paedophile in Hell without salvation and he will be all on his own there for the rest of time, and that will be an awful place for him to be in. "However, Jennifer is in Heaven and we know we will meet her there again. Pat and I had both had a feeling recently that we would hear quite soon that Black had died. I can't explain it, but we both had the same idea that it was about to happen." Speaking at their Ballinderry home, the Cardys opened their hearts about how they felt when a PSNI officer who had worked on the murder inquiry rang yesterday evening to break the news that Black had died at the high-security prison. Mrs Cardy said that she felt "gutted" that the relatives of Genette Tate, the Devon teenager who vanished without trace in 1978, "would never see Black stand trial for her murder". Black was the prime suspect. And Mr Cardy also called again for the return of the death penalty. Describing Black's conviction in 2011 for the kidnap, sexual assault and murder of nine-year-old Jennifer as a relief - "at least he wasn't free to do that to another little girl" - Mr Cardy said he still felt that the killer should have paid with his own life: "There is something to be said for capital punishment. That should be on the agenda for our country." Black (68), who was one of Britain's most notorious serial killers, was found guilty in 1994 of the murders of Sarah Harper (10), from England, and Susan Maxwell (11) and Caroline Hogg (5), both from Scotland. All the killings took place in the Eighties. But the Cardys had to wait 30 years before they came face-to-face in an Armagh courtroom with the man who had snatched their daughter as she cycled from their home to a friend's house on August 12, 1981. Black, who worked as a delivery driver, abducted and assaulted Jennifer before throwing her body in McKee's Dam, near Hillsborough. Already serving a life sentence at the time of his trial for her murder, he was sentenced to another 25 years and told he would be 89 before he would be considered for release. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Jennifer Cardy Detectives examining bike which was found thrown over hedge on roadside (on Crumlin Rd, Ballinderry) . 13/8/81. Jennifer Cardy with her cherished bicycle, which was found during the intensive search for her Jennifer's killer Robert Black is led away after a court appearance Andrew and Patricia Cardy, parents of Jennifer Cardy pictured in their Ballinderry home. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jennifer Cardy The Northern Ireland Prison Service yesterday confirmed an inmate had died in non-suspicious circumstances. A composed and reflective Mrs Cardy said that she and her husband were still struggling to process the news of Black's death: "It is hard to get your head around something like that when you get the call, although we had always known it could happen. "Previously we had been told that shortly after he had been incarcerated when first convicted in England, he'd had a stroke." But she said that his death had brought back memories of the trial, when she had found it "harrowing" even being in the same room as Black. "That was a terrible ordeal," she added. "He saw my face, he saw Andrew's face, he watched me giving testimony. How he sat there, how he looked, how blase he became in front of you. Maybe as a woman I felt a particular kind of connection with things... I just had an instinct about him... and I saw a man who knew Jennifer, who remembered explicitly when he had been with her and what he had done to her. I saw a man who relished his memories. When the murders in England, for which he'd been convicted, were disclosed again at the trial, he relished that. "He wanted to hold his personal memories of what he had done so that if and when he went to bed that night he would enjoy it. I saw that in him." She also believed that he took pleasure from witnessing her own distress, particularly on one occasion when she fled the courtroom in tears: "They were playing tapes of his interrogation and the details were gruesome. He saw me walk out and I know that pleased him. "He would have thought that he was the only one who that could do that to me, who had that power." Mrs Cardy said that she did not feel relief that Black was dead: "I don't feel relief because he did not hold anything over us. There was an ease that came with his conviction because essentially he was still the man he was in 1981. "He still wanted to be out there in his van. He wanted to be looking for a little girl in white socks. He still dreamt about what he could do to her." And she also revealed that on occasion she had considered attempting to meet Black in prison. "I don't know if when it came to it I would have had the strength to go through with it, or indeed what I would have said to him, but it is something I have thought about from time to time." The Cardys, who are deeply religious, still think every day of the daughter they lost so tragically. Mrs Cardy said: "Jennifer would never be far from our thoughts. It's not as if we need to sit down and deliberately think of her. She is just always here with us." The couple also have two sons, Mark and Philip, and a daughter Victoria, who was just eight months old when Jennifer was murdered and whom Mrs Cardy believes was a gift from God. She revealed: "I had been sterilised for medical reasons on the advice of doctors one-and-a-half years before Victoria was born, so there was this great talk in the Royal when she arrived about how it could possibly have happened. "But I believe that we were given another baby girl because the Lord knew that Jennifer would be gone. When you are Christians, the Lord works everything." Having to get up every day and look after the baby helped pull Mrs Cardy through those dreadful early days following Jennifer's disappearance, but the toll on all the family was huge. "Mark was just 13 at the time. He had the mind of a 13-year-old boy, not an adult man, and the ground was just taken from under him. "And Philip was just six years old and his whole world was spinning. All he knew was that his sister was gone and that he wanted her back, but she wasn't there and she never came back." Mrs Cardy said that the couple had been sustained throughout by their faith. "The pain was incredible - when she was first taken, when her body was found, the post mortem - yet we were never put down with grief. "We came through with a great reassurance and relationship with the Lord." Remarkably, Mrs Cardy also said that she did not hate Black. "When I looked at this man, I saw a man under the power of a sin that controlled him, and he would have that dominion of sin over little girls for the rest of his life. "He could have had a great turn in his life, that is humanly possible, but I think it is unlikely that he did so. And if he did not repent, then he has no home with the Lord. "We could not have survived this without our faith. I know other families who have lost loved ones because of Robert Black and their lives have been destroyed. "Thankfully, as my husband said at the end of the trial, he destroyed Jennifer's life, but he did not destroy our family." Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police are today releasing images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder in Rosapenna Street last summer Police have released images of people they wish to speak with in relation to serious public disorder which broke out in north Belfast last summer following an Anti-Internment Parade. Fourteen images of individuals have been released of people the PSNI would like to talk to in connection with their ongoing investigations into the disorder in Rosapenna Street on Sunday August 9 2015. A number of missiles and petrol bombs were thrown at police and water cannon was used to manage the disorder. Detective Chief Inspector Gary Reid said: "Over the course of the day, there was a small number of people in the area who were intent on causing disorder and attacking police officers. "Unfortunately a number of officers sustained minor injuries. To date 10 people have been arrested and charged for offences relating to this disorder." It comes after police released a set of images in relation to the serious public disorder which took place on Monday July 13 2015. Five of these people have been identified. DCI Reid added: We are extremely grateful for the support and assistance from members of the public in assisting us with our investigations. We are committed to identifying those involved in all of the disorder last summer and we will be relentless in our pursuit in order to bring these offenders before the Courts. By releasing these images I am hopeful that the wider community will help us identify these individuals. It is in everybodys interest as well as in the interest of justice - that those responsible are dealt with appropriately and I would urge anyone who may have any information to bring it forward. I also encourage the persons within these pictures to contact police directly in doing so they will minimise the impact on themselves, their family and their community. Anyone who may be able to identify any of these individuals or provide any information about them such as their name, address or age is urged to contact detectives at Strandtown Police Station on 02890 901734. This number is staffed Monday to Friday 9am 5pm, an answer machine will be in operation outside of these office opening hours. Detectives can also be contacted by email on POETDPC@psni.pnn.police.uk Alternatively, if anyone would prefer to provide information to the independent charity Crimestoppers they can speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111. Flooded fields near Dungannon, an area affected by high water levels in Lough Neagh A new 1 million grant scheme has been launched to enable householders to protect their homes from future floods. Agriculture and rural development minister Michelle O'Neill said financial support would be made available to install physical barriers and equipment at flood-risk residential properties in Northern Ireland. Ms O'Neill outlined details of the scheme in the wake of the latest spate of flooding. Around 30 properties were flooded over the festive period, with low lying areas around loughs Erne and Neagh worst affected. The overall cost of protecting an average home is estimated to be between 3,500 to 8,000 using measures such as door barriers, airbrick covers, non return drainage outlets and waterproofing walls. Homeowners can apply for 90% of the costs under the scheme. Launching the Homeowner Flood Protection Grant Scheme, Ms O'Neill said: "We have all seen the damage and hardship that flooding can have on individuals and communities over recent weeks so I am delighted that this scheme will help homeowners, that may not be able to benefit from a larger scale flood alleviation scheme, to protect their property from flooding. "Those eligible for the scheme will receive a 90% grant towards the cost of installing equipment to protect their homes. "Depending on the size and type of property we would expect the contribution from homeowners to be around 350 to 750. "It is not always possible to completely prevent flood water entering a home, however individual property protection can reduce the potential internal flood depth, and this can substantially reduce flood damage and the subsequent costs of property repair." The minister urged anyone whose home had flooded before, or was under threat of flooding in the future, to contact the Rivers Agency to determine if their property met the scheme's eligibility criteria. The scheme is set to run for at least two years. The 1 million set aside for the scheme is not being funded from the 1.3 million Northern Ireland was allocated as part of the Government's UK-wide response to the recent floods. A convicted sex offender accused of acting indecently towards children in two supermarkets has been granted bail despite police objections. At Newtownards Magistrates Court, John Douglas Stanfield (82) confirmed that he understood the 16 charges against him. Stanfield, from Rosetta Road, east Belfast, is accused of six charges of breaching his sexual offences prevention order (SOPO), six of engaging in sexual acts in the presence of children, three of indecent behaviour and one of failing to comply with the sex offenders' register. All are alleged to have occurred in February, March, November and December last year. Giving evidence to the court, a detective constable said she believed she could connect Stanfield to each of the charges. A prosecuting lawyer said although it was an "unusual application", given that Stanfield was released on police bail after he was initially charged, the PPS was asking for the pensioner to be remanded into custody. The detective described how police were called to a supermarket at the Forestside shopping centre in Belfast on December 10 last year following reports of Stanfield "touching himself in front of children" in an incident captured on CCTV. Police seized and watched the footage and Stanfield was arrested at his home. The officer revealed that enquiries uncovered two similar but earlier incidents in the same shop. All three incidents had been recorded on security cameras and the officer described how Stanfield could be seen "actively seeking out children in the aisles" before acting indecently in their presence. District judge Mark Hamill asked if Stanfield exposed himself while engaging in the alleged activity or if he spoke to or touched the children, but the officer said:"It's over his clothing He doesn't talk to them and he didn't touch them but his behaviour is concerning." Arrested and interviewed, Stanfield was shown footage from each incident but each time his explanation "was that he was scratching his psoriasis". Defence solicitor Hugh Edgar told the court there was "medical evidence" about Stanfield's condition, submitting that the pensioner should be released again, given that he was freed on police bail in the first place. Releasing Stanfield on his own bail of 500, judge Hamill barred the pensioner from entering any supermarket or its car park and from having contact with children. He warned that the prosecution did not "contemplate for a moment prosecuting this in the magistrates" and said a "bad character application is staring you in the face". Stanfield was ordered to come back to court on February 9 and was warned that any breach of his bail or SOPO would mean that "he would go back into custody". A serving policeman was warned he could be jailed for allegedly approaching one of Northern Ireland's top judges and threatening to arrest him A serving policeman was warned he could be jailed for allegedly approaching one of Northern Ireland's top judges and threatening to arrest him. Lord Justice Gillen told Thomas Anthony Carlin his actions at a hearing in Belfast amounted to prima facie contempt of court. He has been given until Thursday to secure a lawyer, explain his behaviour and apologise. The PSNI confirmed that a 43-year-old man remained in custody after being detained on suspicion of two counts of common assault at the Royal Courts of Justice. The Police Ombudsman has also been notified. Mr Carlin's outburst came at the end of a ruling in a house repossession case at the High Court in Belfast. He was representing himself in the legal battle with Santander bank over a property in Ballymena, Co Antrim. At the end of the hearing he allegedly got up and moved towards the bench, claiming he was going to arrest the judge. Security and court staff intervened before he was led from the courtroom. Amid a heavy police presence, Mr Carlin was brought back later to hear an assessment of his behaviour and be told the potential consequences. Flanked by two other officers, the policeman asked for a pen and paper to take notes of what was to be said. As he started to interrupt proceedings, Lord Justice Gillen warned that any further outburst would see him arrested and removed from the court. The judge stressed that he had allowed him several hours to reflect and consider his position. Setting out his powers to impose a fine or commit to prison for any contempt of court, he told Mr Carlin he was being granted legal aid to try to secure a lawyer. Lord Justice Gillen then confirmed: "I consider the events that occurred this morning amount, prima facie, to contempt in the face of the court. "They include, without justification, interrupting the proceedings, refusing to resume your seat or to stop talking when requested." He added that Mr Carlin had allegedly "approached the presiding judge in a threatening manner". Lord Justice Gillen continued by telling him he abused his position as a police officer "in threatening to arrest one of Her Majesty's judges without lawful excuse" and physically interfering with a court tipstaff. "You will have an opportunity, with the benefit of legal representation, to apologise to the Court and provide an explanation for your behaviour." The case was listed for a further hearing later this week. Mr Carlin was escorted back out of the courtroom by uniformed officers. A PSNI spokesman confirmed later: "A 43-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of two counts of common assault at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast this morning. "He remains in custody at Musgrave police station. The matter has been referred to the Police Ombudsman." Two men were allegedly poisoned, imprisoned and made to clean their captor's home, the High Court heard today. Prosecutors claimed the pair were held at the address in Lisburn, Co Antrim and forced to take a mixture of vodka and pills. Polish national Mieczyslaw Krepacki denies charges of common assault, kidnapping and administering poison to endanger life. The 32-year-old also faces counts of false imprisonment, threats to kill, having a Taser stun-gun and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a baton. He allegedly committed the offences at his home on Chapel Hill Mews over a three-day period last November. Bail was refused due to concerns he may interfere with witnesses. The court heard claims Krepacki forced both men - who are also from Poland - to drink quantities of vodka and either sleeping tablets or another unknown medication. It was alleged that he consistently assaulted and threatened them, along with ordering them to clean his flat. Defence counsel Joel Lindsay said the men had all been present at a drinking session along with other neighbours. He argued that the claims being made were so bizarre that a successful prosecution was unlikely. He pointed to a lack of physical injuries at the end of their ordeal. Referring to allegations that at one stage his client brought the pair from a job centre, the barrister contended: "We are expected to believe these men were being dragged through public areas and didn't complain to anyone." Responding to claims the two men had been locked in the flat for periods, he said keys and a phone had been present. The judge acknowledged: "There are a number of strange aspects to this case." However, he ordered Krepacki to remain in custody, citing the potential for further offences or interfering with alleged victims said to be in fear of him. Almost 1,000 planes a month are late flying into or out of Northern Ireland's two main airports, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal Almost 1,000 planes a month are late flying into or out of Northern Ireland's two main airports, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal. New figures obtained by this newspaper show that some 5,180 aircraft failed to arrive or depart within 15 minutes of schedule at Belfast International Airport (BIA) during 2015. The figure for George Best Belfast City Airport (GBBCA) is higher, at just over 6,450. The local airports are, however, among the most punctual in the UK - although, according to aviation industry experts, that isn't saying much. Passengers are more likely to be delayed at British airports than almost anywhere else in the world, largely because runway capacity is being stretched to the limit. A study by the data company OAG, which took in 196 airports worldwide, showed that the UK's busiest hubs are lagging far behind those in other countries - with seven of them appearing among the worst for delays. Gatwick was ranked at 192, with more than a third of its flights reported late, Stansted was in 190th place, Luton 189th and Manchester 188th. Glasgow, Edinburgh and Heathrow were all at the bottom of the rankings. The Northern Ireland airports weren't ranked in the global table because they didn't meet the criteria of handling a minimum of three million departure seats in 2015 - but data was still collected by OAG and it gave a largely favourable impression of BIA and GBBCA. Belfast International's OTP (on-time performance) rating, for instance, was 83.2% - a figure beaten only by Bristol (88.6%), London City (85.6%) and Birmingham (84.4%)in the UK. Belfast City, at 83%, was just behind its near neighbour. City of Derry Airport, incidentally, posted a figure of 72.9%, although this was based on only 65.1% of its traffic and may not be a true reflection of the overall service. The OAG data shows that BIA handled 2,599,831 airline seats in 2015, with the GBBCA coping with 1,917,278 and Derry 182,385. The 'late count' for Belfast International was 5,180 out of a total of 30,786 tracked flights; George Best had 6,453 out of 37,901. That adds up to 11,633, an average of 970 late flights per month. BIA Business Development Director Uel Hoey said he was pleased to note "the general on-time performance" across the airport's network. "Punctuality of service is a critical matter for business and leisure passengers alike, and something which staff across the entire airport business work hard to optimise and maintain," he added. A spokesman for Belfast City Airport said the majority of flights left on time last year. "The most common cause of delayed departures at Belfast City Airport is due to late-arriving aircraft," he said. "In December 2015, 92% of aircraft departing Belfast City Airport did so on time." According to OAG data, a total of 31,725 flights were recorded at GBBCA last year, with a further 41,032 registered at BIA, and 1,929 at Derry. Toyko Haneda emerged as the world's most punctual airport, with 91.3% of flights arriving or leaving on time. A woman who was fighting for her life is now in a stable condition in hospital following a fire at a house in Ballymena. It happened in Woodcroft Brae in Galgorm at around 6.30pm on Tuesday evening. Initially it was believed two children may have been present in the house but they were elsewhere during the fire. The woman, who is thought to be in her mid-50s, was rushed to Antrim Area Hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation where her condition was described as "critical". She was transferred to Altnagelvin where her condition is now described as "stable." Twenty-nine firefighters from Ballymena, Antrim and Kilrea along with two officers, four fire engines and a command vehicle attended the scene and tackled the well developed fire which broke out on the ground floor of the two-storey detached house. The PSNI are investigating the cause of the blaze. Last night an eye-witness who did not wish to be named said he had "never seen flames like it" as he described it as a "very intense fire". He said: "Our thoughts are with our neighbour in hospital and we all hope she can recover. "The family are lovely people and they are in a bad way about what has happened. They have two teenage children, a boy and girl - they go to Ballymena Academy and Cambridge House - who live in the house and they also have other children who live away from home. "At one stage there was a concern as to where the two teenagers who still live at home were but they were accounted for thankfully. "I dialled 999 when I noticed what had happened but somebody had already done so. I never saw flames like it, it was a very intense fire and the house is badly damaged. "It was very lucky there was no wind or the house next door might have caught fire." Eight breathing apparatus sets and two water jets were required to bring the fire under control and extinguish it. The Fire Officer in charge ordered an attack on the fire with two water jets and committed breathing apparatus wearers to the house. One of the breathing apparatus teams found and rescued a woman from the burning house. Group Commander Archie McKay said: "I have no information relating to her condition at this time. The breathing apparatus teams continued to search as it was believed children may have been present in the house. "Thankfully they were elsewhere during the fire. "The cause of the fire is under investigation. We wish the lady a speedy recovery." SDLP councillor for Ballymena Declan O'Loan visited the scene of the fire on Tuesday evening and said it was clear it was a very serious fire. He said: "I want to express my sympathy to the family of the woman and hope that the lady makes a full recovery." Siptu has served notice of the industrial action on Transdev in a row over pay and conditions Dublin commuters are facing major disruption next month as Luas workers confirmed two 48-hour strikes. Trade union Siptu has served notice of the industrial action on Transdev, which operates the tram, in a row over pay and conditions. The first continuous work stoppage will take place on Thursday February 11 and Friday February 12. Workers will also stage a walkout on Thursday February 18 and Friday February 19. Owen Reidy, of Siptu, said union members are conscious of the inconvenience caused by the action but believe they have no other option. "In talks over the last 18 months, Transdev has failed to offer an increase in pay for the next five years to Luas workers," he said. "The company position in talks in all forums has been that it will only offer pay increases in line with the consumer price index (CPI). "The CPI is currently, and has been for some time, a negative figure. This means that unlike 96% of other companies across the state Transdev is not prepared to pay any increase in pay in excess of that attached to workers' existing conditions of employment." Mr Reidy also accused Transdev of trying to demonise Luas workers. "Instead of attacking its employees, the management of Transdev would be better served considering why over 99% of Luas workers feel so frustrated that they voted for industrial action," he said. "Siptu members hope that the company will reconsider its position and make a meaningful offer on pay." Gerry Madden, Transdev's managing director, said the operator was disappointed with the strike action notice, and claimed workers' pay and conditions are "very favourable". "The claims being pursued by Siptu on pay alone are between 8.5% and 53.8% depending on the pay scale, and would cost Transdev 30 million euro over the five years of the Luas operating contract - six million euro per year," he said. "This is at a time when Transdev finds itself in a loss-making situation. "The loss incurred by Transdev in 2015 was 700,000 euro and we are predicting further losses in 2016." Mr Madden added that Transdev did not cut pay, freeze pay or change terms and conditions throughout the economic crisis. "On the contrary Transdev increased pay between the years 2009 and 2015, with increments ranging between 1.25% and 5%. During this period we also reduced average working hours," he added. The fund is intended to help those affected by flooding Less than a quarter of a million from a 10 million euro emergency flood fund has been paid out to homes devastated by the recent deluge. Social welfare chiefs accepted the 235,000 euro in payments - just over 2% of money set aside for flooded homes - was "small" but said they are still dealing with claims. The publicly-funded Humanitarian Assistance Scheme was set up four years ago specifically to help homes deal with costs in the aftermath of major water damage. Since the floods started in December, just 270 homes have been granted payments. Jim Daly, a Fine Gael TD who says he spent the New Year clearing human faeces and water out of his flooded constituency office, attacked the flood fund for being bound up in red tape. "My perception of this scheme is that it doesn't do what it is supposed to and what is was intended to do," he told a parliamentary watchdog hearing on the fund. "So little has been administered. The criteria around the scheme is too strict, there's too much bureaucracy in it." Mr Daly, who lives in flood-hit west Cork, also hit out at an income cap on the means-tested scheme, which asks households earning more than 70,000 euro to contribute towards the costs of their misfortune. "When you see lives devastated, homes devastated and you say it is means tested - I think it is cruel and I think its wrong and I think we should review that," he said. "People can not access insurance." Helen Faughan, assistant secretary at the Department of Social Protection, said she expected payments from the 10 million euro fund to rise in the coming weeks. "The 235,000 euro is just the beginning, we have not received any complaints to date, our feedback from the public is they are pleased with the reassurance we are offering," she said. "Yes, (the payout) is small but we are still in emergency. "For people whose houses are flooded we can't pay them yet for their fridges, cookers, etc. "We do expect over the next couple of weeks the payments are going to ramp up substantially as people come and seek our help." In 2014, the fund paid out 1.2 million euro to 480 homes hit by the floods that year. Appearing before the Oireachtas committee on Education and Social Protection, Ms Faughan said payouts since the start of December were mostly to homes in Galway, Cork and Mayo, and mainly for clothing, food, toiletries and fuel. Payments have also been made to affected homes in Tipperary, Westmeath, Clare, Kerry, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wicklow, Sligo and Roscommon. Emergency clinics have also been set up in Ballinasloe and Gort, Co Galway; Athlone; Carrick on Suir in Co Tipperary; as well as a number of towns in Co Kilkenny. Ms Faughan said financial help would also be given for the replacement of damaged essential household appliances as well as the cost of drying out homes. The Irish Cancer Society hardship payments aim to help families make up for money lost while undergoing cancer treatment Ireland's leading cancer charity has said it will reinstate hardship payments to children battling the disease, but not adults. The Irish Cancer Society apologised for the upset it caused in its shock scrapping of the well-used scheme, which helps thousands every year to pay their everyday bills while undergoing medical treatment. Last year alone, the fund gave out 1.8 million euro in payments to 2,500 cancer sufferers, 200 of whom were children. But after an outpouring of upset over the cost-cutting move, the charity said it is "reversing" its decision to discontinue payments to children suffering from cancer and their families. "This fund for children will now be maintained and the financial support for families of children with cancer will now continue," a spokeswoman said. "We deeply regret and apologise for the upset which our decision has caused and we hope that this announcement that we are restoring financial support for the more than 200 children and families affected by cancer every year will ease that hurt." The scheme for adults ends on January 31. The Irish Cancer Society said it will work to find savings elsewhere to raise around 200,000 euro needed for the hardship payments to children this year. "The Society has already made significant cuts in expenditure, including cutting staff costs, by over three quarters of a million," the spokeswoman added. "This includes not covering maternity leaves, the non-filling of a number of vacancies and a small number of staff redundancies. "We need the public to support us now more than ever." In an earlier announcement, the charity said it could no longer afford the hardship payments. Demand for financial help has soared since the economic crash eight years ago, forcing it to choose between the scheme and the other free services it provides, it said. The financial support programme issued one-off payments to cancer patients and their families if they were unable to pay for food, fuel, home help, respite, childcare or travel and accommodation costs linked to their treatment. The payments were capped at 1,000 euro per application, or 2,500 euro over three years for the family of a child with cancer. Cancer patients can lose up to 17,000 euro a year in their income while undergoing treatment, a study by the charity found last year. The Real Cost of Cancer report revealed sufferers had to come up with as much as 862 euro extra every month for costs associated with their illness. Those who are forced out of work or who have to work less lose as much as 1,400 euro a month. The fog on the night of a helicopter crash which killed Tory peer and multi-millionaire Lord Ballyedmond and three others was so thick that RAF rescue crews could not land at the wreckage site, an inquest has heard. Lord Ballyedmond, also known as Dr Edward Haughey, was killed when the Agusta Westland AW139 came down shortly after take-off near the estate he owned in Gillingham, Norfolk, on March 13 2014. Dr Haughey's foreman, Declan Small, 42, of Mayobridge, Co Down, Northern Ireland; pilot Captain Carl Dickerson, 36, of Thornton, Lancashire; and co-pilot Captain Lee Hoyle, 45, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, also died. Flight Lieutenant Ian Smith, an on-call RAF search and rescue pilot at Wattisham airfield, Suffolk, told a jury inquest in Norwich that he was sent to the scene of the crash. But even with night vision goggles, radar and military training, his helicopter was unable to land because of low visibility, he said. He added: "It was thick fog, we couldn't see anything below us." Barry Dolby, who was also working at the house, watched the helicopter take off. He said: "I could not believe they took off in that fog. "I've worked on oil rigs and any time there was a sign of fog we would be stuck until it cleared." The inquest earlier heard Mr Dickerson had warned the helicopter needed to take off "no later than 7pm" because of bad weather. It did not in fact take off until 7.22pm as Dr Haughey oversaw the hanging of pictures as part of his renovation of Gillingham Hall. Painter-decorator John Savage, from Newry, Northern Ireland, told the inquest Dr Haughey had been choosing paint colours. At 7.15pm Mr Hoyle said the helicopter needed to take off immediately or it would be grounded, Mr Savage said. "His first response was 'John, I'll get back to you about the colours'," Mr Savage added. He said Dr Haughey immediately left and Mr Hoyle did not seem "stressed or concerned". Labourer Gary Evans was working near the helipad when the aircraft took off. He said by that point the fog had descended. He added: "I suddenly heard a loud bang, it was so loud it really shocked me. "It was a cracking sound, like an engine backfiring. "It was about 10 to 15 seconds after the helicopter started to fly off. "Afterwards everything was very silent." Dr Haughey, 70, who lived at Ballyedmond Castle in Co Down, Northern Ireland, was considered to be one of Ireland's richest men, with estimated wealth in excess of 800 million. Best known as chairman and founder of Norbrook Laboratories, the largest privately owned pharmaceutical company in the world, father-of-three Dr Haughey had a range of other business interests. A life peer with a seat in the House of Lords, first on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party before switching to the Conservative Party, he had also previously sat in the upper house of the Seanad. Coroner Jacqueline Lake said the inquest would focus on events leading up to take-off, the training of the pilots particularly when taking off in low visibility, the weather conditions and the regulation of private helicopters. An Air Accidents Investigation Branch report has already found that the crash may have been triggered by an error in perception along with a lack of training and procedures. The inquest was shown mobile phone footage of the helicopter taking off captured by one of Dr Haughey's employees. It showed that conditions were dark and foggy at the time. The inquest is expected to last until Friday. David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrate at the Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club in Edinburgh after winning half of the historic 66 million Lotto jackpot. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday January 13, 2016. The rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from Saturday's draw - 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. See PA story LOTTERY Winners. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrate at the Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club in Edinburgh after winning half of the historic 66 million Lotto jackpot. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday January 13, 2016. The rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from Saturday's draw - 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. See PA story LOTTERY Winners. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrate at the Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club in Edinburgh after winning half of the historic 66 million Lotto jackpot. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday January 13, 2016. The rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from Saturday's draw - 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. See PA story LOTTERY Winners. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrate at the Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club in Edinburgh after winning half of the historic 66 million Lotto jackpot. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday January 13, 2016. The rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from Saturday's draw - 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. See PA story LOTTERY Winners. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrate at the Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club in Edinburgh after winning half of the historic 66 million Lotto jackpot. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday January 13, 2016. The rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from Saturday's draw - 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. See PA story LOTTERY Winners. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrate at the Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club in Edinburgh after winning half of the historic 66 million Lotto jackpot. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday January 13, 2016. The rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from Saturday's draw - 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. See PA story LOTTERY Winners. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire A husband and wife who scooped 33 million on the lottery are considering using some of their winnings to help victims of the recent floods - and to buy a new pair of shoes. A "stunned" David and Carol Martin, both 54, from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, are celebrating after winning half of the UK's biggest-ever Lotto jackpot in Saturday's draw. The couple's win has also catapulted them to the top of the Lotto rich list. They have admitted the massive sum "will certainly change" their lives as they were unveiled as the winners at a hotel on the outskirts of Edinburgh. As well as unveiling details of some initial spending plans, and their hopes for an early retirement, they hinted they may look to help some of those affected by the floods which hit the UK recently. Their "tight-knit" hometown was among the places affected by the flood damage when the River Teviot burst its banks. Mr Martin said: "We don't have all the answers yet but we'd like to help our closest friends and family, and there are charities which are important to us too. "Parts of our community have also been hit by flooding and we know lots of people who have struggled in recent times, so there's a lot for us to work out, but it's a nice problem to have." Mr Martin did not elaborate on the idea at the press conference but told reporters: "It's not just Hawick affected by the floods, it's the whole of the country. When you see the damage, it's horrible." On the couple's spending wish-list is a new home in the country, local to where they live now; a holiday home in the sun and a Range Rover. Mr and Mrs Martin - self-confessed sports fans - also spoke of their desire to get to certain events around the world, including golf's Masters at Augusta and the Wimbledon tennis championships. Mr Martin is also planning a new addition to his wardrobe. He said: "When you see on the telly, it's 'the car, the house'. But everybody's at a level that they are spending at. "It sounds stupid but (I'd like) just a nice pair of shoes, a pair of brogues at 200. It sounds really, really stupid but it's just how it is. It will take a little while to sink in, to be honest." The couple had been relaxing at home, "completely unaware" the Lotto ticket on their mantelpiece held the winning numbers until a visit from a friend who urged them to check it. Mr Martin, who works for Borders Care and Repair which helps elderly and disabled people fit equipment in their homes, said: "I've dreamt of this moment many times but when it actually came, it was a just total shock. "We were both stunned into silence. We kept re-checking the numbers as we thought there must be a mistake." Once the silence between them was broken, they drank "lots of hot tea" and tried to make sense of it all. Mrs Martin, who works in a local chemist, told reporters: "We just kept looking at each other and going 'No, it canna be'." Her husband added: "I remember Carol said to me, 'What have we done?' That's the enormity of it. (With) 50,000 we'd have been doing cartwheels in the living room." The first person to be told the news was the couple's 26-year-old daughter Lisa, who lives in Australia. She became immediately worried, initially assuming her parents had phoned her to pass on bad news. "Then we told her we've just won 68 million in Australian dollars," Mr Martin said. "She couldn't believe it and thought we were pulling her leg." The family have not been together for more than a year but the couple have offered to pay the plane fare home and they hope to be reunited at the weekend. The couple also told of their relief that they could finally talk about their massive win with friends and colleagues. Mrs Martin said her workmates were "excited" for her and had guessed that something was up. "(It was) just phoning in sick. They know that I'm never sick, so they thought there was something going on," she added. The couple, who have been married for 28 years, are now planning to retire as soon as possible. The pair decided to go public about their win after concluding it would be "impossible" to keep it a secret. "You can't hide 30 million," Mr Martin said. He said the large sum "will certainly change our lives" but admitted: "We were happy without the money." His wife said she hopes the win will not change them as people. Mr Martin is a keen golfer but has been unable to play for some months due to a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. Mrs Martin said: "David has been suffering in recent months from an irregular heart rate and has been taking medication to help control it. "He will need to have a small operation soon to help steady the pulses and after that should be back out on the golf course before too long." Mr Martin agreed that his health problems have put the win into perspective. He said: "There's a famous saying, your health is your wealth. You can't do anything if you're not fit or able to appreciate the 30 million." The couple said they have yet to decide on the "big question" of whether they will stay in Hawick or not. Mr Martin said: "It's a great place to live, Hawick. It's had troubles over the last little while, redundancies etc, but the people in general are really nice. "It's a big decision but I can't answer that at this time." The winning Lotto Jackpot ticket was bought from Morrisons in Hawick and the winning numbers were 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. The total jackpot of just over 66 million was the result of 14 rollovers. The other ticket remains unclaimed. The Celebrity Big Brother house descended into chaos after a contestant thought the "David" who had died was fellow housemate David Gest - rather than David Bowie. Angie Bowie, ex-wife to the late musician who died on Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer, was told the news off-screen. Reacting in the diary room, she said: "I'm fine. I think I'll be better if I can cry, but I can't cry at the moment. I haven't seen him for so many years, I can't make a big drama out of it. I just feel like an era has ended with his passing. I'm so very sad ... now I'm crying." She added: " Stardust is gone". Initially she decided to keep the news quiet, telling Gest and John Partridge who had been sent to comfort her in the diary room: "Maybe we should do that, then we wouldn't have to hear all the stupidity." But after returning to the kitchen, she confided in Tiffany Pollard: "Tiff, you've got to do me a favour. You can't say a word. David's dead." The US reality star began screaming and asked her if she was joking. Bowie responded: "I would never joke. Are you crazy, would I do something like that to you?" As Pollard's hysterics escalated, Bowie commented: "Oh God, this is not going well. Big Brother, I'm in trouble." Pollard ran outside to tell her fellow housemates, who were stunned and upset - but when they went to check on Gest he was very much alive. "She told me that David died," Pollard ranted. "Why the f*** would she do that? She just told me that you were dead. That is so f***ing - ! Why the f*** would she do that to me?" Danniella Westbrook went to tell Bowie that US producer Gest was actually asleep - and had not died of cancer - after which Bowie clarified: " Not that David! My ex-husband." As Pollard remained furious at having supposedly been misled, her fellow housemates turned against her and rallied around Bowie. But later, she apologised, saying: "I'm very sorry for your loss, I really am." Angie and David Bowie divorced in 1980 after a decade of marriage. They had one son, Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. Following the uproar, Jonathan Cheban decided to quit Celebrity Big Brother, citing the "bad vibe" in the house. He told Big Brother in the diary room: " I just think that my time here is kind of expired. The house is not fun any more. "I'm not really into fighting, Tiffany's insane and it's just going to be a horrible situation here and I just don't want to be a part of that situation. It's getting down and dirty. "Everybody is getting terrible now, it's a bad vibe in the house, so I really have to get out at this point." He added: " I'm feeling very emotional because I'm sad that I'm going to go and say goodbye to everybody ... I don't want to be there and get anxious and claustrophobic and freak out about it. "I just don't know what's going to happen, and I feel like it's time for me to go." Gemma Collins was distraught to say goodbye to Cheban, as the two had formed a close friendship in the house. She made him promise to come and visit her at home in Essex, although her description of her interior decor left Cheban disgusted. He complained: "I hate pink, bubblegum and glitter." Cheban, 41, a close friend of the Kim Kardashian, is a regular on reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, a former PR firm chief executive and founder of luxury lifestyle website TheDishh.com. Children as young as nine are being lured from outside schools to peddle drugs, a study found Urban gangs are recruiting children aged under nine as they retreat from the streets and adopt more secretive tactics for criminal activities, official research indicates. Youngsters are being lured from outside schools with the promise of money or new trainers and tracksuits before being deployed around the country to sell drugs, the Home Office study said. It also raised concerns about exploitation of women, with suggestions that some see group sex as "normal". Researchers interviewed staff from agencies including police, probation, local authorities and health services in 33 areas around England and Wales. The findings suggested there was evidence that the use of young people to transport and peddle drugs and the sexual exploitation of women and girls have become more prevalent. Senior members known as "elders" would buy train tickets for the young drug runners who would be given targets for selling and punished if these were not met, according to the report. One interviewee said: "The method of recruitment is to target young, easily influenced youths as young as 12 years old from local schools and the surrounding area. "They [gang members] recruit them with the lure of earning money or being given new trainers, tracksuits etc. [and] then use these runners to deal for them." In some instances youngsters were away from home or care for several days. A separate policy paper also published by the Government on Wednesday said there was evidence that children's care homes are being targeted, adding: " We also know of cases where gang members have been waiting outside schools to meet children. "The gang members take the child away to participate in criminal activities and return them in time to avoid them being reported missing or raising suspicion." Involvement of children under the age of 11 in gangs was thought to be relatively rare, the research report said. It added: "R eports of gang members aged nine or younger were almost exclusively from a small number of survey respondents in London." Staff reported that women and girls were involved "to a great extent" in gang-related criminal activities, including carrying or storing drugs and being used to set up attacks on rival gang members. A gang associate said: "I know guys that have actually died because girls have set them up." Girls and women were subjected to sexual or physical violence, with some attacked to exact punishment or revenge on rival gangs, the study said. One interviewee said: "The worrying thing for me is that you'll get the guys that will be talking about having group sex with vulnerable girls. "Then you'll have the girls talking about it as well, but both will refer to it as though it was a normal thing." Gangs were generally seen as "less visible" and are spending less time on the streets, the report said. It added: " Gangs were thought to be operating more covertly, in part in response to the use of gang injunctions and other enforcement tactics as gangs try to avoid detection." Home Office minister Karen Bradley announced a new policy to tackle gang-related violence and exploitation, with nine areas receiving targeted support. She said: "Gang and youth violence has a devastating impact on young people, their families and local communities." Jeremy Corbyn says David Cameron does not understand the concerns of council tenants David Cameron has refused to guarantee that people who live on "sink estates" will be able to return to their old communities after they are bulldozed under Government plans to tackle poverty. The Prime Minister instead accused Jeremy Corbyn of being a "small c conservative" who wants people to remain "stuck" in dysfunctional council estates. But the Labour leader said Mr Cameron does not understand the concerns of council tenants and those on the estates who have bought their homes under Right to Buy, who will be "forced away" from their communities. The PM "hasn't thought this through very carefully" because an average of only 1.4 million has been allocated for each of the 100 estates earmarked for demolition, Mr Corbyn added. But Mr Cameron hit back: "I accept this isn't as carefully thought through as your reshuffle. "It's still going on, it hasn't actually finished yet." The Prime Minister then defended his plans for sink estates accusing Labour of wanting people to "stay stuck in poverty". During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron said: "We're not going to be able to deal with these sink estates unless we get the agreement of tenants, unless we show how we are going to support homeowners, unless we show how we are going to support communities. "But isn't it interesting, here is the small c conservative who's saying to people 'stay stuck in your sink estates, have nothing better than what Labour gave you after the war'? "We're saying if you are a tenant, have the Right to Buy, if you want to buy a home, here's Help to Save, if you're in a sink estate, we'll help you out and that's the fact of politics today. "A party on this side of the House that wants to give people life chances and a Labour opposition that says stay stuck in poverty." Mr Corbyn had pointed out that the sink estates will include people who have bought their council homes under Tory Right to Buy policies and asked for guarantees that they could return to the rebuilt properties. The Labour leader said: "You haven't clearly thought this thing through very carefully. "Because on every estate that you announce you wish to bulldoze will include tenants and people that have bought their homes under Right to Buy. "Will those people, the leaseholders, will they be guaranteed homes on those rebuilt estates that you are proposing to do?" Mr Cameron replied: "What we want to do is go to communities where there are sink estates and housing estates that have held people back and agree with those local councils, agree with those local people and make sure that tenants get good homes, make sure homeowners get rehoused in new houses. "That's exactly what we want." He added: "They (Labour) have got absolutely nothing to say about people trapped on housing estates and want a better life." Mr Corbyn added: "You don't seem to understand the very serious concerns that council tenants have when they feel they are going to be forced away from the community where they live, where their children go to school and their community is so strong." The Labour leader then questioned Mr Cameron on his plans to build hundreds of thousands of "starter homes" available to first-time buyers under 40 for at least a 20% discount. He claimed that starter homes would be unaffordable in 98% of council areas for people on the new higher minimum wage, dubbed the "living wage" by the Government, according to research from Shelter. "So instead of building more affordable homes, aren't you branding more homes as affordable which is not a solution to the housing crisis," Mr Corbyn said. "Will you confirm that home ownership has actually fallen since you became Prime Minister ?" Mr Cameron again pointed to policies such as Help to Buy and Help to Save, before challenging Mr Corbyn: "You own your home, I own my home, why won't we let those 1.3 million (housing association tenants) own their homes? "Why not? What are you frightened of?" Mr Corbyn was forced to wait until Tory backbenchers had quietened down before hitting back: "I thank the Conservative backbenchers for their deep concern for the housing crisis in this country, it is noted." Turning to the PM, he went on: "You gave no assurances to tenants, no assurances to leaseholders , no assurances to low paid people who want to get somewhere decent to live." He then asked Mr Cameron about the problems faced by people who want to downsize their council home as they get older but can no longer benefit from lifetime tenancies if they move. But the Prime Minister attacked Mr Corbyn, claiming the Labour leader "does not believe in Britain". He said: "Isn't it interesting what this exchange has shown? "We've now got a Labour Party who have got a housing policy that doesn't support home ownership, just as they've got a defence policy that doesn't believe in defence, just as we've now got a Labour Party that doesn't believe in work, and a Labour leader who doesn't believe in Britain." A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said later: "Prime Minister's Questions proved that the Prime Minister has woken up to the fact that there's a housing crisis, but doesn't know how to deal with it. "Home ownership is down, house-building is at its lowest level in peacetime since the 1920s, and - as the Shelter report proves - only in 2% of local authorities can people on the so-called National Living Wage afford a starter home. "The so-called plan the Tories have announced doesn't have any real answers. The lack of funding clearly shows, He may not even be able to bulldoze the houses, let alone invest in new ones." The spokesman said millions of households were "frightened" that their homes may be demolished without any guarantee they would be rehoused in the same area. "If you talk to the people living in the areas David Cameron is talking about and people living in social housing, they are very frightened about what's happening under the Tories," he said. "The lack of security of tenancy is one of the biggest hits on people. "Nobody is sure what will happen when they demolish these estates. There has to be a suspicion of social cleansing. There's already areas in London which are under pressure to be knocked down and replaced, and I think everyone in those areas treats this announcement as suspicious." The Labour leader's spokesman described Mr Cameron's claim that Mr Corbyn was a "small-c conservative" as "bizarre", adding: "Jeremy is standing up for millions of working people, millions of people who can't afford to buy a house, millions of people who are now in fear about the security of their tenancy. "These people are watching Prime Minister's Question Time and recognising that Jeremy Corbyn is speaking for them, not a Prime Minister who's out of touch with the housing crisis in Britain." A senior Downing Street source said a new advisory panel was being set up to draw up "clear guarantees" to offer reassurance to people living on estates that they will be rehoused. Giving Parkinson's sufferers a dementia medication reduced their chances of falling by 45 per cent, researchers said. Bone-breaking injuries suffered by people with Parkinson's disease could be reduced thanks to a drug used to treat dementia, a study has found. Researchers discovered that gi ving patients the "breakthrough" medication rivastigmine reduced their chances of falling by 45%, while also steadying their walking. The oral drug is commonly prescribed in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's to help improve symptoms including those affecting thinking and memory. Around 70% of people suffering from Parkinson's experience a fall at least once a year, with more than a third (39%) saying they fall repeatedly , the report published in the Lancet Neurology journal said. Such falls often lead to broken bones. Over an eight-month period, scientists from the University of Bristol gave the drug to half of a group of 130 Parkinson's sufferers who had fallen in the last year. Study participant Caroline Maxwell, from Northamptonshire, said the treatment would give her the "confidence" to leave the house by herself. Mrs Maxwell, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's 13 years ago, said: "A few years ago, I had a bad fall while carrying my sewing machine across the room, leaving me in hospital for a week and really denting my confidence. "By potentially finding a treatment that helps to prevent falls, I'd be able to get a replacement hip and have the confidence to go shopping on my own, without having to constantly rely on the goodness of strangers to pick me up when I fell." Parkinson's is a disease which worsens over time, slowing the movement of those who suffer from it, as well as leading to tremors. There is currently no cure. Around one in every 500 of the population, or 127,000 people, suffer from the condition in the UK, according to the charity Parkinson's UK, which helped fund the study. Lead researcher and Parkinson's UK research fellow Dr Emily Henderson said: "With the degeneration of dopamine-producing nerve cells, people with Parkinson's often have issues with unsteadiness when walking. "As part of the condition, they also have lower levels of acetylcholine, a chemical which helps us to concentrate - making it extremely difficult to pay attention to walking. "We already know that rivastigmine works to treat dementia by preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine, however our study shows for the first time that it can also improve regularity of walking, speed, and balance. This is a real breakthrough in reducing the risk of falls for people with Parkinson's." European Court rules bosses can monitor employees' private messages on WhatsApp and other messaging services Companies have the right to monitor their workers online private messages, a court has ruled. The European Court of Human Rights made the ruling on a case involving a Romanian engineer who was fired after using Yahoo Messenger on a company computer not only to communicate with professional contacts, but to send messages to his fiancee and brother. The Strasbourg court sided with his employer that it was not unreasonable that an employer would want to verify that employees were completing their professional tasks during working hours. The judge dismissed the employees claim that his right to privacy had been breached in the form of his confidential correspondence being compromised. Transcripts of messages the man had exchanged with his brother and his fiancee showed conversations about personal matters, such as his health and sex life. Source: Independent Gary Lineker criticised the decision to drop several Premiership players from the England Under-21s squad Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker and his wife Danielle have split after six years of marriage. The ex-England footballer, 55, said the couple are still the "greatest of friends" and had a "wonderful" time together, while the 36-year-old model said she will "cherish" their relationship. Lineker tweeted: "Thank you all for your kind words. @DanielleBux and I had many wonderful years together. We remain very close and the greatest of friends." Bux retweeted his message, and added: "We have shared the most incredible 8 years that I will always cherish. We will remain the best of friends." The couple, who do not have any children, wed in Ravello, Italy, in 2009 after dating for two years. It was Lineker's second marriage following his divorce in 2006 from Michelle, the mother of his four sons, after 20 years, and Bux's first. Bux is a former Virgin Atlantic air stewardess who has become a successful lingerie model. She took part in television cooking show Hell's Kitchen and has also appeared as a panellist on lunchtime chat show Loose Women. A spokesman for the couple told The Sun: "Gary and Danielle have decided to end their marriage. They remain the greatest of friends and wish each other every happiness." While they used an online service to facilitate their divorce, the couple were granted a decree nisi at Southampton County Court. Jeremy Corbyn said people had "better get used" to surveys Jeremy Corbyn has been warned not to put too much weight on online polls to support policy changes after the Labour leader signalled he would make increased use of internet surveys of party supporters. Former frontbencher Dan Jarvis, an ex-soldier who has been tipped as a future leader, warned that online surveys - such as the one carried out before the decision on bombing Islamic State in Syria - "short-circuit" the normal decision-making processes and could "lead to badly designed policy". Mr Jarvis, who urged Labour to publish its inquiry into the 2015 election defeat, said the party had to understand it had been "out of step with the electorate" and win back voters' trust on the public finances. Mr Corbyn, who was swept to victory in the Labour leadership contest on a tide of support from grassroots and internet activists, told the party in December that it had "better get used to" more social media campaigns and surveys. Writing in the New Statesman, Mr Jarvis acknowledged that since Mr Corbyn was elected Labour had attracted tens of thousands of new members. Labour could be a "radical force of national renewal" but there had to be changes to the way the party is organised that went beyond "the odd online poll". "The internet plays an important role helping people who are busy juggling kids and work to engage with the party. Social media attracted many of our new members into the party and will be essential for keeping them engaged," he said. "But we need to make sure that our members can contribute fully, beyond the odd online poll. "These short-circuit institutional checks and balances on those in power, they lead to poorly designed policy, and if they are conducted online, they exclude those without access to the internet. "The party needs to build leadership and organising skills among our members to harness their talent and develop a more democratic party. The value of our members should not be counted by how many million conversations we have with voters. "We need conversations that build enduring relationships with the public, not transactional cold-calling." Barnsley Central MP Mr Jarvis called for the publication of Labour's internal review of its election defeat so the party could see where it had failed. "Until Labour accepts the lessons of two successive election defeats ... we will not renew our politics and reconnect with the public," he said. "During the election I campaigned up and down the country. People frequently told me that although they knew the Tories were unfair and represented the interests of the better-off, they did not trust Labour with their taxes. We have to win back their trust. "That's why we need to publish our official party inquiry into why we lost. Once we understand that we have been out of step with the electorate, we can start to build our political recovery and respond to the policy challenges Britain faces." Former shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt denounced the "divisiveness and futility" of Mr Corbyn's reshuffle. Writing in The Spectator, Mr Hunt - who refused to serve on the Corbyn frontbench - said that the shake-up had distracted attention from Labour campaigns on flooding, Europe and housing. "You will recall that Europe spokesman Pat McFadden was sacked for suggesting that terrorists should be held accountable for their crimes. Shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle was moved for supporting Labour Party policy. And culture minister Michael Dugher got the axe for not living in Islington," said Mr Hunt. "Kremlinologists suggest there is a power struggle going on in Jeremy Corbyn's office between the Socialist Action Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks of the Labour Representation Committee. But all factions are united in their determination to make it to 2017, and the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution." A survey of more than 100 constituency Labour parties by The Guardian found that almost every one reported membership numbers at least doubling since Mr Corbyn stood for the leadership - with some saying they had five times as many members as before and others reporting the revival of branches which had been near to closing for lack of support. Overall Labour membership has increased from 201,293 at the time of the May 2015 general election to 388,407 this month, with the total of 13,860 who have left since the election vastly outnumbered by new recruits, said the newspaper. The Guardian reported that there had been two surges of new members signing up, the first coming after Mr Corbyn joined the battle to succeed Ed Miliband and the second after he was elected leader. A Labour spokeswoman said that membership stood at around 380,000 in December and was continuing to grow, but declined to give further details. In the latest stage of the reshuffle, Jo Stevens was appointed shadow solicitor general. She takes over from Karl Turner, who was promoted to shadow attorney general on Monday following the resignation of Catherine McKinnell. The partner of a world-renowned concert pianist will appear in court today accused of her murder. Natalia Strelchenko, 38, was found with head and neck injuries at her home in Newton Heath, Manchester, in the early hours of August 30 last year and died a short time later in hospital. Russian-born Ms Strelchenko, also known as Natalia Strell, was a renowned solo pianist of international calibre who made her debut at the age of 12 with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. John Martin, 48, of Culcheth Lane, Newton Heath, was charged with her murder and also the attempted murder on the same date of a male youth, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. He will attend Manchester Crown Court from custody for a plea and case management hearing ahead of a scheduled trial next month. Ms Strelchenko performed at New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Wigmore Hall, winning praise from the classical music press. She had been artist in residence at Leeds College of Art and a research fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In a statement issued at the time of her death, her family said: "Natalia was a talented, beautiful, much-loved mother, daughter, sister and friend. She will be greatly missed." Paul Willis told MPs the firm was "getting on" with conducting the remedial work on the vehicles rather than making payments to British drivers British owners of Volkswagen cars affected by the diesel emissions scandal will not receive compensation despite payouts being offered in the US because it is a "very different situation", the UK boss of the car manufacturer has said. Paul Willis told MPs that the firm was "getting on" with conducting the remedial work on the vehicles rather than making payments to British drivers. In November Volkswagen offered some 482,000 motorists co mpensation worth 1,000 US dollars (693), and extended the goodwill gesture to tens of thousands of owners of larger diesel vehicles earlier this week. When asked by the House of Commons' Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee why this is not happening in the UK, Mr Willis replied: " Unfortunately the United States is a very different situation to Europe. "We have a situation in the United States where at the moment it's not clear whether we have a fix for the cars. "In the United States the regulations are different." The California Air Resources Board has rejected VW's proposals for remedial work, and the manufacturer's chief executive, Matthias Mueller, is in Washington to attempt to find a solution. "That's a completely different situation to the United Kingdom and Europe," Mr Willis said. "With the KBA, the Germany federal transport authority, we have an agreement and we have a solution and that is what we're getting on with. "So you cannot compare the two situations." EFRA committee chairman Neil Parish responded by asking Mr Willis for his thoughts on VW's "lobbying power" and whether American officials were being "more robust" than their European counterparts. Mr Willis replied: "Our company works diligently to meet the legislation that is put in front of us." VW admitted in September that it had fitted software to engines in a bid to cheat emissions tests. Some 11 million diesel vehicles are affected worldwide, including almost 1.2 million in the UK. The number of armed police officers in London could be set to rise Britain's biggest police force is set to reveal a boost in the number of firearms officers in the wake of terrorist atrocities involving marauding gunmen. Scotland Yard is preparing to make an announcement on Thursday including the scale of the planned increase, which was mooted following the recent attacks by fanatics in Paris which saw 130 people killed. In a radio interview on Wednesday morning Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said a "significant" announcement will be made in the next 24 hours. He told Nick Ferrari on LBC: "We are determined to increase the number of firearms officers. In fact I believe over the next 24 hours I'll be able to make a significant announcement about that." There are currently around 2,000 firearms officers in the Metropolitan Police and the number of armed patrols was increased after the murders in France. Last month UK counter-terrorism bosses revealed for the first time that police marksmen are being told to walk over casualties and go forward to confront terrorist gunmen should there be an attack. Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan said then that there was likely to be an increase in the number of trained firearms officers in the capital. Outgoing City of London Police Commissioner Adrian Leppard also suggested that the Army could be called in to man armed cordons if there were multiple gun and bomb attacks, as in the French capital. Sir Bernard revealed he is meeting with armed officers every two weeks in a bid to maintain morale, after he raised concerns that marksmen should have greater protection in the wake of a fatal shooting. This followed the death of Jermaine Baker, 28, during a police operation to stop an alleged prison break in north London in December. He said: " I've actually met a very large number of our firearms officers after the incident in Haringey to see how they felt, what their complaints might be and I've got a taskforce running now. "I'm seeing a group of them every two weeks with things that I've put in place to encourage more officers to feel that they've got confidence that I'm supporting them, and in turn the public are supporting them." Prime Minister David Cameron is considering legal changes to make it more difficult to prosecute police marksmen who shoot terrorists. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said they are checking that bail conditions are being complied with Police are checking that no more terror suspects have been allowed to "slip through" in the wake of lapses that allowed a British extremist to skip the country while on bail. A furore erupted after Abu Rumaysah, who is suspected of murdering five people in an Islamic State video, was able to leave the UK after failing to hand in his passport. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the force is checking that all bail conditions placed on suspected terrorists have been pursued "with rigour". On Tuesday counter-terrorism chief Mark Rowley branded police bail "weak" and "toothless" and said officers are in talks with the Government about introducing tougher powers. Speaking on Nick Ferrari's show on LBC on Wednesday, Sir Bernard said: " The first thing is we're looking at the law, should that be changed? The second thing is, to provide some reassurance for me, is have we looked at all those other people on bail? If we've asked for passports, whatever we've done, have we pursued every one with rigour in every case? Or have we allowed any to slip through? We're in the process of doing that." Of around 339 arrests last year, around a third involve suspects who are on bail. Scotland Yard is investigating how Rumaysah - born a Hindu called Siddhartha Dhar - was able to leave the country in 2014 after being arrested six times. Sir Bernard said that officers had visited his home, and insisted that a letter sent by police urging him to hand in his passport as part of bail conditions was the final stage of a formal process. "We are looking at that case to find out exactly how he got out of the country. There are only so many things we can do within the law. They (the officers) did those things. "I can only reassure you that (the letter) was not the only thing they did. The letter was the very final point of a formal process." When asked if officers had visited Rumaysah's home, he said: "I'm sure, yes." The suspect left the UK with his family the day after being released on bail, travelling to Paris and then Syria. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will consider Mr Rowley's call for a change in the law. Scientists could be given permission to genetically modify human embryos for the first time in the UK when controversial proposals go before the fertility regulator on Thursday. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is to consider an application from the Francis Crick Institute in London to alter genes in a bid to reduce miscarriages and infertility. Dr Kathy Niakan, who is leading the research, said: "This is important because miscarriages and infertility are extremely common but not very well understood. "You never can predict where the research will lead but we hope it would be a great benefit for fertility treatments in the long-term." Dr Niakan's team wants to understand the early stages of human development by studying embryos, "surplus to requirement" from IVF treatment and donated by willing couples, during the first week of development. The process would take place before the fertilised egg implants and examine how one cell - a zygote - on day one develops into a 64 to 256 cell blastocyst on days five to seven. Each one would then be destroyed and not implanted. Dr Niakan said in the long-term the research could mean the embryo with the greatest chance of developing could be implanted or genetics could be "tweaked" to maximise an embryo's chance of survival. The researchers want to alter genetics from day one using crispr cas 9 - a new method "like molecular scissors" which they say is "most efficient and most precise" and "80 to 100%" successful. For the pilot, Dr Niakan wants to target three to four genes using 20 to 30 embryos per experiment, which means the most initial research would require is 120. The process has been tried on both monkeys and mice but Dr Niakan said there are differences between the embryos of a human and a mouse that make experimenting on human embryos necessary. She said: "The reason why I think this research is so important is many groups have reported that similar to IVF embryos, even outside of IVF, most human embryos fail to reach the blastocyst stage. And of those that do reach the blastocyst stage will fail to implant." She referred to IVF figures that showed of 100 fertilised eggs (zygotes), fewer than 50 became blastocysts, only 25 implanted and only 12 to 13 continued to develop beyond three months. The proposals have been met with resistance from pro-life groups. A Comment on Reproductive Ethics spokeswoman said the group was "opposed to any form of destructive research on human embryos". After the HFEA meeting, the proposals will be considered by an ethics committee. If approved Dr Niakan said she hoped it would be a matter of "months" before the research could start. Sainsbury's said sales in established stores excluding fuel edged 0.4% lower in the 15 weeks to January 9 against a "highly competitive" market Sainsbury's has revealed it could shut a raft of Argos stores and relocate them within its supermarkets as it set out the case for a 1 billion-plus takeover of Home Retail Group. The chain said it is still "considering its position" after it took the market by surprise last week when it revealed it had made an approach for the group in November, which was rebuffed. Sainsbury's c hief executive Mike Coupe remained tight-lipped on talks with Home Retail and plans for any improved offer. But in a presentation outlining its rationale for the tie-up, Sainsbury's said it would look to shut a number of the 734 stores in the Argos chain and bring them into its supermarkets as concessions. Retail experts believe between 150 and 200 Argos stores could be impacted. Mr Coupe said overall it could expand the Argos chain by rolling out concessions in supermarkets nationwide. He also stressed the group would not overpay for Home Retail amid reports that some major shareholders want at least 1.6 billion. "This is not a deal we need to do at any price," he said. The comments came as Sainsbury's revealed a slightly better-than-expected performance over the Christmas season, with sales in established stores excluding fuel edging 0.4% lower in the 15 weeks to January 9 against a "highly competitive" market. Its trading failed to match the 0.2% sales increase reported on Tuesday by smaller rival Morrisons in what marked an unexpected result from the embattled group, although this was for the nine weeks to January 3. But Sainsbury's was the only one of the so-called Big Four to gain market share over Christmas, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel on Tuesday showing its share rising to 17% in the 12 weeks to January 3 from 16.9% a year earlier. The City is eager to hear if Sainsbury's will increase its bid for Home Retail, which also owns DIY chain Homebase. It has until February 2 to make a firm offer or walk away under the City Takeover Panel's so-called put up or shut up deadline. Sainsbury's said it believes around half of Argos stores had shop leases with less than five years to run, offering opportunities to shut a number of these and move them into its outlets. There are already 10 Argos concessions within Sainsbury's stores as part of a trial. The grocer said it is a "strategically compelling transaction" which would allow it to take on the might of rivals such as Amazon, with more than 100,000 general merchandise products between Argos and Sainsbury's. It also sought to answer critics who have questioned cross-selling opportunities, claiming that over 40% of households have shopped in both Argos and Sainsbury's over the past year. But Mr Coupe said he "couldn't be drawn" on plans for Homebase, stoking speculation it would seek to offload the business. Analysts at Bernstein said there are still concerns over the Home Retail deal. "As Sainsbury's is still reporting negative like for likes - albeit improving and better than deflation - we still see the deal as a distraction from the key battles for Sainsbury's," they added. The takeover saga will remain in the spotlight on Thursday as Home Retail will be looked to for its take on the tie-up when it updates on recent trading. Urgent action must be taken at Rochester Prison in Kent, inspectors warned More than half of inmates have claimed it is easy to get drugs at a prison where many staff are accused of having a "complacent" attitude to the issue. Urgent action must be taken at HMP Rochester in Kent, inspectors warned, following a surprise inspection in September last year. Prisoners who were seen to be clearly under the influence of drugs went unchallenged by staff, the report said. In the two years since it was last visited, the jail had not made enough progress on a range of issues, Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said. A fifth of inmates said they felt unsafe at the jail, which houses 743 adult and young adult male prisoners on a site described as a sprawling mix of old and new accommodation. Higher than expected levels of drug use were detected, inspectors said, adding that there was evidence of the presence of "considerable" amounts of as-yet undetectable drugs known as new psychoactive substances (NPS). In his report, Mr Hardwick said: "There was much evidence to suggest that the availability of NPS was having a significant destabilising effect, and yet the prison's response lacked co-ordination and too many staff seemed complacent of the issue and its impact. Confronting this drug problem demanded urgent attention." A survey found 57% of inmates said it was easy to access drugs in the prison, reporting that it was easier to get the synthetic cannabinoid Spice than tobacco. The prison was found to be "not sufficiently good" in any of the four tests carried out by inspectors to decide whether it was functioning in a healthy way. Living conditions were described as poor with "dirty accommodation", food was also found to be poor and inspectors noted that staff shortages were causing too many hospital appointments to be missed. Explicit pornography was also found to be on display in many cells. While prisoners were not spending too much time in their cells, inspectors found a third of inmates were doing nothing productive with their working day. Incidents of self-harm were classed as high, as was the level of violence, especially against staff, the report said. Inspectors recommended the jail focus on basic needs, rather than plans for the future - namely a better drug strategy, a cleaner environment for inmates, ensuring prisoners make better use of their work time and "joined-up thinking" on resettling offenders. A 17-year-old girl has admitted pouring bleach into the mouth of her baby just moments after giving birth in secret A 17-year-old girl has admitted pouring bleach into the mouth of her baby just moments after giving birth in secret. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, kept her pregnancy from her parents and on August 10 last year the little boy was born unaided in the bathroom of her family home. Within "minutes or moments", she poured domestic bleach into the mouth of her newly born child, prosecutor Edward Brown QC told the Old Bailey. The child was badly scalded on the mouth and lips but survived after hospital treatment. The girl, from west London, was charged with attempted murder but at a hearing yesterday the prosecution accepted a guilty plea to child cruelty. Mr Brown told the court that the decision was based on two psychiatric reports as well as consideration of the defendant's young age and background. Sentencing was adjourned until a date to be fixed in February at Isleworth Crown Court. Senior G4S managers were 'appalled' at the revelations in the BBC show Four men have been arrested on suspicion of child neglect by police investigating allegations of abuse and mistreatment of youngsters at a facility run by private security group G4S. Kent Police detained the four men on Wednesday following allegations aired on the BBC's Panorama programme this week. Undercover footage showed staff allegedly mistreating and abusing inmates at Medway Secure Training Centre in Rochester, and allegedly boasting about using inappropriate techniques to restrain youngsters. Other allegations uncovered by the programme included claims that staff tried to hide their actions by ensuring they were beneath CCTV cameras or in areas not covered by them. A police spokesman said: "The Kent Police investigation was launched following a referral from the Medway Local Authority Designated Officer. The men are all currently in custody at a Kent Police station." In the wake of the disclosures, G4S sacked four members of staff at the 76-bed centre, which houses young offenders aged 12 to 18. Three other staff identified in the programme were suspended pending further investigation, and one other person was removed from operational duty as inquiries continue. G4S said it welcomed the "swift action" by police as lawyers at Leigh Day confirmed they are dealing with a number of inquiries from people alleging abuse relating to Panorama's disclosures. Paul Cook, managing director for children's services at G4S, said: " There is no place in our business for the conduct shown on the BBC's Panorama programme on Monday night. "This morning's arrests send a strong message that any allegations of wrongdoing will be thoroughly investigated and we are grateful to the police for their swift action in this case. "We will work with the police and local authority to keep our own actions under review in light of today's developments. "We will keep families and other professionals working with young people informed of developments as we are asked to do so. We are committed to a complete review of how this occurred and how we can ensure it doesn't happen again." X-Files stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny have been reunited on the red carpet at the premiere of a new series of the hit TV show. The pair, who found fame around the world as FBI special agents Mulder and Scully in the sci-fi drama, have reprised their roles for six new episodes more than thirteen years after the original run ended. The pair whispered and reminisced about the past at the launch of the new season at the California Science Centre in Los Angeles. Commenting on the relevance of the show, Anderson, who can currently be seen in BBC1's War And Peace, said: "There continues to be enthusiasm for it. There has been a huge amount of enthusiasm since we announced it (the new series|)." Duchovny added: "I think the themes that it deals with are universal and timeless, and issues of the paranormal and 'are we alone?' 'is the truth out there?' 'can we trust the government?', these are undying questions and are not related to the fashion of our clothes and our hairstyles." Asked how they reignited their chemistry so long after they last worked together - the series began in 1993 and ended in 2002 - Duchovny joked: "We did some chemistry classes together," before regaling Anderson with a series of whispered recollections. Mitch Pileggi also returns to the show as Mulder and Scully's boss, FBI assistant director Walter Skinner. Pileggi said : "I think we gave the fans a very intelligent show. Our fans were allowed to think and come up with their own conclusions about some of the stuff we didn't spell out for them and I think they appreciated that." Also returning to the cast is William B Davis as the Smoking Man, while newcomers Joel McHale, Robbie Amell and Kumail Nanjiani will be among the guest stars. The new episodes of The X-Files will air on Channel 5 in early February. A suicide bomber has struck near the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan, which Afghan officials said left at least seven members of the security forces dead. In a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, US monitors of militant groups, the "Khorasan Province of the Islamic State" said three of its "soldiers" attacked the consulate in Jalalabad, capital of the volatile province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. It claimed to have killed "dozens" of consulate staff. Afghan officials said seven members of the security forces were killed in the attack. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven people were injured during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad and ended with a gun battle between Afghan security forces and militants. He said that three attackers were killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body. The siege ended when the two gunmen, who had taken position in a guest house close to the consulate, were killed at around 12.30pm local time, Mr Khyogani said. Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the dead included three police and two intelligence service officers, one each from the army and border police. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said. It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistan embassy or consulate in Afghanistan, an official at the Pakistani embassy said. Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad's perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up. All consular staff were evacuated. In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned what it called "the terrorist attack" on its Jalalabad consulate and requested a thorough investigation. One official at the consulate was injured by broken glass. Nangarhar is home to a number of insurgent groups and criminal gangs who benefit from the proximity to the Pakistan border. Insurgent attacks are not uncommon in Jalalabad. The Islamic State group has established a presence in the province, having fought with Taliban gunmen in recent months to take control of at least four border districts. The attack comes two days after Islamabad hosted a meeting of representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss ending the Taliban's 14-year insurgency. Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though the Pakistani government denies the claim. The Taliban has split in recent months, with the insurgents divided over their support for a peace process. Barack Obama has urged Americans to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to put economic and security progress at risk. "All the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air," the president said in his final State of the Union address. "So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker." "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close." The president's address to both chambers of Congress and a prime-time television audience was meant to both shape his legacy and put his imprint squarely on the race to succeed him. He defended his record - and implicitly urged the public to elect another Democratic president to build on it - but acknowledged the persistent anxieties of Americans who feel shut out of a changing economy or at risk from an evolving terror threat. Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Mr Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals found in State of the Union addresses in which presidents outline their agenda for the coming year. While he did not criticise Republicans directly , he sharply, and at times sarcastically, struck back at rivals who challenged his economic and national security stewardship. In his most pointed swipe at the Republican candidates running to succeed him, Mr Obama warned against "voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background". His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who gave the Republican response to his address. Ms Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices". She did not mention the Republican presidential race, but the campaign has featured heated rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from front-runner Donald Trump in particular that has unnerved some Republican leaders. "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome," said Ms Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Mr Trump dismissed Mr Obama's speech as "really boring", in a post on his Twitter account. Focused on his own legacy, Mr Obama ticked off a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He touted implementation of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, but made no mention of the 10 American sailors picked up by Iran yesterday. The Pentagon said the sailors had drifted into Iranian waters after encountering mechanical problems and would be returned safely and promptly. Tackling one of the most vexing foreign policy challenges of his presidency, Mr Obama vowed a robust campaign to "take out" Islamic State (IS), but chastised Republicans for "over-the-top claims" about the extremist group's power. "Masses of fighters on the back of pick-up trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national existence." The president's words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates IS' power and is leaving the US vulnerable to attacks at home. Mr Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets - failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. "The rancour and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he conceded. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office." Mr Obama reiterated his call for working with Republicans on criminal justice reform and finalising an Asia-Pacific trade pact and also vowed to keep pushing for action on politically fraught issues such as curbing gun violence and fixing the nation's fractured immigration laws. The president also touted a new effort led by his vice president Joe Biden to fight cancer, aimed at increasing public and private resources and breaking down barriers to collaboration among researchers. Mr Biden's 46-year-old son Beau died last year from brain cancer. But Mr Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions he had taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security. His optimism was meant to draw a contrast with what the White House sees as doom-and-gloom scenarios peddled by Republicans. Republicans were largely dismissive of the president's address. House speaker Paul Ryan said Mr Obama's "lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice soundbites, but they don't explain how to" solve problems. The president himself appeared to get momentarily caught up in the emotion of the moment. As he walked toward the exit after his hour-long speech, he turned back to the crowded House chamber and said: "Let me take one more look at this thing." Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne? ... there's a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand o' thine! And we'll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne. A few years back, the song Auld Lang Syne popped into my head, when my husband got word that a friend from his Air Force days had passed away. He'd been in the hospital for a month and had been improving, so we were surprised and saddened by the news. Up until about ten years ago, the two hadn't spoken since those long ago days.Wikipedia tells usWell, for my husband, the answer is a resounding "No." When he retired over ten years ago, he had time on his hands, and he set about locating friends from his younger days. This was before Facebook, so he did it the old-fashioned way: he used the on-line white pages. I often overheard him leaving messages like, "are you the Joe Smith who went to Whitefoord Elementary School or served in Pleiku?" Believe it or not, he located quite a few old friends this way.My husband found his Air Force friend in upstate New York, and he subsequently joined us at a Pleiku Air Base reunion in Virginia and became a regular at these annual events. Using that same lo-tech technique, my husband located two other Viet Nam buddies in the Midwest, and they joined him at a reunion in St. Louis one year. He and several of these guys even caught up on a conference call one time.He also unearthed a few grammar school friends. Because he moved around quite a bit as a child, he didn't go to the same high school as his boyhood friends, and despite fond memories, lost touch with them. Once they reconnected, though, he was invited to a high school reunion, where he was able to touch base with a good many of them.When he locates an old friend, they stay in touch through email and the occasional phone call. Though he has some more recent friends-recent as in the last ten to twenty years-I know he treasures his friends from long ago. He has invested heavily in maintaining these friendships, and I'm sure he'd agree that the investment continues to pay him huge dividends. So, as the song goes, here's to old friends:So, as you enter the New Year, take a moment to remember both old and new friends. Better yet, make some time in the new year to reconnect and let them know you thought of them. Happy New Year to one and all. German prosecutors have charged three men and one woman with forming a far-right terror group and planning an attack. Federal prosecutors say the four are accused of establishing a "terrorist organisation" that went by the name Oldschool Society. Prosecutors said the group planned to use explosives to attack a refugee shelter last May. They were arrested on May 6 before the attack could take place. Internally, the group became increasingly radical and, in mid-November 2014, members discussed how to manufacture explosives and the possibility of attacking Islamic extremists and asylum-seekers in Germany. The four are identified as Andreas H, 57; Markus W ,40; Denise Vanessa G 23; and Olaf O, 47, in line with German privacy rules. Andreas H and Markus W were described as the group's president and vice president. "There was a concrete plan to carry out an explosives attack on an inhabited refugee shelter near Borna in connection with their second meeting from May 8-10 2015," prosecutors said. The town is south-east of Leipzig in the eastern state of Saxony, which has been a hotbed of anti-foreigner sentiment over the past year. Markus W and Denise Vanessa G allegedly travelled to the Czech Republic in May 2015 to purchase fireworks and the group discussed how to make them more dangerous by wrapping nails around them. All four are in prison pending trial. Separately, Hannover prosecutors said they charged two men, aged 25 and 31, and a 24-year-old woman with attempted murder and attempted arson on allegations they threw a gas bomb through a window at an asylum-seekers' home in north-western Germany. The three are alleged in August to have thrown the improvised device through a ground-floor window in a school building in Salzhemmendorf that had been converted to house about 30 asylum seekers, setting fire to a mattress and a rug in an unoccupied room. The trio fled in a car from the scene, prosecutors said. The early-morning blaze was quickly extinguished and authorities said no harm came to a woman who had been sleeping in a neighbouring room with her three young children. Prosecutors said the three have admitted to the attack, but not to their motivation. German authorities have recorded a rise in attacks against refugees over the past year amid an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers to the country. While most of the attacks are believed to have been carried out by people with no previous affiliation to far-right groups, authorities are sensitive to the possibility that neo-Nazi groups might stage violent attacks ever since the existence of the self-styled National Socialist Underground (NSU) came to light four years ago. The NSU allegedly killed eight Turks, a Greek and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007, and is believed to be behind two bombings and 15 bank robberies. The group's sole survivor, Beate Zschaepe, and four alleged supporters are currently on trial in Munich. Turkish police have arrested five people suspected of direct links to the suicide bombing that killed 10 Germans in Istanbul's main tourist area. More than a dozen other suspected IS militants were detained on Wednesday in other parts of the country and 59 a day earlier, but officials say they do not appear to be tied to Tuesday's attack just steps away from the Blue Mosque in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district. One suspect with a link to the attack was detained in Istanbul late on Tuesday, Turkey's interior minister Efkan Ala said during a news conference with his German counterpart. Turkish media said police raided a home in an affluent Istanbul neighbourhood, briefly detaining one woman suspected of links to the Islamic State group, although it was not clear if she was the suspect Mr Ala was referring to. The Hurriyet newspaper said the woman was detained because a mobile phone - which she had reported stolen - had been used to call the bomber. The paper said she was released after questioning. Hours later, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the arrest of four other people as part of the investigation. Turkish authorities have identified Tuesday's bomber as a Syrian man born in 1988 who had recently entered Turkey, and officials say he had IS links. The Islamic State group, however, has not claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkish media, including newspapers close to the government, identified the bomber as Nabil Fadli and said he was born in Saudi Arabia. Mr Ala confirmed reports that the bomber had registered with a refugee agency, providing fingerprints that allowed officials to quickly identify him, but said the suicide bomber was not on any Turkish or international watch lists for IS militants. The impact of Tuesday's attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkey's tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Turkish police on Wednesday arrested 13 more suspected IS militants, including three Russians, but it was not clear if those arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The state-run Anadolu Agency said 59 people were detained on Tuesday. The attack, which also wounded 15 other people - including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman - was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. On Wednesday, Mr Davutoglu, German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere and other Turkish officials visited the site of the blast and placed carnations there. Germany sent a team of investigators to Istanbul on Wednesday from its Federal Criminal Police Office, which is comparable to the FBI, to support Turkish authorities investigating the attack. Germany's Foreign Ministry said the number of dead Germans in Tuesday's explosion had risen to 10, but Mr de Maiziere said there was no sign that Germans were specifically targeted. "According to the investigations so far, there are no indications that the attack was directed specifically against Germans, so there can't be any connection to our contribution to the fight against international terrorism," Mr de Maiziere said. Germany promised Tornado reconnaissance jets to aid military effort against the Islamic State group in Syria following the November attacks in Paris, and they started flying missions from the Incirlik air base in Turkey last week. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. Germany was already helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting IS in northern Iraq but has not taken a direct combat role. Mr Ala urged Turkish citizens and visitors to go about their daily lives, insisting that the country had taken "all necessary security precautions". He said Turkey had detained as many as 220 IS suspects in the week prior to the attack. Mr de Maiziere also said: "I see no reason to refrain from traveling to Turkey" or for people already there to break off their vacations. Top German and Turkish officials were already scheduled to meet in Berlin next week to discuss Europe's migrant crisis, in which Turkey - which borders both Syria and the European Union - is a key player. Mr de Maiziere said those talks will now also address "the determined fight against terrorism". "If the terrorists aimed to destroy or endanger the cooperation between partners, then they achieved the opposite," Mr de Maiziere said. "Germany and Turkey are coming even closer together." Pakistan says it has arrested "several individuals" from an outlawed militant group who are linked to a four-day assault on an Indian air base earlier this month that killed seven Indian soldiers. The government announced the arrests in a statement on Tuesday after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over a meeting to discuss security issues. The statement says an investigation into the incident has made "considerable progress", leading to the arrest of several individuals from the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group. All six militants who took part in the attack were killed by Indian forces. India has long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to Islamic militants who have staged cross-border attacks and battled Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region. South Korean protesters bearing defaced photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un protest against the North's announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb (AP) South Korea has fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed its border, officials said. The shots are the first to be fired in a Cold War-style stand-off between the Koreas in the wake of the North's nuclear test last week. The North Korean drone was flying dozens of metres south of the border and turned back to the North after the South fired shots, South Korean defence and military officials said. The shots did not hit the drone. North Korean drone flights across the world's most heavily armed border are rare, but have happened before. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone programme, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014, Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but were still considered a potential new security threat. Animosity has been high since the North's claim on January 6 that it had tested a hydrogen bomb. There is widespread scepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer towards a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Seoul said that North Korea had also flown balloons with thousands of leaflets across the border, some of them describing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her government as "mad dogs". North Korea's propaganda machine is using the nuclear test to glorify Kim Jong Un's leadership and describing it as a necessary step to fight against what it calls a US-led attempt to overthrow the North's system. Pyongyang's state TV aired photos showing a smiling Kim Jong Un awarding commendations to scientists and other workers involved in the test and shaking hands with them at a Workers' Party building. He called the scientists and workers "nuclear combatants" and "the heroes of heroes" who evoked fears to the US and its allies, according to the state news agency. Ms Park urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test with what she called "the strongest" possible international sanctions that can force change in the North. Diplomats at a UN Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, are seen as key. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Ms Park said at a news conference, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." Futuristic self-driving cars travelling along California roads have needed plenty of old-fashioned human intervention to stay safe, according to test reports. California's Department of Motor Vehicles released reports filed by seven companies given permission by the agency to test prototype vehicles in public which gave instances in which a driver had to take over because of technology problems or other safety concerns. The reports show wildly different levels of success since on-road testing started in September 2014. Experts in the technology said Google, whose cars drove the most by far, performed relatively well, but also cautioned that the testing typically happened during good weather. Other companies reported frequent instances in which the person required to be in the front seat just in case had to grab the wheel. Nissan, for example, tested just 1,485 miles in public, but reported 106 cases where the driver had to take control. The Japanese car maker has said it plans to have "commercially viable autonomous drive vehicles" by 2020. Google said its cars needed human help 341 times over 424,000 miles - the equivalent of about 10 times a year, given the 12,000 miles the average US vehicle travels annually. In 11 of the 341 instances, Google said its cars would have been involved in a crash. Chris Urmson, head of the company's self-driving car project, said while the results were encouraging they also showed the technology had yet to reach his goal of not needing someone behind the wheel. "There's none where it was like, 'Holy cow, we just avoided a big wreck'," he said. "We're seeing lots of improvement. But it's not quite ready yet. That's exactly why we test our vehicles with a steering wheel and pedals." The California Department of Motor Vehicles, which is writing new regulations for the technology, said it was still reviewing in the reports. Google reported 272 cases in which the cars' software or onboard sensors failed. Though Google did not release detailed scenarios, the problems included issues with the self-driving cars seeing traffic lights, yielding to pedestrians or committing traffic offences. There were also cases where intervention was needed because other drivers were reckless and several dozen instances of an "unwanted manoeuvre" by Google's car. Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina who closely follows self-driving car developments, said Google's rate of potential collisions was "not terribly high, but certainly not trivial". He said it remained difficult to gauge how self-driving cars compared with accident rates among human drivers, since even the best data under-reported minor collisions that authorities were never told about. While Google's problem rate was "impressively low," a trained safety driver should remain in the front seat, said Raj Rajkumar, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University who specialises in self-driving cars. According to data in Google's report, a driver typically took control within one second of the car asking for help. Drivers at other companies often reacted quickly as well, according to their reports, though Volkswagen Group of America reported that in one case, it was more than 12 minutes before the person took control. John Simpson, a frequent critic of Google who focuses on privacy issues for the non-profit group Consumer Watchdog, said the company's report "underscores the need for a driver behind the steering wheel capable of taking control of the robot car". Google has argued to California regulators that once the company concludes the cars are ready for the public to use, they should not need a steering wheel or pedals because human intervention would actually make them less safe. Google released its report before the agency posted reports from other companies in what Google described as an effort to be transparent about its safety record. The company had lobbied against having to report disengagements in the first place, saying the data could be misinterpreted. The other companies testing self-driving cars on California streets are Tesla Motors, Mercedes-Benz and parts suppliers Bosch and Delphi. Google's testing mostly involves driving around the company's Silicon Valley headquarters or the streets of Austin, Texas. The company's rate of human intervention has improved in recent months, according to its data, but Mr Urmson warned that the rate might again rise as Google subjected the cars to more challenging environments and weather conditions. Google said its cars would have been responsible in eight of the 11 avoided accidents, according to computer modelling the company performed later. In two other cases, its cars would have hit a traffic cone. Google cars have been involved in nine collisions since September 2014. In each case, the other car was responsible, according to an analysis by researchers at Virginia Tech University. An avalanche that struck a school group skiing in the Alps has killed two French high school students and a Ukrainian skier. The avalanche in the Deux Alpes resort on Wednesday afternoon hit 10 students from the Saint Exupery school in Lyon and their teacher. They did not give any information on the number of missing but said 60 rescue workers have been mobilised in a search-and-rescue operation with sniffer dogs and a helicopter. The prefect of the Isere region told BFM-TV that the ski trail was so risky it had been closed since the "beginning of the (ski) season" in December. Jean-Paul Bonnetain said that the group leader "had taken the initiative" to lead the school group onto this piste. He said that the trail "was really of a technical level" that is not suitable for beginners or students aged between 16 and 17. French police commander Bertrand Host told BFM television that there had been an avalanche warning in the area before the snow slide. The avalanche struck late on Wednesday afternoon. The regional Dauphine Libere newspaper is reporting that four students were found in cardiac arrest and the teacher was unconscious. Venosc mayor Pierre Balme told the paper the avalanche happened on a closed ski run. French president Francois Hollande has sent his condolences to those close to the victims. In a statement Wednesday evening he said the French education minister is on his way to Lyon. He is expected to arrive in the coming hours to ''support the school community and the families''. Local councillor Gilles Strappazzon told BFM the avalanche happened after several groups of skiers dislodged a large snow slab. The area had been closed off prior to the accident amid high avalanche warnings and it is unclear why the group ventured on to the ski trail. There had been little snow in the Alps until just after the New Year, so January's steady snow was fresh and possibly less stable. The trio were arrested in raids a day after an explosion went off in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul (AP) Police in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya have detained three Russian nationals in a raid on suspected Islamic State (IS) militants, according to reports. The Anadolu Agency said anti-terrorism police conducted the raids on Wednesday, a day after an IS suicide bomber detonated a bomb in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district, killing 10 foreigners, most of them German tourists. Russia's consulate general in Ankara confirmed the detention of the trio. "The reasons for their detention are being clarified," Consul general Alexander Tolstopyatenko said, according to the Tass news agency. The suspects were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group, Anadolu reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry in November said 2,719 Russians had left for Syria to fight for IS. Of these, 160 have been killed, 73 have returned and been tried and 36 have been arrested, according to Oleg Syromolotov, the deputy minister of foreign affairs. All 10 US Navy sailors detained by Iran after drifting into its territorial waters a day earlier have been freed. The US Navy said the American crew members returned safely and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. The sailors departed the island at 8.43am GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the US 5th Fleet is based. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran," the US statement said. The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained US sailors before their release showing them sitting on the floor of a room. One was a woman with her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters of the Persian Gulf," a statement posted online by the Guard said. General Ali Fadavi, the Navy chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was quoted by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown that the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of "mechanical problems in their navigation system". US officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident. US officials had said on Tuesday that Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. General Fadavi said the American boats had shown "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country's territorial waters. He said Tehran did not consider the US Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as "innocent passage". The sailors were nonetheless allowed to make contact with the US military based on Iran's "responsibilities and Islamic mercy" late on Tuesday, he said. General Fadavi said Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif "had a firm stance" during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry on their presence in Iran's territorial waters and "said they should not have come and should apologise". The Revolutionary Guard's 200,000-strong force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system. The Guard's naval forces are heavily dependent on fast-moving armed speedboats that can be used in teams to swarm much larger vessels. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. The Department of the Environment last week gave planning permission for development of all the 26-acre site at the former British Army barracks at Ebrington in Derry. The site had been gifted to Derry by the Ministry of Defence in 2003 after it became surplus to military requirements. The Ilex Urban Regeneration Company was set up by the NIO to undertake development of the site and generally to work for regeneration of the city. Thirteen years later Ebrington has become something of a tourist attraction. It housed a number of events during Derry's year as City of Culture, including the Turner Prize exhibition. But it has also become a source of disappointment and embarrassment. The City of Culture and other events, impressive in themselves, have left little behind, so there was local enthusiasm at Mark H Durkan's announcement that: "This application sets out a blueprint that will be a boost for business, tourism and people in the area by revitalising the 1840s site with new homes, offices, cafes, restaurants and museum and arts facilities." The application came from the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minster, which had taken over direct responsibility for the site from Ilex last year. Peter Robinson said the approval was "a welcome development", which would have a "positive impact." Martin McGuinness said the plan would "transform not just the landscape of the city but also the economic prospects of the north west". It is far from clear how the development is expected to deliver this transformation. Broad planning permission is now in place but no detailed proposals have emerged. The go-ahead has been given for a development that hasn't been designed yet. There's also been little discussion of why it's taken 13 years to reach this point. There's been even less discussion of the relevance of the fact that development of a public asset of huge potential has been carried out according to the principles and practices of the more cynical sections of the private sector. Examples were set out in a NI Audit Office report in March 2012. Unauthorised payments in relation to six separate projects totalling 404,687 were discovered. An unapproved bonus of 28,836 was paid to Ilex's former chief executive Bill Kirk on top of a salary of 110,000 a year. The report revealed that a director hired in September 2010 for a position bench-marked at 57,000 a year was in fact paid 80,000 without any record of discussion, much less approval, for the extra 23,000 a year - a 28.75% pay hike. Public sector workers subject to effective wage cuts looked on in astonishment, or would have if the arrangement hadn't been kept under wraps until the Audit Office blew the whistle. But the most breathtaking example of excessive generosity to top officials concerned part-time chairman Roy McNulty. He was hired in October 2007 on 800 a day for 30 days a year - 24,000 per annum. But BBC Newsline subsequently revealed that Ilex had actually paid him 103,600 in his first 15 months, or around 80,000 a year. Ilex explained that it had turned out that the job entailed more days a month than had been anticipated. So an undisclosed 300% wage rise was nodded through. This arrangement was known to OFMDFM. Ministers were also aware that the time McNulty spent travelling to and from his home in the Cotswolds was being counted and remunerated as work-time. One civil servant noted in a memo that this was "not normal practice" but remarked, strangely, that the arrangement could be regarded as "appropriate" since McNulty was using his time in transit to prepare himself to conduct Ilex business or, on the way back, to ponder the business completed. Workers commuting to Belfast from anywhere outside a 10-mile radius might consult their local MLA for advice on how they, too, might avail of these conditions which OFMDFM obviously regards as fair enough. In February 2011 an assessment by consultants BDO landed on Ilex's desk. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs had ruled that McNulty should all along have been paying tax on his travel-time earnings. BDO calculated the liability for the three years from 2007/08 to 2010/11 at 30,735. There was nothing in McNulty's contract of employment to require Ilex to pay this bill. But the company coughed the public money up anyway. It should be said that compared to, say, the banks, Ilex has been a model of pay restraint. But that's not hardly the most appropriate comparator for a public body established to regenerate a city wracked by joblessness and poverty. The result of it all has been cynicism among 'ordinary' Ilex workers and a certain attitude of anything-goes at a senior level. The relevance to the dysfunctionality of Ilex is obvious. Will lessons be learnt? Probably not. By now it's painfully clear that more than a hundred women were harassed and attacked by men, primarily of North African and Middle Eastern appearance, outside Cologne station on New Year's Eve. The fact that some of them were recent refugees makes the situation even more volatile and open to exploitation by the anti-refugee far-Right. But even if the far-Right are using the Cologne attacks for their agenda, it doesn't mean ordinary people don't have legitimate concerns. A mass influx of asylum seekers can create problems and we have to work to manage them. And if the Left cannot show we recognise people's concerns and can address them, we simply get ignored and refugees suffer even more. First, the Cologne problem was waiting to happen. If you have a large group of men in an area with nothing much to do they may do things they wouldn't normally do. If they end up congregating in gangs, then they are more likely to commit crime. So, policing has to be stepped up. Second, refugees and asylum seekers aren't angels, and the Left should stop pretending they come without problems. They are humans like us, and there will be sexual predators, thieves and murderers among them. And no one likes the idea of giving asylum to murderers or predators. So we should not shy away from saying that asylum seekers who commit crimes should be deported out of the country. Just serving the time isn't enough. Third, this cycle of blame will keep returning as there will be more crime committed by refugees, and unless European nations look like they will swiftly deal with the problem then the atmosphere will get worse. There are documented instances of Assad's men, whose job was to rape and terrorise Syrian women, coming into Europe as refugees. They have to be found, imprisoned and deported. Fourth, priority for asylum should be given to women, children and families rather than single, unaccompanied men. Canada already has this policy and it makes sense since single men are far more likely to commit crime than any other group. Fifth, there are cultural differences between the Middle East and western Europe and we shouldn't be afraid of acknowledging this. As Norway and Belgium are now doing, European nations should set up classes for men on how to treat women in a more sexually open society. Sixth, more broadly, Europe now needs an integration policy that looks at a range of factors to help newly arrived refugees to integrate better. It cannot be a 'hands off' approach as it has been in the past. Everything, from housing to learning the language, has to be looked at to actively help newly-arrived asylum seekers understand the country they are going to be living in. That would help them and it would make integration much easier. Many on the Left fear confronting such issues over worries it will demonise and criminalise ordinary refugees. After all, they are just trying to escape war and keep their heads down. But if the Left ignores the concerns of ordinary Germans after the Cologne attacks that would be far worse for everyone, including refugees. It would let the far-Right to set the agenda and gain more public support. The first priority of any government is the well-being of its citizens, and the German administration cannot be blamed if it focuses on that. But unless we bring the conversation back to sensible solutions we risk things getting far worse. An association of southern Thai rubber farmers says it wants the government to subsidize them directly to offset low prices instead of buying large quantities of their product, as the prime minister announced this week. The Rubber and Palm Oil Farmers Network has asked the governor of Surat Thani province to relay a letter to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha calling on the government to scrap the plan for purchasing rubber from them, Dendech Dechduang, the groups secretary-general, told BenarNews on Wednesday. The government should sanction the market to boost the latex price to 55 baht (U.S. $1.51) per kilo and that of cup-slump rubber to 30-32 baht (U.S. 82-88 cents) per kilo, Dendech said by phone. Then the prices at of all kinds of rubber to be purchased by central rubber markets will be higher, he added. On Tuesday, Prayuth said the government would buy 100,000 tons of rubber from farmers struggling with plummeting rubber prices in Thailand the worlds top exporter of natural rubber. The sector employs 2 million people nationwide. But the PM did not tell reporters in Bangkok which price the government intended to set for the purchase, but that it would pay farmers a higher rate than the market price. You asked me to fix the price, how much money do I have? How much budget do we have? We will buy rubber to help them make do before the farming [season] pauses for three months, Prayuth told a news conference in the Thai capital. The government bodies will consider the prices on rubber sheets and rubber latex that they can purchase for further production, he added. You must understand that, if the government increases the prices aimlessly, there will be an over stockpile and the situation repeat itself, Prayuth said, referring to a stockpile of 360,000 tons of rubber being kept in government warehouses. On Wednesday, Prayuth announced that he had appointed a retired general, former Army Chief of Staff Chatchalerm Chalermsuk, as president of the Rubber Authority of Thailand to oversee the governments response to the price crisis, the Associated Press reported. The price, pushed down by declining international demand for Thai natural rubber and a large domestic stockpile of unsold rubber, among other factors, has hit a seven-year low on the market. As of Wednesday, latex rubber and ribbed rubber were selling for 33 baht (U.S. 90 cents) and 35.19 baht (U.S. 96 cents) per kilo (2.2 pounds), respectively, at the market in Hat Yai, Songkhla province a southern hub for rubber production. Dont make us sweat again Meanwhile, farmers who called off protests that were expected in 17 provinces on Tuesday after the government announced its new plan to help them out, demanded that they get between 55 and 60 baht ($1.51 and $1.65 ) per kilo in the buy-back scheme. The Networks of Southern Rubber Farmers and its counterparts in the countrys three other rubber-producing regions met in Trang province on Tuesday, and demanded that the government guarantee farmers a minimum price of 60 baht ($1.65) a kilo. The networks gave the government one month to agree to this, saying they might plan future protests if officials failed to meet their demand. It is a long enough time for the government to boost rubber prices to return happiness to the people. And we believe we can do it if everyone joined together, Sunthorn Rakthong, a network member told a news conference that was aired Tuesday on TNN, a Thai TV station. Dont make us sweat again, he said. Boosting domestic demand Under the program outlined by Prayuth on Tuesday, eight ministries would purchase 100,000 tons of natural rubber and use it for projects such as road construction, the manufacturing of medical gloves, pillows and mattresses, among other things. The goal, Prayuth said, was to build up domestic demand for rubber and wean Thailands rubber industry off its reliance on foreign markets. When we buy [from the farmers] we will not push the [rubber] on to the market, but we will process it into products. There are hundreds of R&D projects for processing rubber, but they have never been practiced, Prayuth told reporters. by John Aloisi A couple of weeks ago I suggested that believers would benefit from occasionally reading older books. However, just because a work was written in a previous era does not mean that its necessarily worth reading today. In fact, far more old books exist than any one person could ever hope to read. So assuming the reader is convinced that some older books may be worth reading, where does one begin? Below Im going to recommend four books that were written in the fourth century. These books are selected from a variety of genres. Two are doctrinal treatises. One is a book on parenting. And the fourth is an autobiography of sorts. Each of these works is readily available, fairly short, and definitely worth reading. Athanasius, On the Incarnation (paper, Kindle, online) Athanasius is remembered as the figure who defended the full deity of Christ at the Council of Nicaea and who stood against the Arians during the tumultuous decades that followed. Some years prior to the council, Athanasius penned a little book explaining and defending the truth that God has manifested himself to humanity in the person of Christ. An excerpt: It was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us. It is we who were the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great love He was both born and manifested in a human body (1.4). Basil, On the Holy Spirit (paper, Kindle, online) Written by one of the great Cappadocian fathers, Basils book is the first full-length doctrinal discussion of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. In the decades following the Council of Nicaea, the debate gradually shifted from the deity of the Son to the deity of the Spirit. Basils work was instrumental in turning the tide back toward a more biblical understanding of the Holy Spirit. An excerpt: Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to Paradise, our ascension to the Kingdom of heaven, our adoption as Gods sons, our freedom to call God our Father, our becoming partakers of the grace of Christ, being called children of light, sharing in eternal glory, and in a word, our inheritance of the fullness of blessing, both in this world and the world to come (15.36). Chrysostom, Vainglory and the Right Way for Parents to Bring up Children (pdf) You probably wont agree with everything Chrysostom has to say about bringing up children, but it is both refreshing and helpful to read a work on the subject that pre-dates Dr. Spock, Gary Ezzo, and the rise of the Tiger Mother. Written more than 1600 years ago, Chrysostom wrestles with the enduring question of how to raise children who love the Lord and live wisely in a wicked world. An excerpt: The man-child has lately been born. His father thinks of every means, not whereby he may direct the childs life wisely, but whereby he may adorn it and clothe it in fine raiment and golden adornments. Why dost thou this, O man? Implanting in him from the first an excessive love of wealth and teaching him to be excited by things of no profit, why dost thou plot even greater treachery against him? The girl who has been raised in her mothers quarters to be excited by female ornaments, when she leaves her fathers house will be a sore vexation to her bridegroom and a greater burden to him than the tax collectors. Raise up an athlete for Christ and teach him though he is living in the world to be reverent from his earliest youth (16, 17, 19). Augustine, Confessions (paper, Kindle, online) The longest of these four works, Augustines Confessions should, in my opinion, be read at least once by every Christian. Augustine was one of the most brilliant thinkers in the history of the church, and this book contains his worshipful reflections on God, life, and eternity. An excerpt: You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you (1.1). Ive been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for that. Sinc... 6 years ago For Immediate Release, January 13, 2016 Contact: Tanya Sanerib, (503)544-8512, tsanerib@biologicaldiversity.org New Rule Allows Logging, Oil and Gas Drilling, Other Damaging Activities in Habitat of Threatened Northern Long-eared Bat Feds Authorize Destruction of Key Bat Habitat WASHINGTON Forest-clearing by loggers, developers and the energy industry that is normally prohibited under the Endangered Species Act will be allowed in the habitat of the threatened northern long-eared bat, under a final rule for the bat issued today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Although the deadly disease known as white-nose syndrome is the primary cause of the species decline, ongoing forest loss and conversion continues to be a serious threat to the bat, which prefers to roost in larger, continuous tracts of mature forest. These bats have already been pushed to the brink of extinction by white-nose syndrome, with 96 percent population declines, and the disease continues to spread, said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. If these poor bats are to have any chance at survival, they need the full protection of the Endangered Species Act, not handouts to industry. The rule allows logging and land-clearing to occur anywhere other than within 150 feet of where the bats are known to summer called a roost tree or within a quarter-mile of a known hibernacula, where the bats hibernate. This means most forestry, pesticide use, oil, gas and wind energy developments, pipelines and any other land-clearing can proceed. Such activities are normally prohibited under the Act. The new rule does a much better job of protecting industry profits than bats, said Sanerib. It will almost certainly result in more dead bats by allowing the destruction of habitat they need when coming out of hibernation or are pregnant in the summer. Its the last thing they need after being devastated by disease. The northern long-eared bat was first proposed for endangered status in 2014, but then downgraded to threatened last April, a change that allowed the Fish and Wildlife Service to provide the vast exemptions requested by industry. In issuing the rule today, the Service ignored the recommendations of its own scientists and bowed to the wishes of the oil and gas industry and other special interests opposed to protection of the bat. Republicans in Congress introduced at least seven federal riders and bills in 2015 attempting to further undermine protections for the bat. Like other rules issued by the agency in recent years, the bat rule perverts a provision of the Endangered Species Act intended to help keep threatened species from becoming endangered in order to authorize activities that are clearly harmful to the species, said Sanerib. This rule fails to follow the science or the law and demonstrates what happens when politics are allowed to guide protection decisions. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For Immediate Release, January 13, 2016 Contact: Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org Delia Malone, Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club, (970) 319-9498 Public Calls for Colorado Officials to Adopt Science-based Wolf Stance Citizens to Rally Today in Denver to Support of Alternative to Colorado Wildlife Commission's Anti-wolf Resolution DENVER, Colo. As the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission prepares to vote today on a resolution reaffirming the states long-held opposition to wolves, conservationists and citizens will rally in support of an alternative resolution supporting recovery of these endangered animals. The research-based, pro-wolf resolution would place the state on record requesting that the federal government develop a recovery plan for Mexican gray wolves incorporating portions of southern Colorado, where scientists say this rare subspecies must be reintroduced for recovery. The proposal also calls for a national gray wolf recovery plan incorporating northern Colorado to help ensure the survival of wolves in neighboring Wyoming. The livestock industry has convinced Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper and his commission to oppose wolves, said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. That would not only leave wolves vulnerable to extinction, but result in more elk being shot in Rocky Mountain National Park to safeguard native plants, and continue to deprive scavengers like eagles and bears of wolves leftovers. Colorados ecosystems and the wolves themselves deserve better. Gov. Hickenlooper recently joined the governors of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico in sending a letter to federal wildlife officials seeking to ban or restrict the movements of Mexican wolves, including keeping them out of Colorado entirely. Scientists say that recovery of Mexican wolves requires the establishment of three interconnected populations in the Southwest, totaling at least 750 animals. They have identified southern Colorado as one of the regions that could support hundreds of wolves while providing connectivity to other wolf populations, which is important to ameliorate ongoing inbreeding. Colorado needs wolves and wolves need Colorado, said Delia Malone, wildlife team chair for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissions draft resolution 16-01, which seeks to prevent the repatriation of gray wolves to Colorado, is contrary to best available science and is founded on inaccuracies regarding the impact of wolves on ranching and recreational economies. We believe that by working together to implement wolf-livestock coexistence strategies, the people of Colorado can have the benefits of both a thriving ranching industry as well as intact natural habitats and ecosystems with their top predator restored. Media Advisory The commission will address the wolf resolution at 4 p.m. today at the Hunter Education Building of the Department of Parks and Wildlifes Headquarters, 6060 Broadway, in Denver. A rally in support of wolves will begin at 2 p.m. outside the meeting hall. Wednesdays rally launches a regional day of action in support of endangered Mexican wolves, with wolf supporters in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah planning to hold rallies on Thursday. Background The Mexican gray wolf is the most imperiled wolf subspecies in North America, and after extirpation from the wild was reintroduced from captivity to Arizona and New Mexico in 1998 and to northern Mexico in 2011. At last count a year ago, just 110 wolves survived in the U.S. Southwest, including only eight breeding pairs; around 20 wolves survive in Mexico. Another count will be carried out this month. Wolves were exterminated from the western United States through a federal program of trapping and poisoning that began in 1915 and had eliminated almost all wolves by the mid-1920s. The last original wolf probably born in the western United States was killed by a federal trapper in Colorados Conejos County in 1945. Since wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and Idahos Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in the 1990s, four wolves naturally dispersed into Colorado, though three were killed by vehicle, poison and shooting. Here's a tweet from Bill McKibben And here's an excerpt from Wikipedia about the same lake. When the water level of Titicaca Lake drops below 3,810 m, the flow of Desaguadero River is so low it can no longer compensate for the massive water losses due to evaporation from the surface of Poopo Lake. At this point, the lake volume begins to decrease. At its maximum in 1986, the lake had an area of 3,500 km2. During the years that followed, the surface area steadily decreased until 1994 when the lake disappeared completely. The time period between 1975 and 1992 is the longest period in recent times with a continuous existence of a water body. "Cinema is powerful. It can inspire viewers and give people a sense of identity." - Oliver Hermanus The 21 ICONS three-minute film examines the rise of Oliver Hermanus and how his films have gained global praise for their unflinching examination of the challenges of the post-apartheid landscape. Hermanus has been selected for 21 ICONS South Africa Season 3 for addressing uniquely South African social issues through cinematic commentary. He has written and directed three feature length films since his debut in 2009 and won numerous international nominations and awards for his work. His first feature, Shirley Adams, premiered at the 62nd Locarno Film Festival. The film is about a mother who struggles to deal with the gunshot injury that disabled her son and providing for the two of them. A deeply moving portrait of ordinary courage in present-day South Africa, it captures the claustrophobia, intimacy and hushed anguish surrounding the tender daily routines of a mother and her child. In 2011, his film Skoonheid was announced as one of the films to be screened at the 64th Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard competition. It was the fifth South African feature film to be invited to the festival. Hermanus won the 2012 Best Director award at the South African Film and Television awards, and Skoonheid was selected to represent South Africa as the official entrant to the 2012 Foreign Film Academy Awards nomination. His third feature film, The Endless River, stars French film star Nicolas Duvauchelle as an ex-pat living in South Africa whose wife and children are murdered by a gang. It debuted at the 72nd Venice Film Festival and was the first South African film invited to the festival's competition. Hermanus grew up in Montanna in the Cape Flats, and moved across country during his childhood with his family before returning and settling in Cape Town when he was 12. "South Africa made me who I am, in terms of what I make and what I do now. I'm committed to living here and working here. I don't want to go to America to make movies," he says. Years later he started his undergraduate degree in Film, Media and Visual Studies at the University of Cape Town which he completed at the University of California after receiving an exchange programme scholarship. In 2006, Hollywood film director Roland Emmerich offered him a private scholarship to complete his Master of Arts degree at the London Film School. When he returned to South Africa, he worked professionally in documentary film, journalism and screenwriting as well as press photography; "I ended up working at the Cape Argus and the Cape Times where I met Gary Van Wyk. That part of my life influenced making movies but I also think I wouldn't be as interested in telling social real stories if I hadn't worked in press." About the portrait For the portrait 'Deep Connection', Van Wyk describes the visual elements, "Hermanus is pictured holding a TV set in front of his torso, on which an image of the director beside a sprawling river is seen. A literal reference to his work within the medium and to the title of his award-winning film, The Endless River, the portrait also holds a more personal significance. Van Wyk continues, "The image on the screen was taken by me five years ago when Hermanus and I worked together in press photography, bringing both myself the photographer and Hermanus as the subject full-circle, referencing a deeply personal journey of creative success for both of us." Hermanus concludes by saying, "The South African film industry has never been bigger than it is right now. New, younger voices in film are still going to emerge, but the industry is still in its teething phase. We're infants still, but we're going to learn to run sooner or later." View the video About 21 Icons Season 3 The short film-series documents the conversations between Gary Van Wyk as the photographer and filmmaker and the icons. Each short film provides insight into both the subject and photographer's creative approach to the portrait. Behind each portrait lies a carefully planned concept that captures not only the essence of each icon visually, but also in spirit and in terms of their unique legacy. Season three of 21 ICONS South Africa is proudly sponsored by Mercedes-Benz South Africa. Social media: 21 Icons engages with the public through: Twitter: @21Icons Website: http://www.21icons.com Mobisite: www.21icons.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/21Icons Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/21ICONS/ iTunes App Store: http://tinyurl.com/lf3cfzm Google Play: http://tinyurl.com/ovtcy45 Most of the country has literally been brought to its knees as it endures severe drought conditions, with people far and wide, from all walks of life desperately reaching out for any help they can get. So much so that it's been reported that some people have actually resorted to drinking sewage water. It's a dire situation to say the least. Thirsti Natural Spring Water has teamed up with Operation Hydrate, Shoprite Checkers and Mango Airlines to ensure communities across South Africa are getting sufficient drinking water and to see people through these desperate times. Co-coordinator and spokesperson of Operation Hydrate, Yaseen Theba, says the organisation is committed to delivering over one million litres of drinking water to communities in the Eastern Cape and Free State. Rob Hoatson, founder and Director of Thirsti Natural Spring Water, and his team have subsequently engaged with Operation Hydrate and have supplied over 300,000 litres to Operation Hydrate and are donating a further 36,000 litres over the next week. Well done to Operation Hydrate and Thirsti - South Africa commends you! For more details visit Thirsti Water https://www.facebook.com/ThirstiWater/?ref=br_rs or thirsti.co.za. Three Montana writers will read from their new works, "Off the Path II" and "Fifty-Six Counties: A Montana Journey," on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Barjon's Books. The reading is free and open to all. It features Lame Deer author Cinnamon Spear and Billings authors Adrian Jawort and Russell Rowland and will be followed by a Q&A session with the authors. Spear and Jawort will read from the follow-up to the Montana-based "Off the Path Volume II: An Anthology of American Indian and Indigenous Writers." Some of the subject matter from the book is not suitable for young children. Rowland plans to give a sneak preview of his upcoming book, "Fifty-Six Counties: A Montana Journey." Curated and edited by Jawort, "Off the Path II" is unique in that it not only contains American Indian writers from across the U.S., but indigenous Hawaiian, Maori (New Zealand) and Aboriginal (Australian) writers. Spear and Jawort were featured in the first volume along with other Montana American Indian fiction writers that included former Gazette and Crow reporter Luella N. Brien and Blackfeet and Iowa Writers Workshop graduate Sterling HolyWhiteMountain. Spear was raised on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Since before she could speak, her mother encouraged her to "use your words." Spear earned a bachelor's degree in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College in 2009. She returned to complete a master's of arts in liberal studies in 2013, concentrating on creative writing. She regularly returns home to promote the arts and encourage youth. This will be Spears first Billings reading. Jawort, editor and curator of "Off the Path Volumes I & II," is a Northern Cheyenne tribal member and freelance journalist, poet and writer. As well as being a contributor to various indie newspapers, hes written for several nationally distributed publications and is a continual correspondent and columnist for "Indian Country Today Media Network." He is the founder of Off the Pass Press LLC. Jawort also has a dark fantasy/horror novel, "Moonrise Falling." You cannot create your own writing voice by continually drowning it out with the voices of what others may or may not think. said Jawort, who is renown as a bold writer in both his nonfiction and fiction works. For his first nonfiction book, "Fifty-Six Counties: A Montana Journey," Rowland traveled to every county in Montana, interviewing people about whats going on in their part of the state. He writes about the history of each county as well as how that history is still playing out in present-day Montana. I hope the book will not only give people an overall view of what's happening around the state, but also some ideas of what we can do to make Montana an even better place than it already is, Rowland said. Rowlands debut novel, "Open Spaces," (Harper Collins 2002), made the San Francisco Chronicle's bestseller list and received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. The follow-up book, "Watershed Years," was a High Plains Book Award finalist and his third novel, "High and Inside" was released in June 2013. Hes also the co-editor of "West of 98: Living and Writing the new American West," featuring writers such as Jim Harrison and Louise Erdrich. President Barack Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act The City University of New York has released a calendar and website that celebrate the achievements, sacrifices and triumphs of Americas workers. This is the 12th calendar that the University has produced in collaboration with The New York Times in Education and the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at CUNYs LaGuardia Community College, and it is the first with contributions from the New York City Central Labor Council. Students, teachers, parents and the public have free access to the downloadable calendar and a treasure chest of supporting resources that chronicle the lives of builders, artists, farmers and other workers at www.cuny.edu/workingpeople. This rich resource includes audio and video materials, original research and photographs from The New York Times archives. Teachers and students in college and secondary schools, as well as parents and the general public, can find related materials and lesson plans from previous calendars on voting rights and citizenship, womens leadership, immigration and more at www.cuny.edu/freedom. The calendar ranges over an array of topics, including agriculture, art, building, finance, health, organizing, textiles and transportation, with thumbnail profiles and numerous quotations from working people. The calendar details the history of labor in the United States. A few highlights: 1662, when Virginia codified labor of enslaved Africans as an inherited condition; 1869, when Philadelphia tailors founded what became the 700,000-member Knights of Labor, the first group to unite skilled and unskilled workers and to include women and, after 1878, African-Americans; 1900, when the International Ladies Garment Workers Union formed and United Mine Workers successfully struck the anthracite coal region; 1942, when the U.S. Bracero program imported Mexican farm workers and 1966, when the first Mexican maquiladora industrial park lured U.S. manufacturers with cheaper labor. The calendar also looks at presidential actions, such as President Martin Van Buren setting a 10-hour workday for federal employees in 1840; President Ronald Reagan firing 11,000 striking air traffic controllers and hiring nonunion replacements in 1981; President Bill Clinton signing the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993; President George W. Bush vainly trying to strip 170,000 Homeland Security workers of civil service and union protections in 2002; and President Barack Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which reversed a Supreme Court ruling that had tightly limited the time for filing workplace discrimination claims. A Mexican citizen initially pulled over by a Billings police officer in a traffic stop last year admitted to having six pounds of methamphetamine. Jetsee Alberto Nunez-Guzman, 34, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine during an appearance on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Billings. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McCarthy said in court records that Nunez-Guzman was driving a truck on June 11, 2015, when he was pulled over by a Billings police officer for having a broken brake light. Nunez-Guzman and his passenger, Carlos Alfredo Gastelum, both from Mexico, had passports. Nunez-Guzman appeared nervous and was sweating profusely, McCarthy said. He claimed to be driving from Townsend to Yellowstone National Park, a route that doesnt go through Billings, he said. The officer asked for consent to search the vehicle, and Nunez-Guzman said he didnt understand the question, McCarthy said. The officer took the response as a denial. The officer then had his narcotics-detecting dog sniff the trucks exterior, and the dog indicated the presence of drugs, McCarthy said. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents arrived to assist along with detectives and a member of the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force. During a search of the truck, officers found a space heater containing seven bags of meth totaling about 6.1 pounds of meth. Nunez-Guzman admitted to agents that he and his passenger transported the space heater full of meth from Los Angeles to Montana. Nunez-Guzman faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. He remains in custody. U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby, who conducted the hearing, recommended that U.S. District Judge Susan Watters accept the guilty plea. A sentencing date has not yet been set. It looks like you have reached this page in error ... The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake. If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know. Most Popular Destinations You may recall that Rand Paul has panned Donald Trump on numerous occasions, even going so far as to say a Trump presidency would be a catastrophe for the GOP and America, but it appears Rand son of Ron has had a change of heart. Rand now says he'll vote for the great disaster Donald Trump. When Paul was asked if he would support Trump as the nominee, he seemed hesitant, but said that he would. "Yeah, I think it would have to happen," Paul said. "I think we are a long way from deciding who the nominee is. The reason I say I will support the nominee, when I won and beat the establishment, they all came around and supported me. That's the way party politics work. They group around the nominee." I must have missed the part where Rand "beat the establishment" and "won," given that he is a polling asterisk who has been dropped from the next GOP debate lineup, but I digress. Rand repeated himself several times by saying that we're a "long way" away from Trump winning Iowa, as if he's still in a state of denial, but we really aren't a long way away from that happening. Voting for the 2016 Republican nomination will begin in a little over three weeks and Donald Trump has been the national frontrunner since last Summer. It's true that Trump's lead in the early state of Iowa is not enormous and he could lose the state at the last second, but he holds a more substantial lead in New Hampshire and massive leads in southern states such as South Carolina. This race could be over very quickly if Trump wins the first three states and Rand Paul will be stuck supporting him. I hasten to remind you that Trump very publicly humiliated Rand on national television during the first several GOP debates, but Rand will still vote for him. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) will never become the president of the United States but yesterday, ahead of the actual State of the Union address, Ted Cruz delivered his fantasy address which, in his wildest dreams, he will deliver in 2018. Among other things, Ted Cruz fantasized about eliminating Common Core, abolishing the IRS, and throwing Hillary Clinton in prison. Cruz joked that, as president in 2018, he recently abolished the Internal Revenue Service and sold the building to Donald Trump who turned it into a hotel. Im pleased to say after months of that haunted house, we have finally auctioned off the IRS building to the public, and I for one am particularly pleased that my good friend Donald Trump will be building a hotel where the IRS used to stand, he said. [...] And, he joked, Hillary Clinton is in prison. You know I have to say, weve never had a president serving from Leavenworth, he said about the prison in Kansas. But had prisoner 260401 been elected president, we would have seen 12 million people here granted amnesty. No word on what exactly Hillary Clinton would be imprisoned for in Ted Cruz's fantasy America. Also no word on how he would repeal Common Core which is not a federal program. I'll remember this when the actual 2018 State of the Union address is delivered. I don't know who will deliver it, but I know it won't be Ted Cruz. HELENA A Lewis and Clark County sheriff's deputy faces a felony charge of assault with a weapon after allegedly hitting and pulling a gun on a man he called "an ISIS" while drunk at a party. Phillip Jay Clark, 49, was arrested Monday morning. He is accused of pointing the gun at the man's chest three times with his finger on the trigger. Court documents filed by an assistant state attorney general say Clark brandished the gun during a bonfire outside his home on Dec. 4. Court documents say an agent with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Anne Dormady, "spoke with a series of witnesses" who attended a bachelor party and then a nighttime bonfire hosted by Clark and others. The alleged victim, identified as C.F., is a friend of Clark's neighbor, the documents note. C.F. told the investigator Clark was "super intoxicated" and "excited" when he arrived at the gathering. "He said Clark, 'Got a little bit violent and a little bit aggressive right away.' He said it seemed like Clark wanted to fight. He said after shaking Clark's hand Clark, 'pulled out his gun, pointed it at me and then laughed, handed it to somebody else like we were about to fight ...'" the court documents say. Court documents do not list the type of gun allegedly used by Clark. The documents say C.F. told the investigator Clark hit him in the ribs, then asked the victim to name the capital of Thailand, responded "Bangkok" and hit him in the groin before the man could respond. "C.F. had long hair on his head, facial hair and he is half-Asian," court documents note. Later during the bonfire, Clark is accused of becoming aggressive toward the man again and calling him "an ISIS" while brandishing his gun. C.F. reported a friend telling him to flee. "He said as he ran away he was '100% positive he was gonna start shooting,'" the documents say. Clark's private attorney, Mathew Johnson, said the agent failed to speak with his client and other witnesses. "My client was very surprised that charges were filed without an investigator talking to him," Johnson said. Anastasia Burton, deputy communications director for the Montana Department of Justice, said she could not comment "as the case is still under review." An interview with Clark "would include self-defense claims," Johnson said, adding that he looks forward to proving his client's innocence during trial. Clark was booked into the county jail at 9:23 a.m. Monday. Clark's bond was originally set at $50,000, but when Clark appeared in justice court, he was released on his own recognizance with certain conditions, including a GPS monitor. The case began, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said, after his office received a call from a citizen, who filed an officer complaint. "Upon initial investigation, we found the complaint warranted further investigation," Dutton said in a press release. The case was then forwarded to the Montana Department of Justice investigation division to avoid a conflict of interest and "any sense of impropriety," he said. County Chief Administrative Officer Eric Bryson said Clark "is currently an employee of Lewis and Clark County." Bryson declined to comment on whether any restrictions have been put on Clark's job. According to a 2000 article in the Independent Record, Clark was hired that year as a deputy. He had spent five years as both a detention officer at the jail and a reserve deputy previously. Montana officials are proceeding cautiously with the $86 million Otter Creek Mine project now that developer Arch Coal has filed for bankruptcy. At issue is whether the St. Louis-based coal company has the wherewithal to complete the environmental research necessary to open the mine. Facing $5 billion in debt and a sour coal economy, Arch Coal filed for bankruptcy Monday. An estimated 1.4 billion tons of minable coal are in the Otter Creek area. State officials said they werent notified by Arch that the bankruptcy was coming, but the move wasnt surprising. U.S. coal production has fallen to a 30-year low as cheap natural gas lures domestic customers away from coal, and export sales are crashing. Tuesday, the Department of Environmental Quality began discussions about how to proceed with Otter Creek Mines environmental impact statement in light of the bankruptcy filing and Archs debt to DEQ for work done on the mines environmental impact statement. An environmental impact statement is a required report describing a major projects effects on people and the environment. The reports arent cheap. Arch coal has paid $422,000 for the Otter Creek environmental study thus far, and the document isnt complete. Another $42,000 payment is past due, and another $25,000 invoice is pending. We will not be able to move forward on the EIS until their bill is brought current and we have assurances from them that they will be able to pay for future EIS work, said Kristi Ponozzo, DEQ public policy director. They will have to pay all permit fees and will be required to post a bond before they can receive their final permit. DEQ estimates it would take another $170,000 to complete the environmental review of Otter Creek. The mine has been in the works since 2010, when Arch Coal agreed to pay Montana $85.84 million for the development rights to 14 state-owned coal parcels in Otter Creek Valley in southeast Montana. At the time, Arch Coal representatives told The Gazette that they would break ground at the mine in 5 years and be in full production in six. Archs lease on the Otter Creek tracts calls for development within 10 years or the agreement expires. The Gazette phoned and emailed Arch Coal on Tuesday inquiring about how the companys bankruptcy would impact Otter Creek development. Arch didnt respond. It seems unlikely that Arch Coal would let Otter Creek collapse, given the companys investment to date, said John Tubbs, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation director. DNRC manages the states lease interests. If I were the court, I probably wouldnt let them abandon it, Tubbs said. Theres value to the Otter Creek development that for the sake of its shareholders and creditors Arch Coal shouldn't walk away from, he said. However, its been nearly a year since Arch has made progress on getting the mine approved. Permitting work on the Otter Creek mining project stalled in spring 2015 when the state asked the coal company to correct more than a hundred deficiencies in the Otter Creek permit application. Questions about water quality and quantity coming from the proposed mine have not been answered, said Ponozzo. Soil and wildlife issues at the mine site also need to be addressed. Arch Coal told the Gazette last November that it planned to resubmit its application before the end of 2015 with all of DEQs questions answered. However, the resubmission never occurred, DEQ confirmed Tuesday. The lack of progress on the environmental impact statement derailed permit plans for a $405 million railroad to service the proposed mine. Two months ago, Arch collaborators asked the federal government to suspend the permitting process for the would-be Tongue River Railroad until Otter Creek Mines permits were approved. Arch is a partner in Tongue River Railroad Co. with BNSF Railway and TRRC Financing, a limited liability company. BNSF spokesman Matt Jones said Tuesday that request to the U.S. Surface and Transportation Board to delay permitting for the 42-mile railroad still stands. We are awaiting a ruling from the STB on the request to suspend the rail permitting process until the issuance of a final, judicially affirmed Otter Creek mining permit, Jones said. The railroad was running into stiff opposition not only from environmentalists objecting to coal development, but also from the Northern Cheyenne Indians, who last fall cited concerns about damage to tribal culture and the environment when asking STB to reject the railroad. The Northern Cheyennes objections continue, said Conrad Fisher, tribal council member. Visit Bozeman Yellowstone International Airports website and youll see a photo that shows how very close the mountains are to Montanas busiest airport. Click on the Billings Logan International Airport webpage and you can see a photo of the log cabin that serves as the nearby Yellowstone County Museum. Quaint, but not the scenery that attracts millions to Montana every year. News that the Bozeman airport's passenger count topped 1 million in 2015 isnt surprising. That airport has seen enviable growth, especially since the public airport and private business collaborated four years to subsidize and secure additional non-stop flights to the Eastern United States. The 360-degree mountain view is another big selling point for the airport that is actually in Belgrade. That airport is served by a new Interstate 90 interchange. The Billings airport is as close to city center as any airport with major airline service. The terminal is less than five minutes from downtown. Billings ought to brag about that quick trip. Billings saw airport growth last year, too, serving 869,845 passengers 1.5 percent more than in 2014, as reported in Sundays Billings Gazette. Being a distant second isnt good enough for Montanas largest city and most populous county. Good airline service is essential for community growth, and Billings cannot stand still. Public-private partners Fortunately, the Billings Chamber of Commerce and Billings Tourism Improvement District recently have stepped up to partner with the city-owned airport on incentives to increase airline flight options. Billings airport leaders had met in years past with major airlines, making a case for more flights. But last year, for the first time, airport director Kevin Ploehn and Chamber President John Brewer were able to talk about the availability of money to guarantee the airlines a return on their investment in new flights. Billings has much to offer as the business hub for a vast multi-state area. People and freight move through the city by plane, rail and motor vehicle. The Magic City is the gateway to the most beautiful route into Yellowstone National Park: the spectacular Beartooth Highway by way of Red Lodge and Cooke City. Blue Ribbon trout streams and big game hunting are nearby. Theres history on our doorstep in the river William Clark explored and the battlefield where George Custer met Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. The Billings airport needs to market itself in partnership with the Chamber and Visit Billings. Major renovation coming This year, the Billings airport has budgeted for a $2.2 million upgrade on concourse B to aid more space for passenger holding, and more restroom capacity. Theres also a project to extend a runway. But capital project this year are smaller than in the past two years as the airport ramps up for a major renovation that will take more than a year to plan. That big project will be financed, as all Billings airport expenses are, with fees from airport services and from federal funds. Along with the new private-public incentive partnership, and a new airport director, Billings is poised to make the kind of changes that will compete successfully in the regional market. Let 2016 be the year that Billings Logan International Airport takes on the competition. Lets show our region better options for making our city their trailhead for business and leisure travel. HELENA If worse came to worse and lawmakers in either Washington or Oregon pass legislation that could lead to a partial shutdown of the coal-fired power plants in Colstrip, Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, wants Montana to be ready. Legislators should have a draft bill to handle the fallout from the possible closure of Units 1 and 2 ready to go, Brenden said Wednesday as the Environmental Quality Council discussed the coal plant's future. Lawmakers from Oregon and Washington discussed their proposals by phone with members of the EQC on Wednesday. Puget Sound Energy, Colstrip's largest owner, wrote a bill introduced Tuesday in the Washington Legislature that would allow the utility to buy out Talen Energy's interest in the plant's newer Unit 3, on the condition that it move to decommission the two oldest units. The bill comes after Washington lawmakers last year rejected legislation calling for Puget Sound Energy to shut down Units 1 and 2. Colstrip residents face uncertain future as pressures build on coal COLSTRIP Some say it was only a matter of time before the 1.6 million people at the other In Oregon, Portland General Electric and PacificCorp. two more Colstrip owners helped write legislation to wean that state off coal-produced electricity by 2035. The final version of that bill is now being drafted for the upcoming Oregon legislative session, said Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, chairwoman of the Oregon House Energy and Environment Committee. Oregon's legislation would prohibit the state from using electricity from Colstrip by 2035, but the Oregon utilities could sell the power to other customers or on the open market, Vega Pederson said. Colstrip is owned by six utilities that are headquartered in other states, and only one NorthWestern Energy uses Colstrip electricity to power homes and businesses in Montana. Washington Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, the chairman of Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee, said his state's legislation could change over the course of the legislative session and he plans to listen to what Montana officials have to say. "We will work together to get a solution that benefits both states," he said. It takes 76 legislators to call a special session in Montana; one can also be called by the governor. We need to draft a bill just in case the state of Montana needs it, Brenden said. I think we should be ready to call a special session. We cannot kill Montanas economy and we cant kill certain areas in Montana, Brenden said. Its just too darn important. State Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte, said one issue overlooked in the discussion about the power sent out of state by Colstrip is Montanas own industries. Everybody talks about 1 and 2, the power going to Washington, Keane said. Washington takes 300 megawatts and the big industries in Montana take 300 megawatts. REC Silicon, which operates just outside Butte, is the No. 1 user of electricity in the state and gets its power from Colstrip, Keane said. Montana Resources copper mine in Butte uses at least 50 megawatts 24/7, 365 days a year, Keane said. If the mine had to go on the open market to buy that power, he said, it would increase its operating costs by $9.5 million a year. It would be detrimental to the state of Montana, and I think this is going to be one of the biggest issues we face in the next legislative session, Keane said. State Sen. Rick, R-Wolf Creek, called the trip Montana legislators took to Spokane to meet with their counterparts last year beneficial. They realized they were way out in front of some legislation they shouldnt have been, he said. Montana made the decision long ago to allow out-of-state utilities to own Colstrip, and the plant's future is largely out of the state's hands, said Anne Hedges, deputy executive director for the Montana Environmental Information Center. "If we want to have a say in how the closure of Colstrip occurs over the next 20 years, the time is now to step up," Hedges said. Montana Rep. Ed Lieser, D-Whitefish, said the state has little leverage to influence the out-of-state legislation. He backed a recommendation by Rep. Janet Ellis, D-Helena, that state officials focus on lobbying Washington state lawmakers to include a site cleanup and job-training package in its bill. "The best thing to do is to cut the best deal we can for the citizens of Colstrip," he said. But Keane, Brendan and Republican Sen. Rick Ripley, R-Wolf Creek, said the focus must be on protecting the plant. Rep. Kerry White suggested a bill in the 2017 session to buy Colstrip with money from the state's coal severance tax fund. The committee voted to send Keane and Ripley to Olympia to testify on the Washington state bill. Questions over Arch Coal's bankruptcy filing rippled across the country Tuesday, at once illustrating the mining giant's far-reaching influence and the depths of the downturn that consumed it. In Appalachia and the Illinois Basin, the question was whether the company's mines would be sold or shuttered. Reclamation was the chief issue in Wyoming, where the company's two surface mines have $457 million in unsecured cleanup liabilities. Montanans sought answers about the fate of a railroad project serving a proposed 1.4 billion ton mine near Ashland. And in the Pacific Northwest, the bankruptcy raised doubts about the viability of an export terminal in which Arch is a minority owner. A new leadership group will likely be charged with answering those questions. Arch announced it agreed to a deal with creditors as part of its bankruptcy filing, swapping its debt for equity, and effectively handing control of the company to its lenders. That will likely include a new board of directors. The company plans to reduce the number of seats on the board from 12 to seven. Former Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who sits on Arch's board, said he expects to leave his seat as a result of the restructuring, with the new ownership group installing its own representatives. "As they should, theyre the new owners," Freudenthal said. Arch, in bankruptcy filings, said it did not anticipate any significant layoffs. Company executives have said mines will continue to operate through the bankruptcy, financed by $600 million in cash reserves and a $275 million debtor-in-possession loan. They described the move as an attempt to shed $4.5 billion in debt. But analysts said the filing was evidence of a structural shift underway in the American power sector, one that reflects a broader move toward natural gas and the federal regulations born from growing concern over climate change. Coal plants in the eastern U.S. figure to be particularly affected, they noted, with increased competition from prolific natural gas wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. Arch's two Wyoming mines are generally reckoned to be among the company's most successful and are less likely to be affected by restructuring. "The coal industry has never had to face long and persistent competition from natural gas. Really no one thinks low gas prices are going away anytime soon," said Matt Preston, principal North American thermal coal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy. "This shoe was going to drop. Everyone expected it." The company could sell mines in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin to help generate revenue for the company, he said. The firm's Powder River Basin and eastern metallurgical mines, which produce coal used in steel production, are among Arch's most valuable. Arch, the second-largest American miner by volume, joins Alpha Natural Resources, Patriot Coal Corp. and Walter Energy Inc. among the ranks of leading coal companies to file for bankruptcy in recent months. Many analysts framed the filing as a necessary downsizing in the face of waning demand, nagging surpluses of thermal and metallurgical coal and unsustainable debt levels. Much of Arch's $5.1 billion debt stems from its $3.4 billion purchase of the International Coal Group in 2011. Lucas Pipes, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets and Co., said in a note to investors that Arch's debt-for-equity swap could make the miner's bankruptcy one of the quickest in the sector's history. A new company would likely operate with little debt, he said. "Beyond Arch Coal, today's restructuring announcement highlights once more the challenges facing coal producers," Pipes wrote. "We believe that Arch's restructuring could increase the pressure on other producers to consider similar measures." Peabody Energy, the largest American coal producer, was down 15.76 percent in Tuesday trading to close at $4.49 a share. Cloud Peak Energy was up 2.4 percent to $1.68 a share. It is unclear how Arch's new owners will view many of the company's more speculative investments. The company invested $40 million in Millennium Bulk Terminals between 2012 and 2014, according to financial filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Arch owns a 38 percent stake in the proposed export dock in Longview, Washington, which would ship up to 44 million tons of Powder River Basin coal to Asia annually. Bill Chapman, president and CEO of Millennium Bulk Terminals, said in a statement that he had received no indication from Arch that it was backing away from the project and expressed confidence it would still be built. A second coal company, Lighthouse Resources, is a majority investor in the terminal. "International interest from existing and potential future customers in the success of our project continues to remain high," he said. Others were less sure. International coal demand remains stagnant and is not projected to rebound soon, Preston said. "There are developers involved and they will try to get the terminals built, but the market for international coal is even worse than the domestic market if you can imagine," he said. In bankruptcy filings, Arch moved to end shipping agreements with Kinder Morgan Terminal Services and Ridley Terminals, an export dock in British Columbia. Terminating the Kinder Morgan contract would save Arch "hundreds of millions" while closing the Ridley contract would save "several" million, Arch said. The Ridley contract calls on Arch to pay annual fees if it fails to meet minimum shipping levels. With international demand stagnant, such fees could be substantial, the company said. In Montana, Arch has a 35 percent stake in the proposed $400 million Tongue River Railroad, which would connect a BNSF line to the planned Otter Creek Mine near Ashland. Financial filings show the company spent roughly $20 million on the railroad between 2012 and 2014. Plans for the 42-mile rail spur were suspended in November, pending approval of Arch's Otter Creek mining permits. Arch said last month it intended to correct a host of deficiencies identified in its permit application by Montana regulators earlier in 2015. Opponents of the project said the bankruptcy was evidence Montana should reject Arch's plans. "Weve called the Tongue River Railroad speculative for a long time; this bankruptcy just proves it, said Northern Plains Resource Council member Mark Fix, whose farm sits along the proposed rail line. And in Wyoming the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a Northern Plains affiliate, continued to raise concerns over Arch's unsecured reclamation liabilities. The Sheridan-based landowners group filed a compliant last month alleging Arch was in violation of state and federal mining laws for failure to provide adequate financial guarantees on its reclamation obligations. State regulators rejected the claim. Companies are allowed to use their finances as collateral on reclamation bonds, a practice known as self-bonding. But they have to prove financial health in order to qualify for the program. In a Dec. 21 letter to the resource council, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality said the bonds were guaranteed through Arch's subsidiary, Arch Western Resources LLC. Arch Western Resources also filed for bankruptcy Monday. Gov. Matt Mead said in a statement that "DEQ will be attuned to the states reclamation interests." He did not elaborate and the department declined comment except to say it was reviewing Arch's bonds. It remains to be seen if the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, the ultimate regulatory, will intervene in the case. Arch's bankruptcy filings call for a $75 million bond carved out in its $275 million debtor-in-possession loan to address reclamation costs. That falls short of its $467 million self-bonding obligations. "The company made a lot of promises about its long-term viability," said Shannon Anderson, a lawyer at the Powder River Basin Resource Council. "But the coal market is really shaky right now and the best thing the state can do is protect itself." The United Nations recently claimed that the Millennium Development Goal that focused on primary education increased global enrolment from 83 percent to 91 percent. Despite these gains, today it is estimated that 124 million children do not attend school and 757 million adults are illiterate. The nearly one billion people without a proper education is distressing as a good education is a proven foundation for alleviating poverty, sustainable economic progress, healthier lifestyle and enhanced social development. Inexplicably, the international community continues to fail the global poor by not creating access to legitimate education programs that allow them to conquer poverty. The UNs Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) on education may have achieved some progress but overall it was ineffective as it concentrated more on the quantity of children attending classes rather than the quality of education at every age group. Substandard education was highlighted in an UNESCO report that stated over 29 million children dropped out of school in Sub-Sahara Africa each year. The reason can be attributed to the children not receiving a high level of education as in most cases classroom sizes are too big and teachers are unpaid, inexperienced or have no training. As a result, of the poor quality of education, an uneducated parent is more focused on their short-term needs and neglects the long-term benefits of education and thus pulls their children out of school to work. This can be seen as a result of the UN not making great gains in improving adult education. Since the parents have not personally experienced education better their quality of life, they miss the advantages for their children and thus remain trapped in the cycle of poverty. Other education problems include; ineffective, outdated, or irrelevant curriculum that does not teach students the most essential skills for success where they live. Plus, many children have the impossible task of concentrating without having the correct nutrition to properly think as schools lack funding for food programs. Such food programs can also be an added incentive for parents to enroll their children, as they will receive free food. Fixing Education in the Developing World In September 2015, the UN announced that one of the new Sustainable Development Goals (the new MDGs) would be improving the Quality of global education. This time around the new goal is more broadly focused on all levels of education and aims to eliminate gender and wealth inequalities. While this step in the right direction, ultimately achieving quality education, will involve increased investment in infrastructure, teacher training, curriculum development, classroom materials, technology, food programs and lowering schools fees. Most importantly the ultimate goal should be ensuring any program is focused on learning and not just attendance. Today no universal education model will work for every country, as each education system must be adapted to the local and cultural dynamics that exist in every unique location. This means that national governments should give local leaders, parents and teachers greater educational autonomy, including increased input in setting the curriculum in their region. More emphasis needs to put on teaching skills that are applicable for obtaining jobs in each specific region. For example, a place like Palawan Island in the Philippines, which was voted the most beautiful island in the world but is also one of its poorest regions in the country, should focus more on tourism skillsets, such as learning languages. Mineral rich countries like Peru or the Democratic Republic of the Congo should put more value into teaching skills aimed at securing legitimate jobs in industries by developing better math, science or geography programs that can produce engineers or geologists (one of Perus highest paid professions). Education Innovations Can Be part of the Solution There is hope for improving global education as successful innovative ideas are being used by many organizations, such as One Laptop per Child, who have developed and distributed millions of durable, economical, low powered laptops that allows rural children to digitally access updated textbooks, classes and information. Also, isolated rural areas Internet problems have been solved by Alphabets Loon project (Googles holding company) as they have developed technology that can supply Wi-Fi access to isolated rural areas by launching balloons into the sky. In fact, India is attempting such a project to combat their low Internet user rate and fight their weak education level. Plus, Bangladeshi based NGO BRAC, has been successfully providing quality education to the poor with their non-formal primary education program, which has a dropout rate of less than 5 percent. In addition they have a thriving adult education program that puts emphasis on women by teaching them to read, write, and share their resources so they can successfully run businesses.Another great innovator is The Economist 2015 innovation award winner Bridge International, who has developed a low cost model for building nurseries and primary schools that delivers high quality education in East Africa. These innovations can advance global education but need to be combined with increased global investment into the education sector. Corruption and the lack of knowledge of the importance of education means that governments are not investing enough money into their education sector and sometimes even spend more on their military. Moving Forward Developed countries can also take some of the blame as Kevin Watkins from Overseas Development Initiative has previously stated that only two percent of yearly international global aid given to developing countries is invested into education. To combat this, countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and EU countries must put stricter conditions on their aid and make sure that it is invested effectively in the education sectors of developing countries. Obviously, education is not the only solution to achieve sustainable human and economic development, but it is undoubtedly the foundation for true progress. In the next decades, with the help of increased investment and utilizing advances in technology, we have a great opportunity to give the worlds poor a quality education and with it the tools to alleviate poverty. We can use South Korea as an example, as in the 1960s, they were a poor country with a horrendous education system and today they have transformed into an economic powerhouse by having one of the best education systems in the world. This article was originally published with Global Policy Journal on January 4th, 2016. *Brad L. Brasseur is a Canadian international development specialist who has traveled to over 80 countries in the world, while working in several NGOs, including extended time on education programs in Peru and Ukraine. You can follow him on twitter at: @brbrasseur. RAWLINS Wyoming authorities say they have rescued two young women being taken to California by human traffickers. Wyoming Highway Patrol Officers approached a car at a Shell station near Rawlins last week in response to a call about a disturbance. A woman in the back seat mouthed the words "help me" to one officer. Her plea led to the arrest of the 38-year-old male driver and a 27-year-old woman, both from California, on human trafficking charges. Police say the woman who asked for help and another female passenger say they left Philadelphia with the couple because they promised them jobs and a new start in California. But the women say the couple became threatening and wouldn't let them leave once they got out of Pennsylvania. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/01/2016 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Boissevain Resettlement Committee hopes to gain more Westman support in its effort to sponsor a refugee family. The goal of the group, which officially launched last month, is to do the necessary legwork and build up enough resources to welcome a family by early fall. Were moving forward, but I think we determined its probably not going to go as quickly as we thought, even in terms of our readiness, said Heather Goertzen, co-chair of the Boissevain Resettlement Committee. The main thing were trying to figure out at this point is what the financial situation is, and what we can afford in terms of sponsoring. The group, which is made up of local churches and community groups, is working with Mennonite Central Committee to eventually be matched with a refugee family. The next step is to visit community organizations, answer questions and hopefully gather financial resources, Goertzen said. Our goal is to work with the resources as we get them, and if were able to sponsor one family now and another one in another year, then I think were open to that possibility too, she said. We want to make sure that we can create a home for people as much as possible, even before they get here. The Boissevain Resettlement Committee formed after many people in the community voiced their desire to help. Goertzen, who has a two-year-old daughter, said she was struck by the images of families fleeing war-torn countries. The realities are just so violent and heartbreaking, she said. I think we as a community have a lot to share, and it touches something really deeply human in us to want to give. Anyone interested in donating or volunteering can visit boissevain.ca for contact information. Were grateful for the community support, Goertzen said. jaustin@brandonsun.com Twitter: @jillianaustin Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/01/2016 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire intends to follow up with Global Affairs Canada following the death of an Oak Lake woman who became ill while visiting Cuba in November. Barbara Johnston, 54, died Dec. 29 at Brandon Regional Health Centre after getting sick in Cuba more than a month earlier. Johnston was initially taken from her resort, the Melia Cayo Santa Maria, to a clinic on the Cayo Santa Maria island before being transported to a mainland Cuban hospital, where she was treated for septic shock for more than a week. Derek Johnston and his father John recount their experience trying to care for Barbara Dereks mother and Johns wife who fell ill in Cuba while on vacation and died a month later in Brandon. Her family said the conditions at the Arnaldo Milian Castro Hospital in Santa Clara were substandard, including no running water, no antiseptic and no blankets. When the family reached out to the Canadian consulate in Cuba for help, they were largely ignored, according to Barbaras son Derek Johnston. (The consulate said) they dont have time to run around and help every sick person in Cuba," said Derek, who flew to Cuba with his brother Riley after learning of his mothers illness. Meanwhile, shes in the ICU on the edge of death. A request for a translator resulted in a list of local service providers. The majority of the numbers were out of service, according to Derek. On Monday, Maguire called the consulates reply unacceptable. I think there needs to be recognition that these consulates need to be more responsive, he said. Through my office, we will be working with the family to find out where the breakdown was and how things can be improved. Maguire said his office was involved on the file near its beginning. He said there was good communication between advocates and government officials in Canada, but there appeared to be a collapse in Cuba. The results were not what we expected in a developed country like this, Maguire said. There is a relationship between Canada and Cuba and there are going to continue to be thousands of people heading south every month to holiday there, so its one of those things that I think there needs to be a greater awareness. Global Affairs Canada has 12 indeterminate Canadian-based staff in the Cuban capital of Havana, according to Amy Mills, a spokeswoman for the department. Another 44 locally engaged staff make up a total of 56 employees working on the Caribbean island. Canada has an embassy in Havana and a consulate in Varadero and Holguin. Global Affairs Canada is aware of a Canadian citizen who was hospitalized in Cuba, Mills said in an email. Canadian consular officials provided consular assistance and were in contact with the local authorities. To protect the privacy of the individual concerned, further details on this case cannot be released. A Brandon Sun request to speak to someone in the department was not granted. Mills said the department encourages Canadians to consult the Travel Advice and Advisories (TTA) for Cuba for updated information. The TTA for Cuba states you shouldnt expect medical services to be the same as in Canada. It goes on to say that: Generally, Cubas medical services are acceptable, although basic medicine and equipment are not always available. Emergency and ambulance services are very limited and response times are slow, especially in rural areas. The cause of Barbaras death, according to her family, wasnt determined, despite being life-flighted out of Cuba to the Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Dec. 3. On Christmas morning, doctors told her family that she only had 48 hours to live. Three days later she was life-flighted to Brandon where she died early Dec. 29, surrounded by family. Prior to leaving Cuba, Derek said he spent every peso in his wallet, because no one from our family is ever going to return to that country. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/01/2016 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG Concern over an increase in the cost of tuition for law school is unlikely to find much sympathy outside law students and lawyers. Its safe to say lawyers arent seen as a particularly vulnerable group. The quiet discussion about raising tuition at the University of Manitobas faculty of law hasnt faced much scrutiny outside the confines of the school itself, but the consequences of an increase have implications for all Manitobans. A number of factors have conspired over the last few years (primarily pressure from the universitys administration to cut costs) to create a situation in which a significant increase in tuition was deemed necessary by administrators. The most recent proposal would take tuition from approximately $10,000 to $16,000 over three years. This is a big jump for students who are already often walking away with more than $100,000 of debt. In 2013, the National Self-Represented Litigants Project reported that in many courts, more than 50 per cent of people are navigating the legal system without a lawyer. Canadas top judge, Beverley McLachlin, has referred to this lack of access to justice as a crisis. A 2013 Canadian Bar Association report on unrepresented litigants paints the distressing picture of a large number of working Canadians (with incomes as high as $60,000) not able to afford legal counsel, with its attendant consequences. But what does increased law school tuition have to do with the increased number of self-reps? Why should we worry about the cost of going to law school? Arent these students the future lawyers that are pricing themselves out of the average citizens reach? In fact, it seems clear the cost of legal education has a great deal to do with the crisis in access to justice. The cost of a legal education encourages more and more students to focus on areas of the law that are the most profitable, or forgo practising law at all. This leaves key areas of public interest where lawyers are most needed such as family law, public interest litigation, civil litigation and criminal law underserviced. The idea that has justified increasing tuition in law schools is the perception law school remains a golden ticket for those admitted. The assumption is once a student is admitted to law school, theyre on their way to life in the upper-middle class. This is increasingly not the case for many young lawyers, who find themselves struggling to pay student loans, competing with out-of-province and out-of-country graduates for the limited number of articling spots at firms. The consequences are clear: higher rates of young lawyers are dropping out of the profession, taking their legal training and using it in another field. The stress of trying to earn a living as a lawyer, while paying off student loans, buying a home and starting a family, have become increasingly unrealistic. The debt students take on when going to law school also makes starting their own small firms almost impossible. But tuition keeps increasing because of a belief it doesnt matter. How do we reverse this trend? Law schools need to do a better job of advocating for the public benefit lawyers provide. Theres both a moral imperative and a business case for the value of lawyers. Ensuring access to justice through the provision of affordable legal services is surely essential to our commitment to the rule of law. And providing timely and affordable legal services also makes good financial sense. Whether its ensuring the court process runs smoothly (self-reps worsen delays and cost the system more) or ensuring small business get affordable legal advice early rather than winging it and then having to pay when they get into legal trouble down the road, there are practical reasons to want legal advice available at an affordable cost. Law schools will tell you they need the money to fund their programming, but they ask students to bear the costs without making a case to governments and the public about why lawyers serve the public interest. There is a reason medical school tuition is cheaper in Manitoba than law school despite the fact a law school is less expensive to operate. The medical profession has effectively made a case that training a doctor is in the public interest. The legal profession has not made the same case about training future lawyers. With debt from law school as high as it is, few students support an increase in tuition. They need their professors, their administrators and the rest of the legal profession to speak up on their behalf and make the case for the role of lawyers in our communities. In Manitoba, the Code of Professional Conduct says a lawyer must encourage public respect for and try to improve the administration of justice. There are few better ways to uphold this directive than by ensuring legal education is affordable. Ben Wickstrom, formerly the director of legislative affairs for the NDP government, is studying law at the University of Manitoba. His article was also recently published by the Winnipeg Free Press. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/01/2016 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Its frankly all of our partners and allies who were pursuing that contract, not just Canada. So this is a deal frankly with a country, and notwithstanding its human rights violations, which are significant, this is a contract with a country that is an ally in the fighting against the Islamic State. A contract that any one of our allies would have signed. Then-prime minister Stephen Harper, September 2015. Apparently so will political adversaries when given the chance. A report by the Globe and Mail yesterday noted that Canada, under the new Liberal government, seemingly plans to continue with the sale of weaponized armoured fighting vehicles to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, a contract that was engineered by the former Harper government. Access to Information files obtained by that paper last year show that the government has been chasing this deal since at least 2009, though it only came to light in 2014. The Globe reported that a federal agency responsible for sales to foreign military, the Canadian Commercial Corporation, is the prime contractor for the transaction, though its actually London-based General Dynamics Land Systems Canada that manufactures the vehicles. The $15-billion deal, billed as one of the largest sales by a Canadian exporter, will keep about 3,000 workers employed for nearly 15 years. The situation that the Conservatives now find themselves in is dripping with irony. The Tories are now demanding that the Liberals justify the transaction the very same that the Harper government defended under Canadas current export control policy guidelines, which has very strict parameters for the exportation of military goods and technology to countries whose governments have persistent human rights violations against their own citizens. Meanwhile, the Liberals are going ahead exactly as Justin Trudeau said he would just days before last Octobers federal election. The Liberal party has been clear: We will not cancel the existing contracts, Trudeau told the Globe at the time. We will, however, behave in a way that is transparent and open going forward, to ensure that Canadians have confidence that their government is abiding by the rules, principles and values that people expect of their government. To that end, the governing Liberals have pledged, since taking office, to offer up a redacted version of an internal 2015 report on the state of human rights in Saudi Arabia, though any sensitive information and advice will be blacked out. But putting a different face to the deal does not change the fact that this deal remains difficult to square for a country that is supposed to be a champion of human rights. As we have reported in this space before, Saudi Arabias record on human rights is simply appalling. The World Report 2015 put forward by Human Rights Watch reports that detainees in the Saudi criminal justice system including children commonly face systematic violations of due process and fair trial rights, including arbitrary arrest and torture and ill-treatment in detention. And media and human rights reports from agencies like Amnesty International show that the Saudis have done nothing to slow executions the latest a prominent Shia cleric who was a well-known anti-government protest leader, on the erroneous charge of sedition. In effect, Canada has no guarantee that the military equipment we are selling to Saudi Arabia wont be used against its own people, let along create new victims in neighbouring countries. And just because you have vowed to be more open than the previous government about such deals does not make you a better or more principled government. Two wrong decisions still dont make it right. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/01/2016 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Overpaid and undeserving firefighters? What resentful words. For firefighters being away from loved ones over the holidays is not a matter of compromising. Its not a choice. They are in this line of work because they have a desire to help others, and they willingly took these positions knowing that in order to help others, they may have to sacrifice special times with their families and children. That to me is not undeserving, it is very much an example of why they ARE deserving. Nothing but killing fields Re: Hunters Treaty Rights Respected, Recognized: Sask. Official, Brandon Sun, Jan. 10. I have no quarrel with First Nations people having unrestricted hunting privileges, as their forebears, when there is a desperate need for food and survival. However, in todays modern age, with modern killing tools and modes of transportation, this unrestricted hunting privilege becomes a killing field, and animals no longer have a safe place for refuge and bear their young. Unless the hunting laws are changed, I am of the opinion that it is only a matter of time that big game hunting will be no more. All the animals will be exterminated. Thanks to some humans and their failings of conservation. Good luck Maple Leaf! As one who adheres to the Muslim faith, I find it honourable that Maple Leaf Foods is reaching out to our Syrian refugees by offering them employment. Its highly doubtful however that theyll receive any takers since Muslims are forbidden by the Quran to even touch pork and the consumption of same, even by accident is considered a major affront to the religion. someone will always go above and beyond The judge said speeding along the national highway is a growing problem. Mom clocked at 170 km/h. Did the judge really think with the present limit at 110, that speeders would be satisfied? As long as jurisdictions keep raising limits, there will be those who will continue to exceed them. That growing problem has been with us since the beginning of transportation! Still waiting for a breakdown Reading The Brandon Sun the other day Mr. Sefton said it cost $11,000 a year to teach one student. Again I would like the breakdown on what dollars go where. I have written in to Sound Off before asking the same question. So far no answer. Brandon, you are growing up Oh, Brandon what has happened to our pleasant little city that nestled besides the Assiniboine River that came to be because of the railways? Its hard to believe that some drivers need to be told to merge at the 18th Street bridge or watch drivers continue to hold up north bound traffic on First Street while waiting to turn left onto Pacific Avenue. I need to break the news Brandon is now a bustling city with all that comes with it, congestion and heavy traffic. Relax, leave for your destination earlier, be courteous, watch for pedestrians, dont be afraid to yield. You will get to your destination. Perhaps this is a bit of a cliche... ...but I just have to savor 2010 as it was such a great year bird-wise. I saw 935 bird species 644 o... Dublin ranks in the top three European cities for real estate investment for the last three years. It is behind Berlin and Hamburg. By Juno McEnroe Political Correspondent Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has launched his partys digital ad campaign ahead of the election but put his rival, Enda Kenny, front and centre of the main message. In a surprise move, the partys poster was unveiled today but with a large picture of Mr Kenny and even Fine Gaels logo on the image. However, the message is targeting Fine Gaels record overseeing health while in government as well the coalitions party election pledge to reduce taxes for the wealthy. The mock poster with Mr Kenny says he wont end the scandal of patients on trolleys (a promise he made in the 2007 general election campaign) and that tax cuts for wealthy come first. Mr Martin denied that the Fianna Fail move was negative campaigning. He said Fine Gael had promised to end the two tier system in health and that US style taxes would decimate services. Mr Martin said that he would himself be front and centre of the Opposition partys main campaign. Health, homelessness and crime would be some of the main issues addressed during its campaign. "The purpose of this message is to illustrate the fundamental problem with the Fine Gael approach and the consistency in which they break promises, including the one they made five years ago when they said they would end the two-tier health service. The Irish Cancer Society has partly reversed its decision to stop its hardship grants for cancer patients. It has now announced it will maintain the grants for the families of children suffering from the condition - a move which it has said will cost it around 200,000 a year. Dublin commuters are facing major disruption next month as Luas workers confirmed two 48-hour strikes. Trade union Siptu has served notice of the industrial action on Transdev, which operates the tram, in a row over pay and conditions. The first continuous work stoppage will take place on Thursday, February 11 and Friday, February 12. Workers will also stage a walkout on Thursday, February 18 and Friday, February 19. Owen Reidy, of Siptu, said union members are conscious of the inconvenience caused by the action but believe they have no other option. In talks over the last 18 months, Transdev has failed to offer an increase in pay for the next five years to Luas workers, he said. The company position in talks in all forums has been that it will only offer pay increases in line with the consumer price index (CPI). The CPI is currently, and has been for some time, a negative figure. This means that unlike 96% of other companies across the state Transdev is not prepared to pay any increase in pay in excess of that attached to workers existing conditions of employment. Mr Reidy also accused Transdev of trying to demonise Luas workers. Instead of attacking its employees, the management of Transdev would be better served considering why over 99% of Luas workers feel so frustrated that they voted for industrial action, he said. Siptu members hope that the company will reconsider its position and make a meaningful offer on pay. Gerry Madden, Transdev's managing director, said the operator was disappointed with the strike action notice, and claimed workers' pay and conditions are ``very favourable''. The claims being pursued by Siptu on pay alone are between 8.5% and 53.8% depending on the pay scale, and would cost Transdev 30m over the five years of the Luas operating contract 6m per year, he said. This is at a time when Transdev finds itself in a loss-making situation. The loss incurred by Transdev in 2015 was 700,000 and we are predicting further losses in 2016. Mr Madden added that Transdev did not cut pay, freeze pay or change terms and conditions throughout the economic crisis. On the contrary, Transdev increased pay between the years 2009 and 2015, with increments ranging between 1.25% and 5%. During this period we also reduced average working hours, he added. By Fiachra O Cionnaith Political Reporter Former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has added to growing consensus on when the election date will be by saying he believes it will take place on Friday February 26. The former communications minister, who is stepping down from front-line politics when the Dail is dissolved in the coming weeks after three decades as a TD, said this morning he believes the vote will be held on the widely predicted but still unconfirmed date. "I'd say it's about the best stab you can make on it," he told reporters while arriving at Government Buildings today before the last term of the Dail before the election is called. The Labour Party conference is the last weekend of January and I think once the Dail resumes after that the Taoiseach may well be minded to go to the Park, Mr Rabbitte said. If one conference happens I think all the conferences must be allowed take place. As it stands, Labour is the last of three [Fianna Fail's one day conference is this weekend, followed by Fine Gael and then Labour, with Sinn Fein postponing its conference until April due to ongoing questions over when the election will be called] and in that case I think you wont have long to hang around after that," he added. While Taoiseach Enda Kenny told reporters during a coalition event on Monday that he has his preferred general election date "in my head" he has so far declined to clarify the matter publicly other than to say it will occur in early Spring. Tanaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton yesterday said the two coalition party leaders have "had some discussions" over when the vote will take place, but has also declined to outline when this may be. Speaking on RTE Radio's Morning Ireland programme this morning, the Government's chief whip and Fine Gael TD Paul Kehoe said he was unsure of when the general election will be called but stressed the Dail and Seanad still has a number of pieces of legislation to pass before this occurs. The view was also expressed by Labour's Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin this morning, who said before cabinet that there is still "uncompleted work". However, he joked: I wouldnt advise any politician or political reporter to take any leave before the end of March". The February 26 date has been increasingly suggested in recent months due to a number of factors. These include a Government ambition to maximise the benefit of both parties' annual conferences at the end of this month, and the reality that holding a vote in March could lead to uncertainty over who is in power at the time of the annual State visit to the White House in the US. Further issues affecting when the date will be held are the rumoured desire from Government not to hold the general election too close to the 1916 centenary celebrations in order to prevent any emotive increase in votes for Sinn Fein, and - crucially - the ongoing difficulties in the bank inquiry. As previously detailed by the Read More: Stade Francais winger Josaia Raisuqe has been hit with a 15-week ban for eye-gouging. The Fijian was red carded after his hand made contact with the eye of Munster's CJ Stander during last weekend's European Rugby Champions Cup clash in Paris. After pleading guilty, he was initially given an 18-week ban with a further three weeks added as a deterrent before he had six weeks reduced. That means that Raisuqe won't be free to play again until May 9th. He will miss Saturday's rematch against Munster, who lost to 14-man Stade 27-7 last Saturday. Turkish police have arrested one person in connection with the suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed 10 foreigners, most of them German tourists. The suspect was detained late on Tuesday, Turkeys interior minister Efkan Ala said during a news conference with his German counterpart. Turkish media reports said police had raided a home in an affluent neighbourhood of Istanbul, detaining one woman suspected of having links to the Islamic State group. Turkish police also arrested 13 suspected IS militants, including three Russian nationals, a day after the bombing in Istanbuls historic Sultanahmet district. The attack, which also wounded 15 other people, including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman, was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. Turkish authorities identified the bomber as a Syrian born in 1988, who had recently entered Turkey and was not among a list of potential bombers wanted by Turkey. Turkish media, including newspapers close to the government, identified him as Nabil Fadli, and said he was born in Saudi Arabia. Justice minister Bekir Bozdag said authorities were working to identify people connected to the attacker. He would not provide details on the investigation, saying it would compromise those efforts. The Russians were detained in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists, but it was not clear if the arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Ten other people were detained in Turkeys third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya. The Russian Foreign Ministry in November said the number of Russians that left for Syria to fight for the Islamic State group was 2,719. Of these, 160 have been killed, 73 have returned and been tried and 36 have been arrested. Tuesdays blast, just steps from the historic Blue Mosque, was the first by IS to target Turkeys vital tourism sector, although the militants have struck with deadly effect elsewhere in the country. Eight Germans were among the dead and nine others were wounded, some seriously, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere arrived in Istanbul for talks with Ala and other Turkish officials to discuss the attack. It was not clear if the attacker had specifically targeted Germans. Germany committed Tornado reconnaissance jets to the military effort against the Islamic State group in Syria following the November attacks in Paris, and started flying missions from the Incirlik air base in Turkey last week. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. It has not taken a direct combat role, however. Germany already was helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting IS in northern Iraq. The impact of Tuesdays attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkeys tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Details are continuing to emerge about the suicide bomber who killed 10 people in Istanbul yesterday. Nine Germans and a Peruvian man were killed in the blast in Sultanahmet Square yesterday - a popular tourist spot. Another 15 people were injured. Journalist in Turkey Andrew Finkle has said the bomber was not on a terrorist watch list - but the attack has raised questions about border control: People are saying that they know who this man is, He is a Saudi-born Syrian, who had recently been in Syria, at the same time the authorities are saying that he was not on any known terrorist list, However he was quickly identified after the blast. Meanwhile, three Russians have been arrested in Turkey after the bomb blast. Officials have said they are suspected of having links to Islamic State. In total, almost 60 people have been detained in raids across the country following the suicide attack. North Dakota Veterans Affairs Commissioner Lonnie Wangen was recently given a top honor in commemoration of his service by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. On Oct. 1, Wangen was named a Kentucky Colonel, the highest honor Kentucky can issue to individuals. It is issued by the governor and secretary of state of Kentucky to honor those whove provided distinguished service to their city, state or the country. Wangen was chosen for the honor due to his work in various veterans organizations on a national level, according to a Wednesday release. Wangen graduated from high school in Harvey, later receiving his bachelors degree from North Dakota State University and two masters degrees in business administration from the University of Mary. He also spent 27 years in the North Dakota National Guard. Hes served as the agencys commissioner since 2008. More information on the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels can be found at www.kycolonels.org. ISLAMABAD: The policy of import compression by the government to manage the balance of payments which was ... On New Years Eve, in the shadow of Colognes cathedral, crowds of North African and Middle Eastern men accosted women out for the nights festivities. They surrounded them, groped them, robbed them. Two women were reportedly raped. Though there were similar incidents from Hamburg, Germany, to Helsinki, the authorities at first played down the assaults, lest they prove inconvenient for Angela Merkels policy of mass asylum for refugees. That delay has now cost Colognes police chief his job. But the German government still seems more concerned about policing restless natives most recently through a deal with Facebook and Google to restrict anti-immigrant postings than with policing migration. Just last week, Merkel rejected a proposal to cap refugee admissions, which topped 1 million last year, at 200,000 in 2016. The underlying controversy is not a new one. For decades, conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic have warned that Europes generous immigration policies, often pursued in defiance of ordinary Europeans wishes, threaten to destabilize the continent. The conservatives have made important points about the difficulty of assimilation, the threat of radicalization, and the likelihood of Paris-style and Cologne-style violence in European cities. But they have also trafficked in more apocalyptic predictions fears of a Eurabia, of mass Islamification that were somewhat harder to credit. Until recently, Europes assimilation challenge looked unpleasant but not insurmountable, and the likelihood of Yugoslavian-style balkanization relatively remote. With the current migration, though, were in uncharted territory. The issue isnt just that immigrants are arriving in the hundreds of thousands rather than the tens of thousands. Its that a huge proportion of them are teenage and 20-something men. In Sweden, for instance, which like Germany has had an open door, 71 percent of all asylum applicants in 2015 were men. Among the mostly-late-teenage category of unaccompanied minors, as Valerie Hudson points out in an important essay for Politico, the ratios were even more skewed: 11.3 boys for every one girl. As Hudson notes, these trends have immediate implications for civil order young men are, well, young men; societies with skewed sex ratios tend to be unstable; and many of these men carry assumptions about womens roles that are diametrically opposed to the values of contemporary Europe. But theres also a longer term issue, beyond the need to persuade new arrivals that to quote from a Norwegian curriculum for migrants in Europe to force someone into sex is not permitted. When immigration proceeds at a steady but modest clip, deep change comes slowly, and theres time for assimilation to do its work. Thats why the Muslim population in Europe has been growing only at 1 percentage point a decade; its why many of the Turkish and North African immigrants who arrived in Germany and France decades ago are reasonably Europeanized today. But if you add a million (or millions) of people, most of them young men, in one short period, you get a very different kind of shift. In the German case the important number here isnt the countrys total population, currently 82 million. Its the 20-something population, which was less than 10 million in 2013 (and of course already included many immigrants). In that cohort and every cohort afterward, the current influx could have a transformative effect. How transformative depends on whether these men eventually find a way to bring brides and families to Europe as well. In terms of immediate civil peace, family formation or unification offers promise, since men with wives and children are less likely to grope revelers or graffiti synagogues or seek the solidarity of radicalism. But it could also double or treble this migrations demographic impact, pushing Germany toward a possible future in which half the under-40 population would consist of Middle Eastern and North African immigrants and their children. If you believe that an aging, secularized, heretofore-mostly-homogeneous society is likely to peacefully absorb a migration of that size and scale of cultural difference, then you have a bright future as a spokesman for the current German government. Youre also a fool. Such a transformation promises increasing polarization among natives and new arrivals alike. It threatens not just a spike in terrorism but a rebirth of 1930s-style political violence. The still-imaginary France that Michel Houellebecq conjured up in his novel Submission, in which nativists and Islamists brawl in the streets, would have a very good chance of being realized in the German future. This need not happen. But prudence requires doing everything possible to prevent it. That means closing Germanys borders to new arrivals for the time being. It means beginning an orderly deportation process for able-bodied young men. It means giving up the fond illusion that Germanys past sins can be absolved with a reckless humanitarianism in the present. It means that Angela Merkel must go so that her country, and the continent it bestrides, can avoid paying too high a price for her high-minded folly. (Ross Douthat writes for the New York Times. His syndicated column appears on Wednesdays.) PARIS: Three weeks into a refinery strike that has caused fuel shortages across the country, tens of thousands of... Fargo businessman Doug Burgum has released details of Thursdays announcement regarding his intentions in this years race for North Dakota governor, with multiple stops in Fargo and Bismarck that are sure to fuel speculation hes running. Burgum sent an email invitation Tuesday night that begins, With deep gratitude for the people and communities of North Dakota, and lists his public announcements at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Stage at Island Park in Fargo and 4 p.m. at the Bismarck State College National Energy Center of Excellence Auditorium. Burgum, the former CEO of Great Plains Software who led the company through its $1.1 billion sale to Microsoft in 2001, expressed interest in the governors race after Gov. Jack Dalrymple announced in August he would not seek re-election. Burgums spokeswoman said in November that if he were to run, it would be as a Republican. State Republican Party chairman Kelly Armstrong speculated in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon that Burgum was likely to run. I know him, and I dont think Doug would go through all those steps to say no, but thats just a guess on my part, he said. So far, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and state Rep. Rick Becker of Bismarck are the only Republicans to announce they will seek the GOP endorsement at the state party convention April 1-3 in Fargo. Stenehjems campaign manager told Forum News Service last week that he believes Burgum will skip the convention and go straight to the June primary if he jumps into the race. Armstrong, a state senator from Dickinson, said he hoped Burgum would seek the GOP endorsement if he decides to run. I dont want a Democrat to have a say in that process, and thats what concerns me about open primaries, he said. Armstrong said he believes name recognition would be Burgums biggest hurdle in a run for governor. Burgum is well-known in Cass County and is a 2009 recipient of the states highest citizen honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, but he has never appeared on a statewide ballot, whereas Stenehjem grew up in western North Dakota, has served as a state legislator from Grand Forks and won five statewide elections for attorney general. Former state agriculture commissioner Sarah Vogel is raising campaign funds for a potential run on the Democratic ticket. NEW DELHI: India is awaiting World Health Organization evidence of a link between an Indian cough syrup and the... The North Dakota Supreme Court has suspended a Fargo attorney for six months and a day after it found he failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in dealing with some clients and failed to refund some of the money they paid him. In its August decision, the high court accepted the recommendation of the state's disciplinary board concerning Fargo attorney Jesse Matson, based in part on his conduct in three separate cases. In one case, Matson represented a client deployed overseas in a divorce case that also involved parental responsibility. The court found Matson didn't respond in a timely fashion to his client's inquiries and didn't show up for trial until seconds before it was set to begin. Matson didn't understand the military compensation system, which created an error in child support, the court found, then lied to his client, assuring him he'd get the judgment amended. The court order states that Matson stopped sending the client rulings on the case before bailing on the case completely without notice in January 2014. In another child support case, the client hired Matson with a $2,000 retainer, then didn't hear from him again or receive any of the documents drafted for her case. She hired another attorney, but Matson didn't pass on any of his work to her new lawyer, and then failed to refund her money or give her an itemized bill, the court found. In the third case, a client hired Matson to represent him in a divorce via a $4,000 retainer. It took Matson two months to file the complaint and another four months to prepare the additional documents. He failed to file anything with the district court, the court found. The documents Matson created showed a lack of legal knowledge and skill, the court found, and his lack of timeliness created serious delays with the case. When this client, too, heard little substantive information from Matson on his case and finally sought another attorney, Matson again failed to provide the needed documents to the new lawyer. In both cases, Matson either failed to refund either all or part of the client's money, refusing one client's attempt at arbitration in one instance and charging unreasonable fees in another, the court found. In all three cases, the court found Matson's conduct had injured his clients, whether through delays, wasted money or being forced to find new lawyers or to represent themselves in court. The court also found Matson had failed to pay costs and expenses in a previous April 2014 disciplinary action against him. The court's ruling also requires Matson to take a continuing legal education course on the rules of professional conduct, as well as to pay costs and expenses from both disciplinary actions. Matson's suspension was effective Sept. 15 and ends in March. He was licensed to practice law in North Dakota beginning in 2011. The 34-year-old couldn't be reached for comment. Matson is also barred from practicing law in Minnesota, where he was first licensed in 2008, according to online records. The cause of the Minnesota action isn't clear because there hasn't a publicly released decision against him by the state's lawyer disciplinary board. Police believe a Victorian teenager accused of the sexual assaults of eight women and girls in the surf at a popular Gold Coast beach may have more victims. The 18-year-old, from the regional city of Geelong, is alleged to have sexually assaulted five girls aged 15 and three women aged between 17 and 24 within a half an hour period at Surfers Paradise beach on Tuesday. Bank of Queensland's decision to lift its standard variable rate for owner-occupiers and for investment properties makes it the first Australian bank to increase interest rates since late last year Credit:Glenn Hunt The alleged victims were swimming in three groups between the flags just after midday when the man is alleged to have swum between them and committed the assaults. Two told police he attempted to digitally rape them. The Australian National University has launched an investigation into an essay farm selling completed assignments to Chinese students in Canberra. Concerns about the cheating service were raised by former students who believed someone within the university community was exploiting international students for profit. The Australian National University will investigate an online assignment cheating service. Credit:Louise Kennerley ANU deputy vice-chancellor, professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, said any student caught using the service would face disciplinary action and possible expulsion. The company, Assignment King, advertises its services in Mandarin on a community website and promises to deliver original assignments that cannot be detected by anti-plagiarism software. A Barton man will fight allegations he used dating websites to lure and sexually assault two women late in 2015. But a broken mobile phone has slowed the investigation into Adrian Nathaniel Andrews, as police scrutinise his communications with other woman he met online. Accused: Adrian Nathaniel Andrews. Mr Andrews, 33, was granted bail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday on condition he post a $17,000 security, not leave the territory, and not access the internet. Mr Andrews' lawyer, James Lawton, entered pleas of not guilty on his client's behalf to charges of committing acts of indecency, sexual assault, sexual intercourse without consent, and unlawfully choking another person. Richmond's Dustin Martin looks certain to line up in round one against Carlton after being cleared of any serious wrong-doing by an AFL investigation. Martin was accused of threatening of a woman with a chopstick at a Japanese restaurant last month but Victoria Police found he had no case to answer while completing its investigation. Fairfax Media understands that initial allegations aimed at Martin could also not be substantiated by AFL investigators. The league's review was completed last week. AFL counsel Andrew Dillon is expected to put an end to the saga by Friday after consultation with the Tigers. Financial advisers to some of Sydney and Melbourne's richer families say they believe their clients mostly accept that tax incentives on superannuation need to be be better targeted even though are likely to have to pay more tax. "I really don't see a lot of opposition among my clients to the idea that they should have to pay slightly higher taxes on their super," Integral Private Wealth director David Simon said. "Most people understand that the incentives for saving within super are exemplary compared to other vehicles and that it is important the system is seen as fair and equitable." Financial modelling, produced for the wealth management lobby group the Financial Services Council (FSC) by accounting and advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said the most equitable solution was replacing the flat 15 per cent tax on contributions with a progressive contributions tax of a 20 per cent discount to individuals' marginal income tax rates and increasing mandatory contributions to 12 per cent no later than 2022. The glum stall holders, tapping absentmindedly on their smartphones, comfortably outnumber the customers at this bleak bargain shopping mall on the northern fringe of central Beijing. Their prices appear competitive at first glance; one stall has a Uniqlo down jacket for just 100 yuan ($21.60), some five times below recommended retail. Upon closer inspection, though, it is a (fairly decent) knock-off, the white letters in the popular Japanese brand's familiar logo spell "Unigle"; other clothes tags simply have random letters. The stereotype of cheap knock-offs and flagrant infringements of copyright and intellectual property is an image China wants to leave behind as it seeks to make the difficult transition from a global factory of cheap exports to one based on domestic consumption, and known for technological innovation and value-add. If the foot traffic through this old-fashioned vestige of Chinese retail is any sign, shoppers have already begun voting with their feet. A Chinese construction company has placed a significant roadblock in the development of Sundance Resources' Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project after failing to sign a key contract due to the plummeting iron ore price. Perth-based iron ore hopeful Sundance said on Wednesday the Chinese stateowned construction company it had selected to build the long-challenged project's key port and rail infrastructure, China Gezhouba Group Company, had postponed signing a contract for the work, a move likely to further delay the Central African development and access to the funds needed to build it. Sundance says it is assessing the impact of the delay. Credit:Bloomberg "The company is now assessing the impact this postponement will have on the project and will update shareholders in the near term, once this assessment has been completed," Sundance said. It came just one day after Australian magnetite miner Gindalbie revealed the majority partner in its Karara mine in Western Australia, China's Ansteel, was considering pulling funding for the project, putting it at risk of collapse. DICKINSON -- Warren Logans first run at higher education didnt last. He said he struggled with a lack of both discipline and an external push to learn. Compounding his difficulties was the influence of his friends who bypassed higher education for the financial opportunity of oilfield work. My high school friends that didnt go to college went straight to work in the Oil Patch and would drop by and show off their newest toys, Logan recalled, and that led me from school. ... My immaturity and lust for money and property overshadowed college. Logan, now 28, left the University of Wyoming in search of oilfield work and eventually joined the staff of National Oilwell Varco. In time, he rose through the ranks at NOV to become a district manager for oilfield services and settled in Dickinson. Here, he learned of the Bakken U program through Dickinson State Universitys website and applied for the scholarship, funded by the North Dakota Petroleum Council, on a whim. He found out last Thursday that he had been selected as the programs first awardee and, less than a week later, Logan received $5,000 from the North Dakota University System program at a Tuesday press conference at DSUs Student Center. Logan came to Dickinson a few years ago with his wife and their three young children, who span ages from 1 to 5 years old, through a company relocation package. He is a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe and grew up on Wyomings Wind River Indian Reservation, where he realized he had to improve my life, and to do that, I would have to attend college or get a high-paying job. Jerry Rostad, assistant chief information officer for core technology services at the NDUS, said at the press conference that Bakken U -- which is intended to attract both employed and laid-off oilfield workers and their spouses -- had received 30 applications total in its first round. Of those 30, Rostad said nearly 50 percent of applicants had been in North Dakota for five years or less and about 50 percent were directly employed by an oil company. About 30 percent of the applicants were spouses of oil workers, he added, and all but five of the applicants had some experience in higher education. They got out of high school, they took a few courses, and then life experiences happened and they ended up working in the oil industry, Rostad said. DSU President Tom Mitzel described Bakken U as very much in alignment with the vision of DSU, and said his university believed so strongly in the programs aims that it was in the process of establishing a similar iteration of its own. I want to announce that we have looked to begin our own program to provide scholarships to those students who would look to enroll in Bakken U, Mitzel said. Were hoping to have our program up and running by next fall. Meanwhile, Logan began his first semester at DSU on Tuesday evening, taking the initial steps toward the goal of earning a bachelors degree in business administration, the same degree he hoped to pursue at Wyoming before defecting to oilfield work. He will be working full time while also maintaining full-time student status. Hell be completing his courses remotely to fit them around his career obligations. Logan said receiving the scholarship was definitely overwhelming and a humbling experience. The thing Im most impressed by is the Petroleum Council, the NDUS and the state of North Dakota putting a strong foot forward saying, We want you here, we want you to stay here, Logan said. Any downturn, for any different industry -- thats a good time to improve yourself. Theres no time better than the present. Stuart's article implies the only available penalty for this type of offence if the victim survives the attack is a maximum of two years' imprisonment for common assault. Depending on the circumstances and injury caused, there are a range of offences available between assault (maximum of two years' imprisonment) and murder (maximum of life imprisonment). One of these offences, for example, is intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm (maximum of 20 years' imprisonment). The offence with which a person is charged will depend on the crime's individual circumstances. It is not sensible, or in line with principles of criminal justice, to single out one example of violence that can fall within that range of offences and create a new offence with a penalty akin to that of murder. Acts of violence are serious and should never be tolerated. The government is committed to addressing violence in the community, as well as setting appropriate penalties for these offences. A coward punch can cause lasting and devastating impacts on victims and their families. In an opinion piece in The Canberra Times on Tuesday, Nicholas Stuart asserts that the ACT government and specifically me as Attorney-General take a relaxed attitude to coward punch incidents . To the contrary, this government takes a systematic approach to violence in the community, looking at causes, harms and prevention, and has taken steps recently to address these causes and harms. Thankfully, the victim of a cowardly punch on January 1, 2016, did not die. If that had happened, the offender could have been charged with manslaughter or murder, for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment, in line with Queensland's new offence of unlawful striking causing death. The alleged offender has been charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm. The maximum penalty for this in the ACT is 13 years' imprisonment. This was increased in a legislative amendment I proposed as Attorney-General in 2011 from a previous 10-year maximum. The penalty for this level of offence in NSW is 12 years, in Queensland it is 14 years and in Victoria it is 15 years. Coward punches are often fuelled by alcohol and it is thus crucial that we manage the consumption of alcohol in our community in a way that reduces and prevents alcohol-related violence and other harm. The ACT government has shown its commitment to this through the reforms to liquor regulation that were implemented in 2010. The Liquor Act adopted a new focus on harm minimisation and community safety and included a risk-based approach to licensing, mandatory responsible service of alcohol training, risk-assessment management plans for licensed premises and new offences dealing with the supply of liquor to intoxicated people and irresponsible promotion of liquor. These reforms were supported by a significant expansion of policing and regulatory resources to ensure compliance with the new laws. This has involved police and the liquor regulator working with industry on education and awareness, as well as taking enforcement action for breaches. In 2015, I released two papers seeking views from key stakeholders and the broader community on a range of options to further prevent alcohol-related harms. Some of the measures that were canvassed have already been implemented in, or are being considered by other jurisdictions. More than 30 submissions were received. These, together with the research and evidence available about what works to reduce alcohol-related violence and anti-social behaviour, will inform the government's decision about further changes to strengthen the community-safety focus of our liquor laws. Law reform should be conducted in a measured, evidence-based manner, not fuelled by public outrage. There is no denying that coward punches need to stop. But there is also no evidence suggesting that laws such as minimum mandatory penalties have any value as a deterrent. In 2013, Bowie came back. With The Next Day released with no publicity, and an accompanying retrospective exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, to huge success. Bowie reproduced himself. He was not just a music icon of the past but he was now mysterious and respectable. Unlike his peer group of ageing rockers think The Rolling Stones and the smirks that accompanying a well-pickled (sorry, preserved) Keith Richards. The power of the celebrity, and not the media that portrays them, lies in their ability to tap into the social and cultural concerns of a time. Bowie did this with his breakthrough character Ziggy Stardust, a sexually ambiguous alien who becomes a messiah at the start of the apocalypse on Earth. Ziggy represents a time of social and economic upheaval of the early '70s, with the Summer of Discontent in Britain and the advent of Thatcherism. Ziggy reflected a cultural pessimism for the future and the youth's desire to party before it all went to shit. Bowie captured moments and movements. He was the first white musician to appear on the African-American music show Soul Train (1974). His Berlin trilogy albums, Low (1977), Heroes (1977), and Lodger (1979), with producer Brian Eno, are considered some of the most ground-breaking records in the world of pop. His music video for Let's Dance (1983) spoke to the racial inequality faced by Aboriginal Australians before Mabo and Aboriginal rights was a mainstream issue. He was the first mainstream artist to sell his music as electronic downloads and interact with his fans on social media. He shifted through time. Through his music, characters, technology, and social commentary. In his final act, Bowie has proved his marketing genius with the timing of his last album, Blackstar, released two days before his death; a parting gift to fans that was raved about on social media before his unexpected passing, and is now selling like the next iPhone. Bowie has shown the world of celebrity how to do it right. Born without a right forearm, aspiring actor Rick Curry was once ridiculed by a receptionist when he arrived to audition for a mouthwash commercial. "There was no way I could convince her that having one arm wouldn't stop be from gargling mouthwash," he protested. Years later at age 66, Curry required a special dispensation from the Vatican to become a priest because canon law requires two hands to celebrate Mass. "I didn't go to a one-handed school that taught me how to live in the two-fisted world," he said. However he learnt to adapt and ultimately viewed disability as a "gift from God". Curry's father had first enrolled him in acting classes as a six-year-old to bolster his confidence and prepare him to practise law some day. Curry embraced stagecraft as his vehicle to overcome what others viewed as a handicap. He framed his preaching to damaged war veterans as story-telling, he said, "to open up the floodgates of post-traumatic stress." In 1977, he founded the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped in New York City and Belfast, Maine. It spawned the Wounded Warriors Writers Workshop in 2003 and the Academy for Veterans, which helps soldiers disabled in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to rebuild their lives. Both are based at Georgetown University in Washington. "With the disabled, you need a guide dog, you need a wheelchair, and people get that," said Curry. "But you also need your spirit lifted. You need to make art. You need to tell your story. You need to create." With Constance Milstein, a developer and philanthropist, Curry founded the Dog Tag Bakery in Washington last year to teach wounded veterans a craft. He also wrote two cookbooks on elemental comfort food, The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking (1995) and The Secrets of Jesuit Soupmaking: A Year of Our Soups (2002), laden with recipes and spiced with anecdotes. McKay's solution owes something to Martin Scorsese and rather more to Michael Winterbottom (especially Winterbottom's films with Steve Coogan). His nervous style is strong on rapid zooms and wobbly close-ups, with some deliberately incongruous soundtrack choices, such as The Polyphonic Spree's cover of Nirvana's Lithium, thrown in as we hop from one subplot to the next. For all its liveliness, The Big Short can be heavy going: the dialogue remains weighed down with jargon, and the storytelling gimmicks distract more than they clarify. Still, McKay hasn't lost his touch as a director of comic performances, and the didactic format lets him shake off a lot of sodden Hollywood convention: the characters aren't required to learn spiritual lessons or even be particularly likeable. Indeed, the comic premise here is that the financial system can only truly be grasped by weirdos: guys with savant-like qualities and a corresponding lack of social skills. Hence the involvement of leading men Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Steve Carell, who, in their different ways, share a knack for appearing antisocial and emotionally detached. Jessica Mauboy will help to unfurl celebrations across Sydney on Australia Day by singing the national anthem in local Indigenous languages while perched on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The breakfast-time performance by the 26-year-old Aboriginal star is part of the day's WugulOra ceremony, one element in a powerful display of First Nations tradition on a date that will forever be "complex" for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Uncle Max Eulo conducts a smoking ceremony during the official announcement of the Australia Day 2016 program. Credit:Steven Siewert For the first time, smoking ceremonies - cleansing rituals that are millenniums old - will take place at seven points around the harbour in remembrance of the founding of New South Wales in 1788. "January 26 is a complex date for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders," Clarence Slockee, Aboriginal educator at Barangaroo Delivery Authority, said at the launch of the 2016 Australia Day program on Wednesday. Editor's note: The charges against Rebel-Anne King were reported factually at the time of print however, this charge was later withdrawn by the Department of Public Prosecutions. On May 3rd 2018, Ms King appeared in court to plead guilty to the lesser charge of Hindering a Police Investigation. Two Kings Cross identities associated with the infamous Love Machine strip club have been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of a man at hotel in Sydney's CBD last year. Rebel-Anne King was charged with accessory to murder of Donovan Mileham, who was found dead in a CBD hotel in November. Credit:Facebook Donovan Mileham, 44, was allegedly shot in the leg and left to die on the floor of a luxury suite of the five-star Fraser Suite apartments on Kent Street. His body was discovered by cleaners just before 7am on Monday November 16, three days after he had checked into the hotel with a group of friends. Drug paraphernalia was found by detectives inside the room. Among those friends were Elias Dimarelis, 31, and Rebel-Anne King, 33, who were arrested around 2.15pm on Tuesday and charged with accessory to his murder after the fact. Brisbane City Council has released its list of 2015 food prosecutions, marking the fifth year of its EatSafe inspection and enforcement program. The biggest fine went to the CBD's Beijing House, which was penalised $42,000 for selling unsuitable food, among other hygiene-related complaints. Brumby's Bakery at Mount Gravatt was one of the food businesses prosecuted in 2015. The offences occurred in August, 2014. Credit:Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the council's food hygiene rating system gave Brisbane diners greater confidence in the restaurants, cafes and mobile food trucks at which they bought their food. "We now have over 1100 food businesses with a five-star rating and over 90 per cent compliance with state government food safety regulations, which compares to just 44 per cent compliance before the program began," Cr Quirk said. The Brisbane woman whose AFL player boyfriend allegedly bashed her so badly she suffered severe brain injuries appears to be moving on, posing for photos with her "brain injury bestie". Richelle Kadadi's former boyfriend, ex-Brisbane Lions player Albert Proud, 27, has spent two months behind bars, accused of her attempted murder outside a Sunnybank home in November 2015. Richelle Kadadi poses with Ben Plueger. Credit:Facebook A court heard Ms Kadadi lost a litre of blood and suffered a subdural haematoma in the alleged domestic violence incident. The 35-year-old spent more than three days in intensive care at the Princess Alexandra Hospital before being moved to the hospital's Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit (BIRU), where it appears she became firm friends with another brain injury survivor, Ben Pflueger. PIERRE, S.D. -- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard wants to lift South Dakota out of last place in teacher pay. In his State of the State address on Tuesday at the State Capitol in Pierre he told legislators and a statewide public broadcasting network that, "This is the year. This is the year to get out of last place. This is the year to act. The governor is recommending a half-cent increase in the state sales tax to fund the program. It would be the first permanent increase in the states portion of the sales tax in more than 50 years. He wants to raise the average state pay for teachers from an average of about $40,000 to $48,500. That he said would make the state competitive in teacher pay and move it out of last place in pay. He said just a few years ago, some other surrounding states were in the bottom of the pack, too, but now Montana is 28th, Nebraska is 32nd and North Dakota is 36th. The situation is deteriorating for us, Daugaard said. The gap is is getting worse. Daugaard, in his second and final term as governor, also told the legislators on the first day of their session that a new generation of quality teacher is needed to help the states students maintain high achievement. Were not going to get them unless we become more competitive with surrounding states, he said about the teacher pay. Democrats, in a small minority in the state legislature, said in a news conference after the governors speech they would like to go even further and raise the average pay to $50,000 with a student to teacher ratio even lower than what Daugaard proposed. The Democrats said they would like to see a 1 cent sales tax increase to pay for the higher teacher salaries and to also cut out the sales tax on food in the state. The man who helped a dozen children escape a "bloody heavy" pontoon that flipped on their heads north of Brisbane says there was no chance to warn them before the accident. Nathan Carnie was supervising children, aged between 11 and 16, at a Veterans 4 Youth camp for disadvantaged youths at the Scouts-owned Baden-Powell Park in Samford. A pontoon flipped at Baden-Powell Park at Samford on Tuesday evening. Credit:Penny Dahl He said the children, from all over Australia, were playing on the three-metre square floating concrete and styrofoam platform when they all moved to one side and it flipped about 6.30pm on Tuesday. "All the kids went down to the dam, having fun and playing on the pontoon," he said. A man accused of murdering his wife walked into the Broadmeadows police station and admitted to killing her with an axe, a court has heard. Dursun Yildiz, 50, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a committal hearing charged with murdering his wife, Seker Yildiz, 59, in their Dallas house. Ms Yildiz's body was discovered by police in her Morwell Crescent house at 2.20pm on May 11 last year. The two had been married for 30 years. According to a police statement tendered in court, Mr Yildiz approached the counter at Broadmeadows police station at 12pm on May 11 carrying two shopping bags of clothing and turned himself in. He told police he had killed his wife the night before on Mother's Day, the court heard. In the peak of summer Hadia finds it impossible to cool down her three-bedroom apartment in Flemington. On hot days she has recorded a temperature of 38 degrees in her flat, which is in a high-rise public housing estate. Hadia tries to cool her 15-month-old daughter Rayann with a wet towel and book as a fan. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer "It gets really bad in the night time," Hadia said. The stifling heat also makes it difficult for her four children to get a decent night's rest. The number of Indigenous Victorians with a gambling problem has skyrocketed in the past eight years with thousands more needing help to overcome their addictions. The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation's landmark study on gambling and health has found that a staggering 8.71 per cent of Indigenous people have a gambling problem and 5.38 per cent were identified as being "at risk" because of their gambling habits. Pokies have become the preferred method of gambling for Indigenous Victorians Credit:Jemma Wallace This compares with a 4.15 per cent problem gambling rate in 2008. Only 0.72 per cent of non-Indigenous Victorians have an identified gambling problem. UPDATE: Spirit of Tasmania II passengers who were stranded in Melbourne overnight have set sail for Tasmania, after many of them spent the night on the damaged ferry. The vessel broke free of its moorings during Wednesday's wild weather and crashed into Station Pier, scuppering the travel plans of 650 passengers. The Spirit of Tasmania I was anchored in Devonport during the storm and arrived in Melbourne about lunchtime on Thursday. It is already on its way back to Tasmania. Acting Spirit of Tasmania chief executive Stewart McCall said earlier in the day that priority was to be given to Tasmanians trying to get home. He expected people booked into Thursday's scheduled service would still set sail. The mother of a man who was lured to Perth bushland, then shot and dismembered, has described her son's murderers as evil, but says she is happy with their life sentences. Daniel Michael Marchesano lured Michael Pruiti, 31, to isolated bushland on the pretext of stealing chainsaws and then Ben Michael Mansfield shot him in the head in October 2013. Michael Pruiti. Mr Pruiti's body was then dismembered, set alight and buried in Perth's Hills region. Health staff would hear stories through formal complaints or social media, but usually long after the issue was over and they could not safely engage on Facebook. He encountered wariness about Patient Opinion from staff at first, who felt they might be exposed and criticised, but the reality had been different. "People share as many good experiences as bad," he said. "When they don't, we are able to tackle it right now. "We need not fear the consumer ... we are all consumers of healthcare." One woman told Broome Health Campus her daughter received good care but was stressed by sharing a small ward with very sick patients and only told at the point of discharge that her private health insurance would have got her a private room. This story led to a change. As a result, hospital management reminded all clerical staff responsible for booking patients to go through that information for patients, and also featured that information more prominently on its web page. The story 'A Bit of a Heart Scare' appeared online and was responded to within a day, with feedback and appreciation shared immediately with staff, Dr Gaskell said. "This story has already been read by 50 public users and 17 staff members in less than 24 hours," he said. "This is nothing but a good development for WA health. We have the collective experience of 10 years' use in the UK where it has just been an outstanding success. "It's a goer, it's effective, it's smart, it's cost-efficient." Anatomy of a 'social movement' Chief executive Michael Greco said Patient Opinion was not just a website but a social movement. He said normal feedback systems, such as surveys, official complaints letters and suggestion boxes, were useful... but: They were about data collection, and individual stories got swallowed up; They were not transparent or independent; They asked questions they wanted answers to, rather than letting patients share freely; People avoided making official complaints for fear of repercussions; People avoided giving feedback because they felt it was pointless; In-house systems prevented organisations learning from each other. By contrast, Patient Opinion was public, independent, moderated, protected staff and patients, prompted action and allowed sharing of learning. "What happens in WA can benefit Queensland. Everyone can see how services are responding and doing differently many organisations say they have got ideas," he said. Another was the ease of sharing positive stories which made up half the feedback with both staff and management. One WA consumer whose premature baby was delivered safely wrote a story entitled "Our Premature Princess." "This was the most terrifying moment in both our lives. We owe so much to the staff that attended to us here with their quick actions and absolute professionalism, from the midwifes to the doctors, paediatric nurses, paediatricians and everyone else involved," they wrote. Professor Greco said consumer knowledge and experience was the health system's most underused resource and the only way forward amid tight fiscal resources and rising complaints. Health workers can also take part safely, and make up 2 per cent of stories shared. The site tries to pass stories on to hospitals mentioned regardless of subscription which is why Fiona Stanley Hospital, for example, though not a subscriber, is mentioned in stories and marked as having read them. The searchable website shows which stories have been responded to and which have sparked change. But subscribers get the full package, which includes promotion materials, reports and analyses of story numbers, viewings and general tone. The service is free to the public. Professor Greco said there was "huge fear" in organisations about exposure, despite the high numbers of positive stories, but loved it once they engaged with it. The chief executive of a major Victorian health district had told him complaints had reduced by more than half over the past eight months as a direct result of engagement. The 150 stories told in that time received more than 50,000 views. Professor Greco said on average, every story on the Australian site was read 300 times. In the UK, after a decade, it was 3000 times. Removing barriers Health Consumers' Council of WA executive director Pip Brennan said Patient Opinion's immediacy, transparency and focus on the "whole cycle" supported "vital re-orientation" to place consumers at the centre of health debates. Health debates need to be centred around the consumer, Health Consumers Council of WA executive director Pip Brennan says. "Real wins in terms of better services, and less waste, can be achieved through the inclusion of the consumer voice," she said. She said the single entry point removed the barriers people often faced in complex official feedback systems, which were often managed only from the perspective of providers and administrators. The inclusion of positive stories was also valuable. "Consumers are very grateful for the care they receive in their hour of need. Even stories which appear as negative feedback often have a mixture of positive and negative comments when looked at more closely," she said. She called for the expansion of the pilot across the state. The WA Clinical Senate, a forum allowing clinicians to form advice for politicians, discussed the website at its most recent debate, is also finalising a recommendation to the WA Health Department to expand the pilot across the state. The WA Country Health Service trial will soon expand to the Mid West and Gascoyne. WA Primary Health Alliance, which funds the state's three primary health networks, is considering subscribing. So far in Australia the 50-odd organisations taking part are mostly hospitals, government departments and primary health providers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Jakarta: An Australian man who allegedly groomed street children in Bali by showering them with gifts and money before sexually molesting them could be part of an international paedophile network, Bali police said. Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis was arrested at his rented Bali home on Monday for allegedly molesting four children. Australian man Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis, who has been arrested for allegedly molesting four girls. Another four potential victims are also being interviewed by police. "There could be more we are still investigating if there will be another arrest, if he belongs to an international paedophile network," said police spokesman Hery Wiyanto. Indonesia's Attorney-General has hosed down speculation a third batch of executions are imminent saying the nation's economy is "far more important". Asked if executions would be held this year, Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo told Fairfax Media: "We don't know yet". Australians Andrew Chan, left, and Myuran Sukumaran inside the Kerobokan prison. They were executed last year. Credit:Anta Kesuma "Currently we are still focusing on our effort to better the economy, It doesn't mean that's it's not important (to carry out the executions) but there are more important things. Therefore we have not determined when we will carry out the executions." The Attorney-General's office allocated funds for executions in the 2016 draft budget in September last year, although Mr Prasetyo said at the time they were not budget priorities. An Australian expert has challenged claims that China's build-up of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea threatens commercial ships passing through the world's busiest waterways, declaring that they are "completely fabricated". Greg Austin, a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales based in Canberra, says despite the "shock" expressed by strategic analysts China has not embarked on an operation to expand its territory and is defending what it sees as its historical claims. "We shouldn't allow our shock at China's building up of artificial islands to somehow convince us that this is naked aggression by China," he told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency. A dangerous dose of heroin that sent eight people to the hospital and left one dead in Williston this past week may have been laced with another drug or ingredient that caused unconsciousness. Lt. Detective David Peterson, of the Williston Police Department, said Tuesday that several of the overdoses are connected, and police are working with the North Dakota State Lab to test whether the drug was more potent, or if it was mixed with an unknown drug or agent. One man died and eight others survived an overdose of heroin over six days last week. We have not seen these amounts of heroin overdoses in this short amount of time, said Peterson, adding that the uptick in heroin use is recent. Four or five years ago heroin was nonexistent (in Williston)." The towns heroin supply typically comes from southern parts of the United States, including the Mexico-Texas border, Arizona and California, Peterson said. He said there are people in Williston who have become addicted to synthetic opioids, or prescriptions, and those prescriptions became very high-priced and sought after, which often lead to the introduction of a cheaper alternative: heroin. Lt. Larry Hubbard, of the Ward County Sheriffs Department, said his department also has seen a rise in heroin use and drug-related crimes that deal with heroin in recent years. (Heroin) appears to be out in the community more, he said. A 30-year-old man who was part of the string of overdoses in Williston died Jan. 5. Peterson said police are waiting for the medical examiners autopsy results to determine if the death was accidental. In recent years, the state saw rising numbers of North Dakotans who have accidentally died from drug use, including 32 people in 2013, compared with five in 1999, according to the North Dakota Department of Health, which tallied a total of 256 such deaths in that 15-year span. In 2014, however, that number decreased to 27 people. Latest News Australian Mortgage Awards 2022 broker winners reflect on big night Best of the best celebrate achievements Household Capital enters strategic partnership with Genworth The insurer now has a 22% share of the firm The Finance Broker Association of Australia (FBAA) has revealed ambitious growth plans for its student membership in 2016.Speaking to Australian Broker, the chief executive of the FBAA, Peter White says attracting new student members will be a focus for the association this new year, with plans to triple its student membership numbers.For the FBAA what we are doing in our student membership and our engagement there will be a key focus area. We have been putting in some fairly significant planning and strategy, White said.Our goal is to put on another 2,000 students which will bring us to a student membership of 3,000 by the time we get to the end of the year.According to White, the associations plan to attract new student members extends beyond just engaging with students themselves.There is quite a significant engagement process we are going through with our current base and also our new base as they come in. Once it is all signed off I can talk about this further, however, it is a very important strategy for us because it is not just about talking to students.We are going out to our members and asking them if they have children who are interested in joining the industry and telling them how we can help and what we have to offer to help their children be the brokers of the future.White also revealed other top priorities for the association this year will focus on the regulatory space with ASICs forthcoming reviews into interest-only lending and remuneration.I have a meeting coming up with ASIC to start to fill in a few blanks and see where things are headed. From the associations point of view, we want to ensure good and close relationships are happening there to be sure things are going down a path that is reasonable. ASIC has to do their job, as does any regulator, but we want to make sure things keep well focussed.White remains confident about the forthcoming ASIC probes, saying he doesnt expect them to result in any sweeping changes.It would be different if the industry was in turmoil and it was hopelessly rotten and falling apart. If the world was bad you would expect a lot of changes but the world isnt bad so I dont expect there will be a lot of changes, White said.He is hoping, however, that there will be changes to LMI disclosure. Last year, White argued that the government needs to act on upfront LMI disclosure and include public disclosure in the Key Fact Sheet.Whilst it has been held up by ministerial issues White told Australian Broker that he is confident those changes will be implemented this year. Latest News Australian Mortgage Awards 2022 broker winners reflect on big night Best of the best celebrate achievements Household Capital enters strategic partnership with Genworth The insurer now has a 22% share of the firm Leading debtor and trade finance company Scottish Pacific has announced a major acquisition which will shake up the SME finance sector. Scottish Pacific has announced that they have acquired the Australian and New Zealand debtor and trade finance company, Bibby Financial Services. Speaking about the acquisition Scottish Pacific CEO Peter Langham said the move will provide greater choice to the SME sector. With the acquisition, Scottish Pacific clients will be able to access a broader range of funding and business solutions, all without having to mortgage the family home. Our expanded team looks forward to working with the SME sector to support their growth. For too long, says Langham, have small businesses had a lack of genuine and competitive alternatives to the major banks. Business owners make it clear to us, via our SME Growth Index, that far too many SMEs still dont know about funding options beyond the banks, and when the banks wont fund them they look to their family and friends or the credit card to maintain and grow their business. "Scottish Pacifics offering as a working capital lender for SMEs was already strong and is now even more a comprehensive funding alternative for small businesses looking to grow, whether domestically or overseas. Scottish Pacific is the only non-bank approved by Efic, the Federal Governments export credit agency, which helps fund SME exporters. The Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) has suspended one of its members, following an ASIC investigation that found he had failed to comply with credit laws and provided unlawful SMSF advice. As reported in Australian Broker, Matt George, who is the sole director of the Melbourne-based property investment and finance business Money Choice, was banned last week from engaging in credit activities for eight years and providing financial services for three years. ASICs investigation of George and his business found failures to comply with credit laws, responsible lending shortfalls and instances of unlicensed SMSF advice. PIPA chair, Ben Kingsley, says the association has suspended Georges Money Choice corporate membership and would be conducting its own investigation into the matter. PIPA will not tolerate any member who acts unlawfully and not within the best interests of their clients. Mr George has been issued with a suspension notice and will face a possible expulsion following further investigations. Under our constitution, Money Choice and Mr George as sole director may also face financial penalties for wilfully refusing or neglecting to comply with the provisions of the constitution, or if found guilty of conduct which in the opinion of the board is prejudicial to the interests of the company he adds. According to Kingsley, PIPA has welcomed ASICs decision to crack down on the SMSF space but maintains that Money Choices suspension highlights on-going issues within the fast-growing SMSF sector. We remain concerned with the on-going lack of regulation surrounding property investment, including within the SMSF space. This sector of superannuation continues to grow exponentially and the alleged wrong-doings of Money Choice is yet another clear reminder that regulation is lacking. How many more Australians losing huge amounts of money will it take for the government to take action? Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams School is in for winter! A radically free art school will celebrate its move to Sunset Parks Industry City with a new exhibit and a free dance party on Jan. 15. The queer arts collective House of Ladosha will christen the Bruce High Quality Foundation Universitys new space with This is UR mind, an exhibition one member called an experiential dive into the mind of Ladosha. Its a blow-up of the consciousness as a group said collective member Neon Christina. Were going to be showing video art pieces we all worked together on, with some sculptures, and portraits, all amounting into one installation. The gender-bending group puts self-expression via social media on the same level as more traditional mediums, according to its mission statement, and some of the shows videos were taken from their online presence. The Bruce High Quality Foundation approached the group because the collective, like the school, is generative and not reactive, according to outreach director Sean Carney. Housewarming: House of Ladosha members Dosha Devastation (left) and C- Crawford will perform at the opening party for the Bruce High Quality Foundation Universitys new headquarters in Sunset Park. House of Ladosha When they see a lack of representation for their voices, they just create a world where those voices exist, he said. And it made sense for us to work with a group whose practices are so rooted in social media, participation in nightlife. Their art represents areas where artists often feel at home, but that arent necessarily part of the mainstream yet. Members of the collective will play music alongside DJs at the openings after-party, starting at 10 pm. The Bruce High Quality Foundation University, which starts its next semester of free, ten-week classes on Jan. 24, is open to anyone with an interest in art. It doesnt matter if you have a background in visual arts, or writing, or anything really, Carney said. You can have people who have never had any formal arts education sitting in class next to someone with a terminal degree. Bringing down the house: Seven core artists with the arts collective House of Ladosha will show their work at This is UR Mind at Bruce High Quality Foundation University. Musically-inclined members, Dosha Devastation and C- Crawford will perform at the exhibition opening on Jan. 15. House of Ladosha The Foundation has rented studio space in Industry City since 2012, running classes in two spaces in Manhattan. But with rent across the river becoming a little preposterous, according to Carney, the group refitted its Brooklyn space to host the art school and gallery. The new classroom can accommodate roughly 1,000 students per semester. The move to Brooklyn will further the groups mission to build an other arts community apart from the traditional, Manhattan-based scene, Carney said. Were trying to build this arts community that anyone can join, he said, It doesnt feel like Chelsea its a lot more open and inviting and more reflective of what New York actually looks like. We hope that a lot of the local artists get involved and that to the people in the community, that the New York City art world is not parachuting down into their community. House of Ladosha at Bruce High Quality Foundation University (33 34th St., 6th floor, between Second and Third avenues in Sunset Park, www.bhqfu.org). Jan. 15 at 8 pm. Show available by appointment until Feb. 28. Free. Industrious: Eamon Monaghan from the Bruce High Quality Foundation University working on one of his own pieces at the schools revamped space in Industry City. Photo by Jordan Rathkopf Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams 84th Precinct Brooklyn HeightsDUMBOBoerum HillDowntown Dirty dancing A dancing derelict punched a guy in the face while trying to grab his phone on an A train near Hoyt Street on Jan. 4. The victim told police he was on the Manhattan-bound train traveling between Nostrand Avenue and Hoyt-Schermerhorn stations at 4:18 pm when the prima ballerina and three friends and started dancing. He wasnt interested in the free show, however, and was scrolling through his phone instead. The dancer then announced, Anyone who isnt paying attention, suck my d and grabbed the unsuspecting victims phone, said reports. The pair struggled over the cell, and the nogoodnik punched the victim in the face amidst the skirmish, police said. But the victim came out victorious and the gang of boogying bandits got off the train at Hoyt-Schermerhorn and fled, according to police. Subway sneak A thief stole a womans phone on the subway as she was headed Downtown on Jan. 6. The woman said she boarded a Brooklyn-bound train on the 2 or 3 line in Manhattan at 9 am, but by the time she reached the Borough Hall stop, she realized her phone was missing from her bag. The phone was tracked to a Brownsville community center, according to police. Treasure to trash Some barfly stole a womans bag as she was sitting at the bar of a Fourth Avenue pub on Jan. 6. The victim told cops she draped her bag on the back of her stool at the watering hole near Bergen Street at 8 pm, and covered it with her coat. But when she went to fetch something from her purse, it was gone. All was not lost, though she tracked her iPhone to a trash can on Warren Street, police said. Smash and dash A goon broke into a car parked on Livingston Street on Jan. 5 and stole an assortment of goods from the vehicle. The victim said she parked her car near Bond Street at 11:15 pm, but when she returned at 1:10 am the next day, she found her front passenger-side window smashed and her wallet, headphones, credit cards, and bag of clothes missing form inside. Lauren Gill Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams 94th Precinct GreenpointNorthside Reappearing act A thief made off with a ladys car after she left it parked on Monitor Street on Jan. 5, but the damaged vehicle turned up the next day on Eliot Avenue. The victim told cops she left her ride parked between Herbert Street and Richardson Street earlier on Jan. 5, but when she came back at around 10 pm that night it was nowhere to be found. Police spotted the stolen car at Eliot and Metropolitan avenues around 11 am the next day, but it was covered in scratches and the door was damaged from bring pried open, authorities said. Ransacked An messy intruder broke into a womans N. Seventh Street apartment and left the place in shambles on Jan. 8. The victim told cops she and her roommate left their apartment between Berry Street and Wythe Avenue around 8:30 am for work, then returned at 9:15 pm to find the entire place had been ransacked. Cops said there was no signs of forced entry or damage to the door, but some unspecified items were missing. Disappearing act A rogue sped off in a womans car after she left it near McGolrick Park on Jan. 10. The victim parked and locked her car on Monitor Street near Nassau Avenue at around 1 am, then returned at 1:30 pm to find it missing, police said. Sofa swipe A former tenant of a N. 10th Street apartment returned to the building to steal a couple of leather sofas on Jan. 3 under the guise of picking up some stuff he left behind. The landlord told cops the guy came back to the building near Roebling Street at 9 am to reclaim some belongings, but instead ran off with two leather couches from the buildings storage area, according to a police report. The landlord has surveillance footage of the rapscallion running off with the furniture, police said. Allegra Hobbs by Fred Pessaro The legendary Slayer is no more, in my eyes at least. After a tumultuous dispute between drummer Dave Lombardo and the rest of the band forced him out just prior to an Australian tour, it is now official: Paul Bostaph is Slayer's new drummer (again): Slayer's Tom Araya and Kerry King are very pleased to announce that Paul Bostaph has rejoined the band on a full-time basis. Bostaph will be behind the drum kit beginning June 4 when Slayer kicks off the first leg of its 2013 international tour in Warsaw, Poland. Gary Holt will continue to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Bostaph and Lombardo have played flip-flop since Lombardo's inital departure after Seasons in the Abyss, and his return in late 2001 (not including a brief stint with Testament's Jon Dette). Bostaph has spent time in Testament and Exodus in the years following. ...Mould knowingly laughs as soon as I bring it up. "You know ... Grant and I have talked. We're fine," he says. "Will we work together? No. I like to run my own ship and I think he likes to run his own ship, and that's great." What the band members interacting with one another really amounts to for now and the foreseeable future is that they're working towards "reviving the logo and the brand," for that new merchandise and maybe future projects like reissues. On Mould's end, he's too happy with where he is, and he has a specific way he looks back on that time. "I got my life over here, man. I never want to take advantage of the fact that I was in that band," he says. "Nor do I ever want to get in the way of its legacy." Otherwise, his answer's straightforward: "Nah, no reunion." I was heavily jetlagged throughout the album recording process and kept waking up at 5am. One day I went to the studio early and Keven (Lareau, who plays bass on the recordings) was there already too. He was jamming out on this krautrock-y bass line and I'd been playing with this melody in my head for a while which happened to fit over it perfectly. We wrote the track in an hour, then when Ben came into the studio we recorded it, also in an hour. I wrote the lyrics the next morning when I was again awake way too early. I think this half awake/half still dreaming energy definitely seeped into this track. by Rob Sperry-Fromm Los Angeles metal maniacs Graf Orlock are readying their new album Crime Traveler for release on February 5 via Vitriol Records. In anticipation, BV is premiering the new single, "600,000 Tons of Explosive Ordinance" (which follows "A Decent Proposal in a Shitty Alley" and "Difficult Decisions in the Yutani Mess Hall"). All three are streaming below. Always known for filling their blistering hardcore with reference to famous movies like Heat, Robocop and Terminator, the new album is actually entirely based on and constituted of a film that the band wrote, directed, and starred in themselves. From the band: The Crime Traveler film tells the story of a French-Canadian assassin who discovers a wormhole and travels back in time to kill American politicians so that Canada can attain superpower status in the future. As the samples selected for the album illustrate, our anti-hero zips through time and space on his mission - rubbing elbows with John Hinckley at the Reagan assassination, witnessing the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and more. All ambitious concepts aside, the song is what we've come to expect from Graf Orlock; that is, hardcore/death/grind that is as pummeling as it is smart and occasionally hooky. Opening with the sound of a bong hit (hilarious), the song begins with a crawl and opens up into a furious churn that carries it through to a ripping, highly death-metal oriented guitar solo and a crushing conclusion. Tour dates are TBA, but Graf Orlock have a release show coming up for this in LA, which goes down in Anaheim at Chain Reaction on January 31 with Dangers, Bad Antics, Sister Rust and Entry. Tickets for that are currently on sale. photo: Le Butcherettes in Chicago in 2014 (more by James Richards IV) Mexican garage rockers Le Butcherettes spent the past year touring with Antemasque, Melvins, and Faith No More, and also released their newest album A Raw Youth on FNM frontman Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings. Now they're set to go on a headlining tour around SXSW in 2016. The tour hits NYC on March 7 at The Studio at Webster Hall and March 9 at Rough Trade. Tickets for those shows go on sale Friday (1/15) at 10 AM and noon, respectively, with an AmEx presale for Rough Trade starting Wednesday (1/13) at noon. All dates are listed below. Le Butcherettes are also one of the artists taking part in the very cool Joyful Noise 2016 Flexi-Disc Series. It's the label's fifth and final year doing the series, and it has each artist putting out never-before-heard material on a 7" flexi-disc (limited to 1000 copies) that you can get by subscribing. Other artists include Don Caballero, Thurston Moore, Swirilies, Julianna Barwick, Lil Bub ft. Aesop Rock & Kimya Dawson, Ought, Sondre Lerche, Prince Rama, Chris Cohen, Ava Luna and Briana Marela. Stream A Raw Youth with Le Butcherettes' list of tour dates below... --- Prior to opening Alabaster Coffee in downtown Williamsport, PA, founder Karl Fisher was in full-time vocational ministry. For many, that sort of transition happens in reverse, but for Fisher, moving from churchplace to marketplace amplified the scope of his service in new and unexpected ways. I have already viewed my life as, How are we bringing the Gospel to the community? Fisher says. But now, in many ways, not being a vocational pastor and being in the marketplace, there are definitely aspects of that that give me a broader platform. Struck by Alabaster Coffees culture and product, Evan Koons spoke with Fisher about his business and the ways our creative service can spread the Gospel and transform culture: In a world of accelerating industrialization, society is learning to remember and better appreciate the dynamics of community and craftsmanship in business. As Fisher aptly demonstrates, these are natural priorities for Christians, compounded by something a bit more permanent at the root: a love for people rooted in the love of Jesus. Christians in creative service have a call to meet economic needs, but we do so by connecting the tangible to the transcendent, the temporal to the eternal. Though small and local businesses like Alabaster have a unique way of clarifying these things, such features are not confined to awe-inspiring coffee shops or artisan bookmakers and bakers. The call to creative service spans across culture, from factory workers to farmers, oil riggers to artists, welders to Wall Street CEOs. How we do our work, how its accomplished, the attitudes that we have to it, is very much an act of worship, Fisher concludes. My ability to work and the means to work the way that I view that should absolutely be joyful and worshipful. For more on how creative service connects to Gods economy of all things, see Episode 3 of For the Life of the World. by Andrew Sacher Rangda, aka Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny, Sun City Girls' Sir Richard Bishop, and prolific drummer Chris Corsano, will release their third album The Heretic's Bargain on February 19 via Drag City (pre-order). So far they've shared the opening track, "To Melt The Moon," an instrumental with hypnotic guitar somewhere between Middle Eastern melodies and the Bond theme. Check it out, with the tracklist, below. Rangda are also touring soon, starting with a Brooklyn show on March 4 at Saint Vitus. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (1/15) at noon. All dates are listed below. --- Tracklist: To Melt the Moon 6:12 The Sin Eaters 2:53 Spiro Agnew 2:59 Hard Times Befall the Door-to-Door Glass Shard Salesman 7:55 Mondays are Free at the Hermetic Museum 19:07 -- latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... While things may have been a little business as usual for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, things are getting spicier with their trip across the country to the Hamptons. And what do we have here? A visit from the land of The Real Housewives of New York City. Lets see how Bethenny Frankel fares with the ladies from the 90210 in this episode, Pretty Mess. Bethenny Frankel on Erika Jaynes New Music Video: It Looks Cheap >>> Being Erika Jayne The ladies are still mid-White Party celebrating Lisa Vanderpumps magazine cover. At dinner, Lisa Vanderpump gives Eileen the third degree about how she met her current husband and if she cheated on her ex-husband with him. Eileen clearly feels uncomfortable, but Lisas unable to pick up on any of her cues. Shes trying to be nice, but shes regretting letting Lisa needle anything out of her. Kyle says that if youre wearing a big hat and have an English accent, you can ask anyone anything. The next day, Eileen still feels uneasy being around Lisa Vanderpump, especially because she doesnt do well with unresolved issues. Lisa Rinna is nervous about meeting Erika. She googled her video and seems a little offended at how raunchy it was. Eileen, however, thinks its great that she has such a sexy alter ego, and she admits that she wishes she could live a double life too. Erika makes her grand entrance at the Hamptons mansion after taking her private plane from Chicago where she performed at gay pride. Lisa Rinna tells her they watched the video and they have lots of questions for her. Erika relates it to Lisas acting and saying its not only an alter ego, but a job. Erikas not letting the ladies catch her off guard, though. Shes keeping her eyes open around them. Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Davids actually being a decent husband and taking care of Yolanda after her surgery, though he does make a bad joke to Lisa Vanderpump on the phone that Ken now has better boobs than Yolanda. Har har har. Anyway, Yolanda hopes that having the toxic silicon removed from her body will be the solution to her health issues. RHOBH Star Kyle Richards Shares Thoughts on Lisa Rinna-Kim Richards Feud >>> The B is Back The ladies are meeting for dinner at Bethennys house for the evening, but Kyle gets there early to visit with her friend of 25 years. Bethenny brings up Kim, but Kyle isnt offended like she is when the other women ask her about Kim because Bethenny has known them both for so long and is genuinely concerned. Kyle tells Bethenny about Erika, so Bethenny natural goes to her Instagram to form an impression. Bethenny thinks she looks like a Playboy Bunny and she cant wait to meet her. In the limo on the way over, its Erikas turn to get the Lisa Vanderpump third degree. She asks her blunt questions, and Erika keeps her cool and doesnt mind answering. But shes got her eye on Lisa. She thinks shes the self-appointed leader and she likes to ask a lot of questions to get as much information as she can so she can be in control. At the party, Bethenny tells Erika that shes obsessed with her. But she has a few (unsolicited) pointers for Erika too. She says that her music video looks like it has low production value and she needs her brand to be more focused. Once again, Erika keeps her cool. She responds to Bethenny with patience and aplomb. In her confessional, though, she says she thinks Bethenny should mind her own business. Erikas in the music business and Bethenny is in the cocktail business, and they should both probably stick to what they know. The next day, Eileen confides in Lisa Rinna that she felt grilled by Lisa Vanderpump the other night. She asks Lisa Rinna if she should mention it or not, and Lisa thinks that if its making her uncomfortable, she should just clear the air. Eileen feels hurt by Lisa Vanderpump because she considers her a friend and she cares what she thinks. She doesnt want Lisa Vanderpump to not respect her or her marriage. Erika debriefs with the ladies about Bethennys attack. But shed rather laugh about it the next day than be mad. In her confessional, she wonders if Bethenny was being a bitch or if shes just jealous. Most likely the former. Before they go about their activities for the day, Eileen pulls Lisa Vanderpump aside. She says that she felt sensitive and like she was under attack the other night. Lisa completely denies doing anything offensive. She gives her an Im sorry if you were offended apology, which isnt much of an apology at all. Eileen isnt happy with the conversation. She says she took a step to telling Lisa how she felt, and Lisa ignored it and even turned it back around on her. Thats what happens when youre friends with Bobby Fischer. Next time: Even more Bethenny. And poor Eileen breaks down. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays at 9pm on Bravo. (Image courtesy of Bravo) Where's the Coverage? Bahrain Foils Terror Plot | Main | Hamas Cracks Downon Palestinian Journalists January 12, 2016 Palestinian Children Wear Suicide Belts to Celebrate Fatah's Anniversary On January 7, 2016 Palestinian Arab children in Bethlehem wore models of suicide belts? to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Fatah (a reverse acronym for Arabic Harekat at-Tahrir al-Falastiniyyeh [Palestinian Liberation Movement], the meaning of that reverse acronym is translated as conquest by means of jihad? or simply "conquest"), the movement which includes the majority of members of the Palestinian Authority (PA), including its president, Mahmoud Abbas. According to a report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit organization that monitors Arab media in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), the Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem, masked Palestinian children carried models of suicide belts,? RPGs [rocket propelled grenade launchers]? and guns. PMW notes that the official PA daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported: Children were seen carrying models of RPGs and explosive belts, and they all walked through the alleys of the refugee camp in the procession, during which the sound of songs of the national revolution were heard.? The PA daily described the rally as attracting thousands for a huge ceremony? to honor the 51st anniversary of Fatahs first terror attack against Israel, referred to as the intilaqa (launch). The intilaqa occurred when Fatah attempted to bomb Israels National Water Carrier on Jan. 1, 1965. PMW notes that PA officials, such as Head of the General Intelligence Services, Majed Faraj, and Minister of Tourism, Rula Maaya, attended the event. Pictures from Maan, an independent Palestinian news agency that operates with the acquiescence of the repressive PA, show Palestinian children in marital poses and marches, with many wearing masks embroidered with skulls. CAMERA has previously noted how Hamas, the U.S.-designated Palestinian Arab terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, holds summer camps to train children to be terrorists (Hamas Summer Camp,? July 9, 2015). The actions of both Hamas and Fatah seemingly violate the United Nations 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. The convention defines child soldiers as combatants under the age of 15; the images from Fatahs celebrations show masked children who appear to be under 15. Highlighting the celebrations, Fatahs official Facebook page showed images of a mourning tent? for recently slain Palestinian terrorists who were killed attacking Israelis. Among the terrorists honored by Fatah with a tent was Nashat Melhem. Melhem, an Israeli Arab, shot and killed two Israelis in a Tel Aviv bar on Jan.1, 2016, and wounded eight others. Melhem was killed on January 8 after firing on Israeli security forces searching for him. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a non-profit organization that monitors Arab and Iranian media, Melhelm was re-listed by the PAs Health Ministry as a martyr? on January 9. The ministry keeps a register of those martyred? in terror attacks against Israel. Melhelm was originally on the list, then droppedonly to be placed back on following a wave of criticism against the PA on social media, as well as a scathing condemnation from the deputy chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council, top Hamas official Ahmad Bahr.? In addition to children emulating suicide bombers and Facebook posts glorifying murderers, PMW has noted that on January 4, Fatahs Awdah TV channel ran a music video that called for Palestinian Arabs to drown? Israelis in a sea of blood, kill them as you wish.? PA President Abbas, has denied that the authority is inciting violence against Israelis. The day before Fatahs celebrations in Bethlehem, he claimed in the same city, We will always support non-violent struggle.? Jan. 9, 2016 marked the eleventh anniversary of Abbas being elected to a single five-year term. The PA head, whose government has previously arrested Palestinians for liking? Facebook posts critical of the authority, has refused to stand for re-election (Palestinian imprisoned for Facebook Like,? The Jerusalem Post, March 31, 2013). This post was updated on Jan. 18, 2016 Posted by SD at January 12, 2016 04:25 PM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah#Etymology "Tahrir" means liberaton, but where is the word "jihad"? Just the facts, Ma'am. Posted by: Ross at January 14, 2016 05:24 AM Nothing says happy anniversary like dressing a child in a suicide belt and training him for one purpose, to kill Jews? There are so many things wrong with this demonstration, where should one start? It is proof Palestinians will never be able to do more than aspire to rule over ashes they hope will be Israels. They are not able to build anything so they are content to rule in the ashes? Even if those ashes are their own children. Once again Palestinians have demonstrated a will to kill and die not to live and build. That can not be blamed on the West Israel or the Crusaders. Evil is a matter of self from inception to expression. This is also an egregious crime against humanity. That no society is outraged to protest this decrepitude as a crime against humanity is a clear demonstration that the UN, Hague and other pretenders of moral worth are now defunct. And in a steep decline and someone like Obama angling to position himself as UN SC, considering his tolerance of evil in the name of Allah only bodes greater ill for humanity. Posted by: jeb at January 14, 2016 10:54 AM As Golda Meir said. We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.? Posted by: Ken Kelso at January 18, 2016 03:42 AM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment On Sunday, January 10, the final day of Bengaluru-based literature weekend, Lekhana, each of the seven sessions began with a reading of works of the writers who had returned their awards protesting against intolerance. Some of the writers featured in these readings were: Uday Prakash and Kashinath Singh (Hindi), Ganesh Devy and Anil Joshi (Gujarati), Devanur Mahadeva (Kannada), Munawwar Rana and Rahman Abbas (Urdu), K Satchidanandan (Malayalam), Nayantara Sahgal (English) and Mandakranta Sen (Bengali). None of them was present at the fifth edition of Lekhana, hosted at the IIHS City Campus on Sankey Road, but the solidarity expressed for them through the readings, even in their absence, aligned perfectly with the theme of the event: The Sound of Silence. Explaining the theme, writer Arshia Sattar, the co-director of Sangam House, which organised the event, said, Its clear that more and more voices are being silenced around us -- dissenting voices, liberal voices, critical voices, voices from the Left, voices from the margins, literary voices. Its been a rough few months in India. There is another way also to think about the sound of silence, which is the kind of protests weve seen from writers and artists returning their government awards. If artistes do not speak and write and paint and make films and theatre, there will be a deathly silence around us. So the theme seemed quite obvious to us. Sangam House is an international writers residency based in India. The position of the writer -- or the artist -- as somewhat of an outsider, or at conflict with the state or society, was a running theme through most of the sessions. The event began on Friday, January 8, with the screening of a short film, An Old Dogs Diary. Directed by Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel, the 11-minute documentary on modern Indian artist Francis Newton Souza has won the Best Short Film award at the London Film Festival 2015. Raghu Karnad reading from his book, Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War Non-linear and lyrical, the black-and-white film is composed of images and writings of Souza and ends -- no spoilers -- with a trenchant critique of the commercial nature of the art industry. Souzas painting Birth was recently sold for about $4 million, making it the most expensive work ever sold at a South Asian Art auction. During a discussing after the screening, with Sattar and the New York-based writer, D W Gibson, Heredia described how during the research, they had found Souza to be a tad different from the persona of the bohemian and successful artists everyone is familiar with. The title of the film was taken from a scrap among Souzas personal papers, on which he had scribbled these very words. Heredia also took part in a lively discussion with writers V Sanjay Kumar, Anjum Hasan and Sattar at the panel Portrait of the Artist. Both Kumars and Hasans novels -- Artist, Undone and The Cosmopolitans, respectively -- feature artists and the world of Indian art. The art of the short story, non-fiction, translation and biography were discussed during different sessions on the second day of the event,January 9. A dramatised reading of an adaptation of Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice was performed by Salmin Sharief as Shylock and Vivek Madan reading lines of Antonio, Gratiano and Portia. The debate on whether or not the play is anti-sematic has engaged critics for centuries but the performance gelled very well with the spirit of the event. If Shylocks blinding hatred was the cause of his undoing, Andals love for Vishnu helped her transcend the pains of a mortal life for the union with her divine beloved. The ninth century Alvar saints poetry is the subject of a new translation, Andal: The Autobiography of a Goddess by Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Ravi Shankar. After the book was released on January 10, Chabria, along with writer and filmmaker Lata Mani, discussed Andals proto-feminist celebration of the body in secular and divine love. The final session of Lekhana -- Is PEN Mightier than the Sword? -- focused on the precarious position of writers who find themselves at conflict with the state. Salil Tripathi, chair of the writers in prison, Pen International, Aakar Patel, executive director, Amnesty International India, New York-based writer Gibson and Sattar discussed the way in which writers could express solidarity and help their colleagues who find themselves in a soup or silenced by centres of power something that has become alarmingly common in our times. Sattar later said: Its about solidarity, not simply with the writers, but solidarity among ourselves. Every community has its own politics and ideology. We like to believe that Lekhanas politics are about pluralism and the right to express dissent. The writer was a participant at a panel discussion in Lekhana, and also read out from his work Toyota Motors Corp, which plans to launch its luxury model Lexus in India later this year, unveiled its Lexus LC 500 coupe at the Detroit auto show. Toyota's president Akio Toyoda said that the new model was the company's response to criticism about the brand's uninspired designs. "I was determined to make sure we became a more emotional brand, and that the words 'boring' and 'Lexus' never showed up in the same sentence," Toyoda remarked. The Lexus LC 500 coupe features a 5.0 litre, V8 engine and a new 10-speed transmission system. Toyota also plans to introduce a fuel cell vehicle (FCV) model under the Lexus brand around 2020 as part of its commitment that all its vehicles would be in the zero emissions category by 2050. The Japanese auto giant plans to introduce the Lexus ES and Lexus RX - imported as CKD units from Japan, and assembled at its plant Karnataka in the second half of 2016. Source : BS Motoring The Abraaj Group, a Dubai-based private equity fund, has acquired 72 per cent stake in Hyderabads Care Hospitals in a deal that is marked as the largest inbound control-transaction by a West Asia fund. Abraaj acquired the stake from US-based PE firm Advent International in a deal that valued the fifth largest Indian health care provider at Rs 1,800 crore. West Asia-based funds have got aggressive in India shifting their focus from European markets to emerging ones, where returns are better. Last month, Kuwait Investment Authority invested $300 million in debt-laden GMR Infrastructure by subscribing to foreign currency convertible bonds. Also, Abu Dhabi Investment Council made two large investments last year $300 million in Altico Capital, a non-banking financial company that lends to realty players, and $265 million in ReNew Power. DEAL DYNAMICS Care Hospitals valued at Rs 1,800 cr Abraaj buys 72% from Advent International Advent makes 2.2 times return in 3 years Abraaj buys additional stake from promoters A whole new corridor of investments into India is emerging from West Asia, de-risking us away from the volatile European and US investors, says Manisha Girotra, chief executive officer, Moelis & Company India, which advised Advent International for the deal in which the PE firm made 2.2 times return on investment. Founded in 1997 by B Soma Raju, Care operates 2,600 beds across 16 hospitals in nine cities. It is recognised for its focus on cardiac care and neurosciences. Abraaj and Cares management team will focus on expanding in the under-penetrated regions of India and other markets where Abraaj operates. The implications of the healthcare gap in India are profound, but they translate into a long-term opportunity for Abraaj to help build a better and more sustainable healthcare infrastructure in the country, said Sev Vettivetpillai, partner and global head of Abraajs thematic funds business. The Abraaj Group has a strong track record of investing in healthcare, having deployed nearly $1 billion globally in 27 investments across the healthcare spectrum in growth markets. We are confident that Abraaj with its track record, healthcare expertise and strong relationships with leading strategic partners and development finance institutions, will enhance our service offerings. These relationships will play a key role in enhancing public-private partnerships that are essential to the development of sustainable healthcare systems in India, says Soma Raju. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2016. Year 2015 saw investments worth $1.09 billion by funds from West Asia, second highest after the record $1.5 billion fund flow in 2013. Most of these were from sovereign wealth funds or family offices. A number of them are looking at core sectors for investment in India (specifically real estate and infrastructure) where they are taking longer term bets, said Sanjeev Krishan, partner and leader, private equity & transaction services, at PricewaterhouseCoopers India. A number of them stayed away from India in the past, and focused on the MENA (Middle East and North Africa regions) and are using the depressed valuations and their ability to hold on to investments longer as key reasons for their India focus, said Krishan. The Abraaj Group, a Dubai based private equity investor, is acquiring majority stake in country's fifth largest healthcare service provider CARE Hospitals from private equity firm Advent International. Totally, Abraaj Group will invest about Rs 2,000 crore in a three-part transaction. This includes the purchase of Advent International's entire 72% stake in the hospital chain for about Rs 1,300 crore, purchase of a small portion of CARE hospital promoter B Soma Raju's stake and fresh capital infusion. Post the transaction it will hold 75-78% stake in the hospital chain. Abraaj has taken a majority stake in CARE and the promoters have retained a significant minority in the business and will remain active partners with us. We will be injecting primary capital into the business and intend to continue doing so in order to fully expand and grow the CARE healthcare platform, a company spokesperson said in an e-mail response. Over the last year, CARE hospital has enjoyed double digit growth and margin expansions, she added. This is Abraaj Group's 28th investment in healthcare care sector across various geographies. Established in 1997 by Dr B Soma Raju, Hyderabad-based CARE is the fifth largest healthcare provider in India, operating 2,600 beds across 16 hospitals in nine cities. Advent International which has almost $33 billion of assets under management - acquired 72% stake in CARE hospitals at Rs 610 crore in 2012. Over the last four years the hospital chain has expanded operations by adding key specialties, increased capacity through acquisitions and addition of beds. By end of 2016 the number of hospital beds is expected to rise to 2,800 with expansion of existing hospitals in Raipur and Pune. Post this deal CARE Hospitals' management is also expected to focus on expanding healthcare deliveries especially in under served markets. In a statement Sev Vettivetpillai, Partner and Global Head of Abraajs Thematic Funds Business, said: The implications of the healthcare gap in India are profound, but they translate into a long-term opportunity for Abraaj to help build a better and more sustainable healthcare infrastructure in the country. Led by dedicated founders and a strong management team, CARE has been a pioneer in providing quality healthcare to middle and low income patients in India, and has the potential for further expansion domestically and internationally. We are excited to partner with one of Indias leading healthcare providers and contribute to developing more robust health systems in growth markets. Aiming to catch up with the competition, BSNL plans to commercially launch fourth-generation (4G) services by the end of this year through partnerships with private network equipment providers, in a deal estimated at around Rs 1,200 crore. BSNL will come out with expressions of interest next month for a revenue sharing model to launch 4G services. It holds spectrum in the 2500 megahertz (Mhz) band in 14 circles, where it would launch 4G services, BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava told Business Standard. The company has teh spectrum across India, except in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kolkata, and does not operate in Delhi and Mumbai, where MTNL operates. On Wednesday, the company announced a soft launch of 4G services from Chandigarh with a speed of up to 100 megabytes per second (Mbps). Currently, the services in Chandigarh are available only to employees, while customers can visit the 4G centre to experience it. After a successful pilot, BSNL aims to get into partnerships with equipment providers. "We will not incur any capital expenditure on launching 4G services. We will go for a revenue sharing model with private equipment players and they will install equipments required for 4G, while we will offer spectrum," he said. The public sector undertaking is in discussions with Reliance Jio to offer 4G to its customers using their network. "We have done some testing with Reliance Jio. They will use our 2G and 3G network to offer services to their customers and we are looking to offer 4G services to BSNL customers using their network," Shrivastava said. Some technical issues between the two networks will be resolved soon, Shrivastava said. Also, BSNL is in discussions with Aircel, Airtel and Telenor for ICR (intra circle roaming) agreements. Currently, the focus is to offer 4G services through WiFi hotspots. "We have set up 620 hotpsots, which will be increased to 2,500 by the end of this financial year. By end of next financial year, we will take the number to 40,000 on a revenue share and capital expenditure model," Shrivastava said. For BSNL, mobile services contribute Rs 13,500 crore, out of which 10 per cent - Rs 1,350 crore comes from the data segment, which is rising. From broadband services, we earn Rs 7500 crore. Going forward, we expect revenues from combined data and broadband services to at least double to Rs 15,000-16,000 crore in the next two-three years, he said. KEY TAKEAWAYS Cairn India, with Nasscom Foundation, has launched a Cairn Nasscom Knowledge Center (CNKC) at Gollavilli village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. The facility will function as a digital resource center for the village, and will provide computer education, enhance spoken English communication skills to the local youth to make them compete in job market in cities. The center has inducted first batch of 30 students at a function attended by Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister N Chinna Rajappa. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Cairn India has tied up with Nasscom Foundation to make young people from under-privileged communities employable and connect them with reputed in the organised sector. Similar Knowledge Centers were introduced by Cairn in collaboration with Nasscom Foundation at S Yanam village in 2012 and in Challapalli Village in 2014, both in AP. Till date, S Yanam's center has concluded 9 batches covering a strength of 135 students while the center at Challapalli concluded 4 batches covering 120 students, according to a Cairn India press release. On January 8, FreshMenu, a Bengaluru-based food start-up that owns centralised kitchens, raised fresh funds of Rs 110 crore to fund expansion. It has built a model to cook food at its own kitchens, book orders on its app, and deliver it to customers. It makes around 5,000 meals a day and is valued at Rs 380 crore. However, FreshMenu is an exception in the food technology (food tech) space, witnessing a blood bath after a spurt in firms, backed by global investors. Firms such as Zomato, FoodPanda, SpoonJoy and TinyOwl that help customers discover, order and deliver food to their places, have scaled down business. Others such as Dazo and Langhar have shut shop, resulting in the sector losing 3,000 people in the past few months. The primary reasons are funds crunch and a flawed business model where start-ups offer economically unviable discounts to get more customers on board. Many firms have expanded into newer cities such as Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam, where the concept of people paying for food delivery or service does not make sense because of small distances for service delivery. In 2014 and 2015, around 55 food technology start-ups raised $373 million (Rs 2,450 crore) from investors such as Rocket Internet and Sequoia Capital, according to data compiled by Tracxn, a Bengaluru-based analyst firm that tracks start-ups. There was a flood of companies that did not have a well thought-out of business that made sense with unit economics. They were spending more money than they earned from each delivery, said Pankaj Jain, partner at 500 Startups, in an interview. The business models would have made sense at the aggregate level, but not at the unit level. Jain says India is a country where a grocery or vegetable store owner still drives business by engaging customers through free delivery and building relationship, a system that would be tough to break with an army of un-named delivery boys. Some analysts blame not only the start-ups, which are run mostly by fresh graduates from Indian Institutes of Technology, for the turmoil in the market that has hurt businesses. Venture capitalists have funds that have five to six years to mature and provide returns to their investors. It is unnatural to expect these young companies to scale fast without focusing on fundamental business models, said Debabrat Mishra, who works with start-ups as director at management consultant Hay Group. One investor, who has evaluated food start-ups but hasnt got one in his portfolio, says the lack of innovation in business models is the key reason for failures of most food tech start-ups. They want to bring a successful business from Union Square in San Francisco to Bengaluru or Hyderabad, without changing their business model. How can you expect it to succeed here? said the investor. The disruption in the food-tech space also spells out positive things for the sector. For once, people are taking this failure positively, which is good. In India, failing in business was considered taboo... There is a slow realisation that people can fail, learn from mistakes and build better business, says Mishra of Hay Group. Jain says there is an opportunity to build a stable and strong food-tech business in the long run. These businesses will work in the long run. I dont have a crystal ball, but it can be five to 15 years. A FRESH MENU Tastykhana: Acquired by FoodPanda (2014) Acquired by FoodPanda (2014) Delyver: Acquired by BigBasket (2015) Acquired by BigBasket (2015) JustEatin: Acquired by FoodPanda (2015) Acquired by FoodPanda (2015) MealsonWheels: Acquired by Antfarm (2014) Acquired by Antfarm (2014) GetMeFood: Acquired by Monocept.com (2015) Acquired by Monocept.com (2015) SpoonJoy: Acquired by Grofers (2015) Source: Tracxn Google India is asking its users in the country to vote for their favourite out of the five early stage startups it has shortlisted to present ideas at the PM's Start-Up India 'Stand Up India' event that will be held on Saturday. Out of the five startups - Reap Benefit, Cardiac Design Labs, Guru-G, SlamdunQ and Sbalabs - the three firms with the highest votes will get a chance to be a part of Google's upcoming Launchpad Week, standing a chance to win $100,000 in Google Cloud credits. These start-ups will also get a chance to be part of Google's Launchpad Accelerator Program in July 2016. "We have shortlisted five innovative startups through a robust selection process. And in the next two days we are inviting you to vote for your favorite Start-up," said the company in a statement. The five shortlisted startups come from various verticals. Reap Benefit is a social enterprise which aims to solve local environment & civic problems. Cardiac Design Labs builds intelligent cardiac monitors that can be used via a smartphone. Sbalabs captures the carbon from industrial exhaust to repurpose it into the raw materials used by the printing industry. Google's launchpad program give early stage startups access to technology support, mentorship, online resources, and exposure to the community to help them scale and grow fast. Reap Benefit Reap Benefit is a social enterprise which aims to solve local environment & civic problems by engaging the youth. In the last 3 years, they have saved more than 200 tonnes of waste, 2 million litres of water, 100,000 units of power. Cardiac Design Labs Cardiac Design Labs has built a connected cardiac monitor that comprises of a Bodyworn unit, Patient's Bedside Unit, Doctor's Terminal and Doctor's Mobile App. It provides real time analysis and generate instant alarms on episode detection, thus enhancing patient care and safety. Guru-G Guru-G converts existing textbook content into adaptive teaching packs that provide in-class guidance to teachers on different ways in which they can teach a topic. The guidance adapts to the teacher's past behaviour, student moods & the practices that have resulted in best learning outcomes for their students. SlamdunQ SlamdunQ focuses primarily on using wearable technology to unleash sporting potential. Using Smartwatches and SmartBands available in the market, they develop applications for these wearables to improve their clients' sporting potential. Sbalabs Pvt. Ltd. Sbalabs is on a mission to extract soot produced by the incomplete combustion of fuel produced by vehicles and industries which are air pollutants and repurposing it into industrial grade raw materials used by the printing industry. Indian drug are readying a pipeline of speciality generics and biosimilars to make the most of the next growth wave in the US market. Speciality drugs have contributed almost two-thirds to the overall medicine spending growth in the US over the past five years. A recent Edelweiss report, Pharmaceuticals--Time to Evolve, said biosimilars and inhalers would be 50 per cent of the opportunity, which most Indian would not be able to tap. If we exclude these opportunities, the generics opportunity shrinks to $55 billion for 2016-20, which is significantly lower than the $75 billion opportunity on offer during 2011-15, the report said. We expect generics growth to reduce to 1 per cent by 2020 compared to 15 cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over 2010-15, it added. Sun Pharmaceuticals has a speciality generics pipeline ready for the US. From a revenue of $2.2 billion in 2014-15, Sun Pharmaceuticals' US business is expected to clock 13 per cent CAGR to touch $4.3 billion by 2020. Nearly 18 per cent of Sun Pharmaceuticals' revenues will then come from the speciality business like dermatology and ophthalmology, around 6 per cent from the branded drug business, and about 45 per cent from the complex generics business that involves long-acting injectables and controlled substances. Sun Pharmaceuticals had entered the speciality business with the acquisition of a skincare company Dusa in 2002 for $230 million. "Sun Pharmaceuticals is focussing on building its speciality business in dermatology and ophthalmology. We also have products from the Ranbaxy portfolio, a company spokesperson said, In dermatology, we have signed an in-licensing deal with Merck for Tildra, a biologic for several indications currently being developed for psoriasis, the spokesman added. Sun Pharmaceuticals also recently acquired InSite Vision to improve its ophthalmology pipeline. According to various estimates, the US dermatology market is worth $10 billion and it clocked a CAGR of 11 per cent in revenue over 2013-15. The US ophthalmology market is worth $7 billion and it clocked 14 per cent CAGR over 2013-15. The speciality pharmaceuticals market in the US grew 26.5 per cent to $124.1 billion in 2014. Spending on speciality drugs has increased by $54 billion in the past five years, contributing 73 per cent to overall medicine spending growth during that period. Lupin, too, has started making a move towards the complex generics business by acquiring Gavis Pharma. With the acquisition of Gavis Pharma, which concentrates on dermatology and controlled substances, Lupin has a portfolio of 101 in-market products, 164 cumulative filings pending approval and a deep pipeline of products under development for the US. The company spends 50 per cent of its R&D budget on the complex generics business, said the Edelweiss report. We have always focussed on developing and filing for difficult-to replicate, extended release formulations in niche therapy segments, said Ramesh Swaminathan, chief financial officer, Lupin. Lupin has emerged as the sixth largest generics player in the US, inspite of being a late entrant (it entered the US generics space in 2005," he added. We started filing for oral contraceptives in 2007-8, one of the first global generic players to do so after Teva and Sandoz. Similarly, we started addressing the ophthalmology segment in the US in 2009-10. These are all complex generics, Swaminathan said. Lupin also acquired Nanomi in the Netherlands to strengthen its capabilities in complex injectables. It has set up research centres in Florida and Maryland in order to shorten the time-to-market. We today have a high-quality generic pipeline of over 225 filings in the US, addressing a market size of close to $65 billion, Swaminathan said. He added, The average R&D spending for the is around five to seven per centper cent, while our R&D spending for 2015-16 is inching towards 10 per cent. has invested over half a billion dollars in research over the last 3-4 years alone," Swaminathan said. Sun Pharmaceuticals 2014-15 R&D spending is around $315 million, or about 7.1 per cent of its total sales. For the first six months of the current financial year, its R&D spending was 7.6 per cent of its net sales, a company spokesperson said. "Based on our investments in the speciality product pipeline, these may inch up a bit from these levels over the next few years," he added. Biologics represent a sizeable 28 per cent of the US market and 40 per cent of the off-patent revenue will become generic over the next five years. However, analysts feel that the addressable space for Indian will be fairly limited as higher development cost of $100 million per molecule is not the only limiting factor. Ahmedabad-based Cadila Healthcare's US pipeline has a number of niche filings. It has around 165 pending ANDAs on platforms like mesalamine based filings (Asacol HD and Lialda), transdermals, nasals, controlled substances, among others. The company is also working on biopharmaceutical areas like biosimilars and vaccines. Analysts said that it is also investing in a biopharmaceuticals pipeline, biosimilars and vaccines, and has two advanced biosimilar assets for regulated markets, namely, Adalimumab (it had launched the first biosimilar of Adalimumab under the brand name Exemptia in December 2014 in India) and Pegfilgrastim. Bangalore-based Biocon has an exclusive collaboration with Mylan for the development and commercialisation of Insulin Analogs and Biosimilars. For that matter, Biocon has four molecules including Adalimumab (auto-immune disorders), Pegfilgrastim (used for treatment of infections in cancer patients) targeting a market size of over 30 billion. The company is in the process of setting up Asia's largest integrated insulin manufacturing facility in Malaysia, with a capital expenditure of over $200 million and is aiming to file for emerging markets sourcing from this facility some time in FY17. On the whole, analysts feel that with the generics space getting crowded in the US, growth rate would become a challenge by 2020. However, while the only way forward for Indian companies is to move up the speciality value curve, this business, unlike generics has high entry barriers in terms of development, regulations and convincing the payers and doctors. InterGlobe Hotels is planing to add nine more hotels under ibis brand by 2017. This was part of company's Rs 2,000 crore investment plan. InterGlobe is a joint venture between InterGlobe Enterprises and Accor Asia Pacific, to develop a network of 'ibis' hotels in India. InterGlobe's aviation arm is Indigo. Speaking to reporters after inaugurating 12th ibis hotels in India at Chennai with 155 rooms, J B Singh, president and ceo of InterGlobe Hotels said that with a total portfolio of 19 ibis hotels (including operational and under construction properties), AccorHotels and InterGlobe have committed around Rs 2,000 crore and the investment plan are going on as per schedule. Jean-Michel Casse, senior vice-president, AccorHotels India said: "The opening of the ibis Chennai City Centre is a strategic milestone for the ibis brand in India. We are seeing a strong growth of the ibis network with 12 hotels in India." The company has invested around Rs 110 crore in the new property which was inagurated today at Chennai. "Our target is to have 19 hotels with around 3,500 rooms by 2017 and we are very much on schedule," said Singh. He said as part of the growth the company also open for inorganic growth. He claims while average occupancy ratio is around 70 per cent, major properties are running at around 90 per cent occupancy ratio. He claims this higher by around 10-15 per cent industry's average. Singh noted around 50 per cent are repeat customers. InterGlobe Hotels is betting big on the Indian mid hospitality market considering the middle class is expected to grow to around 200 million by 2025 and GDP is also expected to growth by around seven per cent. "Today not much products are available to cater to the growing demand," said Singh, adding that the company would continue to focus only on the mid-market segment and for now it will focus only on the Indian market. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) has received the civil aviation ministry's nod for request for proposal (RFP) for the Navi Mumbai airport. It, however, is yet to get the crucial security clearance for four qualified bidders from the home ministry. Cidco vice-chairman and managing directortells Sanjay Jog and Aneesh Phadnis that the first phase would be up and running by December 2019. Excerpts:Pre-development works will be executed by Cidco and the cost will be treated as interest-free loan to be paid after 10 years. So, there is no immediate burden on the developers. Bids for pre-development works are under consideration and technical scrutiny is on. We are likely to open financial bids on January 20. So the potential bidders will know whether these works will cost Rs 3,100 crore or less. The bidders will have a clear idea of cost when they will submit bids in five months. Let them take these costs into consideration at the time of bidding. I do not think there is a risk. The Navi Mumbai airport project work might stick to its time lines, but connectivity projects including the trans harbour sea link, too, need to keep pace. Is that not a concern? Were targeting 2019-end for the first flight to take off from the airport. All the connectivity projects have commenced and will be complete by 2017-18. The airport project does not depend on the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), because there is enough population in Navi Mumbai. Plus, there will be passenger movement from Pune or Thane. The travel time between Nariman Point and Navi Mumbai has already reduced to an hour. The trans harbour sea link will be a bonus for the airport. Already, Japanese International Cooperation Agency has given approval for its loan to the MTHL project. The environment ministry has also given its clearance. The construction of the airport and trans-harbour sea link projects will proceed simultaneously. Will the first-phase capacity of 10 million be inadequate considering traffic growth projections? Yes, that is inadequate. Therefore, we have put a trigger in the request for proposal (RFP) that as soon as particular percentage (of traffic growth) is crossed for three months, the developers will have to start work on phase two of the project to increase capacity to 25 million passengers. Actually, the developers would have to start planning for phase-two before the first phase of 10 million is ready in 2019. Can the developers build a larger airport to handle more than 10 million passengers in the first phase? Yes. That is possible. Passengers might continue to prefer the Mumbai airport and there is a fear that the Navi Mumbai airport might lose traffic to Mumbai. What is your comment? Is there such a fear? The Mumbai airport has a design capacity of 38 million and now it is being said the airport would be able to handle 45 million passengers. Already, it is close to handling 38 million passengers. The percentage growth in the past three years is 13 per cent. By 2019, air traffic in Mumbai is expected to grow to 55-60 million passengers. Mumbai will have a capacity for 45 million passengers and we are building an airport, which will handle 10 million passengers. In my opinion, there is no issue of loss of traffic. What is the status of land acquisition for the airport project? We require 1,160 hectares of land for the airport. Two-hundred and ninety-one hectares were not in our possession. This is private land. The residents of all the 10 villages spread over these 291 hectares have given their consent for land acquisition and we have already taken possession of 130 hectares. We expect to receive possession of the remaining land in the next three or four months. There is a real estate development component in Mumbai and Delhi airport projects, but there is no such plan in the Navi Mumbai airport. Bidders see that as a negative. What is your view? The Navi Mumbai airport project will be viable on its own. An airport project should be viable because of passenger traffic and not because of extra commercial land. The Navi Mumbai airport will follow the hybrid till model for revenue (under which charges are calculated by taking all aeronautical and 30 per cent of non-aeronautical revenue into account). The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority allows cost-plus model for developers. Even now, the Delhi airport is running because of aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue from inside the airport and not from land rentals. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid the foundation stone of the project in May 2002 and the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will inaugurate it on February 7. The 15-million-tonne Paradip refinery of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), the largest in the eastern coast, has gone through lots of ups and downs to get to this stage. But, as it nears its commissioning date, IOCL is upbeat that the project equipped with superior technology to process high-sulphur crude oil, which can be sourced cheap, will bring windfall in terms of higher refining margins. The refinery has been built at a cost of Rs 34,555 crore. The refining margin will be higher by $6-7 a barrel over the average refining margin $10-12 earned by IOC at present. This is expected to boost the bottom line of IOC as it would improve the overall gross refining margin (GRM) of the company by $2-3 a barrel, said Ramjee Ram, executive director (in-charge) of the refinery project at Paradip. Though the refinery can process all types of crude oil sourced from the Gulf nations, Africa and South America, it has no control on the supply of the feed as the crude is procured by the central procurement cell of IOC at Delhi, which decides the mix of crude to be sent to different refineries operated by the company. The refinery is equipped to produce low-emission BS-IV-compliant motor fuel, which puts it in an advantageous position as the country goes for stricter regulations on pollution front. We can even step it up to produce BS-VI-compliant automobile fuel with the addition of few equipment. A study is on in this regard to ascertain the market and investment required for this purpose, said Ram. The government, with an objective to check automobile pollution, has set deadlines for switching over to BS-IV emission norms by April 2016 and BS-VI emission norms by 2020. BIRTHING OF PARADIP REFINERY July 1992: Govt decides to set up the refinery in a joint venture (JV) Govt decides to set up the refinery in a joint venture (JV) Aug 1995: Govt approves selection of Kuwait Petroleum (KPC) as JV partner Govt approves selection of Kuwait Petroleum (KPC) as JV partner July 1998: Approval given for 9-mmtpa refinery project in JV with KPC Approval given for 9-mmtpa refinery project in JV with KPC Dec 1998: Odisha government gives incentives for project Odisha government gives incentives for project Aug 1999: IOC decides to set up refinery on its own due to uncertainty in venture with KPC IOC decides to set up refinery on its own due to uncertainty in venture with KPC Jan 2000: KPC withdraws from the project KPC withdraws from the project May 2000: Then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee lays the foundation stone for the refinery Then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee lays the foundation stone for the refinery Feb 2002: Project put off due to withdrawal of incentives by the Odisha government Project put off due to withdrawal of incentives by the Odisha government Feb 2004: The Odisha government restores incentives by signing a memorandum of understanding The Odisha government restores incentives by signing a memorandum of understanding Mar 2006: Project gets in-principle approval with revised configuration Project gets in-principle approval with revised configuration Feb 2009: Final investment approval given It is not a problem for us to produce BS-VI-compliant fuel right now; the automobile sector has to first make the necessary changes in the engine to use this kind of fuel, he added. Paradip will be the first refinery under IOC to be integrated with a petrochemical complex. While the work on a polypropylene unit inside the refinery complex has already started, it intends to begin work soon on methyl, ethyl, glycol plant, coke gasification unit, paraxylene plant and purified terephthalic acid project. The additional investment on these projects will be Rs 30,000-35,000 crore. The refinery, which intends to attain 100 per cent capacity in three years, will produce liquefied petroleum gas, propylene, petrol, diesel, naptha, and pet coke, which will mainly cater to the eastern and southern markets. Though our priority will be domestic market, depending on the price advantage, some products can be exported taking advantage of the refinerys location on the eastern coast, said Ram. Howard Schultz, Starbucks' global chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), will make a brief, but crucial visit to India on January 14. Schultz, one of America Incorporated's high-profile executives, will visit India for the second time in three years. His visit comes at a time when the company's Indian operation, a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, has got a new CEO. Last month, Tata Group's youngest CEO Avani Davda, who was heading operations at Tata Starbucks, stepped down, paving the way for Starbucks' US executive Sumi Ghosh to take over. Ghosh will be by Schultz's side on Wednesday, as the 62-year-old surveys operations of the joint venture, engaging with employees and the management and going on market visits. In between, Schultz, who joined Starbucks in 1981, will address top Tata Group CEOs and managers, as part of a thought leadership forum. He is also expected to meet Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, as the latter attempts to sharpen the 148-year-old conglomerate's consumer focus. Mistry has identified retail and consumer among four verticals that would drive future growth. In view of this, Schultz's dialogue with top Tata Group managers and CEOs is expected to help them imbibe the consumer-centric culture that Mistry is attempting to bring about, persons in the know said. Schultz will also witness first-hand how Starbucks is doing in India when he visits the flagship store at Horminan Circle in Mumbai. This was the same store Schultz inaugurated in October 2012, when Starbucks was launched in India. From then, Starbucks opened 80 stores in six cities. It now aims to reach the 100-store-mark this year, sources said. On the financial front, Tata Starbucks narrowed its losses nearly 10 per cent in its second full-year of operation, namely 2014-15, with revenues touching Rs 172 crore from Rs 95 crore the previous year. While the backing of the Tata Group has helped the venture sustain operations, the going, say experts, could get tough with competition growing. The fight for footfalls, says Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak, is increasingly coming from fast-food brands than coffee chains. "Today, McDonald's has a McCafe, and fast-food chains in general are beginning to look at beverages beyond colas," he said. Unicorn India Ventures, an early stage startup VC fund has announced its first investment in an inter-city on demand cab aggregator startup Roder. Total investment is pegged at Rs 1.6 crore. Roder launched in December, 2014 by 3 IIT Kharagpur alumni Abhishek Negi, Ashish Rajput, and Siddhant Matre aims to organise, bring transparency and affordibility in intercity cab booking service. Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Venture says, We have seen startups grow rapidly in intra-city cab booking space and the convenience it has brought in our lives. We believe Roder can bring the same convenience to customers who currently have to shell out two way tariff for traveling from one city to the other. Roders model is such that it not only makes cabs available at short notice but also results in substantial savings for customers. Our decision to invest in Roder is driven by the fact that their business model is scalable and this space is set to witness action and growth in the next few months. Funds will be used for achieving market fit product, market expansion and customer acquisition. It aims to eliminate the return-fare concept from the market by optimizing resources so that the customer only pays for the distance travelled. The company focuses on driver and cab verification, training of drivers to ensure customer safety and overall experience. Roder Team uses technology to automate various processes, focuses on last-mile connectivity. The company has launched its Android app and also accepts booking via its website and call center. Talking about Roder, Co-Founder Abhishek Negi said, since inception, the startup has generated a GMV of over a crore by fulfilling 500 rides on a monthly basis, with an average ticket size of Rs 5,500. The company is creating a new market for outstation cab services. The demand for booking one way rides via Roder's platform has grown from 5% to 70%. "We believe our team is now ready to take its services to new markets in the country. We have raised this seed funding round which is led by Unicorn to foray into 20 new cities in North and Western region of the country and bring a completely hassle free travel experience for the customers there, said Negi The company is also working on introducing ride-sharing feature for intercity travellers there by optimising costs of travel for consumers. It works with a pool of more than 4,000 drivers and is present in 13 cities. It's a hybrid model where some of the fleet cars are owned by the company while the rest are driver owned cabs. The venture kicked off as a marketplace for cabs in 2014 but the founding team realised that the real pain point is booking for outstation cabs. Thus, Roders outstation cab service was launched in January last year. American retail major Walmart is learnt to be exploring ways to tie up with leading e-commerce companies in India, including Flipkart, Snapdeal, ShopClues, Grofers and Bigbasket, to tap the growing online retail opportunity eight years after it entered the country. While the $486-billion top retail chain of the world had earlier toyed with the idea of entering the online space to sell its products to Indian consumers, it is now actively considering the option. This comes at a time when the $90-billion American e-commerce giant, Amazon is giving competition to Indian start-ups such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and others. In a recent interview, Amazon India head Amit Agarwal had told Business Standard the group had an open cheque book and investment would never be a hurdle for India operations. Walmart and Amazon compete with each other globally, especially in the US, in the online space. Asked about the group's plans on tie-ups with e-commerce companies, Rajneesh Kumar, vice-president and head, corporate affairs, Walmart India, said, "Several businesses in the e-commerce space have approached us to become our members and we are processing those requests." Walmart refers to companies and businesses which buy its products as "members". No foreign multi-brand retail chain has till now entered into tieups with e-commerce companies in India. E-commerce companies, including Flipkart, Snapdeal and Grofers, did not comment on whether Walmart was talking to them for potential partnership. Although the Bentonville-based chain had signed up a joint venture with Sunil Bharti-led Bharti group in 2007, with the intention to enter the fast-growing front-end retail space, it has remained limited to just business-to-business (B2B) operation in the country, both in brick and mortar, and online. It currently sells to businesses, organisations and educational institutes, but not to individual buyers. While 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted in cash-and-carry or wholesale, front-end multi-brand business is guided by a string of complicated rules. FDI is capped at 51% in multi-brand retail, making it necessary for a foreign player like Walmart to have a local partner. UK's Tesco is the only other big foreign multi-brand player in India currently; it (in partnership with Tatas) had announced a $100 million investment in multi-brand in Maharashtra and Karnataka, two states that permitted FDI in retail at that point. Unable to cope with the regulatory bottlenecks, French chain Carrefour exited the country a few months ago. It was for long speculated that Carrefour was close to a tie-up with Kishore Biyani-founded Future Group, but that deal never came through. When Walmart tied up with Bharti eight years ago, FDI was not permitted in multi-brand. Later in 2012, the United Progressive Alliance government allowed 51% FDI, but with stringent sourcing and investment norms. The policy also said that every state will decide whether or not it wants to allow foreign retailers. Even as the group is reported to have lobbied hard for a more liberal FDI regime in multi-brand retail, Walmart had to end its relationship with Bharti in 2013. The American chain bought Bharti's share of the joint cash-and-carry business but could not expand as it had to comply with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the US over possible violations in some markets, including India. After a gap of three years, Walmart opened its 21st cash-and-carry store in Agra in the middle of 2015. The current National Democratic Alliance government has not changed the FDI rules in multi-brand retail but it has maintained that it is opposed to foreign investment in the sector, as it was likely to hit employment in neighbourhood mom-and-pop grocery stores, also known as kiranas. It is believed that owners of such stores, or the trader community, are a significant votebank for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won a thumping victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Walmart India's revenue was down 32% to Rs 2,992.7 crore in the year ended December 2014, according to numbers available with Registrar of Companies. This was mainly due to no new stores opening through 2013 and 2014. The company's loss was at Rs 232 crore in the same period. The company is looking at various opportunities to shore up its revenues, including laying greater emphasis, in private label business. According to reports, it expects 25 per cent of its revenue to come from private labels in about two years. In other geographies such as the US and UK, private label makes up for a significant chunk of Walmart's revenue. With online giving intense competition to the traditional retail companies, even big groups like Tatas and Reliance Industries are planning big in e-commerce. This is despite FDI not being allowed in e-commerce, a reason why most big players (with foreign money coming from marquee investors) operate through the marketplace model. The government is quiet on the rulebook for online marketplace. In fact, Goldman Sachs has projected that Indian e-commerce will be a $100-billion market by 2020, from a single-digit figure now. Walmart though is not leaving things to chance. INDIA RUN SO FAR Walmart signed equal partnership with Bharti group in 2007 to enter India It operates 21 wholesale or B2B stores in the country Opened first store in 2009 in Amritsar and 21st in Agra in 2015 It could not expand in India for three years due to compliance issues with FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) over possible violations in some markets Plans 50 B2B stores by 2020, silent on original intention of B2C Company's online business also restricted to B2B US chain broke partnership with Bharti in 2013 due to policy hurdles and internal issues WHY A TIEUP WITH E-COMMERCE FIRMS IS IMPORTANT Talks between India and Pakistan seemed set to go forward on Wednesday, after reports from Pakistan of the arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the organisation that appeared to have carried out the Pathankot attack, his brother, Rauf Azhar and other members of his family. The Pak government also sealed JeMs offices. However, Delhi reacted cautiously. We have no official confirmation of the arrest of Masood Azhar, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. He said a decision on whether to go ahead with the foreign secretary-level talks scheduled with Pakistan on Friday would be taken after Wednesday nights meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The meeting was underway at the time of filing of this report. Although the dates are yet to be firmed up, the arrest of Azhar described by Pakistani sources as protective custody is likely to weigh favourably with India, which had demanded prompt and decisive action against those who had conspired to carry out the attack in Pakistan. Voice samples suggested it was Azhars family members who were the handlers of those who had carried out the attack. As news of the arrest broke, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar drove to Foreign Minister Sushma Swarajs residence. She then met the PM. India had given both voice samples and DNA evidence to Pakistan soon after the attack. Pakistan had accepted without demur the involvement of its citizens in the attack and had not attempted to dissemble or prevaricate. It also formed a joint investigation team of officials from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence and other arms of the Pakistani establishment days after India had handed evidence of Pakistani involvement. A statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs office also announced that Pakistan was ready to send a special team to the Pathankot airbase to investigate the assault. In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the government of Pakistan is considering to send a special investigation team to Pathankot, in consultation with the government of India, the statement said. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed and further investigations are underway, the statement added. A high-level meeting chaired by Sharif took the decision after the first round of initial investigations. Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif; director-general of ISI; Lahore Corps commander; ministers of interior and finance; Punjab chief minister; and other senior civil, military and police officials were present at the meeting. The meeting noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistans commitment to eliminate terrorism from our soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow our territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere, considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident, said the note. The meeting and prompt action on Pakistans part might have been chivvied forward by the intervention of the US. On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry had urged Pakistan and India to continue talks despite the Pathankot attack. Pakistani newspapers reported that Kerry called Sharif and expressed the hope that the bilateral talks between Pakistan and India would continue despite the terrorists attempt to thwart them. Using both flattery and persuasion, Kerry was reported to have praised Sharifs leadership skills amid difficult times in the wake of the Pathankot attack. It is possible that Azhar and his associates are being offered as fall guys to prevent information about a linkage between them and the Pakistani state from becoming public. However, there is no doubt that Indias basic demands prompt and decisive action have been met. If India now makes fresh demands that the linkage between the attacks and state agencies be investigated by the government Pakistan could legitimately claim India was trying to interfere in its domestic affairs and changing the goal posts. Talks between the foreign secretaries, therefore, are inevitable. However, whether they will take place on January 15 a date announced unilaterally by Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister - remains to be seen. Another obstacle to the talks could be statements from Afghan police officers that Pakistan military officers were involved in the attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif on January 3. In a bid to provide a social security net to millions of farmers across the country, reeling under the impact of consecutive droughts, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new crop insurance scheme, having premiums as low as 1.5 per cent of the sum insured. To be called Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Ministers Crop Insurance Scheme), it will charge a uniform premium of two per cent of the sum insured from farmers for all kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for rabi crops. For horticulture crops, the annual premium will be five per cent of the sum insured. The balance premium would be paid by the government to the insurance companies. This would be shared equally by the Centre and state governments. Farmer brothers and sisters, at a time when you are celebrating festivals like Lohri, Pongal and Bihu, the government has given you a gift in the form of Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted hours after the Cabinet cleared the proposal. Modi said the scheme would bring about a major transformation to farmers lives. The scheme has the lowest premium, it entails easy usage of technology like mobile phone, quick assessment of damage and disbursement within a time-frame. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states congratulated the PM on the scheme. Shah said the new scheme is much simpler compared to earlier programmes and that farmers can now avail more benefits. For the Centre, there would be no upper limit on the subsidy and even if the balance premium is 90 per cent, it would provide for the same. OTHER CABINET DECISIONS PANEL ON 7TH PAY COMMISSION: The Cabinet has decided to set up a panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which will have a bearing on the remuneration of 4.7-million central government employees and 5.2 million pensioners. The additional burden from the implementation of the new pay scales will be Rs 1.02 lakh crore in 2016-17. The Cabinet has decided to set up a panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which will have a bearing on the remuneration of 4.7-million central government employees and 5.2 million pensioners. The additional burden from the implementation of the new pay scales will be Rs 1.02 lakh crore in 2016-17. HEALTH PACT: Nod to a pact with Maldives to facilitate greater cooperation between the two countries and assist the neighbouring country in developing human resources in healthcare. Nod to a pact with Maldives to facilitate greater cooperation between the two countries and assist the neighbouring country in developing human resources in healthcare. OCEAN ENERGY: Nod to India becoming a member country of the International Energy Agency Ocean Energy Systems According to rules, farmers insurance claims have to be settled within 45 days of the risk assessment. However, often, claims are not attended to even after six months, which is a major reason why farmers dont for crop insurance. There have been many crop insurance schemes in the past, but all of them have some problem or the other. Which is why the total crop insurance cover till now in agriculture is 23 per cent. The present, scheme will solve many such problems and perhaps for the first time after independence, offers the lowest premium rates, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. The new insurance scheme would cost the government Rs 8,800 crore over the next three years, assuming that 50 per cent of farmers are covered. At present, with 23 per cent insurance cover, the Centre spends Rs 3,100 crore a year on crop insurance. The insurance amount covered will also not be capped and so also the premium rates. This should be seen in the overall context of PMs insurance initiatives through bank accounts, where he first rolled out life insurance and accident insurance and now crop insurance. The scheme has to be significantly different from the earlier ones as till now even loanee farmers don't get insurance cover. We need to see how many farmers actually avail this and to what extent the coverage is provided, Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at CARE Ratings, told Business Standard. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said pre-harvest losses, if the damage occurs while seeds have been planted, will be covered under the new scheme. So will post-harvest losses. Data for crop cutting experiments could be uploaded through smartphones, mobiles, drones etc to speed up the claim process, said Radha Mohan Singh. The unit of assessment would be individual farms, against villages in the current insurance schemes. For farm lands on lease, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who was also in the press conference, said those will be included only if states certify. Manmade calamities like fire, theft, burglary, etc, wont be covered under the scheme, said Avinash Kumar Srivastava, special secretary, agriculture. Insurance companies are of the view this will be beneficial since unlike earlier, where there was a claim subsidy, this scheme would offer premium subsidy and would be more affordable to farmers. Sanjay Datta, chief of underwriting and claims at ICICI Lombard General Insurance, said they would be keen to join this scheme. According to him, catastrophic events could be added to this cover to protect farmers against crop loss/damage due to incidents such as cyclone. Anuj Tyagi, member of executive management at HDFC ERGO General Insurance, said since farmers premium is low, the uptake of policies would be high. All the districts in India has been divided into clusters for distribution among insurance companies on a long-term basis to bring about uniformity in premium rates. The government hopes to pass the Constitution amendment Bill on a national goods and services tax (GST) in the Rajya Sabha in the latter half of the Budget session, and then get the requisite half of the 29 states to ratify the Bill. The plan, if it works out, could facilitate the rolling out of the GST regime by October 1. In the Rajya Sabha, all parties barring the Congress (67 MPs) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (12 MPs), support the Bill. The government believes that with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha, the other members nominated by the President during the United Progressive Alliance regime might vote with the Congress. (STATUS IN THE HOUSE) A Constitution amendment Bill needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority. The current strength of the Rajya Sabha is 242, with three vacancies. The Bill, if all members were to vote, will need 162 votes in support. But, the government currently has confirmed support of only 155 members. The numbers in the RS will change by April to give a wafer-thin two-thirds majority to political parties that support the GST, enabling the passage of the Bill even if the Congress and AIADMK were to oppose it. Five nominated MPs will retire. There are also two vacancies among nominated MPs to be filled. This takes the tally of MPs the President will nominate - upon the current government's recommendation - to seven. These members are likely to vote for the Bill. Apart from the nominated MPs, 12 elected MPs will also end their terms by April 2016. There is also a vacancy to be filled from Nagaland. The state currently has a Nagaland People's Front government, an ally of the National Democratic Alliance. Of the 12 elected MPs set to retire by April, five are from the Congress, three from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), two each of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal. Of the 13, three are from Kerala and two from Assam. The two states are to go for Assembly polls by April and the new Assembly will elect the members. There are also five seats from Punjab and Shiromani Akali Dal /BJP could gain a seat from the Congress there. Government strategists forecast that after these 20 are elected or nominated, those in support of the GST will be in majority. It is also confident that the AIADMK could be persuaded to stage a walkout at the time of voting. However, this thin advantage could be useless if the Congress, instead of voting on the Bill or staging a walkout, chooses to protest inside the House.Passage of a Constitution amendment Bill requires the House to be in 'order'. Rajya Sabha chairman M Hamid Ansari is a stickler for the rules and does not favour passing of Bills in a din. India has assured Syria that it will soon release the second tranche of the $240 million line of credit to complete the stalled Tishreen power project near Damascus as well as the additional $3 million needed for completing the Hama Iron and Steel plant. Work on the two projects, being constructed with Indian assistance, failed to progress because of the unrest in Syria in the last few years. On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with the visiting Syrian Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid al-Moallem. According to government sources, The Syrian side requested New Delhi to start work on the stalled projects. The Indian side promised to release $100 million line of credit, the remainder from the original $240 million, soon for the power project. Indias BHEL had signed the contract in October 2009 for installing 2X200 MW power plants, but had to suspend work because of the unrest in Syria. Officials said the steel plant is near completion and New Delhi asked the Syrians to provide suitable security to its engineers to finish pending work. India had extended a $25 million credit line for the rehabilitation and modernization of the Hama Iron & Steel Plant. Apollo International had won the contract for the project through an international tender earlier. The project was near completion but the current unrest has halted the progress of the project, an official said. The visiting Syrian minister invited India to invest in his countrys oil and gas sector. He apprised Swaraj and senior South Block officials of the internal political situation in Syria, lauded the success of the Russian air strikes on the ISIS forces and said it was a result of better ground coordination with Syrian forces. Sources said the minister criticised the efforts of the US and its allies in battling the ISIS. The minister said the transitional government will prepare the ground for an intra-Syrian dialogue, which will lead up to drafting a constitution and elections. He said Syria looked to India to help it in meeting its food and medicine needs as also for providing books on technical education and assistance in building power generation capacity. Organisers have said the Supreme Court's refusal to revoke the ban on Jallikattu, Tamil Nadu's bull taming sport, will affect thousands of farmers dependent on this breed of cattle for their livelihood. A winning bull can fetch a farmer as much as Rs 2 lakh. The apex court has dismissed petitions supporting the sport, among the oldest in the world, for this week's Pongal season. Tamil Nadu celebrated last week on news that the bull taming sport had been permitted. As preparations were on for Pongal, animal rights activists approached the Supreme Court seeking the ban be upheld. The court subsequently refused to stay its decision on a plea by the Tamil Nadu government. Jallikattu is organised in 24 places between January 14 and January 17 in Tamil Nadu. An event can raise up to Rs 15 lakh in a village, says Balakumar Somu, a member of a Jallikattu organising committee. A technology professional, Somu quit a job in Singapore, relocated to Coimbatore and started a website supporting Jallikattu. According to him, a farmer invests Rs 5,000-10,000 to buy a calf and his family nurtures it for 18 months into a healthy bull. Jallikattu is a platform to find buyers. Bulls that win can fetch their owners Rs 1.5-2 lakh. The buyers are rich people who employ 5-6 hands to maintain the bulls. These hands, mostly women, are paid Rs 800-900 a week.The other set of people affected are artisans. In many villages a major source of income comes from creating decorative items, including special ropes, for the bulls and for the race. Jallikattu may be a three-day festival, but it is a source of income for farmers throughout the year, Somu points out. Organisers spend anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 20 lakh to organise a Jallikattu. The money is spent on preparing the ground, deposit money and gifts that include motorcycles, gold coins, bicycles, steel almirahs, sheep and goats. Local brands advertise at these events and the merchandise includes coffee mugs, posters, coasters and bedsheets. A state government official says it is a myth that Jallikattu brings in tourism revenue. All shops and hotels are shut during the festival and most people at a Jallikattu event are from surrounding villages. The ban will also affect special cattle breeds used in Jallikattu, including the Kangeyam bulls. "The banning of Jallikattu will ultimately result in the vanishing of native species and the country becoming import dependent for bovine animals," says Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, managing trustee, Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation. The foundation works on preservation of native cattle breeds. Sivasenapathy says the population of Kangayam cattle has come down from 1.1 million in 1990 to around 100,000 now. Country's largest lender has opened a branch in Seoul, South Korea to predominantly finance growing trade and investment relations between Korean and Indian companies. SBI is second Indian bank after Indian Overseas Bank to have branch in South Korea. SBI already had a representative office in Seoul. Meanwhile, SBI has signed a Line of Credit with The Export-Import Bank of Korea (K-EXIM) for $ 500 million (Rs 3,300 crore). While corporate banking - -- trade finance, bilateral and syndicated loans etc -- would be mainstay, SBI branch will also provide current and savings and remittance facilities to retail customers. SBI in a statement said decision to open a branch in Seoul follows a significant increase in trade after two countries signed g the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2009. B. Sriram, Managing Director (corporate banking group), SBI, inaugurated Seoul branch. Referring to credit line, SBI said this 15 year of Line of Credit will help SBI in arranging long term foreign currency funds to finance Korean Companies setting up manufacturing unit. The agreement for credit line was signed by SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya and K-EXIM chairman and President Duk Hoon Lee in New Delhi. The credit line would also help to finance Indian companies sourcing goods from joint ventures or subsidiaries of Korean companies having manufacturing set up in India which will be a push to the mission. With the signing of this Line of Credit, the total facility from K-EXIM for SBI will be USD 1 billion, SBI added. Cabinet approves India joining the International Energy Agency Ocean Energy Systems . . The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for India becoming a member country of the International Energy Agency - Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) by signing the Implementing Agreement (IA). The nodal agency for the membership would be Earth System Science Organisation - National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. . . By becoming a member of the IEA-OES, India will have access to advanced R&D teams and technologies across the world. India will partner in developing test protocols along with other countries. This will help in testing Indian prototypes as per international requirements and norms. Joint cooperative programs with institutes of member countries could be taken up. India's own research projects with specific targets can be taken up in conjunction with other countries. . . Background:. . The long coastline of India and severe power deficit in the country, warrant the study of ocean renewable energies. Vagaries of the sea makes harnessing ocean energy a technological challenge. In the Indian context designing of scaled up ocean energy devices (including wave, currents and tidal) and their techno-commercial viability needs to be undertaken. Tropical countries have high sea surface temperatures and hence Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a good option for countries like India. NIOT, an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is working in the area of ocean energy and desalination. . . The IEA is an inter-governmental organization with a broad role of promoting alternate energy sources (including renewable energy), rational energy policies and multinational energy technology co?operation and acts as energy policy advisor to 29 member countries. The OES, launched in 2001, is an intergovernmental collaboration between countries, which operates under framework established by the International Energy Agency. This initiative is to advance research, development and demonstration of technologies to harness energy from all forms of ocean renewable resources, as well as for other uses, such as desalination etc. through international cooperation and information exchange. . . Dr. Mahesh Sharma Inaugurates an Exhibition on Lala Lajpat Rai at a Function to Commemorate his 150th Birth Anniversary . . Dr. Mahesh Sharma, the Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent charge) and Civil Aviation inaugurated an Exhibition on Lala Lajpat Rai entitledat a function to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai" here today. Shri NK Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture and senior officers of the Ministry were present on the occasion. A puppet show performance based on the life and ideals of Lala Lajpat Rai was also presented on the occasion. . . Addressing on the occasion, Dr. Mahesh Sharma said that Lala Lajpat Rai Ji was a great patriot and man of masses. He was a stalwart of freedom struggle who ranks among Indias most outstanding leaders. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was a prominent figure in protests against the Partition of Bengal and led the extremist wing of the Congress along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The three were affectionately called Lal-Bal-Pal. As a tribute to the recognition of his sacrifices the Government of India has decided to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary. Ministry of Culture observes birth centenary/125th/150th etc. anniversaries of great personalities of national importance and various activities are organized for a period of one year, he added. . . Dr. Sharma said that Lala Lajpat Rai Ji was greatly influenced by the Arya Samaj and its founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati and he fought against many social evils, especially Untouchability in society. He was a prolific author and wrote many books. He also founded and edited newspapers and journals. Assaulted by the police while leading a demonstration against the Simon Commission in Lahore on 30th October 1928, he succumbed to severe injuries on 17th November 1928. The present generation should be indebted to great freedom fighters like Lala Ji. . . Shri NK Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture in his address said that Lala Lajpat Rai Ji was a great freedom fighter who along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak formed a trio of Lal-Bal Pal. He authored many books and edited many journals which inspired the youths and public at large to take part in freedom struggle. . . Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28th January 1865 at a small village of Dhudike in district Ferozepur, Punjab. He was a contemporary of great stalwarts including Mahatma Gandhi. He was a prominent figure in protests against the Partition of Bengal and led the extremist wing of the Congress along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The three were affectionately called Lal-Bal-Pal. He was a man of masses. In 1907, Lajpat Rai along with Ajit Singh (uncle of Shaheed Bhagat Singh) resisted the Punjab Colonisation Bill. Lalaji was deported without trial to Mandalay, Burma on 9 May 1907 and released after six months. . . A passion for India and concern for social upliftment were the two motivating passions throughout Lalajis life. He established Punjab Shiksha Sangh(1911) and set up the Radha Kishan High School at Jagraon (1913). The reform of the Hindu society especially caste and gender relations was an abiding mission. He crusaded for an end to untouchability". He visited England in 1905, 1908-10 and delivered many public lectures. He also visited USA & Japan. He founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in October 1917. On being elected as President at historic Calcutta Congress (Special) Session in September, 1920, he said, There is no life without freedom and there is no Freedom without Swarajya or self government. At the Nagpur Congress session in December 1920 he fully endorsed Gandhijis programme of Non-cooperation with the British. . . Lalaji established at Lahore the Tilak School of Politics in 1920 and the Quami Vidyapeeth in 1921. He founded the Servants of People Society to work for social reform in May 1921. He was arrested on 31st January 1922 and sentenced for two years rigorous imprisonment for participation in Non-cooperation movement. He joined Swaraj Party in 1926 and was elected its Deputy Leader in the Central Legislative Assembly. He later resigned from the Swaraj Party in August 1926. On 16 February 1928, he moved the resolution in the Central Legislative Assembly refusing co-operation with the Simon Commission as the latter had no Indian member. Assaulted by the police while leading a demonstration against the Commission in Lahore on 30th October 1928, he succumbed to severe injuries on 17th November 1928. . . Lalaji was greatly influenced by the Arya Samaj and its founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He wrote his biography (1899) and also a book on the history of Arya Samaj (1915). In collaboration with Mahatma Hans Raj,, he founded the DAV School at Lahore, 1886. He founded Punjab National Bank along with Lala Harkishan Lal at Lahore (1894) and Lakshmi Insurance Company to give boost to export by Indian traders. He was also closely associated with the Hindu Mahasabha. He was a prolific author and wrote many books. He also founded and edited newspapers and journals. He launched three English weeklies, The Regenerator of Aryavarta (1883); The Panjabee(1904) and The people (1925); an Urdu weekly Deshopkarak(1883) and an Urdu daily Bande Mataram(1920). Lalaji dies as martyr. Paying tribute to him Gandhiji wrote in Young India under the caption Long Live Lalaji: Men like Lalaji cannot die so long as the sun shines in the Indian sky." . . ECI to Organise Matdaata Mahotsav" from 14th-17th January . . Election Commission of India (ECI) is organizing Matdaata Mahotsav from 14th to 17th of January, 2016 at Central park, Connaught Place, New Delhi ahead of the 6thNational Voters Day on the 25th of January 2016. The event will be inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner of India Dr. Nasim Zaidi on 14th January, 2016 at 4 PM. The four-day long gala festivities, from 14th to 17th of January 2016, is being organised at the popular public destination of Central Park in Connaught Place, New Delhi. The event would be focused at involving voters and citizens from all walks of life specifically women, youth, defence personnel, non-resident Indians, persons with disabilities, and those from marginalised sections for enhanced sense of inclusion, greater awareness about the electoral process and strengthening SVEEP (Systematic Voters Education & Electoral Participation) programme. . . The voters fest will host national exhibition displaying the good practices on various aspects of election management and also describe the process of elections through interactive models, presentations and exhibits from different parts of the country. Additionally, there will be information and facilitation centres, mock polling station and a range of interactive activities. Multitude of activities like debates and discussions, music and dance, street plays and games, quizzes and contests during the event aim to keep up the spirit of festivity. Few EMB from other countries will also share the best practices of their countries. . . The exhibitions would provide a glimpse into best practices in various dimensions of election management- electoral roll, IT and technology, security, mobilisation of personnel and resources, voters education, election material, expenditure monitoring and many more innovations by States/ UTs in India through interactive models, three dimensional structures, digital presentations, display of publications and election material, mock set-ups, activities and role-play, graphics and films. A walk through the complete electoral process from registration to voting will help visitors to experience and understand their duty and right of adult franchise better. Election Commission of India will felicitate the nominated State Icons who have made valuable contribution towards voter education and awareness. . . The Mahotsav would encourage ideas and suggestions for greater and qualitative participation in elections while graffiti, music, dance, theatre and poetry will provide a platform for expression and celebration. Games and quizzes will give opportunities to one and all to engage in the frolic. Some off-venue but simultaneous events especially on Army Day and Youth Day, themed on electoral participation, will help reach out to masses in greater and effective ways. . . This festival is being organized with the support from partner CSOs, NGOs, Ministries and Departments, Radio, TV and Print Media partners for greater outreach to the people. . . RM/PS Energy Cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of our relationship"- Shri Piyush Goyal . . Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India said, energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of our relationship". Shri Goyal was addressing Institute of Energy Economics Japan in Tokyo today and was received by Mr Masakazu Toyoda CEO, Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ). . . Taking inspiration from Japanese energy efficiency efforts, Shri Goyal said that Japan has 70-80% of lighting from LEDs, we are targeting 100% LED penetration in India by 2019. The Minister is on a visit to Tokyo, Japan to attend the 8th India-Japan Energy Dialogue on 12-14 January 2016. He also invited Japanese companies to Come to India, Make in India and Conserve Energy in India". . . Speaking on the occasion, Shri Goyal informed that USA & Europe with just 10-12% of the world's populations have contributed ~50% of GHG emissions while India contributes only 2.5% with 17% of population. He demanded that developed countries should support the developing & emerging economies with green tech, low cost finance to keep our energy costs affordable. Climate justice demands that the developed world reassess its lifestyle and consumption of electricity & petroleum products", Shri Goyal added. . . Earlier during the day, Shri Goyal attended three roundtable conferences on Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances & LEDs and Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining- Energy Audit in Refineries. He will also participate in two roundtable conferences to be held on the theme of Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters on Thursday. . . On the sidelines of the Energy Dialogue, five interactive sessions on relevant themes of Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances and LEDs, Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining-Energy Audit refineries, Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters are scheduled to take place between the Indian and Japanese companies on 13th & 14th January. The themes were selected based on Indias energy needs and with a view to further deepen the cooperation in the energy sector between the two sides such that Japanese technology and capital can be dovetailed with Indian high skilled human resources and Make in India" to create win-win situations bilaterally and beyond. . . RM/PS FM: Indian economy is on path of recovery despite uncertainty and volatility in global economic situation; Government continues to adhere to the path of fiscal consolidation; . . Gross tax revenues of the Government increase by 20.8 per cent during April-November 2015-16 over the corresponding period in the previous year led by a buoyant growth in indirect taxes . . The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley today said that Indian economy is on path of recovery despite uncertainty and volatility in global economic situation. He said that India recorded a higher growth of 7.3 per cent in 2014-15 as compared to 6.9 per cent growth achieved in 2013-14 and 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, despite the slowdown witnessed in the world economy, pointing toward resilience of the Indian economy. He said that the rate of growth of GDP in the first half of the current financial year 2016-17 is estimated to be 7.2 per cent. The Finance Minister was making the Opening Remarks during his pre-Budget consultation Meeting with the leading economists here today. . . The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further said that the Government continues to adhere to the path of fiscal consolidation. He said that the Budget 2015-16 targeted fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent of GDP, as compared to 4.0 per cent in 2014-15 in spite of the pressing need for enhanced public investment to boost the economic growth. He said that this achievement is all the more significant as the Government fully implemented its tough commitments on account of requirements of federal structure i.e. greater tax devolution-from 32 per cent to 42 per cent of the divisible pool to States following the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission. He said that the fiscal deficit in April-November 2015-16 stood at 87 per cent of the Budget Estimates vis-?-vis 98.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. On the other hand, the Minister said that the Gross tax revenues of the Government increased by 20.8 per cent during April-November 2015-16 over the corresponding period in the previous year, which was mainly led by a buoyant growth in indirect taxes including excise, customs duty and service tax collections. . . Various suggestions were made during the Finance Ministers Meeting with the eminent Economists for consideration of the Finance Minister while formulating the budgetary proposals for the Union Budget 2016-17. . . The major suggestions included in bringing changes in small savings rate which will in turn push the economy and to focus on increasing private and public investment. Some of the members suggested not to go for aggressive fiscal consolidation and continue on public spending while some of the members were of the view that higher growth can be achieved even by following the path of fiscal consolidation among others and the Government should not compromise in fiscal measures. . . Other suggestions included focusing on measures on poverty reduction, increasing female labour participation in the growing economy and development measures for Tribal community. It was suggested that the Socio Economic Caste Census need to be used for identifying the right beneficiaries and thus bringing them to the forefront. It was suggested that the LPG subsidy is regressive and need to be done away with. It was further opined that the Fertilizer subsidy was not benefitting the farmers and it is time to relook into it. There was mixed opinion in terms on reduction of corporate tax as some found it be favoring the rich and others found it to be a great step towards increasing investment and thus boosting the economy. There was suggestion to relook into the Income Tax slabs to bring about parity within the different sections of population. At the same time, many congratulated the Government for the measures undertaken by it for swift online filing, processing of Income Tax returns, online issue of refunds within week in some cases, on line assessment, on line reply to queries etc and thus making the whole process transparent, efficient and citizens centric. . . Other suggestions included setting-up of a Fiscal Council, maintaining medium term Fiscal targets, ensuring time bound investment under Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR), measures to address or incentivize the families affected by catastrophic diseases as this brings many families from APL to BPL. There were also suggestions to deal with NPAs, as declaration of Bad Banks, to be strict on companies defaulting and performing at loss due to their own mis-management and malfunctioning etc. It was also suggested to make the Disinvestment of companies in small phases through-out the year according to the changes in the market such that the targets can be attained and overall better returns can be ensured. . . Along with the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, the aforesaid Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with the Economists was also attended among others by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, Shri RP Watal, Finance Secretary, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, DEA, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary, Ms. Anjuly Chib Duggal, Secretary, Financial Services, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA). The Economists present during the meeting included Shri Abhijit Banerjee, MIT, Shri Partha Mukhopadhyay, CPR, New Delhi, Ms Rinku Murgai, World Bank, Shri S. Mahendra Dev, IGIDR, Shri Pulapre Balakrishnan, CDS, Thiruvananthapuram, Shri T.N. Ninan, Business Standard, Shri Ajit Ranade, Aditya Birla Group, Shri Sajjid Chinoy, J.P. Morgan, Ms. Sonal Varma, Nomura, Shri Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Livemint, Shri Sunil Jain, Express India, Shri Rakesh Mohan, Shri Nitin Desai, Shri Soumya Kanti Ghosh, State Bank of India, Ms Pranjul Bhandari, HSBC, Shri Josh Felmen among others. . . Gen Dalbir Singh, The Coas, Offers Condolences on Demise of Lt Gen JFR Jacob . . Lt Gen JFR Jacob passed away in the morning of 13 Jan 2016 due to old age complications at the age of 92 years at Army Research and Referral Hospital, Delhi Cantonment. General Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff has expressed his deepest condolences towards this great loss. He stated that Lt Gen JFR Jacob was a pillar of Military leadership and personified the best qualities of a soldier and a statesman who will always be remembered as one of the most prominent Leaders in the annals of Indian Military History. . . Lt Gen JFR Jacob was born in 1923 at Calcutta. He enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1942. He also served in Northern Iraq, North Africa, Burma and Sumatra. After World War II, Lt Gen Jacob attended and graduated from artillery schools in England and the United States. He returned to India following the partition, and joined the Indian Army. During this period, Lt Gen Jacob composed an Indian Army manual on desert warfare. He was also part of Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 and Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. . . Lt Gen Jacob gained prominence when as Major General he served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command that defeated the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. He retired from the Army after 37 years of service in 1978. . . Lt Gen Jacob was appointed as Governor of the State of Goa, and later served as Governor of Punjab. He is the author of these books: Surrender at Dacca: Birth of a Nation" & An Odyssey in War and Peace: An Autobiography by Lt Gen. J.F.R. Jacob". . . Col Rohan Anand, SM PRO (Army) India- Japan Energy Dialogue Held; Both Sides Discusses Wide Range of Issues Related to Energy Sector . On the Sidelines of Energy Dialogue, Shri Piyush Goyal to Participate in Five Interactive Sessions Between the Indian and Japanese Companies . . Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, is on a visit to Tokyo, Japan to attend the 8th India-Japan Energy Dialogue on 12-14 January 2016. Shri Goyal held the Energy Dialogue with his Japanese counterpart Mr. Motoo Hayashi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on Tuesday wherein both the sides discussed a wide range of issues related to the energy sector, deepening the ongoing co-operation and also issued a Joint Statement. This is the first Ministerial level visit from India to Japan post the successful visit of the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India in December 2015. The Minister invited his Japanese counterpart to visit India for the 9th Energy Dialogue, at a mutually convenient time, in 2017. Shri Goyal is accompanied by a business contingent from India, representing over thirty Indian business enterprises and Public Sector Undertakings, apart from the official delegation. Shri Piyush Goyal was received by Masakazu Toyoda CEO The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ). . . While addressing the 8th India-Japan Energy Dialogue, Shri Goyal said the potential for bilateral cooperation in this sphere has enormous positive implications in our quest for sustainable energy growth and consumption, and improving the quality of life for our peoples. The use of energy efficiency measures as well as promotion of cleaner and renewable sources of energy in India is a step in this direction and this is reflected in the wide scope and agenda of the bilateral energy dialogue. India is committed and is steadily moving away from its dependence on fossil fuels while adopting advanced technologies to start 'smart' from the beginning while addressing its developmental priorities." . . During the visit, Shri Piyush Goyal will be meeting the Japanese leadership and interacting with the captains of the Japanese industry. The Minister will participate in a roundtable seminar at the Institute of Energy Economics of Japan (IEEJ). On the sidelines of the Energy Dialogue, five interactive sessions on relevant themes of Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances and LEDs, Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining-Energy Audit refineries, Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters will take place between the Indian and Japanese companies. The themes were selected based on Indias energy needs and with a view to further deepen the cooperation in the energy sector between the two sides such that Japanese technology and capital can be dovetailed with Indian high skilled human resources and Make in India" to create win-win situations bilaterally and beyond. . . The primary objective of the visit is to optimize the technology cooperation and utilize it to benefit the common populace in all spheres of life. It is the endeavor of the Government to enhance the partnership with Japan to improve energy access at affordable prices to the people of India. The potential for bilateral cooperation in the energy sector has enormous positive implications in our quest for sustainable energy growth and consumption, and improving the quality of life for our peoples. The use of energy efficiency measures as well as promotion of cleaner and renewable sources of energy in India is a step in this direction and this is reflected in the wide scope and agenda of the bilateral energy dialogue. India is committed and is steadily moving away from its dependence on fossil fuels while adopting advanced technologies while addressing its developmental priorities. This bilateral cooperation will further positively contribute to global efforts in combating the challenges of climate change. . . RM/PS Need for India and CLMV countries to promote greater connectivity and economic integration with Regional Value Chains: Nirmala Sitharaman . . According to Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry (IC), Government of India The trade links and ties between India and the CLMV countries can be much better, and the two governing principles, connectivity and economic integration with regional value chains are crucial." The Minister was delivering the Keynote Address at the 3rd India CLMV Business Conclave being organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, at Chennai today. The conference focused on the topic," India CLMV Economic Integration: Developing Regional Value Chains." . . Indias trade with the CLMV countries is over 11,000 million USD and there is immense potential." The tri-lateral highway, connectivity in the North East, port connectivity improvement and the Act East policy are moves in that direction. The External Affairs study proves that theres a huge potential of about 100billion USD dollars of additional export. . . The Minister stated that there was a need for Indian banks to establish their branches overseas and the proposal of a Project development fund, an important instrument to handhold manufacturing units in the CLMV countries and duty free tariffs. While globally FDIs are falling, last year India had 38% growth in FDI, which shows the investors confidence in India. She also added that with the world economy falling, it will depend on CMLV countries and India for revival. . . Mr. Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister, Minister of Commerce, Kingdom of Cambodia said, Its important to network and share best-practices and strengthen businesses ties between the countries. The trade investment between India and the ASEAN countries is crucial since the CLMV countries cover 32% of the ASEAN region and has a huge market for Indian products and with a 165 million strong population. This will attract considerable amount of FDI from India. It has an open investment regime and does not discriminate between foreign and local investors. It is investing heavily into its transport infrastructure." . . Mr. Somchinth Inthamith, Vice Minister of Industry and Commerce, Lao PDR, said, The investment between Laos and India is still insignificant. We are working on policy level changes in laws and regulations and open sky policies to facilitate trade. CLMV and India should work together to strengthen the strategic partnership to reduce the poverty. We are committed to make Laos a preferred destination." . . Mr. Pwint San, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar, said, Myanmar is trying to improve the trade policies and create attractive and investor-friendly policies. A new foreign investment law has been passed to attract more investors and the mass investment potential lies in the economic partnerships." . . We are stepping up our stand in business collaborations and diplomatic cooperation between the CLMV countries and India. Knowledge sharing, simplifying laws and policies should be encouraged between countries to address commercial challenges." . . Mr. Nguyen Cam Tu, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam, said, "We welcome Indias economic integration with the CLMV countries. India and CLMV need to strengthen economic integration through connectivity, infrastructure, and trade facilitations.We also aim to focus on the added advantage from sectors such as seafood, manufacturing, engineering, automobiles and chemicals. . . In his address, Mr. Ravi Capoor, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India stated that The Ministry of Commerce has taken a huge step to launch the CLMV fund and is looking at large investments in these regions. We see problems in connectivity, banking, actual physical movement of people in trade and business collaborations. We are also looking at physical land connectivity to the CLMV countries through the North-East region." . . Ms. Shobana Kamineni, Vice-President, CII, and Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, said, Every business has opportunities to thrive and it would be a threat if we do not make use of the opportunities as growth elements. CLMV countries have been going on a major transformation inward and outward. We should aim to follow best-practices to enhance productivity in Agriculture, mining and minerals, oil and gas, infrastructure, Service sector (manpower, training, skilled-resources), SMEs, and opportunities for smaller business to engage and grow. . . Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General,CII stated that This conference comes at an opportune time, with a slew of reforms announced by the Government of India. I firmly believe that India needs to deepen the relationship with the CLMV countries in sectors such as agriculture, mining, healthcare, and energy (hydro and solar energy)." He added that through this trade and business expansion millions of job opportunities will be opened up. . . RC/nb Remarks by Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari, at the function for Declaration of Kerala as the First Total Primary Education attained State in India at Kerala University, Thruvananthapuram . . The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the impressive march of Kerala on the education and various other socio-economic fronts has been due to the constructive and combative roots of its historical background. Addressing a function at the Kerala University in Thruvananthapuram today for Declaration of Kerala as the First Total Primary Education attained State in India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari said the remarkable performance of Kerala on the various socio-economic indicators are a testimony to the transformative nature of mass education. You have set a model for the rest of the country to follow, he added. . . Following is the text of the Vice Presidents address on the occasion: . . Many years ago distinguished anthropologist Bill McKibben had described the spread of education as the most important factor in the making of a new Kerala. . . The impressive march of Kerala on the education and various other socio-economic fronts has been due to what Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has called the constructive and combative roots of its historical background". The constructive roots are Kerala's indigenous intellectual history and the impact of its global exposure. The latter has resulted in a tolerant pluralism in the State, brought about by opening its doors to other peoples and cultures, because the host society remains alive to learning from other traditions, and other ways of living. The former was a result of the historically pro-education outlook in Kerala. As far back as the year 1817, Rani Gouri Parvathi Bai of Travancore had issued a royal proclamation that said: . . The State should defray the entire cost of the education of its people in order that there might be no backwardness in the spread of enlightenment amongst them." . . This was the precursor to the unleashing of progressive forces against backwardness, superstition, conservatism and casteism in Kerala. The contribution of religious reformers such as Sree Narayana Guru, the Nair Service Society, the Muslim Educational Society (MES) and of the Christian missionaries to the expansion of educational facilities in Kerala also helped in inculcating and sustaining the spread of education as a social movement. . . The progressive aspect was manifest in the opposition to caste inequalities, which took a pro-mass education form. Kerala's politics, especially after the 1950s, continued in the same leitmotif of combating social inequalities through public activism and spread of education. The response was, to paraphrase Amartya Sen, dialectical- the spread of education helped overcome the traditional inequalities of caste, class, and gender, just as the removal of these inequalities contributed to the spread of education. . . The spread of education in Kerala has led to enhancement of individual freedom and capacity for asserting ones rights such as for better healthcare, demands for more public services and monitoring their delivery, a better climate for gender equity, and above all, much faster reduction in income poverty than in many other States of India. . . The remarkable performance of Kerala on the various socio-economic indicators, which approximate more those of the developed countries than developing ones, are a testimony to the transformative nature of mass education. . . Government of India data indicates that Kerala was the best performing state in terms of the Decadal growth of population at 4.9 per cent and had a sex ratio 1084, the best among Indian States. Infant Mortality rate (IMR) was the lowest in Kerala at 12, against the Indian average of 40. Kerala had a birth rate of 14.7 compared to the Indian average of 21.4. . . These figures have their root in the literacy statistics. The total literacy rate in Kerala was, according to the 2011 census, 93.9% compared to a national average of 74. The female literacy in the State was 92% against the Indian average of 65.5. The high literacy rate has an impact on some other aspects as well. The percentage of households availing banking services, for example was 74.2 in Kerala compared to a national figure of 58.7. Similarly, the percentage of households with toilets, something that the central government has been pushing strongly under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, in Kerala was 95.2 compared to Indias average of 46.8%. . . I believe that the date today is as historic for Kerala as was 18th April 1991, the day Kerala was declared to be a Fully Literate State. . . Today, Kerala adds another feather to her educational cap. The state is marking the successful culmination of its Athulyam programme aimed at ensuring Total Primary Education in the State - equivalent to Std IV of formal education. This was the fructification of the continuing efforts under the Total Literacy Campaign through the well planned and executed post -literacy activities and the Continuing Education Programme by the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority under the Government of Kerala. . . The Programme was launched with the support of local self-Government institutions in the year 2014-15. This Programme mainly targeted the adult learners between the ages of 15 and 50 years who were denied primary education for social and economic reasons beyond their control. Interested learners, even if they were above the age of 50, were also enrolled. The continuing education centres spread all over the state under the local self-Government Institutions with the cooperation of various government departments and voluntary organisations formed the spearhead of this programme. . . I am informed that some 2,40,804 learners were identified out of which 2,05,913 learners were brought to the classes after the outreach programmes. Classes were arranged for six months for the teaching and learning with the help of text books specifically prepared for this purpose. The State level examination of this remarkable project was conducted on 7th June 2015, where 2,02,862 candidates were declared successful. . . What is also remarkable about the project is that it was completed using limited resources. The project also relied heavily on the participation of volunteers and the Panchayati Raj institutions. The object lesson is that when well motivated, the civil society and the local governance structures are able to deliver remarkable results at the grassroots. . . The formal external evaluation of the programme has been conducted by the State Resource Centre of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The findings of the report estimate that the programme was successfully implemented fulfilling all the aims and objectives as envisaged in the project prepared by the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority for this purpose. . . It is, therefore, with great pleasure that I declare Kerala as the first Total Primary Education Achieved State in the country. . . This remarkable educational achievement is a result of the enlightened political leadership of Kerala, the dedication of its public functionaries and motivated volunteers as well as the dynamism of the people of Kerala who have come to value the importance of education. I congratulate all those who were involved in the success of this programme and the people of Kerala at this remarkable achievement. . . You have set a model for the rest of the country to follow." . . Update on Pathankot Terror attack . . During searches by National Investigation Teams (NIA), one wireless set of Chinese make was found in the car in which the terrorists travelled to Air Force Base on the night of December 31st January 1st, 2016. Data in the wireless set was deleted. The wireless set is being sent to CFSL/NTRO for retrieving the deleted data. The recovered wireless set is similar to a wireless recovered from the site of attack in Sambha, Jammu & Kashmir last year. . . The route taken by terrorists from the point of abduction of SP Punjab and to the Air Force Base on December 31st January 1st, 2016 has been ascertained. . . NIA teams are collecting CCTV footage on the route taken by terrorists to Air Force Base. . . NIA teams with Punjab police and local villagers are carrying out searches in the nearby villages on the route taken by the terrorists for evidence left behind by terrorists like clothes, electronic devices. . . SP Salwinder Singh was questioned for the third consecutive day today. His cook Madan Gopal and Baba of the Mazaar are being summoned to NIA HQ, Delhi tomorrow for examination. . . Publicis Groupe SA is weighing a bid for a controlling stake in Samsung Group's advertising agency Cheil Worldwide Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said. The French company is considering a tender offer for about a 30 percent stake in Seoul-based Cheil Worldwide, which would make it the single largest shareholder, one of the people said. Any deal would probably see Samsung Group keep a significant holding in Cheil Worldwide, which has a market value of $1.9 billion, the person said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Publicis, which owns ad ... At least four policemen have been killed and three children injured in a suicide bombing near the Pakistan consulate in Jalalabad's capital city of Nangarhar in Afghanistan as the gun battle continues, security sources said. According to TOLONews, a loud explosion was heard initially in Nangarhar. There have been several bomb blasts in Afghanistan in the past weeks. Earlier, heavy fighting was reported on Monday after militants attempted to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Itanagar, Jan. 13 (ANI): The ongoing political upheaval in Arunachal Pradesh has taken another twist with a two-judge bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising of Acting Chief Justice M. R. Pathak and Mr. Justice T. Vaiphei rejecting the petition of two Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) Gabriel Denang Wangsu and Wanglam Sawin that challenged Speaker Nabam Rebia's decision to accept their resignations. Array In its ruling, the high court bench ruled, "The statue undoubtedly provides for a contingency of non-compliance with the provision with respect to the giving of reason for the resignation, namely, the speaker shall have to omit such words or phrases or matter while reading out the resignation in the house. No other contingency, much less, penalty, is provided for the Rules for failure/refusal/omission other conditions of rule 200 (1) of the Rules. After examining the case from all angles, we are satisfied that the speaker has not violated any mandatory provision of law in not rejecting the rejection letters of the petitioners, and is rather correct in accepting the resignation letters of the petitioners. In any case, by such omission, no prejudice is caused to the house or the public." Array Both MLAs had submitted their resignations to the Speaker on September 16 and it was accepted on September 30. Rebia subsequently issued a notification on October 1, saying the two seats had fallen vacant and that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would be informed accordingly. Array The two MLAs had moved the high court, which on October 9, stayed the notification that declared the Kanubari and Khonsa East Assembly seats as vacant. The court had also then directed the ECI not to go ahead with plans for holding by-polls in the constituencies. Array The resignation drama is a fall out of internal dissidence within the ruling Congress. Array Before filing their appeal in the high court, Wangsu and Sawin, had in separate letters to Rebia, withdrawn their resignations stating that they were forced into it by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and that the letters be treated as "invalid, null and void until and unless submitted in person". Array Many of the 47 Congress MLAs in the 60-member state assembly have revolted against Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and demanded a change in leadership. The party high command is also aware of the infighting in the party. Array AICC general secretary Narayan Samy, who is in charge of party affairs in Arunachal Pradesh, said that "We, the Congress, respect the judiciary and humbly welcome the verdict of the Gauhati HC." Array AICC member Takam Sanjoy said, "The first slap on the faces of dissidents was given by the Arunachal People's Aadlat at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on January 4, and the second slap has been given by the high court on January 12. The law of the land has finally given justice to the ruling Congress party. Today, the lawmakers who broke the law and disrespected the Constitution are facing this historic humiliation. This is a lesson for all intending to represent the people to learn". Array "I am upset that the party has lost two elected legislators. However, I have directed the party's grassroot level workers to get mobilised in Kanubari and Khonsa East Assembly seats which have fallen vacant," said Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Padi Richo. Array MLA-cum-Parliamentary Secretary Techi Kaso said the court's ruling had established once again that tampering with the Constitution of India is unacceptable, and those doing so, have and would could continue to get punitive results and outcomes. Array The speaker on Dec 15 had disqualified 14 MLAs - Pema Khandu (Mukto), Kumar Waii (Bamang), Kameng Dolo (Pakke-Kessang), Markio Tado (Tali), Jarkar Gamlin (Aalo), P. D. Sona (Mechuka), Mutchu Mithi (Roing), Kamlung Mossang (Miao), Phosum Khimhun (Changlang South), Wanglin Lowangdong (Borduria-Bogapani), T. Wangham (Longding-Pumao), Lombo Tayeng (Mebo), Kalikho Pul (Hayuliang) and T. N. Thongdok (Kalaktang) - from the membership of the Sixth Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly under Article 191 (2) read with Para 2 (1) (a) and 6 (1) & (2) and Rule 3 (7) and Rule 6 of the Members of Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of defection) Rules, 1987 made under paragraph 8 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution and notified the constituency seats have fallen vacant, according to an extraordinary gazette. Array The disqualified MLAs had challenged their disqualification in the Gauahati High Court, which had stayed the disqualification on January 5. The disqualified MLAs had also moved the Supreme Court against Speaker Rebia after hearing the case January 6. Array The apex court has posted the hearing of the case to January 14. In a move to placate the furore over the news that one of the two Italian marines- accused of murdering Indian fishermen off Kerala coast almost four years ago- will not return to India for the trial, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of the Indian government taking action on the same. "With regards to anyone who leaves the country or seeks the indulgence of the court and thereby travels out, they are supposed to follow court orders. You can't have anybody showing disrespect to the court. I am sure that if someone is showing disrespect to the court or not following court orders then the government is bound to raise such a thing," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI. Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to interfere and bring the culprits back to the country. "Italian naval officers committed crime on Indian land and they are liable to obey the Indian rules. The UDF Government had taken a very strong stand on this point and at the time the UPA Government gave us their full support. My only request to the Indian government is to take strong steps to bring these culprits to India and to ensure that trial continues under the Indian law," he said. Earlier, a senator in Rome said that the two marines will not be returning to India to face trial after being allowed home temporarily for medical treatment. "Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone's return is being explored," said Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee. Artists, cartoonists and comedians should draw some limit to what they portray, said comedian Raju Shrivastav after Kiku Sharda aka 'Palak' of 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' got arrested for mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Array "This is a democratic country, where people can speak out their mind; but yes, artists, cartoonists and comedians should draw some limit to what they portray. There should not be any personal attack, religious sentiment should not be hurt, and integrity should not be compromised. Comedy should bind everyone together," he told ANI. Comedian Kiku Sharda has been sent to 14-day judicial custody. Array Raju Shrivastava added that he never faced such problems and was well supported by the prominent people he mimicked. "I never had to face such hurdles; rather I got huge supports from Lalu Ji, Modi Ji, Mulayam Ji, Atal Ji, Shivpal Ji, Sharad Pawar Ji, Azam Khan.I mimic all of them, and they enjoy it, along with the audience," he said. Array Kiku, apologising for the comments made on television, said he was only following the script given to him during his act, adding that his job was to entertain the people. Array "I am an actor. I am told what to do, I am given a script and a get up and I act accordingly. I did not have any clue that my look would hurt religious sentiments. If such a thing has happened then I apologise for it," he told reporters. On the other hand, followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief said they were hurt by the show as Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is 'God' to them. Array "There is a programme on Zee TV, Jashn-e-umeed, where they impersonated him (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh) and showed him with alcohol and dancing with women. There has been a mockery of Guruji. All followers, who saw it, were hurt. After this, we filed a complaint against Kiku Sharda and party," said a follower of the Dera chief. PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- An Alabama man will spend 11 years in state prison on multiple felony drug charges, the Jackson County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Angelo Stevens, 39, of Monroeville, Ala., was sentenced by Judge Dale Harkey to the maximum sentence on five drug charges: Three years for a July 2013 charge of possession of a controlled substance. Stevens was credited for time served on that charge. Three years for possession of a controlled substance in March 2015. Eight years for each of three transfer of a controlled substances charges which occurred in August 2015. Those charges will run concurrent, but consecutive to the possession sentence. Stevens was also ordered to pay court costs, a $1,500 fine per charge, $300 crime lab fee per charge and to complete 25 hours of community service upon his release from prison. The South Mississippi Metro Enforcement Team investigated the case. The Foreign Secretary- level talks between India and Pakistan are unlikely to take place on January 15. No dates have been fixed in this regard yet. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is expected to make a formal statement in this regard tomorrow. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had earlier said that the talks would be held on January 15. However, Security Adviser Ajit Doval was quoted as having said that talks can be held only after action. He, however, later refused that he gave an interview to a daily, where he stated that the upcoming talks have been cancelled over the Pathankot attack. India has made its stand very clear and said that progress in this regard would be made only after Pakistan acts on the leads given to it about the terror attack on the Pathankot air base. Following the Italian Government's refusal to hand over two of their marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast almost four years ago, the Congress on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action in the case and said that Rome should not go back on its commitment given to New Delhi. "The Kerala Chief Minister has asked the Prime Minister to take appropriate action. Two Italian marines who are accused in this case, one was allowed to leave the country on compassionate grounds, he had a stroke and the Italian Government requested the Indian Government to take him to Italy for treatment," Congress leader P C Chacko said. "They had also given an assurance that he will be brought back to India after the treatment. A government cannot go back on a commitment given. The law of the land must prevail, they have committed offence in India and they should be tried here. I hope the Centre will take appropriate action," he added. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala echoed similar views and said that Prime Minister Modi should take up the matter with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi. "Will Modiji now take action and take up the issue diplomatically with his counterpart in Italy (to ensure that killer of Indian fishermen is brought to justice)?" he said. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has urged Prime Minister Modi to interfere and bring the culprits back to the country. India had granted Massimiliano Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. In a bid to tone down the diplomatic row, Italy reversed an initial decision in 2013 not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit. A speeding car on Wednesday morning knocked Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud, Air Force drill instructor, at the Red Road in Kolkata which was temporarily closed for the Republic Day rehearsal. The instructor was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead. Further investigation in this matter is under process. A day after Afghanistan blamed the Pakistan Army for the attack on the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday backed the claims and alleged that the military runs the government in Islamabad. "Earlier, only the Shiv Sena used to say this but now the whole world knows that the Pakistani Government is controlled by its military. The military runs entire government in that country and it is responsible for sheltering the terrorists," Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande told ANI. "The fact stated by the Afghanistan Police chief is confirmation to all these specifics," she added. Responding to a poser on the Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan which looks in jeopardy in wake of the Pathankot terror attack, the Shiv Sena leader said 'dialogue' is the keys to solve disputes. "Let's see what comes out of these (Foreign) Secretary-level talks, which are scheduled at a time when former president of Pakistan Parvez Musharraf has stressed that attacks on Pakistan were not that major," she added. Pakistani military officers were behind the attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif last week, a top Afghan police official said on Tuesday. One Afghan policeman was killed and nine others, including three civilians, were wounded in the attack on January 4. Pakistan has decided to not send ground troops to Saudi Arabia as part of the 34-state Islamic military alliance led by Riyadh. According to the Dawn, adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, on Tuesday said Pakistan will not send ground troops to Saudi Arabia or any other country. Speaking to the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee at the Parliament House, Aziz said that matters between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have not been settled yet. However, he said that Pakistan will share intelligence with Saudi Arabia to counter terrorism. Aziz asserted that Pakistan was playing its role to diffuse tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. "An emergency meeting of OIC foreign ministers has been summoned in Jeddah where Pakistan would present important proposals to reduce Iran-Saudi tensions," he said. The announcement comes a day after Saudi Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman visited Pakistan and held meetings with army chief General Raheel Sharif and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Earlier, Pakistan had twice rejected calls by the United States for joining alliances against the militant Islamic State (IS) group on the same pretext. 50 per cent of Mumbai's CNG stations are heavily underutilized and between 10 pm in the evening until 6 am in the morning, such stations hardly attract any CNG consumer to fill in gas in their vehicles which has emerged as a major concern for Mumbai Mahanagar Gas, according to its Managing Director, Mr. Rajeev Mathur. Despite this, the Mahanagar Gas, Mumbai will continue to add on close to 15 CNG stations to existing CNG infrastructure in Mumbai every year to make sure that the CNG users do not starve shortages of CNG in Mumbai, he added. Speaking at the Conference on Gas Market in India under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Mathur said, during peak hours in Mumbai, the CNG users have hardly 2 to 3 minutes waiting time on CNG stations but the perception has gone on that filling in takes longer and therefore, CNG stations attract lesser CNG users. This is, however, not correct. The Mumbai Mahanagar Gas compresses huge amount of CNG for its 13 lakh customers that says no CNG shortages. However, between 10 pm every evening until 6 am in the morning, somehow CNG stations in Mumbai attract little customers and that is a worry, said Mr. Mathur. He agreed to look at the suggestion that the prices of CNG should be readjusted for those customers that might visit CNG stations during such a period without giving any commitment. Despite Mumbai being so land scarce, its Mahanagar Gas will continue to keep its commitment to adding on 15 gas filling stations in Mumbai every year as it is compressed and piped gas including natural gas which is the fuel for 21st century because it has no pollution elements in it, emphasised Mr. Mathur. According to him, it is the natural gas that's present contribution to energy mix basket of India, which is around 7% now, will go up to 20% in next few years due to its increasing demand factor. Later on speaking on the occasion Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. Ashutosh Jindal also emphasised on increasing use of gas as a feed stock and appealed to the industry to come forward for its optimum utilisation as since 2011-12, the demand of natural gas for industrial applications has fallen significantly though domestic consumers all over India are consistently seeking PNG connections to their houses. Senior Advisor, Oil & Gas, Ernst & Young, Mr. Rajeev Khanna pointed out that lack of availability of domestic gas and the inability to absorb expensive LNG imports in the power and fertilizer sector have been the recent evolving scenario in Indian hydrocarbon sector. Secretary General, PHD Chamber Mr. Saurabh Sanyal said that the Indian upstream sector faced challenges including concerns on prospectivity, inadequate upstream data and changes in the fiscal regime and low domestic gas price. Director, PHD Chamber Dr. Ranjeet Mehta said that the pricing issue of natural gas is complex one and the government should resolve it sooner than later. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Allaying concerns over inadequate capitalisation of banks reeling under the stressed assets, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairperson Ms Arundhati Bhattacharya today said her bank and several others in the public sector would divest non-core assets for meeting the funding requirement as per the Basel III norms. Ms Bhattacharya said let people rest assured that the banks would be capitalised both by the government as also through generation of internal resources by sale of non-core assets. She said as part of the ' Indradhanush ' package of Rs 1,80,000 crore, the government was to capitalise the PSU banks to the extent of Rs 70,000 crore while the balance of Rs 1,10,000 crore was to be raised by the individual banks through different means. At the SBI, the banks has indentified certain non-core asset and some unlisted entities which would be used for raising such resources for measuring up to Basel III norms. The SBI chief also allayed apprehensions that the journey towards the global banking norms would raise the cost of borrowing. Answering a question from an ASSOCHAM member over the kind of competition which may ensue with the entry of payment gateways, Ms Bhattacharya asserted, "we have no intention of vacating that space. We will (rather) leverage it to the hilt". She said the SBI with a legacy of 209 years has a kind of trust with the small and retail customers which the new payment gateways would not have. The country's largest bank is opening as many as 70,000 accounts per day through 54,000 Customer Service Points (CSPs) outside the bank branches, operated through channels like the fertiliser dealer or grocery stores. These CSPs are now being equipped to sell banking, insurance and pension products by way of massive 25,000 training sessions. Sharing a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the problem of stressed assets and non-performing assets, the SBI chief informed the ASSOCHAM members that her bank would, in about a year, would launch a platform along with the SIDBI and NSE for discounting of bills by traders. The initiative would not only help the traders but also help the bank to reduce the NPAs. She put the blame for the NPAs on all the stakeholders- promoters, government, lenders and even the regulators. Ms Bhattacharya said promoters were bidding aggressively riding on the back of good times around 2007-08 and some of them were diverting funds out of the well-run units hoping the money flow would continue forever. On their part, the banks extended loans for long duration, as much as 30 years, while hoping the funds would be recovered in 10 years or so. The regulator is to blame for allowing such a dispensation while the government was to take the blame for policy uncertainty like cancellation of telecom licences. On China, Ms Bhattacharya said the communist country has abundant reserves to capitalise the banks with a swift response.....so "China would not have a hard landing". The problems arose for China as after a scorching pace of growth the county is faced with negative inflows as it grapples with shifting from investment -led growth to consumption led pattern of expansion. As for the government's financial inclusion programme like the PM Jan Dhan Yojna, she said with the help of unique programme like Aadhar, which is the world's largest biometric programme, the banks would have capture the transaction history of the beneficiaries and then accordingly design finance products for them . In his address, ASSOCHAM President Mr Sunil Kanoria said, the growing level of NPAs in the Indian banking system is an area of concern. Gross NPAs of commercial banks stood at 5.1% in September 2015, while the restructured standard advances as a percentage of gross advances stood at 6.2% during the same period. The figures are even higher for the public sector banks (PSBs) which account for roughly 70% Indian banks' assets. Initiatives like the 5/25 scheme and strategic debt restructuring to tackle stressed assets and especially to help companies in infrastructure and core sector to tide over bad times. Thus, despite the growing NPAs, the scenario is not all that alarming. In fact, about 58% of the impaired assets are due to stalled projects, thus that portion is very much recoverable. In addition, our banks remain well capitalized. RBI has kept the risk-weighted capital adequacy ratio for our banks at 9% and aims to take this figure up to 10.5% by 2019, whereas the figure as per Basel II standard is 8%. Not a single PSB has capital adequacy ratio below 9%, in fact except for 4 PSBs, all have capital adequacy ratio higher than 10.5%. Net, net, our banks are resilient and still enjoy space for maneuverability, and with corrective action the NPA problem can be mitigated. And now with a new Bankruptcy Code on the anvil, the banks will be better equipped to deal with stressed assets, said Mr. Kanoria. During the last 2-3 years, use of technology has become integral to banking operations and technology is used for data analysis, understanding of credit needs of customers, customer interaction, etc and even helps banks to offer more focused products to customers. Thus, banking and technology are now inseparable. This emerging technological landscape in the financial world according to me is the greatest opportunity and at the same time the biggest challenge. Players who will be able to successfully ride the technology curve will emerge winners, while those who will fail to do so will lose out. Some of the banks who have taken the lead in embracing technology are now being equated with 'technology players with banking license', added ASSOCHAM chief. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Bharti Airtel gained 1.92% to Rs 321.20 at 11:00 IST on BSE after the company said that Orange will acquire Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV's subsidiaries in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. The announcement was made by the company during market hours today, 13 January 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 167.74 points or 0.72% at Rs 24,859.33. On BSE, so far 20,914 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 2.02 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit high of Rs 321.45 and low of Rs 318 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 452.45 on 21 July 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 304.65 on 14 December 2015. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 12 January 2016, gaining 1.87% compared with 1.45% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, dropping 9.82% as against Sensex's 8.26% decline. The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 1998.70 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. Orange and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (Airtel), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel have signed an agreement leading to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Orange will acquire 100% of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Ce d'Ivoire and Senegal. The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of Airtel's two subsidiaries for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016) and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in these two countries at this time. The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. These acquisitions provide a clear illustration of Orange's international development strategy, which places a priority on accelerating growth in high-potential, emerging markets where the Group is not already present. Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. This acquisition marks an important step forward in Orange's dynamic growth strategy and will bring the Group's African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016. The deal is further to the initial agreement signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition by Orange of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville. The agreements regarding potential transactions in the remaining two countries namely, Chad and Congo Brazzaville have lapsed. Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit rose 10.1% to Rs 1522.70 crore on 4.3% rise in net sales to Rs 23835.70 crore in Q2 September 2015 over Q2 September 2014. Bharti Airtel is one of the leading global telecommunications service providers with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Orange acquires Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso & Sierra Leone Orange and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (Airtel) have signed an agreement leading to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Orange will acquire 100% of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Ce d'Ivoire and Senegal. The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of Airtel's two subsidiaries for the year ended 31 March 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's EBITDA in these two countries at this time. The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. This is further to the initial agreement signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville. The agreements regarding potential transactions in the remaining two countries have lapsed. Powered by Capital Market - Live News The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that the inclusive growth is high on the priorities of the present Government and the Government will take adequate measures to ensure social security for the children, women and senior citizens of the country. The Finance Minister was making the Opening Remarks during his Pre -Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of different Social Sector Groups here today. Various suggestions were made by the representatives of the different Social Sector Groups during the aforesaid meeting. Some of the major suggestions made during the meeting include increase in old age pension from Rs. 200 to Rs. 500, increase in pension for widows, inclusion of grandparents as a separate entity under Rashtriya Swasthaya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Other suggestions include higher allocation for Integrated Child Protection Schemes, need to recruit trained and qualified teachers to meet the requirements of Right to Education (RTE) Act2009, need to increase allocation for training of School Management Committee members and strengthen community mobilization. Other suggestions include increased budgetary allocation in secondary education and universalize education for children upto 18 years of age and improving financial transparency in Sarv Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and thereby improving the implementation of RTE Act across the country. Other suggestions included insurance to farmers as a major initiative to address the distress in agriculture sector and for achieving higher agriculture growth, adequate provisioning towards a comprehensive and universal crop insurance scheme, extending crop insurance to all farmers for all crops and considering lower units as a unit of insurance with 100% insurance premium to be borne by the Government. Other suggestions in this regard include provisioning of higher credit and other input subsidies to small and marginal farmers, tenant farmers and farmers with oral lease, increase budgetary allocation for National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture under Krishi Unnati Yojana and for strengthening the institutional mechanism for better utilization of available funds under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. Other suggestions included creation of National Social Security Board with sufficient budgetary allocation for providing social security to the workers of unorganized sector as well as provision of interest subvention for economically weaker sections and low income group sections for taking benefit under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Other suggestions included adequacy of budgetary resources for social sector, enhancing budget transparency at the district and sub-district level among others. Suggestions were also made to address violence against women by making adequate budgetary outlays in the forthcoming Union Budget for implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, assistance for construction of shelter homes for single woman/destitutes and widows, utilization of 'Nirbhaya Fund' to institute substantive interventions for sector like health, urban development, public transport, education and other sectors that have a bearing on the safety of women. In order to meet the nutritional needs of women and girls, it was suggested to make higher allocations for Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, review and scaling-up of Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls, higher allocation for ICDS Scheme and strengthening 'Gender Responsive Budgeting' among others. Other suggestions included adequate allocation for the flagship schemes for children in the forthcoming Union Budget, timely disbursal, utilization and proper monitoring mechanism be placed in position to achieve desired outcomes. Children related legislation and commitments should be adequately resourced among others. Some suggestions were made regarding special planned focus for welfare of child labourers, street children, child domestic workers, children in conflict with law, anti-human trafficking initiatives and to stop child abuse in institutional and non-institutional set ups. At present there is an allocation of 0.06% on child protection in the budget which needs to be raised in the forthcoming budget. Some suggestions were made regarding special budget allocation for implementation of New Juvenile Justice Act as it will require setting-up separate children homes with skilled staff in all States/UTs for reformation of juveniles engaged in heinous crimes and higher budget allocation for protection of girl child. Other suggestions include higher allocation on health education and social protection of women at par with other developed countries, need for significant increase in spending for health from 1.3% to 5% of GDP as recommended by WHO, allocation of funds for Navjaat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram and ASHA Module 6 & 7 for all frontline health workers and higher allocation for Mid Day Meal Scheme among others. Powered by Capital Market - Live News GULFPORT, Mississippi -- U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis announced a Gulfport man has pleaded guilty to the theft of 52 guns from a federally-licensed firearms shop in Saucier. Octavia Jermaine Winters, 32, stole the firearms from Friendly Pawn and Auto and entered in a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden. Winters will be sentenced on April 22 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Harrison County Sheriff's Department. Assistant United States Attorney Annette Williams is prosecuting the case. French hospitality group Accor Hotels, as part of its India strategy to have 10,000 star-hotel rooms in 80 properties, will open nine more hotels under different brands this year, a senior official said. According to him, 45 more hotels were under various stages of development-construction and design. He also said the group was interested in managing a beach resort here or in Puducherry and will be expanding its footprint in leisure destinations. "We will soon be opening nine more hotels under different brands. We have seven hotel brands in India -- from budget hotels to luxury brands. By 2020, we will have 80 hotels with a room strength of around 10,000," Jean-Michel Casse, senior vice president-operations India, told IANS here on Wednesday. He said the company was interested in managing a beach resort property along the Chennai coast or in Puducherry. The French group owns hotel brands like ibis, Novotel, Sofitel, Pullman, Grand Mercure and Formule 1 and Mercure. According to Casse, the new properties that would be opened in India soon will be under ibis, Novotel and Grand Mercure brands. He said the Accor group was focussing on setting up properties in tier-1 and -2 cities till now. "We are now going towards leisure destinations. Till now the focus was on the business segment. We now have properties in Jaipur and Goa," he said. Looking forward for the year 2016, he said the industry hoped that the rack rates would firm up while in 2015 the rates did not move up though the demand was good. Speaking about the group's new ibis hotel here, Casse talked about a promotion campaign 'Pay what you want' whereby a guest can choose to pay whatever he wants while checking out. According to him, a similar campaign was held in ibis Hotel in Delhi a year-and-half ago. "The average realisation per room during that campaign period was Rs.2,000. Some guests paid more than the rack rate and couple of guests did not pay anything," Casse said. However, he did not agree that the promotional campaign is a price-discovery mechanism. Security was tightened in and around Anti-Terrorist Squad headquarters here after ATS Pune and Mumbai offices received threats allegedly by the terror group Islamic State (IS), an official said on Wednesday. The letter threatened that Assistant Commissioner of Police (ATS-Pune) Bhanupratap Barge and his family would be eliminated, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Shrikant Phatak here. "The (two) threat letters were sent to the Mumbai Police Commissonerate and an English newspaper office by post 12 days ago from Mulund and Dharavi. We received these four days ago after which we launched a probe," Phatak told the media here. Mumbai police said the letter envelopes bore the postal marks of Mulund and Dharavi, but were unsure whether the contents of the letters or sender details were similar. Barge was in the limelight in early December after he prevented radicalisation of a Pune college girl. The 16-year-old Class XI (first-year junior college) student was allegedly fascinated by the IS ideology and got in touch with about 200 people around the world through the internet. A day after literary figure Shripal Sabnis tendered a written apology for his remarks critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP's city unit on Wednesday decided to withdraw its agitation against him. Rajya Sabha MP Amar Sable - who threatened to parade an effigy of Sabnis on a donkey - said he was satisfied with the apology and would not disrupt the upcoming four-day 89th All India Marathi Literary Conference beginning in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Friday. State BJP spokesman Madhav Bhandari also acknowledged the development. Under pressure and threats from BJP activists and other right-wing groups, Sabnis wrote a letter to Modi in which he expressed regrets over the use of certain words which he said were construed as offensive. "I am restless, pained and feeling sorry. I am withdrawing my words. I hope you will give your best wishes to the conference to be held at Pimpri, Pune," Sabnis said in the letter to Modi. Refusing to drag the controversy further, Sabnis appealed to all lovers of Marathi literature to forget the episode and strive to make the literary meet a success. Sabnis' outburst at a college function last week attracted widespread criticism from the BJP and other organisations and even threats to "break his limbs and kill him" were issued. Several organisations and groups came out in his support while the Pune police provided him security. Bharti Airtel has sold its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to French telecom giant Orange, the firm announced on Wednesday. "Orange will acquire 100 percent of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the CA'te d'Ivoire and Senegal," the firm said in a statement here. The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. Lazard and Societe Generale were advisors to Orange for this transaction. Airtel was advised by Arma Partners LLP. Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. The statement said this agreement is further to the initial contract signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville. Bharti Airtel International and Eaton Towers, in Africa on October, 2015 have concluded the sale and purchase of the tower assets of Bharti Airtel Burkina Faso. With this, Airtel, concluded sales of around 9,000 telecom towers in eight African countries. Eaton Towers had acquired 2,500 tower from Airtel in four countries -- Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Burkina Faso. Action star Akshay Kumar, who has been starring in films with strong patriotic sentiments, says he doesn't want to stress on patriotism or the fact that there is a sudden rise in patriotic feelings. Asked about his patriotic films including his forthcoming one titled "Airlift", Akshay said: "My father was in the Army, so perhaps due to that I feel like doing such films. I'm fond of the genre. When such stories come in front of you, you feel good about them. But I don't want to stress on them. I don't want to enforce this fact that there is extreme patriotism suddenly rising in me." In the forthcoming film's trailer, he is seen playing an influential businessman who has several enemies due to his power. It gives a sneak peek of the time when Iraq invaded Kuwait and Indians had to be evacuated in 1990. "Of course, there is patriotism and I'm proud to be an Indian. And sometimes those films come like 'Baby' which was about RAW agents and there were numerous real elements in it," added the actor, who donned the uniform for "Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty" (2014). The actor believes that he has a physique due to which he can "portray a police officer, an Army officer or a Naval officer because you find my structure like that. And so, it looks believable". The 48-year-old doesn't think that he can essay someone who is studying in a college. "I don't think I'll be able to carry that forward. I can't take it, I know my limits," he said. The film will hit the screens on January 22, a few days before Republic Day (January 26). Asked about the release date, he said: "It's coming out before Republic Day. There is tremendous patriotism among our people, and the concept of 'desh', tolerance and intolerance... has become a very touchy subject. And here I am, bringing a film which conveys to be proud to be an Indian." "Patriotism should be in your hearts and doesn't require you to scream about it, but if you see any malpractice, do report about it," said the actor, who said that he recently asked someone not to spit in public places. Some public representatives and organisations from Andhra Pradesh have urged the central government to treat cockfight as a traditional game like bull taming sport Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. With the Centre urged to issue an ordinance to allow Jallikattu, leaders from coastal Andhra Pradesh have demanded that cockfight should also be brought under the purview of such an ordinance. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Raghurama Krishnam Raju, public representatives from East and West Godavari districts and leaders of some people's organisations have written a letter to the union home secretary in this regard. The move comes amid a warning by police that they will implement court orders banning cockfights and take strict action against violators. Krishnam Raju and others say cockfights are part of the culture as they are traditionally organised during the Sankranti festival. They claim that 80 percent of people want cockfights. Raju, who had last year challenged the high court order against cockfights, argues that without cockfights, the festival will lose its significance. The Sankranti festival spread over 3-4 days is scheduled to be celebrated from Thursday. The Andhra Pradesh government last week assured the Hyderabad High Court that it will take all steps to ensure that cockfights are not organised. Police in the two Godavari districts and Krishna district have put up banners, informing people that the Supreme Court has banned cockfights. Police warned that violators will be punished as per law. Cases have already been registered against organisers at some places. However, the organisers said to be enjoying political patronage were going ahead with the arrangements. Powerful politicians of all hues, celebrities and businessmen, participate in the betting, the money on which is estimated to be anywhere between Rs.700 crore to Rs.800 crore. The fights between specially bred and trained cocks are organised in fields as thousands watch them. Three- to four-inch knives are tied to the cocks' legs and the fight continues till the death of one of the two cocks in each round. Animal lovers have long been demanding a complete ban on cockfights to prevent cruelty to the birds. The army chief, General Dalbir Singh on Wednesday defended martyred National Security Guard officer, Lieutenant Colonel E.K. Niranjan, saying he followed all safety procedures while defusing a bomb at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab. Bomb disposal expert Niranjan died when an explosive planted on the body of one of the terrorists shot dead in the counter-offensive at the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot went off. The army chief's statement came in the wake of a media report that accused the martyred officer of carelessness in handling the situation. "I checked with the army commander... he also checked on ground... all procedures were followed by him... So whatever is the laid down method, he followed. It is very difficult today for you and me to decide and say where things have gone wrong," General Singh said. "Probably some booby trap, which he did not expect on the body, was there and despite having followed the brief, unfortunately this has happened... Otherwise, I would say this officer was the most qualified officer to handle that kind of situation," he said. The army chief said the officer was experienced and the best person to handle the situation, but he fell pray to a booby trap. "I must tell you, the officer had handled 3,500-4,500 kg of explosive in a year. There was no one, I think, better than him to handle this kind of situation," General Singh said. "The casualties that took place (of the terrorists), it was immediately after that... It was around the time the darkness was setting in," he said talking about the timing of the incident. The general said he had instructed the WEestern Army Command chief that such dead bodies should not be handled after dark. "When I learnt of it, I was talking to the army commander very often taking inputs. I told the army commander the casualties should not be handled at night. Whatever has to be done has to be done during day time by the bomb disposal squad," he said. The January 2 terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab left seven security personnel dead. However, only one security personnel was killed in direct counter-offensive. Five others died in the firing at the air force mess. "Most casualties were in the initial firing. One of the Defence Service Corps personnel chased one terrorist, snatched his rifle and shot him. Unfortunately, he was shot dead by other terrorists," the army chief said. Security forces killed all six terrorists, believed to be Pakistanis. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to authorise the use of military force against the extremist group Islamic State (IS). "If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorise the use of military force against ISIL," Obama said in his final State of the Union address, using an alternate acronym for the IS. Addressing a joint session of Congress, Obama admitted that Al-Qaeda and IS pose "a direct threat" to Americans, saying that even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life can do a lot of damage, Xinhua news agency reported. However, he stressed that the IS does not "threaten our national existence". Leading a coalition of more than 60 countries, the US has been fighting against the IS for more than a year, carrying out nearly 10,000 air strikes, he told the lawmakers. The military action was taken under authorization provided after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In the address, Obama reaffirmed his pledge to destroy the IS, vowing that the group's militants have to be "rooted out, hunted down and destroyed'. Tucked away in the heart of Delhi's bustling Connaught Place is Zizo, a restaurant plating bite-sized Lebanon, just the way a local cafe in Beirut would. Here is where food lovers can get a taste of the simple yet hearty Mediterranean life, with an interesting Indian twist. The grandeur of a Levant country mirrors in this 92-cover restaurant, right from the doorstep. The luminescent glass lamps, geometric-textured walls, and bright colours - all add up to an ever-lasting spring at this place. As I was seated, I spotted Fouad Abdel Malak, the CEO of Zizo, welcoming guests with his hospitable smile, suggesting dishes, and sharing a hearty laugh. He is like any other Lebanese man, proud of his country's hospitality. For a chat on cultures to politics in Lebanon - he could be your man. To begin a heart-to-heart conversation, Malak said, there's got to be some good food and drinks accompanying. Going by his words, soon the waiters, also dressed in traditional attire, rushed to get us some mulberry lemonade and a mezze platter. The platter, as the menu says, was a "bite of simple life" - simple yet exciting. Presented on a wooden base, it had a good selection of pita bread, traditional hummus, mint and tahini to nibble your way to the main course. The falafel was crisp and crunchy and not too oily and the freshness of mint came through very well. The tahini sauce coated your palate, taking you away to faraway lands. The hummus was smooth and creamy with just the right touch of lime. It is usually quite difficult to get the hummus right but the chef scored a 10 on 10 for this. The very rich blend of yoghurt, extra virgin olive oil and the spiced za'atar (a Mediterranean spice close to thyme) mix was the best spread on the warm pita bread. If you want a richer experience, ask for some of the pickled vegetables fresh out of the jars that are on display. Hummus gets a contemporary Indian twist here, with a chilli variant too! After a refreshing sip of the mulberry lemonade (mulberry juice with a dash of lime), my host, who had been an advertising professional for many years in many countries, started speaking about the restaurant. "It was over a conversation with a few businessmen on a flight that I decided I was going to open a Lebanese restaurant in India. And here I am in Delhi with a piece of Lebanon," Malak said. It was a piece of Lebanon, indeed, with a majority of ingredients and spices sourced from the homeland itself. The fattoush salad stood as an example of that. Pita crisps were pepped up with sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes topped with the native Lebanese sumac (a powdered reddish purple fruit used as a spice) and dressed with pomegranate molasses! Like all those who visit Zizo I had an obvious common question to ask the host, 'what is Zizo?'."Traditionally, Zizo (a pet beetle in Lebanese) means a lot to every Lebanese child and it always makes us crave to go back to those days when food was organic yet flavourful," Malak said, explaining the name. Next up on the table was Man'oushe, the closest cousin of a Moorish flat bread. There cannot be anything better than this thin crust pizza, with just simple spice rubs. Be it the simple rub of za'atar spice and olive oil, or chicken and chilli paste, Man'oushe fresh out of the oven is the perfect accompaniment for conversations with friends or family. Znoud el Sett, literally translated to the "Lady's arm", was exactly what I was hoping to finish with. A custard-filled deep-fried crispy pastry and then dipped in syrup, this classic dessert was a whole bite through the crisp exterior to the creamy custard center. Zizo is a Mediterranean discovery to all those wishing to relax in an informal atmosphere and taste simple food yet with an interesting twist. FAQs: Where: K-18, Connaught Circus, Opposite PVR Plaza,Connaught Place, New Delhi Meal for two: Rs.1,500 (with drinks) Timings: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in) Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has urged nearly 1.5 billion users on the platform to celebrate the social networking giant's 12 anniversary as friendship day. Facebook turns 12 on February, 4. Zuckerberg who wrote the first code for Facebook in January, 2004, in a hope to help students at his college connect and bring the community together, is overwhelmed as millions of people around the world today use Facebook to stay connected with friends and loved ones. "On February 4, I hope you'll join me in celebrating ?#?friendsday? -- a moment to celebrate the friendships that have made a difference in your life," the 31-year-old billionaire wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday. "If you have a story about friendship, I'd love to hear it. Please share and I'll read as many of them as I can!," he added. According to Zuckerberg, the acts of friendship, love and kindness we all share on Facebook are changing the world every day in ways we can't fully measure. "Sometimes they just make people in our lives feel a bit more loved. Sometimes friendship becomes a force that sets us on a different path in life. Sometimes friendship moves the world," he posted. In 2016, Zuckerberg wants to focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is even thinking of a simple AI to run his home and workplace like the famous Jarvis character in the Hollywood movie "Iron Man". "My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man," he posted earlier. "I am going to start by exploring what technology is already out there. Then I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our home -- music, lights, temperature and so on. I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell," the 31-year-old billionaire posted. "I will teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's (his daughter) room that I need to check on when I'm not with her. On the work side, it'll help me visualise data in VR (virtual reality) to help me build better services and lead my organisations more effectively," he further wrote. PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- A Moss Point man will spend six years in the state penitentiary after pleading guilty to two counts of transfer of a controlled substance. According to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office, 41-year-old Leslie Richardson was sentenced by Judge Dale Harkey to a total of eight years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections -- six years in prison and two years on post-release supervision -- the maximum sentenced allowed. Richardson twice sold cocaine to a confidential informant -- in June 2013 and June 2014. The South Mississippi Metro Enforcement Team investigated the case. This story was updated after the district attorney's office clarified that Richardson is a man. Chinese smartphone maker Letv has re-branded itself as LeEco, the company said on Wednesday. According to a company statement issued here, its new logo consists of the letters "L" and "E", conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world with its simple and elegant design. The four strokes which comprise "LE" each represent one of the four tiers of the Le Ecosystem - platform, content, device and application. LeEco plans to enter the Indian market on January 20. In a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious 'Make in India' initiative, over 100 top Chinese handset and component manufacturers gathered here on Wednesday in what could bring $2-$3 billion investment in Indian mobile manufacturing operations in the next two years. Top officials from major Chinese companies such as Techno, Gionee, Coolpad, Holitech, Wingtech, Camera King, Galaxy Core, Poxiao, Vivo and Sprocomm participated in the first-ever summit titled "China-India Mobile Phone & Component Manufacturing Summit," in the Capital to explore avenues to tap the existing and emerging opportunities. Leading Indian mobile companies such as Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Spice, Vodafone and Intex also participated in the day-long event, the organisers said in a statement. "Going by the encouraging response of Chinese companies and definitive joint collaboration talks between the Indian and Chinese mobile and handset manufacturers, Chinese investment of $2-3 billion over the next two years looks like a real possibility along with employment for one-two lakh people", said Pankaj Mohindroo, national president, Indian Cellular Association (ICA). The first-of-its-kind summit has been jointly organised by the ICA, the apex body representing the mobile handset and components industry in India, and Mobile World (Shoujibao), China's leading mobile industry service platform. According to Mohindroo, Chinese companies are usually reluctant to set up a manufacturing base in other countries as their own eco-system is highly efficient and supremely productive. "But they are still seeing India as the hottest next destination to set up manufacturing base. This is a huge endorsement of Modi's 'Make in India' vision," he added. The summit is the result of the high-level visit of Modi to China in May last year. During his visit, Modi hard-sold his "Make in India' vision and invited Chinese companies to leverage the changing business climate in India and set up manufacturing base here. "We are wholeheartedly responding to Modi's invitation to Chinese companies to be part of 'Make in India' mission and would contribute to making India a global manufacturing hub for mobile handsets and components," said Wu, founder and CEO, Mobile World (Shoujibao), Shenzhen. In an earlier interview to IANS, Wu had said that the three things that drew us to India are its population, the vastness of the market and the 'Make in India' drive by its government. "We are quite impressed that the progressive policies of the Modi government and the new manufacturing eco-system are very encouraging developments for investment and business in India," he said on Wednesday. According to Zhong Qi, vice president of Tecno, a Chinese mobile handset manufacturing major, India today is the fastest growing mobile phone market globally and presents the biggest manufacturing platform for Chinese industry. "We are very keen to tap the potential," he said. The summit saw presentations on various aspects of the Indian mobile manufacturing eco-system including policy framework, incentives and market potential. The representatives of the Chinese companies also plan to visit offices and factories of Indian mobile brands like Micromax and Lava to understand their operations. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday expressed condolences on the death of Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob (retd) who played a key role in the 1971 Bangaldesh Liberation War, saying "the country stands proud of his life". "A brave son of India, his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War as chief of staff of the Eastern command has a special place in the history of the world. The country stands proud of his life, work and service to the nation as a soldier and patriot," Gandhi said in her message. The 93-year-old passed away around 8.30 a.m. at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) due to pneumonia, a hospital official said. He was admitted to the hospital on January 1. Jacob as Major General then was the chief of staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to Pakistan's eastern wing seceding and becoming an independent Bangladesh. Jacob also served as the governor of Goa and Punjab. A court here on Wednesday fixed January 21 for delivering its verdict in a case of rape of a Danish woman. Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja reserved the verdict after the prosecution and the defence counsel concluded their arguments. Arjun, Raju alias Chhakka, Mohammad Raja, Mahendra alias Ganja, Raju alias Bajji and Shyam Lal have been charged with robbing and raping the Danish woman at knife-point near the New Delhi Railway Station in January 2014 after she sought directions to her hotel in Paharganj. Three minors -- also allegedly involved in the case -- are facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board. Police said all the accused were vagabonds who took the woman to an isolated spot near the Divisional Railway Officers' Club close to the railway station, took away her belongings and then raped her. An earthquake of 6.8 magnitude rocked Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday afternoon, sending panicked residents running out of their homes and other buildings into the streets. "A quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale occurred at 3.58 p.m. today (Sunday) in Jammu and Kashmir. Its epicentre was in Hindukush region of Afghanistan at a depth of 190 km," Sonam Lotus, director of the regional meteorological office, said. No damage to life or property was yet reported from anywhere in the state. Challenging calls for hatred and violence was vitally important for countries like India and the US if they need to take on terrorism, a US official said on Wednesday. Sarah B. Sewall, US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, said that justifying bigotry and discriminating against any religious group would not help the cause of fighting terrorism. "Governments can help by ending stifling regulations on civil society and allowing citizen groups to peacefully speak and organise around sensitive topics," she said at the Vivekananda International Foundation here. "They can go a step further by proactively reaching out to build ties with communities targeted by violent extremists for recruitment," she said, underlining that terrorism was a common foe of India and the US. Ensuring freedom calls for more than just enforcing laws, the official said. It involves proactively speaking out -- as both public officials and private citizens -- to challenge calls for hatred and violence. "Silence can embolden the criminal and the cruel -- as in the lynching of a Muslim man last September, or the burning of churches in Odisha." "Learning from the past, we must avoid the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling, and discrimination against any religious or ethnic group -- including our Muslim brothers and sisters," Sewall said. "That defies not only our deepest values, but strengthens the lies that groups like ISIL tell -- lies that democracies are somehow incompatible with Islam." The official said it was important to address the forces that radicalize individuals to join violent extremist movements. "Desire for belonging, perceptions of injustice and abuse, corruption and neglect, discrimination and marginalization -- all can create fertile soil for violent ideologies to take root." "When extremists murdered Malleshappa Kalburgi in August to silence his critical views -- the third such murder in as many years, the Indian literary and artistic community was among the first to condemn the act." As the US and India face violent extremists, "we must stay true to ourselves -- by upholding religious freedom, ensuring legal protection for all, and speaking out against discrimination and hatred of all stripes", she said. Four Indians have been detained in Syria while trying to join the Islamic State (IS) terror group, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualem said here on Wednesday. Al Moualem, who was on a three-day visit to India since January 11, said Syria was ready to hand over all the four to India. "They are in jail in Damascus and Syria is ready to hand them over to India," he told media persons here. About 39 Indians captured in Mosul in Iraq, he said: "If they were captured by Iraqi security forces, then Syria can help negotiate their release but if they were captured by the IS, then we cannot help." The Syrian minister met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday. The Goa assembly on Wednesday discussed the controversial death of a US national in Korgao village, 35 km from here. The victim, Cairtan Vholte, died late on Tuesday. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and police officers claimed that he died as he choked himself on mud after running into a slushy field. Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane told the assembly that tourists would stop visiting the state if foreigners died like this. "Who will come to Goa if tourists die like this?" Parsekar responded: "I was told that he was chased by the villagers and he died in a paddy field after suffocating in the mud. I am going to find out more." Vholte, according to eyewitnesses, was being chased by locals from Korgao as he was suspected of being a thief. "He later ran into a soggy paddy field when he fell and died after being choked, before the police reached the scene," an eyewitness said on condition of anonymity. The victim appeared mentally-troubled according to statements of witnesses, a police officer told IANS. "He died after choking on mud in a marshy area, which he had run into," the officer said. A US national's death in a remote north Goa village rocked the state assembly on Wednesday, with the government saying he choked on mud while the opposition 'technically' dubbed him a murder victim. As Goa Police contacted the United States consulate in Mumbai about the death of 30-year-old Caitan Vholte, leader of opposition Pratapsinh Rane said the incident was technically a murder. He said the tragic incident late on Tuesday would deter foreign tourists from choosing Goa as a holiday destination. "Technically, it could be called murder," Rane told reporters outside the assembly complex, shortly after he raised the issue in the ongoing winter session of the house. Vholte, according to eyewitnesses, was chased by locals from Korgao, 35 km north of Panaji, for suspected theft. "He ran into a soggy paddy field where he fell and died as he choked on mud, before the police reached the scene," an eyewitness said on the condition of anonymity. The victim appeared mentally disturbed as per the statements of witnesses, a police officer told IANS. "He died after choking on mud in a marshy area, which he had run into," the officer said. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar also endorsed the choking theory. "I was told that he was chased by the villagers and died in a paddy field after suffocating in the mud. I am going to find out more," Parsekar told the assembly. Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane said tourists would stop visiting the state if foreigners died like this. "Who will come to Goa if tourists die like this?" Goa attracts more than three million tourists annually, out of which half a million are foreign nationals. Scientists have discovered a novel way to create a new form of LED light by packaging luminescent proteins in the form of rubber that will not only be cost-effective but also soothe our eyesight and enhance mood. This innovative bioLED gives off a white light which is created by equal parts of blue, green and red rubber layers covering on LED, thus rendering the same effect as with traditional inorganic LEDs but at a lower cost. "We have developed a technology and a hybrid device called BioLED that uses luminescent proteins to convert the blue light emitted by a 'normal' LED into pure white light", explained Ruben D'osta, researcher at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg (Germany) and co-author of the study. Despite their advantages, LEDs are manufactured using inorganic materials that are in short supply such as cerium and yttrium, meaning that they are more expensive and difficult to sustain in the long run. Additionally, white LEDs produce a colour that is not optimal for eyesight since they lack a red component that can psychologically affect individuals exposed to them for long periods of time. The German-Spanish team has drawn inspiration from nature's biomolecules in search of a solution. Their technique consists of introducing luminescent proteins into a polymer matrix to produce luminescent rubber. This technique involves a new way of packaging proteins which could end up substituting the technique used to create LEDs today. The authors note that the blue or ultraviolet LEDs are much cheaper than white ones which are made of an expensive and scarce material known as YAG:Ce (Cerium-doped Yttrium Aluminium Garnet). The idea is replace it by proteins. "The Bio-LEDs are simple to manufacture and their materials are low-cost and biodegradable, meaning that they can easily be recycled and replaced," Costa added. Scientists are already working on optimising this new elastic material in order to achieve greater thermal stability and an even longer operating lifetime. The details were published in the journal Advanced Materials. MOSS POINT, Mississippi --- The City of Moss Point will officially break ground on a new police station Friday. The event is open to the public. "On behalf of the mayor and board of aldermen, the public is invited and encouraged to come out," said Cathy Keeton, the city's Director of Community Development. The $4 million, 2-story safety complex will sit near the main fire station on Bellview Avenue and will include administrative offices, court rooms, meeting space, and an evidence room. The facility will also include a male holding cell and a female holding cell for violators waiting to be transported to the Jackson County Adult Detention Center. City officials say the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and MEMA awarded funding for the project after Hurricane Katrina, but delays during the bid process had stalled progress to move forward with construction. Orocon Construction, LLC will build the state-of-the-art facility. Officials said they expect to have the building completed by January of 2017. This story was updated to reflect the correct day of the ceremony. Thursday's groundbreaking is set to begin at 10:30 am. A couple of days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said pain will be inflicted upon those who hurt India, Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Wednesday said the army was ready for any kind of operation. General Dalbir Singh, however, did not explain the nature of operations. Asked at the army's annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15 about Parrikar's comment, General Dalbir Singh said he cannot comment on what the minister said, but added: "The Indian Army is capable of doing everything. These are government decisions, whatever task the government gives us we are ready." General Dalbir Singh was asked whether covert, surgical operations or direct war would be the right response to the proxy war launched on India from the other side of the border. In one of the strongest statements following the January 2 attack on the Pathankot air base, Parrikar on Monday said pain must be inflicted on those who hurt India. The minister said the time, manner and place of the response will be decided by India. He, however, refrained from naming Pakistan, and referred to "individuals and organisations" that hurt India. Indra Nooyi, the Indian-born PepsiCo Chairperson & CEO, has become the Yale School of Management's biggest alumni donor with a 'landmark gift' to endow the deanship at her alma mater. Chennai-born Nooyi, 60, who graduated from the school in 1980, has made the gift to also inaugurate the Fifth Decade Innovation Fund, the school announced. The fund is an ambitious initiative designed to advance the school's aim of developing leaders with the broad global mindset and multi-disciplinary approach to business that is needed to succeed in 21st-century capitalism, the school said With this gift, Nooyi becomes the most generous graduate of Yale School of Management in terms of lifetime giving to the school. She is the first woman to endow the deanship at a top business school. "My experience at the Yale School of Management forever altered the course of my life," said Nooyi, who has served as chief executive officer of PepsiCo since 2006, and chairperson since 2007. "My gift to this wonderful institution pales in comparison with the gift that Yale gave me-the fundamental understanding that leadership requires an expansive worldview and a deep appreciation of the many points of intersection between business and society. "Business issues are never just business issues, and my most ardent hope is that this endowment will teach future generations of leaders that the most successful companies of tomorrow will do more than make money." "They will make a difference and create shareholder value by improving the quality of life in every market in which they operate," said Nooyi. Edward A. Snyder, the inaugural Indra K. Nooyi Dean has led the Yale School of Management since 2011 and was recently appointed to a second five-year term as dean. "Indra Nooyi has become a leading voice among Fortune 500 CEOs in no small part because of her willingness to take a stand on the broader purpose of the corporation, while delivering top-echelon performance," Snyder said "Indra Nooyi's sense of purpose, deep engagement with civic life, and pursuit of excellence exemplify the kind of leadership in service to society that we hope all Yale graduates will achieve," Yale University president Peter Salovey said. Before joining PepsiCo in 1994, Nooyi worked in senior roles at Asea Brown Boveri, Motorola, and the Boston Consulting Group. Nooyi serves as a member of the boards of US-China Business Council and US-India Business Council. She is also a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and and was appointed to the US-India CEO Forum by President Barack Obama. (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) Hospitality major InterGlobe Hotels that runs the ibis brand of hotels plans to have 19 properties with a total room inventory of 3,500 by 2017, a top official said. He also said the company targets a turnover of Rs.300 crore next year, an increase of Rs.100 crore. InterGlobe Hotels is a 60:40 joint venture between InterGlobe Enterprises and French hospitality group Accor Hotels. The company has 11 ibis hotels in India. "We are committed to have 19 ibis hotels in India," J.B. Singh, president and chief executive officer, told reporters here on Wednesday. The company formally opened its second ibis brand hotel in Chennai. The company is building hotels in Hyderabad, Goa, Cochin, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, Singh said. The company has invested around Rs.110 crore in its new 155-room ibis Chennai City Centre. Singh said the average occupancy in the ibis hotels is around 70 percent with some properties having over 80 percent occupancy ratio. The company is open to various options like lease, out-right purchase of properties for expansion, he added. According to Rajesh Gopalakrishnan, general manager of the new ibis hotel here, guests are given a 15-minute guarantee to services. "If the said service is not delivered in the stipulated 15 minutes, then the guest need not pay for it." Another novel marketing strategy to be implemented by the hotel is 'pay what you want', said Jean-Michel Casse, senior vice president, Accor Hotels. He said a guest can choose to pay whatever he wants while checking out. Casse said a similar campaign was held in ibis Hotel in Delhi a year and a half ago. "The average realisation per room during that campaign period was Rs.2,000. Some guests paid more than the rack rate and couple of guests did not pay anything," Casse said. However, he did not agree that the promotional campaign is a price discovery mechanism. Jalalabad, Jan 13 (IANS/AKI) The Islamic State terrorist group on Wednesday claimed credit for a suicide attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan, calling it a "blessed operation". "Dozens of apostates were killed in an assault by the soldiers of the Caliphate against Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad," read a message signed by Khorosan Province, the name of IS's branch in the region. "The operation lasted almost four hours, during which time the consulate building was destroyed and dozens of diplomatic staff and Pakistani intelligence officials were killed," it said. Three suicide bombers carried out the attack, of whom two died while a third escaped, IS claimed. Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least seven members of the security forces died during the attack, which was followed by a deadly gun battle lasting several hours. Pakistan's Foreign Office said all the consulate's staff were safe, with one official slightly injured by broken glass. In the attack, a suicide bomber tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after he was stopped from entering the building, Pakistan's Geo News television reported. The attack, which comes amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, resembled an assault on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last week. Nangarhar, the province in which Jalalabad is located, has become the main stronghold of IS in Afghanistan where it has battled the Taliban for leadership of the insurgency. --IANS/AKI mr/ Damascus, Jan 13 (IANS/AKI) The Islamic State has executed one of its fighters who deserted from the group in eastern Syria, a monitoring group has reported. IS members brought the alleged deserter's bullet-ridden corpse to his home in Zabian in Deir Ezzor province, the Britain-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported. The unnamed man's body had a note attached to it accusing him of "fighting IS and burning its vehicles", the monitor said. IS detained the man 10 days ago after he deserted the militant group five months earlier, the monitor cited activists as saying. In neighbouring Iraq, IS executed 80 people including policemen and soldiers near the northern city of Mosul, local broadcaster Alsumaria TV reported on Monday, citing unnamed local sources. The victims were accused of spying and of collaborating with the Iraqi authorities and were shot dead, the broadcaster quoted the sources as saying. IS overran Mosul in June 2014 and has made the city its capital in Iraq. --IANS/AKI mr/ A person suspected of involvement in the blast that hit Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday, killing 10 people has been detained, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Wednesday. The minister's remarks came at a press conference with his German counterpart, Xinhua news agency reported. Nine of the 10 killed were reportedly German tourists. The minister said 17 others were injured, adding nine of them are German citizens, one from Peru, the rest from Norway. A total of 11 are undergoing treatment and two of them are critical, Ala said. The Turkish minister assured foreigners visiting the country that the government has taken necessary measures to ensure security. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday said the attacker is a member of Islamic State (IS) group, which is blamed for a number of deadly attacks in Turkey. Turkey has faced a series of deadly attacks. In July 2015, a bombing attack in the border town of Suruc killed 34 pro-Kurdish and Left-wing activists. In October, twin suicide bombings hit the capital city Ankara, claiming a total of 103 lives. Both were blamed on the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. Terrorist leader Maulana Masood Azhar, who India says plotted the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot, was detained on Wednesday along with several others, the media reported. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief, known for his close ties with Pakistani intelligence agencies, was taken to an undisclosed destination and was being questioned, The News said. Also detained was his brother Mufti Abdul Rauf, it said. The report quoted unidentified sources as saying that "concerned authorities were interrogating them about the armed attack on Pathankot". Pakistan earlier said that several JeM activists had been arrested and its offices sealed as part of an investigation into the suspected Pakistani links to the January 2 terror attack. Six Pakistani terrorists believed to be from the outlawed JeM sneaked into Punjab and raided the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, killing seven security personnel. Security forces killed all the terrorists. India later said it had delivered "actionable intelligence" for Pakistan to act against those who masterminded the audacious terror attack. News of Wednesday's arrests came ahead of a scheduled meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in Islamabad on January 15. Amid doubts, New Delhi has not said if it will take part in the talks. Masood Azhar and two other Pakistani terrorists were freed by India in December 1999 in exchange for the passengers of an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hijacking, from the Kathmandu airport, reportedly was masterminded by Masood Azhar's brother Ibrahim Athar. Once the three terrorists in Indian custody were handed over to the hijackers, they fled to Pakistan. In Pakistan, Masood Azhar keeps ranting against India. He also praised the Pathankot terror attack. If only there was organised betting on a big scale or the bulls were reared by rich people like race horses, then bull taming sport Jallikattu would not have faced a ban, activists favouring uninterrupted continuation of the popular rural sport aver. "The bull vaulting sport is not played in the so-called cow belt states in north India. If the sport was played there, then there would have been a big uproar," Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, managing trustee of the Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF), told IANS. According to him, horse racing is not facing any threat as it is supported by the rich whereas bull vaulting is patronised by the rural poor. "It is strange why the animal rights activists do not raise their voice against the slaughter houses where the bovines are killed for their meat," P. Rajasekaran, president of the Jallikattu Paddukappu Peravai, told IANS. He declined to comment on the apex court's decision on staying the central government notification allowing Jallikattu subject to certain conditions. "I don't want to speak about the actions of the governments -- central or state -- or the court decision," he said. He said it was a traditional rural sport that has been played for centuries. The activists demand banning of horse racing and dog shows as these animals were also subjected to strenuous training. Sivasenapathy said the activists were also against the native dog breed and there was a clear game plan behind their opposition to all native animal breeds. According to Rajasekaran, there was not much money involved in Jallikattu. "The entry is free for spectators and many rural youth reserve their seats coming to the spectator gallery the night before the event. The prize is given by the owners. There is no big prize money but it ranges from cycle to steel cupboards or some cash," he said. "We raise the Jallikattu bull for love of the animal and to preserve the native gene. There is no revenue for the bull owners from the sport," I.T. Seemaan, a bull owner and an advocate, told IANS over phone from Madurai. He said a bull that is not tamed at Jallikattu was a preferred stud for the cow owners in that village. "No, there is no stud fee. If I charge a stud fee, then I will be laughed at. But in urban areas, male dog owners charge mating fee from owners of female dogs," he said. (Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in) The Afghan government should quickly remedy its missed deadline to produce a plan to include women in the peace process, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. In September 2015, the government of President Ashraf Ghani promised its key international donors it would finalize an implementation plan by year's end and begin carrying it out in the first half of 2016. Afghan officials have confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the plan has not been finished. Activists have urged donor governments to press Kabul to complete the plan, share drafts with donors, and seek funding for plan activities. Donors have yet to speak out publicly regarding the government's failure to do so. "Women's rights activists in Afghanistan have been fighting for years for a place at the table where the future of their country is being decided," said Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch. "The Afghan government's failure to meet the promised deadline for developing this plan suggests a lack of seriousness about giving women the role to which they're entitled." Afghan women's rights activists have for years raised concerns that the government will trade away women's rights in an effort to reach an accommodation with the Taliban. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday handed over Rs.2 lakh each to the families of two security personnel killed in the terror attack in Pathankot as well as a taxi driver murdered earlier. "Kejriwal handed over cheques of Rs.2 lakh to the three families," an aide to the chief minister told IANS. The Aam Aadmi Party leader met the families of Defence Services Corps personnel Subedar Major Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh as also of taxi driver Ikagar Singh in Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts in Punjab. Kulwant and Fateh belonged to Chak Sharif and Jhanda Gujjran villages, respectively, of Gurdaspur district. Ikagar Singh, killed by terrorists a day before the January 2 attack, hailed from Bhagwal village in Pathankot district. Terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, had attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, killing seven security personnel, including a National Security Guard officer, an IAF Garud commando and five DSC personnel. All six heavily armed terrorists were eliminated by the security forces after a prolonged stand-off. Kejriwal, who reached Pathankot on Wednesday, will launch the AAP's political campaign for Punjab's assembly polls likely to be held in February next year. The Delhi chief minister is scheduled to address a public rally in Muktsar Sahib district on Thursday. The AAP, which had won four (out of 13) Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in the 2014 general elections, is aiming it big for the next assembly polls in Punjab. The AAP is gearing up to give a tough challenge to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the main opposition Congress in the assembly polls. The Punjab assembly has 117 seats. ST. MARTIN, Mississippi -- A 14-year-old St. Martin student has been arrested for making a bomb threat at St. Martin Junior High, where the child is enrolled. According to Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell, the school's resource officer received a call from the principal Wednesday advising a student had found a note in a bathroom claiming a bomb would go off at 2 p.m. The resource officer contacted the JCSO, which responded with investigators and the the K-9 unit. After questioning, it was determined the student who found the note had also written it. The 14-year-old was arrested and transported to the Jackson County Youth Detention Center, charged with bomb threat/false reporting of a bomb or explosive. The law will take its course in the SNC Lavalin case, and the Kerala government will not interfere, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Wednesday. CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan was named as an accused in the case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, but a CBI special court here exonerated Vijayan in 2013. The state government filed a review petition against this ruling in the Kerala High Court in February 2014. The state government again took up this case on Wednesday in the high court. "We do not interfere in such things and the law will take its course. Am I also not facing the palm oil case that has been dragging on for close to three decades?" Chandy asked reporters. Chandy said the media in 2006 had written "hum sab chor hai", accusing both the opposition and the ruling party of playing a game, when the vigilance department had given a clean chit to Vijayan in the Lavalin case. "That was how we decided then to hand this case over to the CBI," Chandy said. The affidavit the state government filed in 2014 said the agreement in 1997 with Canadian company Lavalin was entered into when Vijayan was the state power minister, and the deal caused a loss of Rs.266 crore to the state exchequer. The government said that the deal was inked even when central public sector company Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited had given a lower quote to get three power plants renovated, but that was ignored and the contract was awarded to the Canadian company. After the clean chit, the CBI filed a review petition stating that the CBI court did not go in-depth into the agreement signed by Vijayan with the Canadian company. "This new development is a game being enacted by Chandy and state BJP president Kummanem Rajasekheran," CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told reporters here on Wednesday, adding that they were using the CBI for political gain. "With (assembly) elections round the corner, this is an election ploy by Chandy and others," said Balakrishnan. Lt Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), who played a key role in the 1971 war which broke up Pakistan and created Bangladesh, died here on Wednesday, a hospital said. The 93-year-old passed away around 8.30 a.m. at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) due to pneumonia, a hospital official said. He had been admitted on January 1. Jacob was the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to Pakistan's eastern wing seceding and becoming an independent Bangladesh. Jacob also served as the governor of Goa and Punjab. A 21-year-old man has been accused of vandalising a Sikh temple property in California in December, and will be arraigned next month, according to a media report. Brodie Durazo of Buena Park, about 30 km from Los Angeles, has been charged with one felony count of vandalism of a religious property and two misdemeanour counts each of vandalism under $400, the Los Angeles Times reported citing prosecutors. Durazo turned himself in on Monday and was released on $20,000 bail, the Orange County district attorney's office said. He is scheduled to be arraigned on February 8. If convicted, prosecutors said, he could face a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. Gang graffiti was found scribbled on the exterior of the Sikh Centre on December 6, while an expletive and the word "ISIS" were also found scrawled on a tractor trailer that was parked at the temple, according to the Sikh Coalition. Durazo is accused of spray-painting graffiti throughout a trailer park where he lives and of then going into the property of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple and spray-painting graffiti on a dividing wall between the trailer park and the temple. He is also accused of spray-painting graffiti on the big rig. The vandalism prompted an increase in police patrols near the religious centre and sparked fear among members of the Sikh community. "We believe that the Gurdwara Singh Sabha was vandalized because it is a Sikh house of worship," the coalition's attorney Gurjot Kaur said in a statement at the time. "We call on local and federal agencies to investigate this vandalism as a hate crime and request increased law enforcement security at the gurdwara immediately." The week-long state mourning on the death of Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed ended on Wednesday, but the stalemate on government formation continued. The state government had announced a seven-day mourning for Sayeed, who passed away on January 7 at AIIMS in New Delhi. Despite a statement by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief spokesman Mehboob Beg on Tuesday that Mehbooba Mufti would be sworn-in as the chief minister of the state anytime after the official mourning ended, there was no word yet on government formation from Muehbooba, who is also the PDP president. Asked to comment on the party spokesman's statement, former education minister and senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar told IANS: "We have not started formal deliberations on government formation yet." "I can only comment on government formation when formal deliberations are started by our party." Meanwhile, former state deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh of the coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party said in Jammu: "The call has to come from the PDP." "We were asked by the governor to respond on government formation. We wrote to the governor that the response of the party (BJP) would be communicated after the PDP comes forth to stake claim on government formation," he said. Sources in the PDP said Mehbooba Mufti has not spoken to anybody on government formation or becoming the chief minister in the state after Sayeed's death. Same sources said against the background of the PDP president not seeking or undertaking any consultations on government formation, the views expressed by party spokesman Mehboob Beg could best be described as "personal views of Mehboob Beg". The government has formed an Eminent Persons Group mandated to look into Nepal-India ties in totality and reviewing all bilateral treaties with India ahead of the visit of Prime Minister K.P. Oli to India in February. The concept of forming EPG came up after Nepal and India agreed to revamp their bilateral ties in view of the changed context and after several discussions at political and senior government level in the past, particularly after the visit of then prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to New Delhi in 2008. A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday decided to form such a panel whose members are former diplomat Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, former top bureaucrat Surya Nath Uphadhay, CPN-UML parliamentarian Rajan Bhattarai and former UN assistant secretary general Kul Chandra Gautam. India has already communicated to the Nepali side about having already formed such a panel. The Nepal government has already sanctioned $1 million to run the EPG secretariat as per the understanding with India during the third Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting in July 25-27, 2014, in Kathmandu. During the meeting, Nepal and India had agreed to form the EGP with four members each from Nepal and India and set up secretariats in respective countries. According to the understanding, each EPG will have an eminent parliamentarian, a lawyer, an economist and a civil society leader. The mandate of the panel is to hold interactions with various stakeholders and make recommendations to the respective foreign secretaries of Nepal and India after looking into bilateral relations in totality. The panel will also make necessary recommendation to the respective countries about the measures to be taken to review or adjust or replace all bilateral treaties, including the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950 and others. The panel will visit both sides for necessary consultations and study. The panel will make specific suggestions to settle the outstanding issues and other concerns of both sides, will give non-government and people's level perspective to both sides that is required to revisit the bilateral relations. The installation of the EPG was first proposed during the visit of then prime minister Baburam Bhattarai during his India visit in October 2011. Several rounds of discussion were held on preparing the terms of references of the panel. Nepal's last monarch Gyanendra Shah has not paid his electricity dues for the last 10 years, the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority said on Wednesday. Gyanendra, after vacating the Narayan Hiti Royal Palace here in 2008, has been living in Nagarjuna Palace, a royal property on the northern outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. He has not been paying the electricity dues for the Nagarjuna Palace which he has been occupying since he left the Narayan Hiti royal palace, a Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) official said. NEA assistant director Mukunda Man Chitrakar, who looks after auditing at the NEA, told media persons here that the staff at Nagarjuna Palace have repeatedly refused to acknowledge any letter sent by NEA raising the isue of unpaid power dues. The NEA, he said, has run up a loss of Rs.7 million in the last 10 years. After the staff refused to receive NEA's letters, the electricity authority knocked the doors of Nirmal Niwas, another palace in Kathmandu in which Gyanendra used to live as former royal highness until the infamous royal massacre in Nepal in 2001. Sagar Raj Timilsina, Gyanendra's personal secretary, reportedly told the NEA officials that the liability comes under the Prime Minister's Office not the Nagarjuna Palace. Until 2008, the PMO used to pay all the bills and tariffs incurred to the palaces belonging to the royals. According to the Electricity Act, if a consumer fails to pay electricity bills for two months, his/her power connection will be cut and if any consumer continuously fails to pay bills for another six month, a ban will be placed on sale of his/her private properties like land and house for the next three generations. Asked why had the NEA failed to cut the connection to the Nagarjuna Palace or impose a ban on selling of property as per the electricity act, Chitrakar said that since Gyanendra was a respected national and former head of the state, they did not initiate action against him. "Instead of taking action against him, we decided to collect the tariff, if possible," he added. The staff at Nagarjuna Palace told the NEA officials that all properties of the formal royals had been nationalised since 2008 after Gyanendra vacated the Narayan Hiti palace. "So, it is the duty of the government to pay the bills," the Nagarjuna Palace staff were reported to have told NEA officials. Nepal has started to nationalise the properties of former royals after the Himalayan nation declared itself a republican state in 2008. A dedicated Office of the Nepal Trust is handling the properties of the former royals, including Gyanendra, and bringing them under its ambit. The Office of the Trust responded to a letter sent by the NEA that Nagarjuna Palace is being used by Gyanendra for his private purpose and is not owned by the government. This has paved the way for NEA to knock the door of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). "We are writing to PMO soon in this respect," Chitrakar said. New Delhi, Jan 13 Lauding the new "industry friendly" provisions of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), industry lobby CII noted that its recommendations, including a level playing field, fast-tracking of procurement and preference in procurement from indigenous sources have been accepted and included in the revised document "These provisions include clearly stated goals like giving a boost to Make in India initiative, enhance the involvement of the private sector, build indigenous design and development capabilities, promote absorption of world-class technologies, provide premium consideration to high quality products, promote the growth of the MSME sector, reduce time lines across various stages of procurement, among other procedural refinements effected to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the defence procurement process," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said. "The long standing demands and aspirations of the Indian defence industry have been duly addressed. (Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's) vision of accelerating indigenous manufacturing in defence can be seen through the introduction of Buy Indian (IDDM) category, to promote indigenous design, development and manufacturing. This will specially benefit the MSMEs who have enormous capabilities," CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said. According to Ashok Atluri, managing director of Zen Technologies, one of India's largest manufactgurers of simulators, "the new category of Buy Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufacturing (IDDM) is ingenious. This changes everything. The impact will be far-reaching and will have cascading effect." "This will change India from being a destination for low-cost manufacturing, to being a starting place for cutting-edge innovation; from being a consumer of out-dated equipment to being a producer of trail-blazing technology; from being the world's largest importer to being a leader in export of defence equipment," Atluri added. The IDDM has been introduced as a new procurement category in addition to the existing ones. Under this category 40 percent indigenous content (IC) would be mandatory for indigenously designed equipment, or 60 perccent IC for other equipment. Moving a step ahead from DPP 2013, the IDDM category will be given the first preference. The previous DPP had Buy Indian as the most preferred acquisition category. Whilst indigenous content requirement for Buy (Indian) cases has been raised to 40 percent from 30 percent, Buy and Make (Indian) and Buy and Make categories will require 50 percent indigenous content. The new DPP will also address the users' requirement of having a wide vendor base. Selected companies dealing with specific projects can further work on the improvement of the product based on mutually agreed parameters. Companies meeting the requirements of enhanced performance parameters will get additional credit scores while evaluation of their product cost. New provisions for the private sector's involvement as production agencies (PAs) and TOT (Transfer of Technology) partners have also been introduced. The rules for the retraction of Request for Proposals will be made more stringent. Even single vendor cases are going to see light of the day, however, with due justification. --Indo-Asian News Serivces vm Environment watchdog National Green Tribunal on Wednesday directed the closure of 313 industrial units across India, including 23 in Gujarat, for violating key environment laws for over two decades. The NGT verdict follows a 13-year-old pitched battle by leading Gujarat-based environmentalist Rohit Prajapati of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti and Ziya Pathan of the People's Union Civil Liberties in the Gujarat High Court which transferred the case to the NGT that took it on a national compass. IANS has all the copies of the relevant orders. The NGT struck down the environment clearance (EC) procedure adopted during 1998 to 2002 by the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for granting what was called "ex-post-facto environmental clearance" to over 300 defaulting chemical units, many of operated out of Gujarat. Ex-post-facto environmental clearances means ECs to industries that had started after production in these units. The NGT called such clearances "illegal". The tribunal asserted that "ex-post-facto" was "void ab-initio and ought to be struck down", and added: "We have no hesitation in holding that 'ex-post facto' process of obtaining ECs was just a farce, stage managed, wrong and impermissible under the law and suffered from illegality, which is incurable in any manner." The NGT bench of Justice V.R. Kingaonkar and Ajay A. Deshpande, which sits in its Western Zone Branch in Pune stated in its order of January 8 that the ministry circular dated May 14, 2002, "does not show by which provisions, the power is provided in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to allow 'ex-post facto' EC." Terming the circular "illegal, void and inoperative", the NGT asked the ministry to "immediately clarify legal position to the concern authorities within one month", asking it not to take "any further action on basis of aforementioned circular". The NGT order asked the units, which had opposed Prapapati's PIL, to close down industrial activities, and take instead "consent to operate" immediately, within four weeks, in as much "as they are being operated without any legal permission/consent" and on the basis of the "concept of 'ex-post facto' sanction or 'ex-post facto' hearing". The NTG order wanted each unit to pay Rs.10 lakh each for "causing environmental degradation", which, it says, should be "utilised for restoration of environment and if any reminder available for plantation purpose in and around the Ankleshwar industrial area". In case of failure to deposit the amount before the Bharuch district collector, which on his part, should take steps to "confiscate the industries and goods, stock and barrel and may sale the same for recovery of amount, as if it is dues under the Gujarat Land Revenue Code". Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Wednesday said there was no lack of coordination among the security agencies in handling the Pathankot attack, and the army was in control of the situation. He also came out in defence of killed National Security Guard (NSG) officer Lt. Col. E.K. Niranjan, saying he followed all safety procedures while defusing a bomb at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in Punjab. At the annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15, General Dalbir Singh said eight columns of the army -- comprising around 70 soldiers each -- were deployed at the base, while para-commandos, the Special Force of the army, were also present. He said the army's western commander, Lt. Gen. K.J. Singh, was in charge of the operations. He said the NSG was called in so that in case a hostage situation is created, it can be dealt with. "There was no lack of coordination between forces. There was total synergy and the western army commander was coordinating," he said. Countering claims that the army reached late, General Dalbir Singh said the eight columns were deployed both inside and outside the campus within a few hours of the intelligence alert after which no one breached the base. "Army columns were deployed inside and outside the perimeter within 2-3 hours after the alert. No one came inside after that," he said. Asked how the terrorists entered the base, the army chief said that will be known after the probe by the NIA is over. On repeated questions about the long time taken for the operation, he said the ground situation was known only to those who were there and they had a mammoth task of securing lives and property. "The air force base has more than 10,000 population. My direction was to ensure their safety. Secondly, I said area of contact must be contained and strong cordon (should be) maintained to make sure no one escapes," he said. General Dalbir Singh said the third instruction was to avoid casualties to the Indian forces. He defended Niranjan, saying he followed all safety procedures while defusing a bomb. The army chief's statement came in the wake of a media report that accused the officer of carelessness in handling the situation. "I checked with the army commander... he also checked on ground... all procedures were followed by him... So whatever is the laid down method, he followed. It is very difficult today for you and me to decide and say where things have gone wrong," he said. "Probably some booby trap, which he did not expect on the body, was there and despite having followed the brief, unfortunately this has happened... Otherwise, I would say this officer was the most qualified officer to handle that kind of situation," he said. Acclaimed actor Kabir Bedi, who has featured in international projects like "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", says the culture of song and dance in Indian cinema is its USP. "With corporatism coming in, films are being made more in an American kind of style here which wasn't the case earlier. Back then, we used to take long time to make films and today we are making them much faster. But the differences have narrowed a lot," the 69-year-old Bedi, who has been in the industry for over four decades, told IANS in an interview. "In terms of special effects, Hollywood is better but in the variety of content, our cinema is expanding fast. What makes Bollywood unique is its use of song and dance. That is respected a lot today. Nobody can do song and dance better than Bollywood. Not even Broadway," he added. Talking about the song and dance sequences, the veteran actor also shared that currently, the young crop of filmmakers is making more of realistic films which can be understood by the global audience. "It is not just about singing and dancing around the trees but younger people are making more realistic films and more films are being made which appeal to the international audience," said Kabir, whose popular Italian TV series "Sandokan" took Europe and Latin America by storm in the late 1970s. Last year, he launched its DVD in India. Asked if the content of films has gone down as compared to the old era? "I have been in the business long enough to know that all times we have made good films and we have made bad films. But the only thing is, the films of the old era... we remember the ones which were good, not the ones which were bad," the "Khoon Bhari Maang" actor said. "It seems that we have made more good films in the early days, but it's not true. Ten years from now, we will look back and see that we have made as many good films today, as we had before," he added. With more and more film festivals getting launched across the globe, Kabir believes that it is a good platform for filmmakers of different countries to meet one another. "The more film festivals there are, the better it is. Film festivals are great also because film makers meet each other and talk...People think that we are in the same industry so we meet each other; we don't. Meeting filmmakers from other parts of the world leads to interesting ideas and collaborations," he said. "It's the joy to know people in the community and also by having film festivals in a city, people get to see different kinds of films," Kabir added. Talking about his upcoming projects, the "Octopussy" actor believes that "talking about something in the pipeline can end up to the pipe drain". He added, "It's best that I talk only about the tangible as here it's more words than actions". (Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians.in) One of the Liberian chimpanzees with her baby after The HSUS stepped in to care for the abandoned chimps. Although they have suffered considerably, we are committed to caring for them to ensure all of them are as healthy and happy as possible for the rest of their lives. 190 shares EDITORS NOTE: GOOD NEWS! The HSUS and the New York Blood Center have announced an agreement to provide long-term sanctuary for the Liberian chimpanzees. READ THE UPDATE I am proud to introduce two heroes to youJim and Jenny Desmondtwo HSUS colleagues who deployed to Liberia to provide life-saving care for more than 60 chimps abandoned by the New York Blood Center and left there to die at the height of last springs Ebola crisis in the then battered West African nation. It was last March, and we at The HSUS faced a terrible set of facts but a clear and easy moral choice. A National Institutes of Health worker, on duty to help the people of Liberia struggling with the dreaded Ebola epidemic, reported to us that the New York Blood Center had abandoned a colony of chimpanzees living on a set of estuarine islands. We rushed in to help, pulling together a relief team, including a number of Liberians who had been providing chimp care under the auspices of the New York Blood Center. These islands only have fresh water for part of the year, and they do not come close to producing enough natural foods for the chimpanzees. Our team began feeding them every day and we repaired vital water systems. Its important to note that care for the chimps costs about $20,000 a month, and that over the years the New York Blood Center earned revenues reported to be in excess of $400 million from vaccines, blood cleansing agents, and other products related to their use of the chimps. During their recent visit to our offices, Jim and Jenny, who at our request left East Africa with their dog Princess (a canine animal care specialist) and have permanently deployed to Liberia to run the sanctuary, made a wonderful presentation about their work to a large group of HSUS staff colleagues. Jim and Jenny are longtime conservationists, and Jim is a wildlife veterinarian. Afterwards, they answered a few specific questions for our broader HSUS audience. What was the condition of the chimpanzees like when you first stepped in to supervise their care? The chimpanzees were very clearly desperate for food, water and attention. For months theyd received very little. Even prior to NYBCs complete abandonment, these chimpanzees had only been fed every other day at most, and were only offered basic fruits and vegetables and often did not get sufficient fresh water. The desperation was obvious on their faces and in their body language when we arrived on the boat. What are the long-term health challenges for this population of chimpanzees? Considering the extremely difficult lives these chimpanzees have led, with 10-30 years of invasive research being performed on them and forced isolation with cramped quarters, a chronically stressful environment, and poor treatment, the chimpanzees are at high risk for all kinds of physical and emotional illnesses. The remaining chimps are the survivors, with over 400 others estimated to have died throughout the research and even following their move to these islands. For chimpanzees like Samantha, who is now 41, we will do all that we can to give them high quality care and will likely see improvements in their welfare, but there will probably always be some level of hair loss, poor body condition, emotional issues and low weight in comparison to healthy chimpanzees. Sadly, these chimps will most likely die at a younger age. We will do all that we can to ensure all of them are as healthy and happy as possible for the rest of their lives! You rehired some of the people who had worked for NYBC at the site, but obviously, there are differences in your approach. How has that been working out? The Liberian team is thrilled not only to be employed but to serve this bigger humane initiative. It was not only the chimpanzees who were abandoned by New York Blood Center, but the workers as well. They are extremely grateful to The HSUS, Humane Society International, and generous donors who have made their jobs and work possible again. The differences in approach have been greatly welcomed. We have tried to ensure that changes being made benefit everyone and make the teams work easier and more efficient. In addition, the caregivers especially have been able to see the changes in the chimps happiness and trust in their carethis has been a wonderful experience for everyone involved! What is the range of general attitudes toward chimpanzees and their conservation in Liberia? The attitudes toward chimpanzees and their conservation in Liberia ranges from indifferent to highly concerned. We know that killing of chimpanzees for bush meat and the live pet trade is still occurring. Combatting this is obviously a top priority in our work there. However, in the greater community and at government levels, we have experienced an extremely positive response to discussions surrounding stepped up conservation activities. In fact, in just the few months since our arriving in Liberia to assist, the Forestry Development Authority has completely supported our efforts, agreed to partner in the work, and for the first time been able to confiscate illegally held pet chimpanzees. We feel changing attitudes will come in time with the commitment of all involved. What are the greatest challenges to carrying out such a project in Liberia today? Liberia has had a difficult history and the recent Ebola crisis has created instability and tragedy throughout the country. Priorities had to shift and the focus has understandably been on the resolution of this crisis. However, the disease is now contained and widespread political, financial, and logistical support is now on the ground, bringing new hope to the country. With this turnaround, we believe that recent conservation initiatives put into place before the crisis, can now be implemented. Our meetings with local government entities and NGOs have been encouraging and we have experienced a high level of dedication from everyone in the conservation field. Enhanced conservation efforts have a large role to play in Liberias recovery, with potential for strong impacts on public health and the economy as well as for the well-being of animals. Please join me in thanking these selfless animal crusaders, who have done so much to help these neglected animal castaways. And if you can, please make a donation to support our continuing relief and care effort for them. Warning that parts of the world including Pakistan may become safe havens for new terrorist networks, President Barack Obama made protecting the American people and going after them his top priority. But in a powerful speech Tuesday night he rejected Republicans' suggestion that the spread of the Islamic State across much of the Middle East and the group's apparent widening of its target list to Europe and the United States posed a threat to America itself. He mocked the contention that fighters on "on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages" represented an existential threat to America. "As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands," Obama said delivering the last State of the Union address of his presidency to the US Congress. "They do not threaten our national existence. That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit," Obama said, warning against pushing away vital Americans allies in the Middle East by "echoing the lie" that the group represents Islam. "Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and Al Qaeda, but it can't stop there," he said. "For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world - in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. "Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees," Obama warned. "The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians," he said. "That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage." Obama's comments appeared aimed at two Republican presidential candidates - Ted Cruz, who has warned he would carpet bomb ISIS and Marco Rubio, who says America is waging an existential fight against radical Islamic terrorism. He also urged Americans to reject the politics of tribalism and fear that have rocked the campaign to find his successor and to build a "clear-eyed, big-hearted" and "optimistic" nation. "As frustration [with politics] grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background," Obama said in an apparent reference to Republican front runner Donald Trump's suspicious attitude toward immigrants and Muslims. "We can't afford to go down that path. It won't deliver the economy we want, or the security we want, but most of all, it contradicts everything that makes us the envy of the world." Satya Nadella, Indian-American Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, was among the 23 special guests "who have inspired Barack" and representing "the progress we have made" over the last seven years watching Obama's address from the First Lady's Box. The Republican party fielded one of its rising stars, South Carolina's Indian-American Governor Nikki Haley, who is widely speculated as a possible vice presidential nominee, in its official televised response to the President's address. Painting an unflattering picture of Obama's America Haley said: "The President's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words." She also took a shot at Obama's foreign policy record, saying a Republican president would "make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around." (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) The Pakistan Army has derailed peace talks between India and Pakistan many times, Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh said on Wednesday. Asked whether the incidents at Pathankot in Punjab and Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan where the Indian consulate was targetted by terrorists were attempts by the Pakistan Army to derail peace talks, he said: "It has done it a number of times." In response to a question on reports from Afghanistan that the Pakistan Army was involved in the Mazar-i-Sharif attack, General Dalbir Singh said: "I have also read in papers the statement (of Afghan police). It is good that at least if the involvement of Pakistan or Pakistani officers is there, it is openly coming out." "The Afghan government, establishment, Afghan Army would know and I'm sure once it is confirmed to them that there is involvement of Pakistani army or its officials, I am sure they will take it up strongly with the Pakistani government," he said. Pakistan said on Wednesday it had arrested several Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) activists and sealed its offices as part of a crackdown following the terror attack on an IAF base in India. India has blamed the JeM, a terrorist group which is known to have links with the Pakistani security establishment, for the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force station at Pathankot in Punjab. An official statement here also said that Islamabad needed more information from New Delhi on the alleged Pakistani links to the pre-dawn attack which left seven Indian security personnel dead. Pakistan was considering sending a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Pathankot in consultation with India, it added. The statement said "several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway". The announcement followed a high-level meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired here on Wednesday to review the progress in the investigation against alleged Pakistani masterminds of the terror attack. India says that all six terrorists who raided the IAF base and got killed were Pakistanis and were allied to the JeM. The Wednesday meeting was also attended by army chief General Raheel Sharif and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar. The statement said considerable progress had been made in the probe being carried out "against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. "In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the government of Pakistan is considering to send a SIT to Pathankot, in consultation with the government of India." The statement said Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue "in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism". India says it has provided "actionable intelligence" to Pakistan to act against those who masterminded the Pathankot attack, one week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Lahore and met Sharif. Eleven days after Pakistani terrorists attacked an IAF base in Pathankot, Pakistan said on Wednesday it had detained terrorist leader Maulana Masood Azhar who India says plotted the mayhem. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief, known for his close ties with Pakistani intelligence agencies, was taken to an undisclosed destination and was questioned as part of a crackdown, media reports said. Also detained were his brother Mufti Abdul Rauf and brother-in-law Ashfaq Ahmad as well as some 10 others, the reports said. Masood Azhar and two other Pakistani terrorists were freed by India in December 1999 in exchange for the passengers of an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hijacking, from Kathmandu, was masterminded by a brother of Masood Azhar. Once the three terrorists were handed over to the hijackers in the Taliban-controlled Kandahar, they fled to Pakistan. Pakistani media quoted unidentified sources as saying that "concerned authorities" interrogated Masood Azhar and the others about the Pathankot attack that left seven security personnel dead. Pakistan earlier said that several JeM activists had been arrested and its offices sealed as part of an investigation into the suspected Pakistani links to the January 2 terror attack. It was not clear if Masood Azhar was among the arrested or had been merely detained for questioning. The announcement followed a high-level meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired here on Wednesday to review the progress in the investigation against alleged Pakistani masterminds of the terror attack. Army chief General Raheel Sharif, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar and many senior government figures attended the meet. India says all six terrorists who raided the IAF base and got killed were Pakistanis and were allied to the JeM. India later said it had delivered "actionable intelligence" for Pakistan to act against the attack plotters. A Pakistani government statement said considerable progress had been made in the probe "against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. "In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the government of Pakistan is considering to send a SIT to Pathankot, in consultation with the government of India." The Pathankot attack took place just a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Lahore and met Sharif in a bid to push forward the dialogue between the two countries. News of Wednesday's arrests came ahead of a scheduled meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in Islamabad on January 15. Amid doubts, New Delhi has not said if it will take part in the talks. In Pakistan, Masood Azhar keeps ranting against India. After the Pathankot attack, the JeM uploaded an audio clip on a website making startling disclosures about how the Pathankot airbase was raided -- and how "Indian tanks, military cars and helicopters" were fired at. Indian defence agencies were also ridiculed for failing to tackle the six "mujaheedin", and how they fought "for 48 hours in such freezing temperatures, harsh weather conditions, without sleeping, without eating". Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, accused by India of plotting the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot, has been detained, Geo TV reported on Wednesday. Azhar, who is known to have close ties with the Pakistani security establishment, has been taken to an undisclosed destination and was being questioned, the report quoted unidentified sources as saying. Pakistan earlier said that several JeM activists had been arrested and its offices sealed as part of an investigation into the suspected Pakistani links to the January 2 terror attack at Pathankot. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is likely to investigate the "crimes" committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories, a visiting Palestinian official said on Tuesday. Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), told the national radio that "We have reported six files so far to the ICC that Israel's actions against Palestinians, including the demolition of houses, the construction of settlements, arrests and assassinations, and ethnic cleansing." "There is no difference between the terrorism practiced by the Islamic State terrorists who slay necks of people in Syria and Iraq, and Israel's terrorism that sets an 18 months old baby in fire," he said, referring to Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha, who died with his parents after succumbing to wounds inflicted in the firebombing by suspected Jewish extremists in the West Bank last July. He further assumed that "negotiations with Israel in their current form are no longer viable," adding "we seek to develop an international framework for these negotiations with the participation of permanent members at the UN Security Council and other key nations." Erekat started a four-day visit to Algeria on Monday as part of bilateral political consultations, adopted during Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' last visit to Algeria in December 2014. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said it had recovered a "Chinese wireless set" from a car used by terrorists to reach the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot which they attacked on January 2. The set was similar to one recovered after a failed assault at Samba army camp in March last year. The anti-terror probe agency claimed that the car was used by the terrorists to reach the IAF base on the intervening night of December 31, 2015 and January 1, 2016. "Data in the wireless set was deleted," an NIA official told IANS here on condition of anonymity, adding that the set has been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) here to retrieve the deleted data, if possible. The official said the set was similar to the wireless set recovered from the army camp in Samba on the Jammu-Pathankot highway where two terrorists opened fire on March 21, last year, in which the militants were killed and three army personnel and one civilian were injured. At the Samba army camp, the militants had used a modus operandi similar to that used at the Pathankot air base. They came to the military camp dressed in army fatigues and tried to enter it to destroy defence assets. However, they failed to carry out their plan due to the tight security at the camp. The official further said that NIA sleuths have traced the route the terrorists took to reach Pathankot air base from the point of abduction of Punjab Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, his cook Madan Gopal and jeweller friend Rajesh Verma on December 31 night. "NIA teams are collecting CCTV footage on the route taken by the terrorists to the IAF base from the point they abducted Salwinder Singh and two others," the official said. The NIA teams, headed by an Inspector General (IG)-rank officer, in coordination with Punjab Police and local villagers are carrying out searches on the routes taken by the terrorists to find evidence like clothes and electronic devices. The officials of NIA's eight separate team have been conducting searches at those villages falling on the route taken by the terrorists to reach the IAF base. Meanwhile, the agency questioned Salwinder Singh at its headquarters in New Delhi for the third consecutive day on Wednesday. Salwinder Singh's cook Gopal and Somraj, the caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah -- located a few kilometres from Bamiyal village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated into India before mounting the attack -- were also summoned to reach the NIA headquarters for questioning on Thursday. Salwinder Singh had claimed that he was a regular visitor to the shrine and had visited it before he was abducted by the terrorists. Another highly placed source said the agency found inconsistencies in the statements of Salwinder Singh and Somraj as the latter in his earlier statement had said that the Punjab Police officer had come to the shrine for the first time before the Pathankot air base attack. Somraj had also informed the NIA sleuths that Salwinder Singh's friend Verma and cook Gopal had visited the shrine twice on the same day. Six Pakistani terrorists -- believed to be from the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit -- sneaked into Punjab from across the border and raided the IAF base at Pathankot, killing seven security personnel. Security forces killed all the terrorists in the counter-offensive. India later said it had delivered "actionable intelligence" for Pakistan to act against those who masterminded the terror attack. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians. in) Pakistan said on Wednesday it had arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) activists and sealed its offices as part of a crackdown following the terror attack on an Indian Air Force (IAF) base in India. An official statement also said that Pakistan needed more information from India on the alleged Pakistani links to the January 2 attack at Pathankot in Punjab that left seven Indian security personnel dead. Islamabad was considering sending a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Pathankot in consultation with New Delhi, it added. The statement said: "Several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway". The announcement followed a high-level meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired here earlier on Wednesday to review the progress in the investigation against alleged Pakistani masterminds of the terror attack. India says that all six terrorists who raided the IAF station and got killed were Pakistanis and were allied to the JeM. The Wednesday meeting was also attended by, among others, General Raheel Sharif, the army chief, and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, media reports said. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said it would review the progress made on the agenda of alliance with the BJP during late chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's 10-month tenure in office. "We will review the achievement made during the last 10 months in fulfilling the developmental of Mufti Sahab... He had a vision for making Jammu and Kashmir a modern state. "Due to his death, his vision is yet to be realised. The party under the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti will need to review how much we have succeeded in fulfilling Mufti Sahab's vision so far," senior PDP leader and former education minister Naeem Akhtar said during a current affairs programme on Radio Kashmir on Wednesday. "No formal meeting has been held yet under the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti. "The party will assess whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a massive mandate of the country, has taken any decisions on it," he said. He said that keeping in view the changing situation, the party will analyse whether the ministers can fulfill their governance agenda. "PDP's main aim is not power. We always wanted to represent people of Jammu and Kashmir to fulfill their rights and expectations which they have," Akhtar said. The Congress on Wednesday sought to wrest credit for the 'Startup India' initiative from the government, saying it conceived the policy blueprint even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi was claiming credit. "We understand that the Modi government is scheduled to announce a policy for Startup India on January 16. As usual, the prime minister will be claiming credit for and repackaging what the Congress had already put in place," said Congress parliamentarian Jairam Ramesh. "Between 2004 and 2014, India received $90 billion in venture capital and private equity financing for 4,000 companies, of which at least 2,000 may well be startups. This led to India becoming the third largest startup country in the world, even before Modi coined his 'Startup India' slogan," he added. The Congress also urged the BJP-led government to consider a few suggestions when it came to stimulating startups. "There must be a clear and categorical statement from the government that it will support net neutrality and not allow large companies to restrict access to the internet. It should be government's responsibility to provide internet access to all and set a clear target date by which there will be such access to all Indians," the Congress leader said. "Government buildings, public universities and schools should be allowed to provide office space with power, connectivity and basic information technology infrastructure to act as incubator for 'startups'." "Corporate social responsibility funds should be permitted to be invested in startup/innovation-related research and development in public universities under the corporate social responsibility guidelines laid down by UPA-II government," he added. Ramesh said: "Startups domiciled in India face severe difficulties in both registration and protection of their intellectual property rights. The government must ensure ease of patent registration by streamlining the registration process, opening of more patent offices outside of just the four metros, and shortening the time taken. The government must also assist startups in defending their intellectual property rights in global disputes." The Congress leader said direct or indirect government funding of startups should be restricted to social sectors and not all sectors in an unrestricted manner, which will be a risky use of taxpayer funds. The National Skill Development Corporation established by UPA-II government must be leveraged to meet the huge semi-skilled labour needs of startups, he added. "Our prime minister has been more enthusiastic in meeting with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs than our own startup entrepreneurs. Had he done that, he would have realised that the only jobs in our economy are now being created by these startups," said Ramesh. Aaron Rodgers, David Bakhtiari, Chandler Jones, FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2015, file photo, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) passes as tackle David Bakhtiari (69) blocks New England Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones (95) during an NFL preseason football game in Foxborough, Mass. There appears to be growing optimism with the Green Bay Packers that injured left tackle David Bakhtiari could be ready for Sunday's wild-card playoff game against the Washington Redskins. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File) (Michael Dwyer) New England Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones was taken to Norwood Hospital Sunday morning after he showed up at the Foxborough police department with a "medical emergency," The Boston Herald reported, citing dispatch records. According to The Herald, protected information was deleted from the dispatch records before they were released. The reason for Jones' trip to the hospital was not included in the dispatch records. WEEI's Dennis & Callahan, citing police sources, reported that Jones had "OD'd on pills" at Rob Gronkowski's house Saturday. They later revised the tweet, deleting the location at which the supposed overdose occurred. According to multiple police sources Chandler Jones "OD'd on pills" Saturday night and was taken in an ambulance to Norwood Hospital. Mut & Callahan (@MutCallahan) January 13, 2016 The records indicate that Jones arrived at the Foxborough police station at 7:42 a.m Sunday. He was transported to Norwood Hospital just after 8 a.m. Because Jones was not arrested, and because this was deemed a "medical call," no paperwork was filled out, Foxborough police chief Edward T. O'Leary told The Herald. The department, according to O'Leary, doesn't fill out paperwork for medical calls "unless a person's dead." The Patriots provided the following statement to The Herald: "Chandler Jones was admitted to the hospital on Sunday and released that day. He reported to work on time Monday morning and has participated in all meetings and practices since then." You can read the full report here. Heavy.com has police dispatch audio up on its site. According to the audio, Jones is described as a "confused party" when he arrived at the station. While Jones was being examined at the station, an officer was sent to secure Jones' home. The officer said to the dispatch, "I got his keys off the kitchen table, I was able to lock the front door. If you want to just pass along to the fire, he was definitely involved with Class D delta before this happened, just so they know." In Massachussetts law, Class D is a classification that includes marijuana. Audio obtained by Heavy.com is below: As many as 21 new positive cases of swine flu have been reported in Rajasthan in the last seven days, taking the total number of people suffering from the highly contagious H1N1 virus to 38 this year, officials said on Wednesday. "These 21 cases have been reported in the period from January 6 to January 12. Since the start of this year, five people have died due to the virus in the state," a medical and health department official told IANS. Of these five deaths, two were reported from Jaipur and one each from Sikar, Kota and Churu. Of the 38 cases, the maximum 22 cases were reported from Jaipur, followed by six from Kota and three from Sikar and the rest from other places. In 2015, over 6,800 swine flu cases were reported, and 468 people died. Besides educating people about swine flu through posters, banners and advertisements, the state government has also decided to conduct blood and other diagnostic tests on patients showing signs of swine flu. "We have decided to undertake a survey of at least 50 houses situated near houses where positive cases of swine flu have been reported," the official said. For providing early relief to patients, rapid response teams are also being set up. Government hospitals have been asked to keep full stock of medicines for H1N1. The government would spend Rs.8.5 lakh crore to overhaul the Indian Railways, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said here on Wednesday. "The government has decided to invest Rs.8.5 lakh crore in the next five years to change the entire face of the Indian Railways," Sinha said at a function held to receive the first broad-gauge trial train on the newly laid Badarpur (Assam)-Agartala railway line. "After completion of the remaining broad gauge line work, and necessary clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) by March 31, regular train services would start immediately," he said. In the presence of thousands of people, the central minister accompanied by Tripura's PWD and Health Minister Badal Choudhury and Transport Minister Manik Dey received a seven-bogie trial train decked with flowers. Sinha told reporters that the ongoing work to lay the new railway line up to southern Tripura's Sabroom bordering Bangladesh would be completed by December 2017. From Sabroom, the Chittagong sea port is just 72 km away, and the Indian government has decided to construct a bridge over the Feni river to link the northeast region with the port in southeastern Bangladesh. The 437-km Lumding-Silchar and Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion work was sanctioned in 1996. It was declared a national project in 2004, thereby ensuring uninterrupted funding from the general budget. In the first phase, the 210-km Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion project was completed early last year, and in the second phase the 227-km Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion was undertaken. It was scheduled to be completed in March but wast completed three months earlier. With the completion of gauge conversion work right up to Agartala, the Tripura capital is now connected with the country's broad gauge railway network through Guwahati with a distance of around 600 km. The newly laid broad-gauge line links the Guwahati-Lumding rail line with Silchar, Badarpur and Agartala. The Lumding-Silchar metre-guage track was in operation from 1899, while Tripura came on the Indian Railway map in 1964 through metre-gauge track. This railway connectivity is the lifeline for millions in Tripura, western Manipur and eastern Mizoram besides southern Assam. Agartala came up on the rail map only in 2008. Southern Assam's Barak Valley was brought on the broad-gauge rail map on November 21 last year, with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagging off a regular passenger train. Northeast Frontier Railway general manager H.K. Jaggi said Rs.7,751 crore was spent to lay the broad gauge track in the Badarpur-Agartala sector. The Badarpur-Agartala line has five tunnels and 461 major and minor bridges. While the longest tunnel is about 2 km long, there are a record 161 curvings in the line. The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted the Mysuru-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) to get more samples of Maggi noodles to test the lead and mono sodium glutamate (MSG) contents in its taste-makers. The bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice N.V. Ramana also asked the CFTRI to tell if the lead content found in its tests carried out in October, in pursuance of the order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), was within the limit prescribed under the food safety law and rules framed under it. The CFTRI had conducted tests on Maggi samples in pursuance of the October 15 directions of the NCDRC. Giving the lab two months' time to carry out the tests and submit its report, the court said if the lab needed more samples, it should ask for them. The court was told that more samples were needed as the samples already used for tests could not be reused for further tests. For more samples, if needed, the CFTRI would approach the NCDRC joint registrar who would collect the samples from the Lucknow godown of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The apex court on December 16 had asked the CFTRI to test samples of Maggi noodles as directed by the NCDRC. The court had asked the CFTRI to undertake the testing of Maggi samples as it modified the NCDRC order of December 9-10 by which it had asked the Chennai-based lab to test the samples. Nestle India had moved the apex court challenging the December 9-10 order. Nestle contended that once the NCDRC sent Maggi samples for testing by the Mysuru lab by its October 15 order, then there was no necessity of further testing by the Chennai lab. The Centre had moved the apex court against the August 13, 2015 Bombay High Court order which had held that the labs that tested Maggi noodles were not accredited by the NABL, thus their findings could not be relied upon. The next hearing of the matter is on April 5. With acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal heading a committee set up to revamp the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt believes one shouldn't be scared to exercise his or her freedom of expression despite pressure from the central government. "You will have to fight because there will be pressure from the government... whoever comes into power. You will get threats to curb your voice but you shouldn't be afraid because India's Constitution has given you the right to freedom of expression," Bhatt told a TV channel here when asked on Benegal's involvement. Bollywood celebrities like Madhur Bhandarkar, Anupam Kher and Kabir Bedi hailed the decision by the government to form a committee headed by Benegal to revamp the CBFC, which has been mired in controversies recently. Asked who will be cast in the lead in the Hindi version of Srijit Mukherji's Bengali film "Rajkahini", which Bhatt is producing, he said the announcement will be made shortly. "We (Srijit and I) have started working on it. Soon you will see its Hindi version with a new interpretation," added Bhatt, but refused to divulge whether actress Vidya Balan or Rituparna Sengupta will essay the lead. Palermo (Italy), Jan 13 (IANS/AKI) The Sicilian mafia intended to blow up prosecutor Nino Di Matteo and bought 200 kg of the explosive TNT to do so, according to an informant, police said. The order to murder Di Matteo came from the Sicilian mafia's fugitive 'boss of bosses' Matteo Messina Denaro, turncoat Vito Galatolo told prosecutors. In a letter, Messina Denaro said the prosecutor "had gone too far", Galatolo alleged. The TNT cost 700,00 euros, of which 250,000 was raised by the sale of 30 garages, Galatolo said. The sale of the garages was handled by prominent Palermo lawyer Marcello Marcatajo, who was arrested on Tuesday along with eight other Sicilian mafia suspects, including an engineer. Palermo prosecutor Vittorio Teresi told the media that Marcatajo was "a prime example of the mire of professionals at the service of the mafia". Marcatajo, 69, is accused of running the business affairs of the Sicilian mafia's Aquasanta clan. --IANS/AKI mr/ At least six policemen were killed on Wednesday in a terror attack apparently targeted at the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad city in Afghanistan, media reports said. Afghan security forces battled gunmen barricaded in a house near the consulate, which the attackers had apparently tried to enter, a Pakistani news report said. Xinhua news agency reported earlier that a blast took place near the Pakistani consulate, located in an area which is also home to the Indian and Iranian consulates as well as a private school. "The bomb attack targeted a police vehicle near the Pakistani consulate," a security source told Xinhua. But a report in Dawn online newspaper said the fighting erupted near the Pakistani consulate after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing as many as six people. It quoted a security source as telling Afghanistan's Tolo News that the suicide bomber, who pretended to be a visa seeker, detonated himself after being prevented from entering the consulate. "Officials said three attackers are inside the consulate and a gun battle between security forces and attackers is ongoing." The blast comes 10 days after a terror attack near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city. A superlative performance by the Chennai Smashers knocked the Bengaluru Top Guns out of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) with a 4-1 win in the last group phase match of the six-team tournament at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday. With the win, the Smashers not just knocked out the Top Guns but also helped themselves and Mumbai Rockets stay in the top-four and qualify for the semifinals. The top two ranked teams -- Delhi Acers (20 points) and Awadhe Warriors (17) had already qualified for the knockouts while the Smashers (17) finished third and the Rockets (13) fourth. The Hyderabad Hunters were the first outfit to be played out of the PBL, finishing fifth with 11 points while the Top Guns ended sixth and last with just nine. In the first semifinal here on Thursday, the Acers will take on the Smashers while the Warriors will face Rockets in the second last-four clash in Hyderabad on Friday. The last league match started on a positive note for the Smashers as Sony Dwi Kuncoro won the men's singles all important Trump Match 15-10, 10-15, 15-8, beating Sameer Verma to earn two points for the visiting team. "This was an important match for both the teams. This was our Trump and had I lost then that would have meant one point getting deducted from our overall tally and they would still have had a chance for the semifinals. We are in the semifinals and it's a real happy moment for everyone at the dugout," said Kuncoro. Hoon Thien How and Joachim Fischer Nielsen helped the hosts pull back a point by beating Pranaav Chopra and Chris Adcock 15-7, 15-8 in the men's doubles contest. "It's always a happy moment to win a match and we are feeling the same," said Nielsen. Top Guns skipper Kidambi Srikanth levelled things up when he drubbed France's top player Brice Leverdez 15-4, 15-12 to make it 2-all in the tie. "It is great to win in front of the home crowd," said World No.9 Srikanth. Smashers captain P.V. Sindhu then upped the ante to defeat Suo Di 15-12, 15-7 in the women's singles match to keep a perfect 5-0 record in the PBL. With her win, the visitors took a slight lead of 3-2. "Suo Di is a very talented player and she has displayed her skills throughout the PBL. She gave a real challenge to me but I managed to hang on and win the match for our team," said Sindhu. The semifinals by now were out of the reach for the Top Guns but they wanted to have a winning end to the tournament. However, the Smashers rubbed salt on the wounds of the hosts as Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen lost their Trump match to the visiting pair of Pia Zebadiah and Chris Adcock 14-15, 12-15. An Indian Air Force (IAF) officer supervising the Republic Day parade reversal here was killed on Wednesday after a speeding car hit him and sped away, officials said. Shocked how the vehicle broke the barricades and entered Red Road where the rehearsal was on, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee promised strict action against the guilty. "A speeding Audi car knocked down Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud, who was supervising the parade, before hitting a barricade and coming to a halt. He was declared dead at a hospital," a defence ministry spokesperson said. Gaud, 21, hailed from Surat in Gujarat and was stationed at the Kaliakunda air base. He was here as a drill instructor for the Republic Day Parade. Police have launched a manhunt to nab the driver and raided the residence of a former Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator from Kolkata. The vehicle, purchased recently, is said to have been registered in the name of the former legislator's son. The temporary number plate of the vehicle was found missing. Banerjee, who visited the accident site and the hospital, said it was "a very unfortunate" incident. "I wonder how the vehicle managed to break several barricades and enter the practice zone. The incident is very unfortunate. "We have ordered that murder charges be (pressed) and the guilty is handed stringent punishment," she said. Kolkata Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha said efforts were on to nab the culprit. "It is unprecedented. We are examining CCTV footage," he said. Syria has sought India's economic and political support and not ground troops to fight terrorism, the strife-hit country's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem said on Wednesday. "We expect India to give economic and political support," Al-Muallem said at a media briefing here. The minister, who is on a three-day visit to India from January 11, said he had a very "constructive and productive" meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday. "Our points of view were mutually converging together. India supports Syria in its fight against terrorism," Al-Muallem said. "We discussed bilateral relations and ways to revive the old India-Syria bonds," he said. He said Syria has sought from India cooperation in the economic field as international sanctions have been imposed on his conflict-ridden country. He said that during the talks, Sushma Swaraj offered humanitarian aid to Syria. "We welcome any Indian aid coming to Syria, whether it be rice or medicines," he said. Asked if Syria has sought India's help in fighting terrorism, including the Islamic State, he said: "We did not ask for ground troops from India to fight terrorism." But at the same time he said that terrorism knew no borders and his country was badly affected by this international scourge. "We have seen how terrorism has affected countries like France, the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey," he said. "That is why we have sought intelligence cooperation from India and offered the same from our side," said the minister, who met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during the course of his visit. Asked about Russia's intervention in the fight against terrorism, he said his country was grateful to Moscow for this. "Russian airstrikes in coordination with our ground troops have helped us succeed. What Russia has done in three months is 10 times more than what the US-led coalition could do in 18 months," Al-Muallem said. Asked if Syria has sought India's role in the UN-sponsored Geneva peace process, he replied in the negative. "In Geneva, the dialogue has to be only between Syrians (Syrian government and the opposition). Outside interference will not help the Geneva peace process progress," the minister emphasised. But he added that Damascus did expect political support from New Delhi. "We believe India deserves to be a part of the solution in Syria," Al-Muallem said. The visit by Al-Muallem and his delegation assumes importance in view of fresh initiatives taken by the UN to bring about peace in the war-torn country, where more than 300,000 people have been killed in the past four years and seven million have fled to other countries. European nations have also witnessed a huge influx of Syrian refugees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Moscow last month, held detailed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the growing threat of Islamic State and the Syrian crisis. Since the Paris terror attack, many Western nations have directly or indirectly established contact with the Syrian government to counter activities of the Islamic State. Special advisor to the Syrian president, Buthina Shaban, had visited India in March 2013. The Tamil Nadu government can enact an ordinance to permit Jallikattu during Pongal festival and New Delhi will back it, Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. An apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice N.V. Ramana declined to lift an earlier order that put on hold a central government notification allowing Jallikattu and bull races. Speaking to reporters at Mamallapuram near here, Sitharaman said the central government cannot promulgate an ordinance in this connection as a case was pending in the court. But the Tamil Nadu government could issue an ordinance and the central government would support it, she added. Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and political parties in Tamil Nadu had urged the central government to issue an ordinance to allow Jallikattu, an ancient sport held in rural parts of Tamil Nadu during Pongal festival. It involves young men clinging on to the hump of bulls to win prize money. Meanwhile, Jallikattu supporters held demonstrations while parading their bulls. A hunger strike began in Alanganallur and Palemedu, the two places known for the sport in Madurai district. Protests were also held in support of the sport in Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Pudukottai and Trichy. P. Rajasekaran, president of the Jallikattu Paddukappu Peravai, told IANS that there cannot be any cruelty inflicted on the animals as they were subjected to medical examination before and after the event. Two civilians were killed when a suicide bomber targetted a police vehicle in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city on Wednesday, the media reported. "Unconfirmed reports said a few attackers are hiding in a house on the same street where Pakistan and Indian consulates are located," Pajhwok Afghan News reported. Jalalabad (Afghanistan), Jan 13 At least two police personnel were killed in an explosion near foreign consulate buildings in eastern Afghanistan's Jalalabad town on Wednesday, sources and witnesses said. "The bomb attack targeted a police vehicle near the Pakistani consulate office, killing two police officers. So far, we have no more details, but we will try to get more information," a security source told Xinhua news agency. A private high school and several other diplomatic mission offices, including Indian and Iranian consulate buildings, are also located in the area. Two persons were injured in the blast that took place at around 9 a.m. (local time) in the city, which is capital of eastern Nangarhar province, he said. Government troops cordoned off the area after the blast, fearing a second blast. Several warning shots were also fired by the security forces. Further details about the incident are yet to come in the absence of an official statement. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban militant group have launched similar attacks in the country recently. The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday restrained the state government from going ahead with a departmental inquiry against suspended Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amitabh Thakur. The inquiry, the Lucknow bench of the court said, could only be held if the government provides the official with the 67 documents he has asked for. The documents, the court directed, should be provided to Thakur within one month. The bench of Justice S.S. Chauhan and Justice Anant Kumar gave this order after hearing Thakur and the chief standing counsel. As the Uttar Pradesh government has prepared the charge sheet on the basis of these documents, it must provide these to the accused officer, the court ruled. The court observed that the state government should allow Thakur to peruse the documents which are voluminous in nature. On September 1, Thakur requested principal secretary (Home) for these documents so that he can defend himself, but has since been denied access to the papers which form the basis of the charge sheet and the proposed action against him. The officer has been on the wrong side of the government ever since he lodged a first information report against Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, alleging the SP supremo threatened him on telephone. US House of Representatives on Tuesday easily passed legislation to impose harsher sanctions against North Korea in response to its nuclear test. The measure, passed by a vote of 418 to 2, would require the president to sanction those engaging in transactions with Pyongyang related to weapons of mass destruction, arms, luxury goods, money laundering, counterfeiting and human rights abuses, The Washington Post reported. It also gives the president authority to sanction anyone engaging in financial transactions to support the Korean nation banned activities and the country's developing cyber threat industry. North Korea announced on Wednesday that it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test. But the White House disputed the claim, saying that initial analysis indicates that the nuclear test is "not consistent" with a hydrogen bomb. "The latest test demands a response," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel, a co-sponsor of the House bill, according to The Washington Post. "We need to act unilaterally to make clear to the North Koreans (DPRK) that their actions have consequences." The Senate is expected to consider similar legislation in the coming weeks. Actor Vicky Kaushal, who made his debut with the critically-acclaimed "Masaan", says he had shot for upcoming movie "Zubaan' before the 2015 release. "Not many people know that 'Zubaan' was actually my first film. I had shot for it before 'Masaan'," said Vicky at the trailer launch of the film directed by Mozez Singh. About his director, Vicky said: "Moses has been that person who showed faith in me when I was struggling, when I was giving auditions day in, day out, and when I was clueless where I was heading or what was happening in my life." "During the workshops, I was quite bad. After the workshops in the mornings, I used to get calls from people reconfirming with me if I had be able to do it well." "But I would like to thank him from the bottom of my heart for giving me this opportunity, for believing in me for a character like Dilsher, a conflicted character who's trying to rediscover his abandoned roots, his abandoned fate and rediscover himself through music. It's been a wonderful experience," he said. He also spoke about the influence of casting director Mukesh Chhabra and producer Guneet Monga for backing him and trusting him. Vicky plays a character who runs away from music but it is music which helps him rediscover himself later on. Despite being a Punjabi, playing a character who comes to Delhi to make it big and switching between Hindi and Punjabi was not easy, Vicky said. He has two main looks in the film -- one with a corporate look and the other as a sardar. "I enjoyed playing the sardar as wearing the turban and that beard, I love the attitude of sardars. Your walking style automatically changes." His character in the film has a stammering problem and he even visited a speech therapist in Pune along with his director to understand the nuances of speech-related issues. "Zubaan" also stars Sarah Jane Dias and Manish Chaudhari among others. The Anandiben Patel government in Gujarat on Wednesday appointed Jagruti Pandya, widow of former state home minister Haren Pandya who was assassinated in 2003, as chairperson of the Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on a three-year term. The commission was constituted in September 2012 and its member Bharatiben Virsangbhai Tadvi held temporary charge as chief till Wednesday. Pandya would be the chairperson of the body for three years from the day she takes charge, according to an official notification. Pandya's appointment assumes significance because she was repeatedly demanding that her husband's assassination during the tenure of then chief minister Narendra Modi be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, instead of Gujarat Police. Meanwhile, Haren Pandya's father Vithalbhai Pandya, who died several years later, had opened a front against Modi alleging his role in the murder of his son. Vithalbhai, who contested the Lok Sabha elections against L.K. Advani, went to town calling Modi names during his campaign. Jagruti Pandya, who did not refer to Modi while demanding a CBI inquiry, had long ago snapped ties with Haren Pandya's family for personal reasons. Haren Pandya, who was state home minister prior to the 2002 communal violence, was assassinated in 2003 near a public park in Ahmedabad while on his morning walk. Pandya had reportedly fallen from Modi's grace after he deposed before an independent human rights tribunal headed by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer against the BJP government for the 2002 communal riots. Earlier, he had refused to vacate his Ellis Bridge seat for a by-election in February 2002 in Ahmedabad for Modi to contest after he became chief minister for the first time. State finance minister Vajubhai Patel later made space for Modi to stand from Rajkot-II seat. Later, Jagruti Pandya contested the 2012 assembly elections from Ellis Bridge on a ticket of the Gujarat Parivartan Party, headed by Keshubhai Patel, former chief minister and a staunch rival of Modi. She fought the elections "seeking justice" for her late husband. The Gujarat Parivartan Party later merged with the BJP while Pandya went into oblivion. If you really care about an institution and want to make it strong for the ages, you don't walk out. You roll up your sleeves, you redouble your commitment to those ideals in a changing world, and you fight." That's what Chris Hughes, the 32-year-old billionaire Facebook co-founder, wrote just a little more than a year ago about The New Republic, the century-old magazine he acquired in 2012. On Monday, Hughes, said, in effect, "Nah, forget about all of that." He put the magazine up for sale, throwing up his hands in frustration. "I underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today's quickly evolving climate," he wrote. Welcome to the age - and whimsy - of the new billionaire class and the precariousness of vanity projects. With so much money sloshing around, and more and more of the super-wealthy pushing into areas beyond their expertise, it is likely we will see more headlines about the failure of some of these fanciful investments and philanthropic experiments. Just over the weekend, the Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov completed a major shake-up of the Brooklyn Nets, a team he bought five years ago that has struggled both on and off the court. It lost a reported $144 million last season. Of course, there have been success stories. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, bought The Washington Post, which so far has had success under his stewardship and he appears to be a long-term investor in the business. Yet, some are learning as they go along. The Facebook chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, recently pledged to give away his more than $40 billion fortune, but an early $100 million investment in the Newark public school system was largely squandered. Dov Seidman, the founder of LRN, a firm that advises companies on their cultures and how they can translate them into better performance, said that earning gobs of money could often give billionaires a false sense of omniscience. "Sometimes if you create wealth and value quickly in one domain with one set of skills, however gifted and talented you are, it can give you the sense that you can apply it to any domain," Seidman said. That's not to take away from some of the most successful philanthropists, like Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft who has spent years devoting himself to learning everything about polio and malaria, for example, and working towards eradicating them. (Though, in truth, he has spent a lot of money on projects that didn't work along the way.) Still, as more billionaires are minted amid a ferocious debate about inequality, and the super-wealthy continue to buy up trophy assets and seek to sway public policy, it has created a backlash and some are questioning whether they are amassing too much influence. "The mega-rich increasingly use their foundations and their celebrity as philanthropists to mould public policy to an extent not possible for other citizens," Joanne Barkan, who has long been a critic of big philanthropy, wrote in The Guardian. That could turn out to be true for new money coming out of Silicon Valley, which has created a generation of young, idealistic entrepreneurs who want to get involved in transforming businesses and institutions at early ages. There are about 40 men and women under the age of 40 who are worth at least a half-billion dollars, according to Forbes. "A lot of young people aren't waiting their turn to lead," Seidman said, suggesting that successful executives used to wait until retirement to try their hand at new projects. He added: "Their intent is going to get revealed. Are you deeply committed? How will you act when the path isn't linear?" And praying for a wealthy benefactor to save a business is also a flawed business model. John Henry, the billionaire owner of the Boston Red Sox, bought The Boston Globe in 2013 from The New York Times Company. He has invested in The Globe, though it continues to struggle in the challenging newspaper business. Last year, another round of lay-offs hit the newsroom. Of course, Henry can afford to take a risk on a declining business that requires a turnaround. For Hughes and The New Republic, that may be what happened. He seemed well intentioned. He talked about reviving the publication and restoring its glory, and yes, even making it profitable. He sought to remake the magazine for a digital age. But in the process, much of his staff left the publication and today the business is worth less than when he started. "I bought this company nearly four years ago to ensure its survival and give it the financial runway to experiment with new business models in a time of immense change in media," he wrote. "After investing a great deal of time, energy, and over $20 million, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for new leadership and vision at The New Republic." Margo Howard, a former advice columnist, wrote on Twitter: "Ah, the rich kid bought a toy, broke it, & wants to sell it. Sigh." 2016 The New York Times News Service In line with its strategy to focus on only key Africa businesses, Bharti Airtel's sold its Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone segments, which have a combined annual revenue of euro 275 million, to Orange of France. The sale is part of the ongoing negotiations initiated in July, and did not include Chad and Congo-Brazzaville, part of the earlier talks, as agreements regarding the potential sale in the latter two countries have lapsed. The deal value was not disclosed. However, as it is done at 7.9 times the expected operating profit for the two countries in FY16, Bharti would get $700-750 million. Analysts estimate the total sale proceeds for the four countries to be around $1.2 billion. The four account for revenue of 15-16 per cent of the consolidated African business, with Bharti being the largest player in Burkina Faso and number two in the other three. Bharti has so far invested Rs 5,200 crore in these countries. The deleveraging should help cut part of the $10.8 billion debt. Performance of the African operations has been below par, partly due to a slowdown in these countries, triggered by falling commodity prices, and weak currencies. While the company has been looking at reducing its leverage with the earlier sale of tower assets in Africa, analysts at Edelweiss Securities say a substantial deleveraging in the Africa business will be key for a re-rating of the stock. So far, the company has concluded the sale of 9,000 towers worth $1.8 billion, with those of another 3,500 towers pending, which could fetch $600 million. In India, the company's spectrum footprint is much better than peers but given the Reliance Jio launch, capital expenditure is expected to be high, depressing the return ratios, they add. While the key risk would be a sharp cut in data rates, Rajiv Sharma of HSBC says the company remains best placed to benefit from the data opportunity, given its fourth-generation (4G) spectrum in 17 circles and 3G across India. Sector consolidation, according to him, is positive for Bharti, as it will encourage 4G entrants to be much more rational in pricing. Punjab minister for rural development and panchayat Surjit Singh Rakhra on Wednesday ascribed farmer suicides in the state to "God's will". Last year, Rakhra, then Punjab's higher education minister, had held God responsible for the death of teenager Arshdeep Kaur, who was allegedly pushed out of a bus owned by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's Orbit Aviation. And though he spoke on television and his statements were broadcast widely, the minister later denied having ever made that statement. Let's see how long before he changes his statement this time around. A GOD WHO HATES WOMEN A Woman's Journey Through Oppression Majid Rafizadeh Fingerprint 264 pages; Rs 295 "When indoctrination starts at the womb, then it is difficult to weed out the truth from an acquired belief." In the early pages of his book, A God Who Hates Women, Iranian-American political scientist Majid Rafizadeh establishes through that one sentence a bitter reality that shapes thought, action and also entire societies. Indoctrination has been and remains the most formidable weapon of all times, the horror of which we are witnessing today in the rise of the Islamic State. The world's most dangerous dictators have thrived on their ability to indoctrinate people. Entire countries, like North Korea, are being ruled on their regime's power to brainwash populations. The most dangerous kind of indoctrination is the one that has religion backing it. The concoction that emerges then is both inflexible and lethal. And, often, the worst victims of this deadly brew are women. Mr Rafizadeh's book - a memoir - is a result of this deadly brew that poisoned his experiences growing up in a society where the interpreters of religion believed and preached that "men are in charge of women" and where choice remains an alien word for girls, many of whom were married off at age nine. This is a personal journey, both emotional and violent, of the author's mother who was born in Syria, was all but rejected by her own mother for being a girl, was married off to the first suitor, who would often beat her like an animal, got divorced at 18 after she had a child, was then treated as a blot on the family by her mother and siblings, was married off again to a stranger - an already-married man from Iran about whom her family knew nothing and into a country they had never seen or were ever going to see. Through his experience of his mother's traumatised life and stories narrated by his aunts, her cousins and the father he didn't speak to for years, Mr Rafizadeh pieces together this woman's life. A large part of the book is about the violence she endures both in Syria and Iran. Through her life, Mr Rafizadeh draws attention to the lot of women in both the dominant Muslim sects - Shia and Sunni - in which he grew up. What stands out starkly is the enigmatic behaviour of his father, who could well have been a child prodigy had Mr Rafizadeh's orthodox grandfather not pulled him out of school. The author's father shuns religious fundamentalism, questions matters of faith and goes to the extent of inviting trouble by saying that "Abraham Lincoln was more productive than Muhammad", while at the same time often beating his wife (Mr Rafizadeh's mother) and justifying her humiliation and pain by telling her that god, too, believed that women were inferior to men. On one occasion, when comparing Persians and Arabs (Mr Rafizadeh's mother is Arab), his father thunders, "Persians had the greatest civilisation in the world, so how can they ever be like the dirty Arabs, huh?" And then he goes on to explain how everyone in Persia had the "same rights before the courts of law, and women had the same rights as men when they got married and divorced". The author says it was much later that he saw the incongruity between what his father said then and what he said when quoting from the holy book while justifying thrashing his mother. The desperation of women to hold on to their husbands and their place in society in a cruel patriarchal milieu is also evident in the "pregnancy competition" the author's step-mother - his father's first wife - gets into with his mother. Religion, politics and civil war only magnify the atmosphere of violence in which the author's mother - ironically called Amira (princess in Arabic) - struggles to survive. Her journey to Iran with her new husband happens when the unknown country to which she is heading is in the throes of the 1979 Islamic Revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini. The government that would come to power would only make the fate of women worse in the name of religion and god. "Religious ideologies," writes Mr Rafizadeh, "can justify even the most horrible crimes against humanity by claiming that such acts are warranted in order to serve their God." A God Who Hates Women is a daring book, and an honest one, in which the author looks religion in the eye and asks some hard questions. He talks about the hardships women live through every day of their lives because of an indoctrinated society and culture that thinks nothing of them. He talks of his own birth, on the bare cement floor of a cold room - his mother alone during the delivery, while his father is with his first wife in another house. In some ways A God Who Hates Women reminds me of another book - Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. One scene, in particular, is common in both: When the husband stuffs his wife's mouth with stones, forcing her to chew, hitting her, leaving her bloody and with "shock, fear, guilt, shame, and intense, excruciating pain". That encounter was in Kabul; this one in Syria. That one was fictional; this one real. In both, the plight of the woman is the same. Mr Rafizadeh, who has chosen a different life, of free speech and democracy, leaves the reader with some questions: Where is Syria heading now? Will women in these societies ever have it better? But those are subjects for other books to come - several other books. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav has promised complete security to the companies engaged in the road construction projects in the state. For this the young leader has asked the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) workers to help the police in nabbing the culprits. Tejaswi, who also holds PWD portfolio, held a meeting of large-scale contractors on Wednesday and asked to them about the law and order they are facing. "It was a review meeting. We made it clear to them to complete work before their deadlines. Plus, if any problem arises related to law and order situation, we have asked them to avail security. From our side, we have given armed security to every contractor, who asked for it. I personally asked them if they are satisfied with the security arrangements and whether they are able to work freely. They responded positively. We have asked them do their work without any hindrance. I have clearly instructed them that even the smallest of problem," said the Deputy Chief Minister. "We are committed for development and rule of law. We have asked District Magistrates and Police officials to strengthen patrolling by policemen. Even I am ready to camp at work-sites, if that would help completion of projects at the scheduled time. I have made my numbers and the numbers of my officials public and any contractor who feel threatened can contact me at any time." Blaming the opposition parties for trying to distort Bihar's image, Yadav told that "some people" are trying to defame the state. To counter this, the Deputy CM has asked his party cadre to work with the police. "Every contractor present today was happy with the work condition. We ready to deal with any situation. But, some people with their vested interest are trying to defame Bihar and I want to tell them they should not do this. We understand this and therefore asked our party cadre to help police officials in this matter." The state's past came to haunt people last month, when two engineers were murdered by criminals in Darbhanga district on December 26. A day later, another engineer was shot and killed in Vaishali district. The police said they killings were linked to extortion demands. However, this gave a chance to the opposition parties, who termed this as the "return of Jungle Raj". The minister had also clearly said that the contractors have to complete work before scheduled time. He said, "I will hold review meeting for every division every week. The meetings will be held at different districts. The first such meeting will be held in last week of the month." Demonstrating a reel life 'stunt' in front of his elder sister allegedly cost an 11-year-old boy his life at Marathwada region in Maharashtra. Shaikh Sajed Shaikh Wajed, the fourth standard student of an Urdu school was at his home at Flowers' Quarters in Ambajogai with his siblings on Monday when the incident happened, a police officer told PTI over phone from the tehsil town in Beed district. "Sajed was apparently showing his elder sister how hanging takes place in TV serials," the officer said. Sajed's father, a labourer at a brick kiln, was away as was his mother, at the time of the incident. The boy allegedly attempted a 'stunt' by hanging with the help of a rope after coming back from school. The child had a meal with his brother and sister and was watching TV with his siblings before committing the 'stunt', police said. "We have registered a case of accidental death," the officer said. Police said Sajed had demanded a bicycle from his father some time ago and was unhappy that his wish wasn't fulfilled. A suicide bomber killed 12 worshippers at a mosque in northern Cameroon today, security officials said, in an area regularly targeted by Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists. The blast struck the mosque in the village of Kouyape, in Kolofata district north near the Nigerian border, at around 5:30 AM (1000 IST) during morning prayers, a security source said. Since July last year Cameroon's far north has been hit by a series of attacks blamed on Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. "Eleven worshippers were killed at the scene. A twelfth died of their wounds in hospital," the security source said, adding that the attacker was praying alongside other worshippers when he blew himself up. Another source close to the security services confirmed the blast killed 12 people and the bomber. The bombing came after two people were killed overnight in the same area in another attack blamed on Boko Haram, the security source said. Cameroon has beefed up its military presence along the Nigerian border as part of a regional coalition, after years of doing little to stop Boko Haram fighters using its territory as a rear base to arm and equip themselves. Since late November the Cameroon army has carried out operations in several border areas aimed at weakening Nigerian jihadists who have been very active in the region. Sources say these operations have significantly weakened Boko Haram's capability, forcing the insurgents to turn away from direct confrontations with the military in favour of suicide attacks. Over the past year, Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon while also continuing to mount shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself. The group's six-year campaign for a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has killed at least 17,000 people and made more than 2.6 million others homeless. At least 15 people, mostly security officials, were killed and over 10 injured today in a bomb blast apparently carried out by a suicide bomber outside a polio vaccination centre in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta. "The blast was apparently carried out by a suicide bomber," Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti told media after the blast. The deceased include 12 policemen, one paramilitary and two civilians, a police official said. Eyewitness at the site said they heard firing after a loud blast rocked the area. The victims have been shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta, where an emergency has been imposed, the Dawn reported. Police and rescue workers reached the site soon after the blast, while security forces have cordoned off the area. Today is the third day of a three-day anti-polio campaign which was launched in Quetta and other districts of Balochistan on Monday. The campaign is to target 2.4 million children under the age of five. Over 55,000 children of Afghan refugees are to be immunised under the campaign. Polio teams were being dispatched from the polio centre targeted today in the blast, security sources said. Pakistan remains one of only two countries on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) list of polio-endemic countries. Polio workers have long been targeted in the country due to rumours that the polio immunisation drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims. Hillary Clinton has secured an endorsement from the nation's first black attorney general as she works to maintain an advantage among African-American voters in her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Clinton campaign announced Eric Holder's support in a statement to The Associated Press. Holder, who served as President Barack Obama's top law enforcement appointee for more than five years, said Clinton "is the candidate that we need in the White House" to continue "the progress of President Obama." The country's former top lawyer will campaign for Clinton in an upcoming swing to South Carolina. African-American voters favor Clinton by a wide margin according to preference polls, and they will likely make up a majority of the Democratic electorate in South Carolina's Feb. 27 primary and potentially in other Southern primaries that follow in March. Holder said the former secretary of state "has bold plans to address police brutality, fight for common sense reforms to our gun laws." He did not name fellow Democratic candidate Sen Bernie Sanders, instead focusing on Republicans he said would "tear down our progress on civil rights, health care and curbing gun violence." South Carolina is the only one of the initial four states to vote where black voters anchor the Democratic Party base of support. Polls in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire show Sanders either leading or nearly deadlocked with Clinton. Clinton has emphasized her support for tougher gun laws, trying to paint Sanders as an ally of gun manufacturers based on some of his previous votes in the Senate. Sanders supports Obama's recent executive action to expand background checks on certain gun purchases, but he has argued that rural communities, like those he represents in Vermont, rightfully view gun restrictions more skeptically than many urban residents, including many African-Americans. Gun violence is particularly important to black voters in South Carolina. In June, a white gunman entered a historically black church in Charleston and killed the minister and eight others, drawing a national outcry. The governor of the Far North region of Cameroon says two female suicide bombers have attacked a mosque, leaving at least 10 dead and about a dozen wounded. Midjiyawa Bakari said today the attack happened in the town of Kolofata on Cameroon's border with Nigeria. Bakari said the bombers are believed to have come from Nigeria, crossing over a few days ago. Kolofata has been repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram militants. The extremist group's six-year insurgency has killed thousands in Nigeria, and across its borders. Cameroon is one of five countries contributing troops to a regional force intended to wipe out Boko Haram, which became an affiliate of the Islamic State group last year. Pakistan has seized over 21 metric tonnes of a bomb-making chemical worth USD eight million in one of the biggest seizures anywhere in the world, Customs officials here said today. The chemical compound, acetic anhydride, is also used in purifying heroin. Customs Preventive Deputy Collector Moazzam Raza told the media that customs authorities on January 9 seized 21.7 metric tons of acetic anhydride in a 20-foot container which had arrived from Tanzania's Dar es Salaam. "The amount of the contraband confiscated is said to be worth more than 860 million rupees (USD 8 million)," he said. He said the container arrived at Port Qasim in November last year. The law enforcers profiled the shipment and shifted it to the NLC's container terminal in Karachi. "This is by far the biggest quantity of acetic anhydride seized anywhere in the world," Raza said. The buyer of the shipment is in Sialkot. Because of its use in the synthesis of heroin, acetic anhydride's (C4H6O3) movement is restricted in many countries. However, the compound is largely used in the manufacture of fibres, plastics, pharmaceuticals and dyes. A joint team of security forces have arrested three militants of outlawed Kanglei Yaown Kanna Lup (KYKL) during a joint search operation at Tamukhong area of Manipur's Imphal East district, Assam Rifles said today. The joint team comprised 45 Assam Rifles and Imphal East district police commando of Manipur police and the arrests were made yesterday, the relase by PRO Assam Rifles said. The three were identified and handed over to the police, the release said. Three students were today taken into custody in Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot attack after India provided cell phone numbers of the suspects, bringing the total number of the arrests in the case to 31. "The agencies have picked up Usman Sarwar, a Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) student, a Sahiwal district institution student Saad Mughal and Kashif Jan of Karachi University," Pakistani media reported today. The intelligence agencies reportedly picked up the three students on the cell phone numbers provided by the Indian authorities. Earlier, the Pakistani authorities had dismissed that the cell phone numbers from whom the calls were allegedly made from Pakistan were "unregistered". "The agencies are investigating the alleged links of the three students with Jaish-e-Muhammad," an official said. Dr Yasir Hashmi, a LUMS official, denied Usman Sarwar's arrest. "Sarwar is present in the varsity," he said. The cell phone numbers were linked to the Facebook accounts of Sarwar, Mughal and Kashif. Mughal's Facebook page contains several photographs of armed individuals who appear to be jihadists operating in Kashmir and ropaganda posters vowing war on India. Kashif lists Mughal as one of his contacts and also contains propaganda material. A total of 31 people have been arrested in the case in the country. "The arrests have been made from different parts of the province, including Bahwalpur (hometown of Maulan Masood Azhar), Rahim Yar Khan, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Lahore," a source in an intelligence agency said. Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rehman Rauf have also reportedly been taken into protective custody for interrogation but the Pakistani government has not yet confirmed his arrest. In the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base that began on January 2, six militants were also eliminated in an operation that lasted four days. Five passengers were killed and six others injured when a speeding minibus turned turtle and fell into a ditch at Ratbag village in Patna district today. Police had earlier said 25 persons were injured in the accident. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar grieved the accident and has announced Rs 4 lakh compensation to the families of the deceased. The compensation would be paid by disaster management department, the Chief Minister said in an official release and announced free treatment to the injured in the mishap. Superintendent of Police Rural Lallan Mohan Prasad told PTI that the driver lost control which resulted in the bus falling in the ditch. The driver is among the injured but the helper of the bus fled, Belchi police station SHO Pankaj Kumar said. The injured have been admitted to hospital. Irate villagers set the minibus on fire and blocked the Barh-Bihar Sharif road, Deputy Superintendent of police, Manoj Kumar Tiwari said. The road blockade was later cleared by the police. (Reopen BOM38) Meanwhile, deceased have been identified as Kanshiram (50), Hazarilal (50), Pavan (19), Khushi Bai (13), Ram Babu (18), Lal Singh (40), Shakeela (15), Mangilal (18), Rodsingh (12), Sangita (12) Ayodhya (12) and the identity of the last one is not yet known, a police official said. Five people, including three geologists, were killed today after their minibus fell into a reservoir in east China's Zhejiang province. The bodies of all the killed have been retrieved, local officials said. The accident took place at 9:40 am (local time) in a remote village in Suichang County in Lishui City. Over 60 firefighters, police officers and rescuers were dispatched to the scene after the accident happened, state-run Xinhua agency reported. The vehicle was transporting three geologists on their way to conduct an official survey nearby and four local villagers. The driver and one of the villagers managed to reach the shore and walked to report the incident. The rescuers created a relief road for emergency vehicles to access the site and were releasing water from the reservoir, the report said. Divers found all the five bodies later. Road accidents are a serious problem in China. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 250,000 people are killed in road accidents in China. The country's frequently overcrowded long-distance buses are prone to accidents, with individual incidents regularly causing dozens of deaths. Road injuries are the third leading cause of premature death in China, ranking above any individual form of cancer, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study, a global research programme. In a tragic accident, six Indians including four of a family were killed in the US state of Oklahoma when their speeding minivan collided head-on with a tractor-trailer on a highway under wet road conditions, police said. The accident that occurred on Highway 69 in Mayes County near Chouteau in rural Oklahoma last week killed 32-year-old Bhaskar Jha, his wife Annu Jha, 31, and their two children aged 1 and 3. Bhaskar, who hails from Madhubani district in Bihar, was driving the ill-fated vehicle on January 8 and apparently lost control because he was travelling too fast for the wet road conditions, The Kansas City Star reported. The report also identified the fifth deceased as Agni Pal Singh, 34. The sixth was a woman, who was not identified by police. Investigators said it was raining at the time of the crash and the minivan was driving too fast for those conditions. They added that the area of the highway between the towns of Mazie and Chouteau is especially dangerous during bad weather. Bhaskar's relatives told PTI in New Delhi that he was working as a senior associate with Cognizant Technology Solution for over one year and that the was broken to them by company officials. "We are still waiting for the dead bodies and it has already been five days since the accident took place," said Bhaskar's younger brother Prem Shankar Jha. They said Singh was Bhaskar's colleague and the sixth deceased person was the former's wife. Their eight-month-old child is the lone survivor of the horrific mishap and is undergoing treatment for serious injuries. Prem said he has approached the Ministry of External Affairs and requested its intervention to speed up the process of repatriation of the dead bodies. The Ministry has requested the Indian Consulate in New York to provide all possible assistance, he added. At least seven Afghan forces were killed today when militants launched a four-hour gun and bomb siege near the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said. "Seven of our security forces were killed and seven wounded as a result of the terrorist attack," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today informed the Gujarat government that seven districts in the state had been included in the pilot project of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of kerosene subsidy. Pradhan today held a review meeting to discuss the mechanism of DBT with the state civil supply department here. Gujarat civil supply minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama was also present. These seven districts (out of the 33 districts in the country selected by the Centre for DBT in kerosene) are Banaskantha, Chotte Udepur, Ahmedabad Rural, Bharuch, Dang, Porbandar and Dwarka, a release of the state government said. "Every day three crore people buy some petroleum product in the country. We have successfully implemented DBT scheme for LPG. Now we are going to the do the same for kerosene," Pradhan was quoted as saying. Earlier in the day the Union Minister reviewed the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's Gujarat operations. A total of 92 per cent Indians polled by independent market research company Ipsos view global warming and climate change as major threats. India ranks seventh among the 24 countries surveyed, a statement by Ipsos said. "India has been strongly impacted by climate change and global warming, given the sudden upheavals in weather conditions. "There have been growing incidence of landslides, earthquakes and unseasonal heavy rainfall on the one hand and extremely high temperature and drought-like conditions on the other hand," Ipsos' Managing Director (India) Amit Adarkar said. "I'm not surprised that a large majority of Indians perceive it as a serious threat. Our government has been taking stock and is moving ahead with short-term and long-term remedial measures," he added. These include emission checks, encouraging use of public transportation and moving towards alternative clean renewable energy sources. Close on the heels of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris, Ipsos polled citizens around the world to gauge their opinion on climate change issues. One of the highlights of the Paris climate change agreement is the commitment of all countries to reduce carbon emissions. However, nearly 60 per cent polled globally disagree that it is practical and feasible to almost completely eliminate the use of oil and gas in the next ten years. India and Latin America are still more optimistic than North America, Europe, Middle East Africa and rest of Asia Pacific countries in its resolve to reducing carbon emissions. Only 43 per cent Indians disagree that it is possible for India to eliminate the use of oil and gas and to bring down emissions, with Japan disagreeing the most at 79 per cent, Ipsos said. Compared to Latin America, India and other BRIC countries have seen much lower evidence of global warming, it said. Aam Aadmi Party today alleged that the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand had struck a deal with international companies having no digital footprint for an investment worth Rs 3,300 crore, dubbing it as the biggest possible scam ever to have hit the state. The state government was quick to respond saying no money transaction has taken place and there was no need for make a fuss. Citing official documents, senior AAP leader Anoop Nautiyal said an MoU was signed between the state government and International Oil Corporation (IOC), UAE; Kabul and Hong Kong-based Nuwam Limited for an investment worth USD 500 million on December 9 in New Delhi in the presence of Chief Minister Harish Rawat. He claimed that it could be the "biggest" scam to have hit the state as the very existence of these companies was suspected because they have no digital footprint. Nautiyal questioned whether "they were just a front for money laundering". He said five questions have gone unanswered so far including the year when IOC (UAE) and Nuwam Limited were founded, the names and addresses of their directors. objectives of the companies and articles of their association. Whether they (the companies) had worked on any projects in the country earlier and whether officials from Uttarakhand ever visited UAE or Hong Kong to inspect their projects and style of functioning. Nautityal demanded that an immediate probe by state or central agencies should ordered into it to unravel the truth and said if the allegations are proved true, the Chief Minister should immediately resign on moral grounds and the MoU with the so called companies be canceled. He also questioned BJP's silence over the issue. "We ask BJP to wake up from its slumber and make its own inquiries into the fraud," he said. AAP has put the matter into public domain in the interest of the state, Nautiyal said adding a party delegation led by him met Director Vigilance Ashok Kumar here yesterday to draw his attention to the alleged fraud. Copies of the memorandum have been sent to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, Director CBI, Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul, Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Chief Secretary Shatrughna Singh, he added. Reacting to the allegations, Chief Minister's media incharge Surendra Kumar said, "The MoU is in initial stage and no money transaction has taken place. So there is no need for make a fuss, which could affect the investment climate in the state." He said the pact was part of state government's efforts to find possibilities in the state. About a dozen Chinese electronics manufacturers today expressed keen interest in setting up production facilities in India, specially for mobile phones, which could entail a huge investment of USD 2-3 billion. "Chinese companies are quite enthusiastic about setting up manufacturing base in India either on their own or in partnership with Indian companies," Mobile World (Shoujibao) Wu said at China-India Mobile Phone & Component Manufacturing Summit here. The Chinese companies showed keen interest in setting up manufacturing facilities in India include Huaqin, Tinno, Windtech, Sprocomm, Vsun, Chino-e, besides electronics component makers. "India today is the fastest growing mobile phone market globally and for Chinese industry presents the biggest manufacturing. We are very keen to tap the potential," Tecno Vice President Zhong Qi said. Tecno is a major mobile phone manufacturer based in China but sells its product outside China. "We are quite impressed that the progressive policies of Modi government and new manufacturing eco-system is very encouraging development for investment and business," Wu said. "Going by the encouraging response of Chinese companies and definitive joint collaboration talks between Indian and Chinese mobile and handset manufacturers, Chinese investment of USD 2-3 billion over next two years in this sector looks like a real possibility along with employment for 1 - 2 lakh people," ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said. Government officials from different states also made efforts to woo Chinese firms to their states. "We work very closely with investors. Andhra Pradesh is ranked number two in terms of various compliances with regard to ease of doing business in India. We understand investors need and hence our state is creating Chinese enclave. It will not only have good physical infrastructure but also attractive social infrastructure," AP Director for Department of Industries Kartikeya Mishra said. Mohindroo, who also heads The Fast Track Task Force (FTTF) set up by government, said that the summit has offered Chinese investors a formal and credible channel to make investments in India. "The summit opens up floodgates for Chinese companies who want to invest in India. Earlier a formal channel was lacking. Chinese companies are looking at India because of the investor friendly government and its policies, its proximity with Africa and lower cost of production," he said. Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group will acquire a majority stake in hospitals chain CARE India from global PE firm Advent International. The Group has "agreed to acquire, through one of its Funds, a majority stake in Quality CARE India Ltd, one of the largest multi-specialty healthcare providers in India, from global private equity firm Advent International," Abraaj Group said in a statement. The company, however, did not provide the details of investment. Hyderabad-based CARE is the fifth largest healthcare provider in India and operating 2,600 beds across 16 hospitals in nine cities, it added. Commenting on development, Abraaj's Thematic Funds Business Partner and Global Head Sev Vettivetpillai said: "The implications of the healthcare gap in India are profound, but they translate into a long-term opportunity for Abraaj to help build a better and more sustainable healthcare infrastructure in the country." Abraaj and CARE's management team will focus on expanding CARE's integrated healthcare delivery system, especially in the under-penetrated regions of India, the statement said. The partnership will also bring CARE's delivery platform to other markets where Abraaj operates, it added. "We are confident that Abraaj with its track record, healthcare expertise and strong relationships with leading strategic partners and development finance institutions, will enhance our service offerings," CARE Founder B Soma Raju said. The Abraaj Group has a strong track record of investing in healthcare, having already deployed nearly USD 1 billion globally in 27 investments across the healthcare spectrum in growth markets. Bharti Airtel will receive about USD 900 million from sale of its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone in Africa, Standard and Poor's Ratings Services today said in an estimate. The rating of Bharti Airtel, however, is unaffected by the company's plan to sell its operations, it clarified. "We estimate that Bharti will receive about USD 900 million in sale proceeds when the sale is completed in fiscal 2017 (year ending March 31)," it said. The ratings agency said the plan reflects Bharti's deleveraging measures and should help marginally reduce the company's leverage. "Nevertheless, Bharti's financial ratios will remain in line with our expectations for the rating," it said in a statement. "We expect the sale to help raise the company's ratio of funds from operations to debt by 100 basis points to about 25 per cent in fiscal 2017. This is under the assumption that Bharti undertakes USD 1 billion each of additional deleveraging measures and spectrum purchases by March 2017." The ratings agency's view is based on its expectations that the entry of Reliance Jio in the next three months won't significantly erode Bharti's competitive position or profitability. "We have determined, based solely on the developments described herein, that no rating actions are currently warranted. Only a rating committee may determine a rating action and, as these developments were not viewed as material to the ratings, neither they nor this report were reviewed by a rating committee," it added. The Mexican government has released GoPro video shot from the helmet of a Marine during last week's bullet-and-grenade-riddled capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Starting with Marines using a battering ram on the door of the escaped drug lord's hideout, the footage is shaky and dark. Still, for the next 12 minutes, the action is dramatic, with the Marines opening fire as they storm the compound. Within seconds, one of the soldiers goes down, struck by a bullet fired by one of Guzman's men. "Hey, they shot me," he exclaims. "They got me!" A Marine responds by throwing grenades into the safe house. Guzman's men can be heard shouting, "Grenade!" To help you track the raid as it unfolded, here's a version with subtitles: -- Joseph Rose 503-221-8029 jrose@oregonian.com @josephjrose Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is likely to a part of the Hindi remake of Tamil blockbuster "Kaththi". Directed by A R Murugadoss, "Kaththi", the action drama Tamil film featured actor Vijay in dual roles along with Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh and others. Earlier, the "Baby" actor had said he was yet to take a call on whether he is part of the remake. When asked if he is doing the film, Akshay said in an interview, "I think so." To a query on when the shoot of "Kaththi" remake begins, he said, "We are still deciding." The "Khiladi" actor has worked with Murugadoss in "Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty". "Kaththi" is the tale of Kathiresan and Jeevanantham who are lookalikes and focuses on the issue of farmers committing suicide due to corporate encroachment. Akshay will also be seen in "Rustom", produced by filmmaker Neeraj Pandey. The duo has previously gave hits like "Baby" and "Special 26". "We have already started it (the movie). I am going to join in another 15 days," Akshay said. Akshay will also be a part of director Vipul Shah's "Namastey England". The film is a sequel to the 2007 hit romantic drama "Namastey London" which also starred actress Katrina Kaif. On reports that the movie has been pushed because the actor will now get busy with "Robot 2", Akshay said, "That was always going to happen mid of this year. I have no idea (about the release), It all depends on my speed." Akshay will be next seen in "Airlift", directed by Raja Krishna Menon. The film, which also stars Nimrat Kaur, is based on the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war. "Airlift" is scheduled to release on January 22. Raising questions over the role of Pakistan's powerful military in the Pathankot terror attack, a former ambassador to India has said that the army does not appreciate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's attempts to decide on the country's policy towards India. Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir's comments come in the wake of Pathankot attack and a simultaneous attack on Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan just ahead of the Foreign Secretary level talks between Indian and Pakistan scheduled for January 15. Raising questions over Pakistan military's role in the attacks, Qazi said that this could be the establishment's way of telling the prime minister who is the boss here. "It is not yet clear what our military's attitude was to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's stopover in Lahore. We know that Kargil happened after (prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee's visit to Lahore in 1999; Mumbai occurred after progress in the backchannel talks of the mid-2000s; and now Pathankot takes place after another Lahore yatra (trip)," Qazi said in an article titled "Pathnakot and power plays", in Dawn newspaper. "Has our prime minister once again been 'reined in' by 'the boys' (a term used to describe military establishment) to let him know who is boss? "The participation of the Chief Of Army Staff (Raheel Sharif) in a meeting chaired by the prime minister to consider the information provided by India is to be welcomed. However, it does not necessarily mean the military appreciates the prime minister's attempts to wrest exclusive control over Pakistan's India policy," he said. Supporting India's claims on the attack, Qazi said India has provided Pakistan 'actionable intelligence' regarding the attack on the Pathankot airbase and demands satisfactory follow-up action if the foreign secretary talks are to start in three days' time. "Our prime minister has assured the Indian prime minister he will do the necessary. The US is urging India not to postpone dialogue. Reports suggest a number of NATO countries consider the intelligence supplied (including mobile phone conversations between the attackers and suspected handlers in Pakistan, a Jaish-e-Mohammad letter, DNA samples of the attackers, their voice record samples, etc) to be credible leads if not conclusive evidence," the former ambassador said. Pakistan's international legal obligations require it to follow up on these leads. A repeat of the Mumbai stand-off would expose Pakistan to "ridicule and ignominy", Qazi said, adding that the country could come under immense international pressure, including the threat of sanctions, if it does not cooperate with India. He also criticised the concept of civil-military relations is Pakistan and said that the Pakistani establishment regard the Kashmiri struggle only as 'philosophical', and 'irrelevant' concerns. Qazi served as Pakistan's High Commissioner to India from 1997-2002, Ambassador to China from 1994 to 1997 and to Russia from 1991-1994. The Army has so far donated Rs 65 crore of the promised Rs 100 crore to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, for 2014 flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir. Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today said the procedure adopted by the Controller of Defence Accounts (CDA) has resulted in the delay. The Army had faced embarrassment after reports emerged that many of its personnel were upset with the top brass for its decision to deduct their one-day pay without consent. Suhag today said that within 2-3 days of PM Modi's announcement, the Navy had decided to donate a day's pay of its personnel. "I think two weeks later, the Air force had announced. And I think in four weeks, the MoD had announced one day's pay. I had not announced because I said I must seek consent and only after I seek consent, I will announce," he told reporters here. Suhag said that he waited for Army commanders' conference in October, 2013 where everyone said contribution must be made. "I told them to go back to their command and check from their formations, units and individuals... ," he said, adding that a list was made of people who were not willing to pay. Following this, he said he made the announcement on January 15 last year and the list was given to the CDA. "But the CDA, after a gap of at least two months, came up. CDA said every individual must fill up a form that he is voluntarily contributing," he said, adding that 12 lakh forms were printed and sent out to soldiers across the country, including those posted at remote locations like the Siachen. "I think by September end, Rs 60.4 crore had been transferred. In last two months, till December 15, Rs 4.6 crore were also transferred. Even now the payment is being made. Army has given Rs 65 crore and Navy about Rs 2 crore and the IAF about Rs 9 crore," he said. Nearly 150 people were killed in the floods in Jammu and Kashmir in September, 2014. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam appears to be in for trouble with the party high command seeking an explanation from him over the issue of articles in a party journal slamming Jawaharlal Nehru and terming Sonia Gandhi's father a "fascist soldier". The Disciplinary Action Committee of AICC headed by senior leader AK Antony has issued a show-cause notice to Nirupam in the wake of the controversy. Committee sources said that Nirupam has been asked to respond within a few days over the articles in the magazine 'Congress Darshan'. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushilkumar Shinde are members of the committee while Motilal Vora is its member-secretary. An embarrassed Congress had last month distanced itself from its "defunct" mouthpiece in Mumbai as some articles in it criticised Nehru's Kashmir policy and alleged that Sonia's father was a "fascist soldier". Miffed with the editorial, the party had forced its editor and Nirupam to apologise for the gaffe. Sudhir Joshi, who looked after its editorial content, was sacked from the job. An unsigned write-up in the Mumbai unit's journal, coinciding with the party's 131st foundation day, had blamed Nehru for "the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet" even as another article made controversial remarks about Sonia. Nirupam had later said that he was unaware of the content that had been published in the said edition. Recently, some Mumbai Congress leaders, including AICC General Secretary Gurudas Kamat, had met Sonia and complained about the matter. Washing its hands of the journal, Congress had earlier said that the party had appointed Nirupam as MRCC chief and not editor of any magazine. Soon after the controversy broke, there had been murmurs questioning Nirupam's "intention". A former Shiv Sainik, Nirupam rose fast through Congress ranks after joining the party. Madras High Court Bench here has directed the Tamil Nadu government to assess the damages suffered by residents of Tuticorin district during the recent floods and rains and pay them relief on par with Chennai residents. Justices V Ramasubramanian and N Kirubakaran gave the interim direction on a PIL by Puthiya Tamilagam president K Krishnasamy, who contended that relief work was going at a slow pace. The judges suggested constitution of special teams to identify the victims through camps in flood affected areas and collectapplications and verify the veracity of claims before arriving at the quantum of relief. The Collector could send the details to the state government and obtain sanction for the funds. They also directed the collector to repair roads in the outskirts of Corporation limits for which Rs 8 crore had already been sanctioned. They asked the collector to file the action taken report on January 28. Under fire for the state's poor fiscal situation, Punjab government today admitted that it is facing a "financial crunch" and described "ballooning" salary and pension bill as its biggest problem. However, it claimed that Punjab's fiscal position has improved compared to other states like Haryana during the last several years. "Yes, we usually talk about pending and unpaid government bills in finances...We should accept those shortcomings. When you take steps towards improvement (of fiscal situation), you face some difficulties. "We had to face financial crunch for some months after previous central government brought in changes in some policies," state Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa told reporters here. He said that after the changes in policy, states could borrow funds only on a quarterly basis. "Earlier, there was no restriction on borrowing. You could borrow money any time. Usually, we borrow during lean months (June to October)...But then states were asked to borrow quarterly. It has impacted us," Dhindsa said. Rejecting the opposition Congress's charge of huge debt, Dhindsa said the state government has been able to contain its borrowings successfully. "If you look at debt to GDP ratio, it has come down from 45 per cent to 32 per cent now," he said, adding that it is wrong to draw inference from the absolute debt figure alone. "I can confidently say that Punjab's financial position has improved with respect to states like Haryana or others...Punjab is among the 4-5 states which have witnessed improvement in finances in last 10 years," he claimed. To a query, Dhindsa described the high salary bill as the state's "biggest problem". "Punjab's biggest problem is high salary of employees. Our salary, pension and retirement benefits bill has reached Rs 28,000 crore and it is growing by Rs 3,000 crore per annum," he said. The minister blamed declining consumption for the dropping revenue collection. "Revenue throughout country is on decline. I checked from other states as well. Consumption has overall gone down, which is impacting our VAT revenue growth. "There is no decline in revenue collection but revenue growth is not as it was expected. Last year, our revenue growth was 6-7 per cent and this year, it will be less than 5 per cent. "It is not only with Punjab. States like Maharashtra and Jharkhand have also witnessed 1 to 2 per cent growth and it is national phenomena because consumption is going down," he said. He said that there should not be a big difference in salaries of employees of states and Punjab will set up a pay commission. "The terms of reference are being framed. We will remove certain anomalies in salary structure. Hopefully, in one-and-a-half years after the formation of the state pay commission, its report will be out," he said. To a question on hiring 1.20 lakh people ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, he said that hiring was required in education and health sectors. However, he said the state saves money as it pays consolidated amount to new employees without DA for three years. He further said that the state-owned PIDB would fund Punjab's share in central schemes for creation of assets which will lead to savings. To a question, Dhindsa said the state never opposed probe by NIA into the alleged nexus between politicians and drug peddlers. Bangladesh today mourned the death of Indian general JFR Jacob, who lead Indian forces during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan and played a key-role in the surrender of Pakistani troops. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued statements mourning the death of the decorated Lieutenant General (Retd) Jacob, whom Bangladesh earlier honoured by conferring him with the "Friend of Liberation War Honour" award. "Bangladesh has lost a genuine friend in his death," President Hamid said in his condolence message while the premier described him as a "valiant soldier of our Great War of Liberation". "The nation with profound respect would remember his contribution to our Liberation War forever," the premier said. Jacob died in New Delhi today at the age of 92 due to "old age complications". Parliamentary speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, ministers and a number of social and political forums also paid their rich tributes to the legendary Indian general, recalling his role during the entire period of the nine-month long war. War strategists and historians described Jacob's role on December 16, 1971, as "crucial and delicate" against the backdrop of tantalising international politics as he persuaded the then Pakistani army commander Lieutenant General AAK Niazi shortly after landing in the enemy dominated Dhaka. The subsequent records suggested that the surrender of the Pakistani troops was crucial on that day in view of the dramatic and sensitive activities in the global political and military arena. The situation required Jacob to take possibly the most challenging task of influencing the enemy commander to sign the surrender document in soonest possible time. In an interview to PTI four years ago Jacob, who was the chief of general staff of the India's eastern command during the war, himself said Bangladesh's independence would be uncertain if the war lingered further. "If the war would have continued for one more day we (Indian army) would have to go back," he told state-run BSS agency while on a visit to Dhaka to receive the honour as a distinguished 1971 foreign friend, coinciding with the country's 40th independence anniversary against Pakistan. He recalled that heavy pressure was mounted on Indian army to ensure immediate victory to evade an eminent UN resolution asking all sides for an immediate ceasefire, meaning withdrawal of Indian army and a stalemate in the war, exposing to uncertainty the fate of Bangladesh's independence. As fighting raged, Jacob recalled, he flew to Dhaka and wrested an unconditional surrender from Pakistan's military commander on December 16, 1971. Born in 1923 in Bengal Presidency in a conservative Jewish family under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 in 1942 and also fought in World War II and the Indo- Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978. Canada has welcomed its 10,000th Syrian refugee, the government announced today, although almost two weeks behind schedule and far fewer than it had originally planned to resettle by now. A planeload landed in Toronto late yesterday, putting the number of arrivals of asylum seekers at 10,121 since November when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals took office. In a statement, Immigration Minister John McCallum called it a "significant milestone" on the way to meeting the Liberal's overall pledge to take in 25,000 Syrians. "Many people have worked day and night to bring these refugees to Canada," he said, "and Canadians have opened their communities and their hearts to welcome them. "Canada continues to set an international example with its response to the worst refugee crisis of our time." Trudeau had promised during an election campaign last year to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by December 31. But after assuming power the target date was pushed to the end of February, following criticism that the government was moving too fast amid security concerns in the aftermath of deadly attacks in Paris, as well as due to logistical issues. A new interim target of taking in 10,000 by December 31 was set, but only 6,000 Syrians travelling from camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey made it onto Canadian soil by year's end. The UN refugee agency estimates that more than four million Syrians have fled the civil war ravaging their country. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the total number of dead at more than 260,000 people. An explosion and gunfire were heard close to the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad today, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Local Afghan officials said they were investigating the incident outside the consulate, which is near the Indian diplomatic mission. A suicide bombing followed by gunfire rocked an area near the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad today, killing at least two police officers, officials said. Cordoning off the area, local Afghan officials at the scene said they were investigating the ongoing attack outside the consulate, which is also near the Indian diplomatic mission. "Two policemen were killed after the suicide attack, which was followed by gunfire," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP. "The incident occurred near the Pakistani consulate, but we are not sure if it was the intended target." No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults: an attack on its consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. The latest attack comes close on the heels of four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. The talks between representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China on Monday came even as the insurgents wage an unprecedented winter campaign of violence. Olivero's Vineyard and Winery Olivero's Vineyard and Winery, a new winery in Juniata County, is making its Farm Show debut on Wednesday. (Facebook) The third group of wineries have moved into the Main Floor at the 2016 Pennsylvania Farm Show, with several making their first-ever appearance. Here's the skinny on the eight, who will be pouring until around 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday nights. Fero Vineyards, Union County: Family-owned and a gem that has stayed under most consumers' radar, largely because of its location. Owner/winemaker Chuck Zaleski has excelled with his portfolio to this point, one largely built on dry wines. Has an interesting group of reds, including two styles of Lemberger, Pinot Noir and an Eastern European grape called Saperavi. Glades Pike Winery, Somerset County: Family-owned and one of the state's older operating wineries, opening in 1995. Sources all its grapes. I've never tried its wines. Looks like it makes a range of dry to sweet. Courtyard Wineries, Erie County: Family-run, one of a group of wineries clustered in the area around Lake Erie. Opened in 2010. Like a majority of the others, they provide a mix of dry and sweet. Their Dazzle, a sweet wine made largely from Cayuga grapes, won a gold in the recent Farm Show competition. I tried and really like a Chardonel they brought to a previous Farm Show. Paradocx Vineyards, Chester County: Owned by two couples, all doctors, hence the name "pair of docs." Has made strides with its wine quality over the past few years. Definitely a producer that leans toward dry. Known for its creative packaging: is putting several wines now in a 3-liter "paint can." Long Trout Winery, Berks County: Outside of Buddy Boy, no winery in the state leverages a theme as well as this producer. It's where the 1960s never end, starting at the website and the tasting room and ending with the names of the wines: Hippietage, Nowhere Man, Purple Craze and Burnin' Bra are just a sampling. Olivero's Vineyard, Juniata County: Family-owned. One of the state's newest wineries, it has raised its profile in the midstate by recently opening a shop in Lemoyne. Makes a mix of wine, largely dry. Vineyard and tasting room are located on picturesque 70-acre farm in the Juniata Valley. Moon Dancer Winery, York County: Well-established as a midstate destination for variety of events, for its broad view of the Susquehanna River from the back patio, and for its French Country tasting room. Winemaker Jim Miller has added cider to a long list of largely sweeter wines. Arundel Cellars, Erie County: They are actually called Arundel Cellars & Brewing Company and make wines, beers and traditional and hard cider. State-owned BSNL today started 4G services on non-commercial basis in Chandigarh promising broadband speed of up to 100 megabit per second (Mbps). "We have done soft launch of 4G service in Chandigarh. It is non-commercial service as of now. It will be open for limited number of BSNL employees, while customers can visit the 4G centre to experience it," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI. The company's local ads are promising broadband speed of up to 100 mbps on its Long Term Evolution (LTE) based 4G mobile service. BSNL has 4G spectrum across India except in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kolkata. "BSNL is first to start the 4G service in 2500 Mhz band. We have been running proof of concept and now we have decided to expand. Next month we will issue request for proposal (RFP) to launch 4G services across circles where we have 2500 Mhz spectrum on revenue share basis," Shrivastava said. The company selected through RFP will manage the networks while BSNL would share its revenue the successful bidder. It has been expanding its footprint on this model wherein it provides only bandwidth and the infrastructure is set up by its partner. Shrivastava said that company is in discussions with Reliance Jio to offer 4G to its customers using their network. "We have done some testing with Reliance Jio. As per discussions, they will use our 2G and 3G network to offer service to their customers and we are looking to offer 4G services to BSNL customers using their network," Shrivastava said. He said that some technical issues regarding inter- operability between two networks is pending that are expected to be sorted out very soon. "Once these issues are sorted out we will take call on final agreement with Reliance Jio very soon. This will be subject to approval from (telecom) ministry," Shrivastava said. He said that BSNL will largely look at wifi hotspot to provide 4G services to its customers. "We have established 620 wifi hotpsots at present and will be able to complete 2500 wifi hotspots by end of this financial year. By end of next fiscal, we will take the total number to 40,000. All this will be based on revenue share and capital expenditure model," Shrivastava said. The company after about 4 years of reporting losses, posted an operating profit of Rs 672 crore for the financial year 2014-15 compared to an operating loss of Rs 691 crore in the previous fiscal. The by-election to Palghar (ST) Assembly constituency in Maharashtra will be held on February 13, as per an announcement made by the Election Commission. The bypoll has been necessitated following the demise of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Krishna Arjun Ghoda on May 24, 2015. Ghoda was elected from the Palghar (ST) reserved tribal constituency during the 2014 Assembly elections. The three-time MLA was returning from a marriage ceremony when he suffered a heart attack last year. He was rushed to a hospital at Vapi in Gujarat but was declared dead before admission. He was the fourth sitting MLA of the current 13th Legislative Assembly to have passed away, the other three being Govind Rathod (BJP -from Mukhed), Prakash Bala Sawant (Shiv Sena - from Bandra East) and R R Patil (NCP - from Tasgaon-Kavthe Mahankal). Ghoda had won the last Assembly election from Palghar defeating his nearest Congress rival Rajendra Gavit by a slender margin of just 515 votes. He had joined the Sena prior to elections. Before that he was twice MLA from Congress and once represented the NCP. The Palghar bypoll was due since June last year but the EC could not move ahead as an election petition, filed by Gavit, was pending. Gavit had challenged Ghoda's election soon after the poll results were announced in 2014. As per the bye-election schedule announced by the EC, the gazette notification will be issued on January 20. The last date for filing nomination papers is January 27 and the scrutiny of nomination papers will be taken up on January 28. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is January 30. The counting of votes will be taken up on February 16. In a major farm sector sop, the Centre today announced a new Rs 17,600-crore crop insurance scheme to cover loss of crops due to natural calamities like drought at a very low premium payout by farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the scheme wherein the Centre will provide Rs 8,800 crore annually to make up for almost all of the premium for the crop insured, as a move "that will transform the lives of the farmers in a big way". Under the scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the state will also provide a matching contribution while farmers will pay only only 2 per cent of the premium fixed by the insurance company for kharif foodgrains/oilseeds crops and 1.5 per cent for rabi foodgrains/oilseeds crops. Premium will be 5 per cent for horticultural and commercial crops for both seasons. The scheme will be rolled out from the coming kharif season starting June. After the Cabinet approved the scheme, Modi said, "This is a historic day. I am confident that this scheme, which is inspired by the consideration of farmers' benefit, will bring about a major transformation to lives of farmers." The scheme includes successful aspects of the existing schemes and "effectively addresses" whatever was lacking in those schemes, he tweeted. Modi further said, "The scheme has the lowest premium, it entails easy usage of technology like mobile phone, quick assessment of damage and disbursement within a timeframe." The definition of disaster has been expanded to include aspects like flooding of crop and damage after harvest, Modi said, adding "special attention" has been paid to several other aspects. "It is easy to subscribe to the scheme and easy to benefit. So, do join it," he told the farming community, which of late has seen a spate of suicides. The government aims to cover 50 per cent of the crop area of 194.40 million hectares in the next three years under the new scheme, from the existing level of around 25 per cent. Among key features, there will be no provision of capping the premium rate so as to ensure farmers get a higher claim against the full sum insured. At least 25 per cent of the likely claim will be settled directly on farmers' bank account. Expressing confidence that farmers will adopt this new scheme, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it will help them tide over financial uncertainties. "This new crop insurance scheme will have lowest premium for farmers in the history of Independent India," Singh said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and BJP President Amit Shah hailed the scheme. Defence Secretary Ash Carter laid out broad plans today to defeat Islamic State militants and retake the group's key power centres in Iraq and Syria. He also announced that a special commando force has now arrived in Iraq. Speaking to troops from the 101st Airborne Division who will soon deploy to Iraq, Carter also said he would meet in Paris next week with his defence counterparts, mainly from Europe, and will challenge them to bring more capabilities to the fight. He said he will be meeting with defence leaders from France, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. "Each of these nations has a significant stake in completing the destruction of this evil organisation, and we must include all of the capabilities they can bring to the field," he said. Carter's broader message signaled the completion of a military plan to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces retake Mosul in northern Iraq and to assist the Syrian moderate forces oust Islamic State militants from their headquarters in Raqqa. He described operations that would send Iraqi forces from the south and Peshmerga forces from the north to encircle and cut off Mosul. But he warned that taking it back will not be quick or easy. Carter announced in December that the US would deploy about 200 special operations forces to Iraq to better capitalise on intelligence and put more pressure on the enemy. "The specialised expeditionary targeting force I announced in December is now in place and is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets," Carter said. His speech offered an upbeat assessment of the anti-ISIS campaign, saying that coalition-backed forces, supported by the airstrikes, are taking back territory and going after the groups finances. This week airstrikes hit an Islamic State cash centre in Mosul. His remarks came a day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, expanding on the message that the US must build and work with local forces in Iraq and Syria to have lasting success. He said the US must not "Americanise" the conflicts because that would allow militants to accuse the West of occupying the country. About 500 troops from the 101st Airborne headquarters group will deploy at the end of February and about 1,300 members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team will deploy to Iraq in late spring. The brigade will be training Iraqi and Peshmerga forces. Catalonia's new fiercely secessionist president Carles Puigdemont took office with a clear mandate to lead the wealthy Spanish region towards independence from Madrid -- carefully avoiding swearing loyalty to Spain as he was inaugurated. Puigdemont, a 53-year-old journalist and convinced secessionist, did swear allegiance "to the Catalan people" during a solemn ceremony in regional capital Barcelona yesterday. Outgoing regional president Artur Mas then formally handed over the medal of office to applause from the assembly at the government palace. Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz was among onlookers -- but notably did not applaud Puigdemont, invested Sunday by absolute majority in a regional parliament dominated by secessionists. Puigdemont, who permitted himself a "long live free Catalonia" on Sunday, did not outwardly call for independence yesterday but alluded to it as he complained that the Catalan identity was "disparaged" and "we need a tool to guarantee this." He will now draw up a government team composed of pro-independence politicians of various stripes. Puigdemont was elected president of Catalonia's semi-autonomous government at the weekend by the region's predominantly pro-independence parliament after secessionist lawmakers finally agreed on a new leader after months of in-fighting. Mas' five years at the head of the region brought him into regular conflict with Madrid. Mas's pro-independence coalition won local parliamentary polls in September with the help of the radical far-left CUP party. But the austerity measures he imposed during his presidency and the corruption scandals linked to his party angered the CUP, which opposed him heading up the region again. Mas initially insisted on staying on, creating a stalemate that prevented a new regional government from being formed. But in a surprise last-ditch move, he agreed to step aside on Saturday in favour of the relatively unknown Puigdemont. One of Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions with its own language and customs, Catalonia already enjoys a large degree of freedom in education, health and policing. But after years of fruitless calls for greater autonomy on the taxation front -- Catalonia complains it pays more to Madrid than it gets back -- the region lurched towards separatism. Puigdemont will be tasked with working on developing a regional treasury and social security system, with the aim of achieving complete independence by 2017. According to a spokesman for the local economy department, people are already being recruited for the task ahead. CBI has arrested two persons in Mumbai in connection with the murder of RTI activist Premkant Jha in 2012. The agency has arrested Baburao R Ramanna and Umesh Shankhe in connection with the murder of Jha, who was shot dead in February, 2012, sources said. Jha was reportedly seeking information related to alleged illegal constructions in Vasai-Virar area of the metropolis. Both have been sent to police custody till January 18 by the chief judicial magistrate of Vasai, the sources said. Competition Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates' five wind power plants by Suraksha Group entities. These plants are located in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Jaiprakash Associates is the flagship company of diversified Jaypee group, which has interests in engineering, cement, power and realty, among others. In a tweet, Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it has approved "acquisition of five wind power plants of Jaiprakash Associates Limited by Suraksha Group entities." For the combination, the regulator considered 'transfer of wind power generation plants in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra' as the relevant market. Last September, the company's board approved the proposal to divest wind power plants in Maharashtra and Gujarat, having an aggregate capacity of 49 MW, on slump sale basis. Mumbai-based Suraksha Group provides an integrated security services to the various establishments, offices, such as industry houses, factories, industrial estates, housing societies, bungalows etc, within the country. Fair trade regulator CCI has rejected a complaint against real estate developer Omaxe and another entity for indulging in anti-competitive practices relating to a residential property. It was alleged that Omaxe Ltd abused its dominant market position by failing to provide timely possession of a flat in Omaxe North Avenue in Bahadurgarh, Haryana. It was also alleged that the developer used inferior quality materials for the construction and the flat was not constructed as per the layout plans sanctioned by the civic authorities. Charges of abuse of market dominance were also levelled against Shanvi Estate Management Services that allegedly failed to maintain the residential complex. This company was appointed by Omaxe for maintaining the apartment complex. For this case, "provision of services relating to development and sale of residential flats in Jhajjar" was considered as the relevant market. Bahadurgarh is a sub division of Jhajjar district in Haryana. Citing presence of other real estate developers, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) rejected the allegations saying, "OP-1 (Omaxe) does not appear to be dominant in the relevant market." In respect of Shanvi Estate Management, CCI said, "...For any agreement/ arrangement to be in violation of section 3 of the Act, there has to be appreciable adverse effect on competition in the market, which is not observed in the instant case." While Section 3 of the Competition Act pertains to anti-competition agreement, Section 4 is related to abuse of dominant position. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today hailed the new crop insurance scheme announced by the Centre as "path-breaking" and said it will now enable individual small farmers to get full compensation in case of crop damage. The new insurance scheme (Pradhanmantri Fassal Bima Yojana) will offer insurance at a very low premium so that even small farmers can afford it, he told reporters at 'Mantralaya' (state secretariat) here. "Over the next three years the aim is to enhance the coverage of the area under the scheme from present 23 per cent to 50 per cent of the gross cropped area," he said. He added that the 11 per cent cap on premium which led to farmers getting very less amount in hand has been done away with. "Henceforth, the farmers will get full crop insurance. The scheme will be implemented from 2016 Khariff crop season. The insurance premium for Khariff crop is just 2 per cent and for Rabi crop it is just 1.5 per cent," he added. According to the Chief Minister, now the Centre will allocate 90 per cent of the funds as against the earlier practise of Centre and state equal sharing of 50 per cent. Fadnavis further said that crop damage due to inundation as localised calamity with hailstorm and landslide for individual farm level assessment. "Farmers who have not applied for crop loans will be eligible for insurance. The rate of insurance cover will be uniform all over the country and that claims will have to be settled by insurance companies within 30 days," he said. The Chief Minister said henceforth the farmers will be allowed to use smart mobile phone technology to click pictures of the crop damage and upload them on the crop insurance portal. "The insurance companies will verify and release the insurance amount. In the case of partial damage to crop, the farmers will get insurance for the farm area that has been damaged," Fadnavis added. According to him, both the insurance companies and government will conduct the survey of the affected farm areas. "The Centre is to bear the financial burden of Rs 8,800 crore for the first year," he said. The Centre today cleared a crop insurance scheme under which farmers' premium has been kept at a maximum of 2 per cent for foodgrains and oilseeds and up to 5 per cent for horticulture/cotton crops. Service of Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Samiullah Ansari has been terminated by the Centre for allegedly remaining on unauthorised leave for five years, which it said should be taken as his "deemed resignation". The service has been terminated by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through a notification issued on December 31 last year. "The president is pleased to direct that Samiullah Ansari, a member of Indian Police Service, borne on the cadre of Gujarat (Batch-1992) is deemed to have resigned from the Indian Police Service with effect from 1.10.2010 in terms of rule 7(2)(a) of All India Services (Leave) Rules, 1955," the notification said. The notification came as part of the ongoing legal battle between Ansari, who is believed to be in USA, and Gujarat government on the issue of benefits of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). As the state government rejected his VRS application, Ansari moved the Central Administration Tribunal(CAT) here and challenged state government's decision. Special counsel in CAT for state government Joy Mathew told PTI that he received the notification of MHA recently. "I have received that said notification by MHA few days back. We will submit it before the CAT in due course. Through this notification, the Centre has considered Ansari's five years of absence as 'deemed resignation'. Ansari can file his reply on it," said Mathew. The matter came before the CAT when the Gujarat government issued notice to Ansari in July 2014 for allegedly remaining on unauthorised leave since October 2010. After the notice, Ansari applied for VRS, claiming that he has served for 20 years, which is required to get benefits under VRS scheme. When his plea was rejected by the state government, he moved CAT and challenged this order in November last year. Ansari was Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCP)-Traffic Ahmedabad during 2002, when he took one year leave to pursue a course at the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru. He returned and resumed his duty in 2003. During the subsequent arguments till date in the tribunal, state government claimed that Ansari had once again applied for a sabbatical in 2005 to pursue his Ph.D at North Eastern University in Boston, US. He also received a funding of USD 18,000 under a central government scheme to pursue his Ph.D abroad. As per government affidavits in the tribunal, Ansari came back and resumed his service in May 2010. However, upon his request, he was once again granted leave of 92 days within one month of joining. Though he was supposed to join back on October 2010, he never did. During arguments, state government told the tribunal that Ansari has settled in the US and serving as a professor at a university there and he still owes USD 18,000 to them. China has formally arrested on "subversion" charges two more human rights lawyers held in secret for six months, a lawyer said Wednesday, bringing the total accused to nine as a sweeping crackdown intensifies. More than 130 attorneys and legal staff were summoned in July for questioning in what campaigners call the fiercest attempt yet to silence activists attempting to redress injustices in China's tightly controlled courts. Wang Yu, of Beijing's Fengrui law firm which is at the centre of the crackdown, has been formally arrested on suspicion of "state subversion", which carries a maximum sentence of life in jail, her lawyer Li Yuhan told AFP. Wang's husband Bao Longjun is accused of "incitement to state subversion", which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, Li added, citing relatives. It is the first time the couple's family have been notified of their whereabouts, more than six months after they were detained. Their son, Bao Zhuoxuan, 16 is also being held under a form of house arrest, friends say. The teenager was nabbed in October after crossing overland to neighbouring Myanmar, according to state-run media. Over the past decade a small group of a few hundred Chinese lawyers attempted to use the court system to seek redress -- sometimes successfully -- for what they considered egregious rights violations. They include victims of forced home demolitions, illegal "black jails", dissidents jailed for their writing, and others detained for practising their religious faith. State media -- which in the past sometimes praised rights lawyers' efforts -- have called the attorneys a "criminal gang" who created public disorder by organising protests outside courthouses to illegally sway verdicts. China's ruling Communist Party does not tolerate organised dissent and has tightened controls on civil society under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. Wang Yu is best known for defending Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, as well as alleged victims of forced demolition and sexual assault. State television has previously broadcast footage of her in court raising her voice to remonstrate with officials, and quoted a court staffer as saying her behaviour had "not showed legal spirit". It has also shown Wang and her husband breaking down in tears on hearing the of their son's capture. China has ended round-the-clock monitoring of radiation levels of its border areas with North Korea saying that the reported test of a hydrogen bomb by Pyongyang has not made any adverse impact on the environment on the Chinese side. The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has ended the emergency radiation monitoring following the nuclear test conducted by North Korea saying the test had no impact on China. North Korea announced on January 6 that it had tested a hydrogen bomb. The MEP then launched its second-highest level of emergency response, monitoring radiation levels along the country's northeast border. The checks found radiation to be within the normal range, and no artificial radioactive nuclides were detected in air samples, state-run Xinhua agency quoted MEP as saying. Routine monitoring of air, water, soil and any possible fallout will continue, the MEP said. Continuing with its probe in the audacious terror strike on Pathankot air base, NIA today recovered a Chinese-make wireless set from the vehicle of senior Punjab police officer which was hijacked by terrorists before abandoning it a kilometre away from the IAF facility. A Home Ministry spokesman said a NIA team found the wireless set in the car in which the terrorists travelled to the Air Force case on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. The spokesperson said that the data in the wireless set had been deleted and the equipment was sent to CFSL Chandigarh for a joint examination with experts from National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) for retrieving the deleted data. This wireless set is similar to one recovered from the site of attack in Sambha on March 20 last year, the spokesperson said in a statement. The NIA teams, after establishing route taken by Jaish-e- Mohammed terrorists from the point where Superintendent of Police-rank officer Salwinder Singh's car was hijacked to the IAF base, were looking for clues with the help of local villagers. "NIA teams are collecting CCTV footage on the route taken by terrorists to Air Force Base," the spokesperson said. NIA teams with Punjab police and local villagers are carrying out searches in the nearby villages on the route taken by the terrorists for evidence left behind by terrorists like clothes, electronic devices, the spokesperson said. In the meantime, questioning of Singh, who is posted as Assistant Commandant in the 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police after being shunted as SP (Headquarters) of Gurdaspur continued for the third day today. "Singh was questioned for the third consecutive day today. His cook Madan Gopal and Baba of the Mazaar are being summoned to NIA headquarters here tomorrow for examination," the spokesperson said. The questioning is continuing to ascertain various facts related to the case, official sources said, adding that Singh is allegedly changing statements quite often. Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists who attacked the Air Force base hours later may be confronted with the SP and Gopal. Somraj's statement that Singh had come to the shrine for the first time before the attack and that his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and Gopal had visited the dargah twice the same day had raised eyebrows as the police officer had earlier claimed he was a regular visitor to the place. The shrine is located a few kilometres from Bamiyal, the village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated into India before mounting the attack. Terrorists attacked the Pathankot IAF base during the intervening night of January 1 and 2 and managed to kill seven security personnel including a Lt Col of elite NSG. So far only four bodies of terrorists have been recovered after an 80 -hour-long gun battle. At the ongoing New Delhi World Book Fair, where China enjoys guest of honour status, one stall is propagating the ancient meditation practice of Falun Dafa, which has been banned by the Communist country. The Falun Dafa Association of India, which has members across the country and advocates principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" is distributing books on research conducted on consequences of the practice in Chinese society over the last few years. Three books -- "Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China" by David Matas and David Kilgour, "The Slaughter" by Ethan Gutmann and "State Organs: Transplant Abuse in China" by David Matas and Torsten Trey highlight the life of those Chinese who were put in jail for their practise. The aim, organisers say is to "make people aware of the malpractice and human rights violation going on in China by the present Communist party of China." Mark Luberic, an Australian who has been living in India for the past eight years describes in detail the series of events that took place since the inception of Falun Dafa in 1992. Luberic recalls how he had resorted to hookah and alcohol to de-stress from work pressure but after being introduced to the practice by his friend he gave up alcohol. "I came across Falun Dafa at least three times in my life before actually started noticing it. I was looking for something to de-stress and had tried various regimes including Yoga, and gyms before finally taking up meditation practice and I found a remarkable change in my life" he said. Followers say the practice is in vogue in around 120 countries across the world. "The practice was banned in China since the year 1999 and all the practitioners were put in jails. It is said that the practice was seen as a threat even though the Communist Party was very supportive of it when it began in the year 1992. Many positive articles were written in the media and newspapers about the practice. "However, after some time the government wanted to monetise the practice which the founder did not want resulting in tensions," Luberic said. In 1999 the Chinese government launched a campaign to make the practise illegal. At the Book Fair, books in both English and Hindi give a description of the "abuse, torture, years of confinement in labour camps and bing killed for organs" that practitioners of Falun Gong have been subject to in China. "We are promoting these books to stop the persecution in China. Organ harvesting means that people from various countries, including India are going and getting their organs replaced. We would request them to not to go to China there for health tourism and use those organs," Manisha Chahande, another practitioner said. A documentary "Hard to Believe," directed by Ken Stone of Stone Soup Production was also screened which depicting the apathy of practitioners in the Chinese jails. Coal India Ltd is preparing for a major technological upgradation on the lines of global mining practices followed in countries like the US and Australia that will include GPS tracking of vehicles to check coal plunder and having a ICT-complaint machinery. The revamp will also cover electronic fencing of mines. The move comes against the backdrop of the single largest global producer of coal being mandated to double its output to 1 billion tonne by 2020, contributing significantly to India growth story. Besides, the government is looking at opening up commercial coal mining to private players. "Coal India is ready for a technological jump to increase its efficiency and output. A large number of steps are being initiated that include use of satellite technology for green fencing and utilisation of GPS to monitor vehicles," CIL Chairman and Managing Director Sutirtha Bhattacharya told PTI. On funding of the upgradation, Bhattacharya said: "Parts of capex (capital expenditure) and opex (operational expenditure) both will be utilised for the same." According to officials, the upgradation will be on the lines of practices followed by miners in the US and Australia. The miner which produces over 81 per cent of India's overall coal production has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 6,000 crore for the current fiscal. Admitting pilferage of coal, government said recently that a project for introduction of global positioning system (GPS) on trucks carrying coal is underway to prevent theft and diversion besides installation of CCTVs at all vulnerable points like entry and exit gates, weigh bridges and sidings to keep a regular watch. The steps for upgradation also include introducing ICT compliant machinery and Enterprise resource planning (ERP) to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities. To meet India's coal needs, government has set a target of 1 billion tonne of coal production by the company by 2020. The move for technological upgradation of Coal India also holds much significance in view of government planning to open commercial coal mining to private players for the first time in over four decades. "We are preparing groundwork for commercial mining... We are looking at a few mines and the work has been undertaken to identify mines," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has said. This would be the first time in over 40 years that the government would throw open the auction to private players. This follows another decision taken last month to allow the state utilities to commercially mine coal and sell to the private companies. Coal meets around 52 per cent of primary commercial energy needs in India as against 29 per cent the world over and about 66 per cent of country's power generation is coal based. India is the 3rd largest coal producing country in the world after China and USA. The government has set a production target of 550 million tonnes for the PSU for the current fiscal. The company had missed the production target for 2014-15 by 3 per cent, recording an output of 494.23 million tonne. (REOPEN DCM64) When contacted, a CIL official said that net sales declined by Rs 1,160 crore despite increase in volume by 3.85 million tonne in off-take. "The decline in net sales were largely due to decline in average realisation of e-auction which is based on market driven price. There was a sharp decline in e-auction prices which was Rs 1,570 per tonne during the quarter as against Rs 2,184 during the same quarter previous fiscal," the official said. Although, there was an increase in e-auction sales which was 20.46 million tonnes as against 16 million tonnes same quarter previous year, the official said. There was around 1 million tonne decline in FSA sales along with decline in prices due to grade mix. Further, there was decline in earnings from bank deposits of about Rs 254 crore owing to average decline in yield and also on account of lower amounts of deposits held year-on-year, the official said, adding that all these reasons resulted in a net decline of Rs 666 crore in profits. Congress today sought a "clear and categorical" statement from the government in support of net neutrality, days after Rahul Gandhi held consultations with some 30 start up entrepreneurs. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to announce a policy for startup innovation, the AICC came out with six suggestions recognising the "immense value" of start ups in creating jobs. Party leader Jairam Ramesh said that the suggestions were an example of the "constructive cooperation" being offered by the Congress to government at a time when the start ups appear the only "ray of hope" in the economy. Besides net neutrality, the party also wanted government buildings, public universities and schools be allowed to provide office space with power, connectivity and basic IT infrastructure to act as incubator for start ups. Ramesh said that Corporate Social Responsibility funds should be permitted to be invested in start up/innovation related R&D in public universities. It also wanted the government to ease the patent registration process. This was necessary as the startups domiciled in India face severe difficulties in both registration and protection of their intellectual property. The party suggested that direct or indirect government funding of start ups should be restricted only to social sectors and not open to all sectors in an unrestricted manner. Besides, it stressed that the National Skill Development Corporation be leveraged to meet the huge semi-skilled labour needs of start ups. Rahul had recently met some 30 start up entrepreneurs in Delhi and Bengaluru. During the interactions, he had given his unstinted support to them. "As hubs of innovation and as job creators for India's aspirational youth, start ups have a huge role to play in the next phase of India's development. It is critical that they are provided all possible support by the government so they can truly achieve their potential," he had said. Better connectivity and enhanced economic integration with regional value chains are crucial for India and the CLMV countries, the four south east Asian nations, to boost two-way trade and commerce, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today. She said that India's trade with the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries is over USD 11 billion and there is immense potential to increase it further. "The trade links and ties between India and the CLMV countries can be much better and the two governing principles, connectivity and economic integration with regional value chains are crucial," she said. She was speaking at the 3rd India-CLMV Business Conclave at Chennai. The tri-lateral highway, connectivity in the North East, port connectivity improvement and the Act East policy would help in increasing economic ties between the two regions, an official statement quoting the minister said. As per a study, there is a potential of about USD 100 billion of additional exports. She also said that there was a need for Indian banks to establish their branches overseas and the proposal of a project development fund is an important instrument to handhold manufacturing units in the CLMV countries. With the world economy falling, it will depend on CMLV countries and India for the revival, she added. Addressing the event Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Ravi Capoor said India is looking at large investments in these regions. "We see problems in connectivity, banking, actual physical movement of people in trade and business collaborations. We are also looking at physical land connectivity to the CLMV countries through the North-East region," Capoor said. Speaking at the function, Combodian Minister Sun Chanthol said it is important to share the best-practices and strengthen businesses ties between the countries. The trade investment between India and the ASEAN countries are crucial since the CLMV countries cover 32 per cent of the ASEAN region and has a huge market for Indian products and with a 165 million strong population, Chanthol said. "This will attract considerable amount of FDI from India. It has an open investment regime and does not discriminate between foreign and local investors. It is investing heavily into its transport infrastructure," the Cambodian Minister added. Laos Vice Minister of Industry and Commerce Somchinth Inthamith said the investment between Laos and India is still insignificant. "We are working on policy level changes in laws and regulations and open sky policies to facilitate trade. CLMV and India should work together to strengthen the strategic partnership to reduce the poverty," Inthamith said. Deputy Commerce Minister of Myanmar, Pwint San said: "We are stepping up our stand in business collaborations and diplomatic cooperation between the CLMV countries and India. Knowledge sharing, simplifying laws and policies should be encouraged between countries to address commercial challenges." Deputy Minister, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam, Nguyen Cam Tu too said that India and CLMV need to strengthen economic integration through connectivity, infrastructure, and trade facilitations. "We also aim to focus on the added advantage from sectors such as seafood, manufacturing, engineering, automobiles and chemicals," Nguyen added. A father shot and killed his teenage son in the US state of Ohio, apparently mistaking him for an intruder, police said today. According to his father, the teen, identified as Georta Mack, 14, left for school, but returned through the basement, without the knowledge of his father, said Cincinnati police. "I just shot my son by accident," Mack's father told a 911 operator. "He scared me. I thought he was in school. I heard noise and then I went downstairs looking. He jumped out at me. I shot him," the father is heard saying in a 911 recording obtained by CNN affiliate WCPO. "Oh God. Oh God. Why didn't you go to school?" Authorities have not released the father's name yet, said Lt. Tim Brown of the Cincinnati Police Department. Georta was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center where he later died. Both Cincinnati Police and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office are investigating the shooting. This is at least the second case of a family member shooting and killing a family member -- apparently by mistake -- within the last two weeks. On the night of December 29, a woman in St. Cloud, Florida, shot her 27-year-old daughter, apparently mistaking her for a burglar. The woman fired only one round, police said, and the daughter later died at a hospital. St. Cloud police said the shooting appears to be accidental, but that an investigation is ongoing. A Delhi court today reserved for January 21 its judgement in a case in which a 52-year-old Danish woman was allegedly gangraped by nine persons including three juveniles here two years ago. Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja fixed the case for pronouncement of the verdict after concluding hearing the final arguments from the prosecution and the counsel for accused. "Arguments of defence concluded. The case is directed to be listed for judgement on January 21. Defence is also at liberty to file written arguments, if any, within two days from today," the judge said. According to the prosecution, nine accused, all vagabonds, had allegedly robbed and gangraped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers' Club near New Delhi Railway Station. All the nine accused were arrested. The six adult accused - Mahendra alias Ganja (26), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55) - are in judicial custody and facing trial. Three of the accused were juveniles against whom inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) is in progress. The nine accused are facing charges of alleged gangrape, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, dacoity with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt, criminal intimidation and receiving stolen property under the IPC. During the final arguments today, counsel for the accused alleged there were deficiencies in the prosecution evidence and several missing links in the story of the police. Advocate Dinesh Sharma, appearing for the accused, argued that the case was based on circumstantial evidence and as the chain of circumstances was incomplete, it would be highly unsafe to believe the prosecution's evidence. "The onus lies with prosecution to prove how my (accused) biological samples were found on the woman's clothes. I was taken into custody by police and, thereafter, they manipulated the case property behind my back and planted my samples on the woman's clothes," he argued. Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava has argued there was sufficient evidence to prove the ill intent of the accused and it was they who had committed of the crime. He had also said that on the night of the incident, the woman had sought directions to her destination from the accused persons, who, on the garb of guiding her, took her to a secluded spot and raped her. "The accused took the woman to a secluded place which amounts to kidnapping and this shows their ill intention as thereafter, they gangraped her, looted her articles and also threatened her," he had argued. During recording of their testimonies, the six adult accused had claimed innocence and alleged that the police had falsely implicated them in the case. Seven persons, including two juveniles, have been apprehended in connection with the murder of three persons of a family at central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area, police said today. The accused have been identified as Rajan Singh, Rajendra Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Harender, Ram Kishore and the two juveniles. While Harender and Ram Kishore were arrested from their native village in UP's Bulandshahr, the others were nabbed from Delhi. One accused is still at large, DCP (Central) Paramaditya said. On Sunday morning, Sanjay (50), his wife Jyoti (48) and their son Pawan (21), were found murdered at their third floor residence in Old Rajinder Nagar, and the house was found ransacked. Jyoti and Pawan's bodies were discovered first and later Sanjay's body was found shoved inside a closet. The police registered a case of murder and as many as 25 teams were engaged in the investigation. Sanjay's brother, with whom he had a property dispute, initially turned out to be the prime suspect in the case, which sent the police teams into a tizzy. Yesterday the police received a tip off, which led to the arrests of Rajan and Rajendra. They spilled the beans during interrogation and the others too were apprehended by midnight, said Paramaditya. Police said that the motive of the murders has turned out to be robbery as victim Sanjay, who was a government servant-turned-property dealer, had conveyed to Rajan that he had earned huge cash after the recent sale of a property and he needed to invest the money, for which he also seeked Rajan's help. However, the police haven't yet recovered any cash from the possession of the accused. Sanjay, who himself was an accused in atleast nine cases of cheating and forgery and was in jail for six months during 2013-14, met Rajan in the prison. They became friends and stayed in touch even after their release. Sanjay had also offered Rajan to be a partner in his property business, said police. Rajan, who was already an accused in the case of a murder of a woman in Dwarka, allegedly hatched the plan to kill Sanjay for the money he desired to invest and roped in others for its execution, police said. The accused first went near Sanjay's residence on Thursday for a recee and returned. On Saturday evening, all eight of them assembled at northwest Delhi's Kanhaiya Nagar area and left for the mission together, said police. Rajan, along with four others, who were introduced to Sanjay as parties with whom he could invest the cash he had procured following the sale of a property, went inside the premises. Meanwhile, two waited outside on the staircase, keeping an eye on the neighbours, and another was deployed outside the building, police said. The discussion stretched long and food was ordered before Rajan and his associates could ask Sanjay to come to the second bedroom alone for discussing some confidential matters, while his wife did the chores at the kitchen and son, Pawan, watched TV in another bedroom. It was Sanjay whom they first allegedly strangulated to death and shoved his body inside the closet. Then they held Pawan from behind and allegedly strangulated him too and covered his body with a light blanket, on the other room. They waited for Jyoti to come and allegedly strangulated her too with a stole, police said. After that they ransacked the house, allegedly looking for the stored cash but could not find too much. They allegedly made off with whatsoever they could manage to lay their hands on. But the amount of robbery is yet to be evaluated, said police. According to the police, the matter came to light around 8.50 AM next morning when the domestic help of the family entered the house and and discovered the bodies of Jyoti and Pawan in the apartment. She raised an alarm, following which the police were informed. Assam Chief Information Commissioner H S Das has directed the Directorate of Elementary Education to furnish the details regarding district-wise amount of scholarship sanctioned for SC/ST students. The Commissioner, hearing the RTI Case, had directed the Principal Secretary, Education Department and the Director of Elementary Education yesterday to give details on scholarship sanctioned, copies of Utilization Certificates and Actual Payee Receipts thereof. The RTI was filed by petitioner Amarjeet Rajkhowa and the Commissioner directed that all details be sent to him by Registered A/D post within 15 days from the receipt of the order,an official release said. The Commission also directed that the matter should be treated with the seriousness it deserves and appropriate administrative steps be taken. The action taken by the Principal Secretary, Education Department and the Director of Elementary Education will be reviewed by the Commission after four months. The Commission has fixed May 2 for further review,the release added. Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today informed the state Assembly that his government is drafting rules to ban entry of persons below 21 years of age to casinos. The rules (regarding the ban) are being drafted, he said, adding, "We will notify the rules when they are finalised." The casino industry in the state has been facing criticism after a section of society opposed it claiming that underage youth were turning into gamblers. The then Manohar Parrikar led-government had assured that rules would be formed to stop youth from visiting the casinos. Responding to a question tabled on the floor of the House, Parsekar said the matter regarding shifting of vessels in river Mandovi is under consideration. Earlier, the Goa Cabinet had resolved to move the casinos in river Mandovi to an alternate location by March 2016. The coastal state has four offshore casino vessels which are currently anchored in Mandovi. E-waste, which comprises precious metals like gold and silver, can produce more gold than what is obtained through mining, a senior academician said today. Fifty pounds of gold and 20,000 pounds of copper could be extracted from one million discarded cell phones, if processed properly, Pranabesh Ray, Dean (Academics), XLRI - Xavier School of Management told a two-day national conference on e-waste management here. Emphasising the need for proper management of e-waste, Ray said, globally, about 64.5 million tonnes of e-waste are generated annually of which, only around 40 per cent is processed properly. India ranked third in the world in e-waste generation per annum, he said, adding that the country generated 1.7 million tonnes of e-waste in 2014. The volume of e-waste is increasing everyday, thus becoming a major environmental concern even as the common man is unaware of his contribution to it, said Ray. If unchecked, by 2017, the global volume of discarded e-waste will weigh almost equivalent to 200 Empire State buildings, he added. While 70 per cent of discarded electronic gadgets ends up in landfills, thus contaminating the environment with hazardous materials, only 30 per cent of it is recycled, said the academician. The volume of e-waste is growing due to 'human greed', said Ray, adding that users prefer to change cell phones even when they are working. The problem is also amplified by 'illegal' dumping of dysfunctional products by developed countries who do so under the pretext that the products are for re-use, he said. The conference was organised by Centre for Global Management and Responsible Leadership (CGMRL) at XLRI - Xavier School of Management, University of Queensland, Australia and IIT, Kharagpur. Speaking on the occasion as the guest of honour, Shreekant Mokashi, chief (Group Information Services), Tata Steel, strongly advocated for a mechanism to extend the life of electronic gadgets. "We will have to develop a mechanism to extend the life of electronic gadgets," he said, adding that an electronic gadget may not be useful for a particular industry, but it may prove to be useful for another. The mechanism should be developed particularly for those section of the society who do not have access to it, Mokashi said, while branding mobile phones and laptops, among others, as "major contributors to e-waste". Mokashi also suggested to create a chain of eco-supply system, development of a business module by a set of entrepreneurs and certified processing agents for disposal of e-waste. "The kabadiwala (scrap dealer) is not trained as far as disposal of hazardous e-waste is concerned," he said, expressing apprehension that disposal of e-waste in an improper manner is a threat to environment. Anthony Halog from Geography Planning and Environment Management, University of Queensland, Australia, echoed a similar view, while stating that e-waste is a major environmental problem, also adding to global warming. He though mentioned that development is gradually being witnessed as regards e-waste management. "During the conference, we will deliberate on how can we develop the waste of an industry into a resource for another," Halog said. E-waste, however, has a great potential of meeting the requirements of rare metals if it is properly recycled, he said. Among others, Pingali Venugopal, chairperson of CGMRL, and Brajesh Kr Dubey from Environmental Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, also spoke on the occasion. Amid concerns raised by automakers over strict emission norms, Gadkari will meet heads of over 30 top car makers, including BMW, Honda and Volkswagen, tomorrow. The meeting is convened close on heels of the government announcing moving directly from BS IV emission norms for petrol and diesel to BS VI norms, in a major step to curb vehicular pollution. "The Road Transport and Highways Minister would address the Industry (automobile) heads to exhort them to support Make in India programme. The meeting tomorrow is likely to be attended by more than 30 heads of Automobile Manufacturing Industries in India," an official told PTI. Sources said the minister would urge automakers to manufacture BS VI compliant vehicles and also appeal them develop homegrown technologies to build environment-friendly car engines under the 'Make in India' drive. Refusing to budge under any pressure from the auto industry on stricter fuel emission norms, Gadkari has already made it clear to them that they must follow the same standards in India that they do elsewhere. "I do not agree with SIAM. When the same car manufacturers can build cars following the same norms across the globe, then why can't they build it here? The government is not reconsidering its decision," he had said earlier this week. The government on January 6 had announced its decision to advance the date by four years to April 1, 2020, for implementing Bharat Stage VI (equivalent to Euro VI norms followed globally) for supply of cleaner auto fuel, by altogether skipping the Euro V grade norms. Gadkari has said pollution is a major concern in the country and automobile manufacturers should come forward to help in curbing it by making BS VI-compliant vehicles. His statement assumes significance as automobile industry body SIAM has been opposing the skipping of BS V norms to jump to BS VI. "For developing of vehicles you have to make the Euro V technology first establish over a period of time and then move to Euro VI. That's what technology providers have been saying," SIAM has said. "That's how it has been done everywhere. In Europe, they did not skip directly to Euro VI. They have gone from Euro V to Euro VI. We will be going for the first time if at all we go," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen has said. The meeting is being held as a part of 'Road Safety Week launched by the Ministry. The theme for this year is 'Time for Action'. "The meeting reflects the commitment of the Ministry as well the Industry towards the Road Safety for which India has committed to reduce fatalities by 50 per cent in next five years," the official said. India accounts for a high number of 5 lakh road accidents per annum in which 1.5 lakh people die and another 3 lakh are crippled for life. (REOPENS BOM8) Maharashtra has 22,000 km of the overall 1.70 lakh km of National Highways, Gadkari said, announcing a plan to upgrade the Dehu-Pandharpur and Alandi-Pandharpur roads to four-lane concrete roads. It can be noted that Pandharpur in Solapur district in western Maharashtra is an important centre of pilgrimage and Gadkari said the roads will also help the warkaris (devotees of Lord Vitthal) who converge in the town every monsoon. The minister announced that work on the over 320 km Vadodara-Mumbai express highway, which will be constructed at a cost of over Rs 42,000 crore, will commence from January 1 next year. He said the total investment in road infrastructure in Maharashtra will exceed his previously announced target of Rs 2 trillion during the NDA rule, and can go up to Rs 3 trillion. Gadkari said there is a potential to have at least 500 'bus-ports' (having same modern facilities as those available at airports) in Maharashtra alone, and suggested an equal joint venture between the Centre and the State Government as one of the ways of working on this project. The European Union (EU) has contributed 2 million euros to the UN refugee agency for providing protection and sustainable solutions for Bhutanese refugees living in eastern Nepal. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it will use the funds equivalent to NRs 231 million over the next three years (2016-2018) to resettle Bhutanese refugees in third world countries and to care for those who opt to remain in Nepal. The latter support will include physical and legal protection as well as services including shelter, education, health, sanitation, access to sustainable energy and support in addressing psycho-social and other specific needs, according to a press release issued by the EU Office here. "The European Union is more than delighted to make this contribution that will go into meeting basic needs of the 17,000 Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal," EU Ambassador to Nepal Rensje Teerink said. "I hope that the assistance will enable a congenial living environment for the refugees who have been receiving support from the EU for many years now," he said. The EU has been continuously supporting UNHCR's activities for the refugees from Bhutan since 1994. More than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have begun new lives in eight different countries, mainly the US, since the launch of the resettlement programme in late 2007. Nepal currently hosts over 17,000 Bhutanese refugees in two camps. It is estimated that around 10-12,000 refugees will remain in these camps as the resettlement operation concludes in the near future. Four Chinese workers were killed Wednesday in an explosion at a machinery factory in an industrial park on the outskirts of Shanghai, a local state-owned newspaper said. The blast happened at the Shanghai Zhizhuo Machinery Equipment System Co Ltd factory in the city's Baoshan District around noon, and also injured two people, said the paper, the Xinmin Evening . The fire department confirmed the blast but declined to provide any details. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. China has a poor record of workplace safety with a lack of government oversight. Cost-conscious management also tends to skimp on safety precautions. Syria has taken four Indian youth in its custody, who were planning to the join terrorist outfit ISIS, and asked the Indian authorities the verify their details. Syrian Deputy Prime minister Walid Al Moaulem, who is on a three-day visit to India, said the four youth had entered Syria and were taken into custody in Damascus. He, however, did not specify when they were apprehended. "Four Indians were taken into Syrian custody in Damascus. The four young Indians were planning to join the ISIS and had entered Syria from Jordan," Moaulem told reporters here. He, however, did not give details like the name, from where the youth come from and when were they taken into custody. The development assumes significance as India has been trying to stop radicalised youths from joining the terrorist organisation. Incidentally, in December last, police arrested three youth from Nagpur airport while they were planning to leave the country for joining the ISIS. Moaulem, who is also the Foreign Minister, said he would not be in a position to help in release of 39 Indians who were taken hostage by ISIS militants from Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014. "I will try to secure their release if they are in the custody of Iraqi forces but won't be able to do anything if they are still in the custody of ISIS," Moaulem said. Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today expressed hope that the Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015 would be passed in the Budget session itself. "The Road Safety Bill is very important for me. Since motor vehicle laws fall in the Concurrent List, we need the approval of the states and many are already cooperating with us. We need political support for this Bill in the interest of the people. I believe we will be able to pass it the next Parliament session," Gadkari said. Addressing the India Road Safety week organised by NDTV and United Spirits this evening, the minister said the Bill has been prepared in consultations with experts from Britain, the US, Japan, Germany and Singapore and therefore we are hopeful the Bill will pass the Parliamentary muster. Noting that India accounts for over 12 per cent of the worldwide annual road fatalities of 12.4 million, he said and one the leading reasons for this is drunk driving. "This is really alarming and we need to take immediate steps to ensure safety of our citizens," Gadkari said. He said his ministry has decided to identify black spots or accident-prone areas on the national highways and develop them to reduce such incidents. "In the first phase we have identified 726 spots on the NHs and we have decided to spend Rs 11,000 crore to improve these areas. Through this initiative I want to reduce the number of accidents by at least 50 percent," he added. Gadkari further said he will approach the Finance ministry to get financial assistance to states and local bodies for taking up such projects. "I am responsible for national highways. But we have many such highly accident-prone spots on state and local roads. I have approached the Finance ministry to pursue if financial support to the tune of 50 per cent of the total cost can be provided to the states and local bodies who will take up such projects," he said. Gadkari further said his ministry has decided to provide road safety amenities across 1,200 spots on NHs to ensure immediate help in case of accidents. "We have identified 1,200 spots where trauma centres will be created with various amenities that will provide necessary assistance in case of accidents. We are also appealing to private sector to take up this responsibility. We will provide them around 15,000 sqft area at Re 1 lease rentals for setting up such centres," he said. The Minister further said he has proposed to the government to set a separate ministry for road transport and create a road safety authority. A military court in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip today sentenced four Palestinians to death on charges of spying for Israel, a statement and court sources said. The court said in a brief statement that a 23-year-old man from the Zeitoun area south of Gaza City had been sentenced to death on espionage charges. It did not provide his name. Three other men who "fled from justice" were also found guilty in absentia, it said. A court source told AFP the four were convicted on "charges of spying for the occupation", including "surveillance" and providing information about cars and homes to help Israel plan alleged assassinations. Before these sentences, 167 people had been sentenced to death by courts in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after a battle with Fatah, which runs the Palestinian Authority. Eighty of the death sentences have been given in Gaza since that date. Islamists Hamas have previously carried out executions against those accused of dealing with Israelis, with the killings sometimes taking place in public squares. Under Palestinian law, collaborators, murderers and drug traffickers can face the death penalty. Gold bars, worth over Rs 58 lakh, were today seized from two passengers who arrived here from Kozhikode by an Air India Express flight, Customs officials said. The passengers, natives of Maharashtra, had boarded the domestic sector of the flight which had landed in Kozhikode from Doha en route to Kochi, a customs release said. One of the passengers was intercepted at the exit gate of the arrival hall and a search yielded nine gold bars, concealed in his rectum, totally weighing 1049.74 grams and valued at Rs 27,39,821, it said. The second person, who arrived by the same flight, was traced at a hotel near Kochi airport and search of his room resulted in recovery of six more gold cut bar pieces, totally weighing 1188.64 grams and valued at Rs 30,86,898, it said. "The seized gold weighing 2.25 kg was handed over to them by a person who travelled as international passenger in the same flight," the release said. It said Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit have been regularly maintaining surveillance at the arrival hall and nearby areas of the Airport over passengers coming from "sensitive places such as Dubai and Colombo." "Both these passengers tried to smuggle out the precious metal by utilising the domestic sector of the International Flight. Futher investigation of this case is going on," the release said, adding, both the passengers have been detained. If youve ever found yourself in a sparsely populated place, surrounded by wild landscapes, big skies and clean air, youll no doubt agree that the effort of travelling to such splendid isolation is more than compensated for by the rewards on arrival. When that place is as easy to reach as the west coast of Sweden is, then the attractions are even more clear. With thousands of islands (mostly uninhabited), pretty villages and a way of life which still places a healthy importance on simplicity and a respect for nature, the region offers an attractive option for those who enjoy exploring the outdoors and indulging in the finest, freshest seafood. So what is on offer for those thinking of a holiday along the west coast of Sweden? Here are a few of the highlights. Fjallbacka To the north of Swedens west coast, the charming fishing village of Fjallbacka offers the best of rural Sweden, with its colourful wooden houses, its narrow lanes and the gentle buzz around its harbour. Best known as a favourite hang-out of actress Ingrid Bergman, its also the birthplace of crime writer Camilla Lackberg, often referred to as Swedens Agatha Christie; many of Lackbergs grisly novels are set in and around Fjallbacka. Aside from its celebrity links, Fjallbacka is very popular during the summer months for its excellent seafood experiences. Not only can you enjoy the taste of locally caught produce, but you can also learn to catch and cook it on a seafood safari with local fishermen. In spring and summer there are crayfish safaris in Fjallbacka, and in the autumn months visitors can try their hands at lobster fishing. Grebbestad Less than 10 miles north of Fjallbacka, the fishing village of Grebbestad also offers some exciting seafood adventures. A year-round oyster course takes curious visitors through the basics of catching oysters, before heading out to the oyster bank to try out the newly acquired skills. The tasting is of course an essential part of the experience, and this takes places in the traditional fishermens boathouses or even on board while enjoying a cruise among the nearby islands. During the autumn theres also a one-day lobster safari from Grebbestad which involves an afternoon boat cruise with fishermen to the lobster pots. Youll have a chance to pick out the lobsters and then meet your catch again during dinner. Weather Islands For a proper sense of isolation, take a short trip from Fjallbacka to the beautiful Vaderoarna (Weather Islands). There are around 300 or so islands and apart from looking out for seals (there are far more of them than there are people!) theres little to do except taking walks to soak up the pristine natural surroundings. The guesthouse on the main island has a highly acclaimed restaurant and in the summer is a popular place to spend the long evenings. Koster Islands Further north and not far from the Norwegian border, the Koster Islands are Swedens first marine national park, With access by boat from Stromstad, they offer a wonderful setting for active types to take a stroll, hire a bike and even swim in the clear waters. Its also a perfect place to simply relax on the harbour deck and enjoy the breathtaking views. Comedian Ricky Gervais is fighting back against allegations that he was "transphobic" after making a joke about Caitlyn Jenner during his hosting stint at Golden Globes. The outspoken Brit, 54, opened the Hollywood ceremony with a gag about the retired Olympian, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, who transitioned from male to female last year, reported Los Angeles Times. Gervais was discussing how much he had changed since he last hosted the Globes in 2012, when he quipped, "Not as much as Bruce Jenner, obviously. Now Caitlyn Jenner, of course." "What a year she's had!" he continued. "She became a role model for trans people everywhere, showing great bravery in breaking down barriers and destroying stereotypes." "She didn't do a lot for women drivers," he added, referring to the fatal multi-car crash Kim Kardashian's stepfather was involved in back in February (15), before he went public with his new female persona. "But you can't have everything. Not at the same time." The joke was well-received by the star-studded crowd, but some viewers were not happy with the jab and blasted Gervais on social media. The ongoing backlash prompted the funnyman to defend his sense of humour in a series of posts on Twitter, insisting his joke was harmless. "Suggesting a joke about Caitlin Jenner is automatically transphobic is like suggesting a joke about Bill Cosby is automatically racist. In the future, everyone will be offended by me for 15 minutes. You have every right to be offended. Just don't cry when no one cares," he tweeted. "Do people not realise that when they say they are offended by a joke it makes that joke even funnier for the rest of us?" he asked hours later. "If jokes caused the easily offended to bleed internally, I'd do more stand up. Economists today suggested that government could deviate from fiscal consolidation roadmap in 2016-17 to spur economy even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India has been able to achieve high growth despite global uncertainty and volatility. There was also discussion on the present tax and subsidy regime and need for their transformation for improving growth during the meeting, the economists suggested to Jailtey during a pre-Budget consultation meeting. In his opening remarks, the Finance Minister said: "Indian economy is on path of recovery despite uncertainty and volatility in global economic situation". India recorded a higher growth rate of 7.3 per cent in 2014-15 compared to 6.9 per cent growth achieved in 2013-14 and 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, despite the slowdown witnessed in the world economy, pointing toward resilience of the Indian economy, he added. The Director of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, S Mahendra Dev, said: "One is the fiscal deficit. Basically, we said that there can be some deviation but one has to adhere to fiscal deficit target in the medium term. Some deviation can be there for 2016-17." As per the revised fiscal consolidation roadmap, the government proposes to bring down fiscal deficit from 3.9 per cent in the current fiscal to 3.5 per cent in 2016-17. The target seems slightly challenging in the light of rise in wage expenditure on account of the 7th Pay Commission recommended, which entails an additional outgo of Rs 1.02 lakh crore a year. Implementation of the Commission's recommendations will benefit one crore central government employees and pensioners. Jaitley further said the government continues to adhere to the path of fiscal consolidation. He said that the Budget 2015-16 targeted fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent of GDP, as compared to 4 per cent in 2014-15 in spite of the pressing need for enhanced public investment to boost the economic growth. "This achievement," he said "is all the more significant as the government fully implemented its tough commitments" the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission. The Minister said that the gross tax revenues of the Government increased by 20.8 per cent during April-November 2015-16 year-on-year, which was mainly led by a buoyant growth in indirect taxes. During the pre-Budget meeting, there was also discussion on giving rural push as agriculture is in bad shape. "Unless we have good monsoon, agriculture growth won't be there...We need have more manufacturing and services. Lastly, there is need for push in social sector expenditure particularly on health because health risks are much higher," he said. J P Morgan chief economist Sajjid Chinoy said every issue was discussed and there was massive divergence among economists on some issues. Pulapare Balakrishnan, Professor of Economics at Ashoka University, said there were discussion on fiscal deficit and deviating from the path. Besides, Balakrishnan said there was discussion on tax and subsidy regime and how it can be transformed. The major suggestions given during the meeting included in bringing changes in small savings rate which will in turn push the economy and to focus on increasing private and public investment. Other suggestions included setting-up of a Fiscal Council, maintaining medium term Fiscal targets, ensuring time bound investment under Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR), measures to address or incentivise the families affected by catastrophic diseases as this brings many families from APL to BPL. Kerala government today made it clear that it would not interfere in the customs and traditions of Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala where entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 are banned. "Government has a declared stand on matters like this. It will not interfere on issues of customs and beliefs," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "This is the state government stand and it will be conveyed to Supreme court," Chandy added. Chandy was reacting to the Supreme court observation that practice of banning entry of women and girls was not supported by the constitutional scheme. The apex court had also directed the state government to file an affidavit in the case. Chandy said the government never interfered in the matters of other religions such as that of Muslims and Christians. "How can it interfere on customs and beliefs of Hindu faith?,"he asked. Yesterday, the Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the temple had stated that the restriction was part of custom and traditions of the shrine and wanted it to continue. On January 11,the apex court had questioned the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age group at the Lord Ayyappa temple,while hearing a PIL filed by the Young Lawyers Association, seeking entry for all women and girls in the shrine. In order to provide relief to drought-hit farmers, the government today announced a new Rs 8,800 crore crop insurance scheme, with significantly lower premium, to cover for loss of crop to natural calamities. Farmers will pay only 2% of the premium fixed by insurance company for kharif foodgrains/oilseeds crops and 1.5% for rabi foodgrains/oilseeds crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The remaining sum of premium would be borne by the Centre and state governments equally, entailing an outgo of Rs 8,800 crore annually for coverage of 50% of the crop area of 194.40 million hectare. The scheme will be rolled out from the coming kharif season beginning June. After coming to power, the Modi government had announced that it would bring a new crop insurance scheme by replacing the existing ones to ensure higher coverage of crop area at low premium and better claim settlement facilities. Expressing confidence that farmers will adopt this new scheme, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it will help them tide over financial uncertainties. "This new crop insurance scheme will have the lowest premium for farmers in the history of independent India. The new scheme has taken care of the anomalies in the existing two schemes and added new provisions," he told reporters. Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself suggested reducing premium burden on farmers, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the farming community will be "very happy" with this scheme. He observed that farmers get adversely affected by natural calamities in the absence of level-playing field for them. "This path breaking measure will take care of farmers by providing them necessary assurance through this insurance cover." Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the scheme will also cover post-harvest losses and 'prevented sowing'. "There is no upper limit on the government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the government," an official statement said. The government has done away with the provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. Now, farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction. To assess crop damage for early settlement of the claims, the government will adopt modern technology to a great extent. "Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments," the government said. The government is working on a policy to raise the domestic output of bulk drugs and bring down imports. The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has moved a Cabinet note on bulk drugs based on the recommendations of Katoch committee, Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar said today. Bulk drugs are used as raw materials by the pharmaceutical industry. "We have moved a Cabinet note on the basis of Katoch committee recommendations and at present it is under discussion," Kumar said. He was speaking after releasing a report on recommendations to develop manufacturing capabilities in pharmaceutical sector. The minister added that the new draft policy will raise the domestic output of bulk drugs in the country as well as bring down the imports. The draft proposal has been prepared in order to benefit both the domestic pharma industry and consumers, Kumar said adding that the government is keen to implement the recommendations of the Committee as early as possible. India meets about 80 per cent of its demand of bulk drugs through import from China. The government had set up a committee headed by V M Katoch, Secretary, Health Research, to suggest ways to reduce the dependence on bulk drug imports from China. At least person was injured today in Pakistan when unidentified attackers hurled a hand grenade at a media house here. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned today's attack at office of ARY TV Channel and directed police to ensure all necessary measures to apprehend the culprits. Sharif also directed the concerned for provision of adequate security to the employees of ARY TV Chanel. The attackers also fired gunshot at the ARY TV Channel office. Militants have launched several low-profile attacks at media houses in recent months. In December last year, a similar attack outside another channel, Dunya News' Faisalabad bureau injured three. In November, gunmen attacked a DawnNews Digital Satellite Gathering (DSNG) van in Karachi, injuring one staffer. A hardcore National Santhal Liberation Army (NSLA) militant of the anti-talk faction was killed following an encounter with the police in Assam's Kokrajhar district today, police said. Acting on specific information, the police launched a search operation in Borbadha village and an encounter took place in which the militant was seriously injured, police spokesman said. The seriously injured militant was rushed to the Gossaigaon Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The militant has been identified as Ram Hemrom alias Lasar and a 7.65 pistol, two hand grenades, two rounds of live ammunitions and two blank cartridges were recovered from the encounter spot, the spokesman added. In another incident, police apprehended an ULFA linkman from Changmaibari under Nemuguri police station in Upper Assam's Sibsagar district, police said. The linkman has been identified as Babul alias Jan Dihingia and Rs 7.50 lakh in cash and an SUV has been recovered fromhis possession. A local court in Visnagar town of Mehsana district today sent quota leader Hardik Patel in police custody till January 15 in a case of rioting and assault registered against him here six months back. Hardik was produced before the judicial magistrate A N Patel at his residence in Visnagar midnight last night by Mehsana Police, which sought five-day remand of Hardik. After arguments, the magistrate sent Hardik into three-day police custody in an early morning order. On January 11, Visnagar Police had taken custody of Hardik Patel from Lajpore jail of Surat after acquiring transfer warrant and took him to Mehsana in a case of rioting and assault, lodged against him on July 23 in Visnagar police station. Hardik was lodged in Lajpore Jail since last three months, as he faces two sedition cases, one at Surat and another at Ahmedabad. Hardik is one of the accused in an FIR filed at Visnagar on July 23, when a rally of Patel community seeking reservation turned violent, resulting in damage to property and assault on some media persons. Later, a complaint of rioting, damaging property and assault was filed against Hardik and seven other Patel leaders, who were present during the rally. The Gauhati High Court has banned the traditional bulbul bird fight at the Hayagrib Madhab Mandir, an ancient pilgrim centre at Hajo in Assam. Vacation bench judge Rumi Kumari Phukan passed the order yesterday after considering various provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. The judge modified the earlier order passed on December 22 whereby the ban of bulbul fight imposed by Kamrup district administration was kept in abeyance. The application was filed by Animal Welfare Board of India. The order triggered reactions in Hajo and across the state with the temple priests claiming the bird fight was part of a religious ritual in which obeisance to Lord Vishnu began with it. The priests were also in dilemma as how to conduct the religious ceremony going on for centuries in view of the court order. Those training the birds for the traditional ritual claimed there was no cruelty involved as no bird was hurt during the training process. The birds were kept in open space and not in cages, while the string around their feet was tied loosely so that the bulbuls were in no way injured, they claimed. Madurai Bench of the Madras high court today refused to quash proceedings pending in the CBI court against an accused charged with misdeclaring goods imported from China. Justice S Vimala dismised a petition filed by K S Murugan, the second accused in the case, holding that there were no grounds to quash the proceedings. A case was filed against 11 persons by the CBI on a complaint from the Customs officials. The Judge pointed out that the grievance of the Customs officials was that the goods had been exported to India below its normal value resulting in dumping. Due this the Indian industry had suffered material injury and hence anti-dumping duty was essential. She further said the court could quash the proceedings pending in a court only in very rare cases. The Judge directed the CBI court to expedite the trial and complete it within three months. The Madras High Court has upheld the four-year jail term awarded to former IAS officer H M Pandey in a disproportionate wealth case and ordered confiscation of his properties, observing that it was unavoidable in order to curb rampant corruption. Justice A Selvam passed the order while allowing a plea of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption for consfication and rejecting an appeal by Pandey challenging his conviction by a special court in the case related to alleged amassment of wealth to the tune of over Rs one crore disproportionate to known sources of his income during 1985-1997. "Confiscation of the ill-gotten property is unavoidable in order to curb the evil practice of corruption which has become rampant nowadays," the Judge observed in his order. He also ordered that the state government to immediately confiscate the immovable properties listed by DVAC. According to the DVAC charge sheet, during the check period of January 1, 1985 and May 31, 1997, Pandey, then Municipal Administration Secretary, had amassed properties worth Rs 1.05 crore for which he was unable to furnish source while his income was only Rs 19.86 lakh. On March 2, 2001, the trial court found him guilty of offences under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced him to four years rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh. It had also ordered forfeiture of the properties under Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944, and directed the recovery officer to recover it under Revenue Recovery Act. While Pandey filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence passed, DVAC sought an order of confiscation saying the order of forfeiture could not be enforced easily. Rejecting Pandey's plea, Justice Selvam said "from a cumulative reading of the evidence given by witnesses, the court can very well come to a conclusion that the accused by utilising money (not from known sources) has purchased various properties and also put up various constructions in the names of his son and the persons mentioned in the charge sheet. Lambasting the Maharashtra government for its failure to stop custodial deaths, the Bombay High Court today gave it six weeks time to install CCTV cameras at police stations. "If there is a political will to tackle the problem, then the state government can do it, but it seems that it is not serious in addressing the issue," a bench headed by Justice V M Kanade said. Government pleader informed the high court that custodial deaths numbered 36 in 2013, 39 in 2014 and 41 last year. "We are shocked to hear this... Custodial deaths in Maharashtra are increasing every year. One and a half years ago, we had directed the State to install CCTV cameras in the police stations but the government has not done this." "We feel that the government is not serious to deal with the issue of custodial deaths," the bench observed. Prosecutor Sandeep Shinde argued that currently the process of inviting tenders for installing CCTV cameras is on and an expert committee was slated to meet today to decide on the modalities for procuring the cameras. He urged that a reasonable time frame should be given to the State to carry out this objective. Shinde said the government was "very serious" to obey high court orders on installing CCTV cameras at police stations. Amicus curaie Yug Choudhary said the high court had passed orders in 2014 about CCTV cameras at police station but the government had failed to do this. Prosecutor Mankovar Deshmukh, who also appeared on behalf of the State, said a committee had been constituted to prevent custodial deaths. Deshmukh also said that all custodial deaths are not due to police harassment and some prisoners also die because of natural causes. The high court asked the State to file a report on the recommendations of the committee. The bench said that a general perception in the mind of common man has been that "rich people get away but poor prisoners are subject to the alleged torture of police... We want to change this perception." The judges asked the state to install CCTV cameras in the police stations within six weeks and during the same period it also sought details of custodial deaths in the last two years such as name of police stations concerned, dates of death and arrest of deceased and the number of times he or she has been remanded. The judges were hearing a bunch of petitions, including a PIL, on the increasing number of custodial deaths cases in the State. The Allahabad High Court today stayed the departmental inquiry against suspended IPS officer Amitabh Thakur till documents demanded by him in connection with the probe are provided to him by the state government. A division bench here of justice Satyendra Singh Chauhan and justice Anant Kumar gave this order on a writ petition filed by Thakur challenging the departmental inquiry started against him after his suspension last year and seeking directions to provide 67 documents related to it. The petitioner alleged that these documents were not provided to him by the state government which in his opinion were necessary to defend himself during the course of inquiry proceeding against him. On behalf of the state government, chief standing counsel stated that those documents were not relevant. "Till the documents are supplied, inquiry against the petitioner (Amitabh Thakur ) will not proceed", the court ordered. " ...Opposite parties are obliged to supply the documents within four weeks and if some documents are voluminous, then it will be open for the state government to permit the petitioner to inspect the same", the court further ordered. It granted four weeks time to the state counsel for filing a counter affidavit and directed that the matter be listed after four weeks. The petitioner said that on September 1 last year, he had requested the Principal Secretary (Home) that he has not been provided the necessary documents to defend himself properly in the departmental inquiry against him on charges of misconduct, taking part in dharnas and filing PILs. Previously, the Central Administrative Tribunal had rejected his petition in this regard, after which he moved the High Court. Even as Maharashtra government today sought to dispose of a plea that demanded reduction in weight of students' school bags, saying that it has already issued a circular to this effect, the Bombay High Court said it would wait for implementation of this policy by the state. A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Reveti Mohite Dere was hearing a PIL filed by social activist Swati Patil on rising weight of school bags and its adverse impact on the health of children. As per the directives of the HC, the state has already issued a circular to schools on the recommendations of a committee on reduction of weight of school bags to be carried by students to schools. The state also informed the HC that it had also fixed responsibility on principals and school management to follow this and take action against those not obeying this rule. The government urged for disposal of the petition but the HC said it would prefer to keep the matter pending as it would like to see how the policy on reduction of weight bags is being implemented in schools and whether action was being taken against those not following this rule. On last occasion, government pleader Anjali Helekar had said there are 1.06 lakh schools in the state and hence it would take some time to inform them about the circular. The HC then suggested that the state inform them through e-mail. Soon after the petition was filed, government had appointed a committee which submitted several recommendations. As per the panel's report, students are lugging school bags 20-30 per cent heavier than what children of their age should carry. Because of this, around 60 per cent students below the age of 10 suffer from orthopaedic as well as stress- induced ailments, it said. The committee recommended that one book should be used for three months for each subject and the textbook weight can be reduced by using less weight paper and no hardcover. Further, it suggested use of e-classroom, audio-visual technology and other modern means for teaching. In view of the increasing rate of cyber crime in the country, IIT Kanpur is set to establish a 'Cyber Security Centre' in Bengaluru along with Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS). According to IIT(K) Director, Professor Indranil Manna, IIT and KEONICS agreed to be strategic partners in this regard and official documents will be signed on January 31. The decision was taken after a discussion with KEONICS chairman U B Venkatesh and Managing Director Rajkumar Srivastava during their visit to IIT Kanpur, Professor Manna said. He said that from students to police officials, all can be trained in cyber security at the Bengaluru-based centre. Professors from Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur) and cyber experts will provide training at the centre. For this purpose, laboratories will be constructed in both the cities, Manna said. He added that the centre will be a first-of-its-kind where cyber security will be taught in depth. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today called on Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and said India highly appreciates his statesman-like approach towards national reconciliation. "Not only Sri Lanka, but we in New Delhi also highly appreciate the speech made by Your Excellency in Parliament last week," Jaishankar said when he paid a courtesy call on the President at the Presidential Secretariat today. According to the Presidential office, Jaishankar conveyed congratulations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the President's one year in office and said India highly appreciates his statesman-like approach towards national reconciliation. Sirisena, who was elected last year after his stunning electoral victory over strongman Mahinda Rajapaka, has vowed to achieve lasting peace in Sri Lanka so that all communities can "live as one". He has expressed satisfaction with the reforms he introduced over the past year to achieve national reconciliation, including with minority Tamils. The President conveyed his greetings to the Indian Premier and said that he has great regards for Modi, with whom he has a personnel bond as well, it said. "After our close rapport during my visit to New Delhi and Modi's visit to Sri Lanka, we also met at international gatherings such as the UN, CHOGM and Climate Summit in Paris," President Sirisena said. The President thanked India for the assistance provided in areas such as economic development, rehabilitation and resettlement, railways, power and expansion of the Palali airport and Kankasanthurai port. He said he was looking forward to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj when she visits Colombo next month to attend the Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Meeting. The President said frequent visits by leaders are helpful not only to strengthen cooperation but also to dispel some media disinformation. Jaishankar, who arrived here from the Maldives yesterday, also met with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Earlier, at a meeting with the main Tamil party TNA, the Foreign Secretary assured them that concerns of the Tamil minority would be conveyed to Prime Minister Modi. Jaishankar held talks with the TNA leader R Sampanthan who is also the leader of the opposition. The Indian High Commission in a release said the visit was part of the ongoing high level engagements between India and Sri Lanka. Jaishankar also met former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama and Chitranganee Wagiswara, Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An India-born businessman is planning to run for the post of mayor of a city in Alabama, saying he has the vision to help make the city among the best in the US, according to a media report. Hanu Karlapalem, 51 is expected to formally announce his candidacy at an event in Madison, one of Alabama's fastest growing cities. Born in Andhra Pradesh, Karlapalem now runs a network solutions business, Vinhamz, in Madison, in Alabama state of southeastern US. "I bet you cannot find any Indian American in city, state or local offices in the South," Karlapalem was quoted as saying in website AL.Com. "If (the voters) decide I am the right person to lead this city, that would be a historic election, not only in Madison, but in the state of Alabama," Karlapalem said. He said in the report that he has a better vision for Madison than incumbent Mayor Troy Trulock and would like to see Madison become the number one small city in America. "This city is one of the most intelligent and best educated cities yet we are not even at the top 10 in the nation," said Karlapalem, saying Madison has fallen behind on improving roads, increasing job growth and internal communication. "We are 10 to 15 years, even 20 years behind," he said of roads in particular. Karlapalem also cited last year's incident of 57-year-old Indian citizen Sureshbhai Patel in Alabama sustaining severe injuries after he was pinned to the ground by a police office responding to a neighbor's call about a suspicious pedestrian. "That incident was very tragic, painful and emotional," said Karlapalem, who lives a mile and half from the Patel's home in west Madison, although he said he does not know the Patels. "But one incident cannot define the department, the City of Madison, nor the state of Alabama. I want to focus on the positive side of Alabama," said Karlapalem. "The fact that I am running is proof that Madison, Alabama, is one of the most tolerant, diverse cities," said Karlapalem.. Karlapalem had first considered running for mayor last March and said he has served on an elected board for the University of Alabama in Hunstville alumni, was president of the local Indian association for Huntsville and Madison and has served on the board of the international exchange programs Global Ties Alabama and International Services Council of Alabama. He said he would use his experience to "promote a culture of diplomacy" and feels he could do a better job communicating with the city council. Karlapalem suggested several ideas for Madison, including citizen advisory councils for each city council district, a small business incubator, a board for supporting veterans and a youth council to advise city leaders, the report said. India today condemned the terror attack in Istanbul in which at least 10 people were killed and asserted that it unequivocally opposes terrorism in all its forms. "The Government of India strongly condemns the suicide attack that occurred in Istanbul yesterday. India unequivocally opposes terrorism in all its forms and expresses solidarity with the Government and the people of Turkey. "We extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to those injured in this despicable act," an External Affairs Ministry statement said. A suspected member of Islamic State (IS) group killed 10 people, at least eight of them German tourists, in the suicide bomb attack in the Turkish city of Istanbul yesterday. India's trade deficit with China touched a whopping USD 44.87 billion last year and its exports shrank to USD 13.38 billion as bilateral trade registered a marginal increase, totalling USD 71.64billion, missing the USD 100 billion target set by the leaders of the two nations. The total India-China trade in 2015 amounted to USD 71.64 billion, officials here told PTI quoting release by the Chinese customs. The bilateral trade registered a marginal increase compared to USD 70.59 in 2014. This year China's exports went up to USD 58.25 billion while India's export to China was pegged at USD 13.38 billion, declining from USD 16.4 billion in 2014. While Indian exports continued to decline due to fall in the iron oreand decreasing demand in view of China's slowdown as well as restrictions on exports, it was also attributed to rising dollar which Indian exporters say is having a negative impact on their profits. Indian officials say that the trade deficit is more than USD 48 billion if the unofficial trade between the two countries is taken into account. As the deficit issue continue to be a point of friction between the two countries, India is pressing China to open up more of its markets to IT and Pharmaceuticals which are India's main strengths. While China continue to promise to look into the Indian demand, the fall of exports show that there is little improvement. India and China agreed to form a special task force during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's to Beijing in May this year to review the deficit issue. But officials say that it has not met so far. In view of the continued deficit problem, India has been pressing China to step up investments in 'Make in India' and other infrastructure projects. So far Chinese investments amounted to around USD three billion according to Development Research Centre of China. The overall trade between them missed the deadline of USD 100 billion trade set by the leaders of the two countries. Officials say that the marginal increase in trade this year showed that it will be an uphill task to reach the USD 100 billion landmark. The maximum India-China trade recorded was about USD 77 billion in 2011. Generally the Indian exports have been declining due to fall in the iron oreand decreasing demand in view of China's slowdown as well as restrictions on exports. Also, the impact of the appreciation of the dollar on yuan and rupee in both the counties is yet to be seen. Yuan has declined by about 8 per cent last year. The deficit issue, however, continue to be a point of friction between the two countries as India has been pressing China to open up more of its markets to IT and pharmaceuticals which are India's main strengths. Officials say despite promises by the Chinese government not much openings to the Indian industries have been provided so far. In view of the continued deficit problem, India has been insisting on China to step up investments in 'Make in India' initiative and other infrastructure projects to compensate India's trade deficit. Chinese officials say China's investments over the years in India has climbed to USD four billion. But according to official data, the Chinese investments in India in 2015 was about USD 800 million. But at the same time officials of both the countries say that there is lot of interest among Chinese investors and the investments in India are expected to pick up this year. The government plans to bid out eight to 12 ultra mega power projects of generation capacity 4,000 MW each in two-and-a-half years, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said today. "The government is working on 12 UMPPs. We will be bidding out anywhere between 8-12 UMPPs in another two or two and a half years depending on the support we get from the state governments," Goyal said here. Goyal also exuded confidence that in the next three to six months at least four ultra mega power projects would be bid out. "We are trying to move these UMPPs in plug and play mode so that the investors have minimum problem," he said at the India Japan strategic dialogue being held here under the aegis of industry chamber CII. The minister said that government has already approved one set of documents related to the fresh UMPP bids and another set of UMPPs is under finalisation. The minister is on a visit to Japan to attend the eighth India-Japan Energy Dialogue from January 12-14. Goyal further said that Japan has 70-80 per cent of lighting from LEDs, "we are targeting 100 per cent LED penetration in India by 2019." He invited Japanese companies to "Come to India, Make in India and Conserve Energy in India." Goyal informed that the US and Europe with just 10-12 per cent of the world's populations have contributed 50 per cent of green house gas emissions, while India contributes only 2.5 per cent with 17 per cent of population. He demanded that developed countries should support the developing and emerging economies with green tech, low cost finance to keep our energy costs affordable "Climate justice demands that developed world reassess its lifestyle and consumption of electricity and petroleum products" Goyal added. Earlier during the day, the Minister attended three conferences on Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances & LEDs and Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining- Energy Audit in Refineries. He will also participate in two roundtable conferences to be held on the theme of Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters on Thursday. India will take a call on going ahead with the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan after tonight's meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. "The decision(on FS talks) will be taken after the meeting," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters tonight after Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met Swaraj. The hectic consultations followed the detention of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and "several individuals" of his terror outfit suspected to be behind the Pathankot attack on January 2. However, Swarup said there has been no official confirmation of the "arrest" of Azhar. Indian women peacekeepers serving in the UN mission in Liberia have been a source of inspiration for the country's girls, the contingent's commander has said while terming women as "agents of change". The 125-strong women peacekeepers of the Indian Formed Police Unit (FPU), serving with the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) since their deployment in 2007, will finish their tour of duty in February. Contingent Commander of the Indian Formed Police Unit Commandant Madhu Bala said in the last nine years, the Indian women peacekeepers had become a source of inspiration for the women and girls in Liberia due to their dedication and service. "People in Liberia have been inspired by our women peacekeepers. Since our deployment in 2007, the interest of Liberian women and girls to join law enforcement agencies has increased. Definitely our women have been the source of inspiration for them," Madhu told PTI in a phone interview from Liberia. As the contingent prepares to depart Liberia, Madhu encouraged women and girls in the country to step forward and be a part of the system. "Women in Liberia can bring a change in society, they should actively participate in the peace process as everybody has a role to play. They should come forward and assume their responsibility with greater confidence," she said. She underscored that in all fields of peacekeeping women peacekeepers had proven that they can perform the same role with the same high standards and under the same difficult conditions as their male counterparts. Noting that till date only India and Bangladesh have deployed all-women formed police units to UN peacekeeping operations, Madhu said that other UN member states should also consider deploying female peacekeepers. "Deploying women peacekeepers can bring a broad range of benefits both to the mission and to the host country's women as well," Madhu said adding that women are "agents of change" and can make a positive impact on peacekeeping environment. Outlining some of the challenges the peacekeepers faced, she said Ebola was a big challenge in 2014 but they carried out their duties with dedication. "We remained committed to the security situation and did not deviate from our duty and mandate. None of the peacekeepers wanted to go back and were committed to performing their duty," she said. The women peacekeepers were last month honored with medals for their courage and service in maintenance of peace and security in the West African country. Addressing the Indian peacekeepers, Special Representative of the Secretary-Generalfor Liberia Farid Zarif had expressed his gratitude to the soldiers for their "courage and dedication" in serving Liberia during its time of distress. India is the largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping operations, with nearly 180,000 troops having served in 44 of the 69 peacekeeping operations so far. Describing its relationship with India as "unique and special", Israel today said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's upcoming two-day visit to Tel Aviv from January 17 is part of a "bigger picture" congruence of interests in areas of defence, counter-terrorism and trade, among others. Israeli Ambassador Daniel Carmon called bilateral defence cooperation between the two nations as "central pillars" of the relationship, asserting his country was strongly committed to the 'Make in India' initiative in defence manufacturing through technology transfer and joint ventures. Swaraj will also visit Palestine during the trip. "We attach great importance to the visit. This visit is becoming part of what we gradually are trying to see as routine high-level visits and part of tightening of relationship that we are witnessing in the last few years," Carmon said. In Tel Aviv, Swaraj will have meetings with President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Minister of Defence Moshe Ya'alon, Minister of National Infrastructure Yuval Steinitz and Israeli legislators. The Israeli envoy, replying to a question, said the relationship between India and Israel is evolving and that it was more visible in the last-year-and-half. "The visibility is not only ceremonial. The visibility brings with it more activities," he said. Carmon said, "We walk the walk, we talk the talk, visit each other. Because it is a very unique relationship." Issues of mutual interest including ways to enhance cooperation in defence, counter-terrorism, agriculture and water sector will be discussed during the visit. The envoy said Swaraj will be briefed about the current situation in West Asia. "The defence cooperation for many years has been central pillars of relationship. The changing world, changing parameters, changing needs are always something that is on the top of our agenda and always on our radar," he said. He also referred to tests of Barak 8 missile, both in India and Israel, as shining example of joint ventures in the defence spehere. India is Israel's largest buyer of military hardware. It has supplied various weapons systems, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles over the last few years but the transactions have largely remained behind the curtains. "The defence relationship between India and Israel is way beyond buyer's and seller's relationship. It is something which is much much deeper. It is based on shared challenges and experiences that we both have. "This is the beauty of the relationship. The defence cooperation is something which benefits national defence interests of both the countries," he said, adding Israel will adopt a very flexible approach towards Make in India initiative in the defence sector. Asked about possible visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India later this year and a return visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Tel Aviv, the envoy said announcements will be made at appropriate time. Pesident Pranab Mukherjee had gone to Tel Aviv in October last year, becoming the first Indian Head of State to visit the Jewish nation. Referring to the pact on counter terrorism and homeland security between the two countries, the envoy said both India and Israel have suffered because of terrorism and that concerted efforts were required to combat the menace. He identified police modernisation, training of personnel and sharing of technology as areas of cooperation in the sphere of homeland security. Asked about the Pathankot attack, he said Israel condemned all kinds of terrorism and added his country will not do anything which is not in India's interests. He refused to respond to questions on Indo-Pak ties and whether Israel has offered assistance to probe the Pathankot attack. On whether India can mediate to ease Israel's difficult relationship with Iran and Palestine, he said "Iran does not recognise existence of Israel." "Iran is a country that stirs instability in West Asia. Iran is supporting Hamas. It is state-sponsored terrorism." On reports about Israeli businesses being unhappy in getting clearances for various projects in India, Carmon said it has been a general view of businessmen from many other countries as well. At the same time, he said, the Indian government was doing its best to address the issues. The Israeli envoy identified agriculture and water as two major areas where cooperation can be extended significantly. He said Israel was setting up centres of excellence in 10 states for agriculture. These centres, he said, can be model for other countries as well. A British coroner has set February 29 as the opening date for an inquest into the death of a Russian businessman who was helping investigate an alleged USD 230 million money-laundering fraud against a London hedge fund. Alexander Perepilichny, 44, collapsed and died in November 2012 while jogging near his house in southern England. He had provided investigators with documents on an alleged scheme by Russian officials to defraud Hermitage Capital. Two autopsies failed to establish a cause of death, though police said there was no evidence to suggest foul play. At a hearing today in Woking, south of London, coroner Richard Travers said he was "determined" the long-delayed inquest would begin next month. British inquests are held to establish the facts in cases of violent or unexplained death. Urging Japanese companies to invest and manufacture products in India, Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of bilateral relationship. "Energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of our relationship," Goyal said while addressing at the Institute of Energy Economics Japan in Tokyo today. Goyal is on a visit to Japan to attend the 8th India-Japan Energy Dialogue from January 12 to 14. This is the first ministerial level visit from India to Japan after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited India in December 2015. "We invite Japanese companies to come to India, Make in India and Conserve Energy in India", Goyal tweeted. "Japan has 70-80 per cent of lighting from LEDs, we are targeting 100 per cent LED penetration in India by 2019," a Power Ministry release quoted Goyal as saying. Speaking on climate change, Goyal said, "USA & Europe with just 10-12 per cent of the world's populations have contributed 50 per cent of green house gases emissions while India contributes only 2.5 per cent with 17 per cent of population." The developed countries should support the developing & emerging economies with green technology, low cost finance to keep energy costs affordable, he said. "Climate justice demands that the developed world reassess its lifestyle and consumption of electricity and petroleum products", Goyal added. Earlier in the day, Goyal attended three roundtable conferences on Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances & LEDs and Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining- Energy Audit in Refineries. He will also participate in two roundtable conferences to be held on the theme of Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters on Thursday. Earlier in the day Goyal tweeted, "South grid capacity increased 71 per cent in last 18 months. Investing Rs 42,950 crore to increase it by almost 3 times by 19-20 to ensure cheap power. The commander of the naval force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards today said he was "awaiting orders" on the fate of 10 detained US sailors and that Tehran wanted an apology. Admiral Ali Fadavi said on state television that "unprofessional conduct" had led to the incident with the sailors and two US boats near Farsi island. "Naturally in territorial waters of the country any naval craft should announce their presence beforehand, especially if they are military," Fadavi said. "They didn't show much resistance but later the US aircraft carrier for 40 minutes showed unprofessional conduct and demonstrated air and sea movements that showed their lack of commitment to the security of the region," Fadavi added, without being specific. However he hinted that the sailors could soon be released, confirming that Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was involved in talks to see them freed. "The process will definitely not take very long, and as soon as we receive orders the Guards naval force will act accordingly," Fadavi said. "Mr Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr (John) Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologise," he said, referring to the US Secretary of State. In a statement early today the Guards said they had detained the sailors and their patrol craft. At 16:30 Tuesday, two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," an official statement said. "Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces, and they are in good health," it added. Two aircraft carriers -- the USS Harry S. Truman and France's Charles de Gaulle -- were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the statement said. The Iranian Fars agency, which is close to the Guards, reported that the "violating boats were two kilometres inside Iranian territory". "This information was recorded on their GPS devices, and the Guards are holding that information," it said. The final implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is expected by Sunday, Iranian state media said, quoting deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, concluding that Iran had fulfilled its obligations under the agreement, will come out on Friday, broadcaster IRIB quoted Araghchi as saying, paving the way for sanctions to end. The IAEA findings would be followed by "reaching the end of the line and the announcement of the implementation during Friday, Saturday and Sunday," the official IRNA agency quoted Araghchi as saying. There was no immediate confirmation from the IAEA of Araghchi's comments about the timing of "Implementation Day" when the deal comes into effect, but US and European officials have recently said it could be just days away. Araghchi said an announcement about implementation would be made jointly by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Under its July deal with the P5+1 group - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany - Iran agreed to take measures to limit its nuclear activities. One such step was to replace the core of a heavy water reactor at its Arak nuclear site and take other steps to ensure it cannot be used to make atomic weapons. Reports emerged on Monday that Iran had removed the core at Arak, but a top official later denied this was the case, insisting that Tehran was still working on a deal to redesign the reactor with the help of China and the United States. Under the deal Iran has reduced the number of its centrifuges - fast spinning machines that enrich uranium - and transferred the bulk of its low-enriched uranium stockpile to Russia. The IAEA must verify that Iran has fulfilled all of its obligations before sanctions can be lifted. On Monday, President Hassan Rouhani said the country was about to enter "a year of economic prosperity", with sanctions lifted, and said his government had delivered on its promises. "The government is running the country under sanctions not under normal circumstances. God willing, in the coming days we will witness a rolling up of the sanctions scroll in this country," he said. On the back of the nuclear deal - Iran has always denied seeking a bomb - Rouhani wants to make greater inroads in domestic policy. But Rouhani has faced criticism from hardline groups about the nuclear deal, with opponents warning it could lead to "infiltration" by the United States. Iran today released 10 US sailors it had detained in the Gulf, moving within hours to head off a potential crisis as it prepares for the lifting of sanctions. A dramatic series of events started with the sailors - nine men and a woman - being taken into custody after their two patrol boats drifted into Iranian territory late yesterday. US and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which unfolded as Iran prepares to finally implement a nuclear deal with world powers aimed at ending the Islamic republic's long international isolation. After informal talks between Washington and Tehran, a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards, describing the sailors as Marines, was read out on state television confirming they were free. "It was determined that the detained American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally. Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the Gulf," it said. Still images used in the report showed the sailors sitting calmly on Persian rugs. Iran had earlier said they were being well treated. Pictures of the US boats, which had green-and-black camouflage patterns, were also shown. A Pentagon statement confirmed the sailors were free. "There are no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention," it said, adding: "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran." Admiral Ali Fadavi, the naval commander of the Guards, said an investigation established that "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes" and the sailors had entered Iranian territory "due to a broken navigation system". US officials had said one or both of the boats had suffered mechanical problems and been taken to Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf and houses a base of the Guards, which has its own naval units. Radio contact was lost with the two vessels - which US officials said were riverine patrol boats under 20 metres in length - while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. American officials said they had received assurances from Iran that the crews would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations but US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss the incident. Iran's Revolutionary Guards in a statement early today confirmed they had seized two American boats and 10 sailors in "Iranian territory" near the Farsi island in the Gulf. "At 16:30 (1300 GMT) Tuesday, two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," an official statement said. "Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces, and they are in good health and being kept in a proper location," it added. Two aircraft carriers the USS Harry S Truman and France's Charles de Gaulle were both in waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the statement said. The Iranian Fars news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported that the "violating boats were 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) inside Iranian territory". "This information was recorded on their GPS devices, and the Guards have got hold of that information," it said. Afghan security forces inspect a building, used by insurgents to launch an attack on Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Islamic State (IS) jihadists today claimed responsibility for a deadly gun and bomb siege targeting the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city, in the first attack by the group on the Pakistani government. Afghan officials said all three attackers and seven security forces were killed in the brazen assault in eastern Nangarhar province, where the group has made alarming inroads in recent months. The four-hour siege near the consulate comes amid renewed efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, locked in a tussle for supremacy with Islamic State jihadists in Afghanistan. In an Arabic statement released via Twitter, the IS group said two of its fighters blew themselves up at the scene by detonating explosive belts, while a third managed to escape unharmed. "The attack lasted almost four hours during which the consulate building was destroyed and tens of its employees were killed together with a number of officers from the apostate Pakistani intelligence services," the statement said. The toll appeared to be exaggerated, with Islamabad saying officials at the consulate itself are safe and accounted for. The brazen assault sent terrified young students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. "This is first attack claimed by IS against the state of Pakistan," Muhammad Amir Rana, a Pakistani security analyst, told AFP. "This is a highly symbolic attack as the Pakistani consulate is a high-profile installation in Jalalabad." There was no immediate comment on the IS group's claim from Islamabad. In a statement earlier today, Pakistan's foreign office "strongly condemned" the attack on its consulate. "The government of Afghanistan has been requested to thoroughly investigate this incident and bring the culprits to book," the Pakistani government said in a statement. "We have requested that details of the investigation should be shared with us." Islamabad has officially denied that the Islamic State organisation is operating in Pakistan, but authorities have expressed fears the jihadists could find recruits among the country's myriad of Islamist militant groups. In May last year, the IS group claimed responsibility for an attack that claimed the lives of at least 43 members of the Shiite Ismaili minority in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani phoned Pakistan's leader Nawaz Sharif today to assure him of greater security for Islamabad's diplomats in Afghanistan following the attack, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. Washington President Barack Obama used his very last State of the Union address to press for action on unfinished pieces of his agendaincluding universal prekindergarten and offering two years of free commmunity college to most studentsfrom Congress and his successor in the White House. And Obama made it clear he wants to continue to fight to expand access to high-quality math, science, and technology courses, and the training and recruitment of good teachers. He also took a victory lap on a couple of his big K-12 initiativesincluding record high graduation rates and the passage of a long-stalled rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The recently approved Every Student Succeeds Act, a rewrite of the ESEA, made inroads on some of Obamas most cherished priorities, including on early-childhood programs and mathematics and science education. But it fell short of lofty proposals hes outilned in previous addresses to Congress. The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and together, weve increased early-childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering, the president said. In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing pre-K for all, offering every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one, and we should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids. It will likely be up to the next administration to move forward on those initiatives. And some of those policies have been embraced by Democratic presidential contenders, particularly when it comes to early-childhood education and higher education. For its part, the Obama administration will likely spend the next year setting the stage for work, in part through early implementation of ESSA. The new law fails to embrace a host of the administrations most-cherished policy proposalsincluding teacher-evaluation through student outcomes and dramatic school turnarounds.But it enshrines a couple of programs that borrow ideas from the administrations past State of the Union proposals, including the Preschool Development grant program (a $250 million down payment on Obamas $75 billion ask) and resources to train teachers in STEM subjects. Graduation Rates Obama also touted the national graduation rate, which has ticked up every year of his presidency to an all-time high of 82 percent for the 2013-14 school year. Whats more, achievement gaps between historically disadvantaged groups of students and their peers have also gotten smaller since the 2010-11 school year. Obama may be especially proud of that progress, given that he pledged to help alleviate the dropout problem in his very first speech to Congress in 2009 . Experts say, though, that its tough to tell exactly why graduation rates are up and whether or not Obamas policies played a role. And some are concerned that the rising graduation rate on its own doesnt show whether an increasing share of students are exiting high school truly ready for higher education or the workforce. Obama did not mention that scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP, aka the nations report card, have fallen for the first time in two decades. STEM Shoutout Obama hit computer science education a couple times in his speech, kicking it off by saying he wants students to learn how to write computer code. This wasnt science, technology, engineering, and math education or STEMs first appearance in the State of the Union. The president has been championing STEM for several years, most recently with an eye toward ramping up accessibility to computer science. For instance, in his 2011 State of the Union speech, the president called for the recruitment of 100,000 new STEM teachers over a decade an effort he says is halfway complete. He has also been lobbying for a STEM master teacher corps an idea that was authorized for federal funding under the new Every Student Succeeds Act . And last December, Obama became the first president to write a line of code by participating in Code.orgs Hour of Code initiative. And during Computer Science Education Week last month, the White House gathered dozens of educators, programmers, and students for its first ever Computer Science Tech Jam , where participants discussed ways to bring computer science to more K-6 students. ESSA also puts computer science on equal footing with math and English, allowing computer science teachers to access federal funds for professional development, for example. On the technology front, Obama gave a shout-out to recent efforts to revamp the E-rate program. The Federal Communications Commissioncheered on by the presidentpushed through a major overhaul of the E-rate , which helps bring high-speed internet access to schools and libraries across the country. School leaders had complained for years that the programs funding did not keep up with the demands of online testing and emerging technology. Weve protected an open internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online, he said. Higher Education Obamas big higher education ask in last years State of the Union speechfree community college for most studentshasnt been embraced in Congress. But he made it clear he doesnt want to see policymakers drop the ball. We have to make college affordable for every American. Because no hardworking student should be stuck in the red, Obama said. Weve already reduced student loan payments to 10 percent of a borrowers income. Now, weve actually got to cut the cost of college. Providing two years of community college at no cost for every responsible student is one of the best ways to do that, and Im going to keep fighting to get that started this year. That line name-checked income-based repayment, a policy Obama expanded that helps keep borrowers payments steady relative to their incomes. And early in his term, the president signed legislation allowing most students to borrow directly from the U.S. Treasury, instead of using subsidized lenders to do the job . The saving were funneled into the Pell Grant program, which helps low-income students cover college costs. Obama has also sought to simplify the financial aid process , by streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and by giving students information about how much aid they qualify for earlier on in the college-application process, and encouraging more low-income students to go after federal grants and loans. Gun Violence, School Safety Obama also listed protecting our children from gun violence as an unfinished piece of business. At the State of the Union, there was an empty seat next to first lady Michelle Obama to honor the victims of gun violence. When the president unveiled new gun-control measures through executive actions earlier this month, the parents of the victims of the 2012 school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., praised his plans . We are particularly appreciative of the presidents focus on mental health and getting people more access to care, Sandy Hook Promise, an organization started by some Newtown families that pushes for new gun laws, said in response to Obamas proposals. Though mental illness rarely leads to violence, we know that people who lack mental wellness and coping skills can become violent towards themselves or others, and as a country we need to be more educated at recognizing the signs of at-risk behaviors and getting people help. When he unveiled those executive actions a week ago, Obama expressed his disappointment that despite his call in his 2013 State of the Union address for Congress to approve new gun-control measures, lawmakers declined to do so. Last week, the U.S. Department of Education also issued guidance to educators designed to help them ensure that Muslim, Arab, and refugee students dont experience harassment or discrimination based on their race, religion, or national origin. When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesnt make us safer, Obama said. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. Republican Response Its unclear if a Republican successor would pick up where Obama left off. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who delivered the GOP response to the speech, used education as an area to differentiate between the parties. If we held the White House, taxes would be lower for working families, and wed put the brakes on runaway spending and debt, she said. We would reform education so it worked best for students, parents, and teachers, not Washington bureaucrats and union bosses. And Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., an author of ESSA, said in a statement that the new law scales back the federal role in education and puts more faith in local communities and less faith in Washington. ... Its time we applied the same approach to other pressing priorities, including college affordability, he said. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who may be the next House education chairman after Klines retirement, doesnt expect Obamas unfinished business to get any traction. His proposals are going nowhere, she said in an interview. But shes pleased the president signed ESSA, given its emphasis on local control. Assistant editors Liana Heitin and Andrew Ujifusa contributed to this post. President Barack Obama delivers his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Jan. 12. --Evan Vucci/AP Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan today, which Afghan officials said left at least seven members of the security forces dead. In a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, US monitors of militant groups, the "Khorasan Province of the Islamic State" said three of its "soldiers" attacked the consulate in Jalalabad, capital of the volatile province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. It claimed to have killed "dozens" of consulate staff. Afghan officials said seven members of the security forces were killed in the attack. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven people were injured during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad and ended with a gun battle between Afghan security forces and militants. He said that three attackers were killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at around 9 AM. The siege ended when the two gunmen, who had taken position in a guesthouse close to the consulate, were killed at around 12.30 PM local time, Khyogani said. Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the dead included three police and two intelligence service officers, one each from the army and border police. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said. It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistan embassy or consulate in Afghanistan, an official at the Pakistani embassy said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad's perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated, officials said. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up, officials said. The embassy official said all consular staff were evacuated. In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned what it called "the terrorist attack" on its Jalalabad consulate and requested a thorough investigation. An Israeli air raid today in the northern Gaza Strip targeting alleged militants killed one Palestinian and wounded three others, the Israeli army and a Palestinian official said. Israeli aircraft "targeted a terror cell plotting to detonate an explosive device against (military) forces stationed along the border of the northern Gaza Strip," the Israeli army said. It declined to provide further details on the raid. A Gaza health ministry spokesman said one person was killed and three wounded on a beach in the area of Beit Lahiya, located near the Palestinian enclave's northern border with Israel. The spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra, identified the person killed as Musa Abu Zuaiter, 31, and said the casualties were the result of Israeli rocket fire. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, said he was one of its members and vowed revenge. Gun-wielding masked militants from the group were seen attending his funeral in the Jabalia refugee camp. The air raid marks a departure from recent Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, which have usually followed rocket fire from Palestinian militants and have rarely led to casualties. There was no reported rocket fire from Gaza before today's strike, but there have been a number of recent incidents along the Gaza border, including explosions and gunfire targeting Israeli soldiers. "Forces guarding the border with Gaza face a growing threat from hostile terror groups attempting to destabilise the situation on the ground," Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said in a statement following today's strike. Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, ruled by Islamist movement Hamas, have fought three wars since 2008, including a devastating 50-day conflict in 2014. The enclave remains under an Israeli blockade. Senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil warned Israel after the strike that "targeting citizens in Beit Lahiya this morning is playing with fire." The raid comes amid a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank that began in October. The Gaza Strip has remained largely calm, though violent protests have broken out along the heavily guarded border and a number of Palestinians have been killed during clashes with Israeli forces. Israeli prosecutors today called for life sentences for two young Jews convicted last year of burning alive a Palestinian teen, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of the 2014 Gaza war. Prosecutors made the request at a sentencing hearing in a Jerusalem court for the two, who were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street and subsequently killed him. Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the attack on Abu Khdeir but his lawyers say he suffers from a mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time. The court has found that he committed the crime but is yet to rule if he is mentally competent. The two others were 16 when they were charged in 2014 but are now adults. The court's actions are being closely watched at a time of renewed Israeli-Palestinian tensions. A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis began in October. The government today said it will take the help of ISRO and North East Centre for Technology Application and Research (NECTAR) to monitor the progress of National Highways across the country through advanced technology. "NHAI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NECTAR for use of spatial technology for monitoring and managing National Highways, the Road, Transport and Highways Ministry said in a release. "NHAI will take up some pilot projects with both the organisations to identify and finalise actual use and benefits of both satellite data and spatial technology and UAV technology in highway and infrastructure sector," the release said. A 24x7 technical cell would also be set up to provide relevant project specific data using the technology to project report Consultants, Engineers, staff and users, it said. The use of satellite data and geospatial technology will be useful in providing inputs in highway and infrastructure projects for preparation of DPR (detailed project report), prefeasibility status in new alignment, widening of road, monitoring of road segments under construction and Road Asset Management System, it added. NECTAR, Department of Science and Technology uses Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for acquiring aerial images for infrastructure planning. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been entrusted with National Highways Development Project (NHDP), along with other projects for development, maintenance and management of National Highways across the country. "To accomplish this mandate, it is required to use advanced and multiple technologies to expedite project preparation, monitor construction progress, operation and maintenance and optimal management of its assets," it said. According to sources, the road ministry is also mulling deploying a small aircraft to monitor implementation of highway projects specially in tough terrains. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has invited proposals for consultancy services for preparation of feasibility report for acquisition, hiring or taking on rent a fixed wing 8 to 10 seater aircraft. ISRO is the nodal agency appointed by government for Space Technology while NRSC, a part of ISRO, is the focal point for distribution of remote sensing satellite data products in India. The NRSC supplies satellite data products acquired by Indian Satellites and also by the foreign satellite product companies. The government has allowed NHAI to give 10 per cent cashback incentive on toll payments in 2016-17 for FASTag users. The cashback amount for a particular month is credited back to the FASTag account at the beginning of the next month. "Use of FASTag shall increase user convenience from payments without stops at toll plazas, thus saving on time, money and fuel. The online payments shall improve transparency of toll transactions and reduce revenue leakages, thus improving overall efficiency and commercial competitiveness," the statement said further. NHAI is committed to providing safe, smooth and seamless journey to commuters on National Highways, it said, adding that implementation of FASTag is one step that will help realise this goal. Lt Gen (Retd) J F R Jacob, who played a key role in the 1971 war which liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan, died here today at the age of 92 due to "old age complications". Jacob, who was also Governor of Punjab and Goa, breathed his last at the Army Hospital here at around 8 am. He was admitted to the Army's Research and Referral Hospital since January 1 after suffering from pneumonia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his demise and said India will always remain grateful to Jacob for his impeccable service to the nation. He also recalled his association with him. "RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments. "Lt Gen JFR Jacob and I interacted often. Had a memorable interaction when he presented his autobiography to me," he tweeted. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and BJP chief Amit Shah have also condoled his demise. Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag expressed his deepest condolences towards this great loss, a statement by the Army said. He said that Jacob was a pillar of military leadership and personified the best qualities of a soldier and a statesman who will always be remembered as one of the most prominent Leaders in the annals of Indian military history. Jacob had negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka after the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war when, as Major General, he served as the Chief of Staff of Indian Army's Eastern Command. Born in 1923 in Bengal Presidency under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 in 1942 and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978. Post retirement, he joined BJP and headed its ex-servicemen wing. He was appointed Governor of Goa during Vajpayee government and then Governor of Punjab. He was also the Administrator of Union Territory of Chandigarh. During his stint as Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, he would often conduct check in government offices unannounced. He authored two books - 'Surrender at Dacca: Birth of a Nation' and 'An Odyssey in War and Peace: An Autobiography Lt Gen J F R Jacob'. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) today said it has signed an agreement with the union government to provide approximately Rs 1,000 crore (19,064 million Japanese Yen) as official development assistance (ODA) loan. The loan is for the development of sewage collection and treatment infrastructure in Pune city and 13 adjoining villages and the Cantonment area. "The assistance will facilitate construction of sewer lines, pumping stations and treatment plants for treatment of the sewage before its discharge into Mula and Mutha rivers, thereby mitigating river pollution and enhancing the living environment in Pune and adjoining areas," JICA said in a statement. The sewage volume being treated currently is about 476 million liters per day (MLD), while the sewage volume generated is about 728 MLD. JICA's assistance will entail construction of a sewer network of over 113 km, 4 sewage pumping stations and 11 sewage treatment plants of 396 MLD combined capacity, to cater to population increase over the ensuing 30 years. Civil works for development of the sewerage system will be carried out by Pune Municipal Corporation, and are scheduled for completion by 2021. JICA will also assist in designing of the sewerage network, management of its construction and application of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Management Information System (MIS) for capacity building of the Pune Municipal Corporation for subsequent operation and maintenance. JICA has extended approximately Rs 6,500 crore (124,332 million Japanese Yen) in concessional ODA loans for improvement of sewerage facilities in various parts of India. Projects supported by JICA include Yamuna Action Plan for abatement of pollution in river Yamuna through sewerage system development across Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh; abatement of pollution in Hussain Sagar Lake at Hyderabad through sewerage system development; and sewerage system development at Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Guwahati. Many parts of Kashmir were engulfed in a thick layer of fog this morning even as the minimum temperature went down at most places in the Valley where there is a forecast for isolated rainfall today. A dense layer of fog covered many areas of the Valley, including summer capital Srinagar, affecting visibility as motorists negotiated the roads with caution in the poor light. There was no fog, however, around the airport on the outskirts of the city here and flight operations did not suffer disruptions. "There is no fog this side and flight operations went on normally," said an official at Srinagar International Airport. The mercury in Srinagar dropped by nearly two degrees from a low of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius the previous night to settle at a low of minus 2.5 degrees, said a Meteorological Department spokesman here. There was a dip by nearly three notches in the minimum at the famous tourist resort of Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp during the annual Amarnath Yatra, he added. The mercury settled at minus 4.9 degrees at Pahalgam as against the previous night's minus 2.1 degrees, the spokesman said. There was a drop of 1.6 degrees in the night temperature in north Kashmir's Kupwara town as it recorded a low of minus 3.1 degrees. Kokernag in south Kashmir registered a low of minus 2.2 degrees as compared to the previous night's minus 1.4 degrees, the spokesman said. While the minimum temperature stayed at minus 2.8 degrees -- same as the previous night -- in Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir Valley, the mercury rose by a degree at the ski- resort of Gulmarg, which recorded a low of minus 5 degrees. In the frontier region of Ladakh, Leh recorded a low of minus 13.2 degrees while nearby Kargil town registered a minimum of minus 12.4 degrees, over two notches up from the previous night's minus 14.8 degrees. Leh was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesman said. The MeT office said there is a possibility of isolated rainfall in the plains of the Valley today while the higher reaches may receive light snowfall. The weather is expected to remain mainly dry for four days from tomorrow. Kashmir is in the midst of the 40-day-long harshest phase of winter, which began on December 21 and will continue till the end of this month. Known locally as 'Chillai-Kalan', the chance of snowfall is most frequent and maximum during this period. The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day 'Chillai-Khurd' (small cold) and a 10-day 'Chillai Bachha' (baby cold). Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today met the families of the security personnel and a taxi driver gunned downed by terrorists in Pathankot and announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each to their next of kin. The AAP leader held a meeting with the families of Havildar Kulwant Singh, Honorary Capt Fateh Singh and taxi driver Ikagar Singh Kulwant and Fateh, who belonged to Chak Sharif village and Jhanda Gujjran village, in Gurdaspur district, laid down their lives fighting terrorists who had attacked the Pathankot Air Base. Taxi driver Ikagar Singh was killed by terrorists, a day before the militants attacked the Air Force base.Ikagar Singh was native of Bhagwal village in Pathankot. Kejriwal announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each on behalf of the party to the next of kin of three deceased. Extending his condolences to the family members, he said, "It was a big loss...Today we can sleep at our homes with peace as our soldiers protect the frontiers. The martyrs have done a great job to protect the prime Pathankot Air Base which was struck by terrorists". "They fought for the country," he said, adding the "entire country is proud of them". Kejriwal, whose party is eyeing to wrest power in the 2017 assembly polls in Punjab, is scheduled to address a political conference on the occasion of Maghi Mela in Muktsar tomorrow. He will spend the night in Bathinda district today, a party spokesman said. Senior AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Such Singh Chhotepur, Ashutosh and H S Phoolka accompanied Kejriwal during his meeting with the families. AAP is aiming to "repeat the historic win of Delhi polls in Punjab". The party did well in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, winning four of the 13 seats. Kejriwal had earlier visited Punjab in October when the state was hit by protests due to incidents of sacrilege. The Kerala government today said the Centre should take stern action to bring Italian Marine Massimiliano Latorre, who along with his colleague Salvatore Girone is accused of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, to face trial in the country. "State government does not agree to Italy's move not to send back Massimiliano Latorre to India. The Centre should take stern action to bring him to India to face trial," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "State will bring this matter before Prime Minister and seek his intervention," Chandy said, referring to media reports that Latorre will not return to India. "It is the duty and responsiblity of the country to defeat all efforts of the accused to escape the law of the land after killing two hapless fishermen," Chandy said. The Chief Minister also said that earlier attempts of the accused to remain in Italy after going there was foiled due to stern intervention of the Centre at that time. "Ambassador of Italy was summoned then and instructed to bring them back. They returned to face trial," he pointed out. The Supreme Court today extended the stay of Latorre in Italy till April 30 and asked the government to apprise it of the status of international arbitration proceedings in the case. The marines, who were on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', are accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012. The court, in August last year, had extended the stay of Latorre, who underwent a heart surgery in Italy, by another six months. Latorre, who had suffered a brain stroke on August 31, 2014, was allowed by the apex court on September 12, 2014 to go to Italy for four months and after that extensions have been granted to him. The complaint against the Italian marines was lodged by Freddy, owner of the fishing boat 'St Antony', in which the two Indian fishermen were killed when the marines opened fire on them allegedly due to misconception that they were pirates. Girone, the other accused, is in the country and Italy has been seeking his return as well. Reality Tv star Khloe Kardashian found herself unexpectedly grounded at a Las Vegas, Nevada airport after the plane she was flying in had an emergency landing. The 31-year-old "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star was on a plane travelling from Los Angeles to New York City when the terrifying incident occurred. Minutes after take off pilots reported smoke was in the cockpit. To maximise passengers' safety, the plane's captain then decided to reroute and land in Las Vegas, where the aircraft touched down around 3:30PM local time. No injuries were reported and everyone on the plane is believed to be in sound health following the occurrence, and Kardashian assured fans on Twitte that she and her make-up artist friend Joyce Bonelli were fine as well. "Supposed 2b (sic) in NYC but somehow I'm in Vegas NYC I'm trying to get there. Emergency landing but Joyce and I are SAFE," she wrote. Why ESSAs biggest impact will be felt outside the classroom A guest post by Dr. Stephan Knobloch As an educator who specializes in research, I often counsel school administrators and teachers who are frustrated by what they see as complex and confusing federal and state policy requirements affecting their students. As the nations schools open their doors on 2016, I wonder how many school leaders share a similar sentiment when trying to wrap their post-holiday brains around the vast and uncertain implications of the recently passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The bipartisan passage of ESSA introduced a handful of ambitious reforms meant to distance federal education law from its stagnant and much-maligned predecessor, No Child Left Behind (NCLB). You know the broad strokes: ESSA gives more power to states in defining success and failure. The new law is also committed to dialing back NCLBs over-reliance on standardized tests as the primary measure of schools and students success. No matter where you stand, these are potentially transformative reforms. Of course, history tells us that what a law intends to do and what it actually does may be worlds apart. The hoped-for results of reform are often lost in translation. Even the most optimistic educators are frustrated by ambitious yet ineffective education policy . Doubtful of substantive change, many feel a dangerous temptation to disregard the sentiment of positive reform and simply tick the checkbox of federal compliance. In the case of ESSA, such actions would be egregiously shortsighted. While it will be years before schools can accurately gauge the impact of the new law on the quality of American education, certain elements of the reauthorization pave the way for progress. Beyond Testing: Looking at the Whole Student Perhaps the biggest knock on NCLB--and arguably, the most warranted--was that it put far too much stock in standardized tests. Schools had little choice: Improve reading and math scores or spend the foreseeable future fighting the stigma of failure. Recall NCLBs required 100% pass rate by 2014. The number of failing schools rose, legislators were slow to respond, and waivers followed. In its efforts to turn around low-performing schools, the federal government has historically measured success through purely academic indicators. But we know now that this isnt the surest, or most comprehensive, litmus test of performance. ESSA forces turnaround leaders to take a broader view of school improvement by expanding the lens of success to other non-academic indicators, such as school culture and professional development. Such factors have an effect on academic performance, though their impact takes considerable time and patience to effectively measure. If youre looking for a quick statistical fix, these changes wont likely do you much good. But if its substantive change youre after, give it some time: Such indicators could pay significant dividends down the road. Expanding the Scope of Community Engagement It isnt just the scope of student performance thats wider under ESSA. The new law deliberately expands the scope of accountability beyond yearly testing metrics to include other non-academic factors, such as school climate and student engagement. These legislative changes couldnt have come at a better time. Across the country, students, parents, and community members are starved for greater involvement in public education. A quick online search for the terms parent engagement and transparency reveals a stark and persistent disconnect between many of our best schools and the communities they serve. Purposefully listening to students and parents or guardians through focus groups and research-backed surveys can produce meaningful, actionable data that helps school leaders address the challenges confronting them. These types of feedback tools are not new. But school leaders using them for authentic listening, community engagement, and trust building is new, and can make the difference. After 15 years, its natural to wonder whether NCLBs focus on student testing is at least partly to blame for the level of neglect we see in other key aspects of public education. Its not difficult to understand why so many educators are inclined to take a wait-and-see-approach on ESSA. The previous decade has not exactly instilled confidence in the ability of legislators to improve public education. The jury is still out on the new law. But we neednt wait for history to define its legacy. Lets embrace this opportunity to redefine school success. Lets use ESSAs new, more holistic approach to engage the public in the positive transformation of public education. Hows that for a New Years resolution? Dr. Stephan Knobloch, the former director of research for Loudoun County Public Schools (VA) is senior vice president of research at Virginia-based K12 Insight . Kuwait's parliament today passed legislation to regulate all web-based "professional" media, a day after a controversial cybercrimes law came into effect. All forms of electronic media like internet-based news services, bulletins, publications, newspaper and television station portals and commercial services are subject to the new law. Thirty-seven members including cabinet ministers voted for the law and four MPs opposed it. Those who voted against the legislation said it would further curtail freedom of speech and expression. "I believe that the government wants to use this law like the to curb freedoms," said MP Jamal al-Omar, who added that the legislation breaches the Gulf state's constitution. Information Minister Sheikh Salman Humoud al-Sabah said the law only regulates the web media and does not apply to personal accounts like blogs. Under the law, all web-based publications require a government licence and their violations will be referred to the country's media law which stipulates jail terms for several offences. Amnesty on Tuesday denounced a "repressive" cybercrimes law in Kuwait, warning that it would further muzzle free speech. The law, which took effect on Tuesday, criminalises online expression including criticism of the government, religious figureheads or foreign leaders. Dozens of people in Kuwait have already been arrested and prosecuted -- some jailed -- under other legislation for comments made on social media sites such as Twitter. The cybercrimes law, passed by parliament in June, stipulates 10-year jail terms and fines of up to $165,000 for online crimes, especially those related to terrorism. Creating a website for a "terrorist" group or publishing news about the group on the Internet to try to raise funds carry a punishment of 10 years in jail. Twenty two residents of Vejalpur area of the city today moved the Gujarat High Court against proposed acquisition of their properties for the North-South corridor of Metro rail project. A bench of Justices Harsha Devani and G B Shah issued notices to the state-run 'Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad' (MEGA), Gujarat government, the Collector and two agencies engaged for conducting social impact assessment for the project. The petitioners claim that acquisition of their houses and shops by MEGA is not in accordance with Land Acquisition Act of 2013. MEGA is not ready to provide anything beyond the cash compensation which is a violation of the Act, they say. In addition to the cash, resettlement and rehabilitation are also a part of the scheme of compensation, says the petition. The Social Impact Assessment Study too is incorrect and wasn't conducted as per Land Acquisition Act, they say. The next hearing would be on January 20. A specialty car manufacturer is recalling the limousine model involved in a 2013 fire that killed five nurses on a San Francisco Bay Area bridge. Accubuilt is recalling about 1,000 limousines manufactured between January 2, 1998, and July 21, 2005, because a rubbing driveshaft may increase the risk of fire. It's unclear if the recall is a result of the California fire in a 1999 Lincoln Town Car limo. A representative of the Lima, Ohio-based company did not return a call for comment today. The California Highway Patrol said the blaze broke out on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge because of a catastrophic failure of the rear suspension system. Authorities said the air suspension failure allowed the spinning driveshaft to contact the floor pan, causing friction that ignited carpets and set the limo on fire. No charges were filed. The fire occurred while a nurse, Neriza Fojas, was celebrating her recent wedding with a group of friends. She was among the five killed. Four other friends inside the limo and its driver survived. The state Public Utilities Commission had authorized the vehicle to carry eight or fewer passengers, but it had nine on the night of the fire. The commission fined the limo operator $1,500 for having more passengers than allowed. Aerial video of the aftermath showed the fire scorched parts of the rear of the limousine. The car's taillights and bumper were gone, and it appeared to be resting on its rims. The remainder of the vehicle didn't appear to be damaged. Festivals of 'Lohri' and 'Bihu' were jointly celebrated with the participation of young students from Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast at a special function organised by the DoNER Ministry here today. Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh, who participated in the twin festivals, said the celebration of the festivals will not only help in reinforcing India's unity in diversity but would also help in bringing close to each other two different remote regions of the country. Since the event was participated by over 40 students from the two regions, Singh said, the impressions acquired by the children will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The Minister said Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast have much in common and it is a providential coexistence that they also celebrate a common festival at the advent of new year with the only difference being in the terms of nomenclature. 'Lohri' was celebrated today all over North India including Jammu and Kashmir while Bihu is being observed in Assam and other parts of Northeast. The first-ever spacewalk on Friday for British astronaut Tim Peake will require a long journey outside the space station to replace a failed power unit while under cover of darkness, NASA has said. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin Friday at 7:55 am (1255 GMT) and end 6.5 hours later. Hoisting a rectangular voltage regulator that would weigh 200 pounds (90 kilograms) on Earth, Peake will have to maneuver more than 200 feet (60 meters) out of the International Space Station airlock to the worksite, the US space agency told reporters yesterday. "It's about as far at the space station as you can go from the airlock, which certainly raises the pucker factor for the crew," said Paul Dum, lead spacewalk officer, in a briefing with reporters. Then, along with American astronaut Tim Kopra, who will be making his third career spacewalk, the duo will have to remove the broken voltage regulator in the dark so that they don't get zapped by any electrical shorts from the solar-powered equipment. NASA isn't exactly sure why the power unit -- one of eight on the ISS -- failed, so they want the astronauts to avoid any danger from potential sparks by doing the work when the space station is doing a night pass. "We need to protect the crew from the power that would come from the array," said Dum. The space station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, and spends 31 of those minutes out of the light of the Sun, according to ISS spacewalk flight director Royce Renfrew. The task should only take about 15 minutes. But the astronauts will have to squeeze into a small area to do their work while wearing bulky space suits and gloves. "Imagine going out with thick winter gloves on and trying to do anything that takes fine dexterity. That is going to be challenging," said Dum. He added that the team has practiced on Earth in a buoyancy lab, and using virtual reality equipment. The outage is similar to a power failure seen in October 2014 involving a sequential shunt unit at the orbiting outpost, said Kenneth Todd, ISS operations integration manager. "From a station perspective, we could live in this state for a while but the reality is if we were to have an additional failure in another channel, we would probably find ourselves a little more strapped," Todd said. "We think it is probably about time to go get this work behind us." Peake will be known as EV 2 (extravehicular spacewalker 2) and will be wearing a white spacesuit. His job is to carry the replacement unit out of the station and over to the work site, and tote the faulty unit back to the airlock. Kopra, wearing red stripes on his spacesuit, will carry the tools and do the removal and installation work. City's centuries-old chikankari craft is facing stiff competition from machine-made cheaper Chinese chikan, threatening livelihood of about five lakh workers involved in this unorganised industry, according to industry body Assocham. The local industry is also suffering due to dearth of skilled manpower and the machine-made Chinese chikan is up to 30 per cent cheaper and consumes less production time, it said. "Lack of awareness together with dearth of skilled manpower is affecting the growth of chikankari as only five per cent of total production is exported while the rest is sold in the domestic market," a sector specific analysis report of Chikankari craft reveals. "Machine-made Chinese chikan is thriving as it can be produced faster as against the handcrafted embroidery where timely delivery of end product is a significant concern as most workers stay in villages around Lucknow. Also, Chines chikan is up to 30 per cent cheap," the report said. Less than even five per cent of chikan manufacturers in the city are into direct exports, it added. As the Chikankari industry is highly fragmented and has been facing significant challenges owing to insufficient market information on export trends, opportunities and prices, scarcity of raw materials, lack of adequate finance and growing competition from mill and factory made products, the industry body said. Building brand image, conducting road shows and craft festivals in target countries and also point of sale publicity through attractive display and banners could help the industry, it said adding that besides them marketing tools like innovative and appealing packaging need to be extensively used. Government facilitation for creation of niche markets for chikan products, opening showrooms and warehouses in select countries according to their current market size, import values and others are certain key suggestions to improve exports of chikankari craft from India. "The government in partnership with private sector needs to encourage integrated enterprise development by providing supporting services such as local centres for skill training, product adaptation, vocational training and entrepreneurship development," Assocham said. The government should offer small, disadvantaged artisans and craft producers an access to global markets with complete support right from product development and manufacturing to export marketing, it added. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which has successfully cracked down on terror elements in recent months, has received an anonymous letter threatening murder of its officers in Pune and Mumbai. "We received an anonymous letter yesterday threatening to kill our officers in Mumbai and Pune. "Inquiry into the matter is on and security has been beefed up around the houses of the officers named in the letter," said a senior ATS officer. Against the backdrop of the ATS's actions in such cases, some of which had an Islamic State angle, there was speculation whether the letter was sent by the dreaded terror outfit although the ATS officer rejected that possibility. In the past couple of months, ATS, particularly its Pune unit, has successfully pursued several terror cases. Recently, the Pune unit had found out about a 16-year-old Muslim girl who had been reportedly radicalised by her Islamic State (IS) contacts abroad and brainwashed into heading for Syria. Wajid Shaikh, one of the four missing youths from Malwani, a suburb of Mumbai, suspected to have joined IS, was also tracked down by the Pune unit of ATS. The ATS has also registered a case against Ayaz Sultan, another youth from Malwani area of the city, who has been missing since October 30. Almost a decade after its rival Gujarat used its coastline to usher in port-led development, Maharashtra will come out with a comprehensive port policy shortly to give a leg-up to the long-neglected sector. "By the end of the month, we will come up with a comprehensive port policy for the state," Maharashtra additional chief secretary for ports Gautam Chatterjee told an industry gathering here today. He said the policy will make the Maharashtra Maritime Board the single point of contact for all the port-related permissions, which will streamline the work for entrepreneurs who now have to go to various departments like revenue, urban development etc. The policy will work towards a "port-led development in conjunction with the Sagaramla project" announced by the Centre, Chatterjee said. The entire spectrum of water transport-based activities, including ports, jetties, shipping lines, shipyards, repair yards etc will be covered by the policy, the official added. It also aims to streamline on the payments front, and seeks to ensure that multiplicity of payments for various taxes and cess are avoided, the official said. Chatterjee declined to give further details of the policy and said the state cabinet is likely to clear the policy by the end of the month. With over 720 km coastline, Maharashtra is home to a 10th of the total coastline of the country but it has only two major ports JNPT, MbPT in the city and a privately developed Jaigad Port in the south besides smaller ones. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been pitching for port-led development. After being the largest port in the country for decades, JNPT has been giving way to other privately developed ports such as Mundra (Adanis) and the state-run Kandla, both in Gujarat, while the once-premier Bombay Port is almost idling now with only some bulk cargo (coal and crude) and a meager auto shipments taking place from the port. Against this, Gujarat has moved faster on this front, mirroring its industrialisation and today is home to three of the busiest ports -- the Mundra and Kandla ports, which are the largest bulk terminals today while the Hazira Port of the Essar group is also doing brisk business. It can be noted that Gujarat, which has less coastlines than Maharashtra, had effectively used its coastline to accelerate economic growth since the first decade of the century which focused on private sector investments and is now home to the largest sea port by cargo volumes at Mundra being operated by the Adani Group. Meanwhile, Chatterjee said a project to operate water transport facilities on the eastern seafront of the financial capital will be awarded soon and is expected to be operational in 18 months. This includes movement of passengers and cars/buses from Bhaucha Dhakka in south-central Mumbai to Nerul in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai and to Raigad district's Mandwa to the southeast, he said. A modern marina will also be coming up at Mandwa, Chatterjee, who retires later this month, said. A 21-year-old man has been charged for vandalising a Gurdwara with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti in a suburb here in December and faces maximum sentence of three years if found guilty. Brodie Durazo has been charged with one felony count of vandalism of a religious property and two misdemeanor counts each of vandalism under USD 400, according to the Orange County district attorney's office, Los Angeles Times reported today. Gurdwara Singh Sabha's board members and community members said in the early hours of December 6, the Gurdwara in Buena Park was vandalised with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti along with a community member's truck in the parking lot, according to the Sikh Coalition. The vandalism prompted an increase in police patrols near the religious center and sparked fear among members of the Sikh community. Durazo is accused of spray-painting graffiti throughout a trailer park where he lives in Orangethorpe Avenue on December 6 and of then going into the property of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple and spray-painting graffiti on a dividing wall between the trailer park and the temple, the report said. Durazo is scheduled to be indicted on February 8. If convicted, prosecutors said, he could face a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. "We believe that the Gurdwara Singh Sabha was vandalised because it is a Sikh house of worship," the coalition's attorney Gurjot Kaur said in a statement at the time. "We call on local and federal agencies to investigate this vandalism as a hate crime and request increased law enforcement security at the Gurdwara immediately," Kaur said. This act of vandalism, in the aftermath of the San Bernardino tragedy, was just the latest in a line of hate crimes against Sikhs in America, Sikh Coalition said in a statement. The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has uncovered a shipwreck deep underwater, officials said today, the second such discovery since the search began almost two years ago. An Australian-led team continues to scour the southern Indian Ocean seabed in hopes of finding the final resting place of MH370, which vanished on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. In July last year, a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) flaperon wing part washed up on a beach on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and was confirmed to be from the ill-fated flight, marking the first concrete evidence that it met a tragic end. Nothing has been found since despite more than 80,000 square kilometres of the seafloor being searched, based on satellite analysis of the jet's likely trajectory after it diverted from its flight path. But another shipwreck -- an iron or steel-hulled vessel believed to have gone down at the turn of the 19th century -- has been discovered some 3,700 metres deep. "On December 19, 2015, an anomalous sonar contact was identified in the course of the underwater search, with analysis suggesting the object was likely to be man-made, probably a shipwreck," said the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC). One of three ships searching for MH370, Havila Harmony, used an autonomous underwater vehicle to further examine the find and captured high-resolution sonar imagery. "The Shipwreck Galleries of the Western Australian Museum have conducted a preliminary review of some sonar imagery and advised that the vessel is likely to be a steel/iron vessel dating from the turn of the 19th century," added JACC. It is the second wreck found during the hunt. In May last year, sonar imagery revealed an anchor, along with other objects searchers said were man-made as well as what are thought to be lumps of coal. Investigators believe MH370 ran out of fuel and crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, sparking one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. Speculation on the cause of the plane's disappearance has focused primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action. Despite the satellite evidence pointing to the plane going down, many Chinese relatives of those on board remain sceptical, and are convinced their loved ones are alive, perhaps being held at an unknown location. Alumni Accuse RI Prep School of Sexual Abuse About 40 former students at a prestigious Rhode Island prep school have made what are being called "credible reports of sexual abuse, and in some cases rape" by former staff and students, The New York Times reports. The accusations span four decades and are aimed at seven former staff members and four students at the St. George's School. The school last month announced it was doing a preliminary investigation and it will soon announce who will take over. St. George School found 26 cases of abuse in the 70's and 80's. Victims' lawyers report another 40. "Together, the school's report ... and the lawyers' reports ... paint a picture of unchecked sexual misconduct at the elite prep school in Middletown," writes The NYT. Not the First Prep school sex scandals are especially scandalous because parents send their children to such schools at great expense for their strong reputations. But the St. George's School scandal is not the first of its kind, and much of the East Coast upper crust is still reeling from the 2012 revelations of extensive sexual abuse at the prestigious Horace Mann School, where 62 victims came forward. Rhode Island police officials have confirmed that they are investigating the school and are encouraging anyone with information to come forward. Police wish to speak to witnesses as well as victims. Lawyers for the victims say that the St. George' School's report is a diluted version of the truth, despite its findings. The school is an Episcopal boarding and day school for boys and girls in grades nine through 12. As The New York Times reported, Carmen L. Durso , a lawyer representing some of the victims, said, "Sexual abuse in education is the clergy-abuse crisis of this decade, if not this century." He predicts we'll be seeing more of these cases in coming years. Durso also predicts that more victims will come forward as news of the abuse spreads. He believes that -- like the clergy-abuse scandal of the last century -- it will take some victims a long time to come to terms with the news and with their own experience of abuse. Consult With an Attorney If you or someone you know has been accused of abuse at school or another institution, talk to an attorney. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or no fee. Related Resources: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the Maharashtra Housing Area and Development Authority (MHADA) will redevelop the decades old BDD chawls in the megapolis. The state government is close to a final decision on the modalities and a final cabinet note will be moved before the state Cabinet by the end of January, Fadnavis said. Replying to queries, he said that the government had held a competition for the architects and the building models selected have been scrutinised. "All hurdles in the way of the redevelopment of the BDD chawls have been cleared. BDD chawl residents will be accommodated in the new redevelopment," the Chief Minister added. "The government has held extensive debate on the contentious issues and a final decision will be taken soon in the state cabinet," he said. BDD chawls are located in Central Mumbai. Meanwhile, when asked to comment upon alleged clean chit given to senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former state minister Chhagan Bhujbal by Minister for Cooperation Chandrakant Patil, Fadnavis clarified that no clean chit was given to Bhujbal. Asked whether he had received any letter from senior Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in this connection, the Chief Minister remarked that he has not received any such letter so far. Replying to queries over reports appearing in a section of media that hardly two to four per cent of budgetary allocations have been spent so far by government departments, Fadnavis clarified that the reports were not true and so far the government has disbursed about 75 per cent of the allocations to the respective departments. Another prominent Maratha leader and BJP MLC Vinayak Mete said the morchas being taken out by the community across were not against dalit community. To counter rallies by Marathas, many dalit organisations have begun staging morchas in Nanded and other parts of the state. Mete clarified the rallies by Marathas are not led by any political party or political leader. "It would be wrong to say that these morchas are being sponsored by the NCP," he said. Referring to SC/ST Atrocities Act, the Shiv Sangram organisation leader said dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar had guaranteed the right to air one's opinion on any Act if its provisions are hurting someone. Earlier, Bharipa-Bahujan Mahasangh leader and Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar urged his dalit community to exercise restraint and not to carry out parallel counter morchas. He said "RSS is deliberately trying to mislead dalit community by arguing that the morchas being taken out by the Maratha community are against them." Hinting that some disgruntled Maratha leaders could be behind organising the rallies, Ambedkar said, "the heat of the government probe into cooperative sector is being felt by some. A handful of 159 families control cooperative sector, whereas others from Maratha community have no toehold in cooperative sector. A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two of her distant relatives at Faridpur village here today, police said. The girl, student of class VIII, had gone out of her home to relieve herself when the incident took place, officials of Mohammadabad police station said. The accused, aged 18 and 22 years, have been arrested and the girl sent for medical examination, police said, adding further probe is on. Moody's has assigned a positive grade to Exim Bank's USD 10-billion medium-term bond issue. "Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has assigned a Baa3 rating to the proposed USD denominated senior unsecured notes issued by Export-Import Bank of India (Exim India) from its USD 10 billion medium-term note programme," Moody's said in a note today. The bonds will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. On the rating rationale, Moody's said the assessment was based on Exim Bank's high dependence as well as high probability of support from the government. Further, Exim Bank's baseline credit assessment takes into account its good liquidity management, strong and continuous capital support from the government as a sole shareholder, besides stable and improving profits, it added. "On the other hand, the standalone credit profile also captures the recent stress in asset quality arising from the overall economic downturn. We expect asset quality to remain under pressure." In addition, it said the ratings to the bond issue can be upgraded depending on assessment of a high likelihood of government support to the bank. However, the rating could be downgraded in the event of a continued deterioration in asset quality. Nagaland Minister for Roads and Bridges, Y Vikheho Swu today said it is high time that Nagas realise to be self dependent instead of continuing to depend only on Central government funding. More than 90 per cent of the state's funds were granted by the Centre. The state has been going through a bad financial condition not only because the Central government was yet to come clear on the NITI Ayog or discontinuation of the special category status from Nagaland, but also because "we are unable to generate our own resources," Swu said. The Minister was addressing a gathering of students and villagers during the inaugural function of a four-day long 44th general conference of Sumi Aphuyemi Kiphimi Kuqhakulu (SAKK) at Asukiqa under Pughoboto sub-division, Zunheboto district of the state, some 70 km from the state capital. SAKK is the apex students' organisation of Pughoboto sub-division comprising of 24 villages. The conference is being held on the theme 'Retrospection our footprints.' The minister was of the view that the educated youths and government employees should go back to the villages and play pivotal role in reviving three basic things in the village councils - village councils need to be strengthened by reviving the system of accountability, transparency and honesty in carrying out different developmental programmes. If such revival takes place and were established properly in the villages, the society would progress and develop, he said. The conference would conclude on January 15. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today greeted Telugu people on the eve of "Makar Sankranti" (Pongal in South India). He asked Telugu people to celebrate the harvest festival, which this year falls on January 15, with joy and fervour. In a press release, Naidu said "Sankranti is a big festival for the Telugu people, particularly the farmers." "The State Government has initiated many schemes for the welfare of farmers and also to promote agriculture as a profitable profession," he said. The Government has launched 'Chandranna Kanuka' scheme, under which the poor people get, at subsided rate, food items like flour, red gram, jaggery, ghee and palm oil to celebrate the harvest festival, he said. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha today said the capitals of all north-eastern states would be connected by rail by 2020 and Agartala would be brought onto the map of broad gauge network by March. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded priority to the development of the north-eastern region and taking the rails to hilly areas is a major challenge for us. "The capitals of the north-eastern states would be connected by rails by 2020 and this capital city (Agartala) would be on the country's broad gauge railway map by March this year," he said here. Sinha today received the first broad gauge trial train here in the presence of state PWD Minister Badal Chowdhury and Transport Minister Manik Dey. He said the construction of 15 km-long railway track to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh "is a top priority". The project is funded by the Government of India for connecting Tripura and West Bengal via Bangladesh, he said. The process of acquiring land in Bangladesh was complete and in India, it would start soon, he said adding a 3.7 km-long railway track on Indian side would be a viaduct (through an elevated corridor) to reduce the cost of acquisition of land. Laying of railway line from Agartala to Sabroom in South Tripura district bordering Bangladesh would be completed by 2018, he said. To a question, the Union Minister said Tripura's demands for setting up a railway division and a railway recruitment board here are genuine but decision on it cannot be taken in a hurry. Nepal's former King Gyanendra Shah has not paid his electricity dues for more than a decade, authorities said today. The state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said today that the last King of Nepal has not paid electricity bill of Nagarjun Palace, his private property for ten years and six months. Gyanendra, who vacated the Narayan Hiti Royal Palace here in 2008, has been living in Nagarjuna Palace, a royal property situated 10 km north of Kathmandu. He has not been paying the electricity dues for the Nagarjuna Palace which he has been occupying since he left the Narayan Hiti royal palace, for ten years and seven months. According to assistant director of NEA Mukunda Man Chitrakar, the staff at Nagarjuna Palace have refused to accept any letter sent by NEA raising the issue of unpaid electricity dues dues. The NEA has run up a loss of Rs 7 million in the last 10 years and seven months. After the staff refused to receive NEA's letters, the electricity authority knocked the doors of Nirmal Niwas, another residence of Gyanendra in Kathmandu, where he used to live until the mysterious royal massacre in Nepal in 2001. Sagar Raj Timilsina, Gyanendra's personal secretary told the NEA officials that the liability comes under the Prime Minister's Office and not the Nagarjuna Palace. Until 2008, the PMO used to pay all the bills and tariffs incurred to the palaces belonging to the royals. As per the Electricity Act, if an ordinary consumer fails to pay electricity bills for two months, his/her power connection will be cut and if any consumer continuously fails to pay bills for another six month, a ban will be placed on sale of his/her private properties for the next three generations. However, no such action has been taken against the former King. "Instead of taking action against him, we decided to collect the tariff, if possible," he said. After the staff at duty at the the Nagarjuna Palace have told NEA official that the government is responsible for paying the bill, the NEA will take next step by knocking the door of the Prime Minister's office, said Chitrakar. A Chinese wireless set was recovered from a vehicle outside the Pathankot Air Force base by National Investigation Agency (NIA) even as sleuths of the agency questioned Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh for the third consecutive day today. NIA officials recovered the wireless set while scanning the area for evidence and clues in connection with its probe on the terrorist attack at the Air Force station, official sources said. The equipment has been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh for analysis, they said. Meanwhile, questioning of Salwinder Singh, a Superintendent of Police-rank officer, continued for the third day at the NIA headquarters. The questioning is continuing to ascertain various facts related to the case, the sources said, adding that Singh is allegedly changing statements quite often. The NIA had also summoned Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Air Force base hours later. Somraj will be joining probe tomorrow, they said. The shrine is located a few kilometres from Bamiyal, the village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated into India before mounting the attack. Six terrorists had attacked the Pathankot base during the intervening night of January 1 and 2. They were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed. Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag today asserted there was total synergy and coordination during the operation against terrorists in Pathankot even as he admitted that some lessons needed to be learnt. The Army chief said he was monitoring the operation but the Western Commander had complete liberty in its planning and execution. He expressed concern over infiltration along the borders with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with BSF, which is manning the area. Suhag said the siege of a building near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif was not connected to the Pathankot attack but added that only a thorough probe would give details. The Army chief indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot air base as he asserted that "no one got in" once the Army cordon was placed along the 24 km-long perimeter wall. Asked what lessons can be learnt from the Pathankot operation, he said there are lessons to be learnt in all operations but he would like to wait for the report by NIA about how the terrorists managed to get in and other lapses. Giving details of the operation, the Army chief said crisis management committee, under National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, met before the Pathankot attack and he had alerted commanders in Northern and Western sectors. He defended the plan to send in NSG, saying "NSG is the best force to deal with hostage situation" and that it "was a good decision". Suhag said there was "no" lack of coordination and local commanders had complete liberty in planning and execution of the counter-terror operation which was carried out under Western Army Commander Lt Gen K J Singh. His comments came amid questions raised by experts as to why there was multiple change in command and why the NSG, a paramilitary force under the Home Ministry, led the operation. "As far as the Army is concerned, it was not under anybody's command. It was under the Western Army Commander who was monitoring and controlling the operations on my behalf," Suhag said. Rejecting the criticism that long time was taken to kill the terrorists, the Army chief said, "The time taken to complete the operations should be left to the commander on the ground." He added that one of the important task at hand was to ensure safety of the assets, the over 10,000 people living at the base and the foreign trainees. He asserted that contrary to reports, eight columns of the Army, with about 70 men each, were deployed, besides the special forces. Assuring the country, Suhag said the Army is highly motivated and ready to respond to any threats to our national security. "It was a good operation. To ensure less casualties we had to take time to complete operation," he said, adding that not one soldier was killed in direct combat and five soldiers were killed in first contact. Suhag said he was monitoring the operation and was in regular touch with Lt Gen Singh. The Army chief said his directions on Pathankot operation was to secure all facilities and personnel, ensure no one escapes and to avoid casualties. He admitted there were lessons to be learnt in all operations and said he would like to wait for the report by NIA about how the terrorists managed to get in and other lapses. He also defended Lt Col Niranjan of NSG, who was killed while retrieving a booby trapped body, saying he was the most qualified officer to handle the situation in Pathankot. The Army chief confirmed that unarmed soldiers were present in the building in which last two terrorists had been holed up and they were evacuated safely. He said there was good coordination on the ground between Army and NSG with the latter also giving cover fire to former during the operation. He also said mine-proof vehicles and armoured vehicles were moved as and when required. Suhag said that security audit of all military bases have been ordered. The Supreme Court today ordered that the proceedings of Arunachal Pradesh assembly will not be held till Friday, as it decided to start hearing from tomorrow on various pleas arising out of certain orders of the Gauhati High court in the ongoing political battle there. "Having heard counsel for rival parties, we are satisfied, that it would be just and appropriate, if proceedings of the Assembly are not held from now onwards till January 18, 2016. "The instant order be placed by the parties, before His Excellency the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, for his consideration," a bench comprising Justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan said. The bench, meanwhile, allowed Nabam Rebia, allegedly removed by 14 rebel Congress and BJP MLAs from the post of Speaker, to take back his plea filed against an administrative order of the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court. Rebia, who has challenged in Gauhati High Court various decisions of the Governor and Deputy Speaker including his removal from the Speaker's post, had alleged that the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court had "erroneously rejected" his plea, filed on judicial side, in administrative capacity. He had also sought recusal of Justice B K Sharma from hearing his plea. Now the apex court would start hearing from tomorrow the other pleas. "Liberty is granted to the learned counsel for the petitioners, to assail the order of the High Court dated January 13, 2016 .... In case, such petition(s) are filed, the Registry shall entertain them, and place them along with these cases for hearing on January 13," the bench said. Rebia was removed from the post of the Speaker by 14 rebel Congress MLAs, disqualified by the Speaker, and BJP MLAs on December 16 in an assembly session presided over by the Deputy Speaker in a Community Hall in Itanagar. The Deputy Speaker, before removing Rebia from Speaker's post, had also quashed the disqualification of the rebel Congress legislators. Later, various decisions of the Governor and the Deputy Speaker were challenged by Rebia in Gauhati High Court which passed an interim order keeping in abeyance the decisions of Governor and Deputy Speaker till February one. Justice Khehar pronounced the voluminous main judgement and read out the operative portion, saying that the order of the Governor dated December 9, 2015, preponing the session of Legislative Assembly from January 14, 2016, to December 16, 2015, is violative of Article 163 read with Article 174 of the Constitution and as such is liable to be quashed and the same is quashed. "Secondly, the message of governor directing the manner of conducting the proceedings of the sixth session of Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh from December 16-18, 2015, is violative of Article 163 read with Article 175 of the Constitution and as such is liable to be quashed and the same is quashed," the bench said. Thirdly, the bench said "all steps and decisions taken by the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh in pursuant to Governor's order of December 9, 2015, are unsustainable and liable to be set aside and as such it is set aside." Finally, the bench said "In view of the decision from one to three, status quo ante as it prevailed on December 15, 2015, is ordered to be restored. Justices Misra and Lokur read a separate and concurrent judgement stating that they do not disagree with the view of Justice Khehar and added few more remarks relating to the office of the Governor and the Speaker. Justice Misra said that the conduct of the Governor should not only be impartial but should appear to be perceptibly impartial. The bench had earlier segregated two other sets of petitions which were filed against the subsequent promulgation of President's Rule in the state and its revocation thereafter, which had led to formation of a new government. It had fixed these pleas for hearing after pronouncement of verdict on petitions dealing with Governor's discretionary powers in advancing the assembly session and setting the agenda of the House. On the day the verdict was reserved in February, the bench had refused to pass an interim order on a fervent plea of Congress against the "illegal" swearing-in of Pul-led government and had said that it can "set the clock back" if the Governor's actions are found unconstitutional. Congress had suffered a jolt when 21 of its lawmakers rebelled. Eleven BJP MLAs backed the rebels in the bid to upstage the government. Later, 14 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified. Hours after the Union Cabinet had decided to recommend revocation of President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh, the apex court had on February 17 ordered maintenance of status quo in the politically fragile state till it examined judicial and assembly records on disqualification of the 14 rebel Congress MLAs by former Speaker Nabam Rebia. On February 16, the court had also refused to pass an interim order on a plea of Congress leaders that Rajkhowa be restrained from swearing in a new government in Arunachal Pradesh. Appropriation or Art? Instagram Print Sale Sparks Copyright Suit If you print and enlarge a photo that someone posts on social media and display it in a gallery, is it art? Perhaps more importantly, is it your art? Photographer David Graham does not think so and is suing Richard Prince and his gallerist Lawrence Gagosian for copyright infringement. The suit raises questions about fair use in the age of social media. But the notion of fair use is not new to Prince who made his name in the seventies "rephotographing" other artists' works. He is, according to Photo District News, an "appropriation artist." What Is Fair Use? Creators can limit how others use their work with copyright. It applies to literature, music, movies, sound recordings, pantomime and choreography, pictorial, graphic and sculptural representations, and architectural designs. But there are limits to the limitations of copyright, or exceptions for fair use. An artist's work can be fairly used for criticism, comment, reporting, teaching, scholarship, and parody. Fair use tries to balance the artist's need to protect their work with society's need to engage with creations with relative freedom. Some would say that fair use protects artists too insofar as it allows their creations to be relevant. If no one could report on, criticize, study, or even mock an artist's work, what good would it do? How would it get out? Who would it reach? Because art is as much about generating discussion as it is about making decorative stuff, fair use gives society room to engage with its artists' works without reprisal. But of course not everyone agrees on how far fair use extends. Unfair Use? Richard Prince has already been through a fair use battle over appropriated photographs before, and his appropriations have (mostly) been found fair. To the extent that he adds something to the original works that transform their aesthetic, he does not infringe copyright. This latest suit filed by photographer David Graham is based on an inkjet printout of Graham's photograph, "Rastafarian Smoking a Joint." The image shows a dreadlocked Rastafarian that Graham met when he was trekking in Jamaica. It was posted on Instagram (by someone other than Graham), and Prince then did a "screen save" and enlarged and printed the photo, including the social media likes, comments, and Instagram account information. The printout was sold at the Gagosian Gallery as part of a "New Portrait" series of 37 such works. The show reportedly drew widespread vitriol but some works sold, including the photo that Graham took. Images reportedly sold for about $90,000. Although other artists have expressed outrage about Prince's move, Graham is the first to file suit. Prince has yet to respond to the filings but he is expected to defend his works as fair use. Related Resources: A National Santhal Liberation Army (anti-talk faction) Kokrajhar 'District Commander' was killed in an encounter with the police in Assam's Kokrajhar district today, a senior police officer said. At about 6 AM, an encounter took place between the police led by Gossaigaon Sub Divisional Police Officer and NSLA(AT) cadres at Borobadha Forest village, about 3 km north of Grahampur outpost under Gossaigaon Police Station, IGP Dr L R Bishnoi told PTI. During the encounter one of the militants was injured, who later succumbed to his injuries at the RNB Civil Hospital in Gossaigaon, Bishnoi said. The deceased ultra was identified as Ram Hembrom alias Ram Kisku alias Lachar (24) of Salbari area in the district and one 7.65-mm pistol, two 7.65-mm live and two fired rounds, besides two 36-HE grenades were recovered from the encounter site, the IGP added. Indian-American South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley today criticised President Barack Obama's policies as having "fallen far short of his soaring words" during his seven-year-long tenure as she asked Americans to resist the "angriest voices" on immigration. "Barack Obama's election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that," she said in formal Republican response to Obama's last State of the Union address. "Unfortunately, the President's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words," said 43-year-old Haley, seen as a potential Republican vice presidential pick in 2016. "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. We're feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities," she said. In her impressive nine-minute speech that launched her into national politics, Haley also tried to jab her party's White House frontrunner Donald Trump by urging Americans to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" on immigration. She recounted her Indian-American heritage to describe her vision of America. "I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country," she said. "Growing up in the rural south, my family didn't look like our neighbours, and we didn't have much. There were times that were tough, but we had each other, and we had the opportunity to do anything, to be anything, as long as we were willing to work for it," she added. Haley said her story is not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to US for generations to live the dream that is America, she said. "Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation," she said, apparently referring to Trump's controversial remarks calling for a ban on Muslims immigrants in the wake of the Paris attacks, in which some of the killers are believed to have entered into France as refugees. Haley said the US is facing the most dangerous security threat since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in a reference to the ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. "Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it," Haley said, adding that soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. "That direction is what I want to talk about...," said the two-term Governor of South Carolina. Haley did not mention the Republican presidential race but said a Republican president in the White House would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. "We would encourage American innovation and success instead of demonizing them, so our economy would truly soar and good jobs would be available across our country," she said. "We would reform education so it worked best for students, parents, and teachers, not Washington bureaucrats and union bosses. We would end a disastrous health care program, and replace it with reforms that lowered costs and actually let you keep your doctor," she added. "We would respect differences in modern families, but we would also insist on respect for religious liberty as a cornerstone of our democracy. We would recognise the importance of the separation of powers and honour the Constitution in its entirety. And yes, that includes the Second and Tenth Amendments," Haley said. "We would make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around. And rather than just thanking our brave men and women in uniform, we would actually strengthen our military, so both our friends and our enemies would know that America seeks peace, but when we fight wars we win them," she said. "We have big decisions to make. Our country is being tested. But we've been tested in the past, and our people have always risen to the challenge. We have all the guidance we need to be safe and successful," Haley added. Students protesting over the issue of scrapping of non-NET scholarship today staged a protest outside the office of the HRD Ministry here and tried to submit a memorandum to the minister but were denied. Simultaneously, the protesters kick-started a countrywide campaign in which they are sending postcards to HRD Minister Smriti Irani demanding restoration, increase and expansion of research scholarships. Students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Ambedkar University have been protesting under the banner of "Occupy UGC". "The HRD Minister did not meet us. We met the Education Secretary, Vinay Sheel Oberoi and other officers, Ishita Roy and Amit Sinha. They gave us reassurances that the Ministry would consider the students' opinion. "However, until a concrete written assurance is given to us, we will not sit at ease. We will also make one final attempt to meet the review committee on 16th January," said Shehla Rashid Shora, vice-president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU). UGC had resolved to discontinue the scheme of non-National Eligibility Test (NET) fellowship, which is provided to those undertaking research in central universities across India, in a meeting held on October 7 last year, citing shortage of resources. But following protests by students, the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (HRD) had last week appointed a five-member panel to review the research grants offered by UGC. The Ministry has also asked UCG to continue all existing grants. The scheme is in place for providing financial assistance to students undertaking MPhil and PhD - they are provided Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000 per month respectively. Sucheta De, national president of Left-leaning All India Students Association (AISA), said that they have started a postcard campaign which will continue for a week and then all postcards will be submitted to the HRD Minister, who has to take a final decision, based on the review committee's report and the ongoing student protests. "The campaign has been kicked off in various states, including Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and it will be started in other states soon," said Ashutosh Kumar, Delhi state secretary of AISA. Taxi hailing app Ola has partnered EduKart to provide access to quality higher education to families of its driver partners. EduKart will provide end-to-end assistance, guidance and also facilitate admissions for drivers and their family members at leading partner colleges, a statement said. As part of the program, EduKart will also provide assistance in availing scholarship and discounts on fees to family members of Ola drivers, it added. The partnership is being rolled out in Delhi and would subsequently be taken to more cities like Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. * * * * * * HARMAN appoints Pradeep Chaudhry as India Head * HARMAN, the group that owns audio brands like JBL, Infinity, AKG and Mark Levinson, has appointed Pradeep Chaudhry as Country Manager for India operations. Based in Bengaluru, Chaudhry will also continue to serve in his current role as CFO of the HARMAN Connected Services division, HARMAN said in a statement. Chaudhry succeeds M Lakshmi Narayan, who will serve as an Advisory Chairman until December 2016. He will report to Dinesh C Paliwal, Chairman, President and CEO of HARMAN on country management matters and to Sandy Rowland, HARMAN's CFO, in his role as CFO of that division. * * * * * * Letv re-brands as LeEco * Chinese technology firm Letv today said it has re-branded itself as LeEco globally. The company unveiled its new brand logo for the Le Ecosystem and its seven sub-ecosystems, days ahead of its launch in the Indian market. "LeEco's new logo is a result of many rounds of revision and refinement, letters 'L' and 'E conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world in a simple and elegant design. The LeEco company has undergone three logo changes since its establishment," it said in a statement. "Letv is where we started, but LeEco is our future," Le Holdings' Vice President of Strategy Ablikim Ablimit said. * * * * * * Tolexo appoints ex-Myntra Mayank Kamal as Head Supply Chain * Tolexo, an online marketplace for business goods and supplies, has appointed former Myntra Logistics head Mayank Kamal to lead its supply chain vertical. "I'm thrilled to come on board at this fast-scaling company and look forward to leveraging my experience to further build on its capabilities," Kamal said. Cigna TTK Health launches 'ProHealth Accumulate' * Cigna TTK Health Insurance today announced the launch of its health savings product - ProHealth Accumulate. ProHealth Accumulate plans to offer customers the benefit of combining health protection, wellness and health reserve, Cigna TTK said in a statement. Customers can choose from Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 or Rs 20,000 to cover out-patient expenses such as doctor's consultation, pharmacy expenses, diagnostic tests, alternative forms of medicines (AYUSH), among others. Under ProHealth Accumulate, the sum assured ranges from Rs 5.5-25 lakh, with a choice of individual and family floater cover. ************ NHPC closes two plants for maintenance work * NHPC today said it has closed two plants -- 132 MW Teesta Low Dam Project (TLDP) III in West Bengal and 60 MW Rangit power station in Sikkim -- for few days for maintenance work. "TLDP-III (4 X 33) MW Power Station in West Bengal shall be complete shutdown on April 13-14 for replacement work of 'R' phase circuit breaker of Unit-2 in GIS," the company said in a regulatory filing. Further, Rangit (3X20) MW Power Station in Sikkim will also be closed from April 16-22 for replacement work of MIV seal of Unit-2, it added. ************ Ghodawat Consumer enters beverage segment with Frustar * Ghodawat Consumer Products (GCPL), the FMCG arm of Sanjay Ghodawat Group, today announced its entry into the beverage segment with the launch of fruit-based drink Frustar. The range launched under the brand name Frustar will be available in three variants - Mango, Orange and Lemon. Shoto launches image swap application * Photo discovery app Shoto today launched a technology that uses machine learning and face detection technology to automatically matches friends' photos and videos ensuring users can discover and swap images taken during shared moments. The app organises photos into albums and finds out who has photos or videos from those shared moments. "Shoto is the first app that can inform users which friends have relevant photos and videos even if those friends don't currently use the Shoto app," the company said in a statement. ******* Eutelsat, Facebook choose Hughes for broadband services * Eutelsat Communications and Facebook have selected Hughes Network Systems to supply technology platform for satellite broadband services that both companies are preparing to launch in sub-Saharan Africa. For Facebook, the system will support its express wi-fi project, intended to expand connectivity to underserved locations by working closely with operators, Internet service providers, and local entrepreneurs, Hughes Network Systems said in a statement. Eutelsat will employ the system as a key platform to drive growth of premium consumer and professional Internet connectivity services in Sub-Saharan Africa. Future Enterprise raises Rs 50 crore via NCDs * Future Enterprise Ltd today raised Rs 50 crore from the open market by issuing Non Convertible Debentures (NCD). The committee of directors of the Future Group firm, in its meeting held today "considered, approved and alloted" NCDs, the company informed BSE. The company has issued NCDs in two tranches of Rs 25 crore each having two investors from provident fund and corporate sector. The NCDs would be listed on wholesale debt market segment of BSE, it added. * * * * * * ESIC recruits 135 sportspersons * State-run Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) today announced appointment of 135 sportspersons to encourage sports in the country. Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya himslef handed over the 'offer of Appointment' to 135 meritorious sportspersons recruited by ESIC stated a Labour Ministry press statement. The job opportunities are provided to meritorious sportpersons by way 5 per cent reservation in recruitment in various group 'C' &'D' posts, it added. * * * * * * ShoeKonnect raises investment from Indian Angel Network * Indian Angel Network has invested an undisclosed amount in ShoeKonnect, a B2B marketplace for leather products. Sahil Kejriwal led this round of investment on behalf of IAN and will join the company board to monitor the team, IAN said in a statement. This is IAN's 22nd investment this year. Currently, ShoeKonnect is a 10-member team and connects around 5,000 footwear businesses. It offers a mobile platform to global footwear industry, making it easier for retailers to buy products directly from the manufacturers and thus reduce cost and logistical issues. The current round of funding will be used to expand the business operations, enhance technology and product development and bolster their marketing and development, the statement said. A 40-year-old pilgrim from Rajasthan was today killed and seven of his family members injured in a collision between a car and a public transport bus on Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road near here. The incident occurred this night near Khurampur village here when seven of the family were returning to Chittorgarh from Mata Chintpurni shrine in Himachal Pradesh when the car they were travelling in collided with the bus, police said. While Nand Kishore died on the spot, his wife Sushil and daughter Nain Tara, relative Rupesh Soni, his wife Preeti Soni, son Lalan (2), daughter Anu(3) and another family member Manoj Soni were injured in the incident, they said. The injured were rushed to local Civil hospital, police said, adding the car was badly mangled in the incident. The accused bus driver has been arrested in this connection, they added. Only the Commissioner of Police can accord licences to run cinema halls in the national capital, city police today told the Delhi High Court as it contested a notification by the AAP government. Challenging an AAP government's notification which empowers District Commissioners of Revenue Department to issues licences to cinema halls, an affidavit by a Joint Commissioner of Police said since Delhi was a Union Territory (UT) akin to a presidency town, the licensing powers were vested with the Commissioner of Police, as per the Cinematograph Act. The affidavit filed before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said the Delhi government, which presides over a Union Territory, cannot appoint a licensing authority. "As per the Act and the provisions of the Constitution of India, there is no scope/permissibility for anyone to contend that power/jurisdiction to grant licence to cinema owners in Delhi would vest with any officer of the Delhi Government. "Such a power/jurisdiction under the Act can only be exercised by Commissioner of Police and or any subordinate officers in Delhi Police approved by administrator being the Lieutenant Governor," the police said in the affidavit. The bench was hearing a plea filed by an association representing cinema hall owners of the city which said according to the Cinematograph Act, 1952, the district commissioners were responsible for grant of licences. It said after the Cinematograph Act, Delhi Police Act of 1978 was enacted and the power to grant the licence was shifted to city Police Commissioner. Through the notification issued by the Delhi government in January the power to grant licence has again being given to district commissioners. Amid uncertainty over the upcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today squarely blamed the Pakistani Army for having derailed the peace process a "number of times" in the past. His remarks came in the backdrop of reports that Pakistani establishment was not on board with their Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when it came to talks with India. "It has done it number of times. I am not saying in this (Pathankot) connection..." he said when asked whether he feels that the Pathankot attack was an attempt by the Pakistani Army and the ISI to disrupt the peace process. There is speculation that the FS-level talks may be deferred with India wanting "prompt and decisive" action against the masterminds of the Pathankot terror attack that left seven soldiers killed and six terrorists gunned down. Two days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stressed on the need to give back pain inflicted on India by organisations and individuals in the same coin, Suhag asserted that the Indian Army is ready and competent to carry out any task it is entrusted with and "fully prepared" to meet any threat to the country's security. The Army chief, who was addressing his annual press conference ahead of the Army Day here, also expressed his "concern" at the infiltration along the borders with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with the BSF which is manning the area. Suhag also indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot air base as he asserted that no one came in once the Army cordon was placed along the 24 km-long permitere wall. He said it is a matter of "treason" if the terrorists had used the drug route to get in with local help. The Chief also rejected allegations about lack of coordination in response to the attack saying there was "complete synergy". Refusing to comment on whether the FS-level talks should be held this week, the Army chief said it is a diplomatic and political decision. On Pakistan's role in the attack, Suhag asserted that markings on medicines carried by them along with some of the equipment showed that they were from Pakistan. He said the evidence has been shared with the Pakistani authorities but details will come out only after the investigation by the NIA. The General added that the motive of the Pathankot attack was to inflict maximum damage and generate a media hype. The Army chief said that the security environment facing the nation is becoming more "complex and dynamic" and said that at least 17 terror training camps continue to be active in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir compared to 42 earlier. He said some of the camps were shut down few years ago due to international pressure. On the Pathankot terror attack, Suhag said there were "no lack of coordination" and local commanders had complete liberty in planning and execution, of the counter-offensive operation which was carried out under Western Army Commander Lt Gen K J Singh. His comments came amid questions raised by experts as to why there was multiple change of command and why the NSG, a paramilitary force under the Home Ministry, led the operation. "As far as the Army is concerned, it was not under anybody's command. It was under the Western Army Commander who was monitoring and controlling the operations on my behalf," Suhag said. He added that one of the important task at hand was to ensure safety of the assets, the over 10,000 people living at the base and the foreign trainees at the base. He asserted that contrary to reports, 8 columns of the Army, with about 70 men each, were deployed besides the special forces. Asked whether the decision to call in the NSG to handle the Pathankot operation was correct or not, he said, "NSG is the best force to deal with hostage situation and it was a good decision." Assuring the country, he said the Army is highly motivated and ready to respond to any threats to our security. "It was a good operation. To ensure less casualties we had to take time to complete operation," he said. Suhag said he was personally monitoring the operation and was in regular touch with Lt Gen Singh. The Army Chief said his direction on Pathankot operation was to secure all facilities and personnel, ensure no one escaped and to avoid casualties. He said that the crisis management committee met before Pathankot attack and he had alerted commanders in Northern and Western sector. Gen Singh also identified cyber security as the major non traditional challenge for the Army. About infiltration, Suhag said that the reason why terrorists were using the Punjab border to enter the country was because anti-infiltration grid along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has been strengthened and is difficult to breach. On relations with China, he said that face offs on the Line of Actual Control have come down this year from the previous year and that a hotline between the two troops would be set up in few months. Pakistan today set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising security and military officials to probe whether any Pakistani individual or organisation was involved in the Pathankot terror attack in India. The JIT was set up following an order of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to ensure a thorough and fair probe by Pakistan. According to an official of the Prime Minister's Office, the JIT would be led by Additional IG Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab, Rai Tahir. Other members of the team are Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Lahore Azeem Arshad, Additional Inspector General, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Salahuddin Khan, Director, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore, Usman Anwar, Brigadier Noman Saeed, ISI, and Lt Col Irfan Mirza, Military Intelligence (MI). The team will investigate the involvement of any individual or organisation from Pakistan in the Pathankot airbase attack on January 2 in which seven Indian security personnel were killed. Government will be asked to explain the Pathankot terror attack and the steps taken by it in the aftermath of the incident at a Parliamentary panel meet next Monday. The Parliamentary Standing Commitee on Home Affairs chaired by Congress MP from Rajya Sabha P Bhattacharya has already listed it in the agenda that has been circulated. When contacted, Bhattacharya said that the committee will go ahead with its meeting and replied in the affirmative when asked whether the panel wants to take up the Pathankot terror attack issue at the meeting. "The agenda paper has been sent to the government. We have informed them about the agenda. Now it is their business to inform us," Bhattacharya told PTI. He made it clear that the Committee is not going to cancel its meeting and it has also not received any intimation regarding the government not being inclined to discuss the issue at this stage. He was asked whether the government has some reservations about discussing the issue at this stage. At a meeting of the panel last week, members wanted to know about the status of refugees from Pakistan. Sources said that when members asked certain questions, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told the panel that he will answer their questions in writing. This issue is also expected to come again in the January 18 meeting of the panel. Government has repeatedly been attacked by Congress on the Pathankot terror attack. In the 31-member panel, the BJP has 13 members, Congress-04, BJD-02, Trinamool Congress-02, AIADMK-03, CPI-M, CPI, SP, TRS, TDP, Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena one each. NDA members have majority in the panel. A day after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa asked the Centre to promulgate an ordinance to allow Jallikattu, animal rights groups PETA India today shot off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee urging him not to pass any such ordinance so that bulls remain protected. On a day when the Supreme Court refused to vacate its order staying the Centre's notification lifting ban on the controversial bull-taming sport Jallikattu, PETA India said that it was "relieved" that bulls will continue to remain protected for now. "After learning from various reliable reports that TN CM J Jayalalitha has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to disseminate an ordinanace allowing Jallikattu, PETA India fired off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee urging him not to pass any such ordinance so that bulls can remain protected," a PETA India statement said. Jayalalithaa in her letter to Modi had yesterday said, "Considering the urgency of the issue, I strongly reiterate my earlier request to promulgate an ordinance forthwith to enable the conduct of Jallikattu. On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I urge you to take immediate action in this regard." The PETA India letter said, "We urge you (President) not to pass any ordinance allowing bull races, Jallikattu, bull fights or any other similar events or to allow the use of bulls as performing animals again under any pretext." The letter also referred to the Supreme Court refusal today to vacate its order staying the Centre's notification lifting ban on Jallikattu as also observations of the apex court before staying the notification. "We would like to point out that any such ordinance will be unconstitutional as it ultra vires of the Constitution of India and will be an inappropriate use of power usurping law-making powers of the legislature. "Article 51A(g) in the Constitution of India, 1949 makes it the mandate for every Indian citizen 'to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures'. Our tradition and culture is, therefore, clearly one of compassion, not cruelty," the animal rights body wrote in the letter. Meanwhile, sources said that officials of Law and Environment Ministries held a meeting yesterday to discuss the possibility of bringing an ordinance to overturn the Supreme court order. (Reopens DEL47) The Supreme Court had yesterday stayed the Centre's notification lifting ban on the controversial sport as an interim measure. The court had rejected the plea of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Tamil Nadu that Jallikattu is part of the ancient tradition and culture and should not be stopped as there were enough safeguards provided in the January 7 notification. The letter to the President also stated in details about PETA India's complaint to Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) after a public statement was made Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, promising to allow Jallikattu. It also stated the advise given by AWBI to the ministry not to overturn the Supreme Court order. "Only a small, pitiful man derives pleasure from hurting those more vulnerable than him, whether the victims are animals, children, or women. Bullies are cowards who pick on those who can't defend themselves and escape. We are relieved that bulls will continue to remain protected from Jallikattu and bull race abuse, for now," PETA India CEO Poorva Joshipura said. PETA said that when Jallikattu was permitted in the past under regulations, hundreds of human participants were injured each year and many were killed. Between just 2010 and 2014, approximately 1,100 injuries to humans were reported by the media as a result of cruel and dangerous Jallikattu-type events, and 17 people died -- including a child, it said. It has documented in AWBI-authorised inspections that during Jallikattu events, terrified bulls are often deliberately disoriented by being given substances like alcohol, have their tails twisted and bitten, are stabbed and jabbed by sickles, spears, knives or sticks and are punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground. Salai Pi Pi - Chin League for Democracy (CLD) If the government cordially transfers power since the NLD has won, Burmas economy will rise three times what is now because western countries, especially the US, will give a lot of aid for Burmas democratic transition after Daw Su won with a landslide. Because she is respected by the world. I believe Burma will change a lot due to this aid. On the other hand, China is also likely to give a lot of aid to Burma as a way of showing its face in competition with the US. As the country needs investment, it may receive of a lot funds from either the U.S. or China. So, if we were to observe whether this will be beneficial for Chin State, we have to look at two sectors: the Parliament and the administration. Since the NLD has won [nearly] all of the seats in the Parliament, the NLD is likely to rule. But, no matter how they rule, the qualification [of the MP] is the predominant factor. MPs were only able to enact five new laws during the last five-year parliament term. The question of how many new laws can the NLD enact for our Chin State within the next five years has become very important. Thats why I say the qualification is number one. Its not concerned with the party. Secondly, all nine ministers in the [Chin State government] have become quite important. It will be better to appoint a chief minister who has strong convictions. With the appointment of the nine ministers, it is important to appoint those qualified people in the right positions. I believe it will be very beneficial for Chin State if both the winning candidates as well as the defeated candidates with qualifications can be appointed in these positions rather than appointing [all the ministerial positions] from the NLD. Cheery Zahau -Secretary of the Chin Progressive Party (CPP) It depends largely on the qualification of the elected woman candidates in Chin State for a lift in the lifestyles of women in the next governments term. Men will never touch womens issues. They are not interested in these issues. Most of the newly elected men are traditional and do not believe in gender equality. Thats why we need to observe the capacity of the current women [MPs]. There isnt much hope. It depends on how much efforts these MPs will make. Also, I believe that politics will become quite developed when the NLD government takes office. I dont have expectations for the economy due to the position of the Chin State because the NLD practices a central administration system. We need a federal [system] for an actual development of social standards. The central administration system has been used for nearly 60 years. The economic systems and projects set down by the central government might not match with the position, natural environment, agriculture, and lifestyle of Chin State. When these economic systems and projects failed to reflect Chin State, it became the poorest state. In order to change this, we always say that we need to get a federal system. In order to have a Chin State government, the decision should be made in the hands of the Chin people. Otherwise, [the policies] set down by the central government may not be effective in our situation. No matter how good the policies are in the central government, they are useless if they dont match with the current situation in Chin State. We need to look at this. We need to look at how much authority the NLD will give to the Chin State government and how it will distribute the power. If the central [government] continues to hold the power, the Chin people will still be far from their dreams. U Ngai Sak - Chin League for Democracy If I were to give an estimated observation for 2015-2016, Burma may become very developed. The NLD has won on a nationwide level. Daw Aung San Suu Kyis image is very big. Thats why a multitude of foreign investment is likely to be made. Many loans can also be obtained. The economy will develop not only in Chin State, but also on a nationwide level. But, there may be doubts as to whether or not the implementation in Chin State will be effective while the rest of the areas become developed. The Chin Hills and Karenni [State] have been neglected territories for successive governments. It is doubtful how much they can do. So, a development policy for the entire country needs to be properly set down and carried out on the same level. It will also be better for the state if tourism businesses are allowed [to operate]. We have transparency now. Another thing is that the investment law needs to be amended. The bylaw needs to be handled systematically. Restrictions against foreign tourists need to be lifted in Chin States Matupi Township. If all of them are lifted, the tourism industry will become developed. A border area development project is needed if an equal border area and development policy is to be practiced. The USDP government has done as much as it can in 2015. But Chin State has been affected by flooding. A lot of infrastructure has been damaged so the issue on reconstruction has become very important. It will be inconvenient if the implementation in [Chin State] is carried out on the same level with the mainland. The flood-affected areas need to be designated as a special area and infrastructural development tasks needs to be carried out. The Allahabad High Court today directed the District Magistrate of Allahabad to look into allegations of flesh trade in a crowded locality of the city and consider the option of relocating the commercial sex workers on the outskirts. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Varma, passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation filed by one Sunil Chaudhary who alleged that flesh trade was thriving in Meerganj locality of the city, where a number of houses, shops and an Inter College were situated in the vicinity. The petitioner had annexed information he had obtained through RTI, wherein it was disclosed that a large number of women and minor girls have been rounded up from the locality over the years during raids on premises suspected to be commercial sex trade outlets. The petitioner has sought a clampdown on flesh trade in Meerganj and relocation of those involved in prostitution, to which the court directed the DM to do the needful while asking the state government to file a counter-affidavit within three weeks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a day-long visit to Uttar Pradesh on January 22, travelling to his Parliamentary constituency Varanasi and coming for the first time to the state capital where he will address the convocation of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University. He will first go to Varanasi where he will take part in a programme of ministry of social welfare and justice, IG law and order A.Satish Ganesh said. Modi will reach Lucknow in the afternoon to address the convocation, the IG said. Later, he will attend a programme organised by the Micro Credit Society at the Colvin College ground and pay homage at the "Ambedkar kalash" in the Ambedkar Mahasabha campus before leaving for New Delhi. Prior to this, President Pranab Mukherjee will visit Gautam Budhnagar on January 18. The IG said elaborate security arrangements are being made for these visits. Two security officers who defected were killed in a gunfight with military forces in Burundi's capital, police said today. Army Capt. Idi Omar Bahenda and police Brig. Jean Claude Niyongabo were killed today in the Kiyenzi area of Bujumbura, said police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye. Bahenda was wanted for recruiting rebels opposed to the government, he said. The men, along with another renegade policeman who is now in custody, were traveling in a car in which police found explosives, a rocket-propelled grenade and a rifle, he said. The suspects tried to flee into a nearby bush but were chased by the security forces and local people, said the spokesman. President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek re-election last year has left Burundi on the brink of civil war. Bujumbura has been hit by violence as opponents and supporters of Nkurunziza target each other in gun, rocket and grenade attacks. There has been a wave of extrajudicial killings that human rights activists blame on the security forces. In December, a senior military officer announced that he had formed a rebel group that aims to oust Nkurunziza. The violence started in April 2015 and boiled over into a failed coup attempt by some senior military officers. A verdict is expected tomorrow in the trial of some of the alleged coup plotters. Maharashtra government today told the Bombay High Court that it was framing a policy for regulating online sale of medicines. On October 29 last year, the HC had asked the government to take steps to regulate online sale of medicines until a specific law or rules were enacted. Hearing the government's submission that a policy was being framed, the bench of Justices Naresh Patel and Amjad Sayed today said "this is a good beginning for creating public awareness about procedure to be followed and action to be taken against defaulters." The HC was hearing a public interest litigation. The government had informed the HC earlier that it had set up an experts' committee headed by the Foods and Drugs Administration Commissioner for regulation of online sale. Action had been taken in nine cases where medicines were sold online without prescription, it had said, adding that there were as many as 81 websites which sell medicines online, of which 44 are India-based. Mayuri Patil, a city-based college teacher, has filed the PIL based on reports that college students buy abortion pills online. According to advocate Vallari Jathar, her lawyer, the drugs mentioned in schedule H of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which includes sleeping pills, abortion tablets and anti-pregnancy pills, cannot be bought without a doctor's prescription because their side-effects could be dangerous but they are availabale online. Principal of a private school was arrested today in connection with an incident in which three students were killed when a school bus fell into a drain after colliding with a jeep near Thatha village. Harinder Singh, Principal of Captain School of Excellence at Fatehgarh Churian town, has been arrested on charges of negligence which led to the death of three students, police said. Three students were killed while 36 others injured when a school bus fell into a drain after colliding with a jeep near Thatha village yesterday. The accident took place when the school bus was coming to Fatehgarh Churian town in Gurdaspur from Majitha in Amritsar district. Two students died on the spot while the third one died on way to Community Health Centre, Fatehgarh Churian. According to the officials, the bus was allegedly transporting students in excess of its seating capacity. The bus driver Dalbir Singh is absconding, police said. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed today his country had developed a vaccine for the Ebola virus which has killed thousands of people in west Africa. But Putin, who is famed for his talent for headline-grabbing announcements, did not give any name for the vaccine, nor did he say how it worked, who was developing it or give details of any trials. "We have good news," Putin was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency. "We have registered a drug against Ebola, which after the corresponding tests has been shown to be highly effective, more effective than the drugs used worldwide up to now." To date no approved vaccine or treatment for Ebola exists and the UN's World Health Organization has authorised the fast-track development of drugs. The pharmaceutical scramble sparked by the two-year Ebola crisis -- which killed more than 11,000 people in west Africa -- has yielded several promising vaccine candidates but none has yet been tested in general, non-infected populations -- the gold standard for proving efficacy. Similarly, none of the many potential treatments under investigation has been shown to work. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said at a government meeting with Putin that Russia has developed a vaccine that was "unique and has no equivalents in the world". In October 2014, Skvortsova said Russia expected to produce three Ebola vaccines within the following six months, and that one was ready for a clinical trial. The Ebola epidemic is due to be declared over on tomorrow with Liberia expecting the all-clear. Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today said that the Mountain Strike Corps, aimed at countering threats from China, would be raised as per the schedule by 2021 and termed acquisition of artillery guns and third generation missiles as "critical areas" for modernisation of the force. He pushed for the 'Make in India' initiative and said the force was setting up an Army Design Bureau to concentrate on design and providing technological inputs to DRDO and Ordinance Factory Board. He said that 84 per cent of the procurement contracts signed during the last two years by the Army has been with Indian companies. Suhag added that maximum army procurement schemes in the last five years have been for Indian companies and it stood at 73 per cent. Asked about reports that the government was restructuring the Mountain Strike Corps, he said there is no move to slow down its raising. "A target was kept of nine years and we are on target to raise it by 2021," he told reporters here. He added that there has been no budgetary cuts. Talking about the modernisation process, he said that acquisition of artillery guns, third generation missiles, upgrading armoured vehicles, augmenting army aviation and strengthening infantry were among "critical areas" for force modernization which are being fast-tracked. Even Gen Suhag he lamented that critical acquisition had been stuck over the past eight years, he said things are moving now. Suhag said that there had not been procurement of a major artillery gun for the last 28 years. He pointed out that Defence Acquisition Council had cleared acquisition of 814 155mm/52 caliber mounted gun system. Referring to the third generation anti-tank guided missiles, he said a project of over 8,000 missiles had been cleared, while proposals concerning helicopters for army aviation, upgrading of armoured vehicles, night vision devices for mechanised forces and assault rifle and bullet-proof jackets for the infantry were "moving on fast track." He identified cyber security as the major non-traditional challenge for the army. The Indian army is ready and competent to carry out any task it is entrusted with, Army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag asserted today, two days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar underlined the need to give back the pain inflicted on India by terror organisations and individuals. "The Indian Army is ready and competent to carry out any task given to it," Suhag said when asked if the Army is capable of carrying out a covert or surgical strike against terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. He added that the Army was fully prepared to meet any challenge facing the country. The Army chief said that the security environment facing the nation is becoming more "complex and dynamic" and said that at least 17 terror training camps continue to be active in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir compared to 42 earlier. He said some of the camps were shut down few years ago due to international pressure. He refused to comment on the statement of Parrikar who had stressed on the need to give back the pain inflicted on India because of terror attacks. The Army chief, who was addressing his annual press conference ahead of the Army Day here, also expressed his "concern" at the infiltration along the borders with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with the BSF which is manning the area. Suhag also indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot air base base as he asserted that no one came in once the Army cordon was placed along the 24 km-long permitere wall. He said it is a matter of "treason" if the terrorists had used the drug route to get in with local help. The Chief also rejected allegations about lack of coordination in response to the attack saying there was "complete synergy". On Pakistan's role in the attack, Suhag asserted that markings on medicines carried by them along with some of the equipment showed that they were from Pakistan. He said the evidence has been shared with the Pakistani authorities but details will come out only after the investigation by the NIA. The General added that the motive of the Pathankot attack was to inflict maximum damage and generate a media hype. Asked if the Pathankot attack was an attempt by the Pakistani Army to derail the peace process, he said, "It has done it number of times. I am not saying in this (Pathankot) connection... The Centre today told the National Green Tribunal it is ready to part-finance Himachal Pradesh government's project for purchasing 25 environment friendly electric buses to curb pollution in the state. Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises told the green panel the cost of these 25 buses would be Rs 50 crore and the funding of the project would be in the 75:25 ratio. "The share of the Centre in the project would be 75 per cent while 25 per cent cost would be borne by the Himachal Pradesh government," the Ministry told a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar. The Ministry of Heavy Industry, in a power-point presentation to the bench, had demonstrated the possibility of running electric and hybrid buses from Manali to Rohtang for tourism purposes. Meanwhile, continuing its prohibitory orders on commercial activity at Rohtang Pass, the Tribunal today refused to allow paragliding in the eco-sensitive area. "Sometimes, you must respect nature. We are not opposed to anything but the activity must have nexus with the environment. You should think of public interest rather than self interest. You are just ruining the place and nothing else. These places are revenue oriented because they are beautiful. "The Supreme Court may permit you but we will not. We have taken two years to decide which vehicles should be allowed to Rohtang. After 10 years there will be no glacier and no Rohtang. Bring one person who says I am causing pollution in Rohtang... We are not going to permit anything at Rohtang," the bench said. The Tribunal has banned tourism and commercial activities in the Rohtang Pass area to check environmental degradation and melting of the glaciers, which were receding at the rate of 20 metres a year since 1986. Amid reports that the Centre has expedited back channel negotiations to push the GST bill, Congress today claimed the real opposition to it was from within BJP while the "main opposition" party is being made an "excuse" by the government. "The real opposition to the GST is from within BJP. Congress is just an excuse. Narendra Modi does not want it. Amit Shah does not want it. Piyush Goyal does not want it. Gujarat government does not want it", party leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said at the AICC briefing. Ramesh insisted that the "maximum opposition" to the key reform measure was from within BJP and Congress is being given as a "conveninent excuse" for its non-passage. Noting that Congress wanted a "good and simple" GST, he recalled that party Vice President Rahul Gandhi has said that the party was for GST. Ramesh said that the party has given three suggestions in writing on the bill. "It is all a game being played by the Finance Minister and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to fool people when they (some in BJP) themselves do not want the GST", he said. Ramesh's remarks came amid reports that the government has speeded up its back channel consultations with the Opposition parties to push the long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the budget session of Parliament. Reports had it that the NDA managers have already spoken to parties like AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal apart from holding the highly-publicised meeting with Congress. I am open to collaborations, both for foodie suggestions - cookbooks and foodie related books included - as well as beauty and fashion. Since my blog was created, I concluded several collaborations, with: More collaborations will be disclosed soon! You can be one of them! Let's keep in touch at: boiledwords (at) gmail (dot) com A retired army general has been appointed to oversee the Thai government's response to falling rubber prices after the Cabinet promised subsidies for struggling rubber growers. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said today that retired Army Chief of Staff Chatchalerm Chalermsuk was appointed president of the Rubber Authority of Thailand, which coordinates rubber policy in conjunction with the industry. The Cabinet yesterday agreed the government would buy as much as 200,000 tons of rubber from growers at up to 60 baht (USD 1.65) per kilogram (2.2 pounds). The current market price of 34 baht (USD 0.94) per kilogram is a seven-year low. Prayut said it's likely the payments won't be far above market prices. The military government has been a vociferous critic of a rice subsidy program that was introduced by the civilian government it ousted in 2014. Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra goes on trial Friday on charges related to that program, which accumulated losses of several billion dollars. Thailand is the world's biggest exporter of natural rubber, which is tapped from trees and mainly used in tires. But demand has dropped, especially from its largest market, China, where economic growth is slowing. Thailand's production of natural rubber last year was about 4.3 million metric tons. Much of the money for the rubber purchases is expected to come from the budgets of several government ministries. Government agencies have been asked to look for uses for the rubber. Army Commander General Theerachai Nakawanich said the military will use rubber in road construction in the south of Thailand and to "produce beddings for soldiers in every division throughout the country." Rubber farmers, mostly in southern Thailand, had been threatening protests unless the government came up with a solution to their financial problems. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said the government has "definite evidence" suggesting involvement of RSS and BJP workers in preventing Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's entry into a Vaishnavite monastery at Barpeta in December. In a statement here, Gogoi claimed that on inquiring into the entire episode the state government has found definite proof of RSS and BJP workers' involvement in instigating a section of people against the entry of Rahul Gandhi in Barpeta Satra on December 12. Satra and other religious institutions should not be used for narrow political gains and should be left for religious and spiritual activities only, he said. Gogoi and the ruling Congress party have maintained that Gandhi was prevented from entering the 15th century monastery during his padayatra by RSS and BJP who placed elderly women at the monastery gate. BJP had denied the allegation and said that Gandhi was late in arriving at Barpeta and so he skipped visiting it. The episode had escalated into a controversy with the Satra authorities discounting Congress' allegation and said that the women were villagers with no allegiance to any political party and they were waiting at the gate for a glimpse of Gandhi. Float glass manufacturer Saint Gobain India, a subsidiary of France-based Saint Gobain, today announced a further investment of Rs 1,000 crore at Sriperumbudur near here, taking its cumulative investments in Tamil Nadu to Rs 3,000 crore. This investment will be used for setting up its third float glass plant and new magnetron coater plant at Sriperumbudur. The company, which set up its first manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur with an investment of Rs 500 crore in 2,000, rapidly expanded and made a total investment of Rs 2,000 crore, Saint Gobain India Managing Director B Santhanam said. "This will be our very, very significant step. We are making additional investment of Rs 1,000 crore. With this, the total cumulative investment in Chennai would be Rs 3,000 crore," he told reporters. Currently at the World Glass Complex, Sriperumbudur, the company has two float glass plants with total capacity of 1,500 tonnes. "With the launch of the third new float glass plant, the total capacity will go up to 2,500 tonnes. These investments are not only for Tamil Nadu, or India, it is for the entire Asia Pacific region..," he said. Elaborating, Santhanam said the plant would be serving Africa, Middle-East, ASEAN countries and Oceania region. "The plant will become operational by mid-2017 and the job potential will be 300-400 in the region," he said. Saint Gobain India has registered revenues of Rs 5,000 crore and "we expect about 30 per cent more" in terms of revenue", he said. On setting up second magnetron coater plant, he said the total capacity to manufacture will go upto 144 million square foot of "high performance, high-selective, energy-efficient glass from the present 100 million square foot, mainly catering to overseas market". Responding to a query, he said the cumulative glass industry was valued at Rs 10,000 crore. Stating that the proposed plants were part of Central government's "Make in India" campaign, Santhanam said, "It is nice to know that it is possible to do (manufacture in India) in our own backyard." "The world glass complex in Sriperumbudur has become a regional manufacturing hub for value added products in the Asia Pacific region," he said. Saint Gobain India had signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu government during its maiden Global Investors Meet in September 2015, for setting up the new float glass plant and magnetron coater plant. Aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition have dropped 40 tonnes of aid to Yemen's besieged Taez region, a Saudi charity has said. The aid included medicines, medical equipment and dry food "to break the siege imposed on parts of Taez province," Abdullah al-Rabeeah, director of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, told the Saudi Press Agency yesterday. The 600,000 residents of the southwestern city of Taez have been in dire need as Huthi rebels besiege the community defended by pro-government forces. Many residents have taken to treacherous mountain paths to bring in goods. The United Nations said on December 18 that more than 100 trucks of food aid had arrived in Taez. But local aid groups and sources close to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said rebels seized the relief goods and distributed them in areas under their control. The Saudi-led coalition has since March conducted air and ground operations in Yemen to support local forces against the rebels and their allies. King Salman established the Saudi aid centre last May and the kingdom pledged a total of USD 540 million in aid to Yemen. UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien has previously criticised the coalition's Yemen air war over its heavy civilian toll and for blocking deliveries of fuel and other commercial supplies to Yemen by restricting access to ports. More than 5,800 people have been killed in Yemen since March, about half of them civilians, according to the UN. The Supreme Court today asked the government laboratory in Mysore to further clarify whether test reports relating to lead and glutamic acid in Maggi noodles are within permissible parameters under the law. The apex court passed the order after perusing two communications received from the Mysore laboratory which had carried out the test about the monosodium glutamate (MSG) content in the samples. While Nestle India, makers of Maggi, claimed that the lead content was within the permissible limit prescribed under the Food Safety Act, the Centre said there was a need for comprehensive findings of all other parameters. Making it clear that it was not passing any interim order, a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said there was a need for the clarification. "We have perused the test reports. We would like Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore to apprise this court on two aspects, whether the test report relating to lead and glutamic acid are within the permissible parameters and to clarify that those are within parameters prescribed under the Food Safety Act," the bench, also comprising Justice N V Ramana, said. The bench further said the institute in Mysore shall also give clarification on the test relating to glutamic acid. The bench said additionally if the institute feels more samples were necessary, it can requisition the same from the authority concerned. The bench said for the additional samples the court may communicate with the joint registrar, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), who was appointed as local commissioner. He shall collect the samples from FSSAI godown in Lucknow. The court said the entire exercise has to be carried out within eight weeks and posted the matter for April 5. The court had on December 16, last year ordered testing of samples of Maggi noodles in the Mysore laboratory after NCDRC had directed that it be done in Chennai. The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by Nestle India Ltd against the order of apex consumer commission. The consumer commission had on December 10, last year sent 16 more samples of Maggi noodles for testing in the Chennai lab to ascertain the quantity of lead and MSG in them, in connection with the government's Rs 640 crore suit against the company for alleged unfair trade practices. The apex court, meanwhile, had stayed the proceedings before NCDRC and had directed that the test reports, including the earlier one, be placed before it. The Bombay High Court had on August 13, last year lifted the ban on nine variants of the fast food and asked the company to go for fresh tests. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today said sending NSG commandos to Pathankot airforce base was a "serious lapse" and questioned the role of NSA Ajit Doval in the decision even as he denounced Narendra Modi's recent Lahore visit, saying it was unbecoming of a Prime Minister. It was a "serious lapse" to deploy National Security Guards in the counter operation, Singh told reporters here. "The role of Ajit Doval, the NSA, has been questioned too. When there was an Army unit close by, they could have easily taken on the terrorists. The National Security Adviser chose to send NSG which is not trained to handle such situations. This is another serious lapse on the part of the government. "Unfortunately, the Prime Minster has given a clean chit to Ajit Doval while most of the army people have questioned the decision to send NSG and not hand over the operation to the Indian Army," he said. Replying to a query, Singh claimed that Doval could not fulfil his role properly in the Pathankot attack issue. Saying that Congress is always in favour of improving relations with Pakistan, he maintained that the approach adopted by the Centre is not correct. "Narendra Modi, who used to speak in the most derogatory language against Pakistan, went to Pakistan in a very informal manner which I suppose unbecoming of an Indian Prime Minister. The result was two days later, an attack on our Air Force Station in Pathankot," he said. Raising doubts on the behavior of former Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh in the Pathankot attack, the Congress leader demanded that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conduct a thorough probe into the whole issue. "It is also very important to note the behavior of the SP Salwinder Singh in the incident. What was he doing at midnight with a jeweler and his cook without the security? "Information is now coming in that there was an intelligence warning of infiltration of some of the terrorists in that border and this information is there with the Punjab Police. But the Punjab Police did not act the way it should have. "The National Investigation Agency is investigating the incident and the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab is opposing the investigation by the national agencies. It is an open secret that the Punjab Police and the politicians of a particular party are totally involved in drug trafficking in Punjab from across the border," he said. Recalling that the heads of senior leaders of UPA had rolled after the 26/11 attacks, he maintained that BJP has not taken action against anyone in the aftermath of Pathankot terror attack. Asked if Congress is ready to join hands with PDP to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said the matter is to be decided by the party high command. Referring to a media report that India's most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim had attended an event related to the wedding of Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif's grand-daughter in Lahore, Singh said the Centre should seek a clarification from Pakistan if the report is true. Seven Afghan forces were killed today when militants launched an hours-long gun and bomb siege near Pakistan's consulate in Jalalabad city, just days after four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving Taliban peace negotiations. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after a series of strikes on Indian installations in the region and amid an unprecedented Taliban campaign of winter violence. The brazen assault sent terrified young students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. "Seven of our security forces were killed and seven others wounded as a result of the terrorist attack," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter four hours after the attack started. Afghan troops killed all gunmen holed up in an empty government guesthouse near the consulate, where they had traded heavy gunfire with soldiers after a suicide bombing in the area, officials said. Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement it was in contact with its embassy in Kabul as well as Afghan officials, but could offer no further information. Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults -- an attack on the consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. The spike in violence came in the wake of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan last month. India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government. This week representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China met in a bid to revive stalled Taliban peace talks, even as the insurgents wage a brazen winter campaign of violence more than 14 years after they were ousted from power. The so-called "roadmap" talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Islamists. The four-country group is set to hold the next round of discussions on January 18 in Kabul. The Taliban's nationwide winter offensive is testing the capacity of Afghanistan's overstretched military and putting pressure on Pakistan to rein in its one-time proxies. A Sikh bus driver in Los Angeles was brutally assaulted and called a terrorist and a suicide bomber, the victim's representatives said today over two months after the incident was reported to the police. The Sikh Coalition group, is representing the victim Balwinder Jit Singh, who worked as a bus driver for 17 years. While he was being beaten by a passenger on November 6, Singh kept his foot on the brake of his bus to ensure the safety of the pedestrians and passengers. The assault left Singh in the hospital with a black eye, swollen and bruised face and jaw, and infection in his eye. "Two months later, he continues to suffer from blurred vision and pain," the Sikh Coalition said. Singh, who is on the board of a recently-vandalised Gurdwara in Buena Park, has retained the Sikh Coalition to represent him in this ongoing criminal investigation. Although he immediately reported the incident to the police, he delayed going public because he didn't know how to do so until he contacted the Sikh Coalition. "I know that sharing my story sheds further light on the bigotry and hatred faced by communities across the nation. These crimes cannot be tolerated," he said in a statement issued through Sikh Coalition. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, the individual responsible is currently in custody with the Los Angeles Police Department in a different criminal case. Police say the suspect potentially faces only misdemeanour assault charges for attacking Singh. "These charges fail to capture the violent nature of the attack, and the anti-Sikh bias that precipitated it," the statement said adding that the Sikh Coalition's legal team is working with the local sheriff's department and the FBI to push for a hate crime investigation and prosecution. "In the face of hateful rhetoric and the current climate of fear, we must ensure that all bias-based incidents are thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice," said the Sikh Coalition's senior staff attorney Gurjot Kaur. "We cannot fight hate if law enforcement agencies ignore or fail to recognise hate crimes," she added. Silence can "embolden" criminals and it is therefore important for public figures and private individuals to speak out "pro actively" against hatred, a senior US official today said, citing the Dadri lynching case. Delivering a lecture on 'Democratic Values and Violent Extremism' at Vivekananda International Foundation here, Sarah B Sewall, US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights talked about the need to end "stifling regulation" on civil society. "Ensuring freedom calls for most than just enforcing laws. It means pro actively speaking out---as both public officials and private citizens. Silence can embolden the criminal and cruel---as in the lynching of a Muslim man last September, or the burning of churches in Odis," she said. Sewall's comments assume significance at the backdrop of the criticism faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "silence" on the Dadri lynching episode, wherein a 50-year-old man was lynched to death by a 200-strong mob over beef eating rumours in Uttar Pradesh. The official cautioned the leaders from falling into the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling and or discrimination against one religion. "Our own experiences remind us that no religious or political ideology is immune to violent extremism, from the history of White supremacists in the US to Maoist extremists here in India. "Learning from the past we must avoid the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling, and discrimination against any religious or ethic group--including our Muslim bothers and sisters. That defies not only our deepest values, but strengthen the lies that the group like ISIS profess that democracies are somehow incompatible with Islam," she said. Against the backdrop of Centre's crack down on some NGOs like the GreenPeace, Sewall noted that allowing citizen groups to peacefully speak around sensitive topics, can help in dealing with violent extremists in the society. She said the civil society and citizens can also go a step further in building ties with communities targeted by violent extremists for recruitment. "Governments can give the civil players a real seat at the table in policy development and ensure they have access to the resources and information they need to fully contribute. Interestingly, the US official came out in support of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for "praising" Indian Muslims for their fight against extremism and said the world was looking for this type of action from leadership. Sewall suggested that the government can train religious leaders to use new communication platforms to curb extremism. An Air Force officer was today killed during the Republic Day rehearsal parade here after a speeding car belonging to the son of former RJD MLA Mohammed Sohrab tore through the barricades at the spot and hit him. The brand new white Audi broke three guard rails and barged into the parade rehearsal on the Red Road at about 6.30 AM and killed 21-year-old Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud, the Air Force drill instructor who was supervising the parade. The road is normally closed for traffic during the rehearsal in the morning hours but the car sped towards the officer, knocked him off his feet and continued to move at high speed till it hit a barricade and came to a halt, a defence official said. The Air Force personnel sustained injuries and was rushed to Eastern Command Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.The driver left the car and fled. Describing the death of the officer as "unfortunate", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered "strict and strong action" against the person responsible for the mishap. After meeting the family members of the Air Force officers at the hospital, Banerjee said, "All strong action must be taken. Even after seeing that a parade rehearsal is going on and the total area has been barricaded how come somebody breaks in... It raises the question whether the person driving the car was okay or not.. This is very unfortunate and a serious matter. We have lost a life. "Investigation will take place for sure and I have told the Police Commissioner to take strong action and lodge a murder case against the person. I do not know who drives vehicles in this manner... Those who drive cars like this do not have any right to get a driving licence," she said before leaving the hospital. Though nobody has been arrested so far in connection with the accident, after examining the challan, sleuths of the Kolkata Police got the address of the showroom from where the car was bought and finally the details of the owner. "As per showroom records, the car has been registered against a company which belongs to former RJD MLA Mohammed Sohrab. And the showroom records show the car purchased for Rs 90 lakh belonged to Sohrab's son Ambia Sohrab," an officer said. Going by the showroom records, it was found that the Audi was delivered to the Sohrabs on January 4 and the contact details of the customer provided were of Ambia Sohrab, the officer said. A team of Kolkata Police sleuths tried to contact Sohrab as well as his father on his mobile number which was, however, found to be switched off, the officer said. "Our team went to the Sohrabs house but it was found locked and the Sohrabs were missing," he said. Sources in the Kolkata Police Anti-Rowdy section told (Reopens CAL4) Kolkata Traffic Police personnel said that the Audi was initially stopped while it was trying to get onto the flyover leading to Vidyasagar Setu. "The driver took a U-turn on the flyover itself and drove down taking the wrong lane. It was on high speed, broke one signal and then broke the guard rail in front of the South Gate of Fort William and rushed towards Red Road where vehicular entry was prohibited for a few hours in the morning because of the rehearsal," the police officer said. If you purchase Banksy's "Spy Booth" mural for $300,000, you get a three-bedroom Victorian home in Cheltenham, England for free! The house, in dire need of renovation, features the Banksy artwork on an outside wall. It's now fenced in as the mural was defaced in 2014 and then restored. From the New York Post: The mural was painted in the wake of and apparently in support of Edward Snowden's leak of National Security Agency documents, which revealed startling information about global surveillance. But why is "Spy Booth" located in this English town, and not, say, in Washington, DC? Because Cheltenham is home to the UK Government Communications Headquarters, Britain's intelligence and security agency, which actually uses this artwork on its website. Property listing: Fairview Road, Fairview, Cheltenham, GL52 Actress Alia Bhatt finds superstar Shah Rukh Khan's photoshoot for Daboo Ratnani's new calendar hot and calls her rumoured boyfriend Sidharth Malhotra's look in it "cool". The ace photographer's calendar for 2016 features a host of Bollywood biggies, including the young actress. "I think Shah Rukh sir is looking fabulous, he is looking very very hot (in the calender). Jacqueline Fernandez is looking amazing and Sid is looking cool and even Kriti's (Sanon) shot is nice. "All photos are good. I would like to pose with Jacqueline and Shah Rukh sir in a frame," Alia told reporters at the calendar launch here. The "Highway" star said everytime they work together she and Daboo try to do something different with the photoshoot. "Dabboo and I always look for doing something different... We try options in terms of looking cute, sexy or sweet. We try to make pictures look better." Sidharth was also present at the event. The duo, who worked together in 2012 film "Student of the Year", greeted and hugged each other. They will next share screen space in filmmaker Karan Johar-produced "Kapoor and Sons". Madras High Court today ordered notice to authorities on a petition seeking compensation for the death of a class VI student, who drowned in a swimming pool at an amusement park during a school excursion. Petitioner D Eswaran, father of the deceased E Prabakaran,sought adequate compensation contending that the school had failed to perform its quasi-parental responsibility. Alleging that the management of the Sri Lakshmi School in neighbouring Tiruvallur and police harassed and threatened him to withdraw his complaint over the death of his son last year, he also sought a thorough inquiry into the incident. When the matter came up for hearing, Justice R Subbiah yesterday ordered notice to authorities, and directed the additional government pleader P Sanjai Gandhi to get instructions from the school education department. According to the petitioner, the school had taken its students on excursion to "Queens Land Amusement Park" near here on February 21, 2015. At 2 pm, he received a phone call from a teacher saying his son Prabakaran had been hospitalised as he had suffered breathing problem. But when he rushed to the hospital, he was informed that his son had died due to drowning. The petitioner alleged that even before the postmortem the school management and local police were keen to strike "a deal" with him. He alleged no mandatory RDO inquiry was conducted into the incident, and he was not furnished a copy of the post-mortem report. Suspecting foul play, he claimed the school failed in its responsibility and teachers behaved in an irresponsible manner in dealing with the incident. The high court allowed the application for impleadment of the deceased's sister, who has alleged foul play in her brother's death. The bench, meanwhile, asked the counsel for the parties concerned to find out whether senior advocate F S Nariman, who was appointed as the amicus curiae to assist the Supreme Court in the matter, will continue to help out in the case. The court has now fixed the matter for further hearing on March 28. The bench further said that a life has been lost and it is a matter of great pain. "We want that it should not be repeated again. We should ensure that this should not take place in future," it said. It, however, said that we have to find out the reason for the death of law student. Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the university's founder president Ashok K Chauhan to file affidavit detailing action taken on the incident. The PIL was instituted after taking note of the letter written to then CJI T S Thakur by Raghav Sharma, a close friend of the deceased and a 4th-year law student. It has been claimed that Rohilla, who could not attend classes for quite some time due to various reasons including his physical health, was depressed over the prospect of not being allowed to take the examination by the college because of lack of attendance. The letter has blamed the Amity authorities for Rohilla's suicide. Alleging harassment by his teachers, his classmates had taken to social media and launched protests on campus after his death demanding action against his professors, two of whom have since resigned. The letter to the CJI had also sought that the apex court should take cognisance of the incident and order a probe by an independent committee in such matters. It also referred to the letter written by the student before taking the extreme step that he "might not mentally survive" the debarment. The college had said that the student had 43 per cent attendance, whereas the attendance requirement of the university was 75 per cent. Chinese authorities are holding a Swedish citizen on suspicion of endangering national security, Beijing confirmed today, as it appeared he had been caught up in a crackdown on human rights lawyers. It is rare for China to accuse foreigners of national security offences, which can carry heavy penalties, although some have occasionally been accused of spying. Peter Dahlin was detained more than a week ago on his way to Beijing's international airport, the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group which he works for said in a statement. Authorities had prevented embassy officials from speaking to him, it added, and his Chinese girlfriend had also disappeared. China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that a "Swedish citizen, Peter, is subject to criminal law enforcement in Beijing on suspicion of endangering China's national security". Dahlin's organisation, also known as China Action, said it supports "barefoot" lawyers who provide pro-bono legal aid to grassroots victims of rights violations, from demolition and eviction to arbitrary detention. "Peter has been arbitrarily detained on spurious accusations," it said, referring to a "six-month long assault on the country's human rights lawyers". Under President Xi Jinping the ruling Communist Party has stepped up a campaign against outspoken academics, lawyers and human rights activists, which has seen hundreds detained and dozens jailed. China this week confirmed the formal charging of at least nine human rights lawyers with "subversion" offences. Detention of foreigners on national security grounds is rare in China, though Japan said four of its citizens were held last year and accused of spying. US businesswoman Sandy Phan-Gillis has been held for six months in China over alleged espionage, supporters said in September. A Canadian Christian couple who ran a coffee shop in the Chinese border city of Dandong were detained on espionage charges in 2014. The wife was later granted bail. China passed a new "national security" law in July that was criticised by rights groups for the vague wording of its references to "security", which raised fears it could give police wide-ranging discretionary powers over civil society. Beijing has also drafted a new law that would put overseas non-governmental organisations under close supervision by Chinese police while operating in the country. Chinese state-run media often accuse foreign NGOs of undermining national security and trying to foment "colour revolution" against the Communist Party. The Swedish state prosecutor's office said today it had formally asked Ecuador for permission to interrogate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a rape allegation. "The written request was recently sent by the justice ministry to the state prosecutor's office in Ecuador. It's not possible to know when Ecuador will reply," the Swedish prosecutor's office said in a statement. Sweden and Ecuador signed an agreement in December on general legal cooperation between the two countries, a deal expected to allow them to move forward with the interrogation of the 44-year-old Australian. Ecuador had demanded that such an agreement be in place before it would let Swedish prosecutors interview Assange. Prosecutors want to question Assange on a rape allegation that dates back to 2010, but he has repeatedly refused to travel to Sweden and has been holed up at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012. Assange fears that if he leaves the embassy, he could eventually face extradition to the United States and a trial over the leaking by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010. Last March, Swedish prosecutors offered to question Assange in London, dropping their previous demand that he come to Sweden to answer to the allegations. But Quito refused to allow such a meeting until a bilateral judicial agreement was in place. Swedish prosecutors dropped a sexual assault probe against Assange in mid-August after the five-year statute of limitations expired. But they still want to question him about the rape allegation, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations that expires in 2020. Assange has denied all of the allegations and insisted the sexual encounters were consensual. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom will not be welcome in Israel following her call for investigations into the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces and other critical comments, a top Israeli official said today. Israel's fiery deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, harshly criticised Wallstrom, calling her comments "a mix of blindness and political stupidity". "Israel has decided to close its doors to official Swedish visits," she said in comments broadcast on Israeli public radio. A foreign ministry spokesman later walked back her comments, saying they referred only to Wallstrom and not other Swedish officials. An adviser to Hotovely told AFP that diplomatic relations with Sweden would continue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also serves as Israel's foreign minister. As the controversy erupted, a Swedish delegation including one of the country's deputy parliament speakers, Esabelle Dingizian, was visiting Israel. Wallstrom made the comments on yesterday while responding to a question in parliament on a controversy raised in December by her statement on the need for Israel to avoid "extrajudicial executions". A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis erupted in October, and there have been allegations that Israel has responded with excessive force in some cases. Twenty-three Israelis and an American have been killed in the attacks. At the same time, 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks. Many of the Palestinian attackers have been young people, including teenagers. A number of them have attempted attacks with kitchen knives in what some analysts have described as virtual suicide missions. Israel firmly rejects accusations that it has used excessive force. Ties between Israel and Sweden plummeted after Stockholm recognised the Palestinian state shortly after Wallstrom's centre-left Social Democrats won a parliamentary election in 2014. A day after the Paris attacks in November claimed by the Islamic State group, Wallstrom again attracted Israeli condemnation when she said the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a factor in radicalisation. An adviser to Hotovely told AFP today that Wallstrom would have no reason to visit Israel in any case because "with that sort of position we really don't have anything to talk about." "What (Hotovely) was really saying is that it can't be that a foreign minister that wants to be an interlocutor... would take such an absurd and unacceptable position," said Uri Resnick, adding that Wallstrom was "blaming the victim". Switzerland's attorney general will visit Egypt over the weekend to discuss hundreds of millions of dollars worth of frozen funds belonging to the family of former president Hosni Mubarak, a spokesman said today. After the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak after three decades in power, Switzerland reportedly blocked around 700 million Swiss francs ($695 million/640 million euros) in accounts used by the strongman and his relatives. Attorney General Michael Lauber "will meet several Egyptian representatives" on Saturday, according to his spokesman Andre Marty. In December 2013, the Swiss newspaper Sunday Morning reported that USD 300 million belonging to Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, were frozen by Egyptian authorities in Credit Suisse accounts. The paper said the amount accounted for around 40 percent of the Mubarak family's frozen assets. On Saturday, Egypt's top appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons for corruption. It was not immediately clear, however, how long Mubarak would remain in detention. Both of his sons were set free in October with time served taken into account. Mubarak has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011, months after his ouster in popular uprising. In May, a court sentenced him and his sons to three years for having embezzled 125 million Egyptian pounds (USD 16 million/15 million euros) from funds meant for the maintenance of presidential palaces. They were fined that same amount and an extra 21 million pounds. With the Supreme Court declining to vacate its stay on the Centre's notification allowing conduct of Jallikattu, protests intensified across Tamil Nadu today against the decision even as the Union government said it cannot bring an ordinance at this stage in this regard. Protests were held in several towns, including Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukottai and Salem. In Chennai, activists of the 'May 17 Movement' and 'Tamilar Munnetra Padai' staged demonstrations seeking measures by the Centre to facilitate Jallikattu. In Tiruchirappalli district, a person attempted to set himself ablaze demanding holding of the event. However, police overpowered and removed him from the spot. Organisers and supporters of the bull taming sport also resorted to road blocks and sections of organisers and participants went on a fast in Alanganallur and Palamdedu at Madurai, police said. Many men tonsured their heads in Madurai as a mark of protest seeking permission to hold the sport. Black flags were also hoisted at these places. At Kangeyam near Coimbatore, supporters of the sport said protests would be intensified if permission was not given for the conduct of Jallikattu. "An ordinance cannot be brought now at this stage when the case continues to be in court. However, the state government can do it and if that is done, we will support it," Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters at Mamallapuram near here on the sidelines of a function. However, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan told reporters at Cuddalore that appropriate measures were being perused to facilitate conduct of the sport. He also criticised those behind seeking the ban. PMK chief Ramadoss said "people's expectations on (conducting) Jallikattu should not be banned. (REOPENS MDS6) Meanwhile, DMK president Karunanidhi today disagreed with Congress' remark that the BJP government was adopting "double standards" as regards banning cow slaughter and supporting Jallikattu. Asked if the BJP-led government at the Centre was adopting "double standards" over the issue, the former chief minister told reporters "I do not think so." On Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's view that Tamil Nadu government could promulgate an ordinance, he said, "this is a legal issue, an opinion could be given only after studying it, nothing can be said in haste." The DMK chief also made light of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa claim that her party was poised for a massive victory in the upcoming Assembly elections, saying "it is their expectation." DMK, Karunanidhi said, has "bright prospects" in the polls. (REOPENS MES6) Isha Foundation chief Jaggi Vasudev came out in support of jallikattu, saying those opposing the bull taming sport were depriving the little happiness of the rural masses who participate in the event during Pongal festival. As beauty was important to a woman, bravery and enthusiasm were important to man, who now stood deprived of opportunities to show their vigour and strength, particularly those hailing from rural areas, he said in a statement in Coimbatore, where the Foundation is based. Jaggi Vasudev, popularly known as Sadguru, said the bulls used for jallikattu were never tortured, killed or harassed and whatever blood loss, bruises or death happen, were only to the human being. Those who are hurt and raise voice against jallikattu, should express their concern and stop the butchering of lakhs of animals being killed for its meat, he said. It was necessary to ban the killing of animals for meat or export purpose and was shameful that India topped the list of meat exports, Jaggi said. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav today held a meeting with officials of companies executing road projects in the state and assured them full security from "rangdari" (extortion) and Naxal threats. Yadav, who holds the Road Construction portfolio, interacted with officials of companies executing projects of Rs 100 crore in Bihar to instil confidence in them at a time when killing of two engineers at Darbhanga over extortion demand has triggered panic. He also reviewed progress of the projects and took stock of their work and said he would conduct review meetings of four divisions every month to take stock of work on ongoing projects. Yadav later told reporters that he has asked project officials if they feel there is any problem in the implementation of their work then they should immediately convey it to the concerned district magistrate or superintendent of police and principal secretary to road construction department either through telephone or SMS. "(I have said) Do not take even small irritants lightly and inform officials who will immediately take action," Yadav, who is younger son of RJD President Lalu Prasad, said. He said security has been provided to all construction companies working in Bihar and the project executioners had confirmed it to him. "All construction work on roads and bridges are going on and nobody has stopped the work." The deputy chief minister expressed grave concern over killing of two engineers of a Gurgaon-based construction company on December 26 last year. He came down heavily on opposition BJP for "creating an impression that there was lawlessness in Bihar and making constant effort to drive a wedge among coalition partners". "But they (BJP) will never succeed," he added. America has the "strongest" and most durable economy in the world, President Barack Obama said today, rejecting as "fiction" the assessment by many on economic decline. "The talk of America's economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth," Obama said in his eighth and final State of the Union Address to the Congress. Obama claimed that though "a lot of Americans feel anxious", the current state of the American economy is not in decline. "We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin," he said. "Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead - they call us," Obama said. Referring to the record number of new jobs created under his administration, Obama said the US right now has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. "We're in the middle of the longest streak of private- sector job creation in history," he said. "Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. What is true - and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious - is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and haven't let up," Obama said. For the past seven years, he said the goal of his administration has been a growing economy that works better for everybody. "We've made progress. But we need to make more. And despite all the political arguments we've had these past few years, there are some areas where Americans broadly agree," he argued. In his speech, Obama tried to reignite the great American spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship to meet the challenges being faced by the country - from climate change to terrorism and economy. "How do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges?" Obama said. "Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn't deny Sputnik was up there. We didn't argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space programme almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon," Obama reminded his countrymen and members of the Congress. Three persons sustained injuries in a clash between two communities today near the Karbala at south Delhi's Jor Bagh, which has witnessed a long-standing property dispute. The incident took place around 11.30 AM when three persons in the locality went for a walk at the park adjacent to the shrine and a few devotees at the Karbala stopped them claiming that their entry to the park was prohibited, said police. The three persons, facing allegations of trespassing, soon called some other locals and both communities allegedly resorted to stone-pelting, following which three persons were injured, said police. The matter came under control only when the police intervened. "Legal action has been initiated in connection with today's incident and security has been beefed up in the area," a senior police official said. The police have also urged the peace committee in the area to ensure that law and order is not disrupted, the official added. [My friend Peter Sheridan is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for British national newspapers. He has covered revolutions, civil wars, riots, wildfires, and Hollywood celebrity misdeeds for longer than he cares to remember. As part of his job, he must read all the weekly tabloids. For the past couple of years, he's been posting terrific weekly tabloid recaps on Facebook and has graciously given us permission to run them on Boing Boing. Enjoy! Mark] When the National Enquirer goes on the warpath to expose your deepest, darkest secrets, you know you're in trouble unless you're Donald Trump. The Enquirer uncovers Trump's "secret life," revealing "the Donald Trump nobody knows." A team of crack investigative reporters blow the lid off the presidential candidate's greatest scandals: Trump "has quietly donated a huge chunk of his fortune to charity and is a doting dad to his young son." I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. Enquirer stablemate the Globe offers equally fair and balanced reporting, under its headline "Impeach Obama!" The president is accused of "bungling and treachery," which certainly sounds like constitutional grounds for impeachment to me. It's another fabulously fact-challenged week in the tabloids. The Globe claims that Queen Elizabeth is "flat broke" after squandering her $2 billion fortune on "covering up scandals and feeding (her) horse racing addiction." Not to worry she can always make a few quid selling her story to the tabloids. The Globe also informs us that aviatrix Amelia Earhart not only survived her 1937 plane crash in the South Pacific but lived out her days hiding under an assumed name Craigmile Bolam in Bedford, New Jersey, until her death in 1982. Which makes perfect sense, because what international celebrity and adventurer with a passion for global travel doesn't dream of living in obscurity in New Jersey? Brad Pitt and Angelina, whose marriage has been on the brink of divorce for months if you believe the tabloids, united in Cambodia for what the Enquirer calls a "lavish $1 million holiday." A happy reunion? A loving get-together? According to the Enquirer it was a "honeymoon from hell," despite the fact that it was not a honeymoon, and they had to endure the "hell" of a luxury yacht, spa resorts and legions of servants. But presumably that's a version of hell if you're accustomed to the lavish lifestyle of an Enquirer reporter. The Enquirer also has "world exclusive" photos of a Bill Cosby "sex attack" on a drugged woman, "caught on camera." Yet when you read this story, you learn that the photos are all recreations using actors, and that "the depraved attack may have been captured on videotape." May have been. Where were Cosby's home security cameras? Evidently positioned all around the outside of his house, to watch for intruders, naturally. Not focused inside his bedroom or living room. The alleged attack occurred 11 years ago, so I'm sure that like most of us Cosby keeps a private storage warehouse stacked with DVDs of decades-old security footage, just for sentimental reasons. Who hasn't ever longed to sit down and watch exterior views of your home from years gone by? Thankfully, we have the investigative teams of the celebrity magazines to bring us this week's real news: actor Dean Cain confesses: "I cook every day," R&B star Tinashe (Who she, Ed?) carries car keys, lipstick and Advil in her purse (this groundbreaking feature never gets old), and the stars are just like us: they walk their dogs, they enjoy burgers, and they tie up their hair. Bald vegan stars who don't own dogs are clearly not like us at all, which I find very reassuring. People magazine splashes with "The Untold Story Behind Making A Murderer," with "shocking new details" implying Steven Avery's guilt which might be interesting if prosecutors hadn't raised those same "new details" years ago during Avery's trial, and reiterated them numerous times over the past few weeks. Us magazine splashes with meatier material: Miley Cyrus's rekindled romance with former fiance Liam Hemsworth. The duo reportedly "held hands" at a Golden Globes party on Sunday, and "left in the same SUV." I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you. David Bowie's death merits a small corner of the covers of People and Us mags, which seems woefully inadequate for such a musical legend, especially when both mags give bigger space to Golden Globes coverage of "best dresses" and "backstage gossip." Because what Jennifer Lawrence wore to the Globes will long outlive Ziggy Stardust, I assume. Did Selena Gomez really wear it best? She garnered 76 per cent of the votes when Us mag asked 100 people at NYC's Rockefeller Center who looked best in mocha Wolford leggings, crushing Alessandra Ambrosio (Who she, Ed?) who got only 24 per cent of the votes. But what if Gomez's 76 voters only felt that she had the edge over Ambrosio by a 51-49 ratio? And what if Ambrosio's 24 per cent of supporters felt that she dominated Gomez by 99-1? I think Us magazine needs to institute some form of proportional representation into these votes, to give us more nuanced results. This is important, people we're talking about who wore it best! My favorite tabloid story of the week is found in the Examiner, which explains "why birds never go gray." Apparently, birds' feathers are made of a "sponge-like nanoscopic" structure which reflects light in different hues, rather than having pigment in the feathers which could fade with age. "The control of this evolving nanostructure by adjusting the size and density of the holes in the spongy-like structure determines what color is reflected," says scientist Dr Andrew Parnell at Sheffield University in the U.K. Like most Americans, I get all my science news from the supermarket tabloids. How else would I know when aliens have landed? Or, as Hillary Clinton told New Hampshire's Conway Daily Sun newspaper recently, "we may have been" visited by aliens already. Trust the Globe to report this week: "She thinks aliens have visited Earth." Onwards and downwards . . . Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank today contributed Rs two crore toward relief works in areas hit by rains during last month in the state. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank H S Upendra Kamath handed a demand draft for Rs two crore to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, a bank release said here. The amount was contributed to the Chief Minister's Flood Relief Fund. Directors of the bank A. Rajakumar and P.Mahendravel were also present during the occasion, it said. With BJP sensing an opportunity to corner the Trinamool Congress government over Malda violence, top party leaders, including its chief Amit Shah and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, are likely to hold public meetings starting next week in the poll-bound state. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Smriti Irani besides Singh and Shah will be addressing these meetings starting from January 18, party sources said. They are likely to harp about the "failure" of the Mamata Banerjee government's law and order machinery at Kaliachak in Malda, where over a lakh people had assembled last week over the alleged blasphemous remarks of a right wing leader and a section of it later turned violent. While Gadkari is tentatively scheduled to hold a public meeting in South Dinajpur, which is close to Malda as the Malda administration denied permission to his rally there (Malda), on January 18. Singh will hold a rally at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district on January 21, while Irani is likely to hold a rally in Burdwan on January 22 and Shah in Howrah on January 25, a party leader said. BJP has accused the TMC government of taking "no" action against the organisers due to its "vote bank" politics, alleging that they stoked communal passions. The party has stepped up its attack on it over the issue by first sending there a 'fact-finding' team and then meeting Union Home Minister yesterday after the team was not allowed to enter the area by the state government. Demanding a high-level probe, BJP had said many participants in the rally had links with fake currency and narcotics trade and infiltration. Accusing the Trinamool Congress government of "protecting criminals" involved in the incident of "anarchy and terror", a three-member team led by general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is also its Bengal in-charge, had met Singh. Brushing off the TMC's charge that it was trying to communalise the situation due to the coming polls, BJP leader alleged it was the Mamata Banerjee government which was giving the issue a "communal" colour. "It was an assembly of many anti-national people involved in drug and fake currency nexus. We will expose her government," the leader added. A moderate intensity earthquake woke residents up in the middle of the night in Kashmir but there were no reports of any damage caused by the tremor. An earthquake of 5.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale was experienced in Kashmir at 1.35 a.m, an official of the MET department said here today. The official said the epicentre of the tremor was at a depth of 220 kilometres in Hindukush region of Afghanistan. The tremor woke people from their sleep and made them rush out of their homes to safety, police officials said. They said there were no reports of any damage due to the earthquake so far. Turkey said today it had arrested one person in connection with a deadly suicide bombing that ripped through the historic heart of Istanbul, killing 10 German tourists and raising alarm over security in the country. Ankara has said that yesterday's attack was carried out by a 28-year-old Syrian who belonged to the Islamic State (IS) group and had recently entered Turkey from Syria. One person was arrested yesterday in connection with the bloodshed, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said today, without explaining the suspect's role in the strike. Turkish security forces over the last two days rounded up 68 suspected IS members across the country, state media said, but it was not clear if any of them were directly connected to the Istanbul bombing. "The investigation is continuing in a very intensive way," Ala told a conference in Istanbul alongside German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. The foreign ministry in Berlin said Wednesday all 10 of those killed in the attack were German. But de Maiziere said there was "no indication" the attack specifically targeted Germans, saying there was no need to cancel travel plans. "It was an attack against humanity," he said. "I see no reason to refrain from trips to Turkey." But the German foreign ministry has advised its nationals to keep away from large groups in public places and tourist attractions in Istanbul. German tourism giant TUI said customers who had booked trips to Istanbul can switch destination without paying a penalty. Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks blamed on jihadists over the last year, including a double suicide bombing in October in Ankara that killed more than 100 people. But yesterday's bombing was the first time in recent memory tourists had been targeted in the heart of Istanbul. The bomber, identified as Nabil Fadli, detonated his charge in Sultanahmet Square, home to Turkey's most visited historic sites including the Ottoman-era Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia church. The explosion went off by the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt, one of the city's most iconic landmarks. The Sabah daily said the bomber had entered Turkey as a refugee from Syria on January 5. He was then fingerprinted by the Turkish migration service, explaining why the authorities were able to identify the bomber so rapidly after the attack. The Hurriyet daily said Turkey's spy agency had twice issued warnings over the risk of a suicide attack in Istanbul. Police today removed a cordon preventing access to the area of the attack, which was quickly thronged by media and some tourists, an AFP correspondent said. Turkey has detained 68 suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in raids across the country, state media said today. The arrests were made after an IS suicide bomber killed 10 people in central Istanbul yesterday, but the reports did not make clear if there was any connection. Sixty-five people were detained yesterday in raids in Ankara; Izmir on the Aegean; the Syrian border town of Kilis; Sanliurfa close to Syria; Mersin on the Mediterranean; and the southern city of Adana, the Anatolia agency said. In Ankara, the authorities detained 16 people who were suspected of planning a major attack in the capital, the report said. The 21 people detained in Sanliurfa were also planning an attack at an unspecified location in Turkey, it added. Today, three more suspected IS members were detained in the southern resort city of Antalya. All three are Russian citizens, it added. The reports did not make clear if there was any link to Tuesday's suicide bombing in Sultanahmet Square in central Istanbul, which the authorities said was carried out by an IS jihadist who came from Syria. Most of those killed were German tourists. Long accused of failing to crack down on IS, Turkey has in recent months moved against cells operating on its territory after several deadly attacks blamed on the group. A suicide bombing followed by heavy gunfire rang out today near the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city, killing two people in an ongoing attack days after four-country talks aimed at reviving Taliban peace talks. The assault sent terrified students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after a series of strikes on Indian installations in the region. "Two policemen were killed after the suicide attack, which was followed by gunfire," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP. "The incident occurred near the Pakistani consulate, but we are not sure if it was the intended target." Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement it was in contact with its embassy in Kabul as well as Afghan officials, but could offer no further information. Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults -- an attack on the consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. The spike in violence came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise peacemaking visit to Pakistan last month following a tour of Kabul. India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government. The latest attack comes shortly after four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. The discussions between representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China on Monday came even as the insurgents wage an unprecedented winter campaign of violence more than 14 years after they were ousted from power. The so-called "roadmap" talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Islamists. The group is set to hold the next round of discussions on January 18 in Kabul. The Taliban's unprecedented nationwide winter offensive is testing the capacity of Afghanistan's overstretched military and putting pressure on Pakistan to rein in its one-time proxies. In September the Taliban briefly seized the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, and in recent weeks they have seized large swathes of the key opium-rich district of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand, their traditional stronghold. Two Nepalese youths were today arrested for cheating an Indian businessman here of over Rs 4 lakh by using fake identity of a girl. Bikram Gyawali and Kevin K C were arrested by the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Crime Division as they were found to be black mailing Indian businessman Roshan Gupta, by using a fake identity in the name of a girl, a police official said. The duo have created fake facebook ID in the name of Subashna Gautam and tried to lure Gupta. Gupta who runs a cloth shop in Mahabouddha was cheated of Rs 4.17 lakh from the duo, police said. "Our sister Subashna has cut her hand falling in love with you, so you need to pay Rs 55,000 for her treatment," they said in a mail sent to Gupta. The two even went to the shop of Gupta posing as elder brothers of the fictitious girl and demanded money for her treatment and also threatened him. In this manner they made more than 4 lakh rupees from the him. As they demanded additional Rs 2 lakh from Gupta, he went to the police and registered a complaint at the Crime Division of the Police and sought legal action against them. The police have arrested the two youths and a case has been filed against them under the Electronic Transction Act. The police have confiscated two mobile sets, a tablet, a gold chain and Rs 2.5 lakh cash from them. Britain's foreign office minister has called on Navtej Sarna, the Indian high commissioner to the UK, to raise concerns over the imprisonment of six former British soldiers by a court in India for illegally entering the Indian territory with arms. Hugo Swire also used the meeting yesterday to welcome Sarna, who took charge at the Indian High Commission in London this week. "I raised UK concerns for the British nationals imprisoned in Chennai with the Indian high commissioner. We are providing support to them," he tweeted. "Welcomed new Indian high commissioner Sarna to the UK today (Tuesday). Look forward to strengthening our countries' friendship," Swire wrote. Nick Dunn, Billy Irving, Ray Tindall, Paul Towers, John Armstrong and Nicholas Simpson,who worked on an anti-piracy ship,were arrested on firearms charges in October 2013 when the US-owned ship they were on was found to be full of weapons. A Tamil Nadu court on Monday upheld the claim by Indian authorities that the vessel was not properly licensed and sentenced them and 29 others aboard to five years in jail. All men aboard the ship - which include the six Britons, 12 Indians, three Ukranians and 14 Estonians - received five-year sentences and were ordered to pay Rs 3,000 by Tutucorin district sessionscourt. The MV Seaman Guard Ohio, which flew the Sierra Leone flag, was found about 15 nautical miles from Tuticorin port in October 2013. It is owned by Advanfort, a US company that specialises in maritime security and offered armed protection services to vessels sailing through an area known as "pirates' alley" between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Indian customs officials and police found 35 guns, including semi-automatic weapons, and almost 6,000 rounds of ammunition on board the ship which did not have permission to be in the Indian waters. Rail passengers on one of the Britain's railway networks were left baffled after being told trains were delayed due to "strong sunlight" that affected the vision of drivers. Southeastern railway company took to Twitter yesterday in an attempt to explain delays and congestion on services from Lewisham in south-east London. "We had severe congestion through Lewisham due to dispatching issues as a result of strong sunlight. The low winter sun has been hitting the dispatch monitor which prevents the driver from being able to see," the rail firm tweeted. The firm, which operates passenger services from the capital to Kent and East Sussex, said the Sun prevented drivers from checking CCTV monitors in south east London, leading to 117 cancellations across London and the south east. People stranded on platforms spoke out of their confusion and anger at the announcement. "What are @Southeastern going to come up with next? Too wet, too hot, too cold... But too sunny?!," one person tweeted. "We know that sometimes it seems that if it is not leaves on the line or snow on the track then it is some other weather issue. But actually glare this morning made it impossible for some drivers to see the full length of their train in their mirrors before leaving stations. "When this happens they have to get out and check to ensure everybody has got on or off the train safely before they can move. This can take a little more time but thankfully for all it doesn't happen very often," a spokesman for Southeastern said. Britain's minister in charge of Scotland David Mundell today become the first openly gay Cabinet minister in the country's Conservative-led government. Coming out publically was "one of the most important decisions" of my life, said Mundell, Scotland Secretary and MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale. "The Prime Minister is pleased. Delighted that he's in a position to take this step," a Downing Street spokesperson for David Cameron said. Mundell made the announcement as part of a New Year message on his website and Facebook. "New Year, new start! I have already set out my political priorities for the year and now I am setting out my personal one. "Having taken one of the most important decisions of my life and resolved to come out publically as gay in 2016, I just want to get on with it, and now, just like that, I have said it," he wrote. "Over time, I came to understand that, for me, the only way to be truly happy on a personal level is to acknowledge in public as well as in private, who I am. Gender and sexuality should make no difference whether you are a Cabinet Minister or in any other walk of life and I hope that I can, in my own way, reinforce that message," he added. Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Tories, who is also openly gay, said: "I know that David didn't make today's statement lightly, but approached it in his typically thoughtful and positive manner. He has my wholehearted support, as well as the support of the wider Scottish Conservative family." Lord Smith was the UK's first openly gay Cabinet minister during Labour leader Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007. A scorching editorial by public education advocate Marion Brady describes the 30 year program of sneak-attacks on public education in America. It starts by whipping up fear that foreign workforces are "eating our lunch" because of education standards in the US (rather than, say, multinationals taking jobs to places with lower wages and fewer labor protections), then blaming "unaccountable" teachers and insisting on charters, de-unionization, standardized testing (which can be used to prove that teachers aren't "accountable") and standardized curriculum (so there's something to test on the standardized test). Lather, rinse repeat: give it 30 years and you'll find public funds increasingly diverted to private hands; teachers hamstrung when it comes to delivering personalized education; mounting xenophobic fear of having your lunch eaten; and a relentless focus on standardized testing at the expense of real learning. If you'll read the fine-print disclaimers on high-stakes standardized tests, you'll see how grossly they're being misused, but they're the key to privatization. The general public, easily impressed by numbers and mathematical razzle-dazzle, believes competition is the key to quality, so want quality quantified even though it can't be done. Machine-scored tests don't measure quality. They rank. It's hard to rank unlike things so it's necessary to standardize. That's what the Common Core State Standards do. To get the job done quickly, Bill Gates picked up the tab, important politicians signed off on them, and teachers were handed them as a done deal. The standards make testing and ranking a cinch. They also make making billions a cinch. Manufacturers can use the same questions for every state that has adopted the standards or facsimiles thereof. If challenged, test fans often quote the late Dr. W. Edward Deming, the world-famous quality guru who showed Japanese companies how to build better stuff than anybody else. In his book, "The New Economics," Deming wrote, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Here's the whole sentence as he wrote it: "It is wrong to suppose that if you can't measure it, you can't manage it a costly myth." A primer on the damaging movement to privatize public schools [Marion Brady/Washington Post] (via Naked Capitalism) With the war in Syria headed for a sixth year, UN agencies have appealed for $7.73 billion in funding to help 22.5 million people affected by the conflict. The appeal for funds from UN member-states covers help for 13.5 million Syrians displaced inside the war-wracked country and 4.7 million who have fled across the border to neighbouring countries. The aid will also reach some four million people in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon who are hosting millions of Syrian refugees, said a UN statement yesterday. donors will be asked to come forward with large pledges at a conference on Syria's humanitarian crisis in London on February 4. "After nearly six years of brutal conflict and political paralysis, the Syrian people need our help more than ever," said UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stressed that Syria's neighbours were shouldering the biggest burden from the refugee crisis and said funding must be directed at them. More than a million refugees, many from Syria, crossed into Europe last year after conditions in camps deteriorated, with cuts to food rations and other aid. Last year, UN agencies asked for $8.4 billion from governments worldwide to fund the Syrian aid effort, but received only $3.3 billion of that amount. The appeal for Syria is part of a part of a wider 2016 humanitarian appeal, asking for $20.1 billion to reach 87 million people in need of aid around the world. The UN's most powerful body is working on a resolution that would impose tougher sanctions on North Korea to reflect its claim that it tested a powerful hydrogen bomb for the first time, a Security Council diplomat said today. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations have been private, said the North's claim that it tested a hydrogen bomb represents "a step change" and the council needs to show that its response also represents "a step change," even if the claim proves to be untrue, which is likely. While there is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, whatever the North detonated underground last week will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. North Korea's UN mission circulated a report today from the country's agency saying North Korean scientists and technicians "are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs ... capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once as it persistently moves to stifle the DPRK." The country's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Security Council pledged immediately after the January 6 announcement of the nuclear test to swiftly pursue new sanctions. It strongly condemned the test as a "clear violation" of previous UN sanctions resolutions. The diplomat said all 15 Security Council members agree that North Korea should be denuclearized, and this will be reflected in a new resolution. The council last approved sanctions against North Korea after its third nuclear test on February 12, 2013. That resolution was largely negotiated by the United States and China, North Korea's traditional ally. The council diplomat said the United States, which is leading the current negotiations, is moving forward "in a careful, thorough and deliberate way," consulting closely with China but also with other council members, including Japan. The diplomat said a new resolution isn't expected immediately, likely not in less than three weeks. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the US mission to the United Nations. Donors have pledged $250 million to educate over one million Syrian children this year but an additional $500 million is urgently needed to fund the program in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, the UN envoy for global education has said. Gordon Brown yesterday warned that "death voyages to Europe" will soar in 2016 as long as Syria's two million refugee children and millions more displaced inside the country are exploited and don't have the opportunity for education. The organization Girls Not Brides recently reported that the child marriage rate among Syrian refugee girls has doubled from 12% to 26%, he said, and a recent survey estimates that one in three refugee boys and girls have become child laborers. "It's urgent that we provide them education and avoid this exploitation and give these children hope for the future," Brown told a news conference by audio link from Europe. When he was Britain's prime minister in 2009 and head of the Group of 20 leading economies, Brown recalled that a trillion dollars had to be raised to support the world economy, so "it ought to be possible to raise $500 million for what is an excellent cause." He pledged to try to raise the money at the World Economic Forum in Davos and an pledging conference for Syria in London, on February 4, among other places. Brown said Lebanon's introduction of double-shift classes in school has been the greatest success story, educating over 200,000 refugee children from Syria right now "from a negligible number a few months ago." The refugee youngsters go to school in late afternoon and evening, after Lebanese children are finished, he said. The goal, he said, is to double the 200,000 Syrian refugee children now in school in Turkey to over 400,000, increase the number in Jordan from 130,000 to 200,000 in the next few months, and reach one million in 2016. "And by next year every single child refugee would be offered a place in school whether they be in Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey," Brown said. The number of people who migrated to foreign countries surged by 41 per cent in the last 15 years to reach 244 million in 2015, according to a United Nations study. Of those people, 20 million are refugees. The UN is planning a series of meetings in 2016 to address migration, including a March 30 gathering in Geneva where countries can pledge to take in Syrians fleeing civil war. But while the Syrian refugee crisis has gripped the world's attention, it is but a drop in the sea of international migration. By far, the US is the country with the largest portion of the world's migrants: 47 million, or a fifth of the total. Germany and Russia shared the No 2 spot with about 12 million each, followed by Saudi Arabia (10 million), Britain (9 million) and the UAE (8 million), according to the study released yesterday. The vast majority of international migrants two-thirds of the total are in Europe or Asia. Europe is home to 76 million international migrants, while Asia has 75 million. While Asia and Europe host the largest portions of international migrants, they also contribute the most. Asia is the biggest regional source of international migrants, with 104 million, or 43 per cent. Europe contributed 25 per cent, or 62 million. The UN report explained that migration occurs mostly between countries located in the same region. Latin America and the Caribbean was the third-largest regional source of international migration, with 37 million, or 15 per cent. Only 2 per cent (4 million) are from North America. India had the world's biggest diaspora, with 16 million people, followed by Mexico (12 million), Russia (11 million), China (10 million) and Bangladesh (7 million) and Pakistan and Ukraine (6 million each). They are almost equally divided by gender: 48 per cent are women. Not surprisingly, most are working-age. The median age of migrants in 2015 was 39. A significant portion 15 per cent were under 20 years old. But country populations will not get any younger as a result. The UN said migrants can help ease old-age dependency ratios in some countries but will not halt the long-term trend toward population aging. All major areas of the world are still projected to have significantly higher old-age dependency ratios in 2050. The vast majority of the world's people stay put. Migrants made up just 3.3 per cent of the global population in 2015, up from 2.8 per cent 15 years ago. Still, international migration is growing faster than the world's population, with significant consequences for many regions. China today said it will adopt an "unbiased" approach to back any Indian move for a UN ban on Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad blamed for the Pathankot airbase attack, months after blocking India's demand for action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba at the world body. On reports from India that New Delhi may seek Beijing's support for a UN ban on the Jaish for the attack on the Pathankot airbase, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said "in dealing with counter terrorism issues, the Chinese side will continue to adopt a fact-based, objective and unbiased position and follow relevant resolutions and regulations of the UN Security Council". "The Chinese side strongly condemns attacks on diplomatic and consulate missions," Hong said in a written response to PTI here about the attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan which an Afghan police official has said was carried out by Pakistani military personnel. "We believe and hope that relevant situation can be handled properly," Hong said. He said China opposes all forms of terrorism, supports a central UN role in coordinating international counter-terror cooperation and actively participates in global counter- terrorism efforts. Hong's remarks were significant in the backdrop of China blocking India's move at the UN Sanctions Committee last year when New Delhi sought action against Pakistan for releasing jailed LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. China wanted more evidence which officials say India subsequently discussed with Chinese officials. Besides the Lakhvi case, China earlier had put a technical hold on India's demand for UN Security Council action against Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed citing UNSC resolution 1267. A prominent American art dealer has gone to court in a fight with a British collector- reportedly representing the Qatari royal family, over a Picasso sculpture valued at more than USD 100 million. The work, "Bust of a Woman (Marie-Therese)," dated 1931, is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as part of the largest exhibit of sculpture by the Spanish master in 50 years. Larry Gagosian, who has worked with members of the Picasso family for years, is asking the federal court in Manhattan to reject the opposing side's claim to the sculpture. He contends that he purchased it in May 2015 from the daughter of the artist, Maya Widmaier-Picasso, for USD 105.8 million, according to a legal action he filed in federal court, viewed yesterday by AFP. The subject of the bust, Marie-Therese Walter, was Picasso's mistress and model for several years and the mother of Widmaier-Picasso. Gagosian said he had so far paid USD 79.7 million for the work, or 75 percent of the purchase value. He also said he had concluded a sales agreement with a New York buyer, who expects to take possession of the sculpture once the exhibit ends on February 7. Gagosian further states that he received a letter in October from a British trading firm, Pelham Europe, asserting its ownership of the sculpture and threatening to have it seized in New York. That firm, founded and headed by a former expert from Christie's auction house, Guy Bennett, contends that it reached an agreement in November 2014 to purchase the work from Widmaier-Picasso for 38 million euros (USD 41.3 million at current rates). It says the broker Connery, Pissaro, Seydoux served as intermediary. But the artist's daughter renounced the sale after a first payment of only six million euros, according to Gagosian's legal filing. A clause in the contract stipulated that the sale would only be considered as final once the entire price had been paid, court papers said. The British company was working for the royal family of Qatar, Gagosian told The New York Times. As The Times noted, the case is complicated by the nature of Picasso's family -- his many wives, muses, children and grandchildren have for years wrangled over his valuable creations. MoMA did not respond to AFP's request for comment, and Pelham Europe could not immediately be reached. A 33-year-old US national, who was on an auto-rickshaw expedition, was found dead in his hotel room in the city today. The deceased was identified as Christopher, a resident of the US, Sadar police station SHO Pradeep Singh said. He had arrived in Jodhpur on Tuesday with a group of four others -- an Australian and an American couple. "They had checked in Haweli Guesthouse in the walled city, where he was allotted a separate room, while the two couples checked in two separate rooms," Singh said, adding that he skipped dinner on Tuesday citing ill health and preferred to rest. Later, he left for his room and asked them to meet him the following morning at the breakfast table. But, when he failed to respond to the phone calls and door knocks, police was informed. "We broke into the room and found him lying dead on the bed," Singh said. After preliminary investigations, the police intimated the US Embassy and sent the body to the mortuary of MDM Hospital, where a medical board will conduct post-mortem. The group had started from Kochi in two auto-rickshaws and had arrived in Jodhpur via Udaipur on Tuesday. They were to leave for Jaisalmer from here, police added. All 10 US Navy sailors detained by Iran after their two small boats allegedly drifted into Iranian territorial waters around one of Iran's Persian Gulf islands a day earlier have been freed, the United States and Iran said today. The sailors' swift release quickly diffused what could have escalated into an international crisis days before Iran is expected to meet the terms of last summer's nuclear deal with world powers. The deal gives Iran significant relief from painful economic sanctions. The nine men and one woman were held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island after they were detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. The Navy said there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody. The sailors departed the island at 0843 GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return voyage to Bahrain, where the US 5th Fleet is based. The sailors will be taken ashore somewhere in the region so that they can receive support to reintegrate with their unit, said 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Kevin Stephens. He declined to say where they were traveling to or provide details on their identities. Stephens said the priority now is "determining ... How exactly these sailors found themselves in Iran. And that's something we're going to be looking at." The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained US sailors before their release, showing them sitting on the floor of a room. They look mostly bored or annoyed, though at least one of the sailors appears to be smiling. The sole woman had her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters," a statement posted online by the Guard said today. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking later to "CBS This Morning," denied that Americans made any apology. "There's nothing to apologise for," Biden said. "When you have a problem with the boat you apologise the boat had a problem? No, and there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice." Gen Ali Fadavi, the navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted earlier Wednesday by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of "mechanical problems in their navigation system." US officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident. They had said on Tuesday that Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. Georgia plans to execute its oldest death row inmate next month, the state's attorney general has announced. Brandon Astor Jones, 72, is scheduled to be put to death February 2 at the state prison in Jackson, the office of Attorney General Sam Olens said in a release yesterday. Jones was convicted of killing Roger Tackett, a convenience store manager, during a robbery in 1979. A federal judge later ordered a new sentencing hearing for Jones because jurors had improperly been allowed to bring a Bible into the deliberation room. Jones was resentenced to death in 1997. The US Supreme Court in October rejected an appeal from Jones. A divided Georgia Supreme Court and the federal appeals court in Atlanta had previously upheld his death sentence. According to evidence at his trial, Jones and Van Roosevelt Solomon were arrested at the scene by a Cobb County policeman who had driven a stranded motorist to the convenience store to use a pay phone at around 1:45 am on June 17, 1979. The officer knew the store usually closed at midnight and was suspicious when he saw a car out front with the driver's side door open and lights still on inside the store. Through the front window, he saw Jones stick his head out of the storeroom door at the back of the store and look around before closing the door, prosecutors have said. The officer entered the store and drew his weapon after hearing four shots. He yelled, "Police, come on out," and approached the storeroom when no one responded. He found Jones and Solomon just inside the storeroom door and took them into custody, prosecutors have said. Tests showed each man had recently fired a gun or handled a recently fired gun. The cash drawer had been removed and was found wrapped in a plastic bag. Solomon, who was also convicted and sentenced to death, was executed in Georgia's electric chair in February 1985. US officials were scrambling to recover US Navy personnel who lost radio contact and were apprehended after straying into Iranian waters. Senior US officials said yesterday they had received assurances from Tehran that the crews -- take to Farsi island -- would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. But it appeared likely that the embarrassing crisis would last at least until after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, with whom he struck the Iran nuclear deal. Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, but Kerry and Zarif forged a tie during the long negotiations for the pact and are in regular contact. "He has a close relationship with foreign minister Zarif and that would be a natural point of contact," White House communications director Jen Psaki told CNN. "We have been in touch with the Iranians. We have been assured of their safety and that they will be able to move forward on their journey promptly," she said. "Obviously, any situation like this we take very seriously, and that's why we acted very quickly to get in touch and determine as much as we can." A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one or both of the vessels -- small patrol boats -- may have had a "mechanical incident." Farsi Island lies in the Gulf, roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and houses a base of Iran's Republican Guard Corps, which has its own naval units. The tiny territory extends Iranian waters deep into one of the world's most important shipping lanes, an oil superhighway and potential military flashpoint. "Earlier today, we lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain," a senior US administration official said. American officials did not dispute that the vessels appeared to have been in Iranian territorial waters when they were intercepted by Tehran's forces. "At this early stage," another senior administration official said, there is "nothing to indicate that" Iran had committed a hostile act. Ben Rhodes, a top national security aide for Obama, said the administration was "hopeful we will be able to resolve the issue." Obama is expected to use his much-heralded final State of the Union address to burnish his legacy, hailing, among other things, the nuclear deal with Iran. The deal foresees the Islamic republic scaling back its nuclear program to put a bomb outside its immediate reach in exchange for relief from international sanctions. The deal is to be implemented very soon -- Kerry has said "in the coming days" -- but has been criticized by Obama's US opponents as too soft on Tehran. Vietnam has accused China of threatening safety of civilian flights over the disputed South China Sea by failing to properly inform its aviation authorities of Beijing's recent test flights to a man-made island also claimed by Hanoi. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said that although a Chinese Embassy representative did inform the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry about the flights last month, prompting a protest from Hanoi, that did not extend to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam and threatened the safety of civil aviation. The notification from the Chinese Embassy "cannot substitute China's notification to the appropriate air traffic services units of Vietnam in order to ensure the safety and regularity of flight operations," the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said in a statement late yesterday. China Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Monday that China's three test flights to Fiery Cross Reef one of seven South China Sea features where China had carried out extensive land reclamation were state aviation activities and had no restrictions under international law. Hong said that Beijing informed Vietnamese aviation authorities on December 28 and Foreign Ministry two days later about them. He said that Vietnam had failed to see "the professional, technical and civil nature of China's inspection and test flights." Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh disputed Hong and said that at the meeting with the Chinese Embassy representative, Vietnam protested and demanded that China cancel the flights. Binh said the flights violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands, and demanded that China stop any such activities. Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel Islands and the two along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan claim all or parts of the Spratlys, which sit on potentially oil and gas rich resources and occupy one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. China's recent increasing assertiveness has caused serious concerns among its neighbors and the United States, which backs freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea. Vizag Profiles Group today said it will invest over Rs 8,400 crore in Andhra Pradesh on expansion of its steel plant and for setting up warehouses and cold chains in the state. Steel Exchange India Ltd (SEIL), part of Vizag Profiles Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh during recently concluded First Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet, it said in a statement. The MoU was for direct investment by SEIL in the state for expansion of its plant from 0.25 million tonnes (MT) to 1.25 MT, involving an investment of about Rs 7,937 crore, in two phases, which is expected to generate 1,500 new jobs. The MoU was signed by SEIL Chairman and Managing Director Bandi Satish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh Director of Industries Kartikeya Misra, it added. Vizag Profiles committed direct investment for setting up of warehouses and cold chains along the coast in Andhra Pradesh, depending on the land allotment by the state. This will involve an investment of around Rs 500 crore, which is expected to generate 400 new jobs, the company said. As it embarked on major reforms, the Chinese military today said winning wars should its top responsibility as "antagonist forces" unwilling to see China growing stronger are trying to contain the Communist state. "Winning wars should be the top responsibility for the reorganised military agencies under the Central Military Commission (CMC) headed by President Xi Jinping," a commentary in the official daily of People's Liberation Army said. The commentary, the second in a series since four military headquarters had been rearranged into 15 new agencies under the CMC by President Xi on Monday, said China's security situation faced several risks. "The national security situation is facing new and profound changes with an increasing number of risks, challenges and interwoven conventional and unconventional security threats," state-run Xinhua agency quoted the daily as saying. Unwilling to see socialist China grow stronger, "antagonist forces" are trying to contain the country, it said. Underscoring the importance of safeguarding sovereignty, security and development, the PLA Daily article urged the CMC agencies to focus on winning wars while improving warfare capacity and quality. The agencies should lose no time in adjusting to the new operational command system, actively engage in research, drawing up regulations and training personnel, to ensure a united, effective joint-command system, it said. Besides the strategic rivalry with US, China is entangled in a maritime dispute in the South China Sea with Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan. China is also locked up in a dispute with Japan over the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Also the India-China border dispute remained unresolved even though both the countries have made efforts to improve relations and initiated several measures to keep the situation along the borders peaceful. Xi on January 11 directed China's 2.3 million-member armed forces to strictly follow the orders of the ruling Communist Party and focus on winning wars as he reorganised the military headquarters structure firming up his grip on the world's largest army. (REOEPNS FGN 12) President Xi, who is also the CPC chief beside being the chairman of the CMC which makes him the strongest Chinese leader in recent times, said military leaders must adhere to the Party spirit, obey political discipline, and "be politically intelligent," with firm political faith and right political stance. He had said that winning wars should be their central task. Xi said that the military organs must concentrate on the study of military affairs, wars and how to fight battles and strengthen their awareness in preparing for war at any time. In a major reform of the military, Xi has reorganised PLA's four military headquarters, staff, politics, logistics and armaments into 15 new agencies under the CMC. The new structure includes new commissions -- discipline inspection, politics and law and science and technology as well as the general office, Xinhua report said. The reform also includes formation of five more divisions, administration, auditing, international cooperation, reform, organisational structure and strategic planning. There are six new departments -- joint staff, political work, logistical support, equipment development, training and national defence. Xi described the reshuffle as "a breakthrough" and called the new leadership system "a crucial step" toward a stronger military. This is part of major reforms initiated by Xi to revamp the PLA. His reforms include retrenchment of three lakh troops to make the force lean and mean. YSR Congress today decided not to contest the February 2 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections. Alleging that ruling TRS, TDP, BJP and Congress would use money power to win the elections, YSRCP Telangana Unit President and MP P Srinivasa Reddy said in a release that his party wanted to strengthen its organisational structure first. He recalled that the ruling TRS did not contest the last GHMC elections. YSR Congress is the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh. By Adam Rose and Chen Aizhu BEIJING (Reuters) - China's crude oil imports hit a record 7.82 million barrels a day (bpd) in December, customs data showed, as the world's No.2 oil consumer took advantage of low crude prices to fill strategic reserves, but also increased its exports of refined fuels to an all-time high. Crude imports for December were 33.19 million tonnes, up 21.4 percent on the month and 9.3 percent on the year, well above earlier estimates by Thomson Oil Research and Forecasts. The December import figures may mean China challenges the United States to be the world's top importer of crude, although the U.S. Energy Information Administration has yet to provide its December data. Chinese monthly imports surpassed U.S. imports once, in April 2015. China shipped in 335.5 million tonnes of crude oil for the year, the data showed on Wednesday. That was up 8.8 percent, or roughly 542,600 bpd, to 6.71 million bpd - also a new record. Wu Kang, Beijing-based vice chairman of FGE Asia, said the two driving factors behind growth in 2015 were new demand from small, independent "teapot" refineries who gained the right to use imported crude oil in the latter part of the year, and stockbuilding in strategic reserves and commercial storage. Nearly 20 small refiners have been granted quotas to use imported oil or import oil directly themselves. China seized the chance to add up to 147 million barrels to its reserves in the first eleven months of 2015, according to calculations, following a more than 50 percent slump in oil prices since mid-2014. China said it more than doubled the size of its strategic crude oil reserves between November 2014 and the middle of last year, building inventories at a rate exceeding analyst estimates of the country's stockbuilding. Industry experts said Chinese firms could expand purchases possibly even more this year, as new tanks become available. "2016 might be more interesting as the two driving factors are set to become more powerful as the government relaxed control both on crude imports as well as fuel exports, at a pace faster than thought," Wu said. Demand for crude oil could rise 4.9 percent in 2016, the country's petroleum industry association said on Tuesday. Even so, with waning economic growth, growth in demand for gasoline was moderate last autumn and appetite for diesel has fallen, putting oil demand - refinery throughput plus net imports of fuels - down 2.5 percent in November. Fuel exports have risen as a result, hitting a record 4.32 million tonnes in December, or 975,500 bpd, up 5.4 percent over the previous month. Exports marked a record 693,300 bpd in 2015, up 21.9 percent. Net fuel exports were 1.48 million tonnes in December. China has allowed independent refineries to export fuel for the first time, having granted an estimated 440,000 tonnes of quotas under the first batch release. (Reporting by Adam Rose and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Joseph Radford) LONDON (Reuters) - The families of two BP employees killed in the 2013 In Amenas gas plant attack in Algeria have filed a lawsuit in London's High Court against the company, accusing it of failing to take reasonable steps to protect its workers. BP, one of three partners with Norway's Statoil and Algeria's Sonatrach in the In Amenas joint venture plant, said it understood proceedings against certain BP entities had been issued in the London court. "BP remains deeply saddened by the tragic events at In Amenas ... It is the terrorists who are responsible for the deaths and injuries that occurred because of the attack," a spokesman said. The Islamist militants' attack on the plant in January 2013 killed 40 people, most of them foreign nationals. "Our clients have now commenced court proceedings to help them secure the justice they seek following the deaths of Carlos and Sebastian," said Clive Garner, leading the case at law firm Irwin Mitchell on behalf of the families of BP employees Carlos Estrada Valencia, 44, and Sebastian John, 26, who were both killed during the attack. In February last year an inquest criticised BP and its joint venture partners over security at the plant, where armed guards meant to protect the facility were stationed 1 kilometre away from the site and the entrance gates to the accommodation compound were found to have been left open. BP said several of its entities are facing similar civil claims in the Texas state court that were brought by individuals injured in the incident and some families of workers killed. The London court case was filed last week and a trial could be more than a year away, a spokesman for Irwin Mitchell said. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by Greg Mahlich) BEIJING (Reuters) - Baidu Inc is in talks to invest in Indian e-commerce start-ups including Zomato, BookMyShow and BigBasket, a spokesman for China's top online search provider said on Wednesday. "The Indian market represents an enormous opportunity for us to connect more people with services, and we plan to put more resources there in the future," the spokesman told by email. Baidu declined to comment on possible investment amounts or time frames. India's technology start-up market is booming as more and more people shop online, in a country where about 20 percent of a population of 1.3 billion are connected to the Internet. The e-commerce market could grow in terms of the value of goods sold to $220 billion by 2025 from $11 billion in 2015, Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimated. That growth potential has attracted investment from global technology giants such as China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. Zomato is India's leading restaurant search provider, while BookMyShow is the country's top online seller of movies and events tickets. BigBasket is an online grocer. Zomato and BigBasket did not immediately reply to emails seeking comment. BookMyShow could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Paul Carsten; Writing by Devidutta Tripathy) By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude futures rose on Wednesday for the first time in eight days, with U.S. oil pulling further away from the widely watched $30-per-barrel level breached the previous session, after U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly fell last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 37 cents at $30.81 a barrel at 0608 GMT. On Tuesday, it fell 97 cents to close at $30.44 a barrel, after touching a low of $29.93, which was last seen in December 2003. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 28 cents at $31.14 a barrel. The contract fell 69 cents to settle at $30.86, after bottoming at $30.34, on Tuesday. The $30 mark is both a psychological and financial threshold and, in recent days, traders have poured money into $30 put options for expiration in February and March. "$30 may be intermediate support but I really honestly can't say whether this is the bottom," said Avtar Sandu, senior commodities manager at Phillip Futures in Singapore. "We see a bounce off here ... but a change in trend is not visible yet," he said. In a bullish sign for oil, Chinese crude imports rose to a record 7.82 million barrels in December, up more than 21 percent from November, official data showed on Wednesday. The world's second biggest oil consumer has been taking advantage of the oil price rout to stock reserves and increase exports of refined products and may be set to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest importer. U.S. crude stocks fell by 3.9 million barrels in the week to 480.071 million, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.5 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI fell by 302,000 barrels, API said. But the bearish outlook for oil remains after the U.S. government forecast on Tuesday that the global glut will swell until late 2017. Increased Iranian oil output should feed into oversupply this year with the expected lifting of Western sanctions on that country's exports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The agency forecast that a limited decline in U.S. supplies next year and steady growth in global demand will help ease the glut only in the third quarter of 2017, the first decline after nearly four straight years of gains. Still, in a reminder that geopolitical tensions could intervene to support prices, Iran is holding 10 U.S. sailors after seizing two Navy boats that allegedly entered Iranian waters in the Gulf on Tuesday. (Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Michael Perry and Richard Pullin) CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is keeping a close eye on how the slowdown in China's growth is affecting the rest of the world, including the United States. The slowdown to a growth rate in the "high single digits" in China will have an enormous impact on commodity exporters in particular, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President told the Corridor Economic Forecast Luncheon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, adding that he expects continued market volatility in response. (Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has challenged the staff to improve the work culture at the 81-year old central bank, with less bureaucracy, more communication and openness to outside thinking, and improved compliance. "The imagery that comes to mind for critics is of a traditional unimaginative organization rather than a dynamic intelligent one," Rajan wrote in a memo to the RBI's 17,000 staff seen by . "Our regulations are not always very clear. Our staff sometimes is neither well informed of our own regulations nor willing to help the customer. Our responses are occasionally extraordinarily slow and bureaucratic," he added. Rajan also expressed concern that the RBI was not seen as enforcing compliance, saying that in India "we do not punish the wrong-doer - unless he is small and weak." The RBI regulates the country's currency and debt markets, as well as the public sector banks. The memo challenged staff to improve its performance standards through an appraisal system that better rewards top performers, while urging staff to improve communication among employees. Rajan, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, also expressed some staff did not display enough curiosity about areas outside the RBI, urging workers to read outside sources and learn about "the wider world." "This has to change if the organization is to remain vibrant. In complacency and self-satisfaction lies a slow descent into mediocrity," Rajan wrote. Rajan also reiterated the need to hire people from outside the RBI to improve the quality of research in the central bank, a subject that is traditionally controversial in public institutions in India, where seniority is traditionally the determinant for promotions. Rajan three-year tenure is set to end in September, though markets are awaiting to see if he will be re-appointed for an additional two years. (Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Rafael Nam; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Asset manager HDFC Property Fund has mainly invested in housing projects through earlier funds but, for the first time, plans to invest in logistics and warehousing with the new fund, becoming the latest investor seeking to cash in on India's e-commerce boom. "We think there is a good opportunity that exists in this business," K.G. Krishnamurthy, CEO at the fund manager, told Reuters, adding that it will likely invest in building and leasing warehouses. With more consumers shopping online, India's $110 billion logistics and warehousing sector is stretched. Fuelled by online retailers, supply of modern warehouses in India is set to more than double by 2020 to 200 million square feet, property consultancy JLL estimates. Dutch pension fund manager APG and U.S. buyout group Warburg Pincus also have plans to invest in modern storage space in India, which is scarce at present and rents are comparatively low. HDFC expects to generate net returns of up to 20 percent from the new rupee-denominated fund which it will start raising in mid-2016, Krishnamurthy said. The fund will have a life of nine to 10 years. Investors from Asia, including those in Singapore, Japan and China, and the Middle East have shown interest to invest in the fund, Krishnamurthy said. He did not give specific names. Government of Singapore Investment Corp [GIC.UL], investment firm Temasek Holdings and Oman's State General Reserve Fund have invested in HDFC's previous fund. Unlike its previous debt fund, investments from the new fund will be a combination of equity and debt, Krishnamurthy said. The fund manager will also invest in hotels that are a part of large, mixed-use townships and in housing projects. Private equity funds invested $4.89 billion in India's real estate sector in 2015, the highest since the country's property boom in 2008, data from Venture Intelligence showed. The money has been used mainly to refinance the country's debt-laden developers struggling to lift sluggish home sales. (Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the country's biggest refiner, will invest up to Rs 180 billion ($2.69 billion) in six of its refineries to upgrade fuel specifications to meet government norms, a senior official said on Wednesday. About Rs 40 billion would be needed for producing Euro IV compliant fuels and another Rs 130-140 billion required for upgrading facilities to produce Euro VI compliant fuels at the six directly owned refineries of state-run IOC, said Sanjiv Singh, the company's head of refineries. The Indian government plans to roll out Euro VI compliant fuels from April 1, 2020 to curb pollution and refiners need to invest 300 billion rupees to produce the same. "It is an extremely challenging task but we will do it," Singh said, commenting on IOC refineries' capability to produce Euro VI. Singh said the money needed for the six refineries excluded investment needed for upgrading fuel specifications at its recently commissioned 300,000 bpd Paradip Refinery in Odisha state. IOC aims to invest Rs 40 billion in upgrading the Paradip refinery. The cabinet has cleared the launch of the country's first major crop damage insurance scheme from the next fiscal year, a move that would further strain government finances but help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to woo rural voters ahead of key elections. Stung by criticism of ignoring the concerns of rural India where over two-thirds of the country's 1.25 billion people live, the government on Wednesday fielded as many as three cabinet ministers to underline the importance of the scheme whose budget will more than double in three years. Modi is trying to placate rural voters after the impact of unseasonal rains and two straight years of drought on agriculture dented his popularity and contributed to a humiliating loss for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in elections late last year in the largely rural state of Bihar. Further elections are due in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam this year. "It is a historic day," Modi tweeted after the scheme was announced by the ministers of agriculture, home and parliamentary affairs. "I believe the prime minister's crop insurance scheme, inspired by the well-being of farmers, will bring about a huge change in the lives of farmers." Several debt-laden farmers committed suicide last year, and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that delays in clearing payouts for crop losses were the "biggest reason for destroying farm families". The government would now ensure faster settlements by increasing the use of technology, including smartphones to capture crop data. It would also reduce premiums to be paid by farmers to 2% for summer-sown crops and 1.5% for winter crops. The current premium share for farmers can go as high as 40%, which is one of the main reasons that only about a tenth of India's estimated 263 million cultivators opt for crop insurance. New Delhi will more than double the budget for the crop insurance scheme to 77.50 billion rupees ($1.16 billion) in the fiscal year beginning April 2018. (1 = 66.8500 rupees) By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude futures rose on Wednesday for the first time in eight days, with U.S. oil pulling further away from the widely watched $30-per-barrel level breached the previous session, as Chinese data showed record imports in December. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 26 cents at $30.70 a barrel at 0608 GMT. On Tuesday, it fell 97 cents to close at $30.44 a barrel, after touching a low of $29.93, which was last seen in December 2003. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 20 cents at $31.06 a barrel. The contract fell 69 cents to settle at $30.86, after bottoming at $30.34, on Tuesday. The $30 mark is both a psychological and financial threshold and, in recent days, traders have poured money into $30 put options for expiration in February and March. "$30 may be intermediate support but I really honestly can't say whether this is the bottom," said Avtar Sandu, senior commodities manager at Phillip Futures in Singapore. "We see a bounce off here ... but a change in trend is not visible yet," he said. Chinese crude imports rose to a record 7.82 million barrels in December, up more than 21 percent from November, official data showed on Wednesday. The world's second-biggest oil consumer has been taking advantage of the oil price rout to stock reserves and increase exports of refined products and may be set to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest importer. U.S. crude stocks fell by 3.9 million barrels in the week to 480.071 million, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.5 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed late on Tuesday. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI fell by 302,000 barrels, API said. But the bearish outlook for oil remains after the U.S. government forecast on Tuesday that the global glut will swell until late 2017. Increased Iranian oil output should feed into oversupply this year with the expected lifting of Western sanctions on that country's exports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The agency forecast that a limited decline in U.S. supplies next year and steady growth in global demand will help ease the glut only in the third quarter of 2017, the first decline after nearly four straight years of gains. Still, in a reminder that geopolitical tensions could intervene to support prices, Iran is holding 10 U.S. sailors after seizing two Navy boats that allegedly entered Iranian waters in the Gulf on Tuesday. (Editing by Richard Pullin and Ed Davies) Oil prices rose for the first time in eight days on Wednesday as positive Chinese trade data and an unexpected draw in weekly U. S. crude oil inventories gave investors reasons to buy crude futures. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 63 cents at $31.49 a barrel at 1151 GMT, but remained near lows last seen nearly 12 years ago. U. S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 69 cents at $31.13 a barrel, recovering from Tuesday's dip below $30. "The API inventory data triggered a profit-taking wave, that's the main reason for this uptick," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam. "But the overall sentiment is still negative, meaning downside risk is still greater than upside potential." U. S. crude stocks fell unexpectedly last week, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday. Crude inventories fell by 3.9 million barrels in the week to 480.071 million, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.5 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub fell by 302,000 barrels, the API said. China reported exports dipped just 1.4% in U. S. dollar terms in December, compared to forecasts of an 8% drop, positively surprising world . The world's second-biggest oil consumer has also been taking advantage of the oil price rout to stock reserves and increase exports of refined products, and may be set to overtake the United States as the world's largest importer. But the bearish outlook for oil remains. Analysts at Morgan Stanley warned on Wednesday that a rise in demand for crude could be lower than previously expected. "Any slowing in the rate of demand growth could delay the timing of rebalancing and ultimately a price recovery," they said in a research note. The potential for the calling of an emergency OPEC meeting also weakened on Wednesday when Iran's oil minister was quoted as saying he had not received any request for such a gathering. Nigeria's oil minister said on Tuesday that a "couple" of OPEC members had asked for an emergency meeting. Days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers, Iran briefly detained a group of U. S. sailors after they entered Iranian waters. Iran released the sailors on Wednesday after holding them overnight, determining they had entered Iranian waters by mistake. By Joseph White and Bernie Woodall DETROIT (Reuters) - A looming slowdown in global auto demand will test U.S. automakers General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co as they try to funnel more cash to shareholders while still investing adequately in new vehicles and technology. At a conference on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show, the rivals outlined their strategies for an era of slower growth and rapid shifts in technology and consumer behavior. As of Wednesday, GM was winning the referendum among investors, with its shares up slightly, while Ford shares sank about 5 percent. Yet with investors concerned about the challenges facing the automakers, shares of both companies remained well below the highs they hit during the past 52 weeks. Some of these issues, such as the ups and downs of the sales cycle and pressure to make cars safer, are as old as the car industry itself. Others are still not clearly understood, for instance the transformation of cars into digital devices and selling to consumers who want to buy rides instead of cars. Automakers face a challenging future where 60 per cent of the value of a car is software and content, said Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, who has a sell rating on Ford and is restricted from covering GM. With China's market uncertain and U.S. vehicle sales at a peak, "more investors will say it's a pretty good time to sell" automaker shares, he said. GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra and two of her top executives outlined plans to return to shareholders a total of $16 billion for the period of 2015 through 2017. In March 2015, GM agreed to return a total of $10 billion in share repurchases and increased dividends through the end of 2016. If GM carries out the plan, the once-bankrupt automaker will have returned to shareholders about $23 billion between 2012 and the end of 2017, or about 90 percent of free cash flow, Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens said. Top Ford executives announced a special dividend of $1 billion, but cautioned that margins in its North American auto market could plateau at about 9.5 percent. Ford and GM executives faced questions from analysts about how they will juggle investments needed to keep global product lines competitive, while forging into new and riskier ventures involving ride sharing and autonomous vehicles. In addition to giving investors more cash, GM President Dan Ammann said the company plans by late this decade to reduce capital spending as a share of revenue below the current rate of 5 percent to 5.5 percent. In the past, such buybacks and capital spending cuts would have hurt GM's efforts to develop competitive new models. But Barra and Ammann said now the company can do more with less. For instance, Ammann cited GM's plan to invest $5 billion to work with its Chinese partner to engineer a low-cost vehicle architecture for developing markets. This will replace a hodge-podge of vehicles currently produced with different tools and dies and components. Once new vehicle architectures such as the emerging markets car are engineered, "we will be able to run those assets for a long time," Ammann said, adding basic architectures could be used for the "next decade-plus." In the short run, though, the strain will show as automakers work to keep vehicles fresh, comply with new regulatory demands for cleaner cars and fend off challenges from Silicon Valley disrupters such as the Uber ride sharing service. Ford executives cautioned on Tuesday that margins in the company's core North American auto business could plateau at about 9.5 percent in part because of investments in new "mobility" ventures such as car sharing and development of self-driving cars. Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields, addressing the selloff in Ford shares late on Wednesday, told an audience of industry executives "we're not going to get discouraged," and added investors "are waiting to see how we do in the downturn." Ford is also spending this year on a push to enroll consumers in a program called "FordPass" that will stream consumer data to Ford in return for services such as quick access to parking. FordPass is a response to the threat that digital companies, such as Apple Inc or Alphabet Inc, will step between drivers and car makers. Fields said new, technology-enabled service businesses could provide Ford with "sources of revenue that are less cyclical" than auto sales. Investors, however, are watching a flattening sales cycle. Industry veterans say a slide in sales is inevitable. China and the United States, the world's No. 1 and 2 auto markets, have hit plateaus after six years of robust growth. Industry executives are forecasting slower expansion this year in both markets, albeit from record levels. "We still are very strong on China," said Barra. Long term, she said the Chinese auto market could grow to 35 million vehicles from about 25 million currently. For now, she said, "It's going to be very volatile." (Editing by David Gregorio and Sandra Maler) India's wheat output is expected to fall for a second straight year in 2016 after a series of bumper harvests since 2007 due to an unusually warm winter in central and northern India. India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, will likely weather the storm as it is sitting on surplus stocks. But lower wheat output will deepen the crisis in the countryside where adverse weather conditions have been a bane of late. Despite last year's lower output, the crisis has remained confined to farms but any further damage to the crop could start pinching the public if state stocks get drawn down. In 2015 untimely hail and rains during harvest cut output to 88.94 million tonnes from 91.50 million tonnes a year earlier. "We are observing higher than normal temperatures in most parts of the country, including central and northern India, where wheat is the main crop," Indu Sharma, chief of state-run Directorate of Wheat Research, told Reuters by phone from the northern city of Karnal, a wheat belt. If higher temperatures are going to imperil the crop yield, yellow pest infestation has come as a double whammy. "We've asked farmers to spray fungicide but there are chances that the pest infestation will spread to more areas in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal," Sharma said referring to the key wheat producing states of northern India. Wheat planting began on a slow note after two successive droughts. A lag in wheat planting typically leads to lower yields. "A lack of moisture in the soil, the absence of spring rains and higher temperatures couldn't have happened at a worse time. At the moment we see our production at 87-88 million tonnes," said Sharma. So far the worry was the fall in the area planted with the crop but dry weather conditions have now come as the second hurdle, she said. Provisional estimates suggest farmers have so far planted wheat on 28.17 million hectares, nearly 6 percent lower than the previous year. oFarm Ministryfficials say wheat acreage is likely to drop by a million hectares against an average area of 30 million hectares. "We'll have to keep our fingers crossed and pray that temperatures don't go up any further in February and March when the crop is ready for harvest lest production could fall below our estimates," Sharma said. The one redeeming feature is the grain bins brimming with 23.8 million tonnes of wheat against a government target of 13.80 million tonnes. In the past fortnight, two diametrically opposite business calls captured the dilemma in one of the hottest segments of India's fast-growing e-commerce industry - grocery e-tailing. While instant grocery delivery firm Grofers, which has raised $167 million in three rounds from Softbank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, decided to stop operations in nine cities, and LocalBanya, among the top five players, halted operations, Sanjiv Goenka group-owned Spencer's Retail bought New Delhi/Gurgaon-based start-up meragrocer.com and announced that it would scale up to 35 cities. The dichotomy - of two players scaling down due to lack of business and the other one scaling up - sums up exactly what is happening in grocery e-tail. Over the past three to four years, this business opportunity has spawned over 60 multi-city start-ups and hundreds of hyper-local grocery delivery chains. The total funding to the top five online grocery start-ups has exceeded $400 million since 2011. But with the initial euphoria dying out, it's now down to testing of business models and the business matrix. Perhaps, it's time to fine-tune those less-than-perfect business models and scrap the ones that have failed to help the businesses scale up. Mind you, this isn't the first time money has flowed into the business of grocery delivery. The first round, in the late 1990s, saw a variant of the brick-and-mortar model that led to ramping up of neighbourhood stores by the likes of Subhiksha, which expanded to over 1,600 outlets, but suffered a massive cash crunch towards 2009, leading to shutdown of dozens of stores. Similar was the fate of the second round that started in 2007/08 right after the great real estate and banking meltdown in the US when website-based online grocery firms such as FamilyKart, Dazo, Langhar and Ordersnack, among dozens of others, were founded, but had to scale down or shut shop. This round lasted three to four years. The latest round started three-four years ago when app-based e-grocers such as Grofers, Peppertap, LocalBanya and Zopnow were founded. It included a not-so-successful attempt by Future Group in 2013 to deliver stuff directly from warehouses. While the first two attempts have been a total failure with some battered survivors clinging on for dear life (see Global Big-Bang Failures), the latest round, too, is threatening to go the same way. This is not a purely Indian predicament. From Australia to US and Europe to China, grocery e-tail has been one of the biggest challenges for brick-and-mortar giants such as Walmart as well as seasoned e-tailers such as Amazon. US-based online grocer Webvan shut shop in 2001, four years after the launch, despite raising a whopping $830 million. Others that started around the same time, Homeruns and Kozmo, too, shut down. It's neither difficult to explain the rush, nor the need. While on one hand, long working hours and growing distances leave people with little time for shopping at stores, on the other hand, the near ubiquitous presence of the Internet and the advent of e-shopping have emerged as ready solutions. This is increasing grocery demand by up to 30 per cent per annum in most big cities, making India the world's sixth-largest grocery market where grocery shopping is expected to rise from $383 billion a year to $1 trillion by 2020, according to retail consultancy Technopak. Grocery Delivery Re-run Nearly five-seven years ago, when online shopping was going beyond books to electronics, clothing, even shoes, a dozen start-ups extended the shop-with-a-click service to fruits, vegetables, staples and fast moving consumer goods. If people bought products that were required to be touched and felt to know their quality online, why would they not value the convenience of getting dal and rice delivered home, was the driving thought. However, it took only two years to prove the 'convenience' hypothesis wrong. A number of start-ups bled to death as they could not sustain on wafer-thin margins. Also, while investors were gung-ho on e-commerce, they stayed away from grocery start-ups, as no one was willing to burn fingers in this extremely low-margin business that was hard to scale up beyond a city and involved challenges such as logistics and perishability of the products. But with interest in e-commerce sustaining all these years, and due to fewer opportunities remaining in funding horizontal e-tailers such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, investors are back to looking at various niches in e-tailing, including e-grocery. India's largest venture capital firm by fund size, Sequoia Capital, has two competing food start-ups in its portfolio -PepperTap, in which it has co-invested with SAIF Partners besides Snapdeal and other investors, and Grofers, where it has invested with Tiger Global Management. Valuations of such start-ups are also on an upswing. Until June this year, for instance, Grofers had raised $10 million and $35 million in two rounds, its valuation tripling from $33 million to $115 million in less than six months. Towards the end of 2015, Grofer's valuation in the last funding round worth $120 million led by Japanese investor SoftBank, stood at $300 million. The number of start-ups jumping in to take a bite of 'grocery' is overwhelming. Besides Grofers and PepperTap, those who have received funding or are in the fray include Jiffstore, Meragrocer and AaramShop, apart from a dozen others such as Delyver, which was recently acquired by a larger player, Big Basket. Interestingly, Webvan, too, had got funding from both Softbank and Sequoia. Biz Model Revamp Despite the overall objective of catering to the need for delivering grocery instantly to the customer's home, there are vast differences in business models between the three generations of grocery start-ups, as well as between the different models in vogue today. The latest round, for instance, is not just technology-heavy due to use of apps (barring a few exceptions such as Big Basket, PepperTap and LocalBanya), it is also asset-light as it relies less on holding inventory and more on logistics and local/hyper-local sourcing of products. A few investors see this as more sustainable than the inventory-led model that requires building of huge infrastructure such as warehouses. "In this wave, the companies are hyper local, they are technology and logistics companies," says Mukul Arora, Principal at SAIF Partners. Like SAIF, no other investor is backing inventory-owned grocery business models, barring an exception like Big Basket, which by far is the largest and the only inventory-led online player with a total funding of Rs 280 crore. Others, such as Bangalore-based ZopNow and LocalBanya, which started with the inventory model, pivoted to hyper-local and inventory-light models, respectively. "There are some things that we have learnt from Webvan - not to be a completely inventory-led model," says Rashi Choudhary, Co-founder and COO, LocalBanya. Next-gen grocery start-ups are also trying out niche models. For example, New Delhi-based iorderfresh delivers fruits and vegetables within two hours of the order being placed. "Fresh foods' supply chain is extremely complex but the catch is higher margins as compared to packaged FMCG food products," says Nitin Sawhney, the Founder and CEO who started the venture in December 2014. Average margins in fresh foods are 29-35 per cent. In packaged foods, the figure is 19-25 per cent. In sharp contrast, Amazon's India arm launched hyper local grocery delivery service KiranaNow towards mid-2015. The service, which is still at a pilot stage in Bangalore, focuses only on dry food items with long expiry dates. "I miss things like pickle from my hometown. This is the kind of local stuff we want to make available to customers through the convenience of e-commerce," says Samir Kumar, Category Head at Amazon. Kumar claims to sell more than 7,000 unique gourmet products on the platform. KiranaNow is on the lines of Prime Now, Amazon's service for local delivery of everyday products. "We start in any city, source from mandis or consolidation centres, and later as volumes grow, move backwards in the supply chain to the farm. Our buying units are closest to the farm" Betting on gourmet food products, Snapdeal, in early 2015, tied up with Godrej Nature's Basket to sell its products online. Also, some of India's biggest e-tailers are betting on the asset-light model where the supply chain is simpler to handle. Mobile wallet company PayTM, which runs its own marketplace as well, launched a separate mobile application, Paytm Zip, towards the middle of 2015. It, however, withdrew the app from app stores within a couple of months. Flipkart too, launched a similar app, called Nearby, last October, to get into the hyper local space. The asset-light model allows consumers to place an order with local kirana stores via a mobile app. The kirana store receives the order and, using the logistics services of start-ups, is able to deliver within a certain radius of the store, wider than its offline reach, assuring it incremental revenue. One of the biggest problems the hyper local grocery model solves is the speed of delivery of food and daily essentials. This is stuff that consumers will not wait for a day or two. "If you are replacing the need to run errands to the market, your delivery time should match that," says Albinder Dhindsa, Founder and CEO of Gurgaon-based Grofers, whose team of bikers delivers within 90 minutes of getting the order. Dhindsa kicked off the international operations of restaurant-listing start-up Zomato and then found his calling in entrepreneurship. Initially, two years ago, he launched OneNumber, a logistics company that would do deliveries for grocery stores. The same company re-branded to Grofers in January 2015, allowing consumers to place orders to kirana stores. The start-up operates with eight to 10 bikers per city and has hubs throughout the city that serve as cash collection and attendance points. Same-day delivery poses a huge challenge for those following the inventory-led model as they can't afford a large warehouse in every neighbourhood. Supermarkets or kirana stores have their own micro-warehouses close by and, hence, can deliver twice a day to a customer in the neighbourhood. Besides saving costs related to managing the supply chain and warehouses, another big advantage is that the cost incurred per delivery is lower due to shorter distances. This works better in markets with low aggregate margins. "If on a Rs 500 basket, you are getting a margin of Rs 70-80, you cannot afford to spend Rs 150 on last-mile delivery," says Grofers' Dhindsa. Grofers makes a margin on 12-15 per cent only on order values ranging between Rs 700 and Rs 1,000. "If you are replacing the need to run errands to the market, your delivery time should match that" Tech Unlimited The biggest differentiator has been the extensive use of technology. "We use technology heavily, which older start-ups did not do," says Navneet Singh, Co-founder and CEO of PepperTap, which launched in Gurgaon on December 20, 2014. Singh, who had earlier founded reverse logistics company Nuvoex, believes investors have bet on the team's past experience in logistics. Among other things like digitising inventories of kirana stores and receiving orders on a mobile app, PepperTap has made sure that its delivery boys use a mobile app to know what items to pick from which store and deliver to which customers. "We need to track in real time which products are available at which store so that only the available products are shown to shoppers," says Singh. PepperTap delivers 8,000-10,000 orders a day across 15 cities. It is aiming for an annual gross merchandise value, or GMV, of $60-80 million by March this year. Similarly, Big Basket, which stocks inventory, uses technology in each of its functions. Its back-end predicts future sales patterns. The reports generated by the system are used to place orders with vendors via an automated system. Orders placed on the website are transferred to smart phones of 'pickers' stationed in the warehouse who pick the items from the shelves. If he selects a wrong item, he gets a message. Even the routes of delivery vans are system-generated so that deliveries on the same route can be managed efficiently. It is technology again that is at the centre of growth of the non-inventory asset-light model. As a result, e-grocers, which are essentially platforms to connect customers and local stores, are growing faster than those such as Big Basket that have embraced the stock-and-sell inventory model. Big Basket stayed in its maiden market, Bangalore, for over three years before expanding to other cities. On the other hand, the asset-light Grofers expanded from Delhi-NCR to Mumbai and Bangalore within five months of launching its mobile app. By June, it also had operations in Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Chennai, going up to 26 cities within the first year of operation. The company also claims to be tripling order volumes month-on-month. Currently managing a monthly GMV of $5.5 million, it is looking at touching $7.5 million per month by March 2016. However, the biggest player, Big Basket, operating from 14 cities, aims to achieve a GMV of Rs 1,000 crore by the end of March 2016. It is innovating, giving a tough fight to the inventory-light start-ups. Since it stocks products, it is investing heavily in private labels, which (depending on the product category) deliver 20-50 per cent higher margins than the branded products. It has already created its own premium and regular brands of staples - Big Basket Royal and Big Basket Popular. Besides, it sells fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, coffee, baked-to-order breads and pani puri (a popular snack) under its Fresho brand. Private labels already account for 35 per cent of its sales. Big Basket clocked Rs 210 crore revenue in 2014/15, up from Rs 85 crore in the previous year. Multiple other innovations are under way. Drawing inspiration from the US-based website Blue Apron, which provides packets of measured ingredients associated with a recipe, it has launched 45 recipes in the gourmet food range. The plan is to soon launch another 200-300 recipes with common Indian meals such as khichdi and rajma-chawal. The company is setting up 'dark stores' or smaller warehouses in neighbourhoods. This is besides a large central warehouse hub. This will enable faster deliveries of essentials that customers want quickly. Then there are those that have taken the middle ground between inventory-led players such as BigBasket and the no-inventory players such as PepperTap. One such player is the Hyderabad-based Zip.in, which does same-day deliveries by consolidating orders and procuring in bulk. "We don't identify a store close to you. That would limit choice and be less efficient in terms of delivery. We deliver multiple orders at the same time - in a van. The order value is also high as we have a wide range," says Founder and CEO Kishore Ganji. His average order value is Rs 1,200-1,500. Zip.in claims 15-20 per cent margins depending on the category of the product. According to the CEO, the hyper local model of Peppertap is less efficient and has significantly less average order value. "We use technology heavily. We need to track in real time which products are available at which store so that only the available products are shown to buyers" GrosseryHub.com, which operates in Delhi-NCR and started in June 2013, also follows a hybrid model. Anand Kishore, Marketing Manager, says it is partly inventory-led and partly marketplace. The company operates two warehouses, buys in bulk, and so is able to give discounts. Still, he says, they have been under pressure from the bigger asset-light players such as Big Basket and so is going slow with cash burn. "We have seen 15 companies close in two years. It is not sustainable in the current environment. The market will mature in two-three years. At present, the Delhi market is driven by kirana stores. Bangalore and Mumbai are mature as 50 per cent of their population is from outside and there are more working couples and a lot of societies and apartments," he says. Grocermax, which started operating in early 2015, is now in Gurgaon and the rest of Delhi-NCR. The founders, K. Radhakrishnan and Gaurav Juneja, tend to think of themselves as running a retail company more than an IT company. They also believe that the on-demand model of Peppertap or Grofers carries a higher risk - not only are their order sizes smaller, they are also unlikely to fulfil all the orders placed. They may take orders for Rs 1,000 but deliver orders worth only Rs 700. That is because of forecasting problems - the local stores they source from don't store everything since the cost of capital is high in India, they say. Grocermax has a hybrid model and 60 per cent of its orders are "flow-through". Orders are taken till 11 in the morning and aggregated. The fruits and vegetables come from Azadpur mandi and other things from Metro Cash & Carry. They are packed and sent to a warehouse from where they are picked up for delivery to customers by 5 pm. It is not an on-demand model but caters more to the planned purchase of the customer. The catalogue size in planned purchase is bigger and the average order value is Rs 1,200-1,300, two-three times higher than the figure for on-demand hyper local companies. The company had raised a couple of million in the seed round. It is now in active discussions for Series A funding of $10 million. The founders say they need the money for customer acquisition. Hunt For The Winner Neither model is foolproof, though. Experts such as Arvind Singhal, Chairman and Managing Director at retail consultancy Technopak, believe that just as the Grofers' scale-down has proved, even the asset-light model is not weather-proof. While it does allow tremendous flexibility in sourcing, delivery and quick ramp-up, it is tougher to introduce the higher margin private labels because of multiple sourcing points. There are other challenges as well. While working with local stores enables quick delivery, the stores themselves are largely stodgy. There are multiple inefficiencies involved in movement of products from the manufacturer to the store and there are several intermediaries involved. "The supply chain of these stores is primitive but we are investing to make it better through technology and having dedicated areas within supermarkets for Grofers," says Dhindsa of Grofers. "The biggest roadblock for us is the time spend at the stores." On Sunday, June 7, Grofers delivered 6,000 orders across the country, 3,000 in Delhi alone. A lot of stores it had partnered with ran out of inventory. It usually takes three to four days to refurbish stocks when the store owner places a request with the distributor. Because of limited inventory and tardy refurbishing, the old-generation stores cannot handle a spike in orders. On the same day, June 7, the start-up sold 600 kg of tomatoes in South Delhi. All the eight stores in South Delhi that Grofers works with ran out of stock. Also, not all retail stores find the services of delivery companies viable. Pankaj Dalakoti, who mans the cash counter at a super market in Ghaziabad, says they were approached by one such delivery company, but they refused to partner with them. "They wanted to charge a little extra to the consumer as delivery charges and we were not okay with that. We feared loss of business and reputation," says Dalakoti, who manages his deliveries via four-five locally-hired boys and does not charge a penny extra for delivery of milk and other supplies. PepperTap says it doesn't work with small mom & pop stores because they don't keep sufficient inventory. Organised bigger stores work better. Big Basket, however, is better placed in terms of sourcing capabilities. It sources 30-35 per cent fruits and vegetables directly from farmers. "We start in any city, source from mandis or consolidation centres, and later as volumes grow, move backwards in the supply chain to the farm. Our buying units are closest to the farm," says Hari Menon, Co-founder and CEO of Big Basket. "I miss things like pickle from my hometown. This is the kind of local stuff we want to make available to customers through the convenience of e-commerce" He along with others had set up FabMart, one of the earliest chains of grocery stores in 1999 that was in 2006 sold to the Aditya Birla Group. It is now called More. Similarly, for staples, the company starts sourcing from mandis and then finally ends up buying from the mills. For FMCG, it starts with the distributors and over a period of time moves to buying directly from companies. The Viability Question The biggest question being posed is: Can start-ups that do not own the stock actually make money? Logistics is the biggest puzzle to be solved, accounting for upwards of 70 per cent of the total cost these businesses are incurring. However, it will be difficult to pass on the delivery costs to consumers because as far as grocery items are concerned, they will not be willing to pay a penny more than the MRP. Store owners, too, are reluctant to bear the cost of delivery unless they see a very substantial spike in volumes. "There is no business model in place," says Singhal of Technopak. Most such start-ups, including Big Basket, charge a delivery fee for orders below a certain value. Grofers, for instance, charges Rs 49 for order value below Rs 250, making no money. However, the company says it makes money after the fourth or fifth repeat purchase, when the order value swells to Rs 700-1,000. Start-ups are also engaged in a race to expand across cities, which may backfire, as it did with Grofers. "Expanding fast and making ongoing investments with returns is the mistake that big offline retailers like Subhiksha or Future Group's Big Bazaar made. You need to get your economics right before expanding," says Singhal, who believes both LocalBanya and Big Basket expanded too fast, without capturing the market in one city. That way they faced the same risk as the offline retailers. "Three years looks like a big period but it is actually too small if you see the huge difference between the size of the market with their current turnover," he says. The Bangalore market alone is around Rs 15,000 crore as compared to Big Basket's turnover of Rs 200-250 crore by the end of March 2015. Even Amazon's grocery service, AmazonFresh, launched in Seattle in 2007, did not move beyond the city for a good six to seven years. The other question is whether the asset-light grocery start-ups will remain e-grocers in the true sense! After all, they are largely logistics companies focused on grocery. Eventually, they may deliver products such as medicines or even a mobile charger or a mobile recharge coupon from the local market. Take the case of New Delhi-based AaramShop, which was the earliest start-up to attempt a business model involving kirana stores. Today, it works on a different model altogether. Started in June 2012, it works with over 7,500 mom & pop retailers across the country to bring their inventory online while letting them take care of own deliveries. "We want to fix what is broken and delivery is not broken in India as it is in the US where delivery boys cost a couple of dollars per hour. In India, kirana stores have been doing own deliveries for a long time now," says Vijay Singh, Founder and CEO, AaramShop. Harping on the fact that neighbourhood stores account for 90 per cent of the retail business in India, the company earns most of its revenues by providing analytics on consumer behaviour at kirana stores to FMCG companies. "Big Bazaar gives analytics on what's happening within Big Bazaar. Our analysis talks about more than 95 per cent of retail in the country," says Singh. In the US, Instacart was founded in July 2012 to replicate the Uber model in local delivery of grocery. While it does not invest either in inventory or logistics, it provides a technology interface to connect consumers to youngsters with cars who are willing to run an errand picking grocery from a nearby store, deliver to the nearby consumer, and get paid per delivery. The Coming Assault The newest challenge, of course, is the assault of the brick-and-mortar retailers. The country's largest retailer, Reliance Retail, with revenues of Rs 17,640 crore in 2014/15, had piloted its online grocery business www.reliancefreshdirect.com at its corporate park before the launch in Navi Mumbai and Thane about 10 months ago. Gradually, it expanded to South Mumbai and later to entire Mumbai. It delivers grocery orders either from Reliance Fresh stores or the nearest distribution centre. With 6,000-plus products on sale on the platform, the company is looking to scale up in Tier-I cities across India initially. The expansion will go along with the launch of its digital service business Jio. "For a company of Reliance's size, the start-ups will never pose a threat. Right now, we are going slow with the online retailing business because of the launch of Jio. The Jio platform will help us massively expand our grocery e-commerce, cashing in on the existing network of Reliance Fresh," says an executive. Reliance Fresh operates in around 100 cities across India with 700-plus stores. Mukesh Ambani said in the recent annual general meeting, "www.reliancefreshdirect.com has seen significant success and would be further scaled up to serve new markets." Brick-and-mortar retailer Future Group has also made multiple attempts at online and hasn't give up yet. It is getting ready yet again. The largest retailer, controlled by Kishore Biyani, is preparing to try the omni-channel model to counter the e-tailers and e-grocers by investing around Rs 100 crore. Earlier, Biyani had made several half-hearted attempts to build e-tail (futurebazaar.com, BigBazaar.com and Big Bazaar Direct, in addition to the beta versions), but achieved little success. Biyani has around 200 Big Bazaar stores, 130 KB's Fairprice shops, in addition to 150 Nilgiris stores, 188 Easy Day supermarkets and 15 Easy Day hypermarkets, where he sells grocery. In the omni-channel model, Biyani's stores would act as warehouses and deliver to the surrounding localities. "This will help the retail chain deliver perishable goods like grocery faster to customers. Since grocery shopping is more prevalent in Tier-I and Tier-II cities, the Future Group will have an edge while selling grocery online or via omni-channel," says a retail expert with a global bank. "We want to fix what is broken, and delivery is not broken in India as it is in the US where delivery boys cost a couple of dollars per hour" Aditya Birla group's retail chain, More, too, started the online food and grocery business in Gurgaon about a couple of months ago. In May, it roped in online grocery retailer ZopNow for enhancing the home delivery business in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. More has 16 hypermarkets in these cities. "Technology allows us to connect a lot better with our customers and to take a true omni-channel approach to meet their ever-changing needs. We have already initiated multiple pilots to see which models work best and expect to scale up accordingly," says Pranab Barua, Business Director, Apparel & Retail Business, Aditya Birla Group. There is a huge question mark over which model will succeed eventually. More importantly, there are doubts whether online grocery will succeed at all, especially since physical delivery of low-value goods will always run up against the constraints of infrastructure, labour and perishability. Inarguably, a great hope rests in delivery via drones that Amazon.com is banking on. Even Walmart recently sought approvals for testing the use of drones for delivery. But a successful model still eludes e-grocers around the world. Even inventory-led businesses like the US-based Webvan shut shop in 2001 after raising a whopping $830 million. But retailers who have both a physical supply chain and an additional online front have been only marginally successful. These include the world's largest retailer, Walmart, which is already the second-largest e-tailer in the US after Amazon (though less than one-fourth its size still), and UK's largest retailer Tesco. Their perennial concern is whether there is yet another disruptor round the corner. @KhanTaslima, Goutam20, nevinjl An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more. But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. 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Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose. employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them. You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect. Avoid repetitive phrasing Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable. Use some figurative language Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know. As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy. Employ rhetorical questions Anticipate the questions your reader might ask. One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration. Proofread Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them. State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to monetise its non-core assets and list some of its subsidiaries in the stock market for raising funds to meet Basel III risk norms, which will come into effect from March 2019. SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said on Tuesday, "Public sector banks need Rs 1.80 lakh crore to meet Basel III norms while the government will provide only Rs 70,000 crore. The rest will have to be borne by banks through profits and non-core assets. For instance, for us, we have a number of non-core assets which we are looking at monetising. We also have very successful subsidiaries which we have not listed. So, we can look at those as well." At an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India event here, Bhattacharya said that banks are examining various ways through which they can raise the capital. "One thing I would like you to be assured about is that there is a lot of thought going into it and banks will be capitalised enough in order to have good capital to support the economy." SBI has already announced plans to lower its stake in SBI Life Insurance and SBI General. In its life insurance venture, SBI proposes to sell up to 10 per cent stake while it may be about 23 per cent in case of its general insurance company. At the same time, Bhattacharya emphasised that meeting Basel III requirements is going to be a challenge. "It is a challenge because India is basically capital starved. On top of that, you need capital to grow. And to compound all of this, you (have) regulatory requirements on keeping capital at higher level than Basel," she said. Urging Japanese companies to invest and manufacture products in India, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of bilateral relationship. "Energy cooperation with Japan will be defining feature of our relationship," Goyal said while addressing at the Institute of Energy Economics Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday. Goyal is on a visit to Japan to attend the 8th India-Japan Energy Dialogue from January 12 to 14. This is the first ministerial level visit from India to Japan after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited India in December 2015. "We invite Japanese companies to come to India, Make in India and Conserve Energy in India", Goyal tweeted. "Japan has 70-80 per cent of lighting from LEDs, we are targeting 100 per cent LED penetration in India by 2019," a Power Ministry release quoted Goyal as saying. Speaking on climate change, Goyal said, "USA & Europe with just 10-12 per cent of the world's populations have contributed 50 per cent of green house gases emissions while India contributes only 2.5 per cent with 17 per cent of population." The developed countries should support the developing and emerging economies with green technology, low-cost finance to keep energy costs affordable, he said. "Climate justice demands that the developed world reassess its lifestyle and consumption of electricity and petroleum products", Goyal added. Earlier in the day, Goyal attended three roundtable conferences on Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances & LEDs and Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining- Energy Audit in Refineries. He will also participate in two roundtable conferences to be held on the theme of Energy Storage Technologies and Smart Grids/Smart Meters on Thursday. Earlier in the day Goyal tweeted, "South grid capacity increased 71 per cent in last 18 months. Investing Rs 42,950 crore to increase it by almost 3 times by 19-20 to ensure cheap power." The recent H1B visa fee hike by the US is not a "big concern" and TCS will use its resource deployment model to mitigate the impact, the country's largest software services company said on Tuesday. Talking to reporters, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO and Managing Director N Chandrasekaran said the visa fee hike is more of a cost issue than a revenue issue. "We have an idea about what the impact will be, based on the trend, but we need to see going forward our resource deployment model to mitigate some of that. So, we have got multiple options, I would not overly write that as a big concern," he added. Chandrasekaran said while the hike has cost implications for companies of a certain size and scale, but its not a big issue. The US, under under the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, has imposed a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and $4,500 on L-1 visas. Almost all Indian IT companies would pay between $8,000 and $10,000 per H-1B visa from April 1, when the next annual H-1B visa filing session starts, thus making it quite economically unsustainable for them. A series of other fee has also been added in the H-1B visa application over the past one decade. Notably, the original H-1B visa application fee is $325. India has been in talks with the US in this regard. According to Indian IT body Nasscom, this is expected to have an impact of about $400 million annually on India's technology sector. Indian technology industry paid $22.5 billion in taxes during the financial years 2011-15, besides investing $2 billion in FY 2011-13 in the US as well as supported 4,11,000 jobs in FY2015 directly or indirectly, according to a Nasscom report. "I think fundamentally I have always maintained that till job growth happens in all markets, you will see certain protectionist tendencies in different markets," Chandrasekaran said. He further said: "The visa fee hike is more of a cost issue than a revenue issue and it depends on how many visas we use and how much work we do offshore etc." Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday it will sell its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to France-based Orange. Airtel had in July last year announced about entering into an agreement with Orange to sell its four subsidiaries Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone, in Africa. The agreements for the remaining two countries have lapsed. Orange and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV have signed an agreement leading to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, the company said in a statement. As per the agreement, Orange will acquire 100 per cent of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euro. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Cte dIvoire and Senegal. Airtel said outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financial of its two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's EBITDA in these two countries at this time. The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. This acquisition marks a step forward in Orange's growth strategy and will bring the Groups African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016. This is further to the initial agreement signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville, Airtel said. Lazard and Socit Gnrale were advisors to Orange for this transaction. Airtel was advised by Arma Partners LLP. A new EU-wide Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform has been launched by the European Commission making it easier, faster, and less expensive for consumers and traders to resolve online disputes. ECC Ireland will host the national ODR contact point with two dedicated advisors on hand to give assistance to platform users. On Saturday, the European Commission opened the online ODR platform to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies to enable them to sign up and familiarise themselves with the platform before it is fully opened for use by consumers and traders from February 15 next. According to Martina Nee, press and communications officer with ECC Ireland: We now have advisors on hand to help anyone who requires support using the ODR platform. It is hoped that the new platform will help to make it easier, faster, and cheaper to resolve online disputes. "The platform will allow consumers to fill out an electronic form free of charge and this is sent to the trader. Once they both agree on an ADR entity then the platform will automatically transfer the complaint to that independent third party who will work on reaching an outcome within 90 days." Source: www.businessworld.ie Trade union SIPTU is calling for immediate talks with C&C following the shock decision to close the companys Tipperary water bottling plant and the subsequent loss of 140 jobs. The maker of Bulmers cider says it now plans to consolidate production in its Clonmel plant, where it will hire an extra 80 people, but it did admit that there will be a net loss of 50 jobs in the Republic. We intend to engage with senior management at the company as soon as possible to confirm its intentions and to ensure the interests of our members are respected, SIPTU official Terry Bryan said. In a statement, the company cited the loss of material contracts for private-label water as one of the factors behind its decision to close the Tipperary plant. The cider-maker, which is attempting to cut costs by 15 million annually, is reportedly also looking to close a plant in Somerset, in England, where it employs more than 120 people. Source: www.businessworld.ie The head of Europe's food safety watchdog has written to a group of nearly 100 senior scientists strongly rejecting their criticisms in an ongoing row about the safety of weed-killer ingredient glyphosate. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises EU policymakers, in November issued an opinion that glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer. That clashed with a view from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, stoked outrage among environmental campaigners and divided the scientific community. The IARC said in March that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans." Ninety-six academics from universities around the world signed an open letter to European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, dated Nov. 27 and written by Christopher Portier from the U.S.-based non-governmental organization the Environmental Defense Fund. Portier was also a specialist consulted for the IARC's research on glyphosate. "We urge you and the European Commission to disregard the flawed EFSA finding on glyphosate in your formulation of glyphosate health and environmental policy for Europe," the letter said. It called for "a transparent, open and credible review of the scientific literature." EFSA's conclusion could lead the 28-member European Union to renew approval for glyphosate, which was brought into use by Monsanto in the 1970s and is used in its top-selling product Roundup as well as in many other herbicides around the world. Bernhard Url, the executive director of EFSA, in his reply to Portier in a letter dated Jan. 13, describes glyphosate as "a keenly debated issue." "I strongly disagree with your contention that EFSA has not applied open and objective criteria to its assessment," Url writes in the letter seen by Reuters. Environmental groups have been calling for a ban on glyphosate. Url says representatives of EFSA and the IARC will meet early this year to clarify differences of view between the two bodies and that the IARC evaluations "represent a first step." EU sources said the meeting would probably take place in Brussels in mid-February. EFSA, based in Parma, Italy, also noted its reply was to Portier and the scientists who signed the letter, not to the IARC. "We should not compare this first screening assessment with the more comprehensive hazard assessment done by authorities such as EFSA, which are designed to support the regulatory process for pesticides in close cooperation with member states in the EU," Url says. No one at the European Commission or Monsanto was immediately available for comment. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Cyprus is likely to successfully complete its bailout programme and receive the last tranche of international aid by the end of March, a senior euro zone official said on Wednesday, a move expected to lower the country's borrowing costs. The European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund agreed in 2013 a three-year rescue plan of 10 billion euros for the Mediterranean island after its financial sector collapsed because of its exposure to the Greek economy. "I am quite confident that prior actions will be fulfilled before the end of the programme and that therefore the disbursement will actually take place," the official said before Thursday's regular meeting of euro zone finance ministers that is due to discuss the Cyprus programme. However, for the remaining 400 million euros to be released, Cyprus needs to finalise a reform that would reduce the amount of bad loans on banks' balance sheets, start the privatisation of the state telecoms company, and begin the separation of the electricity utility into two entities, the official said. "It is an important signal that you exit in a clear manner from the programme. It facilitates significantly accessing markets," the official said. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie The European Union is seeking talks with Colombia at the World Trade Organisation over what Brussels says are discriminatory measures against Europe's spirit drinks, the European Commission said on Wednesday. "EU spirits face higher taxes than local brands through higher national consumption tax and higher local charges," the Commission said. "Colombia's regional authorities ... impose market-access restrictions for imported spirits." Consultations are the first step in the WTO's formal dispute settlement mechanisms. Colombia is the largest market in the Andean Community, which includes Peru and Ecuador, representing more than a third of EU spirit exports to the region and worth 41.2 million euros in 2014, industry body SpiritsEurope said in a statement welcoming the move. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie A renewed focus on hotel development in Dublin in order to address the shortage of room supply in the capital is anticipated throughout the year, according to the CBRE's Irish real estate market outlook for 2016. The report highlights the acute shortage of hotel room stock in Dublin city. While there are over 5,000 rooms currently in the planning process, a large proportion of these (41%) are still in the pre-planning phase. With almost 60% of the rooms in either the pre-planning or under appeal phase, the supply issue is unlikely to be resolved until 2018 at the earliest. And while there is a sufficient number of hotel rooms in the planning process, a large portion of these rooms are outside Dublin city centre. In 2016, only one new hotel will open in Dublin (198 rooms) and with the closure of the Clyde Court Hotel (185 rooms) imminent, the net addition to the citys room stock is marginal. Additionally, funding for hotel development is still difficult to obtain and this is unlikely to improve in 2016. Commenting on the report, Davy Research stated that "the data shows that it will take 2-3 years before the supply issue is properly addressed due to planning and building timelines. "The supply-demand imbalance, as well as other positive factors, contributed to Dublin recording RevPAR growth of 23% in 2015. Dalata, which has over 50% of its room stock in Dublin, should continue to benefit from this supply shortage in 2016 and beyond." Source: www.businessworld.ie Ireland is set to move up the rankings into third place globally for our use of renewable wind energy following a record year in 2015 which saw 24 percent of Irelands entire electricity usage met by indigenous wind energy, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA). December was a record-setting month for wind energy in Ireland having met 39 percent of the full months overall electricity demand - compared to 30 percent for the same period in 2014. The country will now join Denmark and Portugal in the top three nations worldwide for the percentage of wind energy used for electricity. The figures are based on information from the International Energy Agency (IEA) which shows that in 2014 the leaders were Denmark 39.1%, Portugal 24%, and Spain 20.4%. Ireland was in fourth position at 18.3%. The increase in wind energy levels contributed to a 9.4 percent decrease in the price of wholesale electricity in 2015 compared to the previous year. These records were underpinned by continued investment in Irelands wind energy sector, with over 350 million invested in wind infrastructure throughout 2015. Kenneth Matthews, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association welcomed the news. Ireland is providing global leadership on the use of renewable electricity and in leveraging the economic and environmental benefits that come with this indigenous energy source. Today other countries see Ireland as a small island nation that is now leading the way in the agreed global low carbon energy transition, he said. We should take great pride that we are now among the worlds best in using wind energy to power our schools and universities, our workplaces, our homes and our lives." Source: www.businessworld.ie Four hundred new jobs could be created in Tipperary if proposals to build a 650 million hydro-electric power station with the capacity to power up to 200,000 homes gets the go-ahead. The plan to build the countrys second hydro generator at the disused open-cast mining site at Silvermines is a joint venture between the Irish construction firm Roadbridge and Austrian technology companies Strabag and Andritz Hydro. The consortium claims that as well as creating four hundred jobs during construction and up to fifty full-time positions thereafter, the project will help clean up leftover contamination at the site by halting the seepage of harmful contaminants into the water table. From a national perspective, it will significantly advance Irelands transition to a low carbon economy, with 360MW of electricity generated for this renewable source five hours each day, Environment Minister, Alan Kelly said. This will be enough to supply 200,000 homes more than three times the total number of households in Tipperary. Source: www.businessworld.ie A new workplace fitness initiative has been launched today to encourage Irelands workplaces to support their employees in becoming more physically active during the working day. The Aviva Workplace Fitness Challenge is asking Irelands corporates to become fitter by increasing their MET score - a simple yet effective means of expressing your cardiovascular fitness level. A MET is a unit of fitness and the higher your score the better.The challenge was officially launched today in the Aviva Stadium by leading health and fitness ambassadors Roz Purcell, David Wallace, Jenny Murphy and Derval ORourke. The innovative Move Your MET fitness App and Challenge has been developed by Aviva Health with the support of DCU and Ibecs Nutrition and Health Foundation and provides a six week programme, now open for companies to register. The App allows participants to measure their current fitness levels, monitor how they are improving, and benchmark themselves against their peers. The concept has been spearheaded by two of the countrys leading experts in health and physical activity, Professor Niall Moyna, of DCUs School of Health and Human Performance and Dr. Sarah Kelly, IT Carlow. Creating a programme designed especially for the workplace was an obvious move, says Professor Moyna. We have over 1.9 million people at work in Ireland, many of whom are based at a desk or a work-station for the majority of their working day and then spend long times commuting. "That makes it much more difficult for them to get a good level of physical exercise on a daily basis and there are known negative health consequences to this. The Aviva Workplace Fitness Challenge is designed to get people talking and to encourage and entice both employers and employees to think about what they could do differently to be more active, fitter and healthier. Source: www.businessworld.ie Developers want to build houses to meet the growing demand - but can only do so when it makes economic sense, Hubert Fitzpatrick, director of the Irish Homebuilders Association (IHBA) has stated. Mr Fitzpatrick was responding to comments from Environment Minister Alan Kelly who said developers need to lower expectations regarding the profits they can expect to make from future construction projects. The market price of many homes throughout the country is still well below the all-in construction cost, Mr Fitzpatrick said. In a report commissioned by the IHBA from Walsh Associates, construction cost consultants in 2014, the construction cost of a 3 bedroomed semi-detached house of 110 sq m is calculated at 225,961, in addition to site costs plus VAT at 13.5%. According to the Daft house price report 2015, the average asking price for houses in Carlow is 140,536, in Offaly its 138,247, while in Westmeath the average asking price is 145,804. Clearly, as long as sales prices for these houses are below replacement cost, the market will not support significant increases in the construction of new homes. As long as this situation prevails, little to no new housing will be built in these areas, he added. The IHBA agrees that more housing is needed to meet the national demand. However it is up to all stakeholders including government, banking, regulatory and development sectors to ensure that a viable construction environment is supported to ensure that this critical objective can be achieved. Source: www.businessworld.ie Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Aug. 28, 1963. (AP Photo) The sixth annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr celebration will be held Friday, January 15 starting at 7 p.m. in the Logan Tabernacle. Once again the event is hosted by Cache Community Connections, an inter-faith organization which was forged following the U.S. terror attacks of 2001. Rev. Steve Sturgeon, Vicar of St. Johns Episcopal Church and current chair of Cache Community Connections, will be conducting the program. He says the featured speaker will be the Rt. Rev. Scott B Hayashi, 11th Bishop of the Episcopal diocese, which is over all Episcopal churches in Utah including the one in Logan. Hes been very active in a number of social issues, dealing with such things as gun violence and also expanding medical coverage for the poor, Sturgeon says. He has also tried to foster ecumenical conversations between different faith groups in the state. Prior to his speaking we will also have a presentation by several staff members at the Centro de la Familia Head Start program which is located in Providence. He says they will talk about the ways they have served the Latino community in Cache Valley. Once again there will be several pieces by a community chorus conducted by Buffy Evans of Logans First Presbyterian Church. A prayer will be offered by a representative of Logans Islamic Center. Everyone is invited to attend to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King. There is no charge for admission. Powerball fever is sweeping the nation, and Utah residents who want their chance at the historic jackpot are crossing the state border to buy their tickets before Wednesdays drawing. According to local news affiliate KUTV, the most popular destination for Utahns looking to play Powerball is Malad, ID, a tiny city of just 2,200. While some Malad business owners are welcoming the new customers with open arms, others are a bit overwhelmed by the number of people who have suddenly descended upon their quaint town. They bring their kids in. Their kids help themselves to everything they can get in our store. We got kids stuff there all the time. And what do they do? They just go help themselves, said Keith Atkinson, the owner of KCs Oil. Oneida County Sheriff Jeff Simrad called a meeting with local business owners and law enforcement on Sunday to prepare Malad for the high number of lottery hopefuls coming in from surrounding states. This is a huge influx of people. And weve had issues with parking, with lines of people and trying to keep everybody safe, said Simrad. In our job, we always plan for the worst and hope for the best. And thats what were doing today, Simrad added. These last few days, actually, its been really good. The people have been patient, theyve been respectful, and so far its gone really well. About 76% of Americans are currently living paycheck-to-paycheck, and millions of people across the country are looking to strike gold on Wednesday and escape their own financial rat race. If the previous Powerball jackpot of approximately $950 million didnt convince some Utahns to travel out-of-state for tickets, perhaps the new grand prize will. According to The Detroit News, lottery officials project the next Powerball jackpot to be a whopping $1.4 billion. It will be the largest jackpot in human history. Biggest jackpot in the history of the world. Absolutely confirmed, said Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief. As for business owners in Malad, it seems as if petty theft is more of a concern than disorderly conduct. To combat this, Atkinson is hoping that law enforcement will stop by his store every now and then to make sure things are running smoothly. If the cops would come in every half hour and just walk through with their badges on and just show em, I think people will be more honest, said Atkinson. Considering store owners get a hefty payout of their own if they sell a winning Powerball ticket, its safe to say that Atkinson and his peers would trade a few stolen Slim Jims for a cut of the largest jackpot ever. Behind the numbers: The "20% world" in 2016 Published on January 13, 2016 en it es fr de pl Whilst an absolute majority of votes constitutes the "golden rule" of democracy, another percentage looks set to make a massive impact on 2016, thanks to the emergence of the so-called "20% World". Improbable events and minority politicians that "only" have a one-in-five chance of succeeding could be set to experience a new wave of good fortune. In a democracy, the fateful threshold of 50% and whoever surpasses this majority constitutes the basis for attributing power. But in 2016 another all-important percentage seems to have emerged: a so-called psychological threshold. In the rogue's gallery of political personalities and events that could leave a mark on 2016, we find a real hotch-potch of contenders, ranging from current mainstream political thought to real outsiders. In discussing the potential for minority ideas to overthrow the political heavyweights, John Micklethwait editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News puts forward a concept he calls the "20% World". Whatever your view, there exist a number of political positions which could be considered extreme (if not dangerous for the stability of society) that have the potential to rock the boat on both sides of the Atlantic. From Trump to Corbyn, from Le Pen to Brexit Lets start with Donald Trump, controversial candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the United States. Among his most recent (and most sensationalist) declarations are the call to ban the Internet, and to prevent all Muslims from entering the US. Despite of this, bookies consistently give him around a 17% probability of being awarded the nomination around the same chance as Jeremy Corbyn is being given of becoming UK Prime Minister, even as a "socialist" who seems to be scaring his own Labour party just as much as his Conservatives rivals. What about Marine Le Pen? Her chance of success at the 2017 French presidential elections is more like 25%. The current risk of a Brexit (an exit of the UK from the EU. ed.), leaves no certain (or reassuring) predictions surrounding the referendum set to take place this June. Some analysts think things are even less clear-cut than the recent referendum on Scottish independence. Its true that we are straying into the realm of probability we are after all only talking about a one-in-five chance. However, Micklethwait reminds us that events considered highly improbable by pollsters and bookies are by no means an impossibility. Political movements once considered marginal have already had an impact all over Europe: Tsipras and Syriza hold power in Greece. Nationalist and populist parties control countries such as Orbans Hungary, Poland and Finland. In a climate where the electorate is increasingly disappointed and critical of the "establishment", it's not out of the question that the population will consider more extreme solutions. --- This article is part of our Behind the Numbers series, illustrating newsworthy stats with artistic design and a brief analysis. Translated from Numeri che parlano da soli: quel "20%" che rischia di diventare la maggioranza Law and Justice: An unbiased media? Bitch Please! Published on January 11, 2016 Story by Katarzyna Piasecka Translation by: Joanna Parlak en pl es fr it de Once upon a time there was a country encased beneath a huge dome. Its purpose was to shelter citizens from a cacophony of information blaring in from the outside world. Such "noise" was considered harmful and foreign. Under the dome, a single narration was broadcast, which spoke of a simple and uniform life. As it turned out, the dome was only made of air, and so the Internet leaked inside it. Last week saw the announcement that the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party who currently hold a majority in both chambers of Polish parliament as well as the presidency under Andrzej Duda has introduced a series of reforms to the country's media laws. According to the amendments, managerial bodies and supervisory boards attached to state media institutions will from now on be appointed by the Minister of State Treasury, and not as used to be the case by a panel of radio and television personnel in consultation with the National Broadcasting Council. The current Minister of State Treasury, Dawid Jackiewicz, has already appointed new CEOs to Polish TVP (Polish Television) and Polish Radio Jacek Kurski and Barbara Stanislawczyk respectively, both of whom are sympathetic to the goals of Law and Justice. Over the coming week it is expected that many journalists and TV presenters will be dismissed and replaced by those more loyal to PiS. In the oppositions eyes, this decision turns Polish public media into a biased organisation lobbying for just one political party. The move has been internationally criticised by, amongst others: the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the European Broadcasting Union, the Association of European Journalists, and Reporters without Borders. They have all notified the Council of Europe about the danger such policy presents to media freedom in Poland. The move follows in the wake of Law and Justice's contoversial decision to replace five judges on the Constitutional Tribunal, previously appointed by PO (Civic Platform), with their own candidates. Opposition figures denounced the move, arguing that it does not comply with the Constitution. However in December, Parliament passed amendments to the law under which it became possible to re-elect the aforementioned judges. Law and Justices ventures are even more brutal due to the fact that in both cases the amendments removed the period of vacatio legis. This refers to the obligatory delay between the publication of a legal act and its entering into force, which enables interested parties to familiarise themselves with the new regulations. With the latest round of changes this didnt take place. Law and Justice argue that both actions concerning the Tribunal as well as the amendments to the media bill were necessary in order to restore political balance to public institutions that, according to the party, were removed under the previous PO administration. In their eyes, the prior situation was limiting democratic decision-making. Chipping away at the opposition To what extent is it democratic to drown out the voice of the opposition? Were we not taught at school that the presence of an opposition not only political, but above all ideological provided a much needed check and balance? Law and Justices behaviour recalls the logic of children playing hide and seek their thinking is: "If I close my eyes, nobody will be able to see me." Do they think that by getting rid of high-profile figures in state institutions that are sympathetic to the opposition, then people stop thinking such opposition exists? On the eve of the introduction of the amendments, the head of Andrzej Dudas Chancellery Malgorzata Sadurska explained that the decision was dictated by a desire to transform Polish media into something more reliable, objective and credible. She used adjectives such as "national" and "unbiased", which in addition to being somewhat contradictory notions, are also marked by a high degree of idealism. An unbiased media? Bitch please. Attempts to take control of the media by Law and Justice are yet another manifestation of the partys disturbing desire to create not only a political, but an ideological, monolith in Poland. Is this something Poles want? Do open-minded people who understand the benefit of debate really desire restrictions? What about people who like to travel and are eager to better understand the world? Who want to engage in self-improvement and decide things for themselves? Is this the desire of Poles who are more moved by the need to develop a tolerant society than an extra 500 zloty in child benefit? Is Law and Justices belief in the homogeneity of Polish society being reflected in reality? Warning: People are not stupid. Many of them know foreign languages and have access to alternative information sources. Many can think critically. Dear PiS: you wanted to monopolise the media, but you appear to have forgotten that the Internet exists. Granted, the Internet is a place where people watch videos of Kim Kardashians arse and Justin Biebers swag, buy clothes from ASOS and mess around on Chatroulette. But it's also the place where the Arab Spring and WikiLeaks began, and the place where you can join jihad. Conclusion: the power of the Internet should not be underestimated. It is everywhere and it sees everything. Thats why I'm using it to send out an appeal for articles, a call for people to share opinions, and point out hypocrisy. If only to keep alive the spirit of contradiction. Get in touch: redakcja@cafebabel.com Story by Katarzyna Piasecka Translated from Drogi PiSie, twoja wizja bezstronnych mediow traci LOLem Caller-Times file A 1958 photo taken from the top of the Driscoll Hotel uptown shows the Harbor Bridge and the roadways that would funnel traffic to the bridge. The bridge opened to traffic on Oct. 23, 1959. The question of how to replace the bascule bridge must have given officials some sleepless nights and led to one of those hammer-and-tong fights for which Corpus Christi is famous. The bascule was built in 1925-1926 over Hall's Bayou. As it turned out, the 97-foot opening under the bridge was a tight fit for ships, which often scraped the sides of the bridge and sometimes knocked it out of commission. Getting into the port's turning basin through this narrow channel was a dicey maneuver called threading the needle. The bascule was also a nuisance for motorists. When the siren sounded that a ship was approaching, the bridge was raised, stopping traffic. Drivers fumed because the ship was so far out in the bay. But ships had to signal when they were a mile away and the bridge tender had to raise the bridge. It would stay up 20 minutes or so (less for a barge or small vessel) but the wait seemed endless. The record said the bridge would usually stay up 10 to 12 minutes, or five minutes for a barge, but many believed it was much longer. Of course, people measure time differently. As the bascule became increasingly inadequate, as the volume of ship traffic grew, it became a symbol of the city's original mistake. But how to replace it? In the early 1950s the town debated whether to dig a tunnel under the port entrance or build a bridge over it. Tunnel supporters argued that a high bridge would tower over the city like a big ugly bird cage, depicting it as a larger version of the bascule. They argued that a historic part of town would have to be leveled to build the network of bridge approaches. The town was divided. At one heated session of the City Council in the tunnel vs. bridge debate, Mayor Albert Lichtenstein, leader of the tunnel faction, got into an argument with Mayor Pro Tem Ellroy King. "Too many half-truths and misstatements are being bandied about," said Lichtenstein. "I hereby resign as mayor." Lichtenstein walked down and sat in the audience. It was a dramatic incident that is recounted to this day. The issue was decided when the Department of Highways offered $9 million to build a bridge over the port entrance, but not a nickel for a tunnel. The chairman of the highway department, E.H. Thornton, cited problems with tunnels around Houston and said that he wouldn't build another toll tunnel, not for Corpus Christi or for Christ. Studies put the cost of a tunnel at about $22 million. The high bridge would cost roughly the same with the related costs of acquiring rights of way and moving rail facilities but the state would pay almost half. That ended the debate. Work began on the high bridge in June 1956. At the time, it was the largest single project ever undertaken by the State Highway Department. Building the bridge was a dangerous job. The wind could knock you off your feet. Four workers were killed in falls from the towering structure, one of them an especially tragic story. A 16-year-old painter from Dallas, Clarence Whitehead, was working beside his father when he lost his footing and plunged to his death. His father watched helplessly as his son fell. The other three men killed were James Sutton, Samuel Tyson and Jesus Maldonado. They started building it simultaneously from both sides. The north and south ends were joined on March 13, 1959, when steel workers put the first link in place. When the two met in the middle the spans were off a few inches, but that had been expected. One side was jacked up until the two fell perfectly into line, a fine piece of engineering. It took three years and four months to build the Harbor Bridge. The finished structure included 21.5 million pounds of steel and 134.4 million pounds of concrete, for a total weight of 155 million pounds. It was 5,818 feet long, 250 feet above the water at its highest point, with 138 feet of vertical clearance. It quickly gained a nickname. Sailors called it Napoleon's Hat for its distinctive shape. The new Harbor Bridge opened to traffic on Oct. 23, 1959. It was a big day for the city, after almost three decades of dreaming, planning, fighting and botched efforts. There was a parade of dignitaries and six bands played, from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Del Mar, Ray, Carroll, Miller and Solomon Coles schools. One of the speakers at the ribbon-cutting was John Young, who would soon be elected to Congress, at least in part because of his leadership on the bridge issue as county judge. One wit said Harbor Bridge was the longest bridge in the world, stretching from Corpus Christi to Washington, D. C. Cars in the official motorcade crossed over the bascule bridge and drove to North Beach so they could make the return trip, heading into the city over the new Harbor Bridge. In the lead car was Eleanor Tarrant, a 46-year-old housewife whose name was pulled in a drawing. After that, a steady stream of cars and trucks crossed over the bridge for the rest of the day and evening. Highway counters recorded 45,663 vehicles that drove over the bridge on that first day. They were going nowhere, just back and forth across this wonderful new bridge, unhindered by any siren or flashing lights or endless waiting. The new bridge was more efficient, more striking, and yet more lifeless than the bascule. With the bascule one could almost reach out and touch passing ships, said Bill Walraven. But with the Harbor Bridge the sky was closer while the bay was far below. The closeness of ships and sense of the sea were gone. A year later the wreckers went to work on the bascule. They used 50-pound charges of dynamite, delayed to explode five pounds at a time, for they dared not use greater charges because of the proximity of the new bridge. Nothing remains of the bascule except the memories; it was a bridge not easily forgotten. A bit of time has elapsed since then and now we are awaiting construction of a new bridge to replace the 57-year-old Napoleon's Hat. (This is the second of two columns on the bascule and Harbor Bridge.) Murphy Givens is the retired Viewpoints editor of the Caller-Times. Email him at givens.murphy@gmail.com. SHARE By Sarah Tindall The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi President's Council had a fun summer mixer July 31 at the lovely home of Kim and Matthew Hammer. The President's Council, a prestigious private giving society which supports the university's Presidential Scholars program, meets several times a year to get updates from the university president about progress and exciting happenings at the university. Council members gathered for this event enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the bay from the back patio- and also a chance to watch the latest technology at work. The University brought one of the scuba drones from the school's drone program to show off its stuff. Guests were able to maneuver the little piece of technological marvelousness around the pool using remote controls- just one of the fun things that the students in the program get to do in their classes. University staff members Jaime Nodarse and Jill Jacobs were on hand to welcome guests, who included Peggy and Avinash Ahuja, Patty and Hank Nuss, Vanessa and Fred Braselton, Scott Humpal, Mary Jane and Carl Crull, Mary Jane Garza, Michelle and Bart Braselton, Hugo Berlanga, and, of course, Kathy and Flavius Killebrew. State Rep. Todd Hunter, who was in attendance with his wife Alexis, was also given a Friend of the University award during the party. There are big things afoot at the university, including a $28 million addition to the University Center and the expansion of many of the degree programs, and it was exciting to know that so much growth is happening for our students right here in Corpus Christi. League of Women mark 70 Years The 2015 Women's Equality Day Celebration hosted by the League of Women Voters-Corpus Christi is at 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Corpus Christi Country Club. The league's celebration will mark its 70th anniversary of founding and the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. The event will also serve to honor six Trailblazers and three community organizations. The Trailblazers honorees are: Nelda Martinez, Mayor of Corpus Christi; Suzie Canales, environmental activist; The late Linda Bridges, past president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers; Diana Barrera, former County Clerk for Nueces County; Judy Hawley, chair-Corpus Christi Port Commission; Jessica Davila-Burnett, director of Public Relations for Stripes. The honored Community Organizations recognized for "Making Democracy Work" are: the Corpus Christi YWCA, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Corpus Christi Alumnae Chapter, and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The event will feature music by the Del Mar College Ensemble, a silent auction, delicious food stations and beverages. Cost: $40/member, $80/nonmember. Information: 361-445-4436. State of University set for Sept. 16 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will present the annual State of the University lunch at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 16 in the University Center Anchor Ballroom. University president Flavius Killebrew will speak about growth and future plans. Guests will also be able to tour the new addition to the University Center. A campus tour will follow lunch. Cost: $25. Information: sotu.tamucc.edu. Freelancer Sarah Tindall writes about charity events, social organizations and local nonprofits. Contact her at srjtindall@gmail.com. When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas Contributed photo The Caller-Times announced Sandra Gonzalezs Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City as the winner of its mural contest. SHARE Contributed photo Sandra Gonzalez helped Betsy Casanas with the mural Aqui Se Respira Lucha (Here We Breathe Struggle), in Philadelphia. Contributed photo Sandra Gonzalez By Esther Hackleman Award-winning artist Sandra Gonzalez wants to create a lasting tribute to Corpus Christi. The Caller-Times has just the right blank canvas for the task. The South Texas-based artist was announced on Wednesday as the winner of the Caller-Times' mural contest, a project that has been in the works since September 2015. "We've got a great canvas," Caller-Times Publisher Libby Averyt said. "We're investing not only in the community but in the building and our presence downtown." That investment can be seen in Gonzalez's design. "Endless Sunset: The Colors of our City" uses vibrant colors, coastal icons and cultural elements to capture the spirit of Corpus Christi. Of the 19 entries submitted, Gonzalez's art will fill the 64-by-36-foot south wall facing Taylor Street with whooping cranes, sea turtles and flowers. She plans to keep the core design she submitted but will make some updates including featuring local fish. "I was inspired by the beautiful sunsets of the South Texas Gulf Coast," Gonzalez said. "(The design) shows the joy of nature and the surroundings of our Corpus Christi." Born and raised in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the artist is familiar with Corpus Christi culture. Having lived in Corpus Christi from 2008-11, Gonzalez soaked up local culture while she studied at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where she received a Master of Arts in 2011. Gonzalez continued her education, going on to receive a Master of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2013, and has worked on almost 30 murals throughout the country. She's currently an art teacher at Alexander High School in Laredo. "I wanted to bring that knowledge to Texas," the 29-year-old artist said. Using a paint-by-number style on polytab fabric, or "parachute cloth," Gonzalez encourages local artists and residents to contribute to the project. Gonzalez will schedule several community outreach dates for volunteers to participate. The mural will be made possible by the Caller-Times' partnership with the Downtown Management District. In September 2015, the district approved the Caller-Times' request to receive a Property Improvement Grant. The grant, which can approve up to 50 percent of the project's costs, will award $10,000 of the $26,000 budgeted for the mural. "We want to become an art-centered district," said Terry Sweeney, the district's executive director. "(This mural) is another step toward embracing that goal." The Caller-Times is the first business to receive the grant for a mural, but the district has also awarded the grant to the Art Center of Corpus Christi, which is in the planning stages of erecting its own mural. Gonzalez plans to start painting in early February, and the four-week installation is scheduled to begin on June 6. Twitter:@Caller_Esther SHARE By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times Kleberg County sheriff's deputies detained a 15-year-old boy Tuesday morning after receiving a call about a bomb threat, according to a news release. At 9:51 a.m., the sheriff's office received a call from Riviera Kaufer High School related to a student making threats about having a gun and a bomb, the release states. Deputies investigated the incident and detained the student in question on suspicion of making a false alarm or report, a state jail felony. He was taken to a juvenile detention center. Twitter: @Caller_Fares Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shares a laugh with news reporters during a round table talk in his office at the Texas Capitol, Wednesday, June 3, 2015, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) SHARE Contrary to what Gov. Greg Abbott would have us believe, We the People of Corpus Christi, and therefore also of Texas and therefore, like it or not, also of the United States of America are not oppressed. The rights we possess and exercise freely are bigger and better than the rights of our grandparents and great-grandparents. That's especially true for Hispanics, blacks, women, Asians and gays. In President Eisenhower's day, a 91-percent income tax bracket existed. Today's top tyranny rate stands at 39.6 percent. In Gen. Eisenhower's day, civilians were expected to turn in their bacon grease at collection centers and were rationed car tires. Had they complained then like Abbott does now about "federal government overreach," they'd have gone down in history as The Mediocre Generation That Lost Us The War And By The Way Sieg Heil. This generation was told after 9/11 to go buy itself a new car in defiance of the attackers. The musket-bearing, slave-owning Founding Fathers (not Mothers) would have marveled at today's array of gun rights, property rights, mineral rights, civil rights, marriage rights, voting rights, Miranda rights, etc. Surely they would have recognized that with this dizzying array of right come responsibilities and regulations. This is why we find it difficult to stomach Abbott's call last week for a rewrite of the Constitution on the premise that the government is oppressing us. Abbott wants to add nine amendments, which we'll summarize briefly as not letting federal agencies create federal laws or pre-empt state laws, letting states override Supreme Court rulings by two-thirds majority, requiring a 7-2 supermajority decision for the Supreme Court to invalidate democratically enacted laws, requiring Congress to balance its budget, not letting Congress regulate what occurs wholly within one state and the other three. This is quite a tantrum for Abbott to throw just because 1) the Supreme Court won't let Texas deny marriage rights to same-sex couples any more, and 2) President Obama wants to make sure that firearms purchasers are background-checked, like the law that existed before his presidency said they're supposed to be. By Abbott's reckoning, oppressing gays is a state's right and making sure those backgrounds get checked is a violation of individual civil liberties. Abbott claims that the Constitution is becoming increasingly ignored and eroded as the government increases its presence in our lives. This of course is not original thinking, though assaulting the Constitution to save it sounds kind of new. It fits Abbott's pattern of behavior. He is, after all, the former attorney general who famously described his daily routine as our paraphrase clock in, sue the government, clock out. He conveniently ignores that there have been some changes since the Founders founded. Life is more complicated. It isn't just a matter of the Second Amendment predating the AR-15. The Constitution also predates cities of several million inhabitants, mass motorized transit, annexation of the other 37 states, emancipation, women's right to vote, and the forcible thrusting of chemical cocktails thousands of feet below the surface to extract oil and gas, aka fracking. The U.S. population was 3.5 million in 1790. The current population of Houston is 6.6 million. More people and more technology requires more government. We can't know how much the Founders would have regulated fracking and motor vehicle traffic, only that they would have. They might have kept their noses out of school lunch menus. Government oversteps here, understeps there, manages here and mismanages there. It's flawed but it's not a conspiracy. And it still belongs to us. Our advice to Abbott would be to quit treating it like the enemy, since it is us. He should devote more energy to Texas' second- and third-world problems like education and women's and children's health care. Ecselis is Havas Media's performance-marketing arm. Shankar replaces Rajeev Bala, who launched Ecselis in the region and left last year to found his own agency, Predator. As regional head, Shankar will lead the Asia-Pacific team, which currently includes Malaysia and Singapore lead Shyam Sandilya as well as a team in India. Ecselis is led globally by Alan Boughen. Sources have confirmed that as head of paid digital strategy, Shankar will also be responsible for Havas Media's paid digital work in Singapore. Shankar is believed to have left Paypal late last year and started at Havas Media about two weeks ago. Prior to joining Paypal in mid-2014, Shankar was general manager of ZenithOptimedia's performance marketing arm, Performics. He also headed the agency's regional centre of performance. Havas Media was unable to comment as of press time. Update: This article was edited to include Rajeev Bala's role as the former head of Ecselis Forget the predictions for a virtual reality take-off or an artificial intelligence take-over this year. Microsoft has outlined another ambition for telling its brand stories in 2016the vinyl record. Vinyl sales have soared in recent years, spawning commercial success stories such as Record Store Day, while Panasonic and Sony made record players the centrepiece of their CES press conferences in Las Vegas this year. Now Microsofts chief storyteller, Steve Clayton, is eyeing how the analogue survivor can play a role in Microsofts brand transformation in a digital era. Speaking exclusively to Campaign Asia-Pacific in Singapore, the 18-year company veteran explains his thinking: In this sea of digital content, which I love, part of me says the way to get attention is to go in the opposite direction, he said. So my next hobby and mission is to publish a vinyl record. The content will likely be a series of interviews with interesting characters, such as Star Trek actor and activist George Takei, who featured in a podcast for the firm last year. Actor Rich Sommer, better known as Mad Mens Harry Cane, appeared in another. [They were] well received but it didnt get the listenership we truly hoped for, admitted Clayton. But Im thinking, what if we put them on a limited edition record? It might only generate a few articles, but I think it might get much more. Its all about capturing the imagination. Steve Clayton Should the project go-ahead, it wouldnt be the first time the firm has reverted to a traditional platform to tell its tales. Towards the end of 2015, it published a book, Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Stories Inspired by Microsoft: an anthology of short stories written by science fiction authors who, as Clayton put it, were let loose at Microsoft. It had a limited-edition run of 1,000 (although an e-book version can be downloaded). The science-fiction community loved it. People asked why did we do it, and the answer is because it helps people think differently about us. At that last sentence, in essence, is what Claytons job is all about. He and his team, which has between four and six people depending on the workload and sits within the marketing department, are tasked with changing perceptions of the brands transformation through content, largely on its own Microsoft Stories site. After all, Its no secret that Microsoft has faced a turbulent few years due to the dominance of Apple, the threat of Google, and its overexposure to the PC market and paid-for software upgrades. We have been a company in transition, he said. We have had a new CEO, a lot of changes internally and a lot of changes around how we wanted to tell our story. So how is Clayton measuring the success of the work? This might sound pithy, but one of the main questions we ask is do we feel good about the stories we are telling? And this seems to boil down to adhering to good, old-fashioned editorial values, and avoiding any direct links to ROI, product sales or even product awareness. Marketing is a perfectly fine thing to do, and we have people who do a great job at that, but its not how we go about storytelling, he added. We are not trying to sell a product. I hesitate to even say we are telling great stories to sell Microsoft, because that still feels too commercial. The other main factor we look at is how are we helping to change the perception of the company. Now that is a really hard thing to measure, but you can kind of sense it, feel it and smell it in the air because people are saying that this is a company that is changing. Other stories, such as the 88 Acres projectthe teams first big success story almost three years agoalso point to concrete commercial benefits, despite only referring to a product/service in one sentence. The long-form story, peppered with striking visuals and video content, charts how the Microsoft estates team effectively digitized all the buildings at its Redmond campus in Washington, from air conditioning to fire-safety sensors, so it could analyse vast amounts of data to more efficiently manage and maintain the site. It has saved the firm tens of millions of dollars, and the content, based on the style of the New York Times grounbreaking Snow Fall coverage in 2012, racked up 250,000 views in the first 48 hours after it was highlighted by the Techmeme website. Not long after, the business enquiries started rolling in, said Clayton, who added: Like most good stories, this started in a pub on our campus when this guy came up and said 'Ive got this story for you from our real estate and facilities team'. I was kind of thinking, this doesnt sound like the kind of place were going to find a really compelling storybut it became a big publishing and commercial success. Not every story gains the traction that Clayton would like, however. Take another long-form multimedia piece from Kenya last yearwhere CEO Satya Nadella launched Windows 10which showed how the company provided internet access for 30,000 people in rural Nanyuki by utilizing TV 'white spaces' (open areas of the electromagnetic spectrum not used by television signals). The Kenya story was picked up reasonably well, by Forbes and a few others, but I wish it was picked up more, said Clayton. What irks him most is the vast number of column inches given to sexier efforts from Facebook and Google to enable internet use via drones and balloonsboth noble efforts, he hastens to addwhile the Microsoft project is actually working right now. I dont know whether there is something we need to do more of, maybe there is, he conceded, adding the company invests relatively little in paid media and publicity for its stories. Part of that is because I have this altruistic view that good stories should find their own way to the top. We do invest in some paid media and obviously use our social channels, but in general we dont put too much amplification behind them, also because very few of them are time bound, said Clayton. What he does invest heavily in, however, is high quality visuals and design; traditional publishing values that he believes are still vitally important, especially in an age when anyone can be publisher online. My one piece of advice would be to focus on visuals, he said. As nice as a 3,000 word article is, it takes a lot to get someone to read that on a screen. The old adage that a picture tells a thousands words remains true to this day. Also true: That the work by Clayton and his team doesnt neatly fit into any of the siloed marketing functionssomething one suspects he is quite happy about. People say, 'Are you in the content marketing business?' Well Im definitely in content, but I dont know about marketing. Then they say, 'Well is it native advertising?' These are all good buzzwords but I dont really know what they mean. I really dont. We are the business of good stories, thats all. Please see a related story on PRWeek Asia: Microsoft's chief storyteller: Content marketing? Native advertising? We just tell good stories | BY Ricki Green | D&AD has announced the juries for the 54th Annual Profession Awards which includes 10 representatives from Australia. The judges from Australia include: Ben Cooper, Group Innovation Director, M&C Saatchi Sydney, Australia Dave Bowman, Creative Director, Special Group. Australia Hilary Badger, Senior Copywriter, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Australia Jo de Fina, Executive Producer, The Otto Empire, Australia Michael Hillard, Executive Producer, Partner, Finch Company, Australia Murray Bell, Founder and Director, Semi-Permanent, Australia Richard Bullock, Director, Hungry Man, Australia Tara McKenty, Creative Director, Google Australia, Australia Wilf Sweetland, Managing Director, The Sweet Shop, Australia Zoe Politt, Founder and Director, Eskimo, Australia What makes D&AD stand out from the crowd? With over half a century of awarding the finest work in design and advertising, the D&AD Pencil is one of the most coveted accolades a creative can receive. This hasnt been done through secret handshakes and back room meetings, the judging of the awards is open, frank and honest. The work, judged by a jury of peers makes D&AD an award for creatives, driven by creatives. Every year, thanks to D&AD, hundreds of the worlds top creative professionals converge on London to debate and award the years best work, and April 2016 will be no different. What has changed is the experience. After a successful move to The Old Truman Brewery in 2015, this year Judging Week becomes the D&AD Festival and will bring the worlds of advertising and design together over eight days to celebrate the best in global creativity. Says Tim Lindsay, D&AD CEO: We didnt want to call it a festival without delivering exactly what people would expect, an event that buzzes with creative energy. This isnt just a chance to meet the makers of some of your favourite creative work, its a forum to listen to what they have to say about our industry and be inspired. None of this would be possible without the participation of our dedicated jurors, they are the ones who bring the D&AD awards to life. Released in 2015, here is a reminder of some of the big names that will be leading the juries for the 2016 Professional Awards. In keeping with tradition, the D&AD Awards will be judged by some of the international creative communities highest profile members. They include: Luiz Sanches, Partner, Creative, AlmapBBDO, Brazil Gaston Bigio, Founder, David, Argentina Wain Choi, Vice President, Executive Global Creative, Chiel WW, South Korea Mark Tutssel, Global Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Chicago, USA Nick Law, Chief Creative Officer, RGA, USA Khai Meng Tham, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy & Mather, USA Spencer Wong, Chief Creative Officer, McCann & Spencer Hong Kong, Hong Kong Vince Frost, Executive Creative Director, CEO, Frost Collective, Australia Balakrishnan Balki Rajagopalan, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Chairman, Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas, India Once the judges have deliberated and made their decisions during four intense days of judging, the D&AD festival really begins. As well as an exhibition of all the entered and winning work, the Old Truman Brewery will be alive with five days of creative activity. With two main stages for talks and panel discussions, over 40 speakers from the world of design and advertising, sensory installations, fringe events, food stalls, photography exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and a few parties, its the ticket to the most exciting event in town. Especially curated for creative professionals, a three-day ticket will cost 185 (92.50 Members/ 55 Students) and will enable an all-access pass to all main and fringe events. An edited version of the festival will run on the Saturday and Sunday, with free entry to the general public and a family-friendly series of events, making D&AD Festival the most inclusive and award experience around. Work entered into the 2016 D&AD Awards must have been commercially released between 01 January 2015 and 18 March 2016 and been produced in genuine response to a client brief. It must not have been entered in previous years. Submissions should be made in their original language by 17 February 2016. The Awards cost from just 85 to enter. All entered work is displayed at the D&AD Festival and will be viewed by senior creatives and visitors to the festival throughout the week. All awarded work appears in the D&AD Annual, released annually in September, and is available to purchase exclusively through D&AD. | BY Ricki Green | Kiwi director Mark Albiston from production company The Sweet Shop has recently shot a new campaign for Thomas Cook via London agency Albion. After winning the Thomas Cook Group account with a mandate to reinvent the business through its product and communications, Albion has released its first piece of creative work today in 14 markets. The pan European campaign is based on an innovative piece of insight work, which aims to demonstrate the emotional benefits of a holiday company that delivers the whole experience for its customers. Says Albiston: Getting the casting right was always going to be the key to this campaign, and the team at Albion were brilliantly supportive, and not a little brave, in letting us use the casting process to shape the final films. Our amazing young lead made us laugh the moment we put the music on there was no need for choreography, we simply picked his best moves from the first audition and put a routine together. Says Adam Lawrenson, ECD, Albion: This campaign marks a totally new direction for the brand and is routed in an idea which works well not only for communications, but also for product and the organisation internally. That will be key to driving forward the agenda for the Thomas Cook Group over the coming years. Client: Thomas Cook Agency: Albion ECD: Adam Lawrenson Creative Director: Debs Gerrard Creative: Hugo Isaacs Head of Film: Petrina Kilby Production Company: The Sweet Shop Executive Producer: Spencer Dodd Producer: Kate Taylor Production Manager: Natalie Isaac DoP: Justin Brown Production Designer: Birgit Kniep-Gentis Costume Designer: Katie Ruth Edit House: tenthree Editor: Billy Mead Sound: 750mph Sound Design: Sam Ashwell | BY Ricki Green | New York Festivals International Advertising Awards has announced the second round of prominent creatives appointed to the 2016 executive jury. For the sixth year, New York Festivals will assemble 30+ of the worlds most awarded chief creative officers and executive creative directors to judge this years entries across all mediums and select the worlds best advertising winners. Says Michael ORourke, president, New York Festivals: New York Festivals executive jury of celebrated creative leaders mirrors the diverse range of creative talent prevalent in the advertising industry today. NYF is thrilled to provide our entrants with this esteemed jury of internationally recognized thought-leaders. The second round of the 2016 New York Festivals Executive Jury: Steve Keum, Chief Creative Officer, First Kiss Korea Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India Nir Refuah, Chief Innovation Officer, McCann Erickson Romania Yasuharu Sasaki, Head of Digital Creative/Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc. Japan Leslie Sims, Chief Creative Officer, Y&R New York The 2016 executive jury panel will gather together May 13-17th in New York City for five rounds of judging across all mediums and select 2016s Finalists, First Prize, Second Prize, Third Prize, Grand Award winners, and Best of Show. Since 2011, entries to New York Festivals International Advertising Awards entries have been judged by 400+ members of NYFs executive and grand juries, a brain trust of global creative minds, who collectively cast over 400,000 votes to select the worlds best advertising. The 2016 executive jury will utilize NYFs Matrix Judging System; a patented system insures each entry is scored on its own merits with 50% of the vote based upon its concept / idea, 25% stemming from its brand and market relevance, and 25% pulled from its production execution. The 2016 New York Show creative panel sessions and networking events will take place on Thursday, May 19th at the NYIT Auditorium, 1871 Broadway, between 61st & 62nd Street. The New York Show gala will be held that evening in the renowned Jazz at Lincoln Centers Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, with a cocktail party in the Ertegun Atrium and the awards ceremony immediately following in the Rose Theater. A celebratory after-party will follow to toast the 2016 award-winners. | BY Ricki Green | The Kitchen Creative Management is now representing Melbourne based advertising photographer Cory White. Whites fascination with photography started early. At age 12, he was spending hours each day in a makeshift darkroom in his parents garage. Using his camera as a tool to access intimate dialogue and explore human stories, his considered observations strike a balance between the refined and informal. His passion for reportage photography, combined with his energy and enthusiasm for commercial image making has seen him forge a career as a photographer with a defined aesthetic. White has pioneered his personal style through Mr. Blanc, an online publication that celebrates men of interest and interests of men. The project began as a platform for Cory to document those around him and quickly gained momentum. To give more direction, he decided to make Mr. Blanc purely about men and the premise has endured since; to photograph and interview men with a passion be it a craft, a hobby, a musical or literary pursuit as long as it is a guy doing what he loves. Whites impressive client list includes Australia Post, Westpac, Bank of Melbourne, Telstra, Mazda, Natures Own, Brown Brothers, Jacobs Creek, RACV, Microsoft, Schweppes and Nike. Publications include Monocle, Habitus, Man of the World, Good Weekend, Rolling Stone USA, Dumbo Feather, Mr. Blanc and Kindling Quarterly. The Kitchen Creative Management website: www.thekitchen.com.au. Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 8:36PM In the future you wont need to install an extension to cast sites to a Chromecast-equipped TV. According to Francois Beaufort, Google is working on building the feature right into the browser itself. At the moment, you need the Google Cast Chrome extension to send music, videos, and webpages to your TV. Once Google integrates this into Chrome, all you need to do is right click on a page in Chrome and select the Cast option to send it to your TV. The feature is currently available on the beta version of Chrome, users can try it out by enabling the experimental Media Router feature over here at this link. Source: Francois Beaufort | Via: The Next Web In 2014, Hammerhead released their debut CD Mozaic, a mix of original compositions, mostly by Bruer, and interpretations of some well-known pieces. In their Gods appearance for which David Theak will replace Andrew Robertson on alto sax they will be continuing in this vein. They will be performing a combination of original music, mostly by Bruer "heavily influenced by the '60s Blue Note hard bop era and all sorts of other influences", he says and a tribute to one of those influences in particular, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. If you see any accidents or have any info on the morning commute, let us know whenever it is safe to do so: morningblog@canberratimes.com.au or tweet us @canberratimes [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Modified On Feb 09, 2016 01:30 PM By Manish for Honda BR-V Update: All the wait and the anticipation came to an end with Honda finally unveiling its debut compact SUV BR-V that is set to take on the likes of Renault Duster, Hyundai Creta, Ford Ecosport and Nissan Terrano in India. The compact SUV segment is already quite competitive but Honda BR-V with its stunning appearance and an impressive set of interior features, has the right ingredients to take its competitors on. With two engine variants of petrol and diesel, Honda BR-V holds an edge over other compact SUVs with a third foldable seat. Know more about this new Crossover revealed at Auto Expo. The Mobilio-based compact SUV, Honda BR-V will be showcased at the upcoming 2016 Indian Auto Expo, which will be held in Greater Noida from 5th to 9th of February. The car will rival the likes of Hyundai Creta, Maruti S-Cross, Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and others. The compact SUV features a complete aesthetic revamp as compared to the MPV, which spawned it. On the outside, BR-V flaunts projector headlamps, DRLs, diamond cut alloys and a completely redesigned front fascia. The same story continues on the inside. Inside the cabin of BR-V, one gets creature comforts like a touchscreen infotainment system, automatic climate control, rear AC vents, foldable third row seats, rear parking camera and electrically controlled wing mirrors, etc. Under the hood, one might get engine options that will include a 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine, which will produce 120PS of power output @6600rpm and 145Nm of peak torque @4600rpm. The petrol mill will go head-to-head with the one seen in Creta and the sole option for Honda BR-V would capitalise on the practicality aspect bestowed by third row seating. The diesel mill might be shared with those seen in Amaze compact sedan and Jazz hatchback i.e. the 1.5-liter i-DTEC unit, capable of producing 100PS @3600rpm and 200Nm @1750rpm. Honda might tweak the engine to provide an enhanced power stat, but if the stock unit is incorporated, then the Japanese offering will be overshadowed by the competition. The powerplants will come mated to Hondas six-speed automatic transmission. Watch Showcase Video of Honda BR-V Also Read: Modified On Feb 22, 2016 07:38 PM By Saad for Tata Tiago 2015-2019 Update: Tata has showcased the entry level hatchback Zica at the 2016 Auto Expo that will take on other popular hatchbacks in the country including Chevrolet Beat, Maruti Suzuki Celerio and Hyundai i10. Audiences may not have to wait too long to get their hands on the newly launched hatchback with its release scheduled in two weeks. With companys very own ConnectNext infotainment system, segment first 8 speaker system and alternatives for diesel and naturally aspirated motor, Tata Zica looks pretty strong to make a big impact. Check out the Auto Expo reveal, image gallery and more. Tata Motors has been testing the waters in India for quite sometime. After a lot of ups and downs, the homegrown automaker seems to be heading towards the right direction, especially when it comes to winning the trust of customers. Taking the same thing in mind, Tata Motors has announced to launch a unique initiative known as ZICA 7 Senses. As we all know, Zica is the next big launch from the company, the car which has so far, seem to have passed the test of time. So company will be banking on this new ZICA 7 Senses to bring consumer closer to the brand. The new customer immersive experience will be rolled out in a phased manner and will cover 7 senses of a human being viz. Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, Intuition and Equilibrium, as part of the campaign. The new campaign is conceived to make the customer feel exuberant and young at heart, rather than fostering monotonous chores of daily life. The 7 senses have been briefed down in order to understand the perspective. SIGHT: There is a saying that love happens at first sight. That is exactly what Tata meant through this sense, that truly reflects the IMPACT design language that one would come across when seeing the bold character of the car. The company will be launching a new Virtual Test Drive App for a unique 3D experience. SMELL: Tata Tiago aka Zica as seen in the images, is a never before product from Tata. The car aptly connects the mindset of todays youth and make him/her feel great and energetic. Looking into these aspects, the carmaker will introduce ZICA signature fragrance that goes well with the spirit of youth. SOUND: Connectivity is the most sought after thing by consumer of today. Recognising the need for the same, Zica hatchback has been bestowed with advanced Harman infotainment system, powered by 8 surround sound speakers and speed sensing volume control. To further enhance the music experience, the company will be introducing ZICA anthem, a special soundtrack of the new generation that can be played via the same infotainment system. The top sound quality is sure to pump the adrenaline. TASTE: Taste is another significant sense that makes one feel the true meaning of nature and its core components. Human life isn't all about making big achievements, but the accomplishment of little things. Being aware of these facts, Tata will introduce Zica Chocolate to signify the true spirit of life. TOUCH: Without touch, the meaning of the word connectivity would be incomplete. Tatas ConnectNext Infotainment system is part of its new design philosophy. Zica will also incorporate these elements, but with additional touch-ups. The car will be offered with new Smart Apps NAVI and Juke Car. When connected to a smartphone, the former displays turn by turn navigation on the screen and also provides info on Estimated Time of Arrival and Next Maneuver, simplifying the navigational driving. It is compatible with steering mounted controls, speed volume control and offers complete phonebook on the go. The Juke App is another unique approach in touching the life of todays youth. What it basically does is to provide a virtual network created via mobile hotspot, allowing a list of songs to be shared via different smartphones. All this can be achieved with a touch of a finger. INTUITION: Zica hatch has been intelligently designed to take the spirit of innovation further. There are 22 different utility spaces provided in the car like cup-holders on front console, tab holder in glove box, smart storage on dashboard, drive side pockets. etc. to make travelling easier than before. EQUILIBRIUM: Balance is a calm state of mind everybody in the world is looking for. The youth of today wants best in class mileage and peppy driving experience in their cars which could set the equilibrium in their life. Zica possesses both these attributes which will certainly attract the young generation at large. It is rightly said by the company Great things happen when your senses are awoken. And the ZICA will do that in 7 different ways. Watch First Drive of Tata Zica Also Read: Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned [] Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Applications are invited by Central Council of Indian Medicine. CCIM is looking out for 6 posts of Senior/Junior Technical Associate (Ayurved) and Coordinator. Details of this recruitment is listed below. Name of the post and Number of posts allocated 1. Senior/Junior Technical Associate (Ayurved): 5 Posts. 2. Coordinator for TTT Programme /E-learning : 1 Post. Who is Eligible for the CCIM job? Qualification and Experience: Candidates interested to apply for the above post must be qualified as per the organisations requirement. Qualification becomes manadatory to test the skills and their perseverance in doing a certain job. To know more about the required qualification in detail log on to this organisation's website. How to Apply for CCIM job? Candidates who are interested to apply for the above mentioned jobs must see that they are eligible for this job. Once they find themselves eligible they can apply for this job through post in a prescribed format. Do not forget to send the applications along with other necessary documents. What are the Important Dates Associated with job/post? Runners & walkers dash around Delphi The Do It In Delphi Dash was Saturday morning with the 5K walk/run beginning downtown on the Courthouse Square. The... Special prosecutor issues report on Liggett campaign The Comet sponsored a sheriffs candidate debate on Sept. 29. After the debate, Sheriff candidate and deputy Tony Liggett provided... Delphi Council member Conner resigns post It has been an upward struggle for Delphi City Council member Gayle Conner to represent her constituents as witnessed at... Since the Urus project still has some way to go before it enters production, Lamborghini does not have an SUV in its line-up that comprises only of the Huracan and Aventador supercars. Both, however, come with all-wheel drive, so you can still have fun in the snow. Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which is running the Winter Accademia program, announced that it will host its first-ever event in North America on February 5-7 and 6-8 in Aspen, Colorado. Held at the Aspen Motorsport Park, Winter Accademia participants will be divided into small groups and, under the guidance of professional Lamborghini instructors, will learn the techniques of driving a 600+hp Lambo in adverse conditions like snow and ice. Anyone who is interested can register for the course at squadracorse.lamborghini.com and if you want a preview, you can scroll down and watch the video. Video Ever since FCAs Hellcat V8 engine won us over by powering the Dodge Charger & Challenger duo, weve been itching to see it in action in the Grand Cherokee. Reports about a possible Grand Cherokee Hellcat have been circulating for nearly a year, but now Motor Authority has reported that the project has been green lit and the Hellcat-powered Jeep is on its way as a 2017 model. The car should indeed be named Trackhawk and it will feature the same HEMI V8 as the Hellcat duo, only this time, delivering those sweet 707 horses to all four wheels. Reportedly, a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission will handle all that muscle, while the all-wheel drive system will take care of any lack of grip when accelerating. Those same sources mentioned a possible top speed of 200 mph (321 km/h) and a 0-60 mph (96 km/h) time of less than 3 seconds! Naturally, none of this is official but if the Grand Cherokee is to become that quick, it would absolutely demolish any rival SUV brave enough to challenge it in a straight line. Other people seem to think that the car wont have that much power, but if thats to be the case then what would be the point of it? FCA already has the SRT version, which means that you either build something that will completely blow everybody away, or you just come out with a slightly faster Jeep than the Grand Cherokee SRT, which makes little sense. As far as were concerned, we definitely hope this thing gets to see the light of day, especially because it will force other manufacturers hands into building more powerful SUVs of their own or else risk falling behind. Note: 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT pictured PHOTO GALLERY The quintessentially British, boutique car manufacturer, is apparently considering building a new manufacturing plant, far from Gaydons well-established roots. Aston Martin is currently deciding where to build a new plant to expand its product range. In fact, Reuters reports that the firm began with a list of 19 possible locations, but narrowed it down to two British sites, one in Alabama, and another in the Middle East. Even so, it appears that the Republic of Macedonia (a country that was included in the first 19 locations, but ruled out in the meantime) apparently came up with better offer for the car maker, as one of the sources for the news agency said: Macedonia is a recent and late contender having been previously ruled out. They came back with a stronger bid. The same source also said that was not enough clarity in the Middle Eastern option, and the site in Sutton Coldfield, central England, that was also considered, apparently [] has dropped a few balls of late. To top it off, a senior government official in Skopje confirmed that the country was in the running, succinctly saying that theyve made a good offer. A decision will be made in the following weeks, even though we have a feeling that a site chosen outside of the U.K will upset purists. PHOTO GALLERY On the back of strong growth in Europe, the UK and North America, Bentley has every reason to be jubilant. The British luxury brand delivered 10,100 vehicles in 2015. Of those, 2,864 were sold in North America, which once again was its biggest market, even if this number fell shy on 2014s 3,186 units. Meanwhile, sales in Europe jumped by 10 per cent, from 1,539 to 1,695 cars. It also experience a marginal rise in the UK, from 1,387 to 1,457. As with many other luxury automakers, the slowdown in China adversely affected the company, with deliveries dropping from 2,560 in 2014 to 1,615 in 2015. Despite that, most other markets enjoyed increases in sales including Asia Pacific, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East. Discussing the sales, Bentleys member of the board for sales, marketing and aftersales Kevin Rose said: This international success is a further indication of the strength of Bentleys brand. Not only have we established four key sales regions North America, Middle East, Europe, including the UK, and China we are also seeing markets such as South Korea, Russia and Japan grow rapidly too. This will only help us grow further, without compromising our exclusivity, and providing even greater long-term stability for Bentley Motors. With deliveries of the Bentayga hitting full gear this year, a record sales result for Bentley could be on the cards. PHOTO GALLERY As if challenging the premium German car manufacturers on their home turf wasnt enough, Hyundais newly-born standalone brand, Genesis, could have its very own line-up of high performance N models. In an attempt of making a name for itself in a relatively short period of time, it appears that the Korean car manufacturer wants to get the most out of its products following the German recipe. So, as the premium, luxurious market is currently being covered by some existing products, Genesis under the patronage of Hyundai looks forward to expand the line-up with various high-end models and performance-oriented variants of them. In fact, in an interview with Car Advice at the 2016 Detroit show, Albert Biermann Hyundais recently-appointed head of vehicle test and high performance development, and ex BMW M division vice president of engineering mentioned that the Genesis brand could include N models, stating: N is a sub-brand and with N high performance cars we work for both brands so you have to be ready for N versions for Hyundai and for Genesis. As if taunting BMWs iconic M-division, Genesis N-branded high-performance models wont be just high-powered variants of their regular cars, but fully-fledged, racetrack-going, high-performance cars, with more than one model planned: More than one. We have a nice roadmap for the next five years working [for N] so there will be Genesis cars included. To top it off, the future models will apparently offer a sporty character to begin with, bringing a capable platform in the business (which could be the basis of the first N-branded Genesis vehicle), as Biermann continued: The G70, thats a whole new animal. You can expect some really nice handling cars. Its a G70 but you can expect also some powerful G70 [models]. That platform is good for a lot of power. Hyundai Vision G Concept pictured PHOTO GALLERY Reports suggesting Hyundais Santa Cruz concept is heading to production have been around ever since the Korean car manufacturer presented the car at last years Detroit Auto Show. But this time is different, as the model has apparently passed the approval stage and now everything left is for Hyundai to officially announce it. In an interview with Car Advice, when asked if the Santa Cruz will hit the showrooms anytime soon, Hyundai Motor America president and chief executive Dave Zuchowski, said just that: Whats the easiest way to say that? Were waiting more for an announcement than we are for an approval, right? It hasnt been officially announced yet. Our timing is not crossing our fingers and waiting for approval, its trying to figure out when were going to announce it. Even so, whether the Santa Cruz will be available worldwide or it will remain U.S. exclusive is for now a matter marked by a big question mark, even though Zuchowski seems eager to push it in other markets, especially as the car will share the same platform with the Tucson model: Im not clear on the other markets, but from our perspective its a vehicle that will be exported to other markets. Mind you, styling-wise, the production variant of the Santa Cruz will be more tamed dropping the humongous rims and concept-like elements. That said, Hyundai appears to be on fire, trying to take on a wide array of automotive niches and offer almost anything for everybody. PHOTO GALLERY In case you were eager to see more of the Hyundai IONIQ before its official unveiling at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, heres another good look, courtesy of our spy photographers. If you recall, Hyundai only released a few images of their Prius-rivaling three-headed eco-warrior(three powertrains), without a decent shot of the cars front fascia. Thats OK though because now we can pretty much piece together what this car is going to look like once released officially. In short, its packing plenty of familiar Hyundai design elements, which means theres very little chance youre going to mistake it for anything else. Aside from that elongated C-Pillar (typical with hybrids such as the Prius and Volt), the IONIQ is by no means quirky, which is a good thing; not everyone who drives a hybrid wants to follow the trend of advertising how green he/she is. What makes the IONIQ truly stand out its that it offers three different powertrains, namely hybrid, plug-in hybrid & electric a world first, if were not mistaken. Hyundai have also achieved class-leading thermal efficiency, with the head and block being split for optimized cooling. As for the hybrid-exclusive DCT transmission (yet another first), its going to offer class-leading power transmission efficiency (95.7%) according to the Korean manufacturer. While were still a few months away from learning everything their is to know about the IONIQ, it looks like itll be worth the wait. Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops PHOTO GALLERY We knew it was a lot of money for a short film by some unknown recent graduates, Sun Creature Studio director Mikkel Mainz and producer Charlotte de la Gournerie told Cartoon Brew, during the Cartoon Springboard conference last November. Actually, I had opted for an $80,000 goal, but my partner Bo [Juhl Nielsen] said we should push it to $150,000, recalled Mainz. In the end, we decided to meet in the middle. Sun Creatures team understood that in order to raise that amount, theyd need to build a community. With 63 followers on his blog before The Reward, Mainz admitted that they werent social media guys, for sure. Three weeks before Kickstarter, the team started a Tumblr and other social media accounts to share The Rewards artwork. It paid off, gaining them 2,600 Tumblr followers, of which many backed the Kickstarter. A month after kickoff, Sun Creatures Kickstarter campaign concluded with nearly $143,000. Excited about exceeding their goal, the young creators gathered for brainstorming sessions on a sailboat. By the time they returned home, the film had grown from seven to 24 minutes. We just had no idea about budgets and planning and all these things, said Mainz. Luckily, producer Charlotte de La Gournerie, a graduate of the film production program at Frances Gobelins school, came aboard to help with production management. With additional funding from the Danish Film Fund, Sun Creatures team managed to complete their 24-minute short, Tales of Alethrion: The First Hero, within a year of its original delivery date. Through a second Kickstarter, Sun Creature aimed for an entire series (budgeted at $80,000 per episode) with a set-up that allowed audiences to choose which stories they wanted to see as episodes. The audience becomes the producer, in a way, explained Mainz. They are who were going to listen to, instead of some guy with statistics. Currently, Sun Creatures team is producing two episodes crowdfunded through their second Kickstarter. The success has allowed Sun Creature to quickly grow and create on their own, but it has also come with challenges. The first year of Tales of Alethrion was spent pulling a lot of teeth, energy-wise, said Mainz. Id been helping out with Song of the Sea while directing Tales of Alethrion, and we were making all of the mistakes we could possibly make. One day, I suddenly got a stress concussion; I fainted and hit my head. For three months, I couldnt watch a screen. I slept for like 16 hours a day. And thats just my story; other people had to deal with other things in the studio. Since then weve learned not to say yes to everything, to respect our and each others wishes and needs, Mainz added. The problem was mostly balancing work and private life, which is also kind of what our project is about. Relationships, not careers, are what makes life worth living. With Tales of Alethrion being Mainzs main focus, Sun Creature is developing other projects while taking on advertising work to pay the bills. De La Gournerie explained that the studio cant survive with a single project like Tales of Alethrion alone. Its too risky, she said. Theres no existing business model for it, really; were figuring it out along the way. Even though we are successful at what were doing, were not paying ourselves a lot. Tales of Alethrion is very demanding of time and money, and the artists energy. Its important for artists to work in different styles to keep creative, so as a studio we need to have different fires burning at the same time, Mainz agreed. But personally, I could easily do Tales of Alethrion for another ten years. I have this torch that I will never let burn out. Sun Creature continues to experiment with different approaches to self-funding Tales of Alethrion. The team will soon launch a Patreon campaign, a subscription-based alternative to the Kickstarter model that tends to work better for artists who release work consistently. Meanwhile, Sun Creatures crew keeps backers involved with Reddit interviews, YouTube videos, livestreams, drawing contests, and even playing Dungeons & Dragons with fans. At least 15 per cent of Mainzs time is spent online connecting with audiences. When theres a Kickstarter or another fundraising event, the amount of his time spent interacting with the community can grow to 40 per cent. De La Gournerie said that Sun Creature would enjoy trying a more traditional approach to producing the series with the support of corporate backers. It would be so cool to be on Netflix or Amazon. We could do merchandise, have a steady income, gain a larger audience, and put out more animation faster. But such deals often come with conditions, theyve learned. Amazon said they wanted to do The Reward for children, but they also wanted to change the title and main characters, and remove the violence, de La Gournerie said. We sometimes forget, but the creative freedom that we have right now is really amazing. Photo: The Canadian Press - Ryan Remiorz Robert Charbonneau, from St-Donat, Que., holds up $1,000 worth of Powerball tickets for himself and his friends at a convenience store in the border town of Champlain, N.Y. Thousands of Canadians appear willing to break a law most probably don't even know exists. Canadians travelling across the border to purchase tickets in Wednesday's $1.5 billion Powerball lottery may not be aware that an obscure U.S. law makes it illegal for people to return to the United States with lottery tickets. The law in question forbids the importation of "immoral articles." It reads, "All persons are prohibited from importing into the United States from any foreign country...any lottery ticket, or any printed paper that may be used as a lottery ticket, or any advertisement of any lottery." It is not, however, illegal for Canadians to purchase tickets or participate in the lottery. They just can't legally return with those tickets, which makes claiming a $1.5 billion jackpot problematic. Burnaby resident Lisa Yuen told CTV Vancouver she was lectured by a U.S. border guard last weekend about the law. "We got a bit of a lecture from the border guard, saying that you can buy a ticket, but you can't take it back into Canada and then come back to the United States," she told CTV Vancouver. Back in December, a man had nine lottery tickets and his Nexus card seized when he tried to cross the border. "It is concerning," Jana Jones, the director of legal services at Washington's Lottery, told CTV. "It appears the Washington border patrol is not allowing Canadians to bring (tickets) back in." As for Yuen, the $1.5 billion prize is a worth the risk. "It's a chance I'm willing to take." -With files from CTV News Photo: Contributed Nine candidates are set to vie for two vacant seats in British Columbia's legislature. The byelections on Feb. 2 will be held to fill seat in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Coquitlam-Burke Mountain after Jenny Kwan and Doug Horne decided to run in the federal election. Elections BC says five of the candidates will run in the Vancouver riding. B.C. Liberal Gavin Dew and New Democrat Melanie Mark will take on Pete Fry of the Green party, Libertarian Bonnie Boya Hu and Jeremy Gustafson of Your Political Party of BC. In Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, the race is between New Democrat Jodie Wickens, B.C. Liberal Joan Isaacs, Joe Keithley of the Green party and Libertarian Paul Geddes. Advance polls will be held on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24, and between Jan. 27 and Jan. 30. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... US Presidentiable candidate Hillary Clinton appeared on the January 11 episode of the "Ellen Degeneres" show on Monday. One of the many revelations she shared during the show was the fact that she has taken countless selfies throughout the campaign trail, but upon meeting the Kardashian-West couple in her journey she realizes that she needs a lot to learn in taking selfies. Apparently, Ellen wants what skill Kim has in taking selfies. According to the Democratic front-runner, she had met the couple in Los Angeles in August 2015 as they were attending a fundraising event. They took selfies during the said event. However, none of the photos end up as perfect as the shot she had taken with Hollywood's king and queen of selfies Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, People news emphasized. Degeneres noted how Kim has a so-called selfie face, which is evident in all of her social media posts. The host then asked Clinton if she had learned to develop a selfie face to which the politician replied, "No". Despite not learning the selfie trick, Clinton was quick to say that she had learned some other few things like the reality star is indeed a very nice person and that there is a secret to Kardashian's perfect selfies. Clinton then went on to tell a story. When she asked the "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star if they can take a selfie, Kanye West's wife immediately pulled out her smartphone then pressed a button that according to her no one has ever seen anywhere except those who had taken a selfie with her. Cinton had described the phone as having "a ton of tiny lights that go around it." The former US first lady also said that Kardashian's phone can make anyone look better, then adding that she has been in desperate search for one like it but have found nothing. DeGeneres also admitted that she wanted to get the reality actress' selfie enhancer as well. Meanwhile, Kardashian recently shared a link revealing her selfie secret on Twitter, where she also gave Clinton a shoutout. Clinton also shared during the show how she had never looked better in that amazingly lit selfie she took with the West couple. She just seemed fascinated while she describes how the celebrity had managed to take the perfect selfie every time, Daily Mail reported. "She hits this button. The light is there. She holds it at a perfect angle and she makes everybody look better than you have any reason to look," she said during the show. Groundbreaking for MBT resource recovery facility, USA 13 January 2016 Entsorga West Virginia announced the groundbreaking of the USs first resource recovery facility utilising Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT). The state-of-the-art waste-to-solid fuel plant will be located in Martinsburg, WV, and is expected to be operational in early 2017. Entsorga WV is a joint venture between Apple Valley Waste Technologies, LLC, Entsorga USA and Chemtex International. This is a significant milestone for the United States and we are truly thrilled to be providing this proven technology to convert waste into an EPA recognised alternative fuel source, stated Pietro Cella Mazzariol, CEO & Director, Entsorga. By utilising the HEBioT MBT system, Entsorga WV will recover biomass, plastics and other carbon based materials from the mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) stream and convert them into a safe alternative fuel source. When processing the MSW, Entsorga WV will remove other valuable recyclable commodities such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals utilizing its proprietary system. The MSW received will be converted to a clean-burning alternative fuel (Solid Recovered Fuel or SRF), which will be used as an alternative or supplement to fossil fuels. It is ideal for co-processing plants such as cement kilns and steel mills as a source for the production of renewable energy. Essroc long-term contract At capacity, the plant will be capable of producing approximately 50,000tpa of SRF which will be delivered to the Essroc cement plant and used in conjunction with coal in the production of Portland cement. The companies have entered into a long-term contract for the provision and acceptance of the SRF. The use of SRF from the Entsorga process has been proven to generate emissions comparable to or less than those found in traditional US fossil fuels. The reduction of waste that will be disposed of in landfills as a result of the Entsorga facility will result in a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 28,000tpa of CO 2 e. The Entsorga MBT technology creates an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-recognised engineered fuel. This means that facilities using this specific SRF, as an alternative fuel, will not be subject to the EPA incinerator rule (Commercial/Industrial Solid Waste Incinerator Rule) and that the SRF meets certain standards that other fuels cannot meet. The vertical integration of the model that will be deployed in Berkeley County further adds to the plants innovativeness and functionality. Residential waste collected by Apple Valley Waste, which was previously destined to be landfilled, will be transported locally to a facility owned partially by the hauler and converted and used within the county as an alternative, renewable fuel. Additionally, a minimum of 100 temporary jobs will be created during the construction period of the plant and up to 20 permanent positions once it is operational. We are extremely excited about the future of Apple Valley Waste and Entsorga. With the support of Berkeley County and the State of West Virginia, Apple Valley Waste will set an example as the new age integrated waste company. We will collect and dispose of waste to be used to manufacture a clean alternative fuel and then deliver it to its ultimate user all within the same county of West Virginia. To my knowledge this is unprecedented stated John Decker, CEO of Apple Valley Waste. The Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority is extremely enthusiastic about the Entsorga project, adds Clint R Hogbin, the authoritys chairman. The project represents the future of solid waste management, as this new facility may enable Berkeley County to become the first in the State to exceed West Virginias 50 per cent landfill diversion goal for its residential waste stream. The Entsorga technology is revolutionary, stated Frank E Celli, director of Entsorga and chairman of the Board, Apple Valley Waste. We believe this is a sneak peek at the next generation of waste collection and disposal and one that will have a meaningful impact on the countrys fossil fuel dependency. Published under Fitch upgrades Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua's ratings to 'BB'; outlook Stable 13 January 2016 Fitch Ratings has upgraded Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) local and foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'BB' from 'BB-'. Fitch also upgraded GCC's US$260m senior notes due 2020 to 'BB' from 'BB-'. The rating outlook is Stable. The ratings upgrade reflects the strengthening of US residential construction across several of the company's markets as well as a favourable economic environment in northern Mexico that should support cement demand in the state of Chihuahua. Robust demand should result in continued high utilisation rates over the next few years and allow GCC to maintain solid profitability and cash flow generation. The upgrade also considers GCC's improved credit profile following debt repayments during the past year, the recent bank debt refinancing and its solid liquidity, which should allow it to finance its planned South Dakota plant expansion without incurring debt. GCC's ratings reflect the company's solid business position in the cement, ready-mix and aggregates segments in the regions where it has a presence, its diversified operations in Mexico and the US in the non-residential and residential sectors as well as positive free cash flow generation through the recent industry cycle. The ratings are limited by the company's scale relative to industry peers' and by the cyclicality of the cement industry. Key ratings drivers Leading market shares Fitch notes that GCC is the largest cement producer in the state of Chihuahua across all product segments. It also has strong cement market positions in Colorado, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico and the El Paso, TX, area. Its contiguous presence from Chihuahua in northern Mexico to North Dakota and efficient distribution and logistics allow GCC to serve markets in 13 states across the US Midwest, and the southwest and mountain regions. The company generates about 70 per cent of revenues from its US operations. Mexico better than expected Cement sales volumes of GCC's Mexican operations grew 12 per cent in the first nine months of 2015 after growing seven per cent in 2014. Prices also increased and the company benefitted from increased cement exports to the US. Fitch believes the company could continue to benefit from residential construction growth due to low unemployment and increased manufacturing activity in northern Mexico. Growth in middle income housing and available credit should help to mitigate a projected slowdown in public infrastructure spending in Chihuahua by replacing some of the lost lower margin bulk volume with higher margin retail cement sales. Sound US operating performance US cement sales volumes year-to-date to September 2015 grew two per cent holding up at the already robust levels of 2014 when the company's US capacity utilisation was strong at around 90 per cent and cement volumes grew 10 per cent from the prior year. Robust volumes coupled with better cement and ready-mix pricing, and lower freight and fuel costs as a result of cheaper natural gas and gasoline in the US contributed to consolidated EBITDA margin expansion and healthy EBITDA growth. As of 30 September, 2015 EBITDA for the latest-12 months grew to US$159m from US$143m a year ago, and EBITDA margins expanded to 20.8 per cent from 19.5 per cent, respectively. Manageable exposure to oil and gas The majority of GCC's markets showed above-average volume recovery from 2011-14, partly due to their direct and indirect exposure to the agriculture and oil and gas sectors, which showed positive momentum. In Fitch's view, a slowdown in cement demand related to energy infrastructure spending should be manageable for GCC as residential construction is projected to expand at a faster pace in most markets and public construction spending should counter some the negative effect of lower demand from the energy sector. Operating cash flow expansion should slow GCC's cash flow from operations (CFFO) was US$108m in 2014, significantly higher than the US$60m-US$80m per year for 2010-13, primarily due to solid performance of GCC's US. division. Fitch projects CFFO to remain around USS110m over the next two years, reflecting modest volume declines in Mexico due to lower infrastructure spending and flat volumes in the US, partially offset by a benign pricing environment in both countries and an improved product mix in Chihuahua. Expansion capex to be fnanced organically GCC recently announced plans to expand the cement capacity of its Rapid City, SD, plant by 440,000tpa year. The company should be able to finance, through cash flow generation and available cash, all of its capex needs including the US$90m total investment in the plant over the next two years. Considering modest projected dividends of US$10m-15m and maintenance capex of about US$53m, FCF should be about US$20m in 2015, negative about US$30m in 2016 and about neutral in 2017. Total debt as of 30 September 2015 was US$437m, below the US$474m registered a year ago. Total (debt/EBITDA) and net leverage were 2.8x and 2.1x respectively which compare favorably to 3.3x and 2.8x as of third-quarter 2014. GCC should generate about US$165m of EBITDA over the next few years, which should allow it to maintain total leverage levels stable at or near management's target of 2.5-2.75x, notes Fitch. Published under Whoops! We couldn't find the page you were looking for. Margaret Norris from MTAS (Municipal Technical Advisory Services), an agency that provides technical advice for cities in Tennessee, came to a meeting of the Cleveland City Council Monday afternoon to give some guidelines about the search for a new city manager. Janice Casteel has announced she will be leaving the position after 42 years of working for the city. She told the council that it is not required but would be beneficial to hire a candidate who is from Tennessee because the applicant would already have some knowledge of the state requirements. The city of Cleveland, however, is large enough to have departments and individuals that specialize in such matters, and so the search will likely be extended beyond the state. Using a headhunter in addition to MTAS for the search would provide a national data base from which to draw. The process should take from four to six months, Ms. Norris told the council, and every step takes time, she said. The first step will be to determine what qualifications that the council wants in the prospective city manager. The position will then be advertised, and once applications are received, they will be reviewed. The amount of time for rating them will depend upon the number of applications that the city gets. Then interviews will be scheduled and, after a candidate is chosen, the applicant must be given time to turn in notice to their current employer. The two suggestions Ms. Norris had for requirements were education and experience, which are also the qualifications that are in the city charter, said Councilman Richard Banks. The council will determine what else is needed or wanted for the position and send the information to Ms. Norris by Jan. 25 so she will be able to make recommendations and give advice. Councilman Banks said with 32 new employees this year, it is a time of turmoil and change in Cleveland. The city manager will be the ultimate boss. This is the most important thing we will do this year, he added. Discussion took place about property the city plans to purchase to use as parking for the greenway which the city has a large investment in. It is prime property that the current owners bought for $25,000. Vice Mayor George Poe said after that purchase, the land was graded to raise it above the flood elevation and it is now a buildable lot. The city already had procured an easement on which a bridge was built to connect to the greenway. A second parcel remains in the flood plain. The city has given the county an opportunity to participate in the purchase, but it appears the county is not interested, said Vice Mayor Poe. A grand opening of the new arena for Cleveland High School is scheduled for April 5. It is now known as an arena, not a gym, because it was designed to be a multi-purpose space. It will also help relieve six classrooms by providing space to expand. Lou Patten, chairman of the Airport Authority, spoke to the commission to suggest dissolving the group that was formed in 2004 because the initial purpose of building and running the airport has been met. Operations would then be turned over to the private sector. This drew opposition from the council members, citing the fact that the city receives income from fuel sales which would not be the case if a large fixed base operator (FBO) took over. It is also legally unclear if the council has the authority to disband the organization, said City Attorney John Kimball. A vote was unanimous to request legal clarification from the attorney general and legislative delegation on the matter. Lynn Devault was approved to serve out the term of commission member LeRoy Rymer. Ms. Devault said the airport was built primarily with grant money and the obligations of those grants are ongoing. To dissolve the authority because agreement cannot be made on management issues is nonsense, she said. She urged the council to reconsider appointments and the managers term when they come up because there may be more qualified individuals available at that time. The council also heard a class comp study from Steve Thompson, who has analyzed the citys pay grades. He said there are now 15 pay grades, and each has 15 steps of three and a half percent. He said it would take an employee seven and a half years to achieve the market rate from step one, which he said is too long. The city is competing with the private sector, it was stated. He said the pay rates are about 96 percent of the market, a little low to be competitive, although the benefits package is slightly above average. The city managers average salary based on the population of Cleveland is $136,000. Mr. Thompson suggested three alternatives for determining pay plans for city employees. The fist would be to keep the three and a half percent plan, but drop the first low step. The second, and the plan he urged the council to think about, would be to use pay ranges, which is the current trend. This is based on what is affordable each year, with the knowledge that the city must invest in its employees. The third plan would be to use a two and a half percent plan which would require the elimination of some of the steps. Land on Kile Lane SW was approved for rezoning from R3 Multi-family Residential to IL Light Industrial Zone. Recommendation had come from the planning commission. The owner said he has aggressive plans for the property. Cleveland Schools Director Dr. Martin Ringstaff thanked Police Chief Mark Gibson for providing the high school with a second resource officer. He also offered additional public parking on school property for people using the greenway. A resolution was approved for the mayor to sign an agreement with Habitat for Humanity for continued development of Victory Cove Subdivision. Mayor Tom Rowland was also authorized to sign the TML Property Conservation matching grant application for $5,000 to buy security cameras for use in city parks. He was also given approval to sign an agreement for a traffic impact study for the new elementary school on Georgetown Road. An environmental site assessment for the veterans home was approved, as was the application for the 2015 grant to assist firefighters for purchasing Aerial/Quint Apparatus. This is an 80/20 grant for $900,000. Another resolution authorized the application for an Assistance to Firefighters grant to purchase Source Capture Exhaust Systems for the fire stations. Watchguard Cop Vu Body Cams were declared as surplus and will be donated to the Polk County Sherriffs Department. Two street lights will be replaced with new LED light fixtures at 905, 17th St. NW. The city will reimburse Cleveland Utilities $162.83 per fixture. The mayor was authorized to sign a proposal on behalf of the Cleveland Animal Shelter as a beneficiary for settlement of a promissory note. Larry Wallace, who consulted with the city about personnel issues since last March, told the council that he had received complete cooperation from everybody in Bradley County, and he said I believe you are on the right track. The council members each praised the work that Mr. Wallace did and requested additional help, if needed in the future. Parade steps off Audio Article For the first time since 2019, marching bands, classic cars, dance troupes, scouts and politicians made their way along Midlothian Turnpike for the annual Midlothian Day Parade on Saturday, Oct.... It isn't enough to have the latest tech skills. You have to be people-savvy. That's also true for information technology jobs, according to an examination of more than 24 million job listings by Bentley University in Massachusetts and Boston-based analytics firm Burning Glass. "Based on the data we analyzed, 2016 looks to be the year of the hybrid job and the hybrid employee," Bentley president Gloria Larson said in a media release. "The successful employee of tomorrow will need to combine traditional soft skills such as communication and collaboration with the hard technical skills that used to belong to a select tech-savvy group." Advertisement So what kinds of skills do you need to thrive in this new career landscape? TECHNOLOGY SKILLS Advertisement Get with the programs Java is a programming language and computing platform, and Linux is a computer operating system. Add either one to your LinkedIn profile and employers are more likely to seek you out. A report on global hiring demand from Quebec-based Wanted Analytics found that Linux and Java are two of the tech skills employers desire most. High-tech customer service Companies are looking for employees who can use technology to manage relationships with customers and prospects, the Wanted report found. You'll stand out even more in the job market if you know customer relationship management software Sales Cloud. MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas conducted a study to find out the biggest gaps between the software skills job applicants in each state have and the ones companies want. The most in-demand skill in Illinois? Sales Cloud. Data is big The MNU researchers also found there aren't enough job candidates who know Tableau, a tool to help visualize and analyze big data, to fill all the positions available to them in Illinois. Jack Cullen, president of Modis, the technology staffing division of staffing agency Adecco, told TheStreet.com in November that demand will be strong for employees to work in big data. SOFT SKILLS Translation: You're hired Advertisement Hablas espanol? N shu zhngguo ren ma? The report on global hiring demand from Wanted Analytics found that being bilingual will give you an edge in landing administrative and sales jobs around the world. Communicate your competence Can you write clear emails and reports? How do you feel about giving presentations in front of a group? In its Job Outlook 2016 survey, the National Assn. of Colleges and Employers discovered that employers want to see evidence of strong communication skills on your resume. That's true even if you're in a highly technical field, according to the tech website CIO.com, because you'll need to be able to communicate complex concepts in ways that average businesspeople can understand. Take the lead While some things change in the job market, others, such as the value of leadership, never do. The Job Outlook 2016 affirmed that candidates who can demonstrate leadership and show how they've worked well in teams will be on the fast track to employers' short lists. Consider it motivation to join a committee at your current gig or helm a project for your favorite nonprofit. Sarah Beckham for Just Energy Chipotle's founder, chairman and co-CEO Steve Ells, shown in 2015, said at an investor conference Jan. 13, 2016, that Chipotle will launch a marketing campaign in February to get customers to return to its restaurants. (Stephen Brashear / AP) Chipotle is preparing to make an "unprecedented" marketing push to bring back customers after E. coli, salmonella and norovirus were linked to illnesses at its restaurants. The Denver-based company also said its financial results will be "messy" this year as it recovers from the food safety crisis, but that it is "extremely confident" that it will eventually get its customers back. The stock, which has lost nearly half its value since the outbreaks surfaced, jumped nearly 6 percent Wednesday. Advertisement Starting in mid-February, Chipotle will launch a marketing campaign, both traditional and direct mail, to get customers to return to its restaurants, founder, chairman and co-CEO Steve Ells said at an investor conference Wednesday. Advertisements won't be a mea culpa, executives said, but rather a reminder of what Chipotle's all about: fresh and sustainably sourced ingredients. The ads will be simple, featuring "beautiful pictures of food ... and a clever headline," Ells said. Advertisement Chipotle will also reach out directly to its most loyal customers, asking them to give the company another chance. Chipotle's sales and stock price have been battered in recent months after an E. coli outbreak first surfaced in the Pacific Northwest and eventually stretched across nine states. Salmonella was also linked to some cases across the nation, and norovirus was linked to restaurants in Simi Valley, Calif., and Brighton, Mass. Last week, the company revealed it had been served with a federal grand jury subpoena as part of a criminal investigation of the California norovirus outbreak. The food safety scandal has led the chain to revamp food safety policies, including implementing DNA testing on all ingredients before they are shipped to restaurants. It is also chopping tomatoes and lettuce at a central kitchen instead of individual restaurants, so it can better test the ingredients for pathogens. But customers still seem nervous. Chipotle said its established-store sales plunged 30 percent last month. Chief Financial Officer John "Jack" Hartung warned that while the company's growth prospects for the long term haven't changed, "it's going to be messy in terms of margins, in terms of earnings" this year. Skittish customers, a new food safety regimen and higher staffing will all affect its bottom line this year, Hartung said. The company plans to have more staff at restaurants in coming months as customers return. "This has been a really difficult time for us," Ells said. "I have confidence we are going to be able to recover from this." Advertisement Chipotle will also hold a companywide meeting Feb. 8, where some 60,000 employees will tune in to messages from top brass. All Chipotle restaurants will be closed "for a few hours in the morning" that day to allow everyone to listen in, Ells said. It will be part pep rally, part information session, as he said the company expects to thank workers for weathering the outbreaks and explain Chipotle's understanding of how the outbreaks happened and what it's doing to prevent them. sbomkamp@tribpub.com Twitter @SamWillTravel What we did was to reframe the problem: We think of 400 square feet not as a small house but as half of a good house. Our priorities are, No. 1, location. We'd rather spend more money on a better location of land. No. 2: We were looking for quality housing. For us, quality didn't mean a bigger finished house. The families can make their house grow by filling in the unfinished half. It's moving away from the flashy icon buildings that took up so much oxygen before the recession. It's leaning toward a more human-centered type of design, one that seeks to use design as a tool to address pressing needs like housing shortages and climate change. Good works and good design aren't mutually exclusive, Aravena's portfolio of austere but striking buildings seems to show. The Pritzker jury's citation says it all: "Alejandro Aravena epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect, especially in his long-term commitment to tackling the global housing crisis and fighting for a better urban environment for all . The role of the architect is now being challenged to serve greater social and humanitarian needs, and Alejandro Aravena has clearly, generously and fully responded to this challenge." Here's where the two facts come in. Wednesday's announcement marks the second time in three years that the Pritzker has gone to an architect who is deeply engaged in the social dimension of design. In 2014 the laureate was Japan's Shigeru Ban, the architect without borders, best known for using high-strength cardboard tubes to make temporary housing for refugees and victims of natural disasters. Now let's add two more facts, or, rather, two events: The upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale, which Aravena is directing, will echo the just-concluded Chicago Architecture Biennial in urging architects to help solve broader social problems rather than simply debate the latest "ism," whether it be modernism, postmodernism or deconstructivism. The price architects have paid for such artistic autonomy, Aravena observed in an interview last week, was a kind of isolation and irrelevance. "The problems they were dealing with only interested other architects," he said. But to him, it was equally wrong for the socially-minded architects of the past to do nothing but write reports and draft policies. In his view, the new paradigm is for architects to work with other disciplines to tackle big problems and contribute to solutions through their unique form-making skills especially if the forms are conceived organically rather than arbitrarily. That sounds a lot like the "actionable idealism" that Chicago architect Jeanne Gang demonstrated in her Biennial plan for a new kind of Chicago police station, one designed to foster trust between the police and residents. So just who is Aravena? How good is his work? And does he deserve this honor, which often recognizes a lifetime of architectural achievement? The 48-year-old's bio is certainly impressive: Educated at the Pontificia Catholic University of Chile, he was teaching at Harvard while still in his 30s and was appointed to the Pritzker jury while still in his 40s. Traveling with the other jurors probably didn't hurt his chances to win the prize, and it's regrettable, if only for the sake of avoiding the appearance of favoritism, that he was honored the year after ending his jury stint. Even so, Aravena's portfolio looks strong. And I stress the word "looks" because I've never experienced one of his buildings first-hand. The photographs and descriptions are nonetheless alluring. Sarah Koenig announced Tuesday the "Serial" podcast, which looks at the case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, will move to a biweekly schedule. (Elise Bergerson) "Serial," the hit podcast that has made its weekly schedule part of its mission statement, is moving to an every-other-week schedule, the show said in a surprise announcement Tuesday. This means the fifth episode of the podcast, which this year is covering the case of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, won't come out this Thursday morning but rather on Jan. 21. Advertisement The show simply needs more time to deal with new information that the first episodes have helped producers uncover, host and executive producer Sarah Koenig said in email to podcast subscribers Tuesday night. "I know! I know ... it's maybe not what you wanted to hear," Koenig wrote. "But, there's a good and exciting reason, which is that we're adding more material. This story goes in so many directions, and as we're reporting it we're getting access to more of the key people close to Bergdahl's case, and to more information than we initially thought we would." Advertisement She called this development "great" and promised that there would be one more episode than planned, as the series stretches into the spring. Bergdahl was a new soldier in Afghanistan when he left his base and was captured by the Taliban. In 2014, after five years in captivity, he was exchanged for five prisoners at Guantanamo. After the show began his superior officers ordered that he face a court martial for desertion and endangering troops. Produced in New York by "This American Life" in cooperation with Chicago's WBEZ-FM 91.5, "Serial" has access to the only public interviews Bergdahl is known to have done, hours of conversation with a film producer who is reportedly making a movie about the case. While the show does not seem to be generating the buzz this season that it did in its first, an examination of a teenage murder case in Baltimore, it remains No. 1 on the iTunes podcast charts. Koenig, in her statement, told listeners, "During in-between weeks, we'll have new posts and graphics on our website. We'll keep you updated on all of that via our social media accounts." sajohnson@tribpub.com WELLINGTON, New Zealand In 1983, New Zealander Geeling Ching was 23 years old and waiting tables at a Sydney cafe when she was chosen to play the lead role in David Bowie's "China Girl." She says the music video and the brief romance with Bowie that followed in the 1980s were like a surreal dream and a life changer. The death of the British rock star from cancer this week at age 69 stunned fans worldwide. Ching was watching a tennis tournament in Auckland, where she lives, when her phone started buzzing: Is it true? She was already a fan when she met Bowie. As a teenager, she'd put Bowie's posters up on her bedroom wall and bought one of his albums. "There was something quite other-worldly about him," she told The Associated Press in an interview. "He was beautiful. Just beautiful." The video parodies Asian stereotypes and went on to win an MTV award. At the time, the unedited version was banned from New Zealand and some other countries for a raunchy scene on a beach. Ching said she and Bowie, then in his mid-30s, were naked for the scene, but it wasn't romantic. "We got up at 3 in the morning to shoot that, to catch the sunrise, and it's the least sexy I've ever been in my life," she said. She said she was freezing and struggling with salt water getting into her mouth. Some crew kept away curious joggers while others stood by with bathrobes. In another scene, she said, she accidentally head-butted Bowie but thankfully didn't break his nose. A real-life romance did develop, she said. She was struck by Bowie's intelligence, his charm and how he was so relaxed in chatting with fans. After the shoot, she said, Bowie invited her to join him on tour in Europe. She traveled on a private jet and saw the frenzied fans. "It was completely surreal," she said. It didn't last long and Ching, who these days uses the Anglicized version of her family name Ng, returned Down Under. "It's had the biggest influence on my life that I could have ever imagined," she said. Her role in the video opened doors and she took some acting roles, including one in "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome." But she loves the hospitality industry and now works as a restaurant manager. In 2007, she ran the New York City Marathon, listening to Bowie's "Heroes" album as she crossed the finish line. Ching didn't make contact with Bowie again until he played in New Zealand in 2004. He was doing a photo shoot with executives backstage when he saw her. "His face lit up," she said. "He walked away from the photos and said, 'Geeling, you're here! Fantastic.'" One study found that 81 percent of tested samples of over-the-counter male sexual enhancement products bought in the United States and Asia contained PDE5Is. (Rob Lewine / Getty Images/Tetra images RF) There's no proof that over-the-counter sexual enhancement supplements for men work, and some are potentially dangerous, a new study reports. Many men seeking medical help for sexual health issues report using dietary supplements. But with little regulation of dosage or ingredients, the health effects of these products are unknown, the researchers said in background notes. Advertisement And many of these products contain traces of an ingredient used in drugs like Viagra that can be dangerous to men with certain health problems, the researchers added. The researchers identified top-selling male sexual-help supplements and analyzed the ingredients, including those in products marketed to enhance erections, desire and sexual performance. Advertisement "While certain natural supplements we reviewed show promise for improving mild sexual dysfunction, they lack robust human evidence," study senior author Dr. Ryan Terlecki, an associate professor of urology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston, Salem, N.C., said in a center news release. "In addition, because of concerns that some products are impure or weak, we do not routinely recommend these products to our patients," he added. Some of the most commonly used products include horny goat weed, ginseng, DHEA, Ginkgo biloba, fenugreek and maca, the researchers found. For many of the products, there's no scientific evidence to support claims they can improve libido, erectile dysfunction or sexual performance, the researchers said. They also found that some of the supposedly "natural" products have traces of phosphodiesterase-5-inhibitors, or PDE5Is, the medication found in prescription drugs such as Viagra used to treat impotence. One study reviewed by the researchers found that 81 percent of tested samples of over-the-counter male sexual enhancement products bought in the United States and Asia contained PDE5Is. "PDE5Is cannot yet be legally sold over the counter in this country," Terlecki said. "Men who use these medications without a physician's supervision run the risk of taking them inappropriately. Patients with advanced heart disease, for example, or who take nitrates, such as nitroglycerin, should not use PDE5Is as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Likewise, men with severe liver impairment or end-stage kidney disease requiring dialysis should avoid these products." Also, men who take medications such as Flomax (tamsulosin), terazosin or doxazosin to treat an enlarged prostate are at risk for dizziness and falls if they take PDE5Is at the same time, the researchers said. A Cook County sheriff's unit works to find a missing ward of the state in 2014. Sheriff Tom Dart said he hopes to expand the team with funding assistance from the Department of Children & Family Services. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) Illinois child welfare officials forfeited tens of millions of federal dollars in recent years by failing to process basic paperwork, state authorities told the Tribune this week. After a monthslong bureaucratic effort fixed the lapses, $21.5 million in new federal dollars flowed to the Department of Children & Family Services for the current fiscal year, and $16.5 million is expected in the fiscal year that starts in July, acting Director George Sheldon said. Advertisement "My estimate is that just in the last two years we probably have lost out on about $40 million," Sheldon said. "With the fiscal crisis that Illinois is in, I think it's inexcusable." The problem came down to paperwork and is largely a consequence of having eight DCFS leaders in five years, Sheldon said. Advertisement "You had this revolving door of directors," he said. "With the turmoil this agency has been under, this is the kind of attention to detail that makes a difference in the ability of the department to deliver a product." Because hundreds of DCFS wards ages 18 to 21 had been incorrectly classified, the agency was collecting a little over half of the federal dollars to which it was entitled, officials said. The additional funds can be used to serve juvenile wards of all ages. At least $14 million of the new federal money will go toward a court-ordered overhaul of the agency following the Tribune's December 2014 "Harsh Treatment" investigation, which disclosed that hundreds of juvenile wards were reportedly assaulted and raped each year at taxpayer-funded residential treatment centers. DCFS is expected to submit its reform plan to a federal judge late next month. Much of the remaining money has yet to be allocated, but the department is spending part of it to bolster small, promising pilot projects, DCFS officials said. For example, the agency plans to spend $396,000 per year to support a Cook County Sheriff's Office team that locates runaway wards who may be exploited by sex traffickers and gangs. That five-officer Child Rescue Unit has retrieved 520 youths since 2013 but faces a backlog of roughly 100 open cases each day, said Sheriff Tom Dart. Officials said the unit will double in size by adding sheriff's officers as well as DCFS child welfare specialists. The DCFS workers also will give the sheriff's officers access to otherwise off-limits group homes as well as sensitive juvenile files that can help locate youths. "We'll have the ability now to talk with the workers in these homes to help prevent these kids from being scooped up by the traffickers who are literally lurking outside the doors," Dart said. Dart cited a detailed report released this month by DCFS Inspector General Denise Kane, who chronicled the lives of teenagers who ran away from violent facilities and then fell prey to sexual assaults and prostitution on the streets. Advertisement Sheldon is finally bringing DCFS resources to bear on this "crisis" of youth running from residential placements, Dart said. "We can dress it up, but the harsh reality is that no one cared about these kids," he added. Child welfare officials also are using the new federal money to buttress an ongoing, departmentwide effort to transfer large numbers of wards out of residential treatment centers and into foster homes supported by therapeutic programs. Since April, the agency has moved 591 youths, including nearly 300 who had spent more than a year in residential centers, said DCFS spokesman Andrew Flach. With the additional money, the agency is currently reviewing proposals to open therapeutic foster homes in Cook County, Rockford and Aurora. "The series (the Tribune) did really demonstrated the failures in some of our residential facilities," Sheldon said. "It is not intended to be a final placement. ... It is not normal to grow up where your parents change every eight hours, which is what happens in residential." To unlock more federal money, department officials needed to change the status of 603 state wards between the ages of 18 and 21 who were still classified as dependents even though many were living on their own. Making those changes required the agency to obtain court approval from juvenile court judges in 99 counties across the state. Officials asked the judges to close and then immediately reopen each of the 603 cases under a new classification, allowing the agency to begin collecting an additional federal reimbursement of about 50 cents for every dollar it spent on those wards, Flach said. Advertisement Eligibility for funds depended on whether the youths worked, were in school or had a disability that prevented them from pursuing either, among other factors. Officials began discussions with county judges during the summer and then filed paperwork changes starting in late August. The long fight to claim federal dollars for 18- to 21-year-olds has had unexpected benefits, Sheldon said. Last year, Gov. Bruce Rauner's office proposed eliminating extended foster care services for those older wards as part of sweeping budget cuts, but Sheldon said the additional money has made him optimistic that those services won't be halted. In addition, the tarnished agency has started to win back the trust of the legal community, guardians and the public, Sheldon said. "I think this exercise has helped to restore some confidence," he said. Capturing the added revenue "serves as an example of the transformation our administration has taken to improve outcomes for our vulnerable citizens," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement Tuesday. Advertisement The agreement that would allow DCFS and Dart's agency to work together to rescue more runaways is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday by the Cook County Board of Commissioners, board agenda records show. The state agency may create similar teams with local law enforcement in other counties if the Child Rescue Unit pilot program proves effective, said Flach. dyjackson@tribpub.com deldeib@tribpub.com gmarx@tribpub.com Twitter @poolcar4, @deldeib, @garyjmarx Islam and Christianity discussed The DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church of Naperville, 1828 Old Naperville Road, will host a free seminar at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday titled "Living Together: Islam and Christianity." Advertisement The Humanists of West Suburban Chicagoland will engage the audience in an open and respectful dialogue about the surge of religious extremism and a hope for peace, compassion and rejection of violence. Participants can ask questions of the speakers including Dr. Jason Heap and Dr. Hesham Hassaballa, and the discussion will be facilitated by the Rev. Tom Capo. Advertisement 'Bounce Back' from Adversity The Notre Dame Club of Greater DuPage along with All Saints Catholic Academy will host a Hesburgh Lecture Series Presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday at All Saints Catholic Academy, 1155 Aurora Ave., Naperville. Cindy S. Bergeman, professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, will present the talk, "Are you Resilient? How to 'Bounce Back' from Adversity." Seating for the event is limited and free. Please RSVP to allsaintscatholicacademylecture@yahoo.com or contact 630-961-6125 for more information. 'Mary Poppins' at Naperville Central The Magical Starlight Theatre will present the Broadway musical "Mary Poppins" Jan. 15 to 17 and Jan. 22 to 24 at the Naperville Central High School auditorium. The musical is directed by Kris Visher and features North Central College psychology professor Paul Mullen as Bert and Oswego High School junior Sarah Obert as Mary Poppins. Tickets may be purchased at www.napervilleparks.org, at any park district community relations desk, or by calling (630) 848-5000. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. For more information visit www.magicalstarlighttheatre.com. Advertisement Naperville Plays! The DuPage Children's Museum along with the Naper Settlement and the Naperville Public Library are sponsoring Naperville Plays, a program looking at the wonder of play throughout history and cultures around the world. The event features hands-on art and science exhibits, a live performance and an exclusive traveling exhibit featuring the children of Hangzhou, China, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the DuPage Children's Museum, 301 N. Washington St. Cost is $11 for children and adults and $10 for seniors. Free for Naper Settlement and DuPage Children's Museum members. Jim Peterik at Wentz Hall Guitarist and songwriter Jim Peterik, founder of the band Survivor, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Wentz Concert Hall in North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville. Advertisement Tickets are $75 and $65; call 630-637-7469 or go to northcentralcollege.edu/showtix for more information. MLK Tribute Concert The Chicago Sinfonietta will present a tribute concert to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Wentz Concert Hall in North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville. Themes of brotherhood, peace, triumph and love will be incorporated in gospel and spiritual music featuring the Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir and Grammy-award winning bassist Victor Wooten. Tickets range from $10 to $60 and are available at www.chicagosinfonietta.org. Park district neighborhood meetings Advertisement Residents are invited to help select new park equipment for 2016 playground renovation projects at upcoming open houses at the Naperville Park District Planning and Development Office, 425 W. Jackson Ave. The open house for the playground renovation at Huntington Estates Park will be held from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 19 and the open house for Old Sawmill Park will take place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26. No formal presentation will be given, and parents are encouraged to bring their children to help select their new playgrounds. Michelle Mullins is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun. Osborn playground in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y., was the site of an alleged gang rape. Four teenagers were in custody on Monday in connection with the incident, and a fifth was being sought. (Bebeto Matthews / AP) NEW YORK A lawyer for one of five teenagers accused of raping a young woman at a playground said Tuesday he has seen video evidence that shows the woman "laughing and smiling" during what she later called an attack. Four of the teens denied the allegations in court Tuesday night as investigators continued to untangle the details of the case, including a claim by some of the youths that the encounter was consensual. Advertisement Attorney Kenneth Montgomery, representing 14-year-old suspect Denzel Murray, said he has seen a video showing "a young lady, partially clothed, on the floor, laughing and smiling." "The demeanor of the victim matters . and they know it," Montgomery said. "The grand jury should have an opportunity to view that video." Advertisement Murray appeared in court Tuesday with Shaquell Cooper and Ethan Phillip, both 15, and Onandi Brown, who's 17, to face rape, criminal sex act, sexual abuse and other charges. Attorneys for each of them said they denied the allegations. The fifth teen suspect, Travis Beckford, 17, was found at school following several days of searching, authorities said. He was arrested on charges of rape, criminal sex act and sex abuse. Information on his attorney was not immediately available. Authorities were told the attack began Thursday night after the 18-year-old woman and her 39-year-old father decided to drink beer together near a handball court at a Brooklyn playground that area residents say usually is quiet and empty at night. The two were drunk, officials said. The woman told investigators that a group of teenagers approached them in the park and ordered the father to leave. When he returned moments later and hurled a bottle at the teens, one teen pulled out a handgun and chased him away, according to investigators. Police Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said the woman gave a very credible report. "She had physical injuries at the time," he said. "She was traumatized." The father said he wandered around for several minutes in a futile attempt to get help, according to authorities. He said he went into a store but a merchant refused to let him use a telephone, they said. He then flagged down two police officers and told them his daughter was maybe being murdered, Boyce said. "Apparently he was hysterical," Boyce said. "He said a gun was pointed at him." Advertisement The officers found the woman alone in the playground with bruises and cuts. Pieces of her clothing were found strewn near the park. She was hospitalized and interviewed the next day. DNA evidence from a rape kit administered at the hospital won't be available for about a week, Boyce said. DNA has been requested from the five suspects. No gun has been recovered. After the suspects' capture, at least two of them told investigators they believed the sex was consensual, police said. The boys also told detectives the woman was having some type of sexual contact with her father when they encountered them, Boyce said. "We did get that information from two of the persons arrested, from no one else," he said. Brown's attorney, Stanley Leeds, said he believed the evidence against his client was shaky because he was told the woman changed her story while speaking to detectives. Advertisement "The conduct suggests there was no rape here," he said. "The case is weak." Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Lisa Nugent said in court that none of the four suspects was identified by witnesses who viewed lineups and photo arrays. She said prosecutors were investigating "what brought everybody to the park that day." Investigators said they did an extensive search for witnesses but came up empty. They said they recovered video from a nearby middle school that showed distant figures entering the park, helping to bolster the woman's account. Associated Press The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Advertisement Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Advertisement Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. From "Dover Beach," by Matthew Arnold In the 1950s, when I was a kid and television was in its youth, there was a moment every night when stations would "sign off" the air, go dark, cease broadcasting for the day. Customarily they would signal this by broadcasting an image of an American flag waving impressively in the wind while the national anthem played in the background. If we were still up, my brothers and sisters and I would stand at attention, saluting the flag as we had seen soldiers (including our World War II veteran father) do. We grew up believers at least I did. When we recited the Pledge of Allegiance in school, I believed that that flag really did stand for "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." When in sixth and seventh grades teachers made us memorize the preamble to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address, I took seriously those invocations of "the common defense" and "the general welfare," and those affirmations that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "inalienable rights" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." I assumed that all of my classmates were believers too. And our neighbors, both black and white. Advertisement I was under no illusion that everything in America actually was equal. The evidence to the contrary was all around me. When our family traveled through the South, we couldn't stop at motels, and we were served at restaurants through side doors or windows. Except on special days, we couldn't go to the local amusement park or the downtown movie theaters. My siblings and I were the only black kids in our Catholic school; all our black friends went to a segregated public school. But if things weren't equal yet, there was enshrined in our common civic scriptures a commitment to it. Our American "Sea of Faith" was "at the full." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. drew upon that faith when he spoke of his dream that was "deeply rooted in the American Dream." John F. Kennedy did the same when he called on his "fellow Americans" to "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." And then, it seems, at some point we stopped believing. The Sea of Faith began its "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar." Was it when we ended the draft and decided to get our "common defense" through paid professionals instead of a citizen army? Was it when we abandoned a sense of "the general welfare" and, amid proclamations that greed is good, made "the market," omniscient and unregulated, into our golden calf? Was it when we began to measure the value of an education by its "return on investment" rather than the quality of the person it produced? Whenever it began, we are seeing the results now, in a national political discourse more vicious and coarse and degraded than at all but a very few moments in American history. That discourse currently is dominated by two leading Republican candidates who, disregarding the lessons of 20th century history, have made naked appeals to fear their calling cards and, in the process, have crowded out or silenced more moderate voices within their party and outside. Fear free-floating, untethered to reason or reality and therefore easily ascribable to any convenient cause has become the dominant motif of our politics. The novelist Marilynne Robinson, interviewed by President Barack Obama last fall, called it fear of the "sinister other." Advertisement "(T)hat's bad under all circumstances," Robinson said in the interview, whose text was published in The New York Review of Books. "But when it's brought home, when it becomes part of our own political conversation about ourselves, I think that that really is about as dangerous a development as there could be in terms of whether we continue to be a democracy." Robinson has been one of a few voices crying in the wilderness over the last several months, calling on the American people to reject fear and once again embrace well, faith. Faith in their fellow citizens. Faith in the best of our history and traditions. Faith in politics as an honorable way of enabling people of different and diverse points of view to talk, to find points of agreement, to effect compromises. Democracy, she said, is based on "the willingness to assume well about other people. You have to assume that basically people want to do the right thing." To do otherwise, she said, makes productive political discourse impossible, since those who refuse to make that assumption can "never accept the argument that is made for a position they don't agree with." But in our current fear-ridden political atmosphere, any such assumption is more likely to be derided as a sign of weakness and naivete than as a commendable value. New York Times columnist David Brooks has been from time to time another of those voices crying in the wilderness. Last October, reflecting on the degradation of the Republican Party's "capacity for effective self-governance," Brooks lamented the party's abandonment over time of "traditional conservatism" in favor of "right-wing radicalism." "By traditional definitions, conservatism stands for intellectual humility, a belief in steady, incremental change, a preference for reform rather than revolution, a respect for hierarchy, precedence, balance and order, and a tone of voice that is prudent, measured and responsible," Brooks wrote. Advertisement "Conservatives of this disposition can be dull, but they know how to nurture and run institutions. They also see the nation as one organic whole. Citizens may fall into different classes and political factions, but they are still joined by chains of affection that command ultimate loyalty and love." Loyalty and love. How very primitive. And then there was Pope Francis. Remember that speech he gave to a joint meeting of Congress in September? Its substance should have gotten as much coverage as the political atmospherics of his visit. "You are called," he told our lawmakers, "to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk." Invoking the memories of four exemplars of America's best values Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Catholic activist Dorothy Day, and contemplative monk Thomas Merton the pope urged the American people to draw upon the nation's "deepest cultural reserves" and "the richness of your cultural heritage" not its most irrational fears to find the best way forward amid the confusion and conflicts and crises of the present age. For humans, to be ruled by fear is a choice. It is a chosen act of faithlessness that ultimately leads, in Matthew Arnold's words, to "a darkling plain/Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,/Where ignorant armies clash by night." Advertisement But faith also is a choice. Faith in our fellow citizens. Faith in our best values and traditions. Faith in politics as, in David Brooks' words, "the process of making decisions amid diverse opinions." It is time for Americans to take a piece of advice that Pope Francis' boss is reported to have said often: "Do not be afraid." Don Wycliff is a former editorial page editor for the Chicago Tribune and editor of the book, "Black Domers: Seventy Years at Notre Dame." Photos of missing booksellers Gui Minhai, left, and Lee Bo are posted on barriers outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong during a Jan. 10, 2016, protest of their disappearance and that of three others. (Jerome Favre / EPA) In Hong Kong, they're calling it the case of the five missing booksellers. What an intriguing title for a mystery, but do not file it under fiction. Five men from Hong Kong's publishing industry really have vanished, leaving residents to wonder if there is a sinister explanation involving authorities in China and the possible violation of Hong Kong's freedoms. All five are connected to a Hong Kong publishing house and bookstore specializing in Chinese political gossip books that are banned in China. Three of the men disappeared while in mainland China in October and a fourth was last known to be in Thailand that month. The fifth is a book editor named Lee Bo, who set off to visit a Hong Kong book warehouse in late December and never returned home. Advertisement Lee's wife filed a missing persons report, which she retracted after he contacted her from the mainland with an odd excuse about "cooperating with certain parties in an investigation." He'll be gone a while, he faxed, don't worry. There is no confirmation of his whereabouts from China's government. There is also no record of Lee ever having left Hong Kong territory via a border crossing. Feel the suspense and dread building? In Hong Kong many people do, because the book company has enemies in China. The firm, Mighty Current Media, produces alluring titles like "Overseas Mistresses of the Chinese Communist Party" sensationalistic books that appeal to visitors from the mainland hungry for tales of sex and corruption among powerful officials. At home, the party controls the media and everything else, which makes for pretty dry reading. Advertisement Hong Kong is different or at least it's supposed to be. When the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong was granted 50 years of governing autonomy under the principle of "one country, two systems." That's supposed to include an independent judiciary and free press. But Beijing chafes at Hong Kong's freedoms and puts restraints on the independence Hong Kong citizens value. The two sides have been embroiled in a battle over the terms of Hong Kong's next election of a local leader. Democracy activists want an open vote, but Beijing insists on vetting the candidates. With that conflict still raw, many in Hong Kong imagine the worst about the fate of the booksellers: that some authorities in China lost patience with the publisher and snatched the employees. If so, the last straw was likely rumors that the publisher's next book would be about an old girlfriend of Chinese President Xi Jinping. A Chinese government newspaper, Global Times, lashed out at the book publisher in a recent editorial, saying it "damages the mainland's vital interests to maintain its harmony and stability." Now about the disappearances: Hong Kong police are investigating. Local officials say they are worried about a breach of the Hong Kong law guaranteeing autonomy, but they have stopped short of demanding an explanation from Beijing. Hong Kong's leader, Leung Chun-ying, said there is "no indication" Lee was kidnapped by Chinese agents. The British government is also asking about Lee because he holds a British passport. The disappearances are very fishy. If China has any involvement it will be a blow to Hong Kong's identity as an open society, and China's credibility. But damage has been done already: Hong Kong's government sounds tentative, instead of livid, and another publisher reportedly has pulled sensitive books from the shelves. This mystery needs a quick resolution, which requires that Chinese authorities investigate, release the men if they've been detained and explain what happened. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. A Cook County grand jury has indicted a former Chicago-area attorney and school board member in the death of his new bride more than 40 years ago. Donnie Rudd, 73, is charged with first-degree murder, announced Tuesday at a hearing in Rolling Meadows branch court. Rudd is being held on $4 million bond following his arrest last month in Sugar Land, Texas. Advertisement Rudd, formerly of Hoffman Estates, sat silently in a wheelchair as Assistant State's Attorney Maria McCarthy read the indictment. Rudd is suffering from colon cancer and continues to undergo treatment at the Cook County Jail infirmary, said his defense attorney, Timothy Grace. Rudd, who served on the Schaumburg Township District 54 school board in the early 1970s, is accused of killing Noreen Kumeta Rudd, his wife of 27 days, in 1973. Kumeta Rudd was believed to have died in a car crash in Barrington Hills, but officials now say Donnie Rudd staged the crash in an attempt to cover up the slaying. Advertisement Police reopened the case three years ago and pathologists concluded her death was a homicide. Rudd and his wife were employed at a Barrington company at the time, and Rudd collected $120,000 in life insurance. He remains the chief suspect in the 1991 murder of a woman in Arlington Heights, prosecutors said. A patent and civil attorney, Rudd was disbarred in 1994 and moved to Texas. Judge Joseph Cataldo agreed to sign an order requiring Rudd's jailers to follow his medical care instructions after Grace complained to the judge that they were not. George Houde is a freelance reporter. At the behest of Mayor Dave Kaptain the City Council Wednesday night will discuss if members think Elgin should create an ordinance requiring residents and business owners to keep their walk cleared of snow. Kaptain said he is bringing up the topic after it came up late last month at a potluck dinner for the city's Neighborhood Watch groups. Kaptain said he wound up polling the 75 or so guests present if they felt the city should have such rules, and about half of the crowd raised their hands in support. Advertisement As such, and because those present are involved and know their neighborhoods, Kaptain said he would ask the council to talk about the matter. Kaptain said that while snow-covered sidewalks can be a public safety issue, enforcing any rules for shoveling would be challenging. He posited any ticketing would probably have to be driven by complaints from neighbors. Advertisement As for now, "We may have something generic on the books about keeping property free from hazards or such, and we are looking into that," City Manager Sean Stegall said. "But there is nothing specifically related to snow on sidewalks." "There should be an ordinance to shovel in the city for both businesses and residential, just like we have one for mowing lawns in the summer," Councilwoman Rose Martinez said. "This is a safety issue, and this is part of maintaining your property." Martinez noted that when people don't clear walks of snow it causes pedestrians, including mail carriers and school children and those who take the bus, to have to walk in the street. To that point, letter carrier Pon Rattana said he hopes Elgin does come up with an ordinance. He has been a letter carrier for 24 years, and for the last four he's had the same route on Elgin's northeast side. "About 60 percent of the sidewalks on the blocks I cover are shoveled," he said. "Some of the other carriers tell me it's worse for them." "It is hard enough to control traffic in the street that is meant for vehicles. You add pedestrians in the mix, and you are asking for trouble," Martinez said. "It could amount to a lethal combination. It will help if you have great neighbors who can help those that aren't able to shovel. Councilman Rich Dunne was wary of any new rules. "Who would enforce this new ordinance? We already have problems enforcing our property and maintenance code," Dunne said. Advertisement Councilman Toby Shaw said he's not in favor of making changes at this time. "There would be a sizable budget increase because there are many sidewalks that the city would have to do because of parks and common areas," Shaw said. "I'm not sure residents want to see taxes go even higher." While he finds the issue worth discussing, Councilman Terry Gavin said he had no strong opinion either way about having a shoveling/snow removal ordinance. Gavin said he has questions about liability issues related to shoveling or not shoveling and was leery of any law forcing people to do something when some people such as the elderly, those who are sick, or those who might be out of town on business or vacation wouldn't be able to comply. Illinois does have the Snow and Ice Removal Act that states, "it is undesirable for any person to be found liable for damages due to his or her efforts in the removal of snow or ice from such sidewalks, except for acts which amount to clear wrongdoing." It adds, "Any owner, lessor, occupant or other person in charge of any residential property, or any agent of or other person engaged by any such party, who removes or attempts to remove snow or ice from sidewalks abutting the property shall not be liable for any personal injuries allegedly caused by the snowy or icy condition of the sidewalk resulting from his or her acts or omissions unless the alleged misconduct was willful or wanton." Kaptain noted that the city has helped seniors and others physically unable to clear walks by working to find a volunteer to do the job. Recently, a senior citizen called Elgin's 311 line, and a volunteer with the police department's Community Emergency Response Team did the shoveling, Kaptain said. Advertisement Councilman John Steffen said he would be resigned to looking at a proposed ordinance, if that should be what the City Council directs staff to create. "Despite repeated pleas to neighbors to shovel and help those next door, too many sidewalks are still left unshoveled, causing walking hazards, particularly for kids on routes to and from schools," Steffen said. "I wouldn't be sure of final support until I saw the proposed rules, particularly how the city could coerce and not punish." According to reports and city websites, Aurora, Chicago, Evanston and Naperville are among towns with ordinances and fines in place for not clearing snow off sidewalks, while Joliet, Rockford and Waukegan are among cities that encourage shoveling and blowing snow but don't cite and fine those who don't do so. If the City Council does ask Elgin staff to research the topic and create a proposed ordinance, the soonest it could be back for a committee of the whole discussion would be Jan. 27. If passed, typically such measures are then up for a vote for final approval at the following regular meeting, which in this case would be Feb. 10. That means a good portion of this winter would be gone before anything could be on the books to enforce this season. MDanahey@tribpub.com Siddharth Goswami, 9, of Naperville, is the youngest ever tour guide at Volo Bog State Natural Area. (Denys Bucksten / Lake County News-Sun) Ten-year-old Jake Sepke peered into drawers of artifacts and wildlife remains in the visitors center at Volo Bog State Natural Area, comparing them to his collection at home in McHenry. Jake and his dad, Luke Sepke, were among more than 200 visitors Sunday at WinterFest, a half-day of tours of the frigid bog, live music, comfort food and sharing of facts about the great natural resource in southwestern Lake County. Advertisement "I've got a megalodon tooth at home," Jake told another visitor. Pausing a beat when he saw the visitor didn't know a megalodon from a multiplex, Jake quickly added, "It's a tooth from a (prehistoric) shark." Tour guides led 30- to 45-minute excursions into the 9-degree weather, tramping the sturdy wood and metal walkways running through the bog. Visitors learned the progression of the five bands or zones of vegetation surrounding a bog's center of open water: a herb or mat zone; low shrubs; tamarack, tall shrubs and marsh. Advertisement One of the tour guides was 9-year-old Siddharth Goswami, of Naperville, who visited the bog for the first time early last year because of his interest in astronomy and eclipses. He later asked to help lead tours and is now the youngest child ever to do so, bog officials said. "We're training him to become a naturalist," said Julie Denne, a volunteer naturalist. "My daughter Nina started doing (tours) at age 10, also with an adult naturalist. I think (Siddharth) will be able to go on his own in another three or four years." Denne has been leading bog tours herself for six years. "Quite a lot of people come back. They come a second and third time, also at different times of the year," Denne said. "We have wonderful orchids in the spring and in June we have tamaracks getting golden. Halloween is also a wonderful time to come." Volo's programs geared toward both children and adults, she said. A lot of people come for wetland botany programs and tours are available for school field trips, she said. The winter phase of a bog is of interest to visitors, said Denne, with the snow crunching beneath their feet, holly berries and ferns setting off marsh scenery, and winter birds becoming more visible on bare tree limbs. Winter months allow visitors to learn about animal tracks, including those laid down by mink, raccoons, rabbits, deer, coyotes, foxes, squirrels and birds. A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Denne said Volo's bog "reminds me of home, because we have many bogs there." Advertisement Stacy Iwanicki, natural resources coordinator at the bog, said they began holding WinterFest about 25 years ago. "People are looking to get out of the house and get fresh air and exercise and visiting (the bog) is a great way to start out the year," she said. On Sunday, many WinterFest attendees shared their love of the bog and nature with the world, Iwanicki said. "Visitors come out here and take pictures with their smartphones and share on Facebook and Twitter and then their friends come out to share it as well," she said. "Social media can't take the place of being here, hearing it, seeing it and smelling it, but it's enough to whet the appetite and act as an invite. And the Internet lets people learn more about (what they've seen at the bog)." Denys Bucksten is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun in Lake County. Porter County Sheriff David Reynolds announced the official launch Tuesday of a new sheriff''s office app for mobile devices and smart phones. The app is meant to keep people informed about office news and emergency alerts with the touch of a button. Advertisement The Porter County Sheriff's Office App, which is free to download, is available in the App Store for iPhone users and Google Play for Android OS and other smart phone users. "We are very excited to be one of the first police agencies in Indiana to launch our very own app," Reynolds said in a news release, adding that in addition to providing emergency alerts for unincorporated areas in the county, it also will provide the user with quick access to press releases, the "Most Wanted" review, booking records, and the ability to submit crime tips and attach pictures from a phone's camera. Advertisement The app also gives users access to the office's phone number with the push of a button. Additionally, the office's website, www.portercountysheriff.com, has been revamped by Extend Community, the community management branch of the Evansville-based Extend Group. Business manager Edie Hahn assisted with the redesign. The new app is interactive with the office's new website and its Facebook page. The website also provides safety and crime alerts, online filing permits and reports, sheriff's sales information, jail information, answers to frequently asked questions, and provides information on Internet safety, identity theft, and group education programs. Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. By Dezan Shira & Associates Editor: Qian Zhou Changing location During a downturn in the Chinese economy, shifting operations to a less expensive location in order to reduce the impact on profits can be particularly attractive for foreign investors. Invariably, however, not all employees will be willing to be relocated, and problems often arise as a result. For example, an employee may show strong dissatisfaction by delaying relocation, or may request remuneration sometimes of unreasonable amounts to terminate a contract. Can the company terminate the labor contract unilaterally if the employee refuses to move to the new workplace? In this situation, the employer is able to terminate the labor contract unilaterally, but certain conditions must first be met. Article 39(2) of the PRC Labor Contract Law, which stipulates that an employer is entitled to cancel a labor contract where an employee has committed a serious breach of company rules, offers the first possibility of unilateral termination. This is typically dependent on whether the employer has supplied an employee handbook which identifies the penalty for absenteeism, and whether the employees behavior constitutes a serious breach of the rules contained in this handbook. Where the company provides countermeasures to minimize the inconvenience of a change of location for its employees such as transportation, accommodation, catering and personal accident insurance and the employee still refuses to accept the relocation, the court tends to consider continuous absenteeism as a serious breach of company rules. However, whether the countermeasures are sufficient and reasonable is still decided on a case-by-case basis. If the company successfully achieves unilateral termination by using this method, the employee is not entitled to any severance payment. If there is no breach of company rules by the employee, Article 40(3) offers another possibility for the company. According to this Article, if significant changes are made to an employees labor contract, and an agreement cannot be reached on the changes made, the employer can terminate the contract by providing a written 30 day notice or by making an additional remuneration payment of one months salary. Additionally, the employee is entitled to severance payment. In judicial practice, employees facing termination often try using this Article as an argument to get more compensation. However, when an employer provides reasonable countermeasures to minimize the inconvenience of a location change, the court tends to view relocation as an insignificant change. For employers, fully preparing for the change of location is therefore critical in order to lower the risk of a hefty pay-out. RELATED: Payroll and Human Resource Services Reducing staff Simply reducing staff is a more straight-forward method of minimizing company expenditure. However, the process for doing so in China is both complex and difficult. Here, we discuss the options available. Termination upon expiration When an employer considers terminating an employees employment contract, the first question the employer should ask is whether the term of the employment contract is about to expire. If it is, the employer can choose to not renew the employees contract for a second term. As stipulated by Article 46 (5) of the PRC Labor Contract Law, an employee whose fixed-term labor contract isnt renewed is entitled to a severance payment. Notably, following expiration of a second fixed-term contract, the employer is obliged to accept if an employee requests to sign a new open-ended employment contract. Under such a contract, the option of termination upon expiration is no longer available to the employer. Early Termination If a labor contract is not terminated upon expiration of the labor contract, it is classed as an early termination. Generally speaking, the best way to achieve early termination is through mutual agreement, which will safeguard against an arduous and costly labor dispute. If it is the company that proposes this, the employer generally provides additional remuneration to obtain the employees consent. Can a company achieve early termination by attributing financial difficulty as the significant change? Unfortunately, financial difficulty is not considered sufficient to use Article 40(3) as a termination cause. If a company is experiencing financial difficulty and is no longer able to maintain its labor bill, the employer must find other causes to terminate its staff. Considering the nuanced and idiosyncratic nature of Chinas labor law, its highly recommended that companies in this situation seek professional help to mitigate the risk of wrongful termination. RELATED: Terminating an Employee in China (Part 1) Other considerations Certain groups of people are protected from early termination by labor law, even during a company downsizing. These include: Employees suspected of having occupational diseases and awaiting diagnosis; Employees completely or partially incapable of labor due to occupational disease or work injuries; Employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave; Employees who have worked continuously for the employer for more than 15 years and have five years left before retirement. Where an employer looks to terminate 20 or more employees, or where the number of employees to be terminated make up 10 percent or more of overall staff, this is classified as a mass lay-off. Under this circumstance, reducing staff is subject to the additional following procedures: An employer is required to explain the situation to the labor union or to all staff 30 days in advance; An employer must report the detailed mass layoff scheme to the labor administrative authorities. Detailed downsizing procedures are stipulated in the provisions for Reduction of Staff for Economic Reasons (Lao Bu Fa [1994] No.447) and other local-level legal documents. If the procedures are not properly executed, the employer will not only be unable to perform the mass lay-off, but will also potentially receive a penalty from the labor administration bureau. This article is an excerpt from the December issue of China Briefing Magazine, titled Labor Dispute Management in China . In this issue of China Briefing, we discuss how best to manage HR disputes in China. We begin by highlighting how Chinas labor arbitration process and its legal system in general widely differs from the West, and then detail the labor disputes that foreign entities are likely to encounter when restructuring their China business. We conclude with a special feature from Business Advisory Manager Allan Xu, who explains the risks and procedures for terminating senior management in China. Human Resources and Payroll in China 2015 This edition of Human Resources and Payroll in China, updated for 2015, provides a firm understanding of Chinas laws and regulations related to human resources and payroll management essential information for foreign investors looking to establish or already running a foreign-invested entity in China, local managers, and HR professionals needing to explain complex points of Chinas labor policies. How to Restructure an Underperforming Business in China In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we explore the options that are available to foreign firms looking to restructure or close their operations in China. We begin with an overview of what restructuring an unprofitable business in China might entail, and then take an in-depth look at the way in which a foreign company can go about the restructuring process. Finally, we highlight some of the key HR concerns associated with restructuring a China business. Employing Foreign Nationals in China In this issue of China Briefing, we have set out to produce a guide to employing foreign nationals in China, from the initial step of applying for work visas, to more advanced subjects such as determining IIT liability and optimizing employee income packages for tax efficiency. Lastly, recognizing that few foreigners immigrate to China on a permanent basis, we provide an overview of methods for remitting RMB abroad. Flash Tourists learn to make ciba, a traditional form of glutinous rice cake, during a Chinese snack food festival in Shanghai in November. (Photo: China Daily/Zhou Dongchao) China is trying to build itself into an international destination for foreigners by introducing a favorable visa policy and offering tax refunds. China's growing global importance and economic strength mean groups of Chinese visitors are now commonplace at the world's great tourist destinations. However, the feeling has not been reciprocated. The number of foreign tourists visiting China has been in decline for several years, prompting the authorities to consider new measures to attract them, including better standards of service, a raft of tax breaks and simplified visa requirements. Although there were signs of a rebound last year, the new measures failed to attract as many foreign visitors as expected, with many saying that along with the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army, they want to see a more civilized, less polluted and less commercialized China. In 2010, Seth Griffin made his most memorable trip within China. Having chosen his destination at random, Griffin left Chongqing in the company of a Chinese traveler he met in a hostel and travelled to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, for a three-day visit. It was winter and the city was in the grip of frost. The 27-year-old from Juneau, Alaska, recalled that in the mornings steam from the breakfast stalls swirled in the air and everyone he met tried to keep warm by wrapping their frozen hands around bowls of hot soy milk. The trip was a simple but interesting one, and it allowed Griffin to experience "authentic China". He wandered around the city, saw the famous defensive walls, visited the ancient drum tower, the local museum and the Terracotta Army, of course. "The most interesting Chinese cities are the ones that make travelers feel like they are experiencing a new and different place. For me, Xi'an was one of those cities," said Griffin, speaking on the phone from Taiwan, where he works as a freelance translator. "So were Chongqing, Xiamen, and a handful of smaller towns and cities across the country." An open door Griffin was one of many foreign tourists attracted by China's long history and stunning landscapes, factors that helped the domestic tourism industry "make its fortune" after the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s. China's modern tourism sector is a far cry from the days of the 1950s and '60s, when the sector was focused on providing services for overseas visitors. For a long time, inbound tourism was the largest part of the tourism sector in China. In 1995 alone, foreign visits surpassed 5.88 million. In the 1990s, a greater number of Chinese began to travel, not only internally, but also internationally. The country gradually became the world's largest market for domestic and outbound tourism, and the fourth-largest for inbound tourism. Last year, the number of outbound tourists was 120 million, more than one-third the population of the United States. However, the numbers are deceptive and in recent years, China has become less attractive to visitors from overseas. While outbound tourism is flourishing, inbound tourism has fallen short of the goals set in the nation's 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011-2015). From 2004, the number of inbound tourists grew rapidly, albeit with some fluctuations, to reach a high point in 2012, when more than 27 million foreigners visited the country. After that, the number stagnated at about 26 million. Last year, 23.85 million visitors arrived between January and November. If visits by residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are taken into account, the number of overseas visitors in the three years following 2011 recorded consecutive declines of as much as 2.51 percent. In the first 11 months of last year, the number of overseas visitors grew by 4.4 percent year on year, and a recent report by the China Tourism Academy concluded that the downward trend has been contained, if not reversed. However, compared with other countries, the situation is not encouraging. In 2014, inbound tourism to Japan rose 29.4 percent and South Korea saw a rise of 17 percent, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Flash The Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked "a terror cell" that was planting explosives in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, the army said in a statement. The Palestinian sources reported 1 killed, at least 3 were wounded in the attack, according to Israeli media report. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in the statement that earlier on Wednesday, in a joint operation with the Israel Securities Authority, an IAF aircraft targeted "a terror cell plotting to detonate an explosive device against IDF forces stationed along the border of the Northern Gaza Strip." "Forces guarding the Border with Gaza face a growing threat from hostile terror groups attempting to destabilize the situation on the ground," IDF Spokesman Peter Lerner said, adding that "The IDF will continue to protect the residence of Israel and the forces guarding them on the borders." Israeli farmers were instructed not to come near the border fence in light of the possibility of retaliation from the Strip. Flash China refuted the Philippines' protest against test flights at a newly built airport in the South China Sea, stressing the test flights fall totally within China's sovereignty. "China enjoys the freedom of overflight in the South China Sea as other countries do," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei at a routine press briefing. The nature of China's test flights to the airport on Yongshu Jiao is professional, technical and civil, Hong said, adding the flights are being conducted for public interests. In response to another question regarding the Philippines' plan to issue bond to fund military modernization, Hong urged relevant countries not to turn back the wheel of history and do more to help regional peace and stability. On Monday, the Philippine Congress asked the Philippine government to study a proposal to issue a 150 billion peso (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) retail bond to fund a long-term military modernization plan to secure its strategic reserves in the South China Sea, according to reports. The Asian economy and regional cooperation are currently on a sound track, Hong said, adding that peace, cooperation and development have become trends of the times and represent the common aspirations of people around the world. China has achieved progress in diversification of trading partners. In 2015, the bilateral trade between China and its largest trading partners - the European Union, the US and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - stood at 3.51 trillion yuan ($533.52 billion), 3.47 trillion yuan and 2.93 trillion yuan, respectively. The country's trade with emerging market economies such as ASEAN countries and India performed relatively well. These countries still maintain good economic conditions and a stable political situation, thus becoming an important direction for China's exports, said Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs. Also during the last year, China's trade with Africa fell 18.3 percent year-on-year to 1.11 trillion yuan. Its exports to Africa rose 3.6 percent to 0.67 trillion yuan, while imports from Africa dropped 38.4 percent to 0.44 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs. Bilateral trade between China and Russia fell 27.8 percent to 422.73 billion yuan, among which China's exports to Russia dropped 34.4 percent to 216.24 billion yuan. Its imports from Russia decreased by 19.1 percent to 206.49 billion yuan. Men watch the Annual Gay Pride Parade as they hold rainbow flags in Tel-Aviv, June 12, 2015. [Photo/IC] Chinese Internet game developer Beijing Kunlun Tech Co has purchased a controlling stake in US gay dating application Grindr to broaden its product portfolio and add new revenue streams. Beijing Kunlun paid $93 million in cash for a 60 percent share in New Grindr LLC, which values the six-year-old startup at $155 million. Consequent to the announcement, Beijing Kunlun shares climbed by the maximum daily 10 percent limit on Tuesday to 36.47 yuan ($5.53) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Grindr has 10.5 million users in more than 196 countries and regions, with 30 percent of them from the United States. The Los Angeles-based mobile app matches users based on location and personal photos. Beijing Kunlun said in a statement that the deal is part of its broad efforts to build an ecosystem where users of its gaming, social networking and Internet finance services can be mutually converted and grow in parallel. In June, Beijing Kunlun bought a 20 percent stake in United Kingdom-based mortgage lender LendInvest Ltd for $34 million. Joel Simkhai, founder and CEO of Grindr, said in a statement: "Our new alliance will allow us to further expand and offer a more comprehensive array of proximity-based services." It is not clear whether Beijing Kunlun will help bring Grindr to China. The two companies were not immediately available for comments. Chen Jingyi, a public relation official at Beijing Kunlun, said: "We will help bring Grindr to China and other Asian markets where our mobile games are popular." Chen Xu, an analyst at Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys International, said Beijing Kunlun is quite interested in Grindr's global reach, especially its Western user base which can help the company expand its international presence. "Most gaming enthusiasts are male users and the gay social-networking site offers a big pool of potential foreign consumers for Beijing Kunlun," he said. The deal came as the country is undergoing a rapid change in public attitudes toward homosexuality and a number of mobile apps are emerging to meet the group's social networking demands. Geng Le, CEO of Blued, a Chinese gay social-networking app, said: "I was surprised that the stock market responded so positively to the news." "At first, we thought it was possible for companies like us to go public only in the US, but now it seems that the domestic capital market is equally open and promising." When asked about the competition from Grindr, Geng said: "I don't worry about it. Grindr will find it quite difficult to enter into China given the sharp cultural differences. Besides, it is already having difficulty in Asian markets like Japan and South Korea." Started in 2012, Blued currently has 22 million users and secured funding from venture capital firm DCM Ventures. Other players such as GeeYuu and lesbian social-networking sites like LesDo are also growing quickly. According to the latest report by Coolchuan, an app tracking platform, gay social-networking apps have been downloaded at least 40 million times in China during the first half of 2015. Chinese mobile phone users show logos of (from left) China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom on their smartphones in Shaoyang city, Central China's Hunan province, March 19 2015. [Photo/IC] China Telecom and China Unicom signed a compressive partnership deal on Wednesday, marking the two companies'latest joint efforts to take on China Mobile. The two companies said they will deepen their cooperation in 4G network construction, smartphone technology standardization, customer services, innovation business as well as overseas roaming services. Yang Jie, general manager of China Telecom, said the deal will also involve capital cooperation, but did not offer more details, adding it had nothing to do with the merger of the two companies. Related story: China to have 600 million 4G users by 2016 by Gao Yuan, China Daily The country is poised to have 380 million 4G users by the end of 2015, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Expending the 4G service will be a top task for telecom industry as the country is trying to increase connection speed while bringing down data traffic fees, the ministry said. China is already the world's biggest telecom country, with the biggest user number and the largest infrastructure. China Mobile Ltd, the No 1 carrier by user number, will be a major driver of China's 4G initiative. The State-owned enterprise is looking to double its 4G user population in 2016, to 500 million. A report from industry research firm IDC estimated close to 90 percent of the mobile phones shipped in the last two quarters in China are comparable with the 4G technology. A stevedore works at Qingdao port in Shandong province, July 1, 2015. [Photo/IC] China's export in 2015 was 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion), down 1.8 percent from the end of 2014, the first drop since 2010, according to the General Administration of Customs. The total import and export volume stood at 24.59 trillion yuan in 2015, down 7 percent from the same period in 2014. Import fell by 13.2 percent to 10.45 trillion yuan. Trade surplus expanded by 56.7 percent from the end of 2014 to 3.96 trillion yuan. In December alone, foreign trade surplus rose 24.7 percent to 382 billion yuan, the General Administration of Customs announced on Wednesday. Exports increased 2.3 percent to 1.43 trillion yuan and imports fell 4 percent to 1.05 trillion yuan in that month. Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs, said Chinese trade went through a difficult and complicated year in 2015. "The double decrease in import and export is due to the economic slowdown throughout the world," said Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs. The import slump was largely caused by the price drop of commodities and also the weakening of demands. The department will pay close attention to the fluctuation of currencies, Huang added. According to Huang, the 2008 financial crisis has hurt the growth momentum of the global economy. The shrinking global demand and the dropping prices of bulk commodities have contributed to the decrease in China's international trade. "China still faces challenges in terms of trade. Its exports will face a tremendous pressure in the first quarter of this year," said Huang. China's trade volume in 2016 will remain at the same level as last year, he said. China will remain the number one in bilateral trade. The new trading channels, such as e-commerce, will grow in 2016. TIANJIN -- China has granted more freedom in cross-border capital use for financial leasing firms in the free trade zone in northern Chinese coastal city of Tianjin. The city already leads the country in financial leasing business. Around 90 percent of airplane leasing, and all maritime engineering equipment leasing are carried out at Dongjiang Port in Tianjin, now part of the Tianjin FTZ. Financial leasing firms within the FTZ have been given the green light for freer use of the Chinese currency, the renminbi, in cross-border financial transactions, including financing, cash pooling, and bond issuance. Authorities have made the Chinese yuan convertible under the capital account on a quota basis. China's foreign exchange regulator has also approved the establishment of a joint venture financial leasing company between China Minsheng Investment Corp and the Republic of Korea's Hana Bank in the Tianjin FTZ. ICBC Financial Leasing Co Ltd, set up by state lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, brought back 5 billion in offshore yuan into its cash pool, thanks to eased controls on cross-border capital flow within the FTZ. A worker at a production line of Nannan Aluminum Co Ltd in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/China Daily] Six Chinese major aluminum producers are likely to form a joint venture for possible commercial storage of aluminum amid huge overcapacity and shrinking demand, a source quoted by China Securities Journal said. Though the details have not been disclosed, the move by the aluminum majors - Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), China Power Investment Corp, Shandong Weiqiao Aluminum and Electricity Corp and Jiuquan Iron and Steel Group - sends a positive signal to the already-limping sector, experts said. Earlier report by Reuters said that the government planned to purchase and store about a million tons of aluminum last year in a bid to help support the domestic market. The commercial storage is a different concept from purchase and storage from the government. It means that each company will put a certain amount of their products together to realize a centralized reserve, experts said. BEIJING -- China's central bank allowed more overseas central banks and similar institutions to enter the country's inter-bank foreign exchange market on Tuesday. Seven such institutions completed registration with the China Foreign Exchange Trading System, which signaled their official access to the Chinese forex market, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website. The move brought the total number of central banks and similar institutions on the market to 14 and will help steadily promote the openness of the market, the PBOC said. China first opened its inter-bank forex market to foreign central banks (monetary authorities), international financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds in November, when seven such institutions were allowed to enter the market. The seven newcomers are the Reserve Bank of India, the Bank of Korea, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Bank Indonesia, the Bank of Thailand, the Bank for International Settlement, and the International Finance Corporation. Those institutions can directly participate in the inter-bank forex market as foreign members, use existing inter-bank forex market members as their agents, or entrust the PBOC as their agent. They will be allowed to conduct renminbi and foreign exchange trading of one or more traded forex products, including spots, forwards, swaps and options. KIGALI -- The Rwandan government is mulling a joint venture with Chinese investors to establish a garment factory in the capital Kigali, an official has said. Speaking to tailors in Kigali, Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba, said the Kigali garment factory, put at $1.3 million, was expected to open by the end of 2016. The investment would include the procuring of 670 machines to produce different types of clothes, according to officials. Rwanda wants to develop its own textile industry, cut imports of garments and create jobs through the factory. Last year, imported clothes both new and second hand cost Rwanda over 100 million dollars. Every year, the East African nation is said to spend over 15 million dollars importing second hand clothes. Kanimba said, to reduce the reliance on imported clothing, the government was seeking funds and skills from Chinese investors for the industry. "Recent study shows that among the economic platforms, tailoring tops opportunities for increasing more locally made products," Kanimba said, noting some imported "knitted clothes such as uniforms" can be made by locals. He said the Chinese investors had also offered to train local tailors. Rwanda has two textile companies in Kigali, including the Chinese-run C&H Garments whose products are exported. C&H Garments has invested in computerized sewing machines and will train up to 400 local workers. Pedestrians walk past a cafe of Starbucks Coffee in Shanghai on Dec 8, 2015. [Photo/IC] Starbucks Corp, the Seattle-based coffee giant, said it plans to add 500 stores in China every year for the next five years, as the company remains upbeat on the world's second-largest economy. "We have confidence in the future of the Chinese economy, despite all the rhetoric, noise and issues," The Wall Street Journal quoted Howard Schultz, Starbucks's chief executive, as saying. "People are looking for reasons not to believe. I'm on the ground and I see firsthand. I am bullish," said Schultz, who is visiting China this week, in an interview with the newspaper. Starbucks, which is now running about 2,000 stores in the Chinese market, continues to raise its bet on local customers' taste for coffee, as more and more tea drinkers develop a taste for that other caffeinated beverage. Its fourth-quarter revenue for the China and Asia-Pacific region more than doubled from a year earlier, to $652.2 million. Same-store sales in the region grew 6 percent, trailing the 8 percent global increase, said the newspaper. Starbucks didn't break out its China sales, but said he expects the country to become Starbucks' largest market. The company operates more than 23,000 stores world-wide, including roughly 7,000 in the US. Starbucks' Americas market, which includes Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US, accounted for 14,800 stores in 2015, according to the newspaper. A stock indicator shows the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on Jan 13, 2016. [Asianewsphoto by Xie Zhengyi] Chinese equities slumped on Wednesday as the better-than-expected trade data failed to boost investors' sentiment. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 2.42 percent to close at 2949.6 points, dropping below the psychologically-sensitive level of 3,000 points. The gauge has declined by 16 percent since the beginning of the year, making it the world's worst-performing global index. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index retreated by 3.06 percent while the start-up index ChiNext that tracks high-tech and innovative companies dived by 4.09 percent. The selloff intensified after 2:30 pm, with stocks of shipbuilders, construction material and aircraft manufacturers leading the decline. China's export in 2015 was 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion), down 1.8 percent from the end of 2014, the first drop since 2010, according to the General Administration of Customs. Praveen Singh, an analyst at French bank Societe Generale, said in research note that Chinese stocks remain vulnerable to slowing growth expectations despite the recent correction. "Chinese equities have historically traded at a discount to other major equity markets, but if we compare the current cost of capital to its historical average we find that Chinese equity valuations are still not cheap enough to be attractive given their high volatility," he added. China National Chemical Corp's acquisition of Germany's KraussMaffei for 925 million euros ($1 billion) is being seen by analysts as a significant deal that will aid an accelerating trend of Chinese industrial upgrades through overseas acquisitions. China National Chemical Corp., known as ChemChina, announced on January 11 that it will acquire KraussMaffei from Canadian private-equity firm Onex Corp, although the transaction is still subject to regulatory approval. If successful, the deal will rank as the biggest outbound investment from China into Germany, according to data provider Dealogic. KraussMaffei makes equipment that processes plastics and rubber. The acquisition will be led by a consortium headed by ChemChina, but also includes private-equity firm AGIC Capital and Chinese state fund Guoxin International Investment Corp. Danae Kyriakopoulou, a senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said the acquisition is "much more than just a financial deal". For KraussMaffei, it represents new opportunities to spread its technology and products into the wider Chinese market and on ChemChina's side, it represents an opportunity to gather knowledge of Germany's high tech industries that can then be taken home as China seeks to move up the global value chain into more sophisticated production lines, Kyriakopoulou said. "Finally, the deal's additional significance is to provide a further piece of evidence to the claim that despite troubles at home, China's companies still have large piles of cash which are looking for returns. These are most likely found in European firms that are struggling to otherwise access capital for investment in today's economic situation in Europe," Kyriakopoulou said. The KraussMaffei deal fits into a trend of Chinese firms buying Germany's high technology industrial companies to upgrade their technology, which can be explained by China's strategy of achieving a structural shift from manufacturing focus to high value-added knowledge economy. Last year ChemChina acquired a majority stake in Pirelli, the world's fifth-largest tire maker, in a 7.1 billion euro deal. In 2012, Chinese construction-equipment company Sany Heavy Industry Co. bought Putzmeister Holding, a maker of high-tech concrete pumps. Zhang Ying, associate dean for China business and relations at Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, said the KraussMaffei deal demonstrates that Chinese outbound acquisitions in recent years are becoming more wide-ranging, not only in terms of the scale and scope of acquisitions, but also in terms of the strategic target of Chinese firms on the value chain. "ChemChina acquiring KraussMaffei can be seen as one of many keynote cases in upgrading Chinese firms' position in the global value chain," Zhang said. Ren Jianxin, chairman of ChemChina, said that his consortium is investing in KraussMaffei's strong management team and technological expertise, which will help to benefit ChemChina's position in the chemical machinery business. Ren added that he expects the growth in advanced manufacturing and lightweight components in China's automotive industry will continue, which will provide a huge development opportunity for the high-end plastic injection molding industry; ChemChina and KraussMaffei are well positioned to take advantage of this trend, he said. To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com A fully-loaded container ship of COSCO departs from the Port of Qingdao in Qingdao city, East China's Shandong province in this file photo. [Photo/IC] Chinese shipping giant Cosco moved a step closer to consolidating its hold over the key port of Piraeus this week after being named as the sole candidate to buy a majority stake in Greece's biggest harbor. Greek government officials put on a brave face and said they would ask Cosco for an improved financial offer which would be considered within the week after two shipping rivals dropped out of race in the long-delayed sale. "For the country's biggest port and one of the biggest in the Mediterranean and in Europe and with such prospects, it's not the best result in the final phase for there to be only one offer," Shipping Minister Theodoros Dritsas said today in an interview on state-run broadcaster ERT. He said that, nevertheless, the government, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, would do its utmost to ensure Greece got the best possible price for a majority stake in a port that is key to China's plans to create a modern commercial empire pumping Chinese goods throughout the continent. Hong Kong-listed, Chinese state-owned Cosco was the only confirmed bidder for the 67 percent stake in Piraeus Port Authority SA, where Cosco already runs container operations at two piers. APM Terminals, owned by Danish shipping conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk A/S and Philippines-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. were also short-listed but didn't put in a binding bid. The pending sale of a stake in the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki, the second-biggest, may have diverted APM Terminal's attention there, said George Tzogopoulos, a research fellow at Athens-based Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. Greece's bid to improve the offer is more of a face-saving measure for the leftist government and will allow Cosco to improve its offer "a bit", he said. "Greece pushed its luck for more than 2 years until starting the privatization," Tzogopoulos said. "I don't think there is anything that might cause a serious disagreement given that Cosco's waited for such a long time." Trading in shares in the port dropped today after being temporarily suspended yesterday. The company has a market value of around 360 million euros on that basis a 67 percent stake is worth around 240 million euros. No figures for Cosco's bid were provided by the government. Analysts see Chinese investment in Piraeus as a key part of China's One Belt, One Road policy, which envisages creating the 21st century land and maritime equivalent of the Silk Road. Since the Chinese shipping behemoth started container operations in 2009, traffic has surged at Piraeus, making the harbor one of the fastest-growing ports in the world. Premier Li Keqiang called Piraeus China's gateway to Europe in a visit to Greece in June last year. The Piraeus sale is also seen as a yardstick in Greece's lacklustre state asset sales program, a key revenue-raiser tied to the country qualifying for billions in rescue funds from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. An eventual win by Cosco could unleash more Chinese investment, such as in a major freight and logistics center on the outskirts of the Greek capital and a new airport planned for the island of Crete, Greek officials hope. It would also be the first state asset sale the Tsipras government can claim since the leftist prime minister came to power a year ago, vowing to halt privatizations and tear up the two bailout agreements that forced higher taxes and cuts in wages and pensions on Greeks. He has tempered his tone since being forced in July to accept a new, 86 billion euro bailout to keep Greece in the eurozone. Last month, the government wound up previously agreed deals for the privatization of 14 regional airports and the sale of seaside resort in Athens. Both those deals had been halted when Tsipras came to power last year. Cosco has seen five separate Greek premiers, not including caretakers, since it won the license to operate Pier II in 2008 for 30 years at a cost of 490 million euros. The deal has become a regular campaign issue as Greek politicians seek votes from union workers, such as those in the Piraeus docks, unhappy about austerity measures. Foreign investment in Greece has dried to a trickle amid six years of political turmoil and concerns of financial collapse. On the same day Cosco was named as the sole bidder for the Piraeus stake, Eldorado Gold, the Vancouver-based gold producer with operations in Turkey, China, Romania and Brazil said it would suspend much of its Greek operations in part due to an "openly confrontational attitude" from the energy ministry. Concluding the Piraeus sale to Cosco will shape a framework for more Chinese investment in Greece, where six years of near financial collapse has meant record unemployment, Tzogopoulos said. "China will now be prepared to invest more and these investments will contribute to Greece's growth," he said. "Ironically, this signal on privatizations being completed now is being sent by a leftist government that opposed them to come to power." The author is a freelance writer for China Daily. China's foreign trade ran into difficulties last year, with imports and exports both experiencing year-on-year declines. Despite encouraging figures last month, the trade picture for this year remains gloomy, according to Customs data released on Wednesday. "The double decrease in imports and exports is due to economic slowdown and weak demand throughout the world," said General Administration of Customs spokesman Huang Songping. Chinese exporters faced challenges last year, Huang said, with 2015 exports totaling 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.28 trillion), down 1.8 percent from 2014 and the first export decline since 2010. Imports fell by 13.2 percent to 10.45 trillion yuan last year, and the combined volume of imports and exports stood at 24.59 trillion yuan, a 7 percent year-on-year decline. Huang forecast that China's foreign trade this year will remain at the same level as last year, despite encouraging numbers in December, when exports increased 2.3 percent to 1.43 trillion yuan. Weak global demand and the dropping prices of bulk commodities have contributed to the decrease in trade. Huang added that his department will pay close attention to currency fluctuations. The trade picture may remain gloomy this year, as China is still going through economic restructuring and a manufacturing upgrade. Moreover, China is losing its edge on cheap labor costs, said Tong Jiadong, vice-president of Nankai University. "The competition is getting more intense. As the country tries to replace outdated manufacturing capacity, new trading methods and high-end products with more added value need to be encouraged," Tong said. Guangzhou Bosma Optoelectronic Technology Co also witnessed its sales and profits declining, due to decreased demand in traditional markets such as Europe and the US. Ablikim Ablimit, LeEco's vice-president of strategic planning and management, delivers a keynote speech on Jan 12, 2015 during the company's new logo launch event held in Beijing. [Photo/Provide to chinadaily.com.cn] Chinese Internet company LeEco, formerly LeTV Holdings Co Ltd, premiered its new brand and logo during the "Global Brand Upgrade" news conference held in Beijing on Tuesday. According to the company, the new logo consists of the letters "L" and "E". Each of the four strokes represents one of the four tiers of the Le Ecosystem -- Platform, Content, Device and Application. The dot formed by the overlapping of two strokes symbolizes the pivot of the entire ecosystem: EUI and Le Fans. The connection and interaction between the letters "L" and "E" expresses the LeEco spirit of constant disruption, breaking boundaries and eco synergy. The three colors of blue, red and green plus the all-inclusive color of grey represent the integration of technology, culture and the Internet within the Le Ecosystem. During the event, LeEco also announced the name change of Letv.com to Le.com, the adoption of its new global top-level domain "le.com" and the launch of the all-new Super TV X65 at 4,999 yuan ($760). According to Ablikim Ablimit, LeEco's vice-president of strategic planning and management, the current upgrade of the Le Ecosystem brand means that the company is looking beyond the Chinese domestic market to compete with global Fortune 500 giants such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix and is ready to make disruptive changes on the global scale. "Based on vertical integration of the industrial chain and reconstruction of the cross-industry value chain, Le Ecosystem is an open-ended, closed-loop ecosystem that combines a platform with content, devices and applications," wrote Jia Yueting, the chairman and founder of the company, in an article on China Daily website in last December. Going global In September, LeTV Sports, one of the company's subsidiaries, announced that it had won a three-year contract to broadcast the English Premier League in Hong Kong from the 2016/2017 season. The $400 million deal is believed to be the first step in the company's "go global" plan. According to Mo Cuitian, LeTV's vice-president and Asia Pacific executive president, the company is working hard to prepare for the launch of its products in India. Dorian Murray and his family on Facebook. [Photo/Asianewsphoto.com] Read More: Chinese netizens embrace US boy, 8, who has rare cancer Internet users in China are posing with "#D-Strong" signs on the Great Wall to help an 8-year-old US cancer sufferer realize his dream of being famous. Dorian Murray, of Westerly, Rhode Island, in the United States, has been dreaming about being famous in China and seeing the Great Wall, which he called "the bridge" that people walk on. Dorian has been fighting rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare pediatric cancer, since he was 4. In early January, doctors found cancer cells had spread to his spinal cord and brain, and the family decided to stop the treatment. After Dorian's father posted his son's wishes on Facebook, many Chinese Internet users went to the Great Wall, carrying signs with words "#D-Strong". Xi urges strict adherence to Party rules and says more citizens will see benefits of campaign this year Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the 6th plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in Beijing, Jan 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China will not relax its anti-graft effort this year, President Xi Jinping has declared, and the campaign will lead to the grassroots level after rooting out corrupt high-ranking figures in the central government. In a keynote speech signaling what researchers called "a turning point" in political development, Xi expressed confidence in the anti-graft campaign's success and its benefits for all citizens. Speaking at a conference on Tuesday of the country's top graft-buster, the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Xi said that in 2016, China will see more citizens sharing in the victories of the anti-graft campaign. He urged the CCDI to be more focused on fighting corruption at the government's grassroots levels, and on any in just law enforcement processes, in order to gather greater support from citizens. Xi also pledged to continue the effort to hunt for officials suspected of corruption who have gone into hiding abroad. "The public's sentiments are the greatest politics and the strongest support for justice," he said. The president also called for strictly adhering to the internal rules of the Party, upholding the nation's fine cultural values and replacing informal office customs with open and straightforward rules. He emphasized that officials must set an example in managing their familial relations. The commission conference has "released a strong signal that China will be unrelenting in its anti-corruption effort," said Hong Daode, a law professor from China University of Political Science and Law. The conference, to be held from Tuesday to Thursday in Beijing, "will have a profound influence on Chinese politics, especially in the building of ideas and in the institution and practice of clean government," said Gao Bo, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Since Xi and his team were elected as the central leadership team of the Party in November 2012, a sweeping anti-graft campaign has been a national priority. To date, about 130 high-ranking officials have been placed under investigation for serious violations of discipline, including Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief who was sentenced to life in prison in June, and Ling Jihua, former head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, who was put under investigation in July on suspicion of bribery. Two former high-ranking military officers, Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, also were accused of corruption. Last year alone, 26 high-ranking "tigers" were investigated for "serious violations of discipline." In the overseas hunt for corruption suspects, commission figures show that, since April when the eight-month-long "Skynet" campaign began, law enforcement officers have brought back more than 1,000 economic fugitives, mostly corrupt officials, to stand trial. They were returned from 68 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. According to the anti-graft watchdog, a new round of Skynet will be launched this year to target corruption suspects overseas, through judicial cooperation with other countries. Foreign students talk with recruiters from local companies at a job fair in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, April 25, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] Beijing has become the country's second city to ease procedures for bringing highly qualified foreign talent, and experts said other cities nationwide will follow. The Ministry of Public Security announced on Tuesday a pilot policy for Beijing, especially for its high-tech hub Zhongguancun, to facilitate foreigners in entering and staying in the capital. The policy, consisting of 20 new measures that will take effect on March 1, targets specific groups of foreigners: high-end foreign professionals, overseas Chinese who graduated from foreign universities and start businesses in Beijing, foreign students in the capital and foreigners who work for entrepreneurial startups in the city. The policy marks the nation's second pilot program, after the Shanghai Technology Innovation Center was granted 12 favorable policies in July. The move is intended to attract more overseas high-level talent to Beijing, especially to the Zhongguancun National Demonstration Zone, to provide a steady stream of foreign talent for scientific and technological innovations, said the ministry's Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration. The policy will be implemented first in Zhongguancun, a high-tech hub of the capital that covers 488 square kilometers and has more than 20,000 companies. The bureau also said the pilot policy is meant to serve the development of Zhongguancun and will meet Beijing's demand to build a national science and technology innovation center. The Center for China and Globalization is the only think tank to participate in making the policies. Its director, Wang Huiyao, who also is president of the South China Global Talent Institute, said the policies are a breakthrough. Wang said overseas Chinese with a doctoral degree received in other countries will be given permanent residency, no matter how long they stay in the capital. Foreigners who have worked for companies in Zhongguancun for four years, with at least a six-month stay each year, will be given the permit as well. "The threshold will be lowered for overseas Chinese and high-end foreign talent, which is definitely a real benefit for them," he said. The ministry said visitors from some countries will be allowed 144-hour, visa-free stays in the capital. Wang said that six days is more than enough time to attend conferences or travel to Beijing, and that previously the visa application process was a headache for international conference organizers. Wang said Beijing's policies were announced only half a year after Shanghai's and will be duplicated by other cities or areas that have high-tech zones or free trade zones, such as Tianjin. Judges told to take measures to safeguard the rights of attorneys during court hearings Chinese courts have been ordered to introduce measures to ensure the safety of lawyers during trials and punish those who threaten or beat attorneys, according to an official at the country's top court. A new guideline on protecting lawyers' rights was issued by the Supreme People's Court on Tuesday. Under this, judges should take "necessary action" promptly to protect lawyers who may be injured in clashes with litigants during case hearings, said Guo Feng, deputy director of the top court's research office. "Judges should stop those who beat, threaten, insult or defame lawyers during trials, and punish them in line with the law," Guo said. During previous trials, some judges interrupted lawyers and did not provide them with sufficient time to defend cases, while in rural areas it has also been difficult to enforce lawyers' right to meet with clients or read case-related material. Guo said the rights of some defense lawyers to apply for the removal of evidence gained illegally and to read or search judicial material are still hard to protect, adding that the guideline will deal effectively with this situation. Online platform The guideline was issued after a regulation from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, the top court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Sept 16. It also states that Chinese courts should establish an online platform for lawyers to file lawsuits, trace cases and receive judgments. Zhao Li, a Beijing criminal lawyer, welcomed the guideline, saying it will act as a legal reference point when attorneys deal with cases and will protect their rights. However, he added, "It is a good way to govern courts' behavior when they contact lawyers, but it is far from sufficient and not practical." He said the guideline can only protect lawyers' safety during trials. "But if we receive threats ... outside of a courtroom, it may be hard to protect us. For example, I was insulted and attacked while I was waiting for a trial to start. In such a case, what should I do? "Besides, we are rarely told when a case is proceeding, so I hope the guideline will alleviate this problem." Ruan Chuansheng, a criminal lawyer in Shanghai, said the rights granted to lawyers are highlighted clearly in the guideline, especially their safety, but ways to protect them remain vague. "If there is no detail, such as the punishment to be handed down after an attack on a lawyer, I will fear for my safety all the time," Ruan said. "I have never divulged my home phone numbers to anyone because of this." He said the guideline will enable courts and lawyers "to get along with each other, but protecting lawyers should still be improved through legislation". Ruan suggested that the police and prosecution authorities draw up and specify their own rules as quickly as possible. Rural residents and urban unemployed will get same coverage Medical insurance programs for China's rural residents and urban unemployed will be merged into a single basic health insurance plan to improve equality and efficiency, according to a notice issued on Tuesday by the State Council, or China's cabinet. The government will increase subsidies to the basic insurance program, and subscribers will share a greater burden of the total insurance fund, the notice said. The new policy will become China's largest health insurance program, covering more than 1 billion people. Another major one is the basic health insurance program for urban employees. Under the new policy, which is largely subsidized by the government, all subscribers will pay the same premium and enjoy the same reimbursement rate regardless of their residency status, it said. The notice also said local governments should formulate plans to carry out the policy before the end of the year. Currently, China has three health insurance policies: one for the urban employed, established in 1998; a new rural cooperative medical plan established in 2003; and a plan for urban unemployed, which begun in 2007. The latter two are highly subsidized by the government, while the policy for the urban employed, paid for by employees and their employers, has the best reimbursement rate. Nationwide, about 60 percent of medical expenses for subscribers in the latter two programs can be reimbursed, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. The existence of two independent systems for rural residents and the unemployed in urban areas have resulted in some problems, such as repeat subscriptions and repeat government investment, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the commission. The reform will help residents in rural and urban areas enjoy the same basic rights to medical insurance and promote a more fair society, the commission said. Basic medical insurance funds in some areas of China have been diminishing rapidly in recent years due to increasing medical expenses and a slower increase in investment, analysts said. Ni Huping, a chief official for medical insurance at Zhejiang province's civil affairs department, said now is the right time to merge the basic medical insurance programs. "Now the two programs have roughly the same standards of ensuring security, so it will not be difficult to merge the two into one," he said. Ni said the two programs have been merged into one in Zhejiang since 2014. Contact the writers through wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn Fact file There are three basic medical insurance programs in China - for rural residents, the unemployed in urban areas and urban employees. For the first two programs, subscribers pay about 120 yuan ($18) a year, with government subsidies of about 380 yuan per person. Subscribers enjoy about 60 percent reimbursement of their total medical expenses on average nationwide. In the program for urban employees, subscribers pay 2 percent of their monthly salary, while their employers pay more. In general they get reimbursement of more than 70 percent. (China Daily 01/13/2016 page4) China's former vice-minister of public security, Li Dongsheng, was jailed for 15 years for accepting bribes, a court announced on Tuesday. Dozens of officials in the government, military and State-owned enterprises have been brought down in a sweeping anti-graft campaign over the past three years under President Xi Jinping. Li went on trial in Tianjin in October, charged with illegally accepting almost 22 million yuan ($3.5 million) worth of assets, Xinhua News Agency reported at the time. Authorities also confiscated 1 million yuan in personal assets, China Central Television said on its microblog. Xinhua said on Tuesday that Li had abused various posts he held since 1996, including one as a deputy head of CCTV. Listing his crimes, Xinhua said Li "sought improper benefits", including "handling major accident liability" for a person named Zhao Lifu. Li kept close to 5 million yuan and passed the rest to his brother, Li Fusheng, the news agency said. Li said in court that he would not appeal, according to CCTV. Editor's note: Last year, China intensified its clampdown on corruption and increased investigations aimed at violations of the eight-point austerity rules of the Communist Party of China. New phrases by the anti-corruption authorities have sprung up. Following are corruption charges brought by anti-graft bodies, examples of officials being held for investigation on the charges and comments by experts. 1 Failure to report personal matters, such as true income, assets, children and marriages Sun Hongzhi, former deputy head of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, was expelled from the Communist Party of China on multiple charges, including concealing matters he should have reported to the Party committee where he worked. His other alleged violations include taking bribes, committing adultery and using public money for personal trips and receptions, and using his position to help others get promoted and interfering with business for profit. He was removed from his post in January last year and has been held for investigation by the top anti-graft authority since June. Officials who are CPC members must report personal matters as required by Party disciplines. That was reiterated in the newly revised Party Disciplinary Ordinances. An efficient mechanism must be set up to check whether officials have reported as required. Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Centre for Government Integrity at Peking University 2 Personal use of public vehicles Yue Shuli, head of the housing administration bureau in Wuqing district in Tianjin has been given a "stern warning" for using a public vehicle for personal reasons and registering the vehicle under a company name. According to the local anti-graft authority, Yue was involved in a traffic accident in that vehicle. In the first 10 months last year, anti-graft authorities at all levels announced 7,153 cases of officials using public vehicles for personal reasons. The number accounts for more than a quarter of all the violations during the period. It is the most frequent misbehavior that runs counter to the Party's eight-point austerity rules. Some public officials still hold that it is their prerogative to use public vehicles at will, and they believe appearing in a public vehicle in some places is a symbol of superior status. The investigation of the misuse of public vehicles should be more thorough and complete. Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Centre for Government Integrity at Peking University 3 Violating the spirit of central government policies This month, Lyu Xiwen, Beijing's former deputy Party chief and the first high-ranking official to be probed, was expelled from the Party and removed from her post for serious violations of discipline. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said she seriously violated political discipline and undercut the central authority's guiding principles and major policies. She was suspected of illegally selecting and appointing Party officials and interfering in personal arrangements. She was also accused of intervening in market and law enforcement activities. Such behavior will not only disturb people's thoughts but undermine the unity of the Party and hinder the implementation of its major policies. Officials will face punishment according to Party rules. If the circumstances are not serious, the violator may receive a reprimand and education or may be suspended from duty. Hong Daode, law professor at China University of Political Science and Law 4 Frequent visits to private clubs or expensive resorts He Jiacheng, former vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Governance, has been placed under investigation on charges that include frequent visits to private clubs. Between 2009 and 2014, He served as vice-president of the academy, a training center for middle and senior government officials in the Chinese government, and enjoyed benefits equivalent to those of a minister. He was also accused of using his position to benefit others and to receive large bribes, the prosecutor's office said. The case is still being investigated. Some Party members and officials live luxury lifestyles that are prohibited even if paid for with legitimate income. Discipline comes because extravagant behavior reflects poorly on the Party and creates negative public perceptions. Zhang Jun, deputy head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-graft authority 5 Forming factions within the CPC Zhao Shaolin, former vice-president of the China Aging Development Foundation and a former secretary-general of the Jiangsu provincial Party Committee, has been expelled from the Party on corruption charges and for forming cliques within the Party. The top anti-graft authority also accused Zhao of indulging his son in opening private clubs, aiding in the business interests of his son, attending banquets to give cash gifts and bribes with his son at the clubs. Cracking down on forming factions was put forward at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC in late 2014. Some "tigers" - senior corrupt officials were found to have formed die-hard corrupt relationships. Such factions are likely to bring in severe corruption in a whole area or industry. Wang Yukai, professor of public administration at the Chinese Academy of Governance 6 Failure to instill proper values in family members Zhou Benshun, former Party chief in Hebei province, was expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office for offenses including graft, and for laxity in disciplining his adult children. Zhou's wife, Duan Yanqiu, and his son, Zhou Jing, were also held for investigation. The junior Zhou was a business partner of Zhao Jin, son of retired Jiangsu official Zhao Shaolin and made a name for himself in real estate businesses across the country. The corruption found in an officials' entire family has weakened the Party's governance, jeopardized social justice and resulted in a big loss of State assets. One of the major reasons for family corruption lies in officials' ignorance of laws and regulations and failure to act in line with Party discipline. Wang Jie, philosophy professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee 7 Illicit sexual relationships Liao Yongyuan, former general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation was placed under investigation by the Supreme People's Procuratorate for alleged bribery in June. According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he seriously violated socialist morality by having illicit sexual relations and living an extravagant life. In addition, he violated Party discipline by using his position to benefit others through the appointment of officers and other matters related to business. He also accepted huge bribes, the CCDI said. Liao was expelled from the Party in June. Although adultery is not considered a criminal matter in China, it will seriously offend social morality and break Party discipline. If the officials live an extravagant and licentious life, they will be involved with corruption for sure - sooner or later. It's impossible for them to concentrate on their work and perform their duties to serve the public. Li Wei, lawyer from Beijing Lawyers Association 8 Superstitious activities Bai Xueshan, former vice-chairman of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, was expelled from the Party and removed from his post for serious violation of discipline in November. According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he seriously violated political discipline by going against Party prohibitions and conducting superstitious activities over a long period. In general, superstitious activity has referred to spending public money on things related to religion, or to harboring religious beliefs. In addition, he allegedly abused power to gain benefits for family members and others on business operations - selecting officers and accepting bribes from them. Party members must establish a correct outlook on life and values, seeking truth from facts rather than being addicted to feudal and superstitious activities. Sun Xiaoyang, lawyer from Beijing New Sun Law Firm who specializes in handing corruption cases Hebei is to meter central heating and charge for it based on the quantity each household uses, aiming to help improve the province's air quality. This is one of Hebei's newly added regulations on the prevention and control of environmental pollution, which are under discussion and will be voted on for final approval on Wednesday. The aim of the policy is to help enhance central heating efficiency and reduce energy consumption for heating. According to the regulation, households that have access to central heating are not allowed to build individual coal-fired heating facilities. Individual coal-fired heating facilities - small or medium-sized - which already exist will be torn down if central heating is available to their owners. But in Hebei, only citizens living in residential buildings have access to central heating systems, while most residents in rural areas, who live in separate houses, use individual small coal-fired boilers or stoves to heat rooms. For villagers, the regulation specifies that the province will encourage them to use clean energy such as solar energy, electricity, gas, and methane for heating in winter. Clean coal and boilers, which are environmentally-friendly compared with high-polluting coal and boilers or stoves, will also be promoted. Villagers will be banned from burning inferior coal or coal with high sulfur content from now on. In seriously-polluted cities in Hebei, the coal-burning in individual coal-fired boilers is one of the main sources of pollutants, especially in winter. For Baoding, a severely polluted city in Hebei, the contribution of coal burning takes up 35.1 percent during heating season, on top of the list of pollutant sources. "The most serious pollution source for Baoding is coal-burning," Feng Haibo, president of Hebei Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences, was quoted as saying by Yanzhao Metropolis Daily. "Most of the residents in more than a hundred of the villages in Baoding use individual small coal-fired boilers, which result in very serious air pollution, " Feng said. He said it's hard to calculate how many pollutants are emitted from the existing individual boilers or stoves in villages, but it can certainly help improve air quality after the government implements these regulations for promoting central heating and curbing coal-burning. Although coal-burning is the prime source of pollution in Baoding, the government should carry out multiple measures for controlling various sources such as dust, vehicle exhaust, and industrial pollution. Hebei will require newly-built residential communities to install charging facilities at parking spaces and encourage older communities to follow suit, in a move to promote the use of new energy vehicles and cut vehicle emissions. The move is added into the province's regulations on prevention and control of air pollution, which is scheduled to be voted on during the ongoing 12th Hebei Provincial People's Congress for approval today. According to the regulations, buses, taxis and vehicles used by governments and for sanitation and delivery in the province should first choose new energy vehicles. By last year, a total of 4,400 new energy buses had been put into operation in Hebei, according to Hebei Provincial Department of Transport. More than 140 service areas along expressways have established charging stations, accounting for half of the province's total number of service areas. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), Hebei will add another 8,000 new energy buses, which will equal 55 percent of the province's total number of buses. Langfang and Zhangjiakou have been chosen as pilot cities to promote new energy taxis. The two cities will be equipped with at least 200 new energy taxis by the end of 2020. In December, Sanhe city in Langfang brought in 50 electric taxis and finished the construction of three charging stations. The taxis, Hebei's first batch of new energy taxis, are expected to be put into use this month. "I would have bought an electric car if it was convenient to have it recharged," said Song Jiayue, a Sanhe resident, who just bought a gasoline-fueled car in December, adding that buying a new energy car could have saved her a lot of money because governments provide various subsidies for buying new energy vehicles. Song said she gave up because the residential community she lives doesn't have charging facilities. For dealing with the problem, the province will speed up the construction of charging stations. By 2020, another 60 charging stations will be set up at 29 service areas along expressways in the province. According to an analysis of air pollution sources provided by Baoding Environmental Protection Bureau, motor vehicles contribute about 15 percent of PM 2.5 during non-heating periods, ranking second among all pollution sources. Baoding was known for being listed as the most-polluted city last year. In other seriously polluted cities in the province, such as Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, Langfang and Tangshan, the contribution of motor vehicles to PM 2.5 is no less than 10 percent, according to the official website of the Hebei Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau. Yang Guohua, deputy head of the Hebei Provincial Department of Transport, said efforts on promoting new energy vehicles will cut down on pollutants and improve air quality. The Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court has started conducting some cases on WeChat, China's most popular instant messaging app, in an effort to provide flexibility and convenience for judges and far-flung lawyers. The move is the first of its kind in China, and is an attempt to improve the quality of trial proceedings in the Internet era, Guo Xiaokun, a spokesman of Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court, said on Monday. The court conducted its first WeChat trial on Dec 17, employing the app's text and photo sharing abilities. The WeChat court is expected to make administrative lawsuits much easier, said Xue Yongsong, a staff member of the court. "If all of the parties were in different cities, it really would take a lot of time for a traditional trial, summoning them to court for questioning and recording. The WeChat court trial took just a half an hour to deal with tasks that would have required a full day in the traditional system," Xue said. Since the implementation of a revised system for lawsuit registration on May 1, the number of administrative lawsuits filed at the court increased 83 percent in one year, to 1,790 cases in 2015. Wang Yongjie, director of the Beijing Zeyong Law Office, said WeChat trials could be fast and convenient as they would be free of time and place restrictions. But the platform most likely would be used for less controversial cases, especially administrative cases, he said. Wei Liping, a judge at the court said, joined the first WeChat trial and said the new platform could play a helpful role. "We worked with both online and offline support, then we selected and chose some suitable cases," Wei said. "For me, it really shortens the time and energy," Wei added, "It is useful as it gives judges more time to deal with more complex cases." The WeChat trial system will be updated in the future, and a platform will be built to make it more standardized and orderly, with real-name identity authentication, data export abilities and privacy protection, Guo said. BEIJING - China's top Internet regulator has released draft regulations for online news services, requiring permission for releasing news on the Internet or through apps. Websites, apps, instant messaging services or search engines should first obtain permission before disseminating news, according to the draft regulations, which was publicized Monday by the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office to solicit public opinions. News releasers are ordered to provide real name identification to online news releasing platforms, according to the draft regulations from the Cyberspace Administration of China. The new rules also bans online news service providers from meddling with news reports released on the platforms to seek illegal profit through deleting online content or other ways. HANGZHOU - Over 60 firefighters, police officers and rescuers are trying to find five people missing after their minibus fell into a reservoir in east China's Zhejiang Province on Wednesday morning. The accident happened at 9:40 a.m. in a remote village in Suichang County, Lishui City. In the vehicle were three geologists on their way to conduct an official survey nearby and four local villagers. The driver and one of the villagers managed to reach the shore and walked to report the incident. The minibus has been located in the reservoir, which locals say is eight to nine meters deep, but no trace of the missing had been found as of 2 p.m. The rescuers have created a relief road for emergency vehicles to access the site and they have been releasing water from the reservoir. Lawmakers in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will begin to draft an anti-religious extremism regulation and implement counter-terrorism practices in Xinjiang in 2016, a top regional legislator said on Wednesday. "Drafting local regulations on anti-terrorism and eliminating religious extremism are the main focus of this year's legislative work, which will provide solid legal support for Xinjiang to combat terrorism and religious extremism," said Nayim Yassen, director of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress's Standing Committee on the sidelines of the annual session of the local people's congress in the regional capital of Urumqi. On Monday, Xinjiang announced that it will continue to intensify its strike-hard campaign against terrorism in 2016. Zhang Chunxian, Party chief, said all anti-terrorism activities must be carried out in accordance with the law. Nayim said Xinjiang lawmakers have already started the research on drafting the anti-religious extremism regulation in 2015 and have made significant progress. They have also begun to draft the local anti-terrorism regulation before the National People's Congress passed China's first counter-terrorism law in December 2015. The spread of religious extremism is believed to have lead to an increasing number of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and other parts of China. The regional people's congress approved Urumqi legislators' decision of banning full-face coverings in public without delay in 2015. The legislators said such clothes are normally associated with religious extremism. Xinjiang lawmakers have passed the regulation on improving ethnic unity in 2015. From Jan 1, 2016, behaviors damaging to ethnic unity will be punished in accordance with the regulation. "The central government has paid great attention to this local regulation, which is very rare. The NPC has also given many suggestions on drafting the regulation," Nayim said. The regulation banned people from spreading comments which may harm ethnic unity during lectures or seminars in schools. It also stated that service providers in hotels, restaurants and public transportation that turn away people because of their ethnic group or religious belief will receive verbal punishments from the local government and face fines. Tourists walk on the Bai Causeway at the West Lake in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, April 4, 2015. Saturday was the first day of three-day-long holiday of Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day. [Photo/Xinhua] Two regions in China were listed as the top "52 places to go" around the world by New York Times, ranked at No 16 and No 44, respectively. They are Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province and Guizhou province in southwest China. It is the first time that Guizhou has earned a position on the list. New York Times praised Guizhou as "Authentic Chinese hill tribes without mass tourism yet", adding that the least accessible region in China is most attractive for its "unhurried pace" and "authentic feel". With the development in transportation, especially after the opening of high-speed railways, Guizhou has been welcoming more and more travelers. Hangzhou, ranking in the list for a second time, is branded as having "state-of-the-art museums and more in an ancient city", seeing an increase of 11 places in the ranking. Places to Go is an annual feature rolled out by the New York Times and is a top destination list based on the landscape of the global travel market and travel experts' views. Mexico City landed the top spot on the list this year, followed by Bordeau in France and Malta in the Mediterranean ranking second and third respectively. Cities in China have made their debut on the list since 2010, with Shanghai and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province selected. Hangzhou, along with the ancient city of Pingyao in north China's Shanxi province ranked on the list in 2011; Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region, Taiwan, Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province, Zhouzhuang in east China's Jiangsu province and some other cities have also won places on the New York Times list. BEIJING -- China's cabinet decided on Wednesday to abolish more items requiring administrative approval and step up support for small high-tech firms to unleash economic vitality. The government will cancel administrative approval power for another 150-plus items at the local level, according to a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Keqiang. Authorities will also abolish more than 10 administrative licensing items that have held back innovation and entrepreneurship, and official qualification will no longer be demanded for 61 occupations, including baristas. The statement said 192 intermediary services required for businesses to obtain administrative approval will be cleared up, bringing the total number of such services down to 30 percent of the original level. Laws and regulations will be changed to provide legal support for the streamlining process, according to the statement. Cutting red tape and delegating powers to lower levels with an aim to give markets a bigger say in the economy has been high on the Chinese government's agenda. State Council agencies have canceled or delegated administrative approval power for 537 items since March 2013, meeting the target to cut the number of items requiring approval by one-third within the term of this government two years ahead of schedule, official data showed. At Wednesday's meeting, the State Council also decided to lower the threshold for small and medium-sized companies to be recognized as high-tech enterprises that qualify for government support. The move will encourage investment in research and development, promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and help upgrade the economy, according to the statement. BEIJING -- While China is gaining ground to overcome corruption, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has demonstrated its unswerving will to continue the fight against corruption and ensure clean governance. Over the past three years, the CPC has been working hard to redress the problem of being too lenient in managing the Party, and has striven to build a system where officials "do not dare, are not able, and are unwilling to be corrupt." The efforts are paying off, said Xi Jinping, Chinese president and general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at the start of the three-day sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on Tuesday. Xi called on all Party members to "maintain confidence in the CPC Central Committee's anti-corruption volition, the campaign's achievements, the positive energy it brings and the prospects of our fight against corruption." Gao Bo, a political researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes the CPC is on the right path to advance the clean governance campaign and to comprehensively and strictly govern the Party. The achievements of the campaign to fight corruption and promote frugality over the past three years prove that the CPC is capable of making changes to overcome corruption, he said. In 2015, more than 40 centrally administered officials were expelled from the CPC for violating the Party's code of conduct. Over 90,000 officials nationwide have been punished for corruption or violations of the Party's frugality rules. "In addition to the growing number of corrupt officials being punished, the CPC's anti-corruption drive is making progress in redressing the root of the problem," he said. Zhuang Deshui, vice director of the clean government research center at Peking University, said Xi's remarks at Tuesday's meeting have forcefully refuted doubts that the anti-corruption campaign in China may stall or be distracted. Xi stressed during the meeting that the CPC Central Committee remains determined to combat corruption and its goal to resolutely contain the problem remains unchanged. With the efforts over the last three years, fighting corruption has become the firm consensus among Chinese society, gaining unstoppable momentum, Zhuang said. New measures by the Party to further the drive and new achievements can be expected, he said. Reiterating the anti-corruption stance has consolidated the confidence and minds of CPC members, as the situation facing the anti-graft campaign is still grave and requires unrelenting efforts, said Zhang Li, a CCDI member and local discipline official in Inner Mongolia. Gao said that the anti-corruption campaign is a "special window" that reveals the new experiences and approaches in the CPC's governance over the past three years. The firm stance of the Party to carry on the anti-corruption fight also indicates that the new approaches and achievements have been recognized by the Party and society, he added. With concrete measures to build Party integrity, promote clean governance, and fight corruption, the CPC is taking the initiative in this cause, said Liu Jincheng, a clean governance researcher with the China University of Mining and Technology. Liu noted that with measures to promote and enforce the Party's code of conduct, improve Party officials' work styles and tighten intra-Party regulations, the CPC is rolling out a systemic strategy for strictly and comprehensively governing the Party. BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang convened a meeting on Wednesday to underline clean governance and reinforce anti-corruption measures in the government. The meeting was held to learn and implement the speech of Xi Jinping, Chinese president and general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on overcoming corruption at an anti-graft session on Tuesday. Government staff must abide by political discipline and laws and strengthen efforts to build clean governance, according to a statement released after the meeting of leading officials of the State Council, China's cabinet. Leading government officials must set themselves as examples for public servants and encourage them to better serve the people and enhance government credibility. Authorities vowed to eliminate the space for abuse of power and punish the corrupt without hesitation. The statement outlined measures for building a clean government, saying the central government will streamline administrative approvals and cut red tape to avoid concentration of power. The central government will also take more actions to ensure fiscal financial security, recover idle capital, ban extravagance and limit spending on public vehicles, travel and receptions. It will also improve management over public assets and resources and better monitor overseas investment with public funds. An incentive system should be established to reward the hardworking and punish the lazy and freeloaders, according to the statement. Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli attended the meeting. Lawmakers in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will begin to draft a regulation against religious extremism this year, the top regional legislator said on Wednesday. It will be China's first legislation targeting religious extremism, which has led to a number of terrorist attacks in the country in recent years. "Drafting local regulations on anti-terrorism and eliminating religious extremism are the main focus of this year's legislative work, which will provide solid legal support for Xinjiang to combat terrorism and religious extremism," said Nayim Yassen, director of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress. Nayim made the remarks on the sidelines of the annual session of the local people's congress in Urumqi, the regional capital. Local lawmakers will also start to draft the practices for implementing the counterterrorism law in Xinjiang this year. They had already begun to draft local anti-terrorism legislation before the National People's Congress passed China's first counterterrorism law in December. On Monday, Xinjiang announced that it will continue to intensify its strike-hard campaign against terrorism this year. Regional Party chief Zhang Chunxian said all anti-terrorism activities will be carried out in accordance with the law. Nayim said Xinjiang lawmakers began to research the drafting of a regulation against religious extremism last year and have made "significant progress". The spread of religious extremism is believed to have led to an increasing number of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and other parts of China in recent years. Last year, the regional people's congress approved Urumqi legislators' decision to ban without delay full-face coverings in public. The legislators said such clothing is associated with religious extremism. Xinjiang lawmakers also passed a regulation last year on improving ethnic unity. From Jan 1, behavior that damages ethnic unity will be punished in accordance with the regulation. In return for staying at a Danish refugee center, Iranian software engineer Sarah Alimalayeri said she was happy to hand over the gold bracelet and necklace she was wearing, but not her pendant. "You can't take everything, but this is a balance," she said. The 24-year-old migrant is an unlikely supporter of a controversial bill due to be discussed in the Danish Parliament on Wednesday, which would allow police to seize migrants' valuables to pay for their stay in asylum centers if it is passed later this month. Some English-language books on China or written by Chinese to be released this year.[Photo provided to China Daily] At the opening ceremony of the ongoing New Delhi World Book Fair, which features China as the guest of honor, writer Liu Zhenyun talks about one of his American fans. The woman told Liu that she gets different pictures of China from watching CNN and BBC as compared to reading his works, say, the Cell Phone. "One picture is weird, and one is with people just like us," the author says, quoting his fan. Meanwhile, publishers are continuing to churn out more Chinese stories for English-language readers. In the past year, President Xi Jinping's The Governance of China and sci-fi writer Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem trilogy have been big hits. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is reading Liu Cixin's book and recommended it to his book club in October, saying: "It's a Chinese sci-fi work that has become so popular that there is now a Hollywood movie being made, based on it." But as interest in Chinese fiction rises, there is also growing interest in up-to-date works on Chinese social and political issues. Huo Xingchen, director of international cooperation at the Central Compilation & Translation Press, tells China Daily: "The Chinese economy is an area that global readers will continue to be interested in, and works on Chinese politics and foreign relations have begun to become trendy, including on ideas like the Chinese Dream and the Belt and Road Initiative." Here are the details on some of the new English-language books on China or written by Chinese that domestic publishers will bring out in 2016. Dominic Ziegler, Asia editor of The Economist magazine, takes Northeast China's Heilongjiang River as the subject of his new book, Black Dragon River, published by Penguin Press.[Photo provided to China Daily] Dominic Ziegler says it was the love of wild places that led him on a journey along the Heilongjiang or Black Dragon River. The 4,500-kilometer river, which largely divides China and Russia, is the subject of his new book, Black Dragon River, which combines history and travelog. "For a time it was the longest river I had never heard of. When I was living in China in the 1990s I was constantly in search of wild places but never got there, although I had been up to Harbin, just out of reach of it," Ziegler says. "It is only when I worked in Japan and flew over it a couple of hours before landing, on a flight from London to Tokyo, that I resolved to find out more." This eventually involved taking a three-month sabbatical from his job at The Economist magazine, where he is now Asia editor, and starting his journey on horseback from the river's Mongolian source. His actual trip, which was done in stages, was over 10,000 km in length, since part of the river is out of bounds (as a result of it being a border) and so he had to make detours through wetlands and also take the Trans-Siberian railway. "I rode up to the source by horse and wanted to follow the river into China, but there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease so I couldn't," he says. Ziegler, who was speaking in the offices of The Economist in central London's St James, says one of the intriguing aspects of the river (known as the Amur in the West) has been its role in history, particularly in defining the relationship between China and Russia. He says people make the mistake of believing that Russia always had its own Far East, but this was largely a result of Cossack interlopers invading territory from the late 16th century onward. "There was this extraordinary and actually rapid push east by Cossack trappers in the forests looking for valuable furs, which were knows as soft gold," he says. "They had no idea they were moving through lands controlled by the Manchus and were knocking on the back door of the Chinese empire." Chinese soprano Zhao Yunhong performed with Haifa Symphony Orchestra in Haifa on Jan 7. [Photo/fmprc.gov.cn] A Chinese New Year concert was held in Haifa, Israel on Jan 7. The concert, organized by the Chinese Embassy in Israel, the Ministry of Culture of China and Haifa government, is the prelude to the "2016 Happy Chinese New Year" in Israel. The Haifa Symphony Orchestra, one of the top four Israeli symphony orchestras, performed with Chinese soprano Zhao Yunhong. This marked the first time that a major Israeli orchestra gave a special performance for Chinese New Year. Chinese classic music, such as Overture of Spring Festival, Ode to the Red Flag, Qiao's Grand Courtyard and Little Running River, plus some Western classics were among the pieces presented at the concert. "2016 Happy Chinese New Year" in Israel will last from Jan 7 to March. There will be 30 performances in six cities in Israel, including concerts, modern dance, martial arts and acrobatic shows. People watch TV news showing the DPRK's breaking news, at Seoul station, in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, January 6, 2016. [Photo/IC] A new round of tensions is rapidly building up on the Korean Peninsula after the fourth nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Jan 6. Such an undesirable trend could revive the old vicious circle of provocation and retaliation, driving efforts to denuclearize the peninsula into a dead end again. Two days after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test in a decade, the Republic of Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts in the border areas. ROK sources said on Monday the DPRK had expanded its own propaganda broadcasts in response. On Sunday, A US B-52 bomber conducted a low-level flight in the vicinity of Osan, 40 kilometers south of Seoul, in response to Pyongyang's "recent provocative action," the Combined Forces Command said in a statement. The militaries of the ROK and the United States are also reportedly considering additional deployment of "strategic assets" on the Korean Peninsula. The alliance may also choose to expand the scale of their forthcoming joint military exercises in the region. The tense atmosphere on the peninsula resembles that after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test in January 2013 or in the wake of the sinking of the ROK's corvette Cheonan in March 2010. Only the prospects for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula now look dimmer than ever. Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test shows the country is determined to continue its pursuit of nuclear capabilities despite vehement opposition from the international community, China included. It also indicates the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council after Pyongyang's previous tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, have failed to deter the country from its nuclear ambitions. Commuters wait for the next train at Sihui subway station in Beijing, May 22, 2014. [Photo/IC] A VIDEO in which someone claiming to be a Beijing resident scolded another passenger on the subway, telling them not to come to Beijing, caused a stir when it was posted online. Yet it later transpired that the incident was staged by an actor from Northeast China's Liaoning province. More regulation is needed to stop such speculation, says an opinion article on China Youth Daily: Those who make such publicity-seeking videos hope to benefit from them. The problem is, quite a number of people have succeeded in doing so, as they have become mini-celebrities able to cash in on their "fame". Even though everybody blames them for being vulgar and challenging morality, they still make a profit because they are widely known. Some might argue that's the choice of the public, but this only damages society in the long run. When vulgarity becomes popular and makes a profit, it lowers the standards of society. Worse, the bad money drives out the good, and the actors that practice hard to improve their skills lose out. Eventually talent is replaced by familiarity. It is time to end this. The authorities might find it hard to intervene, but it is necessary to raise the general moral standards of society, so that those who stage such stunts will no longer attract the eyeballs they need. Fruit Day workers process oranges in a workshop in Yunnan province. The company can grade the sweetness of individual oranges at its newly-opened packing plant in Yunnan.[Provided to China Daily] FRUIT CAMP, a fruit company with chain stores in over 20 cities nationwide, has reportedly closed hundreds of its shops over the past two weeks. Members of the company's loyalty program, who prepaid for products, are now finding it hard to get their money back. This is not the first such incident and the root cause of this problem lies in the judiciary failing to do its duty, says a comment on Beijing Youth Daily: Prepaid membership programs are popular worldwide, because they help companies get money quickly, while offering some discounts to consumers. However, the business mode has some prerequisites, namely both sides must follow the rules. The customer has paid for goods or services already so there is no chance of a change of mind. But if the company breaks the covenant and refuses to provide the goods or continue providing services, the customer suffers losses. That's where the judiciary should intervene. In societies with the rule of law, the company will face severe penalties and pay a heavy price for failing to fulfill its side of such a covenant. It is the duty of law enforcers to prevent companies from failing to meet their promises and ensure such prepaid business models run smoothly. However, in China the judiciary has failed to protect consumers or punish companies when they break these covenants. Even those companies that failed to honor large debts were able to avoid any penalties until a few months ago when a national database was established. The low cost for companies breaking their covenants with consumers seriously damages the market order and has even encouraged some unscrupulous businesses to cheat their customers. Besides the judiciary, the legislative body must take some action, too. The law needs to strictly regulate and set out punishments for those companies that fail to provide the goods and services they have been paid for. Republican US presidential candidate businessman Donald Trump responds to criticism from former Governor Jeb Bush as Senator Ted Cruz looks on during the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, Dec 15, 2015. [Photo/Agencies] There's a hidden, well-disciplined online Chinese army of unpaid citizen volunteers that foreigners have never generally encountered here. And that goes for most Chinese of a certain more mature age. I am talking about "fansubs"or fan-made subtitle groups. Until recently, their main mission has been to subtitle popular foreign TV series in almost real time for the enjoyment of millions of Chinese who aren't fluent in English or a number of other popular foreign languages. Recently, the two- year- old Guojiang Subtitle Group has undertaken an additional assignment: Chinese subtitling the US presidential primary debates for millions of interested Chinese. Even though most of my Chinese friends are much more educated and attuned to all things American than fellow US citizens will ever be about China, one has to wonder if their work is promoting farce, rather than high drama. I personally applaud this effort at better cross-cultural understanding. Democracy is a far from perfect system but listen carefully to the noise and tumult of our political process and there is much to be learned. Although these presidential debates, especially of the Republican party, generate much more heat than light, to a motivated critically thinking viewer they fulfill the rarely reached pinnacle of what good TV is all about: to educate, entertain and inform. Cutting through the more frequent and vicious personal attacks, one can see how Americans are truly angry at their government and the country's place in the world, and how political demagogues like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz exploit these sentiments to the long-run detriment of their country and party. Non-English- speaking Chinese viewers, freed of the handicap of being linguistically-challenged, can see why Americans, who long believed in the myth of American Exceptionalism, feel truly demoralized. They are depressed by China's fast rise and America's relative decline. They feel that their lives are not better than those of their parents, and that their children's lives will likely be even less satisfactory. Recent public opinion polling shows that there is much fear and hatred for the demagogue's to exploit. In an Esquire Magazine/NBC News survey released a few weeks ago, 54% of Americans say the US was once the most powerful country in the world but isn't now; 52% say the American Dream does not hold true anymore; and 48% say race relations have worsened since President Obama was elected. A new Pew Research Center study reveals that more than 1 in 4 (27%) of Americans believes that the government is the enemy of its citizens, a percentage that may indeed be conservative as non-voters are assumed by many political scientists to be even more negative. A full 57% of voters say they feel frustrated with the government, with 59% saying that the government needs "very major reform." Chinese political junkies should watch carefully how each of the remaining dirty dozen Republican candidates respond to these frustrations in the upcoming debates. Will they take the high road of ethics and morality or the low road of bigotry and duplicity? If truth be told, I am not so sure that some of them even know that there is a high road, just as I am not sure that some could find China on a map, although some like Trump have attempted to vilify China and the Chinese. Fansubs are doing a public service to show the real workings of the American system of government, pro and con, to interested Chinese audiences. Reality TV doesn't get much better than this and unlike a fictional drama, in no small measure, our futures really do depend on the outcome of these debates. A riverine patrol boat from Costal Riverine Squadron 2 escorts the guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) while in the Arabia Gulf in this Nov 15, 2014 handout photo, provided by the US Navy, Jan 12, 2016. Ten sailors aboard two US Navy riverine patrol boats were seized by Iran in the Gulf on Tuesday, and Tehran told the United State the crew members would be promptly returned, according to US Officials. [Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON - Ten US sailors were detained Tuesday on the Farsi island in the Gulf by Iran's military which seized two US Navy boats reportedly drifting into Iranian waters, US media reported. It was unclear whether the American sailors who were aboard the small riverine boats had strayed into Iranian territorial waters before they were captured, the NBC News quoted senior Pentagon officials as saying. The sailors, including nine men and one woman, were reportedly on a training mission moving between Kuwait and Bahrain around noon when their boat experienced "mechanical difficulty" and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces. US Secretary of State John Kerry has been on the phone with Iranian officials in an attempt to gain the release of the American sailors. One senior US official was quoted as saying that the Iranians understood that it was a mistake and had agreed to release the Americans in international waters within hours, the report added. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told US media that the US was monitoring the situation and "it's not entirely clear what happened". He added that the sailors were safe and were expected to be released by the Iranians without a long delay. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the US military, after contact with Iran, had received assurances that the American crew and the boats would be "returned promptly". The incident occurred at a time when the US is prepared to lift some of the sanctions on Iran as part of the implementation of a historic deal reached last July on Iranian nuclear program after prolonged diplomatic negotiations. But new tensions flared up recently after the US slammed what they called Iran's "highly provocative" actions of firing unguided rockets last month near US Navy ships in the Gulf including the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. US President Barack Obama smiles as he delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, January 12, 2016.[Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama accused critics on Tuesday of playing into the hands of Islamic State by comparing the fight against the militant group to World War Three, in an address aimed at laying out an optimistic vision of America's future. Obama, who is delivering his last State of the Union speech to Congress before leaving office next year, said it was fiction to declare the United States was in economic decline or getting weaker on the international stage, despite rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates vying to replace him in the Nov. 8 election. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence," Obama said, according to prepared remarks. "That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions," he said, referring to Islamic State by an acronym. The remarks were a repudiation of Republican criticism of his strategy against Islamic State and, not so subtly, of Republican front-runner Donald Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. The address is one of Obama's few remaining chances to capture the attention of millions of Americans before November's election of a new president who will take office next January. Obama apparently has delivered on his promise to keep this year's speech shorter: The text of his speech unofficially comes in at 5,438 works versus 6,776 in his 2015 speech. The White House is once again making the full text of the State of the Union available online ahead of the speech, as prepared for delivery, continuing efforts to meet people where they are and make the speech as accessible as possible. President Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans: Tonight marks the eighth year I've come here to report on the State of the Union. And for this final one, I'm going to try to make it shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa. I also understand that because it's an election season, expectations for what we'll achieve this year are low. Still, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach you and the other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for working families. So I hope we can work together this year on bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse. We just might surprise the cynics again. But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Don't worry, I've got plenty, from helping students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical treatments for patients. And I'll keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing. Fixing a broken immigration system. Protecting our kids from gun violence. Equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. All these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done. Read more at whitehouse.gov. SYDNEY - An Australian police officer and a security guard are in a critical but stable conditions after an alleged confrontation with a man who was threatening doctors with scissors at a local hospital. Local authorities on Wednesday said a New South Wales Police officer and a security guard were both shot in the leg following an altercation with a man who grabbed the officer's gun at Penrith Hospital in Sydney's Western suburbs late on Tuesday night. Unconfirmed media reports suggest the man held scissors to a female doctor's throat after she had intervened in an argument before the police and security officers had arrived to resolve the situation. New South Wales Police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters outside the hospital on Wednesday the officer who was shot in his left thigh is in a "critical but stable condition", and the incident is not terror-related despite some commentary suggesting otherwise. "(Police) are looking at other issues at play in this story," Burn said. A police spokesperson could not confirm to Xinhua if the 39-year-old alleged attacker, who has been arrested on a series of charges including intent to murder, was under the influence of drugs. The security guard was shot in the calf and remains in a stable condition. Australia's Health Services Union (HSU) secretary Gerard Hayes said the latest incident is just another in a string of attacks against security guards at hospitals as they handle violent patients and visitors. "We have been calling for more powers for hospital security officers for several years but the government has refused to do anything more than instruct our members to call the police in the event of problems at hospitals," Hayes said in a statement. The Republic of Korea's President Park Geun-hye (C) presides over the National Security Council at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, in this handout picture provided by the Presidential Blue House and released by Yonhap on January 6, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged different responses from the international society to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's fourth nuclear test. Park told the nationally televised speech to the people that the nuclear test was a significant provocation and an intolerable challenge, saying that resuming propaganda broadcasts in frontline areas is the most effective tool of psychological warfare to the provocation. Her speech came a week after the DPRK claimed last Wednesday that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. Two days later, the ROK restarted blaring propaganda messages from loudspeakers across the border into the DPRK in retaliation for the nuclear test. The president said that Seoul is closely discussing with Washington about countermeasures effectively restricting the DPRK's nuclear test, stressing that the country will bring the strongest anti-DPRK sanctions, which will cause a change in the DPRK's behavior. US President Barack Obama smiles as he delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, January 12, 2016.[Photo/Agencies] In his final State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama singled out China in a bid to push Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). "With TPP, China doesn't set the rules in that region, we do," Obama told lawmakers on Tuesday night in a speech in the House of Representatives in Washington. "You want to show our strength in this century?" he asked. "Approve this agreement. Give us the tools to enforce it." The TPP, a trade agreement reached by 12 Pacific Rim countries in October, is facing strong opposition in Congress, especially from Obama's fellow Democrats. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, also has opposed TPP. China is not a TPP member, but is an important trade partner of all 12 TPP members, which comprise Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, some of which have already had free trade agreements with China. In the only other reference to China, Obama alluded to its economic slowdown and recent stock market turmoil, saying that "economic headwinds blow from a Chinese economy in transition". Focusing on domestic politics, Obama struck back at critics who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship, calling it all "political hot air". He vowed a robust campaign to "take out" the Islamic State group, but chastised Republicans for "over the top claims" about the extremist group's power. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national security." SEOUL - South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged Japan to play its role in implementing the bilateral agreement on Japan's wartime sex slavery of Korean women during World War II. "How the Japanese government and media do is very important, though South Korea's government will do its best, to make the agreement well understood and accepted," Park told the national televised speech. Park said if distorted words and acts come from the Japanese government and media hurting the heart of comfort women victims, it would be much more difficult for Seoul to make its people understand the agreement. Park's comments came after Seoul and Tokyo reached a final and irreversible agreement on the comfort women, a euphemism for women forcibly recruited to serve in Japan's military brothels during the devastating war, on Dec 28, 2015. Japan vowed to offer 1 billion yen (about $8.3 million) and coffered to help South Korea set up an assistance fund for the victims. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered his message of apology and remorse "from his heart" to the wartime sex slavery victims. In return for those action and word, South Korea pledged a final and irreversible agreement on the war crime and promised to refrain from criticizing Japan in the international community. The South Korean victims and their advocates continued the so-called "Wednesday rally" that has been held every Wednesday for more than 20 years in protest against the agreement as it lacked of Japan's legal responsibility for the wartime atrocities. Japanese media reported that South Korea agreed behind the doors with Japan to remove a "girl statue" standing in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, which was denied by the South Korean government. The statue, erected there in 2011 with funds donated by citizens, describes a teenage girl forcibly conscripted and raped by Japanese soldiers. Park said all the negotiations have a limitation in reality, stressing a timely urgency of the issue because only 46 victims with an average age of 89 are alive. Last year, nine victims passed away due to the old age. According to the government's survey and meeting with the victims, former South Korean comfort women called for three points, including Japan's acknowledgement of its military's involvement in the wartime crime, Japan's official apology and the compensation offer, which are reflected in the Dec 28 agreement, Park said. The president also said the removal of the girl statue is not a matter the government can decide on, saying that distorted reports and comments will not be desirable and only cause controversy. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will stabilize region, says ambassador Pakistan's Ambassador to China Masood Khalid has reiterated his country's commitment to the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that both countries were working to develop conditions for its successful completion. The ambassador expressed his views during a speech at a seminar on the topic "The broad future of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" organized by the China Overseas Investment Union, in the context of One Belt One Road initiative, in Tianjin on Tuesday. "From the lofty terrains of China to that of Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, this revival of the fabled Silk Road will bind communities and economies together. We are fully aware that CPEC is first in a series of projects linking countries and regions and are thus committed to realize it," Khalid says. The CPEC is a 3,000-km network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from southern Pakistan's Gwadar Port to Kashgar city, northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The ambassador said CPEC was an agenda for mutual prosperity of both Pakistan and China and the wider region. It was a recipe for economic development, enhanced trade and energy security and critical for peace, prosperity and well-being of the people of the two countries, the region and the world. He termed it a model of win-win cooperation for all the countries in the region. "CPEC thus has the potential to transform the entire region into a stable, prosperous, peaceful and vibrant region,' he said. He said the government of Pakistan has created a conducive investment climate including easy tariff structures and liberal policies on repatriation of profits. With military action against terrorists, the security situation had considerably improved and specific measures had been taken in regard to safety of the Chinese workers, he said, adding that he was confident the measures would guarantee the long-term success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. A US Air Force B-52 (right) flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, the Republic of Korea, Jan 10, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] The first two weeks of the New Year have seen new military developments in many parts of Asia. Following the nuclear test by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea on Jan 6, the United States flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber over the Korean Peninsula on Sunday. US allies also have been active, with the Republic of Korea considering more deployment of US "strategic assets" and Japan boosting its presence in the South China Sea. Beijing responded that "hopefully, relevant countries will act cautiously and properly tackle the issue". "As one country seeks its own security, it must consider the security interests of other countries as well as the peace and stability of the region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Wednesday. Hong said that the current Korean Peninsula situation "is of great sensitivity" and that relevant countries hopefully will serve the big picture of ensuring regional peace and stability, cautiously and properly tackling the issue. The purported hydrogen bomb test by the DPRK has sharpened the tension in East Asia. In her New Years address on Tuesday, ROK President Park Geun-hye said that deployment of an advanced US THAAD missile defense system to the ROK will be reviewed based on national security issues, considering the nuclear and missile threat from the DPRK, the Seoul-based Korea Herald reported. The US sent a B-52 bomber based in Guam on a flight over the ROK on Sunday. ROK spokesman Kim Min-seok said on Monday that the US and ROK were continuously and closely discussing additional deployment of "strategic assets". Media in the ROK said that key high-end US military assets that could be deployed to the peninsula include a nuclear-powered submarine, F-22 stealth fighter jets and B-2 stealth bombers. General Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of US Forces Korea, asked his troops and the ROK Army to maintain the highest level of readiness. The US has about 28,500 troops stationed in the ROK. The two countries usually have annual joint military exercises in February or March. Wang Fan, vice-president of China Foreign Affairs University, said mounting military pressure on the peninsula wont help address security issues, since the United States could use the occasion to form a military advantage in Northeast Asia. This in turn would increase tensions in the region by forcing other countries to react, Wang said. He suggested talks between individual countries under the framework of the Six-Party Talks, such as talks between the Republic of Korea and the DPRK and talks between the United States and the DPRK. The Six-Party Talks, which collapsed in 2008, brought together China, the United States, Russia, Japan, the ROK and the DPRK. "Fundamentally, there should be talks over the establishment of a multilateral security mechanism for the region, instead of individual alliances," Wang said. The DPRK and ROK remain in a technical state of war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court in the Philippines declared on Tuesday that a defense pact allowing the US to temporarily base warships and planes at local military sites is constitutional. Renato Reyes Jr, secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, also known as Bayan, a group that opposes US military involvement in the Philippines, said that Tuesday was "another sad day for Philippine sovereignty". "The decision will pave the way for the construction of new US military facilities in different parts of the country," he was quoted by the Manila Times as saying. Additionally, Japans Defense Ministry and Self-Defense Forces have decided to allow the countrys P-3C patrol aircraft to stop at bases of countries facing the South China Sea when returning from anti-piracy activities off the coast of Somalia, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, which quoted Japanese government sources. The newspaper said the move will allow Japan to support US patrols around the islands in the South China Sea. The Self-Defense Forces P-3C aircraft travel between Japan and Africa about every three months. Previously, the aircraft refueled at bases relatively far from the South China Sea, in countries including Singapore and Thailand. While their outward journeys remain the same, the P-3C aircraft, on their return trips, will give priority to bases around the South China Sea, such as those in Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Japan is strengthening relations with nations that are contesting territorial rights with China in the area. In June, Japan conducted its first joint search-and-rescue drills with the Philippines, and in November it reached an agreement with Vietnam to hold the first Self-Defense Forces drills in Vietnam waters and to allow the SDF to dock at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said the P-3Cs stopping at the new bases drives home the message that Japan has decided to boost its presence in the South China Sea. China should be prepared to respond to such provocations in the future, though its priority should still be maintaining peace and stability, Shi said. Yang Bojiang, deputy director of the Institute of Japan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Japan must have racked its brains to come up with such a way to meddle in the South China Sea. Letting Japanese aircraft take a detour on their return trips will not significantly increase Japans military spending. But by doing so, Japan will show its determination to strengthen its presence in the South China Sea, support the US pivot-to-Asia strategy and coordinate its maneuvers in the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, Yang said. Contact the writers at caihong@chinadaily.com.cn US Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks on the United States foreign policy agenda 2016 at the National Defense University in Washington January 13, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal will take place likely in the coming days. "Implementation day, which is the day on which Iran proves that it has sufficiently downsized its nuclear program and can begin to receive sanctions relief, is going to take place very soon, likely within the next coming days somewhere," Kerry said in a foreign policy speech at the National Defense University. Kerry said that the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal, which he described as a blueprint for blocking all of Iran's potential pathways to a nuclear weapon, will be one of the US foreign policy priorities in the coming year. "As agreed, Iran is now well on its way to dismantling... critical elements of its nuclear facilities," Kerry said. The top US diplomat revealed that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reported to him on Tuesday that the calandria, or core, of the Arak nuclear reactor was taken out, and in the next hours it would be filled with concrete and then destroyed. All of the enriched material has been put on a ship and taken out to Russia for processing, Kerry said. One shipment of such material in one day could take two or three months for Iran to acquire enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear weapon, he noted. "And it is an important part of the technical equation that will bring the breakout time to at least one year for the next ten years," he said. Moreover, the International Atomic Energy Agency will build up its capacity to inspect, which Iran is subject to during the lifetime of the deal whenever there is a suspicion of any activity that violates the deal, Kerry said. "I can assure you, we will continue to monitor implementation of this agreement closely, because yes, existential challenges are at stake here," he added. Kerry once again expressed gratitude to Iranian authorities for swiftly releasing 10 US Navy sailor detained in the Gulf Tuesday after reportedly drifting into Iranian waters. "I also want to thank the Iranian authorities for their cooperation and quick response... And I'm appreciative for the quick and appropriate response of the Iranian authorities," he said. Kerry said all indications suggested that the sailors were well taken care of, provided with blankets and food and assisted with their return to the fleet earlier Wednesday. The incident occurred at a time when the US is prepared to lift some of the sanctions on Iran as part of the implementation of the historic deal reached last July on the controversial Iranian nuclear program after prolonged diplomatic negotiations. But new tensions flared up recently after the US slammed what they called Iran's "highly provocative" actions of firing unguided rockets last month near US Navy ships in the Gulf including the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. (Photo : Getty Images) The ultimate aim of the organization is to promote cooperation between the China and the 10 ASEAN member states in terms of trade, investment, education and tourism. Advertisement China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are looking to strengthen bilateral ties ahead of the 25th anniversary of their bilateral relations. Despite the on-going territorial claims over the South China Sea, China is ready to further cooperation with the other nations. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN and China Dialogue Relations, the ASEAN-China Centre in Beijing was opened in 2011. This organization was established with the support of different ASEAN countries and China. The centre was established to promote collaboration between China and the other members of the ASEAN in terms of trade, investment, education and tourism. According to Lada Phumas from the ASEAN-China Centre, the centre has done a great deal in spreading information about ASEAN to the Chinese people and vice-versa. China has become ASEAN's largest trading partner since 2009. ASEAN is also China's largest trading partner. A reported increase in trade between China and the ASEAN by 8.2 percent to $480 billion in 2014 is seen as a good sign of their growing relations, especially in maritime cooperation. Beijing has invited ASEAN members to be a part of the proposed 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a network that aims to connect Asia to Africa. According to Chen Yue, State Oceanic Administration, China and ASEAN countries can cooperate in marine research, ecological protection, disaster relief and prevention. They could also collaborate on law enforcement, rescue efforts and inter-cultural exchanges. However, there is the thorny issue of the South China Sea. Several ASEAN nations and China have conflicting claims over parts of South China Sea, where an estimated $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year. China's Foreign Ministry insists that the South China Sea is not a China-ASEAN issue. China continues to favor direct talks with other South China Sea claimant countries over third party negotiations. Meanwhile, as a sign of strengthening ties, China and ASEAN recently sealed a deal to advance Free Trade Agreement by $1 trillion in 2020. Advertisement TagsASEAN, China-ASEAN, China-ASEAN relations, China-ASEAN 25th Anniversary, ASEAN-China Centre in Beijing (Photo : Getty Images/Alex Wong) Former US defense secretary Chuck Hagel meets with China's President Xi Jinping in this photo taken in Beijing, China. Hagel and former US defense chiefs William Cohen, William Perry and Harold Brown have suggested more military cooperation between China and the US to diffuse tensions in the South China Sea and build trust between the two nations. Advertisement Four former U.S. secretaries of defense have suggested more military cooperation between China and the US to diffuse tensions in the South China Sea and build trust between the two nations. Chuck Hagel, William Cohen, William Perry and Harold Brown emphasized the need for more exchanges between the Chinese and US armed forces as a means to promote greater understanding and improve the level of trust between the two countries. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The four former US defense chiefs made the assertion in separate statements issued during an event marking the 50th anniversary of the National Committee on United States-China Relations held in Washington recently. Brown, who was US defense secretary from 1977 to 1981, said that military exchanges between China and the US have evolved alongside the economic relationship between the two nations. "I think we should do more to improve military-to-military relationships at the senior levels," Brown said. "Now, you can't have a one-sided push to do that, and so far I think it's the Chinese that have limited that. But I think I would push again." Perry, who served as defense chief from 1994 to 1997 under the Clinton administration, agreed with Brown's view, saying high-level dialogue between the Chinese and US military leaderships should continue. "Beyond that, I think the single most significant relationship would be that which our CINCPAC -- Commander-in-Chief of Pacific Forces -- can make with China," Perry said, adding that, "They could make an excellent ambassador for us." Cohen, who served as Pentagon chief from 1997 to 2001, suggested that China is intvited to some of the US military's exercises with its allies in the Asia-Pacific Region. "So it doesn't look as if it's just the United States, the Australians and the Japanese conducting exercises which appear to be aimed at the Chinese," Cohen said. "I think that's a way to build more trust, even though it does raise questions about security." The four former Pentagon chiefs agreed that US military academies should train more officers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to foster mutual trust. Former US defense secretary Hagel, who served under President Barrack Obama from 2013 to 2015, remarked that the US armed forces now undertakes more collaborative efforts with the Chinese military than before. "There are so many things that our military leaders have done -- and are doing -- to build that military-to-military relationship that most people never see," Hagel said. Established in 1966 by a coalition of scholars, civic leaders and businessmen, the National Committee on United States-China Relations is a non-profit organization that promotes better understanding between the people and leaders of China and the US. The committee is funded by the US Department of State, the US Department of Education, private foundations and corporate sponsors. Advertisement TagsUS Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, us military, China-US relations (Photo : Getty Images/Gabriel Mistral) A US Marine teaches a Filipino soldier how to use an M4 rifle in the above photo taken during joint exercises in Cavite, the Philippines. The Philippine supreme court recently cleared the way for the US to deploy aircraft, naval ships and thousands of US Marines to Philippine shores. Advertisement The Philippine supreme court has cleared the way for a contested defense treaty that allows the US to deploy aircraft, naval ships and thousands of US Marines to Philippine shores at a time when China is beginning to assert itself more vigorously in the South China Sea. Signed in 2014 by US president Barrack Obama and Philippine president Benigno Aquino, Jr., the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the US and the Philippines seeks to revitalize the 65-year old military alliance between the two nations some two decades after US troops were forced out of the Philippines by the country's senate. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The pact was stalled for two years after a group of Filipino lawyers argued that it violated the Philippine constitution as it had not been approved by the country's senate. In its ruling issued on Tuesday, the top Philippine court said the 2014 EDCA is not a new treaty, and as such does not require the approval of Filipino lawmakers. "EDCA is not constitutionally infirm," asserted Philippine supreme court spokesman Theodore Te. "It remains consistent with existing laws and treaties that it purports to implement." US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the ruling, saying it was an important decision. "The United States has an iron-clad commitment to the security of the Philippines," Kerry said. "To that end we welcome the Philippine supreme court's decision ... [and] look forward to implementing this accord." Kerry and US defense secretary Ash Carter met with top Philippine diplomatic and defense officials in Washington after the ruling. The group is expected to discuss economic and security issues, including the increasingly tense situation in the South China Sea. Saddled by debt and hobbled by unfettered population growth, the Philippine republic is among the poorest nations in Southeast Asia. Some analysts have suggested that the Philippine government was compelled to pursue the ratification of the defense pact after failing to engage Beijing in a multilateral effort to establish a code of conduct for maritime activities in the disputed territories of the South China Sea. US Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain has, meanwhile, hailed the revitalized US-Philippines defense treaty, saying it will raise the alliance of the two nations to a level of cooperation and integration not seen in decades. "As Manila finds itself the target of Chinese coercion in the West Philippine Sea and is looking to Washington for leadership, this agreement will give us new tools to ... expand engagement with the Philippine armed forces, and enhance our presence in Southeast Asia," McCain said. China is managing separate disputes with Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines over territories in the South China Sea. The Philippines has filed a case against China's seizure of the disputed territories in the international tribunal at The Hague. The court is expected to deliver a ruling within the year despite the fact that China has refused to participate in the proceedings. Advertisement TagsUS-Philippiness, China-Philippines, US-Philippines defense pact (Photo : Reuters) President Xi Jinping has called for major reforms in all sectors of the government this year Advertisement Chinese President Xi Jinping called on all government officials and members of the Communist Party to institute deepening and advancing reforms in all sectors on Monday during the 20th convention of China Central Reform Leading Group. President Xi said that the foundation for significantly advancing reforms should be created in the three years, but the 'main body frame' should be established this year. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement A statement released after the meeting said the group will conduct full assessment of the ongoing reforms in all sectors and will focus its efforts by prioritizing on key points to implement advanced reforms. The statement said the group will prioritize reforms of the financial and taxation system, state-owned enterprises, the education system, science and technology system, the land system, judicial equity, environmental protection, the health care, the pension system and discipline inspection. During the meeting, China's central reform body drafted and approved seven documents which include guidelines to improve government transparency, teach civil servants about the existing laws, reform public institutions, advance reforms in science and technology, and improve the justice system by awarding whistleblowers who help solve crimes. The statement underscored the need for government transparency and called on the officials to make government transactions public. The group also rallied public servants to perform their duties in accordance with existing laws. According to the statement, protection will be provided to tipsters, who help the administration weed out erring officials as part of the government's advance reforms. Part of the advance reforms calls on the public to report duty-related crimes against public servants without fear of retaliation. The meeting was attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan, and Zhang Gaoli, members of the political bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee and deputy heads of the group. Advertisement TagsChina's advancing reforms, government transparency, whistleblowers (Photo : Getty Images) To protect wildlife, particularly migratory whooper swans, authorities have prohibited the use of drones over the Qinghai Lake. Advertisement The province of Qinghai in northwest China has prohibited the flying of drones over the Qinghai Lake, expressing fear that the flying device will chase away wildlife. The administrative bureau of the lake on Tuesday said that visitors, who use drones, have scared away the migratory whooper swans. Some visitors allegedly use car horns or firecrackers to startle the birds in order to capture better photos, according to ornithologist Fang Hua. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Even local amateur photographer Wang Qiwen has noticed the dramatic decrease of the migratory swans this winter. The administrative bureau is taking precautionary measures by designating personnel to patrol around the lake and reprimand those showing unacceptable behaviours. Recently, there has been a heated debate over the Internet between bird watchers and drone enthusiast over this issue. Several netizens suggest that China should promulgate specific protocols with regard to drone operation particularly when used around wildlife habitats. According to Xihai Metropolis Daily, on Friday, a group of photographers were out in the lake for a photoshoot. One of them used a drone to capture photos of nearly 300 swans perching on the lake's Quanwan Bay. Other photographers reportedly shot photos of the drone floating about a meter over the swans, who flew away after being agitated. Some of the photographers allegedly returned on Sunday and only found a handful of wintering swans in the area. The following day, photos of the drone were posted online, sparking a debate about how and when drones should be used. Some have blamed Chinese drone manufacturer DJI for creating easily maneuverable drones which are capable of aerial photography for amateurs. But Nanning Radio commentator Yin Yuping posted on his microblog that drones are not to blame as the real threat are human beings. On Monday, Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve Administration head He Yubang paid a visit to the Quanwan Bay and counted nearly 80 swans. However, the administration cannot still determine whether swans have left the reserve or they just transfered to a different site. He urged the public to help preserve the wildlife and to coordinate with the government in implementing the new rule by reporting instances of wildlife disturbances. Advertisement Tagsdrones, camera, Photography, Qinghai Lake (Photo : Reuters) China has defended its test flights to the Fiery Cross Reef saying the newly built island is a territory of Beijing therefore it was not necessary to notify any country before the flights were conducted. Advertisement China on Monday defended its test flights to the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys saying the island is a territory of Beijing, therefore there was no need to notify anyone about the flights. China was reacting to Vietnam's complaint that it did not notify Hanoi about its flights to an island built in the South China Sea. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Vietnam said that the civil aircraft landings by China were on an 'illegally' built reef, which Vietnam is also claiming together with four other countries. Hanoi has vowed to protect its sovereignty to the Spratlys group of islands and will seek to resolve the dispute through peaceful means. The Vietnamese government reportedly sent a protest letter to the Chinese Embassy as well as to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) complaining that China continues to endanger the airspace in the South China Sea region with its unannounced flights. Civil aviation authorities in Vietnam said China flew its aircraft into the country's "flight information region" without prior notice and that China's continued flights over the disputed waters threatens the "safe exploitation of international air routes."' China has rejected Vietnam's complaint as "groundless" because the test flights were within China's sovereign area. "According to international law, national aviation activities are not subject to relevant restrictions from international civil aviation conventions and the International Civil Aviation Organization," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. China has conducted two test flights on its newly-built airstrip on the Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea. The airstrip is one of three runways China has constructed in the contested islands in the Spratlys group oof islands, which is also being claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan. China is, however, claiming almost all the islands and reefs in the disputed waters. The United States had echoed Vietnam's protests and criticized China for building structures on reclaimed islands which it believes will be turned into a military zone. The South China Sea is believed to have large deposits of oil and gas and up to $5 trillion worth of maritime trade passing through the waters every year. Advertisement TagsVietnam, International Civil Aviation Organization One of the hottest Chinese female actresses, Fan Bingbing proves that Chinese are obsessed with white skin. Advertisement A recent international study headed by Chinese scientists has revealed that the preference of people from China for white-colored (or pale) complexion may originate from a "defective" genotype. It has been considered a economic, social or cultural phenomenon that Chinese men appear to be preoccupied with fair skin. This frequently happens when they are looking for a partner. Meanwhile, most Chinese women reportedly prefer a Caucasian or "trophy" husband. Modern Chinese women desire to be Bai-fu-mei, which translates to "white", "rich", "beautiful." Furthermore, Mintel, a market research company conducted a study that showed 95% of women in China aged 20-49 used facial masks to attain whiter face. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The findings of this study indicates that this desire to find a partner with white-colored complexion may come from a genetic predisposition. Chinese people have a perception that people with white skin are more superior because nobles that ruled China thousands of years ago had white skin. The coming of Europeans to China also contributed to this perception. Genetic samples taken from more than 1,000 individuals were studied and analyzed by the researchers from China, US, and Europe. The findings showed that the fairer skin of the Han Chinese compared to skin of people from Southeast Asia and Africa is the result of a mutation of the OCA2 gene. The function of the OCA2 gene is to aid in the transportation of tyrosine - an amino acid used in producing melanin. Melanin is the pigment that determines skin coloration. Professor Su Bing of Kunming Institute of Zoology in Yunnan province and Meng Anming of Tsinghua University on Beijing led the research team. The team estimates that the mutation of the genes leading to fairer skin of Han Chinese happened around 15, 224 years ago after their ancestors' migration up north of the country. Advertisement Tagsbeauty, Research, women, white skin, China White Skin Genetic Mutation (Photo : Getty Images/ChinaFotoPress) IMF managing director Christine Lagarde is seen addressing members of a forum in the above photo taken in Hainan Province, China. The IMF chief has said that slower, more sustainable economic growth in China will be good for the global economy over the long term. Advertisement The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that slower, more sustainable economic growth in China will be good for the global economy over the long term. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday that China's new economic development program -- which seeks slower but more stable economic expansion for the world's most populous nation -- will yield benefits for the world's economy in the long term. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "This is a positive endeavor that, in the long run, will benefit everybody," Lagarde said. "In the short run, however, this transformation generates spillover effects through trade and lower demand for commodities, and through financial channels, as well." The IMF chief made the statement in Paris at a farewell event for Christian Noyer, the recently retired governor of the Bank of France and chairman of the Bank for International Settlements. Lagarde, however, expressed concern for the slowdown in the convergence between developed and developing nations. "The world cannot afford the cost of stalled convergence, because 85 percent [of countries that are 'emerging' or 'developing'] matter," Lagarde is quoted by CNBC as saying. The once startlingly rapid growth of China's economy has slowed over the past five years. China's economy grew by some 6.8 percent last year, according to the IMF. This year, the monetary body expects the country's economy to increase by around 6.3 percent. Lagarde had earlier told Chinese state media that China is undergoing a legitimate transition from high levels of growth to slower, more stable economic progress, which is inevitable as the economy matures. "China is going through a crucial and legitimate transition period," the IMF boss told Xinhua in an interview over the weekend. Asked whether China's recent economic stagnation should worry Africa, which relies on Chinese commercial partners for the bulk of its trade, Lagarde said the nations of Africa have no cause for anxiety. "China will remain the second largest economy in the world after the US," said Lagarde. "Its economy will continue to grow next year, meaning that it will continue buying raw materials." The IMF director welcomed the recent announcement that China will extend some $60 billion in development assistance to the African continent over the next three years. "That one of the two largest economies of the world wants to work with the entire international community to create new partnerships and go beyond its natural geographic zone is something that is welcome," Lagarde said. Advertisement TagsIMF (Photo : Getty Images) The number of Chinese visitors to Australia reached 1 million in 2015. Advertisement The tourism in Australia continues to show positive signs as the number of Chinese visitors reached a record high in 2015. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), more than one million Chinese tourists took a trip to Australia last year. ABS released the figures on Tuesday, Jan. 12, showing the influx of Chinese tourists to Australia. Just ahead of India, China continues to be the fastest tourism market for Australia. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement According to ABS, Chinese tourists increased by 21.6 percent to over a million last year. From 823,000 in 2014, an additional 177,900 Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2015, pushing over the one million mark. This surge in tourism has made China Australia's most valuable market for tourism. According to ABS, Chinese visitors spend more than $5.4 billion each year, including over $900 million on shopping. This amount to about 37 percent of all spending on shopping by international visitors in Australia. The Tourism Research of Australia expects that the growth of Chinese visitors will double to two million this year, with their spending increasing by seven percent each year. More so, with the estimated growth in tourism, the revenue from this industry is calculated to reach $9.6 billion by 2024-2025. The Australian government has identified Tourism as one of the five key National Investment Priorities. This has resulted in an increase in tourism infrastructure investment. Tourism Australian managing director John O' Sullivan is pleased with the information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. He said that the news isn't just gratifying for the tourism in Australia, but speaks more of the industry as a whole. Do you think Chinese tourists will continue to visit Australia and reach the estimated 2 million visitors this year? Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comments below. Advertisement Tagstourism, Australia Tourism, Australian Bureau of Statistcs, Surpassed the one million mark, Revenue in Tourism Industry (Photo : BULENT KILIC / AFP / Getty Images) Turkish police officers stand guard near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul's tourist hub of Sultanahmet on January 13, 2016, a day after an attack. Advertisement The Istanbul suicide bombing on Tuesday, which left 10 foreign nationals dead, is seen as the deadliest attack on Germans since 2002. On Wednesday, the prime minister of Turkey vowed to continue its fight against terrorism in light of the deadly bombing on the Sultanahmet Square. Eight out of the ten foreign nationals who died in the attack were German citizens. Fifteen other individuals were wounded in the incident, according to CNN. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "We will continue our fight against terrorism with the same resolve, and will never take a step back," Turkey's Anadolu news agency quotes Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday. "We will never compromise, not one single inch." The suspect blew up the bomb in the middle of a German tour group which was mostly made up of retirees, according to German officials. Interior Minister Efkan Ala said the suspect was arrested late Tuesday, but did not reveal more information. In the wake of the deadly bombing in Istanbul which rocked the country's multi-billion-dollar tourism industry, Turkish authorities arrested 68 terror suspects in a raid that spanned seven provinces. Officials blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for the deadly bombing. At present, details about the suicide bomber are still scant. What is known is that he was born in 1988 and came to Turkey via Syria under the guise of a refugee. Turkish media identified the suspect as nabil Fadli who was born in Saudi Arabia, ABC News reports. The last time that such a deadly attack on German citizens happened was in 2002. At that time, a suicide bomber blew up a synagogue in Tunisia, leaving 14 German tourists, three Tunisians, and two French citizens dead. As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the deadly blast in Istanbul on Tuesday. However, Davutoglu, who blames ISIS for the incident, said the act was an attack not just against Turkey, but against the whole world as well. Advertisement TagsIstanbul, ISIS, Sultahnahmet Square, Turkey (Photo : Getty Images) President Park vows to pull all diplomatic efforts to encourage United Nations to create stronger sanctions against North Korea. Advertisement President Park Geun-hye of South Korea has called for China's support against Pyongyang's nuclear testing as she vowed to pull all diplomatic moves to convince the United Nations (UN) to adopt a resolution imposing more stringent sanctions on North Korea. Park wishes for the UN to implement its most powerful sanctions on North Korea following the hermit country's recent nuclear test. In a televised address to the nation, she said that North Korea's nuclear testing is an upfront defiance to the peace and security not only in Northeast Asia but also around the world, according to Yonhap New Agency. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement She added that proposed sanctions should be controlling enough to force North Korea to change its plans. North Korea has already been sanctioned by the UN for its three nuclear tests done in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Currently, the U.N. Security Council is working on new sanctions against North Korea as Pyongyang remains defiant in its plan to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal together. Just over a week ago, North Korea announced that it successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb test. Park has asked for China;s support in imposing sanctions against North Korea. She said that China should be aware of its essential position in keeping Pyongyang from launching further nuclear tests. Park hopes that China will show its commitment by taking action against North Korea. China has since expressed firm opposition against North Korea's nuclear program. However, experts say that China is reluctant to take bold steps as it can undermine North Korea. China is an essential ally of North Korea. It is believed that China has some kind of leverage over North Korea, however, a weakened North Korea can threaten China's own security interests. Advertisement TagsNorth Korea, Nuclear Activites, Pyongyang nuclear test (Photo : Getty Images) The government of Hong Kong has banned the trade in illegal ivory in the city. Advertisement In a historic move, Hong Kong will phase out the sale of ivory in the city, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced on Wednesday. This decision has been hailed by many activists. Leung announced this historic move during his annual policy address. He said that the government of Hong Kong will take bold steps to totally prohibit the sale of ivory in the country. He added that the government will enforce grave punishments and fines on smugglers and illegal traders of protected and endangered species. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Alex Hofford of WildAid Hong Kong is delighted with the announcement. He has been campaigning against the illegal trade in the city for a long time. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Quat, who has been calling for a full ban of the illegal trade on ivory, has encouraged the government to implement the commitment without further impediment. She has also urged Hong Kong citizens to strongly support the policy and help ensure its full implementation until the very end. Although the city has already banned the import and export of ivory, there are around 400 licensed sellers that are allowed to trade in ivory material that dates before the 1989 international treaty that forbids the business. But activists claim this is only a facade and the illegal trade in invory continue underground - encouraging the poaching of elephants. Hafford said that Hong Kong has always been the "dark heart of the ivory trade." An undercover investigation conducted by WildAid last year revealed just how simple it is to break the treaty. Ever year, thousands of elephants are killed by hunters for their tusks. With the current rate of killing, the wild African elephants could be extinct within a generation, according to activists. Sadly, much of the demand comes from mainland China. Ivory is considered a symbol of wealth in the country. For years, Chinese authorities have campaigned against illegal wildlife products. In fact, Britain's Prince William made a speech broadcasted on Chinese state television on how to turn this epidemic around. Now that Hong Kong has banned the selling of ivory, it is hoped that generations to come can still witness the magnificent beauty of the wild African elephant. Advertisement TagsHong Kong, Hong Kong Bans Ivory Trade, Ivory trade, illegal ivory trade, phase out of ivory sale ANALYSIS: Obama points barbs at Trump, Cruz in final SOTU address 13 January, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) World War III isn't underway and America doesn't need to be restored to her former glory because she hasn't fallen, President Barack Obama said in pointed remarks aimed at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during his final State of the Union address Tuesday. In the speech, which supporters said would tout his administration's successes, Obama took time to dismantle what he regards as Republican myths about his presidency and pan GOP talking points about terrorist threats facing the United States. He said the U.S. is able to handle the threats posed by both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and talk of America's vulnerability, he said, is "political hot air." America is not getting weaker, he added. "We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead they call us," Obama said. That, however, isn't necessarily true as worldwide political turmoil has forced some countries into the orbits of both Russia and China. Moscow has played a hand in crises in the Baltics, Georgia, the Ukraine and now Syria. China is also flexing its muscle in the South China Sea and claiming wide swaths of territory traditionally belonging to Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Those countries are generally facing the crises alone. Obama hinted that his opponents do not have access to relevant security information when they discuss the conditions facing the U.S. at home and abroad, but he said he is aware "this is a dangerous time." "That's not because of diminished American strength or some looming superpower," Obama said. "In today's world, we're threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states. The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia." He did not take responsibility for his administration's fomenting of the Arab Spring and support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. NO GLOBAL CONFLICT Obama said the U.S. is doing what is necessary to protect citizens, and he dismissed as "over-the-top" claims that the country was in the midst of another world war. Those descriptions are good propaganda for the enemy, he said. "Over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions. We just need to call them what they are killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed," Obama said. Obama warned in a comment aimed at Cruz, however, that the world doesn't simply want to hear "tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians." "That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage," Obama said. Cruz, however, did not say civilians should be carpet bombed. He said he wanted to carpet bomb terrorist positions. Asked about the State of the Union address, Cruz said he would "apologize to no one for my willingness and commitment to killing terrorists." He also chastised the president for failing to address the terror attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, as well as a recent attack on a Philadelphia police officer by a man who claimed to have shot the officer in the name of Islam. "We need a commander-in-chief that will speak the name of our enemy," Cruz said. "Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton has what it takes to do so. If I am president, we'll utterly destroy ISIS. It means carpet bombing them out of oblivion so that any jihadist that declares war and tries to murder Americans will be defeated." Obama challenged Congress to pass a military authorization on the use of force against ISIS on the ground in the Middle East, but he also said he intends to pursue the terrorist "with or without congressional action." "If you doubt America's commitment or mine to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell," Obama said. IN THE CROSSHAIRS Trump was also the focus of several comments, including the president's criticism of those who promote division in American society through rhetoric about how others look or their religion. Politicians, he said, shouldn't "insult Muslims." "That's why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot I stand tonight that "to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place." "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer. That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country." Obama, though he was expected to say more, only made a passing reference to other hot topics same-sex marriage and gun violence. He claimed the work of his administration has "secured the freedom in every state to marry the person we love." Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed for five days for contempt of court for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, was in the gallery. Though his comment on reducing gun violence only occupied four words in his speech, one GOP representative still left the room in protest. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) left the floor and told a Breitbart editor afterward that he could "not abide sitting there being lectured one more time." "This is my last chance to step out of there, and I'm going to go to the member's chapel and pray for the restoration of our Constitution, for the lives of the unborn for whom, as far as we know, he's never shed a tear for, and to pray God will raise up a leader he will use to restore the soul of America," King said. Obama also took a jab at Trump on his economic record. After describing job gains actually losses when the labor force participation rate is considered Obama said the U.S. economy had recovered and anyone claiming otherwise was "peddling fiction." REPUBLICAN RESPONSE South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley voiced the Republican response to the address. She, too, seemed to have Trump in the cross hairs, though she did not mention the candidate by name. While critical of Obama's "soaring words" about his poor record, she said candidates needed to tamp down the anti-immigrant talk. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation," Haley said. "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country." In speaking about the Charleston church massacre at Mother Emanuel, she said mentioned the twelve who went to Bible study that night: "We lost nine incredible souls that night. "What happened after the tragedy is worth pausing to think about. "Our state was struck with shock, pain, and fear. But our people would not allow hate to win. We didn't have violence, we had vigils. We didn't have riots, we had hugs. "We didn't turn against each other's race or religion. We turned toward God, and to the values that have long made our country the freest and greatest in the world. Haley was later criticized by conservative commentator Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham for her comments. CANDIDATES RESPOND GOP candidate Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, after offering a counter-point to almost every major victory Obama declared he made during his time in office, tweeted: "Proud of my friend @nikkihaley for delivering a positive & uplifing response to Pres. Obama's #SOTU. Clear vision for a brighter future." Donald Trump, after referencing the SOTU as the "tonight show," later tweeted: "The State Of The Union speech was one of the most boring, rambling and non-substantive I have heard in a long time. New leadership fast!" Ted Cruz, after promising his own State of the Union on the campaign trail from New Hampshire, tweeted: "Tonight's speech was less a State of the Union and more a state of denial. #SOTU." World's third largest Christian body prepares for split over homosexuality 13 January, 2016 by Tobin Perry , | CANTERBURY, England (Christian Examiner)As global leaders of the Anglican Communion gather this week in the historic Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England, the communion's leader says a likely split would be a failure but not a "disaster" for Anglicanism. What is at stake? ... It is the reputation of Jesus Christ. It is the souls of millions of people who are being taught a false Gospel and are being led into spiritual and sexual bondage under the pretense of the Christian faith. It is about the third largest expression of the Christian faith being able to unite and bring Christian hope and godliness in the face of violent opposition all around the globe." "It would not be good if the Church is unable to set an example to the world of showing how we can love one another and disagree profoundly, because we are brought together by Jesus Christ, not by our own choice," said Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury on a BBC Radio 4 earlier this week. The words came before church leaders kicked off the historic summit on Monday. It's the first such meeting of leaders of the 80-million-member global Anglican Communion in more than a decade. The heads of 40 separate Anglican church bodies are meeting at the summit. An article in The Daily Telegraph suggested the divisions between the conservative and liberal wings of the communion run so deep that Welby is providing separate chapels because of fears the two groups won't pray together. Though the division has brewed for at least two decades, the turmoil heated up in 2003 when the U.S. branch (called the Episcopal Church) ordained its first openly-gay bishop, Gene Robinson. Conservative Anglicans, particularly those in Africa and Asia, have since broken ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Canadian branch of Anglicanism. A more conservative Episcopal Church in the United States also broke away and formed its own body (the Anglican Church of North America). The ordination of women has also become a significant issue in the debate. In 2008 conservative churches, including the new American church, formed the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) to provide support for the ministries of the conservative churches. In a letter posted on the website for the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Foley Beach wrote that he was attending the summit in the hope of "restoring order to the structures of the Anglican Church." "What is at stake?" Beach writes "It is really not about me or about the Anglican Church in North America. It is the reputation of Jesus Christ. It is the souls of millions of people who are being taught a false Gospel and are being led into spiritual and sexual bondage under the pretense of the Christian faith. It is about the third largest expression of the Christian faith being able to unite and bring Christian hope and godliness in the face of violent opposition all around the globe." Welby hopes to avoid a full schism by providing increased autonomy for national churches. The new arrangement, according to The Blaze, would link these churches to Canterbury but not to one another. He hopes the new arrangement will allow the church to respond in a unified manner to issues like climate change and religious violence. "God put us together and we have to work out how we live with that and how we serve God faithfully in a way that shows that you can disagree profoundly and still live and care for each other," Welby said, according to The Telegraph. The Telegraph also reports that Ugandan Archbishop Stanley Ntagali has threatened to walk out if there is no discussion on restoring what he called "godly order" in the Anglian Communion. The Church of England anticipated a walkout by six African countriesUganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to The Guardian, these leaders are asking Welby to impose sanctions on the U.S. Episcopal Church. The Guardian also suggest that many liberal leaders within the communion would welcome a schism because they are "horrified by the homophobic stance of conservative churches in sub-Saharan Africa" and believe a separation is inevitable. Though Welby says he hopes the Anglican Communion remains united throughout the week, he admits there is nothing he can do if conservative leaders walk out of the summit and trigger a schism. "Certainly I want reconciliation, but reconciliation doesn't always mean agreementin fact it very seldom does," Welby told the BBC. "It means finding ways to disagree well and that's what we've got to do this week. There's nothing I can do if people decide that they want to leave the room. It won't split the communion." A health conference specifically catered towards the needs of Korean Americans will be taking place for the first time in Los Angeles. The First Annual Korean American Health Conference 2016, which will be hosted by the Korean American Graduate Medical Association (KAGMA), came about as a coalition of 13 organizations including KHEIR (Korean American Health Education Information and Research) Clinic, the Korean American Coalition (KAC), Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCC), and Korean American Family Services (KFAM), among others saw the need for deeper research on the health concerns and needs of Korean Americans. While other ethnic minority groups have had medical research done regarding the groups specific needs, not much specific study has been carried out for the Korean American population, according to Dr. David Kim, the assistant director of the residency program at Cedars-Sinai and who is heading the upcoming conference. A lack of research on the health needs of Korean Americans hinders them from receiving the care, resources, and funding that they may otherwise be qualified for. Korean Americans face greater language barriers in trying to access health care, and are more uninsured than other Asian groups, Kim added, leading to disparities in health conditions. He said he hopes the conference themed, Improving Health Outcomes in Korean Americans through Education, Collaboration, and Empowerment could provide the Korean American community with more information about health care and specific health concerns. Organizers also said they hope the conference would serve as a platform through which these concerns can be voiced to the greater community, as political figures including Los Angeles Councilmember David Ryu, California State Treasurer John Chiang, and Deputy Consulate General of South Korea Sang Min Ryu will also be present. Im hopeful to see that the new generation is becoming more engaged in the community, said Erin Kim of KHEIR Clinic. And I hope that this conference could spread awareness of the needs of the Korean American community, leading to policy changes and long-term impact of the health of Korean Americans. Main sessions of the conference will focus on health disparities in the Korean American community, the Affordable Care Act and its impact on Korean Americans, and gastric cancer in Korean Americans. Two sessions of roundtable discussions will also discuss other concerns including cardiac disease, Alzheimers disease, lung cancer, hepatitis, breast cancer, colon cancer, and perfectionism and mental health. The conference is on Saturday, January 16, from 8:30 AM to 1 PM. To register and for more information, visit kagmahealthconference2016.eventbrite.com. Elected officials and Korean pastors and community leaders came together for a prayer reception at the state capital on January 11, soon before the state legislature voted on a resolution to recognize January 13 as Korean American Day. In particular, pastors of the Council of Korean Churches in Orange County were present, along with Assemblywoman Young Kim (R-Fullerton), Assemblyman Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita), and 14 other members of the State Assembly and Senate. Kim had also invited Korean pastors to the state capital in the beginning of last year, soon after she had become elected into her office, to pray together along with other colleagues in Californias legislature. Kim and Wilk introduced the resolution (ACR110) to recognize January 13, 2016 as Korean American Day to the state legislature on January 4. And on January 11, soon after the prayer reception in the morning, the resolution was passed unanimously. The resolution was co-authored by 76 members of the Assembly. As a Korean American, I am proud of our heritage and the strong values of family, faith, and hard work that have been handed to us by previous generations, said Kim. Im also humbled to represent such a diverse district that includes a vibrant Korean American community, she added. Im proud to present a resolution for the second year in a row honoring Korean American Day and recognizing the contributions of the community. Wilk added that he is honored to present a resolution recognizing Korean American Day, and that its important we highlight and celebrate the significant role Korean Americans play in our everyday lives. This year marks the 113th year since Koreans first immigrated to the U.S. The first group of immigrants arrived on January 13, 1903 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Controversy echoes what Mideast Christians have wrestled with for centuries. | Image: Associated Press What Arab Christians Think of Wheaton-Hawkins 'Same God' Debate Larycia Hawkins has a fan in Egypt. Theresa, the nine-months-pregnant wife of a Coptic Orthodox juice stand owner, could not hide her admiration when told how a Christian professor had donned a hijab in solidarity with Muslims facing prejudice in America. It is a beautiful thing she has done, going beyond the norm to better approach others, she said. But it would not work here. Her comment came on the heels of her husband Hanis discomfort. He called the symbolic act extreme. In doing so, the humble man mixing mango and strawberry mirrored the reactions of most regional evangelical and Orthodox theologians to the core question of the Wheaton College dispute: not Hawkins's hijab, but her "same God" explanation for it. All commended her intentions, but only onethe Palestinian head of a seminarypraised it as a stand for justice. One pastor called it excessive. A bishop, unnecessary. And therein lies the rub. Whether considering donning the hijab in solidarity or debating if Muslims and Christians worship the same God, Arab Christians operate in a vastly different religious context. Only recently have American Christians had to deal with issues raised by Muslims in their midst. The 9/11 tragedy birthed a political culture that seeks unity through theological terms, said Salim Munayer, head of the lauded Musalaha reconciliation ministry in Jerusalem. But among Muslims and Christians in the Middle East, the discussion is not over whether we worship the same God, he said, but rather Muslims challenging us that we worship one God at all. At a recent interfaith event in Cairo, a black-robed, long-bearded Coptic ... | Image: Open Doors 2014 was the world's worst year for the persecution of Christians in the modern era. Until 2015 surpassed it. The 2016 World Watch List (WWL) from Open Doors analyzes how African countries now outnumber Mideast countries on the list, affecting far more Christians numerically (though not as severely). Christian martyrdoms and destruction of churches nearly doubled during the "Year of Fear," yet only 4 of the top 10 persecuting countries rank among the 10 most violent ones. Meanwhile, the spread in severity among top persecutors shrank by half, and five countries that would have qualified for last year's list did not make this year's list because the minimum threshold of persecution is up 50 percent since 2014. The annual list studies pressures on private, family, community, national, and church areas of life, plus levels of violence, in order to rank the top 50 countries where "Christians face the most persecution." [Full list below.] "Open Doors USA predicted that while Christians faced the worst persecution in modern history in 2014, the worst was yet to come," the organization stated. "The prediction was sadly fulfilled in 2015the persecution of Christians increased on every continent." More than 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith last year, up drastically from 4,344 in 2014 and 2,123 in 2013. Those numbers dont include North Korea or parts of Iraq and Syria, where accurate numbers are hard to obtain, Open Doors said. All three of those countries are among the WWL's top five persecutors. In addition, 2,400 churches were damaged or attacked worldwide, more than twice the number in 2014. ViolentIslamicextremism was the main culprit, "with its ... What You Need to Know About David Barton's New Edition of The Jefferson Lies Contact Warren Throckmorton, 724-967-5644, warrenthrockmorton@gmail.com GROVE CITY, Penn., Jan. 13, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Yesterday was the official release date of the second edition of "The Jefferson Lies" by Ted Cruz's Super PAC coordinator David Barton. Published by World Net Daily, the second edition promises to answer Barton's critics and restore Jefferson's reputation. However, there is much World Net Daily and Barton are not telling the public about the circumstances surrounding the new book. In August 2012, Thomas Nelson confirmed that the first edition of "The Jefferson Lies" had been pulled from publication because the publisher "learned that there were some historical details included in the book that were not adequately supported." Thomas Nelson stated that it was in "the best interest of our readers to stop the publication and distribution." Many of those historical details are addressed factually in "Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President," a 2012 book by Christian college professors Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter. With the release of the second edition of "The Jefferson Lies," the fact checking in "Getting Jefferson Right" is more important than ever. The new version of "The Jefferson Lies" contains an entire section in critical response to "Getting Jefferson Right." In his response, the first error Barton makes is to assert that "The Jefferson Lies" was pulled from publication due to attacks from liberals. However, critics Jay Richards. Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and Gregg Frazer, professor of history at The Master's College are not liberals. "Getting Jefferson Right's" authors are not liberals. Many other conservative historians have also expressed negatives reviews of "The Jefferson Lies." Members of the media may contact Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter regarding the facts surrounding the removal of "The Jefferson Lies" from publication in 2012, the allegations of liberal bias now and the historical claims made in "The Jefferson Lies" about Jefferson's life and work. Contact Warren Throckmorton at warrenthrockmorton@gmail.com or 724-967-5644. For more information, see Getting Jefferson Right. "Anyone who reads 'Getting Jefferson Right' must come to grips with the untruths and suspect historical interpretations that [David] Barton regularly peddles in his books, speaking engagements, and on his radio program." John Fea, Chair, History Department, Messiah College Warren Throckmorton, PhD is Professor of Psychology and Michael Coulter, PhD is Professor of Political Science, both at Grove City College (PA). Share Tweet A crisis is developing in Ethiopia and we have a chance to stop it A humanitarian crisis has been developing in Ethiopia since October 2015, which has so far left 10.2 million people facing food shortages. Aid agencies and the nation's government have come up with a plan, but they have only managed to get 5 per cent of the funding needed to implement it. Ethiopia is starving, and the world doesn't seem to be paying attention. Ethiopia was already suffering from a drought when the strongest El Nino in decades struck, limiting the rainfall that usually comes between October and November. El Nino is a weather system that typically increases rainfall in California and southern US states and causes drought in other areas, including eastern and southern Africa. In Ethiopia, the lack of rain led to a failed harvest, destroying the agriculture on which 80 per cent of the population rely. "Severe drought in some regions, exacerbated by the strongest El Nino in decades, caused successive harvest failures and widespread livestock deaths," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, recently told reporters. According to the World Food Programme, humanitarian needs in Ethiopia have tripled since the beginning of 2015, "yet so far, less than 5 per cent of the resources required for the first six months of the year are available," Dujarric added. International development charity Christian Aid said farmers have been unable to produce harvest over two consecutive planting seasons and are now running low on fodder for cattle. "We have seen hundreds and thousands of livestock die in rural and pastoralist areas," Christian Aid's head of humanitarian programmes in Africa, Maurice Onyango, said in a statement. "It is estimated that nearly 250 of 700 'woredas' [districts] here are now extremely vulnerable and at serious risk of loss of food, water, health, livestock and assets... Meteorological forecasts indicate that the El Nino effect will continue until the middle of this year, so it is imperative that we act now." The severity of the food shortage is devastating communities, forcing them to slaughter the oxen needed for the next season and eating the seeds they had saved for planting. There is real fear that this crisis will have both a catastrophic human cost in the short term, and a longer term negative impact on development, reversing the progress Ethiopia has made in recent years. The crisis brings back memories of the country's 1983-85 famine, which left an estimated 400,000 people dead. It's not inevitable that history repeats itself, however, Ethiopia's government has collaborated with the United Nations and other aid agencies to develop a comprehensive document that lays out a plan to tackle the situation. The problem is, without the necessary funds $1.4 billion in total the scheme can't be implemented, and Ethiopia faces a downwards spiral. The reality is that this drought is just one crisis among many in the current international climate. The media is distracted with reports of the escalating situation in Syria and the subsequent refugee crisis. It's not that people don't care, but it's posible to argue that the malnutrition of 10.2 million Ethiopians has been sidelined. The worry is: "How bad does it need to get before the government donors take a real and active interest [in Ethiopia]?" Tearfund's deputy head for East and Southern Africa, Andy Morgan, told Christian Today. Challiss McDonough, spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said: "Humanitarian needs globally are so enormous right now that donors are struggling to do anything near what's needed. You've got layered global humanitarian crises. "It's hard for the donors to keep up." Media coverage is often reactive to crises, because the public "is worse at listening to good news stories", Oenone Chadburn, Tearfund's head of humanitarian support, added. If sufficient action is taken, a crisis can be averted. Ethiopia would not be left untouched, but it could avoid a repeat of the 1980s catastrophe. It has a stable government which has developed a realistic plan for a well co-ordinated response to the drought. But the international community must act proactively rather than reactively, giving money to fund the government's plan, and this may prove problematic. "International donor choices are a political field," Chadburn said. "It is not just about making the intelligent choice as to where money goes." Research by bilateral agencies has previously concluded that multi-year, early funding is the most cost-effective means of giving aid, and yet they are choosing to wait for sufficient media attention to respond to crises, she added. Governments are reluctant to act proactively, always looking for more evidence that what is predicted will actually happen. They are "bad at recognising and actually acting on these early warning signs," Chadburn said. We have a practical, proactive solution to the need in Ethiopia, but the global situation and the political nature of government giving is delaying the implementation, at the potential cost of thousands of lives. Anglican Primates should 'kick back and have fun' because they'll never agree on homosexuality, expert says Anglican archbishops meeting in Canterbury should "kick back, have fun, call it a family party and go back and do their stuff" because they are never going to agree on homosexuality, according to a leading academic specialising in the Anglican Communion. Abby Day, reader in race, faith and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, said the 38 Primates of the Anglican Communion will never find a common way forward over homosexuality. "If that means some people turn their back on each other, that's fine. The institution is well past its sell-by date. People have moved on and away from the issues that are splitting the Communion apart. It is unconscionable that people in the UK or the USA would demonise gays or support a state that said it was illegal. It is therefore impossible to compromise," she told Christian Today. In her recent book, Contemporary Issues in the Worldwide Anglican Communion, Day warned that Church of England women in their 70s, 80s and 90s who she called "Generation A" are dying out and will not be replaced. She argued that these mothers and grandmothers of the Baby Boomers and the so-called generations X and Y, often described as the "backbone" of the Church, are the final active generation and unlikely to be replaced. Her warnings were made more credible by the release yesterday of the latest figures from the Church of England which showed weekly attendance had fallen below one million for the first time. Day said: "There is discussion about whether this is going to be the last meeting, whether the Anglican Communion is going to fall apart. I think its important to remember the Anglican Communion is not the Church of England. It's a very informal body that was only created in 1867, the same year as the dominion of Canada. The Church of England goes back to Henry VIII." One reason the Anglican Church in the North is declining so much is that it has failed to take account of women's needs and changing perceptions about women. All the 39 Primates meeting in Canterbury this week under the leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby are men. Day said: "They lost the Baby Boomer generation and having done that, lost the children of the baby boomers. Having done that, there's no way back. Not at all. That's why I say the women from Generation A, the silver-haired ladies, who did not want to be priests were the last active generation. Their daughters never continued in their pews or their shoes. Everything we know about religion is that it mainly occurs through family transmission. The core values of those women of Generation A loved and held precious, sacred even, are different from later generations. The Primates are all men. They are consumed by issues around sexuality rather than gender." She said the decline in the Communion's fortunes reflects the decline of the British Empire. About three-quarters of the 38 Anglican provinces are in former colonies. The Communion maps roughly onto the Commonwealth. It is still seen as a colonial-era institution in many parts of the world. Day does not think it has to be the end for the Communion, however. "I do think it has a future if people recognise the shift in power from the North to the South. Power is now more in the South. What we hear are debates about homosexuality. This appears to be one of the divisive issues. But what I think it is also about is who is calling the shots. Maybe that's no longer the white man of the North." She said things had moved on since the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution that set a conservative stance on the gay issue. "But we are not going to get agreement on this. I think they could be affiliated by spirit and interests but not necessarily by policy." She predicted that those who want to move towards getting a consensus on homosexuality will fail. "They will then have to decide whether to accommodate it or force the issue that everyone has to sign up to the same doctrine. If they try to force that issue, I would expect some Primates would leave the meeting and seek to leave the Communion. But that's not a big deal." More important, she said, was the power of the local. "Places where I have been in Sri Lanka, Lebanon, United States and Canada remind me of the power of the local. Even in the UK the local is important. Churches reflect a great deal from their local surroundings. The make-up of their local congregations in terms of class structure and ethnicity. When I visited some churches in Sri Lanka it was really apparent they had a very ecumenical outlook towards other religions. One church incorporated Buddhist children in their nursery. Another church used to welcome the local Tamil tea pickers to their lunches." As Obama praises Iran nuke deal, Iranian forces seize 10 U.S. sailors, 2 patrol boats U.S. President Barack Obama praised his own administration for clinching a nuclear deal with Iran in his final State of the Union speech on Tuesday, pointing out that the deal prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and thus saving the world from a catastrophic war. But even as Obama was praising Iran for agreeing to the deal, the White House was caught in a fix as Iranian forces seized 10 U.S. sailors aboard two Navy patrol boats just hours before Obama delivered his speech, WND reported. Iran eventually freed the sailors on Wednesday after holding them overnight. One of the sailors appeared on Iranian TV apologising to Iranian authorities for mistakenly entering Iranian waters, reports said. Obama did not mention in his speech anything about the latest flare-up in U.S.-Iran relations. It was up to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest to try and make sense of Tuesday's events. He was asked by CNN host Jake Tapper how Obama could praise Iran and congratulate his own administration when Iran has just committed a highly provocative action against the U.S. when it seized the American sailors and their two patrol boats near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Tapper also reminded Earnest that Iran recently fired upon an American warship and test-fired a ballistic missile. "The basic question being: This does not seem like a country that is ready to be welcomed back to the community of nations," Tapper said. Earnest could only reply that Obama's nuclear deal with Iran was a separate issue from Iran's support of terrorism, missile tests and other attempts to undermine U.S. foreign policy. "I hear you, but they have 10 American sailors in custody right now, Josh. I think there are probably a lot of Americans watching right now that are wondering why we are about to give them sanctions relief when they have 10 Americans wherever they have them. In a boat, in a cell, whatever," said Tapper, according to the Blaze. Earnest told Tapper that Iran's detention of the U.S. sailors will not alter the White House's plans to push for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. In the coming days, the U.S. is set to unfreeze roughly $100 billion in Iranian assets. Earlier, White House Communications Director Jen Psaki also made the same statement in response to a question by CNN's Wolf Blitzer before Obama's State of the Union address. Psaki's statement prompted Blitzer to comment, "If the president does mention Iran, does mention the Iran nuclear deal and praises it without even mentioning anything about these 10 American sailors, that could be awkward." A Pentagon spokesman told the Associated Press that Iran's Revolutionary Guard caught and arrested the American sailors as they were travelling between Kuwait and Bahrain. Although Iranian authorities said they would return the sailors "promptly," they said GPS equipment taken from the U.S. ships would "prove that the American ships where 'snooping' around in Iranian waters," the New York Times reported. Italian dioceses respond to Pope's plea by hosting thousands of migrants Italian dioceses are hosting an ever increasing number of migrants, new figures have shown. An estimated 27,000 migrants are being housed in Italian parishes, shrines and monastries following Pope Francis' call for every diocese to welcome the influx of people fleeing persecution, hardship and war. The figures were released by Migrantes, an Italian migration organisation, ahead of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on 17 January. The announcement comes amid an increasingly divided debate over migration among Europe's leaders, and Monsignor Giancarlo Perego, Migrantes' director general, warned that "fear is growing". "Risks are growing not only as concerns the raising of walls, forms of protectionism and limitations on welfare for migrants, but also clashes and social conflict in Europe," he said. Even in Italy, Perego added, migrants' welcome has become "precarious". Despite attempts at a Europe-wide deal on relocation, Migrantes figures show that out of the 153,000 migrants that landed on Italian coasts in 2015, some 103,792 are still in the country. The statistics also show that in 2015 the proportion of asylum requests Italy accepted dropped significantly from 60 per cent in 2014 to 42 per cent in 2015. ''Europe must provide reception and integration,'' said Monsignor Guerino Di Tora, auxiliary bishop of Rome and president of Migrantes and the Episcopal Commission for Migration. He stressed that ''there are human beings behind these numbers". The World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be celebrated on Sunday and over 6,000 migrants from over 30 nationalities will be in St Peter's Square for the Pope's celebration, according to ANSAmed. The migrants will then go through the Holy Gate into St Peter's Basilica, where Mass will be officiated by Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, head of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Persons. Kenya backs down on attempt to regulate religion after Christian outcry Kenya's government has rowed back from moves to regulate the country's churches in the face of fierce opposition from religious leaders. New proposals unveiled last week by Kenya's Attorney-General Githu Muigai would require all religious bodies to register and for preachers to have police clearance. All religious institutions would also be required to submit their statements of faith to a government body. Other proposed measures include requiring preachers to undergo theological training at a reputable seminary and requiring foreign pastors to hold a work permit and a recommendation from their government. However, the proposals were denounced by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK), the Roman Catholic Church to which the country's President, Uhuru Kenyatta, belongs and by representatives of the minority Muslim community. In a reflection of the tensions created by the proposals, Kenyatta urged Githu to ensure the new rules are only implemented after "thorough and exhaustive consultations with all groups, bearing in mind the sancrosanct constitutional principles governing the freedom of religion and worship". A spokesman said: "The President has further directed the Attorney General to ensure that the current draft regulations are subjected to further vigorous public consultations so that they in no way undermine the fundamental values and principles enshrined in the constitution, and which are a way of life for the people of Kenya." The proposals were aimed at clamping down on rogue preachers and unscrupulous televangelists, themselves the subject of new broadcasting regulations which will ban preachers from soliciting money on air. The scheme to regulate churches caused outrage when it was announced, with evangelicals threatening political repercussions. It is not clear whether they will be satisfied after the president's intervention. According to the Daily Nation newspaper, the EAK said it would launch a campaign to obtain three million signatures to block the government from enforcing the proposals. "Registration of churches was stopped since 2014. We believe this is meant to stop evangelism and growth of the church since other societies are being registered freely," said EAK chairman Bishop Mark Kariuki. He warned that the move would be an election issue next year, saying: "2017 is very close and we will not hesitate to use those [voter] cards." He said: "The church in Kenya is under attack... yes, it is under persecution. But do you know why we are under attack? It's because we remained quiet for a long time and we upheld the teachings that if one slaps you on one cheek you should give him the other cheek. "Now we have been slapped on both sides. We now have to stand up and say nobody spoke about the third slap!" The EAK claims evangelicals in Kenya number around 10 million in about 38,000 congregations, or 32 per cent of the population. According to The Standard newspaper, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims said the proposals could violate "freedom of worship and amount to a clampdown on religious institutions". In a letter to President Kenyatta from the Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Rt Rev Philip Anyolo and a number of senior Catholic clerics said the new rules would have negative impact on evangelisation and were unconstitutional. "The Constitution draws a very clear line between the State and religion, while the same law is also explicitly clear on the freedom of worship," they said, adding: "Is this not, therefore, a clear violation of the Constitution?" The letter also said: "The Catholic Church is a people of God. As such, the state cannot purport to audit the faith of the people of God." Major US Church blacklists five Israeli banks over human rights concerns The pension board of the United Methodist Church is boycotting investment in five Israeli banks due to human rights infringements, it announced on Tuesday. The five banks Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank and Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot are each involved in financing settlement construction in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. This is believed to be the first time a pension fund of a large American church has chosen to engage in divestment from Israeli banks, and has been described as an important step in the Boycott, Divest and Sanction campaign (B.D.S). B.D.S. is an international campaign to pressure Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territories. It has been described as a campaign to destroy Israel by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The pension board of the United Methodist Church has listed 39 companies from several countries that it will exclude from future investment due to their failure to meet its Human Rights Investment Policy guidelines. The list also includes an Israeli construction company, Shikin & Binui, due to concerns that it is heavily involved in settlement building. The board has not boycotted Israeli companies indiscriminately, and the fund remains invested in "approximately 18 Israeli companies that meet our investment criteria," Colette Nies, a spokesperson for the pension board said. A group within the United Methodist Church that has been heavily campaigning for divestment over the Palestine situation, United Methodist Kairos Response, has celebrated the decision of the board. "To our knowledge, this is the first time" that an American church has chosen to exclude Israeli banks from their investment portfolio," Susanne Hodder, a spokesperson for the group said. Obama vetoes bill aiming to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal Affordable Care Act As expected, U.S. President Barack Obama vetoed Friday a bill that would end the Affordable Care Act, his centrepiece programme popularly known as Obamacare, and defund abortion service provider Planned Parenthood. The bill, H.R. 3762 or the "Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015, was earlier passed by Congress and sent to the President on Thursday. It aimed at ending funding for Planned Parenthood for the next fiscal years, ending IRS-collected penalty on taxpayers who don't carry government mandated health insurance, easing restrictions on health savings accounts and modifying or removing many federal health insurance mandates on small businesses and state agencies, the WND reported. In defending his veto, the President said, "About 17.6 million Americans have gained health care coverage as the law's coverage provisions have taken effect. The nation's uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever, and demand for marketplace coverage during December 2015 was at an all-time high." Obama said Republicans in Congress have attempted to repeal the health care act over 50 times. He also defended Planned Parenthood, saying it provides "a range of important preventive care and health services, including health screenings, vaccinations, and check-ups to millions of men and women who visit their health centres annually." Republican Rep. Diane Black said, "President Obama's gall is stunning." "He spent this week discussing the need to 'protect innocent people' and 'save more lives' yet he callously vetoed a bill to protect the most innocent and vulnerable among us from the heinous abuses of Planned Parenthood," she said. Pro-life Concerned Women for America said, "Regardless of where you stand on abortion, most people are not in favour of forcing Americans to violate their consciences. Our president is forcing taxpayers to fund the nation's largest abortion provider. This is wrong and will not stand." According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, "The president has chosen to continue funding for the abortion giant that helped get him elected rather than expand health care choices for women." Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said by vetoing the bill, the President "bear the moral responsibility for sending taxpayer dollars to a group that has engaged in the selling of baby body parts." Open Doors: Syria and Iraq are 'the tip of the iceberg' there has never been a worse time to be a Christian There has never been a worse time to be a Christian, according to persecution charity Open Doors who will launch their annual report this afternoon. "Global persecution of Christians is more extreme than ever before," the charity said in a statement ahead of publishing its 2016 World Watch List. The list highlights the 50 countries with the worst persecution record and will be discussed at a launch event at the House of Commons later today. Working on a points based system, the list reflects the dramatic surge in persecution recorded by the charity. While the lowest ranking country in 2013 had 35 points, this year's lowest ranking country had 53 points an increase of more than 50 per cent just to make it on the list. Lisa Pearce, Open Doors' CEO, said the rapid rise was a "cause of great concern" and urged the UK government to do more to protect Christians around the world. "The persecution of Christians is getting worse, in every region in which we work and it's getting worse fast," she said. "The trend is stark, as are the consequences for real people we should not expect that to change unless we are part of changing the situation. "As a key voice within the international community and a generous provider of aid to a number of the countries on the 2016 World Watch List, I urge our government to do everything possible within their spheres of influence to affect what happens next. We will not get these days back." North Korea remains top of the list as the worst place to be a Christian according to Open Doors, with 70,000 Christians estimated to be held in brutal labour camps. Elsewhere, ISIS' ongoing brutality means Iraq has replaced Somalia as the second most dangerous place to be a Christian. Eritrea comes in at number three and, according Open Doors, is "nicknamed the 'North Korea of Africa' due to high levels of dictatorial paranoia." "Syria and Iraq are the tip of the iceberg," the charity said. More people are killed for their faith in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world. "As fundamentalism in the form of radical Islam spreads across Africa westwards from Somalia, almost every country from Kenya upwards is affected," a statement read. "Eritrea, Kenya and Ethiopia have all seen sharp rises in persecution levels." The Open Doors World Watch List uses a variety of indicators to measure how faith gets squeezed in five distinct areas private life, family life, community life, national life and church life as well as covering violence such as rapes, killings and church burnings. Dr Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Director of Research at Open Doors International, said this was to ensure persecution levels around the world are measured as accurately as possible. "It is possible for persecution to be so intense in all areas of life that Christians fear to witness at all," he explained. "And so you may find very low levels of violence as a result since incidents of persecution often result from acts of witness". Pennsylvania pastor wanted by police for raping, impregnating teen who lived with him and his family A Pennsylvania pastor is being hunted by the police for the rape of a teenage girl who lived with him and his wife. The West Whiteland Township Police Department is looking for Jacob "Jake" Malone, 33, from Exton, Pennsylvania, who worked as a staff at Calvary Fellowship church in Downington, said Pastor Bill Bateman, according to Philly.com. According to the police, the female victim said she met Malone at a church in Mesa, Arizona when she was 12. At the time, Malone was a pastor at the church that the victim attended. In June 2014, Malone contacted the 17-year-old victim and invited her to stay with him and his family in Minnesota where he was a pastor. She said that was the time when Malone started to have inappropriate contact with her. The following month, Malone moved his family to Chester County and invited her again to live with him. He even registered her at a local high school. The victim said Malone began sexually assaulting her in the fall of 2014 while she was living at his home in Exton. She attended the church where Malone was the pastor at the time. She said Malone gave her alcohol on two occasions after she turned 18 and during one incident, Malone raped her while she was highly intoxicated. According to NBC Philadelphia, the victim is pregnant with Malone's baby. A post on Facebook by the Calvary Fellowship said "we share in your pain over the recent unfolding events in the life of our church." "Safety has been a constant concern at Calvary for years. Every staff person (as well as every volunteer who has any contact with children) is thoroughly background checked and, if meeting certain criteria, fingerprinted by the State of PA. Jake Malone passed every check and participated in every educational forum," it said. Malone, the church said, "flew completely under the radar, deceiving even those who were closest to him. We know this is hard to imagine, but we assure you that no one suspected anything until very recently." As soon as it got information, the church said it reported it to the authorities. "We continue to work with the authorities. They have never asked us to do anything that violates our conscience or the prescription for dealing with this kind of sin as laid out in scripture. Counselling has been ongoing with those closest to the situation and has been offered more recently to others who are greatly impacted by these events," the church said. Prayer for the day: The intertwining of religion and politics Some people believe that religion and politics don't mix. But politics and religion both ask basic questions about who we are, what we believe, and how we should act. It's impossible for them not to be intimately related. 70 years ago this week when the United Nations General Assembly convened for the first time, the chosen venue was a thriving church Westminster Central Hall. This impressive venue has hosted live televised electoral debates, and speeches by Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Boutros Boutros Ghali. If you visit you will find a plaque that reads "To the Glory of God and in prayer for peace on Earth", commemorating the first ever meeting of the General Assembly of the UN from January 10 to February 14, 1946. Though it's a few weeks past now, the angels' song of Christmas may still linger on in our memories. "Peace on earth" is what the heavenly host proclaimed to lowly underclass shepherds on a Bethlehem hillside. The coming of Jesus was supposed to have political consequences. But as we look around the world today, the angels' declaration seems a long way from being fulfilled. I think the apostle Paul would nevertheless want us to continue to pray for the work of the UN. He certainly seemed to think that politics and faith went hand in hand when he wrote these words: "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." Lord, Father of Humankind, please unite us as one family. Jesus, Prince of Peace, please fulfil the angel's song for peace on earth. Spirit of Reconciliation, please guide our leaders to seek the common good. Amen. This is an adapted version of Krish Kandiah's Prayer for the Day, which he will be giving every day on Radio 4 this week. You can listen to the original broadcast here. Refugee mothers beg British women not to travel to Syria Three mothers who are refugees from Syria have warned British women thinking of travelling to their country of the dangers of living in the war-torn nation. The video, a collaboration between the Metropolitan Police and Families Against Stress and Trauma (FAST) documents three women Fatten, Isaaf and Zakka explaining why they left Syria, and warning others not to go. The film's release comes after new figures show that 56 women and girls were reported missing to the police in 2015 who are thought to have travelled to Syria. "We were living under very bad circumstances and it was getting worse by the day," said Fatten of her time in Syria. "My son couldn't get the medical treatment he urgently needed." "Your children are now living in security (in Britain), are provided with schools, a nice life and beautiful future. So why are you taking them to a war zone?" said Isaaf. Zakka added that Syria is "the wrong place to bring up children." The video is particularly aimed at mothers after a survey conducted last year showed that 66 per cent of 11-25 year olds said they would speak to their mother if they believed someone they knew was being radicalised, or they themselves were considering travelling to join an extremist group. The counter-terror office has said it hopes the video will encourage women to be aware of particular signs of radicalisation, and emphasised the importance of the role of mothers in preventing young people from being radicalised. "We are deeply concerned about the numbers of girls, young women and also families who are taking the decision to go to Syria, unaware of the dangers they face when they arrive and the fact that they are unlikely to ever be able to return home to their devastated wider families," deputy assistant commissioner Helen Ball said. "The personal accounts of the women in this film highlight the harsh reality of life for women and children living in a war-torn country. I hope they will go some way to helping young women and mothers stop and think about the huge mistake they would be making if they travel." Speaking to the BBC, Isaaf said: "My message to young women is think about yourself, and your future, rather than go to Syria and face arrest, torture, or even death. "Build your future here where you have freedom and opportunity." Tensions surface at Canterbury Primates meeting The Anglican Primates meeting in Canterbury may be on the brink of failure, observers say. The heads of 38 Anglican provinces around the world have gathered this week to try to preserve their communion in the face of entrenched differences around attitudes to homosexuality. North American episcopalians have taken a liberal line, while Anglicans in Africa and the powerful GAFCON Global Anglican Future conservative bloc have led opposition to the acceptance of same-sex relationships. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is attempting to stave off a formal split with a more federal model similar to that adopted by the Lutheran churches of northern Europe and Scandinavia. However, the mood at last night's service of worship at Canterbury Cathedral indicated a shift in tone from the optimism of the previous day. According to Anglican Ink (AI), up to a half of the delegates were absent while the mood among those who attended was sombre. AI relayed unconfirmed reports that some primates met yesterday evening to discus whether they would walk out of this morning's session or stay and insist on reforms. It also reported resistance to the Archbishop of Canterbury's use of the so-called Delphi Method of debate, which involves participants breaking into small groups to discuss set questions. Some primates are said to have regarded this as a "divide and conquer" approach and wanted to discuss issues in plenary sessions. Archbishop Welby's task has been complicated by a public letter signed by senior clergy urging the Church to repent over its discrimination against gay and lesbian Christians. Ahead of the primates' meeting he told Radio 4's Today programme: "A schism would not be a disaster... God is bigger than our failures. But it would be a failure. It would not be good if the Church is unable to set an example to the world of showing how we can love one another and disagree profoundly because we are brought together by Jesus Christ not by our own choice. This isn't a form of club or a political party. It is something done by God." The true cost of climate change Christian Aid has published a new report detailing the devastating effects of climate change on some of the poorest communities around the world. 'Taken by storm: responding to the impacts of climate change' reveals the way in which developing countries including the Philippines, Brazil, Malawi and Bolivia are suffering the worst consequences, and underlines the need for world leaders to respond with urgency. It calls for "decisive action to be taken at every opportunity" to combat the disastrous effects. "Short-term adaptation is not enough. Structural change must come from binding commitments at a global level, and must happen now," it says. The report is introduced by Lord Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and current Chair of Christian Aid. He recalls the flooding that caused chaos in the UK at the beginning of this year, but notes that though it was highly disruptive and shocking for us in the West, "for millions of people around the world, living with this sense of fragility is nothing new". "Far from being a vague threat in the distant future, a warming world is very much a present reality," he warns. "Stronger storm surges, heavier rain, and scarcer resources are part of what countless people across the world live with daily, with far fewer resources to deal with it than we have. "It is essential for us to remember the specific human faces of those who suffer because of climate instability. Countless communities and families in every affected region of Africa, Latin America and Asia, people with needs and hopes and anxieties like ours, are already forced to cope with circumstances whose difficulty increases daily, and so with the prospect of an extremely bleak future for themselves and their children if nothing changes." The report shares stories of some of the individuals who are suffering as a result of what Lord Williams refers to as this "deep injustice", as a reminder that there are real people suffering, though we are often blind to it in the West. Marina Acaylan is one of millions who lost their homes in the devastating typhoon that wreaked havoc across the Philippines last year, killing thousands. She used to earn a living by selling homemade rice cakes at the local market, but can no longer do so because the marketplace was also swept away by the storm. Kenyan farmers Lilian and Alberty Nthiga are finding it increasingly difficult to grow crops due to a lack of rainfall and thus struggle to make ends meet, while Carmen Quispe Dermarca is having to cope with similar difficulties in Bolivia, where the Illimani glacier is melting. Although people throughout the developing world are continuing to strive to protect their livelihoods, and are finding ways to cope with changing climates, the report notes that "short-term adaptation is only a temporary fix". "The long-term solution will only be found when the global community addresses the root causes of climate change, and takes decisive steps to reduce emissions," it states. "There is no doubt that climate change is significantly hampering development work, compounding the many struggles faced by people already fighting to free themselves from poverty's grip." Martin Vilela of Agua Sustentable, a charity working in partnership with Christian Aid in Bolivia to help those struggling with water shortages, says: "We can't constantly be adapting. I think it's important that the communities find immediate responses to the changes, but we can't forget that this is a structural problem. "[A] key area of our work is to show to the global community the reality of the communities...so they can realise that climate change is real and start to take action to find concrete responses at a global level. "If this is not achieved, many indigenous peoples' way of life will be destroyed permanently," he warns. Christian Aid's Senior Climate Change Adviser and author of the report Dr Alison Doig has reiterated the importance of immediate action from the world's leaders. "People living on the front line of climate change are the canaries in the climate coalmine, but their plight is more than just a warning of what many other parts of the world can expect," she said. "These are individuals paying the price for the actions of wealthy nations and people grown rich through continued dependence on polluting fossil fuels." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to publish its latest report on the impacts of climate change on Monday, which is expected to make clear the need for strong intervention. "It is vital that politicians hear their voices and heed the warnings of the IPCC and make tackling climate change a priority if we are to pass on a safe planet fit for future generations," Doig concludes. "The world must act decisively and urgently to reduce emissions, manage resources and protect the vulnerable. In this way, and only this way, will we have the chance for a future that is sustainable and fair for the poorest people in the world." Why the Pope's endorsement of prayer is both empowering and challenging Pope Francis yesterday said that it is the prayer of the saints that carries the Church, not the decisions of popes, bishops or priests. During morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope preached on the power of prayer in the context of the story of Hannah, a woman who prayed tearfully before God for children. In the story from 1 Samuel, Hannah weeps, deeply distressed by her infertility, and prays to the Lord to give her a child. Eli, a priest, looks at her from afar, interprets her silent prayers as drunken babble and then rebukes her for drinking wine. She corrects him, to which he responds humbly, granting her peace and asking God to grant her what she has asked of him. That night, Hannah becomes pregnant with Samuel. "It's the prayer of the faithful that brings change to the Church," Pope Francis said during a reflection of this passage. "It is not us popes, bishops or priests who carry the Church forward, but the saints. Saints are those who dare to believe that God is the Lord and that he can do everything." The idea of the shared and equal authority of every believer in prayer may initially seem at odds with the hierarchical nature of the Catholic church, particularly coming from the Pope. But Francis is here reminding his Church that although certain rites are reserved for the ordained, like presiding at the Eucharist, prayer is both the right and duty of every believer. Before Jesus' death and resurrection, priests acted as mediators between God and people. With Jesus' coming this radically changed. He is the supreme "high priest" (Hebrews 4.14-16) and the only mediator between us and God (1 Timothy 2.5). This might seem obvious, but the reality is that our Church and society do not always reflect it. Many Christians are used to deferring our spiritual opinions, decisions and actions to our priest, vicar, or pastor. The Pope is saying that independent of your position in Church or society, those who believe in the Lordship of Jesus Christ are empowered with his authority to pray. We don't need a priest to represent us to God; we get to engage with him ourselves. Ordination is not the qualification belief in Jesus' Lordship is. This is the great equaliser of the Christian faith both empowering and humbling that we are each equally able to pray to the extent that we admit our dependence upon God. This concept flips the popular western idea of individualism and independence on its head, while somehow managing to empower us. It teaches a radical dependence, where we can't gain a qualification that automatically gives us authority. It's not about earning our stripes out of our own strength, becoming the best, most self-sufficient human we can be, or being "successful". No, with God it's not about how good we are at all. It's about how good he is, and our choice to "dare to believe" that he is Lord. It is this that makes our faith powerful. Knowing that our God is a God who can do all things, and that Jesus Christ the high priest is interceding for us, we can pray with confidence. As Pope Francis said last week, in his homily at a Mass celebrating Epiphany, it is not about us and our abilities, but about Christ, his light, and our ability to reflect that light: "Christ is the true light that brightens; and to the extent that the Church remains anchored to him, to the extent that it lets itself be illuminated by him, it is able to illuminate the lives of individuals and peoples." From Man Rays chess set to Dalis Arabian nights 11 fascinating works for under 100,000 offered across three different sales of Impressionist & Modern Art during 20th Century at Christies London 1. Touched by the finger of Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Avant-projet pour LIndolente, circa 1899 . Oil on canvas. 9 1/2 x 11 in. (24.2 x 28 cm.) Estimate: 30,000-50,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale on 3 February at Christies London This small oil sketch painted with immediacy and candour, and brushed with the artists finger, is one of the first nudes depicted by Pierre Bonnard . The nude lies on the bed, one hand behind her head, one foot resting on the floor. Sated and content, she appears boneless, animal, part of the surrounding tumble of sheets and bedclothes. It was after seeing the final version of this erotically charged work, which hangs today in the Musee dOrsay in Paris, that the famous art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard asked Bonnard to illustrate Parallelement, the collection of Paul Verlaines poetry which was published in 1900. 2. A memento of a Roman affair Victor Brauner (1903-1966), Composition, 16 March 1961 . Oil on canvas. 25 1/2 x 21 1/5 in. (65.5 x 54 cm.) Estimate 50,000-80,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale on 3 February at Christies London Born in Romania, Victor Brauner settled in Paris in 1930, living in the same building as Alberto Giacometti and Yves Tanguy. During this first spell in the French capital he painted Self-portrait with enucleated eye , in which his right eye was missing. In 1935, Brauner returned to Bucharest to join the Romanian Communist Party but was back living in Paris by 1938. In August that year he lost his left eye in the midst of a fight between the Spanish Surrealist painters Oscar Dominguez and Esteban Frances. Victor Brauner met Natalia Roberti during his second trip to Italy, in 1961. The two started a short but intense relationship, and the beautiful Natalia soon became a muse for the artist during his productive stay in Rome. Brauner dedicated paintings, drawings and sketches to Natalia that year, and this work was among those he donated to her as a token of their joyful Roman affair. 3. The artist who modelled for Manet Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), Vase de fleurs sur une table, 1929. Oil on canvas. 24 x 19 5/8 in. (61 x 50 cm.) Estimate: 20,000-30,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art & Picasso Ceramics sale on 5 February at Christies London Born in 1865, Suzanne Valadon grew up in poverty before finding work in a circus. Her trapeze career ended after a fall, and she moved to Montmartre. There she modelled for Renoir ( Dance at Bougival ) and Toulouse-Lautrec ( The Hangover ), who nicknamed her Suzanne after the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders. Valadon was the first female artist ever to be admitted into the prestigious Societe National des Beaux-Arts and went on to have a highly successful 40-year career as a painter. She first began showing her work in the 1890s, and regularly exhibited at the prestigious Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris. Degas bought some of her works and became a close friend, teaching her different print-making techniques and introducing her to the legendary art dealers Paul Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard. The mother of artist Maurice Utrillo (accounting for the additional V he would sign after his name), Valadon died in 1938, aged 72. Among those attending her funeral were Andre Derain, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. 4. How Picasso persuaded a young boy to eat breakfast Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Plat aux oeufs. This work is unique. White earthenware ceramic plate, partially engraved, with coloured engobe and glaze. Diameter: 11 in. (27.9 cm.) Estimate: 30,000-50,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art & Picasso Ceramics sale on 5 February at Christies South Kensington Miguel Bose is a Latin Grammy Award-winning musician. Born in Panama to an Italian actress and a Spanish bullfighter, Boses family friends included Pablo Picasso , Ernest Hemingway, and Luchino Visconti. When Bose was a young child, he would not eat. Because I didnt like fried eggs [Picasso] made for me a breakfast plate with fried eggs and a fork, on top of which he would put real fried eggs and a fork, he explains. And so when I had eaten them, the surprise of the painted ones would appear Bose recalls how Picasso allowed him and his sister, Lucia, to paint in his studio and hed change our drawings with his. He says they shared long conversations and he was present when the artist created his ceramics. To me he will always be and remain as Pablo, Bose says. This is how I remember him. 5. Art as architecture Le Corbusier (1887-1965), Les trois musiciennes, Conceived in 1958 and woven in Aubusson by Pinton Freres . Aubusson wool tapestry. 86 3/8 x 149 3/4 in. (219.3 x 380 cm.) Estimate: 20,000-30,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art & Picasso Ceramics sale on 5 February at Christies South Kensington The destiny of the tapestry of today emerges: it becomes the mural of the modern age. So said Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier , one of the fathers of 20th-century modern architecture and urban planning, as well as being a great modern painter and sculptor. At the end of the 1940s, Le Corbusier began collaborating with the tapestry-maker Pinton Freres to translate his drawings, going on to realise around 30 designs in this medium. He created specific designs for his tapestries, considering them to be independent from his paintings, and describing them as Muralnomad (nomadic murals). He used them to decorate large interiors, insisting they should cover entire walls and be considered part of the architecture. 6. An optimistic evocation of the rural landscape Antonio Donghi (1897-1963), Paesaggio Torino di Sangro, 1948. Oil on board. 15 3/4 x 19 5/8 in. (40 x 50 cm.) Estimate: 18,000-25,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art & Picasso Ceramics sale on 5 February at Christies South Kensington One of the leading figures in Italys Neoclassical movement in the 1920s, Antonio Donghis later work focussed on landscape, displaying a simplicity and purity of expression that aligned it with Naive Art. Paesaggio Torino di Sangro was exhibited at the 1950 Venice Biennale, at the brink of a new era in which Donghis work would appear alongside the likes of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse. Typical of his mature style, the landscape is rendered in pared-back, generalised forms but with careful, intimate detail that creates an optimistic, almost paradisal evocation of the rural landscape. 7. The dancers who seduced Rodin Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), Danseuse cambodgienne, 1906-07 . Gouache, watercolour and pencil on card. 12 3/8 x 9 3/4 in. (32.2 x 24.7 cm.) Estimate: 30,000-40,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Works on Paper sale on 3 February at Christies London In July 1906, in the Pre Catelan pavilion in Paris, Auguste Rodin attended a performance given by the Royal Khmer Ballet. The dancers were accompanying King Sisowath on his official visit to the Colonial Exhibition of Marseilles. During their stay in Paris, Rodin had access to the dancers, later telling the art critic Louis Vauxcelles: When they finished I was left feeling empty, in the shadow and cold. It was as if they took the beauty of the world with them. He would follow them to Marseilles, telling Vauxcelles that he would have happily followed them to Cairo! In Marseilles, Rodin executed around 10 drawings that he retouched and reworked with watercolour upon returning to Paris, where he executed a further 150 drawings on the same subject. It is extremely rare to find a drawing by Rodin published within the artists lifetime, and for many years experts only knew of this work via its reproduction in Otto Grautoffs book of 1908. 8. Dalis Arabian nights Salvador Dali (1904-1989), Deux faucons et la figure delephant, 1966 . Gouache, watercolour and pen and India ink on paper. 15 1/8 x 11 1/4 in. (38.4 x 28.6 cm.) Estimate: 40,000-60,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Works on Paper sale on 3 February at Christies London Throughout his career Salvador Dali produced illustrations for many editions of classical literature, including Don Quixote, The Divine Comedy and Macbeth. Dalis 50 watercolours for One Thousand and One Nights (including Deux faucons et la figure delephant, above), however, commissioned from the artist by the family of the present owner in the 1960s, remained unpublished until 2014. The wide range of stories in One Thousand and One Nights enabled Dali to create his own unique visualisation of mythical figures such as Pegasus and Sinbad. The range of geographical settings, meanwhile, allowed him to revisit some of his own most iconic and surreal imagery, including the elephant on stilts seen in his landmark 1944 work Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee. 9. Maillols last muse Aristide Maillol (1861-1944), Dina assise, conceived in 1937 . Bronze with dark brown patina. Height: 8 3/10 in. (21.3 cm.) Estimate: 30,000-50,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale on 3 February at Christies London Although Aristide Maillol followed Rodin in exploring the sculptural possibilities of the figure, he was one of the few great sculptors of the early 20th century who did not study under the older master. His nascent style of balance, harmony, and quiet restraint represented a departure from the expressive gestures, dramatic movement and textured surfaces that Rodin favoured. To celebrate the human body, particularly the female body, seems to have been Maillols only aim, observed author and art critic John Rewald. Dina assise encapsulates Maillols celebration of the female form and depicts the artists last muse, Dina Vierny, who posed as his model until his death in 1944. 10. Surrealist chess Man Ray (1890-1976), Chess set . Incised with the signature and dated Man Ray 1946. The board: 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (44.4 x 44.4 cm.) Executed in 1946, this work is number 3 from a small limited edition. Estimate: 20,000-30,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale on 3 February at Christies London Chess became a passion and a ritual for Man Ray after his rooftop encounter with chess fanatic Marcel Duchamp in New York in 1924. The pair, who were great friends, would often play throughout the night, believing that games allowed them to explore the repressed desires of the unconscious. Man Ray designed his first chess set in 1920, with found objects from his studio. The various series which followed were predominantly made with simple geometric shapes: the king was a pyramid, the queen a cone, the rook a cube, the pawn a sphere and the knight an old violin head. From 1945, he issued a limited number of signed sets in wood and in aluminium. Man Ray perceived the chessboard as a surrealist object, arguing that games give form to a liberation, allowing one to give free rein to the imagination and carelessly mingle between reality and fantasy. 11. The essence of mother and child Charles Angrand (1854-1926), Maternite, 1896-1900 . Conte crayon on paper. 23 3/4 x 18 in. (60.3 x 45.6 cm.) Estimate: 12,000-18,000. This work is offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Works on Paper sale on 3 February at Christies London Charles Angrand treated the subject of the mother and child on a number of occasions, concentrating on its essence and eliminating all superfluous detail. He defined the forms through a nuanced gradation from deep black areas to extremely bright ones using just the white of the paper and avoiding any lines, employing the same technique as Seurat , who was a close friend. Paul Signac , who helped to develop Pointillism with Seurat, described Angrands conte crayon drawings as masterpieces, adding, It would be impossible to imagine a better use of white and black... These are the most beautiful drawings, poems of light, of fine composition and execution. Angrand used relatives as models, such as his sister-in-law, the wife of his younger brother, with their child Antoine. THE LEAD: Cutting checks The longtime call that members vote their district is becoming harder and harder to square with the reality of money in politics under the Pink Dome. The Star-Telegrams Bud Kennedy has the latest look at this trend in his column, which highlights how Midland oilman Tim Dunns money is now bankrolling the prominent NE Tarrant County Tea Party. Dunn of Midland gave the Grapevine groups political action committee $31,000, more than half its total in a Dec. 30 ethics report. Founded six years ago as a spinoff of the Dallas Tea Party, the NE Tarrant Tea Party is now a statewide political force gathering money from West Texas and doling out gifts to candidates as far away as the Panhandle and San Antonio. Welcome to Wednesday, the only respite between yesterdays State of the Union and tomorrows first GOP primary debate of 2016. With all the free time you have on your hands, be sure to send scoops and insights to bobby.cervantes@chron.com or tweet me @BobbyCervantes. OVERNIGHT: The U.S. military says that 10 sailors briefly held by Iran are back in American care and; there are no indications that the sailors were harmed. The U.S. Navy issued a statement Wednesday after Iranian state media announced the sailors had been freed. The nine men and one woman were held on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday. The U.S. military has said that mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island, where they were picked up by Iran, per the AP in Tehran. http://goo.gl/IJRzem Texas could lose jobs for the first time in seven years unless crude prices in 2016 stage a major recovery, the Federal Reserve warned on Tuesday, as U.S. oil briefly tumbled below $30 a barrel. A top economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas forecast 1.4 percent job growth in Texas this year, a third of what it was in 2014, but said that such a bump in non-farm payrolls will materialize only if oil prices rise and spend a big portion of the year in the $40- to $50-a-barrel range, per the Chronicles Collin Eaton.http://goo.gl/dLycWN Longtime GOP consultant Royal Masset died Tuesday night, QR reported. Read what Masset told Harvey Kronberg in 2013 about his legacy >> Royal shares as much responsibility for building the Republican Party of Texas to its current dominant status as anyone. He developed the ORVS (Optimal Republican Voting Strength) system which pointed to winnable transitional districts so that GOP resources could be focused where most effective. He was long time political director for RPT and pioneered candidate schools for Republican candidates. A staunch and lifelong Republican, Masset often challenged the orthodoxy of his Party as he felt it veered off into strategically damaging positions. His writings proved prescient. His columns always guaranteed robust conversation on both sides of the aisle. http://goo.gl/kvGe9k Rick Perry has become a lobbyist for a former campaign donor, by the Chronicles Brian Rosenthal.Perry registered in Florida as a lobbyist for a dental insurance company that donated heavily to his presidential campaign, a spokesman said, confirming that the Republican has moved into the world of political influence and promotion. The confirmation came hours after Politico reported Perry had met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott about an issue important to the company, MCNA Dental, which is based in the Sunshine State. Perry spokesman Jeff Miller said the former governor registered out of an abundance of caution after working for "some time" as the company's chief strategy officer. http://goo.gl/nvB36R Jet setter: Abbott heads to Israel, Switzerland next week. The Republican will visit Israeli businesses and hold meetings with officials in the Middle Eastern country before traveling to Davos to participate in the World Economic Forum, his office announced. The five-day trip will be paid for by TexasOne, a public-private partnership with the state's economic development corporation. http://goo.gl/IzyKkO Analysis: Obama in campaign form in final State of the Union, by APs Kathleen Hennessey. President Barack Obama opened his State of the Union speech saying he'd keep it short, in what must have seemed music to the ears of some in the chamber antsy to get to Iowa to campaign for president. At times, Obama looked like he was one of them, eager to challenge biting criticism from Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and other Republicans. Obama was at turns boastful and biting, confident and sarcastic. http://goo.gl/lrsRVM In Texans stories, Obama seeks to connect policy to people, by the Chronicles Kevin Diaz. They came from different walks of life, but the four Texans featured at Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday night were meant to personify the legacy the president hopes to leave behind. They included Lisa Jaster of Houston, the first female Army Reserve officer to graduate from Ranger School; Earl Smith, a Vietnam veteran who gave then-Democratic candidate Obama a military patch during a 2008 encounter in Austin; Jennifer Bragdon, an Austin Community College student who returned to school after more than 20 years; and Oscar Vazquez, of Fort Worth, a veteran and DREAMer who moved to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 12. http://goo.gl/iWf1Y5 Ted Cruz imagines his first State of the Union: On Tuesday night, as President Barack Obama headed to the Capitol for his final State of the Union address, Cruz took his theme to the next level, offering up his own first State of the Union as he envisions delivering it two years from now. Remember the IRS? Its been shut down, the bureaucrats replaced with tumbleweeds, the building turned into a luxury hotel by the vanquished Donald Trump. Oh, and that border wall? Not only did we build it, Donald paid for it, by The Dallas Morning News Todd Gillman. http://goo.gl/7LbqB1 Top talker: Ted Cruzs brutalism, by NYTs David Brooks: Cruz is now running strongly among evangelical voters, especially in Iowa. But in his career and public presentation Cruz is a stranger to most of what would generally be considered the Christian virtues: humility, mercy, compassion and grace.http://nyti.ms/1Rjw4vj SPEED READ Texas Take: Green, Garcia race heats up, Houston Chronicle Tilove: The great white hope? Behind the white nationalist robocalls for Trump, Austin American-Statesman Why Ted Cruz cant shed questions about his Canadian birth, Austin American-Statesman Challengers hit Straus, Geren over illegal immigration, The Dallas Morning News Pro-Cruz super PAC backers a mystery, Politico Cruz, heckled at NH gun rally, pushes back on Trump, The Dallas Morning News Rubio opens a new front against Cruz: Taxes, Politico Nikki Haley jabs at Trump at State of the Union response, CNN TX Supreme Court poised to implement three-judge panel in time for current school finance case, Quorum Report Environmentalists urge feds to take over Texas oversight, Austin American-Statesman States will begin to install earthquake monitors in the spring, Fort Worth Star-Telegram VA to Texas vets: No open carry on federal property, Houston Chronicle Central American migrant numbers swell, rivaling 2014 crisis, Houston Chronicle Oil keeps falling. And falling. How low can it go? Houston Chronicle Wednesdays $1.5 billion Powerball lottery: 7 things to know, Houston Chronicle RACE TO 2016 How times have changed. Cruz launches into barrage of attacks on Trump, by CNNs Teddy Schleifer.After a week on the receiving end of attacks by the billionaire businessman, including charges that the senator isn't eligible to be president because he was born in Canada, Cruz launched a high-risk tactic that has befell every other Republican that tried it -- attacking The Donald. "The change from Cruz's seven-months-old, turn-the-other-cheek strategy, which was on display just 24 hours ago, involves aggressively highlighting Trump's ties to the Democratic Party. The Texas senator is also making an electability argument, saying he beats Hillary Clinton in national polls while Trump doesn't." http://goo.gl/leJX1f NEW this morning, its Cruz v. Trump in home-stretch Iowa poll, by Bloombergs John McCormick. A new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows Cruz and Trump, the two fiercest anti-establishment candidates, locked in a tight race for first place, well ahead of the rest of the pack. Following at a distance are Rubio and Carson, battling for third place. http://goo.gl/XLIWIj With Cruz, trouble on the Hill, by Politicos Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan. A leading Republican pollster privately told Speaker Paul Ryan and his leadership team Sen. Ted Cruz would be the biggest drag on House Republicans should he win his partys nomination, according to multiple sources who attended a small meeting of senior GOP lawmakers earlier this month. http://goo.gl/s07gh5 As Bernie Sanders gains momentum, Hillary Clinton shows signs of noticing, by NYTs Maggie Haberman. There are clear shades of warlike flashbacks for Mrs. Clinton and her aides. Harking back to her 2008 days trying to fend off Mr. Obama, then a senator, in the primaries, Mrs. Clinton talked on Tuesday about the belief that a magic wand can be waved to fix all problems a line she used then to paint Mr. Obama as naive, and is using now similarly on Mr. Sanders. http://goo.gl/1blH9j The nearly two-mile stretch of Broadway Street between Hobby Airport and Interstate 45 has been in the sights of city boosters who would like the street to give off a better first impression of the Houston area. Scenic Houston has raised $5 million out of the $7.5 million budget to take on a project to revamp the streetscape, now dominated by aging apartment complexes and strip centers. The medians are overgrown and not well kept. Little lighting and poor sidewalks also hurt the aesthetics of the area. Nissan looks ready to enter the market for jacked-up pickup trucks with the Titan Warrior Concept. The company says the truck is built on a commercial-grade chassis with looks inspired by desert racers. Cameron Crowe recalled David Bowie's creative brilliance and profound wisdom, which he witnessed up close while profiling the musician during the mid-Seventies, in a touching remembrance for The Hollywood Reporter. Prior to his film career, Crowe worked as a music journalist (often for Rolling Stone), amassing an impressive portfolio that included interviews with the Eagles, Yes, Linda Ronstadt and Led Zeppelin. But Bowie, as Crowe wrote, "was the ungettable interview" at least until the Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood and Deep Purple's Glenn Hughes convinced the press-shy rocker to give the young journalist a chance. After his 1975 album Young Americans, Bowie relocated to Los Angeles and offered Crowe unfettered access as he transitioned into his Thin White Duke/Station to Station period. "It was somewhat of a primal scream phase for him," Crowe wrote. During that time, Bowie penned lyrics with a "cut-out method," which he demonstrated to Crowe during one visit. "He was on his knees on his floor, moving clipped single pieces of papers containing lines he'd just written. Like a three card-monty street-corner magician, he shuffled together the words of a new song until it made just enough sense and no more. The rest would be left to the listener." As an interview subject, Crowe said Bowie was open and generous, and displayed a sense of humor about his own image. Crowe said he would walk into a meeting with Bowie and find the rocker perfectly positioned in the light: "It was not an affectation. He naturally staged himself, only to break out of such an iconic pose with a crackling smile and jaunty warmth." Crowe and Bowie kept in contact over the years, and the filmmaker noted he'd been working on a movie role for Bowie as recently as this weekend. During their last conversation, Crowe read Bowie some of his quotes from their "wild years in L.A.," to which the musician always looking forward, never back replied: "It really represents the morbid and misdirected enthusiasm of a young man with too much time on his hands and too many grams of PCP, amphetamine or cocaine or maybe all three in my system, really." Crowe also shared a doodle Bowie drew during one of their interviews, a sketch of a hand, which he called a self-portrait. "Over the years I've come to interpret the drawing as a tiny cry for help," Crowe wrote. "A cry he answered himself with the subsequent trip to Berlin and an entire lifestyle change. Bowie turned that dark period on its head, and went on to supply many more generations of fans with music and art and soul and inspiration. He careened beautifully into the future where he will always be." Bowie died Sunday after an 18 month battle with cancer, which he largely kept under wraps as he worked on a musical stage production, Lazarus, and his final album, (pronounced "Blackstar"). The musician's death has elicited countless tributes, and a memorial concert has been scheduled for March 31st at New York's Carnegie Hall, featuring the Roots, Cyndi Lauper, the Mountain Goats, Heart's Ann Wilson, Perry Farrell and Jakob Dylan. This article originally appeared on Rollingstone.com: Cameron Crowe on Bowie: 'He Careened Beautifully Into the Future' Joan Baez has recruited an all-star lineup for her 75th birthday celebration including Paul Simon, Mavis Staples and Richard Thompson planned for January 27th at New York City's Beacon Theatre. That event will launch the folk pioneer's upcoming North American tour, which spans 18 dates throughout February and March. Baez's Beacon show which also includes Judy Collins, Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Bromberg, Damien Rice, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls and Nano Stern will be recorded for television as part of PBS' Great Performances series. Baez, a prominent figure in the Sixties civil rights movement, has teamed with Amnesty International to raise awareness of mass incarceration of disenfranchised minorities in the United States. Amnesty representatives will be present during each of the tour dates, engaging with audiences to solicit support on this human rights crisis. "I am pleased once again to be joining forces with Amnesty International, this time on the critical and urgent issue of racial and ethnic disparities of incarceration, right here in the United States," the musician said in a statement. "We are excited to continue our longstanding collaboration with Joan and look forward to welcoming her fans to join Amnesty International and take action on human rights issues here in the United States," said Margaret Huang, interim executive director of Amnesty International USA. "The United States is the leading jailer in the world. Together, we can change that." In March 2015, Baez's self-titled 1960 debut LP was selected for inclusion into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry, along with acts like Radiohead, the Doors and Sly and the Family Stone. Joan Baez Tour Dates January 27 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre January 30 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Hill Auditorium February 27 - Toronto, ON @ Koerner Hall February 28 - Ithaca, NY @ State Theater March 1 - Concord, NH @ Capitol Center for the Arts March 3 - New Haven, CT @ Shubert Theatre March 5 - Burlington, VT @ Flynn Center March 6 - Englewood, NJ @ Bergen PAC March 8 - Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre March 9 - Frederick, MD @ Weinberg Center for the Arts March 12 - Lexington, KY @ Lexington Opera House March 16 - Charleston, SC @ Charleston Music Hall March 17 - Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall March 19 - Birmingham, AL @ Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center March 20 - Durham, NC @ Page Auditorium at Duke University March 23 - Wilmington, DE @ The Grand March 25 - Albany, NY @ The Egg March 26 - Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall This article originally appeared on Rollingstone.com: Joan Baez Recruits Paul Simon, Mavis Staples for Tour-Launching Event This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A 23-year-old Houston man has been charged with animal cruelty after Metro light rail passengers reported finding a dead cat tied to a train handrail. Herber Martinez, whose address is listed in northwest Houston, was arrested Friday and remained in the Harris County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $15,000 bond. According to the Houston Police Department, Metro staff members responded to a report about 10:40 p.m. Thursday of a cat hanging from a handrail inside a train car on the MetroRail green line, which runs east from downtown. Surveillance video from inside the train showed a man tying the cat to the handrail, HPD spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. As shown in the video, the man got off the train at the stop by the BBVA Compass stadium, Silva said. Martinez is accused of torturing the cat by cutting off its head, according to the probable cause statement. He is scheduled to appear Thursday in the 339th State District Court, online court documents state. At first glance, Meyerland resident John Slaby simply paints classic subjects in a traditional artistic medium. But look again, and the oil painter's realistically rendered flowers and figures have distinct details that hint at larger, unconventional themes. His recent exhibition "Death and Desire," displayed at Archway Gallery in Montrose, explored aging and sexuality. "I'm using an old style to do something totally new," Slaby said. Still lifes of flowers are complete with drooping petals and dropping pollen. "You can look at it and see a painting of a vase of flowers or you can look a little deeper and there's a kind of hidden meaning," Christie Coker, gallery director at Archway, said. "John is a thinking man's artist. That's what makes him stand out at the gallery." She said that Slaby has been a fixture at the artist-owned and operated gallery, located at 2305 Dunlavy. "He's one of a handful who have been here the longest," Coker said. "He's been a big part of the gallery. He's a great guy and a wonderful artist." She said his work sets him apart. "He always uses a subject that's provocative, symbolic or metaphorical, whether it's dealing with current events or exploring aging and human desire," she said. "He makes you think when you look at his work." Slaby said he worked on pieces for his latest show for the past two years. The paintings were on a larger scale than his usual work. "The flowers are a model for aging and fading sexuality," he said. "The figurative work is very challenging. "It also yields the most dramatic results. There's nothing more emotive than the human figure." Slaby works primarily in oils, and his paintings are always conceptual in nature. "I'm mainly interested in pursuing ideas," he said. He is mostly self-taught. He picked up a brush when he was a teen and honed his skills through the years. Originally from New York, Slaby pursued a career as a chemical engineer and continued to paint whenever possible. "I was always dabbling in painting," he said. "It got more and more serious as time went on." He moved to Houston in 1987 and exhibited his work in outdoor art shows for a number of years. He joined Archway Gallery in 1993, serving as director from 2008 to 2013. He has been the gallery's treasurer since 2004. John has been featured in numerous gallery shows in city and received awards in a number of juried exhibitions. He is a two-time first prize winner in the Visual Arts Alliance juried exhibition and was a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize in 2013. Slaby is also a classical pianist and won the Silver Medal in the Chopin Society of Houston's First Chopin Competition for Adult Amateur Pianists in 2004. His varied interests have provided him with a constant source of subjects to explore in his art. He also draws inspiration often from whatever he is reading, whether it's a newspaper article, poem or book. "My work is drawn from my experience," he said. Slaby has found that his audience can relate to what he puts on canvas. "Art has allowed me to connect with people, and I think that's where its power lies," he said. The viewer's connection to the art is a vital part of his process, he added. Slaby already is planning for his next series of paintings. "I'm always thinking of new things to do," he said. "I have dozens of pieces I'd like to do. I'm always a couple of paintings ahead." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two Katy area firefighters shared honors recently as they were named recipients of the first Gary Tilton Firefighter of the Year Award by Katy's American Legion Post 164. Sharing the podium at a formal holiday dinner on Dec. 23 were Katy Fire Department Battalion Chief Dana Massey, and Lt. Simon VanDyk of the combined Harris County Emergency Services District No. 48 and Fort Bend County ESD #1. "We sent out our criteria to (Katy Fire Department interim) Chief Rufus Summers and (Harris County ESD #48 and Fort Bend County #1) Chief Jeffrey Hevey," said American Legion Post 164 Commander Sheryll Jones. "We were looking for superior firefighters who showed outstanding service to our community as well as to their fire departments." Massey, 40, has been a firefighter for 22 years, beginning with the Galena Park Fire Department when she was 18 and "just out of high school", she said. She also served with Baytown Fire Department before moving to the Katy Fire Department 16 years ago, she added. "That was about the time Katy was moving from an all-volunteer fire department to a paid department," she remembered. Massey has one daughter, Kara, an 18-year-old Blinn Junior College student; they recently moved from Katy to Cypress. "I'm very grateful to be nominated," Massey said. "I'm very honored Chief Summers thought of me." "Dana is a really good team leader," Summers said. "On July 4 we had a bad chemical fire in Waller County and she handled that really well. "We generally honor firefighters who save lives, or something like that," Summers noted. "I think we should also honor firefighters who are just really good at what they do. "A battalion chief is like a general in the Army. The Army's only as good as its general. Dana is a born leader; she's comfortable in the role and she makes really good decisions. It takes a team; she has a great team and runs a great team." According to Hevey (who noted Massey has also been a part-time firefighter with his department for 12 years), VanDyk earned his nomination by his commitment to his position. "In Simon, you can see his involvement and his interest," Hevey said. "He's always taking younger firefighters under his wing and acting as a mentor. When we changed from West I-10 Fire Department, almost everyone at the station came with us, Simon came in to help the captain make the change." Hevey said VanDyk, 36, attended the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 2014, and is formulating an education initiative involving all the fire departments in the area. "I want to do more on fire prevention, planning for disasters like hurricanes, things we can be proactive about," VanDyk said, "and I'd like it to involve every fire department in the area." The son of an Air Force dad, VanDyk said he grew up "everywhere, really," but claims Denver, Colorado, as home. "We've really enjoyed getting to know this community since we moved here in 2007," VanDyk said. He and his wife, Laura, are parents to son Stephen, 11; daughter Shannon, 9; son Johnathon, 8, and daughter Jessica, 6. "I'm excited about the award," VanDyk said. "More for what it means. It means I can talk more about the education initiative." On hand to see VanDyk receive his award were his wife and her parents, Van Dyk said. Jones said the award is named for former Katy Fire Chief, the late Gary Tilton, who was also a charter member of American Legion Post 164, a Katy City Council member and a firefighter in Katy for 31 years before his death at 58 in October 2004. Presenting the awards was Tilton's widow, JoAnn, who attended the dinner with their daughter, Lauran T. Anderson. Banks take all kinds of security measures in the event of a robbery. As a vertically challenged person, this reporter wasn't tall enough to complete a bank slip on the counter with a teller last week. Why is this surface so high? As a security precaution, the teller replied. Robbers continued to be foiled by dye packs, some with blood-colored ink, that are remotely exploded and literally leave the bad guys "red handed." Location technology helped nab men authorities say hit a north Houston bank last week for $20,000. The teller secretly threw a GPS tracking device into the trash can the armed men used to carry off the cash, according to an affidavit filed Monday by a Houston FBI agent. That's why Houston police didn't look for the getaway car, but the SUV where the robbers met the alleged mastermind of the heist. Darrien Deion Davison, 20, and 25-year-old Lawrence Lamar Leonard are believed to be responsible for two north Harris County armed bank robberies on Wednesday and Friday of last week. The pair are suspected as the two men who held up the Chartway Federal Credit Union on F.M. 1960 near U.S. 45 in Spring on the afternoon of Jan. 6. The assailants in that robbery got away with $1,000 in quarters and another $300 in currency. The same duo is accused of hitting the Amegy Bank on North Sam Houston Parkway East and Imperial Valley in Houston on Friday afternoon. That financial institution is about 8 miles away from the credit union. According to the five-page affidavit, the robbers pointed guns at a teller and witness at the Amegy heist. Alfonsiya James Ward, 34, the alleged coordinator of the robberies, is accused of recruiting Davison and Leonard to help. He was driving the SUV when Houston Police Department officers conducted a traffic stop after the Jan. 8 heist. A criminal complaint filed in Houston federal court on Monday states that each of the three men committed the offenses of bank robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence. The charges related only to the Amegy incident. A federal public defender is representing Ward, according to the online case file. According to the affidavit, Davison "provided a full confession for his role in both robberies" during an interview on Jan. 8 with HPD officers. Click through the slideshow above to see Houston-area crimes caught on tape. One of HISD's longest-serving trustees, Manuel Rodriguez Jr., appears poised to become the next school board president Thursday. Rodriguez, a parent volunteer first elected to office in 2003, said Wednesday that he was interested in leading the board. And he appears to have the votes, according to HISD sources. The year-long term comes at a key time as the board searches for a superintendent to replace Terry Grier, who plans to step down Feb. 29. Rodriguez, the board president in 2007 and now the first vice president, has served through two other superintendent searches. "If everything works out right, yes, I would look forward to being president for this coming year," said Rodriguez, 64. Rodriguez won a runoff election in December to retain his southeast Houston District 3 seat. He nearly lost four years ago and drew criticism for a political ad highlighting that his opponent was gay. Board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones said Monday that she was not interested in continuing in the role. The president has the power to set the meeting agendas, and Skillern-Jones used that authority to put several major items up for votes at her last meeting Thursday. Trustees typically unite to avoid a public battle for the job of president. With one day until the vote, it's possible agreements could change. Rodriguez has been an advocate for dual-credit programs, which allow students to earn high school and college credit. He generally supported Grier but said the district now needs a leader who can bring stability. He also said he wants the next superintendent to be able to speak Spanish, given the district's large Hispanic population. A $35,000 reward has been offered for information about the shooting death Monday of the owner of a fast-food restaurant during a robbery outside the eatery along Interstate 10 in east Houston. The shooting happened about 9:40 a.m. outside a McDonald's at 5301 East Freeway near Lockwood, according to the Houston Police Department. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Japanese Ambassador to the United States may be scratching his head over a recent letter signed by 33 officials in East Texas. Sent Monday, the letter from state legislators and other officials plunges right in stating "deep opposition" to the Texas Central Railway High-Speed Rail Project. As proposed, the 200-mph train between Houston and Dallas would use Japanese Shinkansen "bullet train" technology. Texas Central Partners, a private company, plans to start construction of the 240-mile route next year, with service slated to begin in 2021. Texans Against High-Speed Rail organized in May and continues to work against the proposed train. This week, the letter writers turned to Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae in Washington, DC, for help in stopping the project they say will harm local communities. "Through their recently formed U.S. companies, the HSR Project would unjustly take private property for the ultimate benefit of a foreign company," the letter states. "Furthermore, the HSR Project will cut through numerous counties that will have no stops and be permanently scarred by a track dividing land and property that has been passed down through Texas families for generations, in many cases spanning multiple centuries," the letter continues. In closing, the 33 say, "There may be other places that are better suited for and would welcome your Shinkansen technology. We encourage you to seek out a different market where this would provide an actual transportation solution and where you may encounter less opposition." The 33 signatures on the letter included those of 11 Republican state Legislators, including State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham and State Rep. Will Metcalf of Conroe. Asked for comment, the Japanese Embassy sent an email statement from Transportation Counselor Yoshihiro Taguchi: "The project referred to is a private initiative, but we understand its importance to the region. As Japan takes pride in its experience of over 50 years of safe and efficient Shinkansen operation record, we are hoping to contribute with our technology to the improvement of the infrastructure in Texas. We will also respect the process and outcome of the discussions among all parties concerned." A study released in October showed that the project would inject $36 billion into the state's economy, but the report hasn't quelled opposition. In August, the Federal Railroad Administration approved the 240-mile rail corridor preferred by the developers of the Dallas-Houston train. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Petros Karadjias /Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jay Janner / statesman.com Show More Show Less 3 of 3 AUSTIN Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the governor visits Israel next week, the governor's office said Wednesday. The two officials share a difficult history with President Obama. Netanyahu opposed Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, and Abbott similarly urged Texas' congressional delegation to vote against it. PENN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WTAE-TV) A Trafford man will face a driving under the influence charge for a wrong-way wreck on Route 130 on Tuesday morning. Penn Township police Chief John Otto identified the driver as Jonathan Lukart, 21. Lukart is currently awaiting trial in Westmoreland County for an arrest in Trafford in February. He is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, DUI and other charges. >> RELATED GALLERY: Drunken driving fines around the U.S. The crash and the 60 seconds before it were captured on cellphone video by a passenger in the vehicle behind Lukart's. You hear the two men in the vehicle comment on several occasions about how the driver in front of them is going to wreck. At one point, the driver honks the horn for several seconds to warn Lukart that he is driving on the wrong side of the road. The man starts recording Lukart's car on Route 130 near the S and T bank, across Pleasant Valley Road and eastbound on 130 until just before Lucci's Restaurant, where the crash occurs. The woman who was hit was not seriously hurt, according to Otto. The men who recorded the incident did not call 911 prior to the wreck, drawing criticism from some people on Facebook. Otto said there is no way to know if calling 911 could have prevented the crash since one minute elapsed before the wreck occurred. "It may, it may not have made a difference. We certainly would have liked to have seen," Otto said. Certainly in Penn Township at this time of night, we have a lot of effort enforcing the DUI laws on Route 130. We certainly may have had an officer close enough to intercept." The Penn Township Police Department is within a one-minute drive from the scene of the crash, however lag time in calling 911, giving the information to a call-taker, sending that information to a dispatcher and then to a police officer could have taken longer than one minute. Otto said ideally, people who find themselves in a similar situation could call 911 and record video if there is more than one person in the car who could do the recording. It is illegal to text while driving in Pennsylvania, but it is not illegal to place a phone call while driving. "The value of the video when it comes time to court purposes is obviously high. We love to see this type of event captured so we can use it in the prosecution of a criminal case," Otto said. No one answered at Lukart's home on Tuesday afternoon. Otto said Lukart will receive criminal charges, including DUI, in the mail. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NASA scientists have long kept their eyes on the sky, but a few now keep watch with a more apprehensive attitude. The space agency is launching an updated directive to watch for any Earth-bound asteroids, and keep one step ahead of a potential planetary catastrophe. With the opening of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, NASA has formalized its program for detecting and tracking oncoming cosmic objects, following a spate of wake-up calls in recent years. RELATED: White House releases plan for if EMP wipes out nation's power grid "Asteroid detection, tracking and defense of our planet is something that NASA, its interagency partners, and the global community take very seriously," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in a statement. "While there are no known impact threats at this time, the 2013 Chelyabinsk super-fireball and the recent 'Halloween Asteroid' close approach remind us of why we need to remain vigilant and keep our eyes to the sky." In the 2013 incident, an 11,000-ton meteor unexpectedly shot through Earth's atmosphere at 41,600 mph. It exploded 14.5 miles in the air above Chelyabinsk, Russia with a force 30 times that of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, according to NASA. Then on Halloween 2015, a rock 20 times that size passed closer to Earth than any object of such size on record. It was detected 20 days earlier. The office, which isn't physical space but rather an organized effort, isn't the agency's first effort to monitor space debris in the neighborhood of Earth. A NASA spokeswoman said official research on so-called "near earth objects" (NEOs) began in the 1970s and grew when Congress established the Near Earth Observations Program (NEOP) in 1998. RELATED: NASA's head of science says humans 'are on the cusp' of answering the ultimate question After a 2014 report by NASA's inspector general found that the agency could do better to track potential collisions, the agency began reorganizing the program, formally establishing a new one, which was announced in a press release on Jan. 7. "The formal establishment of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office makes it evident that the agency is committed to perform a leadership role in national and international efforts for detection of these natural impact hazards, and to be engaged in planning if there is a need for planetary defense," said Lindley Johnson, a longtime executive for the program. One possible planetary defense is NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission, which uses the gravity of a large object to yank a detected asteroid off its path. Another method, pioneered in cooperation with the European Space Agency, would smash objects into an incoming asteroid to deflect it. In case deflection is impossible, NASA is stepping up communication with the Federal Emergency Management Administration, which it would provide with data on impact time and location. In a statement, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said the heightened cooperation would enhance the agency's ability to respond to disasters of cosmic nature. Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who went to jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, has drawn attention for her response to President Barack Obama's final State of the Union speech. Davis attended the high-profile gathering with a ticket she received from the office of U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, according to USA Today. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web 130116TOOKE CHALLENGES KONNOU By Aloysius Laukai The ABG member for BAUBAKE and Minister for Community Government JACOB TOOKE has congratulated the people of KONNOU especially the youth to maintain peace and harmony in the largest Constituency on Bougainville and the most troublesome, KONNOU. Speaking at the opening of the KONNOU Peace games, yesterday, MR.TOOKE called on the youths as the leaders of tomorrow to take the peace process into the next level from the aging leaders that have created this peace. The Minister said that the people from the other areas of Buin are quietly monitoring what is happening in KONNOU. He said he was happy to witness the successful fourth year anniversary at the Ugubakogu Primary school. MR. TOOKE also called on the youths of KONNOU to allow KONNOW elites to return home and help Konnou help develop into a prosperous constituency. He said any outsider can come and help Konnou but they will leave but a local Konnou person will help and will always stay at home. The competition will end on the 22nd of January, 2016. Ends Mark Wilson/Getty Images At a time of growing employee discontent with labor leaders, the Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in a case that could undermine the ability of government unions to collect fees from workers. The case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, was brought by ten Golden State teachers who object to a law requiring them to pay fees to a union, even though they have declined to join it. The plaintiffs argue that such payments from nonmembers, known as agency fees, are unconstitutional, because the union uses them to underwrite political causes that the teachers dont support. In recent years, the Court has signaled growing impatience with the way government unions spend monies collected from workers; on Monday, the justices questions suggested that a majority may be ready to declare agency fees unconstitutional. Friedrichs represents perhaps the biggest threat government unions have faced in decadesand not merely because some workers object to the unions increasingly left-leaning politics. The larger problem that unions face is one of customer satisfaction: union dues in the government sector have soared and now take a significant bite out of worker paychecks. Union members increasingly question whether theyre getting their moneys worth. The elephant in the room is that plenty of represented workers arent enthusiastic about their unions, a writer for Labor Notes, a union publication, observed last June when the court agreed to hear Friedrichs. Some members, the publication noted, gripe that their unions focus on advocating for causes far removed from members day-to-day work. Surveys back up these sentiments and should trouble any union leaders contemplating life after forced agency fees. Only 47 percent of government-union members said that they approved of the job their union leaders were doing in a 2010 survey by the National Right to Work Foundation; 48 percent said that belonging to a union had either had no impact on their career or had actually hurt it. Fifty-nine percent said that union dues were too high, and 58 percent said that union leaders were overpaid. Perhaps not surprisingly, a recent poll by Harvards Program on Education Policy and Governance found that only 38 percent of teachers support compulsory agency fees, compared with 50 percent who oppose them. Teachers pay an especially steep price to their unions. In California, according to documents in the Friedrichs case, CTAs dues for teachers average about $1,000 a year. The agency fee that nonmembers must pay, ostensibly for the benefits that unionization creates for all workers, cost about $650. In New York, the United Federation of Teachers, which represents 200,000 education workers in city public schools, charges teachers $108.34 a month, or $1,300.08 a year. Other UFT members, like guidance counselors and school social workers, pay even more. This burden is especially high for newer members, because unions dont believe in progressive taxation when it comes to dues: new employees earning an entry-level salary pay the same as the most experienced teachers. Even as union dues have spiked, government labor leaders have pushed their organizations increasingly into political activism that has little to do with representing workers. Though the CTA says that nearly two-thirds of the money it collects in dues gets spent on worker issues, lawyers for the Friedrichs plaintiffs say that the union deemed spending on events like a conference on gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender concerns as part of worker representation and included it in the expenses used to calculate agency fees. The union also included in the price much of the cost of publishing an in-house magazine that relies heavily on writing about political matters. Similarly, the National Education Association, the umbrella organization that receives some of the money sent by teachers to the CTA, has spent millions on grants and contracts with left-leaning groupsincluding the Daily Kos and Marylanders for Marriage Equalitynot involved with workers rights or education. Even union leaders acknowledge that they may have drifted too far from representing workers. In a strategic document designed to prepare its locals for life after agency fees, the NEA describes how it has created a Center for Organizing to encourage local affiliates to reinvigorate their worker outreach. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has created a campaign to tout the benefits of belonging to a union. AFSCME is running recommitment drives to get current members to pledge to remain part of the union, even if the court abolishes agency fees. Government unions may face an uphill battle, however. A 2012 study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that forced agency fees were a key part of union strength. Eighteen of the 20 unions the study judged as the nations strongest were in states that compelled nonmembers to pay the fees. Stanford political scientist Terry Moe estimates that 90 percent of teachers in agency-fee states belonged to unions. In states that didnt compel the fees, union participation drops below 70 percent. Losing both nonmember fees and a significant part of their membership dues would severely curtail government unions resources. It might also alter Americas political landscape. The NEA was the third-highest donor to candidates in the 2014 federal election cycle, and since 1990, it has given 96 percent of its money to Democratic candidates. The American Federation of Teachers was seventh among donors in 2014; since 1990, it has given 97 percent of its contributions to Democrats. AFSCME contributed just 1 percent of the money it spends on political campaigns to Republicans over that period. Though government workers as a group tend to lean more to the left than most Americans, even they are not as monolithically Democratic as their leaders. In the National Right to Work Foundation poll, 36 percent of government union members said that they planned to vote Republican in upcoming elections. Government unions have benefitted enormously from forced dues and agency fees. But laws compelling workers to pay for something that they didnt want have also led union leaders to take their workers for grantedand now the unions may pay a price. Women in Online Work program pentru femeile care isi doresc sa munceasca in companii internationale, de la biroul de acasa At an applause-filled ceremony Tuesday replete with invocations of Joseph Pulitzers endowment of his eponymous prizes, ownership of Philadelphias top newspapers was formally turned over to a nonprofit institute created to safeguard local control and institutionalize grant-funded journalism at the outlets. The move offers no immediate solution to the business struggles facing all metro newspapers, and early reactions about whether it was likely to spur meaningful innovation were mixed. But it should, at a minimum, provide a measure of stability at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, which have been plagued by a series of ownership changes in recent years. And while the arrangement has some rough parallels in the industry, it also amounts to an experiment with a unique ownership structure for local mediamajor papers operating under the auspices of a leading community foundation. What would this city be without the Inquirer and Daily News? Ask yourselves, H.F. Gerry Lenfest, the now-former owner of the papers parent company, Philadelphia Media Network, said at Tuesdays news conference. Under the arrangement, PMN will be owned by The Institute for Journalism in New Media, a new arm of the nonprofit Philadelphia Foundation. The tax-exempt institute, jumpstarted by a $20 million endowment from Lenfest, will solicit additional funding and act as an in-house grant-maker for reporting projects and journalism innovation, eventually also awarding grants outside of PMN. The publications, meanwhile, will remain independently managed, for-profit enterprises dependent on ad and subscription revenue for their basic operations. Its a complicated set-up: The attempt in Philadelphia to create a new ownership structure for newspapers, IN ONE CHART: pic.twitter.com/IxR5oU5kdR David Uberti (@DavidUberti) January 12, 2016 Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project The move comes after years of bloodletting at the Philadelphia newspapers, leading last year to consolidation of the Inquirer and Daily News newsrooms. That unification will prevent internal competition for grants, said Stan Wischnowski, PMNs executive editor. The funding, he said, will pay for enterprise work the newspapers couldnt otherwise sustain. The timing of this couldnt be better for us, he said. I think there will be a range of investigative work that will be very much grant-dependent. Then, there will also be those areas where our natural traditions of coverage will kick in. A lot of it will be based on the timeliness, relevancyall of those core areas of developing investigations. The Institute for Journalism in New Media will be governed by a 10-person board, which includes Lenfest and is rounded out by academics and nonprofit executives. (Disclosure: One of them is Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.) The group will solicit and vet grant proposals, awarding funds from the endowment proceeds. While the organization will focus on aiding PMN-related projects in the short-term, it intends to expand its mission outside of Philadelphia as well. Its kind of like a local laboratory for ideas to be tried out, said Sarah Bartlett, a board member and dean of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Foundation-supported journalism is nothing new at this point to many metro newspapers, including those in Philly. But the new arrangement is designed to attract more funding by allowing outside donors to make tax-deductible donations to support Inquirer or Daily News journalism, if indirectly. The prospect of more grant-funded journalism raises its own set of questions about who sets the editorial agenda: the funders, or the newsroom. Howard Gensler, the president of the local Newspaper Guild, expressed concerns on that score in a good post by Joel Mathis of Philadelphia magazine. David Boardman, a board member of the new institute and dean of the Temple University School of Media and Communication, said the construct creates an extra barrier to outside influence. In any sort of nonprofit environment, you always want to make sure that the tail isnt wagging the dogthat youre not just chasing the money, Boardman said. In this particular case, we as an institute have no agenda other than supporting quality journalism. The relationship includes two-way veto powerthe institute can deny the newspapers grant proposals, while the newspapers can turn down funding if it presents a conflict of interestthough it remains to be seen if that latter power would be exercised should the newsroom continue to shrink. Layoffs across PMN claimed 46 journalists jobs in November. The board, which has yet to have its first meeting, will hire an executive director and eventually lead fundraising efforts to bolster the endowment. The board will have nothing to do with the daily operation of the papers, said Boardman. Theyre still going to have to make this a successful business on their own. For Wischnowski, who oversees the joint newsroom, adapting to a more grant-focused model will take time. Weve got some experience in this realm, he said, pointing to the creation last year of a newsroom position overseeing strategic partnerships. But its new at this scale, and will be a lot of learning as we go. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today David Uberti is a writer in New York. He was previously a media reporter for Gizmodo Media Group and a staff writer for CJR. Follow him on Twitter @DavidUberti. An impressive death penalty investigation rolled out last weekend by a somewhat surprising source The Villages Daily Sun, which serves a sprawling retirement community in Central Florida was a must-read even before todays US Supreme Court decision declaring Floridas death penalty sentencing process unconstitutional. The Supreme Court today ruled that Floridas unique procedure for meting out the death penalty violates a defendants Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury. In Florida, a jury issues an advisory verdict that does not have to be unanimous. A judge then decides separately whether the facts surrounding a murder include aggravating factors that warrant the death penalty. All of which raises the question posed in the headline of the Daily Suns investigation: How would Floridas death row look if it had to play by the same rules as other states? Daily Sun reporter Katie Sartoris told me that her investigation was prompted by the fact that the youngest death row inmate in Florida is from the newspapers circulation area. He did not have a unanimous verdict from the jury during the penalty phase (a unanimous verdict is required to convict). It got us thinking about how Florida is an outlier, Sartoris said. Alabama and Delaware are the two other states that dont require a unanimous verdict at the penalty phase. Reporters around the state may be surprised that the Daily Sun a paper that is not traditionally known for its investigative work and has been criticized for one-sided political coveragedid this kind of ambitious project. Last summer, the paper created its first so-called SWAT Team devoted to special projects and investigations so we can dedicate more resources to in-depth work, Sartoris said. A combination of seven reporters, editors and producers are contributing to the effort. Were very excited about it, she said. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project Sartoris started out at the Daily Sun straight out of college in 2012, first covering education. Shes now the associate managing editor for special projects. And the death penalty investigation, complete with a look at the secrecy behind the death warrant process and the lethal injection method, isnt Sartoris first. She produced a sharp investigation into dog racing deaths in December. She also dug up a number that is important to consider as Floridas death penalty process is in the headlines: How many inmates on Floridas death row were sent there without a unanimous jury verdict during the penalty phase of the trial? It took Sartoris 18 months of digging through online and paper archives, but she determined that 287 of the 390 men and women on death row in this state fall into that unique category. With all the scrutiny the death penalty receives, its surprising no one had tracked down this number before. All of the state agencies we talked to told us they didnt have the numbers, Sartoris said. So she and Curt Hills, the papers managing editor for special projects, and production editor Amy Johstono headed up to Tallahassee to dig through the records.* In some cases, they were able to find the information on jury verdicts from online records of the Florida Supreme Court, but for many they had to dig through the Florida Archives. Reporters covering todays Court decision can get a lot of the background they need from Sartoris wide-ranging investigation. For one small point, Ive seen reports today that put the number of inmates on Floridas death row at 400 but there are, as Sartoris reported, 390 right now. Ive also seen reporting that the Supreme Courts decision will only affect the cases of a few of the inmates on Floridas Death Row, but thats not actually clear. Sartoris quoted Stephen Harper, a professor at Florida International University and coordinator of the Florida Center for Capital Representation, saying the ruling could throw Floridas system into chaos. Bruce Fleisher, a Miami criminal defense attorney who has tried more than 30 death penalty cases, told me he expected a lot of cases may be affected by the decision. Anyone who has been sentenced to death in the state of Florida, or any other state with similar provisions, will be filing motions for post-conviction relief, he said. The opinion doesnt say what the next step is and who is going to be entitled to relief or what they will be entitled to. Although todays decision did not address the main reason Floridas death penalty process is such an outlier the failure to require a unanimous jury decision it did leave Florida without a constitutional death penalty law. Fleisher said he expects the legislature to act very quickly, simply because as it stands right now current cases could be in jeopardy. A state lawmaker who represents The Villages community has filed legislation changing Floridas statute to bring it in line with most of the rest of the country and require a unanimous verdict at the penalty phase. In other words, there is much work still ahead for reporters on this story. Meantime, anyone in need of a detailed primer can turn to, yes, the Daily Sun. * This sentence has been revised to correct the spelling of Curt Hills last name. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Susannah Nesmith is CJRs correspondent for Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. She is a freelance writer based in Miami with more than 25 years working for regional and national outlets. Follow her on Twitter @susannahnesmith. For Missouri reporters like Jason Hancock of the Kansas City Star, covering the state Senate is becoming a more demanding jobphysically. A year ago, to make room for the Senate communications staff, the press corps was booted from its first-floor offices, across the hall from the hearing rooms, up to the fifth floor. The only way to get there is a steep climb, Hancock says. The elevator does not go all the way to the fifth floor, which I think is a metaphor for somethingIve not figured out what, he said. Up here, were incredibly removed. Thats getting to be a theme. Last week, in the first official action of the new legislative session, senators voted overwhelmingly to move reporters from a table they had long occupied on the Senate floor. Beginning March 29, the press corps will be required to view the action from a renovated visitors gallery overlooking the chamber. On the same day, Senate leadership sent a memo asking reporters not to chase down senators on the floor after adjournment, but to set up interviews via staff instead. Its important to keep these changes in perspective: Reporters can do their jobs from the visitors gallery, and with inconveniently located office space. At a number of other statehousesreportedly including Virginia, as of todayand in the Missouri House, journalists dont have floor access. And the interview guidelines are more a request than an official rule. Still, the moves have sent a message, intended or not, that the Missouri press corps is less welcome in the halls of powerthe latest restrictions on access in a state where that has become a recurring concern. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project It certainly looks like a slow erosion of access in the Capitol, says Eli Yokley, who spent years covering the statehouse for his PoliticMo website before taking a job with Roll Call in Washington last year. The circumstances around the removal of journalists from the Senate floor, in particular, are slightly fuzzy and even faintly absurd. Senate leadership initially said that the move, like last years, was necessary to make room for legislative staff to do their work. But when the rule change actually came up for a brief floor debate, a GOP Senate leader said that the move was in fact made in response to alleged press misbehavior: Reporters on the floor, he said, had tweeted out what were meant to be private conversations among senators. Some of the press violated their code of ethics by tweeting out the discussions between senators, and I will not stand for that, so they will not be on the floor of the Senate any more, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard said on the floor on Jan. 7. I will not tolerate that violation of the Fourth Estate. Later, he told reporters that the floor is our space; thats not your space. The Associated Press reported, and multiple reporters confirmed to me, that Senate leaders were upset over an incident in 2014, when a reporter tweeted that then-Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey had told a senator presiding on the dais to rein in another senator who was becoming emotional during a debate. Details of the alleged offense, though, were hard to come by. Lauren Hieger, a GOP Senate spokeswoman, insisted that moving reporters off the floor was done to create space for staff, not as a punishmentdespite what Richard had saidand would not offer details on reporters had supposedly done wrong. A handful of journalists, meanwhile, told me they werent sure who sent the offending tweetthough they all agreed it wouldnt have been a breach of protocol, let alone an ethical violation. I think it could have been any of us, and I think they would have been right to do it, said Yokley, who criticized the rule change in a regular column he still writes for his hometown Joplin Globe. Ron Richard is just completely wrong, said Phill Brooks, a University of Missouri journalism professor and KMOX correspondent who has covered the Capitol for more than four decades. There are no rules about this. Brooks also pushed back on the idea that, as Richard claimed, the floor should be considered the senators space. Its the peoples chamber, he said. Its a public forum. (Given that Richard is among those demanding that a University of Missouri professor be fired for her role restricting press coverage of protests there, some commentators have noted the irony in him seeking a safe space of his own.) What might be some practical consequences of keeping reporters off the floor? Hancock, who made waves last year by breaking the story that the then-House speaker was sexting with interns, says hell still be able to do his job in the Senate, but the distance puts him and other reporters at a disadvantage, especially since nuts-and-bolts legislating still happens on paper in the chamber. If theres a floor substitute or a lot of amendments, we have to come down to get them, he says. If Im running up and down the stairs every 10 minutes to get amendments, am I going to be able to follow whats going on on the floor? Then theres just the diminished interaction with policymakers, and the understanding of the practice of politics that can come from proximity. Brooks says hes most upset on behalf of his journalism students, who will miss the opportunity to see the legislative process up close. One of his former students is Yokley, who wrote in his Joplin Globe column that being on the floor helped me and my colleagues better tell stories. Of course, politicians and their public information officers arent interested in helping journalists tell better stories, and lately theyve been finding more and more ways not to help. The slow erosion of access that worries Yokley seems to have spread from the nations capital, where he now works, to Missouri and other states. Brooks, who once did a stint in Washington, doesnt want Jefferson City to become more like the Hill. I left DC as a reporter for NPR because I felt the restrictions were too debilitating compared to what I was used to in Missouri, he says. The next generation of journalists might not notice much of a difference. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Deron Lee is CJRs correspondent for Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. A writer and copy editor who has spent nine years with the National Journal Group, he has also contributed to The Hotline and the Lawrence Journal-World. He lives in the Kansas City area. Follow him on Twitter at @deron_lee. The commission responsible for enforcing workers compensation laws has cracked down in the last year on employers who dont carry proper insurance, collecting $1 million in civil fines from uninsured companies. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that the state Industrial Commission also charged 100 employers with misdemeanors for willingly going without coverage. State law requires any employer with three or more employees to provide workers compensation insurance at no cost to the workers. Despite the improvements, commission leaders know problems continue. The goal is to head it off and get to compliance before theres an injury, said Andrew Heath, who has overseen the commissions work since Gov. Pat McCrory appointed him chairman in early 2013. Heath will soon leave the commission to be McCrorys budget director; a replacement at the commission has not yet been named. The News & Observer reported in April 2012 that as many as 30,000 employers in North Carolina required to purchase workers compensation had not. The following year, the state auditor reported the commission had done nothing to intervene as more than 11,000 businesses in 2012 canceled policies or let them lapse. In the last fiscal year, the commission investigated nearly 2,000 cases involving potential lack of coverage, and those efforts brought 800 companies into compliance. In that same year, the commission ruled that 71 workers were injured while working for employers without proper insurance. Its unclear how many employers currently lack coverage because of changes made in 2013 in how the information is shared between insurance carriers and the commission. So far, the commission has not pursued companies that misclassify employees as independent contractors. Gov. Pat McCrory, however, has ordered the commission to take a new role in stopping misclassification. In mid-December, McCrory issued an executive order placing the Industrial Commission in charge of coordinating how various state agencies respond to information about businesses that might be cheating. He charged each agency to enforce its rules and issue appropriate sanctions when they find a business misclassifying workers. McCrory acted after lawmakers didnt pass legislation that would have established a team of investigators at the state Department of Revenue to pursue companies that misclassify workers. The bill stalled as newspaper publishers lobbied against the legislation because of late alterations to the bill aimed at newspaper carriers. Legislators had said they would try again to pass the bill this year Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Aloysius Laukai 5 mins 130116APPOINT BOUGAINVILLEAN SAYS DONA By Aloysius Laukai The decision by the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, PETER ONEAL to appoint himself as the Minister for Bougainville Affairs has not gone well with the people of Bougainville especially Central Bougainville. This was the message given to NEW DAWN FM today by the Chairman of the Joint Central Bougainville Combined Chairmen, MR. JOHN DONA. MR. DONA said that the appointment is not good for Bougainville and the Prime Minister must immediately appoint another Bougainville Member of Parliament to the job. He said that as Bougainville moves into the Referendum window, the Prime Minister will have too many things on his hands and heading the Bougainville Affairs Ministry could create instability on Bougainville. MR. DONA was commenting on the latest Ministerial reshuffle that the Prime Minister announced this week. Meanwhile the Opposition leader, DON POLYE has queried the motive behind Prime Minister Peter ONeil giving himself the Bougainville Affairs Ministry in the light of the looming vote on Referendum. Opposition leader, DON POLYE said stripping the ministry from a Bougainvillean MP who has local knowledge about the issues of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville is a slap in the face to the people of Bougainville. MR. POLYE has cautioned MR. ONEIL as the Minister responsible to treat the outstanding financial issue and Bougainville Mine issues among others with care. He said that the Prime Minister has been playing down the seriousness of ABG by way of undermining the Peace Agreement with cuts in funds rightfully owed to the people. MR. POLYE said that the scars of the Bougainville crisis are still raw and the discreet protocol and care should be given to the region to prepare them well in the lead up to the Referendum. He described the reshuffle by the Prime Minister as self serving and not in the best interest of the country. New Dawn FM understands that the landing of the KUMUL on Christmas Day in AROPA without the ABG knowing it has puzzled the Bougainville leaders and the ABG President who is still Overseas will make a statement once he returns. Ends The Politics and Passion of Ukrainian Classical Pianist Valentina Lisitsa Classical pianist, Valentina Listisa, is Ukrainian by birth. She is blonde, extremely talented, probably considered very beautiful by many, and is pro-Vladimir Putin. Being Ukrainian and pro-Putin is somewhat akin to spouting the virtues of Karl Marx on the steps of the Indiana state capital. The pianist is very opinionated about the politics of her birthland, even though she no longer calls it home, and courts controversy wherever she goes because of her opinions. These opinions already have famously blown up in her face when the Toronto Orchestra CEO cancelled a performance she was due to give. Other cities also have questioned whether or not to do the same. Is it fair that Valentina's political beliefs might overshadow her massive talent as a pianist? Valentina expresses her views quite a bit through Twitter. Some of them could most definitely be construed as offensive, but Valentina says differently. From The Globe and Mail online, Valentina had this to say, "You might find some of [my tweets] offensive, [but] satire and hyperbole are the best literary tools to combat the lies." Write-ups about performers are a tricky thing. When you are familiar with the artist, for whatever reason, you lay your cordiality by the door as you walk in, because of that perceived familiarity. However, I am discovering Valentina Lisitsa for the first time and, based on the above interview, she seems really affable. Dare I say likable? So, why does she have people up in arms? Her interest in politics led her to start tweeting about the Ukraine's political scene and the war Russian-backed separatists are waging against the government in Eastern Ukraine. The separatists and Putin claim it is to protect the Russian minority in the country that, ironically enough, had been placed there, as Russian Communists did with all former Soviet sattelite states, to more Russianize them. Essentially, they are fighting to stay in a place where they forcibly invaded. Did Toronto's orchestra violate Valentina Lisitsa's free speech? Valentina thought so, and took to Facebook to explain her side and sway public opinion in her favor against the Toronto orchestra, and Valentina turned on the jets to win her cause. This, via Valentina's Facebook page, "My haters didn't stop there. Trying, in their own words, to teach me a lesson, they have now attempted to silence me as a musician. I am scheduled to play Rachmaninoff Concerto #2 with Toronto Symphony Orchestra this week. Back in December someone in the orchestra top management, likely after the pressure from a small but aggressive lobby claiming to represent Ukrainian community, has made a decision that I should not be allowed to play. I don't even know who my accusers are, I am kept in the dark about it. I was accused of "inciting hatred" on Twitter. As the "proof", ironically enough, they presented to the orchestra my tweets containing, of all things, Charlie Hebdo caricatures depicting lying media!!! We all know what those who can't tolerate free speech did to Charlie Hebdo journalists." Was the ban necessary? Granted, her opinions are controversial and largely rhetoric, but are they anymore than that? Do they color or taint the way she plays Rachmaninoff? Can we really penalize Valentina Listisa and bar her from playing, when so many are getting behind a far greater bigot, whose rallies conjure up images of Nazism? Surely, if Donald Trump can be allowed to run for president, Valentina can play her piano. In the end, it is Trump who is a far greater danger to the world than Ms. Lisitsa's political opinons. 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TagsValentina Listisa Concert Pianist, War in the Ukraine. Concert Pianists Anti-Ukrainian Tweets, Valentina Listia Youtube NORTHFIELD CENTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Neighbors of the home that exploded Monday and killed a family of four had been talking about arson even before the Ohio Fire Marshal announced Wednesday that someone had intentionally caused the fire. "We knew things ahead of time leading up to that," Northfield Center Township Trustee Paul Buescher said, speaking to reporters at the house. "Everybody that night knew it wasn't natural gas. A natural gas explosion would have taken the entire house out." Still, the official determination that someone intentionally caused the explosion that killed a family of four magnified the shock to the northern Summit County community. "We're all devastated," Buescher said. "It's a whole family, they are part of us and that part has been lost." The blast happened about 8:45 p.m. Monday at the family's home at 7486 Skyhaven Road. Firefighters later found Cynthia Mather, 43, huddled with her two daughters, 12-year-old Alyson and 8-year-old Ruthie, near a front hallway of the two-story, 1994-built home. Jeff Mather, also 43, was found in a back room of the house. Jeff Mather was a deacon at The Rock Community Church in Garfield Heights and Cynthia was a tutor at KidsLink Neurobehavioral Center in Twinsburg. Local and state fire investigators have released no details or possible motive in the ongoing investigation. The wrecked home, with the daughters' charred bunk beds still visible through an upstairs window, looms over the bucolic middle-class neighborhood. Leonard Strauss, who lives across the street, said he doubted from the beginning the wreckage was caused by an accidental gas leak. "It didn't seem like a natural gas explosion, even from the beginning," Strauss said. The retiree says he heard two distinct explosions the night of the fire and saw flames mainly in the rear of the house. Other neighbors said they rarely spoke to the family, but had good things to say Wednesday. "I spoke to them maybe half a dozen times and it was always 'Hi, how are you,'" Mike Mates said. Mates said he has lived three doors down from the Mather household for five years. "I certainly never heard about any problems either at the house or about anyone who had any problems with them. The house and yard were always well kept." NEW FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A New Franklin man is accused of secretly filming a 14-year-old girl undressing and showering. James Lewis, 34, is charged with voyeurism, a fifth-degree felony. He turned himself into police about 9 a.m. Thursday. Lewis remains in the Summit County Jail on $10,000 bond. The 14-year-old girl and her mother discovered a memory card on Dec. 22 that Lewis left on their kitchen table. They plugged the card into their phone and found five 15 minutes recordings. Three were of the girl showering and two were of her getting undressed, according to police reports. Investigators found that Lewis drilled a hole in the wall separating a bedroom and bathroom. On the other side of the wall, he installed two screws that propped up his phone so he could use his cellphone camera to film whomever was showering, according to police reports. Lewis admitted to detectives that he initially tried to record the girl's mother using the shower but accidentally recorded the girl. The next two times he intentionally recorded the girl, according to court records. Barberton Municipal Court Judge James Fish ordered Lewis must stay away from the girl, her mother and their home. Lewis' criminal history includes several misdemeanor convictions and a 2015 felony theft conviction. He entered a court-ordered drug treatment program that would erase his conviction from his permanent record if he completed all the necessary steps. NORTHFIELD CENTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Calls to 911 dispatch Monday night described an explosion at a Northfield Center home where Cynthia and Jeffrey Mather lived with their 8 and 12-year-old daughters. By the time firefighters arrived, barely 10 minutes later, the roof on the 2,400-square-foot, 22-year-old colonial was gone. "It was completely, and I really mean completely, engulfed in flames by the time we got there," Northfield Center Fire Chief Frank Risko said. The family of four died in the fire, which left much of their house charred, walls pushed out and windows shattered. Home explosions are disturbingly common -- between 2007 and 2011, an average of 51,600 fires started nationwide each year when flammable gas was ignited, according to the National Fire Protection Association -- and often leave houses decimated. The most violent of explosions, often set off by something as small as a spark from a light switch, can reduce a two-story family homes to splinters. "If the mix is just right, I have seen it where the house was turned into toothpicks," fire investigator Richard Meier said. Meier, an Akron native, works for Kennedy & Associates, an investigative agency called in to assist local fire departments piece together the cause of major fires. A lot of his work recently has taken him to house explosions in Detroit, destructive in a manner similar to the fire that killed the Mather family on Monday. Most of the explosions Meier investigates start with a fuel gas, like natural gas or propane. If a fuel gas leaks into a house it can build up, sometimes rapidly and sometimes over a period of weeks or months. Once the mixture of fuel is high enough, the tiniest spark can release an enormous amount of energy. "The amount of energy needed to ignite a fuel gas is about 1/4 of a millijoule," Meier said. By comparison, the spark created by the flick of a butane cigarette lighter releases 4 millijoules, or 16 times that much energy. Investigators on the scene of any house explosion will look at the burn patterns to determine where the fire started, the ignition source. But the source of ignition isn't as important as the source of the fuel. Whether the fuel for the explosion came from a rusty gas line, a leaky propane tank, a faulty furnace or otherwise could tell a lot about any potential dangers that lurk in the neighborhood and other similarly constructed homes nearby. How much fuel was in the home? To determine how much fuel was present when the house exploded, investigators will look at the pattern the fire created. If the fuel mixture was rich, meaning there was a high ratio of explosive material relative to oxygen in the atmosphere, the house would have been subjected to more than one blast, Meier said. That's because as walls and windows break during the first explosion, more oxygen rushes in and reignites the fuel source. The most devastating explosions happen when the fuel and oxygen mixture are equal, or just slightly rich. That even fuel mixture leads to what Meier referred to as toothpick explosions, which can destroy homes completely. By approximating how rich the mixture was, investigators can get an idea of how long a leak may have persisted, if it turns out a gas leak caused the explosion. Where was the fuel coming from? The level of difficulty answering this question varies greatly, depending on the conditions at the scene of the fire, Meier said. If a secondary fire burns for a long time after the first explosion, it can damage remaining parts of the house and mask a leaky pipe or faulty appliance. A quickly extinguished fire will likely leave more clues; the Northfield fire was out within about 30 minutes, Risko said. The Mathers' house was built in 1994, according to Summit County property records, and is connected to a natural gas line, like the majority of homes in the area. Meier said the relatively young age reduces the likelihood that the gas came from outside the house. Gas that leaks outside a house, especially in the winter when the top layer of soil is frozen over, can travel up the utility ditch, where soil is less tightly packed. It can then seep into basements, crawl spaces and even in between walls. That could explain why the Mathers', who were all home and likely still awake at the time of the explosion, may not have been privy to the danger. "Natural gas and propane are odorless, you can't normally smell them. Gas companies add a smell, typically it is a sulphur compound called methyl mercaptan or ethyl mercaptan. That is what gives you the rotten egg smell," Meier said. Regulations require there to be enough mercaptan in gas so that an average person can detect it at a concentration one-fifth the minimum level required for an explosion. At that level, people would have time to either shut off the gas, if they knew where it was coming from, or leave their home and call 911. That level is subjective though, and frozen ground or rusty gas lines can actually scrub the mercaptan from the gas mixture. "If the whole family had a head cold, they may have had no idea," Meier said. Are other fuel sources a possibility? While the majority of explosions that Meier investigates are cause by some type of flammable gas, in line with statistics on home explosions nationwide, there are plenty of other explosive materials that could have caused the Mathers' fire. Explosions are classified based on the amount of energy released. A fire in which the flame moves faster than the speed of sound is considered a high-order explosion; conversely an explosion that moves slower than the speed of sound are considered low-order explosions. Explosive materials are classified the same way. An explosion caused by say, gunpowder or dynamite, is going to damage a home differently than one cause by natural gas or propane. By carefully observing the damage, Meier says that investigators can get clues to the cause. Is natural gas safe? With all this talk of odorless gas leaks and high-order explosives, it is easy to question the safety of natural gas for home use. Despite the nearly perpetual stream of home explosions that require his attention, Meier still says gas is safe to use. "We have been using gas in this country for about two centuries and most people's homes don't explode," Meier said. The amount of natural gas that flows to an unlit pilot light in a furnace or gas fireplace is generally considered too small to cause an explosion, according to the fire protection association. It is important, however, for people to check their gas lines and appliances periodically for signs of a problem. "People should make sure their appliances are serviced by a licensed professional," Akron Fire Lt. Serjie Lash said. The gas utility can also inspect gas lines for signs of potentially dangerous wear or leaks." Explosions still make up a very small percentage of all house fires, Risko reminded. Most fires are caused by far more visible risks that, with a little care, can be easily avoided. "This type of fire is extremely rare," Risko said. "Personally, I have never seen anything like this." AVON LAKE, Ohio -- Avon Lake police have asked for the public's help identifying two men who stole items from an unlocked car during a recent rash of thefts from cars. The police department posted video of the Jan. 8 theft on it's Facebook page Tuesday. It was one of five thefts from cars reported to Avon Lake police that day. Three reports came from the Legacy housing development and the other two happened in nearby parking lots. Most of the stolen items included cash, sunglasses and gloves. Drums and drum equipment was stolen from one car, police said. Most of the cars were left unlocked, police said. The video shows two men in hoodies check the bed of a truck parked near an Avon Lake apartment building, then open the driver's side door and rummage through the front seat. One of the men then opened the driver's side door on a car parked right next to the truck. On 1/8/16, Avon Lake Police took 5 reports where items were stolen from vehicles. Video from one of these incidents was collected. If you have information about the males in this video, please contact the Detective Ludwig of the Avon Lake Police. 440-933-2211 Posted by Avon Lake Police Department on Monday, January 11, 2016 Anyone who can identify either of the two men depicted in the video can call the Avon Lake Police Department's detective bureau at 440-993-2211. BROOK PARK, Ohio -- At its first meeting in years, City Council's Finance Committee considered bills tonight to slash the maximum pay of many elected officials, appointed administrators and other non-unionized workers. After the meeting, Mayor Tom Coyne said he'd veto the appointees' bill as currently written. Submitted by Jim Astorino, new council president, the bill would cut the safety director's maximum pay from $95,311 to 41,990. It would trim many other administrators by about $10,000 a year. It would make little or no change to the pay of low-level non-unionized workers, such as auxiliary police. Under Astorino's other bills, the mayor's pay would fall from $110,905 to $100,000. Council members would drop from 15,325 to $13,200. The council president would sink from $16,693 to $14,400. The finance director's pay would rise from $97,089 to $98,289. The mayor and finance director would also lose paid vacation and sick time. The changes for elected officials would take effect in the next terms. The appointees' changes would take effect April 1 if the bill passes as drafted in time. At tonight's meeting, attended by about two dozen people, Astorino said that leaders should feel some of the pain of city workers who've been laid off and residents who've lost services. "There should be more of a shared sacrifice." Astorino estimated that the bills might save about $150,000 to $200,000 per year as currently written. Mayor Tom Coyne was not invited to speak at the meeting. Beforehand, he accused Astorino of a conflict of interest. Astorino is president of the Northern Ohio Fire Fighters which includes Brook Park's firefighters. He plans to step down in April, when his term ends, and sees no conflict meanwhile, because the bills don't affect his members. But Coyne said Astorino is trying to free up city funds for them. Coyne also said the bill essentially makes the safety director part-time, a step that Astorino tried to take in 2012 through a proposed charter amendment. The job is full-time by statute. Said Coyne, "This is purely political. This is purely punitive." Astorino said there isn't enough money or work to justify the safety director's current pay. He said both the police and fire departments have good chiefs and assistants. Finance Chairwoman Julie Ann McCormick said many area cities have part-time safety directors. Some other cities give the job to the mayor or the service director. Council usually considers appointees' pay as part of a budget submitted in the spring. But Astorino said he wants council to initiate ideas as soon as possible, then kick them around and compromise. "Let's start now and take our time." Most Brook Park administrators make somewhat less than the budgeted maximum pay for their jobs. But McCormick said the pay still seems high compared to other area cities. Council members said they have started researching salaries in other communities and will finish before resetting local terms. Councilman-at-Large Carl Burgio, a finance committee member, said, "The longer we take, the better outcome we'll have. It's got to be accurate and fair. We're dealing with people's livelihoods, so I want to make sure we do this right." Burgio regretted that council's pay cuts would not take effect for two years. He and fellow committee member Tom Troyer of Ward 1 talked about possibly returning some pay to the city or giving it to charity. Officials say it's been years since a committee met without inviting all of council to participate. Coyne questioned the need for the change. Astorino and McCormick said there's no point to a committee that never meets by itself. The 6:15 committee meeting was followed by a 7 p.m. caucus of the full council. In recent years, caucuses have been scheduled right before regular council meetings. But McCormick said it's better to caucus without the pressure of another meeting to follow. At the caucus, members talked about how to handle long-languishing bills, perhaps by eliminating some and reintroducing others. For the pay bills, see cityofbrookpark.com/city-council. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit filed by the family of an unarmed bank robbery suspect shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, wrote that there are factual disputes about the actions Detective Daniel Zola and two other officers took before Zola shot Danny Withers in the chest. The factual dispute raises questions about Zola's defense that he made a "split-second decision" in the September 2010 shooting. The decision means the lawsuit, first filed against the city and officers in 2011 and dismissed by a trial judge last year, will be sent back to the federal court in Cleveland for a trial. The decision also revives the possibility that Zola could be held liable for civil damages. (To read the full decision, click here or scroll to the bottom of the story.) Zola and officers David Shapiro and Thomas Shoulders served an arrest warrant at the East 125th Street home of Withers' grandmother. Withers, 21, who was in a closet in a dimly-lit basement, was shot as he quickly raised his right hand after Shoulders opened the closet, court records say. Withers was wanted in a bank robbery where he threatened a teller with "blowing her head off" if she gave him a dye pack with the money he took. The dispute raised in the appeal concerns how much time elapsed before Zola fired. Zola said that he made a the decision to shoot in "[l]ess than a split second." A neighbor indicated in a sworn statement that he heard Zola tell his supervisor that he told Withers to "get down, f---er, get down f---er" before the shooting. The appeals decision authored by Judge Gilbert Merritt Jr. says that U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko, the Cleveland judge who presided over the initial case, "improperly disregarded the factual disputes." Merritt wrote, "Zola could not have possibly identified a body, shouted the obscenity, and then shot Withers--all in '[l]ess than a split second.'" The court also noted that Zola, during a deposition, said that he and his fellow officers repeatedly shouted for Withers to show his hands. "This command casts doubt on the reasonableness of Zola's use of deadly force because a reasonable officer could certainly expect a suspect to make gestures with his arms and hands consistent with the lawful order to 'show us your hands' given only moments earlier," the decision reads. Larry Zukerman, an attorney representing Withers' family, said the family is relieved and is looking forward to their day in court. "An unarmed black man shouldn't be shot in the basement of their grandmother's house," Zukerman said. The city of Cleveland said in a statement that it received the decision and is contemplating its next move. While police did not find a gun at the scene, they said a screwdriver was found near where Withers was shot. Judge Richard Griffin, in a dissent, wrote that he agreed with Boyko's decision. "Given the totality of the circumstances confronting Zola at that moment, his decision to fire his weapon, while tragic in hindsight, was objectively reasonable at the time he decided to exercise force," Griffin wrote. "Split-second decisions" also played heavily into Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty's recommendation against filing charges against the officers in the Tamir Rice shooting. McGinty, for his recommendation, that said that judges must only rely on the immediate decision to fire, and not the actions in the minutes and seconds leading up to it. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three Cleveland men were indicted Tuesday and charged with committing armed robberies in Solon, Bath and North Olmsted, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Stephone Tillman, 24, Matthew Bowen Jr., 24, and Christopher Jones, 25, robbed a Circle K at 29605 Aurora Road, Solon, on Sept. 15, according to the news release. They stole $100, a pack of "Black and Mild" cigars and scratch-off lottery tickets, court filings show. The trio also robbed another Circle K at 791 Cleveland-Massillon Road in Bath on Oct. 8, again taking about $100, filings say. Finally, on Oct. 3, Tillman and Bowen robbed the Zip Thru store at 30781 Lorain Road in North Olmsted, taking between $1,600 and $1,700, prosecutors say. The men were arrested in October and charged in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. They have been in federal custody since Dec. 21, when they were charged through a criminal complaint. Tillman, Bowen and Jones are charged with conspiring to interfere with interstate commerce by means of robbery as well as robbing convenience stores in Solon and in Bath. Tillman and Bowen face an additional count for the North Olmsted robbery. These types of robberies would normally not lead to federal charges. However, federal prosecutors are charging the trio under the Hobbs Act, under the theory that the string of robberies affected interstate commerce. The charges were able to be brought in federal court because some of the products the stores sold were manufactured or sent from other states. If convicted, the Hobbs Act, as well as the fact that a firearm was used in the robberies, could lead to longer prison sentences for the trio. "Fighting crime in a smart way means aggressively prosecuting the most violent criminals and sending them away for a long time to protect the public," U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said. Attorneys for the three could not immediately be reached for comment. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi in Akron. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- "Authenticity" gets tossed around a lot in the bar and restaurant worlds. All too often it's part of some marketing strategy, a meaningless buzzword. Dominic Gogol never used the word once while talking about Tavern of Little Italy, a sleek yet homey gastropub that opens on Friday in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood. He didn't have to. Gogol, you see, isn't a developer branding some real estate project. He's a kid from the neighborhood who grew up down the street. And he realized his 10-year dream of owning a bar not with a marketing plan, but with the help of friends and family. "See this bar countertop?" said Gogol, pointing to slab of concrete that runs almost the entire length of the bar area of TOLI. "It weighs 1,100 pounds, and we had generations of people from the neighborhood working on it, including my dad, who's 81 years old." Gogol's family roots in the neighborhood run over a century. "I looked around at other areas when I was thinking where to open a place, but I couldn't find anything I really liked," he says. "Then this place opened up, and it's perfect." Yes, there was the neighborhood and the space. TOLI is located in a circa-1908 building that once housed the Mayfield Cafe - a place Gogol fondly remembers walking past as a child. "Jack White used to sit here out in front," says Gogol, referring to James T. Licavoli, the last of the old-school Cleveland mob dons, who died in 1985. "I remember those days growing up in this neighborhood, walking down the sidewalk, just like yesterday." Opening the bar in Little Italy was perfect for another reason, however. "The East Side is lacking when it comes to beer in general, and I always thought that Little Italy could use a bar that served a wide range of beers," he says. "You know, a really good gastropub that appeals to all walks of people -- locals, college students from the area, young, old, black, white, Asian." TOLI will serve 16 drafts and a rotation of bottled beers, to go with cocktails and a wide range of wines. "We're going to mix things up with the wine list, because so many of the restaurants here do Italian wines so well," he says. "It's like that with our food, too." The menu is an eclectic mix of gastropub offerings, from Deep Fried Spaghetti in Meatballs to flatbreads, burgers, po-boys and tacos. "There are so many great Italian restaurants here," he says. "Plus, we want to do something different - Italians might eat Italian food at home, but they like a good burger in the bar." Gogol, however, is not an Italian name - as any fan of literature will tell you. It was made famous by 19th-century playwright-novelist, Nikolai Gogol. "My dad is Russian and my mom Italian, which was a rare combination in Little Italy back when they met," he says. "The first two times my dad asked my grandparents if he could take my mom out, they slammed the door in his face." I guess it didn't help that Gogol's bloodlines went back to Nikolai. "My father's great-, great-uncle was supposedly related to him," says Gogol. "But that doesn't mean much in Little Italy - though they did relent and let him take her out after the third try." Gogol, who owns a landscaping company, worked on the build-out with business partner and carpenter Brian Hamilton over 10 months. The space includes a second floor that will be used for events and a patio area that is scheduled to open in May. "This was most recently a barber college, so we had to gut everything and start all over," he says. "We added windows on the side of the building, wood on the walls, painted it red and fixed up this ceiling." He points up at the circa-1939 pressed tin ceiling, then gets up from a barstool and heads for the bathroom. "Here, check this out," he says as he opens the door to the ladies room and points to a wall of old black-and-white photos from Little Italy's past. "You can see the ceiling in this picture of the Mayfield Cafe," he says, pointing to a faded, blurry old photo. "These are all from Little Italy's past - places and people that made Little Italy." The bathrooms include shots of Feast of Assumption celebrations from years gone by, old neighborhood bars and restaurants, even Jack White. "I grew up two doors down from him, and he was this gentlemanly, grandfather type of guy," says Gogol. "We used to play ball in front of his house - well, until the Danny Greene car bombing took place, and our parents told us we couldn't, because they were afraid a bomb would go off or something." He walks back into the bar, focusing out on the street through the front window. "All these memories are part of my life," says Gogol, looking out onto Mayfield Road. "When I look out here, I see Jack sitting out on the sidewalk and me as a kid and think it's really great that I'm getting the chance to open up a bar here." For more info, go here. police tape.jpg A pair of New York men bought more than $16,000 in iPhones and other Apple products from Verizon stores in Northeast Ohio using fake driver's licenses and credit cards, police said. (File photo) FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- Two New York men bought more than $16,000 in iPhones and other Apple products from Verizon stores throughout Northeast Ohio using fake driver's licenses and credit cards, police said. Jorge Escotto, 23, and Joshua Gonzales, 25, bought phones in Westlake, Independence and Elyria before one of their purchases raised suspicions, police said. The two men are charged with identity theft and receiving stolen property. An employee of a Verizon store in Fairview Park's Westgate shopping center told police Sunday that Gonzales tried to buy several iPhone 6s smartphones using a Connecticut license. The employee said workers at another Verizon store previously sent him a picture of Gonzales and said the out-of-state man was likely using a fake license and credit card. Officers arrived as Gonzales left the store and questioned him. When asked for identification, Gonzales provided a New York driver's license that showed a different name than the Connecticut driver's license he used in the store, police said. Both licenses had Gonzales' picture. Escotto was waiting in an Uber car in the parking lot when police arrived, the report said. He asked if he could leave and officers let him go because he hadn't gone into the store with Gonzales, police said. Investigators contacted other Verizon stores in the area and found that Escotto also bought phones using a fake New Jersey driver's license and a fake credit card, police said. The Uber driver called police later in the day and said he had dropped off Escotto at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Fairview Park police contacted officers working at the airport who arrested Escotto before he boarded his plane. Officers found iPhones, tablets and an Apple Watch in his luggage, police said. Investigators aren't sure how the two men forged the credit cards and licenses. title bureau.JPG The county's title bureau was re-opened Jan. 4 at Golden Gate shopping center, then again Jan. 11 after a car was driven into its entrance. The entrance has since been repaired. (Jeff Piorkowski/Special to Sun News) MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- It's been a rocky start, but the title bureau is back in business at Golden Gate Shopping Center. After having been located in the Mayfield Road shopping center for many years, Cuyahoga County shut down the bureau's operations there in 2009. County Auto Title Division Manager David Schaeffer said that the county was losing out on funds in the northeast portion of the county and decided to re-open the bureau at Golden Gate, right next to the storefronts that are home to the state's deputy registrar and driver's examination facilities. "We opened the title bureau Jan. 4 and were planning to have a grand opening (Jan. 12)," Schaeffer said. Then the unexpected occurred. A motorist attempting to park her car in the lot opposite the title bureau storefront drove her car into the glass entrance. The accident took place at about 9:50 a.m. Jan. 8. "She's a middle-aged woman from Lyndhurst," said Mayfield Heights police Corporal Doug Woods. "She put her foot on the gas instead of the brake while she was trying to park. It was kind of a slow roll into the building." Woods said the woman was not injured and that she was cited for failure to control her vehicle. Office Manager Cecelia Gates and Assistant Manager Robert Yesko were at work when the accident occurred. "It was horrific, shocking," Gates said. "We saw it coming." Yesko said he watched as the woman's car was driven back and forth as she attempted to work her way into a parking space. The car then slowly rolled across the two lane shopping center drive between the parking area and storefronts. "Thank God no one was hurt," Yesko said. Yesko said the contractor who had refurbished the storefront was at the building just moments before the accident took place and, as he was driving away, saw the emergency vehicles making their way into the Golden Gate lot. "He turned around and came back to see what was happening," Yesko said. "I can't tell you what he said when he saw what happened." The title bureau was closed Jan. 8 and 9, but re-opened Jan. 11. "The contractor had it all fixed up by Saturday (Jan. 9)," Yesko said. "We postponed our grand opening so that everything can be in place when it takes place," Schaeffer said. Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish was scheduled to appear at the opening, which will now be held sometime in the next couple of weeks. "Now, everything's in one place," Schaeffer said. "People can take their driver's exam, get their driver's license and plates at the deputy registrar's, and get the title to their car." Schaeffer said the Golden Gate location is a good one in that it is close to the many car dealerships along Mayfield Road and in the vicinity. "In the past, you had to get your title in the same county (the car was sold)," Schaeffer said. "In 2002, the state legislature changed that, and you could go to any county." Without a title bureau in the northeast portion of Cuyahoga County, many dealers/buyers went to the next closest bureau, in Wickliffe, in Lake County. Schaeffer said other surrounding counties offer title bureau's near their borders with Cuyahoga County, which leads to lost income. "We lose about $800,000 a year to other counties," Schaeffer said. "We still make about $1 million a year that we turn over to the county's general fund, but we're looking to get some of that ($800,000) back." Cuyahoga County also has title bureaus at Southgate Plaza in Maple Heights, in Parma, in North Olmsted, and in downtown Cleveland, which serves as its main office. The Mayfield Heights title bureau, 6420 Mayfield Road, St. 1585, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays; from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays; and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed Wednesdays. LAKEWOOD, Ohio - The rules of engagement were simple: Anything goes, but you have to be civil. And that's exactly what happened during Lakewood Mayor Mike Summers' monthly "Listening to Lakewood" chat Tuesday evening inside Mahall's 20 Lanes on Madison Avenue. Topics raised by the half dozen residents who attended included LED traffic signals, parking meters, sewer rates and even the status of Westwood Theatre on Hilliard Road. "I look forward to these meetings because it's an opportunity to exchange issues and concerns in a more thorough way," Summers said after pushing a few tables together. "I'm able to share and clarify information and go into a fair amount of detail." Regarding new LED traffic signals still hanging unused over city streets, Summers explained it's "an ODOT-managed project (Ohio Department of Transportation)." "The contractor is pathetic," he told resident Steve LaMantia. "They're about a year behind. ODOT is managing it and has the contractor on a short leash. I'm hoping to get it done by spring, but we don't control that." Another question arose about new parking meters near Coffee Pot Family Restaurant on Madison Avenue that still don't allow for 15 minutes of free parking like other businesses along that street. Summers said the answer could be as simple as having to order more of the special meters, but he will pursue it. As for sewer rates, "We charge our residents to pay for our own sewer repairs," the mayor said. He later added that "rates will continue to go up" as the state reduces funding to municipalities. A resident then asked when the Westwood Theatre might be demolished. "The owner has so far refused to sell it to us," Summers replied. "If the city owned the property, we could seek grants (to offset an estimated $900,000 demolition cost, which includes asbestos removal)." One of the last topics raised was a question posed by the mayor about how best to use the vacant Curtis Block Building on the corner of Marlowe and Detroit avenues. It consists of five two-bedroom apartments upstairs and five storefronts. "If we had to spend $300,000 or $400,000 of taxpayer money to bring it back to life, should we do it?" Summers asked. "My instinct would be to preserve it, but at what cost? We're about to own it, and the question is what are we going to do with it?" He suggested perhaps having the building designated as a historical city structure. Summer also proposed putting city non-profit organizations in the building and renting the upstairs apartments. A decision isn't required for a few years, but the mayor said he wants the community to begin considering possible options now. The next "Listening to Lakewood" session will take place at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 9 inside Jammy Buggars, 15625 Detroit Avenue. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Kent man accused of attacking two prostitutes in three days on Cleveland's West Side is being held on $100,000 bond. Anthony Scarbro, 46, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to rape and kidnapping charges stemming from an Oct. 20 incident on West 54th Street. Scarbro had already been charged in an Oct. 22 attack on the same street. Cuyahoga County prosecutors said Scarbro developed "a common scheme" of targeting prostitutes because he saw them as vulnerable and unable to go to police, according to court records. Both attacks came after Scarbro picked the women up on Lorain Avenue in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood and drove them to West 54th Street near Bridge Avenue, according to court records. On Oct. 22, Scarbro picked up a woman about 4:30 a.m. near West 50th Street, drove her to an empty parking lot on West 54th Street and asked her for oral sex, according to court records. When she refused, Scarbro punched the woman in the face and pulled a knife, records say. As the woman tried to get out of the car, Scarbro sliced her hand right hand, records say. The two struggled for several minutes, during which Scarbro demanded the woman hand over her money, according to records. She eventually escaped and called police from a nearby gas station. Scarbro followed the woman to the gas station, and was arrested when police showed up. While officers were at the gas station, another woman who worked as a prostitute showed up and accused Scarbro of a similar attack two days earlier. That woman said Scarbro picked her up about 2:30 a.m. at Lorain and West 65th Street, then parked in a driveway on West 54th Street, records say. Scarbro attacked the woman as soon as he turned off the ignition and forced her to perform oral sex, according to records. Scarbro then demanded the woman give him any drugs she had and all the money she earned that night, which was about $225, according to court records. He then told her to get out of the car, and drove off, records say. Scarbro denied the allegations in interviews with detectives, according to court records. Scarbro was indicted in the Oct. 22 attack in November. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in that case and has been jailed on $50,000 bond. A grand jury indicted him Friday in the Oct. 20 attack. Scarbro pleaded guilty in 1992 to attempted rape. Prosecutors said he picked up a woman on Broadway Avenue and drove her to an empty parking lot, where he beat her when she tried to get out of the car and then raped her. CHARDONh Residents living in the snow belt will be digging out Wednesday after several inches of snow fell overnight. (Gus Chan, Plain Dealer file photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The snow belt is living up to its name this morning, with several inches falling overnight in Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties and leading to school districts canceling classes. Parts of Lake County reported 8 inches of snow on the ground early this morning, and police in Chester Township in Geauga County are urging caution to drivers: We've had a significant snowfall overnight, please only travel for necessity until the roads are cleared. Chester Twp. Police (@ChesterTwpPD) January 13, 2016 The snow could create some hazardous driving conditions with slick roads and whiteouts. Chardon, Mentor and Willoughby-Eastlake Schools had canceled classes before 5 a.m. Wednesday. Go here to see a complete list of closings and delays from WKYC Channel 3. The National Weather Service issued a lake-effect snow warning for Geauga and parts of Ashtabula counties Tuesday night through 3 p.m. today. A lake-effect snow advisory is in place until 8 a.m. this morning in Lake County and along the lake shore in Ashtabula County. The fresh snow out east comes after 5 inches fell in Chardon in Geauga County and Orwell in Ashtabula County on Tuesday. Just over an inch of snow was recorded in Cleveland. The Ohio Department of Transportation reports it has 80 trucks and drivers in eastern Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties working overnight and through the day. As for Cleveland, it's expected to be partly sunny today but it will be cold, with a high of 17. Wind chills will be around -7. Cleveland could see some snow overnight, with 1 to 2 inches of accumulation. Weather conditions will begin to warm Thursday, with temperatures reaching the mid-30s, and highs will exceed 40 degrees Friday with rain likely. * Complete 15-day forecast * Ohio radar | Ohio satellite * Upload your weather-related photos State gives tips to help seniors weather winter snow and cold It appears the snow belt will live up to its name Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. (Thomas Ondrey, Plain Dealer file photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Last week, Lake Erie was 99 percent ice free, the most-clear it had been at that time since 2007. The weather has turned very cold, though, and people living in the snow belt know what an open lake means. It's ideal conditions for lake-effect snow, and it's kicking in tonight, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a lake-effect snow warning for Geauga County and the inland portion of Ashtabula County. Forecasters say 6 to 10 inches of snow could fall in those areas overnight and through Wednesday morning, when it's expected to slow down. Winds will be strong, with gusts up to 30 mph. A lake-effect snow advisory is in effect until Wednesday morning for Lake County and the Ashtabula County's lakeshore. Four to 6 inches could fall in those areas and high winds also will be a factor. The warning is in effect until 3 p.m. Wednesday, while the advisory expires at 8 a.m. The Weather Service warns that driving conditions could be hazardous, particularly because of blowing snow. In Cleveland and Akron, snow showers are expected but with less than an inch of accumulation. Overnight lows will range from 10 to 19 degrees but wind chills will make it feel like it's well-below zero. tremont-homicide-20160113.jpg Cleveland police say a man was found shot dead on Corning Avenue at West 19th Place in Tremont. (Brandon Blackwell, cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland police are searching for any information related to the shooting of a man found dead late Tuesday in the Tremont neighborhood. Officers received a report about 10:20 p.m. of gunfire in the neighborhood. The responding officers found the man seated behind the wheel of a BMW SUV on Corning Avenue at West 19th Place. The man, whose name has not been released, suffered a gunshot wound to the head, police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said. Investigators believe the SUV crashed into several parked cars after the man was shot. Police have no suspects and are trying to piece together the circumstances that led to the shooting. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office is expected to release the victim's identity. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Cleveland police homicide detectives at 216-623-5464. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Parma Safety Director Michael O'Malley has announced the kickoff of his campaign to become Cuyahoga County prosecutor. Michael O'Malley The event is slated for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., in Cleveland. Doors will open at 6 p.m. O'Malley, a former assistant county prosecutor, is running against current Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty in the upcoming March primary. In mid-December, neither McGinty nor O'Malley received an endorsement from the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. No Republican candidate has filed for the race, meaning the Democratic nominee will likely become prosecutor. McGinty has been at the center of the backlash stemming from a late December announcement that a grand jury declined to indict the two Cleveland police officers involved in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November 2014 outside Cudell Recreation Center. Activists have repeatedly called for McGinty's resignation, even marching to his home on Cleveland's West Side on New Year's Day. At the time, McGinty's spokesman said in a statement: "Every citizen has an absolute right to protest, and the death of a 12-year-old child was clearly a monumental tragedy caused by a series of mistakes by the Cleveland Police Department. But we hope people will respect the decision made another group of citizens-- the members of the Grand Jury." CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office released the identity of a North Olmsted man found shot to death behind the wheel of an SUV in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. Officers responding to a report of gunfire in the area late Tuesday found Roderick Burton II, 33, with a gunshot wound to the head. The shooting happened about 10:20 p.m. near the intersection of Corning Avenue and West 19th Place in the southwest corner of the neighborhood near MetroHealth. Burton was behind the wheel of a BMW SUV that investigators said crashed into several parked cars after the shooting, according to police. No suspects have been identified. Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia did not immediately return a Wednesday afternoon request for an update on the investigation. Cleveland.com has requested a copy of the police report. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Cleveland police homicide detectives at 216-623-5464. uacollegeofeducation.jpg The University of Akron's LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education renovation may not be completed in February as scheduled. (Karen Farkas, cleveland.com) AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron's LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education building may not open on time due to a contractor dispute. The $18 million renovation of Zook Hall was to be completed Feb. 10, but the university has terminated its $5.1 million contract with general contractor Mid-American Construction. The university and the company blame each other for delays. "There was enough of a delay in the contractor's work that the university believed they had to take this action," said UA spokesman Wayne Hill. "We are working diligently to get it finished as close to Feb. 10 as possible." Any delays in the project were due to UA not providing information on what it wanted done in specific areas of the building, Mid-American president Chad Zumkehr wrote in an emailed statement. "The information is required to release the work in these areas in order to complete the project," he wrote. "This is the root of the problem." The company was terminated on Jan. 7. In a letter to Mid-American sent that day, Jim Haskell, director of campus planning, wrote that the company was notified on Dec. 18 that it needed to submit a "recovery plan" within five days to address issues of construction delays. That plan was not submitted, wrote Haskell, so the contract was in default and the company had to remove all workers and equipment the next business day. Mid-American is off the site, but work continues in the building by plumbing, electrical and the heating/air conditioning contractors, Hill said. Contractors obtain a surety bond for a project and UA's letter said Mid-American's surety company has 10 days to find another contractor to complete the project. Mid-American, of Cleveland, has completed other school projects, including Cleveland State University's Student Center. "We have not been properly terminated," Zumkehr wrote of the UA dispute. "We have a disagreement over the progress of the project with the University and hope to resolve it so the building can be completed on time." Zumkehr wrote that his contract is about 85 percent complete and the company was about 10 days behind schedule, which was not unreasonable. Extra workers would have been on the job if the university had provided the information needed to complete projects. "Unfortunately we have been asking for this information from the University for a long time and have not received it," he wrote. Renovation of the 52-year-old Zook Hall began in May 2014 and the college was relocated to temporary space while the hall was gutted and rebuilt. Faculty staff and students are supposed to move in by April. The college was renamed last fall as part of the new partnership between UA and the LeBron James Family Foundation. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. The national will observe Martin Luther King Day on Monday. (AP Photo, File) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The nation will pause Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The federal holiday commemorates the civil rights leader's birthday, which is actually Jan. 15. Nationally, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of January. This year, that's Jan. 18. MLK Day is similar to other holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. In 1971, the act moved George Washington's Birthday (Feb. 22), Memorial Day (May 30), Columbus Day (Oct. 12), and Veterans Day (Nov. 11) from fixed dates to designated Mondays. Veterans Day was moved back to its traditional date in 1978. President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Act in 1983. U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan introduced the first legislation seeking to make King's birthday a federal holiday 15 years earlier, months after the civil rights leader was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference presented Congress with a petition signed by more than 3 million people supporting a King holiday that same year, according to Time magazine. The bill languished in Congress for eight years, unable to gain enough support until President Jimmy Carter vowed to support a King holiday. King's widow, Coretta, testified before joint hearings of Congress and organized a nationwide lobby to support the bill. Yet in November 1979, Conyers' King-holiday bill was defeated in the House by five votes. Coretta King continued her fight for approval of a national holiday, testifying before Congress several more times and mobilizing governors, mayors and city council members across the nation before the bill eventually passed. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was set on a Monday, following the tradition set by the Uniform Holiday Act. That act was designed to increase the number of three-day weekends for federal employees. "This will mean a great deal to our families and our children," President Lyndon Johnson wrote in statement June 28, 1968, the day he signed the bill into law. "It will enable families who live some distance apart to spend more time together." The act set: Washington's Birthday on the third Monday in February Memorial Day on the last Monday in May Veterans Day on the fourth Monday in October, until 1978. . Follow me on Twitter: Actor Sean Penn never got shot at while interviewing Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, but he's come under fire since the rest of the world saw photos of that handshake between them. Guzman, considered one of the world's most dangerous narco-terrorists, was interviewed about three months ago, and recaptured by Mexican authorities on Friday. He'd spent six months on the lam after escaping through a mile-long tunnel beneath a maximum-security Mexican prison. The United States wants to extradite him. Guzman is out of sight, undoubtedly plotting to escape again before he can be sent north. Penn remains in the limelight, following Rolling Stone's publication of his interview. I think the criticism of him is unwarranted, and risks obscuring the good news about "El Chapo" and about many other criminals. Penn stands accused of not acting like a journalist. Fair enough. He's a two-time Academy Award winner. He shot video, and told a story. He acted like an actor. As for his sit-down with Guzman, I don't see any big difference between his questions and those posed to Osama bin Laden by a few selected western journalists, back when bin Laden was notorious but not yet the world's most wanted mass murderer. The public cares about famous criminals, regardless of who delivers the tale. The good news is, often, it's a two-way street. If Guzman had any sense, he'd have remained in deep seclusion. But he reportedly wanted a movie made of his life. Why not? The story of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar made the big screen, albeit posthumously. Someday, Guzman's story might fill theaters in the United States and Mexico. The immediate benefit from Penn's trip, though, was that it allowed Mexican investigators to zero in on his location. The interview wasn't his only exposure. Even as authorities posted a $3.8 million bounty for him, he was posting on social media . Narcissism seems to be an occupational hazard for these guys. Whether it's Guzman, one of the world's richest and most brutal drug dealers, or a dim-witted Cleveland guy robbing the corner store, the patterns are similar. Many criminals crave attention. They seek recognition and validation. They can't resist posting their exploits on social media. Normally, self-absorption is not a good thing. But this particular habit has provided a powerful new tool to law enforcement. Police are growing increasingly adept at electronically tracking criminals and terrorists, as raptly as the fairy tale characters Hansel and Gretel followed bread crumbs home. It's a cat-and-mouse game in which the mice cry, "Look at me!" Taking the effort to a whole new level, some police departments, including Fresno, California's, are using advanced technology to gather and evaluate social media information from or about their local criminals. They score that information, and use it to assign a color-coded threat level to anyone who comes under suspicion. The Washington Post reports that information from Twitter, Instagram or Facebook can give police real-time warnings of danger when responding to cases of domestic violence or assault. If a suspect has displayed guns online or has threatened violence, dispatchers can alert officers in the field. The companies compiling these data can also capture hashtags and vehicle license plates. "Our officers are expected to know the unknown and see the unseen. They are making split-second decisions based on limited facts. The more you can provide in terms of intelligence and video, the more safely you can respond to calls," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dryer told the Post. Some argue that it is possible to arm police with too much information. Privacy advocates express alarm that citizens may suddenly and secretly be placed into elevated threat categories because of social media postings. "It's a very unrefined, gross technique. A police (dispatch) call is something that can be very dangerous for a citizen," Rob Nabarro, a Fresno civil rights lawyer told the Post. There is something a bit dystopian about some tools becoming available to police. Authorities can track citizens through aircraft, drones, email and cell phones. The line between personal privacy and public security must continually be reconsidered and reinforced. It seems perfectly acceptable to me, though, to hold people somewhat accountable for what they say in public. If suspects publicly post threatening or incriminating words or images on social media, then it makes no sense to say that the only people who'd have to ignore that evidence would be the public servants who have to deal with them. Flint Water Maurice Rice organizes cases of water at the Joy Tabernacle Church on Monday in Flint, Mich. (Conor Ralph, MLive.com) Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder brought in the National Guard to hand out bottled water in Flint, Mich., with the city struggling to deal with lead contamination in its drinking water. The Detroit Free Press reports Guard members will be at fire stations in the city to hand out bottled water, lead-test kits and filters to city residents. Members of the American Red Cross, as well as other volunteers and police have been going door-to-door. "We plan to go every day this week and we'll continue until everyone has safe drinking water," state police Lt. Dave Kaiser tells the Associated Press. The city has about 99,000 residents and 30,000 households, according to the AP. Meanwhile, Snyder has been resisting calls for his resignation because of the water crisis, reports NBC News. The city's water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River in 2014, and residents quickly began complaining about the odor, smell and taste, reports say. The Free Press reports state officials downplayed or ignored complaints until October, when the Department of Environmental Quality said it failed to require the addition of needed corrosion control chemicals. This caused lead leaching from pipes and fixtures into the water, according to the Free Press. Snyder declared a state of emergency last week after blood tests found 43 children with elevated lead levels, NBC reports. "I have a degree of responsibility," Snyder said in a news conference Tuesday. The governor has asked for federal assistance in trying to solve the water crisis, reports MLive.com. The Free Press says criticism of Snyder and the state's response to the crisis continues. "I trust that the good men and women of the National Guard will jump start the Snyder administration's lackluster response to this public health crisis," Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said, the Free Press reports. "Sadly, myself and many leaders of my community have advocated for this type of response for months." A 12-year-old Pennsylvania girl died Tuesday after her father, resisting an eviction notice, pointed a rifle at a police officer, who fired a single shot that accidentally struck and killed the man's daughter, news reports say. Ciara Meyer was pronounced dead at the scene after the shooting in Penn Township near Duncannon, Pa., which is located about 120 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Reuters reports. WHTM Channel 27 reports Pennsylvania State Constable Clarke Steele went Pfautz Apartments at about 10 a.m. to serve an eviction notice on Donald B. Meyer, 57, and his family. Police tell the TV station that Donald Meyer opened the door, then shut it, then reopened the door and exchanged words with Steele. He then pointed a loaded .223-caliber rifle that had been concealed near his side at Steele's chest, police said. Steele then unholstered his handgun and fired one shot, which went through Donald Meyer's left arm and struck his daughter, who was standing behind him. The elder Meyer was treated at an area hospital for his wound, and has been charged with aggravated and simple assault, terroristic threats, and recklessly endangering another person, the Associated Press reports. He is being held in jail without bail. Ciara Meyer normally would have been at school at the time of the shooting but had stayed home because she was ill, WHTM reports. "She was a sweet little girl - so kind, so loving," neighbor Sarah Harman tells PennLive.com. "I just hope she didn't suffer. ... A child doesn't deserve that - they are a precious gift from God." A spokesman for the Commonwealth Constables Association tells WHTM that Steele is "very distraught over the situation." Barack Obama Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin applaud as President Barack Obama waves goodbye after giving his final State of the Union address Tuesday. (Susan Walsh, The Associated Press) Alright, so who gives next year's State of the Union? John Kasich is feeling pretty good about his chances. Read more in today's Ohio Politics Roundup. President Barack Obama's final State of the Union is in the books. The Democrat tried "to calm Americans' economic and national security anxieties, tout his record and rebuke Republican presidential hopefuls for the vitriolic tone of their campaigns to replace him," write Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post. John Kasich imagines his final SOTU: "Eight years from now I look forward to giving a State of the Union that describes a stronger, safer and more united America," the Ohio governor and Republican presidential hopeful said after Obama's speech. "We're going to cut taxes, balance the budget and get government out of the way so every American can rise. We're also going to strengthen our military and renew our alliances to proclaim the values of the civilized world and stand up to extremists and bullies." On Twitter, Kasich also imagined his first State of the Union. The actual GOP response ... came from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a potential running mate for the eventual nominee. She did little to harm her chances, unless that nominee is Donald Trump. Haley at times seemed to approach her assignment as if Trump, known for his anti-establishment appeal and controversial rhetoric, had delivered the State of the Union. And her mission seemed aimed at making sure he doesn't deliver next year's. Better off under Obama? Cleveland.com's Robert Higgs and Stephen Koff "dug out data on several measures," including jobs, food stamps and health coverage. Surprise guest: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, "courted controversy" by giving a State of the Union ticket to Kim Davis, the controversial Kentucky county clerk, writes cleveland.com's Sabrina Eaton. "Davis made headlines last year by citing religious grounds in refusing to provide marriage licenses to gay people after the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage." Weirdest State of the Union prebuttal EVER: "Republican Jim Spurlino, owner of Spurlino Materials and a candidate for Ohio's 8th Congressional District, [was] upset by the guest list," the Cincinnati Enquirer's Keith BieryGolick writes. "Spurlino said in a news release" - sent before the speech - that at least five people will attend the address who live in or entered the country illegally. ... 'One of the police officers present should have arrested them and sent them back to their native countries.' "It [was] unclear exactly which guests Spurlino [had] an issue with." Kasich feels good, but he knows attacks are coming: The Ohio governor told me this week that he feels his big investment in New Hampshire is paying off. But he knows his re-emergence as a top-tier factor means his Republican presidential rivals are likely to pay more attention. "I'm probably going to get pounded now," Kasich said. The keys to Kasich's New Hampshire success (so far), illustrated via slideshow: 1. Strong campaign leadership. 2. Endorsements. 3. Retail politicking. 4. Ground game. And 5. A super PAC willing to provide air cover and additional resources on the ground. But trouble looms in the Land of Lincoln: Kasich "is in danger of not having the minimum number of signatures in six [Illinois] congressional districts, meaning he would lose out on picking up delegates in those districts," Politico's Natasha Korecki and Daniel Strauss report. "Republicans often run up against difficulties in Illinois, where some congressional districts are heavily Democratic and ballot access is particularly complicated. But a longstanding "gentlemen's agreement" meant Republicans didn't contest one another's petitions in the state. That could change in this cycle." On the campaign trail in Nevada: On Kasich's first trip to Reno, the "crowd was combative ... at times, including a debate about Social Security and his stated support of Congress' repeal of Glass-Steagall, but were generally receptive and often applauded," the Reno Gazette-Journal's Seth A. Richardson reports. Cliffhanger: Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, a Clinton County Republican, "has ordered an ethics investigation of whether a consultant for Wright State University possibly advised the school's president to offer to throw him a major fundraiser while he was advocating for state money," The Associated Press reports. "Emails reviewed by the Dayton Daily News show consultant Ron Wine advised WSU President David Hopkins to suggest the fundraiser while asking ... Rosenberger for help raising $10 million in private and public funding for a September presidential debate" WSU is set to host. More from the Dayton Daily News. Hope for online voter registration: "After years of inaction, lawmakers are getting closer to having Ohio join most other states in allowing people to register to vote online, saving government money," the Columbus Dispatch's Jim Siegel reports. "The bill, which the Senate passed 31-1 in June, expands the current system that allows voters to update their home addresses online - a system that Ohioans have used 295,000 times since August 2012. Secretary of State Jon Husted ... urged the House to move the bill by the end of February to ensure that his office has enough time to get the system up and running, and that voters have enough time to use it before the presidential election." Rob Portman's hires new spokesman: The Republican senator from Ohio "is bringing aboard a longtime aide to former Speaker John Boehner to handle the Capitol Hill press corps during what will be a difficult reelection campaign," Politico's Burgess Everett reports. Former Boehner communications director Kevin Smith will serve as chief spokesman and deputy chief of staff." The Senate race money chase: Portman "began 2016 with a sizable financial lead over Ted Strickland, his likely Democratic opponent," cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer notes. "Portman ... reported having 'well over' $12 million on hand as of Dec. 31. Strickland, a former Ohio governor, announced Tuesday he ended 2015 with slightly more than $2 million in his campaign's bank account. ... "Winning the money game, of course, doesn't necessarily mean Portman will win the election. Recent polls have shown Portman and Strickland in a dead heat, and super PACs and other outside groups will dump lots of money into the race." And speaking of the Senate race money chase ... Ben Suarez, the multimillionaire whose contributions to Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel's unsuccessful 2012 Senate campaign, has been released from federal prison, cleveland.com's Eric Heisig reports. Due to good behavior behind bars, Suarez, convicted of witness tampering in a 2014 campaign-finance case, served about 13 months of a 15-month sentence. The Ohio Democratic Party reacts: "YOU'RE INVITED," the email reads. "Help Josh Mandel Celebrate His Favorite Donor's Release from Prison!" See the full invitation and a photo of the ODP's cake - a "Back to the Future" homage - here. Tips or links? Send here. Follow along on Twitter: @henryjgomez. To subscribe to our Politics Newsletter: Sign up here. Associated Press file photo What's the state of Ohio as Obama delivers his last State of the Union address? By Robert Higgs and Stephen Koff cleveland.com When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, Ohio and the nation were in the greatest economic downturn in a generation. Many factors that affect daily life are beyond the control of the president of the United States. But presidents historically take credit when times are good and get blamed when times are bad. How have things changed for Ohio since then? Are you better off now than you were seven years ago? With Obama set to deliver his final State of the Union speech Tuesday evening, cleveland.com dug out data on several measures, comparing the numbers from when Obama took office in January 2009 to now. Don't Edit Associated Press file photo Jobs in the workforce There were about 5.207 million jobs in Ohio's workforce when Obama took office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still trying to shake off the recession, the state had lost about 200,000 jobs in 2008 and lost another 200,000 in 2009. The job totals began climbing in 2010. As of November, BLS estimated Ohio had about 5.437 million jobs in its workforce. Public employment remains down about 36,000 jobs. But the private sector workforce employed nearly 267,000 more people in November than it did in January 2009. Don't Edit Associated Press file photo Ohioans unemployed As the number of jobs in Ohio's workforce grew, the state's unemployment rate declined. In January 2009, 8.9 percent of workers were jobless. Unemployment peaked in 2009 at 11 percent, one point above the national high. The rate for November, the most recent month available, was 4.5 percent, the lowest rate of unemployment since 2001. Don't Edit Associated Press file photo Ohioans using food stamps More Ohioans are using food stamps now than in 2009. At the start of Obamas first term, more than 1.287 million Ohioans were receiving help through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. As of August 2015, the most recent month for which figures were available, the number receiving aid was nearly 1.637 million. Enrollment for food stamps peaked at 1,853,554 in March 2013. Authorities say that a drop in food stamps tends to lag economic recoveries because poorer people still have a harder time finding jobs. Don't Edit Photo by John Kuntz, cleveland.com Ohioans lacking health coverage More people in Ohio have health insurance than in 2009. When Obama took office, 14.2 percent of the state's population had no health insurance, according to U.S. Census data. That changed with passage of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In June, the most recent month for data, 6.1 percent of Ohioans were without health insurance, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Don't Edit Don't Edit Cleveland.com file photo Housing values across Ohio The average housing value for Ohio slipped during the recession but then recovered. Zillow, the online marketing site with data on 110 million homes, set Ohio's average home value for January 2009 at $115,000. The average dipped to $105,000 in early 2012, but then rebounded, passing the 2009 figure in October 2014. Using data through Nov. 30, 2015, Zillow estimates the statewide average now is $118,200. Don't Edit Associated Press file photo Income levels across Ohio Ohio's median household income declined during the recession, but has been climbing back since 2011. The median household income in 2009 was $50,090 a year, according to Census data. By 2011, it had declined to $48,158 a year. For 2014, the most recent figures available, the median household income was $49,308. NASA Glenn director James M. Free NASA Glenn director James M. Free described innovations under development at the Brook Park research center at a luncheon on Capitol Hill. (Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com) WASHINGTON - NASA Glenn Research Center Director Jim Free celebrated his facility's 75th anniversary on Tuesday with a Capitol Hill visit to pitch its many scientific breakthroughs. Free and the Congress member whose district includes the Brook Park research center - Toledo Democrat Marcy Kaptur - used a Space Transportation Association trade group luncheon to tout terrestrial applications of technology developed at NASA Glenn. "The work that this center does benefits not just NASA, not just space missions - it benefits the future by linking the science that is developed there to many other life pursuits," said Kaptur, who noted that technology Glenn developed to analyze jet engine exhaust is being repurposed to trace the source of pollution that is causing toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie. Here are some takeaways from his speech: NASA Glenn develops cool stuff: A light scattering technique Glenn pioneered is being used to detect cataracts, help astronauts who develop vision problems in space, and measure the health of low birthweight babies. Hypersonic research at Glenn led to development of a ceramic material that can be used to make artificial hips. It's working on a weather radar system that can detect conditions that lead to formation of dangerous ice crystals in airplane engines. It has reproduced Venus' atmosphere on earth to test how interplanetary space probes will react to its conditions. A solar electric propulsion system that Glenn helped create has propelled the Dawn space mission to explore the dwarf planet Ceres. "One problem being from the Midwest is we don't brag enough," said Free. Glenn began as an aircraft engine research lab: When it was founded 75 years ago, Glenn was part of an agency that preceded NASA, called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The organization included luminaries like Orville Wright, who attended Glenn's opening festivities even though he had lobbied for the base to be in his native Dayton area. During the 1940s and 1950s, it did research on propulsion and wind tunnel testing that was deemed sufficiently valuable to warrant a visit from President Dwight Eisenhower. It also researched aircraft safety and techniques to reconstruct aircraft accidents. NACA was absorbed by NASA in 1958. Funding cliffhangers will probably continue: Every few years, federal budget hawks target NASA Glenn's programs for cuts, prompting a scramble by local legislators to protect the center and the 3,000 civil servants and contractors it employs. Free said he expects such crises will erupt periodically because it's always tempting for budget cutters to target dollars meant for long-haul technological developments. But he expects the center will prevail and continue on. "I think we remain for at least the next 75 years," he predicted. marijuana issue Ohio House Republican leaders plan to announce Thursday they will create a new task force to study medical marijuana. (Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune) COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio House leaders on Thursday will lay out their plan to address medical marijuana through a new bipartisan task force. State lawmakers pledged to study the issue after Ohio voters soundly rejected Issue 3, which would have legalized medical and recreational marijuana, in November. Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states, and public opinion polls show as many as nine in 10 Ohioans support legalizing medical marijuana. Rep. Kirk Schuring, the Canton Republican leading the House GOP efforts on the issue, declined to talk Wednesday in advance of Thursday's press conference. He told cleveland.com in December that the House will consider marijuana like other medicines, seeking the advice of Ohio physicians as well as experts from places where medical marijuana is legal. Rep. Dan Ramos of Lorain will likely be the leading Democrat on the panel. Ramos said Wednesday he didn't know how the task force would operate but that he hoped it would be based in science and fact. Ramos said Ohio should look to other states that have established well-regulated medical marijuana programs. "It seems to be working for people elsewhere, so why can't it work for people here?" Ramos said. Sens. Dave Burke, a Marysville Republican, and Kenny Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, are spearheading the Senate effort to examine the issue. Gay Marriage Kentucky Rowan County, Ky. clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed last year for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, will be a guest of Rep. Jim Jordan at Tuesday's State of the Union speech. (Carter County Detention Center via AP) WASHINGTON - House Freedom Caucus Chair Jim Jordan - a Republican from Ohio's Champaign County - courted controversy on Tuesday by giving Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis a ticket to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech. Davis made headlines last year when she was jailed after citing religious grounds in refusing to provide marriage licenses to gay people in her Kentucky county following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage. A statement from Davis' attorney - Mat Staver - said she'll attend the speech to be a "visible reminder of the Administration's attack on religious liberty." "We will be there to stand for religious freedom and to represent Judeo/Christian values," said Staver, who heads a conservative group called Liberty Counsel. It's widely expected that Obama's speech will praise that Supreme Court decision, since Michelle Obama invited its lead plaintiff - Cincinnati's Jim Obergefell - to view the speech as her guest. David Cicilline, an openly gay Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, released a statement on Twitter that called Davis' presence at the speech "an insult to every LGBT American." Kim Davis refused to follow law, discriminated against gay couples. Her invite is an insult to every LGBT American. https://t.co/0AcqmOLrzY David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) January 12, 2016 Jordan acknowledged Tuesday that Davis will use a ticket provided by his office to attend the speech. "Our staff heard from the Family Research Council that Ms. Davis and her family hoped to attend the State of the Union address and so we offered a ticket," said a statement from Jordan. Huffington Post reported that Jordan did not know he had invited Davis until the publication asked him about it and he checked with his staff. But he said he had no objections to his ticket going to Davis. "I found out today," Jordan told Huffington Post. "And I'm being totally honest with you: That's -- Family Research Council asked us, her family wanted a ticket, and we said 'OK.'" The Family Research Council is a conservative organization that objects to gay marriage. Jordan has taken repeated stances to oppose gay marriage, including backing a Constitutional amendment to oppose gay marriage and introducing legislation to overturn the District of Columbia's decision several years ago to recognize same-sex unions from other states. One of the Democrats who filed paperwork to run for Jordan's congressional seat - retired Oberlin teacher Janet Garrett - criticized Jordan for giving his tickets to "political cronies" instead of constituents and using them to promote someone from Kentucky who defied the U.S. law. "It's just the latest example of how Jim Jordan puts Washington politics first, instead of Ohio," said Garrett, whom Jordan defeated in 2014 by a 68-32 percent margin. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Only a few weeks remain until National Signing Day, so of course five-star prospects are going to start popping up out of nowhere for Ohio State. Take Mecole Hardman Jr. of Elberton (Ga.) Elbert County for example. Though he hasn't been a prospect closely associated with Ohio state during the last six months, the 5-foot-10, 169-pound prospect announced Tuesday evening on his public Twitter account that he's officially visiting the Buckeyes this weekend. , Hardman became friendly with Ohio State receiver Austin Mack at the U.S. Army All-American Game. Hardman has previously made official visits to Michigan and Miami (Fla.), and he's scheduled to visit TCU on Jan. 22. But first, Hardman will be a part of a major recruiting weekend at Ohio State beginning on Jan. 15. Though Hardman racked up more than 30 scholarship offers during his recruiting process, he named Alabama his leader on Jan. 3 and didn't include Ohio State in the top six he released on New Year's Day. The Buckeyes, though, are clearly in the hunt. Hardman is also closely considering Georgia and Tennessee. Below are Hardman's highlights: Carly Fiorina Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina addresses the Sunshine Summit in Orlando, Fla., last November. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Today's Carly Fiorina news: Campaigning in Iowa, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said she supports Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was passed last year amid fears that it would allow businesses to discriminate against gay people. While other politicians "backed away" from the law, which was revised to ensure LGBT customers are protected, Fiorina said, she stands by it. "This is about religious liberty, not about discrimination," she said: Des Moines Register Fiorina will not appear on Thursday's primetime Republican debate in South Carolina, Fox Business Network announced Monday. Despite appearing in the last four primetime debates, Fiorina failed to make the cut this time because of slumping poll numbers. Instead, Fiorina will join Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum in the GOP undercard debate, set to take place early Thursday evening: Fox News During a New Hampshire town-hall meeting, Fiorina was stopped by a question from Hadley Britt, a 17-year-old from Cape Elizabeth High School in Maine. "Ms. Fiorina, how do you call yourself a feminist if you are taking away my basic right as a woman to choose what to do with my body?" Britt asked at the end of the meeting. Fiorina stood and held the microphone as people in the audience applauded. "So you know what," Fiorina said, interrupting the hand clapping. "I'm not trying to take it away. You have that right realistically. This is political rhetoric, but let me tell you something. Let me tell you why I'm pro life." Boston Globe Fiorina said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would "wipe the floor" with Donald Trump if he were the Republican nominee. In an interview published in Glamour Magazine, Fiorina, who has sparred frequently with Trump on the campaign trail, said she's surprised the billionaire is doing as well as he has been in the polls, though she said she is "not as impressed" by polling data "as the media appears to be." Asked whether she would support Trump if he was the GOP nominee, Fiorina replied, "We'll cross that bridge if and when we ever get to it." Glamour Fiorina filed Tuesday to run in Kansas' March 5 presidential caucus. Seven other Republican presidential candidates have already filed to run in the state: Wichita Eagle Marco Rubio Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, shown as he arrived Tuesday night for the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, is the subject of harsh ads in the GOP presidential nominating race for his past stance on immigration reform. (Evan Vucci, Associated Press) Today's Marco Rubio news: Call it amnesty. Call it a pathway to citizenship. But also call it the newest attack ad aimed at Marco Rubio, courtesy of a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz, another candidate in the GOP nominating race. A super PAC supporting Jeb Bush, called Right to Rise USA, also has an immigration-themed ad. But the online ad from the pro-Cruz group, Keep the Promise 1, is tougher, and so is getting more notice. Rubio's past work on immigration reform "has left him exposed in a nominating contest in which conservatives are deeply skeptical of such efforts, with the new ads suggesting intensifying attacks on his record less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses," write Maggie Haberman and Ashley Parker: New York Times. Ohio's John Kasich isn't the only candidate pushing for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Rubio said this week that if elected, he will call a constitutional convention of all the states in order to pass a balanced budget amendment and impose term limits on members of Congress. "It will be limited," Rubio assured about 400 people gathered inside a boat manufacturing warehouse in Sarasota. "They won't be able to touch the First Amendment, they won't be able to touch the Second Amendment. They won't be able to touch our important constitutional rights. But here's what we must do -- we must pass amendments limiting the size and scope of the federal government": Tampa Bay Times. Rubio, of Cuban heritage, filed a bill this week to keep Cuban immigrants from collecting American government benefits if they return to Cuba. He outspokenly disdains Cuba's communist regime and American policies he sees as helping keep it in power. The Cuban Immigrant Work Opportunity Act of 2016 aims to change years of practice where Cubans collect their benefits in the U.S., then go back to the Cuba, the Latin Post reports. "It is outrageous whenever the American people's generosity is exploited. It is particularly outrageous when individuals who claim to be fleeing repression in Cuba are welcomed and allowed to collect federal assistance based on their plight, only to return often to the very place they claimed to be fleeing," Rubio said in a press release. The bill would require the immigrants to prove that they have been persecuted in Cuba to qualify for the Refugee Resettlement Program that gives cash, food stamps and Medicaid to asylum seekers. It would ensure that these benefits are not collected by people living outside the U.S. A similar bill was filed by Rep. Carlos Curbelo last month and has already gathered support from other lawmakers. The new legislations came six months after diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba were restored after 54 years on hostility: . SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- After five public hearings over four months for three readings on a proposed pit bull ban, City Council voted it down 5-2 on Tuesday. This was met with applause from another packed chamber of about 75 people, most of them opposing the "breed specific" legislation that they felt should be targeted more at irresponsible owners. An alternative proposal offered by pit bull supporters will be considered at a later date. Many of those in the audience brought paper signs that they held up throughout the meeting, which got contentious at times. During the public comment session, one young mother gave a tearful testimonial for her pit bull, then used the remainder of her two-minute time limit to show members on the dais a photo of her 15-month old daughter hugging their family pet. In the end, council members decided that enforcement of the ban would be too difficult, its legality could be challenged, and that better legislation could probably be drafted, although Nancy Moore and Tres Roeder still voted in favor of it. "We will continue our discussion of how best to regulate dogs in Shaker -- after we take a respite," Mayor Earl Leiken said once the vote was tallied. "We will come up with legislation that is acceptable to the members of council, who have individually made up their minds." The city administration had brought forward the legislation in the wake of a fatal attack on Annie Williams, 71, of Cleveland, who was mauled outside a relative's home on Pennington Road in Shaker on July 12. Council also heard Tuesday from resident Paul Ford, who was bitten severely in five different places by a pit bull as he was out jogging on Scottsdale Road in the fall. He supported the ban and urged council to sort through "a lot of smoke, mirrors and misdirection" that had been presented in the public forums. While she applauded the efforts of the city administration, Councilwoman Anne Williams said the legislation was "not the best we can do," adding that the city needs to start with the enforcement of its existing leash law. In addition to already having a "breed-neutral" ordinance on the books, Councilman Earl Williams described a proposed "grandfather clause" for current pit bull owners in the new legislation as a mere "band-aid" measure and one of the reasons he voted no. But Roeder noted that future versions of the legislation could prove to be more punitive to current owners, adding that he believed medical and scientific evidence that pit bulls are a more dangerous breed. "Would people be safer if we passed this? I believe they would," Roeder said. "And I hope I have not made an error. But If I have, I would rather err on the side of safety." Vice Mayor Julianna Johnston Senturia, who chairs council's Safety and Public Works Committee, believed the legislation fell short and planned to bring a revised version back to council, after taking a break. Attending his first meeting, new Shaker Councilman Sean Malone noted that he was a citizen member of the Safety and Public Works Committee that forwarded the legislation to council. But Malone felt that the proposed visual identification of pit bulls was too arbitrary, subjective, and potentially expensive for the city in disputed cases, saying the key factor should be irresponsible owners. "I think it would also send a message that Shaker is becoming especially dangerous, which it's not," Malone said, adding that it would be more effective to report vicious dog attacks. Councilwoman Nancy Moore, who at one point told the crowd to tone down the catcalls during Leiken's presentation, said the problem with the existing ordinance is that it only reports vicious dogs after an attack has taken place. And in the case of pit bulls, she feels that can be too late. "We need to revise the law to prevent dog attacks before they happen," Moore said. In his 10 years on council, Rob Zimmerman said he had never seen more communication from the public than with the proposed pit bull ban -- "not for the tax increase, and not when we were laying off firefighters." But Zimmerman noted that the City of Cleveland has repealed its pit bull ban in favor of a breed-neutral ordinance. "And I don't want to see us join the remaining list of communities" that still have the breed-specific ban, Zimmerman said, mentioning Garfield Heights, Lakewood, Parma, and Warrensville Heights. Opponents of the ban cited the stigma and notoriety already attached to pit pulls. Resident Chris Ramsay cited a police report from 2012 in which a father admitted that he had falsely reported that a dog attack involved a pit bull "because he wanted the police to get there faster." Jamie Samaha, 48, Rocky River Executive assistant to the president of Seasoned Brands - Aladdin's Eatery Systems, Inc. I love Aladdin's. Can you tell us about the company? We have six different concepts. We have the Aladdin's Eateries (in several states) and two Taza restaurants that are more upscale. We have Sittoo's Pita & Salads in North Olmsted and Parma and Forage Public House in Lakewood. It's a sustainable farm-to-table gastro pub and The Oak Barrel in Valley View. It's also farm-to-table and we just opened Bold Food & Drink in the Flats. Sounds like your work keeps you busy. What do you like to wear? First, I like to be comfortable because sometimes I am visiting our stores. But, I like to be fashionable as well, so I look for things that are comfortable, but not too casual. I can wear leggings and a nice sweater or a dress with heels depending on the day. My look has to remain professional and I have to feel good in it. Hasn't business attire changed? Yes, it used to be plain suits. I found it boring. I like to bring in my own touch. I don't do suits anymore. I can dress with the trends and still be professional. Also, I don't ever stick to one style. I like to try new things. You have a beautiful accent, where does it come from? I am Lebanese. I grew up in Lebanon and learned French and English. French is the main language and the school curriculum is French, but it is starting to change to English. There was a time when we could not utter a word in Arabic, in Lebanese. How did you find yourself in Cleveland? I used to visit the States while growing up; my dad worked in New York. I came to the U.S. for good in 1997. I met my husband in Lebanon. We got married here in '94 and I went back for a few years. He had a job offer in the U.S. and we returned. In 2003, I was in real estate in Chicago when I met the owners of Aladdin's. They offered me a job managing two of their restaurants. Then, they moved me here to the corporate office. Going to work is like going home, it's wonderful. I'm a citizen, I love Cleveland, and I feel that this is my home country. It is my life. You have some beautiful and unique jewelry, is it from Lebanon? I do have a few pieces. There is a lot of handmade unique jewelry made there. I visit every couple of years. It's a long journey and it's only worthwhile if we stay for several weeks. Where do you like to shop? Lately, I shop online. I used to go to Cache -- that was my go-to store. They've closed and I was a little lost. I like Boston Proper, Venus and through Instagram, I stumbled onto Hot Miami Styles. I go to Beachwood Place, too. I like Dillard's and BCBG has become my go-to store. I've also just discovered vintage and resale shopping. I like Stash Style in Rocky River. I have fun shopping, and I like to mix and match in my closet. Do you have any fashion rules? I try not to go overboard with my look or the accessories. I like to keep things simple and chic. And, I'm not a slave to trends, but I will try things if they fit and are comfortable. Do you have any fashion pet peeves? I cannot stand poorly lit dressing rooms. If the light makes you look pale or is too harsh and shows off every flaw then you just hate yourself in the mirror -- makes it hard to buy. Good lighting makes you feel like a fabulous model, better than real life. I agree! Are you good about cleaning out your closets? I buy nice pieces and I like to get the most out of them. But twice a year, I like to go deep in my closet. I'll pull things that I haven't worn and know I won't wear again. I live in a condo building and there are a lot of neighbor girls who love the way I dress, so I give them a full suitcase to pick through and whatever they don't want, I give to others in need. You said that your starburst jewelry set was a gift with a meaning. Can you tell us why it's important? A friend bought them for me when she read that they stood for courage and resilience. I was going through my breast cancer treatment at the time, so she sent them. What is your message for women when it comes to breast cancer? When I think about that time, I don't get angry or sad, it makes me feel happy. I cherish it, not because all that I went through, but it reminds me how precious life is, it showed me how loved I am. I feel so appreciated and I love them all back even more. I love life more. Life can get upside down and shaken up and to go forward and get everything to fall back into place physically and emotionally is so wonderful. I am thankful everyday when I wake up. I can watch my son grow into a man, I can stand next to my husband and hug my mom everyday. You don't realize how important these things are until you are close to losing them. When was this, how did you discover it? I've celebrated for almost two and a half years being cancer free. I never expected myself to be so courageous. The way I discovered it is a story. I had a mammogram and got the letter saying it was good. Just three weeks later I had knee surgery and was in bed. I had a dream of my late dad who hugged me and said, "You're going to be OK." And then he left. I woke up right then and felt a stabbing pain in my left breast. It was 3 a.m. They say cancer doesn't hurt. The dream was a message. I took my crutches, went to the mirror and examined myself. I had read somewhere that if you bend over during an exam and your nipple inverts, you must see your doctor. That happened, it was the worst night of my life. I went to the doctor and insisted on an ultrasound and they found six tumors. It was invasive and if I had waited it would not have been a good result. How did you carry on? After surgery, I insisted on being positive and moving forward. I swore I was never going to sit still and I was not going to leave my family. It gave me the strength to fight. I feel better every day and I watch my nutrition. I learned what to avoid. Now I am a raw vegan. I'm the happiest ever and I don't miss any foods. I feel light, happy and energetic. Wow, self-exam is so important. It's a personal story, but I always preach and tell women to exam themselves, don't be afraid and don't run from it. God forbid, if it is there it will go after you. Be aware of your body and check all over. You beat it instead of it beating you! Did fashion help you feel better? Yes. I still feel good in my body, even after all of the surgeries. I look at things with a different perspective. What is your favorite season for fashion? Even though I love summer dresses and the ease of dressing in warm weather, I feel like you can do so much more in winter. You can wear boots or pumps, layer and explore your fashion life. How are the fashions in Lebanon? Fashion and style is beautiful in Lebanon. They put a lot of emphasis on it. I love to see what they're doing and bring some of that here. If you could buy a dream item and money didn't matter, what would it be? Even though I don't really like symbols, I would love a traditional Chanel quilted leather bag with the chain strap. I have always dreamed of having one. They are classic, versatile and iconic. Where does your wonderful sense of style come from? It comes from my Lebanese upbringing where fashion is very important. Also, I have three sisters all pretty close in age. We always shopped together and borrowed from each other and did hair and makeup together. It was always part of my life. Do you recommend any health or beauty products? I love essential oils, especially lavender. I mix a few drops into plain body cream and it's wonderful. I put a drop or two in my mascara. It separates the lashes, makes the product last and helps the lashes grow. I also diffuse it in my home. It brings you calmness and serenity. What's your best life advice? Live your life fully, enjoy it and give value to every single moment. Don't dwell on the negative and be grateful for every single thing, even the small things. Being grateful for everything makes me feel like I have a lot and when you're going through illness that can help you feel more positive. Be courageous. My motto through all of it was "Let go and let God." Fashion Flash is always looking for Clevelanders with a fresh take on style. If you or someone you know has a great fashion sense click here for the submission form or email me at acarey@plaind.com. CLEVELAND, Ohio - The news usually moves pretty swiftly on cleveland.com, and today has proven that to be true once again. Here are some of the stories from the last 12 hours you may have missed, including an arson ruling on the Northfield Center house explosion, the Ohio House will create a medical marijuana task force and President Obama begins the work to sell his State of the Union policies. Fatal house explosion in Northfield Center ruled arson A firefighter carries a ladder into a home damaged by an explosion on Skyhaven Road in Northfield Center Twp., OH, Tuesday morning, January 12, 2016. Four family members including two children died from the Monday night blast, which has been ruled an arson. The house explosion that killed four people, including two children, is the result of arson, state fire marshal investigators said. The blast that happened about 8:30 p.m. Monday at 7486 Skyhaven Road is the result of an intentionally set fire, Ohio Fire Marshal spokeswoman Lindsey Burnworth said. The cause of the fire is still officially undetermined, Burnworth said. She said investigators are waiting for other agencies, including the Summit County Medical Examiner's autopsy, before making a final ruling on exactly how the fire started. Investigators with the fire marshal, the Summit County Sheriff and the Northfield Center Fire Department are still investigating and will not release additional information, Burnworth said. | Read Adam Ferrise's story Ohio House plans to create medical marijuana task force Ohio House leaders on Thursday will lay out their plan to address medical marijuana through a new bipartisan task force. Ohio House leaders on Thursday will lay out their plan to address medical marijuana through a new bipartisan task force. State lawmakers pledged to study the issue after Ohio voters soundly rejected Issue 3, which would have legalized medical and recreational marijuana, in November. Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states, and public opinion polls show as many as nine in 10 Ohioans support legalizing medical marijuana. Rep. Kirk Schuring, the Canton Republican leading the House GOP efforts on the issue, declined to talk Wednesday in advance of Thursday's press conference. He told cleveland.com in December that the House will consider marijuana like other medicines, seeking the advice of Ohio physicians as well as experts from places where medical marijuana is legal. | Read Jackie Borchardt's story Trying to sell President Obama's State of the Union policies President Barack Obama isn't modest about his policies, yet he didn't drill into details as he discussed successes and the work ahead in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. President Barack Obama isn't modest about his policies, yet he didn't drill into details as he discussed successes and the work ahead in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. That's because starting today, he's sending his Cabinet secretaries across the country to do so. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will push green power in Toledo. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will go to Columbus to announce new tools for Ohio to fight rural poverty. No visits to Cleveland have been announced. Fanning out across the country, officials will pitch or highlight dozens of programs, from housing and broadband to help for veterans to the arts. Five specific areas are getting focus. | Read Stephen Koff's story Federal appeals court revives 2010 police shooting lawsuit A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit filed by the family of an unarmed bank robbery suspect shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer. A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit filed by the family of an unarmed bank robbery suspect shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, wrote that there are factual disputes about the actions Detective Daniel Zola and two other officers took before Zola shot Danny Withers Jr. in the chest. The factual dispute raises questions about Zola's defense that he made a "split-second decision" in the September 2010 shooting. The decision means the lawsuit, first filed against the city and officers in 2011 and dismissed by a trial judge last year, will be sent back to the federal court in Cleveland for a trial. The decision also revives the possibility that Zola could be held liable for civil damages. Zola and officers David Shapiro and Thomas Shoulders served an arrest warrant at the East 125th Street home of Withers' grandmother. Withers, 21, who was in a closet in a dimly-lit basement, was shot as he quickly raised his right hand after Shoulders opened the closet, court records say. | Read Eric Heisig's story National media learning more about Cleveland due to RNC The Cleveland Indians in July 2015 unveiled a statue of Hall of Fame outfielder Larry Doby outside Progressive Field. "Who is Larry Doby?" Dozens of political reporters, editors and producers wondered this aloud last month while attending a pre-Republican National Convention media tour in downtown Cleveland, Walter Baranger, a senior editor for the New York Times, wrote in a Tuesday column. They were in town attending an event organized by the GOP meant to prepare for the logistics of covering this year's convention, scheduled for July 18-21. The roughly 450 media members each received a 'swag bag,' crammed with tchotchkes with a Cleveland-specific flair, including a figurine in the likeness of Doby, the Hall of Fame former Cleveland Indians outfielder. (For comparison, Philadelphia, the host of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, plied reporters with cheese steaks and Tastycakes in a similar event earlier in December. In Cleveland, media members munched on pierogi and sipped Great Lakes Christmas Ales at an evening reception.) The Doby figurines, a replica of the bronze statute the team unveiled last July, were donated by the Cleveland Indians for use in the swag bags. The team thought the figurines would help educate media members on an iconic member of the team, Indians spokesman Curtis Danburg told the Times. | Read Andrew J. Tobias' story Why doesn't the Cleveland Orchestra use more new music in its programs? The Cleveland Orchestra: It may be under-the-radar to the rest of the world, but not to those of us who call Cleveland home. (Roger Mastroianni) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Forget Cuba, Brazil and Rome for 2016. Savvy travelers looking for a new adventure should head instead to Sri Lanka, Colombia - and Cleveland. FoxNews.com, the online arm of Fox News Channel, this week included Cleveland on its list of 10 under-the-radar destinations for 2016. It was the only U.S. destination to make the list, which also included Greenland, Montenegro and Nicaragua. The piece, written by Indianapolis-based freelance writer Lyn Mettler, calls Cleveland a city on the upswing, citing new hotel development and the upcoming Republican National Convention. "With an up-and-coming culinary scene, the largest performing arts center in the country outside of New York City, one of the top-five orchestras in the U.S., the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and its position along Lake Erie, Cleveland is worth a look." It's the latest in a string of recent accolades for the city. Last week, Cleveland was included on CNN's list of "16 intriguing things to see and do in the U.S. in 2016." And last month, Cleveland made SmarterTravel's list of "The 14 places in America you have to visit in 2016." It was a rare, solemn day in New York City's Times Square when retailer Toys R Us shuttered its 110,000-square-foot flagship store, burdened by rent that reportedly reached $2,500 per square foot. Despite that eye-popping price, there's no peak in sight for Times Square rent, one expert told CNBC. Retailers can expect to keep shelling out for a presence in Times Square because of the exposure it provides, said Robert Futterman, founder of retail leasing and investment sales brokerage firm RKF. "Times Square is still the No. 1 attraction in the world," Futterman said, speaking to CNBC's "Power Lunch." "For a company like Gap and Old Navy, brand recognition is critical, and the same for a lot of other tenants that are looking to open in Times Square." On Tuesday, there were two stocks on Cramer's mind that he regrets recommending: Alcoa and Fitbit . "I'm just saying that this is an unforgiving market, and in an unforgiving market, you have to expect that things will go wrong, not right," the " Mad Money " host said. Investors are gripped by the tremendous deflation of commodities while battling the fear of the Fed raising rates, and the Chinese market changing from day-to-day. This was why Cramer prepared his checklist of events that must occur in order for the market to get out of its current funk. With the average stock in the S&P 500 down 20 percent from its highs, Jim Cramer sees the backdrop of the stock market becoming more negative by the day. That means his investment strategy must change with the environment. We are not in the right moment for speculation. I should have known better and I regret that I wasn't more cautious. While Cramer thinks it is a good idea to speculate with a position or two in a diversified portfolio, it is important to keep in mind the environment before buying those stocks. Simply put, Cramer misjudged the environment when he recommended Fitbit and Alcoa. Cramer championed Fitbit from the moment it came public, and the stock soared. And when it got too hot, he said to take profits. However, in the beginning of December, Cramer interviewed CEO James Park and felt reassured about the stock. He was confident that it would be a big holiday seller, and would be a big winner for health and wellness. Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: The worst stock in the world Cramer: The 14 steps to a REAL market bottom Cramer: How to stop Under Armour's vicious decline And while Cramer was right about the product of Fitbit, the stock has since fallen apart. First there were many reports of Fitbit competition that came out of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), then Cramer heard talks of Apple creating a Fitbit killer. Regardless if these two things actually challenge Fitbit's prospects, the stock still remains speculative. "This market abhors speculation and I should have recognized that. My bad," Cramer said. (Tweet This) The same thing occurred with Alcoa. On Monday night the company reported a quarter that wasn't perfect. Cramer chose to overlook issues with the falling price of alumina and its recent acquisition that has fallen behind schedule. After interviewing Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld, Cramer recommended that stock because in six months the company will be splitting in two. Cramer believes that the price of alumina won't matter that much and the glitch with the acquisition will be history. Cramer does believe that one day the market will react positively to the news of Alcoa's split, but his push for a speculative stock was wrong in the short term. "Just like with Fitbit I misjudged the antipathy people have toward any story with any holes in it, let alone a speculative situation with some actual flaws," Cramer said. Cramer does still believe in the stories of Fitbit and Alcoa. But right now, it does not matter. Cramer said he was wrong about the environment, and that is a huge factor that he should have taken into account. "That is why I am issuing a mea culpa for Fitbit and Alcoa. We are not in the right moment for speculation. I should have known better and I regret that I wasn't more cautious, even as I remain confident in the long-term value of both the stocks and the companies behind them," Cramer said. Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong's chief executive Xaume Olleros | Bloomberg | Getty Images Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying promised a continued moderation in home prices, a new look at working hours and a commitment to political independence, in his fourth annual policy address to a populace that is losing faith in his ability to resolve the city's pressing issues. The city, one of two special administrative regions of China (Macau is the other), has long struggled with pricey housing, a costly standard of living and a lack of free elections; all factors that have pushed Leung's popularity rating to its lowest level since he took office in 2012, according to a Tuesday poll by the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Program. Lee Cheuk-Yan, Legislative Council member and vice chairman of the opposition Labor Party, told CNBC that Hong Kongers had reason to complain. "People have to wait on average three years and six months before they can get public flats, there are no standard working hours and the universal pension fund scheme is still under discussion," he said. "If you live in private units, rents are so high that it can eat up 75 percent of your income. We don't see any improvement on this and we can't expect anything from Leung because supply has gone down, waiting times have increased and wages haven't improved." Home supply In his Wednesday address, Leung reinforced measures to boost supply in a city that boasts the world's priciest homes by square foot; 97,100 public housing units will be produced over the next five years, of which 76,700 would be public rental housing units and 20,400 subsidized sale flats, he said. The feasibility of land reclamation in Lung Kwu Tan, located on the west coast of New Territories, to build up the city's land reserve would also be explored, he added. Private developers will add a further 87,000 units over the next three to four years, Leung said a number Dow Jones calculated was the highest since 2004. "Our efforts over the past three and a half years have produced results," Leung said, referring to cooling measures such as a double-stamp duty for some buyers. "The housing supply has significantly increased and property prices and rentals have started to fall, reversing the perception that property prices and rentals can only go up ... We should continue to tackle the housing problem head-on and must not concede." His remarks come after officials lowered public housing supply targets for the coming 10 years to 460,000 units from the 480,000 target set in 2014. Critics say the reduced supply is worsening the city's income equality since public housing tenants often have more disposable income because they spend little on rent, compared to those who struggle with private flats. As of the third quarter of 2015, the median monthly household income was just $3,221, according to official data. Welfare Attempts to set up a standard working hours regime remains a hot-button issue, despite Leung promising regulations in his 2012 manifesto. The city has some of the world's longest working hours, with Hong Kongers logging an average of 2,300 hours at work every year, versus the 1,700 hours in other OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations, according to a 2014 government report. The 61-year old leader said on Wednesday that officials would complete a second public consultation exercise on working hours with the aim of submitting an extensive report this year. But Liberal Party legislator Tommy Cheung warned that standardized hours could be catastrophic for the economy. "We already have [a] minimum wage and we've seen how it has reduced competitiveness in the work force. A couple of things could happen: if the economy turns bad, then the unemployment rate will turn higher, but when the economy is going great, like when we introduced minimum wages in 2011, then we see higher inflation and a lot of people not working in certain industries, such as restaurants." On the retirement front, the city remains divided on whether a universal pension scheme is needed and how to fund it. Efforts to revamp the Mandatory Provident Fund [MPF], a compulsory savings scheme for retirement, have been controversial and aren't expected to be implemented any time soon. "One of my main complaints about our MPF, introduced in 2000, is that it created a false sense of comfort about the savings challenge," explained David Dodwell, executive director of the Hong Kong-APEC Trade Policy Group. "Under present MPF arrangements, a family earning $3,092 a month would have MPF savings of just $3,608 a yearless than the amount needed to maintain the family's income level in retirement." On the matter, Leung used his address to call on the public to "actively express their views and engage in an in-depth, informed, objective and rational discussion" in order to reach a consensus on retirement policies. watch now Political freedoms It's that time again! Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed: Hawaiian Holdings : "No, we want to be in Delta." Cedar Fair : "6.5 percent dividend, it is gasoline coming down. Buy, buy, buy." Canadian Solar : "The only one we are going to recommend is First Solar, which I think can go up substantially here." Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: The worst stock in the world Cramer: The 14 steps to a REAL market bottom Cramer: How to stop Under Armour's vicious decline Dunkin Brand Group : "When you can get Starbucks under $60, I think you have to take advantage of that. Howard Schultz [Starbucks CEO] was talking positively about China." Atwood Oceanics : "Why would we reach down to Atwood? We have to be very careful." Diamond Resorts International : "I would like to like this stock because it is down so much. The hotel chains are all in major retreat. Why? I think a lot of it has to do with AirBnb. People are not willing to talk about it. They should be doing better than they are." FedEx : "I like FedEx. It is part of this whole conundrum of inactivity, down from $185 to $134. I am not going to back away. If I wanted 150 shares, I would buy 50 and wait five more points. This market is very crazy. Leave some room." Celldex Therapeutics : "I have it down a huge number of points, the stock just rallied a little bit. It is a very expensive hold. I'm going to say sell Celldex." United States Steel Corporation : "I am concerned about the balance sheet. It does concern me that the Chinese are playing unfair and the loser is U.S. Steel." A federal judge has agreed to further delay a class-action settlement involving some 7.5 million allegedly defective Remington rifles, after the parties in the case said they need more time to develop a better plan to alert the public. United States District Judge Ortrie Smith in Missouri put the case on hold last month, hours after CNBC published a new investigation into allegations that Remington's popular Model 700 rifle contains a design defect that allows it to fire without the trigger being pulled. Remington continues to deny that there is a defect, but nonetheless has agreed to replace the triggers, free of charge, in millions of guns. However, Smith ordered the company and plaintiffs lawyers to go back to the drawing board, because only 2,327 gun owners out of more than 7 million had submitted claims since the tentative settlement was first announced. Remington Model 700P Source: Wikipedia "The Court cannot conceive that an owner of an allegedly defective firearm would not seek the remedy being provided," Smith wrote Dec. 8. The judge gave the parties until this Friday to come up with a better plan to notify the public, but in a motion this week, they said they need more time, citing "the complexity of the issues," and "the need to work with one or more third parties" to come up with the new plan. The judge agreed to give both sides another 45 days, until Feb. 29. Remington critics consider the delay a victory. The watchdog group Public Justice, which secured the release of thousands of Remington internal documents at the heart of last month's CNBC report and has vowed to post all of the documents online, said it is "delighted" that the parties are taking time to come up with the best possible plan. "In laymen's terms, today's market conditions are somewhat akin to swimming at the beach when there is a strong undertow that could pull a less experienced swimmer out to sea. It might not happen, but the probability is certainly higher than under normal circumstances," McVey said in the note published on Tuesday. KKR's Henry McVey cautioned investors on the year ahead, although he noted there were still "pockets" of investment opportunities. The head of global macro and asset allocation at U.S. private equity firm KKR has issued a note to investors warning that the current volatility in global markets could destroy less experienced investors. "As such, we think that the mantra "Adult Swim Only" seems to be a prescient catch phrase for the current macro investing environment," McVey added McVey's warning comes as global markets kicked off 2016 with volatility in China marring sentiment internationally. Concerns over plunging oil prices, a slowdown in China and market volatility in the world's second largest economy have had a knock-on effect. On Tuesday, however, there was a reprieve following the stabilization of the Chinese yuan and U.S. stocks closed higher, recovering slightly from a sharply lower start to the year. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the trading environment, KKR's McVey signaled that there were areas of opportunity for investors. "The current macro backdrop does not mean that there are no good investment opportunities. Rather, one just needs to think through how to embrace current market volatility to one's advantage," he said. He listed five key areas he believed to be "key investment opportunities for 2016: 1. "Private credit appears to be a huge opportunity in 2016. Recent gyrations in the financing markets are providing non-bank lenders a significant opportunity to leverage the market's illiquidity premium to earn compelling risk-adjusted returns. In particular, private financing opportunities linked to real estate, infrastructure, corporate take-overs, and equipment currently appear to be the best risk-adjusted opportunity in the market today," he said. 2. "Liquid markets favors credit. Within liquid markets, we currently favor credit over equities, and within credit, we see strong relative value across credit particularly in high quality levered loans," McVey noted. 3. "Global consumer. The outlook for certain segments influenced by the global consumer is positive," KKR believed. "A high priority, we believe, would be to find opportunities around key trends like improving household formation, increasing Internet penetration, and an intensifying focus on health care/beauty/wellness," McVey said. 4. "Debt-driven restructurings. China's ongoing slowdown in fixed investment could lead to new and exciting opportunities for distressed/special situations investors. We are also bullish on the dislocated credit opportunities that we see in Europe (largely financial institutions)," McVey said. Lastly, he recommended infrastructure and real estate as another investment opportunity. "Within real assets, the current environment favors investments that can provide yield and growth versus owning outright commodity positions," he said. - By CNBC's Holly Ellyatt, follow her on Twitter @HollyEllyatt. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. watch now watch now watch now Joining the office Powerball pool isn't always a smart gamble. Pooling resources with a few co-workers can be an enticing prospect, especially now that the jackpot has hit a world-record-setting $1.5 billion. Generally, however, it's better to buy your own tickets, said Jason Kurland, a partner with Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman in East Meadow, New York, who is known as the Lottery Lawyer. "I strongly dislike Powerball office lottery pools," he said. The Multi-State Lottery Association puts the chance of walking away with the grand prize at one in 292.2 million for a single ticket, and buying a few more doesn't move the needle much. "If you're going to take those crazy odds, you're better off doing it on your own so you don't have to split it," Kurland said. With winner pools, the process of claiming and splitting the money can get complicated. For starters, it's harder to do what experts advise in big lottery wins: Stay anonymous while you figure out a plan for the money. "There's no reason to call attention to it early," said Kurland. Ideally, you'd have time to hire experts, like a lawyer, financial advisor and accountant, to figure out the best way to claim and manage that jackpot before the media crush brings attention and outstretched hands to your doorstep. But sharing the prize means more people know at the outset. Someone is likely to spill the beans. It could take longer to get your money, too, with each participant consulting his or her own team of experts. "The last thing you want is 20 lawyers involved in anything," said Kurland. Some states have limitations on how many checks can be cut, meaning a larger group could need to settle on a more complex solution, like forming a trust. Then there are the tax consequences. Taxes on lottery winnings can vary by where you live and where you bought the ticket, so commuters who live in one state and work in another could lose a bigger percentage of their winnings to taxes. If one person or a few from a large group claim the prize on behalf of everyone, they take on the full income-tax burden. Money shared after claiming the prize would be considered a gift, Melissa Labant, director of tax advocacy for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, told CNBC Monday. With a prize this large, the gift giver is likely to incur gift tax, and have estate tax consequences as a result. One-hour Special Anchored by Brian Sullivan from CNBC Global Headquarters ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., January 13, 2016CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will broadcast a one-hour special, "Jackpot! The Richest Lottery Ever" tonight, Wednesday, January 13 at 7PM ET. The one-hour special will be anchored by CNBC's Brian Sullivan live from CNBC Global Headquarters. While lines across the country are long, the odds of winning the Powerball are even longer. Counting down to the world's largest lottery drawing in history, CNBC will give viewers a lesson in Lottery 101 what you should and should not do if you win, why winning for some isn't all it is cracked up to be and whose company you should keep with your new found wealth. Throughout the hour, experts will explain how the jackpot is calculated, where the money goes, the real odds of winning and the psychology behind America's obsession with these big payouts. CNBC will also look at how the Powerball is taking over the Internet from Facebook to Twitter and beyond. Additionally, CNBC reporters will be live from coast-to-coast with the latest including Diana Olick in Cleveland, OH; Morgan Brennan in Orlando, FL; Jane Wells in Houston, TX; and Scott Cohn in San Jose, CA. CNBC Wealth Editor Robert Frank will discuss where the winner will rank among the stars, celebs and business elite as well as what the winner could buy with their unprecedented winnings. Shark Tank Investor and CNBC contributor Kevin O'Leary will also appear in the special. Follow us on Twitter @CNBC and Facebook to join the social conversation using #MyFirstBillion. CNBC will showcase responses from the audience across the network's stock ticker throughout the special. About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD , CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 371 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms. These include CNBC.com, the online destination for global business; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides real-time global market data and live access to CNBC global programming; and a suite of CNBC Mobile products including the CNBC Real-Time iPhone and iPad Apps. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/cnbc/. watch now The Danish parliament is debating on Wednesday whether to introduce measures to seize refugees' possessions to help pay for their stay in the country as part stringent new immigration laws. The move comes amid an increasingly hardline approach to refugees and migration: The German government previously welcoming to migrants plans changes to immigration laws to make deportation easier. On Tuesday, Danish lawmakers agreed to back proposed changes to immigration laws including measures to take away refugees' possessions worth above 10,000 Danish crowns ($1,456.60) to pay for their stay, excluding sentimental items such as wedding rings and basics such as mobile phones, Reuters reported. Danish policeman prepare to board a train arriving from Germany in order to check the identity papers of passengers on January 6, 2016 in Padborg, Denmark. Getty Images The proposals are to be debated by the Danish government this afternoon, a parliamentary press officer told CNBC, although as far as he understood it was the first debate and the measures had to be debated three times in the chamber. The minority center-right government proposed the measures which were given tacit support Tuesday. The minority government relies on the support of other parties, such as the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, for support. The United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) criticized the proposals, saying last Thursday that they were an "affront" to refugees' dignity, Reuters reported. More than one million migrants have arrived in Europe in 2015, according to the UNHCR, fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East and parts of Africa in search of a better life in Germany, particularly in more prosperous northern countries. While some countries in Europe such as Germany welcomed migrants at the height of the influx in late summer, the sheer amounts of people arriving has prompted others, such as Sweden and Denmark, to re-impose border checks. Public sentiment against the newcomers has also soured following reports a spate of sexual assaults against women allegedly carried out by men described to be of Arab or North African origin in a number of German cities on New Year's Eve. European equities came off session highs to close mixed on Wednesday, amid renewed pressure on oil prices and a lower trading session in the U.S. The U.K.'s FTSE closed up 0.5 percent and France's CAC finished 0.3 higher. Germany's DAX , however, slipped to finish 0.25 percent lower. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 0.4 percent higher. European markets Crude oil prices rose overnight, before paring gains after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that U.S. commercial crude stocks had risen by 200,000 barrels, while gasoline saw a massive build in inventories. Brent and U.S. light crude futures slipped back below $31 per barrel but remained above the $30 mark breached on Tuesday. European oil and gas stocks declined after the EIA data, but still closed mostly higher. BP , Seadrill and Subsea 7 all closed more than 1.5 percent higher. Tullow Oil soared as much as 12 percent, before closing 4.7 percent up, after the London-listed company said it has enough cash to weather the weak oil market. Metal prices saw a small bounce during trade, supporting some mining stocks, like Rio Tinto , which closed up nearly 2 percent. However, many closed lower, including Anglo American . Earnings in focus Earning season is underway, with many companies reporting on Wednesday. French food services and facilities management firm, Sodexo , posted first-quarter 2015/2016 revenue growth of 4.7 percent like-for-like and confirmed its full-year targets. Shares closed up 2.7 percent. Dutch insurance group Aegon skyrocketed to the top of the STOXX 600, up 9.7 percent, after announcing a 400 million euro ($433 million) share buyback program and increased its dividend for 2015. British supermarket chain Sainsbury's fell more than 1 percent after it said like-for-like sales for the 15 weeks to Jan 9 fell 0.4 percent, excluding fuel. In other corporate news, Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano shares ended sharply higher,up 4.2 and 5.6 percent respectively, after Reuters reported that the two banks were close to reaching a deal on a merger. Autos was the worst performing sector on Wednesday after a strong day of trade the previous day. BMW , Daimler and Peugeot Citroen all closed more than 1 percent lower. General Electric plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years, including 765 in France, a spokesman for the company in France said on Wednesday. The spokesman added that GE was sticking to its pledge to create 1,000 net jobs in France in the next three years as part of its recent acquisition of Alstom 's energy business. He said that unions had been informed on Tuesday and that talks would start on Wednesday. "This is a plan, which could change following discussion with employee representatives," he said. watch now watch now watch now Greece's talks to secure a new bailout with its international creditors and avoid an ignominious exit from the euro zone shredded nerves and bust deadlines over the summer. And now the approach used by the Athens government in the talks has been named the worst negotiating tactic of 2015 by Harvard Law School. When elected to power in January 2015, the left-wing Syriza party, led by prime minister Alexis Tspiras, promised to overturn the harsh austerity measures imposed on Greece by its international creditors -- the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and its fellow European Union countries. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI | AFP | Getty Images But after months of tortuous negotiations, anti-European rhetoric and a referendum on opposing austerity, Greece's ruling party in the summer capitulated to lenders' demands for even more austerity in return to secure a third bailout package. In its list of the "Top 10 Worst Negotiation Tactics of 2015" released this week, Harvard Law School criticised the Greek negotiating team, led by fiery former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, for its "combative tone that did not go over well." In July, the Syriza government, dissatisfied with the terms of the third 86 billion euro bailout, decided to put the deal to a referendum -- where it was roundly rejected by the Greek people. Greece's markets and economy went into freefall and the country edged closer to a chaotic exit from the euro zone. In a make-or-break EU summitin August, Tsipras and his government were forced to accept a new bailout deal-- with even stricter measures than the Greek people had rejected earlierin the summer. "The lesson?," says Harvard Law School. "A conciliatory tonewill carry you much further than brinksmanship when you're making boldrequests." Other bad negotiators in the Harvard listinclude Reddit's ban on internal salary negotiations and the U.S.government's talks withIran and Cuba. You can see the full list here. watch now It will take more than strong demand from China to curb oil's massive slide. China's crude oil imports hit a record 7.82 million barrels a day in December, customs data showed, totaling 33.19 million tons, up 21.4 percent on the month and 9.3 percent on the year. That's well above earlier estimates by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts. The data brought oil futures sharply higher a day after West Texas Intermediate fell below $30 a barrel for the first time since December 2003. The market, however, was unable to sustain the rally as a surprise build in U.S. oil and gasoline inventories weighed. "Getting a grasp on what's really going on with some of these weekly numbers can be difficult, but ultimately the way we look at it is demand growth has been pretty resilient over the last 12 months, and we expect that to continue through most of 2016." Scott Hanold, an oil analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Wednesday. "Now the key here is to see some producer reaction to these low prices, and ultimately we've seen some, but not enough." He also expects production cuts from non-OPEC countries led by the United States as the cartel remains unwilling to lower its output. watch now "I will keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing," he said Tuesday night. "Equal pay for equal work, paid leave and raising the minimum wage. All of these things still matter to working families, they are the right thing to do, and I won't stop until they get done." President Barack Obama reminded the country in his final State of the Union address that the fight for better worker protections is far from over. Regulations are top of mind for many small business owners, with momentum for paid sick-leave mandates and higher wages building, as well as the new compliance rules under the Affordable Care Act. However, new research shows that if one congressional bill extending paid sick time to workers were to be implemented in 2016, small businesses could be hit hard over the next decade. The conservative lobbying group National Federation of Independent Business analyzed the Healthy Families Act, which allows workers in businesses that have 15 or more workers earn up to seven job-protected paid sick days per year to recover from illnesses, seek medical care and provide care to a sick family member, among other things. Read More Obama in State of the Union: We need to 'fix our politics' The paid sick-leave mandate could result in the loss of 430,000 jobs through 2025, and small firms would account for 58 percent of all jobs lost, the federation's report said. In addition, the real output lost during that decade would be $652 billion, the report states, half of which would be borne by small businesses. "Absent workers do not produce goods or services that would otherwise be produced if they are in the workplace," federation senior data analyst Michael Chow said, adding there is a compensation cost that businesses also have to deal with in paying those workers for time off. "Businesses might eat the cost through lower profits, those profits going into the pockets of business owners, who are in turn consumers in the economy and will thus have less money to spend on goods and services elsewhere, driving overall demand in the economy down." Under the Healthy Families Act, employees who work at least 20 hours a week earn a minimum of one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours, unless the employer sets a higher threshold. Businesses with fewer than 15 workers would have their workers earn up to seven unpaid sick days to be used for the same reasons, according to advocacy group National Partnership for Women & Families. For small business owners like Larry Stottlemyer, who owns Adventure Park USA in Frederick, Maryland, mandated sick pay is a major concern. He owns a seasonal indoor-outdoor amusement park and employs up to 130 in the summer and 45 in the winter. Only six have paid time off, and wider offerings would be a burden. "Paid leave should be something somebody should earn not just have a right to," Stottlemyer said. "I think mandating this kind of stuff to small businesses is not what the government should be doing. We need good employees and to take the ability away to negotiate with a good employee that is damaging to us." A plunge in Chinese stocks has been blamed for the awful beginning to the year that U.S. stocks have suffered. And while many have protested that this is an overreaction, given that Chinese stocks haven't tended to enjoy a tight relationship with American equities, those people appear to be living in the past. To be sure, it is true that over the past five years, there has been almost no relationship between the and the Shanghai composite . Over the past five years, the correlation between the weekly moves made by the two indexes is 0.05 essentially nothing. Compare that to the 0.79 correlation between the S&P and the German DAX index, or 0.61 between the S&P and Japan's Nikkei . (Recall that correlations run from -1 to 1, with 0 indicating no relationship, 1 expressing perfect correlation, and -1 reflecting exact opposition.) But something strange has happened on the way to U.S.-Chinese indifference. Starting with the August crash in Chinese markets after that country's currency devaluation, the correlation between the S&P and the Shanghai composite has risen precipitously. Since then, the relationship has simply gotten tighter and tighter and in 2016, the one-year correlation of weekly moves has reached fresh heights. Diamond prices had a terrible 2015, but reduced production and inventories coupled with increasing retail demand are helping to brighten prospects for the precious stones and the miners extracting them. "Our highly conservative valuation approach highlights exceptional long-term value in the sector, barring a complete collapse in prices," said Kieron Hodgson, commodity and mining analyst at Panmure Gordon, in the firm's "Quarterly Carat" report released this week. "Consequently, whilst acknowledging the risk of being early, we believe investors should take the opportunity to reappraise the sector." The report issued a 'Buy' recommendation for shares in DiamondCorp , a South African producer, and upgraded U.K. based Firestone Diamonds from 'Hold' to 'Buy'. watch now Last year, prices declined due to overproduction and a fall in demand on the back of a global stock market slump. According to Panmure Gordon's report, rough diamond prices fell 15 percent over the course of 2015. However, the firm expects the declines to be less pronounced this year, before returning to growth in 2017. "We anticipate 2016 will see prices decline by just 5 percent, a notable improvement on 2015," the report said. He estimates that prices will rise by 4.5 percent next year and the year after. One reason for the improvement is that DeBeers, a major diamond producer, reduced its production target from 31-33 million carats (Mcts) to 29Mcts. An uncut diamond is selected from a collection of colorless and colored diamonds on a sorting table at DTC Botswana, a unit of De Beers, in Gaborone, Botswana. Chris Ratcliffe I Bloomberg via Getty Images Meanwhile, retail demand for diamonds in major markets improved significantly during the Christmas period. "As inventory levels reduce and, importantly, Chinese retailers return following their own inventory reduction program, prices should remain well supported," said Hodgson. Whether retailers like it or not, shoppers are raising the stakes of the game by demanding the ability to shop online when they want ease, in the store when they want immediate gratification and, increasingly, a combination of the two. During the most recent holiday season, nearly one-third of shoppers opted to purchase their products online and then pick them up at the store, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers' Holiday Consumer Purchasing Trends Study. Employees assist shoppers at the check out counter of a Walmart store in Los Angeles. Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images From a consumer point of view, what retailers call "click and collect," "buy online, pick up in store," or BOPUS, makes complete sense. It takes the advantages of online shopping and marries them to the advantages of traditional stores, namely the ability to get a product quick and to see and touch it. For brick-and-mortar retailers searching for strategies to ease the pain from Amazon eating their lunch as more consumers shop online, the strategy makes a lot of sense even though its implementation isn't always easy. Stores can be leveraged as distribution centers where consumers take over the cost of getting the items from the store to their homes. Plus in many cases, shoppers make impulse purchases when they come into the store to retrieve their items, driving sales higher. According to the ICSC, 69 percent of shoppers who used click and collect this holiday season purchased additional items while picking up in store. Its survey, which polled 1,014 consumers from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30, also found 36 percent of shoppers using those types of services made another purchase in an adjacent store at the time of pick up. But it's not foolproof either. When executed poorly, it can impact customer loyalty. A significant pain point continues to be inventory information. Too often, online ordering tells shoppers inventory is available, when it turns out not to be the case. Retailers are investing to improve their inventory data systems. This can cost a midsize specialty retailer with a sales range of $2 billion to $4 billion anywhere from $10 million to $20 million, said Steve Osburn, a supply chain strategist at global consultancy Kurt Salmon. But even the best technology can't help when shoppers move an item from its expected location while browsing in a store, rendering the last item in stock a challenge to find. Offering a click-and-collect option also adds new tasks for in-store staff, who have to pick and pack orders for shoppers in addition to their existing duties. Currently, a small portion of total purchases are completed through click and collect, but it is growing in use, with 49 percent of Americans trying it for the first time last year, according to an exclusive survey conducted for CNBC by consumer market research company InfoScout. The survey polled 1,000 consumers on Jan. 9 and 10 of this year. According to Slice Intelligence, which scans more than 3 million email receipts, consumers used Wal-Mart's buy online, pick up in store option the most during the holiday period, followed by Best Buy , Target , Kmart (owned by Sears Holding ), and Macy's . watch now Macy's was one of the first retailers to roll out the service. CEO Terry Lundgren called out its success back in September 2014 at the Goldman Sachs Annual Global Retailing Conference, specifically noting the opportunity for a higher conversion, or a bigger sale per trip. "It's an appointment to come in. She is going to buy. She's already made the decision. And when she does, she doesn't know this yet, but she's going to spend about 125 percent of what she intended to spend, that's just been the track record," said Lundgren. A year later, at the same conference, Macy's President Jeffrey Gennette said buy online, pick up in store "has been a feature that our customers love and are using often." A growing success Others have also called out their programs, including Home Depot , which said a "significant portion" of sales growth is coming from the intersection of its website and its stores. "'Buy online, pick up in store' and 'buy online, ship to store' are some of the fastest-growing parts of our operation," said Kevin Hofmann, president of online, during a third-quarter conference call. "Over 40 percent of all of our online orders leverage our physical stores." Home Depot plans to further leverage its physical stores this year as it rolls out a "buy online, deliver from store" option as well. Kohl's is also seeing early success for its click-and-collect platform as well. In November, CEO Kevin Mansell called its "buy online, pick up in store" a main driver for online-generated consumer demand, and said that more than 20 percent of the time, shoppers make additional purchases. In 2015, Target invested $1 billion in strengthening its e-commerce offerings, which include everything from grocery delivery, to ship from store and click and collect. Before 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, the time Target began its in-store doorbuster deals, the number of orders placed online for pickup in store rose by 35 percent over the year prior. Start-ups on the scene Just as there are start-ups in the delivery space like Instacart and Postmates, there are also start-ups trying to make click and collect easier too. Curbside is a 2-year-old app-based start-up that allows consumers to shop ahead from partner retailers including Target, Best Buy and CVS . Typically around 40 minutes later, when the order is ready, a notification for pickup is sent. Consumers can then pull up to the retailer and their purchases are brought out to them, so they never have to leave their car. For the 2015 holiday season, Curbside's order volume in the last two weeks before Christmas Eve was up an average of 145 percent over the average weekly order volume from September to November, according to Curbside CEO Jaron Waldman. First lady Michelle Obama waves as she stands between Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy (L) and Vice President Biden's wife Dr. Jill Biden (R) as they attend U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, January 12, 2016. The dress, which was originally priced at $2,095, was marked down to $628 on Black Friday. It was part of the designer's fall 2015 collection, which was shown on the New York runway in February. But frenzied shoppers were quickly disappointed, when they learned that the designer frock was sold out on Neimanmarcus.com. The Internet went into a flurry Tuesday night when the First Lady was spotted in a marigold Narciso Rodriguez dress, while President Barack Obama was delivering his (presumably) last address to Congress. Good luck getting your hands on Michelle Obama's State of the Union dress. Ginger Reeder, vice president of communications for Neiman Marcus, said the company will not be reordering the dress since it was already marked down. Because it is no longer on the website, she was not able to check if it is available in any of its physical stores. The dress was not exclusive to Neiman Marcus, Reeder said. As of late morning Wednesday, one was still in stock on Farfetch.com for the full price. A spokesperson for Narciso Rodriguez did not immediately respond to request for comment. This isn't the first time a female political figure's outfit has flown off the shelves, or raised the star of the designer behind it. Back in 2009, luxury designer Jason Wu catapulted to fame when Obama donned one of his creations, a one-shoulder white gown, to the inaugural ball. And following Kate Middleton's engagement to Prince William back in 2010, a blue dress she wore by Issa London sold out instantaneously. Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings wants more children to have access to a good schools. To that end, the tech billionaire announced Tuesday he has started a $100 million philanthropic fund for kids' education. Hastings said in a Facebook post that the Hasting Fund's first two gifts, totaling $1.5 million, would go to the United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley for college scholarships for black and Latino youth. "I'm so blessed to be able to do this, and I hope to do more in the future. Thanks to all of you who are Netflix members or employees for making this possible," he said. watch now President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address was also his loosest. He knows he cannot win much from a Republican Congress amid a frenetic race to succeed him, and won't waste much energy trying. Instead, the eighth-year chief directed his hour-long remarks to listeners with a longer time horizon to future presidents and lawmakers and the voters who will elect them. His aim was shaping political argument beyond his own presidency. "I want to focus on the next five years, 10 years, and beyond," he told his audience on television and in the House chamber Tuesday night. "So let's talk about the future, and four big questions that we as a country have to answer regardless of who the next president is or who controls the next Congress." He posed them this way: "First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman? And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what's best in us, and not what's worst?" President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill January 12, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Getty Images Those questions framed his ongoing disputes with Republicans as well as the arguments now playing out in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere along the 2016 campaign trail. He began by claiming success in recovering from recession and financial crisis, citing a record-setting string of monthly private sector job growth and strong performance by the auto industry he acted to rescue. "Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction," the president said. "What is true and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and haven't let up." He invoked his own remedies for that insecurity: higher minimum wages, improved education for the next generation of workers, stronger pensions, tougher regulation of corporations and a reformed tax system. And he strongly disputed candidates like Donald Trump who point toward illegal immigrants as the source of America's economic woes. "Food-stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did," Obama said. "Immigrants aren't the principal reason wages haven't gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns. It's sure not the average family watching tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore accounts." Those assertions refer to some of the fiercest economic, social and political issues that continue to divide Republicans and Democrats. Obama expressed regret for not having had more success bridging those divides in this era of political polarization. But he offered words of conciliation for the new House Speaker Paul Ryan, a conservative Republican who shares his own penchant for policy debates. If he has no hope of bridging the ideological gap between them on the biggest disputes, Obama cited the compromise they struck on budget issues late last year as hope they can do more business in his final year perhaps through bipartisan congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and reform of the criminal justice system watch now Russia should consider selling state banking assets as plunging oil prices continue to batter the recession-hit country's government budget, Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Wednesday. Speaking to an audience at the Gaidar economic forum in Moscow, the minister said Russian authorities should consider the idea of cutting the state's holdings in the country's two largest banks, Sberbank and VTB, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The state should consider this, he said, as there was a risk that low oil prices may remain for a prolonged period of time, possibly "for decades." Tourists explore Red Square in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Getty Images That Russia could consider selling stakes in some of the country's largest lenders it owns a majority 60.9 percent stake in the second-largest Russian banking group VTB and holds 50 percent of the share capital plus one voting share in Russia's largest lender Sberbank reflects the tough times the country finds itself in. Russia entered recession in 2015, an event that followed the dramatic decline in oil prices (Russia is a major oil producer) as well as international sanctions imposed on it for its annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and role in the pro-Russian uprising in Ukraine in the same year. When contacted by CNBC, Sberbank declined to comment on the remarks but highlighted comments made by the bank's chief executive in an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper in November in which he signaled a tacit approval of a privatization plan, saying it would "greatly improve our situation." VTB had yet to issue any comment to CNBC but said it was preparing a statement. Progressing privatizations Chris Weafer, senior partner at Macro-Advisory, told CNBC that the economy minister's comments added weight to speculation that privatization of state assets is on the horizon. "It's something that we know President Putin is generally in favor of...but the bureaucrats sitting at the top of big state companies effectively thwarted plans to sell," Weafer told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. "But now there's a greater need to raise money for the budget because of the oil price decline, the momentum or influence is hopefully now shifting towards to the people saying 'we need the money' and that might make a difference in terms of progressing privatizations," he said. watch now watch now A falling Chinese yuan will unleash a wave of global deflation that will send the U.S. into its next recession and pull the back down to 550 points, according to a strategist at Societe Generale. Albert Edwards, the notoriously bearish analyst at the French bank, released a note on Wednesday in response to the recent currency devaluations by the People's Bank of China (PBoC). This depreciation - with reports last week that it's far from over - is a result of an asset price bubble that the U.S. central backed helped to create, according to Edwards. "(Quantitative easing in the U.S.) may not have done much to boost U.S. growth, but it certainly inflated global asset prices into the stratosphere," he said in the note Wednesday. "If I am right, the S&P would fall to 550 (points), a 75 percent decline from the recent 2,100 peak. That obviously will be a catastrophe for the economy via the wealth effect and all the Fed's QE hard work will turn (to) dust." Spencer Platt | Getty Images The U.S. dollar has already gained over 1 percent so far this year against its Chinese counterpart with Beijing officials manipulating the yuan by using foreign exchange reserves. Talk of "currency wars" have been put firmly back on the agenda with a weaker exchange rate just one way that a country can boost exports and thus growth. But, cheaper exports from China are seen as likely to spread deflation globally as consumers from developed economies buy cheap imports rather than domestically produced goods. Some economists highlight that Chinese imports aren't on the scale they once were and that the U.S. economy could withstand any pressure from overseas. However, Edwards sees a full blown trade war in the offing "not unlike that in the 1930s." "If I am right and we have just seen a cyclical bull market within a secular bear market, then the next recession will spell real trouble for investors ill-prepared for equity valuations to fall to new lows," he added, using the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio, known as Shiller P/E, for his gloomy prediction on the S&P 500. He gave no timeframe for his latest call. "The Fed will fight the next bear market with every weapon available including deeply negative Fed Funds rates in addition to more QE. Indeed, negative policy rates will become ubiquitous," he said. Edwards believes his "Ice Age" thesiseconomic cycles that deteriorate in ever decreasing circlesis drawing ever closer to its final stages. While his bearish thoughts and predictions are widely read by colleagues and rivals at fellow banking organizations, they do not always come true. In September 2012, he announced the U.S. was in recession and Wall Street would soon react, and warned of an "ultimate" death cross for the S&P 500where the 50-day moving average falls below the 200-day trend line. Instead the S&P 500 continued to rally, and has gained around 35 percent since Edwards' pronouncement. However, a slew of economists have voiced concerns about hefty valuations in U.S. equity markets, especially after several bouts of major volatility at the beginning of the year. RBS' analyst Andrew Roberts warned last week that "danger is lurking" for every investor and spoke of a compulsion to "sell mostly everything." But where there's fear, there could also be a buying opportunity. Capital Economics on Wednesday said it had no fears of an "impending collapse" for U.S. equities and said in a research note that its year-end forecast for the S&P 500 was 2,200 points, from its current level of around 1,940 points. Bob Parker, a senior advisor for investment strategy and research at Credit Suisse, told CNBC Tuesday that investors should actually be poised for a rally in February, suggesting equities will find a bottom later this month. Not everyone is a fan of the recent lifting of the U.S. oil export ban. "I would be very cautious for the Department of Energy to go ahead and move forward and try to sell some oil right now," said Bill Richardson, former U.S. energy secretary, in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. "I think that's a bad idea," he told "Power Lunch." "You use the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in emergencies ... not when you want to affect prices." His comments come after reports of U.S. oil being exported to Europe for the first time in 40 years. Congress lifted the ban in late 2015. The House also mandated through the Budget Act that 5 million oil barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve be sold yearly until 2021. In this deal, the Department of Energy has been given discretionary authority to begin sales this year, and it's mandatory that sales start by 2018. Uber may be years from an initial public offering, but it's already pushing stock to retail investors through Wall Street brokerages. As part of the ride-sharing company's latest round of fundraising, high-net worth clients in the brokerage units of Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley will have an opportunity to invest in Uber stock, CNBC has learned. It's not without precedent for Uber: In early 2015, the company sold $1.6 billion in convertible debt to Goldman Sachs ' high-net-worth network. The average customer account size in the deal at the time was reported to be $40 million. Facebook , too, sold stock through Goldman's international retail in 2011, a year before it went public, at a valuation of $50 billion. Read MoreUber cuts prices in more than 100 US cities The terms of the capital being raised through Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are said to be identical, according to people who have seen the offerings. The deal values Uber at $62.5 billion and its shares at nearly $49 each, according to the sources. European and Japanese equities are a more attractive option than U.K. and emerging markets stocks, according to the global chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management. "We still think that this year equities in the developed markets can be higher by the end of the year," Mark Haefele told CNBC's Squawk Box. But he noted that market volatility since the start of the year could put that forecast at risk over the next six months. "We're long Japanese and , where you still have the central bank support and you have the earnings growth," he said. The European Central Bank (ECB) plans to extend its 60 billion euro-a-month ($64.98 billion) bond-buying program at least through March 2017. That should help to keep euro zone's currency weak, supporting exports, as well as encouraging the purchase of risky assets, such as stocks and corporate bonds. In its 2016 outlook note, UBS forecast "superior" 8-12 percent earnings growth in Europe over the next 12 months. That's also driving UBS' preference for European high-yield bonds over U.S. ones. Stocks regained footing this week after a massive global sell-off had investors hitting the panic button. But amid all the negativity, one economist says all Wall Street needs to do is "take a deep breath and relax." On CNBC's "Futures Now," Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Ethan Harris said that rather than fret over uncertainty in China, investors should look at the market for what it really is: overdone. "I think that the market is overwhelmed with too many blindside hits," Harris said Tuesday. "You had geopolitical concerns around the Middle East and North Korea, you had weakness in the equity market and currency market in China, you had a little bit of soft data, and if you put it all together it was just a little bit too much for the equity market." Read More 'Now you know': Why the Fed feared a quarter-point hike When you've reached the point where you've started counting down the years left until you can retire, it might dawn on you that such freedom means you possibly could live anywhere you want. So where will you spend your golden years? Most people end up staying put. But for those who want to relocate, deciding where to live should involve a thoughtful process instead of picking a beloved vacation spot or your childhood hometown, say financial advisors. Jordan Siemens | Getty Images "The thing I see most often is that people will hone in on one reason for choosing a place," said certified financial planner Patrick Beagle, owner and president of WealthCrest Financial Services. "But there shouldn't be [only] one thing that makes a place the right one for you." Beagle and other advisors say there are financial considerations, logistical aspects and quality-of-life factors to weigh. And then all of those variables must coalesce. A survey by Bankrate shows that half of people ages 50 to 64 would consider a move when they retire. (That drops to about 20 percent for people age 65 or older, which reflects Americans' propensity to age in place.) If you are among those people eyeing a retirement spot that involves resettling, the first order of business is to familiarize yourself with the tax situation in that state (or country, for those who are considering moving abroad). "In general, look at what the state's income tax, sales tax and death tax are," said Brian Power, a CFP and principal and wealth management advisor at Gateway Advisory. "You could move across the border to another state and pay less in taxes." In other words, some states are more retirement-friendly than others. For instance, Georgia not only exempts Social Security benefits from its income tax, it also gives a pass to most other forms of retirement income, up to certain limits. That compares to, say, Vermont, which offers no break on any retirement income. As one of the 13 states that tax Social Security benefits to varying degrees, Vermont's tax on that income mirrors Uncle Sam's (up to 85 percent of benefits). Meanwhile, some states eschew estate taxes and/or inheritance taxes, and still others have low property taxes, no sales tax or other lures, like senior-specific tax breaks. watch now Generally speaking, though, states that don't hit citizens with one typical tax are generating revenue through some other ways, which could be a fee or tax that matters to retirees. Oregon, for example, has no sales tax. But its estate tax affects estates worth as low as $1 million, compared to Uncle Sam's exemption on the first $5.43 million. But advisors say to avoid focusing solely on taxes. As Beagle pointed out, "If this decision [retirement relocating] should be based purely on taxes, everyone would go to Alaska." Indeed, The Last Frontier imposes no income tax or sales tax on its residents. The state also gives all residents who have lived there through at least a full calendar year a dividend check from its Permanent Fund Reserve, which is funded partly by oil royalties. In recent years, that amount has averaged around $1,500, although the amount varies from year to year. Despite those enticements, the overall cost of living in Alaska remains higher than the national average, due largely to more expensive housing, groceries, health care and utilities. This illustrates the importance of taking stock of other costs associated with a different spot's local economy. And think about potential expenses you could actually create by relocating. "Some [people] will only look at the cost of living, such as the price of a home, utilities and state income taxes," said Allan Katz, a CFP and president of Comprehensive Wealth Management Group. "But they forget to look at the cost of travel to see family or to get medical attention, which can be costly." Health care, for many reasons, should be a top consideration for people who want to move in retirement. For starters, the cost of health insurance whether through a private insurer or Medicare varies from state to state. Advisors also point out that as retirees age and develop more health issues, access to quality health care becomes crucial. If you want to retire abroad, be aware that Medicare will not be an option as long as you remain beyond U.S. borders. If you want health-care coverage, you'll have to either buy into the other country's insurance plan if allowed or purchase a private policy. In addition to analyzing all the financial aspects of retirement relocation, advisors say people need to think about everything that has nothing to do with money. "When you make a decision to move, you're making a decision to abandon your support network," said Beagle of WealthCrest Financial Services. It shouldn't be just a financial decision. That's just one piece of a much bigger pie. Patrick Beagle owner and president of WealthCrest Financial Services That fact likely ends up contributing to why people stay put. And as retirees age, being in a familiar place with friends and family can become more important. Another non-financial consideration of your potential new home is the weather. That is, the weather year-round. Beagle had clients a married couple who, after visiting Florida one time, decided to retire there. But because they had vacationed there in February, when temperatures are generally mild, they as mid-Atlantic natives were not prepared to cope with the reality of Florida's blistering summer heat, or the strange creatures that arrive with it. "They lasted one summer," Beagle said. "They [dealt with] mosquitoes the size of turkey buzzards and humidity the same as the temperature." SYRACUSE, N.Y. Linda Wright, executive director of professional and community services for the Salvation Army of Onondaga County, has accepted a new statewide position in the organization. The nonprofit has named Wright as its Empire State divisional director of social services, Major Ronald Foreman, divisional commander of the Empire State division, said in a news release issued Monday. The Empire State division covers 48 counties in upstate New York. This year marks Lindas 40th anniversary with the Salvation Army and we are eager to share Lindas knowledge and expertise with other Salvation Army Community Centers throughout our division. Shes a dedicated social worker who will enrich Salvation Army programs and services that help the impoverished find direction and empowerment for themselves and their families, Foreman said. Wright began her career with the Salvation Army when she joined a new group home for teenage girls in foster care as a social worker after graduating from college. As Wright advanced her career, the Salvation Armys advisory board appointed Wright to her current role in 2001. We know there are opportunities to better connect, bridge, and deliver life-changing programs across our division, along with building strategic alliances with other service providers and organizations, Wright noted in the news release. Wright graduated from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky in 1975 before earning a masters degree in social work from Syracuse University in 1978, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is also a graduate of the Leadership Greater Syracuse civic training program. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com Jan. 13, 2016 A full-size model of a NASA space shuttle may soon journey on the waterways of the United States, embarking on a mission of education and "Inspiration." The mock-up orbiter "Inspiration," which for two decades sat parked outside the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida, west of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, will depart on its first move as soon as Saturday morning (Jan. 16) to begin its transformation into an educational outreach tool and the showpiece for a company developing new communications technologies for future missions into deep space. "It is kind of an educational and promotional thing," stated John Pederson, the chief executive officer of LVX System, which has an agreement with NASA to study applications for visual light communication using LED light to stream data for missions to Mars and other destinations. Pederson envisions outfitting the Inspiration with a state- of-the-art theater and touring it, atop a barge, up and down America's rivers to bring the 120-foot-long (40 m) mock-up to areas where people may have never seen a shuttle up- close and in-person. "Inspiration," previously named "Shuttle to Tomorrow," housed a multi-sensory theater and detailed cabin. (Beyel/Julian Leek) "To allow people to see this, take pictures and experience it," he told collectSPACE on Tuesday (Jan. 12). "I was told by astronauts that 'When it comes to my state, I would like to be there.'" Before that can happen though, LVX first has to save the Inspiration. Installed outside the former Space Camp Florida and U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1992, the Inspiration debuted on display as the "Shuttle To Tomorrow." Installed in its cargo bay was a 72-seat theater wherein the public experienced their own astronaut adventure through a 12-minute, multi- sensory video presentation that featured the rumbling of a launch, a simulated spacewalk and more. Space Camp trainees also used the full-size space shuttle to stage simulated missions inside its detailed crew cabin (markings still faintly visible on its right, or starboard, wing show the name of another orbiter, Endeavour; a carryover from its use by the camp). Despite an upgrade and repairs made about 10 years ago, exposure to the elements and recent years of disuse left Inspiration in very poor condition. "It was so far gone it needed to be destroyed," Pederson explained. "When we [initially] expressed interest, we were denied its use because really, it was virtually condemned and it was set for destruction." "Inspiration" came very close to be destroyed. LVX has worked to save the orbiter so that it can go on tour. (Beyel/Julian Leek) Pederson pledged to NASA that if LVX could take control of the mock-up, they'd spend "a whole bunch of money on it and bring it up to its former glory" and then some. "We have already probably spent in excess of half a million dollars fixing it up," he revealed. "We will probably spend in the neighborhood of $5 million when it's all finished." Work has been underway to fortify the Inspiration so that it could survive even its initial move. Some 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of steel and thousands of welds were added to the structure to ensure that it holds together. Beyel Brothers Crane and Rigging of Cocoa, Florida has been conducting the repairs and will be responsible for the move. The company earlier transported another full-scale mock space shuttle, the Independence (formerly Explorer), which is now at Space Center Houston in Texas. In 2012, Beyel was also tasked with the final move of NASA's real space shuttle Atlantis, which is displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Pending the weather, as well as possibly-needed permits and "politics," the Inspiration is targeted to start moving at 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) on Saturday for the 10 to 12 hour trip to Beyel's repair and upgrade facility on Merritt Island, located south of the space center. After exiting the property where it has sat for 20 years and clearing an overhead power line, the model orbiter will be moved by multi-wheeled transporter about half a mile (0.8 km) to the shore of the Indian River, where a crane will be used to lift and load the shuttle onto a barge. From there, it is expected to take about four hours for Inspiration to cross the river. Pederson estimates that it may take upwards of a year to develop the plan for the Inspiration's tour and complete the work to upgrade it accordingly. The inside of the cargo bay will eventually be outfitted with a state of the art "immersive environment" theater. (Beyel/Julian Leek) "We want to bring the flight and mid-deck to a very realistic and workable level," he said. The payload bay will also be completely renovated to be a "immersive environment" where the floor, ceiling and walls envelop guests in a movie where the bay doors appear to open into space. Ultimately, Pederson hopes the Inspiration can deliver just that inspiration for both the public's and his company's benefit. "What LVX looks to get out of this are two things," he said. "First, the satisfaction of just doing it, because I own LVX System and I love NASA." "Secondly, the credibility of having done this and bringing it to people," Pederson stated. "Of course, every corporation likes to have those kinds of things. That will be the fun part of it bringing it to a lot of people who have probably never had the chance to see the space shuttle and giving them the chance to see one." Her health was at risk. But in Missouri, doctors could do nothing. ozarks By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal With seven brands under its roof, Memphis-based ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. this week unveiled a new corporate identity to unite them. The familiar teal-green ServiceMaster logo has been modernized with a blue and red arrow, like the roof of a house. A new semi-trailer traveling exhibit called the "ServiceMaster Experience" will introduce employees, consumers, college recruits and others across the country to the company's brands collected through decades, from Terminix to Merry Maids. ServiceMaster's chief executive, Robert Gillette, said the new direction is steering the corporation into a future where consumers can access its brands easily in a variety of ways, and increasingly through smart phones and other digital means. See more of what Gillette had to say by watching the Business Q&A video that asks, "Why is ServiceMaster rolling out a new corporate identity?" SHARE Employees select and dispatch items in the huge Amazon "fulfilment centre" warehouse Nov. 28, 2013 in Peterborough, England. By Jay Greene SEATTLE Within a few weeks, Amazon.com will begin competing directly with longtime partners United Parcel Service, FedEx and DHL. But not in the United States. At least, not yet. Sometime in the first quarter, Amazon is expected to acquire the 75 percent of the French package-delivery company Colis Prive that it doesn't already own. Though the French company is small relative to the multinational giants that move Amazon parcels around the globe, the acquisition will be the biggest step yet that the online retail giant has taken to move into the business of delivering packages for others, as well as itself. Amazon has said little about its intentions. In 2014, it bought a 25 percent stake in Colis Prive. A spokesperson told the French newspaper Le Figaro last year that the deal to acquire the rest of the company would close early this year. And the unidentified spokesperson said Colis Prive will continue offering package delivery for all customers, not just Amazon. "This purchase doesn't call into question our work with all the other logistics providers (UPS, La Poste, DHL, FedEx)," the spokesperson told the French-language paper. "And it's out of the question for Colis Prive to only deliver for Amazon. The company will continue developing its commercial portfolio." Amazon's top spokesman, Craig Berman, declined to comment on Colis Prive or the company's plans for the shipping business. But some analysts believe that Amazon is putting together the pieces across the globe to launch a package-delivery service that will one day compete with UPS, FedEx and others. In addition to the Colis Prive deal, Amazon acquired the right to purchase 4.2 percent of Yodel, a United Kingdom parcel-delivery company, in 2014. Last month, Amazon announced adding thousands of trucks to its U.S. fleet to handle the growing load of packages it is shipping. The Seattle Times also reported last month that Amazon is negotiating to lease 20 Boeing 767 cargo jets. Those jets would represent a significant expansion of an Amazon cargo trial in Wilmington, Ohio, operated by Air Transport Services Group on Amazon's behalf. Amazon wants to build out its own U.S. cargo operations to avoid delays from carriers such as UPS and FedEx, which have, at times, struggled to keep up with the rapid growth of e-commerce. This past holiday season, FedEx failed to deliver some Christmas packages on time, blaming inclement weather and a surge in last-minute holiday shopping. Two years earlier, it was UPS that struggled with the crush of holiday shipping. Officials at Memphis-based FedEx Corp. have downplayed the ability of Amazon, a major FedEx customer, to become a legitimate contender in the delivery industry. Amazon is a large FedEx customer, and like every major retail customer, it runs a dedicated line haul operation to move inventory between distribution centers," said Patrick Fitzgerald, a FedEx senior vice president. "Our customers dedicated transportation capabilities are not a threat to our highly integrated global transportation networks. The FedEx network is a linchpin in the e-commerce market that our customers rely on to support their future growth, Fitzgerald said. Colis Prive is small compared to FedEx's current European acquisition target, the Dutch company TNT Express, which runs a ground delivery network across Europe and has about 58,000 employees worldwide. FedEx last week won European Commission clearance for its $4.8 billion bid to buy TNT Express. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2016. Colis Prive might be considered closer to the scale of TATEX, a French express delivery company that FedEx bought in 2012. At the time, TATEX had about 1,000 employees and moved more than 19 million parcels a year. A news release on Colis Prive's website last January said the company had about 400 employees and delivered more than 25 million parcels a year across France. Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian believes Amazon may be developing a delivery service that meets more than its own shipping needs. He expects Amazon to ultimately offer any excess cargo capacity it has to other companies looking to transport goods. "They have the opportunity to disrupt this market and generate a lot of revenue," Sebastian said. That's because the global fulfillment market, which includes shipping and warehousing goods, represents a $400 billion to $450 billion business, Sebastian said. To some, it might seem something of a head-scratcher why Amazon would offer package delivery to other companies, including its retail rivals. After all, why would it want to offer competitors any of the shipping and delivery logistics advantages it has painstakingly developed for itself over the years? But Sebastian points to the development of Amazon Web Services, or AWS, as an analogy. The business, which rents computing power and storage for corporate customers, started as the computing infrastructure that powered the company's retail website, Amazon.com. But as Amazon's expertise in developing the building blocks for on-demand computing grew along with its online computing capacity, it began to offer those services to others. "There is nothing like having to manage a process, and then rolling it out to others," Sebastian said. Amazon has welcomed all comers to AWS, including rivals such as Nordstrom, which competes with Amazon in retail apparel and shoes, and Netflix, which battles with Amazon Prime Instant Video in on-demand subscription programming. In the process, it has turned an expense the cost of running its computing operations into a profit center. In the third quarter, AWS posted a 25 percent profit margin, an eye-popping number for a company whose other segments generally generate the narrowest of profits or the more-than-occasional losses. Amazon plows those profits back into its other businesses, keeping prices low on the retail site and investing in new markets as well. Shipping, of course, is a huge expense for Amazon. In the third quarter, Amazon spent $3.2 billion on fulfillment, the costs related to delivering packages to customers. It's a huge number that increases every year as Amazon grows and invests more and more into speeding up delivery to better compete against brick-and-mortar rivals, which offer customers something Amazon can't: instant gratification of owning an item the second it's purchased. But what if Amazon could turn that expense into a profit center? The shipping business is immensely complex. To succeed, Amazon would have to compete with companies that have long been its closest partners. "There is a lot for them to prove with the market opportunity," Sebastian said. Amazon would likely use the planes it is negotiating to lease, its growing truck fleet, and the urban delivery infrastructure it has created across the country to move packages for customers. And it would likely open up the analytics and optimization algorithms it has developed to improve efficiency for delivery customers, Sebastian said. It might even make space available in its 123 warehouses around the world to companies that want the ability to warehouse items close to where the items ultimately would be shipped. For their part, both UPS and FedEx have said little about the possibility of having one of their largest, if not the largest, customers as a competitor. UPS spokesman Steve Gaut declined to comment, except to call Amazon a "valued customer." In its annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2014, UPS noted the peril of having one of its largest customers "develop their own shipping and distribution capabilities," saying such a development, among others, "could materially impact the growth in our business and the ability to meet our current and long-term financial forecasts." In its quarterly earnings call with analysts last month, FedEx executive vice president Mike Glenn noted in response to a question about the potential competitive threat from Amazon that FedEx has a vast logistics network that would be hard to replicate. "FedEx is a highly integrated global transportation network, in fact, one of only two operating at a significant scale in the United States today, and only one of three major delivery networks in the U.S. the other two being UPS and the United States Postal Service," Glenn said. "That's not likely to change in the foreseeable future, as these networks are very capital-intensive and information-intensive." Commercial Appeal writer Wayne Risher contributed to this report. By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal Memphis has been on a deadly streak. Already this year, the city has had 10 homicides three times as many compared to this time last year when three men were killed in the first few days of 2015. The latest homicide occurred Tuesday when police responded to a shooting call shortly after 4 p.m. in the 3900 block of Laura Springs in Raleigh. A 21-year-old man died on the scene. Earlier Tuesday, police issued a warrant for a suspect in another slaying, but no other arrests have been made in the remaining nine homicides to date in the city. Here are the other homicides: Jan. 1: Patrick Couch, 49, was found shot to death in the driveway of a home in the 1000 block of South Fourth Street. Jan. 4: Daniel Lusk, 21, and LeTara Jones, 13, were shot at the Corning Village Apartments in the in a tragic incident that was accidental and retaliatory. Police said Lusk and another man were upstairs in the apartment when Lusk discharged a gun. The bullet went through the floor and hit LeTara who was downstairs holding a 12-week-old baby. Police said Tuesday that Ovell Jones, 19, went upstairs to investigate the gunshot, confronted Lusk and shot and killed him as he tried to flee. A warrant for voluntary manslaughter has been issued for Ovell Jones in connection with Lusk's death. LeTara, a sixth-grader at Humes Preparatory Academy, died at LeBonheur from her injuries. Jan. 7: Antoine Bell, 17, was shot and killed as he and other teens stopped to help a stranded motorist. Police said as they stopped to help the woman, two suspects, possibly wearing Halloween masks, approached and fired at the group. Bell, a Raleigh-Egypt High student, was shot and killed. Jan. 8: Gerald Holloway, 53, was walking with two friends in the 2300 block of Staten Avenue in Binghamton around 11 p.m. Police said four men approached the group and robbed and assaulted them. Holloway was shot as he attempted to run. Jan. 9: Tamara Davis, 26, and her boyfriend, Joe Fifer, 22, were found shot to death around 3:40 a.m. in the 4700 block of Haven Court in Whitehaven at the Tulane Apartments. Davis' family members told The Commercial Appeal last Saturday that they believe someone kicked in the victims' door and shot them while the three children in the apartment hid in a closet. Jan. 9: Lonnie Ludvigson, 48, of Edgewood, Iowa, was shot and killed around 3:40 p.m. during a robbery attempt in the 700 block of Prescott near the University of Memphis area. According to his obituary, Ludvigson, was an Army veteran who served in Desert Storm, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as part of a medical unit. He practiced massage therapy and attended medical school in the Caribbean and in Chicago before being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was a 12-year cancer survivor. At the time of his death, he was working in trucking for the Internet site, U-Ship. Jan. 9: Ryan Gilliam, 18, a Trezevant High School student was shot in the 3700 block of Pershing Park about 5:15 p.m. Police said Gilliam was approaching the apartment complex when he saw three men coming out of his apartment. The men fired, striking Gilliam. He was taken to the Regional Medical Center where he died. By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal Sobs could be heard as people walked up to the tiny, marbled casket inside a chapel at Serenity Funeral Home Tuesday afternoon. Family, friends and officials gathered in Memphis to mourn Destine King, who died the day after Christmas last year. On Dec. 23, the 6-year-old girl was allegedly attacked in her foster home by her 14-year-old babysitter, Antonio Evans, and died of her injuries a few days later. "I just miss her so much," her father Trevin King said. "We just had fun all the time and she was just so happy and wonderful." King remained somber and stoic in sunglasses as he comforted his distraught mother, Adrienne Faulkner. During the service, minister Courtenay Isabell read Bible passages as a slideshow played photos of the happy kindergartner whom most knew by her middle name, Star. "She was so full of life and we had so much fun," said Sherrie Lanahan, who took King and her siblings on a vacation last summer. "I just wanted to say how much we are going to miss her as part of the family for the short time that we got to be with her." Audience members repeatedly wiped away tears during the service as ministers spoke of the young girl who wore colorful clips in her hair, loved to dance and sing "You are My Sunshine" to anyone who would listen. Many wore purple flowers or ties, her favorite color. Earlier that morning, her family joined a crowd of roughly 100 gathered around a flagpole outside of the Memphis Child Advocacy Center in Midtown to honor her. The center raises the Children's Memorial flag for one week whenever a parent or caretaker is charged in the death of a child in Shelby County. King's ceremony marked the 65th time the flag has been raised since 2005. "Every time a child dies a needless, violent death in our community, we at the Memphis Child Advocacy Center want to come together with our community to remember that child, a life gone too soon, " said Virginia Stallworth, executive director. SHARE Rudolph Vetter/The Commercial Appeal The A&P supermarket chain opened its fourth store in Memphis on Jan. 11, 1951, at 3561 Park, just east of Highland. The main feature of the store was an 80-foot-long meat department that was the first 100-percent self-service meat market at any of the Memphis A&P stores. Jan. 13 25 years ago: 1991 WASHINGTON Congress on Saturday voted President Bush the authority to go to war against Iraq. The Senate voted 52-47 and the House 250-183 to authorize Bush "to use U.S. armed forces" if Iraq does not leave Kuwait by the UN deadline 11 p.m. CST Tuesday (8 a.m. Wednesday Persian Gulf time). Bush asked Congress for the declaration on military force last Tuesday, and its passage after three days of debate removed the last political obstacle to an attack by United States-led forces against Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait. 50 years ago: 1966 KNOXVILLE A three-judge Federal court Wednesday struck down Tennessee's 1965 anti-nudism law as invalid and said the act if construed liberally, could possibly prevent disrobing in the home. The court said the law, which banned nudist colonies and nudist practices, violated due process provisions of the 14th Amendment. "It must, therefore, be held unconstitutional for lack of definiteness," the court declared. "The words in the act, if liberally construed, would prevent nudism in health clubs, YMCAs, school gymnasiums or other recreational systems, and possibly in the home," the opinion said. 75 years ago: 1941 Another sign in the revolution in food, bread made with the B-1 vitamin in it, is now being made here and Memphians are eating it at the rate of about 1,000 loaves a day. 100 years ago: 1916 LONDON A wireless dispatch from Rome says that Queen Sophia, of Greece, has been summoned to the bedside of her brother, Kaiser Wilhelm, whose illness is serious. 125 years ago: 1891 Patrolman Mike Butler is the proud owner of a Confederate cutlass found at the edge of the river at West Memphis, where the banks are caving in, after having been in the Mississippi for over a quarter-century. SHARE By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal Collierville is investing tens of millions of dollars in a new high school, and members of the public can take a look at the latest proposed building designs at two open meetings later this month. The first meeting takes place 8:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 22, at Collierville Town Hall, 500 Poplar View Parkway and is organized by the Collierville Chamber of Commerce. Architects will present ideas for the building's appearance and the usage of space within it and will also seek input from those in attendance, said school board member Kevin Vaughan. Anyone who misses the first meeting will have a second chance to hear plans and give suggestions at the Jan. 26 regular school board meeting, which starts at 6 p.m., also at Town Hall. The dates of the presentations were announced Tuesday at a school board meeting. Also at the meeting, the board voted unanimously to ask the Collierville town government to annex the site for the new school, which stands at Shelby Drive and Sycamore Road. The school project is one of the largest public building efforts in the history of the fast-growing town. The proposed new school will be big enough to accommodate 3,000 students. The government voted in July to borrow as much as $95 million in bonds to cover the cost of construction as well as related costs such as site planning, landscaping and infrastructure. SHARE By Jennifer Pignolet of The Commercial Appeal Western Governors University of Tennessee, an online university that is part of Gov. Bill Haslam's Drive to 55 initiative, is offering $100,000 in scholarships for next year. Ten new students will receive $10,000 each to complete their degrees. The Tenn-K Scholarship covers about 80 percent of tuition costs for a two-year degree, according to WGU. The university offers more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the fields of business, K-12 teacher education, information technology, and health professions, including nursing, to students who already have some college or career experience. The goal of the Drive to 55 is for 55 percent of Tennessee residents to have some kind of postsecondary degree. The deadline to apply for the scholarship is March 30. For more information, go to tennessee.wgu.edu. SHARE Troy Goode By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal The family of a Memphis man who died before attending a Widespread Panic concert in Southaven last July filed suit Wednesday against the DeSoto County city, emergency workers and medical personnel, claiming Troy Goode died as a result of being hogtied by police even though he posed no threat. The class-action suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, seeks at least $75,000 in actual damages, as well as punitive damages to be determined by a jury. It also seeks a permanent injunction against the hogtie method of restraining individuals in the custody of Southaven police or the citys fire/EMS personnel. Troys death is not a simple case of negligence, the suit claims. Instead, it reflects a systemic failure and willful violation of civil rights ... Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite said Wednesday he was aware of the suit. He referred to a statement the city issued in November, in which the actions of its employees were defended, as the city's response. Goode, 30, and his wife Kelli were heading to a Widespread Panic concert at Snowden Grove Amphitheater in Southaven the evening of July 18. Before the concert in the parking lot, Goode and several others took a hit of LSD, and Goode commenced to exhibit fear and paranoia, according to the suit. The suit says an anonymous person called Southaven police after witnessing what the caller thought was a domestic disturbance because of Goodes behavior. Kelli Goode told officers when they arrived that her husband did not act aggressively toward her, but was not acting like himself after taking LSD and becoming frightened. The suit claims another officer with the K-9 unit arrived and released a dog on Goode after he began to talk in friendly terms to the dog. Goode was subsequently tasered and hogtied, the suit says, and transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto. At the hospital, the suit claims Goode remained hogtied to a bed under the supervision of two police officers. Despite pleas for help and struggling to breathe, the suit says, Southaven city employees who were present did not help. Instead, the suit claims, they laughed. The official autopsy report from the state medical examiners office in Jackson determined that Goode, a graduate of Christian Brothers University, died accidentally of LSD toxicity. An independent autopsy conducted by Goodes family determined the death was caused by his being hogtied for an extended period and had nothing to do with his ingestion of LSD. Southaven said in its November statement that it was a tragic situation, but that the death was not caused by any wrongdoing on the citys part. At no time during the arrest or while receiving medical care from Southaven emergency responders did Mr. Goode claim he could not breathe or appear short of breath, the statement said. SHARE Mississippi recently got some good news on the public education front, sort of. The Magnolia State no longer is at the bottom of the annual Education Week's Quality Counts report card. The state moved up from last to 50th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia with an overall grade of 65.6 (D), finishing slightly ahead of Nevada, which had a score of 65.2 (D). The overall scores are tabulated from the average scores states received in other education-related areas, including K-12 achievement, students' chances for success, academic achievement and education spending. Tennessee ranked 37th with an overall score of 70.9 (C-), and Arkansas ranked 42nd with an overall score of 69.9 (C-). Mississippi schools Superintendent Carey Wright called the results "a little better in some ways. We weren't at the bottom, you can say. We were one up off the bottom." That is true, but despite gains on the most recent version of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Mississippi still ranks last for academic achievement. And that fact should rest hard on the minds of those who worked hard to defeat two constitutional amendments that would have required the state to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), the state formula used "to establish adequate current operation funding levels necessary for the programs of each school district to meet a successful level of student performance as established by the State Board of Education." Why should Greater Memphis care whether Mississippi is adequately educating its students? Many of Mississippi's worst-performing schools are within an easy drive of Memphis. A goodly number of students from those schools head to the Memphis area after graduation in search of jobs, including those who graduate unprepared to start a career. In his inauguration speech Tuesday, Gov. Phil Bryant asked Mississippians to "imagine a Mississippi where every classroom is designed for the students' success, where its third-graders must learn to read at grade level rather than being socially promoted. ... A Mississippi in which 90 percent of high school students graduate and begin on a successful path to a career or college. This is not impossible." It sounds a lot like what Tennessee education officials, including Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson and former Achievement School District Superintendent Chris Barbic, have been saying as they push education reform in the state. That task is made tougher by the generational poverty that exists in some Memphis inner-city neighborhoods and parts of Mississippi, especially in the Delta. The poverty and the toxic stress it can cause in households too often results in children from these homes entering school unprepared to learn. Shelby County Schools' iZone schools, for example, have demonstrated that these students can be helped when the financial resources are available to give them extra attention. But getting legislators in Mississippi and Tennessee to see it that way and adequately fund schools has been nearly impossible. Despite Mississippi's report card leap, next to last is nothing to brag about. Neither is 37th. SHARE Clay King Germantown Regarding the Jan. 11 letter Tough guys, the writer tries to note the hypocrisy of the Western ranchers occupying a federal building to protest the governments land holdings while accepting government handouts and subsidies. Many do not know that the reason the ranchers are protesting is because the federal government is acting outside the law in owning 28 percent of the 2.27 billion acres mass in the United States. This is a direct violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution, which says the federal governments only authority to own land is the 10 square miles around Washington, D.C., and only the amount of land necessary to operate forts and ports at the permission of the states. Congress passed several acts that were in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution concerning this matter. What the ranchers and constitutionalists are protesting is not the Bundys or the Hammonds going to jail for their individual acts. They are practicing their rights as citizens to protest an extreme unlawful federal government overreach of its authority by making these huge land grabs. SHARE By Char Miller The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a 187,757-acre haven for greater sandhill cranes and other native birds in eastern Oregon, is usually a pretty peaceful place. But its calm was shattered Jan. 2 when Ammon Bundy and a group of armed men broke into and occupied a number of federal buildings on the refuge, vowing to fight should the government try to arrest them. Their insurrectionary goal appears to be, simply put, to destroy the national system of public lands our forests, parks and refuges that was developed in the late 19th century to conserve these special landscapes and the critical natural resources they contain for all Americans. "The best possible outcome," trumpeted Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, who began an armed standoff with law enforcement in Nevada in April 2014 over his continued failure to pay $1 million in fees for grazing on public lands, is that "ranchers that have been kicked out of the area . . . will come back and reclaim their land, and the wildlife refuge will be shut down forever and the federal government will relinquish such control." Theirs was not a rebellion, Bundy declared. "What we're doing is in accordance with the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land." He could not be more wrong. To understand why requires a basic understanding of the region's complex and troubling history and the legal authority under which the federal land management agencies operate. The first people to live off this land, after all, were the Paiute. For millennia, and thus long before settler-colonists arrived in the region, the Paiute hunted, fished and gathered in this fertile, albeit arid, terrain. Their remarkable ecological adaptability, observes historian Nancy Langston in "Where the Land and Water Meet," the definitive study of the Malheur Basin, helped the colonists rationalize their post-Civil War eviction: "Whites looked at the Paiutes and believed they saw a people who had no fixed habitation, no material culture, no cultivation, no livestock, no homes, and no real claim to humanness." Battered into submission, crowded into a reservation and prohibited from acting on their treaty rights to hunt and fish off-reservation, in 1878, the Paiute fought back. Their brief uprising was crushed and the consequences were grim: Their local reservation was shut down and its lands returned to the public domain. Under armed guard, the Paiute were marched through the snow 350 miles to the Yakama Reservation in southeastern Washington state. Having inhabited the Malheur for 13 centuries, they knew full well the meaning of the French word applied to their homeland misfortune, adversity. The land suffered, too. As Langston points out, it is no coincidence that dispossessing the Paiute allowed large livestock operations to take over, resulting in the rapid deterioration of grazing lands in the upper reaches of the Silvies and Blitzen rivers that flow into Malheur Lake. Further diminishing the lake's capacity to sustain migratory and local bird populations were the irrigation and drainage projects that the Bureau of Reclamation, founded in 1902 to manage water to boost economic development in the arid West, built upstream. Add to this environmental degradation the reckless hunt for bird plumage: late-19th-century fashionistas coveted the white heron's graceful feathers to adorn their hats. With gold rush-like avarice, local hunters blazed away, and within a few years, the Malheur heron population was decimated. It was their extirpation not the brutal mistreatment of the Paiutes that caught the attention of the Oregon Audubon Society. The society's activists pleaded with former rancher and conservationist-in-chief, President Theodore Roosevelt, to protect those lands still in federal ownership. On Aug. 18 1908, he complied, signing an executive order establishing the 81,786-acre Malheur Lake Refuge, which also encompassed nearby Haney and Mud Lakes, "as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds." Since then, the refuge has expanded by 100,000 acres. In 1935, the Swift Meatpacking Corp. sold 65,000 acres to the federal government, funding for which came from duck stamp sales and New Deal monies; over the years, willing sellers added the remaining acres to the refuge's expanse. Ammon Bundy's protestations to the contrary, no ranchers were ever evicted from the refuge. Bundy's militant bluster about restoring the Constitution by tossing the federal government off the Malheur and other public lands because this land belongs to settler descendants is just as disingenuous. Indeed, in 1911 in a pair of landmark decisions Light vs. U.S. and U.S. vs. Grimaud the Supreme Court asserted that the public lands were, in fact, public; that federal ownership of them was indisputable; and that Congress through a series of legislative acts had granted the Executive Branch, and by extension the federal land management agencies, administrative authority to manage these acres in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations. Both cases emerged out of the first Sagebrush Rebellion of the early 20th century. Western livestock, mineral and timber interests had exploded in anger at the re-designation of portions of the public domain into the national forests and the regulations that the newly created Forest Service enacted on grazing, mining and logging. What changed was that ranchers, miners and loggers were required to pay a small fee to access the relevant resources that once they simply harvested for free. As these special interests and their political minions lashed out, harassing rangers and threatening to rebel against the nation-state, they sought test cases to undercut the federal agency's regulatory authority; the Forest Service also had its day in court in hopes of establishing precedent for its managerial actions. They found them when Colorado cattleman Fred Light and California shepherd Pierre Grimaud were caught illegally grazing their herds on national forest land. The Colorado legislature even paid all Light's legal expenses in hopes of proving its point that states, not the federal government, had sovereignty over the public lands within their borders. In May 1911, a highly conservative Supreme Court disagreed, ruling unanimously in the Forest Service's favor. This precedent should have put an end to such challenges, but subsequent generations of would-be Sagebrushers have adopted the same hostile anti-federal rhetoric and oft-violent tactics. There were outbreaks in the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s. During the Reagan and Bush administrations, fueled by vitriolic talk-show disdain for Washington, Nevada county commissioners crashed bulldozers through Forest Service fences to claim "ownership." Elsewhere, ranger offices were firebombed and agency equipment vandalized. More recently, in 2010, the Utah legislature asserted that it would use eminent domain to take over national monuments, grasslands and forests, believing, as did the Colorado legislature a century ago, that its sovereignty superseded the federal government's. Four years later, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy declared federal sovereignty null and void, refused to pay his grassland-leasing fees, and took up arms to face down the feds. His son's occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is but the latest in a long line of such confrontations. Yet none of these persistent attacks has succeeded in dismantling the federal land management agencies or the Supreme Court precedents that sanction their actions, a critical lesson from this contested past that Ammon Bundy and his co-conspirators willfully ignore. Char Miller is a professor of environmental analysis at Pomona College. He wrote this for The Washington Post. Select Commodity All Ajwan Alasande Gram Almond(Badam) Alsandikai Amaranthus Ambada Seed Amla(Nelli Kai) Amphophalus Antawala Anthorium Apple Apricot(Jardalu/Khumani) Arecanut(Betelnut/Supari) Arecanut(Betelnut/Supari) Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole) Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole) Arhar Dal(Tur Dal) Ashgourd Astera Avare Dal Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu) Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu) Balekai Bamboo Banana Banana - Green Barley (Jau) Bay leaf (Tejpatta) Beans Beaten Rice Beetroot Bengal Gram Dal (Chana Dal) Bengal Gram(Gram)(Whole) Ber(Zizyphus/Borehannu) Betal Leaves Bhindi(Ladies Finger) Bitter gourd Black Gram (Urd Beans)(Whole) Black Gram Dal (Urd Dal) Black pepper BOP Bottle gourd Bran Brinjal Broken Rice Broomstick(Flower Broom) Bull Bunch Beans Cabbage Calf Capsicum Cardamoms Carnation Carrot Cashewnuts Castor Seed Cauliflower Chapparad Avare Chennangi Dal Cherry Chikoos(Sapota) Chili Red Chilly Capsicum Chow Chow Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum(Loose) Cinamon(Dalchini) Cloves Cluster beans Cock Cocoa Coconut Coconut Oil Coconut Seed Coffee Colacasia Copra Coriander(Leaves) Corriander seed Cotton Cotton Seed Cow Cowpea (Lobia/Karamani) Cowpea (Lobia/Karamani) Cowpea(Veg) Cucumbar(Kheera) Cummin Seed(Jeera) Custard Apple (Sharifa) Dalda Dhaincha Drumstick Dry Chillies Dry Fodder Dry Grapes Duck Duster Beans Egg Elephant Yam (Suran) Field Pea Firewood Fish Foxtail Millet(Navane) French Beans (Frasbean) Galgal(Lemon) Garlic Ghee Gingelly Oil Ginger(Dry) Ginger(Green) Gladiolus Cut Flower Goat Gram Raw(Chholia) Gramflour Grapes Green Avare (W) Green Chilli Green Fodder Green Gram (Moong)(Whole) Green Gram Dal (Moong Dal) Green Peas Ground Nut Oil Ground Nut Seed Groundnut Groundnut (Split) Groundnut pods (raw) Guar Guar Seed(Cluster Beans Seed) Guava Gur(Jaggery) He Buffalo Hen Hippe Seed Honge seed Hybrid Cumbu Indian Beans (Seam) Indian Colza(Sarson) Isabgul (Psyllium) Jack Fruit Jaffri Jamun(Narale Hannu) Jarbara Jasmine Jowar(Sorghum) Jute Kabuli Chana(Chickpeas-White) Kacholam Kakada Kankambra Karamani Karbuja(Musk Melon) Kartali (Kantola) Khoya Kinnow Knool Khol Kodo Millet(Varagu) Kulthi(Horse Gram) Lak(Teora) Leafy Vegetable Lemon Lentil (Masur)(Whole) Lilly Lime Linseed Lint Litchi Little gourd (Kundru) Long Melon(Kakri) Lotus Lotus Sticks Lukad Mahedi Mahua Mahua Seed(Hippe seed) Maida Atta Maize Mango Mango (Raw-Ripe) Marasebu Marget Marigold(Calcutta) Marigold(loose) Mashrooms Masur Dal Mataki Methi Seeds Methi(Leaves) Millets Mint(Pudina) Moath Dal Mousambi(Sweet Lime) Mustard Mustard Oil Myrobolan(Harad) Neem Seed Niger Seed (Ramtil) Nutmeg Onion Onion Green Orange Orchid Ox Paddy(Dhan)(Basmati) Paddy(Dhan)(Common) Papaya Papaya (Raw) Patti Calcutta Peach Pear(Marasebu) Peas cod Peas Wet Peas(Dry) Pegeon Pea (Arhar Fali) Pepper garbled Pepper ungarbled Persimon(Japani Fal) Pigs Pineapple Plum Pointed gourd (Parval) Pomegranate Potato Pumpkin Raddish Ragi (Finger Millet) Raibel Rajgir Ram Rat Tail Radish (Mogari) Raya Resinwood Rice Ridge gourd(Tori) Ridgeguard(Tori) Rose(Local) Rose(Loose) Rose(Loose)) Round gourd Rubber Sabu Dan Sabu Dana Safflower Sajje Same/Savi Season Leaves Seemebadnekai Seetafal Seetapal Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til) Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til) She Buffalo She Goat Sheep Snake gourd Snakeguard Soanf Soapnut(Antawala/Retha) Soji Soyabean Spinach Sponge gourd Squash(Chappal Kadoo) Sugar Sugarcane Sunflower Sunhemp Suram Surat Beans (Papadi) Suva (Dill Seed) Suvarna Gadde Sweet Potato Sweet Pumpkin T.V. Cumbu T.V. Cumbu Tamarind Fruit Tamarind Seed Tapioca Taramira Tender Coconut Thinai (Italian Millet) Thogrikai Thondekai Tinda Tobacco Tomato Toria Tube Rose(Double) Tube Rose(Loose) Tube Rose(Single) Turmeric Turmeric (raw) Turnip Walnut Water Melon Wheat Wheat Atta White Peas White Pumpkin Wood Yam Yam (Ratalu) Select State Select Market The Obama administration is expected to announce new efforts to accelerate the development of self-driving cars, according to several published reports. Mark Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told reporters that Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will announce the self-driving car efforts in Detroit. There are no federal laws governing driverless cars on U.S. roadways. States such as California and Texas have drafted rules on how autonomous vehicles can be tested on roadways. California's Department of Motor Vehicles' draft rules require a human driver to be behind the wheel of a self-driving car, which would be a blow to Google's self-driving pod car, which has no steering wheel. Creative Commons Lic. Google's autonomous cars have driven more than 1 million miles on California and Texas roadways. Google, under its Alphabet Inc. subsidiary, has stated that its self-driving car has driven more than 1 million miles on public roadways and is currently out on the streets of Mountain View, Calif., and Austin, Texas. Most large car makers have announced their own plans for semi- or fully autonomous vehicles. Many have opened R&D facilities in Silicon Valley to develop the software required for self-driving cars. The Wall Street Journal and other sources have also reported that Apple plans to ship its own a car in 2019, and that the company has been hiring auto industry veterans for the secret project (code-named Titan). Automakers and technology companies have asked federal regulators to clarify self-driving car guidelines. For example, legal experts are still uncertain over who would be responsible in the case of an accident -- the vehicle owner, the manufacturer or the GPS system service provider. According to a Reuters, a Google spokesman said the company will take part in tomorrow's announcement. HORSE-drawn carriages are being used to collect Christmas trees in some areas of France this month and not only does the idea look like catching on in new regions, it could be adapted to other services too. For the first time this year, Annecy in Haute-Savoie and Chambery in Savoie have organised collections of Christmas trees in the pedestrianised streets of their historic centres using hybrid carts that are partly motorised and partly drawn by horses. Each town is organising two collections, and the trees will be turned into compost. Other towns have been running similar horse-drawn collections for several years, including Baud in Morbihan, Toul in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Cambrai in Nord, Aurillac in Cantal, Saint-Prix in Val-d'Oise and Bourg-en-Bresse in Ain. Every new year the councils typically set up fenced-off collection points where people can leave their used trees, which are then collected by a cart and taken to be composted. The collections continue throughout January, the whole operation costing 2,000 but the authorities say that burning unwanted trees is three times as expensive as composting them. In 2013 around four tonnes of Christmas trees were collected by carts. In order not to disrupt traffic, they are only used on cycle paths and pedestrianised streets. In various parts of France, local councils are also experimenting with horse-drawn vehicles for a variety of other tasks including taking children to and from school, transporting tourists and collecting rubbish. In Haute Savoie and Savoie the new service has been out-sourced to a company called Trialp the two horses it is using, Casse-Cou and Hilton, are said to be enjoying their new job. Does your town have any horse-drawn cart services? If it does, share your photos on our Facebook page by clicking on the link below! DO YOU have a Boulevard Aristide-Briand near you? Or do you send your child to school in a Jules-Ferry or a lycee Emile Combes? If so, you are already familiar with key names in the construction of the French Republic. Between them, these three politicians were responsible for free state schooling, obligatory education for girls and the rock of state neutrality towards religion on which la Republique is built: the principle of laicite. The term is very much in the news, with a new laicite charter being introduced into schools this autumn alongside classes in morale laique. Presenting the charter, Minister for Education Vincent Peillon explained: Everyone is free to have his own opinions but no one has the right to contest teaching content or miss a class in the name of religious precepts. Public debate over the Muslim community in France pops up in the news regularly and is nearly always related in one way or another to perceived challenges to this element of the Constitution. Peillons remarks refer also to repeated evangelist pressure to alter class content, in particular regarding the theory of evolution. A recent example was the proposal to swap two Christian holidays with Jewish and Muslim ones: confusing whether France was secular or multi-religious. Left and Right politicians often unite to initiate laws to protect laicite. Once the source of conflict with the Catholic Right over private education funding, the principle, an important element in the integration process, regularly generates ill feeling these days among extremist sectors of the Muslim community. That is why, a century after the original 1905 law, several new laws have been passed to protect it. First, a few explanations. Laicite does not translate well. Secularity is close but confusing. Laicite is not easy to define either. It has evolved over two centuries and is evolving still. The concept was born of the Revolution, which guaranteed freedom of conscience to all and first separated State and Church. Napoleon backtracked, signing a concordat with the Vatican in 1801 that was to poison Church-State relations during the 19th century and put laicite on the back burner for much of it. (For historical reasons, this concordat still applies in Alsace and Moselle.) Having been suppressed by the Vichy regime (along with liberte, egalite, fraternite without which laicite could not function), the principle was cast in the constitution of the Fourth Republic in 1946 the State is indivisible, laic, democratic and social and remains firmly in that of todays Fifth. To understand the concept is to go a long way towards understanding the French. Maybe it could be defined as their permanent search for a delicate balance between sharing what they all hold in common, the Republic, and catering for diversity. It is the principle that protects both personal and collective liberty and, as such, is the responsibility of both State and citizen. The indivisibility of the State is the States refusal to recognise any religious or ethnic community. France is one. There are two major dates in the history of laicite: 1881 and 1905. In 1881-82, Minister of Education Jules Ferry decreed school to be publique, gratuite et laique state-run, free and non-clerical. Teaching in French to a national programme provided children, whatever their linguistic background or beliefs, with the theoretical possibility of equal opportunity. It created a framework in which adults could bring no pressure to bear on pupils to adhere to any philosophy, religion or political idea. That remains the basis of the French educational system today. The 1905 law, engineered by Emile Combes and Aristide Briand, enforced the neutrality of the State and State institutions through the separation of the Churches and the State. Since that date, the State recognises no religion and therefore cannot directly fund any either. If the same law grants the individual total liberty and privacy regarding beliefs, there is one condition: they must not disturb public order. Given the repeated trauma that religion has caused in Frances recent history from the Wars of Religion to the expulsion of the Huguenots and the Dreyfus affair this means no proselytising and nothing that could be remotely interpreted as such. It also explains why, in France, religious belief is far more than a private matter. Things spiritual belong to the realm of intimacy. It is extremely unusual to see anyone wearing any conspicuous religious symbol in public. To do so is perceived as a deliberate act, a message to others. It is unthinkable to ask someone what their religion is and most people will be frankly embarrassed by anyone saying what theirs is. When Nicolas Sarkozy publicly announced he had appointed Frances first Muslim prefect, he sent shockwaves throughout the land. Knowing this helps in understanding intense French reaction to young girls wearing veils. It is seen not only as an unacceptable way of bringing religion into the public sphere, but also a form of peer pressure on other girls to do the same. Which takes us back to Jules Ferry and neutrality in the classroom. This insistence on the privacy of beliefs was of course also reinforced after World War II by the fate of Frances Jews under the Vichy regime, and the obligation to publicly show their religion by wearing the yellow star. As a result of the trauma of State responsibility in their deportation and extermination, no statistics may be made regarding peoples religious beliefs, ethnic origin or colour. All citizens are not only equal, but remain neutral in the eyes of the State. The mosque debate The 1905 law was finally well accepted by both Catholic and Protestant churches in France, who benefited financially when the State handed existing buildings and their costly maintenance over to local authorities. But the State cannot fund new religious buildings. Hence the mosque-building debate and recent legislation allowing local authorities to contribute. For with generous donations from Saudi Arabia and Muslim foundations abroad pouring in, the inherent risk of encouraging fundamentalist movements to develop in France is obvious. Under the Nicolas Sarkozy government, the training of imams in France to Republican principles was considered. But the State cannot finance religious education either. The impasse has been paradoxically circumvented by the Catholic University offering courses, and Algerian imams due to work in France being trained in French and laicite at the government-funded Institut Francais in Algiers. Conspicuous symbols and full-face veils After a number of potentially inflammatory cases in which some schools were confronted with Muslim girls wearing Islamic headscarves, legislation was passed in 2004 banning the wearing of any conspicuous religious symbol or sign in state schools. Never specifically aimed at the Muslim community (kippas, large crosses and Sikh turbans fall under the same category), the new law, despite fears it would be perceived as discriminatory and arouse further reaction, had the almost immediate effect of calming the situation, though some veiled Muslim girls and turbaned Sikhs found their way to private schools. But this legislated solely for public schools, not privately run establishments. In March of this year, Fatima Afif, an employee dismissed in 2008 from the privately run Baby Loup creche in the Yvelines for refusing to remove her headscarf, won on appeal for wrongful dismissal on the grounds of religious discrimination. New legislation is now under consideration to cover pre-school structures and religious symbols in the workplace, none of which are currently covered by law. When, in late July, a police officer in the town of Trappes stopped a fully veiled young women for an ID check in the middle of Ramadan, he did not know he was unleashing days of rioting. But Cassandra, 22, was not infringing any law on laicite. This time it was the one against dissimulating the face in the public sphere, put into effect by the Sarkozy government in 2011. Introduced ostensibly as anti-terrorism legislation, many felt its real purpose was more anti-veil. In fact, the number of women in France wearing the niqab is extremely small, and the number of women fined likewise. Laicite with an adjective The latest solution of Frances politicians to calm the debate has been to add adjectives. Sarkozy invented laicite positive, in which the government took into account the existence of religious groups in France. He created a representative Muslim council, through which to address the Muslim community in France. Representative of only a portion of Frances Muslims, many of whom are non-practising, it has created more problems than it has solved. The Hollande government has coined laicite apaisee, a low-profile approach in which negotiation would replace legislation as the best way of winning over those who regard the principle with suspicion. True laicistes believe the principle cannot survive any moderating tags. It must exist alone. Universities oppose campus headscarf ban proposal In early August, Le Monde published a report signed by members of the Haut Comite de lIntegration (HCI), a body no longer briefed to deal with laicite since the creation of a separate mission last April. It called for a Muslim headscarf ban in universities. Government replies were swift but hardly in unison. Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls stated evasively that the subject needed to be considered, while Genevieve Fioraso, Minister for Higher Education, warned that we should avoid problems where there are none. For Gerard Blanchard, president of La Rochelle University, and vice-president of the national CPU, Conference des Presidents dUniversite, laicite is not an issue on his campus or anywhere in France. We have 14% foreign students in La Rochelle, mostly from South East Asia, and we only ask women students to take off their veils in science laboratories, for safety reasons. That has never posed a problem. The University Presidents Conference has issued a public statement against any specific university ban. For Blanchard, the over-mediatised debate that burst upon us mid-summer is without foundation. He is adamant that he has never had a complaint from a teacher. An environmentalist, he is far more concerned by pressure that could be brought on teachers to introduce non-scientific versions of the origins of the universe into the syllabus. No university teacher should ever have to submit to any pressure on the content of his teaching. Jean-Loup Salzmann, president of the CPU, and president of Paris XIII, in the heart of Seine- Saint-Denis, one of the most multi-cultural universities in France, firmly believes in laicite, but sees no need for new laws on the campus. His main concern is elsewhere. He is angered by the incongruity of the State promoting laicite on the one hand, while financing the Catholic universities on the other. Expressing a personal opinion, he said: The main issue for these young Muslim women, who have enough problems coping with family pressure, is to achieve independence and emancipation through their studies, whether they wear a veil or not. An anti-veil law would achieve the opposite of what we want. Many of these women would then not have access to university at all. How the principle of laicite is applied today NICOLAS Cadene, chairman of the Observatoire de la Laicite, a watchdog committee created last April by President Francois Hollande to report on how the principle of laicite is applied in France today, spoke to Connexion. Can you define this difficult concept for our readers? Laicite is a principle which allows us all to live together. It is not a ban on religion or religious practices. On the contrary, it guarantees believers and non-believers alike the freedom to express themselves, to practise or not to practise a religion as they choose, on condition that public order is not disturbed. The State adopts an attitude of total impartiality towards citizens, who are all equal in the eyes of the State. Do the current religious bank holidays not favour one religious group? Christian festivals have, for the majority, become traditional holidays with little religious significance. Still, the State does not want to be seen as favouring one religion over another. In 1905, there was no Muslim population. But I dont think this poses a real problem. Employees can use their RTT (recuperation of unpaid overtime in the form of days off) as they wish. The Stasi Commission (set up by President Jacques Chirac in 2003) went a long way towards identifying issues in the workplace. We shall build on that. The conspicuous religious symbols ban was seen as directed only at women. Is that not a form of discrimination? If people set out to present themselves in a way which is obviously a proselytising or a provocative attitude, that is not acceptable. It is not so much what people wear or their physical appearance, as the reason behind the choice. This is one of the subjects we shall be working on. Islam has no clerical hierarchy. Isnt the laicite legislation trying to apply to individuals a law aimed at an institution? Doesnt the 1905 law need to be adapted? Not at all. The principle enables us all to live together. But, of course, we must avoid situations in which one group feels stigmatised by the law. That is one of our major subjects of reflexion. But there is no question of adapting the principle to new circumstances. It is one of bringing people to understand that laicite is not a ban on religious practice but a system of personal freedom and helping them to adapt to the principle. There has been talk in the press over banning the Islamic headscarf at university. [The full-face veil is already banned anywhere in public]. The State has a duty to protect minors from any form of ideological persuasion, hence the headscarf ban in schools. University is a world of adults. But the Republic has a duty to protect its citizens against the dangers of extremism. Some people attribute to laicite powers it simply does not have. There is an urgent need for strong political action, at state and local level, in order to resolve the many problems the threat of extremism has brought to certain sectors of society. The Observatoire has published its first report, a history and background to the concept. What else has it achieved? We helped draw up two important documents: the laicite charter and the syllabus for non-religious morality for schools. Both take effect this year. In addition, our report has pinpointed situations needing close attention in public administrations and local authorities (non-Metropolitan France included), as well as in the private sector. How do you see your work developing? We need a better definition of laicite that reiterates the States position of neutrality and is more clearly understood by all, in France and at an international level. We are drawing up guidelines for the application of laicite and religious practice in the workplace, and in the wake of the Baby Loup issue [see main article], for pre-school structures. We must show people how to react to situations. Overreaction is one of the major problems we face, when so much could be achieved by negotiation and taking things calmly. CITY officials in Paris have raided unlicensed tourist flats in the capitals 6th arrondissement and are carrying out further raids in the centre of the city today to crack down on illegal tourist lets. The move comes after previous raids last May with officials stressing they are targeting people renting out flats to tourists year-round such as some of those on the likes of Airbnb and not those renting out a room or a flat from time to time. Five new staff have been appointed to the controls office to police tourist flats and they are looking through for rent ads on holiday websites to identify those available for much of the year. The mairie says unlicensed tourist accommodation is preventing flats being available for people to live in with Paris having a widescale housing problem. But officials added that illegal tourist flats also fuel property speculation, speed the departure of residents from city centres, spoil residential life in the district and hurt the quality of life of people living next to them. Ian Brossat, deputy mayor with responsibility for housing, said: Tourist flats are very profitable we want to scare the owners. He said flats were a 'cash machine' and added that they wanted a city where the people who worked in the city could live in the city and enjoy city life rather than a dead tourist site. We are targeting property professionals who rent flats illegally all year round and who often buy flats with the aim of turning them into tourist accommodation. The mairie is examining about 900 files out of the 30,000 tourist lodgings in the city and aims to get an agreement with the owner to put the property on the residential letting market. If not, it will take them to court, where they face a 25,000 fine - although the city has asked the government to increase this to 100,000. Fines in 2014 totalled more than 500,000. Sadiq Khan is a more formidable politician than I realised before writing this profile. He possesses a remarkable ability to understand what an audience wants to hear, and an almost unbounded willingness to say it. On 5th May he could become Mayor of London. The bookies and the opinion polls put him ahead of Zac Goldsmith, and astute observers such as James Kirkup of the Daily Telegraph predict victory for Khan. How has this hitherto obscure figure, whose parents were immigrants from Pakistan, managed to place himself within striking distance of becoming the Labour politician with the largest personal mandate in the country? He has benefited from being underestimated by his opponents. Tessa Jowells supporters were confident she would beat Khan, who to them appeared an insignificant little man, quite unable to compete with her high-profile record of helping to deliver the London Olympics. Yet in September last year, Khan, who had stronger trade union support, trounced her by 59 to 41 per cent in the final round of voting. Internal Labour elections are not won by being seen, like Jowell, as the Blairite candidate: a truth confirmed the following day when Jeremy Corbyn was elected party leader. Khan was one of the MPs who had put Corbyn on the ballot paper, so was naturally regarded as Corbyns man. This was a reputation which Khan, having won the mayoral candidacy, had no desire to be lumbered with. So at the first opportunity he gave an interview to Simon Walters, of the Mail on Sunday, which appeared under the headline Labours Mayor savages Corbyn. Here was no gentle attempt to place a modest distance between himself and the new Labour leader. Khan condemned Corbyn for refusing to sing the National Anthem: He was very unwise. You are trying to be the British Prime Minister: you should be singing the National Anthem. It was a mistake, especially on that occasion. You have to show respect. To demonstrate his own respect for the Queen, Khan described in tones of rapture how he had gone down on one knee before her and kissed her hand on becoming a privy counsellor. He also recalled family day trips to Buckingham Palace, and supplied a photograph of himself as a child during the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee in 1977. And Khan widened his attack to include Corbyns ally, John McDonnell. As Walters reported: He said McDonnells claim that IRA killers should be honoured could encourage terrorism in London, and Corbyns support for Arab extremist groups could inspire anti-Semitic attacks. Corbyns activists will be working hard for Khan in the mayoral election: they know that victory in London would strengthen their position, while defeat would be disastrous. But the frequency and severity of Khans attacks on Corbyn make it difficult to dismiss him as an unthinking follower of the present Labour leader. It would be more accurate to describe him as a protege of the last Labour leader. For Khan was an early supporter of Ed Milibands leadership bid in 2010, acted as his campaign manager, and participated with enthusiasm in the denunciation of Peter Mandelson: a ploy which enabled the younger Miliband to cut himself free from New Labour and become as Khan urged the change candidate. Meanwhile David Miliband found himself unable to separate himself from Labours Blairite past. Once Ed Miliband had won, being against Mandelson turned out to be an insufficient basis on which to build a relationship with the British people. Khan, however, was richly rewarded: he became shadow Justice Secretary, shadow Minister for London, and Milibands London election strategy man. He could scarcely have had a more favourable opportunity to line himself up, with Milibands help, for a crack at the mayoralty in 2016, when Boris Johnson steps down. The 2015 general election turned out to be a disaster for Miliband, but in London, Labour did well, gaining seven seats, which took its total to 45 out of 73 constituencies, and winning 1.55 million votes to the Tories 1.23 million. Khan had himself helped a number of Labour women from ethnic minorities to find seats. Although this is now changing, Labour has in recent decades done more than the Conservatives to integrate migrants and their children into political life. But for Khan, speaking out against Corbyn no more constitutes a programme than speaking out against Mandelson served as one for Miliband. If anything, that kind of attack-dog behaviour is more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to framing a public appeal. Something more substantial and constructive was needed. He set out to tell his own story in terms which would have a wider resonance. His parents emigrated from Pakistan to London shortly before he was born in 1970, and his grandparents on both sides were born in India. He grew up with six brothers and a sister in a council flat in south London, and wrote the other day, in a piece attacking the Governments Housing Bill in the Daily Mirror, illustrated by a charming family photograph of Sadiq and two of his brothers in identical check shirts: My family were able to fulfil our potential because of the security of our social home. My parents could bring us up in a safe and secure environment, while they worked every hour to save for a deposit. For the Khans, the welfare state was an aid to aspiration, not a way of sitting around doing nothing. His parents wanted him to be a dentist, but he read law at the University of North London, after which he qualified as a solicitor and set up a law firm with Louise Christian, specialising in human rights. Politics attracted him from an early age: he joined Labour at the age of 15, served as a councillor in Tooting from 1994-2006, became Labours parliamentary candidate in that part of south London for the 2005 general election, and has sat since then as MP for Tooting, which he last year held by 2,842 votes. In a recent speech to the Union of Jewish Students he said: My dad worked as a bus driver and my mum sewing clothes. And that work ethic that was necessary for them to pull themselves out of poverty leaves a deep impression for generations. Its something British Muslims and British Jews share. Im amazed at some of the stories Ive heard from people like Parry Mitchell, Michael Levy and Gerald Ronson who Ive had the pleasure to befriend. People who in a single lifetime have pulled themselves out of absolute and total poverty literally living in slums in East London to becoming so incredibly successful. This glorification of hard work, self-reliance and success might equally well have been uttered by a slightly cloth-eared Conservative. In an interview with James Forsyth, political editor of the Spectator, published earlier this month, Khan went even further: I want Spectator readers to give me a second look, he says, when we meet in the House of Commons Hes keen to ladle praise on Boris Johnson a great salesman for our city who made him feel proud to be a Londoner during the Olympics. He even likes rich people. I welcome the fact that we have got 140-plus billionaires in London; thats a good thing. I welcome the fact that there are more than 400,000 millionaires; thats a good thing. If you shut your eyes, it could be Peter Mandelson speaking. It is not what you would expect from someone who has always been on the soft left of Labour. It strikes me that Khans eagerness to please could get out of hand. His readiness to lay it on with a trowel places him back on the same side as his old antagonist, Mandelson. Khan is full of new-found enthusiasms. As a candidate, he is pro-everything: unions, business, the poor, the rich. He has promised, if elected, to freeze transport fares in London for four years, and claims, implausibly, that this will do no harm. His promise is, however, undoubtedly something that many low-paid Londoners want to hear. Boris Johnson has attacked Khan for refusing to condemn the latest wave of London Underground strikes, and says of him: He is a tool of ASLEF. He emanates from the bowels of the unions. Sometimes Khans tongue does run away with him, and he makes claims for example about free schools, and about his role in Crossrail which prove impossible to substantiate. Dan Watkins, his Conservative adversary in the Tooting seat, says of Khan: He doesnt seem to enjoy the scrutiny and accountability of hustings. It is in public debate that Goldsmith may be able, during the campaign, to demonstrate the incompatibility of Khans various positions, and the flagrant opportunism with which these are sometimes taken up. On SadiqWatch.com, the Conservatives are already trying to do this. But Khan did also attempt, soon after getting into Parliament, to set out some thoughts about living as a Muslim in this country, and about how to respond to the terrorist attacks on London which had occurred two months after the 2005 general election. His thinking was summarised in his Fabian Society pamphlet of 2008, Fairness not Favours: How to reconnect with British Muslims. Although he disclaimed any desire to set himself up as a Muslim spokesperson or community leader, he saw he could hardly avoid the subject, even if he wished to, and that there was a demand for an account of his faith which made it sound, or urged it to become, as unthreatening as the Church of England. In an accompanying article, he sought to summarise one of the points he was trying to make: I challenge British Muslims to accept that as strongly as they feel about Iraq or counter-terrorism measures, poverty and inequality have the biggest impact on the lives of the majority of British Muslims and do the most to prevent potential being fulfilled. It is a thoroughly integrationist line of thought, and in his attempt to become Mayor of London, one could say that Khan is practising what preaches. Mundell hails greatest transfer in power to Scotland since 1999 David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary and sole Conservative MP in Scotland, visited Edinburgh this week to publicise what the Government is calling the greatest shift in power to Scotland since devolution, the Independent reports. These include a range of fiscal powers, which Tories hope will kindle greater interest in fiscally conservative politics in a traditionally spendthrift political culture. However, Mundell has been accused of putting the cart before the horse by urging parties to reveal how they plan to use Holyroods new powers before the financial arrangements underpinning the transfer are finalised. The Scottish Secretary was also cleared of a charge of breaching House of Commons rules when he opened a food back in the neighbouring constituency of Dumfries and Galloway, which is presented by an SNP member. Villiers faces calls to quit if she campaigns for Brexit Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has come under pressure to resign her Cabinet post should she campaign for Britain to leave the EU, according to the Guardian. The SDLP, the soft-nationalist party which takes its seats in the Commons, has joined forces with the Liberal Democrats to allege her unfit for the role in such circumstances, due to the damage Brexit could allegedly do to the province. However the position of Ulsters unionist parties is much less certain, and if there are local parties on both sides it will not be tenable to insist that the Secretary of State is compelled to campaign for Remain. Osborne accused of keeping Welsh Labour in the dark about major visit Wales Online reports that two Cardiff MPs have complained to the Speaker after they were not notified of high-profile speech by the Chancellor. George Osborne was in the Welsh capital on Thursday to deliver a major speech in which he warned about a dangerous cocktail of new threats facing the British economy. The two complainants are Stephen Doughty of on-air resignation fame and Jo Stevens. Doughty apparently plans to investigate whether Treasury officials were facilitating a party-political event. Cameron dismisses SNP demand for guaranteed Scottish EU membership At Prime Ministers Questions last week David Cameron rejected calls from the Scottish Nationalists for Scotland to have a separate policy on the European Union. Nicola Sturgeon has accused the Prime Minister of putting the UKs EU membership at risk, and The Herald reports that Angus Robertson, the SNP leader in the Commons, demanded that he give a guarantee that, if Scotland votes to remain within the EU, it will stay. In reply, Cameron argued that Scotland had agreed to abide by British foreign policy when it voted to remain part of one United Kingdom. Also this week Henry McLeish, a Scottish Labour politician who enjoyed a short spell as First Minister, said hed back separation from the UK if Scotland were taken out of the EU, and ex-SNP leader Gordon Wilson spoke out against the separatists getting closely involved with the pan-UK Stronger In campaign. Farage sees off Jones (and Wood) in Welsh EU debate Ahead of his partys anticipated entrance into the Welsh Assembly in May, Nigel Farage took on Carwyn Jones, the First Minister, in a head-to-head debate on Britains EU membership this week. The Welsh Labour leader appears to have had the worst of it: not only did Wales Onlines reporter award the bout to Farage, but his claims that major employers Toyota and Airbus would pull out of Wales in the event of Brexit were swiftly rebutted by the firms themselves. Then Leanne Wood, the embattled and left-wing leader of Plaid Cymru, drew further attention to him after she was criticised for labelling the UKIP leader a voice of the far right in the Assembly chamber. Foster takes office as first female First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster, who succeeded Peter Robinson as leader of the Democratic Unionists at the end of last year, assumed her post as First Minister this week. She takes up the mantle after what the Financial Times termed a disastrous 2015 for the province, which has seen devolved government almost completely grind to a halt over a long-running dispute with Sinn Fein over welfare. The News Letter reports that the new DUP leader insists her party will not abandon its Christian values on subjects like gay marriage and abortion, but according to the Irish Times she has softened her position on attending events marking the centenary of the Easter Rising. Sturgeon refuses to rule out Scottish election pledge on second referendum After the separatist Sunday Herald announced that there would be no commitment to a second plebiscite on leaving the UK in the SNPs 2016 manifesto, the First Minister took to Twitter to rebut the claim. Sturgeon, who looks set to lead the Nationalists to a second overall majority in Mays Holyrood election, said the papers scoop was news to me, and stressed that the manifesto is not finalised yet. DUP MP is Parliaments most active and most expensive Two MPs from the Democratic Unionist Party tied with the Liberal Democrats as the fourth largest in the House of Commons made the news this week. Jim Shannon, the MP for Strangford, has apparently addressed the House more times than any other MP save the Speaker in the past year, according to the News Letter. In less happy news, the Belfast Telegraph reports that Shannon has the highest expenses bill of any MP with another DUP member, Ian Paisley (Jr), in second place. Ed Vaizey yesterday became the longest-serving Arts Minister since Jennie Lee, Aneurin Bevans wife, who served in the post under Harold Wilson between 1964 and 1970. It is a spiky brief for a Conservative, since those who work in the arts lean left-of-centre as a rule, but Vaizey is an enthusiast for it and, in an era in which politicians tend to be twitchy, shrill and media-harrassed, agreeably laidback. Having seen Jeremy Hunt, Maria Miller and Sajid Javid come and go, he is now on his fourth Secretary of State: John Whittingdale who, as a former Chairman of the Culture Select Committee, is also formidably well-briefed. When you hold a Ministerial post for as long as Vaizey has, you know more about the subject than your civil servants, which can only be a thoroughly good thing. Whats more, he was appointed as Shadow Arts Minister in 2006, so when it comes to their role in public life he really is Mr Institutional Memory. David Gauke hasnt been in place at the Treasury for as long as Dawn Primarolo, who did a ten-year stint there under Gordon Brown, but like Vaizey he has been a Minister under David Cameron since 2010. He deputises for George Osborne at Ecofin, which must be fun, and has also had charge of HMRC at a time in which the Governments drive to reduce the deficit has seen it get more aggressive. I would once have put the solidly right-wing Gauke down as a Brexiteer, but he is very much an Osborne man, having served under him in opposition too, and I now expect him to back Remain. Talking of Europe brings us to the third Minister below Cabinet level who has been in place since Cameron first entered Downing Street. Brown and Tony Blair went through 12 Ministers for Europe in all (including Geoff Hoon twice), and Lidington has now served for longer in the post than his six immediate predecessors put together. He is now on his third German and sixth French opposite number though, I gather, still junior in service terms to Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister of Luxembourg. It is Lidington who is sent to the Commons to handle difficult statements and answer awkward questions when his Secretaries of State suddenly become, for one reason or another, unavailable at short notice, and he will have watched Downing Streets tergiversations on Europe since 2010 with a well-informed eye. A historian by training and inclination he captained the University Challenge Champion of champions Sidney Sussex Cambridge Team any memoir he writes of his time in post would be illuminating for future generations. All three have the brains to head up the departments in which they serve, and are evidence of Camerons wisdom when it comes to reshuffles. (He has only made a mess of one, the dumbed-down shuffle of 2014). The Prime Minister rightly believes that they cause more pain than gain, and that Ministers who know their stuff should be left to get on with it. 8.30 am: Vaizey challenges me on Twitter to identify a fourth Commons Minister in the same boat. I thus hereby name James Brokenshire, who has been slogging away at the Home Office since 2010, and duly tweak the headline. And since Im in the business of postscripts, Lord Freud (not a Commons Minister, obviously) has been working away on welfare at Work and Pensions since 2010. SUBSCRIBE Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox. Close Nine retailers, including Rite Aid and CVS, have recalled children's medicine due to the risk of overdose, according to officials. Perrigo Company explained in a press release that it has put out a voluntary recall for "two batches of children's guaifenesin grape liquid and three batches of children's guaifenesin DM cherry liquid". While the same company has made these medicines, they have different store brand names and appear in 4-ounce bottles. Worryingly, the inaccurate measurement markings in the dose cups might lead to overdose, which could cause "hyperexcitability, rapid eye movements, changes in muscle reflexes, ataxia, dystonia, hallucinations, stupor, coma, nausea, vomiting, irregular heartbeat and death." "There have been no reports of adverse events to Perrigo as a result of the incorrect dosage markings," said Perrigo Chairman and CEO Joseph C. Papa, according to CBS Boston. "Perrigo is taking this action to maintain the highest possible product quality standards for our retail customers and consumers. We are taking this action because it is the right thing to do." Last week the medicines were removed from Giant and Stop & Shop, followed by Sunmark, Rite Aid, Topcar, Kroger, Goodsense, Dollar General, Care One and CVS, according to PIX 11. The following list indicates the recalled lots, and the branded labels: GUAIFENESIN GRAPE LIQ 4 OZ Label Lot number Expiry H.E.B 5LK0592 08/2017 CVS 5MK0340 08/2017 --- GUAIFENESIN DM CHRY LIQ 4 OZ Label Lot number Expiry Sunmark 5LK0528, 5LK0630 03/2017 Rite-Aid 5LK0528, 5LK0630 03/2017 Topcare 5LK0528, 5LK0630, 5LK0779 03/2017 Kroger 5LK0528, 5LK0630 03/2017 GoodSense 5LK0528 03/2017 Dollar General 5LK0630 03/2017 Care One 5LK0630 03/2017 CVS 5LK0630 03/2017 Do any of these medicines sit on your medicine shelf? Then throw them out immediately. If you have any other questions or concerns, you can call 1-888-345-04791-888-345-0479 FREE FREE or visit MucusReliefRecall.com. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Microsoft, the Redmond giant has finally decided to kill its Windows 8 operating system on Tuesday, January 12th 2016. The company has pulled the plug on internet explorer versions 7, 8, 9 and 10. While the users of windows 8 are recommended to either upgrade to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, the IE users of 7, 8, 9 and 10 versions must upgrade to IE 11 or the Edge browser. IE 9, however, is functional for windows Vista users for now. Windows 8 will end its journey with Microsoft only three years after its launch which is very unlikely for company to do. Microsoft, however, offers an extended support of up to 10 years for its software. The software was launched in 2012 and has been terminated in 2016. There has been no explanation offered by the company. According to Microsoft, Windows 8.1 is considered as a service pack for Windows 8 and the support will not be available for service packs, as reported by India Today the upgrade to windows 8.1 is available to the customers for the users of Windows 8 for free. As soon as you upgrade to the latest version, the support for the software will be extended for your PC until January 10th, 2023. The users also have the option of skipping straight to windows 10 upgrade which will be free for the users until July 29, 2016. The Windows 10 upgrade will extend the support till October 14th, 2025. The final security patch will also be rolled out for the Windows 8 users on 12th January after which it will not receive anymore security updates that will leave the systems exposed to malicious attacks. Windows 7 users, however, can continue using the software until 2020 January, says India Today See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close According to NASA, the medical training prepares its crew members to deal with the most basic medical problems that one is likely to face on ISS, such as motion sickness, back pain, burns, dental emergencies, headaches etc. However, what would they do if they come across a bigger medical emergency? The medical kit provided on ISS is most elementary with a large first aid kit, large manual with helpful information about medical conditions and some useful medical equipment such as a portable ultrasound, defibrillator, two liters of saline and a device that can help one look deep into the eye. Even though the ultrasound device is extremely light weight, it can generate some very clear images of the human body from inside and then relay it back to the medical team on Earth so that they can help with the diagnosis. However, there is no way to fix the problem that is faced by the crew member, reported BBC News Senior lecturer in aerospace physiology at Kings College in London, Dr. David Green, said that the best way to deal with the situation would be to send the patient back in a Soyuz capsule that is moored at the ISS. "They have limited resources on the ISS but there are no life support facilities on Soyuz either. If it's a good flight back they could experience a g-force of 4g-5g on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. That's pretty unpleasant for a healthy individual, never mind someone who's critically ill." The fitness levels and health of all the astronauts is very closely monitored before they are launched into the space by a flight surgeon who will look after not just them but also the families before and after their stay of 6-months on the ISS. However, it is still a possibility of a medical emergency that is far from basic. NASA already has Robonaut 2 on ISS that can perform basic medical procedures while being controlled from earth but it is still far off from carrying out complicated surgery, says BBC News See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close A Pakistani expatriate and expectant mother suffered tremendous amount of emotional torment just days before her delivery after being told that she was HIV positive by a private hospital in Dubai. The wrong diagnosis prompted the husband to raise a formal complaint against the hospital for giving his wife unwanted stress and psychological torture prior to giving birth. Twenty-nine year-old Khizra Afreen Farhad, a resident of Sharjah, went to GMC hospital for her routine medical tests while counting the few remaining days before giving birth to a second child with her husband, Farhad Nasim, also a migrant worker from Pakistan. She was extremely shocked when results of the laboratory tests revealed an HIV positive diagnosis. "I was told that I was HIV positive and had to have a Caesarean to have my baby. I ran to the bathroom and started crying, I was afraid to give my mother the bad news. Last year, my dad passed away and my mother is old and can't take a shock like this, so we hid this from her," said Afreen as quoted by The National. She recalled the traumatic experience at that time like being handed down a death sentence despite attempts by the doctor to pacify her according to Albawaba. The husband was equally stunned and anxious after receiving the news from the hospital. He was later advised to accompany his wife for a mandatory second test by the Ministry of Health infectious disease laboratory. Test result from the ministry laboratory returned with negative HIV diagnosis which the couple promptly forwarded to hospital. Afreen proceeded to giving birth through normal delivery. "Those two days were hell. My wife would not even touch our elder son. We expected the hospital to apologize to us for causing us so much trauma... The stress triggered a lot of bleeding on the day of the delivery," recalled Farhad as mentioned by Gulf News. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare The Compelling Memoirs of Ali Abumghasib By Ramzy Baroud 13 January, 2016 Countercurrents.org Ali Abumghasib knows little about the current intrigues of the Fatah Movement, or, perhaps, he is just not interested. Although he has dedicated most of his life fighting within its ranks, he never saw his membership in Fatah as his defining identity. For him, it was, and will always remain, about Palestine and nothing else. Now living in an old, rusty and tiny caravan somewhere in Gaza, Ali has no money, no family, but also no regrets. We spoke at length about his life. He wanted to share his story, and I wanted to understand what went wrong in what was once Palestines leading movement. Now that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the Head of Fatah, is fighting an open and covert war to keep his party together, Fatah is facing yet another crisis. The current struggle to inherit one of the two largest political movement in Palestine (the second being Hamas) promises to be dirty, especially since the Old Guard is losing its grip, as a younger, more vibrant, generation is ready to step in and take over long-overdue power. A split in Fatah could mean the partial or total collapse of the PA, which is dominated by Fatah members. When rightwing Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recently ordered his government to prepare for the possible collapse of the PA, the Fatah leaders immediately took notice, dismissing Netanyahus claims and asserting that everything is still under control. But this is not the same Fatah that Ali had fought for or, more precisely, fought within; because, for the 65-year-old man, with failing health and marks of torture that can be traced all over his body, Fatah was a mere platform that allowed him to fight Israel, with the promise that his struggle would take him, and a million other refugees, back to their villages and homes in Palestine. Since he joined Fatahs military bases in Jordan, in 1968, refugees have not returned, as their numbers have now exceeded the five million mark. Concurrently, Fatah morphed to become the Palestinian Authority, whose very survival is dependent on Israeli political support and the Wests financial handouts. Ali Abumghasib is a Palestinian Bedouin, from the nomadic tribes that lived in the Bir Al-Saba region in Palestine. In 1948, his family lost everything. His father became a squatter in the land of some Gaza feudalist, herding a few sheep in a pitiful attempt to survive. Ali, who was born in 1951, ran away from home just months after Israel occupied the Gaza Strip (and the rest of historic Palestine) in 1967, without even informing his parents of his decision. The parents died as poor refugees in Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, without ever going back to Palestine, without ever seeing Ali again, and without their pride. This may seem like a typical refugee story, but it is far from that. For Alis odyssey that followed was not only compelled by circumstances, but also choices that for the rest of us may seem extraordinary. From Gaza, he sneaked through the death zone border area to Israel, then to the occupied West Bank, where he hid in the Hebron hills, before being smuggled with a tribe that escaped the war to Jordan. There, he joined Fatah and, only months later, enlisted in his first mission, code-named the Green Belt. The daring operation represented the rise of Fatah, following the collapse of the Arab armies in the 1967 war. But the sudden collapse of pan-Arabism, following the Naksa or Setback of 1967, ushered in the rise of Palestinian nationalism, led by Arafat, George Habash and others, who took charge of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and began articulating a unique, unprecedented Palestinian discourse. The new struggle for Palestine had shifted from seeing Palestine primarily as an Arab priority, into one that was essentially Palestinian. Although Arafat is often remembered for signing the Oslo peace accords with Israel, which led to the rupture of Palestinian unity and the breakdown of the entire national liberation project, Ali remembers him as the man who managed to restore Palestinian hope after the defeat of 67. To assert the rise of the new war of liberation, a guerrilla warfare, by the logic of that period, was a must, and Ali fought many battles so that Fatah and the PLO could make it clear to Israel that sealing the fate of Palestinian refugees was far from over. In the Green Belt, Ali and 39 other fighters selected from four factions, infiltrated Israel from the Jordanian border, killing several soldiers and capturing two in order to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners. However, the real rise of Fatah was truly marked in the Al-Karameh battle in 1968, in which the Jordanian army, together with various PLO factions, took part. True, the Israelis destroyed most of the PLO camps at the Jordan border, but were driven out in what, unexpectedly, turned into an all-out war. Ali fought that war too, and remembers how the morale of the fighters, despite their heavy losses, changed overnight. Soon, however, the empowered PLO factions found themselves in another all-out war, this time against the Jordanian army. The outcome was devastating, not just because it saw the death of thousands and the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan, but the capture of Ali himself. Injured in the civil war, Ali was sentenced to death and was held in Al-Jafr desert prison before he escaped to Syria. There was, indeed, a time when Fatah and the Hafiz Al-Assad regime got along just fine, but that was a short phase in what later became quite a tumultuous relationship between Fatah and the Assads throughout the years. Ali fought since he was a teenager, and spent most of his life either in battle (as a member of Fatah) or in prison. In all the Arab jails where Ali was held prisoner, he was a guest in Syrian dungeons the longest, staying a total of 10 years. In his last prison stint he was held, along with 80 other people, in a four by four-meter prison cell. Following the Syrian-uprising which turned into war, he was deported to Lebanon. That was the same Lebanon where Ali fought the Israelis, and also fought the Phalange Christians. After the PLO left Jordan, Lebanon became the new battlefield. But Lebanons protracted conflicts made it an unsuitable host for the PLO. In 1975, Fatah-led PLO factions were at the heart of Lebanons civil war, triggered partly by the Phalange massacre in Ein Al-Rumaneh, where nearly 50 Palestinian children were ambushed and murdered. The details of that dirty war are still as fresh in Alis memory as if it happened recently. His anger is still palpable, as is his defense of the PLO conduct there. Ali, despite old age, failing health and the awful scars of bullets and torture marks, insists that if he were to have the chance again, he would fight the Israelis with the same enthusiasm as a young man. In fact, when the Lebanese deported him to Egypt in 2014, and the Egyptians deported him to Gaza a few days later, he tried to volunteer with the Gaza Resistance. The young men respectfully declined. Ali is handsome, but disheveled, with a bushy beard, missing teeth and many wrinkles. When he walks his left foot seems to drag behind him as if it is connected to his torso by mere skin. Ali Abumghasib may seem like a relic of a bygone era. But the fact is, Ali has remained committed to Fatahs early revolutionary principles, where the fight was, in fact, for a homeland and not international handouts; for freedom, not false prestige; for national liberation, not useless titles. Those involved in the current power struggle within Fatah are possibly unaware of who Ali is and of the values which he stubbornly defends to this day. It is important, though, that they take notice, before all is lost. Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include Searching Jenin, The Second Palestinian Intifada and his latest My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gazas Untold Story. His website is: www.ramzybaroud.net. Withdraw The Contempt Notice To Arundhati Roy Press Release By Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakha Sangathan 13 January, 2016 Countercyrrents.org The Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakha Sangathan, Odisha (GASS) is deeply concerned with the issue of contempt notice to writer Arundhati Roy by the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on 23rd December, 2015 for her writings in Outlook magazine (May 18, 2015 issue) titled Professor, P.O.W. She had criticized the charges imposed by the State against the Professor G.N. Saibaba in her writings including rejection of bail application by the same Court earlier. In this debate of Right to freedom of speech (in article 19 (1)(a) of the constitution) verses contempt of notice (in article 129 and 215 where the constitution gives power to the higher judiciary of contempt of court) here we want to say that in a democratic country like India, people enjoy the sovereign power. They elect the government and the government chooses appropriate persons in appropriate procedure to run various institutions including the Judiciary. So, it has always been a role of a writer, who is a public also, to highlight the misdeeds of a government so that a better government could be chosen and so the democracy could prevail. Here the GASS is deeply disturbed when the Honourable Nagpur Bench comments on writings of Arundhati, that the author has even gone to the extent of scandalizing and questioning the credibility of the higher judiciary by giving examples of the orders of bail granted to Babu Bajarangi, Maya Kodnani and Amit Shah who were allegedly involved in Gujurat riot. It is true that nearly 1000 people, mostly muslims, were killed in a pre-planned way in the riot. But the rate of conviction and confinement in jail is much less than the rate of the crime. Rather persons like Teesta Sheetalvad and Javed Anand have always been harassed by various institutions of democratic India for their role in bringing out the truth before public. The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has expressed surprise over no action against the author by the central government, the state government, the police machinery and the armed forces for Arundhati Roys intemperate and humiliating language in the name of freedom of speech. The Honourable Court feels that the writer here is exploiting the situation. Here what the Organisation feels encounter, custodial deaths, indiscriminate firing can never be part of a democracy. But the security forces have always been engaged with such crime and have gone scot-free. In case of infamous Maikanch firing (2000) and Kaling Nagar firing (2006) 17 tribals got killed due to indiscriminate firing by the Odisha police. But this has never been trialed in any of the court. Rather local tribals and dalits have been punished by the local court for opposing such crime. Even though, distress migration, farmers suicide, human trafficking and forceful displacement etc. are asymmetric with welfare State but none of the governments have ever tried to give justice to those victims. But prior to the election every government assures many things before the election commission in their manifesto. In this situation if a person writes against the State and structural violence what the mistake he/she does? Instead of respecting dissenting voice of a citizen if one of the institutions go for sending notice of contempt of court against the dissenter then how could one say that we are in a most tolerant county like India or in a democratic country like India? The GASS agrees with the analysis of former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Markendaya Katju (Retd.) who has written in his blog regarding this contempt notice that the basic principle in a democracy is that people are the supreme. It follows that all authorities whether judges, legislators, ministers, or bureaucrats are servant of the people. So, there is no dispute that it is the right of a writer like Arundhati Roy to criticize the State and the government when these institutions are not functioning properly. Here the GASS appeals before the honorable Bombay High Court to withdraw the contempt notice given to the writer and to sanction bail for G.N. Saibaba, a disable person, on humanitarian ground. Golak Bihari Nath Working President, Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakha Sangathan, Odisha Contarct : c/o Brajendra Mohanti, plot no 93(p), Acharya Vihar, Bhubaneswar 751013 Phone : 9439905156, email : gassbhubaneswara@gmail.com NGT Struck Down The 'Environment Clearance' Adopted During 1998-2003 By MoEF&CC Press Release 13 January, 2016 Countercurrents.org National Green Tribunal(NGT), Western Zone Bench, Pune struck down the Environment Clearance procedure adopted during 1998-2003 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India for granting the Ex-Post-Facto Environmental Clearances to the 23+ defaulting industries of Gujarat and others across the country. NGT also declared Ex-Post-Facto Environmental Clearances(ECs) as illegal in Public Interest Litigation filed in 2003 by Rohit Prajapati of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Ziya Pathan of PUCL. NGT order will lead to closing down of many known industries of Gujarat and across country that started production without prior environment clearance. Ex-Post-Facto Environmental Clearances means Environment Clearance to the Industries granted after production work started in these industries. As per circular dated 13 March 2003 of then MoEF there were 213 such defaulting industries. We still have to find out the names and number of such defaulting industries that operated as on 5 November 1998 while the MoEF of the day claimed that they learnt about the defaulting industries starting their production without prior Environment Clearance. Originally, the PIL Special Civil Application No.17417 of 2003 was before the Honble High Court of Gujarat. The Honble Division Bench of Gujarat High Court transferred the Special Civil Application No. 17417 of 2003 to the National Green Tribunal, Western Zone Bench, Pune by order dated 21 April 2015. The NGT registered this case as Application No. 66 (THC) of 2015 (WZ) under Section 14(1) and 18(1) of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. The (1) United Phosphorous Ltd, Unit No. II, Plot No. 3405, 3406, GIDC, Ankleshwar, Dist. Bharuch, (2) Unique Chemicals, Plot No. 5, Phase IV, GIDC, Panoli, Dist: Bharuch, (3) Darshak Pvt. Ltd. Village : Panelav, Tal: Halol, Dist: Panchmahal (Now known As Alembic Chemical Ltd.), (4) Nirayu Pvt. Ltd. Village : Panelav, Tal: Halol, Dist: Panchmahal, (Now known as Alembic Chemical Ltd.) and such 23 companies of Gujarat who have actually started their project and production after 1994, without the requirement of submitting E.I.A., facing public hearing and thereafter, going for the environment clearance. After having worked with their project without necessary clearance, they came up with E.I.A. and public hearing in 2002. During the environment public hearing on the E.I.A. of the said companies, the question was raised as to how the companies could start their operations without necessary clearance and what is the purpose of post-facto hearing. Its legality and validity had been challenged. On the basis of above facts and legal background, the following issues were raised before the National Green Tribunal. A. Whether the public hearing on E.I.A. of the proposed new project for clearance from MoEF could be conducted after starting the industry without necessary clearance? B. Whether such an industry, which admittedly operates without any clearance, could be permitted to operate as per the environmental laws and specifically Environment Protection Act and rules 1986? C. What action should be taken against such erring industries by the Central & State Governments and the GPCB as per law? D. An industry, which commences its work production without the clearance, is existing unlawfully and invades the ecology contrary to the law by causing destruction/damage to the same including the damage to the people's health. Hence, should they be compelled to compensate the people of the area? Should they be forced to restore ecological balance at their own cost? E. An industry which openly comes unprepared to face the public hearing on E.I.A. fails to answer the relevant questions and openly admitted to have started the working without the clearance be put to heavy costs payable to the public and Voluntary Organisation whose time and efforts are wasted by such industries? F. Should the GPCB (Gujarat Pollution Control Board) and MoEF & CC (Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change) be directed to check and screen the E.I.A. themselves with the help of experts before placing the same for public hearing? G. Should the GPCB and MoEF & CC be directed to take necessary action against those officials who have failed in checking the commencement of the industries without necessary clearance? H. Should the member of public, N.G.Os be permitted to be involved from the stage one of preparations of E.I.A. by the industry to ensure its fairness and trust worthiness? The NGT (HONBLE SHRI JUSTICE V. R. KINGAONKAR & HONBLE DR. AJAY A. DESHPANDE) clearly stated in their order dated 8 January 2016 that 4. [] The Circular dated 14.5.2002, issued by the MoEF, extends time limit for obtaining ex-post facto ECs, so that defaulting units could avail such last and final opportunity. The Circular does not show by which provisions, the power is provided in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to allow ex-post facto EC. This Circular itself is void, ab-initio and ought to be struck down. Therefore, we have no hesitation in holding that ex-post facto process of obtaining ECs by the Respondent Nos. 6 to 9, was just a farce, stage managed, wrong and impermissible under the Law and suffered from illegality, which is incurable in any manner. The NGT further in its order gave clear direction that 7. In the result, we are of the opinion that the Application must succeed on all counts. We, therefore, direct as follows: i) The Circular dated 14.5.2002 is illegal, void and inoperative and the MoEF, shall immediately clarify legal position to the concern Authorities, within one month hereafter and shall not take any further action on basis of aforementioned Circular. ii) The Respondent Nos. 1 to 5, shall not grant any consent/permission to run any industrial activity, covered under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which requires permission as per the EIA Notification dated 14th September, 2006, without going through the required steps like, screening, scoping, public hearing and decision. iii) The Respondent Nos. 1 to 5, shall revoke ECs dated- 17.7.2003, dated 23.12.2002 and dated 14.5.2003, respectively issued to the Respondent Nos. 6 to 9, within period of one month hereafter. iv) The Respondent Nos. 6 to 9 shall close-down industrial activities, which are being operated without valid EC and consent to operate immediately, four (4) weeks, inasmuch as they are being operated without any legal permission/consent and concept of ex-post facto sanction or ex-post facto hearing. v) The Respondent Nos. 6 to 9 shall pay Rs. 10 Lakhs each for causing environmental degradation, which amount shall be deposited, as provided in Rule 37 of the NGT (Practices & Procedure) Rules, 2011. vi) The Respondent Nos. 6 to 9 shall pay Rs.10,000/- each to the Applicants as litigation costs. vii) The amount deposited by the Respondent Nos. 6 to 9, shall be utilized for restoration of environment and if any reminder available for plantation purpose in and around the Ankleshwar Industrial area. viii) In case, the Respondent Nos. 6 to 9 will not deposit amount, as stated above, the concern Collector of the District, shall take steps to confiscate the industries and goods, stock and barrel and may sale the same for recovery of amount, as if it is dues under the Gujarat Land Revenue Code. This closure order will be immediately operative for the following: (1) United Phosphorous Ltd, Unit No. II, Plot No. 3405, 3406, GIDC, Ankleshwar, Dist. Bharuch, (2) Unique Chemicals, Plot No. 5, Phase IV, GIDC, Panoli, Dist: Bharuch, (3) Darshak Pvt. Ltd. Village : Panelav, Tal: Halol, Dist: Panchmahal (Now known as Alembic Chemical Ltd.), (4) Nirayu Pvt. Ltd. Village : Panelav, Tal: Halol, Dist: Panchmahal, (Now known as Alembic Chemical Ltd.) We will be writing letter to MoEF & CC that now the Circular which talks about the Ex-Post-Facto Environmental Clearances is struck down and declared by the NGT as ab-initio-void, MoEF & CC should cancel the Environment Clearance of all the project and companies across India which were granted Environment Clarence under this circular and MoEF & CC should close down all such projects and companies. MoEF & CC should also assess the environmental damage done by all such projects and companies and recover the total cost for remedial measures. Rohit Prajapati Krishnakant Swati Desai Trupti Shah PARYAVARAN SURAKSHA SAMITI (PSS) (0265-2320399) Ziya Pathan PEOPLES UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES (PUCL) Violence In Malda: What Muslims Should Not Do By Parvin Sultana 13 January, 2016 Countercurrents.org In an age of trivial politics and name calling, it has become a norm that somebody will make a shallow comment about a religious icon just to grab attention. It will be immediately followed by members of the targeted community taking to streets baying for blood. While it is true in case of most communities, lets talk about this problem inflicting the Muslim community, in the context of the recent violence in West Bengals Malda. The recent episode goes back to an incident that happened almost a month ago in Uttar Pradesh. Kamlesh Tiwari, a lesser known Hindu Mahasabha leader calling the Prophet Muhammad a homosexual. This comment was deemed by many as insulting to the prophet and was followed by protests by Muslims all across the country. In the aftermath of the incident Tiwari has been arrested by the UP police and a case has been registered in his name. Even the Hindu Mahasabha has distanced itself from the statement. Despite this the protests continued and the protesters disagreed to be placated. On 3rd January, 2016 the Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamaat organized a rally in Malda protesting against the comments made by Kamlesh Tiwari. The rally turned violent and the mob went on rampage. It torched police vehicles including a vehicle of BSF. They then proceeded to attack and ransack the Kaliachak police station before setting it alight. The crowd is also reported to have torched several homes in the area. The reaction to such protests is that Kamlesh Tiwari gained some misplaced fame and some notorious hindutva groups are demanding to put him up for a by election to cash on this media coverage. The outbursts of Muslims have portrayed Tiwari as a victim rather than an offender of inciting communal violence. Many cite Islamophobia as the cause of such derogatory comments. Islamophobia is a reality and the phenomenon has worsened post 9/11 attacks. Many innocent Muslims are persecuted all over the world because of this prejudice. A few months ago what happened to Ahmed who was arrested on the suspicion of having created an explosive device is an example of such blind prejudice. He bore the brunt of racism as well as Islamophobia. Islamophobes often heap abuse on Prophet and others revered by Muslims. And the response from Muslims is often too predictable and irrational. The incidents in Paris where Charlie Hebdo employees were murdered, the Danish cartoonist who was attacked proves this. Islamophobia must be condemned as it puts a cloud of suspicion on people merely on the basis of their religion. However, the violent outbursts often go ahead to reiterate such wrong and hateful assumptions about Muslims. Islamophobia must be countered at the discourse level through well worked out arguments, not only on the streets. In case of the comments of Kamlesh Tiwari, no doubt it must be condemned and he must be booked under the law of the land for his devious plans of disrupting communal harmony. But protests need not necessarily mean vandalism. It is a sad fact that the community that lags behind on a number of socio-economic parameters often come on streets condemning statements, films, books which they find offensive but are quite apathetic to asserting demands for development of the community. We have never seen such strong assertion against gender inequality which is often justified in the name of personal laws. The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan which has been demanding an end to triple talaq, criminalizing polygamy, maintenance of divorced women, scrapping medieval and inhuman practices like halala is yet to see much support from the Muslim clergy. When a journalist talked about sexual harassment in madrasas, rather than looking into the matter seriously there was blatant indulgence in victim shaming. This was done despite the fact that Madrasas continue to be the sole source of education for a large number of poor Muslim children. Riots in India does not happen in a vacuum, we cannot completely overlook the fact that West Bengal is poll bound for 2016 and in our country riots and religious polarization continue to deliver political dividends. In such a scenario, the responsibility of the leaders of all community becomes building stronger bridges of dialogue and not burning them down on silly pretexts and playing into the hands of politicians who translates communal violence to votes. Muslims dont have to look far for examples of communal harmony. The very life of Prophet Muhammad and his followers is exemplary of such utmost sacrifice at the face of rigorous opposition. As kids we used to hear such stories from our grandmother. Prophet Muhammad was boycotted by his own tribe Qureysh when he started propagating Islam. He faced obstacles at every step. Abuses and physical assault was common. A very popular story that speaks of his ordeals goes like this. There was an old woman who used to throw rubbish on the Prophet from her home everyday he passed her house on his way to mosque. The prophet never responded and went on his way. But one day the woman was not at her usual place. The prophet asked her neighbor and got to know that she was sick and bedridden. Hearing this Prophet Muhammad went to her house to check on her. Seeing the prophet the old woman thought he was there to take revenge of her act. But the prophet assured her that he was there to nurse her and take care of her. Such an act touched the old woman deeply. There are many such stories and incidents from the life of prophet which shows his respect for other religions and his assertion of peaceful coexistence. However violent outbursts in the name of restoring the honour of the Prophet reflect very poorly on this much respected persona. Responsibility for such misplaced priorities must also be put squarely on the so called leaders of the community who have failed to channelize the communitys energy in a proper productive fashion. Rather than ensuring that Muslim youth are more empowered to participate in mainstream society, such leaders often create a panic situation by talking about conspiracy theories putting Islam in danger. This ensures their continued presence in privileged positions. Despite such crisis, there is a beacon of hope in a moderate voice emerging from Muslims which condemn Islamophobia and its manifestations at the same time disowning violence in the name of Islam. This becomes evident when Muslims come out in large number condemning the activities of ISIS and other terrorist groups against humanity. As two wrongs does not make a right, Kamlesh Tiwaris hatred of Muslims cannot be countered by hatred of Hindus. What is required is a respect for the law of the land and not giving centre-stage to the rabble rousers. Muslims should not indulge in such violence in the name of avenging the honour of the Prophet. All those who believe in the idea of a secular nation based on mutual respect should condemn both Kamlesh Tiwaris comments and violent protests at one go. Parvin Sultana is an Assistant Professor in P B College of Assam. Her research interest includes Muslims in Assam, development and northeast, gender etc. Looking Beyond The Pathankot Attack By S.G.Vombatkere 13 January, 2016 Countercurrents.org The Pathankot IAF base is near the border with Pakistan. A Pakistani terrorist squad entered the air force base in the wee hours of 2016 New Year Day by crossing the security wall, and hid in sarkanda grass before launching an attack on personnel within the base early on January 2. The debate in the media appears focused on several issues including the fact that there were intelligence inputs which were not acted upon, the casualties caused by the terrorists, the reason why the emergency was not handled by sequentially calling in forces starting with the nearest first, the role of the NSA, the evidence provided by SP Salwinder Singh, and that this attack took place not long after PM Modi made a surprise visit to meet Pakistan PM Sharif in Islamabad. Unsurprisingly, there are critics declaring that this attack shows chinks and cracks in India's security apparatus and security policy, and disputing the official line that the attack was handled adequately by the security apparatus under the control of the NSA, Mr.Ajit Doval. The Pathankot attack provides the Parliamentary opposition with a stick with which to beat the ruling BJP. But whether or not PM Modi and/or the BJP suffer politically because of the alleged security lapses, and whether or not the Opposition gains political ground, the on-going political tu-tu-mein-mein only serves to divert attention from the fact that India does not have a coherent, stated policy or doctrine on national security. Addressing this serious shortcoming calls for focussing attention beyond the most recent security crisis that the Pathankot attack represents. Security realities The blame for not having a official policy on security cannot be laid at the door of PM Modi or the ruling BJP, since the National Security Council (NSC) has been under four predecessor governments. But lack of a stated policy and doctrine is deplorable, because India has had a NSC as the apex agency for national security with the PM at its head, since as long ago as November 1998, when it was formed by the BJP-led NDA-1 government. The NSC has a National Security Advisor (NSA), a bureaucrat with cabinet rank and status but no statutory authority, reporting only to the PM, and effectively making personality-driven responses to security threats and attacks. Since national security involves at least three nodal ministries, namely MOD (external security), MHA (internal security) and MEA (diplomacy as soft power), it is necessary for the NSC to formulate security policy with wide consultation, on the basis of a vision of the nation's long-term political, territorial and economic sovereignty for the progress of its people. Thus, the NSC needs to formulate a security doctrine and create a policy document for placing before the people's representatives in Parliament. The approved policy would dictate the course of (diplomatic, military, police) action and the agencies to be deployed in situations of threat to national security or attacks upon India by regular armed forces, irregular armed forces, terrorists from any source whatsoever, insurgents or militants, and also economic attacks. But sadly there has been a continued absence of strategic vision, policy or doctrine from the NSC. Resort to the standard operating procedures of the military and police cannot be a substitute for coherent security management based upon accepted security doctrine and policy, free from the influence of any political party, think-tank or individual personality. Militancy, insurgency and terrorism The fact that India has suffered decades-long insurgency and militancy is not merely proof of decades-long poor governance and unprincipled domestic politics of various political parties, but also of absence of long-term strategic vision and security policy. Cross-border terrorism is a somewhat more recent factor, with terrorists from training and holding camps in Pakistan routinely making their way into India by land, and even by sea as in the Mumbai 26/11 attack, calling for response by India's Armed Forces and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) sans unified political guidance. Terrorists from Pakistan are not the only cause for concern. There are other countries which also use active and passive intelligence operating within India, as indeed India would have in some other countries. For example, Pakistan's ISI and China's MSS provide support to insurgency and militancy within India. In some measure, these shadowy agencies also draw support from India's much-hyped UID Aadhaar project, which is available to illegal immigrants into India. The Aadhaar project was formulated and implemented with little or no real-time concern for internal security, and it continues to be aggressively promoted by the present government despite demonstrable negative security ramifications. It is a moot point whether the physical and cyber security aspects of Aadhaar were ever discussed in the National Security Council (NSC). Revamping national security India's response to threats and attacks over the years has displayed a certain ad-hoc-ism which is unbecoming of a nation which counts itself as a regional power. For taking security decisions, India's PM is dependent upon single-point advice of a bureaucrat-NSA having questionable military expertise, with India's military in a subordinate don't-speak-unless-I-ask-you position. National security is a complex inter-disciplinary matter, and unless the PM has two NSAs, a bureaucrat for internal security and a military officer for external security, he will not be in a position to effectively employ the NSC for comprehensive and effective national security. The national security buck stops with the PM, and so it would be wise for him to have the best possible balanced advice to enable a holistic view. India's attempts to influence international security policy by demanding a permanent seat at the high table of the UN Security Council will not be taken seriously when her own apex security organization suffers from serious inadequacies. The inadequate security measures and somewhat muddled response to the Pathankot attack has resulted in loss of lives and also attracted international attention. But apart from the loss of lives in the attack, there is also the fact of India being viewed as a soft state. It is time that all political parties understood the need for India to use the lessons learned from the Pathankot attack as a springboard for revamping the NSC and coming up with a national security policy and doctrine, using the combined wisdom of its national elected executive and its people's representatives in Parliament. Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired as Additional DG Discipline & Vigilance in Army HQ AG's Branch. He holds a PhD degree in Structural Dynamics from I.I.T, Madras. With over 460 published papers in national and international journals and seminars, his area of interest is strategic and development-related issues. E-mail: sg9kere@live.com SHARE By Brian Slodysko INDIANAPOLIS Bills to give teachers and schools a one-year reprieve from being punished for poor student performance on ISTEP exams passed by overwhelming margins on Tuesday, one in the House and one in the Senate. Both measures, which received bipartisan support, are the GOP's answer to dismal student 2015 ISTEP scores, which plummeted about 20 percent from 2014 after stringent new performance standards pushed by Republicans, including Gov. Mike Pence, went into effect. The bills are moving quickly through the Legislature so they'll land on the desk of Pence, who says he will sign them into law. The measure that passed in the House 95-1 would spare teachers from having merit pay withheld due to student scores. Minutes later in the Senate, a 48-1 vote moved forward a bill that would prevent schools from being assigned a lower A-F grade for the same reason. Each bill now goes to the other chamber for consideration. Critics of the new standards say they were hastily put in place without proper testing and troubleshooting after GOP lawmakers withdrew Indiana from national Common Core standards. Some conservatives called the math and science standards a federal takeover of education. Officials had predicted a double-digit drop in passing rates, and the prediction came true. Now, leading House Education Chairman Bob Behning wants to hire a third-party to re-grade the exams due to problems with the administration and scoring of the tests that have been uncovered in recent months, including a months-long delay in getting scores out to schools and parents. Democratic Rep. Terry Goodin says the bills approved Tuesday, commonly known as "hold harmless" measures, don't just give a reprieve to educators but also let GOP leaders off the hook for a problem of their own making. "We're actually having 'hold harmless' for legislators and our governor," said Goodin, who's also a school superintendent from Austin. "We need to have a real conversation about throwing the ISTEP test out, putting those millions of dollars in the classroom." SHARE Rep. Larry Bucshon By Thomas B. Langhorne of the Courier and Press A tougher response to Islamic State terrorists should be President Barack Obama's message in a nationally televised speech, U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon said from Washington Tuesday night. Speaking before Obama gave his final State of the Union address, Republican Bucshon said he was hoping to hear the Democratic president acknowledge a need for changes. Obama's strategy for countering terrorism isn't working, Bucshon said. "He's not shown strength. He drew a red line in Syria and once they crossed it, he did nothing. They've had beheadings of people, and his response was very slow and not appropriate," the 8th District congressman said. Bucshon credited Obama with giving air cover to Kurdish fighters and others offering resistance to ISIS on the ground "but at a much lower level than was expected by our allies in the region." The third-term congressman rejected predictions by some military analysts that only U.S. boots on the ground will defeat ISIS. He said there is still a place for diplomatic and political solutions, especially in response to sectarian violence in Iraq and Syria. A big part of the campaign to defeat ISIS is stopping the spread of its ideology, Bucshon said. But he said there still has to be a hammer. "I do think there will be troops necessary, but at this point whether or not those need to be American troops or not, I don't think is clear," Bucshon said. "But we don't know because the president hasn't outlined a strategy to defeat the enemy." Bucshon's remarks were in line with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's delivery of the official Republican response to Obama. According to excerpts from her speech released earlier Tuesday, Haley argued that Obama has been too passive in response to terrorism. Bucshon, who was elected in 2010, has a candidate to replace Obama in this year's election. He is supporting U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida. Gavel SHARE Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush, photo courtesy Indiana Supreme Court By Zach Osowski INDIANAPOLIS Pledging more help for children and addicts, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush spoke to a joint session of Indiana's legislature during her annual State of Judiciary. Rush highlighted the court's work over the past year, including an establishment of commercial courts and Indiana's successful e-filing system, which more courts are using to save time and paperwork. She also looked at where Indiana Judicial systems still need to go. Rush said the defining issue for courts in all 92 counties is the growing drug epidemic. She gave the example of Fayette County, an area with a population of just 23,000 that saw 30 heroin overdoses in 30 days. Stories from judges across the state are similar. "The drug crisis, particularly heroin and methamphetamine," Rush said, "(is) crippling their communities and flooding their courts." But stiffer penalties are not the answer to solving the problem, Rush said. "We cannot afford to incarcerate or institutionalize our way out of this drug crisis," she said. "Our approach must include helping sons, daughters, husbands and wives return to a life after addiction." Rush specifically mentioned the work of the Lawrence County Drug Court and told a story of a woman who had become addicted to heroin, lost her job and kids but was able to get back on track thanks to the drug court. Rush said the Lawrence County program emphasizes rehabilitation, not punishment, and will be replicated in other areas of the state. Drug addiction isn't the only problem courts face on a daily basis. Rush said courts have become "an emergency room for some of society's worst afflictions," including family violence. Indiana's Department of Child Services has seen a 30 percent rise in the number of Hoosier children entering the welfare system in the past year, she said. There is a great need for child advocates in Indiana's courtrooms, as more than 5,000 children are still without a court-appointed special advocate. Rush said problem-solving courts, such as drug, mental health and family violence, have grown and will continue to define Indiana's judicial system going forward. She specifically referenced Indiana's veteran's court program, which she said will continue to expand at the behest of the legislature. "Indiana has more veterans per capita than most states," Rush said. "Our pledge to you is that we will not be satisfied until all qualified veterans have access to these courts in Indiana." Rush also honored Justice Brent Dickson who will retire this summer after more than 25 years on Indiana's top court. Dickson's last hearing will be in April, when the justices hold court in Corydon as part of state's bicentennial celebration. SHARE By Jill Disis INDIANAPOLIS A newly proposed Indiana bill would allow police departments to decide whether to release video footage captured on body-worn or dashboard cameras to the general public. House Bill 1019 immediately drew criticism from the Hoosier State Press Association, which argued the bill could undermine the purpose of such cameras in the first place: to increase police transparency and allow the public to hold law enforcement accountable. Courier & Press Investigative Editor Jay Young was among those who testified during the hearing. The proposed legislation would compel police departments to show recordings of law enforcement actions only to either the person depicted in the video or that person's relatives or attorney. For anyone else, the decision to release is up to the department. Should the agency say no, the bill says, the person requesting the video would have to take the department to court and argue for the video's release. That's a potentially costly option without a guaranteed result, said Steve Key, executive director of the press association. "When you get to the crux of it, it's still a bill that leaves all the cards in the law enforcement's hands," Key said during testimony Tuesday, when lawmakers began looking at the bill. Key said that some police departments only would be motivated to release a video when it clearly exonerates their officer, adding: "The public has a right to know what police departments are doing." "The bill is probably not perfect," said Rep. Kevin Mahan, the bill's author, during a hearing before the House committee on Government and Regulatory Reform on Tuesday. But he added, "It puts a statewide structure in place for those agencies that choose to have their officers use body cameras." The bill does not mandate that all law enforcement agencies in the state equip officers with body cameras. For those that do, the legislation requires the agencies to show their recordings of police encounters twice to anyone depicted in the recording. That provision also applies to homeowners when the interior of their homes are shown, said Mahan, a Hartford City Republican. Despite that provision, critics say the bill hampers the public's ability to hold police accountable, especially when the person asking for access to footage is not a relative, or is a member of the media. Key suggested that the language be tweaked to require police departments to justify why they should conceal a video rather than require the public to justify why they should have access to it. Key also supported the creation of a state panel that could rule on the release of disputed video instead of requiring a court order. Lawmakers first considered the question of who is allowed to view police camera footage last summer, when a bipartisan study committee listened to more than six hours of testimony about what happens to video once it's recorded. The issue has become increasingly common across the country in recent years, especially as body-worn cameras are adopted by more police departments. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, for example, recently was allocated about $250,000 for such cameras by the city, and plans to equip some officers with them this year. Video footage is seen as a way to provide objective evidence, particularly in situations where police use deadly force. Some studies show that departments that use body cameras use force less often, and the cameras are increasingly seen as a way to build public trust. Advocates of police reform have used camera footage as justification for their claims. Late last year, dashboard camera footage of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer attracted widespread scrutiny. Prosecutors charged the officer with murder. Following the release of the video, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel announced comprehensive changes to how the department trains its officers to use force. Key said even the provisions in the proposed Indiana bill that allow for release are concerning. While the person shown in the footage can view the video, the bill does not also require the department to give them a copy. That decision is up to the department. That language, Key said, could create the following scenario: Should the person or relative contend that the video depicts an officer behaving badly, they would not have a copy of the video to publicly support their claim. If the person shown in the video is denied a copy, they could take the agency to court. Unlike the general public, the person also would be entitled to recoup attorneys' fees if they successfully argue for the copy. Others supported the current language of the bill. Rep. Wendy McNamara, a Mount Vernon Republican, questioned whether the public or media should have access to footage that could potentially compromise the privacy of a person shown in the video, such as a witness to a crime. "Which becomes more important?" she said. "The privacy aspect of the individuals involved in the situation, or the public's need to, you know, hang a rope around peoples' necks at the jump of a video?" McNamara continued: "If we had a sense that the media was going to be impartial was not going to sensationalize it then I wouldn't have a problem. But that's not the era we're living in right now." The proposed legislation also creates rules for retaining police recordings. Agencies would need to retain unaltered video for at least 180 days after the date of the recording, or even longer in some cases like if the subject of the video asks them to, or if the recording is used in criminal, civil or administrative proceedings. That time limit would allow for a person shown in the video or their relatives to file a tort claim if they chose. "I'm pretty comfortable with where this bill is," Mahan said, adding that if he sees a pattern of police "really bucking what the intent here is and not being transparent, I'll be back. You can rest assured of that." The bill passed unanimously out of its first reading in the committee. The bill will head to the House floor for further consideration. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Reynolds explains: "The Ryders Alley Trencher-Fed Society hunts throughout the five boroughs of New York City, and there is another fellow that hunts his dogs on farms in and around the California Wine Country. All of these groups are bound by a common interest in working with terriers, dachshunds, lurchers, and long dogs. All of them use diverse breeds of dogs for their hunts." There are apparently also several active ratcatching organizations in the United Kingdom, which, according to Reynolds, mainly hunt rats on "farms, pheasant shoots, rubbish tips, and other rural sites" with the speed and efficiency of mafia hitmen. In 2005, one British ratting group harvested 407 rats in just a few hours. A year earlier, a Cornwall group visited another farm and killed over 2,000 rats with just 10 terriers. William Reyna, R.A.T.S. "Who's a bloodthirsty boy? You are! Yes you are!" Continue Reading Below Advertisement But believe it or not, the members of R.A.T.S. and other ratcatchers out there are all huge animal lovers, particularly and especially of dogs that have been bred for hundreds of years for the sole purpose of killing vermin. In fact ... Dick Smith chief executive Nick Abboud has resigned, effective immediately. He will be replaced by former managing director of Retail Fusion Brands, Don Grover, as interim chief executive. Retail Fusion Brands is the parent company of fashion retailers Diana Ferrari, Mathers, Williams and Colorado. Grover was also chief executive of Dymocks Booksellers from 2003 to 2012. According to a media release, Grover will continue to work with receivers in order to restructure the business. Dick Smith was placed in voluntary administration last week citing the pressure to attain short term funding as a major factor in its decision. Receivers Ferrier Hodgson have confirmed the publicly traded companys secured creditors are owed approximately $140 million and unsecured creditors owed approximately $250 million. Dick Smith today launched online advertisements seeking expressions of interest for a possible acquisition of the company. Ferrier Hodgson said it will accept offers until 27 January and create a shortlist of potential buyers who can submit formal offers. The process is expected to run through February. This time last year the company reported a $56.8 million year-on-year increase in revenue to hit $693.8 million for the half-year to 31 December 2014, with net profit up $25 million to $25.2 million. However, disappointing sales come to light at the start of December when the electronics retailer was forced to write-down $60 million on inventory. The company ran a clearance sale during the month in attempt to recoup the cost, but failed to satisfy critics or rejuvenate its stock. Samsung Australia chief executive and president Jae Hoon Kwon has been replaced after two years in the job. Kwon was appointed to the top job in January 2014 to replace SR Yoon, who returned to South Korea to take a role at Samsungs Seoul headquarters. He will be replaced by Harry Lee, who was previously chief executive for Samsungs Philippines business. Before that, Lee led Samsungs corporate digital marketing globally. He was also regional director for mobile phones covering Southeast Asia, Oceania and Taiwan before heading up the Philippines operations. Lee said he was excited to lead the team following the federal government's innovation statement released last month. I look forward to working with our Australian partners to pursue open, collaborative innovation to create solutions for consumers - as well as opportunities for the public and private sector alike, said Lee. Samsung Australia posted a $51.6 million net loss during its most annual report ending 31 December 2014. The result followed the seperation of Samsungs New Zealand business to become a standalone subsidiary. Update: A Samsung spokesperson has confirmed that Jae Hoon Kwon has been appointed as president of Samsung Indonesia. They also told CRN: "It is commonplace for Samsung executives to take on new executive roles within the region or globally within 12 months or two-to-three years." The story has also been edited to reflect that Kwon was Samsung Australia president for two years. Exclusive Group has followed up its 2014 acquisition of WhiteGold Solutions with the buyout of Transition Systems, which is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. French-headquartered Exclusive Group parent of distributor Exclusive Networks announced the buyout yesterday, marking a new foray into this part of the world after acquiring 70 percent of WhiteGold Solutions in August 2014 for an undisclosed amount. Figures for the Transition Systems deal were not disclosed. The acquisition of Transition Systems is Exclusive's biggest-ever buyout and brings the European distributor to more than 1,200 employees and 1 billion (A$1.5 billion) annual revenues, 25 percent of which will now come from APAC. Exclusive Group posted full-year revenues of 627 million for its 2014 financial year, and 370 million for the first half of 2016. Transition Systems Asia adds a further 18 offices in eight countries including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The deal gives Exclusive Networks Australia & New Zealand formerly WhiteGold a new sister company. Transition Systems Australia will continue to trade under its current name, while the rest of the Asian operations will adopt the Exclusive Networks brand. Dominic Whitehand, managing director of Exclusive Networks APAC, told CRN that locally, there was no duplication of vendors, and that the two disties now have the opportunity to collaborate in Australia through shared resources or capabilities. "There is zero competitive crossover for us in ANZ and we will work on any synergies between Exclusive Networks ANZ and Transition Systems Australia as and when appropriate." Exclusive Networks' supplies a broad range of vendors in Australia & New Zealand with a particular focus on security and networks. Its vendors include A10 Networks, Cisco Meraki, FireEye, Fortinet, Barracuda Networks and Watchguard. Transition Systems Australia's flagship vendor is unified communications brand Polycom, along with networking vendors Mellanox and Perle, telehealth brand GlobalMed, unified comms providers Acano and Tely Labs. Established in 1999, Transition Systems Asia boasts a huge portfolio of vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent, Aruba Networks, Brocade, Intel Security, Juniper Networks, Palo Alto Networks, ShoreTel, Sourcefire and Websense. Olivier Breittmayer, global chief executive of Exclusive Group said: Asia is crucial for the expansion of our global strategy and this acquisition gives us a great platform to grow throughout the region in the coming years. "Transition Systems is a large, influential regional player with similar business DNA to our own, as well as having important vendors, technologies and a very strong value-adding culture in common. We have every confidence in the existing management of the business to continue applying its successful formula under its new Exclusive Networks brand in tune with our global VAST [value-added services and technologies] strategy." Breittmayer said the acquisition "adds significant capabilities to our overall proposition. Now our partners around the world have greater in-country presence to support global projects across Asia, while conversely our Asian reseller partners have the full spectrum of Exclusive Group services to support their deals into more than 100 countries worldwide. Microsoft's Australian Surface channel expansion continues to ramp up, as the company hunts for a new manager to drive strategy for the two-in-one device in the commercial channel. The new recruit will sit within Microsoft's Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners (SMS&P) group the business unit that oversees the enterprise channel and connect product teams, sales managers, management, Microsoft worldwide, local distributors and Authorised Device Resellers (ADRs). "The leader will have overall ownership and accountability for Surface sales strategy and results for the commercial channel in their market," according to the job advertisement on LinkedIn. The recruitment drive, which comes as Microsoft expands its Surface channel, is targeting a seasoned executive with 10-plus years of experience in enterprise IT sales and channel. Microsoft wants "a Surface visionary in terms of where customers and partners are heading [in] the market so we can get there first and lead them to victory". Microsoft would not expand beyond the detail of the job advertisement when contacted by CRN. The new recruit will need to run with the ball on the Surface channel strategy, which is expanding after years of criticism from resellers for being restricted to a small number of partners. Microsoft came under fire from resellers in the early days of Surface, when the new hybrid computer was limited to its own online store and retailers JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman. The vendor expanded access to around a dozen ADRs, a small group of directly managed resellers, in September 2013, before last year announcing plans to open up the Surface line to "thousands of new resellers" globally, with Synnex and Ingram Micro approved as Australian distributors. An announcement about this program is expected "in the early part of 2016". Last month, CRN reported that this plan to open up Surface to distributor-managed partners was being hampered by stock shortages. Philip Goldie, director of partner business and development at Microsoft Australia, told CRN at the time that the shortages were "a good news story because the demand is massive, but it has been challenge as we have wound down on [Surface Pro] 3 and wound up on [Surface Pro] 4. That is something that a lot of vendors face." Stock shortage marked a reversal of fortune for Microsoft, given that two-and-a-half years earlier, the vendor made an embarrassing US$900 million inventory write-down over its unpopular Surface RT line. The latest models to hit the street are the Surface Pro 4 along with the Surface Book, both of which have garnered positive reviews. Channel programs News New England Solution Provider Snags Invite To Obama's Final State Of The Union Address Michael Novinson Share this Tim Hebert nearly declined the phone call that would allow him to meet President Barack Obama. The number was unlisted, but it turned out the voice on the other end of the line was that of Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.). Langevin, who represents Rhode Island's second congressional district, has worked very closely with Hebert on strengthening the states cybersecurity and workforce development initiatives; to thank Hebert for his hard work, the congressman extended his only State of the Union invitation to the CEO of Warwick, R.I.-based solution provider Atrion. [Related: Solution Provider Atrion Networking Merges With Sister Company To Ramp Up Services Push] "I didn't realize that regular, ordinary citizens could go to the event," Hebert told CRN from Washington, D.C. "I saw people in the gallery, but I always thought they were celebrities." Hebert will be listening carefully Tuesday to see if Obama talks about cybersecurity or workforce development during his final address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Specifically, Hebert said, he would like to hear Obama commit to bolstering investment protecting America's digital assets as well as talent with a background in cybersecurity. Hebert said he's pleased with the work Obama has done to raise awareness around cybersecurity threats, especially as it relates to the joint task force created by former speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner. That task force ended up advancing legislation that would enhance the ability of various U.S. government entities to share information to combat cybersecurity threats, which Hebert considers a good first step but cautioned that a lot more work needs to be done. From a workforce training perspective, Hebert said, he has seen both the federal government and the state of Rhode Island make huge strides in initiatives both specific to IT and broadly focused on getting more skilled workers prepared for the economy of tomorrow. Hebert will leave the Hotel Palomar late Tuesday afternoon wearing a contemporary light navy suit jacket, a checkered blue shirt and a "wicked cool" navy blue tie for a look that's both professional and offers "a dash of flair." His first stop will be a reception hosted by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, where he expects Langevin will introduce him to a lot of congressional movers and shakers so that Hebert can pick their brains. Then it will be off to the House chamber, where Hebert hopes to get a good seat so he can see and hear a lot of Obama's final State of the Union address. "Everyone's really excited for me," Hebert said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing." For any solution providers looking to land an invite to a future State of the Union address, Hebert urged them to look beyond their businesses and figure out ways to make a difference where they live. "This opportunity wouldn't ever have happened if I didn't invest in my community and my state," Hebert said. "It's important to give back." PUBLISHED JAN. 12, 2016 Channel programs News Channel Veteran Jones Named President Of Sales Consulting Company Steven Burke Share this Adrian Jones Adrian Jones, a 25-year channel sales veteran and the former vice president of sales for Symantec, has been named president and COO of SLAP Company, a San Francisco-based sales and branding consultant. Jones, who has driven sales transformations at a number of technology companies including Oracle and Hewlett-Packard, said he is excited to begin a new chapter in his career that strikes at the "heart" of his passion for leadership, development and employee culture. [Related: Symantec Channel Stalwart Jones Leaves Company ] "This is leading a company, which is what I wanted to go do," he said. "I have a lot of sales transformation DNA. For me it is an opportunity to do more in a space I love." SLAP works with a number of Fortune 500 companies including Google and Facebook. "We work with companies on what we call maximum commitment in the employee culture," said Jones in a call from Hong Kong where he was already meeting with SLAP customers. "It's all about getting better return on your people investment, which is your biggest asset. The key with companies today is how you sell it inside so you can sell it outside. It's all about emotional commitment." Jones said he was worked with SLAP founder and CEO Stan Slap to help drive cultural changes at many of the companies he worked with over the past two decades including Hewlett-Packard and Oracle. Jones said he is looking forward to expanding SLAP's footprint into midsize companies and working with channel partners on how they can also drive cultural transformations. "They have the same issues culturally as these big companies," he said. "We are helping companies change culture. We can help the channel get the best out of their people." Cloud News AWS Entering Canada, Launching Montreal Region Later This Year Joseph Tsidulko Share this Amazon Web Services offered a big bonjour to its partners north of the border Wednesday, surprising them with news that later this year it will introduce its first cloud data centers in Canada. The coming Montreal region will be made up of clean facilities -- carbon-neutral and powered almost exclusively by renewable hydro-electric power, said Jeff Barr, chief evangelist for AWS, in a blog post. "As always, we are looking forward to serving new and existing Canadian customers and to working with partners in the area," Barr blogged. "Of course, the new region will also be open to existing AWS customers who would like to process and store data in Canada." [Related: AWS Delivers More Price Cuts To Ring In 2016] The Montreal region marks the first extension of the industry-leading cloud onto Canadian soil. AWS will not divulge how big the region's footprint will be, or how many data centers it will encompass. But it's worth noting that Andy Jassy, senior vice president of AWS, said at the last re:Invent conference that the cloud provider never builds just a single data center. Barr's blog, in English and in French, put the new region in the context of a major global expansion. The cloud provider's global infrastructure spans 12 geographic regions, with five more to come online in 2016: Canada, China, India, the U.K. and Ohio. While AWS has four North American regions -- not counting the one in the works for Ohio -- locating physical infrastructure north of the border makes a world of difference to Canadian partners. Jarrod Levitan, chief cloud officer at TriNimbus, one of the largest AWS partners based in Canada, told CRN that his company was "knocking on [Amazon's] door harder than anyone else" to encourage the launch of a Canadian region. "Today we got the news," Levitan said. "This is very amazing news. There's a massive amount of potential for AWS in Canada." The Montreal region will certainly drive new business to TriNimbus, which has its headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbina, and a large office in Toronto, Levitan told CRN. "The biggest reason is a lot of inertia in the marketplace around data residency, and companies are fighting to keep their data in Canada for various reasons," he said. There's a lot of sensitivity to where data resides, according to Levitan -- not only in the public sector, but also in industries such as financial services and health care. Some Canadian organizations are using the lack of in-country infrastructure as an excuse to resist change through embracing cloud, Levitan said. Still others have real regulatory concerns. For both cases, the Montreal region will remove one objection standing in the way of cloud migration, he told CRN. PUBLISHED JAN. 13, 2016 Storage News Elastifile Raises $35M In B Round For Flash-Optimized File, Block, Object Storage Joseph F. Kovar Share this A new storage kid on the block has unveiled the largest IT industry investment round so far this year, with the list of investors including some big, as yet unnamed companies in the server, storage and data center space. Elastifile, an Israeli startup with U.S. headquarters in San Jose, Calif., that is developing a software-defined storage solution optimized for all-flash storage architectures, on Tuesday said it has closed a B round of funding totaling $35 million. Strategic investors in the new funding round include six major server, storage and data center vendors, said Allon Cohen, vice president of products and business development. However, Cohen told CRN, he was not yet at liberty to disclose the identities of those six companies. [Related: The 10 Biggest Storage Stories Of 2015] Elastifile is developing a distributed file system that works with block, file and object storage and is optimized for all-flash storage solutions, Cohen said. "In the array world, people thought they could replace hard drives with SSDs to get the benefits of all-flash," he said. "But you need to design from the ground up for all-flash to enjoy the benefits. We're the first to do this with a distributed file system across thousands of nodes, all optimized for flash." Most software-defined storage offerings deliver connectivity and offer file access based on technology that does not scale, Cohen said. Other solutions were written for a time when the underlying media was hard disk, and not flash, he said. "We're the first from the ground up with a distributed file system optimized for all-flash storage," he said. "This allows us to scale the solution while bringing the full benefits of flash storage." Actually, Cohen's description of what Elastifile's technology does is not doing the company justice, said Jamie Shepard, senior vice president for health care and strategy at Dallas-based solution provider Lumenate, who said he has been watching the company for over a year. While Elastifile claims to be building a file system optimized for flash storage, what it is really doing is offering a QoS, or quality of service, for different types of data running on distributed flash storage nodes, Shepard told CRN. Other companies, including Scality and Hedvig, are building file systems for block, file and object storage data on flash, Shepard said. The difference is that Elastifile builds a better QoS algorithm to run file and object data. "Putting object and file data on flash is normally a waste," Shepard said. "Those types of data don't dedupe well, and so you lose the performance benefit of flash. Flash storage is normally better for block storage." Saying Elastifile is "optimized for flash" is not the right marketing move, Shepard said. "Everybody's optimized for flash," he said. "Elastifile's difference is the built-in QoS to take better advantage of flash so that when data like file and object storage is addresses, the flash is not wasted." PUBLISHED JAN. 12, 2016 New Orleans has high expectations for this year with Carnival Cruise Line replacing the Elation with the larger Triumph in April, bumping up the passenger capacity by more than 30 percent in addition to the Carnival Dream, according to Don Allee, director of cruise and tourism for the Port of New Orleans. He spoke to Cruise Industry News together with Johnny Cefalu, deputy director of cruise and tourism, and Steven Gauthier, operations manager. Carnival sails two ships year-round from the port and Norwegian Cruise Line seasonally with the Dawn, but is increasing its sailings to 28 for its 2015-2016 season from November to mid-May. The port is also a homeport for substantial riverboat traffic on the Mississippi and serves as a port of call for AIDA, P&O, NYK and Hapag-Lloyd, carrying foreign passengers. Meanwhile, at press time, New Orleans was on its way to another million passengers for 2015. Even though Royal Caribbean had pulled out, the Carnival Dream sailed for the full year last year and compensated for the potential loss in passengers. Last October the ports board passed a resolution to begin the process of a bond issue of up to $45 million, part of which will go to build the new Poland Avenue Cruise Terminal, providing New Orleans with three cruise terminals for ocean going ships when it is completed. We are moving forward, Allee said. There is some paving going on and some relocation of utilities in preparation for the future terminal. This had to be done whether we build the terminal or not. We are still in the planning phases and have just started a community outreach program, because it is in a part of the city that has not seen cruise activity before. With the existing terminals, Carnival has exclusive use of the Erato Street Terminal, while Norwegian uses the Julia Street Terminal. Allee said the port is talking to other potential users, including brands that as of now do not have a presence in the western part of the Gulf of Mexico. In terms of disembarking and embarking passengers, with two ships in port, New Orleans turns around up to 16,000 passengers on the same day. Historically, this has been a drive-to market and 60 to 65 percent of the passengers arrive by car from a 700- to 800-mile radius. The Erato terminal has parking. In addition the port has arrangements with nearby lots and provides a shuttle service. At the Erato parking lot, SeaCaps (baggage handlers) take the luggage from the garage to the ship. At Julia, parking is next door. Passengers drop their luggage at the terminal before parking. We are planning for growth in the cruise industry. We have our eyes on the Caribbean, and I am confident Cuba will open up. It is the old scouts motto, You have to be prepared. We fully expect New Orleans to benefit, Allee said. Meanwhile, the city is gearing up to celebrate its 300-year anniversary in 2018. Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2015/2016 This will be a year of more changes. The most attention-getting development will undoubtedly be the industrys build-up in China, which in turn is causing some capacity adjustments in existing markets. However, with new 11 ships being introduced in 2016, all the major markets will see growth, as about 24 million passengers are expected to cruise, up from 22 million last year. Earnings are also forecast to be up as both Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises are on the way to reach their targets for return on investment and earnings, although aided a bit by share buyback programs. We are also going to see the start up of cruises from Miami to Cuba, while MSC Cruises is already homeporting in Havana. Cuba has the potential to boost demand for Caribbean cruises in general. Company organizations may also change as they seek to become more efficient. In this issue, we spoke with Jens Lassen, executive vice president of Carnival Maritime in Hamburg, who said that in addition to improving safety, his goals are to lower costs by reducing energy consumption, lowering repair and maintenance costs and by operating more efficiently across the board. We trust these are goals that are reflected not only throughout the Carnival group, but also at Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and other cruise brands. On the other side of the equation we have talked to Jacqueline Smith, maritime coordinator for the International Transport Workers Federation, who is working with the unions that are seeking better terms for their seafarer membership, meaning higher costs for the cruise lines. But as Smith said, there has to be a (fair) balance between shipowners and seafarers. And competent seafarers are key to the industrys health. Bon Voyage and Happy New Year! Angela Reale Mathisen & Oivind Mathisen Publishers Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2015/2016 There will be a number of high-profile calls for Cruiseport Boston this year, including the first visits by Disney Cruise Line and Viking Cruises. In addition, the Anthem of the Seas will make her inaugural visit and become the biggest vessel ever to call in Boston. We expect volume to be higher this year, said Acting Port Director Lisa Wieland, who is expecting 119 calls and 330,000 passengers. 2015 saw the introduction of a new itinerary sailing from Boston, with the Veendam offering Bermuda cruises alongside the Norwegian Dawn. "Most of the business is still homeporting, but there is a good mix between homeports and ports of calls. We like that from a business standpoint, she added. Wieland said for the port to become year-round, it would need to attract a Caribbean program for the winter. The near term is to expand Canada/New England itineraries for the summer, she said. Most people think about that for fall foliage, but the region offers a great summer experience for families looking to be active. "We think there is strong demand for a shoulder season Caribbean itinerary, and continue to work with cruise line partners to develop it, Wieland continued. The port completed a $3 million upgrade on its secondary terminal prior to the 2015 season, and will add additional bus parking for the 2016 season. Berth reservations are currently executed on a first-come/first-serve basis, but the port is working on potential long-term agreements. Boston as a port of call is a destination, with a tremendous history, rich culture, and many things to experience, Wieland told Cruise Industry News. For homeport business, the port is within close proximity to the airport and close to the city. Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2015/2016 A small fire broke out on the under-construction AIDAprima at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki shipyard on Jan. 11, 2016. For AIDA Cruises, safety is a top priority. Crew and yard workers were evacuated straight away, Hansjorg Kunze, vice president of communication and sustainability for AIDA. All necessary measures were taken, to immediately stop the smoke development. Thanks to the fast reaction the situation was resolved quickly and the fire extinguished. The situation was under control at all times. No persons were injured. Estimations on possible property damage cannot be given at the moment. Further investigations on the cause of the smoke development are ongoing. The shipyard continues the work on the newbuilding. The first cruise of AIDAprima will start on April 30 2016 in Hamburg as planned. The Port of New Orleans cruise terminals handled more than 1-million passengers in 2015, totaling 1,023,700, up 1 percent compared to 2014, according to a prepared statement. The total marks the fifth consecutive record year and with new and larger ships on tap for 2016, Port officials expect another robust cruise season. Year-end numbers illustrate how popular the Port and the City of New Orleans are with cruise passengers throughout the nation, said Gary LaGrange, Port President and CEO. The fact our cruise partners are investing in new and larger ships here bodes well for the industry for years to come. Miami, Fla-based Carnival Cruise Line is increasing capacity on its year-round four- and five-day itineraries by 34 percent in April when the Carnival Triumph replaces the Carnival Elation in New Orleans. Also, Guilford, CT-based American Cruise Line will add a third riverboat named America to its home-ported fleet in New Orleans. The 185-passenger riverboat was launched in August and will begin sailing Mississippi River itineraries this spring. Our cruise partners, which include Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, American Cruise Line and American Queen Steamboat Company, are committed to New Orleans and represent one of the most diversified home ports in the world, LaGrange said. Cruise passengers embarking from New Orleans can explore the length of the Mississippi River or visit the best beaches in the world from the Bahamas to Belize on a wide variety of itineraries. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate General Electric modernized the world with 20th century inventions from vacuum cleaners to radios that were built in Connecticut. But now the company is planning its future in Boston, where elite technical talent abounds, as part of a bid to transform industrial development with digital innovation. GE, based in Fairfield for 42 years, made its long-awaited announcement Wednesday. The company said it will sell its sprawling campus in Fairfield and its offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York to help offset the cost of the move. GE had been considering moving its headquarters for more than three years, but the issue only came to light in a dispute over state taxes last summer. CEO Jeff Immelt stressed Bostons support for high-tech industry in explaining the decision. Massachusetts spends more on research and development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world, he said in a statement. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state leaders tried to persuade the company to stay, even rolling back part of a corporate tax increase to accomodate it. Now, he said, Connecticut must find ways to adapt to a changing business climate. Taken as a whole, there is no denying that Connecticut has had more good days than days like today, Malloy said in a statement. Of course we are disappointed, and we know that many in Connecticut share that frustration. GE employs about 5,700 people in Connecticut including about 800 at its Fairfield headquarters making it one of the biggest employers in the state. Fairfield First Selectman Michael Tetreau said he plans to meet with company executives next week to discuss an exit strategy, adding that he was concerned about GEs statement saying it would move 200 people from the corporate staff to Boston. It doesnt say anything about the other 600 people in Fairfield, he said. Im concerned theyre going to lay them off. The company will keep an unspecified number of employees in Connecticut at its GE Capital offices in Norwalk, a GE spokesman said. The announcement comes on the same day as reports GE will cut 6,500 jobs in Europe the company inherited with its $9.2 billion acquisition of Alstom last year. The companys new headquarters will be located in the Seaport District of Boston. Employees will move to a temporary location in Boston starting this summer, with a full move completed in several steps by 2018. In return for moving to Boston, GE will get a $120 million incentive package from the state and $25 million in property tax relief from the city. The package includes $6 million in grants for workforce training and an innovation center. Massachusetts officials have also agreed to transportation infrastructure improvements near GEs new campus and to provide relocation assistance to company employees. GE had been considering Boston alongside New York and possibly staying in Fairfield. After looking at offers from Atlanta and other destinations, GE narrowed its search to the Northeast, with cities taking top priority, according to reports. Its current Fairfield headquarters is in a suburban office park. Tax rankings Based in Fairfield since 1974 after moving from New York City, GE took issue with increases in Connecticut business taxes last year. Reports that Connecticut officials intend to raise taxes by another $750 million are truly discouraging, GE said in a June statement. Retroactively raising taxes again on Connecticuts residents, businesses and services makes businesses, including our own, and citizens seriously consider whether it makes any sense to continue to be located in this state. But those close to Malloy rejected the claim that taxes are driving GE to Boston. They said Massachusetts has a tax structure that is similar to Connecticut, if not less competitive. Youre not going to Massachusetts because of taxes, said Joseph McGee, vice president of public policy and programs for the Business Council of Fairfield County. In a 2014 ranking by CNBC of the cost of doing business, Connecticut ranked No. 47 with Massachusetts at No. 46. Forbes Magazine ranked Connecticut No. 45, and put Massachusetts dead last at No. 50, naming it the highest-cost state for business in the U.S. Digital future McGee said GEs core business is no longer financial services, which is Fairfield Countys strength. Instead, he said, the company is transforming itself into a technology leader, which fits into Bostons innovation corridor. Theres a different storyline, McGee said. I think GE is changing GE. Theyre spending millions of dollars rebranding GE, that its not your fathers GE. Massachusetts fares much better on lists that rank states on support for innovation. Last week, in Bloombergs ranking of the most innovative states in the U.S., Massachusetts claimed the No. 1 spot, with Connecticut not far behind at No. 5. The index scored states on metrics including productivity, high-tech density and patent activity. McGee is also the co-chairman of the states Commission on Economic Competitiveness, which was created last year by the General Assembly. The panel is awaiting the completion of a competitiveness review of Connecticut by the consulting giant McKinsey & Co. The digital piece is not Connecticuts strength, McGee said. If theyre really betting the future of the firm on the digital piece, then you unhook from Connecticut. Fairfields suburban location is not the image thats going to take this company through the 21st century. David Cadden, a Quinnipiac University business professor, said moving to Massachusetts may reflect a shift in emphasis for the company and Immelt, who is a resident of New Canaan. Hes emphasizing manufacturing and advanced technology for the future growth of GE, Cadden said. One only had to look to the city of Boston to see how the ability to recruit top-flight talent from local universities can affect the overall economic growth of a location. In September, GE unveiled a series of TV commercials that emphasized its digital focus. The commercials are centered around a young programmer who takes a job at GE, to the bafflement of his peers. The tagline reads: GE. The digital company. Thats also an industrial company. In Boston Connecticuts loss is Massachusetts gain, which leaders from the Bay State were eager to ballyhoo Wednesday as Massachusetts governor held a news conference to address GEs relocation. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In a city known more for its high poverty rate than fundraising largess, former President Bill Clinton made a foray into Bridgeport on Tuesday to help Hillary Clinton pad her massive campaign bank account. Clinton spent two hours mingling with wealthy contributors to his wifes presidential bid at the $4 million Black Rock home of Nigerian-born software executive Oni Chukwu. Not once did the 42nd president bring up Donald Trump, who has publicly assailed Clinton for his previous marital infidelity. He never mentioned that name, said one attendee, who asked not to be identified because the reception was closed to the media. Clinton instead touted the resume of the former secretary of state and former U.S. senator, portraying her as a problem-solver who has sacrificed personal gain to help others. The crowd, they were, like, mesmerized, the person said. He is the natural cheerleader. Many allies of the Clintons in the state missed the reception to attend the final State of the Union address of President Barack Obama, including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who was invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama. Organizers declined to release fundraising totals for the event, which drew about 50 people, including Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim. But Bill Clintons return to Connecticut where he and Hillary met as Yale Law students drew the scorn of Republicans and criticism from some Democrats over its $1,000-minimum price tag. I think its very fitting that a Democrat would have a fundraiser there, a city thats been abused by their policies, a city whose taxpayers have been crippled, said Jack Fowler, publisher of the conservative magazine National Review, and a Milford resident. A faction of liberal Democrats and Working Families Party members loyal to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Clinton rival, staged its own rally Tuesday in Bridgeport to protest the lavish fundraiser. An advisory for the event listed the Greater Bridgeport NAACP as a sponsor, which the groups president George Mintz said was erroneous. Oh my God, no, Mintz said, adding the group would never take sides in Clinton versus Sanders. The group was only participating to try to get more people involved in the NAACP, Mintz said. Chukwu is the president and chief executive officer of etouches, a Norwalk-based software and event management company. He resides in a glass contemporary on the water in the citys wealthiest neighborhood. Chukwu, who fled Nigerias civil war as a child, did not respond to a request for comment. neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy NEW HAVEN For part of five years, Peter Clark lived the life of a millionaire on the million-plus Miriam Strong left to Oxford, the Ansonia Congregational Church and other charitable organizations following her July 2, 2010 death. Late Wednesday afternoon, Clark, a 58-year-old Woodbury elder lawyer, will pay the price for embezzling the money from Strongs estate while serving as a co-executor. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Karwan is asking Senior U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton to impose a sentence between 47 and 51 months in prison. William Stevens, Clark's lawyer is seeking a sentence below those guidelines. Long before her death, Strong hired Clark to draft her will and serve as a co-executor her estate, which the lawyer determined was valued at more than $4.8 million. Strong, an Ansonia High School graduate who worked 35 years as a chemist for Anaconda American Brass, never married. She served on various boards and commission in Oxford, most of which dealt with preserving the environment. She loved Oxford, First Selectman George Temple previously said. And in showing her love, Strong left the town a substantial amount to help it build a new library, purchase open space and establish a scholarship for a needy town high school student. She also willed money to her Ansonia Congregational church to buy a new boiler. And Strong left money to a school for disadvantage youths. Instead, $1.8 million ended up in Clarks checking account, paying for trips, property, vehicles and credit card bills. Peter Clarks failure to complete Ms. Strongs generosity ... as was his duty, has negatively impacted the schools esources, an official of the school wrote Arterton, according to court documents. One of Strongs close friends, willed a payout, told the judge, Mr. Clark robbed me not only of bequeathed money but my faith in humanity and the systems in place that were supposed to protect me. Once Clarks actions were exposed, Clifford Hoyle, a retired Ansonia/Derby Probate Judge, was appointed as the new executor. Hoyles work convinced the Connecticut Client Security Fund to pay $1.8 million into Strongs estate to be used to pay off the victims. It is expected Arterton will require Clark to make restitution to the fund. His lawyer advised the judge in a sentencing memorandum that Clark stands ready and willing to do whatever is humanly possible to make restitution. But Karwan informed the judge that Clarks conduct was not a one-time mistake or a discrete course of action. Instead the defendant's scheme lasted several years and involved many transactions. She said Clark admitted he began borrowing from clients' accounts when he had financial difficulties and then the situation got out of control. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Gov. Dannel P. Malloy embraced first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday night, an empty chair strategically placed between them, during President Barack Obamas final State of the Union address. It was one of several reminders not so much in words during the night of the worst grade-school shooting in U.S. history. Three years have passed since 20 first-graders and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, thrusting Malloy into the national spotlight with Obama. That chair stands for all the folks who have lost their lives because of gun violence in America, Malloy told Hearst Connecticut Media from Washington, D.C., after the speech. I think it makes some sense; it stands for a lack of universal background checks. Obama rewarded Malloy for his fealty on gun control with a prime vantage spot for the speech to Congress which, at a brisk 59 minutes, was light on bold policy initiatives. The tenor of the speech stood in contrast to the recent rollout of a package of executive actions decried by conservatives and many gun owners as an overreach to clamp down on access to firearms. Not once did Obama mention Newtown or Malloy, the current head of the Democratic Governors Association. The president made a single reference to the issue that has come to define his alliance with Malloy. And Ill keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing, Obama said. Fixing a broken immigration system. Protecting our kids from gun violence. Equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. All these things still matter to hard-working families. They are still the right thing to do, and I will not let up until they get done. Scott Wilson, president of the 21,000-member Connecticut Citizens Defense League, one of the states largest Second Amendment groups, characterized the empty chair as a stunt. I think its a typical dog and pony show for the president and governor to be overplaying their hand as far as gun control and gun violence overall, Wilson said. In the front row of the House chamber, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., sat next to former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, a shooting victim. Esty wore a green ribbon to pay tribute to the Newtown community, which is part of her congressional district. Mark Barden, who lost his son, Daniel, in the December 2012 shooting, sat in the balcony across from Malloy. The co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, a grassroots gun-control group, Barden was the guest of Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. He said the presidents call for Democrats and Republicans to rise above partisan gridlock hit the right chord. I was expecting something different and we did get something different, Barden said. Maybe its my never-ending optimism, but I was reading between the lines of what he was saying and considered it encouraging of what were trying to do. Murphy praised Obama for his message of unity and bipartisanship. I think hes asking Americans to take a step back and join the fight back against base politics and hyperpartisanship, Murphy said. Earlier in the day, the Obamas invited Malloy to a reception at the White House. He was then whisked to the U.S. Capitol, where Malloy chatted with the first lady about criminal justice reform and the homeless problem among veterans. It was nice to be recognized for a body of work, Malloy said. Connecticuts top Republican panned the alliance between the president and Malloy, saying that it hasnt improved the states fragile economy or made Connecticut more competitive. Hes pushed every policy that Barack Obama has asked for in the state of Connecticut, and has represented complete failure, said J.R. Romano, the state GOP chairman. As he raises his national profile, were at the verge of losing (General Electric). This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TRUMBULL Plans are moving forward to complete a 4,500-foot gap of the Pequonnock trail from White Plains to Quarry roads. Once completed, the Pequonnock River Trail will extend about 16.2 miles from Bridgeport to Newtown. Part of the new segment will include tunnels under Route 25 ramps and using an abandoned bridge over the Merritt Parkway. The state Department of Transportation says design for the $3.5 million trail segment was completed in December and will go out to bid later this year. DOT says a number of ongoing trail projects in the state will enhance continuity with the existing bicycle trail system throughout Connecticut and provide an alternative to motor vehicle transportation. The Pequonnock trail extension is part of DOTs plan to close gaps on multi-use trails that would be part of a 2,900-mile trail linking Calais, Maine, at the Canadian border, with Key West, Fla. About 200 miles of that trail would be through Connecticut using sections of the Housatonic River Trail, Naugatuck River Greenway, the Pequonnock River Greenway and other trails. Its part of a long-running dream a trail on the river from Long Island Sound, through Bridgeport, into the woods of Trumbull and Monroe and up to the Newtown border. The trail today is mostly finished, other than the most difficult portion through a highly congested urban center. The first section of the rail-to-trail path opened in 1999, beginning in Wolfe Park in Monroe and ending at the Newtown town line. In 2014, two key projects were completed, closing gaps and linking the Pequonock trail from Quarry Road in Trumbull to Crown Street in Bridgeport. BRIDGEPORT The 9 year-old boy who was struck by a car that killed his mother on Monday has been upgraded to serious but stable condition, police spokesman Michael Giannotti said. Carmen Martinez, 41, was killed and her 9-year-old son, Joxithy Martinez, was critically injured when they were struck by a GMC pickup truck as they crossed John Street near West Avenue shortly after 4 p.m. on Monday. SHELTON - Two local students have been named first place winners in a Fire Prevention Poster Contest. Griffin Marcinczyk, a fourth grader at Elizabeth Shelton School, and Selin Ho, a fifth grader at Perry Hill School each received cash prizes of $125 and now go on to compete in a state level contest. Launched in 1984, the annual poster contest is designed to develop fire safety awareness in youngsters and encourage them to pass on the message to their parents. It is jointly sponsored by Connecticut FAIR Plan, representing the insurance industry in this state; the Connecticut Fire marshals Association; Connecticut Board of Education and the Office of State Fire Marshal. The local contest is administered by the Shelton Fire Prevention Bureau. Approximately 900 posters were submitted this year from Booth Hill, Elizabeth Shelton, Long Hill, Mohegan, Perry Hill, St. Joseph, St. Lawrence, and Sunnyside schools. Each student who submitted a poster will receive a Certificate of Appreciation and a pen from the Connecticut Fire Prevention Poster Committee. In addition, winners were announced for a sixth grade fire safety essay contest. First place went to Joe Schiappa, second place went to Ella Dzujna, and third place to Nicole and Natalie Plavec. All are students at Perry Hill School. The winning posters and essays may be viewed at: www.sheltonfireprevention.org. Beijing and Havana Sign Memorandum on Aeronautics Submitted by: Juana Asia Havana Business and Economy 01 / 12 / 2016 Authorities of the Cuban Company of Airports and Aviation Services (ECASA S.A.) and of the Beijing-Capital International Airport Ltd. (BCIA) signed on Monday a memorandum of understanding in this city. The ceremony was held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and the document was signed by the Deputy Director General of ECASA S.A., Jorge Luis Godines, and the Vice- president of BCIA, Du Qiang, in the presence of Chinas Ambassador to Cuba, Zhang Xin, and other top officials, the Prensa Latina news agency reported. The strengthening of exchanges in terms of operations, security, business services and the development of cooperation projects between the parties was among purposes expressed. Du Qiang said his air terminal received nearly 90 million passengers the previous year, 22 million of which were foreigners. Godines recalled the opening of direct flights by Air China from Beijing to Havana on December 27 as one of the most important events in cooperation between the two airports and the civil aeronautics companies. source: www.cibercuba.com Kingdom of the Netherlands ratifies interest in trading with Cuba Submitted by: Juana Europe Business and Economy 01 / 13 / 2016 Guido Landheer, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Relations of the Netherlands (Holland, Curacao, Aruba and St. Martin), expressed on Tuesday in this capital the interest of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to trade with Cuba in areas such as renewable energy, water resources and agriculture. Landheer is part of a Dutch mission that will end a visit to Cuba on Wednesday, led by Lilianne Ploumen, Minister of Foreign Trade and Cooperation for Development of the Netherlands, and composed of representatives of 77 companies from various sectors, including major corporations such as Philips, Unilever and Heineken. At a press conference, the deputy minister stressed that during this visit to the island "very open dialogues with Cuban ministries" were held, as well as various exchanges, mainly focused on renewable energy, water resources and agriculture. source: www.cibercuba.com Obama urges US Congress to lift the embargo on Cuba US President Barack Obama again and directly called on the US Congress on Tuesday to lift the over-50-year economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba. You want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere? Recognize that the Cold War is over. Lift the embargo, said Obama in his final State of the Union Address. The president said that fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote US interests and that led to a setback for the U.S. in Latin America and thats why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, Obama for the first time asked the US Congress to lift the trade embargo on Cuba in his previous State of the Union Address shortly after the historic D17 announcement. And although some draft legislations have been promoted regarding bilateral relations, the US Congress with a Republican majority has not taken any considerable step this year to dismantle the aggressive policy against Cuba. source: www.cibercuba.com Double murder trial day 4: A star witness for the prosecution backed out in the courtroom Rubio-Demings debate: They went at it ... inflation, abortion, guns In the only senatorial debate among the candidates, Marco Rubio and Val Demings go head to head at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth Beach. As countless people clamour for a recipe they think might bag them a mate, others are starting to wonder: do we need to worry if our partner leaves the house with cookware? by Samantha Selinger-Morris Adding insult to the injury caused by yesterdays strike, militant members of the doctors union ask us to believe their protest has nothing to do with politics and precious little to do with money. No, they maintain, their overriding concern is with the welfare of patients, whose safety they say will be jeopardised by the Governments new contracts. They should try telling that to the thousands whose long-awaited operations or appointments were cancelled, while many more face months of delays some in acute pain while the backlog clears. If these strikes are not about politics, then why have members of the British Medical Associations ruling council hailed it as a chance to attack the Tories and bring down the whole edifice of austerity in the UK? Thousands of appointments and operations were cancelled, while many more face months of delay due to the junior doctors' strike Why, indeed, were they so ready to welcome to their picket lines Left-wing politicians such as shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Dennis Skinner? As for money, BMA representatives talk about little else when they attack the supposed injustices of the new contracts. Its only when they remember their official, pious line that they claim to be more worried about over-tired doctors making clinical mistakes. But leave aside that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is cutting, not increasing, the maximum hours junior doctors can be required to work, while offering to penalise hospitals that extend hours. At stake is a far greater threat to patient safety. This is the shocking truth that those who have strokes at the weekend are 20 per cent more likely to die while the mortality rate for emergency surgery is 11 per cent higher, and 7 per cent higher for babies born at the weekend. If the BMA genuinely put patients first, it would be moving heaven and earth to co-operate with Mr Hunt in reaching agreement on a 24-hour, seven-day NHS. So the Mail salutes those courageous junior doctors who defied yesterdays strike call. We urge others to follow their lead before they drag their respected profession deeper into disrepute. University challenge Oxford University's Vice Chancellor, Louise Richardson reminded students of the importance of questioning and engaging with uncomfortable ideas Nobel prizewinner Sir Tim Hunt, hounded from his academic job over light-hearted remarks deemed sexist historian David Starkey removed from a Cambridge University video over claims that he has espoused racist views Safe spaces on campus, where it is forbidden to challenge fashionable opinions calls to pull down a statue of 19th century Oxford benefactor Cecil Rhodes, over his colonialist outlook In recent months, the Mail has chronicled countless offences against freedom of thought and open debate, committed at universities in the name of political correctness often with the connivance of supine authorities. So this paper welcomes yesterdays speeches by Oxford Universitys Vice Chancellor and Chancellor, reminding students of the importance of questioning and engaging with uncomfortable ideas, while remembering the traditions, values and interests that unite us. The wise words of Professor Louise Richardson and (for once) Lord Patten are a timely reminder of the true meaning of education. But is anyone listening? Far-Right rampage As neo-Nazi thugs go on a deeply disturbing rampage, demanding wholesale deportations of asylum seekers after the New Years Eve sex attacks, Germany is paying a terrifying price for Angela Merkels decision to throw open her countrys borders. Now even she admits her government has lost control. A brave dog who helps catch poachers on one of Africa's largest game reserves has been applauded by Prince Harry and Ricky Gervais has been awarded 'the St George's Cross' for his work. Killer, a Belgian Malinois, works for Kruger National Parks Special Operations Team and in the past four years his tracking skills have led to the arrest of 115 poachers. The six-year-old canine has been praised for risking his life in his fight against poaching and for helping out in the battle to save the critically-endangered African rhinoceros from extinction. Scroll down for video Ricky Gervais offically announced Killer's award, right, during a video tribute posted to his Facebook page, left Killer, a six-year-old Belgian Malinois, works for Kruger National Parks Special Operations Team in South Africa and helps track down poachers. He has just been awarded a gold medal, left, for his efforts The medal, which has been dubbed 'the George's Cross for animals', was awarded to Killer in a ceremony in December, and Prince Harry - who was visiting the country on a trip to raise awareness of poaching - paid the canine a special visit to say well done. Now his award has been officially announced in a two-minute video revealed by Ricky Gervais on Facebook. It is the highest honour a non-military animal can receive for bravery and devotion. The comedian and animal welfare advocate said: 'Killer does fantastic work in the Kruger National Park. Rhinos are wonderful creatures that are being killed in their hundreds by these poachers. Killer and his colleagues are fighting back. 'He helped capture dozens of poachers in the last year alone, thanks to his amazing courage and dedication. Hes making a huge contribution to rhino protection in South Africa.' Prince Harry paid a special visit to congratulate Killer during his visit to South Africa last December 'Killer is invaluable': The dog's handler, Amos, said he has helped to catch dozens of rhino poachers The pooch is often deployed deep inside Kruger National Park several times a day, and Killers tracking and early detection of suspects is paramount to keeping his handler and the rest of the team safe from harm. Thanks to his impressive tracking skills, 115 arrests have been made to date, although the fight against poaching continues. With the number of rhino killings in South Africa rising from 448 in 2011 to 1,215 in 2014 - a jump of almost 18 per cent - Killer is considered an important part of the fight against poaching. Alongside his handler Amos Mzimba, he is often flown in by helicopter to track and apprehend armed poachers when they are spotted, or when a dead rhino is discovered. Killers handler, Amos, said: 'It is an honour to have Killer by my side. It means a lot that he has been recognised for his skills and assistance in tracking and arresting poachers. 'Thanks to him, we are arresting more poachers, but there is a lot more to be done if we are to save the rhino from extinction. Killer is invaluable in achieving that.' Ricky Gervais was on hand to officially 'present' the award in a video posted to his Facebook account Poachers frequently target rhinos in Kruger National Park, where Killer works for the Special Operations Team Jan McLoughlin, director general at the charity, said: 'The PDSA Gold Medal recognises extraordinary acts of courage and dedication in life-threatening situations, and Killer is indeed a worthy recipient. 'His contribution to saving the rhino population has been truly remarkable. His track-record is astounding and we are honoured to recognise his fantastic work in this way.' Bruce Leslie, from the Environmental Crimes Investigations Unit, nominated Killer for the medal. He said: 'To save the rhino from extinction, someone has to stand between them and the poachers and that job falls to our rangers. 'Killers sense of smell is absolutely amazing at tracking people. He makes us more successful and increases our arrest rate.' Since it was launched in 2001, the PDSA Gold Medal has now been awarded to 24 heroic animals. Recipients include UK police explosives search dogs Vinnie, Jake and Billy for their lifesaving work in the aftermath of the 7/7 terrorist bombings in London, in 2005. In the video, Nabela explains that being Muslim doesn't make her less American while admitting she often fears for her family's safety A popular YouTube star has created a powerful and eye-opening video about being Muslim in America as she revealed her first brush with Islamophobia occurred when she was only nine years old. Nabela Noor, 24, from Pennsylvania, frequently vlogs about beauty, fashion, and DIY hacks, but the rise of hatred and violence aimed at the Muslim community inspired her to speak up and use her platform 'to do good' by sharing her personal experience with her 143,000 YouTube subscribers. 'I wanted people to know that being a Muslim does not make us less American, less British, Australian or whatever,' she told Daily Mail Online. 'When these tragedies occur, our hearts ache, too. We are just as outraged that there are people in this world manipulating the meaning of our texts to serve their own agenda.' Scroll down for video Using her voice: Vlogger Nabela Noor (pictured) took to her YouTube channel earlier this month to share a powerful video on what it is like to Muslim in America In her video entitled 'Dear America | From a Muslim-American', Nabela targets the Islamophobia that is present in her own country. 'I am a Muslim-American, and I am just like you. I was born and raised in this country; I work in this country; I believe in this country; and I pray for the safety of this country,' she says in the moving clip. 'I am an American through and through, and I am also a Muslim'. The YouTuber goes on to say that as a Muslim she believes in 'the declaration of my faith, prayer, pilgrimage to Mecca, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and charity'. 'These five pillars are the framework of Islam, and notice how they don't include violence or terror,' she adds. Nabela explains that she never thought she would make a video about a subject as 'intimate' as faith, but the 'current social environment for Muslims today is not safe or just'. She notes that hate crimes against Muslims have increased dramatically following the attacks in Paris in November. 'When these tragedies occur, we Muslims are just as saddened as our fellow Americans and we are heartbroken that there are people out there who manipulate our texts to serve their own sick, twisted, agenda,' Nabela says. Scary times: The 24-year-old from Pennsylvania speaks about how the US has a presidential candidate whose 'loudest message reeks of hatred and Islamophobia', clearly referencing Republican candidate Donald Trump Frightening cultural landscape: Trump (pictured) called to ban all Muslims from emigrating to the US and also said he would consider issuing Muslims in America special ids Shameful comments: The vlogger noted that going on social media has been an eye-opening experience for her because she has come across so many hate-filled messages directed at the Muslim community The vlogger recalls how a few of her friends were told that they were no longer allowed to hang out with her after 9/11 simply because she is Muslim. 'That was one of my first brushes with Islamophobia, and it was the first time that I felt outcasted for who I was - I was nine.' Nabela says she has been called a 'terrorist' and watched her father be told to 'go back where he came from' and now there are businesses refusing to serve Muslims and protests against the building of mosques. 'We have a presidential candidate whose loudest message reeks of hatred and Islamophobia,' she says, referencing Donald Trump. 'We have a cultural landscape in America today that frightens me to my very core.' Last month, the Republican candidate called to ban all Muslims from emigrating to the United States. Trump also said he would consider closing mosques across the country and issuing Muslims in America special ids. Double standard: 'I cannot begin to understand why it seems oppressive for my mother to be wearing a hijab but noble for a nun to be covered from head-to-toe,' she added Rising star: Nabela, who has nearly 150,000 subscribers, typically vlogs about beauty, fashion, and DIY hacks, but she said the increasing violence towards Muslims inspired her to use her platform for good 'Turning on the news now is scary and often times humiliating,' Nabela explains. Nabela goes on to say that when there are mass shootings in America by 'Christian white males' the country is able to 'recognize that the individual does not represent Christianity'. 'But for some reason the same logical approach and respect cannot be reciprocated for the Muslim community,' she says. 'I cannot begin to understand why it seems oppressive for my mother to be wearing a hijab but noble for a nun to be covered from head-to-toe.' Nabela told Daily Mail Online that her mother is a 'pious, loving woman' who prays five times a day, but because she is Muslim she has 'been ridiculed in public and has felt a 'sense of fear' in recent months. 'I shouldnt have to be afraid of my mom going out in public and possibly being attacked for wearing the hijab,' she said. Support system: Nabela said her husband Seth Martin (pictured) was present when her sister helped her film the video. 'I am lucky to have married a man that loves me for my passionate spirit,' she noted Outfit changes: Nabela, who is pictured on her wedding day, wore this stunning teal and gold dress to celebrate her culture on her wedding day. The bride also honored American tradition by donning a white gown 'I realized that society and many media outlets needed a wakeup call, and I decided I would use my platform to deliver it.' While thanking those who speak out against anti-Islamic speech and ideologies, she notes in her video that judging '1.6 billion people for the actions of select militant group is bigotry at its finest'. 'I wanted people to know that we are more powerful when we stand together,' Nabela told Daily Mail Online. 'Hate crimes against Muslims and all of this political animosity regarding Islam is not helping anyone except the terrorists. This is what they want and this is how they win.' The video has been viewed more than 38,000 time since it was posted three weeks ago, and Nabela said the response has been 'overwhelming', but mainly 'overwhelmingly positive'. 'The comments section has been flooded with so many testimonies from people sharing their experiences with hate crimes and attacks,' she explained. 'This is a real thing and so many Muslims, Sikhs, and essentially people who just "appear" Muslim now live in fear. Happy couple: 'Married the man of my dreams after fighting a long, hard battle for acceptance,' she captioned this photo on Instagram Sharing a message of love: Nabela, who can be seen enjoying a cruise, said 'we are all capable of looking at each other as equal' Nabela, who got married over the summer, said her husband Seth Martin was present when her sister helped her film the candid video. 'I am lucky to have married a man that loves me for my passionate spirit, and encourages me to fight for what I believe in,' she noted. 'He and I were able to bring two families with different backgrounds together with our love. So, I know its possible.' 'I know that we are all capable of looking at each other as equal if we are willing to tear down the labels, class systems, and stereotypes that are dividing us,' she added. Nabela said that her video has also seen a 'huge wave of support from non-Muslims'. However, along with all of the positive messages Nabela said there were many threatening, hateful, and 'downright disgusting' comments. A little girl who has undergone no less than three open heart surgeries is asking American Girl to sell a doll with a chest scar just like hers. Lamaya Sakales from Land O'Lakes, Florida, may be just 10 years old, but she has been through a lot. Born with a hypoplastic left heart, the little girl has been through several surgeries in her short years, leaving her with a large scar down the middle of her chest. The inspiring little girl is now speaking out for others like her by asking a popular toy company to create a doll with scars just like she and thousands of other kids have. Scroll down for video Looking for a mini-me: After having three open-heart surgeries, Lamaya Sakales, 10, from Land O'Lakes, Florida, is asking American Girl to create a doll with chest scars like she had Custom: American Girl are famously divers, producing dolls that reflect the qualities and everyday life of girls across the country Inspired: After Lamaya's mother heard that American Girl had created a diabetes care kit for dolls, she decided to help her daughter fight to have her own doll just like her and many others with heart problems After Lamaya's mother Christen Sakales learned that American Girl had released a diabetes care kit for the dolls, she didn't see why they couldn't make a doll that reflects her daughter's own health struggles. 'We saw the story about the diabetic doll kit online and we discussed it together and thought that we should try doing the same thing to see if they would make a doll with a chest scar or scar kit,' Christen tells Daily Mail Online. In a new campaign on Change.org, Lamaya makes her case, explaining how nearly one in 100 children are born with a congenital hear defect - many of which will require open heart surgery. 'These children live with a chest scar for the rest of their lives. If you make a doll with a chest scar, I and many others will feel safe and normal like it doesn't have to be a secret,' writes Lamaya on the website. 'The American girl doll company has a history of embracing diversity and "a doll for every Child". Please make a doll with a chest scar (or a scar kit) for the many kids who live with scars that show their bravery!' Christen also says her daughter hopes that one day there will be 'a story written about a doll who is very brave and went through open-heart surgery. She thinks that would be a really great thing for kids to learn about.' Making her case: In a video for the campaign, Lamaya describes how a doll with chest scars would provide someone to talk to and relate to and 'change their hearts' The petition has already gained over 4,700 signatures - very close to the ultimate goal of 5,000. In a recent video for the campaign, Lamaya pleaded for extra signatures, saying that: 'Girls need someone to talk to. Someone to change their hearts. To have another friend around they can talk to whenever they need to talk to them. 'Even if someone's far away, they can talk to it. They can look at their chest scar and see, like, they're cool, they're brave, they're awesome.' According to Lamaya's mother, she is 'very sensitive' about her health problems and added to ABC that 'sometimes kids make fun of her scar and she comes home and tells me about it.' However, she tells Daily Mail Online: 'I would have always told her she should be proud of her scars because they show how brave she is, and as with any mean talk from kids I always tell her to ignore it or ask for help if she needs it.' Despite her struggles, Christen describes her daughter as 'a very fun girl who loves to laugh and loves most of all to be with friends and to play,' adding that she's an active youngster who loves to swim, scooter and jump on the trampoline. American Girl told Daily Mail Online that the company has 'a long history of creating dolls and accessories that speak to diversity and inclusion, and we appreciate the trust our fans, like Lamaya, have in us to create a particular item'. Out in support: Lamaya's mother Christen (center) helped her set up a petition online, which has nearly reached 5,000 signatures Response: In a statement the company said that 'girls like Lamaya inspire us every day' but that they are 'enable to accept product ideas or guarantee when, or if, a particular product will be developed' The spokesperson added: 'Each day, American Girl receives hundreds of passionate requests for specific products to be created. While we know each request is important, at this time (as in years past) we are unable to accept product ideas or guarantee when, or if, a particular product will be developed,' they added. 'That said, our design team is constantly exploring new ways to enhance our doll lines with items that resonate with girls on a variety of levels. Girls like Lamaya inspire us every day, and we look forward to creating new products, stories, and experiences that celebrate the countless unique qualities in all of them.' In response to the statement, Christen says that she 'can certainly understand why they responded the way they did saying that they cannot make every product idea that is given to them'. 'However I think that making a scar kit would be a way to personalize any doll and would certainly speak to the many children who have scars from multiple different kinds of surgeries,' she explained. 'I also think that there is a huge population who are interested in heart scars because one out of every 100 babies is born with a heart defect and there is little awareness of that.' From pink ribbons and shirts to pink lips and and charity drives, the colour pink has been used to represent the fight against and awareness of breast cancer for as long as most can remember. But Australian actor Sam Johnson, 37, has had enough of the 'soft' colour and has slammed the 'pink washing' that is occurring nationwide. After standing by his sister Connie Johnson through three debilitating and tragic cancer diagnoses - the third, terminal breast cancer - he has made the 'executive decision to ditch the pink' with his and Ms Johnson's charity, Love Your Sister. 'I've been playing nice for years now within the pink army,' Mr Johnson told Daily Mail Australia. Scroll down for video 'We no longer use pink': Actor Sam Johnson (left) has decided to ditch his breast cancer charity's pink colours for black 'Exclusive decision': Mr Johnson has had enough of the 'soft' colour and has slammed the 'pink washing' that is occurring Australia wide Ditching the pink: 'Im putting my foot down. We no longer use pink. It misleads us. It's a soft colour. Nothing about bc is soft,' Mr Johnson said, whose sister Connie (right) has been battling terminal breast cancer for five years was diagnosed with cancer twice before 'I really respect all it's done but for me the issue is more serious than pink and no, not everyone died but my sister is dying and her kids are losing their mother.' 'It's a black and white issue.' Mr Johnson shared his thoughts and decision in a lengthy Facebook post to his 300,000 strong 'village' of supporters on Tuesday evening. 'All this pink about the place is pacifying us into believing that enough is being done about our mums falling to breast cancer. My first act as Research Australias Advocate of the Year is to ditch the pink,' the Secret Life of Us actor wrote on Facebook. Frustrated: 'The only colour for me that truly represents the cancer that fells our mums is black. F*** it,' Mr Johnson said 'The pink army': Pink has been used in the fight for years (pictured L-R are Laura Dundovic, Whitney Port, Pink Hope founder Krystal Barter, Kiyomi Vella, Sally Obermeder and Laura Csortan) 'Im putting my foot down. We no longer use pink. It misleads us. It's a soft colour. Nothing about bc is soft. The only colour for me that truly represents the cancer that fells our mums is black. F*** it. [sic]' Mr Johnson told Daily Mail Australia the new black and white logo 'represents elegance and hope as well' and believes 'everyone is feeling the pink fatigue'. The siblings, who are only a year apart, were side-by-side as Connie battled an aggressive bone tumour in her leg at age 11 and again when a tumour was found in her womb when she was 22 years old. From now on: 'Love Your Sister uses black now, with a bit of silver and white, for the hope that I refuse to abandon,' he said As long as we can remember: Pink has been used to represent spreading awareness and fighting breast cancer for years When she was 33, the Canberra mother-of-two was diagnosed for a third time with breast cancer, but this time it was terminal and doctors gave her six months to a year to live. Once again, Mr Johnson was by her side. And she has defied doctors' expectations, to live another five years. 'Love Your Sister uses black now, with a bit of silver and white, for the hope that I refuse to abandon. The Love Your Sister village will always be about family, love, togetherness and hope - this is what makes us such a strong village - but Im afraid Im frustrated with the rate of progress,' Mr Johnson said. A change: Mr Johnson said he always felt as though he 'had to be polite' because 'it's a woman's issue' 'Im upset that our mums arent being put first and that terrorism and some bearded blokes in a province we cant even pronounce seem to be more of a threat to us somehow?' Mr Johnson said he always felt as though he 'had to be polite' because 'it's a woman's issue' but now realises that it is in fact his issue due to the suffering of his sister. 'So no more deference, no more fluff - this year Im going to do more and yell louder and if it's not your scene there's a lot of other pages for you that take a softly softly approach,' he said. Taking a stand: 'So no more deference, no more fluff - this year Im going to do more and yell louder and if it's not your scene there's a lot of other pages for you that take a softly softly approach,' Mr Johnson said Looking forward: 'S***s about to get hectic,' he concluded 'This year I will honour my position that I have pedalled so hard for and worked so persistently at by organising a collective of the sharpest f*****s in the country and, because Im smart enough to know how little I know, we are going to collectively figure out a way to take research from the GIVE-A-S**T level it is at now, to the ITS OUR MUMS LETS DO MORE level.' 'S***s about to get hectic,' he concluded. Mr Johnson, who hasn't yet asked his sister about his decision, received a mixed reaction to his lengthy post. Controversial: 'I think you are wrong about the black. I have terminal breast cancer and I do not wish to link anything about cancer with black,' one woman said 'I think you are wrong about the black. I have terminal breast cancer and I do not wish to link anything about cancer with black...it conjures up an image of a black terrorising beast that will slowly/or quickly invade and infiltrate my body until I am sinking in its black inky power,' one woman wrote. 'When I see black, I don't think negative,' argued another. 'I see many shades of strength. Black is a strong colour and silver represents Connie's shining light despite everything she has gone through.' 'Pinkwashing has a lot to answer for. I get so angry every October especially. Cancer awareness? I think we are all aware of it. We want prevention. My own experience of BC is raw, brutal, painful. It takes. We lose. Nothing pink frothy or frilly. No girls' night in or biggest cups of tea,' a frustrated woman wrote. Support: 'My own experience of BC is raw, brutal, painful. It takes. We lose. Nothing pink frothy or frilly. No girls' night in or biggest cups of tea,' a frustrated woman wrote to support Mr Johnson Standing strong: 'I don't want to create negativity, but nor do I want to see a proliferation of passive compliance,' Mr Johnson said Hopeful: 'Hope i haven't stuffed up too badly,' Mr Johnson said, who planned to discuss the decision with his sister 'The debate rages on...at the end of the day my sister is the boss and she doesn't want to undermine all that pink has done - she understands I got into a bit of a dark place about the whole thing,' Mr Johnson said. 'I may have f****d up and some people are rightfully pointing out that it's too negative and I really don't want to be.' He was named the sexiest doctor alive by People magazine, but Dr Mike says the perks of dating a doctor run deeper than sex appeal. The second-year medical resident from New York told Daily Mail Australia that doctors are dedicated, committed and compassionate and having a stethoscope only betters the cause. The handsome doctor, who has more than one million followers on Instagram, spoke out after it was revealed by dating app Coffee Meets Bagel that single Australian women rate doctors as the most attractive male profession. 'Sexiest doctor alive': Dr Mike, who is a second year medical resident in New York, has revealed why people in his profession are attractive to singles Relationship qualities: He said doctors are dedicated, committed and passionate Love struck: Data from dating app Coffee Meets Bagel revealed doctors are the most attractive profession in a man while women in start-ups are most attractive Doctors are very popular with women, he said. The field of medicine is one you have to have a lot of dedication to enter. It shows youre really committed, and thats one of the most important factors women look for in a relationship. MOST ATTRACTIVE MALE JOBS Doctor Finance Law Start-up Marketing Advertisement MOST ATTRACTIVE FEMALE JOBS Start-up Fashion Consulting Marketing Doctor Advertisement Compassionate: The field of medicine is one you have to have a lot of dedication to enter,' he said Best traits: Dr Mike said if you are committed to your work, it shows you can be committed to a relationship 'McDreamy': Dr Mike has more than one million followers on Instagram where she shares photos of his life and work Coffee Meets Bagel, that launched in Australia in 2015, revealed single Aussies looking for love are particular about their future partners profession. Single ladies listed doctors as their preferred profession, and while theyre endearing qualities are appealing, the big pay cheque could also be part of the appeal. The average Australian GP can earn anywhere between $150,000 and $350,000 annually, close to five times the average full time wage of $74,724 before tax. Following doctors were men who worked in finance, law, start-ups or marketing, which suggests women still seek the security of traditional high earning job roles from their male counterparts. Doctor appeal: Women who are doctors are listed as the fifth most attractive profession behind start-ups, fashion, consulting and marketing A suited suitor: Men who work in law, finance or marketing are attractive to women Showing ambition: Men who work in start-up businesses are also attractive to women On the other hand, Aussie men rated women in start-ups, fashion, consulting, marketing and medicine as most attractive showing they too are after high-flying go-getters. Dr Mike, who has been dubbed the real life McDreamy, said for him it was more important that a person was passionate and motivated in their field, whatever that may be. If theyre lacklustre, or not motivated or driven in whatever they choose to do at work, it translates in to their everyday life, he said. And when it comes to planning the perfect date, the eligible bachelor said he is all about excitement. The best date Ive had would probably have to be one where I went hiking to a big mountain here in New York, he said. Fashion forward: Women who work in fashion are among those professions found attractive to men Adrenalin rush: Dr Mike said he likes exciting dates and said one girl took him hiking in the mountains My date surprised me, because Im usually the one giving the tour and explaining how to do things but she was a very experienced rock climber and took me to the highest part of the mountain. Dr Mike said his worst dating experience saw him the victim of catfishing. I was talking with somebody through the internet and exchanging photos and having long, in-depth life conversations, he said. And when it came down to the time to meet it was a completely different individual. They thought it would be cool or funny to play a joke on me. LEAST ATTRACTIVE MALE JOBS Engineer Teacher HR Advertisement LEAST ATTRACTIVE FEMALE JOBS Teacher Engineer Government Advertisement Win a date: Dr Mike has teamed up with Coffee Meets Bagel to raise funds for his foundation - and one person can win an all-expenses-paid date with him Unlucky in love: Teachers were listed by both men and women as an unattractive profession But while doctors and entrepreneurs tick all the boxes, teachers and engineers are listed by both men and women as the least attractive profession. Coffee Meets Bagel has partnered with Dr Mike to raise funds for his charity, the Limitless Tomorrow Foundation, that aims to break financial barriers so people can achieve their goals, and participants could win an all-expenses-paid date with the 'sexiest doctor alive'. A 33-year-old woman with terminal cancer has stood by her actor brother Samuel Johnson's decision to change the official colour of their charity from pink to black. Mr Johnson made the 'executive decision to ditch the pink' after standing by his sister Connie through three cancer diagnoses - the third of which turned out to be terminal breast cancer. On Tuesday the actor faced criticism for his new choice of colour for their Love Your Sister charity, with some cancer sufferers claiming black is too negative and conjures up images of a 'terrorising beast'. However, his sister Connie has come to his defence stating that pink just doesn't tell the 'whole story' for many cancer sufferers any more and 'cancer does not deserve a colour'. Scroll down for video 'We no longer use pink': Actor Sam Johnson (left) has decided to ditch his breast cancer charity's pink colours for black 'If black seems a little negative or confronting, maybe that's appropriate? 3000 women are dying every year here,' she wrote on Love Your Sister's Facebook page, which boasts 292,600 followers. 'I'm dying from this disease and that seems pretty black and white to me.' Ms Johnson apologised for her initial silence, blaming her phone being on silent, before she said black suits her 'just fine' and posted an image of herself proudly wearing a black t-shirt. 'We're not giving cancer a colour - cancer doesn't deserve a colour, and besides, our village is about way more than breast cancer now!' Ms Johnson said black suits her 'just fine' and posted an image of herself proudly wearing a black t-shirt 'Exclusive decision': Mr Johnson has had enough of the 'soft' colour and has slammed the 'pink washing' that is occurring Australia wide Ditching the pink: 'Im putting my foot down. We no longer use pink. It misleads us. It's a soft colour. Nothing about bc is soft,' Mr Johnson said, whose sister Connie (right) has been battling terminal breast cancer for five years was diagnosed with cancer twice before Mr Johnson used the charity's Facebook page to ask his sister for her thoughts on the 'executive decision' She responded soon after stating that that pink just doesn't tell the 'whole story' for many cancer suffers any more 'Heaps of us here are experiencing all kinds of cancers, not to mention all the loved-ones and carers and villagers without any cancers at all!' Mr Johnson shared his thoughts and decision in a lengthy Facebook post to his 300,000 strong 'village' of supporters on Tuesday evening. 'All this pink about the place is pacifying us into believing that enough is being done about our mums falling to breast cancer. My first act as Research Australias Advocate of the Year is to ditch the pink,' the Secret Life of Us actor wrote on Facebook. 'Im putting my foot down. We no longer use pink. It misleads us. It's a soft colour. Nothing about bc is soft. The only colour for me that truly represents the cancer that fells our mums is black. F*** it. [sic]' Frustrated: 'The only colour for me that truly represents the cancer that fells our mums is black. F*** it,' Mr Johnson said As long as we can remember: Pink has been used to represent spreading awareness and fighting breast cancer for years 'The pink army': Pink has been used in the fight for years (pictured L-R are Laura Dundovic, Whitney Port, Pink Hope founder Krystal Barter, Kiyomi Vella, Sally Obermeder and Laura Csortan) He told Daily Mail Australia that he had grown tired of 'playing nice' within the 'pink army' and felt it was time to forge ahead with an official colour he felt was more inclusive. 'I really respect all it's done but for me the issue is more serious than pink and no, not everyone died but my sister is dying and her kids are losing their mother.' 'It's a black and white issue.' Mr Johnson told Daily Mail Australia the new black and white logo 'represents elegance and hope as well' and believes 'everyone is feeling the pink fatigue'. The siblings, who are only a year apart, were side-by-side as Connie battled an aggressive bone tumour in her leg at age 11 and again when a tumour was found in her womb when she was 22 years old. A change: Mr Johnson said he always felt as though he 'had to be polite' because 'it's a woman's issue' From now on: 'Love Your Sister uses black now, with a bit of silver and white, for the hope that I refuse to abandon,' he said When she was 33, the Canberra mother-of-two was diagnosed for a third time with breast cancer, but this time it was terminal and doctors gave her six months to a year to live. Once again, Mr Johnson was by her side. And she has defied doctors' expectations, to live another five years. 'Love Your Sister uses black now, with a bit of silver and white, for the hope that I refuse to abandon. The Love Your Sister village will always be about family, love, togetherness and hope - this is what makes us such a strong village - but Im afraid Im frustrated with the rate of progress,' Mr Johnson said. 'Im upset that our mums arent being put first and that terrorism and some bearded blokes in a province we cant even pronounce seem to be more of a threat to us somehow?' Mr Johnson said he always felt as though he 'had to be polite' because 'it's a woman's issue' but now realises that it is in fact his issue due to the suffering of his sister. 'So no more deference, no more fluff - this year Im going to do more and yell louder and if it's not your scene there's a lot of other pages for you that take a softly softly approach,' he said. Taking a stand: 'So no more deference, no more fluff - this year Im going to do more and yell louder and if it's not your scene there's a lot of other pages for you that take a softly softly approach,' Mr Johnson said Looking forward: 'S***s about to get hectic,' he concluded 'This year I will honour my position that I have pedalled so hard for and worked so persistently at by organising a collective of the sharpest f*****s in the country and, because Im smart enough to know how little I know, we are going to collectively figure out a way to take research from the GIVE-A-S**T level it is at now, to the ITS OUR MUMS LETS DO MORE level.' 'S***s about to get hectic,' he concluded. Mr Johnson, who hasn't yet asked his sister about his decision, received a mixed reaction to his lengthy post. Controversial: 'I think you are wrong about the black. I have terminal breast cancer and I do not wish to link anything about cancer with black,' one woman said 'I think you are wrong about the black. I have terminal breast cancer and I do not wish to link anything about cancer with black...it conjures up an image of a black terrorising beast that will slowly/or quickly invade and infiltrate my body until I am sinking in its black inky power,' one woman wrote. 'When I see black, I don't think negative,' argued another. 'I see many shades of strength. Black is a strong colour and silver represents Connie's shining light despite everything she has gone through.' 'Pinkwashing has a lot to answer for. I get so angry every October especially. Cancer awareness? I think we are all aware of it. We want prevention. My own experience of BC is raw, brutal, painful. It takes. We lose. Nothing pink frothy or frilly. No girls' night in or biggest cups of tea,' a frustrated woman wrote. Support: 'My own experience of BC is raw, brutal, painful. It takes. We lose. Nothing pink frothy or frilly. No girls' night in or biggest cups of tea,' a frustrated woman wrote to support Mr Johnson Standing strong: 'I don't want to create negativity, but nor do I want to see a proliferation of passive compliance,' Mr Johnson said Hopeful: 'Hope i haven't stuffed up too badly,' Mr Johnson said, who planned to discuss the decision with his sister 'The debate rages on...at the end of the day my sister is the boss and she doesn't want to undermine all that pink has done - she understands I got into a bit of a dark place about the whole thing,' Mr Johnson said. 'I may have f****d up and some people are rightfully pointing out that it's too negative and I really don't want to be.' A woman is devastated after being told that deep scars she received after undergoing a 'fat freezing' treatment will never heal. Accountant Marcela Petrasova, 38, from Luton, was barely able to walk and was left with painful blisters up and down her legs after the 50-minute procedure in April last year. She is now pursuing the former owners of the salon, after a dermatologist told her last week that the unsightly marks left by the procedure will never fade. 'I did it because I wanted to look nice': Marcela says she was self-conscious about the cellulite on her legs Marcela hoped the 250 treatment would rid her of cellulite, but she was left with unsightly scars on her legs Marcela said she underwent the painful treatment in order to remove cellulite on her legs. But instead the treatment that claims to be able to kill fat cells by freezing them left her with painful wounds on both her legs, which became infected and formed into blisters. She claims that the staff at Xpressions Beauty, Luton, failed to use a protective sheet during the 50-minute treatment and that the equipment used was not sterile. Marcela had tried all traditional forms of weight loss methods to get rid of her cellulite. Despite not being overweight, she chose to undergo a fat freezing procedure, similar to liposuction, to rid herself of cellulite once and for all. But she said she was immediately worried by the staff's behaviour. She said: I was really concerned because they didn't ask me if I had any health or medical issues. Marcela has now been left with painful scars on her legs, which she has been told will never heal Then they just left me there, they didn't check on me once, they didn't put a protective sheet over my legs. Afterwards they told me my skin would be a little bit red but they didn't say that I would have any blisters or that it would be this painful. Days after the procedure Marcela's condition deteriorated, with the blisters on her legs bursting and becoming infected. This left her struggling to walk and needing hospital treatment. She said: It kept me awake at night and I got so worried about everything that I started losing hair. Two months later the wound finally started healing but I was left with a big hole in my leg. During fat-freezing procedures, pockets of fat are cooled to near freezing so that the cells die and are then removed through the body's own waste systems. Marcela spent 250 on the fat freezing treatment but ended up needing hospital treatment Gel pads are then normally placed on the targeted area and a coolant is delivered to fat cells. Fat freezing or cryolipolysis is advertised as a non-surgical method treat cellulite, with little or no side effects. Marcella said: It's been really stressful, I did it because I wanted to look nice and I wanted to look slimmer but I used to go swimming a lot but now I can't go because I think people will be staring at my legs. It's just completely knocked down my confidence. It's ridiculous that something like this can happen. The risk of the procedure was never explained to me and I was not asked to fill out a health questionnaire. For someone with a skin problem this could have been much worse. 'I don't want this to happen to anyone else. Marcela visited a dermatologist last week who told her that her scars will never heal. She has now instructed a solicitor and is trying to get compensation from the owner of Xpressions Beauty in Luton, Beds, following her botched procedure in March last year. A spokeswoman for the salon confirmed it had been taken over by a new owner in October who was not involved in Marcela's fat freeze. A mother has shared the heartwarming story of love and survival after he son was born more than 10 weeks premature and with only one arm. Renee Sharpe, 31, from Leumeah in Sydney's south-west, told That's Life magazine about how her son, Lachlan, is living a happy and normal life despite being born without his right arm - and the shock she felt when she first saw him. 'How could he lose his arm in the womb?' Ms Sharpe told That's Life she thought when she saw her baby boy for the first time. 'How could he lose his arm in the womb?' Renne Sharpe, 31, told That's Life magazine she thought when he son, Lachlan, was born Shortly after, young Lachlan - who was born at just 30 weeks - was rushed into emergency treatment as he was struggling to breathe without assistance. Ms Sharpe said she shared an emotional moment with her husband, Ian, as they watched their little boy bravely battle for his life. '"Suddently his arm doesn't seem so important, does?" I said to Ian,' the 31-year-old told the magazine. Lachlan was born missing his right arm as a result of amniotic band sydrome - something that occurs when the foetus becomes tangled in the amniotic bands inside the womb. The Sharpe family: Ian (left), Ava, (second left), Renee (second right) and Lachlan (right) As a result, blood flow is restricted and the baby's development is impacted. Ms Sharpe said her doctor told her about Lachlan's condition when she went in for a check-up 18 weeks into her pregnancy. 'I only expected it to take a few more minutes... when a quarter of an hour passed, I began feeling anxious,' she said, according to the magazine. 'After closely inspecting the image, (the doctor) turned to me. "It looks like your baby's right arm is significantly deformed," he said.' The heartbroken mum - who also has a young daughter, Ava - said she was devastated when telling Mr Sharpe the news. Lachlan was born missing his right arm as a result of amniotic band sydrome - something that occurs when the foetus becomes tangled in the amniotic bands inside the womb Ms Sharpe said she sobbed and wondered aloud, 'what's wrong with our boy?' as the couple confronted the news. However, a year later, Lachlan is thriving thanks to the love from his family and with the help of a prosthetic arm. 'At nine months, our brave boy tried his first prosthetic... initially we were worried he'd hate it,' Ms Sharpe told That's Life. 'Instead he was all smiles... a month on, Lachie wears wears his limb often and may eventually have it on full-time. 'He might only have one arm, but Lachie's future is limitless - he's already proved nothing will hold him back.' An acid attack survivor who was disfigured by a man she refused to marry has been named as the star of a designer clothing campaign. Laxmi Saa, 26, will model for an Indian clothing label for their campaign called the 'Face of Courage' and said she wants to show other women who have been attacked to have courage. Laxmi, from Delhi - who was left with agonising injuries at the age of 15 after the older man who was angry that she ignored his advances threw the corrosive chemical in her face - is now an advocate for tougher punishments for acid attacks in India. Laxmi Saa, 27, will model for an Indian clothing label for their campaign called the 'Face of Courage' and said she wants to show other women who have been attacked to have courage Laxmi, from Delhi, was facially disfigured after a man she refused to marry threw acid into her face and is an advocate for tougher punishments for acid attacks in India. Pictured in a jumpsuit as part of the campaign Since she was attacked in 2005, she's undergone many operations on her face. Laxmi told the BBC: 'This opportunity to represent an apparel brand was a platform for me to set an example for women like me to be confident and have courage despite their physical appearances. 'This was also a platform for me to send a clear message to criminals that women will not lose courage even after they are attacked with acid to destroy their physical beauty.' In the campaign video released by the brand, Laxmi is seen smiling broadly in colourful outfits including a pink and orange gown, and she's pictured taking a selfie in a lime top. The clothing company chose Laxmi to celebrate beauty beyond physical attributes. Laxmi, who is now a mum to eight-month-old baby daughter Pih with her partner, activist Alok Dixit, was attacked in 2005 when she was 15 by a man more than twice her age, just because she refused to marry him. Laxmi was scarred by an acid attack aged 15, left before the attack, right, taking part in the fashion campaign Laxmi modelled outfits for the Viva N Diva clothes brand and looked glamorous in a orange and fuschia gown with inspirational slogans in the campaign Laxmi described the attack as feeling like her 'whole body [was] on fire' and the skin started dripping off her She said noone helped her when the attack happened. Laxmi recovered from the attack and is now happy with partner Alok Dixit and baby Pih She previously said: 'I felt as if someone had set my whole body on fire. The skin was just coming off, it was like dripping, from my hands and from my face.' Laxmi was friends with a girl in her neighbourhood whose brother started to take an interest in her. As he was 32 and 17 years older than her, she ignored his advances. But this was enough to provoke him to plan his revenge while she was waiting for a bus. Laxmi previously said: 'They pushed me to the ground and threw acid over my face. 'I was crying for help, but no one came to my rescue. I tried waving at the passing cars. They did not stop, no one helped. I almost got run over three times. I could not even open my eyes properly.' The incident - which took place in broad daylight in one of Delhi's busiest markets - left her physically and emotionally scarred. Laxmi strikes a pose for the campaign called 'Face for Beauty' which Viva N Diva picked her for and it's dedicated to acid attack victims The fashion company wanted to show beauty in a different way to physical attributes and wanted to give it meaning, Laxmi looks pensive in the campaign video Laxmi wears flowing dresses in the shots with bold block colours, left, and feminine florals, right, with a high-neck and her long hair worn down It led her to file public interest litigations in India's highest court, seeking changes in the law and asked the government to take steps to restrict the sale of acid. In 2013, the Supreme Court of India acted on a petition filed by Laxmi and directed state governments to formulate a policy to regulate over-the-counter sale of acid in India. But the country does not have a specific law to prosecute attackers and the Acid Survivors Foundation India found that in 2014 there were 349 attacks on people in India, mainly on women. Laxmi was so scarred by the encounter she thought she would never find love. She said: 'Someone asked me the question of what if the attacker still offered to marry me? I said, he has changed my face, but he has failed to change my mind. Laxmi had given up on love but met Alok Dixit, 26, while campaigning and they now run the Stop Acid Attacks campaign together with their main focus helping other acid attack survivors Laxmi has had many facial operations following the attack to in 2005 when she was attacked with acid while waiting for a bus But she met Alok Dixit, 26, while campaigning and they now run the Stop Acid Attacks campaign together with their main focus helping other acid attack survivors. Laxmi said: 'We have decided to live together until we die. But we are challenging the society by not getting married.' The families of the couple have also accepted the relationship, which defies conventions, and are standing by them. The video for the fashion campaign is 'dedicated to those who lost their physical beauty to the horrific acid attacks with an aim to create new opportunities for them in the fashion industry.' Ayushi Rastogi from the fashion company Viva N Diva told the Hindustan Times: 'For a moment, we saw beauty in a very different way and all that we could think of was to capture it in a way that gave it meaning.' Ayusha also said they had worked with Laxmi like a usual model 'both in terms of payment and profit sharing as well as in terms of the shoot.' A mother has taken to Twitter to share the story of how a junior doctor's quick actions saved his baby's life, after an image of his son holding a placard at a picket line yesterday went viral. The little boy was seen clutching a doll and holding up a sign outside Manchester Royal Infirmary, saying: 'A junior doctor saved my life and my mummy's'. After the image started circulating online his mother Dorian Stripe, known as Geralt of Rivia - who identifies as transgender - from Moss Side, Manchester, wrote on Twitter: 'Okay, so this picture of my bairn is doing the rounds and I think the story that goes with it is probably important.' Scroll down for video Dorian Stripe has shared the story behind the birth of his son after an image of the little boy being held by Dorian's wife Josie holding a placard at the junior doctors' strike outside Manchester Royal Infirmary yesterday started circulating online Yesterday's industrial action saw an estimated 38,000 members of the British Medical Association stage a 24-hour strike over a new pay and working hours contract proposed by the government. Members of the public, joined the striking medics at picket lines across the country as well as members of bakers, firefighters and civil servants union. After joining the protest outside Manchester royal infirmary, Dorian - who is described as 'gay' and 'trans' on Twitter, went on to post a series of tweets, detailing the events surrounding the little boy's birth. 'I went into labour on a Friday. Having had a very blase day of minor contractions, we went into the ward at 8pm. I was triaged,' he explained. The unnamed boy held up a sign that read, 'A junior doctor saved my life and my mummy's too', and clutched a doll wearing a campaign sticker Dorian explained that his birth had started off well, with a junior doctor allowing him to stay in hospital even though he was only three centimetres dilated 'After saying I didn't want to go home, even only being a few centimetres dilated, I met the first of three junior doctors. She moved me to antenatal. 'I wasn't the intended use of the antenatal ward, and despite not having my notes, that doctor evaluated my situation and found me a bed. 'I was on antenatal for less than an hour (it felt like forever, let me tell you), when they found another junior doctor.' Dorian explained that a second junior doctor agreed to move him to the labour word as soon as he was sufficiently dilated, and made sure she was given adequate medication. At 3am, Dorian was woken by a midwife to say that they had lost his baby's heartbeat He explained that it took a junior doctor just three minutes to deliver his baby - presumably by Caesarean - after his heartbeat was lost 'I had an epidural, then slept til around 3am. The staff made every effort to accommodate me. They turned down the lights so I could sleep,' he recalled. At 3am, he was woken by a midwife who told him there was a problem with his baby, who he refers to as 'stripelet'. 'She said that they had lost stripelet's heartbeat,' the mother explained. 'She was calm and soothing and said he'd probably just moved from the monitor and that she'd attach another. 'Within 30 seconds, the room was bright and full of staff. A man I had seen on my way in, sat in the room/cupboard labelled "junior doctors", was suddenly in front of me, explaining quickly and as clearly as he could that he was going to save my child. I wasn't given time to fear.' Dorian praised the junior doctor for being 'fast, clear and caring' and said he doubted that would have been possible if they had just worked a 'dangerously long' shift He argued that junior doctors, who are protesting about proposed new contracts, should be allowed enough time to be 'people outside of work.' Three minutes later, his son was delivered - presumably by Caesarean. 'He let me touch him before taking him to the resuscitator,' he said. 'This junior doctor, working at 3am on an otherwise vacant ward on a Saturday talked me through patching me up, and gave me more anaesthetic. 'I cannot imagine being that alert at 3am on a Saturday, and being that fast and clear and caring. But that doctor who saved stripelet was. 'If he had worked a dangerously long shift in the run up to that 3am emergency, stripelet probably wouldn't be alive. Neither would I. Followers praised Dorian for sharing his story, describing it as 'moving' and 'important' 'That calmness, precision, and alertness, which takes a huge amount of discipline already, is under attack.' Dorain said he didn't want to imagine what could have happened to his son and other babies like him if the delivery hadn't been so quick. 'Please remember that the people on strike today are people, and they are heroes, but they are not magical, or untiring, or infallible,' he appealed. 'If you want to be treated by heroes rather than fallible people, then you need to give them space to be people outside of work.' The post was praised by followers, such as Kat Ellis who wrote: 'You just made me cry. Best wishes to you both.' Crowds assembling at the picket outside Manchester Royal Infirmary Junior Doctors strike over pay and working conditions yesterday Yesterdays strike centres on the opposition of Englands 55,000 junior doctors to Government changes to their contracts. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has proposed raising their basic salaries by 11 per cent on average but also cutting extra payments for working weekday evenings and Saturdays Dampscribbler described his story as 'important testimony', while Natalie Shaw said she found it 'really moving'. Yesterdays strike centres on the opposition of Englands 55,000 junior doctors to Government changes to their contracts. The health secretary Jeremy Hunt wants them to do more shifts at weekends and overnight when care is significantly worse due to staff shortages. He has proposed raising their basic salaries by 11 per cent on average but also cutting extra payments for working weekday evenings and Saturdays, dubbed unsocial hours. Doctors fear the changes will result in an overall cut to their take-home pay. Mr Hunt also wants to stop them getting automatic pay rises every year, instead only boosting a medics pay packet when he or she takes on more responsibility. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt also wants to stop junior doctors getting automatic pay rises every year, instead only boosting a medics pay packet when he or she takes on more responsibility The health secretary Jeremy Hunt wants junior doctors to do more shifts at weekends and overnight when care is significantly worse due to staff shortages The BMA says this will unfairly penalise women who take time out to have children. But Mr Hunt insisted the new working hours were vital. We want all NHS patients to have the confidence that they will have the same high quality care every day of the week, he said. At the moment if you have a stroke at the weekend you are 20 per cent more likely to die. That cannot be right. Thats something every doctor wants to sort out as well. The right thing to do is sit round the table and talk to the Government about how we improve patient safety and patient care, not these very unnecessary strikes. People get ill every day of the week. The whole purpose of this is to make NHS care safer. Yesterday's walkout saw an estimated 20,000 patients have their operations and appointments cancelled. Yesterdays action when only emergency care was offered is the first of three walkouts that will cause chaos for hospitals struggling to cope with winter illnesses Of those, 4,000 elective surgical procedures were cancelled along with 17,500 outpatients appointments. Patients missed out on everything from hip replacements to tests for life-threatening illnesses. They now face waiting weeks, or even months, because hospital lists are so full. Yesterdays action when only emergency care was offered is the first of three walkouts that will cause chaos for hospitals struggling to cope with winter illnesses. Another 48-hour strike is planned for January 26, when only emergency care will be provided. This is due to be followed by a total withdrawal of care on February 10 between 8am and 5pm, the first in the 67-year history of the NHS. Yesterday's walk out saw an estimated 20,000 patients have their operations and appointments cancelled. Of those, 4,000 elective surgical procedures were cancelled along with 17,500 outpatients appointments A total withdrawal of care is planned for February 10 between 8am and 5pm, the first in the 67-year history of the NHS Jeremy Hunt has appealed to doctors to return to negotiations to avert the further planned strikes. Talks between the doctors union, the British Medical Association, and the Government are due to resume this week leaving little time to reach a deal. Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said the sick were the victims of the stand-off. The problem is, when their operations are cancelled they arent given a new date, she added. This causes uncertainty and distress. They just have to wait. It could be weeks, it could be months. These are cataracts, knee operations, that all have huge impact on quality of life. Joyce Robins of Patient Concern, another campaign group, said: People are very worried about whats going to happen. Theyre going to have to be slotted in to already full schedules. They could well be waiting months. Many of them have been waiting months already. Officials at NHS England said 39 per cent of junior doctors worked normally and did not take part in the strike. But that included many in A&E, maternity and intensive care who were providing emergency care as agreed. Others who turned up to work normally were either not in the BMA or opposed to strike action. Their colleagues on the picket lines were joined by half a dozen Labour MPs, who were accused of putting political posturing before patients. It is the first time in many years that the Labour Party has officially backed a public sector strike. Nicky Hilton is reportedly pregnant with her first child, just six months after she tied the knot with British banking heir James Rothschild. The 32-year-old and her husband James have just begun telling their family and friends their happy news, People reports, however the couple have yet to confirm the reports publicly. 'Nicky is very excited to become a mom,' an insider told the outlet. 'She is feeling great!' Scroll down for video Parents-to-be: Nicky Hilton and husband James Rothschild are reportedly expecting their first child What's under there? Hotel heiress Nicky stepped out in New York earlier this week, covering her stomach up with a large animal-print coat Earlier this week, Nicky was pictured enjoying an evening out in New York with her close friend, oil heir Brandon Davis, however the heiress made sure to keep her stomach covered under a large animal-print coat and a black sweater. Nicky, who is the younger sister of socialite Paris, married billionaire banking heir James during an extravagant ceremony held at Kensington Palace in London in July. The bride wore a stunning $77,000 couture Valentino gown featuring a high-neck and a long train, topping the look off with a dramatic lace veil. Canapes, caviar, and foie gras were served at the start of the elegant reception, while the night was capped off with a late night meal that included mini sliders, french fries, mac and cheese and milkshakes. And the guest list was just as eclectic as the dining options, with a crown prince, supermodel, and handful of Bravo reality stars among those who were on hand for the very exclusive fete. Happy couple: Nicky, 32, and James wed in a lavish ceremony at Kensington Palace in the summer Blushing bride: According to a source close to the heiress, who is pictured on her wedding day wearing a Valentino gown, she is 'very excited to become a mom' Family ties: Nicky's sister Paris Hilton was the Maid of Honor at her wedding in July, and is pictured on her way to the ceremony with mother Kathy Hilton On the royal front there was Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, along with pals of royals such as the new godfather to Princess Charlotte, Thomas van Straubenzee. New York society was also well represented as Steve Schwarzman, Julia Koch, Debbie Bancroft, Dennis Basso, Somers Farkas, Harry LeFrak, Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney were reportedly among those in attendance. Chelsea Clinton was also there with her husband, Marc Mezvinsky. As for those reality stars, Nicky's aunt Kyle Richards was there with husband Mauricio Umansky and their children, who are all part of Bravo's hugely successful Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And Rich Kids of Instagram star Dorothy Wang and pal Ezra William were also in attendance. Nicky and her sister Paris are no strangers to reality television themselves, having starred in a variety of reality programs over the course of their lives. Paris, who served as her sister's maid of honor, told People that Nicky and James are 'so loyal' and 'so in love' before the nuptials. Spot the bump? Earlier this month, Nicky was seen out and about in Beverly Hills, wearing a baggy jumper which concealed her stomach Proud parents: Nicky's baby will be the first grandchild for her parents Kathy and Richard Hilton Way back when: Nicky was previously married to financier Todd Meister. The couple wed in Las Vegas in August 2004, before the heiress got an annulment less than three months later 'Theyre like a prince and princess,' she added. The newlyweds started their relationship in 2011 after meeting at Petra Ecclestone and James Stunt's Italy wedding in 2011. James reportedly flew from England to the States to ask her parents for her hand in marriage before he proposed to her in Lake Como in August 2014. The couple's child will be the first grandchild for Nicky and Paris' parents, Richard and Kathy Hilton, who also have two sons, Conrad and Barron. However Nicky was previously wed to financier Todd Meister, before having the marriage annulled less than three months after they tied the knot in Las Vegas in August 2004. She found fame as a soap star and went on to prove her talents as a fashion designer and model, and now Michelle Keegan can add another string to her bow after landing a top beauty campaign. The 28-year-old has been announced as Revlon's latest recruit and will be collaborating on a number of projects with the beauty brand, which also has Emma Stone, Olivia Wilde and Halle Berry on its books. Hailed a 'social influencer' by the brand, Michelle will also be helping to launch their new all-in-one mascara. Scroll down for video Michelle Keegan, 28, has been announced as Revlon's latest recruit and will be collaborating on a number of projects with the beauty brand Speaking about her latest coup, the wife of Mark Wright said: 'Working with Revlon is a real honour and I am so excited to be a part of such a renowned and much loved brand. 'I have always been a big fan and I cant wait to share my love for Revlon with my amazing fans and followers. 'We have a lot of exciting projects planned for 2016.' The exciting news comes at a bittersweet time; it's been three weeks since Michelle's husband Mark's beloved grandmother, Nanny Pat, passed away. Mark is also due to lose wife Michelle for two months as she heads to South Africa in the next two weeks for filming. Hailed a 'social influencer' by the brand, Michelle also stars in a teaser video applying mascara for the brand Speaking about her latest coup, Michelle, who shared a teaser video on her Instagram, said: 'Working with Revlon is a real honour and I am so excited to be a part of such a renowned and much loved brand' Michelle and Mark, both 28, spent Friday marking the passing of Nanny Pat at her Essex funeral, but the former Coronation Street actress is due to commence BBC drama Our Girl this month. Faithful brunette Michelle has been by the side of her husband-of-eight months since the 80-year-old passed away just before Christmas. But she signed on for the leading BBC war drama in June 2015, not long after the couple's lavish wedding ceremony. Her commitment includes two months of intensive filming away from home in South Africa, which she has already anticipated to be hard, as well as rigorous training to get into shape. She previously told Reveal magazine: 'It's definitely going to be difficult. But it's my job, so I have to be focused.' Mark has commitments in the UK to his Heart FM radio show, as well as Take Me Out's ITV2 spin-off The Gossip, alongside Laura Jackson. As well as this new campaign, her filming commitments include two months of intensive filming away from home in South Africa, which she has already anticipated to be hard, as well as rigorous training to get into shape for the role Michelle joins a starry list of ambassadors at the beauty giant including Emma Stone, left, and Halle Berry, right He has promised that he will go over to visit when he can. Mark told Star magazine: 'If I get a free week, for sure [I'll go over]. I'm on Heart Radio twice a week, so I can't be there the whole time, but I'll get over as much as I can.' Speaking this week about the job, Michelle told Hello magazine that her mind is focussed on fitness as she prepares to replace Lacey Turner's Molly Dawes in leading role Corporal Georgie Lane. She said: 'Filming for Our Girl is going to start soon, so I want to improve my fitness levels for this. 'I will be going to circuit training around twice a week and have been going to my home gym with my cousin Katy, every other day. 'We motivate each other to go and feel loads better afterwards, I still can't do 5 pull ups! This is my one of the challenges I have set myself. I can do around 3 at the moment, so hopefully I can achieve this in the next 4-6 weeks.' Finally, she has the skin removed - just like another woman who wondered how her fiance could still be attracted to her with all her skin She visits two doctors, who say it will take multiple plastic surgeries to get her where she wants to be Losing 246lbs can feel like a incredible accomplishment - until one realizes that that major weightloss can leave behind pounds of excess skin that just won't shrink back. That was the sad reality for Megan Boeh, 34, who is spotlighted in Wednesday night's episode of the new TLC series Skin Tight. Though Megan lost 246lbs after undergoing gastric bypass surgery and changing her lifestyle, she still had about 42lbs of extra skin hanging off her stomach, back, behind, and legs. 'I wanna be like any normal person and look in the mirror and be happy with who I am and not have to worry about hiding myself,' the St. Joseph, Montana hairdresser said in a clip from the show. Scroll down for video Follow her journey: Megan Boeh, 34, is one of 12 people to have her excess skin removed on the new TLC show Skin Tight Surgical intervention: The Montana hairstylist lost 246lbs after undergoing gastric bypass surgery but still needed help removing the excess skin Weight loss problems:The skin was painful and standing in the way of her being happy and comfortable with her body The docs: She saw two plastic surgeons, one of whom remarked that the skin on her stomach was actually quite heavy Though Megan lost a significant amount of weight, she was still far from satisfied with her body when she set out filming the show. 'I've come so far, and yet I feel like nothing's changed,' she said. 'Even though I lost weight, my body is still shaped as it was at 430lbs. 'I hate my skin. It makes me feel gross and nasty. I'd get rid of the extra skin in a heartbeat if I could,' she added. When Megan bathed or dressed herself, it involved a lot of creative maneuvering of her skin. She said it was embarrassing to be able to pull on it like she could, and putting on clothes involved quite literally tucking the skin of her abdomen into her jeans. She tried to minimize the bulk with Spanx, but even had to tuck the skin into her underwear and apply talcum powder to prevent chaffing. Hide away: She said that she often tried to minimize her skin by covering it up creatively, like with Spanx Low self-esteem: Megan said she doesn't feel like a woman when she looks at herself in the mirror Sad truth: She said the extra skin weighed her down, saddened her, and depressed her Step by step: The doctors told Megan that it would take at least two surgeries, which were performed in January of 2015 'I don't feel like a woman when I look at myself in the mirror,' she said. 'When you don't see the changes, it saddens you, it depresses you. You get aggravated.' So in a new clip from the episode, she is seen visiting a pair of plastic surgeons to seek out help with her skin. 'I have a lot of hopes and desires out of this,' she said before telling the doctors that she wanted to get skin removed from several places, but her stomach was the highest priority because it gave her a lot of back and knee pain. She then stripped down for the surgeons, showing them what they'd have to work with. The skin of her stomach can be seen folding over her pelvis, and Dr. Kerr held it up while remarking on how heavy it was. 'When we excise that skin, she is just gonna feel so much relief in her lower back. She's gonna present herself to the world better. I can't wait to see how she's gonna change,' he told the camera. Slimmer in the middle: When they asked her what her biggest priority was, she named her stomach Health issues: Megan weighed over 400lbs at her heaviest and knew she might die young because of it Hindering her happiness: She knew that gastric bypass was her only option, but even after losing weight, she says, her body is shaped the same way it was at 430lbs The other surgeon, Dr. Bekanich, told Megan that she had a lot of definition in her arms, which would make removing the extra skin from them easy. Her legs, however, were another story, because she has 'pretty significant varicose veins', which can make some surgery dangerous. The doctors told her that she would likely need at least two surgeries. 'This skin is what hinders me. I need to be free of it,' Megan said in another preview for the show. 'Really, I don't care if other people think I'm beautiful - but at the same time I do. I wanna feel comfortable with who I am so I don't have to worry about what they think. Finally, in January of 2014, she went under the knife - and was thrilled by the results. Slimmer physique: Seeing her clothed, you'd never know about all the excess skin she was hiding Getting dressed: But to leave the house, she had to tuck her stomach skin into her jeans Ouch! Megan also had to use talcum powder to prevent chafing due to all the extra skin 'It's nice to feel normal again,' she told People. 'I started to get really depressed and kind of withdraw. There was nothing I could do in the gym or in the kitchen to repair my body. 'I got to the point where I finally got below 200lbs. and that was supposed to be a happy point. And though I was proud of myself, I was really disappointed with how the weight loss destroyed my body afterwards.' The show also follows 11 other people who get excess skin removed after shedding major pounds. Like Megan, the skin continued to weigh them down, making it difficult to shop for clothes and leading them to feel unattractive and depressed. Some of the people on the series even had six-packs hiding underneath their skin, but had no way to show them off. Don't look! Yelena Figueroa, 28, felt self-conscious at the gym because of her excess skin Sad surprise: She recalled how she expected to be able to show off her new body after losing weight, but that was not the case Also appearing on Wednesday night's episode is Yelena Figueroa, 28, from New York. 'Prior to surgery, in losing weight I thought I'd be able to show off and be proud of my new body, but after losing all that weight I realize that that wasn't the end of my journey,' she said in a preview clip. 'My excess skin is something new that I have to deal with.' That meant that even after losing plenty of weight, she was still self-conscious about hitting the gym. 'Usually when I go to the gym, I feel OK until I start working out. I feel that people are staring at me. It makes me upset, it makes me feel discouraged. It takes a toll on me mentally,' she said. Boost: Since her surgery, Yelena says she feels like a new woman and she had more confidence 'And it's just really embarrassing because it's beyond my control.' Before her surgery, she also struggled with believing that her fiance still found her attractive, because she didn't feel attractive herself. 'It brought questions in to play, like "How is my fiance still attracted to me if I look like this?" And he would reassure me that he was, but in my mind, if I didn't like it, how could he like it?' she told People. After surgery, though, those doubts have gone away. Dementia research is in an era of great optimism after a wave of breakthroughs, scientists say The first drugs to halt the advance of Alzheimers disease will be available within a decade, experts said last night. Scientists said dementia research is in an era of great optimism after a wave of breakthroughs and predicted the first drugs will be prescribed on the NHS by 2025. Professor John Hardy, of University College London, said scientists were awaiting the results of key trials expected in the coming months. If they are positive, scientists are ready to explore the area with more vigour. Professor Hardy, speaking at the Royal Society in London, said: I think we are on target for some therapies for 2025. 'When the drug trial results come out and if theyre positive we will know we are on the right road. When you are on the right road, you put your foot on the accelerator and you can go quicker, so those results are key. 'In the coming year we will know if we are already at the start of a new era of better treatments for slowing or stopping the development of Alzheimers disease. A key problem in the battle against dementia is that existing drugs only attack the diseases symptoms. Experts are focusing on therapies that have shown signs of slowing the disease itself by fighting the build-up of amyloid beta protein in the brain. Major trials of two drugs have shown signs of slowing the onset of Alzheimers with this method. Early trials of Solanezumab, made by US firm Eli Lilly, reduced the rate of mental decline by 34 per cent, according to results of published last year. Experts are awaiting the final trial results this year before making a judgement as to whether the drug delivered by a drip really works. A second drug, made by Bayer, is also in trials. Slowing the development of dementia would allow sufferers to live independently for longer. Experts estimate that delaying the onset of Alzheimers by five years could halve the number who die with the condition, currently a third of over-65s. In this scan, the red colours are a warning of Alzheimer's disease, the green a normal healthy brain Dr Doug Brown, of the Alzheimers Society, said: The development of treatments that can slow the rate of memory loss in Alzheimers disease will, without a doubt, mark a turning point in the way dementia is managed, and be life-changing for people with the condition. The tables are turning. A health chief, speaking at the same event, said dementia research is lagging 25 years behind cancer. Dame Gill Morgan, chairman of NHS Providers, said yesterday: Dementia is, in my view, the cruellest disease. It is a cruel disease because your family watch you declining, and they lose the person, but they keep the body. 'Studies show that dementia is now the most feared disease, it is more feared than cancer. An anorexic teenager who weighed little over four stone and given 48 hours to live has shared harrowing photos of her illness after a miraculous recovery. When Gemma Walker was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia aged 14, doctors warned she would die without treatment. The teen weighed a tiny 4.5 stone forcing her devastated parents to consider palliative care. Over the next seven years, she was admitted to hospital three times with one emergency care and two long term psychiatric and re-feeding admissions. Now 22, Miss Walker has posted both harrowing pictures and those which show her remarkable recovery to celebrate six months of being well. Scroll down for video Gemma Walker was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia aged 14, doctors warned she would die without treatment Miss Walker, who has recovered from her anorexia battle, shared pictures of herself to inspire other people who are battling with eating disorders She hopes that by sharing the shocking photos of her skeletal form and her return to health, she will inspire other people battling eating disorders. 'It's hard for me to look back at the photos, not so much how I physically looked but more so the feelings,' she said. 'I look at each photo and remember exactly how I was feeling, or what was behind that photograph. 'I felt numb, the days just melted into each other and I wished each day by, hoping that I would just pass peacefully in my sleep. My family and I were ready to let me pass.' Her father Steve revealed seeing pictures of his daughter at her worst brings back the pain and constant anguish he saw. 'They were the hardest and most terrifying years of our lives, checking on her each morning to see if she was still breathing, to see if her weak heart was still beating,' he said. 'Some nights we would just sit on the floor by her bed, just to be with her, there was nothing else we could do.' Miss Walker, from Gold Coast, Australia, was severely depressed would trick doctors to think she was gaining weight by wearing gym weights and began to self-harm to cope with the pain. And when she did take steps to recover, she found she struggled with binge eating and suffered from re-feeding syndrome. Miss Walker said she has now closed the 'huge chapter' in her life and says she is fully recovered Miss Walker was admitted to hospital three times and was told she was days from death without treatment When Miss Walker went into recovery, she would consume 6500 calories in just 20 minutes (right) causing her to pass out and experience hallucinations She was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia when she was 14 and struggled with it for several years Miss Walker's father, Steve, said he would check on her every morning to see if she was breathing The desperate teen would consume 6500 calories in just 20 minutes causing her to pass out and experience hallucinations. 'My recovery was very traumatic,' she said. I felt numb, the days just melted into each other and I wished each day by, hoping that I would just pass peacefully in my sleep. My family and I were ready to let me pass Gemma Walker, 22 My weight gain was very rapid. In less than seven months I put on 40 kilograms, tripling my body weight, however I was at my worst mentally. 'People believed I was better because I looked healthier that I was better and no longer anorexic. 'Chronic bingeing and bulimia lasted almost 18 months, it was a complete 360 from strict obsessive rules to complete loss of control.' Miss Walker credits her supportive parents and her partner for helping her defy the odds. Her father even encouraged her to write a 'goodbye letter' to anorexia. The envelope sat in her bottom draw for six years until December 2014, when she was finally ready to let go. She has now set up her own skincare and cosmetic business, Rejuvinateme, and is looking towards the future. She said: 'My partner has been an incredible support and is honestly the reason why I'm still alive. Miss Walker has put her recovery down to her supportive family and friends and says the chapter is now closed in her life as she looks forward to the future 'I also have my beautiful parents to thank, they literally been through everything with me, it's only now that I realise what incredible, loving parents they are. 'I am the happiest I've ever been now, it's such an amazing, surreal feeling. 'I do believe that I have fully recovered and that my anorexia is now just a huge chapter that has closed.' Mr Walker said her recovery has given the family 'so much joy.' 'She is full of energy and hope, which is something we never thought we'd see in our daughter again,' he said. 'Seven years is a long time to have your baby suffering, a long time to have your child numb, with no voice, no personality - just a lethal controlling obsession. 'She has overcome this by herself, we have merely been by her side.' Programme shows a woman reject him as he is unable to drink alcohol Matt, 40, says his stoma bag is the reason his previous relationship ended and men reject her when they find out The pair feature in a new series of Too Ugly for Love, which airs tonight The quest for love is difficult for most of us. Dating can be awkward and uncomfortable, and the possibility of being rejected is frightening. But imagine having a condition that leaves you mortified and that ruins your confidence with potential partners. In a heartbreaking new TV series, 12 singletons with an illness or defect bravely agree to be filmed as they try to find romance. The series, called Too Ugly for Love?, shows how their condition affects their daily life, and the difficulty of opening up about something they perceive to be embarrassing or personal. All of those featured fear they will never find love. Viewers meet Matt, a bodybuilder with a stoma bag, who finds dating extremely daunting and wants to meet a woman understanding enough to support him through his illness. Then there is Chloe, a beautician with alopecia, who says she never hears from men again after they discover she is bald. Across eight episodes, the programme tells the moving story of how they adapt to dating with an illness... Chloe, 29, has alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease which has led to her losing most of the hair on her head The condition has massively affected her confidence, and she has been single for four years. She says she goes on dates but never hears from men again when they find out she is bald THE BEAUTICIAN WITH NO HAIR Chloe, 29, a beautician originally from Australia, suffers from alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease which means she has lost most of the hair on her head. She is completely bald except for a small patch of hair at the back of her scalp. The condition has massively affected her confidence, and she has been single for four years. Finding a date isnt hard, she says, but holding on to a man is as she says men are scared away when she reveals she is bald. No matter if its the second or fourth date whenever Ive told them, Ive never heard from them again, she says. I never thought of myself as unattractive until the last two years.' Chloe wears a blonde wig, which she wears when she goes out in public. She said: Everyone hides something, some girls wear inches of foundation to hide imperfections, and I wear a wig to cover mine' Even when she goes on a date, she feels unconfident and finds it difficult to talk naturally. I used to be a big flirt, then the alopecia got worse and Im more self-conscious and closed off, she explained Her illness is the first thing she thinks about every day when she wakes up, she says. She added: This isnt me, Im not my alopecia. I just have alopecia. But at the moment its a big part of my life. It makes me feel less female, less attractive, less desirable. It has shattered my confidence. The film shows her putting on a blonde wig, which she wears when she goes out in public. Before her date, she lays out clothes on her bed, puts on make up, and arranges a wig. It makes me feel less female, less attractive, less desirable. It has shattered my confidence Chloe, 29, a beautician with alopecia Hiding her condition from men she is dating makes her feel guilty, she says. One of the things thats important to me is honesty. But I have alopecia and when I go on a date I hide it, so Im not honest. Everyone hides something - some girls wear inches of foundation to hide imperfections, and I wear a wig to cover mine. She first noticed her hair was falling out at age 14, when she pulled her hair into pigtails and saw she had a huge patch of hair. Then, as she got older, more and more hair fell out until she was completely bald. Now, when she has to meet a man on a date, she feels unconfident and finds it difficult to talk naturally. The show follows her on a date with music producer Ben, and, both a little shy, they struggle to make conversation. Chloe now struggles to tell potential partners she wears a wig. She said: One of the things thats important to me is honesty. But I have alopecia and when I go on a date I hide it, so Im not honest' At the end of the programme, Chloe did not see either of the men she dated again. After failing to find love in England, she has now moved back to Australia Eventually, Chloe makes an excuse to leave, barely a second after she has finished her coffee. I used to be a big flirt, then the alopecia got worse and Im more self-conscious and closed off, she explains. Reflecting on her problems dating, her friend Gemma says: She becomes defensive and protective and that breaks my heart. After failing to find love in England, Chloe has now moved back to Australia. THE BODYBUILDER WITH A STOMA BAG Matt, 40, a bodybuilder in Leeds, was forced to give up his job as a bouncer when he developed a bowel condition. Six months ago, doctors were forced to remove his bowel and he was fitted with a stoma, a hole in the stomach where the bowel protrudes, and a colostomy bag to collect his waste. Matt was previously in a relationship for six years but says it ended due to the strain of his illness. Now hoping to compete in bodybuilding competitions, he is desperate for a girlfriend. He says: I think I should be with someone, I think Im a loving person. I think I could bring a lot to a relationship. Youre not complete until youre with someone. I don't want to be alone in my 40s, I want to settle down. Matt, 40, has a bowel condition and had part of his intestines removed six months ago. He now has a stoma and a colostomy bag. During the programme, he is shown cleaning it Matt said going on a date with student nurse Jade was a 'big step' for him. However, when he revealed he cannot drink due to his bowel condition, she said she was no longer interested Viewers first see him working out at the gym, appearing the picture of health with rippling muscles. But later he is seen cleaning his stoma, applying adhesive to his colostomy bag, and smoothing it on to his stomach, fastening a strap around his waist. He says he is conscious his health problems are the reason his previous relationship broke down. My condition has affected my love life because my ex-partner had to support me financially and that took its toll. It was hard to the point where the relationship ended, he says. Just before going on a date for the show he is unsure whether he should mention his condition or not. My condition has affected my love life because my ex-partner had to support me financially and that took its toll Matt, 40, a bodybuilder with a colostomy bag He says: Its about being truthful, I would like to mention it at some point. Im not someone whos keen on dating so the sooner I meet someone the better. Before his date he has to pack a bag that he must carry with him everywhere. This includes gel packs, which he can add into his colostomy bag to solidify the waste if it become too liquid, as well as wet wipes he can use to clean his stoma. Matts date, with nursing student Jade, begins well the pair crack jokes and chat away easily. He shows her pictures of his bodybuilding competition, and they laugh about the amount of fake tan he is wearing. But after mentioning he doesnt drink alcohol, Jade looks taken aback and asks why. Matt explains about his bowel condition, his colostomy bag and his desire to compete in bodybuilding competitions wearing it. Jade appears to be sympathetic to his condition, making a joke about how he could put fake tan on the bag. She says: Im going to be a nurse so I know about these things. Matt is shown putting on his colostomy bag before a date. Every time he leaves the house, he has to carry gel packs to add to the bag, as well as wet wipes Matt said his previous relationship broke down as his partner had to support him financially when he couldn't work. Now, he says he is looking for someone who understands his condition means there will be 'bad times' After the date, Matt is proud it went well, revealing he was very nervous. That was quite a big day for me, this is not something I do, he says. But Jade tells the cameras she is not interested. While his colostomy bag doesnt bother her, his inability to drink means they are incompatible, she says. The person for me is the understanding person that realises there will be the bad times, and knows you have to get through them for the good times Matt, 40, a bodybuilder with a colostomy bag She says: Hes not exactly my sort of person. Because he doesnt drink, thats what I do to socialise. Because he doesnt drink, sounds silly but, what are you going to do?' And in the weeks after the date, Matt became ill and was rushed to hospital as his bowel collapsed. Now sporting a full beard, he is shown putting get well cards cards from friends and family on his mantelpiece. Dating someone when he may be rushed to hospital makes it hard, he confides to the camera. And his latest period in hospital made him realise he is looking for a kind and understanding person, who will support him even when he is ill. He says: When you get taken ill, you realise how dependent you are on other people. In reality, if I had met someone at the moment it would have been very difficult for them. He adds: The person for me is the understanding person that realises there will be the bad times, and knows you have to get through them for the good times. Ill be back at the gym, out back. Every setback leads to a good comeback. 'MENINGITIS LEFT ME WITH NO TOES AND HAS RUINED MY CONFIDENCE' Michelle, 39, lost a fifth of the skin on her legs and most of her toes to meningococcal septicaemia, and feels she'll never be confident enough to get close to anyone. This is where an infection on the surface of the brain gets into the bloodstream and causes blood poisoning as bacteria multiplies rapidly. It is a medical emergency and can be fatal if it isn't treated immediately. Michelle, 39, lost a fifth of the skin on her legs and most of her toes to Meningococcal Septicaemia, and feels she'll never be confident enough to get close to anyone Michelle says she has been left with skin that looks 'like snakeskin' and says she cannot go swimming as she fears she would scare the children Two years ago, Michelle, an administrative clerk, was rushed to hospital, with the deadly infection, which caused her heart and liver to fail. Two weeks later, she woke up from an induced coma, and had lost all the toes on her feet. She was also left with damage to 20 per cent of the skin on her feet, leaving her legs looking patchy and like snakeskin. This leaves her embarrassed - and afraid she is undesirable. I have to wear socks. Whod go out like that? I cant go swimming because Im worried Id scare the children. Michelle, who has an 11-year-old daughter called Keira, hasnt been on even date since her marriage ended, as she fears having to talk about her illness. Michelle hasnt been on any dates since her marriage ended as she fears having to talk about her illness During the programme, Michelle is able to tell her date Curtis about her condition. She said: It was something I felt I needed to say. I wasnt calm about it, but I couldnt start blubbering in front of him The programme sees her meeting date Curtis for a drink and follows their conversation in the pub. Afterwards, Michelle feels it went well, and calls the event a landmark. She said: I didnt mention anything about the meningitis. Im so proud I was able to go on a date with a man and converse and not go dumb. But on their next date, he asks why she doesnt go swimming with her daughter, and immediately she clams up. Well, thats a conversation. Ill go into that later one. We should eat our dinner first, she mumbles. After plucking up the courage to tell him the story, he thanks her afterwards. Michelle describes how difficult it is for her to tell potential partners about She says: It was something I felt I needed to say. I wasnt calm about it, but I couldnt start blubbering in front of him. Reflecting on their date, they recognise they get on well, but decide to remain friends. Advertisement Season 2 of Too Ugly for Love? airs at 9pm tonight on TLC The arrival of a new baby can be hard on a relationship. Romantic dates and impromptu kisses are often replaced by sleepless nights and dirty diapers. Relaxing by the fire with a bottle of wine is swapped for days full of breast pumps and baby formula. And so, a once-amorous couple quickly transform into exhausted parents. However, a relationship can survive the arrival of a newborn and even thrive, according to Swedish scientists. Experts from University of Gothenburg in Sweden identified five ways new parents can save their relationship. Having a new child can be exhausting - and many relationships end up suffering as a result. Experts from University of Gothenberg in Sweden conducted a study into why relationships can fail after the birth of a child - and identified five tips to avoid an 'unnecessary separation' According to the study, thirty per cent of all parents of young children in Sweden separate. The average age of the first time of separation or divorce is close to five years of age, the study found. Scientists had 452 parents answer a scientific questionnaire that measured relationship quality in five different dimensions: consensus, cohesion, satisfaction, sensuality and sexuality. The questionnaire was answered at three occasions: when the first child was six months old, four years old and then eight years old. As a result of the study, the researchers came up with five tips to keep a relationships flame alive: 1. CLEAR COMMUNICATION Couples should speak openly, clearly, and with straight-forward messages. These messages should include I feelings such as I feel this way. And, those messages should be honest and leave no room for misinterpretation. Because whether a couple is able to communicate through this difficult time could make or break the relationship, the study found. 2. BE SENSUAL Its important for a couple to be sensual in every day life even after a babys arrival. New parents should make it a point to hug each other. Furthermore, they should be generous with kisses and physical contact. It's important for new parents to communicate clearly, with straight-forward messages, the experts found. Also, making it a point to remain sensual even after the arrival of a child can keep the spark alive Malin Hansson, doctoral student at the university, said: When the child was four years old, both sexuality and sensuality were at constant low levels both among the couples who separated and those who had not. 3. SPEND TIME TOGETHER Making time for a relationship when a babys in the picture can be tough. But, experts stressed the importance of partners spending time together. Its important to spend time both as a couple and also as a family. Researchers noted that in couples that ended up separating, most reported feeling less satisfied with the relationship when the child was six months old. They also felt less togetherness and lower quality in their sex lives compared to those who did not separate. 4. AFFIRMATION It can be difficult to feel positive when youre exhausted. But, despite any negative feelings you may have, make sure you dont extend them to your partner. New parents should also ensure that they spend a lot of time together - both as a couple and as a family Instead, make it a point to give each other appreciation and love. A lack of affirmation can lead to a couple's downfall, scientists reported. In fact, the study found the seven biggest factors leading to separation included stressful conditions, parenthood strain, lack of intimacy, no commitment (in the relationship), differing personalities. 5. GET HELP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE In order for a relationship to survive, its vital to pay attention to its heartbeat. Thats because relationship trouble can pop up and flourish if you arent looking closely. At the first sign of trouble, dont immediately abandon ship. Instead, seek help from professionals such as marriage counselors before its too late. Because according to the study, many couples end up getting unnecessary divorces. Ms Hansson said: It is not always bad that parents separate. But there are "unnecessary divorces" that are a result of communication problems or a temporary downturn in the relationship, which could be avoided with more support. Even before the dust has settled on the audacious terror attack on Pathankot Air Force station, the Indian Air Force has raised an alarm over the security of its Rajokri station on the Delhi-Gurgaon border. The IAF has written to the Gurgaon administration asking them to immediately stop all commercial activities at the Dhanchiri Camp adjoining the air base on National Highway-8. In the letter, the IAF expressed dissatisfaction over security arrangements made by the Gurgaon administration. This assumes significance in the wake of Army Chief General Dalbir Singh ordering a security audit of military establishments across the country. Dhanchiri Camp is a 60-acre plot owned by the tourism department of Haryana, which is rented out for social and religious functions. It is not well lit and turns into a safe haven for anti-social elements and sex workers after sunset. The army chief raised concerns on rampant commercial activities surrounding military bases that could potentially become huge security threats. The air base is situated within the jurisdiction of Delhi but shares its south-western boundary with Gurgaon. Dhanchiri Camp is a 60-acre plot owned by the tourism department of Haryana which is rented out to private individuals or firms for organising social and religious functions. Sources said the area remains unguarded and hence is a concern for the security forces. The Dhanchiri Camp area is not well lit and turns into a safe haven for anti-social elements and sex workers after sunset. Locals rue that the area is also prone to petty crimes. Currently, a nearly 30-feet high pandal is being erected at the venue which overlooks the 10-feet boundary wall of the air base. Sources said one could easily sneak in through the boundary wall of the air base taking advantage of the commercial activities in the vicinity. The IAF has written to the Gurgaon administration asking them to immediately stop all commercial activities at Dhanchiri Camp adjoining the air base on NH-8 High alert Security agencies in Delhi have been on high alert ever since two Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists reportedly sneaked into the national Capital following the Pathankot attack. Intelligence inputs say the extremists may target defence establishments, particularly in the Delhi Cantonment area and the air force stations, ahead of the Republic Day celebrations. Sources said the location of the Rajokri air force station is such that miscreants could also take advantage of the inter-state territorial dispute between Delhi and Gurgaon police. Gurgaon deputy commissioner TL Satya Prakash confirmed the development and said: A letter from IAF Rajokri station has been received and officials have been directed to take necessary precautions. We will assess the situation and all efforts will be made to secure the air force station. Prakash, however, said the venue has already been booked for a marriage ceremony to be held on January 27 and the permission for this particular event cannot be cancelled. Since the Pathankot terror attack, security of defence establishments is our utmost priority. Dhanchiri Camp was booked for a marriage ceremony much before the Pathankot attack. We will certainly find a solution to this, Prakash said. Despite concerns, the administration has only directed the organisers to maintain a 100-metre distance from the air base boundary wall Despite concerns, the administration has only directed the organisers to maintain a 100-metre distance from the air base boundary wall, which, sources said, is insufficient from a security angle. Prakash and other top district officials inspected the area on Tuesday. The deputy commissioner directed organisers to acquire valid no-objection certificates (NOCs) from the fire brigade and other concerned departments before making arrangements for the function. Clearance We had booked the venue for January 27 well in advance with the Haryana tourism department. We are in the process of getting the necessary clearance from the concerned authorities. We will abide by all instructions of the district administration, said a supervising officer at the event. Dhanchiri Camp was developed in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in 2010 under the Incredible India campaign to promote tourism in the state. The objective was to offer camping experience to foreign tourists and players. Since the initiative failed, the tourism department now rents out the area for private functions to earn revenue. 'NSG best force to deal with hostage crisis' By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi Army chief Dalbir Singh defended the plan to send in the NSG Giving rest to speculation that top Army brass were upset with the National Security Guards (NSG) being asked to take on terrorists in Pathankot airbase, Army chief Dalbir Singh defended the plan to send in the NSG, saying it is the best force to deal with the hostage situation. Admitting that some lessons can be learnt, he also expressed concern over infiltration along the borders with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with BSF. He asserted that there was no lack of synergy or coordination between different agencies during the operation. There was no lack of coordination and local commanders had complete liberty in planning and execution of the counter-terror operation which was carried out under Western Army Commander Lt Gen KJ Singh. The Army chief said he was monitoring the operation but the Western Commander had complete liberty in its planning and execution. Dalbir said the siege of a building near the Indian consulate in Afghanistans Mazar-i-Sharif was not connected to the Pathankot attack but added that only a thorough probe would give details. The Army chief indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot airbase but clarified that no one got in once the Army cordon was placed along the 24 km-long wall. Giving details of the operation, the Army chief said the crisis management committee under National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met before the Pathankot attack and he had alerted commanders in Northern and Western sectors. His comments came amid questions raised by experts as to why there was multiple change in command and why the NSG, a paramilitary force under the Home Ministry, led the operation. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the families of those killed in Pathankot Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reached Punjab to meet the families of the security personnel and a taxi driver gunned down by terrorists in Pathankot. Kejriwal announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin. The AAP leader held a meeting with the families of those who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase. Kejriwal, whose party is eyeing to wrest power in the 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab, is scheduled to address a political conference in Muktsar on Thursday. Nirupam in a fix There was unease in the Mumbai Congress as city unit chief Sanjay Nirupam was asked by the AICC to explain how an article questioning the policies of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru could get published in Congress Darshan, a party-backed journal. The move, which comes ahead of Rahuls two-day Mumbai visit beginning January 15, left Nirupam in a fix. Nirupam was busy making preparations for the party vice-presidents visit. The writeup had left the Congress red faced. Voters' festival Election Commission of India is organising Matdaata Mahotsav (January 14-17) at Central Park in Connaught Place, ahead of the 6th National Voters Day on January 25. Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi will open the event, which will see four-day long gala festivities, and will focus on involving voters and citizens from all walks of life, specifically women, youth, defence personnel, non-resident Indians, persons with disabilities, and those from marginalised sections. The drive is to create a sense of inclusion and greater awareness about the electoral process. Swachh failure It seems the BJP is not able to live up to the ideals of Swachh Bharat Mission. Though party leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have turned the mission into a flagship campaign of the government, the partys own national headquarters on Ashoka Road is a testimony to apathy to cleanliness. The toilets are in a dilapidated condition and remain filthy throughout the day without periodic cleaning. The public toilet, apart from the new library building, is a stinking mess where not just the urinals, but even the floor bears witness to dirt and grime. Vacancies in HCs The collegium headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur has decided to start the process of filling over 400 vacancies in high courts throughout the country and five in the Supreme Court. According to sources, it has agreed to go ahead with the process without necessarily waiting for the Centre to prepare a fresh memorandum of procedure (MoP) for fixing the eligibility and other criteria for the judges. The high courts have 443 vacancies, out of the total sanctioned strength of 1,044. With right-of-centre governments in power in the worlds major democracies - India, Britain, Germany and Japan, similar to the trend seen across the United States, Europe and South America - is there a global ideological shift taking place? Venezuela and Poland are the latest countries to lurch politically right-wards. Britain has had a right-wing conservative government since May 2010. Germanys Angela Merkel completed 10 years in office last November. Japans right-of-centre prime minister Shinzo Abe is well into his second term. France is seeing a huge wave in favour of right-wing parties. Marine Le Pen could be a serious challenger to socialist president Francois Hollande in the 2017 presidential election. Narendra Modi with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, Japans right-of-centre prime minister Liberals In Sweden and the Netherlands right-of-centre parties are topping opinion polls. Denmark and Hungary too are witnessing an ideological lurch to the right. In the United States, the Republicans could well win the White House in November 2016. What about Canadas left-liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau, who defeated conservative Stephen Harper last year? Is he an outlier, merely bucking a trend or do the right-wing (conservative) and left-wing (liberal) terms need to be redefined politically? Liberals, as a new Pew Research Centre survey found, are actually quite illiberal - at least on social media. They tend to be more intolerant of opposing points of view than those on the right. Analysing the Pew research findings, Becca Stanek wrote: Conservatives tend to have circles of friends who mirror their political views, and liberals are more likely to cut ties online with those who disagree with them politically. Pew reports that roughly four in 10 consistent liberals on Facebook (44 per cent) say they have blocked or unfriended someone on social media because they disagreed with something the person posted about on politics. In comparison, 31 per cent of conservatives and only 26 per cent of all Facebook users were reported to do the same. This unfriending impulse can extend to the real world, too. The study found that about 24 per cent of liberals have stopped talking to someone because of opposing political viewpoints, compared to 16 per cent of conservatives and 10 per cent of those with mixed political viewpoints. A social liberal who, for example, favours LGBT rights, gender equality, womens empowerment and personal freedoms could be a right-of-centre fiscal conservative favouring open markets, foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic liberalisation. In short, both a social and economic reformist. Today such a person would fit into neither ideological silo - neither right-wing or left-wing. Socialist In contrast, a person who is a socialist on economic policy but a social liberal would be wrongly characterised as left-liberal. There is nothing liberal about socialist economic dogma that has financially ruined countries from North Korea to Cuba. Sitaram Yechury, who heads the CPI(M), exemplifies the failure of such a povertarian ideology. In India, the RSS is on the wrong side of both social and economic policy. It is socially illiberal. It opposes gay rights and has a paternalistic attitude towards women. On economics, it opposes FDI in several sectors, including multibrand retail, betraying a closed, even cloistered, mind. A self-confident India needs to deploy foreign resources for Indian benefit. During British colonial rule, the opposite occurred: Indian resources were used for foreign benefit. It is time the RSS developed the nous to embrace modern culture and liberal economics. Paradoxically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an economic liberaliser by instinct, as he showed for over 12 years as chief minister of Gujarat. By exiling Vishva Hindu Parishads Pravin Togadia from Gujarat he demonstrated pragmatism. Modi further displayed a modernisers mindset: He made it mandatory for property in Gujarat to include the wifes name as the first owner. It is a pity he has been unable to convince the RSS to alter its mindset. If the RSS wants to be a long-term influence on the minds of a rapidly modernising, youthful India, it will have to change. As an RSS pracharak, Modi has made that change, both in social and economic thinking, embracing a contemporary worldview. The RSS mentored him. It is his turn to mentor the RSS. One of the main reasons for the rightwards political shift in countries as diverse as Poland and Venezuela is a combination of economics and security. Terrorism, the rise of ISIS and the migrant influx have made electorates across Europe more nationalistic and insular. Eastern Europe has closed its borders to refugees, citing fears over Islamist violence carried over from Syria, Iraq and Libya. Factors In Venezuela, the fears are economic. The oil price crash from $115 per barrel in May 2014 to $30 per barrel today has plunged its economy into crisis. Last month, Venezuelans voted against the United Socialist Party (PSUV) that the late Hugo Chavez, a socialist icon, had helmed. A ragtag coalition, including right-wing parties, won a majority. In Britain, the left is in disarray. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist, is not nationally electable. Unless an internal coup in Labour dethrones him and picks a more centrist leader, like Hilary Benn, the Conservatives are guaranteed a third successive term in 2020. In India the left, led by Sitaram Yechury, is in a shambles. Yechury is a 19th century politician who will lead the left into well-deserved oblivion in the next Lok Sabha election. But the illiberal-left in India, unlike in the rest of the world, has many claimants. They range from the Congress and the JD(U) to the Trinamool Congress and the AAP. If a patchwork combination is ever voted into office, India could be set back by years. Smuggling cell phones, narcotics and other contraband items into jails with the help of prison officials is passe in Bihar. Prison authorities have now been charged with fixing a secret meeting between a gangster and his under-trial wife behind bars. An inquiry into the pregnancy of an under-trial, Pooja Kumari, the wife of absconding gangster Mukesh Pathak, has revealed that she used to meet her husband inside the office of the assistant jailor at Sheohar jail, where both of them were lodged in connection with different cases last year. Absconding gangster Mukesh Pathak is married to under-trial Pooja Kumari, and pair reportedly met behind bars with the help of Bihar prison staff Pathak, the prime suspect in the recent Darbhanga engineers killing case, is accused of being the sharpshooter of the Santosh Jha gang, which has been active in several north Bihar districts over the years. Police suspect that Pathak led the operation at the behest of Jha, currently lodged in jail. He has since been absconding and is believed to be have sneaked into Nepal now. According to sources, separate inquiries conducted by the Sheohar district magistrate and the jail superintendent of Muzaffarpur central jail have found that Mukesh and Pooja used to meet in the office of the assistant jailor in connivance with prison staff. They had spent time with each other in gross violation of the jail manual, allegedly with the help of an official and four other staff on June 13. Mukesh escaped on July 20 last year after drugging the security personnel at the local hospital. Pooja was subsequently shifted to Muzaffarpur central jail, where she was found to be pregnant. According to prison officials, she admitted that her husband Pathak was the father of her unborn child. Officials came to know about Poojas pregnancy after Pathaks name cropped up as the main accused in the recent killing of two engineers in Darbhanga. As per the police record, Pathak had got married to Pooja, who was in Sheohar jail in connection with an abduction case, in October 2013, after obtaining prior permission of the court. The marriage was solemnised in the presence of senior police and prison officials. However, they were not supposed to meet each in private during their prison terms, as per the jail manual. Prison department sources said both the inquiry reports have held the erstwhile assistant jailer and four warders responsible for the incident. It is not just the information technology sector that seems to be attracting people to Indias Silicon Valley, Bengaluru. Believe it or not, begging seems to be a lucrative profession these days in the IT capital of the country and the heritage city of Mysuru, with as many as 169 graduates, postgraduates and diploma holders, including 68 women, begging on the streets. The population census carried out in 2011 revealed that there were 10,682 beggars in Karnataka spread across the 30 districts of the state. The highest number of people seeking alms was in the capital (1,368). One educated beggar in Bengaluru is reportedly earning more than Rs 12,000 per month simply by explaining his family's predicament to passers-by. (Picture for representation only) Recently, the Karnataka government interpreted the data to bring the beggars, especially the literate ones, into mainstream society - but found that many of them were unwilling to give up begging. Authorities were more shocked to find that youths who had completed postgraduate and graduate courses and diplomas were moving into begging full-time, as they could earn more money. We are appalled to see that youths are into begging full-fledged as they can make more money. We tried counseling them but many of them made it clear that they would not give up begging. We are evolving a programme to find employment for these youth. We are hopeful of convincing them to give up begging, a senior official in the department of social welfare said. The official cited the example of a beggar who is seen in high-profile areas of Bengaluru like MG Road and Commercial Street. He falls under the smart beggar category. He approaches people and tells them about his familys plight. We learnt that he earns more than Rs 12,000 per month. In his previous job as a factory employee, he earned just Rs 6,000 per month. Many of these educated beggars told us that they earn more through begging than routine jobs, the official added. The profile of the educated beggars is interesting. Out of over 10,000 beggars, 2,547 are literate while 1,446 have completed high school. As many as 459 beggars have studied up to Class X and Class XII. A total of 23 beggars are diploma holders in various technical subjects. In Bengaluru, 77 beggars are graduates/ postgraduates, while another 25 beggars have obtained technical diplomas. Another 206 beggars have studied up to Class X and Class XII in the city. Mysuru has the second highest number of educated beggars with 12 graduates. The prosperous hill station of Kodagu district has the least beggars - 30 - of whom 14 are literate. The department of social welfare intends to rope in NGOs and public forums to engage these educated beggars so that they find jobs in suitable organisations. The Las Vegas dancer who accuses Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting her at the Playboy Mansion has launched a singing career - and her first song is a hip-hop 'diss track' about the comic. Chloe Goins has vowed to continue her fight against Cosby despite criminal charges being ruled out by Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. And she says her first song is her way of hitting back at the man she says drugged and attacked her at Hugh Hefner's mansion in 2008. The song called 'Bill Cosby: Diss-Record' also covers all the pain Cosby's alleged sexual crimes have caused her and his other alleged victims. SCROLL DOWN TO LISTEN TO THE TRACK High note: Chloe Goins (pictured in studio) launches singing career with rap song hitting back at Bill Cosby, who the model says drugged and sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008 New gig: Chloe recently signed as a recording artist with Always a Hit Productions in La Jolla, California, working with music producer Jammin'J (right). She says, 'the criminal justice system has failed me in the pursuit of justice against Bill Cosby. But my spirit can never be broken' Accusation: Goins was 18 and a Las Vegas dancer at the time she claims the attack happened. She tells how Cosby gave her a drink and that she awoke to find him biting her toes with his pants around his ankles Goins, aka Chlo-Chlo, sings: 'Hey Bill, bet'cha think you're pretty slick huh, making sure you drugged us thinking that we would forget ya. 'But we didn't, now everyone knows, you'll keep getting protested and booed out ya shows.' The song continued: 'You kept on for all these years, too bad for you your victims were women with voices to hear. 'It's not going away it's time to face the facts, I can guarantee that you'll never make a come back.' The chorus goes: 'What'ya gonna do Bill, popping pills on the girls when they come through. 'What'ya gonna do Bill, now the whole world knows what you were up to.' Goins, 25, who recently signed as a recording artist with Always a Hit Productions in La Jolla, California, working with music producer Jammin'J, said: 'The criminal justice system has failed me in the pursuit of justice against Bill Cosby. But my spirit can never be broken. 'I may not be the one to put him behind bars, but this song will haunt him forever. 'I wrote this song in dedication to the dozens of other women who will never see justice, as a reminder to them to stand up for themselves.' Cosby, 78, was told on Wednesday that he will not be prosecuted in Los Angeles for the alleged assault on Goins in 2008. Off the hook: Bill Cosby (pictured last Wednesday) will not face criminal charges in two separate alleged sexual assault incidents that occurred in Los Angeles, including that of Goins Charged: Cosby's mugshot was taken in Pennsylvania when he was charged with felony sexual assault. He has been accused by more than 50 women of drugging and attacking them The decision by the district attorney for Los Angeles County was a rare piece of good news for the comedian, who was last week charged with felony sexual assault, and has been accused by more than 50 women of drugging and attacking them. He was also told he would not be charged with another alleged attack in Los Angeles, an allegation that he assaulted a 17-year-old in 1965. Goins, who was 18 and a Las Vegas dancer at the time, had alleged that she met Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in the summer of 2008, he gave her a drink and that she awoke to find him biting her toes with his pants around his ankles. But the Los Angeles District Attorney pointed out that there was insufficient evidence to bring a successful prosecution. Nevertheless, Goins' lawyer Spencer Kevin says the decision in no way affects the civil lawsuit filed against Cosby, which is proceeding. Goins' song will be released this week via iTunes, Facebook and all major online music retailers. It can also be found at www.alwaysahitproductions.com. A man who allegedly shot a police officer in the thigh inside a hospital is believed to have been on the drug ice at the time of the incident. Daily Mail Australia understands the man, who works as a nurse at Westmead Hospital, was undergoing treatment for his drug addiction at Nepean Hospital, west of Sydney, when he held a pair of scissors against the throat of a female doctor late on Tuesday night. The 39-year-old nurse has been charged with shooting with an intent to murder, discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest, and detaining a person for advantage after he was arrested at the scene. Scroll down for video Daily Mail Australia can reveal the 39-year-old man, who allegedly shot a police officer in the thigh, is believed to have been on the drug ice at the time of the incident. The officer is in a 'critical but stable' condition It is understood the man, who works as a nurse at Westmead Hospital, was undergoing treatment for his drug addiction at Nepean Hospital when he held a pair of scissors to a female doctor's throat The officer and a security guard were shot at Nepean Hospital, in Kingswood - a south-west suburb of Sydney - just before 10:30pm on Tuesday He was expected to appear at Penrith Local Court on Wednesday, but his hearing was delayed as the nurse claimed he was too unwell to appear. Daily Mail Australia has been told the 39-year-old complained of an injury to the face, which he believed might be a broken jaw. He underwent a medical assessment and returned to Nepean Hospital for observation. It is unclear when he suffered the injury. The police officer he is accused of shooting, Senior Constable Luke Warburton, remains in hospital after a bullet went through his left thigh, striking his femoral artery. The same bullet hit security guard Barry Jennings in the calf as he tried to help calm the situation. Mr Jennings was standing behind Snr Const Warburton when he was hit and has undergone almost five hours of surgery to remove the bullet from his leg. The police officer who was shot has been identified as Luke Warburton (above) who works with the NSW Police Dog Squad Mr Jennings was standing behind Snr Const Warburton when he was hit and has undergone almost five hours of surgery to remove the bullet (Pictured with wife Belinda) The 48-year-old guard, who was one of four on duty at the complex, has worked at Nepean Hospital for more than five years. He is now being comforted by his wife Belinda and two sons. A second guard, identified only as Warren, suffered shrapnel wounds when up to two shots were fired. He described it 'like a horror movie, there was blood everywhere - on the walls and on the floors.' He received treatment overnight and was released. A third guard named Allan Andrews has been hailed a hero after he dragged Snr Const Warburton clear of the gunman. He was also among the first to tend to Snr Const Warburton's wound, pressing on his leg to try and stem the blood flow. A source told Daily Mail Australia Snr Const Warburton, who suffered serious blood loss, was lucky to survive. 'He would have bled to death if he wasn't at a hospital,' the source said. Daily Mail Australia understands four security staff were involved in the incident. It is not yet known how many shots were fired during the scuffle. The senior constable, with his dog Chuck, was involved in the capture of double murderer Malcolm Naden. Both are pictured above on the Today show Mark Marion, whose wife is a nurse at the hospital, said police took the 39-year-old man to the hospital for assessment earlier in the night. He remains there under police guard At least 13 police cars were dispatched to the area following reports of the incident Paramedics make their way into Nepean Hospital after the incident. A witness said the nurse was holding a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor Officers taking away what is presumably evidence in a bag. The shooter has been arrested by police It is understood detectives are waiting for the full effects of drug to wear off before questioning the alleged shooter. He was also reportedly out on bail for attempted robbery charges. The officer, identified by 9News as Snr Const Warburton, and the guard were shot after the scuffle broke out when they tried to take the patient into custody just before 10.30pm on Tuesday. The patient had actually been subdued earlier in the day by two police officers in a nearby Penrith suburb and taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment for drug-use. During the struggle, the 39-year-old man was able to grab the officer's gun and managed to turn the weapon on the pair. The officer works with the NSW Police Dog Squad and has assisted in the capture of fugitive Malcolm Naden who was convicted of double murder in 2013. Mark Marion, whose wife is a nurse at the hospital, said police had taken the man to Nepean for assessment earlier that night. 'Police picked him up from Mount Druitt and released him into the care of the hospital,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'He snapped when the doctors walked in and that is when the security guard and police officer wrestled with him.' A witness described the frantic scene to Daily Mail Australia. The officer has been taken into emergency surgery while the shooter has been detained by police. Pictured are officers at the scene A critical incident team from North West Metropolitan Region will investigate the attack at the hospital. Above is an exterior of Nepean Hospital The Nepean Hospital is located in Sydney's south west near the town of Penrith 'The cop sprayed capsicum spray at him - a lot of it, it was everywhere in emergency but he didn't stop - that's when he went for his gun,' he said. The Health Services Union (HSU) demanded security guards be armed with handcuffs while working inside emergency departments. 'Now with drugs like ice- and alcohol-fuelled violence emergency departments are becoming battlegrounds than actually areas of care,' HSU Secretary Gerard Hayes said. Following the incident, fear has gripped other patients arriving at the hospital. One pregnant woman asked: 'Is it safe to go inside, are there people in there with guns?' A second witness, who is another patient at the hospital, told The Daily Telegraph the shooter had been holding a pair of scissors to a female doctor's neck when Snr Const Warburton and security guard attempted to throw him on a bed. 'A guy was screaming and shouting and holding a [knife] to a woman's throat, we couldn't make out what he was saying,' the man said. 'Security came running and started evacuating the area. A police officer came running in, he was overalls, and tried to calm the situation down.' Mr Marion said the officer was immediately rushed into emergency surgery. A critical incident team from North West Metropolitan Region will investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. Ciara Meyer, 12, pictured above was shot dead A constable serving an eviction order at a central Pennsylvania apartment fired at an armed tenant but the bullet missed him and fatally struck his 12-year-old daughter, authorities said. Constable Clark Steele went to the apartment near Duncannon, about 10 miles northwest of Harrisburg, at about 10am Monday to enforce a district judge's eviction order, state police said Tuesday. Donald Meyer, 57, answered the door, closed it, then reopened it and exchanged words briefly with the constable, police said. He then pointed a loaded .223-caliber rifle that had been 'slung and concealed along his body' at the constable's chest, according to police. Ciara Meyer, 12, was standing behind her father. Steele, investigators said, drew his own .40-caliber weapon and fired once, but the bullet went through Donald Meyer's upper left arm and hit Ciara. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Scroll down for video Ciara Meyer, pictured in a Facebook photograph, left, and on a Go Fund me account, right, was pronounced dead at the scene The constable went to the apartment near Duncannon, about 10 miles northwest of Harrisburg, at about 10am Monday to enforce a district judge's eviction order, state police said Tuesday Pennlive.com, citing an eviction notice, reported the family was being evicted because it hadn't paid '$1,780.85 in back rent and costs.' 'Rent was $660 per month, and the family was $1,452.60 in arrears,' the website reported. Pennlive reported that the family received a complaint on December 3, after the landlord filed it on November 30. An order for possession was made December 28 and served two days later, Pennlive's report said. A neighbor told ABC 27 that Ciara was a: 'Very kind, sweet kid. 'Here's a little girl that doesn't even have a chance to grow up and live her life, and all because of this senseless act. 'Its horrible, absolutely heartbreaking.' State police said the suspect's rifle was found 'with a loaded chamber and a magazine containing 30 rounds.' In Pennsylvania, constables are elected officials with limited law enforcement powers. They serve warrants, transport prisoners and perform other duties for Pennsylvania's district courts, the lowest level of the judiciary. Donald Meyer was flown to Hershey Medical Center for treatment. He is charged with aggravated and simple assault, terroristic threats, and recklessly endangering another person. A phone listed in his name wasn't working Tuesday and court documents don't list an attorney who could respond to the accusations. Apartment complex employees were at the scene to assist with and witness the eviction and provided statements to investigators, police said Apartment complex employees were at the scene to assist with and witness the eviction and provided statements to investigators, police said. The Susquenita School District, while not commenting on whether Ciara was a student in the district, said psychologists and guidance counselors were working with counselors to provided support to students and staff. Ciara's aunt Hope Cordas Rhode wrote on Facebook Monday: 'My friends please pray for our family. 'My sisters niece who always called me aunt Hope was killed this morning. 'We are so broken as she was just a little girl and we loved her so much. My heart hurts so very much. 'Such a sad world this is when an innocent child is shot and killed. May God give us peace.' She also posted images of the girl, and wrote on Facebook: 'My sweet little niece is gone.' A GoFundMe page called 'Ciara's Fund' has been set up for her funeral arrangements. Jon Ritzheimer is a participant in the ongoing occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon The armed militants who are occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon showed frustration on Monday after receiving boxes stuffed with rubber penises. Meanwhile, mounting local opposition against the occupation led leaders of the gun-toting radical group to promise to present an exit strategy. Jon Ritzheimer, a participant in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, published a video on his Facebook page on Monday in which he rants about receiving what he calls 'hate mail,' then proceeds to pull out a rubber dildo from a box. 'This one is really funny,' Ritzheimer says as he pulls up a small bag of penis-shaped candy from one of the packages that lay on a table in front of him. 'A bag of d***s!' Ritzheimer exclaims in the video before sweeping all the gifts off of the table in a dramatic gesture. 'We're not going to let all your junk and hate mail sidetrack us,' Ritzheimer vows before urging sympathetic 'patriots' to come join the illegal occupation. The activists are holed up in the wildlife refuge to oppose federal land-management policies. Jon Ritzheimer holds up a skin-colored dildo that was sent in the mail to his activist group, which is holed up at a wildlife refuge in Oregon 'A bag of d***s!' Ritzheimer says as he pulls out a small bag of penis-shaped candy from a box sent in the mail Ritzheimer expressed frustration over receiving box after box of what he calls 'hate mail' from pranksters around the country In a dramatic gesture, Ritzheimer sweeps the boxes, some of which included sex toys, off the table in a video posted on Monday After wiping the table clean of what he calls 'hate mail,' Ritzheimer urged supportive Americans to come join the illegal occupation The occupation of the national wildlife refuge, which has gone on since January 2, has met fierce opposition from local residents in the community of Burns, which lies 30 miles from the occupation site. At a community meeting that hundreds attended on Monday night, local residents repeatedly asked the group to leave. They included a Burns High School freshman, who got a standing ovation from the crowd. 'And I just want them to go home so I can feel safe and I can feel like it is home again,' 15-year-old Ashlie Presley said with tears in her eyes, referring to the armed men. 'I shouldn't have to be scared in my own hometown.' The morning after the meeting, Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum, a militia member, held a press conference where he promised to hold a community meeting at which the group will explain themselves and inform residents when they will leave, the Oregonian reported. The meeting will be held on Friday evening in Burns, Finicum said, although the exact location has yet to be determined. He said 'there should be a dialogue' but declined to give any specifics about the group's exit plans, according to the Oregonian. Ammon Bundy, the group's leader, has previously said the group would not leave until a plan was in place to turn over federal lands to local authorities. They also want the release of Dwight and Steven Hammond, father-and-son ranchers convicted of arson who returned to prison last week to serve longer sentences. The Hammonds' case set off the occupation, but they have distanced themselves from the activists. Federal, state and local law enforcement are monitoring the occupation but have not taken action. Occupation leader Ammon Bundy is seen in an office at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon Occupier Jon Ritzheimer (right) help supporters Joe Rigney (left) and his wife Amanda Rigney unload firewood at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge A yellow 'Dont Tread On Me' flag flies at the entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge stands guard at the refuge on Sunday Shocking new research has found that far from being good for you, summer smoothies marketed as 98 per cent fat free actually contain more kilojoules than a Big Mac. Leading health experts are warning Australians to steer clear of smoothies, frappes and shakes this summer, after the government-funded program LiveLighter found that many contained more kilojoules than fizzy drinks or fast food, and also had huge levels of sugar. The LiveLighter survey revealed some disturbing findings. Half of the 40 drinks surveyed by the organisation (including three healthy drinks) had more kilojoules than a McDonalds Big Mac (2060kj) Boost Juice Brekkie to Go-Go Super large smoothie had the most kilojoules of the 40 surveyed and was packed with 24 per cent more kilojoules than a Big Mac. While the seemingly healthy 98 per cent fat-free Mango Fruit Fruzie from Gloria Jeans had the most sugar a massive 31 teaspoons. A spokesperson for Boost Juice said comparing its products to that of a Big Mac or a soft drink was not a true comparison because of the empty calories in junk food: Unlike fizzy drinks, our smoothies contain wholesome ingredients such as fruit, vegetables and milk, and provide important nutrients, which the study did not take into consideration. The sugar in our smoothies is mostly naturally occurring from fructose and lactose. The research also found that 24 drinks had at least 16 teaspoons of sugar more than regular soft drinks. A 600ml bottle of Coca-Cola also contains 1079 kilojoules. Some shakes and iced-based frappes had up to 20.5g of saturated fat. This is almost twice as much as a Big Mac (10.7g saturated fat). McDonald's Large Mocha Frappe had the highest amount of kilojoules, fat and saturated fat in total content. The seemingly healthy 98 per cent fat-free Mango Fruit Fruzie from Gloria Jeans had the most sugar a massive 31 teaspoons The LiveLighter survey provided this table to show how much kilojoules and sugar were in each smoothie, and also included a McDonald's Big Mac (in red) for comparison The new revelations were shocking and LiveLighter Victoria Campaign Manager Alison Ginn confirmed that some drinks which appeared healthy contained more sugar than the average adult needs in a whole day. 'Food outlets use phrases like 97% fat free or dairy free to make their smoothies and frappes sound healthy, but with up to 31 teaspoons of sugar and as many kilojoules as a Big Mac, these drinks can actually do more harm than good,' Ms Ginn said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that added sugars make up no more than 5% of people's daily energy intake, or six teaspoons per day, for the biggest health benefit. McDonald's Large Mocha Frappe had the highest amount of kilojoules, fat and saturated fat in total Surprisingly half of the 40 drinks surveyed had more kilojoules than a Big Mac 'You would consume up to five times this amount from just one drink alone. 'Like with soft drinks and other sugary drinks, regular consumption of frappes and smoothies can contribute to weight gain and a build up of toxic fat around your organs, which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.' Despite Australia being in the midst of a sweltering heatwave, Ms Ginn warned people to avoid falling for so-called healthy drinks and opt for water instead. Just months after reports that someone was hacking CIA Director John Brennan's personal email, a U.S. intelligence official is confirming that online personal accounts linked to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also have been hacked. DNI spokesman Brian Hale said on Tuesday that Clapper's office is aware of the hacking and has reported the incident to appropriate authorities. He declined to provide other details. An individual not authorized to discuss details who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was aware of the hacking incident before it was first reported on Tuesday by Motherboard. A U.S. intelligence official is confirming that online personal accounts linked to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (pictured) had been hacked The magazine reported that the same teen-age hacker who broke into Brennan's account also targeted Clapper, who appears to be operating under a new Twitter account The magazine reported that the same teenage hacker who broke into Brennan's account also targeted Clapper. Motherboard also reported that 'Cracka' one of the members of the group of hackers calling themselves 'Crackas With Attitudes,' claimed to have broken into accounts connected to Clapper including his home telephone, Internet and his wife Susan's Yahoo email. Cracka also told Motherboard that he changed the settings in Clapper's Verizon FiOS account so that every call to his home phone was forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement. Motherboard said Cracka provided them with what was said to be Clapper's home phone number and when called, Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement answered. Motherboard reported that the same teenage hacker who broke into CIA Director John Brennan's account also targeted Clapper At the time, Cracka used his now-deactivated Twitter account to talk about the AOL hack and the CIA coming after him Larudee told Motherboard that they had been receiving calls for Clapper. Motherboard confirmed that according to public records, the number did belong to Clapper's household. Brennan said in October that he was outraged that someone hacked his personal email account and publicized sensitive data, including his contact list and his wife's government ID number. The hacker has said he is a high school student protesting U.S. policy. He said he fooled Verizon into providing him access to Brennan's account. Murphy and his family are okay following the incident A brand new $250,000 Rolls-Royce crashed into an Arizona home just after 3am with the driver and passengers fleeing before police arrived at the scene. The car crashed into the Scottsdale home on Sunday morning and landed only a few feet away from where Fox 10 photographer Rob Murphy's baby boy was in his nursery, according to Fox 10. The incident left significant damage to the home as the car plowed through a cinder block fence that surrounded it, but Murphy and his family were not harmed. Scroll down for video A brand new $250,000 Rolls-Royce (pictured) crashed into the Arizona home just after 3am with the driver and passengers fleeing before police arrived at the scene The car crashed into the home located in Scottsdale on Sunday morning (aftermath of the crash pictured) and landed only a few feet away from where Fox 10 photographer Rob Murphy's baby boy was in his nursery He estimated the damage done to the four-door car, which police said belonged to a dealership, was worth at least $50,000. 'I was actually surprised that it didn't have more damage on it,' Murphy told Fox 10. 'I was like man this thing is a tank cause it took the whole concrete wall out like it was feathers.' Murphy said that on Sunday morning he woke up to the crash and walked into his living room where he peered out the window, spotting saw the car's headlights in the backyard. He alerted his wife who called 911 while he grabbed his flashlight and headed outside where he found the car trying to get away, but he said the car was apparently stuck on a cinderblock. Murphy (pictured) said he woke up that morning and walked into his living room where he peered out the window, spotting saw the car's headlights in the backyard before grabbing his flashlight and heading outside He estimated the damage done to the four-door car, which police said belonged to a dealership, was worth at least $50,000 'I come out, shine my flashlight in his face,' Murphy recalled of seeing the driver. 'I say "Hey man 'you're busted, get out of the car." He gets out, he comes up to me and he says, "I'll take care of everything as long as you don't call the cops." 'And I said, "man I have to call the cops. I'm sorry look at what you did."' Murphy said he then went back inside his house for a few minutes to make sure the cops were on their way, only to return to find the driver and passengers not there. The incident left significant damage to the home as the car plowed through a cinder block fence that surrounded it and destroying a portion of the brick wall After catching the driver, he said went back inside his house for a few minutes to make sure the cops were on their way, only to return to find the driver and passengers not there Police are investigating the incident and police said the Rolls-Royce belonged to a dealership Police were able to run the vehicle's VIN number to find that the car belonged to a dealership, however Murphy had one question for police about the car's future ownership following the incident. Murphy said: 'I asked the police "Hey, well since it's on my property, can I keep the car?" And they're like "no that's not how it works." I'm like 'ah man! Alright.' Labour MP Meg Hillier said many householders will be appalled to learn these bills could have been smaller Profiteering water companies got away with unfair price rises adding up to a windfall of 1.2 billion, it has emerged. The nations water bills were higher than necessary over a five-year period because of serious flaws in the way prices were set by the industry regulator Ofwat. The scandal is highlighted by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in a scathing report published today. Committee chairman and Labour MP Meg Hillier said: Ofwat was set up to protect the interests of customers, most of whom have no choice over who supplies their water yet must pay bills typically running to hundreds of pounds. Many householders will therefore be appalled to learn these bills could have been smaller had Ofwat adopted a different approach to setting price limits for water companies. Ofwat tells the water and sewerage companies how much they can raise bills by over a five-year period, based on the work that needs to be done to replace pipes and invest in the system. It includes estimates in the price-setting formula designed to assess each water companys costs in terms of borrowing and taxes before deciding on the size of the increase in bills. However, the watchdog did not accurately calculate how much water companies in England and Wales would gain from tax cuts and lower-than-expected borrowing charges between 2010 and 2015. The water firms routinely put enormous pressure on Ofwat to allow them the maximum possible price rise when the figures are reviewed every five years As a result, the firms made an extra 1.2 billion from bills that were higher than necessary at a time when families were already suffering a punishing squeeze on incomes and living standards. Subsequently, Ofwat tried to claw back these windfall gains by asking water companies to impose lower price rises than were originally agreed. However, these voluntary measures added up to only around 400 million. The net effect is that the water companies, many of them foreign-owned, made a net gain of more than 800 million. Miss Hillier said the bill-setting regime must be reviewed as a priority. She added: We are also calling for greater transparency over windfall gains made by water suppliers, and more effective action to see these gains passed on to customers. Ofwat must move swiftly to develop and present clear plans to achieve a better deal for customers, both now and in the years ahead. The PAC report confirms criticisms made by the National Audit Office (NAO) last autumn. It concluded that Ofwat failed to appropriately balance the risks between the industry and customers, with the result that the water companies made much more money than expected. The NAO estimated that between 2010 and 2015, the companies gained 410 million from reduced corporation tax rates and a further 840 million from lower-than-forecast rates of interest on borrowing. Over the same period they absorbed costs and provided water bill discounts worth up to 435 million, leaving them with a net windfall of 800 million. The water firms routinely put enormous pressure on Ofwat to allow them the maximum possible price rise when the figures are reviewed every five years. This includes threats of legal action if they believe the increases on the table are too low. Since 2012, weve stressed that customers are having a really tough time, and stepped in to claw back 435 million from companies. Ofwat chief executive, Cathryn Ross Many of the firms are foreign owned by banks and overseas pension funds, which have seen British water companies and customers as something of a cash cow since privatisation in 1989. Ofwat has expressed surprise at the criticism and insists it does protect customer interests. The regulator said the prices set for 2015 through to 2020 mean the water companies will rake in some 3 billion less than they lobbied for. Ofwat chief executive, Cathryn Ross, said: Holding companies to account and protecting customers is at the heart of what we do. The PACs comments on gains relate to decisions Ofwat made six years ago. 'Since 2012, weve stressed that customers are having a really tough time, and stepped in to claw back 435 million from companies. Patients face months in limbo after the biggest doctors strike in 40 years. More than 20,000 operations and appointments had to be cancelled yesterday many without being rebooked. Patients missed out on everything from hip replacements to tests for life-threatening illnesses. They now face waiting weeks, or even months, because hospital lists are so full. Patients across the country missed out on everything from hip replacements to tests for life-threatening illnesses. They now face waiting weeks or months because hospitals are so full. Junior doctors are pictured demonstrating outside the Houses of Parliament in central London yesterday in a dispute over contracts As Jeremy Hunt appealed to doctors to return to negotiations to avert two further planned strikes, it emerged that: Patients told doctors they should be ashamed of striking; Some were informed by text of vital scans being cancelled; Hospital managers begged GPs to fill in for striking medics, with no success; Up to 40 per cent of hospital doctors worked as normal; Labour MPs joined medics on the picket lines. Yesterdays strike centres on the opposition of Englands 55,000 junior doctors to Government changes to their contracts. Mr Hunt wants them to do more shifts at weekends and overnight when care is significantly worse due to staff shortages. But junior doctors fear the Health Secretarys plans will cut their salaries and force them to work longer hours, putting patients at risk. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt leaving home yesterday. He has been blamed by junior doctors for the industrial action but insisted many training medics continued to work despite the strike Yesterdays action when only emergency care was offered is the first of three walkouts that will cause chaos for hospitals struggling to cope with winter illnesses. Nearly 4,000 operations and 17,500 outpatient appointments were cancelled. Another 48-hour strike is planned for January 26 followed by a total withdrawal of care on February 10, the first in the 67-year history of the NHS. Talks between the doctors union, the British Medical Association, and the Government are due to resume this week leaving little time to reach a deal. Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said the sick were the victims of the stand-off. The problem is, when their operations are cancelled they arent given a new date, she added. This causes uncertainty and distress. They just have to wait. It could be weeks, it could be months. These are cataracts, knee operations, that all have huge impact on quality of life. Joyce Robins of Patient Concern, another campaign group, said: People are very worried about whats going to happen. Theyre going to have to be slotted in to already full schedules. They could well be waiting months. Many of them have been waiting months already. Mr Hunt insisted the new working hours were vital. We want all NHS patients to have the confidence that they will have the same high quality care every day of the week, he said. At the moment if you have a stroke at the weekend you are 20 per cent more likely to die. That cannot be right. Thats something every doctor wants to sort out as well. The right thing to do is sit round the table and talk to the Government about how we improve patient safety and patient care, not these very unnecessary strikes. People get ill every day of the week. The whole purpose of this is to make NHS care safer. A junior doctor holds a poster saying 'Protect our Contract' as he takes part in a picket outside Kings College Hospital, London, yesterday Mr Hunt also praised the minority of junior doctors at Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, who had returned to work after managers warned it was exceptionally busy. That shows the value of junior doctors in the end they do want to the right thing for patients and I salute them, he said. Officials at NHS England said 39 per cent of junior doctors worked normally and did not take part in the strike. But that included many in A&E, maternity and intensive care who were providing emergency care as agreed. Others who turned up to work normally were either not in the BMA or opposed to strike action. Junior doctors on the picket line outside Tunbridge Wells Hospital after the 24-hour walkout over contracts A junior doctor holds her baby and a handmade placard as she takes part in a picket at King's College Hospital Their colleagues on the picket lines were joined by half a dozen Labour MPs, who were accused of putting political posturing before patients. It is the first time in many years that the Labour Party has officially backed a public sector strike. Tory MPs claimed the strike had been politicised by BMA leaders opposed to the Governments austerity programme. NHS managers in North Somerset had sent an urgent email to GPs on Monday night asking them to help out at the Weston General Hospital. But the message did not say how much they would be paid if anything. None took up the offer. Before yesterday doctors had walked out only twice, in 2012 and in 1975. Lord Lawson yesterday declared Britain has nothing to fear but fear itself from leaving the European Union. The Tory grandee said the country would retain control of its destiny and stop having to send a net 10billion every year to Brussels. In a speech to academics, the former Chancellor also insisted that British trade would prosper outside the EU. For the past 15 months, the UK has exported more to countries outside the EU than to those who are members. Yesterday Toyota announced it would keep making cars at its plant in Derbyshire even if the UK votes to leave, defying the doom-mongering of pro-EU campaigners. Lord Lawson said UK concerns about red tape and meddling by Europe were being routinely ignored Lord Lawson, who is leading the Tory campaign to quit the Brussels club, said UK concerns about red tape and meddling by Europe were being routinely ignored. At Kings College London, he added: The EU is a political project whose objectives we do not share. That objective is to create a United States of Europe. The EU is economically damaging and profoundly undemocratic. He cited the Council of Ministers, the EUs main decision-making body. On the 72 occasions when the UK has voted against a measure in the Council, it has gone on to become law. This has included 40 times since David Cameron entered Downing Street in 2010. This is significantly more than any other country in the EU. Lord Lawson said: That is a fact. A score-line of 0-72 is not particularly brilliant and that is how it will continue. There is not a downside to Brexit. If there is, it is trivial compared to the upside. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. With the polls neck and neck, Lord Lawson said he did not have the faintest idea what the result of the referendum will be. Anyone who pretended otherwise was foolish, added the peer. But he said that if the British were being asked now to join the EU, they would vote No. Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, warned Tory euro-sceptics that there are no guarantees Britain would have access to the continent's free market if it leaves the EU He said what people overwhelmingly wanted was to become a self-governing nation again which would decide its own future. Lord Lawson dismissed as arrant nonsense the idea that the EU had helped to secure peace in Europe since the Second World War, saying this was the work of Nato. He also attacked claims by the Prime Minister and the remain campaign that staying was vital for national security. The peer said: We would be just as able to deal with terrorism outside. In many ways more so. Our membership of Nato is nothing to do with our membership of the EU. Five Eyes [intelligence sharing with the US and other countries] is nothing to do with the EU. At Westminster yesterday, Philip Hammond risked angering Tory euro-sceptics by warning that there are no guarantees Britain would have access to the continents free market if it leaves. The Foreign Secretary said: Britain benefits from the free trade agreements that have been negotiated by the European Union with third countries. We could not guarantee that renegotiating such agreements with the UK would be a priority for all of those third countries if we were outside the EU. Euro-sceptic Cabinet ministers are unhappy that, under rules laid down by the Prime Minister, they cannot speak out in favour of leaving until his negotiations are complete while pro-EU colleagues can make their case. Crucially, they will also have to wait until he has presented the results to the Cabinet. This could create a gap of three or four days in which the PM would be able to sell his deal unanswered. Ministers are pushing for him to fly back from Brussels as soon as the deal is struck in February or March and hold a Cabinet meeting on the same day. In recent days, such pro-EU comments have been made by Mr Hammond, Environment Secretary Liz Truss and Energy Secretary Amber Rudd. Ben Carson Retired physician Age on Election Day: 65 Religion: Seventh-day Adventist Base: Evangelicals Resume: Famous pediatric neurosurgeon, youngest person to head a major Johns Hopkins Hospital division. Founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards scholarships to children of good character. Education: B.A. Yale University. M.D. University of Michigan Medical School. Family: Married to Candy Carson (1975), with three adult sons. The Carsons live in Maryland with Ben's elderly mother Sonya, who was a seminal influence on his life and development. Claim to fame: Carson spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, railing against political correctness and condemned Obamacare with President Obama sitting just a few feet away. Achilles heel: Carson is inflexibly conservative, opposing gay marriage and once saying gay attachments formed in prison provided evidence that sexual orientation is a choice. Ted Cruz Texas senator Age on Election Day: 45 Religion: Southern Baptist Base: Tea partiers Resume:U.S. senator. Former Texas solicitor general. Former U.S. Supreme Court clerk. Former associate deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush. Education: B.A. Princeton University. J.D. Harvard Law School. Family: Married to Heidi Nelson Cruz (2001), with two young daughters. His father is a preacher and he has two half-sisters. Claim to fame: Cruz spoke on the Senate floor for more than 21 hours in September 2013 to protest the inclusion of funding for Obamacare in a federal budget bill. (The bill moved forward as written.) He has called for the complete repeal of the medical insurance overhaul law, and also for a dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service. Cruz is also outspoken about border security. Achilles heel: Cruz's father Rafael, a Texas preacher, is a tea party firebrand who has said gay marriage is a government conspiracy and called President Barack Obama a Marxist who should 'go back to Kenya.' Cruz himself also has a reputation as a take-no-prisoners Christian evangelical, which might play well in South Carolina but won't win him points in the other early primary states and could cost him momentum if he should be the GOP's presidential nominee. Jim Gilmore Former Virginia governor Age on Election Day: 67 Religion: United Methodist Base: Conservatives Resume: Former governor and attorney general of Virginia. Former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Former U.S. Army intelligence agent. President and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. Board member of the National Rifle Association Education: B.A. University of Virginia. Family: Married to Roxane Gatling Gilmore (1977), with two adult children. Mrs. GIlmore is a survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma Claim to fame: Gilmore presided over Virginia when the 9/11 terrorists struck in 1991, guiding the state through a difficult economic downturn after one of the hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon. He is nest known in Virginia for eliminating most of a much-maligned personal property tax on automobiles, working with a Democratic-controlled state legislature to get it passed and enacted. Achilles heel: Gilmore is the only GOP or Democratic candidate for president who has been the chairman of his political party, giving him a rap as an 'establishment' candidate. A social-conservative crusader, he is loathed by the left for championing the state law that established 24-hour waiting periods for abortions. Gilmore also has a reputation as an indecisive campaigner, having dropped out of the 2008 presidential race in July 2007. John Kasich Ohio governor Age on Election Day: 64 Religion: Anglican Base: Centrists Resume: Governor of Ohio. Former chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee. Former Ohio congressman. Former Ohio state senator. Education: B.A. The Ohio State University. Family: Married to Karen Waldbillig (1997). Divorced from Mary Lee Griffith (1975-1980). Claim to fame: Kasich was Ohio youngest-ever member of the state legislature at age 25. He's known for a compassionate and working-class sensibility that appeals to both ends of the political spectrum. In the 1990s when Newt Gingrich led a Republican revolution that took over Congress, Kasich became the chairman of the House Budget Committee a position for a wonk's wonk who understands the nuanced intricacies of how government runs. Achilles heel: Some of Kasich's political positions rankle conservatives, including his choice to expand Ohio's Medicare system under the Obamacare law, and his support for the much-derided 'Common Core' education standards program. Marco Rubio Florida senator Age on Election Day: 45 Religion: Catholic Base: Conservatives Resume: US senator, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, former city commissioner of West Miami Education: B.A. University of Florida. J.D. University of Miami School of Law. Family: Married to Jeanette Dousdebes (1998), with two sons and two daughters. Jeanette is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who posed for the squads first swimsuit calendar. Claim to fame: Rubio's personal story as the son of Cuban emigres is a powerful narrative, and helped him win his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor whom he initially trailed by 20 points. Achilles heel: Rubio was part of a bipartisan 'gang of eight' senators who crafted an Obama-approved immigration reform bill in 2013 which never became law a move that angered conservative Republicans. And he was criticized in 2011 for publicly telling a version of his parents' flight from Cuba that turned out to appear embellished. Donald Trump Real estate developer Age on Election Day: 70 Religion: Presbyterian Base: Conservatives Resume: Chairman of The Trump Organization. Fixture on the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Star of 'Celebrity Apprentice.' Education: B.Sci. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Family: Married to Melania Trump (2005). Divorced from Ivana Zelnickova (1977-92) and Marla Maples(199399). Five grown children. Trump's father Fred Trump amassed a $400 million fortune developing real estate. Claim to fame: Trump's niche in the 2016 campaign stems from his celebrity as a reality-show host and his enormous wealth more than $10 billion, according to Trump. Because he can self-fund an entire presidential campaign, he is seen as less beholden to donors than other candidates. He has grabbed the attention of reporters and commentators by unapologetically staking out controversial positions and refusing to budge in the face of criticism. Saved: Rating: The Secret Life Of The Family Rating: The question of What would you do? if any of us encountered a person in peril is an enduring one at dinner parties. While most of us would love to think wed be heroic, were probably kidding ourselves. Saved (ITV) looked at the people who, when faced with the choice, chose to risk their lives for a stranger rather than walk away. When retired engineer Neville Powell set out for a drive in the countryside on the weekend of the Queens Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002, the plan was to admire the Sussex Downs. Instead, he encountered a car engine on fire in the middle of the road. The engine had been thrown from the vehicle that teenagers Peter and Adam were driving after they spun off the road into a ditch. To make matters worse, the boys car was on fire and Peter was trapped impaled by a wooden stake from a fence that had gone through the rear window, the drivers seat and his torso. Saved (ITV) looked at the people who, when faced with the choice, chose to risk their lives for a stranger rather than walk away. Neville described his decision to try to rescue them as a chemical reaction. With the aid of another passer-by, he was able to tear the doors off and pull Peters entire seat out before the car exploded into flames. Fourteen years on and Peter and Neville are close friends. Peter lost an arm in the accident, but still said whenever anything good happened in his life he found himself thinking: Thanks to you, Neville. Just as lucky to be alive was keen sea fisherman Dan Ward from Swansea. Despite having checked the weather before heading off, he got into difficulties when his kayak overturned in strong currents. Aware that holding onto his kayak was pulling him further out to sea, Dan let it go, but his attempts to swim back to shore were fruitless. After an hour in the freezing water he was considering removing his life jacket for a swift ending. When surfer Steve Lewis learned a man was in trouble at sea, his first reaction was What an idiot!, but his second was: What if it was me? I wouldnt want to be alone out there. RECIPE OF THE DAY Good job food labels and health inspectors werent around during the Industrial Revolution. Victorian Bakers (BBC2) discovered chalk was often added to the flour, the dough was kneaded by workers sweaty feet and raw sewage ran through the bakehouses. Advertisement He paddled out to Dan, who had severe hypothermia and managed to drag him back to shore. As programmes go, it is hardly the most original concept, but what made Saved so charming was that, rather than being gung-ho about their actions, the two heroes couldnt believe they had it in them. As Steve said: It was the bravest thing Ive ever done, but I still had a good girlie cry afterwards. When it came to the participants of The Secret Life Of The Family (C5), there was no such bravery, but an awful lot of bone idleness. Six families had their homes fitted with remote cameras so we could see how they lived behind closed doors. By the end of the hour-long first episode, we had discovered: teenagers are lazy, the women do most of the housework and small children are messy. Hardly revelatory. At the Demirel family home in Kent, mum Jill spent most of her time shouting and then couldnt understand why her three children were so noisy. The Cooper parents attempted to bribe their children to do chores. In The Secret Life Of The Family (C5) there was no bravery but At one stage they were paying their offspring so much (to do jobs badly) that it would have been cheaper to employ a cleaner. The premise of last nights show was that the women of the house would attempt to get their lazy children and slob husbands to help out more. Hus, the man of the Demirel household, reluctantly agreed to strip some beds, but not before warning his wife: Dont blame me if it all goes wrong. You may wonder what could possibly go wrong when making a bed? Well, another dad, James Bunt from Bristol, took 42 minutes to carry out this task and somehow incurred a flesh wound from changing a pillowcase. The voiceover by Outnumbered star Hugh Dennis was jolly and irreverent, but other than that, The Secret Life Of The Family was an hour-long bore-fest. When snakes shed their skins they tend to do a lot of forked-tongue waving. They wriggle. During that awkward between-skins period they are vulnerable to attack, so may hide behind stones. The spectacle of a skin-shedding, though a marvel of nature, can be slightly disgusting. No doubt a snake would say its just a packaging issue, old boy. Politicians also shed their skins principles, to use an old-fashioned word. Now that really IS a revolting business. Am I calling politicians snakes? Oh dear. One who is currently easing himself out of his old pelt with a shoulder-shimmy here, a greasy word or two there, is Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. He used to be a prominent Eurosceptic (indeed, his scepticism was one of the reasons he was appointed). Now he is mid-restyle. Having sensed that his own political survival may be in peril unless he sucks up to 10 Downing Street, he is turning himself into a Europhile. Mr Hammond dipped his ladle into a soup of insincerity and claimed that were looking for an institutional restructuring' Ew, its nasty to behold. Yet it is happening quite fast. The Hammond of old is quickly being replaced by a Hammond who gives Europe the benefit of the doubt, a Hammond who is striving to keep Britain IN the European Union, a Hammond who with a superior lifting of the eyebrows, a tone of settled worldliness, asserts that he finds EU-sceptic position options to be unappealing. Doesnt look like a good plan to me, he murmured yesterday, perhaps a mite too ostentatiously, after hearing someone mention Norways position outside the EU. Equating Britain to Norway is a worn Europhile tactic. He was at the despatch box for Foreign Office Questions. Tory Whips may have been busy, for when it came to Topical Questions (the last 15 minutes of the hour), no Tory backbenchers dared to mention the Prime Ministers EU renegotiation. Instead they probed Government policy on such hot-ticket issues as, er, Burundi, Burma, regional airports African trade, Japan, Morocco and ebola. But the Whips were less able to fix the printed questions. Happily, the very first exchanges of the day were about Britains membership of the EU. David Hanson (Lab, Delyn) said what everyone here now accepts: that David Cameron is going to recommend that we stay in the EU, whatever happens in his renegotiations. Why, therefore, dont we just have the referendum now? Mr Hammond, by way of reply, produced some guff about how the PM is driven by whats best for Britain. David Nuttall (Con, Bury N), a persistent and bold critic of Brussels, said many people are suspicious of the seriousness of the renegotiation. Was it not a bit limp of the PM to make less red tape one of his demands when even the most ardent Europhiles agree that is needed? Mr Hammond dipped his ladle into a soup of insincerity and claimed that were looking for an institutional restructuring. He did so without warmth towards Mr Nuttall, whose views he might once have shared. But that was back in the days when he was making his political fortune. Now that he is atop the pile, a member of the limousine set, he need not bother. Foreign Secretary! It practically guarantees this stupendous dullard a pulpit for life. Labours Pat Glass, the new shadow Europe minister, was very much of the pro-Brussels view. We therefore had no official opposition to the EU consensus. From what one hears, the majority of Conservative party members are keenly Eurosceptic, yet they are allowing Mr Cameron and the ghastly, careerist, backsliding Hammonds of this world to stiff the Leave camp. Should Tory activists not be agitating? Should they not be calling special meetings of their associations to enquire about their local MPs positions? What do the members in Mr Hammonds Runnymede & Weybridge Tory association think of his new fondness for Brussels? A senior eurocrat was under attack last night for demanding to give evidence to a key inquiry into Britains referendum negotiations in secret. The heads of Britains intelligence agencies have previously given evidence in public before a parliamentary select committee. But Jonathan Faull, the eurocrat in charge of the European Commissions Brexit taskforce, insisted he would only attend a session of the House of Lords EU select committee if it was held behind closed doors. Jonathan Faull, the eurocrat in charge of the European Commission's Brexit taskforce, was mocked for his reluctance to speak in public about the progress of the British renegotiation Members of the public and journalists were banned from attending the meeting in Brussels where he was grilled by peers on the progress of the British renegotiation. Ukip leader Nigel Farage last night mocked Mr Faulls reluctance to speak in public. This EU referendum will be the most important vote in a generation and the arrogance of the European Commission in refusing public and press scrutiny leaves me stunned, he said. Unelected bureaucrats who wield power without popular support hate public scrutiny as bats hate the light. The House of Lords yesterday said the decision for the meeting to be held in secret had been taken by the Commission. A spokesman said: The Committee meeting with Jonathan Faull is on the record and a full transcript will be taken and published as evidence given to the inquiry. The Committee is very grateful that it has been given the opportunity to hear from Jonathan Faull as part of its inquiry. Ukip leader Nigel Farage mocked Mr Faull's reluctance to speak in public. He said the refusal 'leaves me stunned' A European Commission spokesman said: While all House of Lords evidence sessions in Westminster are public, this is not the case for sessions outside Westminster. There, the standard operating procedures apply which is a verbatim transcript of the hearing with the witness which is published together with the House of Lords Report. Jonathan Faull is appearing as a witness in this case. It was his decision not to deviate from the standard operating procedure by turning this into a public session. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, my fellow Americans: Tonight marks the eighth year that Ive come here to report on the State of the Union. And for this final one, Im going to try to make it a little shorter. (Applause.) I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa. (Laughter.) I've been there. I'll be shaking hands afterwards if you want some tips. (Laughter.) And I understand that because its an election season, expectations for what we will achieve this year are low. But, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach that you and the other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for working families. So I hope we can work together this year on some bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform -- (applause) -- and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse. (Applause.) So, who knows, we might surprise the cynics again. But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Dont worry, Ive got plenty, from helping students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical treatments for patients. And I will keep pushing for progress on the work that I believe still needs to be done. Fixing a broken immigration system. (Applause.) Protecting our kids from gun violence. (Applause.) Equal pay for equal work. (Applause.) Paid leave. (Applause.) Raising the minimum wage. (Applause.) All these things still matter to hardworking families. Theyre still the right thing to do. And I won't let up until they get done. But for my final address to this chamber, I dont want to just talk about next year. I want to focus on the next five years, the next 10 years, and beyond. I want to focus on our future. We live in a time of extraordinary change -- change thats reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet, our place in the world. Its change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families. It promises education for girls in the most remote villages, but also connects terrorists plotting an ocean away. Its change that can broaden opportunity, or widen inequality. And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate. America has been through big changes before -- wars and depression, the influx of new immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, movements to expand civil rights. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change; who promised to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the dogmas of the quiet past. Instead we thought anew, and acted anew. We made change work for us, always extending Americas promise outward, to the next frontier, to more people. And because we did -- because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril -- we emerged stronger and better than before. What was true then can be true now. Our unique strengths as a nation -- our optimism and work ethic, our spirit of discovery, our diversity, our commitment to rule of law -- these things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come. In fact, its in that spirit that we have made progress these past seven years. That's how we recovered from the worst economic crisis in generations. (Applause.) That's how we reformed our health care system, and reinvented our energy sector. (Applause.) That's how we delivered more care and benefits to our troops coming home and our veterans. (Applause.) That's how we secured the freedom in every state to marry the person we love. (Applause.) But such progress is not inevitable. Its the result of choices we make together. And we face such choices right now. Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, in what we stand for, in the incredible things that we can do together? So lets talk about the future, and four big questions that I believe we as a country have to answer -- regardless of who the next President is, or who controls the next Congress. First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? (Applause.) Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us -- especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? (Applause.) Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman? (Applause.) And finally, how can we make our politics reflect whats best in us, and not whats worst? Let me start with the economy, and a basic fact: The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. (Applause.) Were in the middle of the longest streak of private sector job creation in history. (Applause.) More than 14 million new jobs, the strongest two years of job growth since the 90s, an unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever. (Applause.) That's just part of a manufacturing surge that's created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. And weve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters. (Applause.) Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. (Applause.) Now, what is true -- and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious -- is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit; changes that have not let up. Today, technology doesnt just replace jobs on the assembly line, but any job where work can be automated. Companies in a global economy can locate anywhere, and they face tougher competition. As a result, workers have less leverage for a raise. Companies have less loyalty to their communities. And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top. All these trends have squeezed workers, even when they have jobs; even when the economy is growing. Its made it harder for a hardworking family to pull itself out of poverty, harder for young people to start their careers, tougher for workers to retire when they want to. And although none of these trends are unique to America, they do offend our uniquely American belief that everybody who works hard should get a fair shot. For the past seven years, our goal has been a growing economy that works also better for everybody. Weve made progress. But we need to make more. And despite all the political arguments that weve had these past few years, there are actually some areas where Americans broadly agree. We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job. The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and together, weve increased early childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, boosted graduates in fields like engineering. In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing Pre-K for all and -- (applause) -- offering every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one. We should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids. (Applause.) And we have to make college affordable for every American. (Applause.) No hardworking student should be stuck in the red. Weve already reduced student loan payments to 10 percent of a borrowers income. And that's good. But now, weve actually got to cut the cost of college. (Applause.) Providing two years of community college at no cost for every responsible student is one of the best ways to do that, and Im going to keep fighting to get that started this year. (Applause.) It's the right thing to do. (Applause.) But a great education isnt all we need in this new economy. We also need benefits and protections that provide a basic measure of security. Its not too much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package for 30 years are sitting in this chamber. (Laughter.) For everyone else, especially folks in their 40s and 50s, saving for retirement or bouncing back from job loss has gotten a lot tougher. Americans understand that at some point in their careers, in this new economy, they may have to retool and they may have to retrain. But they shouldnt lose what theyve already worked so hard to build in the process. Thats why Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever. We shouldnt weaken them; we should strengthen them. (Applause.) And for Americans short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as everything else is today. That, by the way, is what the Affordable Care Act is all about. Its about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when you lose a job, or you go back to school, or you strike out and launch that new business, youll still have coverage. Nearly 18 million people have gained coverage so far. (Applause.) And in the process, health care inflation has slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became law. Now, Im guessing we wont agree on health care anytime soon. (Applause.) A little applause right there. Laughter.) Just a guess. But there should be other ways parties can work together to improve economic security. Say a hardworking American loses his job -- we shouldnt just make sure that he can get unemployment insurance; we should make sure that program encourages him to retrain for a business thats ready to hire him. If that new job doesnt pay as much, there should be a system of wage insurance in place so that he can still pay his bills. And even if hes going from job to job, he should still be able to save for retirement and take his savings with him. Thats the way we make the new economy work better for everybody. I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty. America is about giving everybody willing to work a chance, a hand up. And Id welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers who don't have children. (Applause.) But there are some areas where we just have to be honest -- it has been difficult to find agreement over the last seven years. And a lot of them fall under the category of what role the government should play in making sure the systems not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations. (Applause.) And it's an honest disagreement, and the American people have a choice to make. I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy. I think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed. There is red tape that needs to be cut. (Applause.) There you go! Yes! (Applause But after years now of record corporate profits, working families wont get more opportunity or bigger paychecks just by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at everybody elses expense. (Applause.) Middle-class families are not going to feel more secure because we allowed attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered. Food Stamp recipients did not cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did. (Applause.) Immigrants arent the principal reason wages havent gone up; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that all too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns. Its sure not the average family watching tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore accounts. (Applause.) The point is, I believe that in this In new economy, workers and start-ups and small businesses need more of a voice, not less. The rules should work for them. (Applause.) And I'm not alone in this. This year I plan to lift up the many businesses whove figured out that doing right by their workers or their customers or their communities ends up being good for their shareholders. (Applause.) And I want to spread those best practices across America. That's part of a brighter future. (Applause.) In fact, it turns out many of our best corporate citizens are also our most creative. And this brings me to the second big question we as a country have to answer: How do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges? Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didnt deny Sputnik was up there. (Laughter.) We didnt argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight. And 12 years later, we were walking on the moon. (Applause.) Now, that spirit of discovery is in our DNA. America is Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. America is Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. America is every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley, racing to shape a better world. (Applause.) That's who we are. And over the past seven years, weve nurtured that spirit. Weve protected an open Internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online. (Applause.) Weve launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day. But we can do so much more. Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources that theyve had in over a decade. (Applause.) So tonight, Im announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because hes gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, Im putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. (Applause.) For the loved ones weve all lost, for the families that we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. (Applause.) Medical research is critical. We need the same level of commitment when it comes to developing clean energy sources. (Applause.) Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You will be pretty lonely, because youll be debating our military, most of Americas business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree its a problem and intend to solve it. (Applause.) But even if -- even if the planet wasnt at stake, even if 2014 wasnt the warmest year on record -- until 2015 turned out to be even hotter -- why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future? (Applause.) Listen, seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history. Here are the results. In fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power. On rooftops from Arizona to New York, solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills, and employs more Americans than coal -- in jobs that pay better than average. Were taking steps to give homeowners the freedom to generate and store their own energy -- something, by the way, that environmentalists and Tea Partiers have teamed up to support. And meanwhile, weve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly 60 percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth. (Applause.) Gas under two bucks a gallon aint bad, either. (Applause.) Now weve got to accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future -- especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. We do them no favor when we don't show them where the trends are going. Thats why Im going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet. And that way, we put money back into those communities, and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st century transportation system. (Applause.) Now, none of this is going to happen overnight. And, yes, there are plenty of entrenched interests who want to protect the status quo. But the jobs well create, the money well save, the planet well preserve -- that is the kind of future our kids and our grandkids deserve. And it's within our grasp. Climate change is just one of many issues where our security is linked to the rest of the world. And thats why the third big question that we have to answer together is how to keep America safe and strong without either isolating ourselves or trying to nation-build everywhere theres a problem. I told you earlier all the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. Let me tell you something. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. (Applause.) Period. Its not even close. It's not even close. (Applause.) It's not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. (Applause.) No nation attacks us directly, or our allies, because they know thats the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead -- they call us. (Applause.) I mean, it's useful to level the set here, because when we don't, we don't make good decisions. Now, as someone who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, I know this is a dangerous time. But thats not primarily because of some looming superpower out there, and certainly not because of diminished American strength. In todays world, were threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states. The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia. Economic headwinds are blowing in from a Chinese economy that is in significant transition. Even as their economy severely contracts, Russia is pouring resources in to prop up Ukraine and Syria -- client states that they saw slipping away from their orbit. And the international system we built after World War II is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality. Its up to us, the United States of America, to help remake that system. And to do that well it means that weve got to set priorities. Priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks. (Applause.) Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in todays world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage. They use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country. Their actions undermine and destabilize our allies. We have to take them out. But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages -- they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. (Applause.) That is the story ISIL wants to tell. Thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We dont need to build them up to show that were serious, and we sure don't need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is somehow representative of one of the worlds largest religions. (Applause.) We just need to call them what they are -- killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed. (Applause.) And thats exactly what were doing. For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISILs financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, were taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, their weapons. Were training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria. If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, authorize the use of military force against ISIL. Take a vote. (Applause.) Take a vote. But the American people should know that with or without congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt Americas commitment -- or mine -- to see that justice is done, just ask Osama bin Laden. (Applause.) Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. When you come after Americans, we go after you. (Applause.) And it may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limits. (Applause.) Our foreign policy hast to be focused on the threat from ISIL and al Qaeda, but it cant stop there. For even without ISIL, even without al Qaeda, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world -- in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan, in parts of Central America, in Africa, and Asia. Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks. Others will just fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage. We also cant try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis, even if it's done with the best of intentions. (Applause.) Thats not leadership; thats a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately will weaken us. Its the lesson of Vietnam; it's the lesson of Iraq -- and we should have learned it by now. (Applause.) Fortunately, there is a smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power. It says America will always act, alone if necessary, to protect our people and our allies; but on issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight. Thats our approach to conflicts like Syria, where were partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace. Thats why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. And as we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war. (Applause.) Thats how we stopped the spread of Ebola in West Africa. (Applause.) Our military, our doctors, our development workers -- they were heroic; they set up the platform that then allowed other countries to join in behind us and stamp out that epidemic. Hundreds of thousands, maybe a couple million lives were saved. Thats how we forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, and protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia. It cuts 18,000 taxes on products made in America, which will then support more good jobs here in America. With TPP, China does not set the rules in that region; we do. You want to show our strength in this new century? Approve this agreement. Give us the tools to enforce it. It's the right thing to do. (Applause.) Let me give you another example. Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, and set us back in Latin America. Thats why we restored diplomatic relations -- (applause) -- opened the door to travel and commerce, positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people. (Applause.) So if you want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere, recognize that the Cold War is over -- lift the embargo. (Applause.) The point is American leadership in the 21st century is not a choice between ignoring the rest of the world -- except when we kill terrorists -- or occupying and rebuilding whatever society is unraveling. Leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world behind causes that are right. It means seeing our foreign assistance as a part of our national security, not something separate, not charity. When we lead nearly 200 nations to the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change, yes, that helps vulnerable countries, but it also protects our kids. When we help Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend on. When we help African countries feed their people and care for the sick -- (applause) -- it's the right thing to do, and it prevents the next pandemic from reaching our shores. Right now, were on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS. That's within our grasp. (Applause.) And we have the chance to accomplish the same thing with malaria -- something Ill be pushing this Congress to fund this year. (Applause.) That's American strength. That's American leadership. And that kind of leadership depends on the power of our example. Thats why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo. (Applause.) It is expensive, it is unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies. (Applause.) Theres a better way. (Applause.) And thats why we need to reject any politics -- any politics -- that targets people because of race or religion. (Applause.) Let me just say this. This is not a matter of political correctness. This is a matter of understanding just what it is that makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity, and our openness, and the way we respect every faith. His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot that I'm standing on tonight that to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. (Applause.) It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. It betrays who we are as a country. (Applause.) We the People. Our Constitution begins with those three simple words, words weve come to recognize mean all the people, not just some; words that insist we rise and fall together, and that's how we might perfect our Union. And that brings me to the fourth, and maybe the most important thing that I want to say tonight. The future we want -- all of us want -- opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids -- all that is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics. A better politics doesnt mean we have to agree on everything. This is a big country -- different regions, different attitudes, different interests. Thats one of our strengths, too. Our Founders distributed power between states and branches of government, and expected us to argue, just as they did, fiercely, over the size and shape of government, over commerce and foreign relations, over the meaning of liberty and the imperatives of security. But democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesnt work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice. It doesnt work if we think that our political opponents are unpatriotic or trying to weaken America. Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise, or when even basic facts are contested, or when we listen only to those who agree with us. Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get all the attention. And most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesnt matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some special interest. Too many Americans feel that way right now. Its one of the few regrets of my presidency -- that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. But, my fellow Americans, this cannot be my task -- or any Presidents -- alone. There are a whole lot of folks in this chamber, good people who would like to see more cooperation, would like to see a more elevated debate in Washington, but feel trapped by the imperatives of getting elected, by the noise coming out of your base. I know; youve told me. It's the worst-kept secret in Washington. And a lot of you aren't enjoying being trapped in that kind of rancor. But that means if we want a better politics -- and I'm addressing the American people now -- if we want a better politics, its not enough just to change a congressman or change a senator or even change a President. We have to change the system to reflect our better selves. I think we've got to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around. (Applause.) Let a bipartisan group do it. (Applause.) We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families or hidden interests cant bankroll our elections. (Applause.) And if our existing approach to campaign finance reform cant pass muster in the courts, we need to work together to find a real solution -- because it's a problem. And most of you don't like raising money. I know; I've done it. (Applause.) Weve got to make it easier to vote, not harder. (Applause.) We need to modernize it for the way we live now. (Applause.) This is America: We want to make it easier for people to participate. And over the course of this year, I intend to travel the country to push for reforms that do just that. But I cant do these things on my own. (Applause.) Changes in our political process -- in not just who gets elected, but how they get elected -- that will only happen when the American people demand it. It depends on you. Thats whats meant by a government of, by, and for the people. What Im suggesting is hard. Its a lot easier to be cynical; to accept that change is not possible, and politics is hopeless, and the problem is all the folks who are elected don't care, and to believe that our voices and actions dont matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future. Those with money and power will gain greater control over the decisions that could send a young soldier to war, or allow another economic disaster, or roll back the equal rights and voting rights that generations of Americans have fought, even died, to secure. And then, as frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into our respective tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background. We cant afford to go down that path. It wont deliver the economy we want. It will not produce the security we want. But most of all, it contradicts everything that makes us the envy of the world. So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, whether you supported my agenda or fought as hard as you could against it -- our collective futures depends on your willingness to uphold your duties as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. (Applause.) We need every American to stay active in our public life -- and not just during election time -- so that our public life reflects the goodness and the decency that I see in the American people every single day. It is not easy. Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a little over a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I will be right there with you as a citizen, inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that helped America travel so far. Voices that help us see ourselves not, first and foremost, as black or white, or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant or native born, not as Democrat or Republican, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed. Voices Dr. King believed would have the final word -- voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love. And theyre out there, those voices. They dont get a lot of attention; they don't seek a lot of fanfare; but theyre busy doing the work this country needs doing. I see them everywhere I travel in this incredible country of ours. I see you, the American people. And in your daily acts of citizenship, I see our future unfolding. I see it in the worker on the assembly line who clocked extra shifts to keep his company open, and the boss who pays him higher wages instead of laying him off. I see it in the Dreamer who stays up late at night to finish her science project, and the teacher who comes in early, and maybe with some extra supplies that she bought because she knows that that young girl might someday cure a disease. I see it in the American who served his time, and bad mistakes as a child but now is dreaming of starting over -- and I see it in the business owner who gives him that second chance. The protester determined to prove that justice matters -- and the young cop walking the beat, treating everybody with respect, doing the brave, quiet work of keeping us safe. (Applause.) I see it in the soldier who gives almost everything to save his brothers, the nurse who tends to him till he can run a marathon, the community that lines up to cheer him on. Its the son who finds the courage to come out as who he is, and the father whose love for that son overrides everything hes been taught. (Applause.) I see it in the elderly woman who will wait in line to cast her vote as long as she has to; the new citizen who casts his vote for the first time; the volunteers at the polls who believe every vote should count -- because each of them in different ways know how much that precious right is worth. That's the America I know. Thats the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Undaunted by challenge. Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. (Applause.) Thats what makes me so hopeful about our future. I believe in change because I believe in you, the American people. The And thats why I stand here confident as I have ever been that the State of our Union is strong. (Applause.) Ordeal: History student Louis Richardson, 21, was suspended from his studies at Durham last year With its historic colleges and large body of ex-public school students, Durham University has long enjoyed a reputation as a respectable alternative to Oxbridge. So when Louis Richardson enrolled there to read history, his intention was to make the most of the opportunities on offer. As well as joining its Conservative Association, he signed up for the universitys Champagne Society, and even had a crack at clay pigeon shooting. But his greatest achievement came when he was made secretary of the prestigious Union Society debating club. There, resplendent in black tie, he would welcome the great and the good to air their views about the pressing topics of the day everything from size zero models to the value of the European Union to Britain. And, as is the way with such student organisations, once the serious talk was over, the role offered plenty of scope for socialising. Indeed, in photographs posted on Facebook, Richardson was rarely seen without a drink or an attractive female student. Of course, many will argue, isnt that what university life is all about? But as Richardson would discover to his cost, such behaviour is not without its perils. In March 2014 the second-year undergraduate had sex with a fellow student after a drink-fuelled evening at a notorious Durham nightclub. In the weeks that followed, Richardson and the woman continued to sleep together. (Although she had a boyfriend at home, the couple had agreed they could see people on the side.) She also regularly swapped flirtatious messages with Richardson via Facebook. Support: Richardson is flanked by his parents, Simon and Judy, outside Durham Crown Court yesterday In one, the woman referred to him as a sexy menace, while in another she told him: Ill let you spank me. A third included a photo of her cleavage with the message: Present for you, darling. So far, so good, Richardson thought. But after several months of this sexually-charged banter, out of the blue he received a Facebook message from the girl while she was on holiday with her boyfriend, accusing him of having raped her while drunk. I said no and you did it anyway, it concluded. Following a complaint to police, Richardson was arrested. When the news was made public, a second woman came forward to claim that he had groped her as she lay in a bed during a student party. Charged with rape and indecent assault, Richardsons life immediately ground to a halt. Suspended from university, he was forced to put his studies on hold and return to live with his parents in Jersey. When, finally, the trial began last week, he resolutely denied the charges, claiming the sex had been consensual and accusing the womans jealous boyfriend of encouraging her to make the complaint. The jury at Durham Crown Court believed him, clearing him of all charges yesterday. While the end of a nightmare for Richardson, questions remain as to how on earth the case got to court in the first place. His barrister went so far as to describe his accusers evidence as being so full of lies and contradictions it demeaned genuine rape victims. Since 1972: The Klute nightclub has become something of an institution at Durham. Unfortunately, its reputation has been based largely on boorish behaviour fuelled by the excessive consumption of alcohol The allegations have devastated his life, a close university friend told the Mail last night. He had this bright future, was really well liked and doing well at Durham. Because of this, he couldnt graduate, all his plans have been stalled and the last year has been a living hell. Since opening its doors in 1972, the Klute nightclub has become something of an institution among undergraduates at Durham. It is especially popular with sporting clubs and the Rahs the name given to the clique of Sloaney students at the university. Unfortunately, its reputation has been based largely on boorish behaviour fuelled by the excessive consumption of alcohol. Party lifestyle: A photo from Richardson's open Facebook page Once featured in a poll of the worst nightclubs in Europe, recollections of past goings-on there abound with stories of sexual antics in dark corners and unsavoury drinking games. However dubious its attractions, it was to Klute that Richardson and his accuser, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, would head on that fateful evening. At the time Richardson was living university life and the high life to the full. The son of a bank manager, he had enjoyed a relatively modest upbringing on Jersey. There, while attending Hautlieu Secondary School, he had been chosen to represent the school in the islands annual Youth Assembly. During the event, which sees pupils participate in a government meeting, he voted against raising the legal sale limit of alcohol to 21. Having won a place at Durham, he had clearly chosen to move in a certain social circle, making the most of his evident self-confidence and brooding charm. As for the privately-educated young woman, Richardson met her via Facebook. He would describe her as an intriguing individual who doesnt really like poor people. Like Richardson, she enjoyed a drink, jokingly describing herself to friends as a booze-hound. Indeed, on the night in question she would claim that she was crazy drunk. Richardson, meanwhile, was said to have drunk several pints and a quaddie a drink containing four shots of vodka. The alleged victim said Richardson had offered to take her home and look after her. She said her next memory was of waking up naked in his bed the following morning, at which point she claimed he joked she had been rubbish. I can remember him saying I was really bad in bed because I was unresponsive, she said. Two months after that incident she claimed that Richardson had indecently assaulted her at a party by exposing her bra and saying: Get your t*** out. Everyone else has seen them. Some time after the second incident she confided to close friends about the alleged rape, then contacted the police. Cathedral Square: With its historic colleges and large body of ex-public school students, Durham University has long enjoyed a reputation as a respectable alternative to Oxbridge But Richardson paints a very different version of events. Having met online, they had first slept together ten days before the alleged rape. Following a night out at Klute where else they had returned to his house and had sex. They spent much of the next day together, walking along the river and having lunch. Having returned to Klute for the second date, he said that while they had both been drinking, they were not drunk. Sex had been consensual and she was a willing and active participant. Top job: Richardson's greatest achievement came when he was made secretary of the prestigious Union Society debating club Richardson claimed she even called out her boyfriends name while they were in the throes of passion. They discussed the incident the next morning and she told him the man was someone she had sex with when she was at home, he said. In the weeks that followed, flirty Facebook messages were sent between the pair and they continued to sleep together very frequently. On May 10, she mentioned having to call her boyfriend and Richardson said he started to realise the woman was in a serious relationship. But the woman told Richardson the boyfriend didnt know about them and neither does he care any more. The court heard she told Richardson she was going abroad on holiday with her boyfriend in June. Days before she left they had dinner together. Richardson said: She said her boyfriend had stopped having girls on the side and she thought she should stop having people on the side too. She implied it was about me. Later that evening they were kissing and cuddling on the sofa at a friends house. Richardson said her bra would have been exposed but he denied any improper behaviour. He claimed that the first he knew of any problem was in June when the woman and her boyfriend were abroad. He received a message from her Facebook account which read: I dont want to hurt you but I feel its best we dont speak any more. You know (boyfriends name) is very special to me and my betrayal of him has caused trust issues. I dont want to lose him, that means I have to lose you. Im sorry I am such a terrible bitch. Its the way I feel and I dont mean to hurt either of you. While devastated that he had been dumped, Richardson decided to take it on the chin, replying fair enough. However a more serious message followed, saying: I have been doing some thinking. I consider our last time rape. I said no and you did it anyway. I ask you not to contact me again active immediately. Trial: When former history student Richardson was arrested for rape, he was shocked and devastated' Richardson said he then received a text from the woman saying that she had not sent the messages, adding: He wrote it. Richardson told the court: I thought it was seeming like a petty threat done by a boyfriend who was probably a bit over paranoid. His barrister, Philippa McAtasney QC, went further, branding the woman a manipulative liar who, she claimed, in salving her cheating conscience had belittled the experience of real victims. Out and about: Richardson poses with the Man with Potential Selves statue in Newcastle city centre She told the jury: She is a highly manipulative young lady... she uses people, she is attention-seeking and she lies when it suits her purpose. She is a dishonest, dangerous young woman. She was using Louis. The court heard that the complainant had self-harmed while at university by carving a word into her upper thigh. She has also been treated for depression. When Richardson was arrested for rape, he was shocked and devastated. After news of his arrest was revealed in a student newspaper, a second woman complained to police that Richardson had indecently assaulted her. The alleged incident took place in October 2014 at a student party where the woman had felt unwell and gone upstairs to sleep. When she awoke she found there were several men sat around the bed having a heated political discussion. She said she realised a man she did not know was sitting on a chair next to the bed with one hand under her top, squeezing her breast firmly above her bra, while his other hand was in her leggings, stroking her over her underwear. Richardson claimed the woman had complained of feeling unwell and that he had put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She took my hand and brought it to her breast. I went along with it. He said it was there for moments and nothing else happened. The jury evidently agreed, finding him not guilty on all counts. It is understood Richardson plans to resume his studies, but how long it will take him to repair the damage inflicted on his reputation is another question altogether. When he was arrested, he told detectives that he was very fond of an adage, taught to him by his great-uncle: I dont mind a thief, but I hate a liar. He added: If someone says I have done something I havent, it bloody annoys me. Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores said on Tuesday that two of her nephews who have been indicted on drug trafficking charges were kidnapped by U.S. authorities, her first comments on the case since their arrests sparked a scandal last year. Franqui Flores de Freitas, 30, and Efrain Campo Flores, 29, were arrested in Haiti in November in an operation involving the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The two were later indicted in New York on charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine, an embarrassment to President Nicolas Maduro. 'We have evidence that the DEA was here on Venezuelan territory violating our sovereignty and committing crimes on our territory,' said Flores, who is also a congresswoman, when asked about the issue by reporters at the legislature. Finally speaking out: Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores on Tuesday said two of her nephews were kidnapped by U.S. authorities, her first comments on the case since the pair were arrested in Haiti in November Held: Franqui Flores de Freitas, 30 (left), and Efrain Campo Flores, 29 (right), were arrested in Haiti in November in an operation involving the Drug Enforcement Administration 'The DEA committed the crime of kidnapping, which the (legal) defense will prove.' The United States embassy in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two met with a DEA informant in Honduras in October and asked for help in sending 800 kilos of cocaine to the United States, according to a source knowledgeable of the situation. Opposition critics have described the two as 'narconephews,' and say the case signals a broader involvement of Venezuelan authorities in smuggling drugs from neighboring Colombia toward the United States and Europe. Socialist Party officials call the accusations an attempt by Washington to smear the leftist government, and insist drug interdiction efforts have improved since the 2005 expulsion of the DEA. 'They have tried to link high-ranking government officials to make it look like Venezuela is complacent with the drug trade, and it turns out that major drug traffickers are arrested here,' Flores said. Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady, Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, second from left, 29, and Franqui Francisco Flores De Freitas, right, 30, appear in Manhattan federal court at their arraignment in December In December, Campo and Flores, entered not guilty pleas to an indictment charging them with conspiring to import 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The charge carries a maximum potential sentence of life in prison. Each wore headphones during the proceeding to listen through a translator. Both were being held without bail. The next hearing in the case was set for February 29. Authorities revealed around the time of the hearing that two high-ranking military officials were named in a sealed federal indictment in New York accusing them of colluding with cocaine traffickers. The revelation prompted an angry response, with Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino denouncing what he called a 'smear campaign against the Bolivarian Armed Forces.' The foreign ministry then accused the U.S. of 'judicial terrorism'. 'Venezuela expresses its deepest rejection of U.S. foreign policy which, through judicial and police terrorism conducted by national agencies and through global media campaigns, pursues, threatens and pressures the exercise of authority in Venezuela,' a statement said. Mr Miller's brother, Billy, gave a heartbreaking speech to to the crowd Cole Miller was laid to rest in Brisbane on Wednesday morning in a heartbreaking ceremony attended by his family and friends at the Cathedral of St Stephen. Steven Miller wiped away tears and broke down with grief while delivering the eulogy during the funeral for his 18-year-old son that was attended by more than 1,000 people. The ABC reports that the bereaved father spoke lovingly of his son's years growing up in the family home on the Sunshine Coast. Scroll down for video Steven and Mary-Leigh Miller sprinkle holy water on the coffin of their son, 18 year-old one-punch victim Cole Miller, during his funeral service in Brisbane at the Cathedral of St Stephen on Wednesday 'He was always good for a kiss and a cuddle,' he said. 'Still in year 12, the whole family always stopped for a hug and a kiss from him. It was our family tradition. 'This young boy, Cole, could hold my heart in his every being. He did so then and he still does.' He and his wife Mary-Leigh later sprinkled holy water on his coffin. The memorial program for the funeral service had a picture of Cole on its front with an image of a peaceful beach. Cole died in hospital on January 4 from massive brain trauma a day after allegedly being hit with a 'coward punch' in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley nightclub district. Steven Miller wipes away tears while delivering the eulogy during the funeral for his 18-year-old son Cole Mr Miller (centre), and his other sons Mitchell (left) and Billy, leave the altar after the eulogy The coffin of the 18 year-old is brought in during his funeral service at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane The cover of the memorial program for the funeral service for 18-year-old one-punch victim Cole Miller A picture of Cole sits on his coffin during the 18-year-old's funeral service at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane Mr Miller told the congregation that his family would never get used to not having Cole with them. 'I could have written 50 pages a day, since 10am on the 4th of January 2016, when our boy Cole was pronounced dead,' he said, while trying to remain composed. 'I could have written at least 500 pages, and still not have enough words about him. [But] I hope it says enough for us to remember him by.' He said Cole was an adored child who inspired a family tradition of trying to steal hugs and kisses - a game that persisted even when their target was in Year 12. Luckily, Cole was equally affectionate in turn, often sneaking into his parents' room as a young boy to snuggle up with them to sleep. Steven said Cole grew up to idolise his oldest brother Billy, an Olympic water polo player. But after cheering his sibling on at the 2012 London Games, he said Cole was inspired to become 'the water polo kid' himself. Cole died in hospital on January 4 from massive brain trauma a day after allegedly being hit with a 'coward punch' Steven Miller (centre), Billy (left) and Mitchell, father and brothers of Cole, struggle to contain their grief The hearse with Cole's coffin drives away from the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane Pallbearers, including Cole's brothers Billy (left) and Mitchell Miller (right), make their way from the cathedral Cole's elder brother Billy is hugged by one of the other mourners after the funeral It was a tough day for Steven Miller (centre), Billy (left) and Mitchell, father and brothers of Cole Distraught family and friends struggle to keep their emotions in check on a traumatic day The funeral procession makes it's way out of the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane Cole's brother Mitchell (left) is comforted by a mourner after the ceremony Family and friends of Cole gathered at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane on Wednesday Family and friends of the Miller family file into the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane Cole's team mates and club members from Water Polo Australia attended the service Mother Mary-Leigh, as well as other siblings Kate and Mitchell, also took part in the Catholic service. Cole's team mates and club members from Water Polo Australia played a part in the service - he had been a member of the Australian under-18 team. Others from his old Sunshine Coast surf life-saving club were also in attendance. Many of those gathered foe the ceremony wore green to reflect the colour of Mr Miller's local water polo team, the Brisbane Barracudas. Green armbands were also given out at the cathedral doors as people walked in for the service. Cole's death has given momentum to the state government's proposed new laws to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence, including changes to night club lockout times. On Monday thousands gathered at a public rally to pay tribute to Cole. Rugby league legend Wally Lewis led the rally in sweltering heat in King George Square on Monday, calling for an end to violence and Mr Miller's brother, Billy, made a heartbreaking speech, saying it was 'Cole's time to shine.' 'There's certainly no place whatsoever in this city or anywhere else for senseless act(s) of violence in our community,' Mr Lewis told the crowd. Steven Miller was comforted by a friend as he broke down on attending a rally on Monday for his son, Cole, who tragically lost his life after a one-punch attack in Brisbane on January 3 A devastated Mr Miller had support from sons Mitchell and Billy as he listened to rugby league legend Wally Lewis address the crowd His father, Steven, was hugged by a close friend as he broke down while walking into King George Square for Monday's rally and was later seen being comforted by sons Mitchell and Billy as the trio listened intently from the front row. Despite the tragic circumstances, Mr Miller was able to show a small sign of togetherness, giving a thumbs up during the address. The crowd again donned green shirts to remember the talented water polo player. 'We should not and never have to worry about a loved one going out and having a good time with friends,' Billy Miller said during his address, with his father standing directly behind him for support, The ABC reported. The rally was put together by Gold Coast teenager Paris Wood who, although did not know Cole personally, felt 'devastated that someone so young can die just so suddenly.' 'He's gone with his friends to have a good time, and this has just happened and it's just really, really sad,' she said. Rugby league legend Wally Lewis led the rally in sweltering heat in King George Square on Monday, calling for an end to violence Despite the tragic circumstances, Mr Miller was able to show a small sign of togetherness, giving a thumbs up during the address Thousands of members of the public respectfully watched on, despite the sweltering heat Mr Miller's brother, Billy, made a heartbreaking speech, saying it was 'Cole's time to shine' At one point during the service, Billy needed the comfort of his brother Mitchell as he broke down Speaking one week earlier, Mr Miller (pictured behind his son Billy) revealed his heartbreak over his son who had his 'whole life yet to be lived' Rally attendees stood in silence as they listened to addresses from both Billy Miller and Mr Lewis Thousands donned green shirts to remember the talented water polo player and surrounded the square as the sun beat down Ms Woods says she has friends who are too terrified to go out after the 18-year-old's death. Speaking one week earlier, Mr Miller revealed his heartbreak over his son who had his 'whole life yet to be lived'. 'It is with deep sadness that I announce that our 18-year-old son Cole has today passed away as a result of massive brain trauma,' Steven Miller said. 'He has struggled bravely in the intensive care unit of the Royal Brisbane Hospital and our family and many close friends have been by his bedside since the incident'. 'Cole was a beautiful, brave, young man with his whole life yet to be lived,' the teenager's father said. 'We should not and never have to worry about a loved one going out and having a good time with friends,' Billy Miller said Mr Miller held Mitchell's hand as his son's wrapped their arms around their father to comfort each other The remaining family members sought comfort from each other as braved the sweltering temperatures to listen to tributes for Cole Steven Miller and his two remaining sons stood with their heads hung in sadness as they remembered their lost family member 'The Miller family would like to sincerely thank the support provided by Cole's school friends from Brisbane State High, and the water polo community, and the many many many others who have sent messages of love and hope.' Steven Miller also thanked emergency services and the doctors and staff at the hospital where his son was cared for. Cole's funeral will be held later in the week. Members of the public showed compassion to the devastated family by hugging them close as they entered the service Mitchell wiped tears away from under his sunglasses as they trio greeted family and friends at the rally Flower bouquets were laid beneath a picture of Mr Miller as his older brother Billy addressed the crowd, with Mr Miller standing just behind Attendees were seen standing on a balcony overlooking the rally and struggling to hold back tears as they listened to the touching words about Mr Miller President Obama left the U.S. Capitol Tuesday night with a mixed victory in his final State of the Union address, leaving Republicans shaking their fists in frustration, Democrats nodding their approval - but also leaving some strains of bipartisanship in the air. Obama's longtime critics were loudest - and ever-ready with a quip as well. 'I'm glad it's his last one,' said Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn of Texas. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who mounted a brief bid last fall to become House speaker, was among several Republican leaders who suggested a 'disconnect' between Obama and the rest of the country. 'National security is the No. 1 issue, and he is in a different place than the rest of the country. You look from Paris to San Bernardino to Philadelphia to Istanbul this morning, to our own Navy being taken Iran. And he talks about us being the strongest we've ever been?' ' 'I feel there's a greater threat out there, and I do believe we've taken a step back and we've allowed others to fill that void, and it's made the world unsafe. We need to take a stronger approach." On the presidential campaign trail, Republicans howled even louder. Scroll down for videos Obama's last State of the Union address Tuesday night was a relatively genteel affair, with a notable absence of heckling or heavy tension despite the looming presidential race Obama said he would resist the urge to lay out a wish-list of accomplishments from Congress - but did so anyway, although in more general terms instead of specific proposals GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush sent out this tweet after press reports surfaced about the speech's content 'Safer? ISIS on the rise. North Korea testing nukes. Syria in chaos. Taliban on march. This president is living in a different world. #SOTU,' GOP candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in a tweet he sent out even before the speech began. 'Obamas final State of the Union address marks the end of eight years of lost potential for America,' fellow GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz echoed in a statement. 'We have lost opportunities for economic growth and expanding freedom. Its a sad chapter in American history that will fortunately soon come to a close. ' GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said, 'Tonight, President Obama once again proved that he is a politician, not a leader. Instead of talking about solutions, he talked politics.' 'Despite his rhetoric, Americans know that our economy is lagging, our leadership in the world is waning, and the very character of our nation is threatened.' Fiorina also sent out a fund-raising letter that slammed Obama for 'shameless rhetoric and revisionist history,' and then asked for campaign donations. Of the three GOP senators running for their party's primary nomination, only Florida Sen. Marco Rubio attended Tuesday night's speech - but was caught by cameras falling asleep midway through the address. Obama received plaudits from his fellow Democrats for avoiding any partisan jabs - besides a few - at Republicans in his last annual congressional address Obama kept his promise to keep his last annual congressional speech short, leaving the House podium after just over an hour However, Democrats lined up to salute their president en masse. 'It was terrific. It was the best speech,' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. 'A powerful speech,' said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. 'One reason Americans elected President Obama twice is because he's very good at setting out a vision, inspiring people at playing to the best angels of the American character, and talking about important issues such as climate change and reducing poverty.' Rep. Ted Lieu of California. 'It was a great vision for the future, as well as looking backwards,' said Sen. Ned Blumenthal, D-Conn. 'What most impressed me was his emphasis on our diversity, and our strength in diversity, and the need to keep the economy moving, which is my priority.' Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Obama 'outlined the incredible strides our country has made under his leadership and called on the nation to build on that progress. More must be done. And as President Obama illustrated tonight, Democrats have a plan for a brighter and more resilient future. This stands in stark contrast to the notes of fear and doom being trumpeted by Republicans across the country,' Reid said. For the most part, congressional Republicans focused their fire at Obama for giving foreign policy and national security short shrift in the address. 'I cant say I was disappointed by the presidents speech, but thats because I wasnt expecting much,' House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. 'His policies arent working. He didn't have an answer for how to defeat ISIS. If everything were as great as he said it was, two-thirds of the American people wouldnt say the country is on the wrong track.' During the speech, Obama announced that Vice President Joe Biden will lead efforts by the administration next year to find a cure for cancer Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said the national security section of Obama's remarks left her 'disappointed' as well. 'He really downplayed the significance of the threat from terrorism,' she told Daily Mail Online. 'He's correct that it doesn't pose a threat to our very existence as a country, but that sends the wrong message to me.' 'And his utter lack of a strategy in dealing with terrorism - whether it's ISIS or al-Queda or home-grown terrorism - really concerns me.' 'The state of the union the president described is very different from the state of the union in the minds of the people of Arkansas,' Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., told Daily Mail Online. 'They're very concerned about economic unrest, the situation with security overseas and fighting Islamic terrorism.' 'So there was a lot of talk, but there wasn't much substance at all in how you deal with these very difficult situations.' Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, said Obama's policies on trade, crime, immigration, spending and debt 'all have one common feature: they make life harder for working Americans and put the country at needless risk.' 'With wages down, record numbers not working, and crime rising in cities across the U.S., the next person to occupy the oval office will have to chart a dramatically different course,' he said. Other Obama critics avoided the speech entirely. GOP Rep. Steve King was in the Capitol but boycotted the speech and spent it in a chapel at the Capitol, praying for abortion victims. Emerging to talk with reporters, King suggested Obama was a hypocrite for reserving a seat for the symbolic victims of gun violence yet being pro-choice at the same time. 'It finally got to me that I'd just had enough,' King said. 'To politicize the State of the Union this way and leave anything about unborn babies unmentioned, I figured I'd leave my gallery seat empty and my seat on the floor empty.' Members of both parties saluted Obama for avoiding an overly bipartisan tone to the speech - and praised his call to boost medical research spending on top of an additional $2 billion that Democrats and Republicans came together to approve this year. 'It was much more middle-of-the-road this year, not so much going after the other guys. And I like the call to resist the fearmongering on the campaign trail. We shouldn't live in fear.' - Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., told Daily Mail Online. 'It was more non-partisan than others of his speeches,' said Lieu. 'He tried to strike a more unifying tone. You see just a lot of stupid, ugly comments out there, and he showed he was the adult in the room.' Two prominent Republicans appeared to fall asleep during Obama's final State of the Union address - presidential candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, at top, and South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy, below, who chairs the House committee that has been investigating the Sept. 2012 terrorist attack in Libya and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's role in it Boozman said the proposal to increase funding to the National Institutes of Health was perhaps his favorite part of the speech. 'Those are the kinds of areas where we can work together,' Boozman said. 'He mentioned free trade with Cuba - I was pleased with that aspect too. That's an area where there's lots of division, but there's several areas like the NIH funding where we can come together and get things done, hopefully in the next year.' Collins, a Republican moderate, also praised Obama's call for more medical research, saying she particularly wants to see devastating illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes eliminated someday. Alzheimer's is now the country's most costly illnesses, in addition to its emotional power. 'There's bipartisan agreement,' Collins said. 'This year we made a down payment by increasing NIH's budget by $2 billion. That's a great start. There are so many areas where if we spent more on research we would end up saving long-term taxpayer dollars.' 'This is an issue that transcends party lines, affects every family in our country, and it is an issue that should bring us together.' Many cases may be decided by a civil servant rather than a judge Would be available for cases such as everyday damages claims Online court should be designed to have no lawyers, no large bills for legal costs, and no traditional trials, according to a report by appeal court judge Lord Justice Briggs (pictured) Families ripped off by holiday companies or sold cars that keep breaking down will soon be able to sue online under a plan put forward by judges yesterday. A click-for-compensation court should be set up to deal with all financial claims up to 25,000 apart from personal injury cases, they say. The online court would be able to deal with a wide range of cases such as those brought by homeowners who have suffered at the hands of cowboy builders, families in dispute with neighbours, and people pursuing everyday damages claims. It should be designed to have no lawyers, no large bills for legal costs, and no traditional trials, according to a report by appeal court judge Lord Justice Briggs. Instead in a homeowners dispute with a builder, for example, a county court judge would make a decision based on evidence emailed in by both sides, and any hearing could be held over a phone or video link. If the internet justice scheme goes ahead, many cases might be decided without even a judge. They could be handled by a civil servant with the title of case officer, who would try to persuade the parties to agree a deal before a judge became involved. The online court plan is part of sweeping reforms of the civil courts ordered by senior judges. The idea is to give millions the chance to get justice through the courts without facing high legal bills, wealthy opponents with expensive lawyers, or the threat of being bankrupted by their opponents costs if they lose. Lord Justice Briggs said the online court would be the first court ever to be designed in this country, from start to finish, for use by litigants without lawyers. The online court would be able to deal with a wide range of cases such as those brought by homeowners who have suffered at the hands of cowboy builders He added: It is unique among attempts to assist litigants without lawyers because it seeks for the first time in this country to take advantage of the facilities offered by modern IT at all stages in its process. His report said that the existing civil courts are designed by lawyers for use by lawyers and for ordinary people they are disproportionately expensive and therefore unaffordable. Lord Justice Briggs said this was a truly shocking state of affairs. The idea is to give millions the chance to get justice through the courts without facing high legal bills or the threat of being bankrupted by their opponents costs if they lose He added that the law is now so complicated that it cannot be understood by non-lawyers and the problem was worsening because whereas historically law was created by Parliament and judges, it is now created in addition by the EU legislature and by the ever-expanding jurisprudence emanating mainly from Strasbourg about human rights. Some legal procedures can already be carried out online. They include the settlement by mediation of small claims cases worth up to 10,000, and claims by utilities and other large companies over unpaid bills, which are dealt with through a computerised county court bulk centre in Northampton. The report known as the Civil Courts Structure Review was ordered last year by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, and the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson. It said the online court should not deal with personal injury cases, because they are likely to involve insurance companies, which will invariably use teams of specialist lawyers, and they also usually need to weigh up complex medical evidence. It would handle straightforward cases, and if anyone involved in a case decided to use lawyers, the legal professionals would have to fill in the same online forms as everybody else. They could not claim their fees back from the losers should they win. A district judge would be able to order a face-to-face hearing, which would not involve lawyers, if he or she considered it necessary. There would be a right to appeal. The proposals will go out for consultation. Ernest Shackleton (pictured) achieved his legendary feats of exploration while suffering from a hole in the heart, doctors believe Ernest Shackleton achieved his legendary feats of exploration while suffering from a hole in the heart, doctors believe. Shackleton took part in four expeditions to the Antarctic, including the 1914-16 Endurance voyage in which he mounted one of the most daring rescue missions and greatest survival stories of all time. After the ship became trapped in ice and sank, the Anglo-Irishman made a treacherous, 800-mile crossing of the Southern Ocean, followed by a 36-hour trek across the mountains and crevasses of South Georgia, to raise the alarm. Against all odds, every member of the expedition, Shackletons third, survived. Shackleton, who was knighted after his second expedition, died of a heart attack on his fourth expedition, aged just 47. Now, 100 years on and following examination of expedition diaries and other historical records, two British doctors have concluded he did it all while suffering from an undiagnosed cardiac condition. Evidence of a hole in the heart includes breathlessness and extreme tiredness, to the point of collapse. In fact, Shackleton experienced physical breakdowns during three of Antarctic expeditions, the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reports. After one such attack, expedition medical officer Dr Eric Marshall wrote: Shacks collapsed after dinner tonight. The doctors diary entry for the next day read: Sh very unwell, walked by the sledge all day. Pulse on march thin & thread, irregular. However, despite concerns, Shackleton refused to allow expedition medics to examine him. It is even claimed that he contrived to avoid a medical before his first expedition, in which he joined Captain Scott aboard the Discovery in 1901. Ian Calder, a retired anaesthetist who made the diagnosis after studying documents held at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, said it is likely the explorer knew he had a heart problem. Shackleton's ship the Endurance locked in ice (pictured left). The explorer eventually died from a heart attack aged 47 Dr Calder said: Shackletons breakdowns were serious threats to his and his companions survival. Some may feel that Sir Ernest was irresponsible in undertaking the leadership of Antarctic expeditions if he suspected a problem, but to paraphrase Dr Johnson, there is seldom a shortage of prudent people, while the great things are done by people who are prepared to take a risk. Sure, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley whacked President Obama's record during her GOP response, but she hinted that those screaming the loudest in the Republican primary deserve some finger-wagging too. 'During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation,' she warned at one point. At another, she said that you don't have to be the 'loudest voice in the room' to make a difference, as she gave her party's official response to Obama's State of the Union address, which he delivered directly before. Scroll down for video Haley's first jab, which seemed to be aimed straight at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, came as she discussed immigration, the billionaire's signature issue. 'No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country,' Haley stated. Though the Republican governor still towed the party line, especially on the subject of Syrian immigrants. 'At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders,' she continued. 'We can't do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.' Haley's address, delivered in the state capital of Columbia, served as an introduction to the national stage for the governor, as she's one of only a handful of female GOP politicians who would be a formidable vice presidential pick. But that didn't stop her from critiquing the party and spreading around the blame for Washington's current state of dysfunction. 'We as Republicans need to own that truth,' Haley said. 'We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America's leadership. We need to accept that we've played a role in how and why our government is broken,' she continued. 'And then we need to fix it,' she added. Haley also discussed her biography and also talked about her state's tough year mainly, the July shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. 'On an otherwise ordinary Wednesday evening in June, at the historic Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, twelve faithful men and women, young and old, went to Bible study,' she said. She reminded viewers how the chuchgoers happily let gunman Dylann Roof in. 'He didn't look like them, didn't act like them, didn't sound like them. They didn't throw him out. They didn't call the police. Instead, they pulled up a chair and prayed with him. For an hour,' Haley continued. Haley, then, pointed to the shooting's aftermath and talked about God, rather than gun policy though later name-dropped the Second Amendment when she talked about how Republicans honored the Constitution 'in its entirety.' 'We didn't turn against each other's race or religion,' she said. 'We turned toward God, and to the values that have long made our country the freest and greatest in the world.' Haley then touted her big national moment as governor last year that of removing the confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol. 'We removed a symbol that was being used to divide us, and we found a strength that united us against a domestic terrorist and the hate that filled him,' Haley stated. The sister of a Saudi blogger sentenced to a thousand lashes has been arrested for running a Twitter account demanding the release of her husband - another prominent activist. Samar Badawi, whose brother Raif Badawi was also sentenced to 10 years in prison, was detained in Jeddah along with her two-year-old daughter. She was interrogated by police for four hours before being transferred to Dhaban prison, according to Amnesty International. US First Lady Michelle Obama (left) and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) pose with Samar Badawi (centre) as she receives the 2012 International Women of Courage Award The NGO said the arrest amounted to 'damning proof' of the kingdom's human rights abuses. Raif Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, posted on Twitter that her sister-in-law was arrested on charges that she was managing a prominent human-rights activist's account. That activist, Waleed Abulkhair, who is also Samar Badawi's ex-husband, is serving out a 15-year jail sentence. Samar Badawi was 'arrested on the charge of directing @WaleedAbulkhair,' Haidar, who is a refugee in Quebec, Canada, said on Twitter. The arrest 'demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission,' said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program. Samar Badawi, who has been under a travel ban by the country's Ministry of the Interior since December 2014, will appear before a judge Tuesday, the nonprofit said. Samar Badawi, whose brother Raif Badawi (pictured) was also sentenced to 10 years in prison, was detained in Jeddah along with her two-year-old daughter 'The arrest... is the latest example of Saudi Arabia's utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities' intent to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent,' Amnesty added. Raif Badawi, 31, was arrested in 2012 and convicted of 'insulting Islam.' His initial public flogging of 50 lashes in January sparked an international outcry against Saudi Arabia and its human rights record. He co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network Internet discussion group, which promoted free speech and sought an end to the influence of religious leaders on public life in one of the world's most conservative countries. Childrens performance at school is more dependent on the area in which they grow up than parental income, a new study suggests. The Social Market Foundation has found that location is now a much bigger influence on childrens achievement than it was for previous generations. Researchers examined test results of youngsters born in 1970 and 2000 and found regional differences have become much greater over the last 30 years. Researchers examined test results of youngsters born in 1970 and 2000 and found regional differences have become much greater over the last 30 years. File picture Pupils results are now highest in London, which is home to some of the countrys best comprehensive schools, and lowest in Yorkshire and Humber. Think-tank director Emran Mian said: While parental income remains very important, this new research shows that where you live plays a bigger role in determining educational achievement. Our new research also shows that the story around ethnic origin and education has become much more complex. The analysis, based on school tests in primary school and exams such as O-levels and GCSEs, indicates that geography has become a much more significant factor in how high pupils are likely to achieve. The study found that social background had a bigger impact on achievement than location in 1970 in comparison with today. Think-tank director Emran Mian (pictured) said that while income remains important, the research shows that where you live now plays a bigger role The research found that in 2013-14, 70 per cent of 16-year-olds in London gained five good GCSEs compared with 63 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber, with such inequalities persisting - and in some cases worsening - over the past three decades. Family background and income remain important, but the study suggests that the geographic area a child comes from has become a more powerful predictive factor. This is partly because of the improvement in London schools, which are now the best-performing in the country but were lagging behind those in the South East in the 1980s. Experts have previously suggested that high aspirations in some ethnic minority communities have contributed to this success. Mr Mian said: Previously, children from all non-white backgrounds did less well. Now, children from some ethnic groups, including Chinese and Indian children, do better than the average, while others including black Caribbean and poor white children do worse. For those born in 1970, who took O-levels in 1985-86, black and Asian pupils results were considerably below average and behind their white counterparts. But in 2013-14, Indian pupils GCSE results were above average, while Pakistani pupils were below average. Black African pupils were above average and black Caribbean were below. White pupils were below average, with the weakest results from poor, white boys. The Social Market Foundation is setting up a commission on inequalities in educational achievement, which will be chaired by Nick Clegg, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats. Yesterday, Mr Clegg suggested paying teachers more to work in poorly-performing areas of the country could help end the postcode inequality of education Yesterday, Mr Clegg suggested paying teachers more to work in poorly-performing areas of the country could help end the postcode inequality of education. Schools in poor and rural areas have long found recruiting good teachers difficult, as well-educated youngsters often move away from such areas. He added: One challenge that has become clear is how to get high-quality teachers into struggling schools in remote or coastal areas. One challenge that has become clear is how to get high-quality teachers into struggling schools in remote or coastal areas Nick Clegg Teach First has had great success bringing talented young teachers into deprived inner-city areas in London, but it is one thing to attract bright people to live in one of the worlds great cities. Getting them to move to more remote parts of the country is quite another thing. So we need fresh ideas about how to attract and retain high-quality teachers in these places. He added that pay may well play a role in it but conceded that it was an incredibly sensitive issue. A Department for Education spokesman said: We recognise the need to spread educational excellence everywhere and, thanks to the hard work of teachers and our ambitious reforms, there are 1.4 million more children in good or outstanding schools since 2010. In a recent report the Public Accounts Committee found the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has fallen at both primary and secondary level. It was a celebration like no other - the moment 42 restaurant workers in New Jersey believed they had all just become millionaires. One man even quit his job on the spot. But, in a terrible twist of fate, the Powerball ticket the employees of Grissini's Italian eatery, in Englewood Cliffs, was actually bought for the wrong day. The mortifying mix-up occurred Saturday night during the $949million draw, when the group - who had pooled for the ticket - realized they had mistakenly compared Wednesday's winning numbers to their Saturday ticket. Fleeting moment of joy: In video taken Saturday night inside Grissini's Restaurant in New Jersey, workers rejoice after believing they have won the $949million Powerball draw. Sadly they were mistaken Winning numbers: The sequence picked by the group of 42 workers were an exact match for Wednesday's Powerball draw - however their ticket was purchased for Saturday The 42 workers of the fine dining establishment - among them servers, cooks and bartenders - spent $210 on tickets. Their numbers included 2, 11, 47, 62, 63 and a Powerball of 17, which was a match for Wednesday's win. No one won the $528million jackpot, which spilled to Saturday's $900million jackpot - for which the ticket was purchased - that later swelled to $1.5billion. 'It was like getting punched in the stomach,' bartender Charles Poveromo, 55, told The New York Post. Poveromo, who has worked at Grissini for 13 years, explained that a friend had texted him the numbers for the draw, which he then read out to the group. However the Powerball website had not been updated for Saturday's draw, meaning he was given Wednesday's winning numbers. Scene: In video taken from inside the restaurant on a cellphone, bartenders can be seen jumping up and down after believing they had won the jackpot The group only realized they had not won the Powerball when they double checked their numbers, and realized the ones they had were out of date 'I picked up my phone and start calling out the numbers to everyone here,' Poveromo said. 'All the numbers matched our tickets. Then pandemonium hit. 'There was just so much joy, and I can't put into words the feelings of euphoria that we all felt.' The moment was caught on video, both from diners inside the restaurant and on CCTV. A dishwasher even took his apron off and screamed: 'I'm outta here! I quit!' It was only when Poveromo called his wife to tell her the news that they realized his mistake. Grissini is a fine dining Italian restaurant in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The employees have again pooled their money together for Wednesday's historic Powerball His wife said he should double check the numbers, and that's when reality hit. 'For 20 minutes it was real,' he said. 'It's a shame we didn't win, but I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything.' A senior Labor official accused of trying to kiss a female staffer has avoided a damaging court hearing after the apprehended violence order application against him was dropped by police. New South Wales Labor general secretary Jamie Clements was set to face allegations of pushing young party staffer Stefanie Jones against a wall and trying to kiss her in June last year. But the expected AVO application was withdrawn at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday morning after Mr Clements signed an agreement to stay away from Ms Jones for 12 months. An apprehended violence order application against top NSW Labor official Jamie Clements has been withdrawn. He was accused of trying to kiss female staffer Stefanie Jones (pictured) New South Wales Labor general secretary Jamie Clements (pictured) was set to face allegations of pushing young party staffer Stefanie Jones against a wall and trying to kiss her in June last year Ms Jones (centre) arrived at at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday morning holding hands with her fiance, Labor state organiser David Latham (left) Ms Jones appeared at the Sydney court holding hands with her fiance, Labor state organiser David Latham, and alongside her barrister, former NSW attorney-general Greg Smith. Part of the deal means that Mr Clements is unable to contact Ms Jones, speak to her at official party events or approach her, the ABC reported. He will also need to apply for a visitors pass to enter Parliament House. Mr Clements has always maintained his innocence in the matter, and released a statement to stress that the outcome did not mean he was guilty. 'I have cooperated fully through this process and am pleased it has reached a resolution which allows all involved to move forward,' he said. The AVO was dropped after Mr Clements agreed to stay away from Ms Jones for 12 months Ms Jones was once touted as 'Labor's secret weapon' and appeared in a video (L) at age 23 to try encourage young Australians to get involved in politics. She is currently engaged to Labor staffer David Latham (R) 'I have always contested the version of events which has been publicly reported and the agreement reached today is without admission on my part. 'Having had discussions with my family and colleagues, I have decided this is the best way to move forward and focus on the challenges of 2016.' 'I hope that this will give everyone involved in this matter the chance to move on.' It has been alleged that Mr Clements a married father-of-three - and Ms Jones were in a relationship in 2013. Both parties were at court but didn't comment outside. Stefanie Jones was a staff member for Campbelltown Labor MP Greg Warren last year Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans: Tonight marks the eighth year Ive come here to report on the State of the Union. And for this final one, Im going to try to make it shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa. I also understand that because its an election season, expectations for what well achieve this year are low. Still, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach you and the other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for working families. So I hope we can work together this year on bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse. We just might surprise the cynics again. But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Dont worry, Ive got plenty, from helping students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical treatments for patients. And Ill keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing. Fixing a broken immigration system. Protecting our kids from gun violence. Equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. All these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done. But for my final address to this chamber, I dont want to talk just about the next year. I want to focus on the next five years, ten years, and beyond. I want to focus on our future. We live in a time of extraordinary change change thats reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world. Its change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families. It promises education for girls in the most remote villages, but also connects terrorists plotting an ocean away. Its change that can broaden opportunity, or widen inequality. And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate. America has been through big changes before wars and depression, the influx of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to expand civil rights. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the dogmas of the quiet past. Instead we thought anew, and acted anew. We made change work for us, always extending Americas promise outward, to the next frontier, to more and more people. And because we did because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril we emerged stronger and better than before. What was true then can be true now. Our unique strengths as a nation our optimism and work ethic, our spirit of discovery and innovation, our diversity and commitment to the rule of law these things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come. In fact, its that spirit that made the progress of these past seven years possible. Its how we recovered from the worst economic crisis in generations. Its how we reformed our health care system, and reinvented our energy sector; how we delivered more care and benefits to our troops and veterans, and how we secured the freedom in every state to marry the person we love. But such progress is not inevitable. It is the result of choices we make together. And we face such choices right now. Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together? So lets talk about the future, and four big questions that we as a country have to answer regardless of who the next President is, or who controls the next Congress. First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman? And finally, how can we make our politics reflect whats best in us, and not whats worst? Let me start with the economy, and a basic fact: the United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. Were in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the 90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever. Manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. And weve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. What is true and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and havent let up. Today, technology doesnt just replace jobs on the assembly line, but any job where work can be automated. Companies in a global economy can locate anywhere, and face tougher competition. As a result, workers have less leverage for a raise. Companies have less loyalty to their communities. And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top. All these trends have squeezed workers, even when they have jobs; even when the economy is growing. Its made it harder for a hardworking family to pull itself out of poverty, harder for young people to start on their careers, and tougher for workers to retire when they want to. And although none of these trends are unique to America, they do offend our uniquely American belief that everybody who works hard should get a fair shot. For the past seven years, our goal has been a growing economy that works better for everybody. Weve made progress. But we need to make more. And despite all the political arguments weve had these past few years, there are some areas where Americans broadly agree. We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job. The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and together, weve increased early childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering. In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing Pre-K for all, offering every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one, and we should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids. And we have to make college affordable for every American. Because no hardworking student should be stuck in the red. Weve already reduced student loan payments to ten percent of a borrowers income. Now, weve actually got to cut the cost of college. Providing two years of community college at no cost for every responsible student is one of the best ways to do that, and Im going to keep fighting to get that started this year. Of course, a great education isnt all we need in this new economy. We also need benefits and protections that provide a basic measure of security. After all, its not much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting in this chamber. For everyone else, especially folks in their forties and fifties, saving for retirement or bouncing back from job loss has gotten a lot tougher. Americans understand that at some point in their careers, they may have to retool and retrain. But they shouldnt lose what theyve already worked so hard to build. Thats why Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever; we shouldnt weaken them, we should strengthen them. And for Americans short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as everything else is today. Thats what the Affordable Care Act is all about. Its about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job, or go back to school, or start that new business, well still have coverage. Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far. Health care inflation has slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became law. Now, Im guessing we wont agree on health care anytime soon. But there should be other ways both parties can improve economic security. Say a hardworking American loses his job we shouldnt just make sure he can get unemployment insurance; we should make sure that program encourages him to retrain for a business thats ready to hire him. If that new job doesnt pay as much, there should be a system of wage insurance in place so that he can still pay his bills. And even if hes going from job to job, he should still be able to save for retirement and take his savings with him. Thats the way we make the new economy work better for everyone. I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty. America is about giving everybody willing to work a hand up, and Id welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids. But there are other areas where its been more difficult to find agreement over the last seven years namely what role the government should play in making sure the systems not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations. And here, the American people have a choice to make. I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy. I think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed, and theres red tape that needs to be cut. But after years of record corporate profits, working families wont get more opportunity or bigger paychecks by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at the expense of everyone else; or by allowing attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered. Food Stamp recipients didnt cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did.Immigrants arent the reason wages havent gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns. Its sure not the average family watching tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore accounts. In this new economy, workers and start-ups and small businesses need more of a voice, not less. The rules should work for them. And this year I plan to lift up the many businesses whove figured out that doing right by their workers ends up being good for their shareholders, their customers, and their communities, so that we can spread those best practices across America. In fact, many of our best corporate citizens are also our most creative. This brings me to the second big question we have to answer as a country: how do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges? Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didnt deny Sputnik was up there. We didnt argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon. That spirit of discovery is in our DNA. Were Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. Were Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. Were every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world. And over the past seven years, weve nurtured that spirit. Weve protected an open internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online. Weve launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day. But we can do so much more. Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources theyve had in over a decade. Tonight, Im announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because hes gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, Im putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones weve all lost, for the family we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. Medical research is critical. We need the same level of commitment when it comes to developing clean energy sources. Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. Youll be pretty lonely, because youll be debating our military, most of Americas business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree its a problem and intend to solve it. But even if the planet wasnt at stake; even if 2014 wasnt the warmest year on record until 2015 turned out even hotter why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future? Seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history. Here are the results. In fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power. On rooftops from Arizona to New York, solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills, and employs more Americans than coal in jobs that pay better than average. Were taking steps to give homeowners the freedom to generate and store their own energy something environmentalists and Tea Partiers have teamed up to support. Meanwhile, weve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly sixty percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth. Gas under two bucks a gallon aint bad, either. Now weve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. Thats why Im going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet. That way, we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st century transportation system. None of this will happen overnight, and yes, there are plenty of entrenched interests who want to protect the status quo. But the jobs well create, the money well save, and the planet well preserve thats the kind of future our kids and grandkids deserve. Climate change is just one of many issues where our security is linked to the rest of the world. And thats why the third big question we have to answer is how to keep America safe and strong without either isolating ourselves or trying to nation-build everywhere theres a problem. I told you earlier all the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know thats the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead they call us. As someone who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, I know this is a dangerous time. But thats not because of diminished American strength or some looming superpower. In todays world, were threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states. The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia. Economic headwinds blow from a Chinese economy in transition. Even as their economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources to prop up Ukraine and Syria states they see slipping away from their orbit. And the international system we built after World War II is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality. Its up to us to help remake that system. And that means we have to set priorities. Priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks. Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in todays world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage. They use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country; they undermine our allies. But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. Thats the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We dont need to build them up to show that were serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the worlds largest religions. We just need to call them what they are killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed. Thats exactly what we are doing. For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISILs financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria. If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL. Take a vote. But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt Americas commitment or mine to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit. Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and al Qaeda, but it cant stop there. For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage. We also cant try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. Thats not leadership; thats a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. Its the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq and we should have learned it by now. Fortunately, theres a smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power. It says America will always act, alone if necessary, to protect our people and our allies; but on issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight. Thats our approach to conflicts like Syria, where were partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace. Thats why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war. Thats how we stopped the spread of Ebola in West Africa. Our military, our doctors, and our development workers set up the platform that allowed other countries to join us in stamping out that epidemic. Thats how we forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia. It cuts 18,000 taxes on products Made in America, and supports more good jobs. With TPP, China doesnt set the rules in that region, we do. You want to show our strength in this century? Approve this agreement. Give us the tools to enforce it. Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America. Thats why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people. You want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere? Recognize that the Cold War is over. Lift the embargo. American leadership in the 21st century is not a choice between ignoring the rest of the world except when we kill terrorists; or occupying and rebuilding whatever society is unraveling. Leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world behind causes that are right. It means seeing our foreign assistance as part of our national security, not charity. When we lead nearly 200 nations to the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change that helps vulnerable countries, but it also protects our children. When we help Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend upon. When we help African countries feed their people and care for the sick, that prevents the next pandemic from reaching our shores. Right now, we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and we have the capacity to accomplish the same thing with malaria something Ill be pushing this Congress to fund this year. Thats strength. Thats leadership. And that kind of leadership depends on the power of our example. That is why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: its expensive, its unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies. Thats why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot I stand tonight that to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country. We the People. Our Constitution begins with those three simple words, words weve come to recognize mean all the people, not just some; words that insist we rise and fall together. That brings me to the fourth, and maybe the most important thing I want to say tonight. The future we want opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids all that is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics. A better politics doesnt mean we have to agree on everything. This is a big country, with different regions and attitudes and interests. Thats one of our strengths, too. Our Founders distributed power between states and branches of government, and expected us to argue, just as they did, over the size and shape of government, over commerce and foreign relations, over the meaning of liberty and the imperatives of security. But democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesnt work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic. Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested, and we listen only to those who agree with us. Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention. Most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesnt matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest. Too many Americans feel that way right now. Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. Theres no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office. But, my fellow Americans, this cannot be my task or any Presidents alone. There are a whole lot of folks in this chamber who would like to see more cooperation, a more elevated debate in Washington, but feel trapped by the demands of getting elected. I know; youve told me. And if we want a better politics, its not enough to just change a Congressman or a Senator or even a President; we have to change the system to reflect our better selves. We have to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around. We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families and hidden interests cant bankroll our elections and if our existing approach to campaign finance cant pass muster in the courts, we need to work together to find a real solution. Weve got to make voting easier, not harder, and modernize it for the way we live now. And over the course of this year, I intend to travel the country to push for reforms that do. But I cant do these things on my own. Changes in our political process in not just who gets elected but how they get elected that will only happen when the American people demand it. It will depend on you. Thats whats meant by a government of, by, and for the people. What Im asking for is hard. Its easier to be cynical; to accept that change isnt possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions dont matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future. Those with money and power will gain greater control over the decisions that could send a young soldier to war, or allow another economic disaster, or roll back the equal rights and voting rights that generations of Americans have fought, even died, to secure. As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background. We cant afford to go down that path. It wont deliver the economy we want, or the security we want, but most of all, it contradicts everything that makes us the envy of the world. So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day. It wont be easy. Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, Ill be right there with you as a citizen inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far. Voices that help us see ourselves not first and foremost as black or white or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant or native born; not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed. Voices Dr. King believed would have the final word voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love. Theyre out there, those voices. They dont get a lot of attention, nor do they seek it, but they are busy doing the work this country needs doing. I see them everywhere I travel in this incredible country of ours. I see you. I know youre there. Youre the reason why I have such incredible confidence in our future. Because I see your quiet, sturdy citizenship all the time. I see it in the worker on the assembly line who clocked extra shifts to keep his company open, and the boss who pays him higher wages to keep him on board. I see it in the Dreamer who stays up late to finish her science project, and the teacher who comes in early because he knows she might someday cure a disease. I see it in the American who served his time, and dreams of starting over and the business owner who gives him that second chance. The protester determined to prove that justice matters, and the young cop walking the beat, treating everybody with respect, doing the brave, quiet work of keeping us safe. I see it in the soldier who gives almost everything to save his brothers, the nurse who tends to him til he can run a marathon, and the community that lines up to cheer him on. Its the son who finds the courage to come out as who he is, and the father whose love for that son overrides everything hes been taught. I see it in the elderly woman who will wait in line to cast her vote as long as she has to; the new citizen who casts his for the first time; the volunteers at the polls who believe every vote should count, because each of them in different ways know how much that precious right is worth. Thats the America I know. Thats the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Thats what makes me so hopeful about our future. Because of you. I believe in you. Thats why I stand here confident that the State of our Union is strong. A photo of an underwear model who appears to have no belly button has created a stir on the internet as social media users try to decide if the model is a clone or photoshopped. In the picture, of a male model wears a pair of AussieBum underwear with an 'Australia' theme. But even with the stomach hair present on the model's torso, a belly button is nowhere to be seen. This image of a model sporting AussieBum underwear appears to have no belly button and has sparked much social media comment Sydney based Dr Brad McKay posted the image on social media, where people began to discuss what had happened to the model's belly button Sydney based Doctor Brad McKay told Daily Mail Australia as an AussieBum buyer he received an email from the company with the image. 'From my perspective as a doctor, I went oh, what's going on here, that's not anatomically right'. So the doctor, who maintains a lighthearted and also informative social media presence, tweeted the picture and shared it on his Facebook page. People immediately began to comment on the model, with a range of suggestions, most common being that it was a result of photoshop or, jokingly, that the model must be a clone. The majority of the comments made one of two suggestions, including that the missing belly button resulted from the image being photoshopped Others decided the model was a clone or did not have a natural birth, hence the missing navel This social media user took it a step further, suggesting the AussieBum models were grown, not born - perhaps a reference to the physique of the models employed by the company One woman said she had inspected the image 'very, very closely' and concluded the belly button was there - just. Another suggested they had photoshopped together two different bodies, but forgot to leave in a belly button. Twitter user Samuel Walker said 'I think this confirms what we've all suspected about Aussiebum models. Grown, not born'. An AussieBum employee told Daily Mail Australia he was aware of the image and said the model's belly button was likely just obstructed by hair. The apparent lack of a belly button was not something the company had done deliberately. AussieBum was aware of the speculation the image had caused online, but the employee did not want to comment further. Other social media users were angry the company had used Aboriginal imagery on the underwear, claiming it was a case of cultural appropriation. The belly button - or navel - is caused by the removal of the umbilical cord at birth. Some people do not have a belly button, as a result surgery. Ashleigh Keeling said on Twitter she had conduct a 'very, very' close inspection and concluded the model did have a belly button, but it was hidden by his body hair One of the social media users who was concerned about appropriation of indigenous art or culture posted this message on Twitter The underwear appear to be one of several different pairs which sported Australian designs A man's complaint about a mouldy tub of hommus has inspired a hilarious response from supermarket giant Woolworths, who replied with a comment laden with references to US rapper Ice Cube. Ben Hunter posted a complaint to Facebook after he bought mouldy Hommus from a supermarket in the affluent Sydney suburb of Mosman, but the response from Woolworths was so hilarious the customer wrote Im not even mad anymore! In the words of modern day poet Ice Cube today was a good day until a familiar craving for SS. Foods Hommus from my usual and reliable local Woolworths was bestowed upon me, Mr Hunter wrote, explaining he now finds himself in dire circumstances after finding a clump of mould. Hi Ben, hello from the other side. Firstly we love the great poet Ice Cube, Woolworths wrote in response. Ben Hunter posted a complaint to Facebook after he bought mouldy Hommus from a supermarket in the affluent Sydney suburb of Mosman, but the response from Woolworths was so hilarious the customer wrote Im not even mad anymore! In the words of modern day poet Ice Cube today was a good day until a familiar craving for SS. Foods Hommus from my usual and reliable local Woolworths was bestowed upon me, Mr Hunter wrote, explaining he now finds himself in dire circumstances after finding a clump of mould Check Yo Self and get over to the service desk for a refund and replacement - You Know How We Do It. Peace out Hommus,' Woolworths replied in their attitude-laden reply But lets talk about Hommus, we totally understand that this is not okay and we will follow up with the store to make sure any other products like this get Straight Outta Mosman. The Boyz in the Hood will look into this for you. Check Yo Self and get over to the service desk for a refund and replacement - You Know How We Do It. Peace out Hommus. The supermarkets response has been liked almost 4000 times in just four hours and prompted the distgruntled customer to reply: thank you Woolworths. Im not even mad anymore.' So boss, they actually killed it and LEGENDARY WOOLLIES HECK YEAH wrote excited supermarket fans, with almost 1000 comments made on the viral post. So boss, they actually killed it and LEGENDARY WOOLLIES HECK YEAH wrote excited supermarket fans, with almost 1000 comments made on the viral post, as Woolworths continued to banter with other customers The hommus in question was bought at a Woolworths store in the affluent Sydney suburb of Mosman Woolworths, you have to check yourself before you wreck yourself, wrote Kenny Sherman, with the store replying: such a hood mentality. Have you tried turning it on and off again? asked Ryan Cole prompting Woolworths to pull out the Little Britain catchphrase: computer says no. They actually killed it The Woolworths social media team are building a reputation for their humorous responses to customer complaints on Facebook. When responding to a post about mouldy pita bread, the Woolworths team showed off their impressive alliteration skills. Hi Charmaine, its a pity our pitas you purchased were putrid, and your partner was prohibited from partaking in a pleasant pocket of pita. Please, we proffer our pretensionless apologies for this problem, and will replace the pitas and recompense the principle you paid, please report to the service counter when you are in proximity to one of our emporiums. Thank you. A Chinese gaming firm has bought a controlling stake in gay hook-up app Grindr for $93million - despite homosexuality remaining a sensitive subject in China. Beijing Kunlun Tech has 60 per cent of Grindr, which calls itself 'the largest network for gay men in the world', has millions of users globally and is renowned for facilitating sexual encounters. Grindr's chief executive branded it 'a vote of confidence' for the gay community in China, where homosexuality was only decriminliased in 1997 and is still frowned upon in many sections of society. Beijing Kunlun Tech has 60 per cent of Grindr, which calls itself 'the largest network for gay men in the world', has millions of users globally and is renowned for facilitating sexual encounters. File picture Grindr's chief executive branded it 'a vote of confidence' for the gay community in China, where homosexuality was only decriminliased in 1997 and is still frowned upon in many sections of society Los Angeles-based Grindr was founded in 2009 and the gay dating application helps people connect with photos and messages, with versions available on Apple and Android devices. The company says it has more than two million daily active users in 196 countries but China is not one of its most active territories. There, it competes with other foreign gay dating apps such as Jack'd as well as hugely popular homegrown options such as Blued and Zank, which have similar interfaces. THE GLOBAL GIANT LOOKING FOR FOOTHOLDS IN NEW MARKETS Beijing Kunlun Tech Company is a gaming company listed on the Chinese Shenzhen stock exchange, with 1,000 employees. It introduced games such as Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, and Need For Speed to China - adapting them for the audience - but is also a leader in mobile banking technology. Chairman Zhou Yahui became a billionaire after the company listed shares last year and is said to be looking for more investments in the US. Last year, the company invested 22m for an undisclosed stake in peer-to-peer mortgage lender LendInvest, in what was the UK's largest ever start-up investment in a financial technology company. Advertisement Blued says its app has been downloaded by 17 million users in mainland China, and another five million overseas. In a company blog post, Grindr founder and chief executive Joel Simkhai touted the investment as 'a huge vote of confidence in our vision to connect gay men to even more of the world around them'. Kunlun Tech, the company which introduced Angry Birds to China, saw their stock soar 10 percent - their daily limit - on the Shenzhen stock exchange after it announced the deal on Tuesday. Grindr is already available in China, and Kunlun Tech - one of China's biggest designers and operators of online games - said is as interested in their networking technology, as much as their dominant position in the market. 'This investment in a social networking platform will further improve the company's strategic layout in the global Internet market,' the company said in a statement said. It added that its own experience operating Internet products in overseas markets, such as games, would help Grindr's business grow. Tuesday's share price jump took Kunlun Tech's market capitalisation to 1.13 billion yuan ($170 million). Mexico's government is moving Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman constantly from cell to cell inside the maximum security prison where he is being held, the same lockup the elusive drug lord escaped from through a tunnel six months ago. Government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison after he was recaptured on Friday. The prison also now has 24-hour video surveillance of Guzman including all parts of his cell. Mexican officials also revealed that they are investigating the meeting that then-fugitive Guzman held with actor Sean Penn and actress Kate del Castillo in October to see if any crimes were committed. Mexico's government is moving Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman constantly from cell to cell inside the maximum security prison where he is being held, the same lockup the elusive drug lord escaped from through a tunnel six months ago The Altiplano prison (pictured) also now has 24-hour video surveillance of Guzman including all parts of his cell However, government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said on late Tuesday that it is the possibility of illegal acts, rather than specific people, that authorities in Mexico are looking into. 'We investigate actions, we don't investigate people,' he said. 'The attorney General's Office is investigating this event and others involving contacts that Joaquin Guzman had while he was on the run.' Carlos Barragan y Salvatierra, a professor of law at Mexico's National University, said there would be little ground to prosecute Penn or Del Castillo, unless money or gifts changed hands. 'If during the dinner El Chapo gave them money, or jewels, or he gave them money for the movie or any other transaction, they could be charged with money laundering,' Barragan y Salvatierra said. But he noted, 'meeting with a fugitive or criminal is not a crime, even if the law says we should report crimes, there is no punishment for not doing so.' Asked about scrutiny of his controversial meeting with the fugitive drug lord at a hideout in rural Mexico, Penn on Monday would only say: 'I've got nothin' to hide.' Mexican officials have said the meeting helped them track down Guzman. Images released to a Mexican newspaper showed that Penn and Del Castillo were under surveillance. Del Castillo has not publicly commented on the meeting. But a federal official said on Tuesday that Guzman appears to have been infatuated with del Castillo, apparently referring to her by the code name 'Hermosa,' or 'Beautiful.' The drug lord also wanted a second meeting with her according to the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Sanchez, however, did criticize what he said were attempts to glorify drug traffickers. Mexican officials also revealed that they are investigating the meeting that then-fugitive Guzman held with actor Sean Penn (left pictured with Guzman) and actress Kate del Castillo in October to see if any crimes were committed Carlos Barragan y Salvatierra, a professor of law at Mexico's National University, said there would be little ground to prosecute Penn or Del Castillo (pictured), unless money or gifts changed hands Authorities found DVD's of Del Castillo's series, The Queen of the South, in which she plays a drug lord, when they raided Guzman's Los Mochis home 'We very much regret the acts of any citizen who collaborates with organized crime, because many times drug traffickers have been stereotyped as people who have their good side, or who in some way do good things.' 'They paint them as heroes, and attractive and generous,' Sanchez said. 'The reality is that these types of criminals have raped women, have killed children, have tortured women and men.' A Los Angeles, California based clothing store has begun advertising flashy blue, baroque-print shirts like the one Guzman wore in a photograph with Penn. The company advertised it alongside Guzman's picture, with the slogan 'Most Wanted ... Shirt.' In the past, polo shirts like one worn by drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villarreal, 'La Barbie,' gained broad popularity in Mexico. The cell from which Guzman escaped in July had a blind spot around the shower, which officials at the time said was intended to protect inmates' privacy. 'He is being changed from cell to cell without a pattern... he is only spending hours or a couple of days in the same cell,' Sanchez said late on Tuesday night. July's escape was Guzman's second from a maximum security prison and it deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto. It also created friction with Washington, which had sought his extradition to the United States. This time around, Mexican officials have said they are willing to extradite Guzman but warn the process could take a year. In the meantime, they appear to be taking extraordinary measure to prevent a third escape. 'Since he arrived, he has been in eight different cells,' Sanchez said of Guzman's time in prison. Guzman's recapture followed the most intensive manhunt in modern Mexican history, with at least 2,500 security and intelligence agents dedicated to getting him. The government says the hunt involved piecing together information from intelligence, data, interrogations and raids as well as monitoring actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo as they came to interview the world's most wanted trafficker. The cell from which Guzman escaped in July had a blind spot around the shower, which officials at the time said was intended to protect inmates' privacy Bullet holes riddle the walls of the second floor of the home that marines raided in their search for Guzman in Los Mochis, Mexico on Monday Federal officials who were not authorized to be quoted by name said that a significant part of the 2,500-strong force hunting the drug lord were soldiers sent into the mountains where he was hiding, to set up a security perimeter. While Penn expressed surprise that a soldier at a checkpoint allowed his vehicle through on the way to the meeting with Guzman in October, one of the officials said that action had proved 'very useful' in the hunt, suggesting it was part of the plan. While Mexican authorities had spent decades chasing Guzman, the chase following his July escape from a top-security prison was different for two reasons, said a former government intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the case. 'One, El Chapo stopped being clandestine. He left the mountain. He met with people, as we now know. That made it easier for intelligence units to find him,' said the ex-official, who maintains sources inside security operations. 'The other factor: there were, from the time of the escape, 2,500 people from various security agencies exclusively dedicated ... to mount a successful operation.' Even so, it took six months to catch him, with Mexican news media carrying repeated reports of marine raids into the mountains of Guzman's native Sinaloa state. Guzman was nabbed early Friday morning after a shootout in the city of Los Mochis that killed five of his men and wounded one marine. The former official interviewed Guzman when he was arrested the first time in 1993 and led operations over the years in the remote mountains of Sinaloa and Durango states, known as the Golden Triangle, after Guzman first escaped a maximum security facility in 2001. This frame-grab taken from Jan. 8, 2016 video released by Mexico's presidential press office, shows Mexican navy marines storming a home during the operation to recapture Mexico's most wanted drug kingpin A tunnel sits under the home where marines searched for Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman in Los Mochis, Mexico on Monday He said the size of those operations involved only around 60 troops, not hundreds. 'It was obviously expensive, but they knew they had to flush Chapo Guzman out,' said Michael Vigil, former head of international operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration, who also was briefed on the operation. 'The only way was by saturating the area where he was. 'It caused him to go to a safe house in Los Mochis. He knew that was going to make him vulnerable, but he had no choice.' Every phone call or text, every movement in the region was analyzed, the ex-official said, including Guzman's October 2 meeting with Penn and del Castillo. He and Vigil said that Del Castillo's phone calls, texts and other communications must have been monitored since she had her first real contact with Guzman last year, while he was still in prison. Everyone wanted to tell his story, but he said he would only work with the Mexican actress, who the ex-official called 'Mexico's Sharon Stone.' 'The movie was secondary. The first motivation was meeting Kate del Castillo and striking a relationship there,' Vigil said, citing intelligence sources. Four days after Penn's October 2 interview, soldiers staged fierce operations in the area of Tamazula, Durango, where the meeting with Penn and Del Castillo took place. The ex-official said it took that time to put together the intelligence and mount a raid. In the end, Guzman narrowly escaped. Security teams had kept watch on several properties related to Guzman in and around Los Mochis since October, he said. But it was only last week that they started noticing a flurry of activity in one of the houses in an upscale neighborhood. Intelligence indicated that Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel, had arrived with their twin daughters to celebrate the Feast of the Three Kings, a major Christmas-season holiday for Mexican children. The timing wasn't an accident, the ex-official said. Holidays and birthdays are the best times to catch suspects. 'They try to be with family, and intelligence units take advantage of these contacts to find out where they are,' he said. In the end, the ex-official attributed Guzman's capture to the drug lord 'losing his footing.' When they first met, Guzman was a mid-level capo without the folk hero image he has today. He was cautious and humble, addressing authorities in the most formal manner of speech. He could barely write, but is very intelligent, the ex-official said. Today, the official said, he sees a man who let his ego take over. Authorities found DVD's of Del Castillo's series, 'The Queen of the South,' in which she plays a drug lord, when they raided his Los Mochis home. Both Penn and the government said Guzman hoped to arrange his own movie. A driver has performed an epic ninja jump through the window of his own moving car while an alleged thief tried to steal it from a petrol station. The daring footage captures the alleged thief, believed to be 24-year-old Timothy Slater from Perth, Western Australia, attempting to steal the car after the driver went to pay for his petrol, in Darwin on November 30. CCTV footage shows the owner of the car walking to pay at the service station but as he does so a person is seen emerging from the shadows, getting in the car and attempting to drive away. Scroll down for video Northern Territory police are seeking alleged thief 24-year-old Timothy Slater from Perth, W.A (pictured) CCTV footage shows the owner of the car walking to pay at the service station but as he does so a person is seen emerging from the shadows (pictured), getting in the car and attempting to drive away The driver performed an epic ninja jump (pictured) through the window of his moving car while an alleged thief tried to steal it from a petrol station in Malak, in Darwins northern suburbs on November 30, 2015 The owner is then spotted running back and launching himself feet-first into the moving car from the passenger-side window. Failing his first attempt, the owner gets up while his right leg is still stuck in the car. After trying again he succeeds as the alleged thief gets out and runs off. Northern Territory Police say they have released the CCTV footage in a bid to locate 24-year-old Timothy Slater, who they believe is responsible for the failed car theft. Video footage of the incident quickly attracted comments on social media. 'Epic ninja jump into the window, whoever that is,' commented Nathan Land on Facebook. Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Bland said Timothy Slater is wanted by police for a string of alleged offences including aggravated assault, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and stealing. Timothy Slater is described as being of Indigenous appearance, 170cm tall and of medium build with black hair. Police urge members of the public to not approach Timothy, but to report all information to them on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. CCTV footage shows the owner of the car filling it with petrol (pictured) moments before alleged thief, 24-year-old Timothy Slater attempted to steal it For a brief moment the team searching for the wreckage of MH370 thought they had made a huge breakthrough, only to discovered the large metal object uncovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean was a 200-year-old shipwreck. The Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) based in Western Australia located the large metal object, which looked eerily similar to the fuselage of a plane, using an underwater sonar vessel on December 19. JACC experts were unable to confirm whether the long man-made shape was the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 which vanished nearly two years ago, and officials ordered another more detailed search. Scroll down for video Using underwater sonar technology this large metal object was found, but rather than being the lost plane it was determined to be a 200-year-old shipwreck What would have been an exciting announcement with the original discovery was put on hold while the second search was carried out - and after a closer look it was confirmed the long, twisted shape was that of a shipwreck. To have told the world about the initial discovery of the object would have brought false hope to the families of the mainly Chinese passengers who were among the 239 people on board. Images captured by the Havila Harmony - the vessel being used in the search - show the large metal object resting on the bottom of the ocean. A map outlining the progress of the search off the western coast of Australia was also released. Experts searching for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 briefly thought they had located the wreckage of the plane on the bottom of the Indian Ocean (stock image) A map outlining the progress of the search off the western coast of Australia was also released On 19 December 2015, an anomalous sonar contact was identified in the course of the underwater search, with analysis suggesting the object was likely to be man-made, probably a shipwreck,' a JACC statement read. 'The Havila Harmony was tasked with further examination of the contact using the AUV (autonomous underwater vessel). On 2 January 2016, the AUV captured high-resolution sonar imagery of the contact, confirming that it was indeed the wreck of a ship. Researchers investigate pieces of debris that had previously been discovered of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 The joint team identified another shipwreck last year, prompting officials to point out if MH370 was in the search area their equipment would find it. The search agency sent the latest image to the Western Australian Museum in Perth and asked its Shipwreck Galleries experts for their opinions about the ship. The JACC said: 'The Shipwreck Galleries of the Western Australian Museum has conducted a preliminary review of some sonar imagery and advised that the vessel is likely to be a steel/iron vessel dating from the turn of the 19th Century.' No other details were available about the ship, as a number of vessels are known to have sunk in the unforgiving waters of the southern Indian Ocean. A group of men carry a flaperon, which was found on Reunion Island last year This part of MH370's wing (pictured) found on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, which makes it unlikely that the fuselage would have washed up in the Philippines The search for MH370 is due to end in June this year, despite the Chinese relatives pleading for it to be expanded. Those calling for the search to continue want to know what happened to their loved ones so they can have closure. But the families have also said in a statement they do not believe their family members have perished. Rather, they said, they believed the passengers were being held prisoner somewhere for an unknown reason. Aviation investigators previously confirmed this six-foot-long wing flap belongs to missing flight MH370 after it was found on the beach on the French Indian Ocean island last year A runner-up in one of Brazil's biggest beauty pageants has died after undergoing cosmetic surgery to remove 'laugh lines', it was reported today. Model Raquel Santos, 28, from Sao Goncalo, Rio de Janeiro, suffered a heart attack after having fillers injected in her face on Monday, and police are now investigating her death. Friends of the mother-of-two told how she was terrified of dying during plastic surgery, but was a 'slave to vanity' who submitted herself to 'every procedure imaginable'. Surgery obsessed: Raquel Santos, 28, suffered a cardiac arrest after having fillers injected in her face to get rid of 'laugh lines' The 28-year-old, who was a finalist in the popular Musa do Brasil competition in December, suffered a cardiac arrest following the procedure on Monday. Police are now investigating whether her reportedly daily use of an illegal horse medicine, which she injected before workouts as a performance enhancer, might have contributed to her death. The Potenay drug, which contains mefentermine, a cardio-respiratory stimulant, is increasing used in Brazil by bodybuilders for muscle gain, but also raises users' blood pressure. Yesterday police reportedly interrupted the funeral of Ms Santos and took her body away for further examination after claims the model's death certificate had been wrongly completed. Miss Santos' best friend Debora Azevedo told Brazil's G1 website how the model, who leaves behind two sons aged seven and 13, was 'obsessed' with cosmetic surgery. Pageant queen: The model, a finalist in the popular Musa do Brasil competition in December, was also reportedly injecting performance enhancers on a daily basis, which may have contributed to her death Vanity: The mother-of-two has been described as a 'slave to vanity' who submitted herself to 'every procedure imaginable' She said: 'She was very concerned about her looks. She would go off and have procedures without telling her friends so we wouldn't fight with her. 'She was terrified of dying during surgery. But she did it anyway, that was how much she was obsessed with looking good. And she did every aesthetic procedure imaginable, from artificial tans to lymphatic drainage. 'She was so vain. She worked out religiously, she was as addicted to working out as she was to plastic surgery.' Her boyfriend Gilberto Azevedo said her quest for beauty was unnecessary and dangerous. He said: 'She was fascinated by it all, carnival, working out, and she always wanted more. Big fan: Friends of Miss Santos, a mother of two sons aged seven and 13, has described her as 'obsessed' with cosmetic surgery 'I thought that she, ugly or beautiful, was fine as she was. But she always wanted more, unnecessarily. 'She smoked a lot and injected Potenay before going to the gym. 'She was a very happy person, friendly and full of dreams. All she ever wanted to do was become a model.' Plastic surgeon Wagner Moraes, who conducted the 'laugh lines' correction on Ms Santos, insisted the procedure wasn't responsible for her death. Forty per cent of Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian migrants registered in Cologne have been arrested for crimes, new crime figures show. Police figures published by Stern magazine comparing crime rates among refugees in the city between October 2014 and November 2015 showed that of 1,111 Syrians only five were arrested for a crime. That is less than half of one per cent. But of 521 Moroccans registered in Cologne the crime rate was measured at 40 per cent and for Algerians and Tunisians also 40 per cent. Assaults: Hundreds of women were attacked by groups of migrant men in Cologne (above) on New Year's Eve. Crime figures from the city show big differences in criminality between refugees from various nationalities Migrants unleashed a frenzy of sexual violence and robbery on women in Cologne (above) on New Year's Eve The bulk of offences were robbery, pick-pocketing, shoplifting and thefts of and from cars. Of 660 Afghans registered in Cologne, only four were arrested for criminal offences 0.6 per cent and of 789 Iraqis 19 were detained or 2.4 per cent. 'People from these countries are so far not a problem from a criminal perspective', according to a report in the magazine Forum. Germans are gripped by a new fear of refugees after the events in Cologne on New Year's Eve when rampaging mobs of migrants unleashed a frenzy of sexual violence and robbery on 500 women. There were similar if small incidents also recorded in several other cities including Hamburg and Bielefeld. Revenge attacks carried out by young men against foreigners took place in Cologne at the weekend and, on Monday night, right-wing rioters trashed immigrant businesses, fought with police and torched cars in a working-class district of the city of Leipzig. Revenge attacks: Right-wing rioters trashed immigrant businesses, fought with police and torched cars in a working-class district of the city of Leipzig (above) Newspapers published statistics on Wednesday from the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) of immigrant crime in Germany between January and November 2015. They recorded 186,235 offences committed by the newcomers, but it is unclear how many different people committed them. In total, there were around 70,000 new offences in the country over 2014. 'The great mass of refugees has no criminal record,' said newspaper Bild. Around two-thirds of the crimes were assault (23,338 cases), theft (75,600 cases) or ticket counterfeiting (26,436 cases). The percentage of sexual offences is under one per cent: 1,462 cases including 404 rape, child abuse or 'sexual coercion' acts. By comparison, there were nationwide in 2014 nearly 47,000 sexual offences. In many cases, immigrants are the victims of crime every second offence committed in asylum homes is of assault and/or robbery. Syrians, registered in Germany as the largest migrant group 48 per cent were responsible for 24 per cent of the crimes. Police were called after he held a pair of scissors to a female doctors neck The nurse, 39, who allegedly shot the pair is believed to have A security guard spent five hours in surgery after he was allegedly shot in the leg by an ice affected patient who held a pair of scissors to a female doctor's neck at the hospital he has worked in for five years. Barry Jennings was assisting a police officer to calm a 39-year-old patient who became aggressive with a doctor at Nepean Hospital, in Sydney's west, late Tuesday night when a scuffle broke out. Mr Jennings was standing behind Senior Constable Luke Warburton when the patient managed to grab the officers gun, allegedly shooting them both in the leg just after 10.30pm. Scroll down for video Barry Jennings is being comforted by his wife Belinda (right) and two sons after he underwent almost five hours of surgery to remove a bullet from his leg The bullet passed through Snr Constable Warburton's left leg, striking his femoral artery, before it hit the 48-year-old guard in the calf. Mr Jennings, who was one of four guards on duty at the complex, has undergone almost five hours of surgery to remove the bullet from his leg and is now being comforted by his wife Belinda and two sons. Senior Constable Warburton also underwent emergency surgery after reportedly losing almost half of his blood and remains in a serious condition. Another guard named Allan Andrews has been hailed a hero after he managed to drag Snr Const Warburton clear of the gunman, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The police officer who was shot has been identified as Luke Warburton (above) who works with the NSW Police Dog Squad The 48-year-old guard, who was one of four on duty at the complex, has worked at Nepean Hospital in western Sydney for more than five years Police rushed to the scene after an officer and a security guard were shot at Nepean Hospital, in Kingswood - a suburb west of Sydney - just before 10:30pm on Tuesday Another guard named Allan Andrews has been hailed a hero after he dragged Snr Const Warburton clear of the gunman, leaving a trail of blood behind him Andrews was among the first to tend to Snr Const Warburton's wound, pressing on his leg to try and stem the blood flow A source told Daily Mail Australia that the accomplished officer was lucky to survive given the amount of blood he lost. 'He would have bled to death if he wasn't at a hospital,' the source said. Snr Const Warburton works with the NSW Police Dog Squad and has assisted in the capture of fugitive Malcolm Naden who was convicted of double murder in 2013. He was called to the scene as he was the closest officer in the area when emergency services received the triple-zero call about the former nurse attacking a doctor 10.30pm on Tuesday, 9News reported. When he arrived the 39-year-old man, who had just been transported to the hospital that night, was holding scissors against the throat of a paediatric doctor in the hospital's emergency department. The man was 'making threats and demands' and the doctor was 'hysterical', 7News reported. The senior constable tried to use capsicum spray to bring down the drug affected patient but it was ineffective and he was forced to reach for his gun, causing the scuffle to break out. The senior constable, with his dog Chuck, was involved in the capture of double murderer Malcolm Naden. Both are pictured above on the Today show Snr Const Warburton was called to the scene as he was the closest officer in the area when emergency services received a triple-zero call about the former nurse attacking a doctor A guard identified only as Warren also suffered shrapnel wounds when up to two shots were fired. He described it 'like a horror movie, there was blood everywhere - on the walls and on the floors.' He received treatment overnight and was released. This comes as it is revealed that the former nurse who allegedly shot the two men in the hospital's emergency department was believed to have been on the drug ice at the time of the incident. Daily Mail Australia understands the man, who worked as a nurse at Westmead Hospital, was undergoing treatment for his drug addiction at Nepean Hospital, west of Sydney, when he lashed out at a female doctor with a pair of scissors late Tuesday night. The 39-year-old man has been charged with shooting with an intent to murder, discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest, and detaining a person for advantage after he was arrested at the scene. It is understood the man, who works as a nurse at Westmead Hospital, was undergoing treatment for his drug addiction at Nepean Hospital when he held a pair of scissors to a female doctor's throat The 39-year-old man has been charged with shooting with an intent to murder, discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest, and detaining a person for advantage after he was arrested at the scene It is still unclear how the man, who was out on bail for break and enter offences, was able to get his hands on the police officer's gun. He was expected to appear at Penrith Local Court on Wednesday, but his hearing was delayed as the nurse claimed he was too unwell to appear. Daily Mail Australia has been told the 39-year-old complained of an injury to the face, which he believed might be a broken jaw. He underwent a medical assessment and returned to Nepean Hospital for observation. It is unclear when he suffered the injury. At least 13 police cars were dispatched to the area following reports of the incident Paramedics make their way into Nepean Hospital after the incident. A witness said the nurse was holding a pair of scissors to the throat of a female doctor Officers taking away what is presumably evidence in a bag. The shooter has been arrested by police It is understood detectives are waiting for the full effects of drug to wear off before questioning the alleged shooter. Const Warburton Mr Jennings were shot after a scuffle broke out when they tried to take the patient into custody just before 10.30pm on Tuesday. The alleged shooter had been subdued earlier in the day by two police officers in a nearby Penrith suburb and taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment for drug-use. During the struggle, the 39-year-old man was able to grab the officer's gun and managed to turn the weapon on the pair. Mark Marion, whose wife is a nurse at the hospital, said police had taken the man to Nepean for assessment earlier that night. 'Police picked him up from Mount Druitt and released him into the care of the hospital,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'He snapped when the doctors walked in and that is when the security guard and police officer wrestled with him.' A witness described the frantic scene to Daily Mail Australia. The officer has been taken into emergency surgery while the shooter has been detained by police. Pictured are officers at the scene A critical incident team from North West Metropolitan Region will investigate the attack at the hospital. Above is an exterior of Nepean Hospital The Nepean Hospital is located in Sydney's south west near the town of Penrith 'The cop sprayed capsicum spray at him - a lot of it, it was everywhere in emergency but he didn't stop - that's when he went for his gun,' he said. The Health Services Union (HSU) demanded security guards be armed with handcuffs while working inside emergency departments. 'Now with drugs like ice- and alcohol-fuelled violence emergency departments are becoming battlegrounds than actually areas of care,' HSU Secretary Gerard Hayes said. Following the incident, fear has gripped other patients arriving at the hospital. One pregnant woman asked: 'Is it safe to go inside, are there people in there with guns?' A second witness, who is another patient at the hospital, told The Daily Telegraph the shooter had been holding a pair of scissors to a female doctor's neck when Snr Const Warburton and security guard attempted to throw him on a bed. 'A guy was screaming and shouting and holding a [knife] to a woman's throat, we couldn't make out what he was saying,' the man said. 'Security came running and started evacuating the area. A police officer came running in, he was overalls, and tried to calm the situation down.' Mr Marion said the officer was immediately rushed into emergency surgery. A critical incident team from North West Metropolitan Region will investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. Attack: Liam McCarthy, 25, was jailed for 12 years after raping a hospital employee in a toilet cubicle A patient who filmed himself raping a female employee in a hospital toilet has been jailed for 12 years. Liam McCarthy, 25, 'grinned' as he strangled the victim and forced her to the floor in a 50-minute attack at Birmingham City Hospital. He dropped his wallet before fleeing the scene and was arrested when he later returned to the hospital to try and retrieve it. McCarthy, from West Bromwich, West Midlands, was jailed for 12 years at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday after he pleaded guilty to rape and assault. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life. The victim said she feared for her life when she was grabbed by McCarthy as she stepped out of a cubicle. McCarthy, who had been in the hospital waiting area earlier that day, filmed a 35-second clip of the attack on his mobile phone which was later discovered by police. Prosecutor Hugh O'Brien-Queen told the court McCarthy gripped the woman's neck with both hands and squeezed so she could hardly breathe. He said: 'He pulled her into the toilet cubicle and pushed her down on the floor, while still strangling her, locking the door behind him.' Mr O'Brien-Quinn said the victim tired to fight back by hitting McCarthy with a toilet brush but she feared she was going to die as she was struggling to breathe. When she kicked metal bucket and tried to scream, McCarthy grabbed her throat and asked if she wanted to die. The victim raised the alarm after realising that McCarthy had dropped his wallet before fleeing the scene. He was arrested when he returned to the hospital to try and collect his missing wallet. In an impact statement, the victim described the 'utter distress and psychological harm' she had suffered and said she been unable to return to work. Caught: McCarthy was arrested after he returned to Birmingham City Hospital, pictured, to try and collect his wallet, which he dropped in the toilet before fleeing the scene. The victim said she feared she was going to die In passing sentence, Judge Simon Drew, QC, told McCarthy: 'It must have been a terrifying ordeal. 'During the course of all of this you used your mobile phone. The footage recorded 35 seconds of that rape. This incident has had a devastating effect on her. Her life will never be the same.' A fun-loving thief stole more than 5,000 from her landlord to blow on a Caribbean holiday before claiming she had been given the money for an arranged marriage. Carys Owens, 22, was living in the victim's house in Torpoint, Cornwall, with her boyfriend when she discovered large bags of cash in the kitchen, Plymouth Crown Court heard. She told the court she was given the money as part of an arrangement to marry her victim's Iraqi cousin. Carys Owens stole more than 5,000 from her landlord to blow on a Caribbean holiday before claiming she had been given the money for an arranged marriage But a court heard she had no intention of going through with the deal - and spent the money on drinks for her friends and a holiday to Antigua - posting pictures on Facebook of her exploits. When friends confronted her she 'laughed off' their concerns - and only returned home when she was deported for stealing a mobile phone from a fellow holidaymaker. Owens pleaded guilty to theft on March 13, 2013, at Plymouth Crown Court and received a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. Recorder Richard Onslow said: 'From the moment you took hold of the money you decided to use it entirely as your own. 'You bought your friends drinks and blew the money within a few days on an expensive holiday in Antigua, which you advertised on Facebook. 'You tried to laugh off the fact that you had that money and you failed to return.' Owens, 22, was living in the victim's house with her boyfriend when she discovered large bags of cash in the kitchen, a court heard. She said she was given the cash to marry her victim's Iraqi cousin Owens (pictured on the holiday) pleaded guilty to theft which took place on March 13, 2013, at Plymouth Crown Court and received a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months Owens, who documented her fun filled trip on Facebook, admitted that she stole 5,200 and never intended to go through with the sham marriage A court heard she pent the money on drinks for her friends and the holiday to Antigua - posting pictures on Facebook of her exploits The court heard how Owens was living in the victim's house in Torpoint, Cornwall, with her boyfriend when the offence occurred. Sally Daulton, prosecuting, said the businessman kept large carrier bags full of money behind a big container of olive oil in the kitchen. After Owens made a meal at the house one evening her friends noticed she had a large amount of money. She claimed the cash had been given to her by her boyfriend and bought drinks for all her friends on a night out. Owens then caught a bus to London and hopped on a plane to Antigua. The victim only realised the money was missing several weeks later, it was said. The court heard she had no intention of going through with the arranged marriage- and spent the money on drinks for her friends and a holiday to Antigua (file picture) - posting pictures on Facebook of her exploits One of her friends challenged her on the phone that she had taken the money - but Owens laughed it off. Police eventually spoke to her when she returned to Britain in September 2013 - but she then evaded justice by returning to Antigua and then moving to Croydon, south London. In a statement, the victim - who denied giving the money as part of an arranged marriage plot - told the court: 'I feel I have worked all year for nothing.' Michael Green, mitigating, said Owens insists the victim paid her the cash as part of 11,000 to marry his Iraqi cousin. The deal was to evade immigration controls but she never intended to go through with the scheme, he claimed. Owens is now working as the manager of a coffee shop in Tooting, south London, and was informally caring for a friend's 14-year-old son, the court was told. A mother-of-two has found her flat infested with mice after a man's body was left decomposing for three weeks in the apartment below. Sandie Mitchell, 24, of Walthamstow, east London, caught five mice in one morning and once found four dead mice when folding out her sofa bed. Police removed the body of a man in his fifties from the apartment below her council flat and told her he had been dead for at least three weeks. She has now covered her flat in mousetraps and was told to keep her doors and windows shut as the ground floor is also infested with rats. Sandie Mitchell, 24, of Walthamstow, east London, caught five mice one morning and once found four dead rodents when she folded out her sofa bed. Police removed the body of a man in his fifties from the apartment below hers and told her he had been dead for at least three weeks Ms Mitchell has placed mousetraps all around her flat and doesn't want to live there anymore Ms Mitchell, whose two daughters are four and one years old, has always seen some mice in her flat but the issue got worse in the past month. She said: 'I realised something was seriously wrong when a really nasty smell started coming from downstairs. 'It made me ill and my eldest child was gagging because of it. She is also terrified after seeing mice scuttling around.' The man's nephew asked her where his uncle was on two occasions. She knocked on his door several times and called the police when the man failed to answer. Ms Mitchell was rehoused in a hostel in Leyton this week but Waltham Forest council told her she must return to her flat because there is no health risk. She said: 'The main thing is that I am worried for the health of my kids and I don't want to live here. 'I don't know how safe the flat is after a man was dead for so long downstairs and I am constantly worried about mice and rats. 'It costs 120 for vermin control but I can't afford that after Christmas. 'We need to be rehoused.' Councillor Khevyn Limbajee, cabinet member for Housing said: 'First and foremost my condolences go out to the family of the gentleman who has tragically died. 'It is understandable that the situation has impacted on his neighbour and it was right that Ms Mitchell and her children were found temporary alternative accommodation while the police and our officers addressed the situation. 'The Police have now completed their investigations and the flat below Ms Mitchell has been deep cleaned. 'The hole through which vermin have been able to access the property is being filled today and the council will carry out pest control measures within both flats to ensure all vermin is eradicated. Advertisement Killer: Turkish police have released this image, which they have identified as the ISIS suicide bomber Nabil Fadli. Fadli killed 11 tourists and injured 14 when he blew himself up in Sultanahmet square in Istanbul This is the face of the Istanbul suicide bomber who blew himself up in Sultanahmet square near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, killing 11 tourists and injuring 14. Nabil Fadli, a 28-year-old ISIS member, had recently entered the country from Syria and registered as a refugee with Turkish immigration authorities in Istanbul just one week before the attack. CCTV footage released previously showed only the back of Fadli's head as he passed through the immigration office. Flowers and candles marked the site of the suicide bombing, as Syrians living in the Turkish city gathered to pay their respects to the dead and injured this evening. Earlier today, a Turkish tour guide revealed how she spotted Fadli 'pulling the pin' in Sultanahmet square, and shouted at the crowd of tourists to run, moments before the massive blast. Sibel Satroglu, who was wounded in the explosion, had been guiding a group of some 25 people when she saw Fadli before he detonated the bomb which killed 10 German tourists and one Peruvian, and injured 14, one who later died in hospital. 'I was with a group of 20-25 people near the Obelisk. I heard a trigger sound. I realised it wasn't a normal sound and I looked around me,' Ms Satiroglu, who suffered a leg wound and hearing loss in the blast, told police according to WorldBulletin. 'Amongst our group I noticed someone who appeared to be Turkish looking in our German group. He had a cleanshave face, with a small beard. I saw him pull the pin trigger, and I screamed for everyone to run. We started running as the bomb exploded'. Witnesses say that there could have been many more deaths, had it not been for Ms Satrogl shouting 'Lauft weg!'(run away) to the large group of German tourists standing in the square. Fadli has been confirmed as carrying out the blast in the name of ISIS, and had registered with Turkish immigration authorities but was not on any list of known militant suspects, Turkey's interior minister said on Wednesday. Asked about a report in the Turkish media that the bomber had registered at an immigration office in Istanbul a week ago, Interior Minister Efkan Ala confirmed that the man's fingerprints were on record with the Turkish authorities. Scroll down for video CCTV: ISIS member Nabil Fadli, a 28-year-old Saudi Arabian-born Syrian national, was caught on camera while registering at an immigration office in Istanbul last Tuesday Bomber: Turkish authorities said Fadli had recently entered the country from Syria, and was identified from bodyparts found at the scene 'Your assessment that his fingerprints were taken and there is a record of him is correct. But he was not on the wanted individuals list. And neither is he on the target individuals list sent to us by other countries,' Ala told a joint news conference with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities have detained three Russian men with links to ISIS in connection with the massive explosion in the Sultanahmet neighbourhood, an area home to some of Istanbul's most popular tourist attractions. Hero: Sibel Satroglu saw the attacked pulling the pin before he detonated the bomb in Istanbul which killed ten people At least 10 German travellers and one man from Peru were killed in the blast. Six Germans, one Norwegian and a Peruvian were also wounded in the blast, with one of the German nationals later dying in hospital. Russia's Consulate General in the Mediterranean city of Antalya has today confirmed that three Russians had been detained over suspected connection to ISIS. Police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, Turkey's Dogan News Agency said. It was not immediately clear when the detentions occurred. A picture circulated online by Turkish media showed a giant fireball erupting next to an Egyptian obelisk where tourists had gathered, however the image has not been independently verified. Witnesses said the blast shook buildings and could be heard across the city, while images showed corpses and body parts strewn across a square near iconic sites including the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia museum. Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to strike back against the 'cruel and inhuman face' of terrorism, after it emerged that German nationals were among those killed. Travellers were warned to stay away from tourist sites and crowds in the city as other European countries including Britain worked to establish if any of their citizens had been involved in the blast. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said both Turks and foreigners were among the dead, adding that the attack was carried out by a 'suicide bomber of Syrian origin'. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus added that the bomber was a 28-year-old Syrian national, while two senior Turkish security officials said there was a high probability ISIS were responsible. The blast struck at 8.20am GMT around the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt which was re-erected by the Roman Emperor Theodosius and is one of the city's most eye-catching monuments. Police cordoned off the area to shocked passers-by and tourists and the nearby tram service has been halted amid fears of a second blast. A German tourist named Caroline said: 'The explosion was so loud, the ground shook. There was a very heavy smell that burned my nose. Destruction: This picture purportedly shows the moment the Syrian suicide bomber blew himself up neat to an Egyptian obelisk in the heart of Istanbul's tourism district, killing 11 tourists and injuring 14 others Terror in Turkey: Eleven people have died and 14 others were injured when an explosion from a Syrian suicide bomber ripped through a tourism district in the centre of Istanbul near the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt Remembrance: Syrian mourners gather on Wednesday night at the site of the attack, after a 28-year-old ISIS member blew himself up Loss: Syrians living in the Turkish city gathered on Wednesday to mourn the deaths of 11 tourists - 10 Germans and one Peruvian national Tragedy: Mourners gathered with candles and flowers, after it was revealed that the bomber had registered as a refugee just a week before Honour: A Syrian man living in Istanbul lights a candle at the site of the blast, whick killed 11, in Sultanahmet square in the Turkish city Respect: Flowers and candles lie at the foot of the obelisk in Sultanahmet square in Istanbul, after an ISIS suicide bomber targeted tourists 'I started running away with my daughter. We went into a nearby building and stayed there for half an hour. It was really scary.' Erdem Koroglu, who was working at a nearby office, told NTV television he saw several people lying on the ground. 'It was difficult to say who was alive or dead,' he said. 'Buildings rattled from the force of the explosion.' Another witness said: 'The explosion was very loud. We shook a lot. We ran out and saw body parts.' Turkey's Dogan news agency reported at the time that at least six Germans, one Norwegian and a Peruvian were among the wounded, while Seoul's Foreign Ministry said one South Korean had a finger injury. One of the injured tourists was a Norwegian tourist who says his knee was pierced by shrapnel from the explosion. Jostein Nielsen, a 59-year-old Salvation Army officer, told Norway's TV2 that he and his wife were sightseeing in the Turkish city when the bomb went off. 'I first heard a bang that I think is what detonated the bomb. After that came the real bang. I felt that my knee stopped working. There were human remains all over the place,' Nielsen said. Nielsen is currently in hospital with his knee heavily bandaged. He revealed that the doctors believed that he will be able to walk again. Arrests: Turkish authorities detained three Russian nationals suspected of links with ISIS following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 11 tourists and injured 14 people Detained: Police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the three Russian suspects were staying Terror attack: Bodies litter a square after an explosion ripped through the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, the city's main tourist hub 'It was a great shock. One does not think that such things will happen when you are sightseeing,' his uninjured wife Magna Vaaje Nielsen said. 'I condemn the terror incident in Istanbul assessed to be an attack by a suicide bomber with Syrian origin,' Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara in a speech broadcast live on television. 'Unfortunately we have 10 dead including foreigners and Turkish nationals,' Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara, in a speech broadcast live on television. 'This incident has once again showed that as a nation we should act as one heart, one body in the fight against terror. Turkey's determined and principled stance in the fight against terrorism will continue to the end.' Omer Celik, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's ruling party, issued a statement condemning what he called 'a heinous attack'. Horror: The blast rocked the Sultanahmet neighbourhood in central Istanbul which is visited by tens of thousands of tourists every day Gruesome: A dead body lies on the ground after an explosion near by Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul Fear: Police cordoned off the area to shocked passers-by and tourists and the nearby tram service was halted amid fears of a second blast Emergency: Paramedics carry a dead body after an explosion near the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul, Turkey Tourism: Turkish police officers search the area after an explosion near the famous Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that members of a German tour group were among the likely casualties and that German officials were working with their Turkish counterparts to determine the identities of the victims and offer assistance to their loved ones. She said: 'We don't have all the information yet... but we fear that German citizens could be and probably are also among the victims and injured.' Merkel said the latest attack would deepen German resolve to combat international terrorism. 'Today it hit Istanbul, it has hit Paris, it hit Tunisia, it had already hit Ankara,' she said at a press conference following talks with visiting Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal. 'International terrorism once again showed its cruel and inhuman face and along with the sorrow that we of course feel, it once again shows the necessity to act decisively against terrorism and ultimately overcome these atrocities.' Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose ministry set up a crisis team in the wake of the attacks, also condemned the blast as a 'barbaric' act of terrorism. 'We must assume that Germans were hurt and we cannot exclude that Germans were among the dead,' he said. Germany warned its nationals to avoid tourist sites in Istanbul, a city of about 14 million people that has been hit several times in the past by deadly attacks. On high alert: Police sealed off the area, barring people from approaching the scene in case of a second blast Terror: Turkey is on edge after series of deadly attacks by ISIS including a double suicide bombing in Ankara in October that left 103 dead Aftermath: Turkish police officers search the area after an explosion near the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district of central Istanbul Probe: Police forensic experts work on the scene of the explosion in central Istanbul which killed at least 11 people and injured 14 others Protection: A member of the Turkish SWAT stands guard by a building after the explosion which killed 11 and injured 14 others 'Travellers in Istanbul are strongly urged to avoid for now large groups of people in public places as well as tourist attractions' and to stay informed via official travel advisories and the media, the foreign ministry said. The ministry warned of possible 'political tensions as well as violent clashes and terrorist attacks across the country', adding that tourists should avoid large demonstrations. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond announced the breaking news to MPs during Foreign Office questions, promising to keep them updated if any news about UK nationals emerged. Opening the Commons session, he said: 'I wonder if I might just take a few seconds to update the House on the breaking news coming in from Istanbul where an explosion has occurred in the Sultanahmet area, killing at least 10 people, with many more injured. 'This is a tourist area of the city and we already know that some tourists are involved in this incident. Concern: Police move people on as they secure an area at the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul amid fears of a second explosion Tourism terror: The blast occurred next to the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt, near world-famous sites including the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Hagia Sophia museum 'We are at the moment seeking to verify whether any British nationals are involved and if we get any news on that during the course of the next hour I will update the House accordingly. 'In the meantime, I offer my sympathies to the victims and their families and everyone else affected by the attack.' A spokeswoman for the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in Oslo said the office worked with the embassy in Turkey to check media reports of Norwegian citizens among the wounded. Turkey is on alert after 103 people were killed on October 10 when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of peace activists in Ankara, the bloodiest attack in the country's modern history. That attack was blamed on ISIS, as were two other deadly bombings in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast earlier in the year. Turkish authorities have in recent weeks detained several suspected ISIS members, with officials saying they were planning attacks in Istanbul. The country is also dealing with more than two million Syrian refugees and a wave of migrants from Syria and other countries pouring across Turkey to Europe. Security: Police secure the area after an explosion near the Ottoman-era Sultanahmet mosque, known as the Blue mosque in Istanbul Busy: Sultanahmet neighbourhood is home to the city's biggest concentration of monuments and is visited by thousands of tourists a day Watch: Police cordoned off the area to shocked passers-by and tourists and a nearby tram service was halted amid fears of a second blast But Turkey is also waging an all-out assault on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has staged dozens of deadly attacks against members of the security forces in the southeast. The PKK launched an insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although now more for greater autonomy and rights for the country's largest ethnic minority. The conflict, which has left tens of thousands of people dead, looked like it could be nearing a resolution until an uneasy truce was shattered in July. A Kurdish splinter group, the Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan (TAK), claimed a mortar attack on Istanbul's second international airport on December 23 which killed a female cleaner and damaged several planes. Italy's oldest Mafia don has outraged locals by celebrating his 100th birthday in his hometown with a lavish fireworks display and a party hosting dozens of guests from abroad. Procopio di Maggio is the only Mafia leader not imprisoned or dead after emerging unscathed from the bloody war which erupted between the Italian state and the Cosa Nostra in the 1980s. But the mayor of Cinisi, the small Italian town he once ruled over, has hit out after the don's 100th birthday party saw the town overrun by his extravagant celebrations. Procopio di Maggio celebrates his 100th birthday alongside friends and family in the town of Cinisi in Sicily The centenarian is the only senior Mafia don still alive and not imprisoned following the brutal and high profile wars waged by the Cosa Nostra against other Mafia and the Italian state in the 1970s, 80s and 90s di Maggio's lavish birthday party (pictured) culminated in a six minute-long fireworks display and saw dozens of guests, including some from the U.S., in attendance to pay their respects Although he is no longer head of the Cinisi family, di Maggio has previous convictions for organised crime The don's family and friends organised a six minute-long public fireworks display - held in violation of local laws - which culminated in '100' being spelt out across the sky. And dozens of guests from both Italy and the U.S. also made an appearance at the birthday party to honour the once all-powerful don. Although he is no longer head of the Cinisi family, di Maggio has previous convictions for organised crime and dodged murder convictions in the landmark Maxi Trial of 1986. The trial saw hundreds of Mafia members convicted in the Italian courts and thousands of years of jail time handed down, confirming for the first time in Italian courts the Mafia's existence. According to La Repubblica, Giangiacomo Palazzolo, Cinisis mayor, said: 'di Maggio is a mafioso like his son. 'Today, di Maggio is harmless, but this is a story that bothers me. I will seek to take appropriate action.' The centenarian began his life within the Mafia as a subordinate of Tano Badalamenti, who became the don of Cinisi in the 1960s. However, he later betrayed his leader, aligning himself with the Corleonesi, a powerful faction within the island's Mafia structures that went on to dominate the Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and 1990s. As a former mob boss, Procopio di Maggio was allied to the Corleonesi faction within the Sicilian Mafia. The empire was run by the bloodthirsty Salvatore Riina (left) and Bernardo Provenzano (right) Provezano (pictured after his capture in 2006) was on the run from authorities for decades and was nicknamed 'the tractor' for his propensity to 'mow people down' during the height of the criminal enterprise's powers To do this, di Maggio joined forces with notorious gangster Salvatore 'Toto' Riina - the architect behind the organisation's ruthless war against the Italian state that saw politicians, judges and policemen massacred in a bid to silence authorities. Responsible for the high-profile killings of two Italian magistrates in the 1980s following their involvement in the Maxi Trial, Riina, now aged 85, has been imprisoned since 1993 for ordering dozens of murders. Another shady figure to whom di Maggio was closely aligned was Riina's associate Bernardo Provenzano - a man nicknamed 'the tractor' for his propensity to 'mow people down'. A boss of the town of Corleone, he was thought to operate in a double team with Riina and handle the criminal empire's heroin trafficking enterprises. He then took over Riina's empire after Riina's imprisonment in the early 1990s. He was the only Republican presidential candidate to attend President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address. But despite looking animated before the speech as he chatted and took selfies with party colleagues, Marco Rubio appeared rather more bored as Obama spoke. During the president's speech the cameras panned around those listening to the address at Congress. Scroll down for video Marco Rubio was the only Republican presidential hopeful to attend President Obama's final State of the Union address But halfway through the speech, the Florida Senator appeared to look sleepy and heavy-eyed as he struggled to stay awake At one point, the 44-year-old was even caught with his eyes closed and appeared to be having a short nap President Barack Obama delivering his State of the Union address for the final time before stepping down from office They picked out the presidential hopeful and Florida Senator, who at first looked as though he was listening intently to Obama. But just seconds later, boredom appeared to set in for the 44-year-old who looked very heavy eyed and seemed to be struggling to stay awake. At one point, he was even pictured with his eyes closed and as the president addressed the room. But his apparent nap didn't go unnoticed as viewers across American took to Twitter to mock the sleepy presidential candidate. James Noonan wrote: 'Oh my God, @marcorubio is literally blinking to stop himself from falling asleep. Get that man a glass of water! #SOTU' Cruz to the Edge said: 'Try to get @marcorubio up at 3AM to take a call. He'll be fast asleep with his blankee in his big boy onesie. #SOTU' Twitter user So Unproductive posted: '@marcorubio @megynkelly we all saw you falling asleep, dude. You might have missed some stuff.' While Culture of Truth simply said: 'OMG Marco Rubio fell asleep #sotu' It was a stark constrast to earlier in the evening when he was seen backslapping his Republican colleagues such as South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, Arizona senator John McCain and Viriginia Foxx of North Carolina. Before the speech Rubio appeared a lot more animated and awake as he spoke with Republican colleagues as he arrived at Congress The presidential president even stopped to pose for a selfie with fellow U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski before the speech Rubio, a 44-year-old father-of-four is one of 12 hopefuls vying to become the Republican candidate in the US election later this year The only other presidential candidate to attend the State of the Union address was Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who shook hands as he entered the house and then joined Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed to hear the speech. Rubio, a 44-year-old father-of-four is one of 12 hopefuls vying to become the Republican candidate in the US election later this year. He is the son of two Cuban immigrants and won his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor, whom he initially trailed by 20 points. Latest polls have seen him rise to third behind the outspoken Donald Trump, who is leading the race, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in second. A human rights watchdog is investigating UK holiday company Butlin's for allegedly keeping secret blacklists of Irish traveller families. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a probe after reports from two traveller families whose holidays were cancelled at short notice. One involves a father from Camden whose Christmas holiday with his family was cancelled six days before they were due to leave for Butlin's in Bognor Regis. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a probe after reports from two traveller families whose holidays to the Bognor Regis resort (pictured) were cancelled at short notice The company admits that it does not accept guests not on the electoral register, but when John O'Leary offered to bring identity documents, the company threatened to call the police. He described the cancellation as 'discrimination' and accused the company of having some kind of 'blacklist' of traveller families. His name and address appears in online electoral register searches and he is now threatening to take the holiday firm to court. He told the Camden New Journal: 'I told Butlin's there had been a misunderstanding and offered to drive to their head office and bring passports and voting forms to prove who we are. 'But the man on the phone said: "Mr O'Leary I'm going to be frank, even if you bring your paperwork it won't make a difference. I've got it from the head office that if you come down here, we'll call the police because you're not welcome." They just don't want us there because we're Travellers.' Mother-of-two Sophie Howes (pictured), 29, was due to go to the resort in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, for a four-night stay at the end of December The second complaint was from Margaret Doran, from St Albans, who also had her Christmas break at Butlin's cancelled - this time because she is not on the electoral register. The Traveller Movement charity said it had 'serious concerns' about both cases, after making the complaint on behalf of Mr O'Leary and Ms Doran, reports The Independent. It comes after news of another young family that was banned from Butlin's in Bognor Regis because they are not on the electoral roll - just weeks before they were due to arrive. Mother-of-two Sophie Howes, 29, was due to go to the resort for a four-night stay in the resort in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, at the end of December with her partner, children, and friends. The party of 32 booked in January and got a confirmation email in November, but were then told two weeks ago the booking had been cancelled. A Butlin's spokesman said all bookings for their resorts follow a clear and precise policy. He added: 'It has been in place for many years and is readily accepted by the families who enjoy returning each year. 'We will not accept bookings from any UK-based party who is not on the electoral roll. For those who live outside the UK, proof of full residential address is required. North Korea claims it has a weapons system capable of obliterating the entire United States with nuclear bombs. The declaration comes after the pariah state claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb and released suspect footage of a submarine-launched ballistic missile it claims could deliver such a weapon. Outlining leader Kim Jong-Un's plans, the official KCNA state news agency said his scientists 'are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs of hundreds of kilotons and megatons, capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once.' Scroll down for video Kim Jong Un watches a submarine-launched ballistic missile which he claims could deliver a nuclear warhead, however experts claim the footage was faked. North Korea claims it has a weapons system capable of obliterating the entire United States with nuclear bombs Experts have largely dismissed the H-bomb test, saying the yield around six kilotons was far too low for a fully-fledged thermonuclear device, which would have been 100 times more powerful. The KCNA commentary said the test was an indispensable stage on the 'normal course' which other countries have taken to the development of a two-stage fission-fusion H-bomb. But the test 'was neither to "threaten" anyone nor to "provoke" someone for a certain purpose,' KCNA said, insisting that the main focus was on providing a 'sure guarantee' of the North's immunity from attack by hostile forces. Prime among those forces was the United States it said, offering an apocalyptic vision of how it would respond to US aggression. Earlier this week, it released footage of a submarine-launched ballistic missile that Pyongyang said would allow the country to deliver a nuclear warhead. State television broadcasted footage of the latest test, said to have taken place in December, and boasted about the hermit nation's ballistic missile technology. However, the California-based Middlebury Institute's James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), a think tank, said the test 'failed catastrophically' and the footage was doctored to cover it up. It came as South Korea warned the North today that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict 'bone-numbing pain' after its latest nuclear test and called on China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbour. With tension high on the border between North and South Korea after the North's fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots towards a flying object that Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone. It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters news agency. Kim, pictured at the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, accused the United States of wanting to start a war The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously yesterday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, Kim called for an expansion of the size and power of his country's nuclear arsenal, urging the 'detonation of more powerful H-bombs', the North's state media reported. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more 'provocations' by the North including 'cyber-terrorism' were possible, and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics. 'We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally,' she said in a speech. Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China has stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate the North's nuclear programme. China is the North's main ally and trade partner but it has made clear it opposes its bombs, while China's ties with South Korea have grown increasingly close in recent years. 'I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North's fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability,' Park said. 'I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further.' The US sent a Boeing B-52 bomber to fly over South Korea in a show of strength following Kim Jong-un's nuclear test last week Last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had told his Chinese counterpart that China's approach to North Korea had not succeeded and he called on it to do more. China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China's efforts towards a denuclearised Korean peninsula would continue. 'This is in everyone's interests and is everyone's responsibility, including China and South Korea,' he said. The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was not brought up for a vote until after North Korea's latest test. To become law, it must be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Barack Obama. The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North. South Korea has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers into the North. South Korea's military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped by North Korean hot air balloons. Jeremy Hunt, pictured outside his home, today said he wanted to settle the dispute with junior doctors. More strike action is planned for later this month Jeremy Hunt today insisted we 'want to settle this' as talks over the junior doctors' strike are set to resume amid claims further strikes could cost lives. Doorstepped leaving his home, the Health Secretary repeated his claim that 24 hours of industrial action which finished at 8am today was 'very unnecessary'. But BMA chief Mark Porter earlier said there remained 'serious issues' to be resolved if the deadlock is to be broken before the next round of strike action later this month. Emergency cover was still provided yesterday but a third planned strike would involve a full withdrawal of labour by thousands of junior doctors' labour. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, today warned this could place patients' lives at risk. More than 20,000 operations and appointments had to be cancelled yesterday many without being rebooked. Patients missed out on everything from hip replacements to tests for life-threatening illnesses. They now face waiting weeks, or even months, because hospital lists are so full. Today Mr Hunt said: 'I hope (the negotiations) succeed - we want to settle this. 'It was a very unnecessary strike.' Mr Hunt cycled away from his home before answering any further questions about what he would do to prevent the next strike. He insisted on Twitter he was not playing 'hardball' and pointed to mortality statistics indicating more deaths occur at the weekend. A spokesman for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) said talks would resume on Thursday at 10am, continuing on Friday. Speaking to the BBC Today programme, Dr Porter said:'We are prepared to speak with Government at any time to try to resolve this on behalf of junior doctors, of course we are. 'But it is not just one remaining issue. There are some serious issues about patient safety and recognition of junior doctors' contributions that need to be sorted here. 'The very fact that Government documents refuse to acknowledge those issues is one of the things that makes the dispute more difficult to resolve' Mr Hopsen was asked on the programme if he could guarantee the strike would not lead to additional deaths. He said: 'I do not think we can give that guarantee at this point. Clearly everyone in the NHS will do everything they can to ensure that the right quality of the service is provided.' He said: 'We just need everybody to get back around the table and resolve this. Disputes like this, to be honest, have happened over the last five or 10 years as contracts have been updated to reflect the need to provide 24-hour services, seven days a week. 'This is something that every other bit of the economy has done. The time has come for the NHS to do it so let's get back round the table and agree.' Doctors on the picket line yesterday told Jeremy Hunt it was 'time to listen' after the first strike by medics in 40 years More than 20,000 operations were cancelled by yesterday's industrial action and more days of strikes are planned if the dispute cannot be resolved Asked if lives could be put at risk, Dr Porter said: 'I can't answer the question on the probability of what will happen. 'What I can say is that the NHS is very good at putting emergency planning in place and dealing with emergencies like this. 'The NHS faces pressures similar to this every day.' Sir David Dalton was appointed as the new chief negotiator last week amid hope a deal can be struck before action takes place again. BMA sources told the Guardian: 'Were still far apart but there is a deal to be done.' As Mr Hunt appealed to doctors to return to negotiations to avert two further planned strikes, it emerged that: Patients told doctors they should be ashamed of striking; Some were informed by text of vital scans being cancelled; Hospital managers begged GPs to fill in for striking medics, with no success; Up to 40 per cent of hospital doctors worked as normal; Labour MPs joined medics on the picket lines. Yesterdays strike centres on the opposition of Englands 55,000 junior doctors to Government changes to their contracts. A junior doctor holds her baby and a handmade placard as she takes part in a picket at King's College Hospital Junior doctors on the picket line outside Tunbridge Wells Hospital after the 24-hour walkout over contracts Mr Hunt wants them to do more shifts at weekends and overnight when care is significantly worse due to staff shortages. But junior doctors fear the Health Secretarys plans will cut their salaries and force them to work longer hours, putting patients at risk. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt leaving home yesterday. He has been blamed by junior doctors for the industrial action but insisted many training medics continued to work despite the strike Yesterdays action when only emergency care was offered is the first of three walkouts that will cause chaos for hospitals struggling to cope with winter illnesses. Nearly 4,000 operations and 17,500 outpatient appointments were cancelled. Another 48-hour strike is planned for January 26 followed by a total withdrawal of care on February 10, the first in the 67-year history of the NHS. Talks between the doctors union, the British Medical Association, and the Government are due to resume this week leaving little time to reach a deal. Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said the sick were the victims of the stand-off. The problem is, when their operations are cancelled they arent given a new date, she added. This causes uncertainty and distress. They just have to wait. It could be weeks, it could be months. These are cataracts, knee operations, that all have huge impact on quality of life. Joyce Robins of Patient Concern, another campaign group, said: People are very worried about whats going to happen. Theyre going to have to be slotted in to already full schedules. They could well be waiting months. Many of them have been waiting months already. Mr Hunt yesterday insisted the new working hours were vital. We want all NHS patients to have the confidence that they will have the same high quality care every day of the week, he said. At the moment if you have a stroke at the weekend you are 20 per cent more likely to die. That cannot be right. Thats something every doctor wants to sort out as well. The right thing to do is sit round the table and talk to the Government about how we improve patient safety and patient care, not these very unnecessary strikes. People get ill every day of the week. The whole purpose of this is to make NHS care safer. Mr Hunt also praised the minority of junior doctors at Sandwell Hospital, West Midlands, who had returned to work after managers warned it was exceptionally busy. That shows the value of junior doctors in the end they do want to the right thing for patients and I salute them, he said. Officials at NHS England said 39 per cent of junior doctors worked normally and did not take part in the strike. But that included many in A&E, maternity and intensive care who were providing emergency care as agreed. Others who turned up to work normally were either not in the BMA or opposed to strike action. Tory MPs claimed the strike had been politicised by BMA leaders opposed to the Governments austerity programme. NHS managers in North Somerset had sent an urgent email to GPs on Monday night asking them to help out at the Weston General Hospital. But the message did not say how much they would be paid if anything. None took up the offer. HOW HAVE WE GOT HERE? THE ISSUES BEHIND THE FIRST JUNIOR DOCTORS STRIKE IN 40 YEARS The Government Call for seven day NHS Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to change the junior doctor contract because he said it is important to create a 'seven day NHS'. Mr Hunt, pictured left, has argued the contract needs to change to ensure there is the same level of cover provided at the weekend as weekdays. He has pointed to mortality data indicating more people die if they are admitted to hospital at the weekend. The Government said no salaries will be reduced under the terms of the deal and insisted any doctor working a legal number of hours every week would have the same money as on the current deal. Ministers said this would work by increasing basic pay but cutting the number of shifts available at a 'premium' rate. When the strike was confirmed, Mr Hunt wrote to BMA chair Mark Porter to express his disappointment. He said: 'I was very disappointed to hear of the decision by the BMA to initiate strike action. 'In particular, it is extraordinary that you have done so without fully considering the revised offer that my negotiators presented to you this morning which you refused to talk about during negotiations today. 'I believe we made good progress in the negotiations and given the many areas of common ground it cannot be appropriate to put patient safety at risk with a series of potentially damaging strikes without seeing these negotiations through in full.' The doctors 'Patient safety is crucial' Junior doctors have said they are going on strike because after years of negotiations, they have not received assurances over patient safety or their own working hours. In a pamphlet produced for the public, the BMA, under chairman Mark Porter, right, said doctors were protesting Government proposals to remove rules limiting how many hours they can work each week. They said this would lead to the imposition of a contract that was bad for patients and bad for doctors. Doctors have said they want assurances the hours they will work are safe and properly paid. The BMA said it has proposed a 'safe, fair and cost-neutral pay structure' which it feels meets the Government's 'financial requirements'. While they are happy to work overnight and at weekends, the doctors have also sought an acknowledgement of their right to a family life. In its formal position statement when it announced today's strike, the BMA said there were 'serious and worrying omissions' relating to patient safety. And it 'fundamentally rejected' the idea Saturday should be treated as a normal working day under the new contract. The BMA said: 'In the context of the Governments desire to move to services across seven days, without committing to the necessary increase in resources, junior doctors are willing to work with Government to deliver this policy but only in a sustainable way that does not make a career in medical practice in the UK less attractive.' Advertisement 'You should be disgusted with yourselves': Furious man whose sister died of cancer snaps at striking junior doctors for being 'egged on by Corbyn's cronies' in heated picket line confrontation This is the moment a furious taxpayer lost his temper at striking junior doctors when one 'smirked' at him after he warned them they were 'playing God with people's lives'. Stephen Minister, 53, was driving past Lincoln County Hospital where 230 appointments were cancelled when he spotted hospital staff waving placards and decided to politely confront them over the strike. But after reminding them of their duty of care, he claimed he 'saw red' when one 'smirked' at him after he recalled how his sister died prematurely from brain cancer after doctors allegedly ignored her symptoms. In a heated exchange, Stephen Minister, 53, approached several junior doctors standing on the picket line outside Lincoln City Hospital and bellowed 'I've got no patience for you' after becoming exasperated by today's strike which has seen thousands of doctors walkout In an outburst captured on camera, he bellowed: 'I think you should be disgusted with yourselves, you swore a Hippocratic Oath to protect people's lives not to spit your dummy out and come out here'. In a heated exchange, Stephen Minister, 53, approached several junior doctors standing on the picket line outside Lincoln City Hospital and bellowed 'I've got no patience for you' after becoming exasperated by today's strike which has seen thousands of doctors walkout Mr Minister, 53, said he was driving past Lincoln County Hospital in Lincolnshire today where 230 appointments were cancelled when he noticed around 20 junior doctors waving placards and decided to politely confront them before becoming angry when one smirked In the tense footage, Mr Minister can be heard bellowing at two male junior doctors: 'I've got no patience for you.' He added that doctors were being egged on by 'Corbyn's cronies' and bullied by the trade unions who were bringing back the 'dark days of the Seventies'. Speaking from his bungalow near Lincoln this afternoon, Mr Minister said: 'I told them that I did not think what they were doing was right, as all the appointments that had been cancelled for patients meant they would have to wait longer and possible interventions for life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease would take longer for those people. 'I told them they were playing God with people's lives and that they had taken the Hippocratic Oath to heal people, and that I would hate for anything to happen to any of the patients whose appointments had been cancelled. Around 20 junior doctors were protesting in the drizzle outside Lincoln County Hospital, with one wearing his white doctor's coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Others wore orange high-visibility bibs and held signs saying: 'We are one profession. We stand together' 'I pointed to one of the TUC representatives who was there and told them they were not helping themselves by aligning themselves with Corbyn's cronies as we cannot go back to the dark days of the 1970s. 'I told them they should be ashamed of themselves and explained that my sister, some years ago, went to see her local doctor who told her not to pester him because there was nothing wrong with her. 'A few months later she died from a terminal brain tumour at the age of 44. When I was telling the doctors this one of junior doctors moved forward and just smirked at me. 'I saw red and told him a few home truths.' Around 20 junior doctors were protesting in the drizzle at 8am outside Lincoln County Hospital, with one wearing his white doctor's coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Others wore orange high-visibility bibs and held BMA signs saying, 'We are one profession. We stand together'. Stephen Minister, 53, said he lost his temper after a striking doctor 'smirked' at him when he told them about the death of his sister from cancer. He is pictured shouting at the striking doctors in Lincolnshire today, telling them they are letting themselves be 'bullied by unions' Around 20 junior doctors were protesting in the drizzle outside Lincoln County Hospital, with one wearing his white doctor's coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Others wore orange high-visibility bibs and held signs saying: 'We are one profession. We stand together' Mr Minister, who is unemployed, had been on his way to get his car serviced when he pulled up a short distance from the picket line and spoke to the strikers. Part of the tense exchange was posted on BBC Radio Lincolnshire's Twitter page today. Speaking later, he added: 'They are putting people's health and lives at risk. If you had been waiting three months for an appointment and it was cancer or diabetes or heart disease, if you are then told your appointment's been cancelled and you have to wait another three months, that could mean the difference between something being treatable and being terminal. 'When they are striking they think they are having a go at the Government, but they aren't they are having a go at every man, woman and child whose appointment is cancelled. 'I don't think people in the emergency services should be allowed to strike.' Kerry did however tell Tehran the release of the sailors would be a 'good story' for both the countries However John Kerry's spokesman said there is 'zero truth' to reports the Secretary of State said sorry for their unit's 'mistake' and praised the Iranian's 'fantastic' behavior One of the sailors was filmed Advertisement Dramatic footage has emerged of the 10 American sailors accused of 'snooping' on Iran surrendering to the revolutionary guard and being taken into custody 16 hours before they released. Video which aired on the Islamic republic's state television shows the U.S Navy personnel kneeling with their hands behind their heads, as armed coast guard officials surround them. They remained motionless as they waited to be taken onto Farsi Island - an area of land in the Persian Gulf shut off to the public because of supposedly secret activities carried out by the government. The tense diplomatic standoff took place just days before the terms of the nuclear deal are set to be activated - meaning Iran is set to received $billion in funds that were restricted by the U.S. under the sanctions. After they were escorted off the boats, the nine men and one woman were interrogated for hours by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC) before they were released. Wearing combat fatigues and no shoes, the sailors were then pictured sitting on a carpet inside a bare room. They shared plates of food and bottles of water as they chatted to Iranian officials. A female sailor was also seen wearing a makeshift veil she was given by the captors to cover her head. One sailor, said to be a U.S. commander, was recorded making an apology to the Iranian forces - insisting they strayed into their territory by mistake - and said their behavior towards them was 'fantastic'. The soldier was later seen smiling while drinking from a juice box. Scroll down for videos This is the dramatic moment 10 American sailors accused of 'snooping' surrendered to Iranian troops. They were released 16 hours later after being questioned and were treated to food by their captors Footage shown on the Islamic republic's state television shows the U.S soldiers kneeling and with their hands behind their heads, as armed coast guard officials surround them A woman, who was later forced to wear a headscarf in custody, is seen with her back turned to the camera on the vessel. The standoff was has been described as a diplomatic blunder by critics A group of the sailors are seen enjoying food they were given during their time in Iranian custody. Pentagon officials confirmed none of them were harmed Video also emerged of one a US commander purportedly apologizing for their 'mistake' before thanking their Iranian captors for their 'fantastic' behavior and hospitality The commander who said sorry in the video, and has not been identified, smiles as he drinks from a juice box. He said the 'behavior' of the Iranians towards the captured sailors was fantastic They all sat down in their combat fatigues to have the meal as Pentagon officials negotiated their release Two Iranian men come in and join the nine American men in the room. The female sailor appears to have left the room because of the two IRGC guards John Kerry's spokesman John Kirby insisted the Secretary of State did not say sorry to his Iranian counterparts - because there was 'nothing to apologize for' The unidentified sailor apologized for mistakenly travelling into Iranian waters - contradicting claims the U.S. were forced to say sorry. 'It was a mistake. That was our fault. And we apologize for our mistake,' the sailor said, in a brief state TV clip posted on Twitter by a journalist with Iran's Tasnim News Agency. His comment was in response to a man holding a microphone, who asked in English, 'How was the Iranian behavior with you?' The sailor was also asked if they had a 'special problem.' The sailor responded, 'We had no problem, sir.' Reports from Iran suggest the Pentagon was forced to make a grovelling apology in a bid to get the sailors released, admitting they had traveled into sovereign waters by mistake - just days before the controversial nuclear agreement is set to go into force. But John Kerry's spokesman John Kirby insisted the Secretary of State did not say sorry to his Iranian counterparts - because there was 'nothing to apologize for'. Kerry did however tell Tehran that the release of the sailors could be turned into could be turned into a 'good story' for both countries, AFP reported. He called Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at least five times on Tuesday to secure the safe release of the boat crews after they strayed into Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf and were captured. During the calls, a senior US official told reporters, Kerry urged his counterpart to consider the potential crisis an opportunity to showcase the strengths of the thawing diplomatic relationship between the old foes. It was a mistake. That was our fault. And we apologize for our mistake U.S. sailor captured by Iranian forces 'They speak relatively regularly, none of this is unusual in the wake of the dialogue we've had on nuclear issues,' he said, adding that Kerry had already had a scheduled call with Zarif before the news broke. Amid the tensions, Kerry is to meet his Saudi counterpart Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in London on Thursday. The U.S. is concerned how breakdown in relations between his country and Iran could impact the Middle East. Vice President Joe Biden also backed Kerry's claims he didn't apologize, telling CBS' This Morning: 'There's no apology and there's nothing to apologize for. When you have a problem with the boat do you apologize to the boat having a problems? And there is no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice.' State Department spokesman Mark Toner also said the comments were not 'an official government apology.' 'I don't think there's necessarily a need for any kind of apology here. It was handled professionally at least our initial assessments are professionally by both sides,' he said. During a press briefing today he said: 'There was no official U.S. apology given to the Iranians. I think that's been a little bit of a canard, or whatever, out there in the press this morning, that there was the impression given that there was some kind of apology. Categorically, there was not. ' He was then asked by a reporter about the video of the soldier saying sorry. 'Exactly. Precisely. Precisely. But that was not an official, but not an official U.S. government apology.' 'We've seen no indications thus far that they were mistreated during their period of detention. In fact it was our understanding that they were given blankets, a place to sleep, as well as fed. That said of course, you know there's going to be a period of debriefing these sailors. That's ongoing. Our initial assessment is that they were treated humanely.' 'Secretary Kerry was, as many of you know, very quick to respond to Iran, to his counterpart, give the details of what we knew the situation to be. And I think it was simply, again according to what we know about this, an accident, a mechanical malfunction. I think it was handled diplomatically, which is always the ideal way certainly we here at the State Department believe that but I don't think there's necessarily a need for any kind of apology here.' 'This was handled professionally at least, and again, in our initial assessments professionally by both sides.' Weapons seized from the American Riverine vessels, including chainguns, rifles, and belts of what appears to be .50 caliber ammunition, are laid out by the Iranian soldiers who intercepted the boats Members of the IRGC lay out the weapons they seized from the vessel in front of the camera Soldiers hold up ammunition taken off the two boats during the standoff. It was a flash point in recent confrontations in the area The Iranian guards also opened a box of munitions and showed them off for the footage which was aired on state television A video shot by a member of the Iranian forces shows the moment the units from each country came into contact in the Persian Gulf Iranian state media showed the two American Navy boats lined up alongside each other John Kerry (pictured at the National Defense University on Wednesday) said he was glad the incident was resolved quickly. His spokesman John Kirby insisted the Secretary of State did not say sorry to his Iranian counterparts - because there was 'nothing to apologize for' Kerry also spoke alongside refugees that have resettled in the United States during a visit to the International Rescue Committee in Silver Spring, Maryland, hours after the situation unfolded 'We would take appropriate action if our assessment changed we are still in the process of gathering information. Our initial impression is that they were well-treated.' White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration decided against including the incident in the State of the Union as they didn't want to 'elevate the situation further'. 'I think the outcome, which is the release of the sailors just hours after the President completed his address, is a pretty powerful endorsement of that strategy,' he added. The release of the images of the soldiers may have also concerned the Navy's higher command, fearing Iran could have extracted some information from them. The Pentagon lost contact with two small riverine vessels in the Persian Gulf, just hours before President Obama made his last State of the Union address on Tuesday. They were travelling from Kuwait to Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th fleet when they were stopped. There have been suggestions they drifted into Iranian waters because of mechanical issues - but questions have been raised concerning how the boats could have ended up in the same place. The Pentagon is also trying to determine why they lost contact with not just one but two of their boats. Gen. Ali Fadavi, the navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, told Iranian state TV the American boats had shown 'unprofessional acts' for 40 minutes before being picked up on Tuesday. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as an 'innocent passage.' The area is also the route for more than one-fifth of the world's oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which is controlled by Iran and Oman. After 16 hours in custody, they were released. Defense officials said the unit have were taken to Qatar following their release on Wednesday morning. They are set to be debriefed and given medical check-ups. Republican presidential candidates were quick to jump on what happened, with frontrunner Donald Trump saying it's 'an indication of where the hell we're going'. One of the Iranian guards flicks through an American passport taken off one of the sailors The US sailors that had been detained by Iran after being accused of snooping when their boats drifted into Iranian waters. They have now been freed The detainees were forced to spend the night at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf before they were released A female sailor can be seen wearing a makeshift veil she was given by the captors to cover her head The group were captured after one of the boats reportedly suffered mechanical issues and drifted into Iranian waters and the sailors were seized The sailors' release came after Iranian state media said the U.S. apologized for unintentionally drifting into occupied territory. But the Americans have refuted the claim. 'Our technical investigations showed the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently,' the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television. 'They were released in international waters after they apologized,' it added. The Navy have said they will be investigating what happened in a bid to determine why they were in that area of the Persian Gulf. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the sailors' release. In a statement Wednesday, Carter thanked John Kerry for his 'diplomatic engagement' on the issue. Carter also said: 'Around the world, the U.S. Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress, and we appreciate the timely way in which this situation was resolved.' Kerry released his own statement on Wednesday morning. It read: I'm very pleased that our Sailors have been safely returned to U.S. hands. 'As a former Sailor myself, I know the importance of naval presence around the world and the critical work being done by our Navy in the Gulf region. I'm proud of our young men and women in uniform and know how seriously they take their responsibilities to one another and to other mariners in distress. 'I want to express my gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter. 'That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong.' However he did not apologize. Fadavi said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif 'had a firm stance' during a telephone conversation with Kerry 'on their presence in our territorial waters and said they should not have come and should apologize.' After the incident had been resolved, Zarif tweeted: 'Happy to see dialog and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the sailors episode. Let's learn from this latest example.' Revolutionary Guards Navy confiscated GPS equipment, which would 'prove that the American ships were 'snooping' around in Iranian waters.' One of the U.S. sailors who has detained by Iran after his boat strayed into Iranian waters. They have now been released into international waters in the Gulf Their eventual release came after an Iranian official demanded an apology from the U.S. for the incursion and said the sailors would be eventually freed They then moved into territorial waters inadvertently before they were captured. The Truman Carrier Strike Group, which is in the vicinity, launched a search and rescue effort, according to the Navy Times. Kerry has forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations. But Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an NBC News military analyst, said the seizure of American boats is 'very bad news' and highlights how the Navy may have failed to have surveillance on their boats. GOP politicians blamed President Barack Obama for the seizure of the part of the fleet ahead of last night's State of the Union address. Trump, who accuses President Barack Obama of being weak on foreign policy, described the incident as 'an indication of where the hell we're going'. Ben Carson was first to point out the unfortunate timing, saying on Twitter: 'While Potus is preparing to talk about his so called 'accomplishments, 10 of our American sailors are being held by Iran. Jeb Bush followed suit, saying: 'If our sailors aren't coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obama's humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again. Marco Rubio added: 'Iran needs to release them and the boats immediately... Iran is testing the boundaries of our resolve.' Republican Louie Gohmert from Texas spoke to Charles Payne from Fox Business about the incident before the State of the Union, where 10 sailors were taken hostage by Iran. He also reacted to President Obama's State of the Union Address. He boldly stated, 'This is a country [Iran] that has never been trustworthy. They do not keep agreements. They have not since they have declared war on us they cannot be trusted and they have been rubbing this administration's nose in their violations, in their untruthfulness. They haven't even signed the deal ' 'This taking of these American sailors is a bonanza, media wise, for Iran. This shows the world and it will open some eyes around the world this president, even when they have improperly taken our soldiers and have had them hold their hands behind their heads, this president still sucks up to those that mistreat America. It is a terrible message to be going out ' Most of the sailors looked bored as they sat in a bare room and waited to be released by Iran A picture handout by Iranian state media showing the U.S. riverine command boat that was detained by Iran Pictured is Farsi Island - an area of land completely cut off to the public because of secret activities carried out by the Iranian government - where the sailors were captured John Kerry (pictured left on Tuesday today in Washington), has forged ties with Iran's foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif (pictured right earlier this month) through three years of nuclear negotiations Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) had many questions for the Pentagon after the situation unfolded. He said on Tuesday: 'The administration's statements today regarding Iran's actions at sea are disappointing, but not surprising. 'Before we thank the Iranian naval forces and attempt to defend and normalize their behavior, as Vice President Biden and Secretaries Kerry and Carter appear inclined to do, we should demand answers to certain questions about their behavior. 'Among them: Where exactly were the sailors intercepted? Why were they detained instead of being merely escorted into international waters? What was the nature of the technical malfunctions on both vessels? What is the condition of our boats? Was sensitive equipment compromised? Why were the sailors not permitted to contact U.S. higher headquarters in the region for the 16 hours they were detained? 'I'm also curious why American officials would characterize Iran as assisting a distressed vessel when Iran has characterized the incident as U.S. ships trespassing into its waters and 'snooping.' Iran does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. 'Until we have answers to these questions, we should not be rationalizing Iran's behavior in an incident that was highly abnormal. Our sailors never should have been detained in the first place, and blithely accepting such action will only embolden the IRGC and the ayatollahs who wish to do harm to Americans and our allies in the Arabian Gulf.' Iran's armed forces chief, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, said the incident should demonstrate Iranian strength to 'troublemakers' in the U.S. Congress, which has sought to put pressure on Iran after the nuclear deal. Attributing the boats' incursion into Iranian waters to a navigation error marked a de-escalation in rhetoric. The sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission, the officials said. The craft are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, CBS News reported. This means there was little concern of Iran getting hold of sensitive information. The IRGC, the Islamic Republic's praetorian guard, is highly suspicious of U.S. military activity near Iran's borders and many senior officers suspect Washington of pursuing regime change in Tehran. The Guards operate land and naval units separate to the regular armed forces and stage frequent wargames in the Gulf, which separates Iran from its regional rival Saudi Arabia and a U.S. naval base in Bahrain. Last month, the U.S. Navy said an IRGC vessel fired unguided rockets near the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route for crude oil that connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean. Iran denied the vessel had done so. In April 2015, the Guards seized a container ship belonging to Maersk, one of the world's major shipping lines, in the Gulf because of a legal dispute between the company and Iran. The ship and its 24 crew members were released after 10 days. The Guards have also seized British servicemen on two occasions, in 2004 and 2007, and a civilian British yacht crew in 2009. On each occasion the sailors were released unharmed after several days. The Navy's 5th patrols the Persian Gulf, and has a fleet that includes an aircraft carrier. Quick to climb aboard: Ben Carson was the first Republican presidential candidate to point out the unfortunate timing of the announcement, so close to Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Jeb Bush also chimed in, saying Obama needed to stop 'bargaining' with Iran On December 31, President Hassan Rouhani ordered the accelerated production of missiles in response to possible new U.S. sanctions. In a letter to the defense minister published on the president's website, Rouhani said Iran won't accept any limitations on its missile program. Drugs boss El Chapo barely escaped being shot by Mexican marines at his jungle hideout - because he was holding a little girl in his arms, it has emerged. Joaquin Guzman was tracked down to his mountain-top hideaway in Mexico in October four days after his controversial meet up with actor Sean Penn but he escaped by scrambling down a hillside. Dozens of marines descended on the ranch in Tamazula de Victoria and one is said to have had the drugs lord in his crosshairs. Drugs boss El Chapo barely escaped being shot by Mexican marines at his jungle hideout - because he was holding a little girl in his arms, it has emerged The New York Post reports Mexican media as saying that the Marine did not pull the trigger because he was carrying a young child. Guzman has told authorities how he sprinted down a hill from his remote hideaway, which had been guarded with outposts, before meeting up with a bodyguard and going on the run. He is believed to have survived by begging for food from villagers in the Mexican state of Durango. After slipping from the grasp of authorities, Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was captured on Friday following a months-long manhunt. Mexico has said it plans to extradite him to the United States, where he is wanted for exporting hundreds of tonnes of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin across the border. The media were on Monday granted access to the house where Guzman was holed up before his capture. Yet again, he escaped into a tunnel for a few hours, leaving behind a building that was a shambolic mess of bullet holes, bloodstains and decaying food. Joaquin Guzman was tracked down to his mountain-top hideaway in Mexico in October four days after his controversial meet up with actor Sean Penn but escaped by scrambling down a hillside El Chapos house in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, was stormed by Mexican marines in the early hours of Friday morning Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez said while extraditing kingpins takes on average a year, it could take up to five years in Guzman's case. Still, speaking on condition of anonymity, another senior Mexican official later said the government had no interest in letting the process drag out. Rolling Stone magazine published an article by Penn on Saturday based on his interview with Guzman. Gomez said a line of investigation had been opened into the meeting between Guzman and Penn in early October at a jungle hideout, adding that any possible criminal investigation against the actor-director would depend on what, if any, deals he struck with Guzman. U.S. investigators will also examine Penn's interactions with Guzman, two U.S. government sources said on Monday, but it was unclear if prosecutors would try to force the actor to turn over information about the interview. Mexican actress Kate del Castillo accompanied Penn to the meeting at an undisclosed location. Mexico's government had been following a Guzman lawyer who accompanied them. Mexican daily El Universal published photographs on Monday of Penn and Castillo that it said showed the pair being tracked at the time. Rolling Stone magazine published an article by Sean Penn (left) on Saturday based on his interview with Guzman (right) Security: Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison (pictured) after he was recaptured on Friday 'It (the meeting) was an essential element, because we were following (Guzman's) lawyer, and the lawyer took us to these people and to this meeting,' Gomez told local radio. Penn, who has been criticized in the United States and in Mexico for visiting Guzman, told the Associated Press on Monday: 'I've got nothin' to hide.' Reuters could not reach del Castillo for comment. Danish women have become the latest to report being groped by migrant men who 'simply can't handle' the sight of a girl. Officials in one town say they have experienced a harassment problem since a camp hosting 365 asylum seekers opened in November. Victims have also been targeted in nightclubs in two other towns where one local says Syrian migrants 'go nuts' if they see a woman. The reports come days after similar warnings were issued across Europe about the rising number of sex attacks by gangs of migrants. Scroll down for video Danish women have become the latest to report being groped by migrant men. It comes after a wave of similar reports spread across Europe including from hundreds of women in the German town of Cologne (above) Security authorities are growing increasingly concerned by the rising number of sex attacks by gangs of migrants which appear to be spreading across Europe Germany, in particular, is grappling with a massive wave of attacks on women, including hundreds of victims in Cologne during the New Year celebrations. In Denmark, Lars Sloth, the director of the children and families unit in the town of Thisted, told news agency Ritzau that several young women have felt 'unsafe on the streets' after being accosted. Women have also encountered problems on dance floors in the southern Jutland towns of Sonderborg and Haderslev, it was reported by The Local. Glenn Hollender, from the Sonderborg club, Den Flyvende Hollnder, told TV Syd: 'A large number of the male guests who come from the local asylum centre have a very hard time respecting the opposite sex. 'In my eyes, it is harassment when one or more men continue to touch a young woman after she has said 'stop'.' Swiss artist Milo Moire holds a sign 'Respect us! We are no fair game even when we are naked!!!' as she protests naked in front of Cologne cathedral Horrfiying: One victim, an 18-year-old named Michelle (pictured, in the square outside the main train station where she was attacked) described being surrounded by a group of 30 'angry' men who groped her and her friends then stole their belongings as they fled. Police officers said women had to run a 'gauntlet' to escape DENMARK EXTENDS BORDER CONTROLS FOR MIGRANTS Denmark has opted to extended its temporary border controls by 20 days to February 3 to curb the influx of migrants. The government had initially implemented a 10-day control after a similar move by Sweden. 'The assessment is that there is still a risk that a large number of illegal immigrants accumulate in Denmark,' the Integration Ministry said. Advertisement Rafi Ibrahim, a Syrian who has lived in Denmark for years, said new migrants don't know how to behave around women in Western society. He said: 'If they see a girl, they go nuts. They simply can't handle it. 'In Syria and many other countries, it is not normal for a strange woman to smile at you. 'Those girls who are harassed aren't necessarily scantily-dressed or drunk. Sometimes it is enough just to be a girl.' It comes after more than two hundred women reported being sexually assaulted by groups of mostly Arab or North African men in Cologne during the New Year celebrations. Police say 553 criminal complaints have been filed, with about 45 per cent involving allegations of sexual offences, and most of the suspects identified so far are foreign nationals. The attack have been seized by right-wing groups as evidence that chancellor Angela Merkel's open door policy is a failure. Finland and Sweden later issued warnings to women to be wary of the threat of sex attacks following fresh reports of sexual assaults in the last week, Viennese police have also advised women not to go outside alone in Vienna. Further cases have also emerged of similar attacks being reported in Switzerland, where six women claimed to have been victims in Zurich on New Year's Eve. The grandfather of an Australian family who were involved in a horrific car crash has died from a heart attack after learning about the tragic deaths of his two daughters and three grandchildren. Adelaide couple Rupendra and Anamika Datta were travelling with their family in a hired Toyota SUV to the Taj Mahal in India last Sunday when when the accident occurred. It's understood one of the tyres had burst, causing the vehicle to careen into a safety barrier, then flipped onto its roof before landing in front of oncoming traffic. Scroll down for video Rupendra Datta remains in hospital while his wife Anamika and five others have died from the horrifc crash One of the tyres had burst, causing the vehicle to careen into a safety barrier, then flipped onto its roof before landing in front of oncoming traffic Anamika's father, who was in the car, survived but he later died from a sudden a heart attack after receiving the terrible news, ABC News reported. Mr Datta remains in hospital in a critical condition after his wife, Anamika, 45, their daughters Neekita and Pipasa, aged 12 and 15, and his sister-in-law Sonia, 25, died at the scene. His 20-year-old son, Tirvijai, was taken to hospital but died a short time later. The family were supposed to return home to Australia just days after the accident. On Thursday, family and friends gathered at Mr Datta's restaurant of 10 years - Urban India in the inner-city Adelaide suburb of Mile End - to pay tribute during a Hindu prayer service. On Thursday, family and friends gathered at Mr Datta's restaurant of 10 years - Urban India in the inner-city Adelaide suburb of Mile End - to pay tribute during a Hindu prayer service Anamika Dutta (left with her husband, Rupen), her daughters and sister all died in a car crash in India on the way to the Taj Mahal Staff at the restaurant have spoken out of their grief. Following the crash, Urban India was open for business on Tuesday and when Daily Mail Australia approached the restaurant for comment, a staff member said: 'Everybody is in shock.' But he did not wish to speak any more about the matter. The head chef at Urban India, Manpreet Singh, told The Advertiser the family were 'really very good people'. 'Our brains aren't working and it's hard to react. It's a difficult time and we have to face it,' he said. Mr Dutta (pictured) and his father-in-law, N K Paliwal, both remain in an Indian hospital The impact of the collision was so great that the family was thrown up to seven metres away from the car In Mr Dutta's place, Mr Singh opened the restaurant on Tuesday for his boss as he felt he owed it to him to do so. 'It's nothing like business, we all work as a family here,' the chef told The Advertiser. 'We are just doing the responsible thing by the restaurant and we want everybody to pray for him now and his good health.' The Duttas' neighbour, Chris Irving, told 7News he was in shock. 'That's awful. They always seemed like a really happy family,' he said. According to local media reports, the family was travelling on a highway in the country's north when a tyre on their hired SUV, a Toyota Qualis, burst causing the vehicle to careen into a safety barrier, then flip onto its roof on the Yamuna Expressway. The family were on their way to the Taj Mahal from New Delhi when the accident occurred. The family were travelling to the Taj Mahal (pictured is stock image) from New Delhi in a hired SUV The family were travelling along the Yamuna Expressway when the accident happened about 3.30pm local time on Sunday. Pictured above is stock image 'The impact of the collision was so great that bodies were found lying in pools of blood nearly five to seven metres away from the mangled car,' the newspaper quoted a local police official, Narendar Singh, as saying. Two other people also survived the crash, and have been named as Digvijay and Shambhu Paswan, who was the driver of the vehicle, local news outlet NDTV reported. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the deaths and is providing consular assistance. Gun sales have jumped 350 per cent in Austria amid 'unease' over increasing numbers of migrants following the Paris terror attacks, firearm dealers have claimed. The final months of 2015 showed increases in gun permit applications, while dealers reported huge demand for self defence weapons such as tasers, pepper spray and blank firing-guns. It comes just months after shotguns were reported to have sold out across the country as residents became increasingly paranoid about refugee numbers. Hundreds of migrants who arrived at the Hungarian-Austria border by train make their way into Austria. Many residents have been purchasing weapons amid increased fears of break-ins and crime Hundreds of migrants wait at the Slovenian-Croatian border crossing of Sredisce ob Dravi, Slovenia An spokesperson for the arms industry told broadcaster ORF that it was 'clear that people's general sense of unease has increased', The Local reported. In Styria, which borders Slovenia, the number of permits issued has drastically increased since thousands of refugees began streaming across its borders every day. Styrian police said: 'Most people said they wanted a weapon because they didn't feel safe'. And in Leibnitz and Sudoststeiermark, the number of permits also quadrupled last year, the website reported. In October, shotguns were reported to have almost sold out across the entire country. 'Virtually all shotguns are currently sold out, because you need no permit for them', said Thomas Ortner, spokesman for an arms dealer in Upper Austria. Broadcasters and local media say the numbers of refugees - coupled with a fear of break-ins as a result - is fuelling the arms race. 'Because of the social change, people want to protect themselves,' one arms dealer told the broadcaster oe.24. He said 'many women' were among his customers. Czech Independent TV has also reported on an arms upsurge. A few months ago it was revealed most rifles in the country were out of stock. Migrants scuffle as they wait to cross the border from Slovenia into Austria after they were routed through the country when Hungary closed its border with Croatia A central weapon register was introduced in June 2014 to record all legal firearm sales and this year more than 14,000 new weapons were purchased. Dealers reported that women are also driving up sales of pepper spray because of their fears for personal security in the midst of the great migration of refugees heading to Germany. 'We cannot complain about a lack of demand,' said Stephan Mayer, a gun merchant. 'People want to protect themselves. A woman who raised money so that a homeless couple could have a 'nice, warm Christmas' in a hotel was left devastated after they trashed the room and caused 1,000 worth of damage. Louise Elliott, 32, and her friend Becky Mcsorley launched a Facebook appeal to pay for Lewis Holley, his girlfriend Stacey and their dog Bonnie to stay at the Ibis Hotel in Crawley, West Sussex over the festive season. Twenty-five kind-hearted strangers responded and in just a few days the friends had raised 640 to cover the cost of the accommodation for 10 nights, from December 24 until January 2. But the room was left in a 'total mess' at the end of their stay, with cigarette burns in the carpet, the window smashed and the TV ripped from the wall. Good deed: Louise Elliott, far right, and her friend Becky Mcsorley, far left, launched a Facebook campaign to pay for Lewis Holley and his girlfriend Stacey, pictured together centre, to stay at a hotel over Christmas Destroyed: It took hotel staff more than two hours to clear all of the rubbish from the hotel room after the stay Damage: The hotel room window was smashed during the 10-night stay and will now need to be replaced Ripped from the wall: The couple pulled the TV from the hotel room wall, pictured, and cracked the screen It later emerged the couple had also tried to cut the stay short after just one night, asking staff if they could check out on Christmas Day and receive 576 in cash instead of the remaining nine nights. After learning of the damage, Miss Elliott, who has five sons, took to Facebook to 'apologise to anyone that donated to help these people', adding 'to say I am disappointed is an understatement'. Miss Elliott, from Reigate, Surrey, said she and Miss Mcsorley decided to raise money for Mr Holley, known as Piper, after organising a collection of clothes to donate to homeless people in London. Friends and neighbours suggested raising money for a cause closer to home, and a number suggested helping 'Piper', a well-known figure in Crawley, because he was 'so nice'. Miss Elliott said that when she first approached the couple they were overwhelmed by the offer, saying they were 'so grateful' and that it would be an 'amazing' opportunity. She posted an appeal on Facebook in the week before Christmas and within five days had raised 640. One woman donated 120 and two of Miss Elliott's children each put 10 of their birthday money towards the fund, determined to give back to others over Christmas. The money was far more than she had expected and was enough to pay for 10 nights in the hotel. Place to stay: Miss Elliott said she wanted the couple to have a 'nice, warm Christmas' at the hotel, pictured 'When I went to tell them, they were over the moon,' Miss Elliott said. 'Stacey was crying she was so happy. And we all felt good.' She dropped the couple off at the hotel where another friend had organised a hamper for Mr Holley, Stacey and Bonnie to enjoy. She even included non-alcoholic wine as the couple said they didn't drink. Miss Elliott said: 'We felt really good. We thought we had done such a good thing because it was cold and it was rainy and they were sleeping in a tent.' She started to think something was wrong when the couple text her while she was on her way to collect them from the hotel on January 2. They said they had made their own way back into town but they were once again sleeping rough as 'someone had stolen their tent'. Wary they might want more money, Miss Elliott stayed away. It wasn't until January 5, when Miss Elliott was on holiday with her children in Disneyland Paris, that the hotel contacted her to tell her the couple had caused some 1,000 in damages. Thoughtful: One of Miss Elliott's friends even prepared a hamper for the couple and their dog to enjoy Festive cheer: Food and drink was left for the couple in another act of kindness by Miss Elliott and her friends The window was badly cracked and has to be replaced, someone had tried to rip the TV off the wall and the carpet was so badly damaged it needs to be replaced. The mattress was also 'left in a state' and the couple had taken the duvet. It took two members of staff two hours to clear all the rubbish out of the room. Miss Elliott said: 'The hotel phoned and said "we just want you to know what happened. We are not chasing damages" and my heart just sank. 'I thought, "oh my God. What have they done? How could they do that?" It is just unreal.' The neither of the mobile numbers Miss Elliott had for the couple worked but she encouraged the hotel to pursue the matter with the police. 'I just felt so angry and so bad for the hotel staff,' she added. Miss Elliott said that the experience has taught her 'you can't take anyone's word' and that 'she won't do anything like this again'. Adding it was worse because it was 'other people's money at such an important time of year'. She said: 'We feel like fools. It was the time of year for goodwill and generosity. 'So many kind people went out their way to try and do something nice at Christmas but it has turned into a nightmare. I am so sorry for the people who gave money.' A 28-year-old woman died after three GPs from the same practice failed to diagnose her with pneumonia, an inquest hear. Claire Marshall visited Derwent Valley Medical Practice, in Chaddesden, Derby, eight times before she died. Coroner Dr Robert Hunter has now ruled that neglect on the part of the doctors contributed to her death and slammed 'systematic failures' at the surgery. Mrs Marshall was seen by Dr John Frain, Dr Philip Dodgson and Dr Andrew Ratcliffe on a number of occasions in the lead-up to her death, the hearing was told. Claire Marshall, 28, died of pneumonia despite visiting Derwent Valley Medical Practice, in Chaddesden, Derby, eight times in one month Dr John Frain (left), Dr Philip Dodgson (middle) and Dr Andrew Ratcliffe (right) all saw Mrs Marshall during consultations in the lead-up to her death. In 2013, a medical practitioner's tribunal found that Dr Frain and Dr Ratcliffe 'failed to adequately assess' Mrs Marshall and that Dr Dodgson, who admitted inadequate record-keeping, 'failed to arrange a chest X-ray' for her None of them diagnosed her with pneumonia or sent her for a chest X-ray even though her family insisted her condition was worsening. Dr Hunter said in his narrative conclusion at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court: 'Claire Marshall died an unnatural death from pneumonia as a consequence of failures in her assessment and examination, and a failure to recognise that she was not responding to successive treatment regimes. As such, her death was contributed to by neglect. 'In summary, there were a number of opportunities for Claire to be diagnosed with pneumonia. 'The evidence of Claire's mother-in-law and father clearly demonstrate that she was progressively getting worse. 'On most, if not all, of the occasions Claire was seen by doctors, there was a failure to undertake an adequate examination. On considering the evidence, I would find as a fact that these failures have more than minimally contributed to her death.' Dr Frain sent Mrs Marshall home after her last appointment in the afternoon of December 30, 2010. She was found dead on the landing of her house in Derby hours later. He admitted in evidence that he had only written up his notes about the December 30 appointment after hearing about Mrs Marshall's death the following day. Mrs Marshall was 'a precious wife, daughter, sister and auntie' who 'always had a great sense of humour', her family said in a statement Mrs Marshall went to her first appointment in November 2010 complaining of a cough The inquest was told how Claire had been diagnosed with asthma in her teens and had a borderline personality disorder. It also heard how she made repeated visits to see the doctors in the days before her death. The first was on November 23, 2010 when she complained of a cough and urinary problems. She was seen by Dr Frain. The consultation lasted four minutes and the medic told the hearing he did not document 'the vast majority' of the tests he said he carried out on her during this time. Giving evidence, Kathryn Marshall, Claire's mother-in-law, said: 'She was very lethargic, she couldn't really do anything. When I saw her, she was always lying on the settee, coughing and wheezing. We were very concerned about her.' In a statement read out in court, Reginald Turner, her father, said: 'By late November, she was clearly very unwell. She said the doctors were not doing anything to help her.' Three days after her first visit Claire saw Dr Ratcliffe at the surgery, but he made no notes on her records of her chest complaints. Giving evidence, Dr Ratcliffe said: 'I considered pneumonia [as a diagnosis] but I did not write this down in her records. I accept my note-keeping was not to the required standard. In retrospect, I wish I'd written this down.' On November 30 she again saw Dr Frain again, but again there was no record of him carrying out any physical examination on her. On December 8 Dr Frain examined her for a third time, but he admitted to the court once again that he had no record of asking her how her breathing had been. Six days later she was seen by Dr Dodgson to discuss a possible chest infection, but he did not record what physical examinations he carried out on her. He diagnosed her with a chest infection and prescribed her antibiotics, but did not arrange a follow-up appointment with her. Dr Hodgson said he carried out a peak flow test to measure the amount of air flowing in and out of the lungs - but he had since shredded the results. On December 21, she returned to the practice and was seen again by Dr Frain. He told the hearing he 'most likely' ordered a chest X-ray to be carried out but there is no record of the X-ray being documented in her notes. Mrs Marshall, pictured with her husband Darren on their wedding day in 2007, died shortly after her last appointment at the practice. She was found on the landing of her house in Derby Dr Frain, who saw Mrs Marshall during her last appointment, faced a fitness to practise hearing in March 2014 but didn't receive a sanction. He still works at Derwent Valley Medical Practice (pictured) Claire was seen by Dr Ratcliffe on December 29 when he took her pulse, but did not record it in her records. He admitted he did not take her temperature or measure her peak flow rate. The next day she was seen by Dr Frain, who examined her and said there were no breathing problems. He sent her home after she was given a nebuliser - a machine that delivers medication into the lungs via an inhaled mist. The next day she was dead. In 2013, a medical practitioner's tribunal found that Dr Frain and Dr Ratcliffe 'failed to adequately assess' Mrs Marshall and that Dr Dodgson, who admitted inadequate record-keeping, 'failed to arrange a chest X-ray' for her. Dr Frain faced a fitness to practise hearing in March 2014 according to a record kept by the General Medical Council (GMC). He wasn't sanctioned as the hearing found he had taken necessary steps to ensure the situation wouldn't happen again. Dr Frain is still working at the practice. Dr Ratcliffe is not and Dr Dodgson has now retired. Coroner Dr Robert Hunter said Mrs Marshall's death was death was contributed to by neglect The coroner said: 'Claire had been seen on a number of occasions over a short period of time. She was well known to be asthmatic and she complained of difficulty in breathing, chest tightness and a productive cough. 'She had been prescribed four course of antibiotics and three courses of steroids. 'There was a significant failure by the attendant medical practitioners in realising that, despite all this she was not improving. 'This failure and the failure to take action in referring Claire to hospital, where she would obtain effective medical treatment, I would find as fact more than minimally contributed to her death.' Following the inquest, Dr Ken Deacon, medical director for NHS England North Midlands said: 'We offer our deepest sympathy to this family, who have suffered such a tragic loss.' 'We acknowledge that this has been dealt with by the GMC and the primary care trust at the time, and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on this case.' Mrs Marshall's sister Anna and mother-in-law Kathryn Marshall were present at the three-day inquest in Derby. The family released a statement through their solicitors, saying: 'Claire was a precious wife, daughter, sister and auntie. She was a caring and kind-hearted person who always had a great sense of humour. Police are hunting for a teenage girl they believe may have stabbed her boyfriend to death following an argument before appearing to post a confession on Facebook. Officers in San Bernadino, California, say they are desperately trying to search for 18-year-old Nakasia James after her boyfriend Dorian Powell, 21, was found dead at an apartment on Monday. It is believed the pair had been involved in a domestic altercation, which had turned violent, before Mr Powell's death. Nakasia James, left, who is suspected of stabbing her boyfriend Dorian Powell, right, to death before before allegedly confessing to the crime on Facebook Now it had emerged that James may have posted a confession on Facebook where she claims to have got a knife and stabbed him. The post, which has now been deleted, was first published on KTLA, and was uploaded on an account with the same name as James. It said that she was fighting with her ex before he hit her in the face and she grabbed a knife. The post said: 'I gt the knife and and stabbed him ddnt think I would hurt him BT he died and I'm on the run.' (sic) The post also appeared to express her regret for the incident saying: 'God knows I didn't mean to stabb him I was mad AF he socked me in my eyes and just picked sumthin up. (sic) 'Btsorryy lord hopefully u forgive me! And sorry Dorian Powell rip.' (sic) The post, which has now been deleted, was uploaded on an account with the same name as James. It said that she was fighting with her ex before he hit her in the face and she grabbed a knife. San Bernadino Police refused to comment on the Facebook post but said in a statement: 'Nakasia is aware that she is being sought in connection with this homicide. 'At this time it does appear to be related to a domestic disturbance inside the apartment.' According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr Powell was found dead after police received a 911 call on Monday morning that a man had been stabbed by his girlfriend in the 2000 block of North Central Avenue. When officers arrived they found his body and James was no longer at the scene. Germany should deport the 1,000 refugees whose applications for asylum are declined every day, a key ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. Peter Tauber, the general secretary of the political party led by Merkel, said there were 'too many' migrants entering the country. It comes as the fallout from the wave of sex attacks believed to have been perpetrated by North African or Arab men in Cologne at New Year continues to stir divisions. Peter Tauber (pictured), the general secretary of the CDU, claims 'too many' migrants are entering the country Chancellor Angela Merkel has been heavily criticised for her open door policy on immigration following the waves of sex attacks found to have occurred across German cities on New Year's Eve Many on the far right have used the attacks to criticise Merkel's open door policy on immigration, including members of her own party. According to The Local, Mr Tauber, of the Christian Democratic Union, said: 'Hundreds of thousands gratefully accept the help, are learning German, want to integrate. 'And whoever doesn't use that chance, for them the message is then "You can't stay here!",' he told The Rheinische Post. Although he admitted the numbers entering Germany were now decreasing to about 3,000 daily, he added that 'seen over the course of a year, that's still too many'. More than 600 women have complained of being attacked on New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne and other German cities. The complaints range from sexual molestation to theft and police have said their investigations are focused on illegal migrants from north Africa as well as asylum seekers. An officer's report from the evening, leaked to German media, described a scene of chaos in which understaffed police were swamped by women claiming to have been attacked. Drunk men were setting off fireworks among the crowds, while the officer said women were being forced to run a 'gauntlet' through packs of men. Meanwhile, Sweden's prime minister today denounced the string of sexual assaults in Germany and Sweden against women in crowded areas. Groups of men gather outside the Cologne main train station on New Year's Eve, where hundreds of women claim to have been sexually assaulted A group of young men let off a firework during the New Year celebrations, which descended into chaos Police reports described officers being outnumbered and powerless to stop the anarchy which engulfed the city a fortnight ago, with dozens of women approaching them claiming they had been sexually assaulted Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told lawmakers Wednesday that 'girls and women should be able to move around freely at night without fear of being assaulted. If assaults occur, society has to stand with the victims'. Reports of large-scale sexual assaults and robberies blamed on foreign men on New Year's Eve in Cologne, Germany, has sparked outrage in both Germany and Sweden, where police this week revealed they've known about similar incidents for at least two years. 'I felt a great anger as I learned about the reports from both Cologne and Stockholm. Those guilty must be punished,' Lofven said. Jimmie Akesson, the leader of the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, asked the prime minister whether he saw any cultural dimensions in the assaults, given that police have said most of the suspects were foreign nationals. The son of Mexico drugs lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman launched a fuming tirade at the country's president threatening to 'take him out'. In further evidence that he is being groomed to take over his father's multi-billion dollar narcotics business, Ivan Guzman tweeted Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto: 'Just as we put you in the presidency, we can just as easily take you out.' In a series of Tweets, as his dad 'El Chapo' was recaptured by marines after six months as the world's most wanted man, eldest son Ivan, 32, vowed to continue the moustached drugs kingpin's Sinaloa Cartel. Captured: Shortly after Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman (pictured) was recaptured, his eldest son Ivan, 32, sent a death threat tweet to Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto Brothers: Ivan Guzman (left) is touted by many as the heir to El Chapo's multi billion dollar Sinaloa drugs cartel while. Brother Alfredo (right) said to have been in charge of drug exports to the US and his father's properties Ivan, his dad's biggest cheerleader, followed the tweet, which was quickly deleted, with a series of rants against the Mexican government. Following Nieto's trumpeting statement, which crowed, 'Mission accomplished: We have him. I would like to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained' Ivan was raging. 'F*** your mother you f****** scum,' he blasted back in response as it was announced that his father's time on the run was up. 'You have no idea of what you have done, nor of the trouble you have gotten yourselves into,' another spat. When Ivan threatened to 'take out' Nieto, his Twitter followers retweeted the comment retweeted or liked it 13,000 times. Caught: Six months after escaping Altiplano prison, El Chapo (pictured) was arrested in a hotel in the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa state in northwest Mexico on January 8 Assault: Five Sinaloa Cartel members were killed in the Mexican marines (pictured) raided his secret hideout Handcuffed: El Chapo (centre) has been returned to the Altiplano prison he escaped from, as he fights extradition to the US Security experts in Mexico have long speculated that El Chapo, believed to be 57, is grooming Ivan to be the next head of his cartel which he boasts is the biggest importer of cocaine, heroin and crystal meth into the US. And with the drugs boss recaptured and fighting extradition to the US, it is believed the moment has come when the reins will be handed over to Ivan. Along with his brother Alfredo, Ivan revels in the glamour of his father's wealth and notoriety by posting pictures of the glamour of his jet set on Instagram. Regularly posting photos of his narco lifestyle of supercars, bikini clad girlfriends, pet tigers and even gold plated AK47s, it was Alfredo who almost led the FBI directly to their father when he tweeted a picture of them in a restaurant in Costa Rica and forgot to turn off the locator. It is believed that Alfredo is too young and inexperienced to take control of the multi-billion dollar drugs organisation and that it will be left to Ivan if and when his father is extradited. New leader: Ivan (pictured) is said to have been acting as the Sinaloa Cartel's boss on the streets since his father was recaptured in last week's raid by Mexico marines Glamour: Ivan (pictured) and his brothers have previously shown off their narco lifestyle by posting pictures of luxury houses, wild cat pets and gold plated guns Drug money: Heir to the throne Ivan, who often shows off his super cars and bikini clad girlfriends on Twitter, once tweeted a photo of his gold plated AK47 inside a Ferrari During his most recent incarceration, US Drug Enforcement Agency papers stated El Chapo was passing messages to Ivan 'via attorneys who visited him in prison and possibly through the use of a cell phone provided... by corrupt prison guards'. The same documents showed how Ivan orchestrated one of the foiled plots to free his father by asking the Mexican army's counter intelligence officers to devise a jailbreak plan. In the controversial Rolling Stone article by actor Sean Penn, who secretly met El Chapo in October without the authorities' knowledge, he said Ivan 'is considered the heir to the Sinaloa cartel'. 'At 32, he is considered the heir to the Sinaloa cartel,' Penn wrote, adding 'He's attentive with a calm maturity. 'Like his brother [Alfredo], he boasts a fabulous wristwatch.' In 2004 Ivan was a suspect in the murder of Canadian exchange student Kristen Deyell, who was gunned down outside a Guadalajara nightclub. Brother: Ivan's younger brother Alfredo (pictured), known as El Gordo, or the Fat One, has denied making threats to the Mexican government and the authorities Wealth: Alfredo, who is said to be in charge of the Sinaloa cartel's drug trafficking operations, once showed off his riches by posting a picture of his pet lion cub on top of his Bentley Tweet: Alfredo posted this picture of his fugitive father in Costa Rica while on the run - and forgot to turn off the locator, almost leading security forces right to him In 2005 he was charged with money laundering and organised crime offences after police found packages of cocaine and a weapon inside an SUV vehicle he crashed in the same Guadalajara neighbourhood. When the charges were dropped, Mexico authorities indicted him for buying cars with money gained by 'illicit activities' and sentenced him to five years' jail. A judge overturned the conviction and released Ivan in 2008. The judge was later suspended for a series of 'questionable rulings'. Ivan's younger brother Alfredo, 25, has denied the family have made threats to the Mexico government or the president. 'There's no time for any of that,' he tweeted broadcaster TV Azteca. But in a sinister follow-up, he added: 'The day we are going to do something, we won't tell people about it beforehand.' Announcement: Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto (pictured) announced the arrest by saying: 'Mission accomplished: We have him. I would like to inform Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained.' Business: Ivan, touted as El Chapo's heir and the next leader of the Sinaloa cartel, also tweeted: 'Nothing changes here, we're carrying on working' Successor: In his controversial Rolling Stone story actor Sean Penn (left) was told by El Chapo (right) that Ivan 'is considered the heir to the Sinaloa Cartel' Nicknamed 'El Gordo' or 'The Fat One' Alfredo was once described by the Mexico Navy as a 'growing force' in his father's cartel and responsible for overseeing drug export to the US and managed El Chapo's property portfolio. El Chapo was yesterday returned to the Altiplano maximum security prison from which he escaped in July 2015 - and where the warden there is now himself a fellow inmate. For more on the refugee crisis visit www.dailymail.co.uk/refugeecrisis Fences near tracks in France have been let water level rise to 'stop people from getting to the fences' Eurotunnel officials have decided to flood the areas surrounding the tunnel entrance near Calais, northern France, in a bid to stop desperate people from climbing onto the tracks. By allowing water levels to rise, Eurotunnel officials hope the marshland will serve as a 'natural environment layer of protection', a spokesperson said today. Security around train tracks to the Eurotunnel and around the port of Calais has been reinforced since last October, which has led to frequent clashes between migrants and the police. Making a moat: Officials said the flooding near the Eurotunnel entrance in France has been a conscious decision in order to create 'a network of barriers' and stop people from getting to the fences This has been done in order to prevent migrants from jumping onto trains and vehicles heading for Britain or attempting to walk through the tunnel. 'The tunnel itself is built on a marshy piece of reclaimed land and it was very waterlogged,' Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe told The Local. 'We have let the water level rise and used this to form a network of barriers to stop people from getting to the fences - a way of using the natural environment as a layer of protection.' The news comes as French authorities plan to demolish a third of the notorious Calais Jungle camp on Thursday, despite volunteers warning that its 1,500 residents have not been given enough time to move into new accommodation. Jungle residents have been rejecting the new purpose-built 20million camp, designed to house 1,500 refugees in converted shipping containers, and instead refused to move out of their tents. Before: The land near the tracks was previously drained, pictured here in November before it was reflooded By allowing water levels to rise, Eurotunnel officials hope the marshland will serve as a 'natural environment layer of protection' In the past, migrants and refugees looking to enter the tunnel had been able to walk across the marshlands In a statement on behalf of the residents, Jungle community leaders said they 'respectfully decline the demands of the French government and have decided to remain where we are'. However, French police served the protesting refugees with eviction orders, telling them they have until Wednesday night to vacate their tents before bulldozers level the camp on Thursday. It was initially reported that residents were rejecting the camp full stop, but charity HelpRefugeesUK say they are temporarily protesting due to not being given enough time. Security around train tracks to the Eurotunnel and around the port of Calais has been reinforced since last October, which has led to frequent clashes between migrants and the police 'The refugees are not rejecting the new container camp,' the charity said in a statement. 'The new container camp can only accept a maximum of 55 new people per day and this is far below the numbers required. In the interim, refugees face what shelter they have being destroyed.' The new facilities are located in the heart of the Jungle camp, which has ballooned in recent months and has evolved into a slum with shops, mosques and a church between the tarps and tents. The family of Scotland Secretary David Mundell have expressed support for the Tory minister after he revealed that he is gay today. His son Oliver said he 'admires dad as much today as yesterday' in a heartfelt message praising his father's 'brave decision' to become the first openly gay Conservative member of the Cabinet in history. David Cameron was said to be 'very pleased and delighted' at Mr Mundell's decision to open up about his sexuality, while a number of other politicians including Nicola Sturgeon praised his announcement. The father of three, who is divorced, made the revelation on his website in a post headlined 'new year, new start!' Scroll down for video Scotland Secretary David Mundell, pictured in his online announcement today, has said he is gay, addiing it was time he told the truth about his personal life Mr Mundell, pictured with his sons Lewis, left, and Oliver, right, in an image posted on Facebook Oliver, Mr Mundell's oldest son who is running for a seat in the Scottish Parliament, today tweeted support for his father's 'brave decision to go public' Mr Mundell said: 'Over time, I came to understand that, for me, the only way to be truly happy on a personal level is to acknowledge in public as well as in private, who I am.' The cabinet minister, who is the only Conservative MP in Scotland, said: 'I have already set out my political priorities for the year and now I am setting out my personal one. 'Having taken one of the most important decisions of my life and resolved to come out publically as gay in 2016, I just want to get on with it, and now, just like that, I have said it. 'How can it be both so easy and so hard to say a few short words? 'In the end, it took just a couple of taps on a keyboard, yet at some points, in my mind, it was going to be harder than standing for election, speaking in the House of Commons or being cross-examined on television. 'I still cannot fully rationalise such feelings, but I know they are not uncommon, particularly in men of my age. 'Of course, everybody who gets to this point, has had their own journey. 'I have certainly been on mine - conflicting emotions, of doubts and fears, but ultimately positive and uplifting, with an unstoppable direction of travel.' The minster added: 'I so admire the many people, young and old, who are doing this every day, uncertain of the reaction. Mr Mundell tweeted his announcement, linking back to his website, at the end of today's Prime Minister's Questions session In his full statement, pictured, Mr Mundell said going public would make an 'intensely personal and positive difference' to him 'I have been very fortunate and couldn't have had more love and support from my family and friends. 'However, making this public is something I have had to do myself. I don't know what the wider reaction will be, but I know it's the right thing for me to do. 'Other than the intensely personal and positive difference it makes to me, and the way I can live my life, my hope is that my coming out doesn't change anything else about how I go about my work or how people treat me. 'Gender and sexuality should make no difference whether you are a Cabinet Minister or in any other walk of life and I hope that I can, in my own way, reinforce that message.' Mr Mundell worked as a solicitor before joining BT as Group Legal Advisor for Scotland in 1991. Mr Mundell has been a key Scottish ally for David Cameron as his only MP north of the border. They appeared alongside each other, pictured with ex-Scottish leader Annabel Goldie, ahead of the 2010 election at the Scottish Conservative Conference Mr Mundell faced nationalist protests as a representative of the Tory government in Scotland during the 2014 independence referendum He became BT Scotland's head of national affairs until he entered politics with election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Mr Mundell, who is from the small town of Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway and went to Edinburgh University, has three children with his ex-wife Lynda, 49, but the couple separated some time before 2010. THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN IN A TORY CABINET The only Scottish Tory David Mundell has today become the first openly gay man to serve in a Conservative cabinet, admitting he did not know what the reaction would be but saying it was important for him to be truly happy. The only Conservative MP in Scotland, Mr Mundell has been an MP since 2005. He was a junior minister in the Scotland Office under the coalition and was handed a promotion to the cabinet following the Tories' shock general election victory last year. At the start of his career, Mr Mundell worked as a solicitor before joining BT as Group Legal Advisor for Scotland in 1991. He became BT Scotland's head of national affairs until he entered politics with election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Mr Mundell, who is from the small town of Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway and went to Edinburgh University, has three children with his ex-wife Lynda, 49, but the couple separated some time before 2010. His three children are 26-year-old Oliver, a parliamentary aide who is standing for the Scottish Parliament, Eve, 24, and Lewis, 21, who is believed to be a medical student at the University of Dundee. The Scotland Secretary was once forced to deny the bizarre suggestion made by a tabloid newspaper that he had been dragged out of a strip club while drunk. Advertisement His three children are 26-year-old Oliver, a parliamentary aide who is standing for the Scottish Parliament, Eve, 24, and Lewis, 21, who is believed to be a medical student at the University of Dundee. The Scotland Secretary was once forced to deny the bizarre suggestion made by a tabloid newspaper that he had been dragged out of a strip club while drunk. Oliver, who is hoping to become a Conservative MSP, today paid tribute to his father, writing on Twitter: 'I admire my dad as much today as I did yesterday. 'Brave decision to go public and the right one.' A senior Downing Street source said David Cameron had been informed in the past few days of Mr Mundell's decision to issue a statement. Asked if the Prime Minister offered his warm support to the Scotland Secretary, the source said: 'Of course, absolutely.' He added: 'I'm not going to get into their private conversation, and it's obviously a very personal statement, but the PM is very pleased and delighted that he is in a position to take this step, and it's very encouraging to see.' Challenged over why it had taken so long for the Conservatives to have their first openly gay Cabinet minister, the source said: 'To be honest, I think the PM, in terms of the Cabinet, appoints people on merit. 'I don't think he really thinks about issues like that. 'There have been other ministers in the Prime Minister's Government who have been gay. 'People tend to be appointed on merit and their ability to do the job.' Mr Mundell was swiftly praised for his announcement by Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader - who is also gay. She tweeted: 'I know that David didn't make today's statement lightly, but approached it in his typically thoughtful and positive manner. 'He has my wholehearted support, as well as the support of the wider Scottish Conservative family.' SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: 'Good on you David. Well done and best wishes.' Speaking at the Commons despatch box, Business Minister Anna Soubry said: 'It took huge courage and I can say that I'm hugely proud to sit in the Cabinet with him and I can see all the nods on both sides, all around this chamber in support of our Secretary of State at what might be a difficult time for many. 'But I'm sure for him it's a very happy day that finally he can be the person, the man he's always been and he can sing out and be proud of being that man.' She later added: 'Really, in this day of age, I think most people will just shrug their shoulders and say 'Yeah, whatever, am I bothered?' Of course we're not, but we celebrate actually what should be a happy day for him.' The SNP's economy spokesman, Stewart Hosie, said: 'I think it's absolutely right the Scottish Secretary's Cabinet colleague announces this in the chamber. I think that's appropriate. 'I think on our side we'd like to welcome what was said.' Mr Hosie then joked: 'However, in terms of the debate, can we still say - notwithstanding we hope he's happy - we fundamentally disagree with his politics.' Culture Minister Ed Vaizey led support within Government, tweeting it was a 'lovely statement' from a 'wonderful' man. Conservative MP Nick Gibb, who last year became the first Tory MP to take advantage of gay marriage laws, said: 'Congratulations to my colleague David Mundell. Every such decision by a public figure helps others to do the same.' Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson offered her support to Mr Mundell following his decision to announce he was gay She said the Scotland Secretary had her 'wholehearted support' as well as as the of the 'wider Scottish Conservative family' The Business secretary Sajid Javid said he was 'proud' to be a colleague and friend of Mr Mundell. Labour MP Wes Streeting also offered his support, tweeting 'well done' to Mr Mundell, adding: 'Still not as easy as it should be, but a lot easier than it once was.' The SNP MP Stewart McDonald added: 'Well done @DavidMundellDCT on coming out - I'm sure it couldn't have been an easy decision.' Tory MP Iain Stewart said he had 'huge respect' for Mr Mundell's decision, adding: 'Making the decision to come out publicly is a difficult and emotional one for anyone.' Labour politician Chris Smith was Britains first openly gay Cabinet minister when he was made culture secretary in 1997. Culture Minister Ed Davey led support for Mr Mundell inside Government, tweeting it was a 'lovely statement' from a 'wonderful man' Labour MP Wes Streeting also offered support Three radical Islamist groups which ran a now-closed mosque with links to the November terrorist attacks in Paris have been banned by the French government. The groups had been dissolved because 'their leaders over the last few years had incited hatred and called for jihad', Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday Their mosque at Lagny-sur-Marne was closed in December after guns, munitions and jihadist documents were found in the building. Banned: All three banned groups had been he groups tied to the Lagny-sur-Marne mosque (pictured), where guns, munitions and jihadist documents were found in December last year France, which is in a state of emergency, has clamped down on individuals and places of worship - including 'organisations cultuelles' - with links to radical Islam since attacks by Islamic State militants in Paris in November that killed 130 people. 'There is no place in the Republic for structures that provoke, call for terrorism and incite hatred,' Cazeneuve said. The mosque's former president, known for radical sermons, fled to Egypt in 2014 with about ten worshippers. Authorities accuse him of playing a role in the indoctrination and recruitment of volunteers for Syria. Taking action: French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the groups had been banned because 'their leaders over the last few years had incited hatred and called for jihad' Cazeneuve also said that since the start of 2015 he had proposed that about 30 people be expelled from France for inciting hatred. Meanwhile, France's Jewish community has been debating whether it has become a safety risk to wear a kippa in public. Zvi Ammar, head of the Marseille Israelite Consistory, said Jews living in the city should remove their kippa in the wake of an attack on a teacher on Monday this week. However, the French national council representing Jews in the country slammed the suggestion, Bloomberg reports. He was buried in the State Veterans Cemetery but officials have conceded that despite being a veteran, he has no right to be buried there The remains of a Vietnam-era Army veteran are being removed from the Connecticut state veterans' cemetery because he was convicted of killing three people. State officials acknowledge that Guillermo Aillon, convicted in 1984 of killing his estranged wife and her parents in North Haven in 1972, had no right to be buried in a veterans' cemetery when he died in 2014. The state Department of Veterans' Affairs on Tuesday removed Aillon's headstone from the Middletown cemetery and said they will exhume and relocate his body. Disgraced: The body of Guillermo Aillon, (pictured here in 1972 at the age of 34) is being dug up in a Connecticut cemetary. Here, he is shown after being denied bail on charges he murdered his wifeand her parents Removed: Officials have concluded that Aillon, convicted in 1984 of killing his estranged wife and her parents in North Haven in 1972, had no right to be buried in a veterans' cemetery when he died in 2014 The New Haven Register reports that the case was brought to the attention of state officials by Kevin Dacey of East Haven, who found a federal regulation that bars internment in a veterans' cemetery if that person has been convicted of a capital crime. While doing research on the Veterans Affairs website, Dacey said he discovered this federal law: 'Internment or memorialization in a VA national cemetery or in Arlington National Cemetery is prohibited if a person is convicted of a federal or state capital crime, for which a sentence of imprisonment for life or the death penalty may be imposed and the conviction is final.' The Middletown cemetery is part of the national veterans cemetery system because it uses federal funding. Aillon's wife, Barbara, and parents, George and Bernice Montano, were stabbed to death in August 1972. The remains of Aillon, (pictured here in 1974), a Vietnam-era Army veteran, are being removed from the Connecticut state veterans' cemetery because of his conviction. State officials acknowledge that Aillon had no right to be buried in a veterans' cemetery when he died in 2014 The gravestone of Guillermo Aillon at the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown has since been removed. The state Department of Veterans' Affairs and said they will exhume and relocate his body Police apprehended him about an hour after the murders and even noticed a bloody knife in the back seat but police bought the excuse the he provided, saying he had used it to slice roast beef at a family picnic. Allion was arrested and convicted of the murders in 1973 but the convictions were overturned. A second trial in 1979 ended with a hung jury. It wasn't until a third jury convicted him in 1984 that he was sentenced to serve 75 years to life in prison. After Dacey did his research about the grave, the office of Sean Connolly, commissioner for the state Department of Veterans' Affairs, agreed to remove the headstone because of that federal law that excludes murderers from being buried in a veterans cemetery. Dacey said that as a result of his inquiries, he received a phone call from Thomas Saadi, general counsel and director of legislative affairs for the Department of Veterans' Affairs. 'He admitted they dropped the ball,' Dacey said in an email to the Register. 'He said Aillon's sister provided his honorable discharge and no check was done. He was in a nursing home run for the state Department of Correction, then died in Hartford Hospital, so no red flags were raised. He told me the marker will be removed and his grave will be unmarked.' Sean Connolly, commissioner for the state Department of Veterans' Affairs Sean Connolly released a statement saying: 'I recently learned about this case. At the time of Mr. Aillon's death, we received no indication that he was incarcerated at any point, and as his family provided the department a discharge certificate to establish his status as a veteran, there was no indication of his conviction.' A teacher who had most of her arm ripped off by a 300lbs alligator at a popular Florida tourist hot spot has returned to work. Rachael Lilienthal was attacked by the huge predator while swimming in the Wekiva River last August. The 37-year-old's right arm was torn off and she was bitten on her back and her abdomen by the nine foot long reptile. Just five months after the attack, and Lilienthal is back in the classroom as a Spanish teacher at Rollins College, central Florida. Scroll down for video Rachael Lilienthal, pictured before the ordeal, left, and after, right, was attacked by the huge predator while swimming in the Wekiva River last August Rachael Lilienthal, who had most of her arm ripped off by a 300lbs alligator at a popular Florida tourist hot spot, has returned to teaching And she refuses to let the horrific incident hold her back from her teaching passion - even if it means she has had to learn to write left -handed. 'It's not so, so scary because I've written on the board already', she told WESH.com. The teacher says that the pain is a constant reminder of the horror which left her too afraid to go back in Florida's fresh waters, or even able to look at pictures of alligators. 'It's been more than five months now, and although it's not massive pain, it is still there and it reminds me all the time that I'm not quite better yet,' she said. Lilienthal is back in the classroom as a Spanish teacher at Rollins College, central Florida But the adventurous 37-year-old (pictured before, left, and after, right, the attack) refuses to let the ordeal stop her from living her life and has since returned to work Horrific: Rachael Lilienthal's arm was torn off above her elbow and she was bitten on her back and her abdomen by the nine foot long reptile Lilienthal now plans to have a prosthetic arms fitted as she returns back to normal life. Wildlife officials say that on the day of the ordeal, the 37-year-old had left the busiest part of the river, near the Wekiva Island recreation area, for a more secluded spot when 'something grabbed her arm'. Parker said that as she swam to a remote, wooded part of the river, she felt the monster gator pull her under. The woman told rescuers that she wasn't sure how many times the 300 pound gator pulled her under, but that she felt it sever her arm. 'You just saw some blood and some bone. There wasn't anything else there,' said eyewitness, Richard Ward to the Orlando Sentinel. Jakob Frick told the paper: 'We see the jaws just chomp down on her arm, and it starts spinning around, pulls her underwater, goes back up'. 'She's just screaming... her arm was gone'. Attack: This blood-stained kayak is believed to have been involved in efforts to drag the woman to safety Swimmer: Rachael Lilienthal was swimming in the Wekiva river, near the Lake Wevika tourist spot, when she was attacked Lilienthal was saved by a canoeist who heard screams, paddled over and beat the gator away with his paddle. She was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center and underwent surgery. The teacher has since thanked the local community for their support and prayers during her recovery. FWC trappers captured the alligator the same day after setting bait traps which was immediately euthanized and disposed of. Officials confirmed it was the reptile which attacked Lilienthal after they examined the contents of its stomach. The owners of Wekiva Island declined to comment. An Australian man accused of sexually abusing Balinese children after luring them with gifts had kept a list of their names alongside the money he spent on each of them. Robert Andrew Fiddel Ellis has been taken into custody after allegedly molesting four girls - all aged over 10-years-old - over the past four years, enticing them with shoes, toys, clothes and cash. Bali police say they suspect a further four children were sexually abused by the 70-year-old man, and there may be more victims. Robert Andrew Fiddel Ellis (pictured) has been accused of molesting four girls - all aged over 10-years-old Bali Provincial Police Spokesman Hery Wiyanto said statements will be taken from the further four children, bringing the number of suspected victims so far to eight. 'These victims are not school children, but children who are working in the market,' he said. 'When he met them, he asked the victims to come with him and promised them something.' The suspect has been given a health check and police are coordinating with the Australian consulate to find him a lawyer and translator before questioning him. The 70-year-old is being escorted by Bali police at police headquarters in Denpasar on Tuesday The Australian man's arrest followed a tip-off by a foundation for Bali street kids, called Lentara Anak Bali. Founder Luh Putu Anggraeni said they became suspicious about his frequent visits in 2011. The foundation fears there are 'many more' victims because found in the man's possession was a list of names, alongside the money he had spent on each child, 'as if he was proud'. 'These children have rights but now, they become the targets of sexual predators,' she said. 'We don't want Bali children to be victims of paedophiles, this is the time for the judges to use the highest punishment. 'We want our children to be strong, not exploited because of poverty.' The man faces abuse charges carrying a maximum 15 years' jail. Indonesian police arrested the elderly man for allegedly molesting four children in Bali over a four-year period It comes after the accused was arrested from his rental property on Monday. 'The victims then were given things like clothes, sandals and money of Rp 200,000 ($20),' Mr Wiyanto said. According to News Corp, Ellis allegedly took the victims - who are reportedly street children - back to his home where he allegedly molested them. The children have told police they were taken to a house in Denpasar and molested in a bath. Police said they have statements from the girls and physical evidence sufficient to charge the man, whom they referred to by his initials. Police say they have statements from the girls and physical evidence sufficient to charge the man Ellis allegedly took the victims - who are reportedly street children - back to his home where he allegedly molested them Ellis is accused of abusing four girls after luring them with clothes and cash over the past four years in Bali 'The number of victims could be more because during the search in the suspect's house, we found names of people whom we haven't found out whether they're victims or not,' Mr Hery said. 'If there are people whose children were victims, please report.' Advertisement This jaw-dropping gallery of pictures capture a year in the life of the US Air Force - including an emotional homecoming, jets preparing for war and paratroopers leaping out of planes. Stunning pictures taken throughout 2015 show US servicemen and women going about their work around the world from gruelling training drills on the ground to dramatic aerial manoeuvres in the skies. In one image, a C-130 Hercules pilot is pictured hugging his daughters during a homecoming ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky after a deployment to the Persian Gulf. Another shows dozens of US Army and British paratroopers performing a static line jump at Fort Bragg North Carolina having jumped from several C-130J Super Hercules planes. Others capture a row of 12 KC-135 Stratotankers on a runway on Kadena Air Base in Japan and special tactics airmen jumping out of an MC-130H Combat Talon II at Hurlburt Field, Florida in January last year. Captain Ross Farling, a C-130 Hercules pilot from the 123rd Airlift Wing, hugs his daughters during a homecoming ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky on July 4, 2015. Farling was among 39 guardsmen who returned from a deployment to the Persian Gulf region, where they supported Operation Freedom's Sentinel. The picture was taken by Major Dale Greer Twelve KC-135 Stratotankers from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron taxi onto the runway during exercise Forceful Tiger on Kadena Air Base, Japan, April 1, 2015. During the aerial exercise, the Stratotankers delivered 800,000 pounds of fuel to approximately 50 aircraft Several C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, help U.S. Army and British paratroopers perform a static line jump at Holland Drop Zone in preparation for Combined Joint Operational Access Exercise 15-01 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in April. This was the largest exercise of its kind held at Fort Bragg in nearly 20 years Special tactics Airmen from the 24th Special Operations Wing jump out of an MC-130H Combat Talon II at Hurlburt Field, Florida on January 7, 2015. The Airmen were from various special tactics career fields, including special operations weathermen, combat controllers, pararescuemen and tactical air control parties. The image was captured by Sen. Airman C. Callaway This Air Force launch took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on May 20, 2015. The Atlas V rocket carried an Orbital Test Vehicle into low Earth orbit U.S. and Bulgarian paratroopers leap from a C-130J Super Hercules during a 'halo jump' over Plovdiv in Bulgaria on July 14, 2015. During the three-hour formation flight, which consisted of two U.S. Air Force C-130Js and one Bulgarian air force C-27, more than 50 paratroopers exited the aircraft and landed near Plovdiv Airport. The picture was taken by Sen. Airman Nicole Sikorski An F-22 pilot from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, climbs into his aircraft before take off at Amari Air Base, Estonia on September 4, 2015. The F-22s have previously deployed to both the Pacific and Southwest Asia for airmen to train in a realistic environment while testing partner nations' ability to host advanced aircraft. The picture was taken by Tech. Sgt. Ryan Crane Retired Staff Sgt. Daniel Crane participates in the 100-meter sprint during the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia on June 23, 2015. The Warrior Games featured athletes who compete in Paralympic-style events for their respective military branches. The picture was taken by Ln. Cl. Terry W. Miller Jr The U.S. Air Force Academy's Class of 2015 toss their hats in celebration as the Thunderbirds roar over Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 28, 2015. Over 800 cadets graduated and became second lieutenants. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James addressed the graduates during the ceremony. This image was captured by Liz Copan Looking up: A Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon flies a training mission over Tucson, Arizona. The image was captured by Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen U.S. Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force aircraft fly in formation during exercise Cope North 15 on February 17, 2015, off the coast of Guam. The image was captured by Tech. Sgt. Jason Robertson Two F-15E Strike Eagles wait to receive fuel from a KC-135R Stratotanker January 23, 2015, on their way to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in support of Red Flag 15-1. The exercise, featuring aircraft from 21 Air Force squadrons, offers realistic combat training involving the air, space and cyber forces of the U.S. and its allies. The F-15s are assigned to the 4th Fighter Wing and the KC-135R is assigned to the 916th Air Refueling Wing Taking to the skies: Members of the 437th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, fly in formation on May 21, 2015 Tech. Sgt. Matthew Bingaman, an explosive ordnance disposal technician, returns from a training routine on June 25, 2015, in Southwest Asia. Even as a 16-year EOD veteran, Bingaman continually trains to safely handle live explosives Staff Sgt. Joseph Pico, a security forces Airman with the 106th Rescue Wing, conducts night-firing training at the Suffolk County Police Range in Westhampton Beach, New York on May 7, 2015 Staff Sgt. Trevor Alexis, a fire protection NCO in charge of training, waits to take part in a training routine on August 4, 2015, at Yokota Air Base in Japan. The exercise features, a near-simultaneous ignition of many objects in a confined room, creating a dangerous situation where both heat and smoke continue to increase until combustion Members of the 354th Fighter Wing inspection team walk toward first responders on January 26, 2015, during a major accident response exercise at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska Ruling the skies: Jets flown by Major Jason Curtis and Captain Nicholas Eberling fly back from Minden, Nevada on August 25, 2015 Students of the 364th Training Squadron's electrical systems course practice climbing power poles as part of an exercise on February 3, 2015, at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas Senior Airman James Vrtis climbs down a radio tower on Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada on October 6, 2015. Airfield systems specialists occasionally inspect towers, which are up to 180ft high Airman 1st Class Jacob Wilson, a member of the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard, rests with his M1 Garand with a fixed bayonet during honor guard drill team training on January 13, 2015, at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Maryland. While practicing drill movements, trainees risk getting cut with the 11-inch bayonet Researchers use this Sodium Guidestar laser for real-time, high-fidelity tracking and imaging of satellites too faint for conventional adaptive optical imaging systems A billboard for a dating website solely for white people has been pulled from a roadside in Utah after a storm of complaints. The ad for the controversial site Where White People Meet first appeared in West Valley City on New Year's Day. On Tuesday, after a national backlash, the billboard company Compass Billboards has decided to remove it - and will not let the site renew its contract with them. However, a spokesman for Where White People Meet tweeted that the site is determined to find another spot for the billboard. 'It was NOT our decision to pull the billboard What a shame,' the tweet read on Tuesday. Scroll down for video The billboard in West Valley City, Utah, for the controversial dating website that targets only white people Where White People Meet tweeted that the site is determined to find another spot for the billboard Compass Billboards could not be immediately reached to confirm the number of complaints. Sam Russell, who founded the site in December, said he was not told how many complaints were made. He told the Salt Lake Tribune he had taken out a week-to-week contract for the spot. 'They exercised their right to pull that down,' he said. The website, which has a $4 joining fee, also drew criticism as it defaults to heterosexual pairings when browsing. This is despite the founders' claims to believe 'all people, regardless of race, creed, color or religion deserve to be happy'. The advert - which shows a grinning white man with his arms wrapped around an equally smiley white female - has been criticised for its exclusionary views. Kayla Lemmon told Fox 13 News she is opposed to the idea of dating sites targeting a single race. She said: 'I have a lot of friends who are biracial couples and they're in love and they're happy. 'I don't think we should have a dating site with only one race. I think it excludes someone who could be your soul mate and is a different color than you.' Michelle Dessau added: 'I just feel we should be past that whole mindset of staying within our own race and segregation pretty much.' NAACP Salt Lake branch President Jeanetta Williams admitted she found the billboard 'odd'. She told the Salt Lake Tribune: 'I just thought it was kind of strange they would put it in Utah. A large population here is white. So you're going to put up billboards here so you can meet other white singles? Every day you can meet white singles. 'If it were some type of a hate group that was putting these billboards up, we would take a closer look at the actual target. But here we're seeing other advertisements for [dating services for] black singles, for LDS singles.' The website homepage has a picture of a white man and woman linking arms and grinning for the camera On their website, the unidentified founder writes: 'People ask all the time "Why White People Meet"? I always say, "why not?" Just about every other race, religion and walk of life have dating websites. 'Our intentions in creating this dating website were never meant to be racist or biased in any way. In fact, my personal views are those of tolerance, love, acceptance and understanding.' 'We want our dating forum to be simple and inexpensive with the ability to connect like minded people in a non discriminatory fashion. 'We believe that finding your perfect partner, your soul mate is one of the best ways, as humans, to obtain happiness. Furthermore we believe that all men are created equal (the word men stands for a species, not gender). 'We believe that all people, regardless of race, creed, color or religion deserve to be happy and that no one should go through life alone.' Two Waffle House employees have been fired after a shocking video emerged showing the workers styling hair in the eatery's kitchen, causing pieces of hair to be left behind in customer's meals. Antonio Robinson said that his friend found hair in his food when they dined last week at a Waffle House in Forrest City, Arkansas, WREG reported. 'He was just coughing. Cough. Cough. Making noises like that,' Robinson told WREG. 'I looked up at him [and] he went to pulling out strings of hair out his mouth.' Robinson said they then watched two employees 'doing hair' in the restaurant's kitchen. Scroll down for video Weaves and Waffles: Two Waffle House employees in Arkansas have been fired after a customer filmed the pair (above) 'doing hair' in the restaurant's kitchen last week The shocking video shows one employee dipping her hair into a pot of boiling hot water on the stove before another employee helps to dry it with a towel Customer Antonio Robinson filmed the incident on his cellphone and said: 'I see people do that in their houses and things like that but for a restaurant, I don't know' 'She dipped her hair down in the pot and when it came back up she was drying it off with one of the towels,' Robinson told WREG. 'I see people do that in their houses and things like that but for a restaurant, I don't know.' In shock at what he was seeing, Robinson decided to record the incident on his cellphone. The restaurant's manager said the employees in the video were immediately fired after the incident. 'That's not acceptable. That's why we terminated them,' the manager told WREG. 'I was embarrassed. But it's all taken care of now. That's all I can say.' Robinson said that his friend found hair in his food when they dined last week at the Waffle House. Robinson said his friend was coughing before 'he went to pulling out strings of hair out his mouth' A full investigation into the video has been launched by St Francis County health inspectors. Any time hair is found in the kitchen of a restaurant it is a health violation, a local inspector told WREG. Waffle House, based in Norcross, Georgia, said in a statement that the restaurant has since passed a state health department inspection. 'We do not tolerate these behaviors and strive to provide a clean, safe environment for all our customers,' a Waffle House spokesperson told WREG. The restaurant's manager (above) said the employees in the video were immediately fired after the incident Frances Cappuccini died after giving birth to her second son. The hospital involved and an anaesthetist are now on trial for manslaughter A healthy young primary school teacher lay dying for almost an hour-and-a-half after two underqualified NHS doctors failed to care for her properly after she had given birth, a court heard yesterday. Frances Cappuccini, 30, suffered heavy bleeding and needed an emergency operation after her son was born by Caesarean section at Tunbridge Wells hospital in Kent. But the young mother never woke up from her anaesthetic after the two doctors failed in their elementary task of ensuring she was breathing properly, it was alleged. Instead of fitting a breathing tube, Dr Errol Cornish originally from South Africa and Dr Nadeem Azeez, who received his basic medical qualifications at Punjab University in Lahore, simply propped her up with cushions, checked her temperature and used a handheld face mask, Inner London Crown Court head. It meant the mother-of-two was left struggling to breathe for 80 minutes before a tube was correctly inserted into her throat. By then, the damage was done and she suffered a major cardiac arrest, the jury was told. Her son survived. Prosecutor John Price QC said the death of Mrs Cappuccini, affectionately known as Mrs Coffee by her pupils, was both wholly unexpected and wholly avoidable. Dr Cornish, 68, a consultant anaesthetist, is standing trial accused of unlawfully killing the mother-of-two by gross negligence. The other doctor, anaesthetist Dr Azeez, 52 who was primarily responsible for Mrs Cappuccinis care after her surgery has fled the country and is believed to be in Pakistan. The court heard that Dr Azeez would have been facing the same charge as Dr Cornish if he had still been in the country. The court heard Ms Cappuccini went into hospital a healthy woman and died due to the negligence of staff Ms Cappuccini left her husband Tom with her two children Giacomo and Luca after her tragic death The case is a landmark trial as Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust, which employed the pair is also in court accused of corporate manslaughter on the grounds that they allegedly failed to properly check the two doctors qualifications. It is the first time an NHS trust has been charged with the offence since its introduction in 2008. The jury heard that on the morning of October 9, 2012, Mrs Cappuccini was taken into theatre after she began bleeding heavily following the birth of her second son Giacomo by Caesarean section. She was then anaesthetised, and the surgery to remove residual placenta from her womb which was found to have been causing the bleed and should have been removed at the birth was a success. But the mother from West Malling, Kent, suffered major cardiac arrest just three hours after being put into recovery and died later that day at 4.20pm. Prosecuting, Mr Price said the doctors who were responsible for her following the operation had both seriously failed the young mother. He told the jury that if the doctors are found to be grossly negligent, then the court could find that the NHS Trust may have employed someone they knew or should have known was not qualified for the role. Mr Price told the court that the two men did not even hold the basic qualifications to do their jobs. Dr Azeez had apparently never obtained any postgraduate qualification in anaesthesia. Mr Price said that one of the Trusts appraisals had found that Mr Azeez was unmotivated with poor attendance. At one appraisal in 2010 he was noted to have minimal training in dealing with seriously ill patients, which meant he lacked both confidence and skills in dealing with cases. The jury also heard that Dr Cornish was first appointed as a locum or temporary anaesthetist consultant at the hospital through an agency in 2009, and later returned in 2012. However Mr Price insisted he had never gained a postgraduate qualification in anaesthesia recognised in the UK, and had never met the criteria for substantive appointment as a consultant anaesthetist. Errol Cornish (left) has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Dr Nadeem Azeez (right) has fled Britain He went on to claim that the Trust had failed to make appropriate efforts to recruit a qualified consultant anaesthetist and had failed to ensure that Dr Azeez was properly supervised. Mr Price added: The prosecution case is that went wrong to cause the death were very serious failings in the adequacy of the care and treatment she received from two anaesthetists during that period. On her arrival she had been a healthy young woman. Her death was wholly unexpected. More than that, it was wholly avoidable, and it was clear from a very early stage that something had to have gone very badly wrong. Mrs Cappuccini, who taught at Offham Primary School for nine years before her death, left behind her husband Tom and their two sons Giacomo, now two, and Luca, who is five. The Government is currently negotiating with Pakistani authorities in a bid to get Dr Azeez sent back to the UK so he can formally be charged for manslaughter by gross negligence. Dr Cornish, of Holmbury Park in Bromley, South East London, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence. Hillary Clinton backed up her daughter's claim that Bernie Sanders wants to 'dismantle Obamacare,' saying on Good Morning America, 'That's exactly what he's proposed.' She said on 'Today' that Sanders has voted in the Senate to 'take everybody's health care and roll it up in a big bundle and hand it to the states.' She also went after Sanders on firearms and charged that he's a 'reliable vote for the gun lobby.' His campaign responded with a video of Clinton bashing Barack Obama in 2008 for distorting her position on universal health care. Sanders then went on MSNBC and called her attacks on his gun record 'mean-spirited.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Hillary Clinton backed up her daughter's claim that Bernie Sanders wants to 'dismantle Obamacare,' saying on Good Morning America, 'That's exactly what he's proposed' Dispatched to by the campaign to New Hampshire on Tuesday, Chelsea followed in her mother's footsteps and said not only does Sanders want to 'dismantle' the health care reform law, he'll take apart Medicare, private insurance and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, CHIP, a program that came to being during her father Bill's presidency 'I know what she was saying because if you look at Senator Sanders' proposals going back nine times in the Congress that's exactly what he's proposed,' Clinton said, to 'take everything we currently know as healthcare....and roll it together' Dispatched to by the campaign to New Hampshire on Tuesday, Chelsea followed in her mother's footsteps and said not only does Sanders want to 'dismantle' the health care reform law, he'll take apart Medicare, private insurance and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, CHIP, a program that came to being during her father Bill's presidency. 'I worry if we give Republicans Democratic permission to do that, we'll go back to an era, before we had the Affordable Care Act, that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance,' she proclaimed. The Sanders campaign rebuffed her and said she was 'wrong.' 'A Medicare-for-all plan will save the average middle-class family $5,000 a year,' it said in a statement. 'Further, the Clinton campaign is wrong. Our plan will be implemented in every state in the Union regardless of who is governor.' Former Obama White House official David Axelrod similarly dinged Chelsea Clinton for the claim. 'It wasnt an honest attack,' he said on CNN. Chelsea Clinton was echoing her mother, who on Monday said that implementing Sanders' plan would mean 'ripping up Obamacare and starting over.' 'If that's the kind of revolution he's talking about, I am worried, folks,' she said. 'I think that would be a big problem.' This morning Hillary Clinton rushed to her daughter's defense on GMA. 'I know what she was saying because if you look at Senator Sanders' proposals going back nine times in the Congress that's exactly what he's proposed,' she said, to 'take everything we currently know as healthcare....and roll it together.' Sanders wants a single-payer, nationalized system, a pillar of his presidential campaign. 'OK, so now tell the American people how much that's going to cost them, because every analysis that I'm aware of shows its going to cost middle class and working families,' Clinton said. Yesterday, at a rally in Ames, Iowa, Clinton said, 'There is no way that can be paid for without raising taxes on the middle class. The arithmetic just doesn't add up.' 'I don't think that is the right way to go.'' Sanders told CNN earlier this month that he'd release details on his Medicare-for-all plan, which the Clinton campaign says will cost $15 trillion, before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. He's yet to make good on the promise, and CNN reported today that Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, now says they may not release it on time after all. 'I don't have a date for that,' he said earlier this week, a statement the network says he reiterated today. 'Not necessarily before the caucuses.' Sanders tweeted out this photo Clinton sent in him 1993 after her morning show appearances. It says, 'To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real health care access for all Americans and best wishes - Hillary Rodham Clinton' The former first lady called Obamacare an 'historic achievement' this morning and noted that health care reform is an issue that she's been working on for years. In 1993 she was so instrumental to her husband's failed push for a universal system it was dubbed 'Hillarycare.' 'Now he wants to start all over again, she said of Sanders. Clinton posited, 'I have said what I will do to improve the Affordable Care Act.' She said on 'Today', 'I think we're in that stage of a campaign where we've each been introducing ourselves, we've been talking about our particular views on issues, and now it's time to draw some contrasts.' 'Now look, the contrast on substantive issues between me and Sen. Sanders pales in comparison between us and Republicans, but there are substantive differences. I think it's only fair that the voters know what the differences are.' Chief among them, she explained, is their positions on gun safety. She called Sanders a 'reliable vote for the gun lobby' and said she has been 'standing against them' for decades. Sanders fought back on MSNBC later in the day. 'To say that I am kind of a supporter of the NRA is really a mean-spirited and unfair and inaccurate statement,' he said. 'I have a D-minus, D-minus voting record from the NRA.' He then took the Clintons to task over their claims that he'll tear up Obamacare. 'That is factually incorrect, and I hope the Clinton campaign stops saying that,' Sanders declared, according to Politico. The Sanders campaign had previously responded to Clinton's morning show appearances with a video of her ripping into Barack Obama in 2008 for mailers he sent out that she said falsely presented her health care plan. 'Since when do Democrats attack one another on universal health care?' Clinton said at a February 2008 event in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'Just because sen Obama chose not to present a universal health care plan does not give him the right to attack me because I did.' Clinton accused the then-Illinois Senator of 'using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's play book' - a slam on the GOP operative who served as a senior-level official in George W. Bush's administration. 'This is wrong, and every Democrat should be outraged because this is the kind of attack that not only undermines core Democratic values but gives aid and comfort to the very special interests and their allies in the Republican Party who are against doing what we want to do for America,' she said. 'So shame on you, Barack Obama!' Clinton shouted. Sanders' campaign branded Clinton as a hypocrite in a statement accompanying the video and said, 'in another flip-flop, shes doing exactly what she once decried.' The Sanders campaign again noted that the former secretary of state has anted up since the calendar turned to 2016. The Vermont senator said yesterday the shift reflects Clinton's nervousness about her poll numbers. She's losing to him in New Hampshire and her support is wearing thin in Iowa - two states that will cast their ballots in the next month. On GMA Clinton laughed off Sanders' assertion and said, 'I have a different rhythm of how a campaign goes. And maybe its based on my experience compared to his.' She acknowledged that she's taken a sharper tone toward him but said it's because 'we're in the sprint.' She also claimed she does not 'pay attention to the polls' and said she feels 'very good' about her strategy to win the early states. Clinton could very well lose New Hampshire and Iowa, which holds its caucus on Feb. 1. Her 2008 loss in Iowa to Barack Obama, an upset, foreshadowed the demise of her campaign. 'I want to win' Iowa, she told Stephanopoulos this morning, 'but I have a very long view about this.' Clinton also revealed on Good Morning America that she has indeed purchased a Powerball ticket and she knows just what she'll do with the money if she wins the jackpot. 'I'll fund my campaign!' the former government official, who is already a millionaire in her own right, told Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos with a laugh. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley confirmed Wednesday morning she was referring to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump in decrying 'angry voices' in her GOP response to President Obama's 'State of the Union' speech Tuesday night. 'He was one of them, yes. He was one,' Haley told Matt Lauer on NBC's 'Today.' show. 'There's other people in the media, there's people in my state. I think we're seeing it across the country. But yes, Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.' Scroll down for videos South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Tuesday night used her response to President Obama's State of the Union address to caution Republican voters against persuasion by the 'angriest voices' in the party - a reference she acknowledged Wednesday was about GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump 'It can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation,' Haley said Tuesday night On Tuesday night, in her rebuttal remarks to Obama's address, Haley said in 'anxious times' such as the present day, 'it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.' 'We must resist that temptation,' she said. Trump punched back at Haley this morning during a phone interview on Fox and Friends. She's very weak on illegal immigration, he charged. The billionaire further said Haley, a two-term governor, has had no trouble asking me for campaign contributions over the years. Haley, he said, has asked him for a hell of a lot of money in the past. Perhaps if I werent running she'd be in my office asking me for money. But now that I'm running, she wants to take a weak shot on illegal immigration. Trump said his criticisms did not extend to the incredible people of South Carolina, where the Republican said has a massive lead in the polls. I love her state. I'm there a lot, he said. Up an average of 11 points above his competitors there, Trumps the favorite to win the Palmetto State, along with the overall GOP nomination. Trump's penchant for offending large swaths of the American electorate have put GOP party leaders in a bind, as the New York billionaire and reality TV star continues to dominate the presidential primary race in poll after poll despite continually creating controversy. Wary of a dampening effect on down-ticket races - which could cost the party control of Congress - party elders are scrambling to blunt his shoot-from-the-hip remarks which have at times offended Mexicans, Muslims, U.S. veterans, Jews and others. Haley's speech was widely hailed by Trump's rivals, with two opponents - Floridians Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush - singling her out for praise. Trump's bluster on the campaign trail has energized supporters, but worried GOP party leaders Trump spoke to Fox News Wednesday to give his take on Obama's address and Haley's response As usual, Trump didn't hold back in his thoughts on President Obama's last State of the Union address Tuesday night Haley also told Lauer in Wednesday morning's interview that she 'really hadn't thought about' speculation surrounding her as a potential vice presidential nominee this year. 'I know that people in the media don't believe that, but I was given an opportunity to say what I think, and I appreciate that from Speaker [Paul] Ryan and Senator [Mitch] McConnell,' she said. When pressed, Haley said, 'if a candidate wanted to sit down and talk, I would sit down and talk.' 'I think that that's a big decision, it's a family decision, it's a state decision, it's something I'd have to think about. But absolutely I would sit down with anyone that wanted to talk.' Trump came close to dismissing the idea of picking Haley as his running mate out of hand. 'Well considering Im leading in the polls by a lot, I wouldnt say shes off to a good start based on what she has just said,' Trump said. 'So, you know, let's see what happens.' Civil servants in Brazil say they have discovered the world's oldest person a 131-year-old father-of-three living with a wife 69 years his junior. The Guinness Book of Records recognises 112-year-old Yasutaro Koide from Japan as the oldest person alive. And Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 in 1997, holds the record for the world's longest living person. But social security workers in Acre in north Brazil today caused a stir by publishing photographs of Joao Coelho de Souza alongside a birth certificate dated March 10, 1884. Record breaker? Social security worker Alexandre Santana Inss poses with Brazilian grandfather Joao Coelho de Souza who, it is claimed, is the world's oldest person at a reported age of 131 Genuine? Social workers in Acre, north Brazil, caused a stir after publishing photographs of Joao Coelho de Souza alongside a birth certificate dated March 10, 1884 (above) The document showed he was born in the city of Meruoca in Ceara nearly 2,000 miles to the east of Acre. A colleague of a civil servant who made a routine visit to confirm he was still alive, and therefore eligible for his pension, posted the information on his Facebook. He called on the state government to confirm the find and register Joao for the Guinness Book of Records. Brazilian papers today said he lived with a wife aged 62 and a granddaughter aged 16 in a village called Estirao do Alcantara, a 30-minute boat ride from Sena Madureira, a municipality in the centre of the state of Acre. His daughter Cirlene Souza, aged only 30, which would mean if his age was right that Joao was 101 when she was born, told one paper: 'He has days when he is lucid but others when he doesn't even recognise his children. 'He was very small when he came to work in Acre extracting rubber. 'He has been with my mum for more than 40 years and depends on others for everything.' Good innings: Brazilian papers said he lived with a wife aged 62 and a granddaughter aged 16 in a village called Estirao do Alcantara. He also has a daughter aged 30 Mr de Souza's social security documents. A colleague of a civil servant who made a routine visit to confirm he was still alive, and therefore eligible for his pension, posted the information on his Facebook Responding to doubts about her father's age, she added: 'You hear everything: People that criticise and say it's a lie and others that admire the fact someone can live so long. 'It sometimes offends me because everything is documented and the documents have already been examined by experts to see if they'd been falsified and nothing abnormal was found.' Cirlene said Joao suffered a stroke six years ago, but continued to eat three times a day. His favourite dishes are rice, fish and meat and the only thing he turns his nose up at is a local bean-based dish called feijao. Kennedy Afonso, the social security worker who posted photos of Joao and his birth certificate taken by a colleague on his Facebook on January 11, said: 'I've asked one of his children if anyone's interviewed him and to my astonishment no-one has yet. 'The question "Where Are Our Historians?" immediately springs to mind. 'According to a son, he is still quite lucid and has a great story to tell. 'I present to you Jose Coelho de Souza, who came to Acre when he was 11. 'I appeal to the state government and the local government in Sena Madureira to determine with the competent bodies whether this is true so they can claim a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the oldest man on the earth. 'And he's from our region.' Nick Clegg, pictured this week launching an inequality commission, has declared a payment of 22,500 for a two and a half hour appearance with Goldman Sachs Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg was paid 22,500 by bankers Goldman Sachs for a two and a half hour key note speech and Q&A, it emerged today. The ex-Liberal Democrat leader revealed the income - which equates to 150 a minute for his 150 minutes of work - on his House of Commons declaration of interests. The event took place on November 9 when the Commons was considering Scottish devolution legislation. It is the second huge windfall for Mr Clegg in recent months as he was paid 22,000 for a speech by Pepsi last summer. Mr Clegg has not spoken in the House of Commons since asking a question of Theresa May in November. His previous appearance before that was in a debate on investigatory powers in June. He spoke in the Commons chamber to pay tribute to Charles Kennedy on June 3. Mr Clegg also made contributions to the Queen's Speech debate in May shortly after the general election. Mr Clegg has only voted 15 per cent of the time since the general election, in 25 votes out of 159 called. Mr Clegg earns 67,060 as a backbench member of Parliament. Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said the payment was the 'height of hypocrisy'. He told MailOnline: 'He criticised the bankers for their greedy behaviour before taking their gold. 'No wonder the electorate has lost confidence in the Liberal Democrats - people must ask themselves what the Lib Dems believe in.' Labour MP John Mann said: 'As Nick Clegg can hardly be bothered to turn up in Parliament, it would be appropriate if he paid this money back to the taxpayer. 'Spending time earning money from bankers instead of representing his constituents is, in my view - and I'm sure his voters view - immoral.' A spokesman for Mr Clegg said: 'Nick Clegg is regularly invited to speak to business audiences about Britain's place in Europe, given his knowledge and expertise, and openly declares when he has been paid for doing so.' Mr Clegg spent much of his first period in government enthusiastically bashing bankers. He used his first party conference speech as deputy prime minister to extol the virtues of the bankers bonus tax raising 10 billion, insisting this would ensure 'reckless bonuses for short term gain will have ended'. In 2011, he said he would like to 'wring the necks' of bankers who behaved 'irresponsibly' during the financial crisis. He told BBC Radio Sheffield, he said: 'I am like anybody else: you want to wring the neck of these wretched people who behaved so irresponsibly and then we are now having to bail them out.' Mr Clegg revealed the payment in his declaration of interest, a document hosted on the Parliament website he is obliged to update regularly Shortly before taking office in 2010, Mr Clegg attacked Goldman Sachs directly amid allegations the bank had defrauded investors. He said Goldman Sachs should be suspended from its role advising government, adding the allegations were a reminder of the 'recklessness and greed' that had 'disfigured' the banking industry. The event was arranged for Mr Clegg via News Presenters Ltd, which represents public speakers. Mr Clegg, pictured in black tie speaking to the Oxford Union last year, also earned 22,000 for a speech to Pepsi in 2015 A profile for Mr Clegg reads: 'Throughout his time in office, he made himself more available to public scrutiny than any other senior British politician, most notably through his weekly radio call-in show on LBC, 'Call Clegg', which was widely viewed as an important broadcast innovation. 'He remains an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and centre ground politics, of radical measures to boost social mobility, and of an internationalist approach to world affairs.' It adds: 'Nick Clegg is fluent in five European languages and studied at Cambridge and Minnesota Universities and the College of Europe in Bruges.' Mr Clegg hit the headlines this week with a call to end 'postcode inequality' in Britain. He said: 'It is clear that Britain is a starkly unequal country. It is an indictment of our society that a child born today stands less chance of realising their potential if they are born in a different part of our country to another child.' He has launched a 'commission' tasked with tackling inequality and called for politicians to set their differences aside. He said yesterday: 'We are in a particularly volatile period in British politics right now - perhaps the most turbulent and unpredictable since I was at school myself in the 1970s,' he will say. 'In these circumstances it is both easy and tempting for parties to retreat to their comfort zones and indulge themselves in tribalism. It is a temptation that we must resist. His wife called police and showed them her bruising, leading to domestic violence charges being filed against her husband His wife spilled milk during the argument, so he allegedly slammed her to the floor and used her head as a mop to clean the liquid He became angry with his wife when he realized they did not have jelly and began to argue with her Davidson of Fruitland Park, Florida woke up to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Sunday No chill: Keith Davidson attacked his wife over jelly A Florida man was arrested on domestic violence charges Sunday night following an incident with his wife. Keith Davidson of Fruitland Park, Florida woke up to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and reportedly became enraged when he discovered there was no jelly in the house. He then began to argue with his wife, and after the woman spilled some milk during the fight he allegedly slammed her to the ground and began to use her head and hair to clean up the liquid. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the woman then called police, who arrested Davidson after she showed them the bruising on her body. Police described the bruising as 'significant.' Davidson is currently being held at the Lake County Jail on battery charges. Fruitland Park was in the news just a few months ago when it was revealed that one of the town's former deputy chiefs, David Borst, had been hired to work in food services at an elementary school. He received the job just one year after he was forced to resign from the police force when an FBI investigation identified him as part of the Ku Klux Klan Borst's resignation along with the firing of officer George Hunnewell made national headlines in July of 2014. The men allegedly joined the organization in 2009 after being recruited by James Elkins, a fellow officer on the force. Elkins - who resigned from the police force in 2009 - eventually became an informant for the FBI, and revealed to them that Borst and Hunnewell were members of the KKK. Borst repeatedly denied he was ever part of the group, while Hunnewell claimed at the time that he and his wife had been working undercover to infiltrate the organization. Berry will be formally sentenced in February and faces 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 leave since June when he was caught on CCTV footage beating up his K-9 partner Boone The 48-year-old officer has been on A Minnesota police officer who was caught beating up his K-9 partner on security footage has pleadeded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty. Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputy Brett Berry, 48, has been on administrative leave since the June 15 incident. His dog Boone was uninjured in the attack and has been reassigned to another police partner. In court on Tuesday, Berry said he was blackout drunk when he hit Boone several times and then dragged the dog through a casino parking lot where he and other officers were staying for K-9 certification trials. Scroll down for video Head down: Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputy Brett Berry, 48, pleaded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty in court on Tuesday Consequences: Berry pictured leaving court with his defense attorney on Tuesday. He will be formally sentenced in February When he was asked if he had excuse for why he hit his dog in court on Tuesday, Berry replied simply 'no'. He also said it wasn't until he watched the video that he realized what he had done, having blacked the night out. Berry was originally charged with both animal cruelty and assaulting a public safety dog after the attack this summer. By agreeing to plead guilty to the charge of animal cruelty this week, prosecutors dropped the second charge of assault. Berry will be formally sentenced a judge, who may choose not to accept the bargain, on February 17. He faces the possibility of 90 days in jail and a fee of up to $1,000. Berry will remain on the Ramsey County Sheriff's force, but will be reassigned and given a new - lower paying - role. Terrible: The officer was at Black Bear Casino in Carlton, Minnesota, for a training event when he was seen picking the helpless animal up by his neck before throwing him to the ground Endless: At one point surveillance footage caught him apparently stamping on the helpless animal Swipe: Berry also seems to try and hit the dog with part of the leash, but misses Relentless: As the helpless animal scampered back inside, the 48-year old seems to hit the canine unit after it got stuck in sliding doors 'If striking a dog while you are drunk, which is not OK, is the worst thing that any human being does in their lifetime, then you've led a pretty good life,' Short said outside of court on Tuesday. 'I would challenge all the people who want to vilify him into being worse than a first-degree murderer to stand up and tell me that they have never done anything in their lifetime that egregious.' About a half-dozen animal activists were in court for the proceedings on Tuesday, and spoke with reporters after the hearing to express their satisfaction with the plea bargain. 'We got a little more justice in this one, it seems,' Jan Stern told KARE. 'I understand that he knows that he did wrong. And if he was that intoxicated, maybe its time he receive treatment.' In the video of the incident, a man can be seen picking up the helpless animal by his neck before throwing him to the ground. Then, as the helpless animal scampered back inside, Berry seems to hit the canine unit called Boone after it got stuck in sliding doors. Police were called to Black Bear Casino in Carlton, Minnesota at 3:00am on June 15 following reports of animal cruelty caught on video by the officer. The 15-year-old veteran of the department had been asked to leave the casino's Cobalt Lounge earlier in the night by deputies due to staff complaints, ABC 5 reported. When car manufacturers speak of the self-driving cars of the future, this is hardly what they mean. A driverless car had to be brought to a halt by police using spike strips after it spun uncontrollably for several minutes on a busy residential street in Moreno Valley, California on Tuesday. Moreno Valley resident Tommy Anderson caught the bizarre incident on tape. A car was caught on tape spinning out of control on a busy residential street in Moreno Valley, California Moreno Valley resident Tommy Anderson was driving down Frederick Street when he saw the Honda Accord spinning around The car was spinning in reverse and its driver's seat was empty, Tommy Anderson said. Police arrived on the scene to assist Moreno Valley police officers get out of their squad car to try to stop a driverless car from spinning around on a residential street Tommy Anderson said he was worried about the responding officers as he watched them get close to the spinning car Anderson told CBS Los Angeles he came onto Frederick Street and saw a man lying on top of a Honda Accord spinning in reverse, trying desperately to stop it. By the time Anderson got his phone out to record a video of the scene, the man had gotten off the car, which was still busy doing doughnuts on the asphalt with an empty driver's seat. 'To turn the corner and see a guy just hanging on belly first on the roof and spinning around, I didn't know what to think. It was unreal,' Anderson said. CBS reported that Moreno Valley police had to use tire shredders to bring the unruly vehicle to a stop. The station reported that the entire street had to be closed off during the ordeal. According to CBS, the car's owner told police he believed the wild ride was the result of a mechanical error. As he watched police operate, Anderson's thoughts went out to the responding officers. 'I was actually pretty worried about the officers. They were getting pretty close to the car and, who knows, it's a driverless car, you never know which direction that thing may go,' Anderson said. Moreno Valley police officers eventually had to resort to spike strips to puncture the car's tires in order to bring it to a halt Tommy Anderson, who caught the spinning car on video as he drove by, said watching the incident felt 'unreal.' A California attorney has filed a federal lawsuit demanding the phrase 'In God We Trust' be removed from U.S. bills and coins. Michael Newdow has already unsuccessfully tried to sue the government twice saying the phrase 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance should be scraped. He filed the new lawsuit in Ohio on Monday saying the motto 'In God We Trust' is unconstitutional and violates the separation of church and state. A California attorney has filed a federal lawsuit demanding the phrase 'In God We Trust' be removed from U.S. bills and coins Mr Newdow also argues that the phrase should be prohibited from use on money in the 112-page document lodged with the federal court in Akron. The lawsuit represents 41 plaintiffs from Ohio and Michigan, including many unnamed parents and children who are atheists or are being raised as atheists. Defendants include Congress and various federal agencies. It also claims that allowing the phrase to remain on US currency is a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. This is the act that bans the government from 'burdening a person's exercise of religion' except in scenarios where interest of the government is compelling or is the 'least restrictive means' of furthering a government interest. Mr Newdow also argues that the phrase should be prohibited from use on money in the 112-page document lodged with the federal court in Akron In the court documents, nearly all of the references to the word God is styled as G-d. The suit states: '"The 'In G-d We Trust' phrase has continued to be a tool used to perpetuate favoritism for (Christian) Monotheism. 'It has also continued to perpetuate anti-Atheistic bias.' A message seeking comment was left Wednesday at the office of U.S. attorney for Ohio's northern district. Spanish speakers were treated to a slightly different Republican State of the Union response last night as Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart suggested that immigration needed a 'legislative solution.' South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's response in English lacked that line, the Miami Herald pointed out. The paper called Diaz-Balart's thoughts on the topic 'decidedly softer.' Scroll down for video The Republican party gave two State of the Union responses one in English and one in Spanish. The Spanish response was delivered by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was tasked to give the Republican response in English. She didn't mention any kind of 'legislative solution' in her statements The point wouldn't be so glaring if the two speeches weren't so similar to begin with. In Haley's speech she said, 'No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country,' the South Carolina governor said. That line in Diaz-Balart's speech is identical, according to the Miami-Herald's translation of his words. 'At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders,' Haley said. 'We can't do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.' Diaz-Balart's part begins the same, but he doesn't mention terrorism by name nor refugees, and instead talks about fixing the system. 'At the same time, it's obvious that our immigration system needs to be reformed,' Diaz-Balart said. 'The current system puts our national security at risk and is an obstacle for our economy.' Now here's the big difference. Haley simply talks about a 'fix.' 'We must fix our broken immigration system,' she said. 'That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries.' Diaz-Balart looks to Congress to act. 'It's essential that we find a legislative solution to protect our nation, defend our borders, offer a permanent and human solution to those who live in the shadows, respect the rule of law, modernize the visa system and push the economy forward,' was the congressman's full statement. 'I have no doubt that if we work together, we can achieve this and continue to be faithful to the noblest legacies of the United States,' he added. 'I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to Americas noblest legacies,' Haley added. A spokeswoman for Diaz-Balart said there were many notable differences between the two speeches. 'Please note that the Congressman spoke about North Korea, as well as American energy production, specifically oil, natural gas and coal,' Communications Director Katrina Valdes told Dailymail.com. 'As you know, there are not many North Koreans residing in South Florida, nor does South Florida produce much oil, natural gas, or coal,' she continued. 'I think it would be a bit patronizing to insinuate that the Congressman was just going to read a direct translation of Governor Haley's address,' she said. Asked why he struck a different tone than Haley on immigration, Valdes said, 'He spoke about energy production, foreign policy, and immigration reform because those issues are important to him.' Donald Trump swung back at President Barack Obama and Republican Governor Nikki Haley this morning over their comments disparaging him last night in their dueling State of the Union speeches. Neither mentioned Trump by name, but their comments were pointedly directed at the bombastic presidential candidate who is running circles around his opponents in the GOP race. On Fox and Friends this morning, Trump said in a phone interview that Obama is 'living in a fantasy land' and Haley is 'very weak on immigration.' Donald Trump swung back at President Barack Obama and Republican Governor Nikki Haley this morning over their comments disparaging him last night in their dueling State of the Union speeches Neither mentioned Trump by name, but their comments were pointedly directed at the bombastic presidential candidate who is running circles around his opponents in the GOP race On Fox and Friends this morning, Trump said in a phone interview that Obama is 'living in a fantasy land' and Haley is 'very weak on immigration,' after she admitted on the Today show that her comments were directed at him Multiple lines in Obama's address appeared to be rebukes to Trump, who has derided illegal immigrants as rapists and murders and suggested that foreign Muslims should inherently be treated as terror suspects. 'We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding what makes us strong,' Obama said. He likewise told Americans that in history, there have been those 'who promised to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control.' 'Each time, we overcame those fears,' he said. 'What was true then can be true now.' On Fox and Friends Trump was asked about the comments and the Republican said, 'He didn't mention my name, and perhaps he was talking about somebody else' while acknowledging that remarks were interpreted as a rebuff of his politics. 'He doesn't mention the radical Islamic terrorism. He doesn't want to use those terms. He doesn't want to talk about it,' Trump said, cutting into Obama for steering clear of the San Bernardino last night. Continuing, Trump said, 'He doesn't want to talk about what's going on in the world, the real facts that are going on in the world. He's living in a fantasy land. I think this man is living in a fantasy land.' Trump also criticized the Obama administration's response to the Iran's capture of 10 American sailors who said they unintentionally entered Tehran's waters. Asked if the United States should have apologized - a matter that is now in dispute with Iran saying the U.S. did, and that is why the sailors were released, and the State Department saying it did not - Trump, said, No we shouldn't have apologized.' They shouldnt have held these people at any point. The businessman speculated that, They probably said lets let these guys go, we'll keep em the next time. Firing back on Fox and Friends, Trump said of Obama: 'He doesn't want to talk about what's going on in the world, the real facts that are going on in the world. He's living in a fantasy land. I think this man is living in a fantasy land' They held them, and they only let them go they want to collect the money because they're not stupid people, Trump said, referring to the Iran nuclear accord, which he says was one of the dumbest deals in the history of our country. As a result of pact, Iran will receive a $100 billion pay out from oil sale funds it did not have access to before. Trump says it will give hundreds of billions of dollars to Tehran. I think it's a disgrace. It's very, very sad that they held them at all, Trump said of the released soldiers. What they are doing is essentially they are taunting us. They continue to taunt us, he said, because they feel we dont have very much leadership. Which of course, they're '100 percent correct. Turning to Haley, who admitted this morning that was in fact talking about Trump last night when she said 'during anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices,' he blasted her stance on illegal immigration as 'very weak.' The billionaire further said Haley, a two-term governor, has had no trouble asking me for campaign contributions over the years. Haley, he said, has asked him for a hell of a lot of money in the past. Perhaps if I werent running she'd be in my office asking me for money. But now that I'm running, she wants to take a weak shot on illegal immigration,' he said. Logun Buckley, left, a senior at the University of Northern Iowa, is seen here protesting against Trump last night on the school's campus in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where Trump held a rally Trump said his criticisms did not extend to the incredible people of South Carolina, where the Republican said has a massive lead in the polls. I love her state. I'm there a lot, he said. Up an average of 11 points above his competitors there, Trumps the favorite to win the Palmetto State, along with the overall GOP nomination. Haley, now the nations only Indian-American governor, has been talked about as a possible running mate to whoever the Republican nominee is. Trump indicated that Haley wouldnt be on the short list if hes the one choosing. Guilty as charged: Dr Shelby Coleman, 38, an OB/GYN from Oklahoma, has pleaded guilty to using a 16-year-old boy from Missouri to produce child pornography An obstetrician-gynecologist from Oklahoma, has pleaded guilty to using a 16-year-old boy from Missouri to produce child pornography. Dr Shelby Coleman, 38, was arrested in September 2013 after federal prosecutors say he traveled to Springfield to meet a minor for sex. Coleman, a partner of the Tulsa Women's Health Center, admitted that he and the teen exchanged sexually explicit images before his trip to Springfield, including photos of their genitals. The 38-year-old doctor also sent the boy a video in which he was seen pleasuring himself, according to a court affidavit. The boy's father contacted the Missouri State Highway Patrol after finding text messages between Coleman and his son talking about engaging in sexual activities. In their chats, the doctor bragged to the boy that he drives a Porsche 911 and said he wanted to drive around in it with the 16-year-old naked. A state trooper then impersonated the 16-year-old as Coleman tried to arrange the encounter at a Double Tree hotel in Springfield. When Coleman was arrested in his hotel room on September 28, 2013, he acknowledged using several different websites, including Craigslist and the gay dating site Grindr, to meet boys between the ages of 14-16 for sex in the Tulsa area. He also admitted to being in possession of several hundred images depicting children, some as young as 7 years old, posing nude and engaged in sexual acts, reported NewsOn6 citing court documents. Coleman was arrested in 2013 after he traveled to Springfield, Missouri, to meet an underage boy for sex According to the affidavit, Coleman told the trooper he knows he needs help because his sexual preference was children just after puberty. An abandoned newborn baby girl was saved from starving to death when a heroine cop breastfed her while they waited for paramedics. New mother Luisa Fernanda Urrea - a police officer in La Marina, Colombia - had been called to a remote forest settlement when locals found the baby in the undergrowth. Medics say that without her maternal support, the hours-old baby might have succumbed to starvation and hypothermia. Scroll down for video Doctors believe new mother Luisa Fernanda Urrea saved the baby's life by feeding her while she waiting for medical help The newborn baby girl, pictured here in hospital, was found by locals abandoned in a forest in rural Colombia The heroic police officer later told media she was a new mother herself and recognised the child was desperately hungry She told local media: 'I'm a new mother and I have milk and I recognised the needs that this poor little creature had.' She added: 'I think any woman would have given her nourishment in the same circumstances.' Edinora Jimenez, 59, who found the baby, said: 'I was collecting some oranges when I heard something crying. 'I thought it was a cat until I looked closer and saw that it was a baby girl.' Local police commandant Javier Martin told how the baby was so recently born she still had part of her umbilical cord attached. He added: 'The girl had some lacerations and was suffering from hypothermia. However, she was treated quickly and is now in good health.' The infant is now being cared for by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, which is searching for an adoptive home. Police and health officials are also searching for the baby's birth mother, who may face attempted murder charges. Orphanage director Jhon Arley Murillo said: 'We could be dealing with a case of attempted homicide, although it's the prosecutor who will decide the charge.' The full transcript of the highly-flirtatious text messages between Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman and soap actress Kate del Castillo has emerged - and reveals the drug lord had never heard of Sean Penn before meeting with him. El Chapo and Del Castillo exchanged hundreds of fiery texts in September to organize a meeting with the actor as they planned to make a Narcos-style movie about his life. Though El Chapo likes the sound of the meeting, he has no idea who Sean Penn is, and keeps asking whether he is an actor, director, producer, or even famous at all. The pair also plan their own wine- and tequila-filled weekend together at his jungle hide-out, as El Chapo gushes that she is 'beautiful', 'the best in the world', and that 'I will care for you more than I care for my own eyes'. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO El Chapo and Kate Del Castillo exchanged hundreds of fiery texts in September to organize a meeting with the actor as they planned to make a Narcos-style movie about his life This is the controversial photo of Sean Penn meeting the drug lord who had never heard of him The actress reached out to Sean Penn (pictured together above) to discuss making a movie about El Chapo The twice-divorced actress responds: 'It makes me so emotional to hear you say that, no one has ever cared for me, thank you!' Throughout the texts, released late on Tuesday by Mexican newspaper Grupo Milenio, El Chapo goes by the name Papa, and Del Castillo by the name 'Hermosa'. It sheds yet more light on how Penn came to meet with one of the most wanted fugitives in the world. 'If you bring wine Ill try it - I like tequila and Bucana but Ill try the tequila that you bring, and champagne,' El Chapo says to Kate del Castillo in one of the texts, name-dropping her own branded tequila El Bucana. 'As Ive told you Im not a drinker but I will because you being here will be so beautiful, Im very excited to meet you and come to be great friends. 'Youre the best in the world. Were going to be very good friends. You will agree by the time youre heading home. I wish it could be sooner.' Later, Kate hands the phone to El Chapo's attorney who tells him Kate wants to broker a meeting with Sean Penn. El Chapo has no idea who Sean Penn is; the attorney is not too sure either. 'He was in the movie 21 Grams,' the attorney writes, referring to the 2003 movie made by The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. El Chapo says: '21 Grams, when was that made?' The attorney replies: 'Im looking it up so I can tell you the exact date.' 'Ok,' says El Chapo. Thank you for being such a great person. You are so beautiful in every way El Chapo to Kate del Castillo, September 26, 2015, at 11.30pm The attorney: '21 Grams was made in 2003... Hes also political activist... Hes been very critical of the Bush administration.' El Chapo: 'Is that film his most recent' His attorney: 'He has barely acted recently. Now he produces films.' Penn won his second Best Actor Oscar for his role in Milk in 2008. His first was for Mystic River in 2003. The lawyer later does some research and comes back with some more information on the elusive double Oscar winner. 'The first movie he produced was The Indian Runner in 1991, the The Closing Guard in 1995, and The Pledge in 2001. Jack Nicholson starred in them.' They also discuss which type of phone they should use to communicate with, going into details about all the pros and cons of the latest iPhones, Samsungs, and Blackberrys. Del Castillo, 43, seems to have started a friendship with El Chapo Guzman in 2012 after sending a tweet about how she would trust him if it became a question between him or the Mexican government. A Mexican government official told El Pais it was this relationship that ultimately led to El Chapo's capture, as the drug lord was so desperate to finally meet her in person. 'We knew that he was going crazy wanting to see her, and that their meeting was in a house not in a mountain. He wanted to seduce her, as it were,' the source told the Spanish newspaper. Sean Penn and Naomi Watts in the 2003 movie 21 Grams - the only Sean Penn movie El Chapo's lawyer can remember. When El Chapo asks what Penn has done since, his lawyer says he thinks he quit acting These are the pictures published by El Universal that show Sean Penn (left) and Kate del Castillo (right) landing in Guadalajara ahead of their meeting with the fugitive Sinaloa cartel leader in October last year Despite not knowing who Sean Penn was, El Chapo agreed to record this video interview for him, answering questions sent to him via email. The 17-minute interview for Rolling Stone covers his childhood, his dreams, his relationship with his mother, what he thinks about the Mexican government, and how he got into drugs These DVDs of Del Castillo's show Reina Del Sur (Queen Of The South) were found at Guzman's home in a raid At first, El Chapo and Del Castillo are communicating on his lawyer's phone. Once he gets his own phone, he texts Del Castillo, whose name is saved as 'Guapa', shortly after 11pm on September 26. 'It makes me very happy to be able to reach you directly. Finally I can. Thank you,' he says. She replies: 'Thanks to you Im going to finally meet you, and I cant describe how excited I am. Thank you for your trust. 'I have been trying to get together a team of people who are truly respected in Hollywood. I want you to hear what they have to say You know who I am, not as an actress or a celebrity but as a woman, a person Del Castillo to El Chapo in October 'But aside from our project, I'm so excited to be able to see you with my own eyes, in person. THANK YOU. 'All I care about is that you feel ok with everything, regardless of any promises, and that you tell me exactly what you think after our meeting. 'I suppose I will receive instructions so I know where to go and all the details.' El Chapo replies: 'Go to Sinaloa. Believe me, everything will be ok, I wouldnt have invited you otherwise. 'Ill look after you, youll see when you get here, and we drink tequila together. As I told you, Im not a drinker, but Ill drink with you to celebrate being with you. 'Thank you for being such a great person. You are so beautiful in every way.' Kate responds: 'I'm telling you, I feel safe for the first time in my life. Ill tell you my story when we have time to chat, but for some reason I feel safe and I know you know who I am, not as an actress or a celebrity but as a woman, a person.' It is not clear from the texts exactly what date in October Sean Penn met with El Chapo, nor whether El Chapo and Del Castillo managed to have their weekend alone together. In general, the Hollywood actor and the negotiations for a business meeting fall by the wayside. Their texts are mainly about each other. On October 23, El Chapo wakes Del Castillo at 11am with a text to wish her happy birthday. Good morning. Happy birthday from your friend who cares for you and loves you. I hope that youre having a wonderful day with your nearest and dearest. He also says that he loves her very much now and forever, though the context suggests his words are more friendly than romantic. My mother wants to meet you. I told her about you El Chapo to Del Castillo in October 'Hahaha, thank you!!! Hello my wonderful friend, I'm going to call you, it will be an American number... I'll call you today! Look after yourself! And thank you [kiss emoji].' He replies: 'Thank you, my friend, for your good wishes. I hope you're well. Your friend loves you. Bye.' She says: 'I love my friend. Bye.' The next day, El Chapo starts their text conversation at 1pm, with the phrase: 'How is the best and most intelligent woman in the world, who I love so much?' And on October 29, he tells her that he wants to introduce her to his mother. 'My mother wants to meet you,' he says. 'I told her about you. Don't worry, nothing serious. Everything will be great.' According to officials, Mexican law enforcement was tracking the text messages between El Chapo and Del Castillo. The fugitive Sinaloa cartel leader was eventually apprehended last Friday. On Wednesday, officials revealed he is being moved constantly from cell to cell inside a maximum security prison in Altiplano, just outside Mexico City - the same lockup the elusive drug lord escaped from through a tunnel six months ago. Government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison after he was recaptured on Friday. The prison also now has 24-hour video surveillance of Guzman including all parts of his cell. Mexican officials also revealed that they are investigating the meeting that he held with Penn and Del Castillo in October to see if any crimes were committed. El Chapo was residing in the north of the country when he met with Penn and del Castillo. He has since been returned to Altiplano prison, near Mexico City, and is being moved from cell to cell, according to officials This is the first photo of the drug lord since he was booked once again, and officials had shaved off his hair He has been returned to the maximum security prison (pictured) which he broke free from by digging a tunnel But as US media reels over the possibility that Penn may be arrested, government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez was eager to clarify on Tuesday that they are investigating the meeting, rather than specific people. 'We investigate actions, we don't investigate people,' he said. 'The attorney General's Office is investigating this event and others involving contacts that Joaquin Guzman had while he was on the run.' Carlos Barragan y Salvatierra, a professor of law at Mexico's National University, said there would be little ground to prosecute Penn or Del Castillo, unless money or gifts changed hands. 'If during the dinner El Chapo gave them money, or jewels, or he gave them money for the movie or any other transaction, they could be charged with money laundering,' Barragan y Salvatierra said. But he noted, 'meeting with a fugitive or criminal is not a crime, even if the law says we should report crimes, there is no punishment for not doing so.' Asked about scrutiny of his controversial meeting with the fugitive drug lord at a hideout in rural Mexico, Penn on Monday would only say: 'I've got nothin' to hide.' He was seen on Wednesday for the first time since the article came out strolling around Los Angeles. Despite calls for him to be interrogated, he appeared in good spirits, joking with comedian Jason Sudeikis and actress Olivia Wilde outside a supermarket. However, as he tried to carry on with daily life, one of El Chapo's lawyers, Juan Pablo Badillo, launched an appeal for the actor to be arrested, accusing him of making up quotes about drug trafficking in his 10,000-word Rolling Stone interview, El Chapo Speaks. One of El Chapo's lawyers, Juan Pablo Badillo (above), has appealed for Sean Penn to be arrested, accusing him of making up quotes about drug trafficking in his 10,000-word Rolling Stone interview, El Chapo Speaks In it, Penn quotes Guzman as saying he is one of the world's leading drug traffickers. 'Its a lie, absurd speculation from Mr Penn,' Juan Pablo Badillo, one of a team of Guzman lawyers, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. 'In a way, yes, it does complicate it [his defense]. Mr Penn should be called to testify to respond about the stupidities he has said,' Badillo added. He said that based on years of working Guzman, he was certain he would not make such a self-incriminating statement. 'He [Guzman] could not have made these claims... Mr Guzman is a very serious man, very intelligent,' Badillo said. 'I killer her by mistake,' he told interrogators after arrest - and prosecutors now think theory of kinky sex game was wrong Diaw claims he punched her when she told him to leave because her boyfriend was coming back and denies strangling her Artist was found dead in Florence apartment by her boyfriend on Saturday; she had two fractures to the skull and was strangled with a USB cord He has confessed to murdering her to officers who arrested him because of a DNA match to used condom and cigarette found in apartment Senegalese Cheik Tidiane Diaw, 25 is accused of aggravated murder of Ashley Olsen in her Florence apartment Victim: Ashley Olsen, 35, was found dead in her apartment in Florence, Italy on Saturday by her boyfriend An illegal immigrant has confessed to killing American artist Ashley Olsen in her Italian apartment, who was punched and strangled with a USB cord in what police say was a jealous 'drug-fueled' frenzy Cheik Tidiane Diaw, 25, told officers he strangled Olsen after the pair had sex when she told him he had to leave because her boyfriend was coming back. The Senegalese man was caught because of DNA evidence from a used condom and cigarette found in the toilet - which he had tried to flush away unsuccessfully. Italian police said they had to swoop on him quickly because they feared he was about to flee Florence. The chief prosecutor said that the alleged murderer had initially given a false alibi to police when he was first questioned. He was freed but then re-arrested when his DNA was matched. Olsen, whose funeral will be held in the Italian city tomorrow, suffered two fractures to the skull and was strangled with a USB cord. She met her alleged killer at the Montecarla club, notorious for sex and drugs, and left together at 5.30am, when they went to her apartment. The victim did not leave the club alone, as previously thought, and Diaw's confession suggests that the police's initial finding of a 'consensual' kinky sex game before her death may have been wrong. Olsen's body was found on Saturday by her boyfriend, who was concerned he had not heard from her. He desperately tried to revive her but it was too late. Her beloved dog was at her side in its own urine and feces, and is now being cared for by her family. At a press conference today in Florence, the chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo said: 'We think sexual relations occurred before the homicide, not during it. 'We do not know whether they took drugs together before she was killed but we are awaiting the results of analysis,' he added. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Accused: Cheik Tidiane Diaw, 25, is being held in Italy on suspicion of strangling Olsen after leaving a sex club with her in Florence on Friday. Victim: Olsen died when she was strangled with a USB wire or cord, an autopsy has found Police found a used condom and cigarette in the victim's toilet which helped identify the suspect. The killer had attempted to flush the condom and cigarette down the lavatory, investigators said, but the flush had failed and the objects were recovered by the forensic team. Diaw is also alleged to have taken her phone from the scene of the crime and placed his own SIM card inside it. He told police that her death was the result of a fight after having consensual sex. According to police, he told interrogators: 'She told me to leave and that her boyfriend was coming and she pushed me to the door.' He then said that he punched her in the head, screaming 'you have treated me like a dog'. Olsen fell back, got up and tried to push him away. He shoved her back and she fell and struck her head, fracturing her skull in two places. But he denied intentionally strangling Olsen, insisting that the marks around her neck were created when he tried to pull her up. 'It is likely that the killer and victim were not lucid at the time of the murder,' The Chief Prosecutor, Giuseppe Creazzo, said. 'We have reason to believe that they took substances that made them not lucid. Alcohol for sure, maybe other substances. 'We will know more when the drugs tests on Ashley come back.' Illegal: Diaw had entered Italy as little as two months ago illegally from Senegal and posted pictures on social media suggesting he was happy to be there. Prosecutors said they did not believe believe he knew Olsen before their night together Arrest: Provincial police chief Raffaelle Micillo chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo and Flying Squad chief Giacinto Profazio spoke at a press conference today, revealing they had arrested Cheik Tidiane Diaw Diaw told police that he killed her 'by mistake', sources said.He has admitted that he was responsible for her death, but that it was an accident. 'I pushed her and she hit her head,' he told police. 'The signs of strangulation are from when when I tried to pick her up.' The autopsy revealed that the 35-year-old victim had suffered a blow to the skull, which was found to be fractured in two places. Creazzo, said that police have so far only been investigating her strangulation. The revelation of this new kind of violence suggests that the killing may have been more aggressive than previously thought, he said. 'It may not have been an erotic game after all,' he said. He also said it was likely a drug-fueled one-night-stand gone wrong, as the two met at the notorious nightclub Montcarla just hours before Olsen was killed. 'We also cannot find any evidence that they knew each other before that night,' he said. Police were forced to close in on the suspect 'like a sea urchin' because of fears that the intensity of the media coverage would cause the suspect to flee Florence, the chief prosecutor has said. If Diaw had escaped, he added, it would have been almost impossible to trace him as he was in Italy illegally and had only been in the country for a matter of weeks. He also revealed that Diaw, 27, had given a false alibi for the night of the murder, claiming that he had been at home when he was first questioned after being identified by eyewitness and CCTV evidence. 'Because of media coverage in recent hours, there was a risk of the suspect fleeing and compromising the investigation, so we closed on him like a sea urchin,' said Giuseppe Creazzo, the chief prosecutor. Grief of a father: Walter Olsen, Ashley's father arrived with two women and the family's lawyer Annamaria Gallo (right) at the city morgue. They will hold a private funeral for her tomorrow Preparations: The arrest of Diaw has cleared the way for the release of the dead woman's body to her family at the city morgue. They will hold a funeral service for her tomorrow Search: Forensic officers spent all day at Ashley Olsen's apartment. Police have identified an apparent suspect, seen on CCTV with her close to the building Illegal: Diaw was from Senegal in West Africa but had arrived in Italy as little as two months ago Investigators had questioned Diaw in the days before his arrest and taken his DNA, which allowed the forensic team to confirm that he had been at the apartment, he said. 'Thanks to the strategy of the investigators it was possible to compare the DNA of the 27-year-old to the biological traces found in the apartment because in recent days he had been questioned by the prosecutor's team and he gave a false alibi, claiming that on the night of the homicide he was at home,' he said. It also emerged that Diaw has more than one sibling in Italy, at least one of whom was in the country legitimately. Their identities have not been released. Ashley Olsen's body is resting at the Careggi hospital chapel in Florence. It will remain there until 3pm tomorrow, when it will be taken to the Basilica di Santo Spirito for the funeral. Police confirmed that the suspect had entered Italy illegally, and was staying with his brother, who is in the country legitimately. He had been earning money by handing out flyers for a nightclub. The suspect is being held in Sollicciano jail in the city, having been arrested at midnight on Thursday, after being under observation for several days. He was questioned for four hours and is cooperating with police. Flying Squad chief Giacinto Profazio, the police chief who also led the investigation into the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007, said: 'I would like to congratulate the forensic and detective teams for their efficiency of their investigation and its very quick resolution. 'Florence remains a very safe city and this type of crime happens everywhere in the world,' he added. 'Investigators were very quick to resolve the case and arrest the subject.' As the central heating was turned up in the apartment, investigators found it difficult to pinpoint the time of death, but their best estimations place it between seven in the morning and one in the afternoon on Friday Tributes: Flowers have been left on the door step and tributes have been scrawled round the doorway Forensic investigators spent six hours inside Olsen's flat, searching for DNA traces that would link Diaw to the crime. He had fallen under suspicion based on CCTV footage, which appeared to show him together with Olsen outside the apartment in the early hours of Friday morning, the last time she was seen alive. Police have indicated that the CCTV footage and eyewitness testimony alone may be enough to secure a conviction, but conclusive DNA evidence would greatly strengthen the case. The revelation that the suspect is an illegal immigrant is likely to aggravate social tensions across Europe following the sexual assaults that took place on the continent over the New Year period. This morning, a forensic team returned once again to the scene of the crime to continue their painstaking, fingertip search. Evidence of alcohol was found in the flat, but drug tests have yet to be concluded, police said. An autopsy revealed that Olsen had sex before she was killed, and there were no signs on her body that she had put up a fight. There was also no indication that she had struggled to remove the cord around her neck, and no evidence of forced entry or struggle at the apartment. Olsen was found by her boyfriend on Saturday after failing to get in touch with him. He tried desperately to revive her but she was already dead. Detectives have now pieced together a timeline of her last hours which shows that she spent time at Montecarla, a sleazy bar and nightclub which has been repeatedly linked to drugs in the early hours of Friday morning. Painstaking: The officer in charge of the homicide squad said the search would take some time Speaking out: Walter Olsen, pictured in Florence, said: 'She was a beautiful and creative young woman with a happy, exuberant and generous soul. We are heartbroken that she was taken from us.' Couple: Federico Fiorentini (left) and Ashley Olsen (right) were together for seven years. Police say he is not a suspect. He found her body and tried to revive her with CPR. The victim was with a group of friends and the atmosphere was 'tense'. After an altercation, her companions got up and left Olsen at the club. Olsen then met a man. A witness saw them together and described the man to the police, and the two were captured on CCTV walking together to Olsen's chic apartment. As the central heating was turned up in the apartment, investigators found it difficult to pinpoint the time of death, but their best estimations place it between seven in the morning and one in the afternoon on Friday. Investigators have not disclosed whether drugs were found in the apartment. Olsen's mother was planning to fly to Italy overnight and is expected to arrive today, where she and the victim's father, Walter Olsen, will say their final goodbyes and decide where she will be buried. Alessandro Ausenda, chief of the homicide squad said as he left the scene of the crime yesterday: 'The forensic investigation will take a long time.' Witnesses at the club told Daily Mail Online she had been there and arrived with friends but did not leave with him. Giulia, a bartender at the Montecarla who saw the victim at the club said: 'She was a chilled-out person, I'd even call her delicate. 'She came into the club at 4:30am, had a drink and left at 5:30am. She was tense and before leaving she had a difference of opinion with a female friend.' Detectives confirm that they have cleared entirely her boyfriend, Italian-American artist Federico Fiorentini, 42, has a watertight alibi. The development in the investigation came after Walter Olsen, an art professor in the same city who lives round the corner from his daughter's apartment, paid tribute to his 'beautiful and creative' daughter and said he had faith in the murder investigation. The 35-year-old was last seen alive at the Montecarla club, an insalubrious members-only establishment Key to investigation: The Montecarla club 'is a place where you can find anything you are looking for, sex, drugs, transexuals,' said a woman in a nearby bar 'We are devastated that our precious Ashley has passed away resulting from a horrible and senseless crime,' he said. 'She was a beautiful and creative young woman with a happy, exuberant and generous soul, and she loved her life in Florence, in San Frediano. 'We are heartbroken that she was taken from us.' After making an appeal for his privacy to be respected, he added: 'We have faith that the perpetrator will be found and sentenced. We thank everyone for their loving thoughts and prayers.' Olsen who is a professor of architecture, design and drawing at Bianca Cappello Art Academy in the city has not been seen in public since Monday. That day he laid a bouquet of flowers outside his daughter's apartment flanked by police officers and officials from the American consulate in Florence. He bowed his head and knelt for a few minutes in silence before placing the flowers on her doorstep. For the past few days he has been enduring an agonizing wait for his daughter's autopsy to be over so that he can 'hug [his] daughter one last time'. Her boyfriend is also said to be devastated. He is being comforted by his mother and sister, who both live in the city. In charge: Alessandro Ausenda, chief of the homicide squad (center) said as he left the scene of the crime today: 'The forensic investigation will take a long time.' The victim's beloved dog, Scout, was present when she was murdered and was found in great distress, surrounded by his own urine and feces, when the body was discovered On Saturday, concerned by the fact that Olsen had not been seen for days, Fiorentini persuaded her landlord to open the door to her chic apartment. There he found her dead on her bed which was raised on a mezzanine level wearing nothing but her socks. Her beloved pet dog, Scout, was in a state of great distress, surrounded by his own faeces and urine. Fiorentini panicked, lifting Olsen's body down onto the floor and desperately applying CPR. As he later explained to police, in the process he sustained scratches to his knuckles. He telephoned an ambulance, and police were alerted. 'I thought I might be able to save her,' he told friends. 'I loved Ashley and I will absolutely find who killed her. They will pay for what they did.' Her best friends also released a moving tribute to the victim. 'We are bereft and numbed by what has happened,' the statement said. 'This is horrific and unimaginable Our thoughts and love go to Ashley's father, mother, and sister, and to all of her family.' Children as young as nine are being recruited to inner city gangs, lured in with promises of the best trainers and tracksuits before being turned into drug runners. A new report has warned that urban criminals are adopting more secretive tactics for criminal activities as they retreat from the streets. Youngsters are being lured from outside schools with the promise of money or new clothes before being deployed around the country to sell drugs, the Home Office-led study said. It also raised concerns about exploitation of women, with suggestions that some see group sex as 'normal'. Children as young as nine are being recruited to inner city gangs, lured in with promises of the best trainers and tracksuits before being turned into drug runners It comes as the Home Office launches a new policy, 'Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation'. Researchers interviewed staff from agencies including police, probation, local authorities and health services in 33 areas around England and Wales. The findings suggested there was evidence that the use of young people to transport and peddle drugs and the sexual exploitation of women and girls have become more prevalent. Senior members known as 'elders' would buy train tickets for the young drug runners who would be given targets for selling and punished if these were not met, according to the report. One interviewee said: 'The method of recruitment is to target young, easily influenced youths as young as 12 years old from local schools and the surrounding area. 'They [gang members] recruit them with the lure of earning money or being given new trainers, tracksuits etc. [and] then use these runners to deal for them.' In some instances youngsters were away from home or care for several days. A policy paper also published on Wednesday said there was evidence that children's care homes are being targeted, adding: 'We also know of cases where gang members have been waiting outside schools to meet children. The report said that women and girls were involved 'to a great extent' in gang-related criminal activities, including carrying or storing drugs and being used to set-up attacks on rival gang members 'The gang members take the child away to participate in criminal activities and return them in time to avoid them being reported missing or raising suspicion.' Involvement of children under the age of 11 in gangs was thought to be relatively rare, the research paper said. It added: 'Reports of gang members aged nine or younger were almost exclusively from a small number of survey respondents in London.' Staff reported that women and girls were involved 'to a great extent' in gang-related criminal activities, including carrying or storing drugs and being used to set-up attacks on rival gang members. A gang associate said: 'I know guys that have actually died because girls have set them up.' Girls and women were subjected to sexual or physical violence, with some attacked to exact punishment or revenge on rival gangs, the study said. One interviewee said: 'The worrying thing for me is that you'll get the guys that will be talking about having group sex with vulnerable girls. 'Then you'll have the girls talking about it as well, but both will refer to it as though it was a normal thing.' Gangs were generally seen as 'less visible' and are spending less time on the streets, the report said. It added: 'Gangs were thought to be operating more covertly, in part in response to the use of gang injunctions and other enforcement tactics as gangs try to avoid detection.' Home Office minister Karen Bradley announced a new policy to tackle gang-related violence and exploitation, with nine areas receiving targeted support. Advertisement A World War Two hero who spent his final years travelling the country to attend the funerals of fellow servicemen has been laid to rest in front of hundreds of mourners returning the favour. Harry Thrush died on Christmas Eve, just two days after turning 92, and the church was packed to the rafters for his funeral held at St Mary's Church in Leeds today. Many of the servicemen who paid their respects to the WW2 veteran wore their regimental berets and displayed their medals proudly on their breast pockets. Six members of the 269 Battery Royal Artillery carry the coffin of the World War Two veteran into St Mary's Church, in Leeds today The 92-year-old veteran spent more than ten years attending the funerals of British service personnel who died in Afghanistan and Iraq Around 150 members of his family, servicemen and members of the public crammed into the church, while another 50 remained outside Harry Thrush, 92, (pictured) served as a gunner in Italy during the Second World War and later saw action in North Africa Mr Thrush, a grandfather-of-five, spent his final years paying tribute to other veterans and servicemen. His eldest son David, 65, said: 'When the soldiers started coming back he read what was going on in the newspapers and would find out where their funerals were being held and hop on the bus and the train and turn up at the funeral. 'If we popped round to visit him we would find a note on the table saying he had gone to a funeral and the announcement circled in the paper so we knew where he was. 'He went because he had that compassion and he used to speak to the family at the end to give them comfort.' Mr Thrush signed up to fight in the Second World War in 1942. Aged 18, he joined the 7th Mountain Regiment serving as a gunner in Salerno, near Naples, to fight Mussolini's Italy that was allied with Germany. Prior to his death, Mr Thrush recalled how using the Screw Guns they were supplied with were like 'pea shooters on wheels' and they had to get so close to the enemy to fire them they 'could hear them talking'. He spent eight months in Italy and later saw action in North Africa. Just month before he died, Mr Thrush was invited to the Victory in Europe 70th anniversary celebrations in Westminster where he met with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. Among the funerals Mr Thrush attended was the service for Coporal Jake Hartley. The 20-year-old soldier was killed in Afghanistan in March 2012. In 2014, troops serving in Camp Bastion sent Mr Thrush a special 90th birthday message and a photograph which was one of his proudest possessions. As well as attending funerals of fallen troops, Mr Thrush, pictured, was a regular at remembrance services for those who never came home, he was at the Armistace Day commemoration at Leeds Victoria Garden Tues 11th Nov 2014, right, and even met with Prince Charles His family issued an appeal that their father would be deeply honoured if serving and former service personnel attended his funeral An honour guard from his former regiment, 269 Battery Royal Artillery, pictured, carried Mr Thrush's coffin into the packed church in Leeds Hundreds of servicemen were out in force to pay respect to the World War Two veteran, who died on Christmas Eve Giving the eulogy in honour of her father, Harry's daughter Janet described him as being a 'teller of bad jokes' who 'made us very happy' Mourners began gathering before 12pm today to pay homage to the decorated veteran who dedicated so much time to his fellow servicemen. Around 150 members of his family, servicemen and members of the public crammed into the church, while another 50 remained outside during the service. Mr Thrush's coffin arrived at the church shortly after 12.45pm, pulled by a black-horse drawn carriage. A flower arrangement bearing the name 'Harry' was sat on top the carriage, facing out onto the street. As the six members of the 269 Battery Royal Artillery, based in Leeds, slowly slid his coffin out the carriage, veterans looking on to salute the former gunner. The granddad-of-five was then followed into church by his family. The service opened with the hymm 'Love Devine, Love Excelling' which was sung at his wedding - at the same church - more than 60 years ago. His wife, Caroline, died in 2007, aged 81. He had cared for her full-time after she suffered a stroke. Veterans and serving personnel from across the Navy, Army and Air Force were there to show solidarity for the World War Two hero Mourners outside the St Mary's Church, in Leeds, today following the servicemen of popular World War Two veteran, Harry Thrush Giving the eulogy in honour of her father, his daughter, Janet Smith, said: 'He and my mum, Carrie, were happily married for 57 years and now they are reunited. 'He was lucky to have such a long life. He was a teller of bad jokes. He used to make us cringe sometimes but could make strangers fall in love with him almost instantly. 'He was a fisherman that always had the one that got away. He would play the spoons at Christmas parties and would tap dance on the kitchen lino. 'He went to many soldiers' funerals and always said he was going to represent the soldiers that didn't make it back and he wanted to pay his respects.. 'I remember more than once that he got a lift from a stranger who took pity on him after he had got lost on his travels. 'I'm so happy me and my dad made it to the VE celebrations in Westminster last May. 'When we arrived in Westminster he was in his element with the crowds and the well wishers. 'But the best part for him was the parade along the Mall. My dad was treated as a hero that day. I am glad he could experience it while he was still alive.' The second hymn selected by the family was the highly appropriate 'Onward Christian Soldiers' which was belted out by the congregation. The ceremony ended with 'The Last Post' and the Ode of Remembrance, taken from Laurence Binyon's poem 'For the Fallen'. Harry Thrush died two days after turning 92 - he spent the best part of a decade travelling all over the UK to attend funerals of servicemen The World War Two veteran devoted the final years of his life travelling round the country to honour fellow servicemen Veterans and serving personnel from across the Navy, Army and Air Force were there to show solidarity for the World War Two hero. Former RAF serviceman Robin Ellwood, 62, who is also from the group 'Veterans Honoured', travelled down from Darlington to pay his respects. He said: 'I have been to a number of funerals myself [of fellow servicemen] and I met Harry on a couple of occasions, so the reason I am here is to honour him.' Steve Clibbens, 46, and Di Marrazza, 48, both members of the Yorkshire branch of the Royal British Legion Riders, journeyed down from Tadcaster, in North Yorkshire, for the service. Mr Clibbens, a former RAF air traffic controller, said: 'We go to as many funerals as we can throughout Yorkshire of ex-service personnel. Justin Case Jacoby, 36, allegedly strangled his cat with a rope and drank its blood A man who allegedly strangled his cat with a rope and drank its blood has insisted he was preventing animal cruelty. Justin Case Jacoby, 36, was arrested on New Year's Day and told police officers he choked his cat to death with a rope, according to a criminal complaint. Cops noticed that he had 'a small amount of blood on his face, near his mouth,' according to court documents. Jacoby was said to be upset about his upcoming eviction and allegedly phoned his landlord to tell her he planned to kill the cat, according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. The property owner phoned the police, who found a dead cat in a running shower in the apartment in Cedar Falls, Iowa. '[Jacoby] stated he killed the cat to satisfy his blood craving and to keep the animal from having to go to an animal shelter upon his eviction from the apartment,' a police officer wrote in court papers. Jacoby, who had owned the cat for 11 years, said he used a rope to kill his pet, police chief Jeff Olson said. He was arrested for animal torture and could be jailed for two years if found guilty. In a bizarre Facebook post on January 9, Jacoby wrote: 'Also, fun fact/s! Apparently you can get charged with animal cruelty for preventing animal cruelty.' He added: 'Apparently certain people have a legal right to psychological abuse and then murder animals if they react to the abuse as most sane beings would.' Four Tennessee policemen are being hailed as heroes after paying $160 out of their own pockets to stock the fridge of a disabled elderly man who went days without food after allegedly having his debit card stolen by a former caretaker. The Mt. Pleasant police department in Tennessee received a call on Saturday night from a 89-year-old man who complained that he hadn't eaten in two days. 'I called them up and asked if they could bring me a sandwich and said that I'd pay them back,' the man told Daily Mail Online. 'Next thing I know, I'm looking out the window and I see [the police officers] bring in a whole carload of groceries,' said the man, who asked that he not be named. Police officers from the Mt. Pleasant police department in Tennessee stock the pantries of an elderly disabled man (left) who went days without food Police officers Brian Gray and Nathan Bolton, along with reserve officers Adam Runions and Buddy Odom, had heard of the man's call for help and decided to do a good deed by buying the man food. But instead of a sandwich, the four officers spent $160 of their own money on a whole month's worth of groceries. 'They did it on their own, no one told them to do it,' said Lt. Terry Chandler of the Mt. Pleasant police department to Daily Mail Online. 'It makes us very proud,' Lt. Chandler said. The elderly man had gone hungry for two days after he was robbed of his debit card by a former care taker The man told Daily Mail Online he was thankful for the four Mt. Pleasant police officers who bought him a month's worth of groceries 'With all the bad publicity across the country involving law enforcement, it makes us happy that these officers went out on their own to do a good deed for someone,' Lt. Chandler said. The elderly man told Daily Mail Online he suffers from several ailments that leave him unable to leave the house on his own. He takes two dozen different pills every day to treat illnesses including heart problems, a hernia and arthritis, the man said. A collapsed lung forces the man to be hooked up to an oxygen tank day and night, he said. To make matters worse, the man alleges he was recently robbed by a former care taker. 'The girl that robbed me worked for me three years ago,' the man claimed. 'She brought over her 10-month-old baby for me to see, and when I went to the bathroom she got my bank card out of my billfold and done left,' he said. Tammy Brooks, 36, was arrested on Sunday night and is charged with theft and fraudulent use of a debit card, according to Mt. Pleasant police. Tammy Brooks, 36, was arrested on Sunday and is accused of stealing the elderly man's debit card and taking it on a shopping spree in Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee The man claims Brooks stole $586 out of his bank account. Police said she spent the money at various stores around the area. 'Now I only got 42 cents,' the man said. The man, who worked as a truck driver for 49 years before retiring, said he was very happy about the police officers' gift. 'I thanked them all for bringing it,' he said. Nashville television station News 2, which first publicized the story of the police officers' good deed, reported that the Mt. Pleasant police department has started a food pantry to which local residents can donate canned goods to help in similar situations in the future. A man living in the woods of a Tennessee state park surrendered his 31 dogs to animal rescuers on Friday, after becoming too sick to care for them. Animal Rescue Corps officials say the man, who has not been identified by name, has been living in Natchez Trace State Park for at least 16 years. 'It was a very interesting, unique situation,' Scotlund Haisley, of the Animal Rescue Corps, told The Jackson Sun. 'I wouldn't call it hoarding, and he wasn't abusing or neglecting the animals for profit. He was providing care for the animals.' Scroll down for video Giving up his pups: A Tennessee man surrendered his 31 dogs to the Animal Rescue Corps on Friday Nearly two decades" The homeless man had been living in the woods of a Tennessee state park for the past 16 years Sufferings: The dogs were mostly healthy, though some had parasites. A few had broken teeth and cuts and one had a broken leg No harm: Scotlund Haisley, of the Animal Rescue Corps, told The Jackson Sun that the man, who has not been identified, was not abusing the animals Ill: Haisley says the man had recently become sick, but refused to get medical attention until his dogs were safe Haisley says some of the dogs had internal and external parasites. Some had broken teeth and cuts and one dog had a broken leg. Another dog showed signs of injuries sustained years ago. The man reportedly became ill recently, and community members were trying to help get him get medical attention. 'He wasn't going to address his medical needs until he knew his dogs were safe,' Haisley said. He ended up voluntarily surrendering the dogs on Friday from the state park located 120 miles northeast of Memphis. Animal Rescue Corps has asked law enforcement authorities not to press criminal charges against the man for his pack of dogs. Help: Community members were reportedly organizing to help the man treat his unspecified illness New homes: Above, two of the dogs rescued on Friday from the Natchez Trace State Park - about 120 miles northeast of Memphis Bittersweet goodbye: Animal Rescue officials say the man parted with his dogs voluntarily. Above, the dogs circle around their master No charges: Animal Rescue Corps has asked law enforcement authorities not to press criminal charges against the man for his pack of dogs Investigators confirmed blaze was arson but haven't released cause of fire Neighbors reported hearing an explosion at the home at 8.30pm on Monday An Ohio house fire which claimed the lives of a family of four, including two daughters aged eight and twelve, has been ruled arson. Church deacon Jeff Mather and his wife Cindy, both 43, died alongside their children in a fiery explosion at their home in Northfield Center Township home on Monday night. Fire marshals have confirmed the blaze at the family house was set deliberately but are not releasing the cause while the investigation continues. Scroll down for video The cause of the explosion remains under investigation but Risko said it does not appear to have been caused by a gas leak Jeff and Cindy Mather, and their eight-year-old and 12-year-old daughters, were killed in a horrific home explosion at their Northfield Center Township, Ohio home on Monday night Neighbors had called 911 after hearing an explosion at the property at around 8.30pm on Monday evening. When fire crews arrives, they found flames shooting from the house. The bodies of Cindy and her two daughters, 8-year-old Ruthie and 12-year-old Alyson, were found on the first floor near the front of the home, according to Fire Chief Frank Risko. Jeff Mather was found near the back of the two-story home. Neighbor Len Strauss said he ran outside immediately after he heard two booms following 'one right after another', and saw the house missing part of its second floor. 'The house was already on fire,' he told the Akron Beacon Journal. 'It's amazing how quick it went up in flames.' The center of the second floor was completely blown apart during the explosion The bodies of Cindy and her two daughters were found on the first floor near the front of the home, according to Fire Chief Frank Risko. Jeff Mather was found near the back of the two-story home Firefighters arrived on the scene and saw flames shooting from the house around 8.30pm Randy Nickschinski, who lives two doors down from the family, told Cleveland.com that he and his son Nate rushed to the house and kicked in the front door. He said that the family's dog escaped and they, along with another neighbor, went inside and shouted for the victims but nobody answered. 'There was a lot of fire, a lot of debris,' he said. 'We were yelling and nothing. We just looking everywhere.' Mather helped found the Rock Community Church in Garfield Heights, where he was a deacon for 13 years. Rev. David Brunelle wrote in a statement that the Mather family was very involved in the church. Mather helped found the Rock Community Church in Garfield Heights, where he was a deacon for 13 years A neighbor and his son opened the front door to try and save the family, but couldn't see anything among the fire and debris 'Their lives touched many people,' he wrote. 'And they will be deeply missed by many.' 'They were super people, the mother was kind of like a mom to a lot of the kids in the neighborhood,' added next door neighbor Mike Mahan told Fox 8. 'She used to care for other kids coming from families that had problems and Cindy would take them in and take care of them.' The home was left a burnt out shell in the explosion which decimated the second floor. Investigators were swiftly able to rule out a natural gas leak and the blast is now being treated as arson. This is the amusing moment an OAP busker drew a huge crowd at a busy central London shopping street after breaking out into a cover of a song by British grime artist Stormzy. The pensioner, dressed in a black leather jacket, blue shirt, black trousers and with sunglasses on his white hair, was spotted entertaining the crowds with the unusual performance in Carnaby Street. Stepping from side-to-side, the charming man talked his way through the lyrics of Stormzy's hit 'Shut Up' pointing to the crowd as he highlighted words from the song such as 'rudeboy'. The pensioner, dressed in a black leather jacket, blue shirt, black trousers and with sunglasses on his hair, was spotted entertaining the crowds with the unusual performance of Stormzy's 'Shut Up in Carnaby Street Drawing a laugh from the huge audience which gathered during the performance, the old rocker took the attention all in his stride as he took on what is normally a fast-paced rap. Taking the song at his own pace, he pronounced the words clearly in a quintessentially English manner slightly different from the original grime version by the 22-year-old MOBO award-winning rapper. Footage of the busker has since been shared online, with dozens taking to social media to praise the performance. One user wrote: '@Stormzy1's got some competition in 2016, this old busker killed Carnaby Street with his 'Shut Up' cover.' Another said: 'Omg anyone else seen that old busker on Carnaby Street covering Stormzy's 'shut up',' before ending the Tweet with crying laughing face emojis. Drawing a laugh from the huge audience which gathered during the performance in the busy London street, the old rocker took the attention all in his stride as he took on what is normally a fast-paced grime and rap song However, another user seemed somewhat disappointed with the show. James D Fletcher wrote: 'Don't care how old that man covering Stormzy - Shut Up on Carnaby Street is. He's a busker in prime location & should have practiced more.' 'Shut Up' was written and produced by Stormzy in May last year and initially entered the UK Singles Chart at Number 59 before gaining popularity and rising to Number 8 towards Christmas. Rapper Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, has risen to fame in the last couple of years - successfully winning a MOBO award in 2014 for Best Grime Act and being named as an artist to look out for in the BBC's influential Sound of 2015 list. He describes himself as 'a child of grime' and has previously said he was influenced by the likes of Wiley and Skepta. After starting MCing at the age of 11, the south London rapper garnered attention on the underground music scene after freestyling over classic grime beats. He later became the first unsigned rapper to appear on Later with Jools Holland and went on to release a number of singles. Perhaps most famously, he performed 'Shut Up' during British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua's ring-walk for his fight versus Dillian Whyte last month. 'Shut Up' was written and produced by 22-year-old British grime artist Stormzy (left) in May last year. He has risen to fame over the last couple of years and perhaps most famously performed the song during British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua's (right) ring-walk for his fight versus Dillian Whyte last December Some Twitter users were quick to praise the OAP's performance (top) while others were less than impressed It is thought the latest busker to perform the grime song may have been doing so as part of a publicity stunt for a new comedy starring Zac Efron and Robert DeNiro called Dirty Grandpa. In the new film, Efron plays an uptight lawyer who gets tricked into taking his grandfather - played by DeNiro - on a road trip to Daytona, Florida. The 28-year-old actor and the 72-year-old legend let loose in a big way as they tear off their shirts in the movie's final trailer ahead of the US theatrical release on January 22. Zac flexes his muscles and thrills the masses in one hilarious scene during a guys' shirtless contest, while DeNiro shows off his impressive torso too. An conservative lawmaker who has tangled with the Obama White House for seven years walked out on the president as his final State of the Union address began because he could stand 'being lectured one last time.' Steve King, a tea party congressman from western Iowa who has endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for president, announced Monday that he would leave a chair in the House gallery empty 'to commemorate the lives of more than 55 million aborted babies.' He told reporters in the U.S. Capitol that he decided ahead of time that he wouldn't stick around to hear Obama speak. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO OUTTA THERE: Iowa Rep. Steve King chose to boycott President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night in protest of what he said was his efforts to undermine the U.S. Constitution and his disregard for 'aborted babies' TWO HANDS NOT CLAPPING: Obama delivered his final State of the Union address Tuesday night without King in attendance, giving a speech focused on America's long-term future GOING TO CHURCH: King told reporters he was headed to a U.S. Capitol chapel to pray for the unborn and for a new president who could 'restore the soul of America' 'I got into town last night and I just decided, I cant do this again,' he told The Blaze, adding that he didn't try to recruit other conservatives to join him. Instead, King spent the 9 o'clock hour Tuesday night in a prayer room set aside for members of Congress, just steps away from the Capitol Rotunda. The room features stained glass that depicts George Washington kneeling in prayer. King complained to a Breitbart.com reporter on his way there that Obama has 'taken his oath of office out on the West portico twice to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. And he's done anything but even when he knew he was wrong.' 'And so I can't abide sitting in there and being lectured one last time. This is my last chance to step out of there.' IN GOD WE TRUST: The members' chapel at the Capitol features a stained glass rendering of George Washington kneeling in prayer 'I'm going to go to the members' chapel,' King said, 'where I'm going to pray for the restoration of our Constitution, for the lives of the unborn whom he's, as far as we know, never shed a tear for and pray that God will raise up a leader whom He will use to restore the soul of America.' Obama had previously said he would leave a chair empty in the House gallery to represent victims of gun violence. 'He did shed tears for the victims of Sandy Hook, and I think thats appropriate,' King told The Blaze. Roof was reportedly inspired to kill nine at the Charleston church in June out of white The gunman responsible for a deadly rampage inside a Louisiana movie theater last summer left a journal thanking the man accused of killing nine black people in a church. In a rambling, handwritten 40-page journal released by police Wednesday, John Russell Houser described Dylann Roof as 'green but good.' 'Had Dylan Roof reached political maturity he would have seen the word is not (n-word), but liberal,' Houser wrote. 'But thank you for the wake up call Dylann.' Houser shot and killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself inside an auditorium at The Grand 16 theater in Lafayette last July. Louisiana theater shooter John Russell Houser, left, reportedly praised Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, right, in a journal he kept, investigators have revealed References: Houser was seemingly obsessed with Dylann Roof who opened fire at a church in Charleston in June and killed nine African-Americans Offensive language: Houser uses the N-word as he writes down his rambling thoughts Fury: This is one of the last entries in Houser's journal before he opened fire at a showing of Trainwreck in July Jillian Johnson, a 33-year-old musician and business owner, and Mayci Breaux, a 21-year-old student, died in the shooting. Police recovered Houser's journal from the Motel 6 room in Lafayette where he had been staying since early July. On the partially redacted, lined pages of what appears to be type of school notebook, Houser laments the state of the U.S., calling it a 'filth farm,' and he rants against the news media, national political figures, women, gays and blacks. 'America as a whole is now the enemy,' he wrote, also warning of impending problems for the country. 'I have hidden nothing and have hated the U.S. for at least 30 years. It will soon be every man for himself. A global rearrangement comes soon.' Roof killed nine black people when he opened fire at a Charleston, South Carolina church in June The next month, Houser shot two women dead inside a showing of the movie Trainwreck at a theater in Lafayette, Louisiana Investigators also found wigs and disguises in the motel room, suggesting Houser had hoped to escape after the shooting. Police have said he tried to blend in with the crowd of people fleeing after the shooting but turned back after spotting officers entering the theater. Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft has said Houser visited the theater more than once, perhaps to determine 'whether there was anything that could be a soft target for him.' His only known connection to Lafayette was an uncle who died there three decades ago. In the journal, Houser wrote that 'soft targets are everywhere. Military police, etc. designations are not necessary.' Houser had a long history of erratic behavior in the Georgia and Alabama communities where he lived before the shooting in Lafayette, which is about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge. In 2008, a Georgia judge ordered him detained for a mental evaluation after relatives claimed he was a danger to himself and others. But the judge said she didn't have him involuntarily committed. Victims: Jillian Johnson (left), a 33-year-old who ran a gift shop with her husband, and 21-year-old Mayci Breaux (right), who went to Louisiana State University, were both killed by Houser That could explain how he passed a federal background check in 2014, which enabled him to legally buy the .40-caliber handgun he used in the shooting from a pawn shop in Phenix City, Alabama. Houser was a regular presence on right-wing extremist message boards, where he praised Adolf Hitler and advised people not to underestimate 'the power of the lone wolf,' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. A former neighbor said Houser flew a large Confederate flag outside his home and a Nazi swastika outside a bar he owned, and put 'doomsday' fliers in his neighbors' mailboxes. Houser became estranged from his family and lost his businesses and his Phenix City home. When he was evicted, he ruined the property by pouring concrete into the plumbing and glue into the fixtures, police said. His estranged wife, Kellie Houser, filed for divorce in March 2015, claiming he lashed out at her and warned, 'I'd better watch out because he always wins.' In August, 'Trainwreck' star Amy Schumer spoke tearfully of the two women killed in the shooting as she urged lawmakers to support a gun control bill sponsored by her second cousin, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. Sean Penn appeared in good spirits on Wednesday, joking with comedian Jason Sudeikis and actress Olivia Wilde as he stepped out for the first time since publishing his interview with El Chapo. The actor has been the center of furious debate since revealing he met with notorious cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman last year - while the drugs lord was on the run from Mexican authorities. Many - including one of El Chapo's lawyers - are demanding that the double Oscar-winner be interrogated about the exact circumstances of the meeting. But Penn, who has dismissed calls for him to be investigated saying 'I've got nothin' to hide', seemed care-free as he strolled through sunny Los Angeles and bumped into fellow celebrities. Sean Penn laughed with comedian Jason Sudeikis and his actress fiancee - rumored wife - Olivia Wilde in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It is the actor's first outing since publishing his controversial interview with El Chapo The actor has been the center of furious debate since revealing he met with notorious cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman last year - while the drugs lord was on the run from Mexican authorities One of El Chapo's lawyers, Juan Pablo Badillo (above), has appealed for Sean Penn to be arrested, accusing him of making up quotes about drug trafficking in his 10,000-word Rolling Stone interview, El Chapo Speaks He was wearing a plaid shirt, loose jeans, a bomber jacket, and hiking boots when he bumped into Jason Sudeikis and the comedian's actress fiancee - rumored wife - Olivia Wilde outside a supermarket. Wilde was sipping a smoothie as the trio talked animatedly. Meanwhile, one of El Chapo's lawyers, Juan Pablo Badillo, was giving an interview to Reuters in which he accused the actor of lying in his 10,000-word Rolling Stone interview, El Chapo Speaks. In it, Penn quotes Guzman as saying he is one of the world's leading drug traffickers. 'Its a lie, absurd speculation from Mr Penn,' Juan Pablo Badillo, one of a team of Guzman lawyers, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. 'In a way, yes, it does complicate it [his defense]. Mr Penn should be called to testify to respond about the stupidities he has said,' Badillo added. He said that based on years of working Guzman, he was certain he would not make such a self-incriminating statement. 'He [Guzman] could not have made these claims... Mr Guzman is a very serious man, very intelligent,' Badillo said. 'Where's the proof? Where's the audio?' This is the controversial photo of Sean Penn meeting the drug lord who had never heard of him Despite not knowing who Sean Penn was, El Chapo agreed to record this video interview for him, answering questions sent to him via email. The 17-minute interview for Rolling Stone covers his childhood, his dreams, his relationship with his mother, what he thinks about the Mexican government, and how he got into drugs El Chapo was residing in the north of the country when he met with Penn and del Castillo. He has since been returned to Altiplano prison, near Mexico City, and is being moved from cell to cell, according to officials This is the first photo of the drug lord since he was booked once again, and officials had shaved off his hair He has been returned to the maximum security prison (pictured) which he broke free from by digging a tunnel Penn said he was not allowed to record his in-person conversation with Guzman. The Mexican fugitive later sent Penn a 17-minute video of answers after security issues stymied plans to hold a follow-up interview in person, and it does not contain the reported comments. Penn, who met Guzman along with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, wrote that Guzman proudly volunteered information on his illegal activities. 'I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats,' Penn quotes Guzman as saying. A government spokesman said on Tuesday that Mexico was not directly investigating Penn or del Castillo but rather the circumstances around the meeting. Guzman was recaptured on Friday, six months after staging a spectacular prison break through a tunnel in his cell floor. While on the run, Guzman met secretly with Penn at a jungle hideout - a move the government says was 'essential' to his capture. Badillo said he was poised to file a legal challenge on behalf of Guzman, whom he has represented since 1993, against his being held in isolation. Sean Penn and Naomi Watts in the 2003 movie 21 Grams - the only Sean Penn movie El Chapo's lawyer can remember. When El Chapo asks what Penn has done since, his lawyer says he thinks he quit acting The legal challenge is not a new tactic for Guzman's lawyers. Badillo filed seven previously during Guzman's incarceration and after his escape. Badillo successfully filed a challenge while Guzman was on the run seeking to bar security forces from killing him as they sought to capture him. He declined to elaborate on his wider legal defense strategy, which is aimed at avoiding Guzman's extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on an array of charges. Mexican daily Milenio late on Tuesday published alleged private messages between del Castillo and Guzman. Badillo said he believed reports about them having a close relationship were 'pure speculation.' The Duchess of Sussex has spoken to Variety about a wide-range of issues including 'misconceptions' about her since she married her royal husband in 2018 - especially after the Oprah interview - and claiming their 'love story' had inspired the world because 'people love love'. Meghan took part in a glamorous photo and video shoot for the magazine where she wore a 4,657 Jason Wu dress and spoke about her recent trip to the UK with Harry where their pseudo-royal tour was interrupted by Her Majesty's death aged 96 on September 8. But in a hint that her death had been troublesome for Harry, who reportedly found out about the passing of his grandmother the just five minutes before the rest of the world, she said of the days and weeks afterwards: ' It's been a complicated time, but my husband, ever the optimist, said: "Now she's reunited with her husband".' Harry had looked heartbroken as he arrived at Balmoral after learning the Queen had died on a private jet travelling alone without his wife. He stayed for 12 hours, apparently refused to have dinner with King Charles and Prince William and also took a backseat at the funeral where he was not allowed to salute irrespective of his military service. But despite claims that she and Harry have set out to damage the Royal Family since emigrating in 2020, Meghan told Variety that she remains 'proud' of her relationship with Queen and had a 'nice warmth' with her, calling Her Majesty a 'matriarch'. She said: 'There's been such an outpouring of love and support. I'm really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time. What's so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts. Certainly, in terms of female leadership, she is the most shining example of what that looks like. I feel deep gratitude to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her'. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's relentless recent attacks on Ted Cruz, his closest rival for the primary nomination, appear to be paying off in the Hawkeye State. Trump and Cruz are virtually tied in Iowa, where voters will caucus on Feb. 1 in the first contest of the 2016 primary season, according to a new poll published Wednesday by Bloomberg Politics and The Des Moines Register. Given that Cruz had a 10-point lead over Trump just a month ago according to Bloomberg/DMR, it seems clear that Trump's attacks are paying dividends. The two had shared a long detente in the campaign, repeatedly refusing to criticize each other. Trump has been hammering Cruz over his Canadian birth and long-time dual citizenship between the two countries, mocking the Texas senator's claim that he has 'natural-born' U.S. citizenship and challenging him to prove it in court. Scroll down for videos Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump had been trailing in Iowa to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but a new poll on Wednesday shows he has closed the gap by challenging Cruz's eligibility for president Cruz once led Trump by 10 points in Iowa, according to a joint poll by Bloomberg Politics and The Des Moines Register, but this week's new poll shows that lead has evaporated Bloomberg has released periodic polls in Iowa for the past year on the Republican primary side of the 2016 presidential race Trump's attacks have knocked Cruz off his game, forcing him to confront the issue before reporters day after day and prompting him to hit back at Trump for the first time during the primary campaign. The poll of 500 likely Republican caucus-goers has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, meaning Cruz's narrow lead is actually a virtual tie. It was conducted Jan. 7-10. The new poll puts Cruz at 25 percent, a drop of six points from 31 percent in the last survey, while Trump is second at 22 percent. Sitting in third place is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12 percent, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 11 percent. Only single-digit candidates round out the bottom of the field - Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at 5 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 4 percent, and 3 percent each for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. There is some good news for Cruz - the poll found he has the best overall net favorability, at a positive 57 points, while Trump's favorability is a mere positive 9 points by contrast. For Trump, those are his lowest favorability numbers since entering the race last June. The so-called 'birther' row between Trump and Cruz began early last week, after Trump generated several days' worth of media stories by discussing Cruz's eligibility for the presidency. A day later, 2008 presidential nominee John McCain also called it into question. Despite support from 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, whose father faced similar questions when he ran for president in 1968, Cruz was knocked off-message by the attack and his campaign even had to consult and display his mother's birth certificate. Cruz was born in Canada in 1970 to a woman who was born in Delaware as a U.S. citizen. He had dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship for years before renouncing his Canadian citizenship upon his election to the Senate in 2012. Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, an attorney, said last week he will sue to challenge Cruz's eligibility for the presidency if the senator somehow overtakes Trump and wins the GOP presidential nomination. Grayson and others have noted that there is little legal precedent for the 'natural born' citizenship theory being tested on a presidential nominee. Furthermore, he says Cruz's mother, Eleanor, may have forfeited her U.S. citizenship by taking a Canadian oath of citizenship - as specified in Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Cruz's candidacy has been rattled by Trump's media barrage over the Texas senator's US citizenship Trump at a Tuesday night rally in Cedar Falls, Iowa In an interview last week with The Washington Post, Trump said the question of Cruz's citizenship puts the GOP in a 'very precarious' position. Even more damaging, Cruz's former Yale Law School professor, Laurence Tribe, has said Cruz's citizenship is a legitimate question. On Tuesday, Cruz punched back at Trump, calling his candidacy a boon for supporters of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. 'It's more than a little strange to see Donald Trump is relying on as authoritative a liberal left-wing judicial activist Harvard law professor who is a huge Hillary supporter,' Cruz said in Hudson, New Hampshire, referring to Tribe. 'It starts to make you think, gosh, why are Hillary's strongest supporters backing Donald Trump? The past couple of elections we saw the Democrats thrilled that they got the nominee they wanted to run against in the general election,' he said. 'The Hillary folks are very eager to support Donald Trump.' But Trump continued to lay into Cruz at a rally at the University of Northern Iowa on Tuesday night. 'He's got a problem,' Trump said, going on to say the issue would persist if Cruz wins the nomination. 'I'm doing it for the party, and I'm doing it for The Ted,' Trump said later. De'Naye Washington, 17, has died from injuries she suffered after being sexually assaulted in her home A 17-year-old who was sexually assaulted in her home has died from injuries she suffered in the brutal attack. De'Naye Washington was sleeping inside her home in Detroit on January 7 when her attacker burst through the window, battered over the head and sexually assaulted her. The high school senior spent days fighting for her life in hospital, but died yesterday. Police have named Darian Winfield, 19, as a person of interest in the attack. De'Naye's aunt, Terri Washington, told Fox 2 Detroit that her niece's death - which is now being treated as murder - was 'senseless'. 'It's crazy and she is just a baby,' Ms Washington said. 'She got hit six times and her brain was swollen so much, there was nothing they could do - they tried everything.' GeNaye's sister, Shaquetta, added: 'I just want to know why would you do that to her. What did she do to you why would you target her? 'She's so loving just like a big kid we were sitting here playing Uno the day before it happened.' Police sources told the news station that fingerprints found inside the home link Winfield to the scene. Investigators have taken DNA samples and are awaiting results. Winfield is already being held in jail on a $1million bond after being arrested last week. He is suspected of sexually assaulting another woman in Detroit on December 13, Georgia Newsday reported. De'Naye Washington (left) was sleeping inside her home in Detroit when her attacker - who police believe was Darian Winfield (right) - burst through the window, battered over the head and sexually assaulted her He is also accused of breaking into another house on the same street as DeNaye's home on December 30, before allegedly stabbing a 39-year-old woman in the chest with the intent of sexually assaulting her. James Craig, from Detroit Police Department, said: 'In one incident we know he was armed with what appeared to be a kitchen knife. In the most recent incident, blunt force trauma. We don't know what weapon may have been used.' Winfield is yet to be charged following DeNaye's murder. His family claim he is innocent, with his mother, Anita Pace, telling the Detroit News: 'It's not him. They have the wrong person'. Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have been fined for packaging food that weighed between 9.4 per cent and 41 per cent less than advertised. An audit done by the National Measurement Institute (NMI), Australia's regulator of trade transactions involving measurement, has found thousands of businesses were packing food that were under the weight claimed. Of the 11,000 businesses that were tested, it was found Woolworths' pre-packed mock cream sponge birthday cakes were up to 41 per cent less heavy than claimed. Supermarket giant Woolworths has been fined for selling food that weighed up to 41 per cent less than advertised The supermarket pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined $3,300. A Woolworths spokesman told Daily Mail Australia it was a one-off incident and blamed it on 'human error' at its Maroochydore store on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. 'We implemented refresher training to ensure high standards are maintained when supplying in-store made products to our customers,' he said. Meanwhile Woolworths' main competitor, Coles, also landed itself in hot water after it was found the supermarket's lamb chops were up to 9.4 per cent short of the product's advertised weight. Its competitor, Coles, pleaded guilty to a weighing instrument not being at zero when measuring products while they were unloaded Coles pleaded guilty to a weighing instrument not being at zero when measuring products while they were unloaded, and was fined $3,000 for the oversight. A spokesman for the supermarket said the case involved 'a single store on a single day in July 2013 on one product'. 'Coles takes its trade measurement responsibilities very seriously and has robust operational and compliance systems in place in every one of its stores right around Australia,' he said. 'The issue, which resulted from a piece of fresh meat sticking to an automatic cutting and weighing machine between slices, was quickly corrected and no wrongly-labelled items were sold to customers.' It was found Woolworths' pre-packed mock cream sponge birthday cakes were up to 41 per cent less heavy than claimed The weighing instrument oversight in July 2013 resulted in lamb chops being up to 9.4 per cent short of the product's advertised weight Other than Coles and Woolworths, cases against Musher Saleh T/A Lakemba Jewellery, in Sydney, and Santoshi International Pty Ltd, in Brisbane, were also heard before the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Representatives of the jewellery store did not appear before the court but were found guilty of using an unverified measuring instrument and were fined $5,000. Santoshi International pleaded guilty to having shortfalls of up to 50 per cent in its pre-packed spices. The business was fined $3,000. In 2014-15, NMI issued 3,962 non-compliance notices - which 13 per cent more than last year. The regulator also sent 139 warning letters, less than in 2013-14, and handed out 98 fines totalling $92,650. Almost 29,000 lines of packaged goods, including 120,000 individual packages, were tested for correct measure. The NMI also investigated 769 complaints made in 2014-15, with 66 per cent of them related to petrol or other fuels. Retired consultant Michael Salmon, 80, (pictured last year) of Wiltshire, was a consultant paediatrician at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, where disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile abused 60 people A retired hospital consultant who worked at a hospital where Jimmy Savile preyed upon 60 victims has been charged with 26 child sex offences, including rape. Michael Salmon, 80, of Salisbury, Wiltshire, was a consultant paediatrician at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, at same time as disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile volunteered there. Salmon is charged with 26 child sex offences dating back to 1977. The well-spoken doctor did not formally enter any pleas to the 26 historic allegations that he has been charged with as he appeared before magistrates today. Around 19 victims have made allegations against the former doctor dating back to the 1970s and 1980s - all of which were allegedly committed in the hospital grounds, JPs were told. Salmon appeared in court via a video link to hear brief details of the charges he is facing. The first is a count of rape, said to have been committed at the hospital at some point between September 1977 and September 1980. The court clerk summarised the remaining offences that the former doctor was charged with. She told the court: 'There are 25 other offences, all in relation to indecent assaults at various times in relation to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and all against young people.' The clerk said that the offences had to be dealt with at a crown court as magistrates did not have jurisdiction to deal with the rape charge. Sitting behind a table in the video booth for the hearing, 80-year-old Salmon spoke to confirm his name and age and to give his address. At the conclusion of the hearing, which lasted for around five minutes, Salmon thanked magistrates sitting at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, for their time. Presiding magistrate Frank Hawkins told the defendant: 'The matter will now be put off to Monday, February 15 at Aylesbury Crown Court. It will be the next stage in these proceedings.' Around 19 victims have made allegations against the former doctor dating back to the 1970s and 1980s - all of which were allegedly committed in the hospital grounds (pictured) Salmon, dressed in a short sleeved sky blue shirt, said in response: 'Thank you, your worships.' Pensioner Salmon specialised in children's growth disorders and neurological problems, including migraines and was once praised by Princess Diana for his charity work with sick children. He first worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1961 on a paediatric secondment, lasting six months. He later returned to the hospital in 1969 after working across the UK, including holding a top position in developmental medicine in Oxford. In 1969 Salmon set up the developmental assessment unit at the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital, only the fourth such unit in the country at the time. Salmon was instrumental in the building of a special care baby unit at the hospital and helped to raise between 50,000 and 70,000 for much needed equipment for the hospital's paediatric unit. He was congratulated by Princess Diana for his work on a Dreamflight charity trip, which took 300 ill children to Disney World in Florida. Georgia has moved one step closer towards executing its oldest death row inmate next month, the state's attorney general announced Wednesday. Brandon Astor Jones, 72, is scheduled to be put to death February 2 at the state prison in Jackson, the office of Attorney General Sam Olens said in a news release. Jones was convicted of killing Roger Tackett, a 30-year-old convenience store manager, during a robbery in 1979. Doomed: Brandon Astor Jones, 72, pictured in two mugshots taken years apart, is set to be executed on February 2 after spending nearly 20 years on Georgia's death row A federal judge later ordered a new sentencing hearing for Jones because jurors had improperly been allowed to bring a Bible into the deliberation room. Jones was resentenced to death in 1997. The US Supreme Court in October rejected an appeal from Jones, clearing the way for his execution. A divided Georgia Supreme Court and the federal appeals court in Atlanta had previously upheld his death sentence. According to evidence at his trial, Jones and Van Roosevelt Solomon were arrested at the scene by a Cobb County policeman who had driven a stranded motorist to the convenience store to use a pay phone at around 1.45am on June 17, 1979. The officer knew the store usually closed at midnight and was suspicious when he saw a car out front with the driver's side door open and lights still on inside the store. Through the front window, he saw Jones stick his head out of the storeroom door at the back of the store and look around before closing the door, prosecutors have said. The officer entered the store and drew his weapon after hearing four shots. He yelled, 'Police, come on out,' and approached the storeroom when no one responded. He found Jones and Solomon just inside the storeroom door and took them into custody, prosecutors have said. Jones, pictured here as a much younger man, was convicted of killing Roger Tackett, a 30-year-old convenience store manager, during a robbery in 1979 Tests showed each man had recently fired a gun or handled a recently fired gun. The cash drawer had been removed and was found wrapped in a plastic bag. Solomon, who was also convicted and sentenced to death, was executed in Georgia's electric chair in February 1985. According to a death warrant signed for Jones Wednesday, the septuagenarian is to be put to death at 7pm on February 2, reported Atlanta Journal Constitution. If for some reason Jones is not executed on the appointed day, the state has until noon on February 9 to carry out the death sentence. Longtime front-runner Donald Trump would not be much of an improvement in luring moderate voters to the polls, GOP leaders are told Cruz, long loathed by GOP party leaders, would be a significant drag on the party's ability to hold onto Congress if he is the eventual nominee, pollster says A prominent pollster for Republican candidates used a private meeting with GOP congressional leaders earlier this month to warn them of the dangers to the party of a Ted Cruz presidential campaign, according to a new report Wednesday. The pollster, Dave Sackett of the Annapolis, Md.-based Tarrance Group, told House Speaker Paul Ryan and other House leaders that Cruz would be a significant drag on the party's hopes of retaining control of Congress. That's because Cruz would do little compared to other candidates to motivate fence-sitting primary voters, causing a drag on down-ticket candidacies and possibly costing the GOP control of Congress. Scroll down for videos Congressional Republicans have been privately warned of the threat a Ted Cruz presidential candidacy poses to the party in the November general election Cruz, a first-term Texas senator, has surged to a virtual tie with longtime front-runner Donald Trump in Iowa, which represents the first contest of the 2016 primary At the meeting, Sackett showed off a recent poll he conducted for the National Republican Congressional Committee on a number of intra-party issues, such as front-runner Donald Trump's call last month for a ban on Muslim immigrants into the U.S., according to the report in Politico. Participants in the meeting said Ryan asked Sackett at one point which of the GOP presidential candidates would be the biggest threat to the party's attempt to keep control of the House in the November elections. The answer: Cruz. Cruz has long been loathed by party leaders for his anti-establishment style, although that has resounded with primary voters in the polls. Over the course of his first term in the Senate, he has also offended virtually all of his GOP colleagues, with exceptions such as Mike Lee of Utah, for gumming up the legislative process and even calling GOP Leader Mitch McConnell a liar in a floor speech. He is less well-known in the House, where former Speaker John Boehner once called him 'a jackass,' Tellingly, more than a dozen House Republicans have endorsed Cruz, while no Senate Republicans have done the same. But Sackett's warning represents perhaps the first, fresh news that Cruz's candidacy could affect Republican voters out in the country as well. Sackett cited Cruz's relatively extreme positions on issues, which would turn off general election voters, moderates and independents. The report did not project a potential loss of Congress and did hold out the possibility that the party could actually gain seats, given the unpredictability of the election season so far. Trump has brought down Cruz's lead in Iowa by continually raising questions about his eligiblity for the presidency Cruz's campaign fired back at Politico that the analysis was 'the same old tired thinking that we always get,' in the words of communications director Rick Tyler, who went on to say that a Republican from the 'moderate middle' no longer has to be the nominee if the party is to win the presidency. Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise were all present at the meeting in Annapolis, according to the report. But Ryan's office, the NRCC and Sackett all declined to comment to Politico. Ryan - the 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee, has been publicly dismissive of any interest in the 2016 race, especially when asked about his own interest in a campaign. Conventional wisdom among GOP elders has been that Donald Trump's candidacy represented the biggest threat to the party's down-ticket chances. This was not discounted by Sackett's presentation to the GOP leaders, as 48 percent of respondents to his poll said they were less likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate or incumbent if Trump was at the top of the ticket. Trump has dominated the Republican field ever since last summer in polls. Currently he is tied with Cruz in Iowa, where Republicans will caucus on Feb. 1, but holds a wide lead over the field in New Hampshire, where the nation's first primary will be held on Feb. 9. Police say Jacob 'Jake' Malone, 33, a pastor accused of sexually assaulting and impregnating a teenage girl is out of the country Police say the married 33-year-old pastor who allegedly sexually assaulted and impregnated a teenager girl in Pennsylvania is out of the country. Jacob 'Jake' Malone is wanted on charges of rape and institutional sexual assault, among other related offenses after he allegedly impregnated an underage girl who lived with him and went to his church. An attorney representing Malone has been in touch with police and said he will return and surrender by the end of the week, West Whiteland Detective Scott Pezick says. The girl told police the sexual assault began just months after she moved with Malone and his family to Exton for his new pastor job in 2014. Malone had first met the girl years ago when she was 12-years-old and attending a Mesa, Arizona church where he worked as a pastor, authorities said. He contacted the girl in June 2014, when she was 17-years-old, and invited her to come stay with him and his family in Minnesota. The following month she made the move with the family to Exton, where Malone began working at the nondenominational church Calvary Fellowship. Malone even registered the teenage girl at a local high school. Bill Bateman, a pastor at Calvary Fellowship, said Malone worked at the church for about 18 months, he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. He said Malone and his wife treated the girl like an adopted daughter. The teenager told police Malone began to sexually assault her in the fall of 2014. Malone is wanted on charges of rape and institutional sexual assault, among other related offenses. His attorney told authorities that he would surrender by the end of the week The girl told police the sexual assault began just months after she moved with Malone (pictured with his wife) and his family to Exton, Pennsylvania for his new pastor job in 2014 She said he gave her alcohol twice after she turned 18, and in one of the instances molested her after she became highly intoxicated. Bateman said leaders at Calvary Fellowship learned of the girl's pregnancy in November 2015, as well as another alleged inappropriate relationship Malone was having in another state. Malone admitted to impregnating the teenager and resigned that same month, Bateman said. Bateman said the teenage girl temporarily moved in with another church member and has since left the state to be with her family. He said the church was told about the allegations against Malone over the weekend. 'Our church's goal in difficult moments like this is to protect the innocents, first of all,' he said. 'And, number two, we strive to bring about repentance and restoration of the offender.' Bill Bateman, a pastor at Calvary Fellowship, said Malone (pictured with his wife and children) worked at the church for about 18 months. He said Malone and his wife treated the girl like an adopted daughter A prostitute accused of stabbing a high school teacher to death fought with him because he wanted unprotected sex, a court heard. Alisha Walker, who sobbed uncontrollably as a police interview was played in court today, is on trial accused of murdering Alan Filan, 61, at his home in January 2014. A recording played at Cook County Court today showed Walker, 22, telling investigators how she and another woman went to Mr Filan's house after he contacted her through an escort advert. Prostitute Alisha Walker claims Catholic school teacher Alan Filan tried to stab him after she and another escort refused to have unprotected sex with him Walker, who sobbed uncontrollably as a police interview was played in court today, is on trial accused of murdering Mr Filan Walker, a prostitute from Akron, Ohio, said in the tape that she had visited the religious school teacher twice before and was paid up to $600 both times, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. When she arrived for the third time, Walker claimed that Mr Filan was angered because the woman she had brought along did not look like the picture in the ad. Mr Filan, who taught business at Brother Rice High School in Chicago, said he would only pay $300 for half an hour, the court heard, but only if they could have unprotected sex. Walker and the other woman refused, leading Mr Filan to grab his cash back, defense attorney Patrick O'Byrne told the court. The escort told police that the argument turned physical and that Mr Filan called her a 'stupid bitch' as they shoved each other. 'He punched me in the face and hit me a couple of times He grabbed my arm,' Walker told Detective Michael Bennett in the police interview. Walker said an argument with Mr Filan turned physical and that he called her a 'stupid bitch' as they shoved each other Mr Filan was found dead days later with 14 stab wounds. Bloody footprints left by high heels were left nearby and police found Walker's blood-stained jeans in a motel 'He was cussing me out the whole time,' she added. Walker claims Mr Filan got a knife from the kitchen counter and was trying to stab her, but she managed to grab it from him. 'I don't know how many times I hit him. I just know there was blood on the ground,' Walker told Det Bennett. She said she and the other woman sped away from the house in a silver car. Mr Filan was found dead days later with 14 stab wounds. Bloody footprints left by high heels were left nearby and police found Walker's blood-stained jeans in a motel. Walker is charged with murder but she is claiming self-defense. A Texas standoff involving a stolen 18-wheeler near Dallas has safely ended with the driver captured. Officers didn't immediately identify the man detained Wednesday afternoon about two hours after the incident began. The slow chase began late Wednesday morning on Interstate 30 east of Dallas. It ended nearly an hour later on a service road near Greenville, about 45 miles away. A standoff has ended after troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety chased a stolen big rig to a dead end at a service road in Hunt County near Greenville just outside Dallas A man barricaded himself inside a stolen 18-wheeler after leading officers on a 45-mile chase After about an hour-long standoff, SWAT team members fired two separate shots into the cab of the 18-wheeler The rig was pulling a trailer with Intrade Industries Inc. on the side. It came to a halt at a dead end near I-30. The truck was stopped for about an hour when an officer in an armored-type vehicle fired into the front windshield. After about an hour-long standoff, SWAT team members fired two separate shots into the cab of the 18-wheeler. Within minutes, the passenger door of the truck opened and a dog jumped out. Officers removed the dog from the area to safety. Moments later, authorities pulled the driver out of the vehicle and down onto the ground. The man, who has not been identified, was quickly taken into custody. Lonny Haschel with the DPS said the truck, loaded with produce, was reported missing because it was overdue at its destination by 30 hours. Fresno, California-based Intrade Industries didn't immediately return messages seeking information about the rig. Within minutes, the passenger door of the truck opened and a dog jumped out. Officers removed the dog from the area to safety The rig, pulling a trailer with Intrade Industries Inc. on the side, came to a halt at a dead end near I-30 A series of suggestive text messages intercepted by the Mexican government between the fugitive drug lord El Chapo and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo ultimately led to his recapture. The lengthy text conversation, published today by Mexican newspaper Milenio, reveals that El Chapo not only had no idea who Sean Penn is, but that he spent much of his time as a fugitive in his home state of Sinaloa. It was the meeting with the Hollywood actor to discuss a future TV biopic of the fugitive drug lord that ultimately led to El Chapos recapture, and the Mexican soap opera star worked to orchestrate the event, telling El Chapo of her excitement over their project. Broker: Mexican soap star Kate del Castillo met a member of El Chapo's cartel who put her in touch with the drug boss Meeting: The texts reveal El Chapo didn't know who Sean Penn was before their famous meeting Kates number was saved under the alias Ermoza (a misspelling of Hermosa, meaning Gorgeous) in El Chapos contact list, was first put in touch with the fugitive after meeting a Sinaloa Cartel member while in the state. The first contact is a simple message from one of El Chapos employees, most likely one of his sons given that the Sinaloa Cartel bosss number is saved as Dad (Papa) in the phones contact list: First text: Im with her now sir. El Chapo: Hello, what a pleasure to greet you, even if its over the phone. How have you been? Kate: Very well. You? El Chapo: Good, thank you, with desire to greet you personally, my friend. How many days will you be here? Caught: Mexican authorities followed del Castillo's conversations with El Chapo, which played a 'key role' in his capture Vanity: El Chapo's first messages to del Castillo show him flirting and telling her she is beautiful, while arranging a film to 'document' his life The initial conversations show El Chapos romantic desire for the actress who played a narco queen herself in many of her performances. In the same first conversation the couple arrange their first rendezvous. El Chapo: They will pick you up from your Mazatlan (a Sinaloa state beach resort) hotel at 7am and you can leave the next morning. Bring wine and we will drink champagne. You are the most beautiful in the world, have faith that you will be safe, Ill guard with more care than my own eyes. Kate: Its so moving that youll care for me! No one has ever cared for me, thank you! Im free next weekend. El Chapo married his third wife Emma Coronel in 2007, and has 14 children. Kate del Castillo, 43, is one of Mexicos most acclaimed actresses and starred in one of the countrys most popular telenovelas The Queen of the South in which she plays a drug trafficker. Further messages in the conversation, which ran from September 25 until November 9, see El Chapo tell the actress that I have so much desire for you, you are the most beautiful in the world. Kate returns the kingpins compliments, although focuses on the production of the TV series: I havent slept much since I saw you. Im so excited about the project, its all I think about. Desire: El Chapo told del Castillo: I have so much desire for you', during their conversations. Above, five people were shot dead at El Chapo's safe house (pictured) when he was captured last Friday End: The conversations ended on November 9, as Kate persistently asked for a direct line to the drug boss Following their meeting the pair begin to discuss a TV series, documenting the life of El Chapo. While in Los Angeles Kate suggests that they bring Hollywood director Sean Penn into the project, at which point El Chapo reveals to another employee, listed as M that he has never heard of the actor. M: Sean Penn, he has made very good films and he is drooling over the thought of meeting you El Chapo: Who is this actor? M: He the one who made the film 21 Grams. As the actress begins to organise the project, El Chapo starts to think as a director himself, messaging her, I want you to interview my men and women at the ranch, and my mother wants to meet you, I told her all about you. El Chapo becomes ever more complimentary as time goes on, often messaging the actress describing her as gorgeous, the most admired woman and even sending her a brand new top-of-the-range smartphone for her to use for contacting him alone. Following the meeting with Kates companion (acompanante) Sean Penn between November 5 and 9 according to the conversation transcript, El Chapo is given the article that would later appear in Rolling Stone magazine to check over. The conversations end on November 9, with Kate persistently asking for a direct Mexican line to the drug lord, in order that any prospective producers for El Chapos TV biopic might be in touch. The Mexican authorities have stated that this conversation between El Chapo and the soap opera actress was a major key to the drug lords recapture. It is not clear whether the actress was cooperating with the authorities at any point. Kate del Castillo has made no public comment on the meeting/s with El Chapo Failed escape: 'El Chapo' Guzman was so excited to do the documentary he said he wanted Kate to meet his mother. Above, the tunnel he tried to escape through during the military operation that ended in his recapture Imprisoned: El Chapo has been returned to the Altiplano maximum security prison from which he escaped in July 2015 The Mexican authorities have stated that they are investigating Sean Penn, although not for the actual meeting with El Chapo. Meeting with a fugitive or a criminal is not a crime, professor of law Carlos Barragan at Mexicos National University told NBC news. However if Penn or del Castillo were given valuable gifts at any point, they may be charged with money laundering by the Mexican authorities, a crime which carries a newly enhanced sentence of between 7 and 22 years in prison in the country. Scores of wealthy tax dodgers may have escaped prosecution, the outgoing head of HM Revenue and Customs admitted in fiery exchanges with MPs. Dame Lin Homer revealed that the tax office is increasing the number of rich individuals it will prosecute for tax evasion each year from around 35 to 100 by 2020. In a fiery exchange with MPs, the HMRC boss nicknamed Dame Disaster for her legacy of failings was forced to admit that this meant some people who should have been prosecuted did not face action. During Dame Lin Homer's appearance before the Commons Public Accounts Committee, she revealed that the taxman is 'unlikely' to bring any prosecutions over claims that HSBC's Swiss arm helped wealthy clients evade tax During a fraught appearance before the powerful Commons Public Accounts Committee, the HMRC chief also revealed that the taxman is unlikely to bring any prosecutions over claims that HSBCs Swiss arm helped wealthy clients evade tax, causing MPs to claim the banking giant had got away scot free. Dame Lin also admitted the tax offices customer service was inconsistent as it was found that one in five customer calls to HMRC go unanswered, and those that do get through have to wait an average of six minutes. HMRC was accused of having one rule for the rich and one rule for the poor when it came to cracking down on tax evaders. Conservative MP Stephen Phillips said the message being sent out is loud and clear, 'it's evade your taxes and you are not going to be prosecuted' Conservative MP Stephen Phillips said: The message which goes out is loud and clear, its evade your taxes and you are not going to be prosecuted. But Dame Lin who announced her resignation on Monday after being made a dame in the New Year Honours list said she strongly disagreed. Mr Phillips said the fact the tax office was raising the number of prosecutions against wealthy individuals to 100 meant there were very wealthy people who you will be prosecuting by 2020 [who] are at present not being prosecuted. Dame Lin, who was accused of being defensive over the claims, later responded: It is fair to say there are some people who have evaded their tax in the past and will be in the future who will not be prosecuted because we will never prosecute everyone. It is fair to say over the last five years and over the next, weve decided we will prosecute more in a number of categories. There is no particular category of wealth of type that weve either left to one side or decided to target. Asked again whether this suggested some people who will be prosecuted in future may not have been under the current system, she said: Yes. Dame Lin also provoked an angry reaction when she confirmed it was unlikely HSBC would face prosecution. The MPs said it was extraordinary that the bank will face no action even though it was domiciled in the UK. Mr Phillips added: It looks like they have got away scot free. Dame Lin also faced criticism over the tax office's poor customer service record when she boasted that four out of five calls in the last three months were answered The HMRC boss also faced criticism over the tax offices poor customer service record when she boasted that four out of five calls received in the last three months were answered, up from one in two earlier this year. She claimed this showed things were getting better and better. But Mr Phillips retorted: Its not really better and better is it 81 per cent of calls answered within six minutes? Dame Lin will retire from HMRC two years early in April with a pension pot worth more than 2million. She has been accused of leaving chaos in her wake in a 35-year career in the public sector, including as head of the now defunct Border Agency where her tenure was described by MPs as catastrophic leadership failure. Mike Huckabee is once again coming to the defense of the Duggar family, this time as he actually yells at a supporter during a campaign stop. The Republican candidate for president, who is currently trailing almost the entire field, appeared in Clinton, Iowa on Tuesday when a woman asked him how if he did not support child abuse he could support the Duggars after it was revealed their son Josh has molested five minors when he was a teenager. Huckabee immediately cuts the woman off, telling her loudly at one point; 'You come in here to confront me, which is fine, but you cannot abuse, which is what youre doing, the reputation of a godly family who had been through hell because a son of theirs, one of their many children, did something evil and sinful that nobody is backing up and supporting.' Scroll down for video Friend fo life: Mike Huckabee (above with Josh Duggar) is once again coming to the defense of the Duggar family Tough questions: A woman asked Huckabee (above with Jim Bob and Michelle) on Tuesday during a campaign stop in Iowa why he supported them after it was revealed their son Josh molested girls Firing back: 'You cannot abuse, which is what youre doing, the reputation of a godly family who had been through hell because a son of theirs,' said Huckabee (above with Jim Bob and Josh in the 90s) The Slot posted video of the event, in which Huckabee also tells the woman; 'I never supported anything that happened to those daughters. 'I supported the fact that those daughters were maliciously and savagely abused not just by their brother, but by the news media who exploited them for their own purpose without regard for what it was doing to those young ladies.' He then threatens to throw the woman out if she asks another question, leading the audience to loudly applaud. Huckabee showed support for the Duggar on multiple occasions after it was revealed Josh had molested minors, but not since it was revealed the young man had also had multiple affairs while married to wife Anna. He appeared on Fox News in June, telling host Megyn Kelly of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar; 'They took many, many steps that many parents dont take under similar circumstances.' In May, Huckabee posted a statement of support for the Duggars on his campaign website, which featured numerous pictures of the former governor with Josh, Jim Bob and Michelle. Though the post was later deleted, he went on to post a similar message on his official Facebook page which read: 'Janet and I want to affirm our support for the Duggar family. Joshs actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, "inexcusable," but that doesnt mean "unforgivable." 'He and his family dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities. No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story. 'Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things.' Incensed: Huckabee (above with Anna and Josh) then threatened to throw the woman out if she asked any other questions Tried and true: Huckabee showed support for the Duggar on multiple occasions, including in June on Fox News (above) Josh entered a faith-based rehab program in Illinois in August to treat his infidelity and addiction to porn. He was visited by his wife Anna on Christmas, though it is not clear if she took any of the couple's four children with her on the trip. The couple wed in 2008, and are parents to five-month-old Meredith Grace, two-year-old Marcus, four-year-old Michael and six-year-old daughter Mackynzie. Josh confessed to having affairs in a letter in August shortly before he entered rehab, writing; 'I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. 'I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.' Just a few months before that in May, it was revealed he had molested four of his sisters when he was a teenager and they were minors. Eurosceptic Chris Grayling today fired the first shots in the Tory civil war over the EU referendum, branding the organisation 'disastrous' for Britain. In a newspaper article carefully worded to stay within Prime Minister David Cameron's rules of engagement, the Commons leader suggested he would be the first minister to break free of collective responsibility when it is suspended for the historic poll. But his attack was branded 'odd' by senior backbencher Damian Green, who accused Mr Grayling of 'peddling myths' about the EU. The Conservatives are expected to be split down the middle by the referendum, which is expected to held later this year - possibly as soon as June if Mr Cameron concludes his renegotiation next month. Scroll down for video Commons leader Chris Grayling, left in Downing Street, has today made clear his well known euroscepticism just days after David Cameron set out rules for how his ministers could campaign. Senior backbencher Damian Green said Mr Grayling was 'peddling myths' over the EU It emerged yesterday London mayor Boris Johnson was ruling himself out of heading up the Leave campaign, provoking a jostling for position among other senior Tories who might be keen to take on the high profile role. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former justice secretary Mr Grayling said: 'I am someone who believes that simply staying in the EU with our current terms of membership unchanged would be disastrous for Britain. 'That's why I have always believed that it is imperative that renegotiation takes place and delivers as much potential change as possible. 'It is in the interests of all Eurosceptics and of our country. I want Britain to choose between a changed relationship and leaving, and not between the current situation and leaving.' Mr Grayling, who reportedly was ready to quit the Government if necessary to campaign for exit warned Brussels was heading down 'a path that the UK will not and should not follow', adding: 'We are a sovereign nation. 'But thanks to changes to the Lisbon Treaty, countries like ours can now be outvoted every time by members of the eurozone on new European laws. 'We cannot be left in a position where we have no ability to defend our national interest.' Speaking to the BBC Today programme, Mr Green said he was keen to 'challenge' some of Mr Grayling's claims. He said: 'I think he's peddling myths about Britain in Europe; it's fascinating he says that 'carrying on as we are would be disastrous for Britain'. 'He and I fought an election campaign last year a successful election campaign in which we told the British people that we were creating more jobs, we kept inflation down, we're bringing the deficit down, we're creating millions of new apprenticeships. 'Well we've done all that as members of the EU. It seems to me a bit odd to say nine months later 'oh it's all disastrous'.' Mr Green said a key part of the Prime Minister's renegotiation was to end the trend toward 'ever closer union' and greater integration between member states. He called for all Conservatives to engage in a mature debate over the poll, which in theory could be delayed until the end of 2017. Boris Johnson's reported withdrawal from the race to lead the Leave the campaign has prompted speculation on who could win out. Business Secretary Sajid Javid, centre, is known to be eurosceptic while Home Secretary Theresa May, right, has frequently been highlighted as a possible candidate And he warned his party to learn the lessons of its 1990s civil war over Europe which contributed to the party losing power for a generation. No 10 today said the Prime Minister had been aware of Mr Grayling's article before it was published. A Downing Street spokesman said: 'He sets out that there are clear problems with the status quo in terms of the relationship we have with the EU. 'That's exactly the position the Prime Minister has taken. 'He has made clear that he believes in this process of renegotiation to fight to get the best deal for Britain, and that's exactly what the Prime Minister is doing at the moment.' Asked if Mr Cameron agreed that the UK's current terms of membership are 'disastrous' for Britain, the spokesman said: 'We would agree that the status quo doesn't work for the UK. 'That's always been the basis on which the Prime Minister began this process of regnegotiation.' David Cameron, pictured last week with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, has toured European capitals since the election to win support for his renegotiation and he is expected to lead the campaign to keep Britain in Mr Cameron sent an extraordinary memo to all ministers on Monday outlining the rules surrounding his decision to suspend collective responsibility for the referendum. He pleaded with his top team to maintain 'harmonious' relations on all others issues to ensure the government continues to run smoothly. The PM said the cabinet would discuss the rules after the renegotiation was finished. Ministers are all under orders to support current policy until that meeting. After this, Mr Cameron said a 'wholly exceptional' policy will come into force whereby ministers are allowed to disagree with the Prime Minister on the referendum. The Government is due to make a firm recommendation one way or other following Mr Cameron's talks, which are focussed on four areas with a key sticking point relating to migrant benefits. Mr Cameron said 'common sense' would extend to ministers speaking at the Commons despatch box, where they are always expected to stick to Government policy. The rules will not apply to wider EU policy, Mr Cameron said, and on all other areas cabinet collective responsibility will continue to apply. Civil servants will not be allowed to help ministers disagreeing with the government line but they will keep access to their special advisers, Mr Cameron said. He concluded: 'It will be very important during this period for ministers on both sides of the debate to treat each other with appropriate respect and courtesy. 'We all recognise the UK's membership of the EU is an issue on which some colleagues have long standing, deeply held positions of conviction - hence my decision to set aside, on a highly exceptional basis the normal rules of collective responsibility.' The reporting of Mr Johnson's comment to eurosceptic Tories that he is not an 'outer' turned attention to other senior politicians who could be the figurehead of the leave campaign. Home Secretary Theresa May has on several occasions declined to dampen speculation she could take on the role in a bid to boost her chances of succeeding Mr Cameron as Tory leader. The Times reported today Chancellor George Osborne could give his close ally Sajid Javid, the eurosceptic business secretary, 'licence' to play a senior role. Concern: Justine Thornton, the wife of former Labour leader Ed Miliband (pictured together) called the estimated 23,500 annual deaths a 'scandal' The barrister wife of former Labour leader Ed Miliband yesterday said the Government must be sued for continuing to allow dangerous pollution levels in the UK. Justine Thornton, who will be made a Queens Counsel next month, said the estimated 23,500 annual deaths from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution in the UK were a national scandal. She said judges must take the government to task to take immediate action to cut pollution. Critics, however, are likely to point out that it was the previous Labour government in which her husband served as energy secretary - that offered tax breaks to encourage British motorists to switch to diesel engines. Labour encouraged us to drive diesel cars because they produce less carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas which causes global warming. Around 10million British motorists now drive diesels, but the consequences have been a rise in NO2, which damages the lungs and blood vessels and worsens asthma. Labours shadow environment minister Barry Gardiner has previously accepted that his partys decision was wrong and a massive problem for public health. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled last April that the Government should be left in no doubt as to the need for immediate action to address this issue. In order to tackle NO2 pollution, Ministers issued plans in mid-December to introduce clean air zones by 2020. These schemes will see diesel vehicles charged to enter parts of Birmingham, Leeds, Derby, Nottingham and Southampton. London will also introduce a low emission zone, charging for diesel vehicles, but under the plans it will only reach legally acceptable pollution levels by 2025. Environmental group Clientearth, which brought the original court case against the Government, has warned it will bring a further legal challenge to Ministers within weeks for failing to do enough to tackle pollution. The actions get the full support of Miss Thornton, who is a specialist in environmental law. Clean: Critics are likely to point out that it was the former Labour government that offered tax breaks to encourage British motorists to switch to diesel engines. Her husband, Ed Miliband, served as energy secretary for the government Writing in the Guardian, she said the Government has soft-pedalled on pollution by private motorists and appears intent on watering down European legal limits for vehicle emissions. Miss Thornton added: The stage is set for a fascinating tussle between law and politics. The UK court will have to roll up its sleeves and decide whether this Government is doing what it can to make our air as safe as possible. She went on: Ten more years of dangerous air pollution in London puts a whole generation of children at risk. The quality of the air that our children breathe is too important to be decided behind closed doors by government and vehicle manufacturers. Alan Andrews, a lawyer for ClientEarth said he would apply for a case against the Government to be fast-tracked because peoples lives were at risk. Donald Trump's front-running campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination seems to be sputtering more than roaring in the crucial early-contest state of Iowa. A new report published Wednesday by The New York Times paints a picture of a disorganized, light-staffed campaign in the state where voters will caucus on Feb. 1. The lackluster effort appears to be hinging not so much on a grassroots, get-out-the-vote effort as on Trump's ability to draw thousands of Iowans to his rallies across the state. Trump and Cruz are virtually tied in Iowa, according to a new poll published Wednesday by Bloomberg Politics and The Des Moines Register. The poll put Cruz at 25 percent and Trump at 22 - within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Scroll down for videos Donald Trump supporters at a rally Tuesday night at the University of Northern Iowa, where voters will caucus there and elsewhere across the Hawkeye State on Feb. 1 Trump appears to be relying on his personal appearances at mega-rallies around Iowa to energize his supporters The Times report said some volunteers drafted by Trump's campaign are reluctant to knock on doors when weather is too cold - a guarantee in the Midwest during wintertime. There are also poorly vetted volunteers, such as one man who runs a Web site claiming that the September 2011 terrorist attacks were part of a government conspiracy - something the volunteer has been told not to mention when calling prospective voters. Perhaps most disturbingly, there is a simple lack of numbers and, apparently enthusiasm, according to the Times report. Trump, a billionaire real estate tycoon, has only funded a bare-bones staff of more than a dozen paid staffers. On one recent weeknight, the Times reported that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's Iowa headquarters had seven volunteers manning the phones to recruit supporters, while Cruz's state headquarters contained two dozen. 'The Trump state headquarters in West Des Moines was largely deserted,' the report says. According to the Times, much of the problem lies with organization. Volunteers tasked with enlisting supporters to attend a caucus on Feb. 1 are being given lists of only registered Republican voters, for example - ignoring independents or Democrats who may cross over to support Trump. Furthermore, volunteers aren't even being told to urge caucus-goers to support Trump - they are simply urging voters to turn out, the Times said Wednesday. 'I got 12 to go to the caucus, but I dont know if they will actually vote for Donald Trump,' one precinct captain in Fairfield, Rick Shaddock, told the Times. Shaddock runs the Sept. 11 conspiracy Web site. Trump at Tuesday night's campaign stop Trump's lackluster ground game in Iowa pales in comparison to the huge success of his rallies, which may yet bring him victory in three weeks Trump's campaign is in contrast to efforts on behalf of Cruz and Rubio, who maintain a more-than-decent chance of overtaking Trump in the last weeks before the caucuses. Historically, caucus-goers in Iowa require personal persuasion instead of attending large, mass rallies, the Times noted, although Trump could still mobilize enough supporters to win the caucuses. Another picture emerging is the effect that cold weather has on Trump's field team. In the city of Davenport, for example, Trump volunteers decided to forego visiting neighborhoods one night. Davenport is actually a bright spot for the campaign, as it is relatively well-organized and is just the campaign's second field office in the state. In other, more rural parts of the state, however, some volunteers have yet to even make phone calls. 'When I call, its not going to be any more than a week out,' one volunteer, Clair Kuntz, told the Times. Even some of Trump's own team members don't support him fully. For example Shaddock, the 9/11 conspiracist, said Trump's call for a ban on Muslims into the U.S. 'comes across as bigoted.' 'I have customers who are Muslims,' Shaddock told The Times. Today Ciara's family say they do not blame Steele for the girl's death Steele shot Meyer in the arm, but bullet passed through him and hit Ciara As he arrived Donald Meyer, 57, pointed loaded rifle at his chest, cops say Constable Clark Steele was sent to the property to serve an eviction notice Ciara Meyer, 12, was shot dead at her family home on Monday morning Ciara Meyer, 12 (pictured), was shot dead at her family home on Monday by Constable Clark Steele as he went to serve an eviction notice on her father The family of a 12-year-old girl who was shot and killed by a constable as he went to serve an eviction notice on her father say they have no hard feelings against the officer. Ciara Meyer, from Duncannon, Pennsylvania, died at home on Monday after Constable Clark Steele opened fire on Donald Meyer, 57, because the man pointed a loaded rifle at him. Steele hit Meyer in the arm but the bullet traveled through him and also hit Ciara, who was standing behind her father, in the chest, killing her. Despite the tragedy, Ron Rhode, who is related to Ciara by marriage, said today that the family feel sorry for Steele, adding: 'I cried for that constable.' Rhode, who said he was speaking on behalf of the whole family, said: 'None of us in our family have any hard feelings toward him. Actually we feel sorry for him. He's got to live with this, the poor man, and he had no idea what he was walking into. 'She was such a little angel. Such a positive little girl. She was such a sweetheart.' According to reports, Steele arrived at the home at around 10am on Monday to serve an eviction notice on the family because Donald Meyer had failed to pay $1,780.85 in rent. Meyer answered the door, closed it, then reopened it and exchanged words briefly with the constable, police said. He then pointed a loaded .223-caliber rifle that had been 'slung and concealed along his body' at the constable's chest, according to police. Steele, investigators said, drew his own .40-caliber weapon and fired once, but the bullet went through Donald Meyer's upper left arm and hit Ciara. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Scroll down for video Steele shot father Donald Meyer, 57, in the arm after he pulled out a loaded rifle, but the bullet passed through the elder man and hit Ciara (left and right) in the chest, killing her Today relative Ron Rhode, who is related to Ciara by marriage and said he was speaking on behalf of the family, said they do not blame Steele for Ciara's death Speaking about Ciara's family today, Rhode said that two different county child protection agencies had been involved with the family He added that at one point the girl had been removed from their home for several months and wondered how much the constable knew about the family's troubles when he went to evict them. He said: 'Did anyone let him know that he was going to be walking into a rat's hole?' A GoFundMe page was set up to help pay the girl's funeral expenses and to set up a scholarship fund at the girl's school district. The bullet that killed the girl also shattered a bone in Meyer's arm, and he remained in hospital today. He has been charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and other counts. Pennlive.com reported that Meyer had been scheduled to enter a plea Jan. 28 in the neighboring county on year-old charges of driving under the influence and resisting arrest. Perry County District Attorney Andrew Bender said his office was investigating the fatal shooting as it would any other. He said: 'At this point our main concern is making sure we have all the facts necessary to make appropriate decisions on the case. 'We really want to make sure we don't jump to any conclusions whatsoever prematurely.' Meanwhile Bill Stoeffler, spokesman for the region's constables' association, said Steele is 'completely distraught over this incident.' He added: 'This is the worst nightmare any of us as constables can encounter.' A neighbor, Kera Nesslein, said she went outdoors to smoke when she saw the constable go to the front door. 'He was looking at the clipboard he had, and he knocked on the door. I mean, he didn't try to physically go in there. You could see that he was waiting. 'He didn't just whip out his gun and just shoot it. I mean there was a couple seconds' delay, and then after that shot he ran down the steps and took cover and called the cops.' Steele's visit to the apartment near Duncannon was expected by Meyer because the constable had been there 'numerous times', and gave Meyer a Jan. 11 deadline to move out, authorities said. In Pennsylvania, constables are elected officials with limited law enforcement powers. They serve warrants, transport prisoners and perform other duties for Pennsylvania's district courts, the lowest level of the judiciary. Rhode added that several child protection agencies had been involved with the Meyer family, and at one point Ciara had been removed from the home for several months Ciara was believed to have been off school sick on Monday, meaning she was at home when Steele arrived with the eviction notice. The Susquenita School District, while not commenting on whether Ciara was a student in the district, said psychologists and guidance counselors were working with counselors to provided support to students and staff. Ciara's aunt Hope Cordas Rhode wrote on Facebook Monday: 'My friends please pray for our family. My sisters niece who always called me aunt Hope was killed this morning. 'We are so broken as she was just a little girl and we loved her so much. My heart hurts so very much. Such a sad world this is when an innocent child is shot and killed. May God give us peace.' She also posted images of the girl, and wrote on Facebook: 'My sweet little niece is gone.' Advertisement Stunning snow carvings have been showcased at the 21st International Snow Sculpture Competition held at the popular Harbin Ice Festival in north China's Heilongjiang Province. Artists from all around the world travelled to the event for the contest, creating huge striking designs out of ice cold natural resources, reports the Peoples Daily Online. The competition, held on Sun Island of Harbin, kicked off on January 10 and closes today. Incredible photos of the sculptures show huge designs that include a giant bear, a beautiful figure of a woman, and a sculpture resembling a deck of cards with women sitting behind them, which was the winner from China. Winner: The winning sculpture went to a China, the unknown artist created a deck of card that somehow stood tall above everyone's heads Three happy ladies: Behind the winning sculpture of the deck of cards were three ladies sitting at a table playing cards together Incredible: Contestants from South Korea made an intricate giant bear with an eagle sitting on it's back on Sun Island at the Harbin festival Attention to detail: These unknown snow sculptors created a beautiful woman with long hair out of the ice cold raw materials A total of 110 artists from 15 countries took part in the competition, including sculptors from Mongolia and South Korea. According harbinice.com, applicants applying for the contest must send the name of their snow sculpture, along with a sketch drawn on A4 paper of their idea. When building the sculptures, the ice or snow is cut with an electric saw, then the desired shape is carved with special tools. In some cases, electric clothes-irons are often used to smooth the surfaces. The whole process is extremely time consuming. Freezing: Artists have to wear many layers to protect themselves from the freezing conditions when carving the incredible snow sculptures Tough work: Three men are working hard to carve their snow sculpture using huge chunks of snow they have carved out of the ground Two men using different tools to carve the snow (left). A detailed statue of a man wearing impressive headgear by unknown artist (right) For group applicants, no more than four people can be in a team, and only superior teams who have won awards in national competitions with an original certificate are welcome. Sun Island is the best place for the snow sculpture competition as it is completely covered in snow when winter comes, perfect for carving sculptures. Harbin Ice Festival is described as the worlds largest ice and snow festival. As well as ice and snow sculptures, various activities are also held. The expo reportedly receives over 2.3 million visitors each year. The 2016 Festival began on January 5, and will close on February 25, 2016. Appalling CCTV footage has revealed the final moments of a toddler who fell to her death whilst playing on a moving escalator unattended in a mall in south China. The video, released to People's Daily Online, shows three girls playing around the precarious escalator on the fourth floor of a shopping centre in Kunming, Yunnan Province, on the morning of January 10. The young victim Ximei, aged just three years old at the time of the accident, appears to try and ride the handrail of the walkway before losing her grip and falling several floors to her death. Tragedy: The young victim Ximei, aged just three years old at the time of the accident, tried to ride the rail Ximei was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital and her grandmother, Ms Liu, who runs a booth in the shopping centre, said the child was 'very obedient' and thought she could be left alone. Around 11:50am that day, Ms Liu heard people screaming in the mall and rushed out to find her granddaughter lying on the floor of the centre. While accepting she should have been watching the child, Ms Liu said: 'The escalators in the shopping mall rarely run two to three times a month at most. Most of the time they are not turned off.' 'On the day of the accident, the escalators are turned on, the shopping mall should have made an announcement. The child was so young, she did not know this.' Danger: The child's grandmother said there should be more safety precautions on the hand rails of escalators Fit for use: A spokesman from the mall said all escalators comply with full safety requirements The grandmother confirmed that the escalators in the shopping mall have sensors, which means they only run when there are people approaching them. She said that she believed the shopping mall were also at fault for the tragedy because there were no protective barriers guarding children from the dangerous rails. A spokesman from the shopping mall said they were deeply sorry for the accident but that all escalators in the centre comply with full safety requirements and are not faulty in any way. In shock: The three year old died after toppling down 4 levels to the floor below, to the horror of her two friends The spokesman even appeared to place full blame on the victim's family, saying: The child is so young, the parents should look after her well. This marks the third reported escalator incident in China within the past week: a two-year old toddler in Jiangxi lost her finger in an escalator while her parents were distracted elsewhere and a boy was narrowly saved after getting his hand caught in an escalator in Guizhou. When an elderly woman from east China checked her retirement fund she had been keeping in a box over the years, she was shocked to discover the money had disappeared. Some 40,000 Yuan (4,200) of savings in notes at her home in Nanping city, Fujian Province, had been mashed up into tiny pieces and was no longer useable. The pensioner - surnamed Rao - immediately reported it to the police on January 10. After an investigation she was told that her money had been eaten by ants, reported the Peoples Daily Online. Destroyed: A pensioner in east China was shocked to discover her life savings had been chewed up by ants Nothing left: All that remained of the bank notes worth 4,200 was the metal lines from the chewed up notes Raos initial thought was that the money given to her by her daughter - had been stolen, which is why she called the police at 8pm local time on Sunday. As it was a lot of cash that had disappeared, according to the report, the police rushed to the scene to investigate. Not only had the money been chewed up, two bank books had also disappeared from her wooden savings box, which were again reported to be eaten by ants. When Rao called the police she was distraught and crying at the thought a thief had been into her house and taken the money, the police tried to comfort her when they arrived. The retirement money she had been saving was put into plastic bags and wrapped in several layers, then placed into the wooden box. So the ants had managed to get into the box, munch through the bags and the layers then eat the cash only leaving behind the metal lines from the notes. Investigation: The police were called to the woman's home and concluded that ants were the main suspect The last time Rao opened the box was early 2015, back then she claims the money and the books were still there. But the day she opened it again, everything was gone. The police investigation found that the biggest suspects in the case were the ants, so they destroyed all of them after the truth was revealed. According to the report, it turned out that due to the lack of management of the box, the ants managed to crawl inside and build a nest. When the ants hatched the only source of food they had was the money and paper from the books, so they ate the lot. It is unclear what type of ant chewed up Rao's money, but it is possible they could have been Carpenter Ants. According to Pestkill.org, these ants can tunnel through house walls and can be very destructive, they prefer to nest in damp places. An unfortunate Chinese driver was killed when a weighty stone struck the windscreen of his car and killed him during a one-of-a-kind accident. The retired police officer with surname Tam from Hong Kong was driving on West Kowloon Corridor at 6.50am on January 11 when he became the victim of a freak incident, according to a report on People's Daily Online. Police are continuing to hunt for the source of the killer rock. However, it's thought to have fallen through Tam's windshield from the back of another vehicle. Tragic: Mr Tam from Hong Kong was struck through the window by a piece of stone in a freak accident Bizarre: A rock, thought to have fallen through his windshield from another vehicle, was six inches long Sad loss: Above is a picture of Mr Tam who was killed in a rare motorway accident after being hit by rock It is thought to have impacted on the window of his seven-seater black Mazda MPV, which Mr Tam bought in April 2015 for 20,000, with as much as 300 lbs of force as he drove along. Mr Tam, 59, was struck hard on the right hand side of his face and was declared dead at the scene, having just driven his wife to Sai Ying Pun in the Western district of the city. After being hit, his car reportedly carried on drifting without its driver conscious for over 300 ft before it ground to a halt next to a roadside barrier, with a sizable round hole in the windscreen. A passing motorist immediately alerted police of the accident the father of two, who had been retired for seven years and who lived in an apartment in Kwai Chung, had been embroiled in. The police continue to hunt for the source of the killer rock which Sun Lun-yum, presiding inspector at the Kowloon west traffic unit, said did not seem natural but rather like construction material. Out of the blue: Emergency services rushed to the scene and are trying to work out the source of the stone No chance: The 9lb stone is thought to have impacted with the Mazda's windscreen at a force of over 300lb He commented: 'From the drivers perspective, it was unlikely he could avoid the rock, as it came towards him all of a sudden', confirming that Mr Tam had no opportunity to get out to the way. He also confirmed that investigators were studying footage taken by a dashboard camera inside the car at the time of the highway incident. Local engineer Lo Kok-Keung said typically the windscreen could bear an impact up to 100 pounds, giving Mr Tam's car, which was thought to travelling at around 45mph, no chance at all. Grief: Mr Tam's wife and two children, with whom he lived in an apartment in Kwai Chung, mourn his passing Ruled out: Experts say was not likely that the rock had fallen from the nearby building because of its trajectory Lo added that it was not likely that the rock had fallen from the nearby building, because if it had, then it would have smashed through the car vertically. Under China's Road Traffic Regulations, the driver of a motor vehicle on a road must ensure that any load is adequately secured to and contained on or inside the vehicle. emotions in all humans not just their owners Dogs really are man's best friend. Scientists have shown for the first time that the animals are masters at recognising emotions, and their mood-reading ability does not just apply to other canines it also extends to humans. The insight, from scientists at Lincoln University, makes dogs the only creatures to equal the ability of people to 'tune into' another species. Dogs can not only recognise emotions in each other (a basset hound is pictured) but they are also able to detect the mood of humans they have never met before from their facial expression and the tone of voice Vet Professor Daniel Mills, who led the study, sat 17 pet dogs in front of a screen and flashed up two images of the face of another dog - one in which it looked playful and one in which appeared angry. He also played a tape of a dog barking and watched to see which of the two images the pets were drawn to. DOGS CAN 'CATCH' EMOTIONS Scientists believe they have unravelled just how dogs seem able to show empathy. It is because they are able to rapidly mimic or 'catch' emotions, research suggests. In humans, it has been shown that when experiencing empathy, humans tend to mirror or mimic the emotional expression of the person they are engaging with. Now researchers led by Elisabetta Palagi, of the University of Pisa have found that dogs possess a key 'building-block of empathy' - being able to mimic emotional behaviour in other dogs. In research carried out in a park in Palermo, Italy the researchers recorded 49 dogs engaged in play. The owners of the dogs were interviewed as to how well the dogs knew the dogs they were playing with whether friends, acquaintance, or strangers, and the dogs were observed as they socialised. In tests of two key playful behaviours, dogs were found to rapidly copy each other. The two behaviours studied were a 'play bow' bowing down, with front legs outstretched and 'relaxed open mouth' which Dr Palagi said means 'I'm in a positive mood, I'd like to continue playing'. The mimicry which would happen within a second of the other dog displaying it - happened more often when the dogs were well known to each other. The authors write Royal Society journal Open Science: 'Our findings reveal that rapid mimicry occurs not only in humans and other primate species but also in dogs under the playful context.' Advertisement He found that when the barking sounded happy and excited, the dogs spent longer looking at the happy faces. But when they heard growls, they focused on the angry faces. However, if the barking was neither light-hearted nor threatening, they spent the same amount of time looking at each picture. This, said Professor Mills, shows that they were combining what they could see and hear to evaluate the mood of the dog in the picture. Shown pictures of people, accompanied by tapes of speech, produced a similar result, although the pets were less interested in the human faces. Dogs have been shown to be able to tell happy faces from sad ones before. But it was not clear if they had simply been trained to tell the two apart without understanding what they were seeing. The pets used in this study had not seen the dogs or people in the pictures before and did not receive any training on the task. Professor Mills said: 'It has been a long-standing debate whether dogs can recognise human emotions. 'Many dog owners report anecdotally that their pets seem highly sensitive to the moods of human family members. 'However, there is an important difference between learning to respond appropriately to an angry voice, and recognising a range of very different cues that go together to indicate emotional arousal in another. 'Our findings are the first to show that dogs truly recognise emotions in humans and other dogs.' Colleague Dr Kun Guo, a psychologist, said: 'Previous studies have indicated that dogs can differentiate between human emotions from cues such as facial expressions, but this is not the same as emotional recognition. 'Our study shows that dogs have the ability to integrate two different sources of sensory information into a coherent perception of emotion in both humans and dogs. Dogs were shown a series of images of a human face of someone they had never met before along with the sound of their voice displaying two different emotions (images and frequency of voice pictured) Researchers also showed the dogs pictures of other canines (pictured) and played them the sound of angry or playful barks. They found the dogs tended to look longer at the image that corresponded with the barking 'To do so requires a system of internal categorisation of emotional states. 'This cognitive ability has until now only been evidenced in primates and the capacity to do this across species only seen in humans.' Writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the researchers said the ability is likely to be instinctive and has been magnified by thousands of years of domestication. Dogs are often reported to be able to tune into human emotions and the latest research shows they use a number of social cues to help them do this (stock image pictured) The team has previously shown that dogs use the same trick as people when looking at human faces. Called 'left gaze bias', it involves focusing on the more expressive right-hand side of the face. it is able to move smoothly when covered in hydrogen peroxide Janus particles used as micromotors because one side particles is covered in For years, researchers have been on the hunt for the new methods to develop self-propelling nanomachines. A group recently published their finds that focused integrating microfabricated units with biological motors. The team designed 8-micrometer microgears that spin when micromotors, made of Janus particles, which dock in the gear's teeth and pushing it in a spinning motion. Scroll down for video A group recently published their finds that focused integrating microfabricated units with biological motors. The team designed microgears that spin when micromotors, made of Janus particles, which dock in the gear's teeth and pushing it in a spinning motion 'The modern tools of nanotechnology can be used to shape matter at the micron and nanoscale with a high degree of structural and morphological control,' Claudio Maggi, at the University of Rome, told Phys.org. 'Recently researchers have started to investigate possible strategies to 'give life' to these structures and provide them with some mechanism for self-propulsion.' WHAT ARE JANUS PARTICLES? Janus particles are a kind of nanoparticles with a surface of two or more distinct physical properties. The synthesis of Janus nanoparticles requires the ability to selectively create each side of a nanometer-sized particle with different chemical properties in a cost-effective and reliable way that produces the particle of interest in high yield. There are three major methods used in synthesis of Janus particles: 1. Masking: This technique was developed by simply taking synthesis techniques of larger Janus particles and scaling down to the nanoscale. 2. Self-assembly: This method uses the well-studied methods of producing block copolymers with well-defined geometries and compositions across a large variety of substrates. 3. Phase separation: This method involves the mixing of two or more incompatible substances which then separate into their own domains while still part of a single nanoparticle. Source: Sussle Advertisement 'Recently researchers have started to investigate possible strategies to 'give life' to these structures and provide them with some mechanism for self-propulsion.' Researchers chose to work with Janus particles as the micromotors, as it has two surfaces that give the particles an asymmetric shape. 'Janus particles can self-assemble around microfabricated gears in reproducible configurations with a high degree of spatial and orientational order,' according to the journal published in Small. 'The final configuration maximizes the torque applied on the rotor leading to a unidirectional and steady rotating motion. 'The interplay between geometry and dynamical behavior leads to the self-assembly of Janus micromotors starting from randomly distributed particles.' Since one side of the particles is coated with a light absorbing material, platinum, the hydrogen peroxide will allow it to rotate smoothly. This method is based on a previous study some of the authors wrote in 2010, which discussed how self-propelling bacteria or microswimmers can be used to produce motion. But later, the team found that it wasn't the 'nanotechnology dream' they hoped for, as both moved in random directions making it difficult to control and produce one steady motion. Researchers see great potential in this new method because it works with lower particle concentrations and highly deterministic, according to Phys.org. Since one side of the particles is coated with a light absorbing material, platinum, the hydrogen peroxide will allow it to rotate smoothly. Researchers see great potential in this new method because it works with lower particle concentrations and highly deterministic While testing, the spinning of the microgears increased as more particles docked into the teeth of the gears. But they did find that once four or more particles locked into the gears the speed was maxed out and the motors began to slow down. This could be due to the fact the more Janus particles deplete the hydrogen peroxide solution so that the speed decreases, according to the researchers. 'We have now demonstrated that active Janus colloids can self-assemble around a micro-fabricated rotor in reproducible configurations with a high degree of spatial and orientational order,' said coauthor Roberto Di Leonardo at the Italian National Research Council, and the coordinator of the research group. 'The interplay between geometry and dynamical behavior leads to the self-assembly of autonomous micromotors starting from randomly distributed particles. Besides having a clear technological interest, our results demonstrate that understanding fundamental aspects of interactions in active matter systems opens the way to highly reproducible and controllable micromachines for lab-on-chip applications.' It is perhaps the most famous 'message' to have been detected in the search for alien life, but the 40-year-old mystery of a powerful radio signal from outer space may have finally been solved. Known as the Wow! signal due to a note astronomer Jerry Ehman wrote beside the data when he recorded it in August 1977, the 72 second-long blast of radio waves caused a sensation at the time. Thirty times stronger than the normal radio background from deep space, it was seen by some as a possible contact from intelligent extraterrestrial beings from beyond our solar system. The Wow! signal was detected by a radio telescope in Ohio in 1977 as a 72 second-long burst of powerful radio waves during a project searching for signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life. It earned its name after astronomer Dr Jerry Ehman circled the data relating to the signal and wrote' Wow!' in the margin (pictured) But now a new study examining the signal suggests its source may have been somewhat closer to home, namely a pair of comets passing our planet. Professor Antonio Paris, an astronomer at St Petersburg College, in Florida, believes the comets produced a cloud of hydrogen gas in their wake which released radiation. The frequency of the signal spotted by Dr Ehman in 1977 matches the emissions produced by hydrogen atoms, for example. THE COMETS BEHIND WOW! Comet 266P/Christensen was first discovered in 2006. It orbits the sun every 6.79 years. The closest it passes to Earth is 125 million miles. P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) was first discovered in 2008. It passes much closer to Earth, at a distance of 61 million miles and orbits the sun every 6.8 years. Advertisement Professor Paris said comets 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) would have been in the right part of the sky at the time. The clouds of hydrogen that surrounds them as sunlight breaks up the frozen water on their surface extends millions of miles around the comets, meaning they could produce a powerful signal. 'Several investigations into the 'Wow' signal have ruled out the source as terrestrial in origin or other objects such as satellites, planets and asteroids,' continued Professor Paris. 'From 1977 July 27 to 1977 August 15, comets 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) were transiting in the neighborhood of the Chi Sagittarii star group. 'Ephemerides for both comets during this orbital period placed them at the vicinity of the 'Wow!' signal. New research has traced the path of two comets - 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) - and found they were in the right region of the sky at the time the signal was received. Astronomers claim the large hydrogen clouds enveloping the comets could have produced the radio waves (stock image of comet pictured) THE THEORIES FOR WHAT CAUSED THE 1977 WOW! SIGNAL There have been many theories over the years for what could have been the source for the short-lived, narrow band radio signal that became known as the Wow! signal. At the time, it was seen has having all the traits of having come from a distant planet, but the inability to pick it up again has frustrated astronomers. While some have taken it to be a radio message broadcast by an alien beacon into space, others have looked for other astronomical sources. Theories have included collisions between asteroids and stars, flares from stars, merging white dwarfs and colliding neutron stars. Advertisement 'These two comets were not detected until after 2006, therefore, the comets and their hydrogen clouds were not accounted for during the signal emission.' The Wow! signal was detected on 15 August 1977 with a radio telescope known as Big Ears at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory in Delaware. Dr Ehman, who had been working on a project for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, noticed the surprisingly strong signal in a column of alphanumerical data. With a red pen he scrawled the word 'Wow!' in the margin and circled the sequence. Astronomers ruled out that the signal came from Earth and could find nothing in our solar system to have produced it. It is thought to have come from a region of space to the northwest of the globular galaxy cluster M55 in the constellation Sagittarius Although Dr Ehman himself has remained sceptical, the signal has led to claims that it may have been a radio beacon or broadcast coming from far beyond our own solar system. The Wow! signal was detected as coming from a region of space close to the M55 galaxy cluster close to the constellation Sagittarius (illustrated), but new research suggests the signal may have been produced by two comets, undiscovered at the time, passing through our own solar system in front of the region Some have taken it as evidence of alien life as the frequency is widely thought to be one that could be used by extraterrestrials to communicate. The mystery surrounding the signal has only been compounded by the inability to pick up the signal again, despite repeated attempts by increasingly more powerful radio telescopes. However, at the time, researchers did not know of the existence of comets of 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs). The pair was only discovered after 2006. Comet 266P/Christensen orbits the sun every seven and a half years and is more than 125 million miles from Earth. Astronomers may get a second chance to detect the radio signal if it was produced by the comets as they are set to pass through the same region of space in January 2017 and January 2018. By training radio telescopes (Very Large Array pictured) onto that part of the sky, it may be possible to confirm the comet theory THE FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE Scientists have been searching for signs of intelligent life in the cosmos under the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) programme since the 1960s. Initially it was conducted on the fringe of radio astronomy, with just short amounts of time obtained on relatively small radio telescopes. However, in 1984 the Seti Institute was established to provide a coordinated approach to the search, using radio telescopes as permanent ears to listen for alien signals. The project suffered a set back in 1994 when Nasa funding to Seti was cut and it now seeks support from private sources instead. The project has yet to detect any positive signs of signals from intelligent life, but some scientists have predicted it could happen within the next 20 years. However, the project has also been criticised for being overly optimistic despite not receiving any signals in the past 30 years. Recently scientists proposed taking a more active approach by broadcasting signals to nearby stars in the hope of getting a response. Advertisement By tracing the comets journey through the solar system back in time, Professor Paris found they both seem to have been in the right place for the source of the Wow! signal. Their fleeting passage through this area of space could also explain why it has not been possible to detect the signal again since the short blast But Professor Paris said astronomers may get a chance again in the next two years as comet 266P/Christensen is due to pass through the same region of space on 25 January 2017, while P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) will travel through on 7 January 2018. By training their telescopes onto the region on those dates, it should be possible to see if the comets release a similar radio signal as they pass through the region. Speaking to New Scientist, Professor Paris, whose findings are due to published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, said: 'The hypothesis must be tested before it is ruled out.' However, James Bauer, of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said the emissions from the comet's hydrogen clouds may not powerful enough to account for the Wow! signal. Deep below the thick ice that covers the Antarctic region, geologists have discovered the world's biggest canyon measuring a staggering 621 miles long (1,000km). The previously unknown chasm 'is said to bigger than the UK' and around half a mile (1km) deep in places. The previous record for the longest canyon in the world was achieved in 2013 - also below the ice - but in Greenland. That mega canyon is a mere 460miles (750km) long. Deep below the thick ice that covers the Antarctic region, geologists have discovered the world's biggest canyon measuring a staggering 621 miles long (1,000km). The previously unknown chasm (marked between the black lines) 'is said to bigger than the UK' and around half a mile (1km) deep in places The Grand Canyon, in Arizona, while of a similar depth, at 277 miles (445km) long is also dwarfed in comparison. The as-yet unnamed canyon was discovered by examination of satellite imagery. Radio echo-sounding was carried out on sections the canyon. This involves sending radio waves through the ice to map the rock contours below. The canyon's location is in Princess Elizabeth Land, which was named in 1931 after Queen Elizabeth II, who was at that time a girl of five. THE WORLD'S LARGEST CANYON The previously unknown chasm 'is said to bigger than the UK' and around half a mile (1km) deep in places. It is located in Princess Elizabeth Land in Antarctica. The previous record for the longest canyon in the world was achieved in 2013 - also below the ice - but in Greenland. That mega canyon was found to be 750km (460miles) long. The canyon is believed to have been carved by water. It is not known whether the canyon was formed before the ice sheet grew or if it was created by water flowing and eroding beneath the ice. Experts also believe the canyon may be connected to another previously undiscovered, underground feature - a vast subglacial lake that at 482 square miles (1,250 square km) is more than 80 times as big as Lake Windermere in the Lake District. Advertisement Her Majesty might be impressed to learn that the canyon's length is longer than that of England and Scotland together the 603 miles (970km) as the crow flies from Land's End to John O'Groats. Because very few measurements of the thickness of the ice have been carried out in this area, it has been dubbed by scientists one of Antarctica's 'two poles of ignorance'. The canyon is believed to have been carved by water. It is not known whether the canyon was formed before the ice sheet grew or if it was created by water flowing and eroding beneath the ice. Experts also believe the canyon may be connected to another previously undiscovered, underground feature - a vast subglacial lake that at 482 square miles (1,250 square km) is more than 80 times as big as Lake Windermere in the Lake District. Canyons above land are typically formed by rivers over the course of millions of years. These waterways gradually eroded the rock walls and carried the pieces downstream. For example, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is believed to have been carved out by the Colorado River. A team led by British scientists said that the discovery shows how we know less about parts of the Earth than we do of the surface of Mars. The as-yet unnamed canyon was discovered by examination of satellite imagery. Radio echo-sounding was carried out on sections the canyon. This involves sending radio waves through the ice to map the rock contours below. The canyons beneath the sheet are highlighted using the black lines The canyon is located in the white box shown on Princess Elizabeth Land (pictured top). Its general location is marked using the yellow box bottom. The canyon is believed to have been carved by water but it's not known whether the canyon was formed before the ice sheet grew, or if it was created by water flowing after WHAT IS RADIO-ECHO SOUNDING? Radio-echo sounding (RES) is also known as radioglaciology and is the study of glaciers and ice sheets using radar. It is sometimes referred to as 'ice-penetrating radar' and uses a similar method to ground-penetrating radar (GPR). GPR uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band of frequencies on the radio spectrum, and detects the signals from structures found beneath the surface. The type of signals vary depending on their source. For example, rocks had a different signature to soil, ice and water. The application of radio-echo sounding to measure the thickness of glacial and sheet ice has been used since the early 1960s. Advertisement Lead researcher, Dr Stewart Jamieson, from the Department of Geography at Durham University in the UK, said: 'Our analysis provides the first evidence that a huge canyon and a possible lake are present beneath the ice in Princess Elizabeth Land. 'It's astonishing to think that such large features could have avoided detection for so long. 'This is a region of the Earth that is bigger than the UK and yet we still know little about what lies beneath the ice. 'In fact, the bed of Antarctica is less well known than the surface of Mars. If we can gain better knowledge of the buried landscape we will be better equipped to understand how the ice sheet responds to changes in climate.' Radio-echo sounding (RES) is also known as radioglaciology and is the study of glaciers and ice sheets using radar. It is sometimes referred to as 'ice-penetrating radar' and uses a similar method to ground-penetrating radar (GPR). GPR uses uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band of frequencies on the radio spectrum, and detects the signals from structures found beneath the surface. The Grand Canyon (pictured), in Arizona, while of a similar depth, at 277 miles (445km) long is dwarfed in comparison. The previous record for the longest canyon in the world was achieved in 2013 - also below the ice - but in Greenland. That mega canyon was found to be 750km (460miles) long Experts also believe the canyon may be connected to another previously undiscovered, underground feature - a vast subglacial lake that at 482 square miles (1,250 square km) is more than 80 times as big as Lake Windermere in the Lake District. An illustration showing the spread of the ice sheet is pictured The type of signals vary depending on their source. For example, rocks had a different signature to soil, ice and water. The application of radio-echo sounding to measure the thickness of glacial and sheet ice has been used since the early 1960s. Co-Author Dr Neil Ross from Newcastle University in the UK, said: 'Antarctic scientists have long recognised that because the way ice flows, the landscape beneath the ice sheet was subtly reflected in the topography of the ice sheet surface. This graphic shows where Princess Elizabeth Land is in relation to the South Pole, in East Antarctica. It also shows the boundaries of where researchers believe the canyons lie, as well as the sub glacial lake Radio-echo sounding (RES) is also known as radioglaciology and is the study of glaciers and ice sheets using radar. It uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band of frequencies on the radio spectrum to detec structures beneath the surface. The readings from the RES below Princess Elizabeth Land are illustrated 'Despite this, these vast deep canyons and potential large lake had been overlooked entirely. Professor Martin Siegert, from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, UK, said further research to confirm the discovery is underway and the team hopes to announce further findings at a conference at Imperial College later this year. The research is published in the journal Geology. Fast-moving stars create galactic waves in space, which astronomers have now discovered can be used to spot these so-called stellar 'runaways'. As the giant balls of burning gas and plasma plough through the universe, they push material ahead of them, like the bow wave caused by the front of a ship as it moves through water. Astronomers now say it is possible to track these fast moving stars as they speed through space by searching for the distinctive fuzzy red arcs created as these bow waves, or bow shocks, glow. Scroll down for video The bow shocks were spotted by Nasa telescopes. In the majority of cases, the cause was found to be supersonic stars (blue) pushing material out the way as they move through space Already astronomers at the University of Wyoming have used the technique to discover close to 80 of the fastest-moving stars in the Milky Way. These celestial runaways are thought to be sent careering across the galaxy when a neighbouring star nears the end of its life and explodes. The resulting shockwave can catapult nearby stars through space at speeds of more than 50,000 miles per hour (80,500 kph) - more than 65 times the speed of sound. Compared to this, our own sun is plodding through the Milky Way at a 'moderate pace' - but it still manages a respectable 45,000mph (72,400 kph). 'Some stars get the boot when their companion star explodes in a supernova, and others can get kicked out of crowded star clusters,' explained William Chick, a doctoral student in physics at Wyoming and lead author of the study. As stars plough through the universe, they push material ahead of them, like the bow wave caused by the front of a ship as it moves through the water (stock image) 'The gravitational boost increases a star's speed relative to other stars,' he added. Professor Chip Kobulnicky, a researcher at Wyoming's Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Chick's supervisor, said: 'These are hot, massive stars that are moving through interstellar space at supersonic speed.' STELLAR 'BOW SHOCKS' Objects in the universe are in a constant dance, moving through space at different speeds. Astronomers from the University of Wyoming have discovered almost close to 80 of the fastest-moving stars in the Milky Way. As stars plough through the universe, they push material ahead of them, like the bow wave caused by the front of a ship as it moves through the water. These 'bow shocks' can be traced by infrared telescopes as fuzzy red arcs. In the majority of cases, they were found to be caused by stars travelling in excess of 50,000 mph. Advertisement To track the stars, the team used data from two Nasa telescopes the Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). They were able to identify the infrared glow of material being pushed aside in the blow shock. The findings were presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Florida earlier this month. The team were able to spot the bow shock created by Zeta Ophiuchi, a massive star 20 times the size of the sun which is traveling through the galaxy at 54,000 mph (24 kilometers per second), relative to its surroundings. 'It's amazing that you can get something that big moving faster than 50,000 miles an hour,' said Chick. 'It's quite an event.' According to the group, a star's speed and its mass contribute to the size and shape of its bow shock. More massive stars, like Zeta Oph, shed much more material as they hurtle through space, due to supersonic winds which slam into the material in front of it. The bow shocks form ahead of fast moving stars and can be detected using infrared telescopes such as Nasa's Wise telescope, appearing as 'fuzzy red arcs'. Zeta Ophiuchi, a massive star 20 times the size of the sun, is travelling at 54,000 mph. Its bow shock is the red arc in front of the bright blue star (pictured) These fast-moving stars can be sent hurtling off when neighbouring stars explode as supernovae. Pictured is the cloudy remnants of IC 443 in the Gemini constellation. The supernova, which is estimated to have taken place more than 10,000 years ago, would have created a huge shock wave, sending nearby stars speeding off Using the satellites, they were able to find 200 images of the fuzzy red arcs. A total of 80 of these were then followed up at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (Wiro) and identify their source. In a few cases the bows turned out to be clouds of stardust, but the majority were caused by fast-moving massive stars. The bacteria that caused the plague in 17th century Europe may have laid low in an 'unknown reservoir' for a staggering 300 years, according to new research. Scientists think Yersinia pestis, believed to be responsible for bubonic plague, may have been 'living' in rodents across Europe since the time of the Black Death in the 14th century. The plague ravaged Europe during its middle history, with millions dying from the disease in two major outbreaks. A new study indicates bacteria responsible for the plagues of the 14th and 17th centuries may have laid low in an unknown reservoir for 300 years. Analysis of DNA from skeletons, excavated from two different burial sites in Germany (pictured) and spanning more than 300 years, tested positive for the same strain of Y. pestis During the medieval pandemic of the 14th century, it is estimated the disease wiped out more than a third of the entire European population. The pestilence returned during a second pandemic in the 17th century, which became known as the Great Plague. In 1665, an outbreak of plague spread rapidly throughout London, wiping out 15 per cent of the city's population by the time it eventually disappeared. In the latest study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers recovered and analysed ancient DNA from the remains of 30 plague victims of the second plague pandemic. AN 'UNKNOWN RESERVOIR' German researchers recovered and analysed ancient DNA from the remains of 30 plague victims of the second plague pandemic. They were excavated from two different burial sites in Germany, spanning more than 300 years. Of 30 skeletons tested, eight were positive for Y. pestis DNA. The genetic material was 'highly similar' to that previously sampled from plague victims from other European countries. Along with the reintroduction of the virus from Asia, the researchers believe the bacteria lived on in an unidentified group of animals, possibly rats. Advertisement They were excavated from two different burial sites in Germany, and their remains spanned more than 300 years. Lisa Seifert, a researcher from Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany, said: 'Of 30 skeletons tested, eight were positive for Y. pestis-specific nucleic acid. 'All positive individuals' genetic material were highly similar to previously investigated plague victims from other European countries and had identical Y. pestis genotype.' Scientists and historians have long believed the plague originated in Asia and was reintroduced to Europe a number of times. But the findings from the German remains indicate it may have never left Europe's shores. Instead, it lay relatively dormant in the host - suspected to be rodents - until an unknown event caused it to jump to humans again, like it had done three centuries earlier. Alternatively, the persistence of the disease may be down to a combination of the two. Scientists think that Yersinia pestis (pictured), the bacteria believed to be responsible for bubonic plague, hid in an unknown reservoir since the time of the Black Death in the 14th century, three centuries earlier Historians and scientists believe the spread of the plague was facilitated by rodents - presumably rats - which came to Europe aboard ships from Asia. These rats were carriers for fleas (pictured right) infected with the Y. pestis bacteria. The bacteria most likely infected humans through flea bites Miss Seifert suggests that as well as the assumed continuous reintroduction of Y. pestis from central Asia in multiple waves during the second pandemic, it is also possible that Y. pestis persisted long-term in Europe in a yet unknown reservoir host, most likely rodents. However, it remains unclear if the 17th century pandemic started from a wave of bacteria from Asia or from the unidentified host reservoir in Europe at the time. In the paper, the authors wrote that bacterial DNA taken from the German plague victims is consistent with microbes obtained from three bodies from Smithfield cemetery in London, and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse in the south of France. They indicate that the bacteria may have persisted in a rodent - which could point the finger at black rats, historically blamed for the spread of the disease as hosts for fleas which spread the disease. The findings may also have implications for modern diseases which are also spread by animals, known as zoonosis. DID FAMINE MAKE THINGS WORSE? Life in the 14th century could not have been easy. In addition to the deadly plague spreading like wildfire across Europe (see right), people also had to deal with widespread famine. Historians at Harvard University think that a extended spell of cool, wet weather would have led to crop failures and prolonged food shortages. The lack of food would have meant a more susceptible host, potentially maximising the impact of the disease. Researchers used ice core samples to estimate temperatures in the early 1300s as well as historical records. Their findings suggest a much wider region of Northern Europe may have been affected than previously thought. The group believe that by the time plague hit the shores of Europe, the population may have already been weakened from decades of food shortages. Advertisement Many pathogens are known to hide in animal reservoirs, where they persist until the come into contact with humans. The Ebola virus, which has caused thousands of deaths in Western Africa since its most recent major outbreak in 2013, is believed to live in fruit bats. According to the World Health Organization, the virus is then introduced into humans through close contact with the animals' secretions and body fluids, such as blood or droppings. Camels have been identified as the reservoir for the Middle East respiratory virus (MERS), which has been responsible for a spate of deaths in Saudi Arabia since 2012. And strains of the influenza virus, which have been responsible for millions of deaths in just a few short outbreaks in modern history, are believed to persist in birds and pigs. It was thought to be a key island that helped modern humans spread from Asia into the prehistoric landmass that now forms Australia and Papua New Guinea 50,000 years ago. But stone tools discovered on the large Indonesian island of Sulawesi suggest they were not the first human species to have braved the ocean to reach the lush tropical paradise. Instead, the findings suggest a mysterious species of seafaring early human relatives were living on the island up to 194,000 years ago predating the arrival of our own species by tens of millennia. Stone tools discovered by anthropologists in Talepu, southern Sulawesi, suggest the Indonesian island was inhabited by an early species of human more than 118,000 years ago and up to 194,000 years ago. Professor Mike Morwood is pictured examining the sharp edged limestone flakes The stone flakes - shaped into sharp edged blades were unearthed at four sites in Talepu in the Indonesian jungle alongside the Walanae River, north east of Maros in southern Sulawesi. The site, which is just over a mile southeast of Cabenge, is close to another site where ancient rock art was discovered in limestone caves. However, dating of the rock art had suggested they were around 40,000 years old and were likely made by members of our own species, Homo sapiens. FIRST HUMANS OUT OF AFRICA WERE SCRAWNY RUNTS The first early human ancestors to leave Africa were scrawny creatures that walked more like apes, according to a study that is challenging existing theories on the origin of our species. For years it was thought the first early human to walk from the African continent into Asia and Europe was the tall and muscular Homo erectus. But recent analysis of early human fossils has suggested it may have actually been a far more diminutive species known as Homo habilis, or 'Handy man', that first made the journey. The findings are likely to be highly controversial as no fossils belonging to Homo habilis have been discovered outside Africa. Some anthropologists even doubt the existence of Homo habilis as a distinct human species, preferring to clump it with a far older group of ape-like humans, Australopithecenes. However, Homo habilis was known to have a relatively big brain and made tools. The researchers came to the conclusion after analysing data on early human fossils and comparing them to theories for how different human species were related to each other. They also found a controversial species of human, Homo floresiensis, also called the Hobbit of Flores, is a unique species that evolved from another small human species. Advertisement The new discovery, however, suggests that another earlier species of human, which has since died out, had been living there long before Homo sapiens arrived on the island. Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Gerrit van den Bergh, an anthropologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia who led the research, said the lack of human remains on the island made it difficult to know exactly which species had made the tools. He and his colleagues said the early inhabitants could have been members of the so-called Hobbits, Homo floresiensis - the 3ft-tall primitive humans which were discovered to have lived on the nearby island of Flores 190,000 years ago. Alternatively it could have been Homo erectus, remains of which have been found on present day Java. It could even have been the Denisovans, the Asian cousins of the Neanderthals. Dr van den Bergh and his colleagues said: 'From our Talepu excavation results it is now possible to conclude that the initial peopling of Sulawesi took place at least 118,000 years ago. 'The identity of these early inhabitants is of considerable interest given previous assumptions that Sulawesi was only ever colonised by Homo sapiens, and currently thought to have arrived in the region by around 50,000 years ago. 'Our findings at Talepu attest to the presence of early tool-makers on Sulawesi by the late Middle Pleistocene, but the absence of Pleistocene human fossils on the island precludes a definitive answer as to which hominin species was first to make landfall. 'Considering the predominantly southerly flowing currents of the Indonesian through-flow, we speculate that the most likely points of origin for the Sulawesi colonisers are Borneo to the west and the Philippines to the North.' During the Pleistocene, sea levels would have been much lower and Borneo would have formed part of mainland Asia. The stone tools were found at four sites beside the Walane River north east of Maros (shown on the map above) in southern Sulawesi, which forms part of the string of islands of Indonesia Anthropologists unearthed dozens of stone tools that appear to have been shaped by human hands (pictured) The stone tools were found alongside a stretch of the Walanae River (pictured). An ancient gravel terrace contained the stone tools and several fossils of animals, including giant pigs and dwarf buffalo The researchers added that it is possible other islands in the region may contain similar records of early hominin species living there. The stone tools made from limestone cobbles - had been created using hard blows to one face and in some cases both faces. Alongside the stone tools, the researchers also found the fossilised remains of several animals including an extinct species of giant pig called Celebochoerus and miniature buffalo. The researchers found the tools at four different sites after digging excavation pits (pictured) several metres below the surface. The tools were found around 4ft down (1.2 metres) At the time when the tools were made, during the Middle Pleistocene, sea levels were much lower than they are today. This meant Borneo formed part of mainland Asia and Australian, and Guinea formed a landmass called Sahul. It is thought the islands of Wallacea, including Indonesia, were important in aiding the spread of humans A tooth from an extinct relative of the elephant, called Stegodon, and the remains of a crocodile were also discovered at the sites. It is possible the early humans had eaten these animals or they had merely died in the same silt where the early humans had left their stone flakes beside the river. Dr van den Bergh and his colleagues used a technique called uranium-series dating to obtain the age of the teeth and bones, using it to help them date the stone tools. They added it was possible that these early human inhabitants may have arrived on the island by drifting there on debris swept up by a tsunami. Anthropologists believe the first inhabitants of Sulawesi could have been related to the so-called 'Hobbits', Homo floresiensis (illustrated left). This 3ft-tall primitive species of humans was discovered to have lived on the nearby island of Flores 190,000 years ago. A Homo floresiensis skull is pictured right 'Although controversial, it is conceivable that Homo sapiens dispersed soon after their emergence in Africa, spread to the easternmost tip of continental Asia and crossed to Wallacea by around 120,000 years ago,' they said. 'However, early hominins had already reached the more remote and far smaller island of Flores by 1 million years ago, perhaps by accidental drifting on tsunami debris. 'It is therefore also conceivable that the first people on Sulawesi could have arrived in a similar manner at an equivalent, earlier or later time.' Nasa is planning on sending humans to Mars in just 15 years. And unlike the space agency's moon missions, Nasa's new class of astronauts who hope to land on the red planet is 50 per cent female. Among the hopefuls are Nicole Aunapu Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, and Christina Hammock Koch - four female pioneers who are changing the face of the space industry. Scroll down from video From left to right are astronauts Nicole Aunapu Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, and Christina Hammock Koch. They are among the hopefuls to be the first person to step foot on the red planet SHOULD THE FIRST MISSION TO MARS BE ALL-FEMALE? In 2014, science writer Kate Greene, who took part in a simulated mission to the red planet, argued that the first mission to the red planet should be crewed by only women. Last year she took part in a Nasa project called Hi-Seas (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation), which simulated a long-duration mission to Mars on Earth. Ms Greene and five other crewmembers - three men and three women in total - spent four months in a dome on Hawaii, only leaving the habitat in mock spacesuits. She says it was rare for a woman to burn more than 2,000 calories a day, whereas men regularly exceeded 3,000. Her conclusion is that sending women to Mars would be cheaper and more feasible than one with men. Advertisement The team recently gave Glamour exclusive access to watch them train at Nasa's facilities in Houston as they prepare themselves for deep space travel. 'I still remember getting the call that I'd been selected. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't talk. I started crying,' McClain, 36, told reporter Ginny Graves. McClain, who served 15 months flying helicopters in Iraq, said she joined the Army out of a sense of duty, but wanting to be an astronaut felt more like her destiny. 'With so much conflict in the world, space exploration can be a beacon of hope,' she said. Her classmate, 38-year-old Jessica Meir, grew up in a small town in Maine, and as a result, she says she's always been drawn to remote places. Meanwhile, Christina Hammock Koch, 37, says she always knew she wanted to be an astronaut, and believed she would be working for Nasa when she was a young girl. 'I'm probably one of the few astronauts who didn't know that's what I wanted to do as a kid,' said Nicole Aunapu Mann. 'Astronaut' seemed like a far-fetched dream.' It wasn't before the California-native flew fighter jets with the Marine Corps in Iraq that she realised she might be a good candidate. Mars is the next big goal, not just for Nasa and private groups such as Space X, but also for the likes of Russia, China and Europe. It will be the farthest and most ambition manned space mission in history. Getting there will take six to nine month, while a round-trip will take two to three years. The team recently gave Glamour exclusive access to watch them train at Nasa's facilities in Houston as they prepare themselves for deep space travel. Pictured is Nicole Mann during her marine training in Maine From left to right is Anne McClain, Christina Hammock and Jessica Meir. McClain, who served 15 months flying helicopters in Iraq, said she joined the Army out of a sense of duty, but wanting to be an astronaut felt more like her destiny Christina Hammock (left) and Nicole Aunapu Mann (right). Hammock Koch, 37, says she always knew she wanted to be an astronaut, and believed she would be working for Nasa when she was a young girl Astronauts will have to navigate dust storms, freezing temperatures and cancer-causing radiation. But the payoff could be huge. 'Mars can teach us so much about the past, present, and future of our own planet,' Meir told Glamour. 'That's a phenomenal thing.' Nasa is still exploring the implications of potentially sending men and women on a deep space mission. As Glamour points out, a Mars trip has all the ingredients for falling in love. In one experiment, a male astronaut made unwanted sexual advanced towards a woman, and a divide had to be created between the sexes. There is also the issue of sexism. In 2014, Russia sent its fourth female cosmonaut into space, Yelena Serova. Serova complained of a flurry of media interest in how she would wash her hair aboard the International Space Station, pointing out that male cosmonauts did not face the same line of questioning. Jessica Meir (left) and Anne McClain (right). , 38-year-old Jessica Meir, grew up in a small town in Maine, and as a result, she says she's always been drawn to remote places The team recently gave Glamour exclusive access to watch them train at Nasa's facilities in Houston A similar reaction took place in October when six Russian women were sent into a mock spaceship to begin a unique experiment testing how an all-female crew would interact on a trip to the Moon and back Despite the mission being presented as a giant step for gender equality, the women - who wore red jumpsuits - found themselves fielding questions at a press conference about how they would cope without men or makeup for eight days. 'We are very beautiful without makeup,' said one of the participants Darya Komissarova, in response to the line of questioning. Her colleague Anna Kussmaul was more direct: 'We are doing work. When you're doing your work, you don't think about men and women.' But by far the most difficult challenge for Nasa's new recruits will be leaving behind their families. 'If I get tapped for the mission, I'll talk to my son about what I'll be doing. He's almost four now but will be a teen or in his twenties by then,' Mann told Glamour. 'His life will change while I'm gone. And that's a big sacrifice.' The dream of Star Trek-style teleportation may not be as farfetched as it seems. A team of physicists has come up with a plan to teleport the memory of an organism using a technique known as 'quantum superposition'. This suggests particles can exist in different states known as 'superpositions', in two or more places at once, until they are observed. Quantum teleportation between two microorganisms is shown. The internal state (an electron spin) or the state of a microorganism on an electromechanical oscillator can be teleported to a remote microorganism on another electromechanical oscillator using electrical circuits, the researchers claim SCHRODINGER'S CAT EXPERIMENT Schrodinger's cat is a thought experiment created by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger in 1935. In the hypothetical experiment a cat is placed in a sealed box next to a radioactive sample, a Geiger counter and a bottle of poison. If the Geiger counter detects that the radioactive material has decayed, it will trigger the smashing of the bottle of poison and the cat will be killed. The experiment was designed to show the flaws in something known as the 'Copenhagen interpretation' of quantum mechanics. This states that a particle exists in all states at once until observed. If the Copenhagen interpretation suggests the radioactive material can have simultaneously decayed and not decayed in the sealed environment, then it follows the cat too is both alive and dead until the box is opened. Advertisement The bizarre experiment has been proposed by Professor Tongcang Li at Purdue University and Dr Zhang-qi Yin at Tsinghua University. They suggest using electromechanical oscillators and superconducting circuits to teleport the quantum state of a microorganism. They also proposed a scheme to create a Schrodinger's cat state in which a microorganism can be in two places at the same time. In 1935, Erwin Schrodinger proposed a famous thought experiment to prepare a cat in a superposition of both alive and dead states. Physicists have made great efforts in many decades to investigate macroscopic quantum phenomena. For example, a group in Colorado recently cooled the vibration of a 15-micrometer-diameter aluminium membrane to quantum ground state, and entangled its motion with microwave photons. But quantum superposition of an entire organism has never been done. Tongcang Li and Zhang-qi suggest the way to make it work would involve cooling a common bacterium down to a frozen state. This would to prevent chemical activity from taking place and energy from being exchanged with the environment. They would then attach the microbe to an oscillating membrane, which they say would be enough for the bacterium to be put into a superposition state. Quantum superposition and teleportation of the organism can then be done with the help of superconducting microwave circuits. The dream of Star Trek-style teleportation may not be as farfetched as it seems. A team of physicists has come up with a plan to teleport the memory of an organism using something known as 'quantum superposition' With a strong magnetic field, the internal states of a microorganism can be entangled with its motion and be teleported to a remote microorganism. Since internal states of an organism contain information, this proposal provides a way for teleporting information, or memories, between two remote organisms. Li says 'We propose a straightforward method to put a microorganism in two places at the same time, and provide a scheme to teleport the quantum state of a microorganism. 'I hope our unconventional work will inspire more people to think seriously about quantum teleportation of a microorganism and its potential applications in future.' added Yin. Last week, a lava lake at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano exploded, and it spewed something very unusuala mysterious, balloon-like object with a glassy shell. Explosions at the lake are typically very activity, but this bizarre find is something scientists have never seen before. It's now being said that the hollow object is a 'Pele's tear' with a one-of-a-kind structure. Last week, a lava lake at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano exploded, and it spewed something very unusuala mysterious, balloon-like object with a glassy shell. Explosions at the lake are typical activity, but this bizarre find is something scientists have never seen before WHAT ARE 'PELE'S TEARS'? Pele's tears are solid, glass particles formed after molten lava cools quickly in fountains, according to USGS. The objects are named for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes. They are jet black in color and are commonly attached to a strand of Pele's hair. Along with Pele's tears, lava lakes can also form golden strands of volcanic fiberglass, called Pele's hair, and flakes of volcanic glass known as limu o Pele, or 'seaweed of Pele.' Advertisement The black, egg-shaped object was found on the rim of Halema'uma'u Crater, roughly 360 feet above the lake's surface. The 'one-of-a-kind,' Pele's tear found by the observatory is about half an inch long and completely hollow. Tim Orr, a geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, discovered the volcanic egg on Friday. 'It's kind of like a balloon,' Janet Babb, observatory geologist and public information officer, told The Huffington Post. 'It's hollow inside with this thin, glassy shell, which is very fragile.' Lava lakes have been known to produce 'hollow spherules,' The Huffington Post writes, but these objects are much smaller. The mysterious object is now being called the 'coolest Pele's tear ever found.' A Pele's tear, named for the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, is a tear-drop shaped piece of glass formed by the swift cooling of molten lava as it spews. Friday's discovery is unusual in its size and ability to survive despite its fragility; after being launched from the lava lake, and out onto the rim, the 'tear' remained intact. The mysterious object is now being called the 'coolest Pele's tear ever found.' A Pele's tear, named for the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, is a tear-drop shaped piece of glass formed by the swift cooling of molten lava as it spews The black, egg-shaped object was found on the rim of Halema'uma'u Crater, roughly 360 feet above the lake's surface. The 'one-of-a-kind,' Pele's tear found by the observatory is about half an inch long and completely hollow 'Something that fragile looking, you would think it would have broken into many pieces,' Babb told HudffPost. 'This is one of the things that makes science fun.' Though it's been identified, the scientists are still perplexed by the strange egg-like structure. The tear was mostly likely formed in the aftermath of the lava lake explosion. 'To my knowledge, it's the only thing like it that has ever formed,' Orr told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Huffington Post writes. Explosions at the lava lake happen all the time, and without warning, sending fragments of volcanic debris into the air. The lava lake is continually surprising researchers. Last year, when the lake overflowed several times, lava touched the floor of the Halema'uma'u Crater for the first time since 1982 The unusual Pele's tear is extremely fragile, and scientists are keeping it in a display case away from the public. Explosions at the lava lake happen all the time, and without warning, sending fragments of volcanic debris into the air. The explosion that produced the glass egg was the third one that week. Along with Pele's tears, lava lakes can also form golden strands of volcanic fiberglass, called Pele's hair, and flakes of volcanic glass known as limu o Pele, or 'seaweed of Pele.' Finding a bargain on a flight has never been easier thanks to the internet, and a new travel website claims it can help holidaymakers to save hundreds of pounds on airfare. Using a complicated algorithm, Tripdelta.com searches the depths of the internet to find secret flights that are as much as 80 per cent cheaper than those sold by other travel companies, the websites creators say. But the search results offer alternative routes with connections at hidden airports, longer journeys and, in some cases, overnight stays, meaning the so-called travel hack isnt suited to those who are in a hurry to get to their destination. Scroll down for video Travellers who take advantage of the website's deals will catch a connecting flight at a 'hidden' airport Tripdelta was the brainchild of a team of developers who created the algorithm, which finds the cheapest possible fares by combining flights from multiple airlines that dont have codeshare agreements. Travel searches conducted by MailOnline reveal that passengers can find savings on many one-way flights, but return flights may not be worth the hassle or travellers may be better off booking directly with one airline or a competing website, depending on the destination. Holidaymakers who are looking to fly from London to Orlando next month, for example, can find a one-way flight for as little as 293, with savings of 187, said Tripdelta. The journey is a bit tricky, however, as it includes an overnight stop in New York and a transfer to a different airport. Passengers would fly from Gatwick to JFK Airport with Norwegian and then with JetBlue from Newark airport to Orlando the following morning. The total journey time, including the stopover, is 20 hours and 38 minutes, and the savings would be partially offset by the cost of overnight accommodation and airport transfers in New York. Tripdelta's lowest price on a return flight between London and Orlando is 380, with two stops each way Rival website Kayak.co.uk offers a faster overall travel time, including one direct flight, at just 36 more Through Expedia, passengers can fly on the same dates for 435, with no connections and shorter journeys But it would be much cheaper than a nine-and-a-half hour direct flight departing on the same day, with the cheapest available option at 1,075. However, those booking a return flight can find a better option and faster travel times with rival website Kayak.co.uk, at 416. Tripdelta's search results offered a 380 return with two connecting stops in each direction and journey times of up to 38 hours. For 435, travellers can purchase a return flight from Virgin Atlantic, through Expedia, with no connections. Through Tripdelta, a one-way flight from London to Tokyo costs just under 294 with an overnight stop in Moscow (total journey time: 20 hours with easyJet and Aeroflot), compared with 930 for a 12-hour direct flight with All Nippon Airways. The cheapest return flight on Tripdelta is 416, with a connection in Istanbul in each direction (and a 31-hour journey on the return leg). Passengers would pay an extra 175 for 12-hour direct flights with one airline. Tripdelta founder Maximilian Ibel told Tech Insider his website compares up to 500 times as many flight combinations as competing websites. He added: Flight searches are not able to make out the right hidden connection. A plane was forced into a diversion after a passenger died on board. The Tigerair flight was en-route from Thailand's Chiang Mai to Singapore when it landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in the capital Bangkok. The 58-year-old man, named by Thai news-sites as Mr Seet Ngow Chai, from Singapore, had passed away mid-flight. The Tigerair flight was forced to divert so a man who died mid-flight could be taken off the aircraft (file photo) He was travelling on the Airbus A320 with his wife and three other family members, the website Khasood reported. A spokesperson for the budget airline said: 'Our immediate concern is for these next of kin and we are doing what we can to assist them.' His wife confirmed to airport officials that he was suffering with a 'chronic illness'. His body has now been taken to the Police General Hospital for an autopsy, with the police investigating. Thai police are continuing their investigations and the man was taken to hospital for an autopsy WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEONE DIES ON A PLANE? Travellers who have been on a plane where someone has died mid-flight have told stories about the deceased being moved to an empty row in first or business class cabins, while some aircraft used on long-haul journeys are equipped with special compartments to keep a body out of sight. Some airlines equip their planes with body bags, just in case. Singapore Airlines fleet of Airbus A340-500 aircraft, which were used on all-business class flights to the US and are no longer in service, became the first to include a so-called corpse cupboard, a discreet locker large enough to store an average-sized body. While a corpse cupboard may sound extreme, staff are trained to move a deceased passenger out of view from other travellers. But that is not always possible, depending on the number of passengers on board and the size of the plane. If there is no space, cabin crew are told to cover the person with a blanket up to their neck and tighten their safety belt. If a death occurs shortly after take-off it could result in a plane returning to its airport of departure, while unscheduled landings have occurred in rare cases where a passenger died in-flight. Advertisement Back in October last year MailOnline reported how a man turned violent and bit a fellow passenger who tried to restrain him - then dropped dead. The 24-year-old Brazilian man died on an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin from Lisbon, Portugal. The flight was forced to divert to Cork Airport after the man became agitated and violent and had to be restrained. John Leonard from Cork, who was on the flight, described the scene after the man first appeared to suffer a seizure and then had to be restrained at the back of the plane before collapsing. Mr Leonard told PJ Coogan's Opinion Line on Cork's 96fm two nurses and a doctor tried to resuscitate the man. 'Horrible. I would say a very violent end - to die that way in the back of an aeroplane, it's not right. It was not very pleasant at all,' he said. 'After that it got worse I would say, his seizure seemed to get worse. He was actually on the ground shaking violently,' Mr Leonard said. 'The noise he was making was like something I have never heard before. 'It's not something you'd hear every day. It was like deep anguish is the best way I could describe it, very, very troubled. Not screaming in a sense you know if you'd hurt yourself or something, just a very guttural, from deep within him.' He claims the system can be implemented for under $1,000 (690) per plane The teen from Vancouver says it will drastically Raymond Wang, 17, has invented a new fan system that changes the way air moves around a plane Getting ill after a flight is one of the biggest pitfalls of going on holiday - you come back from a vacation feeling fully refreshed, only to come down with a heavy cold two days later. But a teenager from Vancouver could now have found the solution to this very middle class problem. Raymond Wang, 17, has invented a new fan system that changes the way air moves around a plane. After examining the traditional air circulation systems, he discovered that a large percentage of the air is shared between passengers three times before it reaches the filter systems. This means that bugs are passed around among several passengers before being eliminated by the filters. In a recent TED talk about the invention, he revealed: 'We have this mixing airflow pattern, so if someone were to actually sneeze, that air would get swirled around multiple times before it even has a chance to go out through the filter.' As well as reducing the spread of bugs like the common cold, Wang's new fan system could be instrumental in containing more serious diseases and viruses like SARS and bird flu. In his TED talk, Wang referenced two cases of these viruses spreading on a plane, with the H1N1 flu virus spreading it to 17 other travellers and Sars spreading to 22 passengers. This picture shows a passenger sneezing in a traditionally ventilated cabin, where the particles spread to the passengers around them This picture shows a passenger sneezing where Wang's device has been implemented in the cabin. It shows the contaminated particles being pushed down and away from the other passengers Wang said: 'In the past, the Sars epidemic actually cost the world about $40billion and in the future, a big disease outbreak could actually cost the world in excess of $3trillion.' But Wang's new miniature fan invention allows each passenger a 'personalised breathing zone'. His patent-pending machine, which he has called the Global Inlet Director, keeps air in a restricted amount of space before it reaches the filter system to be cleaned. He added: 'With this, we're able to reduce pathogen transmission by about 55 times, and increase fresh-air inhalation by about 190 per cent.' The device, which can be installed in planes for under $1,000 (690), redirects air particles that contain bacteria or viruses out of circulation. In his demonstration, he shows a video of a passenger sneezing in a traditionally ventilated cabin, which shows the particles spreading to the passengers around them. But in a second video, when a new device is implemented in the cabin, it shows the contaminated particles being pushed down and away from the other passengers. She's said goodbye to 4am wake-up calls after leaving the Capital FM breakfast show last month. So it's no wonder Lisa Snowdon is revelling in being able to party until late as she hosted her new jewellery launch party in London on Tuesday. The former model, who turns 44 next week, looked stunning as she rocked a sexy little black dress at the bash at new Mayfair hotspot Sexy Fish. Scroll down for video Bringing sexy back: Lisa Snowdon showed off her holiday tan in a backless dress at the launch of her jewellery collection at Sexy Fish in London She showed off almost every inch of her gorgeous skin in the dress, which was draped to the small of her back and lined with a zip. The long-sleeved garment also allowed her to flash her long, model legs and make the most of her statuesque frame. Her locks were worn loose and glossy for the evening, tumbling over her shoulders and her make-up was classy and understated, her glowing tanned skin doing most of the work. Looking good: Lisa, who turns 44 next week, showed off her glowing tan following her recent Miami holiday Reunited and it feels so good: Lisa was supported at the party by her former Capital FM breakfast show co-host Dave Berry The brunette beauty celebrated her new collaboration with QVC with a host of stars, including model Ashley James, Dave Berry and Ronan and Storm Keating at the venue's private Coral Reef room. Guests tucked into canapes while sipping on cocktails including Skinny Bellini and Faith in Paloma. Earlier that evening, she tweeted: 'So excited! @QVC @qvcuk @SexyFishLondon it's all about the sparkle!' A bit of bling: Lisa showed off some of her jewellery as she sat at the bar Turning on the charm: Lisa oozed sex appeal in her striking dress as she showed off her jewellery items Speaking about her new jewellery line, which launches next month, Lisa enthused: 'Every woman deserves beautiful jewellery, which is why I wanted a range that women of all ages can treat themselves to. If you love diamonds why wait until someone buys them for you! 'For my QVC collection, I wanted to design a luxury line that reflects my style, with a mix of elegant, cool and quirky pieces.' Lisa's new business ventures comes after she left Capital FM after seven years on the breakfast show. Support: The presenter was joined at the lavish party by model and former Made In Chelsea star Ashley James, who also went for a black ensemble Someone's following the dress code! Ashley showed off her ample cleavage in a little black dress with sheer lace pannelling Am loving your earrings, who made them..? Oh me! Lisa and Ashley talked jewellery - her collection is available from 14th February exclusive to QVC She was brought in in 2008 to replace Denise Van Outen alongside Johnny Vaughan, with the latter leaving and being replaced by Berry four years ago. Earlier this month, Lisa had been sunning herself in Miami, no doubt loving not having to wake up at 4am every day to the daily 6am radio show. Although no longer work colleagues, Dave showed his support for Lisa by attending Tuesday's party. Former Made In Chelsea star Ashley, who was recently romantically linked to David Walliams, looked lovely in a black fitted dress with sheer panel. Lisa's jewellery collection is available from 14th February exclusive to QVC. Mingling: Former Made In Chelsea star Ashley chatted to Dave in the party Lemme take a selfie: Lisa and Yasmin Mills struck a pose for the cameraphone Heading home: Lisa looked in good spirits as she jumped in a taxi following her party After more than 18 years at 2DayFM Geoff Field has revealed he was left 'furious' and shocked when he was sacked from the station without warning. The 53-year-old radio veteran admitted to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, that being dumped by Sydney-based network left him 'in a pretty dark place'. 'I was furious, I was angry, I was sooo angry,' he said of being called into the manager's office mid-week to hear that four newsreaders across the country were being replace by one - Emma Freedman. Scroll down for video 'I was in a pretty dark place': Newsreader Geoff Field admitted that being dumped by 2DayFM last September, after almost 19 years at the Sydney station left him in a very dark place for a few weeks 'It took me about two or three weeks to actually calm down,' he added of the shock news. The newsreader says anyone else at a company that long would have felt the same after being told they weren't needed after nearly two decades at that workplace. Geoff was also left disappointed by management's decision, saying: 'Journalists aren't being taken on, they're being laid off because the industry is getting smaller...and that worries me' Beginning in the radio industry two days after finishing high school, at the age of 16, Geoff says he had 'never been out of work until September last year'. However, four months after being sacked Geoff says he's happier than ever and credits 'my soul mate and the rock of my life', Jason Kerr, for helping him get through the tough time. His partner of 23 years, also in the industry and a producer at radio station 2GB, told him to 'forget about radio, to forget about what's happened', which the newsreader claims 'worked because I'm no longer bitter'. The couple moved forward their planned holiday to Europe and have been holidaying ever since - visiting Istanbul, a number of Mediterranean islands, London, Port Douglas, Bali and Cairns. 'The rock of my world': The 53-year-old (left) credits his partner of 23 years, Jason Kerr (right) in helping him get through the tough time, with the radio producer advising the newsreader not to think about it on holiday 'I was furious': Reflecting on the shock news, Geoff admits he was furious and angry but after four months away from the industry, he says he had renewed perspective and is happier than ever On holidays! The couple moved forward their planned holiday and have made the most of the time off '[I'm] Enjoying having free time for the first time in my life,' Geoff told DMA of his holidays and spending more time with family. Likening it to Long Service Leave, he added: 'After working for so long and we've managed our money well, we did think why not?' The Sydney newsreader is even playing tourist in his own city, laughing about taking the hop-on-hop-off bus last week and even the Manly Ferry. But despite enjoying the forced break, the 53-year-old isn't considering an early retirement. 'Oh no, no way! I am taking a break,' Geoff clarified. Playing tourist: Geoff enjoyed being a tourist around Istanbul and London at the end of last year and returned to play tourist in his own city, even taking the hop-on-hop-off bus around Sydney 'I've earned it': Likening the break to long service leave, the radio personality says he has earned the break and is fortunate enough to be able to afford the interstate and international holidays 'I want to actually enjoy my life at the moment and being able to travel, having the financial means to travel, to visit my family, just to take it easy for the first time in my life, 'Not worrying about ratings, not worrying about what's the top story, just to chill out and enjoy my life. 'So I'll enjoy it while it lasts,' he quipped, adding that he hopes to be back to work in a few months. 'I've had a few bites from radio and TV, so that's in my blood, the media industry and you can bet by the middle of the year, I'll be back into a job' he added. But while he is on a break one thing the newsreader has not been doing is listening to his old show Hamish and Andy, or his replacement, Emma. Not ready to retire: Despite enjoying his forced break, the 38-year radio veteran says being in the media is in his blood, vowing to return, and revealing he's had 'a few bites from radio and TV' 'I haven't listened': The former Hamish & Andy newsreader says he hasn't listened to the show, his replacement or the station since leaving, saying he wants a 'fresh start' 'I have to be honest, I haven't listened because I wanted a fresh start,' he told DMA. 'I don't want to be taken into a bad place...I wanna move forward with my life and I don't think listening to my replacement or listening to my old radio station would help me much,' he added. Despite not being ready to listen to the radio Geoff insists he is in a very good place and looking forward. 'I think now that time has passed, I've seen it as a chance to do something new, a challenge in life and gets me out of my comfort zone'. After returning from his big European jaunt, the radio veteran took to Facebook to post about his new perspective on life alongside an inspirational quote. 'Kick in the guts': Geoff described the news from 2Day FM management he was being replaced by Dancing With The Stars winner Emma Freedman as a 'kick in the guts' 'I'm thankful I've had a job I looked forward to going to each day, as opposed to some mates of mine that really hate their jobs,' he said. 'If you do get retrenched, let me tell you it's not the end of the world, in fact it can be a great time for a fresh start, or even a much needed break! 'Being away from the day to day things that go with our industry...puts things into perspective, where you realise what is really important in life,' he said offering up advice. In an interview with The Sun Herald after being let go, Geoff confessed: 'Being told you're being replaced with a former weather girl and Dancing With The Stars winner was a bit of kick in the guts, particularly three days before you're about to go on holiday'. 'Dumbed down': Asking fans not to attack Emma (front) for accepting the job she was offered, Geoff said he was upset at management for dumbing down the news Adding: 'It's a disturbing trend as many journalists are being replaced with reality TV stars to present dumbed down, tabloid news no offence to Emma it's a slippery slope'. He also took to Facebook at the time to thank his fans and colleagues for their loyalty and support, making it clear he wasn't blaming his replacement for the decision and pointing the finger squarely at management. 'Can I ask people not to be harsh on my replacement Emma Freedman - after all she was offered the job. I'm upset about the decision, but I wish Emma the best in her life,' he wrote. Geoff famously married his long-time partner on-air in 2005 as part of the Kyle & Jackie O Show radio stunt 'Sydney's Illegal Gay Wedding'. Married on-air: Geoff "married" his long time partner Jason as part of a Kyle & Jackie O Show radio stunt in 2005, when he was a newsreader on the show In March last year, Geoff opened up about his stint as newsreader on The Kyle & Jackie O Show, a relationship that turned sour in 2010. Having worked with Jackie 'O' Henderson and Kyle Sandilands since their days on drive radio, Geoff wrote in a blog post: 'I decided to never work with either host again'. 'I had five mainly good years on the [Kyle & Jackie O] Breakfast show, but in March 2010 things had changed,' Geoff wrote, adding 'it wasn't fun anymore.' On quitting the breakfast show, he was moved to drive-time program Hamish & Andy, which he worked on until being axed in 2015. Mila Kunis unveiled a brand new hair colour when she arrived on the set of her new movie in New Orleans on Tuesday. The 32-year-old slicked her newly bronzed hair - complete with dark roots - back into a no-fuss pony tail as she made a low-key entrance to the set. Mila was practically bundled up from head-to-toe in a thick black parka, bright blue top, and boots. Scroll down for video The mane attraction: Mila Kunis introduced a lighter hair colour when she made her way to the set of the comedy Bad Moms in New Orleans on Tuesday New look: Mila is seen on set on Monday, left, then with newly dyed hair on Tuesday The actress came prepared for a long day of work ahead, as she arrived clutching a thermos to quench her thirst during idle moments on the set. Mila made sure to highlight her radiant features with a light touch-up of makeup. Her famous complexion was complimented by foundation, blush, and a light trace of mascara. Bundle up! Kunis donned a heavy parka jacket, trousers, and a cosy pair of boots She also wore a gold chain necklace and a matching pair of studded earrings. Mila was recently spotted enjoying time with her husband Ashton Kutcher in New Orleans just before filming Bad Moms. The new movie is from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the same writers-directors responsible for The Hangover and its sequels. Fuel for the road: The actress clutched a handy thermos to quench her thrist during idle moments on set The husky-voiced actress will team up with Christina Applegate and Kristen Bell playing a trio of stressed out moms whose pursuit of self-indulgent fun lands them in hot water with the PTA president, according to Deadline.com. Kesha was also spotted on the set for an acting gig that same day. Ashton, meanwhile, recently completed the drama The Long Home with Josh Hutchison and James Franco, who also directed the feature film. Mila and Ashton, who co-starred on That '70s Show, didn't start dating until 2012 after the actor split from actress Demi Moore after eight years of marriage. The Ukrainian born beauty and the Iowa native were married last year and threw a party to celebrate their super-secret nuptials on July 4, 2015. The couple are parents to one-year-old daughter Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher. 'I used to come to these things and I would truly tremble. I would be so anxious,' Hathaway told the site. 'It is a little sad that I was able to be in all those wonderful places,' she told ET. Christie Brinkley has revealed that she helped David Bowie and wife Iman, 60, conceive their first child, Alexandria. The 61-year-old star took to Instagram to extend her sympathies to the eighties supermodel after the passing of musical legend Bowie over the weekend. Along with a sweet photo of the couple from 2000, the author wrote a message recalling the time she helped with the couple's fertility issues. Brinkley wrote: 'Iman always told the story in such a charming way... "It took two blondes to get me pregnant David Bowie and Christie Brinkley!" Scroll down for video A story to tell: Christie Brinkley took to Instagram on Tuesday to offer her condolences to Iman after the passing of music legend David Bowie over the weekend '"You see..." Iman explained to me, "in Somalia they say if you are having trouble getting pregnant you must hold a baby all day" so I handed her my baby, Sailor, and she held her all day long ...and sure enough, it worked! After 7 years trying without luck... Iman got pregnant! 'So beyond her great beauty and business savvy, and beyond Bowie's music and art, I always felt a sweet connection to this stunningly gorgeous and creative couple. Today my heart aches For Iman, and Alexandria for their untimely and unbearable loss. My deepest sympathy @the_real_iman.' Bowie sadly passed away on Sunday, aged 69, after an 18-month battle with cancer. See more news and anecdotes of David Bowie following his death 'I always felt a sweet connection': Christie shared this photo of the couple and their daughter Alexandria which she captioned with the cute story of how they conceived the tot Iman herself took to social media following the death of the Starman hit maker sharing the quote 'Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.' She followed it up with the words 'The struggle is real, but so is God.' Bowie told New York Daily News after the birth of his daughter 'I stumbled onto bliss and I have no intention of finding my way back out. 'I'm frighteningly happy. I don't see ever wanting to change things in my personal life. Iman and I are very happy, and we have the most fabulous baby.' Christie has three children; Alexa Ray Joel, 30, Jack, 20, and Sailor, now 17. It is something of a rarity for a show to feature families stuck on the lowest rung. But cult hit dramatic comedy Shameless is clearly still going strong after being renewed for a seventh season on Tuesday, a development that thrilled the show's sexy star Emmy Rossum. The saucy 29-year-old, who plays feisty Fiona Gallagher, took to social media to tweet her delight at the development. Scroll down for video An Emmy winning development: Rossum was delighted her show Shameless was renewed on Tuesday She said: 'Its gonna be 7 years with my second family! What an exciting day!!!! #Shameless.' But she is not the only person who was pleased the clearly close-knit cast, which includes critically acclaimed thespian William H Macy, will be returning once more. For the premium cable station's president of programming Gary Levine lathered the show with praise as he announced the show's renewal. He said: 'Shameless has clearly resonated with audiences as evidenced by their steady growth on Sunday nights over the past 6 years. Twit's fantastic: The saucy stunner said it was an 'exciting day' to discover she was still in a job Family fortunes: Emmy will surely be raking it in after signing up to appear in a seventh season of a hit show 'We are extremely pleased with the creative work being done by (executive producers) John Wells, Nancy Pimental and the entire cast, producers and writers, and we so appreciate Shameless clear and distinctive voice.' The show, which started its sixth season on Sunday, is set in is set in the rough Canaryville area of Chicago. It follows the travails of the hard-up Gallagher family, led by Macy's patriarch Frank and his eldest daughter Fiona. The programme is a remake of the critically acclaimed British comedy-drama, which was set in the fictional Chatsworth council estate Manchester. Showtime's version has a way to go to match it's predecessor though, as it finally came to an end in 2013 after 11 series. A different kind of modern family: William H Macy stars as the patriarch of the dysfunctional Gallagher clan She announced her pregnancy in October last year, and Rose Byrne appears to be bumping along nicely. The Australian actress sported that typical pregnancy glow as she took a hand-in-hand stroll through New York City with her beau Bobby Cannavale on Tuesday. Wrapping up against the harsh winter chill, the 36-year-old donned a thick navy goose-down coat and a grey scarf as she grinned fondly at her man. Looking swell! Rose Byrne's burgeoning baby bump was beginning to show underneath her winter layers as she strolled hand-in-hand with her beau Bobby Cannavale Pairing her look with black skinny jeans, Rose added a pop of colour to her otherwise muted ensemble with a pair of rainbow Nike trainers. She also warmed her head with a navy beanie, similar to the one sported by Bobby. The Boardwalk Empire actor meanwhile opted for navy primarily, with dark blue jeans and a thick woollen overcoat. Wrapping up: The smitten couple shielded themselves from the winter cold with thick overcoats Colour burst: Pairing her look with black skinny jeans, Rose added a pop of colour to her otherwise muted ensemble with a pair of rainbow Nikes Underneath, he layered with a burgundy sweater, a navy scarf and capped off his look with a pair of knitted gloves. The smitten couple are expecting their first child together, with Bobby, 45, sharing his 20-year-old son Jake with his ex-wife actress Jenny Lumet. Rose and the Ant Man actor have been dating for close to four years, after meeting on the set of Annie in 2012. They kept their romance low-key until Bobby called the actress 'the love of my life' while accepting his Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role as Gyp Rosetti on the HBO drama in 2013. Smitten: The smitten couple are expecting their first child together, with Bobby, 45, sharing his 20-year-old son Jake with his ex-wife actress Jenny Lumet The celebrity couple appear to be in nesting mode, purchasing a three-bedroom house in the trendy New York borough of Brooklyn for a reported $2.2 million in early October. In addition to planning a family together, the actors have starred in a number of films since they started dating. After meeting on the set of the Annie remake, they went on to appear together in two films together this year - the hit Melissa McCarthy comedy Spy and the comedy Adult Beginners. Rose previously dated Australian actor Brendan Cowell for six years before splitting in 2010. It's been an eventful few days for the cast and crew of The Hateful Eight, after the Western-mystery film scooped a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score on Sunday. But it's back to business as usual for actors Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell, who flew into Australia this week to promote the movie, alongside writer-director Quentin Tarantino, 52. Samuel, 67, and co-star Kurt, 64, opted for relaxed, grey ensembles as they arrived at Sydney International Airport on Tuesday, with the Pulp Fiction star also wearing a cap and dark sunglasses. Scroll down for video Down Under: The Hateful Eight's Samuel L. Jackson, 67, was joined by co-stars Kurt Russell and writer-director Quentin Tarantino as they flew into Sydney Airport on Tuesday following a winning night at the Globes The Tennessee-born director wore a smart, black blazer as he walked past the waiting reporters. Their press trip Down Under comes just days after The Hateful Eight won the award for Best Original Score at the Golden Globes. Quentin Tarantino collected the prize on the behalf of composer Ennio Morricone, 87, at the ceremony on Sunday night, which took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. New arrivals: Kurt Russell, 64, arrived with writer-director Quentin Tarantino, 54, at Sydney Airport this week But his acceptance speech was not without controversy, however, after he used the word 'ghetto' in reference to the style of Western film music Morricone is most associated with. Holding the trophy, Tarantino said that the Italian was his 'favourite composer' and not just in 'that ghetto' of composition, later comparing Morricone to classical composers Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. After the speech, award presenter Jamie Foxx - who previously starred in Tarantino's Oscar-winning Django Unchained - clearly didn't approve of the director's use of language. Gunslinger: Samuel L. Jackson plays bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren in The Hateful Eight After Tarantino left the stage, Foxx, 48, walked up to the microphone and sternly said, 'Ghetto?' In the US, some associate the word ghetto with slum housing areas populated by African Americans. However, it is originally an Italian word from the 17th century, and was first used in Venice to describe the part of the city to which Jews were restricted and segregated. Keep it down! Kurt Russell also plays a bounty hunter, John Ruth, who is nicknamed 'The Hangman' Meanwhile, The Hateful Eight was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture for Jennifer Jason Leigh, 53, and Best Screenplay for Tarantino, but missed out in both categories. The film tells the mystery story of eight strangers who seek refuge from a blizzard in a stagecoach stopover some time after the American Civil War. Sylvester Stallone has taken to social media to officially thank his Creed director and costar after his Golden Globes 'snub.' The actor, who won Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rocky Balboa in the film, didn't mention director Ryan Coogler or co-star Michael B Jordan during his acceptance speech - which caused a backlash on social media. Actor Samuel L. Jackson and Selma director Ava DuVernay also voiced their disappointment on Twitter. Snub uproar: Sylvester Stallone has apologized on Twitter after forgetting to thank his Creed director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B Jordan during his Golden Globes speech Mea culpa: The actor apologized to Coogler and Jordan on Twitter, saying he owed them 'everything' On Tuesday, the 69-year-old took to Twitter to correct his 'foolish' mistake, while praising Coogler and Jordan as 'brilliant.' 'Samuel Jackson is upset that I foolishly forgot to mention the brilliant Ryan Coogler and MB Jordan,' wrote Stallone. 'He is right. I owe them everything.' No hard feelings: Creed star Michael B Jordan, left, and director Ryan Coogler at the film's UK premiere in London on Tuesday Red carpet: Stallone and Jordan appeared to be in a great mood as they joined Creed costar Tessa Thompson at the premiere in Leicester Square The role in Creed has revived the Rocky star's career, and earned him a Golden Globe win almost forty years after picking up his first award for Rocky in 1977. The audience gave him a standing ovation after his win was announced. And while the emotional actor thanked his wife and daughter from the stage, and even gave a shout-out to his 'imaginary friend' Rocky Balboa, he failed to mention Coogler, 29, or Jordan, 28. 'I am the sum total of everyone Ive ever met,' the 69-year-old said, adding that he was trying not to get too emotional. He then enthusiastically thanked a long list of those who helped him in his career, including his representatives and various producers. Grateful: Stallone with wife Jennifer Flavin and their daughters Sistine, Sophia and Scarlet. In his speech he told them: 'Having your love is the greatest award in the world' But he saved his most touching words for his wife Jennifer Flavin, 47, and their three daughters. 'Having your love is the greatest award in the world every day,' he said. The omission of Coolger and Jordan caused immediate backlash on social media. The hit Rocky spin-off was a longtime passion project of Coogler's, who was inspired to make the film in honor of his father, who has struggled with serious health issues. Selma director Ava DuVernay Tweeted: 'Well. I'm gonna go ahead and thank RYAN COOGLER + MICHAEL B. JORDAN since no one else is. Thank you, brothers. Good work. #smh #goldenglobes.' Not impressed: Actor Samuel L Jackson expressed his disappointment on Twitter Shout out; Selma director Ava DuVernay gave her own thank you to Jordan and Coogler All good: Jackson later said he understood Sly had been 'caught up in the moment' and later returned to the stage during an ad break to say thank you And actor Samuel L Jackson wrote: '#waitwaitwait, Ryan Coogler & Michael B Jordan, Thanks for acting with me!!! Loved Sly but...' But when asked backstage if he was upset by the snub, director Coogler insisted: 'No, no, no! Not at all.' 'I don't know what's happening on Twitter but I love Sly.' Comeback: Stallone signed autographs for fans at the Creed premiere Fighting on: The actor has won rave reviews, and now a Golden Globe, for reprising his role as boxer Rocky Balboa It later emerged that Stallone had been played off stage by the orchestra, but returned during a commercial break to apologize and to specifically thank Jordan and Coogler. 'You did it all, I just hung on for dear life,' Stallone told them, praising Coogler a 'brilliant, brilliant film-maker.' But Sly was unaware the cameras weren't running and that his remarks weren't broadcast. In the spotlight: Stallone and Creed star Jordan shared a laugh as they posed for photos at the premiere The revelation prompted Pulp Fiction star Jackson to say he understood Sly had just been overwhelmed by the win. 'General consensus...Caught up in the moment,' wrote Jackson. 'I'm good with that, ok?! Off camera thanks, works!' And there appeared to be no hard feelings between the three as the Stallone, Jordan and Coogler arrived at the Creed premiere in London on Tuesday. Handsome: Michael B Jordan looked sharp in a purple three-piece as he greeted fans on the red carpet Not offended: Creed director Ryan Coogler at the UK premiere on Tuesday Stallone looked to be in high spirits, laughing and signing autographs for fans who waited by the red carpet. The action star looked sharp in a pinstripe suit and blue tie as he chatted with his costars. Creed star Jordan also appeared to be having a blast, flashing a big smile on the red carpet and then putting a hand on Sly's shoulder as they cracked up during a photo call. The former Friday Night Lights actor looked handsome in a shimmering purple three-piece suit with embossed pocket and matching bow tie. Creed co-star Tessa Thompson also attended, looking stunning in a purple and red patterned gown with a daring thigh-high slit. They've been embroiled in romance rumours since they were reportedly spotted kissing each other during a romantic getaway to Paris at the start of the year. But Georgia May Foote and her Strictly Come Dancing partner Giovanni Pernice appeared to come out of hiding on Tuesday by giving their blossoming romance the Instagram seal of approval. The former Coronation Street actress and the professional dancer appeared to confirm their relationship is more than platonic as they posed for their first couple selfie on the photo-sharing app. Scroll down for video Social-media debut: Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice's blossoming romance got the Instagram seal of approval as they cuddled up for their first 'couple' selfie on Tuesday The BBC ballroom stars were seen lying on the floor, with Giovanni, 25, gently placing his head on top of the newly-blonde 24-year-old. Georgia wore a beaming grin as she stared directly into the camera lens while the Sicily-born hunk sported a more nonchalant expression. The image was posted on the dancer's account and keen to keep their fans guessing about the nature of their bond, he simply captioned it: 'GG @georgiamay112.' See Strictly Come Dancing news on stars Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice Giving the game away: Georgia, 24, and Giovanni, 25, appeared closer than ever in the sweet shot posted on his account Happier times: The former Coronation Street actress and her now ex-boyfriend Sean Ward ended their eight-month relationship shortly after the Strictly Come Dancing final a few weeks ago The photo marks the 'couple's' social-media debut and appears to confirm they are indeed dating although neither party has explicitly stated so. Georgia - who has jumped ship from ITV soap Corrie to BBC's EastEnders - is said to have sought comfort in Giovanni following the breakdown of her relationship with her soap actor ex-boyfriend Sean Ward which resulted from a string of rows. Georgia and Sean, 27, ended their eight-month romance shortly after the Strictly final a few weeks ago amid his 'insecurity' over the on-screen couple's relationship, according to the Daily Mirror. A show source told the newspaper: 'Georgia was very fond of Sean and she cared for him deeply, but he found it difficult to get over the close friendship she had with Giovanni. 'It was Sean who pushed Georgia away, he didn't feel secure in their relationship and it led to huge rows. 'Georgia would regularly be in floods of tears backstage.' Over New Year, Georgia and Giovanni were spotted sharing a kiss in the Magic Circus Hotel bar at the Disneyland Paris resort. The actress, who played Katy Armstrong in the ITV soap before leaving in March 2015, posted a photo of her from the trip which showed her posing in front of the theme park's iconic castle but Giovanni wasn't included. On Sunday My Kitchen Rules contestant Lynzey Murphy shared a video in which she was unable to complete just one squat after loading her bar with weight at the gym. And it appears that a four-month hiatus from training may be the reason why. The 24-year-old fitness fanatic revealed exclusively to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday that she took several weeks off her usual regime because the health and fitness industry was beginning to have a 'negative' effect on her. Scroll down for video 'I started to grow tired of the health and fitness industry': Lynzey Murphy revealed to Daily Mail Australia that she took a four month hiatus from training because of its 'negative connotations' 'I went through a stage of feeling demotivated and training was beginning to have a negative connotation attached with it for me,' she said. 'With today's stance of who has the bigger butt, the nicer arms or the more ripped abs, I started to grow tired of the health and fitness industry and the vanity that is associated with it these days,' she added. However, the star - who boasts a dedicated following of almost 15,000 fans on Instagram thanks to her regular inspiring workout videos - said that after a short break her feelings have changed. 'I went through a stage of feeling demotivated and training was beginning to have a negative connotation attached with it for me,' she revealed 'With today's stance of who has the bigger butt, the nicer arms or the more ripped abs, I started to grow tired of the health and fitness industry and the vanity that is assoicated with it these days,' she admitted 'Now I feel comfortable and relaxed about that aspect. My personal perception of it is training for aesthetics is not a sustainable goal. Training to be healthy, fit and active and making me feel good about myself is more important,' she continued. 'I'm anticipating the four-month break will help me to build more strength in a new training program. I've come back to training feeling mentally and physically refreshed.' The health and fitness professional also provided a refreshing viewpoint on the negative effect social media can have on those trying to attain what is often an unrealistic health pursuit. 'It's really interesting to highlight the negatives of social media in that it can deceive users, as people may only portray aspects of their lives that ooze perfection,' she told Daily Mail Australia. Back into it! However, the star has said that after a short break from her gruelling regime her feelings towards health and fitness have changed 'My personal perception of it is training for aesthetics is not a sustainable goal. Training to be healthy, fit and active and making me feel good about myself is more important,' she went on One her first day back into her fully-fledged exercise regime, Lynzey didn't shroud the fact that she had obviously lost some of her strength and form on returning to the gym. Lynzey shared an unorthodox video to Instagram with her fans on Tuesday, showing her failing to complete any squats due to an over-ambitious weight loaded onto her bar. 'It doesn't always go to plan,' the brunette beauty penned underneath the short clip. 'I've had about four months off from weighted squats. I wanted to give my previous 'comfortable weight' of 70kg a go! I didn't get it and my technique suffered... 'If you're weight training alone don't be afraid to go a bit heavier and bail out if you need to it's still promoting building strength and adapting to a heavier weight; not to mention the lady next to me was still impressed,' she continued, also adding the hashtag 'Squat fail.' The video provides a refreshing break from the slew of unattainable fitness videos posted online, with Lynzey proving that even the strongest people can have bad days. 'It doesn't always go to plan': Lynzey shared an unusually refreshing snippet to Instagram on Tuesday, showing the television star unable to complete any squats due to an over-ambitious weight loaded onto her bar 'I've had about four months off from weighted squats. I wanted to give my previous 'comfortable weight' of 70kg a go! I didn't get it and my technique suffered...' she openly penned to her followers 'Squat fail': The video provides a refreshing break from the slew of unattainable fitness videos posted online, with Lynzey proving that even the strongest people can have bad days Fans were quick to flood the relatable post with comments of gratitude towards the star for being so open and honest with her fitness journey. 'Thank for sharing Lynzey, it is more motivating than you probably think. Most of us are facing the same challenge after a break, but not everybody admits it,' one user wrote underneath the video. 'I am so glad you posted this. Love the comment 'go a bit heavier and bail out if you need'. I always chicken out when weight training alone and go lighter. Might try this! Thanks for the Monday motivation!!' one user commented. 'See even the best fail,' one user pointed out. While others empathised with the star writing: 'We've all been there.' Despite her failure, Lynzey's extremely-toned physique is on full display as she flexes her impressive torso muscles in a sports bra and a pair of fitted leggings. She's an inpsiration! Lynzey boasts a dedicated following of almost 15,000 fans on Instagram thanks to her regular inspiring workout videos It's been 11 weeks since she went under the knife to have her inflated FF chest downsized to a more manageable DD. And it seems Zilda Williams surgical scars are quickly fading. The busty former Bachelor star was spotted sun-baking topless on Sydney's eastern suburbs last week, with the marks left from the procedure barely visible as she lay on her stomach. Scroll down for video No tan lines here! Zilda Williams was seen sun-baking topless in Sydney last week The blonde bombshell had her arms crossed over her cleavage as she topped up her tan without the threat of bikini lines. Her two-piece of choice was a mismatched combination consisting of a blue halterneck top and skimpy Brazilian style bottoms with a pink and purple pattern. Zilda's long locks meanwhile, were tied back away from her face in a messy ponytail. Healing:The former Bachelor star's surgical scars were exposed Prioritising: She untied the bottom half of her bikini top for a better tan The former reality star, who had modelled for a host of men's magazines, visited an Australia Cosmetics Clinic in Sydney at the end of October where she reduced her surgically enhanced FF breasts to her natural DD cup. She hasn't been afraid of exposing the ensuing results - or scars - since, and regularly steps out in barely-there outfits. She told Daily Mail Australia this week that she has no regrets about going under the knife, saying: 'I no longer get stared at and men are seeing me for who I really am.' 'It fantastic not waking up with back pain anymore and I can't wait to exercise properly once I am healed. The socialite first opened up about her choice to undergo a breast reduction in April after getting fed up of convincing men to look into her eyes. Recent procedure: The former reality star reduced her surgically enhanced FF breasts to her natural DD cup in October Loving it: She told Daily Mail Australia this week that she has no regrets about going under the knife A source revealed to Daily Mail Australia at the time that Zilda 'is naturally a big girl and says she is blessed with DDs but she got a boob job years ago and went up to FFs when she felt pressurised by the glamour modelling industry. 'She now thinks bigger isn't always better and has decided it's time to downsize. She thinks she messed up and is fed up of getting the wrong kind of attention from men - DDs are still plenty.' However, her decision left many of her 40,000 Instagram followers - mainly male - heartbroken at the very idea. Not one to shy away from flaunting her assets, Zilda has graced the covers of Zoo magazine, FHM South Africa and Maxim UK and Portugal. Post surgery: Zilda is glad she no longer gets 'stared at and men are seeing me for who I really am' She has a figure that many women would kill for. And Miranda Kerr showed off her slim pins as she attended the Sixth Biennial UNICEF Ball at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverley Hills on Tuesday night. The mother-of-one flaunted her slender legs in a metallic dress, which included detailed frills and circular cutouts along with metal encasing. Scroll down for video Legs eleven.. out of ten! Miranda Kerr showed off her slim pins as she attended the Sixth Biennial UNICEF Ball at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverley Hills on Tuesday night The slender beauty styled her luscious brunette locks into loose waves which tumbled past her shoulders. She added a thick lashing of mascara to make her blue eyes pop, while applying a light touch of rouge to her naturally rosy cheeks and a layer of pink gloss to her perfect pout. She accessorised her look with simple silver jewels including a silver bracelet and multiple rings. The former Victoria's Secret Angel completed her blue carpet look with a pair of strappy sandals. Marvellous in metallic: The mother-of-one flaunted her slender legs in a metallic dress, which included detailed frills and circular cutouts along with metal encasing Apart from attending the black tie fundraiser for the United Nations Children's Fund, Miranda also lends a helping hand to the The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The model was announced the ambassador of the foundation back in December. Her role includes helping to raise vital funds so The Royal Women's Hospital can purchase lifesaving equipment. In a statement released by the Foundation, Miranda said women's health was close to her heart and something she felt passionate about. 'Im honoured to be announced as the Ambassador to The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation,' she said. 'The hospital has such a strong history dedicated to treating women in need. 'The level of care, compassion and ground-breaking research that happens every single day at The Royal is remarkable.' As an award-winning actress and huge Hollywood star Nicole Kidman knows a thing or two about turning heads on a red carpet. And the Australian beauty certainly didn't disappoint as she arrived at the UNICEF Ball at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on Tuesday night. The 48-year-old wowed in a plunging and heavily embellished gown that also boasted a thigh-high split up the skirt. Scroll down for video Glowing: Nicole Kidman donned a plunging sparkling dress to attend the UNICEF event in Hollywood on Tuesday night With the dress showing off plenty of flesh, Nicole's skin around her decolletage and chest proved to be flawless and her complexion was glowing. While the dress boasted a floral pattern, a chained belt around the waist and a sequinned skirt Nicole accessorised with a chunky gold chocker necklace too. She had her honey blonde locks curled and swept up into a loose-style at the back of her head. Youthful appearance: The 48-year-old actress showed off flawless skin and a line free face in the dazzling garment Racy! Nicole opted to show off her legs and her chest in the revealing number Opting for thick liner around her eyes, Nicole wore a golden glow on her cheeks and a bronze lipstick across her pout. Nicole, who has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994, joined a whole host of A-listers at the event. The likes of David Beckham, Selena Gomez and Mariah Carey also attended the event to support the good cause. Fellow Aussie Miranda Kerr also turned heads at the bash, dressed in Louis Vuitton as the design house have teamed up with the charity to raise funds. Leading lady: Nicole has been a goodwill ambassador for the charity since 1994 Details: While the dress boasted a floral pattern, a chained belt around the waist and a sequinned skirt Nicole accessorised with a chunky gold chocker necklace too The label has designed a special pendant and bracelet to raise funds for the charity to help children in urgent need. Nicole has been busy filming her latest project, TV show Big Little Lies in California and she was spotted sporting red locks closer to her natural hue, while on set shooting the film. Late last month Nicole was seen consoling her husband Keith Urban after missing his father's funeral in their native Australia. The couple were seen with their two daughters on December 28th for the first time since Keith returned back to America following his father's funeral. Keith said a final farewell to his 73-year-old father Robert at a service in Caloundra, Queensland, earlier this month, after he lost his battle with cancer earlier in the month. Picture perfect: Opting for thick liner around her eyes, Nicole wore a golden glow on her cheeks and a bronze lipstick across her pout Advertisement Just two days after being seen getting up close and personal, these two celebrities were once again partying under the same roof. Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom both headed to the Stella McCartney Autumn 2016 Presentation at Amoeba Music in Hollywood on Tuesday night after their reportedly very flirty post-Golden Globes night. While Katy posed up a storm on the carpet, the 38-year-old actor tried to make a low key entrance. Scroll down for video Round two? Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom both headed to the Stella McCartney Autumn 2016 Presentation at Amoeba Music in Hollywood on Tuesday night after their reportedly very flirty post-Golden Globes night Orlando did not stop for pictures but was photographed as he and a pal walked into the music venue. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star sported a wrist support band but it is not known how he hurt his wrist. Katy, 31, attended the event in a patterned dress which she wore with a faux fur jacket and a turban. See the latest news on Katy Perry with more on her rumoured romance with Orlando Bloom Unusual look: Chart-topper Katy attended the event in a patterned dress which she wore with a faux fur jacket and strappy shoes Walking wounded: The Pirates Of The Caribbean star, joined by a friend, sported a wrist support band but it is not known how he hurt his wrist Flirty: The pair shared a very flirty exchange at The Weinstein Company's star-studded Golden Globes after party on Sunday night Orlando is not really known for his love of attending fashion events these days - especially since he split with model wife Miranda Kerr - so no doubt his attendance to the event that Katy is at will set tongues wagging even further. The pair were already the talk of the town when the singing sensation and the British actor chatted intimately at the post show bash that the Weinstein Co and Netflix hosted at the Beverly Hilton sponsored by Heineken on Sunday. They were in a private enclave tucked away in the corner of the vast tented party space but seemed to carry on as if they were more than just friends. Topping it off: The 31-year-old star wore an olive velvet turban over her short raven locks, which deftly commanded attention Stunning: Katy rocked a typically dramatic make-up look with a dark smoky eyeshadow and dewy pink lipstick for maximum glamour Later, they were seen leaving the glamorous bash together via a side entrance with security guards leading the way. It's reported that they then hit the Fox after party together, continuing to reconnect over a few post Golden Globes drinks. I Kissed A Girl singer was famously married to British comedian Russell Brand until 2012 and has been notoriously on and off with American musician John Mayer ever since. Finishing touches: The singer carried her essentials in an embellished clutchbag, which offset her floral dress to perfection So many things to say: The popstar and the actor were seen chatting together in a private enclave tucked away in the corner of the The Weinstein Company and Netflix party on Sunday Pretty in pink: Katy put on an extremely busty display with her dress plunging low in the front while at the Golden Globes Oh how we laughed: Clearing having a good time, the 31-year-old seemed to make the eligible bachelor giggle inside the bash They were said to be 'definitely back together' in September 2015 after they were seen holding hands and cuddling at Allison Williams' wedding. John and Katy sensationally split up twice that year, first calling it quits in March after a brief reunion in January. They appeared to reunite again in July, and were spotted cosying up together at A Grateful Dead concert, before once again parting ways later that month. Are they or aren't they? Katy has previously been on and off with singer/songwriter John Meyer for some time (seen here in 2013) But it seemed like their latest split was as equally short-lived as their previous one as they were seen spending time together again in August. Orlando and Australian model ex-wife Miranda Kerr, meanwhile, split in 2013 after three years of marriage. The British actor was forced to deny rumours that he was secretly dating 20-year-old model Kendall Jenner in November 2015. Ex files: Orlando and Australian model ex-wife Miranda Kerr split in 2013 (pictured at that same year's Globes) after three years of marriage Blue suede shoes: Gwyneth Paltrow supported her friend Stella McCartney at her Autumn 2016 Presentation in Hollywood on Tuesday Mixing it up: Selma Blair opted for a seriously eyecatching statement dress in a mixture of bold prints and colours (left, right), while Demi Lovato went for a simple chic all-black look (centre) Besties! Hollywood actress Selma Blair (right) a warm embrace with the acclaimed designer on the red carpet of her party, while Kate Hudson also got a snap with the designer (left) Suited up! Veteran actresses Melanie Griffith (left) and Anjelica Huston (right) looked ready for business in dark trouser suits, while Mary J Blige opted for a chic white jumpsuit (centre) Mixing it up: Kelly Osbourne dared to wear bold-print flower power while singer SoKo kept it colourful with smart blazers Supporting Stella: Embroidered jackets were the look of choice for Liberty Ross (left) and a surprisingly-demure Kate Upton (right) Unique style stars: Karrueche Tran (left), Riley Keough (center) and Emila Clarke (right) each showed off their different styles on the red carpet Mingling with the fash-pack! Joanne Froggatt held her own in her striking yet simple look as she posed with Lily Collins, who looked cute in a satin pink bomber jacket-style dress Stylish stars: Elizabeth Olsen (left) was ravishing in a pale red lace dress, while Nicole Richie (right) opted for a Carrie Bradshaw-esque look in a mini dress with an ostentatious fur coat Nailed it: Molly Sims (left) and Amber Valletta (right) cut sophisticated silhouettes in their black ensembles with plunging necklines, while Lake Bell (centre) injected some colour to proceedings Brought a date: Rachel Zoe was typically fashion-forward and made it a date night with her husband Rodger Berman Simply stylish: Actresses Maya Rudolph and Carrie Brownstein played it safe in chic little black dresses from Stella's collection She was just named the face of Louis Vuitton, therefore Paris-born Lea Seydoux's first outing for the French fashion house was very memorable indeed. The 007 Bond Girl went all-out gothic glamour in a high neck sheer gown as she stepped out to support the UNICEF fundraiser at Los Angeles' Beverly Wilshire Hotel, hosted by Louis Vuitton. Flame-haired beauty Lea, 30, represented the French label with conviction, from her striking red lipstick to her rocky leather waistbelt accentuating her tiny middle. Scroll down for video Making her debut: Lea Seydoux made her debut for Louis Vuitton on Tuesday night as she attended the LV-hosted UNICEF ball in Los Angeles Lea graced the red carpet in a floaty black gown, beneath which she teased a particularly daring black bodysuit. It scooped low on her neckline to reveal a hint of her ample cleavage, despite fabric that stretched from her leather cuffs to her her high Victoriana collar. Presented by Louis Vuitton, the UNICEF Ball marked the launch of LOUIS VUITTON for UNICEF on Tuesday night. It would become a global partnership between the humanitarian organization for children and the luxury fashion house to help support children affected by conflict, disease, natural disasters, and other situations that threaten their safety and well-being. Rocking it: The redhead opted for all-out gothic glamour in a black bodysuit and completely sheer frock Lea's appearance tied in nicely with the news that she would now serve as an ambassador for the 162-year-old brand. It was announced on Saturday, in anticipation of the UNICEF event, that the actress will now appear in new advertising campaigns and represent Louis Vuitton at their major events. Speaking about the opportunity, she said: 'I feel extremely proud at the thought of representing such a strong symbol of French elegance, an iconic brand whose initials are known the world over. The new face: Lea, here with Selena Gomez at the party, was making her first appearance as the new face of the French fashion house 'I deeply admire [Artistic Director of Women's collections] Nicolas Ghesquiere's work, especially his newness. His incessant search for novelty is also highly impressive.' She's joining the well-known ranks of Michelle Williams, who has been a Louis Vuitton ambassador since 2013, and The Danish Girl star Alicia Vikander, who both starred in the label's Spirit of Travel campaign in October 2015. Lea's Tuesday night appearance saw her sporting a custom gown of Nicolas' design and also arriving on his arm. French beauty: It was announced on Saturday that she would become an ambassador for the brand She appears blissfully happy these days with her new man, photographer Nicholas Finn. But Australian fashion designer and former model Jodhi Meares has opened up about her tough past year, which saw her split from rocker ex fiance Jon Stevens. According to The Daily Telegraph, The 44-year-old a tells the forthcoming issue of Vogue Magazine: 'Nobody's life is perfect and we all have highs and lows.' Scroll down for video Being honest: Australian fashion designer and former model Jodhi Meares has opened up about her tough past year, which saw her split from rocker Jon Stevens. Seen here in February last year She added: 'You make good decisions and bad decisions, but ultimately it's about moving forward and mocking up a peaceful future,' she added. Early last year, Jodhi endured a highly publicised break-up with Noiseworks frontman Jon, 54. In February, the pair had a reported domestic dispute at their home in Sydney's Potts Point. Jon had a common assault charge filed against him, but police eventually dropped it, and authorities also issued an interim AVO. Jodhi's lawyer soon issued a statement insisting she was 'without fear or concerns in relation to any future conduct by the subject of the (AVO) application Jon Stevens'. The following month, Jodhi fled to Hawaii to get over the breakup, where she has a luxury mansion. The past: Early last year, Jodhi endured a highly publicised breakup with Noiseworks singer Jon Stevens, 54 It's a world away from her current relationship status. This week, she appears to have confirmed her marriage to 28-year-old Nichols Finn after changing her name on her Instagram account. Jodhi changed her name to Jodhi Tsindos on the social media account, though her handle remains 'jodhimeares'. While her younger beau goes by the name Nicholas Finn, he cites his full name as 'Nicholas (Finn) Tsindos' on his own Instagram page. In love: Jodhi appears to have confirmed her marriage to 28-year-old photographer Nicolas Finn after changing her name on her Instagram account Changes: The 44-year-old has changed her name to Jodhi Tsindos on the social media account, though her handle remains as 'jodhimeares' The pair have faced with persistent marriage rumours since they were first spotted wearing distinctive gold bands on their ring fingers over the past few weeks. Nick also has a telling new inking Jodhis name beneath a small arrow-pierced heart. The tattoo mirrors an almost identical inking on Jodhi's inner arm, first seen in one of the numerous Instagram posts added to her account in December. New love: Jodhi and Nick only went public with their relationship in September when Nick called the brunette his 'gf [girlfriend]' on social media The rings further intensify speculation of an intimate Hawaiian wedding conducted in front of a select group of friends during their recent trip to the idyllic Pacific islands. Earlier this month a source 'close to' Jodhi told Woman's Day magazine that the designer and former model has indeed said 'I do' to her much younger love. 'Yes, they got married in Hawaii,' the source said of the couple's island ceremony. They added that the pair, who share a 16-year age difference, said their vows by the beach surrounded by a small group of family members and close friends. There she owns her home in the capital Honolulu, where she also recently treated her team from sportswear label The Upside, to a creative getaway. Jodhi and Nick only went public with their relationship in September when Nick called the brunette his 'gf [girlfriend]' on social media. The first trailer for Money Monster was released on Wednesday. But the clip may have given away too much as fans online have already complained it spoils the ending. The thriller reunites George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who worked together on the Ocean's Eleven movies. Scroll down for video Spoiler alert: The new trailer for Money Monster which reunites Julia Roberts and George Clooney debuted on Wednesday, but many complained it gave a little too much away Directed by Jodie Foster, George plays TV 'Wizard of Wall Street' Lee Gates, while Julia Roberts plays his long suffering programme producer Patty Fenn. Unbroken star Jack O'Connell plays Kyle Budwell, a man who takes Gates hostage live on air after losing all his money on a bad investment tip. 'Anyone who can get out, get out right now. Do not look up, do not make eye contact; just go,' Roberts tells her crew in the tense opening. 'Lee stay calm, I'm right here.' Cocky: Directed by Jodie Foster, George plays TV 'Wizard of Wall Street' Lee Gates Behind the scenes: Julia Roberts plays his long suffering programme producer Patty Fenn Disgruntled: Unbroken star Jack O'Connell plays Kyle Budwell, a man who takes Gates hostage live on air after losing all his money on a bad investment tip Reality show: While presenting his show live, O'Connell rushes into the studio with a gun and forces Clooney to wear an explosive-packed suicide vest, demanding the cameras stay trained The set-up shows Clooney is a cocky TV personality and face of the financial advice show Money Monster. 'You know the drill; you just point the camera in my direction and we'll figure it out together,' he tells Roberts, who replies: 'It always sounds so simple and yet so moronic.' But while presenting his show live, O'Connell rushes into the studio with a gun and forces Clooney to wear an explosive-packed suicide vest, demanding the cameras stay trained. 'How do i know it wont blow up?' the panicked Clooney asks him. 'Because I have the detonator. My thumb comes off this thing and we all explode,' he replies. See the latest on George Clooney as he reunites with Julia Roberts in Money Monster Victim: 'I might be the one with the gun here but I'm not the real criminal... it's people like these guys,' O'Connell tells the cameras Stockholme syndrome: The trailer makes a sudden change of pace and tone, as Bruce Springsteen's gentle Devil's & Dust kicks in Ruined: A montage shows Clooney's entire arc from scared hostage to sympathizing partner 'I might be the one with the gun here but I'm not the real criminal... it's people like these guys,' he tells the cameras. 'I'm telling you it's rigged, the whole damn thing... They're stealing everything from us and they're getting away with it too. How's that even fair?' The trailer then makes a sudden change of pace and tone, as Bruce Springsteen's gentle Devil's & Dust kicks in and a montage shows Clooney's entire arc from scared hostage to sympathizing partner. One scene in particular which riled many viewers shows Clooney - hair disheveled, shirt untucked and crucially not wearing the suicide vest - approach Dominic West's sinister financial bad guy and punch him in the face. In fact the same scene is shown twice in the trailer. Continuity: One scene in particular which riled many viewers shows Clooney - hair disheveled, shirt untucked and crucially not wearing the suicide vest - in what many believe to be one of the final shots in the movie Boo: He approaches Dominic West's sinister financial bad guy and punches him in the face In case you didn't catch it first time round: In fact the same scene is shown twice in the trailer I'll wait for it on Netflix: '2.08 The End,' wrote one YouTube commenter, marking the scene. 'Wow way to spoil the movie u idiots. Less is more in trailers,' wrote another. '2.08 The End,' wrote one YouTube commenter, marking the scene. 'Wow way to spoil the movie u idiots. Less is more in trailers,' wrote another. 'I can already envisage the entire movie from start to finish after that trailer,' wrote a third. 'Just spoiled the whole movie. Thanks!' added a fourth. Other comments included: 'Hey, thanks for showing how the movie ends in the trailer, saving me the trouble having to see this in the theater!'; 'F..k spoilers!!! Is there no one in Hollywood who can do a trailer without count the whole plot?!'; and 'I just saw the whole movie. Will wait for it to come on netflix now.' Money Monster, which also stars up-and-coming Dublin beauty Caitriona Balfe, hits theatres on May 13. There are apparently no hard feelings between Mel Gibson and Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais following their expletive-laden encounter on stage at Sunday night's awards show. 'Everything is fantastic,' the 60-year-old actor told photographers Wednesday as he was snapped taking a walk in LA. The Australian appeared somewhat tired as he stepped out just two days after squiring his much younger girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 24, to a Globes after-party. Scroll down for video No hard feelings: Mel Gibson told photographers Wednesday that 'everything is fantastic' as he stepped out for a stroll in Los Angeles after being roasted by Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais on Sunday night on live tV Gibson put himself in line for more jibes from Gervais after agreeing to be a presenter at the glitzy awards show hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Back in 2010, Gervais, referencing Gibson's drunk driving charge in 2006, had introduced the Braveheart Oscar winner with the line: 'I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man in Mel Gibson.' On Sunday, Gervais teased he wanted to say 'something nice' about the actor before delivering the line: 'So, Id rather have a drink with him in his hotel room tonight than with Bill Cosby.' Gibson quipped back: 'I like seeing Ricky once every three years. It reminds me to get a colonoscopy.' Late night? The Australian, 60, looked tired as he set out on his walk in jeans and a lumberjack shirt with a padded rain jacket On the comeback trail: The actor, who looked as if he had something stuck in his teeth, is trying to rehab his image in Hollywood after a decade of scandals However, it didn't end there, however, as the British comedian came back out, and asked him a question that was bleeped out by censors, and later revealed to have been: 'What the f**k does sugar t**s even mean?' The phrase was apparently used by Gibson in addressing a female cop during his DUI arrest in 2006 although he has long maintained he never said it. And later, as Gervais signed off at the end of the show - in reference to Mel's offensive comments about Jews in the past - he said: 'From myself and Mel Gibson, Shalom.' Didn't back down: Gervais didn't spare Gibson's blushes at Sunday night's awards show when he once again referenced the actor's drinking and past remarks about Jews Uneasy truce: The British comedian and the Australian Oscar winner have both claimed to be cool with each other following the expletive-laden exchange Gibson is in the throes of trying to resurrect his Hollywood career following the scandals that have dogged him for the past decade. He filmed the action thriller Blood Father for French director Jean-Francois Richet last year. The film co-starring Elisabeth Rohm, William H. Macy and Diego Luna is set for release in the U.S. this year. He has also directed Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths and Teresa Palmer in the based-on-a-true-story drama Hacksaw Ridge. The movie, shot in Australia, recounts the tale of Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who was the the first Conscientious Objector in American history to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in World War Two. Angelina Jolie's daughters Shiloh and Zahara are following in her charitable footsteps by sponsoring a family of Cambodian slum children. The Hollywood star's eldest daughters may live in the lap of luxury but have formed a bond with some of the poorest children while in South East Asia as their mother makes her latest movie, First They Killed my Father. Leida Shoun, 16, who has twelve brothers and sisters, initially approached Shiloh, nine, and Zahara, 10, when they and father Brad Pitt stopped for ice cream in the town of Siem Reap, and they were so moved by her family's plight they are now sponsoring them. On separate occasions the two girls took the kids out and treated them to new sets of clothes totalling $200 a small fortune in a country where a T-shirt costs less than a dollar - trips to a games arcade and two brand new bikes. Scroll down for video Sweet charity: Shiloh Jolie-Pitt bought clothes for local disadvantaged children in Siem Reap during the family's recent visit to Cambodia Just like Mom: The nine-year-old is following in Angelina Jolie's footsteps by helping a local family Speaking with the permission of her father, Mansaret, 40, Leida told us: 'We only had one bicycle for the entire family and it was old, so for us this is an amazing gift. 'Shiloh and Zahara and their family are very good people. We have known them for a while, they sponsor us. 'I play with Shiloh or Zahara, they meet us in Siem Reap town and we all play together. 'They take us to the arcade in the Angkor Centre, they are all very nice people. I like it when we play ball.' Leida and her siblings - aged between 23 and 16 months - live in a small tin shack in the slum district of Mundal Bai in Siem Reap with their mother and father. See more of the latest news, pictures and video updates on Angelina Jolie Pitt and family Giving back: Zahara accompanied the family to buy them two brand new bikes The family were in South East Asia while Angelina worked on her latest movie, First They Killed my Father Although they live in the shadow of the temples at World Heritage site Angkor Wat, the family are ignored by the thousands of tourists from around the world who stream in each day. Trash is strewn across the clandestine dirt road, which has no house numbers and beer adverts can be seen hanging from shops while a number of 'Karaoke' bars Cambodian shorthand for brothels line the bottom end of the street. Water is provided by a small hand pump and the family also collect rainwater in a stone tub outside their four-room house to wash in. Leida Shoun, 16, said the Jolie-Pitt's now sponsor her family. 'Shiloh and Zahara and their family are very good people,' she added However, they feel they are lucky because they have a television, powered by a battery. Leida says her father doesn't work because he's old and 'too sick.' The aid money they receive helps pay for rice, other food and clothes although the large family are still among the poorest. Leida added: 'We get money for rice, clothes and shoes. It has made a big difference to our lives, we get by now we are sponsored living is easier for us.' Leida and her brother Ploy, eight, are the only two in the family who speak any English and on the day we met them they proudly brandished bags with the clothes they had been bought by Shiloh and her minder at the local Angkor Trade Centre. Shopkeeper Keo Sokhen said the Jolie-Pitt clan spent $30 on clothes for the kids in her store, adding: 'The young girl paid the money. They also bought things in other shops too. The Cambodian children were very good, very well behaved, and very excited to have new clothes. Leida and her 12 siblings live in a small tin shack in the slum district of Mundal Bai in Siem Reap with their mother and father 'They are some of the poorest, who do not have a lot of education or much of a start in life.' Forty-year-old Angelina's charitable interests are well documented and she has done a great deal of work for refugees, people displaced by war and others as a UN Special Envoy in countries around the world. She recently told Vogue magazine how Shiloh had already started taking an interest in her humanitarian efforts when accompanying her on a field visit, saying: 'When she was sitting on the floor with her UN cap writing her notes as she was talking to someone, I was flashing on myself fifteen years ago and thinking, I know that moment.' Leida's family came from the countryside to Siem Reap four years ago with the hope of work. Her oldest sister, Pia, lives and works with her husband in Thailand and helps send a little money back to her family. Leida's brother Ploy, eight, and sister proudly showed off clothes they had been bought by Shiloh and her minder at the local Angkor Trade Centre The children hope to remain friends with Shiloh and Zahara and hope their famous mother even comes to visit them. Leida added: 'I would love for Shiloh, Zahara and Angelina to all come here and visit our home. We would give them tea and show them around our neighbourhood. It is a good place to live, but there are so many people here and they are all so poor. We are lucky.' Leida dropped out of school two years ago because it was costing too much and she needed to help her family. However, she hopes to one day go back into education and become a doctor, adding: 'I want to help other people, and be good. It takes a long time to learn to be a doctor, but that's not a problem for me, I really want to do it.' Shiloh likes to spend time with the family at an local arcade or play ball While Leida isn't receiving any education, Ploy attends a local school, which is free, set up by the New Hope Foundation charity, which is dedicated to improving the lives of people in their area. She said: 'My brother goes to the New Hope school, it is free and he walks there every day. I have to pay to go to government school, but we cannot pay it.' Ron Carter from the New Hope Foundation said the charity, based in the area, are in the process of building a new school which will meet government standards to go alongside their existing free school and when their new premises are complete they will teach a Khmer approved syllabus, and also be free. He explained: 'Between 50 to 60 per cent of children in Cambodia never finish primary school. For most children to go they have to pay. Families in poor areas can't afford to eat, let alone send their kids to school. Iran frees US sailors, heading off crisis Iran moved to head off a potential crisis days before the expected implementation of its nuclear deal with world powers by releasing 10 US Navy soldiers it had detained in the Gulf. A dramatic series of events started with the sailors -- nine men and a woman -- being taken into custody after their two patrol boats drifted into Iranian territory late on Tuesday. US and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which unfolded as the nuclear accord edged toward its final steps, with a top Iranian official saying the deal should be implemented by Sunday. A handout image grab taken from a video released on January 13, 2016, by the Islamic Republic of Iran's News Network (IRINN), shows US sailors being detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards HO (IRINN/AFP) The sailors' detention raised alarm in Washington but after informal talks with Tehran, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had been set free. "Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the Gulf," said a statement read out on state television, noting the sailors had not entered Iranian waters intentionally and had no "hostile intent". Video footage showed the Navy personnel with their hands on their heads as they were apprehended. But other footage showed them eating a meal and drinking water, some smiling, while sitting on Persian rugs. One sailor told Iranian state television that the crew had been treated well during their detention. "It was a mistake and that was our fault and we apologise for our mistake," he said. The Pentagon confirmed they had been freed and that there was no indication that the sailors had been harmed. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran," it said. - 'Broken navigation system' - Admiral Ali Fadavi, the naval commander of the Guards, said an investigation established that "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes". Instead "a broken navigation system" had led them astray, he said. US officials had said one or both of the boats experienced mechanical problems and had been taken to Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf. The island houses a base of the Guards, which has its own naval units. Radio contact was lost with the two vessels -- riverine patrol boats under 65 feet (20 metres) in length -- while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations, but US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif five times about the issue on Tuesday. Kerry told him the sailors' release could be turned into a "good story" for both sides, according to a senior US official. "That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong," Kerry said in a statement. Zarif said on Twitter: "Happy to see dialog and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the #sailors episode. Let's learn from this latest example." Iran's Guards often take a tough approach in what it considers the "Persian Gulf". Relations with Washington were strained by claims last month that Iran fired rockets close to a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf. Last year, Iranian patrol boats seized the Maersk Tigris, a cargo ship sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, which meant it was under US protection. And in March 2007, Iranian patrols captured 15 British Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel, interrogated them and held them for 13 days before releasing them. - Iran 'testing the boundaries' - The smooth resolution of the latest crisis was a testament to the close working relationship developed by Kerry and Zarif during the nuclear talks, which concluded in July with a deal between Iran and the P5+1 powers of the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany. The accord foresees Iran scaling back its activities to put an atomic bomb outside its reach in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Iranian media as saying that UN nuclear inspectors would issue a report on Friday that would be followed by announcement of the deal's implementation by Sunday. Kerry, who has been criticised by President Barack Obama's opponents in the US congress as too soft on Tehran, last week said the agreement would be implemented "in the coming days". Those rivals used the incident in the Gulf to hammer on this point, calling on Obama to make a statement and warning Iran must release the sailors. "Iran is testing the boundaries of this administration's resolve," Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said. The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a measure aimed at blocking the nuclear deal, but abruptly cancelled the vote because nearly one third of lawmakers were absent. The vote is to be rescheduled for the week of January 25. In a further potential strain on bilateral relations, the US Supreme Court Wednesday waded into a sensitive case over whether the families of victims of attacks Iran is accused of financing or facilitating should finally receive $1.75 billion in compensation from frozen Iranian funds. Survivors and representatives of more than 1,000 American victims of terrorism, including the suicide bombing of a military barracks in Beirut in 1983 which killed 241 US soldiers, are demanding payment from funds of Iran's central bank being held at Citibank in New York. The US sailors were detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Farsi Island, on January 13, 2016 Picture released on January 13, 2016, by the news website and public relations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Sepah News, shows US sailors under detention on Farsi Island HO (IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS WEBSITE/AFP) The detention of the US sailors -- nine men and a woman whose two Navy patrol boats Iran said had strayed into its territorial waters -- came with Tehran set for the implementation of a nuclear deal with world powers Israel banishes Palestinians from own town Israel has detained two Palestinian men who refused to heed a military expulsion order from their hometown of Jerusalem over unspecified security concerns, in what rights groups slam as collective punishment. "It's the city where I was born, where I have all my memories," said 28-year-old freelance journalist Samer Abu Eisheh, who was given a five-month expulsion order. Construction worker Hijazi Abu Sbeih, 33, who has a wife and three young children, was banished for six months. Samer Abu Eisheh (L) and Hijazi Abu Sbeih, Palestinians from Jerusalem, installed tents at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the city, defying a military order banning them from entering their hometown for months Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) Both men live in the walled Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. They refused to obey the ban and were arrested at a protest camp they had set up at the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem. The order was based on a rarely used emergency statute from 1945, when Britain ruled Palestine prior to Israel's establishment in 1948. It was often used against clandestine Jewish groups battling the British. Expulsions are among punitive measures criticised by rights groups that also include the demolition of Palestinian attackers' homes and detention without trial of suspects. According to Palestinian rights group Addameer, seven Palestinians received such orders in 2015, and as many each year since 2011 for varying time periods. Addameer calls it "collective punishment in violation of international law" and a measure aimed at "emptying Jerusalem of its Palestinian residents". The letters Israeli authorities sent Abu Eisheh and Abu Sbeih in December say the pair pose "a danger" to security. A map is attached showing where the men were permitted to relocate for the duration of the ban. The Shin Bet domestic security agency told AFP the pair were among "a certain number of terrorist activists" who have been given such orders, without providing further details. It linked their expulsions to the Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that have targeted Israelis since October. The two men say they have never been convicted for terrorism or any other violent crime and can only guess at the details of the accusations against them. Abu Eisheh was sentenced to nearly two months of house arrest by Israel in 2015 after taking part in Arab forums in Lebanon, an Israeli enemy, and believes his expulsion is a result of his activism. Abu Sbeih says he can't explain the decision to ban him. - 'I will not leave' - After arresting the men on January 6, Israeli authorities offered to free them on bail and then expel them from Jerusalem, their relatives said, but they refused. Abu Eisheh, who spoke to AFP at the Red Cross office before his arrest, said that he would do whatever possible to "complicate the task" of expelling him. "Whatever happens, I will continue to say no," said the young man with a carefully cropped beard. "No to banishment, no to racism, no to the occupation." Abu Sbeih spoke in similar terms, saying "I will not leave my land to the occupier. It is them who must leave, not me." Beyond human rights concerns, such orders also further stoke Palestinian suspicions over Israel's intentions in east Jerusalem. The Jewish state sees all of the city as its indivisible capital, while Palestinians see mainly Arab east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community. Israeli settlements have since expanded there. According to the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, over the past 15 years the Palestinian cultural and political presence in the eastern sector of the city has been considerably reduced. Around 30 Palestinian institutions have been closed, in many cases after Israel alleged they were affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, which is prohibited from activities in Jerusalem. Palestinian residents of Jerusalem have "permanent resident" status, in which they "are required to pay all Israeli taxes, entitled to receive Israeli social benefits and travel documents, and can participate in Israeli municipal but not national elections," the coalition says. It notes that east Jerusalem Palestinians cannot automatically pass on Jerusalem residency to their children or bring their relatives to the city. Permanent resident status can also be revoked, with Israeli authorities having done so for more than 14,400 Palestinians in nearly 50 years. Samer Abu Eisheh (R) and Hijazi Abu Sbeih, the two Palestinian men who refused to heed a military expulsion order from their hometown of Jerusalem, have been arrested Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) For David Bowie, the Thin White Duke, inspiration was black Slender and pale, David Bowie counted the dour Thin White Duke among his many incarnations. But his first love was African-American music and his views on race, like his music, were often ahead of their time. After the British rock legend's shock death from cancer on Sunday at age 69, a video went viral online of a dapper Bowie in 1983 accusing then-nascent MTV of ignoring African-Americans, a trend "rampant through American media." Bowie persists politely as MTV host Mark Goodman insists that the network needs to "play the music that we think an entire country is going to like" and appear meaningful to "a 17-year-old" outside big US cities. David Bowie was a leader on racial issues, even as his fan base was largely white Harald Menk (DPA/AFP/File) "I tell you what maybe the Isley Brothers or Marvin Gaye means to a black 17-year-old. Surely he's part of America as well," Bowie said, referring to classic African-American acts. Bowie, a skilled actor who was an MTV favorite in the 1980s, was hardly risking his career through the interview and, soon afterward, Michael Jackson broke through the network's color barrier. But the episode was just one that showed Bowie to be a leader on racial issues, even as his fan base was largely white. Early in his career as he performed in the American South, which was just ending official discrimination codes, Bowie insisted on playing with African-American musicians and would whisk the band out of town immediately after concerts to avoid trouble. In 1975, as he exited his early glam-rock phase, Bowie became one of the first white performers on "Soul Train", the television show that was a must-watch for many African-Americans. Bowie performed two songs that would be among his most famous -- "Fame" and "Young Americans". The songs appeared on his "Young Americans" album, recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, the legendary center of soul music in Philadelphia. - From soul to Hitler - The soul phase was not a sudden fad for Bowie, raised in a modest household in the London area. "The one thing that really turned me on to wanting to be a musician, wanting to write, was black music -- American black music -- Little Richard and John Coltrane in the 1950s," Bowie told Record Collector in a 1993 interview. Bowie said he was eight years old when he first heard Little Richard, the pioneering R&B and funk artist. "I found it all very exciting -- the feeling of aggression that came through the arrangements. It was like breaking up the sky -- his voice broke out of the skies -- an extraordinary voice," Bowie said. In one of the most visible signs of his comfort on race, Bowie in 1992 married Somali-born supermodel Iman, a relationship that lasted until his death. In a 1993 interview with Arsenio Hall, Bowie said the couple's celebrity status shielded them from bigotry but voiced dismay that interracial couples were more common in Europe than the United States at the time. But Bowie's record on racial equality was marred by a flirtation with a philosophy that could hardly be further removed -- Nazism. Just a year after appearing on "Soul Train", Bowie was detained on the border of the Soviet Union and Poland for a collection of Nazi memorabilia. His Great White Duke persona was grim and consciously Aryan and Bowie described Hitler as an early rock star. Bowie later took pains to distance himself, saying he was out of his mind on drugs. He said he never embraced anti-Semitism but developed a misguided fascination with the Nazis over their search for the mythical Holy Grail in Glastonbury, England. - 'My little China Girl' - Bowie definitely declared himself off fascism after transformative years in the late 1970s in West Berlin. During the period Bowie wrote with Iggy Pop the song whose legacy has been among the most contested -- "China Girl". The original lyrics -- "I'm a mess without my little China Girl" -- were often thought to be metaphorical, using street slang for heroin. But Bowie's 1983 version made no mistake that it was about white male fetishization of Asian women. With a Chinese-inspired guitar riff by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, Bowie appears in the video dancing in Sydney's Chinatown, trying to woo an Asian woman by slanting his eyes with his fingers. Bowie described the video as an over-the-top parody of racial stereotypes and an indictment of "invasion and exploitation." But not all were convinced. In a widely read 1993 essay, academic Ellie Hisama acknowledged that Bowie intended irony but said the video still reflected Asian stereotypes by depriving the girl of any voice. The actress herself -- Geeling Ng, now a restauranteur in Auckland -- told the New Zealand Herald after Bowie's death she remained "utterly proud to be China Girl." Praise for Bowie has also come from prominent African-American artists including rapper Kanye West, who called him "one of my most important inspirations." "So fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime," West tweeted. Profile of David Bowie 'El Chapo' shirt lands US store in dubious limelight No one would have called Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman a fashion icon when photos of his arrest last week showed the recaptured capo in a smeared, dirty undershirt. But one Los Angeles retailer is cashing in on an altogether more dapper depiction of the kingpin, in a newly iconic snapshot with Sean Penn. Barabas, in Los Angeles' Fashion District, was quick to realize the drug lord was pictured in one of its shirts, and even quicker to cash in on it. A woman looks at the homepage of clothing house Barabas, which features photos of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman wearing their shirts Robyn Beck (AFP) Barabas representative Sandra Mancia told AFP that Guzman's star power is rubbing off with increased sales. "EL CHAPO GUZMAN WEARING BARABAS SHIRT!," the company posted on its Facebook page. "Like us on Facebook & Instagram for a chance to win our Barabas 'El Chapo' shirts." The bright blue and gray collared shirt with stripes and designs can be seen in the photo posted in a controversial Rolling Stone article by Penn in which the Hollywood actor and director describes a meeting with the drug lord in the Mexican jungle. A similar shirt -- blue with paisleys -- which Guzman wore in an accompanying video, is also sold by Barabas. The company posted screenshots of the drug baron wearing the shirts -- which go by the names "Fantasy" and "Crazy Paisley" respectively -- next to photos of trim models sporting identical versions. Mancia told AFP she is certain the shirts are one and the same. As to where Guzman made his purchase, Mancia said people come to Los Angeles and snap up large amounts of the store's clothing to resell in Mexico, the United States and elsewhere. American tourist gang-raped on PNG jungle trek: report An American woman hiking in Papua New Guinea with her London-based boyfriend was gang-raped and three of her fingers slashed in a brutal attack along a famous World War II trail, a report said on Wednesday. PNG police said the pair, both aged 31, were on the Kokoda Track which runs through the jungles of the island state off Australia's northeastern tip when they were attacked and stripped of their belongings including mobile phones, shoes, backpacks and 15,000 kina (US$5,000) in cash. "Two expatriate tourists, a male and a female, both 31, were trekking the Kokoda Track and heading towards Templeton Two (a campsite) when they were ambushed by armed men," local assistant Police Commissioner Sylvester Kalaut told The National newspaper of the Monday ambush. There are endemic levels of domestic violence against women in Papua New Guinea, with a 2013 United Nations study finding that 80% of men surveyed in PNG reported physically or sexually abusing their partners Aris Messinis (AFP/File) "The male trekker was tied to a tree and the female tracker was repeatedly raped before three of her fingers were chopped. The incident took place for an hour before they (trekkers) were set free." Police described the attack as a gang-rape and told the newspaper at least two suspects carrying bush knives and spears were involved. One of them was being held by villagers, The National added, which identified the tourists as American and London-based. The couple fled to a village and were taken to the lawless Pacific island's capital Port Moresby, where they were given medical attention. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the attack and added that the couple were hiking without a licensed tour operator. There are endemic levels of domestic violence against women in the Pacific region, with a 2013 United Nations study finding that 80 percent of men surveyed in PNG reported physically or sexually abusing their partners. Two years ago, a US academic was gang-raped by an armed mob in the country while conducting research on birds and the impact of climate change in a remote forest on Karkar Island in Madang province. In the same year, a group of eight Australian and New Zealand trekkers were violently attacked by bandits, with three of their porters killed, while hiking on the remote Black Cat track. HK leader Leung heckled over missing publishers Democratic lawmakers heckled Hong Kong's leader in parliament on Wednesday, slamming him for not speaking out over five missing booksellers feared to have been detained by authorities in mainland China. The five from Mighty Current publishing house, known for books critical of Beijing, disappeared last year, stoking fears that Chinese control is tightening in semi-autonomous Hong Kong. The latest to vanish is Lee Bo, 65, last seen in Hong Kong on December 30. Three others went missing in southern China and one in Thailand, all in October. Albert Chan (C) is removed from the Legislative Council Chambers for interjecting during Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's 2016 Policy Address, in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong, on January 13, 2016 Isaac Lawrence (AFP) Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying was lambasted as he delivered a key policy speech, with several democratic lawmakers shouting at him before they were removed by security. "Where is Lee Bo? Why don't you answer Hong Kong people," Labour Party's Lee Cheuk-yan yelled. Pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and some residents believe the publishers were kidnapped by Chinese mainland authorities, and the disappearances have triggered outrage and protests in recent weeks amid fears freedoms in the city are eroding. Critics accuse Beijing of trampling on the "one country, two systems" agreement under which Hong Kong was guaranteed civil liberties when it was returned by Britain to China in 1997. "This is the important matter. Any other policy is meaningless if the 'one country two systems' is finished," Lee said. Another lawmaker, Raymond Chan, shouted: "Even the basic safety of Hong Kong people can disappear, why aren't you talking about this?" Dozens of demonstrators also gathered outside the legislative council building where Leung was speaking. "He does not make Hong Kong people's well-being a priority," activist James Hon told AFP. "He should immediately take action to rescue the five people from the... bookstore." Hong Kong officials have said they requested information on the booksellers' whereabouts from Chinese authorities, but have not received an answer. Jasper Tsang, the parliament's speaker, has also spoken out against the disappearances. "We have one country, two systems... our way of life is such that no one should disappear suddenly," he told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on Tuesday. In his speech, Leung also warned of "obstacles" ahead for the city's economy amid a global economic slowdown, triggered by tumult in China, that hit Hong Kong's trade sector last year. Residents of the city are increasingly discontent over soaring property prices and lagging wages, taking a further toll on the government's popularity. Leung's approval rating has plunged to a low of 37.5 percent, according to an opinion poll released by the University of Hong Kong on Tuesday. Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying delivers his 2016 Policy Address to the Legislative Council, on January 13, 2016 Isaac Lawrence (AFP) Indonesia fishermen rescued by Australia after eight days at sea Four Indonesian fishermen who spent eight days adrift in the remote Timor Sea on a makeshift raft were rescued by marine authorities and a fishing vessel on Wednesday, Australian officials said, adding that they were in "good health" despite their ordeal. The men were spotted by an Australian Border Force plane in the Timor Sea on Tuesday evening and a nearby fishing vessel AFV Exodus was called on to pick up the men early Wednesday morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. The fishing boat was later met by the Australian Navy ship HMAS Maitland, AMSA added. Indonesian fishermen clean and fold their nets after a night of fishing Chaideer Mahyuddin (AFP/File) "All survivors have been medically assessed and are in good health. The fishermen will be repatriated to their home port of Kupang, Indonesia," AMSA said in a statement. The skipper of the Exodus, Gary Finlay, said the men were "140 miles off the nearest Kimberley Coast... basically in the middle of nowhere". "It was a wing and a prayer keeping them afloat," Finlay told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that the raft was just 1.5-square-metres (16-square-feet) in size and made from debris from the fishermen's ship. "They had two fuel cells latched together as the base of the boat then around the two fuel cells they had plastic 20-litre (5.3 US gallon) drums," he said. "They had a couple of 40-litre plastic blue containers latched there and a 400-kilo (882 pound) ice box that was half submerged." Finlay said when his crew found the Indonesians, they were knee-deep in water and their feet were "suffering". 'Perfect' Djokovic raises hopes of Golden Slam Novak Djokovic is hitting ever greater heights ahead of the Australian Open -- posing problems for his rivals, and raising distant hopes of the first ever men's "Golden Slam". Picking up where he left off after a blistering 2015, Djokovic destroyed Rafael Nadal in last week's Qatar Open final, in a performance the Spaniard called "stratospheric". "I played against a player who did everything perfect. I know nobody playing tennis like this ever," said the 14-time Grand Slam-winner. Novak Djokovic looks likely to have a strong performance at the Australian Open, his most successful Grand Slam where he has won five out of five finals Karim Jaafar (AFP/File) No male player, and only Steffi Graf on the women's side, has ever achieved the "Golden Slam": winning all four major titles and Olympic singles gold in a single year. Last season Djokovic fell just one victory short of the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969, after losing the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka. Acknowledging his form, the 28-year-old said in Doha: "I'm hoping that I can actually peak and play as well as I did today in Melbourne." A strong performance looks likely in Melbourne, Djokovic's most successful Grand Slam where he has won five out of five finals, including last year against Andy Murray. But the 10-time major champion will not be looking too far beyond the year's opening Grand Slam, which starts on Monday. "My thoughts are only directed to Melbourne and what I need to do there," he said. - 'It's a huge challenge' - Murray, who will be in the bottom half of the men's draw and seeded to face Djokovic in the January 31 final, sees the Serb as a huge challenge. "What Novak is doing... last year he had an incredible year," he said. "Final of every tournament bar one. "It's been tough playing in an era with Novak, Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal) but at the same time to have guys like that to always be trying to catch up to, to have to improve to try and beat them, it's a huge challenge." Murray carries the baggage of losing four Melbourne finals -- three of them to Djokovic -- but is continuing his dogged pursuit of a breakthrough. "I'm doing everything I can to try and win here," said the 28-year-old Scot, who has promised to leave early if his wife Kim Sears gives birth. "My number one goal is to try and win here. It'd mean a lot because of how many times I've been close." Federer, as the third seed on rankings, could face either Djokovic or Murray in the semi-finals as the 17-time Grand Slam champion looks to win his first major title since Wimbledon 2012. - Classic final - The Swiss maestro has won four Australian Opens, but lost to Djokovic at last year's Wimbledon and US Open finals. At 34, he is running out of time to add to his all-time record haul of Grand Slam titles. "Of course, Novak is the favourite for the Australian Open. Plus hes played well there historically," Federer said last week. Nadal has won once in Australia, over Federer in a classic five-set final in 2009, and has had some of his career low points with tournament-ending injuries in Melbourne. But he maintains he can do well as he pursues his comeback from a disappointing 2015, when he failed to any Grand Slam titles. "I am playing well, and I'm gonna keep working hard to try to be ready for Australia. And I think I will be. I am motivated for it," the Spanish left-hander said. Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka will also be a contender after he conquered Djokovic on the way to winning the 2014 Australian Open, and beat him again in last year's French Open final. The world number four tuned up by beating Croatia's Borna Coric for a third straight Chennai Open title in India last week. Outside the top five, Japan's world number seven Kei Nishikori will be looking to get past the quarters for the first time in Melbourne. Meanwhile, local interest will focus on the antics of talented but wayward young Aussies Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios. Titles won and lost by world number one Novak Djokovic in 2015ovic's golden yer Andy Murray, who will be in the bottom half of the men's draw and seeded to face Novak Djokovic in the January 31 final, sees the Serb as a huge challenge Tony Ashby (AFP/File) After ordeal, US-bound Cubans enter Mexico Some 180 of the nearly 8,000 Cuban migrants who were stranded in Costa Rica for months entered Mexico by bus under a deal to help them reach the United States. Four buses carrying the Cubans crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border in Ciudad Hidalgo, many looking exhausted as they lugged backpacks and suitcases to an immigration office. Migration agents gave them 20-day visas to make their way to the border with the United States, which has a policy dating to the Cold War allowing entry to Cubans fleeing their Communist-ruled island. Cuban migrants read the news in a shelter in Liberia on January 13, 2016 Carlos Gonzalez (AFP) "We didn't agree with communism, with the Castros, and we felt oppressed," said Yumiley Diaz Riva, 21, who worked at a school in central Cuba until she left in October with her husband, leaving their one-year-old son behind. "We didn't want to bring him on this difficult journey," she said, adding that she planned to be reunited with her son once she reaches Tampa, Florida. The Cubans arrived in Mexico under a pilot program between Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala that could be expanded to the 7,600 other islanders still stuck in Costa Rica due to neighboring Nicaragua's refusal to let them in. The path involved an overnight flight from Costa Rica to El Salvador, thus skipping over Nicaragua, a Cuban ally that has closed its border to Cubans since mid-November. The 109 men and 71 women were put on four buses bound for Guatemala and then on to the Mexican border, on a 13-hour journey organized by the regional governments and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Costa Rica's migration director, Kathya Rodriguez, concluded that the pilot program was an "absolute success" and provided a "great opportunity" to coordinate the departure of the others. Yet Costa Rica and the other governments involved insist that each migrant pay the trip's $555 cost, leaving open the question of what will happen to those without funds. And 2,000 other migrants remain stranded in Panama by Costa Rica's own mid-December decision to close its border to any more Cubans. They will have no access to the air bridge. Thousands of Cubans have left the island in recent months over concerns that the US-Cuba diplomatic thaw will prompt Washington to drop its policy of giving them automatic residence when they set foot in the United States. - Fear of Mexican gangs - According to Costa Rica's migration service, 28 flights would be needed to transport all the Cubans from the 38 shelters now housing them. The government hopes to organize two flights a day. Some have expressed fear over their passage through Mexico, where drug cartels often prey on migrants. "We've heard a lot that in Mexico there are gangs like the Zetas that make attacks on roads and that there are dangerous zones," said Yordani Casanova, a 33-year-old who left his herbal drinks business in Cuba to journey to the United States with his wife. Many of the Cubans have already experienced extortion and kidnapping threats on their northward odyssey, which started in Ecuador and put them on smuggling routes. After arriving in Mexico, some were unsure whether they would continue by bus or take a plane to the border, though they had spent much of their savings already. "It's hard over there (in Cuba) because the salary is barely enough to survive," said Fermin Ramirez, a 46-year-old quality control technician. - Anxiously awaiting turn - For the thousands of Cubans remaining in Costa Rica, the departure was cause for hope and celebration. "This is a blessing. If all goes well with this trip, we others will soon be able to travel," said Joel Gonzalez, a 34-year-old Cuban staying in a shelter on the grounds of a Methodist church in the northern town of Liberia. But there was anxiety among those unable to come up with the money to travel. Another Cuban in a Liberia shelter, Yandy Herrera, said: "I have just 4,000 colones ($7.50) in my wallet. I can't even call my family in Cuba because it's expensive: it costs more than a dollar a minute." Salvadoran police officers guard a bus that transported Cuban migrants in San Luis Talpa, 44 km south of San Salvador on January 13, 2016 Marvin Recinos (AFP) A Cuban couple pack their belongings in a shelter in La Cruz, Costa Rica, on January 12, 2016, before trying to reach the United States, hoping to make a new life there Carlos Gonzalez (AFP) 12 dead in Cameroon mosque suicide blast: security sources A suicide bomber killed 12 worshippers Wednesday at a mosque in northern Cameroon, an area regularly targeted by Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists, officials said. The blast struck the mosque in the village of Kouyape, in Kolofata district north near the Nigerian border, at around 5:30 am (0430 GMT) during morning prayers, a security source said. "The provisional toll is 13 dead (including the suicide bomber) and one person who was seriously injured. The mosque was virtually reduced to ashes," said Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of the region. Cameroon troops in position after an earlier attack attributed to Boko Haram Reinnier Kaze (AFP/File) Bakari asked locals "not to let down your guard" following "these barbaric, cowardly and nebulous acts." Since July last year Cameroon's far north has been hit by a series of attacks blamed on Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. "Eleven worshippers were killed at the scene. A twelfth died of their wounds in hospital," the security source said, adding that the attacker was praying alongside other worshippers when he blew himself up. The imam of the mosque figured among the victims, another security source said. The bombing came after two people were killed overnight in the same area in another attack blamed on Boko Haram, the security source said. Cameroon has beefed up its military presence along the Nigerian border as part of a regional coalition, after years of doing little to stop Boko Haram fighters using its territory as a rear base to arm and equip themselves. Since late November the Cameroon army has carried out operations in several border areas aimed at weakening Nigerian jihadists active in the region. Sources say the operations have significantly weakened Boko Haram's capability, forcing insurgents to turn away from direct confrontation with the military in favour of suicide attacks, increasingly staged by women and girls. Boko Haram in the past year stepped up cross-border attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon while continuing shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself. The group has increasingly targeted imams and traditional chiefs for their opposition to the Islamists. Cameroon has meanwhile banned the Islamic veil in a bid to pre-empt suicide bombings staged by attackers wearing the full-face veil. Boko Haram's six-year campaign for a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has killed at least 17,000 people and made more than 2.6 million others homeless. Despite the offensives launched by regional forces, the group maintains strongholds in areas that are difficult to access, such as the Sambisa forest, the Mandara mountains and the numerous islands of Lake Chad. GE to cut up to 6,500 EU jobs in energy units bought from Alstom General Electric said Wednesday it plans to cut up to 6,500 jobs in Europe in the energy units it acquired from France's Alstom last year. "The restructuring plan will touch several European countries and impact potentially 6,500 jobs out of 35,000," a GE spokesman told AFP, confirming in part a report in the L'Est Republican newspaper saying up to 10,000 jobs could go worldwide. The US industrial giant completed in November its acquisition of the power and grid businesses of Alstom for 9.7 billion euros ($10.5 billion) after making a number of pledges to win the support of the French government and fend off competition from rivals like German company Siemens. General Electric needed to get approval from 20 countries before it could complete its $10.7 billion takeover of Alstom Sebastien Bozon (AFP/File) One of those pledges was to create a net 1,000 high-skilled jobs in France, a promise that GE intends to honour, the spokesman said, despite 765 jobs due to go in France as part of this restructuring. French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said it would monitor the company's implementation of its commitments. In order to secure the deal for Alstom's prized gas turbine unit -- a large, lucrative business with long-term contracts and income stream in a sector in which GE was already the world leader, the US company had to create three new joint ventures covering renewable energy, electricity grids and nuclear power. The French government, which has a veto over sales in strategic sectors of the economy, was concerned about losing the industrial base for key nuclear power technologies and was sensitive about job losses as the country's economy splutters. The GE spokesman said the company would begin talks with French labour unions about the job cuts, saying they would come through voluntary departures and retraining would be offered to those in affected positions. He said GE never hid its plans to cut some support positions. Union representatives criticised that, having now taken over Alstom, the only thing GE was doing was announcing job cuts. "Where is the investment plan," said Laurent Santoire, of the CGT union. The GE spokesman said jobs would also be cut in non-European countries as part of this restructuring, driven by the disarray in the energy industry due to the plunge of oil and gas prices, but declined to confirm the 10,000 figure in the L'Est Republican. "Over the long term we remain convinced that the marriage between GE and Alstom will make us stronger to confront this market," he said. The deal beefed up GE's energy division to 65,000 employees in more than 120 countries. Alstom is now focussing on its rail business including its TGV high-speed trains. Israeli prosecutors urge life sentences for killers of Palestinian teen Israeli prosecutors on Wednesday called for life sentences for two young Jews convicted of burning alive a Palestinian teen, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of the 2014 Gaza war. The request was made at an emotional hearing in a Jerusalem court for the two, who were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street and subsequently killed him. Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the attack on Abu Khdeir but his lawyers say he suffers from a mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time. Israeli suspect Yosef Haim Ben-David (R), charged along with two already convicted minors in the abduction and murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir, sits in a Jerusalem courtroom on December 20, 2015 Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) The court has found that he committed the crime but is yet to rule if he is mentally competent. The two others were 16 when they were charged in 2014 but are now adults. They cannot be identified by court order. The prosecutor said the attacks came against the backdrop of ideological hatred and called for life sentences. The court is due to hand down its sentence on February 4, with the ruling on Ben-David's sanity expected two days earlier. -'You were the same age'- Both of Abu Khdeir's parents took the stand in the hearing to call for severe sentences. The two defendants bowed their heads when Abu Khdeir's mother began to speak. At one point she addressed the two teenagers, both of whom were wearing skullcaps. "My son Mohammed was the same age as you. Why did you do this to him?" Suha Abu Khdeir asked through tears. "I know my son won't come back but I want them to be punished to be a lesson and so this doesn't happen to any other mother." His father Hussein, speaking in Arabic, told the three judges "we are living in a nightmare. I wake up in the night screaming." He called on Israeli authorities to demolish the houses of the assailants' families as they regularly do with Palestinians convicted of attacks. The court's actions are being closely watched at a time of renewed Israeli-Palestinian tensions. A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis began in October. Abu Khdeir's parents have previously expressed doubt that they would get justice. The killing was part of a spiral of violence that led to a 50-day war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian militants in summer 2014. Abu Khdeir was kidnapped from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on July 2, 2014 and beaten, with his burned body found hours later in a forest in the western part of the city. A forensic report showed smoke in his lungs, indicating he was alive when set alight. It was seen as revenge for the abduction and later killing of Israelis Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach from a hitchhiking stop near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli authorities said the suspects had decided to kill an Arab in revenge and equipped themselves with cable ties, petrol and other materials before randomly choosing Abu Khdeir. They had allegedly tried to kidnap a child in east Jerusalem the day before, but were thwarted by the youth's mother. Davos forum uninvites North Korea after nuclear test North Korea is no longer welcome to participate in this year's annual gathering of the world's business and political elite at the Swiss resort of Davos following its nuclear weapon test, organisers said Wednesday. The World Economic Forum said it had several months ago invited North Korea in the interest of furthering dialogue and reconciliation, and the country was planning to send a high-level delegation for the first time in 18 years. "After the nuclear test ... we informed the (North Korea) that participation in Davos will be subject to existing and possible forthcoming sanctions" WEF spokesman Yann Zopf said in a statement. A missile is purportedly launched from underwater and igniting in mid air, off the coast of North Korea, on December 21, 2015 KCTV (KCTV/AFP/File) "... we cannot maintain the invitation we have issued last year," he added. North Korea claimed last week to have tested underground a minaturised nuclear bomb, although Western experts looking at seismic data have expressed doubts it was a fully-fledged thermonuclear device. But whatever the nature of the device, it was North Korea's fourth nuclear test since 2006, and further evidence of Pyongyang's intention to continue developing its nuclear weapons capability in the face of international censure. The test also raised questions about Western policy to contain North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-Un. Syria rebels to cede heavy weapons in Homs deal: governor Syrian rebels in a former opposition stronghold in Homs will relinquish nearly half their heavy weapons as part of a landmark truce with the government, the provincial governor said Wednesday. Talal Barazi told AFP that the second phase of the agreement over Waer, which had been the last opposition-held neighbourhood in the central city, was under way. The deal was reached in December and envisions Waer coming under government control in exchange for the lifting of a devastating three-year siege. Soldiers loyal to the regime forces sit on a tank as they patrol in a devastated street of the district of al-Khalidiyah, in the central Syrian city of Homs on July 29, 2013 Sam Skaine (Sam Skaine/AFP/File) In the first step, carried out last month, about 700 people -- 400 women and children and 300 rebel fighters -- were evacuated from the district. According to Barazi, "the second phase of the Waer agreement began four days ago and will continue until the beginning of February." He said that it had started with a call for rebels to prepare to give up the weapons but that the handover had not yet started. Barazi described the implementation of the deal as a "trust-building process". Rebels are expected to hand over "nearly 50 percent of all medium- and heavy-weaponry, like machine guns and mortars," he told AFP by telephone. Government forces will also open a second crossing point into the neighbourhood, allowing residents and displaced individuals to travel more freely, Barazi added. State institutions, including health centres, will begin gradually reopening in Waer. Barazi said a "reconciliation process" would begin for the rebel fighters still in the district, estimated to number about 1,000. "Whoever wants to regularise his status should present himself to the relevant authorities with information about his activities," Barazi said. Opposition fighters who did not want to do so would be evacuated from the neighbourhood in the third phase, he added. They are expected to take the remaining 50 percent of heavy weaponry with them. Similar local truces have been implemented in other parts of Syria, with rebels leaving towns or handing over weapons in exchange for an end to crippling sieges. India grants Italian marine more time at home in shooting case India's top court Wednesday granted an Italian marine detained over the killing of two fishermen another three months at home on health grounds in the latest chapter of a legal battle that has caused a diplomatic row. Massimiliano Latorre and his fellow marine Salvatore Girone are accused of shooting the fishermen while protecting an Italian oil tanker as part of an anti-piracy mission off India's southern Kerala coast in 2012. The incident, which is now subject to international arbitration, has badly strained relations between Rome and New Delhi, particularly after the two marines overstayed in Italy after being allowed home in early 2013 to vote in general elections. Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre (right) and Salvatore Girone were detained by Indian authorities over the killing of two fishermen while serving as part of an anti-piracy mission off India's southern Kerala coast in 2012 Vincenzo Pinto (AFP/File) Both marines were then barred from leaving India again pending a trial, but Latorre was allowed to travel back to Italy in 2014 for medical treatment after he suffered a blood blockage in his brain. The court on Wednesday extended Latorre's permission to stay in Italy until April 30. The other marine, Girone, is living at Italy's embassy in New Delhi and remains barred from leaving India pending a resolution of the dispute. Italy initiated arbitration proceedings last year and, in August, a UN body, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), ordered India to suspend court proceedings against the pair. ITLOS rejected Rome's request for both marines to be freed immediately pending a final ruling. The detention of the marines, the murder charges and the long wait for the case to be resolved are sore subjects in Italy with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi regularly flayed by opposition leaders for failing to get both men home. Italy insists the oil tanker, the MV Enrica Lexie, was in international waters at the time of the incident. India argues that the case is not a maritime dispute but "a double murder at sea", in which one fisherman was shot in the head and the other in the stomach. - 'No right to rule' - In a sign of lingering tensions over the case, Italy's foreign ministry issued a tetchy reaction to Wednesday's ruling, emphasising that, in Rome's view, the Indian court was not entitled to make any ruling on Latorre's case pending the outcome of the arbitration process. On the basis of the ITLOS order in August, Italy "maintains that any decision by the Indian Supreme Court related to Fusilier Latorre is excluded and therefore he can remain in Italy for the full duration of the international arbitration process," the ministry said in a statement. Italian officials expect ITLOS to make a preliminary ruling in the case before the end of February. If that goes in their favour they hope to bring Girone home pending the final ruling which will follow at a later date. As well as souring bilateral relations between the two countries, the dispute is seen as having contributed to the stalling of negotiations on a proposed trade and investment agreement between the European Union and India. Sister of jailed Saudi blogger released The activist sister of prominent jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was released on Wednesday after being detained in the kingdom, Human Rights Watch said. Amnesty International said earlier that Samar Badawi was arrested on Tuesday in the Saudi city of Jeddah with her two-year-old daughter and questioned by police for four hours before being transferred to prison. "She's OK," HRW's Adam Coogle told AFP. US First Lady Michelle Obama (L) and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton (R) pose with Samar Badawi of Saudi Arabia as she receives the 2012 International Women of Courage Award in Washington on March 8, 2012 Jewel Samad (AFP/File) "Technically she was bailed out in the morning. Then she had to go for mandatory questioning," he said, adding she had since been released. Badawi could not immediately be reached for comment. She is the sister of Raif Badawi, the blogger arrested in 2012 and later sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, a decision which generated worldwide outrage. Only the first 50 lashes of the punishment have been administered, in January last year. Samar Badawi is also the ex-wife of her brother's lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, a rights activist who himself is serving a 15-year prison sentence. She has campaigned tirelessly for his release. A source familiar with her case told AFP that "they suspect she was running Waleed's account" on Twitter. She remains under investigation. HRW said she was questioned on Tuesday "about her human rights activism generally and whether she controls al-Khair's Twitter account. Badawi denied that she controls the account." Raif Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haidar, earlier posted on Twitter that her sister-in-law was detained for allegedly managing Khair's account. A source with knowledge of Samar Badawi's activities said she had stopped tweeting from her own account about a month ago. Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, said her arrest "demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission." Rights groups say she has been under a travel ban since December 2014. "The arrest... is the latest example of Saudi Arabia's utter contempt for its human rights obligations and provides further damning proof of the authorities' intent to suppress all signs of peaceful dissent," London-based Amnesty said. Raif Badawi co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network Internet discussion group, which promoted free speech and sought an end to the influence of religious leaders on public life in one of the world's most conservative countries. Saint Laurent shifts show to LA amid rumours Slimane may go French fashion house Saint Laurent said Wednesday it would show its new men's collection in Los Angeles next month rather than Paris, as rumours swirled over the future of its artistic director Hedi Slimane. Slimane, who lives in LA and who created the rock-star skinny jeans look, may be about to leave the label he has helped revitalise, according to Women's Wear Daily (WWD). Sources told the rag trade daily that the 47-year-old Frenchman, who has headed the house founded by Yves Saint Laurent since 2012, has "so far failed to reach an agreement on the renewal of his contract". French-born designer Hedi Slimane, pictured on October 1, 2012, helped revitalise Saint Laurent as he gave the haute couture brand a street style edge Martin Bureau (AFP/File) Profits have skyrocketed in the three years Slimane has been in charge, with revenue doubling as he gave the haute couture brand a street style edge. Contacted by AFP, both Saint Laurent and its parent group Kering said they would "not comment on rumours". WWD said Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello -- currently at Versus Versace -- headed the list of likely successors. Saint Laurent said its autumn-winter men's collection and part of its women's range would be shown at the Hollywood Palladium in LA on February 10, five days ahead of the Grammy awards, one of the biggest nights in the musical calendar. - King of skinny jeans - Slimane's highly tailored rock-star look -- often teaming leather trousers with tuxedos -- has been much copied, and made him one of the go-to designers for celebrities such as Kate Moss to Lenny Kravitz. But others have accused the press-shy designer of dragging down YSL's legacy of fine tailoring by his embrace of youth subcultures. The autumn-winter collection was initially to have been shown as usual during men's fashion week in Paris at the end of January, although the second part of the women's collection will be unveiled there during Fashion Week in March. Saint Laurent said in a statement that shifting the shows to LA was meant as a "tribute to the strong music scene in Los Angeles". "For almost a decade, Hedi Slimane has thoroughly documented, supported and championed the emerging California music scene," it said. Slimane -- the son of Tunisian and Italian immigrants -- made his name with his skinny jeans look at Saint Laurent before moving to Dior Homme in 2007. Having returned to head Saint Laurent, he controversially moved the label's studio to LA, where he has lived since 2008. "Creating a high fashion design studio in Los Angeles was novel in 2012," the Saint Laurent statement added, "but the city has started to attract more and more high fashion projects." Niger holds 13 over failed December coup Twelve soldiers and a civilian have been arrested so far in connection with last month's failed coup in Niger, Defence Minister Mahamadou Karidjo said on Wednesday. "Investigators have established the involvement of 13 people, including 10 soldiers from the Niger Armed Forces (FAN), two National Guard members and a civilian," the minister said on state television, which said the preliminary stage of the inquiry had finished. He said four of the suspects had "admitted they were preparing a coup d'etat" on December 18, 2015 when the former French colony was to mark its 57th anniversary. A Niger soldier stands guard at the entrance of an army base in Agadez, northern Niger Boureima Hama (AFP) "The officers whose guilt has been established... will appear before a military tribunal," he said. He said another 10 civilians and three customs agents had also been detained while investigators check "their possible implication" in the planned putsch, Karidjo said. He refused to identify any of the detainees. In mid-December, Niger's interior minister had named several senior figures arrested in connection with the plot, among them former chief of army staff General Souleymane Salou and two top officers with elite anti-terror units. Karidjo also said investigators had spoken to jailed opposition figure Hama Amadou about the failed coup. Amadou, a contender in next month's presidential election, is currently serving time for his alleged role in a baby trafficking scandal. When the government announced it had foiled an alleged coup, opposition figures quickly rubbished the claim, with Amadou Boubacar Cisse, also a candidate for upcoming presidential polls, saying there was "no proof". He also accused the government of seeking to manipulate the political climate ahead of the elections. Tensions have increased in Niger in the run up to the February 21 presidential election when five candidates are running for the top job, including Incumbent Mahamadou Issoufou who was elected in 2011. At the end of December, the opposition said many of its members had been arrested for unknown reasons in a move it claimed was "directly connected to the president". A protest planned for Sunday to denounce the "arbitrary arrests" was banned. S.African trial delayed for Dane accused of mutilating women The trial in South Africa of a Danish man accused of mutilating women and storing pieces of their genitals in his freezer was deferred on Wednesday until next month, the prosecution said. Peter Frederiksen briefly appeared before a district magistrate court in the central city of Bloemfontein where the state asked for the case to be heard by a higher court due to the severity of the charges. "The case was postponed to February 26. They have transferred it to a higher court, which is the regional court," Phaladi Shuping, spokesman for the National Prosecution Authority, told AFP. Peter Frederiksen, a 63-year-old gun shop owner, was arrested in September after police discovered over 10 pieces of frozen female genitals, surgical equipment and pornographic photographs of children at his Bloemfontein townhouse Charl Devenish (AFP/File) Frederiksen, a 63-year-old gun shop owner, was arrested in September after police discovered frozen female genitals, surgical equipment and pornographic photographs of children at his house in Bloemfontein. He faces a slew of charges including two counts of conspiracy to commit murder -- one linked to his wife's death -- three counts of assault, two of bigamy, and production and distribution of child pornography. His 28-year-old wife Anna Matseliso Molise, who was set to be the state's star witness in the trial, was gunned down in October outside her house in Maseru, capital of neighbouring Lesotho. Canada welcomes 10,000th Syrian refugee Canada has welcomed its 10,000th Syrian refugee, the government announced Wednesday, although almost two weeks behind schedule and far fewer than it had originally planned to resettle by now. A plane carrying asylum seekers landed in Toronto late Tuesday, putting the number of arrivals at 10,121 since November, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals took office. In a statement, Immigration Minister John McCallum called it a "significant milestone" on the way to meeting the Liberal's overall pledge to take in 25,000 Syrians. Young Syrian refugees play at the UN-run Zaatari camp, north east of the Jordanian capital Amman, on September 19, 2015 Khalil Mazraawi (AFP/File) "Many people have worked day and night to bring these refugees to Canada," he said, "and Canadians have opened their communities and their hearts to welcome them. "Canada continues to set an international example with its response to the worst refugee crisis of our time." Trudeau had promised during an election campaign last year to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by December 31. The European migrant crisis was full-blown and images of drowned Syrian child Aylan Kurdi whose body washed up on a Turkish beach appeared on the front page of most dailies, leading the Liberals to criticize the Tory government of not doing enough for Syrian refugees. But after the Liberals assumed power the target date was pushed to the end of February, following criticism that the new government was moving too fast amid security concerns in the aftermath of deadly attacks in Paris, as well as due to logistical issues. A new interim target of taking in 10,000 by December 31 was set, but only 6,000 Syrians travelling from camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey made it onto Canadian soil by year's end. Outside parliament, McCallum said: "There's little doubt in my mind that 25,000 will have arrived by the end of February." "But I think now attention should turn or has turned to the resettlement," he said. "We have now demonstrated, I think, an ability to get the machine up and to deliver the refugees to Canada. The next phase -- and it won't be easy, it won't always be totally smooth -- is to... ensure that they find a place to live and get services that they require." The minister dismissed concerns about possible clashes such as those that occurred recently in Germany, saying the situations are "quite different." Last week, newly-arrived Syrian refugees were pepper-sprayed at a welcome event in Vancouver in an attack condemned by Trudeau. "We are obviously very mindful of the situation in Germany and the problems that Germany has been having, but let me remind you that we are talking about 25,000 Syrian refugees (while) Germany has accepted close to a million. "Most of them (coming to Canada) are not single men. Most of them are family members, whereas Germany accepts everybody that comes to its borders," he added. The UN refugee agency estimates that more than four million Syrians have fled the civil war ravaging their country. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the total number of dead at more than 260,000 people. Ethiopia drops capital city plan after deadly clashes Ethiopia's government Wednesday said it would abandon plans to expand the capital Addis Ababa into surrounding areas of Oromia federal region after almost two months of protests reported to have left scores of people dead. "OPDO (...) ruling party of Oromia region has decided to abandon the project between Addis Ababa and Oromia ... because its own people have been asking questions and protesting," said communication minister and government spokesperson Getachew Reda said. Human Rights Watch said last week that at least 140 people had been killed in Ethiopia in two months in a crackdown on anti-government protests sparked by the plan to expand the capital into farmland. Human Rights Watch said last week that at least 140 people had been killed in Ethiopia over two months in a crackdown on anti-government protests sparked by the plan to expand the capital into farmland areas Justine Boulo (AFP/File) It said the protests "may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence". The number reported by HRW was almost double the previous toll of 75 the group gave in December. The Ethiopian government had put the death toll at five. The protests began in November when students opposed government proposals to take over territory in several towns in the Oromia region, sparking fears that Addis Ababa was looking to grab land traditionally occupied by the Oromo people, the country's largest ethnic group The government spokesman said Wednesday that "OPDO decided to stop the project". "The plan was never to expand Addis Ababa to Oromia but to coordinate the development efforts of Addis Ababa and surroundings towns around Finfine region," he said. The Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO), a member of Ethiopia's EPRDF ruling coalition, currently holds all seats in the local Oromia Parliament. OPDO central committee took its decision after three days of discussion in Adama town, EBC state television announced on Wednesday. Philippines to offer eight bases to US forces: official The Philippines is set to offer the US military use of eight bases, a military spokesman said Wednesday, after the country's supreme court upheld a security agreement with Washington forged in the face of rising tensions with China. The facilities include the former US Clark airbase and air and naval facilities on the southwestern island of Palawan which faces the South China Sea, the focus of territorial disputes with China. Military spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla said the facilities would be used to store equipment and supplies. Philippine Marines take position next to a US Marine assault amphibious vehicles during a live-fire exercise at a naval training center in San Marcelino, north of Manila on October 9, 2015 Ted Aljibe (AFP/File) He added that the offer had still to be finalised after the Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a 10-year security accord. The decision allows for the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Co-operation Agreement (EDCA), signed in 2014 but not implemented due to legal challenges from groups opposed to US military involvement in the Philippines, a US colony from 1898 to 1946. It will see more US troops rotate through the Philippines for war games and help Manila build military facilities. "We have resumed talks now that there is a go-signal that EDCA is constitutional," Padilla said. "We are continuing talks and we will finalise the agreement on the locations," he said without giving a timetable when the decision would be reached. The Philippines hosted two of the largest overseas US military bases until 1992, when the senate voted to end their leases, a decision influenced by anti-US sentiment. The new pact does not authorise a return of US bases. China and the Philippines -- as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan -- have conflicting claims to the South China Sea which is a major shipping lane, rich fishing ground and potential source of mineral resources. The Philippines has been seeking closer defence ties with the United States, accusing China of increased aggressiveness in the South China Sea. In April 2012, after a tense stand-off with Philippine ships, Chinese vessels took control of a shoal just 220 kilometres (135 miles) off the main Philippine island of Luzon. Philippine President Benigno Aquino negotiated the EDCA to help the Philippines improve its military capabilities and draw the United States closer, partly to counter China's increasing presence. India PM approves farmer crop insurance after suicides India's government on Wednesday approved a $1.3 billion insurance scheme for farmers to protect against crop failures, saying it was intended to put a halt to a spate of suicides. Two successive years of drought have battered the country's already struggling rural heartland, with farmer suicides in rural areas regularly hitting the headlines. Under the new scheme, farmers will pay premiums of as little as 1.5 percent of the value of their crops, allowing them to reclaim their full value in case of natural damage, the government said. Two successive years of drought have battered India's already struggling rural heartland, with farmer suicides in rural areas regularly hitting the headlines Sanjay Kanojia (AFP/File) "The scheme will be a protection shield against instances of farmer suicides because of crop failures or damage because of nature," Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters Wednesday after the cabinet approved the scheme. Named the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme, it is also an attempt by Narendra Modi's government to woo the country's powerful farming community after drubbings in two recent state elections. "This scheme not just retains the best features of past policies but also rectifies all previous shortcomings... This is a historic day," Modi said in a tweet. Previous crop insurance schemes were criticised by the agricultural community as being too complex or for having caps that prevented them from recouping the full commercial value in the case of damage. Take-up of existing schemes by farmers is as low as 23 percent, the Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said, adding that he hoped to increase coverage to 50 percent. The heavily subsidised scheme will come into effect in April, a major crop-sowing season. "It frees Indian farmers from the fear of crop failure and is a strong political message from the government," Dr MJ Khan, Chairman of Indian Council of Food and Agriculture, told AFP. Iraq PM says jihadists behind Baghdad attack arrested Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Wednesday announced the arrest of a group of militants involved in an attack that killed 12 people in Baghdad two days before. The attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, involved bombings, gunfire and hostage-taking that wreaked havoc in eastern Baghdad. "The intelligence effort was able to arrest the terrorist criminal gang that bombed Baghdad Jadida," a statement from Abadi's office quoted him as saying, referring to the area where the attack took place. A member of the Iraqi security forces takes photos of the damage near the al-Jawaher mall in eastern Baghdad on January 12, 2016, the day after a bomb attack Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP) The statement did not provide further details on the intelligence operation or specify what role those arrested played in the attack. None of the militants who directly carried out the attack survived. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi security forces have since dealt the jihadists significant losses. New aid planned for besieged Syria towns Thursday: UN Aid groups hope to deliver more food and medicine on Thursday to three besieged Syrian towns, including Madaya, where residents have reportedly starved to death, a UN official said. Linda Tom, a spokeswoman with the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), confirmed new aid deliveries were planned for Madaya, where more than two dozen people are thought to have died from lack of food, and two other towns. "We are planning operations to Madaya, Fuaa and Kafraya on Thursday, which will be followed by a third delivery in the following days," she said on Wednesday. A convoy of Red Cross aid waits on the outskirts of besieged Madaya, on January 11, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP) She added that assistance for a fourth town, Zabadani, was being planned for a later date. Badly needed supplies entered the three towns on Monday. It was the first aid to reach inhabitants for four months, and came after international concern about the situation in Madaya. The town, along with neighbouring Zabadani in Damascus province, are under government siege, and Madaya residents have also reportedly died after stepping on landmines or being shot by snipers while trying to leave in search of food. Government-held Fuaa and Kafraya in Syria's northwestern Idlib province are under rebel siege, and are reportedly suffering shortages of food and medicine, though the regime has been able to airdrop some supplies to the towns. On Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said a child had died in Fuaa because of lack of medical treatment. Tom said Thursday's planned convoy would take in "food, health supplies and non-food items including items for winter like blankets to complement the initial delivery of humanitarian aid." She said it remained "essential" to get medical teams into Madaya "to examine patients to determine their condition." "Our priority is also to bring in mobile clinics to immediately provide medical care to those who can be treated in Madaya," she added. But it was not immediately clear if that would be possible on Thursday. Aid officials who accompanied Monday's convoy confirmed cases of malnutrition inside Madaya. "We saw a number of people that were clearly malnourished, especially children, and heard that hundreds of others were in urgent need of medical care that could not be provided," Tom said. She added that the Word Health Organization had "urgently requested authorisation to bring in medical teams to attend to patients." Madaya, Zabadani, Fuaa and Kafraya were part of a rare deal in late September to halt fighting and deliver aid to trapped residents. But only a single aid delivery had taken place before this week, and residents in Madaya in particular reported dire conditions. The International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday urged the immediate lifting of all sieges in Syria, saying more than 400,000 Syrians were living in besieged areas. More than 260,000 people have died in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011. Map locating Madaya in Syria under siege by President Bashar al-Assad's forces for six months Syrians are evacuated from the besieged rebel-held town of Madaya, on January 11, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP) Indian TV comedian arrested for 'offensive' guru act Indian police arrested a popular comedian for offending religious sentiments after he mimicked a controversial spiritual guru on a television show, an official said Wednesday. Kiku Sharda, 40, was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a court in northern Haryana state after he was arrested in Mumbai late Tuesday, a senior police officer told AFP. "A police team arrested the accused at a TV studio in Mumbai late last night following a complaint filed by one of the guru's followers," he said on the condition of anonymity. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, pictured on September 8, 2015, heads the Dera Sacha Sauda sect and is known as the "guru in bling" for his penchant for garish clothes and jewellery Punit Paranjpe (AFP/File) The comedian was released on bail later Wednesday. Sharda, who imitated guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a TV appearance on December 27, has apologised for his act, saying it was only aimed at entertaining audiences. "I was given a dress, a script to read and directed to act," he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency. Singh, who heads the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, is known as the "guru in bling" for his penchant for garish clothes and jewellery. Dera Sacha Sauda describes itself as a social welfare and spiritual organisation with millions of followers in India and abroad. The 48-year-old guru is already under police investigation for allegedly encouraging 400 followers to undergo castration at his ashram so they could get closer to God. On its website, the group describes Singh as a saint as well as an author, inventor, scientist, philosopher, philanthropist, peace activist and "the ultimate humanitarian". Singh has also featured in two action movies and many music videos. Many celebrities came out in support of Sharda on Twitter Wednesday, calling his arrest "shocking" and "absurd". Journalist jailed by Hamas says he was abused A Palestinian journalist detained by Hamas for over a week described on Wednesday his "torture" at the hands of the Islamist group. Ayman al-Alul, a 44-year-old journalist with the Arab Now news agency, was detained by security services in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on January 3 and released on Monday. Alul, whose arrest had drawn protests from journalists and rights groups, said he was detained for comments made on his Facebook page where he has more than 30,000 followers. Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Alul answers AFP journalists' questions during an interview on January 13, 2016 at his family home in Gaza City Mahmud Hams (AFP) "My journalism was annoying them so they charged me with incitement against the government of Gaza and therefore the Hamas movement and the Palestinian resistance," he told AFP at his home in Gaza on Wednesday Alul said he was exposed to "torture", referring to "verbal abuse that should not be used against a person my age. I am a civilian without any security problems." He added that while he was hit lightly, the psychological attacks were more damaging. For Alul, the goal of his arrest was "to remove criticism of the government in Gaza." He said he was also arrested two years ago, being held for six days. "This time it was for nine days, and I was slapped a lot." He added he was determined to keep posting on Facebook but might not criticise the government as much. "My activities will continue, even if a little less sharply so as not to hurt Hamas or the government." Dozens of journalists and lawyers last week demanded Hamas release Alul and staged a march in solidarity with him. UN criticises 'sudden' closure of camp for displaced people in DR Congo The United Nations on Wednesday said it deplored the sudden dismantling of a camp for internally displaced persons in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing authorities of driving out thousands of vulnerable people. The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the country, Rein Paulsen, said in a tweet that Tuesday's camp closure in the restive North Kivu province saw "4260 people forced to move". "Unacceptable," he added. A market place in North Kivu is pictured on April 23, 2015 Federico Scoppa (AFP/File) "I regret the manner in which this dismantling was carried out and I am very concerned by the collective punishment imposed on these vulnerable displaced people," he said in a separate statement. The residents were "chased from their homes and the site was completely razed by the authorities," the statement added. Paulsen's office said the development came a week after a firearm was discovered in the camp. Noting that humanitarian workers in the zone had had little time to prepare, the OCHA said it would seek to make "recommendations" to authorities to "avoid such abrupt (camp) closures" in future. Berthe Zinga, who coordinates the country's National Commission of Refugees, told AFP that attempts by humanitarian organisations to keep the camp open had fallen on deaf ears. "We had pleaded... but unfortunately the camp was closed," said Zinga. No provincial authority spokesperson was immediately available to comment on the move. In December 2014, authorities already closed nearby camp Kiwanja, holding some 2,300 people, with barely any warning after discovering six firearms. They also announced plans to close other camps for the displaced in the province for security reasons. The UN in turn urged the government to respect "international humanitarian law" in the war-ravaged country which last September counted some 1.6 million displaced persons, including some 600,000 in North Kivu province. World powers to push for lifting sieges in Syria World powers will push for "immediate action" to deliver aid to besieged areas in Syria ahead of peace talks later this month, the UN envoy said Wednesday. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura announced the new diplomatic effort in a statement following talks in Geneva with ambassadors from the Security Council's permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. During the meeting, the envoy emphasized "the crucial importance for the people of Syria to see sustained and unimpeded access to a number of besieged areas in the lead-up to the talks on January 25 in Geneva. Syrians wait for the arrival of an aid convoy on January 11, 2016 in the besieged town of Madaya as part of a landmark six-month deal reached in September for an end to hostilities in those areas in exchange for humanitarian assistance "P5 officials undertook to press for immediate action in support of this effort in the coming few days," he said. After months of negotiations, the United Nations and its relief partners were able on Monday to deliver for the first time in months food, blankets and medical aid to three besieged towns including Madaya, which is blockaded by government forces. The medical charity MSF has said that 28 people have died of starvation in Madaya since December 1 and UN relief officials described seeing emaciated children and severely malnourished residents when they arrived in the town. The UN envoy did not specifically state that lifting the sieges was a pre-condition to the peace talks, but he made clear that allowing more aid to the towns was an important step to prepare for the peace negotiations. The United Nations says it is struggling to deliver aid to about 4.5 million Syrians who live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged areas. The UN Security Council has adopted resolutions demanding an end to the sieges, but these have been largely ignored. De Mistura is due to report to the Security Council on Monday on his peace effort. The UN's top aid official in Syria warned Tuesday that "many more will die" unless government forces and rebels lift their sieges of towns across the country. Saudi-led coalition drops aid to Yemen's besieged Taez Aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition have dropped 40 tonnes of aid to Yemen's besieged Taez region, a Saudi charity said on Wednesday. The aid included medicines, medical equipment and dry food "to break the siege imposed on parts of Taez province," Abdullah al-Rabeeah, director of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, told the Saudi Press Agency. The 600,000 residents of the southwestern city of Taez have been in dire need as Huthi rebels besiege the community defended by pro-government forces. A Yemeni woman carries boxes of food on her head as she walks through the mountains along the only path accessible between the southern cities of Aden and Taez on December 26, 2015 Ahmad Al-Basha (AFP/File) Many residents have taken to treacherous mountain paths to bring in goods. The United Nations said on December 18 that more than 100 trucks of food aid had arrived in Taez. But local aid groups and sources close to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said rebels seized the relief goods and distributed them in areas under their control. The Saudi-led coalition has since March conducted air and ground operations in Yemen to support local forces against the rebels and their allies. King Salman established the Saudi aid centre last May and the kingdom pledged a total of $540 million in aid to Yemen. UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien has previously criticised the coalition's Yemen air war over its heavy civilian toll and for blocking deliveries of fuel and other commercial supplies to Yemen by restricting access to ports. Kuwait MPs approve extra $10 bn for arms Kuwait's parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a request by the oil-rich Gulf state's government for $10 billion in additional funds for military spending during the next 10 years. Defence Minister Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah said the money, which is to be placed in a special fund outside the budget, would be used to purchase new fighter jets, tanks and air defence systems. Sheikh Khaled said it was time to modernise the army's weapons since existing ones were bought more than two decades ago. Kuwaiti MPs take part in a parliament session at Kuwait's National Assembly in Kuwait City on January 13, 2016 Yasser Al-Zayyat (AFP) The funds would be withdrawn from state reserves. The government had earlier requested double the amount but later settled on $10 billion with the promise to include additional funds within the annual budgets when needed and depending on the financial situation, Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh told parliament. Kuwait is looking to upgrade its firepower amid increased security concerns in the region linked to the rise of the jihadist Islamic State group and sectarian conflicts. The emirate is a member of the US-led coalition that has been bombing IS targets in Syria and Iraq since last year and is also taking part in a Saudi-led coalition pounding Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. But it is unclear if the additional funds are also linked to those operations. The government does not publish specific figures for its defence budget. Several reports have recently linked Kuwait to several arms deals amid regional turmoil. The Eurofighter consortium said in September that Kuwait agreed to buy 28 Typhoon warplanes in a deal worth 7-8 billion euros ($8-9 billion). In November, Kuwait signed 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) worth of fixed and provisional military deals led by the purchase of 24 Airbus-built Caracal helicopters. Paris said Kuwait would purchase the helicopters for 1.0 billion euros, with an option for a further six. Kerry to meet Saudi FM in London amid Iran tensions US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet his Saudi counterpart Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in London on Thursday amid concerns over the dramatic breakdown in relations between his country and Iran. On the eve of the trip, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said "they'll discuss a range of issues, bilateral and global issues, including obviously Iran and the ongoing crisis in Syria." Washington and Riyadh have been close allies for decades but in recent months there has been mounting discord over the US diplomatic outreach to Iran, which Saudi Arabia sees as a dangerous enemy. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir at the New York Palace Hotel in New York on December 17, 2015 Bryan Smith (Pool/AFP/File) Kerry now spends more time on the phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif than he does with al-Jubeir, most recently on Wednesday when he called Tehran five times to secure the release of captured US sailors. The State Department, nevertheless, insists that it retains close ties with Saudi Arabia and remains critical of what it calls Iran's destabilizing role in the region, illegal ballistic missile program and sponsorship of extremist groups. Kerry talks in London will be a new occasion for Kerry to try to reassure Jubeir that Washington remains committed to their alliance, and to prepare the way for Syria peace talks later this month. Saudi Arabia has taken a role in international efforts to broker an end to the Syrian civil war, coordinating a coalition of opposition and rebel groups that will send a joint negotiating team to Geneva on January 25. For its part, Iran backs Bashar al-Assad's regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia which supplies some of the most effective forces defending his rule and which Washington regards as a terrorist army. Saudi Arabia marked the New Year with a mass prisoner execution, killing a respected Shiite cleric alongside several alleged Sunni terrorists. Protests erupted in Shiite Iran, and the Saudi embassy was sacked. Riyadh held Tehran responsible for the mob attack and broke off ties. Kerry has urged both sides not to escalate the situation and has sought assurances that the pair's spat will not undermine the Syrian talks. US-led military campaign focusing on Raqa, Mosul: Pentagon chief Raqa in Syria and the Iraqi city of Mosul are in the US-led coalition's crosshairs as it tries to build on recent successes against the Islamic State group, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Wednesday. Speaking to troops at Fort Campbell, Kentucky ahead of their deployment to Iraq, Carter said the recapture of the two cities, each emblematic of IS power, is key to the ongoing fight against the jihadists. Raqa and Mosul "constitute ISIL's military, political, economic, and ideological centers of gravity," Carter said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group. An Iraqi army tank (R) fires toward Islamic State group positions near Baiji during a military operation to retake the strategic northern Iraqi town on October 17, 2015 Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP/File) "That's why our campaign plan's map has got big arrows pointing at both Mosul and Raqa. We will begin by collapsing ISIL's control over both of these cities and then engage in elimination operations throughout other territories ISIL holds in Iraq and Syria," he added, without giving a timeframe. Though the Pentagon has repeatedly ruled out large-scale deployments to either country, it has gradually been increasing the number of special operations troops available to carry out raids and to train local forces. Carter said a small contingent of special operations troops had recently made contact with local partners in Iraq. The troops can also conduct raids across the border in northern Syria. "While I cannot give you specifics, I can tell you these forces have already established contact with new forces that share our goals, new lines of communication to local, motivated and capable partners, and new targets for airstrikes and strikes of all kinds," Carter said. The Fort Campbell troops, from the Army's 101st Airborne Division, will help train Iraqi and Peshmerga forces. - Coalition partners to meet in Paris - IS fighters seized Raqa in early 2014 and declared it the capital of their so-called caliphate. In June the same year, the jihadists seized Mosul. Another major Iraqi city, Ramadi, fell in May 2015 but local Iraqi forces -- backed by coalition air support and troop training -- recaptured the town at the end of last month in what was seen as a major blow for the jihadists. Since coalition air strikes began in August 2014, the Pentagon estimates the IS group has lost about 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq, and about 10 percent of the land it claimed in Syria. "We can see that our actions to accelerate the campaign are having an effect, and creating opportunities to do even more," Carter said. The defense secretary will meet next week in Paris with military officials from France, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain. "Each of these nations has a significant stake in completing the destruction of this evil organization, and we must include all of the capabilities they can bring to the field," he said. He said other countries in the approximately 60-member coalition should do more to fight IS, which Carter likened to a metastasizing cancer. "America will continue to lead the fight, but there can be no free riders," he said. "That means that as we invest in the acceleration of the campaign, so must every one of our coalition partners and every nation in a position to help." US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, pictured on January 11, 2016, said a small contingent of special operations troops had recently made contact with local partners in Iraq Saul Loeb (AFP/File) A prominent American art dealer has gone to court in a fight with a British collector, who is reportedly representing the Qatari royal family, over a Picasso sculpture valued at more than $100 million. The work, Bust of a Woman (Marie-Therese), dated 1931, is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as part of the largest exhibit of Picasso sculptures in 50 years. Larry Gagosian, the American owner of fifteen gallery spaces around the world, contends that he purchased the statue in May 2015 for a cool $105.8million, according to a legal action he filed in federal court. A dispute over the Bust of a Woman (Marie-Therese), is underway as the sculpture was sold twice. Pictured, the piece currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York According to court papers, American art dealer Larry Gagosian (left), purchased the sculpture in May 2015 for $105.8m. Pelham Europe, founded by former Christie's expert Guy Bennett (right), was reportedly representing the royal family in Qatar. The company purchased the artwork in 2014 for approximately $41.3m, but the sale was renounced after the payment was not made in full The dealer has already concluded a sales agreement with a buyer in New York, who expects to take the sculpture once the MoMA exhibition ends on February 7. Despite already having paid 75 per cent of the costs, or $79.7million, Gagosian received a letter in October from a British trading firm, Pelham Europe, asserting its ownership of the sculpture. Pelham Europe, founded by Guy Bennett, a former expert from Christie's auction house, contends that it agreed to pay 38million euros ($41.3million at current rates) in November 2014, and threatened to seize the statue in New York. Both Gagosian and Pelham Europe reportedly purchased the statue from Maya Widmaier-Picasso. She is the daughter of Pablo Picasso and his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, the subject of the bust. Widmaier-Picasso renounced Pelham Europe's sale after the first payment consisted of six million euros, as a clause in the contract stipulated that the sale would only be considered as final once the entire price had been paid, court papers said. The British company was working for the royal family of Qatar, Gagosian told The New York Times. As The Times noted, the case is complicated by the nature of Picasso's family - his many wives, muses, children and grandchildren have for years wrangled over his valuable creations. MoMA did not respond to AFP's request for comment, and Pelham Europe could not immediately be reached. Wednesday, January 20 Today is Wednesday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2016. There are 346 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1265 - England's Parliament meets for first time. 1503 - Casa Contratacion Board of Trade is formed in Spain to deal with affairs in America. 1839 - Chile wins Battle of Yungay against Peru-Bolivian Federation, resulting in dissolution of that union. 1841 - The island of Hong Kong is ceded to Great Britain. 1887 - New Zealand annexes Kermadec Islands in Pacific; U.S. Senate approves leasing Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as naval base. 1921 - The new Parliament in Ankara declares that the country will be called Turkey, and vests executive power in a council led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. 1936 - Britain's King George V dies and is succeeded by Edward VIII. 1942 - Nazi officials hold the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrive at their "final solution" that calls for exterminating Europe's Jews. 1957 - South Africa denies port facilities to Indian vessels in retaliation for Indian sanctions against South Africa. 1958 - Soviet Union threatens Greece with economic sanctions if it agrees to the installation of NATO missile bases on Greek territory. 1964 - British forces quell mutinies of Tanganyika Rifles and troops in Uganda and Kenya. 1968 - President Abdel-Rahman Aref's regime in Iraq is deposed, and new government is formed under Gen. Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. 1987 - Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite disappears in Beirut, Lebanon, while attempting to negotiate the release of Western hostages. He is freed in November 1991. 1989 - George H.W. Bush is sworn in as the 41st president of the United States. 1990 - Soviet troops storm Azerbaijani capital of Baku, leaving dozens dead and wounded, as President Mikhail Gorbachev defends action on national television. 1991 - In Moscow, hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens protest bloody crackdown on Lithuania and demand resignation of President Mikhail Gorbachev. 1992 - Two former East German border guards are convicted in last killing at Berlin Wall. 1993 - Bill Clinton is inaugurated as president of the United States, taking over from George H.W. Bush. 1995 - The Bosnian government and rebel Serbs exchange nearly 100 prisoners in a move instilling hope in a fragile truce. 1999 - Riots between Christians and Muslims enter a third day on the Indonesian island of Ambon 22 people die, 100 are badly injured and more than 30 houses are burned. 2001 - Protesting Filipinos force President Joseph Estrada to step down and Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is sworn in as the Philippines' new president. 2002 - The government and Colombia's largest guerrilla group reach an agreement on a timetable for cease-fire talks aimed at ending the country's long-running civil war. 2006 - Japan halts all imports of U.S. beef because of mad cow disease fears threatening millions of dollars in American exports and sending officials scrambling to repair delicate trade relations. 2008 - A Turkish court again blocks access to the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube because of clips allegedly insulting the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It is illegal in Turkey to insult the revered figure. 2009 - Barack Hussein Obama becomes the 44th president and first black chief executive of the United States. 2012 France's threat to withdraw early from Afghanistan after an Afghan soldier killed four French troops and wounded 15 is a setback for the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to build a national army and allow foreign troops to go home. 2013 Barack Obama begins his second term as U.S. president. 2014 Two car bombs hit a rebel-held post on the Syrian border with Turkey, killing at least 16 people amid continuing fighting between Turkey-supported rebels and Saudi-supported rebels. 2015 Shanghai fires four top officials and disciplines several others over a New Year's stampede that killed 36 people. . Today's Birthdays: Paul Cambon, French statesman (1834-1924); George Burns, U.S. comedian (1896-1996); Federico Fellini, Italian film director (1920-1993); Patricia Neal, U.S. actress (1926--2010); David Lynch, U.S. director (1946--); Bill Maher, U.S. television talk show host (1956--); Skeet Ulrich, U.S. actor (1969--); Rainn Wilson, U.S. actor (1966--). Thought For Today: LAPD chief says decision on fatal shooting was 'right thing' LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles police chief said Tuesday that politics had nothing to do with his decision to recommend criminal charges against an officer who fatally shot an unarmed homeless man in the back it was simply the right thing to do. Chief Charlie Beck said it's his obligation to not only publicly stand up for his officers when they've acted properly, but also to recognize when they've done wrong. Beck recommended that Officer Clifford Proctor be criminally charged in the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Brendon Glenn on May 5 in Venice. He made the recommendation late last month to Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, whose office is conducting its own investigation and can choose to disregard the chief's opinion. FILE - In this Aug. 19, 2014 file photo, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck takes a question at the Paradise Baptist Church in Los Angeles during a community forum to discuss the Aug. 11 police shooting of 25-year-old Ezell Ford in South Los Angeles. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has recommended criminal charges against an officer who shot and killed an unarmed homeless man in Venice, an agency spokesman said Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. Investigators concluded that Brendon Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Officer Clifford Proctor shot him in the back on May 5, 2015, Lt. John Jenal said.(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) Beck's recommendation came after investigators concluded that Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Proctor shot him, and that Glenn wasn't trying to take a gun from Proctor or his partner when he was shot. "This was not only an act that didn't meet the standards of the Los Angeles police department, but it didn't meet the legal standards of the use of deadly force," Beck told reporters at police headquarters. Beck said it was important to make his recommendation public because "this is a national conversation that has to be had." "It's important that the public see the police chief as a credible judge of these incidents, so if I stand up for one side, I have to make sure I call it as I see it on the other side," he said. The decision is the first time Beck has recommended charges against an officer who fatally shot someone while on duty. More than 100 such shootings have occurred since Beck became chief in late 2009. Proctor's attorney, Larry Hanna, said he thinks politics is playing a big part in Beck's public recommendation. He said the shooting was justified because Proctor thought Glenn was reaching for his partner's gun, and that surveillance video that captured the shooting does not show both of Glenn's hands. "When officers are out there, these decisions are made within split seconds," Hanna said. "They don't get to run the tape over and over and over and enlarge it and stop it frame by frame. They're having adrenaline flowing. They're seeing it in real time and having the fear and seeing what's generating that fear." The police department has declined to release the surveillance video that captured the shooting, despite calls from members of the public that it be made available. Beck said that's because the video will be used to test the veracity of witness statements and that releasing it could taint a jury pool should Proctor be charged. In GOP response to Obama, SC governor defends immigrants WASHINGTON (AP) Americans should resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in how the nation treats immigrants, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday as the GOP used its response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to try softening the tough stance embraced by some of its leading presidential candidates. The U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley said the country is facing its most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State group, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," Haley, mentioned by some as a potential vice presidential candidate this year, said in her party's formal response to Obama. "We must resist that temptation." FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2015, photo. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Americans should resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in how it treats immigrants, Haley said Jan. 12, 2016, as the GOP used its formal response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to try softening the tough stance embraced by some of the GOP's leading presidential candidates. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Speaking from the governor's residence for nine minutes, Haley did not mention the GOP presidential race. But the front-runner so far, Donald Trump, has called for deporting millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Two other contenders, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have battled over which of them has the tougher record on the issue. "Growing up in the rural South, my family didn't look like our neighbors," Haley said. She said no one who works hard and follows the laws "should ever feel unwelcome in this country." Haley said the U.S. should continue admitting "properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion" an apparent reference to calls by Trump to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. She also hewed closely to GOP demands in the immigration debate, saying: "That does not mean we just flat out open our borders," and said the U.S. should refuse entry to refugees "whose intentions cannot be determined." The nation's youngest governor at 43, Haley also seemed to try to smooth some of her party's more combative edges. She said Republicans "would respect differences in modern families" perhaps suggesting more tolerance toward same-sex couples and said it isn't necessary "to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference." Without offering specifics, she said that while Democrats bear much responsibility, Republicans "need to accept that we've played a role in how and recognize why our government is broken." Haley has gained national prominence for helping to end the display of the Confederate battle flag on Statehouse grounds last year after half a century, a move that followed last June's slaying of nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Governor for five years, she also got attention after catastrophic flooding that battered her state in October. "We removed a symbol that was being used to divide us," she said Tuesday of the flag's lowering. Polls have shown public concerns over terrorism and national security have become a top issue ever since the November attacks that killed 130 in Paris and the December mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Ever since, Republicans on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress have been emphasizing those issues. At the same time, many in the GOP feel the party must do a better job of appealing to Hispanics and other minority voters if they are to compete effectively in national and many statewide elections. They're also eager to win more votes from women, who preferred Obama over his Republican opponents by more than 10 percentage points in his 2008 and 2012 elections and have favored the Democratic presidential candidate in each election since 1992. Haley is the third consecutive woman GOP leaders have chosen to deliver their party's response to Obama. Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, gave the address last year and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the No. 4 House GOP leader, did it in 2014. Twenty-nine of the 300 GOP members of Congress, or about 10 percent, are women, about one-third the proportion of women among congressional Democrats. Each party also has three female governors, although GOP governors outnumber Democrats 31 to 18, plus an independent. Haley said the nation's problems also include an economy that's not boosted family income, a national debt that's too high and Obama's health care law, which Republicans have long asserted has failed. She said under a GOP president, Republicans would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. ___ Brazilian police break up bus fare protest in Sao Paulo SAO PAULO (AP) Sao Paulo police have broken up a protest against bus fare increases using tear gas, stun grenades and pepper spray. Organizers and police didn't provide an estimate of the number of protesters, but footage showed less than the 3,000 who took part in an earlier demonstration on Friday. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. The first stun grenades were heard before the march began Tuesday. Masked anarchists were seen among the protesters. Police said eight people were arrested. A demonstrator wears a mask during a protest against the fare hike on public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated mass anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) The protests were mobilized after Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad raised bus fares from 3.50 reals to 3.80 reals, then Rio de Janeiro's mayor followed suit, raising that city's fare from 3.40 to 3.80 reals. People protest on Paulista avenue against the fare hike on public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated mass anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) People protest at Paulista avenue against the fare hike on public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated mass anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) People shout slogans during a protest against the fare hike on public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated mass anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) A demonstrator with his face covered with a baklava participates in a protest against the fare hike on public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated mass anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) A demonstrator holds up a sign that reads in Portuguese "R$3,80 is a robbery" during a protest against the fare hike on public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. The protests were organized by the Free Fare Movement, the same group that initiated mass anti-government demonstrations that filled streets across Brazil in 2013. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) In California tests, self-driving cars still need human help LOS ANGELES (AP) Futuristic self-driving cars traveling along California roads have needed plenty of old-fashioned human intervention to stay safe. California's Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday released reports filed by seven companies the agency gave permission to test prototype vehicles in public. The documents summarized instances in which a human driver had to take over due to technology problems or other safety concerns. The reports show wildly different levels of success since on-road testing started in September 2014. FILE - In this May 13, 2015, file photo, Google's new self-driving prototype car is presented during a demonstration at the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif. The self-driving cars needed some old-fashioned human intervention to avoid some crashes during testing on California roads, the company revealed Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, results it says are encouraging but show the technology has yet to reach the goal of not needing someone behind the wheel. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File) Experts in the technology said Google, whose cars drove the most by far, performed relatively well, though they also cautioned that the testing typically happened during good weather. Other companies reported frequent instances in which the person who is required to be in the front seat just in case had to grab the wheel. Nissan, for example, tested just 1,485 miles in public, but reported 106 cases where the driver had to take control. The automaker has said it plans to have "commercially viable autonomous drive vehicles" by 2020. A spokeswoman did not return a request for comment. Google said its cars needed human help 341 times over 424,000 miles. That would be the equivalent of about 10 times per year, given the 12,000 miles the average U.S. vehicle travels annually. In 11 of the 341 instances, Google said its cars would have gotten in a crash. The head of the company's self-driving car project said that while the results are encouraging, they also show the technology has yet to reach his goal of not needing someone behind the wheel. "There's none where it was like, 'Holy cow, we just avoided a big wreck,'" said Chris Urmson, Google's self-driving car project leader. "We're seeing lots of improvement. But it's not quite ready yet," Urmson said. "That's exactly why we test our vehicles with a steering wheel and pedals." The California Department of Motor Vehicles, which is writing new regulations for the technology, said it was still reviewing in the reports. Google reported 272 cases in which the cars' software or onboard sensors failed. Though Google did not release detailed scenarios, the problems included issues with the self-driving cars seeing traffic lights, yielding to pedestrians or committing traffic violations. There were also cases where intervention was needed because other drivers were reckless, and several dozen instances of an "unwanted maneuver" by Google's car. Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina who closely follows self-driving car developments, said Google's rate of potential collisions was "not terribly high, but certainly not trivial." He said it remains difficult to gauge how self-driving cars compare to accident rates among human drivers, since even the best data underreport minor collisions that are never reported to authorities. While Google's problem rate is "impressively low," a trained safety driver should remain in the front seat, said Raj Rajkumar, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in self-driving cars. According to data in Google's report, a driver typically took control within one second of the car asking for help. Drivers at other companies often reacted quickly as well, according to their reports, though Volkswagen Group of America reported that, in one case, it was more than 12 minutes before the person took control of one of its test Audis. Audi of America spokesman Brad Stertz said he was gathering details on the incident, but believed it was a software glitch that did not affect public safety, and possibly was a false reading. John Simpson, a frequent critic of Google who focuses on privacy issues for the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog, said the company's report "underscores the need for a driver behind the steering wheel capable of taking control of the robot car." Google has argued to California regulators that once the company concludes the cars are ready for the public to use, they should not need a steering wheel or pedals because human intervention would actually make them less safe. Google released its report Tuesday before the agency posted reports from other companies in what Google described as an effort to be transparent about its safety record. The company had lobbied against having to report disengagements in the first place, saying the data could be misinterpreted. The other companies testing self-driving cars on California streets are Tesla Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and parts suppliers Bosch and Delphi. Google's testing mostly involves driving around the company's Silicon Valley headquarters or the streets of Austin, Texas. The company's rate of human intervention has improved in recent months, according to its data, but Urmson cautioned that the rate might again rise as Google subjects the cars to more challenging environments and weather conditions. Google said its cars would have been responsible in eight of the 11 avoided accidents, according to computer modeling the company performed later. In two other cases, its cars would have hit a traffic cone. Google cars have been involved in nine collisions since September 2014. In each case, the other car was responsible, according to an analysis by researchers at Virginia Tech University. ___ Contact Justin Pritchard at http://twitter.com/lalanewsman . ___ Online: Read the reports: http://tinyurl.com/jcvjwg4 FILE - This May 13, 2015, file photo shows the front of Google's new self-driving prototype car during a demonstration at Google campus in Mountain View, Calif. The self-driving cars needed some old-fashioned human intervention to avoid some crashes during testing on California roads, the company revealed Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, results it says are encouraging but show the technology has yet to reach the goal of not needing someone behind the wheel. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File) S. Korea leader calls for Chinese help to punish North Korea SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korea's president on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. Park Geun-hye's comments came as Seoul said North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing her and her government as "mad dogs" as Cold War-style propaganda warfare continued between the rivals. South Korea, the United States and others are pushing hard to impose fresh sanctions and other punitive measures on the North for what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb test one week ago. People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's press conference, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. President Park on Wednesday called for Chinese help to launch what she calls the strongest international sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test. The letters on the screen read " President Park's Press Conference. " (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is seen as key. On Wednesday, Park said in a nationally televised news conference that South Korea will push as hard as it can for strong sanctions that can force change in North Korea. But, she said, Chinese help is crucial. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Park said, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." Beijing has recently shown signs that it's losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocation. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. Responding to the North's test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China, to end "business as usual" with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment on the North. In the wake of the nuclear test, the two Koreas have settled into a Cold War-era standoff. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border, and the North is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Park said South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it "the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool." Park said past broadcasts helped frontline North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyang's authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. "The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth," she said. Her military announced Wednesday it has found hundreds of anti-Seoul leaflets near the western portion of the Koreas' border. The Defense Ministry believes those leaflets were floated over by the North's military. Similar North Korea-sent propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korea border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Such leafleting, however, by the North is still rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border. The leaflets found earlier Wednesday included such messages as "Let's knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs" and "The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea." It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The test has provoked global outrage, but it has also been a gift of sorts for Park, who has faced several mass protests condemning her leadership in recent weeks. A couple watches a smart phone showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's press conference, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. President Park on Wednesday called for Chinese help to launch what she calls the strongest international sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's press conference, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. President Park on Wednesday called for Chinese help to launch what she calls the strongest international sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test. The letters on the screen read " South Korea resumed anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) South Korean President Park Geun-hye addresses to the nation during her news conference at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Park on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. (Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP) South Korean President Park Geun-hye answers to a reporter's question during her news conference at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Park on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. (Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP) Mexico investigating drug lord meeting for possible crimes MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican officials said they are investigating the meeting that then-fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman held with actor Sean Penn and actress Kate del Castillo in October to see if any crimes were committed. But government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said late Tuesday that it is the possibility of illegal acts, rather than specific people, that authorities in Mexico are looking into. "We investigate actions, we don't investigate people," he said. "The attorney General's Office is investigating this event and others involving contacts that Joaquin Guzman had while he was on the run." FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2015 file photo, Sean Penn speaks during a forum with young entrepreneurs during the IMF and World Bank annual meeting in Lima, Peru. Late Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, Rolling Stone magazine published an interview that Guzman apparently gave to Penn in his hideout in Mexico months before his recapture. In the article and interview, Penn describes the complicated measures he took to meet the legendary drug lord. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File) Carlos Barragan y Salvatierra, a professor of law at Mexico's National University, said there would be little ground to prosecute Penn or Del Castillo, unless money or gifts changed hands. "If during the dinner El Chapo gave them money, or jewels, or he gave them money for the movie or any other transaction, they could be charged with money laundering," Barragan y Salvatierra said. But he noted, "meeting with a fugitive or criminal is not a crime, even if the law says we should report crimes, there is no punishment for not doing so." Asked about scrutiny of his controversial meeting with the fugitive drug lord at a hideout in rural Mexico, Penn on Monday would only say: "I've got nothin' to hide." Mexican officials have said the meeting helped them track down Guzman, who was recaptured Friday following a bloody shooting with marines in the city of Los Mochis in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa. Images released to a Mexican newspaper showed that Penn and Del Castillo were under surveillance. Del Castillo has not publicly commented on the meeting. But a federal official said Tuesday that Guzman appears to have been infatuated with del Castillo, apparently referring to her by the code name "Hermosa," or "Beautiful." The drug lord also wanted a second meeting with her according to the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Sanchez, however, did criticize what he said were attempts to glorify drug traffickers. "We very much regret the acts of any citizen who collaborates with organized crime, because many times drug traffickers have been stereotyped as people who have their good side, or who in some way do good things." "They paint them as heroes, and attractive and generous," Sanchez said. "The reality is that these types of criminals have raped women, have killed children, have tortured women and men." A Los Angeles, California based clothing store has begun advertising flashy blue, baroque-print shirts like the one Guzman wore in a photograph with Penn. The company advertised it alongside Guzman's picture, with the slogan "Most Wanted ... Shirt." In the past, polo shirts like one worn by drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villarreal, "La Barbie," gained broad popularity in Mexico. Penn had his own implied criticism for Mexican forces, expressing surprise that a soldier at a checkpoint waved his vehicle through on the way to the meeting with Guzman in October. But the federal official said that action had proved "very useful" in the hunt, suggesting it was part of the plan. The official said that authorities were following Penn and Del Castillo's movements all the time after they arrived in Mexico to meet with Guzman. Barragan y Salvatierra said that meeting with Guzman for journalistic purposes would be a solid defense. "In the case of a meeting for an interview or to prepare a film, it is even less (prosecutable), because an actor could argue that even though they're not journalists, they were doing journalistic work, and thus the law would protect them." July's escape by Guzman was the elusive drug lord's second from a Mexican maximum security prison and deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto and created friction with Washington, which had sought his extradition to the United States. This time around, Mexican officials have said they are willing to extradite Guzman but warn the process could take a year. In the meantime, they plan to take extraordinary measure to prevent a third escape. Late Tuesday, a Mexican federal official said the government is moving Guzman constantly from cell to cell. Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison since his recapture Friday, he said. Latest: Snyder requests FEMA's help with Flint water crisis FLINT, Mich. (AP) The latest on the drinking water crisis in Flint (all times local): 10:45 p.m. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has requested support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with Flint's drinking water crisis. Samuel Smith is happy to receive a case of bottled water and a new water filter at his home on Mallery St. in Flint, Mich., as volunteers accompanied by Michigan State Police and Gennessee County Sheriff's Deputies bring residents water filters and bottled water on Tuesday Jan 12, 2016. Volunteers and police carrying bottled water, filters and lead test kits knocked on doors in Flint on Tuesday, seeking to help residents in the Michigan city that's confronting a water crisis. (Dale G. Young/The Detroit News via AP) Snyder on Tuesday asked FEMA to coordinate an interagency recovery plan with other federal agencies that could provide resources. Snyder's chief of staff Jarrod Agen says the request will identify federal agencies that have programs, authorities or technical expertise that may be used. The crisis comes after state health authorities confirmed elevated blood-lead levels in children were caused when Flint's water source was switched but the water was not properly treated for corrosion. Snyder on Tuesday night activated the National Guard to help distribute bottled water and filters to residents. __ 10 p.m. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has activated the National Guard to help distribute bottled water and filters in a city that is confronting a drinking water crisis. His executive order issued late Tuesday is intended to bolster outreach to Flint residents. The crisis comes after state health authorities confirmed elevated blood-lead levels in children. Volunteers and police have been going door to door with bottled water, filters and lead test kits. Snyder said Monday the water situation is a "crisis" and last week declared an emergency. ___ 12:45 p.m. Volunteers and law officers are knocking on doors in Flint to distribute bottled water, filters and lead test kits to residents in the Michigan city that's confronting a water crisis. The Michigan State Patrol is coordinating the effort with the Genesee County Sheriff's Department. They began escorting eight teams of volunteers Tuesday morning, trudging through 3 inches of snow with more falling. Capt. Casey Tafoya of the sheriff's department says he does not know how long the effort will take, but they hope to get to 500 to 600 houses a day. The city has a population of about 99,000 with an estimated 30,000 households. Gov. Rick Snyder last week declared a state of emergency because of elevated levels of lead in the city's drinking water. Performance of David Bowie musical in NYC becomes a memorial NEW YORK (AP) A performance of David Bowie's trippy, melancholy musical "Lazarus" turned into a memorial for the Thin White Duke on Tuesday night as fans who had bought tickets to celebrate his music instead found themselves mourning his passing. "It was incredible. I wept a lot," said Evan Schwartz, a 20-year-old student from Stamford, Connecticut, who saw the show for a second time after scoring a ticket in an online lottery. "It was beautiful." Tuesday night's performance was the first time since Bowie's death on Monday that the show went on at the 200-seat New York Theatre Workshop in New York's East Village. Some audience members left in tears. In this undated photo provided by Matt Ross Public Relations, Sophia Anne Caruso, left, and Michael C. Hall perform in a scene from David Bowie and Enda Walshs Lazarus," currently performing off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in New York. (Jan Versweyveld/Matt Ross Public Relations via AP) Cast members did not acknowledge the death or make any changes to the show. They also declined to comment. The only official nod to Bowie's death was a video screen in the lobby showing a photo of the musician with the words "In Memoriam, 1947-2016." Fans left flowers near the entrance. Starring "Dexter" and "Six Feet Under" actor Michael C. Hall, the musical has been a hit since previews began on Nov. 18. Bowie's death only made tickets more desired, with a single matinee seat going Tuesday afternoon for $1,900 on StubHub. Bowie wrote the musical with Irish playwright Enda Walsh as a sequel to the 1963 novel "The Man Who Fell to Earth" by Walter Tevis, which inspired the 1976 film of the same name that he starred in. The musical is directed by Belgian avant-garde director Ivo Van Hove. Producers are weighing their options for what happens to the show next. Bowie was clearly the draw for Roberta Bethencourt, a New Jersey resident who has been a Bowie fan since she was 12 years old. "I used to go to the library and when other kids were getting books, I was getting 'Space Oddity' and bringing it home and playing over and over again," she said. "I had no idea what an impact he had on so many people. I loved him because he was so different and unique." The 18-songs in the musical include some of Bowie's biggest hits including "Changes," ''Heroes," ''Absolute Beginners" and "Life on Mars" as well as new songs like "Lazarus," taken from Bowie's latest "Blackstar" album. A few of Bowie's LPs are displayed on the stage during the show. The opaque story centers on millionaire alien Thomas Jerome Newton, who Bowie portrayed in the film. Newton, played now by Hall, has imprisoned himself in his own apartment, drinking gin, eating Twinkies, being tormented by his past and watching TV. He cannot leave or die. His new assistant gets sucked deeper into his world, Newton is visited by an ethereal girl who creates a rocket ship out of masking tape to take him home, and he's harassed by an enigmatic, black-clad figure. At one point, the stage is filled with white liquid resembling milk, which some actors bodysurf on. At another, it's is filled with dark balloons. The story has a recurring theme of creatures caught between worlds and the exhaustion that comes with daily survival. "I'm done with this living," a character cries out a one point, in a line that had more depth after Bowie's passing. The rest of the 11-member cast includes Tony Award nominee Cristin Milioti and Broadway veteran Michael Esper. There is also a video appearance by Alan Cumming. The New York Theatre Workshop, an engine for bold works, has not been immune to tragedy like this. Almost 20 years ago to the day, playwright Jonathan Larson died on the eve of the company's first preview of his groundbreaking "Rent." ___ Online: http://www.nytw.org ___ Sanders ad burst coincides with upward movement in polls WASHINGTON (AP) Bernie Sanders has been putting up major advertising cash to seize momentum heading into the Democratic presidential primary outspending his rival Hillary Clinton just as voters are beginning to pay attention to the race. In the past three weeks, the Vermont senator's campaign has spent about $4.7 million on ads to Clinton's $3.7 million, an investment that so far has meant 1,000 more Sanders commercials than Clinton ones on broadcast TV, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG. The Sanders ad burst is coinciding with his rise in preference polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states where voters will weigh in on the 2016 election. The Democratic contest appears to be tightening. In this Jan. 11, 2016, photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, argues a point during the Brown & Black Forum, in Des Moines, Iowa. Sanders has been putting up major advertising cash to seize momentum heading into the Democratic presidential primary _ outspending his rival Hillary Clinton just as voters are beginning to pay attention to the race. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Two recent surveys suggest Sanders has gained on Clinton in Iowa. In New Hampshire, one poll showed the Vermont senator ahead of the former first lady and secretary of state by double digits, while another pointed to a tighter race. Iowa votes Feb. 1; New Hampshire, Feb. 9. Clinton began advertising in August, three months ahead of Sanders, and over the entire contest has outspent him by about $3 million, the CMAG data show. The ad buy data includes all broadcast, cable and satellite television, as well as some radio. It does not include digital ads. The turnabout in ad spending with Sanders topping Clinton in each of the past three weeks prompted the Clinton campaign last week to send an email to supporters with the subject line "nervous." "I'm not trying to be dramatic about this (I swear? I'm really not!), but there's a situation developing in Iowa and New Hampshire that could change the course of this election," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook wrote in the fundraising appeal. Later in the same email: "I just found out that he's outspending us on TV advertising in Iowa and New Hampshire." In reality, both candidates have ample financial resources; each campaign said it had raised upward of $30 million in the final three months of the year. This month, Sanders has aired nine different commercials. Two stand out for their heavy rotation. There's nothing splashy or slickly produced about Sanders' top-played ad, a 30-second commercial "Working Families." The entire time, it's footage of Sanders talking at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, delivering his typical remarks with his trademark exaggerated arm gestures. "The bottom line of this economy is that it is rigged," he says as people in the rapt audience nod their heads. "What this campaign is about is the demand that we create an economy that works for all of us rather than a handful of billionaires." One Clinton ad has aired as frequently in the past two weeks as either of the top two Sanders spots, CMAG shows. Titled, "Wage Gap," it posits that Republicans would "make it worse by lowering taxes for those at the top and letting corporations write their own rules." Clinton, the narrator says, would close the wage gap, push equal pay for women, a higher minimum wage and lower taxes for the middle class. In New Hampshire, viewers are hearing more about gun violence. "Hillary Clinton has what it takes to stand up to the Republicans and the gun lobby," the narrator says. It's an implicit criticism of Sanders, whom Clinton has knocked for being soft on gun control in recent days. No Democratic candidate has called out a rival by name in TV ads. But with their race intensifying, that could change. In total, Clinton has spent $16.6 million on ads and Sanders $13.4 million, according to CMAG. CMAG's ad buy information shows Clinton with a larger spending plan over the next few weeks, although commercial space can be purchased with little lead time. She has reserved about $3.3 million in TV spots, and Sanders $1.7 million. Stranded Cuban migrants brought by air, bus to Mexico CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico (AP) Nearly 200 Cuban migrants traveled by air and across land through Central America and into southern Mexico on Wednesday, resuming their long-delayed journey toward the United States after several months stranded in Costa Rica amid a diplomatic tiff with Nicaragua. One by one the 180 Cubans descended from chartered buses and were processed by Mexican authorities, who issued transit visas granting them 20 days to leave the country. Sergei Acosta, a 35-year-old farmer, was the first to set foot on Mexican soil. He said he was elated despite a long night of travel by plane from Costa Rica to El Salvador, and from there by bus through Guatemala to Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico. A caravan of buses transporting Cuban migrants arrive to La Hachadura, El Salvador, on the border with Guatemala, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. After more than three months stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants began their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. The first pilot flight took off from Costa Rica late Tuesday night to El Salvador, as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. From El Salvador they will travel by land through Guatemala to the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) "I'm not too tired. I'm very excited to have arrived," Acosta told The Associated Press. He said he left Cuba in search of economic opportunity, and was optimistic about landing a job in the United States and then sending for his wife and daughter to join him. "It's the need to have a better life." The air and bus bridge is the first stage of a pilot program to relieve a logjam of some 8,000 Cubans who have been trapped at the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua, which closed its frontier to them in November. The first flight took off from the northern Costa Rican city of Liberia late Tuesday as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. The migrants appeared to get special treatment along the way: They were greeted by El Salvador's foreign minister upon arrival in that country even as, when they got to the Guatemalan border, they saw a busload of Salvadoran migrants headed the other way after being deported back from the United States. The Cubans won't have to worry about that due to a U.S. immigration policy that lets them stay if they reach the United States. That special status initially raised some resentment in Central America nations whose citizens are often deported from the U.S. if they enter without visas. But the Cubans' trip was smooth so far. Private chartered transportation and transit visas had already been arranged for them. Ruben Chil Cruz, who left his wife and two children behind in Cuba, said he first flew to Ecuador and entered as a tourist. From there, a smuggler helped him reach Costa Rica by boat and by foot. "I saw the opportunity and I took it," said Chil, who aims to reach Miami, a large Cuban enclave. "I think I will get to the United States by Sunday at the latest." But Chil said he wasn't sure exactly how he would cross Mexico, known for vicious attacks on and kidnappings of migrants, especially those from Central America. He said he didn't plan to use a smuggler in the country and hoped immigration officials there could give him advice on how to travel to the U.S. Officials have said that while they arranged the logistics for the first of the Cubans to leapfrog Nicaragua, it was up to the migrants to cover the cost of their passage. Chil Cruz said the air and bus trip to the Guatemala-Mexico border set him back $555, which he paid out of his savings. "It has all been very quick, thank God," he said. For most Central American migrants, the trip takes weeks or sometimes months. Emigration from Cuba has spiked dramatically in the year since Havana and Washington announced they would restore diplomatic relations. Many Cuban migrants say they're making the journey now for fear that detente could bring an end to the U.S. policies that given them privileged treatment. Backers of United States' Cuban Adjustment Act say it offers refuge to islanders fleeing Cuba's communist system. Havana argues that the policy encourages Cubans to risk dangerous migratory voyages and causes a brain drain of many the country's youngest and brightest. Nicaragua, a close ally of Havana, closed its southern frontier to the Cubans on Nov. 13. Arnobis Tellez also left behind three children and a grandchild in Cuba. Like Chil, he wasn't sure how he would cross through Mexico. "These last months have been terrifying, because nobody thought this was going to happen," Tellez said. "We thought that by this time we would all be in the United States." Salvadoran Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez said he wished all migrants had such a happy story. "With this action (for the Cubans) we are showing dignified treatment and respect for human rights," he said, "which are things that the administration of El Salvador's president ... is asking for our own migrants." ___ Associated Press writer Javier Cordoba reported from La Cruz, Costa Rica. Cuban migrants wait on a bus in Ciudad Pedro De Alvarado, Guatemala, at the border with El Salvador, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, as they continue on their journey to the United States. After more than three months stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants were flown to El Salvador, and then traveled by land to Guatemala as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) Cuban migrants wait to check-in at the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. After more than three months of being stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped here are finally expected to get their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. The first pilot flight is scheduled to depart early Wednesday for El Salvador, as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaraguas refusal to let them through by land. From El Salvador they will travel by land through Guatemala to the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Enrique Martinez) A Cuban migrant shows his papers to a Costa Rican immigration officer before boarding a government organized bus to the airport in La Cruz, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. After more than three months of being stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped here are finally expected to get their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. The first pilot flight is scheduled to depart early Wednesday for El Salvador, as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. From El Salvador they will travel by land through Guatemala to the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Enrique Martinez) A Cuban migrant walks to a government organized bus that will take her and other Cuban migrants to the airport in La Cruz, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. After more than three months of being stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped here are finally expected to get their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. The first pilot flight is scheduled to depart early Wednesday for El Salvador, as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. From El Salvador they will travel by land through Guatemala to the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Enrique Martinez) Cuban migrants hug goodbye as one prepares to board a government organized bus that will take him and a select group of fellow Cuban migrants to the airport in La Cruz, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. After more than three months of being stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped here are finally expected to get their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. The first pilot flight is scheduled to depart early Wednesday for El Salvador, as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. From El Salvador they will travel by land through Guatemala to the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Enrique Martinez) A Cuban migrant holds up a Cuban flag as she waits to board a government organized bus to the airport in La Cruz, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. After more than three months of being stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped here are finally expected to get their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. The first pilot flight is scheduled to depart early Wednesday for El Salvador, as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. From El Salvador they will travel by land through Guatemala to the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Enrique Martinez) Year after arrest, no Ohio trial set in Capitol plot case CINCINNATI (AP) A year after FBI agents moved in to arrest a young suburban Cincinnati man they said had just bought weapons for an attack on the U.S. Capitol, there's no trial scheduled and it's not certain there will even be one. The federal judge and attorneys in the case are awaiting the results of a mental evaluation of Christopher Lee Cornell, 21, at a federal center in Chicago. Authorities have told the judge she'll have the report by Jan. 28. U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith ordered the evaluation in November after Cornell's attorneys filed a court-sealed report after stating that there was "reasonable cause" to believe Cornell suffers from a mental disease or defect. Beckwith wants to know whether Cornell is competent to stand trial on charges from an alleged plot to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs and guns in support of the Islamic State group. FILE - This Jan. 14, 2015, file photo, made available by the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio, shows Christopher Lee Cornell on the day of his arrest by FBI agents who said he bought weapons for an attack on the U.S. Capitol. As attorneys await findings of Cornell's mental evaluation at a federal center in Chicago expected by Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, the 21-year-old resident of the Cincinnati suburb of Green Township, Ohio, has been held without bond, pleading not guilty to four charges including attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees, but no trial date has been set. (Butler County Jail via AP, File) "We're waiting for the report on what the government says is his mental state," attorney Martin Pinales said this week. Cornell has been held without bond since his Jan. 14 arrest by the FBI in a gun shop parking lot just west of Cincinnati. Asked how Cornell has been doing behind bars, Pinales replied: "At times good, at times not good; like any other person would be." Cornell has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees. The case has been subject to federal procedures meant to balance a suspect's right to obtain evidence for his defense with restricting disclosure of material linked to national security interests. Cornell's arrest came amid increased concern over Islamic State militant efforts to recruit homegrown "lone wolf" terrorists. FBI Director James Comey said while visiting the Cincinnati field office in October that such recruiting goes on "24 hours a day" across the United States. The FBI has said Cornell, of Green Township, wanted to "wage jihad" and sent messages on social media and posted video in support of Islamic State group militants and violent attacks by others. The FBI said he had just bought two M-15 assault weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when arrested. Cornell, who uses the Muslim name Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, later told WXIX-TV of Cincinnati that he wanted to shoot President Barack Obama in the head. Cornell's father has said he was misled and coerced by "a snitch" seeking to improve his own legal situation. Beckwith has scheduled an April 4 status conference in the case. ___ Follow the reporter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell Drug lord flirted with Mexican actress, cared less for movie MEXICO CITY (AP) Transcripts of over a month of text messages between drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo showed the capo was less interested in making a movie about his life than he was in flirting with the actress. The transcripts published Wednesday by the newspaper Milenio and confirmed as authentic by a federal official showed that Guzman's main concern was getting face-to-face get-togethers with Del Castillo, and that he didn't even really know who Sean Penn was. Penn has acknowledged that he tagged along for the Oct. 2 meeting at a mountain hideout originally set up by Del Castillo. FILE - In this March 24, 2013 file photo, Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo attends a NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race in Fontana, Calif. Del Castillo stepped out of the fictional drug-trafficker roles she played on TV and got involved in the real world of drug capos, after Sean Penn credited her with setting up a secret meeting with the worlds most-wanted drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) "What's that actor's name?" the account identified as Guzman's writes in one message. He later asks his lawyers to tell him what movies Penn has appeared in. Even when Guzman dedicated a video statement as an "exclusive for" Del Castillo and Penn, the drug lord stumbles over Penn's first name, pronouncing it "SAY-ahn." The federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he or she was not authorized to be quoted by name, said the dozens of texts were authentic. Many expressed admiration and a longing for the next meeting, more than concern about the purported movie project. "I'll tell you, I am more excited about you than the (movie) script," Guzman wrote to Del Castillo. He identified her identified in his chat or text account as "ermoza," a misspelling of the Spanish word for "beautiful." ''I'll take care of you," he adds. Another text from the drug lord reads: "How is the best and most intelligent woman in the world, who I admire a lot?" At one point, Guzman who is reportedly married to former beauty queen Emma Coronel, and has had children with her and several other women writes "My mother wants to meet you. I told her about you." "I want you with all my heart," he wrote. Del Castillo responds in kind. "Apart from our (movie) project, I am very excited about seeing you eye to eye, in person," she wrote, adding later "we will embrace each other soon!" Asked about the text messages at a public event on Wednesday, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong declined to say anything about them and said the Attorney General's Office would comment on the matter soon. Del Castillo's representatives did not respond to email requests to comment on the texts. But on Wednesday evening via her Twitter account she thanked people for their support in recent days. "Not surprisingly, many have chosen to make up items they think will make good stories and that aren't truthful. I look forward to sharing my story with you," she wrote. In the messages, even Guzman recognizes that Mexican or U.S. intelligence officials were probably following or monitoring many of the people who knew him. The drug lord tells one of his lawyers in another chat, "the DEA has all her devices tapped, and at her house the DEA has cameras to see who visits her," apparently referring to a women who was to meet with the actress. In light of that, it is surprising that Guzman, who spent years evading capture, would have continued in such constant contact with the actress. While authorities narrowly missed capturing Guzman when they raided the hideout where the meeting took place in October, they finally got him on Friday. Mexican federal officials have confirmed that the drug lord appears to have been infatuated with the actress. And when Mexican marines raided the house where he had been hiding Friday, they found injectable testosterone, a treatment sometimes used to boost the male libido. It was unclear, however, if the medication belonged to Guzman or one of his associates. The explanation might simply have been infatuation something that would not be out of character for Guzman. "What's new about this? That Guzman has a weakness for women? He has 18 children, he's married to a woman 30 years younger than him," said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst in Mexico City. "What's new about that?" Hope cautioned that having leaked the transcripts might give Guzman's lawyers ammunition to argue the government had violated legal requirements to keep evidence in criminal cases confidential. "They are giving El Chapo some magnificent grounds to appeal," Hope said. And there was another caveat: in one message, the account identified as Del Castillo's mentions a U.S. lawyer who she said had offered to handle Guzman's affairs presumably related to the movie project. But the lawyer mentioned in that exchange denied having ever had any discussions about such an arrangement with Guzman or any of his representatives. In the end, whether it was his interest in the actress or the movie project, it appeared to be all about Guzman's ego. Federal officials also said they had detected recent efforts to register "El Chapo Guzman" as a commercial trademark, possibly by the drug lord's lawyers. "It was an ego project, to make the movie or meet Kate del Castillo," Hope noted. In this Jan. 8, 2016 image released by Mexico's federal government, Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, stands for his prison mug shot with the inmate number 3870 at the Altiplano maximum security federal prison in Almoloya, Mexico. Mexico has begun the process of extraditing Guzman to the United States, where he faces drug-trafficking charges, but that could take "a year or longer" because of legal challenges, according to the head of Mexico's extradition office, Manuel Merino. He cited one extradition case that took six years. (Mexico's federal government via AP) In this Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 photo, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is made to face the press as he's escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City. Guzman's second prison escape in 2015 from a top security prison though a tunnel had embarrassed President Enrique Pena Nieto and made his capture a national priority. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2012 file photo, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, from the upcoming television show "La Reina del Sur," or Queen of the South, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. Del Castillo stepped out of the fictional drug-trafficker roles she played on TV and got involved in the real world of drug capos, after Sean Penn credited her with setting up a secret meeting with the worlds most-wanted drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File) Lawyer Jose Gonzalez shows to the press a copy of an injunction he submitted to stop the extradition of arrested drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman at the Supreme Court in Mexico City, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Gonzalez said he submitted the injunction at the request of Guzman's family and neighbors, but didn't say who exactly, after Mexico began the process of extraditing Guzman to the U.S. where he faces drug-trafficking charges. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Ch-ch-cheers! Finger Lakes ice wine harvest late this winter BRANCHPORT, N.Y. (AP) Winter finally came down hard on New York's Finger Lakes this month with single-digit temperatures at dawn and fresh snow blowing over the rolling vineyards. The wait was over for an ice wine harvest. Thick-gloved workers briskly picked frozen bunches of grapes that would be pressed into extra-sweet juice within hours out in the cold air. Hunt Country Vineyards makes a sweet wine that has become a specialty for a number of vineyards dotting upstate New York hillsides albeit one dependent on the increasingly noticeable vagaries of winter. Workers harvest Vidal Blanc grapes at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. The harvest yields ice wine - a sweeter, heavier and because of the extra work to produce it, often pricier white table wine. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) "It was probably the most stressful year that we've ever had. It's the latest that we've ever picked," said vineyard owner Art Hunt, standing over a bin of vidal blanc grapes about to be pressed. Wisps of snow covered the fruit. "It's like biting into the finest sorbet," Hunt said after talking off a glove to taste a grape, "just tons of flavor." Ice wine harvests are a far cry from travelogue images of grapes ripening under a radiant sun. These grapes are left on the vine through at least the fall. When temperatures get low enough to freeze the water in the grapes, winemakers pounce. The grapes with ice crystals in them yield a thicker, more concentrated juice around 38 percent sugar compared with 22 percent for juice used to make white table wines. The resulting wine is sweeter, heavier and because of the extra work to produce it often pricier. Ice wine has a long history in Germany and is big in Canada, but it remains a small niche in the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry, confined mostly to upstate New York, Ohio and Michigan. The Finger Lakes, New York's highest-profile winemaking region, has had more than about a half-dozen wineries devoting some acreage to ice wines. Vineyards closer to lakes Erie and Ontario have also produced ice wines. "In Germany, it's a little bit more of a novelty than it is an annual product," said John Fischer, professor of wine and spirits management at the Culinary Institute of America. In upstate New York, he said, "they have turned it into an annual product. It's pretty bankable up there." Hunt has been making ice wine since 1987, annually reserving a few rows of grapes among his 65 acres under production. Some ice wine makers use Riesling grapes, but Hunt likes the vidal blanc, a tough-skinned grape that hangs in loose bunches. Grapes plucked this month range from golden green to deeper purples and browns. The darker grapes are affected by botrytis, or "noble rot," a fungus that can be beneficial for dessert wines. "We have a range of flavors when we press the ice wine. It's going to be very complex," Hunt said. "We have raisiny, honey, plummy flavors and a good crisp acidity." Growing grapes is a gamble, but more so for ice wine. More time on the vine leaves the grapes vulnerable to poaching deer and birds. Some fall off the vine. Expecting a mild winter, Hunt harvested half his ice wine grapes in mid-December for late-harvest wine. That left a bit more than a ton of grapes for ice wine by harvest, probably not enough to meet demand for the entire year. Recent warm weather in the Northeast has heightened concerns about global warming. But Hunt thinks winters will stay cold enough at least during his lifetime. While the ice wine yield this year was small, they had been good the previous two years amid cold winters. It's hard to predict year to year. "You never can tell," he said. "It keeps you humble." Vidal Blanc grapes hang on the vine at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. The harvest yields ice wine - a sweeter, heavier and because of the extra work to produce it, often pricier white table wine. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) Workers pick up bins of Vidal Blanc grapes harvested during early morning freezing temperatures at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. The harvest yields ice wine - a sweeter, heavier and because of the extra work to produce it, often pricier white table wine. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) Vidal Blanc grapes sit in a bin after being harvested at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. The harvest yields ice wine - a sweeter, heavier and because of the extra work to produce it, often pricier white table wine. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) Hunt Country Vineyard owner, Art Hunt, holds a glass of the juice yielded from freshly crushed Vidal Blanc grapes at the vineyard in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Ice wine has a long history in Germany and is big in Canada, but it remains a small niche in the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry, confined mostly to upstate New York, Ohio and Michigan. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) A glass of very sweet juice yielded from fresh pressed Vidal Blanc grapes after harvesting the grapes at the vineyard in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Ice wine has a long history in Germany and is big in Canada, but it remains a small niche in the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry, confined mostly to upstate New York, Ohio and Michigan. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) Bubbles are seen at the top of a glass of Vidal Blanc grape juice at the vineyard in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Ice wine has a long history in Germany and is big in Canada, but it remains a small niche in the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry, confined mostly to upstate New York, Ohio and Michigan. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) A worker harvests Vidal Blanc grapes at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. The harvest yields ice wine - a sweeter, heavier and because of the extra work to produce it, often pricier white table wine. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) A bottle of ice wine from 2007 is displayed at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Ice wine has a long history in Germany and is big in Canada, but it remains a small niche in the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry, confined mostly to upstate New York, Ohio and Michigan. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth) US Navy sailors released unharmed by Iran in less than a day DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) It turned out to be the international crisis that wasn't. Less than a day after 10 U.S. Navy sailors were detained in Iran when their boats drifted into Iranian waters, they and their vessels were back safely Wednesday with the American fleet. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tapped the personal relationship he has formed with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the three years of negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, speaking with him at least five times by telephone. Kerry credited the quick resolution to the "critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country secure and strong." This frame grab from Tuesday, January 12, 2016 video by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran. The 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran after their two small boats allegedly drifted into Iranian territorial waters around one of Iran's Persian Gulf islands a day earlier have been freed, the United States and Iran said Wednesday. (IRIB News Agency via AP) U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter thanked Kerry after the sailors' release and couched the incident in humanitarian terms, noting that "the U.S. Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress." For Tehran, the Americans' swift release was a way to neutralize a potential new flashpoint days before it was expected to meet the terms of last summer's nuclear deal, which will give Iran significant relief from painful economic sanctions. It is likely that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, would have had to approve the release, given the immense political sensitivities. But the rapid resolution also was a victory for moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who has promoted greater openness with the outside world despite strident opposition from deeply entrenched hard-liners at home. "Rouhani's policy of interaction is working," said Iranian political analyst Saeed Leilaz. "Iran and the U.S. have gone a long way in reducing tensions but still have a long way to go in improving their contacts. It was a big step forward." The nine men and one woman were detained Tuesday after at least one of their boats suffered mechanical problems off of Farsi Island, an outpost in the middle of the Persian Gulf that has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats since the 1980s. The Americans' small Riverine boats were sailing between Kuwait and Bahrain on a training mission when the U.S. lost contact. The sailors left the island at 0843 GMT (3:43 a.m. EST) Wednesday aboard their boats, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft, and other sailors took control of the vessels for the return voyage to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a 5th Fleet spokesman, said the priority now would be determining "how exactly these sailors found themselves in Iran." He declined to say where they were going or give details on their identities, but a senior defense official said they were heading to a U.S. military facility in Qatar. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said they are being debriefed and getting medical exams but were not harmed. In Washington, a defense official said the Navy has ruled out engine or propulsion failure as the reason the boats entered Iranian waters. Navigation problems, due either to human or mechanical failure, could not be ruled out, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the incident and so spoke on condition of anonymity. The sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1, based in San Diego, U.S. officials said. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began a search, as did aircraft from the Truman. The officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly. The Revolutionary Guard released images of the U.S. sailors before their release, showing them sitting on the floor of a room. They looked mostly bored or annoyed, although one appeared to be smiling. The woman had her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. State TV later released more video and photos of the Americans apparently surrendering on their knees, their hands behind their head. It also showed machine guns and ammunition they had onboard. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional, and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters," the Guard said. US Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, said the incident remained under investigation. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking later to "CBS This Morning," said the U.S. government had not issued an apology. "There's nothing to apologize for," Biden said. "When you have a problem with the boat, you apologize the boat had a problem? No, and there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice." Iranian TV ran video of one of the sailors apologizing for the intrusion into Iranian waters. "It was a mistake. That was our fault and we apologize for our mistake," the unidentified sailor is shown saying in English. The U.S. Central Command later said: "The video appears to be authentic, but we cannot speak to the conditions of the situation or what the crew was experiencing at the time." It added that the crew was undergoing "the reintegration process and we will continue to investigate this incident." "What matters most right now, however, is that our sailors are back safely," it added. In his statement, Kerry expressed his "gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter." Gen. Ali Fadavi, the Guard's navy chief, accused the Americans of "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before the sailors were picked up by Iranian forces. The quick resolution stood in contrast to the 2007 seizure by Iran of 15 British sailors and marines who were searching for a merchant ship in the Gulf. Iran held them for 13 days, with the captives saying they were kept in cold stone cells, blindfolded and fearing execution, and coerced into falsely saying they had entered Iranian waters. Their detention by the Revolutionary Guard occurred under hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A day after they were seized, the U.N. Security Council imposed more sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. Haleh Esfandiari, the Iranian-American director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, called the Americans' release "a big victory for Rouhani and his team." "Finally, he was able to assert himself vis a vis the Revolutionary Guard. ... He is trying to change Iran's 'in-your-face image' that developed under Ahmadinejad," Esfandiari said. "They must have contacted the Supreme Leader and said ... 'If we let this become an international incident, there is no way we can restore that sense of goodwill that we are trying to project,'" she added. The Guard's 200,000-member force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system. Its naval forces are heavily dependent on armed speedboats that can be used in teams to swarm much larger vessels. Tuesday's incident recalled the 2009 arrest of three American hikers by Iran as they traveled along the country's border with Iraq. One hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released after more than 13 months in custody after mediation by Oman. Her travel companions, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, were convicted of espionage but set free a year after her. The sailors' detention came just hours before President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address and amid a period of renewed maritime tensions with Iran. Last month, Iran conducted a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the world's oil. Iran sank a replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier near the strait in February 2015 and has said it is testing "suicide drones" that could attack ships. It also has challenged foreign cargo ships in the Gulf, opening fire on at least two last year. In one incident, Iran temporarily seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship over what it said was a commercial dispute before releasing it and its crew more than a week later. Iran is expected to satisfy the terms of the nuclear deal in just days. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the U.S. and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." Four Americans of Iranian origin remain held by Iran, including journalist Jason Rezaian of The Washington Post; former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati of Flint, Michigan; pastor Saeed Abedini of Boise, Idaho; and Siamak Namazi, a businessman and the son of a politician from the shah's era. Separately, former FBI agent Robert Levinson disappeared in Iran in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission. ___ This has been corrected to show the name of Iran's foreign minister is spelled Mohammad Javad Zarif instead of Mohammed. ___ Dareini reported from Tehran, Iran. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Lolita C. Baldor, Bradley Klapper, Robert Burns and Richard Lardner in Washington, Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report. ___ Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck. This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detained American Navy sailors in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. (Sepahnews via AP) This picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday.(Sepahnews via AP) This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detained American Navy sailors in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. (Sepahnews via AP) This Nov. 2, 2015, image provided by the U.S. Navy, shows Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 805 in the Persian Gulf. Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two boats, similar to the one in this picture, on Jan. 12, 2016, after the boats had mechanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters. American officials have received assurances from Tehran that they will be returned safely and promptly. (Torrey W. Lee/U.S. Navy via AP) In this Oct. 30, 2015, photo provided by the U.S. Navy, Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 805, along with its crew members, is shown transiting through rough seas during patrol operations in the Persian Gulf. Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two boats, similar to the one in this picture, on Jan. 12, 2016, after the boats had mechanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters. American officials have received assurances from Tehran that they will be returned safely and promptly. (Torrey W. Lee/U.S. Navy via AP) This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detained American Navy sailors in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. (Sepahnews via AP) This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows American Navy boats in custody of the guards in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. (Sepahnews via AP) This picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, shows detained American Navy sailors in an undisclosed location in Iran. Iranian state television is reporting that all 10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran after entering its territorial waters have been released. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the sailors were released Wednesday after it was determined that their entry was not intentional. (Sepahnews via AP) Secretary of State John Kerry gestures while giving a foreign policy speech, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, at National Defense University in Washington. Kerry predicted Iran could comply with last summer's nuclear deal "within the next coming days." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) S. Korea fires warning shots after North Korean drone seen SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korea on Wednesday fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed the rivals' border, officials said, the first shots fired in a Cold War-style standoff between the Koreas in the wake of the North's nuclear test last week. The North Korean drone was flying dozens of meters (yards) south of the border and turned back to the North after the South fired the shots, South Korean defense and military officials said, requesting anonymity because of office rules. The shots did not hit the drone. North Korean drone flights across the world's most heavily armed border are rare, but have happened before. South Korean army soldiers gather to search for suspected North Korean leaflets in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. South Korean military announced Wednesday it has found hundreds of anti-South Korea leaflets near the western portion of the Koreas' border. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014, Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but were still considered a potential new security threat. Animosity has been high since the North's claim on Jan. 6 that it tested a hydrogen bomb. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Seoul said Wednesday that thousands of North Korean leaflets, likely sent across the border by balloons, have been found in the South. Some described South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her government as "mad dogs." North Korea's propaganda machine is using the nuclear test to glorify Kim's leadership and describing it as a necessary step to fight against what it calls a U.S.-led attempt to overthrow the North's system. North Korean state TV on Wednesday broadcast photos showing a smiling Kim awarding commendations to scientists and other workers involved in the test and shaking hands with them at a Workers' Party building. Kim called the scientists and workers "nuclear combatants" and "the heroes of heroes" who caused fear in the United States and its allies, according to the state news agency. Park on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test with what she called "the strongest" possible international sanctions that could force change in the North. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, are seen as key. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Park said at a news conference, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." Beijing has recently shown signs that it is losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocations. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. Responding to the North's test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end "business as usual" with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart last Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment of the North. Top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan met in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss sanctions against the North. "I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us, that we simply cannot take the business-as-usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution," U.S. representative Sung Kim told reporters. On Thursday, South Korea's nuclear envoy is to fly to Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry. Park said Wednesday that South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it "the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool." She said past broadcasts helped front-line North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyang's authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. "The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth," she said. The North Korean leaflets found Wednesday included messages such as "Let's knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs," and "The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea." Similar North Korean propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korean border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Still, such leafleting by the North is rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border. In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, a drone is paraded in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. South Korea on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, fired warning shots after an unknown object from North Korea was seen flying close to the rivals' border, the South's military said. South Korean media reported that it was a North Korean drone. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File) South Korean President Park Geun-hye bows after addressing to the nation at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Park on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. (Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP) South Korean President Park Geun-hye answers to a reporter's question during her news conference at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. Park on Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's recent nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. (Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP) South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Hwang Joon-kook, center, pose for the media with U.S. State Departments Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, right, and Japanese Foreign Ministrys Director-General for Asian and Oceanian Affairs Kimihiro Ishikane prior to their meeting to discuss a variety of bilateral and multilateral responses to the North Koreas nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon. Pool) South Korea's delegation, center, led by Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Hwang Joon-kook, center top, U.S. delegation, right, and Japan's delegation, left, attend at their meeting to discuss a variety of bilateral and multilateral responses to the North Koreas nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon. Pool) Once accommodating neighbors now turn back Syrian refugees BEIRUT (AP) After taking in a million Syrian refugees, Lebanon has quietly changed course in recent months, forcing refugees to return to Syria where they are at risk of persecution or death or stay illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The situation is drawing attention at a time when Turkey and Jordan have also tightened their admission policies. A Human Rights Watch report published Tuesday warned that Lebanon's new regulations have "set the stage for a potentially explosive situation." Even as conditions in Syria deteriorate in a fifth year of war, Lebanon last week forcibly repatriated 407 Syrians who were stranded at Beirut's airport after Turkey tightened its visa restrictions with little notice. It was by far the largest such forced repatriation to date. FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, Syrian refugee children walk in mud after a heavy rain at a refugee camp in the town of Hosh Hareem, Bekaa valley, east Lebanon. In a report published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) Amnesty International called the action "an outrageous breach of Lebanon's international obligations," which require that it not return vulnerable people to a conflict zone. "Syrians have no value here. They've closed the door on us," said a 34-year-old refugee from Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de facto capital in northeastern Syria, who is now living and working as a doorman in Beirut. He refused to be named for fear of expulsion. Lebanon in 2015 reversed a longstanding open-door policy for Syrians that allowed them to enter the country and reside there relatively unencumbered. At a minimum, they must now pay $200 per adult for a permit that lasts between six and 12 months, obtained through an onerous bureaucratic process that accompanies each application. Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said most of refugees have lost their legal status over the past year because of the new regulations. "That's not just an abstract notion. If you don't have legal status, you basically cannot cross any checkpoints. So men cannot leave the house," said Houry. Security checkpoints dot the country's Bekaa Valley and the north, where most Syrians are living. "That means you have to send the kids to work, because they aren't usually stopped. It also means if a woman gets sexually harassed, she cannot complain to the police, because she will be arrested," Houry said. The situation is similar in Jordan, which insists it has kept its borders open to Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict in 2011 but has increasingly tightened its admissions policy. A remote stretch of desert between Syria and Jordan has been the only land access route for Syrian refugees since mid-2013. In recent months, growing numbers of refugees have amassed in an area near a berm, awaiting entry. Government spokesman Mohammed Momani said earlier this week that about 16,000 refugees are gathered there. He said 50 to 100 are allowed in each day, with priority given to women, children, the elderly and the ill, adding that "security is the first priority." The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, warned in December that conditions at the berm are deteriorating and that a majority of those waiting for admission, often for months, are women and children. The UNHCR says Jordan hosts about 630,000 refugees. In recent months, thousands have left by plane to Turkey and from there to Europe, while others have gone back to Syria. The exodus was sparked, in part, by further cuts in assistance to refugees by cash-strapped aid agencies. Turkey, which has over two million refugees, began last week implementing visa restrictions for Syrians entering the country as part of its efforts to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. That decision, which applies to Syrians arriving in Turkey by air or by sea from third countries, reversed a long-standing agreement that allowed visa-free entry to Syrians. It does not apply to Syrians crossing the border to flee the conflict. Syrians in Lebanon must now rely on their precarious status as U.N.-registered refugees, or find a Lebanese citizen to sponsor them. Human Rights Watch said obstacles on the U.N. route were increasingly pushing Syrians into the murky sponsorship trade, which Houry said was a "recipe for abuse." Of the 40 refugees interviewed for the HRW report, only four have been able to renew their residency since January 2015. Over a million Syrians are registered as refugees with the UNHCR in Lebanon equivalent to one-quarter of the resident population though the number has declined over the past year as families have returned to Syria or attempted a perilous escape to Turkey or Europe. Over 90 percent of the refugees are trapped in debt, and 70 percent live below the poverty line, according to a recent U.N. study. Anti-refugee sentiment has crept into the fragile Lebanese political order as the war in Syria drags on. In October 2014, months before the new residency regulations came into effect, the government voted to stop receiving refugees, and in January, it prohibited the UNHCR from registering any more. The U.N. estimates around half of Syria's population has been displaced, perhaps the starkest indicator of the ruthlessness of the war. Another Syrian refugee in Beirut, who identified himself by his nickname Abu Ali to remain anonymous to Lebanese authorities, said he came to Lebanon in 2012 and this year lost his residency because of the new regulations. "I can't put my daughter in school because we are now illegally residing in the country," he said, speaking at the Beirut sandwich shop where he works. Short of options in Lebanon, some families have pooled resources to send a husband or son to Turkey, where they can then set off for Europe, seeking asylum. An official at Lebanon's General Security bureau, in charge of immigration and border control, denied that the new restrictions are aimed at forcing Syrians to return. "There was a lot of pressure at our border, and we had to organize our criteria for entry," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. "It is not to force people to leave." ___ Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report. FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, file photo, a Syrian refugee carries a baby on her back at a refugee camp in the town of Hosh Hareem, in the Bekaa valley, east Lebanon. In a report published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, file photo, a Syrian man burns shoes in a stove, because he doesn't have money to buy wood or fuel, as he gathers with his family inside their tent to keep warm, at a refugee camp in the town of Hosh Hareem, in the Bekaa Valley, east Lebanon. In a report published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 photo, Syrian refugees sit in a Doctors Without Borders clinic at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. In a report published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 photo, Syrian refugees sit in a Doctors Without Borders clinic at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. In a report published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 photo, a Lebanese medical worker checks a Syrian refugee at a Doctors Without Borders clinic at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. In a report published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Lebanese residency laws are putting Syrian refugees in danger. The regulations, adopted a year ago, have forced refugees to either return to Syria, where they are at risk of persecution, torture or death, or to stay in Lebanon illegally, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) Syrian artist, war refugee draws portraits of Paris victims AMMAN, Jordan (AP) When Syrian war refugee Lina Mahameed saw TV reports of the recent Paris attacks, she recognized her own story reflected in the brutality. The 41-year old artist is now drawing portraits of some of the 130 people killed in the Nov. 13 attacks in the French capital, for which the extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Mahameed said they fell victim to the same fanaticism that killed her 16-year-old son Yasser at the beginning of Syria's civil war. In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, Lina Mahameed, a Syrian artist and refugee from Daraa, holds a color portrait she drew of one of the people killed in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris by the Islamic State extremist group, next to a photo of the victim she downloaded from the Internet, in Amman, Jordan. Mahameed hopes to send her portraits to the victims' families to show that their tragedy is like our tragedy. Mahameed said they fell victim to the same fanaticism that killed her 16-year-old son Yasser at the beginning of Syrias civil war. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil) "When these French people died in Paris, I felt their pain," she said in her living room in the Jordanian capital of Amman, wearing a speckled headscarf. "I felt what every mother feels when she loses someone to such a criminal act," Mahameed said, gesturing with a wine-colored pencil. "Their tragedy is like our tragedy." Mahameed found photos of the victims on the Internet, and used print-outs for pencil sketches of their faces: a young blonde girl seated before a meal, a bespectacled man in a green jacket smiling calmly, a dozen people staring straight at the camera. Mahameed is now filling in the portraits' colors. She is working in her Amman apartment, where the walls are covered with canvases of beauty and disaster: elks in a golden forest; a frowning clown with a handful of balloons; children behind barbed wire, screaming next to splattered blood; a man clutching a stomach wound; a half-finished painting of Damascus' Umayyad Mosque, symbolic of home and the cultural heritage she, too, fears is targeted by extremism sweeping the world. When asked, she brings a portrait of Yasser from the back room On April 24, 2012, Syrian government tanks shells blew up part of the family home in the southern town of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad that quickly turned into a civil war. When the family fled across the street, a sniper killed Yasser. Government forces kept the body for 15 days before the family could bury him. Mahameed, left with three children, hopes the portraits will warm the hearts of the victims' families, though she hasn't figured out how to deliver the drawings. "We are martyrs, and they are martyrs," she said. "Innocent people don't have anything to do with politics or other countries." Mahameed was encouraged to paint by her father, an architect, and she had her first exhibition at age 14. She sold paintings in Syria and the United Arab Emirates before marriage. Motherhood slowed her career, but the war brought it to a halt. After the death of Yasser, the family spent a year on the move, trying to evade street battles. The Mahameeds decided to flee Syria when government soldiers entered their lodging and saw a picture of Yasser with the label of "martyr." "They said he wasn't a martyr, but a terrorist," Mahameed said. Troops poured gasoline in their rooms and set fire to the building. The family left for Egypt where they lived for eight months before Mahameed decided to split from her husband. She flew to Amman in August 2013, along with 16-year-old daughter Ronza and sons Usama, 9, and Rayan, 6. Mahameed hopes to leave Jordan soon because she is unable to work legally. Through the tragedies, her art has remained. She believes it can chase away some of the dark images she says have infected the psyches of Syrian children, including that of Usama whose notebooks are filled with war scenes. "We must heal psychologically, and draw out these dark ideas from inside them," Mahameed said. In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, Lina Mahameed, a Syrian artist and refugee from Daraa, draws portraits of some of the people killed in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris by the Islamic State extremist group, in Amman, Jordan. Mahameed hopes to send her portraits to the victims' families to show that their tragedy is like our tragedy. Mahameed said they fell victim to the same fanaticism that killed her 16-year-old son Yasser at the beginning of Syrias civil war. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil) Vietnam court sentences Canadian to 4 years over child abuse HANOI, Vietnam (AP) A Vietnamese court sentenced a Canadian man to four years in jail Wednesday after finding him guilty of sexually abusing four homeless teenage boys. An official of the court in Hanoi said Vadim Scott Benderman arrived in Vietnam in 2014 and taught English at a foreign language training center and played music at a bar in the city's Old Quarter. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of court policy, said Benderman, 45, was arrested last June after being caught abusing a boy at his rented house. The official said Benderman admitted in the half-day trial that he lured the homeless boys, aged 14 to 16, to his house after meeting them at a lake in central Hanoi and paid them $10 to $15 to have sex. He said Benderman told the court that he abused each boy from one to three times between January and his arrest in June. "The defendant's crime was very serious for society," the official quoted the verdict as saying. "It infringed upon the normal development of the boys." Child sexual abuse carries a penalty of three to seven years in jail. Benderman was given less than the maximum sentence because of his sincere confession, the official said. Istanbul suicide bomber registered as refugee before attack ISTANBUL (AP) The suicide attacker who detonated a bomb that killed 10 German tourists in the heart of Istanbul's historic district had registered as a refugee just a week earlier, Turkish officials said Wednesday, raising questions over whether extremists are posing as asylum-seekers to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe. Turkish authorities identified the assailant in Tuesday's attack as a Syrian man who was born in 1988, and said he was affiliated with the Islamic State group. Turkish media, including some close to the government, identified him as Nabil Fadli and said he was Saudi-born. The extremist group has not so far claimed the attack. Meanwhile, Turkish police arrested five people suspected of direct links to the bomb attack which took place just steps from the historic Blue Mosque in Istanbul's storied Sultanahmet district. The suspects were not identified. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere left, listens to his Turkish counterpart Efkan Ala, right, during a joint news conference in Istanbul, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbul's historic district on Tuesday, killing 10 foreigners most of them German tourists and wounding 15 other people in the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic extremists targeting westerners. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) The bomber had recently entered Turkey, authorities said, and Interior Minister Efkan Ala confirmed reports he had registered with an Istanbul branch of the Migration Management Authority, providing fingerprints that allowed officials to quickly identify him. Ala said the bomber wasn't on any Turkish or international watch lists for IS militants. "This person was not someone who was being monitored," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. "It is a person who entered normally, as a refugee, as an asylum-seeker." The attack wounded 15 people, including nine Germans and citizens of Norway, Peru and South Korea. Six of the victims remained hospitalized on Wednesday. Although not as deadly as two attacks in Turkey last year that were blamed on IS, Tuesday's bombing had heightened resonance because it struck at Turkey's $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. The fact that the bomber had registered as a Syrian refugee suggests central planning by Islamic State leaders, either to cover their tracks or provoke a backlash in Europe against legitimate Syrian asylum-seekers, said Firas Abi-Ali, an analyst with the security consultancy IHS Country Risk. "It seems to make it less likely this was anything but a centrally commanded operation by the Islamic State," he said. It is not the first time the group has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the huge influx of asylum-seekers into Europe by ensuring that suicide bombers were registered and fingerprinted and would thus be identified as refugees after their deaths. Two of the suicide bombers who died Nov. 13 at France's national stadium had registered in Greece and their forged Syrian passports were found on their bodies. Thousands of Muslims have fled the territory under Islamic State control in Syria and Iraq and the extremists have repeatedly threatened those who leave, saying they will regret their journey to Europe. The Soufan security firm said in an analysis Wednesday that IS was not short on volunteers for suicide missions and the migrant crisis was posing a security challenge for Europe. "Given how much time the Islamic State has had to administer explosives training in Raqqa, Mosul, and elsewhere, the group is likely not running low on bomb-makers or suicide mission volunteers," the firm said. "The chaos on Europe's southern borders, involving a combination of overwhelming numbers of refugees, inadequate screening processes, and untold numbers of false travel documents, is a security challenge of the highest order." In addition to the five people suspected of direct links to Tuesday's attack, more than a dozen other suspected IS militants were detained Wednesday and 59 a day earlier, although officials said none appeared to be tied to the Istanbul bombing. They included three Russian nationals taken into custody in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Nearly 3,000 Russians, mostly from the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, are believed to have gone to fight alongside IS militants in Syria. Families of IS recruits and human rights activists in the Caucasus have described Turkey as the main gateway to Syria for Russian fighters. Some IS fighters of Russian origin are believed to have left IS to settle in Turkey, families say. On Wednesday, Davutoglu contended that in addition to the Islamic State group, other forces he did not identify were behind Tuesday's attack and were using the extremist group as a "pawn." "We are working intensely to find the true actors in the background who are using this terror organization," Davutoglu said, without elaborating. The Turkish premier said other countries fighting the Islamic State group had to adopt "a sincere stance," accusing Russia both of preventing Turkey from carrying out raids on the extremists and of bombing schools and hospitals in Syria instead of fighting IS. Asked whether Turkey would retaliate for the attack with aerial strikes on IS positions, Davutoglu said: "I say this clearly, we would respond to every attack directed against us with the force we see fit." Germany meanwhile, sent a team of investigators to Istanbul on Wednesday to support Turkish authorities investigating the attack. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there was no sign Germans were specifically targeted. "According to the investigations so far, there are no indications that the attack was directed specifically against Germans, so there can't be any connection to our contribution to the fight against international terrorism," de Maiziere said. Following the November attacks in Paris, Germany Committed Tornado reconnaissance jets to aid the military effort against the Islamic State group in Syria and started flying missions from the Incirlik air base in Turkey last week. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. Germany already was helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting IS in northern Iraq but has not taken a direct combat role. Those killed in Tuesday's blast included two couples. Authorities didn't identify the victims but said they ranged in age from 51 to 73. ___ Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson, David Rising and Frank Jordans in Berlin and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report. ___ A previous version of this story has been corrected to show that the German interior minister's surname is Maiziere, not Maziere. Tourists walk past carnations left at the site of Tuesday's explosion in the historic Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbul's historic district on Tuesday morning, killing 10 foreigners most of them German tourists and wounding a number of other people in the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) Tourists listen to a guide at the site of Tuesday's explosion in the historic Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbul's historic district on Tuesday morning, killing 10 foreigners - most of them German tourists - and wounding 15 other people in the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) Goodbye 'God Save the Queen?' UK debates new England anthem LONDON (AP) Will England bid goodbye to "God Save the Queen?" British lawmakers agreed Wednesday to consider replacing the royalist song that serves as England's anthem at sporting events. "God Save the Queen" is the national anthem of the United Kingdom made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and is played at the Olympics and other events where the U.K. fields a single team. FILE - This is a Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 file photo of Britains Prince William, right, sings the national anthem of Wales as Prince Harry looks on ahead of the Rugby World Cup Pool A match between England and Wales at Twickenham Stadium, London. British lawmakers are debating Wednesday Jan. 13, 2016 a proposal to replace the royalist song as England's anthem for sporting events. At contests where England, Scotland and Wales compete separately, Scotland and Wales have their own official songs _ "Flower of Scotland" and "Land of My Fathers" _ but England generally uses the British national anthem, God Save the Queen. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth/ File) At contests where the four areas compete separately, such as the soccer World Cup, England and Northern Ireland generally use "God Save the Queen," but Scotland and Wales have their own official songs "Flower of Scotland" and "Land of My Fathers." Labour Party lawmaker Toby Perkins said adopting an English anthem would "re-establish the idea that the United Kingdom is a union of four separate nations with their own identities." Perkins told the House of Commons that said "Jerusalem," regarded by many as England's unofficial anthem, was the most obvious choice. The song, whose words are by mystical 18th-century poet William Blake, vows to transform a country of "dark satanic mills" into a "green and pleasant land" like the ancient England that, legend says, was once visited by Jesus Christ. Opposing the motion, traditionalist Conservative legislator Jacob Rees-Mogg said an English anthem would divide Britain by encouraging "individual nationalism." "What greater pleasure can there be for a true-born Englishman or true-born Englishwoman than to listen to our own national anthem a national anthem for our whole country, our whole United Kingdom," Rees-Mogg said. Under Perkins' proposed change, "God Save the Queen" would continue to be sung at British team events. Northern Ireland could either stick with the status quo or choose its own anthem. Lawmakers agreed to hold a full House of Commons debate in March on Perkins' bill, which calls on the government to consult the public on a new anthem. Perkins said his own canvassing had produced suggestions including "Land Of Hope And Glory," ''There'll Always Be An England" and even "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths. ___ This story has been corrected to remove a reference to Northern Ireland competing in the rugby World Cup. Northern Ireland and Ireland field a single team in the competition. Lithuania marks 25th anniversary of Soviet crackdown VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) With flowers and solemn speeches, Lithuanians on Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of a deadly Soviet crackdown that failed to quash the Baltic country's quest for independence. Hundreds of people gathered in Vilnius in freezing temperatures to honor the 14 people killed when Soviet troops and tanks moved into a crowd of protesters outside a TV tower on Jan. 13, 1991. The attacks only emboldened Lithuanians to demand freedom, which they gained later that year. Lithuanians lights candles on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom "Battle for the Freedom of Nations" in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Lithuanians will mark the anniversary of the Soviet crackdown on Wednesday, Jan 13, when 25 years ago Soviet special forces lay siege to the Vilnius TV tower. Fourteen people died in that siege and hundreds were wounded. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) President Dalia Grybauskaite drew parallels between those events and Ukraine's conflict with Moscow, saying "we feel a bond of unity with the people of Ukraine whose representatives are among us today." It was the first of a series of events planned this year in the Baltic countries to commemorate the end of the Soviet occupation. The attack on the TV tower in Vilnius and another in neighboring Latvia a week later that left five dead was a last show of force for Soviet troops that had occupied the Baltic countries since World War II. The bravery and defiance shown by unarmed Lithuanians in the face of Soviet guns and tanks remains a huge source of pride for the country of 3 million. More than 1,000 people were injured in the crackdown. "We will never forget what happened then," said Julius Kazlauskas, a 32-year-old engineer, who came to Parliament with his toddler son. "I was just a kid back them, but remember my parents were scared," he said. "It was people, not some army, who defended their country and right to be free. And look at us now: We are members of the EU and NATO, our economy is among fastest growing in Europe." Lithuanians lights candles on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom "Battle for the Freedom of Nations" in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Lithuanians will mark the anniversary of the Soviet crackdown on Wednesday, Jan 13, when 25 years ago Soviet special forces lay siege to the Vilnius TV tower. Fourteen people died in that siege and hundreds were wounded. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) Lithuanians lights candles on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom "Battle for the Freedom of Nations" in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Lithuanians will mark the anniversary of the Soviet crackdown on Wednesday, Jan 13, when 25 years ago Soviet special forces lay siege to the Vilnius TV tower. Fourteen people died in that siege and hundreds were wounded. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) Indian Supreme Court extends Italian marine's stay in Italy NEW DELHI (AP) India's Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed an Italian marine involved in the shooting deaths of two Indian fishermen in 2012 to stay in Italy until April 30. Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone were assigned to anti-piracy duty aboard an Italian oil tanker off India's coast at the time of the shootings. The men were detained and had to stay in India without formal charges, but were allowed to return temporarily to Italy to vote in 2013 elections. Latorre was allowed to travel home for medical treatment in September after suffering a stroke, while Girone is still in India. FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2012 file photo Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre talks to media after arriving at the Ciampino Rome airport from Kochi, India. India's Supreme Court on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016 allowed the Italian marine involved in the shooting deaths of two Indian fishermen in 2012 to stay in Italy until April 30.(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) Latorre was supposed to return to India by Jan. 15. The Italian Foreign Ministry, however, said in a statement Wednesday that Latorre will remain in Italy until the outcome of international arbitration in the case, citing an order by the International Tribunal for the Sea stating that India and Italy should suspend all internal judicial actions while the arbitration is pending. "On the bases of that order, the government retains that any decision by the Indian Supreme Court relative to rifleman Latorre is precluded, and that he therefore can remain in Italy for the entire arbitration procedure," the ministry said. In New Delhi, the Supreme Court asked the Indian government to explain when the arbitration panel would rule on the dispute, and also asked Italy to explain how long Latorre's medical treatment would take. Italy argues the shooting occurred in international waters, that the fishermen were mistaken for pirates, and that the case should be heard in an Italian court. New Delhi insists it has jurisdiction and wants to charge both marines with murder. Italy took the case to international arbitration last June. ___ 1st black US attorney general endorses Clinton for president CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) Hillary Clinton has secured an endorsement from the nation's first black attorney general as she works to maintain an advantage among African-American voters in her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Clinton campaign announced Eric Holder's support in a statement to The Associated Press. Holder, who served as President Barack Obama's top law enforcement appointee for more than five years, said Clinton "is the candidate that we need in the White House" to continue "the progress of President Obama." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) The country's former top lawyer will campaign for Clinton in an upcoming swing to South Carolina. African-American voters favor Clinton by a wide margin according to preference polls, and they will likely make up a majority of the Democratic electorate in South Carolina's Feb. 27 primary and potentially in other Southern primaries that follow in March. Holder said the former secretary of state "has bold plans to address police brutality, fight for common sense reforms to our gun laws." He did not name fellow Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, instead focusing on Republicans he said would "tear down our progress on civil rights, health care and curbing gun violence." South Carolina is the only one of the initial four states to vote where black voters anchor the Democratic Party base of support. Polls in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire show Sanders either leading or nearly deadlocked with Clinton. Clinton has emphasized her support for tougher gun laws, trying to paint Sanders as an ally of gun manufacturers based on some of his previous votes in the Senate. Sanders supports Obama's recent executive action to expand background checks on certain gun purchases, but he has argued that rural communities, like those he represents in Vermont, rightfully view gun restrictions more skeptically than many urban residents, including many African-Americans. Some Detroit schools closed again due to teacher absences DETROIT (AP) Some Detroit schools were closed again Wednesday due to the absence of teachers, but it was the smallest number since a so-called sick-out gathered momentum this week over issues such as pay and the condition of buildings. Meanwhile, a state lawmaker said he would introduce two bills Thursday that could start the process of overhauling the Detroit district, which is burdened by debt, falling enrollment and low morale among employees. Republican Sen. Goeff Hansen said teacher absences, however, could sour the GOP-controlled Legislature's resolve to address the problem. Teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, left, leaves Fisher Magnet Lower Academy in Detroit, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, after talking with school administrators and Detroit Public Schools officials about the condition of the school. The visits occurred while two dozen schools were closed because of a sick-out by teachers who are upset about pay, class sizes, rodents and mold. (Jose Juarez/Detroit News via AP) DETROIT FREE PRESS OUT; HUFFINGTON POST OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT "We need kids in the classroom," Hansen said. The district reported at least five closings Wednesday, compared with about two dozen on Tuesday and more than 60 on Monday. At the peak, tens of thousands of students were forced to stay home. Detroit has about 46,000 students. Teachers are upset over class sizes, pay, the condition of buildings and a plan by Gov. Rick Snyder to deal with millions of debt by creating a new district. Already, the district is run by an emergency manager appointed by the Republican governor. Teacher and activist Steve Conn said he called in sick Monday. "I think we're headed to an all-out strike. It's the only way we can solve it," said Conn, former president of the teachers union. Detroit building and health officials will begin inspecting all schools for possible code and safety violations, Mayor Mike Duggan's office said Wednesday in a release. The inspections follow visits Duggan made Tuesday to several schools after the teachers union complained of rodents, mold and other problems. Duggan told reporters he saw a dead mouse, children wearing coats in cold classrooms and a gym floor too warped for play. Twenty buildings believed to be the most problematic will be inspected by the end of January. Each of the district's 97 school buildings is to be looked at by the end of April. Public charter schools also will be inspected. "This effort isn't about blaming anybody," Duggan said of the inspections. "It's about making sure that every child and every teacher in Detroit goes to school in a safe and healthy environment." Parents, teachers and students are asked to report potential health and safety concerns on the city's website. "These are things that we have been saying for years and years and years. ... We had to cause an interruption," teacher Nina Chacker told FOX 2 Detroit. ___ Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwhiteap Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, center, talks with school officials officials about the conditions at Fisher Magnet Lower Academy Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Detroit. The visits occurred while two dozen schools were closed because of a sick-out by teachers who are upset about pay, class sizes, rodents and mold. (Jose Juarez/Detroit News via AP) DETROIT FREE PRESS OUT; HUFFINGTON POST OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan addresses the media, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, outside Fisher Magnet Lower Academy in Detroit, after talking with school administrators and Detroit Public Schools officials about the condition of the school. The visits occurred while two dozen schools were closed because of a sick-out by teachers who are upset about pay, class sizes, rodents and mold. (Jose Juarez/Detroit News via AP) DETROIT FREE PRESS OUT; HUFFINGTON POST OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT A group of about 200 teachers, joined by parents and children, protest, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, outside the Detroit public schoolss Fisher Building headquarters in Detroit. At least two dozen Detroit public schools were closed Tuesday as teacher sick-outs forced officials to again keep students at home. (Kim Kozlowski/ The Detroit News) A group of over a hundred teachers, joined by parents and children, protest Monday Jan. 11, 2016, in Detroit. A wave of teacher absences described by an activist as "rolling strikes" shut down more than half of Detroit's 100 public schools Monday, keeping thousands of students at home as a so-called sick-out entered a second week. (Kim Kozlowski/Detroit News via AP) DETROIT FREE PRESS OUT; HUFFINGTON POST OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Former Everton striker Marcus Bent faces jail after fight GUILDFORD, England (AP) Former Premier League player Marcus Bent is facing a jail term after admitting to taking part in a fight at his home. The former Ipswich, Everton and Charlton striker pleaded guilty at a court in Guildford, about 30 miles southwest of London, to the charge, which stemmed from an incident in September. Judge Stephen Climie adjourned the case until next month, pending a probation report, and said "on the face of it a custodial sentence is justified." Climie adds "whether that is the right sentence in the context of this case is not a matter I will prejudge." The 37-year-old Bent previously entered a guilty plea to one count of possessing cocaine. Documents ordered handed over in suit against Rolling Stone CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) A young woman at the center of a debunked article in Rolling Stone magazine about a campus gang rape at the University of Virginia has been ordered to turn over documents. A federal judge in Charlottesville made the ruling Tuesday as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by a top U.Va. administrator. Nicole Eramo's lawsuit said she was cast as the "chief villain" in the article. The article was about a student identified only as "Jackie" who claimed she was raped by seven men in a fraternity initiation. Media outlets report the judge ordered her to hand over communication documents pertaining to the article and her alleged sexual assault. Israel: Swedish FM 'not welcome' after calling for probe JERUSALEM (AP) Israel said Wednesday that Sweden's foreign minister is "not welcome" in Israel after she called for an investigation into the deaths of Palestinians involved in a four-months' spate of deadly attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that "given the incendiary and aggressive nature" of Margot Wallstrom's comments, "we have made it clear that she is not welcome in Israel." He did not elaborate. Sweden's ambassador was summoned Wednesday and reprimanded in protest over Wallstrom's remarks, Nahshon added. The summons, he said, showed "the anger of the government and the people in Israel" over Wallstrom's "twisted" view of reality in Israel that is "biased and even hostile" against Israel. "Wallstrom's remarks show that she doesn't understand what is taking place in our region and is apparently unaware of the harsh situation where Israelis are exposed to the perpetual dangers of murderous terror attacks," Nahshon said. Near-daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers have killed 24 people and wounded dozens in stabbings, shootings and other assaults since mid-September. At least 141 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire. About two-thirds of them are said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with security personnel. On Tuesday, Wallstrom called for an investigation into allegations that Israeli forces have carried out "extrajudicial killings" in clashes with Palestinians. "It is vital that there are thorough, credible investigations into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability," Wallstrom told lawmakers. Sweden's relations with Israel have been strained since the Social Democratic-led government in 2014 recognized Palestinian statehood, and Wallstrom's comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have elicited angry responses from Israeli officials. Swedish opposition lawmaker Jan Bjorklund of the Liberal Party accused the government of shifting the country's Middle East policy so that it's perceived to be "siding much more unilaterally with the Palestinian party." As foreign minister, Wallstrom has been outspoken on women's rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her statements have riled not just Israel but also Saudi Arabia, which temporarily recalled its ambassador from Sweden last year after Wallstrom criticized the kingdom's human rights record. Affable in person, Wallstrom has been accused of being too blunt and undiplomatic in her public comments. Earlier this week, she appeared to step on toes in her own government when she proposed at a domestic security conference that Sweden should re-introduce conscription but in a gender-balanced form, an issue that's outside her remit. ___ ATV riders challenge longtime bans on use of public roads DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) When she crashed on an all-terrain vehicle, Megan Cratsley was hurt so badly that doctors had to amputate much of her right arm, a life-altering surgery that launched the teenager on a personal mission to change New York traffic laws to protect other ATV riders. The buzzy, open-air vehicles are supposed to be banned from roads in New York and many other states. But small communities across the nation are increasingly bending the rules under pressure from riders who want to go wherever they please, even though ATV manufacturers warn that the vehicles are unstable on flat terrain at high speed, and accidents on roads kill more than 300 riders each year. The trend appalls public health officials and is opposed by the manufacturers. In this Dec.16, 2015 photo, Michael Rygh stands near all-terrain vehicles at his dealership in Algona, Iowa. The buzzy, open-air vehicles are supposed to be banned from roads in New York and other states. But small communities across the nation are increasingly bending the rules under pressure from riders who want to go wherever they please, even though ATV manufacturers warn that the vehicles are unstable on flat pavement and accidents kill more than 300 riders each year. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) "We've seen too many people die," said Jen Kruzicke-Cratsley, Megan's mother, who lives near Buffalo, New York, and joined in her daughter's legislative efforts to make ATVs safer. ATV enthusiasts acknowledge the vehicles can be dangerous if not driven properly, but they say the risks are overstated. Thirty-five states allow local jurisdictions to authorize ATVs on some roads or road shoulders, according to a study by the Consumer Federation of American. While no one tracks how many local governments have offered ATVs access to local roads, the number is rising, as are ATV sales. In Iowa, at least 17 counties allow all-terrain vehicles on public roads, and a state official said that number could climb to 30 counties by next fall. It's a similar trend in Minnesota, where at least a dozen counties permit some ATVs on roads, and in Indiana, where about half of counties do so. West Virginia and Montana allow ATV use on most roads other than highways. Utah lawmakers voted in 2015 to allow street-legal ATVs on the shoulders of all roads except interstate freeways. In New York, ATVs are banned from public roads except for small stretches between off-road riding areas. Yet small communities often grant unrestricted access if riders demand it, said Peter Bauer, executive director of the group Protect the Adirondacks, which often fights such efforts. ATV manufacturers say the vehicles are designed only for off-road use. Many models have a higher center of gravity than cars. That design allows them to roll easily across uneven ground but also makes them more likely to topple over at high speed. They also have low-pressure tires that can make handling difficult on paved, dirt or gravel roads. Studies show that more than half of fatal ATV crashes happened on roads. From 2003 to 2013, that number ranged from a high of 377 road deaths in 2008 to 301 in 2003. Charles Jennissen, an emergency room doctor at the University of Iowa hospital in Iowa City, has studied the issue and travels around the state to discourage officials from legalizing ATVs on public roads. He's losing far more fights than he's winning. The biggest issue is speed, Jennissen said. The most powerful all-terrain vehicles can travel 80 or 90 mph, but it's nearly impossible to reach these speeds except on roads, so riders race down rural lanes without realizing the risk. "We see lots of accidents that are totally preventable," Jennissen said. "It's devastating to families and devastating to communities, and they don't need to happen." Riders say manufacturers' warnings are more about limiting liability than averting serious danger. They regard opening up public roads as a common-sense move that carries little risk and can spur desperately needed economic growth in rural areas by attracting riders and increasing vehicle sales. Michael Rygh, who co-owns an ATV shop in Algona, Iowa, said a recent decision to open up Kossuth County roads to the vehicles has already boosted sales. He's confident accidents will be rare. In Iowa's Louisa County, Tim Gerst said he had little trouble rounding up 400 signatures on a petition asking supervisors to permit ATVs on county roads. He acknowledges that people get hurt on the vehicles but insists "there's nothing you can do in life that doesn't carry risk." County supervisors are still studying the matter. "I wish we didn't have this decision to make," Supervisor Randy Griffin said. "I'll feel terrible if we do something and someone goes out and gets killed." Officials faced a similar choice last year in Lake County, Oregon, and opted to open up 700 miles of roads in the vast, sparely populated high plateau region. County Economic Development Director Rob Thornton said the goal was to generate money from tourism and possibly convince some tourists to come back to stay. The scenic county of roughly 8,000 people has been hit hard by a decline in logging, and its remote location makes it hard to attract other industries. The hope is to take advantage of the wide-open space by attracting riders not accustomed to so many miles of empty roads. Many people will "travel a long distance to come to a place they can ride," Thornton said. David Downing, who oversees ATV programs for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said the key to preventing accidents is education, not limiting access. As long as riders receive proper training, Downing said, he doesn't expect increased use of roads to result in more crashes. He acknowledged that riders who drive too fast can suddenly find themselves in trouble. "It all comes down to how you operate them," Downing said. "It will get you if you do something stupid." ___ Follow Scott McFetridge at: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge . This Dec. 16, 2015 photo shows all-terrain vehicles at a dealership in Algona, Iowa. The buzzy, open-air vehicles are supposed to be banned from roads in New York and other states. But small communities across the nation are increasingly bending the rules under pressure from riders who want to go wherever they please, even though ATV manufacturers warn that the vehicles are unstable on flat pavement and accidents kill more than 300 riders each year. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Federal judge tosses Alabama officer's excessive force case BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a civil rights case against an Alabama police officer accused of using excessive force on an Indian man. U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala granted a motion to acquit Madison police officer Eric Parker after his two previous trials ended in hung juries. In her 92-page opinion, Haikala said evidence that was presented during Parker's two trials didn't eliminate reasonable doubt that Parker was guilty of a crime. FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015 file photo, former Madison, Ala. police officer Eric Sloan Parker walks into a federal courthouse in Huntsville, Ala. In case there is a third trial, prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2016 to exclude testimony from Madison police officers who dont have firsthand knowledge of the February encounter between Parker and 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel. Parkers two previous trials ended in hung juries. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File) "The Court has no reason to expect a different result in a subsequent trial given the totality of the evidence that the parties have provided," Haikala wrote. Parker slammed 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel (suh-REHSH'-by pah-TEL') down face first during a suspicious person investigation in February in a Huntsville suburb. The incident was recorded on cameras inside patrol vehicles and Patel was injured in the takedown. Parker has testified that Patel tried to pull away from him, indicating he may have been up to no good. Patel has said through an interpreter that he doesn't speak English and couldn't understand officers' orders. Haikala said in her opinion that based on his training, Parker had to consider that Patel might have said that to evade officers. Parker had testified that Patel's actions and appearance were "in sequence" with those of a burglar. He told jurors Patel tried walking away and wouldn't answer questions when officers approached him. Parker has said he was suspicious when Patel reached for his pockets and when he pulled one of his hands free during a pat-down. Patel wasn't armed and suffered a spinal injury when he was thrown down face-first on a lawn. During the first trial, Parker said he lost his balance and fell on top of the man. Jurors watched police video that shows an officer knocking Patel's legs out from under him and pushing him face-first to the ground. Patel said his arms and legs went numb after the impact, and he could not stand on his own. Parker's colleagues had given conflicting testimony on whether the takedown violated department policy or was necessary. Judge Haikala said the video didn't account for critical details, including whether Patel put his hands in his pockets before Parker restrained him. Gaps in the evidence were "insurmountable" in the case and it's unlikely that prosecutors would do better in a third or fourth trial, Haikala wrote. Patel had been in the United States only a few days at the time of the confrontation, which happened as Parker and another officer were checking a citizen's report of a suspicious person in a suburban neighborhood near Huntsville. Jurors deliberated for days in both trials and Parker's attorney Robert Tuten said after the second mistrial in November that the length of the jury's discussions highlights the complexity of the case. Tuten has called the case an unfortunate escalation of police tactics. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Posey has said one of the primary difficulties in prosecuting law enforcement in civil rights cases is proving that an officer knew he or she was acting unlawfully. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has apologized to the Indian government for Patel's treatment, calling it a case of excessive force and Patel has filed a civil lawsuit against Parker. Suspect detained in death of US woman in Florence MILAN (AP) A Senegalese immigrant was detained Wednesday in the strangulation death of a 35-year-old American woman, just hours after crime scene investigators returned to her Florence apartment to search for clues identifying her killer. Ashley Olsen was found nude on her bed in her rented apartment on Saturday after her boyfriend had the owner open the door, alarmed that the woman had failed to respond to phone calls. The body had bruises and scratches on the neck, and an autopsy determined that she had been strangled with a cord or a rope. The Italian news agency ANSA reported early Thursday that police detained the suspect Wednesday based on DNA evidence taken from the scene. Investigators had narrowed in on the suspect using video surveillance cameras along the route from the nightclub that showed them together Friday morning, a day before Olsen's body was found. The man was known to authorities for being involved in the local drug scene. This undated image shows 35-year-old U.S. citizen Ashley Olsen. An Italian prosecutor says an autopsy has determined that an American woman, whose nude body was found last week in her Florence apartment, was strangled with an object, likely a rope or noose. Prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo cautions more time is needed to establish the time of death for Ashley Olsen, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen who lived in Florence for about three years. (The Florentine/Courtesy of Ashley Oslen friends via AP) Authorities released no other details. The lead prosecutor had declined to comment on the case earlier Wednesday, and police officials say they are not authorized to speak to media during the investigation. Olsen, originally from Summer Haven, Florida, had been living in Florence for three years, an active member of the expatriate community and art scene. She had moved to Italy to join her father Walter Olsen, who teaches in the Renaissance art city. Walter Olsen issued a statement late Tuesday expressing the family's grief and confidence that the killer would be found. "We are devastated that our precious Ashley has passed away resulting from a horrible and senseless crime," he wrote. He described his daughter as "a beautiful and creative young woman, with a happy, exuberant and generous soul," adding: "We are heartbroken she was taken from us." US issues rules to protect bat threatened by fungal disease TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) Federal officials issued regulations Wednesday designed to protect the northern long-eared bat, one of several types of bat that have suffered steep population declines because of a rapidly spreading fungal disease. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it had updated interim rules that accompanied a decision last April to designate the northern long-eared bat as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The final version is less restrictive toward timber harvesting, clearing land for wind turbines, houses or oil pipelines and other activities that might cause some bats deaths but have no significant effect on the overall population, agency director Dan Ashe said. It drew praise from an industry group, but a lawsuit warning from environmentalists who said it would make things worse for a species whose numbers have fallen more than 90 percent in some places. FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shows a northern long-eared bat. Federal officials issued regulations Wednesday Jan. 13, 2016, designed to protect the northern long-eared bat, one of several types of bat that have suffered steep declines because of a rapidly spreading fungal disease. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it had updated interim rules that accompanied a decision last April to designate the northern long-eared bat as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via AP, File) The policy will enable the government to focus its bat conservation efforts primarily on white-nose syndrome, which has killed some 5.7 million of the winged mammals since its discovery in a New York cave in 2006, Ashe said. The disease or the fungus that causes it have been detected in 30 states in the Northeast, South and Midwest and in five Canadian provinces. Seven bat species have been affected, and the northern long-eared is among those hardest hit. "Until there is a solution to the white-nose syndrome crisis, the outlook for this bat will not improve," Ashe said. "This rule tailors regulatory protections in a way that makes sense and focuses protections where they will make a difference for the bat." The fungus attacks bats that spend winters in caves and mines, disrupting hibernation and depleting the energy their bodies must ration until spring to avoid starvation. Bats are valuable to people, eating mosquitoes and other insects that otherwise would cause billions of dollars in crop damage. The Fish and Wildlife Service decided against listing the northern long-eared bat as "endangered," or nearly extinct, settling for the category of "threatened," which imposes less-stringent limits on human actions that could harm the animal. Even so, the ruling drew criticism from the timber and oil and gas industries, which said it could boost costs and hamper their work without measurably helping the bats. The federal agency received more than 40,000 public comments. Officials said the regulations, which take effect Feb. 16, are necessary to protect crucial habitat, including hibernation caves and trees where the bats raise their young during summer. But the rules were revised to reduce inconvenience to landowners and industry, said Tom Melius, the service's Midwestern regional director. While making it illegal to intentionally kill or harass the bats, they keep to a minimum the prohibitions on harm that happens during otherwise legal projects. In areas where white-nose syndrome exists, such "incidental" harm is illegal at hibernation sites and as a result of removing trees within a quarter-mile of those sites. Also protected are trees where bats give birth and roost and other trees within 150 feet of them during June and July, when pups are in nests and haven't learned to fly. The Independent Petroleum Association of America said the final regulations were a "workable compromise." "While oil and gas operations have a negligible impact on the health of the northern long-eared bat, independent producers stand willing and able to comply with conservation measures designed to protect the bat during its most sensitive stages of life," said Dan Naatz, a vice president of the trade group. The Center for Biological Diversity is challenging in federal court the interim rules and the government's refusal to list the bat as endangered. The environmental group may expand the suit to include the new rules, which "will almost certainly result in more dead bats by allowing the destruction of habitat they need when coming out of hibernation or are pregnant in the summer," attorney Tanya Sanerib said. "It's the last thing they need after being devastated by disease." ___ No charges for man who killed son he mistook for intruder CINCINNATI (AP) No charges will be filed against a man who fatally shot his 14-year-old son after mistaking him for an intruder. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said Wednesday that the man, 72, won't be charged in the Tuesday morning shooting in the basement of the Cincinnati-area home. The man had watched his son, Georta Mack, walk to the school bus and the boy later called his father to say he was on the bus, Deters said in his statement. Police tape cordons off a home Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Cincinnati, where police says a father, who believed he was confronting an intruder in his home, fatally shot his 14-year-old son, who he thought was on his way to school. Authorities said the father called 911 and the boy was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, where he died. (Patrick Brennan/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES The man later heard a noise in the basement and got his .45 caliber handgun before investigating, according to the prosecutor. The father told authorities that when he opened a closet door, Georta jumped out and yelled, "Boo!" The startled man, whose name wasn't released, fired a shot that hit the boy in the neck. "He scared me!" the distraught father said in his 911 call. "I thought he was in school. I heard noise, so I went downstairs looking and he jumped out at me. .... Oh, God. Get here quick!" Police said the teen had headed to the bus stop but apparently decided he wasn't going to school and came back home through a back door. Deters said all the forensic evidence matched the father's account of what happened and no charges were appropriate. "There is only one word for this tragedy," Deters said. "It is impossible to imagine how horrible this father must feel for mistaking his son for an intruder." The Latest: Oil refinery blast nearly caused acid leak REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) The latest on the federal investigation of a refinery blast in California (all times local): ___ 11:15 a.m. Federal investigators say an 80,000-pound piece of equipment shaken loose by a refinery explosion landed within a few feet of a tank holding tens of thousands of pounds of a toxic acid. Mark Wingard, an investigator with the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, said Wednesday the Feb. 18, 2015, explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in California also damaged a laser sensor designed to detect the release of the acid and clouded surveillance cameras. The board's chairwoman, Vanessa Allen Sutherland, says the modified hydrofluoric acid in question could have caused significant injuries if released. Officials say ExxonMobil has not responded to more than half of the board's requests for information related to the refinery blast -- specifically those related to acid. Sutherland says her group is working with Department of Justice to enforce subpoenas. ___ 10:15 a.m. An independent federal investigation has found that several oversights contributed to an explosion at a California oil refinery that injured four contractors and rained white ash on surrounding homes. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Wednesday that a key unit had operated for five years without a maintenance overhaul. The board also says managers at the ExxonMobil refinery used an outdated plan when they decided to shut down the fluid catalytic cracking unit, or FCC unit, to do repairs and had no safeguards to prevent combustible materials from reaching an ignition source in another unit. California workplace regulators fined Exxon $566,000 last summer for health and safety violations related to the blast. Exxon is appealing. Pentagon lays out plan to take back Mosul, Raqqa from IS FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) Defense Secretary Ash Carter laid out broad plans Wednesday to defeat Islamic State militants and retake the group's key power centers in Iraq and Syria. And he announced that a special commando force has now arrived in Iraq. Speaking to troops from the 101st Airborne Division who will soon deploy to Iraq, Carter also said he would meet in Paris next week with his defense counterparts, mainly from Europe, and will challenge them to bring more capabilities to the fight. He said he will be meeting with defense leaders from France, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and "will not hesitate to engage and challenge" them to get them to do more. FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2015 file photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks to reporters at the Pentagon. Carter laid out broad plans Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, to defeat Islamic State militants and retake the group's key power centers in Iraq and Syria. And he announced that a special commando force has now arrived in Iraq. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) "Each of these nations has a significant stake in completing the destruction of this evil organization, and we must include all of the capabilities they can bring to the field," he said. Some contributions the U.S. has requested already are special operations forces, fighter jet and reconnaissance aircraft, weapons and munitions, training and other combat support. Carter's broader message signaled the completion of a military plan to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces retake Mosul in northern Iraq and to assist the Syrian moderate forces oust Islamic State militants from their headquarters in Raqqa. He described operations that would send Iraqi forces from the south and Peshmerga forces from the north to encircle and cut off Mosul. But he warned that taking it back will not be quick or easy, and he offered no timelines. Carter announced in December that the U.S. would deploy about 200 special operations forces to Iraq to better capitalize on intelligence and put more pressure on the enemy. "The specialized expeditionary targeting force I announced in December is now in place and is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets," Carter said, using an acronym for Islamic State. His speech offered an upbeat assessment of the anti-IS campaign, saying that coalition-backed forces, supported by the airstrikes, are taking back territory and going after the groups finances. This week airstrikes hit an Islamic State cash center in Mosul. Military leaders have said that the militants have lost 40 percent of the territory they once held in Iraq, and 20 percent of their territory in Syria. The effort has been aided by strong support from Kurdish troops in northern Iraq, as the U.S. worked to build up Iraqi Army forces. The Iraqi forces struggled for months to retake Ramadi, but backed by airstrikes and other logistical support they were finally able to drive IS from the city last month. His remarks came a day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, expanding on the message that the U.S. must build and work with local forces in Iraq and Syria to have lasting success. He said the U.S. must not "Americanize" the conflicts because that would allow militants to accuse the West of occupying the country. The ongoing U.S. effort, however, has come under fire from members of Congress and critics who say it's a failed strategy that isn't aggressive enough and should involve a more robust military presence to both defeat IS, and protect fleeing refugees, particularly along the Turkey and Syria border. About 500 troops from the 101st Airborne headquarters group will deploy at the end of February. About 1,300 members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team will deploy to Iraq in late spring. The brigade will be training Iraqi and Peshmerga forces. Carter's speech comes in the wake of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing at a shopping mall this week in Baghdad that killed 18 people. Ruling: Chinese drywall company held back information NEW ORLEANS (AP) A federal judge has fined a Chinese drywall company $40,000 plus legal costs for holding back critical information about the whereabouts of a former official and his computers. He rejected the contention that Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. might have destroyed or lost evidence about the case, however. Thousands in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas and Virginia, say fumes from the drywall corroded metal and made them ill. Plaintiffs' attorneys said Taishan had plotted since 2009 to hold back adverse evidence. District Judge Eldon Fallon found Taishan responsible for an eight-month delay in holding back testimony and documents from Peng Wenlong, who was Taishan's foreign trade manager when it sold the drywall. Review: Maggie Smith in her wheel house in 'Lady in the Van' There are cozy, innocuous pleasures to Nicholas Hytner's adaption of Alan Bennett's "The Lady in the Van," but chief among them is watching two grand old talents Maggie Smith and Bennett, himself operating firmly in their self-created wheel houses. Smith plays the ornery vagrant Mary Shepherd who one day turns up in her dilapidated van on the playwright's North London block, where she stubbornly remains for 15 years. After taking squalid turns parked in front of different neighbors, she's allowed by Bennett to settle in the driveway to his townhouse. She's a mysterious and cantankerous figure. Sharing her name with few, she explains that she's "in an incognito position, possibly." When not impinging on Bennett for a visit to the lavatory, she chases singing school children, paints her rundown van yellow and skulks around, a cranky ball of rags and plastic bags. There are hints of a past as a nun, as well as an old sin that haunts her. This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Maggie Smith in a scene from "The Lady in the Van." (Nicola Dove/Sony Pictures Classics via AP) In short, Shepherd's irascible peculiarities are tailor made for Smith, who's given all manner of things at which to disgustfully wiggle her nose the trademark power of Smith's that's no less potent as a foul homeless woman than as the dignified dowager of "Downton Abbey." She can condescend, magnificently, from any height. Smith played the role before in the 1999 play "The Lady in the Van," which was also directed by Hytner, a regular hand of Bennett movie adaptations ("The History Boys," ''The Madness of King George"). But the play wasn't the start of "The Lady in the Van." It comes from Bennett's own life. The story is mostly true: Shepherd really did turn up on Bennett's Camden block, like a pre-packaged story for the playwright. He wrote about her first as diary entries for the London Review of Books, then as a short memoir. Bennett turning the experience into art is a central part of "The Lady in the Van," too. He has split himself into two (both played by Alex Jennings): "The writer is double," he narrates. "There is the self who does the writing. And there is the self who does the living." The film was even shot on location, on Bennett's actual driveway. It's all a very twee setup and not exactly the sort of thing that sets the world ablaze. But at least until the fanciful finale, there are few false notes in the sturdy, pleasantly entertaining "The Lady in the Van." It unfolds as an investigation into Shepherd's unexpected past and a reflection on Bennett's own motivations as a writer. "The Lady in the Van," sweet and sure-handed, is less timid than it appears, though, and Hytner's film is ironically aware of its own modest position. "So English," one visitor says of Bennett's latest play. "Just what people want." "The Lady in the Van," a Sony Pictures Classics release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "a brief unsettling image." Running time: 104 minutes. Three stars out of four. ___ MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. ___ US: 'Peculiar' that UN's never had female secretary-general SOUTH ORANGE, New Jersey (AP) It is "peculiar" that the United Nations has never had a female secretary-general in its 70 years of existence, the U.S. ambassador to the world body told an audience Wednesday. Ambassador Samantha Power's appearance at a town hall in New Jersey came a day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to both houses of Congress. Power also defended the administration's foreign policy and again stressed the importance of opening U.S. borders to refugees fleeing oppression and war. Those who seek to close the borders to refugees "misunderstand who we are and what makes us strong," she said. United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power speaks at Seton Hall University, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in South Orange, N.J. Power said the president's foreign policy has successfully engaged foes and galvanized allies to face challenges such as global warming, Ebola and the rise of the Islamic State group. Power's appearance comes a day after the State of the Union address, in which Obama spoke in detail about America's foreign policy challenges. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Power, currently the only female ambassador on the 15-member U.N. Security Council, was asked about the growing momentum for a woman to replace U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when his term is up at the end of the year. The five permanent members of the council, including the United States, essentially choose the secretary-general behind closed doors, though the U.N. has taken the first steps toward more transparency this time after pressure from member states. Unlike fellow permanent member Britain, the United States has not said the next secretary-general should be a woman. "The U.N. has existed for 70 years, and it is peculiar that a woman secretary-general hasn't taken the helm before now," Power said Wednesday. "We certainly agree there should be lots of capable woman leaders around the world who should be part of this process. We're very excited about the year that lies ahead in order to try and choose the best possible secretary-general at such an important time for that role." Syrian refugee Morad Alteibawi, left, talks to his 4-year-old daughter, Roma, as his wife Ola Alteibawi listens to United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power speaks at Seton Hall University, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in South Orange, N.J. Power said the president's foreign policy has successfully engaged foes and galvanized allies to face challenges such as global warming, Ebola and the rise of the Islamic State group. Power's appearance comes a day after the State of the Union address, in which Obama spoke in detail about America's foreign policy challenges. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Syrian refugee Hussam Alroustom, center, listens as United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power speaks at Seton Hall University, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in South Orange, N.J. Power said the president's foreign policy has successfully engaged foes and galvanized allies to face challenges such as global warming, Ebola and the rise of the Islamic State group. Power's appearance comes a day after the State of the Union address, in which Obama spoke in detail about America's foreign policy challenges. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power speaks at Seton Hall University, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in South Orange, N.J. Power said the president's foreign policy has successfully engaged foes and galvanized allies to face challenges such as global warming, Ebola and the rise of the Islamic State group. Power's appearance comes a day after the State of the Union address, in which Obama spoke in detail about America's foreign policy challenges. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) AP Conversation: Bush sees conservatism at stake in '16 CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) Jeb Bush says he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before his White House campaign and believes the country in 2016 is "dramatically different" than in past elections. Yet he insists he's still a viable candidate, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. "I just think it's important to fight this fight," a reflective Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't know what the consequences politically for me are. But I do think it's important that the conservative party nominate a conservative, and someone that understands the role of America in the world." In particular, Bush reaffirmed his commitment to conservative social issues in an AP Conversation, the latest in a series of extended interviews with the candidates to become the nation's 45th president. Signs for Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are posted in newly fallen snow, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, Keene, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) The former Florida governor spoke to the AP in Iowa, where he argued the Supreme Court should overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling affirming abortion rights and, as he has for weeks, pummeled Trump incessantly. But as the state's leadoff Feb. 1 caucuses draw closer, the Republican Party's summertime front-runner shows few signs of momentum. Bush is favored by just 4 percent of likely caucus-goers in the respected Iowa Poll, published Wednesday by The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg News, down two points in the past month and mired in sixth place. To be sure, Bush isn't giving up. Yet rather than talking about winning in the early voting states, Bush says he's working to "beat expectations" in the February contests before moving "into March as a candidate that's viable." "After that, the fur starts flying pretty quick," he said. "We'll be viable." The son of one president and brother of another, Bush told AP this week he was never comfortable with his place as the early favorite for the GOP nomination. He effectively blocked 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney from entering the race, winning over many of Romney's donors en route to raising more than $100 million last year to support his bid. But that political pedigree and fundraising prowess scared no campaign rivals, least of all Trump, who got into the race the day after Bush in June. Bush told AP he failed to predict Trump's popularity, reflected in the real estate mogul's sustained lead among GOP voters in preference polls and the large, raucous crowds he draws to his rallies. "This is dramatically different, because the country is dramatically different, and people are reflecting their anger and angst in a way that is very different than any time that I can recall," Bush said. "And I've been involved in politics for a long while." Bush continued, "So, in recognition of that, what I want to do is make sure that the conservative cause is advanced. Not just in talk shows and think-tanks and wherever conservatism is talked about in all sorts of different ways, but in governing." Bush's vow to champion conservative principles to counter Trump's rise came hours before President Barack Obama condemned "voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background," in his final State of the Union address. That thinly veiled reference to Trump, who has made building a wall on the U.S. southern border and barring Muslims from entering the United States the cornerstones of his campaign, was echoed moments later by South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley. In delivering the official Republican response to Obama's speech, she called on voters to tune out "the siren call of the angriest voices." It's a message Bush has carried forward for weeks, predicting a moment when Republican primary voters would start to see Trump as more showman than statesman and begin to favor an experienced leader in uncertain economic times and perilous ones overseas. That hasn't happened. When asked to describe Bush, the majority of three dozen people taking part in a recent GOP focus group led by Republican pollster Frank Luntz used words such as "weak," ''irrelevant," and "loser." Only a few said "experienced." At one point, Luntz even apologized to a Bush staffer watching the panel from behind one-way glass. "He's the wrong guy at the wrong time," Luntz said. "If this had been four years ago, he'd be president." As Bush's campaign and well-funded super PAC search for a spark, he has more recently seized on Trump's past contributions to Democrats, moderate social positions and public praise of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to show he's a charlatan whom others are too meek to take on. "The pursuit of that, of protecting the conservative cause, it's being hijacked by Donald Trump, who's not a conservative," Bush said. "And others are cautious about expressing this, because God forbid you get into a Twitter war with a guy who has a lot of free time on his hands, I guess." Trump's rise and Bush's underwhelming showings in the Republican debates raised concern among some Bush donors in the fall. Bush has since poured his energy into policy proposals, especially on confronting the Islamic State group, and redoubling his effort in New Hampshire. Bush says his case to voters is backed by eight years as a "reform-minded" governor in Florida. He served in Tallahassee from 1999 to 2007, and in those years consistently staked out positions aimed at curbing abortion something he would do again if elected president, he said. "I'd like to see Roe v. Wade overturned," Bush said. Should the Supreme Court overturn the 1973 decision, Bush said states would be empowered to decide the fate of abortion, "which is the proper place for its regulation." Bush promised to work with Congress to strip federal money from Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, promote adoption programs and expand "crisis pregnancy centers," which Florida began financing when he was governor. "There's a lot that can be done to protect life across the board," Bush said. Bush said he would not base judicial appointments on the abortion-rights positions of his nominees but rather scour their records to find conservatives who are consistent in their overall judicial philosophy. Bush isn't often asked about his position on abortion while campaigning in New Hampshire. Voters in the state, which holds the nation's first primary election Feb. 9, tend to be more concerned about the economy, federal spending and military and foreign policy issues than about social issues. Speaking to 300 voters in New Hampshire last week, Bush said a country "where everybody is in pursuit of their own dreams" is an aspiration worth fighting for, and "I intend to fight until the bitter end." In his interview with AP, Bush dismissed the suggestion that the comment was an acknowledgment that things looked bleak for his campaign. "I never thought it would be easy," he said. ___ Follow Thomas Beaumont and Steve Peoples on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/tombeaumont and http://twitter.com/sppeoples In this photo taken Jan. 12, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Coralville, Iowa. Bush said he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before launching his White House campaign, calling the country in 2016 one that is dramatically different than in past elections. Yet the former Florida governor insists hes still a viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) In this photo taken Jan. 12, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Coralville, Iowa. Bush said he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before launching his White House campaign, calling the country in 2016 one that is dramatically different than in past elections. Yet the former Florida governor insists hes still a viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) In this photo taken Jan. 12, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Coralville, Iowa. Bush said he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before launching his White House campaign, calling the country in 2016 one that is dramatically different than in past elections. Yet the former Florida governor insists hes still a viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) In this photo taken Jan. 12, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Coralville, Iowa. Bush said he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before launching his White House campaign, calling the country in 2016 one that is dramatically different than in past elections. Yet the former Florida governor insists hes still a viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) In this photo taken Jan. 12, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Coralville, Iowa. Bush said he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before launching his White House campaign, calling the country in 2016 one that is dramatically different than in past elections. Yet the former Florida governor insists hes still a viable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) CDC: Strong signs Brazil birth defects are tied to mosquito RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Researchers have found the strongest evidence so far of a possible link between a mosquito-borne virus and a surge of birth defects in Brazil, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. The health agency said evidence of the dengue-like Zika virus was found in the placentas from two women who miscarried and the brains of two newborns who died. Those who were born had small heads, a rare condition known as microcephaly. "The evidence is becoming very, very strong of the link between the two," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of mosquito-borne diseases at the CDC. FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2015, file photo, 10-year-old Elison nurses his 2-month-old brother Jose Wesley, who was born with microcephaly, at their house in Poco Fundo, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, that it has found the strongest evidence so far of a possible link between a mosquito-borne virus and a surge of birth defects in Brazil. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File) Finding the virus present in brain tissue is "very significant," he said. Petersen warned that the link is not yet definite and said that a team of CDC investigators is traveling to Brazil in a few weeks to conduct more studies and learn what risks face pregnant women. "It's possible that there may be some other co-factors involved." Zika is spread by the same Aedes mosquito that can carry dengue and chikungunya. There are no known cases of people contracting the virus in the U.S. mainland, though it has been seen in retrning travelers. Puerto Rico reported its first case of Zika two weeks ago, and 13 countries in Latin America have also seen infections. The virus is related to dengue but until recently was thought to have only mild symptoms. It was first detected in humans in Uganda decades ago, but there had never been reports of links between the virus and brain malformations until recent months. However, Brazil is experiencing the largest known outbreak of Zika, so it's possible that a rare birth defect simply didn't appear in previous smaller outbreaks, Petersen said. "This is quite unique for this type of virus," Petersen said. Mosquito-borne viruses generally don't lead to neurological problems. "I don't think anybody has any idea how Zika is crossing the placenta into these fetuses, or why Zika is doing it and other closely related viruses like dengue don't," said Scott Weaver, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Ernesto Marques, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who is also studying Zika and the birth defects outbreak in Brazil, said he is finding so far that a very small percentage of pregnant women who reported Zika symptoms gave birth to babies with microcephaly. He said a problem facing epidemiologists is the lack of labs that are able to test for Zika. Marques said estimates that the country had between 440,000 and 1.3 million cases of the virus in 2015 are not reliable. "It needs to be better diagnosed. We don't know many, and we need a better response," he said. Brazilian health authorities have said there's no question Zika is behind the birth defects. The Health Ministry said late Tuesday that 3,530 babies have been born with microcephaly in the country since October. The number was less than 150 in 2014. Now the government finds itself with a growing number of children with mental retardation concentrated in one of the poorest regions of the country in the northeast. On Wednesday, Alberto Beltrame, national secretary of health care, said the government would invest $163 million to provide care and physical and speech therapy to those babies through the first three years. Beltrame said the government wants to train more than 7,500 physical therapists, doctors and psychologists in techniques to help develop motor and language skills in infants and toddlers with microcephaly. ___ Chipotle to start push to win back customers in February NEW YORK (AP) Chipotle says it will launch a marketing push in February to begin its road to recovery after a series of food scares, and that it's confident it can win back customers over time. The remarks come after Chipotle's sales plunged 30 percent in December. Its troubles began after an E. coli outbreak came to light at the end of October, with additional cases being reported over the next several weeks. Then, in what Chipotle says was an unrelated case, a norovirus sickened dozens at a Chipotle in Boston. At an investment conference in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, Chipotle executives said the company is taking measures to reduce the risk of another food scare to "near zero." They said they would start "inviting customers back" to restaurants in February with stepped-up marketing and direct mail offers. They said food safety will not be explicitly referenced in the marketing, but that there might be a "clever headline." FILE - This Dec. 27, 2015 file photo, shows a Chipotle restaurant at Union Station in Washington. Chipotle says it will start a marketing push in February to begin its road to recovery after a series of food scares, and that it's confident it can win back customers over time. The remarks from executives come after Chipotle's sales plunged 30 percent in December. Its troubles began after an E. coli outbreak came to light at the end of October. Several weeks later, norovirus sickened dozens at a Chipotle in Boston. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) The company did not provide other details. Chipotle Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung noted the company's recovery would be "messy," with investments in food safety and marketing eating into profit margins. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., which is based in Denver and has more than 1,900 locations, said it has already made many changes to tighten its food safety. The steps include moving the chopping of tomatoes and lettuce to a centralized location, and blanching onions to kill germs before they're chopped. During the half-hour presentation at the ICR conference, Chipotle founder and co-CEO Steve Ells noted customers will still see food preparation in restaurants, including the grilling of steaks and steaming of rice. That sense of freshly prepared ingredients has been one of Chipotle's attractions as it has sought to distinguish itself from traditional fast-food chains. Ells noted the company's dedication to food quality in the past, and added that he was confident the company would win back customers and emerge as a stronger company. Executives said they expect the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to declare the E. coli outbreak to be over at some point. The agency has not identified an ingredient that was responsible for the E. coli outbreak, and Chipotle has said it may never know what was to blame. More employers try to help workers pay student loans NEW YORK (AP) Employers are discovering that making it easier for workers to pay off their student loans helps to attract and keep a happy workforce. More and more companies are helping workers refinance their debts at better rates, giving employees extra cash for loan payments, or even paying their workers' lenders directly. It's a major benefit for millennials people 35 and under who are struggling to pay thousands of dollars in student debts as they enter the workforce. "It's actually helped me quite a lot," says Christina Lin, a graphic designer who sliced her $3,800 in student loan debt in half within six months with help from her employer, ChowNow. This is not as simple as it sounds: Many college graduates end up owing multiple lenders, and the tax implications can be complicated. Employers also want to make sure the money goes to the right place. This has created a niche for a handful of startups helping employers deliver the benefit. Just 3 percent of employers helped workers repay student loans last year, according to a survey of more than 460 human resource managers conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management. But more are starting to offer it, including some big-name companies. Beginning in July, New York-based accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers plans to give certain employees with student loan debt as much as $1,200 a year for up to six years. Kronos Inc., a software company in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, will pay employees up to $500 a year toward student loan debts for as long as they need it. And some U.S. employees of Paris-based Natixis Global Asset Management can get $5,000 to go toward their federal loans, plus more if they stay with the company for more than five years. Microsoft Corp. gives its workers the option to refinance student loans at discounted interest rates thanks to the company's relationship with online lender SoFi. It doesn't cost Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft anything, but SoFi says some of its 200 clients pay the lender to deliver even lower rates for their workers. The class of 2014 graduated with an average of $28,950 in student loan debt, up 2 percent from the year before, according to the Project on Student Loan Debt. Employers say workers tell them their debts make it impossible to save for retirement or buy a home. "Millennials are being crushed by student debt," says Michael Fenlon, the global talent leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which enlisted a startup, Gradifi, to handle the new benefit. Gradifi and Tuition.io focus on processing the payments by employers; each say they already are working with about 100 companies each to provide it. Others, including SoFi, Credible and CommonBond, enable companies to help refinance their workers' student debts with more manageable rates and payment plans. EdAssist, which has managed tuition payment benefits for employers for about nine years, began offering student loan repayments as well last year. "Millennials are asking for it," says Bruce Elliott, a manager of compensation and benefits at the Society for Human Resource Management. That matters, because millennials surpassed Generation X to become the largest cohort in the workforce last year, according to the Pew Research Center, and their options are improving along with the job market. The vast majority say their ability to pay student loans would affect whether they take a job, according to a survey by the American Student Assistance, a nonprofit that helps borrowers manage their student debt. Lin pays about $150 on her debts each month, and ChowNow chips in another percentage, about $40. The Los Angeles company, which powers online and app ordering for restaurants, now pays up to $500 per year per employee, and plans to increase that to $1,000 this year. "It's harder to hire great talent, and this is another great tool to do that," says Christopher Webb, the CEO of ChowNow, which uses Tuition.io to handle the benefit. Workers need to examine the benefits carefully. If refinancing, they should make sure the terms are better than what they already pay. Those with federal loans may lose protections and perks by switching to other lenders. And loan payments like cash are currently taxable as income. Legislation in Congress could change that. The Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act, for example, proposes making up to $5,250 a year in employer payments for student loan debts tax-free for the worker, and eligible for tax breaks for the employer. The bill introduced in October is sponsored by Republican Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois, and has been gathering co-sponsors. _____ 3 boaters clinging to reef rescued near Puerto Rico SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued three people found clinging to a reef near Puerto Rico after their boat took on water amid waves of up to 12 feet (4 meters). Authorities said Wednesday that the men abandoned their 18-foot (5-meter) vessel after it hit a rock near the popular island of Palomino off Puerto Rico's northeast coast. The Coast Guard said Puerto Rico police's marine unit could not immediately rescue the men because of the rough seas. The Coast Guard said it deployed a helicopter to hoist up the men. Tentative Feb. 22 deposition date for Cosby's wife WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) Now that he's facing criminal charges, Bill Cosby is not expected to be deposed next month in a lawsuit accusing him of defaming seven women who say he sexually assaulted them, lawyers in the case said Wednesday. But his wife Camille Cosby might end up taking his place. Lawyers in the Massachusetts lawsuit discussed holding off on Bill Cosby's deposition following the comedian's Dec. 30 arrest in Pennsylvania for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a woman inside his home near Philadelphia in 2004. The criminal charges are the first to be brought against Cosby. FILE - In this Dec. 30, 2015, file photo, actor and comedian Bill Cosby arrives for a court appearance in Elkins Park, Pa. Cosby's lawyers want to keep out of the public eye materials gathered as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by several women who claim he sexually assaulted them decades ago. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy will hear arguments Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in federal court in Worcester, Mass., on a confidentiality agreement that Cosby's lawyers are proposing. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File) Joseph Cammarata, an attorney for the seven women, said he hopes to depose Cosby's wife on Feb. 22, the day Bill Cosby had been scheduled to be deposed in the separate civil suit playing out near Cosby's home in western Massachusetts. But that date, Cammarata said, is contingent on a number of factors, including an appeal Cosby's lawyers are expected to file challenging U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy's decision to reject their bid to dismiss the subpoena. The judge on Wednesday rejected a proposal by Cosby's lawyers that would have kept a significant amount of material in the case out of the public eye. Instead, Hennessy proposed more limited protections focused on certain sensitive information that might be disclosed in depositions, such as Social Security numbers, bank accounts and addresses. The proposed order, to be put in writing later this month, would not affect other materials and documents gathered in the pretrial discovery phase. "It was a compromise, and I think it was fair," Cammarata said after the hearing. "This is an appropriate order protecting what may be legitimate concerns for confidentiality on a question-by-question basis. It's not a unilateral blanket protection. It's very limited in scope." Cosby's lawyers, who declined to comment after the hearing, initially sought to have all depositions and documents produced during the pretrial discovery phase kept confidential for up to 14 days. Either side would then be allowed to request the judge to seal the records for longer. In court filings, they argued for the broader confidentiality, saying the plaintiffs were seeking "irrelevant and extraordinarily invasive and intimate details" of Cosby's life and "have made clear they intend to publicize every aspect of discovery in the case." Among the information they sought was the identities of all Cosby's sexual partners since 1968 who were not his wife, the dates of the sexual encounters and all Cosby's medical records over the past 35 years, including those specifically dealing with "erectile and/or other sexual dysfunction, sexual paraphilia and/or sexual fetish," according to Cosby's lawyers. Cammarata argued Cosby's proposal would damage transparency in a case of great public interest. He also said there are valid reasons why he sought Cosby's medical and sexual histories, including Cosby's past statements that he obtained quaaludes for various joint and body pains. The seven women are among about 50 across the country who have come forward with allegations that Cosby plied them with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting them. He denies the accusations. In other developments, Cosby's lawyer, Marshall Searcy, said Wednesday he might ask for a postponement of the defamation case in light of the Pennsylvania criminal charges. "It's a new situation. It's a fluid situation," he said. "We're trying to decide on the best approach." In response, Cammarata asked the judge to set a deadline for when Cosby's lawyers should move for a postponement, a request the judge took under advisement. The case returns to Worcester court March 23. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/philip-marcelo ___ Cubs owners buy 3 rooftop businesses across from Wrigley CHICAGO (AP) The owners of the Chicago Cubs have purchased three more rooftop businesses across from Wrigley Field. A spokesman for the Ricketts family said Wednesday that a company owned by the family has purchased two Beyond the Ivy rooftop businesses and Sky Lounge Wrigley Rooftop. All three are along West Waveland Avenue across the street from Wrigley's left-field bleachers. The family now owns nine of the 16 rooftop businesses. Spokesman Dennis Culloton says the family would consider buying others. The purchase prices for the businesses were not immediately available through a Cook County records website. Kansas budget-balancing plan shuffles money, makes savings TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas can patch the $190 million hole in its next state budget by juggling state funds, capturing unexpected savings and selling off the assets of an economic development agency, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback told lawmakers Wednesday. Brownback's proposed changes in the $16 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 avoid cutting aid to public schools. But his recommendations did not include pay raises for corrections officers at state prisons or a plan to help the Kansas Highway Patrol fill vacant trooper positions ideas that have bipartisan support. The state has struggled to balance its budget since Brownback successfully pushed the GOP-dominated Legislature to slash personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 in an effort to stimulate the economy. His critics contend his tax-cutting experiment has failed while Brownback and his allies say national economic factors including slumps in agriculture, aviation and energy production are keeping Kansas from growing as much as hoped. The old state Supreme Court room in the state Capital is full Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, as State Budget director Shawn Sullivan presents the governors budget to a joint meeting of representatives and senators. (Thad Allton/Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) "With these challenges, we must continue to hold the line on state government expenditures while protecting core state services," Brownback told lawmakers in a letter accompanying his proposals. The state faced a larger budget hole last year and Republican lawmakers increased sales and cigarette taxes so they could preserve most of the income tax cuts championed by Brownback. He ruled out additional tax increases this year. Brownback's administration projects that his proposals would leave the state with cash reserves of $88 million at the end of June 2017. When budget director Shawn Sullivan presented the recommendations to a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means committees, some members questioned whether the state can meet its revenue projections. State officials and university economists dramatically lowered those projections in November and state tax collections have still fallen short of expectations. Republican Sen. Jim Denning, of Overland Park, said he doubts the proposals will allow the state to weather additional shortfalls in revenue projections. "We can't sustain this," added Sen. Laura Kelly, of Topeka, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Ways and Means Committee. "We keep acting as if we don't have a revenue problem, which we do." GOP conservatives, including House Speaker Ray Merrick, of Stilwell, have argued that the state needs to do more to trim its spending. Legislators last year hired a Kansas City, Missouri-based consulting firm, Alvarez and Marsal, and it has dozens of proposals it said would save the state more than $2 billion over six years. The firm released almost all of its proposals Tuesday, too late for Brownback to include them in his recommendations. "That's where you're going to see the more significant changes," said Republican Rep. J.R. Claeys, of Salina. "I think you're going to find taxpayers won't be paying for what is essentially an inefficient government." Brownback's proposals capture nearly $26 million in savings for the state in providing health insurance for children because of increased federal funding and $24 million from lower-than-anticipated costs from annual contributions to teacher pensions. Brownback is proposing to raise $25 million by selling off the assets of the Kansas Biosciences Authority, set up more than a decade ago to nurture emerging biosciences companies. He also seeks to divert $25 million in transportation funds to general government programs, on top of $50 million diverted last year. Sullivan defended Brownback's decision not to include proposals on corrections officers' pay or Highway Patrol troopers. He said the patrol and the Department of Corrections didn't ask Brownback to add such measures to his recommendations but will work with legislators. The patrol wants to increase the state's vehicle title fee to $17.50 from $10 to raise the funds for filling 75 trooper positions. Thirty-six of the state's 105 counties have no trooper assigned to them. Meanwhile, annual turnover among uniformed officers has risen to nearly 30 percent, creating what legislators in both parties see as a public safety crisis. Officers' pay starts at $13.61 an hour, and before retiring last month, former Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts said it is not competitive. "We should give our employees a fair wage, and corrections is an excellent place to start," said Republican Rep. Mark Kahrs, of Wichita. ___ Online: Brownback's budget proposals: http://1.usa.gov/1I0J7vA ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna . State Budget director Shawn Sullivan presented the governors budget to a joint meeting of representatives and senators Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in the old Supreme Court room at the Capitol in Topeka, Ks. (Thad Allton/Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) Representatives, senators and staff listen Wednsday morning, Jan. 13, 2016, as State Budget director Shawn Sullivan presents the governors budget. (Thad Allton/Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) Gov. Haley, Speaker Ryan offer new GOP answer to Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Two fresh faces in the Republican Party House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are offering messages of diversity and openness to immigrants that could answer the GOP establishment's increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Delivering the GOP rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants, called for welcoming legal immigrants to the country as long as they're properly vetted, and for resisting the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." She acknowledged Wednesday that her comments were partly aimed at Trump, telling NBC's "Today Show": "Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk." FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2016 file photo, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks to the crowd at the Kemp Forum, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, in Columbia, S.C. Two fresh faces in the Republican Party, Haley House Speaker Paul Ryan are offering messages of openness and diversity that could answer the GOP establishments increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford, File) Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican beginning his third month as speaker of the House, has been pledging to offer a bold agenda that will position the GOP as a positive alternative to Obama and the Democrats. Last weekend he helped convene an anti-poverty summit with some of the GOP presidential candidates Trump was absent where he pressed for "a safety net that is designed to help get people out of poverty." Such rhetoric from two young and charismatic officeholders cheers establishment Republicans who fear that the rise of Trump and of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with their frequent strong words on immigrants in the country illegally could ruin the GOP for years, eliminating any chance of winning the White House if either is the nominee and turning off swing voters, minorities and women. "Speaker Ryan and Gov. Haley provide an important contrast, particularly with independent voters, to show what the Republican Party is really about, and it's not about Donald Trump," said Brian Walsh, a Republican strategist. "The key, though, is continuing to shine a light on leaders like the two of them, and that will depend in part on who we nominate." Whether Haley or Ryan can do anything to sideline Trump or Cruz remains to be seen. That's not their explicit goal, and Haley, in particular, drew a backlash from some conservatives for her State of the Union rebuttal. "Trump should deport Nikki Haley," conservative talk host Ann Coulter said over Twitter. Trump himself described Haley as a "very nice woman" and said he had no problem with being depicted as angry. "I am. I'm very angry because I hate what's happening to our country," Trump told a crowd of more than 10,000 people at a rally in Pensacola, Florida, Wednesday evening. "I'm really angry because we're being led by very stupid people that don't know what they're doing." And at the Capitol, Haley's comments on immigration were being interpreted by House conservatives including Rep. Steve King of Iowa, a Cruz supporter, as a call for unlimited legal immigration into the country, something they reject. "I keep trying to remember when a principled conservative has been given the opportunity to provide that rebuttal," King told reporters, adding that Haley's comments would indicate she's not one. "They are looking for someone who fits the profile that they want to be the face of the Republican Party and that's the rationale," King added later in an interview, speaking of party leaders. Asked if he would want Haley as the face of the party King said laughingly: "I think she's beautiful so I'd be happy if she's the face of the party." Yet for a GOP establishment that has struggled with how to respond to Trump and Cruz, Haley and Ryan stand as a welcome rejoinder. Their messages are not too different from what has been heard from some of the mainstream presidential candidates, notably former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. But Bush and other establishment Republicans have struggled to break through, while Ryan and Haley, as prominent elected officials in their own right, have their own platforms. "What Paul Ryan is trying to do is put forward a substantive, thoughtful policy agenda for the country," said moderate Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. "Every presidential candidate should be doing the same thing." At the same time party leaders are mindful that Trump and Cruz are channeling very real voter anger and a backlash against Washington, which is at least partly a creation of GOP leaders' failure to make good on repeated promises to effectively oppose Obama. Conservatives warn that activists will not respond well if GOP party leaders start aligning themselves with Obama against Trump, as some interpreted Haley's remarks. "Trump's response the next day will just be, 'Well, you heard President Obama and the Republican leadership response echo each other, they're on the same team.' That's his thesis," said conservative Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia. "And his thesis seems to be correct." Haley's standing with conservatives was not likely to benefit from the White House decision on Wednesday to praise her, with press secretary Josh Earnest saying she deserved credit. However, Ohio Republican Chairman Matt Borges said Trump's approach could become a liability, though he said there's time to correct course. "No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio, and you cannot win Ohio with a divisive message," Borges said as the Republican National Committee convened its winter meetings in Charleston, South Carolina. He said he delivered that message to the candidate personally. Ultimately, Borges said, Trump and the party will have the opportunity to shift. "Part of this is just the primary process playing out," he said, adding, "I think he understands that we have to have a unifying, inclusive message." ___ Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed from Charleston, South Carolina. FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2016 file photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Two fresh faces in the Republican Party, Ryan and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, are offering messages of openness and diversity that could answer the GOP establishments increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Sanders congressional record under scrutiny by Clinton KEENE, N.H. (AP) Bernie Sanders casts himself as the voice of anti-establishment politics, fueling his insurgent rise in the Democratic primaries as a principled fighter unwilling to compromise for political gain. But he's also a 25-year veteran of Congress. Now, with his campaign locked in a tight race against Hillary Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, he's facing attacks about inconsistencies in his voting record raising questions that could undermine not only his presidential aspirations, but the brand he's cultivated over the course of his political career. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Charles and Romona Myers Center at University of Dubuque on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Dubuque, Iowa. (Nicki Kohl/Telegraph Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Sanders has spent months framing Clinton as a typical politician, arguing that she has switched her views on issues like trade, gay marriage and the war in Iraq for political gain. "I have been fairly consistent my entire political life," Sanders said in an interview on MSNBC last week. "What we have seen over the years, as you have indicated, in many ways, Secretary Clinton has been flip-flopping." But he too has been forced to fend off questions about his positions, particularly legislation proposing a single payer health care plan and 2005 support for a bill that protected gun manufacturers from liability in mass shootings a vote Clinton has made central to her attacks. "It's not a mistake," Sanders said at a Democratic forum in Iowa on Monday. "Like many pieces of legislation, it is complicated." Clinton on Wednesday called Sanders a "pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby" in an interview with NBC and her campaign pressed Sanders to release financial details of how he would pay for plans to create a single-payer health care system through Medicare, asserting it would undermine President Barack Obama's health care law. Former Obama aide David Axelrod said the past votes could cause complications, noting the gun votes represented a rare instance in which Sanders is out of step with the party's progressive base. "Suddenly, instead of the political leader of an anti-establishment movement, you're a 25-year veteran of Congress trying to split hairs," Axelrod said. "That's not the place you want to be." The Sanders campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While Sanders' laser-like focus on economic inequality has been a constant theme of his career, his concern about wages has, at times, placed him on the opposite side of other Democratic priorities. In 2007, he cast six ballots to stop comprehensive immigration reform legislation sponsored by Arizona Sen. John McCain and the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy from advancing to a vote, citing concerns that foreign guest worker programs would drive down wages and benefits for U.S. employees. "It makes no sense to me to have an immigration bill, which over a period of years, would bring millions of 'guest workers' into this country who are prepared to work for lower wages," said Sanders in a June 2007 statement. Sanders aides said he voted against the legislation because it "lacked badly needed protections for immigrant workers," noting that it was also opposed by Hispanic advocacy groups. Though Sanders opposed the October 2002 resolution authorizing the war in Iraq a vote he frequently cites to contrast his initial position on the war against Clinton he backed another resolution "expressing the unequivocal support and appreciation" for the president and military forces participating in the Iraq invasion only five months later. That same March 2003 resolution also praised President George W. Bush for his "firm leadership and decisive action in the conduct of military operations in Iraq." Sanders later defended his vote by saying he thought it was "appropriate" to honor Vermont veterans. "This state has lost a number of young people who served, so I thought it was appropriate to say, yeah, we thank you, even though I opposed the war," he said in an October 2012 Senate debate. And he supported the 1994 crime bill, now the subject of derision from activists and lawmakers who say the law ushered in an era of mass incarceration, even after he delivered a floor speech citing low wages, high childhood poverty and a lack of investment in education as the reason for some crime. Sanders aides said he backed the bill despite his reservations because it included an assault weapons ban and other provisions he supported. "There were too many important provisions within the bill for Sen. Sanders to cast a vote against the entire package," his campaign said in a statement. Since being elected into Congress in 1990, Sanders has introduced his plan for single-payer health care 11 times, including a 2.2 percent increase on income taxes and as much as an 8.7 percent increase in payroll taxes in nine of those proposals. That tax has become a touchpoint in his presidential race, with Clinton accusing him of planning to raise taxes on middle-class Americans. "He's introduced legislation nine times that has laid out a very specific plan to take everybody's health care and roll it into a great big bundle and hand it to the states," she said in the interview on NBC Wednesday. Sanders aides say the campaign version of his plan called Medicare for all can be paid for without that tax, though his campaign cannot say when that new proposal will be released. They directed reporters to a video of Clinton from the 2008 primaries against Obama in which she said it "undermined core Democratic values" to attack each other's health care plans. "Clinton's attacks on a Democratic Party rival over universal health care marks a very public flip flop by her and her campaign," the senator's campaign said. __ Thomas reported from Washington. __ Federal agent says Iraqi refugee wanted to bomb Texas malls HOUSTON (AP) An Iraqi refugee who is facing charges he tried to help the Islamic State group wanted to set off bombs at two Houston malls and was learning to make electronic transmitters that could be used to detonate explosive devices, a federal agent testified Wednesday. Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, who came to Houston from Iraq in 2009, was indicted last week on three charges, including attempting to provide support to a designated terrorist organization. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges during a court appearance on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes denied granting Al Hardan a bond, ruling that there would be a serious risk that the Iraqi refugee would flee if released from federal custody. File - In this Jan. 8, 2016 file photo, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, left, is escorted by U.S. Marshals from the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse, in Houston. Al Hardan, who came to Houston from Iraq in 2009 is set to be arraigned Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2015, and have a bond hearing after his arrest on charges he tried to help the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Bob Levey, File) Hughes made his decision after listening to testimony from Homeland Security Special Agent Herman Wittliff, who said that in addition to Al Hardan wanting to set off bombs at the two Houston malls, including the popular Galleria mall, the Iraqi man was also learning how to make electronic transmitters that could be used to detonate improvised explosive devices. Al Hardan wanted use cellphones a collection of which were found in his apartment to detonate the transmitters, Wittliff said. "He wanted to build them (the transmitters) for ISIL," Wittliff said. "For what purpose?" asked prosecutor Ralph Imperato. "So he could kill people," Wittliff replied. Al Hardan's arrest prompted criticism of the Obama administration's refugee policies from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been a leader among Republican governors calling for a halt to resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called for a retroactive review of all refugees who have come to the U.S. Immigrant advocates say they have full confidence in the vetting process and that tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees have been successfully resettled in the U.S. Al Hardan's older brother, Saeed Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, has said his sibling has denied any wrongdoing and that neither his brother nor anybody in their family had ever expressed any support for the Islamic State. Prosecutors allege Al Hardan was coordinating efforts with another Iraqi refugee living in California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab. The two men communicated through Facebook messenger from April 2013 to October 2014 and talked about getting weapons training and eventually sneaking into Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group, Wittliff said. The agent also testified Al Hardan received training on how to use an AK-47 assault rifle in November 2014 on a farm outside Houston from a confidential informant who was working with federal authorities. During the hearing, Wittliff read aloud excerpts from a conversation that authorities had recorded between Al Hardan and his wife in October 2014. Prosecutors did not say how the recording was obtained. "Once I get the passport I will leave America, I will leave. I will make a widow of you," Al Hardan said to his wife, according to the excerpt read in court. "I will go to Syria. I am not wacko. I am not wacko. I am speaking the truth. I want to blow myself up. I want to blow myself up ... I am against America." Wittliff also testified authorities had a photograph showing Al Hardan had taken an oath on a Quran to the Islamic State and that in the closet of his bedroom, agents found an Islamic State flag and a prayer to do list in which he spoke about receiving strength to be able to commit jihad and becoming a martyr. Wittliff was the only prosecution witness at Wednesday's hearing. Defense attorney David Adler didn't present any witnesses but suggested during questioning of Wittliff that there was nothing illegal about Al Hardan having the electronic components or old cellphones that FBI agents found in his apartment. Adler also suggested that the firearms training Al Hardan allegedly received from the informant was about "two guys shooting a gun." The defense attorney said the conversation that authorities recorded between Al Hardan and his wife could have been a domestic argument and that while Al Hardan said he was against America, he didn't say "I'm going to bomb America." If convicted, Al Hardan faces up to 25 years in prison. Al Hardan, who is a legal permanent resident, is married, has an 8-month-old son and had worked as a limousine driver before his arrest, according to his brother. Adler said since Al Hardan's arrest, his family has been evicted from their apartment. Al-Jayab remains jailed in Sacramento, California. Authorities say Al-Jayab fought twice in Syria, including with a group later affiliated with the Islamic State between November 2013 and January 2014. ___ Governor, House leader offer new Republican answer to Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Two fresh faces in the Republican Party House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are offering messages of diversity and openness to immigrants that could answer the party establishment's increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Delivering the Republican rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee, called for welcoming legal immigrants to the country as long as they're properly vetted, and for resisting the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." She acknowledged Wednesday that her comments were partly aimed at Trump, telling NBC television's "Today Show": "Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk." FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2016 file photo, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks to the crowd at the Kemp Forum, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, in Columbia, S.C. Two fresh faces in the Republican Party, Haley House Speaker Paul Ryan are offering messages of openness and diversity that could answer the GOP establishments increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford, File) Ryan, the Republican beginning his third month as speaker of the House, has been pledging to offer a bold agenda that will position the party as a positive alternative to Obama and the Democrats. Last weekend he helped convene an anti-poverty summit with some of the party's presidential candidates Trump was absent where he pressed for "a safety net that is designed to help get people out of poverty." Such rhetoric from two young and charismatic officeholders cheers establishment Republicans who fear that the rise of Trump and of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with their frequent strong words on immigrants in the country illegally could ruin the party for years, eliminating any chance of winning the White House if either is the nominee and turning off swing voters, minorities and women. "Speaker Ryan and Gov. Haley provide an important contrast, particularly with independent voters, to show what the Republican Party is really about, and it's not about Donald Trump," said Brian Walsh, a Republican strategist. "The key, though, is continuing to shine a light on leaders like the two of them, and that will depend in part on who we nominate." Whether Haley or Ryan can do anything to sideline Trump or Cruz remains to be seen. That's not their explicit goal, and Haley, in particular, drew a backlash from some conservatives for her State of the Union rebuttal. "Trump should deport Nikki Haley," conservative talk host Ann Coulter said over Twitter. And at the Capitol, Haley's comments on immigration were being interpreted by House conservatives including Rep. Steve King, a Cruz supporter, as a call for unlimited legal immigration into the country, something they reject. "I keep trying to remember when a principled conservative has been given the opportunity to provide that rebuttal," King told reporters, adding that Haley's comments would indicate she's not one. "They are looking for someone who fits the profile that they want to be the face of the Republican Party and that's the rationale," King added later in an interview, speaking of party leaders. Trump himself criticized Haley in an interview on "Fox & Friends," calling her "very weak on illegal immigration." Yet for a Republican establishment that has struggled with how to respond to Trump and Cruz, Haley and Ryan stand as a welcome rejoinder. Their messages are not too different from what has been heard from some of the mainstream presidential candidates, notably former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. But Bush and other establishment Republicans have struggled to break through, while Ryan and Haley, as prominent elected officials in their own right, have their own platforms. "What Paul Ryan is trying to do is put forward a substantive, thoughtful policy agenda for the country," said moderate Rep. Charlie Dent, a Republican. "Every presidential candidate should be doing the same thing." At the same time party leaders are mindful that Trump and Cruz are channeling very real voter anger and a backlash against Washington, which is at least partly a creation of Republican leaders' failure to make good on repeated promises to effectively oppose Obama. ___ Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed from Charleston, South Carolina. FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2016 file photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Two fresh faces in the Republican Party, Ryan and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, are offering messages of openness and diversity that could answer the GOP establishments increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Fire crews are battling an oil rig fire in Oklahoma CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) Firefighters in Oklahoma are battling a fire on an oil rig. Authorities say the oil rig is about 6 miles east of Chickasha. Video of Wednesday's blaze showed a large plume of thick black smoke rising from the rig. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation says nearby roads are closed because of the smoke. Department spokesman Cody Boyd says the road may remain closed for several hours. The owner of the site, Continental Resources, said in a statement to KWTV that all employees have been accounted for and are safe and that the cause of the fire is unknown. A Continental spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press for additional comment. Atlantic City casino revenue cut by half over 9 years ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) Atlantic City has lost more than half of its casino revenue during the past nine years. That depressing news Wednesday came only hours after New Jersey lawmakers introduced a bill that has long been the worst nightmare of the Atlantic City casino industry a referendum to expand casino gambling to the northern part of the state. Moody's Investors Service immediately cautioned that any more casinos in New Jersey would be "particularly bad news for the already struggling Atlantic City gaming market." This July 11, 2014 aerial photo shows the Atlantic City, N.J., coastline. New Jersey lawmakers are considering a series of far-reaching changes for the seaside resort on Tuesday Jan. 12, 2016, including asking its casinos to pay more under a tax assistance bill. They also could introduce a bill Tuesday to have the state take over the city's finances.(AP Photo/Wayne Parry) "In our view, the additional competition will likely cause more casinos to close," the Moody's report said, adding that could occur both before and after a northern New Jersey casino opens. Figures released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement show that the city's eight casinos took in $2.56 billion in 2015 a 6.5 percent decline from 2014. It's also less than half of what Atlantic City's casinos took in during their best year, 2006, when annual revenue was $5.2 billion. But when only the eight currently operating casinos are included in the comparison, 2015 revenue was actually up by 3.1 percent compared with 2014. Twelve casinos were operating at the start of that year, but four The Atlantic Club, Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza shut down in 2014. Mayor Don Guardian, whose city has struggled mightily since the downturn began nine years ago, was hopeful the surviving gambling halls have stabilized. But he said the long-term harm has been unmistakable in lost money and jobs. "We had a monopoly and 12 casinos," he said. "Now there are 30-something casinos in the northeast, and we're about to have gambling in the northern part of the state. There are more gambling places than there are gamblers willing to gamble." Guardian also has been forced this week to respond to an attempt by the state to takeover the city's finances. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney introduced a bill Tuesday that would give the state vast power over most major decisions, including the right to sell off city assets and land. The year-end casino figures for 2015 show five of the eight casinos won more that year than the year before. The largest percentage increase was logged by the Golden Nugget, which was up 24.6 percent for the year to $231.2 million. The biggest decline was at the struggling Trump Taj Mahal, which was down 16.5 percent to $180.2 million. Internet gambling showed a healthy 21.2 percent increase in New Jersey in 2015, rising in its second full year to nearly $149 million. The monthly figures for December show the casinos' collective revenue up less than 1 percent compared to December 2014. Sweeney introduced a bill late Tuesday that would authorize a referendum on two new casinos in the northern part of the state. Although it does not specify locations, the leading candidates are the Meadowlands sports complex in East Rutherford, and in Jersey City. The bill would send half of the gambling tax revenue to help redevelop Atlantic City. A state Senate committee will consider the bill Thursday. Expanding casinos to northern New Jersey is sure to further hurt an already damaged Atlantic City market. In 2006, when the first casino opened in neighboring Pennsylvania, Atlantic City's casinos won $5.2 billion. Ever-increasing competition in neighboring states is the largest single reason for the decline. ___ Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC Talks arranged in bid to resolve junior doctors' dispute Talks are to take place over the next two days in a bid to find a solution to the deadlock between the Government and doctors over a new contract. A spokesman for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) said talks would resume on Thursday at 10am, continuing on Friday. The British Medical Association (BMA) said earlier it was ready for talks "at any time" amid warnings that further strikes could put patients' lives at risk. Striking medics outside St Thomas' Hospital in London Junior doctors have returned to work after a 24-hour walkout which led to the cancellation of around 4,000 operations and was condemned as "wholly unnecessary" by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Two further strikes are planned - the second of which would involve a refusal to take part in emergency care - but it is hoped talks could break the stalemate. BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme there was "not just one remaining issue" regarding weekend pay. He said. "There are some serious issues about patient safety and recognition of junior doctors' contributions that need to be sorted here and the very fact that Government documents refuse to acknowledge those issues is one of the things that makes the dispute more difficult to resolve." If no resolution is found, there will be a 48-hour stoppage and the provision of emergency care only from 8am on January 26. On February 10 there will be a full withdrawal of labour from 8am to 5pm. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said patients' lives would be at risk if the full withdrawal went ahead. Asked if he could say that no-one would die as a direct result, he told Today: "I do not think we can give that guarantee at this point. Clearly everyone in the NHS will do everything they can to ensure that the right quality of the service is provided." He said: "We just need everybody to get back around the table and resolve this. Disputes like this, to be honest, have happened over the last five or 10 years as contracts have been updated to reflect the need to provide 24-hour services, seven days a week. "This is something that every other bit of the economy has done. The time has come for the NHS to do it so let's get back round the table and agree." Asked if lives could be put at risk, Dr Porter said: "I can't answer the question on the probability of what will happen. What I can say is that the NHS is very good at putting emergency planning in place and dealing with emergencies like this. "The NHS faces pressures similar to this every day." On Tuesday, some junior doctors in the West Midlands refused to go back to work despite an order from their NHS trust when Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich declared a "level 4" major incident. NHS England said 39% of junior doctors out of a possible 26,000 reported for work on Tuesday, including urgent and emergency care doctors who were asked not to strike by the BMA. The long-running dispute centres on changes to medics' pay and working conditions and the basis for the current round of negotiations is the Government's offer from early November, including an 11% rise in basic pay. But this is offset by plans to cut the number of hours on a weekend for which junior doctors can claim extra pay for unsocial hours. Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, said junior doctors' views of the situation were being "skewed" by "misinformation" about the dispute on social media. "There is a huge amount of misinformation out there at the moment. Therefore their view of what the issues are has been skewed by social media and other things that they have read," he told Today. "Clearly NHS employers and the Government have a different view and I think the sooner we can get to a position where there is one version of the truth and really understand those areas where there continues to be disagreement and to find a resolution to those issues ... Sainsbury's details Argos relocation plan in case for Home Retail Group takeover Sainsbury's has revealed it could shut a raft of Argos stores and relocate them within its supermarkets as it set out the case for a 1 billion-plus takeover of Home Retail Group. The chain said it is still "considering its position" after it took the market by surprise last week when it revealed it had made an approach for the group in November, which was rebuffed. Sainsbury's c hief executive Mike Coupe remained tight-lipped on talks with Home Retail and plans for any improved offer. Sainsbury's said it would add Argos concessions to some of its stores if any second bid for Home Retail Group is successful But in a presentation outlining its rationale for the tie-up, Sainsbury's said it would look to shut a number of the 734 stores in the Argos chain and bring them into its supermarkets as concessions. Retail experts believe between 150 and 200 Argos stores could be impacted. Mr Coupe said overall it could expand the Argos chain by rolling out concessions in supermarkets nationwide. He also stressed the group would not overpay for Home Retail amid reports that some major shareholders want at least 1.6 billion. "This is not a deal we need to do at any price," he said. The comments came as Sainsbury's revealed a slightly better-than-expected performance over the Christmas season, with sales in established stores excluding fuel edging 0.4% lower in the 15 weeks to January 9 against a "highly competitive" market. Its trading failed to match the 0.2% sales increase reported on Tuesday by smaller rival Morrisons in what marked an unexpected result from the embattled group, although this was for the nine weeks to January 3. But Sainsbury's was the only one of the so-called Big Four to gain market share over Christmas, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel on Tuesday showing its share rising to 17% in the 12 weeks to January 3 from 16.9% a year earlier. The City is eager to hear if Sainsbury's will increase its bid for Home Retail, which also owns DIY chain Homebase. It has until February 2 to make a firm offer or walk away under the City Takeover Panel's so-called put up or shut up deadline. Sainsbury's said it believes around half of Argos stores had shop leases with less than five years to run, offering opportunities to shut a number of these and move them into its outlets. There are already 10 Argos concessions within Sainsbury's stores as part of a trial. The grocer said it is a "strategically compelling transaction" which would allow it to take on the might of rivals such as Amazon, with more than 100,000 general merchandise products between Argos and Sainsbury's. It also sought to answer critics who have questioned cross-selling opportunities, claiming that over 40% of households have shopped in both Argos and Sainsbury's over the past year. But Mr Coupe said he "couldn't be drawn" on plans for Homebase, stoking speculation it would seek to offload the business. Analysts at Bernstein said there are still concerns over the Home Retail deal. "As Sainsbury's is still reporting negative like for likes - albeit improving and better than deflation - we still see the deal as a distraction from the key battles for Sainsbury's," they added. Annie Leibovitz 'trying very hard' to take a photo of Angela Merkel Annie Leibovitz has revealed the identity of the one person whose picture she is most desperate to take - Angela Merkel. The photographer said that without an image of the German chancellor her updated collection of influential females was missing "probably the most important woman in the world today". But she conceded it was a tough mission, especially with Mrs Merkel under such political pressure over the migrant crisis. Photographer Annie Leibovitz at the press view of Women: New Portraits By Annie Leibovitz, at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station in London "I have been trying very hard," she told BBC Radio 4's Today ahead of the opening of the new exhibition in London this week. "I respect the fact that she doesn't want to do interviews or doesn't want to do photographs because she has other things to do. "She is having a difficult time right now." Leibovitz said she would like to photograph the politician - recently named the world's second most powerful person by Forbes magazine, ahead of US president Barack Obama and behind only Russian president Vladimir Putin - "in action". "I would probably do her working. I would love to see her just at work, as I've done with Hillary Clinton. I would be respectful of her not wanting to sit for a portrait." Leibovitz said the exhibition - an update of a project first attempted in 1999 at the behest of partner Susan Sontag - "began with women I admired and now has turned a little bit more into trying to gather subjects as we go along. "Obviously it's a project that will never be done but it is interesting to stop now, 17 years later, and take a look at where we are now." Number of Met Police firearms officers to increase after terror attacks Britain's biggest police force is set to reveal a boost in the number of firearms officers in the wake of terrorist atrocities involving marauding gunmen. Scotland Yard is preparing to make an announcement on Thursday including the scale of the planned increase, which was mooted following the recent attacks by fanatics in Paris which saw 130 people killed. In a radio interview on Wednesday morning Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said a "significant" announcement will be made in the next 24 hours. The number of armed police officers in London could be set to rise He told Nick Ferrari on LBC: "We are determined to increase the number of firearms officers. In fact I believe over the next 24 hours I'll be able to make a significant announcement about that." There are currently around 2,000 firearms officers in the Metropolitan Police and the number of armed patrols was increased after the murders in France. Last month UK counter-terrorism bosses revealed for the first time that police marksmen are being told to walk over casualties and go forward to confront terrorist gunmen should there be an attack. Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan said then that there was likely to be an increase in the number of trained firearms officers in the capital. Outgoing City of London Police Commissioner Adrian Leppard also suggested that the Army could be called in to man armed cordons if there were multiple gun and bomb attacks, as in the French capital. Sir Bernard revealed he is meeting with armed officers every two weeks in a bid to maintain morale, after he raised concerns that marksmen should have greater protection in the wake of a fatal shooting. This followed the death of Jermaine Baker, 28, during a police operation to stop an alleged prison break in north London in December. He said: " I've actually met a very large number of our firearms officers after the incident in Haringey to see how they felt, what their complaints might be and I've got a taskforce running now. "I'm seeing a group of them every two weeks with things that I've put in place to encourage more officers to feel that they've got confidence that I'm supporting them, and in turn the public are supporting them." Council tenants will be 'forced away' in bid to tackle poverty David Cameron has refused to guarantee that people who live on "sink estates" will be able to return to their old communities after they are bulldozed under Government plans to tackle poverty. The Prime Minister instead accused Jeremy Corbyn of being a "small c conservative" who wants people to remain "stuck" in dysfunctional council estates. But the Labour leader said Mr Cameron does not understand the concerns of council tenants and those on the estates who have bought their homes under Right to Buy, who will be "forced away" from their communities. Jeremy Corbyn says David Cameron does not understand the concerns of council tenants The PM "hasn't thought this through very carefully" because an average of only 1.4 million has been allocated for each of the 100 estates earmarked for demolition, Mr Corbyn added. But Mr Cameron hit back: "I accept this isn't as carefully thought through as your reshuffle. "It's still going on, it hasn't actually finished yet." The Prime Minister then defended his plans for sink estates accusing Labour of wanting people to "stay stuck in poverty". During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron said: "We're not going to be able to deal with these sink estates unless we get the agreement of tenants, unless we show how we are going to support homeowners, unless we show how we are going to support communities. "But isn't it interesting, here is the small c conservative who's saying to people 'stay stuck in your sink estates, have nothing better than what Labour gave you after the war'? "We're saying if you are a tenant, have the Right to Buy, if you want to buy a home, here's Help to Save, if you're in a sink estate, we'll help you out and that's the fact of politics today. "A party on this side of the House that wants to give people life chances and a Labour opposition that says stay stuck in poverty." Mr Corbyn had pointed out that the sink estates will include people who have bought their council homes under Tory Right to Buy policies and asked for guarantees that they could return to the rebuilt properties. The Labour leader said: "You haven't clearly thought this thing through very carefully. "Because on every estate that you announce you wish to bulldoze will include tenants and people that have bought their homes under Right to Buy. "Will those people, the leaseholders, will they be guaranteed homes on those rebuilt estates that you are proposing to do?" Mr Cameron replied: "What we want to do is go to communities where there are sink estates and housing estates that have held people back and agree with those local councils, agree with those local people and make sure that tenants get good homes, make sure homeowners get rehoused in new houses. "That's exactly what we want." He added: "They (Labour) have got absolutely nothing to say about people trapped on housing estates and want a better life." Mr Corbyn added: "You don't seem to understand the very serious concerns that council tenants have when they feel they are going to be forced away from the community where they live, where their children go to school and their community is so strong." The Labour leader then questioned Mr Cameron on his plans to build hundreds of thousands of "starter homes" available to first-time buyers under 40 for at least a 20% discount. He claimed that starter homes would be unaffordable in 98% of council areas for people on the new higher minimum wage, dubbed the "living wage" by the Government, according to research from Shelter. "So instead of building more affordable homes, aren't you branding more homes as affordable which is not a solution to the housing crisis," Mr Corbyn said. "Will you confirm that home ownership has actually fallen since you became Prime Minister ?" Mr Cameron again pointed to policies such as Help to Buy and Help to Save, before challenging Mr Corbyn: "You own your home, I own my home, why won't we let those 1.3 million (housing association tenants) own their homes? "Why not? What are you frightened of?" Mr Corbyn was forced to wait until Tory backbenchers had quietened down before hitting back: "I thank the Conservative backbenchers for their deep concern for the housing crisis in this country, it is noted." Turning to the PM, he went on: "You gave no assurances to tenants, no assurances to leaseholders , no assurances to low paid people who want to get somewhere decent to live." He then asked Mr Cameron about the problems faced by people who want to downsize their council home as they get older but can no longer benefit from lifetime tenancies if they move. But the Prime Minister attacked Mr Corbyn, claiming the Labour leader "does not believe in Britain". He said: "Isn't it interesting what this exchange has shown? "We've now got a Labour Party who have got a housing policy that doesn't support home ownership, just as they've got a defence policy that doesn't believe in defence, just as we've now got a Labour Party that doesn't believe in work, and a Labour leader who doesn't believe in Britain." A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said later: "Prime Minister's Questions proved that the Prime Minister has woken up to the fact that there's a housing crisis, but doesn't know how to deal with it. "Home ownership is down, house-building is at its lowest level in peacetime since the 1920s, and - as the Shelter report proves - only in 2% of local authorities can people on the so-called National Living Wage afford a starter home. "The so-called plan the Tories have announced doesn't have any real answers. The lack of funding clearly shows, He may not even be able to bulldoze the houses, let alone invest in new ones." The spokesman said millions of households were "frightened" that their homes may be demolished without any guarantee they would be rehoused in the same area. "If you talk to the people living in the areas David Cameron is talking about and people living in social housing, they are very frightened about what's happening under the Tories," he said. "The lack of security of tenancy is one of the biggest hits on people. "Nobody is sure what will happen when they demolish these estates. There has to be a suspicion of social cleansing. There's already areas in London which are under pressure to be knocked down and replaced, and I think everyone in those areas treats this announcement as suspicious." The Labour leader's spokesman described Mr Cameron's claim that Mr Corbyn was a "small-c conservative" as "bizarre", adding: "Jeremy is standing up for millions of working people, millions of people who can't afford to buy a house, millions of people who are now in fear about the security of their tenancy. "These people are watching Prime Minister's Question Time and recognising that Jeremy Corbyn is speaking for them, not a Prime Minister who's out of touch with the housing crisis in Britain." George Osborne waives VAT on NHS Choir charity single Health charities have gained an extra cash boost from the NHS Choir charity single, after Chancellor George Osborne announced he will make a donation to them of all the VAT paid on the Christmas chart-topper. The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir's A Bridge Over You racked up more than 150,000 downloads as it raced to Number One, helped on the way by superstar Justin Bieber, who urged his fans to help it beat his own Love Yourself to the top slot. With VAT charged at 20% and downloads usually retailing at around 79p-99p, the new donation could be worth as much as 30,000 to the charities involved. The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir's A Bridge Over You racked up more than 150,000 downloads All proceeds from sales of the single are being donated to Carers UK, Mind, the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health (NIAMH), the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) and regional charities. Mr Osborne said: "I was delighted to see the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir reach Christmas Number One and it is great news that health charities like Mind and Carers UK are to benefit from the proceeds of the single. "The choir showcased the very best of the NHS and the charities it is supporting ensure that those experiencing a mental health problem and their carers get the valuable support they need. I hope this donation helps them continue their vital work." Urban gangs 'recruit children under nine to sell drugs' Urban gangs are recruiting children aged under nine as they retreat from the streets and adopt more secretive tactics for criminal activities, official research indicates. Youngsters are being lured from outside schools with the promise of money or new trainers and tracksuits before being deployed around the country to sell drugs, the Home Office study said. It also raised concerns about exploitation of women, with suggestions that some see group sex as "normal". Children as young as nine are being lured from outside schools to peddle drugs, a study found Researchers interviewed staff from agencies including police, probation, local authorities and health services in 33 areas around England and Wales. The findings suggested there was evidence that the use of young people to transport and peddle drugs and the sexual exploitation of women and girls have become more prevalent. Senior members known as "elders" would buy train tickets for the young drug runners who would be given targets for selling and punished if these were not met, according to the report. One interviewee said: "The method of recruitment is to target young, easily influenced youths as young as 12 years old from local schools and the surrounding area. "They [gang members] recruit them with the lure of earning money or being given new trainers, tracksuits etc. [and] then use these runners to deal for them." In some instances youngsters were away from home or care for several days. A separate policy paper also published by the Government on Wednesday said there was evidence that children's care homes are being targeted, adding: " We also know of cases where gang members have been waiting outside schools to meet children. "The gang members take the child away to participate in criminal activities and return them in time to avoid them being reported missing or raising suspicion." Involvement of children under the age of 11 in gangs was thought to be relatively rare, the research report said. It added: "R eports of gang members aged nine or younger were almost exclusively from a small number of survey respondents in London." Staff reported that women and girls were involved "to a great extent" in gang-related criminal activities, including carrying or storing drugs and being used to set up attacks on rival gang members. A gang associate said: "I know guys that have actually died because girls have set them up." Girls and women were subjected to sexual or physical violence, with some attacked to exact punishment or revenge on rival gangs, the study said. One interviewee said: "The worrying thing for me is that you'll get the guys that will be talking about having group sex with vulnerable girls. "Then you'll have the girls talking about it as well, but both will refer to it as though it was a normal thing." Gangs were generally seen as "less visible" and are spending less time on the streets, the report said. It added: " Gangs were thought to be operating more covertly, in part in response to the use of gang injunctions and other enforcement tactics as gangs try to avoid detection." Home Office minister Karen Bradley announced a new policy to tackle gang-related violence and exploitation, with nine areas receiving targeted support. HMRC chief Lin Homer accused of allowing HSBC to get away 'scot free' HM Revenue and Customs chief Dame Lin Homer has been accused of allowing HSBC to get away "scot free" over the activities of its private Swiss bank. Appearing before the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Dame Lin confirmed that it was "unlikely" that HSBC would face prosecution over claims its Swiss branch routinely helped wealthy clients evade tax. Her admission drew an angry response from MPs on the committee, who said it was "extraordinary" that HSBC would face no action from the British authorities even though it was domiciled in the UK. Lin Homer has been accused of allowing HSBC to get away "scot free" Dame Lin - who announced on Monday that she would be standing down in April after being made a dame in the New Year's honours list - faced further criticism after she claimed HMRC's customer service was improving, even though almost one in five calls were not answered within six minutes. Her disclosure that HSBC was unlikely now to face prosecution came after it was reported earlier this month that the City watchdog - the Financial Conduct Authority - had ruled out regulatory action against the bank. Dame Lin said they had reviewed the data on HSBC which they said had been passed to the French authorities by a whistleblower at the bank, but they did not believe there was the basis for criminal action. "We have had another look. We think it is unlikely that there will be prosecutions," she said. Conservative MP Stephen Phillips complained: "It looks as though they have got away scot free." He added: "I - and I suspect most Members of Parliament - would find it extraordinary that a bank that is domiciled in this jurisdiction with oversight of its Swiss subsidiary has not had action taken against it either by its regulator or by you, who are responsible for investigating it and passing papers to the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) to conduct criminal prosecutions if appropriate." Dame Lin retorted: "I can make no comment on your opinion. We have to progress on the basis of what we and the CPS think is possible." She also came under fire after she said 81% of calls to HMRC were answered within six minutes. She said they had been getting "better and better" after the first three months of last year when answering rates were so bad she had issued a public apology. "We were quick and effective in recognising that we had created poorer customer service than was acceptable. We took early, I think very effective, action," she said. Mr Phillips said: "It's not really 'better and better' is it - 81% of calls answered within six minutes?" Dame Lin replied: "I think that is." She added: "When you deal with 45 million customers there will always be some that you do fail. There are times of day and times of week that are not as good as others." The tax office was accused of having "one rule for the rich and one rule for the poor" when it comes to pursuing tax evaders. Around 35 prosecutions involving corporate firms and wealthy individuals for tax evasion are brought a year but the department plans to increase that to around 100 by 2020. But Dame Lin insisted that did not mean that many of Britain's richest tax dodgers were escaping prosecution. "Across the whole spectrum we do not prosecute everybody in every category, so there will always be individuals that we don't prosecute," she told the committee. Mr Phillips accused the tax office of only going after the "low hanging fruit" to improve its wider prosecution figures. He said: "The message which goes out is loud and clear, it's evade your taxes and you are not going to be prosecuted. "There seems to be one rule for the rich and one rule for the poor," he added. Dame Lin told the Conservative she "strongly disagreed" with the claim. "I reject the assertion that we have ignored rich people," she added. As the bad-tempered exchanges went on, Dame Lin was accused of being "defensive" about the department's record - a claim she denied. Fears of Genette Tate's father as suspected killer Robert Black dies in prison Genette Tate's father fears he will never be able to lay his daughter to rest after her suspected murderer - serial child killer Robert Black - died in prison. Black, 68, died in non-suspicious circumstances in Maghaberry high security jail in Northern Ireland, where he was serving multiple life sentences for the murders of four schoolgirls in the 1980s and a number of other crimes. The delivery driver was long suspected of murdering Genette, 13, who vanished from a rural lane in Aylesbeare, Devon, in August 1978 and was likely to have been charged with her murder in a matter of weeks, police have said. Genette Tate's body has never been found The newspaper delivery girl's body has never been found. Genette's father, John Tate, said he feared Black's death meant he will never find out what happened to his daughter, and will not be able to give her a proper funeral. He told ITV News: "It's hard [to grieve] because there's a tiny little bit of me that hopes she's alive somewhere. "I basically hoped that we were going to find out what actually happened to her and to rule out once and for all that she is alive somewhere." Mr Tate said he had also unsuccessfully attempted to visit the sex attacker in prison, adding: "I never got an opportunity - he wouldn't see me and we dropped it in the end." A reinvestigation into the disappearance began in 2014, after a court of appeal hearing a year earlier, and a team of 10 has been working "extensively" on the case. Detective Superintendent Paul Burgan, of Devon and Cornwall Police said: "We were in the process of submitting a full evidential file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which would have been submitted in February of this year." The CPS had previously indicated that Black would have been charged over the disappearance, he said, adding that the file would still be submitted. The Scottish-born sex attacker stalked the roads of the UK searching for victims. His reign of terror was ended in 1990 when he was caught red-handed by police with a barely-alive six-year-old girl hooded, bound, gagged and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van in the Scottish village of Stow. He had sexually assaulted her moments earlier. Once in custody detectives were able to link the predator to a series of unsolved crimes in the previous decade. In 1994 Black was found guilty of three child murders in the 1980s - those of 11-year-old Susan Maxwell, from the Scottish Borders, five-year-old Caroline Hogg, from Edinburgh, and Sarah Harper, 10, from Morley, near Leeds - as well as a failed abduction bid in Nottingham in 1988. In 2011 he was found guilty of the 1981 murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy, from Ballinderry, Co Antrim. There was new hope of a prosecution for Genette's murder after Black lost an appeal against his conviction for Jennifer's murder. Critically, the appeal court ruled that Black's offending was so unique that bad character evidence could be used to identify the offender at the scene - opening the door for detectives to revisit Genette's disappearance. Black first became a suspect in 1994 and was initially interviewed by officers about it in 1996. In 2002, a large scale investigation took place and was linked with one the Police Service of Northern Ireland were conducting into Jennifer's murder. Following the Court of Appeal decision in 2013, Devon and Cornwall Police launched a reinvestigation into Genette's murder. Officers have since identified potential witnesses in the case. Mr Burgan said Black's death came as a "complete shock" and there was a provision in place to allow officers to speak to him about Genette's disappearance if he was in poor health. He added: "From what we can ascertain he has just collapsed in prison." A CPS spokesman said: " This is a very large and complex case, with an extremely long history, and the CPS has worked closely with Devon and Cornwall Police. No compensation for British owners of VW cars in diesel emissions scandal British owners of Volkswagen cars affected by the diesel emissions scandal will not receive compensation despite payouts being offered in the US because it is a "very different situation", the UK boss of the car manufacturer has said. Paul Willis told MPs that the firm was "getting on" with conducting the remedial work on the vehicles rather than making payments to British drivers. In November Volkswagen offered some 482,000 motorists co mpensation worth 1,000 US dollars (693), and extended the goodwill gesture to tens of thousands of owners of larger diesel vehicles earlier this week. Paul Willis told MPs the firm was "getting on" with conducting the remedial work on the vehicles rather than making payments to British drivers When asked by the House of Commons' Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee why this is not happening in the UK, Mr Willis replied: " Unfortunately the United States is a very different situation to Europe. "We have a situation in the United States where at the moment it's not clear whether we have a fix for the cars. "In the United States the regulations are different." The California Air Resources Board has rejected VW's proposals for remedial work, and the manufacturer's chief executive, Matthias Mueller, is in Washington to attempt to find a solution. "That's a completely different situation to the United Kingdom and Europe," Mr Willis said. "With the KBA, the Germany federal transport authority, we have an agreement and we have a solution and that is what we're getting on with. "So you cannot compare the two situations." EFRA committee chairman Neil Parish responded by asking Mr Willis for his thoughts on VW's "lobbying power" and whether American officials were being "more robust" than their European counterparts. Mr Willis replied: "Our company works diligently to meet the legislation that is put in front of us." Labour's Dan Jarvis urges Jeremy Corbyn not to rely on online polls Jeremy Corbyn has been warned not to put too much weight on online polls to support policy changes after the Labour leader signalled he would make increased use of internet surveys of party supporters. Former frontbencher Dan Jarvis, an ex-soldier who has been tipped as a future leader, warned that online surveys - such as the one carried out before the decision on bombing Islamic State in Syria - "short-circuit" the normal decision-making processes and could "lead to badly designed policy". Mr Jarvis, who urged Labour to publish its inquiry into the 2015 election defeat, said the party had to understand it had been "out of step with the electorate" and win back voters' trust on the public finances. Jeremy Corbyn said people had "better get used" to surveys Mr Corbyn, who was swept to victory in the Labour leadership contest on a tide of support from grassroots and internet activists, told the party in December that it had "better get used to" more social media campaigns and surveys. Writing in the New Statesman, Mr Jarvis acknowledged that since Mr Corbyn was elected Labour had attracted tens of thousands of new members. Labour could be a "radical force of national renewal" but there had to be changes to the way the party is organised that went beyond "the odd online poll". "The internet plays an important role helping people who are busy juggling kids and work to engage with the party. Social media attracted many of our new members into the party and will be essential for keeping them engaged," he said. "But we need to make sure that our members can contribute fully, beyond the odd online poll. "These short-circuit institutional checks and balances on those in power, they lead to poorly designed policy, and if they are conducted online, they exclude those without access to the internet. "The party needs to build leadership and organising skills among our members to harness their talent and develop a more democratic party. The value of our members should not be counted by how many million conversations we have with voters. "We need conversations that build enduring relationships with the public, not transactional cold-calling." Barnsley Central MP Mr Jarvis called for the publication of Labour's internal review of its election defeat so the party could see where it had failed. "Until Labour accepts the lessons of two successive election defeats ... we will not renew our politics and reconnect with the public," he said. "During the election I campaigned up and down the country. People frequently told me that although they knew the Tories were unfair and represented the interests of the better-off, they did not trust Labour with their taxes. We have to win back their trust. "That's why we need to publish our official party inquiry into why we lost. Once we understand that we have been out of step with the electorate, we can start to build our political recovery and respond to the policy challenges Britain faces." Former shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt denounced the "divisiveness and futility" of Mr Corbyn's reshuffle. Writing in The Spectator, Mr Hunt - who refused to serve on the Corbyn frontbench - said that the shake-up had distracted attention from Labour campaigns on flooding, Europe and housing. "You will recall that Europe spokesman Pat McFadden was sacked for suggesting that terrorists should be held accountable for their crimes. Shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle was moved for supporting Labour Party policy. And culture minister Michael Dugher got the axe for not living in Islington," said Mr Hunt. "Kremlinologists suggest there is a power struggle going on in Jeremy Corbyn's office between the Socialist Action Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks of the Labour Representation Committee. But all factions are united in their determination to make it to 2017, and the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution." A survey of more than 100 constituency Labour parties by The Guardian found that almost every one reported membership numbers at least doubling since Mr Corbyn stood for the leadership - with some saying they had five times as many members as before and others reporting the revival of branches which had been near to closing for lack of support. Overall Labour membership has increased from 201,293 at the time of the May 2015 general election to 388,407 this month, with the total of 13,860 who have left since the election vastly outnumbered by new recruits, said the newspaper. The Guardian reported that there had been two surges of new members signing up, the first coming after Mr Corbyn joined the battle to succeed Ed Miliband and the second after he was elected leader. A Labour spokeswoman said that membership stood at around 380,000 in December and was continuing to grow, but declined to give further details. In the latest stage of the reshuffle, Jo Stevens was appointed shadow solicitor general. Jermain Defoe hat-trick lifts Sunderland and increases Swansea's worries Jermain Defoe struck a hat-trick as Sunderland won a thrilling Barclays Premier League relegation battle at Swansea. The Black Cats' 4-2 victory was mired in controversy as they recovered from a 2-1 half-time deficit to claim a second successive league win and provide real hope of avoiding the drop. Sunderland's victory took them above neighbours Newcastle on goal difference and within a point of Swansea, who were reduced to 10 men when Kyle Naughton was sent off close to half-time with the score 1-1. Patrick van Aanholt, left, and hat-trick hero Jermain Defoe were delighted with the win at Swansea Graham Scott, a late replacement for Andre Marriner on Monday, was taking charge of only his fourth top flight fixture - and the Oxfordshire official was in the spotlight most of the night with several big calls to make. Defoe's first two goals despite him being perilously close to offside on both occasions, while Scott awarded Swansea a first-half penalty which appeared generous in the extreme - then sent off Naughton in contentious fashion. Sunderland were gifted the perfect start after three minutes when Lukasz Fabianski's loose ball was collected by Adam Johnson and his pass found Fabio Borini. The former Swansea striker's shot was too hot for Fabianski to hold and Defoe was on the spot to tap into an empty net to score against the Welsh club for the third consecutive game. Swansea were visibly shaken and it almost got worse when Patrick van Aanholt raided down the left to deliver a cross which the unmarked Johnson sent carelessly wide. Had that gone in it might have been a long way back for a Swansea side, who had started the evening as the joint-lowest scorers in the Premier League. But they were handed a lifeline after Andre Ayew provided proof that he was in the mood by meeting Gylfi Sigurdsson's corner and flashing a header just wide of the post. Three minutes later the Ghanaian broke into the box and won a dubious penalty decision after appearing to kick the floor in the act of shooting. Wes Brown was adjudged to have made the most marginal of contact, but Sigurdsson stroked home the penalty with the minimum of fuss. Swansea were reduced to 10 men when Naughton was punished for a 37th minute challenge on Yann M'Vila, his studs showing but the defender clearly took the ball and the theatrical reaction of the France international did him few favours. However, Ayew almost instantly sprinted into space, shrugged off Lee Cattermole and buried a powerful low shot through the legs of Billy Jones and into the far corner of the net. Swansea manager Alan Curtis instantly withdrew Leon Britton on the occasion of the midfielder's 500th appearance for the club as Angel Rangel filled Naughton's right-back position. But Sunderland were level four minutes after the restart as van Aanholt's drive took a telling deflection off the back of Federico Fernandez and flew past Fabianski off a post. Jermain Lens struck a post from a tight angle as Sunderland came on strongly and Defoe put them ahead just after the hour when he was adjudged onside from Johnson's pass and finished expertly. Rangel was not so fortunate when he bundled the ball home after Vito Mannone had spilled Sigurdsson's deflected shot on his goal-line. And Sunderland wrapped up the points when Defoe was again in the right place to finish van Aanholt's cross from a few yards out four minutes from time. TWEET OF THE MATCH "I don't think I've ever seen a Premier League official look so out of his depth as Graham Scott at the Liberty Stadium tonight." - The Guardian's Stuart James on referee Graham Scott's night at the Liberty Stadium. PLAYER RATINGS Swansea Lukasz Fabianski 5 (out of 10) Kyle Naughton: 5 Federico Fernandez: 5 Ashley Williams: 5 Neil Taylor: 6 Leon Britton: 6 Ki Sung-yueng: 6 Wayne Routledge: 6 Modou Barrow: 6 Gylfi Sigurdsson: 6 Andre Ayew: 7 Substitutes Angel Rangel (on for Britton 42mins): 5 Bafetimbi Gomis (on for Routledge 77mins): 5 Jack Cork (on for Ayew 90mins): 5 Sunderland Vito Mannone: 6 Billy Jones: 6 John O'Shea: 7 Wes Brown: 6 Patrick van Aanholt: 8 Lee Cattermole: 7 Yann M'Vila: 7 Adam Johnson: 8 Jeremain Lens: 7 Fabio Borini: 7 Jermain Defoe: 9 Substitutes Jack Rodwell (on for Cattermole 73mins): 6 Danny Graham (for Borini 83mins): 6 Duncan Watmore (for Jeremain Lens 86mins): 6 STAR MAN JERMAIN DEFOE: The former England striker has made a career out of scoring goals and his hat-trick gave Sunderland a huge boost in their battle against the drop. Defoe got the benefit of the linesman's flag twice but he kept his cool to finish well, and completed his hat-trick when he was once again in the right place at the right time. MOMENT OF THE MATCH Few bright moments on a desperate night for Swansea but Andre Ayew's goal which put them 2-1 ahead was a stunning piece of individual brilliance. Ayew beat Lee Cattermole as if the midfielder was not there, and then dispatched a ferocious low shot past Vito Mannone into the corner of the Sunderland net. VIEW FROM THE BENCH It is now only one win in Alan Curtis' seven games and the storm clouds are gathering for Swansea. Maybe they did not get many breaks here, but the need to sign a reliable goalscorer in January window will prove pivotal in their battle to survive. Sunderland seem to be moving in the right direction after back-to-back wins and boss Sam Allardyce will be confident they can stay up if Jermain Defoe stays fit. MOAN OF THE MATCH Where to start? Rookie Premier League referee Graham Scott had an interesting night to say the least. Defoe looked offside when he opened the scoring before Swansea received a fortunate penalty when Ayew fell after appearing to kick the floor. Scott then sent off Kyle Naughton even though the Swansea defender clearly won the ball, though the referee might claim his studs were showing and tackle was a dangerous one. WHO'S UP NEXT? Swansea v Watford (Premier League, January 18) Kuwait court sentences two to death for spying for Iran, Hezbollah KUWAIT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A Kuwaiti court sentenced two men accused of spying for Iran and Hezbollah to death on Tuesday, a Reuters witness said. The case also included the possession of weapons. One of the men given the death penalty was an Iranian convicted in absentia, and the other was a Kuwaiti who was in court. Other suspects were given sentences ranging from five to 25 years, and three were found innocent. Tensions between Shi'ite-ruled Iran and Sunni-ruled Gulf countries have escalated since a diplomatic dispute between Tehran and Riyadh erupted after Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric this month. Iranian Revolutionary Guards detain U.S. boats with 10 crew in Gulf -Fars news agency DUBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Iranian Revolutionary Guards have detained two U.S. boats with 10 crew aboard after the vessels "illegally" entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf, the semi-official Fars news agency said early on Wednesday. "These two boats were seized by Revolutionary Guard naval forces near Farsi Island 2 km inside Iranian territorial waters," Fars reported. It gave no further detail. In Washington on Tuesday, a senior Obama administration official said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. sailors in Iranian custody would be allowed to continue their journey promptly. A U.S. defence official said nine men and one woman sailor were being held by Iran and that they had been aboard two riverine patrol boats. Record number of asylum seekers in UK are destitute - Red Cross By Emma Batha LONDON, Jan 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A record number of asylum seekers in Britain are being left destitute, and planned legislation could plunge thousands more into poverty, the British Red Cross said on Wednesday. The charity said it had supported more than 9,000 refugees and asylum seekers who were destitute last year, compared with 7,700 in 2014. The youngest was less than one year old and the oldest was 81. The Red Cross said an Immigration Bill, being debated in the House of Lords - Britain's upper parliamentary chamber - was expected to reduce asylum support further. Some 29,000 people applied for asylum in Britain between September 2014 and October 2015, 19 percent up from the previous year. Nearly 44 percent of destitute asylum seekers supported by the Red Cross were from Eritrea, Sudan, Iran and Syria, which are among the biggest sources of refugees. British Red Cross asylum expert Karl Pike described the situation as a "quiet crisis". "Refugees should not be left destitute, having fled awful violence and persecution," he said. "People refused by the system, but who the Home Office accept cannot return to their home country, should not be left with nothing." The Home Office had no immediate comment. Those supported by the Red Cross included people who had been granted refugee status but had not been given enough time to change to mainstream benefits from asylum seeker support. The Red Cross said research in one northern region found two-thirds of asylum seekers with no access to public funds went hungry regularly, and one-quarter were hungry every day. More than three-fifths had no fixed accommodation and more than half reported worsening health. Some had been destitute for up to eight years, it said. The Immigration Bill aims to limit support for failed asylum seekers and their dependants to those who are destitute and cannot safely return to their home country. The Red Cross says proposed changes in the Bill could push thousands of other failed asylum seekers into poverty. South Korea calls for 'bone-numbing' sanctions on North for nuclear test By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) - South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict "bone-numbing pain" after its latest nuclear test, and urged China to do its part to rein in its isolated neighbour. With tension high on the border after the North's fourth nuclear test on Wednesday last week, South Korean forces fired shots towards what Yonhap News Agency said was a suspected North Korean drone. It returned to the North after the shots, South Korean military officials told Reuters. The North's nuclear test angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons. The World Economic Forum withdrew its invitation for North Korea's foreign minister to attend its annual Davos meeting because of the nuclear test. It was to have been the country's first participation in the event in 18 years. The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to pass legislation to broaden sanctions on the North. But apparently unperturbed by the prospect of further international isolation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country's nuclear arsenal, urging the "detonation of more powerful H-bombs", the North's state media reported. North Korea said last week it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb but the United States and various experts doubt that, as the blast was roughly the same size as that from its previous test, of an atomic bomb, in 2013. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said more "provocations" by the North including "cyber-terrorism" were possible and new sanctions should be tougher than previous ones. She did not give specifics. "We are cooperating closely with the United States and allies to come up with effective sanctions that will make North Korea feel bone-numbing pain, not only at the Security Council but also bilaterally and multilaterally," she said in a speech. Park said South Korea and China were discussing a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea, noting that China had stated repeatedly that it would not tolerate its nuclear programme. China is North Korea's main ally and trade partner but it opposes its bombs, while Beijing's ties with South Korea have grown closer in recent years. "I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isn't followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the North's fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability," Park said. "I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further." Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday and said the three agreed that a "meaningful" new sanctions resolution was needed from the Security Council. "I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution," he said. In Washington, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said China could and should put more pressure on North Korea. "We understand their concern about instability on the Korean peninsula, but the fact of the matter is that the current status quo is destabilising where you have nuclear tests," he told a news briefing. Rhodes said it was important the United States and its allies developed capabilities to respond and referred to Sunday's U.S. B-52 bomber flight over South Korea, missile defence and military cooperation with both South Korea and Japan. Rhodes also said that President Barack Obama chose not to mention North Korea in his State of the Union address on Tuesday as he did not want to give Kim Jong Un the attention. "He likes attention and probably would like nothing more than the president to spend a lot of time to talk about it in the State of the Union," Rhodes said. "We didn't particularly feel compelled to give him that attention." 'FINANCIAL PRESSURE' China rejects complaints it is not doing enough on North Korea. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China's efforts towards a denuclearised Korean peninsula would continue. "This is in everyone's interests and is everyone's responsibility, including China and South Korea," he said. The U.S. House sanctions measure passed by 418-2 and Senate leaders expect to consider a similar bill shortly. The House bill had been introduced in 2015 but was brought up for a vote only after North Korea's latest test. "(The bill) uses targeted financial pressure to isolate Kim Jong Un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule," said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an author of the measure. To become law, it must also pass the U.S. Senate and be signed by Obama. The 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea have been put on high alert as a noisy propaganda battle is played out across the heavily fortified border with the North. South Korea, still technically at war with the North since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, has for days been blaring propaganda through loudspeakers across the border. South Korea's military said it had found anti-South leaflets in the Seoul area, which it suspects were dropped from North Korean hot air balloons. South Carolina's Haley urges tolerance, civility in Republican reply to Obama By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, in the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, seized the spotlight to set herself apart from her party's field of presidential candidates, calling for tolerance on immigration and civility in politics. In what some saw as a rebuke of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Haley said: "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. "We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country." The 43-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants is being mentioned as a possible Republican vice presidential candidate. "Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America," she said. Haley spoke from Columbia, South Carolina, where she gained national attention last year by leading an effort to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state Capitol grounds after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston. Her remarks on Tuesday sparked a backlash from some conservatives. Ann Coulter, a conservative columnist and frequent television talk show guest, tweeted, "Trump should deport Nikki Haley." Immigration has been a dominant theme in the Republican presidential campaign for the Nov. 8 election to replace Obama. Trump has aroused controversy with his fiery comments, saying that if elected, he would build a wall on the border with Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants and force Mexico to pay for it. The billionaire businessman has said he will deport the country's 11 million illegal immigrants. He began his campaign in June by saying Mexico was sending criminals and rapists to the United States. Haley, whose televised remarks came minutes after Obama delivered his final State of the Union speech to Congress, issued many standard Republican attacks against the president, criticizing his fiscal policy and landmark healthcare law, known as Obamacare. She promised that if a Republican wins the November election, working families' taxes will be cut and "runaway" spending will be constrained. The State of the Union response by the incumbent president's political opponents is a tradition dating back to 1966. It is a tough assignment, lacking the theater of the State of the Union itself, which takes place in the historic House of Representatives chamber, filled with lawmakers, diplomats, Supreme Court justices and sometimes celebrity guests. A hodge-podge of politicians have been assigned to the duty, ranging from then-Democratic Governor Bill Clinton in 1985, who went on to serve two terms as president, to ex-Republican Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia in 2010, who is now appealing a 2014 conviction on corruption charges. Unlike Coulter, others lauded Haley. Democratic strategist Donna Brazile tweeted praise for the governor's recounting of the response to the Charleston church shooting. Michael Needham, head of the conservative Heritage Action group, said Haley offered "a winsome message" and "painted an authentically optimistic vision for America's future." 'TERRORIST THREAT' On foreign policy, Haley said the United States faced "the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it." Lethal attacks by militants last year, including in Paris and San Bernardino, California, have made national security a major campaign issue. Trump reacted to the California shootings by saying Muslims should be temporarily banned from entering the United States. Another Republican contender, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, has said Christians, but not Muslims, should qualify for refugee status. Haley made no gaffes in her speech of less than 10 minutes, which was delivered in a relaxed, sometimes monotone voice. David Woodard, a political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, noted Haley touched on religious and social issues that will "help some with the GOP base." But he said the speech was too light on foreign policy concerns, including the Middle East, that voters worry about, and lacked "edge." In some of her most eloquent remarks, Haley recalled the Charleston shootings. "Our state was struck with shock, pain and fear. But our people would not allow hate to win. We didn't have violence, we had vigils. We didn't have riots, we had hugs." United States criticizes St Lucia over alleged extra-judicial deaths By Sarah Peter CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The United States criticized the government of the Caribbean island nation St Lucia on Tuesday for failing to prosecute police accused of keeping death-lists and killing suspected criminals during a misguided campaign to attract tourists. Twelve people were fatally shot between 2010 and 2011 under a previous government dealing with a crime wave it believed was damaging the tourism industry that drives the economy of the tiny nation famed for verdant mountains and pristine beaches. The government of Prime Minister Kenny Anthony has made "no meaningful progress" towards criminal prosecution in the 10 months since the investigators from Jamaica delivered a report on the killings, the U.S. embassy for Barbados and the eastern Caribbean said in a statement. The embassy commended St. Lucia for introducing a new "use of force" policy designed to help protect human rights, and praised the police for taking rights training, but said the government needed to do more to uphold the rule of law. After the killings, the United States suspended assistance to the police department on the island of 163,000 inhabitants and top police officers have been barred from travelling to the United States. In parts of the report made public by Anthony last year, the investigators concluded police had worked from a hit-list and staged shootouts in several of the killings. Islamic State claims suicide attack on Pakistani consulate in Afghan city By Rafiq Shirzad JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, stoking fears over the spread of the ultra-radical movement in Afghanistan. Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least seven members of the security forces died during the attack by the Islamic States, which hitherto had not struck high-profile Pakistani targets in Afghanistan. The attack, which coincided with efforts to restart the stalled peace process with Taliban insurgents and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, added a dangerous new element to Afghanistan's volatile security mix. "This is a major concern for us if they carry out more attacks like this," an Afghan security official said. "We have enough problems to deal with already." Nangarhar, the province in which Jalalabad is located, has become the main Afghan stronghold of Islamic State (IS), which has battled the Taliban for leadership of the Islamist insurgency, attracting many former Taliban militants. But IS has not so far been regarded as ready to organise and mount a complex attack involving suicide bombers and gunmen hitting a major urban target, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. Witnesses in Jalalabad, the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan, said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions could be heard during a battle that lasted several hours, and residents and children from a nearby school were evacuated. Islamic State said on its official Telegram messaging service channel that three members wearing suicide-bomb vests carried out the attack, which it said had killed dozens of people including "several Pakistani intelligence officers". It said two suicide attackers had been killed while a third escaped. Pakistan condemned the attack but said all members of the consulate staff were safe, with one official slightly injured by broken glass. The attack carried echoes of one last week on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, when a group of assailants barricaded themselves in a house and resisted security forces for about 24 hours after a suicide bombing. Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met this week to try to resurrect efforts to end nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, even as fighting with the Taliban intensifies. Some China tourists eager to see free-wheeling democracy in action in Taiwan By Yimou Lee TAIPEI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The number of mainland Chinese tourists to neighbouring Taiwan halved in the weeks before this weekend's elections, several Taipei-based travel agencies said, as Communist Party rulers in Beijing discouraged visits to China's diplomatic rival. Taiwan elections are always sensitive in China, which regards the self-ruled island as a breakaway province, worried that the democratic free-for-all across the Taiwan Strait could cause people to wonder why their own government won't allow free polls. Chinese tourists were put off visiting Taiwan because of the "highly politicised" atmosphere, a Beijing government spokesman said back in October, but would not say if Beijing was telling people not to go. Those who did make it were curious to see democracy at work. "I very much hope to see (the elections) because we still cannot see that on our side of the world," said a 30-year-old tourist from Beijing who gave his name as Max. "It's a rare opportunity... I want to witness the civil rights that democracy brings to people," he said, looking forward to joining one of the traditionally boisterous election rallies the night before the polls. Hundreds of residents of Hong Kong, the Chinese-ruled territory rocked by pro-democracy street protests in 2014, have also flown to Taiwan for the polls. Taiwan votes in a new president and parliament on Saturday, when the China-friendly Nationalists are expected to be defeated by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a party Beijing loathes. "I'M JEALOUS" The DPP's Tsai Ing-wen is likely to become the first woman president on the island - and in the Chinese-speaking world. A Chinese Communist Party member who gave his name as Wong, on a eight-day tour to Taiwan, said he was impressed by the freedom of speech the island enjoys after seeing election flyers and campaign trucks on the streets. "In China, democracy is just a word, but in Taiwan they put it into practice," he said. "I'm jealous." At least 18 political parties and 530 candidates are registered to run for the island's 113-seat parliament, with election campaigns broadcast live by more than half a dozen news channels. "It's so cool - seeing a female leader get elected," said a 21-year-old Chinese visitor surnamed Yang. "Her style seems very refreshing." But some mainland visitors were not so impressed. "Taiwan is part of China, so they should only support the Communist Party," said a middle-aged man from China's eastern province of Jiangsu who declined to be named. "It's too extreme and it's a waste of money," he said, referring to election flyers and campaign motorcades. China has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province since Chiang Kai-shek's defeated ruling Nationalists fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists. It has never renounced the use of force to ensure eventual unification. "China is too autocratic and Taiwan is too free-wheeling," said a mainland tourist who only gave her surname as Han, watching the change of guard in front of a giant statue of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China who is revered by both mainland China and many in Taiwan. Ganges dam project stumbles on Indian flooding fears By Rafiqul Islam DHAKA, Jan 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh's plan to build a dam on the Ganges River to ease water shortages in its southwest coastal region hangs in the balance as neighbouring India has yet to accept the plan. Bangladesh started work on the proposed Ganges Barrage Project during the tenure of the previous ruling Awami League government in the late 1990s. The country has already completed a feasibility study and the design for the proposed 2.1 kilometre-long dam, due to be constructed at Pangsha in Rajbari district, about 100 km downstream from the Farakka Barrage in India's West Bengal state. The Ganges, known as the Padma River in Bangladesh, is one of the major sources of surface water in the southwest of the country. Water scarcity and water salinity - made worse by climate change - are common problems in the region, which is why Bangladesh has given the barrage project top priority. Experts say salinity is on the rise in the southwest due to sea-level rise from global warning. The proposed dam would release water through river channels to help dilute the salt levels. However, experts say it will be difficult to push forward with the project in the absence of support from India. INDIAN OBJECTIONS New Delhi sent a letter to the Bangladesh government in early 2015 saying Indian technical experts had evaluated project documents sent by Dhaka and were concerned the dam could cause flooding in India. The Ganges flows out of India on flat terrain from West Bengal. India in the letter predicted that even a slight increase in the river's water level would cause huge submergence in areas of India bordering Bangladesh. New Delhi asked Dhaka to send the full feasibility study, including scientific modelling, so it could be sure there would be no increase in water levels on Indian territory. Bangladesh Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud told the Thomson Reuters Foundation all the documents requested by India were sent last April, but New Delhi had yet to respond. During a visit to India in November, Mahmud met his Indian counterpart, Uma Bharati, who assured him of a response soon. It will be a hard task for Bangladesh to implement the large dam alone, which is why it has sought cooperation from India, experts say. The two countries are currently locked in a range of political squabbles over water, including over how to share the waters of the Teesta, another cross-boundary river. "India may halt the (Ganges) project, showing technical issues that it (says) will pose adverse impacts on Indian territory - which is why Bangladesh has sought cooperation from India" on the project, said Delwar Hossain, an international relations professor at Dhaka University. However, any project in a downstream country such as Bangladesh has little possibility to cause harm to upstream countries, Hossain said. He said Bangladesh should push ahead to quickly answer any technical questions India raises. At a meeting with the outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh in October, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emphasised the importance of engaging India in the dam project. CHINESE BACKING? According to the feasibility study, around $4 billion will be required to implement the project over a seven-year period, but the government has yet to find the funds. Minister Mahmud said the cost of the barrage project would be recovered within five years through increased agricultural and fish production in the Ganges-dependent area, as well as the 113 megawatts of hydropower the project is expected to generate. A Chinese firm, Hydrochina Corporation, has expressed interest in building the dam, and has already held several meetings with Bangladesh's Water Resources Ministry to discuss financing for the project. According to Hydrochina Corporation officials, the Chinese government is willing to provide $20 billion in concessional loans to South Asian nations over the next five years. "We are keen to implement the proposed Ganges Barrage Project. Funding could be managed with government-to-government negotiations," said Zhao Yang, business development manager for Hydrochina Corporation. The Ganges Barrage would create a reservoir 165 km long, covering 62,500 hectares and with a capacity of some 2.9 billion cubic litres of water. According to the minister, the water would be diverted to 26 districts through 123 regional rivers. Building the dam would alleviate water shortages and contamination of water supplies in southwest Bangladesh, experts say. The reservoir's water would be used throughout the year, regulated by water control structures on rivers, to meet demand for irrigation, fisheries, navigation and salinity control. Acting project director Rowshan Ali Khan said the release of water from the reservoir through the Ganges basin river system would help manage siltation problems in river channels and facilitate drainage. Poland - Factors to Watch Jan 13 Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour): CENTRAL BANK The Polish Senate will pick three new central bank rate-setters on Wednesday. BANK TAX Poland's proposed bank asset tax may prompt lenders to restructure their portfolios in favour of riskier products, use off-balance sheet activities or transfer assets abroad, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Tuesday. EDF The French utility hired law firm Dentons and investment bank Rothschild to help it sell its Polish thermal assets worth 1.5-2.0 billion zlotys, Puls Biznesu daily quoted unnamed sources as saying. The deal is expected to materialize by mid 2016, the paper said. DIPLOMACY Poland's European affairs minister Konrad Szymanski told daily Rzeczpospolita that for the Polish-German relations to be free from harm, both sides need to be cautious. Polish president's foreign affairs aide Krzysztof Szczerski told daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna that Poland's goal is to build its defensive capabilities on its own strength and the presence of NATO forces. KOMPANIA WEGLOWA Polish troubled coal mining firm Kompania Weglowa needs around 2 billion zlotys to be able to finance its debt and start generating profit, energy minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski told Gazeta Polska daily in an interview. ****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Jan 13 MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. VEDOMOSTI www.vedomosti.ru - The government is considering the risks for the economy if the oil price falls to $25 per barrel. - The Ministry of Economy is ready to test the quality of railway shipments by private operators. - Social tension is growing in Russia's regions with the growth of wages arrears, according to analysts. The amount of unpaid salaries hit 3.89 billion roubles ($50.78 million) by Dec. 1 last year, the daily says. KOMMERSANT www.kommersant.ru - Wholesale consumers of energy in Russia's central regions and Urals will have to pay an extra 10 billion roubles ($130.54 million) each year to enable the launch of new power stations in Crimea's towns of Sevastopol and Simferopol. - Crimea's biggest bank RNKB, which was controlled by local authorities, has announced its 100 percent ownership by Russia's state property agency, Rosimushchestvo. - The number of people who spent winter holidays in Russia this year has for the first time exceeded the number of travellers abroad. But a price hike of almost 18 percent for domestic tourism has halved the expected number of people spending holidays in Russia, the daily says. - One of the four deputies of the former military intelligence service chief, Igor Sergun, could take over his job, the daily says. Sergun died unexpectedly on Jan. 3. IZVESTIA www.izvestia.ru - Russia's state space agency has banned workers of the rocket-space industry from travelling abroad. - OPEC has lost its role as the regulator of the global oil market. One of the reasons is lack of unanimity inside of the organisation, according to Russia's experts. ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA www.rg.ru - The oil price could start growing in six months, the daily says, citing analysts. NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA www.ng.ru - Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has announced the formation of three new divisions in the Western regions to respond to NATO's expansion to the Baltics and the rise of its activity near Russia's border. European shares gain on China data, Aegon jumps after update LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - European shares extended the previous session's gains on Wednesday, with better-than-expected Chinese trade data tempering some of the concerns about a slowdown in the world's second largest economy. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1.2 percent by 0804 GMT after gaining 1.1 percent in the previous session. China's total trade fell in December but the decline was far less than expected. Exports from the world's largest trading nation fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier, less than the forecast in a poll of an 8 percent drop, and moderating from November's 6.8 percent decline. China warns Japan against "provocation" around disputed islets BEIJING, Jan 13 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry warned Japan on Wednesday not to take "provocative" action around a group of disputed islets in the East China Sea, saying Tokyo would have to accept the consequences. On Tuesday, Japan said it had told China that any foreign naval vessel entering Japanese waters for reasons other than "innocent passage" will be told to leave by a Japanese naval patrol, signalling a potential escalation in a long-running dispute. Last year, Chinese navy ships sailed near the disputed isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, the Japanese government said. Asked about the Japanese announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China had the right to carry out "normal navigation and patrol activities" around the islands. "We advise Japan against taking provocative acts or doing anything to raise tensions, otherwise it will have to accept responsibility for everything that happens," he told a daily news briefing, without elaborating. In an editorial on Wednesday, the influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times said if Japan sent its navy in, China would have to send in its warships too. "China can send as many warships to the Diaoyu Islands as Japan does," said the newspaper, which is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily. The dispute over the uninhabited islands, which are under Japanese control, has been a major sticking point in Japan and China's often contentious relations in recent years. Ukraine PM advises broadening embargo on Russian goods KIEV, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday he recommended the government extend a list of banned Russian goods as part of a retaliatory trade embargo. "I have instructed the economy ministry ... to broaden the list of goods that fall under Ukraine's counter-measures aimed at protecting the Ukrainian domestic market from Russian economic aggression," he said in a government meeting. EU food safety watchdog hits back at scientists in glyphosate row By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The head of Europe's food safety watchdog has written to a group of nearly 100 senior scientists strongly rejecting their criticisms in a row about the safety of weed-killer ingredient glyphosate. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises European Union policymakers, issued an opinion in November that glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer. That was at odds with a view from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), sparked outrage among environmental campaigners and divided the scientific community. The IARC said in March that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans" while environmental groups have been calling for a ban on glyphosate. Ninety-six academics from around the world signed an open letter to European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, dated Nov. 27, urging EU authorities to ignore the European watchdogs's opinion. "We urge you and the European Commission to disregard the flawed EFSA finding on glyphosate in your formulation of glyphosate health and environmental policy for Europe," the letter said. It was written by Christopher Portier from the U.S.-based non-governmental organisation the Environmental Defense Fund. Portier was also a specialist consulted during the IARC's research on glyphosate. The letter called for "a transparent, open and credible review of the scientific literature". EFSA's opinion could lead the 28-member European Union to renew approval for glyphosate, which was brought into use by Monsanto in the 1970s and is used in its top-selling product Roundup and many other herbicides around the world. In a reply to Portier dated Jan. 13, EFSA Executive Director Bernhard Url described glyphosate as "a keenly debated issue". "I strongly disagree with your contention that EFSA has not applied open and objective criteria to its assessment," Url wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters. Url said representatives of EFSA and the IARC would meet early this year to clarify differences of view between the two bodies and that the IARC evaluations "represent a first step". EU sources said the meeting would probably take place in Brussels in mid-February. EFSA, based in Parma, Italy, also noted its reply was to Portier and the scientists who signed the letter, not the IARC. "We should not compare this first screening assessment with the more comprehensive hazard assessment done by authorities such as EFSA, which are designed to support the regulatory process for pesticides in close cooperation with member states in the EU," Url said. No one at the European Commission or Monsanto was immediately available for comment. Burkina Faso president signals break from past with new ministers OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's newly-elected President Roch Marc Kabore broke with the past on Wednesday by naming a cabinet packed with ministers who had not served under the previous toppled administration. A government statement said 25 of the 30 ministries were headed by people with no track record under veteran leader Blaise Compaore, who was overthrown by a popular protest in Oct. 2014. The appointments come less than a week after the president named little-known economist Paul Kaba Thieba as his prime minister. Kabore has promised to improve access to water, healthcare and education in a landlocked country that produces cotton and gold but remains impoverished. The president, elected in November, kept the security post of Defence Minister for himself as well as Minister of Veterans Affairs in a hint at lingering security concerns. Soldiers from the elite presidential guard staged a short-lived coup against the transitional government in September, during which they took the president, prime minister and cabinet members hostage. The ex-mayor of the capital Ouagadougou was appointed head of territorial administration while Rosine Coulibaly, who was initially in the running for prime minister, has been made head of the ministry of economy, finance and development. Former journalist Alpha Barry has been named head of foreign affairs and regional cooperation. Seven women were appointed to government positions, the highest number in decades. Burkina Faso's economy has slowed due to lower global commodity prices and reduced investment during the democratic transition that began after Compaore fell. Kabore has said the government needs to improve access to water, healthcare and education. U.N. report allowing for Iran sanctions relief may come on Friday By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin DUBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The United Nations' nuclear watchdog is likely to confirm on Friday that Iran has curtailed its nuclear programme as agreed with world powers, paving the way for sanctions to be lifted, Iran and a diplomatic source said. A report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certifying that Iran has met all its obligations under the deal, known as the JCPOA, is a crucial precondition for sanctions relief to kick in. "The IAEA will issue its final report on Friday to confirm Iran has met its commitments under the JCPOA," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, according to the Fars news agency. A diplomatic source also said the IAEA's report was likely to be issued on Friday, while U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the deal's "Implementation Day" would take place "likely within the coming days". Another diplomat based in Vienna, the home of the IAEA, also struck a cautious note. "There's ongoing hard work to reach Implementation Day. Good progress is being made, but there are still areas to finalise and no date has been set," the diplomat said. The IAEA declined to comment. Under the agreement reached in July last year, Tehran promised to reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to below 300 kg (660 pounds), cut the number of its installed uranium-enriching centrifuges to around 6,100 from 19,000, and decommission the Arak heavy water reactor. Tehran has drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at the Fordow and Natanz enrichment sites within the last few months, and shipped tonnes of low-enriched uranium materials to Russia. "What we're expecting is that the IAEA final report will be able to say that Iran is in compliance," said a senior western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Our expectation is that (the report would be submitted) at some point either right at the end of this week or at some point next week," he said. Kerry said on Wednesday the United States was informed that calandria, or central vessel of the Arak reactor, had been removed and it would be filled with concrete in coming hours. INSPECTORS CALL On Tuesday, the spokesman for Iran's atomic energy agency said IAEA inspectors had arrived in Iran to verify the final steps. "The technical work under way is very demanding, but the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran has been trying to do it as fast as possible," Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency. British Prime Minister, David Cameron defended the deal with Iran on Wednesday, saying "Iran has granted the International Atomic Energy Agency unprecedented access." "It's a good deal, it takes Iran away from a nuclear weapon, but we should enter into it with a very heavy heart and a very clear eye and a very hard head," Cameron told MPs in the Prime Minister's Questions. The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday to restrict President Barack Obama's ability to lift sanctions on Iran, but the White House has promised to veto it. Araqchi said on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Federica Mogherini, the European Union's representative for foreign affairs, would issue a joint statement on Saturday or Sunday on the implementation of the deal and the lifting of EU, U.S. and U.N. sanctions. "Implementation will be very soon," said another senior Western diplomat. "Everything is ready for the lifting of sanctions. The U.S. and European Union are ready. To some extent it's just about pressing the button," the diplomat added. Iran, keen to export oil freely again once sanctions are dismantled, has repeatedly said that it has enriched uranium only to create an alternative source of electricity. The IAEA's Board of Governors passed a resolution in December ending its long-running inquiry into whether Iran once had a secret nuclear weapons programme or so-called "possible military dimensions" (PMD). Iran released 10 U.S. sailors on Wednesday after holding them overnight, bringing a swift end to an incident that had rattled nerves ahead of the expected implementation of the nuclear deal. Indian court lets Italian marine delay return for murder trial NEW DELHI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed one of two Italian marines facing murder charges over the deaths of two Indian fishermen to stay in his home country until April 30 following heart surgery. The decision defuses a possible judicial standoff after an Italian senator said the day before that Massimiliano Latorre would not return to face trial as he had been due to by this Friday, having earlier been allowed home for medical treatment. "We allow him to stay in Italy until April 30 on health grounds," a three-judge bench of India's highest court said in its order. The Supreme Court set a hearing on April 13 to take up the case of the marines, who stand accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast almost four years ago. They were part of a military security team protecting an Italian oil tanker and say they mistook the fishermen for pirates. The Italian government, which is at loggerheads with India over the case, said the Indian court could not make any decisions regarding Latorre before an international arbitration hearing at The Hague that it has requested The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg ordered India to suspend legal action against Latorre and the second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, pending the hearing. "(Latorre) can therefore stay in Italy for the entire duration of the international arbitration process," Italy's foreign ministry said in a statement. Girone is still at the Italian embassy in New Delhi. The fallout from India's arrest of the marines has damaged wider relations between Italy and India, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. Prior to Latorre's return, outrage among Italians at the pair's imprisonment was writ large on banners, suspended from prominent buildings in some city centres, that read "We will bring the marines home". Anti-immigrant "Soldiers of Odin" raise concern in Finland By Jussi Rosendahl and Tuomas Forsell HELSINKI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Wearing black jackets adorned with a symbol of a Viking and the Finnish flag, the "Soldiers of Odin" have surfaced as self-proclaimed patriots patrolling the streets to protect native Finns from immigrants, worrying the government and police. On the northern fringes of Europe, Finland has little history of welcoming large numbers of refugees, unlike neighbouring Sweden. But as with other European countries, it is now struggling with a huge increase in asylum seekers and the authorities are wary of any anti-immigrant vigilantism. A group of young men founded Soldiers of Odin, named after a Norse god, late last year in the northern town of Kemi. This lies near the border community of Tornio, which has become an entry point for migrants arriving from Sweden. Since then the group has expanded to other towns, with members stating they want to serve as eyes and ears for the police who they say are struggling to fulfil their duties. Members blame "Islamist intruders" for what they believe is an increase in crime and they have carried placards at demonstrations with slogans such as "Migrants not welcome". While most Finns disapprove of the group, its growth signals disquiet in a country strained by the cost of receiving the asylum seekers while mired in a three-year-old recession that has forced state spending and welfare cuts. Finnish police have also reported harassment of women by "men with a foreign background" at New Year celebrations in Helsinki, as well as at some public events last autumn. This followed complaints of hundreds of sexual assaults on women in Cologne and other German cities - with investigations focused on illegal migrants and asylum seekers - and allegations that Swedish police covered up accusations of similar assaults by mostly migrant youths in Stockholm. Police files show reported cases of sexual harassment in Finland almost doubled to 147 in the last four months of 2015 from 75 in the same period a year earlier. The figures give no ethnic breakdown of the alleged perpetrators. NO PLACE FOR VIGILANTES The government has made clear there can be no place for vigilantes. "As a matter of principle, police are responsible for law and order in the country," Prime Minister Juha Sipila told public broadcaster YLE on Tuesday, responding to concerns about the group. "Civilian patrols cannot assume the authority of the police." Finland received about 32,000 asylum seekers last year, a leap from 3,600 in 2014. Yet it has a relatively small immigrant community, with only around 6 percent of the population foreign-born in 2014 compared with a European Union average of 10 percent. In Kemi, the Soldiers of Odin patrol the streets daily despite the temperatures sinking to -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit). The group has stated it operates in 23 towns, but police says the network operates in five. Its Facebook page has 7,600 "likes". "In our opinion, Islamist intruders cause insecurity and increase crime," the group says on its website. One self-proclaimed member, aiming to recruit new members in the eastern town of Joensuu, said on Facebook the group is "a patriotic organisation that fights for a white Finland". In the eastern German city of Leipzig, more than 200 masked right-wing supporters, carrying placards with racist overtones, went on a rampage this week. Last October, a masked swordsman in Sweden killed two people with immigrant backgrounds in a school attack that fuelled fears that the refugee influx is polarising public opinion. In Finland, no clashes have been reported between the Soldiers of Odin patrols and immigrants but police said they are keeping a close eye on the group. The Security Intelligence Service has said "some patrol groups" seem to have links to extremist movements. LET THE POLICE DO THEIR JOB Police acknowledge patrolling alone is not a crime. "As long as the patrols only report possible incidents to police, they have the right to do so," said Kemi police Chief Inspector Eero Vanska. However, he added: "They should let the police do their job." Some Soldiers of Odin members play down the group's motives, saying it aims to help people regardless of their skin colour. The group has closed its website following reports on some members' criminal background. Members contacted by Reuters declined to comment. But one of the group's founders in Kemi, Mika Ranta, made clear immigration was the focus. "We woke up to a situation where different cultures met. It caused fear and concern in the community," he told a local newspaper in October. "The biggest issue was when we learned from Facebook that new asylum seekers were hanging around primary schools, taking pictures of young girls." The coalition government - which includes The Finns, an anti-immigration party - has criticised the patrols. "These kinds of patrol clearly have anti-immigration and racist attributes and their action does not improve security," interior minister Petteri Orpo told Reuters. "Now the police must commit its scarce resources to (monitoring) their action." But the government faces pressure to clamp down more on asylum seekers. Support for The Finns party, which joined the coalition in May, has plummeted partly because voters are frustrated with the government's handling of migrants. The government has tightened immigration policies, requiring working-age asylum seekers to do some unpaid jobs and acknowledge a "national curriculum" on Finnish culture and society. The patrols have also prompted a counter-movement, with Facebook communities hoping to avert confrontations on the streets. One such is the Sisters of Kyllikki, named after a character in the national epic poem Kalevala. Myanmar's Suu Kyi avoids "rocking boat" with military ahead of handover By Hnin Yadana Zaw and Antoni Slodkowski NAYPYITAW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Myanmar election winner Aung San Suu Kyi will not press for an immediate change to the constitution that bars her from becoming president, and will instead appoint a ceremonial head of state, a senior official in her party said on Wednesday. She will also include in the new cabinet at least one member of the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was trounced in the November vote, as well as technocrats from ethnic minorities who have long complained of being sidelined from power. The democracy champion is keen to avoid open confrontation with the powerful military, perhaps wary that the last time she triumphed at the ballot box in 1990, the army kept her under house arrest for years and refused to surrender power. That does not mean Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party has given up on its overarching goal of amending the constitution, the party official told Reuters, but the issue has not been discussed yet between the sides in recent weeks. "Our choice of president will be only ceremonial and the decisions will be made only by Aung San Suu Kyi," said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of negotiations on how the country will be run following the NLD's landslide election victory. He reiterated Suu Kyi's assertion that she would stay "above the president". But by appointing a figurehead president, the NLD aims to "show the people this ridiculous constitution must be amended." Suu Kyi has discussed aspects of the transition with the army chief at "a few", previously unreported, closed-door meetings since the elections, he said. She has also appointed NLD liaisons who are in regular contact with the army, part of intensifying efforts to build trust between the party and its former enemies. Last month Suu Kyi met the former head of the junta that ruled the country for 49 years, Than Shwe, pledging the NLD wanted work for the "brighter future" and not focus on the past. PRAGMATISM TRUMPS THE PAST The Nobel laureate's conciliatory steps towards the army reflect a pragmatic approach to transition from semi-civilian rule in place since 2011, and see Suu Kyi's image as a democracy icon blur with that of a political operator. That pragmatism has drawn criticism in the recent past. One issue Suu Kyi largely avoided during election campaigning, for example, was the plight of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims, a silence that was frowned upon by some international observers. As far as political transition is concerned, however, experts said the 70-year-old's willingness to do business with the former military dictatorship was unavoidable. "Her priority ... is not to get rid of the military or to diminish it, but to bring it under civilian control, and I think that's understood by everyone to be a gradual process," said Richard Horsey, a respected Yangon-based analyst and former senior United Nations official in Myanmar. "It's not going to happen overnight and it can only happen if the military accepts to be brought under civilian control, given ... its de facto authority and power." Myanmar's existing constitution, drawn up by the junta, guarantees the military a quarter of seats in parliament, control of three security ministries and a constitutional veto. ROCKING THE BOAT NLD representatives were meeting or calling army officers "two or three times" a week, the official said. Both mid- and high-ranking party members were involved in the talks. "They (the military) are nervous. They want to know that we won't rock the boat," said the official. Zaw Htay, a senior official in the president's office, supported the dialogue. "Trust and cooperation are based on understanding. So both sides need to talk to each other directly without using a third person," he said. Suu Kyi's new cabinet will be streamlined to include less than 25 ministries from 36 now, according to the NLD source. Ministerial and presidential candidates, still under debate among top NLD leaders, will be announced just before the start of the new parliament on Feb. 1, he added. The NLD does not plan to retain any ministers from the current administration due to political opposition, although the relative lack of experience in government among the NLD leadership is a cause for concern. "We are worried that our people have little or no experience in actual governance," said the official. The government will include at least one member of the USDP, however, a move welcomed by the office of President Thein Sein, who has led Myanmar since 2011 and introduced a series of reforms. Don't mention the Brexit: EU bans Plan B studies By Paul Taylor and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - European Commission economists have been banned from researching the impact of Britain leaving the 28-nation bloc, or even talking about it, for fear of getting embroiled in the heated British debate ahead of a referendum, officials said. "There is an internal order not to discuss or study the impact of Brexit," a senior Commission official told Reuters, adding that the instruction had come from the office of European Union chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker. As a result, the Commission's economic forecasts for the euro zone and the wider EU will take account of political and financial risks in China, the Middle East and the United States but not the glaringly obvious risk that Britain, the EU's second biggest economy, may vote to leave. Another senior EU official said the Commission had learned to its cost the consequences of such contingency planning last year. It insisted it had no "Plan B" to manage a possible Grexit -- the risk of Greece leaving the euro zone. Then word of just such plans leaked out, causing further upset in Athens and the money markets. "We learned from the Grexit thing," the second official said of the lack of contingency plans for Brexit. "If we do it, the press will find out about it. So this time we're not doing it." Unlike the possibility of a Grexit, which could have happened suddenly after Athens defaulted on an IMF loan last June, Britain will face a lengthy period of negotiating the unwinding of its 43-year EU membership if voters decide to leave in a referendum promised by Prime Minister David Cameron. Many assume it would take at least two years, giving the Commission time to work out economic consequences. The costs and benefits of EU membership for the British economy will be a key issue in the referendum campaign. Cameron is trying to negotiate changes to the bloc before a mid-February summit and says he will campaign for Britain to stay in if his demands are met. Opinion polls on the referendum, which could be held as early as June, show voters almost evenly split. Juncker and national leaders across Europe say they will work hard to avoid losing Britain. "Enraged" Israel summons Swedish envoy over FM's remarks By Dan Williams and Anna Ringstrom JERUSALEM/STOCKHOLM, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Israel summoned the Swedish ambassador on Wednesday to convey what it described as its "rage" at a call by Stockholm's top diplomat for an investigation to determine whether Israeli forces were guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's remarks on Tuesday were the latest in a series of statements to stoke Israeli resentment that has simmered since the Scandinavian country recognised Palestinian statehood last year. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that it called in Swedish Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser to reprimand him over what it deemed "another statement by her (Wallstrom) that attests to her biased and even hostile attitude to Israel". It said Nesser was also told of "the rage of the government and people of Israel at the skewed portrayal of the situation". Rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force to quell a surge of Palestinian street attacks that has been fuelled in part by Muslim agitation at stepped-up Jewish visits to a contested Jerusalem shrine, as well as a long impasse in talks on founding a Palestinian state on Israeli-occupied land. The bloodshed has raised fears of wider confrontation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have all expressed concern, saying that while they recognise Israel's right to self-defence, restraint is necessary to ensure the violence does not escalate further. Since Oct. 1, Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and gun attacks have killed 24 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 143 Palestinians, 91 of whom authorities have described as assailants. Most others were killed in clashes with security forces. "It is vital that there is a thorough, credible investigation into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability," Swedish media quoted Wallstrom as saying during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday. She earlier described the Palestinians' plight as a factor leading to Islamist radicalisation - comments seen in Israel as linking it to the November gun and bomb rampage in Paris. Pushing back on Wednesday, Deputy Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told reporters that Wallstrom's censure risked "encouraging Islamic State to take action throughout Europe". Hotovely called for a halt to official Swedish visits to Israel - a measure that political sources said was overruled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, asked to clarify Israel's position, said Wallstrom "would not be especially welcomed here. Were she to visit, she would not be received by Israeli officials." Guatemala's main airport reopened after protest GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Guatemala's main airport reopened to passengers and workers on Wednesday afternoon after civil aviation authority employees had blocked the main doors to La Aurora in Guatemala City in a protest over pay and layoffs. Union leaders and authorities entered into a private meeting to discuss their concerns. For about three hours the workers had not been allowing anyone to enter or leave the terminal building, causing long queues of stranded passengers. Niger says four have confessed to planning foiled coup By Abdoulaye Massalaki NIAMEY, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Four people arrested for ties to an attempted coup in Niger in December have confessed to the plot and asked for clemency, the defence minister said on Wednesday. At least 13 people, including a civilian, had been arrested, Defence Minister Mahamadou Karidio said. Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou said on national television on Dec. 17 that the coup had been foiled. There have been several coups in the landlocked West African nation, which the West sees as an important ally against terrorism, since independence from former colonial ruler France in 1960. Issoufou took power a year after a coup in 2011. He is expected to win a second term in a February election but critics have said he has become increasingly authoritarian. Karidio added that Hama Amadou, a principal opposition figure and presidential candidate, had been questioned as part of the investigation. Lawyers went on a 24-hour strike on Monday to protest against what they called arbitrary detentions by the secret service, which the bar association said was denying access to clients. "I can confirm with honour that at least four people have confessed to having prepared a coup d'etat, starting with their leader," Karidio told journalists on Wednesday. "They asked for clemency." Karidio did not name those said to have confessed but said a head of an artillery battalion, an air base commander and the army's former inspector-general were among those arrested. Family members of the accused were not immediately available for comment. The defence minister said the presumed head of the botched coup plot had a list naming 10 other officers, but it was not yet clear whether they were involved. Another 10 civilians and three customs officers were under investigation for ties to the plot, Karidio said. Military sources said they were being held for questioning by the president's secret service. It is no longer tenable to classify people as hawks or doves based on where they stand in relation to the ever changing India-Pakistan dynamic. Whether you frame this relationship in terms of a conflict or a peace process, it is hard to miss the language of respect and restraint in recent diplomatic exchanges between the two countries. Instead of the mutual mud-slinging that one has come to expect, there is a growing semblance of trust. Pakistan has promised to co-operate with India by taking action against those responsible for the Pathankot terror attack. India has affirmed that there is no reason to doubt Pakistan's commitment. This might be a surprise but certainly a pleasant one. "Pathankot gives me a bit of hope. It has been handled remarkably well by both governments, shortly after that unexpected trip by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lahore. Not very unexpected to some, I must add. Where did he get that pink turban to gift Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif? Did he buy it in Kabul?" said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a nuclear physicist from Islamabad at Mumbai's Tata Institute of Social Sciences on January 11. Pervez Hoodbhoy. He was at the institute to give a talk titled "Nuclear Rivalry Between India and Pakistan: Implications for the Stability of the Region". Hoodbhoy is known for his seminal work in theoretical particle physics in a career spanning four decades, and for his staunch opposition to militant Islam in Pakistan. He has been to India on a four-week lecture tour in 2005, which took him to the north, south, east and west of India, as part of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize recognising his contributions to the popularisation of science. He said, "There are rational actors on both sides. Everybody now understands that if there is a serious war, it will escalate out of control. Once the first nuclear weapon is used, the second is going to be used. When the second is used, the third will be. Well-meaning people who have created nuclear weapons, thinking that they would act as a deterrent to war, have no idea of the horrors they have unleashed." Many in India, however, are deeply cynical of Pakistan's assurances to crack down on terrorists. This is particularly because of the slower than snail-like pace at which they have acted in response to the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. Hoodbhoy said, "There is little doubt in my mind that the responsibility for punishing those jihadis is on Pakistani shoulders. The men who carried out those brutal attacks on the Taj Hotel and other places -- their calls have been traced back to Pakistan. They came from Karachi. Their chief was Hafiz Saeed, and their handler Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. It is incumbent on Pakistan to punish them. The very fact that Saeed is allowed to be on television is a disgrace. Lakhvi should not be protected at all by the Pakistani state." There is reason to believe that Pakistan's response to terrorism will change. Both civilians and the Pakistani army have had to pay a heavy price by way of the large number of lives lost due to terror attacks on Pakistani soil. "The Pakistani army has lost more soldiers to the jihadis than to the Indian army," said Hoodbhoy, while making a special reference to the massacre of children and their teachers at Peshawar's Army Public School in December 2014. It is difficult to have a conversation about terrorism in the subcontinent without talking about Kashmir. It would be facile to sum up the complexity of the situation by saying that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. The lived experience of physical and structural violence is perhaps best talked about by Kashmiris, in all their diversity, instead of those whose interest in the region is purely academic or political. However, it would also be foolish to state that the issue of Kashmir should not be broached at all since it is delicate territory to tread on. During his talk, Hoodbhoy mentioned walking through the corridors of Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University, and noticing posters by groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Hizbul Mujahideen competing to recruit students to join the jihad in Kashmir. After listening to this, one of the students in the audience at Mumbai, asked Hoodbhoy, "By discrediting the freedom struggle in Kashmir as a Pakistani conspiracy, aren't you turning a blind eye to the brutal occupation of Kashmir by India?" Hoodbhoy replied, "Pakistan should have no business in supporting them militarily. It can respond diplomatically and politically. We must remember that both Muslims and Hindus have suffered. What has happened to the Kashmiri Pandits is no small thing. Yes, we must be critical of armed action against civilians, whether it is in Kashmir, Balochistan, Nagaland or Sindh." His position on India-Pakistan relations appears to be far more pragmatic than the longing for a pre-Partition past, or the dream of a South Asia without borders. Now in bits and pieces, the real story of ISIS and the NATO policies is coming out. It is clear that the NATO attack on President Bashar al Assad had more to do with reordering the power structure, than being driven by getting a democratic regime. Syria has been providing arms and funds to Hezbollah. In the Israel-Lebanon war some years ago, Israel suffered its first defeat since its inception. But if the Assad regime fell, Hezbollah would be critically weakened. The "regime change" - from Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya and Somalia - was to create pro-US governments. Democracy in US allies has never been an issue. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Arab emirates are not remotely democratic or secular. Many of them fund ISIS, al Nusra, al Qaeda, among other terrorist outfits. The real aim of the current war in West Asia is to establish and strengthen client states. Corruption and collaboration as in Turkey, a NATO member, shows how fraudulent the "war against terror" is. Turkish President Recep Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan owns several maritime companies. He has allegedly signed contracts with European operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different Asian countries. The Turkish government buys oil from the seized Iraqi oil wells. Bilal Erdogan's maritime companies own special wharfs in Beirut and Ceyhan ports that illegally ferry ISIS-smuggled crude oil on Japan-bound oil tankers. The BMZ shipping company is a family-run business. According to Gursel Tekin, vice president of the Turkish Republican People's Party, "President Erdogan's close relatives hold shares in BMZ and they misused public funds and took illicit loans from Turkish banks". Tekin goes on to allege that "Bilal Erdogan is up to his neck in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution". Selling stolen Iraqi oil is a very lucrative business. Al Nusra controls some of the Iraqi oil wells. The proceeds from Turkish purchases fund this notorious groups terrorist activists, and even more so of ISIS. The oil convoys, organised by the Turkish BMZ owned by Erdogan's family, comprise some 70-100 tankers who use the Zahko port in Turkey. Allegedly Syrian, Kurdish and Iraqi merchants buy the oil there. Dr Fareed, who is Israel's broker, ensures that part of the convoy of stolen oil reaches Israel. This is a complex and multi-country oil scam, of which the US and its allies must be aware. If the Indian intelligence is not aware it would be incredible. Just like the Indian government's silence on the Russian President Vladimir Putin's list of 40 countries supporting ISIS circulated at the G-20 meeting. In the meantime, after the Russian support to Syria, the Obama government has removed the earlier verifications on "good terrorists" who are trying to overthrow the Syrian government, so some 50 tonnes of arms have been sent in to the terrorist areas inside and outside the Syrian borders. Despite the Russian and Syrian air bombing of ISIS areas, there is no such systematic air attack by the US coalition on ISIS-controlled areas. ISTANBUL - Turkey - Three Russian suspects who were allegedly in contact with IS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group were detained by Turkish forces on Tuesday local news reports confirm. We have nothing to do with this. It must be the Islamic State that did it. At least thats the cover story, Volkov Dmitriev, a Russian consul official in Istanbul told newspapers. Turkish authorities detained three Russians following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 10 German tourists, media reports said on Wednesday. When asked about the bombing incident, Russian president Vladimir Putin was strangely silent, and passed a cup of clear liquid to the reporter from the Tass news agency. The reporter has since died. The Dayton Art Institute has announced its special exhibition schedule for 2016. The "Year of the Elements" features an innovative suite of exhibitions of contemporary art, all organized by The Dayton Art Institute, and themed around the classical elementsfire, air, earth, water and ether. These originally conceived exhibitions explore the elements through the concept of the sublime, creating engaging visual experiences that will illuminate the primal, yet shifting, relationships we have with the elements via nature. From light installations and interactive video works, to large-scale photography, viewers will be presented with immersive and unique experiences that will ignite the imagination and encourage participation. "The deeply interactive works featured in this series of exhibitions are a powerful testament to the advancement of and growing interest in digital art as well as its unique ability to nurture creativity and curiosity through technology and we are thrilled to be able to bring them to the greater Dayton community," comments The Dayton Art Institute's Chief Curator and Curator of European Art, Aimee Marcereau DeGalan. Into the Ether: Contemporary Light Artists April 2June 26, 2016 The year of the elements begins with Into the Ether: Contemporary Light Artists, highlighting fire, air and ether through an investigation of light, a primary aesthetic principle in art. Grounded by the Light and Space movement of the 1960s in California, Into the Ether features artists who examine atmospheric changes, human perception, and individual experiences. Showcasing the work of contemporary artists JamesTurrell, Robert Irwin, Leo Villareal, Erwin Redl, Daniel Rozin, and Diane Willow, the exhibition showcases experiments with immersive environments and atmospheric qualities, creating unique experiences for each museum patron. The Antarctic Sublime & Elements of Nature: Water July 16October 16, 2016 The summer suite of exhibitions will feature two installations in different parts of the museum, highlighting the many forms of the classical element water: frozen across the expansive and rocky terrain of thePerito Moreno glacier in Argentina; implied in a colony of 450 mechanized penguins who frequently cavort and play in its icy depths; and free-flowing in an over-12-foot digital waterfall. Read more: The Antarctic Sublime & Elements of Nature: Water Ravaged Sublime: Landscape Photography in the 21st Century October 15, 2016January 8, 2017 The year of the elements concludes with Ravaged Sublime: Landscape Photography in the 21st Century. Showcasing the work of contemporary photographers Edward Burtynsky and Richard Mosse, the exhibition reveals the continued interest in sublime landscapes, but with a shift in artist intent and tone. Utilizing similar visual techniques as nineteenth-century landscape photographers, these large-scale photographs demonstrate the tantalizing draw we still have towards landscape imagery while showing human traces and impact via industrial expansion and conflict that ravage these landscapes. "Our curatorial team has put together a one-of-a-kind series of exhibitions that you will only be able to experience here at your Dayton Art Institute," says Director and CEO Michael R. Roediger. "As we begin the countdown to the museum's centennial in 2019, many exciting things are in store for 2016. I hope you will join us for the 'Year of the Elements,' as well as the many other events and programs taking place throughout the year at The DAI." The beginning of the new year is the perfect time to become a member of The Dayton Art Institute. Memberships start at just $40 and provide free admission to all of these special exhibitions (as well as the current special exhibition, American Sampler: Grandma Moses and the Handicraft Tradition, which continues through February 21), unlimited visits to the permanent collection, free admission to jazz concerts, discounts at The Museum Store and Leo Bistro, discounts on events and programs, and reciprocal access to 14 other Ohio art museums. For more information about the 2016 special exhibitions and museum membership, visit www.daytonartinstitute.org or call the museum at 937-223-4ART (4278). Be sure to connect with The Dayton Art Institute on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for additional information, behind-the-scenes photos and exclusive offers. New Delhi: India will once again undertake the tight-rope walk between Israel and Palestine, without seeking to ruffle feathers in either the Jewish State or the Arab world. Ahead of a likely visit by PM Narendra Modi to Israel and Palestine later this year, the Government on Tuesday announced that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would visit Palestine and Israel. Ms Swaraj will visit Palestine first on January 17 followed by Israel on January 17 and 18. The visit follows that of President Pranab Mukherjee in October last year. Though it has strategic defence ties with Israel, Indiain the current tenure of the Modi Governmenthas been at pains to point out that its support to the Palestinian cause remains. Significantly, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said in New Delhi that Indias relations with Israel are independent to its relations with any country in the region. The MEA also pointed out that Palestine would be the first destination in the first visit to the west Asian region by the minister and that this in itself reflects the importance India holds for Palestine in its engagement with the countries of the region. The opening of the new Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, a trip to one of the most remote islands in the world, and a hike up Nicaragua's tallest active volcano have been named as some of the best new openings and travel experiences to mark 2016 by editors at Lonely Planet. In their second annual New in Travel list for 2016, LP has identified 31 of the hottest experiences in travel for intrepid globe-trotters looking for their next great adventure this year. Topping their list is the San Cristobal Volcano, the tallest in Nicaragua at 1,745 m, which recently opened the Center for Extreme Tourism, Chinandega, a new ecotourism facility that includes an inn, dining hall and visitor services. Thrill-seekers can climb the trails leading up to the rim of the volcano, which is among the most active in the country. Travelers eyeing a trip to Japan may also want to add a trip to Hokkaido to their itinerary, now that the country's northernmost island will become more accessible, points out LP. Beginning this spring, the country will open a new high-speed bullet train route connecting the mainland to Hokkaido, known as a ski destination in winter, but also popular for its hiking, hot springs and seafood offerings. Running 13 times a day, trips will take about four hours. Attractions and destinations included on the list have either recently opened or are due to open this year and represent the latest, most cutting-edge experiences of 2016 for ambitious travelers who like to "stay ahead of the curve." Other notable experiences that made the list include a visit to one of the most remote islands in the world, St Helena located in the South Pacific, set to open a new airport this year and cut down what's normally a five-day trip to five hours; and the long-awaited opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Here are the top 10 hottest new travel experiences of 2016, according to Lonely Planet: Rohit Sharmas scintillating unbeaten 171 went in vain as Australia rode on skipper Steve Smiths fluent 149 to script a comfortable five-wicket victory in a high-scoring first one-dayer here on Tuesday. On one of the flattest WACA tracks in recent times, India scored a commanding 309 for three courtesy Rohits brilliant strokeplay but the target seemed insufficient against the hosts, who relied on centuries by Smith and George Bailey (112) to overhaul the target in 49.2 overs. Rohits 163-ball knock was the best by an Indian while vice-captain Virat Kohli also impressed with a 91-run effort as the duo added 207 runs for the second wicket. But Indias poor bowling allowed the Australians to clinch a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Smith, who faced 163 balls, added a staggering 242 runs for the third wicket with another former captain Bailey as the home team knocked off the runs with ease. While it was another heartbreaking end to a Rohit century that ended in a losing cause (his T20 hundred and ODI hundred against SA were scored in defeats), Australian skipper Smith again turned out to be Indias nemesis, pacing his innings to perfection. Smiths sequence of scores against the Men In Blue across formats reads: 162 not out, 52 not out, 133, 28, 192, 14, 117, 71, 47, 105. It also turned out to be the highest successful run-chase at the WACA and the third highest in an ODI in Australia. The Indian bowling attack looked completely out of depth as the Smith-Bailey duo never did anything extraordinary but still managed to hammer Umesh Yadav and co with monotonic regularity. For India, debutant Barinder Sran (3/56) managed to create an impression with early breakthroughs but the other bowlers failed to join the party. Especially disappointing were Indias spin twins R Ashwin (2/68 in 9 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (0/61 in 9 overs) looked far from penetrative. The two teams will now travel to Brisbane for the second ODI on Friday. Smith hit 11 fours and 2 sixes en route his fifth ODI ton while Baileys third hundred had seven fours and two sixes. While Australia were 21 for two in the fifth over, things could have taken a different turn as Bailey looked to have gloved the first delivery he faced bowled by Sran. While Dhoni looked confident, Sran did not even go up with an appeal. Baileys reprieve really cost India, but a lack of DRS couldnt be blamed for this defeat. Along with Smith, he went about rebuilding the innings patiently and kept the scorecard ticking, looking to set the stage for a grandstand finish. En route his ninth ODI hundred, the stylish right-hander from Mumbai broke a plethora of records, including the one where he surpassed Sir Vivian Richards 153 which has been the highest individual score against Australia in an ODI Down Under for the last 37 years. Australia got a taste of Rohits blazing blade especially towards the end when India scored 61 off the last five overs. President Barack Obama accused critics on Tuesday of playing into the hands of Islamic State by comparing the fight against the militant group to World War Three, in an address aimed at laying out an optimistic vision of America's future. Obama, who is delivering his last State of the Union speech to Congress before leaving office next year, said it was fiction to declare the United States was in economic decline or getting weaker on the international stage, despite rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates vying to replace him in the Nov. 8 election. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence," Obama said, according to prepared remarks. "Thats the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We dont need to build them up to show that were serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the worlds largest religions," he said, referring to Islamic State by an acronym. The remarks were a repudiation of Republican criticism of his strategy against Islamic State and, not so subtly, of Republican front-runner Donald Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. Obama's address comes as 10 sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats were taken into Iranian custody. Iran told the United States the crew members would be "promptly" returned, U.S. officials said. The event gave Republicans further fodder to criticize Obama's nuclear deal with Tehran. Obama did not address the issue at the top of his speech. The address is one of Obama's few remaining chances to capture the attention of millions of Americans before November's election of a new president who will take office next January. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is delivering the Republican Partys response to Obamas address, will knock his record on fiscal and foreign policy while delivering a not-so-subtle jab at Republican presidential candidates such as Trump. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country," she will say, according to excerpts of her remarks. Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Obama stuck to themes he hopes will define his legacy. He emphasized areas where compromise was possible with Republicans in Congress including criminal justice reform, trade and poverty reduction. He called for lawmakers to ratify a Pacific trade pact, advance tighter gun laws and lift an embargo on Cuba. Three juveniles who allegedly kidnapped and tried to murder of a man in south Delhis Malviya Nagar have been nabbed. The victim was kidnapped at gunpoint on December 26 by six juveniles who took him away forcibly on a motorcycle. However, he managed to flee from them. The three accused are identified as Vipin, Anuj and Parmjeet. A country-made pistol, two live cartridges and two motorcycles used in the crime have been recovered from their possession. The victim Deepak Kumar Jha had reported that on around 3.30 pm on December 26, when he was sitting in a park in front of Saket Court, six boys came there and kidnapped him. They took him to a house in Chirag Delhi village. He was beaten with iron rods and lathis in the house. They then took him on a motorcycle towards Suraj Kund in Haryana with the intention to kill him. While they were passing through Mangal Bazar Road in south Delhis Sangam Vihar, Jha raised an alarm and took out Vipins pistol from his trousers and hit it on his head. Vipin lost control of the motorcycle and they all fell down. After that, Vipin and his friend ran away from the spot after snatching their pistol back. Sangam Vihar police reached there and took the complainant to the AIIMS trauma centre. Later, a police team managed to arrest Anuj and Parmajeet. However, the main accused Vipin, a member of Raju Baba Gang was still absconding. On January 10, police received information that Vipin would come to meet Prince near Ganda Nala, Chirag Delhi. He was arrested. Vipin disclosed that he had a grudge with Deepak Jha since a quarrel five or six months ago. Hence, he wanted to kill him to show his status in the locality. Police are interrogating the arrested youths to find out the whereabouts of the other accused in the case. The double murder as part of a gang war in west Delhis Chhawla on Monday was to avenge the killing of two men, including a retired Delhi Police head constable, last month. A 22-year-old man named Dharmender was arrested for the deaths on December 31. The men shot dead on Monday were Dharmenders father Vinod and brother Kamal, police said. Vinod and Kamal were shot by a group of men outside their house in Shikarpur village. Dharmender is a member of Manjeet Mahal gang. The gang members are wanted for involvement in the murder of former Najafgarh MLA Bharat Singh. We suspect the role of Jyoti-Nandu gang behind Mondays attack, said a police officer. Dharmender Kumar was arrested after about 50 rounds were fired at Chhawla on December 20. On that day, a man named Sunil was shot dead near Chhawla police station. Sunil and his friends were having dinner when Manjeet Mahals gang member Nafe Singh called them to sort out a dispute over money. Sunil was, however, killed in indiscriminate firing. Sunil was a member of the gang led by Jyoti and Nandu. Within hours, over half-a-dozen men barged into Nafes house in Ghumanhera village and gunned down his father. Hari Kishan, 62, had retired as a head constable with Delhi Police in 2014. The gang went on to open fire at Nafes mother Kamla and wife Sharmila, but spared his two children, an 11-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son. Kamla sustained three gunshot wounds, while Sharmila was hit in her head. The attack was in retaliation to Sunils murder, added Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) R A Sanjeev. Nafe, 35, has criminal history and was linked with an alleged land grabbing racket run from Tihar Jail in 2014. On Monday, three men in a car had first shot Dharmenders brother Kamal, who was inside his house. The gang then went to the cattleshed and shot Vinod. They also opened fire at Vinods brother Virender, but he managed to escape unhurt. Days of unarmed traffic police personnel in Delhi seem to be over now. About 900 traffic policemen have been given arms over the past week. On January 4, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi had told the media that 1,000 traffic policemen will be armed with pistols in Delhi. We have planned to provide pistols to 1,000 traffic policemen. These officers will be handling the arms within next few months, Bassi had said at the Delhi Police's annual press conference. Just after two days of the Commissioners statement, the programme to give small arms to traffic police personnel of the rank of head constable and above started with one-day mandatory arms practice for them. The one-day training of all the traffic-police officials above the rank of constable started on January 6. The training starts with dry-firing, and then they have to fire rounds on a target and achieve above average score specified for them, said Romil Bannia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic/ Headquarters). The training also involves locking and anti-locking of the pistols, and after completing their training, the officials are given small arms comprising pistols and revolvers, he added. Module busted The idea of armed traffic policemen came up after a string of terror-related modules were busted by the Delhi Polices Special Cell in and outside Delhi. The idea was always there but Pathankot terror attack, and the subsequent intelligence inputs about the possibility of terrorists entering the national capital, speeded up the programme. Besides that, Republic Day is coming up, which heightens the threat perception of an attack in the city, said Sharad Aggarwal, Joint Commssioner of Police (Traffic). Already, 890 to 900 traffic police personnel have been provided with weapons. The target is to arm all traffic police staff of the rank of head constable and above, totalling about 1,000, by Friday. With a road length of around 30,000 km, the city is manned by about 5,500 traffic policemen comprising mostly of the rank of constable. Three men have been arrested for allegedly hatching a plot to open fire inside a courtroom at east Delhis Karkardooma Court Complex in which a Delhi Police head constable was killed and three others were injured last month. The Metropolitan Magistrate also had a close shave as one of the bullets scraped past his chair and hit a wall. The incident occurred while Metropolitan Magistrates courtroom number 73 was in progress on December 23. The four armed assailants, all juveniles, were overpowered at the spot with a pistol, a revolver, and two country-made pistols. Head constable Ram Kanwar Meena was escorting undertrial prisoner Chanu Pehelwan alias Irfan, a criminal from north east Delhis Seelampur, for a court hearing, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) B S Gurjar. Irfan had been in judicial custody and was to give a statement in the courtroom. As soon as the constable entered the courtroom with Irfan, the four assailants opened fire. Ram sustained five gunshot wounds and succumbed to his injuries at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. During interrogation, the juveniles told police that they fired at the instance of Abdul Nasir, 28, Shahrukh, 22, and Shiv Shakti, 38. They were in judicial custody for involvement in cases registered with Delhi Police. They have been arrested for questioning, Gurjar added. Abdul told police that he had enmity with Irfan and planned to kill him. They conspired to get Irfan killed by Shahrukhs juvenile brother, who also has criminal history. The recovered weapon were supplied by Abduls accomplice identified as Asim. Asim also helped the juveniles conduct a recce, Gurjar said. Before the incident, Asim took three of the juveniles in a Honda City car to Jaipur to plan the attack. On the day of the incident, he also took all the juveniles from Karkardooma Court Complexs main gate to courtroom number 73. Asim conducted a recce of the court along with the juveniles a week before the incident. He also helped them in firing practice, Gurjar added. Asim is absconding, and raids are being conducted to nab him. Abdul, a resident of Jafrabad, is involved in a murder case of a man named Haji Matin and 10 other cases. Shahrukh is involved in a murder case and another case of Arms Act, while Shiv is involved in four cases. Indian-American South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley today criticised President Barack Obama's policies as having "fallen far short of his soaring words" during his seven-year-long tenure as she asked Americans to resist the "angriest voices" on immigration. "Barack Obama's election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that," she said in formal Republican response to Obama's last State of the Union address. "Unfortunately, the President's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words," said 43-year-old Haley, seen as a potential Republican vice presidential pick in 2016. "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. We're feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities," she said. In her impressive nine-minute speech that launched her into national politics, Haley also tried to jab her party's White House frontrunner Donald Trump by urging Americans to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" on immigration. She recounted her Indian-American heritage to describe her vision of America. "I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country," she said. "Growing up in the rural south, my family didn't look like our neighbours, and we didn't have much. There were times that were tough, but we had each other, and we had the opportunity to do anything, to be anything, as long as we were willing to work for it," she added. Haley said her story is not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to US for generations to live the dream that is America, she said. "Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation," she said, apparently referring to Trump's controversial remarks calling for a ban on Muslims immigrants in the wake of the Paris attacks, in which some of the killers are believed to have entered into France as refugees. Haley said the US is facing the most dangerous security threat since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in a reference to the ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. "Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it," Haley said, adding that soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. "That direction is what I want to talk about...," said the two-term Governor of South Carolina. Haley did not mention the Republican presidential race but said a Republican president in the White House would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. "We would encourage American innovation and success instead of demonizing them, so our economy would truly soar and good jobs would be available across our country," she said. "We would reform education so it worked best for students, parents, and teachers, not Washington bureaucrats and union bosses. We would end a disastrous health care program, and replace it with reforms that lowered costs and actually let you keep your doctor," she added. "We would respect differences in modern families, but we would also insist on respect for religious liberty as a cornerstone of our democracy. We would recognise the importance of the separation of powers and honour the Constitution in its entirety. And yes, that includes the Second and Tenth Amendments," Haley said. "We would make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around. And rather than just thanking our brave men and women in uniform, we would actually strengthen our military, so both our friends and our enemies would know that America seeks peace, but when we fight wars we win them," she said. "We have big decisions to make. Our country is being tested. But weve been tested in the past, and our people have always risen to the challenge. We have all the guidance we need to be safe and successful," Haley added. A whopping Rs 32 crore worth of valuables and other items, including cash and mobile phones, was misplaced by air travellers at the major airports of the country in the year just passed, official data says. The data on 'unattended property recovered' for 2015 has been collated by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is mandated to secure 59 civil airports in the country. As per the CISF, fliers left behind cash of various denominations, jewellery, laptops, cellphones and electronic items, among others, worth a total of Rs 32.15 crore in the security-hold area of these facilities. "While all the items seized by on-duty CISF teams are handed over to the airport operating authorities, a substantial part of it has been claimed back by passengers after due verification," a senior official said. The paramilitary force evaluates these items after seizure and bona-fide owners can claim the same back from the airport operator's desk after checking the list of recovered items on the website of the force at www.cisf.gov.in. The force, which is tasked with frisking passengers and securing the entire length and breadth of these facilities from the point of anti-sabotage and counter-terror checks, also reported a total of 209 instances where arms and ammunition were detected in passengers' baggage before being taken into the aircraft at these high-security facilities. Of these 209 cases, 204 pertained to passengers carrying ammunition like live bullets in their bags while the rest were related to arms recovery. "In the arms and ammunition seizure cases, it was largely found that the fliers carried them inadvertently. These cases are handed over to local police as per the norms," they said. The force also detected a total of 43 cases where people attempted to travel using fake e-tickets at these airports while it also apprehended 98 touts during the same period. CISF is in charge of securing 59 civil airports at present and has created an Airport Security Group (ASG) for these duties by choosing and training its men and women for the special task Raising questions over the role of Pakistan's powerful military in the Pathankot terror attack, a former ambassador to India has said that the army does not appreciate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's attempts to decide on the country's policy towards India. Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir's comments come in the wake of Pathankot attack and a simultaneous attack on Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan just ahead of the Foreign Secretary level talks between Indian and Pakistan scheduled for January 15. Raising questions over Pakistan military's role in the attacks, Qazi said that this could be the establishment's way of telling the prime minister who is the boss here. "It is not yet clear what our military's attitude was to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's stopover in Lahore. We know that Kargil happened after (prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee's visit to Lahore in 1999; Mumbai occurred after progress in the backchannel talks of the mid-2000s; and now Pathankot takes place after another Lahore yatra (trip)," Qazi said in an article titled "Pathnakot and power plays", in Dawn newspaper. "Has our prime minister once again been 'reined in' by 'the boys' (a term used to describe military establishment) to let him know who is boss? "The participation of the Chief Of Army Staff (Raheel Sharif) in a meeting chaired by the prime minister to consider the information provided by India is to be welcomed. However, it does not necessarily mean the military appreciates the prime minister's attempts to wrest exclusive control over Pakistan's India policy," he said. Supporting India's claims on the attack, Qazi said India has provided Pakistan 'actionable intelligence' regarding the attack on the Pathankot airbase and demands satisfactory follow-up action if the foreign secretary talks are to start in three days' time. "Our prime minister has assured the Indian prime minister he will do the necessary. The US is urging India not to postpone dialogue. Reports suggest a number of NATO countries consider the intelligence supplied (including mobile phone conversations between the attackers and suspected handlers in Pakistan, a Jaish-e-Mohammad letter, DNA samples of the attackers, their voice record samples, etc) to be credible leads if not conclusive evidence," the former ambassador said. Pakistan's international legal obligations require it to follow up on these leads. A repeat of the Mumbai stand-off would expose Pakistan to "ridicule and ignominy", Qazi said, adding that the country could come under immense international pressure, including the threat of sanctions, if it does not cooperate with India. He also criticised the concept of civil-military relations is Pakistan and said that the Pakistani establishment regard the Kashmiri struggle only as 'philosophical', and 'irrelevant' concerns. Qazi served as Pakistan's High Commissioner to India from 1997-2002, Ambassador to China from 1994 to 1997 and to Russia from 1991-1994. No region has witnessed more disorder in recent decades than West Asia. A changing balance of power, shifting alignments and a flux in national interests suggest a period of instability and competition that might last for years. Iran and Saudi Arabia remain critical players in the search for a new regional order. Iran, as many opine, has been a strategic beneficiary of the Anglo-American intervention in Iraq and its subsequent mismanagement. Although Iran was probably next in line for an imperial lesson, the Iraq fiasco, held the hand of Western hardliners. The strategy then shifted towards a partial accommodation of Iran but it is more sophisticated than just a diplomatic game. At one level, Washington has sought to blunt Irans geopolitical influence by tacitly encouraging its Sunni allies including Turkey to project proxy forces into Iraq and Syria, two areas where Iranian influence has increased in recent years. At another level, Washington has been seeking to shape the domestic balance in Iran, hoping that moderate pro-western groups can increase their legitimacy and political strength relative to the dominant hardliners and Revolutionary Guards. The US policy is premised on raising the costs of an ambitious Iranian role beyond its western frontiers and simultaneously holding the carrot of greater access to the global economy via a nuclear deal. Assads collapse in Syria would have reverberated loudly in Iranian politics with a loss of face for the hardliners. This is what makes the timing of Russias intervention in Syria last summer more interesting. In July 2015, just days after the announcement of the Iran nuclear deal, General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds force within the Revolutionary Guards, had travelled to Moscow to coordinate operational issues around a Russian military role to salvage the Assad regime. In November, in a historic move, Putin met the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, which the Iranians described as unprecedented in the history of both countries. Irans centrality to West Asian security has impelled both Washington and Mo-scow to design their geostrategies with each great power seeking to bolster their preferred domestic allies within Iran. Syria, Iraq and Yemen are different fronts for a common struggle for influence between the Sunni monarchies led by Saudi Arabia and Iran. A few days ago, this proxy contest threatened to escalate into a direct confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran after Riyadhs provocative decision to execute a prominent Shiite cleric along with a number of Sunni extremists. Many opine that Saudi Arabias domestic situation and the rising vulnerability of the regime, a year after the dem-ise of King Abdullah, explains this recent provocation. Irans media has also interpreted Riyadhs stirring up regional tensions as a bid to divert attention from a convoluted power restructuring which is currently underway in the kingdom. Irans foreign ministry spokesman stated, The Saudi regime is currently facing a crisis of identity, legitimacy and efficiency. But Tehran hasnt taken the bait and has not broken off ties with Riyadh. With its proxies losing ground in Syria and a bleak oil market, Riyadhs geopolitical and economic misfortunes have intersected to present a structural challenge to Saudi Arabias regional role and its internal stability. A fumbling and costly $1 billion per month military intervention in Yemen where Riyadh has teamed up with an extremist branch of al-Qaeda to beat back a Houthi rebellion has further exposed the Kingdoms prestige, tainting its image as a capable regional power. Iran, in contrast, possesses a much more durable governance system. Robu-st sanctions cost Iran nearly $200 billion in lost oil revenues or frozen funds, and yet, were unable to make any real dent in the regimes basic stability. Now, as a strategic beneficiary of Russias regional presence, Iran looks a more capable player with more room to manoeuvre. A deeper fear for Riyadh must be the prospect of Iran enjoying the benefit of a less hostile equation with the West while retaining much of its regional heft. To be sure, Americas strategic commitment to Saudi Arabia remains undiminished as reflected in large arms sales in 2015, and, in the fact that the Yemeni war could not have been waged without US strategic and logistical support. Pakistan has also come out in support of Riyadh with both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief Raheel Sharif standing by Saudi Arabia in a visit by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman. Pakistans role According to General Sharif, any threat to Saudi Arabias territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan. For the US, Pakistani boots are a valuable insurance policy. Clearly, although the US is well positioned to mobilise a response to conventional threats, its capacity to resuscitate and salvage the kingdom from ethnic cleavages or the vagaries of the oil market or from sheer incompetence is very limited. The declining fate of the Syrian insurgency after Russia and Irans coordinated division of labour in Syria suggests a changing balance of power. This has created winners and losers and has shattered the ambitions of some such as Turkey. An optimist might forecast a US-Russia detente under a new American presidency later this year having a calming effect on West Asias geopolitics. But the dominant view in the US security establishment still perceives West Asia as a great game with Russias new role and Irans undiminished capacity to project power across the region as a structural challenge to the US and its allies. Beyond avoiding a direct collision, both Washington and Moscow are likely to maintain their competitive regional postures which might intersect from time to time. Iran as a swing power can alter the regional balance and might very well emerge as the fulcrum that shapes West Asias future. Lets keep an eye on the February parliamentary election in Iran and the November election in the US. (The writer is research scholar at Kings College London) In a move to prevent the private hospitals and clinics from fleecing the patients, the State government had instructed the private healthcare facilities across the City to put up rate charts in the Hospitals, as per the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act. But not many have bothered to follow the same. Several clinics across the City have no charts put up at the reception while a few claim that they have it in the form of pamphlets. While several clinics have no board put up, top hospitals have charts with incomplete information. It may be recalled that the issue was raised in the Legislative Council in March 2015, where Minister for Health and Family Welfare U T Khader said that the government would crack a whip on those hospitals violating the rules laid down in Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act. Conditions One of the conditions for a medical establishment to obtain license is also that tariffs for consultation, diagnosis, treatment, reports and other procedures ought to be displayed Conspicuously and in prominent places. This apart, the Act mandates that material in the form of printed brochures of rates and tariff be supplies to the patients and their attendants on request. Apart from the rates, the name of the establishment and owners, registration of the State Medical Council, license form issued under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, system of medicine practiced and services available, working hours, names and qualifications of visiting consultants who are employed for diagnosing, advising or treating the patients among other should also be displayed. Visits Bengaluru Urban DHO Dr Vijay Mohan Reddy said that the officials have visited close to 25 centres in the recent past and have asked a few to put up the charts. For someone to get registration from the State Medical Council, it is mandatory to have followed all the rules mentioned under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act. Our officials are making surprise visits to the hospitals to see whether the rules are being followed. Karnataka High Courts acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee was rushed to Vikram Hospital on Millers Road on Wednesday afternoon after he blacked out briefly while visiting a shop on MG Road. Doctors who examined him said he had no health complications and was discharged after being put through a few tests. Dr Harshitha, consultant, emergency medicine, Vikram Hospital, said Mukherjee was rushed to the hospital at around 3 pm. Even as the situation was alarming when he was rushed in, on medical examination, it was found he had no complications, she explained. He is doing fine now and has been discharged. He had a syncope attack (in simple terms blacking out). We did certain blood tests and evaluated his cardiac functioning. All the assessments are normal, she said. According to sources, Mukherjee had been suffering from fever for the past few days. In a bid to meet the growing demand, French glass manufacturing major Saint-Gobain is expanding its complex in Tamil Nadu with an additional investment of Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years, taking the cumulative investment in Sriperumbudur near Chennai to over Rs 3,000 crore. This investment will add significant manufacturing capacity and capabilities to the complex, which includes a float-glass plant and a new magnetron coater plant. Accordingly, the third float-glass plant on this site, which will be the largest in India and the region, will be equipped to manufacture a wide range of complex products that cater to the needs of a sustainable habitat and affordable luxury. It will be an automated, energy-efficient, scalable and flexible, state-of-the-art integrated glass facility. The plant will feature several innovative processes that are being deployed for the first time in India, and the region. In line with Saint-Gobains commitment to sustainable development, the facility will incorporate several innovations contributing to sustainability and will be a benchmark for green manufacturing practices. Keeping in mind the global trends, Saint-Gobain will be investing in a second magnetron coater facility. With this, the complex will have the capacity to manufacture 144 million sq ft of high-performance, high-selective, energy-efficient glass, catering to Africa, Middle East, ASEAN, and Oceania markets. It will accelerate Saint-Gobains vision to develop the World Glass Complex at Sriperumbudur as a regional resource to cater to the needs of international clients. Imagine this: no potholes, no damaged roads due to heavy rains, a smooth ride, better mileage with no or minimum traffic snarls in Namma Bengaluru. Sounds utopian. But the Centre for Smart Cities (CSC) believes that it can be a reality if the government goes for a white-topped (cement concrete) roads by replacing the existing blacktop (bitumen) roads. The CSC has been pushing for cement concrete roads for key radial, circular and connecting roads in the city that will last at least 20 years vis-a-vis three to five years of bitumen roads. The cement road on Marine Drive in Mumbai was laid in 1939 and is still in good condition, CSC points out. The CSC has identified 250 km of roads including 23 major radial, circular and connecting roads and those under the viaducts of Metro phase I in the City. These roads were identified by a technical team which prepared the estimated cost to lay cement roads along with drains, utility ducts and footpaths, R K Misra, director of CSC, told Deccan Herald. According to a technical study, these roads carry 70 per cent of the citys total traffic. Going for cement roads would ease the traffic to a great extent as average speed improves, Misra says. The estimated cost of the roads with footpath and drains is Rs 1,056.25 crore and an additional Rs 800 crore to shift utilities and construct ducts. This, he claims is much cheaper than Tender SURE footpaths that cost around Rs 2,300 crore. Misra, along with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, is meeting top bureaucrats on January 17 to discuss their proposal. CSC feels that the project should be implemented by the State government as the BBMP is not equipped to handle it. They have already made presentations and received positive feedback from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Ministers K J George, H C Mahadevappa and additional chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, when he was the BBMP administrator. Besides longevity, cement roads also help to improve mileage, save energy and are environment friendly. A study by the Central Road Research Institute reveals that nearly 14 per cent energy of engines is saved on cement roads. Bitumen, an extract of petroleum crude oil, releases poisonous gases when heated. Chennai, Hyderabad and Amaravathi, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, have opted for cement roads. In Bengaluru, a stretch on Hosur Road between Madiwala underpass and Forum Mall is a white-topped road. VMware, the $6.04-billion US-based virtualisation and cloud infrastructure solutions major, is not worried over Dell taking over its parent organisation EMC Corporation, and is going ahead with its strategy to tie up with public cloud vendors. In an interaction with Deccan Herald, Ajay Singh, SVP GM at VMware, said the company is focussed on growth factors like network virtualisation, storage virtualisation and end-user computing, which is the whole mobile revolution. The deal is expected to accelerate VMwares growth across all of its businesses through increased opportunities to benefit from synergies with Dells solutions and go-to-market channels. VMware will benefit from the operational agility that comes from our majority shareholder being privately controlled, and from being part of one of the top three transformational IT companies in the world, Singh said. When asked about the likely tie-up with Google, he said there is a natural inclination of cooperation between the public cloud vendors and VMware because the company can deliver a solution which can reduce risk. VMware is a very natural player for the agnostic world. It is a win-win for the customer and for VMware, he said. We are making a bigger commitment to existing public cloud vendors, of course we have got to continue with vCloud Air for very specific scenarios, but generally, we are going to be working much more closely with the Amazons to the Googles and the Azures of the world, he said. Commenting on the Indian market, he said that it is probably one of the fastest growing markets in Asia Pacific. We are seeing a lot of growth from financial institutions, telcos, IT/ITeS, and certainly, government, he said. The company inaugurated its new campus in Bengaluru with a total investment of $120 million. India is the largest R&D site for us outside the US, and it continues to grow. We also have our global support operations here. VMware in 2014 had announced an investment of $500 million in India by 2017, he said. There are immense opportunities on all fronts computing, networking, storage virtualisation and management, and end-user computing. End-user computing is doing very well for us here, he said. Ministry of Road Transport would join forces with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and the North East Centre for Technology Application and Research (NECTAR) to monitor national highways across the country. The satellite data and geospatial technology will help the National Highways Authority of India in preparing detailed project reports of highway and infrastructure projects, determining pre-feasibility status in new road alignments, widening roads, monitoring road segments under construction and road asset management. The NHAI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under the ISRO and the NECTAR for use of spatial technology for monitoring and managing national highways, the Road, Transport and Highways Ministry said in a release. The NHAI will take up some pilot projects with both the organisations to identify and finalise actual use and benefits of both satellite data and spatial technology and un manned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology in highway and infrastructure sector, the release added. A 24x7 technical cell would also be set up to provide project-specific data using the technology to project report Consultants, Engineers, staff and users, it said. When a Chinese truck company wanted to open a factory in India, its president looked at sites that had a mountain in back and a river in front especially auspicious locations in the traditional practice of feng shui. The company, Beiqi Foton Motor, found a seemingly ideal spot, securing 250 acres of farmland in Shinde, a village in Maharashtra. Foton wants another 1,250 acres nearby to build an industrial park for suppliers. But the mountain here is sacred to many Hindus. For at least 2,000 years, the cliffside caves have been home to generations of monks. One of the most revered Hindu saints is said to have attained a pure vision of his god during the 17th century while meditating in the highest cave overlooking what is now Fotons site. The culture clash was immediate. Foton erected barbed-wire fences and hired uniformed guards to keep out trespassers. Cattle herders and Hindu pilgrims have repeatedly trampled the fences. The monks do not want a noisy neighbour. In todays life, spirituality and science are both important, and neither should deny the other, Kailash Nemade, a monk, said during a pause from chanting religious poems. But this factory should not come here, because it will ruin the spirituality of the mountain. Chinese companies have embarked on ambitious overseas expansion efforts, snapping up land in dozens of countries to build factories, industrial parks, power plants and other operations. While the investments provide critical support for many economies, Chinese businesses are struggling to navigate complex cultural, political and competitive dynamics. Chinas economic slowdown this year, along with a stock market plunge and a currency devaluation, have not deterred the countrys companies. Many have accelerated their global shifts as their home market becomes less attractive. But Chinese enterprises lack the experience of their Western counterparts, which have spent decades developing international operations. As Chinese companies have built their businesses largely at home, they havent had to address the same challenges. In China, companies with strong Communist Party connections can bulldoze communities and religious sites. The Chinese government bans independent labour unions. While strikes and other labour protests are becoming more common, they are quickly squelched by the government if they show signs of spreading. As Chinese companies now venture overseas, they are dealing with a wave of resistance. In Africa, workers at Chinese-run oil fields and copper mines have gone on strike over low pay and dangerous working conditions. The My-anmar government halted Chinas construction of a hydroelectric dam after protests over environmental damage and the displacement of villagers. In Nicaragua, residents have resisted the planned resettlement of villages to make way for a canal proposed by a Chinese businessman. In India, Fotons experience provides a look into the internal struggle that countries face. India desperately needs outside investment to support the 13 million young people entering its labour force every year and to begin relieving chronic unemployment in its countryside. Indian and Western factories within a few miles of Fotons site have created thousands of jobs. Western companies have tried to tread more carefully in India, in some cases learning from past mistakes. They have worked closely with communities, explaining their projects to residents. The companies have typically sent teams of executives, often with overseas experience. Foton strongly defends its plans. The company says that its plant and supplier park will create a much-needed economic boost. Because of these projects, the employment of thousands of people, even tens of thousands, will be accomplished, said Zhao Jingguang, Fotons executive vice president. But Foton keeps revising production plans and delaying construction. With the project stalled, the promised jobs have not materialised. Fotons corporate style has also caused friction. It managed the project mainly from Beijing, sending executives to India for two-week visits. When Fotons Indian managers needed to work with the main office, they sat through videoconferences that lasted hours, with Chinese executives often speaking at length in Chinese. Zhao denies that the company picked the location for its feng shui, which the Chinese government condemns as superstition. Still, he acknowledged that there is a river, should be good feng shui. But the land deal has been less than harmonious. Regulations mandate that factories be located at least 500 meters from temples, preventing construction on half of Fotons site. A state agency also reserved land for a 15-yard-wide dirt access road to help pilgrims reach a footpath to the caves. Despite Fotons efforts, many villagers and monks say the factory would still be too close. Pilgrims, who can number over 5,000 during religious festivals, would have only a half-acre site to pitch their tents. China and India both want to strengthen their economic ties, even as their militaries remain wary of each other. The $300 million Foton project, including the plant and the industrial park, is one of Chinas largest investments in India. Your vision cannot be too small, Zhao said. Nowadays, people say you must have an international vision. For Foton, India offered cheaper labour than its home country and a strong market for its products. Indias position between Southeast Asia and Africa provided a natural hub to supply other developing markets as well. Holding onto their lands In Shinde, speculators have bid up the price of land, expecting that the state government will buy it and lease it to Foton. But many villagers are opposed to selling, since the deal would eliminate much of the farmland that is left. Kaluram Kendale, who grows onions and raises buffaloes, does not want to sell. He is upset that the state government already forced him to sell five of the 12 acres that his family farmed for generations. If I sell the land, its one-time money, he said. But my land is beautiful, its fertile, and its a permanent source of income for my family. Chhaya Shinde, who grew up in a mud-walled sharecroppers cabin with dirt floors, was a star student, learning to read and write Hindi and Marathi. She dreamed of becoming a social worker to help the elderly. Shindes education ended after Foton came to town. While landowners got paid for their fields, sharecroppers got nothing. Shindes father, a millet farmer, lost much of his income. Shinde had to drop out of school a year ago. I had no money, said a tearful Shinde, 18. I was at home, so I had to be married off. Since the arrival of Foton, the gulf between the rich and the poor here has widened. The Panmands, who owned the land where Shindes family farmed, sold half of their 58 acres for the Foton factory and two other factories. With the proceeds, they built a 10-bedroom villa with a large courtyard and a fish pond. For people who are rich, its beneficial because they can buy a lot of things, said Vijay Panmand, 28. But for the poor, it is not good. Where will they work? Indian laws on land deals are fairly generous by developing-country standards, calling for compensation for tenant farmers and sharecroppers. But to qualify, they need to live on the land or record the arrangement in official logs. Shindes family did neither. Shinde, who wears a pair of simple barrettes to hold back her dark hair and slim golden bangles that encircle each wrist and ankle, now labours part time on one of the Panmand familys remaining fields. I wish they had never come here, she said of Foton, wielding a scythe to cut pearl millet. Those who were rich became richer, and the poor, poorer. The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted extension of the stay of Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre, who along with his colleague Salvatore Girone was accused of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, in Italy till April 30. A three-judge bench presided over by Justice A R Dave also asked the government and Italian ambassador to inform it about the time required for international arbitration proceedings before International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in the case. Senior advocate Soli J Sorabee, appearing for Italian officers, described as stray reports about the news that Latorre will not return to India to face the proceedings here, on a query posed by the court. He, however, submitted Latorre, who had undergone heart surgery, was not keeping well and still under observation of the doctors. Sorabjee also said it will take about one year to conclude proceedings at the ITLOS. Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for the Centre, submitted the government will inform about the development in the case on April 13, the next date of hearing. One of the two marines, Latorre was granted permission by the court to go back to Italy on September 12, 2014 for surgery. He was subsequently granted permission to stay back. Latorre and Salvatore Girone were on board ship Enrica Lexie when the offence of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast took place. They claimed they mistook the fishermen for pirates. The Italy government as well as the naval officers had questioned the transfer of investigation into the case to the National Investigation Agency. The apex court had earlier transferred the case from Kerala to Delhi. On August 26, the court had suspended all proceedings against two Italian marines in view of the pending proceedings before the international tribunal. A senior US official on Wednesday lauded the protests by authors and artistes against the murder of rationalist and Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi and cited the instance of the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to drive home the point that silence could embolden perpetrators of such crimes. Delivering a lecture at Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi, Sarah B Sewall, US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, noted that the governments around the world must ensure that all people had the freedom to peacefully speak, organise and worship. But, she added, ensuring these freedoms calls for more than just enforcing laws, it means proactively speaking out as both public officials and private citizens to challenge calls for hatred and violence. Silence can embolden the criminal and the cruel as in the lynching of a Muslim man last September or the burning of churches in Odisha. Akhlaq was lynched by a mob at Bisara village near Dadri in Uttar Pradesh on September 28 after it was rumoured that he and his family had killed a cow and consumed beef on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. She also referred to the murder of Kalburgi at Dharwad in Karnataka on August 30 last and noted that he was the third rationalist to be murdered in recent years. When extremists murdered Malleshappa Kalburgi last August to silence his critical views the third such murder in as many years the Indian literary and artistic community was among the first to condemn the act, said Sewall, who is currently on a tour of India. She was obviously referring to the killing of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare at Pune in August 2013 and Kolhapur in Maharashtra in February 2015, respectively. Over 30 authors returned their Sahitya Akademi award in September and October last year to protest the killing of Kalburgi, Dabholkar and Pansare as well as the lynching of Akhlaq. Several other artistes too returned their awards to protest what they perceived as growing intolerance in the country.These examples of family and community-level interventions may help explain why so few Indians have joined ISILs (Islamic State) ranks thus far. But that is not reason for complacency; it is a call to give local leaders a greater role in pushing back against violent extremism in their communities, said the US diplomat. Governments can help by ending stifling regulations and allowing citizen groups to peacefully speak and organise around sensitive topics, she said. Learning from the past, we must avoid the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling, and discrimination against any religious or ethnic group including our Muslim brothers and sisters. A speeding car, reportedly driven by a politicians son, mowed down 21-year-old Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and inured several others on early Wednesday morning. The young air force officer, who joined the services two years back, succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. Corporal Gaud, who was on duty as drill instructor on Red Road in central Kolkata, was run over by the Audi SUV, which was traveling at breakneck speed at around 6.30 am. Even though the stretch of the road was supposed to be temporarily closed for defence personnel to rehearse the Republic Day parade, the police are enquiring how the vehicle managed to get access to the road it despite being cordoned off. According to eye-witness statements recorded by the police, Corporal Gaud tried to stop the car, which was rushing down the road, but it hit him and few others before ramming into a guard rail. After the car came to a stop, the driver left it behind and escaped. Corporal Gaud, who was rushed to the nearby military hospital, was declared dead on arrival. The accident took place near the South Gate of Fort William, which houses the headquarters of the Armys Eastern Command. Corporal Gaud, who joined IAF as a non-commissioned officer in July 2014, was posted at Kalaikunda air base in East Midnapore and recently came to Kolkata as part of the contingent to display military pageant at the annual Republic Day parade on Red Road. Hailing from Surat in Gujarat, he was known to be a bright officer with a promising career. Although not much was available on his family, sources said he was still a bachelor. Police sources said the vehicle was traced back to Ambia, 26-year-old son of former RJD MLA, Mohammad Sohrab, who is now believed to have close ties with the ruling Trinamool Congress. The car was initially stopped when it was speeding on the flyover leading away from Red Road. The Supreme Court has imposed a whopping cost of Rs five crore on JSS Medical College, Mysuru, for not complying with its direction and admitting more than the sanctioned number of students for the MBBS course. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and R K Agrawal directed the college authorities to deposit the cost within four weeks, calling its action as the most unfortunate. Since the college has also not complied with the orders passed by this court in 2012 and has permitted the students to continue their studies, to send a strong message to the college and other medical colleges, we are of the view that it would be appropriate if the JSS Medical College is directed to deposit an amount of Rs five crore in the Registry, the bench said. The court, however, allowed the students admitted by the college to continue with their studies, noting since they have completed four-and-half years of their MBBS course and are likely to complete their course some time in June this year. It also said that for the academic year 2016-17, the college would be permitted to admit only 150 students as against the sanctioned strength of 200. Fees The bench also directed the college authorities not to recover in any manner from any student or adjust the cost thus imposed against the fees or provision of facilities for students of subsequent batches. Television comic actor playing popular role as Palak in Comedy Nights with Kapil, Kiku Sharda, was on Wednesday sent to jail by a court in Haryanas Kaithal for imitating the sect head of Dera Sacha Sauda, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, in one of his recent shows on TV. Hours after his stay in jail, Kiku was released on bail on a surety bond of Rs 1 lakh. The Haryana police brought the actor from Mumbai to Haryana, where he was produced before the court and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. His arrest has invited criticism from many in tinsel town. The actor was booked for outraging religious sentiments by insulting religion or religious belief. Interestingly, the sect chief too was booked by the Punjab police some years ago after he courted controversy by imitating a Sikh Guru. The alleged act of blasphemy by the sect head, which led to massive protests, is still alive and led to outrage among Sikhs just a couple of months ago, first over the grant of clemency to the sect chief and later its withdrawal by the Akal Takht - the supreme temporal seat of Sikhism. Eight others, including Sunil Grover playing Guthi in the comic serial, have been booked. The Gujarat government on Wednesday appointed Jagruti Pandya, widow of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya, assassinated in 2003, as the chairperson of the state commission for protection of child rights for a three-year term. While state Bharatiya Janata Party president R C Faldu informed mediapersons of her appointment in Gandhinagar, when contacted, Pandya refused to speak on the iasue. I shall speak on the issue once I recieve the official letter. I have not recieved any official communique so far, she said. Haren Pandya, who was the state home minister prior to the 2002 communal violence, was assassinated in 2003 outside a public park in Ahmedabad while he had gone for his morning walk. Haren Pandya had fallen from grace of the then chief minister Narendra Modi, after he deposed before the independent tribunal headed by justice V R Krishna Iyer probing 2002 riots in Gujarat. Haren had also refused to vacate his Ellis Bridge seat in the state Assembly for Modi to contest the election after becoming the chief minister. Pandyas appointment by the Anandiben Patel government now assumes significance because she had been repeatedly demanding a probe into the assassination of her husband by the Central Bureau of Investigation, not by the Gujarat Police, during the tenure of the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. A three-and-a-half hour counter-terror operation by the Black Cats came to an end with the elite force neutralising seven to eight terrorists who were holed up inside the State's legislature on Wednesday. The National Security Guard (NSG) personnel, backed by the State's specialised force 'Garuda', who combated the ultras inside Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha, successfully flushed out the terrorists and also rescued officials, who were held hostage. The operation was carried out in Room Nos 334 and 106, where the minister was chairing a high-level meeting, when terror elements barged in and held them hostage. Following the terror attack, the commandos neutralised the ultras on Wednesday. Just a mock drill. This is what employees of the legislature learnt when their workplace abruptly turned into a high security fortress. It took them a few minutes to understand that commandos were merely conducting a mock drill. The demonstration which was carried out to test the mettle of Garuda, started at around 6 pm and wound up at 9 pm. The entire premises was cordoned off, before the personnel enacted the terror scenario. Speaking to the media before the operation began, Home Minister Parameshwara said that Bengaluru City being one of the potential terror targets, it was important for the stakeholders to orient themselves to important installations like Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha. He said that 300-odd potential terror targets had been identified in the State. This includes universities, shopping malls, scientific establishments, public undertaking institutions, dams, etc. Bengaluru City too being under the terror radar, it was important to sensitise the public. The National Security Guard, which is training the States Garuda force, will carry out a mock drill in Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha till 9 pm today, he said. He said that such exercises would help gauge the preparedness of the security forces and help young recruits between the ages of 25 and 30 years orient themselves to such situations. As many as 110 Garuda and NSG forces were involved in the operation. Sources said that a similar drill was conducted at a private hotel on MG Road late in the night. Notwithstanding the apology offered by him, the Congress on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to its Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam over an article published in party magazine. The article criticised Jawaharlal Nehrus foreign policy and called Sonia Gandhis father a fascist soldier. The article in Congress Darshan, a periodical of which Nirupam is the editor, made headlines on December 28, the Congress foundation day, leaving party leaders red faced. The AICCs Disciplinary Action Committee, chaired by A K Antony, slapped a notice on Nirupam asking him to reply in a week. Nirupam had claimed ignorance about the articles carried in the magazine and sacked the editorial content in-charge. He claimed that he was the victim of a conspiracy by his political opponents. Nine months into the current financial year, the State government has utilised only 40 per cent of the allocated Rs 16,352 crore for the welfare of SC/STs under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP). The government is now left with the mammoth task of utilising Rs 7,100 crore by March this year as provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes sub-plan and Tribal Sub-plan (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, 2013, makes it mandatory that the allocation is utilised fully. The social welfare department, which got the highest allocation among departments (Rs 2,470 crore) for SC welfare is below average when it comes to utilisation (38.87 per cent). Revenue department tops the list with 71.12 per cent and Youth Empowerment is in the bottom of the list with 0.12 per cent utilisation (see chart). The SC/ST Development Council headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reviewed the utilisation of funds by various departments at a meeting in Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday. For the records, the government has so far released 76 per cent of funds earmarked, but utilisation stands at 40 per cent. Speaking to reporters, Siddaramaiah said he had directed officials that the total allocation be utilised by the end of the current financial year. There is provision as per the SCSP-TSP Act to penalise officials if they are found to have been negligent in utilisation of funds. We will not hesitate to invoke these provisions, the chief minister said. Sources said some departments like the youth empowerment had fared poorly as they got their programme of action late. Siddaramaiah also chaired a meeting of the State Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee. He said the conviction rate in atrocities cases in the State was low. He had directed officials to look into the poor conviction rate and set right lapses, if any. Investigating officers should take more interest in such cases and while collecting evidence. The State was also contemplating on appointing an additional advocate general to monitor atrocity cases, he said. Drawing lessons from Bihar debacle, BJP chief Amit Shah has decided to prominently rope in seniors for next round of polls for Bengal and other states. Even as he is expected to address an election rally in Howrah on January 25, which party leaders believe could be the first one after he gets another full-fledged term as BJP president, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will be the first senior leader to address the first of the four rallies in West Bengal on January 18 at Dakshin Denajpur. Originally, his rally was scheduled to be held at Malda but post communal riots, the state administration denied permission to the BJP, party sources said. The Mamata Banerjee government had also denied access to Malda a visiting BJP delegation to probe the communal riots. A hotline between the director general of military operations (DGMO) in Indian and Chinese armies is likely to come up within months. Surveys were carried out to set up the hotlines between the two DGMOs. It should happen in the coming months, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag said in his annual press conference on the eve of the Army Day. Establishing an exclusive telephone link between the two top Army officers is considered one of the confidence building measures between the two armies that fought a bitter war in 1962. Last year, two new border personnel meeting (BPM) points at Daulat Beig Oldie in Jammu & Kashmir and Kibithu were made operational. Another BPM point in the Barahoti plains is under the active consideration. Bilateral relations are improving, which is evident from many high-level exchanges in the last one year, said Gen Dalbir Singh. However, there is no slow down on raising the mountain strike corps, a specialised force to launch offensive strike in mountainous terrain like the Sino-Indian border areas. Raising of the mountain strike corps (17 Corps) is on schedule. It will be completed in 8 years and would be ready by 2020-21. There is no instruction from any quarters to slow down the raising and there is no budget cuts, said Gen Dalbir Singh. Last year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced downsizing the new strike corps by half for want of funds. The previous government estimated it would cost Rs 88,000 crore and will have 70,000 soldiers, the NDA government froze the cost at Rs 38,000 crore over the next eight years and the strike corps will consist of 35,000 men. Later a Parliamentary Standing Committee, too, highlighted ad-hoc planning on the part of the Army and Defence Ministry adversely impacting raising of the new corps. As there are already serious shortages in the current War Wastage Reserve, which does not even cater fully to the existing demand, how could it can be further milked to create new assets like Mountain Strike Corps, says the House Panel report. NIA investigators on Wednesday said they have recovered a Chinese wireless set from the car used by the four terrorists to reach the Pathankot Air Force base. The data in the set was found deleted but it is being sent to CFSL/NTRO for retrieving, an official spokesperson said. Interestingly, the recovered set is similar to a wireless recovered from the site of terror attack in Samba Army camp in Jammu & Kashmir last year. The NIA teams had on Tuesday visited Samba and Kathua to ascertain the similarities in the terror attacks. Suspicions Sources said investigation into terrorists using the smugglers network is still on. They suspect that the Gurdaspur SP could be part of smugglers network and had inadvertently helped the terrorists in entering the country. Though there was no official word on this, sources said investigators are looking into whether the SP used to receive jewellery or diamonds as remuneration for helping smugglers and did Rajeshwar Verma, SPs friend and a jeweller, accompany him to check whether these were original or not. The NIA has continued questioning of SP Salwinder Singh for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, as there were still gaps in his version about his abduction by terrorists. Singhs cook Madan Gopal also accompanied them on the fateful day. According to the SP, he was returning from Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab when his vehicle was waylaid and abducted by the terrorists. While Singh and Gopal were released first, the terrorists took Verma with them. Investigators have found discrepancies in the statements of Singh in comparison to others. NIA efforts Taking forward the probe, the NIA recreated the route taken by terrorists from the point of abduction of police officer and to the Air Force Base. The NIA teams are collecting CCTV footage on the route taken by terrorists to the air base. The NIA teams with the Punjab Police and local villagers are carrying out searches in nearby villages on the route taken by terrorists for evidence left behind by terrorists like clothes, electronic devices etc, a senior officer said. The investigators have summoned Gopal and the caretaker of the shrine Somraj for examination on Thursday. The United States on Wednesday said that it would continue to press Islamabad to crack down on all terrorists in the border regions of Pakistan. Noting that shared trauma of terrorism brought India and US together, US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Sarah B Sewall said that Washington was strengthening its counterterrorism cooperation with New Delhi across the board from expanding intelligence sharing to cracking down on illicit terrorist financing, better securing borders, ports and public transportation. She noted that US was also helping to train thousands of Indian security personnel. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with India and all countries in the region against this common threat. And we will continue to press Pakistan to take the fight to all terrorist networks in the border region and do everything in their power to help India achieve justice for the Mumbai attacks which claimed both Indian and American lives, Sewall said. A week after the Pathankot terror attack, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag said that Western Army Commander was the overall in-charge of the operation and deploying the National Security Guards (NSG) was a wise decision. The Army chiefs response comes in the wake of severe criticism of the government from several quarters, including a section of the ex-servicemen community, who accused the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for creating a confusion in the command structure and deploying the NSG commandos instead of Army infantry troops, stationed in Pathankot. The Pathankot operation was carried out under the command of the Western Army Commander Lt Gen K J Singh, who was in total control of the operations. On the ground, Army brigade commander was in charge, Gen Dalbir Singh said here on Wednesday, countering reports of command confusion due to the presence of top officials from several agencies. Eight columns of Army troops (560-600 men) and one column of Army Special Forces (Para unit) were deployed in the Pathankot operations besides the NSG and Garud commandos. Armys Casspir mine resistant vehicles and BMP armoured vehicles were also put into the operation. Justifying the NSG deployment, the Army chief said the crack commando team was sent to prevent any hostage situation in case of cropping up of such a situation. The decision was taken at a meeting of the crisis management group chaired by Doval where Army chief was also present. The chiefs of the Northern Army Command and Western Army Command were in the loop. The commanding officers on the ground was given full liberty to finalise their plans. There was total synergy between the Army and the NSG, he said. Army troops were deployed at the outer circle and nobody breached the cordon after Army deployment, Gen Dalbir Singhsaid, hinting at the possibility of the terrorists entering the base before the alert was sounded. Gen Dalbir Singh, however, refused to elaborate on how the terrorists may have entered the Air Force base as a probe by the National Investigation Agency is on. On the death of Lt Col E K Niranjan, the Army chief said the officer was an expert in explosives as he handled 3,500-4,000 kg explosives in the last one year. It is difficult to say where things went wrong as he followed the standard operating procedure. There may be some booby trap that he didnt expect. But he was the most qualified officer, he said. The operation continued for four days as the instruction from the top was to ensure minimum casualty from the Indian side. Come February 1, Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) officials will be at your doorstep to levy fine, if you have not set up a Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) facility. The Board will also penalise apartments with more than 20 flats which have not installed Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). The BWSSB has been empowered to levy fines on these two counts with effect from February 1 following separate gazette notifications issued by the State Government on Wednesday. Besides, the government has hiked the pro rata charges from 60 per cent to 100 per cent with immediate effect, BWSSB Chairman T M Vijaya Bhaskar told presspersons on the sidelines of an event. Pro rata charges are the one-time service charges collected by BWSSB to provide new drinking water and sanitary connections. RWH is mandatory for buildings constructed prior to 2009 on sites measuring 60x40 sq ft and above and those constructed on 30x40 sites after 2009. As per the provisions of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Rain Water Harvesting) (Amendment) Regulations, 2015, "The owner or occupier of a residential and non-residential building who fails to provide rain water harvesting structure in the building would be levied additional charges of 25 per cent of the total water and sanitary charges for the first three months. Thereafter, additional charges of 50 per cent will be levied until the RWH facility is created. The penalty for the non-commercial buildings would increase from 50 to 100 per cent. All apartments with more than 20 flats have been mandated to adopt dual piping system and provide modular sewage treatment plants (STPs), the BWSSB Chairman said. The Bangalore Sewerage (Amendment) Regulations, 2015 states that apartment should provide modular sewage and grey water treatment plant (STP/GWTP) within its premises and dual piping system - one for toilet flushing purpose and the other for all other purposes. Failing to set up these facilities will require the owner/occupier to pay an additional levy of 25 per cent of water and sanitary charges for the first three months and an additional levy of 50 per cent until these facilities are provided. The penalty is 50 per cent for non-domestic buildings. Following the hike in pro rata charges, residential buildings will have to pay Rs 250 per square metre on total built-up area. Multi-storey apartments and commercial buildings have to pay Rs 400 and Rs 600 per square metre respectively. The new rule exempts ground floor plus one floor residential. The move will increase the Boards annual revenue from Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore, he said. Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy has directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner G Kumar Naik to transfer all the officials who have been serving in the revenue department for more than three years. At the BBMP Council meeting held on Wednesday, Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy and Councillor R S Satyanarayana expressed disappointment over the performance of the revenue officials. To this, the mayor said: The commissioner should immediately transfer the employees from the revenue department within a week and report the details at the next meeting. Opposition leader in the BBMP Council, Padmanabha Reddy, pointed out that 62 officials had been serving in various departments for many years despite failing the department tests conducted periodically. He said regularising such officials violated rules. Some officials have passed the test after 15 years and this has given rise to suspicions, he said. Congress leader M K Gunasekhar said that as per the new master plan, the Palike had earmarked 260 roads in the City for widening, but only seven to eight roads had been widened so far. Congress councillor Sampath Raj pointed out that a person named Mohammed Yusuf, whose property at Mahadevapura was utilised for road-widening, had been knocking on the doors of the BBMP from 2012 for compensation. The Palike is yet to transfer the development rights to him, he added. In his response, Commissioner Naik said the government would bring out a set of rules pertaining to the Transfer of Development Rights. Tribute to martyr The councillors paid tributes to Lt Colonel Niranjan Kumar who was killed while defusing an explosive strapped to a terrorists body at the IAF base in Punjabs Pathankot recently. Congress leader R S Satyanarayana requested the Palike to name a park or a playground after the late commando. Mayor Reddy suggested that the councillors approach the civic agency and avoid seeking permission from the government to name roads and places after famous personalities. A 16-member ward advisory committee, comprising the Residents Welfare Association, the panchayat members and women representatives, was formed in the Uttarahalli ward. The committee, an initiative of Namma Bengaluru Foundation and ward corporator Hanumanthaiah, will meet every month to discuss issues faced by the ward residents and come up with solutions. Uttarahalli is the first of the 198 wards in the City to form a ward advisory committee and encourage citizen-centric governance. Namma Bengaluru Foundation CEO Sridhar Pabbisetty said, Chronic maladministration and misgovernment will be detrimental to Bengalurus future. It is imperative that we citizens working towards a better Bengaluru collectively demand good governance. NBF will strive to ensure functional ward committees and utmost transparency in awarding of contracts and their execution. These meetings with corporators and local residents are a step towards addressing the urban governance deficit that curbs progressive development of the City. A 30-year-old history-sheeter was hacked to death by a rival gang in Guddadahalli, Hebbal, in northern Bengaluru on Wednesday morning. The police gave his name as Sathish alias Gunda, a resident of Nagenahalli. He was a history-sheeter at Hebbal and Vyalikaval police stations. Previously, he worked as a cab driver but his family said his most recent occupation was real estate business. Around 9.45 am, Sathish was waylaid by four men riding on two motorcycles in Guddadahalli. Sathish saw them and started running. The four men alighted from their bikes and went after him. They caught him near a bakery and attacked him with sharp weapons before fleeing. The police, meanwhile, received an alert and rushed to the spot. They rushed a grievously injured Sathish to hospital, but he died on the way. A senior police officer suspected old rivalry behind the murder. But the exact motive is yet to be identified. We have formed two specials teams to catch the people behind the attack which seems well-planned. At present, we have certain clues about the attackers, he said. Sathish was an accused in several cases of attempt to murder and armed robbery. A case of murder has been registered at the Hebbal police station. More than a dozen Congressmen, including three MLCs, are vying for the party ticket for the upcoming byelection to Hebbal Assembly constituency, scheduled for February 13. Prominent among the ticket aspirants are B S Suresh, H M Revanna, R V Venkatesh (all MLCs), former MLC Nazeer Ahmed, State Youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad, senior leader C K Jaffer Sharief's grandson C K Abdul Rahman Sharief, former MP C Narayanaswamy and Ravi Shankar Shetty. As many as five contenders belong to minority community. The byelection has been necessitated due to death of Jagadish Kumar of the BJP, who represented the constituency in the Assembly. Some of aspirants started the spadework soon after the seat fell vacant. For instance, Suresh, widely known as Byrathi Suresh, has already set up an office near RT Nagar and has been regularly holding meetings with the party workers as part of the preparations. In a handbill distributed by him to the residents of the constituency on the occasion of new year, he expressed his wish to contest in the bypoll and sought their blessings. Suresh is the brother of Congress MLA from KR Puram, B S Basavaraj (Byrathi Basavaraj). The Byrathi brothers, who are into real estate business, are close associates of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Suresh still has over two and half years as MLC. Revanna, who unsuccessfully contested from the constituency in 2008, has about four and half years term as MLC. He too has been making preparations to contest the election. R V Venkatesh, whose term as MLC will end in June 2016, wants to contest from the constituency, sources in the Congress said. The Sharief saga Rahman Sharief had unsuccessfully contested from the constituency in the 2013 Assembly elections. But his grandfather, Jaffer Sharief has been making efforts to get the ticket for Rahman. Jaffer Sharief recently met Siddaramaiah and urged him to field Rahman Sharief. Jaffer Sharief had in 2014 threatened to quit the party for denying him the ticket to contest Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru Central constituency. Sources said Rizwan Arshad, who unsuccessfully contested from Bengaluru Central constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is planning to try his luck in Hebbal bypoll. Nazeer Ahmed, who was denied ticket by the party to contest the recently concluded Legislative Council elections from Kolar local body constituency, Abdul Hafeez Khan and Mahaboob Pasha, belonging to the minority community, are among the ticket aspirants. The constituency has sizable number of people belonging to minority community. Ravi Shankar Shetty, who had aspired to contest from Hebbal in the 2008 Assembly polls, is lobbying to get the ticket for the byelection. A group of associations, including Bengaluru Bunt Sangha, Billava Sangha, Bengaluru Hotel Owners' Association, held a press conference on Wednesday and demanded that the Congress should give ticket to Shetty. Two drunk youths were beaten by members of the public for blocking traffic on Club Road, Vijayanagar, in western Bengaluru and causing a nuisance on Tuesday night, the police said. Rakesh, a BCom student, and Prajwal, who works at a footwear shop, were riding in an inebriated state around 11 pm. The were also reportedly doing motorcycle stunts and creating a lot of noise. They then parked the motorcycle in the middle of the road. Irritated residents confronted them. Soon, an argument broke out and one of the youths tried to assault a passerby with helmet. But the crowd overpowered the duo and beat them up. Police also reached the spot. While Rakesh managed to flee, Prajwal was hauled up to the police station. Police then traced Rakesh to an apartment and also took him to the police station. By the time they went back to the spot to confiscate the duos motorcycle, it was destroyed in a fire lit by the residents. Police said they had booked the youths and were also searching for people who had torched their motorcycle. Faced with the challenge of protecting more than 5,200 acres of land it has recovered in the last year and a half from land-grabbers and illegal settlements, the Bengaluru Urban district authorities have come up with a proposal to utilise the land in a way that it is not encroached upon again and generates revenue for the government. The district authorities have proposed to build bungalows for officials and housing quarters for government employees on these lands. They have also suggested developing parks, playgrounds, hospitals and EWS (economically weaker sections) quarters and also leasing out the land for building malls and IT set-ups on public-private partnership (PPP) model. The proposal would soon be submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said top sources in the district administration. Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district V Shankar led the anti-encroachment drive and recovered about 5,200 acres of land at a time when the land-grabbers were running a parallel system and were calling the shots in all the departments. A government officer requesting anonymity said, After the recovery of land, we have the challenge of protecting it. Mere fencing will not do. Hence, we have come up with the plan. Sources said the plan was for 4,365 acres and eight guntas, of which about 3,000 acres was arid. The action plan proposes utilisation of 300 acres of land for the officers bungalows and residential quarters for government employees in the City. Another 800 acres of land could be utilised by leasing them out to commercial establishments like IT-BT firms and building malls on PPP model. This will not only generate revenue for the government, it will also own the facility (buildings) once the lease period is over. It is a win-win situation, said the officer. The district authorities have also proposed theme parks, big parks like Cubbon Park and Lalbagh, tourism destinations, vast playgrounds and other lung spaces on 380 acres. EWS quarters Another 100 acres can be reserved for EWS quarters, where single BHK (bedroom, hall, kitchen) homes for the urban poor can be built. The land can also have new cremation grounds. The district authorities have suggested not to auction these lands. Instead, the land can be leased out and utilised whenever there is a need in future. Of the recovered land, at least 800 acres is lake land, for which a separate action plan has been prepared. The district authorities have proposed to develop them as lakes if they have not lost their features or as parks and playgrounds. Judge Andrews recently issued a claim construction opinion in a case between DuPont and Unifrax involving composite flame barrier laminate for thermal and acoustic blankets used in aircraft structures. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. v. Unifrax I LLC, C.A. No. 14-1250-RGA, Memo. Op. at 2 (D. Del. Jan. 13, 2016). Among various disputed constructions, two issues are of particular interest. First, the parties disputed whether the term laminate, which appears in the preamble of claim 1 of the patent-in-suit, should be seen as limiting. Judge Andrews found that laminate is in fact limiting because it gives life, meaning, and vitality to the claim and imparts a structure that is not present in the recitation of the layers in the body of the claim. The patent repeatedly refers to the invention as a laminate [and the] claim body does not disclose a complete structure. Id. at 4-6. Second, the parties disputed whether the phrase wherein the inorganic refractory layer of (iii) comprises platelets in an amount of 100% by weight with a dry areal weight of 15 to 50 gsm and a residual moisture content of no greater than 10 percent by weight rendered the claim at issue indefinite. Judge Andrews decided that the indefiniteness dispute was not suitable for resolution at the claim construction stage: That the claim admittedly does not set forth a requirement with respect to what percent of the refractory layer must constitute platelets or what the total weight of the layer is may make the claim broad. It does not, however, make the claim internally inconsistent. Additional evidence would be necessary to determine whether the claim informs one of skill in the art, with reasonable certainty, about the scope of the invention. Whether the disputed term renders the claim indefinite is therefore not amenable to resolution at this time. Id. at 24-27. Hard on the heals of its deal to acquire Cellcom Liberia, Orange is further strengthening its African portfolio by buying Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Bharti Airtel, the Indian telecommunications firm, has signed a deal with French owned Orange that will see the latter acquire Airtels operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Orange will acquire a 100 per cent stake in the share capital of the two companies, which have a consolidated revenue of around EUR275 million. The acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, with the outlay representing the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's EBITDA in these two countries, according to an Airtel statement. The completion of the deals is subject to approval by the competent authorities, but should it go through as expected Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa by adding nearly 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. The companies initially signed an agreement in July last year regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville, though the latter two have lapsed. A trio of former health secretaries and almost 40 charity organisations have called for a cross-party commission to review the future of the NHS and social care systems in England. Liberal Democrat MP Normal Lamb believes that without a full and impartial commissio, the NHS and social care systems face an existential crisis. Labour MP Alan Milburn and former Conservative MP Stephen Dorrell, now chairman of the NHS Confederatio, which represents NHS trusts, have both backed Mr. Lambs bid. Mr. Dorrell added that without appropriate interventio, he predicts the NHS problems will only get worse within the next 10 years. Organisations such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie have also called for an Independent Royal Commissio, warning that that there is no room for complacency in a written letter to Prime Minister David Cameron. Diabetes and the NHS In August 2015, a Diabetes UK report claimed that both type 1 and type 2 diabetes could bankrupt the NHS. There has been a 60 per cent rise in diabetes cases in the last 10 years the majority of cases are type 2 while the risk of long-term complications make diabetes an expensive condition to treat. The charity also identified that more people with diabetes should receive the necessary health checks recommended by the National Institute of Health Care and Excellence (NICE). Only a third of people with diabetes in the UK currently receive all eight checks; including weight, blood pressure and foot care, and their report highlighted that the burdensome cost of diabetes can largely be attributed to standards of care. Dr. Partha Kar, advisor to NHS Survival a non-profit umbrella group that has called for an independent commission into NHS spending told Diabetes.co.uk: We are treating more and more complications rather than trying to prevent them. The response from the government should be: Can we use all the money left in the pot left for diabetes care and know what we need to do? We know how we can improve care. But this isnt happening. The government cannot avoid this issue any longer Mr. Lamb raised the prospect of a full, impartial commission in Parliament on Wednesday 6 January, and warned that immediate action is required to prevent the NHS from crashing. The NHS and social care face an existential crisis, he said. Demand for services continues to rise year on year but funding is failing to keep up. The position in social care is perhaps even more serious. Growing pressures on services are so severe that all parties must come together to fundamentally re-think how we can guarantee the future of the NHS and social care services. The Government cannot avoid this issue any longer. Establishing this commission will show they are serious about protecting these vital public services. Chinese search engine and web services company Baidu, is all set to enter the Indian market with a strategic stake in Zomato, Big Basket & Bookmyshow. China's equivalent to Google, search engine giant Baidu is now setting sights on Indian shores. The company which is headquartered in Beijing, is reportedly in talks with Zomato, Big Basket and Bookmyshow to buy "strategic stakes" in the companies that began their journey as startups. Baidu also has plans to introduce a new app store called Mobo Market, which will be in direct competition with Google's Play store. Mobo Market is an app store, currently available for Android smartphones and Windows PC. Baidu plans to expand the app store in India in various native Indian languages like Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu and Urdu. In a statement to TOI, Tim Yang, Head of Baidu said, "India has a large base of internet users and this is moving up rapidly. Baidu sees the country as a strategic market, and we will have a big focus here...We are looking at opportunities across a number of sectors here, and these could be to buy, merge or invest. We are in discussions with companies which include Zomato, Bookmyshow and Big Basket...In terms of investments, there are no limitations." Baidu was founded in 2000 by Internet pioneer Robin Li, creator of search technology Hyperlink Analysis. In addition to their core web search product, Baidu is known for many popular community-based products, such as Baidu PostBar, the worlds first and largest Chinese-language query-based searchable online community platform, Baidu Knows, the worlds largest Chinese-language interactive knowledge-sharing platform, and Baidu Encyclopedia, the worlds largest user-generated Chinese-language encyclopedia, to name but a few. Beyond these, Baidu also offer dozens of vertical search-based products, such as Maps, Image Search, Video Search, News Search, and many more. Baidu comes with a strong financial and user backing, which could pose a serious challenge for Google's future in India. Currently, Google's Play Store is the dominating and most widely used app marketplace in the country. Seeing the surge in the number of Chinese technology companies entring India and the government's push for digitisation, it seems likely that Baidu will eventually enter into exclusive partnerships with Indian mobile manufacturers as well. Letv introduce a new logo and reveals plans to compete with Fortune 500 companies Chinese phone and TV maker Letv has updated their brand name and logo. The company has officially rebranded itself from Letv to LeEco and has also unveiled a new logo. LeEco has been getting quite a lot of traction, both in its home country, China, as well as globally. The company says that they are looking beyond their domestic market and want to compete on a global scale with companies from the Fortune 500 list. In addition to this, the company also announced a new 65-inch 4K TV for RMB 4,999 (Rs. 51,000 approximately). Read the full press release below LeEco (formerly Letv) premiered its new brand and logo in the afternoon of January 12. During the "Global Brand Upgrade" press conference under the theme of "A New Eco World", the company unveiled its new brand logo for the Le Ecosystem and its seven sub-ecosystems to an audience of nearly 1000 media and industry partners, and announced its plan to bring about a beautiful eco world for global users. The new logo consists of the letters L and E, conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world with its simple and elegant design. The four strokes which comprise "LE" each represent one of the four tiers of the Le Ecosystem Platform, Content, Device and Application. The dot formed by the overlapping of two strokes symbolizes the pivot of the entire ecosystem: EUI and Le Fans. The connection and interaction between the letters "L" and "E" expresses the LeEco spirit of constant disruption, breaking boundaries and eco synergy. The three colors of blue, red and green plus the all-inclusive color of grey represent the integration of technology, culture and the Internet within the Le Ecosystem. During the press conference, LeEco officially announced the name change of Letv.com to Le.com, the adoption of its new global top-level domain "le.com" and the launch of the all-new Super TV X65 at RMB 4,999, bringing the price of 65-inch 4K smart TVs down to the RMB 4,999 range. Besides, it announced the global strategies of Le Vision Pictures and Le Cloud in 2016, opening a new chapter in Le Ecosystem's development as it fully gears up for global expansion. LeEco unveils new brand and logo to unite broad globalization efforts LeEcos new logo, the result of many rounds of revision and refinement, consists of the letters L and E, conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world in a simple and elegant design. Since its establishment, the LeEco company has undergone three logo changes, each time disrupting the traditional industry while transforming itself. The current upgrade of the Le Ecosystem brand means that LeEco is looking beyond the Chinese domestic market to compete with global Fortune 500 giants such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix and is ready to make disruptive changes on the global scale. In addition to the Le Ecosystem logo, LeEco also introduced the logos of its seven sub-ecosystems. The word "TV" has been eliminated from all sub-ecosystem logos, showing that LeEco has fully grown from a video website in 2004 into a full-featured "eco world" integrating Platform, Content, Device and Application. "Letv is where we started, but LeEco is our future," said Ablikim Ablimit, Le Holdings' Vice President of Strategy, "We will create a more beautiful eco world with new value for our users. And our brand-new logo will bring users into this exciting world." LeEco announces global strategy to build and share a beautiful eco world After the full implementation of LeEco's seven sub-ecosystems in 2015, LeEco's strategic focus in 2016 will be on globalization, global open ecosystem, and achieving perfect synergy among the sub-ecosystems, according to Le Holdings' Vice President of Strategy Ablikim Ablimit. According to Ablikim Ablimit, LeEco's strategic goal of globalization is to not only make its products available in major global markets but also bring its entire ecosystem to major regions and countries of the world, and provide the ultimate experience and superior value to users in those countries and regions. LeEco's strategic priorities in this regard arecountries and regions with huge potential for breakthrough innovation or with high-speed growth such as the U.S. and India. Meanwhile, it will also keep on expanding in Southeast Asia markets including Hong Kong. LeEco brings down 65-inch smart TV prices to the RMB 4,999 range with Super TV X65 During the press conference, LeEco officially launched the new 65-inch Super TV X65, which breaches the RMB 5,000 price threshold of mainstream 65-inch 4K smart TVs and leads the market into the RMB 4,999 era. The RMB 4,999 price of the Super TV X65 is below its BOM cost of RMB 5,428.67, with the difference of nearly RMB 430 per unit being subsidized by the Le Ecosystem. LeEco is thus leading a new era of negative profit for devices, which will have a huge impact on the 60+ inch Smart TV market. In addition to a giant 65-inch 4K UHD panel, the Super TV X65 features 4K smart TV Mstar 6A928 SoC, quad-core 1.4GHz processor, a flagship quad-core Mali T760 GPU, 3GB RAM and 16GB flash, and supports 60fps H.265/HEVC 4K hardware decoding. The Super TV X65 which combines "ultimate technology, comprehensive ecosystem and disruptive price" is set to raise a new wave of large-screen TV popularization. LeEco announced that the Super TV X65 will be officially available for purchase on Lemall.com for RMB 4,999 on January 19, in addition to a package offer including an additional wireless speaker (standard price: RMB 1,499) for RMB 5,999. Moreover, the LeEco Super TV Spring Festival Shopping Carnival is slated to take place across all channels on January 17 and 18. LeEco aims at six million units in Super TV sales in 2016, eyeing the top three or even No. 1 position in the smart TV industry. Buy Letv le 1s at Rs.10999 on Flipkart LG has sent out media invites for MWC 2016, and it is expected that the company will announce the LG G5 at the Barcelona event on February 21. LG is planning a big show at the Mobile World Conference set to begin on February 22, 2016. The company has been sending out invites for the show to various media organisations with the tagline - Play Begins" along with the date of February 21. Although the tagline itself does not hint at any particular device, but rumours about the launch of LGs next flagship- the LG G5, have been doing the rounds for a while now. Predecessor to the LG G4, the LG G5 is expected to come with a metal unibody design. Koreas ETNews had cited industry sources, and claimed that the upcoming flagship device will feature a full metal case in order to compete with Samsung and Apples flagship phones. LG is one of the very few mainstream brands to still usie plastic on their devices. There are also many other rumours surrounding the LG G5. Leaked images of the device on Reddit also show a dual camera setup at the back of the LG G5. In addition, the images also show rear facing physical buttons on the smartphone, which are located below the two cameras. According to the post, the dual camera setup will use 16MP and 8MP cameras and may come with laser autofocus and a colour spectrum sensor. The LG G5 is expected to house the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset and a 5.3 inch QHD screen. Sources have told VentureBeat that LGs upcoming flagship will come with a small 160 x 1040 pixel display alongside the primary 5.3-inch QHD display. It is also speculated that this secondary display will be one of LGs headline features across its lineup in 2016. Other rumoured specifications include- an IR blaster, a USB Type-C port and a Pressure sensor. Although, It is not known if the pressure sensor is alluding to an atmospheric pressure sensor or a pressure sensitive screen. Exane BNP Paribas has downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from neutral to underperform and reiterated its underperform rating for Barclays on a bleak operational outlook for UK banks. In a note to investors on Wednesday, it said comments from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and the Bank of Englands Financial Policy Committee (FPC) have led it to soften its view on capital. That in turn has forced Exane BNP Paribas to expect lower than consensus dividends over the next three years. On top of that, the investment bank believes the operational outlook for the sector is increasingly bleak. We cut 2017 EPS estimates by an average of 4% to reflect slightly lower margin and slightly higher impairment assumptions - driven by a more rapid reduction in releases and recoveries. It said Britains potential exit from the EU could also push up the sectors risk premium ahead of the referendum. Exane BNP Paribas concerns about Lloyds Banking Groups margin and impairment have increased since it last downgraded the stock in September 2015. We also think the cost income target of 45% by 2018, set just one year ago, is now unachievable, the note said. Distribution potential is also debatable, and we think the bank will be able to pay just 12p of dividends (or the equivalent in buybacks) over the next three years, well below some market estimates. The investment bank also believed Barclays should raise capital given how tight it is operating against end-point requirements. Even if this capital was not ultimately needed, we believe it could be used to significantly enhance earnings through a LME on its subordinated debt. It said if the bank did this, Exane BNP Paribas might look more positively on the stock. Its target price on Barclays was dropped 14% to 215p, while it dropped the target price of Lloyds 5% to 74p but raised Standard Chartereds target price 3% to 515. The note also highlighted that RBS remains the investment bank's only outperform rating. Lloyds shares dropped marginally on the downgrade, down 0.26p (0.38%) to 69.04p, while Barclays was up 3.02p (1.49%) to 205.37p at 0908 GMT. The Chinese economy was stronger in December than had been previously thought, if the country's foreign trade figures on Wednesday were anything to go by, economists said, but the data also hinted at larger capital outflows. China's trade surplus increased to $60bn last month after a reading of $54bn in November, as the rate of growth in both exports and imports firmed. Exports fell at a 1.4% year-on-year pace (consensus: -8.0%) when measured in US dollar terms, after having shrunk by 6.8% in November. In parallel, imports declined less sharply than in the prior month, dropping by 7.6% in comparison to a year ago, but that was still considerably less than the 8.0% decrease which analysts had penciled in. To take note of, the commodities data revealed that price falls had continued to weigh on import values - which were flat over the month - pointing to a jump in imports in volume terms and thus to strengthening underlying demand. On the flip side, the better than expected foreign trade figures also led analysts at Capital Economics to revise their estimate for net capital outflows from China in November from $139bn to $159bn. More critically, some economists cautioned that Wednesday's figures might have been distorted by over-invoicing between firms in mainland China and Hong Kong, in a bid to avoid rules on currency transactions. Iris Pang, a senior economist for Greater China at Natixis SA in Hong Kong told Bloomberg that increased exports and imports to and from Hong Kong probably reflected "fake invoicing". LondonMetric Property s joint venture with Universities Superannuation Scheme, Metric Income Plus Limited Partnership, has sold its retail parks at Camborne, Haverhill and Bristol for 29.5m, reflecting a blended net initial yield of 5.8%. LondonMetrics share comes to 14.7m. The Bristol retail park was sold to CBRE Global Investors for 12.6m, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.4%, while the Camborne retail park was sold to a private investor for 9.9m, reflecting a NIY of 6.1%. The Cambridge Road asset was sold to a UK pension fund for 7m, also reflecting a NIY of 6.1%. All three retail parks were bought in 2012 and the company said the sales crystalise a profit on cost of 25%. The sales bring LondonMetrics retail disposals for the financial year to over 130m. Chief executive Andrew Jones said: These three assets have benefited from yield compression of 200 basis points since their acquisitions in 2012 and, following recent lettings and rent reviews, have now delivered on their business plans. We will continue to sell down our mature assets and recycle into more accretive growth opportunities in the distribution sector and through our development pipeline. At 0815 GMT, LondonMetric shares were up 0.5% to 159p. Exploration and production company Premier Oil has struck a deal to acquire E.ONs UK North Sea assets for a net $120m (83.3m) plus working capital adjustments. The transaction, which Premier said adds immediate cash generative production and realises tax synergies on its current UK tax loss of around $3.5bn, will be funded from existing cash resources. The assets being bought are located in the Central North Sea, West of Shetlands and the Southern Gas Basin and add stable UK gas revenues to the portfolio rebalancing Premiers commodity exposure. Chief executive Tony Durrant said: We are pleased to have agreed this value accretive deal as we continue to execute our strategy of focusing the portfolio on our core regions. Having recently completed the sale of our Norwegian assets for $120m, this transaction allows us to further consolidate our interests in the UK North Sea where any acquisitions are immediately value enhancing as a result of our existing UK tax position. Premier said the deal would add around 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2016 and around 64m barrels of oil equivalent to the companys net reserve and contingent resources, at an implied cost of around $1.9 per barrel of oil. It will also give Premier the scope to generate significant operating and cost synergies across the combined UK North Sea business and expand its presence in the Central North Sea, including a stake in the producing Elgin-Franklin asset and related fields. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2016. Premier had announced earlier in the day that it was suspending its shares from trading pending the announcement of a potential acquisition of assets which could be classed as a reverse takeover under the Financial Conduct Authority listing rules. Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said: The deal allows PMO shareholders, that have suffered a tough year, a substantial foothold expansion into the North and Southern Sea. We would see this reverse takeover as a positive catalyst, rebalancing of the company with the growth of the North Sea portfolio, at a fair price even amidst some of the toughest times that we have seen for oil and gas name operators. E.ON said on Wednesday that the sale of its North Sea assets will cut its net debt by about $620m. Premier also put out a separate trading and operations update. The company said production last year averaged 57,600 barrel of oil equivalent per day, compared with guidance for between 65,000 and 70,000 in 2016, including the proposed acquisition. Premier said progress on the commissioning of the Solan field continues, although first oil has been pushed back a touch to February due to unprecedented weather conditions. Meanwhile, the Catcher project is on budget and on target to deliver first oil next year. The former head of the British Bankers Association (BBA) has apologised for her turbulent tenure during the financial crisis and the Libor-rigging scandal. Angela Knight, who led the BBA from early 2007 to July 2012, said she had tried my best, I was out there, I did what I could in explanation as the industry lurched through corporate collapses, taxpayer bailouts and mis-selling scandals. Telegraph Oil prices have crashed to below $30-a-barrel amid warnings the rout could reach as low as $10 and bring down petrol prices to levels last seen in 2009. Standard Chartered became the latest major bank to downgrade its oil outlook to $10, joining the likes of Goldman Sachs, RBS and Morgan Stanley in making ultra-bearish calls as prices have collapsed by 15pc this year. Telegraph The City of Londons most vocal bear has warned that the world is heading for a financial crisis as severe as the crash of 2008-09 that could prompt the collapse of the eurozone. Albert Edwards, strategist at the bank Societe Generale, said the west was about to be hit by a wave of deflation from emerging market economies and that central banks were unaware of the disaster about to hit them. His comments came as analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland urged investors to sell everything ahead of an imminent stock market crash. Guardian Iceland says it has fully reimbursed Britain for the collapse of the Icesave bank in 2008 which left British and Dutch account-holders empty-handed. Remember Icesave?, Icelands foreign ministry wrote on Twitter, adding a link to an article about the reimbursement on the English-language website of the Icelandic daily Morgunbladid. Guardian Nigeria called for a crisis meeting of Opec yesterday amid warnings from Standard Chartered that the price of crude could fall as low as $10 a barrel. As the price of Brent crude in New York slid by 1.4 per cent to $31.12, its lowest since April 2004, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigerias oil minister, said that several members of the 13-nation cartel wanted an emergency meeting in March. The Times Compensation will be withheld from British owners of Volkswagen cars as the price for getting their vehicles fixed promptly, according to its UK boss. Paul Willis said that drivers would not get goodwill payments over the diesel emissions scandal because the money would be better spent speeding up the repairs process. The Times The crews of two US Navy vessels were picked up by the Iranian authorities in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, setting up a new source of friction between Washington and Tehran just days before last years landmark nuclear agreement is due to be implemented. US officials said they expected the sailors to be released soon but were scrambling for more information about the incident which was revealed just hours before President Barack Obamas last State of the Union address. Financial Times Companies around the world will be forced to add close to $3tn of leasing commitments to their balance sheets under new rules from US and international regulators significantly increasing the net debt that must be reported by airlines and retailers. A new financial reporting standard the culmination of decades of debate over off-balance sheet financing will affect more than one in two public companies globally. Financial Times Reigning Circleville Pumpkin Show champ wins 2022 with 1,837.5-pounder Another year, another Circleville Pumpkin Show. This year we talk to the man behind the excavator who maneuvers the giant gourds during the weigh-in. Life goes on, but not the same Four years ago Jan. 12, I received a phone call that completely changed my life. I woke up to news that my best friend Robby had been killed. For several hours I felt paralyzed before I broke down. I poured through all the photo albums I had looking at pictures of us from when we were kids hanging out with all of our friends. It didnt seem real. Barely a week ago, we were hanging out, having a blast celebrating the New Year while I was on leave. It turned out there were a lot of things going on beneath the surface that no one really knew about. Robby lost his life to a gunshot wound inflicted by a police officer. A shot was heard from inside his house by a neighbor, and the police were called. When the police arrived Robby stepped outside with a shot gun and refused to put it down when he was warned to. It was later revealed that his gun wasnt loaded. He purposely forced the officer to shoot him. Robby was a member of the Air Force Reserve, attached to the 442nd Fighter Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. After a deployment to Southeast Asia, he transferred from the Air Force to the Navy to become a corpsman so he could help save lives. He was a husband, father and best friend to everyone who knew him. If you knew him, he would have been your best friend too. But, this isnt about Robby and his struggles. This isnt about him not seeking help or opening up about his issues. This is about those of us who are left. This is about those of us who have a giant hole in our lives, how a part of us is missing with Robby gone. Several of us struggled since that day. Many wrestled with their faith, questioning every belief they grew up with. A few threw themselves into alcohol, trying to numb the pain of him being gone. Its hard when your best friend or brother disappears. His sister and brother-in-law adopted a little boy since his departure, and his nephew will never get to know his uncle. His daughter wont get to have her daddy there when she graduates high school or goes to her first dance. Her daddy wont walk her down the aisle. One of our friends had moved to the U.S. from Canada for school and lived in the U.S. for a decade. After Robby died, he moved back. Robby was the glue that held our circle together. Robby was the first person to tell me that my wife was interested in me. I didnt really believe him. He would have been the best man at my wedding, but wasnt even around when we started dating. I flew out the next day after I received the call so I could be there for his funeral. When I arrived back the next week to report for duty, I had to prepare for a contingency deployment to Korea. I had to take a physical fitness test and go to the combat arms range. At the range, I couldnt help but wonder if the sound I was hearing as I pulled the trigger was the last sound he heard. My heart was barely in it as I prepared to go overseas, an assignment I had previously been thrilled about. After losing Robby, I couldnt get excited about anything. Four years later, the ache is still there. His family has holidays and theres an empty space. I go visit my hometown and all I can think of is how I want to be able to invite Robby to hang out with us. Theres a missing piece in all of our lives that can never be replaced. Memories are made that are supposed to include him. One of the things that helped me heal was speaking with a chaplain and other friends who had lost people too early. If youve lost someone or are struggling yourself, strongly consider seeing a chaplain or talking to a psychological health professional. It worked for me. Four years ago, my best friend died. It still sucks. Orange to buy two of Airtel's African operations Bharti Airtel today said it will sell its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to French multinational telecommunications corporation Orange, formerly France Telecom SA. Airtel had in July last year made an announcement about entering into an agreement with Orange to sell its four subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone, in Africa. The agreements for the remaining two countries have lapsed. ''Orange and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV have signed an agreement leading to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone," the company said in a statement. As per the agreement, Orange will acquire 100 per cent of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal. Airtel said outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of its two subsidiaries for the year ended 31 March 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's EBITDA in these two countries at this time. The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities. Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. This acquisition marks a step forward in Orange's growth strategy and will bring the Group's African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016. This is further to the initial agreement signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville, Airtel said. Lazard and Societe Generale were advisors to Orange for this transaction. Airtel was advised by Arma Partners LLP. CG to power offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea Avantha Group Company CG (formerly Crompton Greaves) will provide power transformers and gas insulated switchgear (GIS) to Denmark's national electricity transmission system operator Energinet.dk for a wind farm project in the Baltic Sea. The financial terms of the contract were not immediately disclosed. CG will provide power for Kriegers Flak, Denmark's largest offshore wind farm project, which is to be developed in partnership with Sweden and Germany. The planned 600 MW offshore wind farm will act like a 'Supergrid', transmitting renewable energy through power grids to all three countries. It will be built in the waters between Mn, Denmark, southern Sweden and north Germany and its 130 wind turbines will produce around 2.1 TWh of electricity. ''Our equipment will contribute to bringing renewable energy to European consumers, increasing the security of energy supply to Denmark, Sweden and Germany, and assisting these countries to further reduce their carbon emissions,'' CG's CEO and Managing Director Laurent Demortier. The order consists of two onshore 500 MVA 410/235kV autotransformers (frame contract), four 220 MVA 32/225kV offshore platform substation transformers and nine bays 220kV Gas Insulated Switchgear for the offshore platform substations. CG's equipment will maintain the overall short-term and long-term security of electricity supply from the wind farm. The wind farm is planned to go into operation sometime between 2018 and 2020. It will help to more than double Denmark's wind power energy capacity to 42 per cent and provide electricity to over 600,000 homes in the three countries. A Dutch police unit, Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), has claimed to be able to decrypt messages on Blackberry's most secure smartphones and can read messages, without giving details of the methods it used, BBC reported. Troubled phone maker Blackberry had touted the services it provided, as the safest methods of communication. However, a Dutch Police spokeswoman told the BBC, "We are confident that Blackberry provides the world's most secure communications platform to government, military and enterprise customers. "However, we can't comment on this claim as we don't have any details on the specific device or the way that it was configured, managed or otherwise protected, nor do we have details on the nature of the communications that are claimed to have been decrypted." It was believed that the decrypting tests were conducted on PGP Blackberrys, handsets with an extra layer of encryption provided by online vendors, such as GhostPGP and TopPGP. The NFI, a body that provides forensic evidence to Dutch police, was not willing to explain how it decrypted messages from the devices, although it seemed that it needed physical access to handsets. Meanwhile, according to documents seen by Dutch blog Crime News, the NFI claimed to have decrypted 275 out of 325 emails encrypted with PGP from a handset in their possession. The software to crack the encryption reportedly came from Israeli firm Cellebrite. Cellebrite sells forensic devices to law enforcement organisations, though, it does not claim any particular expertise at cracking Blackberry handsets. According to commentators, the trick might be in the reference to PGP. There were a number of third-party vendors offering Blackberry phones that had had PGP added to save users the sometimes tedious routine of installing it themselves, The Register reported. It added, it well might be that the handset in question was crackable not due to a Blackberry flaw but an incorrect implementation of PGP itself. A suicide bombing was followed by heavy gunfire today near the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city, killing two people in an ongoing attack days after four-country talks aimed at reviving peace overtures with the Taliban. The assault sent terrified students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after a series of strikes on Indian installations in the region. "Two policemen were killed after the suicide attack, which was followed by gunfire," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP. "The incident occurred near the Pakistani consulate, but we are not sure if it was the intended target." Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement it was in contact with its embassy in Kabul as well as Afghan officials, but could offer no further information. Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults - an attack on the consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on the Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab. A small bomb also exploded near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad last on Tuesday, but no casualties were reported. The spike in violence came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise peace-making visit to Pakistan last month following a tour of Kabul. India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government. The latest attack comes shortly after four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. The discussions between representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China on Monday came even as the insurgents wage an unprecedented winter campaign of violence more than 14 years after they were ousted from power. The so-called "roadmap" talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the extremists. The group is set to hold the next round of discussions on 18 January in Kabul. The Taliban's unprecedented nationwide winter offensive is testing the capacity of Afghanistan's overstretched military and putting pressure on Pakistan to rein in its one-time proxies. In September the Taliban briefly seized the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, and in recent weeks they have seized large swathes of the key opium-rich district of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand, their traditional stronghold. This email is written with regards to the recent news about MOE considering whether to start charging teachers for parking. While the public remains divided about this issue, and many are quick to point out that teachers had a pay rise last year, none of the forums point out the following realities for teachers in MOE schools: 1) When there are a recession about 6 to 7 years ago, salary increments were frozen for MOEs teachers. Teachers did not get any wage increments that year. 2) In many schools, it is not uncommon for teachers to often fork out their own cash several times a year to pay for things for their students. These can range from meals to treat their form class and subject classes several times a year (e.g. Childrens Day, Youth Day, Graduation Farewell Presents, end of CCA season, school year farewell makan session for kids to celebrate them graduating to the next level and a new form class, year-end CCA bonding Camps etc) to helping students who are already on financial assistance schemes pay for stationary, enrichment books etc. Some teachers even make it a point to sometimes bring extra servings of lunch or breakfast for students whom they know are at risk and somehow dont know how to help themselves. Theyll eat with the student during break and use that opportunity to offer a listening ear and voice of reassurance alongside a hot meal. Teachers are generally not a calculative bunch, not to mention filing the paperwork is quite daunting when making claims, as such they seldom come forth to obtain compensation. Teachers may also have to fetch recalcitrant students (with many previous instances of truancy) to school, and these transport costs typically go unclaimed. Similarly, when kids fall ill in school, or during camping sessions etc, its not uncommon for teachers to once again send the students home or take them to see a doctor. Whoever owns a car and happens to be available, will just chip in and help out. Similarly, when teachers rush from school to HQ or to other schools to attend briefings in the afternoon, very few of them claim transport costs or that for parking at HQ (which is very costly). In schools e.g. teachers also spend their own money to buy stationary (marking pens, files, notebooks etc) for their own use as teaching resources as schools dont provide these. Schools will provide photocopying paper and whiteboard markers but if youre a teacher organizing your notes etc for teaching, you pay for your own stationery. 3) Its also not uncommon for senior management in schools like department heads, subject heads, level heads, school leaders etc to contribute money out of their own pockets to buy gifts as appreciative gestures for their various departmental teams and staff e.g. treating them to dinner, contributing financially to the annual staff dinner, buying staff gifts during teachers day, various celebratory days in the year etc . Unlike in the private sector, there are no expense accounts for these things. A chat with ordinary teachers from heartland schools will reveal a lot about the extent to which teachers use their own money to help their students and fellow colleagues. All these add up to hundreds of dollars, sometimes much more, a year, but teachers do all this to help and encourage their students and fellow teachers, so does the decision to charge teachers for parking in schools make any sense? We seek to forge a society with empathy, yet do we actually walk the talk? This article was first published over at TR Emeritus on 12 January 2016. It is reproduced with permission. Australian owners caught up in the Volkswagen diesel scandal will get a quick fix compared to customers in the USA. The German giant has confirmed a solution is in place to rectify emission-cheating software in 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre turbo diesel four cylinder engines for Europe and Australia. But America's stricter regulations for harmful nitrous oxide emissions means the company is still working on a more robust plan, with the head of VW's American division, Michael Horn, confirming to Drive at the 2016 Detroit motor show that it may take another two years to resolve. "This will take us until the end of next year [to fix]," Horn said. "Emission standards in Europe are completely different here in the US. In Europe, and for Australia I presume, they are more relaxed on NOX whereas they are much tougher on diesel particles, so therefore the standards on the environment, and with emissions, are much tougher in the US. It is easier to get this fix in Europe than here. "The most important thing is the environment is free of these cars. We want to fix these cars." Volkswagen's proposed solution in the US faces another setback with the California Air Research Board (CARB) rejecting Volkswagen's resolution on Tuesday, the day after the Detroit show opened and a day before its company chairman Matthias Muller was due to meet with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. In a statement issued by CARB, it said the proposed plan "contains gaps and lacks sufficient detail." "The descriptions of proposed repairs lack enough information for a technical evaluation; and the proposals do not adequately address overall impacts on vehicle performance, emissions and safety." Horn, and Volkswagen's global Chairman Herbert Diess, both apologised profusely during their speeches at the Detroit motor show in front of invited government members and representatives of the US Environmental Protection Agency, which has threatened to fine the company up to US$18million as a result of the issue. "2016 will be one of the most challenging but also one of the most important years in the history of VW passenger cars," said Diess. "We know that we have let down our customers, our dealers, the authorities and the American people and I am truly sorry for that. We are disappointed that this could happen within the company we love and I can assure you we are committed to making things right. "In Europe we have already developed good and approved solutions for 8.5million cars and they are being implemented right now. We are confident we will develop good, approved solutions for our US customers too. "We are in ongoing and constructive dialogue with the EPA and CARB about what is really needed. And we know that the agencies and the political leaders would like a rapid solution to these issues. We made good progress over the past couple of weeks and I am optimistic we will be able to find a solution soon. "Our most important goal for 2016 is to win back the trust in our brand and to this end we are redefining Volkswagen for the future in terms of strategy, mindset, products and technology. We are creating a new Volkswagen." In spite of the issue, which has forced Volkswagen to stop selling effected diesel-powered models in the US until it is resolved, Horn said the brand is committed to the technology for the future and plans to introduce more diesel variants going forward, including a new range of SUVs lead by the US-built mid-size seven-seater based on the Cross Blue concept and the long-wheelbase Tiguan. "Yes, of course. First of all it is a great technology and other brands sell diesel cars here in the US as clean diesel and hopefully pretty soon we can start this again," Horn told Drive. "And there is still enough customers out there that like the benefits of diesel due to the high miles per gallon performance specifically on the highways." He also had a dig at the EPA for the substantial penalties it faces when responding to an alleged statement made by Tesla founder Elon Musk that car makers should invest all their resources in electric vehicles rather than conventional combustion engine technologies. "I love the creativity in this market and everybody who is thinking about this and being innovative. I think everything we can do right for the environment through technology is better than paying fines that go to unknown funds or pockets." Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope. Due to the extreme cold temperatures forecast for this evening, the Code Blue warming shelter will again be open at the Salvation Army from 8 p.m. 8 a.m.Entry will be available for any homeless person or individual without heat until midnight, with light refreshments and cots/blankets being made available to ensure that all are comfortable and safe.Code Blue is a collaboration between the Dale Association, Salvation Army, Lockport CARES, St. Johns Outreach, Grace Episcopal, The Chapel, the Lockport Police Department, and the Grigg Lewis Foundation to care for those without heat and/or shelter this winter.Code Blue can be called from Oct. 1 to March 31 when weather conditions indicate the temperature will drop to 15 degrees or lower overnight. It is open to any homeless or elderly in need, along with people, who for whatever reason, have lost heat or had a water pipe burst.Tonight's forecast low according to the National Weather Service is 16 degrees -- as is Wednesday's. However, that does not account for the wind chill. Wind of 20 to 22 mph is expected tonight with gusts of up to 37 mph.During the day, the Lockport Public Library, St. John's Outreach and the Salvation Army are open to the public and to those looking to take shelter from the cold. One of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposals would freeze Thruway tolls and offer discounts for those who use it frequently. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GOV. ANDREW CUOMO / Flickr) Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope. ALBANY -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered details this afternoon during his State of the State address, unveiling a $145 billion budget for fiscal year 2016.We stand stronger than at any point in recent history, the Democratic governor said. The Empire State is poised to grow and to lead.Many of Cuomo's proposals for the coming year had already been shared during an eight-day media release of 14 key proposals.The budget bumps spending by 1.7 percent -- below the tax cap he initiated five years ago. There are five new tax credits offered under the fiscal plan, as well as $100 billion in capital projects proposed across the state.Cuomo also renewed calls for raising the minimum wage to $15, cutting small-business taxes, freezing Thruway tolls, boosting the environmental protection fund, making significant investments in upstate infrastructure and low-cost housing, and dramatically improving Internet speeds -- particularly outside of New York City.The governor also proposed limited the amount of money lawmakers can earn from sources outside their Albany paycheck, and allowing elected officials' pensions to be ripped from them if they're found to have committed sins against the state.The governor's speech was interrupted by a New York City Democratic Assemblyman who challenged Cuomo on education and funding for those in need. The human catastrophe unfolding in Flint is the direct result of the elimination of representative government (aka democracy) under Gov. Rick Snyders Emergency Management program. With elected officials unable to help their constituents, the citizens of Flint had only one place to turn: an un-elected, state-appointed Emergency Manager. And, because the EM has no one to answer to except the man who appointed him, Gov. Rick Snyder, he was able to move with impunity. The poisoning of Flints drinking water is the direct result of EM Darnell Earleys decision to move to Flint water instead of staying with water supplied by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), all to save a buck. But this story goes much deeper than that because, all along the process, Snyder administration officials were warned about the impending crisis and not only did nothing, they actively fought against doing ANYTHING. And, once the crisis could no longer be ignored, they acted in slow motion as the drinking water in many Flint homes continues to be toxic. Heres a short run-down of what transpired (for a much more in-depth timeline, check out Michigan Radios amazing piece HERE: 2013 State officials receive a report commissioned by the Flint City Council detailing water treatment procedures that would need to be taken if Flints water source was switched from Lake Huron River (via the DWSD) to the Flint River. This report was ignored and the treatment protocols spelled out in the report (which would have cost a whopping $60 a day) were never followed. 2014 After being told by the DWSD that they would be able to stay on their system until a new pipeline from Lake Huron was completed, Flint EM Darnell Earley rebuffed them, choosing instead to use Flint River water. In April of that year, the switch was made. In February of 2015, federal officials alerted the Snyder administration that they had a lead problem in Flint. No action was taken. In June of 2015, a leaked EPA memo shows that the federal government had serious concerns about lead in Flints water. Snyder administration officials respond by telling residents to relax. In August of 2015, water testing by the DEQ show extremely high lead levels in some samples. The authors of the report are directed to drop some samples to being the average lead reading below the level that would require state action. The number of samples used for the report is too low, in violation of federal regulations. In September of 2015, testing by pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha shows extremely high lead levels in the blood of Flint children. Virginia Tech University researcher Marc Edwards finds high levels of lead in the tap water of many Flint homes. The Snyder administration responds by discrediting both whistleblowers. By September 30th, Gov. Snyder is forced to admit Flint has a problem. A BIG problem. October 1st Genesee County declares a public health emergency. The next day, DEQ chief Dan Wyant says corrosion controls were used to treat Flint River water. This is later found to be completely untrue, a lie. By mid-October, the Snyder administration finally agrees to pay for Flint to move back to the DWSD system, over eight months after federal officials warned them of the problem. And, finally, this week, the Snyder administration FINALLY began distributing water and water filters to affected Flint residents. Yesterday, while most of us were watching President Obamas State of the Union Address, Gov. Snyder ordered the National Guard to Flint to assist and asked FEMA to help as well. This comes a full four months after Congressman Dan Kildee had already requested FEMA assistance. In response to reporters questions, Gov. Snyder claims that there [has been] no delay, this is the normal process. The Detroit News is reporting that EPA officials tried to get the Snyder administration to take action throughout much of last year (when they were telling people to relax, altering water testing reports to avoid taking action, and vilifying whistleblowers) but had no success: Starting with inquiries made in February, the federal agency battled Michigans Department of Environmental Quality behind the scenes for at least six months over whether Flint needed to use chemical treatments to keep lead lines and plumbing connections from leaching into drinking water. The EPA did not publicize its concern that Flint residents health was jeopardized by the states insistence that such controls were not required by law. The EPA did not publicize its concern that Flint residents health was jeopardized by the states insistence that such controls were not required by law. Instead of moving quickly to verify the concerns or take preventative measures, federal officials opted to prod the DEQ to act, EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman told The Detroit News this week. Hedman said she sought a legal opinion on whether the EPA could force action, but it wasnt completed until November. The state didnt agree to apply corrosion controls until late July and didnt publicly concede until October that it erroneously applied the federal Lead and Copper Rule overseeing water quality. An EPA water expert, Miguel Del Toral, identified potential problems with Flints drinking water in February, confirmed the suspicions in April and summarized the looming problem in a June internal memo. The state decided in October to change Flints drinking water source from the corrosive Flint River back to the Detroit water system. What this all shows is that the Snyder has stalled, obfuscated, and attempted to avoid taking action throughout the entire process. They have only acted when they no longer had a choice and the actions being taken should have been taken months ago. One final thing: in the absence of action being taken by the Snyder administration to protect Flint kids poisoned with lead, Michigan State University and Hurley Childrens Hospital in Flint are forming a joint team of 35 epidemiologists, educators and nutritionists will begin creating ways to mitigate developmental and behavioral challenges faced by children poisoned by lead-tainted water. Once again, it is outside groups having to take the lead because Gov. Rick Snyder has not. Yesterday, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton issued a statement on the ongoing crisis in Flint, Michigan where their drinking water has been poisoned with lead due to misconduct by the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder. In that statement, Clinton called the actions of Snyder administration unconscionable and applauded the Department of Justice for joining the Environmental Protection Agency for investigating . Today, Clinton issued a second, even more powerful statement, something none of the other presidential candidates Democrat or Republican has done. In her statement she lays out specific things that she believes need to be done and done NOW. Here is her statement, in full: There is no excuse for whats happening in Flint. A city of 99,000 people a majority of them African-American, 40 percent living in poverty spent nearly two years drinking and bathing in water that we now know contained dangerous amounts of lead. Officials told the public the water was safe even after a GM plant stopped using it because it was too corrosive. If the water wasnt good enough for cars, it wasnt good enough for kids period. The people of Flint deserve to have safe drinking water restored as quickly as possible. Their children deserve to immediately get the health care they need. And they deserve to know what Governor Snyder knew and when he knew it. While Im glad that the Michigan state legislature passed a plan last October that will partially cover the cost of purchasing safe water until July, Im calling on the state of Michigan to finance water purchases from Detroit until safe drinking water is fully restored in Flint. FEMA should conduct an expedited review of the citys water infrastructure for damage, and the federal government should step up to be a partner in making necessary repairs. I also urge the Obama Administration to immediately set up a health monitoring and surveillance system to test Flint residents for lead poisoning. Children who have been exposed to lead need to be immediately treated and monitored. And if there are long-term health impacts, those children and their families should be compensated. In America, no mother should have to worry that the water her children are drinking and bathing in isnt safe. I believe environmental justice cant just be a slogan it has to be a goal. Meanwhile, Gov. Snyder says his administration is still not ready to ask the federal government for assistance: We have not made a specific request for assistance yet, but were in a dialogue with the federal emergency management people, talking to them about how we can best work together, Snyder said in a City Hall news conference. This is a normal part of the process after we do a state declaration. It does take some time for us to put a request together for specific assistance, and were undergoing that process. It will take some time but we will get to that point, Snyder said. Considering that he has known about this problem since last February nearly a year ago one wonders what on earth is taking so long. Could it be he doesnt want federal government officials digging into what he knew, when he knew it, and why officials from his administration altered DEQ reports to avoid being compelled by law to take action? [CC photo by Marc Nozell | Wikimedia Commons] Journalism is defined as the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio. In this new media age, you can add blogs and podcasts and other online news sources to that, as well. It is my firm belief that journalism TRUE journalism goes farther than that: it is a necessary element in a vibrant democracy and has the crucial role of revealing information that might otherwise be hidden and holding our elected officials and other leaders accountable for doing their jobs. When people accuse me of being a journalist, I often brush them off saying that I dont consider myself a journalist. But, the truth is, what we do here at Eclectablog IS journalism. We do some original reporting but we also collect news stories and present them to you in a digestable way, often connecting the dots between things that dont always seem connected. For example, we have been documenting the introduction of Emergency Managers in schools and municipalities since it began its new, more anti-democratic phase in Michigan starting in 2010. Part of that was to let people in Michigan know what was happening in their state. But along with that was an intentional sounding of the alarm to the rest of the country that the experiment with disposable democracy here in Michigan is something that the entire nation should be paying attention to. And, sure enough, our disposable democracy model has now been exported to Atlantic City, New Jersey. With the implosion of their gaming industry, Atlantic City is massively in debt. And legislators there announced this week that they want to impose even MORE austerity on a city that has already carved over $60 million out of their annual budget. This time, bizarrely enough, its coming from a Democrat, New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney. Sweeney told Atlantic City, This is a very clear statement to Atlantic City. Get your act together, knock off the B.S., and start addressing what you need to address. The state is not going to come in and bail you out anymore. You need to fix this. Sweeney is planning to introduce legislation that will end democracy in Atlantic City: According to a draft of the bill, which had not been formally introduced as last night, the state Local Finance Board would be given control of any of the functions, powers, privileges, immunities, and duties of the governing body. Another Democrat, Senator Jim Whelan, is against the idea saying: Are there things the city can do? Yeah can always tighten up and so on, but the fact of the matter is theyve cut 60 million dollars, thats not an insignificant amount of money, he said. He said the city government and the board of education both have fiscal monitors, and every dime thats spent is approved by those monitors. Things can be improved, but Im not sure that theres a magic panacea with a state takeover, he says. A takeover by the state,Whelan contends, would be a disaster. Given its abysmal 30-year track record in taking over school districts, I seriously doubt the State of New Jersey will be the white knight to save Atlantic City, he told Philly.com Blindsided by Sweeneys move, Atlantic City mayor Don Guardian said, It caught us completely off guard. It was our Pearl Harbor here. As in Detroit, Atlantic Citys water department, the Municipal Utilities Authority, is being considered for privatization. So, yes, we do journalism here at Eclectablog and, given the state of traditional media these days, we are providing an essential clearinghouse where you can get an alternative take on the days news, connecting dots and holding people accountable. Our work has helped propel stories coming out of Michigan to the national stage. Emergency Managers, the Education Achievement Authority, prison privatization scandals, the poisoning of Flints drinking water by Snyder administration officials; these stories and more have been well-documented here and have gone national, in part because of the light weve shined on them. All of this takes money because all of the regular contributors are paid for their creative work and thats why, several times a year, we come to you to ask you to support alternative journalism as it is practiced at Eclectablog. Your financial support helps us keep the lights on and to grow so we can be even more effective. For those groups and individuals who find what we do here at Eclectablog worthy of supporting with a direct financial contribution, there are three ways to help. First, you can make your donation using the PayPal form at the top of the right sidebar. You can choose which level of support you wish to give us from the dropdown box or choose a different level if you wish by using the Other amount box. The default is $60 which is basically $1 per week after the fees are taken out, a pretty good value. Or you can wait until the TinyPass pop-up pops up (every tenth click on the site) and donate that way. If you do that, the popups will go away as long as you have cookies enabled. Like with the Paypal form, the default amounts for annual or monthly donations can be adjusted to whatever you wish them to be. They are currently set to be around $1 per week. Again, its a great value. Finally, if you would prefer to send a check, send Chris an email and hell give you the address. This is the most beneficial way for us because it avoids the Paypal and Tinypass fees that are taken from contributions to the site. If you work for an organization that would like to support our efforts by placing an ad, click HERE for our ad rates and more information. By the way, you dont have to be an organization to run an ad. Maybe youd like to surprise your favorite progressive with a birthday message on Eclectablog or help promote your favorite group. Again, click HERE for more info. If you cannot afford to support us financially, there are other ways that you can still help. For instance, please share our content on your Facebook page or other social media like Twitter, Reddit, etc. Put a Like on our Facebook page and click the Invite friends button and encourage your friends to like us, too. Thanks so much for your continued support, Chris, Anne, Amy, LOLGOP, Tony, Emma, John, and Judy [CC image credit: Pietro Naj-Oleari | Flickr] The U.S. Army may be in the walking phase of its plan to shift major portions of its information technology resources to the cloud, but a recent contracting initiative could move the service up to a jogging pace by the end of the year. The Armys progress in migrating much of its IT capabilities to the cloud was characterized as a crawl during 2015. The services goal was to move to a walk status in fiscal 2016, and then to a run level in 2017 and 2018, according to a 2015 briefing by Col. John Rozsnyai, chief of the enterprise architecture division for theArmy CIO. The service launched the cloud contracting initiative in November when it asked for comments from vendors on a draft request for proposals for the Army Cloud Computing Enterprise Transformation, or ACCENT, program. The Army is assessing industry feedback on the draft. To supplement those comments, the Army issued a specific capability and task questionnaire for potential vendors and set a deadline of Friday for responses. The ACCENT program supports the Armys effort to move certain IT applications, systems and data to the commercial cloud, according to an Army notice last month. The scope of the program includes services and solutions needed to migrate eligible enterprise applications to the cloud. Components will include Information as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service. Contractor Selection Process A major feature of the procurement effort is the use of what is essentially a blanket purchase agreement process, which the Army is calling a blanket ordering agreement, or BOA. The Army will select a number of vendors to provide a variety of cloud services for what amounts to a standing roster of prequalified businesses. Those vendors will be eligible to compete for specific cloud projects under various task orders. To counter vendor lock-in when certain vendors gain a measure of exclusivity in bidding for contracts the Army will limit the duration of the BOAs to three years. It also will allow additional contractors to be brought on each year. Task orders will use a range of pricing mechanisms, including fixed price, firm-fixed price, cost plus fixed fee, cost-reimbursement and labor-hour contracts. Much of the draft RFP was devoted to ensuring proper IT safeguards, including use of the FedRAMP process as well as the incorporation of Department of Defense cybersecurity requirements. Having all potential vendors meet uniform security standards under BOAs should facilitate the contracting process. The ACCENT program is not new the name was adopted with the issuance of the draft RFP but essentially succeeds the existing Army Cloud Hosting Contract Vehicle. A Must Win for Vendors ACCENT is an effort to establish a multiple-award contract vehicle that will provide the Army with a roster of vendors who can provide a host of cloud and cloud-related services, said Alex Rossino, senior principal analyst atDeltek. My understanding is that ACCENT contract holders will be the primary providers of commercial cloud services to the Army, and I have heard that ACCENT will be the go-to contract vehicle used by the Army Application Migration Business Office for migrating applications to commercial clouds, he told the E-Commerce Times. In this sense, securing a spot on ACCENT is a must-win for vendors hoping to do cloud business with the Army. Award of the contract would definitely be a notable milestone for the Army and probably for the DoD as a whole because it will provide customers with a bevy of cleared vendors to choose from, Rossino said. A final request for proposals most likely would be issued between July and December, he estimated. The documents Ive seen suggest that Army customers will be able to use private, public and community cloud models as part of ACCENT. Also, multiple types of on- and off-premises cloud models will be available. The important thing is that the models comply with the DOD Security Requirements Guide, Rossino noted. The potential value of the multiyear cloud effort has yet to be determined. However, the Armys 2016 budget request for its IT operations, including maintenance and new developments, was $9.1 billion. ACCENT represents a big step forward for the Army. Clearing vendors so that solutions meet DOD security standards has been a big roadblock to DODs use of the cloud so far. Having a vehicle like ACCENT with a stable of cleared vendors should accelerate Armys use of cloud solutions and provide plenty of business opportunity for vendors on the ACCENT vehicle, Rossino said. The Federal Buzz Interior Cloud Set: A project to move theDepartment of the Interiors financial and business management system, or FBMS, to the cloud has been completed, according toUnisys, which managed the program. Interior is the first federal organization to move its SAP financial management application to the cloud, the company said. In cooperation with partnerVirtustream, Unisys provided an IaaS solution, including Virtustreams SAP in the Cloud hosting services. FBMS is an integrated financial and management system, which gives Interior and its component bureaus the ability to plan, budget, allocate, account for, analyze and report on all budgetary, appropriation, expenditure, acquisition, grant and property activities. The system uses SAP and Compusearch core business management and reporting components, and is integrated with supporting payroll, procurement and travel systems. The project does not eliminate SAP, said Greg Gordon, vice president for the Interior Department account at Unisys Federal. Unisys offers a robust IaaS solution on which the SAP-based application operates, he told the E-Commerce Times. This project is right in line with the Obama administrations Cloud First strategy, leveraging the clouds shared infrastructure and economies of scale to more rapidly respond to changing business requirements and to support the departments mission, Casey Coleman, group vice president for civilian agencies at Unisys Federal, told the E-Commerce Times. Moving to the cloud has been a game changer for the Department of the Interior, helping us modernize the way we do business, said Sylvia Burns, CIO at the Interior Department. By moving our financial management system to the cloud, we are able to make our data and applications more accessible, she told the E-Commerce Times. We are pleased to be a leader among federal agencies in embracing the Cloud First strategy at Interior. We are certainly realizing the benefits, Burns said. Cloud Adoption Guide: Concerned about federal cloud adoption, theProfessional Services Council has released a report that outlines best practices for agencies to use when adopting commercial cloud technologies. With the imperatives to replace aging infrastructure, gain access to new applications and improve cybersecurity, now more than ever, federal agencies need to realize the benefits of cloud computing, said PSC executive vice president Dave Wennergren. A PSC survey of federal CIOs in 2015 showed that only 8 percent of federal CIOs felt that they had progressed as far as they wanted to in implementing cloud-based solutions, he said. The report, Best Practices for Federal Agency Adoption of Commercial Cloud Solutions, offers a detailed guide to transitioning to a commercial cloud provider and 14 real-world case studies highlighting successful cloud adoptions. Topics include understanding the value of cloud technology, utilizing a service-centric approach to the cloud, and focusing on appropriate service-level agreements. Ford on Monday announced FordPass, a platform focusing on enhancing the customer experience. FordPass includes a Marketplace offering mobility services; 247 access to FordGuides, which are personal assistants to help customers with mobility challenges; membership loyalty rewards; and FordHubs select stores that let customers experience Fords latest innovations. Membership is free and open ownership of a Ford vehicle is not required. Members will be able use a virtual wallet, FordPay, to pay for services accessed through FordPass. Its all about the user experience, remarked Roger Lanctot, a research director at Strategy Analytics. Its obviously a win-win if [FordPass] fits seamlessly into the Ford owners life. Thats what Ford is gunning for. How well it will succeed remains to be seen, but FordPass is going to be all about giving people a customized experience around the ownership of their car, possibly infused with their requirements, Lanctot told CRM Buyer. Its going to be about peoples personal needs as opposed to Apples CarPlay or Google, which is all about them, Lanctot said. FordPass will become available in the United States and Canada in April. Other markets will be added later this year. Users can access the program via smartphones, but Ford did not say whether it would be available for iOS, Android or both. FordPass Features Ford is partnering with ParkWhiz to help drivers find and pay for advance parking, and with FlightCar to help consumers borrow and share vehicles. FordPass members will get merchandise and unique experiences as loyalty rewards through Fords partnerships with McDonalds and 7-Eleven. Owners of Ford vehicles equipped with SYNC Connect a service similar to GMs OnStar will be able to use FordPass to remote start, lock and unlock their vehicles; check fuel, oil, battery charge levels and tire pressure remotely; and locate their vehicles. FordPass members also will be able to speak with FordGuides for free. FordGuides will be on standby to help solve mobility challenges not to sell. Hanging Out at the FordHub Customers will be able to explore Fords latest innovations at FordHubs urban storefronts where they can learn about its mobility services and participate in exclusive events. The first will open later this year at the Westfield World Trade Center in New York. Others will open in San Francisco, London and Shanghai. Tomorrows Ford Today FordPass is part of an overarching push by Ford into futuristic technologies. Its strategy includes integration with Amazons Alexa cloud-based voice service to connect Ford Sync-equipped vehicles to the smart home. That would let drivers issue voice commands through Amazons Echo speaker to access Internet-enabled lights, TVs, home security systems and garage doors. Ford also is working to integrate the Wink smart home platform to connect Sync-equipped cars and smart home devices. Consumer engagement companies are trying to connect with consumers in multiple ways, said Niranjan Manohar, a research program manager at Frost & Sullivan. The value to Ford of enabling that engagement through the vehicles connected platform is phenomenal, Manohar told CRM Buyer. Direct interaction with the customer will help Ford understand and gauge customer preferences and reduce several inefficiencies. It also will allow differentiation based on varied metrics such as digital engagement, vehicle configurability, satisfaction and other associated services, he said. Also, extending FordPass membership to non-Ford owners will help [them] understand Fords associated services. 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Kenya's parliament approved new anti-terrorism laws in the face of vocal protests by some opposition lawmakers who said the measures threatened civil liberties and free speech, legislators said Christians in North Eastern Kenya have come under repeated attacks by Al-Shabaab militants but they continue to worship on Sundays under the protection of armed guards despite being warned not to do so by extremists. Hundreds of students at Garissa University in northern Kenya came under attack in April when Al-Shabaab extremists crossed the border from Somalia and raided dormitories at the college. They separated Christian students from their Muslim classmates and then killed 147 and wounded dozens more leaving the university empty to this day. At Sunday Mass in Garissa's Cathedral, Our Lady of Consolation, the benches are full, CNN reports showing the congregation praying under armed guard but they're praying nonetheless. Every Sunday new threats come from Al-Shabaab a terrorist group that claims to act in the name of Islam. Garissa's Christians are told that if you worship here, you'll die, CNN reports. Attending Sunday Mass, Patrick Gitau said that despite the risks: "Every Sunday I'm here it's my cathedral. Yeah I'm here I was baptized in this church." Maltese priest Joseph Alessandro, now the Bishop of Garissa, who came to Kenya in the early 1990s, leads the congregation, himself a victim of attacks. In 1993 he was shot by separatists on the Kenyan coast in 1993, and left the East African country to receive medical attention, but this did not deter his faith and he came back, to Garissa five years ago. Despite constant threats before each Sunday mass, he told CNN he would never consider leaving his congregation. "It's not a matter of choice," he says. "It's our duty to remain here. Since we are appointed as bishops, we have to stay - not withstanding what happens - 'til there are no Catholics, it's our duty to stay." Following the campus attack, he says, many students have stopped attending their classes. "Before the Garissa attack, we had 460 students in our school. After the attack, only 300 reported back. The others left Garissa or were scared to come back [to school] because of the attack." Alessandro hopes that the institutions forced to shut down because of the threat of terror will soon reopen and that life will return to normal. "Now we are gaining confidence again - we have security on the compound for the school and even during the night for the sisters, for the priests." Along with his fellow bishops and nuns, they have stayed with the community. Sister Evelyn Ingoshe, has been part of the Diocese of Garissa for two years. She works at the school next to the Garissa Cathedral. Sister Evelyn told CNN that she loves children and it is for that reason that she has devoted her whole life to serve them. (Photo: REUTERS / Thomas Mukoya)Rev. Timothy Njoya, an advocate for justice and human rights, reads the Bible at the Parliament gate during a demonstration against the legislators plan to receive higher bonuses in the capital Nairobi, January 14, 2013. Kenya's president rejected plans by members of parliament to triple their end-of-term bonuses and award themselves diplomatic passports, bodyguards for life and state funerals. In their last act before parliament closed for March 4 elections, Kenyan lawmakers, already among the best paid in the world, tried for a second time in a few months to increase their end-term bonus to 9.3 million shillings (7,200) each. Catholic, Evangelical, and Pentecostal churches along with Muslims resisting Kenya's attempts to "control worship" appear to have had an impact after the government said it needs to think more on new proposals. President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee party announced in December it intended to push through new laws to tightly restrict religious leaders and preachers. Under the new laws, preachers of all denominations would have to produce on demand an approved document of theological training, and proof of previous "good conduct," the Tablet reported, The intended legislation would have enabled government officials to demand to see a detailed copy of a "mission statement" for a ministry. The law would have sought preaching restriction and appeals for money on television - televangelism - before next year's general election for lawmakers to serve in the national parliament. Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Philip Anyolo, said that the new rules were a "clear violation of the constitution" that is "explicitly clear on the freedom of worship." "The new rules give the registrar sweeping powers, including the power to invade Churches to conduct impromptu audit," said in a letter to the president also signed by 25 senior Catholic clergy. "The Catholic Church is a people of God. As such, the State cannot purport to audit the faith of the people of God." Christians make up more than 80 percent of Kenya's 45 million people with Catholics the largest tradition, although all Protestants outnumber them. Muslims make up some 11 percent of the population. The move is aimed at stopping the growth of evangelical churches, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya asserted and it was reported that evanegelicals might vote in droves against the govenrment in the scheduled 2017 elections. But a leading Anglican cleric welcomed the proposals as an attempt to end the "commercialization" of religion, the BBC reported. However, Anglican Church of Kenya Bishop Beneah Salah said government intervention is needed because the Church was not in a healthy state. 'COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE GOSPEL' "Horrible things are happening in the Church today. There is a lot of commercialization of the gospel with this prosperity gospel," The Standard quoted him as saying. "Perhaps God is using the State to punish the church as he did in the past, where he used kings or nations to discipline the church," he noted. President Kenyatta is himself a Roman Catholic and on Jan. 14 his office issued a statement noting "the current debate on the proposed Religious Societies Rules 2015." His spokesperson, Manoah Esipisu said, "The President has directed the Attorney-General, Professor Githu Muigai, to ensure that all proposals relating to the creation of a framework for religious societies and organizations is undertaken after thorough and exhaustive consultations with all groups, bearing in mind the sacrosanct constitutional principles governing the freedom of religion and worship. "The President has further directed the Attorney-General to ensure that the current draft regulations are subjected to further vigorous public consultations so that they in no way undermine the fundamental values and principles enshrined in the constitution, and which are a way of life for the people of Kenya." Queenslands principals are the nations least bullied and threatened, according to the 2015 Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety & Well-being Survey Report , released in December.Only South Australian principals experienced less physical violence.The report was commissioned by the Australian Catholic University (ACU), which surveyed 2,621 principals and 1,024 assistant principals from schools around the country.Of all states, Queenslands principals had the lowest prevalence percentage by year in terms of bullying, threats of violence and physical violence against them.The Educator spoke to Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) president, Kevin Bates to investigate some of the contributing factors behind this positive trend.There are three main reasons for the Queensland data. The first is maintaining collegiality when other states have moved to more competitive models of school management, Bates explained.This includes ongoing high levels of union membership and dedicated support structures for principals within the QTU.The second is maintaining Education Department support structures for schools and principals, and the third is preserving job security for principals and other school leaders [no contracts]. It is a complex issue but these are the main contributing factors.However, Bates cautioned that while this was good news for the states principals, being the least worst in a bad situation didnt make the issue any less important.The report also found that the states regional principals were treated worse than metropolitan or rural principals. Bates said this matter was difficult and required additional research to find out its causes.One possible explanation is the pressures of growth outstripping infrastructure, he said.Another consideration is periodic/recurring issues such as severe drought and the mining downturn which generate economic pressures on communities. Schools, and their principals, are impacted by this, although this also effects rural schools. As older principals retire, their deputies are reluctant to take up the job due to the workloads, stress and burnout that comes with the job, a new study shows. Loretta Piazza , principal of Meadowglen Primary School in Epping, Victoria, co-authored the study with respected Melbourne principal, Mark Thompson, who took his own life in 2014 before the project was completed.The study surveyed assistant principals in Victoria's north-west, and found an overwhelming majority in almost all age groups said they had no intention of applying to become principal.Victorias Andrews Government has said it fully supports principals and had invested $82m to roll out 17 regional teams to relieve principals and teachers from administrative burdens so they could focus on students.But will this be enough to reverse the trend?The findings follow a nationwide study by the Australian Catholic University (ACU), released in December, which found that principals were five times more likely than the wider population to face stress, depression, burnout and threats of violence.Alarmingly, every state had recorded an increase in the same issues that are causing assistant principals in Victoria to turn down one of the most crucial jobs in society.While South Australia recorded a significant decline in instances of actual violence and threats of violence, 36% of principals said they had been physically threatened, while instances of bullying had remained about the same.South Australia Secondary Principals Association (SASPA) president, Peter Mader said the situation was unacceptable.We are pleased to see that the trend of threats of violence and physical violence towards SA principals is declining, but it is still unacceptable for 24% of SA principals to have experienced physical violence in the workplace during 2015, Mader told The Educator.Our association supports the call for a national conversation to address the issues highlighted in the report.Employment data from SEEK released in August last year revealed vacancies for school management jobs spiked 256% over the past year however, few were stepping up to fill these positions something that may reflect a looming national shortage of principals. Australian Principals Federation (APF) president, Julie Podbury , told The Educator that while retiring principals factored into the staffing void, another factor was that prospective applicants had serious concerns about the impact the demanding role could have on their own well-beingIt is a very difficult role, and insufficiently paid for its incredible and complex demands, Podbury said.In general terms it is a role that many will shy away from if they value their well-being. The lights are still on at the U.S. Department of Educationbut they may start flickering in a few corridors. The new Every Student Succeeds Act does more than just give states and districts a big say over accountabilityit contains a laundry list of prohibitions aimed at preventing the U.S. secretary of education from issuing marching orders on standards, teacher evaluation, school turnarounds, and more. And, while the latest revision of the nations main K-12 law doesnt scrap the Education Department, as some Republican presidential contenders would like, it encourages the agency to slim down its workforce. The language reining in the department has been described as everything from politically motivated window dressing to a straitjacket for the newly installed acting secretary, John King. Tighter Reins Under the Every Student Succeeds Actthe latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Actthe U.S. secretary of education cannot: Prescribe specific goals for student achievement, either long-term or short-term. Tell states exactly how to turn around their lowest-performing schools or intervene in schools that are struggling. Coerce or provide incentivesusing federal funding or flexibilityfor states to adopt a particular set of standards including the Common Core State Standards. Specify any aspect or parameter of evaluations for teachers and school leaders developed at the state and district level. Use money provided under ESSA to develop, implement, administer, or distribute a federally sponsored national test, including a test aligned to common core. Force states to use a specific test for accountability. Tell states exactly how they must factor in test participation for accountability purposes. (States are supposed to include it in their accountability systems in some way, but just how is up to them.) SOURCE: Every Student Succeeds Act It may be a while before the impact of the prohibitions is clear, but the truth seems to be somewhere in between. Thats partly because in addition to the restrictions on secretarial authority, the law also contains some clear accountability protections. They include a continued requirement for annual testing by the states, and a focus on low-performing schools and historically overlooked groups of students in accountability, said Reg Leichty, a founding partner at Foresight Law+Policy, a law-firm. You have to look at those two together as balancing on a teeter-totter, Leichty said. They may prohibit a very pro-federal-role [administration] from layering on significant new accountability requirements. But at the same time, there are significant prescriptions about what states and districts have to do, he added. Setting Priorities For his part, King, who replaced recently departed Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the start of the year, said hell spend his roughly 13 months in office focused on three priorities: encouraging equity and excellence in all schools, lifting up the teaching profession, and bolstering college completion. And King doesnt think ESSA and its prohibitions will have a big impact on whether or not hes able to move forward with that agenda. The president signed the Every Student Succeeds Act because he believes and we believe that it builds on the civil rights legacy of the law. We are confident we can work together with states and ensure that implementation of the new law advances equity and excellence in our schools, King told reporters at a back-to-school visit to an elementary school in Silver Spring, Md., last week. The key will be to make sure states use their new flexibility around accountability and intervention systems in ways that are [focused] on equity and opportunity for the highest-need students, King said. For his part, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., an architect of ESSA, said in a recent interview that under Duncan and his regime of waivers from the previous version of the law, You had Washington running 80,000 schools in 42 states. We got rid of all that in favor of a less-expansive federal role in K-12. But the department will still have some tools in its shedeven if the education secretary can no longer really be a director of policy the way that Duncan was, said David A. DeSchryver, a lawyer who now serves as the senior vice president and co-director of Whiteboard Advisors, a consulting organization in Washington. For instance, under ESSA, the department cant tell states how to fix their lowest-performing schools. But, thanks to investments in longitudinal data systems, the agency has more data than ever at its fingertips, which it can use to give states advice on what sorts of practices have actually worked. The agency will be like this anxious teenager shouting, I know the answer, I know the answer, ask me! DeSchryver said. They wont be able to tell states what to do, but they might be able to say, Here are three really good options. And states and districts may well take those suggestions to hearteven if they dont have toif only because there is a scarcity of expertise on the finer points of developing accountability plans, improving schools, and measuring student progress, he added. Maybe [the department] will be a kind of consultant to states as they provide support for that work, DeSchryver said. Powerful Lever Whats more, ESSA doesnt seem to have had a serious impact on the departments office for civil rights, which can be a powerful lever for making sure districts and schools look out for historically low-performing groups of students and schools, DeSchryver said. And while the department may no longer be able to craft a Race to the Top-style competitive-grant program that rewards states for adopting a particular set of standards, the agency may be able to encourage other kinds of policiesif it can get its hands on competitive-grant funding again, Leichty said. There appears to be nothing in the law that would prohibit King or another secretary from developing a new program providing grants to districts that want to, say, improve principal leadership, he added. I think they are going to have be very thoughtful about where they try to press their policy agenda, Leichty said. But he said, Theres nothing in this bill that dramatically changes the structure and nature of what the department of education does. Still, it may be awhile before it is clear how the Obama administration plans to operate in the new ESSA era when it comes to competitive grants, new initiatives, and more. The department is still reviewing the secretarial authority prohibitions and other aspects of the law, Dorie Nolt, a spokeswoman, said. Language on Staff Cuts ESSA seeks to scale back the Education Department in ways that go beyond the litany of secretarial prohibitions. It gets rid of, or consolidates, some 50 federal programs, some of which, like state education technology grants, havent been funded in years. It sounds like some in Congress are hoping those cuts will lead to a slimmed-down department. Within 60 days of the laws passage, the department must publish the number of full-time equivalent employees working on programs or projects that were consolidated under the new law. And within a year of ESSAs enactment, the secretary of education must reduce the number of full-time equivalent employees associated with those eliminated or consolidated programs or projects. It is too soon to say how the new law may affect staffing at the department, but the agency anticipates it will result in very fewif anycuts, Nolt said. Less than two dozen full-time staff members work on the six programs that ESSA did not continue, but almost all of these programs are funded next year, she explained. And even if they dont continue after that, there is some work necessary to close out grants and process final paperwork, she said. Plus, new programs, such as a professional development program for literacy, created by ESSA will require staffing. Whats more, K-12 is only one piece of the departments overall portfolio, which also includes higher education. Acting Secretary Also on the human resources front: Its unclear whether Kings status as an acting secretaryhe hasnt been officially nominated for the post by the White Housewill prove to be an impediment. King doesnt expect it will; he noted that an acting secretary has all the same authority as one thats been confirmed by the Senate. But Alexander has expressed concerns about Kings status. Its important that the agency is run by someone the Senate has confirmed to increase confidence in the departments efforts to implement the law, he said. Whats more, other key positions are filled by acting personnel. For instance, Ann Whalen, who left the department temporarily after playing a key role in implementing the Race to the Top competition, is back as a senior advisor, essentially filling the role of assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education. And Amy McIntosh, whose title is principal deputy secretary, will take on the job of the assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development. Having a lot of acting officials is par for the course at this point in an administration, and shouldnt affect the work, said Marshall S. Smith, who has worked on education policy in Washington during several different presidential administrations, including, briefly, under President Barack Obama. But a relatively short time left in office, plus a team thats likely to dwindle, means that King and company will have to set priorities for their to-do list, Smith said. The last year is a hard year, he said, even as he expressed confidence in his former colleagues. Lots of people leave the closer it gets to the end. Tennessees state-run Achievement School District, which takes over low-performing schools and either runs them directly or hands them over to charter organizations, has run into partisan political trouble. Several Democratic state lawmakers say they will propose bills this upcoming legislative session to either shut down the turnaround district, which mostly is based in Memphis, or severely limit its authority to take over schools. Citing a recent Vanderbilt University study, the lawmakers said district-led turnaround efforts in Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville have academically outpaced the states and that until the state-run district can begin to show academic progress, it shouldnt be allowed to take over more schools. The ASD should go back to its original goal and refocus on intense intervention at a small number of schools, state Rep. Brenda Gilmore, chairwoman of the Black Caucus of State Legislators said during a press conference. Legislative Fight Democrats dont have much sway in the states Republican-controlled legislature, and Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and his appointed education commissioner Candice McQueen said recently that they still support the turnaround initiative, which was created under the states waiver from provisions of the now-defunct No Child Left Behind Act. Several bills were proposed last year to limit or shut down the ASD, though only one actually passed. That bill limited the ASD to taking over schools that have failed to make any academic improvement. The ASD is one of multiple strategies to reach students in our lowest-performing schools, and we have seen schools perform better the longer theyre in the ASD, a statement from Haslams office said. Across the country, several state-run initiatives to turn around mostly urban schools are facing political pressures. Michigans Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, proposed in December an alternative school turnaround model that provides more oversight of that states charter schools. He has previously said hes willing to consider shutting down Michigans turnaround district if legislators adopt his plan. The district has been mired in corruption scandals. In Georgia, parents staged a protest in front of the state capitol last month to stop a proposal by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal for the state to take over several low-performing Atlanta-area schools. As in Memphis, parents are citing studies that show state-run districts are not effective in turning around schools. Local officials in Newark, N.J., are set to soon regain control of the district after the state ran the citys schools for 20 years. And there are still disputes over whether Louisianas state-run system improved public schooling in New Orleans in the years after Hurricane Katrina, a debate that remains alive now as the citys public K-12 system has evolved into a complex landscape of independent charter schools. In Nevada and Texas, state lawmakers have laid the groundwork for turnaround districts. Protests and Pushback In Tennessee, the state-run districts takeover process has led to parking lot shouting matches and rowdy protests in several impoverished communities on the north and south ends of Memphis. Shelby County district leaders, which operate Memphis schools, have aggressively fought to pull students from the ASD to avoid funding cuts associated with a decreased enrollment. The Shelby County school board last month signed a resolution for the legislature to, among other things, place a moratorium on the district. Enrollment at several of the 27 ASD schools has lagged, and YES Prep Public Schools, a nationally ranked charter operator based in Houston, abruptly abandoned its efforts to expand in Memphis after its leaders said they wouldnt be able to meet enrollment projections. Academically, the districts charter operators in Memphis have struggled to cope with the citys entrenched poverty and the high student mobility rate. Leaders have also struggled to hire and retain high-quality and experienced teachers. The ASDs superintendent, Chris Barbic, left office in December. Just days after Vanderbilt released its study in early December comparing the state-led and district-led turnaround efforts, the state took over four more schools. Parents involved in the months-long takeover process called the ASDs efforts to include community voices in the process a scam. The Shelby County districts own turnaround model, dubbed the Innovation Zone or iZone, involves replacing entire school staffs, frequent interventions for students who fall behind, and hours added onto the school day. Teachers get bonuses to work at the schools. Shelby Countys staff has been more successful in coping with neighborhood poverty by deploying an expensive and time-intensive wraparound model that partly addresses students psychological trauma and other needs, school administrators say. Other Models Unlike the state-run effort, the Shelby districts model does not involve charter operators. To pay for the effort, which costs around $8 million annually, district leaders have scraped together money from the federal School Improvement Grant program, local philanthropists, and general funds. That financial model is not sustainable, district leaders have complained. Shelby County Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said despite the states academic results, he still sees the ASD as a partner and said its presence in the city has created healthy competition. Almost all of the districts worst-performing schools are undergoing some sort of intervention, he pointed out. The state is a very important institution in setting the tone for whats going on here, he said. Theyve created the conditions for the iZone to thrive. But Kevin Woods, a Shelby County board member, was a little more blunt about the future of the state-run efforts. We want the state to put resources behind the iZone, he said. If they want to grow the pot to fund both the ASD and the iZone, thats fine. But the last thing we want to do is rob Peter, to save Paul. Today, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Pim van Ballekom and Managing Director of the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) Massimo Garbini signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reinforce and expand cooperation between the two organisations. The SDM is tasked by the European Commission with developing and implementing the technology deployment phase of the Single European Sky Initiative, meant to defragment the EUs airspace so as to increase capacity, improve safety, lower environmental impact and reduce costs for airspace users. The MoU is intended to formalize the way in which the EIB and SDM will work together towards ensuring financial instruments are available to support the financing of the SESAR Deployment Programme. Present at the signing, Violeta Bulc, EU Commissioner for Transport said: "SESAR is an ideal project for the EIB to support, on the one hand because it is a key element of the Unions transport policy - on the other, because of the significant contribution it can make to European economic growth and employment. I am particularly pleased to see this cooperation being formalised today through a Memorandum of Understanding. This is a strong signal to the entire aviation community on the success of the SESAR projects. It is also as a model for cooperation between European Institutions and aviation stakeholders." In view of the focus on Air Traffic Management (ATM) modernisation shared by the European Commission, the EIB and the SDM are working together to offer a range of financial products to the industry. This way, SESAR Deployment Managers stakeholders (Air Navigation Service Providers, Airports and Airlines) will have access to the most appropriate financial products to help them implement the technology changes required by the Deployment Programme. Pim van Ballekom, EIB Vice-President, added: We are confident that this cooperation with the SDM will benefit not only the aviation and air traffic management (ATM) sector but ultimately also passengers and the general public. The EIB will draw on the SDMs vast knowledge of the sector and combine that with the Banks financial and technical expertise to offer financial solutions to the industry. Harmonization, safety and efficiency should be the watchwords for the ATM industry moving forward and the Bank will do it all it can to support these aspirations through concrete investments. Through the cooperation, suitable financial mechanisms and instruments are being put in place for a sustainable financing of the SESAR Deployment Programme. This should also be seen in the context of the EUR 315 billion European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) of the Investment Plan for Europe. Our stakeholders will benefit from the financial expertise of the European Investment Bank, which is reinforcing the overall support SESAR Deployment Manager is giving. With the support of the European Commission, the MoU reflects the pioneering role ATM modernisation gets to play in the future of European transport said SDMs Managing Director Massimo Garbini. QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people, most of them police, outside a polio eradication centre in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, the latest militant attack on the anti-polio campaign in the country. Two militant groups - the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has links with the Taliban and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State - separately claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomb blew up a police van that had just arrived at the centre to provide an escort for workers in a drive to immunize all children under five years old in the poor southwestern province of Baluchistan. "It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene," Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief told Reuters. "The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign." Ahmed Marwat, who identified himself as a commander and spokesman for Jundullah, said his group was responsible. "We claim the bomb blast on the polio office. In the coming days, we will make more attacks on polio vaccination offices and polio workers," he said by telephone. The Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility in a statement released by their spokesman, Mohammad Khorasani. Teams in Pakistan working to immunize children against the virus are often targeted by Taliban and other militant groups, who say the campaign is a cover for Western spies, or accuse workers of distributing drugs designed to sterilise children. The latest attack killed at least 12 policemen, one paramilitary officer and two civilians, officials said. Twenty-five people were wounded. Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the World Health Organization says. The campaign to eradicate the virus in Pakistan has had some recent success, with new cases down last year, but violence against vaccination workers has slowed the effort. (Reporting by Gul Yousafzai and Syed Raza Hassan; Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Jibran Ahmed in Peshawar; Writing by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel) By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The new Polish government has stepped up efforts to address concerns in Brussels about civil rights ahead of a meeting on Wednesday at which the EU executive will review its moves to influence the constitutional court and the public broadcaster. Prime Minister Beata Szydlo had a lengthy telephone call on Tuesday evening with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, EU officials said, and on Wednesday Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski will brief members of the European Parliament, which is due to debate Poland's actions next week. On Monday, officials said, another deputy minister in the Polish foreign ministry, Aleksander Stepkowski, visited Brussels to meet members of the Commission, the EU executive, which is considering whether to launch a procedure that could lead to sanctions on Warsaw if it is found to have breached European Union rules on upholding the rule of law in member states. No details were available on Szydlo's 45-minute conversation with Juncker, who has insisted that EU leaders are not "bashing Poland". EU officials saw the discussions as a sign that both sides were intent on avoiding a damaging confrontation at a time when the bloc faces a number of crises testing its unity. Critics accuse Polish nationalist Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Szydlo's Law and Justice (PiS) party, of rolling back judicial independence and freedom of speech. Supporters say the government is entitled to uphold Catholic and national values and show its independence from Brussels. Since its election in October, the government has ignored existing rules to pack the constitutional court with its appointees and changed the court's voting system to curb its ability to censure legislation. It has also passed a law giving it direct control over the appointment of public media chiefs. WEDNESDAY MEETING On Wednesday, the commissioners in charge of fundamental rights, justice and media - Frans Timmermans, Vera Jourova and Gunther Oettinger - will report to the 28-member Commission on Poland's actions before it decides how to proceed. A new legal instrument known as the "rule of law framework", created by the EU in 2014 after being widely accused of failing to defend European liberal values in Hungary, gives Brussels the "nuclear option" of suspending EU voting rights and access to EU funds in case of a "systemic threat" to the rule of law. However, EU officials say the Commission may hold fire for now and seek further explanations and commitments from Poland in talks and in writing before any formal decision. Diplomats say any action by Brussels could be politically counterproductive, fuelling nationalist and Eurosceptic forces in central Europe and a "siege mentality" in Poland. One senior EU official caught in the crossfire between Warsaw and Brussels spoke out on Tuesday to call on Europe to hold Poland's leaders to account but spare ordinary Poles. Donald Tusk, who was a conservative, pro-EU prime minister of Poland and a bitter rival of Kaczynski, is now president of the European Council and chairs summits of EU leaders. He told Socialist members of the European Parliament on Tuesday: "I hope that your words and your actions will help to mitigate the behaviour of Kaczynski's party. "But at the same time, in no way should they negatively affect my country and of course Polish citizens." The new three-stage process provides a means of pressuring a country to amend its action before Brussels applies the "nuclear option". (Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by James Dalgleish) Relacionados El TSJCM anula una multa de velocidad impuesta por la DGT al no descontarse el margen de error de los radares Liberia, Costa Rica, Jan 13 (EFE).- Central America has launched a pilot mechanism aimed at resolving the situation of thousands of U.S.-bound Cuban migrants stranded in Costa Rica for the past two months. A group of 180 Cubans resumed their journey by boarding a charter flight to El Salvador and then took a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride from the airport in San Salvador to the El Salvador-Guatemala border. They touched foot on Guatemalan soil at around 6:00 a.m. Wednesday. The Cubans, who are following a route designed by the International Organization for Migration, must pay the $555 cost of the journey from Costa Rica to Mexico via Guatemala and El Salvador, plus an additional $60 in immigration fees. Once in the Aztec nation, they must travel by their own means and via their transportation of choice to the United States, where they hope to benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act, a law that grants permanent residence to Cubans reaching U.S. soil. The pilot plan began at the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in the northwestern Costa Rican city of Liberia when the migrants boarded a flight at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The group of Cubans - 109 men and 71 women, all of them adults - were transferred by bus from a shelter in the town of La Cruz, 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the airport. Costa Rica's government expressed thanks to El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico for their cooperation and also acknowledged Honduras for its willingness to help even though that country is not part of the route. "The pilot operation has been successful thus far. There's been a lot of order and calm, a sense of fraternity," Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said in a press conference Tuesday. He said he was confident the plan would resolve an immigration crisis that began on Nov. 15, when Nicaragua, Costa Rica's northern neighbor and a close ally of Cuba, closed its border to migrants from that country. A technical meeting will be held in Guatemala on Monday, where representatives of Central American governments will evaluate the pilot plan and either make corrections for ensuing transfers or continue along the same lines. Between Nov. 15 and Dec. 18, Costa Rica issued 7,802 special transit visas to Cuban arrivals, while those who departed on Tuesday night were the first to have entered the Central American country. Costa Rica had set up 38 humanitarian shelters for the Cubans, most of them in La Cruz, a town close to its border with Nicaragua. Yeleine Cespedes, a nurse from the southern Cuban city of Cienfuegos, told EFE prior to the trip that the time they spent being stranded in Costa Rica "was very hard" but she thanked the Costa Rican people and that nation's government for their support. Costa Rica suspended the issuance of temporary visas to Cubans on Dec. 18, saying the country's capacity for humanitarian assistance had been exhausted with the 7,802 already granted. That decision resulted in at least 1,000 additional Cubans becoming stranded in Panama. Most of the Cuban migrants flew legally by plane from the Communist-ruled island to Ecuador and then made their way by land, air and sea to Costa Rica via Colombia and Panama. Total fees & costs of changing cantons Hello! I'm trying to evaluate the costs and complications of changing cantons just for a few years. I have searched old threads about changing cantons but they tend to deal with one problem or another and not give a total analysis except that it is like changing countries and a big pain. Our children are older and schooling in Lausanne so we're thinking of moving there for them for 3 years. Can you add to my list of things to consider and correct it if there are errors please? 1. Changing license plates for two cars 2 Re -Expertise for old cars? it was done last year but they need it every two years. 3. More road tax? or does what was paid for this year in GE get carried over? 4. Changing the C-permit? Does it have to get reissued? I'm now naturalized but my husband is not....Since it was done in GE - he'd have to pay the fees for a new card? His is a C permit - I don't see anything on the back about where he can live with it and presuming he can follow me. I did see that husband and wife have to live in the same canton for tax purposes. 5. Changing AVS - right now I'm unemployed and he's retired so I have to pay into the AVS system based on savings....Is this complicated to change? 6. Taxes - I've read here and there about paying your taxes before leaving. But I thought that taxes are paid based on where one lives the 31 December? So this is just for the previous year? When changing cantons or leaving Switzerland the local OCP must be informed, and all taxes due should be paid to the Administration Fiscale Cantonale. Hotel des Finances 7. OCP - changing registration...for GE -122 chf for Americans 8. Changing drivers license - 100 chf (and get the credit card sized license) - we have a year to do this? 9. Other fees and complications? Thank you ! 5 Year Commitment to Insurance Company and Six Months Notice to Leave Hello, I am just in the process of setting up my health insurance. The company that I have decided to proceed with (Easy Sana) meet my requirements. I have done a quick search on the forum and read posts that Easy Sana (part of the wider Groupe Mutuel) customers are required to stay with them for five years and give six months notice is required to leave them. According to the FAQ on here; "When leaving Switzerland, you have to deregister from your commune. Your population office will give you an attestation of definitive departure. Your insurance company will need a copy of this attestation in order to cancel your insurance. Your policy will be cancelled for the end of the month youre leaving in. You wont be asked to pay any premiums after this date". I'm slightly confused. Supposing I was to leave Switzerland suddenly in two years time (without much pre-warning) would I be liable for a further (up to) six months premiums, if able to leave the insurance company at all? If so, is there any practical way around this for expats who often leave as quickly as they arrived? Many thanks. Re: New .swiss domain available Quote: marton It is now possible to order .swiss domains. According to Doris Leuthard - The Bund will support Swiss firms that invest and provide jobs here. This will enable them to position themselves optimally in the world" She fails to mention that the domain price is 120CHF per year which is almost double the next highest domain price and 8 times the price of the .ch domain which is 15CHF. Question is, are they still about after a few years? Well no, not really. What about the success (or lack thereof) of .mobi, .jobs or .london? Or if you're going to surf some naughty stuff are you going to go via a .adult or .xxx domain? Who cares? Reality is that outside of the Internet industry have ever heard of these TLDs and pretty much no one will actually use them to find a specific site - they'll use Google or another search engine. At most .com, .net or the national TLD matters - no one, including search engines, cares much about any other TLDs. So, I'd suggest that we can all forget about the .swiss, just as everyone has forgotten all of the other generic TLDs and leave them to domain squatters, Coca Cola and those who've only recently discovered that you can get the Internet on computers now. As to the costs of these new Top Level Domains, they need to be high - setting one of these up with ICANN costs a couple of hundred grand, so you do need to recoup your costs and fortunately there are enough squatters, paranoids and idiots to buy them when they are first launched.Question is, are they still about after a few years? Well no, not really. What about the success (or lack thereof) of .mobi, .jobs or .london? Or if you're going to surf some naughty stuff are you going to go via a .adult or .xxx domain? Who cares?Reality is that outside of the Internet industry have ever heard of these TLDs and pretty much no one will actually use them to find a specific site - they'll use Google or another search engine. At most .com, .net or the national TLD matters - no one, including search engines, cares much about any other TLDs.So, I'd suggest that we can all forget about the .swiss, just as everyone has forgotten all of the other generic TLDs and leave them to domain squatters, Coca Cola and those who've only recently discovered that you can get the Internet on computers now. Re: missing or lost baggage with SWISS Quote: roegner Funny. Out of the 15+ times my luggage didnt arrive, the majority was at London Heathrow and never in Zurich OP, you probably got a website that you can use to track your luggage. It's usually pretty accurate and saves yuntike over the phone. It is extremely rare that luggage is lost for good, and most suitcases are delivered to their owner within 24 hours of arrival, provided that there is a flight scheduled from yout point of origin. Unless you came from a place with only infrequent flights to ZRH, you should get your suitcase delivered to you by the end of the day. If not, it should at least be located. If not, then you are really unlucky, but the airline will still give itself 4 weeks to find your luggage before the compensation process starts. And there is still hope, as our suitcase found after 2 weeks shows. Just one disclaimer though: whatever I wrote about the probability of finding your suitcase is subject to caution in the event you packed anything really valuable in it, such as a computer, large pieces of jewellry (that would show on the x-ray machine) or electonic equipment. These should NEVER be packed in checked luggage to discourage theft. When mine hasn't arrive in Zurich, it was because it has stayed behind, usually in Amsterdam, but the two weeks episode was following a flight via Copenhagen.OP, you probably got a website that you can use to track your luggage. It's usually pretty accurate and saves yuntike over the phone. It is extremely rare that luggage is lost for good, and most suitcases are delivered to their owner within 24 hours of arrival, provided that there is a flight scheduled from yout point of origin.Unless you came from a place with only infrequent flights to ZRH, you should get your suitcase delivered to you by the end of the day. If not, it should at least be located. If not, then you are really unlucky, but the airline will still give itself 4 weeks to find your luggage before the compensation process starts. And there is still hope, as our suitcase found after 2 weeks shows.Just one disclaimer though: whatever I wrote about the probability of finding your suitcase is subject to caution in the event you packed anything really valuable in it, such as a computer, large pieces of jewellry (that would show on the x-ray machine) or electonic equipment. These should NEVER be packed in checked luggage to discourage theft. Now that Teresa Giudice is a free woman again, does she have plans to be a single one as well? That's what her fans can't help but wonder as there's a new report that says the Real Housewives of New Jersey star is planning on saying good-bye to her husband Joe Giduice once again after spending nearly a year apart while she was behind bars for her multiple fraud convictions. Teresa Giudice Still Owes IRS How Much?! According to Star Magazine on Tuesday, Teresa and Joe are wasting no time as he is preparing for his 41-month sentence at a correctional facility at Fort Dix, New Jersey. And while there's no doubt that there relationship might be never be the same, sources say that Teresa has already applied for a visitor's license so she can and their four daughters can see him in jail. As far as those divorce rumors, they couldn't be any further from the truth. One source dished that Teresa and Joe's relationship is "rock solid and they are closer than ever." 'Skinnier' Teresa Giudice Spotted For The First Time The insider added, "Teresa doesn't want there to be any delay in seeing Joe from the time he begins serving time." Unfortunately though there have also been rumors that Joe might be deported to his native Italy after he completes his sentence. The couple was found guilty of multiple counts of fraud, which include bank, mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. So far Teresa herself has not made any public comments after she finished her sentence last month. Keep up with Enstars for all the latest news on Teresa Giudice and all of your favorite celebrities right here. Women who are pregnant and treated at trauma centers are at lower risk for prematurity, delivering low birth weight babies, and preterm labor reports new Journal of the American College of Surgeons study CHICAGO: Expectant mothers who sustain a traumatic injury and receive care at a hospital with a designated trauma center experience better outcomes than those treated at a non-trauma hospital. They are less likely to experience preterm labor (give birth prematurely), have a low birth weight infant, or have meconium at delivery (a sign of fetal distress), according to new study results published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons in advance of print publication later this year. During pregnancy, approximately 8 percent of women sustain traumatic injuries such as fractures, superficial or open wounds. "Previous research has shown that even minor injuries in pregnancy can result in serious maternal and neonatal morbidity," said study coauthor Major John T. Distelhorst, DO, MPH, a U.S. Army Preventive Medicine physician at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. "In cases of injury, pregnant women have had poor neonatal outcomes, so we wanted to know whether the trauma system could better help these women." Trauma centers are specialized medical facilities that have optimal processes and resources in place to monitor and meet the critical needs of injured patients. Care at trauma designated hospitals has been shown to decrease the risk of death and improve outcomes after injury in non-pregnant populations. Until now, however, there has been very little data on the impact of trauma systems on women who are pregnant. The aim of this study was to examine the association between the type of hospital (trauma versus non-trauma hospital) at which pregnant women receive care and maternal and neonatal outcomes. For this analysis, researchers linked two databases---the Washington State Birth Events Records Database and the Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Recording System. This alignment allowed them to assess the maternal and neonatal outcomes of all injured pregnant women (3,429 patients) who were hospitalized in Washington State between 1995 and 2012. The researchers adjusted for confounding factors, including injury severity score, maternal age, education status, and prenatal smoking status. The leading causes of injury accounting for hospitalization in both the trauma hospitals and non-trauma hospitals were motor vehicle accidents and falls. The study findings showed that expectant mothers treated in the trauma system did much better. Treatment at a specialized trauma hospital lowered the odds of preterm labor by 40 percent. Among neonatal complications, treatment at a trauma hospital decreased the odds of premature birth by 26 percent, of low birth weight by 28 percent, and of meconium at delivery by 46 percent. "This study shows beneficial effects that trauma hospitals can have on injured pregnant women and their neonates," Dr. Distelhorst said. "We hope that the state trauma systems will look at this information to optimize their resources and triage protocols." The study also suggests that in some cases of injury, women who are pregnant may be under triaged. "Our study showed that about 16 percent of pregnant patients at non-trauma hospitals actually had severe injuries, implying that some of these patients might have been under triaged, as all of their care occurred at non-trauma hospitals," said study coauthor Vijay Krishnamoorthy, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology, University of Washington. "It might be explained by the EMS system or the fact that the patients were driven in a private vehicle to a non-trauma hospital. But we would like to learn more about how women are brought to the hospital." Because trauma systems differ from region to region, the study authors hope that these findings will lead to further studies using different populations in different states. "Our results are for Washington State, a regionalized and inclusive trauma system," Dr. Distelhorst said. "These findings can help our system improve care for injured pregnant women and neonates, and can contribute to helping to improve the trauma systems in other states." Dr. Krishnamoorthy added, "This is the first step to more studies in other states with different populations of injured pregnant women. And if this association continues to hold it may change triage practice, potentially leading to treating pregnant patients with injuries, even moderate injuries, in trauma hospitals." ### Melissa A. Schiff, MD, MPH, of the University of Washington in Seattle, is the senior author of this study. Dr. Schiff is an expert in pregnancy and epidemiology. Her previous research showed that relatively minor injuries in pregnancy can result in serious maternal and neonatal morbidity. Citation: Association between Hospital Trauma Designation and Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes after Injury among Pregnant Women in Washington State. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2015.12.010 About the American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 80,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit http://www.facs.org. January 13, 2016--(BRONX, NY)--Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) have engineered the first antibodies that can potently neutralize the two deadliest strains of the virus that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The findings, made in mice, are a significant step toward immunotherapies that are effective against all strains of Ebola virus that cause human disease. The study was published online today in Scientific Reports. "A broadly effective immunotherapy for Ebola virus would be a tremendous advance, since it's impossible to predict which strain of the virus will cause the next outbreak," said study co-leader Jonathan Lai, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry at Einstein. The other study co-leader is John M. Dye, Ph.D., branch chief of viral immunology at USAMRIID. Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV) was responsible for the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the largest in history. The next-most pathogenic strain of Ebola virus is Sudan Ebola virus (SUDV). "This strain is also a concern because outbreaks are occurring more frequently, and it has been responsible for large outbreaks in the past," said Dr. Dye. Although a Zaire-specific vaccine is in clinical trials, no vaccine has yet been approved for preventing infection from any strain of Ebola virus. And therapies for people who become infected are very limited. ZMapp, a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies, is the most promising of several experimental immunotherapies for Ebola virus now in development. But ZMapp's antibodies are specific for EBOV and would not work against the other two Ebola strains that have caused major outbreaks. (In addition to Zaire and Sudan, the third major strain is Bundibugyo.) In previous work, Dr. Lai and his colleagues used a technique called synthetic antibody engineering to create the first humanized antibodies against SUDV. Those antibodies were designed to bind to SUDV's surface glycoprotein, which the virus uses to gain entry into host cells. Since SUDV's glycoprotein shares just 55 percent of amino acid sequences found in EBOV's glycoprotein, antibodies against SUDV do not neutralize EBOV. In the current study, Dr. Lai's team engineered "bispecific" antibodies that contain key glycoprotein-binding sequences from both the EBOV and SUDV antibodies. The bispecific antibodies effectively neutralized both EBOV and SUDV in tissue culture studies. In addition, the antibodies provided high levels of protection for mice that had been exposed to lethal doses of either of the viruses. The bispecific antibodies must still be tested in larger animals and in humans to know whether they'll be effective. If the new immunotherapy proves safe and effective for people, said Dr. Lai, it might best be suited for preventing local outbreaks from getting out of hand, as happened in the recent West Africa Ebola virus epidemic. "It's also possible," he noted, "that a therapy like this could be used prophylactically, to protect health workers or family members who come into contact with Ebola virus patients." There are currently no plans to further test the new immunotherapy. But if a pharmaceutical company were interested, said Dr. Lai, "it could probably move the antibody fairly rapidly along the evaluation process." Meanwhile, Dr. Lai has broadened his approach to Ebola virus therapy. He is developing antibodies and antibody cocktails aimed at neutralizing the three most dangerous Ebola virus species (Zaire, Sudan and Bundibugyo) as well as Marburg virus, a deadly pathogen closely related to Ebola virus. ### The study is titled "Bispecific Antibody Affords Complete Post-Exposure Protection of Mice from Both Ebola (Zaire) and Sudan Viruses." The other contributors are: Ph.D. student Julia Frei, post doctoral fellow Elisabeth Nyakatura, and Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., all at Einstein, and Samantha Zak and Russell Bakken at USAMRIID. This work was supported by a grant from the Centers of Excellence for Translational Research, National Institutes of Health (U19 AI109762), an Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award, the NIH Cellular and Molecular Biology and Genetics Training Program, a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, German Academic Exchange Service) fellowship, and a JSTO-DTRA (Joint Science and Technology Office-Defense Threat Reduction Agency) project (CB3948). Albert Einstein College of Medicine has filed patent applications related to this research and is seeking licensing partners able to further develop and commercialize this technology. Interested parties can contact the Office of Biotechnology at biotech@einstein.yu.edu. Video: Interview with Dr. Jonathan Lai Credit: Albert Einstein College of Medicine About Ebola Virus: Ebola virus is notorious for killing up to 50 percent of the people it infects. Ebola virus disease--the severe, usually fatal disease that Ebola virus causes in humans and in nonhuman primates--was first documented in 1976 in villages along the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa. The recent Ebola epidemic is the largest in recorded history, affecting multiple countries in Western Africa. Through December of this year, there have been over 28,000 total cases of the disease (including suspected, probable, and confirmed) and more than 11,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are no FDA-approved treatments or vaccines for Ebola virus disease. Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nations premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2014-2015 academic year, Einstein is home to 742 M.D. students, 212 Ph.D. students, 102 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 292 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 2,000 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2014, Einstein received $158 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Through its extensive affiliation network involving Montefiore, Jacobi Medical CenterEinsteins founding hospital, and three other hospital systems in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island, Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and view us on YouTube. WASHINGTON, DC, January 13, 2016 -- New research released today shows that workers at a Fortune 500 company who participated in a pilot work flexibility program voiced higher levels of job satisfaction and reduced levels of burnout and psychological stress than employees within the same company who did not participate. This is the first time a randomized controlled trial has been used to measure the effects of workplace flexibility in a U.S. firm. Conducting this research over the course of 12 months in the IT division at a Fortune 500 company were Phyllis Moen, who holds the McKnight Endowed Presidential Chair in Sociology at the University of Minnesota; Erin L. Kelly, a Professor in Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management and an affiliate of the Institute for Work and Employment Research at MIT Sloan; and their colleagues in the Work, Family, and Health Network. Moen and Kelly split the department in two: half the work groups participated in a pilot program, where they learned about work practices designed to increase their sense of control over their work lives. These practices focused on results, rather than face time at the office. Employees then implemented these practices, which ranged from shifting their work schedules and working from home more to rethinking the number of daily meetings they attended, increasing their communication via instant messenger, and doing a better job of anticipating periods of high demand, such as around software releases. Managers in the pilot group also received supervisor training to encourage their support for the family/personal life and professional development of their reports. The control group was excluded from the training and instead was governed by the company's preexisting policies. The results were definitive, say Moen and Kelly: employees who participated in the organizational initiative said they felt more control over their schedules, support from their bosses, and were more likely to say they had enough time to spend with their families. Moreover, these employees reported greater job satisfaction and were less burned out and less stressed. They also reported decreases in psychological distress, which captures depressive symptoms that do not amount to clinical depression. The study, "Does a Flexibility/Support Organizational Initiative Improve High-Tech Employees' Well-Being? Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network," posted online today and which will appear in the February print issue of the American Sociological Review, adds to a growing body of research showing that flexible work arrangements result in happier, healthier, and more productive employees. Flexible work arrangements, meanwhile, often have a bad reputation says Kelly. "The worker thinks, 'If I ask for special treatment, it will kill my career and I won't get promoted.' The manager thinks, 'If I give in to this employee, others will ask me too and no one will get their work done.' Even many academics take a skeptical view flex of programs and see them as a way for Corporate America to take advantage of workers." But it shouldn't be this way, Moen notes. "Our research demonstrates that workers who are allowed to have a voice in the hours and location of their work not only feel better about their jobs, but also less conflicted about their work-to-family balance. Crucially, these workers are also more efficient and more productive on the job. In other words, workplace flexibility is beneficial--not detrimental--to organizations." Previous studies have shown that organizational initiatives that improve employees' subjective wellbeing also improve the bottom line: they increase productivity and decrease absenteeism, turnover, and presenteeism--which means showing up, but not being engaged at work. "Today's workers are bombarded by advice on how to juggle their work and family lives--we're told to take up yoga, or learn to meditate, or only check email twice a day," says Moen. "But individual coping strategies alone won't solve the problem. Our study makes clear that organizational initiatives, including programs that promote greater flexibility and control for workers as well as greater supervisor support, are needed." ### About the American Sociological Association and the American Sociological Review The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The American Sociological Review is the ASA's flagship journal. About the MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu. The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA Media Relations Manager, at (202) 527-7885 or pubinfo@asanet.org. The MIT Sloan School of Management Media Relations Office wrote this press release. For more information about the study, members of the media can also contact MIT Sloan's Paul Denning at (617) 253-0576 or denning@mit.edu and MIT Sloan's Patricia Favreau at (617) 253-3492 or pfavreau@mit.edu. TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Driven by consumer demand for local leafy green vegetables, growers in Taiwan are increasingly interested in producing organic and conventional lettuce in high tunnels. In subtropical regions, growing this cool-season leafy vegetable can be a challenge; higher temperatures common in the tunnels during warm seasons can increase the possibility of lettuce bolting (premature growth of a flower stalk). A new study in HortScience evaluated subtropical lettuce cultivars in high tunnels year-round. Experiments were designed to determine the feasibility of developing a new high-yield, high-growth cultivar and determine relationships between climatic variables, temperature, and day length, and the days to harvest for maximum marketable yield. Experiments involved nine cultivars commonly grown in Taiwan representing four types of lettuce: leaf, butterhead, romaine, and crisphead (Batavia). Experiments were conducted in high tunnels or growth chambers at the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station from 2008 to 2013. 'Fu San' (a Batavia cultivar) exhibited the highest days to harvest for maximum marketable yield (DMMY) and maximum marketable yield (MMY) among all the cultivars. 'Jhih Li Wo' (a romaine cultivar) had a higher growth rate during plant growth initiation and 'Fu San' grew more slowly than other cultivars during their entire spring growth. Results showed the lettuce yields were significantly different among planting seasons, cultivars, and interactions for MMY, DMMY, and growth rate before harvest. "Our research suggests that Batavia lettuce 'Fu San', romaine lettuce 'Jhih Li Wo', and leaf lettuce 'Bai Yeh Wo' are the most suitable cultivars for summer production," the scientists said. The scientists also assessed the feasibility of integrating plant growth characteristics for developing a new lettuce cultivar for high-tunnel use. "Our studies provided evidence that introducing the high growth rate trait during the initial period of plant growth from romaine lettuce 'Jhih Li Wo' to the high yielding Fu San cultivar was feasible for developing a new cultivar with early maturity and high yields," the study authors said. The experiments resulted in the development of a new high-yielding cultivar called 'Taoyuan No.3'. The study contains further information about production practices and suitable lettuce cultivars that can aid growers in subtropical regions. "Since the DMMY in all cultivars studied was more sensitive to temperature swings, there is a high priority for breeding high temperature-tolerant cultivars with late bolting characteristics to mitigate the effects of global warming and climate changes," the authors said. ### The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/50/10/1412.abstract Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. More information at ashs.org BINGHAMTON, NY - Researchers who developed an app that blocks third parties from identifying an individual's location based on what they search for online received a "best paper" award at a recent conference. A research team led by Linke Guo, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Binghamton University, received a Best Paper Award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) GLOBECOM Conference, Symposium on Communication & Information System Security, in San Diego on Dec. 7 for their paper titled "Privacy-preserving Verifiable Proximity Test for Location-based Services." Globecom is one of two flagship conferences of IEEE communication society. Organizers received more than 3,000 submissions this year with only 949 paper accepted into competition. Just a single paper was honored in 12 different categories. "This is really attached to daily life," said Guo, who presented the paper with graduate students Gaoqiang Zhuo and Qi Jia. "The trend of people using searches and social networks on smartphones which aren't well-protected is going up. Sometimes people share too much information. This is a way to help provide some security." "With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others we provide a huge amount of data to the service providers everyday. In particular, we upload personal photos, location information, daily updates, to the Internet without any protection," Guo said. "There is such a chance for tragedy if that information is used to in a bad way." Smartphones send gobs of data to servers in the background of local searches, GPS directions or check-ins for foodie apps. If the app developed by Guo and his team is developed further, it could help hide that information. The app is not currently available to the public, but it may be in the future. "When we release personal information to the Internet, it is out of our control, and can be easily searched and used for malicious purposes," Guo said. "We are trying to provide a more efficient and feasible solution to make sure that kind of information is secure." ### Ming Li from the University of Nevada, Reno and Yuguang Fang of the University of Florida were co-authors of the paper. The Philadelphia Pediatric Medical Device Consortium (PPDC) has announced seed grants to two companies developing medical devices for children. The Consortium chose those companies out of 27 applicants to receive seed grants of $50,000 each. One company aims to reduce pain in a pediatric medical procedure, while the other seeks to lower unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. The grants will assist Actuated Medical in developing a device to improve bone biopsies and bone marrow aspirations in children, and ENTvantage Diagnostics in developing a more accurate tool to diagnose sinus infections in children, and thereby reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics. Funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and based at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the PPDC provides know-how and seed funding to help innovators translate promising ideas into commercial medical devices for use in children. The new round of awards is the second by the PPDC, following a group of three $25,000 seed grants announced in February 2015 to innovative firms that applied to the Consortium's first request for proposals in June 2014. "We are excited to provide these funds to innovators of promising medical devices that will address unmet clinical needs of pediatric patients around the world," said bioengineer Matthew R. Maltese, Ph.D., of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Consortium's executive director and principal investigator. A bone access system proposed by Actuated Medical, of Bellefonte, Pa., aims to reduce patient discomfort, improve the success rate for first-attempt samples, reduce clinician fatigue, and shorten procedure times for bone biopsy and bone marrow aspiration procedures. Physicians performing these procedures on children currently face multiple challenges. This patient population requires deep sedation or anesthesia to tolerate bone access procedures. Children also have small, curved bones, which increase the risk of needle slippage and damage to surrounding tissue. The lack of CT or other image guidance during pediatric bone access increases the difficulty of maintaining the desired needle trajectory, which results in failed access and repeated insertions, as well as increased post-operative pain and risk of infection. This new device under development will reduce insertion force and needle slippage, allowing for faster and more reliable bone penetration. ENTvantage Diagnostics, of Austin, Texas, is developing a device to improve the accuracy of diagnosis of sinusitis (sinus infections). Although bacteria cause sinusitis only about 10 percent of the time, physicians commonly prescribe antibiotics, which are ineffective against non-bacterial sinusitis. Because diagnostic tools are not currently available for a proper diagnosis, clinicians have to rely on imprecise diagnostic algorithms based solely on the patient symptoms. ENTvantage aims to create a point-of-care assay device to provide rapid results that are simple to interpret with ease of use and minimal staff training. In a manner similar to that of rapid influenza A and B tests commonly used in primary care clinics, this new device is envisioned to reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage. The PPDC plans to issue the next request for proposals for this funding opportunity later this month. Applications are accepted from throughout the U.S. and from foreign companies. ### For more information, visit http://www.phillypediatricmeddevice.org About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 535-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu. New York, NY (January 13, 2016) - The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation announced that seven scientists with novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named 2016 recipients of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award. The grant of $300,000 over two years is awarded each year to early career scientists whose projects have the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Each awardee will have the opportunity for up to two additional years of funding (up to four years total for $600,000). Continued support for years three and four will be granted to those awardees who demonstrate significant progress on their proposed research during the first two years of the award. The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award funds cancer research by exceptionally creative thinkers with "high-risk/high-reward" ideas who lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain traditional funding. The awardees are selected through a highly competitive and rigorous process by a scientific committee comprised of leading cancer researchers who are innovators themselves. Only those scientists with a clear vision and passion for curing cancer are selected to receive the prestigious award. This program was established thanks to the generosity of Andy and Debbie Rachleff. 2016 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovators: Christin E. Burd, PhD Ohio State University, Columbus The RAS oncogene is mutated in 20% of all human cancers. Different types of mutations occur that promote cancer initiation and progression, yet we do not yet understand the specificity of how each mutation affects RAS' ability to promote cancer. Unfortunately, despite decades of scientific effort, there are no effective therapies to directly target RAS mutant cancers. Dr. Burd proposes novel, mutation-specific studies of RAS in a variety of tumor types, starting with melanoma, thyroid cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The reason why each cancer type appears to "prefer" one RAS mutant over another is unknown; however, she postulates that the subtle differences between mutants are critical for tumor formation. Her research will lead to new understanding of RAS mechanism and function, resulting in better design of novel therapeutics to target RAS for treatment of cancer. Jason M. Crawford, PhD Yale University, New Haven Humans and the microbes in and on our bodies ("microbiota") continuously interact in ways that influence health and disease--ways that we do not yet fully understand. Dr. Crawford, a chemical biologist, focuses on defining the bacterial contributions to colorectal cancer. DNA-damaging toxins (genotoxins) produced by bacteria in the human gut serve as cancer risk factors. He has developed an innovative genomics platform called M-PAIR, which he will use to identify novel cancer risk factors produced by the bacteria in the human gut. His findings will provide a foundation for development of anticancer compounds for cancer prevention and treatment. Piero D. Dalerba, MD Columbia University, New York Dr. Dalerba proposes to use next-generation single cell genomics to analyze cancer stem cells, poorly characterized cells that are able to seed malignant tumors. He has created a model of colorectal cancer that enables the study of genetic and phenotypic properties of cancer stem cells. This research will advance understanding of the biological identity and clinical significance of these cells in colorectal cancer initiation, progression, and relapse. He aims to determine how to therapeutically target these cancer stem cells with existing drugs and/or novel compounds. Scott J. Dixon, PhD Stanford University, Stanford To sustain rapid growth, cancer cells change and increase their metabolism, taking up and utilizing large amounts of glucose. One product of metabolism in all cells is methylglyoxal (MG), which is toxic if it accumulates in the cell; therefore, cells have a mechanism to detoxify MG. Dr. Dixon seeks to understand the chemical and biological mechanisms by which MG confers toxicity. He is developing new small molecule inhibitors that will enhance the accumulation of these toxic metabolites in cancer cells, to promote cancer cell-selective death. This work has the potential to uncover a novel means of harnessing the abnormal metabolism of cancer cells and could apply to all cancer types. Philip A. Romero, PhD University of California, Los Angeles Dr. Romero is a biomedical engineer whose expertise is in the area of microfluidics. He proposes to develop new technology that can be used to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream. CTCs are cells that have detached from a solid primary tumor and entered into the bloodstream; they can go on to colonize distant sites and form metastases. Detecting CTCs is an enormous challenge, as the cells are present at an ultra-low abundance (one out of billions of blood cells). His approach is to develop a highly specific system, a "DNA-based logic circuit," to detect and profile CTCs, which could ultimately be applied for cancer diagnosis, prognosis indication, and measurement of a patient's response to treatment. Peter J. Turnbaugh, PhD University of California, San Francisco Variations in drug efficacy and toxicity between patients are a major limitation to the long-term treatment of cancer. Even if the initial treatment is successful, cancers can return due to the emergence of cancer drug resistance. Dr. Turnbaugh seeks to determine how the gut microbiome (bacteria residing in the human body) contributes to drug efficacy and resistance. He will combine microbiology and pharmacology approaches to identify new microbiome-based biomarkers for monitoring and predicting acquired drug resistance. The findings will also have broad implications for development of more effective treatment regimens for patients with colorectal as well as other cancers. Roberto Zoncu, PhD University of California, Berkeley Cancer cell metabolism differs from that of healthy cells because cancer cells have extreme requirements for energy. An organelle inside the cell called the lysosome has recently been defined as a "metabolic signaling center," which senses cellular nutrient levels and communicates them to a growth regulator protein called mTORC1. Dr. Zoncu proposes to synthesize novel molecules that can specifically disable the lysosomal-mTORC1 signaling pathway as a new means of starving cancer cells and thus blocking tumor growth. He will investigate how this pathway controls the function of the lysosome and another organelle, the mitochondria, in mediating the resilience of cancer cells to challenges such as starvation, hypoxia and chemotherapeutic drugs. This research may impact all cancer types, but particularly pancreatic and lung cancers, which appear to be uniquely sensitive to levels of mTORC1. ### DAMON RUNYON CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION To accelerate breakthroughs, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation provides today's best young scientists with funding to pursue innovative research. The Foundation has gained worldwide prominence in cancer research by identifying outstanding researchers and physician-scientists. Twelve scientists supported by the Foundation have received the Nobel Prize, and others are heads of cancer centers and leaders of renowned research programs. Each of its award programs is extremely competitive, with less than 10% of applications funded. Since its founding in 1946, the Foundation has invested over over $300 million and funded over 3,500 young scientists. This year, it will commit approximately $15 million in new awards to brilliant young investigators. 100% of all donations to the Foundation are used to support scientific research. Its administrative and fundraising costs are paid from its Damon Runyon Broadway Tickets Service and endowment. For more information visit http://www.damonrunyon.org CONTACT Yung S. Lie, PhD Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation yung.lie@damonrunyon.org 212.455.0521 Zooming in on black holes is the main mission for the newly installed instrument GRAVITY at ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. During its first observations, GRAVITY successfully combined starlight using all four Auxiliary Telescopes. The large team of European astronomers and engineers, led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, who designed and built GRAVITY, are thrilled with the performance. During these initial tests, the instrument has already achieved a number of notable firsts. This is the most powerful VLT Interferometer instrument yet installed. The GRAVITY instrument combines the light from multiple telescopes to form a virtual telescope up to 200 metres across, using a technique called interferometry. This enables the astronomers to detect much finer detail in astronomical objects than is possible with a single telescope. Since the summer of 2015, an international team of astronomers and engineers led by Frank Eisenhauer (MPE - http://www.mpe.mpg.de/2169/en, Garching, Germany) has been installing the instrument in specially adapted tunnels under the Very Large Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory in northern Chile [1]. This is the first stage of commissioning GRAVITY within the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A crucial milestone has now been reached: for the first time, the instrument successfully combined starlight from the four VLT Auxiliary Telescopes [2]. "During its first light, and for the first time in the history of long baseline interferometry in optical astronomy, GRAVITY could make exposures of several minutes, more than a hundred times longer than previously possible," commented Frank Eisenhauer. "GRAVITY will open optical interferometry to observations of much fainter objects, and push the sensitivity and accuracy of high angular resolution astronomy to new limits, far beyond what is currently possible." As part of the first observations the team looked closely at the bright, young stars known as the Trapezium Cluster , located in the heart of the Orion star-forming region. Already, from these first commissioning data, GRAVITY made a small discovery: one of the components of the cluster was found to be a double star [3]. The key to this success was to stabilise the virtual telescope for long enough, using the light of a reference star, so that a deep exposure on a second, much fainter object becomes feasible. Furthermore, the astronomers also succeeded in stabilising the light from four telescopes simultaneously -- a feat not achieved before [3]. GRAVITY can measure the positions of astronomical objects on the finest scales and can also perform interferometric imaging and spectroscopy [4]. If there were buildings on the moon, GRAVITY would be able to spot them. Such extremely high resolution imaging has many applications, but the main focus in the future will be studying the environments around black holes. In particular, GRAVITY will probe what happens in the extremely strong gravitational field close to the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way -- which explains the choice of the name of the instrument. This is a region where behaviour is dominated by Einstein's theory of general relativity. In addition, it will uncover the details of mass accretion and jets -- processes that occur both around newborn stars (young stellar objects) and in the regions around the supermassive black holes at the centres of other galaxies. It will also excel at probing the motions of binary stars, exoplanets and young stellar discs, and in imaging the surfaces of stars. So far, GRAVITY has been tested with the four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes. The first observations using GRAVITY with the four 8-metre VLT Unit Telescopes are planned for later in 2016. ### The GRAVITY consortium is led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, in Garching, Germany. The other partner institutes are: LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universites, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Meudon, France Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany 1. Physikalisches Institut, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany IPAG, Universite Grenoble Alpes/CNRS, Grenoble, France Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofisica, CENTRA (SIM), Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal ESO, Garching, Germany Notes [1] The VLTI tunnels and beam-combining room have recently undergone significant construction work to accommodate GRAVITY as well as to prepare for other future instruments. [2] It would be more accurate to call this step "first fringes" as the milestone was the first successful combination of light from the different telescopes so that the beams interfered and fringes were formed and recorded. [3] The newly discovered double star is Theta1 Orionis F, and the observations were made using the nearby brighter star Theta1 Orionis C as the reference. [4] GRAVITY aims to measure the positions of objects on scales of order ten microarcseconds, and perform imaging with four milliarcsecond resolution. More information ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky". Links Information about GRAVITY at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics - http://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/gravity Photos of the VLT: - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/ Contacts Markus Schoeller ESO Garching bei Munchen, Germany Email: mschoell@eso.org Frank Eisenhauer Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Garching bei Munchen, Germany Email: eisenhau@mpe.mpg.de Richard Hook ESO Public Information Officer Garching bei Munchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 3200 6655 Cell: +49 151 1537 3591 Email: rhook@eso.org BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- By 2017, total advertising spending is expected to approach $136 billion, placing more pressure on management to demonstrate its impact on sales and stock prices. It's the age-old question of advertising effectiveness. While nearly every research study has found that advertising has a positive impact on sales, the results are mixed regarding its effectiveness on stock price, which can be seen as an indicator of future sales. New research from professors at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas and the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University found the reason advertising boosts stock prices for some companies and not others. They found that companies that set out to differentiate themselves through brand equity and thus create intangible firm value benefit more from advertising than firms that simply set out to become cost leaders. "They're both very valid strategies. Different companies choose different approaches. They both can be very successful for companies," said Niket Jindal, an assistant professor of marketing at Kelley. "Advertising can increase awareness; it can increase sales regardless," he added. "But it's only for those companies that have a differentiation strategy where advertising's going to build up brand equity ... and shareholder value. "That's not to say that it's wasteful spending for those cost leaders; there's still value in that it's increasing their sales. But those kinds of companies shouldn't expect to see an impact beyond the current year's sales." The paper, "Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Effect of Firm Strategy," has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Marketing Research. Co-authors are Leigh McAlister and Raji Srinivasan, marketing professors at the McCombs School, and Albert Cannella Jr., a management professor at the Carey School. Chances are you've heard of companies that have a differentiation strategy; they are popular brands. It makes sense to suggest that companies which are cost leaders are far less visible in consumers' minds and may include commodities firms, manufacturers and budget retailers that focus on squeezing out costs. Beginning in 1994, publicly traded companies were required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to report advertising expenditures that are considered "material," something under the law that is significant to users of a registrant's financial statements. Before then, all firms had to report advertising expenditures. McAlister, Srinivasan, Jindal and Cannella decided to review financial statements before and after the implementation of accounting regulation FRR44 (SEC Financial Reporting Release No. 44), when over half of the companies stopped disclosing advertising expenses. The researchers looked at reports for S&P 500 companies in 1990-94 and 1996-2009 The researchers predicted that companies with a differentiation strategy would disclose costs associated with marketing, because it was "fundamentally central to their strategy." Obviously, shareholders would be interested in this information as well. They predicted and found that for firms operating with a cost leadership strategy, shareholders would build their intangible market-based assets through mechanisms other than advertising. "These are not inferior firms by any means. They are really healthy firms, but the role of marketing in these firms is a very different thing," Jindal said. For example, business-to-business firms such as aircraft maker Boeing develop such assets through their selling organizations, not advertising. Tech firms develop assets through research and development rather than through advertising. "We're not saying that cost leaders are the poor stock performers," Jindal said. "They can add great stock price. What we're saying is advertising isn't going to have any impact on that stock price." Their paper also has important application for those evaluating marketing offers at various firms and for consultants wishing to target firms with a strong marketing emphasis. It also has ramifications for marketing education. "Most marketing textbooks, when introducing the marketing career path, overlook the implications of a firm's business strategy," the authors wrote. "The marketing function is frequently presented as the growth driver, with budgetary authority and a clear path to general management that one might expect in a firm that differentiates. "If, in fact, marketing is only cast in the role of a growth driver in that 40 percent of publicly traded firms that differentiate, some students may find themselves in firms that are cost leaders where marketing responsibilities and career opportunities of the marketing job that they accept differ significantly from the responsibilities and career opportunities that their marketing textbooks lead them to expect." ### For a copy of the paper, contact George Vlahakis at IU Communications at 812-855-0846 or vlahakis@iu.edu. PISCATAWAY, NJ Young peoples exposure to alcohol advertisements on television could be greatly reduced if alcohol companies improved their use of so-called no-buy lists, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Alcohol manufacturers are self-regulated when it comes to advertising: In 2003, the industry set guidelines that limit advertising to media that have a primarily adult audience -- with at least 71.6 percent of the audience being age 21 or older. But as far back as 1999, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had suggested that the industry use no-buy lists to guide their ad placements. Such lists would put certain television shows or other media off-limits because a large chunk of the audience is likely to be underage. Its been cited by the FTC as a best practice, said Craig Ross, Ph.D., the lead researcher on the new study, president of Fiorente Media, Inc., in Boston, Mass, and Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. Ross is also a consultant to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, which supported this research. Some alcohol companies have been using no-buy lists to guide their ad placements, according to the FTC. Since 2005, kids have been exposed more than 15 billion times to alcohol advertisements that do not meet industry guidelines, Ross said. Regardless of how no-buy lists have been implemented in the past, there is clearly room for improvement. The goal of the new study, Ross explained, was to develop a comprehensive approach. First, the researchers looked at how well the alcohol industry has been complying with its own guidelines when it comes to television ads. They found that between 2005 and 2012, approximately one of every eight alcohol advertisements seen by children under the legal drinking age was non-compliant with alcohol industry guidelines -- with cable television accounting for most of it. Next, Rosss team tested the potential effectiveness of a set of new no-buy list criteria theyd designed. The criteria would recommend avoiding ad placements on programs that had fallen short of the industrys own guidelines in the past year and during times of day when television audiences skew young (like late night). The criteria also recommend being more selective about ad placements on low-rated cable shows. The researchers found that, had their no-buy list been universally applied during the study period, it could have eliminated nearly all noncompliant advertising seen by children under the legal drinking age. According to Ross, using the no-buy list should not be a burden to the industry. The programs that are problematic are actually small in number, he said. There would be still be a large universe of programs for advertisers to choose from. To get the no-buy list into the real world, Ross said the plan is to create quarterly reports that highlight the programs and times of day that alcohol advertisers should avoid. The ultimate hope, of course, is to help limit underage drinking. And while restricting ads is not the whole answer, it is an important step, according to Ross -- because advertising images can help set kids expectations regarding alcohol. Theres a growing body of research on the effects of alcohol advertising on underage drinking, Ross said. Ads can help create positive attitudes toward drinking, promoting drinking initiation and excessive drinking. ### Ross, C. S., Brewer, R. D., & Jernigan, D. H. (January 2016). The potential impact of a no-buy list on youth exposure to alcohol advertising on cable television. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 77(1), 716. Related editorial: Babor, T. F. (January 2016). Editors corner: The role of public health surveillance in protecting young people from alcohol marketing. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 77(1), 56. To arrange an interview with Craig Ross, Ph.D., please contact Alicia Samuels at asamuels@jhu.edu or (914) 720-4635. The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (www.jsad.com) is published by the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is the oldest substance-related journal published in the United States. To learn about education and training opportunities for addiction counselors and others at the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies, please visit AlcoholStudiesEd.rutgers.edu. Sterilised mosquito nets can replace costly surgical meshes in the repair of inguinal (groin) hernias without further risk to the patients. This makes mosquito nets a good alternative for close to 200 million people in low-income countries suffering from untreated groin hernias. These are the results of a Swedish-Ugandan study presented in the prestigious 'New England Journal of Medicine' (NEJM). An inguinal hernia is a defect or a hole in the abdominal wall around the groin, through which fat, intestines and sometimes other abdominal organs can be pressed into a sack-like protrusion. It is a common complaint in both high and low-income countries, and the only effective treatment is surgery. Without surgery, inguinal hernias can cause considerable suffering and life-threatening complications that cause some 40,000 fatalities a year. Hernia surgery is also one of the world's most common surgical procedures, accounting for around 20 million operations every year. However, almost 200 million sufferers do not receive surgery, most of who live in the poorer parts of the world; the operations that are performed use techniques that are clearly inferior to those used in high-income countries. One of the reasons that too few people in low-income countries are given the chance of effective treatment is that the scientifically tested meshes available on the market are very expensive. "Commercial hernia meshes cost 100 dollars or more, which is too much for the health services and people living in poor countries," says Dr Jenny Lofgren, researcher at the Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Umea University in Sweden. "So instead, doctors and surgeons in several countries have been using mosquito nets, but whether they are effective and safe hasn't been given sufficient study until now." Working with colleagues from, amongst other institutions, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Uganda's Makerere University, Dr Lofgren has therefore conducted a large randomised clinical trial to compare mosquito net with the regular commercial mesh used in hernia operations. The study, which is published in NEJM, involved over 300 adult males from rural eastern Uganda who were randomly assigned to receive the one or the other type of reinforcement. The operations were performed by four experienced surgeons at the Kamuli Mission Hospital, and the participants were subsequently monitored for a year as regards patient satisfaction, post-operative complications or recurrence. The results show that the post-operative complications that occurred were normally mild and that there was no significant differences between the groups. This was also true of self-rated satisfaction. Only one patient in the mosquito-net group had a recurrence. All in all, the study shows, according to the team, that sterilised mosquito net is fine for use in hernia surgery without compromising patient safety and treatment efficacy. "These results are of great potential benefit to the many millions of people who lack access to good surgical care for their hernias," says study project leader and surgeon Dr Andreas Wladis, associate professor at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Clinical Science and Education at Stockholm South General (Soder) Hospital. "The next step will be to motivate greater resource allocation to treat hernia patients and plan for how mosquito nets could be used for hernia surgery on a larger scale." ### The study is part of Dr Jenny Lofgren's doctoral thesis, which she recently defended at Umea University. It was funded by grants from several bodies, including the Swedish Society of Medicine, the Swedish Research Council, Swedish Rotary, the Church of Sweden and the Capio Research Foundation. Swedish hospitals and companies also contributed either donated or discounted equipment. Publication: 'A randomized trial of low cost mesh in groin hernia repair', Jenny Lofgren, Par Nordin, Charles Ibingira, Alphonsus Matovu, Edward Galiwango, Andreas Wladis, NEJM online 13 January 2016. To contact the Press Office at Karolinska Institutet, and donwload images: http://ki.se/pressrom More about Karolinska Institutet: http://ki.se/english About Umea University: http://www.umu.se/english About Makerere University: http://mak.ac.ug WASHINGTON - Infectious disease outbreaks that turn into epidemics or pandemics can kill millions of people and cause trillions of dollars of damage to economic activity, says a new report from the international, independent Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future. Few other risks pose such a threat to human lives, and few other events can damage the economy so much. The Commission estimated the global expected economic loss from potential pandemics could average more than $60 billion per year. Yet, nations devote a fraction of the resources to preparing, preventing, or responding infectious disease crises as they do to strengthening national security or avoiding financial crises. The Commission recommended an investment of approximately $4.5 billion per year - which equates to 65 cents per person - to enhance prevention, detection, and preparedness. The biggest component of this investment is to upgrade public health infrastructure and capabilities for low- and middle-income-countries, which is estimated to cost up to $3.4 billion per year. The second biggest component of the $4.5 billion figure is $1 billion per year to fund accelerated research and development in a wide range of medical products. The balance relates to financing the strengthening of the World Health Organization's (WHO) capabilities and funding WHO and World Bank contingency funds. "We have neglected this dimension of global security," said Commission chair Peter Sands, former group chief executive officer, Standard Chartered PLC in London, and senior fellow, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy school in Cambridge, Mass. "Pandemics don't respect national boundaries, so we have a common interest in strengthening our defenses against infectious diseases in every part of the world. Preventing and preparing for potentially catastrophic pandemics is far more effective - and ultimately, far less expensive - than reacting to them when they occur, which they will." For example, in the past 15 years, the world faced several infectious disease crises, including Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the influenza virus known as H1N1. The Commission's own estimates suggest that at least one pandemic will emerge over the next 100 years, with a 20 percent chance of seeing four or more. To protect against these threats, the top priority must be to reinforce the first line of defense against potential pandemics, public health capabilities, and infrastructure at a national level, even in failed or fragile states, because regional or global capabilities cannot compensate for deficiencies at a national or local level. This requires governments to prioritize investment in their health systems, as part of their fundamental duty to protect their people, the report says. It also requires effective engagement of communities, given the vital role they play in outbreak detection and response. Countries like Uganda have demonstrated that even where resources are scarce, it is possible to strengthen health systems and contain infectious disease outbreaks. The Commission recommended that WHO lead the development of a definition and benchmarks for core public health capabilities and functions by the end of 2016. WHO should also establish an independent, objective, and transparent mechanism to evaluate country performance against these benchmarks and publish the results. This will enable governments to monitor their own progress, civil society to hold their governments accountable, and financial markets to assess economic vulnerability to infectious disease risk. The Commission emphasized the importance of all countries agreeing to participate in this assessment process and proposes incentives to encourage this, including making World Bank support for strengthening health systems conditional on participation. The Commission also recommended that the International Monetary Fund include pandemic preparedness in its country economic and policy assessments. The Commission said stronger international coordination and response mechanisms are also essential, given the significant shortcoming revealed during the Ebola outbreak. The Commission concluded WHO must take the lead in the international system to identify, prevent, and respond to potential pandemics, but to play this role effectively, it must make significant changes. By the end of 2016, WHO should create a Center for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, under the oversight of an independent Technical Governing Board. The Center should be funded through an increase in WHO core contributions from member states. In addition, the Commission called for the United Nations and WHO to establish mechanisms for coordination and escalation for health crises and for WHO to enhance means for cooperation with non-state actors. WHO should also generate a high-priority watch list of outbreaks that have the potential to become international public health emergencies, which should be shared daily with national authorities and made public on a weekly basis. The Commission supported the proposals for WHO's $100 million Contingency Fund for Emergencies and the World Bank's $1 billion Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility. Accelerating research and development across a wide range of medical products - including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, personal protective equipment, and instruments - is also vital, the Commission argued. To ensure more effective prioritization and coordination of such efforts, WHO should establish an independent Pandemic Product Development Committee comprised of leading research and development experts from across the world to oversee mobilization and deployment of resources. Furthermore, the Commission believed additional investment in research and development should be made this arena. To accelerate deployment of new products, the Commission also recommended significant work on harmonizing clinical protocols and approvals processes. "This bold report is independent, forward-looking, comprehensive, and timely," said Victor J. Dzau, president of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, which provided leadership and guidance for the study. "It highlights pandemics as a threat to global security, recommends important changes in global health governance, and addresses essential issues in financing, public health, and R&D. Importantly, it boldly assigns dollar figures and timelines to its recommendations. I believe this report is exactly what is needed to drive progress in this critical issue of global health and security." ### The Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future - comprising 17 members from different countries and various areas of expertise - is funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Ford Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Ming Wai Lau, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, and Wellcome Trust. The report is a product of the independent Commission and not of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM), which provided only expertise and project management as secretariat for the study. The Commission's process was guided by an International Oversight Group, which determined the scope of the study, addressed conflict-of-interest concerns, and informed the peer-review process. More information on the Commission - including the statement of task, work plan, and workshop webcasts - is available at http://nam.edu/initiatives/global-health-risk-framework. A Commission roster follows. Contacts: NAM Office of News and Public Information 202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu Electronic copies of The Neglected Dimension of Global Security: A Framework to Counter Infectious Disease Crises are available at http://nam.edu/initiatives/global-health-risk-framework. COMMISSION ON A GLOBAL HEALTH RISK FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUTURE Peter Sands, MPA (chair) Former Group Chief Executive Officer Standard Chartered PLC, and Senior Fellow Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government Harvard Kennedy School Cambridge, Mass. Oyewale Tomori, DVM, PhD (vice chair) President Nigerian Academy of Science Lagos, Nigeria Ximena Aguilera, MD Director Center of Epidemiology and Public Health Policies Universidad del Desarrollo Santiago, Chile Irene Akua Agyepong, DrPh, MBChB, FGCPS Public Health Specialist Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate Ghana Health Service Yvette Chesson-Wureh, JD Establishment Coordinator Angie Brooks International Centre for Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace, and Security University of Liberia Monrovia Paul Farmer, MD, PhD Kolokotrones University Professor and Chair Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Harvard Medical School, and Co-founder Partners in Health Cambridge, Mass. Maria Freire, PhD President Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Md. Julio Frenk, MD, MPH, PhD President University of Miami Coral Gables, Fla. Lawrence Gostin, JD University Professor of Global Health Law, and Faculty Director O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Georgetown University Washington, D.C. Gabriel Leung, MD, MPH Dean Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Francis Omaswa, MBBCh, MMed, FRCS, FCS Executive Director African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation Kampala, Uganda Melissa Parker, DPhil Reader in Medical Anthropology Department of Global Health and Development London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine London, United Kingdom K. Sujatha Rao, MA, MPA Former Secretary Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India New Delhi Daniel Ryan, MA Head of R&D - Life & Health and Big Data Swiss Re London, United Kingdom Jeanette Vega, MD, MPH, PhD Director Fonasa (Chilean National Health Fund) Santiago, Chile Suwit Wibulpolprasert, MD Vice Chair International Health Policy Program Foundation Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Ministry of Public Health Nonthaburi, Thailand Tadataka Yamada, MD Venture Partner Frazier Life Sciences Seattle, Wash. PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Jan. 13, 2016 -- The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has identified a protein called SGEF that promotes the survival of glioblastoma tumor cells and helps the cancer invade brain tissue. TGen researchers identified SGEF as a target for new brain cancer therapies in a study published today by Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the world's largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. Glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM, is the most common primary tumor of the brain and central nervous system. One of the primary treatments for glioblastoma is surgical removal of the tumor. However, because of the aggressive way glioblastomas invade surrounding brain tissue, it is impossible to remove all parts of the tumors, and the cancer eventually returns and spreads. This study found that SGEF also plays a role in how glioblastoma tumors develop resistance to treatment. Following surgery, GBM is treated with radiation and the standard-of-care chemotherapy drug called temozolomide (TMZ), "We need to identify the genetic and cellular-pathway signaling mechanisms that make brain tumors resistant to treatment," said Dr. Nhan Tran, Associate Professor and head of TGen's Central Nervous System Tumor Research Lab. "And the role of SGEF in promoting chemotherapeutic resistance highlights this previously unappreciated protein. Importantly, this also suggests that SGEF could be a new candidate for development of targeted therapeutics," said Dr. Tran, the study's senior author. This study was funded, in part, by The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation. "Contributing to the progress, TGen studies are helping uncover the mysteries behind glioblastoma," said Catherine (Bracken) Ivy, founder and president of the Arizona-based Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation. "This research is fundamental to helping patients survive longer and critical to our goal of improving treatments, and eventually finding a cure." The ability of cancer cells to survive is influenced by the proteins that regulate cellular pathways involved in promoting how cells grow, replicate and spread, as well as whether cells will die when exposed to anti-cancer drugs. Radiation and drug treatment of GBM can lead to DNA damage. This study shows that SGEF promotes cancer cell survival in response to TMZ treatment by allowing tumor cells to rapidly repair the damaged DNA that otherwise would lead to cell death. "Our study shows that SGEF may have an important role in helping cells survive injury -- known as the pro-survival cellular signaling response -- including injury to common drugs used to treat brain cancer such as TMZ," said Dr. Shannon Fortin Ensign, the study's lead author. "The roles of invasion and survival are interconnected in the promotion of disease progression," said Dr. Fortin Ensign, a former researcher at TGen who now is a resident in Internal Medicine at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. "SGEF presents a novel hub in the interrelated axes of tumor cell invasion and survival." The study, SGEF is Regulated via TWEAK/Fn14/NF-B Signaling and Promotes Survival by Modulation of the DNA Repair Response to Temozolomide, was published online today by AACR's Molecular Cancer Research. ### Founded in 1907, AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 35,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates in 97 countries. This study was funded by: the National Institutes of Health under grant number R01 CA130940; by the ARCS Foundation Eller Scholarship and Science Foundation Arizona Fellowship; and by The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation. About The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., was formed in 2005, when Ben Ivy lost his battle with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Since then, the Foundation has contributed more than $50 million to research in gliomas within the United States and Canada, with the goal of better diagnostics and treatments that offer long-term survival and a high quality of life for patients with brain tumors. The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation is the largest privately funded foundation of its kind in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.ivyfoundation.org. Press Contact: Beth McRae The McRae Agency 480-990-0282 beth@mcraeagency.com About TGen Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking research with life changing results. TGen is focused on helping patients with neurological disorders, cancer, and diabetes, through cutting edge translational research (the process of rapidly moving research towards patient benefit). TGen physicians and scientists work to unravel the genetic components of both common and rare complex diseases in adults and children. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities literally worldwide, TGen makes a substantial contribution to help our patients through efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. For more information, visit: http://www.tgen.org. Follow TGen on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @TGen. Do you feel the heat? According to NASA and NOAA, 2014 was the hottest year since 1880 and the 10 warmest years in the instrumental record have occurred since 1998. The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations confirmed in its Fifth Assessment Report that cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) largely determine global mean surface warming and predicted that by 2100, the global mean surface temperature may increase by 3.7 oC to 4.8oC over the average for 1850-1900 for a median climate response if there is no additional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emission is put in place. To alleviate the problem and slow down the rate of global warming, increasing the rate of CO2 absorption by plants or algae is one possible strategy. A research team led by Dr. Lim Boon-leong with his former PhD student Dr. Law Yee-song from the School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has developed a new strategy to promote plant growth and seed yield by 38% to 57% in a model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, hence increasing CO2 absorption from the atmosphere. This technology may also have potential in boosting food production and thus could solve another danger of human civilization: food shortage due to overpopulation. According to the World Population Prospect of the United Nations in 2015, the global population will reach more than 9.7 billion by 2050, meaning a 57% increase since 2000. In this technology, the researchers have identified a plant-growth promoting gene, designated as "Purple acid phosphatase 2" (AtPAP2) from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. AtPAP2 is dually targeted to two energy-generating organelles of plant cells: chloroplasts and mitochondria. Chloroplasts carry out photosynthesis, a process that fixes CO2 in atmosphere into sugars using solar energy. The sugars are then used for plant growth including cell wall, biomass and seeds, or consumed by mitochondria to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an important energy source for many cellular processes. This is the first study of AtPAP2 in the world. The research team found that by dual expression of AtPAP2 on chloroplasts and mitochondria, the engineered plants can grow faster (see Figure 1) and produce 38% to 57% more seeds (see Figure 2). It is because AtPAP2 can modulate the import of a number of specific proteins into chloroplasts and mitochondria, and subsequently boost their capability to harvest solar energy and generate ATP. AtPAP2 is found to be the first protein that can modulate energy outputs from these two organelles simultaneously. Dr Lim have reported the findings in two international conferences, the 9th International Conference for Plant Mitochondrial Biology held in May 2015 in Poland and the 2nd FEBS Plant Organellar Signaling Workshop in September 2015 in Croatia, where Dr. Lim was the only speaker from Hong Kong and China respectively. This research has yielded eight research articles in journals including Plant Physiology, Biofuels and Biotechnology, as well as several patent applications with the assistance of Technology Transfer Office, HKU, and we wish the technology can be transformed into applications. Dr. Lim said: "We are happy to make this discovery which has aroused great interest from many plant scientists, as our research findings would allow plant scientists to study the impacts of high energy supply to various biological processes in plant cell, and to study how energy supply affects plants' abilities to cope with various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, it is just the beginning of a number of research projects, and funding support from the community is certainly essential for future discoveries." ### This research is supported by the Strategic Research Theme on Clean Energy of the University of Hong Kong. Migrants' thinking styles and social values rapidly shift over a single generation to become more similar to those of the wider society they have moved into, new research has indicated Migrants' thinking styles and social values rapidly shift over a single generation to become more similar to those of the wider society they have moved into, new research has indicated. A study led by the University of Exeter has concluded that the children of people who migrated to the UK tend to think and reason in a way that is more typical of the wider UK population. The research allays fears that migrating communities will fail to integrate due to psychological differences, according to the team. The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and published on Wednesday January 13 in the journal PLOS ONE, involved collaborators from the universities of Durham and Edinburgh. They assessed members of the British Bangladeshi community in East London's Tower Hamlets borough, where British Bangladeshis make up 32 per cent of the total population. The team wanted to establish whether previously observed cultural differences in psychological characteristics changed over a single generation. They carried out an assessment of 108 first generation migrants - people who were born and raised in Bangladesh and had moved to the UK after the age of 14. They also assessed 79 second generation migrants - people born and raised in the UK to two first generation British Bangladeshi migrants. In line with previous research, they found differences in the psychological characteristics of first generation migrants, compared to non-migrants whose parents were born and raised in the UK. One example was that first generation British Bangladeshis tended towards collectivism, meaning they were more family-orientated and community-centred, and motivated by teamwork, much like people from other non-Western societies. Non-migrants living in the same area of East London tended to be less collectivistic, on average. Another example concerned how people explain other people's actions. Non-migrants, like people from other Western countries, tended to explain other people's actions in terms of that person's own intrinsic dispositions. For example, they might say that a student who failed an exam did so because the student is unintelligent or lazy. Those who had migrated from Bangladesh explained the outcome in a way similar to people from other non-Western countries, and tended to explain the same events in terms of situations rather than dispositions. For example, they might say that a student who failed an exam did so because of a lack of support, or overbearing pressure to succeed academically. In just one generation, these differences had significantly reduced. On average, second generation British Bangladeshis showed less collectivism than their parents' group, and were more likely to blame individual dispositions rather than situations for others' actions. This shift occurred despite them retaining many cultural similarities with their parents. For example, nearly all were Muslim and were fluent Bengali speakers. Lead author Dr Alex Mesoudi, Associate Professor of Cultural Evolution at the University of Exeter, said the findings suggested that communities could integrate over a single generation much more effectively than commonly assumed. He said: "This study should allay fears that migrants will fail to integrate because of unalterable social and cultural differences. Surveys have shown that half of the British public believe you can't be 'truly British' unless you have British ancestry, but our study shows a rapid shift over a single generation towards the same values and thinking styles, even while the second generation British Bangladeshis retained their sense of heritage identity through language and religion. "While on the one hand the shift seen in the second generation can be seen as good in the sense that it may encourage greater integration of migrant groups with the wider UK society, on the other hand it's a shame that values less typical of modern-day British society, such as close family ties and community support, are being lost." The research project originated when Dr Mesoudi was lecturing psychology at Queen Mary University of London in East London, and his students, many of whom were second generation British Bangladeshis themselves, took an interest in research about cultural integration. They began to survey their peers, prompting a successful application for the ESRC funding. Dr Nasima Akhter, who was involved in data collection for this study and has also conducted focus groups with East London British Bangladeshis as part of another project examining migration and its impact on wellbeing among Bangladeshi migrants, said: "Members of the British Bangladeshi community often say that it is not always clear what 'integration' means or entails, and that negative mainstream perceptions of immigrants can be a barrier to successful integration. A better understanding of the psychological changes that occur in migrant communities, and factors that influence integration, can help to clarify these issues and counter false perceptions." ### The paper, entitled "How Do People Become W.E.I.R.D.? Migration Reveals the Cultural Transmission Mechanisms Underlying Variation in Psychological Processes", is published today, Wednesday January 13, in PlOS ONE. As decision makers from around the world congregated in Paris to prepare a global climate agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), many discussions focused on how to reduce greenhouse gases, including ozone. While efforts to limit ozone precursor emissions tend to focus on industrial activities and fossil fuel combustion in the United States and China, a new study suggests that future regulations may need to address the burning of forests and vegetation. The study, which was published online January 13, 2016 in the journal Nature Communications, indicates that these types of "biomass burning" may play a larger role in climate change than previously realized. Based on observations from two aircraft missions, satellite data and a variety of models, an international research team showed that fires burning in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia caused pockets of high ozone and low water in the lower atmosphere above Guam--a remote island in the Pacific Ocean 1,700 miles east of Taiwan. "We were very surprised to find high concentrations of ozone and chemicals that we know are only emitted by fires in the air around Guam," said the study's lead author Daniel Anderson, a graduate student in the University of Maryland Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. "We didn't make specific flights to target high-ozone areas--they were so omnipresent that no matter where we flew, we found them." For the study, two research planes on complementary missions flew over Guam measuring the levels of dozens of chemicals in the atmosphere in January and February 2014. One aircraft flew up to 24,000 feet above the ocean surface during the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council's Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST) mission. The other flew up to 48,000 feet above the ocean surface during the CONvective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) mission. "International collaboration is essential for studying global environmental issues these days," said CAST Principal Investigator Neil Harris of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry. "This U.S./U.K.-led campaign over the western Pacific was the first of its kind in this region and collected a unique data set. The measurements are now starting to produce insight into how the composition of the remote tropical atmosphere is affected by human activities occurring nearly halfway around the world." Researchers examined 17 CAST and 11 CONTRAST flights and compiled over 3,000 samples from high-ozone, low-water air parcels for the study. In the samples, the team detected high concentrations of chemicals associated with biomass burning--hydrogen cyanide, acetonitrile, benzene and ethyne. "Hydrogen cyanide and acetonitrile were the smoking guns because they are emitted almost exclusively by biomass burning. High levels of the other chemicals simply added further weight to the findings," said study co-author Julie Nicely, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Next, the researchers traced the polluted air parcels backward 10 days, using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and precipitation data, to determine where they came from. Overlaying fire data from NASA's moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite, the researchers connected nearly all of the high-ozone, low-water structures to tropical regions with active biomass burning in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia. "The investigation utilized a variety of models, including the NCAR CAM-Chem model to forecast and later analyze chemical and dynamical conditions near Guam, as well as satellite data from numerous instruments that augmented the interpretation of the aircraft observations," said study co-author Douglas Kinnison, a project scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. In the paper, the researchers also offer a new explanation for the dry nature of the polluted air parcels. "Our results challenge the explanation atmospheric scientists commonly offer for pockets of high ozone and low water: that these zones result from the air having descended from the stratosphere where air is colder and dryer than elsewhere," said UMD Professor Ross Salawitch, the study's senior author and principal investigator of CONTRAST. Salawitch holds joint appointments in the university's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. "We know that the polluted air did not mix with air in the stratosphere to dry out because we found combined elevated levels of carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and ozone in our air samples, but air in the higher stratosphere does not contain much naturally occurring carbon monoxide," said Anderson. The researchers found that the polluted air that reached Guam never entered the stratosphere and instead simply dried out during its descent within the lower atmosphere. While textbooks show air moving upward in the tropics, according to Salawitch, this represents the net motion of air. Because this upward motion happens mostly within small storm systems, it must be balanced by air slowly descending, such as with these polluted parcels released from fires. Based on the results of this study, global climate models may need to be reassessed to include and correctly represent the impacts of biomass burning, deforestation and reforestation, according to Salawitch. Also, future studies such as NASA's upcoming Atmospheric Tomography Mission will add to the data collected by CAST and CONTRAST to help obtain a clearer picture of our changing environment. ### In addition to those mentioned above, the study's authors included UMD Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Professor Russell Dickerson and Assistant Research Professor Timothy Canty; CAST co-principal investigator James Lee of the University of York (U.K.); CONTRAST co-principal investigator Elliott Atlas of the University of Miami; and additional researchers from NASA; NOAA; the University of California, Irvine; the California Institute of Technology; the University of Manchester (U.K.); the Institute of Physical Chemistry Rocasolano; and the National Research Council in Argentina. This research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council, National Science Foundation, NASA, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. The research paper, "A pervasive role for biomass burning in tropical high ozone/low water structures" by Daniel C. Anderson et al., was published on January 13, 2016, in the journal Nature Communications. Media Relations Contact: Abby Robinson, 301-405-5845, abbyr@umd.edu Writer: Abby Robinson University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences 2300 Symons Hall College Park, MD 20742 http://www.cmns.umd.edu @UMDscience About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 7,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $150 million. PITTSBURGH, Jan. 11, 2016 - As cigarette smoking rates fall, more people are smoking tobacco from hookahs--communal pipes that enable users to draw tobacco smoke through water. A new meta-analysis led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine shows that hookah smokers are inhaling a large load of toxicants. The findings, published online and scheduled for the January/February print issue of the journal Public Health Reports, represent a meta-analysis, or a mathematical summary of previously published data. The research team reviewed 542 scientific articles potentially relevant to cigarette and hookah smoking and ultimately narrowed them down to 17 studies that included sufficient data to extract reliable estimates on toxicants inhaled when smoking cigarettes or hookahs. They discovered that, compared with a single cigarette, one hookah session delivers approximately 125 times the smoke, 25 times the tar, 2.5 times the nicotine and 10 times the carbon monoxide. "Our results show that hookah tobacco smoking poses real health concerns and that it should be monitored more closely than it is currently," said lead author Brian A. Primack, M.D., Ph.D., assistant vice chancellor for health and society in Pitt's Schools of the Health Sciences. "For example, hookah smoking was not included in the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey System questionnaire, which assesses cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and many other forms of substance abuse." Dr. Primack and his co-authors note that comparing a hookah smoking session to smoking a single cigarette is a complex comparison to make because of the differences in smoking patterns. A frequent cigarette smoker may smoke 20 cigarettes per day, while a frequent hookah smoker may only participate in a few hookah sessions each day. "It's not a perfect comparison because people smoke cigarettes and hookahs in very different ways," said Dr. Primack. "We had to conduct the analysis this way--comparing a single hookah session to a single cigarette--because that's the way the underlying studies tend to report findings. So, the estimates we found cannot tell us exactly what is 'worse.' But what they do suggest is that hookah smokers are exposed to a lot more toxicants than they probably realize. After we have more fine-grained data about usage frequencies and patterns, we will be able to combine those data with these findings and get a better sense of relative overall toxicant load." The research team also notes that these findings may be helpful in providing estimates for various official purposes. "Individual studies have reported different estimates for inhaled toxicants from cigarettes or hookahs, which made it hard to know exactly what to report to policy makers or in educational materials," said co-author and expert in meta-analysis Smita Nayak, M.D., research scientist at the Swedish Center for Clinical Research and Innovation. "A strength of meta-analysis is that it enables us to provide more precise estimates by synthesizing the currently available data from individual studies." These estimates come at an important time: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that, for the first time in history, past 30-day use of hookah tobacco was higher than past 30-day use of cigarettes among U.S. high school students. Additionally, about one-third of U.S. college students have smoked tobacco from a hookah, and many of those individuals were not previous users of other forms of tobacco. ### Additional authors on this study are Mary V. Carroll, R.N., B.S.N., of the Squirrel Hill Health Center in Pittsburgh; Patricia M. Weiss, M.L.I.S., Ariel Shensa, M.A., and Steven T. Farley, B.S., all of Pitt; Alan L. Shihadeh, Sc.D., of American University of Beirut; Michael J. Fine, M.D., M.Sc., of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System; and Thomas Eissenberg, Ph.D., of the Virginia Commonwealth University. This research was funded by National Cancer Institute grant R01-CA140150. About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support. Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www.medschool.pitt.edu. http://www.upmc.com/media Contact: Allison Hydzik Phone: 412-647-9975 E-mail: HydzikAM@upmc.edu Contact: Wendy Zellner Phone: 412-586-9777 E-mail: ZellnerWL@upmc.edu Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a mechanism that may explain how the brain can recall nearly all of what happened on a recent afternoon -- or make a thorough plan for how to spend an upcoming afternoon -- in a fraction of the time it takes to live out the experience. The breakthrough in understanding a previously unknown function in the brain has implications for research into schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders where real experiences and ones that exist only in the mind can become distorted. The newly discovered mechanism, which compresses information needed for memory retrieval, imagination or planning and encodes it on a brain wave frequency that's separate from the one used for recording real-time experiences, is described in a cover article in the Jan. 20 print edition of the journal Neuron. Brain cells share different kinds of information with one another using a variety of different brain waves, analogous to the way radio stations broadcast on different frequencies. Laura Colgin, an assistant professor of neuroscience, Chenguang Zheng, a postdoctoral researcher, and their colleagues found that one of these frequencies allows us to play back memories -- or envision future activities -- in fast forward. "The reason we're excited about it is that we think this mechanism can help explain how you can imagine a sequence of events you're about to do in a time-compressed manner," says Colgin. "You can plan out those events and think about the sequences of actions you'll do. And all of that happens on a faster time scale when you're imagining it than when you actually go and do those things." In the brain, fast gamma rhythms encode memories about things that are happening right now; these waves come rapidly one after another as the brain processes high-resolution information in real time. The scientists learned that slow gamma rhythms -- used to retrieve memories of the past, as well as imagine and plan for the future -- store more information on their longer waves, contributing to the fast-forward effect as the mind processes many data points with each wave. Mental compression turns out to be similar to what happens in a computer when you compress a file. Just like digital compression, when you replay a mental memory or imagine an upcoming sequence of events, these thoughts will have less of the rich detail found in the source material. The finding has implications for medicine as well as for criminal justice and other areas where memory reliability can be at issue. Colgin notes that the research could also explain why people with schizophrenia who are experiencing disrupted gamma rhythms have a hard time distinguishing between imagined and real experiences. "Maybe they are transmitting their own imagined thoughts on the wrong frequency, the one usually reserved for things that are really happening," says Colgin. "That could have terrible consequences." Next, the researchers plan to use animals with neurological disorders similar to autism spectrum disorders and Alzheimer's disease in humans to better understand what role this mechanism plays and explore ways to counteract it. ### This research was supported by the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Naval Research. From all accounts that I have read, David Bowie died naturally of cancer. But writer Ann Neumann in The Guardian strives mightily to tie his demise to assisted suicide. From David Bowie Planned His Death: Bowie may have been a profoundly unique musician, but his secrecy regarding his terminal condition is increasingly common. Death, particularly for those in Bowies generation, is becoming something to control an event to arrange and manage. He kept his health condition private. And I assume he also received quality medical care and palliation. If that is arranging and managing, fine. But Neumann makes an unwarranted darker connection: Boomers efforts to change the way Americans die are already being felt. Not willing to linger for years in nursing homes, theyre pressing for the legalization of aid in dying, the legal right to receive a lethal dose of medication from their doctor when they have six months or less to live. As I have often written, the six months to live restriction is a temporary sop, demonstrated by the linger for years in nursing homes comment. Indeed, most places where euthanasia/assisted suicide are legal have no such restrictions. And get this desperate bootstrapping: Like everything else Bowie made acceptable for his fans fluid genders, flamboyant, outrageous clothes, dreams of equality and other worlds this grand and surprising final exit may signal to the 76 million Baby Boomers now facing their own twilight that theres no harm in going out your own way. I have no idea what David Bowie thought about assisted suicide. But unless there is something we dont know, his death had nothing to do with the issue. It is wrong to try to drag him into the argument. Image credit: Jean-Luc [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Cross-posted at Human Exceptionalism. How to Go to Coron Palawan? By Plane Philippine Airlines By Sea Via El Nido You can actually go to El Nido via Coron through taking the ferry which is hours of trip, and of course you can go to Coron via El Nido. I dont have any information for you on this since I dont have any personal experience on this trip. But yes, you can get to Coron via El Nido, this will be great if youre planning to tour the whole Palawan province. Will try to update this post if there are any information I can share with you guys on this since Ill be in El Nido this 2016. Via Puerto Princesa Another way you can get to Coron via sea is through Puerto Princesa, but El Nido is much more nearer in Coron, so its best if youd go there. This is another way that you can take, but I dont have any more information for this since I dont have any experience on this but will try to update you once Im able to tour Puerto Princesa. Coron Accommodations Restaurants in Coron How to Get Around in Coron? Things to Bring in Coron Waterproof Camera since all of the tours involves water activities, and yes most of the tours requires you to hop into the boat. Id say go for GoPro! Skin Protection luckily, few weeks before the trip Flawless gave me their latest product their Skin Protect Mist with SPF 70. I was able to try it out there! And yes, I was able to bring it on the plane along with my checked in bags, the AirAsia attendant said as long as the bottle doesnt say flammable its okay. Theyve checked it themselves. Id totally recommend for you to bring your skin protection, again all activities there are water activities, under the sun. I was kissed by the sun, yes, my Mama even laughed at me every time she sees me for days because I was like almost black, but thanks to the Skin Protect Mist its not as bad as I usually get (like it hurts already on the first day), and my skin is back to its natural color in just few weeks. Snorkeling Gear this is recommended for those wholl be taking the tours for days in Coron, or someone who loves underwater view. You can save a lot if youll just have the gear instead of renting it for days. But if youre just taking one tour, and its best to just rent one. Sunglasses again, something to do with the sun. So, go and bring your sunnies with you especially if youre out for a tour. The Coron Tour Packages, Destinations, and Itinerary Coron Palawan Day 1 Itinerary Time DAY 1 Expenses 6:50 AM - 8:10 AM 2:40 PM - 3:35 PM 5:00 PM Cebu Manila Manila Busuanga * Airport to Hotel ** Breakfast ** Lunch ** Dinner ** Snacks P150/person P200 P200 P200 P100 P750 Coron Palawan Day 2 Itinerary Time DAY 2 Expenses 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 8: 30 AM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM Breakfast (included in the hotel) Hotel Pick Up Coron Island Adventure Tour Dinner at Asia Grand View P1,550/person P250 P1,800 Tour Package: Coron Island Adventure Tour Coron Palawan Day 3 Itinerary Tour Package: Malcapuya Island Escapade Time DAY 3 Expenses 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 8: 30 AM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM Breakfast (included in the hotel) Hotel Pick Up Malcapuya Island Escapade (Beach tour) Dinner at P2,000/person P200 P2,200 Coron Palawan Day 5 Itinerary Tour Package: Coron Town Tour Time DAY 5 Expenses 5:00 AM 5:30 AM 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 12:00 NN 1:00 PM 4:20 PM 5:20 PM 9:50 PM 11:15 PM Hotel Pick Up Mt. Tapyas Breakfast Coron Town Tour Lunch ETA at Busuanga Airport Coron to Manila Manila to Cebu ** Pasalubong P200 P950/person P200 P1,500 P2,850 Destinations: Mt. Tapyas, Maquinit Hot Spring, Cashew Factory, and Coron Giftshop Now I know some of you may not have the time and/or the budget for this kind of trip, but if you can only do a getaway for 3 days and 2 nights, I highly recommend that you take the Coron Island tour and the city tour, and take the last flight out. Coron Budget and Expenses A 5 days and 4 nights getaway is really great, but I'm totally aware that not all of us have the luxury (time or money) to do this, but if you do I'd totally recommend for you to take this 5 days off trip. Here are our Coron budget and expenses for the 5 days. Just to give you an idea with our expenses. Days Expenses Day 1 Expenses Day 2 Expenses Day 3 Expenses Day 4 Expenses Day 5 Expenses P750 P1,800 P2,200 P2,800 P2,850 Daily Expenses P9,000 Hotel Accommodation: Asia Grand View (P6,600/night x2) Sea Coral Lodge (P1,500/night x2) P13,200 P3,000 Accommodation Expenses P16,200 Total Expenses P25,200 Is Coron a Must Visit Destination? Do you appreciate what this blog do? Want to send help for this blog? Your every cents goes a long way DONATE TO EXOTIC PHILIPPINES! June 5-9, 2015 I was in Coron Palawan Philippines, taking my first step into the province of Palawan, the province that Ive been wanting to visit for so long. It was a year before I planned this trip, we kept on moving the date, and finally came up, just go there, and enjoy our moment.It was an unforgettable experience. It has been so long since my last trip, and I was really hungry for travel that time, and good thing I choose Coron to do it!Hopefully through this blog post and to serve the purpose of this travel blog , Ill be able to share some insights for you guys who wants to visit or planning to visit Coron.I believe there are 4 ways on how you can get to Coron, but of course Ive just tried one of them. You can get to Coron There are airlines that flies in directly to Coron at Francisco B. Reyes Airport of Busuanga island which is about an hour away from the town of Coron. There are V-Hires (van for hire) at the airport waiting until the last flight comes in (which was in our case). You may arrange it with your travel agency or hotel to have a van pick you up, or you can just go to the drivers that offers a ride to the town. They will drive you to your hotel, door to door delivery (LOL).When we visited Coron there are flights (via Cebu Pacific Air) that goes directly to Coron, so you really dont have to stop in Manila . But as Im writing this, and checking flights in the summer of 2016, I cant seem to find the flight that I saw before. But please do feel free to go to their website and check it through trying to book a flight, or check other airlines like the Philippine Airlines.In our case, since I'm from Cebu, we took a flight from Cebu to Manila via AirAsia. We then wait for more than 5 hours to take another trip from Manila to Coron Palawan via Philippine Airlines!On our way back, we took the flight by Cebu Pacific Air from Coron to Manila, then another flight from Manila to Cebu via AirAsia.If you're not sure which airline to go for to Coron from Manila, well, Philippine Airlines is totally okay. The flight was okay too and they gave us free snacks. For Cebu Pacific Air on the other hand, their plane is a bit better, or should I say newer. But Philippine Airlines have been around for a long time, so either of them two are great.For our 5 days and 4 nights in Coron, were able to stay in two (2) different accommodations, and they are:If youre in a budget, then we highly recommend Sea Coral Lodge. Their staffs are friendly, accommodating, and their rooms are clean, plus its air-conditioned, with cable TV and free (fast) WiFi.But if you want a hotel thats comfortable to stay, a hotel with a pool and away from the towns noise, a romantic place. Then Asia Grand View hotel is the hotel to go for.Then again, if you want to try other hotels, lodges, or any other accommodations in Coron, I have the list of 30 hotels and resorts in Coron Palawan Our breakfast for the first 3 days are included in our stay at Asia Grand View Hotel, our lunch is also taken care by our travel agency, the Blue Lagoon Adventure Travel and Tours. At our first night in Coron, we were too tired to leave the hotel (since we were like at the airport for almost the whole day due to air traffic), we decided to eat at the hotel good thing Asia Grand View hotel have their own restaurant.We took our dinner at Asia Grand View Hotel's restaurant,, and. We didn't mind the restaurants for dinner, we forgot to do some research about it, but there are a number of restaurants that I wish we did try.Since breakfast is not included in Sea Coral Lodge, we decided to try the town instead, but Sea Coral Lodge do offer breakfast, they have the same breakfast meal at the market store we ate, so just eat there.The Coron town is actually a small town, I can totally live there, and go to church, do some groceries, and all in just few minutes by just walking. So, you can actually just walk around to go around Coron town, but dont walk the trip from the airport to the town. If you dont want to take the walk, then you can just take the tricycle, I only paid P25 when I was at the town going back to my hotel, at Asia Grand View hotel and Im the only passenger.Here are some items that you must bring in Coron, items that you should have in your luggage.There are more than 5 tours you can have in Coron Palawan, as for our case, were able to do 4 different tours. So along with the destinations, the tour packages weve tried out and the itinerary, here they are.Tour Package: None. We spent most of the day going to Coron.Please take note that the accommodations that we did have are sponsored by the hotel, plus our tours are partially sponsored. Big thanks to all of our sponsors that week!As a Cebu travel blog , this trip was expensive for us but thankfully for the locals who supported us, we were able to make it.Some may also ask if there's no DIY for this to get the expenses cheaper. The only way to get this cheaper is book the tour there, and look for a boat to take you for a tour. But then, if you're like me who wants to be guaranteed to be able to get a tour and be able to arrange everything before going there, then this would be it.The rooms at Asia Grand View can occupy up to 5 (I think, but there were 4 adults, and 1 kid, and there's still a space for an extra bed) and the Sea Coral Lodge room is good for 3.Coron is already very beautiful and unforgettable for me, a Cebu blogger who love beaches and view this is really a beautiful place. It's where I learned that I should not be afraid of drowning - yes, this is my first time swimming in an open water, really deep, with no life vest (on some tourist spots). It's where I fall in love with the under water world.People say El Nido is prettier than Coron, I haven't been to Coron yet but I'll be in a few weeks. I'll update you with this issue.But as of now, yes, Coron is one of the must visit destinations in the Philippines. Actually, the whole Palawan province I think is a must visit place.If you have any questions about our trip in Coron Palawan, please leave it as a comment below! Hi there. I am a New Zealand citizen and have a five year Ancestral Visa for the UK. It was issued under my married name and is in my old passport which is also under my married name. I have now reverted back to my maiden name and have just recieved my new passport in my maiden name. I am currently in New Zealand and planning to go back to the UK in 2 months time. Online it says that if you get a new passport, you don't need to formally transfer your visa but merely carry both passports. Does this still apply if your passports (and therefore visa) are in different names? Can I carry my marriage certificate as well? Or do I need to get a whole new visa issued under my maiden name? HELP! Hello everyone, I'm gearing up to submit our EEA(FM) and (QP) application (EE2) for residence cards and wanted to list the documents and background for what should be a straightforward case; however, we don't want any hiccups as we want to quit working and travel to France this summer unfettered. Target is end of June 2016. Wife (EEA national French) started a job Dec 9th, 2015. Permanent 40 hours a week employment. Her first paycheck is Jan 15th, which is the gating document for our submission. Me (non-EEA national USA) not working in UK. I'm a landlord for some USA properties. I've filled out the EEA(FM) and FFM(QP) applications with the attached passport photos. Supporting documents are: Identity documents (My USA passport, her French nationality card) Marriage Certificate (Certified Copy) married 1997 in USA Birth Certificates of both our children, of primary school age at the moment. Wife's single Jan15th wage slip, when it arrives. Following 7 documents showing our Address in Scotland (moved here Oct 2015) - Joint Tenancy Agreement (This is a printout received not original rest are original) - Joint gas bill - Joint Council Tax Bill - Addressed to me: Letter from National Library of Scotland - Addressed to me: Letter from Aviva UK Health* - Addressed to my wife: Letter from Bank of Scotland - Addressed to my wife: Letter from Dept for Work and Pensions Following 5 documents showing our previous address in USA. Showing we lived together. - Joint Property Tax Bill addressed to both 2014-2015 - Addressed to me: Letter from FBI Biometrics Dec 2014 - Addressed to my wife: Letter from FBI Biometrics Dec 2014 - Addressed to me: Bill from Dept of Motor Vehicles 2015 - Addressed to my wife: Health care bill 2015 Other: A single page printout with 15 small photos from each year 1994-2011 showing us together. (Something I had already put together for one of our anniversaries) *We were vacillating between applying as self-supporting or as employed. We qualify for both. We decided for her to get a job and go the employed route as we were thinking it would be a more straightforward application, but we are still carrying comp health insurance in case all goes to hell at her job. She also plans to reduced her hours to 32 hours per week in February. Do we need to submit any new documents in February if her work hours change from 40 to 32???:confused2: Once we get our residence cards she will likely either quit her job or try to get 2 months off work. We don't need the money, but will likely take up work again in the fall when we return from France. From my understanding this should be OK. She just needs to hold her job until we get the residency cards in hand???:confused2: Thanks for all the help. -- SharpE Zrasool said: Thank you sooo much for your input. yes the company is offering medical insurance and flights home over and above the salary which is standard in terms with the government. the company is offering an interest free loan to cover the rental which will be deducted monthly of the salary. apologies for bombarding you with questions and i really appreciate you taking the time to reply. i have a few more questions : - what is the cost of water, electricity, gas, internet, telephone? - is it difficult to transfer money back home? are there any restrictions? - do employers hold onn to your passports? - how does car leasing/purchasing work in Dubai? once again thank thank thank you Click to expand... 1. Cost of water/electricity/gas varies tremendously and depends on how much you use. I can't give you an average figure. Apartments have lower bills than villas. What is guaranteed is that your monthly dewa bill (dewa is the main utilities company and a single bill covers water/electricity/gas) will also include an annual 5% housing tax, divided by 12.I have a two bedroom apartment and my monthly dewa bill is around 600 AED including the housing tax, but this is a sole occupant who's out most of the day, doesn't watch much TV and my air conditioning is free as it's included in the rent.From what I've heard from others, a monthly bill for a family of four in a standard villa can range from 1,000/month in the winter (no A/C on) to as much as 5,000 in the summer with A/C on in the entire villa at full blast. But there's many variations within this range depending on usage and location. For reasons no one can determine, the dewa bills for the new "freehold" communities like Arabian Ranches and Victory Heights tend to be noticeably higher than for similarly sized villas in older neighbourhood near the coast (Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim).2. Transferring money back home: no restrictions whatsoever from the UAE end. There are loads of South Africans in Dubai and I haven't heard of any problems. You are subject to fluctuations in the exchange rates.3. It is illegal for employers to hold on to your passports. Some do but rare for western / higher earning expats. You have a large package so I doubt your employer will hold on to your passports.4. Car leasing in the UAE isn't going to be like car leasing in South Africa, presumably. Most people buy cars and have monthly payments, which is the most cost effective approach. Others rent on a monthly basis, like I do. A few do take out long term leases through the main rental companies but it's expensive. The leasing model is based on the leasing company buying a brand new car for you for a three year period and monthly payment is based on the full cost of the car divided by 36. The assumption is that there is no value left to the car at the end of the lease. Thank you all for the prompt replies. The Pinosol area of Javea is largely not urbanised. The urbanisation will at some point take place by the council and the residents will be expected to contribute towards the Roads. walkways and street lighting. I am told by many agents that this area that either the price of the property is adjusted accordingly or money is put aside, often in an escrow account until such work is carried out. The Vendor said he has been waiting for the urbanisation to take place for 15 years. The Agents response was... *********************************************************** It is not an LFO its the Cedula. The lack of Occupation Licence or Cedula may be an issue for some banks, but well have to see what they say. Unfortunately its out of our and the vendors hands, as we cant do anything to get the Licence yet. Until the Town Hall issues the urbanisation certificates and payment scheme (which may or may not happen hes been waiting 15 years to pay for it!), they wont issue a Cedula. Its not a legal requirement to have one to sell a property; you only really need them to create a brand new contract with electricity and water companies. ************************************************ What I find odd is that the house is rented out by the summer by a Popular rental company! Visa, immigration, and nationality application fees are set to increase in the UK, especially for premium services.The UK government has released its proposed changes to the fees for visas, immigration and nationality applications and associated premium services for 2016/2017. Specific fee changes for 2016/2017 will apply after further legislation is laid in Parliament by April this year.The new legislation will set maximum levels on the amounts for broad categories of fees that can be charged by the Home Office over the next four years, but officials said that there are no current plans to raise fees to the maximum levels."These increases will allow us to reduce taxpayer contributions towards the border, immigration and citizenship system and ensure that by 2019 to 2020 the system is self-funded by those who use it," said a Home Office spokesman.There will be a 2% increase for visit, study and work visas while fees for settlement, residence and nationality will increase by 25% in the 2016/2017 financial year.Officials confirmed that targeted increases have been applied to premium services, such as the priority visa service, but fees for all sponsorship categories will stay at the current rates.For some it will not mean a huge hike. A six month visitor visa will go up from 83 to 85, an extended student visa from 150 to 162 and a two year visitor visa from 300 to 324.The Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa rises from 1,093 to 1,800 and the Tier 1 Investor visa from 1,093 to 1,500, both in country. From overseas the fee for an entrepreneur goes from 874 to 944 and for an investor from 874 to 1,500. SALEM, Ohio The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced some new regulations in the oil and gas industry to protect the publics health, safety and the environment. The DEP sent the standards (Chapter 78 and 78a) to the state Environmental Quality Board for review Jan. 6. The board will review the standards, and when it approves them, continues the approval process, they could be effective by early summer. The rules will impact both the conventional and unconventional oil and gas industries. The rules referred to as Chapter 78 are for conventional wells; the rules referred to as the Chapter 78a are designated for unconventional or shale wells. The amendments to the oil and gas regulations will impact five areas, including water resources; adding public resource considerations; protecting the publics health and safety; addressing landowner concerns; and improving data management. Public resources Well drillers will have to address potential impacts to public resources during the well permitting process. The permit applicant will have to identify the potentially impacted public resources and notify the public resources agency. For example, if a well site is within 200 feet of a publicly owned park, forest game land or wildlife area, the application would have to contact the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources or the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Other locations where the notification kicks in are: if the well is in or within the corridor of a state or national scenic river; within 200 feet of a national natural landmark; within 200 feet of a historical or archaeological site listed on the federal or state list of historic places; or within 200 feet of a common area on a schools property or playground. If the well is within 1,000 feet of a water well, surface water intake, reservoir or other water supply extraction point used by a water purveyor (unconventional wells only), then notifications have to be made as well. Abandoned wells Another area that has changed is in connection with orphan or abandoned wells in Pennsylvania. Well operators must identify active and inactive wells within 1,000 feet of the vertical and horizontal wellbore prior to hydraulic fracturing. The identification process requires operators to review the departments orphan and abandoned well database, review farm line maps, and submit a questionnaire to landowners whose property lies within the area of review prior to drilling in cases where hydraulic fracturing activities are anticipated at the well site. Other databases and historical sources must also be consulted. Containment practices The DEP realized that the biggest source of pollution by the oil and gas industry has been the release of regulated substances onto the ground. Under the new regulations, drillers will need to have secondary containment systems for all chemicals and substances used except fuel in equipment or vehicles. Operators will now also be required to inspect the secondary containment weekly. Protecting water The revised regulations will ban the use of temporary waste storage pits at unconventional (shale wells). It also will require pipeline construction companies to develop preparedness, prevention, and contingency plans when performing horizontal directional drilling under a waterway to minimize impacts on waters in the event of an inadvertent return. Operators will be required to restore a well site, including filling pits and removing drilling supplies and equipment within nine months of completion of drilling. Reporting Drillers will now have to be required to do more reporting directly to the DEP. The reports will include the waste from the drilling pad, fracking reports, cementing and drilling reports monthly. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said the regulations proposed are right for the state. He said Pennsylvania is No. 2 in the country for natural gas production, and he wants to keep it that way, but the state must also protect the people and natural resources. These will result in superior protection of the land, said Wolf. DEP Secretary John Quigley said the rules were developed with the help of the public and is not an end point, but a chance to make sure drilling is safe in Pennsylvania. He said he feels the updated regulations are a balance between the industry and safety. However, it appears the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association may not feel the same way. Industry not happy Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association President Louis D. DAmico issued a statement voicing the groups disapproval of the regulations. The development of these regulations over the past four years has been flawed to the point of being fraudulent. The modernization of environmental controls was required by Act 13 for the unconventional industry and yet, despite working on these regulations since 2011, DEP has still not explained or shown the need to make them applicable to the conventional industry, said DAmico in the statement. He added that the rules are not reasonable and that the rule-making process was not transparent. Repeated references by this administration to whatever it proposes as common sense cannot magically transform any of them, especially these rulemakings. We look forward to pressing on with our fight against this abuse of process and extreme regulatory overreach these rulemakings represent. Quigley said in a news conference that a challenge by the industry is possible, but for now, the rules will be passed on to the next stage and the state will take a wait and see approach. PHILADELPHIA The Pennsylvania Farm Show is celebrating its 100th show this year and dairy the Commonwealths No. 1 agriculture industry will share the spotlight through various displays and partnerships sponsored by Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. At the Farm-to-Shelf exhibit in the Weis Expo Hall, visitors can talk with farmers and learn how the food they purchase is grown, harvested, sourced and then sold at local grocery stores. The exhibit portrays the journey of four commodities, including dairy, pork, apples and potatoes, from farm to grocery store shelf. Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association has partnered with the PA Dairymens Association and the Center for Dairy Excellence to sponsor the dairy exhibit, which will include a live cow and calf and a demonstration robotic milking system Dairy farmers and industry representatives will be volunteering their time to talk with Farm Show guests about how dairy farmers care for their animals and the many steps taken to produce milk. Milking parlor Activities in the North Hall (dairy barn) will include milking parlor demonstrations and a learning station activity hosted by Pennsylvania Dairy Princess and Promotion Services. Guests at the dairy-sponsored Ag Explorers learning station will learn why breakfast is the most important meal of the day through an interactive, hands-on activity that will focus on milk and other dairy foods. A special giveaway will be provided to children who participate in the activity. At the milking parlor, dairy farmers will be on hand at scheduled times throughout the show to describe the milking process and answer questions from show visitors. Culinary connection Recipes from The Dairy Good Cookbook: Everyday Comfort Food from Americas Dairy Farm Families, will be featured at the PA Preferred Culinary Connection Stage during Dairy Day on Jan. 16. Pennsylvania dairy farmers Diane Hoover, of Lebanon, Rita Kennedy, of Valencia, and Raechel Kilgore-Sattazahn and Betsy Sattazahn, both of Womelsdorf whose recipes are included in the cookbook will join Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association staff on stage at 11 a.m. to prepare their culinary creations. Samples of the recipes will be provided, and guests will have the opportunity to win a free copy of the cookbook. The recipes also will be featured in the Culinary Connection recipe booklet available to all attending. Ice cream scoop-off This program, held Jan. 16 at 12:30 p.m., is the capstone celebration of the 100th show and the culminating event of the Penn State Berkey Creamerys 150th anniversary year. Visitors will have the opportunity to sample the new Birthday Bash ice cream flavor and learn about the creamerys history. Cheese competition Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association also has partnered with Penn State University to sponsor the second annual cheese competition, featuring locally made cheeses. Butter sculpture. Renowned husband and wife sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton return this year to create the 1,000-pound sculpture. ORLANDO, Fla. Farmers and ranchers need to adopt technology and they need to stand up for their rights. But most of all, they need to share their stories, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman told members at the AFBF annual convention and IDEAg Trade Show. Stallmans address his last after 16 years as the head of the nations largest farm organization echoed the challenges farmers and ranchers face when government oversteps the limits of the law. He reminded attendees that the struggle to overturn the EPAs latest water policies was not yet over. You know, if were going to let the federal government dictate where we can and cannot farm or cut trees, or build homes, or otherwise use the land for any productive, economic activity then this is not the land of liberty, Stallman told attendees. It is not the country that our forefathers envisioned nor is it a country that will be able to feed itself for very long. Struggles notwithstanding, technology is helping to make farmers lives easier than they were just a generation ago. We have tremendous potential through new technologies: unmanned aircraft, data mining, biotechnology, robotics and who knows what else is coming, Stallman said. These advances stand to make farming and ranching more productive, less costly, less labor-dependent and even better for the environment. Speak up Stallman urged members to share their stories with the world, on social media and elsewhere. You know, we farmers used to complain that no one paid any attention to what we did that people thought their food just came from the grocery store and that we in agriculture didnt have enough ways to get our message heard. Well, people are sure paying attention to farming and food production now! And in this age of social media, we no longer have to depend on others to tell our story for us. Stallman reminded Farm Bureau members of the importance of fairness and the dangers of depending on government. When we ask for the aid of government, we should not be surprised when we find ourselves bound by the chains of government, Stallman said. When we seek sustenance from the government, we have no moral standing to fault others who seek the same. Two new high yielding perennial ryegrass varieties will be available to UK farmers this spring thanks to a long-term partnership between Barenbrug, the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Northern Ireland. Fintona is a new intermediate tetraploid perennial produced from a cross between Malone and Dunluce two existing intermediate tetraploid varieties. A valuable grass for farms that want to maximise silage yield on a two-cut system, Fintona combines favourable attributes of both parents and sets a new standard in forage production for intermediate tetraploid perennials in UK and Republic of Ireland Recommended List trials. Results show that Fintona has a better total silage yield than other AFBI varieties that are already performing well in grazing and silage mixtures. (See supporting diagram, which shows Fintona has improved 1st and 2nd cut silage yields over Dunluce (listed 2005), Malone (2006) and Seagoe (2011)). Moira is an intermediate diploid perennial ryegrass that provides excellent spring growth. Trials show that Moira delivers total silage yields that are 8% higher than Spelga, the variety it was bred as a direct replacement for. The parentage of Moira includes Dutch grass genetics, acquired through Barenbrug breeding stations, which are located worldwide. Moira and Fintona have taken almost 15 years to develop as part of a specialist grass-breeding programme at AFBI Loughgall in County Armagh. The ten-hectare site where Barenbrug has been a commercial partner since the 1990s was established in the 1950s to produce grass varieties optimised for the UK farming sector. The selection procedures used by AFBI in breeding Moira and Fintona were developed in close cooperation with grass experts from Barenbrugs international network of breeding stations. This allowed access to novel breeding materials with favourable attributes such as high spring growth, disease resistance and winter hardiness. To support the trials at Loughgall, the selection and evaluation process was carried out at Barenbrug sites in England, France and the Netherlands, where disease and winter damage is usually more extreme than in Northern Ireland. This data was invaluable in identifying the best parental stocks. Mhairi Dawson, R&D Manager for Barenbrug UK, said: Grass is one of the most important on-farm crops. So its important that varieties are bred carefully to maximise productivity in the places where theyll ultimately be grown. Thats the purpose of our work at Loughgall, where we are helping to bring new varieties to market that will meet the needs of UK farmers. From start to finish the process of developing a new grass variety is incredibly long and represents a significant investment by all parties involved. Offering excellent performance throughout the United Kingdom, we anticipate strong commercial demand for Moira and Fintona and are delighted to bring them to market in partnership with AFBI. Over the years, work undertaken at Loughgall by AFBI with partners such as Barenbrug has had a huge impact on the productivity of UK grassland. Analysis of data from trials conducted at AFBI, and maintained under the same management over 30 years, has shown a gradual increase in production equivalent to about 0.4% per annum. That means varieties, such as Moira and Fintona, which are being commercialised now, are at least 24% higher yielding than the best available varieties six decades ago. The launch of Moira and Fintona follows the successful commercialisation of Clanrye, Seagoe and Glenariff, which have been established on hundreds of UK farms and have created excellent swards. AFBI has further new varieties in the pipeline, which are being multiplied by Barenbrug UK at present. These include new intermediate tetraploids Ramore and Caledon as well as a new late diploid, Glenarm. At an earlier stage of development are Glasker, Carland and Gosford. 15 more establishments are now eligible to export By Diego Flammini Assistant Editor, International Content Farms.com Canadian pork and beef farmers will now have more market access to export their products to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials visited Canada in September 2015 and deemed that 15 more beef and pork facilities may begin exporting to Ukraine as long as certain certification requirements are met. The total number of Canadian beef and pork exporters is now up to 27 and Canadian officials are encouraged about the doors being opened for Canadian farmers. The Government of Canada is working to create new trade opportunities for Canadian farmers and agri-food exporters in key markets all over the world, said Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay. We are pleased to supply world-class beef and pork to Ukraine, maximizing export returns for the benefit of Canadian producers. The top five Canadian agri-food exports to Ukraine in 2014 were: Frozen pork (approx. $3.7 million) Dog and cat food (approx. $2.5 million) Soybean seed (approx. $2 million) Raw mink furskins, whole (approx. $1.8 million) Bull semen (approx. $1.3 million) Its estimated the access for Canadian beef and pork to the Ukrainian market could be worth up to $50 million annually, which will help strengthen relations. Ukraine is an important market for Canadian exporters and the recently concluded Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement is a testament to the strengthening economic relationship between our two countries, said Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland. Join the discussion and tell us your thoughts about Ukraine allowing more Canadian pork and beef into the country. As a farmer are you encouraged by the opportunities the new access could provide for you? Following a successful inspection last September by Ukrainian authorities, 15 additional Canadian beef and pork establishments are now eligible to export, bringing the current total to 27. Total bilateral merchandise trade between Canada and Ukraine averaged $293.3 million from 2012 to 2014, and is expected to expand by 19 percent as a result of the implementation of the CUFTA. Meat Industry trade and export pundits estimate access to the Ukrainian market for Canadian beef and pork to be worth up to $50 million annually. The Government of Canada is working to create new trade opportunities for Canadian farmers and agri-food exporters in key markets all over the world, said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. We are pleased to supply world-class beef and pork to Ukraine, maximizing export returns for the benefit of Canadian producers. Canada exported $35.7 million worth of agriculture and agri-food last year and is committed to strengthening commercial ties with Ukraine and securing improved market access for Canadian exporters. To this end, in July 2015, Canada and Ukraine successfully concluded negotiations toward the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). Our government is pleased that the Ukrainian market has opened to more Canadian beef and pork producers, stated Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade. Ukraine is an important market for Canadian exporters and the recently concluded Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement is a testament to the strengthening economic relationship between our two countries. Canada and Ukraine are currently undertaking the legal review of the negotiated text, and once signed, the Parties can undertake their respective domestic implementation processes. I am very pleased that export approval has been received for all 15 Canadian meat packing and processing establishments that were visited by the Ukrainian audit team in September, 2015, added Joe Reda, President of the Canadian Meat Council. The industry appreciates and values highly the continuing efforts of the Canadian government to obtain export approval for the additional companies that are interested in the Ukrainian market. Once fully implemented, the Agreement will result in the elimination of all non-agricultural tariffs and the vast majority of Ukraine's agricultural tariffs, including on Canadian beef, certain pork, pulses, grains, fish and seafood, canola oil, processed foods, and animal feed. Source:.Meatbusiness A medical assistant at a cancer-care practice in Fort Myers, Florida collected $3.2 million when the practice settled a False Claims Act case for nearly $20 million. Mariela Barnes worked for 21st Century Oncology LLC. She filed a whistleblower suit in March 2013 alleging the firm submitted Medicare and other government claims for medically unnecessary tests. The DOJ said the tests were ordered by four Fort Myers-based urologists Dr. David Spellberg, Dr. Meir Daller, Dr. Steven Paletsky, and Dr. Robert Scappa. Under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, private parties can bring qui tam lawsuits on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The government has the option to take over qui tam suits, as it did in this case. The DOJ alleged that 21st Century encouraged the doctors to order unnecessary tests by offering bonuses based in part on the number of tests referred to 21st Centurys laboratory. The settlement resolved the civil liability of 21st Century only, the DOJ said. The DOJs Benjamin Mizer said, Providers who waste taxpayer dollars by billing for unnecessary services will face serious consequences. The case was United States, State of Florida, ex rel. Mariela Barnes v. Dr. David Spellberg, 21st Century Oncology and Naples Urology Associates, Civil Action No. 2:13-cv-228-FtM-38DNF (M.D. Fla.). The claims resolved by the settlement were allegations only and there has been no determination of liability, the DOJ said. ___ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here. For three years in a row, Denmark has ranked best on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index. If any country is free from preferential dealings between public servants and private enterprise, one would expect it to be Denmark. But this is apparently not the case. My research into the finances of office-holders in the Danish municipal government (a collaboration with Mario Daniele Amore of Bocconi University and Kasper Meisner Nielsen of HKUST) shows that even in environments where outright bribery and kickbacks are rare to non-existent, power still pays dividends for local-level politicians, their families, and firms linked to them. We took advantage of Denmarks 2005 administrative reform, in which 239 municipalities were summarily merged into 69 larger municipalities, leaving 32 unchanged. Politicians re-elected in 2005 to the leadership of a merged municipality would have experienced a considerable increase in power measured in terms of budget and size of their constituency virtually overnight. Meanwhile, politicians re-elected to an unmerged municipality stayed at the same power level as before the reform, making them an ideal control group. We completed the picture by plugging in comprehensive data provided by the Danish tax authority for the politicians and their families from the period 1997-2009. Our analysis (detailed in the working paper Return to Political Power in a Low-Corruption Environment) found that the average re-elected politician in a merged municipality enjoyed an increase of around 3.8 percent in total personal income, compared to his or her peers from non-merged municipalities. This figure excludes pay rises and other easily explicable proceeds from office-holding. The average increase may be economically small, but it is statistically significant. It is especially so considering the modest clout of many of these politicians, even by the standards of intra-Danish politics. If political power is seen to pay off for local party members in the country with the least perceived corruption (population: 5.6 million), how much larger would the potential gains be in other more corrupt and bigger countries? Moreover, higher-status pols received larger income bumps. We found an 8.5 percent increase for party leaders, 12.7 percent for coalition party leaders, and finally, 17.2 percent for mayors. Our data did not include exact information on where the extra money came from, but one contributing factor appears to be corporate board appointments. We saw that merged-municipality politicians held appreciably more corporate directorships than the control group, a discrepancy that couldnt be explained by individual characteristics such as age. For politicians with above-median votes in the municipality and for party leaders, the directorships gap was especially wide. Maybe the most remarkable pattern apparent here is that the income boost from power isnt limited to the politician alone; his or her close family members adult children in particular also get a taste. In fact, the power-income connection was twice as strong on average for the offspring than for the politician. The effect was strongest for children who resided in the same municipality as their parents. To be clear, our findings are not meant to challenge Denmarks squeaky-clean reputation. Nothing we have seen suggests illegality of the sort that is rampant in high-corruption environments. Unlike many of their counterparts in corrupt countries, the subjects of our research have not amassed anything like great wealth. There is every reason to assume that legitimate business opportunities (such as corporate board appointments) and subtle deference to power are at play in Denmark, rather than systemic abuses of authority. However, there are two commonly noted aspects of corruption an attempt to circumvent existing rules, and a tendency to favour certain firms for no good reason that do seem to be reflected in our evidence. We are led to conclude that even in the worlds least corrupt country, a certain amount of legal corruption exists. * * * A version of this post first appeared in Insead Knowledge and appears here with permission. _____ Morten Bennedsen is The Andre and Rosalie Hoffmann Chaired Professor of Family Enterprise at INSEAD and Academic Director of the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise. He is also a contributing faculty member to the INSEAD Corporate Governance Initiative and is co-author of the book The Family Business Map: Assets and Roadblocks in Long -Term Planning Bob Mortimer secretly married just half an hour before undergoing heart surgery. Bob Mortimer The 56-year-old comic discovered he needed to go under the knife last October and arranged to wed long-term partner Lisa Matthews - with whom he has sons Harry, 18, and Tom, 17 - on the day of his operation after being warned he was "incredibly ill". He recalled: "I found out I needed heart surgery on the Thursday, so I made a will on the Friday. "Found out I couldn't get married to Lisa because you have to give 21 days notice. "But my consultant said I was incredibly ill, so the registrar in London - I don't live in London - gave me permission to get married on the Monday. "I got married at half 9 on the Monday then went into hospital for the operation at 10." The ceremony was very intimate, with just Bob, Lisa and their sons in attendance. Asked if his comedy partner Vic Reeves was his best man, he said: "No, there was just me, the wife and our two kids in the registry office, that's it." And though he and Vic are preparing to embark on their '25 Years of Reeves & Mortimer: The Poignant Moments' tour, Bob - who had been with Lisa for 22 years before they tied the knot - is also looking forward to celebrating his marriage. Speaking at a press conference for the tour at London's Soho Hotel, he said: "I haven't had my honeymoon yet, I might go to Barbados." '25 Years of Reeves & Mortimer: The Poignant Moments' tour kicks off in Leeds on January 30. Leonardo DiCaprio is widely regarded as one of the best actors to NOT have scooped a Best Actor Oscar... however, it looks like 2016 could well be his year. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant DiCaprio returns to the big screen with The Revenant and has already won a Golden Globe for his central performance as Hugh Glass. The Oscar nominations are revealed on Thursday and DiCaprio is expected to pick up his four Best Actor Oscar nod. He is already the favourite to triumph and it looks like his long wait may be finally over. We take a look at some of Hollywood's best actors and actresses who have never won an acting Oscar for their work. - Robert Redford Robert Redford is one of cinema's biggest and most recognisable stars who has had a career that has spanned over fifty years that has seen him move between acting and the director's chair. We have seen Redford star in the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and Out of Africa but he has never received an Oscar for his acting. In fact, Redford has only picked up one Oscar nod for his acting work during his career; that came in 1974 for his performance in The Sting, which saw him reunite with Paul Newman. It was a Best Actor nod that year but he lost out to Jack Lemmon for Save the tiger. However, Redford is not without an Academy Award as he picked up a Best Director gong for his work on Ordinary People in 1980. Ordinary People marked Redford's directorial debut and went on to win four Oscars, including Best Picture. In 2002, Redford won an Honorary Award from the Academy for his work as an actor, director, and founder of the hugely successful Sundance Film Festival. But it would be nice to see Redford finally triumph with an acting Oscar. - Bill Murray Bill Murray is one of the most popular actors working in Hollywood today and has enjoyed a career that has seen him star in drama, comedy, war movies, and biopic film projects. During his forty year acting career, Murray has enjoyed both critical and commercial success but he has never got his hands on the prestigious Oscar for his acting work. Like Redford, Murray is another actor who has only picked up one acting Oscar nomination; he was in the Best Actor mix back in 2004 for his central performance in Lost in Translation. While Murray's inclusion in the Oscar race was a popular one, he lost out to Sean Penn for his performance in Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Mystic River. Murray did pick up the Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for his performance during that year's awards season. Many expected Murray to be nominated again in 2005 for his performance in Broken Flowers, but he was overlooked. - Glenn Close I have been a huge fan of Glenn Close for many year and she has delivered some truly wonderful and unforgettable performances during her illustrious career. Close has enjoyed a forty year career and is one of the most celebrated and admired actresses. But the Oscar is something that she has never been able to get her hands on... but it is not for the want of trying. Over the years, Close has picked up six Oscar nominations. 3 Best Supporting Actress nods for her work in The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, and The Natural and 3 Best Actress nominations for Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons and Albert Nobbs; which was her most recent nomination in 2012. Close has also never won a Golden Globe for her film work; she has picked up two for her work on TV projects Damages and The Lion in Winter. Close continues to be an in-demand actress and she could still get her hands on the biggest prize in film. - Robert Downey Jr Robert Downey Jr is one of the best actors of his generation and one of Hollywood's biggest stars - the Marvel movies have really resurrected his career in recent years. Downey Jr is currently at the peak of his powers and it would be great to see him in the Oscar mix once again. Downey Jr kicked off his career as a child star and yet, he has only picked up two Oscar nominations. His first came in 1992 when he picked up a Best Actor nod for his stunning performance as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin. It was the movie that really announced him as a major acting talent to keep an eye on. Downey Jr was nominated alongside Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Stephen Rea, and Denzel Washington; Pacino went on to win for his performance in Scent of a Woman. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2009 when his performance in Tropic Thunder was surprisingly recognised by the Academy. Don't get me wrong, he is the best thing about that film, but was it Oscar worthy? But he was to lose out for a second time. Downey Jr's popularity grows with every movie that he makes and he has plenty of time to deliver a performance that will see him dominate the awards circuit. - Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall was one of the biggest stars of the forties and fifties and is widely regarded as one of the most iconic actresses of all time. Bacall starred in the likes of The Big Sleep, How to Marry a Millionaire, and Key Largo during her career and is best known for her film collaborations with Humphrey Bogart. Bacall was eighty-nine when she passed away in 2014 and had enjoyed a career that has spanned from 1942-2014. However, she never won an Oscar for her great work. Surprisingly, Bacall was only nominated for one Oscar during her illustrious career. The nod came in 1997 for her supporting performance in The Mirror Has Two Faces, which saw her star alongside Barbra Streisand and Jeff Bridges. Juliette Binoche walked away with the gong for her performance in The English Patient. Bacall received an Honorary award in 2010 for her contribution to cinema during the Golden Age of motion pictures. - Peter O'Toole Peter O'Toole is one of the greatest actors that this country has ever produced and he enjoyed a career that spanned just shy of sixty years. We have seen O'Toole light up the big screen in movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and Venus during the many years that he thrilled us with his film work. Despite his great acting talent, the Oscar is the award that eluded him as he failed to pick up an award from eight Best Actor nominations. He picked up nods for Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt, Man, My Favourite Year, and Venus; which was his final nomination in 2006. It was back in 2003, when O'Toole received an Honorary Oscar for his contribution to cinema. It is such a shame that so many wonderful performances were overlooked by the Academy during his great career. - Sigourney Weaver When it comes to strong female film characters, Ripley remains the greatest - hard to believe we were introduced to this character back in 1979 in Alien. It was the role and the film that really put this actress on the map... now she is one of cinema's most famous stars and has enjoyed a career that has seen her tackle a wide range of film genres. During that time, Weaver has picked up three Oscar nominations for her work but failed to walk home with the trophy. Her first was a Best Actress nod for her performance in Aliens in 1986. In 1988 Weaver was nominated twice; Best Actress of her performance in Gorillas in the Mist and Best Supporting Actress for her role in Working Girl. Jodie Foster and Geena Davis triumphed that year for The Accused and The Accidental Tourist. - Samuel L. Jackson When it comes to big screen stars, there is no one cooler than Samuel L. Jackson and he has been setting the big screen alight for over forty years and has brought us some wonderful characters and performances during that time. He may be one of the most in-demand and hard-working stars, but Jackson has never been rewarded with a Best Actor Oscar. In fact, Jackson has only picked up one Oscar nod during his career. That Oscar nod came back in 1994 for Best Supporting Actor, in recognition of his terrific performance as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction; that year, Jackson, John Travolta, and Uma Thurman were all nominated for their work on the Quentin Tarantino film. But it was not to be for Jackson as Martin Landau walked away with the gong for his supporting role in Ed Wood. Chazz Palminteri, Paul Scofield, and Gary Sinise were also nominated for Bullets over Broadway, Quiz Show, and Forrest Gump. Other great actors who have never won an Oscar include Marlene Dietrich, Johnny Depp, Ian McKellen, Isabella Rossellin, Alan Rickman, and Charlotte Rampling. It looks like Leo doesn't have too much to worry about as some of cinema's biggest stars have missed out on Oscar success. Also, his Titanic co-star Kate Winslet didn't triumph at the Oscars until her seventh nomination for The Reader. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Anthony and Joe Russo have revealed that they would love to see Black Widow get her own solo film. Anthony & Joe Russo There has been many calls for Black Widow to get her own film in recent years; Clark Gregg added his voice to that campaign earlier this month. Now Anthony and Joe Russo - who have worked with actress Scarlett Johansson on Captain America: The Winter Solider and Captain America: Civil War - have described Black Widow as one of the 'richest' characters in the Marvel universe. When asked if they would like to see a Black Widow solo movie at a press junket in China, Joe said: "Hell yeah! We love that character!" "And we love Scarlett," added Anthony. Joe continued: "We find that the character is one of, if not the richest character in the Marvel universe. "A very complex character, haunted by demons, and her understanding of the world is fascinating. I think there is a lot that can be done with that character." The Russo brothers are set to return to the director's chair later this year with Captain America: Civil War, which is the third solo film for this character and the second Marvel project for the directors. The movie will see them reunite with the likes of Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and Anthony Mackie. But they work with Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen, and Paul Bettany for the first time - as they all step into this franchise. The new movie will see the Avengers divided over the regulation of superhuman activity. Our favourite heroes who were once friends, will now become adversaries and side with either Captain America or Iron Man. And the Russo brothers are set to stick with the Marvel Universe as they are set to direct Avengers: Infinity War, which will see them take over the helm from Joss Whedon. Filming is expected to get under way later this year. Captain America: Civil War is released 29th April. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Britain's Duchess of Cambridge gave a "rare" public curtsey to Queen Elizabeth. Britain's Duchess of Cambridge The 34-year-old royal was seen greeting the monarch respectfully as they arrived at a service at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham over the weekend but it was unusual to see the curtsey as it usually happens in private.. Joe Little, the editor of Majesty magazine, told PEOPLE magazine: "It is rare, but it indicates that this was the first time that the Duchess saw the Queen. "It would normally happen in private. Although they came from Sandringham House, they obviously hadn't seen each other before Kate and the Middletons and their friends set out on foot. "It's unusual to see it in public but not unique. That would have been the first communication between them on that day." Meanwhile, following the service, Catherine couldn't help but gush about her and Prince William's oldest child, two-year-old son Prince George, for being so "brave" at nursery. Retired Royal Navy lieutenant commander Arthur Coxon shared: "They asked what my connection with the association was and I congratulated Kate on the lovely photos of Prince George. "She said he went off to school bravely as anything and thoroughly enjoyed it." Britain's Princess Anne laid a wreath to remember the British recapture of the Falkland Islands. Britain's Princess Anne The 65-year-old royal - who is the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip - was present at a special ceremony to celebrate the 1982 liberation of the islands. The first event was held in the morning at the 1982 Liberation Monument whilst Reverend Kathy Biles conducted a service for the Princess Royal, representatives of the local community group and the public nearby. The second event took place next to Stanley's Christ Church Cathedral, where the Princess unveiled a marker for the Commonwealth Walkway. The event was due to take place on Wednesday January 21 but it was brought forward due to poor weather predictions for the next week. Meanwhile, despite enjoying a well-deserved Christmas break, the Princess Royal has been named the busiest member of the royal family in 2015. Princess Anne was present at no less than 456 engagements across the United Kingdom between January and December as well nearly 90 events overseas, cementing her reputation as one of the hardest-working members of the royal family. I am a woman who happens to have a male body, but I am not going to let that little handicap hinder me from being the best woman I can be. You only have one life to live and you should live it like you want. If someone has a problem, then it is their problem, not yours. my Sephora image consultant Feel like a woman. Wear a dress ! Diane von Furstenberg Feel like a woman. Wear a bra! Stana My skirt's not too short my legs are too long! Stana If in doubt, overdress! Stana Boy by birth, woman by life. Stana Better femulate than never! Stana I dress like this because I just love being a man. Faith DaBrooke I always wears high heels because flat shoes are for quitters. Avery Jessup I can't concentrate in flats. Victoria Beckham Now that I am attractive to men there isn't a man I want. Candy Darling Zakiz, a leading global leather fashion and accessory brand, has recently launched its operations in India. Through its online store, the brand will provide trendy high fashion leather garments for men and women across India at affordable prices. Initially, the company plans to sell leather fashion through online channels, before progressing to wholesale, high street stores, boutiques and other retailers. Zakiz targets to reach consumers between the age brackets of 18-35 years. It provides a wide variety of products like jackets, coats, trousers, skirts, dresses, and shorts. The brand represents rebel clothing, which when worn will add to the confidence of an individual's personality. Zakiz, a leading global leather fashion and accessory brand, has recently launched its operations in India.Through its online store, the brand will# Founded in the year 2012 by Hersh Lilaramani, Zakiz has been expanding massively, and is currently present over 20 countries, mainly the US, UK, Australia and India. (HO) Fibre2fashion News Desk - India Researchers at the University of Leicester in Britain have claimed to develop viruses that could protect the Muga silkworm from succumbing to bacterial infections and stop the rapid decline in the population of the 'Muga' caterpillar which produces one of the finest silks in the world.Over the recent years, there has been a reported decline in the Muga moth population due bacterial infections attributed to eating of infected leaves, an agency report said. Researchers at the University of Leicester in Britain have claimed to develop viruses that could protect the Muga silkworm from succumbing to bacteria# It quoted Dr Mahananda Chutia, a visiting academic from Assam at the University, saying that "As well as its silk trade , Assam is known for its tea and farmers often spray pesticides to protect the tea leaves - these sprays are thought to have reached the silkworms and have weakened them."In our model system at Leicester, we have found that the consumption of phages (viruses) by caterpillars is a very effective method of preventing bacterial diseases," said Dr Chutia who is an Indian Government employee.Dr Chutia has tested his research on common white wax worms, as Muga caterpillars cannot survive in the UK. He is scheduled to return to Assam by the end of January and begin to test the viruses by spraying them on to the leaves the caterpillars eat.The University claimed that if the research proved successful on Muga caterpillars, it would provide relief to thousands of farmers in Assam, who rear muga caterpillars for their unique golden silk thread. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India Reliance Industries, a multi-million conglomerate and the parent company of apparel and fabric manufacturer Vimal, is targeting a two-fold rise in its sales in three years time by focusing on being an affordable, youth fashion brand, according to media reports. The brand's textile production capacity, which now stands at 20 million metres per year, is expected to increase to 25 million metres per year as Reliance will invest Rs 350 crore on the brand's expansion step-by-step in the coming three years. As a part of the expansion drive, the brand's total number of exclusive stores will increase from 50 to 150 in three years' time. There will also be shop-in-shop stores for the brand. A pan-India expansion will be aimed at by Vimal, which till now is mainly focused on east India. Vimal is targeting a two-fold rise in its sales in three years time by focusing on being an affordable, youth fashion brand.# We are looking for retail sales of Rs 1,800 crore in the next three years from our present base of Rs 800 crore, Pradeep Bhandari, CEO (Textiles Business) of Reliance Industries told PTI. We want to position Vimal as a contemporary high-fashion product and yet affordable. We have approached new age entrepreneurs to promote the product. Around 90 per cent of Vimal's sales come from the fabrics segment and only 10 per cent comprises the apparel segment. In three years time, around 75 per cent of the total sales is likely to come from the fabrics segment and 25 per cent from the apparel segment. Exports' percentage in the overall turnover of the brand will mostly remain unchanged in three years time. (MCJ) Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India HON PM BAINIMARAMA SPEECH AT THE DISBURSEMENT OF MICRO SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS - SEAQAQA Bula Vinaka and a very good afternoon to you all. It is a pleasure being with you all here today as a part of my Tour of the North. So far my tour has taken me to a number of new infrastructure projects projects that will bring essential services to our deserving Fijian family here in the North. Ive also had the chance to extend one of Fijis most popular new initiatives, the micro and small business grants, to even more of our visionary entrepreneurs, and that is what Ive come to Seaqaqa to do again today. When we grow our economy we give more resources to the Fijian people. It is the responsibility of my Government to make sure those resources are spread as far and wide as possible. Each of you have done your part in leading Fiji to economic prosperity, so it is only right that you see your share of the benefits weve brought to our country. This grant program is one initiative that has resulted from our growth as a country but not only that, it is also a program that has continued to drive our economy by giving valuable and timely assistance to our micro and small businesses. The program is targeted at entrepreneurs just like yourselves who need a helping hand to take their businesses to the next level. It is not a hand-out. It is assistance that must be used for purchases that we have verified will start your new business or expand your existing enterprise. You have been selected on the basis of merit. Your business plans have been carefully assessed and we have placed our faith in each one of you to seize this opportunity and run with it. Dont squander it. You have the ability and the talent to become the next generation of business leaders for your communities and for Fiji. At the coming of the New Year, I told all of you that 2015 was a year of action, but that 2016 will be even better. That starts here and now. This week, I met 480 budding entrepreneurs in Labasa and Nabouwalu who have also benefitted from this program; handed out 72 approval notices for 99 year leases to those living in informal settlements on State Land and opened the 1st floor market extension for Labasa Market. This morning I also announced an advance payment of $2 per tonne on each tonnage delivered by cane farmers to the FSC. This will be paid out this Friday. Together, you are a reflection of not only the tremendous progress the North has achieved but also on the bright future this region is headed towards. Fiji today has become more attractive than ever to investors from all over the globe. They are impressed with what weve done and confident in what we will be able to accomplish, and here in the North you are an equal part of meeting those expectations and taking our economy to even greater heights. When you expand or start your small businesses, you drive our economy. By building up your own wealth, you build the nations wealth. And this program will give you the opportunity to do just that. The more Fijians participate in our national economy the better. So here today the Fiji Development Bank is also here to distribute your grants. When you accept that grant, you also have the chance to become involved with the FDB, as my Government has given you the tick of approval. When you want another loan to continue growing your enterprise, you can go to the FDB and begin that process. So as you can see, the support doesnt stop here. Well be with you every step of the way on your journey to even greater economic successes. My Fellow Fijians, The cheque presentation today will benefit 245 individuals who can start up a business or extend their current business. Including these grants provided today, the Fijian Government has invested a total of approximately $5 million towards 4,945 households who have been given the chance to improve their quality of life by jump starting their businesses. As a champion of the Micro and Small Business Grant, I urge you to be responsible with the grant we have invested in you as the seed that has been planted today will bear great fruits in years to come. Youve probably heard that Ive been all around the country with this program and I wish to share some of the success stories that have been generated from those that have been assisted already. Wainisito Katonisiga of Namosi was provided grant assistance to expand his canteen business. This helped him increase his profit to$250 per week and create employment for 2 other family members who are now helping him run his canteen. Sheema Wati Prasad of Navua was provided grant assistance for her cattle farming business, particularly to buy fencing materials and posts. As a result, she has expanded her breeding space for cattle. Today she has a total of 6 cattle and will be earning $700 to $800 from the sale of her cattle. Ateca Salusalumarama of Navua was provided grant assistance for her roadside selling business. This has helped her increase in her sales from $300 to $400 per week, which has significantly improved her family's standard of living. Matelita Cirimaiwai of Pacific Harbor was provided grant assistance for her frozen food business selling fish each week at the hotels and nearby communities. The grant has enabled her to generate earnings of $1500 per week, and she was able to invest much of that in her rental car businesses. Marika Wiliame of Namosi was provided grant assistance for his landscaping business. His earnings have now increased from $50 to $200 fortnightly, which has benefited his family and his village. These stories show that this program is working, this program is inspiring Fijian entrepreneurs and helping them achieve their dreams. Now its your turn. I would also like to mention a few people who will be receiving their grants this afternoon. Ateca Tabaki of Naravuka will use her grant to purchase stocks and inventories for her canteen business; Deepak Divesh Chandra of Kawakawavesi will use his grant to purchase his fencing materials for his livestock business; Iowane Kavou of Nakavika will use his grant to purchase farming implements for his Yaqona farming business; Losalini Raua of Natua will use her grant to operate a roadside stall; Matavesi Doro of Natua will use his grant to purchase fencing material to enclose his farm. My Government and your fellow Fijians believe in you and everyone else receiving their grants today to make the best possible use of this opportunity. We are an innovative and hardworking people, and you have chance to showcase those values thanks to this program. Do your best, work hard and work smart, and I know you will do great things. My fellow Fijians, These grants are special to me because they have a larger impact that extends beyond our entrepreneurs. It also benefits their families -- their husbands, wives and children -- who can enjoy better lives and more secure futures. That is the true value in giving our small businesses this boost. Our families form the very fabric of our society and should always be cherished as a sacred blessing. That is why I am using every opportunity I have available to condemn crimes that are tearing our families apart all over Fiji -- the plight of domestic violence and sexual assault. Look around you today. Many of the deserving entrepreneurs gathered here today are women. Women in our country are equal contributors to our economy and they deserve to live lives that are not threatened by violence in their homes. If we truly want to grow as country, we need to make sure that our women and children dont have to worry about their own safety. We need to make sure they can focus on their own futures and arent limited by cruel and inhumane actions. We need to protect our families. We need to shame anyone who dares of thinking of committing such atrocities. The law is strict and punishes those criminals severely, but the law only extends so far. It is the duty of every Fijian to condemn these crimes. Because if we allow domestic violence and sexual assault to persist, we allow violence to thrive in our communities and damage our people. That is something we cannot accept. So I ask you to join me in this fight to end this scourge in Fiji once and for all. My fellow Fijians, I wish you all the very best in your various business ventures and a very successful 2016 to your respective families. Thank You and vinaka vakalevu. Who can forget Sonakshi Sinha and Sonam Kapoor's adorable selfie from a fashion show that was held in 2015? But according to recent reports, Sonakshi and Sonam are not on talking terms anymore and you will be shocked to read that the reason behind it is Arjun Kapoor. Last year, there were reports that Sonakshi Sinha is dating Arjun Kapoor. She even attended the AIB Roast with Arjun, but soon the news of their breakup started doing the rounds. And it seems that this breakup has affected Sonakshi and Sonam's Kapoor's friendship. Sona-Arjun According to reports, Sonakshi Sinha and Arjun Kapoor started dating on the sets of their movie Tevar. (In Pic-Sonakshi Sinha, Arjun Kapoor's Candid Moment) Tevar Sonakshi Sinha and Arjun Kapoor's Tevar did not perform well at the Indian box office. The movie was a big flop. (In Pic-Sanjay Kapoor, Sonakshi, Arjun Kapoor) AIB Roast Rumour has it that, Sonakshi Sinha attended the AIB Roast specially for her alleged boyfriend Arjun Kapoor. (In Pic-Sonakshi Sinha and Arjun Kapoor) No Confirmation However, neither Sonakshi Sinha nor Arjun Kapoor accepted that they are dating. (In Pic-Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha snapped during the promotions of their film) Sonakshi-Sonam Recent reports say that because of Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Sonam Kapoor are not talking to each other. (In Pic-Sonakshi with Sonam) Talking about the same, a source told a leading daily, "At a recent party, the two actresses avoided crossing each other's paths. Sonakshi sat next to Ranveer Singh but Sonam, who was just two seats away, didn't turn to acknowledge her.'' OMG! Deepika Talks About Her Strained Relation With Neetu The source further added, ''While leaving, when she spotted Sonakshi giving bytes to a channel, Sonam rushed back in the opposite direction. A few minutes later, she walked past Sona without looking her way. Wonder if the tension between Sonam's cousin Arjun Kapoor and his Tevar heroine is the reason, or is it a classic case of two actresses not getting along." In the past when Sonakshi Sinha was asked about dating Arjun Kapoor, she said on a chat show, ''Two young actors who are single working together. People can't digest that fact. The Arjun rumours came from doing a film together. And he is my neighbor.'' ''He lives behind my house. Honestly, no. I would not want to. Actors are complicated. I am not complicated. I am a misfit which is why I cannot see myself settling down with an actor, or being with an actor. I want somebody simple, someone who is uncomplicated,'' she said. The Censor Board, has not created any trouble at all for Akshay Kumar starrer Airlift. A senior member from the Censor Board, has congratulated Akshay Kumar, for starring in such an amazing & patriotic movie. Yes, Airlift has no cuts from the Censor Board, not even one. This is really good news for Akshay Kumar fans, and the movie, will showcase every sequence of the evacuation. Akshay Kumar A senior member from the Censor board complimented Akshay Kumar by saying that Airlift, has no censor cuts at all. It sure is good news. War Tragedy Tragedy occurred when Iraw and Kuwait went into war in 1990, and a lot of Indians were stranded in Kuwait, eagerly waiting to get back home. Brave To Indian Government The Indian Government, airlifted 111,711 stranded Indian's from Kuwait to India. The evacuation process was carried out for a total of 59 days. Guinness World Record The Indian Government, entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the heroic feat of airlifting people from Kuwait to India, during the 1990's war. Akshay Kumar Akshay Kumar, was very happy after hearing the news that Airlift, has no censor cuts and replied to the senior censor board member as, "You made my day!". Airlift Airlift, Starring Akshay Kumar & Nimrat Kaur, is all set to release on January 22, 2016. The movie, is directed by Raja Menon. Feel Patriotic This Republic Day Airlift, would make you feel proud of the country and its heroic achievements. We're sure, this movie would be watched by one and all. Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur, were at a press conference promoting their upcoming flick, Airlift. Both the actors, were seen confidently pitching their movie and suddenly a senior member of the Censor Board, walked towards Akshay Kumar and complimented him, as the movie had no cuts at all. A source at the press conference overheard the conversation between the senior member of the Censor Board and Akshay Kumar, and it went like this, "Airlift is a beautiful film and it's so clean that they didn't even cut a single scene." A delighted Akshay Kumar, replied as "You made my day!". We totally agree with Akshay Kumar's words, as this can really make someone's day. It's good news indeed! Airlift, stars Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur in the lead roles, and is directed by Raja Menon. The movie, is based on a true incident which occured in the year 1990, when Saddam Hussien led Iraq, and invaded Kuwait for oil. A war broke out and a lot of people were in distress. Indians, who were working in Kuwait, were left stranded and had no hopes of making it back to their homeland. JUST AMAZING! Sunny Leone To Sport 27 Bikini's In Mastizaade, Creates Record In Bollywood However, the Indian Government came to their rescue and successfully airlifted 111,711 stranded Indians back to their homeland. The entire rescue operations was conducted for 59 days and entered the Guiness Book of World Records. Looking at the bravery of the Indian Government, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, along with the help of the UK Government, airlifted UK citizens stranded in Kuwait back to the UK. Nayantara, the star actress of South Indian cinema, is all set to make her dubbing debut. Reportedly, Nayantara will dub for herself in the upcoming Mammootty starrer Puthiya Niyamam. According to director AK Sajan, the actress is extremely keen to dub for her character Vasuki in Puthiya Niyamam. Nayantara expressed her interest in front of the team to which they happily agreed. Her dubbing trials are progressing in Chennai. If things fall in place, Vasuki will speak in Nayatara's own voice. Despite being a Malayali, the actress hasn't dubbed for any of her Malayalam roles. In an interview, veteran actress Suhasini Maniratnam had pointed out that Nayantara has a good voice and advised her to dub for herself. Nayantara seems to be inspired by Suhasini's advice. She was supposed to make her dubbing debut with her last Malayalam release Bhaskar The Rascal. But she couldn't attend the trials due to the busy schedule. Later, Raveena Ravi dubbed for her role. Puthiya Niyamam, which will have Mammootty and Nayantara in the roles of inter-caste couple Adv. Louis Pothan and Vasuki Iyer, is a social thriller. The movie will hit the theatres on January 29th. After income tax (IT) officials swooped into film-maker Bala's residence to conduct raid a few days ago, famed personalities like Dhanush and Khushboo were in for a surprise as IT personnel visited their houses and offices too, according to a report. While it was said that the IT team couldn't find anything of interest in Bala's house, speculations are rife that many valuables were seized from Dhanush and Khushboo, demanding explanation over their possession. Once seized, the holder will have to produce legitimate documents in order to retrieve their valuables, according to the standard procedure. It is not uncommon for IT sleuths to raid the houses and offices of Tamil celebrities prior to their movie releases. Hence, raiding Bala's house did not come across as a surprise to many, which is not the case with raids on Dhanush and Khushboo. The untimely IT Raids on Dhanush and Khushboo has taken the entire Tamil film industry by surprise as these two celebrities do not have any immediate releases. 'Rajini Murugan' Gets Massive Response, Is Sivakarthikeyan Heading Towards Superstardom? In what looks like a rather smart move, the Censor Board of India is planning to invite acclaimed actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan to be a part of the panel, currently headed by Shyam Benegal. According to reports, the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry, which set up the Benegal committee in an attempt to tranquilize the recent controversies surrounding the Censor Board, is planning to include famed film personalities from across India. Director-cinematographer Shaji N Karun from the Malayalam film industry and Goutam Ghosh, an acclaimed Bengali film-maker, may also be included as committee members. It is to be noted that Kamal Haasan, has in the past, accused CBFC of snatching his cinematic freedom. Now that the I&B ministry is planning to hand him over a part of the responsibility, it should be interesting to see if the Viswaroopam actor accepts the offer. With many film-makers raising their concern over freedom of expression in Indian cinema, the inclusion of geniuses like Kamal Haasan is expected to bring in a positive change at the way we look at films here in our country. Stay tuned for more updates. Mia George Roped In, Mammootty To Play Ilayathalapathy Vijay's Villain? Rating: 3.5 /5 The first film in the Pongal race this year and NTR's 25th film, Nannaku Prematho released in theaters amidst the fans galore. Read the review to know if Sukumar and NTR's duo has succeeded in meeting the high expectations. Abhiram(NTR), whose father is in deathbed and has only 30 days of life left, takes the revenge on Krishnamurthy(Jagapathi Babu), who cheated his father in the past. He gives him a run for of his money by trapping his daughter Divyanka(Rakul Preet Singh). To take a look into the flashback, Krishnamurthy cheats his close friend and Abhiram's father, Ramesh Chandra Prasad, due to which Ramesh Chandra Prasad changes his name and identity and lives a normal life, away from his people. The last wish Ramesh asks his son is to get back his lost identity and that's when Abhiram decided to give nightmares to Krishnamurthy. How Abhiram frames Krishnamurthy, who is a brainy, forms the rest of the story. Performances: NTR delivers the kind of performance that would only come with an experience of 100 films, with just his 25th film. Nannaku Prematho not only gives the actor a different look, but also gives a complete image makeover. It proves a point that NTR has the capacity to pull off any role and not just those loud dialogues or thigh slaps. All he needs is a director, who can offer him an august character. Rakul Preet has also given her best for the film and her own dubbing sounded pretty apt for her role. Hard work pays off, they say. It is a different character sketch for Jagapathi Babu, Rajiv Kanakala and Rajendra Prasad too and we must they have excelled in their skill. Technical Aspects: More than anything, Nannaku Prematho is a technically rich film and Sukumar deserves a hands down for his intelligence in dealing a normal revenge plot, this unique. They way he imbibed the concepts of Physics and Mathematics into the film is mind-blowing. If you have ever thought in your life that you would never really put your bookish knowledge into practice in life, Sukumar proves you wrong and teaches you how to do it. However, the most disappointing thing is the extreme resemblance of a few scenes with Tamil super hit film Thani Oruvan. Cinematography, dialogues, production values were top-notch. While the songs were nicely placed, Devi Sri Prasad's real potential comes out in the form of the background music of this film. He makes your heart pound with his touching music in the climax and the special song he has written in the film will haunt you. Overview: Though you might need a little patience and great concentration to enjoy Sukumar's Nannaku Prematho, it is worth it. We rarely get to watch different films on Telugu screen and Nannaku Prematho is one such, we would be proud to show as a Telugu film to our future generations. We doubt if it clicks with mass audience though. Read the analysis and the main drawbacks of the film in the slides below. Hong Kong observers like a bit of navel gazing. There is rarely a shortage of articles bemoaning Chinese government encroachment on the territorys laws, the apparent obsequiousness of its government to Beijing and a gradual diminishment of its uniqueness, or its lack of dynamism when it comes to embracing change. The events of last week should put some of these concerns to rest. On Thursday, Chinas newly introduced stock market circuit breaker was triggered for a second time in the week, when share prices plunged by over 7% within the first 30 minutes of trading. The circuit breaker consists of a 15-minute market closure to supposedly allow cooler heads to prevail. Yet it has had a limited impact so far, and indeed has only delayed, rather than prevented, market drops. Hong Kong: smooth waters Hong Kongs China-company-dominated stock exchange did not do very well either. The Hang Seng index dropped over 3% in the morning of Thursday to reach 2,792.52, its lowest point in three years. Yet there was a crucial difference between the two in approach. After the circuit breaker was imposed, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced new share sales restrictions, to prevent large shareholders or company executives with stakes of more than 5% in a company from selling more than 1% of the companys floatation every three months. Then, later in the day, the CSRC abruptly killed the circuit breaker, declaring, the negative effect [of the circuit breaker] is bigger than the positive one. What did Hong Kongs regulators do? Nothing at all. This difference in approach underlines the key, Hong Kongs enduring financial advantage: its stability. Uncertainty issues If theres one thing investors and issuers dont like, its uncertainty. A lack of assuredness about market conditions inevitably leads most institutional investors, chief executives and financial directors to prevaricate when it comes to major financial decisions. Better to wait until calmer, more predictable times prevail. And uncertainties have flourished of late in China. A slowing economy, mounting debts and falling manufacturing output have combined to leave many investors inclined to sell shares. Beijing doesnt want to see major drops in share valuations. So it imposed restrictions on the stock market. Last summer, when shares were in freefall, it banned large shareholders holding at least 5% of a companys equity from selling any shares. The ban was set to end on Friday, and led to fears of sudden share sales, which helped precipitate the latest rounds of sales despite the circuit breaker. The CSRC has now extended the ban another three months. China's markets are in turmoil Chinas authorities had mostly good interests in mind for introducing such draconian market controls. They want to prevent huge pitches and yaws in local stock markets and to sustain local valuations, so the retail investors that account for about 90% of trading volumes feel less pain especially in short periods. Its also likely the government wanted to sustain good company valuations, or at least prevent them falling far. Falling valuations make it tougher for companies to raise capital and keep debt ratios manageable. But the arbitrary rules changes have merely added to the uncertainty for sophisticated investors, most particularly raising fears that they could be prevented getting their money out the market at the whim of the government. This controlling attitude is evident beyond stock markets. For all the claims of the World Bank that China has a currency that is freely tradable, the Peoples Bank of China is currently managing a gradual depreciation. If left to depreciate according to markets, it would likely drop far faster. Indeed, the offshore rate of the renminbi weakened to Rmb6.72 to the US dollar on January 6, versus the Rmb6.55 rate onshore. Hands-off approach Hong Kong has taken the opposite approach. The former British colony inherited an impartial legal system, an independent de facto central bank and financial markets that are well-monitored by scrupulous regulators, and not subject to political whims. It has also fully embraced the idea of capital markets, with all the rises and falls that they represent. Investors into stocks listed on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing know they will be able to buy and sell them according to current rules. China dominates the HKEx Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung is maligned by several parts of the citys populace, yet it is hard to imagine his administration imposing mass stock sales restrictions or declaring short closures of the exchange after drops in valuations. For a start it lacks the legal authority to do so; plus the citys regulators would fiercely resist any political trespassing on their authority. The stark contrast in approaches underlines why Hong Kong will remain vital to the financial interests of international investors and companies operating in eastern Asia and beyond. It also means the territorys share market stands in good stead, particularly for Chinese companies seeking to list. Predictions of the demise of H-shares look unfounded, said Aaron Arth, head of equity capital markets for Asia ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs. This volatility has added strength to [the appeal of] H-Shares. Being boring can be an asset, after all. The international securities business of Japanese megabank MUFG named Yasutaka Suehiro as its new head of Asia on Wednesday. Suehiro, a 28-year veteran of MUFG and the current deputy CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA will also be the new CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Hong Kong. Based in Hong Kong Suehiro will be responsible for the continued growth of MUFGs securities business in the region, the bank said. The move follows the decision of Trent Hagland, head of Asia and CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Hong Kong, to step down from his current positions and return to Australia for personal reasons, MUFG said in a statement. Trent has been in Hong Kong in his current role for four years and at the firm for seven years. Trent will join the board of directors as a non-executive director for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Hong Kong and for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Singapore effective April 29. Suehiro and Hagland will work together over the next few months until the formal transition on April 29. MUFG has deep roots in Asia dating back decades. The Bank of Tokyo, which merged with Mitsubishi Bank in 1996, was a particularly international organization among Japanese banks and had an extensive client roster in the region. MUFG has been ramping up its international lending recently in Asia where there are faster growing companies than in its moribund domestic market. Huang Hao, head of internet finance at China Construction Bank , has left the countrys second-largest lender by assets to join Ant Financial as its vice president, Alibabas financial affiliate said on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Ant Financial confirmed that Huang had now joined the company, reporting to president Eric Jing, but declined to specify the business he is in charge of. A person familiar with the matter at CCB told FinanceAsia that Huang submitted his resignation a few months ago but that it was only approved in December. Huang Hao was senior here. His resignation had to be filed with and approved by the Central Organization Department, the person said, noting his importance to the state-owned lender. The ruling communist party's powerful Central Organization Department, known as Zhongzubu in Chinese, oversees important appointments at various central and local government organisations as well as state-owned enterprises and financial institutions across the country. Huang, 42, was a CCB stalwart and had been leading the banks internet finance division since 2009. Under his leadership, CCB had been actively developing online banking and mobile banking platforms and shifting more of its business online, in response to the challenges posed by fast-growing fintech companies. We are not building an online bank that is separate from CCB but are using the thinking and methods of the internet to transform the whole of CCB, Huang told domestic newspaper 21st Century Business Herald in August 2015. According to him, only 5% of CCBs transactions were conducted offline as of June last year. Over the same period, the bank had about 164 million mobile clients, its website showed. Banker emigration Huang is the latest senior banker to leave the traditional banking industry to pursue opportunities in the burgeoning fintech sector, which is hungry for experienced financiers with strong connections in the countrys banking and business communities. For instance, Yang Jun last year joined peer-to-peer lending platform Lufax as its chief risk officer after working more than two decades at mid-sized lender Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. WeBank, established in 2014 by Tencent, raided Ping An Bank for its secretary to the board of directors, Li Nanqing, and chief risk officer Wang Shijun. Ant Financial, spun off from Alibaba in 2011, is a big player in Chinas fintech industry. It runs Alipay, the PayPal-like online payments service, Yue Bao, Chinas largest money market fund, and MYbank, one of the countrys first internet banks. Other talent the company has lured from major Chinese financial institutions include Han Xinyi, former executive director of investment banking division at CICC, Yu Shengfa, former president of Hangzhou Bank, and Hu Tao, former retail banking head of China Merchant Bank. Last week, amid a tougher fundraising climate, the company moved to tap investors for fresh capital for the second time in six months ahead of its planned initial public offering. It reportedly aims to raise another Rmb10 billion ($1.5 billion) at least. In its Series A funding in June, Ant Financial raised an undisclosed amount in a private placement, which valued the company at about $45 billion, and successfully attracted eight external investors including Chinas National Social Security Fund and China Development Bank Capital. An advisor was allegedly paid by an ex-convict to coax clients into investing in a worthless company, according to federal authorities. Larry Werbel, who headed Evolution Partners Wealth Management, a dually registered firm near Cleveland, is due to appear in federal court Wednesday to enter a not guilty plea and fight a bevy of charges for his role in the alleged scheme, his lawyer said. Werbel is accused by authorities to have received payoffs from Edward Durante, an ex-con charged with orchestrating the fraud, for promoting a shell company to his clients and failing to disclose the conflict or conduct any due diligence on the investment he was recommending. Richard Blake, Werbel's attorney, says that his client plans to fight the charges and plead not guilty on all counts, but declined to discuss details of the case. Werbel is set to appear before Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. in New York, where he faces charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and investment advisor fraud, among other counts. Attorneys for Durante and other alleged co-conspirators did not immediately respond to requests for comment. PLANNED BEHIND BARS Durante, known also by several aliases, is alleged to have hatched the scheme to gin up investor interest in VGTel, the shell company that he controlled, while he was serving a 10-year prison sentence for a prior case of securities fraud. Federal officials have now brought civil and criminal charges against Durante and a network of associates and financial advisors for allegedly steering millions of dollars from at least 100 investors into VGTel, withholding key information about the nature of the investment and the criminal past of the scheme's architect. In parallel cases brought by the SEC and the Justice Department, authorities outline a scheme in which Durante worked with a handful of financial professionals around the country to promote the shell company VGTel by lying to investors about how their funds would be used and concealing Durante's criminal past. While clients were led to believe that their investments would fuel the growth of the company, Durante is alleged to have pocketed much of the money, to the tune of more than $9 million that he kept for himself or funneled to his family and co-conspirators. Durante is facing a litany of charges including securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. A maximum sentence for all charges would carry a prison term of 110 years. The brokers and advisors named as co-conspirators face similar charges, each with the possibility of lengthy prison sentences. DOZENS OF VICTIMS The DOJ's indictment cites at least 100 investors who were bilked out of more than $14 million. The scope of the alleged fraud is narrower in the SEC's civil action, which claims that at least 50 "relatively inexperienced" investors lost at least $11 million through investments in VGTel. Authorities detail how advisors allegedly aided Durante in his scheme by misleading clients about the nature of their investment in VGTel, and one broker who engaged in a coordinated trading campaign to pump up the value of the company's shares. Kenneth Wise, a Durante employee accused of orchestrating the payments to Werbel and setting up trading and bank accounts to facilitate fraudulent conduct, has pled guilty to six charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Durante appeared in court last month after he was extradited from Germany, and entered a plea of not guilty. Read more: Where your clients choose to make their home is important for the years they live there. But there are some other considerations that go beyond livability and good schools. The state a client lives in can work for, or against, heirs when it comes to inheriting an estate. Your clients location of residence may also have a significant impact on their final years, from their health care decisions to end-of-life planning. Advisors should ensure that clients understand the benefits they may reap by moving to another state, and also help them plan to preserve their right to change domiciles if they become incapacitated later on. WHY IT MATTERS How exactly can location of domicile affect your clients and their heirs? For one, if a client is living in a state with a state estate tax (such as New Jersey), moving to a state without this tax (such as Florida) could mean substantial savings for heirs. The state in which a client lives can also influence how spousal right of election is calculated. This is the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to if the will provides for a lesser amount. State of residency may also have an impact on medical and end-of-life decisions; state laws differ widely regarding the permissibility of medical marijuana, assisted suicide and so forth. For example, physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, but not in California. Changing domicile may therefore be an important part of carrying out a clients final wishes. One person who took advantage of a move was Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman suffering from incurable brain cancer. She changed her domicile to Oregon from California in 2014, because Oregon was one of only a few states where assisted suicide was authorized. She died in November of that year. CRITICAL DECISIONS As their clients enter old age, advisors should counsel them regarding the possible cost savings and other advantages of relocating to another state. But what happens when a client begins to become incapacitated and can no longer make these crucial decisions on his or her own? Statistics show that nearly half of people age 85 and over have some degree of cognitive impairment, according to the Alzheimers Association. Is it possible for an incapacitated client to go through the process of changing a domicile? The answer is not always clear, and in many cases, it will be a definite no. However, there are steps that can be taken to preserve a clients ability to gain the potential benefits of moving to a different state. In legal terms, where one chooses to live is an example of intent. If a client is considered incompetent for example, in a persistent vegetative state he or she cannot legally change his or her intent. But can an agent, guardian or other person speak for the client to allow for a change of intent, thus permitting the client to make the big move to another state? Some courts have allowed a legal representative to change the domicile of a ward if the changes are clearly for the wards benefit. For example, an Indiana court allowed a guardian to change the domicile of the ward she was responsible for, but only under court order, because the change would alter distribution of the wards estate. However, even if such a process succeeds, it will require a public court proceeding and attendant costs, and it could take a heavy personal toll on the client and the clients family. ACTING ON A CLIENTS BEHALF What if a client signed a durable power of attorney authorizing an agent to act on his or her behalf if he or she becomes incapacitated? Can that agent act to change the clients location of residence? While a number of court cases have considered this possibility, some courts have reasoned that domicile is a matter of personal concern and has no bearing on the actions of a financial agent. Therefore, the agent has no authority to speak for the client when it comes to making a move to a different state, even if it will be beneficial for the client. What can be done to help clients retain their choice to change state of residence, even in the case of incapacitation? If there is merit to the argument some courts have made that changing domicile is a personal decision not a financial or legal decision that can be delegated a broader approach might be preferable. An advisor can recommend that a clients health care proxy include an express right for the agent to change domicile. The financial agent can then be given the power to take all legal and financial matters to support a move determined by the health care agent. These moves might include selling a home in one state and purchasing a residence in another. The addition of a few sentences in each document might suffice to preserve the right for a client to move to a more beneficial state for his or her situation, even if he or she becomes legally incapable of making such decisions at a future date. Doing this could make a huge difference in the quality of a clients final years and in his or her heirs financial stability. Read more: DALLAS, TX--(Marketwired - January 12, 2016) - Pinnacle, one of the nation's leading multifamily management firms, announced today that Cheryl Caudill joined the company as a regional property manager to oversee nearly 1,700 conventional apartment homes in the Dallas metropolitan area. She brings nine years of property management experience to the team with a focus on adding value to the company's portfolio of stabilized assets and redevelopments. Caudill reports to Vice President Michele Butler. "Cheryl will be an integral part of helping our Pinnacle team further revenue growth for our managed stabilized assets," said Butler. "She will also play an important role in developing our customer service focused leadership within the growing Dallas-based team." Previously, Caudill was responsible for the operation and completion of a $4.8 million renovation for Hue at CityPlace, an upscale Greystar managed community. She also gained significant experience while managing assets for the company in the Uptown and Downtown Dallas submarkets, including the Park 4200 community bordering the exclusive and elite Highland Park neighborhood. Prior to Greystar, Caudill was onsite with Lincoln Property Company assisting with all aspects of property management. Throughout her tenure at both Greystar and Lincoln Property Company, Caudill received numerous corporate accolades recognizing her top sales achievements, top shops, onsite property manager accomplishments and core contributions to each company. She holds a degree in History and Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington. About Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC, ("Pinnacle") is a privately held national real estate provider specializing in third party management of multifamily residential communities. As one of the nation's preferred property managers, Pinnacle's portfolio includes nearly 135,000 residential units and 2 million square feet of commercial assets. With the Corporate headquarters located in Dallas, Texas, Pinnacle has 3,000 employees located in 35 states and 25 major metropolitan areas. For more information, visit www.pinnacleliving.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/1/12/11G078564/Images/Cheryl_Caudill_NEW-925a68a482a08c5aa4f4d6e4d3ea11c9.jpg MEDIA CONTACT Kerri Fulks (972) 499-6617 Kerri.Fulks@hck2.com MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL, GOOG) Google hopes to form partnerships with many automakers and suppliers as it develops self-driving cars to reduce traffic accidents and expand mobility for elderly and disabled people. The company wants to announce some of those joint efforts during 2016, John Krafcik, the Google executive. In addtion, Google hired Caroline Atkinson, who recently stepped down as a deputy White House national security adviser. Ms. Atkinson will oversee lobbying and regulatory issues for Google, including Europe's ongoing antitrust case against the company. She will be based in Washington, D.C. and report to Google general counsel Kent Walker. Atkinson advised President Obama on international economics and coordinated White House policies in areas including trade and investment, development, energy and environmental issues. Before joining the administration, she was a senior executive in the International Monetary Fund and worked at the Treasury Department. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Commodity currencies such as the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars strengthened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Wednesday, as sentiment improved following the release of better than expected Chinese trade data for December. Data from the General Administration of Customs showed that the trade surplus of China rose to around $60 billion, which was well above a $51.3 billion surplus forecast by economists. Exports fell 1.4 percent on a yearly basis in December, slower than the 8 percent decline forecast by economists. Imports slid 7.6 percent annually, also slower than the expected decrease of 11 percent. Meanwhile, Asian stocks also rose on the Chinese government's efforts to stabilize the yuan. China's central bank kept the daily fix for the yuan stable for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday. Tuesday, the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars showed mixed performance against their major rivals. While the Australian and the New Zealand dollars held steady against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the Canadian dollar fell against the greenback and the yen. Meanwhile, against the euro, the aussie and the kiwi rose, and the loonie held steady. In the Asian trading, the Australian dollar rose to a 1-week high of 1.0024 against the Canadian dollar and a 6-day high of 1.5341 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.9956 and 1.5542, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.01 against the loonie and 1.50 against the euro. Against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the aussie advanced to 5-day highs of 0.7049 and 83.39 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6984 and 82.16, respectively. The aussie may test resistance around 0.71 against the greenback and 86.00 against the yen. The aussie edged up to 1.0710 against the NZ dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 1.0677. On the upside, 1.09 is seen as the next resistance level for the aussie. The NZ dollar rose to 5-day highs of 0.6591 against the U.S. dollar and 77.96 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6531 and 76.86, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.67 against the greenback and 80.50 against the yen. Against the euro, the kiwi advanced to a 5-day high of 1.6408 from yesterday's closing value of 1.6591. The kiwi may test resistance around the 1.61 area. The Canadian dollar rose to a 2-day high of 83.22 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 82.48. The loonie may test resistance around the 85.00 area. Against the U.S. dollar and the euro, the loonie edged up to 1.4215 and 1.5371 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.4261 and 1.5483, respectively. If the loonie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.40 against the greenback and 1.50 against the euro. Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen weakened against its major rivals amid risk appetite. The yen fell to a 5-day low of 118.36 against the U.S. dollar and a 2-day low of 128.12 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 117.63 and 127.73, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 121.00 against the greenback and 131.00 against the euro. Against the pound and the Swiss franc, the yen edged down to 171.28 and 117.77 from yesterday's closing quotes of 169.93 and 117.34, respectively. The yen may test support near 177.00 against the pound and 120.00 against the franc. Looking ahead, eurozone industrial production for November is due to be released at 5:00 am ET. After an hour, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Sabine Lautenschlaeger is scheduled to speak at Third Austrian Bankers Business Lunch in Frankfurt. In the New York session, U.S. crude oil data is slated for release. At 8:00 am ET, Swiss National Bank Governing Board Member Fritz Zurbrugg will speak about Swiss competitiveness in Switzerland. Also, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren is due to speak on the economic outlook for the U.S. economy at the Greater Boston Chamber's Government Affairs Forum, in Boston. At 12:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak on the current economic conditions and monetary policy before the Corridor Economic Forecast Luncheon in Cedar Rapids, U.S. At 2:00 pm ET, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is set to release its monthly budget statement for December and Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its the Beige Book. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Today EDUCAUSE, higher education's largest technology association, announced the release of its annual list of Top 10 IT Issues and Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2016, which provides a roadmap for colleges and universities navigating the opportunities and challenges information technology presents. As the pervasiveness of IT spreads across every institutional activity and mission, the Top 10 IT Issues for 2016 outline the most critical areas where higher education institutions, leaders, and IT organizations must focus in order to operate most efficiently and remain competitive. "In the digital age, threats come from all angles," said Susan Grajek, vice president of data, research, and analytics at EDUCAUSE. "Because of this, information security is the highest-rated issue this year, as institutions seek to protect technology and data." In addition, with the changing nature of IT service delivery and the move toward the cloud, the challenge to include proper safeguards and risk management for reliability and security is even greater. The report shows institutions still have much work to do to secure networks, systems, and applications; develop security policies; educate campus IT users; and reduce institutional exposure to information security threats. This year, the ten issues reflect three overarching themes: divest, reinvest, and differentiate. "In many ways, colleges and universities are mistakenly expecting the existing ecosystem -- their people, processes, and culture -- to be able to support, without change, today's new and very different technologies," said Grajek. "The Top 10 Issues identify three major takeaways for how higher education leaders can shift their approach to facilitate this need for transformation." The report shows higher education IT organizations are divesting themselves of technologies that can be sourced elsewhere and of practices that have become inefficient -- and are reinvesting to develop the necessary capabilities and resources to use information technology to achieve competitive institutional differentiation in student success, affordability, and teaching and research excellence. Information security also requires reinvestments. 2016 Top IT Issues 1. Information Security 2. Optimizing Educational Technology 3. Student Success Technologies 4. IT Workforce Hiring and Retention 5. Institutional Data Management 6. IT Funding Models 7. BI and Analytics 8. Enterprise Application Integrations 9. IT Organizational Development 10. E-Learning and Online Education "While technology and data security are top of mind, the way information technology is delivered is also of primary concern," Grajek noted. "With increasing frequency, technology leaders are considering how they can better manage, retool, and transform their IT organizations and staff to properly meet the needs of students and faculty, and ultimately offer and support meaningful and sustainable services." EDUCAUSE 2016 research -- including The Top 10 IT Issues report and The Top 10 Strategic Technologies report -- is important to higher education leaders and decision makers because it helps them anticipate and articulate challenges and inform their actions and strategic plans. The list of top IT issues is developed by a panel of experts comprised of higher education IT and non-IT leaders, Chief Information Officers (CIO), and faculty members, and then voted on by the EDUCAUSE community. The annual Top 10 Strategic Technologies report identifies relatively new technologies that institutions will be spending the most time implementing, planning, and tracking in 2016. The Top 10 Strategic Technologies were selected from the analysis of a vetted set of 83 technologies presented to EDUCAUSE members in a survey in summer 2015. The 2016 strategic technologies research finds that IT departments are working on multiple fronts to divest existing technologies and practices, reinvest in information security and mobile, and use analytics and educational technologies to differentiate their institution. This year's top 10 technologies list is quite diverse, spanning technologies in mobile, analytics, security, application management and delivery, service desk management, business performance, and teaching and learning. Analytics is permeating many higher education functions, appearing on the list in relation to learning, business performance, information security, and application performance. 2016 Top Strategic Technologies 1. Incorporation of mobile devices in teaching and learning 2. SaaS (software as a service) 3. Administrative or business performance analytics 4. App development (responsive design, hybrid, etc.) 5. Accessing online components of blended/hybrid courses from mobile devices 6. Mobile apps for enterprise applications 7. Service desk tool and management strategy 8 Learning analytics 9. Data collection and sophisticated analytics methodologies for information security 10. Application performance monitoring Further out, institutions are devoting the most attention to tracking these technologies: next-generation learning management systems (LMSs), adaptive learning, mobile data protection, use of big data in learning analytics, uses of the Internet of Things (IoT), games and gamification, cloud-based security services, software-defined networks, open educational resources (OERs), and use of big data in institutional analytics. These technologies may be among the top 10 in future years. "Information technology can truly help institutions gain a competitive advantage -- through analytics and innovative applications of technology to education," said Grajek. "The bar is high: Students and faculty expect their courseware and academic systems and services to function like major retailers and content providers. Colleges and universities have made significant investments in their physical infrastructure and services over the past several decades to differentiate themselves from the competition and to attract and retain the best students and faculty. Technology now has the potential to offer an arguably even greater value by helping to transform, not the facilities and food, but the very experience and process of learning, scholarship, and community." The Top 10 IT Issues report and accompanying resources are available at www.educause.edu/itissues. More information on the Top 10 Strategic Technologies report is available at www.educause.edu/top10tech2016. For more information about EDUCAUSE, visit www.educause.edu. About EDUCAUSE EDUCAUSE is a higher education technology association. The organization has an estimated 60,000 active members in over 40 countries. The EDUCAUSE annual conference is considered one of the best technology conferences in higher education. EDUCAUSE holds over 20 face-to-face events each year that reach approximately 11,500 individuals, with thousands more involved in online events. The association produces various publications for its members including the award-winning EDUCAUSE Review, with a bimonthly print circulation of 22,000 and online unique monthly views of 100,000. Media Contacts: Ron Zwerin Director of Marketing and Communications EDUCAUSE rzwerin@educause.edu 720.406.6776 (direct) 303.949.3050 (mobile) Rosa Vivanco Communications Strategy Group rvivanco@csg-pr.com 815.954.7867 (mobile) BURSCHEID, Germany, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- New name is first step on journey to launch new brand Johnson Controls, Inc., (NYSE:JCI) today revealed that Adient will be the name of its automotive seating and interiors business after the entity is spun off into a new publicly traded company in October 2016. "Adient is a positive, powerful name that underscores our unique point of differentiation, namely, our ability to bring the right pieces together the right way, at precisely the right time, to deliver the best value for our customers," said Bruce McDonald, current Johnson Controls vice chairman and future Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Adient. "Adient is a Latin word that translates to accepting and advancing a situation or a stimulus, which is representative of our constant drive to engage, compete and always improve." The Adient name was announced today by McDonald as part of his presentation to investors at the Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit, Michigan. An archived recording of the presentation can be accessed at http://www.johnsoncontrols.com "The announcement of our new name is the first step on our journey to launch our new brand and to defining our future as a successful, independent company," McDonald said. "It is our mission to set the standard as a world-class automotive seating supplier through leadership in cost, quality, launch execution and customer satisfaction. We will leverage our capabilities to drive growth, both within and beyond the automotive industry." In his presentation, McDonald said he expects Adient to implement new strategies that will drive higher levels of growth and profitability as well as strong cash flows. He said Adient will increase its investments in innovation in order to gain share and increase value to customers and shareholders. Adient expects to disclose detailed financial information in late March or early April with the filing of a Form 10 Information Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Once filed, a copy of the form will be made available on the Investors page of http://www.johnsoncontrols.com and after October 1, 2016, on http://www.adient.com. Adient common stock will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ADNT. The first day of trading is expected to be Monday, October 3, 2016. Follow us on Twitter: @JCseating Forward Looking Statements Johnson Controls, Inc. has made statements in this document that are forward-looking and, therefore, are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements in this document other than statements of historical fact are statements that are, or could be, deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Johnson Controls cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond the company's control, that could cause Johnson Controls' actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Risk factors are as discussed in Item 1A of Part I of Johnson Controls' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2015and Johnson Controls' subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Shareholders, potential investors and others should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements and should not place undue reliance on such statements. About Johnson Controls Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology and industrial leader serving customers in more than 150 countries. Our 130,000 employees create quality products, services and solutions to optimize energy and operational efficiencies of buildings; lead-acid automotive batteries and advanced batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles; and seating components and systems for automobiles. Our commitment to sustainability dates back to our roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. Through our growth strategies and by increasing market share we are committed to delivering value to shareholders and making our customers successful. About Johnson Controls Automotive Experience Johnson Controls Automotive Experience is a global leader in automotive seating components and systems. We support all major automakers in the differentiation of their vehicles through our products, technologies and advanced manufacturing capabilities. With more than 200 locations worldwide, we are where our customers need us to be. Consumers have enjoyed the comfort and style of our products, from single components to complete seat systems. With our global capability we supply more than 50 million cars per year. Johnson Controls pursues a spin-off of its Automotive Experience business. Following the separation, which is expected to take effect October 1, 2016, the Automotive Experience business will operate as the independent, publicly traded company Adient. Bruce McDonald will serve as the chairman and CEO of the new company. Beda Bolzenius will serve as president and COO. For more information, please contact: Johnson Controls GmbH Automotive Seating Industriestrae 20-30 51399 Burscheid Germany Ulrich Andree Tel.: +49-2174-65-4343 E-Mail: ulrich.andree@jci.com Internet: http://www.johnsoncontrols.co.uk AIM and Media Release 13January 2016 BASE RESOURCES LIMITED Sales Agreement - Force Majeure Notice Received Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) ("Base" or the "Company") advises that it has received a force majeure notice from a counterparty to an ilmenite sales agreement ("Agreement") seeking to suspend the counterparty's obligations under the Agreement ("Notice"). The Notice is stated to be in response to incidents that have occurred causing significant delays in commissioning the counterparty's slag furnace. The Notice, while providing a preliminary assessment of the extent of the damage caused by the incidents, advises that repairs, further damage assessment and rectification works will be required and that therefore the potential delay is not yet known. Base is continuing to assess the potential impacts of the Notice, including the Company's rights. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, absent the Notice, the counterparty was due to purchase approximately 100,000 tonnes of ilmenite by 30June 2016 at an average price of approximately US$116 per tonne FOB, which represented a significant premium to current market prices. The 100,000 tonne per annum Agreement applies for a further three years from 1February 2016. While Base reserves its rights in respect of the Notice, the counterparty has committed to working with the Company to seek to mitigate the potential impact of the Notice. In the meantime, the Company will also explore all available options for selling the ilmenite concerned to other customers. A PDF version of this release is available from http://www.asx.com.au/ and on the Company's website: http://www.baseresources.com.au/. ENDS CORPORATE PROFILE Directors Keith Spence (Non-Executive Chairman) Tim Carstens (Managing Director) Colin Bwye (Executive Director) Sam Willis (Non-Executive Director) Michael Anderson (Non-Executive Director) Michael Stirzaker (Non-Executive Director) Malcolm Macpherson (Non-Executive Director) Company Secretary Chadwick Poletti NOMINATED ADVISOR & BROKER RFC Ambrian Limited As Nominated Adviser: Andrew Thomson / Stephen Allen Phone: +61 (0)8 9480 2500 As Broker: Jonathan Williams Phone: +44 20 3440 6800 SHARE REGISTRY: ASX Computershare Investor Services Pty Limited Level 11, 172 St Georges Terrace PERTH WA 6000 Enquiries: 1300 850 505 / +61 (3) 9415 4000 http://www.computershare.com.au/ SHARE REGISTRY: AIM Computershare Investor Services PLC The Pavilions Bridgwater Road BRISTOL BS99 6ZZ Enquiries: +44 (0) 870 702 0003 http://www.computershare.co.uk/ AUSTRALIAN MEDIA RELATIONS Cannings Purple Warrick Hazeldine / Annette Ellis Email: whazeldine@canningspurple.com.au / aellis@canningspurple.com.au Phone: +61 (0)8 6314 6300 UK MEDIA RELATIONS Tavistock Communications Jos Simson / Emily Fenton Phone: +44 (0) 207 920 3150 KENYA MEDIA RELATIONS Africapractice (East Africa) Evelyn Njoroge / James Njuguna/Joan Kimani Phone: +254 (0)20 239 6899 Email: jkimani@africapractice.com PRINCIPAL & REGISTERED OFFICE Level 1, 50 Kings Park Road West Perth, Western Australia, 6005 Email: info@baseresources.com.au Phone: +61 (0)8 9413 7400 Fax: +61 (0)8 9322 8912 PRESS RELEASE 13 January 2016 WENTWORTH RESOURCES LIMITED ("Wentworth" or "the Company") Mnazi Bay Operational Update Wentworth, the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: WRL) and AIM (AIM: WRL) listed independent, East Africa-focused oil & gas company, is pleased to provide an operational update on its producing gas assets in Mnazi Bay, Tanzania. Further to the Company's announcement on 4 November 2015 that gas deliveries to the new transnational pipeline had commenced and production volumes were ramping up, Wentworth reports that Q4 2015 gross gas production into the pipeline and directly to a power plant in Mtwara averaged 46 MMscf/d, with production averaging 55 MMscf/d during the month of December 2015. To date, growing gas demand from the power sector has been impacted by delays experienced in commissioning the new Kinyerezi power plant and the conversion of the Ubungo power plant from diesel to gas. These delays are considered to be short term in nature and all of the power generation facilities that will utilize Mnazi Bay gas in the generation of electricity are expected to become fully operational during Q1 2016. As a result, production volumes into the pipeline are now expected to reach between 70 and 80 MMscf/day during Q1 2016 and thereafter remain consistent throughout 2016, with the potential for a further increase in volumes depending on demand. The existing Mnazi Bay gas wells continued to perform in line with expectations and are anticipated to be more than capable of meeting expected demand. As a result, no new development wells are currently planned for 2016. Payments by the buyer, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation ("TPDC"), to the Joint Venture, for gas sales delivered to the new pipeline have been consistently paid in accordance with the agreed terms. Under the Gas Sales Agreement signed on 12 September 2014, the sale price has been set at US$3.00 per million BTU (approximately US$3.07 per thousand cubic feet, rising in line with the US CPI industrial index) commencing in 2016. The Company ended 2015 with cash of approximately $2.7 million and debt of $26 million of which $7.4 million of principal and interest is due to be repaid from internally generated cash flow during H2 2016. Although no firm exploration plans have been made in 2016, the Joint Venture plans to align exploration activities in the Mnazi Bay concession with gas demand growth within Tanzania. Management will look to provide an update to shareholders as these plans progress. Geoff Bury, Managing Director, commented: "I am pleased that the commissioning of the pipeline and the gas offtake facilities have all gone smoothly and that the Mnazi Bay wells have performed as expected; the Joint Venture's position as the main feedstock for the new gen-sets in Tanzania provides a unique position from which to benefit from the growing demand for power. Moreover, the expectation of increasing production without the need for additional capital expenditure will further enhance our rapidly strengthening financial position. Wentworth is in the unique position for a small E&P company to experience a growing cash balance on the back of increasing gas production with no commodity price risk." "The newly elected Government has demonstrated its commitment to the future growth and development of Tanzania's power industry and continues to work diligently to enable new and existing power plants to become fully operational in the coming months." -Ends- Enquiries: Geoffrey Bury, Managing Director gpb@wentworthresources.com (mailto:gpb@wentworthresources.com) +1 403 993 4450 Wentworth Lance Mierendorf, Chief Financial Officer lance.mierendorf@wentworthresources.com (mailto:lance.mierendorf@wentworthresources.com) +1 403 680 8773 Katherine Roe Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications katherine.roe@wentworthresources.com (mailto:katherine.roe@wentworthresources.com) +44 7841 087 230 Swedbank First Securities Broker (Norway) +47 23 23 80 00 Ove Gusevik Jarand Loenne Crux Advisers Investor Relations Adviser (Norway) +47 909 808 48 Jan Petter Stiff Carl Bachke Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited AIM Nominated Adviser and Broker (UK) +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 Callum Stewart Ashton Clanfield FirstEnergy Capital Broker (UK) +44 (0) 20 7448 0200 Hugh Sanderson FTI Consulting Investor Relations Adviser (UK) wentworth@fticonsulting.com (mailto:wentworth@fticonsulting.com) +44 (0) 20 3727 1000 Edward Westropp Tom Hufton About Wentworth Resources Wentworth Resources is a publicly traded (OSE:WRL, AIM:WRL), independent oil & gas company with: natural gas production; midstream assets; a committed exploration and appraisal drilling programme; and large-scale gas monetisation opportunities, all in the Rovuma Delta Basin of coastal southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Wentworth holds a 31.94% participation interest in production operations and a 39.925% participation interest in exploration operations of the Mnazi Bay Concession. M&P is operator and holds a 48.06% participation interest in production operations and 60.075% participation interest in exploration operations with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation ("TPDC") holding the remaining 20% participation interest in production operations. Gerold Fong, Vice President of Exploration (BSC Geophysics, 1982) who has 31 years of experience in the exploration and production industry, has read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements This press release may contain certain forward-looking information. The words "expect", "anticipate", believe", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "forecast", "plan", and similar expressions are used to identify forward looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements are made in light of management's experience, current conditions and expected future development in the areas in which Wentworth is currently active and other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Wentworth undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcome will not occur, including some of which are beyond Wentworth's control. These assumptions and risks include, but are not limited to: the risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general such as operational risks in exploration, development and production, delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures, the imprecision of resource and reserve estimates, assumptions regarding the timing and costs relating to production and development as well as the availability and price of labour and equipment, volatility of and assumptions regarding commodity prices and exchange rates, marketing and transportation risks, environmental risks, competition, the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources and changes in applicable law. Additionally, there are economic, political, social and other risks inherent in carrying on business in Tanzania and Mozambique. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could vary or differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. See Wentworth's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2014, available on Wentworth's website, for further description of the risks and uncertainties associated with Wentworth's business. Notice Neither the Oslo Stock Exchange nor the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange has reviewed this press release and neither accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. 2016 01 13 Press Release (http://hugin.info/136496/R/1978446/724553.pdf) This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Wentworth Resources Limited via Globenewswire HUG#1978446 Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. MANCHESTER, England, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Epistem Holdings Plc (LSE: EHP), the personalised medicine and biotechnology company, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Budd as Chief Executive Officer and as a Director of Epistem. David will join Epistem by the middle of April 2016. David has over 20 years of international commercial and operational experience in the diagnostics and medical devices field, launching multiple diagnostics products into international markets. He joins from Leica Biosystems (a Danaher company), a fast growing organisation where he served as General Manager of Leica Biosystems Amsterdam. David previously served as Commercial Director at Leica Biosystems Newcastle, with global responsibility for marketing, market research and product launches for diagnostic tests. Prior to joining Leica Biosystems, David's previous roles included Point-of-Care, molecular, and central laboratory marketing and commercialization responsibilites as a Director of Marketing at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Business Unit Leader at Bayer Diagnostics UK, and Sales Manager at Visible Genetics Inc. Ian Gilham will continue to act as interim Chief Executive Officer until David joins Epistem. Ian Gilham, Chairman of Epistem, commented on the appointment: "I am delighted to welcome David Budd as the new CEO of Epistem. His significant commercial and operational experience will be invaluable to the Company as we continue to progress with the commercialisation of Genedrive, our next-generation Point-of-Care molecular diagnostic system." David Budd, incoming Chief Executive Officer of Epistem, said: "I relish the opportunity to lead Epistem at this exciting point of transition as the Company begins to scale up the commercialisation of Genedrive. I believe Genedrive is an outstanding molecular diagnostic system with significant near term commercial opportunities in tuberculosis testing and across a wide range of other applications in the future. I look forward to working together with the team to realise the potential of Genedrive in Point-of-Care diagnostics." David holds a Master's Degree in Molecular Biology from Queens University in Canada (1992). The following information is disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies: Full name and age:David Budd (aged 48) David Budd does not currently hold any shares in Epistem. Current Directorships or Partnerships Leica Biosystems Newcastle Ltd Kreatech Biotechnology BV No further information in connection with his appointment is required to be disclosed under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the Aim Rules for Companies. Notes to Editors Epistem is a personalised medicine and biotechnology company developing innovative diagnostics and biomarkers alongside providing contract research services to drug development companies. Epistem's Genedrive is a next-generation Point of Care molecular diagnostic system providing a low cost, rapid, versatile, simple to use and robust diagnostics platform for the diagnosis of infectious diseases and for use in patient stratification (genotyping), pathogen detection and other indications. Genedrive aims to provide a 'gold standard' identification of Tuberculosis & antibiotic resistance. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has publicly recommended that nations incorporate new rapid and molecular tests for Tuberculosis into their disease testing programs. The Genedrive platform and its first Tuberculosis test is now being prepared for launch in India and the Indian sub-continent. Further details can be found at:http://www.epistem.co.uk andhttp://www.genedrive.com For further details please contact: Epistem Holdings Plc Dr Ian Gilham: Chairman John Rylands: Finance Director +44-(0)161-606-7258 Peel Hunt LLP James Steel Tom Burt Oliver Jackson +44-(0)207-418-8900 Consilium Strategic Communications Chris Gardner Laura Thornton epistem@consilium-comms.com +44-(0)203-709-5700 A.M. Best has appointed Christopher Hopton and Laura Santori as independent Non-Executive Directors to the Board of its Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region subsidiary, A.M. Best Europe Rating Services Ltd. (AMBERS). The new appointments are with effect from 1 January 2016. Commenting on the appointments, Larry Mayewski, President and Chairman, A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc., and Chairman of AMBERS said: "The appointment of Mr. Hopton and Ms. Santori as Non-Executive Directors to the Board of AMBERS is an exciting milestone in our development and a positive reflection of the continuing successful expansion of our business across EMEA." Both Non-Executive Directors have extensive experience of the insurance industry. Christopher Hopton is a Partner at a London management consulting firm and Chairman of a Lloyd's broking business. He is a qualified lawyer and has more than two decades of working with insurance clients in strategy and consulting in the London market, including Lloyd's of London. Laura Santori is a qualified actuary and has worked for a number of international insurance organisations and leading consulting firms. Santori's background also includes more than 11 years of experience in credit rating analysis, including senior managerial positions for the Southern European insurance sector and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). A.M. Best was founded in 1899 and has retained its focus solely on the insurance and reinsurance industries since the publication of its first rating in 1906. Headquartered in Oldwick, N.J., the company has offices in London, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai and issues ratings in more than 80 countries. From its EMEA regional office in London, A.M. Best currently provides ratings services to clients in more than 45 countries. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005238/en/ Contacts: A.M. Best Edem Kuenyehia, +(44) 20 7397 0280 Associate Director, Market Development Communications edem.kuenyehia@ambest.com or Jim Peavy, (908) 439-2200, ext. 5644 Assistant Vice President, Public Relations james.peavy@ambest.com New Capabilities Pair IT Data with Operational Data to Capitalize on the Internet of Things OSIsoft, a global leader enabling operational intelligence, today announced the signing of a global reseller agreement with SAP (NYSE: SAP). As part of the agreement, SAP will resell the OSIsoft solution as the SAP HANA IoT Connector by OSIsoft. The new connector helps companies combine data from their control and automation systems and their smart devices, with transactional and business data. Then SAP HANA enables them to rapidly perform retrospective and predictive analysis and deliver actionable insights across their organizations. The solution is available now. Industry-leading process, manufacturing and utility companies use OSIsoft's PI System to capture operational data in real time and provide real-time operational insights. Over 1.5 billion sensor-based data streams gathered from 17,000 sites across 125 countries are managed by the PI System. Industrial enterprises can now combine and leverage business and operational data within the SAP HANA platform to help improve process efficiencies, asset health, energy utilization, safety and quality. Essential to delivering operational excellence is utilizing past and present sensor-based data to gain insights for operational improvements and predict future events before they happen. Operational sensor-based data can be challenging to access and leverage in big data initiatives. Large volumes, lack of context, inconsistency and gaps in time-series data can mean lengthy processing of data. Now, the new integration enables sensor-based data collected by the PI System to be more easily filtered, cleansed, shaped and integrated in near real time for advanced analytics and decision making using SAP HANA as an industry-leading system, tool and database that organizations already own today. "The new integrator is a game changer for data-driven enterprises looking to leverage operations and business data to deliver transformative improvements," said Pat Kennedy, CEO of OSIsoft. "Early beta customers have seen workflows reduced from months to minutes with the new integrator. The new tool dissolves barriers to IT and OT working together, and empowers anyone from the engineer to the business executive to access enterprise data for impactful insights." "Real-time asset performance information enables more predictable and profitable operations, with a significant impact to our bottom line," said Matthias Beier, vice president of Information Technology at EDF Renewable Energy. "However, analyzing large datasets can be challenging, especially time-series data. The amount of time required to process and exchange information between systems can be considerably longer than the actual analysis. Now with the SAP HANA IoT Connector by OSIsoft, the data processing and exchange can take minutes, lowering the barrier for organizations to explore and ask more questions of the data they own already. We are now able to analyze and visualize operations in an integrated manner that was not possible before." "Today's fast-moving business world can no longer afford the separation of operations and business data. There is too much value lost in translation and in delays accessing and analyzing that data," said Peter Maier, general manager of Energy and Natural Resources Industries at SAP. "SAP and OSIsoft have partnered to overcome this separation with our customers using the SAP HANA platform to analyze data in real time, draw actionable conclusions, and translate business decisions into system controls." To learn more, please visit http://www.osisoft.com/corporate/sap-hana/ or http://www.sap.com/pc/tech/internet-of-things/software/hana-iot-connector/index.html About OSIsoft, LLC OSIsoft, a global leader enabling operational intelligence, delivers an open enterprise infrastructure to connect sensor-based data, operations and people to enable real-time and actionable insights. As the maker of the PI System, OSIsoft empowers companies across a range of industries in activities such as exploration, extraction, production, generation, process and discrete manufacturing, distribution and services to leverage streaming data to optimize and enrich their businesses. For over thirty years, OSIsoft customers have embraced the PI System to deliver process, quality, energy, regulatory compliance, safety, security and asset health improvements across their operations. Founded in 1980, OSIsoft is a privately held company, headquartered in San Leandro, California, USA with offices around the world. For more information, visit www.osisoft.com. SAP, SAP HANA and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. SAP Forward-Looking Statement Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005170/en/ Contacts: Press Information OSIsoft, LLC Dominic John, 510-877-9576 djohn@osisoft.com LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Sainsbury (J) Plc. (JSAIY.PK, SBRY.L), the parent company of British supermarket chain Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd., Wednesday reported a slight decline in third-quarter total retail sales and like-for-like sales, including fuel, while market share increased. Looking ahead, the retailer now expects its like-for-like sales in the second half of the year to be better than the first. Food deflation and pressures on pricing will keep the market challenging for the foreseeable future, the firm added. In its trading update, the company said its total third-quarter retail sales, including fuel, dropped 0.7 percent and like-for-like retail sales slipped 1.8 percent. Excluding fuel, third-quarter total retail sales were up 0.8 percent, while like-for-like retail sales edged down 0.4 percent. Chief Executive Officer Mike Coupe said, 'We have traded well during the festive period in a highly competitive market. Our stores delivered excellent levels of service and availability and we launched several new seasonal products and range improvements.' In the festive period, the company sold over 17,000 Golden Bow Rich Fruit Cakes and over 550,000 Cognac Laced Christmas Puddings. The company's newly launched Taste the Difference wines contributed to sales growth of over 18 percent across the range. Groceries online sales grew at nearly 10 percent and orders went up 15 percent. The company delivered over 289,000 online orders in the quarter. Sainsbury's General Merchandise sales grew 5 percent in the quarter and clothing nearly 6 percent, despite the unseasonal weather impact. Sainsbury's Bank also delivered good performance with 11 percent volume growth in loans and 29 percent growth in travel money transactions. At the end of the quarter, Sainsbury's had 600 supermarkets and 757 convenience stores. In London, Sainsbury shares were trading at 250.61 pence, down 0.23 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that it has agreed to acquire Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Near Field Communication (NFC) assets in hardware and software from Stollmann Entwicklungs und Vertriebs Gmbh ("Stollmann") in Hamburg, Germany. Stollmann is a global player in the Bluetooth and NFC business, designing, developing and manufacturing cutting-edge, low-power Bluetooth modules and highly sophisticated software solutions for short range wireless communications. Assets in acquisition include among others, Stollmann's Bluetooth and NFC software stacks, ready-to-use modules and other intellectual property (IP) in wireless communications. Thirty-five Stollmann employees, mainly R&D engineers, are to be transferred to Telit. The acquisition of the Stollmann assets represents another strategic step for Telit in its expanding vision of connecting an ever broader range of things to cloud. Industry analyst firm MarketsandMarkets estimates the global Bluetooth Smart and "Smart-Ready" market to be worth $5.6bn by 2020 with Bluetooth Smart shipments to surpass 1.2 billion units in five years, up from just 49 million units in 2013. The integration of Bluetooth, BLE and NFC technologies into the Telit portfolio brings considerable consumer value as businesses are able to accelerate innovation based on Bluetooth and NFC, leveraging the full spectrum of enabling, synergizing elements from Telit, including cellular and GNSS modules, mobile network connectivity and IoT platform services. These ready-to-run hardware and service combinations will enable the enterprise to move quickly from idea to business with minimal effort or investment, bringing to market a much wider range of consumer solutions than would be possible otherwise. "IoT devices are increasingly being integrated into every aspect of the consumer's life, in application areas from health wellness to retail and smart homes. The acquisition of these assets is a key development in the execution of our IoT vision of connecting enterprise edge assets sensors and other remote devices to the cloud using our tools such as the Telit IoT portal," said Oozi Cats, Telit's Chief Executive Officer. "The IP we are acquiring will provide us with valuable expertise in additional short-range technologies including BLE, which is set to become the de-facto standard for local area and personal area IoT wireless connectivity. As one of the IoT's fastest growing wireless technology areas, this IP will enable us to expand our market reach with a more comprehensive end-to-end connectivity solution." About Telit Telit (AIM: TCM), is the global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement. The company offers the industry's broadest portfolio of integrated products and services for end-to-end IoT deployments including cellular communication IoT modules in all technologies, GNSS, short-to-long range wireless IoT modules, IoT connectivity plans and IoT platform services. Through the IoT Portal, Telit makes IoT onboarding easy, reduces risk, time to market, complexity and costs for asset tracking, remote monitoring and control, telematics, industrial automation and others, across many industries and vertical markets worldwide. Copyright 2016 Telit Communication PLC. All rights reserved. Telit, Telit Wireless Solutions, Telit Communication PLC, telit.com, telit2market, Telit Technical Forum, secureWISE, deviceWISE and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005310/en/ Contacts: Telit Leslie Hart Sr. Marketing Director 919-415-1510 Leslie.Hart@Telit.com LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Flashtalking, the leading global independent ad server, earlier announced its acquisition of Encore, long-time pioneer in cross-channel, fractional attribution technology. A complete integration of the Encore Ensemble Attribution engine empowers advertisers to move beyond last-touch measurement models to optimise every consumer engagement in the conversion path across paid, earned and owned media. The Encore acquisition solidifies Flashtalking's independent position outside the media buying process. Its fully integrated campaign management platform sits squarely on the side of the advertiser, re-establishing the ad server as the unbiased, single source of truth that arms advertisers with unified data and meaningful measurement across audience engagements, formats, channels and devices. "As the world's leading independent ad serving platform, the added benefit of algorithmic attribution now joins the stack with enhanced viewability, cookieless tracking, and the most powerful programmatic creative technology available," said Flashtalking CEO John Nardone. "This allows Flashtalking to be completely on the side of the advertiser, free to act as an independent, dispassionate auditor and optimiser of media performance and inventory quality." The Encore attribution engine stands on several highly desired advertiser benefits, casting aside the longstanding limitations of last touch attribution. The Ensemble modeling approach tests and validates numerous models to remove the guesswork from fractional attribution. In addition to brands and their agencies now having access to completely unbiased insights and recommendations across every single channel in the integrated mix, they now will enjoy: Industry's only truly turnkey implementation as Encore utilises data that already exists, integrating directly with numerous ad servers and data providers, eliminating the costly and cumbersome process of manually tagging sites and media placements Accurate insights via Ensemble Attribution modeling which tests numerous models on the fly to ensure the highest predictive accuracy Streamlined process and advanced automation delivers understandable and actionable reports in hours or days rather than weeks User-friendly, dynamic browser User Interface that is customisable to meet the unique needs of every advertiser Unparalleled ROI by efficiently reducing waste and optimising spend at a price every advertiser can afford The buy side has embraced the acquisition, given the spectrum of benefits now at their disposal. As quoted in AdExchanger, "This is a great move for Flashtalking into the attribution space, as having an independent ad server provide insights across multi-channel campaigns allows us to improve media buying across our client base," said Niall Skinner, Head of Advertising Operations, Havas Media Group. The company is committed to solutions that put the advertiser first. "By incorporating algorithmic attribution, Flashtalking is the first to deliver everything advertisers need as an integrated stack, removing the operational friction and prohibitive costs that have prevented many advertisers from evolving beyond last touch," said Steve Latham, Founder and CEO of Encore Metrics. "With our shared values, Flashtalking is clearly the best home for Encore. It's a well-managed company with a clear vision, the ability to execute and strong growth momentum in the market. We are excited about joining a great team and playing a critical role in delivering a comprehensive ad tech solution for serving, measuring and optimising media across platforms, devices, channels and creative." About Flashtalking Flashtalking arms the world's best advertisers and their agencies with the same data-driven precision, measurability, and control over their advertising messages as they've come to depend on for their audience targeting and programmatic media buying. Our programmatic creative technology delivers the art and science behind the perfect message. We have evolved the ad server to be the single point of truth for advertisers, living at the digital crossroads where data activation, intelligent ad units, and unbiased measurement intersects with expertise, service, and a deep partner ecosystem. From our media agnostic platform advertisers can deliver the most arresting advertising messages in HTML5 across standard, rich, video, and DCO formats, on any device and in any channel. Born in the U.K., headquartered in New York, Flashtalking spans the globe with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Leeds, Cologne, Amsterdam, and Sydney. For more information, visit www.flashtalking.com. Contacts: Kendall Allen WIT Strategy For Flashtalking kallen@witstrategy.com PRAG (dpa-AFX) - Czech current account surplus grew notably in November, defying economists expectations to turn to a deficit, the Czech National Bank said Wednesday. The current account surplus climbed to CZK 12.42 billion in November from CZK 3.12 billion in the previous month. Meanwhile, economists had expected a deficit of CZK 0.5 billion for the month. The surplus on goods and services trade rose to CZK 29.0 billion in November from CZK 16.2 billion a month earlier. The primary income deficit narrowed to CZK 11.2 billion November from CZK 12.1 billion in October. In contrast, the shortfall on the secondary income balance widened markedly to CZK 5.3 billion from CZK 970 million. The capital account included income from the EU budget, showed a surplus of CZK 4.9 billion in November, up from only CZK 96.3 billion in the prior month. The financial account surplus also rose to CZK 27.4 billion from CZK 25.3 billion. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. ISTANBUL and BUDAPEST, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sisecam Flat Glass becomes the main sponsor for the conference held in Hungary Sisecam Flat Glass attracted much attention at INGLASS 2015 Conference held in Hungary, one of the most important European markets, which was participated by the industry's leading architects and engineers. In the conference held under the main sponsorship of Sisecam Flat Glass, the company drew everyone's attention with its presentations and its products exhibited in the foyer area. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321727LOGO ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321728 ) Operating under the body of Sisecam Group, the global player of the glass industry, and being the Turkish flat glass market leader, Sisecam became the sponsor of INGLASS 2015 held in Hungary. The company has the distinction of being one of the two largest producers of Europe. At the conference held within the scope of the event, Sisecam Flat Glass made an impressive presentation, which provided information about its innovative and wide product range, and took the chance to address the global actors of the glass industry directly. Sisecam Flat Glass became the sponsor of the INGLASS 2015 Conference held at Budapest Sofitel Hotel on 23 November 2015 on the theme of "Glass in Architecture". In the session participated by 100 industry representatives, Esra Aydinoglu, Sisecam Flat Glass Product Management Supervisor, made a presentation to the guests providing information about architecture's expectations from the glass industry and Sisecam Flat Glass' wide product range meeting these expectations. The renowned architect Gokhan AvcioAYlu also made a presentation in the conference, and provided information about the renovation project they undertook at Esma Sultan Mansion, of the most popular historical attractions of Istanbul, as well as the importance of glass in the design of this historical building and the glass applications in their works. The innovative products of Sisecam Flat Glass presented in the foyer area of the event venue won the acclaim of the participants, which include renowned architects and engineers who won prizes with their architectural projects in glass category. While delivering her closing speech, Erika Katalina Pasztor, Event Moderator and Editor of architectforum.eu/epiteszforum.hu, said: "With the presentation of Sisecam Flat Glass, we learned that glass acts like buildings' bodies with its permeability and reflectivity, and we were inspired by their impressive reference projects." PUNE, India, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ReportsnReports.com adds "Allergic Conjunctivitis - Pipeline Review, H2 2015" market research report providing an overview of the Allergic Conjunctivitis's therapeutic pipeline that helps strengthen R&D pipelines by identifying new targets and MOAs to produce first-in-class and best-in-class products. This report provides comprehensive information on the therapeutic development for Allergic Conjunctivitis, complete with comparative analysis at various stages, therapeutics assessment by drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type, along with latest updates, and featured news and press releases. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Allergic Conjunctivitis and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. Complete report on H2 2015 pipeline review of Allergic Conjunctivitis with 26 market data tables and 13 figures, spread across 77 pages is available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/453501-allergic-conjunctivitis-pipeline-review-h2-2015.html . The report also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Allergic Conjunctivitis and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. Companies discussed in this Allergic Conjunctivitis - Pipeline Review, H2 2015 report include Accolade Pharma LLC, Akari Therapeutics, Plc, Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc., Allergan Plc, Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc., Griffin Discoveries BV, NicOx S.A., Ocular Therapeutix, Inc., Ohr Pharmaceutical Inc., Oxagen Limited, Sylentis S.A. and Xencor, Inc. Drug Profiles mentioned in this report are AGN-229666, AL-53817, cetirizine hydrochloride, dexamethasone acetate SR, Drugs for Allergic Conjunctivitis, GD-134, GD-136, isunakinra, KBP-7306, NS-2, OC-2417, OPX-1, Small Molecules to Antagonize Histamine H1/H4 Receptor for Ophthalmology and Asthma, SYL-116011, XmAb-7195 and Zafi-2. Order a purchase copy of this report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/Purchase.aspx?name=453501 . Scope of this report: The report provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Allergic Conjunctivitis and reviews key pipeline products under drug profile section which includes, product description, MoA and R&D brief, licensing and collaboration details & other developmental activities with key players involved in the therapeutics development for Allergic Conjunctivitis and enlists all their major and minor projects. The report summarizes all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects, review of the Allergic Conjunctivitis products under development by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources. Pipeline products coverage based on various stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages, a detailed assessment of monotherapy and combination therapy pipeline projects, coverage of the Allergic Conjunctivitis pipeline on the basis of target, MoA, route of administration and molecule type and latest news and deals relating related to pipeline products. Another newly published market research titled Keratitis - Pipeline Review, H2 2015 provides comprehensive information on the therapeutic development for Keratitis, complete with comparative analysis at various stages, therapeutics assessment by drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type, along with latest updates, and featured news and press releases. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Keratitis and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. The report enhances decision making capabilities and help to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. It strengthens R&D pipelines by identifying new targets and MOAs to produce first-in-class and best-in-class products. Keratitis Pipeline Review Research report of 73 pages is available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/452373-keratitis-pipeline-review-h2-2015.html . Explore more reports on pharmaceuticals market at http://www.reportsnreports.com/market-research/pharmaceuticals/ . About Us: ReportsnReports.com is an online market research reports library of 500,000+ in-depth studies of over 5000 micro markets. Not limited to any one industry, ReportsnReports.com offers research studies on agriculture, energy and power, chemicals, environment, medical devices, healthcare, food and beverages, water, advanced materials and much more. Connect With Us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReportsnReports/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reportsnreports Twitter: https://twitter.com/marketsreports G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/111656568937629536321/posts RSS/Feeds: http://www.reportsnreports.com/feed/l-latestreports.xml Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune - 411013 Maharashtra, India. + 1 888 391 5441 sales@reportsandreports.com BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Eurostat publishes Eurozone industrial production for November at 5:00 am ET Wednesday. Economists expect the index to decline to 0.3 percent on month, compared to a 0.6 percent rise in October. Ahead of the data, the euro showed mixed trading against the other major currencies. While the euro held steady against the yen, it advanced against the Swiss franc. Against the pound and the greenback, the euro edged down. The euro was worth 1.0820 against the greenback, 127.99 against the yen, 0.7482 against the pound and 1.0893 against the franc as of 4:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. COURBEVOIE (dpa-AFX) - French building materials firm Saint-Gobain (CODGF.PK) Wednesday said it would invest around 135 million euros over the next two years to develop production capacity at its glass facility near Chennai, in India. A third flat glass production facility, the Group's fifth float in India, and a second coater for the construction market will be built on this site. The plant will produce premium high-performance, energy efficient glass using leading-edge technologies which contribute to the environment protection. Saint-Gobain noted that the latest initiative bolsters its position in flat glass as leader of the fast-growing Indian market. It is in line with the company's strategy to increase the share of its industrial assets located outside Western Europe. In Paris, Saint-Gobain shares were trading at 37.33 euros, up 1.54 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Orange (ORAN) and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV have signed an agreement leading to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Orange will acquire 100% of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal. Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5.5 million customers to its mobile customer base. This acquisition marks an important step forward in Orange's dynamic growth strategy and will bring the Group's African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss franc slipped against its key counterparts in European morning deals on Wednesday, amid risk appetite, as better-than-expected Chinese trade data eased concerns over the world's second largest economy. China's exports rose an annual 2.3 percent in December from a year earlier in yuan terms, while exports denominated in dollars fell much less than expected. Imports dropped an annual 4 percent in yuan terms, an improvement over the previous month's 5.6-percent fall. The People's Bank of China kept the reference rate for the yuan stable for a fourth straight day, and reportedly used major state banks to drain yuan liquidity in offshore markets, calming fears of a global currency war, at least for now. Commodities firmed, with oil and metal prices recovering after China data calmed investors' nerves. Traders await a speech by the Swiss National Bank Governing Board Chairman Fritz Zurbrugg at 8:00 am ET, when he speaks on 'Competitiveness of Swiss business - the contribution of the SNB.' The currency has been weaker against most major rivals in the previous session, as strong China data reduced demand for safe-haven assets. The franc weakened to a 6-day low of 1.0080 against the greenback and near a 6-week low of 1.0902 against the euro, off early highs of 1.0018 and 1.0870, respectively. If the franc extends slide, it is likely to find support around 1.02 against the greenback and 1.095 against the euro. The franc fell to 117.31 against the yen and a session's low of 1.4583 against the pound, reversing from its early highs of 117.77 and 1.4461, respectively. The next possible support for the franc is seen around 115.00 against the yen and 1.465 against the pound. In the New York session, U.S. crude oil data is slated for release. At 8:00 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren is due to speak on the economic outlook for the U.S. economy at the Greater Boston Chamber's Government Affairs Forum, in Boston. At 12:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak on the current economic conditions and monetary policy before the Corridor Economic Forecast Luncheon in Cedar Rapids, U.S. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- The Board of Directors of Great Lakes Graphite Inc. ("GLK" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: GLK)(OTC PINK: GLKIF)(FRANKFURT: 8GL) today announces the appointment of Thomas F. Ukolowicz as a Director of the Company. Tom Ukolowicz is well known and respected in the world of corrosion-resistant process equipment, with an industry career spanning for over four decades. Most recently, Tom served as VP of Sales and Marketing for TITAN Metal Fabricators, one of the world's most prominent manufacturers of tantalum and reactive metals. He began designing and selling heat exchangers and process equipment, and gained tremendous experience in the realm of reactive metals while Product Manager with the Pfaudler Corporation in Rochester, New York. Tom subsequently became an expert in graphite heat exchangers as Marketing and Sales manager for the Heat Exchanger Division at Carborundum, then a division of British Petroleum. In 1992, Tom joined Cosmos Minerals Corporation as Vice President of Sales & Marketing and relocated to California. Over the next several years, Tom spearheaded a four-fold increase in annual revenue surging into the tens of millions of dollars. Following Cosmos' merger with Astro Metallurgical forming AstroCosmos, sales nearly doubled prior the company's acquisition by France's Group Carbone Loraine in 1998. Following the purchase of AstroCosmos, Tom was recruited to the growing ranks at TITAN Metal Fabricators to head of Sales & Marketing. During the following years, TITAN grew and developed into a global leader in fabrication of corrosion-resistant process equipment, serving the chemical, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, geothermal, nuclear and solar power, mining and metal finishing/plating industries. TITAN's industry prominence lies in its exceptional engineering and fabrication of reactive metals, vast experience, proven capabilities and personalized customer service. CEO Paul Gorman said, "We are very pleased to welcome Tom Ukolowicz to our Board of Directors. Tom brings a wealth of experience in areas that are key to our rapidly developing enterprise. Tom also represents a group of investors that were the majority participants in our most recent financing. It is important to note that Tom has a proven track record of building highly successful businesses. His background in manufacturing, sales and marketing and working with others to create multiple, large commercial enterprises are invaluable to Great Lakes Graphite at this particular time." About Great Lakes Graphite: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. is an industrial minerals company focussed on bringing value-added carbon products to a well-defined market. The Company's Innovation Division has entered into long-term agreements for use of the Matheson Micronization Facility and for supply of high quality natural graphite concentrate (see news release dated 03/23/15) which are positioning Great Lakes Graphite to become an emerging domestic manufacturer and supplier of micronized products to a growing regional customer base where pricing and demand continue to rise. Further information regarding Great Lakes can be found on the Company's website at: www.GreatLakesGraphite.com. Great Lakes Graphite trades with symbol GLK on the TSX Venture Exchange and currently has 101,227,645 shares outstanding (140,654,238 fully diluted). Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. Paul Ferguson Chief Marketing Officer 1-800-754-4510 x106 PFerguson@GreatLakesGraphite.com Great Lakes Graphite Inc. Paul Gorman Chief Executive Officer 1-800-754-4510 x109 PGorman@GreatLakesGraphite.com DENVER, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Ubiquitech Software Corp. (www.ubiquitechsoftware.com) (OTC PINK: UBQU), an International Technology and Services company that owns the division HempLife Today (www.hemplifetoday.com), is announcing year end highlights for 2015 as well as its exciting news and plans for 2016. "We are thrilled with what we accomplished in 2015," said Tim Zorn, CEO of HempLife Today, "and our plans for 2016 are bigger and better than anything we did last year. This will keep us on our upward growth path and continue to establish us as the leader in our industry." In 2015 HempLife Today grew exponentially and established itself as the leader in online sales of CBD Oil derived from Hemp. Gross sales for 2015 exceeded $3,500,000 (before discounts) for its proprietary brand of CannazALL CBD products. This includes its popular Tinctures, Oils, Vape Oils and Combo Packs. Final sales figures for fiscal year 2015 are expected to be reported by the end of the month. The Company has also test marketed various new products and will be adding several items to the HempLife Today product offering in 2016. In addition, HempLife Today added more than 15,000 new customers to its growing customer base in 2015. For 2016 HempLife Today has even bigger plans. Including, but not limited to: A name and symbol change that will better reflect the nature of the Company's business and be more identifiable. An advertising budget substantially larger than in 2015. A new referral and affiliate program that will reward the current 15,000 customer base for assisting the Company in spreading the word about its products and acquiring new customers. A robust wholesale division to help put CannazALL products in retail outlets nationwide as well as internationally. New products, including CBD Capsules, a CBD topical skin cream, and new flavors for currently offered Tinctures. New marketing concepts and partnerships to ensure the growth of HempLife Today.com, HempLife, and the CannazALL brands. With more and more news stories covering the potential health benefits of CBD oil, and more states opening up to Medical Marijuana legalization, legal CBD from Hemp is garnering more publicity as well, and HempLife Today plans to continue to capitalize on this ever growing trend. Public demand for (non-psychoactive) phyto-cannabinoids rich in CBD (Cannabidiol) has exploded, since their health benefits were dramatized publically on shows like the very popular CNN documentaries hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and hemp is the obvious choice for this purpose as oil extracted from hemp does contain high quantities of (non-psychoactive) phyto-cannabinoids. "While Medical Marijuana is great and has many benefits, we will continue to stay solely on the legal in all 50 states Hemp side of the CBD industry," said James Ballas, CEO of Ubiquitech Software. "Because of this, and because of our exponential growth and marketing power, it is our position that our 2016 sales can be double or triple what we did in 2015 with HempLife Today." With a current customer database of over 15,000, and the marketing and expansion plans in place for 2016, HempLife Today believes it can increase its customer base by 200% - 300% in 2016 to 30,000 - 50,000 customers. Coupled with a greater than 25% customer repurchase rate, the Company expects a significant increase in revenues and profits in 2016. "Of our current customers in 2015 we experienced an approximate 25% repurchase rate from first time buyers, and an almost 75% repurchase rate from second time buyers," said Mr. Zorn. "This means that our customers like our products, benefit from them and continue to use them. This kind of customer is more apt to refer others to our products." About Ubiquitech Software Corp. Ubiquitech Software Corp., through its subsidiaries, is a dynamic multi-media, multi-faceted corporation utilizing state-of-the-art global internet marketing, Direct Response (DRTV) Television, Radio, and traditional marketing, to drive traffic to the new and emerging multi-billion dollar industries. HempLifeToday.com focuses on the exciting and dynamic new thinking in the world today that recognizes the important health and life enriching enhancement that CBD Oil from the Hemp plant can bring. HempLifeToday.com has developed two award winning lines of CannazALL CBD Oil. The first line is the purest CBD available, our domestic blend grown in Colorado, USA, which is a premium Hemp strain approved by the Colorado State Agriculture Department. The second line is our European CBD which are grown with non-GMO plants at specific latitudes in specially chosen locations of Northern Europe. This press release contains forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends', "believes', and similar expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies, the ability to secure additional sources of finance, the ability to reduce operating expenses, and other factors described in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets Group. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statement due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release. Contact: Ubiquitech Software Corp. Investor Relations E-mail: Info@UbiquitechSoftwareCorp.com Wolters Kluwer, a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry, today announced the release of a mobile version of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) toolkit from the American Nurses Foundation (ANF) and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing). Developed by Lippincott Solutions, the free mobile app is designed to help nurses and other healthcare professionals gain rapid access to trusted PTSD information to support and inform care decisions. PTSD is a serious mental disorder resulting from exposure to direct or indirect threat of death, serious injury or physical violence, including sexual violence. According to the National Center for PTSD, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), approximately 8 million adults suffer from PTSD. It is a particularly significant mental health issue among veterans; more than 533,700 veterans with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PTSD received treatment through VA medical facilities in 2013. "The PTSD Toolkit was designed to simplify the process of helping the nation's veterans and military service members by making it easier for nurses and other clinicians to obtain trusted information and support tools," said Kate Judge, Executive Director of the ANF. "A mobile version of the toolkit aligns with our mission to eliminate misinformation about PTSD and connect clinicians with the clinical references and training resources they need to make the best treatment decisions for their patients." Developed by ANF and Penn Nursing in response to Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative launched in 2011 by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to support service members, veterans, and their families, the PTSD Toolkit is a self-directed e-learning program designed to teach or reinforce nurses' knowledge about the treatment of veterans with PTSD. It includes simulation tools based on real case studies that are designed to test treatment skills and practice interventions. "PTSD is a complex disorder that is often accompanied by other equally devastating issues such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, relationship problems, and substance abuse that can impact timely and accurate diagnosis," said Jayne Marks, Vice President, Publishing, Wolters Kluwer, Health Learning, Research and Practice. "The PTSD Toolkit in app form provides nurses and other clinicians who work with patients who have or may have PTSD with immediate access to reliable information and simulations to help with diagnosis and treatment." The app version of the toolkit streamlines clinical workflows related to the care of PTSD patients. It helps improve care quality by providing clinicians with mobile access to valuable insight into the disorder, as well as a step-by-step process for diagnosing PTSD and the ability to request additional information that can be shared with others. The PTSD Toolkit App has been enhanced with nine topics from Lippincott Solutions, including Alcohol Withdrawal Management, Reality Orientation, Suicide Precautions, Family Therapy and Depression or Hostility Monitoring and Precautions. A series of comprehensive, integrated software applications from Wolters Kluwer that helps organizations make evidence actionable at the bedside, Lippincott Solutions includes advanced online workflow technology, current evidence-based clinical information, and professional development tools for the practicing nurse. Available for Android and iOS platforms, the app is available for download from Google Play and the Apple Store, or visit www.LippincottSolutions.com/PTSD. About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information services. Professionals in the areas of legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance and healthcare rely on Wolters Kluwer's market leading information-enabled tools and software solutions to manage their business efficiently, deliver results to their clients, and succeed in an ever more dynamic world. Wolters Kluwer reported 2014 annual revenues of 3.7 billion. The group serves customers in over 170 countries, and employs over 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY). Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry. For more information about our products and organization, visit www.wolterskluwerhealth.com, follow @WKHealth or @Wolters_Kluwer on Twitter, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, or follow WoltersKluwerComms on YouTube. About the American Nurses Foundation The American Nurses Foundation (ANF) is the charitable and philanthropic arm of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the only full-service professional organization representing the interests of the nation's 3.4 million registered nurses through its constituent and state nurses associations and its organizational affiliates. The Foundation supports programs that transform the nation's health through the power of nursing. About The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world's leading schools of nursing and is ranked the #1 graduate nursing school in the United States by U.S. News World Report. Penn Nursing is consistently among the nation's top recipients of nursing research funding from the National Institutes of Health and prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education, and practice. For more information about Penn Nursing, visit www.nursing.upenn.edu, follow @PennNursing and @PennNursingDean on Twitter, like us on Facebook and Instagram, and follow us on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005104/en/ Contacts: For Wolters Kluwer: Connie Hughes, +1 646-674-6348 Director, Corporate Communications Health Learning, Research Practice Connie.Hughes@wolterskluwer.com or Ellen Robinson, +1 646-674-6636 Public Relations Assistant Health Learning, Research, Practice Ellen.Robinson@wolterskluwer.com or For American Nurses Foundation: Veronica Byrd, +1 301-628-5057 Director, Public Relations American Nurses Association Veronica.Byrd@ana.org or For Penn Nursing: Ed Federico, +1 215-746-3562 Associate Director of Communications University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing efed@nursing.upenn.edu ALBANY, New York, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research entitled,"Glass Door Refrigerators Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023,"theglobal glass door refrigerators marketwas worth US$6.53 bn in 2014 and is expected to reach US$13.66 bn by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 8.6% from 2015 to 2023. Asia Pacific was the largest market for glass door refrigerators in 2014. Growth in this region is expected to be driven by urbanization, changes in food consumption habits, a developed food and beverages industry, and retail infrastructure. Full Research Report on Global Glass Door Refrigerators Market with detailed figures and segmentation at: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/glass-door-refrigerators-market.html Glass door refrigerators are widely deployed in retail channels that demand an energy-efficient and cost-effective refrigeration system. This is because glass door refrigerators allow for the display of products that require cold storage to drive customer engagement and enhance sales and productivity. Glass door refrigerators are specially designed to display and store. These are commonly used by supermarkets/hypermarkets; grocery stores; hotels/restaurants; catering businesses; nonconventional outlets, such as gas stations; and kiosks/local grocers. The practice of using glass door refrigerators by the biomedical sector for the purpose of storing specimens or drugs is also picking up gradually. This is largely due to the development of advanced refrigerators with critical-temperature-control features. Get Sample Report Copy OR For further inquiries, click here: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=8350 For many years, retail channels considered traditional refrigeration systems the only way to store products. With the technological advancements of glass door refrigerators providing more efficiency and functionality, industries are no longer restricted to the use of traditional refrigeration systems and are switching toward glass door refrigerators. The rapid expansion of the retail sector and emergence of new retail networks, along with changing government regulations, has provided necessary momentum for market growth. As a result, demand for both replacement product upgrades and new products are expected to fuel the growth of the glass door refrigerator market over the forecast period. With the proliferation of supermarkets, hotels, and cafes and changing food consumption trends, demand for glass door refrigerators is expected to soar during the forecast period. Browse the Press Release of this report, here: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/glass-door-refrigerators-market.htm On the basis of capacity, the global glass door refrigerator market is segmented into 0.5 - 3 ft3, 3.1 - 6.0 ft3, and 6.1 - 9.0 ft3. In 2014, among these, glass door refrigerator with capacity 3.1 - 6.0 ft3 were the most preferred refrigerators, and accounted for around 30% of the revenue of the overall glass door refrigerators market. Moreover, these refrigerators are expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.4% from 2015 to 2023. The most significant factor driving the market for glass door refrigerators with capacities of 3.1 - 6.0 ft3 is their high demand in hotels, bars, and restaurants due to their high efficiency and small size. In terms of retail channels, the glass door refrigerators market is segmented into hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, and others. In 2014, hypermarkets held the largest revenue share of around 33% of the overall glass door refrigerators market. Moreover, based on the volume of shipments, hypermarkets accounted for the maximum share of around 32% of the overall glass door refrigerator market in 2014. Glass door refrigerators deployed in hypermarkets are expected to grow at the fastest CAGR in terms of revenue as well as volume during the forecast period from 2015 to 2023. Browse All Semiconductor & Electronics Research Reports@ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/semiconductor-market-reports-5.html Geographically, Asia Pacific is the largest market for glass door refrigerators, globally. In 2014, Asia Pacific accounted for around 41% of the overall glass door refrigerators market revenue share. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. China, India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea are among the major markets for glass door refrigerators in this region. The global glass door refrigerators market, in the current situation shows the presence of key players including Hussmann International, Inc., Hoshizaki International, Carrier, Epta Refrigeration, Standex, Manitowoc Company, Inc., Dalian, Sanyo Cold-chain Co., Ltd, Dover Corporation, Beverage-Air Corporation, and Lennox International. The global glass door refrigerators market is segmented as follows: Glass Door Refrigerators Market Analysis, by Capacity 5 - 3 ft3 1 - 6.0 ft3 1 - 9.0 ft3 Others Glass Door Refrigerators Market Analysis, by Retail Channel Hypermarkets Supermarkets Convenience Stores Restaurants Others In addition, the report provides cross sectional analysis of the glass door refrigerators market with respect to following geographical segments: North America The U.S. Rest of North America Europe EU7 CIS Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific Japan China Oceania South Asia Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa (MEA) GCC Countries North Africa South Africa Rest of MEA and (MEA) Latin America Brazil Rest of Latin America Other Research Reports by Transparency Market Research: Commercial Refrigeration Equipment: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/commercial-refrigeration-equipment-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/commercial-refrigeration-equipment-market.html Freezer and Beverage & Wine Coolers Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sea-freezer-beverage-wine-coolers-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sea-freezer-beverage-wine-coolers-market.html Industrial Refrigeration Equipment Market:http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/industrial-refrigeration-equipment-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company,providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experiencedteam of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Sudip.S 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA- Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website:http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog:http://www.europlat.org CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar has given up its early gains against most major counterparts in Europe on Wednesday. The kiwi edged down to a session's low of 1.0719 against the aussie, from its early high of 1.0671. The kiwi eased from its early 5-day highs of 0.6591 against the greenback and 77.96 against the yen, edging down to 0.6544 and 77.27, respectively. The kiwi is seen finding support around 0.63 against the greenback, 76.00 against the yen and 1.09 against the aussie. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Today, the Ontario Securities Commission officially adopted the Offering Memorandum (OM) Exemption, allowing the citizens of Ontario to enjoy the same type of alternative investment options that have been available to all other Canadians for decades. Whilst alternative investment opportunities have long since been available to retail investors in all other provinces and territories in Canada, the opportunity to invest in small and medium private companies has historically been reserved for the very wealthy in the Province of Ontario. These investments are typically categorized by regulators as 'exempt market' securities, being that they are exempt from prospectus requirements. The change in Ontario will allow private stocks and private bonds to be sold to retail investors if an offering memorandum is provided. The National Exempt Market Association (NEMA) and the industry supports this change. "After years of considerable effort and consultation with the Ontario Securities Commission, our industry is extremely pleased to see the adoption of the Offering Memorandum Exemption in Ontario. This will provide much needed access to capital for Entrepreneurs and simultaneously provide everyday Ontario citizens with access to alternative investments that have historically only been available to the wealthiest one percent of Ontario residents," stated NEMA President Craig Skauge, who has sat on the Exempt Market Advisory Committee of the Ontario Securities Commission for the past three years. NEMA's most recent issue of the Exempt Edge magazine, the industry trade publication, features expert commendatory on these new changes and what it will mean for investors, it can be read for free at www.nemaonline.ca. Contacts: National Exempt Market Association Cora Pettipas Vice President 403-992-9809 cora@nemaonline.ca www.nemaonline.ca CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Students at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology's McPhail School of Energy (SAIT) will have a leg up in the job market after graduation thanks to a donation of $2.4 million worth of software from Calgary-based Energy Navigator Inc. The donation of licenses and training for Value Navigator (Val Nav) forecasting, economics and reserves software, and AFE Navigator (AFE Nav) capital tracking and cost control software will benefit well over 350 students in SAIT's Petroleum Engineering Technology and Energy Asset Management Programs. "SAIT's mandate is applied education and that means providing students with a practical education," said Energy Navigator President and CEO Boyd Russell. "Energy Navigator is honored to be able to assist with that mandate. Especially now, when our industry is under such pressure, it's important for students to learn with the latest technology and gain the hands-on experience they will need to thrive in the workplace." Alan Jack, Academic Chair of Petroleum Engineering Technology stated that both software suites have been closely integrated into the school's curriculum. "For example," Mr. Jack explained, "we designed our Project Economics Management course around Val Nav. The software lends itself well to a teaching situation because the flow of Val Nav fits perfectly into real-world workflows and project creation. In the Project Economics course, students work through all the steps of an entire project from buying land to drilling a well, completing it, bringing it into production and running their economics in Val Nav. In Reservoir Engineering, students use Val Nav to study decline analysis. The software helps students to link engineering theory to practical situations." In preparing curriculum, SAIT's academic leadership decided early on to adopt Val Nav as the primary software they use in the economics and decline space. AFE Nav was a logical complement. "We chose Energy Navigator's software because it is relevant to our students' needs as they enter the workforce, and because it is very intuitive and therefore easier for students to learn and use effectively," said Mr. Jack. "With some of the programs I used while working in the industry, you almost need to be a programmer to operate them successfully. About 60 per cent of students' time is in class and 40 per cent in labs. We were able to entirely create our labs around Val Nav." About Energy Navigator Energy Navigator's software is used by over 400 E&P companies worldwide. Value Navigator delivers unprecedented speed and accuracy in oil and gas forecasting, economic evaluations and reserves management. AFE Navigator is a secure, electronic AFE system that works on any web-enabled device to optimize your AFE workflow and control capital. The company has headquarters in Calgary, with offices in Houston and Denver. Contacts: For interviews or more information: Gordon Hawker Director of Marketing 403-218-1454 ghawker@energynavigator.com www.energynavigator.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Columbus Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: CGT)(OTCQX: CBGDF) is pleased to report that it has sold a 5% minority interest in its 100% owned Paul Isnard Gold Project in French Guiana to Nord Gold N.V. (LSE: NORD LI) ("Nordgold") for US$6 million (approx. CAN$8.6). The US$6 million payment is being made to Columbus immediately in the form of an advance, however the formal acquisition and transfer of the 5% interest will not occur until Nordgold has funded completion of a Feasibility Study (anticipated for year-end) and achieved a minimum of US$30 million in project expenditures, in order to earn an additional 50.01% interest in Paul Isnard (for a combined interest of 55.01%). If Nordgold does not earn its initial 50.01% interest, then Columbus is required to refund the advance. Robert Giustra, CEO of Columbus Gold, commented: "This transaction continues to demonstrate our enduring commitment to protecting our shareholders from dilution, with creative solutions for raising capital in challenging markets. Columbus is now fully funded through 2016." There are currently 4 drill rigs operating at the Montagne d'Or Gold Project, where Nordgold is assuming operatorship this month. Utilizing a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t gold, the Montagne d'Or gold deposit currently hosts a pit-constrained gold resource of: 3.9 Million ounces Indicated (83.2 million tonnes grading 1.45 g/t gold) and 1.1 million ounces Inferred (22.4 million tonnes grading 1.55 g/t gold). A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) was completed at Montagne d'Or in July 2015. The PEA is preliminary in nature. The PEA includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. The PEA entitled "Amended NI 43-101 Technical Report, Preliminary Economic Assessment, Montagne d'Or Gold Deposit, Paul Isnard Project, Commune of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, NW French Guiana" dated July 31, 2015 is available under Columbus' profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Rock Lefrancois, P.Geo. (OGQ), Chief Operating Officer for Columbus and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed this news release and is responsible for the technical information reported herein. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, Robert F. Giustra, Chairman & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This release contains forward-looking information and statements, as defined by law including without limitation Canadian securities laws and the "safe harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("forward- looking statements"), respecting Columbus' expected time frame for closing of the sale of the 5% interest in the Montagne d'Or Gold Project and the expected time frame for completion of the Feasibility Study being funded by Nord Gold N.V. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: the ability of all parties to meet the conditions to closing; non-performance by contractual counterparties; Nord Gold N.V. electing not to complete the Feasibility Study or exercise its option to acquire a 50.01% interest in the Property for any reason; title risks; risks associated with any government approvals; dependence on third parties for services; and general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about: the timeline to complete all conditions to closing and close the transaction; management expectations and assumptions about completion of the Feasibility Study, the time frame to complete the Feasibility Study, and other matters; general business and economic conditions; the timing and receipt of required approvals; and ongoing relations with employees, partners, suppliers, optionees and joint venturers. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and Columbus undertakes no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law. Contacts: Institutional/Analysts: Peter A. Ball (604) 634-0973 peter@columbusgroup.com Senior Vice President Media/Communications: Jorge Martinez (604) 634-0972 jorge@columbusgroup.com VP Communications & Technology Riga, Latvia, 2016-01-13 15:22 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --JSC "Grindeks" today announces that on January 12, 2016, it received the statement of resignation from the position of Supervisory Council from the Supervisory Council member Uldis Osis. The Supervisory Council of JSC "Grindeks" will continue to operate in a composition as follows:Chairman of the Council: Kirovs Lipmans, Deputy Chairman of the Council: Anna Lipmane, Member of the Council: Arkadiy Vertkin, Member of the Council: Janis Naglis.About "Grindeks""Grindeks" is an international, vertically integrated pharmaceutical company. Main fields of action are research, development, manufacturing and sales of original products, generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The Group of "Grindeks" consists of five subsidiary companies in Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Slovakia as well as representative offices in 13 countries."Grindeks" specializes in the heart and cardiovascular, CNS and anti-cancer medication therapeutic groups. A range of products covers a successful combination of original products and generics, with the original products Mildronate and Ftorafur and more than 100 forms of generics included therein. Currently "Grindeks" produces 25 active pharmaceutical ingredients.Products of the company are exported to 60 countries and its export comprises 94% of the total turnover. The main markets are: Russia and other CIS countries, the Baltic States, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, the U.S., France, Ireland and Japan.To increase production capacity and develop infrastructure, since 2002 the company has accomplished many significant investment projects, investing more than 70 million euros over the years.Further information: Laila Klavina Head of the Communications Department, JSC "Grindeks" Phones: (+371) 67083370, (+371) 29256012 Fax: (+371) 67083505 laila.klavina@grindeks.lv WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Google plans to partner with automakers on its self-driving car project, but is not yet ready to announce anything concrete, the head of the project has said. 'We are going to be partnering more and more and more,' Google self-driving project chief executive John Krafcik said at a conference held in the shadow of the Detroit Auto Show Tuesday. As the project evolves, Google is going to need a lot of help expanding self-driving cars, said Krafcik, a longtime auto executive, most recently at Hyundai. Major automakers will be able to help it produce at scale, he said. Google has been testing self-driving cars in the US states of California and Texas. Other automakers, including Audi, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes and Tesla, have also been working on bringing self-driving capacities into vehicles. Krafcik was tight-lipped about details of the program, declining to tell a moderator how many Google staff work on the project or to estimate when self-driving cars might reach the general public. The chief motivation is to expand mobility to more people, including the elderly and disabled, Krafcik said. The tech giant also sees the technology as critical to addressing deadly car crashes. Short-term goals include improving the technology's performance in bad weather and in complex traffic scenarios. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Ten US Navy personnel who lost radio contact and were apprehended after straying into Iranian waters have been safely returned to U.S. hands. In a statement Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation ?in swiftly resolving this matter. That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong. US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter thanked John Kerry for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure the sailors' swift return. Kerry had called his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and reportedly received assurances from Tehran that the crews would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. Iran's Revolutionary Guards had seized two American boats carrying 10 sailors in Iranian territory near the Farsi island in the Gulf at 16:30 (1300 GMT) Tuesday. Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, were treated well, and they are in good health, the Guards said in a statement. Two aircraft carriers -- the USS Harry S Truman and France's Charles de Gaulle -- were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the statement added. The Iranian Fars news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported that the violating boats were 2 kilometers inside Iranian territory. This information was recorded on their GPS devices, and the Guards have got hold of that information, it said. The two small US naval craft were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. Farsi Island lies in the Gulf, roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and houses a base of Iran's Republican Guard Corps, which has its own naval units. The tiny territory extends Iranian waters deep into one of the world's most important shipping lanes, an oil superhighway and potential military flashpoint. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de DUESSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Premier Oil Plc. (PMO.L) said it has agreed to acquire the whole of E.ON's (EONGY.PK) UK North Sea assets for a net consideration of $120 million plus working capital adjustments. The proposed acquisition, which will be funded from existing cash resources, adds immediate cash generative production, realises tax synergies on Premier's current about$3.5 billion UK tax loss position and is accretive to lending covenants. Premier Oil noted that the proposed acquisition will add significant production and associated cash flow in 2016 and 2017 even at current oil and gas prices. The acquisition will be materially covenant accretive for Premier, expected to add headroom of $500 million at 30 June 2016 and 31 Dec 2016 at current oil and gas prices. Separately, E.ON it confirmed that it has signed an agreement to sell 100 percent of its shares in its UK E&P Subsidiaries to Premier Oil. The transaction value is $120 million as at the effective date of January 1st 2015. As a result of the transaction, E.ON will also release provisions for asset retirement obligations associated with the business of $450 million as well as realizing $50 million of value for other adjustments, including the 2015 hedge positions. The transaction will therefore have a total Economic Net Debt Impact to E.ON of $620 million. In addition, E.ON will retain cash of approximately $150 million which existed at the effective date. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals as well as Premier Oil shareholder and lender approval and is expected to be closed in the first half of 2016. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- Riverside Resources Inc. ("Riverside" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: RRI)(OTC PINK: RVSDF)(FRANKFURT: R99) is pleased to provide an overview of the Company's growth plans for the coming year and recap the accomplishments achieved during 2015. This past year has been challenging for resource companies with continued downward pressure on commodity prices and share price depreciation hitting the junior mineral exploration sector particularly hard. Riverside has not been immune to the market forces that have driven down share prices, but the Company has taken advantage with its Prospect Generator business model and has been successful in delivering a number of milestones without company share dilution, while still maintaining a strong corporate treasury. The list below outlines some of the key outcomes from 2015: -- Acquired and worked up drill targets on the Thor Copper Project in Sonora, Mexico (Antofagasta Alliance) -- Acquired the La Silla Gold Project in Sinaloa, Mexico (won rights through lottery) -- Sold the Sugarloaf Peak Project for cash, shares and a 2% NSR royalty -- Delivered initial NI 43-101 Resource Estimate (partner funded) at Penoles Project in Durango, Mexico -- Acquired the Glor Gold Project in Sonora, Mexico (Hochschild Alliance) -- Completed underground sampling at Tajitos Project in Sonora, Mexico, and subsequently optioned the project to Centerra Gold Inc. ($6M USD in exploration for 70%) -- Reviewed and evaluated significant number of additional acquisition opportunities in North America, with discussions carrying over into 2016 Riverside enters 2016 with more than $3,500,000 CAD in cash and less than 37,500,000 shares outstanding. The Company will strategically build on the successes achieved during 2015. Drilling is expected to commence in Q1 of 2016 at the Thor Copper Project, with Alliance partner Antofagasta Minerals Plc. funding the program. Exploration results are expected from the ongoing work at Tajitos with partner Centerra Gold Inc. funding the work as part of option to earn 70% interest by spending $6,000,000 USD within four years. An initial drill program is a likely next step as exploration work progresses at Tajitos. The Company's partner at the Penoles Project will need to complete $750,000 CAD in drilling and exploration in 2016 and Riverside has a free carry on JV expenditures until the Company's partner has spent approx. $2,500,000 USD in further exploration. Having numerous partners funding programs and multiple drill programs expected during the first half of 2016 puts Riverside in a strong position for results, potential new discoveries and growth. In addition to the existing partner-funded activity and growth catalysts, Riverside will progress its wholly owned assets and aim to secure new partnerships. The Company is actively reviewing growth opportunities in Mexico, USA and Canada. The Company holds the Lennac and Flute projects near Smithers BC and will look to strengthen its Canadian portfolio through strategic acquisitions. Projects with initial resources and exploration upside, or projects with near-term cash flow potential are of particular interest as Riverside focuses on building future value and sustainable growth. Summary of Riverside's anticipated corporate growth plans and 2016 catalysts are listed below: -- Drilling at the Thor Project (Antofagasta Mexico Alliance), Sonora, Mexico -- Exploration geochemistry, geologic and geophysics results and potential drilling to follow at Tajitos Project (funding partner: Centerra Gold Inc.), Sonora, Mexico -- Follow-up drill campaign at historic Jesus Maria mine area, Penoles Project, Mexico (funding partner: Morro Bay Resources required to spend minimum of $750,000) -- Grow Canadian portfolio through acquisition of resource projects -- Exploration results from Riverside's 100% owned projects in Sonora, Mexico -- Explore consolidation potential at La Silla, Sinaloa, Mexico -- Secure new strategic partnerships -- Acquire quality distressed assets and grow portfolio in Mexico Please visit www.rivres.com to sign up to receive press releases and corporate updates directly to your inbox and to view the Company's latest corporate presentation, project pages and more. Corporate Note: On January 7, 2016 the Company granted 955,000 incentive stock options (the "Options") to certain Directors, Officers and Consultants of the Company. The Options are exercisable at $0.145 per share for a period of five years from the date of grant. Options granted to individuals in their capacity as a Director vest in three equal installments over 18 months and Options granted to Officers and Consultants vest in four equal installments over 12 months. The Options were granted pursuant to the Company's shareholder-approved stock option plan. On November 30, 2015, the Company issued 300,000 shares at a deemed price of $0.15 to certain Directors and Officers of the Company in accordance with the Company's shareholder approved bonus share plan. Both shares and options are subject to the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and any applicable regulatory hold periods. ON BEHALF OF RIVERSIDE RESOURCES INC. Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology (e.g., "expect"," estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "plans"). Such information involves known and unknown risks -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Riverside in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Riverside Resources Inc. John-Mark Staude President, CEO (778) 327-6671 (778) 327-6675 (FAX) info@rivres.com www.rivres.com Riverside Resources Inc. Joness Lang VP, Corporate Development (778) 686-6836 (778) 327-6675 (FAX) info@rivres.com www.rivres.com Deutsche Bank today announced its appointment as depositary bank for the non-capital raising sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt program of Serco Group plc (Serco). Serco (OTC: SCGPY) is a leading international provider of public services. Serco's customers are governments or others operating in the public sector across five sectors and four geographies: Defence, Justice & Immigration, Transport, Health and Citizen Services, delivered in UK Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Headquartered in Hook, Hampshire, United Kingdom, Serco is listed on the London Stock Exchange.* "We are delighted to be appointed as depositary bank for Serco Group plc's Level 1 ADR program," said Jose Sicilia, Head of Depositary Receipts, Issuer Services. "Deutsche Bank's broad range of customized ADR related services will enhance Serco's visibility to the US investment community." Deutsche Bank's Depositary Receipts team is part of the Issuer Services business within the Bank's Securities Services unit. In addition to specializing in administering cross-border equity structures such as American and global depositary receipts and global registered shares, Issuer Services provides corporates, financial institutions, hedge funds and supranational agencies around the world with trustee, agency, escrow and related services. The Bank offers a very broad range of services for diverse products, from complex securitizations and project finance to syndicated loans, debt exchanges and restructurings. * This information provided by Serco plc (January 2016) About Deutsche Bank: Deutsche Bank provides commercial and investment banking, retail banking, transaction banking and asset and wealth management products and services to corporations, governments, institutional investors, small and medium-sized businesses, and private individuals. Deutsche Bank is Germany's leading bank, with a strong position in Europe and a significant presence in the Americas and Asia Pacific. The Depositary Receipts have been registered pursuant to the US Securities Act of 1933 (the "Act"). The investment or investment service which is the subject of this notice is not available to retail clients as defined by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. This notice has been approved and/or communicated by Deutsche Bank AG New York. The services described in this notice are provided by Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (Deutsche Bank) or by its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in accordance with appropriate local registration and regulation. Deutsche Bank is providing the attached notice strictly for information purposes and makes no claims or statement, nor does it warrant or in any way represent, as to the accuracy or completeness of the details contained herein or therein. This announcement appears as a matter of record only. Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein constitutes an offer or solicitation by Deutsche Bank or any other issuer or entity for the purchase or sale of any securities nor does it constitute a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction where solicitation would be unlawful. No part of this notice may be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior written consent of Deutsche Bank. Past results are not an indication of future performance. Copyright January 2016 Deutsche Bank AG. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160113005899/en/ Contacts: Deutsche Bank AG Hannah Fuchs, +1-212-250-4070 Press Media Relations hannah.fuchs@db.com LONDON, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) and Manhattan Institute of Management (MIM) today announced a new agreement aimed at boosting international student mobility. The agreement creates the opportunity for students enrolled in programmes delivered by LSBF to study at the MIM campus, which is located in the Wall Street region, in the financial heart of New York City. Commencing in April 2016, the initiative will start with a study abroad programme for students enrolled on a number of executive and postgraduate courses, such as the LSBF Global MBA and Mini MBA, as well as short programmes leading to Postgraduate Certificates and Postgraduate Diplomas. The study abroad initiative is targeted at those students who are looking for international exposure, flexibility and access to global employers in one of the world's most important economic and business centres. The partnership with MIM is part of the Global Experience package, a suite of flexible, career-focused courses delivered by LSBF. As well as New York, applicants will be able to choose to study a wide range of short and executive courses at campuses in London, Singapore, Germany, or online from anywhere in the world. The Global Experience package allows total flexibility as students can choose how and where they start and finish their courses, as well as having access to expert career advice catered to their professional needs. Students also benefit from being immersed in their studies in different cultural situations, which will further enhance their employability. Founded in 1984, MIM has vast experience working with European institutions, both large and small. In addition to its prime location, the school has a solid track record with 23 other satisfied international partners, and a world-renowned In-Company Training Program. MIM's President, Joseph Ohayon, had glowing remarks about the partnership. He stated: "Global University Systems is an organization that we have admired from afar for quite a while. Seeing how their organization grew from just four students to over 50,000 speaks for itself. Through working together with them, the mutual benefit of our organizations will be apparent right from the start." Professor Maurits van Rooijen, Rector and Chief Executive Officer at LSBF, said: "International exposure is crucial for professionals to understand the elements affecting today's global economy and that's why we are very pleased to be working with the Manhattan Institute of Management. Our agreement will enable us to offer our students a higher level of international mobility and the possibility to study in one of the world's greatest cities." "By working in partnership with universities, employers and other key players in the knowledge economy, our group plays a pivotal role in the globalisation of the sector and expanding access to quality education worldwide", added Professor van Rooijen. About London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) is a global provider of professional, executive, vocational and higher education. With campuses across three continents and 40,000 students from over 150 countries, LSBF offers industry-relevant programmes that are tailored to the career goals of today's students and professionals. Under the royal patronage of Prince Michel of Kent, LSBF has a powerful e-learning platform and over 130 programmes, covering industries from fashion to finance. LSBF is a Queen's Awards for Enterprise winner and an ACCA Approved Learning Provider Gold, in the London, Birmingham and Manchester campuses. REDWOOD SHORES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/16 -- For decades, the relationships between manufacturers and their channel partners were based on trust, and a mutual interest to maximize revenues and profit margins. But, too many times, not enough was known about how products flowed through the channel after they left the manufacturer's plant. The pathway from manufacturer to partner and on to the end user was dark and mysterious, and not conducive to optimal performance. Today, the emerging discipline of Channel Data Management (CDM) drives the business dynamics that ensure that product data is accurately tracked through the channel, and all the way to the ultimate customer. The business intelligence gained from modern CDM, coupled with associated best practices, improves channel results, and optimizes a wide range of channel processes. CDM Summit Draws Attendees from Cisco, GoPro, Symantec, VMware, and Others At the recent CDM Summit in Silicon Valley, channel performance experts from Microsoft, HP Inc., Accenture, and IDC described the transformative power that CDM injects into the manufacturing sector. Executives from companies such as Brocade Communications, Cisco, GoPro, Logitech, Honeywell, Symantec, VMware, and others learned about the events that forced Microsoft to think differently about their channels. The introduction of the Microsoft Surface Computer into a competitive, constantly evolving market impacted the supply chain, sales compensation, incentives, and finance. "Data matters, and it matters at the most senior levels," explained Frank Martin, senior program manager at Microsoft. When Microsoft acquired Nokia, the Zyme CDM platform caught the eye of Microsoft officials. Nokia has been a strong client and successful user of Zyme CDM. "We learned that data is the common denominator, whether it's marketing information, sales, loyalty programs, supply chain, or financial compliance," Martin added. "We wanted to make it easier for our channel partners to do business with us." Microsoft has introduced Zyme CDM to some of its 3,000 managed partners, and tens of thousands of others to potentially be added to the CDM platform in the future. The company's initial use of the Zyme platform has begun to deliver key business intelligence. Martin cited a huge Zyme platform benefit. "Before we pull data in, it's clean, it's standard, and it hits our systems without making it hiccup." In addition, he said, the company reduced its manual data submission failure rate from 50% to almost zero, and improved on time reporting of channel data more than fourfold, to 85%. IDC Research: Must Move from Intuition to Data-Driven Insights At the CDM summit, IDC Research Manager Gerry Murray released the results of IDC research into manufacturer-channel relationships, and found "there's a lot of very sloppy decision-making through the whole channel chain of decisions that goes from corporate, to channel, to sales, and to management. Data is the way you fix it." He also told the Summit audience that "ad hoc, fragmented, periodic reporting" must be replaced by "data-driven insight." The IDC report, "Channel Data Management: Enabling Data-Driven Decision," listed a number of key benefits of CDM, including: Higher channel revenue Decreased inventory costs Improved marketing effectiveness Rationalized partner investment Increased compliance Murray told manufacturers that only they have the data drawn from CDM to "rethink the whole partner relationship, to transition from a fulfillment model to an enablement model." He believes that as channel partners become more than just fulfillment houses, manufacturers will become strategic channel advisors. Companies can become advisors with a wealth of data, improved visibility into channel sales, and richer insights from their partners, enabled by CDM. The IDC report, commissioned by Zyme, noted that information sharing would succeed only if there is an effective policy to avoid releasing partner data that aids competitors. Follow this link to download the IDC report: http://goo.gl/ntcEac Legendary Technology Pioneer Moves to Zyme CDM HP Inc. (formerly Hewlett Packard) the newly created personal computer, printer, peripherals and services company, is starting this newest phase of its 76-year history with the addition of Zyme CDM. The vast majority of HP's revenue, about $40 billion, flows through indirect sales channels. "We are really focused on how we can simplify, how we can transform, how we can standardize, so we can move forward in this new world of Channel Data Management," Gillian Campbell, director of channel data management at HP Inc. told the audience at the CDM summit. HP Inc. has 270,000 partners, of which it is currently collecting data from less than 10%. Instead of many incompatible legacy tools, HP now has the Zyme platform as "a single vision around how we approach collecting data, and how we are going to use it," Campbell said. Campbell expects a 25% improvement in operational costs at HP Inc. when Zyme CDM is implemented starting this spring. Of potentially greatest impact is a reduction of partner overpayments and duplicate payments. She estimates that the company can save at least 1% of several billion dollars in discounts and incentives paid to partners. Campbell is counting on Zyme and Accenture (as a system integrator) for data stewardship, thought leadership, and innovation, as more than 600 professionals are working on HP's CDM implementation. Accenture and Zyme: CDM Integration Partners Jason Angelos, managing director of the Marketing and Sales practice at Accenture told the CDM Summit "the expectation of channel partners is that manufacturers are going to become more of an insight engine to them." This "datafication" will allow them to not only know which partners are performing well today, but also determine which ones are driving the next generation of growth, which Angelos said, will "inform so many wonderful things." Zyme Founder and CEO, Chandran Sankaran, who served as moderator at the Summit, sees six broad pillars of value from CDM: Inspect and verify that partners receive accurate incentive payments. Determine what is being sold by whom and where and reward channel managers based on sell through. Commit marketing dollars based on performance and determine if new marketing techniques will aid sales in certain regions. Get a better handle on inventory and logistics to avoid write downs, expensive rush shipments to partners, and product shortages. Gain insight into whom the end customers are to offer upgrades and product/service renewal, and to upsell. Reduce financial risk and increase compliance with accurate and timely reporting from the channel. Sankaran said one-third of Zyme's customers, the larger ones in particular, have established formal data steering processes, which often include sales operations, channel marketing, and IT. More information about Zyme and Channel Data Management, please visit: http://www.zyme.com/channel-data-management About Zyme Zyme is the global leader in the emerging channel data management (CDM) space, empowering the New Smart Channel, a proven approach to creating visibility to actionable knowledge that manufacturers need to accelerate partner sales and optimize marketing program ROI. Zyme's flexible, cloud-based offerings facilitate enterprise-grade decisions by responding to real-time, granular channel intelligence. Benefits include better-targeted MDF, co-op, and rebate programs, plus improved segmentation. Zyme replaces outdated, ad-hoc systems with a state-of-the-art, cloud-based platform, data steward services, and a worldwide channel directory of more than one million partners for guaranteed database quality, support for a wider range of formats, and best practices that enhance reporting compliance. Industry leaders like Dell, Microsoft, VMware, Fujitsu, Plantronics, Honeywell, Xerox, Symantec, Lenovo, GoPro, Armstrong World Industries, and Seagate rely on Zyme. Headquartered in Redwood Shores, CA, Zyme has offices in Texas, China, India, and the UK. For more information, visit www.Zyme.com Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2948859 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2948862 Media Contacts: David Wright (USA) MediaBridge Public Relations +1-408-363-2843 dwright@mbipr.com Clare Shephard (UK-Europe-Middle East) Maillot Jaune PR +44-773-679-3332 Clare.Shephard@maillot-jaune.co.uk NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - January 13, 2016) - swimsuitsforall, a leading women's swimwear online retailer, releases 100+ contemporary swim styles in a variety of silhouettes for curvy women, just in time for the peak of cruise season. The plus size swimwear company has, once again, proven that there are no limits to fashion when it comes to having curves. As a one-stop shop for cruise vacation essentials, full-figured women have endless options to select the perfect swimsuit or cover up for their shape, in any sizes they need (8-34). New cutting-edge designs are taking swim trends to the next level, from glamorous one piece swimsuits featuring chic details like cutouts, fringes or flirty straps to resort-ready cover ups available in flowy or form-fitted styles. One pieces flatter and smooth the waist with exceptional, comfortable Power Mesh lining, and bikinis ensure confidence and security while highlighting women's flawless curves. Inspired by classic, retro looks comes swimsuitsforall's modern take on the high waist bikini, a wardrobe-must for all women seeking to flaunt their unique body. Available in new, bold color palettes and dynamic prints, all bikinis are original and created to contour and accentuate all of the right areas. To view the wide assortment of plus size bikinis, please visit: http://www.swimsuitsforall.com/Bikinis-Swimwear-D. swimsuitsforall boasts a large collection of cover ups including, but not limited to: maxi dresses, tunics, caftans, ponchos, board shorts and more for a finished swim ensemble from the beach to the boardwalk. For more information about swimsuitsforall and their plus size swimwear collections, visit http://www.swimsuitsforall.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/1/13/11G078596/Images/011116_newarrivals_pressrelease-2ff70c3e5f20b491a7f44e2842dde6fd.jpeg Sandra Weyant Copywriter swimsuitsforall 2 Industrial Drive, Unit B Keyport, NJ 07735 Tel: 732.645.9956 Officials with SolarCity estimate that 1,000 Nevada Residents, including solar customers and solar workers who are being laid off, are protesting at the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) building in Las Vegas. Today PUCN is hearing a motion to delay the implementation of changes to the state's net metering rules, which solar advocates say will destroy the state's residential solar market. SolarCity says that after around 500 Nevada residents signed up to testify against the new rules, PUCN stopped accepting additional requests to speak before the agency. Many have expressed concern that the changes to net metering will affect not only new customers but those who installed ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BERLIN, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Following his meeting with the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Wednesday 13 January 2016, former Syrian Prime Minister - General Coordinator of the Supreme Commission for Negotiations, Dr. Riad Hijab, affirmed the opposition's readiness to: participate in the political process leading to the establishment of a transitional governing body with full executive authority, the establishment of a pluralistic system which is representative and inclusive of all Syrian people; Bashar al-Assad and his regime will not be part of any future political arrangements. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321782 ) The visit comes as part of efforts by the Supreme Commission for Negotiations to consult with Syria's friends on the most effective ways to contribute to the political process and to finalise necessary arrangements for the start of the negotiations. Dr. Hijab reviewed with the German Foreign Minister the preparations by the Supreme Commission for Negotiations in this context, as well as, the outcome of meetings between the Supreme Commission for Negotiations and UN Special Envoy to Syria, Mr. Staffan de Mistura. Dr. Hijab added: "I stressed to Dr. Steinmeier the need for securing the right conditions for the start of negotiations, and in particular: pressing foreign forces in Syria to a ceasefire and committing to articles (12) and (13) of UNSCR 2254, including lifting the siege imposed on cities to enable humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to all those in need, the release of all detainees, ceasing aerial shelling and artillery attacks against civilians and civilian targets, followed by other good will and confidence-building measures." Dr. Hijab confirmed that the Supreme Commission for Negotiations believes in the need to separate the humanitarian track which all parties must unconditionally adhere to in accordance with binding UN resolutions, and the political track, which must be pursued by convincing the regime's allies to cease combat and withdraw foreign militias and mercenaries in urgent adherence to international law which prohibits bombing populated areas. This is no longer in the hands of the regime as it has lost its sovereign decision-making ability, and hence, it is futile to negotiate with its representatives. Dr. Hijab added: "I expressed my doubts to Dr. Steinmeier of the feasibility of negotiating with a regime that has lost its sovereignty, its presence has diminished to 18 percent of the Syrian territory, it has lost control of most border crossings and supply and transportation routes, and half of the Syrian population lives outside its control; all this, while foreign forces and cross-border militias fight on its behalf." Dr. Hijab reiterated the need for the international community's support in reaching an agreement with the various regional and international parties for a cease-fire, and for the delivery of aid to affected areas, where some five million Syrian refugees take shelter in neighbouring countries, and about 6 million Syrians are displaced living in areas outside the control of the regime. The regime's targeting of civilians with barrel bombs and systematic shelling has led to the draining of the country's population and forcing many to migrate to a number of countries, but predominately towards Europe. This only serves the agendas of terrorist groups who benefit from continued fighting, targeting global security, and the security of Europe in particular. Dr. Hijab concluded that his visit comes as part of efforts to persuade the international community and ensure a negotiating atmosphere conducive of genuine peace-building; cessation of combat, a formation of an international monitoring and supervisory mechanism to ensure the commitment of various parties, collaboration on the removal of all foreign forces, securing border crossings and supply routes, provision of safe zones, delivery of aid to affected areas, and other measures that are mostly outside the control of the regime. DOHA, Qatar and NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Al Jazeera Media Network (the "Network") today announced from Doha its intention to expand its existing international digital services to broaden its multi-platform presence in the United States. As audiences increasingly turn to multiple platforms, including mobile devices, for news and information, this expansion will allow US and non-US consumers alike to access the Network's journalism and content wherever and whenever they want. The expanded digital platform will augment the Network's successful current digital offerings, including AJ+ (www.ajplus.net) which has achieved more than two billion online video views since its inception in September 2014. The Network's commitment to its digital transformation of its global operations is consistent with its mission to inform and engage audiences no matter who they are or where they are. By expanding its digital content and distribution services to now include the US, the Network will be better positioned to innovate and compete in an overwhelmingly digital world to serve today's 24-hour digitally focused audience. Over the coming months the Network intends to provide more details around the forthcoming expansion of its multi-platform digital services to the US. Separately, Al Anstey, CEO of Al Jazeera America, today announced that Al Jazeera America will cease operation by April 30, 2016. While Al Jazeera America built a loyal audience across the US and increasingly was recognized as an important new voice in television news, the economic landscape of the media environment has driven its strategic decision to wind down its operations and conclude its service. Al Jazeera America is committed to conducting this process in a way that is consistent with its respect for colleagues. We recognize the high quality of Al Jazeera America's work and that its journalism was recognized with nearly every major award an American broadcast and digital news organization can receive, including the Peabody, Emmy, and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University awards. Said Anstey: "I have witnessed and worked alongside some of the most talented people any organization could wish for. Since its launch in 2013, the work done by the team at Al Jazeera America has been recognized with nearly every major award an American news organization can receive. I greatly respect the unrivaled commitment and excellent work of our team, which has created great journalism. We have increasingly set ourselves apart from all the rest, and the achievements of the past two-and-a-half years should be a source of immense pride for everyone." About Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera strives to deliver content that captivates, informs, inspires and entertains. Launched in 1996, Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world dedicated to providing comprehensive news and live debate. It challenged established narratives and gave a global audience an alternative voice-one that put the human being back at the centre of the news agenda-quickly making it one of the world's most influential news networks. Since then, it's added new channels and services, with more than 70 bureaus around the world, while maintaining the independent and pioneering spirit that defined its character. Each subsidiary follows the same principles-values that inspire it to be challenging and bold, and provide a 'voice for the voiceless' in some of the most underreported places on the planet. AL JAZEERA ARABIC AL JAZEERA ENGLISH AL JAZEERA DOCUMENTARY AL JAZEERA MUBASHER AL JAZEERA BALKANS AL JAZEERA TURK AL JAZEERA CENTRE FOR STUDIES AL JAZEERA MEDIA TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE AJ+ About Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America is the U.S. news channel that provides both domestic and international news for American audiences. Headquartered in New York City with bureaus in 12 cities across the United States, AJAM carries an award-winning mix of live news, special programming, documentaries and more. To find AJAM in your area, visit www.aljazeera.com/getajam. Visit AJAM online at http://www.aljazeera.com/america. CONTACT: Jeremy Fielding / Molly Morse Kekst +1-212-521-4913 LONDON, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The UK's best businesses have been honoured at an exclusive event, held at the London Stock Exchange, for the European Business Awards sponsored by RSM. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321925 ) 54 companies in total from across the UK were chosen by a panel of independent judges, including senior business and academic leaders. At the event, attendees had the chance to speak to leading businesses in their field and hear from guest speakers including Adrian Tripp, CEO, European Business Awards; Jean Stephens, CEO, RSM International; and Umerah Akram, Senior Manager Primary Markets, from the London Stock Exchange. The UK event is the fourth in a series of events taking place across Europe to celebrate the 678 National Champions from 32 different countries. Future events will be held in France, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Germany and Brussels. Jean Stephens, CEO of RSM International, said: "The UK is home to some truly exciting and entrepreneurial businesses, which we are delighted to champion and support. We wish the National Champions in every country every success for their businesses in the future." The European Business Awards engaged with over 32,000 companies from 33 countries this year, a 33% increase from last year, and a record-breaking number for the competition now in its ninth year. The next round of the competition has required the National Champions to make a presentation video, telling their unique story and explaining their business success. The judges will award the best of this group the coveted 'Ruban d'Honneur' status. Ruban d'Honneur recipients will then go on be part of the grand finale in June 2016. Separately, the National Champion videos have been posted on the European Business Awards website http://www.businessawardseurope.com as part of a two stage public vote, which will decide the National 'Public' Champions for each country in the first stage of voting, and the overall European Public Champion in the second stage. Public voting closes on 26th February 2016. The European Business Awards was created to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. Additional sponsors and partners of the Awards include ELITE, the UKTI and PR Newswire. Further information can be found at http://www.businessawardseurope.com and http://www.rsm.global About the European Business Awards: The European Business Awards' primary purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. For all citizens of Europe, prosperity, social and healthcare systems are reliant on businesses creating an even stronger, more innovative, successful, international and ethical business community - one that forms the beating heart of an increasingly globalised economy. The European Business Awards programme serves the European business community in three ways: It celebrates and endorses individuals' and organisations' success It provides and promotes examples of excellence for the business community to aspire to It engages with the European business community to create debate on key issues The European Business Awards is now in its 9th year. It attracted over 24,000 businesses to the competition last year and in the public vote generated over 170,000 votes from across Europe. http://www.businessawardseurope.com. About RSM RSM is the seventh largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, encompassing over 120 countries, 740 offices and more than 37,500 people internationally. The network's total fee income is US$4.4 billion. In September 2014, RSM was awarded the prestigious Network of the Year 2014 award at the International Accounting Bulletin annual awards. The award recognises networks that have demonstrated strong growth and operational excellence over the past 12 months. RSM is the lead sponsor and corporate champion of the European Business Awards promoting commercial excellence and recognition of entrepreneurial brilliance. RSM is a member of the Forum of Firms, with the shared objective to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial and auditing practices worldwide. RSM is the brand used by a network of independent accounting and advisory firms each of which practices in its own right. RSM International Limited does not itself provide any accounting and advisory services. Member firms are driven by a common vision of providing high quality professional services, both in their domestic markets and in serving the international professional service needs of their client base. http://www.rsm.global About UK Trade & Investment: UKTI works with UK based businesses to ensure their success in international markets through exports and encourages and supports overseas companies to look at the UK as the best place to set up or expand their business. http://www.gov.uk/ukti About ELITE: ELITE is an integrated service designed to help SMEs prepare and structure for the next stage of growth through access to long term financing opportunities. ELITE targets SMEs with a sound business model, clear growth strategy and a desire to obtain funding in the near future. ELITE offers an innovative approach, including a training programme, a working zone supported by a tutorship model and direct access to the financial community through dedicated digital community facilities. It is "capital neutral" to any financing opportunity, providing access to Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds, debt products, etc. ELITE was successfully launched in Italy in 2012 and in the UK in 2014. It now accounts for more than 200 companies of different sizes and sectors, more than 150 partners and more than 70 long term investors. It is a European platform deeply rooted in each domestic market, through partnership with local institutions combined with the opportunity to access international support and advice. It will be a community of excellence: companies, advisors, investors and stakeholders with an interest in supporting SMEs. The larger the community, the wider the range of business and growth opportunities offered to ELITE members. About PR Newswire PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client's content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company. For more information on PR Newswire please visit http://www.prnewswire.co.uk WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Legislation restricting Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the U.S. is set to be taken up by the Senate next week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., revealed on Tuesday. McConnell said the Senate will vote on whether to begin debate on the bill known as the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act or America SAFE Act next Wednesday. The bill would limit the number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees admitted to the U.S. until increased security checks are in place. With near-unanimous support from Republicans, the House voted 289 to 137 in favor of the bill last November. Republicans may have more difficulty securing the 60 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdles facing the bill in the Senate. However, Democrats may feel pressure to support the legislation after the San Bernardino shootings and the recent arrest of two Iraqi refugees on terrorism charges. The bill still faces a veto threat from President Barack Obama, who has previously mocked critics of his administration's refugee policy for being scared of widows and orphans. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., a co-author of the legislation, praised the Senate's decision to consider the bill, which he called reasonable, common sense legislation. 'There has been a lot of heated rhetoric and opinions about how to deal with this situation, but the bottom line is the American people expect us to work together to keep us all safe,' Hudson said. He added, 'It is a critical step to address glaring vulnerabilities in our security that terrorists could exploit, tackle the growing threat of radical Islamic extremism and ensure the safety of Americans.' A Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month found that a majority of Americans oppose accepting Syrian refugees into the country. The poll found that 51 percent of American voters oppose allowing Syrian refugees to enter the U.S., while 43 percent support the policy. The results showed a significant partisan divide on the issue, as 82 percent of Republicans would block the refugees but 74 percent of Democrats would accept them. Obama has called for the U.S. to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year, although the plan has drawn considerable criticism from some Republicans. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de RZESZOW, Poland, LONDON and HONG KONG, January 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- It has become a tradition for G2A.COM to organize an annual Winter Wonderland Party and this year, the magnificent city of Rzeszow in Poland was selected as the perfect location to celebrate both the event and G2A's birthday since this is where G2A.COM, the digital gaming marketplace, was conceived in December 2010. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321773 ) Partners, guests and gaming legends from over 6 countries were in attendance and included Google, PayPal, Facebook, legendary streamers and YouTubers such as Forsen, Reynad, Voyboy, Izak, Bateson, DeerNadia, Kungen, Hotted, Onscreenlol, DisStream and Nervarien. World class cosplayers, NadiaSK and Giada Robin, also attended the event. Collectively, these G2A partners and legends reach over 7.8 million followers, fans and viewers. The company has invested 28 million U$D in research and development to create the G2A ecosystem. Additionally,G2A has invested over 8 million U$D in e-Sports worldwide,and over 1 million U$D in developing the 'first of its kind' Virtual Reality project, G2A Land, which will be launched as a free download in Q1 2016. Having grown to 400 employees from 25 different countries, speaking 22 differentlanguages, in May 2015, G2A moved into spacious new offices that reflect G2A's growth and goals to key players and partners across the gaming world. G2A continues to recruit the best partners and minds in gaming as it develops the G2A marketplace to provide the best user experience for customers. G2A CMO and co-founder, Dawid RoAek said that he was delighted that G2A had reached over 6.4 million customers: "We appreciate that we are on our way to 7 million users enjoying our service." He added: "We have experts here at G2A who understand that extreme customer satisfaction is a key value so that is the main reason why G2A grew so fast. It's thanks to our customers, they have built G2A to become the world's fastest growing digital gaming marketplace." Co-founder and CEO, Bartosz Skwarczek added: "Our G2A teams have worked really hard this year to deliver a great experience to our customers, and we had lots of fun building a great marketplace for gamers. At G2A we always say: "Work Hard and Party Harder!" Dawid and Bartosz presented achievement awards to key staff members and announced that in Q1 2016, they will embark on a worldwide recruitment drive to continue to hire the best gaming professionals in the business. During the event, G2A had an opportunity to conduct interviews with partners and gaming legends. Watch G2A in conversation with gaming legends Forsen (400k followers), NadiaSK (100K followers) and Kungen (200k followers) below: Forsen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lENh56q0gfA NadiaSK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zhVUOz8TT8 Kungen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnSlHDhDMbE For more information visit:http://www.g2a.com Goodwall, a Geneva, Switzerland-based website, mobile app and online community for high school students, raised $2.1m in seed funding. Backers included Francis Clivaz, the co-founder of the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) and an active member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and other investors via Investiere, a European online startup platform for private investors. In addition, Ulrich Essmann, Tim Schumacher, co-founders of global domain marketplace Sedo.com, and Martin Steinmann, Boston-based entrepreneur, angel and startup advisor, are joining the Goodwall advisory board. The company intends to use the funds to extend its reach and expand its offerings. Led by Taha Bawa, co-founder and CEO, Goodwall is an online community for high school students to connect with each other and showcase their accomplishments to get recognized by colleges and scholarships. It equips students from 14 to 18, with the necessary tools, resources, and knowledge to make informed decisions to reach their potential. Every month, Goodwall recognizes a student for their extracurricular activities and awards that student a scholarship. The community currently has more than half a million students representing over 150 countries and 6,000 schools. Goodwall is connected to more than 3000 universities and colleges around the world. FinSMEs 12/01/2016 Irvine Scientific, a Santa Ana, California-based manufacturer of cell culture media, reagents, and medical devices for industrial, clinical and research applications, acquired BioCare Europe S.r.l., a Rome, Italy-based distributor of in vitro fertilization (IVF) media, medical devices, and equipment. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The acquisition will enable Irvine Scientific to leverage the capabilities of BioCare and expand its presence in the European IVF market. Led by Luca Trama, Managing Director, BioCare is a distributor of a wide variety of IVF products to the European market having built a sales network in Europe, focused mainly in Italy, France, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Led by Yuichi Nagano, President and CEO, and a member of JX Group, Irvine Scientific provides the IVF market with cGMP cell culture media supporting IVF hospitals and clinics worldwide, and a sales presence in Europe, mainly focused in the UK, France, and Germany. FinSMEs 13/01/2016 San Francisco, CA-based Harvest Capital Strategies has raised $245m for the Harvest Intrexon Enterprise Fund, an investment vehicle dedicated to funding companies that utilize the inventions, discoveries and technologies of Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in synthetic biology. The Harvest Intrexon Enterprise Fund will invest exclusively in entities that utilize Intrexons technology, with a particular focus on new companies, to spur the creation of biologically-based products across a number of sectors, which may include healthcare, food, agriculture, energy, environment, chemicals and consumer products. The fund has already made two investments to date: Thrive Agrobiotics, Inc., a startup entity formed to utilize Intrexons ActoBiotics platform to express nutritive proteins for improving the overall growth and feed efficiency in piglets, and Intrexon Energy Partners II, a joint venture formed to utilize Intrexons proprietary gas-to-liquids platform to produce 1,4 butanediol, a chemical intermediate used to manufacture spandex, polyurethane and plastics from low-cost natural gas feedstock. Harvest Capital Strategies is the investment arm of JMP Group LLC, an investment banking and alternative asset management firm providing investment banking, equity research, and sales and trading services to corporate and institutional clients as well as alternative asset management products and services to institutional and high-net-worth investors. FinSMEs 13/01/2016 North Bridge, a Waltham, MA-based growth equity and venture capital firm, has promoted Won Park to Principal and added Chris Cavanagh as Principal and Brendan Gibney as Vice President to the growth equity investment team. Won Park focuses on identifying and evaluating growth equity investments, covering a wide spectrum of technology and technology-enabled companies. He is actively involved with North Bridges investments in Clarity Software, Ingenious Med and Valence Health. Prior to joining North Bridge, Park was an Associate at Covington Associates, a Boston-based middle-market investment bank, completing a number of transactions in the healthcare and technology industries. Before joining Covington, he was an investment banking analyst at Piper Jaffray in New York. Prior to joining North Bridge, Chris Cavanagh was a Vice President at Great Hill Partners, a $4 billion Boston-based, growth-focused, private equity firm, where he spent over 7 years investing in technology and technology-enabled services companies. His previous investment experience includes Reward Gateway, PlanSource, bswift (sold to Aetna), Wayfair ($3 billion IPO on NYSE: W), Ziff Davis (sold to j2 Global, Inc.), and Vitacost.com (sold to Kroger). He began his career as an investment banking analyst at Citigroup in New York, where he focused in the consumer products and retail sectors. Prior to joining North Bridge, Brendan Gibney was a Senior Associate at Prospect Partners, a Chicago-based, lower-middle-market private equity firm. Before Prospect, he was an Associate with TA Associates in both the Boston and Hong Kong offices. Gibney started his career in investment banking as an analyst with William Blair & Company in the Technology group. With $3.8 billion of capital under management, North Bridge Growth Equity, and its affiliate North Bridge Venture Partners, actively partner with founders and entrepreneurs of companies using technology to disrupt and reinvent big markets. The firm has funded more than 170 companies including Acquia, Actifio, Clarity Software Systems, Dyn, Demandware, Proto Labs, RuffaloCODY, Starent Networks, Seniorlink, SmartPak, Valence Health and WP Engine. FinSMEs 13/01/2016 Skyscanner, an Edinburgh, Scotland, UK-based travel search engine and comparison site, raised 128m (approx. $192m) in funding. The round reportedly values the company at over $1 billion. Backers included Artemis, Vitruvian Partners, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the investment fund of Malaysian Government, and Yahoo! Japan. The company will use the funds to continue to expand operations globally, especially in Asia. Founded in 2003 and led by CEO Gareth Williams, Skyscanner is a free travel search site that allows people to plan and book direct from millions of flight, hotel and care hire options. The platform is currently available in over 30 languages and 70 currencies. According to the company, more than 50 million people use the platform every month. It employs over 700 people in its ten global offices. FinSMEs 13/01/2016 Mumbai: Actor Tusshar Kapoor fails to understand why people get upset over adult comedy films and says there is a prejudice against such movies. Tusshar has been a part of adult comedy films like "Kya Kool Hai Hum", "Kya Kool Hai Hum 2" and now he will be seen in third installment of the same series - "Kya Kool Hai Hum 3" and another adult comedy "Mastizaade". "My parents are ok with me doing adult comedy films as long as there is a limit (on certain things) and the story is good. I don't understand why everybody is making hullabaloo about adult comedy films," the 39-year-old actor told PTI. Tusshar fails to understand that if the audiences can watch American films, then why there is so much hue and cry about adult comedy films. "Murder and gangster films have so much of adult content, I don't understand why people are upset about adult comedy films," he said. "I think there is prejudice against adult comedy films... People can watch American films. But if we make something in India people have problem with it," he said. In Bollywood, top actors usually refrain from doing adult comedy films. To this, the "Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai" actor says, "To each his own, whoever is not comfortable has the right of not doing it. I am comfortable so I do it. I don't think it (adult comedy films) passes a wrong message. It is for adults." "It is the responsibility of parents to make sure their kids do not watch adult comedy films. Why blame adult comedy films, why not blame the violence, other films for it. I don't have problem doing these kinds of films, " he said. "Kya Kool Hain Hum 3", a sex-comedy film starring Tusshar, Aftab Shivdasani and Mandana Karimi in lead roles, is scheduled to release on 22 January. PTI In an absurd and slightly frightening incident that raises doubts about whether we're losing our basic sense of humour, actor Kiku Sharda, famous for his role in TV show Comedy Nights with Kapil, was arrested on Wednesday and sent to 14 days of judicial custody in Kaithal, Haryana for mimicking controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on a TV show. The actor was booked under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of a community by insulting its religious beliefs, Krishan Murari, SP Kaithal, told CNN-IBN. "He (Sharda) was wearing Guruji's clothes and consuming alcohol with girls on stage. The FIR is against 20-22 people," Murari further said. Adding that the charges against Sharda amounted to a non-bailable offence, Murari said, "If anyone's religious sentiments are hurt, that is against the law." According to a report in Hindustan Times, the episode which landed Sharda in trouble was aired on 27 December. The complaint was filed against him on 1 January. Sharda was arrested despite the fact that he had tweeted out an apology a day after the episode had been aired, saying it wasn't his intention to hurt anyone's feelings. Doston the act on TV was not to hurt anyone's feelings. My apologies to @Gurmeetramrahim ji and his followers. Let's spread happiness. kiku sharda (@kikusharda) December 28, 2015 "I apologise for offending sentiments... If anyone's feelings were hurt, I am really, really sorry," Sharda said in a police station in Kaithal after his arrest. "I respect all gurus. I am a god-fearing man." How this augurs for the future is unclear, but for now, the list of persons who may be mocked or parodied is shrinking by the day. Baidu Inc is in talks to invest in Indian e-commerce start-ups including Zomato, BookMyShow and BigBasket, a spokesman for China's top online search provider said on Wednesday. "The Indian market represents an enormous opportunity for us to connect more people with services, and we plan to put more resources there in the future," the spokesman told Reuters by email. Baidu declined to comment on possible investment amounts or time frames. India's technology start-up market is booming as more and more people shop online, in a country where about 20 percent of a population of 1.3 billion are connected to the Internet. The e-commerce market could grow in terms of the value of goods sold to $220 billion by 2025 from $11 billion in 2015, Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimated. That growth potential has attracted investment from global technology giants such as China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. Zomato is India's leading restaurant search provider, while BookMyShow is the country's top online seller of movies and events tickets. BigBasket is an online grocer. Zomato and BigBasket did not immediately reply to emails seeking comment. BookMyShow could not be immediately reached for comment. Reuters New Delhi - Expressing concern over industrial output, which contracted by 3.2 per cent in November, India Inc has urged the government to implement structural reforms to revitalise investments and stimulate demand. "The steep fall in the manufacturing sector growth is because both the export and domestic demand, especially rural demand, have slowed down. It also underlines the need for more measures to stimulate investments and deeper structural reforms," Ficci President Harshavardhan Neotia said. Dashing hopes of a recovery, industrial production contracted by 3.2 per cent in November -- the lowest level in over four years -- due to poor performance of the manufacturing sector and a sharp decline in capital goods output. This is the worst performance since October 2011, when IIP had contracted by 4.7 per cent. "Demand side scenarios for capital and intermediate and basic goods are not encouraging and need attention to identify the factors and remedial measures for revival. "The negative growth further worsens the prevailing levels of demand-supply imbalances in the country. The significant shrinkage in the production of capital goods and consumer non-durables shows that industrial revival is going to be one of the major challenges in days to come," said Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat. However, Assocham said that given the trend of data for the past few months, it sees initial signs of normalisation, adding that a slow and steady recovery is likely. Terming the IIP data as a "major worrying factor", PHD Chamber of Commerce President Mahesh Gupta said the government must take demand-boosting measures to help industry growth. The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, contracted by 4.4 per cent as against a growth of 4.7 per cent in the same month last year. Capital goods output, which is a barometer of investment, contracted by 24.4 per cent in November 2015 compared to a growth of 7 per cent in same month of previous year. PTI New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expressed confidence that the new Crop Insurance Scheme will bring about a major transformation in the lives of farmers, saying it expands the definition of disaster and addresses whatever was lacking in the existing programmes. "Farmer brothers and sisters, at a time when you are celebrating festivals like Lohri, Pongal and Bihu, the government has given you a gift in the form of Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme," he tweeted hours after the Cabinet cleared the proposal. "This is a historic day. I am confident that this scheme, which is inspired by the consideration of farmers' benefit, will bring about a major transformation to the lives of farmers," Modi added. In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister said the scheme includes successful aspects of the existing schemes and "effectively addresses" whatever was lacking in those schemes. "The scheme has the lowest premium, it entails easy usage of technology like mobile phone, quick assessment of damage and disbursement within a timeframe," he said. The definition of disaster has been expanded to include aspects like flooding of crop and damage after harvest, Modi said, adding "special attention" has been paid to several other aspects. "It is easy to subscribe to the scheme and easy to benefit. So, do join it," he told the farming community which is in distress and many of whom have been committing suicide. In order to provide relief to drought-hit farmers, the government today announced a new Rs 8,800 crore crop insurance scheme, with significantly lower premium, to cover for loss of crop to natural calamities. Farmers will pay only 2 per cent of the premium fixed by insurance company for kharif foodgrains/oilseeds crops and 1.5 per cent for rabi foodgrains/oilseeds crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The remaining sum of premium would be borne by the Centre and state governments equally, entailing outgo of Rs 8,800 crore annually by central government for coverage of 50 per cent of the crop area of 194.40 million hectare. The scheme, cleared by the Cabinet, will be rolled out from the coming kharif season beginning June. After coming to power, the Modi government had announced that it would bring a new crop insurance scheme by replacing the existing ones to ensure higher coverage of crop area at low premium and better claim settlement facilities. Expressing confidence that farmers will adopt this new scheme, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it will help them tide over financial uncertainties. "This new crop insurance scheme will have the lowest premium for farmers in the history of independent India. The new scheme has taken care of the anomalies in the existing two schemes and added new provisions," he told reporters. Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself suggested reducing premium burden on farmers, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the farming community will be "very happy" with this scheme. He observed that farmers get adversely affected by natural calamities in the absence of level-playing field for them. "This path breaking measure will take care of farmers by providing them necessary assurance through this insurance cover." Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the scheme will also cover post-harvest losses and 'prevented sowing'. "There is no upper limit on the government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90 per cent, it will be borne by the government," an official statement said. The government has done away with the provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. Now, farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction. To assess crop damage for early settlement of the claims, the government will adopt modern technology to a great extent. "Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments," the government said. PTI At a time when fund flow into startups is thinning, online managed marketplace ShopClues has raised a fresh round led by sovereign wealth fund GIC, becoming the latest entrant in the Indian Unicorn club (startups valued $1 billion or more). The others in this league include Flipkart, Snapdeal and PayTM. The round, which saw participation from existing investors Tiger Global Management and Nexus Venture Partners, values the company at more than $1.1 billion, ShopClues said in a statement. Though the company did not disclose the amount raised, media reports put the figure around $100-150 million. A report in Yourstory, reckons that the valuation of the company has tripled in 12 months as the company had raised $100 million from Tiger Global in last January at an estimated valuation of $350 million. The capital raised will be used to focus on building and rolling out new products to enable the SME merchants to digitise their business, the statement said. "We are confident that our capital efficiency and execution will make this our last fund raise before we become profitable with the eventual IPO in 2017," said Radhika Aggarwal co-founder and Chief Business Officer ShopClues. ShopClues said its GMV (gross merchandise value of the products sold on its platform) has grown over four-fold since January 2015, and the business is shipping out over 3.5 million items on a monthly basis. The company has till date raised over $130 million in funding. "The company continues to empower the sales of over 3.5 lakh registered SME merchants and has launched multiple new services for seller marketing in the past one year," the statement said. These include working capital loans, ShopClues Connect (Chat Services), neighborhood market (hyperlocal discovery platform), logistics and payment services and domain services. "As a long-term investor, GIC believes in the strong growth potential of India's e-commerce industry. "We are confident that ShopClues' merchant-first mind-set and solid management team will enable the company to expand its reach, especially in the Tier-II and Tier-III cities," said Ravi Balasubramanian, Head of Asia Equities Research, GIC. Shopclues is also looking at getting listed in 2017. ...We are confident that our capital efficiency & execution will make this our last fund raise before we become profitable with the eventual IPO in 2017, Aggarwal has been quoted as saying in the statement. ShopClues was founded in 2011 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Sandeep Aggarwal. He bootstrapped the company till January 2012, when the company had the first institutional fund raise of $4 million. With PTI By Prafulla Mathur The term Entrepreneur wasnt always as cool as it is today. When I quit my job in the United Kingdom, people around me frowned upon my choice of returning to India to Start-up. It took people very long to digest the fact that someone could leave a high paying international role to start a company in India from scratch. As a young engineering student, I always hoped to build things. I always dreamt of building need-based products that would make lives of people convenient, help them save money and hence, create value. Alongside of working towards fulfilling my engineering aspirations, I also played music professionally. I played solo and was also the lead vocalist and guitarist in a band called Bronze and Ive played at some popular bars, clubs and colleges in London, Delhi, Bombay and Jaipur. My dream to build a product that combined the power of technology and music forced me to leave my job. In 2010, when Android and iPhones werent nearly as popular as they are today, I built a product that could stream music content on Java devices. The product was called Zephyr The Indian Rock Music Hub, and I called my start up Queppelin inspired by the name of two of my favorite Rock Music bands, Queen and Led Zeppelin. The product saw 26,000 installs in less than 2 weeks, a feat unimaginable in 2010. Oracle, the owner of the Java platform decided to showcase the technology at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2011. Queppelin also went on to win the Red Herring Award alongside Snapdeal in 2011. Queppelin is now a leading company in its space and has built some of the most popular products in Indian Mobile internet history with clients including Gaana, Reliance BigFlix, Facebook and many more. Queppelin gave me some of the deepest learnings both as an entrepreneur and a professional. It taught me the power of persistence. Many times, as an entrepreneur, you hope to achieve all your goals in one day which eventually leads to the fall of a business. It is important to give each investment; monetary or non-monetary time before you start expecting radical results. Another great learning that I drew being the CEO and Founder of Queppelin was that its important to make your team feel as passionately about your company as you do. No amounts of money and designations can ever replace the feeling of ownership that a person has towards his/her company. Post building Queppelin as a sustainable business, I decided to explore opportunities for next entrepreneurial project. Having travelled the length and breadth of India and abroad, I was appalled at the shoddy condition of unbranded hotels in India and how miserably they compared to similarly priced hotels in Europe. The final nail on the coffin was when I travelled to Banaras for my Aunts final rights. In a completely stressed state of mind, I was forced to find myself a decent hotel to stay. After a few hours and countless hotel visits, I finally found a livable accommodation. This experience gave me the idea to start WudStay, an online marketplace for unbranded standardized hotels. The proposition was to build a large chain of hotels that focused on ensuring high quality accommodation irrespective of a customers budget. While, building technology was my strength, it was important to gather knowledge and real insights into build high quality hospitality startup. I decided to leave my house and spend months living in unbranded hotels and using my personal professional network to understand the basic nuances of hospitality and the general users needs while choosing a hotel. I was fortunate to have built strong relationships with Institutional Investors during my times as Founder and CEO of Queppelin. Similie Ventures, a VC Luxembourg based Venture Capital Fund invested a seed fund even before the website was live. With two cities, Jaipur and Gurgaon, WudStay was launched. Today, WudStay has partnerships with over 450 hotels in 45+ cities in India. Backed by Mangrove Capital Partners and Vikas Saxena for USD 3 Million, we continue to scale our operations while keeping a close eye on our objective of being the Gold Standard of Quality in the Unorganized Hotel Space. Entrepreneurship is an addiction. It goes far beyond the desire to Be Ones Own Boss. For me, it has always been about creating sustainable value that brings convenience to the lives of users. I have always believed that companies are far bigger than just money. While, I was in the United Kingdom working with some of the best brains in the business, I was convinced that being an employee would never allow me to build something new. My most fond memories of that time are when me and my friends would get together and make music. I have always been inspired by the thought of making new things. Entrepreneurship for me is about freshness and doing things that havent been done before. The author is founder WudStay, an online marketplace for unbranded standardized hotels NAYPYITAW More of Myanmar's ethnic minority rebel groups should be brought into peace talks and the effort to end conflict should not divide groups that are involved in negotiations and those that have shunned the process, Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday. Hundreds of representatives of guerrilla groups, the military and members of parliament, gathered in the capital, Naypyitaw, for the second stage of talks aimed at ending insurgencies that have plagued the country for decades. The outgoing semi-civilian government of President Thein Sein signed what it called a nationwide ceasefire agreement in October, but seven of 15 rebel groups invited to participate declined to sign, including some of the most powerful. Other groups were not invited to take part or showed little interest in the process. Since the signing, fighting has erupted between the military and groups that did not sign the ceasefire and groups that did not take part in the negotiations, as well as between groups that signed and others that did not, further complicating the already daunting task of reaching sustainable peace. "We need to work for all the ethnic armed groups to be participate in the NCA," Suu Kyi said referring to the nationwide ceasefire agreement. "It is important not to have conflicts between the ethnic armed groups which have signed the NCA and the groups which are still not involved in the agreement." Ethnic minority guerrillas have been fighting the central government for greater autonomy and rights since shortly after the country gained independence from Britain in 1948. The military, which still wields huge influence under a constitution it drafted in 2008, has long portrayed itself as the sole power holding the ethnically diverse country together and it is widely seen as loath to give ground on minority demands for autonomy under a federal system. 'HIGH EXPECTATIONS" Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) swept a November election, said in an Independence Day speech last week that the peace process would be the first priority of her new government, which is due to take power in March. But she and the NLD have said little publicly about how they intend to push the process forward. Groups that chose not to sign the ceasefire have been invited to attend the latest talks, which could lay the groundwork for further negotiations once the NLD takes power. Several of the insurgent groups are hoping that Suu Kyi's standing and mandate will help her in bridging differences with the military. "We have high expectations for Aung San Suu Kyi and her government to negotiate with the army chief - without the military's involvement it will be impossible to end the fighting across the country," said Saw Thamein Tun, a leader of the Karen National Union. The gathering in Naypyitaw was also attended by President Thein Sein and the powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing. The appearance of the two alongside Suu Kyi reflected what has been a smooth transfer of power. Myanmar's generals ran the country for 49 years, until 2011, when a hybrid civilian-military government was installed. (Writing by Timothy Mclaughlin; Editing by Robert Birsel) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. ARJUNI, Mahettar Ram Tandon is still proud of the indelible message he carries almost five decades after he had the name of the Hindu god Ram tattooed over his entire body. Dressed in a simple white lungi, a traditional Indian garment, and wearing a peacock feather hat called a "mukut", Tandon is part of the Ramnami Samaj religious movement in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, one of India's poorest regions. "It was my new birth the day I started having the tattoos," he says. "The old me had died." Denied entry to temples and forced to use separate wells, low-caste Hindus in the Chhattisgarh first tattooed their bodies and faces more than 100 years ago as an act of defiance and devotion. Ramnamis wrote Ram's name on their bodies as a message to higher-caste Indians that god was everywhere, regardless of a persons caste or social standing. Now 76, Tandon's purple tattoos have faded over decades under the harsh sun of his village of Jamgahan. In the nearby village of Gorba, Punai Bai, 75, spent more than two weeks aged 18 having her full body tattooed using dye made from mixing soot from a kerosene lamp with water. "God is for everybody, not just for one community," says Bai, who lives in a one-room house with her son, daughter-in law and two grandchildren. Nowadays the tattoos of Ramnamis, who number 100,000 or more and live in dozens of villages spread across at least four districts of Chhattisgarh state, are usually on a smaller scale. Since the banning of caste-based discrimination in India in 1955, the lives of many lower-caste Indians have improved, villagers said. As young Ramnamis today also travel to other regions to study and look for work, younger generations usually avoid full-body tattoos. "The young generation just don't feel good about having tattoos on their whole body," says Tandon, who has always lived in his village of small mud houses surrounded by fields of grazing cattle, wheat and rice. "That doesn't mean they don't follow the faith." Children born in the community are still required to be tattooed somewhere on their body, preferably on their chest, at least once by the age of two. According to their religious practices, Ramnamis do not drink or smoke, must chant the name "Ram" daily and are exhorted to treat everybody with equality and respect. Almost every Ramnami household owns a copy of the Ramayana epic, a book on Lord Rama's life and teachings, along with small statues of Indian deities. Most followers' homes in these villages have "Ram Ram" written in black on the outer and inner walls. Despite the 1955 legislation, centuries-old feudal attitudes persist in many parts of India and low-caste people, or Dalits, still face prejudice in every sector from education to employment. Tandon is optimistic about the Ramnamis' relative change in fortunes since he had his body tattooed all those years ago. "The world is changing, the times are changing," he says. "We have all realised that we are all the same." (Reporting by Adnan Abidi, writing by Brian McGee; Editing by Gareth Jones) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Swagata Raha The whole debate about 'who is a child', albeit in a different context, has cropped up again with the Supreme Court on Monday urging the Parliament to consider more rigorous punishment for child sex abuse offenders. The issue, as the apex court has observed, is the definition of 'child' under the Indian Penal Code. At present, child is defined in the IPC as 'any person below the age of 18' and there is no classification between children as young as two or three years and other minors in the context of rape. The cut-off age for a juvenile delinquent accused of heinous crimes, for instance, came under serious debate when on 31 December, 2015 the President gave his assent to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill. It has now paved the way for the trial of some children between 16 and 18 years accused of heinous offences as adults, based on a preliminary assessment of their mental and physical capacity, circumstances in which the offence was allegedly committed and their ability to comprehend the consequences of the offence. Debates in the media and Parliament, had as their frame of reference, adolescents involved in murder and rape. What should have been of deeper concern was how and why children get involved in heinous crimes and what are the protection gaps on the ground in the community to prevent children from being exploited, abused, and tortured. Take the example of adolescents who are part of armed groups operating in Naxal areas. During the Eastern Region Round Table Conference on the Effective Implementation of the JJ Act in 2015, held under the aegis of the one-man Supreme Court committee on juvenile justice, the impact of insurgency on children in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand came into sharp focus. What should the states response be towards such children? Surely, the armed groups will not stop recruiting children between 16 and 18 years because they can now be tried as adults. The exploitation of their vulnerability in fact starts much earlier. In June 2015, the secretary general, in his report to the Security Council, detailed the modus operandi of armed groups in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha who recruit six to 12 year-old children, train them as informers and impart training of crude weapons. The children are then moved into specific units for training on the use of weapons and improvised explosive devices. The report also noted that children are reportedly threatened with the killing of family members should they escape or surrender to security forces. This also holds good for children in certain parts of our cities who are involved in gangs and forced into committing theft, robbery, drug-trafficking and violent crimes. The new law defines heinous offence very broadly to include offences for which the minimum punishment under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more. Based on this definition, there are at least 46 offences under which children in conflict with law can be tried as adults. This includes offences like trafficking, dowry deaths, acid attacks, robbery or dacoity with an attempt to cause hurt or an armed weapon under the IPC. Offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) that criminalise possession, sale, purchase, transport of commercial quantity of certain drugs like poppy straw, opium poppy, cannabis and psychotropic substances also fall under the ambit of this definition. The use of prohibited arms, membership to an unlawful association, and participation in a terrorist act are also offences for which some youngsters between 16 and 18 years can be tried as adults. The lawmakers assumed that young persons are autonomous beings capable of making a conscious choice like committing an act of terror, peddling drugs, or committing gang rape. This is fallacious given the slow maturation of the adolescent brain, the incapacity of young persons to extricate themselves from antisocial situations, lack of foresight, and their vulnerability to influence. The JJ Act, 2015, criminalises the recruitment or use of any child for any purpose by a non-state, self-styled militant group, or any adult or adult group using children for illegal activities. It also criminalises the use of a child for vending, peddling, carrying, supplying or smuggling intoxicating liquor, narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. In a study commissioned by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and carried out by National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims) on substance abuse among children in India, a majority of the 4,024 interviewed reported having used a variety of substances such as tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and inhalants. Exposure to drugs takes place within the family, as 60.1 percent of out-of-school children and 51.6 percent of school-going children had a family member using substances. Reaffirming the peer influence factor, 82.4 percent children shared that they had close contact with friends using substances and 40.6 percent cited peer pressure as a factor that prevented them from quitting. The study also revealed that 18 percent of children living in homes and 29 percent of children on the streets indulged in sexual behaviour under the effects of substance; 16.9 percent and 20 percent (respectively) indulged in sexual behaviour in exchange for either substances or money. Around 38.7 percent of children on the streets and 15.9 percent of children living in homes admitted to having done something dangerous to earn money or get food, clothes, shelter. A majority of the children stated that they had not reached out for help (67.7 percent) and a dangerously large number (43.8 percent) felt they did not need any help. How should the law view children who are trapped by their addiction and commit a heinous offence to feed their habit? Finally, how should we deal with a 17-year-old boy egged on by adults around him to prove his manhood by raping a woman? While there is nothing child-like about rape or violence of any kind, assessment of a child-like or adult-like mind in this context is equally absurd. The question really is whether we can impose the same degree of culpability upon adolescents whose brains have not fully developed and who lack the neurological brakes to prevent them from acting on impulse in highly charged situations. The injuries they inflict may be the same but their culpability is not. By passing the JJ Act, 2015, Parliament has effectively deprived adolescents of the protection they need to tide over a transient and turbulent phase of their lives. Instead of strengthening the accountability elements of the juvenile justice system and intensifying preventive efforts, it has given into the hate wave against juveniles. It prioritises retribution over prevention, counselling, medical treatment, protection and healing. The writer is a senior legal researcher (consultant) at the Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, Bangalore. Legal researchers Aneesha Johnny and Anjali Shivanand also gave their inputs. By Lt Col Rohit Agarwal Even in the process of fading away, as old soldiers are expected to do, some notables among them manage to retain their spark for a long time. Lt Gen JFR Jacob was one such soldier. Having first donned a uniform at the tender age of 14 as part of the cadet wing of the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles in 1937, he grew to love it so much that volunteering for the army was the next logical step. His exceptional military career started with service in an Anti-Tank Battalion in Iraq and the Arakan during the Second World War, and reached its pinnacle during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, in which he is considered one of the major architects of the Indian victory. Irrepressible throughout his service, the general was known always to have spoken his mind and stood up for what he thought was right. As a Major in the Artillery Directorate shortly after independence, he was ordered by the Master General of Ordnance to change the motto of artillery, Izzat O Iqbal, as it was in Urdu. Not convinced about the propriety of doing so, he stood his ground and convinced the general that there was no befitting Hindi equivalent that conveyed the same sentiment. Gunners continue to proudly wear the motto to date. Once, while attending the Staff College at Wellington, he was put up to the commandant by his instructor for a presumably uncomplimentary remark that Jacob, a war veteran, had made about the instructor, who had no operational experience. Instead of the severe dressing down that he was expecting from the commandant, he received sombre advice to learn to suffer fools instead. Not that he could learn to do so right up to his retirement or thereafter. It is only professional competence of the highest level that can ensure that someone with such a proclivity for speaking his mind and aversion to suffering fools especially those senior in rank than himself - rises to the top, especially in an organisation like the army. And this he had truckloads of. Major Mayank Bhardwaj, who had a brief interaction with the general as his liaison officer during the formers visit to the National Defence Academy in 1997 recalls, He was then the governor of Punjab and as his liaison officer I spent two evenings with him. I was fascinated by his recollections of the World War. In fact, it was he who explained to me that the load tables of mules was the rationale behind the peculiar scaling of mortar ammunition in an infantry battalion a query of mine that had remained unanswered even by the instructors during the mortar course. Brig KP Singh Deo, former Union minister and a veteran gunner himself, remembers General Jacob as having his facts on his fingertips, besides being one of the finest human beings I have known. I had the occasion to interact with him as an officer many years his junior, and subsequently, when as a minister, I outranked him. He was equally courteous and kind. Someone who can treat his juniors with as much courtesy as he would a minister is truly remarkable. Brig Deo recalls how Gen Jacob was instrumental in ensuring the 1971 war ended with a surrender by the Pakistani army rather than in a UN backed ceasefire as in the case of 1965. We were poised to enter Dhaka, and the capital would have eventually fallen, but the Pakistanis were still capable of giving us a fight before that. It was Gen Jacob, who met with Gen Niazi and psyched him into surrendering. If the war had ended in a ceasefire instead of a surrender, 1971 would also have probably gone down as another stalemate with both sides claiming victory, as in the case of 1965. After his retirement, he served as the Governor of Goa and Punjab. Being a Jew, he had close personal and spiritual ties with Israel, which led him to play an active role in promoting Indo-Israeli relations. The feisty general retained his spark, and his zest for life, right up to his last days. He was a wonderful host, and it was always a pleasure to visit his tastefully decorated house. Says Priya Kapoor of Roli Books, who published his memoirs. While we were working on the book, I was pleasantly surprised at how open he was to changes and edits suggested by us. In him, the country and the army has lost one of its finest generals, an able administrator and an exceptional human being. An Air Force officer was killed on Wednesday after being hit by a speeding car during the Republic Day rehearsal parade in Kolkata. The incident happened at about 6.30 am at Red Road when an Audi appeared on the road at high speed and hit the Air Force officer, a defence official said. The road is normally closed for civilian traffic during the rehearsal but the car raced towards Corporal Abhimanyu Gaud, the Air Force drill instructor supervising the parade, knocked him off his feet and continued to move at high speed till it hit a barricade and came to a halt, the official said. Speaking to DNA, Kolkata Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha said, "We are examining the CCTV footage. It is very unprecedented how he parked his car and fled. We have begun an investigation into the case." The Air Force personnel sustained injuries and was rushed to a military hospital where the doctors declared him dead. The official said that the driver left the car and ran away. The car has been seized by the police and an investigation is underway. With inputs from PTI Even as Pakistan began cracking down on terror network Jaish e Mohammed, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met Narendra Modi late Wednesday evening to figure out how to play the foreign secretary level talks. A decision on on this is likely to be taken Thursday at the weekly briefing of the External Affairs Ministry and after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval returns from Paris. The Indian Express reports that this decision will surface after Doval meets Modi. Doval is likely to touch down in New Delhi at 1.30 pm Thursday. Pakistani media has reported that Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and several individuals belonging to his dreaded outfit have been arrested in connection with the Pathankot terror attack. Pakistan media said JeM offices have been sealed after India demanded action on the group linking it to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks. Official word on the arrest surfaced in the early hours of Thursday, with Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, minister of frontier regions, confirming the kingpin's arrest. "Azhar was taken in protective custody to probe the Pathankot attack," Geo TV quoted Baloch as saying. Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed was in constant touch with the six terrorists who stormed an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in the early hours of 1 January and killed seven Indian soldiers. Jaishankar is supposed to travel to Islamabad on Friday for foreign secretary level talks which are now in limbo. Modi had put Pakistan on a 72 hour deadline to deliver on India's intelligence input on the Pathankot attack. Most media reports say the foreign secretary level talks may be pushed out a bit from the scheduled 15 January date. BBC News reports that up until now, no action has been reported against the group's two major seminaries in Bahawalpur which, many say, serve as the group's headquarters. "There's a sense that some low-level operatives of the group may have been picked up - this is likely to deflect international criticism in the short run, and may save the upcoming talks," says BBC. India has said that unless Pakistan takes strong against those responsible for the attack, the Foreign Secretary level talks could not go ahead at this time. However sources insist they are not linking the talks to Azhar's detention, reports BBC. Azhar warns Pakistan govt As news of his arrest broke on local television channels, JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar wrote a piece under his pen name Saidi, warning the Pakistan government about the "dangerous road" it is taking. "The road that the Pakistan government is taking in its crackdown against the Jaish-e-Mohammed is very dangerous for this country and its steps against mosques, madrasas and jihad are a danger to the unity and integrity of Pakistan," Azhar wrote in the Jaish mouthpiece Al Qalam, reports The Indian Express. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif set up a committee of his top intelligence, army and government officers to investigate India's allegations after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to him last week, asking for prompt and decisive action on the basis of specific evidence. "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed, have been apprehended. The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway," a statement from Sharif's office said. Maulana Masood Azhar detained, says Pak media Pakistan on Wednesday arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and several individuals belonging to his dreaded outfit, which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot terror attack, and sealed its offices after India demanded action on the group linking it to the fate of Foreign Secretary-level talks. Azhars brother Abdul Rehman Rauf has also been arrested, Geo TV said. While the arrest of several individuals was announced in a press release from the Prime Ministers Office, there was no official word on Azhars detention until late Wednesday night. Officials said Azhar, the dreaded terrorist and two other terrorists who were released from an Indian prison in 1999 in exchange for release of 155 passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane, has been taken into protective custody after raids on several JeM offices. Pakistan has also said its considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot as more information would be required to carry forward the process of cooperation with India. The Pakistani action, which was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, come as the fate of the FS-level talks scheduled for Friday hung in balance with just two days for Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to go to Islamabad for talks with his counterpart on resuming the bilateral dialogue process. India has handed over to Pakistan information on JeM links in the Pathankot terror attack in which seven security personnel were killed. A PMO statement issued after the meeting today said it noted with satisfaction Pakistans commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow the territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere. In the spirit of the cooperative approach, the statement said, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required for which the government of Pakistan is considering sending a SIT to Pathankot in consultation with government of India. The meeting reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue, the statement said. Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, Director-General ISI Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior officials attended the meeting. Last week India put the ball squarely in Pakistans court, linking the FS-level talks to Islamabads prompt and decisive action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided actionable intelligence. An official said that close to a dozen militants have been held so far and were being questioned. He refused to give further information like where they have been held or when they could be produced before any court. In the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base that began on January 2, six militants were also eliminated in an operation that lasted four days. Who is Maulana Masood Azhar? Maulana Masood Azhar was the general secretary of another terror group Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) in 1994 and was on a 'mission' in Jammu and Kashmir when he was arrested on 11 February the same year. When he was released, the HuA had been included in the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations which had compelled the outfit to rename itself as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). The Indian Express explains the re-emergence of JeM after years of staying low key. However, Masood Azhar decided to float the new outfit JeM rather than rejoin his old outfit. He was also reported to have received assistance in setting up the JeM from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the then Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden and several Sunni sectarian outfits of Pakistan. JeM, like other terrorist outfits in J&K, claims to using violence to force a withdrawal of Indian security forces from the state. The outfit claims that each of its offices in Pakistan would serve as schools of jihad. In its fight against India, he boasted that the outfit would not only "liberate" Kashmir, but also would take control of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Amritsar and Delhi. Masood Azhar, the amir (chief) of the outfit was arrested by Pakistani security forces on December 29, 2001, after pressure from India and other foreign countries following the December 13, 2001 attack on Indias Parliament. However, a three-member Review Board of Lahore High Court ordered on December 14, 2002, that Azhar be released. With Agencies By Anamika Srivastava The Ministry of Human Resource Development recently asked the state and Central school boards to consider assessing secondary and senior secondary level students on the basis of open-book exams. But assessment reform cannot take be undertaken in vacuum: It requires an education ecosystem that inculcates a new way of learning. Put simply, an open-book exam allows examinees to consult selected material either provided by the examination office/school/exam instructor/their own notes or all of the above. While open-book exams promote the ability to apply knowledge, traditional closed-book exams focus primarily on an individuals ability to recall. The ability to recall is essential, however in order to instil critical thinking, creativity and other skills that enable independent thinking, the ability to apply knowledge must be encouraged. Understanding a concept and knowing how to apply it in a given situation is a skill that not only opens doors to the global job market, but, also helps a person contribute meaningfully to society. It is noteworthy that Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had introduced its Open Text Based Assessment (OTBA) in final examinations for Classes IX and XI as an alternative mode of assessment since the 2013-14 academic year. The CBSE implemented this approach in such subjects as English, Hindi, Mathematics, Science and Social Science in Class IX; and in Biology, Economics, English and Geography in Class XI. The CBSE has sought feedback on OTBA and is exploring the option of implementing OTBA in other subjects as well. The HRD ministrys consideration of the implementation of open-book exams by Central and state boards as a part of assessment reforms in school systems is a welcome step. However, one needs to factor in benefits and drawbacks of the scheme in order to successfully implement this policy. Teaching reform should complement assessment reform There are a number of cognitive benefits of open-book exams. Open-book exams are known to reduce anxiety and stress levels in students. When there is less pressure to recall and rote-learning is discouraged, students can focus on clarifying concepts and explore possible applications of the theory. Students will benefit when there are suitable teaching reforms to complement assessment reforms. For a student to truly gain cognitive benefits, reform in teaching and learning must go hand-in-hand with reform in assessment. Accordingly, teachers need to be trained to teach the syllabus in a manner that emphasises critical understanding of the concept, rather than mere dissemination of information; this will encourage independent thinking rather than pressurising students into mugging. It is no exaggeration that many teachers will be unfamiliar with the concept of open-book exams. In fact, teachers could very plausibly find themselves engaged in the face-value of implementing open-book exams, rather than understanding the essence of the scheme. In that case, they are going to miss the wood for the trees. As examination evolves, so must assessment The success of open-book exams is also dependent on a careful design of the question paper and examination processes. Firstly, this includes the choice of permissible references and material. In the international context, it is a matter of contention: How can one delimit the openness of the exam when most of the study material has been put online as a policy to minimise the use of printed material. Allowing laptops and therefore, all web sources can be problematic, as this might lead to an underestimation of the quality and quantity of the preparation required for the exam. Secondly, designing questions for an open-book exam can be a challenge. This requires creativity and innovation on the part of the examiner it calls for training and capacity-building of teachers. Thirdly, at the time of examining the answer scripts, teachers need to be conscious of the fact that students should be rewarded for independent thinking. This may require the teachers to come out of their respective comfort zones when grading a student on the basis of a pre-set answer-key. Examiners should be willing to allow and appreciate the subjective nature of assessment. Grassroots implementation While CBSE implemented its OTBA scheme by providing the schools with the questions along with the relevant themes/texts already provided by the CBSE, it is uncertain how all the state boards are going to implement the scheme. CBSE schools are compulsorily required to use the OTBA questions provided by the CBSE and they need to be inserted in the question paper prepared by the school. Prima facie, students, teachers and parents have been appreciative of the CBSE-OTBA scheme in general, however, it is yet to be evaluated whether the scheme has met its goal of encouraging independent thinking amongst students. For example, there needs to be an investigation on how or if the CBSE-OTBA questions, truly, assess students on their ability to apply a concept in a given context. I am not arguing that the ability to comprehend is not important, but that the objective of an open-book exam is larger than only test-comprehension abilities. Doing away with traditional closed book exams? There are concerns about the effectiveness of open-book exams in leading to deeper learning. Does better preparation for the exam occur in the case of open-book exam? What about the retention of the concepts after the exam? Further, shouldnt students who are less capable of applying concepts but have acquired a body of knowledge be rewarded for their effort? In fact, to think creatively and innovatively, one needs to have a knowledge base first. Answers to these questions are subject to further investigation, however, at this stage, we cannot do away with traditional closed-books exams. Overall, the policy of open-book exams is a progressive step and should be encouraged. However, one should be warned against the possibility of its mechanical implementation which will miss the point of the scheme altogether. Finally, India is a country in which socio-culturally, there has been an emphasis on the ability to recall and reference to texts in an exam is considered cheating. As a result, an initiative like open-book exams cannot be successful in the absence of a major shift in the mindsets of all the stakeholders of education. The author is assistant professor at Jindal Global Law School and a Fellow at International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building (IIHEd) at OP Jindal Global University (JGU). She is also the Assistant Director at Centre for International Trade and Economics Laws (CITEL) at JGU. She is currently working on developing the State Higher Education Plan for Haryana under Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, a government of Haryana project at IIHEd. Mumbai: Rapping BJP over its defeat in the recent local body elections, Shiv Sena on Wednesday said balloons that fly in air do not remain there for long and cautioned that the results indicate Maharashtra's "political environment is in danger". It also said that the Congress' win in local bodies polls is "only a trailer" and "the film is yet to begin". "Inspite of having a strong leadership in the state and people's mandate, the Congress is surging ahead. The BJP Chief Minister has to take note of this," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said. "The party won handsomely in Lok Sabha polls due to the Modi wave, but history has shown that balloons that fly in the air do not remain there for long," it said. The ruling alliance partner further said that the mistakes which were making people uncomfortable needed to be assessed. "If the atmosphere that was created during the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls is now suffocating people, it needs to be ascertained what mistakes are being made that are causing it. The results (of local bodies polls) are an indication that Maharashtra's political environment is in danger," it said. The Sena also sought to know if people were now equating BJP's work, after it came to power, with that of the Congress which had suffered a major defeat in the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls. "There is severe drought in the state. The government keeps on making announcements but the throats of farmers are parched. Their problems will not end by merely making announcements. The Congress' win in the local body polls is only a trailer, the film is yet to begin," the editorial said. Notably, Congress registered an impressive performance, leading the seat tally by winning in 105 wards in the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls and bypolls for 345 wards held across the state on Sunday. While NCP (won 80 wards) and Shiv Sena (bagged 59 wards) finished second and third respectively, the BJP had to be content with only 39 seats, finishing fourth in the overall seat tally. PTI New Delhi: Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam appears to be in for trouble with the party high command seeking an explanation from him over the issue of articles in a party journal slamming Jawaharlal Nehru and terming Sonia Gandhi's father a "fascist soldier". The Disciplinary Action Committee of AICC headed by senior leader AK Antony has issued a show-cause notice to Nirupam in the wake of the controversy. Committee sources said that Nirupam has been asked to respond within a few days over the articles in the magazine 'Congress Darshan'. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushilkumar Shinde are members of the committee while Motilal Vora is its member-secretary. An embarrassed Congress had last month distanced itself from its "defunct" mouthpiece in Mumbai as some articles in it criticised Nehru's Kashmir policy and alleged that Sonia's father was a "fascist soldier". Miffed with the editorial, the party had forced its editor and Nirupam to apologise for the gaffe. Sudhir Joshi, who looked after its editorial content, was sacked from the job. An unsigned write-up in the Mumbai unit's journal, coinciding with the party's 131st foundation day, had blamed Nehru for "the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet" even as another article made controversial remarks about Sonia. Nirupam had later said that he was unaware of the content that had been published in the said edition. Recently, some Mumbai Congress leaders, including AICC General Secretary Gurudas Kamat, had met Sonia and complained about the matter. Washing its hands of the journal, Congress had earlier said that the party had appointed Nirupam as MRCC chief and not editor of any magazine. Soon after the controversy broke, there had been murmurs questioning Nirupam's "intention". A former Shiv Sainik, Nirupam rose fast through Congress ranks after joining the party. PTI As Ghulam Ali started Dil Mein Ek Lehar Si Uthi Hai Abhi in his revered baritone in a Kolkata auditorium, somewhere in a little town in Bengal's border district, the administration was busy wiping off evidence of violence that threatens to scar Trinamool Congress' bid to win a second consecutive term in Assembly elections. No one, though, can accuse Mamata Banerjee of not trying. So when the Ustad, after vowing not to visit India again till 'the time is right', responded to her call and landed in Kolkata on Swami Vivekananda's 153rd birth anniversary, the West Bengal chief minister sought to deliver a triple whammy. Before a packed Netaji Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night, a beaming Mamata took a dig at those opposed to the Pakistani ghazal maestro's India visit and announced Bengal as the seat of secularism in India. This is the land of Rabindranath Tagore, Paramhansa Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. Ghulam Aliji, you are always welcome here and will have to come again and again, she said in Urdu. Swami Vivekananda preached tolerance and today is his birthday. The world is one and we cannot live without tolerance, she said, even reciting a Urdu couplet to driver home her point. By harping on 'tolerance' in the backdrop of a huge cut-out of Swami Vivekananda, Mamata attempted to send three messages. One, by choosing Swamiji's birth anniversary as the date for the Ustad's ghazal performance, Mamata attempted to send out a message to the RSS, who has never hidden its admiration for the ascetic, philosopher and reformer who is credited with Hindu spiritual reawakening in the late 19th and early 20th century. This was Mamata's way of saying to the RSS, "lay your hands off Swamiji and don't try to appropriate his legacy". Two, in the curious machinations of how a government functions, the ghazal function was ostensibly organised by three departments youth affairs, information and culture, and department of minority affairs and madrasah education. The latter, however, was at the forefront, micro-managing the event and even handing out the invitation cards. The message, once again, of the chief minister reaching out to a certain community before the Assembly polls was not to be missed. Three, by inviting Ghulam Ali, whose concert in Mumbai was cancelled in November last year when Shiv Sena threatened to disrupt it and making him perform before a packed auditorium the Bengal CM was trying to score an obvious political point rather than showcasing her appreciation of art and music. As Ghulam Ali compared Mamata to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom and music, and started with "Nafraton ke teer khakar, doston ke sahar mein" before belting out numerous popular numbers, Mamata who has never shied away from revealing her national ambitions put clear daylight between herself and other claimants to India's "secular throne", including the likes of Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar. However, well might the chief minister invoke Tagore, Bose or Vivekananda to bolster her claims of being a secular leader, it is doubtful whether the stalwarts had they been around would have approved of the way her administration has sought to handle the now infamous Kaliachak incident in Malda. Whether or not the violence was stoked by communal fire or a mafia backlash against police action on illegal poppy cultivation, organising a ghazal jamboree does not absolve the chief minister of massive failure in maintaining law and order in a volatile area, more so when her administration had clear inkling that trouble may brew on 3 January when Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamaat had called for a massive protest march against a Hindu Mahasabha leaders offensive comments on Prophet Muhammad. Given Kaliachak's volatility, the fact that the rally had communal undertones and was held with prior permission from the police, questions are bound to be raised why there was so few police presence that the cops on duty had to literally flee for their lives when the mob attacked the police station and reportedly torched incriminating documents. Amid reports that the goons had also burnt down several vehicles, shot at an RSS activist and then set alight a few houses and shops in Baliadanga, a locality where mostly Hindus live, the state government, ironically, is guilty of abdicating its responsibilities towards the minorities in this case the Hindus who form only around 10 percent of the population in Kaliachak block. What followed the Kaliachak violence was equally curious. According to a report in The Indian Express, the police station, which was ransacked on 3 January, has been renovated at the speed of lightning. None of the damaged vehicles could be seen within its compound, broken doors and windows have been replaced with new ones. The damaged building has been repaired and given a fresh coat of paint. The trees, which were burnt, have been chopped off. Bright lights have also been put up and the road in front of the police station, which was earlier used as a thoroughfare, has been shut. While the state government continues to maintain "everything is normal in Malda", it has repeatedly blocked all rival parties from visiting the area, be it the BJP's fact-finding team, the CPM delegation led by Md Salim or state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury. Malda may not alter the course of Bengal politics in the upcoming Assembly polls which the TMC is widely expected to win, but the way Mamata Banerjee has tried to first deflect the blame on BSF and then later tried to audaciously brush everything under the carpet hoping that things would die down on its own, puts in sharp doubt the secular credentials which she sought to forcefully portray on Tuesday night during Ghulam Ali concert. New Delhi: Terming terrorism and Maoist violence as two major challenges facing the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Delhi High Court blast was a stark reminder that there can be no let up in the vigil. Singh said everyone must unequivocally send out a message that pursuit of violence cannot be justified under any circumstances and reaffirm the collective resolve to fight the menace of terrorism in all its forms with available means. "The problems of terrorism and Left-wing extremism constitute two major challenges that our society and polity face today. The terrorist attack in Delhi last Wednesday is a stark reminder to us that there can be no let up in our vigilance," he said addressing the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting here. The meeting was attended by senior Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, Leaders of Opposition in Parliament, leaders of national and regional political parties among others. "Time and again our nation has been subjected to terrorist violence. Terrorist seek to justify such violence based on misplaced sense of ideology," he noted. The Prime Minister said no civilised society can tolerate or endorse loss of innocent lives in the pursuit of any ideology and institutions and instruments of the country's democratic polity allow sufficient opportunity for articulating differing view without resorting to violence. Singh stressed on the need to identify and address the causes of radicalisation of some of the country's youth. "Very clearly, lack of productive employment opportunities for our young men and women is one factor which aids such radicalisation. Education and skill development opportunities have a major role to play in addressing this problem," he said. Referring to steps being taken to strengthen security agencies, Singh said there was a need to continuously upgrade and strengthen investigating agencies and the intelligence gathering apparatus to deal more effectively with the newer methods and technologies that the terrorists and Naxals adopt. Noting that government has tried hard to strengthen the country's security apparatus, he said, "The intelligence sharing mechanism under the Multi-Agency Centre has been bolstered and the National Intelligence Grid is being implemented so that intelligence from various sources can be accessed and analysed to identify actionable points". The Prime Minister said the problem of Naxalism has a development dimension also and the Centre is making special efforts for development of backward areas, many of which are affected by Left-wing extremism. "The Central and state governments have to work together to confront the challenges to our internal security and we will strive hard for greater coordination not only between the Centre and states but also between states," he said. Referring to civil disturbances, which is one of the agenda items of today's meeting, Singh said one should keep in mind that excessive use of force often proves counter- productive. "We need to distinguish between criminal activities and misguided discontent that finds unlawful expression. It is with this intent that the Home Ministry has circulated instructions for dealing with crowds in a non-lethal manner," he said. He urged the chief ministers to ensure that these are made operational by appropriately equipping and training the police forces. Singh said it was a matter of great satisfaction that in recent years relations among various communities have by and large remained harmonious. "Nevertheless, we need to maintain a continuous vigil in this regard. We also need to recognise that members of the minority communities often have a perception of being unfairly targeted by law enforcement agencies in the aftermath of unfortunate incidents. "While law must take its own course, we need to ensure that our investigating agencies are free from biases and prejudices of any kind," he said. The Prime Minister said the NIC meeting provides a unique opportunity for exchange of views on issues of vital national importance. "Common citizenship, unity in diversity, secularism, equality, justice social, economic and political, and fraternity among all communities constitute the foundation of our national life. At the NIC meetings we reiterate our faith in these abiding values," he said. The Prime Minister also praised members of NIC who have played an active role in ensuring that people respond with maturity to developments that may otherwise flare up communal tempers. Watch video of Prime Minister's speech PTI Good news for Lego lovers. They have done away with the policy where if a buyer wanted to make a bulk purchase, they would have to tell the company the purpose of their purchase. This change in policy comes after Chinese artist Ai Weiwei had accused the Danish company of refusing a bulk order on political grounds in October 2015. The toy became embroiled in controversy when Weiwei, who used the bricks to create portraits of political activists from around the world for a US exhibition in 2014, said the firm had told him it would not sell directly to users with "political" intentions. This had created a huge uproar on social media. People from across the world had sent Weiwei Lego blocks with which he was able to complete his project. According to BBC, he ended up "using bricks donated to him by the public for an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia". Announcing the change of policy, Lego announced on its website on Tuesday: "The LEGO Group has adjusted the guidelines for sales of LEGO bricks in very large quantities. Washington: President Barack Obama urged Americans Tuesday night in his final State of the Union address to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to put economic and security progress at risk. "All the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air," Obama said. "So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker." "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close," he said. The president's address to both chambers of Congress and a prime-time television audience was meant to both shape his legacy and put his imprint squarely on the race to succeed him. He defended his record and implicitly urged the public to elect another Democratic president to build on it but acknowledged the persistent anxieties of Americans who feel shut out of a changing economy or at risk from an evolving terror threat. Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals found in State of the Union addresses in which presidents outline their agenda for the coming year. While Obama did not directly call out Republicans, he sharply, and at times sarcastically, struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship. In his most pointed swipe at the Republican candidates running to succeed him, Obama warned against "voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background." His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who gave the Republican response to Obama's address. Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." She did not mention the Republican presidential race, but the campaign has featured heated rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from front-runner Donald Trump in particular that has unnerved some Republican leaders. "No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome," said Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants. Focused on his own legacy, Obama ticked off a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He touted implementation of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, but made no mention of the 10 American sailors picked up by Iran on Tuesday. The Pentagon said the sailors had drifted into Iranian waters after encountering mechanical problems and would be returned safely and promptly. Tackling one of the most vexing foreign policy challenges of his presidency, Obama vowed a robust campaign to "take out" the Islamic State group, but chastised Republicans for "over the top claims" about the extremist group's power. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national security." The president's words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates the Islamic State's power and is leaving the US vulnerable to attacks at home. Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets: failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. "The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he conceded. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office." He specifically called for ending the practice of drawing up some congressional districts in a manner that gives parties an iron grip on House seats. He also urged steps to make voting easier and reduce the influence of money in politics. Obama did reiterate his call for working with Republicans on criminal justice reform and finalizing an Asia-Pacific trade pact, and he also vowed to keep pushing for action on politically fraught issues such as curbing gun violence and fixing the nation's fractured immigration laws. The president also touted a new effort led by Vice President Joe Biden to fight cancer, aimed at increasing public and private resources and breaking down barriers to collaboration among researchers. Biden's 46-year-old son Beau died last year from brain cancer. Yet Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions he's taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security. His optimism was meant to draw a contrast with what the White House sees as doom-and-gloom scenarios peddled by Republicans. Republicans were largely dismissive of the president's address. House Speaker Paul Ryan, assuming the speaker's traditional seat behind the president for the first time, said Obama's "lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice soundbites, but they don't explain how to" solve problems. Tuesday's address was one of Obama's last opportunities to claim a large television audience as president. However, the State of the Union has suffered a major drop-off in viewers in recent years. The president himself appeared to get momentarily caught up in the emotion of the moment. As he walked toward the exit after his hour-long speech, he turned back to the crowded House chamber and said, "Let me take one more look at this thing." Meanwhile, here's a small sample of how Twitter reacted to Obama's final State of the Union address: The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic - very hard to watch! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 These sleepy kids at the State of the Union were all of us https://t.co/yp6Z6AjJAT Carolina Estrada (@CarolEstrada23) January 13, 2016 Could not agree more with @POTUS: "On issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us." #SOTU John Kerry (@JohnKerry) January 13, 2016 "Public life whithers when only the most extreme voices get attention." @Potus #SOTU My favorite line tonight. True in life & on twitter. yvette nicole brown (@YNB) January 13, 2016 I love Obama. But something was missing from this #SOTU. Very little for marginalized communities. Very little. Christina Coleman (@ChrissyCole) January 13, 2016 Thank you Barack. Thank you. One more year to go. Let's get criminal justice reform done this year! #SOTU Russell Simmons (@UncleRUSH) January 13, 2016 Clinton's final #SOTU: 31.5 million viewers Bush's final SOTU: 37.5 million viewers Obama's final SOTU: we'll find out tomorrow Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 13, 2016 Only time Ryan applauded was when Obama talked @ admitting Muslims. Because we are never stronger than we admit people who hate us. #SOTU Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 13, 2016 AP LOS MOCHIS, Mexico Immensely rich from flooding the United States with cocaine, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman could afford the fastest cars on earth - but in an ironic twist of fate, the one he hijacked as he tried to avoid recapture was a clunker. Guzman and a top henchman stole a white Volkswagen Jetta at gunpoint as they emerged from a drainage tunnel on Friday after crawling a mile through an underground drain from a house they were using. Mexican marines had raided the house. With 113,218 miles (182,208 km) on its odometer, the grubby car was well past its prime. The seats were torn and the leather steering wheel cover was peeling off. A local mechanic said on Tuesday the owner of the vehicle said the transmission was damaged. Guzman ditched the car after driving around a mile, and stole a second vehicle, a red Ford Focus. After stealing that car, witnesses said, he obeyed the rules of the road and waited at a stop light for around two minutes. "They respected the law," said Karim Barajas, 42, who works at a car repair shop opposite where Guzman dumped the first car and took the second. "They set off normally, nice and slow." The capo, who is now back in the same maximum security prison he escaped from six months ago, almost got away. Federal police chasing reports of stolen cars had no idea they were onto the world's most wanted drug lord. "No-one knew who was in the cars," said local police chief Gerardo Amarillas. (Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Chaitanya Mallapur India is the largest recipient of loans from the World Bank, amounting to $102.1 billion, between 1945 and 2015 (as on July 21, 2015), according to the Banks lending report. While the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a part of the World Bank group, has lent $52.7 billion, the International Development Association (IDA), a multilateral concessional lender of World Bank, has loaned $49.4 billion to India over the last 70 years. The Ministry of Finance tabled an updated figure of $103 billion (IBRD$53 billion and IDA$50 billion) in a reply to the Lok Sabha (Parliaments lower house) last month. Indias loans from the World Bank stand at $104 billion (IBRD$54 billion and IDA$50 billion) as on December 31, 2015. Of this, the World Bank has disbursed $73 billion, with India repaying $37 billion. India is followed by Brazil ($58.8 billion), China ($55.6 billion), Mexico ($54 billion) and Indonesia ($50.5 billion). The World Bank has been lending funds to India for rural and urban development projects related to transport, water and irrigation, health, power and agriculture. IBRD is the worlds largest development bank and hopes to eliminate poverty by 2030. IDA is the largest multi-lateral source of concessional finance to boost growth and cut poverty. While IBRD provides loans and assistance to primarily middle-income countries, IDA helps the worlds poorest nations. World Bank (including IBRD and IDA) assistance in 2015 was $42.4 billion, as on July 21, 2015. Africa ($11.6 billion) was the largest recipient, followed by South Asia ($7.9 billion). IBRD is committed to lend $23.5 billion in fiscal 2015; IDA, $18.9 billion. India received 9% ($2.1 billion) of IBRD commitments, the largest to any country in 2015 and, after Bangladesh, the second-largest ($1.7 billion) in terms of IDA assistance ($1.9 billion). Water, sanitation and flood projects in India received the most World Bank funding (27%), followed by finance (19%), transportation (18%), education (11%), public administration and law (10%), agriculture (8%), health and social service (4%), information and communication (2%), and energy and mining (1%). India received a loan of $3.8 billion in 2015, the largest in the sub-continent, followed by China ($1.8 billion) in East Asia and Pacific, Nigeria ($1.5 billion) in Africa, Ukraine ($1.3 billion) in Europe and Central Asia, Morocco ($1.1 billion) in the Middle East and North Africa and Brazil ($0.6 billion) in Latin America and the Caribbean region. The undisbursed balance (loan/credit/grant amount still available) from the World Bank for India was $16.6 billion in 2015. Gross disbursements to India in 2015 were $2.7 billion, with India repaying $2.2 billion. The World Bank and the government of India recently signed a $50-million credit line for Nai Manzil, an educational and skills training programme for minorities, on December 30, 2015. The project size is $100 million (Rs 650crore), of which half will come from the IDA and half from the union budget . (Mallapur is a policy analyst with IndiaSpend.) (Indiaspend.org is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit.) Tehran: Iran's Revolutionary Guards in a statement early on Wednesday confirmed they had seized two American boats and 10 sailors in "Iranian territory" near the Farsi island in the Gulf. "At 4.30 pm (1.00 pm GMT) Tuesday, two American combat boats carrying 10 armed marines who had entered Iranian territory were seized by the combat units of the Guards naval force and moved to Farsi island," an official statement said. "Passengers of the American boats, including nine men and one woman, (are being treated) with the Islamic conduct customary of the soldiers of the Guards naval forces, and they are in good health and being kept in a proper location," it added. Two aircraft carriers, the USS Harry S Truman and France's Charles de Gaulle, were both in international waters near Farsi island when the US boats were captured, the statement said. The Iranian Fars news agency, which is close to the Guards, reported that the "violating boats were 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) inside Iranian territory". "This information was recorded on their GPS devices, and the Guards have got hold of that information," it said. US officials were scrambling to recover US Navy personnel who lost radio contact and were apprehended after straying into Iranian waters. Senior US officials said yesterday they had received assurances from Tehran that the crews -- take to Farsi island -- would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. But it appeared likely that the embarrassing crisis would last at least until after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, with whom he struck the Iran nuclear deal. Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, but Kerry and Zarif forged a tie during the long negotiations for the pact and are in regular contact. "He has a close relationship with foreign minister Zarif and that would be a natural point of contact," White House communications director Jen Psaki told CNN. "We have been in touch with the Iranians. We have been assured of their safety and that they will be able to move forward on their journey promptly," she said. "Obviously, any situation like this we take very seriously, and that's why we acted very quickly to get in touch and determine as much as we can." A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one or both of the vessels small patrol boats may have had a "mechanical incident." Farsi Island lies in the Gulf, roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and houses a base of Iran's Republican Guard Corps, which has its own naval units. The tiny territory extends Iranian waters deep into one of the world's most important shipping lanes, an oil superhighway and potential military flashpoint. "Earlier today, we lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain," a senior US administration official said. American officials did not dispute that the vessels appeared to have been in Iranian territorial waters when they were intercepted by Tehran's forces. "At this early stage," another senior administration official said, there is "nothing to indicate that" Iran had committed a hostile act. Ben Rhodes, a top national security aide for Obama, said the administration was "hopeful we will be able to resolve the issue." Obama is expected to use his much-heralded final State of the Union address to burnish his legacy, hailing, among other things, the nuclear deal with Iran. The deal foresees the Islamic republic scaling back its nuclear program to put a bomb outside its immediate reach in exchange for relief from international sanctions. The deal is to be implemented very soon Kerry has said "in the coming days" but has been criticized by Obama's US opponents as too soft on Tehran. AFP Kabul: The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, which Afghan officials said left at least seven members of the security forces dead. In a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, US monitors of militant groups, the "Khorasan Province of the Islamic State" said three of its "soldiers" attacked the consulate in Jalalabad, capital of the volatile province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. It claimed to have killed "dozens" of consulate staff. Afghan officials said seven members of the security forces were killed in the attack. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven people were injured during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad and ended with a gun battle between Afghan security forces and militants. He said that three attackers were killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at around 9 am. The siege ended when the two gunmen, who had taken position in a guesthouse close to the consulate, were killed at around 12:30 pm local time, Khyogani said. Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the dead included three police and two intelligence service officers, one each from the army and border police. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said. It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistan embassy or consulate in Afghanistan, an official at the Pakistani embassy said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad's perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated, officials said. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up, officials said. The embassy official said all consular staff were evacuated. In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned what it called "the terrorist attack" on its Jalalabad consulate and requested a thorough investigation. One official at the consulate was slightly injured by broken glass, it said in a statement. Nangarhar is home to a number of insurgent groups and criminal gangs who benefit from the proximity to the Pakistan border. Insurgent attacks are not uncommon in Jalalabad. The Islamic State group has established a presence in the province, having fought with Taliban gunmen in recent months to take control of at least four border districts. The attack comes two days after Islamabad hosted a meeting of representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss ending the Taliban's 14-year insurgency. Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though the Pakistani government denies the claim. The Taliban has split in recent months, with the insurgents divided over their support for a peace process. The attack is the latest in a spate of violence since the start of 2016, which could be a tough year for Afghanistan as insurgents are expected to escalate the violence in order to enter into any peace negotiations from a position of strength. During the first week of January a restaurant frequented by foreigners in Kabul and a contractor camp on the outskirts of the capital were attacked, and the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was besieged for more than 24 hours. Further south, in Helmand province, the governor of Gereshk district in the poppy-growing river valley, said that nine police were killed overnight Tuesday in a Taliban assault. Mohammad Ashraf said two others were wounded. He had no further details. Helmand has seen fierce fighting between Taliban and government forces in recent months. Helmand is the source of opium that produces most of the world's heroin and provides an important funding source for the insurgency. AP BAMAKO (Reuters) - Soldiers from Mali's ruling junta overran the main barracks of the presidential guard in the capital Bamako on Tuesday, striking a heavy blow to the loyalist unit that has been fighting since Monday to reverse a March coup. Dozens of residents near the Djicoroni camp, scene of heavy shooting since late Monday, broke into applause when junta soldiers entered the deserted compound and fired their weapons into the air in celebration, a Reuters witness said. "I saw the bodies of three red berets in a pool of blood," a witness, Demba Coulibaly said. Another witness said he counted at least 10 dead bodies in and around the camp. Members of the red beret presidential guard unit launched an attack on key sites in and around Bamako late on Monday in an apparent attempt to unseat the military junta, which has been in power since a March 22 coup. At least 15 people were killed in the overnight fighting, which centred on the state television broadcaster, the airport and the main camps of the rival military factions, according to medical sources. The junta issued a statement early on Tuesday saying it remained in control despite the counter-coup effort, which it said was backed by foreign fighters, though gunfire continued to ring out in parts of the city by the afternoon. Junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo said on state television the red berets should put down their weapons and hand themselves over to junta authorities. He also said he believed the counter-coup attempt was backed by foreigners. "The events yesterday were probably by mercenaries from elsewhere with backing from some paratroopers," Sanogo, wearing a green beret and uniform and perched on a white sofa, said over state television. ECOWAS PURSUES DIALOGUE Sanogo's junta overthrew Toure on March 22 after an army mutiny fuelled by frustration over the government's handling of a Tuareg rebellion in the vast desert north that has since split the country in two. The coup, which derailed April elections meant to replace Toure, has been internationally condemned. West African regional bloc ECOWAS has said it plans to deploy more than 3,000 troops to oversee a transition back to democratic rule. Speaking to a local radio station overnight, Sanogo said Monday's fighting broke out after he had sent some units to the presidential guard barracks to tell them that Malian forces should remain united during the transition. "During the exchange between my guys and the paratroopers, some of them decided to battle us once and for all," he said. "They tried to seize Kati (army base), take control of the radio and television and the airport. But we had been prepared. We managed to kill some and capture others. Among the captives there are foreign troops that we'll show on TV." An official at the emergency services of the Gabriel Toure hospital in Bamako said they had recorded 11 dead by gunshots and about 30 wounded as of Monday night, while another doctor at a hospital in Kati said they had recorded four deaths. Djibril Bassole, Burkina Faso's foreign minister and an ECOWAS mediator in the crisis, said the bloc had sent no troops to Mali yet - denying rumours in Bamako that the regional body had sent commandos to help with the counter coup. "No decision has been taken in that light," Bassole told Reuters by telephone from Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou. Bassole said planned talks in Ouagadougou between the junta and ECOWAS mediators on Tuesday had been cancelled because a plane sent the previous day to collect junta officials had not been allowed to land in Bamako. "As ECOWAS mediators, we are still available to continue the dialogue, which will help Mali normalise its political institutions and bring the army to submit itself under the authority of a civilian government," Bassole said. The director of Bamako's airport told Reuters on Tuesday that the airport was shut due to the fighting. The renewed fighting marks a serious setback for the gold-producing West African nation after the junta had agreed to an interim government as a first step to restoring constitutional order after the coup. Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the transitional government, urged Malians to remain hopeful. "The prime minister and government would like to urge people to stay calm and invites them stay hopeful. The PM would like to reassure them that he was taking all measures to restore normality," he said on state television. (Additional reporting by Cheikh Amadou Diouara and Bate Felix; Writing by Bate Felix and Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Michael Roddy) Washington: President Barack Obama on Tuesday told Americans nervous about terror and the changing economy that they should not fear the future, in a farewell State of the Union address that drew sharp contrast with Republicans. In an election-year marquee event, Obama hailed a period of "extraordinary change" laden with both opportunity and the risk of wider inequality. A confident Obama sought to cast himself as an optimistic foil to foes who warn the country is going in the wrong direction after his seven years in office. While vowing to work to find a cure for cancer, accelerate the shift away from "dirty energy" and end the last remnants of the Cold War by engaging with Cuba, Obama said "America has been through big changes before." "Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears." With less than three weeks until the Iowa caucuses -- the first votes cast in the process to replace him, Obama berated talking points used by Republican candidates, saying "anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction." He also lashed out at rhetoric over the rise of the Islamic State group, which he admitted poses an "enormous danger." But he emphasized: "They do not threaten our national existence." "Over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands," he said. "Our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage." Last chance Tuesday's primetime address was perhaps Obama's last big opportunity to sway a national audience and frame the 2016 election race. Around 30 million viewers are expected to watch live, a nationwide audience that may only be matched in political terms during the Democratic nominating convention later this year. But it risked being overshadowed by news that 10 US Navy personnel have been taken to an Iranian naval base in the Gulf. Senior US officials said they had received assurances the crews would sail onwards come first light, but Republicans have held the crisis up as evidence that Obama was naive to engage with Tehran. In an unorthodox speech that tried to lift the country's gaze beyond the next year, and beyond his presidency, Obama also tackled the country's broken politics. "It's one of the few regrets of my presidency -- that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he said in a moment of personal candor. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee Ill keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office." South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is expected to say in her rebuttal of Obama's address that "the president's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words." "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels." She will also cite "chaotic unrest in many of our cities" and "the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th." AFP Washington: Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are neck and neck down the stretch to the first vote in the US presidential nominating contest, while Hillary Clinton struggles to repel a surging Bernie Sanders, polls showed. With the Iowa caucuses 20 days away, the US presidential contest was on the boil, with several candidates barnstorming the heartland state and New Hampshire as they jockey for early bragging rights in the race to the November 2016 general election. Celebrity billionaire Trump and conservative Senator Cruz are walking away with the Republican race in Iowa, but the pair are within a hair of one another, according to three polls released Monday and Tuesday. The latest survey by Quinnipiac University shows Trump leading with 31 percent support to Cruz's 29, while Senator Marco Rubio remains a distant third at 15 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is fourth with seven percent. Public Polling Policy's survey Tuesday shows Trump leading Cruz 28-26, with Rubio at 13 percent, while ARG's Monday poll has Trump with a four-point lead over Cruz, with Rubio in third. "The Iowa Republican Caucuses are tight as a tick entering the final two weeks of the campaign," Quinnipiac poll assistant director Peter Brown said. Cruz fares better than Trump with voters on characteristics such as honesty, empathy, experience and shared values, he said. "But they see the New York businessman as better able to handle some key issues. Trump is way ahead on handling the economy and terrorism." Trump has shocked many in the American electorate with his anti-Muslim remarks and other divisive comments. Like Trump, first-term Senator Cruz has sought to portray himself as a Washington outsider railing against the establishment. Perhaps hoping to burnish that image, campaign staff said Cruz was in New Hampshire and would not be in the US Capitol Tuesday night for President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address to Congress. On the Democratic side, Clinton remains the frontrunner nationally, but she is being tested by Sanders, an independent senator and self-described democratic socialist. She is particularly under the gun in New Hampshire, where Sanders has opened up a 14-point lead, 53 percent to 39 percent, according to a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday. It marks a dramatic swing from November, when the poll showed Clinton leading by three points there. Maryland's former governor Martin O'Malley, the only other Democrat in the race, is a distant third in all polls. New Hampshire borders Sanders's state of Vermont and is where he would likely shine brightest in the early contests. But the unlikely challenger is doing well in Iowa, too. Clinton and Sanders have split the lead there in recent surveys, but a poll average compiled by RealClearPolitics.com show Sanders making steady gains in Iowa while Clinton has slumped. The pair are now in a dead heat in Iowa, while national polls show Sanders has closed the gap to its smallest margin yet: Clinton now leads nationally by an average of 12.8 points. AFP Despite pressure from the Chinese government, Pakistan is unlikely to change the constitutional status of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which is also claimed by India as part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The reason is that it would encourage PoK to demand the same status and it will put India and Pakistan on a fresh collision course. Previously, people in Pakistan were apprehensive about giving GB the full province status, as it would become the only province with Shia majority, while all other provinces are Sunni majority. Despite the still influential locals like Mirs and Rajas (similar to Nawab rulers, or Maharajas) executing instruments of accession, which are still pending acceptance, it is unlikely that the Pakistani state would accord GB a provisional status. Gilgit-Baltistan region is neither a province of Pakistan nor part of the federation. It is a part of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, which was divided between India and Pakistan, and is directly ruled from Islamabad, although it doesn't enjoy the constitutional status similar to, for example, the Punjab province, which has representatives in the Pakistan parliament. Reports of Pakistani establishment flirting with idea of changing the constitutional of GB came nine months after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed the CPEC agreement with Chinese premier Xi Jinping that would shorten Chinese's road to Middle East and Central Asia by around 12,070 km and also bring an economic windfall in the form of oil and markets. The CPEC is a $46 billion infrastructure plan set to link China's western city of Kashgar to the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, with a network of roads, highways, railways and investment parks. India has raised objections to the project, which envisions road and train networks through Pakistan occupied Kashmir, divided between the so-called Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, which India claims as part of its territory. To accommodate the legal concerns of China for its multi-billion-dollar investment plan in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Pakistani government is said to be mulling to change the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan region, which is also claimed by India. But if economics prevails over politics and Gilgit-Balistan gets an elevated status in Pakistan's Constitution, it will also imply a tactical shift of the country's traditional policy on Kashmir and ultimately pave way for the complete merger of the territory with Pakistan which will have a ripple effect on the Kashmir dispute. However, Director of New Delhi-based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, D Suba Chandran, told Firstpost it wouldnt be easy for the mainstream in Pakistan to accord constitutional status of a province to Pakistan as it would become the only province with Shia majority, while all other provinces are Sunni majority. They need to have a debate in Parliament first. People have been and would be apprehensive about GB given the full province status. Second, it is for administrative reason; for example on issues of Indus water treaty, mainstream Pakistan has always been treating GB as a colony. If its status is increased, then they will have to be given equal rights like any other province of Pakistan. For that reason, Pakistan would think twice. If they are able to change its current status it wont be, for sure, be a status of province, Chandran, told Firstpost. "There is consensus in both the areas (Gilgit Baltistan and 'Azad Jammu Kashmir') that they should be given rights equal to other provinces of Pakistan. However GB wants full fledged provincial status and Pakistani side of Kashmir wants rights equal to provinces without making it a province. My view is that both should be entered in the Constitution of Pakistan as special territories, with rights similar to other provinces without making them formally provinces, he said. But Justice Syed Manzoor Hussain Gilani, a former judge at the Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, points out to Firstpost via email that the reforms in the constitutional status have been a continuous process since 1975. Gilani, who has been a vocal supporter of provincial status for PoK, says he wished that GB along with PoK would be granted a similar status without compromising the basic stand on the Kashmir issue. If at all it happens, then the Pakistani government has to similarly and simultaneously accord the same status to PoK, so that there is no impression that Pakistan treats the two parts distinctively and on economic considerations. This is unlikely to happen, observers feel. Regulation of any part of state for administrative and economic purposes pending implementation of UN-resolutions is a step to afford local self determination and prosperity to these areas in the mainstream of the country. Gilani adds. After Kashmir got divided between India and Pakistan, both the countries have administrated the territories of the state under their control. But while Indian constitution provides for same rights to its citizens living in Kashmir in representative institutions, like any other state, Pakistan has avoided giving representation to people living on its side of Kashmir or Gilgit-Baltistan region in its institutions of governance. Observers have argued in the past that justice and fair play also demand that people of these territories in PoK must not be kept hostage to a resolution of state, and that them being out of mainstream deprives them of governance and other issues. Meanwhile, the move has created a flutter in the divided parts of Kashmir. Last Saturday, the Pakistan occupied Kashmir government declared that it will oppose and protest any move to convert Gilgit-Baltistan into a province of Pakistan. In Srinagar, JKLF chief, Mohammad Yasin Malik, unveiled an open letter to the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, noting that any move to change the constitutional status of GB will amount to "backstabbing" the sentiments of people who have died in Kashmir conflict. Clearly, the last word on the issue has not been spoken yet. Arne Dahl: The Complete Second Season Based on stories by Jan Arnald Starring Malin Arvidsson, Shanti Roney, Alexander Salzberger, Natalie Minnevik, Magnus Samuelsson, Vera Vitali, Niklas Akerfelt. SYNOPSIS: After two years of being disbanded, Swedens National Police A Unit is brought back into action following a series of brutal murders. The team must negotiate a delicate balance between their personal lives and service to the work and careers Based on the writings of Swedish crime scribe Jan Arnald (the shows title is a near rearrangement of his name) Arne Dahl is a tightly wound exploration of national and international crime scenarios. Featuring five stories developed from Arnalds Intercrime novels, the series of 10 episodes examines a range of high impact subjects, with murderous intent and terrorist activity never far from the perimeter. Taking the successful TV crime formula of standalone cases alongside developing personal stories, the series is part of a rich Scandinavian tradition of energised and creative crime shows. The series, produced by Filmlance the same Swedish production team responsible for The Bridge, offers a tense, action-packed collection of crime tales. Much like that example of intelligent crime TV, Arne Dahl provides well drawn characters pitted against the basest of human instincts. After being on something of a sabbatical since the end of the first season, the group of specialist police A-Unit are brought back into service following some grisly Stockholm murders. The group, now headed up by Kerstin Holm (Malin Arvidsson) following former chief Jenny Hultins retirement, are primed for the sort of high impact international crimes that TV tecs thrive on. These include international prostitution, terrorism, rival drug gangs and corruption going to the highest level. Consisting of Holm and a team of agents with various abilities and specialities, the show brings the range of knowledge and different personalities out in between sporadic bouts of frenetic action. Kerstins on-off love interest Paul (Shanti Roney) is now working in Internal Affairs, but hes never too far from the action or Kerstins thoughts. Its this mixture of the personal and the procedural that makes Arne Dahl such a class act. Robert W Monk is a freelance journalist and film writer. Letv, one of the popular Chinese brands, yesterday announced its new brand identity LeEco at an event in China at its Global Brand Upgrade press conference under the theme of A New Eco World. It also introduced a new brand logo for the Le Ecosystem and its seven sub-ecosystems. LeEco will enter into the Indian market on January 20, 2016 with the Le Max smartphone. It is also expected to launch the Le 1s at the event. Regarding the design of the new logo and its future plans for global expansion, LeEco, said: The new logo consists of the letters L and E, conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world with its simple and elegant design. The four strokes which comprise LE each represent one of the four tiers of the Le Ecosystem Platform, Content, Device and Application. The dot formed by the overlapping of two strokes symbolizes the pivot of the entire ecosystem: EUI and Le Fans. The connection and interaction between the letters L and E expresses the LeEco spirit of constant disruption, breaking boundaries and eco synergy. The three colors of blue, red and green plus the all-inclusive color of grey represent the integration of technology, culture and the Internet within the Le Ecosystem. LeEcos new logo, the result of many rounds of revision and refinement, consists of the letters L and E, conveying the quintessence of the Le Eco world in a simple and elegant design. Since its establishment, the LeEco company has undergone three logo changes, each time disrupting the traditional industry while transforming itself. The current upgrade of the Le Ecosystem brand means that LeEco is looking beyond the Chinese domestic market to compete with global Fortune 500 giants such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix and is ready to make disruptive changes on the global scale. Regarding LeEcos strategic goal of globalization, Ablikim Ablimit, Le Holdings Vice President of Strategy, said: The word TV has been eliminated from all sub-ecosystem logos, showing that LeEco has fully grown from a video website in 2004 into a full-featured eco world integrating Platform, Content, Device and Application. After the full implementation of LeEcos seven sub-ecosystems in 2015, LeEcos strategic focus in 2016 will be on globalization, global open ecosystem, and achieving perfect synergy among the sub-ecosystems. LeEcos strategic goal of globalization is to not only make its products available in major global markets but also bring its entire ecosystem to major regions and countries of the world, and provide the ultimate experience and superior value to users in those countries and regions. LeEcos strategic priorities in this regard are countries and regions with huge potential for breakthrough innovation or with high-speed growth such as the U.S. and India. Meanwhile, it will also keep on expanding in Southeast Asia markets including Hong Kong. First off, we have some exciting news to share. Last week, The Motley Fool's Foolanthropy campaign supporting this year's partner, Fistula Foundation, met and exceeded our original goal of $75,000. (Visit the site here.) We're tremendously thankful and touched by the outpouring of generosity for this cause. We've provided the funding for life-changing surgeries for nearly 200 women afflicted with fistula. Of course, our culture here at The Motley Fool focuses on exceeding goals and consistently outperforming -- in investing and everything else. Therefore we're rallying and aiming to exceed our $100,000 fundraising stretch goal before the campaign ends on Jan. 31. In a bit of coincidental but perfect timing, Kate Grant, CEO of Fistula Foundation, visited our headquarters last week -- within 24 hours of when our Foolanthropy campaign achieved that base goal. Kate's visit was an occasion of celebration, sharing, and inspiration, and we learned even more about the organization's incredible work helping women afflicted with fistula to reclaim their lives. I had the opportunity to sit down with Kate for a few minutes so she could share a few of the salient points about fistula and the organization's hard-hitting, cost-effective work. You can watch our interview in the following video. Kate's comments give you a quick overview of why the organization's work is wonderful and important. One powerful aspect of charitable giving that Kate and I talked about -- on camera and off -- is the concept of the "ripple effect" of good. This is what we mean when we talk about the power of "maximized giving" -- when your dollars make a heck of a lot of impact. Kate shares the success story of former patient Sarah Omega, who exemplifies the ripple effect, showing how the Fistula Foundation's outreach has positive effects that reach far beyond the individual, medical benefits of a simple surgery. Curing this terrible condition can allow a woman to reunite with her family, reintegrate with her community, and regain her productivity. This frees otherwise suppressed human potential, which benefits the patient, her loved ones, and her community in both a psychological and economical sense. In Sarah Omega's story, we can see how the benefits can radiate outward to an even greater degree than we realize when we donate to a philanthropic endeavor. Today, Sarah's entire life has turned around, and she works as a fistula advocate in Kenya, raising awareness and reaching out to help other women find their way to treatment and regain their lives, just as she did. In short, the $450 price tag for the life-transforming surgeries that the Fistula Foundation arranges sounds like a better "investment" all the time -- in fact, it's impossible to know how much good they could end up doing across the world. Giving all year round Over the course of this campaign, we've aimed not only to spread awareness of this issue, but also to raise money to help hundreds of women -- and thanks to the many people who have been generous with their time and money, we can call our campaign a success. As of this writing, we've raised enough money from our generous members, readers, and friends of the Motley Fool community to fund surgeries for approximately 178 women. However, we'd love to start 2016 on a giving note, showing that philanthropy can be on all of our minds all year round by blasting through that stretch goal. Visit the Foolanthropy fundraising site, and remember: Even spreading the word about fistula and the Fistula Foundation is a great contribution to the cause. Aeropostale Inc. said it will cut 100 jobs, or about 13% of staff, as part of a program that is expected to generate between $35 million and $40 million in annual pre-tax savings. The mall-based teen retailer said in a release Tuesday that the savings will be achieved in fiscal 2016. The company expects to record about $1.5 million in pre-tax expenses during fiscal 2015 related to the program. The company's Chief Executive Officer Julian Geiger has relinquished 1 million in stock options that will be used "by the company solely for the purposes of motivating and retaining other key members of the organization," the release said. The company reaffirmed its fourth-quarter guidance, forecasting a loss between 4 cents and 17 cents per share. This forecast doesn't include the impact of the job cuts, store impairments or unexpected closures, lease buyout costs or real estate consulting fees. Aeropostale will announce fourth-quarter 2015 earnings on Mar. 10. Aeropostale stock is down 92% for the previous 12 months while the S&P is down 4.4% for the same period. Copyright 2016 MarketWatch, Inc. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ - New Privacy Policy Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled down 63 cents at $30.22 a barrel. Before settle, the future briefly fell below $30, marking the first time that has happened since April 2004. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) settled up 4 cents, or .13%, to $30.48. The energy sector's decline Tuesday came after the Energy Information Administration released the latest inventories data. The figures showed crude stockpiles rose by 234,000 last week, well below expectations for a 2.5 million barrel build. However, much bigger-than-expected builds in distillate and gasoline stockpiles sparked renewed fears about a global supply glut. Distillate inventories saw a 6.14 million barrel gain, compared to forecasts for 1.98 million new barrels, while gasoline stockpiles saw 8.44 million barrels come online, far more than the expectation for 2.7 million barrels. The worries pressured prices, causing both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices to turn negative before settling out broadly mixed. As IG Market Analyst Joshua Mahony said in a noted how quickly gains from strong Chinese trade data and a possible cut in Russian crude output, came crumbling down. Much like a house of cards, something that took the whole day to build has been blown in the space of five minutes. The fact that a lower-than-expected U.S. crude inventories figure would typically be supportive for oil prices goes to show that for now, the oil market is finding buyers hard to come by in the face of such intense selling, he explained. The energy sector had been the biggest gainer of all 10 S&P 500 sectors so far for Wednesdays session, thanks in part to Tuesdays data from the American Petroleum Institute, which showed a surprise draw in crude supplies, and strong oil consumption data out of China overnight. However, the fresh data forced the energy sector to reconsider its position, making it the second-biggest decliner behind consumer staples. In a research note Wednesday morning, Sean Lynch, Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) co-head of global equity strategy, said any developments in the energy sector are likely to continue to dominate the markets focus. For some context, while the major averages on Wall Street saw their worst start to a new year last week, the energy sector was not immune to the bloodletting: It was the biggest loser of all 10 sectors. The stock market will likely be more focused, once again, on the price of crude oil as commodity prices seek a bottom, Lynch wrote. Our commodities team is looking for the price of West-Texas-Intermediate crude oil to be in the $45 to $55 range at the end of this year, up from the $31.41 level at market close on January 11. WTI has settled to the downside, shedding a total of 17.82% over the last seven-consecutive sessions. Its the longest losing streak since July 2014 when the market fell for nine-straight sessions. On Wednesday, U.S. crude prices saw their lowest settlement value since December 2003 after prices slumped below the psychologically-significant $30 per barrel range. If you didnt know already, President Obama is on a clean energy kick, weaving the industrys benefits into his final State of the Union address. Weve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy, he said. Instead, he praised the clean energy industry as being cost efficient and a creator of jobs: Solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills and employs more Americans than coal in jobs that pay better than average. He also noted, wind power is cheaper than dirty, conventional power. These remarks may bode well for solar stocks in the coming year. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) may have gotten a jump on those investments. Earlier this month the firm turned more bullish on First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), predicting the stock will be a strong performer in 2016. It also lifted price targets on SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWE) and 8point3 Energy Partners (NASDAQ:CAFD), a limited partnership owned by First Solar and SunPower to own, operate and acquire solar energy generation projects. Ticker Security Last Change Change % FSLR FIRST SOLAR INC. 120.21 -1.10 -0.91% SCTY MONITRONICS INTERNATIONAL INC. 0.25 +0.00 +0.00% SPWR SUNPOWER CORP. 15.89 -0.93 -5.53% CAFD n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Elon Musks SolarCity (NASDAQ:SCTY) is also favored by the firm despite its ongoing fued with Nevadas Republican Governor Brian Sandoval. The states Public Utilities Commission is cutting rebates to customers. As a result, the company is cutting 550 workers in the state and attempting to relocate affected employees to business-friendly states, according to a company press release. Earlier this week, Arch Coal filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, becoming the 49th coal company to do so. The filing could be viewed as another ominous warning for an industry that has been crippled by a rash of bankruptcies driven by tougher U.S. regulation and foreign competition. Speaking on FOX Business Network ahead of the presidents address, Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy Corporation, warned these bankruptcies will hurt Americans on fixed incomes. They are going to see their electric rates and all their fuel costs skyrocket, he said. Murray, who is a vocal critic of the presidents clean energy policies, added he has, destroyed the American power gridit is not only a case of cost, its also reliability. As for corporate America in general, in a departure from last years address, the president did not mention specific companies. In 2015, CVS (NYSE:CVS), UPS (NYSE:CVS), Alphabet-owned Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) got a shout out. This year, he kept it sector specific with a nod to manufacturing and autos, noting, Our auto industry just had its best year ever. Manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. U.S. new-vehicle sales raced to 17.47 million in 2015, besting the previous high of 17.35 million set in 2000. This week the national average for a gallon of gas is $1.956 as tracked by AAA. Iran released ten U.S. sailors on Wednesday after holding them overnight, bringing a swift end to an incident that had rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had freed the sailors after determining they had entered Iranian territorial waters by mistake. The sailors had been detained aboard two U.S. Navy patrol boats in the Gulf on Tuesday. "Our technical investigations showed the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently," the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television. "They were released in international waters after they apologized," it added. IRGC Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi had earlier said that the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters due to a broken navigation system. The incident raised tensions between Iran and the United States, which, along with other world powers, reached a deal last year under which Iran will curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Some conservatives in both countries, enemies since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, have criticized the deal that is due to be implemented in the coming days. Iran's armed forces chief, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, said the incident should demonstrate Iranian strength to "troublemakers" in the U.S. Congress, which has sought to put pressure on Iran after the nuclear deal. And at a presidential campaign rally in the United States, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who accuses President Barack Obama of being weak on foreign policy, described the incident as "an indication of where the hell we're going". DE-ESCALATION Attributing the boats' incursion into Iranian waters to a navigation error marked a de-escalation in rhetoric. Earlier, the Guards had said the boats were "snooping" in Iranian territory and said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had demanded an apology from Washington. The IRGC, the Islamic Republic's praetorian guard, is highly suspicious of U.S. military activity near Iran's borders and many senior officers suspect Washington of pursuing regime change in Tehran. The Guards operate land and naval units separate to the regular armed forces and stage frequent wargames in the Gulf, which separates Iran from its regional rival Saudi Arabia and a U.S. naval base in Bahrain. Last month, the U.S. Navy said an IRGC vessel fired unguided rockets near the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route for crude oil that connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean. Iran denied the vessel had done so. In April 2015, the Guards seized a container ship belonging to Maersk, one of the world's major shipping lines, in the Gulf because of a legal dispute between the company and Iran. The ship and its 24 crew members were released after 10 days. The Guards have also seized British servicemen on two occasions, in 2004 and 2007, and a civilian British yacht crew in 2009. On each occasion the sailors were released unharmed after several days. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Writing by Sam Wilkin; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Peter Graff) President Obama in his final State of the Union address said Americans are living in a time of extraordinary change, one that presents tremendous opportunities but also poses grave threats. Its change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families, the president said in prepared remarks. Obama defended his economic policies, clearly in response to criticism from Republicans that the recovery has been too slow and that large threats remain. The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world, he said. Anyone who claims otherwise, he said, is peddling fiction. Were in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the 90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever. Manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. And weve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters, the president said. Obama delivered his final State of the Union as the race to replace him heats up. Acknowledging that his time in office is limited, the president said this speech will look forward not to the final year he has in office but to the next five or ten years. So lets talk about the future, and four big questions that we as a country have to answer regardless of who the next President is, or who controls the next Congress. First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? As Obama heads into his final year in office, the U.S. is seven years into a recovery from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. During his administration the U.S. economy has rebounded from a threat that put 8.8 million Americans out of work, nearly toppled Wall Street and the U.S. auto industry, and saw stock markets lose half their value. All those jobs have been replaced and then some, but critics argue the quality of jobs created since the crisis was averted has left millions of Americans under-employed and wage growth has struggled to gain momentum. Wall Street is perhaps stronger than ever, too strong perhaps by some measures. The banking industry is still concentrated among a handful of giant financial institutions the too big to fail banks -- and stock market gains have benefited mostly the wealthiest Americans, leaving middle and lower income workers struggling to pay mortgages and cover their monthly bills. Obama said Tuesday that economic policies going forward have to favor working Americans over Wall Street bankers and other wealthy, powerful interests that can use their leverage to influence policy. After all, it wasnt food stamp recipients who caused the financial crisis, he said, recklessness on Wall Street did. After years of record corporate profits, working families wont get more opportunity or bigger paychecks by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at the expense of everyone else; or by allowing attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered, the president said. In this new economy, workers and start-ups and small businesses need more of a voice, not less. The rules should work for them. And this year I plan to lift up the many businesses whove figured out that doing right by their workers ends up being good for their shareholders, their customers, and their communities, so that we can spread those best practices across America. And U.S. markets, while still hovering near all-time highs, are more vulnerable than ever to global hiccups, like the current slowdown in China and other emerging markets. Meanwhile, the recent plunge in worldwide oil prices has put more money in consumers pockets but left the large and important domestic energy sector teetering on the brink of a rash of bankruptcies, a situation that could put thousands of Americans out of work. All of this, however, is perhaps secondary on the minds of many Americans, pushed aside by the threat to national security posed by extremist terrorists, both within the U.S. and abroad. The president defended his administrations record in this arena, as well. I told you earlier all the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air, he said. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. In his State of Union remarks, Obama said many of the problems facing Americans can only be fixed if America mends its broken political system. The future we want opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids all that is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates, the president said. It will only happen if we fix our politics. An American woman who adopted a Chinese boy is searching for his birth parents so that he can meet them before he goes blind. Bennett, 3, was born deaf and diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a rare condition that will cause him to go blind by the time he turns 20, The Telegraph reported. Molly Sano, Bennetts 36-year-old adoptive mother, returned to Shanghai from their Seattle home on Monday, to begin her campaign to find the boys birth parents. Bennett, whose Chinese name is Long Miao, was born to a poor family in Ningbo and abandoned in May 2012, The Telegraph reported. We just hope that he can see his biological parents with his own eyes, creating special visual memories of them before he loses his vision, Sano told China Daily. Sano has been working with local authorities and hospitals to establish possible leads. She also plans to visit the orphanage that cared for Bennett, and a local who used to run an English school is spearheading a campaign on Chinese social media. We want to let them know he is safe and happy and that we love him, Sano said, according to The Telegraph. We have talked about China since he first came home and we want to really honor his birth country and give him the opportunity to meet the family who gave him life. Sano and her husband, who is also deaf, adopted Bennett in February 2014, China Daily reported. He now communicates using American Sign Language. We just knew he was the son wed been waiting for even without looking at his file. Hes the most beautiful boy Ive ever seen, Sano told China Daily. The family also has a 3-year-old daughter. A New Hampshire hospital that discovered its vaccines were stored at inconsistent temperatures is asking more than 800 children to get revaccinated. State public health officials say the affected vaccines from Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon aren't harmful but might have lost some potency. That means they could provide less immunity to disease. The problem occurred over the course of 14 months, from September 2014 to October 2015. The hospital is offering to revaccinate 827 patients at no cost to them or their insurance companies. State epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan says he's confident the hospital is now safely managing refrigeration of its vaccines. There have been no reports of patients coming down with a vaccine-preventable disease after receiving the affected immunizations. A starving newborn who was abandoned near a remote forest settlement in Colombia was saved by a responding police officer who breastfed her while they waited for paramedics. Police officer Luisa Fernanda Urrea responded to the call and found the hours-old baby in bushes, Central European News (CEN) reported. Im a new mother and I have milk and I recognized the needs that this poor little creature had, Urrea told CEN. Medics said without Urreas actions the baby, who was still had part of the umbilical cord attached, might have died. I think any woman would have given her nourishment in the same circumstances, she told CEN. A local who called police after hearing the baby cry said she initially believed it was a cat. The girl had some lacerations and was suffering from hypothermia. However, she was treated quickly and is now in good health, police commandant Javier Martin told CEN. She is currently being cared for by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) while they search for an adoptive family. Police are also searching for the newborns mother who may face charges. The parents of a two-month-old infant whose rare skin condition left her covered in large black moles are raising money for the laser treatment needed to remove them. Wu Zimiao was born with congenital melanocytic nevus, a mole disorder that affects 1 percent of infants, Central European News (CEN) reported. The moles cover patches of skin around the girls left shoulder and right arm, but also appear on her head and back, CEN reported. The condition is caused by mutations in the bodys cells during early embryonic development, the report said, and does not cause physical pain. The moles are typically removed to reduce risk of cancer and to relieve any psychological issues caused by the condition. Doctors in Xinyi Township, in north Chinas Hebei Province, informed Wus parents that the condition is easier to treat in young patients, but it is costly. Wus father, Wu Xianpo, told CEN that he is a migrant worker but he and his wife will find a way to raise money so that their daughter doesnt suffer psychological harm. The University of Southern California has apologized Tuesday following outrage over a required freshman program that has students detail their sexual history in an anonymous training course. USC apologizes for any offense or discomfort caused by optional questions included as part of a mandatory online training for students on sexual consent, misconduct, and other important issues, Senior Vice President for Administration Todd Dickey said in an statement to the New York Daily News. All colleges and universities are required by law to provide training exercise on substance abuse and sexual assault. Dickey told KTTV that the standardized module USC is using is the same one that is being used across the country. However, some of the students were unnerved by the questions the program was asking them. How many times have you had sex (including oral) in the last three months? one question asked. Another asked with how many different people have you had sex (including oral) in the last three months? KTTV reported this is the first time USC students were made to undergo this particular training. Campus Clarity, the company that makes training programs for various campuses, told the Fox affiliate that USC and about 500 other schools use the program to gather information to tailor programs that address sexual assault sand substance abuse. In this case, USC students had to complete the training by Feb. 6 or theyre registration for Fall semester would be on hold. The New York Daily News reported that Jacob Ellenhorn, a student at the university, raised privacy concerns, which prompted the apology statement. He said he was worried about the confidentiality that went along with the survey. It said it was anonymous, but at the same time, they were keeping track of whether I was answering or not, because I wouldnt be able to take classes or graduate without completing it, he said. Asking about my sexual history made me uncomfortable. Another student told The Daily News she found the questions helpful, but was worried about student anonymity. It asked for very personal data. I didnt really like that part, but thats the only way you really get any kind of useful information, Alana Essig told the paper. I hope I can trust it. I didnt like that you had to sign in through your email account, because that makes it feel like its not anonymous. But I didnt fill in any identity-stealing type info, The survey is necessary to keep USC in compliance with the federal Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, according to Campus Reform. Click for more from The New York Daily News. Some facets of President Obamas State of the State address Tuesday we neednt entertain. Therell be empty chair up in the House gallery, next to or not far from the first lady. Brace yourself for a lecture on guns the president (as he did in the Northern Virginia town hall making it clear that while he doesnt want to take away anyones firearms, but safety comes at the price of greater federal vigilance. The president will try to convince us that he has a plan for keeping us safe. Lets see if he can do so without reverting to his professorial days at the University of Chicago (Islam is a religion that practices peace). And hell tell the American people that the economy is going great guns (not this presidents turn of phrase) usually, the second applause line after the state of our union is strong. And what will Mr. Obama offer that will make conservatives eyes roll? Here are four thoughts: 1. The Biden Shout-Out. Not only is it Obamas last SOTU, its also the last time that Vice President Joe Biden will have a seat in the chamber since he came to Washington in 1973 (thats not a typo the mans been a Washington fixture for four decades). 2015 was Bidens annus horribilis. In May, he lost his son, Beau. In October, he passed on his last chance to seek the presidency. By all accounts, Biden has been a loyal vice president. Hes also pushed Obama in directions the President was reluctant to take most notably, same-sex legalization. But this is a national speech in somber times, with lasting international implications. The President should leave the bromantic embrance and Biden pda back at the White House. 2. I Want To Work With You Republicans Even If Everything Is Your Own Damn Fault. No Obama State of the Union would be complete without a (half-hearted) call for bipartisanship, all the while making it clear that its obstinate congressional Republicans to blame for Washington gridlock. From the White Houses perspective, the problem is the GOP as a party of sore losers even with when Republicans have won midterm elections. Sadly, had the President courted, say, someone quite reasonable like Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, hed have heard a different story: for all pre-election talk about changing the tone in Washington, once the Democratic House passed the $825 billion stimulus package a week into the Obama presidency, the well was poisoned. The Presidents last SOTU will only underscore the disconnect. 3. Climate Change. You know its going to happen somewhere between gun control and warmer relations with Cuba. The question: how does Obama present climate change as an extension of his economic agenda, or global scourge sure to kill us all? I live in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown has latched onto climate-change late in his political career with what might be best described as a missionary zeal. Like Obama, Brown lends overheated language to global warming. And, like the President, when not warning about the coming apocalypse, hes browbeating his critics. Theres a smart approach for Brown to take out west link a changing climate to a parched landscape and a fragile economic recovery. Lets see if Obama is anywhere as nuanced back in Washington. Should he trot out the line that climate-change is the greatest threat to the planet? Republicans will groan; viewers may change the channel. 4. The Republican Response. Wait a second, this is about things that will annoy the right, right? Yes, which is why South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haleys response bears mention. Five Republicans have dropped out of the presidential race so far four, with this in common: all were past or present governors. This suggests the conservative grassroots at present isnt interested in two things: establishment figures and executive offering the obligatory as wed done in my state, Ill do in Washington message. Haley, whose name will surface this summer when veep speculation begins, could tell a tale of all shes done in South Carolina: economic expansion, education reform and empathy (she deftly handled last falls shooting at Charlestons AME Emanuel Church. Or, will she use the moment to come out as a Trumpkin (immigration, political correctness and America being pushed around by other nations)? For years, Republicans have struggled with how to stage a strong response to the Obama State of the Union. Bobby Jindal laid an egg; Marco Rubio had that unfortunate water break. Small wonder some Republicans have soured on the tradition. Is it too late to see what Trumps doing Tuesday night? Former President Jimmy Carter recently announced he is now cancer-free. At a spry 91-years, the former president remains active, even continuing his service work with Habitat for Humanity. Thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, he can expect to enjoy more good health and time with his family despite having just undergone cancer treatment for a second time. While President Carter's restored health is cause for celebration, tens of thousands of other Americans with terminal illnesses will not have this happy ending. And federal laws bear some blame. According to President Obamas Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, it takes 14 years to bring a new drug to market in the U.S. up from eight years in the 1960s. Even the so-called "accelerated approval" of drugs often works at a snails pace. Consider Keytruda, the cutting-edge treatment credited with eliminating President Carters cancer. The FDA claimed it approved the drug in a matter of months. When we went back into the FDA records and calculated the actual time it took to approve the drug, from the filing of an Individual New Drug application to final approval, we found that it actually took years. The FDA said it took 9 months and 13 days to first approve this treatment in 2014. But, in reality, the total approval time was 4 years, 8 months, and 25 days. How many Americans could Keytruda have saved during that four-year wait? Promising new drugs are coming online too slow, especially for patients who have run out of options. But patients are finding a promising new avenue for hope in Right to Try laws that have been adopted in 24 states. Under these laws, patients who have exhausted standard treatment options have the right, under the care of their physician, to try to save their lives with investigational treatments. To qualify, a drug must have completed basic safety testing and continue to be under study at the FDA. In practical terms, this means promising drugs like Keytrudathat eventually make it to marketcan start helping patients and saving lives years sooner. The FDA is a federal agency, so fixing this problem should be Congresss responsibility. But for decades, gridlock in Washington has blocked a solution. Multiple bills have been introduced in Congress to expand access for terminal patients to drugs stuck in the FDA pipeline, but most have gone nowhere. Seeing the inaction on Capitol Hill, the Cancer Treatments Centers for America (CTCA) came to us for help. They wanted to know if there was anything the states could do to help those dying from terminal diseases access innovative treatments that could save their lives. Then CTCA CEO-Steve Bonner recalls, I just asked the question: Youre talking about years and people with late-stage cancer dont have years. So is there a possible exception we could carve out here for cancer patients? As I listened to Bonner and his colleagues, I immediately thought of my uncle Kenny. He died when I was about four years old from Hodgkins lymphomaa form of cancer for which there are now multiple treatments with very high cure rates. He was my fathers only brother, and I distinctly remember my dad saying, when I was growing up, that Uncle Kenny had died just months before a new treatment was approved. At that moment it hit me: If Kenny had been allowed to try that treatment earlier, my father might still have his brother, and my cousins might still have their father. The idea that the federal government was standing in the way of people fighting for their lives was infuriating. Its one thing for people to die because science has not come up with a treatment yet. Its quite another for someone to die when a treatment exists, but a patient cant get access to it because of governmental obstacles. If Washington will not fix the problem, we will. El Chapo totally gets the American psyche. The worlds most vicious drug lord, presumed to have rivers of blood on his hands, plays the sympathy card in his interview with Sean Penn, and finds a willing accomplice. He says his was a very humble family, very poor; he laments that where he came from there were no job opportunities, so the only way to have food, to survive, is to grow poppy, marijuana, andI began to grow it, to cultivate it and to sell it. To quote the late Leonard Bernstein hes depraved on account of hes deprived. El Chapo wants a pity party, and Penn, who describes Joaquin Guzman as a simple man from a simple place, naturally obliges. Wait for it any minute now some bleeding heart will decry his manacles as the go-to accessories of income inequality. Penn not only sympathizes with the drug kingpins childhood, he falls backwards trying to paint him in a positive light, imbuing him with charisma and chivalry. Upon meeting, Penn talks of Guzmans warm and hospitable smile, his affectionate sons and concludes he does not strike me as the big bad wolf of lore. Even his homicides are sanitized because, after all, El Chapo is a businessman first, and only resorts to violence when he deems it advantageous to himself or his business interests. So comforting. Of course, Penns real message is that Americans are responsible for El Chapos drug empire; as consumers they are complicit in every murder, in every corruption of an institutions ability to protect the quality of life for citizens of Mexico and the United States Yes, its not El Chapos fault; the murders and terror, the addictions and overdoses someone else is to blame. It seems like everyone is mad about something. Heres what cooks my grits: the increasing tendency to make excuses for bad behavior. Worse, changing the rules so that what was unacceptable in the past is ok in the future. Enabling is in; accountability is out. For instance too many black kids getting suspended in schools? Change the rules! Over the weekend the New York Post reported that a student at the Adlai Stevenson High School in the Bronx was caught with seven bags of marijuana in October, which in the past would have won him a criminal summons and a suspension. Instead, under new rules determining punishments for students, he was given a warning card, that he was supposed to take home to his family. The new regime of Mayor de Blasio also dictates that inappropriate clothing, profanity and insubordination no longer send the student packing; even minor physical alterations do not necessarily mean a student receives a Superintendents suspension, according to the Post. Sure enough, suspensions are down. But what does this do to morale in the classroom, where almost anything goes? These students arent stupid they understand the new regime. The tragedy is that studies have shown that it is raising standards of behavior and decorum that inspires success, and that improves education outcomes. Turning your back only encourages more bad actors. As the president of Teamsters Local 237, who represents school safety officers, was quoted as saying, Crime is not disappearing. Its just that were ignoring it. And in the process hurting the chances of those who go to school to learn, not to deal drugs. The same sympathy wave extends to how we view debtors. If a student is unable to pay off loans taken out to fund a worthless diploma, sympathizers now think that the debt should be forgiven. Students who borrow from taxpayers have become victims, not beneficiaries. The White House passed a law in 2010 that allowed student loans to be forgiven after 20 years or after 10 years if the borrower spends a decade in public service. Thats not the solution. The solution is to equip students and families with the information and know-how necessary to analyze the value and earning power of a degree before signing up for a loan. They should compare the costs of public and private schools, four-year and two-year diplomas. All of this information is readily available on the Internet. If this seems an unreasonably challenging task, I would argue we are expecting too little from our education system. Of course, we are indeed expecting too little from our public schools. If testing shows that students are not achieving even the meager requirements of our school systemsabandon the tests! If only 28 percent of graduating high school students are prepared for college, change the admissions requirements. No one is held accountable. Not even people who break laws to enter the United States. These people demand to be heard, demand their rights. What rights? They are not citizens here. We can sympathize with their desire to improve their lot, but the Obama White House wants to grant them a pass. Inevitably, as we see being played out today as border guards confront another surge, more leniency only encourages more coming across illegally. Heres the problem. America is a generous and compassionate nation. We want to help everyone, and thats a good thing. But helping can slip slide into enabling. Each one of these situations infantilizes Americans, and teaches them they are not responsible. They are not responsible for their own behavior or for the choices they make. If our society continues to excuse everyone who gets into trouble, by dumbing down our expectations and rules, we will deserve the increasingly violent and uncivil country we live in. Heres one person who is responsible El Chapo, for allegedly hundreds, possibly thousands of murders by his own hand or ordered by him, and Sean Penn, who would like us to think otherwise. The star of one of the nations most popular reality television shows just made Sen. Ted Cruz a happy, happy, happy presidential candidate. Duck Commander Phil Robertson announced Wednesday that he has endorsed Cruz for the White House, Fox News has learned. Click here to join Todds American Dispatch a must-read for Conservatives! Ted Cruz is my man, Im voting for him, Robertson said. Robertson, the star of "Duck Dynasty," took Cruz hunting on Monday and they sealed the deal in a duck blind. My qualifications for president of the United States are rather narrow: Is he or she Godly, does he or she love us, can he or she do the job, and finally would they kill a duck and put him in a pot and make him a good duck gumbo? Robertson said. Cruz fits the bill. Cruz had dinner with the Robertson family Sunday night at their home in West Monroe, Louisiana. I am thrilled to have Phils support for our campaign, Cruz said. The Robertsons are a strong family of great Christian faith and conservative values. And business values, too. Robertson has a masters degree in education and spent several years teaching before he launched into the duck calling business. Phils story of starting off with something small and working hard to achieve the American dream is inspiring, Cruz said. Much like my parents, and many other Americans, who started a small business and worked hard to provide for our family. As the biggest redneck here at the Fox News Corner of the World I predict Mr. Phils stamp of approval will boost his Bible Belt bona fides. As a long time observer of the political process and as someone who served twice in the White House, I remember the great anticipation for past State of the Union speeches. It was an activity where many hundreds of hours and top level staff worked on the speech for many months before it was delivered. It was to be a recap of what had been accomplished and an agenda for the future. I remember the excitement of the president going to Capitol Hill to address the nation, standing before the other branches of the government, the Congress and the Supreme Court, and either inspiring or informing all of just what the title states: this is the State of the Union. Part of the drama has been the grand entrance into the people's House, the House of a Representatives and the president being mobbed by members trying to shake his hand or pat his back and for this one night he is treated like a rock star or to be more current like a reality TV star. The repeated standing and applauding for the key phrases that appeal to the partisans in his party and the negative responses from the opposition. Everyone is there! Anyone of importance in our government along with the ambassador contingent from the diplomatic community, is there on display for the nation to see. This has historically been an opportunity for a dramatic speech to the nation and the world and without question as important as any that a president might deliver. Tuesday night was the last of these that President Barack Obama will ever give. As I watched the visuals, the new young Speaker, Paul Ryan, sitting alongside the vice president whom he tried to replace in the last election. Biden, realizing daily that this is his last hurrah -- and privately telling people he wishes he would have run one more time against the faltering Hillary Clinton. Speaker Ryan, who now holds more power than anyone except maybe the lame duck president, sits in a seat he never anticipated a year ago. He will be the one who sets the legislative agenda for the future and the presidents only retort is his veto pen. I watch the one Socialist member of Congress, Senator Bernie Sanders mix and greet the members of the Joint Chief of Staffs of our military, with their stars on their uniforms and rows of medals on their chests. There is not a member in this chamber who would ever have thought a year ago that Sanders would be viewed as a serious challenger to Hillary Clinton, as he now is. For someone as skilled at giving a speech as our forty-fourth president, Mr. Obama failed miserably at either inspiring or informing us of the real State of the Union. What he did do is give a political campaign speech. It was disjointed, irrelevant and disappointing. He is not running for a third term and the agenda he laid out is not what the country wants or feels. He looked tired and ready to move on. He talked about how great we are as a nation. True, but what he didn't do was set an agenda for his final year or for his legacy. He set goals but failed to explain how we can accomplish them. He talked about leadership but has failed miserably as a leader. On the very day the president is delivered his speech, the Iranian Navy captured two US Navy ships that allegedly were incapacitated and drifted into Iranian waters. Now Iran is holding these sailors hostage. Yet, there was no mention of this incident in the presidents speech. This is an escalation of hostile behavior by the Iranians who just last month fired unguided missiles at our aircraft carrier , the Harry S. Truman, in the same waters. I can't imagine, if he was still with us, that President Truman would disregard these acts of hostility. He was a man of strength. With the country feeling that terrorism is one of our top problems, the president dismissed our concerns. Don't worry! We've got the strongest military in the world. We got Bin Laden. This is what he said about Iran: "Thats why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war." I don't think so. Bad behavior by Iran is dismissed because President Obama wants to protect his sacred and risky deal. The number one concern of the country is fighting terrorism. The recent home grown action by the terrorist killings in San Bernardino, California has made this more of a concern. But in spite of this, just this week the president is to release more prisoners from Guantanamo. It is still his top priority to close this prison in spite of strong objections from the Congress, the military and law enforcement officers. Many of the prisoners already released have returned to the terrorist battlefield. "That is why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: its expensive, its unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies." This is a speech that will not be remembered and will historically be irrelevant. The man who was the most partisan president in recent history, talked about how disappointed he is that the partisan divide has not healed. The office of the presidency has been diminished under Barack Obamas two terms. His party has been demolished at the State house level and in the loss of both Houses of Congress. But he still panders on. This is not an historic presidency and he exemplified his "leading from behind" with a very forgettable farewell State of the Union. No wonder the country is desperately looking for new leadership. Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who spent five days in jail for defying federal court orders and refusing to license same-sex marriage, will have a seat at the president's final State of the Union. Davis' lawyer, Mat Staver, announced Tuesday that both he and Davis will be in the audience "to stand for religious freedom and to represent Judeo-Christian values." The Rowan County Clerk cited "God's authority" and refused to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage last summer, despite a series of federal court orders. Both Davis and Staver will sit in the House chamber. Every lawmaker gets one guest ticket to the President's annual speech. Staver did not say which members of Congress invited them, and no lawmaker has yet acknowledged extending the invitation. President Obama on Tuesday pledged once more to shutter the prison at Guantanamo Bay during his final State of the Union address. (The prisons) expensive, its unnecessary and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies," he said to applause from supporters. Obamas comments come as his administration ramps up efforts to reduce the prison population at Gitmo. The U.S. military is preparing a bulk transfer of 10 detainees on Thursday from its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, two defense officials told Fox News. In the past two weeks, officials have already transferred four detainees, bringing the prisoner count to 103. The transfer, amounting to about 10 percent of the remaining prisoners, marks the largest group of detainees to be shipped out of the camp since Defense Secretary Ash Carter informed Congress in December his department would transfer a wave of detainees at the beginning of 2016. The accelerated transfers reflect a renewed push by the president to close the controversial prison camp. Critics have questioned the transfers and say they pose a heightened security risk, because some of the detainees being shipped out are medium or high-risk prisoners. President Obama, with an eye on cementing his legacy and countering the narrative on the Republican campaign trail, used his final State of the Union address Tuesday night to defend his economic record and, in stark language, downplay the threat from the Islamic State. Over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands, the president said, arguing that ISIS fighters do not threaten our national existence. The remarks on ISIS are sure to rile Republican critics who say the presidents strategy for confronting the group is inadequate particularly just hours after ISIS was blamed for another deadly attack, this time in Istanbul. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the leading candidates for the GOP presidential nomination, tweeted afterward that the address was less a State of the Union and more a state of denial. The backdrop of the address undeniably was election-year politics, though Obama is not on the ballot. Throughout the speech, the president took several implicit jabs at the GOP candidates competing for his job, and in doing so sought to shore up his own legacy. His message to them seemed to be: The sky is not falling. On the economy and on national security, Obama called the criticism political hot air. More broadly, the president sounded a call for better politics and bipartisanship, and cast the rancor directed at his administrations policies as the product of an overheated political system. Let me tell you something, the United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period, Obama said, to those who say America is getting weaker. And to those who say the economy is just limping along, Obama countered: Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. He said Americas is the most durable economy in the world and one that has improved on his watch. The defiant remarks were met with skepticism from Republicans in the audience. House Speaker Paul Ryans office said the lofty platitudes still did not explain how to defeat ISIS and get the economy back on track. In the official GOP response, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley challenged the presidents message on terror, saying the country is facing threats like few others in recent memory and the president is unwilling or unable to deal with it. At the same time, she urged Americans to avoid following the angriest voices. On that, Haley and Obama had a common message. In his address, Obama returned repeatedly to a warning that the country faces a choice in a time of extraordinary change between facing the future with confidence or with fear. He decried politicians who insult Muslims or target people because of race or religion, an implicit reference to some of the comments made on the Republican campaign trail including from Donald Trump. And he made a reference to remarks from Cruz, saying the answer to threats needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. Cruz responded on Twitter, We need a president who will defeat radical Islamic terrorism. But Obama delivered pointed remarks on the nature of the terror threat. He said the priority remains protecting the American people from terrorism, but went on to play down the ISIS problem. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages, they pose an enormous danger to civilians. They have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence, Obama said. That is the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. He also dug in on what effectively is an administration policy of not referring to the terror threat as radical Islam. He urged against echoing the lie that ISIL is somehow representative of one of the worlds largest religions, and said: We just need to call them what they are killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed. In a statement after the speech, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., accused him of pushing these growing threats to the next administration. The president from the start was by turns combative and casual, delivering an unconventional address that avoided a detailed to-do list. From the outset, he said hed go easy on the laundry list of proposals and focus more broadly on our future. For this final one, Im going to try to make it a little shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa, he joked. He also began, and closed, his address with a call for bipartisan cooperation on key issues, saying Washington might surprise the cynics. On issues ranging from criminal justice reform to prescription drug abuse, Obama suggested both parties can find common ground. The president delivered his seventh and final State of the Union address as he faces an invigorated opposition in both houses of Congress and the prospect of his policies becoming unraveled if a Republican wins the White House in November. His administration, though, is still trying to deliver on promises made since his first inauguration most notably, the vow to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. He renewed that vow Tuesday, saying he will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo. It is expensive, it is unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies, he said, without saying whether he might resort to executive action to achieve his goal. Despite vowing to avoid the to-do list, Obama did tick off several other final-year goals: including raising the minimum wage, doing more on gun control and pushing for free community college a proposal left over from last years agenda. He also tapped Vice President Biden to lead mission control in a new national effort to research a cure for cancer. Hanging over Tuesdays address, aside from the terror attack in Istanbul, was yet another diplomatic dispute involving Iran -- as it emerged Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors after they apparently drifted into Iranian waters. Obama did not address the dispute in the State of the Union, though Republicans pointed to the incident in renewing their concerns about the Iran nuclear deal. There is growing evidence that ISIS is experimenting with chemical weapons as the number of foreign fighters hits a new high, according to current and former government officials. Photos taken by the Kurds in northern Iraq last summer and fall and reviewed by Fox News show burns and blistering on the skin that a source on the ground there said are consistent with the use of chemical agents. The agents were described as "odorless, colorless and absorbed through the clothing," causing burns or illness hours later. "I think it's, could be a perfect testing ground," former FBI intelligence officer Timothy Gil Sr. said. "They (ISIS) were particularly interested in using these chemicals in confined space environments, soft targets like shopping malls and movie theaters." Gill who is doing his own independent research for an upcoming international conference on weapons of mass destruction said there is a disturbing trend, that ISIS is using safe havens in Syria, Iraq and potentially Libya as laboratories to learn how chemical agents impact the battlefield, with the goal of sharing their expertise via social media with ISIS followers outside the region. "It's enough to use in a crude weapon that could really push the panic button," Gill said. "This now provides an opportunity to say 'this is working, we're now going to push this out to any potential lone wolf, lone actor that may have a background in chemistry.'" A doctor who was in northern Iraq last year and asked not to be identified for security reasons, said he treated Kurdish fighters whom ISIS used as "lab rats for WMD," adding that the variety of burns and illnesses over several weeks suggested to him that "mustard gas, precursors, as well as neurotoxic acids" were being tested. A U.S. government source said there is reason to doubt ISIS is experimenting with rudimentary chemical agents to instill fear rather than inflict mass casualties. While ISIS tries to broaden its use of unconventional weaponry, the terror group also has broadened its appeal. A US intelligence official confirms to Fox News the number of foreign fighters has hit a new high -- more than 36,000 from 120 countries since the conflict began in 2011, including at least 6,600 from Western countries. A year ago, at the worldwide threat hearing on Capitol Hill, where the U.S. intelligence community publicly presented its global view on terrorism, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper said that since the conflict began, more than 20,000 foreign fighters from 90 countries had travelled to the region. A key figure is the number of countries affected, with the extremist ideology now drawing followers from 60 percent of the world's nations. During congressional testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday, former senior intelligence officials said ISIS is expanding. "ISIS has gained affiliates faster than Al Qaeda ever did -- from nothing a year ago, there are now militant groups in nearly 20 countries that have sworn allegiance to ISIS," former CIA deputy director Mike Morell said. "They have conducted attacks that have already killed Americans." On the development of unconventional weapons, Morell added, "They have made two things very clear publicly in documents that have come out. One is that if they acquire these weapons they would use and they wouldn't care that the vast majority of those killed were civilians. and they have also provided a religious justification very similar to Al Qaedas, in fact I think it is identical to Al Qaedas justification for using such weapons." The Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (ISIS) recently briefed reporters in Washington DC, emphasizing the overall trend line is in the right direction, pointing to progress securing the Turkish border to stem the flow of foreign fighters. "This is a challenge like we've never seen before," Brett McGurk said, "The world has never seen something like this, upwards of 35,000 now foreign fighters from 100 countries all around the world supercharged by social media and Twitter and everything. **Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here.** Buzz Cut: Cruz cant flinch in Trump fight Haley shows veepstakes strength in rebuttal Hillary gets cold shoulder from Iowans How would a Hillary prosecution work? Road hog CRUZ CANT FLINCH IN TRUMP FIGHT NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. When Ted Cruz says that Donald Trumphas New York values, most Republicans know he means that Trump is not a conservative: personally, socially, fiscally or ideologically. The question is whether Cruz is ready to say that to Trumps face when they stand next to each other on stage here for the Fox Business Network Debate on Thursday. And it will be a pass/fail test for the Texas senator. After months of giving Cruz belly scratches when he rolled over for him, Trump started kicking his chief rival in national and early-state polls. And Trump is really kicking now. The celebrity businessman started with classic Trumpian concern trolling about Cruzs Canadian nativity. He was worried, Trump said, that his good friend, Ted, could run intro trouble from nasty Democrats. But as with Trumps attacks on Ben Carson, what began as concern trolling in that case, for his friend Bens mental health turned into lengthy diatribes and full-blown eruptions. Carson wouldnt respond to Trump, blamed the media and limped out of the fray and is now said to be retooling his campaign, politics talk for losing badly. And so it was for Jeb Bush, whose exclamation point began to wilt at once in the harsh orange sun of Trump. Trump would say how much he liked Jeb, and then savagely maul him for 20 minute stretches. It took Bush months to get to the point of saying he didnt like Trump. He is now promising to use his position at the far edge of the stage to try again to assault Trump. Like George Costanza, Bush has thought of his comeback too late. Well, the jerk store called, and theyre running out of you can be the theme for Bushs campaign denouement. Rather than delaying his response, Cruz wisely delayed the moment of first conflict. But after the start of the New Year, sensing that he was being had and with Cruz continuing to be the stud duck in Iowa, Trump started hammering, and hammering and hammering. Cruz, to his credit, didnt seize up. He has started the response but now has the unhappy task of seeing it through. Trump will not let up and, before he is done, will bring in everything he can, likely including Cruzs wifes work for Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs. Most candidates wont attack your spouse. Trump is not most candidates. So Cruz has to be ready to fight on the same terms. And thats why the New York values attack is a good one (sorry NYC) because it covers the waterfront on Trump: his personal life, his business busts, his social views, his version of Christianity, his insults, his temperament total package. But if Cruz tries to flinch from his new path when they get to South Carolina on Thursday it will be his undoing. Think of that moment when Tim Pawlenty wouldnt repeat even his lame ORomneyCare jab against GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney. Cue the bugler for Taps. Making Cruzs task trickier is that Trump tends to dial back in debates. He knows that the crowd-pleasing attacks from his rallies dont play well in these forums and holds back. That means Cruz has to take the extra step of trying to draw Trump out and risk looking like the bully himself. But hes got to get Trump, as Cruz called it, rattled. Otherwise, Trump will grin under the mindful gaze of the moderators and then go back to shivs, shanks and brickbats as soon as the debate ends. Cruz has to own it and be prepared to go punch for punch with Trump to the end. Cruz might lose if he fights. But if he follows the path of Bush and Carson, Cruz will lose. Not just a river in Egypt - On Tuesdays The Kelly File, Sen. Ted Cruzknocked the presidents speech calling it a state of denial and knocking the president on a weak foreign policy in wake of the ten U.S. seamen being captured, and now released, in Iran. Watch here. Pro-Cruz PAC puts the amnesty bulls-eye on Rubio - NYT: Late Tuesday, a super PAC supporting Senator Ted Cruz released a long-awaited ad yoking Mr. Rubio to Mr. Schumer and Mr. Obama, citing Mr. Rubios work on the so-called Gang of Eight effort at comprehensive immigration legislation in 2013. And on Monday, the group Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting Jeb Bush, released an ad criticizing Mr. Rubio for having gone from promising to oppose amnesty in his 2010 United States Senate campaign to working on the immigration bill. Christie says Planned Parenthood donation a misquote - In an interview with WaPo Gov. Chris Christie explains the report about him saying he donated to Planned Parenthood: What about a report in 1994 that quoted him as saying he personally gave to Planned Parenthood? Listen, this is a quote from 21 years ago. Im convinced it was a misquote. Understand what was going on. In 1994-95, I was fighting against county funding of Planned Parenthood even though I was pro-choice. He said he was making the case then that people could spend their own money on a cause they believed in, just as he did. He is emphatic he was not referencing Planned Parenthood specifically as the kind of cause he gave money to. Haley shows veepstakes strength in rebuttal - David Drucker writes that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haleys rebuttal to President Obamas State of the Union should put her in the top spot for a vice presidential pick. Drucker says, Haley was praised for her delivery and her eloquent and sharp rhetoric. She displayed an ability to marry an aggressive pitch for conservative values, such as stating that illegal immigration must be stopped, with calls for inclusiveness and respect for people with which Republicans disagree. For a party that is simultaneously looking for strong leadership and a messenger that can help the GOP appeal to an increasingly diverse electorate that has increasingly sided with the Democratic Party in presidential elections. The performance should immediately elevate the second-term Indian American governor, who is just 43 years old, into top consideration for her party's vice presidential nod. WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE The Oxford English Dictionary, the most comprehensive, most authoritative of them all owes a great deal to the work of a madman. Atlas Obscura has theweird, wonderful tale of editor James Murray and William Chester Minor: Murray and Minor wrote each other often, but Murray didnt learn that his most prolific contributor lived in a psychiatric hospital until he traveled 50 miles to see him in 1896, nearly two decades after they first got in touch. This fact helped to explain why Minor had been strangely absent from society parties and talks, despite seeming so engaged with the literary scene of the day. Got a TIP from the RIGHT or the LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM POLL CHECK Real Clear Politics Averages Republican Nomination Trump 34.0 percent; Cruz 20.0 percent; Rubio11.0 percent; Carson 9.5 percent General Election: Clinton vs. Trump Clinton +2.0 points Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans +0.5 HILLARY GETS COLD SHOULDER FROM IOWANS NYT: Iowa Democrats are displaying far less passion for Hillary Clinton than for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont three weeks before the presidential caucuses, creating anxiety inside the Clinton campaign as she scrambles to energize supporters and to court wavering voters. The enthusiasm gap spilled abundantly into view in recent days, from the cheering crowds and emotional outpourings that greeted Mr. Sanders, and in interviews with more than 50 Iowans at campaign stops for both candidates. Voters have mobbed Mr. Sanders at events since Friday, some jumping over chairs to shake his hand or snap a selfieWith a new poll showing Mr. Sanders surging ahead in Iowa, Mrs. Clinton and her aides have dropped any pretense that they can ignore Mr. Sanders or treat him like a gadfly. They have become zealous and combative as they try new ways to undercut his high favorability ratings. Keeps attacking on guns - Time: For a week now, Hillary Clinton and her allies have been hammering Sanders on the vote, making the case that he is a failed progressive champion on the crucial issue of gun controlTo this, Sanders has not had a clear reply. On the one hand, Sanders has stood by the controversial 2005 law, saying that it was intended to protect mom-and-pop gun shop owners from legal liability. On the other, Sanders has said he might reverse himself in the future, with spokesman Michael Briggs explaining to TIME he would likely support legislation holding large manufacturers liableall while still shielding the local dealers in Vermont Sanders wants to protect. Chelsea joins fray as moms attack dog - CBS News: [Campaigning in New Hampshire, Chelsea Clinton said:] said Sanders would dismantle Obamacare, the Childrens Health Insurance Program, and Medicare -- along with private insurance programs. Clinton went even further, arguing that Sanders' plan would empower Republican governors to eliminate health insurance for low-income and middle-income Americans. Holder endorses Hillary - AP: As she works to maintain an advantage among African-American voters in her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton has secured an endorsement from the nation's first black attorney general. The Clinton campaign announced Eric Holder's support in a statement to the Associated Press. Holder, who served as President Barack Obamas top law enforcement appointee for more than five years, said Clinton is the candidate that we need in the White House to continue the progress of President Obama. How would a Hillary prosecution work? - RCPs Charles Lipson gives thepossible outcomes of the FBIs long investigation into Hillary Clintons email. Indictment or not, Lispon says this scandal will cause more problems for the presumed Democratic nominee, and President Obama, than it has so far. ROAD HOG The Guardian: Russia has detained a senior prison service official on suspicion of stealing a 30-mile (50km) stretch of public road, investigators said. Alexander Protopopov oversaw the dismantling of a concrete highway and sold off the slabs while prison service chief in the far-northern Komi region, the Investigative Committee said in a statement. The road, which was made up of more than 7,000 reinforced concrete slabs, was dismantled and driven away over more than a year, between 2014 and 2015. The slabs were subsequently used by a company that sold them on for a profit, investigators said. Protopopov, now acting deputy chief of the national prison service, faces charges of misappropriating state property while using his official position, which could lead to 10 years in jail. Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here. Capitol Hill Democrats are mounting an aggressive campaign to denounce and disrupt new Homeland Security deportation raids, as the issue drives a widening wedge between President Obama and his usual allies. The Department of Homeland Security raids began over the Christmas holiday season and resulted in the initial detention of 121 illegal immigrants, many from Central America. Anti-illegal immigration groups point out that, despite the angst on Capitol Hill, the targets reflect just a tiny fraction of the overall undocumented population. But even those initial raids have led to a messy Democratic backlash for the administration with lawmakers joining every Democratic presidential candidate in opposing them. Millions of people are living with fear, Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill press conference. This is a serious problem right now that needs to be addressed before more damage is done. The administration has defended the operation by pointing to a sharp increase in Central American families and children arriving at the U.S. southern border and suggesting the influx could lead to a border crisis like the one in the summer of 2014. Schakowsky and others argue those swept up in the raids are merely refugees seeking relief from gang wars, the drug trade and other violent crime in their native El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The congresswoman is one of about 140 congressional Democrats who signed a letter to Obama arguing the raids were made without sufficient outside consultation and asking him to postpone the operation until a better policy can be crafted. They argue in the letter that ICE agents used deceptive tactics to gain access to private residence and that the operation should be suspended until the administration can assure no mother or child will be sent back to a country where they would back prosecution, torture or death. Earlier this week, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton joined those calling for an end to the operation. "I do not think the raids are an appropriate tool to enforce the immigration laws, she said. I think they are divisive, they are sowing discord and fear. Fellow Democratic candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland already had taken similar stances. Still, the administration has shown no sign of stopping the operation. Only after individuals had exhausted the legal remedies available to them ... was a decision made to remove them," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said recently. On the other side of the immigration debate, critics of the administrations policies contend the raids are barely making a dent. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) says the raids and related screenings resulted in two arrests on terrorism charges. However, the group, which seeks to limit overall immigration into the country, argues the 121 detained represent a fraction of a percent of the estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants who arrived from Central America in recent years. Everything about this action seems designed to deceive the American public into believing that the administration is trying to stem the surge of Central American illegal migration, the group said in a statement Tuesday. The administration pretends to enforce a few immigration laws, and the advocates pretend to be outraged. Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez said Democratic opponents, though, fired off their letter after an unproductive meeting with White House Counsel Neil Eggleston. He said the letter shows the signers have rejected and discredited the administrations misguided policy of deportation. Democratic aides said Eggleston expressed concerns about the Democrats' approach and the potential impact it could have on the administration's hopes of defending Obama's deportation-relief policies before the Supreme Court. Administration officials have repeatedly emphasized that they have focused on people who have arrived in this country recently, in line with new deportation priorities announced in late 2014, at the same time Obama announced an expanded deportation relief program, promising to temporarily lift the threat of removal for millions. They also say the administration has a responsibility to enforce the law and in this case there is a further responsibility not to encourage people to take a very dangerous journey. New figures Tuesday showed the number of Central American families and unaccompanied children coming from Central America from October to December more than doubled, compared to the same period in 2014. And the figure could go even higher beginning in February and early spring, when arrivals traditionally increase, potentially eclipsing the levels that produced the 2014 crisis. While the administration stands by the raids, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Wednesday that the U.S. refugee program would be expanded to help families from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Humana Inc. has added its name to the list of mega-medical insurers to report big problems under ObamaCare. The Louisville, Ky.- based company does not expect to make enough money this year in premiums from individual plans to cover what it will pay out in claims, according to a regulatory filing made last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Humana, which is being acquired by Aetna Inc., said it is still trying to figure out how big the gap will be. The company did say it has set aside a premium deficiency reserve meaning, its setting aside money to help make up the difference. Humana, which will provide a deeper dive into its 2016 outlook when it releases its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 10, said in the SEC filing that it expects membership to drop this year by 200,000 to 300,000. The decrease reflects plans sold under ObamaCare as well as older policies. We expect Humana will exit Health Insurance Exchange marketplaces in 2017 in light of this data, and focus on its Medicare Advantage book of business, Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said in a research note on Friday. Humana is just the latest mega-insurer to run into a profit problem under the Affordable Care Act. Last year, UnitedHealths CEO announced $425 million in losses and warned it may walk away from the health care exchanges altogether. UnitedHealth is the largest insurer in the country. Many industry watchers warn the threat from the nations largest insurer is just the beginning. Insurers like UnitedHealth and Humana have had a hard time turning a profit since the government-run marketplaces for plans opened in late 2013. Part of the reason is because customers flocking to big insurers are using more medical care -- something that is cutting into company profits. Keeping ObamaCare alive is vital to President Obamas legacy but it wont be easy. Calls to gut his landmark legislation have continued and just last week, Obama was forced to fend off another GOP-led challenge. On Friday, Obama vetoed a measure that would have repealed most of the health care law, saying the bill would do harm to millions of Americans. It was the first time Republicans succeeded in sending an ObamaCare repeal bill to his desk. Some lawmakers vow to keep up the fight against ObamaCare and argue the legislation is harming the economy and wrongly forcing Americans to buy insurance. The pushback from Congress comes as administration officials touted another round of strong signups. "The marketplace continues to be stable, vibrant and growing," Andy Slavitt, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the health overhaul's online insurance market, said on a conference call with reporters last week. The administration is expecting a surge of young procrastinators to sign up near the Jan. 31 deadline for 2016 coverage. That could help hold down premiums the following year. Leading the administration's tally was Florida, with more than 1.5 million signed up. California followed, with more than 1.4 million. Despite the optimism from the Obama administration, an increasing number of insurance and medical experts, like Mount Sinai Health System President and CEO Kenneth Davis, have started to speak up about the problems facing ObamaCare. Premiums are going up, deductibles are higher and thats a problem, he said on CNBC, reversing optimistic comments he made only a year ago. What its all about is that not enough healthy people have signed up, he said, creating a lopsided business model. Iran's Revolutionary Guard released 10 U.S. Navy sailors who were detained after two small Riverine boats crossed into Iranian territorial waters, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday. A statement said that the sailors and the boats left the Iranian naval base where they had been held shortly before 9 a.m. GMT (4 a.m. EST). The nine men and one woman were later transferred ashore by Navy aircraft, while the boats continued toward Bahrain, their intended destination. There was no indication the sailors had been harmed. In a written statement, Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter. A senior State Department official, though, told Fox News that there was no apology from Kerry to the Iranians. A U.S. official told Fox News that the sailors were initially taken to the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio before flying to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman for additional debriefing. "The first concern is the safety and well being of the crew and then we will investigate the incident," the official said. The Pentagon statement also promised the Navy would "investigate the circumstances that led to the Sailors' presence in Iran." Officials are still uncertain of how Iranian forces managed to commandeer the two boats. The U.S. official told Fox News that a mechanical problem on at least one of the boats could not be ruled out, but could not explain how both boats were able to get underway in such a short time if one did have a propulsion issue, which would have caused it to stop running and drift into Iranian territorial waters. It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. and Iran had made a specific arrangement to secure the sailors release. The Iran Revolutionary Guards naval chief said earlier Wednesday that Irans foreign minister had demanded an apology from the U.S. for entering Iranian waters. Gen. Ali Fadavi also told state TV Wednesday that the American boats showed "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces. "Certainly U.S. presence in Persian Gulf and their passage has never been innocent and we do not deem their passage as innocent," Fadavi said, adding that Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif "had a firm stance (during a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry) on their presence in our territorial waters and said they should not have come and should apologize." The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. Obama did not mention the sailors in his speech, which lasted approximately one hour. After the address, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed his hope for a quick resolution. "It's a very serious issue," Cardin said. "I hope this is resolved in hours. If not, I think it escalates." GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz said the detention of the sailor's was a "manifestation of the weakness of Obama's foreign policy." "Our enemies don't fear us," Cruz said before adding that his prayers were with the sailors and their families. The Guards Navy confiscated the sailors GPS equipment to prove that American ships were snooping around in Iranian waters, according to The New York Times. The boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain at the time, and the Pentagon briefly lost contact with the crew. Officials said the sailors were part of the Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet in Bahrain. The Riverine boats are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to the crafts. The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran was expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." Fox News' Wes Barrett, Lucas Tomlinson and Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Hours after Iran released U.S. sailors from custody, Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama administration portrayed the incident as a testament to the new diplomatic relationship between Washington and Tehran -- while indicating it would have no effect on plans to flip the switch on the Iran nuclear deal in a matter of days. I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago, Kerry said Wednesday, thanking Iranian officials for their cooperation in the tense Persian Gulf incident. Despite the upbeat message, though, Republican lawmakers pointed to the stand-off in renewing their concerns about the nuclear deal and, specifically, a string of Iranian provocations in recent weeks. And they warned about the implications of freeing up billions of dollars in sanctions relief. One hundred billion dollars to the worlds biggest state sponsor of terrorism only emboldens Iran to harm more Americans, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said in a statement. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said: As we near President Obamas implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, which could be as soon as this weekend, Iran continues to engage in dangerous saber-rattling. We need to see more from our Commander-in-Chief than empty rhetoric when it comes to Iran. In the House, lawmakers initially approved a bill Wednesday to intensify sanctions on Iran, in the face of a presidential veto threat -- though House leaders vacated the vote, after dozens of lawmakers missed it, and plan to reschedule. But Kerry insisted that the nuclear deal implementation will take place soon. Implementation Day which is the day on which Iran proves it has sufficiently downsized its nuclear program and can begin to receive sanctions relief is going to take place very soon, likely within the next coming days, Kerry said. Other officials told The Associated Press an announcement could come as soon as Friday. Such an announcement would mean the U.N. atomic energy watchdog has found Iran to have met its obligations to curb its nuclear program. It would then require the U.S. and other nations to immediately suspend many sanctions they have imposed on the Islamic republic. Despite this movement, questions remain over what exactly transpired in the Persian Gulf, hours before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. Iran's Revolutionary Guard had detained 10 U.S. Navy sailors after two small Riverine boats crossed into Iranian territorial waters and released them Wednesday morning. A U.S. official told Fox News that the sailors were initially taken to the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio before flying to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman for additional debriefing. A Pentagon statement said the Navy would "investigate the circumstances that led to the Sailors' presence in Iran." Officials are still uncertain of how Iranian forces managed to commandeer the two boats. The U.S. official told Fox News that a mechanical problem on at least one of the boats could not be ruled out, but could not explain how both boats were able to get underway in such a short time if one did have a propulsion issue, which would have caused it to stop running and drift into Iranian territorial waters. It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. and Iran had made a specific arrangement to secure the sailors release. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The head of the National Rifle Association blasted President Obama Wednesday over his gun control actions in an 8-minute video, saying the president has laid waste to the America we remember and challenging the commander-in-chief to a one-on-one debate on the Second Amendment. When it comes to the runaway power of the executive branch over Congress, the courts, the people and the rule of law, the president has laid waste to the America we remember, NRA president Wayne LaPierre said in the fiery address, delivered with a background of ominous music, before addressing Obama directly. Americans will judge for themselves who they believe and trust on this issue you or the NRA. Lets see if youre game for a fair debate, LaPierre said. Its your chance to show the American people youre not afraid to meet the NRA on neutral ground. LaPierres response came a week after Obama announced new gun control measures to expand the number of guns subject to background checks and said in a televised town hall meeting last Thursday that gun sales had gone up under his presidency in part because of the NRA. "Part of the reason is that the NRA has convinced many of its members that somebody is going to come get your guns," Obama said at the town hall. However LaPierre said the vagueness of the regulations puts law-abiding Americans at risk. "In the fog of vague rules and mysterious definitions, honest Americans are made vulnerable forced into a maze of government bureaucracy and the hiring of lawyers to face the threat of consequences," LaPierre said. LaPierre rejected Obamas claim that his gun control measures were merely an attempt to make America safer by reducing gun violence. If the President really wanted to make Americans safer, hed pick up the phone and tell his Justice Department to flip Chicago upside down until every criminal with a gun, criminal gangbanger with a gun, and drug dealer with a gun is arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned to the fullest extent of the law, LaPierre said. He also urged NRA supporters to push back against Obamas new actions, and pledged that the NRA would fight his actions aggressively. Make no mistake: with an opportunity for the president to score political points and claim a cheap victory, this executive action is a bright red line that law-abiding gun owners should cross at their own peril, LaPierre said. Let me be clear: the NRA will fight this illegal overreach more aggressively than we have ever challenged anything, he said. The U.S. Merchant Marine played an essential role in winning World War II, ferrying American troops and supplies into war zones at great risk -- but their contributions went largely unrewarded for decades. Now, House members are trying to repay some surviving members of the Greatest Generation under a bipartisan plan to give them a one-time, $25,000 payout. The effort is being championed by California Democratic Rep. Janice Hahn, whose southern Los Angeles district includes the harbors and ports from which thousands of Merchant Mariners set sail during the war. The World War II Merchant Mariners are true heroes, Hahn told FoxNews.com. She said the payout would give them the recognition and honor they have long been denied for their wartime service and vital role in our military victory. Passing the bill at a time of fiscal austerity may be a heavy lift. The total price-tag is $125 million, to establish a compensation fund for the lump-sum payouts -- with only about 5,000 mariners still alive, all in their 80's and 90's. But supporters argue it's a modest amount. Were looking for some recognition and just a little bit of money, 95-year-old Charles Mills told FoxNews.com. Mills said he joined the Merchant Marine at 17 to help his family through the Great Depression, with hopes of eventually being included in the G.I. Bill that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1944. We were the supply line for U.S. soldiers, but we had to fight our way to them, Mills said. The military had to depend on us. He recalled several harrowing missions, particularly the 1942 Allied Forces invasion of North Africa, also known as Operation Torch. We were sitting ducks as soon as we left the port -- enemy submarines, surface vessels, aircraft fire, Mills said. His crews mission was to get supplies through the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean. Ships were getting torpedoed and our guys were in the water, but we had orders not to slow down, he said. The Honoring Our WWII Merchant Marines Act of 2015 is essentially limited to those who served directly in the war effort between Dec. 7, 1941 and Dec. 31, 1946. An estimated 9,000 mariners were killed and thousands more were wounded during the war. The Merchant Marine, whose roots trace back to the Revolutionary War, during peacetime sails imports and exports around the world. But in 1942, its shipping fleet and more than 250,000 sailors were pressed into military service when Roosevelt created the War Shipping Administration to help fight Germany, Japan and other Axis powers. Yet the survivors didnt achieve full veterans status until 1988, when many were already in their 60's, after years of being called draft dodgers and decades without medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs and other G.I. benefits. We have spent trillions now on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the overall war on terror, said Tennessee Rep. John Duncan, the bills Republican sponsor. There are so few of these Merchant Mariners remaining, surely we carve out this very modest amount from our massive defense spending to honor these brave men who made such a huge sacrifice during World War II and have asked for so little. The bill has solid bipartisan backing with 39 Democratic and 12 Republican sponsors but like similar, previous efforts has a tough road to passage -- in part because Congress is run by fiscally conservative Republicans. Hahn, a native of San Pedro, Calif., which is home to the S.S. Lane Victory, a floating museum to Merchant Marine sailors and Navy Armed Guardsmen, has been working on such a plan since arriving on Capitol Hill in 2011. After Hahn tried unsuccessfully to get the measure passed as part of separate Coast Guard and National Defense authorization acts, it is now in a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee. Mills was part of group that came to Capitol Hill this past summer to ask Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and others for their backing. No hearing has been scheduled for the bill. But a congressional source says the committee is considering another bipartisan effort that includes provisions to help WWII-era Merchant Mariners including commendations and burial benefits, sponsored by a House Republican. "Every merchant seaman you see floating around today has this fire in the belly because we didn't get recognition," Orville Sova, of Illinois, told the Belleville News-Democrat before he died in November. The Department of State recently discovered thousands of previously unreviewed documents that relate to Hillary Clinton and the Benghazi attack, according to a watchdog group that has been suing the department to release public records from Clintons tenure. The State Department disclosed the existence of the additional records in a court filing on Friday and asked the judge for further time to search and review the documents. The watchdog group Judicial Watch has been suing the State Department for years to turn over public records related to Clintons tenure as secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation, the employment arrangements of Clintons top aides, and her response to the Benghazi attack. According to the State Department, the newly found records are likely to include information relevant to Judicial Watchs requests. Officials said they would need until at least Feb. 1 to review the documents. After State filed its motion for summary judgment in this case [on November 11, 2015], State located additional sources of documents that originated within the Office of the Secretary that are reasonably likely to contain records responsive to Plaintiffs request, said the State Departments attorneys in a court filing. A judge ordered the State Department to turn over public records after Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the department in September 2013. The case was reopened last year after it was reported that Clintons emails, which were sent over a personal email server, had not been searched. Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon. While South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was praised in many quarters for the Republican response to President Obamas State of the Union address Tuesday, she also received strong criticism from some conservatives for her pointed remarks aimed at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. In her response, while criticizing Obama on a number of issues, Haley also made a series of apparent references to Trump, including calling on Americans to ignore the angriest voices on the subject of immigration. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation," Haley said Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference, she said. On NBCs "Today" show Wednesday, Haley acknowledged that she was, in fact, referring to Trump among others. "Yes, Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk," she said. Haley later appeared on Fox News On The Record with Greta Van Susteren and said while she considers Trump a friend, she does disagree with him. I disagree with the fact that he wants to start using religion as a way to divide people, she said, referring to Trump calling for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. I just want him to understand that this country is made up of immigrants, we want to make sure theyre properly vetted and they come here legally, Haley said. Trump earlier had fired back on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, calling Haley very weak on illegal immigration. "She's very weak on illegal immigrationand she certainly has no trouble asking me for campaign contributions because over the years shes asked me for a hell of a lot of money in campaign contributions," he said. When asked if he would pick her as a running mate, Trump said, I wouldnt say she is off to a good start. While many pundits in the media and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., praised Haley's speech, with some saying it has marked her as a potential candidate for vice president, other conservative voices werent so happy with Haley taking aim at a Republican presidential candidate. Talk radio host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham tweeted that Haley missed a golden opportunity to stand with working Americans on the subject of immigration. Too bad @NikkiHaley missed her oppty to stand w/ working ppl who want borders enforced, American workers put first, govt shrunk. Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 13, 2016 She also blasted her for being the voice of the Republican establishment. Establishment fave Haley put up its own wall in rebuttal...but it was more of a rebuttal to @realDonaldTrump than to Obama. Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 13, 2016 Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh also was not impressed. While he said he was an admirer of Haley, he hailed the speech as proof that the Republican establishment is trying to drive conservatives out of the party and define who is qualified to be a Republican. For one thing, it's almost absolute proof of what I have been saying for last couple years now, that the Republican Party's trying to drive conservatives out of the party," Limbaugh said on his show Wednesday. "But I think it's more than that. It's certainly that, but her speech last night sort of expanded the theme of who is and who isn't qualified to be a Republican, and the Republican Party is still anti-conservative, Limbaugh said. Conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter criticized Haley using a similar tone, accusing her of wanting to shut up voters. Coulter even went so far as to tweet "Trump should deport Nikki Haley." NASA has released stunning images of Ceres that show the dwarf planets surface in incredible detail. The space agencys Dawn spacecraft took the images near its current altitude of 240 miles from Ceres, between Dec. 19 and Dec. 23 last year. Related: Dawn spacecraft achieves Ceres orbit, makes history Scientists are now studying a fascinating image of Ceres Kupalo crater, which measures 16 miles across. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim, which could be salts, and its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris, explained NASA, in a statement released Tuesday. Researchers will be examining at whether this material is related to the "bright spots" found on Occator, another of Ceres craters. Ceres lies between Mars and Jupiter. The dwarf planet has an average diameter of 590 miles and is the largest body in the main asteroid belt. Related: NASAs Pluto mission in pictures Dawn successfully entered Ceres' orbit on March 6 2015, making history as the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet Sicilian astronomer Father Giuseppe Piazzi spotted Ceres in 1801 and was the first object discovered in our solar systems asteroid belt. Related: Stunning Perseid meteor shower pictures Initially classified as a planet, Ceres was later called an asteroid, and designated a dwarf planet in 2006. The spacecraft will remain at its current altitude for the rest of its mission, and indefinitely afterward, according to NASA. The end of the prime mission will be June 30, 2016. Related: Supermoon lunar eclipse in pictures A host of organizations are involved in the Dawn mission. UCLA, for example, is handling overall mission science, while the German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency, and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are involved as international partners. The Dawn spacecraft was built by Dulles, Va.-based Orbital ATK. SpaceX has released stunningly detailed footage of its audacious Falcon 9 rocket landing last month as it prepares to land a rocket on an ocean platform. "The Falcon has landed," tweeted the private space company Tuesday, with a link to new footage and a recap of the Dec. 21 rocket launch and landing. "The Falcon has landed." New footage and recap of our recent launch and landing https://t.co/ogtHIbCnZi SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 12, 2016 Related: SpaceX launches rocket 6 months after accident, then lands The video also shows SpaceX staff at Mission Control in Hawthorne, Calif. erupt when the rocket is safely guided back to land. The impressive feat was the first time an unmanned rocket returned to land vertically at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and represented a tremendous success for SpaceX. The company led by billionaire Elon Musk is striving for reusability to drive launch costs down and open up space to more people. SpaceX is planning a launch and rocket landing from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this weekend. The Jason-3 satellite launch could take place Sunday, according to news reports. Related: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk eyes city on Mars after successful rocket landing In a tweet on Monday Musk confirmed that the rocket landing attempt will use a droneship, or floating ocean platform. SpaceXs previous landing attempts on droneships have ended in fiery blasts. Aiming to launch this weekend and (hopefully) land on our droneship. Ship landings needed for high velocity missions https://t.co/n6j0mExAqM Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 12, 2016 For the Dec. 21 rocket landing SpaceX used a former Atlas missile-launching site about six miles from the Cape Canaveral launch pad that the company leased from the Air Force. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Cincinnati man shot and killed his 14-year-old son early Tuesday, mistakenly believing the boy to be an intruder, police said. The victim, identified by officials as Georta Mack, was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The name of the boy's father was not immediately released. WXIX reported that Mack had told his father he was going to school and left the house. However, he decided to skip class and sneaked back into his basement, where he planned to hide until his father went to work. Investigators said the father heard the teen go into the basement and thought an intruder was in the house. When he got out of bed and went downstairs, he was startled by his son and shot him in the neck with a .45 caliber handgun. "He scared me!" the distraught father said in his 911 call shortly before 6:30 a.m. "I thought he was in school. I heard noise, so I went downstairs looking and he jumped out at me ... Oh, God. Get here quick!" The dispatcher told him to put the gun on the kitchen counter, then talked him through first aid steps and tried to calm him until police and emergency vehicles arrived. Police officials said the Hamilton County prosecutor's office will decide whether there should be any charges against the father. "These types of tragedies are so horrific, they're even unimaginable," Police Chief Eliot Isaac told reporters. Cincinnati has made reducing gun violence a top priority for 2016. Isaac said the shooting Tuesday underscored some important messages. He said those who have guns in their homes should get training and make sure the weapons are kept secured. Referring to indications the boy had planned to skip school, Isaac said children should "tell the truth: make sure your parents know where you are, absolutely." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from Fox19.com A wanted man who police in Ohio said sent them a selfie because he didn't like the mugshot that had been made public was arrested in Florida Tuesday morning. Thanks to the power of social media & tips called into authorities, we have learned that Donald Chip Pugh has been... Posted by Lima Police Department on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 The Lima News reported that Donald "Chip" Pugh, 45, was arrested outside a public library in Century, Fla., just across the border from Alabama. Pugh gained notoriety last week after police in Lima said he sent them a selfie showing him in a sport coat and sunglasses to replace the mugshot police had made public. The selfie was accompanied by a message saying "Here is a better photo that one is terrible." The Lima Police Department shared the new photo, saying "We thank [Pugh] for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPD about his charges." Pugh had been wanted in Ohio for failure to appear at a scheduled Dec. 28 court hearing in Lima in connection with a drunk-driving charge. The Lima News reported the Pugh said he simply "chose not to go" to the hearing. It was not immediately clear what Pugh was wanted for in Georgia. Police in Ohio told the Associated Press that Pugh is a person of interest in several other cases. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from The Lima News. Indiana police searching for a missing 15-year-old are asking for the publics help to find the girl, who authorities say may have dyed her hair to help conceal her identity. Madison Enyeart, who is 5 foot, 7 inches and 165 pounds, left home four days ago without her anti-depressant medication, Ossian Police Departments Chief David Rigney told FoxNews.com. Rigney said it is unclear why the girl ran away, but her boyfriend recently broke up with her. On the night she left, she was talking about the break up with her mother and when her mom went to take a shower -- at about 11 p.m. -- she made her escape through a window. It is believed that she has been in the company of friends in their 30s, and Rigney said he is concerned that she is a good candidate for sex-trafficking. Youre away from home and you have no money, he said. We dont think that the people shes with have her best interest in mind. Authorities believe she may have changed her appearance because a caller told police they saw her with blonde hair in nearby Fort Wayne. She is believed to be in a surrounding county. Enyeart has been in various foster homes and ran away once before. Shes been bumped around, Rigney said. Its my job as chief to make sure shes not being harmed in any way and the sooner we find her, the better." Anyone with any information on Madison is asked to call Ossian Police at (260) 622-7519. FoxNews.com's Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report A constable serving an eviction order at a central Pennsylvania apartment fired at an armed tenant but the bullet passed through the man's arm and fatally struck his 12-year-old daughter, authorities said. The constable went to the apartment near Duncannon, about 10 miles northwest of Harrisburg, at about 10 a.m. Monday to enforce a district judge's eviction order, state police said Tuesday. A man answered the door, closed it, then reopened it and exchanged words briefly with the constable, police said. He then pointed a loaded .223-caliber rifle that had been "slung and concealed along his body" at the constable's chest, police said. The girl was standing behind her father, authorities said. The constable, investigators said, drew his own .40-caliber weapon and fired once, but the bullet went through the man's upper left arm and hit the girl. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name wasn't immediately released. State police said the suspect's rifle was found "with a loaded chamber and a magazine containing 30 rounds." In Pennsylvania, constables are elected officials with limited law enforcement powers. They serve warrants, transport prisoners and perform other duties for Pennsylvania's district courts, the lowest level of the judiciary. The man being evicted, Donald Meyer, 57, was flown to Hershey Medical Center for treatment. He is charged with aggravated and simple assault, terroristic threats, and recklessly endangering another person. A phone listed in his name wasn't working Tuesday and court documents don't list an attorney who could respond to the accusations. Apartment complex employees were at the scene to assist with and witness the eviction and provided statements to investigators, police said. The Susquenita School District, while not commenting on whether the girl was a student in the district, said psychologists and guidance counselors were working with counselors to provided support to students and staff. Snow squalls fueled by winds that gusted up to 40 miles per hour Tuesday caused at least three multi-vehicle pileups on Indiana roads, including one that involved approximately 40 vehicles and led to part of Interstate 74 being closed. The pileup involved two separate crashes within a half mile of each other about 20 miles west of Cincinnati that closed the interstate in both directions for at least six hours, Indiana State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles told the Associated Press. He said six people suffered injuries, but none were life-threatening. "It's a mess," Wheeles said in a telephone interview several hours after the first crash. "A lot of the witnesses said it was blind-out, whiteout conditions." The accident took place at approximately 11 a.m., when a jackknifed semitrailer in the westbound lanes collected 28 other vehicles, Wheeles said. The secondary collisions involving 10 to 12 other vehicles also occurred in westbound lanes as traffic braked for vehicles stopped for the first pileup and went out of control. Eastbound lanes also were closed to allow emergency vehicles to reach the crashes, Wheeles said. Indiana State Police also said three people were injured in a pileup involving nine semitrailers and four passenger vehicles on westbound I-70 near the Ohio state line. Another pileup temporarily closed part of I-65 about 20 miles south of Indianapolis. The National Weather Service placed most of Indiana under a winter weather advisory, saying the snow and wind could cause sudden whiteout conditions and wind chills falling to around zero. Central Indiana received up to 3 inches of snowfall Tuesday. About 40 counties across the state issued travel advisories or watches because of road conditions. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from Fox 59. President Obama gave his final State of the Union address last night. He said the economy had improved dramatically under his watch, deficits had shrunk and said gas was under $2/gallon. He also said we face threats from terrorism and inequality, and he seemed to acknowledge personal failures when it came to bipartisanship. The President also said he wanted a cure for cancer in one year, and named Joe Biden to head the effort. The President will visit an Omaha high school student today. South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (and an Indian-American) gave the GOP response. Shes a rising star in the party, and performed well. She said the United States should continue to welcome immigrants and said Americans should not give in to the angriest voices. The BBC writing today, President Barack Obama has vigorously defended his legacy while striking an optimistic note for America's future in his final State of the Union address. He criticised the negative tone of the current presidential race, arguing the US has the "strongest, most durable economy in the world"."Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction," Mr Obama told lawmakers in Washington. President Obama didnt discuss Iran in depth. It had been expected hed talk about securing a nuclear deal with Iran, but then Iran took 10 Navy crew hostage after it said they were trespassing in Iranian waters. The sailors were released this morning. The Supreme Court today hears arguments in a case brought by the families of Americans killed in terror attacks sponsored by Iran. Hillary Clintons lead over Bernie Sanders is dwindling nationally according to new NYT and CBS polling out last night. It shows Clinton gets 48% nationally compared to 41% for Sanders. Just a month ago, Hillary Clinton led by 20 points. Young voters support Sanders by 2-to-1 and theres an increasing enthusiasm gap according to pundits. Polls this week are also showing Hillary lead in Iowa has disappeared, and Sanders is dominating in New Hampshire. The New York Times writing today, Iowa Democrats are displaying far less passion for Hillary Clinton than for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont three weeks before the presidential caucuses, creating anxiety inside the Clinton campaign as she scrambles to energize supporters and to court wavering voters. The enthusiasm gap spilled abundantly into view in recent days, from the cheering crowds and emotional outpourings that greeted Mr. Sanders, and in interviews with more than 50 Iowans at campaign stops for both candidates. Voters have mobbed Mr. Sanders at events since Friday, some jumping over chairs to shake his hand or snap a selfie. ''Did you get to touch him?'' asked one woman who could not get close enough after an event here on Saturday. The Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and John Wagner write today, A newly aggressive Hillary Clinton emerged here this week and her campaign took on fresh urgency as polls suddenly showed the Democratic presidential front-runner in real danger of losing the first two primary contests to insurgent rival Bernie Sanders. Here in Ames, Clinton launched her sharpest attacks yet by ripping into Sanders on issues such as health care and gun control. She portrayed the senator from Vermont as naive and his proposals as unrealistic - and, seeking to undermine the central argument of his candidacy, alleged that he could not be trusted to take on entrenched interests. One person has been detained in Turkey after an-ISIS suicide attack on a tourist area left 10 dead.. mostly German tourists. Turkey arrested three Russians in Turkey with ties to ISIS. More than 2,700 Russians have left to fight for ISIS or other terror groups. Belgium has identified three homes used as bases to carry out the terror attacks in Paris.. that left 130 dead. National Guard troops expected in Flint, Michigan. They are there to distribute water after the citys drinking water was found to be tainted with lead and making people sick. The city switched its water source as part of a cost-cutting plan. Markets are pointing to a higher open despite stocks falling another 2% in China. GE will cut 6,500 jobs in Europe after its acquisition of Alstom. Tensions continue to ramp up on the Korean peninsula. South Korea fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone crossed the heavily armed border. North Korea tested a nuclear device a week ago. A college professor in Minnesota has pleaded guilty to illegally smuggling items made of elephant ivory from the United States to China. St. Cloud State University philosophy professor Yiwei Zheng (EEE'-way Zeng) also pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating the U.S. Lacey Act, which bans trade in wildlife, fish and plants that have been illegally taken or sold. Under a plea deal, Zheng agreed to pay a $500,000 fine. He also could face roughly three years in prison when he's sentenced in May. Investigators say the items Zheng tried to smuggle to China in April 2011 included potted flower carvings, a fan and a carved lion. All were made of elephant ivory. The 43-year-old was indicted last year on multiple counts related to the smuggling of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horns. ___ This story has been corrected to show Zheng is 43, not 44. Workers at a New Jersey restaurant jumped for joy when they thought theyd hit the Powerball jackpot, scoring Saturdays $949 million prize. But the celebration at Grissinis Restaurant in Englewood Cliffs came to an abrupt end when employees realized theyd mistakenly compared Wednesdays winning numbers to their Saturday ticket. It was like getting punched in the stomach, said Charles Poveromo, 55, whos worked as a bartender at the restaurant for 13 years. Poveromo said 42 employees pooled their money together and bought $210 worth of tickets. On Saturday, his friend texted him the latest Powerball numbers but failed to realize the website hadnt been updated yet, and it was still showing Wednesdays winning combination, he said. A video posted on YouTube captured the brief moment of bliss, showing staffers hooting and hollerin for joy, believing theyd become instant millionaires. A dishwasher even took his apron off, yelling out, Im outta here! I quit! general manger Mike Devincenzi, 47, told The Post. Then Poveromo called up his wife, who said they should double check the numbers. Thats when they realized the numbers were from the wrong day. When we found out it was like a balloon deflating, Poveromo said. The dishwasher who threatened to quit laughed and put his apron back on, saying Back to work, Devincenzi added. Click for more from The New York Post. Oscar-winning actor and director Roberto Benigni gave Pope Francis two thumbs up Tuesday, delivering one of his rapid-fire monologues and praising the pope as a fountain of mercy who is "dragging the whole church toward Christianity." At perhaps the most unusual Vatican book launch ever, Benigni was joined by the Vatican secretary of state, the Vatican spokesman and the Vatican publisher, as well as a Chinese prison inmate, to premier "The Name of God is Mercy." Francis' book-length conversation with Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli is being released in 86 countries as part of the pope's Holy Year of Mercy. Benigni, whose 1999 "Life is Beautiful" won three Oscars, joked that he wanted to be a priest as a child but realized he had to become a comic instead after friends laughed when he said he wanted to be pope. In recent years, Benigni has entertained television audiences in Italy with poignant monologues spliced with dramatic readings of Dante, the Italian constitution, and most recently, the 10 Commandments. The performances, carried on RAI state television, have shown him to be a man of obvious humor but also one of deep faith. It was his Christmastime performance on the 10 Commandments that earned Benigni a phone call from the pope and an invitation to help launch the book. "As soon as they called me and said, 'the Holy Father would like...' 'YES!' I said without letting them finish. Whatever he needs: If he needs a Swiss Guard, a driver for the popemobile, anything at all for this pope, I am ready. I will never say no." Gesturing wildly, Benigni praised Francis for living the message of mercy, going to visit the "least of the least" in Lampedusa, ground zero in Europe's migration crisis, and launching his jubilee year of mercy with the "poorest of the poorest of the poor" in Central African Republic. "He's a fountain, a waterfall of mercy," Benigni said. "In such an unrecognizable world, that wants hatred and condemnation, Francis responds with mercy." Benigni, who delivered his memorable Oscar acceptance speech after clambering over the chairs of the audience, said Francis is clearly a pope on the move, "dragging the whole church toward Christianity." The high-profile book launch was a clear indication of the importance the Vatican places on the book and Francis' overall message of mercy. The event featured a Chinese man who converted to Catholicism last year while serving a 20-year prison sentence in Italy. Francis, who has made prison ministry a mainstay of his life's vocation, has directed the jubilee year in a special way to prison inmates, saying God's mercy extends to them as well. ___ Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield So much rain has drenched a village in Wales that if Noah were there, hed need two arks, a local official said. Its rained in the village of Eglwyswrw every day since late-October, for roughly 80 days straight, Metro reported Tuesday. It is grinding people down both physically and psychologically, the official, John Davies, told Wales Online. He said all the sheep are tough, but theyve had no chance to dry out. The rainy stretch is said to be Britains longest in 92 years. Fortunately, there hasnt been much flooding. The village sits 423 feet above sea level, The Sun reports. Still, its made life miserable and hurt business for farmers and construction workers. And then theres the umbrella salesman. I sell wellington boots and umbrellas but it rains so much here everyones already got them, Brian Llewellyn told Wales Online. Click for more from The Sun. Two former Guantanamo prisoners have thanked Ghana for allowing them to settle in the country following their release, as the president of the West African nation seeks to quell fears that the men pose any danger. The two Yemenis, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, were held as enemy combatants and cleared in 2009. They are the first Guantanamo prisoners resettled in sub-Saharan Africa, and among the first of 17 expected to be released this month. Ghanaian President John Mahama on Tuesday said the country took in the detainees after a direct request by the United States government, and they did not pose a security threat. Bin Atef told state radio that they are grateful to the people of Ghana. Sweden's foreign minister has called for an investigation into allegations that Israeli forces have carried out extrajudicial killings in clashes with Palestinians. The last three and a half months have seen near-daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers that have killed 24 people. At least 140 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since mid-September. About two-thirds of them are said by Israel to be attackers, while the others were killed in clashes with troops. Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told lawmakers on Tuesday that "it is vital that there are thorough, credible investigations into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability." Even as recently arrived refugees in her country are accused of sexual attacks, and as opposition groups decry the flood of refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is being honored for her leadership. Merkel, who was also named Times Person of the Year in 2015, is set to receive the International Four Freedoms Medal during a ceremony in April. The Dutch-based Roosevelt Foundation praised her great moral leadership in Germany when making the announcement. The organization specifically highlighted Merkels roles in the European financial and refugee crises. She shows great moral leadership as Chancellor of all Germans regardless of faith and ethnicity in the face of the start of the anti-Islam movement, according to a statement announcing the honor. In the current migrant and refugee crises Merkel is committed to Europes humanitarian duty to protect those fleeing war and conflict in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and to tackle the causes of the crisis by working for peace in Syria and the region. Estimates for how many refugees entered Germany in 2015 range from 800,000 to nearly 1.5 million. The massive influx was initially treated with suspicion by some on the far right, but that sentiment has grown more pervasive among Germans as reported sexual assaults made headlines. On New Years Eve alone, hundreds of women were reportedly assaulted in Cologne by as many as 1,000 men, some of whom allegedly identified themselves as asylum seekers. You have to treat me kindly. Mrs. Merkel invited me, one of the attackers is alleged to have said. Since the Cologne episode, more instances of sexual assault in Germany and throughout Europe have been reported. Germany is also thought to have disrupted a terror attack on New Years Eve, when police cleared train stations and publicly warned of a real and imminent threat. No attack ever occurred. Previous winners of the International Four Freedoms Medal include U.S. Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy, South African leader Nelson Mandela and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A suicide attack on a polio vaccination center in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday killed 15 people, mainly police who had gathered to escort health workers, who have been repeatedly targeted in recent years by Islamic militants, officials said. The bombing of the polio center on the outskirts of Quetta killed 13 police, a soldier and a civilian, said Shahzada Farhat, a police spokesman in the city. Another 23 people were wounded. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives among the police officers, said provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti. "We're in a war zone," he added. The bombing happened outside the polio center shortly before vaccination teams were due to be dispatched to local neighborhoods as part of a three-day immunization campaign, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, the local police chief. Hours after the attack, Ahmad Marwat, who described himself as a spokesman for Jundullah, or Army of God, a little-known militant group, claimed responsibility without explaining why the center was targeted. He warned of more attacks on polio teams in the future. Polio workers in Pakistan, and their police escorts, have been targeted in recent years by Islamic militants who accuse them of working as spies for the United States. The attacks intensified after a Pakistani doctor was arrested on charges of running a fake hepatitis vaccination campaign in the city of Abbottabad as a cover for a CIA-backed effort to obtain DNA samples from Usama bin Laden ahead of the 2011 U.S. raid that killed him. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where polio is endemic, and the attacks have hindered vaccination campaigns. Some Pakistanis are also suspicious about the vaccinations, fearing it will sterilize their children. Shah, the police chief, said the security forces were the primary target of Wednesday's attack. He spoke to reporters from the scene, which was strewn with blood and debris, as rescuers took the wounded to hospitals. Quetta is the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, where a low-level insurgency has long been waged by Baloch separatist groups demanding a greater share of the region's natural resources or outright independence. Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other Sunni militant groups are also active in the region. Tens of thousands have been killed in Pakistan over the past decade in attacks mainly targeting security forces and the country's Shiite minority. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, which Afghan officials said left at least seven members of the security forces dead. In a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, U.S. monitors of militant groups, the "Khorasan Province of the Islamic State" said three of its "soldiers" attacked the consulate in Jalalabad, capital of the volatile province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. It claimed to have killed "dozens" of consulate staff. Afghan officials said seven members of the security forces were killed in the attack. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven people were injured during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad and ended with a gun battle between Afghan security forces and militants. He said that three attackers were killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at around 9 a.m. The siege ended when the two gunmen, who had taken position in a guesthouse close to the consulate, were killed at around 12.30 p.m. local time, Khyogani said. Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the dead included three police and two intelligence service officers, one each from the army and border police. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said. It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistan embassy or consulate in Afghanistan, an official at the Pakistani embassy said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad's perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated, officials said. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up, officials said. The embassy official said all consular staff were evacuated. In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned what it called "the terrorist attack" on its Jalalabad consulate and requested a thorough investigation. One official at the consulate was slightly injured by broken glass, it said in a statement. Nangarhar is home to a number of insurgent groups and criminal gangs who benefit from the proximity to the Pakistan border. Insurgent attacks are not uncommon in Jalalabad. The Islamic State group has established a presence in the province, having fought with Taliban gunmen in recent months to take control of at least four border districts. The attack comes two days after Islamabad hosted a meeting of representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss ending the Taliban's 14-year insurgency. Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though the Pakistani government denies the claim. The Taliban has split in recent months, with the insurgents divided over their support for a peace process. The attack is the latest in a spate of violence since the start of 2016, which could be a tough year for Afghanistan as insurgents are expected to escalate the violence in order to enter into any peace negotiations from a position of strength. During the first week of January a restaurant frequented by foreigners in Kabul and a contractor camp on the outskirts of the capital were attacked, and the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was besieged for more than 24 hours. Further south, in Helmand province, the governor of Gereshk district in the poppy-growing river valley, said that nine police were killed overnight Tuesday in a Taliban assault. Mohammad Ashraf said two others were wounded. He had no further details. Helmand has seen fierce fighting between Taliban and government forces in recent months. Helmand is the source of opium that produces most of the world's heroin and provides an important funding source for the insurgency. At least three people, including two high school students, were killed and several others were missing after an avalanche hit a school group in the French Alps Wednesday, according to officials there. AVALANCHE en direct!!!Plusieurs personnes enseveliesChaud Posted by Massi Miliano on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 The avalanche occurred after several groups of skiers dislodged a large snow slab, local councilor Gilles Strappazzon told BFM-TV. The students who died were 14 and 16, Sky News reports. The third person killed was a Ukrainian man, officials said. 60 workers were engaged in a search-and-rescue operation with sniffer dogs and a helicopter to find anybody else who may have been missing as night fell. The Deux Alpes ski resort is roughly 20 miles southeast of Grenoble, where rescuers rushed some of the injured for medical treatment. The avalanche occurred on a closed ski run, Venosc Mayor Pierre Balme told the Dauphine Libere newspaper. French media also report there had been an avalanche warning beforehand in the Deux Alpes region, which had experienced heavy snowfall for days. The teacher survived, but four students were found in cardiac arrest, local media reported. The students had traveled to the Alps from the Lycee St. Exupery school in Lyon. French President Francois Hollande sent his condolences. Click for more from Sky News. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Officials say the undersea search for the missing Malaysian airliner has found a second 19th century shipwreck in the Indian Ocean off the west Australian coast. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a statement Wednesday that the search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had confirmed the shipwreck find with high-resolution sonar images. The Western Australian Museum advised that the wreck was likely to be a steel or iron ship dating from the turn of the 19th century. The bureau, which is running the search, announced in May last year it had found the wreck of a cargo ship built in the mid-to-late 19th century. Flight 370 vanished in March 2014 after mysteriously flying off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing. Human rights groups and activists say one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent human rights advocates has been arrested. Samar Badawi is the sister of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was lashed 50 times last year and is serving a 10-year prison sentence for insulting the kingdom's influential religious establishment. She is also the wife of human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence on charges related to his work, which included defending Raif Badawi. Amnesty International and the Center for Inquiry say the arrest on Tuesday of Samar Badawi is believed to be linked to her alleged role in managing a Twitter account campaigning for the release of her husband. Security footage reportedly captures the image of one of the alleged Paris attackers and one of the most wanted fugitives in Europe, Salah Abdeslam. Sky News reported, citing a French TV station, the new pictures were taken were taken on Nov. 14 around 9:45 a.m. local time at a gas station near the Belgian border. Abdeslam was shown with his friend Hazma Attou. Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris. His brother, Brahim, was a suicide bomber. Police have said that Abdeslam contacted Attou and Mohammad Amri on the morning of the attacks to pick him up from Paris and bring him to Brussels. Police stopped the three men by the French border but were released because they were not yet identified as the attackers. Amri and Attou were arrested later and now Abdeslam is the subject of an international manhunt. Belgian prosecutors said Wednesday that they have made progress in tracing the Paris attackers. They said theyve identified three of the homes the terrorists use to prepare the deadly wave of attacks. The Belgian prosecutor's office said in a statement Wednesday that two apartments and a house all rented under false names and paid for in cash were used by the suspects. It said a BMW car driven by one suspect, identified only as Mohammed B, had stopped near the apartments in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek and the town of Charleroi, as well close to the house in the town of Auvelais. Prosecutors have said that they suspect the Schaerbeek flat was used to make suicide belts. The Seat Leon car used in the attacks had also stopped very near the premises in both towns, the statement said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from Sky News. South Korea on Wednesday fired warning shots after an unknown object from North Korea was seen flying close to the rivals' border, the South's military said. South Korean media reported that it was a North Korean drone. It is the first time shots have been fired in what has so far been a Cold War-style standoff between the Koreas in the wake of the North's nuclear test one week ago. The North Korean object turned around after the South fired, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It did not say whether the South Koreans hit anything. Yonhap news agency reported that the South fired 20 rounds from machine guns after a drone was spotted. South Korean military officials did not immediately confirm the report. North Korean drone flights across the world's most heavily armed border are rare but have happened before. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014 Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but they were still considered a potential new security threat. Animosity is high after the nuclear test, the North's fourth. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. South Korea's president earlier Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. Seoul also said that North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing Park and her government as "mad dogs." South Korea, the United States and others are pushing hard to impose fresh sanctions and other punitive measures on the North for what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb test. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is seen as key. On Wednesday, Park said in a nationally televised news conference that South Korea will push as hard as it can for strong sanctions that can force change in North Korea. But, she said, Chinese help is crucial. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Park said, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." Beijing has recently shown signs that it's losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocations. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. Responding to the North's test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end "business as usual" with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment on the North. Park said Wednesday that South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it "the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool." Park said past broadcasts helped frontline North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyang's authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. "The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth," she said. Her military announced Wednesday that it has found hundreds of anti-Seoul leaflets near the western portion of the Koreas' border. The Defense Ministry believes those leaflets were floated over by the North's military. Similar North Korea-sent propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korea border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Such leafleting, however, by the North is still rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border. The leaflets found earlier Wednesday included such messages as "Let's knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs" and "The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea." The suicide bomber behind an attack Tuesday that left 10 Germans dead in Istanbuls main tourist area had registered with a refugee agency last week, providing fingerprints that allowed officials to quickly identify him, a Turkish official revealed Wednesday. Turkish media, including newspapers close to the government, identified the bomber as Nabil Fadli and said he was born in Saudi Arabia. Turkish authorities previously had identified the bomber as a Syrian born in 1988 with links to the Islamic State terror group. Turkish Interior Minister Interior Minister Efkan Ala on Wednesday confirmed reports that the bomber had registered with a refugee agency, but said the bomber wasn't on any Turkish or international watch lists for ISIS militants. Your assessment that his fingerprints were taken and there is a record of him is correct he told reporters at a news conference, according to Reuters. Turkeys Haberturk newspaper published CCTV pictures purportedly showing Fadli at an immigration office in Istanbul on Jan. 5. It said he was traced to the bombing after authorities took a sample of a finger at the blast site. The news about the bomber came as Turkish police arrested five people suspected of having a direct link to the attack. One suspect was detained in Istanbul late Tuesday, Ala said. He didn't provide further details. Turkey's Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, later said four more suspects were arrested in connection with the attack. Turkish police on Wednesday also arrested 13 suspected ISIS militants, including three Russians, but it wasn't clear if those arrests were directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The Russians were detained in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, a popular destination for tourists. The state-run Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with ISIS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Ten other people were detained in Turkey's third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya. Turkish media said police raided a home in an affluent Istanbul neighborhood, briefly detaining one woman suspected of links to the Islamic State group, although it wasn't clear if she was the suspect Ala was referring to. The Hurriyet newspaper said the woman was detained because a mobile phone -- which she had reported stolen -- had been used to call the bomber. The paper said she was released after questioning. The impact of Tuesday's attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkey's $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. The blast just steps from the Blue Mosque in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district -- would be the first by ISIS to target Turkey's vital tourism sector, although the militants have struck with deadly effect elsewhere in the country. The attack, which also wounded 15 other people -- including Germans, a Norwegian man and a Peruvian woman -- was the latest in a string of attacks by Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. Germany sent a team of investigators to Istanbul on Wednesday from its Federal Criminal Police Office, which is comparable to the FBI, to support Turkish authorities investigating the attack. Germany's Foreign Ministry said the number of dead Germans in Tuesday's explosion had risen to 10 but German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there was no sign that Germans were specifically targeted. "According to the investigations so far, there are no indications that the attack was directed specifically against Germans, so there can't be any connection to our contribution to the fight against international terrorism," de Maiziere said. Germany promised Tornado reconnaissance jets to aid military effort against the Islamic State group in Syria following the November attacks in Paris, and started flying missions from the Incirlik air base in Turkey last week. It also sent a tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. Germany already was helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in northern Iraq but has not taken a direct combat role. Ala urged Turkish citizens and visitors to go about their daily lives, insisting that the country had taken "all necessary security precautions." He said Turkey had detained as many as 220 ISIS suspects in the week prior to the attack. De Maiziere also said: "I see no reason to refrain from traveling to Turkey" or for people already there to break off their vacations. Top German and Turkish officials already were scheduled to meet in Berlin next week to discuss Europe's migrant crisis, in which Turkey -- which borders both Syria and the European Union -- is a key player. De Maiziere said those talks will now also address "the determined fight against terrorism." "If the terrorists aimed to destroy or endanger the cooperation between partners, then they achieved the opposite," de Maziere said. "Germany and Turkey are coming even closer together." The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country would not make any further immediate changes to its travel advice for Turkey but could do so as the investigation into Tuesday's Istanbul bombing progresses. The Foreign Ministry advised Germans after the attack to avoid crowds in public places and outside tourist sites in Istanbul. Regional authorities didn't identify the victims and gave ages only for some of them, ranging from 51 to 73. Turkish newspapers printed words of condolence in German. "With you in our hearts," the Haber Turk newspaper read. "Your pain is our pain" Vatan newspaper said. On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, his wife, de Maiziere and other Turkish officials visited the site of the blast, placing carnations near where the attack occurred. The Associated Press contributed to this report. WOW Air just launched its LAX route, spreading the to Iceland $99 love all over the United States. But it seems like the Iceland $99 price flights are just baits for people to get people's attention and that most of their flights have quite normal pricing with added baggage and carry on fees! According to the Los Angeles Times, "No-frills carrier Wow Air announced Tuesday it would begin offering flights to Iceland from Los Angeles International Airport at prices as low as $99 each way. The relatively new Icelandic airline also said it would offer $199 flights for travelers who stopover in Iceland and then continue on to London, Paris, Berlin and 18 other European destinations." While you may count yourself lucky and find those elusive $99 flights, that doesn't mean that you will be able to check out your flight at that price. The same article reports that WOW Air will charge you $48 for a carry on bag and $67 for the first checked baggage as well as $10 to $12 for picking your seats. Which means that, even if you got lucky and snagged a $99 ticket, you will find that $127 has been mysteriously added to the final check out with all those added costs. But even for $226, that's not a bad price for a flight to Iceland from Los Angeles! Meanwhile, WOW Air is trying to expand their services so that they can get some edge in the oligopolic airline industry. And seeing how Iceland is behind on this, the country probably could use some increase in tourism! Do you think WOW Air will gain enough momentum to challenge some of the bigger airlines that are better reviewed and belong to airline alliances? Let me know in the comments below! Lyft has been looking for innovative ways to beat out its biggest competitor Uber in gaining traction in New York. Lyft secured a partnering with the medical sector, helping seniors get to doctors in New York, which means that it is gaining some headway! According to CNN, "The next time New York City Medicaid patients head to the doctor, they may find themselves in the back of a Lyft... Now, as part of a test program in New York City, its operators can book a Lyft car for clients using Concierge, a new web-based dashboard designed by Lyft." The same article reports that "Lyft is continuing its global uphill battle against Uber for regular riders, but in the meantime, it's looking for other ways to make money off its network of drivers. Lyft's 12-person enterprise team is working to get a foothold in industries like hospitality, corporate travel and medicine." According to Fortune, there are many opinions out there that states that Lyft will never catch up to Uber in the business sense of things. The article concluded with very telling signs. It reported, "Will Lyft ever challenge Uber or even thrive in its shadow? History suggests Uber's biggest fear should be some innovation on the horizon, not the competitor on its doorstep." But Lyft has been trying their darndest to stay alive and kicking in the car service app industry, making all sorts of corporate, medical and social partnership so that it is seen as the service that benefits the people. Do you think getting the medical industry on their back will help Lyft gain some market control? Let me know in the comments below! Gina Puente has made innovation and non-traditional locations a critical part of her formula for business success. Back in 2010, she told us how her family business, Puente Enterprises, had created La Bodega Winery, a winery in an airport, in the mid-1990s. She also had a half-dozen other concepts going in the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. We caught up with her recently and she's been at it again. In 2013, Puente created and launched Sky Canyon by Stephan Pyles, a unique restaurant that serves contemporary Texas cuisine along with a dose of Southern hospitality and charm. It too, of course, is located in an airport--one at DFW and another at Dallas Love Field. She likes to say her company's "unique-ability" is to create and adapt new, innovative concepts into non-traditional environments. Since we last spoke with her, Puente has also added four more Travelex locations: one more at DFW for a total of six there, and three at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. In May 2013 she opened Sky Canyon by Stephan Pyles at Love Field, and in December she opened a second at DFW. She currently operates 10 different brands in 19 locations. In early September, she was the successful bidder on a lease for a quick-service barbecue space at DFW. "Chef Pyles and I are again collaborating and we are bringing Stampede 66 Express to DFW," says Puente. "I am thrilled to have the opportunity of turning up a notch what people perceive as quick-service barbecue. I am not a typical barbecue lover, but when I first tasted Chef Pyles' brisket and sandwiches, I knew a whole concept could be carved out to answer this bid." With all she has going on, Puente keeps a close eye on the markets where she operates--and beyond. "Watching global shifts of retail and food trends, the impact of Millennials and Baby Boomers, and the changing needs of the traveler are all the groundwork for why I have added new concepts," she says. "My company has been completely out in front of the curve on opening airport locations that offer wine, healthy offerings, unique concepts that pique interest, and, more recently, the need for higher-quality food and drinks." She says her company's continued emphasis on chef-driven concepts, quality farm-to-table offerings, and craft cocktails is not accidental. "When such global leaders as McDonald's are having issues with their brand, and with the rise of fast casual, these are the indicators I research to determine what concept we will open next," she says. Business is always front and center for Puente, but it's been a tumultuous time for personally over the past few years. She divorced her husband, who had been chief operations officer, and earlier this year her father, Victor Puente, Sr., died. "He was without a doubt, in addition to being an incredible father, my mentor in business," says Puente. Name: Gina Puente Title: CEO/owner Company: Puente Enterprises, Inc. No. of units: 1 Main Street News, 2 Wall Street News, 9 Travelex, 1 UFood Grill, 1 Urban Taco, 2 Blimpie/Cereality Cereal Bar/Nrgize Lifestyle Cafe (tri-branded locations), 2 Sky Canyon by Stephan Pyles, 1 La Buena Vida Vineyards Age: 47 Family: Single but with 170 extended family members who are a part of the PEI team. Years in franchising: 19 Years in current position: 21 Americas Hidden Weakness - New White Paper Spotlights the Shrinking Labor Force in a Growing Economy OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (PRWEB) January 13, 2016 - Express Employment Professionals released today a new white paper exploring the challenges and causes of Americas chronically low labor force participation rate. The U.S. labor force participation rate has continued to shrink, even in a growing economy. By almost any measure, that is a surprising trend. Among most other major economies of the world, the United States is practically the only one facing this issue. Titled Americas Hidden Weakness, the new white paper draws from a variety of sources and studies, including original polling, to explain why this trend is both so rare and so troubling. We cannot continue to make the mistake of overlooking the dropping labor force participation rate and this almost unprecedented trend were facing, said Bob Funk, CEO of Express, and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. If we do, we are ignoring millions of struggling Americansand that is unacceptable. This isnt just about an aging population; its about a not-so-hidden weakness we must confront. If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bob Funk to discuss this topic, please contact Sherry Kast at (405) 717-5966. About Robert A. Funk Robert A. Bob Funk is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the international staffing company has more than 750 franchises in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Under his leadership, Express has put more than five million people to work worldwide. Funk served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and was also the Chairman of the Conference of Chairmen of the Federal Reserve. About Express Employment Professionals Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated more than $3.02 billion in sales and employed more than 500,000 people in 2015. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work annually. SOURCE Express Employment Professionals Contact: Sherry Kast Express Employment Professionals +1 (405) 717-5966 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus At the advice of their attorneys, Spotsylvania County officials on Tuesday approved a controversial 98-home development to settle a lawsuit. After meeting behind closed doors, the Board of Supervisors voted 51 in favor of the settlement agreement, which clears the way for the Avalon Woods subdivision near Spotsylvania Towne Centre. The development will connect to Sawgrass Lane, about a mile off State Route 3 and near the corner of Maple Grove Drive and Hazel Court. The only alternative to that plan is for the county to pay about $2 million to build a road from Harrison Road to the 150-acre Avalon Woods site, according to the settlement agreement. The supervisors have nine months to approve that option, which nearby residents support. Supervisor David Ross, who voted against the agreement, said hes in favor of the Harrison Road connection, but said the majority of supervisors are not. He noted that he has nine months to convince them to change their minds. I personally believe this is something worth fighting for, but Im on the losing side of this battle, said Ross, whose Courtland District includes the Avalon Woods property. Supervisor Timothy McLaughlin, who left the meeting early, was not present for the vote. Housing developer Doug Janney and the Hazelwild Educational Foundation in May filed a lawsuit alleging the Planning Commissions denial of Avalon Woods was based on unfounded public safety concerns. The commissions action in April was unusual because the land had been zoned for homes for decades, and the project met state and local requirements. Janney is under contract to buy the land from Hazelwild. Attorney Clark Leming, who represents the plaintiffs, said in an email that he was pleased the board had finally acted to correct the Planning Commission's unlawful denial of the preliminary plat last year. I note that the agreement of the parties is essentially what the plaintiffs were agreeable to last spring, Leming wrote. Supervisor Chris Yakabouski said the county didnt have a leg to stand on legally because state code mandated approval of the development. Earlier in the meeting, Yakabouski and Supervisor Greg Cebula voted against reappointing Gregg Newhouse and Richard Thompson to the Planning Commission because of their votes against Avalon Woods. Newhouse and Thompson were reappointed by a 5-2 vote. Yakabouski said the county has spent about $16,000 on outside counsel to defend what he called the Planning Commissions reckless action. Im also troubled by some who will claim to stand for property rights, but yet deny others because they have a problem with that person exercising their rights, he said. Ross countered that he was defending the property rights of hundreds of existing homeowners who worry the additional traffic in their neighborhoods will pose safety issues. What we paid to date is not a waste of money, its protecting our own residents that pay taxes to the county, Ross said, referring to the funding for outside counsel. Several nearby homeowners urged the supervisors to let a judge rule on the lawsuit. Supervisor Paul Trampe said he isnt in favor of the project, but added: We are facing a lawsuit our attorneys say we cant win. This board did approve Avalon Woods, but it was 27 years ago when the land was zoned for homes, he said. I did not approve this neighborhood. Supervisor Greg Benton, who was elected in November, said his hands were tied because the supervisors had already promised to support the settlement agreement before he took office. In any other case Id be voting no ... and to fight the lawsuit, he said. In other business, the supervisors: Voted 52 to name McLaughlin the Board of Supervisors chairman. Yakabouski, the outgoing chair, and Cebula dissented. McLaughlin last year lost a bid for the chairmanshipwhich he attributed to his opposition to a proposed taxpayer-financed minor league baseball stadium. The political dynamic has changed since then, with Benton taking office this year after defeating former Supervisor Ann Heidig for the local Republican nomination. Heidig had voted against McLaughlin for chair. Supervisor Paul Trampe won the vice chairmanship with unanimous support. Voted 43 to push back the start of their first meeting of every month from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Supervisors Cebula, Yakabouski and Gary Skinner voted no to the proposal. Unanimously tabled a vote on the proposed 132-home Plantation Woods development off Massaponax Church Road until Jan. 26. Some residents of the adjacent Plantation Forest subdivision oppose the development because it would connect to their neighborhood via Plantation Forest Drive. Dr. Anthony Spotora Joins CellMark Biopharma as Pharmacy Director CellMark Biopharma, a global innovator in medical nutrition combining scientifically based medical research with innovative multi-platform technology welcomes Dr. Anthony Spotora as its National Pharmacy Director. -- CellMark Biopharma, the leading biotech company 'Fueling the Fight Against Cancer', today announced Dr. Anthony Spotora has joined CellMark Biopharma as its National Pharmacy Director. "Dr. Spotora is one of the most accomplished pharmacists in the country with a tremendous history with several of the largest pharmacies and related companies in the world", stated Derek Vest, founder and CEO of CellMark Biopharma. "His vast knowledge of pharmacology enables CellMark to remain at the forefront of innovation and excellence in the field of Medical Nutrition". Dr. Spotora has intricate knowledge of oncology drugs and treatments and shares a tremendous passion for changing the lives of cancer patients through advanced medical nutrition. Dr. Spotora has degrees in Pharmacy, Education as well as a MBA. As a Pharm. D., he has worked from owning his own pharmacies to being the Vice President of Managed Care Sales and Marketing for Eckerd Drugs (4th largest drug chain in U.S. with 2,800 stores and later acquired by CVS). His career also included being the COO and partner in a 40+ physician outpatient medical/surgical center outside Chicago which was acquired by Mercy Hospital. He was also brought in to be the Director of Development, Planning and Analysis for Cigna Healthcare of Florida Dr. Spotora has consulted on a global scale to a variety of companies using his prodigious skills in both pharmacy and business development. About CellMark Biopharma CellMark Biopharma is a leading global innovator in medical nutrition combining scientifically based medical research with innovative multi-platform technology creating the safest and most therapeutically advanced products to those desiring relief from cancer and cancer related side effects such as cancer cachexia and chemo brain. INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Biotechnology, Biotech, Cancer, cachexia, chemo brain, chemo fog, Derek Vest, Craig Pisaris-Henderson, Erica Boliek, cancer super drink, Clinical Trials, Oncology, CellMark Biopharma, CellAssure, Cognify Kalos Therapeutics, Dr. Stan Headley, Daniel Von Hoff, Stand Up To Cancer, Pharmaceutical, Research, Health, malnutrition, medical nutrition, Palliative Care For more information about us, please visit http://www.cellmarkbiopharma.com/ Contact Info: Name: Craig Pisaris-Henderson Organization: CellMark Biopharma LLC. Address: 1591 Hayley Ln Ste 201 Fort Myers, FL 33907 Phone: 888-444-7992 Release ID: 101026 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Robot Cars and Trucks Market Shares, Trends And Forecast Report Up To 2021 : Radiant Insights,Inc RadiantInsights.com has announced the addition of "Global Robot Cars and Trucks Market Trends, Growth And Forecast Report To 2021 : Radiant Insights, Inc" Market Research Report to their Database. -- IBM and Google are sure to be a significant software vendors for all the robot car and truck market participants. IBM has a huge head start with its excellent middleware branded integrated solutions that are hardened and reliable. Google has mindshare and early market success with its early market trials. As automated process hits the auto industry as a disruptive force, it parallels the automated piloting of the airline industry that saw significant labor savings implementation. Automated vehicle driving can be done anywhere just by connecting the car to integrated adaptive cruise control, adaptive steering and braking, and lane assist systems all working off one central processor. Browse Full Research Report With TOC On "Robot Cars and Trucks: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021" at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/robot-cars-and-trucks-market Robot cars and trucks incrementally add automated process to driving. As software is added to cars and trucks it is done in concert with modification to the steering, breaking, and other automotive systems. Autonomous functions for vehicles are increasingly adopted. Change is incremental, we do not have fully functioning robot cars immediately, rather, steering, collision avoidance, parking, test driving, series of camera and radar based monitoring systems, lane assist, and adaptive cruise control are being implemented, presaging rapid adoption of robot cars and trucks as the various functions mature and work in the real world. According to Susan Eustis, team leader for the preparation of the study, "The market for robot car and truck vehicles is anticipated to expand in parallel with the deployment of appropriate roadway controls funded by government programs. The large public investments for robot vehicles so far has been for development of technology that works for military purposes. The extension of this type of automated system to commercial fleet vehicles will be rapid after 2020" Browse All Reports of This Category at: www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/automotive The robot car designs amalgamate a group of features to represent an automated process solution. These include the hardware, the software middleware, the steering system, adaptive cruise control, numerous software applications, an integrated systems approach, and related services. Significant investments in research and development are necessary as the emerging robot cars and trucks industry builds on incremental technology roll outs. Robot Cars and Trucks Market shipments forecasts indicate that markets beginning to develop in 2015 will rise to $868 million by 2021. Growth is a result of various moves toward autonomous vehicles that park themselves, provide automated steering, are used as test vehicles, are used as mapping vehicles, and that provide driver alerts but fall sort of complete robotically operated car vehicles. Market driving forces relate primarily to the need for increased safety and personalization for autos. Car manufacturers are positioning with robot car models to meet demand at the high end. Many robot vehicle car vendors are making automation for personal vehicles and trucks a reality. Companies Profiled o Googl o Ford o Tesla o Daimler AG / Mercedes-Benz o Fuji o GM o Kairos o Nissan o Toyota o Volkswagen / Audi About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. Contact Details: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Web: http://www.radiantinsights.com/ For more information about us, please visit http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/robot-cars-and-trucks-market Contact Info: Name: Michelle Thoras Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Organization: Radiant Insights, Inc. Address: 28 2nd Street Phone: 14153490054 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/robot-cars-and-trucks-market-shares-trends-and-forecast-report-up-to-2021-radiant-insightsinc/101123 Release ID: 101123 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Industrial Robot Markets Size Worth $48.9 Billion By 2021 : Radiant Insights,Inc RadiantInsights.com has announced the addition of "Global Industrial Robot Markets Trends, Growth And Forecast Report To 2021 : Radiant Insights, Inc" Market Research Report to their Database. -- Industrial Robot: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021. The 2015 study has 1022 pages, 258 tables and figures. Worldwide Industrial Robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth as the automotive early adopter base provides a way for other industries to leverage economies of scale. Industrial Robot infrastructure in one industry makes it easier to extend product sets so that they are more available across all industries, remaking all manufacturing everywhere. Controllers permit leveraging industrial robot technology to improve automated process via iteration of work cells. Using controllers to leverage efficiencies is an evolving art, extending the current state of the art. Robots can perform tasks at less cost, and do work in a manner that cannot be replicated with human manufacturing workers. Information technology is used to implement the services provided by controllers. Place A Direct Purchase Order At www.radiantinsights.com/research/industrial-robots-market-shares-strategies-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021 Growth prospects for the industrial robotics industry depend on market opportunity metrics relative to the different industries. Automotive investment levels globally have remained at historical highs. Increasing usage of robotic automation by non-automotive companies is driving the usage of industrial robot automation to a new level. Increased adoption of industrial robots coupled with a huge push from the industry for collaborative robots, opens opportunities for robotic solutions. In the immediate future industrial robots strengthen the position of every industry, promising more manufacturing efficiency at every level. A few leading vendors profiled in the report lead the market. ABB provides a comprehensive range of robots to help manufacturers improve productivity, product quality and worker safety. Regardless of application ABB has a robot to meet needs of the customer in any industry. ABB has installed 250,000 robots worldwide. With a global install base of nearly 300,000 industrial robots, Yaskawa Motoman has over 150 robot arm models currently in production. Well defined criteria help users find a robotic arm that suits industrial applications. Required payload, reach and repeatability specifications are market aspects. Each robotic arm model is paired with a robot controller that enables workers to program and control tasks of a single robot or coordinate multiple robot arms. Yaskawa. Motoman offers 40 fully integrated, pre-engineered work cell solutions. These work cells include robots, process equipment, and safety equipment. Cost-effective world solutions are available to meet requirements for safety and easy of use. Customers look for industrial robots that are easy to set up and operate. Industrial robots automate manufacturing, starting with automotive factories providing automated process stat is cheaper, more reliable, and proven. Industrial robots are changing the economics of manufacturing and materials handling in all industries. Industrial robots are poised to change every aspect of modern business. See More Reports of This Category by Radiant Insights: www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/machines-and-parts Robots bring a new industrial revolution. Adoption of industrial robots in non-automotive applications is occurring in the electronics, chemicals, pharmaceutical, and food & beverages industries. Industrial robots have opened up new market opportunities. High installation costs have been largely overcome, making industries in developing markets available to vendors. The adoption of robots in underdeveloped countries occurs because of the unavailability of skilled labor. Manufacturing plants are frequently long aisles of nothing but robots, no human in sight. Beyond industrial robots that repeat actions, more intelligent robots loaded with sensors, cameras, and intelligent software are able to automate process using controllers to manage action. Use of microprocessors provides a measure of intelligent control over the activity of the robot based on input from the sensors and the cameras. Increased adoption of industrial robots coupled with a huge push from the industry for collaborative robots, opens opportunities for robotic solutions. In the immediate future industrial robots strengthen the position of every industry, promising more manufacturing efficiency at every level. The issue becomes creating jobs and building economies worldwide so people can afford to support a family and a lifestyle and buy the goods that are manufactured so efficiently. This new job creation market thrust will come from industry and government investment in innovation and centers of excellence. Industrial robots promise to replace 70 to 90% of existing manufacturing jobs. People will learn new ways to achieve an economy, to achieve economic development. An economy needs to adjust, to be flexible if you gave pink slips to more than half the labor force. According to Susan Eustis, principal author of the market research study, "Industrial robot vendors have discovered that with intelligent use of new technology, they can dominate an aspect of some manufacturing automated process for a particular sector. As the early adopters in the auto industry have proven, robots do the work cheaper and better than humans once a repetitive process has been evolved. Industrial robots make the difference between winning competitive advantage or losing it. Solutions offered by vendors are creating market growth opportunities ." Industrial robots can perform tasks faster and more accurately than humans. Increases in productivity are provided by industrial robots. Robots help reduce overall manufacturing costs in developing and developed countries. Markets are expected to rise 11.5% annually through 2021. Industrial Robot Markets at $22 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $48.9 billion by 2021. About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. Contact Details: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Web: http://www.radiantinsights.com/ For more information about us, please visit http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/industrial-robots-market-shares-strategies-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021 Contact Info: Name: Michelle Thoras Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Organization: Radiant Insights, Inc. Address: 28 2nd Street Phone: 14153490054 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/industrial-robot-markets-size-worth-48-9-billion-by-2021-radiant-insightsinc/101117 Release ID: 101117 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Timothy D. McGonigle, PC Announces $1.5 Million Success In Elderly Client's Case See how Timothy D. McGonigle, PC helped protect an elderly client from being held liable for another law firm's inappropriate claim at http://www.businesslawoflosangeles.com/Success-Stories.shtml. -- The Law Office of Attorney Timothy D. McGonigle, PC, a top Los Angeles Breach of Contract Lawyer, announced that they have obtained a favorable outcome in the case of an elderly client who was sued by another law firm for $1.5 million dollars. McGonigle acted as the principal trial attorney in the arbitration case and fought on the client's behalf to help stop a judgment from being ordered against them for the money. The purpose of the lawsuit filed by the client's former law firm was to recover attorney's fees and costs. The former law firm had represented the elderly client and his business partner in litigation pertaining to several commercial real estate projects. The business partner ran the real estate projects and primarily dealt with the former law firm. As Los Angeles Business Litigation Attorney Timothy D. McGonigle, stated, "The arbitration lasted two weeks and was presented to three judges. The attorneys at our firm argued that there was an active conflict of interest with the former law firm because they asked the client to sign an engagement letter 18 months after they agreed to represent both partners. This letter made the client jointly liable for fees relating to joint projects with his business partner as well as for litigation that solely involved the business partner. Unfortunately, they did so knowing that the elderly client's business partner would not be able to pay the fees because of some considerable debts he had incurred." McGonigle goes on to say, "Based on the information presented by our firm, the arbitrators involved in the case denied the request for $1.5 million dollars' worth of attorney's fees and costs to be paid by the elderly client. This favorable outcome protects the client from having to unfairly pay out of pocket for something for which he should never have been held responsible. We are happy to have been able to be of service to this client and relieved that justice has been served in this case." Those who would like to learn more about the case or find out about Attorney McGonigle's legal services should visit businesslawoflosangeles.com/. About Timothy D. McGonigle, PC: Based in Los Angeles County, Timothy D. McGonigle, PC, was established in 1986. The firm has come to be recognized as one of the most respected plaintiffs' professional malpractice and business litigation firms in the state. Representing individuals, small businesses and corporations with equal proficiency, Mr. McGonigle is uniquely positioned to provide effective representation to clients on any side of a dispute. For more information about us, please visit http://www.businesslawoflosangeles.com/Success-Stories.shtml Contact Info: Name: Timothy D. McGonigle Organization: Timothy D. McGonigle, PC Phone: (310) 622-9751 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/timothy-d-mcgonigle-pc-announces-1-5-million-success-in-elderly-clients-case/101101 Release ID: 101101 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Home Security Systems Connecticut Creates New Section of Its Database Covering Westport Security Companies HomeSecuritySystemsConnecticut.com has expanded its database to include home security listings for Westport, Connecticut, helping locals there select the best alarm company for their needs. -- For any homeowner, keeping the home safe and protected is paramount. Prevention is always better than cure, especially when it comes to the damaging physical and psychological effects of a potential break in, which is why people look for the best home security systems from trusted providers. Finding those providers can be difficult in the sprawling landscape of the internet however, so Home Security Systems Connecticut make it as easy as possible for residents of the state to find providers in their locality. They have just expanded their database to include Westport. The new Westport section (http://www.homesecuritysystemsconnecticut.com/listing-category/home-alarm-systems-westport-ct/) features a comprehensive overview of the companies in the area together with a summary of the vital information for the companies themselves, including google maps integrated location information, contact details and website links. Home Security Systems Connecticut has included major national companies like FrontPoint together with local providers like Phoenix in a collection of eight listings all designed to help individuals make their own decisions according to what matters most to them. A spokesperson for Home Security Systems Connecticut explained, "We have levelled the playing field for providers by only listing those who meet our minimum standards of quality and delivery, so it is up to the companies to make themselves stand out with customer experience, special offers and more. This puts consumers squarely in the driver's seat, as they are able to find an instant shortlist for their local area, and now citizens of Westport can do the same. This is just the first of many planned expansions, aiming to ensure the site is as comprehensive and up to date as possible throughout 2016. In this way, we can be proud to be able to serve everyone throughout the whole of Connecticut equally, and give everyone their best chance to find the best home security provider for them." About Home Security Systems Connecticut: Home Security Systems Connecticut is a powerful online resource for residents of neighborhoods throughout the state looking for help finding the best security companies in their area. The site has been regularly maintained and updated by a dedicated team of researchers, authenticating every listing to recommend only the best quality providers. For more information about us, please visit http://www.homesecuritysystemsconnecticut.com/ Contact Info: Name: Joe Bragg Organization: Brandoutreach Phone: (415) 632 1664 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/home-security-systems-connecticut-creates-new-section-of-its-database-covering-westport-security-companies/101081 Release ID: 101081 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Home Security Systems California Expands Database Of Suppliers and Installers In Visalia HomeSecuritySystemsCalifornia.com has created a new section of its comprehensive database of home security providers for the region of Visalia, California, replete with full local listings. -- Home security is a clear priority for anyone with a home, as the place will never feel safe without appropriate protection and precautions. However, because home security is everyone's priority, there is a saturation of companies on the market, some of whom are less reputable than others. To help people improve the efficiency of their search for a provider, Home Security Systems California has created a localized database of providers by neighbourhood served. They have just expanded the database to include listings for Visalia, California. The new section of the website has been created specifically for Visalia, California (http://www.homesecuritysystemscalifornia.com/listing-category/home-alarm-systems-visalia-ca/), and gives a full and up to date accounting of what home security providers there are in the area. These listings have been fully authenticated prior to publishing, and include full website, contact details and integrated google maps location data. This information allows individuals to quickly assess the convenience of each brand, investigate the brand itself and their best offers, and quickly contact them for a quote. Visalia now has the same great resources used by the scores of other neighborhoods already serviced by the site. A spokesperson for Home Security Systems California explained, "The new listings for Visalia include FrontPoint Security, LiveWatch Security, Lifelock, Protection 1 and many more. These include major national companies and local providers alike, all of whom users can rest assured deliver the quality of service they expect. As such, other factors such as price, proximity and reputation can influence the final decision, allowing people to pick a company according to their own priorities. This is great news for the people of Visalia, who can now save hours on their home security searches, but our job is not done. There are plenty of other neighborhoods left to cover, and we will do so throughout 2016." About Home Security Systems California: Home Security Systems California is an online resource center helping people find the very best in home security suppliers and installers throughout local neighborhoods in and around California. The website is regularly updated by a dedicated team of researchers who authenticate every listing before it goes live, ensuring the best information with which to make informed consumer decisions. For more information about us, please visit http://www.homesecuritysystemscalifornia.com/ Contact Info: Name: Joe Bragg Organization: Brandoutreach Phone: (415) 632 1664 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/home-security-systems-california-expands-database-of-suppliers-and-installers-in-visalia/101076 Release ID: 101076 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Bowland Fell Park Updates Website With New Static Caravans and Holiday Homes For Sale Bowland Fell Park is helping new people discover the beauty of both Lancashire and West Yorkshire, as new static caravans and holiday homes have become available for 2016 at the holiday park. -- Yorkshire was last year named one of the most beautiful places not just in the UK, but on Earth, thanks to its natural vistas and varied topography. Bowland Fell Park is a beautiful holiday park on the border of Lancashire and West Yorkshire, with the Yorkshire Dales, Lake District and the Forest of Bowland all in striking distance. The park has new static caravans and holiday homes available to purchase, allowing people to affordably secure a beautiful country getaway. The new static caravans for sale offers a pet friendly environment where individuals can enjoy full kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as a living area and sleeping area, with some even having multiple separate bedrooms. There are currently 13 available, with models from 2005 all the way up to 2015. The country homes are permanent structures within the park, with three unique cottages available at amazing prices, for those who wish to commit to the rustic lifestyle. Holiday makers can also experience a luxury stay in one of four converted barn apartments. The on-site pub serves locally brewed ales, while the website gallery shows off some of the many attractions individuals can enjoy. A spokesperson for Bowland Fell Park explained, "We are thrilled to be able to offer both static caravans for holidaymakers as well as permanent residences for those seeking a place in the country to make their life. The park itself is a wonderful community to spend time being a part of, with our own pub and plenty of facilities available, close to local amenities, and the breath-taking landscape and landmarks of the Yorkshire Dales. The prices available on all these items are also fantastic value, ensuring we make it as easy as possible for people to open up a new, countryside dimension to their lifestyle and spend more time in the great outdoors." About Bowland Fell Park: Bowland Fell Park is on the edge of the beautiful Forest of Bowland, a short distance from the Yorkshire Dales and only 30 miles from the Lake District. It's the perfect home away from home for families of all ages. The site includes space for campervans, as well as hosting static caravans and holiday homes. For more information about us, please visit http://www.bowlandfellpark.co.uk/ Contact Info: Name: Will Organization: Bowland Fell Park Phone: 01729 840278 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/bowland-fell-park-updates-website-with-new-static-caravans-and-holiday-homes-for-sale/101068 Release ID: 101068 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Atkinsons Bullion And Coins Unveils New 2016 Special Offers For Gold And Silver Many professional investors still see precious metals as a viable investment. See how Atkinsons Bullion And Coins' special offers help investors get the best deal at http://atkinsonsbullion.com/. -- According to The Telegraph, the price of gold has dropped significantly since 2011. However, many professional investors maintain that gold is still a good investment. This is because central banks around the world are continuing to devalue paper currencies, and gold remains the best way for investors to continue protecting their individual wealth. It is with this idea in mind that Atkinsons Bullion & Coins, a premier precious metals investment firm serving the UK, is unveiling their special offers for the year 2016. These offers give investors the opportunity to get coin bundles and bars at a rate that is totally exclusive to Atkinsons. Those who are interested in these special offers should view Atkinsons Bullion for details. Paul Atkinson, one of the founders of the family-run Atkinsons Bullion & Coins, stated "Precious metals are a great investment in just about any market. Not only are the coins great for collectors who value the beauty that they bring, but they are also a solid choice for investors looking for something smart to add to their portfolio. At Atkinsons, we strive every day to give the best service at the best possible prices, and our 2016 special offers will allow us to do that on an even greater scale." Atkinson goes on to say, "Right now, our special offers include everything from 2-coin collections to silver and gold bundles with fifteen to twenty-five coins. The coins are minted by The Royal Mint, which has issued Full Gold Sovereigns since 1817. We also have silver and gold bars as a part of our special offers for 2016. We are proud to offer quality products and bundles at exclusive prices for those who are ready to make the investment in precious metals." "Gold and silver have so much to offer investors, and we love that we get to be a part of helping individuals and corporations expand their collections and their portfolios. With more than 25 years in the business, we are appreciative of those who have trusted us over the years to provide them with nothing but the best in both service and price." Investors who are interested in the special rates mentioned here should see Atkinsons Bullion for offers. About Atkinsons Bullion & Coins: Atkinsons Bullion & Coins is a family-run bullion and coins business with a rich and colourful history spanning more than 25 years in the precious metal industry. They strive to offer everyone the best service at the best possible prices with discreet and fully-insured delivery. At Atkinsons, their team not only caters for the individual private investor, but also corporate clients looking to hold gold and silver as part of their portfolios. For more than two decades, their exceptional, value-driven service has enabled them to build a client base of informed and satisfied customers. For more information about us, please visit http://atkinsonsbullion.com/ Contact Info: Name: Paul Atkinson Organization: Atkinsons Bullion & Coins Phone: 0121 355 0620 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/atkinsons-bullion-and-coins-unveils-new-2016-special-offers-for-gold-and-silver/101082 Release ID: 101082 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) BlackRock has shaken up its fixed income team as part of efforts to give it a global perspective, as well as rejigging its active equities and multi-asset operations under a broader restructure. In an internal memo the company announced it was looking to evolve by broadening its leaders experience, following other senior reshuffles in 2012 and 2014. As part of this the fixed income team will take a global focus, with head of international fixed income Tim Webb becoming global head of fixed income and Rick Rieder, currently chief investment officer (CIO) of fundamental fixed income, assuming the title of CIO of global fixed income. The company explained clients were seeking a broader outlook on fixed income because of macro-economic developments, saying: Given the uncertainty created by central bank actions around the world, clients are valuing guidance on fixed income markets from a global perspective. Under the changes, which take effect at the start of February, both men will report to BlackRock president Rob Kapito. The company will also combine its fundamental active equity and scientific active equity groups into one business, explaining: In a market environment characterised by more volatility, lower beta and increased dispersion, clients are increasingly looking for active equity solutions irrespective of whether they are fundamental or quantitative strategies. Meanwhile Ewen Cameron Watt, who as chief investment strategist played a key role in establishing the BlackRock Investment Institute, will step back from full-time involvement on July 1 and will now serve as a senior director at the institute. BlackRock is also looking to further promote its multi-asset business, which it has identified as one of the firms leading opportunities for growth. As part of changes to the business Rich Kushel will take on the role of head of multi-asset strategies while Pierre Sarrau, deputy CIO of multi-asset strategies, will be promoted to CIO. Liontrust Asset Management recorded a 7 per cent boost to its assets under management in the final quarter of 2015, bringing the total to 4.7bn. The fund management group enjoyed net inflows of 53m from October 1 to the end of the year, with net inflows for the financial year to December 31 2015 amounting to 163m. On a year-by-year basis net inflows were significantly down, from 424m for the final quarter of 2014 and 708m for the financial year to December 31 2014 as a whole, though Liontrust attributed these numbers to net inflows from a single institutional client. Chief executive John Ions said Liontrust had been growing its brand and client relationships, and pointed to the success of popular funds including the 1.6bn Special Situations and 428m UK Small Companies portfolios. He said: Two of our most popular funds delivered strong performance last year and are well placed to continue this year, despite the severe stock market volatility in the first week of 2016. FIVE GENERATIONS Five generations of the Leach family are pictured above. This is Minnie Brown Leachs second five generation line. Pictured are Minnie Brown Leach, A.L. Jamison, Julia Leach McGill, John F.... County OKs tax break for company that will purchase spec building Now we know why there was plenty of buzz around Project Bee. Although Project Bee had been identified several months ago as the codename for the Canadian company Niagara Pharmaceutical,... Open house on public transportation County residents are invited to drive the conversation this week about how future transportation needs can be met in the community. RLS & Associates is hosting open houses Wednesday from... Cancer Association event to go Over the Edge of AC Hotel The Cancer Association of Spartanburg & Cherokee Counties Inc. announces the return of the popular fundraiser, Over the Edge Upstate slated for Thursday, November 3, at AC Hotel Spartanburg,... Story Highlights 46% say Republicans in Congress should lead; 42% Obama Americans have been divided most of Obama's presidency Popularity of president key to determining Americans' preferences PRINCETON, N.J. -- Americans are about evenly divided in their preference for who should have more influence over the direction the nation takes in the next year, with 46% saying the Republicans in Congress and 42% saying President Barack Obama. Americans have been mostly split on this question during Obama's presidency, with the major exception coming right after the GOP success in the 2014 midterm elections when the Republicans had a sizable lead. The latest results are based on a Jan. 6-10 Gallup poll, conducted before Obama delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday. While his speech could affect people's views on whether he or Congress should have more influence on policy over the next year, presidents usually have not seen significant changes in their support following State of the Union addresses. Preferences about who should steer the country are, not surprisingly, highly related to one's political party identification. But Republicans are more likely to choose their side -- 91% say the Republicans in Congress should have more influence -- than Democrats are to choose theirs -- 81% of Democrats say President Obama should have more influence. Independents are roughly divided. Presidential Popularity Key to Influencing Preferences Gallup has asked this question 30 times since 1995, primarily when party control of the president and Congress has been divided between the two major parties. Preferences for which side should lead have differed significantly at certain points during this time period, but when averaged, Americans have been evenly divided between the president (46%) or the opposition party in Congress (44%) having more influence. Early in George W. Bush's administration, the public wanted him to have more influence. However, after Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 midterms, Americans wanted the Democrats to be more influential. During President Bill Clinton's administration, Americans wanted the Republicans in Congress to have a bigger say in leading the country after the GOP won control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections. But in late 1998 and early 1999, when the House of Representatives was in the process of impeaching President Clinton and the Senate considering his removal from office, Americans wanted the president to lead. Americans' preferences to a large degree reflect their evaluation of the current president. When a president's job approval rating was 55% or higher, an average of 50% said the president should have more influence, compared with 39% for the majority party in Congress. In contrast, when a president's job approval rating was 45% or lower, the numbers are essentially reversed, with 50% wanting the congressional majority party to have more influence and 40% the president. When a president's approval rating was between 46% and 54%, Americans' preferences on who should set the direction of the nation have been evenly divided. The current data fit this pattern. Obama's job approval rating in the Jan. 6-10 poll is 45%, which indicates a preference for the opposition party but not an overwhelming one given it is right on the edge of where Americans be split or want Congress to be more influential. More broadly and thus far in 2016, Obama has averaged a 46% job approval rating in Gallup Daily tracking. Implications In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama forcefully advocated his vision for how the country should address various domestic and international issues in the coming year, often taking issue with the opposing party's approach. But Americans are mostly divided as to whether he or the Republican-led Congress should have more influence over U.S. policy in the next year. To a large degree, that division is a function of Obama's middling job approval ratings; Americans tend to express a clear preference as to who should lead only when the president is very popular or very unpopular. Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 6-10, 2016, with a random sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. View complete question responses and trends. Learn more about how Gallup Poll Social Series works. The contracts for firefighters and lifeguards each covers a three-year period and provides annual wage increases. So here's Michael "Transformers" Bay directing the guy who played the likable and goofy Jim on "The Office" in a gritty film based on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and though that might sound like the premise for an article in The Onion or a satirical trailer on "Funny or Die," this is a solid action thriller with well-choreographed battle sequences and strong work from the ensemble cast. Of course, this being a Michael Bay movie, there are moments when deadly battles are given the glorious, slow-motion treatment and lit like fireworks displays, and if you think Bay's camera will linger on the American flag more than once, well, you've seen your share of Michael Bay movies, haven't you? Sporting a full beard and layers of muscle, John Krasinski is nearly unrecognizable as Jack Silva, the newest member of a small team of CIA contractors in Benghazi acting as security for a CIA outpost manned by about 30 operatives tracking the movement of weapons in post-Gadhafi Libya, where the situation is unstable on the best of days. (The name has been changed, but Krasinski's character and the rest of the team are based on real-life former military men who fought the terrorists who stormed the American diplomatic compound on Sept. 11 and 12 in 2012.) Jack is married with two little girls, with a third child on the way. In fact, each of the six Annex Security Team members is a father. When they're not risking their lives in the Middle East for country and cash, they work in insurance or selling homes. Some are in Benghazi because they need the money; others are there because they are soldiers through and through, and as one of them puts it, warriors aren't meant to retire. Bay and screenwriter Chuck Hogan take a comfortable amount of time establishing characters and giving us a lay of the land, geographically and politically, before we're plunged into the nightmare of the continued assaults on the U.S. diplomatic compound. "13 Hours" isn't interested in introducing us to any of the terrorists who attack the compound or in explaining their motivation other than they want to kill Americans. When the first wave of attacks hits the building (often and unofficially referred to as the consulate) occupied by Ambassador Christopher Stevens (a well-cast Matt Letscher), the annex men are about a mile down the road, at their assigned post protecting the CIA operation. They have no authority to join the battle, even though the small unit assigned to protect the ambassador is hopelessly outmanned. In fact they're told to stand down. Even though they're private contractors, the team members are American soldiers to the core, and they refuse to stand by while countrymen are under attack. From that point forward, "13 Hours" is one extended battle sequence after another, with the consulate going up in flames, harrowing chase sequences and multiple shootout scenes back at the CIA compound. There's very little politicking in "13 Hours," other than a moment when one of the Americans notes the mortar attack had to have been planned weeks in advance. This was no spontaneous demonstration gone horribly wrong, as we were initially told at the time. And of course there's an unspoken but quite loud indictment of the Obama administration and in particular then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Not only did we not see this coming, but for 13 long hours, it was up to a half-dozen civilians to protect American lives. This is no "Zero Dark Thirty" or "The Hurt Locker." Lacking in nuance and occasionally plagued by corny dialogue, "13 Hours" is nonetheless a well-photographed, visceral action film, and a sincere and fitting tribute to those secret soldiers. In a legal action that could have major implications for Oregon Forest Trust Lands, Linn County officials said Wednesday they intend to file a $1.4 billion class-action suit against the state, charging that mismanagement of the lands has cost counties $35 million a year since 1998. Linn County plans to file the lawsuit in 30 days in Linn County Circuit Court, alleging breach of contract, on behalf of it and 14 other counties that receive money based on annual timber harvests on the Oregon Forest Trust Lands. Linn County Commissioners Roger Nyquist, John Lindsey and Will Tucker announced the legal action Wednesday morning at the state Capitol. This breach of contract has had devastating effects on local communities that have seen both poverty and unemployment rates skyrocket in the last two decades as a result of current practices, Nyquist said. While there has been much talk about the plight of rural Oregon by statewide policymakers, there has been no action to address the fundamental problem. This litigation serves as an action step to improve the local economies of small towns located near county Forest Trust Lands all over the state. The litigation names Gov. Kate Brown and State Forester Doug Decker. A spokesperson said Brown had no comment. At issue in the legal action are 654,000 acres of Forest Trust Lands in Oregon, including 21,000 acres in Linn County, mostly in the Mill City area, with a small segment east of Lebanon. There are about 8,000 acres in the northwest corner of Benton County. Other counties with the lands are Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Douglas, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Marion, Polk, Tillamook and Washington. In Linn County, taxing districts affected are the County School Fund, Linn-Benton-Lincoln ESD, School District 129 J (Santiam Canyon/Mill City), Mill City, Chemeketa Community College, Linn-Benton Community College and the 4-H Extension Service District. They are all potential plaintiffs in the lawsuit, as are more than 100 beneficiaries of the harvest revenue, including law enforcement agencies, school districts and other special districts throughout the counties. Counties and districts can choose to opt out of the legal action, but if they take no action to do so, they will be included as plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are represented by attorney John DiLorenzo of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP of Portland. Private industries that have approved a Common Interest Agreement and will provide some funding for the lawsuit are the Oregon Forest & Industries Council, Stimson Lumber Co., Hampton Tree Farms and the Sustainable Forests Fund. Nyquist said the issue of less-than-expected state payments has been an issue since I first came on the board. The opportunity (to pursue the lawsuit) has presented itself and we believe this is a clear breach of contract. We have talked with the Oregon Department of Forestry about this for 17 years and have gotten nowhere. Nyquist said the lawsuit will hold the state and the Oregon Department of Forestry accountable for their actions. Nyquist estimates the change in management of the forest lands has cost Linn County tens of millions of dollars and has resulted in double-digit unemployment rates and increased poverty in rural communities. I regret it has come to this," Nyquist said. "In a perfect world, people sit down, resolve their differences and then go their separate ways. The following is the estimated annual loss in potential income experienced by each of the affected counties based on 2001-2014 figures: Benton County, $731,479; Clackamas, $377,796; Clatsop, $12,024,122; Columbia, $598,043; Coos, $189,871; Douglas, $239,063; Josephine, $11,636; Klamath, $1,040,034; Lane, $1,451,433; Lincoln, $728,770; Linn, $2,385,188; Marion, $1,236,719; Polk, $163,297; Tillamook, $8,913,715; Washington, 5,147,916. Total: $35,239,089. The issues leading to the legal action date back to the 1930s, when the state of Oregon established a legal framework for the conveyance of forest lands from the county to the state, the litigants noted in a press statement. In exchange, the lands were to be managed and portions of revenues generated by timber sales distributed to the counties. The commissioners noted that Oregon courts consistently have ruled that the state is contractually bound to manage Forest Trust Lands for the benefit of the 15 counties. But in the press release, the commissioners said that Beginning in 1998 the state breached the contract when it adopted a new rule that de-emphasized revenue generation for the counties in exchange for other objectives. The state then implemented a management plan without the informed consent of the counties that resulted in roughly half the revenues the counties should have received if the lands were managed in accordance with best management practices required of private landowners. The state of Oregon began acquiring the lands from the counties in the 1930s, in part due to abandonment by families during the Great Depression and in the aftermath of massive fires in the 1930s and 1940s. Transferring property ownership to the state also removed those lands from county tax rolls. The state and the Forest Trust Land Counties developed an agreement that the Oregon Department of Forestry would manage the lands for the benefit of the counties and keep a fee for its services. Remaining income would be distributed to the counties. The state agreed to manage the lands for grazing and forestry and later amended the agreement to include the greatest permanent value of the lands. The litigants believe the counties understood the "greatest permanent value" clause to mean generation of revenues for the Forest Trust Land Counties, while working within accepted best management practices. But that hasn't worked out that way, the litigants say, as land that was being used for timber harvests has been diverted to other uses such as recreation, habitat and aesthetics. DiLorenzo, whose company has taken on the lawsuit on a contingency basis, called the action, a straightforward breach of contract case. The states breach has strained citizens needs. He said he spoke with Gov. Browns legal counsel shortly before the press conference. DiLorenzo said there have been two previous lawsuits concerning changes to the contract between the counties and the state over the years and both were won by the counties. He said that although there are several possible outcomes associated with a lawsuit, DiLorenzo said there are two key questions a Linn County Circuit Court jury would have to answer: Was there a breach of contract? And what is monetary value of the breach? The Oregon Forest & Industries Council is one of the private organizations supporting the litigation. Spokesperson Sara Duncan said the council composed of companies such as Weyerhaeuser, Avery Interests and Miami Corporation was glad to support Linn Countys efforts. Were very supportive, Duncan said. We think Linn County has a really good case. Our members have had long-term partnerships within these counties and a direct connection with the people who live and work in these communities who benefit economically and ecologically from the forest lands. Duncan said it appears the counties have a very strong breach-of-contract case. Corvallis resident Jean Townes is working with area churches to help provide assistance to Middle Eastern refugees at camps in Greece. Townes started last month by helping to assemble 40 hygiene kits with the assistance of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Now, Townes is trying to put together another batch of kits by the end of January. Townes has enlisted the additional aid of the Friends Meeting House, First United Methodist, Beit Am, the First Congregational United Church of Christ, the CoHo Ecovillage. Those interested in participating can work with any of the above groups. There are two types of kits, family and infant and Medical Teams International (formerly Northwest Medical Teams) has complete lists of items at its website (http://www.medicalteams.org/micro-sites/syrian-refugee-kits). Medical Teams International will deliver the kits to Greece, with Townes noting that the campaign prefers donations of the kits rather than financial contributions because it takes one more thing off the shoulders of those in the camps, Townes said. Townes also noted that some of the exact sizes of the requested items on the list are not that easy to find and advised volunteers to just go with something close. Townes said she got involved because she found out that was something I could do, and I just started putting things together. Weve got the volunteers here. Its easy for us to buy the stuff and put it together. Completed kits should be delivered to 3025 S.W. Morris Ave. Those with questions about the program should email townes at townesj@peak.org. The city of Corvallis is planning three community workshops to gather feedback from the public on goals of this two-year council term. While details still remain to be ironed out, the sessions tentatively will be held March 5, March 12 and March 19. All three dates are Saturdays, and city officials say they are planning the forums during the day and hope to coordinate them with other city activities in a family-friendly format. The public comment is designed to assist in the implementation of goals on a sustainable budget, housing development, climate action and a vision and action plan. Now is the time to get more and more community input, Mayor Biff Traber said Tuesday at a meeting of the chairs of the goals task forces. Thats a key aspect of this process. The workshops each will emphasize two focus areas, although individuals who participate will not be limited to discussing those two topics. The focus areas will be established by the steering committee that is working on the vision and action plan at its Jan. 21 meeting. The workshops will target the vision goal, but the feedback also will be used on the other goals. The first three workshops will focus on aspirational values, with a second phase of community outreach set to look at the action piece of the goals work. No dates have been set for the second set of forums. In addition, HDR, a consulting firm hired by the city, will produce an online community survey that officials hope to have up and running by the end of February. The goals task forces also will be gathering feedback via email and during visitor time at council meeting. Thats fine as long as we can funnel it to the project manager, said Ward 1 Councilor Penny York, who chairs the vision and action steering committee. It allows us to reach more people in a way that makes sense to them. March 1, 1915 Jan. 9, 2016 Emery Red Bedea passed away in Poulsbo, Washington, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016. Emery was born March 1, 1915, on his parents farm near Almena, Kansas. His parents, Henry and Ella Bedea, had three sons: Finley, who died shortly after birth, Albert and Emery, the youngest. Emery grew up on the Almena farm, learning from a young age the merits of hard work and responsibility. During the Great Depression, Emery husked corn for neighboring farmers in order to save his own familys farm. In 1934, he and a boyhood friend headed west to Oregon with empty pockets in search of a new life. Emery first arrived in Cottage Grove, and later the Coos Bay area, where he began a lengthy career in the lumber industry. In 1939, Emery met Ruth Sherman. They wed on Oct. 7, 1939, in Reedsport. Emery and Ruth moved to Eugene where they had two daughters, Janet and Judith. Through hard work and perseverance, Emery rose rapidly through the ranks in the sawmill profession. Sawmill owners sought his oversight and judgment to operate their sawmills efficiently. In 1956, the family moved to Corvallis, where Emery was Superintendent of Larsen Lumber Company for several years. Emery was active throughout his adult life in the Masonic and Elks fraternal organizations. Emery was the last surviving charter member of Marys River Masonic Lodge 221, which he helped form in Corvallis in 1958. He served as Master of the Lodge in 1960 and again in 1994. He was honored with one of Masonrys highest levels of achievement in 1996, the Hiram Award, awarded for outstanding leadership and service. Emery loved the Oregon outdoors. Throughout his life, he hunted, fished and took his family camping. In 1963, he gained notoriety when he bagged a record-book mule deer buck on one of his hunting trips to Harney County. During their retirement years, Emery and Ruth enjoyed travelling throughout the United States and spending winters in Arizona. They also began playing duplicate bridge. In 2011, Emery received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Linn, Benton and Lincoln County Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) for coordinating the Corvallis Senior Bridge group for more than a decade. In 2014, Emery and Ruth moved to Poulsbo, Washington, to be nearer their daughter. Ruth preceded Emery in death that year, a few months short of their 75th wedding anniversary. Emery was also preceded in death by his parents and brothers. Survivors include his daughters, Janet Wold and Judith Hassoun; grandsons Ali Hassoun and Tarek Hassoun; and four great-grandchildren, Brett, Will, Hayley and Hudson. A graveside funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at Oaklawn Memorial Park in Corvallis, with a reception gathering at McHenry Funeral Home to follow. Please leave your thoughts and memories at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com. Oregon State University has become one of only a handful of universities with a store that can accept federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards. The universitys Cascadia Market was approved to accept SNAP cards in August, but waited until Jan. 6 to begin accepting the cards to work out details for how it would accept the payments, said Tara Sanders, a nutritionist with University Housing & Dining Services. Last week the university announced the change to take SNAP cards, the aid program that replaced food stamps. Sanders said University Housing & Dining Services has been working on being able to accept SNAP since shortly after Cascadia Market, in the International Living-Learning Center, opened in the fall of 2010. Sanders said that in order to accept SNAP, a store has to carry a variety of staple foods such as grains, protein, fresh fruits and vegetables and dairy products. She said those requirements have prevented most other universities from having markets that can accept SNAP. Its hard for smaller stores on campus to meet those criteria because they dont have the space to stock them, she said. Cascadia, however, is larger than typical campus markets, with roughly 1,100 square feet of retail space. Sanders said no changes were required to Cascadia's offerings to meet the SNAP requirements. The goal of the store is to offer healthy staple foods; we have plenty of other convenience options available elsewhere on campus, she said. Sanders said shes been a liaison between different parts of the university through the process of applying for SNAP. One initial hold-up was that the point of sale terminals wouldnt accept SNAP. But officials were able to develop a workaround, and now the market now has a mobile card scanner just for SNAP sales. She said offering SNAP sales on campus is a way to make food more easily accessible to students on or near campus. We wanted to have a location that was convenient. We wanted students to be able to use SNAP while on campus, she said. OSU also has an emergency food pantry run in association with Linn Benton Food Share, and Mealbux grants, which give qualifying students campus cash that can be used with their ID card at vendors across campus. According to OSU, the food pantry served nearly 3,000 students between June 2014 and July 2015. Nearly 2,200 students used Mealbux in the same time. Sanders referenced a 2014 OSU study of students at Western Oregon University that showed that 59 percent of surveyed students had experienced food insecurity in the previous year. She said those results give an idea of what food issues Oregon university students can face. We all have the image of the starving student relying on Top Ramen to get through their schooling. We know that exists anecdotally, she said. For students, she said, financial pressures can affect their access to healthy foods. Food and nutrition are often sacrificed when there are so many other things requiring your money, she said. She said nutrition is an important factor of health, which has an impact on how students perform. You are more likely to be successful if you are healthy, she said. On Tuesday morning, Sanders said the market had only had one SNAP payment since it officially began accepting the cards. But she said officials will now begin the process of letting students know they can use SNAP at the market through channels such as outreach at the OSU food pantry. The expectation is that SNAP sales will go up as word gets out about it. Its a sort of "if we build it, they will come" situation, she said. It feels good on a lot of levels, she said. We now have an additional resource for students. In the cascade of ironies that continues to tumble out of the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, heres one that might have been easy to overlook: The standoff seems likely to renew a debate over the idea of minimum sentences, in both federal and state cases. In fact, during his town meetings in the mid-valley on Saturday. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said he intended to take a close look at mandatory minimums that can sometimes produce more injustice than justice. One of the issues in the standoff in Harney County is the case of rancher Dwight Hammond Jr., and one of his sons, Steve. The two men were indicted in 2010 on federal arson charges, regarding a pair of fires that the men set that affected land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. When the Hammonds were indicted, they faced sentencing under the federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, even though prosecutors have said they had no intention of treating the ranchers as terrorists. But the arson charge, under that particular law, mandated five-year minimum sentences. The federal judge in the case, Michael Hogan, said during the Hammonds sentencing in 2012 that such a sentence in this case would shock the conscience" and would be as unconstitutional as cruel and unusual punishment. The judge sentenced Dwight Hammond to a three-month term and Steve Hammond to one year. The Hammonds served their time and were released from federal custody. And if the story had ended there, we wouldnt be shaking our heads over the increasingly ludicrous standoff at the refuge. Instead, heres what happened: Amanda Marshall, then the U.S. attorney for Oregon, recommended that the government challenge Hogans sentence. And, when the court of appeals heard the case, it agreed with the feds: The longer sentences might in fact shock the conscience, the appeals court held, but the law is the law, and the law mandates the minimum sentence. The Hammonds returned to federal prison last week. In the meantime, the events at the refuge got underway, even though, to be clear, the Hammonds have disavowed the occupation. These minimum sentences arent just an issue in federal court; judges in Oregon working with Measure 11 crimes often find their hands are tied by laws mandating certain sentences for certain crimes. Part of the idea is to ensure uniformity in sentencing, but the not-so-unspoken implication is that minimum sentences serve as a check on too-lenient judges. But part of the reason why we have judges in the first place is so that they can review all the facts in a case and make decisions accordingly. By tying their hands in making these vital decisions about sentencing by reducing these decisions to the cold black-and-white diagram of a matrix we essentially say that, well, every criminal case is about the same as the next case. In Oregon, the minimum sentences for Measure 11 crimes have helped to fuel the explosive growth in state prison populations, a growth that were just now starting to get under control. Merkleys call for a review of these rules on the federal level is welcome. State officials might want to consider the merits of a similar review. From 1934, G. Warren Shufelt reported to the Los Angeles Times that he had discovered a series of caverns under LA that houses Reptoid people in ancient times. Reportedly, 5000 years ago a huge "tongue of fire" obliterated the Southwest and these people were forced to go underground. Reportedly, they had made tunnels in an upper and lower grid. The lower grid allowed sea water to rush through and force clean air into the upper level. There were rooms that were like "high rises" underground where they stored herbage for food. Supposedly, according to Shufelt, some tunnels ran 20 miles under Santa Monica Bay and were used for ventilation. For a comprehensive writing about this intriguing story, go here . Here's a short clip from the info there; "The "Lizard People" of Los Angeles survived the meteor shower, but were killed by natural gas leaking into their bunkers. Shufelt believed that they had built 13 such underground facilities in different areas for such a purpose. One was located in the eastern section of Arizona in a small town called Springerville and was only discovered recently. Another was located under a hill which was surrounded by a curving ridge of mountains like the middle of a horse's hoof. This is exactly the type of terrain seen in downtown L.A. in the area that is now the Board of Education, which is built over the ruins of the old Willis Estate on top of Fort Moore hill. Shufelt and his partner Chief Little Green Leaf were both convinced that the ancient legends and the readings from Shufelt's mystery machine were true. They decided to obtain a permit to sink a shaft down into the ruins of the subterranean city. They located a vacant lot at 518 North Hill Street, directly above one of the largest rooms. On 21st February 1933, the County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with Rex McCreary, Warren Shufelt and Ray Martin to search for buried treasure there. The permittees were to bear all expenses, to leave the property in its original condition, and to share 50% of all discoveries and treasure with the city of L.A. The county originally only allowed them to dig up to depths of 50 feet for fear of cave-ins. On 27th March 1933 they requested additional time and depths on their permit, believing that the labyrinth of tunnels was at least 1,900 feet in length, with rooms containing 9,000 square feet which contained valuable gold treasure in at least 16 places. On 10th April 1933 the contract was renewed. By the end of November in 1933, the main shaft was at a depth of 200 feet. Shufelt was determined to drill to a depth of 1,000 feet if necessary. On 29th January 1934, the first stories regarding the legend of the "Lost Land of the Lizard People" made the L.A. newspapers. By this time, one of the five shafts was already 250 feet deep. According to the legend and the radio surveys, the underground city was laid out in the shape of a lizard, with its tail under the Main Library at Fifth and Hope, and the body extending Northeast, with the head being at Lookout and Marda near North Broadway. The key room to the city was located under Second and South Broadway. bayonel3 at 13-01-2016 12:12 PM (6 years ago) (m) A 45 year old auto-rickshaw driver identified as Aagya Pal Singh and his brother have been arrested for allegedly molesting an unidentified 22-year-old Nigerian girl pursuing her second year graduation from a Delhi University college in West Delhi, India. According to reports, the young Nigerian girl was out to visit her friend 's home around 1.30 a.m. on Friday January 8th and had gotten into a hired auto-rickshaw in Tilak Nagar, when another man entered the vehicle and sat next to her. A 45 year old auto-rickshaw driver identified as Aagya Pal Singh and his brother have been arrested for allegedly molesting an unidentified 22-year-old Nigerian girl pursuing her second year graduation from a Delhi University college in West Delhi, India. According to reports, the young Nigerian girl was out to visit her friend 's home around 1.30 a.m. on Friday January 8th and had gotten into a hired auto-rickshaw in Tilak Nagar, when another man entered the vehicle and sat next to her. The two men allegedly took turns to molest her in the running vehicle. When she resisted, they pushed her out of the running vehicle, injuring her. Since the crime spot was not an auto stand, police were clueless about the identity of the suspects. Indian police scanned 17 CCTV cameras in the area, but had no luck. Only one CCTV had captured the auto, but the registration number was unreadable. The womans frequent use of local language and her heavily-accented broken English turned out to be an additional barrier for the investigating officers, Pushpendra Kumar, DCP (West), told Indian newspaper, The Hindu. A South Indian woman married to a Nigerian national was invited to help with the language. The victim told the police that her assailants were possibly injured in their heads as they were wearing bandages. A better communication with the victim led the police to realize that the bandages were turbans. The Nigerian woman was then taken to some turban shops to identify the kind of turbans worn by the suspects. Once that was ascertained, police used other visual descriptions provided by the victim to conduct local interrogation and identify the suspects. The 45 year old man was arrested at his home on Monday January 11th . He confessed to the crime. The arrested suspect was driving the auto-rickshaw while his brother Baljeet Singh was the one who sat next to the victim. Finding the woman alone in the dead of the night, the brothers tried to take advantage of her, said a police officer. The two men allegedly took turns to molest her in the running vehicle. When she resisted, they pushed her out of the running vehicle, injuring her. Since the crime spot was not an auto stand, police were clueless about the identity of the suspects. Indian police scanned 17 CCTV cameras in the area, but had no luck. Pushpendra Kumar, DCP (West), told Indian newspaper, The Hindu.A South Indian woman married to a Nigerian national was invited to help with the language. The victim told the police that her assailants were possibly injured in their heads as they were wearing bandages. A better communication with the victim led the police to realize that the bandages were turbans. The Nigerian woman was then taken to some turban shops to identify the kind of turbans worn by the suspects. Once that was ascertained, police used other visual descriptions provided by the victim to conduct local interrogation and identify the suspects. The 45 year old man was arrested at his home on Monday January 11th . He confessed to the crime. said a police officer. Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. +2348055557203 Posted: at 13-01-2016 12:12 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Pushkar-Gayathris Vikram Vedha showcases that a film can be made in any language or for any audience, can be told with the premise & outcome without deviating and keeping the narrative tight. Kuwait to execute 2 on allegations of 'spying' Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:28PM A court in Kuwait has sentenced two people, including an Iranian, to death over allegations that they had been 'spying for Iran' and planning attacks in the Persian Gulf country. The verdict was issued on Tuesday for the Iranian, identified as Abdulreza Haydar, on trial along with 25 Kuwaitis on charges of spying for Tehran and hiding of arms and ammunition in underground depots. The court claimed that Haydar had recruited the Kuwaiti nationals and helped them to travel to Lebanon to receive military training from Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah. The other man condemned to death, Kuwaiti Hasan Abdulhadi Ali, was found guilty of being 'the mastermind of the cell." Authorities handed down life imprisonment sentence to another defendant, while 19 received jail terms between five and 15 years. Three were acquitted and one was fined 5,000 dinars (USD 16,500). The court also alleged that the defendants spied for Hezbollah, smuggled in and assembled explosives, and were in possession of firearms and ammunition. Iran has yet to comment on the allegations made by the Kuwaiti court. Kuwaiti officials last August claimed that they had disbanded a cell linked to Iran and seized large quantities of arms, explosives and ammunition. The trial began in September during which all 23 defendants present in court dismissed the charges brought against them and said they had confessed under torture. In reaction, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian dismissed as completely baseless allegations leveled in Kuwait against the Islamic Republic. The Iranian embassy in Kuwait also in a statement dismissed accusations linking Tehran to the cell and said a "systematic" media campaign is underway to harm the relationship between the two countries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address EU nations to share intel amid extrimist threats Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:3AM Foreign ministers and diplomats from 50 European countries have agreed to enhance intelligence sharing in a bid to track potential extremists and avoid further terrorist attacks. The agreement came after a global counter-terrorism meeting at the headquarters of Europol, the continent's policing agency based in The Hague, on Monday. "We all agree that we need to share information better, smarter and faster," said Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. According to Koenders, EU foreign intelligence units, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies will have greater cooperation in gathering and sharing information on potential terrorists. Koenders said sharing of intelligence data "has to be more precise including in such areas as the interruption of travel plans and the financing of terror plans." Under the agreement, the European nations would launch a "knowledge hub" consisting of a team of experts. They will collect all data "in one place about foreign terrorists, including who they are, their background, what their travel plans are, what routes they are taking and their relationship with organized crime," according to Koenders. The deal came amid a heated international debate about the rising threat of terrorism following last November's attacks which killed over 130 in and around the French capital Paris. The assaults were claimed by the Daesh terror group, which is mainly active in Iraq and Syria. It was revealed the suspected mastermind of the Paris assaults, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had traveled around Europe undetected after returning from Syria, where he fought alongside Takfiri terrorists. Many say Western governments, including those in Europe, are to blame for their lax control over the past years on the movement of their nationals into Syria and Iraq, posing huge security risks upon their return home. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sessions aim to improve legislation for Air Force missions By Sean Kimmons, Air Force News Service / Published January 12, 2016 WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- A day after the Air Force flew a B-52 Stratofortress over South Korea in the wake of their northern neighbor's nuclear bomb test, Air Force officers discussed the service's nuclear capabilities with policymakers Jan. 11. The hour-long discussion, part of an ongoing series, touched on North Korea's Jan. 6 test and why the Air Force responded with a show of force. It also delved further into the U.S. military's triad system, which deters a nuclear attack using strategic bombers, missile silos and submarines. Organized by the Air Force Legislative Liaison Office at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, the Air Force 101 sessions inform policymakers on various topics. "We don't write policy. That's not our job," said Maj. Justin Ballinger, a legislative liaison. "What we do is educate how the policy and legislation affects us, and what we can do with what is given to us." The bi-monthly sessions cover "airpower from the ground up" and hot topics such as a briefing on cyber security that had officers talk about policies related to Air Force missions. "They spoke on the things that the current legislation allows us to do and some of the things that we're handcuffed with," Ballinger said. The sessions by the liaison office, which Ballinger described as an arm of the executive branch, also save time and energy to highlight Air Force matters. "The more folks we can reach out to and educate, the better returns we get when it comes to responsiveness for policy and other issues," he said. At the latest session, three Air Force officers spoke to about 60 policymakers on nuclear operations -- an issue recently thrusted into the spotlight. "It gives us an opportunity to build that initial foundation for a lot of them," said Maj. Nathan Perry, the chief of airborne capabilities for Air Staff 10 that handles the service's nuclear mission. "If a handful of them left this door smarter than they were when they walked in on nuclear deterrence, then mission accomplished." To Perry, who has flown B-2 Spirits, the session was a unique chance for him and others to communicate in person with policymakers who may alter the future of nuclear operations one day. "For us to be able to say that we are credible and reliable all the time," he said of nuclear deterrence, "we have to be able to correspond about it, talk about it and prove it." Allowing Capitol Hill staffers to interact with Airmen who've had prior experience on a specific issue may also indirectly shape new policy. "Being over here talking and sharing our experience, we absolutely influence the process," said Maj. Stephen Bonin, a senior emergency actions officer with the National Military Command Center who once served as a missile maintainer. The goal of the sessions is to improve the decision making of policymakers. "I can't tell you what the composition of the triad should be or how many weapons we should have," Bonin said, "but I can tell you all the information so you can make an informed decision." Eric Mattson, a Hill staffer who works for U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer of Washington, said the session helped expand his knowledge on nuclear capabilities. "As I work here there may be a time when I will work with this kind of policy," Mattson said. "I think it's important for us as policymakers to know what can be done better." One aspect that the Air Force is pushing to modernize is its aging aircraft, of which many are part of the triad system. In October, Air Force officials awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to build 100 long range strike bombers to replace legacy bombers, such as B-52s that are more than 50 years old. Bombers play a critical role in nuclear deterrence since they're easily visible, unlike submarines or intercontinental ballistic missiles. The low-level flyover of the B-52 and fighter aircraft only a few hours from the demilitarized zone of the Korean Peninsula was a prime example. "That's what the bomber portion gives you," Perry said. "It allows the whole world to see that we're getting it done. It's definitely a game of chess and it takes a lot of work." How the Air Force will evolve and continue its nuclear deterrence mission will be up to those making legislation. "You need to take a serious look at what is the strategic narrative that we want to push for some of these capabilities," Perry told the policymakers. "Please help us use our capabilities to do what we need to do." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, January 12, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted four strikes in Syria: -- Near Ayn Isa, one strike wounded an ISIL fighter. -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and wounded an ISIL fighter. -- Near Manbij, two strikes destroyed two ISIL buildings. Strikes in Iraq Fighter and bomber aircraft conducted 19 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Baghdadi, one strike cratered three ISIL-used roads. -- Near Habbaniyah, one strike destroyed an ISIL bridge and denied ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Mosul, eight strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and an ISIL cash distribution center and destroyed two ISIL command-and-control nodes, an ISIL tactical vehicle, and 20 ISIL fighting positions. -- Near Qayyarah, one strike destroyed an ISIL command-and-control node and destroyed six ISIL staging areas. -- Near Huwayjah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle. -- Near Kisik, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL light machine gun, two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL assembly area. -- Near Ramadi, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, two ISIL front end loaders, and denied ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position. -- Near Tal Afar, one strike destroyed an ISIL-used bridge. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct operations. Coalition nations conducting strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations conducting strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Topeka Visits Subic Bay During Indo-Asia-Pacific Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160112-01 Release Date: 1/12/2016 8:26:00 AM By Ens. Jason Herrera, USS Topeka Public Affairs MANILA, Philippines (NNS) -- Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Topeka (SSN 754) arrived at Subic Bay, Philippines, Jan. 12 as part of its routine Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment. With a crew of 160 Sailors, Topeka will conduct a multitude of missions and maintain proficiency of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet. 'The United States Navy continues to enjoy a close relationship with the Republic of the Philippines,' said Cmdr. David P. Lammers, Topeka's commanding officer. 'Through port visits such as this one, we strengthen our ties and foster valuable cultural exchange. The more we interact, the better we will understand one another and the stronger our alliance will become. I appreciate the efforts that make us feel so welcome when we visit Subic Bay.' Filipino-American Sailors aboard will have an opportunity to connect with their heritage. 'Having moved from the Philippines and been raised in California from the age of three, I never really had a chance to experience true Filipino culture outside of my own family,' said Machinist Mate 1st Class Juan Paulo Reyes. 'This trip to Subic that the Navy has offered me is a great opportunity to explore my heritage and connect with members of my family still in the Philippines.' For many crew members, this is their first time visiting the Philippines. Topeka is a marvel of modern engineering, capable of operating at depths greater than 800 feet at speeds up to 25 nautical miles per hour. Measuring more than 300 feet long and weighing more than 6,000 tons, Topeka is one of the stealthiest submarines in the world. This submarine is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, surveillance and reconnaissance. Commissioned in 1989, Topeka has a long standing tradition of excellence and achievement. Its crew is highly trained and capable of supporting the boat through any mission cycle within short notice. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bittersweet Goodbyes: Last S-3 Viking leaves U.S. Navy service Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160112-14 Release Date: 1/12/2016 2:41:00 PM By Kimberly Brown, NAWCWD and Lt. Drew Gaston, VX-30 Public Affairs POINT MUGU, California (NNS) -- After more than 40 years of service, the last S-3B Viking in U.S. Navy service launched one last time from the runway at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, California, on Jan. 11. Originally introduced in 1974 as a replacement for the S-2 Tracker, the Viking has ranged far from its anti-submarine warfare roots to perform various roles such as organic tanking, electronic intelligence, and carrier onboard delivery. The Viking officially retired from Navy service in 2009, but like many military members, the S-3B was called upon to continue to serve the Fleet in another capacity. Two S-3 aircraft joined Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 30 that spring. "We landed in a rainstorm," said Capt. John Rousseau, who led the charge to bring the retired aircraft to VX-30. "It was one of the only time it rains around here. Those were just temporary, covering while three more went through depot maintenance." While Fleet Readiness Center Southeast set about getting the S-3s ship-shape again, Rousseau and the VX-30 team spent months qualifying and validating their skills with the two Vikings they had. Rousseau, who started his career flying the Viking and did a tour instructing, helped make sure everyone was up to speed. The aircraft, he noted, was well suited to working the Point Mugu Sea Range. "It's got legs," Rousseau said. "It can go fast and long. The radar, even though it's old, there's not many better. We still spot schools of dolphins and patches of seaweed" when patrolling the range. In November, VX-30 retired the first of its three Vikings, flying it to the military aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The other two, each with 40 years of service on the airframe, were not far behind. "They still have life in them," Rousseau said, "but it was time for another depot-level maintenance period, and you have to weigh that cost against the little time you could still get out of them." The last Viking will give at least one more round of federal service before it retires; the final launch from Point Mugu was headed for NASA, not the boneyard. But for Rousseau and other Viking pilots and enthusiasts, the final Navy flight is bittersweet. "So many amazing people have been associated with the S-3 community over the years. This last Navy flight is difficult," Rousseau said. "It feels like the end of an era." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Barry to Join Forward Deployed Naval Forces in Japan Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160112-10 Release Date: 1/12/2016 2:30:00 PM From USS Barry Public Affairs NORFOLK (NNS) -- Guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) departed its Norfolk homeport of more than 20 years bound for Yokosuka, Japan, and the Forward Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) of the U.S. 7th Fleet, Jan. 12. Commanding Officer Jennifer Eaton and more than 300 Sailors will journey through the Panama Canal and across the world's largest ocean in support of the national defense strategy and international relations. "We look forward to the voyage ahead, and are ready for any challenge that comes our way," said Eaton. "Being forward deployed to Japan is an incredible honor for every Barry Sailor and their family. It gives us an opportunity to represent the United States across the globe." For the past year, the crew has been preparing for this move and the busy operational tempo they expect in 7th Fleet by completing a rigorous Basic Phase of training, certification and the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). The Arleigh Burke-class ship features the Baseline 9.C, the Navy's newest Aegis combat system. Barry's presence will provide an increased operational capacity to respond to global crises and support America's national defense goals through cooperation with allied nations. Barry Sailors will conduct missions and patrols that encourage dialogue, ensure freedom of the seas, and promote strength and diversity. As an FDNF crew, Sailors aboard Barry will have many training opportunities. They expect to interact with other navies during exercises, which will offer experiences that will benefit them throughout their careers. Port visits will give Sailors the chance to experience different cultures, improve international relations, and create friendships and memories that will last a lifetime. When asked what she is most looking forward to in Japan, Lt. Emily Reynolds, one of Barry's newest Sailors, stated, "Being at the tip of the spear on one of the most advanced U.S. Naval Warships!" Fire Controlman 2nd Class Christopher Arizmendi, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Dylan Lund, and Fire Controlman 3rd Class James Slaughter all want to visit historical sites and take in the culture, but said they are most excited about sampling the food. Barry will replace guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82), which recently departed Japan after 10 years of forward-deployed duty. After completing her last patrol in the Western Pacific this summer, Lassen will arrive in Mayport, Florida, her new homeport. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Vietnamese accusation against China's test flight does not hold water: FM People's Daily Online By Yuan Can (People's Daily Online) 11:31, January 12, 2016 The Vietnamese accusation claiming that China's test flights to the newly built airport on Yongshu Jiao affected regional security does not hold water, said a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry at a press conference Monday, adding that China had informed the Vietnamese side of the flight plan in advance. The director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said that Vietnam had sent letters of protest to China and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), saying that Chinese aircraft have ignored all the rules and norms of the ICAO by flying across Vietnam's airspace over the South China Sea without providing any flight plans or maintaining any radio contact with Vietnam's air traffic control center, which threatens regional air safety. In response to Vietnamese claim, Hong Lei, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry reiterated that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China's inspection and test flights to the newly built airport on Yongshu Jiao fall completely within China's sovereignty. 'It is utterly untrue that Vietnamese side said about China not providing any flight plans or maintaining any radio contact with Vietnam's air traffic control center and threatened regional air safety,' said Hong. Hong pointed out that what the Vietnamese side said about China not notifying it is utterly untrue. On Dec. 28, 2015, the Flight Inspection Center of the Civil Aviation Administration of China informed the Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region of the flight plan, route and other technical information concerning China's inspection aircraft in accordance with relevant regulations and international practices. However, up until now, the Vietnamese side has not given any response. Besides the aforementioned notifications by competent authorities, the Chinese side also made specific contact with the Vietnamese diplomatic authorities on Dec. 30 for technical notification and explanation, Hong added. 'It is regrettable that the Vietnamese side, failing to see the professional, technical and civil nature of China's inspection and test flights which are conducted for public interest, continues to obstruct China's normal activities for no reason.' To ensure safe and effective inspection and test flights, the Chinese government decided that the flights would be conducted by civil aircraft as state aviation activities. As stipulated by international law, state aviation activities, not bound by the Convention on International Civil Aviation and relevant regulations of the ICAO, are within sovereign states' independent hands to operate, Hong said. The spokesperson added that the Chinese side independently, safely and successfully completed inspection and test flights to the newly-built airport on Yongshu Jiao. The results showed that the airport completely meets the standards for civil aviation and is fully capable of guaranteeing safe flight of civil aircraft. It will provide a convenient means of transportation for personnel exchanges and emergency aid and enable the South China Sea region to better offer public services including maritime search and rescue. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghanistan warns Taliban against staying out of peace process Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:40PM Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai has warned the Taliban militant group against staying out of an ongoing peace process with the government in Kabul. Karzai told reporters during a press briefing in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday that those militants who opt for war will face serious consequences. 'We will use all the means we have against those who do not,' he said. Pointing to the recently-held four-way talks aimed at reviving dialog between Kabul and the Taliban militant group, Karzai noted that all participants at Monday's gathering in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, wanted to bring 'permanent peace' to Afghanistan. The remarks come a day after officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met in Islamabad in an attempt to revive a stalled peace process. The Taliban factions were not invited to the one-day meeting in Pakistan. Participants agreed to meet again in the Afghan capital on January 18, again without Taliban participation. There have been growing differences among Taliban elements over peace talks with the Afghan government, with some vowing to fight for power instead of taking part in negotiations. Meanwhile, senior officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan continued to publicly differ on the way forward. The Pakistani prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, has also dismissed speculations that Pakistan had promised the use of force against Taliban factions that were unwilling to come to the negotiation table. The final communique of the Monday meeting, however, laid emphasis on the need for direct talks between the Kabul government and Taliban. 'The participants emphasized the immediate need for direct talks between representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and representatives from Taliban groups in a peace process that aims to preserve Afghanistan's unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,' said the statement. Pakistan hosted a first round of peace talks between Taliban and Afghan leaders in July. The talks were halted after the militants belatedly announced the death of their longtime leader Mullah Omar. The legitimacy of Omar's former deputy Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who assumed the leadership last July, has been rejected by some Taliban factions. The rival factions have accused Mansour of being affiliated to Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Elsewhere in his remarks, Karzai described the country's conflict as 'not a war between Afghans' and stressed the involvement of 'foreign elements.' Kabul has long accused Islamabad of continuing to covertly back the Taliban militant group. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been tense in recent years over the ongoing militancy. Senior Afghan officials have frequently blamed elements inside the ISI for harboring the Taliban and sponsoring the militancy, while Islamabad blames the Afghan government for giving shelter to the militants on its side of the border. The Taliban have been operating in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. In December 2015, senior Afghan and Pakistani officials agreed during a meeting in Islamabad to stop accusing each other over Taliban-led violence that has been plaguing both countries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Riyadh admits to using cluster bombs in aggression against Yemen Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:11PM Saudi Arabia has admitted that its military has used cluster bombs in the aggression against Yemen. The spokesman for the Saudi military said Tuesday that Riyadh had used cluster bombs in an airstrike on the northwestern areas of Yemen. Ahmad al-Asiri claimed however that the military used cluster bombs just once in Hajjah Province to attack cars belonging to Yemeni fighters. The attack was carried out nearly nine months ago, when the Riyadh regime began the campaign, the military official said. The news comes against the backdrop of a growing body of evidence on the use of cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia. The United Nations and other international organizations say investigators have found remnants of such bombs in Hajjah and around the Yemeni capital, Sana'a. The UN human rights office said in early January that it had received reports that Saudi forces used cluster bombs in Hajjah, adding that a UN team found remnants of 29 cluster submunitions in the village of al-Odair. Local sources in Hajjah also confirmed the repeated use of the bombs in attacks against villages, saying the airstrikes had caused significant loss of life among the civilians. On January 8, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over Saudi Arabia's intensifying airstrikes against civilians. He said, if proved, Riyadh's use of cluster bombs in the capital, Sana'a, may amount to a "war crime." Reports have emerged over the past days showing that Saudi warplanes have repeatedly pounded with cluster bombs the positions of the Houthi Ansarullah movement and its supporters in Sana'a. The Saudi aggression began on March 26, 2015 and in a bid to undermine Ansarullah and restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. Ansarullah and volunteer fighters have also hit back by targeting the Saudi military positions in southern Saudi territories. On Tuesday, at least two Saudi soldiers were killed in a rocket attack launched on several Saudi bases in Jizan Province, according to Manbar al-Yemen, a pro-Houthi website. Attacks were also reported on bases in the neighboring Najran Province, without immediate reports available on potential casualties. Also on Tuesday, Yemen's al-Masirah reported that over a dozen people, including five women and four children, were killed in a Saudi airstrike on Sana'a. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN spokesman says Yemen peace talks postponed Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:41AM The United Nations says the peace talks, which were to be held Thursday between Yemen's political factions, have been postponed by at least a week. UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi also said on Tuesday the talks may be held a week or more later. "The 14th was mentioned as a date but I don't think it's on the table any longer," he told a regular UN briefing in Geneva. He said the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is looking at a date after January 20. In Mid-December 2015, an Ansarullah delegation and representatives of fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, began UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland with the aim of reaching a solution to the country's conflict. The talks ended with no major breakthrough. A truce came into force in Yemen as the six-day talks opened, but it was repeatedly violated by the Saudi side and Hadi loyalists. The UN envoy has suggested Geneva as the location for the new round of talks. The diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Yemen come amid Saudi attacks on the impoverished country which have continued since late March 2015. The military campaign is aimed at undermining the Ansarullah movement and bringing Hadi back to power. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured so far. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country's facilities and infrastructure. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US spending billions of dollars on Afghan 'ghost soldiers' Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 5:48AM The United States is spending billions of dollars on Afghanistan's "ghost soldiers," who only exist only on paper, a report says. One reason the Afghan National Army is struggling against Taliban is because nearly 40 percent of its force is constituted on 'ghost soldiers,' The Associated Press reported. 'At checkpoints where 20 soldiers should be present, there are only eight or 10,' Karim Atal, the head of the provincial council in Helmand, told AP. 'It's because some people are getting paid a salary but not doing the job because they are related to someone important, like a local warlord,' he added. In Helmand province, the Taliban has captured large areas of land since the US-led NATO forces handed over control to Afghan troops a year ago. Atal said, in some cases, dead soldiers and policemen remain listed among active force, while senior Afghan officials receive their salaries. Meanwhile, Pacha Gul Bakhtiar, Helmand's former deputy police chief, said the province has 31,000 policemen on paper, 'but in reality it is nowhere near that.' The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 as part of Washington's so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban regime from power, but after more than 14 years, the foreign troops have still not been able to establish security in the country. In October, US President Barack Obama announced plans to keep 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan through 2016 and 5,500 in 2017, reneging on his promise to end the war there and bring home most American forces from the Asian country before he leaves office. According to US officials, Washington would also maintain a large counterterrorism capability of terror drones and Special Operations forces to fight militants in Afghanistan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Says Iran Detains Two U.S. Naval Boats January 12, 2016 by RFE/RL The Pentagon says that Iran has detained two U.S. Navy boats, along with 10 naval personnel, but has told the United States that the crew will be returned 'promptly.' Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain January 12 when U.S. officials lost contact with them. 'We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said. The incident raised unexpected drama just hours before President Barack Obama was scheduled to give his annual State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress. U.S. officials told the Associated Press one of the boats had some type of mechanical trouble that caused them to run aground and they were picked up by Iran. "We subsequently have been in communication with Iranian authorities, who have informed us of the safety and well-being of our personnel," another U.S. defense official said. "We have received assurances the sailors will promptly be allowed to continue their journey.' In a statement carried by the INSA news agency, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said 10 sailors in all were detained, including nine men and one woman. It said the sailors received 'Islamic treatment' and that they being kept at an 'appropriate' location. The statement said the boats were detained near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf and transferred to the island, situated about midway between Iran and the coast of Saudi Arabia. The hardline Fars news agency, meanwhile, said the boats were detained after they "patrolled" Iranian territorial waters illegally and that their GPS would confirm their location. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters at the White House the administration was working to resolve the situation and was hopeful about it. Reuters quoted a senior U.S. administration official as saying that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on January 12 that U.S. sailors who ended up in Iranian custody would be allowed to continue their journey promptly. With reporting by AP, Fars, Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-detains-us- naval-boats-pentagon/27484180.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Gets Weapons Wish List From Serbian Army Sputnik News 21:06 12.01.2016(updated 21:10 12.01.2016) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that by the end of February, Russia and Serbia will form a high level commission on military cooperation, which is expect to commence its work by spring. BELGRADE (Sputnik) Russia has received a list of the weapons required by the Serbian Army, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday. 'We confirm the information by the Serbian Defense Ministry that the list of Serbian Army's needs has been prepared, and it will be carefully examined and considered,' Rogozin told journalists following talks with Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic. According to Rogozin, considering the economic capabilities of both countries, it should be possible to fulfill the list. Answering questions about the conditions for future agreements, Rogozin noted that 'military cooperation issues do not call for chatter.' According to the official, by the end of February, Russia and Serbia will form a high level commission on military cooperation, which is expect to commence its work by spring. Ivica Dacic, for his part, said that military cooperation with Russia would enable Belgrade to ensure its national security in a scenario where other countries become militarized. Earlier in the day, Rogozin said Russia was ready to supply any weapons that are approved for export to Serbia. On January 11-12, Rogozin took part in a meeting of the Serbia-Russia Intergovernmental Committee for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address African Union-UN mission calls for restraint in West Darfur as tensions rise over recent violence 12 January 2016 The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) expressed concern over continued tension in El Geneina town and around Mouli village, 15 kilometres south of El Geneina, West Darfur, after an armed attack on Mouli village. "Receiving reports of continuous unrest and sporadic firing across El Geneina and in Mouli with an undetermined number of casualties, UNAMID calls on the government authorities to exert their utmost efforts to contain the situation and investigate the incidents," the Mission said in a press statement issued yesterday. Tensions developed on 9 January after an unidentified armed group attacked Mouli village. A large number of inhabitants were displaced to El Geneina, where the next day they demonstrated in front of the Wali's office leading to the closure of schools and commercial businesses in the town. "UNAMID emphasises the importance of restraint by all parties and stands ready to assist the state authorities as well as the Darfuri people in their efforts to arrive at a peaceful resolution of the situation," concluded the statement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippine High Court Approves Defense Accord With US by VOA News January 12, 2016 The Philippine Supreme Court has upheld a defense pact with the United States. The administration of President Benigno Aquino signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with U.S. defense officials in 2014, which allows American forces to store equipment on the archipelago for use in national security, maritime and disaster response operations. Legal challenges were launched against the pact by groups opposed to any U.S. military presence on its former colony. But Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te says the court voted 10-4 Tuesday that the agreement did not need congressional approval, because as an executive agreement it implements 'existing laws and treaties.' The agreement was sought by Aquino, who is seeking to bolster the Philippines's military capabilities to counter China's increasingly aggressive territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, ignoring similar claims by Manila, as well as Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The deal is also part of President Barack Obama's strategic 'pivot' of U.S. focus back to the Asia-Pacific region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon: Iran Holding 2 US Navy Boats by Carla Babb January 12, 2016 The crews of two small U.S. Navy vessels being held by Iran will be released early Wednesday morning Gulf time, defense officials have told multiple news sources. The 10 crew members nine men and one woman were traveling in the Persian Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain when U.S. controllers lost contact with them. "There may have been mechanical failure on one of the vessels, but it is unclear at this time," a defense official told VOA. "My assumption is that they were in Iranian territorial waters when they were detained." President Barack Obama did not mention the situation in his annual State of the Union speech Tuesday, but he did mention a nuclear agreement reached last year between Tehran and Western powers, saying "the world has avoided another war." The agreement is expected to be implemented in the coming days, following Iran's steps taken to curb its nuclear activities. Western governments have agreed in return to lift long-standing economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The Pentagon said Iran had provided safety assurances and promised to "promptly allow [the crews] to continue on their journey." But VOA's Persian service said that the Iranian news service, the Fars news agency, was reporting that the crew members had been "arrested." U.S. officials said the incident happened in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island, located about halfway between the gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and the Iranian mainland. Farsi Island is home to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base, which may be why the sailors were quickly detained, Matthew Kroenig, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Councils Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, told VOA Tuesday. Most countries would do the same thing if foreign sailors came that close to a naval base, Kroenig explained. The news came less than a month after U.S. officials accused Iran of conducting a "highly provocative" rocket test near U.S. boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. A senior administration official said Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone at midday Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, shortly after the incident unfolded. The detention also came just hours before President Barack Obama was to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. Part of his speech was expected to address congressional concerns about a nuclear agreement reached last year between Tehran and Western powers. The deal is set to curb Iran's nuclear program in return for Western governments' lifting of long-standing economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Welcomes Philippines Court Ruling on Defense Pact by Nike Ching January 12, 2016 Top U.S. officials reaffirmed Washington's 'ironclad' security commitment to Manila on Tuesday, applauding a ruling by the Philippine Supreme Court to uphold a bilateral defense agreement with the U.S., which could strengthen maritime security cooperation. 'We welcome the Philippine Supreme Court's decision that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement is consistent with the Philippine constitution,' said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. 'We look forward to implementing this accord, which will increase the interoperability of our armed forces and contribute to modernization and improve our joint capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies.' Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter met with Filipino Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in Washington for the second so-called 'two-plus-two' talks on revitalizing the alliance between the two countries. 'For us, that means very soon and we're working on this right now deciding together how we want to use that opportunity to strengthen our maritime security capabilities and our role in keeping a peaceful region, a region without divisions and without tensions, and a region where everyone has freedom to carry out their affairs, including commerce, in their own way,' Carter said. South China Sea tensions The first U.S.-Philippines defense and foreign affairs ministerial talks were held in 2012. The bilateral U.S.-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed in 2014, but faced legal challenges from groups opposing a U.S. military presence. The Philippine High Court's ruling will bolster U.S. efforts to reassert its presence in Asia. Rosario said the ruling 'opens up new opportunities to further deepen this enduring alliance.' It comes at a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea. Recent Chinese test flights on Fiery Cross Reef have drawn protests from countries including the Philippines. 'There are many aspects to that security cooperation and that joint umbrella, if you like," Carter said. "One of those is freedom of navigation and freedom of the commons. The United States has indicated our intention to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, whether it be the South China Sea or anywhere else around the world.' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Obama Hails U.S. Leadership In Final Annual Address January 13, 2016 by Mike Eckel WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama hailed American economic and military strength and leadership, but warned against trying to make the United States "the world's policeman" in a dangerous, changing world order. Speaking January 12 during his final State of the Union address, Obama tried to debunk some of the heated rhetoric that has come to characterize the election campaign to succeed him. And like his predecessor George W. Bush, he used blunt, colloquial language to characterize the U.S. fight against terrorists. "If you doubt America's commitment or mine to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden," he said. "When you come after Americans, we go after you.It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit.' The speech was Obama's last annual address to Congress, providing both a formal marker for his final year in the White House as well as an opportunity to summarize his achievements, and deflect criticism, of his presidency. While he mentioned some of the acute international challenges that have marked his time in office climate change, the Ebola epidemic in Africa, a new trade pact in East Asia he made scant mention of others, such as Russia's increasing belligerence, Ukraine's struggle, or Iraq's and Afghanistan's deepening weakness. "I know this is a dangerous time. But that's not because of diminished American strength or some looming superpower.In today's world, we're threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states," he told an audience that included elected lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries, and Supreme Court judges. "There's a smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power," he said. "It says America will always act, alone if necessary, to protect our people and our allies; but on issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight." The president spoke at the U.S. Capitol just hours after the Defense Department confirmed that two U.S. Naval boats operating in the Persian Gulf had been detained by Iranian forces. Ahead of the speech, White House officials tried to downplay the incident, suggesting that the 10 detained sailors would be released soon. Obama made no mention of the incident, instead limiting his remarks about Iran to mention of the landmark agreement in July to lift debilitating economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran scaling back some of its nuclear activities. "That's why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran," he said. "As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war." He called radical Islamic State (IS) fighters who have seized territory in Syria and Iraq "killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed." "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national existence." He also called on Congress to pass a resolution authorizing him to commit military force in the fight against IS. "If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL," he said. "Take a vote." Though Obama doesn't need that explicit authority to conduct military operations, White House officials say that sort of resolution similar to what Congress passed after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks would strengthen military strategy and show U.S. resolve. "President Obama really seemed to be defending his legacy and trying to contradict those who say that the state of the world is so negative, state of the economy is negative," said Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "I mean, he really tried to defend that his policy has helped to bring about a better economy, and even that the world, the situation of security and so forth in the world is not as bad as they make it out to be." Much of Obama's 58-minute speech was devoted to domestic policies. He hailed the strength of the U.S. economy, saying 14 million jobs had been created in the past two years, and he singled out industries like auto manufacturing that have recovered noticeably since the Great Recession of 2008-2009. 'Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction,' he said. He also addressed the sharpening rhetoric that has punctuated the election campaign to succeed him in the White House. With less than a month before voters formally begin the process of choosing candidates, Obama called for more civility in political dialogue. Democracy, he said "doesn't work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic." "It's one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," Obama said. Though candidates have been campaigning for months already, next month will mark the first time that voters beginning in Iowa and New Hampshire -- will be able to formally name their preferences for the Democratic and Republican nominees. The national vote will take place November 8, with the winner to assume office in January 2017. Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/obama-state- of-the-union-address/27482817.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Blast In Historic Central Istanbul Kills At Least 10; IS Blamed January 12, 2016 by RFE/RL Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said a suicide bombing in central Istanbul that left 10 people dead, most of them Germans, was carried out by a member of the Islamic State (IS) militant group. All of those killed in the January 12 incident were foreigners, he said. 'We have determined that the perpetrator of the attack is a foreigner who is a member of Daesh,' Davutoglu told reporters in the capital, Ankara, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Fifteen more people, also mostly foreigners, were injured in the blast in the Sultanahmet district, just meters from Istanbul's historic Blue Mosque. 'I strongly condemn the terror attack, which was carried out by a suicide bomber of Syrian origin,' Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in televised remarks in the capital, Ankara. 'The first target of all the terror groups active in this region is Turkey, because Turkey fights them all with the same determination,' Erdogan said. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber was a 28-year-old Syrian man. Turkey's state media reported that Davutoglu had informed German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone conversation about the German casualties. Merkel acknowledged that it was feared that many Germans were among the casualties. 'We are seriously concerned that German citizens could be and probably are among the victims and injured,' Merkel said in Berlin. 'Today Istanbul was hit. Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before,' Merkel said. 'International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today.' The White House condemned the 'heinous attack' and pledged solidarity with NATO ally Turkey against terrorism. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped those responsible for 'this despicable crime' were swiftly brought to justice. Television footage showed several bodies and body parts lying on the ground. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast, while police cordoned off the area, taking precautions against a possible second explosion. Davutoglu's office imposed a broadcast ban on reporting of the attack, prompting television channels to halt live broadcasting from the scene. The move prompted criticism. Davutoglu also held an emergency security meeting of key ministers and officials. Among those taking part were in the meeting were Interior Minister Efkan Ala and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Norway's Foreign Ministry said one Norwegian man was injured in the attack, while Germany warned its citizens to avoid crowds and tourist sites in Istanbul. 'Travelers in Istanbul are strongly urged to avoid for now large groups of people in public places as well as tourist attractions and to stay abreast of the situation via these official travel advisories and the media,' the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The European Union said after the blast that it stood with Turkey in the fight 'against all forms of terrorism.' Turkey and the EU 'must step up our efforts to counter extremist violence,' EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. Kurdish, leftist, and Islamist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in recent months. The January 12 blast comes just over a year after a female suicide bomber blew herself up in the same area, killing one police officer and wounding another. A far-left group initially claimed that attack, but officials later said a woman with suspected Islamist militant links was responsible. Turkey also remains on high alert after a series of attacks that the authorities said were perpetrated by IS. In October, two suicide bombings in Ankara killed 103 people. Prosecutors said the attacks were carried out by IS militants. Violence has also escalated in the mainly Kurdish southeast since a two-year cease-fire collapsed in July between the Turkish government and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, after a suicide bombing by suspected IS militants killed at least 30 people in the town of Suruc on the Syrian border. That attack targeted a cultural center as a Kurdish political group was conducting a press conference. The PKK, which has been fighting for three decades for Kurdish autonomy, accused the Turkish security forces of collaborating with IS. However, the Kurdish militant group has generally refrained from attacking civilian targets in urban centers outside the southeast in recent years. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and dpa Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-istanbul-blast/27482892.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN condemns 'despicable' terrorist bombing in Istanbul's Sultanahmet District 12 January 2016 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned the terrorist bombing in Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul, Turkey, calling it a "despicable crime targeting the heart of Istanbul's tourist district." The attack reportedly claimed the lives of 10 people and injured at least 15 others. In a statement issued by his Spokesperson, Mr. Ban said he expects the perpetrators to be swiftly brought to justice. "He sends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the people and the Governments of Turkey and Germany and other foreign citizens impacted by the bombing," the statement noted. "He wishes those injured a speedy recovery." Meanwhile, the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, condemned the suicide bomb attack in the strongest possible terms. "Mr. Al-Nasser expressed his profound sadness over the outrageous attack that targeted innocent people," said a statement issued by his Spokesperson. It added that the High Representative reaffirmed that such "heinous acts" are clear threats to peace and security and run contrary to the values of tolerance, peaceful dialogue and mutual respect that constitute the core of the mission of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, of which the Government of Turkey is a co-sponsor. In addition, Mr. Al-Nasser said that in the midst of such a "tragic event," the international community should remain united in their stand against terrorists and in countering all forms of violence and terrorist acts. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Several US Prosecutors Vie to Try Mexican Drug Lord by Ken Bredemeier January 12, 2016 The expected extradition of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to the United States could take a year, but prosecutors in seven U.S. cities are looking to bring him to trial on a long list of murder and drug trafficking charges. Federal U.S. law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, will ultimately decide where Guzman is tried. They will decide where they believe prosecutors have the strongest case against him linked to the hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin and other drugs shipped across the border. The leading possibilities appear to include San Diego, California, where the United States first filed charges against him in 1996; Chicago, where one of Guzman's top lieutenants is already in custody and cooperating with authorities, and New York where Lynch was the top prosecutor before becoming the country's top law enforcement official. Guzman faces money laundering, drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder charges in the United States. Chicago is calling him 'Public Enemy No. 1,' the first time the city has used the moniker since it described crime boss Al Capone the same way at the height of the Prohibition fight against the sale of alcohol in the 1930s. President Obama, on Tuesday, congratulated Mexico for Guzman's apprehension. Guzman's lawyers have vowed to fight his extradition, but the Mexican government supports sending him to the United States for trial. Before Guzman escaped last July from a prison near Mexico City, Mexican authorities had balked at U.S. requests to extradite him. Mexico is again holding Guzman at the Altiplano prison he escaped from, but authorities say they have beefed up security, stationing a military tank outside the prison and perhaps more importantly installing thick metal rods centimeters apart under the floor of his cell to prevent his tunneling out of the facility like he did six months ago. 'I think it's safe to assume,' U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said, 'that they understand that the world is watching how this case moves forward and that this individual needs to stay behind bars.' Before Mexican authorities captured him in a shootout Friday, Guzman managed to escape briefly through a tunnel hidden behind a closet mirror in the home where he was hiding in Los Mochis, a seaside city in Guzman's native Sinaloa state. A 20-meter passage led to a steel-hatch door, which officials said opened to the city's storm drainage system. Mexican authorities said Guzman and his security chief, Orso Ivan Gastelum, fled through the drainage network for a kilometer before popping out of a manhole and hijacking a car, but were soon apprehended Mexican authorities say they want to question American actor Sean Penn, who interviewed Guzman in October for a story posted on Rolling Stone magazine's web site Saturday, and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo who helped arrange Penn's meeting with Guzman. Mexican authorities say they found out about Penn's seven-hour meeting with Guzman, which eventually helped them track down the Sinaloa drug chief. Penn's interview with Guzman sparked criticism in the United States. Journalists questioned Penn's agreement to allow Guzman the right to review the article before it was published, although Rolling Stone said he did not change anything. In the interview, Guzman boasted, 'I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats.' Penn described Guzman as 'entirely unapologetic.' 'If there was not consumption, there would be no sales,' Guzman says about his drug trafficking. 'It is true that consumption, day after day, becomes bigger and bigger. So it sells and sells.' Guzman's July 11 prison escape, his second in the past 14 years, was a major embarrassment for the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which had been praised for its aggressive push against Mexico's top drug traffickers. Guzman was first captured in 1993, but escaped in 2001 with the help of prison guards. After more than a decade on the loose, he was recaptured early in 2014, with the help of intelligence that U.S. authorities provided to Mexico. Mexico has issued arrest warrants for more than 20 former officials, guards and police officers for their alleged participation in Guzman's escape last year. Ten civilians are also in detention. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IS Orders Aspiring Terrorists: Wear a Cross, Shave Beards by Jamie Dettmer January 12, 2016 Islamic State extremists are advising their supporters and recruits in the West to shave their beards and pretend to be Christians to help evade detection by intelligence services as they plot so-called 'lone wolf' terror attacks. In 58 pages of do's and don'ts for aspiring terrorists an online manual adapted from a handbook once issued by its extremist rivals in al-Qaida the Islamic State group tells supporters to encrypt their emails, recommends which cellphone apps are secure, and tells them how to ensure they can blend in with a crowd of Westerners. It even includes advice on wearing aftershave. Displaying a cross or crucifix is a good way to avoid suspicion, Islamic State suggests, but not in every case. "It is permissible ... for you to wear a necklace showing a Christian cross," the manual reads, but it warns converts to skip that subterfuge "if you have a Muslim name on your passport,' because 'that may look strange." Lone Wolf guidelines That bit of advice is amusing to analysts who have read the 12-chapter manual, entitled "Safety and Security Guidelines for Lone Wolf Mouthpiece and Small Cells." Overall, the text demonstrates the Islamists' determination to plot or inspire terror attacks, however, such as the mass attacks in Paris in November that killed 130 people, or the San Bernardino massacre in December, when a husband-and-wife team in California gunned down 14 people. "We present you this modest work for lone wolf mouthpiece and small cells of brothers who want to bring victory ...' the introduction to the manual says, noting that it was adapted from a series of 30 lectures by Abu Cabbalah al-Adam about safety and security in jihad work. He was a senior figure in the al-Qaida network and served as the terror group's intelligence chief until he was killed in a 2013 U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal areas. The IS propagandists note, "If you can avoid having a beard, wearing kameez [a long tunic], using miswak [a twig to clean teeth, as recommended by Prophet Mohammed] and having a booklet of dhikr [devotional phrases and prayers] with you, it is better," the manual advises. "Don't use the oily, non-alcoholic perfume that Muslims use; instead use generic alcoholic perfume as everyone does. And if you are a man, use perfume for men [men's cologne or after-shave lotion]." The guide urges militants to work only with each other, and tightly limit information about upcoming attacks. They also are advised to avoid mosques and Islamic gatherings to avoid attracting attention or prompting security interest. Avoiding mosques In the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, Western intelligence agencies monitored mosques, especially those with radical reputations, and active jihadist groups have long advised supporters to stay away from them. More recently, jihadists in the West are thought to have resorted to worshiping at unofficial mosques. Since the Paris attacks, and subsequent security alerts in Belgium, Italy and Germany, Europe's intelligence services and politicians have been turning their attention to hundreds of unofficial or unlicensed makeshift mosques, operating in apartments and homes in migrant-dominated areas. Politicians in several EU countries including France and Italy, where the government estimates 800 makeshift mosques are operating, are exploring legal ways to force their closure. Since the Paris attacks, intelligence services and police forces are demanding more powers and more personnel. They also want looser rules on data collection and an easing of regulations governing house searches and raids. Low profile Islamic State leaders are not unaware of this, and they have been cautioning their supporters in the West to keep a low profile, especially when it comes to posting their messages or thoughts on such sites as Facebook and Twitter. Last month, for example, a pro-IS Twitter account under the name Mustafa al-Iraqi offered this guidance to the terror group's recruits: Rule #1: Don't ever type stuff like 'kill all kuffar' [or] 'it's permissible to kill kuffar' [a derogatory Arabic term for non-Muslims]. Don't even use the word 'kill' if you're living in the West." Rule #2: Don't ever talk about hijra [or hegira, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca]. If you're going to do it or know how to do it, don't even let your left hand know that you know. Rule #3: if you live in a country that is in direct war with IS, don't use social media & talk about IS unless you have taken precautions. Rule #4: Don't ever propagate [spread and promote news about] IS attacks. Don't show that you're happy about it if you haven't taken precautions. Report it normally. Anxiety among security experts also is on the increase because hundreds of battle-hardened veterans of the civil war in Syria have been returning to Europe, and hundreds or even thousands more could be going home to Europe in the future. Intelligence analysts say one of their biggest fears is the possibility of multiple, simultaneous attacks across Europe this year "a European 9/11," as Yves Rotenone, a former analyst for France's DIGS intelligence service, puts it. "I know that in European capitals, particularly London, specialized services are working on this theory," Rotenone told The Associated Press. "If the quality of the attackers improves, we will have a problem. Maybe we will say that 2015 was just a rehearsal.' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IS Blamed for Istanbul Suicide Bombing by Dorian Jones January 12, 2016 Foreign tourists are said to be among those killed and injured in a suicide attack in Istanbul's main tourism district. Turkish officials say at least 10 people - nine of them Germans - were killed and 15 others injured. Police and ambulances were quickly on the scene of the blast. The powerful explosion heard across much of the city struck late morning in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district the main tourism quarter of the city. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack. "Turkey is a top target for all terrorist groups in the region,' he said, adding that "Turkey is fighting against all of them equally.' Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the attack is believed to have been carried out by Islamic State. Speaking after the an emergency security meeting he pledged to fight the militant group until it no longer "remains a threat" to Turkey or the world. 'Our fight against Daesh (an arabic acronym for Islamic State) that carried out this attack will continue with determination. We will not take a step back in our fight against Daesh, our resolve will continue as in our fight against all terrorist organizations,' he said. Known details of the attack were given a news conference following the emergency meeting of senior ministers and intelligence chiefs. The bomber was identified as a 28-year-old described as of Syrian origin, and most of those killed and injured were foreign nationals. Turkey's state-run news agency said Davutoglu spoke on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express his condolences. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Merkel condemned the attack, saying that the "international terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face." Local media, citing security officials, say the Islamic State is the chief suspect behind the attack. Although the group never claimed responsibility, IS militants were blamed last year for two suicide attacks that killed more than 130 people, including one in the capital, Ankara. The government has been criticized by the opposition and its allies for failing to crackdown hard enough on the jihadist group, instead focusing attention on its battle against the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, a charge it strenuously denies. Observers say Kurdish rebels could also be a suspect, Turkish security forces are carrying out a major crackdown across towns and cities in the predominantly Kurdish southeast. A splinter Kurdish group called TAK claimed responsibility for a mortar attack last month on Istanbul's second largest airport. The Sultanahmet neighborhood is Istanbul's main sightseeing area and home of the Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia museum. Witness Ali Hakan Ataman said it was a big explosion. 'I was in a shock for a while right after it happened. Blood and flesh were spattered on us and I am sure I saw six or seven people laying on the ground dead...' he said. Another witness, Erdogan Salihli, said people went briefly silent right after the blast. 'As people were trying to figure out what really happened the cries of people at the scene was very tragic,' he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fears Renewed of Islamic State Attacks in Europe, US by Jeff Seldin January 12, 2016 Western intelligence agencies are increasingly worried that Islamic State militants will soon find ways to carry out more and increasingly sophisticated attacks on Europe and the United States, using November's terror attack on Paris as a blueprint. '2016 is going to be the year where we wish we could get back to 2015,' said Patrick Skinner, a former U.S. intelligence officer now with The Soufan Group, a strategic security intelligence consultancy. 'It's far too easy for a fighter to go from Raqqa to Europe, and you would think that would be really hard to do,' he said. Analysts have long warned that the Islamic State had the ability to direct attacks on Western targets from its home base in Syria and Iraq. But they say the Paris attack showed the group was capable of putting that ability into action, using both former foreign fighters and radicalized individuals to kill 130 people in a coordinated fashion. Already, French and British officials have warned that the group is actively planning new mass casualty attacks in Europe. One unnamed French senior counterterrorism official told the French news agency that the Islamic State is aiming for a 'European 9/11.' Growing emphasis on external ops U.S. officials are equally concerned, pointing to the Islamic State's growing emphasis on external operations as it devotes more people and resources to those missions. The FBI says online calls for attacks against American targets, especially against soldiers and law enforcement, have also continued unabated. 'ISIL's opportunistic nature goes beyond Iraq and Syria,' a U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA, using an acronym for the terror group. 'It's no surprise that it used its foothold to plot against the West.' Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell warned U.S. lawmakers Tuesday not to underestimate the Islamic State. 'Sometimes it's really important to listen to what your adversary tells you,' he told the House Armed Services Committee. 'ISIS has told us they're going to attack us here,' he said, referring to the group by one of its other acronyms. 'Unless they are degraded, they will succeed.' Military defeat not enough To date, U.S. and coalition forces have launched almost 10,000 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, destroying more than 18,000 targets and killing more than 20,000 fighters. U.S. military officials also say the group has lost 20 to 30 percent of the territory it once held. Yet lost fighters have been replaced, counterattacks have been launched and new terror plots are being hatched, leading some to wonder if degrading the Islamic State will be enough. 'A lot of our assumptions are based on that if we defeat them militarily which is a categorical imperative, we have to do that that it will result in defeat on the other battlefields of social media and lone wolves and small cells,' Skinner said. 'I don't think that's accurate. I think the lag time, if they are connected, is going to be a lot longer than we're going to tolerate.' Some current U.S. officials are also cautious, saying that even once the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate is destroyed, it will take an additional effort a 'second war' to destroy the Islamic State terror group. 'We're just getting started,' former CIA director James Woolsey told VOA during an interview in November. 'We will be seeing ISIS one way or another in Europe, and perhaps in North America, for a long time to come.' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US citizen held in North Korea for spying: Report Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 2:3PM A naturalized US citizen has been arrested by North Korea over espionage charges amid rising tensions in the Korean peninsula. Kim Dong Chul, who used to live in Fairfax, Virginia, said he is being held by North Korea for spying for South Korea, CNN reported from Pyongyang on Monday. Chul, 62, asked the South Korean or US government to rescue him, CNN said. 'I'm asking the US or South Korean government to rescue me,' he said during an interview at a hotel in the North Korean capital. According to Chul, he was arrested in October 2015 for spying on behalf of 'South Korean conservative elements.' 'I was tasked with taking photos of military secrets and 'scandalous' scenes,' he said. Asked whether he worked for the US at any time, Chul stressed that he did not. Chul's claims were made in the presence of North Korean officials and CNN said it could not determine whether they were made under duress. The US Embassy in Seoul said it was aware of the report but did not have further comment. If his detention is confirmed, he would be the only US citizen held prisoner in North Korea, a fact not revealed until Monday. Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller were released by Pyongyang in November 2014 after spending more than two years in prison. Hyeon Soo Lim, a South Korean-born Canadian pastor, has also been held by the North since last February. Lim said he spends eight hours a day digging holes at a labor camp CNN said. Lim, who was 60 at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to hard labor for life in December for plotting to overthrow North Korea's government. Last week, North Korean officials claimed that they successfully detonated the nation's first hydrogen bomb. North Korea says it is prepared for more sanctions but will not abandon its nuclear program, with the state news agency stressing that the country has now "proudly joined the advanced ranks of nuclear weapons states." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran rejects reports on removing Arak reactor core ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue 12 Jan 2016 - 09:06 TEHRAN (ISNA)- Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) rejected reports on removing core of Arak Reactor. Some initial steps have been taken regarding Arak reactor, but no measure has been completed on removing core of Arak Reactor, the AEOI said in statement. His remarks came after some media said that the core of the reactor has taken out and its empty space has been filled with concrete. On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany finalized the text of the JCPOA on Tehran's nuclear program in the Austrian capital, Vienna. Under the agreement, Iran will accept restrictions on its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran by the US and the EU. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to sell 40 tons of heavy water to US Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:5PM Iran said on Tuesday that it plans to sell as much as 40 tons of its excess heavy water supplies to the US a major step which is expected to take the country toward the commercialization of its nuclear energy program. Ali Asghar Zarean, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), has been quoted by the media as saying that the landmark sales of heavy water supplies will be made to the US through a third party. Zarean added that Iran would through this officially join the club of producers of strategic nuclear materials what he emphasized will be "a huge national achievement" and "a victory" for the country. 'Six tons of the exported heavy water will be used in nuclear facilities and the rest in American research centers,' he has been quoted as saying. The official further emphasized that the planned exports of heavy water to the US will be in line with the IAEO's strategy to commercialize the Iranian nuclear energy products. On a related front, IAEO Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi announced also on Tuesday that Iran's recent importation of 220 tons of yellow cake from Russia was another key milestone in the country's push toward the trade of the materials used for production of nuclear energy. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said last August that Iran will begin to commercialize its nuclear technology after the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "We will import yellow cake from abroad and we will export enriched UF6," President Rouhani told reporters. Iran and the P5+1 group of countries the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany agreed over the JCPOA last July. Based on it, Iran will restrict certain aspects of its nuclear energy activities in return for the removal of certain economic sanctions imposed against the country. The JCPOA also allows Iran to sell its enriched uranium material called UF6 - and to buy natural uranium or "yellow cake" in return. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Atomic Agency Denies Reports Arak Reactor's Core Dismantled Sputnik News 10:56 12.01.2016(updated 11:09 12.01.2016) The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) denied Tuesday media reports that the core of its heavy-water reactor in Arak has been dismantled. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, local media reports emerged that the core of the Arak reactor had been dismantled and filled with cement. 'The AEOI must finish the agreed actions before the day of the implementation [of the nuclear deal], as ordered by the supreme leader in this regard, some preparatory work has been started but the dismantling of the core of the reactor has not been completed,' the AEOI said, as quoted by the IRNA news agency. On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group comprising of the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, signed a nuclear agreement also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The agreement guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Under the agreement, Tehran agreed to reduce its stock of enriched uranium, decrease the number of centrifuges in the country and reconfigure the Arak heavy-water reactor, as well as refrain from any uranium enrichment at its Fordow facility. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi-Iran Crisis Mars Tehran Sanctions Relief by Heather Murdock January 12, 2016 Iran is on the brink of reintroducing itself to the world economy as economic sanctions may be lifted soon in accordance with the nuclear deal struck in Vienna last year. Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But last week, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran after an attack on its embassy, following the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran are long-time rivals, believed to be fighting proxy wars in several countries. Analysts say Saudi officials object to Iran's nuclear deal, as it brings its rival, Iran, closer to its allies in the West. Following the diplomatic split between Saudi Arabia and Iran the agreement will be harder to implement, according to Mark Fitzpatrick, the executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the United States. "There's more ammunition for attacks on the nuclear deal," he said. "I don't think that the nuclear deal is going to fall apart because of this, but it's already a fragile agreement, and more and more pressure will add to the troubles in implementing it." The continuing diplomatic crisis is also stymieing other reformist efforts to normalize Iran's relationship with the international community, according to Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst for Iran. "This has been very detrimental for Iran's image," he says "and for President Rouhani's efforts in basically turning the page in Iran's pariah status." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is often referred to as a reformist working towards ending years of political and economic isolation in Iran. The nuclear deal, a centerpiece of these reforms, is expected to catapult Iran back into the global economy. "Proceeding Well" Despite the pressure, officials say economic sanctions against Iran are expected to be lifted as Iran completes key elements of the deal, which includes dismantling equipment that could be used to develop a nuclear weapon. "My expectations are that this day could come rather soon and that the implementation of the agreements is proceeding well," said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday. "It's encouraging." News media in Iran report officials expect to decommission Iran's Arak heavy water reactor within days, after previous reports the reactor's core had already been filled with cement. Signs of Change The embassy attack and the continued diplomatic rift conjures the image of years past, when other embassies, including of the United States and Saudi Arabia were attacked in Iran, says Vaez of the Crisis Group. "Now all of a sudden, Iran is seen once again as a country that attacks foreign embassies," he explains. "And mobs that run in the streets of Tehran and chant 'death' to a specific country." However, unlike past embassy attacks in Iran, he says, Iranian authorities have uniformly condemned the attackers, and a regional security chief was fired after the incident. Iran has also made diplomatic moves to repair the relationship, sending a letter to the U.N. Security Council shortly after the assault, expressing "regret" and vowing to prosecute offenders. But the apology fell short, according to Vaez, because Iran apologized to the international community in general, not specifically to Saudi Arabia. "I think the Iranians now realize that they fell into a trap," he said. "They were looking forward [to] this week, when sanctions are lifted and the implementation day of the nuclear deal arrives, for Iran to be able to come in from the cold and normalize its relations to the outside world." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House: Bill Would Prevent US Implementation of Iran Deal by VOA News January 12, 2016 The White House says a bill that seeks to bar the U.S. from lifting certain sanctions against Iran would violate commitments necessary to implement the international agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program. Iran made the deal with the U.S., Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany last year to cut back its nuclear activity and allay concerns it was trying to build nuclear weapons. In exchange, those countries agreed to lift economic sanctions they imposed because of the alleged nuclear arms work. The legislation in the House of Representatives would prohibit removing sanctions against individuals and companies until the president certifies they were not involved in transactions with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organization, or anyone whose property has been blocked in relation to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget said President Barack Obama's administration strongly opposes the bill and would veto it if the House and Senate both approve the measure. An OMB policy statement released Monday said the bill would prevent the U.S. from fulfilling its commitments by linking the nuclear deal with unrelated issues. It said those included past activities and individuals who would no longer be subject to sanctions once the agreement goes into effect. The consequences, according to the White House, include the potential 'collapse of a comprehensive diplomatic arrangement that peacefully and verifiably prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.' Opponents of the nuclear deal have said it gives Iran far too much relief, unlocking billions of dollars while leaving the country with too much of a nuclear program to trust it will not try to make nuclear weapons. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. The OMB statement said the White House 'remains clear-eyed' about the concerns of Congress and the American people, and reiterated that lifting sanctions tied to the nuclear program would not effect the sanctions enacted against Iran for other reasons. 'Powerful sanctions targeting Iran's support for terrorism, its ballistic missile activities, its human rights abuses, and its destabilizing activities in the region remain in effect,' read the statement. Iranian media said Monday the government had begun work to dismantle the core of the Arak heavy water reactor, one of the steps it must complete with verification from U.N. monitors in order to get the sanctions relief. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkmens see Kurdish trench as start of Iraq division Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:31AM Iraqi Turkmen leaders say the local Kurdish government is exploiting the war on Daesh to dig a trench that will divide the country. They said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is digging the trench in the conflict lines between Daesh and Kurdish forces across northern Iraq. "We see this move to dig a trench as suspicious," AFP quoted Arshad al-Salehi, the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, as saying. The trench starts in the town of Rabia on the Syrian border and ends in the city of Khanaqin, 400 km (250 miles) to the southeast near the Iranian border, he said. The Turkmens are one of Iraq's largest ethnic minorities and many of their hubs are just beyond the KRG-controlled territory but claimed by the Kurds. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters seized many of those areas after the rise of Daesh in the northern and western parts of Iraq in 2014. "We see it as the beginning of the division of Iraq. It gives reality on the ground to a redrawn geopolitical map," Salehi said. He urged Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to clarify his position on the issue, saying he would bring up the issue in parliament. The KRG acknowledged it had recently stepped up the fortification of its front line with Daesh but denied any political motive. "The purpose of the trench is to build a defensive system against vehicles used by Daesh terrorists who blow up car bombs," Peshmerga spokesman Jabar Yawar said. "It is 2 meters deep and 3 wide. It is not everywhere, some areas don't need it. It is the military leadership that makes this decision," he said. But Turkmen officials stood with their claims. Jassem Mohammed Jaafar, a Turkmen lawmaker, accused the KRG of using the war against Daesh as a pretext to further the expansion and ultimately secession of their region. The planned path of the trench would include the town of Tuz Khurmatu, a mainly Turkmen town, and separate it from Amirli which Iraqi forces recaptured last year. Turkmen officials said work has begun to dig the trench in areas around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the Jalawla region near the Iranian border. Mehdi Saadoun, an activist from the Turkmen Rescue Foundation, said the trench is a Kurdish attempt to further their nationalist ambitions. He said 70-80 percent of the areas to be included on the KRG side are Turkmen areas, including Tal Afar, Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu. He called on the central Iraqi government to 'enforce the law on preserving the unity of Iraq," saying "Daesh is the excuse the Kurdish forces are using to impose a fait accompli by digging this trench." Najmeddin Karim, the governor of the Kirkuk province which is controlled by Peshmarga, defended the KRG's move. "They have the right to dig a trench to protect the people and the cities from terrorists and prevent any infiltration by Daesh," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi forces liberate more regions in Anbar Province Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 5:53AM Security forces in Iraq, backed by tribal fighters, have made fresh gains against Daesh, liberating new areas in the western province of Anbar. Troops retook the Qaryat Sakran region, about 240 km (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad, on Monday following heavy clashes with the terrorists, mayor of Haditha Mabrouk Hamid told the Arabic-language al-Sumaria television. Military commander Brigadier General Karim Zughayr said scores of Daesh militants were killed and nearly 150 military vehicles plus a T-52 battle tank were destroyed. A sizable amount of light and heavy munitions was also seized. Iraqi security forces and fighters from Popular Mobilization units further killed more than 70 Daesh militants as they established control over al-Shaei region, which lies north of Haditha. Elsewhere in Asriyah Village west of Anbar's provincial capital city of Ramadi, Iraqi artillery units struck a militant position, killing six terrorists, three of Caucasian origin, and wounding two others. At least 35 Daesh Takfiris were also killed when their base was pounded in the al-Kasirat region of Anbar. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since Daesh began an offensive in Iraqi territory in June 2014. Army soldiers and Popular Mobilization units have joined forces in a bid to take back militant-held regions in joint operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq Calls for Continuation of Anti-Daesh Fight After Baghdad Mall Attack Sputnik News 17:38 12.01.2016 Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi stated that the attack on the mall in Baghdad was a "desperate attempt" by Daesh militants, after they lost control over the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, which had been occupied by the group since May. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi on Tuesday visited a shopping mall in Baghdad, which was stormed by terrorists a day before, and called for the continuation of the fight against the Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh in Arabic) terrorist group, which claimed responsibility for the attack. On Monday, a group of gunmen detonated a car bomb in eastern Baghdad, and stormed a shopping mall in a predominantly Shiite district of the Iraqi capital. At least 18 people were killed and 50 others were injured in the attack. The prime minister wrote on his Twitter account that the attack was a "desperate attempt" by Daesh militants, after they lost control over the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, which had been occupied by the group since May. He said that the country would do everything possible to rid the country of the militants. Later on Monday, separate blasts in the eastern Iraqi town of Muqdadiya and in a southeastern Baghdad suburb killed 20 and 7 people respectively. On Tuesday, a suicide attacker detonated a bomb when police approached his car in the city of Baquda in eastern Iraq. A senior Iraqi officer was wounded and two policemen were killed in the incident. Daesh is outlawed in Russia and many other countries. It has carried out numerous atrocities, including the November attacks in Paris, which left 130 dead, and the October downing of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt that killed all 224 people on board. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi PM Tours Attack Site, Vows to Expel Extremists by VOA News January 12, 2016 Iraq's prime minister vowed Tuesday to press forward with the fight against Islamic State extremists, as he toured the wreckage of a Baghdad shopping mall hit by suicide bombers a day earlier. Haider al-Abadi described Monday's attack, which killed at least 24 people and wounded dozens more, as a 'desperate attempt' by IS fighters who were driven from the western city of Ramadi by Iraqi forces late last month. A separate attack Monday north of Baghdad linked to Islamic State Sunni fighters killed at least 23 others. The latest violence against Shi'ites triggered a series of apparent retaliatory attacks Tuesday. Authorities said as many as seven Sunni mosques and dozens of shops in Iraq's east were firebombed, as the Baghdad government faced its worst uptick in deadly violence since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. The U.S. State Department called the attacks 'barbaric acts of terrorism,' and a spokesman reiterated U.S. commitment to supporting Iraq in defeating the militants. 'These attacks once again display the utter disregard ISIL has for the lives of innocent civilians,' said spokesman John Kirby, using an acronym for Islamic State. 'We stand united with the Iraqi people as they confront the scourge of violent extremism.' Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, are working to reclaim territory Islamic State seized after sweeping through large areas of western and northern Iraq in mid-2014. They recaptured Ramadi last month, and Abadi said the next focus would be Mosul, the country's second-largest city. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel receives fifth German nuclear-capable submarine Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:24PM The Israeli regime has received of a fifth submarine from Germany, amid pressure on Berlin to halt the delivery of the state-of-the-art weaponry that is capable of being armed with nuclear warheads. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday welcomed the delivery of the advanced Dolphin-class submarine at the Haifa port north of the occupied Palestinian territories. The submarine, said to be capable of remaining submerged for up to seven days, can be equipped with missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The Tel Aviv regime pursues a 'policy of ambiguity' over its nuclear arsenal, which is widely believed to contain up to 400 nukes. The new submarine has cost Israel about 500 million euros (USD 540 million), with the German government paying one third of the cost. Berlin is also to deliver a sixth submarine in two or three years. Many have criticized Germany for the sales of the modern military equipment to Israel. The administration of German Chancellor Angela Markel claims Germany has an obligation to guarantee the security of Israel. German media say the delivery of the four previous Dolphin-class submarines have cost German taxpayers over 1 billion euros (USD 1.12 billion). Israel's ministry of military affairs announced in May 2015 that it had reached a deal with a German shipbuilding company to have four major warships built for the Tel Aviv regime. It said the government in Berlin would pay for one fourth of the deal, which was reported to be more than 400 million euros. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli Navy Receives Fifth Submarine From Germany Sputnik News 19:55 12.01.2016 Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called Dolphin-class submarine, received from Germany 'a formidable war machine, the most advanced, complex and most expensive' unit in the Israeli military's arsenal. TEL AVIV (Sputnik) The Israeli Navy has received its fifth Dolphin-class submarine, built in Germany, local media reported Tuesday. The newest submarine, which is nuclear-capable according to foreign media reports, was met by the country's military command and leading politicians, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin. The submarine is 'a formidable war machine, the most advanced, complex and most expensive' unit in the Israeli military's arsenal, Rivlin stated. 'In the decades to come, the INS Rahav will take an active part in defending the country and its maritime territory, by acting deeper, further and longer underwater. Seeing without being seen, keeping a watchful eye, and projecting our operational abilities on the naval front,' Israel's president was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel. The submarine was constructed by the German Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipbuilding company. The previous vessel of its kind, the Tanin sub, was delivered to Israel in September 2014. Israel and Germany have already signed a contract for a sixth submarine. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Aung San Suu Kyi Takes Center Stage at Myanmar Peace Talks by VOA News January 12, 2016 Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is calling for all factions to be included in the newest round of peace talks between armed ethnic groups and the country's outgoing quasi-civilian government. 'In this time, based on the mandate, it is right to do what the people want us to do, we are ready to take the responsibility of building forever peace [within the country]. I hope everybody will help us,' she said. The Nobel Peace laureate made the remarks Tuesday on the opening day of negotiations in the capital Naypyitaw. Her speech marked her first involvement in the ongoing peace process, and could lay the groundwork for an eventual deal when her National League for Democracy takes power in March, four months after the party won a massive landslide in the country's first free elections in a quarter-century. President Thein Sein and Myanmar's powerful army chief, Min Aung Hlaing, were also in attendance for Tuesday's opening round. Thein Sein's government had been negotiating with rebel forces since taking power in 2011 from the long-ruling military junta; those efforts culminated with a ceasefire agreement with some of the rebel groups, who have been fighting for years for greater autonomy. But many rebel groups either refused to participate in the earlier talks or to sign the agreement, and fighting has continued between the rebels and the government. Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from assuming the presidency because her late husband was British, as are their two sons. But the 70-year-old leader says she will rule through a proxy president, who will be elected when the new NLD-led parliament takes power. She must establish a working relationship with the military, which automatically controls 25 percent of all parliamentary seats under the 2008 constitution and maintains control of several key government posts, including defense, interior and border security. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia To Create New Military Divisions On West Flank January 12, 2016 Russia says it will form three new military divisions on its western flank this year, and deploy five strategic nuclear missile regiments on combat duty. Local news agencies quoted Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as making the announcement on January 12. Shoigu said it will also be necessary to improve the infrastructure supporting Russia's nuclear forces, citing the facilities where the strategic missile submarines and long-range bombers are based. 'Our main effort should go into strengthening the potential of our strategic nuclear forces and of fulfilling the space-defense program,' the RIA Novosti agency quoted Shoigu as telling a meeting. He added that every military district should expect to undergo spot checks in 2016. The announcement comes as Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the conflict in eastern Ukraine has plunged Moscow's ties with the West to lows unseen since the Cold War. Based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-new-military- divisions-western-flank/27483375.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'We Have Made Mistakes': Putin's Key Moments From New Bild Interview Sputnik News 19:19 12.01.2016(updated 20:14 12.01.2016) On January 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his first interview of 2016. Journalists from German's leading newspaper Bild asked his opinion on a number of issues. Sputnik has selected ten of the president's most interesting answers. "West's Anti-Russian Sanctions A Foolish and Harmful Decision" Since 2014, the European Union has introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions, accusing Moscow of interfering in the Ukrainian crisis a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied. 'I think this is a foolish and harmful decision,' Putin told the newspaper. 'What are the restrictions for us? It is not the most difficult thing we are going through, but it is harmful for our economy in terms of access to foreign financial markets,' the president added. "Crimea is Not Borders and State Territories but Human Beings" When asked what has already become a traditional question about Crimea, the president replied that for him, the issue of Crimea is not about borders and state territories, but the fate of people. "The nationalists' coup in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in February 2014 has hugely scared 2.5 million Russian people living on Crimea." "So what did we do? We have not gone to war, we have not fired, not a single person was killed. Our soldiers have merely prevented the Ukrainian troops on Crimea from impeding the freedom of expression of the people. In the referendum which was still decided to take place by the Crimea's old parliament the majority of citizens voted to belong to Russia. This is democracy, the people's will." On Major Mistakes After the Collapse of the USSR The Russian president said a number of 'mistakes' committed by the US, Russia and NATO following the break-up of the Soviet Union has led to the current deterioration of relations between Moscow and the West, with NATO's expansion into eastern Europe one of the major damaging factors. 'We have done everything wrong,' Putin said. 'From the beginning, we failed to overcome Europe's division. Twenty-five years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, but invisible walls were moved to the east of Europe. This has led to mutual misunderstandings and assignments of guilt. They are the cause of all crises ever since.' "Yes, we have made mistakes! We were too late. If we had presented our national interests more clearly from the beginning, the world would still be in balance today." "After the demise of the Soviet Union, we had many problems of our own for which no one was responsible but ourselves: the economic downfall, the collapse of the welfare system, the separatism, and of course the terror attacks that shook our country. In this respect, we do not have to look for guilty parties abroad." "Russia Coordinates Moves in Syria With Both Assad's Army and the Opposition" The Russian leader explained that Russia coordinates its actions in Syria with both the Syrian government-led forces and the opposition, when asked about Russia's air campaign in Syria. 'Are you aware that we support the actions of the armed opposition fighting against the Islamic State? The armed opposition to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's that is fighting Daesh. And we coordinate our joint actions with them and support their offenses at various parts of the front with airstrikes,' Putin told the newspaper. Vladimir Putin denied that Russia's military campaign in Syria is targeted not against terrorists, but against rebel forces. 'They are telling lies. Look, the videos that support this version [that Russia is hitting the wrong targets] appeared before our pilots even started to carry out strikes against terrorists. This can be corroborated. However, those who criticize us prefer to ignore it,' Putin told the newspaper. "Ankara Reaction After Downing Su-24 in Syria 'Looks Humiliating' Relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated after a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down a Russian aircraft over Syria on November 24. Ankara claimed that it downed the jet because it had violated Turkish airspace. Both the Russian General Staff and the Syrian Air Defense Command have confirmed that the Russian jet never crossed into Turkish airspace. 'Instead of trying to provide us with an explanation for the war crime they committed, that is, for downing our fighter jet that was targeting terrorists, the Turkish government rushed to NATO headquarters seeking protection, which looks quite odd and, in my view, humiliating for Turkey,' Putin told Germany's Bild newspaper. The Russian leader added that this issue had nothing to do with Ankara's NATO membership as nobody had attacked Turkey. In response to Ankara's 'stab in the back,' as the incident has been described by Putin, Moscow imposed a number of economic measures on Turkey. "Certain Powers Use Int'l Terrorism to Fight Against Russia" The Russian president acknowledged that international terrorism was used against Russia as anti-state powers were provided political, financial and sometimes military support from abroad. 'For us it was an obvious fact that the international terrorism was also used as a means of fighting against Russia, while everyone either turned a blind eye on that or provided support to terrorists I refer to political, information, financial or in some cases even armed support to the actors fighting against the Russian state,' Putin said. On Expansion of NATO The continued and growing presence of NATO is an issue of longstanding tension between Moscow and the West, with some critics calling for the military alliance to be scrapped. "Back in 2007, many people criticized me for my talk at the Munich Security Conference. But what did I say there? I merely pointed out that the former NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner had guaranteed that NATO would not expand eastwards after the fall of the Wall. Many German politicians had also warned about such a step, for instance Egon Bahr. " "This, for instance, is what Egon Bahr said on June 26, 1990: "If we do not now undertake clear steps to prevent a division of Europe, this will lead to Russia's isolation." Bahr, a wise man, had a very concrete suggestion as to how this danger could be averted: the USA, the then Soviet Union and the concerned states themselves should redefine a zone in Central Europe that would not be accessible to NATO with its military structures. Bahr even said: If Russia agreed to the NATO expansion, he would never come to Moscow again." "Of course every state has the right to organize its security the way it deems appropriate. But the states that were already in NATO, the member states, could also have followed their own interests and abstained from an expansion to the east." "To Be a Superpower is Far Too Expensive and Unnecessary" When asked if Russia wants to be a superpower, the Russian leader replied that "we do not claim the role of a superpower for ourselves. That is far too expensive and unnecessary." "We are still one of the leading economic nations in the world. As far as the concept of a "regional power" is concerned, I would recommend taking a look at a map of the world. In the West, our region is Europe. In the east, Japan and the USA with Alaska are our neighbors. In the north, we share a border with Canada over the Arctic Ocean. If you want to lower the significance of Russia in the world, you actually just want to elevate your own country. That is a mistake." "Merkel Sincere, Professional Person" German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a sincere and professional person, and the level of trust between Germany and Russia is very high, the Russian President said. However he added that rather than being an admirer, he "appreciate[s] her as a very professional and open person." On President Assad and his Possible Asylum in Russia It is rather premature to speak of granting political asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad in Russia as only the Syrian people can determine his future, President Putin told the newspaper. 'You know, I think it is premature to discuss this issue. We have granted asylum to Mr Snowden, and it was more difficult than doing the same for Assad will ever be,' Putin said. 'We should first let the Syrian people speak. And let me assure you that if everything goes the democratic way maybe Assad won't have to go anywhere,' Putin stressed. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over 3,000 Pacific Fleet Troops Launch Missile, Air Forces Exercise Sputnik News 13:00 12.01.2016(updated 13:08 12.01.2016) According to Russian Defense Ministry's Eastern Military District's press service, more than 3,000 personnel from Russia's Pacific Fleet have commenced missile force, air force and marine corps exercises in the Kamchatka Territory. MOSCOW (Sputnik) More than 3,000 personnel from Russia's Pacific Fleet have commenced missile force, air force and marine corps exercises in the Kamchatka Territory, the Russian Defense Ministry's Eastern Military District's press service said Tuesday. 'More than 3,000 people and over 200 military equipment units are involved in the training of forces in the northeast of Russia,' the press service's head, Roman Martov, said. The servicemen are due to drill more than a hundred standards for tactical missile force training, as well as the use of shore-based missile systems, aircraft of different types and the interaction of marine units. According to Martov, measures to strengthen military camp defenses have been implemented in places where military units are permanently deployed. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US offer of combat ships rejected by Riyadh Iran Press TV Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:8PM Saudi Arabia has reportedly declined the Pentagon's offer of combat ships, which would enable the kingdom to replace and modernize its eastern fleet in the Persian Gulf. Last week, Riyadh rejected the $4 billion offer for four frigates based on the Lockheed Martin littoral combat ship (LCS) design allegedly over high costs and a long delivery time, Defense News reported on Monday. The ships, known as Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC), are armed with surface-to-air missiles and a more robust combat system. They comprise the largest part of Saudi Arabia's $16 billion plan to have a modern fleet. The US and Saudi Arabia initially signed the MMSC contract in October; however, it is not yet known when the contract would be finalized. The Saudis have balked at the price tag for the MMSC package, believed to be over $3 billion but less than $4 billion. They also think it would take too long to complete detail design of the ships, conduct systems integration, build the vessels, deliver them and install infrastructure improvements in the country. According to one source, it would take around seven years to deliver the first ship to Saudi Arabia. As part of the MMSC package, which includes weapons, logistics, training, and other services, Saudi Arabia has also ordered an unknown number of Lockheed Martin Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters, six smaller corvette-sized ships as well as some smaller vessels and aircraft. The Saudis, who usually spend a great deal of money on US military products, have had to tighten their belts over the kingdom's ailing economy resulting from the plummeting oil prices and a long-lasting aggression against their impoverished neighbor, Yemen. According to the Defense News report, the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin are expecting a counteroffer from Riyadh. The US Department of Defense had hoped a deal with Saudi Arabia would help offset the costs of its own order of 52 ships, which will be reduced to around 40 to meet budgetary cuts. The UK, another major arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, has licensed the sales of over eight billion dollars of military hardware to the Arab kingdom since British Prime Minister David Cameron took office in May 2010. Cameron has been under pressure to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which faces massive criticism from the international community over the unabated war against Yemen, the growing number of beheading as well as crackdown on political dissidents, including the recent execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 others. Since Saudi airstrikes began in Yemen, more than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria army retakes key militant bastion in Latakia Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 5:55PM The Syrian army, backed by volunteer forces, has managed to capture full control of the strategic town of Salma in the northwestern province of Latakia, state television reports. The armed forces and allies on Tuesday also managed to seize hilltops surrounding the town, which was controlled by foreign-backed militants. The channel added that Syrian government forces are now defusing the mines and explosive devices 'left behind by terrorist groups in the buildings, streets, and squares of the town." Salma had served as the main stronghold for militant groups in Latakia, which is largely under the control of government forces. Takfiri terrorists in Latakia, including the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, are largely stationed in the northern and northeastern areas of Jabal Akrad and Jabal Turkman. Over the past several months, Syrian forces have been engaged in fierce fights to recapture those areas with the support of fighters of Lebanon resistance movement Hezbollah and Russian air raids. Russia began its airstrikes against Daesh Takfiris and other terrorists in Syria on September 30, 2015 at the request of the Damascus government. Earlier on Tuesday, Syria's official news agency SANA reported that armed forces retook the Tartayah village as well as a number of hilltops and areas in Latakia. The agency added that an army unit and allies established control over Jarjiseh town and the area north of al-Rastan Lake in the southern countryside of Hama Province. Syrian government troops also inflicted heavy losses on terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo and Dara'a, killing a number of militants. Syrian forces have been battling militants, particularly the Daesh terrorists, on different fronts throughout Syria since March 2011, when the foreign-sponsored militancy began. Over 250,000 people have been killed over the past few years of turmoil. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN praises Syria call for more aid delivery to crisis-hit towns Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:36AM The UN humanitarian chief has welcomed the Syrian government's call for continued aid deliveries to crisis-hit areas as relief aid arrives in three Syrian towns cut off for months by conflict. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien said Monday's delivery of aid convoys to the towns of Madaya, Kefraya and Foua must not be "either one-off or exceptional." O'Brien, who was talking to reporters after briefing the UN Security Council's closed door meeting, said the arrival of relief goods must become the model for regular aid deliveries to civilians caught in conflict, which is a requirement under international law. Earlier on Monday, a convoy of 44 trucks loaded with food, baby formula, blankets and other supplies entered Madaya, just 24 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of the capital Damascus. An equivalent amount of aid would also arrive in two northern towns of Foua and Kefraya in Idlib Province. Reports have emerged over the past few days claiming that several people have died of starvation in the southwestern town of Madaya, most of them patients. However, Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja'afari rebuffed reports of starving civilians in Madaya as fabrications, saying such accounts are intended to defame the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Ja'afari further reiterated the Syrian government's commitment to cooperating fully with the UN and the Red Cross to deliver humanitarian aid to all civilians "without any discrimination," including those in hard-to-reach areas. The Syrian diplomat further noted that aid delivered to Madaya in October had been looted by terrorist groups and sold to civilians at prices they could not afford. On Sunday, locals also told the Lebanese al-Manar TV that terrorist groups, including the so-called Jaish al-Fath and Ahrar al-Sham Movement, stored aid packages delivered to Madaya last October and sold it to the locals at sky-high prices. According to the UN, up to 4.5 million people live in hard-to-reach areas of Syria which has witnessed a deadly conflict fueled by foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists since March 2011. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria forces advance into key town in Latakia Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 10:27AM Syrian government forces, backed by Hezbollah resistance fighters, have reportedly entered the strategic town of Salma in Latakia as they continue their advances in the northwestern coastal province. On Tuesday, Syrian forces broke through into eastern Salma, the main stronghold of militants in Latakia, according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Official news agency SANA also reported that Syrian armed forces retook control of the Tartayah village as well as a number of hilltops in Latakia. Elsewhere in the country, Syrian forces killed at least six foreign-backed terrorists, including a senior militant leader, in clashes with Takfiri militants, in the southwestern city of Dara'a, according to SANA. The terrorist groups later confirmed on affiliated websites the death of a prominent leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, identified by his nom guerre Abu Raghad, in Hauran. They said he was shot and killed in Um al-Mayathen town, 10 kilometers southeast of Dara'a city, adding that five other militants were killed in the town of al-Sheikh Miskeen in Dara'a Province. In Aleppo Province, the Syrian army destroyed vehicles belonging to terrorists in Bani Zaid neighborhood and the al-Lairamoun area. The advances of the Syrian government forces against militants of Daesh and other terrorist groups have been expedited by the air cover provided by Russia, which began some six weeks ago. Over 260,000 have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced as a result of the foreign-backed crisis in Syria since March 2011. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Madaya hunger reports aim to demonize government: Syria Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:58AM Syria's ambassador to the UN says media reports of starving civilians in the southwestern town of Madaya have been fabricated in an attempt to defame the government of President Bashar al-Assad. "Actually, there was no starvation in Madaya," Bashar Ja'afari told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, where the UN Security Council met to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Jaafari said journalists from the Qatari-owned al-Jazeera broadcaster and the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV network are "mainly responsible for fabricating these allegations and lies." He said false information about starvation deaths in the Syrian town are aimed at "demonizing" Damascus and "torpedoing" peace negotiations due in the Swiss city of Geneva on January 25. The Syrian diplomat also said aid delivered to Madaya in October had been looted by terrorist groups and sold to civilians at high prices. "The Syrian government is not and will not exert any policy of starvation on its own people," he said, adding the "terrorists are stealing humanitarian assistance." On Monday, a convoy of 44 trucks loaded with food, baby formula, blankets and other supplies entered Madaya. An equivalent amount of aid would also arrive in two other besieged towns of Foua and Kefraya. The Syrian government recently agreed to facilitate the flow of relief aid into Madaya, which has been the scene of fierce clashes between pro-government forces and Takfiri elements. Locals told the Lebanese al-Manar TV on Sunday that terrorist groups had stored aid packages for Madaya and sold it to the locals at inflated prices. According to the UN, up to 4.5 million people live in hard-to-reach areas of Syria which has witnessed a deadly conflict fueled by foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists since March 2011. Over 260,000 people have reportedly lost their lives while millions of others have been forced to flee their homes due to the violence. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Says Russia Could Grant Syrian Leader Assad Asylum January 12, 2016 by RFE/RL Russia could give asylum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he has to leave his country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on January 12. 'It was surely more difficult to grant [U.S. national security contractor Edward] Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be in the case of Assad,' Putin told the German tabloid Bild, referring to the American leaker of classified U.S. documents who was given asylum in Russia in 2013. Putin said it was too early to say whether Russia would have to give shelter to Assad as part of a transition to a new government for Syria under the road map to a peace deal approved by most parties in the Syrian conflict last year. 'First, the Syrian population has to be able to vote, and then we will see if Assad would have to leave his country if he loses the election,' Putin said. Putin admitted that he thinks Assad has 'done much wrong over the course of this conflict.' But he added: 'the conflict would never have become so big if it had not been fueled by outside of Syria -- with weapons, money and fighters.' Putin reiterated Russia's position that it is supporting Assad, a longtime ally, in an effort to prevent Syria from becoming an ungovernable failed state. 'We do not want Syria to end like Iraq or Libya,' Putin said. 'Look at Egypt: one has to praise President Sisi for taking over the responsibility and power in an emergency situation, in order to stabilize the country.' Putin said the rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran that broke open last week has exposed a Shi'ite-Sunni Muslim sectarian conflict that exists throughout the Middle East, and will make it more difficult to achieve peace in Syria. 'As for whether this will lead to a major regional clash, I do not know. I would rather not talk or even think in these terms,' he said. With reporting by Bild, Reuters, dpa, TASS, and Interfax Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/putin-says-russia-could- grant-syrian-president-assad-asylum/27482589.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Degrade and Destroy: Syrian Army Advances On Daesh in Sweida Province Sputnik News 08:40 12.01.2016(updated 09:12 12.01.2016) The Syrian Army has reportedly destroyed a column of Daesh's oil tankers in the country's southwestern province of Sweida. A column of oil tankers owned by Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) has been destroyed by the Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) in Sweida province in the country's southwest, according to the Iranian news agency FARS. 'A convoy of 16 ISIL oil tankers was targeted by the Syrian Army in the region of Shaghaf located [in the] southeast of Sweida province,' the sources were quoted by FARS said. According to the sources, all of the oil tankers were set ablaze during the army's attack, and an array of the convoy's military guards were killed. The army and the Syrian National Defense Forces intensified their military operations against Daesh terrorists in Sweida last month. In particular, the Syrian troops, supported by the NDF, obliterated Daesh positions in the village of Al-Qasr in northern Sweida, sources said. Although the mostly government-held province is predominantly Druze and practices a Unitarian religion which features elements of Christianity, Buddhism and Neoplatonism, many Sunni Muslims have taken refuge in the province, fleeing areas which have been held by Islamist militants in neighboring Daraa Province. They represent a small portion of the 6.5 million internally displaced Syrians who predominantly reside in government-controlled areas of the country. Meanwhile, the Syrian air force reportedly managed to destroy a spate of Islamic militant strongholds to the east of Damascus, killing dozens of terrorists and wounding many more. Late last week, Syrian warplanes pummeled the militants' positions in the towns of Hazarma, al-Nashabiyah and Hosh al-Farah. Adding to the Syrian army's anti-Daesh effort is the Russian air campaign, which was launched on September 30, 2015, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Aid Workers Report 'Barely Moving Skeletons' in Syria's Madaya by Ken Bredemeier, Margaret Besheer January 12, 2016 Humanitarian workers say the plight of starving people in the Syrian town of Madaya is heartbreaking and the worst they have witnessed during the country's nearly five-year-long civil war. 'There is no comparison in what we saw in Madaya,' Sajjad Malik, the United Nations refugee agency's chief in Damascus, told journalists in Geneva Tuesday, a day after the U.N. delivered aid to the embattled town of 42,000 people surrounded by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Malik said there were 'credible reports' of people starving to death in Madaya. 'There are people in Madaya, but no life,' he said. 'What we saw in Madaya should not happen in this century.' "We saw a people that are desperate; a people that are cold; a people that are hungry; a people that have almost lost hope that the world cares about their plight," the U.N.'s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria told reporters at the U.N. in New York via phone from Damascus. Yacoub el Hillo said the people told him they want the international community to do more to have sieges lifted wherever they are being imposed in Syria. "All parties to this conflict are exercising it [sieges] and it must stop," Yacoub el Hillo added. The United Nations says 400,000 Syrians live in areas besieged by the government, rebels or armed groups. Millions more live in areas classified as 'hard-to-reach' for aid workers. 'Barely moving skeletons' Syria's ambassador to the U.N., Bashar Jaafari, told reporters Monday there is 'no starvation in Madaya,' rebuffing a report from the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders that 28 people in the town had starved to death. El Hillo refuted that, saying he and his team saw "severely malnourished" people there who were "extremely thin, as skeletons, that are now barely moving." Elizabeth Hoff, a World Health Organization official who accompanied the aid convoy Monday, told the Reuters news agency, 'I am really alarmed. People gathered in the market place. You could see many were malnourished, starving. They were skinny, tired, severely distressed. There was no smile on anybody's face. It is not what you want to see when you arrive with a convoy. The children I talked to said they had no strength to play.' The WHO brought in nearly eight tons of medicine, including trauma kits for wounds, in the convoy, while the U.N. refugee agency trucked in food. At the same time, WHO delivered nearly four tons of medical supplies to Foua and Kafraya, two villages in Idlib province surrounded by anti-government rebels. Beyond the initial convoys agreed to by Damascus, the WHO is asking for permission to send mobile clinics and medical teams into Madaya to determine the extent of the malnutrition there and to be able to evacuate those in the direst of circumstances. 'It's really heartbreaking to see the situation of the people,' said Pawel Krzysiek of the International Committee of the Red Cross. 'A while ago I was just approached by a little girl and her first question was did you bring food... we are really hungry.' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN to Deliver More Aid to Madaya, Other Besieged Syrian Cities by Lisa Schlein January 12, 2016 The United Nations says it expects agencies to deliver more aid this week to tens of thousands of starving people in Madaya and other besieged Syrian cities. The International Red Cross and several U.N. agencies in a first convoy of 47 trucks delivered food and medical supplies Monday to 40,000 inhabitants of Madaya, which is besieged by pro-government forces. In a parallel operation, international aid also was brought to 20,000 people in the rebel-held northern Syrian towns of Fouaa and Kfarya in Idlib Province. The United Nations says it is planning to send more aid this week to these three places and the besieged town of Zabadani, which neighbors Madaya. A spokesman for the U.N. Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, says 4.5 million people are living in hard to reach places in Syria. "Almost 400,000 people in Syria are trapped in areas besieged by the various parties to the conflict,' he said. 'The use of siege and starvation as a method of war has become routine and systematic, with complete disregard for civilian life." Representative for the U.N. refugee agency in Syria, Sajjid Malik, traveled on the first convoy to reach Madaya. By telephone from Damascus, he describes his horror at seeing so many starving people fighting for survival in the freezing cold. "People around us who were shivering, who were very frail, very weak,' he said. 'You could see that they are malnourished, not only the kids, but also young and the youth that were around the trucks that we were offloading ... Most of them had not had bread, rice or vegetables or fruit for months." Malik is calling for the sieges on Madaya and other hard to reach places in Syria to be lifted. He says it is critical for humanitarian agencies to have access to the communities so aid can be delivered on a regular basis and not once every few months. Without sustained support he says the present humanitarian operation to Madaya will just be a band-aid, because within a matter of days people will start running out of food and medicine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin Blames 'Insurgents' for Civilian Casualties in Syria by VOA News January 12, 2016 Russian President Vladimir Putin says civilian casualties in Syria are the fault of 'the insurgents and their foreign supporters,' and not of President Bashar al-Assad. In an interview published Tuesday by Germany's Bild newspaper, Putin said Assad only fights those who take up arms against the government, and that while he 'has done much wrong' during Syria's nearly five-year war, he not responsible for the scale of violence. 'The conflict would never have become so big if it had not been fueled by outside of Syria -- with weapons, money and fighters,' Putin told Bild. 'Who is responsible for that? The Assad government, which is trying to hold the country together? Or the rebels who want to tear it apart and fight against this government?' Russia is a Syrian ally, and in late September began a campaign of airstrikes that Western nations have criticized as targeting rebels and not Islamic State militants. Putin said his warplanes do not bomb civilian targets and that Russia has evidence to prove its critics wrong. As the U.N. makes a push to bring the Syrian sides to a new round of peace talks later this month in Geneva, Putin said he does not want to see Syria become like Iraq or Libya. 'But this does not mean that everything can just stay the same. Once the stabilization of the country has progressed, a constitutional reform has to follow, and then early presidential elections. Only the Syrian people can decide who should govern the country in the future,' said Putin. The U.N. is operating under a framework that calls for a cease-fire within six months, a new constitution and then new elections next year. Two previous rounds of U.N.-brokered peace talks ended in early 2014 with little progress, and it is not yet clear who exactly will be at the negotiating table in Geneva. Putin said before an election it is too early to discuss Assad's future, including whether he would remain in Syria. The Russian leader hinted it would be no problem for his country to welcome Assad, saying it was more difficult to grant asylum to former U.S. national security contractor Edward Snowden who fled to Russia in 2013 after leaking classified documents. For now, Putin said Russia will continue its military operations in Syria supporting both Assad's forces and rebel groups that are battling Islamic State. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Weighs Whether Madaya Siege in Syria is War Crime by Ken Schwartz, Ken Bredemeier January 12, 2016 The United Nations is looking into whether the man-made humanitarian calamity inside the besieged Syrian town of Madaya is a war crime or a crime against humanity. Aid workers who got inside Madaya on Monday have seen what they call the worst sights in the nearly five-year-long civil war in Syria, including people literally starving to death in the streets. Syrian rebels control Madaya while Syrian government forces surround the city, making escape impossible. 'We saw a people that are desperate; a people that are cold; a people that are hungry; a people that have almost lost hope that the world cares about their plight,' the U.N.'s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria told reporters in New York via phone from Damascus. Yacoub el Hillo said the people told him they wanted the international community to do more to have sieges lifted wherever they are being imposed in Syria. 'All parties to this conflict are exercising it [sieges], and it must stop,' he added. The U.N. says 400,000 Syrians live in areas besieged by the government, rebels or armed groups. Millions more live in areas classified as hard-to-reach for aid workers. 'No strength to play' Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the U.N. commission investigating war crimes in Syria, told Reuters there is acute malnutrition and starvation in Madaya among the most vulnerable members of the population. A siege, he says, targets civilians and denies them the most basic of essentials, including food and medicine. 'Such methods of warfare are prohibited under international humanitarian law and violate core human rights obligations with regard to the rights to adequate food, health and the right to life, not to mention the special duty of care owed to the well-being of children,' Pinheiro said. The Syrian government allowed a one-time shipment of aid to Madaya on Monday. 'I am really alarmed," Elizabeth Hoff of the World Health Organization told Reuters. "People gathered in the marketplace. You could see many were malnourished, starving. They were skinny, tired, severely distressed. There was no smile on anybody's face. It is not what you want to see when you arrive with a convoy. The children I talked to said they had no strength to play.' 'Starve-or-surrender tactics' WHO brought in nearly eight tons of medicine, including trauma kits for the wounded, while the U.N. refugee agency trucked in food. At the same time, WHO delivered nearly four tons of medical supplies to Foua and Kafraya, two villages in Idlib province surrounded by the rebels. U.N. officials say they expect to be able to make another delivery to Madaya in the coming days. International Red Cross officials say they are involved in 'very complicated' negotiations to evacuate hundreds who need urgent medical care. Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, fiercely condemned the Syrian regime for using what she called 'grotesque starve-or-surrender tactics.' But Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told reporters Monday there is 'no starvation in Madaya,' rebuffing a report from the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders that 28 people in the town had starved to death. And Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syria's most powerful ally, told Germany's Bild newspaper that the 'insurgents and their foreign supporters' are responsible for civilian deaths in Syria, not the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Putin said the rebels are trying to tear Syria apart, while Assad is trying to hold it together. The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, plans to meet with ambassadors from the five permanent members of the Security Council on Wednesday in Geneva. They will likely talk about the international peace conference for Syria set for January 25. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey arrests dozens over 'document forging, wiretapping' Iran Press TV Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:21AM Turkish authorities have arrested more than two dozen people as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged forging of official documents and eavesdropping on top officials, including against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Tuesday, police launched simultaneous raids in more than 10 provinces, including Ankara, Izmir and Kayseri, at the request of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor, and detained 30 people. The suspects are accused of illegally wiretapping the communications of 432 people, including businessmen, journalists and politicians from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Dozens of serving and former Turkish officials have already been detained over the past few months as part of the investigation into alleged eavesdropping on Erdogan and other key individuals. Many of the officials arrested were reportedly involved in an anti-government corruption probe and have been removed from their posts. Corruption scandal Turkey plunged into a political crisis after dozens of government officials and prominent businessmen close to Erdogan, then the prime minister of Turkey, were arrested in an inquiry on graft charges in December 2013. The scandal, which turned into a very serious challenge to Erdogan's rule, also led to a cabinet reshuffle. Erdogan denounced the corruption scandal as well as a string of leaks in the media, saying they were engineered by supporters of his rival, Fethullah Gulen, to undermine his government. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has repeatedly denied any involvement. On December 19, 2014, an Istanbul court issued an arrest warrant for the US-based cleric. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Issues 'Limited' Media Ban After Suicide Attack by Kasim Cindemir January 12, 2016 The Turkish government has imposed what it called a 'limited' media ban on news coverage following Tuesday's suicide bombing in Istanbul. The ban was ordered by Turkey's Radio and Television Supreme Council and signed by Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus. The government says the ban is 'temporary.' 'Preventing the public order from being very seriously undermined' was the reason written on the media blackout order. Turkish journalists operate under some of the most restrictive media conditions in the world, media watchdog groups say. There has been a spike in prosecutions of journalists in Turkey, many charged with anti-terrorism offenses and under laws against insulting the president. Last March, the Turkish government ordered a media ban after a hostage situation in an Istanbul courthouse. Another ban was ordered regarding the investigation of two blasts in Ankara in October. The Turkish government also put a ban on news stories last year about a legislative panel's investigation of the four former ministers allegedly involved in corruption. Gag order rules, critics Ali Akel, a journalist-commentator, told VOA that this week's media gag order was intended to cover only camera and video recordings at the blast site. 'The Turkish government did not want blood and human remains from the scene to be broadcast' Akel said. But Anadolu news agency reported the ban was far more sweeping and could impact news reports and analysis. Most Turkish media covered Tuesday's bombing despite the government ban, and photos and video were streamed on social media by news outlets. The opposition Republican People's Party leader, Kemal Klcdaroglu, chastised the Turkish ban in comments to members of his party. 'A suicide bomb explodes in a place like Istanbul, at the heart of tourism in Sultanahmet, and you have no measures taken,' he said. 'Then what do you do? You impose a ban on reporting even before ambulances arrive [on the scene].' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 12, 2016) - Carmax Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CXM) ("Carmax" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the non-brokered private placement previously announced in its news release of December 21, 2015 (the "Offering") raising gross proceeds of $1,500,000 in flow-through funds from the issuance and sale of 30,000,000 flow-through shares at a price of $0.05 per share. The placement was made in its entirety to Northern Fox Copper Inc. ("Northern Fox"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Copper Fox Metals Inc., ("Copper Fox"). Copper Fox is a reporting issuer having its shares posted and called for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol (CUU). At the closing of the Offering, Northern Fox's equity interest in and to Carmax's capital stock increased to 65.4% of the outstanding shares of Carmax, or 68.2% on a fully diluted basis. The shares issued to Northern Fox under the Offering are subject to a hold period expiring May 13, 2016. The flow-through proceeds raised in the Offering will be used by the Company to fund its anticipated expenses to be incurred in its 2016 exploration program on the Company's Eaglehead Property located in the Dease Lake area of the Liard Mining Division of the Province of British Columbia. The Offering constitutes a "Related Party Transaction" under Policy 5.9 of the TSX Venture Exchange which adopts Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101") as a policy of the TSX Venture Exchange. Copper Fox relied on the exemption from the application of MI 61-101 provided for in Section 5.1(g) of the instrument (downstream transactions). In addition, Carmax relied on the exemptions from the valuation requirement and minority security holder approval requirement in Sections 5.5(c) (distribution of securities for cash) and 5.7(b) (fair market value not more than $2,500,000) of MI 61-101, respectively. The Offering remains subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. About Carmax Carmax is a Canadian company engaged in exploration for porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum deposits in northwestern British Columbia. Prior to the Offering, Northern Fox held 50.97% of the issued and outstanding shares of Carmax on an undiluted basis. For further information, please visit the website at www.carmaxmining.com to view the Company's profile. Jevin Werbes, President Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described in this news release have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. This news release is not for distribution in the United States or over United States newswires. Cautionary Statement on Forward Looking Statement Certain information contained in this news release, including information as to our strategy, projects, plans or future financial or operating performance and other statements that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, constitute "forward looking statements". Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such statements. All statements, other than historical fact, included herein, including, without limitations statements regarding future production, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements about the expected use of the proceeds from the Offering; the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange for the Offering; Carmax's exploration program at the Eaglehead Property; and statements about Carmax's strategy, future operations and prospects. TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired - Jan 12, 2016) - Rubicon Minerals Corp. (TSX:RMX) (NYSE MKT:RBY) ("Rubicon" or the "Company") received notice, dated January 11, 2016, that the staff of NYSE Regulation, Inc. ("NYSE Regulation") has determined to suspend trading immediately and commence proceedings to delist the Company's common stock from NYSE MKT LLC ("NYSE MKT" or the "Exchange"). The Exchange notified the Company that it no longer complied with the continued listing standards as set forth in Section 1003 of the NYSE MKT Company Guide due to the low selling price of the Company's common stock. Therefore, the Company's securities are subject to being delisted from the Exchange.NYSE MKT has informed the Company that the NYSE MKT will apply to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") to delist the Company's common stock upon completion of all applicable procedures, including any appeal by Rubicon of the NYSE Regulation staff's decision.Rubicon's common shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX"), one of the world's premier stock exchanges for mining and exploration companies. U.S. shareholders will be able to trade their Rubicon shares on the TSX through U.S. broker-dealers who have Canadian registered broker-dealer affiliates. In addition, management expects that the Company's common shares will continue to be quoted on the U.S. over-the-counter ("OTC") markets following the delisting on the OTC Pink under the ticker symbol "RBYCF", which is operated by OTC Markets Group. There is no assurance that an active market in the common shares will develop on OTC Pink.The Company will continue to file reports with Canadian securities regulators and with the SEC under applicable federal securities laws.RUBICON MINERALS CORPORATIONMichael WinshipInterim President and Chief Executive OfficerThis news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding that the Company's common shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, that U.S. shareholders should be able to trade their Rubicon shares on the TSX through U.S. broker-dealers who have Canadian registered broker-dealer affiliates and that the Company will continue to be a reporting issuer with the SEC following the delisting. Forward-looking statements include expressions such as "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "will" and similar terms and expressions. These forward-looking statements are made based on expectations and beliefs concerning future events affecting Rubicon and are subject to various risks, uncertainties and factors relating to Rubicon's operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Rubicon's control, which could cause Rubicon's actual results to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made. Although Rubicon has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the impact of the NYSE MKT's suspension of trading and commencement of delisting proceedings on the liquidity and market price of Rubicon's common stock; market conditions; and those risk factors set out in the Company's current Annual Information Form, Management's Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure documents available under the Company's profile at www.SEDAR.com. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Such forward-looking statements have been provided for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this release and Rubicon disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statementsAllan Candelario, CFA, Vice President of Investor Relations+1 (416) 766-2804ir@rubiconminerals.comwww.rubiconminerals.com VANCOUVER, Jan 12, 2016 - True Gold Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TGM) ("True Gold" or the "Company") announces the appointment of Mr. Mark Tomek as a Director of the Company. Mr. Tomek is a senior member of Boston-based Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC ("LMM" or "Liberty Metals & Mining"), one of True Gold's largest shareholders. He will be replacing Mr. Stephan Theron as LMM's appointee to the True Gold board. The Company would like to thank Mr. Stephan Theron for his contributions to True Gold over the past 18 months.Mr. Tomek brings extensive experience in corporate finance, law and principal investing to the True Gold board. Prior to joining Liberty Metals & Mining, Mr. Tomek worked as an investment banker in Canada and England, focusing on mergers & acquisitions and mining, and practiced corporate and securities law in Toronto at a large Canadian law firm. Mr. Tomek holds an LL.B. from Dalhousie University (Schulich School of Law) and an MBA from the Ivey Business School. True Gold Mining Inc. is where gold comes to life. We are committed to growing a successful gold production company, by focusing on projects with low costs, low technical risks and solid economics. The Company's board, management and technical teams have proven track records in gold exploration, development, and production worldwide.Additional information about the Company and its activities may be found on the Company's website at www.truegoldmining.com and under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARDChristian MilauPresident & CEONeither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Christian Milau, President & CEO604-801-5020info@truegoldmining.comwww.truegoldmining.com Fur den Inhalt des Beitrages ist allein der Autor verantwortlich bzw. die aufgefuhrte Quelle. Bild- oder Filmrechte liegen beim Autor/Quelle bzw. bei der vom ihm benannten Quelle. Bei Ubersetzungen konnen Fehler nicht ausgeschlossen werden. Der vertretene Standpunkt eines Autors spiegelt generell nicht die Meinung des Webseiten-Betreibers wieder. Mittels der Veroffentlichung will dieser lediglich ein pluralistisches Meinungsbild darstellen. Direkte oder indirekte Aussagen in einem Beitrag stellen keinerlei Aufforderung zum Kauf-/Verkauf von Wertpapieren dar. Wir wehren uns gegen jede Form von Hass, Diskriminierung und Verletzung der Menschenwurde. Beachten Sie bitte auch unsere AGB/Disclaimer VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / TheNewswire / January 13, 2016 - Nevada Clean Magnesium Inc.. (TSXV: NVM; Frankfurt-M1V; OTC Pink Sheets: MLYFF) (the "Company" or "NCM") today announced that it has engaged Zimtu Capital Corp. ("Zimtu") of Vancouver, BC for corporate consulting services to NCM. Zimtu is to provide business development, strategic planning, marketing, financial services, research and communication products to the Company, as well as access to its co-operative marketing programs. The term of the contract is a monthly fee of $5,250 for 12 months. "With Zimtu's expertise in assisting companies, we are confident that the exposure of our magnesium project will reach out to the domestic and international investing communities in a professional and consistent manner," stated Ed Lee, CEO and Director of the Company. About Zimtu Capital Zimtu Capital Corp. (TSXV: ZC; FSE: ZCT1) is a publicly held investment issuer and company builder focused on private, micro- and small-cap resource companies. Zimtu's focus is building new resource exploration companies at the private and seed level. Through Zimtu's experience and far-reaching connections within the mineral exploration industry, newly formed companies have an advantage in marketing exposure as well as access to capital. For our investors, Zimtu provides access to a portion of the market not normally available to them. Zimtu also locates and acquires mineral properties of merit and connects them with public resource companies. Projects are normally acquired on a 50-50% basis with geological and prospecting partners with proceeds from sales split the same. This transactional style fosters new relationships and further extends our network of contacts and opportunities. About Nevada Clean Magnesium, Inc. Nevada Clean Magnesium is focused on becoming a major U.S. producer and distributor of primary, high grade, low cost magnesium metal extracted from its 100% owned Tami-Mosi property located in North Central Nevada. Based on the Company's NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Report published in September 2011 and amended in July 2014, the Tami-Mosi Project has an inferred resource of 412 million tonnes with an average grade of 12.3% Mg for a contained metal content of 111 billion pounds of magnesium using a 12% cut-off grade contained within a high purity dolomite block. For more information, please visit www.nevadacmi.com. This news release was reviewed by James Sever, P. Eng. a qualified person recognized under NI 43-101. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statement Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, including the Company's dolomite reserves may not be mined because of technical, regulatory, financing or other obstacles, the market price for magnesium may make our resources uneconomic, and other risks associated with being a mineral exploration and development company. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements. To Reach Nevada Clean Magnesium Please Contact: Edward Lee, CEO at (604) 210-9862 For additional information please visit our website at http://www.nevadacmi.com or view our profile at http://www.sedar.com. You may also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. SHARE Contributed photo Albert Mitchell, a rancher, served as president of the American Quarter Horse Association. He also was elected AQHA president in '46 By Jerry Lackey Although Albert Knell Mitchell was born and raised in New Mexico, he made an impact in the Lone Star State, serving as president of American Quarter Horse Association in 1946 and general manager of the 800,000-acre Matador Ranch in 1951. Born June 25, 1894, in Clayton, New Mexico, to Thomas Edward and Linda Knell Mitchell, young Albert became a partner with his father in 1917, raising sheep and cattle. The T.E. Mitchell & Son ranch was later renamed Tequesquite Ranch and was among the first in New Mexico to run registered Herefords. Thomas Mitchell was born Sept. 5, 1864, to Edward Francis and Augusta Hatch Mitchell near Cripple Creek, Colorado. His family was of English descent and originally settled in Virginia. Thomas Mitchell and Linda Knell were married July 9, 1893. They had four children: Albert Knell, Edith Augusta, Carol Louise and Linda Elizabeth. Linda Knell, born Aug. 23, 1870, at the family summer house in Kentucky, was the daughter of Andrew and Caroline Krucker Knell. Her father was born and educated in Germany. He came to America in the 1800s and settled in Cincinnati. The gold rush days brought the Mitchells west. Thomas became a cowboy at age 12 and began working as a wagon boss for the Huerfano Butte Cattle Co. in Colorado at age 16. In 1881, Thomas was hired as manager of the Bar T Cross ranch, owned by the Dubuque Land and Cattle Co. The territory was still open range. When the Bar T Cross, located in the Tequesquite Valley, was for sale in the mid-1890s, Thomas Mitchell purchased the deeded land and moved his family to what became the Mitchell homestead. After graduation from Cornell University with a degree in animal husbandry in 1917 and two years in the Army, young Albert Mitchell returned to the Tequesquite Ranch and took over the management from his father. Albert Mitchell and Julia Sundt were married Aug. 1, 1928. They had four children: Andrew Knell, Linda Elizabeth, Thomas Edward II and Albert Julian. Julia Mitchell died shortly after the birth of their fourth child June 3, 1934. Albert Mitchell married Natalie Nichols Granton Galbraith on June 27, 1957. During its heyday, the Tequesquite Ranch of about 180,000 acres was one of the largest contiguous land holdings in the United States. It employed 30 cowboys. Albert Mitchell attended the 1946 American Quarter Horse Association convention but returned to New Mexico before it ended. AQHA was almost bankrupt. Two other quarter horse associations had formed: the American Quarter Racing Association and the National Quarter Horse Breeders Association. Hard feelings were circulating between the three groups, according to AQHA history. The entire AQHA executive committee resigned and a whole new slate of officers was elected. The new committee asked Mitchell to become president. Mitchell was elected to a second term in 1947 and a third term in 1948. During his third term, he negotiated with AQRA and NQHBA, and in 1950 the groups consolidated with AQHA, headquartered in Amarillo. Mitchell supported the development of AQHA promotional clinics and youth programs. He was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1984. The famous Matador Ranch holdings covering parts of Oldham, Motley and Hartley counties in the Texas Panhandle was sold in 1951 by Scottish owners to an American syndicate. Mitchell was named general manager after the resignation of John Mackenzie, who had been manager since 1937. According to Standard-Times archives, Mitchell was selected based upon his accomplishments for the livestock industry, his efforts toward the solution of the foot-and-mouth disease problem and his ability as a producer of registered and commercial Hereford cattle and quarter horses. According to William Curry Holden, former curator of the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, the Matador is noted for its quail, dove, small deer and cattle. In 2011, the Matador received the 2010 Outstanding Rangeland Stewardship Award from the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Albert Mitchell died May 28, 1980, in his New Mexico ranch home at age 86. Natalie Mitchell died March 5, 1990, at age 88. In 1992 the Tequesquite Ranch in Harding County, New Mexico, made a transition from conventional to holistic resources management. The HRM program has increased plant diversity and ground cover. The fourth generation of Mitchells continues to maintain a Hereford base cow herd and a registered American Quarter Horse Breeding Program. The children have grown up with an appreciation of the land and heritage of the ranch, said Tom and Karen Mitchell. SHARE Tom Wallace/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS In many restaurants, snitching food from companions plates is a time-honored behavior. Sharing food loaded with social meaning By Kim Ode The fork hovers. An eyebrow arches with the proper sense of supplication. The desire: a morsel of your tuna lying amid a confetti of blood orange segments and mild Fresno chiles. Just a taste, hmm? Thanks! Oh, um, can I get a little more sauce on that? In many restaurants well, OK, not McDonald's, etc., where curiosity rarely is an issue snitching food from companions' plates is a time-honored behavior. If you've waffled between ordering the risotto or the polenta, you can always cadge a bite from those who ordered the other. Ah, but listen to us, loading the dice with talk of "snitching" and "cadging," as if this is illicit. "I prefer to call it sharing, or tasting," said Carol Manning of Minneapolis, a longtime seeker of all the flavors on the table. "I'm just genuinely interested in what everything tastes like, and other people's food always looks so interesting." Her hovering fork also doubles as a boyfriend test. "If they don't want to give me a taste of something, or if they're not interested in what's on my plate, well, that's someone I'm not interested in," she said, finding such incuriosity rather dull, such territoriality rather selfish. Of the many social crevasses that crease our lives, one of the craggiest separates those who freely snitch and share from those who believe that if you wanted the squid ink pasta, you should have ordered it. (Jeez!) To snitchers, trading tastes seems harmless. Yet some diners resist, conscious of germs, wary of reaching across wine glasses, or just honestly wanting to enjoy every smidgen of their creme brulee. They might steer clear of Kris Hase, Minneapolis, who doesn't limit her tasting to friends' entrees, but has eaten off the plates of strangers. "I always try to foster a sense of community around me," she said, "and tasting each other's food does that." Sometimes, the effervescent Hase ("I know how to charm people") even ends up with food thrust upon her. Take the time at Butcher & the Boar in downtown Minneapolis, one of those restaurants where the tables are set so close, just sitting down calls to mind a strand of dental floss. But such proximity also prompts conviviality, such as with the mother and son at the next table who gave Hase their leftover cornbread in its cast-iron pan. "We'd just been chatting," Hase said. "I ask a lot of questions about what people are eating: 'What did you order? Would you recommend it?' "They were so excited about how good the food was they wanted to share. That's how I am, too, so we all had a great time." READING THE BODY LANGUAGE Manning and Hase each stressed that they never snitch without permission. That would be rude. And they've grown adept at reading a companion's body language. "The people who sort of cradle their plates you just don't go there," Hase said. Manning said she gives non-sharers several dining opportunities to say yes before she finally gives up. "A longtime friend is just so not interested in sharing," she said, despite repeated forays toward her plate. "But I've now given up on asking her." A poll on Serious Eats, a popular foodie website, once posed the question: "Do you ask before eating off your friend's plate?" The response overwhelmingly favored asking first, and also not pouting if you are rebuffed. Several respondents said they employed the strategy of first offering a bit off their own plate, thus encouraging their companions into offering a taste from theirs. "Sort of passive-aggressive, I suppose," one noted. "But it works." (Her certificate as an honorary Minnesotan is in the mail.) Another said groups of good friends order expecting a quasi-potluck experience, "passing around bites on the bread plates." When one woman dines with her husband, "it's not unusual for us to swap plates midcourse." No worries, said Daniel Post. Sorta. RULES, RAGU, RELATIONSHIPS Post is the great-great-grandson of etiquette expert Emily Post, and with his cousin Lizzie Post runs the Emily Post Institute and hosts the "Awesome Etiquette" podcast on American Public Media (infiniteguest.org/awesome-etiquette). So, is it permissible to share food in a restaurant? "One of my favorite themes in talking about etiquette is that you have to know the rules to know when to break them," Post said. The baseline rule here: You eat off your plate and I eat off mine. "Having that baseline is important because it helps you get through a meal with more formality." But say you're lunching with a new client and the question of sharing a dessert comes up, he said. He recommends declining, "deferring to that more formal behavior, sticking to the code of conduct I know." He quickly added, "But I wouldn't recommend that for a first date. Ordering a dessert to share may not only be OK and appropriate, but the start of a memory that lasts a lifetime." As for the best method of scoring a smidgen of scallop, Post said it's easier if you proffer a taste and see if it's reciprocated. At the least, you've shown yourself to be a generous soul, which serves a larger goal. "The way we relate over food is so fundamentally important," he said. "I don't think there's anything inappropriate here. It's just managing expectations at the table." WHEN WE SHARE, WE CARE Indeed, a study in 1997 in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that American college students who shared food were seen as having positive social interactions. Actually feeding food to each other implied a romantic relationship. Yet the most intimate or heartfelt connections were when one person accepted food that their companion had tasted, bitten or touched something that researchers called "food consubstantiation," which pretty much is all the further we need to go on that subject. Bottom line: When we share, we care. Still, there are legitimate reasons to keep one's plate private. Germs, for one. Manning, a retired internist, said she's always careful to share tastes from a portion of food she's not yet touched, and uses clean utensils. Likewise, she doesn't share beverages. And, despite Hase's theory that food snitching took off in the '60s era of fondue pots, "what with all those forks flying around," cultures around the world long have regarded sharing food as a way to strengthen relationships and forge bonds. Post said he believes that rules of etiquette are founded in consideration, respect and honesty. Thus, snitching with permission is fine, when balanced by offering without sanction. Hase wouldn't have it any other way. "I always offer up as much food as I take," she said. Manning agreed. "I can't think of a time I haven't offered someone a taste." Although, she added upon reflection, "sometimes it's a very little taste." Gates opened at the YFZ Ranch. Residents at the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado have agreed to leave the ranch after law enforcement officers served legal papers. The residents have agreed to vacate the property. SHARE Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times Texas Department of Public Safety cars idle along a road on the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado on Thursday afternoon. A writ of possession was filed in the Schleicher County District Court in the Attorney Generalas civil case against the ranch. It was served Wednesday. Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times DPS Trooper Shawn Baxter waits at the YFZ Ranch to advise media. A writ of possession was filed in the Schleicher County District Court in the Attorney Generalas civil case against the ranch. It was served Wednesday. Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times Buzzing was heard Thursday afternoon at the YFZ Ranch while several men worked inside. A writ of possession was filed in the Schleicher County District Court in the Attorney Generalas civil case against the ranch. It was served Wednesday. Jennifer Rios/Standard-Times Buzzing was heard Thursday afternoon at the YFZ Ranch while several men worked inside. A writ of possession was filed in the Schleicher County District Court in the Attorney Generalas civil case against the ranch. It was served Wednesday. State taking over control of FLDS property By Jennifer Rios SCHLEICHER COUNTY ? A U.S. Postal Service worker delivered a handful of white envelopes meant for residents at the Yearning for Zion Ranch ? a group that has agreed to leave the property after being served legal papers. After pushing mail into their box, the worker drove past the driveway, where tall, white gates were open and Texas Department of Public Safety cruisers sat parked inside the property Thursday. Uniformed troopers were at the site, and men in jeans and long-sleeve, button-down shirts talked and moved about near the fence line, appearing to operate a crane and a saw. About 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Schleicher County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety met with the residents of the YFZ Ranch and gave them copies of court orders related to a recent forfeiture of the property, according to a Thursday news release from the DPS. Serving the documents was the next step in the attorney general's civil case against the YFZ Ranch, an FLDS compound near Eldorado that once was home to hundreds of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its current population is unclear. In April 2008 more than 400 children were removed from the ranch in a raid by state, local and federal authorities, prompted by a report of child abuse that later was revealed to be a hoax call. The children eventually were returned to their families, but evidence taken in the raid served as the basis for a series of cases that led in the imprisonment of a dozen men from the sect, including leader Warren Jeffs. 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, who signed the initial search warrant that allowed law enforcement to raid the compound in 2008, ruled in favor of the state and on Jan. 6 entered a default judgment in the civil case, which directed authorities to take possession of the forfeited ranch Representatives of the United Order of Texas Trust, which owns the ranch, did not appear at the hearing in Schleicher County. The FLDS has not fought the case. The final judgment was the result of the state Attorney General's Office filing for the seizure of the nearly 1,700-acre property in 2012. They filed claiming that the "proceeds from illegal activity were used to purchase the ranch, which FLDS leaders bought in a failed attempt to establish a remote outpost where they could insulate themselves from criminal prosecution for sexually assaulting children." The residents have agreed to vacate the property, the release said. DPS officers were at the ranch Thursday, and its gates were open, but no one was allowed on the property. "Law enforcement personnel are working with the ranch occupants to assist with their departure of the property, to preserve the property and to successfully execute the court order," according to the Thursday news release. Continuing activities on the property will include obtaining a court-ordered inventory of property and protecting the remaining assets. It was unclear when that process is expected to end. The writ of possession was issued March 6 and names five FLDS members. The DPS will not conduct interviews on this topic, according to the release. Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran was unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon. SHARE By Staff Report Emily Perez, a senior nursing major in Angelo State University's Honors Program, is spending her winter break studying and researching in South America. Perez is one of 15 honors students nationwide selected for this year's Amazon Winterim in Peru through the National Collegiate Honors Council. A native of Hutto, Perez is the first ASU student to be selected for an NCHC semester program, according to an ASU news release. Co-sponsored by the NCHC and the Honors College at Florida International University, the three-week experiential learning program focuses on "Health without Borders." Participating students will explore the Amazon, study the region's history, population composition, biodiversity and ecology, and research tropical health issues, the news release stated. Students will receive college credit for two courses, "Health and Disease on a Rainforest Frontier" and "Amazon Environmental Change and Global and Human Health," at the end of the program Jan. 20. Perez's trip is being funded through the Alvin and Patricia New Honors Program Enhancement Fund, which was created in 2008 through an initial $250,000 donation to the ASU Honors Program by former San Angelo Mayor Alvin New and his wife, Patricia, who are ASU alumni. For more information, call 325-942-2722 or email shirley.eoff@angelo.edu. SHARE Conservation chief: Zimbabwe poaching soars By Dpa (Tns) HARARE, Zimbabwe The number of rhinoceroses poached in Zimbabwe more than doubled last year, the head of a trust dedicated to protecting the animals said Tuesday. At least 50 rhinos were poached in the southern African country in 2015, up from 20 the previous year, Lowveld Rhino Trust Director Raoul du Toit told dpa. "Until 2015, rhino poaching in Zimbabwe actually declined steadily from its peak in 2008, when about 150 rhinos were poached," he said. Much of the poaching takes place in private wildlife parks, where most of Zimbabwe's 800 black and white rhinos live after their populations in national parks were decimated by poachers, according to du Toit. Most of the rhinos poached in 2015 were black rhinos, which are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. After cyanide poisoning was used to kill dozens of elephants in recent years, poachers have begun to use the method for rhinos, du Toit said. At least two rhinos were killed in 2015 by placing cyanide in a water hole, he added. "The penalty for possession of cyanide remains very low compared to the damage that this poison causes, so harsher sentencing must be imposed to stop this form of poaching from spreading," the conservationist said. Du Toit said poachers were targeting rhinos after the number of large elephants had gone down in the northwest. "Another factor has been the low levels of employment and relatively low salaries paid to anti-poaching staff," he said. With about 80 percent of the workforce officially unemployed, more Zimbabweans are believed to have turned to poaching, while employees of wildlife parks may accept bribes to supplement their income. Unplanned settlement in private wildlife areas has, meanwhile, destroyed fencing and reduced control of poaching, du Toit said. After the arrests of several rhino poachers recently, "a determined effort to identify and hunt for the known poachers can be undertaken by the authorities to build on recent success and mop up those gang members who are still at large," the conservationist said. Butterflies in plight: Monarch migration is in Texas. But wait, is this all of them? Mayor Mike Duggan added his voice Tuesday to those of teachers and others calling for state help for Detroit Public Schools, noting that conditions in some of them "break your heart.""What I saw today was a mixed bag," Duggan said after touring four schools in the city. "There were some schools that were very well-maintained. There were some other schools that would just break your heart, where students wore their coats in class until it was warm enough to take them off or where children couldn't use the gym because of the water damage. "Duggan's tour came as 24 schools were closed Tuesday because of teacher sick-outs called to protest what teachers say are deplorable conditions for them as well as students. On Monday, 60 schools were closed because of sick-outs.Individual teachers took to social media to blast the current state of the schools while their union leader demanded public hearings to address the problems in the schools."Our students and their families deserve real answers," Detroit Federation of Teachers Interim President Ivy Bailey said in a statement. "The community is crying out for help over what is clearly a crisis in our schools."DPS emergency manager Darnell Earley said the district is doing what it can with the money it has available and capital improvements to buildings have been lacking in recent years."This is exacerbated by the fact that DPS is essentially insolvent, and if projections carry forward as expected, the district will run out of cash in April," Earley said in a statement. "To the extent that areas of concern are called to our attention, we remediate the issue based on the resources available. In every case where an issue has been brought to our attention, we have responded in as timely a manner as possible."He added that the district has 97 school buildings that are, on average, 47 years old and that he welcomes any additional money to help address the concerns.Duggan said the state needs to help fix Detroit schools."We are nearing the seventh anniversary of state emergency management of DPS," Duggan said. "Lansing needs to act with real urgency to address the $700-million debt the district now has so issues like these can be addressed."He added that property owners are responsible for the condition of their buildings."When owners fail to maintain their buildings and create a potential public safety risk, the city ... always has the authority to step in and conduct inspections and issue correction orders," Duggan said.Gov. Rick Snyder told the Free Press today that legislators in Lansing are watching the sick-outs."It makes it more challenging because it begs the question that people are asking: What are the teachers doing and how do they care about the kids when they don't show up?" Snyder said. "You'll find that on a lot of minds of the legislators."Bailey said Detroit needs action, not words, from Lansing."The mayor and the state school superintendent are working with us on these issues; we need the governor's help as well," Bailey said in a statement Tuesday.Michigan law prohibits teacher strikes and includes punishments of up to $5,000 a day for teachers found to have conducted an illegal strike. But before those penalties can be imposed, the district must file a formal complaint with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. No formal complaint has been filed so far.Last week, Earley said he was researching the legality of the teachers' action.Fines in such cases are rare but not unprecedented. In a 2002 case, the commission ordered fines equal to one-day's pay for seven Ann Arbor school employees who called in sick on the same day.The commission declined to impose fines on 23 other teachers who called in sick after concluding that they had valid excuses for missing work.Some teachers have taken to social media this past week to plead their cases. Pamela Namyslowski, who teaches fourth grade at Mann Elementary School in Detroit, posted a lengthy open letter to Earley on Friday and by Tuesday, it had been shared more than 6,000 times."These deplorable learning conditions happen to also be the teachers' working conditions," she wrote. "We deal with unsafe environments -- both in the neighborhoods surrounding our schools and often within the schools themselves. Unlike you, students and teachers do not have a driver and security guards."State Superintendent of Schools Brian Whiston said he wants the district's leadership to set up a meeting to address the health and safety issues teachers are raising."I care deeply about the safety and well-being of teachers in Detroit, just as I do the students," Whiston said. "They all still need to be in the classrooms teaching and learning, though. If buildings have health and safety issues, they need to be addressed immediately with the district administration and all appropriate agencies." Not everyone agrees with Gov. Jay Inslee's assessment that Washington lawmakers are "on track" to solve a school funding crisis that has landed the state in contempt of court.The state's public schools superintendent, Randy Dorn, showed his displeasure with Inslee's education funding agenda Tuesday by not attending the governor's annual State of the State address -- an occasion at which statewide elected officials usually take a front-row seat.Dorn left his seat empty Tuesday as the governor delivered his remarks, in which Inslee spoke of the need for higher teacher salaries as well as investments in mental health services and wildfire recovery efforts.The elected superintendent of public instruction walked into the chambers of the state House along with other statewide elected officials, as is a customary part of the ceremony before the governor's annual address. But he quickly exited before the governor took the podium, leaving a note on his chair at the front of the chamber.Dorn later said the note read, "Reserved for kids and students.""I think they should have a voice," said Dorn, who said the governor and the Legislature are making too little progress toward fixing the way the state pays for schools."It doesn't look like anyone is meeting the paramount duty of the state, and doing what the court has ruled," Dorn said.Inslee's proposed supplemental budget for 2016 doesn't include a plan to address the state's unconstitutional reliance on local property tax levies to pay for basic education costs, something the state Supreme Court said the Legislature must address by 2018 as part of the McCleary education funding lawsuit.The state is currently in contempt of court over lawmakers' failure to produce a plan to meet the 2018 deadline, with the court imposing sanctions of $100,000 a day.A bipartisan group of lawmakers that Inslee convened last year has proposed creating a task force to gather more data about the school funding issue. A bill they introduced last week pledges to complete the court-ordered fixes by the end of 2017, but doesn't propose how to pay for them.House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, said lawmakers from both parties agree they need more precise numbers on how much money school districts are paying to cover state responsibilities, such as teacher salaries, before they can proceed. "We need that information to make accurate decisions," Kristiansen said.But Dorn, who isn't planning to seek re-election in November, said lawmakers are just looking for an excuse to delay, and haven't introduced an actual plan to fund schools."That's not going to meet their constitutional duty," Dorn said of the bill lawmakers introduced last week. He said he thinks taxes or other new revenue will be needed to solve the problem.Both the governor's chief of staff and a spokeswoman for Inslee's office declined to comment on Dorn's decision to walk out before the governor's speech.Yet during his remarks Tuesday, the governor said he believes lawmakers are making progress toward a school funding solution. Inslee called the bill lawmakers introduced last week "the first step.""I'm confident we'll take the second step next year because every time legislators have set a deadline for themselves on this issue, they have met that deadline," Inslee said. "Our next deadline requires the Legislature to fully fund basic education in the 2017 legislative session, and there's no reason we can't do that."Also sitting out the governor's State of the State address was State Auditor Troy Kelley, who has been indicted in federal court on multiple felony charges, including money laundering and tax evasion. As President Barack Obama left the floor of the U.S. House following his final State of the Union address Tuesday night, he paused for a moment to look back at the chamber. Let me look at this thing one last time, he said. Thats kind of cool.The term-limited president had promised that his annual speech would focus on the future, but Obama spent much of the evening looking back. The president confidently defended his administrations record on the economy, foreign policy and his presidencys signature health-care overhaul.The past also crept into his vision for the future. His to-do list for the country included many prized proposals that died -- or at least stalled -- in the halls of state capitols.The Democratic president called for expanding voting rights, reducing air pollution from greenhouse gases and requiring companies to offer benefits like paid family leave to their employees. He also called for better behavior in politics.Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he said.South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who delivered the Republican response to the presidents speech, offered a civil, though pointed, critique of Obamas record.Tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that, she said. Unfortunately, the presidents record has often fallen far short of his soaring words.As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. Were feeling a crushing national debt, a health-care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities, the governor added.Haley invoked one of the current issues dividing Obama and Republican governors: the settlement of Syrian refugees. Haley is one of more than two dozen governors who asked the federal government in November not to relocate the displaced families in her state. She brought it up again Tuesday.In this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined, she said.Meanwhile, a Syrian refugee who now lives in Michigan was one of First Lady Michelle Obamas guests in the gallery during the presidents speech. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, was the first governor to ask for a halt in settlements.But both Haley, who is the daughter of immigrants, and the president defended immigrants generally and implicitly criticized Donald Trumps call to ban Muslims from traveling to the United States.The deep divisions between the president and Republican governors date back to just weeks after Obama moved to the White House in 2009.That history became relevant again Tuesday, when the president said both parties should be able to agree on ways to improve economic security. He suggested that laid-off workers should get job training and wage insurance, in addition to the unemployment insurance they now receive. But Republican governors balked at the idea of expanding unemployment insurance when Obama pushed for it as part of his 2009 stimulus package.Resistance from states grew after the 2010 elections swept Republicans into control of governorships and legislatures in all but the most liberal states.They will likely remain an obstacle for the presidents push for easier access to the ballot box. Weve got to make voting easier, not harder, Obama said Tuesday. But it was GOP-led legislatures passed many of the restrictions on voting, including voter ID laws, in recent years. At least 20 states have imposed restrictions on voting rights since the 2010 Republican wave, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which helps elect Democratic state lawmakers.Carolyn Fiddler, a DLCC spokeswoman, made the partisan connection explicit in a statement issued after Obamas speech. The surest path to fulfilling the presidents goal of making voting easier is through the DLCCs work to elect more Democratic majorities, she wrote.Another of Obamas ideas for fixing the political system would be to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families and hidden interests can't bankroll our elections. But that has a political slant to it, too. Many Republicans argue that curbing campaign spending restricts free speech. Republicans also have vastly more sophisticated networks of dark money like those affiliated with the Koch brothers supporting their cause than Democrats do.The president also advocated changing the way congressional districts are drawn to make them more politically competitive -- a push already happening at the state level. In Ohio, for example, voters recently approved an amendment to the states constitution, which was backed by both parties, to end some of the tactics that political parties use to increase their advantage in redistricting state legislative lines. Backers of that measure now want to apply a similar approach to drawing congressional districts. A court also ordered new maps for Florida and Virginia , among other states, and the issue is currently being debated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans across the country have more to lose with new maps, because they largely controlled the once-a-decade process of drawing new districts in 2011.One of the most striking political shifts in Obamas presidency has been polarization over climate change. Obama returned to the subject Tuesday, alluding to a rule his administration issued to require states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal power plants.Weve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future, he said. Thats why Im going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.Forty-five of the 50 states have taken sides in a court battle over the power plant rule, with Democratic states largely backing the measure and Republican states fighting it.Fights over workplace issues dont always fall as neatly along partisan lines, but liberal Democrats have fought to enact many of the same policies mentioned by Obama -- including higher minimum wages, paid family leave and equal pay laws -- at the state and local level.The president stuck mostly to broad themes in his speech, staying away from detailed proposals during a year when the Washington establishment will focus most of its energy on the upcoming presidential race.He reminded lawmakers of several proposals he has championed in recent years, including expanding pre-K , letting students attend two years of community college for free, overhauling criminal sentencing laws, stopping epidemics of heroin and opioid abuse , and lifting the trade embargo with Cuba As Obama rehashed many ideas that Republicans are wary of, he acknowledged he wouldnt be able to win them over on some of those proposals.A better politics doesnt mean we have to agree on everything, he said. This is a big country, with different regions and attitudes and interests. Thats one of our strengths, too. Our founders distributed power between states and branches of government and expected us to argue -- just as they did -- over the size and shape of government. Gov. Paul LePage indicated Tuesday that he might break with longstanding custom and deliver his State of the State address by letter rather than give a speech before the full Legislature.The move, if it is carried out, would mark the latest chapter in LePage's frosty relationship with lawmakers. The governor has repeatedly criticized legislators since taking office in 2010, but he's no longer on speaking terms with Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves, who is suing LePage in federal court, and Republican Senate President Michael Thibodeau, who drew the governor's ire last year after rejecting his budget plan. LePage, in an interview with radio station WVOM in Bangor, noted that a contingent of lawmakers in the House could vote on initiating impeachment proceedings as soon as Thursday as punishment for his conduct in office.LePage was asked Tuesday about his State of the State speech, which typically takes place at the end of January or early February. WVOM co-host George Hale asked the governor when he planned to deliver his speech."I don't know, George. It's going to be sometime, but it's probably gonna go back to the 1800s and do it by letter," LePage said.When Hale and co-host Ric Tyler responded that a written speech would be less exciting, LePage replied: "Why am I going to go up and face people and talk to them in an audience that just a week or two before, they're trying to impeach me? That's just silliness. So why don't we just, I'll go to work, keep working, I'll send them a letter and call it a day."It's unclear if the governor is serious about forgoing an opportunity to address lawmakers during an event that typically affords him abundant media coverage and a platform to promote his policies. Some Republicans said Tuesday that they would understand if the governor breaks with tradition."To stand up in front of a body that's trying impeach him? I get that (he wouldn't want to do it.)," said Rep. Ellie Espling, R-New Gloucester, the assistant Republican leader in the House.House Republican leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette of Newport agreed and said he thinks the governor is serious."Look, he's got the Democratic speaker of the House suing him in federal court, he's got nine (lawmakers) in the House bringing impeachment against him," he said. "Not coming in and not addressing the Legislature in that atmosphere is certainly a reasonable action."House Democratic leader Rep. Jeff McCabe said he is surprised that LePage would give up the opportunity to address the state."Wow, it's surprising that the governor would pass by the opportunity to talk to Maine people directly about his action plan," he said. "We're facing a deadly drug epidemic, a lack of good-paying jobs -- particurarly in rural Maine -- and an economy that still needs a jump start after the recession. Why shy away from the limelight now?"The Maine Constitution leaves the timing and method of addressing the Legislature largely up to the governor. It says, "The Governor shall from time to time give the Legislature information of the condition of the State, and recommend to their consideration such measures, as the Governor may judge expedient."Preliminary research shows that governors have made their speeches to a joint convention of the Legislature as far back as the early 1900s. It's not immediately clear when a governor last delivered his message in writing.The State of the State is a relatively modern iteration of the gubernatorial address to state lawmakers. In 1961 Republican Gov. John Reed called the speech his "Inaugural Address" and in 1965 the "Biennial Address" to "report on the general condition of the state and a presentation of his plans for future development."Previous governors have given the addresses at irregular intervals. Independent Gov. James Longley delivered State of the State addresses in 1977 and 1978, but the next wasn't presented until 1983 by Gov. John Brennan, a Democrat. It may not have been a campaign speech, but the overtures of Chris Christies 6th State of the State address today were easily transferable to the New Jersey governors presidential bid.The biggest announcement of Christies address came on the same issue that has been instrumental in reviving his presidential campaign, especially in New Hampshire: the drug epidemic.Christie announced that a closing state prison will be transformed into a drug abuse treatment facility for prison inmates.The victims of addiction deserve treatment, whether theyre in the community or they are incarcerated, Christie said. Juries, not judges, should be the ones to impose the death penalty in Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Tuesday in a ruling that will force lawmakers in Tallahassee to scramble to revamp how the state metes out sentences for murder.In an 8-1 decision, the high court ruled that the state's unique sentencing scheme in capital punishment cases -- jurors only issue "advisory" recommendations to judges -- violates the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the accused the right to an impartial jury trial.That ruling, for starters, means a possible new sentencing hearing for Timothy Hurst, who was sent to Death Row for the savage stabbing murder of a fast-food manager in Pensacola in 1998. "This right required Florida to base Timothy Hurst's death sentence on a jury's verdict, not a judge's fact finding," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority opinion.While death-penalty opponents hailed the ruling, legal experts admit that its broader impact remains less than clear.The Florida Supreme Court will now likely have to iron out which of 390 Death Row inmates -- there are 27 from Miami-Dade -- may be eligible for new sentences under the Hurst decision. And the ruling does not specifically address whether Florida jurors must deliver unanimous verdicts for death, which occur only in about a fifth of capital punishment cases. Whether to raise the bar that high -- a goal long sought by critics -- is likely to be discussed by the Legislature, meeting in an ongoing annual session."I think it's a terrific decision because it invalidates Florida's death-penalty scheme in effect since 1972," said Karen Gottlieb, co-director of the Florida Center for Capital Representation at Florida International University's College of Law. "But it's difficult to predict how far this decision will go."Bruce Fleisher, a Miami death-penalty defense lawyer, said many more court battles over Florida's sentencing structure will unfold in the coming months as some Death Row inmates file new appeals."It's a good opinion, but it doesn't give us a lot of guidance. I don't know if the Hurst decision is going to give someone who has been convicted and sentenced to death a whole new trial -- or just a new sentencing phase," Fleisher said.Florida was one of only four states that left the decision on the death penalty in the hands of the trial judge; the others are Alabama, Delaware and Montana. Florida's sentencing scheme worked like this:A 12-person jury that convicted someone of first-degree murder would convene for a "penalty phase" to weigh whether execution, or life in prison, was the appropriate sentence after considering "aggravating circumstances" of the case. The jury's decision, however, was considered only a nonbinding recommendation.And only a bare majority, or seven votes, was needed to find in favor of execution, making Florida the only state in the nation to do so.Unanimous recommendations are actually rare. Over a 12-year period through 2012, a Florida Supreme Court review of 296 sentences found that juries were unanimous in support of the death penalty just 20 percent of the time. Of the 10 men last executed in Florida, just three had juries that recommended unanimously that they be put to death.In the case of Hurst, who stabbed Cynthia Harrison more than 60 times inside a Popeye's fried-chicken restaurant, the jury voted 7-5 for the death penalty.Trial judges ultimately delivered the sentence, finding whether there was at least one "aggravating circumstance," such as that a murder was "heinous, atrocious and cruel." They rarely went against the jury's advice. "A jury's mere recommendation is not enough," Sotomayor wrote in the ruling that also invalidated two earlier U.S. Supreme Court rulings.Only once in recent history has a Miami-Dade judge gone against a jury's recommendation. In 2011, Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy sentenced Brandon Rolle to life in prison for the murder of a tourist in Coconut Grove, even though a jury had recommended the death penalty by a vote of 8-4.Cassandra Stubbs, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Capital Punishment Project, said in a statement that Tuesday's decision "restored the central role" of juries in the death-penalty process."Juries across the country have become increasingly reluctant to vote in favor of death," she said. "The court's ruling thus represents another step on the inevitable road toward ending the death penalty."Said Terry Lenamon, a Miami death-penalty lawyer who heads the Florida Capital Resource Center: "The opinion levels the playing field in the sense that now, without question, juries are responsible for making the ultimate decision of life or death. And before they were not."For many legal observers, Tuesday's decision was not a surprise. The opinion evolved from a similar ruling in 2002, Ring v. Arizona, that held that judges in Arizona alone could not make the call on aggravating circumstances that made someone eligible for the death penalty. Florida had long considered itself different because of the jury's "advisory" role.Exactly which Florida Death Row inmates get a new sentencing remains to be seen. At the very least, some legal experts say, inmates whose direct appeals have not been finished may get new sentencing hearings.In Miami-Dade, that includes Charles Johnson, convicted at trial in October of the execution-style murder of a Liberty City mother. A jury voted 9-3 to recommend death, although the judge had yet to impose the sentence.Other Miami-Dade Death Row inmates whose appeals have yet to be exhausted: Rafael Andres, convicted of fatally stabbing a West Miami-Dade waitress in 2005; Joel Lebron, convicted of the 2002 kidnap, rape and shooting murder of South Miami High student Ana Maria Angel; and Victor Guzman, who stabbed an elderly woman 58 times in Little Havana in 2000.For now, the heavy lifting in dealing with the legal fallout of Tuesday's opinion falls to the Legislature.Some members for years have tried passing reforms to the death-penalty sentencing structure."It's a great day for justice here in Florida," Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, said after the court's ruling. "We're going to fix a problem that many of us felt was a serious problem and not really properly and fairly administering the ultimate penalty: death."Altman is sponsoring a bill that would broadly reform the death penalty -- including adding a requirement that jurors vote unanimously to impose death, a change opposed by many prosecutors that has been repeatedly rebuffed in Tallahassee.Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero, an advocate of reforming Florida's death-penalty laws, said he believes the nation's high court also will eventually strike down the less-than-unanimous requirement."The Legislature might as well act now and proactively change the law," Cantero told the Miami Herald. "In every other kind of decision a jury makes, it has to be unanimous. Why would imposing the death penalty be any different?"But House Criminal Justice chairman Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, told the Miami Herald that while his committee will take on a bill to address the Supreme Court's ruling, the unanimity issue will likely go unchanged."I have no intention of addressing the issue," Trujillo said. "I think the system works fine." (TNS) -- When EPB's smart grid detected this week that a Chattanooga household was suddenly using a lot more electricity, a representative of the city-owned utility contacted the renter who quickly turned off the heat, contacted her landlord and discovered a faulty heater was using excessive power."We were able to alert the unsuspecting customer in time for her to take action and avoid a hefty bill that she was not expecting because there was a piece of equipment that was malfunctioning," EPB Executive Vice President David Wade said Tuesday. "We've built a great platform to give us and our customers a wealth of data to detect problems earlier and to better manage our power grid for reliability and efficiency."The $220 million platform of fiber optic wires, intelliruptors and other smart grid equipment installed over the past six years across EPB's 600-square-mile service area gained national attention Tuesday when the U.S. Green Building Council recognized Chattanooga as America's first city to be certified for a new environmental distinction for electric power systems. The environmental group, which already certifies thousands of buildings around the globe with its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications, has added another recognition process to help define and award sustainable power networks.The new PEER (Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal) certification is based upon how reliable, efficient and sustainable an electric utility is in delivering and helping customers use power.Aided by a $111.6 million federal stimulus grant awarded in 2009, EPB has built one of the most sophisticated smart grid power networks in the country with more than 1,200 intelliruptors installed throughout EPB's service territory. The devices help immediately detect power interruptions and voltage swings and reroute power to minimize the number of customers affected by storm-related outages.Wade, who calls the system "self healing," said EPB has created a communications and power backbone that should aid the city in new distributed energy, load controls and demand response programs that cut both energy waste and power interruptions. Since the smart grid was deployed in 2009, power interruptions have been cut by 55 percent from what they would have been without the smart grid technologies, Wade said. EPB also has begun offering time-of-day pricing and energy audit and conservation programs, which Wade said may be expanded next year.Jamie Statter, vice president of strategic relations for the U.S. Green Building Council in Washington D.C., said LEED certifications "have helped transform the energy efficiency of the places we work, live and play" by setting a standard for judging the sustainability and energy efficiency of a building. Statter said she hopes the new PEER standard will do the same in setting definable standards and encouraging upgrades from America's power industry."The work that Chattanooga has done around your river cleanup, the fiber optic network and other environmental initiatives have made you truly a leading 21st century city," Statter told dozens of local community and government leaders gathered for the PEER cerification on Tuesday. "This is how market transformation occurs and we want to recognize that."The U.S. Green Building Council presented city and EPB officials the first municipal PEER certification during a ceremony Tuesday at green/spaces on Main Street the first LEED platinum-certified building in Tennessee.The Green Building Council previously awarded the first of the new PEER certificates in the campus category to the University of Texas in Austin, Statter said.The PEER certifications are based upon 69 criteria used to evaluate a utility's operational effectiveness, customer contribution, reliability and resiliency, and energy efficiency and environment.Chattanooga's power grid scored nearly 23 percent higher than the designation's base standard. Mahesh Ramanujam, chief operating officer of the U.S. Green Building Council, praised EPB for "proactively working to set the bar higher in sustainable electricity."Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said EPB's smart grid and Gig Internet connection both powered by the fiber optic wires EPB began laying seven years ago provide the world's fastest Internet service as well as one of the more reliable power networks."If it's going to be first, it's going to be in Chattanooga," Berke said. "As a community, we understand that energy is today's currency. When businesses come here and they are looking for a place to locate, the reliability of power is crucial and making sure it is affordable is key."Berke, a Chattanooga native, recalled the polluted water and smoke-filled air in Chattanooga' past much of it due to energy production for area factories and utilities. EPB's smart grid is helping to clear the air and water by facilitating cleaner energy generation and limiting energy waste. That is beneficial to both the environment and the economy, city and county leaders said."Having the most advanced electric system in North America continues to be an excellent recruitment tool for new industry," Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said. Engaging the community: Synergy among citizens, technologists, private industry, government officials and data scientists provides fertile ground for ideas and innovation. Synergy among citizens, technologists, private industry, government officials and data scientists provides fertile ground for ideas and innovation. Defining spaces for brainstorming and idea sharing: Many individuals can be innovators but are likely to need the process to be facilitated, which can be as simple as providing a room that's free of distractions and equipped with whiteboards. Many individuals can be innovators but are likely to need the process to be facilitated, which can be as simple as providing a room that's free of distractions and equipped with whiteboards. Seeking a good fit early on: Just because an idea is innovative doesn't mean it will solve the problem at hand. To optimize the process, it's important that the problem be defined early on by as many groups as possible to avoid wasting time on ideas that simply would not work. Just because an idea is innovative doesn't mean it will solve the problem at hand. To optimize the process, it's important that the problem be defined early on by as many groups as possible to avoid wasting time on ideas that simply would not work. Long-term planning and consistent focus: Facilitation that is not sporadic and is well focused is likely to increase innovation, productivity and impact. Facilitation that is not sporadic and is well focused is likely to increase innovation, productivity and impact. Partnership and collaboration: The inclusion of several partners from varied sectors ensures that problems are defined in a nuanced way that takes into consideration as many essential elements as possible. There is a wave of new innovation at the local level of government, and much of it is coming not from government but from citizens. This is happening through a rapidly proliferating ecosystem of civic innovation labs, platforms that connect citizens with each other and with government to share ideas, define community problems and find solutions. For cities, the challenge will be to learn from, adapt to and manage these new pathways to more effective government.The central premise of civic innovation labs is that they are "bottom-up" problem-solving tools. Their value is in the fact that they live outside of the structured, rule-bound worlds of government and nonprofits. Their freedom from bureaucratic constraints on creativity is likely to be a central source of innovation.Another strength of these labs is in their variety in models. They can be initiated by governments, nonprofits, universities, private companies, citizens or, through partnerships, some combination of the five. So far, there is no clear consensus on which model has the best impact, but clues are beginning to emerge.In Chicago, for example, the two-year-old CivicLab is a co-working space focused on social justice and civic engagement. The lab was created by a private citizen who makes the facility open to whichever individuals and groups would like to rent space, and they work on projects specific to Chicago, such as Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, Chicago Votes, and the Young Invincibles project.The city of Los Angeles partnered with two existing collaboration organizations, Impact Hub Los Angeles and Learn Do Share, and with the city controller's open-data portal to launch L.A.'s Civic Innovation Lab . In a recent innovation session called #DroughtHack , more than 600 designers, data scientists, technologists and others came together to work on issues of water conservation, transportation and community. A partnership of 15 government, nonprofit and community organizations hosted, judged and awarded prizes.We are seeing large successes in labs that leverage partnership among universities, industry and government. In 2014, Chicago's UI Labs (which stands for University+Industry Labs) received $70 million from the Department of Defense to fund manufacturing innovation. Although pilot projects with manufacturers have just begun, the project reflects years of planning and early funding.As these innovation labs spread, some effective strategies for nurturing them are emerging. Here are five of the most important:As innovation labs continue to pop up, it will be important for governments to do a number of things, including tracking whether the innovations that are developed are making an impact -- which includes developing metrics to evaluate investments -- and finding ways to replicate successful models as they emerge. Managing the next generation of civic innovation platforms will itself require innovation. Seattle announced a new specialized role in its technology team Jan. 7: the civic technology advocate. Candace Faber , who's led hackathons that include the city's Hack the Commute transportation hackathon last March, will lead the position, promoting open data use by local technologists, working with business departments to identify opportunities and educate.Seattle Chief Technology Officer Michael Mattmiller explained in a city press release that the new position is part of an effort to improve quality of life for citizens. Will Scott, an organizer for Open Seattle, said Faber is an integral part of the city's technology community.She is the voice of social consciousness, and has already been instrumental in directing energy to efforts helping homelessness and equitable use of technology," Scott said. "We're thrilled that Candace has become a civic technology advocate within the city and [will] devote more energy to solving these critical issues. We can't imagine a better person for the job!"Before this, Faber was the CEO of consulting firm Whoa Strategies. Faber led events like the Hack to End Homelessness, and the Washington Technology Industry Association's FullConTech. As government-community liaison for Open Seattle, Faber did much of the work she will continue in her new role: working with open data, collaborating with the city's technology firms, and helping the developer and civic hacker community.From 2007 to 2013, Faber was a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State. She served at U.S. embassies in Russia, Poland, Belarus and Afghanistan. On Jan. 12, President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address to the nation -- a fact advertised on the White House State of the Union website , which parallels the tone of the speech itself. Though the president is on his way out, it's not about him -- it's about what he did and what America needs to do for the future."For my final address to this chamber, I dont want to talk just about the next year," Obama said. "I want to focus on the next five years, 10 years and beyond."Climate change, education and technology were among the key issues covered in his speech, with a particular emphasis on the role that technology will play in many areas of government."How do we make technology work for us, and not against us especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?" Obama asked.The president also questioned how we can reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges. "Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didnt deny Sputnik was up there. We didnt argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget," he said. "We built a space program almost overnight, and 12 years later, we were walking on the moon."That spirit of discovery, he continued, is in our DNA. "Were Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. Were Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. Were every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world. And over the past seven years, weve nurtured that spirit."Technology will help the nation and the world fight climate change, Obama said, noting that anyone who still disputes that people are making the climate hotter can't ignore an opportunity for the nation to sell energy to the rest of the world. He went on to cite the energy advancements the country has made during his administration."In fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power," he said. "On rooftops from Arizona to New York, solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills, and employs more Americans than coal in jobs that pay better than average. Were taking steps to give homeowners the freedom to generate and store their own energy something environmentalists and Tea Partiers have teamed up to support. Meanwhile, weve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly 60 percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth. Gas under two bucks a gallon aint bad, either."Obama called for investment in clean energy -- and a stop to subsidizing "dirty" energy."Thats why Im going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet," he said. "That way, we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21st century transportation system."Outside the tech realm, Obama supported Vice President Joe Biden's pet project to cure cancer and announced a new effort to meet that goal."Because hes gone to the mat for all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, Im putting Joe in charge of Mission Control," he said. "For the loved ones weve all lost, for the family we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all."Whether the goal of completely eradicating cancer is reached or not, the medical community will gain increased support in the past century's medical progress. According to the American Cancer Society, the U.S. saw a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates between 1991 and 2009 alone, saving 1.2 million lives.And when speaking to education in the U.S., Obama referenced the recent changes to the No Child Left Behind initiative, citing them as a good starting point for broader social changes that create greater equality, though many pundits cited those changes as chiefly nominal, despite their good intent.One of the most controversial topics broached was the president's $60 billion plan to provide free community college to qualifying Americans. The program has been heavily criticized from both political parties, but the president said he plans to keep fighting. With just a year left in office, his administration will need to work quickly if they're to shift the program's popularity.The president ended his speech with a plan for defeating terrorism, protecting the country, and a call for civic participation in the democratic process."Weve got to make voting easier, not harder, and modernize it for the way we live now," he said, adding that over the course of this year, he will travel the country to push for reforms that do just that. "But I cant do these things on my own. Changes in our political process in not just who gets elected but how they get elected that will only happen when the American people demand it. It will depend on you. Thats whats meant by a government of, by and for the people." I recently moderated an event for the National Governors Association at the Harvard Kennedy School. In one session, performance management expert Bob Behn told a group of governors chiefs of staff that one of the most basic but often overlooked aspects of an efficient organization is a shared definition of key terms. Simple words can take on significantly different meanings to different people, and if a standard definition for these words is not set, collaboration is stifled by miscommunication.The idea is that any one piece of information can be constructed in various ways its operational value depends on a shared understanding. The same holds true for data, which is why standards are crucial to any open data policy. Data standards create a common structure that facilitates information sharing, inter-organizational cooperation and the ability to build on past successes all important ingredients to driving data-smart innovation.As usual, progress is being pioneered at the local level. San Francisco was an early adopter of open data and was committed to the successful socialization of its data sets from the start. Data standards are key to this strategy. According to a report by Joy Bonaguro , the citys chief data officer, data standards create a multiplier benefit to open data by codifying how data is structured, which allows applications created in one locality to be easily used by another locality or readily integrated into private applications.San Francisco, for instance, has adopted a restaurant inspection data standard that it developed with Code for America, Yelp and Socrata. The Local Inspector Value-Entry Specification (LIVES) standard simplifies inspection ratings into an easily understandable and accessible metric available on a restaurants Yelp page. Sarah Schacht, Socratas public health data adviser, is committed to championing this program . She got food poisoning twice after dining at restaurants that had been rated poorly by local food inspectors, but those scores were difficult to understand, not to mention difficult to access. She paid a steep price in hospital bills as a result. Now Schacht advocates for LIVES as a transparent, intuitive and consistent way to locate this information online. Yelp is such a widely used consumer platform that this data actually reaches customers, who can make more informed dining decisions as a result.Last October, I joined a panel of government performance managers at the Socrata Customer Summit in Washington, D.C. The panelists discussed how to leverage municipal data streams, agreeing that standards help ensure the usability of data. But once data is usable, it still must be used. Daro Mott, the director of quality and performance for the Office of Performance Improvement and Innovation in Louisville, Ky., said that for the public to realize open datas full potential, there must be an engaging data story with a committed champion to tell it. With storytellers like Schacht, LIVES is catching on. Ten major cities and counties are now participating, and the list is growing.Open data policies are becoming the norm for municipalities nationwide. This unprecedented access to public information stands to transform civil society entirely, but its value hits a ceiling when that information cannot be easily exchanged. Open data must also be sharable, and cities like San Francisco, companies like Socrata and people like Schacht are leading the way with data standards. These investments signal a maturation in municipal data strategy, which will lead to the harmonization of intergovernmental data and cross-jurisdictional analytics that can begin to address the more complex problems facing the public sector today. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Jan. 11 the appointment of Richard Culatta as the state's first chief innovation officer. Culatta joins the state with a background in education, having spent four years with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology as a senior advisor, and almost eight years as the owner of a consultancy called Innovative Learning."Part of creating opportunities for all Rhode Islanders is putting their needs first and turning away from how government has always done things," Raimondo said in a press release . "We need new approaches, both in the way government operates, and in the types of businesses we attract and nurture here. The role of the chief innovation officer will be about opening up government and using data to solve problems."Culatta's $210,000 salary will come from the Rhode Island College Foundation, and Culatta will work out of Rhode Island College, where he told Rhode Island National Public Radio he hopes to collaborate with students and professors.A couple of areas he hopes to focus on are resources for new businesses in the state and the licensing process, he told the news outlet. Culatta may also work to transition the state's schools toward open educational resources and develop new models to attract talent to government, according to the governor's office press release "To effectively serve citizens, government needs to become competent in the Digital Age and work with the private sector to tackle challenges that are too big for either to solve on their own," Culatta said. "In so doing, Rhode Island has the opportunity to become a nationally recognized innovation hub and an example for the rest of the country of how to make government move faster at a reduced cost." Kevin Magnussen is reportedly in talks with Renault about replacing Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in 2016. Having taken over Lotus, there has been speculation the French carmaker might be re-thinking the Enstone team's contracts with Maldonado and Jolyon Palmer. But it was British rookie Palmer who was believed to be most in danger, as Maldonado is backed by a reported $50 million a year in the form of controversial sponsorship by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. PDVSA, however, is embroiled in a corruption scandal, and Britain's Telegraph newspaper confirms that the "political uncertainty in Venezuela" has put a question-mark over Maldonado's race seat. At the same time, correspondent Daniel Johnson said it is the job-seeking former McLaren reserve Magnussen who is suddenly "in talks with the new-look Renault team". Citing sources, the newspaper added: "Magnussen was in the team's Enstone factory (for) two days last week for talks with senior executives". But the more likely role for 23-year-old Magnussen, who has recently tested Le Mans and DTM cars, is the Renault reserve role, the report continued. Renault did not comment. (GMM) This rejection only applies to VWs diesel 2.0L vehicles, not 3.0L vehicles. The submission of the recall plan for 3.0L vehicles is due to ARB on 2 February 2016. ARB made public three separate official documents related to its actions: A transmittal letter signed by Executive Officer Richard W. Corey; the rejection of VWs submitted recall plan; and the formal Notice of Violation. ARB said that VWs recall plan fell short in a number of areas, including: The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is rejecting VWs submitted recall plan for 2-liter diesel passenger vehicles sold in California between 2009 and 2015 which were sold with the software defeat devices. It also notified VW of violations of California air quality regulations associated with the companys use of a defeat device in those cars. Adequately identifying and describing the affectd vehicles; Adequately describing the nonconformities of affected vehicles; Including a sufficient method for obtaining owners names, addresses and related information; Sufficiently decribing the remedial procedure; Containing a notification letter; Specifying the system by which VW will ensure the availability of sufficient repair parts; Including repair instructions; Containing the impact of the proposed fixes on fuel economy, drivability, performance and safety; Providing an estimated capture rate in California; Describing the impact of the repairs on emissions, particularly average noncompliance levels, average emissions reduction per pollutant, and an average emission level after implementation of the proposed fixes; Demonstrating how the proposed fixes are designed to correct the problem; Providing OBD demonstration data; Demonstrating how the plans will fix the problem expeditiously; and Providing sufficient detail for ARB to evaluate the feasibility and success of the proposed plans. CARB considers three of the deficiencies in VWs proposed influenced emission recall plans to be the most serious. First, VW fails to describe the noncomformities in sufficient detail for CARB to adequately understand them in the context of the recall plans, in order to determine whether the proposed fixes are feasible or would remedy each of the nonconformities. Second, VW fails to specifically describe the fixes in its proposed recall plans in a manner that allows CARB to adequately evaluate whether they could be successful or are even technically feasible. Third, the proposed plans do not sufficiently address impacts on the engine, the vehicles overall operation, and all related emission control technologies, including the OBD system. Rejection letter Todays actions do not preclude a recall, but allow for a broader array of potential remedies, ARB said. CARB will continue its investigation and technical evaluations with EPA to return the vehicles to legally required emission levels, determine mitigation for past and future environmental harm, and assess penalties. On 18 September 2015, ARB issued an In-use Compliance Letter to the company listing violations and giving them 45 business days to submit a proposal to recall and repair the affected vehicles. US EPA issued a Notice of Violation to the company on the same day. The defeat devices were installed on VWs 2.0L diesel vehicles manufactured for model year (MY) 2009 through MY 2015 to circumvent CARB and EPA emission test procedures. This made it possible for VW to obtain Executive Orders from CARB and Certificates of Conformity from EPA for these vehicles so the vehicles could be sold in California. As a result, the certifications were illegally obtained. Notice of Violation. The NOV details 13 specific violations of California regulations, including failure to comply with the emission standards or test procedures; invalid certification applications; the use of Defeat Devices; the importation, delivery, purchase, acquisition, or receipt of uncertified vehicles; the sale of vehicles that do not meet emission standards; and failure to comply with onboard diagnostic (OBD) system requirements. ARB will continue its investigation. The NOV may be supplemented or amended, as needed. Achievers N.C. A&T student Stephen Thompson was recently selected as one of 12 winners in Sodexos Ultimate Throwback National Prize Sweepstakes. Thompson received the Electric 80s Prize Package as the Ultimate Throwback prize. Ultimate Throwback is part of an ongoing resident-dining promotion series sponsored by Sodexo, the dining services company at A&T. Activities The week before holiday break, Canterbury Middle School students met in groups for an all-middle-school service project. Students talked about their own Christmas wish lists and what the wish list of someone experiencing homelessness might include. The students also discussed how we are called to address or respond to problems we cannot solve, said Canterbury servant leadership teacher Anne-Barton Carter. For example, we cant solve someones living without shelter, but we could try to offer comfort for a day. Using donated items and items purchased with seed money from a Canterbury supporter, the students made 90 bags containing essentials such as toiletries, non-perishable snacks, a new blanket, a hat, gloves, a rain poncho and a hand-written note. Most of the bags were delivered to the Greensboro Urban Ministry to be distributed to emergency shelters. About 18 bags were given out by Canterbury alumna Molly McGill Carters organization Solacium, which she created to fill and distribute bags of items to make daily life easier for the homeless. Announcements Guilford Parent Academy will hold a STEM Forensic Science Night from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 20 at Wesley Long Hospitals Cancer Center, 501 N. Elam Ave. in Greensboro. The workshop is designed to help students and parents become aware of opportunities available to them in the STEM fields as well as the educational background needed. Wesley Long staff will give a tour of the hospital, explain job duties and go over required education. A member of the Greensboro Police Department Forensics team will be there as well to give insight into the day-to-day aspects of the job. Representatives from local universities will participate in a question-and-answer session. Registration is required for this event; call (336) 279-4924 or visit http://tinyurl.com/qgtle3o. *** Gate City Charter Academy, a free public charter school, is accepting student applications for the 2016-2017 school year through Feb. 29. Parents can apply for their children by calling (866) 642-3676 or visiting www.gatecitycharteracademy.org. The school will host two enrollment information meetings Jan. 21. Meetings will take place at 4 and 7 p.m. at Peeler Recreation Center, 1300 Sykes Ave. in Greensboro. Parents will be able to fill out applications at the enrollment meetings. The academy, operated by National Heritage Academies, will serve students in grades kindergarten through fifth for the 2016-2017 school year. *** The Annual Guilford County Schools State of Our Schools event will be Feb. 2 at the High Point Theatre, 220 E. Commerce St. in High Point. A reception will be at 5:30 p.m. with a program following at 6 p.m. To attend, confirm attendance by Jan. 25. Call (336) 370-8997 or email rsvp@gcsnc.com. Scholarship Wake Forest University senior Addison S. McLamb is one of 111 Schwarzman Scholars selected for the masters degree program at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The inaugural class was selected from more than 3,000 applicants from around the world. A Lexington native, McLamb, who is majoring in Chinese, is also an Army Reserve Officers Training Corps cadet who recently captured the No. 5 spot on the national Order of Merit List. The scholarship is fully funded for all participants, including travel costs and a personal stipend, and is supported by the programs endowment. Starting in September, scholars will live and study together at Schwarzman College, the dedicated state-of-the-art academic and residential building built exclusively for the program in Beijing. RALEIGH A coal ash cleanup law has stretched staff members at North Carolina's environmental regulation agency "to the absolute breaking point" as they analyze voluminous data to meet deadlines, a top agency official told lawmakers Wednesday. Tom Reeder, assistant secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, made the remarks as part of a status report on storage sites for the residue created when power plants burn coal. His agency is assessing 32 coal-ash basins around the state to prioritize when each must close. During a meeting before the General Assembly's Environmental Review Commission, Reeder said it has been difficult to gather and analyze all the needed information under the timeline dictated by the state's 2014 Coal Ash Management Act. The state began pursuing stronger regulations and enforcement after a 2014 coal ash spill at a Duke Energy plant coated 70 miles of the Dan River in the gray sludge that can contain toxic chemicals. At Wednesday's meeting, Reeder commended Duke Energy for its efforts to compile site assessments and corrective plans that can range between 1,000 and 5,000 pages each. But Reeder said still more data is needed to determine the extent of groundwater contamination and what levels of certain chemicals are naturally occurring. "We just don't have the data we need to make that clear scientifically defensible determination," he said, adding that they expect to have it soon. He said incomplete data hindered his department's ability to finish a draft report due at the end of December that assigned risk levels to each coal ash pit. Eight pits at four sites have been rated as high-risk under a state law, meaning they must be dug up by the end of 2019. Twelve pits at four plants are considered an intermediate risk, giving them an excavation deadline of 2024. However, the state said it needed more data to make a firm classification for eight sites that are in the low to intermediate range. The classifications, which also include four other low-risk basins, haven't been finalized. One of the legislative commission's co-chairmen, Republican Rep. Jimmy Dixon, asked Reeder whether the environmental agency planned to ask for more time. Reeder responded that his agency would meet the law's deadlines even if it had to work around the clock. "Our resources, our staff, are stretched to the absolute breaking point because we're trying to do this with limited resources," he said. "We're trying to do this with the resources we have available to analyze all this data and make these determinations ... because I'm sure we're going to have to stand up in court and defend them through science." Reeder also repeated a complaint that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has slowed the coal-ash cleanup process by requiring revisions of wastewater permits needed to drain basins before they're excavated. He suggested the state could move forward without the EPA's cooperation if it must. "We've got to make those ponds dry," he said. Lima, Ohio, police say Donald "Chip" Pugh was arrested Tuesday in Century, Florida, and is being held on another warrant out of Georgia. Police in Ohio say Pugh also is wanted for failing to appear in court and is a person of interest in several other cases. Lima police say Pugh sent them a picture of himself in a sport coat and sunglasses along with a message stating, "Here is a better photo that one is terrible." The police department has posted on its Facebook page a new mugshot of a smiling Pugh after his arrest in Florida. Pugh can't be reached for comment while he's in custody. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Architects returned Wednesday with two new design plans for New Lebanon School, both of which appear to have a strong chance of winning the Board of Selectmen approval that has eluded a number of other proposals. Presented by representatives from the Hartford firm Tai Soo Kim Partners, the plans call for a new building to be built entirely in the wooded ravine next to the current school building (Option 3) or a structure that would be built partially on the current site and extend into the ravine (Option 4). Unlike a previous plan for a building in the ravine which was favored by the New Lebanon School Building Committee but rejected by the selectmen both Option 3 and Option 4 would be built within a footprint approved by the selectmen. Their parameters allow for construction in the woods, so long as it does not extend beyond a site outline in the propertys northwest corner that they agreed upon in June for a plan known as Scheme D. The plan rejected by the selectmen last month did not fit within their perimeter. Both designs presented today finally fit within the subscribed footprint deemed acceptable by the Board of Selectmen, said Selectman Drew Marzullo, a non-voting member of the building committee. While this is still an evolving process, I am confident municipal improvement referral will soon be granted. The selectmen must grant the MI referral, needed for all projects on town-owned land, in order for the project to be considered by town land-use agencies. Marzullo said he had not yet decided which option he preferred. More Information Option 3 At a glance Option 3 calls for a new school to be built in the wooded ravine next to the current school building. The design is for a square, two-story structure with a media center in the middle at an estimated cost of $32.4 million to $33.2 million. Option 3 AT A GLANCE Option 3 calls for a new building to be built entirely in the wooded ravine next to the current school building Option 4 AT A GLANCE The Option 4 plan would include a one-story main building where New Lebanon now stands, connected by a stairway to a two-story annex in the ravine housing a gym and cafeteria, at a cost of approximately $32.8 million to $33.7 million. See More Collapse Selectman John Toner said he had not seen the new plans, but was pleased to learn that they both fit within the selectmens designated area. If they fit within the site that was approved, I am for all them, Toner said. We were always approving the where, not the what of the plans. In the past year, the selectmen have also rejected two other plans. They vetoed a Scheme C because they said its building would be located in the ravine too close to I-95, and a Scheme B, which would have put a building on the ball field next to the current school, taking away the neighborhoods village green, according to the selectmen. Scheme B also would have been built on a spot where large amounts of arsenic have been found. Option 3 calls for a square, two-story building with a media center in the middle. Option 4 would include a one-story portion built where New Lebanon now stands, connected by a stairway to a two-story annex in the ravine that would hold a gym and cafeteria. Both Option 3 and Option 4 would cover between approximately 58,000 square feet and 60,000 square feet the exact configurations would be outlined in site plans putting them in line with the dimensions outlined in the building plans approved last year by the Board of Education. The Option 3 building would stand 125 feet from I-95, compared with 160 feet for the Option 4 structure. About 100 trees would need to be removed for Option 3, compared with about 70 for Option 4. Option 3 would allow for about a dozen more parking spaces than Option 4 and about 3,000 more square feet of playground space. Construction wise, cost wise there is some difference, said Kim, principal of the architectural firm. Scheme 3 seems much more efficient and simpler and economical. Building Option 3 would cost about $32.4 million to $33.2 million, depending on the square footage. Option 4 construction would range between approximately $32.8 million and $33.7 million. Construction for both plans would start in the summer of 2017 and end by September 2018, according to the architects. Option 3 could allow for students to stay in their current building during construction, although many in the community, including Marzullo, have said they worry staying in place during the building work could create safety hazards. Putting the students in modular classrooms during the construction would cost approximately $2.1 million, although state funding could cover up to approximately 70 percent of that outlay. In addition to a main entrance on Mead Avenue, the architects are suggesting a paved road to the east of the new building. Both plans show the eastern road leading up to, but not wrapping around the new building. But the layout could change, depending on input from the Fire Department. It has access all around, Kim said of Option 3s and Option 4s entries for first responders. Option 3 received high marks from Superintendent of Schools William McKersie. He compared its layout to the configurations of Cos Cob and Glenville schools, two of the newer buildings in the district. The grouping seems to be more conducive to the (teacher) teaming we do, McKersie said. Our teachers work together outside the classrooms. It seems easier with Option 3 than Option 4. The building committee is scheduled to review the plans again at a meeting set for 8 a.m. Friday at the school districts headquarters and then vote at a Jan. 20 meeting in the same location. pschott@scni.com; 203-625-4439; twitter: @paulschott This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Long Island Sound dredging plan released Tuesday did little to ease differences between New York and Connecticut and continues to support dumping millions of tons of tainted sediment in the water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers final plan calls for placing up to 52 million cubic yards of sediment dredged from harbors and rivers enough material to build 12 Hoover Dams in four underwater disposal sites over the next 30 years. The plan emphasized the need for reuse of dredge spoils, such as replenishing beaches or building berms or breakwaters, but that general commitment was not enough for New York state, which opposes the plan on environmental grounds. The Army Corps has failed to satisfy the parties shared goal to reduce or eliminate the disposal of dredge material in Long Island Sound, said Laz Benitez, a spokesman for the New York Department of State. The controversial dredge plan this fall caused a rift between traditional environmental allies in Connecticut and New York, and among activists normally united over protecting the Sound. A Hearst Connecticut Media review of the dredge plan published last month found Connecticuts support is mostly based on the fact that its $7 billion maritime industry dwarfs New Yorks and requires more dredging to keep ports and channels open. Connecticuts sediment, due to generations of industrial pollution, is more toxic than the sandy clean material typically found on the New York side. The controversy may spur legislative hearings next month before the Connecticut General Assembly. They plan to treat Long Island Sound as a landfill, and its deeply disturbing, said Adrienne Esposito, director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. The Army Corps simply ignored the overwhelming public comment to protect Long Island Sound and chose to advance the cheap, easy option of open water disposal instead, Esposito said. Connecticut pleased Some Connecticut officials on Tuesday were pleased with the final plan, which mirrors a draft version released last summer and is now before the federal Environmental Protection Agency for review and possible adoption. Our ability to conduct dredging in coastal waterways is critical to sustaining Connecticuts water-dependent economy, said Robert Klee, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Klee added when feasible, dredged materials are put to beneficial reuse and that will continue to be a top priority as we work toward the goal of reducing open water disposal. But Klee said much of Connecticuts sediment cannot be reused. Since reuse alternatives often are not feasible, existing open water sites must remain available for the foreseeable future, he said. Questions surrounding impact One change in the final dredge plan is an acknowledgment by the Army Corps of differing opinions about whether dumping tainted sediment harms the Sound. The Hearst review had found considerable science showing toxic mounds of dredged material remain in place after being dumped on the sea floor, but little science on the long-term impact on the surrounding ecosystem. There are significant differences of opinion between the states and agencies on the technical issues surrounding the impacts of open water placement, the Corps noted. Continued scientific analysis is the only way to address the questions surrounding environmental impact and acceptability. Still, the Corps didnt back away from its contention that open water disposal poses no danger. The Corps believes open water placement of materials deemed suitable is an environmentally acceptable practice, and in most cases, the most cost-effective method available, the Corps said in its plan. Dredged material is deemed suitable for underwater disposal after extensive testing. The sediment is disposed of in four underwater sites: off New London, Cornfield Shoals, New Haven and in the western Sound off Darien. The material can contain low levels of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, copper and zinc, along with the nitrogen-rich organic material some blame for low oxygen conditions, which chokes marine life. Sediment containing more dangerous metals, such as cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are buried in confined sites within harbors. Those sites amount to a hole dug in the harbor that is tightly capped with clean material so toxic sediments cannot leak out. Connecticut shoreline communities, notably Bridgeport and Greenwich, are anxious to dredge rivers and ports that have grown shallow over the years due to the movement of silt. Whatever New York may feel, ultimately environmental expertise and law will guide the result, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Dredging is necessary because of the flow of the currents and the usage of ports and marinas in Connecticut. New York should have a stake in preserving the Sound, Blumenthal said. The goals are consistent and complimentary. A dredging plan, perhaps with modifications, should be achievable. Just say no New Yorks Department of State and Department of Environmental Conservation opposed the Corps draft plan, based on environmental concerns and a lack of emphasis on alternatives to open water disposal, and there was no indication the final plan changed that position. Benitez, the New York state department spokesman, said the dredge plan must reduce the amount of contaminated material dumped in the Sound. New Yorks position throughout this process has been that the plan must provide for clear, staged reductions in dredge material disposal over the next 30 years, Benitez said. We look forward to a continued dialogue with the USACE, the EPA and Connecticut to support our shared vision for a cleaner Long Island Sound, Benitez said. In Connecticut, all seven members of the states Congressional delegation have signed off on the plan, saying the state must dredge or risk losing some of its 40,000 maritime jobs. Klee, Connecticuts DEEP commissioner, echoed that position on Tuesday. Thirty-five years of monitoring and active management of open water disposal sites in Long Island Sound have shown this option to be an environmentally sound and cost-effective sediment management alternative, Klee said. But not everyone in Connecticut is ready to sign up for the plan. Dan Doyle, a spokesman for state Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Branford and co-chairman of the Environment Committee, said the senator, along with several colleagues, is interested in holding hearings on the dredging plan after the General Assembly reconvenes next month. Esposito pointed out the final plan disregards a 10-year-old agreement to phase out two underwater dumping sites and move to more environmentally friendly disposal methods. Google has been caught experimenting with options for its Android search bar. For some users, new stuff shows up when they tap on the search bar - be that in the search widget on a home screen, using the one in Google Now, or simply when performing a search in the Google app. The new options that come up when you tap on the search bar are Recent Searches, What's Hot, and Nearby. It's pretty obvious what happens when you then tap on Recent Searches - you'll get a list of those. What's Hot shows you popular stuff, while tapping Nearby brings you to a list of things you might be searching for, just like in Google Maps. These are, in one example, Restaurants, Gas Stations, ATMs, and Coffee shops. It's unclear if these categories will change dynamically (and if so, based on what) or if they'll be forever fixed. As always with such Google experiments, the new options aren't seen by everyone. That will only change if the search giant decides on wide availability for these features. Source 1 Source 2 | Via Here's some bad, if expected, news for owners of the HTC Windows Phone 8X from 2012. The handset will not be updated to Windows 10 Mobile, the latest version of Microsoft's OS. This has been officially confirmed by HTC's UK arm, so at this point you really should give up all hope on the matter. Not that there was a reason for you to have such hopes in the first place. Software support in the mobile world very, very rarely goes past the two year mark from a device's release (with Apple and Google's Nexus line being the biggest exceptions). And the HTC 8X is now more than three years old. On the other hand, it's probably frustrating to have a handset that would totally be capable of running Windows 10 Mobile with its hardware specs, but which despite this fact won't receive the new software. HTC has stated in very clear terms that there aren't going to be any further updates for the 8X. So you either get used to the idea of running Windows Phone 8.1 forever, or just buy a new smartphone. It isn't yet clear what the situation will be for the much newer HTC One (M8) for Windows, though - so that one may in fact be graced with Windows 10 Mobile at some point in the future. Source | Via Many express doubt about the success of the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, yet those two seemed to have a successful holiday season. The XL edition sold so well, it went out of stock in North America shortly after its release. Probably the free extras like the Microsoft Dock given by some retailers helped, too. So, if you live in USA or Canada and you haven't managed to get a Lumia 950 XL, we have some good news. Microsoft has renewed its listings on the official USA and Canadian web stores and you can order the Lumia 950 XL right now. The phone is still listed as a coming soon, but quite unintuitively once you reach the checkout page, you'll see it will ship in a day or two. If you order the Lumia 950 XL through the Canadian Microsoft store, you will also receive a CAD $50 discount on the Microsoft Display Dock. The USA fans on the other hands are eligible for a completely free Dock, so there is that. Indeed, Microsoft seems to have caught up with the Lumia 950 XL demand in North America. Are you planning of getting one for yourself? You can learn more about the Lumia 950 XL in our in-depth review. Microsoft Store USA Microsoft Store CA Via As you might have heard, Chinese OEM ZTE is gearing up for an announcement event on January 18. This official info just happened to coincide with a set of fresh new leaks, concerning two upcoming devices the Nubia Z11 and Nubia X8, so we just put two and two and naturally assumed that the pair would be the star attraction at the show. A new company teaser, however, suggests otherwise. It pertains to the same January 18 event and features no mention of either the Z11 or the X8. Instead, it talks of yet another new device, dubbed the Nubia My Prague S. We haven't really heard of said model up until now. But the title alone suggests it is a successor to the ZTE Nubia My Prague, released back in August 2015. We can only assume that the "S" model will follow in its footsteps and offer a combination of style and mid-range performance. The original My Prague has a 5.2-inch FullHD AMOLED display and is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615. The camera setup consists of a 13MP main shooter and an 8MP selfie one. It is offered in either a 2GB RAM + 16GB storage option or a 3GB plus 32GB one, respectively. Also, it was marketed as the OEM's thinnest smartphone, with a 5.5 mm profile. In the absence of other information on the Nubia My Prague S, it seems we just have to wait for the announcement to see how well ZTE has managed with the successor. Source (in Chinese) | Via Police teams identified the suicide bomber who has killed 10 tourists and wounded 15 in Istanbuls central Sultanahmet district. Nabil Fadl born in Saudi Arabia in 1988 had crossed into Turkey through Syria as asylum seeker and has visited the Zeytinburnu Migration Directorate on Jan. 5 where he gave his finger print, said initial reports. Police department teams matched the finger print with pieces of the suicide bombers corpse and identified the suspect. Fadl has showed an address to the directorate, having arrived with accompaniment of four others and stayed at the address for a few days before he disappeared, said security officials. Directorate of Intelligence Bureau and anti-terror branch teams continue investigations to find the people who have helped Fadl for his asylum request. Meanwhile, one person has been detained over the Jan. 12 Sultanahmet attack that killed 11 people, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has confirmed. Ala said a total of 3,318 people have been detained until now within the context of the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and other radical organizations. (Photo) The earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince and killed hundreds of thousands of people six years ago today is often misrepresented as a principal cause of poverty in Haiti. Rather, the Goudougoudou , as the massive tremor is known to Haitians, unveiled and intensified the human suffering created by centuries of debt , occupation , grinding inequality, and state failure International attention to periodic, cataclysmic shocks--hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, political coups--too often overlooks the root causes of Haiti's instability. Haiti will remain unable to avoid disasters until it addresses its intractable, underlying problems, among them environmental degradation, and ineffective and corrupt government institutions. Given current international attention on elections that at the very least were hampered by massive irregularities in which the government acknowledged that it failed to adequately train poll workers - which tipped the scales in favor of President Michel Martelly's ruling party - it is tempting to pin all the blame on Haiti's leaders. However, structuring the poverty and inequality that destabilize the country is a world system consistently applying pressure and draining Haiti's resources. The U.S. Occupation in 1915 set the stage for dictatorships, dependency, massive urbanization, and centralization in Port-au-Prince. This was followed by the application of neoliberal economic policies since the "transition to democracy" began in 1986. Haitian analysts point out the differences between events like the earthquake and disasters, resulting from what scholars call "vulnerability." Today, another potential disaster looms on the horizon, this time entirely made by humans: the risk of deleterious environmental and social impacts of industrial open-pit gold mining. Unlike an earthquake, however, the worst of these risks are predictable, and can be avoided. On this sixth anniversary of the earthquake, Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California will host a briefing to explore the risks of gold mining in Haiti and the role of the U.S. government in supporting the Haitian state to protect human rights and the environment. The briefing will feature speakers from Oxfam America, NYU's Global Justice Clinic (GJC), and a coalition of Haitian organizations called the Kolektif Jistis Min, or Mining Justice Collective. GJC will discuss a new report, Byen Konte, Mal Kalkile? Human Rights and Environmental Risks of Gold Mining in Haiti, which it coauthored with the Haiti Justice Initiative. Byen Konte presents the findings of more than two years of field research and legal, economic, and environmental analysis. There are no active metal mines in Haiti yet, but the Haitian government considers the mineral sector key to the country's economic growth and has encouraged foreign investment. Between 2006 and early 2013, two Canadian and two U.S. companies reportedly spent more than $30 million on exploration for gold, copper, silver, and other metals. Company activity is currently on hold as the industry awaits adoption of a new mining law, a draft of which was written with World Bank technical support in 2014. Because the political situation remains uncertain, however, legal changes are in limbo--and so too is the future of gold mining in Haiti. As Byen Konte demonstrates, the draft law fails to adequately protect the environment or the human rights of the Haitian people. It also falls short of protecting rights guaranteed in the Haitian Constitution, including the right to a healthy environment, the right to property, and the rights to information and participation. One proposed article dangerously out of step with recent trends toward industry transparency would require all mining-related information to be kept confidential for a period of ten years, effectively foreclosing meaningful public oversight of mining activities and regulatory compliance. The strength of the legal regime governing mining in Haiti depends not only on the text of the statute but also and equally on the capacity of the State, and its ability to implement and fairly enforce those laws. On this score, there is ample evidence in Byen Konte and in Haiti's long history that the State is woefully unable at present to fulfill these obligations. To date, the development of Haiti's mining sector has been characterized by an "information blackout." A Haitian Senator who chaired the parliamentary commission responsible for overseeing mining told the GJC that he learned the government had granted gold and copper exploitation permits via the radio. People who live in the mountainous areas of northern Haiti where companies have built paths, drilled, taken rock samples, and conducted other mineral exploration activities are similarly excluded. Some residents recount that companies entered their land without seeking their permission, and that they signed land access agreements with their thumbprints without understanding the contents. Abandoned by the government, many families in the rural north fear that if mining continues they may be left on their own to negotiate with powerful multinational companies. Those who are well informed of the risks that gold mining poses doubt the capacity of the Haitian state to oversee such a complex and dangerous industry. A 2012 audit showed that the office responsible for energy and mining in Haiti had only five functioning vehicles. Former director of the office, Deiusel Anglade, who served in that post for more than twenty years, told reporters, "The government doesn't give us the means we need to be able to supervise the companies." Even in countries with more robust governance and oversight institutions than Haiti, industrial-scale mining has contaminated water resources, destroyed livelihoods, increased security threats, forcibly displaced thousands of people, and damaged entire ecosystems for generations. Recent mining disasters in Brazil and the United States provide sobering reminders of the tremendous risks that Haiti faces and the enormous challenge of preventing mining-related harm. On this anniversary of the 2010 earthquake, Haiti stands at a crossroads. For foreign mining companies, the prospect of gold mining in Haiti glitters on the horizon. For Haitian citizens, the reality of an uncertain political future, weak institutions, and widespread impoverishment glares in the foreground. Minerals can be exploited only once. Without inclusive and participatory governance, Haiti's apparent bounty of mineral resources could quickly transform into a curse. This moment, before mining has begun, presents a unique opportunity for the Haitian people to engage in a robust public debate about the risks and benefits of mining for gold - and, hopefully, to predict and prevent avoidable mining-related disasters. Haitian community leaders are asking foreign citizens to guarantee local communities have a seat at the table, and for us to slow this juggernaut for dialogue to be possible in the first place. This article was originally published on The World Post website. Ellie Happel is the Haiti Program Attorney with the Global Justice Clinic of New York University School of Law. She is based in Port-au-Prince, where she has lived for the past four years. Ellie is also co-author of Byen Konte, Mal Kalkile? Human Rights and Environmental Risks of Gold Mining. Mark Schuller Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy . Recipient of the Margaret Mead Award, Schuller serves on several boards, and is active in solidarity efforts. is Associate Professor of at Northern Illinois University and affiliate at the Faculte d'Ethnologie, l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti. Supported by the National Science Foundation and others, Schuller's research on NGOs, globalization, disasters, and gender in Haiti has been published in two book chapters and peer-reviewed articles. Schuller is the author or co-editor of seven books, including Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti and co-director / co-producer of documentary. Recipient of the Margaret Mead Award, Schuller serves on several boards, and is active in solidarity efforts. Haiti - Reconstruction : Launch of the construction project of the new Ministry of Education Tuesday at the Marriott Hotel, the President Michel Martelly accompanied by Nesmy Manigat, the Minister of National Education, proceeded to the presentation and launch of the construction project of the new Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP). In the presence among others of the Prime Minister, Evans Paul, Renold Telfort, Director General of MENFP, Andris Riche, President of the Senate, Marina Gourgue, the Secretary of State for Vocational Training, and several executives of that Ministry the Head of State began by greeting the memory of teachers, principals, students, including 11 employees of the Ministry of Education who died under the rubble of the building during the earthquake of 12 January 2010. The President Martelly also took the opportunity to salute the Haitian population in general, including government employees, those of the Ministry of Education, who spent several months under tents, as well as the 1,000 employees of the central office, which have not stopped working, despite the bad conditions. "I am proud today to launch the construction project of the Ministry of National Education," declared the Head of State before unveiling the plan of the new modern building of MENFP. The construction of this new building will cost 12 million US dollars, of which 8 million financed by the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and 4 million by the Treasury. Work will start next March and should be completed to the new academic year 2017-2018. The new building with an area of 8,000m2, will host a global capacity of more than a thousand people on 4 levels, it will have among other a large conference room that can hold over two hundred people an amphitheater with a capacity of 250 people, pf toilet blocks, cafeteria, modern offices and a parking for 88 vehicles. "I will not be there as President, but as a private citizen, at the closing of the site which will be dedicated to the service of the Haitian people," continued the President Martelly satisfied that the Ministry will fully play its role in helping to change life of the citizen and his children, he invited the audience to show responsibility for the renewal of the country and education. "This building is a vision of another State, a vision of public services to users. It was important that the ministry, organization symbol of school life in the country, offers employees better working conditions," indicated the Minister Manigat "The MENFP wants to honor fallen and project towards the future by presenting the new building of the Ministry." He took the opportunity to invite the community to engage in the renewal of education by supporting the Pact for Quality Education in Haiti. The President Martelly who continues to believe in the improvement of the quality of education in Haiti reiterated his call to the next Parliament for it vote the FNE Act (National Fund for Education) which will enable the education system Haiti, to finally have the means of its policy. SL/ HaitiLibre The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center has been a hub of the Hamptons since 1998, with the building dating back even further. The building has been part of Westhampton Beach for over three generations, first opening as a movie theater before the building was later purchased by United Artists and changed to a single-theater movie house. Then, in the mid-1990s, a group of village residents and business owners purchased the theater and started the movement to create a performing arts space. Published on 2016/01/12 | Source Actress Kim Tae-hee's father Kim Yoo-moon has become a member of "Honor Society", an assemblage for high-paying donators who have contributed over one hundred million won. Advertisement According to the Ulsan Society Welfare Community Chest, Mr. Kim is the first member of the assemblage in Ulsan this year to have donated one hundred million won. He is the 52nd member in Ulsan and the 1,038th member nationwide to have become a society member. Kim Tae-hee also enrolled in a group called "Youth Hope Fund" in October last year thanks to her father. Mr. Kim's Korea Shipping was established in 1984 in Ulsan with over 200 employees. The company won the Korean Systems Management Grand Award in 2007 and Mr. Kim was awarded a citation from the former Korean President Noh Moo-heon. Korean Movie | 2004 Comedy Melodrama Directed by Byeon Yeong-joo () Written by Shin Hye-eun () 109min | Release date in South Korea: 2004/12/03 Kang Min-jae, a senior at Taesung High School, lives with his stern father, who's a captain of a famous airline. He has liked a blunt and staunch girl named Hwangbo Soo-jin in the same apartment building but he never had the courage to go up and talk to her. Soo-jin lives in a family that puts the son on the pedestal, she has no room to escape the pettiest housework even while she's studying for the college entrance exam. After the exam, Min-jae has a drink with his buddies and then sneaks out with his dad's car. On the way, he discovers a victim to a hit-and-run accident. Yang Jung-sook, a ballet instructor at the community center in the district, sees Min-jae and the body. Jung-sook, having difficulties in finding enough students for her class, threatens Min-jae, who she caught drinking and driving without a license, and drags him and his two friends to learn ballet. Meanwhile, Soo-jin's parents also forces Soo-jin to learn ballet to get rid of her stiff and boyish appearance. Finally, Soo-jin, Min-jae and his buddies, Dong-wan, and Chang-sub, meet at the ballet school at the Hwangkeum community center. With Yang Jung-sook at the center of the ballet school, various people from all walks of life learn ballet. While they all clash and open each other's hearts to one another, they finally come together in a memorable performance in the end. Source Published on 2016/01/13 | Source Yu Oh-seong and Kim Min-jung set up a plan to get rid of Han Chae-ah. On the 30th episode of KBS 2TV's "The Merchant: Gaekju 2015", Cheon Bong-sam (Jang Hyuk) went on his business trip and Mae-wol (Kim Min-jung) and Gil So-gae (Yu Oh-seong) discussed how to get rid of Jo So-sa (Han Chae-ah) during his absence. Advertisement On this day, Mae-wol stole Jo So-sa's son Yoo-soo and gave him to Sin Seok-joo (Lee Deok-hwa) and then started setting up a plan to get rid of Jo So-sa while Cheon Bong-sam was away. Mae-wol was becoming nervous while saying "Inkeeper Cheon will return anytime soon". However, Gil So-gae said, "I sent my people to Songpa and I figure the security is pretty strong. But it won't be that difficult to get rid of a woman. You shouldn't be suspected though". He tried to persuade Mae-wol to take action on their plan. Watch on Viki Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 13:46, 17 OCT 2022 whether the bargaining representative is demonstrating a preparedness to bargain for the agreement taking into account the individual circumstances of that employer, including in relation to the nominal expiry date of the workplace agreement and whether the bargaining representative is bargaining in a manner consistent with the terms of the agreement being determined as far as possible by agreement between that employer and its employees. rade union royal commission has fallen short of recommending a total ban on the controversial union tactic of pattern bargaining, despite heated opposition from Australias construction industry.The outcome has been received as a disappointment by many smaller contractors, who due to lack of bargaining power, often fall victim to aggressive pattern bargaining campaigns.However, industrial relations lawyer Richard Calver says HR managers can successfully navigate situations where pattern bargaining is used to negotiate workplace agreements by sticking to the principles of good faith bargaining and talking to their staff.You should seek to alter the pattern to suit your individual circumstances and if the other party refuses to do that and offers the sign-up or else tactics we see only too frequently in the construction industry, then you apply the good faith bargaining requirements and indicate to the commission and others that the agreement hasnt been reached in good faith, Mr Calver told HC Online.Under the Fair Work Act, pattern bargaining is prohibited except where the parties are genuinely trying to reach an agreement. This is an unpopular union practice where major contractors are convinced to agree to specific pay and conditions, such as site, travel and meal allowances, and often puts pressure on smaller contractors to adopt similar deals or miss out on work.Master Builders Australia chief executive Wilhelm Harnisch says pattern bargaining entrenches the unions power and promotes restrictive and unproductive work practices.As such, this practice can have a detrimental effect on smaller contractors who simply arent the financial position to provide such terms and conditions, and have a knock-on effect on the construction labour market and overall productivity as construction prices are pushed up to cover labour costs."Pattern bargaining is driving a race to the productivity bottom in the construction industry," Master Builders Australia chief executive Wilhelm Harnisch was quoted saying in the Australian Financial Review.Mr Calver says HR managers can address the issue of pattern bargaining by having open discussions with their employees.You can engage with your employees about conditions that suit them and suit the business, as your employees dont necessary want a pattern agreement that doesnt suit them and their own circumstances, Mr Calver says.HR managers need to be aware of the legal ramifications of pattern bargaining and know their rights when faced with such a situation, he says. Companies also need to know when to pursue legal action to ensure existing laws prohibiting industrial action surrounding pattern agreements are enforced.Its only when the pattern agreements are insisted upon and cant be altered that you can then rely on the good faith bargaining provisions of the Fair Work Act to make changes to that pattern, Mr Calver says.The Fair Work Building & Construction website stipulates that pattern bargaining is not permitted unless the bargaining representative is genuinely trying to reach an agreement in good faith with the employer. The factors to determine this are:If a bargaining representative wishes to rely on these factors to prove that they are genuinely trying to reach an agreement in good faith, they have the burden of proving that the above factors apply.While it was anticipated that the weight of a recommendation from Justice Dyson Heydon would convince the government to ban pattern bargaining, employers say they will continue to lobby for new laws protecting industry from pattern bargaining."The Australian Chamber objects to pattern bargaining by militant unions using industrial muscle to impose predetermined terms and conditions upon employers in a weaker bargaining position because it leads to anticompetitive and unproductive outcomes," Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Kate Carnell told the AFR."It should be rendered unlawful and unions should be prevented from taking industrial action in support of it, Ms Carnell said. Deputy Barry Adams of the Watauga County Sheriffs Department was presented with the Watauga County Schools Servants Heart Award at the January 11 meeting of the Watauga County Board of Education. The award is presented each month to a person who consistently goes above and beyond expectations in serving students and personnel of WCS. Adams serves the school system as a school resource officer and certified D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) trainer. D.A.R.E. programs are offered in thousands of schools nationwide, including schools in the WCS system. The award was presented by Superintendent Dr. Scott Elliott, who praised Adams for his selfless dedication, hard work, and an attitude that lifts up and inspires those around him. It would be an understatement to say he is well regarded, commented Elliott, he is loved. Elliott quoted the comments of others who have worked with Adams and their remarks reflected consistent themes of gratitude, respect, and affection. The comments included statements such as He is always there when you need him, always smiling he is a great ambassador for law enforcement and safe schools he has a wonderful sense of humor. Board of Education Chair Ron Henries joined in praising Adams, saying its wonderful that students see such a positive role model in law enforcement every day in school. Thank you for being that role model. Adams is a veteran of the Army Reserves who served in Afghanistan in combat and was awarded the Bronze Star for his valor. He is also a recipient of the NC Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor given in NC, and a former member of the NC Highway Patrol. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket Meet Kent Paulette at Studio 140 on Jan. 16 On Saturday, January 16th from 6 to 10 p.m., artist Kent Paulette will be coming to Studio 140 in Banner Elk to paint and to talk about his most recent work. The gallery will be featuring small hand-embellished giclees of some of Paulettes most popular paintings, including his Great Egret in flight, Conquest of the Irrational. Ive recently started creating small hand-embellished giclees of my large paintings, he says. Theyve been popular with my collectors because they can fit in smaller spaces in their homes and theyre also affordable enough to give as a gift. I also decided to delve into my archives and create giclees of select paintings of mine from the past. Often the originals have already sold, so its been exciting to see these old paintings get a new life like seeing an old friend again after many years. To begin this process, Paulette takes a photograph of one of his original paintings and has that image printed on canvas using archival inks. This is called a giclee and he stretches it on the same stretcher bars that he uses for his original paintings. Paulette then makes it one of a kind by painting on the giclee and adding texture using acrylic paint, brushes, and palette knives. He finishes the hand-embellished giclee by signing it and applying a UV archival varnish. His work can be viewed online at www.KentPaulette.com Studio 140 is located at 140 Azalea Circle in downtown Banner Elk. More info can be found at www.facebook.com/Studio140 or by calling (828) 352-8853. Weekly Events at Lost Province Brewing Co. Monday January 11 Family Night-Buy any regularly priced pizza and receive one free kids meal. Wednesday January 13 Off Beer and Wine Specials. 7pm-9pm Trivia Night: Beginning at 7pm, Lost Province will be hosting Trivia Night with Zak Norris. Compete on your own or on a team! The competition gets started at 7pm so come a little early for a pizza and a pint and get your seat! Thursday January 14 $3.00 Thursday-$3.00 pints on all Lost Province brewed beers (except high gravity) Friday January 15 Tapped at 5pm, we feature something fun and new every Friday. Get it while it lasts; there is only a limited amount! 8pm-Closing Live Music: The Djangovers. The Djangovers, formerly The Hot Club of Lenoir (HCOL), features some of the best musicians the area has to offer. Steeped in the Americana tradition mixed with Manouche Swing flavors and modern styles, The Djangovers is a family friendly musical group of amazing talent. Saturday January 16 8pm-Closing Live Music: The King Bees. The King Bees have been stingin & swingin the blues since 1987. Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Lincoln Center New York City (several times), weve played em all as well as Mississippi juke joints. Our great good fortune has allowed us to tour & record with the best & most culturally significant Blues artists including Carey Bell, Nappy Brown, Jerry McCain and many othersWeve played with Bo Diddley and were part of B.B. Kings 80th Birthday Tour. Sunday January 17 Lost Province Sunday: Residents of The Lost Province (Watauga, Ashe, Avery and Alleghany) receive 10% off food with verification of residency. Vendors: Apply Now for the Watauga County Farmers Market in 2016 The Watauga County Farmers Market is now accepting vendor applications for the 2016 season until January 31st. Applications for new vendors have been posted on the Markets website. www. http://www.wataugacountyfarmersmarket.org. New Craft Vendor Applications are not being accepted this year, but will be accepted in 2017. All other applications are due with a $25.00 application fee no later than January 31, 2016. Watauga County Farmers Market is a 100% producer-only market, meaning that all of the products sold at the market are made locally by our member vendors. Producers who reside and produce in Watauga County and the adjacent counties are eligible to apply to sell at the market. For additional information, feel free to contact, Ben F. Massey, Jr., Market Manager, at [email protected]. Republicans to Meet Jan. 28 Watauga County Republicans will meet Thursday January 28, 2016. Dinner begins @ 5:30pm and meeting begins 6:00pm. All Republicans are welcomed to attend. Momentum Dance Showcase at ASU Set for Jan. 22-23 The 2016 Momentum Dance Showcase will be held Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22 and 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Varsity Gymnasium dance studio, room 208, at Appalachian State University. Momentum is a campus-wide student dance organization. The annual dance showcase will feature nine original works choreographed and performed by students. Ticket prices are $5 for students and $7 for adults and will be available in Plemmons Student Union at the Momentum contact table the week of the showcase, as well as at the door 30 minutes prior to each performance. In an effort to unite the university dance community, Momentum has invited other movement-based groups on campus to join in the production. Other featured student clubs and organizations include Entropy Dance Crew, ASU Elite Dance Team and NouN Improv Troupe. Student choreographers for the 2016 Momentum Dance Showcase are Roberto Bell, Alison Bird, Juliet Irving, Phillip McRorie, Sarah Patrick, Sarah Quinn, Anne-Catherine Rossi, Brenda Semerenko and Makeyleigh Smith. Sophomore choreographer Irving said, Momentum gives me a chance to explore dance outside of a class setting and to meet other students interested in dance who arent majors or minors. Emily Daughtridge, associate professor of dance studies and faculty advisor for the club, said, The Momentum student dance club provides students with a wonderful opportunity to explore creative expression through the choreographic process and to gain valuable experience as choreographers and as members of a production team. She added, Since the showcase is informal and student directed, students often feel more freedom to indulge in personal aesthetics and take creative risks. Varsity Gymnasium is located at 530 Rivers St. Parking for the showcase is available at any available parking lot or garage on campus after 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and at all times on weekends. Covered parking is located in the Rivers Street Parking Deck directly across the street from Varsity Gymnasium. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket North Carolinians have until 9:59 p.m. to get a chance at winning the worlds largest jackpot, a $1.5 billion annuity, or $930 million in cash. The jackpot could grow larger with possible announcements of any increase expected around noon today and at 10:59 p.m. when the drawing is scheduled to be held. The odds of winning the jackpot are long 1 in 292 million but eventually someone or several people in places where Powerball is played will capture the jackpot. Millions of other prizes, up to a $2 million prize, will be won across the nation. Its exciting to be part of a world record event and we will be on the edge of our seats tonight waiting to see if the jackpot is won, said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. We already have one big winner and that is education in North Carolina. If you would like to try your chance, remember it only takes one ticket to win. About 76 cents of every $2 Powerball ticket will go to earnings for education this year. The lotterys goal is to raise $529 million this year and sales from Powerball mean that goal should be achieved. Any surplus will go to the state for legislators to allocate to education programs. Some Powerball numbers for the Big Day 300 million. Thats how many Americans can play Powerball in their home states. 47. Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington, D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. 28. In Saturdays drawing, three tickets won $2 million and 25 tickets won $1 million. 18.3 million. Thats how many prizes were won Saturday night, totaling $159 million. $372 million. Thats the amount of money raised for good causes from sales for Saturdays drawing. 30. The $1.5 billion annuity will be paid over 29 years. First payment, $22.6 million, 30th payment, $92.9 million. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket New York (HedgeCo.net) Crispin Odey, like many other fund managers, had a tough time in 2015 and his Odey European fund lost 12.8% last year. But according to a recent article from eFinancialNews, Odey is off to fast start in 2016. According to the article, the Odey European fund is up 14% so far in 2016. This has to be welcome news for Odey after suffering the loss in 2015 while some of his biggest rivals experienced solid gains last year. The European fund is a long/short fund and competes against the likes of Lansdowne Developed Markets fund, the Pelham Long/Short Fund and the MW Eureka Fund. All of those funds experienced gains in the double-digits last year. Odey has been bearish on China for quite some time now and that bearish stance is paying off handsomely after the sharp declines seen in the Chinese market so far this year. Additional bearish exposure includes energy companies and commodity holdings according to the eFinancialNews article. Rick Pendergraft Research Analyst HedgeCoVest A survey commissioned by the expert organisation found that 20 per cent of the public are fully of the opinion and 34 per cent partly of the opinion that they are not allowed to get rich by working. More than one in two, or 54 per cent, of Finns are at least partly of the opinion that they are not allowed to get rich by working in Finland, according to the Association for Finnish Work. More than one in four, or 27 per cent, of the respondents contrastively indicated that they partly disagreed and 13 per cent that they fully disagreed with the statement. Six per cent of the respondents were unable or declined to comment on the statement. A total of 1,018 people aged 1870 years responded to the online survey. The Association for Finnish Work highlights that the sample group is representative of the population at large. Antti Aarnio, the head of industrial affairs at the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK), expressed his bafflement with the eagerness of the wealthy to complain about the disadvantages of being wealthy in a blog post on Tuesday. People who have gotten rich complained about being rich, even though getting rich is probably one of the most common dreams for Finns. Only few of us would prefer not to get rich, he wrote. Work must present the opportunity to accumulate wealth, but what is more important is that people can get their hands on work and improve their own financial position. That way the wealthy will get to enjoy their wealth in their paradise without a care also in the future, he argued. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Petteri Paalasmaa / Uusi Suomi Source: Uusi Suomi New strikes can according to him thwart the budding growth that is expected to occur in Finland this year, compel credit rating agencies to downgrade their ratings for Finland, and complicate the standing of the country in sovereign-debt markets. Jan von Gerich, a chief strategist at Nordea Bank, has warned Finland of the consequences of further strikes in an economic review published on Saturday. Without additional shocks, Finland would probably undergo a moderate recovery in 2016. New shocks are unfortunately on the horizon as the Government is on a collision course with the trade unions. Massive strikes threaten the national economy and will lead to further credit rating cuts. Unfortunately, it currently seems that this is a genuine threat, he comments. Lannen Media reported on Saturday that 88 per cent of key decision-makers at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) are in favour of staging a strike in protest of the coercive measures pursued by the Government. Its survey also found that the Trade Union of Education (OAJ), Trade Union Pro, and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy) are prepared to resort to industrial action. Von Gerich also argues that the domestic labour markets are desperately in need of a reform and that the possibility of such a reform has been the sole reason for cautious optimism about the economic conditions in Finland. The lingering economic and political uncertainty, he warns, can restrict the borrowing activities of the country in international markets. The Finnish Government is expected to issue up to 13 billion euros worth of debt this year, signalling a 40 per cent increase from 2015. Because debt issuance has been on the decrease in the majority of other eurozone countries, this is a feature that distinguishes Finland from other countries and not in a positive sense, he writes. Each of the three major credit rating agencies Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's have revised their outlook for Finland to negative. New strikes would very likely lead to downgraded credit ratings. The credit ratings will probably be downgraded also in the event that no strikes are organised, because at best the recovery of the Finnish economy will be painstaking and the reform process slow, states von Gerich. FIM and Inderes have similarly expressed their concerns about the economic conditions in Finland. Juha Kinnunen, a strategist at Inderes, describes Finland as a prime example of the lingering economic woes in Europe. Structural problems have not been fixed successfully and competitiveness is weak, he writes on his blog. Analysts at FIM pointed out on Friday that the gap between Finland and its fellow eurozone countries is about to grow wider than ever. Their forecast is based on the fact that consumer confidence has continued to erode in Finland while improving elsewhere in the euro area. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Petteri Paalasmaa / Uusi Suomi Source: Uusi Suomi A man has been jailed for three years for having sex with a 15-year-old girl he met after grooming her using a fake social media profile. Conor O'Keefe (26) set up a profile as a teenage girl called "Julie" on the website Tagged.com and started chatting with the victim. He later claimed he was Julie's older brother "Adam" and persuaded the girl to get a taxi to his house, where they had sex in the early hours of the morning. Judge Sarah Berkeley called it a "sinister" offence which highlights the dangers of social media "and the opportunity it creates". She noted that there was no threat, force or coercion used against the girl and that she was a "willing participant". However, she said O'Keefe put pressure on her by expressing disappointment when she was reluctant to perform sexual acts. "I do not attribute any blame to her in any way," Judge Berkeley said. "She was a child at the time and is entitled to the protection of the courts." The judge noted that O'Keefe knew she was a virgin and that he told her she had to select one of three options: sexual intercourse, oral sex or masturbation. Isolation The court heard he set up the profile out of "loneliness and isolation" and that he had a "somewhat difficult childhood". O'Keefe, of Oakdale Close, Ballycullen, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sex with a child in July 2011. He was found guilty of a further count of sexual exploitation of a child by a jury last month following a three-day trial. He was to be sentenced last November but the case was adjourned as O'Keefe's partner had given birth to their first child the day before. O'Keefe, an apprentice plumber, has no previous convictions and is now on the sex offenders register. He was 22-year-old at the time of the offences. The court heard he is taking part in therapy and the Safer Lives programme run by the Probation Service. Defence counsel Damien Colgan SC handed in a probation report and a psychological report and asked the court to consider non-custodial options. Judge Berkeley imposed a five-year sentence with the final two years suspended for two years. Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, handed in a victim impact statement prepared by the girl into court. The girl did not wish to give evidence and the report was not read in open court. Mr Colgan submitted this was a "once-off" event. During the trial all of the factual evidence was agreed between the prosecution and defence and the sole issue for the jury was if O'Keefe intended having sex with the girl when he communicated with her. Ceremony held for new baseball stadium, games months off A ceremony was held for a multi-use sports facility in Hagerstown on Tuesday, but the first pitch is still months away. Game on! IU to resume series with Kentucky starting in 2025-26. Kentucky coach John Calipari confirmed at SEC media day the two schools have agreed in principle to restart their annual regular-season series. On January 5, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval had a candid conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Lt Gen Naseer Khan Janjua on the involvement of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group in the recent terror attack on the Pathankot airbase. Khuda kasam, main Jaish ki aissi tessi kar doonga, Janjua told Doval in a typical fauji style. More than 12 days later, after India gave concrete evidence of Jaishs involvement, Janjua has started to deliver on his promise to dismantle the Deobandi terrorist group, by detaining Maulana Masood Azhar, the main accused in the IC-814 hijacking case in 1999 and whose radical cadre tried to assassinate former Pakistan president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf in 2003. The attack not only takes terror tactics against India to a new level, but it has some serious lessons for the Narendra Modi government. First, the hand-written JeM note recovered from Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singhs vehicle on January 1 was dated December 25, 2015 the day Modi made his surprise Lahore trip to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif. In the terror note, the group sought to avenge the 2013 hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. It also claimed responsibility for attacks in Tangdhar, Samba, Kathua, Rajbagh (Srinagar) and Delhi. The Pathankot attack was followed by a terror attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, within 24 hours with the JeM terrorists writing Afzal Guru avenged in their own blood. The alacrity of response shows that the Pakistan-based terror groups have acquired off-the-shelf capacity to launch a suicide terror module at short notice with deadly effect, both in India and Afghanistan. With Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligences imprint visible on the Pathankot attack, it would be safe to assume that the terror strike was engineered to derail the India-Pakistan dialogue, a test of Modis resolve and credibility of Indias deterrence. Second, India must also assume that the attack had the sanction of the Pakistani State; the only question is the degree of involvement of the actors given that the two buddy pairs of heavily armed commando-trained terrorists were allowed to cross the tightly-patrolled international borders in Punjab with the option of attacking either Amritsar airport or the Pathankot airbase. Third, India should stop expecting the US to force Pakistan to deliver on its promise to eradicate terror, terrorists and their training camps. During his meeting with Sharif on October 22, 2015, President Barack Obama had made it clear that India and Pakistan must together address their mutual concerns of terror. After the Pathankot attack, rather than castigating Pakistan, Washington has only reiterated this view. In fact, the December 6, 2015, meeting between Doval and Janjua in Bangkok was also an eye-opener for the Indian delegates as they found the ex-soldier Janjua more straightforward while the Pakistan foreign secretary was playing the old tune. When Doval asked Janjua to give one instance of Indias involvement in a terror attack in Pakistan, Janjua kept quiet. Fourth, Indian intelligence must improve their coverage of the subcontinent. After the global pressure on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the cats-paw is now the JeM. Had the Pathankot terror group not deliberately left the message in Salwinder Singhs vehicle, Indian agencies would have been in the dark. There could have been a disaster with the potential of triggering off a war in case an IAF aircraft was damaged or destroyed in the attack. Indian intelligence agencies must join resources and operate together to eliminate terror or else they would be reduced to being mere alert-issuing clerks. Fifth, the government must hold the Border Security Force (BSF) responsible for any terrorist infiltration across the international border and refuse to listen to any excuses pertaining to the terrain of the region. The spate of attacks in Samba, Kathua, Gurdaspur and now Pathankot reveal that the terrorists had crossed the border under the BSFs watch, perhaps using the thriving Afghan heroin drug-network. The home ministry must ensure that BSF officers and personnel are continuously rotated from the area every six months to erase any scope for developing vested interests. Sixth, its time for defence minister Manohar Parrikar to instill some discipline into the military commanders, who routinely give media interviews with impunity, discussing troop deployments and operational details. Despite Doval taking the decision of deploying the elite NSG for in Pathankot in consensus with the chiefs of the army, air force and navy on January 1, he has been unfairly targeted by the media. This anti-Doval campaign has been orchestrated by the military, questioning his wisdom of not using the Armys Special Forces to take on the terrorists. In reality, no less than 11 columns of the army, including para-commandoes, were pressed into action in Pathankot. The campaign has been launched by a section of the military using so-called military experts (ex-sevicemmen) because they are disgruntled over their one-rank-one pension demands. One must remember that Obama fired his top Afghan general in 2010 for talking out of sync with his political masters during an interview. Despite the Indian Air Force chief being briefed in person by Doval and Western Air Commander deliberately stationed at the base, the Indian spot response could not prevent the JeM jihadists from intruding. Given these circumstances, the question that Modi faces today is whether to blame Sharif for the attack and halt the dialogue process or to delink terror from talks and continue the bilateral engagement. While it is evident that Pakistani jihadists and their paranoid mentors in Islamabad have used terror to derail the dialogue, India should ask Sharif to fulfil his commitment to eradicate terror groups targeting India. Modi should not let the terrorists hijack his agenda of making workable peace with Pakistan and continue talking to Pakistan if the latter proves its bona fides. The answer to terror attack does not lie in breaking off dialogue with Pakistan, but punishing the perpetrators promptly. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A three-member team of senior ophthalmologists from Gwalior on Tuesday was rushed to Sheopur district, 380 km from Bhopal, after 17 patients complained of blurry vision after undergoing cataract surgery at a camp here on November 27. Of the 30 patients the team examined on Tuesday, eyesight of two patients was found to be partially affected. However, the team said, further tests were required to ascertain the exact cause. Not taking any chances after the Barwani fiasco, where medical negligence during a camp left more than 40 patients with blurred vision, the state health department also sent two senior health officials from Bhopal, including director health KL Sahu, to Sheopur to investigate the matter. However, state health minister Narottam Mishra told HT that no lapses in the cataract surgeries were found during preliminary investigation. We have sent two senior health officials to Sheopur to look into this matter. Besides, three ophthalmologists from Gwalior are also testing the vision of the patients. So, at this stage, there is no need to order any probe, he said. Chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Sheopur district Dr Pradeep Kumar Mishra said the team of doctors, comprising Dr Nirmala Chhatrashali, Dr Rakesh Gupta and Dr SK Puranik, checked the vision of 30 patients on Tuesday. The remaining patients would be examined on Wednesday. The doctors have not found any operation-related complications till now, he said. Ophthalmologist Dr Rakesh Gupta told HT over the phone that the patients had come to get their stitches removed on Tuesday. After removal of the stitches, the patients have to wear glasses for a month. When the stitches are removed, it is common for some patients to complain of blurry vision for some time. Some people who are complaining of blurry vision will be alright once they wear glasses for a month, he said. Just in the case of two patients we found their eyesight to be partially affected, but it doesnt seem to be due to the operation. It seems to be a refractive error related to old age. We will conduct some more tests on them to see why their vision is partially affected. The recent scare comes on the heels of the eye camp held in Barwani between November 16 and 21, where botched cataract surgeries left more than 40 patients with blurred vision and led to the suspension of the district civil surgeon. After being operated on at a similar eye camp organised by the state health department in Sheopur on November 27, 17 of the 66 patients operated on began complaining of blurred vision on Monday, following which the administration sprung into action. Govt says The state government on Tuesday evening issued a statement that the Sheopur eye camp patients were able to clear the finger count test administered by the team of senior ophthalmologists from Gwalior and that no other health problem was found in patients except slight diminishing of vision. Maihar assembly segment in Satna district will go to the polls on February 13 to fill the lone vacant seat in the state assembly, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday. The by-election was necessitated after incumbent Congress MLA Narayan Tripathi resigned and defected to the BJP in August last year. The results for the by-election would be announced on February 16. With the announcement on Tuesday, the model code of conduct has come into force in Satna district. The forthcoming by-election has acquired heightened significance after former minister and Churhat MLA Ajay Singh announced that it was a prestige issue for him. Contest poised to become a Shivraj Singh Chouhan versus Ajay Singh battle The son of former chief minister Arjun Singh and one of the biggest Congress leaders in the Vindhya region, where the segment is located, Ajay Singh has been relentlessly campaigning against Tripathi. Also, with the chief minister not taking any chances after suffering two electoral setbacks in Ratlam Lok Sabha by poll and losing five of eight urban civic bodies the contest is poised to become a Shivraj Singh Chouhan versus Ajay Singh battle. However, the tussle between Ajay Singh and Narayan Tripathi goes back to 2014 when the former had alleged that Tripathi, who was a Congress MLA at the time, had worked against him in the Satna Lok Sabha elections, which Singh ultimately lost by a slender margin. Ajay Singh had blamed Tripathi for his defeat and even demanded his sacking. Narayan Tripathi expected to be BJP candidate Tripathi subsequently joined the BJP and resigned from the seat, necessitating the by-poll. Earlier there was speculation that Tripathi may not be fielded by the BJP to not give fodder to the Congress, but it now seems clear that Tripathi is the partys choice in Maihar. Prior to leaving for Singapore on Tuesday, CM Chouhan had made half a dozen visits to Maihar with Tripathi, who was seen sharing the dais with him at public functions and press interactions. Presently the BJP has 165 seats, the Congress 57, the BSP 4 and independents 3 in the 230 member state assembly. POLL SCHEDULE January 20: Notification of polls and beginning of nominations January 27: Last date for nominations January 28: Scrutiny of nominations January 30: Last date for withdrawal of nominations February 13: Polling February 16: Counting Many children from the Muslim community participated in a mass surya namaskar event in Bhopal, despite the programme facing opposition from clerics in the city. Around 5,000 children from Class 6 to 12 participated in the event at Baab-e-Aali Ground, Shahjahanabad, with most viewing it as just an exercise. My parents allowed me and my sister to take part in the programme because they view surya namaskar as a scientific exercise which is good for health, Amaan, a class 8 student at Rasheediya School in Old Bhopal told HT. Haseeb, a class 6 student, felt the same. According to my parents, it is a physical training, so I can participate in it with my friends, he said. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also expected to take part but sources said that he could not attend the programme because he had to board a flight to Singapore. However, state education minister Paras Jain was present for the proceedings. Since 2007, the state government has been marking the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by organising surya namaskar programmes on a grand scale. In the previous years, participation in the event was mandatory for all government schoolchildren and government college students, but owing to protests, the practice was made voluntary. Earlier this week, the various parts of the city were covered with posters, allegedly printed on behest of the Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims (MP unit), which said, Only bow before the creator and dont participate in surya namaskar. The poster also said, We appeal to all students and their guardians... to neither participate in the event planned for January 12, 2016, nor in any such programme in the future. Interestingly, this year saw a dip in the number of participants in Bhopal, with some complaining the venue chosen was smaller. In 2015, the collective surya namaskar was organised at the Subhash School ground, which has a greater capacity, but Baab-e-Ali has a smaller capacity and it was difficult to accommodate more children in the limited space said Pralay Srivastava, PRO, department of public instructions. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a mid-night encounter with dacoits of Gadariya gang in Shivpuri district, the Madhya Pradesh police arrested three dacoits who had a cash reward of Rs 10,000 on their heads. But, six others, including gang leader Chandan Gadariya and his paramour Chanda -- locally called the new bandit queen -- escaped from the spot. Shivpuri superintendent of police Mohammad Yusuf Qureshi told Hindustan Times over phone that they got a tip-off on late Tuesday about the presence of Gadariya gang members in the Rampura forests. We got information that they were planning another kidnapping. A team of local police and anti-dacoit squad reached the forest around 1.30am, he said. After an encounter with the dacoits, the police arrested three of them, identified as Kallu Gadariya, Balbir Singh Baghel and Mohan Singh Lodhi. We arrested them but the rest of the gang members escaped. Those who escaped were Chandan Gadairiya, Chanda, Bhoja Gadariya, Nawal Singh, Ram Prakash and Sunil. On the last three new members of the gang, we will soon announce a cash reward, he said. Qureshi said they also seized two firing weapons and other ammunition such as bullets from the arrested members. Last month, the state police had announced Rs 10,000 cash reward on Chanda and `30,000 on her lover Chandan Gadairiya, the leader of the gang. Their gang, locally known as Gadariya gang, is operating in Shivpuri and Gwalior districts. The gang had kidnapped a Rajasthani shepherd Seeta Ram Jat, who was freed on December 21 last year, police said. Local sources claim Chanda is the maternal cousin of Chandan and she had eloped with him after two years of her marriage. But it couldnt be confirmed. For online real estate startup housing.com, which has been in the limelight for wrong reasons for quite some time, bad news seems to be turning worse. In a recent filing with the Registrar of Companies, housing.com reported a net loss of Rs 279 crore for 2014-15, a near six-fold jump from the Rs 49 crore loss in the year-ago period, though total revenue for 2014-15 rose also rose over six-fold to Rs 12.66 crore from Rs 1.91 crore in the previous year. Evident from the filing is that the companys expenses are out of control, even by startup standards: employee cost (salaries etc) have jumped four-fold to Rs 86 crore, and marketing costs 10-fold to Rs 122 crore in the financial year. Interestingly, it spent Rs 27.33 crore on legal costs, which is more than twice its revenue. Even established realty majors such as Delhi-based DLF typically spend around 2% of revenue on legal costs. Among housing.coms main competitors, 99acres had an operating loss of Rs 37 crore on a revenue of Rs 100 crore in 2014-15, and CommonFloor, Rs 46 crore on Rs 87 crore revenue. The housing.com spokesperson did not reply to emailed queries from HT. Softbank, which is the single largest shareholder in housing.com, also refused to discuss the issue. It had sunk $90-million in the company in November, 2014. After founder-CEO was removed in June 2015, housing.com was headed by Rishabh Gupta for a short while, before Jason Kothari took over as chief executive in November. Indias real estate sector is in the throes of a slowdown, and unsold stock has risen by 18% to 1,076 mn square feet in the quarter ended September 2015 (year-on-year) according to Liases Foras Real Estate Rating and Research. The company reportedly laid off 600 of its 2,600 staff last year,and is now said to be in talks for investments with Snapdeal and News Corp, which has invested in another online realty company, PropTiger. Quikr Homes, also rumoured to be interested in buying housing.com, refused to comment for this story. Indias trade deficit with China has risen to a whopping $45 billion, with bilateral trade remaining far below the ambitious $100 billion-mark set for 2015 by the two countries. Data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Wednesday revealed that bilateral trade was $71.63 billion for 2015. Worryingly for India, exports to China fell by over 18% last year and were pegged at $13.38 billion. China exported goods worth $58.25 billion in the same period. The latest figures revealed the nature of imbalance in bilateral trade while India mostly exports raw materials to China, the latter ships back finished goods. The trade imbalance in Chinas favour has been repeatedly raised at bilateral meets but little seems to have been achieved in addressing the issue in recent years. Its just one of the issues besides the festering border dispute, for one thats straining relations between the two countries. Indian officials here have said Chinese officials appreciate Indias worry about the trade deficit and agreed, for one, to set up a high-level task force to be chaired by the cabinet secretary on the Indian side. As part of measures to address the issue, the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has encouraged Chinese investment into India in sectors such as infrastructure and manufacturing. Significant Chinese investment is expected in 2016, with the figure being pegged at around $3 billion. Officials said one focus of the Indian government is to ensure ease of doing business in India. Modi sent the message across during his visit to China last year, when he met 21 top business leaders in Shangahi. Admitting there is a problem, outgoing Indian ambassador AK Kantha told HT that China enjoys a trade surplus with its top 50 trade partners. That is why investment from China is being encouraged. Economic engagement with China is going through a qualitative change, Kantha said. Chinas overall exports in 2015 were 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion), down 1.8% from the end of 2014, the first drop since 2010, according to the GAC. The total import and export volume stood at 24.59 trillion yuan in 2015, down 7% from the same period in 2014. Imports fell by 13.2% to 10.45 trillion yuan, state media said, quoting GAC figures. The double decrease in import and export is due to the economic slowdown throughout the world, said GAC spokesperson Huang Songping. The number of registered crimes against women in the citys north region between Goregaon and Dahisar rose about 40% in 2015 from the previous year, and the police managed to solve only 60% of these (693 of 1137), compared with 85% (676 of 800) in 2014. The number of cases of rape, kidnapping and molestation were all up from 2014. In 2014, 66 cases of minor girls being kidnapped were registered in the region, of which the police solved 48. Last year, this number skyrocketed to 207, but the police were able to solve only 41 cases. This means a mere 20% of such cases were solved in 2015, compared with 73% in 2014. Read more: 922 minor girls kidnapped from Mumbai last year Several officers HT spoke to argued that most of these cases were not actual kidnappings but incidents of minor girls running away from home. When a girl under 18 goes missing, we have to register a case of kidnapping under the law. We take these cases on priority and do not discriminate [between these and real kidnappings], said an assistant inspector, who did not wish to be named. He added, If a girl has eloped with someone, it is unlikely that they will be able to hide forever. Eventually, they will run out of money and contact someone. With technological advancement, we are able to track down more of them and reunite them with family. But in many cases, it takes months to locate them. Other officials claimed the number of kidnapping cases in the region was high because of the many slums there. In slums, most people cannot pay enough attention to their children. When a minor girl falls in love with someone, she may not think twice before running away with him. In most cases, the boy will take her to his home town or village, where they will get married, said a senior police inspector. The number of rapes registered also increased in 2015, when, of the 180 cases registered, 96 involved minor girls. The police solved 90 of these 96 cases, but only 66 of the 84 cases involving adult women. Police officials said in the case of adult women, rape charges are often pressed when the man refuses to marry the woman. In such cases, which the police refer to as technical rapes, the accused usually arrested immediately as his identity is known, according to the police. To curb the number of crimes against women, the police have intensified patrolling in the area, and have adopted a zero-tolerance policy on crimes against women, under which cases are registered as soon as they are reported. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nitin Gadkari has been a good friend for decades we first met at a model educational parliament in Nagpur organised for university students by the late Dr Shrikant Jichkar who was then the president of the students union at the university. We got along like a house on fire and his overlying RSS ideology never once got in the way of my liberal, secular philosophies I have always held up our friendship as an example of the ability of differing ideologies to co-exist. In our intermittent meetings, Gadkari was always a delight to speak to always politically incorrect, giving away most secrets and having no false pretences. His on-record information was always so explosive that his off-record chats were often inconsequential. In fact, I got to know of many of the intrigues between the Congress and the BJP from him Nagpur was always a Congress bastion but there were so many factions within the party that rival groups had no qualms about joining hands with Gadkari to defeat their own party. Gadkari, of course, was always willing to help in the interest of his party. It took him 20 years to erode the Congress base but eventually he wrested Nagpur from the Congress and did the RSS- never able to influence the cosmopolitan Nagpur- proud. But his refreshing honesty and the fact that he shared these inside games with a journalist also meant Gadkari did not know the meaning of discretion. This is the reason he got into trouble over his own dealings with his Purti group of companies. I could almost hear him tell AAP activist Anjali Damania who later contested an election against him that he could not take up any issue against former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar because, as he said, the Pawars were his close friends I had known for long exactly how and why. From the horses mouth, I might add. Over the years, he has shared with me and other journalists, who do not claim a friendship, exactly who among us he has benefitted and how while a PWD minister in the first Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra he helped many acquire homes and cars, funded their foreign tours and loaded them with gifts. And he named them all. At least I guarded those secrets carefully but I know I am not the only one who, well, knows. It was this background that was behind his statement during the assembly elections that this was the time for journalists to make as much money as possible which got him a severe reprimand from not just the election commission but also from several journalists orgaisations who were not amused. But that did not stop him any he sat with an open house in Nagpur during the last session of the legislature in the states winter capital and as journalists dropped in and out, he recounted to the incoming group exactly what he had gifted to the outgoing group, somehow marring the pleasant exercise of gifting during the festive season. It is this kind of honesty and failure to be secretive that gets him into personal trouble as well -over his benami properties in Adarsh housing society and now in the award of a road contract in Jammu and Kashmir to a company in which his son has interests. There is thus only one word for Nitin Gadkari incorrigible. So my advice to people like Asha Parekh, who allegedly lobbied with Gadkari for a Padma Bhushan, is DONT. It might be rather more circumspect to choose another minister in the union government who will not publicly give away these secrets. But since Asha Parekh is one of my favourite actors in fact, the only one I ever idolised I might say a word in her defence. Lobbying is the accepted norm for such awards, as I saw over the years as a political correspondent - the chief ministers office usually receives hundreds of recommendations each year but, what is important is, no one knows who the members of the jury are. They operate in complete secrecy and are given little time to finalise the names lest anyone get to know or even get to them. I am sure such lobbying will not cease any time soon. But if Gadkari does not learn that discretion is always the better part of valour, he may soon be out of friends. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 7,000km journey in search of an ancestors final resting place ended in a derelict Nainital cemetery overrun by undergrowth for Susie Gilbert of Britain. But her visit to a cemetery in Uttarakhands lake town opened a window of hope for British-era burial sites. Gilbert shared pictures and her experience through a Facebook group, Nainital Nostalgia, which highlighted the neglected cemeteries. She was disappointed and quite naturally so because graves help establish an emotional bond with long-lost loved ones. This is the Christian Cemetery on The Bhowali Road out of Nainital. I came here in 2011 looking for my Great Great Grandmothers grave. (Emily Eliza Lewis). She died in 1897. I searched to no avail with my son (but amazingly found the grave later at the cemetery on The Kaladunghi Road) ... this is an extract from my diary, she posted. According to British Library records, five cemeteries existed in Nainital, a Raj-era summer retreat. British soldiers, officials and members from the Christian community were buried there. (Photo: Susie Gilbert) The pictures and posts led Shikha Chaki, another member of the Facebook group, to approach a UK-based non-profit, the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA). BACSA honorary secretary Peter Boon responded and the organization has now offered help to restore the British burial grounds in Nainital and shown similar interest in the Camels Back cemetery of Mussoorie. According to British Library records, five cemeteries existed in Nainital, a Raj-era summer retreat. British soldiers, officials and members from the Christian community were buried there. At present, only two graveyards exist one along Kaladhungi Road and another at Pines, which was meant for British soldiers but lost its exclusivity after Independence. (Photo: Susie Gilbert) At present, only two graveyards exist one along Kaladhungi Road and another at Pines, which was meant for British soldiers but lost its exclusivity after Independence. Squatters have taken over a couple of cemeteries at Anyarpata and Sukhatal while a landslide buried the one at Baliyanala. The growing local interest in the heritage of the old European cemeteries in India is a welcome development. BACSA is ready to support committed groups and communities wishing to conserve their historic sites worthy of preservation, Boon told Hindustan Times via email. He said the organization is already supporting the conservation of the Scottish Cemetery in Kolkata, the Nishatganj Cemetery in Lucknow and the Skinner graves at St Jamess Church in Delhi. According to BACSA, nearly two million people of European-origin lie buried in the Indian subcontinent. The effort could compliment the state tourism departments plan to promote tourism around noteworthy British-era personalities who lived, died and lay buried in the hill state. But details of the plan are still being worked out, said AK Dwivedi, additional director (tourism). SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It took eight people, including two juveniles, 20 days to plan the Old Rajinder Nagar triple murder that wiped out the Sonaria family last Saturday. And it worked to perfection except that the booty yielded by the ghastly crime turned out to be a measly Rs 40,000 and a few trinkets of fake jewellery. The bloody story behind the triple murder only gets worse. So dejected were the killers with their miserable haul that they sat down to drown their sorrows in alcohol at the scene of their crime. For dinner, they ate what their victims had made for themselves that night. A mobile phone used by Rajan to call property dealer Sanjay Sonaria at about 7 pm on the night of the crime is what cracked the case open. The device, traced to a man in Ghaziabad, turned out to have been stolen 20 days ago; it was finally used by Rajan to call Sonaria. Five of the accused were arrested on Wednesday. The two juveniles have also been apprehended while the eighth accused is still at large. The entire crime was masterminded by Rajan Singh who had befriended Sonaria in Tihar Jail in 2013-14. Rajan was imprisoned for murdering a woman while Sonaria was in jail in connection with a cheating case. Investigators said Sonaria bragged he was an influential property dealer who dealt in properties worth many crores. Sonaria then influenced Rajan to work for him in return for the commissions that these big property deals fetch. Around a month ago, Sonaria had boasted before Rajan of receiving Rs 80 lakh as token money in two property deals which he further wanted to invest in property, a police officer said. Anticipating pickings of no less than Rs 1 crore at Sonarias house, Rajan along with his associates hatched the plan to wipe out the family and take the money, the officer said. On Saturday, Rajan and his motley gang set their dastardly plan in motion. Rajan and four of his associates gained entry into Sonarias house posing as potential clients while the two juveniles stood watch outside the building. Two men strangled Sonaria and stuffed his body into a cupboard even as his wife Jyoti was kept in the kitchen by another while two men stayed in the bedroom with Sonarias son Pawan, who was next to be strangled. Jyoti was the last to be killed. After ransacking the three-bedroom flat for more than three hours, Rajans gang ended up was Rs 40,000 in cash and artificial jewellery valued at a few thousand rupees. Each got a little over Rs 5,000 from a crime that is punishable with lifetime imprisonment. The failure left the eight so dejected that they decided to get drunk. One brought alcohol from a nearby market while others collected food cooked by the victims for their dinner. They comfortably finished their food and drinks even as the three dead bodies lay in the flat. After spending nearly four hours in the house, the gang members left the house separately around midnight and again gathered at a designated place in Kanhaiya Nagar where they distributed the entire booty among themselves and went their ways, said a senior investigating officer. If investigators were to be believed, the money spent by the gang on the murder exceeds what they got from the crime. Those arrested are Rajan Singh alias Abhishek, Rajender aka Raju, Sanjay Kumar, Harender Giri, and Ram Kishore, aged between 33 and 43 years. The eighth accomplice, Ajay, is still at large. Twenty-five teams of Delhi Police comprising 200 men cracked the case in less than 72 hours. At a time when Donald Trump is frequently deploying misogynistic, racist and ill-informed views on policy during his campaign trail and steering political conversation and the Republican Party in a direction that conservatives cringe from, it is particularly salutary for someone to remind American politicians of principles that ought to inform their vocation. US President Barack Obama sought to do just that in his customarily eloquent and his last State of the Union speech on Tuesday. In a philosophical speech that strives to move the debate to the Centre from where his party can contest this years presidential contest, Mr Obama presented a searching analysis of the American condition and forcefully reminded politicians of their obligations to citizens. Other world leaders would do well to heed Mr Obamas diagnosis, even if it was articulated for the purposes of prodding Congress to back his policies. The world is changing, today technology doesnt just replace jobs on the assembly line, but any job where work can be automated. Mr Obama said the private sector is the lifeblood of the US economy but said that citizens need a safety net to negotiate the changing world, whether it be through state support to education and health or through insurance that allows individuals to retrain in an economy that demands new skills while being able to pay their bills and not lose what theyve already worked so hard to build. A running theme of his speech is the discontent that average citizens feel over their current situation and uncertain future prospects in a system they see as rigged in favour of the rich by politicians who themselves happen to enjoy tenured professional lives. Mr Obama also spoke about paying attention to the quality of democracy by rejecting politics that targets people because of race or religion. He argued in essence that a country can plan its future purposively, if it can value diversity, debate without representing opponents as unpatriotic, and if leaders are able to compromise and when the average person feel their voice matters. Nikki Haley, the Indian-origin governor of South Carolina, speaking for the opposition and mindful of the Trump effect on the Republican party, conceded that her party should bear some of the blame for problems the US faces and why its government is broken. It was a touching note of contrition but few expect it to last. There were no surprises on foreign policy. Mr Obama said the US would continue to lead on challenges like ISIS but would prefer consensual approaches involving other nations rather than costly unilateral initiatives. The speech notably lacked direct criticism of China, a change from last year where he accused Beijing of resorting to unfair trade practices. A Delhi University college has, in a public suspension notice, announced the name and other details of a student who was allegedly involved in a theft case, triggering a row in the institute. A number of teachers and students of the college have criticised the move, saying there had been no police complaint in the case. Dyal Singh College, in a notice on its website, announced that a female student has been suspended due to her involvement in a mobile theft case. The show cause notice mentions the name, course and roll number of the student. Some teachers of the college have criticised the move, saying there had been no police complaint and the college cannot take a decision in such a case. This is a case of theft. So how can college committee decide who is the thief. The college cannot publically announce the name and other details of a student. This is harassment, a teacher said. The show cause notice said that the student had been suspended based on the recommendation of the college disciplinary committee. The notice said the student had been asked to explain why she should not be rusticated from the college. She is requested to give a proper explanation as to why she should not be rusticated from college failing which she will be rusticated from the college, the notice reads. College principal IS Bakshi maintained that the decision to rusticate the student was not final and said the college had followed all rules and that the student had been given a chance to present her case. The student herself has confessed that she committed the act. We have CCTV footage that establishes the same. The disciplinary committee has taken a decision, after which the student has been asked to provide an explanation. Based on her explanation the committee will decide its next step, he said. Bakshi, however, refused to comment on why the students name was made public. That was a decision made by the disciplinary committee. I dont know about it, he said. Reacting, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal said, As per information, the inquiry is yet to be finalized. So giving out the name of a female student before an inquiry is over is not correct. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The cabinet, on Tuesday, approved a new scholarship scheme for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants in Maharashtra. The scheme is aimed at encouraging young aspirants to join the civil services in the country and pushing up Maharashtras contribution to the civil society pool. Under the scheme, meritorious students will now get financial assistance in three parts, through the preliminary exam, the main exam and the final interview. According to the decision, the state governments scholarship programme also seeks to tie up with private institutions. The government, however, is yet to work out its final details and has only approved the schemes basic framework. The state government will incur at least Rs 23.46 crore expenditure for the scheme. We are not just looking at financial assistance but also intending to tie up with reputed private educational institutions to ensure that the scholars we choose can gain entry into these places easily. These institutions will help train our scholars for all the three examinations, said a state government official. In addition, the State government has also worked out a monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 while they are getting trained in appearing for these examinations. This scholarship, the State government said, would be released in three phases. One would be before the preliminary exam, the other before the main exam and the third before the final interview. If a student fails in any of these, the scholarship will be discontinued and will be resumed only the following year, before the exam, said a State government official. Incidentally, only those who have unsuccessfully appeared for the UPSC examinations before are eligible for the scholarship. According to the cabinets decision, the candidate must have appeared for the main exam and failed at the interview level in the last year. Read more: Aspirants happy with new UPSC exam pattern Parents and principals of the UT schools have mixed opinion about the Delhi governments cabinet decision to do away with the highly opaque management quota seats, alongside striking off more than 60 criteria in order to make nursery admission transparent and more reasonable. While the 25% reservation under the economically weaker section (EWS) has been excluded from this, various local stakeholders feel it could help. Strawberry Fields High School director Atul Khanna said, While I feel it could be implemented in most other cases. I am not sure if the sibling quota should be done away with since as a parent, one would prefer to send kids to the same school. So, I have my reservation about the sibling quota. Principal of St Johns High School Kavita C Das said, I am not much in favour of it as these quotas are also based on the high courts decision. I am sure the court also saw some logic in implementing the same. She added, There are certain moral rights involved and it shouldnt be at the cost of depriving those who otherwise might not be able to easily seek admission. Also, why must alumni not be able to seek admission under that quota or two siblings. Das said it was a question of practicality as well. For administrator of St Kabir Public School Gurpreet Bakshi, it is a matter of categories and quotas being just and transparent. We have not kept a management quota, although management quotas are legally allowed, Bakshi added. President of SSATWA, Chandigarh, Arvind Rana said, Quotas of any kind for admission in schools, except EWS, should not be allowed in private schools as these are against the spirit of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. If private schools of the city are providing any such quota, then it should be stopped in the spirit of the RTE. DSE (director school education) Rubinderjit Singh Brar said, It is too soon to say anything and while we might consider the same, it cannot be implemented this year, since the admission process is already underway here. For Sheaba Kocchar, who will be seeking admission for her second child, it is a cause of worry. Well, the sibling quota can definitely prove to be of help and ideally speaking, it wont be convenient for me to send my children to two different schools, she said. Another parent, requesting anonymity, who has applied under the alumni quota in Vivek High School this year said, I think its only fair to have management and alumni quota. Chandigarhs situation is different from Delhi, where parents skills such as painting, drawing or even being non-vegetarian are taken into consideration. President of the Independent Schools Association, Chandigarh, HS Mamik said, The Delhi government wants to tweak ordinances and wants education at subsidised fee for the poor at the expense of private institutions. This is totally illogical and illegal. Rich students cannot be taxed in this manner to pay for the EWS quota students. The government must pay the price for the service demanded to stop bullying and shortchanging the private schools by fixing a reimbursement cost equivalent to just 20-25% of the actual cost. He added, To make this work, there are two choices open new government schools and pay the actual fee of the private schools where service is sought. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Desperate to gain ground in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will carpet bomb the poll-bound state with four rallies of its top leaders this month. Bengal goes to poll in April-May this year and the January rallies are seen as the launch of campaign for the election that largely appears to be a direct contest between the Trinamool Congress and the Left parties. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari will address a rally at Dakshin Dinajpur on January 18, followed by home minister Rajnath Singhs speech at Barasat on January 21, HRD minister Smriti Irani at Bardhaman and BJP chief Amit Shah at Howrah on January 25. Gadkari was earlier scheduled to hold a rally at Malda but the venue was changed at the last minute after the district administration refused to grant permission for the event. Malda is on the boil following the January 3 incident wherein a protest march by Muslims against the leader of a Hindu outfit for making scandalous remarks about Prophet Muhammad turned violent and public properties were set on fire. Two days ago, a fact-finding delegation of BJP MPs was also stopped from entering Malda. The law and order situation in the state has deteriorated. The Mamata Banerjee government is resorting to vote bank politics to cover up its failure. The Malda incident is a classic example, BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said. Law and order, illegal immigration from Bangladesh, lack of development and under employment will be the BJPs main poll plank and its top leaders will target CM Mamata Banerjee for her failure on all these counts. The Centre, as of now, has no plan to send any official team to Malda, home ministry officials said. The officials had earlier said home minister Rajnath Singh may also visit Malda but it was later clarified that Singh too had no plans to visit the town. A three-member BJP delegation had met Singh on Tuesday and demanded a high-level probe into the violence. A week after staying the disqualification of 14 Arunachal Pradesh Congress MLAs, the Gauhati High Court on Wednesday vacated an interim order that kept in abeyance the states assembly session summoned by governor JP Rajkhowa from December 16-18 last year. The ruling is seen as a blow to Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki who has the support of only 26 MLAs in the 60-member house. The Congress dissidents, numbering 21 and led by former finance minister Kalikho Pul, have the support of 11 BJP and two independent legislators. The single judge bench of Justice BK Sarma dismissed the interim order passed in (Arunachal Pradesh speaker) Nabam Rebias favour on December 17 last year, SS Dey, lawyer for deputy speaker TN Thongdok, said. Thongdok, one of the dissidents, had headed the controversial assemby session that Rajkhowa advanced from January 14-16. Rebia was impeached and Tuki lost a floor test in the assembly. Rebia, who had issued a notice ahead of that assembly session disqualifying 14 MLAs, approached the HC on December 17 and obtained an order keeping the session in abeyance before Thongdok challenged it. Legal advisors of the dissidents said the no-confidence motion against Tuki and the selection of Pul as the new chief minister stands valid after Wednesdays court ruling. But members of the Tuki camp said the fate of the state government depends on the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear its appeal for maintaining status quo in Thursday. The BJP on Wednesday hinted that the Indian government may take action against the two Italian marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast almost four years ago after an Italian senator said they will not come back to face trial. With regards to anyone who leaves the country or seeks the indulgence of the court and thereby travels out, they are supposed to follow court orders. You cannot have anybody showing disrespect to the court. I am sure that if someone is showing disrespect to the court or not following court orders then the government is bound to raise such a thing, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nalin Kohli told ANI. Italian senator Nicola Latorre had said on Tuesday that one of two Italian marines will not be returning to India to face trial after being allowed home temporarily for medical treatment. Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girones return is being explored, Latorre, president of the senate defence committee, had said. Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, was granted a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment. Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to interfere and bring the culprits back to the country. Italian naval officers committed crime on Indian land and they are liable to obey Indian rules. The UDF government had taken a very strong stand on this point and at the time, the UPA government gave us their full support. My only request to the Indian government is to take strong steps to bring these culprits to India and to ensure that trial continues under the Indian law, he said. Government authorities and temple officials in Kerala are standing firmly by a decades-old tradition of banning women from one of the holiest Hindu temples after the Supreme Court questioned the temples right to bar women. The Supreme Court has asked the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the famous Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, to clarify why it prohibited women from entering the shrine, saying this breached the nations constitution. The hilltop temple is one of a few in India which bars women of reproductive age, only allowing entry to girls aged under 10 and women over 50. Read more: Sabrimala temple board to file affidavit favoring ban on women This ban came under legal scrutiny on Monday this week after the Young Lawyers Association filed a petition seeking entry for all women but government officials on Tuesday defended the ban. This practice is going on for centuries, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. The government will take a stand, going by the customs and traditions in the temple, and without hurting the sentiment of devotees. Read more: #HappyToBleed: Social media reacts to Sabarimala board chiefs remarks Scores of women took to social media last November, joining a campaign launched as #happytobleed, after the head of the temple said he would consider allowing women to enter if there was a machine to check if they were menstruating. In rural and urban India, menstruation is rarely discussed openly and menstrual blood is considered impure. In many communities, menstruating girls and women are not allowed to prepare food or enter a temple. The Board will implead in the case to protect the interests of the devotees, said Prayar Gopalakrishnan, president of the temples board. The divinity of the shrine comes from this custom. That will be protected at any cost. An estimated one million Hindu pilgrims flock every year to the Sabarimala temple in the Western Ghats hills to pray to the deity Lord Ayyappan who meditated at that spot, according to Hindu mythology. The chief deity in the temple is a celibate. So allowing women to worship in the shrine is a sin, said the temples chief priest Thazhamon Madom Kandararu Rajeevaru. Temple Affairs Minister V.S. Sivakumar said the government will protect the faith and custom and file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Jan. 18 in consultation with all stakeholders. External affairs minister Sushma Swarajs visit to Israel next week reflects the greater visibility acquired by bilateral relations in the past year-and-a-half and will boost cooperation in areas as diverse as homeland security and water management, Israeli envoy Daniel Carmon said on Wednesday. When it comes to bilateral ties, India and Israel walk the walk and talk the talk, Carmon told a media briefing. The greater visibility of the relationship was not ceremonial and the two sides are working closely on similar challenges and joint interests, he added. Swaraj will head to Israel on January 17 for a two-day visit after a brief trip to Palestine. This will be first visit to both countries as the external affairs minister. She will meet top Israeli leaders, including President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Moshe Yaalon, and interact with the Jewish-Indian community. Her visit comes a little more than two months after President Pranab Mukherjees trip to Palestine and Israel. Carmon expressed satisfaction that high-level visits by officials of both countries were becoming a routine event amid cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism, homeland security, defence, agriculture, watermanagement, academia and innovation. Swaraj will be updated on developments in West Asia and it was not a coincidence that discussions and cooperation on counter-terrorism are an important aspect of bilateral ties, he said. Responding to a question on the terror attacks on Pathankot airbase and the Indian consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif and the implications for India-Pakistan ties, Carmon said Israel condemned any form of terrorism but declined to go into details of cooperation with New Delhi on tackling terror threats. Defence, he said, continued to be a central pillar of the bilateral relationship, with recent tests of the Barak-8 surface-to-air missile system in Israel and India reflecting the fruits of cooperation and joint research and development. Israeli defence firms are open and flexible about participating in the make in India initiative, he said. We have moved way beyond a buyer-seller relationship and it is much deeper, he added. Carmon began the briefing by paying tribute to Lt Gen JFR Jacob, who died on Wednesday. He described Jacob, who played a crucial role in the Indian victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, as a proud Jew and a living bridge between India and Israel. US immigration officers handcuffed and imprisoned an Indian student at the Dallas airport before deporting her home. Still, her American dream is so strong that she is determined to go back for her masters degree there. The 23-year-old student was among several Telugu students who were sent back to Hyderabad on January 3 with a brief and curt explanation that the California-based universities they applied for Northwestern Polytechnic and Silicon Valley were blacklisted. It was an awful experience for me and for no fault of mine. But I am determined to pursue my higher studies in the US. I would reapply to another US university for my MBA for the fall intake, she told Hindustan Times. Read more: 16 students deported from US, hassled at Hyderabad airport She has her reason. The US consulate in Hyderabad that issued visas to the students didnt say these universities were on the blacklist, though immigration officers routinely asked their intention of taking the US flight when so many of them were sent back. The deportations continued but the insult and uncertainty havent deterred the glut of graduates from going to US education consultancies a thriving industry in Hyderabad and other towns that help students identify a suitable university and help with the paperwork. We held a well-attended information session of a US university. Of course, students were concerned and we advised them to be better prepared than before to go to the US, said BS Sekhar, the director of IAEC Consultants. Fellow consultant GV Madhav of ustudent.in found a slight dip in the number of students looking to apply for higher studies in the US. They are in a wait-and-watch mode to get a clear picture of the situation. In fact, the episode has made students more aware of qualifications and other credentials needed to study there. They are now keen on getting good GRE scores. Reports of ill-treatment prompted Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao to contact American consular general Michael Mullins last week while the Andhra Pradesh government appointed a nodal officer to guide US-bound students and those aspiring to go there. An information centre was set up where students can call 24x7 for any clarification, Andhra Pradesh minister for NRI affairs Palle Raghunatha Reddy said. The girl deported from Dallas said she would make the right choice this time. She was ticking all options universities and courses through education consultancies and the Internet as well as seeking guidance from the US consulate and state government. Like her, two more students one sent back from Abu Dhabi and another stopped at Hyderabad airport were exploring options to go to the US. I wish the US authorities would realise their mistake and reinstate our visas, allowing us to join the spring semester, one of them said. On engineering college campuses in and around Hyderabad, deportation has become the new buzzword. But the ordeal suffered by the seniors has not deterred many. Their issue is different. I would definitely go to the US for my higher studies, said Gayathri N, a first-year BTech student. Accusing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal of playing divisive politics, Shiromani Akali Dals Delhi chief Manjit Singh GK on Tuesday asked him not to use religion for political gains. GK, who is also president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, accused Kejriwal of encouraging elements who have been excommunicated from Sikh Panth by the Akal Takht. Referring to a meeting Kejriwal had with Darshan Singh Raagi, GK said those mixing up with the people who are against the Akal Takht cannot think of any good for Sikhs or the state of Punjab. Manjit Singh GK also termed Kejriwals plans of holding a political rally at Muktsar during Maghi Mela as ridiculous as he didnt know the history and background of Maghi and was only going there to eat rewaris (sweets). Referring to information on compensation disbursed to families of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, he said the Delhi government has no role as it is simply acting as a post office by disbursing the compensation amount released by the BJP-led central government. The Congress on Wednesday asked the government to ensure that large companies dont take control of the internet and also set a clear target date by which there will be universal internet access to all Indians. Ahead of the unveiling of start-up India policy by the government on January 16, the main opposition party gave six suggestions to stimulate start-ups, saying the new companies are the only hope at a time when economy is in doldrums. Seeking to wrest the credit from the NDA government, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the UPA had conceived the policy blueprint for the start-up India initiative even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi was claiming credit for it. As usual, the Prime Minister will be claiming credit for and repackaging what the Congress had already put in place, he said. He said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had received the suggestions during his recent meetings with the heads of 27 such companies in Delhi and Bengaluru. The suggestions include a clear and categorical statement from the government that it will support net neutrality and an assurance that large companies would not be allowed to restrict access to internet. It should be the responsibility of the government to provide internet access to all, the party said. Also, government buildings, public universities and schools should be allowed to provide office space with power, connectivity and basic information technology infrastructure to act as incubator for startups. The party said corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds should be permitted to be invested in startup or innovation-related research and development in public universities under the guidelines laid down by the previous UPA government. Syria has taken four Indian youth in its custody, who were planning to the join terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS), and asked the Indian authorities the verify their details. Syrian deputy prime minister Walid Al Moaulem, who is on a three-day visit to India, said the four youth had entered Syria and were taken into custody in Damascus. He, however, did not specify when they were apprehended. Four Indians were taken into Syrian custody in Damascus. The four young Indians were planning to join the ISIS and had entered Syria from Jordan, Moaulem told reporters here. He, however, did not give details such as their names, where they came from and when they were taken into custody. The development assumes significance as India has been trying to stop radicalised youths from joining the terrorist organisation. Incidentally, in December last, police arrested three youth from Nagpur airport when they were about to leave the country to join the IS. Moaulem, who is also the Foreign Minister, said he would not be in a position to help in the release of 39 Indians who were taken hostage by ISIS militants from Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014. I will try to secure their release if they are in the custody of Iraqi forces but wont be able to do anything if they are still in the custody of ISIS, Moaulem said. In UKs biggest private prosecution, a 53-year-old Indian-origin fraudster dubbed King Con who posed as a friend of billionaire Hinduja brothers was on Tuesday ordered to pay back a record 38.6 million pounds to his principal victim and British taxpayers by a court in London. London-based and Kenya-born Ketan Somaia, who had been found guilty of fraud and jailed for eight years last year, was ordered by the Old Bailey court in London to pay up or face a further 16 years in prison. He was found guilty of nine out of 11 charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception by a jury which noted that Somaia has to be described as a formidable and serial fraudsman on a truly Olympian scale. Somaia treated wealthy investors to luxury trips, generous gifts and big parties before fleecing three of them for 12 million pounds, his trial had been told. It marked Britains biggest-ever private prosecution carried out on behalf of the principal victim, entrepreneur Murli Mirchandani. In another legal first Mirchandani secured 500,000 pounds of public funds to continue his fight to recoup the money he lost in the swindle. His lawyer Tamlyn Edmonds told the Evening Standard that 20.4 million pounds of the order would go to the UK courts and Treasury and 18.2 million pounds to Mirchandani. Mirchandani wants his money back and this has been a long process through a private prosecution and confiscation proceedings which have taken its toll in emotional stress. He just wants to put an end to all that, said Edmonds. The case also marked the first time a private individual started confiscation proceedings and followed it through without the help of the police asset recovery team. Mirchandani said: This is a bittersweet victory, my fight for justice has robbed me of fifteen years of my life. There are no words to describe the betrayal that my family and I have suffered at the hands of a callous man who claimed to be my friend. While today brings some form of closure, it remains to be seen whether Ketan Somaia will comply with the Confiscation Order or face additional years in prison. Somaia gave the impression of being a successful businessman, posed as a friend of the billionaire Hinduja brothers and claimed to own assets worth $500 million. The scam took place between 1999 and 2000 when he was president and chief executive of the Dolphin Group of Companies. He owned an office in Mayfair and a palatial home in an exclusive north London suburb. He is said to have used his purported wealth and status within the Indian community to persuade Mirchandani to make large payments after promising him high returns. Italy on Wednesday termed as stray media reports quoting an Italian senator that one of its two marines, accused of murdering Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast four years ago, will not return to India to face trial after the Supreme Courts inquiry. These are stray reports, senior advocate Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the Italian ambassador to India, told a bench headed by Justice AR Dave, which extended the stay of marine Massimiliano Latorre in Italy till April 30. The bench wanted to know from Sorabjee if the reports were true. Sorabjee clarified that the reported statement was an individuals personal opinion and that the senator was not even a part of the Italian government. He assured the bench that Italy did not intend to defy any SC direction. The senior counsel then requested the bench to extend Lattores stay in Italy since the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) was about to begin proceedings on Italys claim that it had the jurisdiction to proceed against the marines and not the Indian government. Sorabjee said ITLOs would take at least two years to adjudicate the dispute. At this the bench asked additional solicitor general Pinky Anand, representing the Union Government, to come back and apprise it as to how much time ITLOS would take. Anand will get back to the court with instructions on April 13. In the wake of ITLOS proceedings, the apex court on August 26 last year suspended all court proceedings in India. While allowing the joint request of India and Italy, it said the proceedings shall remain in abeyance until ITLOS takes a final call. Latorre, who suffered a brain stroke on August 31, 2014, was allowed by the SC on September 12, 2014, to go to Italy for four months; he has been granted extensions after that. Britain has raised concerns over the five-year rigorous imprisonment given on Monday to six Britons, who were among 35 seafarers on board an American anti-piracy vessel impounded by the Indian Coast Guard in 2013. Amid dismay among campaigners and relatives of the six Britons, Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire used the occasion to welcome new Indian high commissioner Navtej Sarna to raise the issue on Tuesday. Swire said: I raised UK concerns for the British nationals imprisoned in Chennai with the Indian high commissioner. We are providing support to them. Welcomed new Indian high commissioner Sarna to the UK today. Look forward to strengthening our countries friendship. A district principal sessions court in Tamil Nadu had pronounced the judgement under the Arms Act against the personnel, who were on the anti-piracy vessel MV Seaman Guard Ohio that was intercepted by the Coast Guard with arms and ammunition on October 12, 2013. Britain Prime Minister David Cameron had taken up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the latters visit in November, while MPs raised it in parliament. A petition on the issue was signed by more than 300,000 people. The six Britons are Billy Irving from Connel, Argyllshire, Nick Dunn from Northumberland, Ray Tindall of Chester, John Armstrong from Cumbria and Paul Towers and Nicholas Simpson, both from North Yorkshire. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar was on Wednesday detained in connection with the Pathankot airbase attack, Pakistan media reported. The reports suggest Azhar was taken into preventive custody and was being questioned. Here are 10 things to know about Azhar: 1) Maulana Masood Azhar, who was born in 1968 in Bahawalpur in the central Pakistani province of Punjab, came to India on a Portuguese passport in January 1994. 2) Known to be a master indoctrinator, Azhar was soon in Kashmir to speak to mujahids. He was arrested in February 1994 for being a member of Harkat-ul Mujahideen and spent six years in jail. 3) After his arrest, the Pakistan high commission in Delhi wrote to the Indian foreign ministry identifying Azhar as a Pakistani journalist and sought his release. 4) He was later freed by Indian authorities along with two other terrorists in exchange for passengers of Indian Airlines flight IC814, hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in 1999. 5) Soon after his release, the Maulana addressed a gathering outside a mosque in Karachi, saying: I have come here because it is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India. Kashmir has to be liberated from Indian rule. 6) After his release, Azhar founded the Jaish-e-Mohammad in 2000. 7) The Jaish made its presence felt in Srinagar through a suicide bombing at the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in Srinagar in October 2001 in which 39 were killed. 8) In December 2001, the Jaish attacked the Indian Parliament. 9) Following the January 2002 kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl by Sheikh Ahmed Saeed Omar, a close aide of Azhar, the US had sought the custody of the Jaish chief, saying authorities wanted to file charges against him for his involvement in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight, which had an American citizen on board. 10) However, Pakistani authorities had turned down the US demand, saying Azhar was not a hijacker and his incarceration in India had been illegal. Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday met the families of martyrs Honorary Captain Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh who laid down their lives fighting terrorists during the Pathankot attack. While Fateh belonged to Jhanda Gujjran village in Gurdaspur, Kulwant was resident of nearby Chak Sharif village. Both were Defence Security Corps personnel. Offering his condolences to the bereaved families, Kejriwal announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each on behalf of the party to the next of kin of the two martyrs. Kejriwal said it was due to sacrifices of martyrs such as Fateh Singh and Kulwant Singh that people of India feel safe. ...today we can sleep in our homes with peace as our soldiers protect the frontiers. The martyrs have done a great job to protect the Pathankot airbase. They fought for the country and we are proud of them, he said. Kejriwal said it was the duty of all countrymen to take care of martyrs families. Kejriwal, whose party is eyeing to wrest power in the 2017 assembly polls in Punjab, is scheduled to address a political conference during Maghi Mela in Muktsar on Thursday. Kejriwal asserted that on coming to power in Punjab, the AAP would offer all facilities to the martyrs of Punjab on the lines of the Delhi government. Kejriwal said the Union and Punjab governments should offer suitable jobs to the eligible members of martyrs families and make arrangements for imparting education to their sons and daughters. Later, Kejriwal also visited the family of Ikagar Singh, the taxi driver who was waylaid and killed by terrorists before they entered the Pathankot airbase. Kejriwal was accompanied by AAP national general secretary and in-charge Punjab party affairs Sanjay Singh and state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur. Need to confront Pak On impending talks with Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pathankot attack, Kejriwal said the talks should happen but it was important to confront Islamabad on airbase strike which is believed to be executed by Pak-based militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad. First, we need to ask them upfront about the terror attack. We need those answers first, said Kejriwal. Army chief General Dalbir Singh rejected on Wednesday criticism of poor coordination among different agencies during the recent Pathankot air base siege in the wake of growing calls to fix accountability for confusion during the anti-terror operation. At an event in the Capital, the army chief also said his force was not under anybodys command, except the western army commander, attempting to quash rumours of a tussle for control of the operation between the National Security Guard, the army and air force. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the Pathankot operation but it will be premature to elaborate before the National Investigation Agency probe is over, Singh said. The army chief also dodged a question on the reasons behind the operation running long, saying the matter was best left to commanders on the ground who did a splendid job. A group of six suspected Pakistani terrorists crossed the border and entered the strategically-important Pathankot air base in Punjab on January 2, killing seven soldiers before being neutralised. But several questions were raised in the wake of the massive confusion about the number of terrorists and the state of the counter-terror offensive that saw home minister Rajnath Singh declaring the operation over and deleting the tweet hours later. Coordination among different agencies wasnt lacking during the Pathankot operation. There was total synergy. 560 soldiers were part of the operation and a team of Special Forces was also deployed, Singh said. He also dismissed criticism of the NSGs deployment in the situation, saying the elite forces were called in as the government feared hostage situation developing in an air base that houses over 10,000 people. All army commanders ordered to carry out comprehensive security audit of key military installations across India, he said. Singh said the 26-hour siege of a building near the Indian consulate in Afghanistans Mazar-i-Sharif was not connected to the Pathankot attack. Questions have already been raised about the role of the Border Security Force after the alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists exploited gaps in Indo-Pak border security to sneak into Punjab before infiltrating the high security base. Singh also said he was deeply concerned about terrorists breaching the Punjab border. Terrorists are breaching the Punjab border as LoC counter-infiltration has been tightened in J&K, they are exploring new areas to sneak in, he said. A protracted tussle between residents and the administration over a proposed memorial for militants has kept one of south Kashmirs most important and sensitive towns shut for thirteen consecutive days. Young men hunched outside shuttered shops In the biting cold on Wednesday and discussed how the martyrdom of young Pulwama boys should be remembered. On the streets, policemen stood guard with their armoured vehicles. A shout away from the huddle, slain militants from Pulwama lie buried in an unmarked graveyard at the town centre. It doesnt have a signboard to convey, what residents say, that martyrs are buried here. When Omais Ahmad Sheikh, a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, was buried there last month, the demand to erect a memorial grew. The grave of Omais Ahmad Sheikh at Shaheed Park in Pulwama. (Waseem Andrabi/ Hindustan Times) People want the memorial so that even a hundred years later, the next generation knows who all were killed in the ongoing conflict, said Nisar Ahmad, a Pulwama resident. Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani fueled the peoples call when he appealed for demonstrations across the Valley after Friday prayers. Martyrs graveyard is common in Kashmiri towns and villages but this is the first time the state has put its foot down. Authorities were trying to reverse the lockdown by imposing the Essential Commodities Regulation Act, 1955, which compels stores selling essential items to remain open, but to little effect. Other than a few pharmacies, almost all shops, business houses, banks and even most government offices remained closed. Normal life as well as trade has been hampered to a great extent. Every day, there is a loss of around Rs 43 lakh, said Bashir Ahmad Wani, president of the Traders Federation Pulwama. While Wani told HT a decision had been made to end the shutdown after the administration agreed to the demand about the memorial, divisional commissioner of Kashmir Asgar Samoon said nothing had been finalised. The shutdown has been riddled with clashes between residents and security personnel. People alleged police night raids and arrest of about 20 young men who were subsequently released. A senior police officer clarified that raids and arrests were routine procedure to control the situation during a lockdown. Traders, shopkeepers and businessmen are suffering the most, apart from education and health sectors. They want to open their shops but not going ahead fearing a backlash, he said. The traders were caught in a Catch-22 situation because the youth who initially started the memorial movement backed out and handed over the responsibility to them. Representatives of the government and people were in the talks for the past few days, especially over the initial demand to put up an installation featuring graphical imagery to glorify militants at the proposed memorial. Security forces identified Pulwama as the latest hotbed of Kashmiri militancy. Of 60-odd local militants active in Kashmir, around 15 are from this district. Militancy is penetrating the districts of southern Kashmir. The support base for militants is also spreading. Thats why you could see a large crowd at the funeral of a militant rather than former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, political scientist Noor Ahmad Baba said. For many young men, 21-year-old Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani is the latest great hero. Things have changed for south Kashmir after the likes of Burhan have come out. South Kashmir is increasingly seen as a resistance hub. Almost 15 boys from the district have been killed since July-August in encounters, said Sideeq Baba, a Pulwama-based researcher associated with the Unicef. The Pulwama shutdown reflects the growing drift in south Kashmir. Police officers say unemployment, frustration and disillusionment push the youth towards militancy. But a college student in Pulwama dismissed the police theory, saying the real reason was the brutal crackdown of Indian security forces on innocent residents. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Differences within the Congresss Mumbai unit were out in the open when two MLAs and their supporters squabbled on Tuesday over the route and programme for the two-day visit of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The groups led by legislators Arif Naseem Khan and Aslam Shaikh almost came to blows at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the partys city unit office at Azad Maidan, where a meeting was convened to decide the schedule for Gandhis visit on January 15 and 16. The Congress vice-president will address party leaders at the Azad Maidan office, lead a protest march from Bandra to Dharavi to highlight high electricity tariff in the city, meet students at NM College and hold a rally, according to the itinerary prepared by the Mumbai unit. The programme covers five parliamentary constituencies in the city but leaves out the North-East seat, which was once represented by Gurudas Kamat. This triggered the fight between the two groups. When Chandivali legislator Khan, a former minister, objected to the programme, the partys Malad MLA Shaikh and member of the legislative council (MLC) Bhai Jagtap told him that it was final and couldnt be changed, sources said. Soon a bitter fight broke out among their supporters, although Khan later denied any such alternation occurred. Jagtap too maintained a similar line. There was slogan-shouting during the meeting but it is not true that the workers fought. The city unit has been suffering bouts of discord after its in-house magazine, Congress Darshan, ran an article in December that showed the partys tallest leaders Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in poor light. Khan had demanded the resignation of Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam while former city chief Kamat took the issue to the party high command in Delhi. Party sources said Rahul Gandhis visit could defuse the tension for the time being. His padayatra or protest march against high power tariff will be the people-connect programme. After surveys in the city, we realised that power tariff was the most crucial issue among the people. So, we decided to take it up, Nirupam said. Pune Police have constituted a probe after receiving an anonymous letter from a suspected member of terror group Islamic State threatening to kill assistant commissioner of police Bhanupratap Barge and his family. An officer with the Pune anti-terror squad (ATS), Barge prevented a 16-year-old girl from joining the IS last year and was involved in her de-radicalisation programme. Maharashtra ATS receives anonymous letter threatening to kill ATS officer based in Pune investigating cases of youths trying to join ISIS ANI (@ANI_news) January 13, 2016 olice sources said police received the letter around two weeks back with the sender identifying himself as an IS operative. Security has been stepped up outside the Pune ATS office and officers deployed to protect Barges family, officials said. In December, Barge led the de-radicalisation programme of the class 11 student in Pune, who was attracted to IS ideology after watching a documentary on television and subsequently started regularly monitoring news on the Al Jazeera channel. The girl used the internet to get in touch with IS contacts and contacted about 200 young persons from different countries. Her interrogation revealed she was told to come to Syria for medical education and for further initiation, Barge had said. The de-radicalisation programme with the help of family members and community people was working with encouraging results, he had added. After questioning Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh for more than 15 hours in the last two days, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday is likely to grill him jointly with his cook-cum-helper and the caretaker of Dargah Panjpir. Salwinder has claimed that he along with his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and helper Madan Gopal were abducted by the Pathankot attackers while coming back from the Panjpir shrine on night of December 31. Investigators still dont know whether Salwinder is stating the truth or not. Now his version of events will be compared with what Madan Gopal and Dargah Panjpirs caretaker Som have stated. The federal anti-terror agency will confront them with each other in a joint interrogation session, which is likely to take place on Wednesday, a senior home ministry official said, requesting anonymity. The official added that Madan Gopal and Som have been summoned to Delhi. While Salwinder Singh claimed that he was regular visitor to the shrine, the caretaker has said the senior police official came to the Dargah for the first time on December 31. Besides, Madan Gopal and Rajesh Verma had visited the shrine on the same day earlier as well, which the investigators have found very puzzling. Salwinders conduct before his abduction is under scanner. He had four mobile numbers. His cook keeps two mobile numbers. Post abduction and snatching of SUV by the terrorists, it is true that he informed his superiors about the incident, but he is yet to make a full disclosure on what exactly happened before the incident. Thats why confronting him with Madan Gopal and Dargah caretaker is necessary, said a counter terror official. Salwinder Singh on Tuesday was questioned by NIA sleuths for the second day in a row, his interrogations lasting more than seven hours. He was questioned for around eight hours on Monday. As of now, Singh has been summoned under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which is normally used for summoning witnesses. But NIA sleuths are still not satisfied with the answers given. Once his questioning gets over, investigators will take a call on whether he will be an accused in the case or a witness, said the home ministry official. Counter terror officials say Salwinder is being questioned about the involvement of drug cartels in the attack as it is suspected that terrorists weapons were brought into the country as part of a consignment of drugs. The NIA sleuths are also examining similar kind of suicide attacks Jammu areas to check their similarities with the Pathankot attack. Investigators have not also not ruled out the possibility of attackers getting inside help to enter air base. An air base employee was arrested last year on the charges of leaking information to an alleged Pakistani handler. The details of the case are being examined to see whether the information allegedly leaked by the air base employee had any bearing on the attack, said sources. With uncertainty looming over the upcoming Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks in the wake of the Pathankot terror strike, army chief General Dalbir Singh on Wednesday blamed the Pakistani army for derailing the peace process several times. It has done it a number of times in the past. I am not saying it in this (Pathankot) connection, Singh said when asked if the Pathankot strike was an attempt by the neighbouring army and the ISI to disrupt talks. Asked if the army could pull off covert operations to destroy terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Singh said his force was ready and competent to carry out any task assigned to it. His comment came on the heels of defence minister Manohar Parrikars remark on Monday that any individual or organisation harming the country should be made to suffer the pain for their actions and how, when and where should be your choice. Singh said 17 terror camps were active in PoK, down from 42 a few years ago due to mounting global pressure on Pakistan. Six Pakistani terrorists stormed the Pathankot fighter base on January 2, killing seven soldiers before being neutralised. Questions were raised about Indias response and the operation running too long, but Singh asserted there was no lack of coordination among the agencies and the operation took time to ensure fewer casualties. There was complete synergy among the agencies, he told reporters at his customary media briefing ahead of Army Day on January 15. Asked why the operation took four days, he said the matter was best left to commanders on the ground. Singh said the army personnel were not under anybodys command, except the Western Army commander, seeking to dismiss reports of a tussle for control of the operation between the National Security Guard, the army and air force. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from Pathankot, he said. But he was quick to point out that it would be premature to elaborate on the issue before the National Investigation Agency completing its probe. Singh brushed aside criticism of the NSGs deployment, saying the force was called as there were concerns about a hostage situation at the airbase that houses over 10,000 people. He said the motive of the attack was to inflict maximum casualties and trigger media hype. Singh said terrorists were breaching the Punjab border as the LoC counter-infiltration grid had been tightened in J&K and they are exploring new areas to sneak in. Pakistan said on Wednesday it wants to send a special investigation team to India to probe the Pathankot attack, for which an unspecified number of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operatives have been apprehended. Following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the government announced it had also begun tracing and sealing the offices of the JeM. The group was banned in 2002 but continues to be active in several parts of Pakistan, including Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan was apparently spurred to act following pressure from the US and India. The JeM has been blamed by Indian authorities for the brazen assault on Pathankot airbase, which killed seven security personnel. India had sought prompt and decisive action by Pakistan on actionable intelligence regarding the attack. The Pakistani action also appeared to be aimed at salvaging a planned meeting of the foreign secretaries on January 15. India has linked the talks to action against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack. The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sharif, which was also attended by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, noted that considerable progress had been made in the investigation against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the government of Pakistan is considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the government of India, said a statement from the Pakistani Prime Ministers House. Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed, have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway, it added. Read: Pakistan seeks harder evidence from India on Pathankot attack The statement did not give details about the number of JeM operatives who had been apprehended or their identities. It also did not say how many JeM offices had been sealed or where they are located. There was no official word on whether the government intended to act against Masood Azhar, who formed the JeM after being freed from an Indian prison in exchange for an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar in 2000. The Pakistan government reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue. The meeting was also attended by interior ministers Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz, the Lahore Corps commander, the Intelligence Bureau chief and other senior civil, military and police officials. The actions taken by Pakistan were reminiscent of its moves in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were carried out by a 10-member squad of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Following pressure from the world community, the Pakistan government had placed LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and other leaders under house arrest and sealed the offices of the LeT and its front organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah. Seven men, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, were arrested for allegedly planning and executing the attacks but there has been little progress in their trial by an anti-terrorism court. Within six months, Saeed and other leaders of LeT and JuD were freed and the LeT resumed its activities after changing its name to Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation. Read: Pathankot attack: Pakistan carries out raids, makes arrests No reason to distrust Pak so early: Rajnath on Pathankot probe India links talks with Pak to action over Pathankot attack SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a suspected case of spying on Indias military activities at the border by the Pakistani intelligence agency, a man introducing himself as an army officer telephoned the Jaisalmer BSNL office to obtain information on the armys call details. According to sources, the caller first hacked a Delhi telephone number and then used that number to call the BSNL office, successfully gleaning the information. The call, identified as originating in Pakistan, took place on an as-of-now unidentified date around three months ago, when the army was conducting an exercise in the Falsund area of Jaisalmer. The incident came to light after the intelligence wing tracked the call and informed BSNL authorities. Yogesh Bhaskar, district telecom manager at the Jaisalmer BSNL office, confirmed the report. He said that when the incident occurred, his office had issued the army with a temporarily connection. The caller, who got in touch with Jaweri Lal, a clerk in the accounts section, identified himself as an army officer and complained about the bill on the temporary line. Lal, without ensuring the security aspect of the same, shared the call details. In wake of the incident, security agencies have sent out an alert, cautioning officials posted near the western border against such calls. The intelligence wing has also directed the BSNL office to ensure that all security measures are taken before sharing any details. This is not the first time a fake phone call from across the border was used to glean information. On June 18, 2014, a man introducing himself as an army officer called up Barmers deputy conservator of forests from a Pakistani number and attempted to extract information about forest land near army and air force establishments. Afghanistans hot war is behind the rising Indo-Pakistan temperatures. This school of thought is being taken seriously by the Indian government. In its view, a thread connects Indias decision to provide arms to Afghanistan in December, the recent attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif and possibly the Pathankot attack. Pakistans military has been infuriated at Indias decision to provide four Mi-25 helicopter gunships to the Afghan national army, say senior Indian officials. The attack on the Mazar consulate in northern Afghanistan, reportedly carried out by Pakistani servicemen, was a direct response. The choice of Pathankot a base for other Mi-25s was probably influenced by the Afghan gambit. Rawalpindi, it is believed, is sending clear and blunt messages to India to stop providing lethal weaponry to support the Kabul regime. New Delhi does not hide it is providing such arms to undermine Pakistani attempts to force Kabul into accepting a negotiated settlement with the Afghan Taliban. Read | Pak military officers behind Indian consulate attack: Afghan police Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just days after the first Mi-25s arrived in Afghanistan, said in Kabul, Terror and violence cannot be the instrument to shape Afghanistans future or dictate the choices Afghans make. There is a link, says General Pravin Sawhney (retd), Afghan expert at the Vivekananda Foundation. Though the helicopters may not seem much, they are symbolically powerful. Rawalpindi wants the Afghans to feel helpless. Omar Hamid, country risk manager for IHS Janes, adds, Indian intervention beyond training and provision of equipment would be seen as a red line by Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban. But there will be a parallel game by Pakistan, says Sushant Sareen of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, to lean on the Afghans to distance themselves from India. This will come into play, he feels, if the quadrilateral diplomatic talks between Kabul, Islamabad, Beijing and Washington begin to move forward. India should brace for more attacks and diplomatic manoeuvring orchestrated by the Pakistani military. Whatever the threat, says Sawhney, there should be no pulling back from Afghanistan. A key signal India could send is to accept an Afghan request that it train pilots. Read More Suspense over India-Pak talks after reports say Jaish chief detained Jihadis cant set the agenda for India-Pak dialogue Pak army has derailed the peace process many times in past: Army chief Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday formed a six-member committee to investigate allegations regarding the Pathankot attack, the latest in a series of steps by his government after India blamed the Jaish-e-Mohammed for the assault. The committee will investigate allegations regarding involvement of individuals in the Pathankot incident, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Additional inspector general Rai Tahir of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province will be convener of the committee, while additional IG Salahuddin Khan of the CTD of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Intelligence Bureau director Azeem Arshad, Federal Investigation Agency director Usman Anwar, brigadier Noman Saeed of the ISI, and Lt Col Irfan Mirza of Military Intelligence will be its members. Pakistan had earlier in the day detained Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and some of his key aides, hours after Islamabad announced a crackdown on the banned group. The report of Azhars detention came after Pakistan expressed its desire to send a special team of investigators to India to further probe into the attack on the Pathankot airbase. Following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the government announced it had also begun tracing and sealing the offices of the JeM. The group was banned in 2002 but continues to be active in several areas, including Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Azhar formed the JeM after being freed from an Indian prison with two other militants in exchange for an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar in 2000. Pakistan was apparently spurred to act following pressure from the US and India. Opium-addicted nilgais in Madhya Pradesh have devised a cunning plan to get their daily fix with even electrified fences failing to deter them, say distressed local farmers. The animals test the fences with the tips of their tails and withdraw if sparks fly. But if it turns out to be an ordinary fence or if there is a power cut, they examine the strength of the barrier and either try to break it or leap over. About 30,000 cultivators in the states Mandsaur, Neemuch and Ratlam districts grow opium poppy and now the plants are in full bloom. Legal cultivation of opium for medicinal purposes is carried out in certain parts of India under strict licensing conditions. But the nilgais, the largest antelopes in Asia, are addicted to the plant and stop at nothing to get to it. After consuming the plants these animals become intoxicated and cause massive damage to the crops. The farmers are not allowed to kill these animals and have to guard their crops every night. Locals recently held a demonstration in Neemuch demanding action and plan to organise a fast unto death this year. If the nilgai will eat the opium flower, how will we produce 56 kg in a hectare (the maximum limit) and in the next few years our licence will be taken back. The government should look at us and solve our problem, said opium cultivator Rajesh Patidar. Divisional forest officer Mahendra Singh Sisodia said till 2012 crop loss caused by nilgai was compensated by his department but after that the matter was handed over to the revenue department. Two days after the Supreme Court questioned the ban on women of procreative age at Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), which manages temple affairs, put up a brave face saying age-old customs and traditions cant be changed overnight. The TDB will file a fresh affidavit in apex court saying it favored continuation of ban on women in the age group of 10 and 50. Since the presiding deity is a naishtika brahmchari (eternal celibate) women of menstruating age have been barred at the hill shrine from time immemorial and there is no plan to dilute this now, said TDB. While hearing a 10-year old petition filed by Young Lawyers Association the court had observed that the practice of barring women at the temple could not have a constitutional validity. The observation has triggered a raging debate in the state. TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishan has blamed the affidavit filed by the previous LDF government for raking up the whole issue. Each temple has its own custom and tradition. In Attukkal Devi temple in Thiruvananthapuram men are not allowed to do pongala (a special offering). It is not a gender issue but tradition of each shrine, he said adding the observation was made without examining rituals of the temple and presiding deity. The board will soon implead in the case. The state government has also supported the TDB. The government wants status quo. We dont want to meddle with the age-old custom of the temple, said temple affairs minister V S Sivakumar. The supreme priest of the temple (tantri), who is considered a last word on temple rituals, also echoed the same saying it cant be treated as a mere gender issue. Complying with the ongoing practice of the each temple is a must for healthy survival of religious places, said supreme priest of the temple Kandararu Rajivaru. The Viswa Hindu Pairshad also backed the TDB saying rituals and tradition should be left to respective shrines. Though the left front has welcomed the observation it is cautious enough in the election year saying it wanted a healthy discussion not an immediate solution to the vexed issue. There is no basis in the argument that no women in 10-50 age-group ever visited the temple. There is enough proofs that women members of erstwhile Travancore royal family visited the temple, said former Devasom Minister G Sudhakaran of the CPI (M). However the petitioner (Young lawyers association of India) argued that it was a social malady perpetuated by the state government through its statutory board (TDB) and it couldnt be given a legal entity. It is pity to say that the Lord cant keep his brahmcharya if women entered the temple, said a woman activist adding priests and authorities often find excuses in coincidences and contradictions to buttress their point. Pilgrimage to Sabarimala is unique in many ways. A devotee has to take 41 days fast (vrat) abstaining from all worldly pleasures followed by a rigorous trek through forests. In black attire, for the pilgrim it is a ritual to cleanse his body and mind. Once he dons black attire hes known as swami. Unlike Guruvayur Sree Kirshna temple where non-Hindus are barred here all believers can worship. Interestingly Lord Ayyappas favorite disciple is a Muslim Vavar Swami and devotees have to worship first at his mosque before proceeding to the hilltop shrine. Ban on women came to limelight in 2006 when Kannada actor Jaimala claimed that she had entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple while she was young (28years ago). Later the temple had filed a case against her saying she hurt religious belief of millions of devotees. Many women activists came to her rescue and in 2006 Young Lawyers Association had moved the apex court questioning the decision of the temple. Sabarimala (situated in the western ghat mountain ranges of Pathanamthitta district about 1600 feet above sea level) is considered second largest seasonal pilgrimage after Mecca. Last year more than 3.2 crore pilgrims visited the hill shrine (states population is 3.25 crore) during the three-month season (November to January) _ most the pilgrims are from neighboring states Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 60 years the shrine had also witnessed three major mishaps_ in 1952 65 pilgrims charred to death after a cracker unit caught fire, 1999 54 trampled to death when a pathway caved in and 2011, 110 killed in a similar stampede in Pullumedu. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The trust of the famous Shani Shingnapur Temple in Maharashtras Ahmednagar district may have broken with tradition to appoint a female chief last week but the move appears symbolic as women are still barred entry into the popular shrine. The appointment of Anita Shete is being seen as a damage-control exercise to thwart an attempt by womens groups to stage a massive protest on January 26 and touch the deity, breaching a decades-old tradition. Shete too has said she would not take any step to challenge the tradition at the village, located 330 kilometers north-east of Mumbai. I have a deep faith in different traditions at Shani Shingnapur village. I will not do anything that will break those traditions, said Shete, who comes from a family that had held key positions in the temple committee. The move comes in the backdrop of a popular movement to push for womens entry into the holy shrine. A group of young women entered the sanctum sanctorum last year and one person climbed the platform and touched the presiding deity, Shani. This sparked outrage among the local residents, who purified the idol with a cleansing ceremony on November 28, triggering widespread criticism across the state. Controversial BJP legislator Sangeet Som has issued an ultimatum to the Baghpat Police saying if they failed to arrest those behind the rape and murder of a Class 9 student by January 18 he will begin a stir to seek justice. Over 50,000 people will block the Delhi-Saharanpur highway if the police fail to arrest the criminals before the deadline, Som said on Tuesday while addressing a panchayat of villagers. The panchayat was convened to decide the future course of action and to mount pressure on the police to arrest the criminals. The girl was abducted on December 31 on her way to school from her village Khindauri. Her body was recovered from the jungle of a nearby village on January 9. A medical report confirmed rape after which angry villagers decided to convene a panchayat and demand the immediate arrest of criminals. The Bharatiya Janata Party MLA also asked every participant of the panchayat to bring 10 people to attend the girls terahvi (a mourning ritual) on January 18. He also said that he would ask his supporters to join the ritual in large numbers and thereafter protest on the streets the if police failed to arrest those behind the crime. BJP MP Satyapal Singh also consoled the aggrieved family and sought information regarding the development in the case from district police. Baghpat superintendent of police Ravi Shankar Chavi claimed that a few suspects have been detained for interrogation and that police have received some vital clues. We will crack the case soon, Chavi told Hindustan Times over the phone. Bahujan Samaj Party leader and MLA Hemlata Chauhan attacked the ruling Samajwadi Party government over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. Chauhan also said that SP workers will launch a movement if the girls killers are not arrested. The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed one of two Italian marines facing murder charges over the deaths of two Kerala fishermen to stay in his home country until April 30 following heart surgery. The decision defuses a possible judicial standoff after an Italian senator said the day before that Massimiliano Latorre would not return to face trial as he had been due to by this Friday, having earlier been allowed home for medical treatment. We allow him to stay in Italy until April 30 on health grounds, a three-judge bench of Indias highest court, headed by Justice Anil R Dave, said in its order. The Supreme Court set a hearing on April 13 to take up the case of the marines, who stand accused of killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast almost four years ago in an anti-piracy operation that went tragically wrong. The second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, remains at the Italian embassy in New Delhi. In this file photograph, Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre (R) and Salvatore Girone (L) are seen arriving at Ciampino airport near Rome. (AFP photo) Italy and India have been at loggerheads over who has jurisdiction over the case, and Italy has sought international arbitration. The fallout from Indias arrest of the Italian marines has damaged wider relations between the two countries, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. In another case this week, a court in Tamil Nadu sentenced 35 crew members of a private American ship - 25 of them foreigners - to five years in jail for illegal possession of arms in Indian waters. Read: BJP says govt may take action in Italian marines case Suspense over scheduled talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan lingered on Wednesday with New Delhi waiting for Islamabad to officially announce action on the Jaish-e-Mohammad, blamed for the Pathankot airbase attack. Sources said the dialogue slated for January 15 hangs in the balance but the government is expected to make an announcement on Thursday. We need to verify the action Pakistan has taken on the basis of the statement they made on Wednesday, sources said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. PTI said late on Wednesday night quoting officials that a decision on the talks was deferred till the return of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval from Paris. The JeM was blamed by Indian authorities for the brazen assault on the Pathankot airbase, which killed seven security personnel. India has sought prompt and decisive action by Pakistan on actionable intelligence regarding the attack. The immediate stumbling block seems to be the reported preventive custody of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and some of his aides with no official confirmation coming from Pakistan. The news, which some sources said could be misleading, played out in the Indian media, raising expectation levels. Our decision will be based on the objective action Pakistan has taken in this regard as enunciated in a press release by them, said a source. A release from the Pakistan prime ministers office had said, Considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. Read| Kandahar hijacking, Parliament attack: 10 things to know about Azhar Based on initial investigations in Pakistan and the information provided by India, several individuals belonging to JeM have been apprehended and the offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed, said the statement. The same release had said that in the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the Government of Pakistan is considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India. Azhars brother Mufti Abdur Rauf and his brother-in-law Ashfaq Ahmed were detained along with him on Monday, Reuters quoted two unnamed officials as saying. We will keep them for as long as we need to carry out our investigation over Indias claims about the attack. We are resolved to take this investigation to its conclusion, a senior intelligence told Reuters. Azhar formed the JeM after being freed from an Indian prison with two other militants in exchange for an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar in 2000. The group was banned in 2002 but continues to be active in several areas, including Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The report of Azhars detention came soon after Pakistan said it wants to send a special team to India to investigate the attack on the Pathankot airbase, for which an unspecified number of JeM operatives had been apprehended. Following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the government announced it had also begun tracing and sealing the offices of the JeM. Read: PM Sharif forms six-member committee to investigate Pathankot Pakistan was apparently spurred to act following pressure from the US and India and was appeared to be aimed at salvaging a planned meeting of the foreign secretaries on January 15. India has linked the talks to action against perpetrators of the Pathankot attack. The meeting chaired by Sharif, also attended by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, noted that considerable progress had been made in the drive against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. The actions taken by Pakistan were reminiscent of its moves in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, carried out by a 10-member LeT squad. Following pressure from the world community, the government had placed Hafiz Saeed and other leaders under house arrest and sealed offices of the LeT and its front organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawah. Within six months, they were freed and the LeT resumed its activities after changing its name. (With agency inputs from Islamabad) BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for moving the Supreme Court to seek day-to-day hearing of civil appeals in the Ram Janmabhoomi case. I have written to the prime minister in this connection. The case regarding the Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh should be heard on a day-to-day basis, Swamy told media persons here. The BJP leader sought early verdict in the issue and start of the Ram temple construction in Ayodhya by the year-end. The moment the court verdict is out, we will start work on the Ram temple construction. We want to start the construction work before this year-end. We will talk to Muslim leaders and find an early solution, he said. Swamy also said he will convince leaders like Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party is in power in the state, and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for the temple construction. I am confident that Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is a believer of Hanuman, and BSP leader Mayawati will both agree for an amicable solution, he said. Asked whether the BJP was on the same page with him on the issue, he said construction of the Ram temple was mentioned in the partys manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha election. It was in the Lok Sabha election manifesto of our party. No one will go against the party manifesto. This is a full time work (Ram temple). The prime minister will run the nation and I will work towards the construction of the Ram temple, Swamy said. The BJP manifesto, in two brief lines on the last page under the heading cultural heritage, reiterated the partys stand on the construction of the Ram temple at the site of the demolished Babri mosque. The BJP reiterates its stand to explore all possibilities within the framework of the constitution to facilitate the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the manifesto had said. As for a controversial seminar held at Delhi University on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue last week, Swamy said more such seminars should be held across the country. The two-day seminar on Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple: Emerging Scenario was organised at the arts faculty from January 9 by Arundhati Vashishtha Anusandhan Peeth. Such a seminar should be organised in Jawaharlal Nehru University too, Swamy said. JNU in New Delhi is a reputed bastion of Left-leaning student outfits who strongly opposed the Delhi University decision to allow the seminar, alleging it will communalise the campus. The BJP leader said such seminars will be organised across India and he had already received offers from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for the same. Acting on a bunch of appeals, the apex court stayed the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict that divided the 2.77-acre site into three parts. It also ordered status quo at the site but restrained any religious activity on the 67 acres of adjoining land taken over by the Centre. On the violence in Malda in West Bengal, Swamy said Home Minister Rajnath Singh should exercise his powers under Article 256 and give directions to the Mamata Banerjee government that it was not performing its duty as per the Constitution. Swamy also said there was no use talking to Pakistan as it was a dumb government and the real government there was of the ISI, Taliban and military. Monkeys in Uttarakhand might be ailing with tuberculosis, claims conservator of forest (CF) Western Circle. With unchecked introduction of the population from neighbouring states like Delhi, UP and Haryana in Uttarakhand, chances of its spread are high, support experts too. Under such circumstances, monkey attacks could lead to serious threats to locals. According to Surendra Mehra, CF Western Circle which envelopes five forest divisions-Ramnagar, Haldwani, Terai East, Terai West and Terai central, during assessment of primates in December 2015, he observed diseased monkeys. While no scientific test has been conducted to ascertain the disease, he raised concern over their illness. The monkeys that we observed during direct count method of survey conducted in December 2015 looked diseased. One could easily make out that they are unhealthy based on their aggression and behavior. As tuberculosis is the most prevalent disease reported in the specie, we fear they might be ailing with it, though we havent tested it yet. Primates that are not competitive and have tendency to get feed easily, fall prey to this disease, Mehra told Hindustan Times. Read more: Now, people to be fined for feeding monkeys in Uttarakhand Another officer supported his stance quoting how tuberculosis was reported some years back in Delhi as well. Captive monkeys tend to catch tuberculosis. It was reported in Delhi too. Monkeys are brought from other states and released here. Theres a possibility that the pathogen is transported from other states through the specie and might be spreading in our state as well, Tejaswini Patil, divisional forest officer (DFO) Nainital and director Pt. GB Pant High Altitude Zoo, Nainital said. People feed monkeys with cold drink, potato chips, packaged snack, bread, and even toffees, which according to experts isnt healthy for their digestive system. Such monkeys even feed on leftovers and garbage because of which become susceptible to the disease. Monkey attacks therefore, would pose threat to victims. However, no such incident has been reported in state so far where monkey attack victim has died, claims forest department. Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of Indias (WII) scientist, PK Mallik however, explains the mechanism behind it. Captive monkeys, if carry pathogen of tuberculosis, could be a threat. Theres a possibility that the pathogen might adapt to new environment, or may not or even start living in symbiotic association with the host. Whats complex is their screening. There should be clear guidelines whether translocated monkeys are screened for the disease or not. And, how often screening and blood tests of local monkeys are conducted he said. Another expert from the institute, Dr SP Goyal, forensic expert informed about the behavioral changes in diseased monkeys. He said, Diseased monkeys will look vulnerable, aggressive, with injuries, diluted skin color and others such traits. They could be easily identified from the healthy lot. According to Digvijay Khati, chief wildlife warden, there are an estimated 5 lakh monkeys in state. Needless to mention, man-monkey conflict is extremely high in state and therefore, the department started sterilization of monkeys in October 2015 that is progressive at Chidiapur rescue centre at Haridwar. Nearly 200 monkeys from haridwar city have been sterilized as per official figures and were released in wild. Meanwhile, the department has also issued order on January 2 to conduct special drives on Tuesdays and Saturdays that are believed to be the days of Lord Hanuman and penalize persons feeding the species. Clear linkages are emerging between the Pathankot attacks and an earlier suicide attack carried out by Pakistani terrorists in Samba of Jammu last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials said. The federal anti-terror agency continued to question senior Punjab police official Salwinder Singh for the third day on Wednesday. During searches by the NIA, one wireless set of Chinese make was recovered in Salwinders SUV in which the terrorists travelled to Air Force base on the night of December 31st January 1st, 2016. Data in the wireless set was deleted, said the home ministry in a statement. The officials said the recovered wireless set is similar to a wireless recovered from the site of attack in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir last year. Two terrorists dressed in army uniform crossed the international border, hijacked a jeep and stormed a police station in Kathua district of Jammu in March last year. Four people were killed in the attack. The next day another attack was carried out by terrorists at an army camp in Samba. In the Pathankot attack as well, terrorists hijacked two vehicles to reach the airbase before carrying out a suicide attack. The NIA officials said the wireless set was recovered while scanning the area for evidence. The data in the set was found deleted. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) were helping to retrieve the data. The NIA has also ascertained the route taken by terrorists from the point of abduction of Salwinder Singh and to the air base. Now the agency teams are collecting CCTV footage on the route taken by terrorists to air base. The agency is also looking for evidence like clothes and electronic items of the attackers along the route taken by them. Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Salwinder Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by the Pathankot attackers, will join the probe at the NIA headquarters on Thursday. The agency has also summoned Salwinders cook Madan Gopal as well. They will be jointly interrogated by the agency sleuths. A Hindu outfit, Hindu Jagaran Manch, on Wednesday gave a call for anishchitkaleen bandh (indefinite bandh) to be started from Thursday following the alleged interruption in the Shaurya Yatra organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal on Sunday. They asked the traders and businessmen to keep their establishments closed until further notice. Hindu Jagaran Manch alleged that town inspector of Kotwali Jaigopal Chauksey was biased against their community and should be suspended. The outfit said recently an office-bearer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was attacked but Chauksey did not even register a case when he complained. Each and every action by me was as per the law and I was not biased against any community, said Chauksey. Superintendent of police of Dewas Sashikant Shukla also told HT that Chaukseys role in the whole case was not biased and he will not be suspended. If they have declared a bandh, the police are ready to take action against the people who will disturb the peace in the city. Section 144 of CrPC is clamped in the city and action will be taken as per law, the SP said. Shukla said extra police forces of Central Reserve Police Force had been called in to prevent any untoward incidents in the city. Some policemen were also called in from Ujjain, he added. Two policemen were injured in Manavar of Dhar on Tuesday after members of two communities threw stones at each other and set more than a dozen shops on fire after slogan-shouting during Shaurya Yatra procession sparked tension. Hindu right-wing organisation allegedly shouted slogans against Muslims while taking out Shaurya Yatra procession. The Dhar administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC in the city and deployed extra police forces in the town. Cases of rioting have been registered. The incident took place a day after members of the two communities threw stones at each other in Mandsaur after Shaurya Yatra procession. Police said members of the communities in Dhar pelted stones at each other for more than an hour, injuring two additional superintendents of police deployed at the site. More than a dozen of shops were set on fire by the people. Shehar Qazi Manavar Jameel Sidiqqui told HT that the administration had not convened any meeting before they took out Shaurya Yatra on Sunday and no arrangements were made for peaceful procession. The tension started when some members of the procession forcibly removed religious flags from some houses of Gandhi Colony and then started shouting derogatory slogans, he said. He said all the shops which were burnt were owned by Muslim community and no attempts were made by the administration to douse the fire. Dhar district collector Jayshri Kiyawat said the situation was under control and all measures had been taken to prevent any untoward incident. The number of crimes reported from Mumbais west region in 2015 was more or less the same as in the previous year. A total of 11,007 crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were reported from the region in 2014, and this number rose marginally to 11,204 between January and December last year. The polices detection rate (that is, the percentage of crimes in which police investigations led to the arrest of a suspect), however, dropped slightly from 60% in 2014 to just under 57% in 2015. Easily the most high-profile case from this region in 2015 was the Sheena Bora murder. It was initially investigated by the Khar police before the state government asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe, which was spread across Mumbai, Raigad, Kolkata and Guwahati. The case was unearthed almost by chance with the arrest of Shyamwar Rai, a former driver of media mogul Indrani Mukerjea, under the Arms Act in August. In custody, Rai told the police about a body later confirmed to be that of Indranis daughter Sheena Bora buried in a thicket in Raigad. This led the police to arrest Rai and his former boss Indrani and charge them with murder. Rakesh Maria, then commissioner of police, was criticised for his handling of the case, and when his successor Ahmad Javed admitted he knew the Mukerjeas socially, the state government recommend that the case be transferred to the CBI, which arrested Indranis husband Peter Mukerjea shortly after taking over the probe. While the number of murder reported and solved remained almost unchanged from 2014, the number of dacoities increased from 10 in 2014 to 20 in 2015, and robberies from 206 in 2014 to 265 in 2015. Another case that grabbed the headlines was the assault on 69-year-old Harishchandra Mishra. In August, Mishra was attacked with sickles and robbed by a group of men who broke into his beachfront Juhu bungalow. Crimes against women up 37% On April 3 last year, a 28-year-old model who had gone to meet a friend at a five-star hotel in Sakinaka was allegedly kidnapped by three plainclothes cops from Sakinaka police station. They took her to the police station and then to a nearby police chowky where they allegedly molested and raped her after threatening to charge her with prostitution. The policemen were arrested on April 23 after the model sent a text message to then police commissioner Rakesh Maria. Across the citys west region, which covers 21 police stations from Bandra to Jogeshwari, the number of crimes against women rose 37% from 2014. The police registered 184 cases of rape in 2015, 27 more than in the previous year. The police also registered cases of 232 women being kidnapped three times as many as in 2014, when 76 such cases were registered. Shehzad Ansari, 40, accused in one of the 184 cases of rape, was arrested by the Amboli police in October 2015 after he allegedly raped two eight-year-old girls in Jogeshwari (W) by luring them with chocolates. In another major case the same month, a 17-year-old girl who studied at a convent school in Bandra died two days after delivering a baby boy. She had allegedly been raped by a close relative. The child survived. Then in November, a US national was allegedly molested by her drunken domestic help in Khar. Across the region, the police registered 568 cases of outraging the modestly of a woman in 2015, 92 more than in the previous year. Speaking about the rise in the number of rape cases, assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Kadam said, In most cases, the victim knows the assailant, and because of this, many cases used to go unreported. But with increased awareness, more women are coming forward to register rape cases against people they know. After the tremendous flak it received for the incorrect markings in the draft Development Plan (DP), the civic body has decided not to make extra information on the plan public. What this means is that you will now be able to see only the basic markings in the draft DP 2034, as seen in the current road survey updated on the website. So road lines (RLs) and widening of existing roads will not be visible a dangerous sign because citizens will not know if their property will be affected by these proposed projects. Road-widening proposals and RLs (they mark the width of existing roads) were mentioned in the draft released in February 2015, which received criticism, with various citizens objecting to their building compounds, trees and other existing structures being affected. Read: Maharashtra CM steps in to save koliwadas marked as slums in the DP According to a civic official, who did not wish to be named, omitting this information means the roads can be widened without any mention of it in the DP. Another civic official, however, said this was a routine practise and even the 1991 DP did not mark RLs and road-widening projects. The civic body also specified it will not be liable to acquire private layout roads marked in the DP. A civic official, requesting anonymity, said, This decision was taken to avoid criticism. The roads can still be widened if the traffic department demands it and the traffic police grant the necessary permissions. There was no mention of road-widening projects in the 1991 DP and we made a mistake by incorporating it in the February 2015 draft. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act empowers the civic body to take a call on the widening of existing roads and road lines. A road is widened after a proper traffic survey is carried out and permissions from the traffic police department are received, said civic chief Ajoy Mehta. The Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), executive director, Pankaj Joshi, said, This information should be shown in the DP so that people know if their property is affected by a road-widening proposal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday expressed his displeasure over his partys handling of issues such as the legislative council elections, where local leaders worked against the Congress candidates, and the arrest of party corporators in Thane in connection with a builders suicide, at a high-level meeting of party leaders at the YB Chavan Centre. The party has decided to get aggressive over the Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments alleged failure in reducing the hardships of farmers suffering from drought and crop loss. Senior NCP leaders will chalk out a strategy in a meet next week. According to sources, the NCP chief was unhappy with the loss of partys Solapur candidate Deepak Salunkhe in the council elections. Pawar was of the view that the loss was a reaction to the partys strategy to give tacit support to partys rebel candidate Prasad Lad against Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap in Mumbai, said a senior NCP leader, requesting anonymity. Read: Congress future looks uncertain, says Sharad Pawar Pawar indicated that NCPs poor strategy in supporting rebel candidate (Prasad Lad) to give a blow to its alliance partner Congress in the polls had eventually failed. The Congress not only succeeded in retaining the Mumbai seat, but also, in retaliation, managed to defeat NCPs Solapur candidate, he pointed out. Pawar seemed to be in favour of supporting the corporators from the party who have been arrested in the Suraj Parmar suicide case. He said the party should rethink its strategies, sources said. Elaborating on the meet, state NCP president Sunil Tatkare said the party will take on the government over its failure on drought mitigation. We will take up the issue as there is no water left in Marathwada region. The days to come will be very serious for them, Tatkare said. He said senior party leaders will soon hold a meeting to decide on its plans for taking up the cause. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a curious twist to Punjabs political history, a Badal may soon be officially in the Congress. Peoples Party of Punjab president Manpreet Badal, the estranged nephew of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, is likely to merge his fledgling party into the Congress in the run-up to the 2017 polls. Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said the PPP is likely to merge into the Congress. Even before taking over as the state unit president, I had said all secular parties should come together to topple the SAD-BJP regime. We will welcome Manpreet into the Congress fold. But the stage now has moved beyond talks of coalition. By merging the PPP into the Congress, there will be no wrangling over number of seats and candidates of both will get equal opportunity, Amarinder told HT. Manpreet had on Tuesday said he was in talks with the Congress. Though not ruling out the possibility of a merger, he had, however, remained non-committal on if a decision in this regard had been taken. Speculations are rife that Manpreet met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at New Delhi recently along with Amarinder and the three are slated to meet again this week to finalise the arrangement. Manpreet, who will be skipping the Maghi Mela conference this time, had been busy holding meetings with his partys central committee and district office-bearers on possibility of a merger. Meeting point: Poll defeats, AAP Though Manpreet likes to put common agenda and ideology as the meeting ground between the PPP and the Congress, the merger will be more out of political exigency, The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party as a third and formidable contender in Punjabs poll scene and electoral setbacks in the 2012 assembly polls and later in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections has forced both the Congress and the PPP to scout for allies. After failing to win a single seat in the 2012 elections, Manpreet had contested the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat on the Congress symbol and nearly ambushed Badals daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal, had the AAP not sliced away a major chunk of votes. Though an alliance with the Congress would have helped him retain the party and its presidency, the PPP has virtually been pushed into oblivion as it lacks both money and organisational power. The AAP factor has also eroded its relevance as a third force, forcing Manpreet to give up his idealism for pragmatism. As for Amarinder, unlike 2012, the reality has finally dawned on him that the Congress alone cannot pull off a victory on the hustings. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) is in the process of preparing the budget for 2016-17, but it has shown poor record in utilising funds allocated in the 2015-16 budget. Official records reveal that the MC spent only 55% of the total funds allocated to it under the plan head for 201516 till December 31. According to the budget report prepared till December 31, of the Rs 348 crore plan head budget, the MC was able to spend only Rs 190 crore. The plan head includes expenditure that is meant to create new infrastructure and capital assets. The civic body has not even spent a single penny out of the Rs 17 crore allocated for the fire and emergency services. Even on primary education, the MC has spent just 5% of the total budget allocated, and just 3% on dispensaries. Of the Rs 20 crore allocated under the planned budget to primary education, the MC has just spent Rs 1 crore. Similarly, Rs 23 crore was allocated to the primary health sector, but the MC managed to utilise only Rs 1.31 crore. Sources say the authorities have shown reluctance in utilising funds even as buildings of most schools and dispensaries need renovation. Officials have not even formulated proposals for maintenance and upkeep of these buildings. The MC has also not shown interest in improving the firefighting equipment in the city as the entire amount of Rs 17 crore lay unspent till December 31. The MCs fire and emergency wing has been struggling with staff shortage and lack of hi-tech equipment. The department has 362 vacancies and is without a permanent chief fire officer for over 10 years. It is short of 30 leading firemen and all seven fire stations in the city need an overhaul. Even as the UT administration sanctioned 262 posts against 500 vacant posts, the MC is yet to start the recruitment process. MC joint commissioner Varinder Chaudhary, however, said the figures were not correct. We have spent money on repairs of fire-fighting vehicles and renovation of all fire stations is also on. We are holding a meeting in this regard on Wednesday, he said. Chairperson of the MCs primary school committee Sheela Devi admitted that the condition of dispensaries and schools have deteriorated. We are helpless as we do have any powers. Moreover, officials have not taken initiatives to improve the state schools in the past four years, she said. BJP councillor Satinder Singh said: Action should be taken against officials who have failed to utilise the allocated funds for development. Former Mayor Poonam Sharma said: Though the administration has handed over the departments to the MC, but the power has not been devolved. We were not given staff and we dont even have power to recruit staff. For fire services, it is the duty of the officer concerned to present the agenda before the fire sub-committee. I dont know why it has not been done. When contacted, MC chief accounts officer Uma Shankar said: In most cases, officials concerned dont take interest and in some cases drawings are not cleared by the UT administration, so the projects get delayed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday impleaded Amrik Singh, father of a youth murdered by controversial former cop Gurmeet Singh Pinky in 2001, as party to the latters petition challenging his dismissal. While posting the matter for further hearing on March 21, the single-judge bench of justice GS Sandhawalia allowed Amriks application seeking his impleadment. The father, while opposing Pinkys reinstatement, had argued that he was an affected party and wanted to submit important facts and evidence and present his side to the high court regarding his sons death. Earlier, the Punjab government blamed then deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Ludhiana range, for wrongly reinstating Pinky. He was re-appointed in the police force on May 16, through a DIGs order, which was later set aside by an inspector general (IG) on May 20. In this petition, Pinky has challenged the May 20 order. Pinky had in January 2001 gunned down Avtar Singh, the only son of his parents, over a petty issue. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Pinky was released on May 24, 2014. With the poaching games in full swing ahead of the high-stakes Punjab assembly elections, Manpreet Singh Badal, president of the Peoples Party of Punjab has, for once, become a new political suitor wooed both by the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. For him, time has come to take that critical call whom to go with to resurrect his fledgling political career and that of his party pushed to the margins of state politics. In an interview to assistant editor Sukhdeep Kaur at Chandigarh on Tuesday, Manpreet admitted that he was keen to join AAP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and is now in talks with the Congress. But, the astute politician that he is, Manpreet is hedging his bets. Reports suggest that he is flirting with AAP, too, clearly aiming to derive the best political bargain. Q: There is never-ending speculation on your joining the AAP or the Congress. Has the PPP lost the plot in Punjab politics? Manpreet: The agenda we set out remains sacrosanct. If somebody is willing to accept our agenda, we can together work towards achieving it. We are in talks with the Congress but we do not want to piggyback on any party for winning seats in the assembly polls. It would be based on a common ideology. We have contested the Lok Sabha, zila parishad and panchayat elections together with the Congress and the results have been encouraging for both parties. Q. In the 2012 elections, it was the PPP which was in the reckoning as the third force. Now it is the Aam Aadmi Party. Has political exigency forced you to scout for allies? A. I gave my best shot to putting forward a third alternative in Punjab politics. We thought the message was more powerful than money. Somehow, I was not accepted by the people. Also, the PPP did not have the kind of money or management talent that AAP has. So, we were not short of ideology but money and poll managers. We were also open to having an alliance with AAP during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but they said their constitution did not allow it. For the state polls, we are looking at aligning with the Congress. All my life, I have been told that I have to be pragmatic. I was called an idealist, emotional, ungrateful and overambitious. There was pragmatism in continuing as the CMs nephew and Punjab finance minister. But I choose to remain an idealist. On allies, I should be honest. Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Q. Now you are warming up to Amarinder, who during the 2012 state polls had dismissed you as a summer storm. A. That was just political bravado. We were political opponents for more than 20 years. But even as an opponent, he is honourable and honest. Even his opponents admit he is charismatic. Q. But what is the meeting ground for you two other than poll defeats and AAP? A. We are willing to come together on the common agenda such as ending VIP culture, freeing Punjab of debt and corruption, and ending political interference in policing. If the Congress can ensure 10% growth in Punjabs GSDP (gross state domestic product) for five years, we will set no preconditions. Q. Will the PPP merge into the Congress or have a pre-poll pact? A. It is a hypothetical question. We are yet to reach that stage. Q. Amarinder has announced that the 2017 polls would be his last state elections. Many in the Congress feel a merger will pave the way for you, since you also carry the legacy of the Badal surname. A. The Badal surname has become the biggest hindrance. People of Punjab have become allergic to it. If my sole purpose in life was to rise in politics, I would not have left the Shiromani Akali Dal. But fame without honour is meaningless. Personally, founding the PPP and being its president has been the most fulfilling part of my life. I was finally able to do what I was born to do. Q. There have been reports that you met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday to seal the deal. A. I have not met Rahul. We have common friends as we both studied at the Doon School. I think we are allowed to meet socially. Q. There is also speculation that you and Rahul will together announce a merger on January 15 in New Delhi at a luncheon to be hosted by Amarinder. A. I am not aware of any such programme. Why would we not do so at the Maghi mela but a day later, if the reports are true? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who died on Wednesday, had refused to depose against Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw during an inquiry against the latter in 1962. Lt Gen Depinder Singh, who was military assistant to Manekshaw, revealed, Jacob was a man of tremendous character. When the inquiry was instituted against Manekshaw, he was one of the instructors at the (Defence Services) Staff College. At the time of the inquiry, Manekshaw was Major General and Commandant of the Staff College. His promotion was stalled due to the inquiry, said Lt Gen Singh, who later rose to become Army Commander of the Southern Command. There were 10 frivolous charges against Manekshaw, such as he was more loyal to the Queen of England than India, that he was more British than Indian, and that he liked pretty girls. There was also a charge of misuse of money. Three-four officers deposed against him, but others stood by him, including Jacob. But he was exonerated, said Lt Gen Singh, who authored Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw - Soldiering with Dignity. During an interaction at the Staff College in Wellington (Tamil Nadu) in 1998, Manekshaw had commented that then defence minister Krishna Menon and Chief of General Staff Lt Gen BM Kaul were against him. After the 1962 war, Menon and Kaul were removed. The inquiry was headed by Lt Gen Daulet Singh, then Army Commander of the Western Command. After his exoneration, Manekshaws file for promotion was sent to then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He passed it on to the cabinet secretary, who wrote on the file that if anything happened to Manekshaw, this would go down as the Dreyfus case. The PM gave his nod to Manekshaws promotion as Lt Gen, after which he headed 4 Corps and later became the Chief of Army Staff, leading India to victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Lt Gen Singh, who interacted extensively with Jacob during the 1971 war, said, He was very capable, very human and rose to become the Army Commander of the Eastern Command. He was an old-school soldier. Talking about the Jacob-Manekshaw ties, Lt Gen Singh said, Jacob was a great friend of Manekshaw and Mrs Manekshaw, but in his books, he gave the impression that he conducted the 1971 war himself. He even mentioned how during the war he once disobeyed the chiefs order, which was not true. He was a Chief of Staff and his job was to take the orders and pass them on. In his autobiography, An Odyssey in War and Peace, which was released in 2011, Lt Gen Jacob had mentioned that Manekshaw, who died in 2008, lacked strategic acumen, promoted sycophancy and angled for post-retirement prospects, as reported in HT (Gen Jacob blows away Sam myth, April 30, 2011). While serving as Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator, Lt Gen Jacob brought reforms in the functioning of the Defence Services Officers Institute (DSOI), Chandigarh. It is now under the Western Command and elections are held regularly. Earlier, it was mired in controversies, said Lt Gen Singh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Amid the tussle between Punjab and Haryana over the naming of recently launched Mohali Airport, Sehajdari Sikh party on Wednesday demanded that the terminal be christened after Sahibzada Ajit Singh. While addressing the media here on Wednesday, Dr Paramjeet Singh Ranu, national chief of Sehajdhari Sikh party said, the political controversy going on to name the new airport terminal at SAS Nagar is painful and it should end immediately by naming it on our Gurus kin Sahibzada Ajit Singhs name as this martyr is the real owner in the revenue record as the land of the Airport belongs to Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar now. Dr Ranu has also written to the prime minister and to the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana that it should be named as Sahibzada Ajit Singh International Airport to end all the controversies and politics on the name of terminal. The issue of naming the terminal is in controversy since last few months which has intensified after the CM of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar proposed it to be named after Dr Mangal Sein, a previous deputy CM of Haryana and Jan Sangh leader. The Punjab government has been trying to get the airport named after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Several discussions were held between the two states, however the issue remains unresolved. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday expressed grief over the demise of former state governor Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd) who passed away in Delhi at 92. In a condolence message here, Badal described Jacob as an able administrator, an astute military officer and a dedicated soldier besides a fine human being with qualities of the head and heart, who played a vanguard role in Indias victory in Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and liberation of Bangladesh. He recalled the outstanding services rendered by Jacob as the governor of Punjab and administrator of the union territory of Chandigarh. He expressed sympathy with the bereaved family. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in his condolence message, described Lt Gen Jacob as a brilliant army officer and governor. Punjab and Haryana governor Kaptan Singh Solanki said it was a tremendous loss to the country. Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, in her condolence message, remembered Jacob for his people-friendly policies and for paying surprise visits to public places to know ground realities during his tenure as the Punjab governor. A Sikh bus driver in Los Angeles was brutally assaulted and called a terrorist and a suicide bomber, the victims representatives said on Wednesday over two months after the incident was reported to the police. The Sikh Coalition group, is representing the victim Balwinder Jit Singh, who worked as a bus driver for 17 years. While he was being beaten by a passenger on November 6, Singh kept his foot on the brake of his bus to ensure the safety of the pedestrians and passengers. The assault left Singh in the hospital with a black eye, swollen and bruised face and jaw, and infection in his eye. Two months later, he continues to suffer from blurred vision and pain, the Sikh Coalition said. Singh, who is on the board of a recently-vandalised gurdwara in Buena Park, has retained the Sikh Coalition to represent him in this ongoing criminal investigation. Although he immediately reported the incident to the police, he delayed going public because he didnt know how to do so until he contacted the Sikh Coalition. I know that sharing my story sheds further light on the bigotry and hatred faced by communities across the nation. These crimes cannot be tolerated, he said in a statement issued through Sikh Coalition. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office, the individual responsible is currently in custody with the Los Angeles police department in a different criminal case. Police say the suspect potentially faces only misdemeanour assault charges for attacking Singh. These charges fail to capture the violent nature of the attack, and the anti-Sikh bias that precipitated it, the statement said adding that the Sikh Coalitions legal team is working with the local sheriffs department and the FBI to push for a hate crime investigation and prosecution. In the face of hateful rhetoric and the current climate of fear, we must ensure that all bias-based incidents are thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice, said the Sikh Coalitions senior staff attorney Gurjot Kaur. We cannot fight hate if law enforcement agencies ignore or fail to recognise hate crimes, she added. Punjab finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa on Wednesday acknowledged non-payment of taxes prevailing in the state, asserting a huge gap in meeting the tax revenue collection due to various factors. There are some loopholes that need to be plugged to check tax pilferage, Dhindsa said during an interaction with the media at the Chandigarh Press Club here. He said there was no data available that could reveal the tax pilferage. The minister said that taking the revenue growth to more than 12% would be his governments biggest challenge for the upcoming budget for the financial year 2016-17. He said the states next pay commission would soon be set up for which the terms and references would have to be revised as these were earlier rejected by the Centre. It would take a year or so to set up the pay commission, he added. Agreeing that the state government was mortgaging its assets, he said that so far it had transferred the assets like old buildings worth more than Rs 2,000 crore to either the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) or the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority to generate revenue capital. The minister maintained that the rate of increase in debt had lowered to 32% from 45% in 2002. The cash-starved state has been facing overdrafts more than once in the present fiscal, raising loans from the Reserve Bank of India. Dhindsa said the 14th finance commission had done great injustice to Punjab by not acknowledging the free power subsidy to farmers while deciding the revenue deficit grant to the state. If we are giving huge subsidies and sops to industrialists, why not to farmers, he asked. Tension escalated in Chamba on Wednesday as activists of various Hindu outfits and the Beopar Mandal held a demonstration in the hill-town to protest against an alleged incident of cow slaughter. The incident took place last Sunday in remote Renaula village of the district after which the police had arrested three people Safi Mohammad, Isrile and Raj Bali on the complaint of one Gulam Nabi. Activists of the Hindu organisations and locals gathered at the premises of ancient Luxmi-Narayan temple and took out a rally in the town demanding strict action against the people involved in the incident. They also cautioned the police to carry out transparent investigation into the case and make the findings public. The Chamba Beopar Mandal also gave a call to observe bandh in the town on Thursday. Sources said that a few miscreants had set fire to the fodder near the houses of the accused. Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Vir Bahadur Singh said sufficient security has been put in place in Renaula village to avoid any untoward incident. Meanwhile, the VHP hit back at Himachal Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Kumar, who had on Tuesday alleged that a few organisations were trying to create communal tension in Chamba. Addressing a press conference in Dharamshala, VHP state organising secretary Manoj Kumar said that if creating awareness among the people against cow is a crime they would commit it again and again. It is not VHP or Hindu organisations that are creating communal tension but the DGP, who is trying to downplay the incident, alleged Kumar. The cow slaughter incident in Chamba, the VHP leader said, came to the fore after a fight broke out among the people of a particular community over the cow liver. He doubted that the police would try to suppress the case by shows the cow flesh, sent to the forensic lab in Dharamshala, as that of a horse or a donkey. A community in Chamba is involved in cattle smuggling and cow slaughter, said Kumar. When we raised the Love Jihad issue last year, Kumar said, the VHP submitted a list of 182 missing girls with the state police. However, the GDP is now negating the fact, said Kumar, adding that even the police failed in finding the culprits, who wrote pro-Pakistan slogans in an under-construction building in Nerchowk of Mandi district, a year ago. The intelligence network of the police, Kumar said, was a total failure as they dont have information of Bangladeshi nationals living in the state. He said that the chief minister wanted to take action, but the police administration misled him on such sensitive issues. The VHP leader demanded capital punishment for crime of cow slaughter and life imprisonment to those involved in cattle smuggling and seizure of their property. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Reel is all set to replicate real life as actor Shruti Haasan will play daughter to actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan in a yet-untitled Tamil project. The film is expected to hit the floors very soon. This is the first time the father-daughter duo is teaming up. The film will be directed by veteran Malayalam filmmaker TK Rajeev Kumar. Contrary to the rumours, Kamal and his daughter are not coming together for upcoming Tamil comedy Appa Amma Vilayattu. This is a different project altogether and it will feature Shruti as Kamals daughter, said a source close to Haasan. Read: Kamal Haasan likely to be part of Benegal panel on censor board Since Kamal was already in talks with Rajeev for Appa Ammaa, he brought him on board to direct this film, which will feature his script. Kamal has been working on this script for a long time. The rest of the lead cast will be finalized in a couple of weeks, the source said, adding the team plans to go on the floors by this month end. Read: Hollywood will make in India if our workers are skilled, says Kamal Haasan Haasan is in talks with maestro Ilayaraja to compose the music for the film. In about a weeks time, both Ilayaraja and Shruti will officially be part of the project, the source added. The film will be shot in the US, where Haasan is currently finalising the locations. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop If you want to find the best airfare deal on your travel this year, a new report suggests booking about two months in advance for travel within North America, and to do so on the weekend. Those are among some of the findings in Preparing for Takeoff: Air travel outlook for 2016 prepared jointly by the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) and Expedia, which mined through reams of air travel data over the last two years to come up with a forecast on travel trends in 2016. Read: Breaking myths on air travel bookings Overall, results suggest that flyers can save 10% for economy class travel within North America if they buy tickets about two months -- specifically 57 days -- in advance. For long-haul flights, lead times are longer: The best deals for travel from North America to Europe for instance, are predicted to be found about six months out for a savings of 11%. Travelers in North America looking to fly to Asia-Pacific in 2016 may also want to get organized, as booking five months out can save them up to 13%. Read: Dont let jet lag ruin your trip, follow these 6 smart tips And contrary to their findings last year which identified Tuesday as the best day of the week to book, this years report found that odds of scoring a good deal run high when booking on the weekend. In Europe, travelers are advised to try booking tickets for destinations within the continent nearly five months in advance as well. The report also identified some of the most affordable intra-Europe routes expected for 2016, including Sweden and Berlin; Ireland and London; Brussels and Rome: Austria and Barcelona, all of which average less than $240 for return tickets. Actor Kiku Sharda, best known for his role as Palak on Comedy Nights with Kapil, was arrested early on Wednesday from Mumbai. The Haryana Police arrested the actor from Goregaon in Mumbai following the complaint that his mimicry of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on the show had hurt religious sentiments. Read: Comedian Kiku Sharda arrested for mimicking Gurmeet Singh Social media erupted in protests after the news of arrest emerged. Many demanded that section 295A of IPC, under which the actor has been charged, needs to go. Social media pointed out the absurdity and frightening impact of the step, and some even petitioned the government to free the actor. Section 295A needs to go. Or modified. Or something. It gives every religious group ammo to go after anyone. Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) January 13, 2016 Section 295A for the longest time has been used to threaten artists. Even cops sometimes cant help but arrest because of the pressure. Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) January 13, 2016 If we celebrated Halloween widely in India there would be nakabandis checking on who's dressed as whom. Rohan (@mojorojo) January 13, 2016 These are the "Babas" of our times. Selling themselves as action heroes, while getting comedians put behind bars. This is "Ghor Kalyug"! anvi_ hoe_ (@RanvirShorey) January 13, 2016 .@PMOIndia @narendramodi Request you to please look into the arrest of actor @kikusharda. Gross injustice by Maharashtra & Haryana govts. anvi_ hoe_ (@RanvirShorey) January 13, 2016 This is sad beyond words. Oppression of artists to save the religion-based frauds EVEN from jokes! Middle East hi bana do desh ko. (@varungrover) January 13, 2016 Heard @kikusharda 's been remanded to judicial custody for mimicking RamRahim on TV! Absurd! RamRahim's 'films' are the real joke, anyway! VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) January 13, 2016 Read: Kiku Sharda pays for being funny? Totally shocked by Kiku Sharda's arrest! Let's fight for #ourfreedomofspeech. Parmeet Sethi (@parmeetsethi) January 13, 2016 Absolutely ridiculous! Hope @kikusharda comes out of this soon Kritika Kamra (@Kritika_Kamra) January 13, 2016 Prison nights with Kapil... I don't see why we shouldn't change the title with immediate effect #Sec295A Ashwin Mushran (@ashwinmushran) January 13, 2016 Every time you arrest one comedian you give birth to a thousand wise cracks. #JeSuisKiku #IStandWithKiku #FreeKiku #KikuNeutrality Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) January 13, 2016 Followers of the dera chief, however, tweeted their approval of the step taken by the police... Comedian Kiku Sharda arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiments Mocking @Gurmeetramrahim ji,an epitome of Humanity, is unacceptable IT Wing (@ITwingDSS) January 13, 2016 @Gurmeetramrahim #MSGWishesHappyLohri Kiku sharda Aarest I am very happy Arun kamra insan (@aruninsan7777) January 13, 2016 Actor Kiku Sharda was granted bail hours after he was arrested in Mumbai by police from Kaithal, Haryana, on Wednesday morning for allegedly mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. However, Sharda will be questioned by cops in connection with a separate case at Fatehabad, filed against him by a dera follower. After the arrest, the actor said he didnt mean to hurt the feelings of any community. Im an artist who is given a role, a get-up and told what to do. Ive already apologised. I did not mean to hurt anyones religious sentiments. I am sorry, I was just following a script. Usually, if an objectionable word comes out while performing, its edited by the channel. This is also the channels responsibility. Singh, for his part, gracefully accepted Shardas apology. I was busy shooting OnlineGurukul; just got to know, devotees are hurt due to Kikus action. If he has apologised, no complaint from my side, he tweeted. I was busy shooting OnlineGurukul; just got to know, devotees are hurt due to Kiku's action.If he has apologized, no complaint from my side GURMEET RAM RAHIM (@Gurmeetramrahim) January 13, 2016 Kaithal police had picked up Sharda, best known for his role as Palak in Comedy Nights With Kapil, from Goregaon in Mumbai at 1 am on Wednesday, following a complaint that his act had hurt the sentiments of Singhs followers. The same afternoon, Kaithal chief judicial magistrate Nandita Kaushik remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days, and then allowed bail on a personal bond of Rs1 lakh. Actor Kiku Sharda who was arrested for mimicking Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim, has been released on surety bond of Rs 1 lakh ANI (@ANI_news) January 13, 2016 Kaithal superintendent of police (SP) Krishan Murari told HT that Shardas lawyers applied for early hearing in the case, which the court accepted. A case has been registered against Sharda under Section 295-A (malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station in Kaithal district. Followers of Dera Sacha Sauda near the Kaithal court complex after comedian Kiku Sharda was arrested on Wednesday, January 13. (HT Photo) Dera follower Uday Singh and a few others had lodged a criminal complaint against the actor at Kaithal on January 1, alleging that Sharda had made fun of their leader on the December 27 edition of Comedy Nights With Kapil. Murari said that as many as eight people, including actors, have been booked. Fatehabad superintendent of police OP Narwal denied re-arresting Sharda, stating that an SHO is just heading there to take his statement in the second case. Read: These actors were charged under section 295A before Kiku Sharda Follow @htshowbiz for more. One of the best known European auteurs, Denmarks Thomas Vinterberg, will be at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival with his latest, The Commune. Vinterberg was at Berlin in 2010 with his drama, Submarino, based on a 2007 novel by Jonas T Bengtsson that focusses on the violence and drug addiction in Danish society seen through the lives of two brothers. The Commune is inspired by Vinterbergs own experiences at a Nordkrog commune, north of Copenhagen, where he lived with his parents between 1976 and 1985. Vinterberg first co-wrote a play about the commune along with Danish screenwriter and film-school professor Mogens Rukov, who died late last year. The play was staged at the Burgtheater in Vienna, and then adapted for the screen. This script was penned by Vinterberg and Danish director Tobias Lindholm. Read: Freedom Moon, a poignant documentary on Japanese death-row inmate The movie, The Commune, reunites Vinterberg with Danish actors Ulrich Thomsen and Trine Dyrholm, who performed in the directors first two films, including The Celebration which clinched a Jury Prize at Cannes in 1998. The work was a delightful mix of comedy and tragedy where a happy family reunion is blown away by the revelation of childhood sexual abuse. The air is vitiated and the pretence of joy disappears. The Celebration was made according to Dogma 95, a method that Vinterberg and other European helmers, like Lars Von Trier, adopted to take cinema back to its roots. Which meant no props, no artificial lighting and no make-up. Dogma 95 did not quite work. Vinterbergs last title at Cannes, The Hunt, was in 2012. Considered as the Danish directors most gripping film after The Celebration, The Hunt takes us to the question of paedophilia, where a man, a kindergarten school teacher, is wrongly accused. Propelled by Mads Mikkelsens hauntingly restrained acting, the movie impacts you with not a single false note. Read: Happy End to be Austrian horror master Michael Hanekes new film Narrating what is the core point - the way gossip and childrens imagination can prove horribly ruinous -The Hunt underlines the fragility of trust even between two best friends. Last year, Vinterberg made Far from the Madding Crowd, a novel which Thomas Hardy wrote in 1874, but the celluloid work did not quite impress a world that had seen so many, many versions of the story, set in Victorian England of the 1870s about Bathsheba Everdine and her lovers. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A suspected suicide bomb blast on Wednesday killed at least 14 people close to a polio eradication centre in Pakistans western city of Quetta, police said, with most of those killed policemen detailed to guard vaccination workers. At least 12 policemen, one paramilitary officer and one civilian were among the dead, with 20 others injured, officials said, after the explosion ripped through a police van that had just arrived at the centre. It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene, Ahsan Mehboob, police chief of Pakistans province of Balochistan, told Reuters. The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign. Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the World Health Organization says. Teams in Pakistan working to immunise children against the virus are often targeted by Taliban and other militant groups, who say the campaign is a cover for Western spies, or accuse workers of distributing vaccines designed to sterilise children. The campaign to eradicate the virus in Pakistan has had some recent success, with new cases down last year, but violence against vaccination workers has slowed the effort. Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed Wednesday after gunmen attacked the Pakistani consulate in a volatile eastern province, an official said on Wednesday. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven security forces personnel were injured in during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad. He said that three attackers had been killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at 9 am. Three civilians were also wounded in the attack, Khyogani said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. In an Arabic statement released via Twitter, the group said the attack was carried out by three IS fighters, two of whom blew themselves up by detonating explosive belts. The attack lasted almost four hours during which the consulate building was destroyed and tens of its employees were killed together with a number of officers from the apostate Pakistani intelligence services, the statement said. Interior Ministry spokesman Seddiq Sediqqi confirmed earlier that two police officers had died in the initial explosion near a police car parked outside the consulate. After the blast, two gunmen entered an empty guesthouse near the consulate, which was quickly surrounded by security forces as a firefight began, he said. Khyogani said the siege ended when the two gunmen in the guesthouse were killed around 12.30 p.m. local time. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated, officials said. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up, officials said. An official at the Pakistan embassy in Kabul said all consular staff were evacuated. He spoke on condition that he not be identified as he was not authorized to speak with media. He confirmed the attack had targeted Pakistans consulate, but could not comment on who was responsible. In Islamabad, foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said Pakistani officials were in contact with Afghan authorities regarding the attack. Nangarhar is home to a number of insurgent groups and criminal gangs who benefit from the proximity to the Pakistan border. Insurgent attacks are not uncommon in Jalalabad. The Islamic State group has a presence in province, having fought with Taliban gunmen in recent months to take control of at least four border districts. The attack comes two days after Islamabad hosted a meeting of representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss ending the Talibans 14-year insurgency. Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though the Pakistani government denies the claim. The Taliban has split in recent months, with the insurgents divided over their support for a peace process. The attack is the latest in a spate of violence since the start of 2016, which could be a tough year for Afghanistan as insurgents are expected to escalate the violence in order to enter into any peace negotiations from a position of strength. During the first week of January a restaurant frequented by foreigners in Kabul and a contractor camp on the outskirts of the capital were attacked, and the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was besieged for more than 24 hours. Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was infatuated with actress Kate del Castillo and his desire to see her again contributed to his downfall after six months on the run, officials said Tuesday. Del Castillo, a Mexican-American who played a drug kingpin in a television series, brokered the now-notorious meeting between Guzman and US actor Sean Penn at an undisclosed jungle clearing in October, three months before the fugitives capture. The government officials said investigators had monitored Penn and Del Castillo, taking photographs of the actors when they landed in Mexico, before their get-together with Guzman. Following the meeting, troops entered Guzmans remote mountain stronghold in northwestern Mexico in order to flush him out toward a city, a government official said on condition of anonymity. Marines nearly captured Guzman in the mountains straddling the states of Sinaloa and Durango on October 6. But Guzman grabbed his cooks daughter and used her as a human shield, holding her in front of him as a helicopter hovered overhead, prompting the soldier to hold fire, the official said. Kate del Castillo (AFP File Photo) Guzman eventually made his way last week to the seaside city of Los Mochis in his native Sinaloa state, where he was captured Friday in a deadly military operation. The other factor that led Guzman to Los Mochis was that he was really very interested in meeting the actress again, the official told reporters. Read: Rolling Stone attracts scrutiny for Sean Penn interview with Guzman This was an almost obsessive interest that turned into another incentive to go down to the city, where he wanted to meet with her, the official said, adding that Guzman did not see the 43-year-old actress again. Another official said Guzman, 58, used the codename hermosa (beautiful) when referring to the actress, who became famous for her role as a drug lord in the TV series The Queen of the South. DVDs of the show were found in the house that marines raided in Los Mochis. Guzman fled the house through a tunnel during a gunfight between troops and his henchmen, but he was caught later after he had stolen a car, capping a months-long manhunt involving 2,500 investigators and federal forces, officials said. Meeting investigated One of the worlds most-wanted criminals was returned to the same prison he escaped from six months ago when his henchmen dug a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel that opened into a hole in his cells shower. Guzman is regularly being moved to new cells in different floors and a guard is posted in front of it 24 hours per day to prevent him getting away once more. Penn, in an article published by Rolling Stone magazine on Saturday, said del Castillo had been in contact with Guzman while he was in prison through letters after the kingpins attorney approached her. The drug lord wanted to make a film about himself but would entrust its telling only to Kate, Penn wrote. President Enrique Pena Nietos spokesman, Eduardo Sanchez, said the clandestine meeting between the actors and Guzman was under investigation. Whats being investigated is the actions. People are not being investigated, Sanchez said. Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzmans secret interview with US actor Sean Penn reportedly helped authorities locate his whereabouts. (Rolling Stone screengrab) Sanchez said the government regrets any acts of collaboration between any citizen and members of organized crime or that a Mexican citizen does not share information that would help arrest a criminal. Legal experts doubt that the actors will face charges, especially if their meeting with Guzman is seen as journalistic work. But they could face money-laundering charges if there was a transaction for a film made with money from illegal sources, legal expert Juan Velazquez told AFP. Del Castillo sparked uproar in 2012 when she wrote on Twitter that she believes more in Chapo Guzman than the governments. She later said that her messages to Guzman were ironic but Penn wrote in Rolling Stone that the kingpin sought to send her flowers afterwards. Prison beefed up Guzman is now back at the Altiplano maximum-security prison some 90 kilometers west of Mexico City while authorities seek to extradite him to the United States. As well as moving him from cell to cell, officials said other steps have been taken to prevent Guzman -- who escaped from another prison in 2001 -- from breaking out a third time. After his July 11 escape, a dozen prison officials were detained and security was increased with extra surveillance cameras and metal rods in the floors to prevent new tunnels. Each and every each one of the flaws have been fixed, an official said. Iran on Wednesday released 10 US sailors it had detained in the Gulf, moving within hours to prevent a potential crisis as it prepares for the lifting of economic sanctions. A dramatic series of events started with the sailors -- nine men and a woman -- being taken into custody after their two Navy patrol boats drifted into Iranian territory late on Tuesday. US and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which unfolded as Iran prepares to finally implement a nuclear deal with world powers aimed at ending the Islamic republics long international isolation. After informal talks between Washington and Tehran, a statement from the Guards, describing the sailors as Marines, was read out on state television confirming they were free. It was determined that the detained American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally. Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the Gulf, it said. Still images used in the report showed the sailors sitting calmly on Persian rugs. Iran had earlier said they were being well treated. Pictures of the US boats, which had green-and-black camouflage patterns, were also shown by state television. Not hostile Admiral Ali Fadavi, the naval commander of the Guards, said that an investigation established that this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes and the sailors had entered Iranian territory due to a broken navigation system. US officials had said one or both of the boats had suffered mechanical problems and been taken to Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf and houses a base of the Guards, which has its own naval units. Iran detained 10 US sailors aboard two US Navy riverine boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that had rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran. (REUTERS Photo) Radio contact was lost with the two vessels -- which US officials said were riverine patrol boats under 65 feet (20 meters) in length -- while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. American officials did not dispute that the vessels appeared to have been in Iranian territorial waters when they were intercepted. They also said they had received assurances from Tehran that the crews would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations but US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss the incident. The two developed a close working relationship during the nuclear talks, which concluded in July with a deal between Iran and the so-called P5+1 powers of the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany. Mr Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologise, Fadavi said. The incident came as President Barack Obama gave his last State of the Union address, undermining any attempt to cite closer relations with Tehran as part of his legacy. As Kerry arrived at the Capitol to hear Obamas speech, he had told a CNN reporter the sailors would be freed very soon. He has a close relationship with foreign minister Zarif and that would be a natural point of contact, White House communications director Jen Psaki told CNN. We have been in touch with the Iranians. We have been assured of their safety and that they will be able to move forward on their journey promptly, she said. Iran testing the boundaries The nuclear accord foresees Iran scaling back its activities to put an atomic bomb outside its reach in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. The deal is to be implemented very soon -- Kerry has said in the coming days -- but has been criticised by Obamas US opponents as too soft on Tehran. These rivals seized on the incident in the Gulf to hammer on this point, demanding Obama make a statement and warning Iran must release the sailors. Iran is testing the boundaries of this administrations resolve, Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio said. The situation has been further complicated in the New Year by an angry breakdown in relations between Iran and US ally Saudi Arabia, inflaming regional tensions. Irans Guards often take a tough approach to perceived and real territorial violations in what it considers the Persian Gulf. Relations with Washington were strained by claims last month that Iran fired missiles close to a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf. Last year, Iranian patrol boats seized the Maersk Tigris, a cargo ship sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, which meant it was under US protection. And in March 2007, Iranian patrols captured 15 British Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel, interrogated them and held them for 13 days before releasing them. President Barack Obama sounded a rather grim note on Pakistan in his Tuesday address saying it would be gripped by instability for several decades along with some other parts of the world. This was perhaps the first such reference to Pakistan in all of his State of Union addresses, putting it in the same category as Afghanistan, a recovering failed state, and West Asia. While focussed on the threat from al Qaeda and Islamic State, the president said, American foreign policy will have to be prepared to deal with instability (that) will continue for decades in many parts of the world in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. Some of these places, Obama warned, may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees. Read | Full text of Obamas State of the Union speech Obamas prognosis for Pakistan is in consonance perhaps with Washington DCs continuing frustration with Islamabads inadequate action against terrorists. The US has publicly refused to call into question Pakistans record on terrorism in the context of the recent attacks on Indian establishments in Pathankot and Mazar-i-Sharif. But many lawmakers have made clear where they think the blame lies in a string of letters, statements and tweets condemning the two recent attacks. Watch | Highlights of Obamas State of the Union address Pakistan is home to some of the worlds most danger terrorist groups the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-i-Tayyeba, for instance who enjoy state patronage and hospitality. Jaish-i-Muhammad, another Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, is widely suspected to carrying out the simultaneous Pathankot and Mazar terrorist strikes. There is a growing perception among some sections of US decision makers that Pakistan has begun acting against terrorists in right earnest after the Peshawar school massacre. But its record of distinguishing good terrorists (those that target India) from bad terrorists (those targeting Pakistan) often leaves it looking way short even when it means well. Read more Ahead of speech, Obama expresses regrets over US political divisions Obama accuses Donald Trump of campaigning by scapegoating Starbucks said it expects China to eventually overtake the US as the coffee chains largest market. The Seattle company said it is on track to open 500 stores in China this year. It expects to have a total of 3,400 stores in China by 2019. Starbucks currently has 2,000 stores in China, making it the companys second largest market after the US. The company has more than 12,000 stores in the US that it either operates or licenses to others. Over time, its conceivable that China could become our largest market, said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, in a statement. A Starbucks spokeswoman declined to specify when the company expects that to happen. We are deeply humbled by the enthusiasm with which Chinese people have embraced Starbucks as part of their daily ritual over the past 17 years, Schultz said. Schultz visited Chengdu, China, this week and announced a new benefit for its Chinese workers. Some of its full-time baristas and shift supervisors at company-owned stores will be able to receive a monthly housing allowance that covers about 50 per cent their monthly costs. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley used the formal Republican response to President Barack Obamas State of the Union address on Tuesday to try softening the tough stance toward immigrants embraced by some of the partys leading presidential candidates, urging Americans to resist the siren call of the angriest voices. Haley, herself the U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, said the country is facing the most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State group, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last months mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices, she said in her prepared remarks. We must resist that temptation. Haley did not mention the Republican presidential race. But the front-runner so far, real estate mogul Donald Trump, has called for deporting millions of immigrants in the US illegally. Two other contenders, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have battled over which of them has the tougher record on the issue. No one who works hard and follows the laws should ever feel unwelcome in this country, she said. Mentioned by some as a potential vice presidential candidate, Haley said the US should continue admitting properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion - an apparent reference to calls by Trump to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. She also hewed closely to long-time Republican demands in the immigration debate, saying: That does not mean we just flat out open our borders. The nations youngest governor at 43, Haley also seemed to try smoothing some of her partys more combative edges. She said Republicans would respect differences in modern families - perhaps suggesting more tolerance toward same-sex couples - and said it isnt necessary to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. Without offering specifics, she said that while Democrats bear much responsibility, Republicans need to accept that weve played a role in how and recognize why our government is broken. Haley has gained national prominence for helping to end the display of the Confederate battle flag on Statehouse grounds last year after half a century, a move that followed last Junes slaying of nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The flag was flown by forces supporting the secessionist, pro-slavery Southern states in the American Civil War. Polls have shown public concerns over terrorism and national security have become a top issue ever since the November attacks that killed 130 people in Paris and the December mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Ever since, Republicans on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress have been emphasizing the issue. At the same time, many Republicans feel the party must do a better job of appealing to Hispanics and other minority voters if they are to compete effectively in national and many statewide elections. Theyre also eager to win more votes from women, who preferred Obama over his Republican opponents by more than 10 percentage points in his 2008 and 2012 elections and have favored the Democratic presidential candidate in each election since 1992. Haley is the third consecutive woman chosen by Republican leaders to deliver their partys response to Obama. Haley said the nations problems also include an economy thats not boosted family income, a national debt thats too high and Obamas health care law, which Republicans have long asserted has failed. She said a Republican president would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. ___ This story has been corrected to show that nine people were killed in the Charleston church shootings. Nikki Haley appears to have cemented her place Tuesday among leading vice-presidential candidates with her widely praised response to President Barack Obamas State of the Union address. Last night in South Carolina, Nikki Haley became the only logical choice for Vice Presidential nominee of the GOP, leading conservative commentator Eric Ericsson wrote in The Resurgent. Longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz noted Haleys speech polled much better with his focus group than Obamas. He noted it was also the most well-received State of the Union response he had ever polled. Haley did nothing silly as Marco Rubio, who reached for a bottle of water while on air during his reply in 2013, or boring as Bobby Jindal, who delivered the rejoinder in 2009. The Indian American Republican governor of South Carolina looked confident and dignified. She was critical of Obama, as expected, and Donald Trump, which was a surprise. Obama, she indicated, had failed to live up to his promise. Barack Obamas election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans, Haley said. Unfortunately, the presidents record has often fallen far short of his soaring words. Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory, Haley said, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. Haley, whose real name is Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley, wrapped her pitch for inclusivity in her own life story as a proud daughter of immigrants from India. Growing up in the rural south, my family didnt look like our neighbours, and we didnt have much, she said, going on to call for remaining true to Americas noblest legacies. The target of her attacks was clearly Trump, who was not named. And it was not missed on some critics who were quick to slam Haley for attacking the partys front-runner. Trump should deport Nikki Haley, conservative columnist Anna Coulter said in a tweet. NOT SMART, said Laura Ingraham, another conservative commentator. Haley, 43, told CNN Wednesday morning it was indeed Trump she was targeting, and added the party leadership had previewed the remarks and knew well what she had intended to say. Haley did extremely well notwithstanding the criticism. Jeb Bush called her speech remarkable. One commentator called her the GOPs Obama referring to the Republican party by its other name, the Grand Old Party which may not necessarily endear her to the partys right. The customary opposition rejoinder to the presidents address is often used by both parties to promote their rising stars Bill Clinton in 1985, for instance, to then President Ronald Reagan. Jindal was picked by the party in 2009 to deliver the reply to Obamas first State of the Union, and bungled it so badly it is still cited as a part of the package of disappointments he has become. Haley has been a rising star, having won widespread praise for handling of the massacre of nine African Americans in Charlestown by a white supremacist and her managing of the states economy ravaged by floods. Pakistani military officers were involved in the attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e- Sharif in which assailants attempted to storm the mission building, a senior Afghan police official said on Tuesday. We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 percent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation, Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of the Balkh province, said of the attack that took place last week. Sadat said the attackers -- officers from across the border -- were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege. The attackers were military personnel. They were educated and well prepared and had intelligence. They fought us and only by Allahs grace were we able to control them and eliminate them, Sadat was quoted as saying by Tolo News. The police official said efforts were underway to track down, identify and detain those who assisted the attackers to gain access to the building that was opposite the Indian consulate. Several Indians have benefited from the Rhodes Scholarship over the years but the colonial figure behind the scholarship Cecil Rhodes is raising hackles in the University of Oxford, with students demanding his statue in Oriel College be taken down. Under the banner of Rhodes Must Fall, the demand has raised a host of questions in the ancient university about the uses of history, political correctness and the purpose of statues and memorials. The chancellor and the new vice-chancellor have been drawn into the debate. Rhodes (1853-1902) was a prosperous and controversial colonial era British businessman in South Africa, who left behind a large sum of money to Oriel College for the scholarship. There have been over 8,000 Rhodes Scholars from India and elsewhere, including leading figures. Arushi Garg, an Indian Rhodes Scholar, is one of the co-founders of the Rhodes Must Fall student movement at Oxford. It was started in South Africa, where the movement led to the taking down of Rhodes statue in the University of Cape Town. Thousands of Oxford alumni and others have signed rival petitions, seeking the statues removal or stay. Oriel College, where Rhodes studied, said it is acting on the students petition on removing the statue as it is keen to improve the experience of non-white students. Recalling his historical legacy in the form of the scholarship programme, the college said: But Rhodes was also a 19th-century colonialist whose values and world view stand in absolute contrast to the ethos of the Scholarship programme today, and to the values of a modern University. The college is launching a six month listening exercise from February, seeking views and ideas of students and staff of the college and the University, alumni, heritage bodies, Oxford City Council, residents of Oxford and other members of the public. Opposing the students demand, Oxford chancellor Chris Patten said: We are giving them the respect to listening to their views even if we dont agree with them. But if people at our university arent prepared to show the generosity of spirit which Nelson Mandela showed towards Rhodes and towards historythen maybe they should think about being educated elsewhere. He added: Our cities are built with the proceeds of activities, the slave trade and so on, which today would be regarded as completely unacceptableAny views that Cecil Rhodes had about the British Empire and about race were common at the time...What do you do about our history? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Rob Lawrie had a choice. On one side lay the law you cant sneak a 4-year-old girl across international borders and on the other side sat his sentiments: How could he leave that girl trapped in a squalid migrant camp? He led with his heart and was caught. He goes on trial Thursday in France, accused of aiding illegal immigration for trying to take Bahar Ahmadi from the settlement in Calais, France, to safety in England, where the Afghan girl had family waiting to look after her. Judges in Boulogne-Sur-Mer will determine if the ex-British soldier is a criminal, or a compassionate man who couldnt turn his back on a child in need. In September, he gave in to the repeated pleas of the girls father, Reza Ahmadi, who begged him to spirit his daughter across the English Channel, but they were stopped by guards who eventually found her squirreled away in Lawries van, teddy bear squeezed tightly to her chest. Lawrie, 49, faces criminal charges that carry a maximum prison term of five years and a 30,000-euro ($32,500) fine even as thousands have flocked to his Facebook page to express admiration for what hes done and signed an online petition urging the British government to ask the French for clemency. I had told her father no many times, Lawrie said in his small suburban-style house in Guiseley, 210 miles (335 kilometers) north of London. But half past 10 one rainy night, when she fell asleep on my knee as I was leaving for the ferry, I just couldnt leave her there anymore. All rational thought left my head. He said he bonded with Bru the girls nickname after he volunteered to help design and build shelters at the squalid camp in Calais that is home to about 4,200 people fleeing war and poverty. She left Afghanistan, with her father via traffickers, when she was less than 3, he said. Its incomprehensible. The reason I became so close is I never once saw her without a smile on her face. He said he could no longer leave her in a cold, dangerous and unsanitary camp when she had family waiting for her living close by his home in northern England. The sprawling Calais camp of windy mud paths is located near the now well-secured ferry port but a several-hours walk to the Euro tunnel that provides road and rail links between Britain and France. It has evolved into a slum with migrants and volunteers like Lawrie helping to build lean-tos and shops. Two schools have cropped up along with small tent mosques and an impressive church built by Eritreans and Ethiopians that dominates the masses of tents and black tarp held up by sticks. The camp, which sprang up last spring with the opening of a center to house about 100 women and children, has the unofficial blessing of the French state. Migrants gravitated to the area on the edge of Calais when smaller camps scattered around the city were bulldozed. The French state has since found itself in a bind as criticism of the camps conditions mounts. An addition to the settlement with basic amenities like heating officially opened Monday to the first of 1,500 people it will house. Lawrie, who had a carpet-cleaning business, devoted himself fulltime to helping the migrants after seeing the picture of the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach in September. He imagined that boys final minutes gasping for air without success, alone in strange waters and jumped into action, raising money for the people stranded at camps in both Calais and nearby Dunkirk. His crusade has come at a cost. His house has the photos, toys and knick-knacks associated with a happy family life, but his wife has left with their four children, leaving the house oddly silent. He blames himself, saying he failed to bring her on board regarding his extensive volunteer work in France. Lawries Paris-based lawyer, Lucile Abassade, said he is charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration. He gave in to his emotion, she said. He saw this child outside in the cold...and he cracked. Abassade said the charges dont relate to the discovery of two Eritrean migrants who were also found in his van and are believed to have sneaked into the vehicle without Lawries knowledge. She said Reza Ahmadi and his daughter are still in Calais as winter grips. The father has told reporters he asked Lawrie to take his daughter to safety. Efforts to locate the father in the sprawling camp were unsuccessful. Maya Konforti, who works at the camp with the association Auberge des Migrants, confirmed they are still there. She said the camp is home to several hundred young children and many families. The weather is bad. There is mud everywhere ... There is no heat. There is hardly any distribution of wood for heat or cooking, she said. Calais authorities say 17 migrants have died in the region in the last six months. Lawrie said children in the camp are increasingly vulnerable to traffickers, criminal gangs and violent abusers. You have people from very dark websites gravitating toward these camps, and these children are easy pickings, he said. You can pick them up and theyll be lost forever. He wants French authorities to understand he is not a smuggler trying to profit from the crisis. I hope the prosecutors will see that, because I dont want to go to prison, he said. Still, he admits what he did was illegal and he refuses to cast himself a hero. The Allied troops in World War II, Oskar Schindler, Martin Luther King, theyre heroes, he said. They put their lives on the line to save other people. I put my liberty on the line. That doesnt make me a hero. It makes me a bit stupid, maybe. Im an ex-carpet cleaner from northern England, thats what I am. The David Cameron government on Wednesday rejected a demand from the Scottish government and other stakeholders to re-introduce the post-study work visa, which allowed students from India and non-EU countries to work for two years after their study. The visa, closed in 2012, was popular among self-financing Indian students, who used income from work to pay off some of the loans taken for their study in UK universities. There has since been a major drop in the number of Indian students coming to Britain. International students continue to be able to take up work after study, but this is linked to a job offer and to a graduate-level job. There was no such restriction in the closed visa, which the Home Office says led to much abuse. Responding to a question in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain had a world-beating offer to international students, who could take up graduate jobs after completing their courses. The clarity of our offer is world beating. Frankly, there are lots of people in our country desperate for jobs...We dont need the brightest and best of students to come here and then do menial jobs. Thats not what our immigration system is for. Scottish secretary David Mundell had announced last week the Cameron government had no intention of bringing back the earlier visa. Immigration is the responsibility of the UK government based in London. Scotland ministers reacted with dismay at the rejection of the demand to bring back the visa, which, they say, economically benefited universities in Scotland. The demand was supported by trade and industry and the Scotland branch of the Conservative party. The Smith Commission report published after the Scotland referendum on independence in 2014 had committed the five main parties to explore the possibility of introducing formal schemes to allow international higher education students graduating from Scottish further and higher education institutions to remain in Scotland and contribute to economic activity for a defined period of time. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, Syrian troops and allied militiamen on Wednesday pushed deeper into a major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Latakia, a day after seizing a key rebel-held town in the strategic region overlooking the coast, the government and opposition activists said. The insurgents in the opposition-held area near the Turkish border were collapsing after the town of Salma fell to government loyalists late Tuesday. Salmas fall marked one of the most significant military victories by the Syrian military since Russia began airstrikes in the country last September to shore up President Bashar Assads forces. On Wednesday, government troops seized the villages of Mrouniyah and Marj Kawkah near Salma as they continued their advances in the region, aided by immense Russian firepower. Salma, part of mountainous chains near the border with Turkey known as Jabal al-Akrad and Jabal al-Turkmen, has been under rebel control for the past three years. The town, where members of Assads Alawite minority sect once co-existed with majority Sunni Muslims, overlooks the largely Alawite coast and is about 12 kilometers (seven miles) away from the Turkish border. Turkey is a key supporter of insurgents in the area, which is mostly inhabited by Syrian Turkmen, an ethnic minority with close ties to Turkey. Whoever controls Salma gains control all those surrounding areas which it overlooks, said Zakariya Ahmad, an opposition activist in the nearby Idlib province. He said the town fell after 93 days of fighting and daily barrel bombs and airstrikes. He said activists in the region had reported 92 airstrikes believed to be Russian on Salma in the last 24 hours before it was fully seized by government troops. It was hell on earth, he said. Salmas capture further improves Assads position ahead of planned peace talks with the opposition in Geneva scheduled for January 25, and came as high-level U.S., Russian, U.N. and other diplomats met behind closed doors in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss efforts to those talks. The recapture of Salma is the latest in a string of military achievements by the government recently, supported by Russian air power and Lebanons Shiite militant Hezbollah group. Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics, said Russia was trying to send a powerful message to Turkey following the downing of their plane in November in the area, showing that they can exact revenge. Salma is really a major breakthrough, not just for the Syrian army, for Russia as well, he said, adding that losing the town was a significant loss for the opposition. The rebels thought they could turn it into a spearhead to deal a mortal blow against the regime into its Alawite heartland, he added. Russia began conducting airstrikes in Syria on Sept. 30 against the Islamic State group and other terrorists, but much of the Russian airstrikes have targeted areas where the IS has no presence. Jabal al-Akrad, where Wednesdays fighting was focus, is also close to the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, which has also been frequently targeted by Russian warplanes since Moscow launched its air campaign. It is controlled by a consortium of mainstream and extremist insurgent groups including the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and the Nusra Front. Latakia province includes key strongholds of Assad and the Alawite religious minority. Sharif Shehadeh, a Syrian member of parliament, said the capture of Salma effectively brings the entire coastal area under Syrian army control. He said the combination of Syrian ground troops and Russian air cover was proving extremely effective and predicted big changes that would change the battlefield by mid-year. Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use. This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it. The sixth GOP debate stage is set and ready for the remaining candidates in the 2016 presidential race on Thursday night. Hosted by the Fox Business Network, the latest installment will have some altered conditions than the previous debates, winding the competition down to only seven candidates. The newly reduced field will include Donald Trump, who still holds a comfortable lead in most national polls, and holds a lead in New Hampshire primary with 33 percent, according to FOX News. Trump recently challenged the surging Sen. Ted Cruz, stating that his birth in Canada should be called into question on the basis of the cloudiness surrounding the definition of the term "natural born." Cruz has defended his birth, saying, "The child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen," in a "State of the Union" interview, according to CNN. Cruz's mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth. Former CEO Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, along with Sen. Rand Paul did not qualify for the prime-time debate, and will be placed on the undercard. However, Paul's campaign announced on Monday that it will not participate in the debate, claiming his is "not a minor campaign," according to Talking Points Memo. Paul's campaign cited the criteria of the debate as the reason he did not qualify, complaining it is unfair to let "the media decide the tiers of this race." This debate comes on the heels of President Obama's final "State of the Union" address, in which he made comments directed toward the GOP candidates and the race. His address is sure to become a topic of conversation. Additionally, the debate should give way for a Trump-Cruz clash, as the two are closely tied in Iowa polls. It should also give opportunity for Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Chris Christie to gain ground, well as provide perhaps a final opportunity for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to make his campaign relevant again. What: The sixth Republican debate will feature a prime-time debate and an undercard debate. Where: The North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in North Charleston, South Carolina. Who: Moderators include Neil Cavuto, an anchor and managing editor of FOX Business News; and Maria Bartiromo, an anchor and the global markets editor. Candidates participating 6 p.m. debate - Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pa. Sen. Rick Santorum. (note: Ky. Sen. Rand Paul qualified for this debate but has announced he will not participate.) 9 p.m. debate - Businessman Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Rules In order to qualify, candidates needed to place in the top six in the five national polls recognized by FOX News; or place in the top five in Iowa state polls recognized by the network; or do the same as the latter in New Hampshire. The debate will focus on domestic and internal policy issues, as well as the economy, according to FOX Business. How To Watch FOX Business will live stream the debate for free, without a subscription, on its website. Online: Follow HNGN's President and editorial director Michael Bullerdick (@mbullerdick) for his live tweets during both events! Bullerdick's Predictions: With Iowa primary voters split between Trump and Cruz, expect the friendly foes to drop the kid gloves and go at each other for real this time. Trump's blunderbuss opening will leave no question that he is going on the offensive, taking the fight to the competition. In contrast, Cruz will lay in wait, looking for weak spots to direct precise and decisive blows. Bush will attempt to gain ground by focusing on Trump, a tactic that last time helped him survive and even rise in the polls. His former pal and fellow Floridian, Rubio, will zero in on his main competitor: Cruz. Drinking games! After a calculated, deep investigation, we found these sites' drinking games to be most exciting and fun for viewers, regardless of party affiliation. Or if you are solely watching to get drunk. National Sun Times Debate Drinking A word to the wise, though! Know your limit and drink in moderation, because as Surgeon General Vivek Murthy points out, "You simply can't drink every time one of these guys says something silly... It's just a formula for disaster." These are only the sixth pair of debates of the 2016 presidential cycle. Many more are set to take place. Some have exact dates and sponsors already set, while others are still being planned. Check below to see all of the debates scheduled between now and election day 2016, courtesy of USPresidentialElectionNews.com. Remaining Debate Schedule February 6, 2016 ABC/IJReview Republican Debate Aired On: ABC Location: St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire Sponsors: ABC News, IJReview.com (Press Release) Candidates: To be determined February 13, 2016 CBS News Republican Debate Aired On: CBS Location: South Carolina Sponsors: CBS News Candidates: To be determined February 26, 2016 NBC/Telemundo Republican Debate Aired On: NBC and Telemundo Location: Texas Sponsors:NBC/Telemundo, National Review Candidates: To be determined March, 2016* Fox News Republican Debate Aired On: Fox News Channel Location: TBD Sponsors: Fox News Candidates: To be determined March 10, 2016 CNN/Salem Republican Debate Aired On: CNN Location: Florida Sponsors: CNN, Salem Media Group Candidates: To be determined @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Popular dating app for gay men Grindr has successfully hooked up with a prominent Chinese gaming company. According to an announcement from the two companies on Tuesday, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., would be buying a 60 percent stake in the Los Angeles-based online gay matchmaking company, reports CNN Money. Since launching back in 2009, Grindr has been quite self-sufficient, building up its base of more than 2 million daily users in 196 countries around the world without any help from outside investors. This time, however, it is a matter of expansion. "For nearly seven years, Grindr has self-funded its growth, and in doing so, we have built the largest network for gay men in the world. We have taken this investment in our company to accelerate our growth, to allow us to expand our services for you," Grindr's founder Joel Simkhai said, according to The Guardian. For its part, Beijing Kunlun, which has already become one of China's largest game developers since being founded in 2008, would be able to diversify its digital portfolio. Apart from this, Beijing Kunlun would also be able to take a crack at the massive gay demographic in the world's most populous nation, which so far has been dominated by Blued, a homegrown gay dating app in China, according to ABC News. Investors in China have reacted positively to the purchase of Grindr's majority stock, as Beijing Kunlun's stocks in Shenzen surged 10 percent on Tuesday. For more Business News, click here. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., is allegedly gearing up to announce a significant upgrade to its long-haul fleet, purchasing 12 Airbus Group SE A350-1000 jets. The massive deal, as described by sources who wish to remain anonymous, is priced at $4.3 billion, according to Bloomberg Business. With the number of jets ordered, Virgin would most probably purchase nine of the twin-engine A350-1000 aircraft directly from Airbus, with the remaining three being taken from leasing firms. Together with the Boeing 777, Virgin has been looking at the A350-1000 as an ideal replacement for the company's four-engine Boeing 747 jumbo jets, which form the heart of Virgin's long-haul leisure operations. The A350-1000 is currently Airbus' largest aircraft in the XWB family of wide-body, dual-engine airplanes, which are significantly more fuel-efficient than the aging 747s. The aircraft has a pretty hefty price, however, costing $355.7 million per unit in Airbus' official price list, reports Market Watch. Virgin Atlantic returned to profit in 2014, mainly due to a partnership with U.S.-based operator Delta Air Lines Co., which owns 49 percent of the company. After the partnership with Delta, Virgin has refocused its efforts on trans-Atlantic routes, hence the need for new, efficient long-haul aircraft. Last November, Erik Varwijk, executive vice president commercial of Virgin Atlantic, stated that the company wishes the new aircraft to be made available from late 2018 or early 2019. For its part, Airbus seems very capable of fulfilling the orders, as shown by the company recently besting its rival, Boeing, in the annual tally of global aircraft orders, according to Reuters. For more Business News, click here. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A Pennsylvania couple has put the house used in the iconic thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" up for sale - and, for some reason, they're shocked that they're having such a hard time selling the home! Scott and Barbara Lloyd listed the house, which served as the home of psychotic killer Buffalo Bill in the 1991 film, last summer and have already significantly lowered the asking price from $300,000 to $250,000 because there have been no serious buyers, according to the New York Post. Many people have come to see the house out of curiosity, and it was even the second-most clicked home on Realtor.com in 2015, but nobody actually wants to live in the three-story Victorian because of its history. "Even though it's got notoriety, location still is a big deal," Erik Gunther, a senior editor and expert on unique homes for Realtor.com, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review of the house, which is located in a tiny village about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. "The fact that the home gets a ton of publicity doesn't necessarily add up to a quick sale. Just because I want to gawk at something doesn't mean I want to buy it." The house was built in 1910 and has four bedrooms, but only one bathroom. Only its foyer and dining room were depicted in the film. While many people believe the famous dungeon pit in the basement where the killer kept his victims before skinning and killing them is actually in the house, it is not - those scenes were filmed on a soundstage. The only reason the Lloyds are selling their home, where they raised their son, is because they are downsizing to a house they're currently building a few miles away. They were actually married in the house's foyer in 1977, which was featured in the scene where Ted Levine's character first meets the FBI agent played by Jodie Foster. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. German police said they arrested 211 far-right, xenophobic extremists who broke into riots in Leipzig, smashing windows and setting cars alight. The police described the group as "football hooligans," according to Agence France-Presse. They stormed a left-leaning quarter of the city while another conservative group, the anti-Islamic PEGIDA, protested peacefully in another part of the city. PEGIDA does not have a stellar history of peaceful protest - members of the group clashed with other protesters in Cologne e over the weekend, as HNGN previously reported. Protests have broken out across the country in recent days, protesting the influx of Syrian refugees and the series of crimes that occurred on New Year's Eve. Several of the crimes were reported to be committed by recent refugees. Violence was also committed by left-wing radicals, who vandalized a bus in response. A total of 57 crimes were committed Monday night, each concerning weapons, explosives and narcotics. Burghard Jung, Leipzig's mayor, decried the violence and called it "open street terror," according to Der Welle. "This isn't a political debate. This is real terror." According to police, groups associated with Cologne's hooligan extremists have been coordinating attacks against Pakistani, Syrian and African men with the use of social media. The mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, spoke to Der Spiegel Monday about the failure of the city's police force. "I'm not a police officer, but when groups of people flock together and women have to run the gauntlet between the central station and the cathedral (which is located adjacent to it), then it should be noticed," she said, according to Der Spiegel. More than 1.1 million people sought asylum in Germany last year. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Iran has been holding two small Navy boats that drifted into Iranian waters due to mechanical issues. Ten U.S. Navy sailors are on board, collectively. Tehran has assured the Pentagon that they will be returned. Peter Cook, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said that the boats had been travelling from Kuwait to Bahrain when contact with them was lost, according to the Associated Press. The mechanical failures occurred near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Due to unknown issues, one of the boats ran aground. Both were detained by Iranian forces, who held them on Farsi Island for some time. Their current whereabouts are nknown. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said, according to the BBC. Upon learning of the incident, John Kerry, U.S. secretary of state, called Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif. An unnamed official told the Associate Press that Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome." Barry McCaffrey, a retired Army Gen. and NBC military analyst, described the seizure of the boats as "very bad news." "We simply can't allow ground, air or naval units to be seized by a foreign hostile power," McCaffrey said on MSNBC. "I hope they're back real quickly [sic]. This is an affront to our military presence in the Gulf and will unsettle our allies in the region." The U.S. and Iran are not currently hostile; they have engaged in various diplomatic relations for several months. In July, the two countries, along with others, reached a landmark deal to allow Iran to expand its nuclear power sector. The U.S. will begin buying heavy water, or deuterium oxide, an isotopologue of water, from Iran as soon as the country replaces the reactor core at the Arak nuclear site. Heavy water is needed for cooling in nuclear power plants. "It is a matter of days, not weeks," said Behrouz Kamalvandi of Iran's atomic agency, according to Agence France-Press. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A resident of Texas who had traveled to El Salvador has been diagnosed with carrying the Zika virus. The virus does not appear threatening or harmful when it first infects a person, but in light of the virus' link to serious birth deformities in newborn babies reported in Brazil, Harris County officials are taking all the preventive measures they can. The Zika virus is similar to a number of other topical viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes. In that respect, it is similar to chikungunya and dengue. What Zika does to a person first does not appear to be very dangerous or harmful. Typically, when a person is first infected, the person will suffer from pain in the joints and fever. Currently, there is neither a medical cure nor a vaccine for Zika. However, upon taking rest for two or three days - and a maximum period of up to a week - the person recovers, according to Fox News. However, the harm from Zika appears to take place almost in an unnoticed manner. Brazil is facing an epidemic of this infection with a conservative estimate of 500,000 infections. Experts there see a link between the presence of the virus in mothers and a condition afflicting newborn children called microcephaly. This condition results in malformed tiny heads in newborn babies. This is a result of the brain and head sections of the fetus not developing correctly. Brazil is investigating and trying to cope with the cases of this condition being reported in that country, according to The Wall Street Journal. Harris County, where the woman who was diagnosed with Zika is located, is taking measures to ensure all mosquito populations that could potentially carry the Zika virus are monitored and neutralized. Umair Shah, the executive director of the county's Public Health and Environmental Services Department, said that the county is taking all possible measures to identify and eliminate any threats of the virus being transmitted by the mosquitoes. Director of Mosquito Control in Harris County, Mustapha Debboun, said his team has now added Zika to the list of viruses (that already includes the viruses causing chikungunya and dengue) it tracks, monitors and neutralizes in the county, according to Reuters. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Local philanthropist and owner of Philadelphia's two largest newspapers H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest has endorsed the control of the Philadelphia Media Network, which houses The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News and the joint website Philly.com, to a new nonprofit organization, according to The Wall Street Journal. The new nonprofit, dubbed the Institution for Journalism in New Media, is set to take full control of the operations of the two media outlets and their joint website. In order for the operations of the new nonprofit to start, Lenfest has stated that he will be donating $20 million to endow the new nonprofit. Despite the endorsement, however, Lenfest pledged that the newsroom would still continue in its tradition of producing independent public service journalism and investigative reporting. He further stated that the newsroom would also be focusing on producing innovative multimedia content, reports The San Francisco Gate. With the shift, the Philadelphia Media Network has been converted to a public benefit corporation, and is set to fully operate independently as a taxable subsidiary of the new nonprofit organization. "My goal is to ensure that the journalism traditionally provided by the printed newspapers is given a new life and prolonged, while new media formats for its distribution are being developed," Lenfest said in a statement, according to The Nonprofit Times. Philadelphia's two big newspapers have garnered a significant number of awards in the past, with The Inquirer winning 20 Pulitzer prizes for excellence in journalism, most recently the 2014 award for criticism, and the Daily News winning three, inlcuding the 2010 prize for investigative journalism. For more Business News, click here. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The commercialization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones means, that an increasing number of these machines are taking to the skies, posing risk to aircrafts and even helicopters used in law enforcement, as HNGN previously reported. It also does not help that there is a scarcity of rules that would regulate drone use and minimize their threat. This has prompted private aircraft companies to address the problem themselves. Airbus, for example, has announced that they have developed a system that can detect drones and kill them when necessary. The Airbus system, called Counter UAV, is outfitted with sophisticated sensors that allow it to monitor an area, scan for drones, pick out their signals and even pinpoint the location of the person controlling the machine. It is capable of analyzing collected data before disabling the device if it poses a threat. Through Airbus' proprietary Smart Responsive Jamming Technology, the system can block, or "spoof," the frequencies that allow the drone to be remotely controlled, or it could also take over the UAV, according to Ubergizmo. "As a specialist in defence electronics, we have all the technologies in our portfolio and the integration knowledge which are needed to set up a quick-response protection system with extremely low false alarm rates," Thomas Muller, head of the Electronics business line at Airbus Defence and Space, told the Daily Mail. The Counter UAV System has been successfully tested and demonstrated in Airbus' facilities in France and Germany. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Jewish French politician Alain Ghozland, who was serving as a municipal councilor in Creteil, was found dead in his apartment on Tuesday, according to Breitbart. Though the specifics of the incident have not been revealed to the public, police sources quoted by French publication Le Figaro said the apartment showed signs of forced entry and the politician was found with multiple stab wounds. The 73-year-old, Algeria-born councilor was found by his brother, who went to his apartment after the politician was not able to make it to synagogue the day before. His apartment was allegedly ransacked, and his car was found to have been missing, reports The Times of Israel. Ghozland was one of the leaders in the local Jewish community, and his father is credited with helping establish the local Jewish association. Due to his very active voice in the current state of Jewish affairs, the politician's death has shaken the Jewish community in the area. Authorities have stated that numerous factors behind the councilor's death are being explored. Ghozland's family, for one, suspects that his death might have been the result of an anti-Semitic attack, according to The Jerusalem Post. A full-scale investigation to uncover the possible motivations behind the councilman's murder is now underway. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Notorious child murderer and pedophile Robert Black, whose reign of terror across the U.K. in the 1980s drove fear into the hearts of parents all over the country, has died of natural causes in Maghaberry prison, Northern Ireland, according to BBC News. Black had been serving 12 life sentences for the murders of four young schoolgirls in the 1980s. While he most probably had other victims, he was convicted for the murders of 9-year-old Jennifer Cardy, 10-year-old Sarah Harper, 11-year-old Susan Maxwell and 5-year-old Caroline Hogg. After terrorizing the U.K. for years, his reign of terror finally ended in 1990 when authorities were able to apprehend him in the Scottish village of Stow. He was arrested in his vehicle with a 6-year-old girl hooded, bound, gagged and stuffed in a sleeping bag at the back of his van, reported The Yorkshire Evening Post. The young girl retrieved from his van was found to have been sexually assaulted moments before her rescue. Black was ultimately convicted for his offences, with multiple life sentences being given to him from 1990 to 2012. His last conviction, which was given in 2012, was for the murder of his first known victim, Jennifer Cardy. "The Prison Service has confirmed that a 68-year-old prisoner has died at Maghaberry Prison. While this is not being treated as suspicious, the Prison Service has informed the PSNI, Coroner, and Prisoner Ombudsman. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time," an NI Prison Service spokeswoman said, according to Chronicle Live. Check out more World News here. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley delivered a sharp criticism of 2016 presidential front-runner Donald Trump in her response to President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday, gaining widespread praise among the GOP's mainstream and the ire of its most conservative. While Haley never mentioned Trump's name, it was clear that she was attempting to draw a distinction between a kinder and gentler version of the party that would be served well and the direction the party was taking because of the billionaire's campaign for the White House. "Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory," she said in remarks aired from Columbia, Bloomberg reported. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation." "Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume," she added. However, beyond a presidential candidates, Haley said that the Republican party, in general, was ripe for criticism, explaining that it isn't just the Democratic party that is responsible for the "erosion of public trust." "We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: while Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone," she said, according to CNN. "There is more than enough blame to go around." "We as Republicans need to own that truth," Haley continued, Politico reported. "We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America's leadership." Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus congratulated Haley on her speech, taking special note that it signaled the diversity of the party. Great job @nikkihaley ! Fantastic balance and substance. Our party is the new, young and diverse party. Reince Priebus (@Reince) January 13, 2016 However, some conservatives lashed out at Haley. That included a storm sparked by commentator Ann Coulter, who said on Twitter that Haley, who was born in South Carolina, should be deported. Trump should deport Nikki Haley. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 13, 2016 Other prominent conservatives were also disappointed with the speech, including conservative columnist and former Ted Cruz communications director Amanda Carpenter, as well as conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham. Nikki Haley's speech would've been good except for the GOP self-loathing. Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) January 13, 2016 The country is lit up w/ a populist fever & the GOP responds by digging in, criticizing the GOP candidates dominating polls?! NOT SMART. Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 13, 2016 @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. An incident that sparked a momentary standoff between the U.S. and Iran has been settled after Iran's Revolutionary Guard released all 10 of the U.S. Navy sailors who, along with their ships, had been detained after they drifted into Iranian territorial waters due to mechanical issues. The Pentagon confirmed their release Wednesday and the Navy corroborated the account, releasing a statement saying that the sailors departed the Iranian base on Farsi Island at about 4 a.m. EST aboard the boats they were detained with. The nine men and one woman were then picked up by Navy aircraft, while other sailors took control of their boats for their journey to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran," the statement said, noting that there aren't any indications that any of them were harmed while in custody. Tuesday's incident occurred as the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain, when the Pentagon momentarily lost contract with the crew. Officials blamed the incident on a mechanical problem present on at least one of the boats, according to Fox News. Iran also determined the incident was sparked by a mechanical error. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters of the Persian Gulf," a statement posted online by Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Despite that, Iran still believes the U.S. isn't entirely without guilt. "Certainly U.S. presence in Persian Gulf and their passage has never been innocent and we do not deem their passage as innocent," Gen. Ali Fadavi said, adding that Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif "had a firm stance (during a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry) on their presence in our territorial waters and said they should not have come and should apologize." The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran and mere hours before President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. While he didn't mention the sailors in his speech, word of their detainment was a hot topic in Washington, with many officials sounding off about it. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed hope for a quick solution, saying, "It's a very serious issue. I hope this is resolved in hours. If not, I think it escalates." GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz used the incident to take a swipe at Obama, saying it was a "manifestation of the weakness of Obama's foreign policy," adding, "our enemies don't fear us." The incident comes on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. While U.S. officials said that Iran had no apparent ill-intent, they still say that it was an unnecessary and careless act. In the meantime, Iran has expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in a few days. Once complete, the U.S. and other Western powers will suspend all sanctions on Tehran. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who was briefly jailed last year for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, attended President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday night, saying she was there to "be an encouragement...to all Christians." Davis, a born-again Christian, offered a bland review of Obama's address, telling Ivan Couronne of Agence France-Presse: "It was a speech." En exclusivite mondiale, Kim Davis pour l'AFP. "Je voulais encourager tous les Chretiens" pic.twitter.com/yoCzflde2m Ivan Couronne (@ivancouronne) January 13, 2016 The news of Davis attending the State of the Union was something of a surprise and a mystery. An aide to Rep. Jim Jordan said late Tuesday that the Ohio Republican's office had extended a ticket to Davis through a third party. "Kim Davis used our ticket," a Jordan spokesman said, CNN reported. "Our staff heard from the Family Research Council that Ms. Davis and her family hoped to attend the State of the Union address and so we offered a ticket." It was apparently something of a surprise to Jordan, who told The Huffington Post earlier in the day that he hadn't invited Davis or anybody else, for that matter. "I didn't invite anyone," said Jordan, the House Freedom Caucus chair. "My understanding is [my staff] gave them to the Family Research Council." In his speech, Obama addressed marriage equality as a product of American diversity and commitment to the rule of law -- something that he said is needed for a prosperous future. "Our unique strengths as a nation -- our optimism and work ethic, our spirit of discovery and innovation, our diversity and commitment to the rule of law -- these things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come," he said. "In fact, it's that spirit that made the progress of these past seven years possible," Obama added in his speech, which was posted on Medium. "It's how we recovered from the worst economic crisis in generations. It's how we reformed our health care system, and reinvented our energy sector; how we delivered more care and benefits to our troops and veterans, and how we secured the freedom in every state to marry the person we love." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Young doctors - those that are either currently in training or with fewer than ten years of experience in service - have gone on strike in the UK on Tuesday. They are striking to draw the attention of the public to disputes largely over working hours in their contracts with the National Health Service (NHS). The current government of David Cameron is proposing that all junior doctors work 48 hours a week. This number includes the mandatory work that would need to be done during weekends. The government cites data and argues that the absence of doctors during weekends has increased the mortality rates for certain conditions during those weekends. However, the doctors do not agree with this position of the government and are resisting the government's attempts to introduce a standardized workweek (that would include working long hours over the weekends), according to Newsmax. U.K.'s prime minister, David Cameron, requested the doctors on Monday to not go ahead with their planned strike. But the doctors have gone ahead anyway. Nearly 38,000 doctors and nurses are participating in the strike. This is the first such strike that the U.K. has seen in nearly 40 years, and 4,000 operations that were scheduled for Tuesday had to be cancelled and rescheduled for another date and time as a result. The NHS was first established by the Labor Party in the 1940s. Virtually all the treatments that it offers are done free of charge. It is funded by deductions from wages and with tax money and is therefore a very revered public institution in the U.K., according to The Guardian. Depending on the political fall-out from the current strike, at least 4 additional days of strikes have been planned by the British Medical Association, the union that represents nearly 37,000 of the 55,000 junior doctors in U.K. hospitals. Unless a resolution is found, these strikes could potentially cripple the U.K.'s NHS for many more days, according to The New York Times. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A family of four was killed Monday when an explosion that shook a northeast Ohio neighborhood caused their house to catch fire, leaving parts of the building completely destroyed, officials said. The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. on Monday when the house inexplicably exploded and caught fire. Responding firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after the blast to find the house completely engulfed in flames, reported the Associated Press. They searched for survivors, but were only able to find the bodies of the four people who once resided in the house - three on the first floor near the front of the house and one on the first floor near the back. An autopsy needed to be performed due to the state the bodies had been left in from the explosion and subsequent fire, soon revealing the identities of two of the victims: Jeffery and Cynthia Mather, both 43-year-olds from Northfield Center Township. Their daughters, aged 8 and 12, have yet to be identified. Investigators are treating the deaths as homicides after being unable to find any indicators of the explosion being linked to a gas leak, according to CBS' Clevland affiliate WOIO-TV. Neighbor's spoke to local media about the fire. "There was a lot of fire, a lot of debris," said Randy Nickschinski, noting that he and his son, Nate, went to the house and kicked in the front door in an attempt to find the family. The family dog escaped, but no one answered when they called for the family. "We were yelling, and nothing. We were just looking everywhere," he added, according to CBS News. Nickschinski's daughter, Danielle, said she babysat for the two girls. "They were very outgoing and nice," she said. "They always wanted to play." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Belgium police have discovered two apartments and a house used by ISIS militants as safe houses prior to the coordinated shooting and suicide bomb attacks on Paris in November, prosecutors said Wednesday. "The investigators were able to identify three premises that have been used by the conspiring perpetrators of the attacks of 13th November 2015," a spokesman for federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said in a statement, according to AFP. The statement revealed that the Paris attackers rented an apartment in Brussels and another in Charleroi at the start of September, as well as a house in the town of Auvelais, about 35 miles south of Brussels, at the start of October. The tenants gave false identities and paid for all three in cash. The rented properties linked Salah Abdeslam, the only participant in the attack still believed to be at large, militant Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up in Paris on the day of the attacks, suspected mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was killed during a police raid in St. Denis, and three unidentified accomplices, The Independent reported. Investigators found DNA traces of Hadfi in one of the apartments, while they found both mattresses and fingerprints of Hadfi and Abaaoud in the Charleroi apartment. One of the fake identities used while renting that apartment was also the same one used by one of the two people that Abdeslam was confirmed to have picked up in Budapest before driving back to Belgium. They have also found that the Seat Leon used in the Paris attacks had stopped near the Charleroi and Auvelais safe houses, while a rented BMW stopped near all three, according to Reuters. The discovery comes a week after prosecutors reported finding a possible bomb factory in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A young girl from Penn Township, Pa., was fatally shot by a police officer who was attempting to serve her father with an eviction notice at approximately 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning, according to the Washington Post. Ciara Meyer, 12, was hit by a bullet that had travelled through her father's arm after being fired from the officer's weapon, according to the Washington Post. The officer, Constable Clark Steele, had been trying to enforce a magistrate's eviction order against the father, Donald Meyer. Meyer, 57, owed approximately $1,780 in back rent and court costs and had known about the eviction notice for some time, according to ABC News. He confronted Steele at the door of the apartment with a rifle and pointed it at him, according to PennLive.com. Steele then fired a single shot which unfortunately passed through Meyer's arm and fatally hit his daughter Ciara, according to PennLive. "It was absolutely no surprise [Steele] was coming at this date and time," state police spokesperson Trooper Rob Hicks said, according to ABC News, "His lawful job, because he had a valid court order, was to remove them from the property if they had not already moved." Perry County district attorney Andrew Bender said that Ciara died as a result of her injury at the scene, while her father was flown to Penn State Hershey to treat his injuries, according to PennLive.com. When asked to comment on Steele's firing of the weapon, Bender stated that "I think it's premature to speak out about anything with regard to what actions would have been appropriate," according to PennLive.com. A neighbor who knew Ciara through her and her daughter playing together described her as a "very kind, sweet kid" when speaking to ABC 27 News. "Here's a little girl that doesn't even have a chance to grow up and live her life, and all because of this senseless act. It's horrible, absolutely heartbreaking," the neighbor told reporters for ABC 27 News. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Anyone who has witnessed the layers of junk lining the surface of our oceans is likely aware of the extent that pollution is having on our planet's aquatic ecosystems, and this isn't even the worst of it - what you see on the ocean's surface represents only five percent of the plastic trash dumped into the sea, with the rest submerged underneath, according to GlobalPost. Now, a new report from Ocean Conservancy released another alarming statistic: five countries are responsible for up to 60 percent of the plastic waste in the entire world's seas. The report claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are responsible for the majority of the waste that is currently consuming our marine ecosystems, despite the image of Westerner's as the highest producers of ocean trash. "At this rate, we would expect nearly one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in our oceans by 2025 - an unthinkable number with drastic economic and environmental consequences," said Nicholas Mallos, director of Ocean Conservancy's marine debris program. One of the reasons for these new statistics is likely the recent rise in Asia's appetite for Western-style consumer junk. However, most of Asia's junk doesn't end up in proper landfills. In the five countries listed above, only around 40 percent of the garbage created is effectively collected. More often, trash is stored in communal dumps where bits and pieces are picked up by the wind and ultimately make their way into the ocean. Of course, that doesn't get North America off the hook. While the U.S. accounts for less than one percent of the plastic waste that makes its way into oceans every year, when it comes to contribution to plastic waste in general, the numbers are high, according to One Green Planet. In fact, the average American citizen creates more waste per person than the average Chinese citizen, despite the fact that China is the country that contributes the most to plastic waste. Humans currently put 8 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean each year, and without some serious changes to our behavior and habits, Ocean Conservancy says that this rate will double in 10 years, according to Public Radio International. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. B exley, in south-east London, has been revealed as the most affordable area of the capital in which to buy a home. A report released by property experts CBRE Residential compares the average wage and average house price for each London borough, giving first-time buyers a good idea of how far their annual income will stretch. While affordability for many first-time buyers in London may be stretched, there are still a number of locations that are continuing to attract these buyers with lower values and potential for growth," says Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE. "By measuring the average earnings coupled with local house prices, we anticipate that Bexley is set to further appeal to those looking for increased value for money." The borough, which borders the Thames in travel Zone 6, is home to Sidcup, Crayford, Barnehurst and Thamesmead East. Rail services from Bexley station take about 36 minutes to reach Charing Cross, or London Cannon Street within 43 minutes. Bexley was also recently revealed to be London's cheapest borough to rent a home in, with an average cost of 1,007 a month - less than half the average for the capital as a whole. It has also been reported to be the best place to bring up children, thanks to its open green spaces, top-performing grammar schools and a good range of local independent shops. East London dominates the rest of the top 10 most affordable areas for first-time buyers, with most of these budget-friendly boroughs found on the fringes of the capital. However, Bexley's south-east London neighbours, Bromley and Greenwich, are the next most affordable. Outer London will continue to be the best bet for those with smaller budgets over the next few years," predicts Johnny Morris, head of research at estate agent Hamptons International. "With outer London firmly on the radar of most developers, the level of new house building has seen some outer boroughs begin to lose their suburban label. By the time Crossrail opens in 2018, cutting many journey times in half, the line between central London and the suburbs will be more blurred than ever before." Hillingdon, home to Heathrow airport, is the only west London borough to make the budget top 10. Listed as the eighth most affordable area, it is also the borough where average house prices are rising the fastest - up 14.4 per cent to just over 368,000 in the past year, according to the latest Land Registry figures. "Last year 85 per cent of all the homes that sold for under 250,000 were in the capitals outer boroughs, says Hamptons Johnny Morris. The insatiable demand for affordable homes in London has pushed up prices, however, with the number of properties for sale under the 250,000 mark down by a third in Bexley, Hillingdon, and Barking & Dagenham, in the last two years. Expedia, Booking.com, Kayak and Hotels.com are prolific spenders on Google AdWords, regularly logging in the top fifty search engine marketers by spending an average of $67,250 per day. And that's just on Google. So how does this ad spend play out across all search engines, including Bing and AOL? The answers come from an OTA/hotels paid search analysis by search advertising monitors Brand Verity, who considered 100,000 search results. Specifically, the analysis looked at PPC ads that were triggered by hotels' branded keywords such as "New York Hyatt." The findings show just how much the online travel agencies are outspending hotels, using their breadth of inventory and depth of pockets to deliver more in-bound paid clicks. In short, this study says that OTAs are indeed bidding against hotels in ad auctions and are paying handsomely to rank concurrently or higher than hotel brands. Moreover customers go to OTAs to simplify things and get access to many choice , just go and have a look at Booking.com home page and breakdown , what you will see Nice clear ratings stars, text and numbers customer can't go wrong surely! Discount messages Thumbs up symbols providing the customer who is not sure which way to turn with reassurance Latest booking 20 mins ago There are 32 people looking at this property When someone searches XYZ Hotel in Google with the following query (just type the hotel name or the city name) the result is headed by the OTAs AdWords ads they buy from Google ( Booking.com is number one buyers and number one show in search results ) and charged hotels through commissions with the intended idea to get ahead of hotels website's offer. It's interesting to note that when you click on the property, the number of people looking goes up and the time since the latest booking comes down. What this does is validate to the customer that he or she is looking at a good option and begins to create a sense of urgency better book that hotel before someone else does! This is called a 'sub-conscious positive reinforcements'. Best price guarantees and 'savings' messages are also dotted throughout. And, that's not all. There are further carefully worded phrases and tools to help the consumer dive for his or her credit card. Free booking and free cancellation are some you often see, again providing the consumer with peace of mind that they can change their mind. The reality is that the cancellation policy tends to be no different than if the consumer had gone to the hotel direct and you don't tend to pay a booking free when you phone a hotel or book on its brand website. Think about your hotel who has been ranked in search engines with the right keywords and that is why the competition between any hotel and OTAs is tough as they promote ads with messages like "Exclusive Discounts" or "price guaranteed" to what my business is disadvantaged. Plus those ads are false, since the best prices are always the ones marketed by the Hotel or at least equally cheaper (although OTAs try to avoid it with their contracts and clauses). The OTAs are one of the sales channel from the hotel pricing and marketing strategy, but not the only one. We need to be very careful with this because if we fail to certify our independency with intermediaries, we lose control of our business and worst we cut the contact with direct sales in the digital sphere. Online travel agencies are part of my sell strategy. These channels allow me to act fast, try promotions, stimulate buyers, support branding actions and many other goals. Among the options we have as independent hotels the digital medias should come first for costs, market penetration, ubiquity of our customers, coverage and self-management of content Ahmed Mahmoud Revenue Your Hotel View source The real-time value of New Media is unsurpassed. Everything in it happens in the realm of "here and now." Your news is as new or old as your last post or blog or tweet. Sites such as Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube have heralded the coming in of Web 2.0 a whole new world that provides excellent chances and opens up new vistas for a Media Manager. With the onset of Social Media in the arena of media coverage and planning, a PR Professional must be adept at handling each of these avenues. While Social Media is expanding career options by introducing such positions as a Social Media Manager or an Online Reputation Management Expert, not many companies have the finance or inclination to bifurcate responsibilities and hire separate individuals to handle such posts. Hence a role such as this has landed itself in the kitty of the Communications or PR Professional who needs to learn, unlearn and relearn to become a master of both the traditional and new age media. This, to my mind, is an extremely welcome change that encourages you to shape up for the New Media defined roles otherwise you may be shipped out by those who are more adept and trained. Come to think of it, as PR experts with our strong skill base in writing, media handling, planning, website management and marketing communications, we are the naturally skilled workforce who should be entrusted with the responsibility of managing the New Media. A lot of the power has shifted to you the Communications specialist from those on the journalistic side. If you have proved your worth and your Brand is considered of significance, then even the journalists are becoming fans of your Facebook page, following you on Twitter or linking up with you on LinkedIn. You get to decide what, when and how much you wish to share with your target audience through your blog posts that link neatly with your parent website (thereby also increasing footfalls on your website), your Facebook updates, your tweets and YouTube plug-ins. You get to learn instantly whether your Brand is 'trending' or is being given the cold shoulder by the online traffic. With the old media it was difficult to measure the reach and penetration of your story the only measure being the circulation figures which often failed to tell you whether the information on your company was actually read by the key audience or not. In the New Media, you can actually count up the "likes," "views," "shares" and "follows" to define how much a sub-product has been liked and whether a marketing idea will fly or fall with the end consumer. While the old media and your story in it had the misfortune of being retired to the waste paper basket or sold to the 'Raddi recyclist' (Scrap paper dealer) or of reappearing as a wrap for snacks sold by the street vendor, there is no such danger with the New Media. Of course the biggest fear in the New Media is to go completely unnoticed by those very eye balls that you wish to catch as news and information flash by in high speed across the information freeway. Yet, the New Media has this great propensity to go Viral in the biggest way possible. Imagine the circuitry your story can create from your company website or blog to LinkedIn to YouTube to Facebook to Twitter with innumerable swaps in between - to a large river of search engines on which your story continues to appear. And often with proper Search Engine Optimization it would appear in the initial few searches itself. This brings us to the importance of skills such as business writing for technology driven platforms as verbose as blogs or as crypt and concise as the 140 character Twitter. The other skills to be polished would be intelligent use of keywords, learning to link up well, using such tools as hash tags, bing, klouts, RSS, Social media alerts, tickers, Feedjits and the like. But this is a subject matter of another article which we may get into another time. With New Media, you have the advantage of creating your own community that follows you, likes you and becomes a fan or a member. Your article that is liked or viewed by 'X' number of people has actually been read by those numbers without any wastage in the count and as a bonus has also been shared with their respective networks. Your Brand that is followed by a certain number of people enjoys loyalty from this number which has the potential to grow into a large population. Think about the online hits that certain features / stories invite on the internet and you will instantly know that this population can grow to a size of millions or more. New Media is also an excellent platform for networking widely with larger demographics or pointedly with chosen focus groups. The networking and linking up chances with the like-minded groups on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook help you increase your audience base taking you beyond the geographical boundaries within which your company exists. There are hundreds of Groups for Hoteliers, Travel professionals and other such defined categories with which you can network and share your information. With an avenue like Wikipedia you can be your own Editor and create a User page or article for your Company. If it has universal significance then you will be easily inducted into the Wiki pages and enjoy easy searchability and wide readership. With New Media everything happens in the present so much so that the stories are listed every second and every minute of the day and through the night. The World Wide Web never sleeps and to make matters worse the Social Media keeps it on its toes at all times. There are no lunch breaks or pit stops on this information highway. Hence you need to be consistent and constant with your messaging. The rise in the relevance of New Media has caused a decline in the attention spans, therefore there is a greater need, now than ever before, to be pertinent and prime in your 'newsability,' otherwise your input will remain popular only amongst employees, family and friends. With New Media you can reinforce your message with the ease of clicking a button. Simply press share or retweet and your story comes alive once again. But you must learn to do this prudently and in the right time span lest you become a social media outcast. With so much of information threatening to deluge their mind space your guests do not wish to be bored with old news or annoyed with repetitive nuisance. All forms of New Media present wonderful options for inter-linkages. So, your official blog piece or website page can be tweeted or shared on LinkedIn, Facebook etc. simultaneously with just a couple of clicks and you get to showcase your product amidst a large number of users of these sites with so much ease that it makes a kid's play appear difficult. One of the biggest boons of New Media is that it is absolutely free and adds admirably to your profit protection strategy. View this point in the light of big dollars earmarked for the annual media plan covering advertising and other media spend including Press FAMs and individual Press Trips for media coverage on your Company. Virtual Property Tours with exciting 360 degree views that have been traditionally put up on the website can now be uploaded on You Tube or tweeted or shared through LinkedIn, Facebook and the like for free and to multitudes who just need to have an access to a machine and the medium of Net. This, however, does not reduce the importance of the human touch, the impact of relationships with the media and the power of experiencing a property for real. With these huge benefits come the bad lemons too as is a given with almost anything in life; with everything there always being two sides. Opening up to a wide readership and onto instant news platforms such as these also calls for immediate feedback. Your guests are at free will to tweet back or post a negative comment or deride your new sub-product or product in the same open, world-wide medium that you use. The onus lies on you the Newsmaker - and your Company to be more responsible, meaningful and noteworthy. With you as the Communications Chief, New Media also allows for much greater engaging and involvement of the employee base that can be part of the news making process, thereby developing a stronger bond and belongingness with the Company they represent. While not everybody can be allowed to post or tweet given the crucial baseline of adhering to the Company profile and Brand Standard, but they can send their submissions to you, who as the Chief Brand Custodian can play the editor to the hilt and include the appropriate ones on to the forums. Seeing one's tweet or post feature in the virtual world, gives almost the same high as seeing one's article in print, well almost, and is especially true for the non-writers. While the importance and significance of the old Media cannot be ever denied, the New Media is all too powerful, in your face, productive and result-oriented so as not to be taken lightly. It is not a fad and needs to be fashioned out sensibly into your media strategy. DUBAI, UAE Continuing its worldwide expansion and accelerated growth in Central Europe, TSA Solutions has implemented its Front Desk Upselling program to support the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski in enhancing upselling revenues, identifying hidden guest needs to promote increased guest satisfaction, and motivate Front Desk associates. In just a few weeks since implementing the program, the hotel has already seen significant results. Marco Winter, Executive Assistant Manager said, "Already in place at our sister properties, the Hotel Falkenstein Grand Kempinski and Villa Rothschild in Frankfurt, our goals are to generate an increase in our incremental revenue through front desk upselling supported by professional front desk training from TSA Solutions. The results so far have been impressive, including positive impacts on our staff, helping them quickly identify 'hidden' guest needs which can go toward improving guest satisfaction." He concluded, "Our objectives have been met admirably in a very short time, and we are especially impressed with the organization, creativity and execution of the training program, which provides a consistent foundation of knowledge for all our people and efficiencies in administration and upselling execution that lets everyone on property do their jobs better." As the undisputed innovator in the upselling space with more than 85% partner's renewal rate, TSA Solutions is committed to forming long-term working relationships that result in mutual success. TSA's Front Desk Upselling programs combine proven training techniques with daily and monthly performance measurement tools, reports and monthly planning and strategy meetings, to ensure ongoing success and high ROI. A dedicated TSA Performance Consultant stays engaged for the duration of the partnership both onsite and remotely. TSA has now partnered with 27 distinctive hotels in Germany, one of the fastest growing market in the region and more than 50 in Central Europe, as widespread adoption of its solutions accelerates. Andre Kaufmann, TSA's Director of Business Development Eastern & Central Europe, said, "We were excited to see the success and the revenue increase beginning from the first time the hotel partnered with TSA. It is also great to see that the employees are recognized and rewarded for the successful application of our in depth upsell training techniques - and Hotel Management is very happy to see how the approach is increasing the check-in experience for their guests positively." Klaus Kohlmayr, TSA's Chief Commercial Officer, added, "We are delighted to contribute to the success of the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg through our upselling programs and appreciate their confidence in TSA." He concluded, "2015 has been a year of tremendous growth for us, in Europe, as well as The United States and Asia, as we build on a history of value creation to innovate our products and services to meet the needs of hoteliers in all market segments. We look forward to sharing news about those innovations in the year ahead." For more information, visit www.tsa-solutions.com. About TSA Solutions | TSA Solutions is the worldwide leader in hotel upselling solutions. TSA helps nearly 1,000 hotel partners in 70 countries achieve measurable and sustainable increases in incremental revenue and RevPAR - capturing more than $200 million USD in annual incremental revenue, with an average ADR increase of 2%. With no upfront investment cost for the majority of its programs, TSA's technology, training, and performance management tools also supports hotels' efforts to increase guest satisfaction and boost personnel retention. TSA is also building intuitive new technology applications to drive business for hoteliers, as it helps them adapt to rapidly changing marketplace conditions. TSA continues to evolve its solutions to support hoteliers in capturing even more incremental revenue, with programs in reservations, sales, restaurant/bar. Founded in 1987, TSA Solutions is headquartered in Singapore and maintains operations throughout Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and North America. About the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg |The Hotel Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg was opened over a century ago as a traditional grand hotel for first-class passengers of world-famous luxury liners. The listed hotel complex is a Hamburg landmark and one of the last grand hotels situated in a major German city. Centrally located between the main railway station, the city hall and the Alster Lake, the 'white castle' provides discerning business and leisure travellers with the perfect place to stay. The five-star-superior hotel offers 221 elegant rooms, 33 of which are suites, with unmistakable regional charm of the highest standard. Historic banqueting rooms, elegant salons and meeting & conference rooms catering for up to 1200 people have been and are still to this day the settings for important decisions and meetings. From a culinary point of view, Atlantic guests are treated 24-hours a day by Executive Chef Andre Trojanowski while Head Chef Patrick Weber in the Atlantic Restaurant, the hotel's gourmet restaurant, allures diners with his sumptuous cuisine. The Ubersee Club, an exclusive conference and event venue on the banks of Hamburg's Binnenalster with a capacity of up to 400 people rounds off the hotel's exclusive offering. Press Contact Marjorie Gonzalez TSA Solutions [email protected] Michael Frenkel MFC PR (212) 808-6559 [email protected] TSA Solutions TSA Solutions +971-4-369-3028 It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject The final sale price was $1,650,000. The Buyer is immediately implementing extensive upgrades to the property of close to $1 million. Crystal Investment Property, LLC, a member of Hotel Brokers International, announced the successful sale of the Edgecliff Motel in Lincoln City, Oregon. Crystal Investment Property, LLC, a licensed Oregon broker, exclusively represented the Seller in the sale. Joseph P. Kennedy, President of CIP, worked closely with the Seller, Buyer and Buyers Broker as well as attorneys and lenders, to negotiate a mutually acceptable sale. The final sale price was $1,650,000. The Buyer is immediately implementing extensive upgrades to the property of close to $1 million. The 54-key property sits on a bluff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean at 3733 Highway 101 in Lincoln City, Oregon. The hotel offers excellent proximity to the South end of Lincoln City on the beautiful Central Oregon Coast approximately one mile south of the 63 store Tanger Outlet Mall. Joseph Kennedy, President of Crystal Investment Property said, We were pleased to be able to overcome hurdles in what was a very complex purchase structure in order to close the sale for the Seller. The Buyer is beginning a comprehensive remodel and we look forward to the positive improvements this revitalized property with bring to the hospitality marketplace in Lincoln City. Crystal Investment Property, a premiere hospitality investment advisory and brokerage company located in the Pacific Northwest, maintains the most cutting-edge technological, online and social media presence as well as a full range of traditional and web-based marketing reaching local, regional, national and international clientele. The firms core services of hospitality asset acquisition/disposition are supported by innovative and creative solutions to maintain position as the most active and successful hotel broker in the region. Crystal Investment Property represents the full spectrum of hospitality real estate owners and their experience covers all hospitality assets types, including: full service hotels, boutique hotels, select service hotels, limited service hotels, as well as development projects, and leasehold transactions. Crystal Investment Property may be accessed online at www.crystalip.com. Founded in 1959, Hotel Brokers International members lead the industry in hotel real estate sales. HBI hotel brokerage specialists have successfully negotiated more than 10,000 hotel real estate transactions and consistently account for the largest share of all select-service and economy hotel sales in the United States. The organizations database currently comprises more than 100 property listings and the HBI website attracts more than 55,000 monthly site visitors. Founder and host of the popular Hotel Investors Marketplace Webcast, HBI also developed the Certified Hotel Broker professional designation program. In addition to hospitality real estate advisory services, HBI offers affiliate membership to professionals in allied fields, including franchising, lending, appraisals and investment services. For more information about HBIs hotel listings or to become a broker or affiliate member, visit www.hbihotels.com. For more information contact: Joseph P. Kennedy, President Crystal Investment Property, LLC Portland, Oregon 503.530.1316 joe@crystalip.com Glenda J. Webb, Managing Director Hotel Brokers International Kansas City, Missouri 816.505.4315 gwebb@hbihotels.com HTNG 2016 North American Conference March 1-3 HTNG 2016 North American Conference March 1-3 Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) is set to present an agenda of current issues and emerging technologies to hospitality leaders at the HTNG 2016 North American Conference in Amelia Island, Florida this March. The program includes more than 40 experts who will share their knowledge in sessions that address current hot topics in hospitality technology. In addition to the sessions listed below, the agenda will feature two notable keynote speakers. Henry Harteveldts address, The Three Is Influencing Hotel IT, will demonstrate how three factors driving the future of the hospitality business immediacy, inspiration and individualism both arise from improved lodging IT capabilities and will impact IT systems during the next few years. In the second keynote session titled The Genius of Opposites: How Introverts and Extroverts Achieve Extraordinary Results Together, best-selling author Jennifer Kahnweiler will offer a five-step process that will enable introverts and extroverts to better understand one another to leverage their strengths and create strong teams in the workplace. HTNG is excited to have some interesting new speakers and industry experts who will address relevant and important top-of-mind issues at the North American Conference, said Michael Blake, Executive Vice President and CEO of HTNG, a nonprofit association governed by senior IT hospitality executives from around the world. The program aims to educate and entertain, while also providing a venue for members to share experiences, successes and recommendations with their colleagues. Experts from both hospitality companies and technology vendors will present the program, comprised of both strategic and technical sessions throughout the conference, including: Cloud PBX The Time Is Now Dont Let the Cloud Rain on Your Parade Event Space ArchiTechnologySM: Planning for the Future of Meetings Fresh from China: Big Data on Steroids Innovative Power Distribution for Fiber Optics Internet of Things Security Jeopardy, n. \je-pr-de\: hazard or risk of or exposure to harm, loss, theft; also a popular TV game A New Twist on E=MC2 -- E+C=M2 OpenTravels Architectural Direction; Moving Beyond XML Messaging The Cloud Imperative Oracles Perspective PCI Security Council Presents Physical Security in Hospitality The Third Generation of Payments Virtual Reality: Not Just for Gamers Anymore Wi-Fi and Big Data How to Capitalize on the Investments In addition to some of these topics, the first day of the conference will also consist of working meetings of HTNG member volunteers who have formed teams to solve hospitality technology problems such as lightweight messaging, scalable cellular service and more. Leaders from the Software Resource Team and the Infrastructure Resource Team will update attendees on current activities and recently published documents, all of which can aid hotels in choosing the appropriate technologies for their properties. The conference also will feature HTNGs TechOvation Award competition, recognizing the top cutting-edge technologies introduced in the past year. Fifteen participants will compete through live presentations in a qualifying round on Wednesday March 2. Three finalists, selected by an industry expert judging panel, will then present to the general session on Thursday March 3, with the winner chosen by live audience voting. The HTNG North American Conference will be in Amelia Island, FL at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort from March 1-3, 2016. The program and speakers are subject to change. For information or to register, visit http://www.htng.org/conferences/north-american. Swissotel Hotels & Resorts yesterday announced that it has entered into an agreement with Mohammed Ibrahim Al Subeaei & Sons Investment Company (MASIC) to manage the 180-room Swissotel Al Khobar in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With a planned opening in 2019, Swissotel Al Khobar will be situated within the MASIC Business Park development, occupying an enviable location within the urban area's commercial and residential district. Encompassing around 55,000 square metres (approximately 592,000 square feet) of retail and prime office space, this development will become a landmark in the Eastern Province. In addition to 180 guestrooms, Swissotel Al Khobar will feature over 1,300 square metres (approximately 14,000 square feet) of meeting and conference space and a variety of food and beverage offerings from Cafe Swiss and Swiss Gourmet to a pool and grill restaurant. With an emphasis on vitality and fitness, the hotel will also feature the brand's signature Purovel Spa & Sport along with an outdoor rooftop pool. This mixed use property will also present 20 exclusive and contemporary luxury residential apartments, branded under the Swissotel Living concept offering high-end amenities and round-the-clock service to residents. The announcement marks Swissotel's, and parent company FRHI Hotels & Resorts', first venture into the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry in the eastern part of the country. With the city of Al Khobar as its commercial centre, the property is close to Dhahran city, home to the world's largest energy company - Saudi Aramco, as well as the US Consulate and King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. Overall, the province is just a short distance away from the Arabian Gulf, and is linked to neighbouring Bahrain by a 25 kilometre causeway. Advertisement "Continuing our pipeline growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a key focus for our world-leading luxury hotel brands," said Sami Nasser, senior vice president, operations, Middle East, Africa and India for FRHI. "Since our debut in the region over five years ago with our multi-branded hotel complex in Makkah, our brands have been well positioned to appeal to both business and religious tourism in this increasing sophisticated travel market." The project is being developed by MASIC, one of the largest investment companies in Saudi Arabia with an extensive portfolio of investments locally and globally featuring financial services, real estate, agriculture, manufacturing, industrial and retail. MASIC has contributed lately to many real estate projects such as the London's South Bank Tower, a retail shopping centre on King Fahd road in Riyadh as well as the development of a luxury residential tower and state-of-the-art office space in Jeddah and Thakher, a mega mixed-use project in Makkah which is currently under development. "MASIC is proud to join forces with FRHI to develop the first Swissotel in the Eastern Province" said Ihsan Bafakih, CEO of MASIC. "We believe that MASIC Business Park and the addition of Swissotel will form an impressive environment for living, working and leisure and will hopefully be a landmark that our clients and tenants will enjoy." The addition of Swissotel Al Khobar complements a growing portfolio of FRHI-managed hotels currently under development in Saudi Arabia, including Swissotel, Raffles and Fairmont hotels in Jeddah all slated to open before 2020, in addition to Fairmont Riyadh, Business Gate which will open in 2016. Swissotel flags will also be raised throughout the Middle East within the next five years with Swissotel Jadaf in the United Arab Emirates, Swissotel Citystars Sharm El Sheikh and a property in 'New Cairo' - Swissotel Katameyah in Egypt. In total, FRHI has 19 hotels and more than 7,000 guestrooms open and operating in the Middle East, Africa and India with another 18 hotels in varying stages of development representing 5,000 rooms. Swissotel Al Khobar becomes FRHI's eighth hotel in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with three hotels representing more than 3,000 guestrooms open, and another five with a total room of 1,200 guestrooms currently in the pipeline. Young Dolphs judge must have watched Kendrick Lamars new Hard Work video encouraging community mentorship. Instead of getting ordered to pay a fine or serve probation, Dolph was ordered to supervise a delinquent teen. Or so Dolph claims, in a pair of Instagram photos depicting him smoking a Backwoods with the troubled youth and imparting sage words of wisdom upon him. [I] went to court and da judge ordered for me to take this little kid in my custody for 24hrs, wrote Dolph. His mom said he been skippin school and stealing n shit. The kid was apparently not impressed with Dolphs crib. Why dis little bad muddaf*#er jus tell me this house is cool but lets go to the other one, he wrote. ME: what other one? HIM: Your traphouse.. Duuuhhhh! ME: Dont make me put dis belt on your little ass.' Is it a joke? Is it forreal? The mind of Young Dolph is a strange place. Young Dolph A petition put to the Oireachtas calls for UFC Champ's head to be tails A petition submitted to the Oireachtas Petitions Committee is calling for Conor McGregor to appear on the Irish 1 coin. The UFC Featherweight Champion, who was yesterday confirmed for a tilt at the lightweight crown against Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 197, is obviously something of a national treasure at this point, but now discussions will take place to put a price on his iconic status. The petition, created by Patrick OLeary, was received by the government on December 15, and according to the official Oireachtas website, will be considered today. The chances, you'd figure, are pretty slim - but then again, the Notorious has proven that upsetting odds is something of a specialty of his. Today, he's been on social media putting some of his famous positive vibes out there... It would be a true honour for me to be immortalised on the 1 coin! Thank you to my fans for the petition!Let's go Oireachtas! Vote YES :-) Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 13, 2016 Sinead O'Connor to feature alongside Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams and a number of other artist's to contribute newly recorded versions of Blind Willie Johnson tracks on new tribute compilation Aligator Records are set to release God Don't Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson on February 26th. The record will feature newly reworked versions of the legendary slide guitarist and vocalists songs by artist such as Sinead O'Connor, Tom Waits and The Blind Boys of Alabama. Jeffrey Gaskill who also produced Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan produces the record that work began on it back in 2008. A Kickstarter campaign was set up to partially fund the project back in 2013 and received almost 1000 donations allowing Gaskill more time to complete the record. Gaskill stated in a press release that the Blind Willie Johnson project would be about his life's work. Johnson's music has been cited as an influence by many artists such as Ry Cooder, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton to name a few with many artists also covering his material. Advertisement Speaking about the record Derek Trucks who contributes said, "I never heard a slide player, even to this day, play with that much emotion. I've only heard a few things that have hit me quite that strongly. There's something so honest about his recordings. He's one of the few handful of musicians whose music really feels sacred to me." The album, which is due for release next month will feature Sinead O'Connor, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Cowboy Junkies, Luther Dickinson, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Maria McKee and Rickie Lee Jones. The United Nations will step in to help stem the rising flow of Central Americans over the southern border of Texas, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Tens of thousands of families have arrived at the U.S. Southwestern border since last fall, mostly in Texas, many fleeing a spike in Central American gang violence. As the volume of arrivals overwhelmed federal detention centers in Texas, temporary shelters were opened and military bases co-opted to house children as fears rise that the tide of migrants could exceed crisis levels seen in 2014. RELATED: As possible influx looms, feds open new child migrant shelters in Texas The UN will set up processing centers in countries near to Central America, the Times reported, where people will be allowed to apply for refugee status without paying smugglers to take them to the U.S. border. People granted refugee status may be resettled in the United States or other countries. "Our lawmakers have insisted that this is not a refugee issue, that it's an immigration issue," said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of San Antonio-based immigrant advocacy group RAICES. "Here we see that they acknowledge that it is a refugee issue." The news comes weeks after the Department of Homeland Security kicked off mass deportation raids targeting families in Texas and beyond who'd arrived in the country among the 2014 surge. Those raids prompted strong criticism for violation of due process. "We are glad to see these steps to treat the situation in Central America as the refugee crisis it is known to be," a spokesman for the non-governmental U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said of the U.N. plan. "We need action and the women and children fleeing gangs in Central America need protection right away." In a recent release, the U.N. said "the international community is currently experiencing a flood of migrants from countries in crisis, with the number of forcibly displaced persons in the world now higher than it has been at any time since World War II." It said almost 60 million people worldwide have been forced from their homes by conflict, persecution, general violence or human rights violations. The global population of displaced people is growing at a faster rate than the general population, it said. Call Centers in India Help Organizations to Enhance their Performance Posted by Gloria Martin on Wednesday, 01-13-2016 12:17 am Currently 2.8/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 2.8 from 9 votes Business organizations across the globe consider India as a perfect destination to outsource their business related functions. The country offers a perfect platform for businesses which are eager to expand their customer base. Over the last couple of decades, many multinational companies have transferred much of their business related functions to the country. At present, there are plenty of call centers or business process outsourcing firms in India which help organizations to realize their goals. These call centers in India help organizations to capitalize on every business opportunities, besides enhancing their overall performance. The prime role of call centers is to enable organizations to perform a wide range of business related functions efficiently. Call centers India not only share the responsibility of accomplishing these functions efficiently, but also share the credibility associated with those functions. These call centers have pool of capable employees who can perf... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. 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You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-12 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Companies that respect the law have nothing to fear, minister says regarding El Dorado decision [02] Eldorado Gold announces suspension of work at Skouries gold mine [03] Greek leadership extends condolences over Istanbul terrorist attack [01] Companies that respect the law have nothing to fear, minister says regarding El Dorado decision Any company that respects the law has nothing to fear, Alternate Minister for the Environment Yiannis Tsironis said on Tuesday, commenting on the decision of Canadian multinational Eldorado Gold to halt much of its production in northern Greece. "Any company that respects the law, the environmental conditions and the public interest has nothing to fear," the minister said, adding that the European Court proved that Eldorado Gold should not have taken the land without paying the 14.5 million euros it was supposed to pay. "I think this is the main reason why the company is now leaving and its stock collapsed. All other arguments, that there were delays, that permits were not given etc. are bad excuses," he added. [02] Eldorado Gold announces suspension of work at Skouries gold mine Eldorado Gold will cut 600 jobs from its gold mine operation at the Skouries site in the next three months, while another 500 jobs at the Olympiada project are under threat if the company fails to receive the necessary installation license by the end of March, Paul Wright, the chairman of the multinational company said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, he announced a decision to suspend works at Skouries and of a possible suspension in Olympiada. The Skouries projects has a workforce of 682, of which 600 work for contractors. Meanwhile, Wright was set to meet with newly elected New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday evening, in order to brief him about his company's actions and of its intent to invest, on a long-term basis, in Greece and to create jobs. Arriving at the meeting, Wright said he hoped the country's Council of State will issue a second ruling in the company's favour. [03] Greek leadership extends condolences over Istanbul terrorist attack Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos conveyed his condolences to the German ambassador to Greece and to the families of the victims of Tuesday's terror attack in Istanbul. A close Pavlopoulos aide at the presidency called German envoy Peter Schoof and conveyed the Greek president's deepest condolences and unreserved support. The general secretary of the presidency, Giorgos Gennimatas, also contacted the Turkish ambassador to Greece, Kerim Uras, and expressed the Pavlopoulos' unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attack. Meanwhile, new New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent his condolences to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. In a letter, Mitsotakis expressed his deep sadness for the victims and his support to their families. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-13 From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] FinMin Tsakalotos to meet Schaeuble on Wednesday [01] FinMin Tsakalotos to meet Schaeuble on Wednesday According to Finance ministry's sources, Dijsselbloem is a politician who wants solutions to be found. On his part, Dijsselbloem, according to the same sources, made clear that his statement according to which the first evaluation would take months also includes the issue of debt. Tsakalotos will meet with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Wednesday. Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] International community must keep its promise to make Greek debt sustainable, US Treasury's Lew says [02] Tender for TV licences to be launched in January, Spirtzis says [03] "Nisos Rhodos" with 1,238 refugees on board docks at Piraeus port [04] Greece's rail system and suburban railway to hold work stoppage on Thursday [01] International community must keep its promise to make Greek debt sustainable, US Treasury's Lew says The US Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew had a phone contact with his Greek counterpart Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Tuesday evening. According to the US Department of State, it is important that the Greek government continues to implement reforms and closely cooperate with its international creditors. He also stressed the importance for the international community to keep its promise to make the Greek debt sustainable [02] Tender for TV licences to be launched in January, Spirtzis says The tender for television licenses will be launched within January, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister Christos Spirtzis on Wednesday said in an interview with "Sto Kokkino" radio station. He added that the first step is to set up the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) and noted that the government is ready for the establishment of ERT-NET. "Therefore, we will soon have the full implementation of the law," he concluded. [03] "Nisos Rhodos" with 1,238 refugees on board docks at Piraeus port "Nisos Rhodos" with 1,238 refugees on board arrived at Piraeus port on Wednesday. The ferry carried 838 refugees from Mytilene and 400 refugees from Chios. "Blue Star 1" is expected to carry another 1,400 refugees and migrants from Mytilene within the day. [04] Greece's rail system and suburban railway to hold work stoppage on Thursday There will be numerous cancellations and modifications of the schedule throughout Greece's rail system and the suburban railway (Proastiakos) lines on Thursday, because of a three-hour work stoppage (from 12.00 to 15.00) which has been announced by Greek railway workers union. A demonstration has also been scheduled outside the Transport ministry, at 12.30. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-13 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] FinMin Tsakalotos met German counterpart Schaeuble [02] Alt.FM Xydakis meets with Dutch FM Koenders [03] Survival game "The Island" to take place on Greek island [04] Skourletis accuses Eldorado Gold of staging "political show" and sending ultimatums [01] FinMin Tsakalotos met German counterpart Schaeuble Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos met with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble on Wednesday. No statements to the press were made. [02] Alt.FM Xydakis meets with Dutch FM Koenders Turkey needs to meet its commitments to the EU regarding the refugee crisis recognising its key-role in the distribution of refugees, Alternate Foreign Minister responsible for the European Affairs Nikos Xydakis and Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders underlined on Wednesday. During their meeting late Tuesday in Amsterdam, first stop of Xydakis' short tour to European capitals, the Greek minister briefed his counterpart on Greece's efforts to face the pressure of the unprecedented refugees inflow underlining that the country has already dealt in the best possible way with the increasing needs and engagements, said Foreign ministry sources. He also said that the country is working hard and will succeed to meet its commitment to the European partners adding that Greece has received less assistance than what is needed to confront the refugee and migrant crisis and called the claims according to which the country does not want the EU's assistance false. Moreover, Xydakis highlighted the geopolitical reasons that have created the refugee crisis noting the peace role that the European Union should play in the Syrian crisis. In this context, he recognised the key-role of the current Dutch presidency in EU and the importance of the intitiative it will undertake. Xydakis also highlighted Greece's special geographical position noting the importance and responsibilities of the protection of the sea borders which cover thousands of kilometres. He reminded that Greece has rescued over 100,000 people in 2015 according to the rules of the international law, the Geneva Treaty for refugees as well as the founding treaties of the European Union. On his part, the Dutch Foreign Minister expressed special interest for the Cyprus issue and asked, according to information, to be briefed on the course of the issue. Finally, Xydakis briefed Koenders on the course of the Greek programme noting that Greece is making rapid progress and focused on the need for EU to contribute in this effort responding to the commitments that has assumed so that the country exits the long-standing crisis as soon as possible. He also said that the Greek government's first priority is to attract new investments so that job position open for the Greek people with special emphasis on tackling youth unemployment that very often forces the young people to leave the country. Alternate Foreign Minister Nikos Xydakis will meet on Thursday with his German counterpart Michael Roth. Xydakis' European tour in order to inform on the Greek positions in matters of common European interest as the migration and refugees crisis will be completed on Friday where he will meet with Greek eurodeputies in Brussels. [03] Survival game "The Island" to take place on Greek island The Alimia islet, situated between Rhodes and Halki, was chosen by the Belgian travel agency "Beyond Borders" for the survival game (October 2016) entitled "The Island." "Such original projects like 'The Island' highlight the potential of the islands, attract specific categories of tourists and can contribute to the lengthening of the tourist season, Tourism Deputy Local Governor Marietta Papavasileiou said. The mayor of Halki, Michalis Patros, underlined that this game is a pleasant alternative to highlight the beauty of Alimnia worldwide. "We welcome the organization of such an event that shows a different way of promoting Alimia. I hope that this game is successful," he said. Joris Meermans, head of a four-member mission from Belgium, who visited the island a few days ago expressed his enthusiasm for Alimnia, stating that the island was exactly what the agency "Beyond Borders" was looking for. He also appeared confident, that this may be the beginning of a very good cooperation with the South Aegean Region and the municipality of Halki. "Beyond Borders" is a new and ambitious tourism agency that organises concept adventure trips, which do not exist anywhere else in Europe. [04] Skourletis accuses Eldorado Gold of staging "political show" and sending ultimatums Greek Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis on Wednesday accused Eldorado Gold of staging a "political show" and of sending "blackmail ultimatums" and noted that the company's CEO must understand that "Greece is a modern European democracy and not El Dorado or a banana republic". Speaking to SKAI radio, Skourletis stressed that the government wanted the investment in Chalkidiki, but with the preconditions envisaged by the Greek law. The Greek minister did not exclude the possibility of renegotiating the contract from zero, adding that he could not dismiss the possibility that the company was seeking to withdraw from the investment due to a decline in international gold prices. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article workers vengeful actions have cost a New Zealand boss as much as $11,000 while also highlighting the importance of handling promotions and demotions properly.Oliver Rhys Hutchinson had worked his way up the ladder but got knocked down a rung when someone else was hired the dairy farmer alleges to have approached his manager for an explanation but claims he was never given one.Angered, the 22-year-old took to sabotage and injected a syringe full of penicillin into milk vat. The contaminated milk was then picked up by a Fonterra tanker where it mixed with milk already in the tanker.While the contamination was soon uncovered and Hutchinson later charged, 18,000 litres of milk had already been ruined and the cost to his employer was substantial.Could the five-figure financial loss have been avoided altogether?HR director Ashley White told HRM that, when breaking bad news, leaders should put themselves in the employees position.Empathize, but dont do it in a way that seems insincere, she advises. Plan for potential aggressive behaviour and think through alternate paths to get you to a better solution if the conversation goes that route.Eventually, Hutchinson was sentenced to two months' community detention also ordered to pay $10,921 in reparation for the milk. While he plans to pay it off, his $20 a week schedule puts the repayment period at a full 10 years and four months. ajor news outlet is making headlines for all the wrong reasons after it implemented invasive technology in its office only to have the devices removed a day later.On Monday morning, employees at the Daily Telegraph were outraged when they discovered monitoring boxes had been attached to their desks, Buzzfeed UK reported.The British-based newspaper then emailed employees mid-day, informing the workforce that the monitors would be in place for four weeks in an attempt to improve energy efficiency.Bosses claimed the tracking would help the Telegraph make our floors in the building as energy efficient as possible while reducing the amount of power we consume for heating, lighting and cooling the building at times of low usage.The National Union of Journalists was quick to react and assistant general secretary Seamus Dooley said the monitoring had no place in the office.Employers must adhere to strict rules governing the collection of data in the workplace, he stressed. Workers have very strong privacy rights and these must be protected.Dooley also criticized the employer for failing to pre-warn employees.The right to be consulted on new procedures governing such data is enshrined in law, he said, adding that the NUJ would resist Big Brother-style surveillance in the newsroom.The controversial devices produced by OccupEye are able to track when an employee is present at his or her desk via heat and motion sensors. The companys website emphasizes claims it can help employers absorb the cost and scale of nationwide workplace inefficiency.Workplace psychologist Eve Ash told the Sydney Morning Herald that such devices are a worrying invasion of privacy."This was amazing, and to do it with no discussion whatsoever was unbelievable," Ash says. "We already have workplaces where trust is so susceptible to being damaged and this is like a giant sword through that trust."Unsurprisingly, the newspaper has since removed the contentious devices.In the light of feedback we have received from staff it has been decided to withdraw the under-desk sensors immediately, it said in a statement. We will be looking at alternative ways to gather the environmental sustainability data we need and will keep staff in touch with any new proposals. Rick's Rant : Saudi Arms Deal Here's a sneak preview from tonight's brand new episode. Rick's Rant: Saudi Arms deal Posted by Rick Mercer Report on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 Rick Mercer is kicking off a new year of rants by taking aim at words Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used back in October to downplay a controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The comedian uploaded a new rant to Facebook Tuesday, opening with a throwback to how federal party leaders failed to scrutinize the $15-billion deal brokered by the former Conservative government last year. Advertisement It never became an election issue, Mercer said. The matter did make an appearance during the French-language leaders debate when then-Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe pressed Stephen Harper on the logic of having an active mission against the so-called Islamic State as well as a deal to send billions worth of arms to Saudi Arabia both on the governments agenda. Its a deal that has been touted as windfall for the London, Ont. firm that landed it, and defended by federal officials as a spark plug for a manufacturing jobs bonanza in southern Ontario. "Really, Justin? Jeeps? Like Barbie used to drive a jeep?" But the Mercer Report host pushed aside the job argument by raising Saudi Arabias human rights record, and its sordid reputation as literally the easiest place in the world to be beheaded. If youre caught doing a magic trick, they will cut off your head, Mercer said. Im no fan of magic, but whatever happened to old fashioned booing? Advertisement Saudi officials reportedly demanded secrecy around the contracts details. Not much was revealed by Harper, whose DNA is all over the contract, according to Mercer. And the only thing Justin Trudeau has said on the matter is that we are selling them some jeeps. Trudeau made the jeep comment on Tout le monde en parle, a popular French-language TV talk show, a week before the federal election. His choice of phrasing was criticized by Duceppe, who accused the Liberal leader of misleading Canadians. Mercer seemingly agrees. Really, Justin? Jeeps? Like Barbie used to drive a jeep? Did Barbies jeep have a machine gun turret? the comedian said. I got to hand it Justin, usually prime ministers are on the job for a few years before they start talking down to Canadians. He's learning so fast. Mercer wraps the minute-and-a-half rant with a request for advance debate and discussion before we embark on any more adventures selling arms to despots, adding that unlike Saudi Arabia, Canada is free country. Advertisement On Tuesday, former Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement urged the Liberal government to follow through on its transparency pledge and release details related to the Saudi arms deal that the past government kept quiet a call that brought mockery and calls of irony to the party formerly in power. Also on HuffPost: Lazybones, rejoice. A Vancouver man has invented an alarm clock which is actually more of a rug that won't shut up until you stand on it for at least three seconds. The mat, called Ruggie, has a built-in clock, "snooze-proof" sensor, and can even be programmed with a daily motivational quote to get you goin' on a good note. Advertisement This is either really annoying or the best thing ever. "Too many times I've over-snoozed. I know how it feels, it sucks," creator Winston Tam told The Huffington Post. "There is so much resistance in the morning, the warm comfy bed, the cold floors, that awesome dream we just had." Tam, an SFU student, used Kickstarter to fund the $50,000 project and surpassed the goal in less than a week. The Ruggie's design process will now move into its final stages, with delivery to project backers expected in the fall, according to its Kickstarter page. We can't decide if we love or despise this clever idea already, but congrats, Winston! Advertisement Follow Us On Instagram Also On HuffPost: The federal NDP say it's time to "break through the paper ceiling" and feature women on Canada's money. B.C. MP and status of women critic Sheila Malcolmson has penned a letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau Tuesday, asking him to change a 2011 Conservative decision that saw an image of women's rights activists the Famous Five and Therese Casgrain replaced with an icebreaker on the $50 bill. Queen Elizabeth II is currently the only woman represented on Canada's money. Advertisement "We must take every opportunity to celebrate the work, sacrifices and courage that women throughout Canadian history have displayed to build this country," Malcolmson said in a release. Malcolmson's letter comes almost a year after NDP MPs Niki Ashton and Murray Rankin wrote a letter to Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz in support of calls for stronger gender-equality representation on the country's banknotes. That effort followed up on the work of Victoria historian Merna Forster, who has long advocated for more women to appear on Canada's money. Forster's efforts include "Women on Canadian Bank Notes" a petition and image generator that allows people to share their suggestions for women who should show up on banknotes. Advertisement Women Who Could Be On New Canadian Bill See Gallery And there's a chance change could happen soon. The Bank of Canada is designing a commemorative note for Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017. The public's suggestions for new designs were collected between Dec. 5, 2014 and Jan. 8, 2015. Design must relate directly to the 150th anniversary of Confederation. The minister of finance ultimately approves bank note designs under the Bank of Canada Act. Last year saw the rise of huge rise of body positive movements around the world. From plus-size models strutting in lingerie through the streets of Germany in the #BodyLove series, to Australian model Stefania Ferrario campaigning to #DropThePlus, these movements called to bring body love and acceptance to campaigns and runways. And now, Canada is getting in on the action. After going to endless casting calls and recognizing the separation between plus-size and straight-size models, Toronto-based size 14 model Tia Duffy thought it was time to take action. Advertisement Be Body Aware, a non-profitable educational campaign created by Duffy, aims to bring a true representation of our society to the fashion industry by proving "all bodies should be accepted in fashion." Over the course of the next few months, the movement hopes to direct 50 photo shoots and build a database of photographers, stylists and models to show that "models of different shapes and sizes can look great together in campaigns." Shot by Toronto photographer Tianxiao Zhang, the first photos of the campaign feature Duffy and model Geneve Benatar in a Calvin Klein-inspired shoot wearing lingerie from Victoria's Secret and Addition Elle. The first collection of photos for Body Aware are asking the fashion industry to drop the plus label and recognize all shapes and sizes. Duffy tells HuffPost Canada Style that as a model, she noticed many of her peers were conflicted about the term "plus size." The Dublin native, who The Richest named one of the hottest plus-size models of 2015 alongside Ashley Graham and Tess Holliday, explains some were proud of the term, while others who felt it was too segregating. Advertisement For Duffy, she found a conflict in being labelled an "in-between" model one who was too big to be considered a straight model, and too small to be label a plus-size model. "I remember turning up to shoots seven years ago and people would ask me, 'Are you the model?' It was very embarrassing to be honest," Duffy explains. "Be Body Aware hopes to bridge the gap between plus-size and straight-size models, and even encourage more models who feel lost because they are in-between sizes, like me." She also recalls coming in contact with some photographers and stylists who refused to work with plus-size models, due to their "difficult to dress and shoot" body types. "Be Body Aware is going to smash this stereotype and show the public that we can produce high fashion and editorial images, like mainstream straight models do," she says. "But, we will all do it together, which makes the campaign different to any other." Advertisement Duffy hopes the #BeBodyAware hashtag will not only interest those within the fashion industry, but also outside of it. And she hopes to see all ethnicities, genders, ages and heights posting along to "celebrate that all bodies are different and diverse and natural." Plus size model and straight size model, two different body sizes but still rocking it, plus size and straight size models should be seen together in fashion more. Do we even need labels ? #bebodyaware #diversity #straightsize #plussize #inclusivity A photo posted by Be Body Aware Project (c) (@bebodyaware) on Dec 14, 2015 at 7:05pm PST "Although the plus-size industry is thriving in itself, I still think, in terms of inclusion into the entire high fashion industry, we've got a long way to go," says Duffy. "Plus-size models are not just confined to wearing plus-size brands. This campaign is bringing it all together. All shapes and sizes look good in fashion." Follow Huffington Post Canada Style on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter! Also on HuffPost Industry Insiders Sound Off On The Term "Plus-Size" See Gallery If there's one thing sweeter than seeing the love of your life after months apart, it's topping it off with a romantic proposal. Canadian Pte. Chris Chabaylo, who returned from the Middle East to New Brunswick this week, did a short interview with TV reporters on the base before turning to his girlfriend, Courtney Halfpenny, and getting down on one knee, reports CTV. Advertisement "Courtney," he says, "would you do me the honour of marrying me?" According to CTV, Chabaylo was part of a group of soldiers who were sent to Lebanon and Jordan in order to help with the processing of Syrian refugees who were coming to Canada. In the televised interview, Halfpenny said she was "very proud" of his work. Watch the video above to see the proposal in action. Also on HuffPost Looking for a creative DIY project that will keep you warm and stylish, and put your sewing skills to the test? Then we have just the tutorial for you. This week, With Wendy shows us how to create an ultra cool varsity jacket (or letterman jacket). These sporty jackets are the perfect staple to add to your wardrobe, as they can can be worn year-round and are extremely versatile. Pair your jacket with your favourite jeans, skirts, maxi dresses, leather pants the options are endless! Check out the video above by ModaMob for more tips on how to style a varsity jacket. Advertisement Wendy personalized her jacket with a furry W, but of course you can use your own initial and choose your favourite colours for the fabric. This jacket may be a challenge for beginners, but as Wendy says, it's definitely worth the shot. Here's how Wendy's jacket turned out: Advertisement Head over to Wendy's blog for more details about how she created her varsity jacket, and then follow the full video tutorial below: Let us know how your jacket turned out in the comments, and be sure to check back next week for more DIY fashion With Wendy. Wendy Liu is a Toronto-based DIY fashion guru. If you love her amazing DIY tutorials as much as we do, head over to her blog With Wendy or subscribe to her YouTube channel. Follow Huffington Post Canada Style on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter! Also on HuffPost Winter Coats 2015 See Gallery Did you know that Justin Trudeau is a fan of the Montreal Canadiens? Oh, you didn't? Special gift for our PM but he came prepared! pic.twitter.com/oNqkSlbPTY John Tory (@JohnTory) January 13, 2016 That marvelous picture comes to grace our eyeballs via Toronto Mayor John Tory's Twitter account. Trudeau was at City Hall on Wednesday to meet with Tory, who presented the prime minister with a Maple Leafs jersey. Little did he, or we, know Trudeau would give us a gift: the gift of sock. Of course, Trudeau wasn't just in Toronto to parade around colourful cloths that cover his feet. He announced the federal government will provide $20 million to the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine to establish and run a stem cell therapy development facility. Advertisement With files from The Canadian Press Also On HuffPost: Federal New Democrats are pushing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to personally intervene in the case of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi a call to action Canada's current foreign affairs minister made of the previous prime minister a year ago. On Tuesday, NDP foreign affairs critic Helene Laverdiere released a statement condemning the arrest of Samar Badawi. She is the elder sister of the activist who was sentenced to 10 years behind bars and 1,000 lashes for criticizing clerics in Saudi Arabia. Advertisement Samar Badawi is given the 2012 International Women of Courage Award from then-U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama. (Photo: AP Photo) Though neither Raif nor his sister are Canadian citizens, his wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Quebec with the couple's three kids. Laverdiere called on Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion to immediately summon the Saudi ambassador in Ottawa to explain the arrest. Advertisement "The NDP also believes that Prime Minister Trudeau must personally intervene in this matter and request the release of Raif Badawi, his lawyer Walee Abulkhair, and his sister, Samar," the NDP MP said in the release. "These cases once again highlight the Saudi authorities' disregard for human rights and the freedom of expression of Saudi citizens." The request will no doubt sound familiar to Dion. Last January, the veteran Liberal MP rose in the House of Commons to charge that Conservatives were reluctant to get involved in Badawi's case because he is not Canadian. "Will the prime minister intercede directly with the new Saudi king as requested by Mr. Badawi's spouse?" he asked. Advertisement Conservative MP Lynne Yelich ducked the question by saying then-foreign affairs minister John Baird raised the matter directly with Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal and that Canada's ambassador in the Saudi capital was also working on the situation. "Canada does consider the punishment to be a violation of human dignity," she said. Marc Garneau, who now serves as Trudeau's transport minister, also raised the issue three times in question period last year. "The time has come for the prime minister to intercede directly with the king of Saudi Arabia and tell him that these human rights abuses are intolerable and that Raif Badawi must be freed," Garneau said in June. Then-foreign affairs minister Rob Nicholson responded that Canadian representatives had raised the issue with the Saudi government. Advertisement Trudeau did not broach the subject in the House, but did take to Twitter to call on Harper to do more to secure Badawi's release. "It's time to act," he wrote in May. Like @DenisCoderre, I stand united with Canadians in calling on @pmharper to do more to secure the release of #RaifBadawi from Saudi Arabia. Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 24, 2015 One year ago, #RaifBadawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison + 1,000 lashes by Saudi Arabian gov't. @pmharper it's time to act. #FreeRaif Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 7, 2015 But it appears Trudeau is in less of a hurry now that he's the one occupying the Prime Minister's Office. He told The Canadian Press last month he has no "immediate plans" to call Saudi authorities to ask for Badawi's release. Instead, he will leave the file in the hands of his foreign affairs minister, just like his predecessor. Advertisement "It's a humanitarian case on which we continue to express ourselves in a clear fashion," Trudeau said at the time. With files from The Canadian Press Also on HuffPost On Tuesday, students in the Greater Toronto Area were surprised to wake up to 10 centimetres of snow after having a relatively mild winter so far. Naturally, the hopeful students turned to Twitter to find out if the bad weather was enough to warrant a snow day. To their surprise, the Peel District and Toronto District School Boards both got sassy with their responses. Hinting at the Peel School Board to give them a snow day, one student tweeted out a photo of the weather saying, @PeelSchools just in case you had absolutely no idea what the weather is like today, I thought I'd give you an update. Advertisement @PeelSchools just in case you had absolutely no idea what the weather is like today,I thought I'd give you an update pic.twitter.com/g8DwFFLItG Griffin Todd (@GriffinTodd2) January 12, 2016 The board was quick to respond, slyly saying: Don't worry about me. I have a perfect view. Got one on my drive to work and my window blinds are up. Thanks though. https://t.co/9mmFsgOtTK Peel School Board (@PeelSchools) January 12, 2016 Ten centimetres of snow wasnt enough to justify a snow day in the Peel and Toronto school districts, reports CityNews. As a reminder to start getting ready for a full day of class, Peel School Board tweeted: REMINDER: we will only tweet an update if buses/schools are cancelled. Usually by 6:15 a.m. So, I'd start pouring the cereal. #timeforschool Peel School Board (@PeelSchools) January 12, 2016 Advertisement The TDSB also reminded its students that schools would be open for the day, eliciting a number of complaints from the kids. In response, the school board proved its sass game was strong by sending out a series of hilarious tweets. @melodyxos What? It's -4 in January and in Canada. This is great! Two words from years past - Polar Vortex. Toronto DSB (@tdsb) January 12, 2016 @A_Khenjari Try wearing snow boots. Quadratic equations are worth it. Toronto DSB (@tdsb) January 12, 2016 The school board even used current slang to both amuse the kids and convince them to get to class. @lil_m33ch_ For a few cm? Nah. Sorry fam. Nice try, though. Toronto DSB (@tdsb) January 11, 2016 In the end, the kids laughed off the tweets, praising the school boards for their great sense of humour. Whoever runs this account, u are savage so good job, one student wrote. Advertisement Another said: To whoever's behind this account, you're the MVP. Respect. ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Handout When you think about heritage in Vancouver, you probably think about old houses. But it's not just the city's historical residential homes that have value worthy of preservation. The real history of Vancouver lies in its industrial buildings. Take the utilitarian industrial building at the corner of 5th and Ontario in Mount Pleasant. You probably wouldn't notice if you walked past it, but if you stopped to look up, you'd see art deco detailing that harkens back to an earlier time in the city's history. The building was designed in 1942 by Henry Holdsby Simmonds, the architect behind the iconic Vogue and Stanley Theatres and it's one of few industrial heritage buildings in the city to be identified, appreciated and restored. Advertisement This is one industrial heritage building not going to the wrecking ball. Instead, the new Lightworks Building is going to be preserved, renovated and re-imagined into a new, vibrant business hub with retail and office space in a neighborhood severely lacking in both. It will soon go from a run-down, austere 20,000 square foot building into a brand new, 54,000 square foot, six-storey business centre to serve the many creative industries moving into the neighborhood. Traditionally, Mount Pleasant was the industrial heartland of the city. The building used to be home to Cemco Electrical Manufacturing, a company that made communications equipment like radios and radar for the Allied war effort. Like many businesses in the area at that time, they used the proximity to False Creek as a way to easily ship products out of the city. Then manufacturing all went overseas or to the suburbs. Now, it's returning. Not just in Vancouver, but in major cities across North America as well. Advertisement It's gone full circle -- not only in Mount Pleasant, but in The Lightworks Building itself. In the '40s, it was radio and radar manufacturing that was the ultimate in high tech. Today, it's the social and digital media companies and the animation and design houses like like Hootsuite, DNeg, DHX Media, Kit & Ace that are rapidly transforming a neighbourhood, once the heart of the post-war industrial manufacturing zone, back into a high-tech manufacturing zone with a modern twist. But while The Lightworks Building will become home to businesses in the city's new creative zone, it will also be part of preserving a part of the city's history, the story of how people worked and lived and made a living. When we talk about heritage, it needs to be more about a character house, and industrial buildings tell that story. We need to broaden our definition of heritage and understand it's not just pretty houses, but things with meaning and value beyond architecture. We have already lost a lot of our industrial history. But with Lightworks, that trend is set to change. There will soon be more raw industrial spaces that will be adapted like Lightworks because there's a growing appreciation for these buildings and their ability to support new uses, like the Salt Building in False Creek and those housing some of the city's craft breweries. A lot of the industrial heritage buildings are functional, flexible and adaptable. It's history worth keeping. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Bruce MacRae/Flickr a.k.a. LAV III On the same week that Ottawa condemned the most recent human rights violation in Saudi Arabia, it confirmed that Canada was set to proceed with plans to arm the perpetrator. Every indication is that the $15-billion deal, which the Canadian Government brokered on behalf of General Dynamics Land Systems of London, Ontario to provide Saudi Arabia with Light Armoured Vehicles, will go ahead. But can this largest-ever Canadian military exports contract comply with the human rights safeguards of Canadian exports control policies? This question has been posed clearly and repeatedly since the deal was announced in February 2014 -- in Canada and abroad; in French and English; in print and on radio, television, the Internet and social media. Advertisement From two successive governments, however, there has so far been no explanation on how this deal can meet existing export controls, in particular as they relate to countries "whose governments have a persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens." In such cases, Canada must first determine that "there is no reasonable risk" that Canadian-made goods might be used against civilians. In the case of Saudi Arabia, not only is there a well-documented pattern of human rights violations by the ruling autocratic regime, but there are signs that the overall human rights situation is worsening. Mass executions, carried out across Saudi Arabia on January 2, were the latest example of systematic and severe violations of basic human rights. Indeed, Saudi Arabia consistently ranks among the worst offenders in the world for all conceivable categories of human rights abuse. We don't yet know how Ottawa has officially evaluated such abuse. Thus far, the main talking point has been about economic gain for Canada: the number of jobs created, the cross-country supply chain, the sheer size of the contract. This message has been loud and clear, but does not address human rights concerns. Advertisement So, again, we ask: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion, how can there be "no reasonable risk" that Canadian-made goods will not be used against civilians, given what is known about the recipient nation's human rights record? Perhaps there is an adequate response to this question. If so, would it not be in the best interest of all parties involved, including the Canadian public, to know the types of human rights-related assurances that have been sought and received as part of this deal? Part of the discourse that has sustained the shroud of secrecy has related to the commercial confidentiality of the contract. But an overly broad conception of such confidentiality should not override legitimate expectations of transparency, especially given the magnitude of this deal. It is not at all clear, for example, how releasing a human rights assessment conducted by the Canadian government would infringe upon the commercial confidentiality rights of General Dynamics Land Systems. How should 'contractual obligations' be interpreted? Although Foreign Affairs Minister Dion recently declared, "What is done is done," we must not forget that this is not a one-installment deal. According to the official announcements, the contract will be executed over at least the next decade and possibly for as long as 14 years. Consider the following hypothetical scenario: three years into the contract, there is clear evidence that Canadian-made armoured vehicles are being used to kill civilians. Will Canada still be contractually obligated to complete the contract? The consequential international Arms Trade Treaty, which came into force in December 2014, recognizes the possible need to reassess export authorizations. Canada's accession to the ATT was not only a priority in Minister Dion's mandate letter, but also figured in the election pledges of now-Prime Minister Trudeau. Advertisement ATT states parties are "encouraged to reassess the authorization" of arms exports "if, after an authorization has been granted, an exporting State Party becomes aware of new relevant information." In the case of Saudi Arabia, the recent mass executions constitute new relevant information. "What is done is done" does not meet the heightened expectations of caution that must inform arms exports. Here are the facts about the Canadian deal with Saudi Arabia: 1.The deal is the largest military exports contract in Canadian history. 2.The recipient is one of the worst human rights violators in the world. 3.Under existing export control policy, Canada must determine that "there is no reasonable risk" of human rights violations with Canadian-made goods before authorizing a sale. 4.Despite Trudeau's declaration that the sale is for "jeeps," by any modern understanding of conventional weapons, this is an arms deal. As matters stand, Canadian-made goods will serve to sustain one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Is this how Canada wants to present itself on the world stage--as a country more interested in profit than principle? One could hardly come across a more perfect test of Canada's character as a nation. * This piece was first published in the Waterloo Region Record. Correction: A previous version of this blog stated the arms deal was announced on December 2014, when it was actually February 2014. Advertisement KatarzynaBialasiewicz via Getty Images A doctor breaking the news to his sick patient In an odd twist of Canadian history and fate, on Monday a British Columbia lawyer defended the Supreme Court of Canada against the Government of Canada. Almost one year ago, on February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that some Criminal Code sections were unconstitutional regarding a very small group of people who, the Court ruled, are entitled under constitutional law to a physician's help to die. Advertisement The Court then said its ruling would not come into effect for 12 months to give governments, if they chose, time to legislate on the matter. But on Monday, the Government of Canada went back to the Supreme Court to request a further six-month delay claiming that the "important and complex issues require extensive work" that "cannot reasonably be completed" before the looming deadline. Perhaps a fair translation of this government request is, "The dog ate my homework". The Government of Canada had plenty of time to act. After all, it has been a defendant in the litigation since 2011, when the case was launched in Vancouver in the British Columbia Supreme Court. In the intervening five years, the Federal Government had only two possibilities for which to prepare: a win or a loss. But the Conservative federal government did little, leaving the political hot potato for the new Liberal government, which might amend the Criminal Code by the deadline, but says it cannot. Advertisement Both governments have put the Supreme Court of Canada in a very awkward position. The people's elected representatives gave Canada's judges the power and duty to strike down legislation that violates human rights. The Supreme Court did. Now it lies ill in the mouths of governments to say, in effect, "We cannot adequately perform within a system that we created," especially when government delay risks prolonging intolerable suffering. So on Monday, the lead lawyer for the original plaintiffs, Joseph Arvay, had to argue that the Court should uphold its own decision. He had to remind the Court that its original judgement was sufficiently narrow and clear that doctors could give effect to it for the small group of people. More importantly, Mr. Arvay had to name the elephant in the room: that federal government response seems focused on WHETHER the Court's original decision should be implemented, when the only constitutionally legitimate question for governments is HOW. No longer prime minister, Mr. Harper and his disdain for Charter limitations on government power continue in this case to haunt the Court, putting it in a near impossible political position. If the Court grants the requested government extension, then the Court might be seen to be endorsing dilatory government behaviour. If the Court turns down the government request, then it might appear insufficiently deferential. What's more, the situation was avoidable. The Federal Government did not have to go to Court and could have invoked the "notwithstanding clause"; section 33 of the Charter permits governments to override a judicial decision and to violate a Charter right. But that route would have led to political awkwardness for the government, which awkwardness it has transferred to the Court. Advertisement In reminding the Court that the issue is the duration of unconstitutional, intolerable human suffering, Joseph Arvay made clear that the Court's constitutional role. Although that role originated in political decision-making, is not about politics. The Court's constitutional duty is to decide when government violates human rights. In weighing the failure of both Canadian federal governments to do their homework, the Court is obligated to balance it against the terrible plight of a few Canadians. Like those people who leapt from the burning World Trade Centre on 9/11, some unfortunate souls have only limited and horrible options. As Mr. Arvay argued, "No one wants to die if living is better." A government that can respond to the suffering and death of a little boy on a Turkish beach by admitting thousands of refugees in a very short amount of time, can probably respond just as rapidly -- this time to the challenge of permitting a clearly and narrowly-defined, small group of people in Canada with intolerable suffering, to exercise their constitutional right to physician assistance in dying. altrendo images via Getty Images lecture auditorium of the technical university, Munich, Bavaria, Germany Many of us in university and interfaith circles uphold safe spaces. We let students know that they are welcome in our spaces irrespective of their religious and political affiliations, gender expression, sexual orientation and other characteristics. Whether they sport traditional religious garb or express themselves with colour as LGBT persons, they are equally welcome. University is a place where students can freely exchange ideas but equally feel safe to do so. Students should feel safe in the knowledge that whether they identify as religious, gay, atheist, etc. or as any intersection of these, they would not be subjected to derision and scorn. As such, a university has the responsibility to exercise caution and judgment in terms of providing a platform to speakers. Advertisement Just as we would not tolerate white supremacists, anti-Semites or Islamophobes to talk about human rights on university campus, we cannot tolerate extremists and homophobes to pontificate about religion on university premises. With scientific inquiry, we learn more about ourselves and try to accommodate people to the best of our abilities. This means using appropriate pronouns for transgender students, creating spaces for students with mental and physical disabilities, and treating both LGBT and religious students with respect. All of this gets compromised when under freedom of religious expression we invite speakers who peddle extremist views. In such cases, we end up entrenching instead of challenging dogma. The choice of speakers for the Islam Awareness Week at the University of Alberta from January 18 to 22 is one instance of such an unfortunate reality. Of the four speakers scheduled to speak, Abdullah Al Andalusi, has been noted to have close ties with terrorist groups and promote extremist views. Another speaker, Jamal Badawi has been noted to support suicide bombings and espouse the view of establishing Islamic rule or order as a Muslim duty. In this time of increasingly violent Islamophobia, can the Muslim community afford to have such role models promoted in any way by any institution, including the university? Yet another speaker Abdullah Hakim Quick is well known for promoting the death punishment for homosexuality and for anti-Semitism. He was recently banned from speaking at the Toronto Police College due to the unacceptability of his messages of intolerance. His hateful videos remain online on the "Islam on Demand" YouTube channel. It is there that Quick has denigrated the LGBT community with name calling such as "weird looking" and "filthy disgusting thing," continuing to expose vulnerable and marginalized LGBT youth -- particularly Muslim LGBT youth, to hate. Advertisement Such speakers are immensely popular among conservative Muslim youth. Not all their messages are unhealthy. Some fill a spiritual void and include the importance of family, respecting elders and provide positive affirmation to Muslim youth, who are addressing identity issues. However, by hosting such speakers, what message is the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and by extension the University of Alberta sending to Canadian citizens and more specifically vulnerable LGBT youth? In this time of increasingly violent Islamophobia, can the Muslim community afford to have such role models promoted in any way by any institution, including the university? Islamophobia affects us all. It does not distinguish between progressive and conservative, Muslim and Sikh, South Asian and Arab, affluent and poor, it targets each and every one perceived to be Muslim. Yet, by inviting one exclusivist speaker after another, conservative Muslims seem to fuel this tide. Is this how they want to spread awareness about Islam? This is not an isolated incident. In Calgary, concerns on such speakers have been consistently raised through 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Last year, concerns were raised in the U.K. about invitations to radical preachers by universities, schools and colleges. There are plenty of Muslim leaders, like Dr. David Liepert in Calgary, Imam Mohamad Jebara in Ottawa, Dr. Timothy Gianotti at University of Waterloo, Alia Hogben of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and others who could have been invited to speak to Muslim youth about faith-based issues. Why must we bear speakers, whose words cause division and hate? Advertisement The Muslim Student Association cannot speak for all Muslims. It certainly does not do so for Shias, Bohras, Ismailis, Ahmadis, and those who identify as progressives, liberals, or Universalists. Perhaps it is time for a diverse array of Muslims along with Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists, and people of colour in general, who are alarmed by such speakers, to band together and send a strong message, "Enough is enough!" This is Canada. We should not have divisive, exclusivist and hateful speakers as community leaders. In Canada, the values of radical inclusion should trump salvific exclusivism and hatred for vulnerable minorities any time. Rev. Audrey Brooks, Unitarian Chaplain, University of Alberta Dr. Alvin Schrader, Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta, Adjunct Professor, ISMSS Dr. Junaid Jahangir, Assistant Professor, MacEwan University Betty Marlin, active and committed Christian, Edmonton Manwar Khan, Anti-Bullying activist, Edmonton Rob Wells, Human Rights Activist Gary Gilham, University of Alberta Alumnus, Civil Engineering, 1983 Saklain Khan, Student, Engineering, University of Alberta Brent Kelly, B.A., Political Science, 2012 - 2014, Member, University of Alberta Board of Governors, 2014, M.A. (cand.), Political Science Kevin Smith, Alumnus, University of Alberta Maria Vicente, Alumnus, University of Alberta Hannah Schlamp, Student, University of Alberta Chevi Rabbit, Alumnus, University of Alberta, Advocate and Student Rabea Murtaza, Muslims for Ontario's new health and physical education curriculum Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Steve Russell via Getty Images TORONTO, ON- DECEMBER 18: A sit-down interview with Mayor John Tory in his office about what we can expect in 2016. in Toronto. December 18, 2015. Steve Russell/Toronto Star (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Cities across the country have long emphasized the importance to the local economy of creating innovation hubs. There are different roads toward that goal, however, as shown by competing submissions from the mayors of Toronto and Calgary in a high-stakes battle over the future of broadband Internet services. Toronto mayor John Tory and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson sided with large telecom companies, while Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi emphasized the importance of open networks and more robust competition. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that the submissions stem from a crucial ruling issued by Canada's telecom regulator in July. Hoping to foster a more competitive market and having used various "open access" policy measures to give independent Internet providers a chance to compete in the Internet services market, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decided to extend those rules to fast fibre connection services. Advertisement The upshot of the ruling was that companies such as Bell would be required to share their infrastructure with other carriers on a wholesale basis. The companies would enjoy a profit on those wholesale connections, but the increased competition would facilitate better services, pricing, and consumer choice. Indeed, the policy approach is similar to the one used for slower DSL broadband connections that has been instrumental in creating a small but active independent ISP community that serves hundreds of thousands of Canadians. Months later, Bell filed a cabinet appeal over the decision, asking the new Liberal government to overrule the CRTC. Industry Canada recently posted the comments from interested stakeholders and in the process revealed a fascinating split on the issue. On one side, Bell garnered support from large business groups and technology companies such as Cisco and Blackberry. Those companies have strong business relationships and were unsurprisingly willing to support Bell's position. On the other side, consumer groups, independent Internet providers, some cable providers, and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business lined up in support of the CRTC decision, emphasizing the benefits of a more competitive market. While the corporate divide was to be expected (most corporate submissions supporting Bell used similar language and some even copied Bell executives), the more interesting difference arose from submissions from several large Canadian cities. Advertisement Toronto and Ottawa both submitted brief letters expressing support for Bell's position. The two-page letters both cite planned Bell investments in the cities and express fear that the CRTC ruling might delay company plans. Tory, a former Rogers executive, says that Bell deserves to be treated fairly, but does not explain how the implementation of a policy designed to create more competition for his constituents represents unfair treatment. By contrast, Calgary submitted a 28 page document supporting the CRTC ruling and explaining why increased competition was good for the city and consumers. Addressing issues seemingly ignored by Toronto and Ottawa, Nenshi noted that without some form of network access for competitors, there would invariably be challenges to grant all providers the necessary municipal infrastructure to construct their networks. Given limited capacity of municipal right of ways, the market might be limited to a few large competitors. Moreover, Calgary focused on the need for cities to build their own network infrastructure to complement the services offered by the telecom giants. It noted the public interest benefits that arise from building municipal networks, which offer the chance for more competition and ensure that cities are not held hostage by large companies threatening to delay or withdraw network investments. Calgary also reminded the government that companies like Bell have long enjoyed benefits from public funding, protection from competition, and access to municipal infrastructure. While the new fibre connections do not rely on legacy infrastructure, their powerful market positions are directly linked to those earlier privileged positions. The federal government decision on the appeal may be months away, but the competing submissions paint dramatically different pictures of how Canadian cities are addressing the critical need for affordable high-speed Internet services. Advertisement Vancouver Humane Society When McDonald's Restaurants announced in September of last year that it was going to stop using eggs from hens kept in cages, it was seen by many as the beginning of the end for inhumane, intensive cage systems in the egg industry. Animal advocates and compassionate consumers cheered as McDonald's joined a growing list of fast food chains across North America going cage-free, including Wendy's, Subway, Taco Bell, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. Other big food companies such as Nestle, General Mills and Compass Group have also joined the trend. Advertisement But not everyone is on board with freeing hens from incarceration. Canadian chain A&W Restaurants appears to be a firm holdout, opting instead to use eggs from hens in "enriched cages." The company's website states: "We have a commitment that all of our hens will live in enriched housing by the end of 2016." Enriched cages are slightly bigger than battery cages and have been promoted as providing better welfare for hens, but they have not lived up to the agriculture industry hype and have been described as disappointing by Dr. Ian Duncan, Canada's leading poultry welfare scientist. In 2010, eight major animal welfare agencies signed a joint statement condemning enriched cages, declaring: "It is clear that such modified cages fail to properly meet the hens' physical or behavioural needs. They provide an unacceptably restrictive amount of space per bird; severely restrict many important physical activities, including running, flying and wing-flapping; and do not permit unrestrained perching and dustbathing. The severe restriction of the hens' ability to exercise is likely to lead to frustration, bone weakness and osteoporosis -- clear indicators of poor welfare." The obvious problem, which the public and much of the food industry seem to recognize, is that a cage is still a cage. Advertisement Yet A&W seems determined to buck the trend and wed itself to enriched cages. In an email to the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS), a company representative states, "In the instance of laying hens, we felt that making an immediate improvement to the housing for hens that lay eggs for us was our priority. Enriched housing significantly improves their lives, provides for worker welfare and food safety, and it was something that we knew we could influence quickly," noting that it is not the company's practice to communicate long-range intentions. "While McDonald's and Wendy's are racing ahead to appear like chicken liberators, A&W risks branding itself as the guys who keep hens locked up." The problem with trying to make "an immediate improvement" is that once suppliers make an investment in enriched housing, which is very expensive, it means they will be stuck with the system for years. By relying on these suppliers A&W is tying itself to enriched housing when it is clear the fast food industry has decided that this system is not the answer to poultry welfare problems. A&W's position is curious, given the efforts it has made to brand itself as a progressive food retailer. Canadians are familiar with the company's television ads promoting its "vegetarian-fed" chicken and beef with "no added hormones or steroids" (although neither policy affects animal welfare). While McDonald's and Wendy's are racing ahead to appear like chicken liberators, A&W risks branding itself as the guys who keep hens locked up. A&W's position seems even more odd, considering that it is headquartered in British Columbia, where the Canadian cage-free movement is strongest. VHS has run a ChickenOUT! campaign for years, helping push B.C. to reach the highest cage-free egg production in Canada (17 per cent versus a national average of three per cent). Advertisement Even the egg industry has seen the writing on the wall and is gearing up for change. As the chairman of the B.C. Egg Marketing Board told a Vancouver newspaper last September, "This trend is going to continue and we are well-positioned to meet the demand. We know that animal welfare is top of mind for the hospitality industry and consumers alike." What a pity that A&W is choosing to ignore that trend, positioning itself firmly on the wrong side of history while the rest of the industry moves forward. VHS has launched an online petition calling on A&W to follow the lead of other food companies and switch to using cage-free eggs. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: The declining loonie has hit Canadian travellers hard but that doesn't mean you have to put your vacation plans on hold. Travelzoo has released its annual list of Wow Deal Destinations for Canadians, showcasing where you can get the best bang for your buck in 2016. While you may see other "top vacations" lists circulating in the media, our list is unique. It's geared to Canadians: factoring in our economic situation, currency exchanges and travel trends specific to this year. We've done extensive research, held copious team debates and came up with five destinations for which we think Canadians will see fantastic deals in 2016. Consider this your budget bucket list. Advertisement Iceland Why 2016 is the year to go: Icelandair services Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Halifax and will introduce Montreal later this year while WOW Air plans to launch service this spring with prices for as low as $99 each way. The new flights and increased competition will likely push down fares. Reykjavik is also a great layover option and gateway to the rest of Europe. China Why 2016 is the year to go: Fares from Canada to China have been on the decline in 2014 and 2015 and Travelzoo Deal Experts predict fares to hit an all-time low in 2016. Additionally, tour operators purchased bulk vacation package inventory in advance due to the declining loonie, which will result in more deals. Vacation packages to China, including flights, hotels, meals, tours and taxes can be found for less than $1000 per person. Travellers should book early, however, as deals will diminish once the inventory runs low. Advertisement Poland Why 2016 is the year to go: Poland is one of the only European countries that is still a good deal for Canadians due to the low cost of living. You can find return flights from Toronto to Warsaw for as low as $700 including taxes. Once you're there, you'll pay on average $60 per night for a 4-star Krakow hotel and can dine at the top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor - Restauracja Starka - for $32 per person including drinks. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Why 2016 is the year to go: Two factors make Rio de Janeiro more accessible and affordable for Canadians in 2016: the declining Brazilian real and a hotel room surplus as a result of the Olympic Games. Rio is one of the few destinations that offers a favourable exchange rate for Canadians as 1CAD = 2.86 BRL. More than 70 new hotels have also been built in anticipation of the Olympic Games, increasing occupancy from 31,000 beds to 51,000 beds. Travellers will find the best deals post-games as the hotels look to fill the increased inventory. Flights are also expected to be reasonable, with return fares for as low as $640 including taxes in the low season. Advertisement Dominican Republic Why 2016 is the year to go: Low fuel costs and expanded flight capacity have helped cut the price of all-inclusive vacations to the Dominican Republic to as low as $815 including taxes. Deals for travel in 2016 are discounted by almost 40% from Toronto and 55% from Winnipeg, when compared to similar packages in 2015. Additionally, Air Canada and Sunwing increased their weekly flights to Puerto Plata. And West Jet is expected to double capacity this June. To book your 2016 vacation, visit www.travelzoo.ca. Andrea Chrysanthou is the editor of the Travelzoo Canada blog and is based in Toronto, Ontario. Travelzoo has 250 deal experts around the world who rigorously research, evaluate and test thousands of deals to find those with true value. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook NEW YORK -- Barack Obama used his final State of the Union address on Tuesday to mock Americans that still deny climate change, while railing against the xenophobia peddled by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. If anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change youll be pretty lonely, Obama told the joint session of Congress in Washington. Advertisement Looking towards the Republicans in the chamber, the president said climate change deniers are debating our military, most of Americas business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree its a problem and intend to solve it." Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan applaud President Obama during the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016 Talking about innovation, the president invoked the Cold War space race to highlight the opportunities for building a clean energy future. "Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didnt deny Sputnik was up there," he said. "We didnt argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon." Advertisement During his hour-long speech, Obama also repudiated those accusing his administration of being soft on terrorism. Using another term for the members of the Islamic State group, he warned: ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt America's commitment -- or mine -- to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden." "Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell," he added. "When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit." The address was made against the backdrop of the 2016 election race, and the spectre of Donald Trumps populist campaign. In a rebuke to the nativism preached by the New York property mogul, who in December called for Muslims to be banned from the US, Obama said voters must "reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion." "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalised, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer, he added. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country." Advertisement As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into our respective tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do or share the same background," Obama continued. "We cant afford to go down that path. Trump responded to the speech with his standard dismissal: The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic - very hard to watch! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2016 More surprising was the Republican Party's immediate response to the address, which this year was delivered by South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley, widely tipped as a potential vice-presidential candidate. Amid the standard rebukes of the president's message, Haley also gave an unsubtle admonishment to Trump. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices, said the governor, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country." Advertisement For context, that's the Republican Party using their response to the president's address to lambast their own party's presidential frontrunner. Trump supporters responded swiftly and with bluster: Trump should deport Nikki Haley. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 13, 2016 Medical student at computer Ablestock.com via Getty Images New statistics indicate that nearly a third of first year university students are dropping out of their degrees due to workload, money worries, social anxiety, disinterest in their subject and general unhappiness. MyVoucherCodes interviewed 1,200 UK students over the holiday, and found 28% of those they'd interviewed had either already quit their degrees or were considering doing so by the end of their first year. Those that said they were either considering leaving or had already left their course sighted reasons such as money, being unhappy with their course, and being disappointed with their university overall. Advertisement Gareth Hughes, a researcher in psychological wellbeing at the University of Derby, has offered advice to first years feeling overwhelmed by university, encouraging them to join more clubs and societies in their second term, and to implement a balanced timetable in order to combat work-based stress. The NUS offers similar advice on its website, and in particular urges students to take advantage of their university's facilities for student support and wellbeing. The fact that many students are leaving university after the Christmas holidays might be surprising to many, seeing as most would consider this period a break, and therefore a chance to rest and recuperate before the next term, rather than a period of stress. Most universities, however, schedule a deadline period directly following this holiday, meaning that rather than being given a chance to take time off from studying, the Christmas holiday for many students is an extended period of study. Speaking to the BBC, vice chancellor of Buckingham University Sir Anthony Seldon voiced his concerns regarding the support universities provide for their students, saying that "Universities are not always honest about admitting the extent of the problems they have. They need to change, they need to take their responsibilities to students far more carefully." Advertisement Charlie Hebdo has won plaudits from millions for pushing the boundaries of free speech and ensuring the debate around censorship remains fresh. The magazine's latest cartoon, another biting reminder that free expression has no bounds, has sparked the type of fierce debate essential in a healthy democracy, albeit uncomfortable to look at. In its latest issue, a drawing links Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a beach in Turkey last year, to the recent sexual attacks in Cologne, perpetrated by men some of whom were asylum seekers. Advertisement Charlie Hebdo mesdames et messieurs. Voila. pic.twitter.com/eHbdC1UALJ Faiza Zerouala (@faizaz) January 13, 2016 Cartoonists drew out two attackers chasing a pair of women, their hands outstretched towards the girls' bottoms. In the top left-hand corner was a sketch of the toddler who drowned trying to reach Europe from Turkey along with his brother and mother. It was captioned: "Migrants". "What would have happened to little Aylan when he grew up?" editors mused. "He'd have groped women's arses in Germany." Some mocked the 'satirical' or 'freedom of speech' defence of printing a cartoon equating 3-year-old Kurdi to a sexual harasser, while others suggested the cartoon was in fact aimed at right-wing protesters who were seeking to exploit the incident in Cologne. Advertisement The sketch was a step too far for many though, with some social media users suggesting it was "openly racist". Charlie Hebdo staff becomes openly racist, writes "What if Aylan had lived? He'd have groped women in Germany". pic.twitter.com/YV1CJyFZiG Nicolas Kayser-Bril (@nicolaskb) January 13, 2016 The unbelievably sick Charlie Hebdo, making fun of Aylan Kurdi, once again. Shameless! #JeNeSuisPasCharliehttps://t.co/LBBJKUwN28 Hira (@hira_haroon) January 13, 2016 Disgusting cartoon in Charlie Hebdo ("what would've become of Aylan had he grown up? A groper") via @faizazpic.twitter.com/iB4myFb1ke Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) January 13, 2016 Hebdo - 'What would little Aylan have grown up to be? Ass groper in Germany'. Don't be apalled you just don't get it pic.twitter.com/LIYJEYjydy Nesrine Malik (@NesrineMalik) January 13, 2016 Advertisement Charlie Hebdo suggesting 'little Aylan' would have grown into a groping migrant. Still, #JeSuisCharlie cos it's cool https://t.co/Bs1rPEK3z9 Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) January 13, 2016 Refugees entering Denmark could be forced to hand over their valuables in order to pay for their stay in the country after the government backed controversial changes to its immigration laws. Under the bill, proposed by Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's centre-right Venstre party, possessions exceeding 10,000 kroner - about 1,000 - will be taken to pay for refugees' accommodation while they apply for asylum. Advertisement Any individual items valued at more than 10,000 kroner will also be taken. Items of sentimental value, such as wedding rings, family portraits and medals will be exempt. Migrants travelling to Copenhagen, Denmark, board a train in northern Germany Denmark's parliament began debating the plan on Wednesday and the bill is expected to pass a vote on January 26. The government initially suggested setting a limit for migrants entering the country at 3,000 kroner. But after backtracking, an agreement was reached with other parties in parliament to secure a majority of the votes. Advertisement The bill was criticised on Wednesday by 10 local and regional members of the Venstre party, AFP reports. "It is not just a matter of proper policy and humanity, but also Denmark's international reputation," they wrote in the Berlingske daily. "When focusing on symbolic actions rather than real content, you forget that politics is about real people of flesh and blood," they said. Refugees said they were sceptical about the proposals. A 25-year-old law student from Hama, in Syria, said that police would probably find little of value during their searches. The man, who was in an asylum centre about 37 miles from Copenhagen, told AFP: "We almost paid everything to come here. Like a house, like a restaurant we owned before." Advertisement A police search of his bags would turn up "maybe 100 euros," he said. A Danish government spokesman told the Guardian that comparisons between the new law and the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust were "ludicrous". He added: "Were simply applying the same rules we apply to Danish citizens who wish to take money from the Danish government." The bill will also include plans to delay family reunifications for some refugees by up to three years. Last year, a Danish MEP defected from the centre-right ruling part to a left-wing party in protest against the government's proposals to take valuables from refugees. Jens Rohde said the Liberal ruling party was pandering to the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DF), which it relies on for support in parliament. Advertisement "The Liberal party has lost out big time to the DF. "The DF's opinions are absolutely legitimate but I don't understand why we have to copy them," Rohde, an MEP since 2009, told the broadsheet newspaper Politiken. He added: "I'm wondering and I'm concerned that there's no major outrage among Danes, that there aren't more people standing up and saying this can't be right. German feminists have written an open letter asking that sexual violence not be attributed to race or ethnicity, in the aftermath of the Cologne attacks. The statement, which has a list demands, was released this week in response the mass attacks that saw around 1,000 men take over an area of the city on New Years Eve. Advertisement About 90 women made complaints to police at the time, many relating to sexual assault and rape and it was widely claimed that the perpetrators of the attack were refugees from "the Arab or North African region. The women's rights activists wrote: "It is harmful for all of us if feminism is exploited by extremists to incite against certain ethnicities, as is currently being done in the discussion surrounding the incidents in Cologne. "It is wrong to highlight sexualised violence only when the perpetrators are allegedly the perceived others: Muslim, Arab, black or North-African men, i.e., those who are regarded as non-Germans by extremists. Furthermore, sexualised violence must not only be taken seriously if white cis women are the alleged victims." Advertisement Cologne train station was the scene of the mass attack on New Years Eve The statement against comes after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would consider making Germanys immigration laws tougher, in the wake of the Cologne attacks. Merkel said that she will look at making it easier to deport immigrants who commit crimes. The group used the hashtag #ausnahmslos (Noexcuses) to draw attention to the open letter, which further explained using research, why it is important to focus on the issue. "Combatting sexualised violence must be the political priority every single day, because it is omnipresent. A 2014 a study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that more than one in two women experience sexual harassment. "One in three women over the age of 15 have experienced physical and/or sexualised violence. Statistics by the German Federal Police count more than 7,300 reported rapes and sexual assaults in Germany every year, amounting to more than 20 every day. Not to mention the many more that are never reported," it said. The statement also comes as a solution after the Mayor of Cologne faced criticism for her attempt at tackling the problem. Police officers hold weapons during a training operation of the new BFE+ (Evidence and Arrestment) unit of the German federal police in Ahrensfelde near Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. Germany on Wednesday introduced a new police unit that officials said will be better armed, outfitted and trained to deal with terrorism, based on an analysis of the countrys security in the wake of deadly attacks in Paris earlier this year. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Michael Sohn/AP German prosecutors have charged three men and one woman with forming a far-right terror group and planning an attack. Federal prosecutors say the four are accused of establishing a "terrorist organization" that went by the name Oldschool Society. Advertisement Authorities added that the group planned to use explosives to attack a refugee shelter last May. They were arrested just days before the attack could take place, AP reported. The 'Oldschool Society' logo Internally, the association became increasingly radical and, in mid-November 2014, members discussed how to manufacture explosives and the possibility of attacking both Islamic extremists and asylum-seekers in Germany. The four arrested identified only as Andreas H, 57; Markus W, 40; Denise Vanessa G, 23; and Olaf O, 47 are accused of forming and being members of a "terrorist organization" and planning an explosion. Advertisement Andreas H and Markus W were described as the group's president and vice president. "There was a concrete plan to carry out an explosives attack on an inhabited refugee shelter near Borna in connection with their second meeting from May 8-10, 2015," prosecutors said. Thousands of asylum seekers have flocked to Germany Markus W and Denise Vanessa G allegedly traveled to the Czech Republic in May 2015 to purchase fireworks and the group discussed how to make them more dangerous by wrapping nails around them. They were arrested earlier this year as part of a set of nationwide raids, before their plan could be put into action. All four are being detained in prison pending trial. Separately, Hannover prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged two men, aged 25 and 31, and a 24-year-old woman with attempted murder and attempted arson over allegations they threw a gasoline bomb through a window at an asylum-seekers' home in northwestern Germany. Advertisement The three are alleged to have thrown the improvised device through a ground-floor window in a school building in Salzhemmendorf that had been converted to house about 30 asylum seekers, setting fire to a mattress and a rug in an unoccupied room. The trio fled in a car from the scene, prosecutors said. The early-morning blaze was quickly extinguished and authorities said no harm came to a woman who had been sleeping in a neighboring room with her three young children. Alamy/PA/Twitter Harnessing the power of social media was heralded as one of the great successes of his campaign to become Labour Party leader. But after Jeremy Corbyn's Twitter account was hijacked on Sunday night, leaving 'hackers' open to send off a series of embarrassing tweets, it appears the Labour leader's social media team could have been caught out by a rookie internet error. Advertisement The Times Red Box reports today that an aide left Corbyn's Twitter account open on a hostel computer in Berlin. Shortly after the aide allegedly forgot to securely log off on Sunday, sleuths at the Times say the account was "hacked" and unauthorised messages sent to Corbyn's 389,000 followers. A Labour source this morning told HuffPost UK that there was no evidence to support the Times' claims, but stopped short of issuing a formal denial of the report. Advertisement Though not before thousands re-tweeted the bizarre missives, sending news of the hack flying across the internet. Despite having had great success in organising new members via the medium, Corbyn's social media strategy has been cast in new light with the revelations, including that the staffer was phoned and asked to access the account. The account was brought back under Labour Party control after a total of four unauthorised messages were sent. Jeremy Vine has told of the most brazen attempt by thieves he has ever seen after a gang were caught on camera targeting motorcycles outside a neighbour's home in Chiswick. On Tuesday, the BBC journalist and radio host on uploaded CCTV footage of the incident, which occurred at about 5am, on his YouTube account. The brief clip shows four people arrive on Vine's street on two motorbikes before inspecting two motorcycles that are parked on the street under covers. Advertisement BBC journalist Jeremy Vine uploaded footage of the "most brazen attempt" by thieves to steal motorcycles on his street The group are not disturbed by members of the public, but are clearly deterred after lifting the covers to inspect the motorcycles. One of the would-be-thieves is wearing a hi-viz vest. Advertisement The would-be-thieves can be seen inspecting the motorcycles Ten doors down from my house yesterday, at 5am, the most brazen attempt to steal motorbikes I've ever seen https://t.co/XzGBrlFouG#Chiswick Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) January 12, 2016 Amazing that we now have a situation in London where thieves wear HI-VIZ clothing https://t.co/XzGBrlFouG Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) January 12, 2016 According to the Evening Standard the incident has been reported to police. Vine told the newspaper: "What amazes me is just how brazen this is. They are in no rush at all. "The fact they are wearing hi-viz clothing also caught my eye because it seems they don't care." A junior doctor dramatically left the picket line during Tuesday's strike to help a man who collapsed in the street in Southampton. The doctor, who asked not to be named, was pictured working alongside paramedics as shoppers passed by in the busy city centre. Advertisement The unnamed doctor helps the collapsed man in Southampton city centre The medic, who is believed to be an employee at Bournemouth Hospital, joined thousands of junior doctors in the walkout yesterday in opposition to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's plans to alter their working hours and conditions. Bournemouth Hospital tweeted in support of the doctor's actions. The hospital said: "So proud our junior doctor stepped out of the picket line today to help a man collapsed on the street." #RBCHLove so proud our junior doctor stepped out of the picket line today to help a man collapsed on the street: https://t.co/dhSVvAhJJg Bournemouth Hospital (@RBCH_NHS) January 12, 2016 The doctor then returned to the picket line after the man, who is not thought to be in a serious condition, was taken to hospital by paramedics. Advertisement Junior doctors from Southampton, Bournemouth and Winchester met in a 'Wessex-wide' demonstration in Southampton yesterday. The doctor left the picket line temporarily to assist paramedics The news of the doctor's actions comes after groups of medics were praised on Tuesday for offering life-saving CPR lessons to the public. A number of teams decided to carry on teaching their skills as health workers, with more than 20 junior doctors attending a children's playgroup in Manchester on Tuesday morning. The group was so popular that the nursery was forced to close its doors after attendee numbers maxed out. Advertisement The session saw about 70 children and their parents sat in small groups learning CPR, performed on mannequins with instruction from the striking staff. One junior doctor teaches CPR to a group of new parents The organiser of the initiative, Bernadette Lomas, said she wanted to raise awareness of Tuesday's walkout while giving people more confidence to take steps that could help save others' lives. She told the Huffington Post UK: "We wanted to inject a bit of positivity into what is an incredibly sad day for junior doctors and the NHS and show that were more than happy and willing to go the extra mile - to go out and help the community as best we can." There are more than 55,000 junior doctors in England - a position covering people who have just graduated from medical school through to those with more than a decade of experience. They represent a third of the medical workforce, and just over 37,000 are members of the BMA, which called the strike. An advert featuring four muscular men and one toned woman has been accused of "contributing to body image pressures" felt by Londoners. The ad, from fitness trainers LDN Muscle, can be seen in various locations around the London underground at the moment. The striking image features brothers Max and Lloyd Bridger and twins James and Tom Exton, alongside popular Instagram star and blogger Alice Liveing (known more commonly as Clean Eating Alice). Advertisement While some have labelled the ad as "appalling", others have argued that the image merely promotes a healthy lifestyle. For those of you commuting into or around London... Keep your eyes peeled.... #TweetUsAPhoto pic.twitter.com/HJRK9otEPO LDNM (@LDN_Muscle) January 11, 2016 Speaking to HuffPost UK Lifestyle, Danny Bowman, a 20-year-old who suffers from Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) says he thinks images such as the LDN Muscle advert "contribute to male body image pressures". He adds that such images can be particularly damaging to those who suffer from mental illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia and BDD. Advertisement "It puts added pressure on men to look a certain way," he says. "If I saw this ad I would feel huge pressure to look that way. "This advert is not right and shouldn't be looked at as the norm." Others on Twitter have also spoken out against the ad: @LDN_Muscle Stereotypical male image rubbish & a painfully thin girl too. Appalling TNT (@tnturner88) January 6, 2016 But not everyone agrees with the criticism the advert has received. The company's Facebook page is full of comments from fans showing their support for the ad, while on Twitter, many others have pointed out that the LND Muscle team promote a "healthy image": Na- if you have a problem with the @LDN_Muscle ad you need to reevaluate. These guys promote nothing but healthy image; steroid free, no bs. Harrie Verges (@HarrieVerges) January 12, 2016 @LDN_Muscle those that are saying it's unrealistic are too damn lazy to attempt get a aesthetic body. So they shame to feel better StevenDavid (@its_StevieBoy) January 12, 2016 Advertisement According to the LDN Muscle website, the team are passionate about promoting a body-type that is attainable if you're willing to work hard. "We are, and always have been 100% natural, using only legal, commonly available supplements- strictly no pro-hormones, steroids or performance-enhancing drugs," the site reads. "We are intent on spreading the natural ethos we all uphold. LDN Muscle aims to open peoples eyes to the dishonesty, false claims and naturally unattainable physiques that are sadly often sold to people with a gimmicky supplement or generic one size fits all plan." Speaking to HuffPost UK Lifestyle, LDN Muscle co-founder Tom Exton says the company has "no issue with promoting a healthy lifestyle, via the use of our company founders who are evidence of the training, nutritional advice and lifestyle included in our Guides, website and on social media". He adds: "The advert was not designed to exert any pressure on anyone to look a certain way, but provide an eye catching demonstration of what can be achieved. Advertisement "I work behind a desk in the city every day, seeing this poster on my commute too, so those physiques are certainly 'attainable'. "We believe any negative response is merely a symptom of the almost hyper-sensitive society we live in today and the need for some to look for 'offence' wherever they can find it. We haven't taken it personally. "It was a fairly small minority of negative remarks anyway and we have had a lot of support on our social media channels over the last few days mainly in support! "Not only have the adverts opened up the discussion around male body image but we are now everywhere. "It hasn't changed our outlook at all, we will continue to help tens of thousands of people to reach their goals in an educated, sustainable and healthy way as we always have done. And we still won't wear T-shirts if we don't want to." Advertisement The backlash against LDN Muscle's tube ad seems reminiscent of the criticism Protein World received for their 'Beach Body Ready' ad last year. The ad, which featured bikini-clad model Renee Sommerfield, was accused of "body shaming", although the Advertising Standards Authority eventually ruled that is was "not offensive". What do you think about LDN Muscle's ad? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @HuffPoLifestyle The husband and wife who have won half of the UK's biggest-ever Lotto jackpot have said they could donate to flood victims after their hometown was among those hit. David and Carol Martin, who have been married for 28 years, said they had not thought what to do with the 33 million beyond buying their daughter a first-class plane ticket back from Australia. Advertisement But they said there were local causes "close to our hearts" and they were contemplating donating to victims of flooding in their native Hawick in the Scottish Borders. The town suffered heavy damage after the River Teviot burst its banks as Storm Desmond tore through Britain in December, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. Workers clear flood debris in Hawick on December 6, 2015 Mr Martin said: "We don't have all the answers yet but we'd like to help our closest friends and family, and there are charities which are important to us too. Advertisement "Parts of our community have also been hit by flooding and we know lots of people who have struggled in recent times, so there's a lot for us to work out, but it's a nice problem to have." Though they were not personally flooded, the care home Mr Martin's employers work for works for had to be evacuated. Mr Martin works for a provider of specialist equipment to the disabled and elderly and Mrs Martin works for a local Boots. The couple, both 54, revealed they forgot to check their ticket until the following day and had not watched the draw live on Saturday night. At an announcement in Edinburgh on Wednesday, the couple said they "would have been doing cartwheels in the living room" if they had won just 50,000. On the couple's spending wish-list is a new home in the country, local to where they live now; a holiday home in the sun and a Range Rover. Advertisement The massive jackpot - the biggest ever - was the result of 14 rollovers. David and Carol Martin, both 54, kiss in front of the media "It's 'Hoyk' not 'Howick'," David Martin reminded the journalists at the press conference. When asked if they might move from Hawick, Mr Martin said they had not decided. He added: "People don't realise, when you live in a small community, that It's a great place to live. It's had its trouble over the last little with redundancies et cetera. The people in general are really, really, really nice. It's a big decision to move away." The couple, who are planning early retirement, said they had initially not planned to go public but realised "you can't keep 30 million quid secret". The couple with the cheque The holder of the other winning ticket has yet to come forward. On Monday, Lotto operator Camelot said the holder of one of the winning tickets had still not come forward and urged players to again check their tickets. Advertisement A spokesman said: ''Someone out there still doesn't realise they have won." The many fans of 'Episodes' had better be warned... the next series could be its last. Matt LeBlanc, who plays a version of himself in the hit show, has been tweeting "only one more season to shoot" and now Showtime bosses have confirmed they have no idea whether 'Episodes' will be returning after this year, saying there is a "real possibility" it won't. 'Episodes' has been a hit on both sides of the Atlantic "On this series, we are in the very talented hands of Jeffrey Klarik and David Crane, and they are hard at work on the fifth season," network programming president Gary Levine explained to reporters at a presentation. Advertisement "We will wait to see if white smoke or black smoke comes out of the chimney at the end of that." The show has been a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig co-star as a British married screenwriting couple Sean and Beverly who have the good fortune/misfortune to have their talents spotted, and their lives moved to Hollywood, where 'Matt LeBlanc' stars in their sit-com. The last four series have depicted their various pitfalls, both romantically and professionally, of life within the Hollywood goldfish bowl. The former 'Friends' star won a Golden Globe award in 2012 for his vanity-free portrayal. But just as the show within the show, 'Pucks', has had its day, so it could be final credits for 'Episodes'. Watch this space. MH370 investigators have found what they believe to be a 19th century shipwreck while searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. An eerie image released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau shows what is thought to be a stricken 300-year-old ship. The vessel, which appears to be remarkably intact, is thought by experts from the Western Australian Museum to be made from metal, the BBC reported. Advertisement The vessel is believed to be a 19th century ship made of metal This is the second shipwreck found during the search for MH370. Items such as an anchor could clearly be seen among the debris in images released. Items including an anchor near the first shipwreck found by the search teams A range of debris was found on the seabed near the wreck Speaking at the time, Peter Foley, who heads up the team leading the search, said: It's a fascinating find, but it's not what we're looking for." Advertisement Foley, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's director of the operational search for the lost plane, added: We're not pausing in the search for MH370, in fact the vessels have already moved on to continue the mission. Despite the finds, little has been found of the Boeing 777, which went missing while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014. In July the first confirmed part of the Boeing 777 - a flaperon - washed up on Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean. Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan said drift modelling indicated that debris could have floated to the island from where they believed the missing plane crashed 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) southwest of Australia. NASA has released new images of Ceres, showing the dwarf planet in exquisite detail. The latest pictures were taken while the space agency's Dawn spacecraft, was flying at its lowest orbit yet - 240 miles above Ceres. Advertisement This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. As always, the flurry of snaps seems to have given NASA more food for thought. The fresh views shows the Kupalo Crater having a bright material on its rim and walls which, scientists are yet to confirm as salts. In December, a study published in Nature described how the bright spots on one of Ceres' other craters, Occator, could be explained by salt formation. Advertisement "When we set sail for Ceres upon completing our Vesta exploration, we expected to be surprised by what we found on our next stop. Ceres did not disappoint," said Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission. "Everywhere we look in these new low- altitude observations, we see amazing landforms that speak to the unique character of this most amazing world." North Korea warned on Tuesday that its newly acquired H-bomb gives it the capability to "wipe out" the United States in one attack. In a statement released by the state-controlled North Korean KCNA news agency, Pyongyang claimed the regimes scientists are "in high spirits to detonate H-bombs of hundreds of kilotons and megatons, capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once." Advertisement The bluster comes despite experts in South Korea and the US rejecting the North Koreas claim that on January 6 it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Kim Jong Un salutes during a military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the country's founding, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, in Pyongyang, North Korea Kim Jong-uns regime also claimed to have developed the technology to launch a nuclear warhead from a submarine, another declaration contested by the west. Advertisement Last weeks test registered as a magnitude-5 earthquake by sensors outside the North Korean state, the epicenter of the blast located in Punggye-ri, the site of the countrys nuclear test facility where previous tests had taken place in 2006, 2009 and 2013. After threatening to wipe out the US, the statement characterised the recent detonation as "neither to threaten anyone nor to provoke someone for a certain purpose." "It was a process indispensable for carrying out the economic construction and the building of nuclear force to cope with the US ever-more undisguised hostile policy," the statement read. In response to the test, South Korea restarted its propaganda broadcast directed over the border at their northern neighbours. A North Korean official responded by claiming the sonic bombardment was driving the peninsula to the brink of war. Steven Avery, the subject of the Netflix series 'Making A Murderer', has submitted a fresh appeal against his murder conviction claiming that one juror tainted the proceedings. Avery filed the appeal after being convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of photographer Teresa Halbach a decade ago. Advertisement In the filing, littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes, Avery takes issue with a search conducted during the murder investigation, saying the investigation improperly included multiple properties and therefore any evidence that was uncovered is clearly "FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE". He says the juror tainted proceedings "THROUGH DIRECT OR INDIRECT IN FLUENCE" and stated numerous times he was "F------ GUILTY." Steven Avery has filed an appeal He also said Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz made misleading statements and that his lawyers were ineffective. Advertisement Avery had been wrongfully convicted years earlier in a rape case and served 18 years in prison. He had sued Manitowoc County for tens of millions before he and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were arrested in Halbach's death. Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann said Tuesday he hasn't seen the appeal, but he has said in the past that the investigation was proper. The Associated Press attempted to contact Avery's new attorney, Kathleen Zellner, but she wasn't immediately available for comment. The filmmakers behind "Making a Murder" cast doubt on the legal process used to convict Avery and Dassey, and their work has sparked national interest and conjecture. Advertisement Authorities involved in the case have called the 10-hour series biased. Filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, meanwhile, have stood by their work. In the aftermath of the series, over 355,942 people signed a Change.org online protest, asking for Barack Obama to pardon the convict. However in a statement on the We The People site, the White House said the President couldn't free Avery. Meanwhile the only person who could allow Avery a reprieve from prison delivered some disappointing news. An innovative programme designed to get homeless people in Wales off the streets has been launched. StreetLink's scheme will allow concerned passersby to send an alert to the authorities, sharing the location of someone sleeping on the streets. The person sleeping rough can then be found by the authorities, who will offer them support and help them find accommodation. Advertisement The StreetLink scheme will be rolled out to Wales following its success in England StreetLink director, Matt Harrison, said that people who want to help do not know what to do. This service will allow services near to the homeless person offer them assistance. He told the BBC: "People don't know whether they should give people money or food or drink, or talk to people or refer them to local services. "What is most effective is to get people into local services to help get them off the streets but most people won't know where to go. "StreetLink has the information and we will get in touch with local services, and then report back to the person who got in touch." Advertisement Welsh Government Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty said the project would provide a "lifeline to many vulnerable people". Pleased to support new @Tell_StreetLink project in Wales, which will provide a lifeline to many vulnerable people when they need it most Lesley Griffiths (@WG_CommunityMin) January 13, 2016 StreetLink has been running in England since 2012 and has seen more than 15,000 people receive support after more than 35,000 alerts were sent. The five things you need to know on Wednesday January 13, 2016 1) DOCTORING THE MEDICS Its PMQs day again and as David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn square up, theres a plethora of topics either could choose. The PM may not be able to resist a jibe at the Labour reshuffle and Dave Watts croissant Corbynista attack (and maybe even the House of Cards pic-opp). Advertisement For his part, Corbyn could seize on the PMs admission of hardline militants in his 70k Syrian moderates figure, yesterdays terrible manufacturing and household debt figures, Sure Start cuts or water and energy company rip-offs. But for both, it would be strange if the subject of the junior doctors strike didnt crop up. The industrial action, which ended at 8am but is due to return in ratcheted form in a few weeks, has certainly had lots of politics. What irritates medics more than anything is what they call the spin that lies behind the 7-day plan, pointing out many already work seven days in acute services and suggesting few non-emergency patients have an appetite for weekend treatments. No10 and Jeremy Hunt faced spin criticism again yesterday over fresh claims higher stroke and newborn baby mortality at weekends was linked to junior doc staffing (theres no causal link, they say). On Labours stance on the strikes, the Tories scent an opportunity. Yesterday, junior shadow health minister Justin Madders said doctors had no choice but to strike. This was welcomed by many Corbyn allies as the first time in decades Labour had backed industrial action. But Heidi Alexander was notably more cautious in her pooled clip, stating merely that Labour understands why doctors felt they had no choice. Advertisement Amid the acrimony, its currently difficult to see how the yawning gap between both sides can be bridged: neither Cameron nor Hunt sounds in any mood to back down on a manifesto pledge (believing the BMA wont want to risk patient deaths in next months A&E strike) and the docs are digging in too. Yet the Guardians splash quotes senior sources expressing cautious optimism a deal can be done, not least as Hunt has a new chief negotiator Sir David Dalton, ex Salford Royal chief exec. 2) CORBYN MISSILE CRISIS Of course, if David Cameron wanted to do anything as down-and-dirty as playing politics with Trident (surely not?), he could raise Labours own tensions over the issue. Cameron hinted last year there was no longer any rush for a maingate Trident renewal decision this year, but could he hold a non-binding Commons vote to exploit Labour splits between its leader (and members) and the PLP and Shadow Cabinet? As I reported this week, Unite looks like it will actually ride to the rescue of the moderates in the PLP, with too many jobs at risk from unilateralism. Labours defence review rumbles on, and the Telegraph reports that Corbyn has stepped down as the Parliamentary chairman of CND, and that Hilary Benn last night told Channel 4 News that the primary responsibility of the Opposition was to make sure that the country is defended and that people are kept safe - and that's what I want to see come out of the review." The Times rightly points to more trouble looming, with moves to oust Steve Rotheram (Corbyns PPS) from the NEC for occupying a slot normally reserved for backbenchers. Jess Philips and John Woodcock are in the frame to replace him and Mondays PLP meeting will see a motion discussed to move Rotheram. However, Im told that the Parliamentary Committee of the PLP may simply not have the power to make the change, and that the make-up of the NEC is ultimately decided only by the party rulebook and conference. The election of the PLP section of the NEC in June may be the next chance this changes (and even then will only take effect at the end of conference). Similarly, moves by Corbyn allies to change NEC terms of reference - a real threat to the power of Iain McNicol - can only take effect with conferences blessing. As ever, Unite will be crucial. Advertisement 3) BOJO THE HERO? The Expresss David Maddox is already making an impact since his move from the Scotsman. Today, he has a scoop on Boris Johnsons latest intentions on the big question of the next few months: will Bojo come out for Brexit once Camerons renegotiation is over? The Express says Boris held talks with a senior Eurosceptic before Christmas about the possibility of him leading the Leave campaign and is alleged to have confided: The trouble is, I am not an outer. But it sounds like hes still not ruled out the notion. The paper quotes a senior figure in the Leave campaign saying: Boris is still flirting with the idea, even if he is not a believer. The problem is that if he does not believe we should leave it will be very difficult for him. One source adds: Whether we win or lose [the referendum], the next leader of the Conservative Party will be a Eurosceptic. Yesterdays Political Cabinet agreed that all sides should treat each other with respect in the EU referendum campaign. But Boris did not say a word, Im told, preferring to keep his powder dry for now. He didnt know the detail of the new PM advice to ministers - because hes not yet a minister. Will Boris be admitted to Cabinet before or after the referendum, I wonder? Boris has had his very own shop window with his regular Call Boris show on LBC. Today from 4pm Alex Salmonds own show starts. I wonder if hell be pushed on the yet further dramatic falls in the oil price (and loss of BP jobs), or even part-state owned RBSs warning to sell everything ahead of a stock market crash (something that could concern the Treasury just as much). Advertisement BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR Watch Star Wars BB8 meet some chicks and a fellow real life droid 4) T-U, JIMMY The Lords is gearing up for another serious clash with the Government, this time on the Trade Union Bill. Labour and the Lib Dems are both furious at the way the bill tears up cross-party consensus on party funding and have dreamed up a cunning plan to ensure the issue gets prominence. A new motion was laid by Labour last night (which will be considered in a standalone debate next Wednesday afternoon) which will say it is 'desirable' to create a new select committee to consider the clauses of the Trade Union Bill which relate to the Committee on Standards in Public Lifes report, Political Party Finance: ending the big donor culture - and the need for urgent new legislation to balance those provisions with the other recommendations made in the Committees Report. The new Committee would report by 29 February. Why does this matter? Well this motion would create a committee that would run parallel to the TU Bill and feed back into later stages. Its aim is to consider the long-term implications for the democratic process of the change in party funding outlined in two key clauses in the bill (in effect giving the special scrutiny. If the committee suggests a delete clause amendment, the whole party funding element of the bill would face a serious challenge. Crucially, the Committee could argue that as the plans were not made explicit in the Tory manifesto, any amendments it makes will not be subject to the Parliament Act or other complaints. Assuming the Government wont accept the motion, Labour will press it to a vote. A further motion would be needed to appoint the committees make-up and later its powers. The aim is to get the new Committee to report back in good time for latter stages of the Bill. Advertisement Perfect timing as peers discuss the Strathclyde plan today to curb their powers. But this mechanism is classic Upper House detail, with Labour and the Libs careful to not overstep their powers but use every means available to make life difficult for the executive and allow more scrutiny. The Lords: they aint going away you know. 5) IP OR NOT IP, THAT IS THE QUESTION Theresa May is before the final evidence session of the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill Committee today (at 4.15pm in the Lords). Last week, the committee published 120 submissions to it from a raft of groups, from internet firms expressing concerns about the very dangerous impact of the reforms to those backing the plans. Craig Woodhouse in the Sun today digs out another submission that has been overlooked. Lee Rigbys uncle Ray McClure warned the internet would become a safe haven for evil unless spooks are given abilities to crack encrypted messaging systems loved by terrorists and paedophiles. The veteran IT professional also launched a broadside against web giants like Facebook which failed to pass on information that could have prevented the killing as he argued for sweeping new surveillance powers. You can bet Mrs May will cite that kind of support. But this battle is a long one and the draft bill is set for months of scrutiny. If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox. BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 29: Shadow Minister Without Portfolio Jonathan Ashworth speaks to delegates during a session entitled 'Taking the Fight to the Tories' during the third day of the Labour Party Autumn Conference on September 29, 2015 in Brighton, England. The four day annual Labour Party Conference takes place in Brighton and is expected to attract thousands of delegates with keynote speeches from influential politicians and over 500 fringe events. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Imag Ben Pruchnie via Getty Images A free vote for Labour MPs on Trident renewal looks inevitable to allow the party to express its range of opinions, a Shadow Cabinet minister has declared. Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon Ashworth, who is a member of the ruling National Executive Committee, also said that ultimately it was upto trade unions, party members and others to decide Labours nuclear weapons policy at annual conference. Advertisement On the BBC's Daily Politics, Mr Ashworth added that it would be important to ensure the voices of the workers in the defence industry - whose jobs relied on Tridents upgrade - were properly heard. His remarks come after it emerged that Britains biggest union, Unite, was set in July to uphold its own policy of backing the nuclear deterrents renewal, a key decision that all but ensures the policy will remain in place at the partys annual conference in Liverpool this year. General Secretary Len McCluskey is to speak in support of Trident at the unions Scottish conference this weekend, the day after Jeremy Corbyn makes his own address. Mr Corbyn this week insisted he wanted ordinary party members to have more of a say over the policy, possibly through an email consultation, although party general secretary stressed to MPs that annual conference - where unions still have 50% of the votes - has the final say. Advertisement But if the Government decides to hold a Commons vote on renewal of Trident his summer, the party may have to stage another free vote, similar to that on Syria, to accommodate the fact that defence policy is under review and the party leaderships view differs from most of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Speaking on the BBC's Daily Politics, Mr Ashworth said: The policy of the Labour party is support a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. From a Labour party policy rulebook point of view. And that can only be changed by a two thirds vote at party conference. And when how Labour would handle any Commons vote, he replied: I suspect that everybody in the Labour party will be very mindful there a people on different sides of this argument we will probably find some way of accommodating everyones view. We always try to get a collective position, we tried to get a collective position on Syria but we werent able to and we had a free vote. That may well be the territory we are in. But these tend to be issues for the Chief Whip, the leader and the Shadow Cabinet as a whole to discuss. Advertisement Pressed if Labour could see a repeat of the Syria vote where Hilary Benn argued against the leader, he said: Its probably not desirable, but I suspect it's inevitable. The Shadow Cabinet is going to have to debate about this. Because Jeremy has very strongly held views on that and he was elected leader and it's appropriate that we respect him as well. Later this month, the ruling NEC is set to discuss new terms of reference that could give it more power over the party, although again final decisions will need ratification of conference. Mr Ashworth told the BBC: I think the National Executive should have more authority over the decision making and the future direction of the party. We NEC sections need to be more accountable. Advertisement But ultimately the Labour policy is decided through the National Policy Forum, which people are elected to through their constituency parties so they have their own mandate if you like. We can look at ways to improve it. And then it goes to the party conference where the collective voice of the affiliated members [is heard. And of course that is significant in this debate because there are lots of trade union membes who work for Rolls Royce in Derby in the East Midlands and elsewhere, who will be affected by a government deciding whether or not to go ahead with renewing Trident. Those voices have to be heard in our debate. Len McCluskey with Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership campaign Next Monday, the PLP is expected to vote on a motion to remove Mr Corbyns Parliamentary Private Secretary, Steve Rotheram, from the NEC on the grounds that he is no longer a backbencher. Jess Phillips is expected to be proposed as a replacement. Advertisement Asked about the change, Mr Ashworth said: Steves a good guy, he's a very decent guy. But he refused to be drawn of whether hed back the change. Thats a decision for the backbenchers of the PLP...I'm nominated by front benchers. How the backenchers want to elect their representatives is a matter for them. There are people who are concerned that he's wearing two hats, [but] I dont represent that part of the National Executive Committee. Mr Ashworths remarks came as fellow Shadow Cabinet minister Lucy Powell distanced herself from those Labour MPs who had appeared on the picket line to support the junior doctors strike. Ms Powell, whose partner is an A&E consultant, said: I don't think it's helpful to politicise [the strike]. Advertisement Three Russians with suspected links to Islamic State were arrested by police in Turkey after a suicide attack on Tuesday that killed 10 tourists. Russia's Consulate General in the Mediterranean city of Antalya confirmed that the trio had been detained, according to Russian state news agency RIA. Advertisement Police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, Dogan News Agency said. 10 people were killed by the suicide bomber attack in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday A suicide bomber, believed to have travelled from Syria to the Turkish city, killed nine German tourists and one Peruvian on Tuesday. Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist draw, was targeted at 10.30am local time. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack. Advertisement The explosion, which could be heard from several neighbourhoods, was at a park that is home to a landmark obelisk, some 25 meters (yards) from the historic Blue Mosque. No one is yet to claim responsibility for the attack, although Turkish officials have told reporters that ISIS militants are behind the attack. Islamist, leftist and Kurdish militants, who are battling Ankara in southeast Turkey, have all carried out attacks in the past. Story continues below Istanbul Explosion See gallery Speaking at a news conference in Berlin yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "Today Istanbul was hit; Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before. "International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face." Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he offered his condolences to Merkel and vowed Turkey's fight against Islamic State - both at home and abroad in coalition with the US - would continue. Advertisement Turkey, which borders Syria, has become a target for ISIS. Two bombings last year were blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. Parents in Wales will be thrilled with the news they will no longer face fines for taking their children on holiday during term time - if they get the headteacher's permission. Welsh Education Minister Huw Lewis has insisted Local Education Authorities must comply with the law, which gives all headteachers statutory powers to authorise leave for family holidays during term time. Lewis wrote to the Directors of Education in Wales and Managing Directors of Regional Educational Consortia, advising them blanket bans on term time holidays are lawfully considered contrary to Welsh education regulations. Advertisement Parents in Wales could take their children out of school for up to ten days Huw Lewis stated: "The Regulations in Wales provide for head teachers to exercise their discretion in relation to authorising absence for up to 10 days per year. "The term 'exceptional circumstances' relates only to requests for absences of more than 10 school days." The news followed a Petitions Committee meeting in the Senedd (National Assembly for Wales) which discussed two petitions on the issue of term time leave and received over 1,800 signatures. Advertisement Although a law stating parents could be fined for taking children out of school during term time came into effect in England in September 2013, the law in Wales did not officially change. Craig Langman is chairman of Parents Want a Say, the campaign group across England and Wales which fought to see changes to the school attendance policy reversed. Langman told HuffPost UK Parents: "We've been putting it through the Petitions Committee and keep on saying to the Welsh Assembly that this is a big problem and, in actual fact, it's a problem created even though the law hasn't changed in Wales. "Local authorities have been fining parents for taking kids on holiday without the law changing so we said, at the end of the day, parents can't be fined for doing this." Langman called the Welsh Education Minister's statement a "major breakthrough". He added: "This is a victory for parents who believe they should have the right to enjoy quality family time with their children on an affordable annual family holiday or be able to take their children out of school for important events such as weddings, funerals etc. Advertisement "However, there is a very troubling issue that needs to be addressed the fact that parents have been unlawfully fined for the past two years. "This needs to be looked at urgently." Some are questioning whether previous fines will be overturned Jane Douglas, from the Pembrokeshire branch of Parents Want a Say, added: "We are very pleased that the minister has responded to our petition and is taking action to rein in the local authorities that have been trying to restrict the powers of headteachers to authorise absences for family holidays. "Welsh regulations and guidance allow headteachers to take a common sense approach to requests for absence during term time and expect these requests to be carefully considered on an individual basis. "We are asking the minister to overturn fines issued by local authorities which may have acted unlawfully and ensure the families affected are reimbursed." Advertisement However Siobhan Freegard, founder of Channel Mum is wary about the ruling, cautioning it could cause chaos for schools. She told HuffPost UK Parents: "Effectively parents can now remove children for two weeks each year and even longer if the head teacher approves. "Added up over a childs school life, it means kids could potentially miss 24 weeks schooling - equivalent to over half a year's education." Freegard said it's understandable parents want affordable family holidays, but removing lots of pupils at different times of the year will impact their learning. She added: "The ruling also ignores the fact that teachers who are parents wont be able to take advantage of it, as they have to work during term time and pay higher prices for their holidays." Advertisement Langman said Parents Want A Say are going to use the breakthrough in Wales to go to Westminster and address the fines in England and Scotland. He said: "We're going to say look, Wales has got common sense, why can't we? "Figures for the number of parents being fined in the UK is increasing, yet the law doesn't even define what 'exceptional circumstances' are. "Because of this, local authorities are just stopping everybody taking holidays during term time. "We'll be using this when we go to Westminster within the next week." Paris is many things to many people: the city of love, the city of delicious food and most of all, the city of fabulous shopping. If you subscribe to the mantra that Cinderella is proof that a pair of shoes can change your life, then shopping in Paris will be top of your to-do list when you book a magical weekend away. But where to start? Home to some of the worlds most beloved and iconic fashion brands like Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent and Celine, Paris is a city synonymous with luxury fashion. Advertisement Those looking for contemporary and cutting-edge design will also find plenty of temptation at concept store destinations like Colette and LEclaireur, which sell men's and women's clothing as well as lifestyle accessories and homeware, while vintage and antiques lovers can always try their luck at weekend flea markets, like the Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen at Porte de Clignancourt or the market at Porte de Vanves. Here are some of our favourite luxury shopping destinations to bookmark for your Paris shopping guide 1. Le Village Royal Nestled in the heart of Paris on rue Royale, the Village Royal is a collection of your favourite designer brands under one roof. Luxury boutiques like Chanel and Dior are situated alongside top French labels like Eric Bompard, the go-to destination for cashmere jumpers, and Anne Fontaine, where you can stock up on crisp white shirts to nail casual-chic French style. Other shops in Village Royal sell jewellery, watches, china, hair accessories and luggage, and there is a restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and snacks to help you refuel between purchases. 2. Department stores Galeries Lafayette is a sprawling, 10-storey department store on boulevard Haussmann that is as much a local attraction as a premier shopping spot. Every Friday, you can book in for a free fashion show which highlights the latest trends and styles from hip French labels like Maje, The Kooples and Sandro before shopping your favourite brands like Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Lanvin, and more. And don't miss the enormous 3,500m gourmet food hall, spread across two floors, which is a feast for the eyes (and the taste buds). Advertisement Across the Seine on the Left Bank, Le Bon Marche holds the title of the city's oldest department store and is an elegant place to while away the afternoon and shop like a local. You'll find luxury accessories and leather goods, extensive women's and men's fashions, beauty, lingerie, childrenswear and bedding. 3. Avenue Montaigne shops This famed Parisian street - part of the area known as the Triangle d'Or - is home to prime shopping real estate, including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Versace, Prada, Ralph Lauren and Gucci, as well as glittering jewellery shops like Harry Winston. The Dior flagship at 30, avenue Montaigne, is worth a visit for its history alone: it was the site where Monsieur Dior presented his game-changing "New Look" collection in 1947. 4. Designer outlet shopping - La Vallee Village If you're looking for fabulous fashions at more affordable price points, outlet shopping combines the designer labels you love with discounts you'll be even happier about. La Vallee Village, located 35 minutes outside of Paris, has cut-price items from brands like Carven, Carolina Herrera, Jimmy Choo, Kenzo, Moncler, Sonia Rykiel and Valentino. Advertisement Once you've shopped 'til you're about to drop, make a pit stop at Disneyland Paris for a snazzy dining experience. Feast like royalty at King Ludwig's Castle, a Bavarian beer-and-sausage hall, or enjoy a taste of the Old West at Billy Bob's Country Western Saloon. Giddy-up! If you think you've been hearing entirely too much about Jeremy Corbyn's "revenge reshuffle" over the last few days you wouldn't be wrong. Labour's prolonged internal war of attrition is taking attention away from the burning issues the country faces and all the while providing the Conservatives with a welcome sideshow. Worst of all, the feuding is robbing Labour of its chances to capitalize on its strengths. Admittedly, Jeremy Corbyn has had anything but a smooth ride in domestic politics so far. From Blairite smears originating within his own party to seemingly endless unforgiving (to put it mildly) media coverage -- in his first three months at the helm, the theme of "chaos" has prevailed. But for Labour to have a chance to regain power in 2020 it's imperative that they get over their leadership culture shock and start to think about regaining a vision that appeals to the wider population. There are several ways the Party can come together and avoid entangling itself in yet another "civil war" that will mortally damage its credibility. Time for Labour to Make its Case First, the Labour Party must reinforce its economic credibility. A lot of this is about finding a balance between sound economic policies and an effective public persona. Labour policies are not as "radical" as they are characterized and there is substantial support for many of their strategies. Advertisement Labour should make a strong case for what sort of economy it wants to build: creating high-tech jobs more geared towards the future: tackling the housing crisis; dealing with the high cost of education and the erosion of the NHS; most importantly, establishing a coherent message on the economy that is focused on rebuilding industries to create secure jobs across a population that has been feeling tremendous financial and psychological pressure . People by nature want to have meaningful work. If Labour communicates its solutions intelligently it could build a new voting bloc of mid- and low-income voters. What is really at stake here is the undoing of the Thatcherite paradigm of taming the Labour Party. It is time to restore public confidence in an alternative political process. Opposing the Age of Austerity After the financial meltdown of 2008, Western governments quickly set about cutting and saving. In 2012 the International Monetary Fund stated that austerity is not good for economic growth and does not help pave the way for meaningful recovery. It can also be a tragically false economy. Advertisement Opposition to the austerity regime is happening all over Europe on both the left and right political spectrums. Austerity programs are plainly not working; rather, they are causing suffering across the continent. We see this reaction repeating itself, most recently in the Spanish election where the era of two-party dominance was shattered overnight. The Labour Party should take advantage of the same sentiments by assuming the role of formidable opposition to the Tory public spending cuts. For instance, they could point out that a little monetary investment in the flood protection recommendations the government has been ignoring for years under the guise of thrift might have saved a lot of heartbreak during last month's flooding. The Labour establishment needs to keep the Tories on the defensive over their disastrous housing bill. They could also use the success in the reversal of tax credits and their definitive victory in Oldham as solid cornerstones for the reconstruction of the party's reputation. This requires showing some political courage by challenging the traditional association of anti-austerity with radical left-wing politics. A Chance to Challenge the Conservatives on Foreign Policy Labour can put pressure on this government's foreign policy and push for reassessment of British international objectives. They can point out how this government offers military support to Saudi Arabia while ignoring their consistent gross human rights violations. The close relationship with the Saudi monarchy that spreads international extremist ideology should be addressed as a real threat to national security. One thing the Syria vote taught us is that UK foreign policy is incapable of being dynamic. Labour should challenge such rigidity, especially when it relates to the Middle East. You have to conduct foreign policy in accordance with the values you aspire to; if you don't, you lose an enormous amount of moral authority. Time to Acknowledge Immigration Issues The left should stop ignoring the issue of immigration, an issue that often lies at the top of the voters' list of concerns, but they are hardly ever informed of the real data. What helps parties like UKIP thrive is ignorance about immigration. Labour must formulate a plan to differentiate itself from the other parties. They can set the terms of the debate by working closely with local councils to help integrate immigrants into communities. They can articulate their positive outlook on immigration by pointing at UK higher education economic benefits with international students flocking into the country, providing significant benefits to the UK economy through the post work study visa program. Advertisement Rebuilding Trust Challenging the Tories on their failed policies isn't the only way to gain momentum. One of the things Corbyn has going for him is that he has galvanized grassroots movements. Thousands of young people disengaged with the political system have been brought into politics because of him. This is the perfect time to rebuild political trust where it's been lost in working class areas and to create the "new" type of party Corbyn has advocated, one which reaches out to activist groups and their wealth of knowledge. This must be combined with support from the party members who voted in huge numbers for Corbyn's leadership as well as from those who are not huge fans of his politics. Two weeks before Christmas, I left my French boyfriend of ten months. We hadn't argued, there wasn't anyone else, things were good. In fact, the day before we'd enjoyed a lovely lunch at his parent's house in rural Burgundy, and they'd invited me for dinner on Christmas Day. The same day that we had lunch, France was voting in the second round of their general election - the first election following the horrifying events of November 13. Le Front National, Marine Le Pen's notorious far-right party, had won an unprecedented amount of support in the first round of voting. Little did I know, my then-boyfriend had given them his vote. I had no idea he was this way politically inclined, and 24 hours later, we were done. I didn't ask immediately who he had voted for when he came back from the polling station. We were with his parents, and just before he left to cast his vote, his Mum shouted 'don't vote for Le Front National, they're fascists!' He laughed, I assumed she was joking, and we went on with our day. In hindsight, she obviously knew something I didn't and she wasn't joking. Off he went to vote for the party who once referred to the Nazi gas chambers of the Second World War as a mere 'point of detail'. After he told me, I asked him to explain why he'd chosen such an extreme party. He couldn't explain it to me. It didn't even occur to me until friends pointed it out that I too am an immigrant in his country - a white, European immigrant, but an immigrant all the same. My immediate thoughts were with the millions of refugees fleeing their countries in search of safety, it hadn't even occurred to me that their 100% anti-immigration policies would directly affect me too. I was angry with myself for not realising that he was this way inclined. We spoke in a mixture of French and English with each other, and despite neither being fluent in the other's language, both of us are competent enough to rule out the language barrier being the reason I hadn't cottoned on to his political choices. How did I not know? I thought about times we'd wandered round Paris together when he'd come to visit me, and saw the all too familiar sight of entire families sleeping on the streets. I remember him stopping to talk to one particular family sleeping on a single, dirty mattress in Bastille. They weren't French, he chatted to them for a while, gave them some money and as we were walking away he said 'my country is rich enough that no one should be sleeping on the streets, especially not children'. I nodded in agreement. Advertisement How had I got him so wrong? I spent the night after the elections trying to rationalise his decision. France has had a brutal year of bloodshed, maybe he is mourning for his country, he's not thinking straight? Nope, that still doesn't justify voting for a party whose policies will deliberately harm the most vulnerable in our society. He's a small business owner in rural France, Marine Le Pen has deliberately targeted her campaigns at people like him, maybe he doesn't know any better? Nope, he's lived in Brazil and the UK and travelled extensively, the 'small town boy who doesn't know better' logic just doesn't wash. Maybe Marine Le Pen really has toned down the worst of the party, maybe it's me that is misinformed? Nope, the policies are just as awful as they were under her father, she's just toned down the language used to make it more palatable. I spent the night googling articles on couples who had successful marriages but didn't share the same political views, and why Marine Le Pen was so popular in the region he lives in, trying to make some sense of it. But this wasn't a simple case of the left vs. the right, and maybe we could meet somewhere in the middle - he'd voted for the extreme right. I don't claim to have perfect political views, far from it, but I grew up in Brighton, a notoriously liberal city, with working class Glaswegian parents who voted Labour. I like to think my political views are developing as I keep learning (and unlearning for that matter) but the right, let alone the extreme right, is something I've never identified with, and never will. Advertisement It's nothing short of incredible that UK businesses raised a record-breaking $3.6bn in venture capital (VC) funding in 2015. The figure represents an increase of more than 70 per cent on the $2.1bn investment raised in 2014, with London-based tech companies responsible for $2.28bn of the 2015 total. And 2016 is off to a cracking start: earlier this week Skyscanner raised 128m for its online travel site from VC giants Artemis (among others). UK startups are going from strength to strength. But any mention of VC investment should be tempered by statistics over the ratio of male:female-led companies. Just a third of the UK startup ecosystem today is made up of women; just 20 per cent of SMEs in the UK are majority-led by women. In tech - which attracts more than its fair share of VC funding - the statistics are far more alarming. In Silicon Valley, for example, the percentage of women starting tech companies is astronomically low, at a rate around 3 per cent. And when women do create successful companies, they face far greater difficulties scaling up than their male counterparts. Male entrepreneurs in Britain, for example, are 86 per cent more likely to be VC funded than women entrepreneurs, and 59 per cent more likely to secure angel investment. Advertisement Lack of access to finance can be attributed to a number of factors. Many believe, for example, that an "old boys" club exists in VC funding circles, and that women remain grossly underrepresented in the industry. Women are not in the network of venture capitalists, and VCs have no incentive to look outside their own groups. Of course, not everyone aspires to create the next Google, and some women do set up companies to fit around school hours so may not want venture backing. But those women who do should have the same opportunities as men - yet little has been done to tackle the issue. It's positive that groups like Girls in Tech have been created in recent years to support the visibility of women in innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as run mentoring programmes with key figures in the industry. But I often find myself frustrated by some of the websites promoting the women in entrepreneurship cause - not least because they are more often than not splashed in shades of pink (which call to mind Harriet Harman's patronising, pre-election pink bus..why wasn't it red? Isn't that the Labour colour?). Where is the evidence that these organisations are tackling specific issues informed by academic research? It was out of such frustration that we decided to team up with Barclays to create our own women's entrepreneurship group. Our Female Founders Forum is a group of some of the UK's most inspirational entrepreneurs - including Kathryn Parsons (Decoded), Sara Murray (Buddi), Rita Sharma OBE (Best at Travel), Laura Tenison MBE (JoJo Maman Bebe), and Julie Meyer MBE (Ariadne Capital). We will be connecting these successful business leaders with senior figures from within the finance industry, politicians, journalists and aspiring female entrepreneurs on the cusp of rapid growth. Advertisement We all giggled when Nigel Farage blamed his being late to a pre-election public appearance on traffic jams caused by excess migrants travelling along the M4; an obviously ridiculous, and somewhat failed lesson in scapegoating from Europe's most pro-immigration politician. Yet, we didn't hear anything about the poor mites he'd so sorely disappointed; those adoring fans had potentially booked tickets to the event weeks, if not months in advance, a stellar opportunity to meet their political anti-hero up close and personal. But, one mention of the 'm' word and those saddened 'Kippers were forgotten in a instant, replaced on the front pages, more than likely, by images of Farage holding a pint of some sort and celebrating yet another PR triumph. As funny as the mental image of Nigel Farage stuck in a traffic jam may be, we have - idiotically and dangerously - fallen once again into this state of forgetfulness, and victim ignorance. This time, more ominously, the silenced victims are hundreds of women, attacked, mugged and sexually assaulted in Cologne on New Year's Eve; a horrific crime wave that will undoubtedly have life-long effects on many of its victims. The (minimum) 500 assaults, muggings and rapes of women in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve - around half of which have been logged as 'sexually motivated'- were revealed to have been committed, in the 'majority', by up to 1,000 migrants of Arabic or North African descent; a revelation German forces were reluctant to make after last year's controversial decision to allow more than one million refugees solitude in the country. Given that racial politics are already tense in Germany, and the ever-growing popularity of right-wing, anti-Islam and anti-immigration groups such as Pegida and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, it's somewhat unsurprising that this story has been jumped upon by those with an agenda other than a resolution to gendered violence. Advertisement This story is being used by the xenophobic, anti-immigration minority in Europe to feign the victimisation they have craved ever since last year's horrific images from Kos and Calais emerged: 'Look what we are letting ourselves in for', 'nobody is safe', they declare, perfectly safe either sat behind their computer screens, or gathered en masse in a public square surrounded by police, whilst hate and retaliation crimes rise across the continent. Just as Farage's comments about a slow moving major British carriageway made front pages, replacing any angry comments from out of pocket supporters, the sexual abuse at the heart of this story is being ousted, in favour of the louder, more headline-friendly cries of 'Migrants: go home'. This is no longer a story about women, specifically, those women. This is no longer a story about the 500 women who were subjected to horrific crimes on what should have been one of the most celebratory nights of the year. This is no longer a story about women feeling safe to go out at night, alone in a cosmopolitan European city. This is no longer a story about women feeling sure that they will be listened to when claiming assault; sexual or otherwise. This is now a story circulating dangerously close to xenophobia and mainly concerned with international politics. A story about whether Europe should maintain its open-border policy, about whether any individual with a skin tone other than pearly white should be subjected to greater levels of criminal scrutiny, and ultimately, about whether it is right and 'safe' to rehouse those fleeing war and other dangers. It is undeniable that the men responsible for these attacks need to face punishment, and that punishment will inevitably manifest itself as social isolation - and quite possibly deportation - as well as a criminal sentence. But the basis of this punishment needs to be just; it needs to be because they violently attacked innocent, sometimes lone women, not because they speak a different language or were born on a different continent. Advertisement On the front of our homepage sits a small wooden cabin. Sat atop a long pile of wooden planks, surrounded by endless snow, big skies and boundless plains, this little cabin tells a story. Quiet, peaceful and still, it represents our favourite part of travel: the ability to get away; to have space; time to think; be 'mindful' (that word again); and to focus more fully on what is going on around us, rather than what is ticking over in our minds. These moments don't just take place on top of a remote snowy mountain, but in the middle of chaotic cities, creaking trains and feverish tourist spots. These happy and peaceful moments are what keep us travelling. At the end of last year we were in Berlin. Beautiful, frenetic and cold Berlin. After a tiring day of walking around the East side of the city, I sat down on the freezing steps outside a supermarket. Ahead of me was the glittering river, criss-crossed with bridges, evening traffic and people heading home. It was a busy, noisy and boisterous part of the city. But as I sat still, quietly watching rush hour unfold, I felt happy. It was only ten minutes, but it was ten minutes that underpinned the next few days. My small moment of mindfulness and the very reason why I love travel. We regularly read excellent articles on 'must pack' essentials for the regular traveller. Extra batteries, inventive little gadgets, laptops and adaptable chargers, always make the list. Whilst these are all essential items for anyone heading out on an adventure, we also wondered what people pack to fit with their style of travel. What do the thrill seekers pack? The culture vultures? The foodies? Advertisement As travellers always seeking those little moments of appreciation, we noticed that we regularly pack a few small things, to help coax out those instances of calm. Here are just a few, that help us pause, stop and take a moment to appreciate the adventure we are on. 1) A Journal of Positive and Lovely Things Simple but effective, we always take a notebook and a pen when we travel, in order to write down the small things that made us smile that day. A little trinket in a shop; a view; that first sight of the sea; or soft hotel bed sheets, it is these small things that make up your day, your trip, and ultimately your entire experience of a place. We always try and make sure we do this after a particularly stressful or rubbish day. Delayed planes, food poisoning or an argument over directions, all plague even the best of holidays. However, focus on something small and positive, and it is much easier to let these things pass. We are currently using the amazing Daily Greatness Journals, which whilst demanding a lot of detail, are great at focusing us on happier things. Hurray for the small things! 2) Brain Vacation Someone once asked us if we travel to escape. I'm sure we all travel to escape: escape our jobs, our routine, the rubbish British weather, a breakup. Yet regardless of whether you do escape to that golden Caribbean beach or isolated mountain in New Zealand, your brain still comes along for the ride. And your brain brings with it its own host of friends: worries. I remember walking through the palaces of Saint Petersburg, worrying about whether or not I had selected the right mortgage. I remember watching a choir sing in the White House in Washington, wondering whether or not I should end my then long-term relationship. Travel doesn't let you escape those pesky worries. But it does afford you a little more time to sit back and give your brain a rest. For this reason, we are big fans of mindfulness apps. Our favourite, Headspace, is easy to use, lovely to look at and genuinely effective. Ten minutes, simply focusing on your breathing, the comfy sofa beneath you, or the sound of voices around you, gives your brain a breather. A genuine chance to escape when the stress of travel or worries from home, pop up to say 'hello'. Advertisement 3) Escaping Social Media Remember when you used to go abroad and the only link you had with home was a battered phone card and a suspicious European phone box? Every holiday, we would religiously ring our Grandma, tell her the weather was nice (we were largely living it up in Tenerife) and then tell her we would speak to her in a week's time. Those were the days. Without realising it, anyone prior to 1999 or 2000 was travelling and holidaying mindfully. Home was a distant and unreachable location, and the only choice you had was to fully enjoy your time in this new and exciting place. Not anymore. Usually, within sixty seconds of arriving of your destination, phones are immediately turned on, texts are sent and Facebook statuses updated. Home is not so much a distant land, but a tiny, ever-present distraction, sitting irritatingly within your mobile phone. We fall victim to this as much as the next person. I once missed a dolphin sighting as I was staring vacantly at Twitter. To stop holidays slipping away unnoticed, eclipsed by the constant chatter of social media, when we travel we therefore always make sure we either pack a) a very old mobile phone, courtesy of our Dad or b) download the exploding number of social-media blocking apps. These apps allow you to set a time during which you don't want to be bothered by social media. And if you try to access it during this time, you'll be blocked from doing so. We've now started using these apps regularly when we travel, to ensure we are focusing fully on the adventure ahead of us, rather than on someone's Facebook dramas. Apps we would certainly recommend downloading are 'Cold Turkey', 'OurPact' and 'Anti-Social'. Want to take it one step further? Snap up one of the increasingly 'old school' phones on the market, like the Punkt phone that only makes calls and sends texts. 4) Film Cameras We live in a time of point-and-shoot cameras. See something pretty? Lift your camera or your phone, hit the button and marvel at the blurry results. Photography today is fast, instant and sometimes, a little mindless. This is definitely useful in many situations, when you don't have the time to set up that weighty tripod, analyse the lighting situation and consult your camera manual. However, we found that the easier it became to get that photo, the less we appreciated what we were shooting. Composition, exposure and framing went out the window. Over the last year, we've therefore started regularly using older film cameras. A little creaky, cranky and unpredictable, these little cameras, filled with light-leaks and defects, have forced us to slow down and consider more carefully the scene in front of us. Taking the often frustrating amount of time to get the shutter speed or ISO right, forces you to concentrate, focus and fiddle around. A lot. Advertisement Photography this way is one of the most mindful and relaxing activities we do - forcing us to live through the view-finder and in the present moment. 5) Food This is less something that we ensure we pack and more a regular feature of our trips. By now, many people would have heard of 'mindful eating'. The theory goes that if you slow down and appreciate the flavours and textures of your food, not only will you enjoy it more, but you will eat less. I once had an ill-fated go at 'mindful' eating whilst at a yoga workshop. We were each given one chocolate biscuit and told to eat it as slowly as we could. Sadly, my saliva glands didn't get the memo and excitedly pumped my mouth full of saliva, awaiting the expected ten chocolate biscuits rather than just the lone one. My mindful eating experience ended up as a hand covered in dribble and a sad, soggy biscuit that I didn't enjoy. This aside, we've found that taking the time to sit down to a slow, relaxed and thoughtful meal, really does affect our experience of a trip. Food is as unique to a region or country as its language or history, and taking the time to truly sample it, rather than rushing to the cheapest and most convenient restaurant, is important. Some of our best memories are meals we've shared: tucking into melting cheeseburgers in New York; coconut rice in Thailand or enjoying the delights of boiled cabbage in Russia. Whilst eating you can take the time to sit back and focus on that small slice of a country surrounding you and in front of you. Mindful eating isn't all about the dribble. We realise that these small tips are neither novel nor ground-breaking. However, we hope that they at least give you cause to slow down a little on your journeys, remember where you are and just how brilliant travel is. The tortoise will always wins the race. Advertisement A Joint Committee of MPs and peers is currently hearing dozens of hours of expert testimony on the draft 'snoopers' charter'. Of course, if the bill passes, this will be the last such committee to be necessary, because if future lawmakers wish to know what anyone thinks, they will only need to tap into their personal emails. But for now, the Joint committee is an example of the legislative process functioning at its best. Back in the day, Parliament was full of experts and wise men (gendered language sadly deliberate) who came to the Commons after decades of experience in a plethora of sectors. Advertisement With the advent of the career politician, that's not true any more, and there's a concern that laws are passed by people who know nothing other than what their party whips briefed them. The continuing wisdom of the House of Lords (well, continuing for the moment) - eminent retirees from industry, diplomacy, academia and more - allayed these fears to some extent. But when it comes to a bill potentially affecting WhatsApp, one worries that their Lordships aren't entirely, shall we say, with it. In a recent debate about online pornography, one peer referred to the British Museum's collection of "erotic Japanese prints": risque business... The fourteen members of the committee - from the MP for Skegness to the Bishop of Chester - are going to be extremely well-informed when they have to make a recommendation to their colleagues. Advertisement The snoopers' charter has been much derided. My gut reaction is that the critics are right. But at least our lawmakers are taking the public's concerns seriously and are going to extraordinary lengths to make the right decision. *Zenobia Ismail [2013] is doing a PhD in Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge with the support of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Picture credit: Wikipedia. In December 2015 South Africa had a collective heart murmur. The sudden dismissal of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene by President Jacob Zuma plunged the stock exchange, currency and business confidence into free-fall. At first the presidency refused to explain the decision, but then the media claimed that Nene was fired for standing his ground against powerful interests who wished to bleed the country's finances. Worse still, his replacement had little experience and a poor track record as a municipal manager. Advertisement In these bleak moments unity awoke in our hearts, mass protests were planned and an online movement #zumamustfall emerged. The pressure forced the president to backtrack and re-appoint the former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, who has much goodwill among the business community. This was a victory for people power, a classic case of crisis turned to opportunity. We went off for our festive season holidays giddy with the optimism of what a united South Africa might accomplish in 2016. But our hopes were short-lived. On the 4th of January we awoke the to biggest social media race controversy in our history. An ignominious white real estate agent, Penny Sparrow, from Kwa-Zulu Natal claimed to be so provoked by the litter on Durban's beaches after the new year's day revelry that she saw fit to label the mostly black beachgoers as monkeys on social media. Another white resident, Justin Van Vuuren posted that "these animals should go back where they come from". Almost simultaneously a prominent economist, Chris Hart, tweeted that after 25 years of apartheid there was more hatred and sense of entitlement than ever among the victims. The response on Twitter has been phenomenal, with many South Africans across the colour line condemning Sparrow often with the hashtag #pennymustfall. Van Vuuren and Hart have not escaped the ire of social media or the bloggers, but Penny Sparrow is witch of the day in a society that struggles with racism and sexism. Power and entitlement There is a deeper, darker side to the offensive tweets from Sparrow, van Vuuren and others. Aside from dehumanising fellow citizens with animal expletives, there lurks a strong sense of power and entitlement in the tone of their words. They still see public spaces such as the beach as "our beach" and feel at liberty to decide who uses it and how they use it. So who is "our"? This is not the usual provincial antipathy of KwaZulu-Natal residents towards the inland invaders from Gauteng Province, who descend in droves to the coast during December. It cannot be all the residents of greater Durban because that would include the people who are rebuked in the posts. Van Vuuren goes further to suggest that "our promenade should be private". In the democratic South Africa we can use the market instead of the old colour bar legislation to segregate public spaces. The Indian Ocean city of East London has a small private section on its waterfront. A nominal fee of ZAR 10 (US$ 0.70) per person should be enough to keep the folks from the historically black townships at home and out of the way. Are there not enough "private" restaurants, malls, aquariums, marinas, casinos and nightclubs in a large city like Durban? Must the beaches be included, by disadvantaging those who rely on free public spaces for some New Year's Day fun? Advertisement Sparrow and a man known as Louis readily declared that they do not like sharing the beach with black-skinned individuals. Neither will acknowledge that it's their own prejudice against black people that keeps them off the beach on New Year's Day. They are yearning for the good old days when the beaches were segregated and bore the infamous sign Whites Only. They felt safer, there were no crowds and they could forget that they live in Africa, in a developing country. In those days Louis felt he got his money's worth when holidaying in the resort town Margate, now he believes his thousands of Rand are wasted because the beaches are multi-racial and congested. Apartheid South Africa is seen as normal and the current situation is "a shame" in Sparrow's view. She might possibly relent to permit educated people of colour on the beach. Education There is no cognisance of the Bantu education policies of the apartheid government which provided substandard education for blacks and contributed to the real and perceived racial disparities in education. Although the African National Congress government has had 25 years to rectify this imbalance, they have not been very successful by the minister of basic education's own admission of corruption and other problems in this sector. There was little that could be done for older generations and reforming such an iniquitous system as well as integrating a number of different examination bodies was a mammoth challenge with no easy solutions. Still, there have been many mistakes which can be laid at the ruling party's door. Education and the environment, like the market, can potentially become the new tools of segregation in a democracy. Another social media user made a comment about the rights of "white tax payers". This is a recurring sentiment which ignores the extensive legislation and policies designed to exclude or marginalise the participation of black South Africans in the economy. In 2013 the historically white trade union, Solidarity, estimated that out of the 13.7 million registered tax payers, only 3.3 million paid 99% of the personal income tax which was collected. They pointed out that in a population of around 50 million only 3.3 million were carrying the personal income tax burden. The June 2014 Labour Force Survey estimated that the working age population (the number of people eligible to work, aged 15 - 64) was just over 35 million. There were 10.8 million people employed in formal, non-agricultural work. Given that the majority of the informal workers were micro-traders who barely earned a living and were likely to be below the taxable threshold, they should not be taken into account. Thus roughly one in three of the formal sector workers contributed to personal income tax revenue, which comprised around 34% of all tax revenue. Value added tax which is paid by all consumers, even the poorest of the poor, contributed 25% while corporate taxes constituted a further 25% of all tax revenue. According to the June 2014 Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate by race was as follows: Black 29%, Coloured 25%, Indian 12% and white 8%. There is no available data on the demographic profile of taxpayers, but the unemployment rates suggest that if whites were paying more of the taxes it may be because more of them had a job. Yet blacks are often vilified as untaxable free-riders who have less right to benefit from public services. Image by Holly Bell. How are the resolutions going? This year I decided to absolutely not make any new year's resolutions. I've made many in my time and have found, after a good few years of research, that they are more often than not, pointless. I always go too large, that's my issue. Instead of promising to run once a week, for perhaps 8 minutes, I make a pact with the devil to frequent the gym before 7am every weekday to do a 'spinning' class. I am not a spinning kind of a girl. Lycra and I are not best friends. I like clothes with structure; the kind that hoist you up and pull you in, clothes with purpose. Gyms don't fill me with joy and I especially don't like being told to 'work it' by someone who eats almonds as a treat. These are not my people. My people would stop after precisely two minutes and suggest we all have a nice hot shower and meet in the foyer to find a decent cafe with tea, cake and a comfy seat to gossip in. We'd probably lead each other astray and upgrade to hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. We'd probably tell each other secrets. Spinners don't do this. They can't hear juicy secrets over the gym sound system. Advertisement The only new year's resolution I can give my seal of approval to was last years. It was a moveable 'feast' you see. I promised myself to behave as a French woman might. The greatness of this resolution is that I didn't stipulate which French woman. If I am to be embarrassingly honest here I'll admit I may have been hoping to channel a bird-like Parisian who takes a nibble of a croissant and then declares herself satiated. You know - the type who wears Breton stripes, has lethal cheekbones and pouts a lot. I managed this for perhaps half a day (not the cheekbones, but I do own a lot of stripes and am very good at looking moody and pouty due in part to the fact I have three small children who regularly use the only nice thing I own, that is, an alpaca throw carried all the way back from Peru by my good self, for den making). Once I tired of being Parisian French Lady I decided to be Farmhouse Country French Wench and eat everything in sight whilst smiling softly and dreaming of garlicky stews. Then I booked a mini break to the countryside after being Stressed Out French Business Woman for an evening and deciding I needed a rest from city life. Advertisement It's the perfect solution to resolution woes. You see, you can essentially kid yourself that you're still on plan resolution wise whilst going on your merry way and doing whatever you jolly well want. Flexibility and balance are key you see; a French lady told me that. I can't recall which one. Makes 9 large brownies or 16 smaller ones - cut them as small as you wish Ingredients: 325g dark chocolate, not more than 40% cocoa solids 125g salted butter 150g castor sugar 90g soft brown sugar 3 large eggs 100g plain flour 75g peanut butter 9 peanut butter Oreo cookies, roughly broken Grease and line a 20cm x 30cm tray and preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas mark 4. Break the chocolate into squares and melt together with the butter in a large saucepan over a very low heat, stirring regularly to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove from the heat when smooth and add the sugars, eggs and flour. Stir well then add the peanut butter and gently swirl to distribute well but not entirely mix in (you want some pockets of peanut butter to remain). Pour into the tin and stud the top with broken peanut butter Oero cookies. This recipe first appeared in Back to School magazine. One of the other North East MEPs, Labour's Jude Kirton-Darling, has written a defence of the European Union in the Huffington Post. For today's column, I thought it might make sense to take up the challenge, examine some of the arguments used - and see whether they stand up to scrutiny. She believes that the referendum will take place as early as June - just 6 months from now. I beg to differ; June just 5 months away. It would in any event be an incredibly tight timescale and Cameron would run into some logistical problems. But I digress. Let's look at the key arguments: "Decisions made by elected MEPs or national ministers are turned into 'diktats from Brussels' in the UK mainstream media or the annual reports of the Court of Auditors on the EU accounts are ignored in favour of the ongoing lie that the EU's accounts have not been signed off." The phrase 'diktats from Brussels' relate to the fact that, almost every time, the driving force behind new legislation is the unelected Commission. Elected MEPs end up being little more than a rubber-stamping chamber. There is no 'government' and 'opposition' in the European Parliament, meaning that it's much harder for a bad piece of legislation to be blocked. That's why, for example, new VAT rules are costing British jobs right here, right now. Advertisement What about the European Union accounts? Well, it's splitting hairs to argue that they have 'been signed off'. The Court of Auditors said this about the accounts: "Payments for 2014 are materially affected by error. We therefore give an adverse opinion on their legality and regularity". Straightforward and simple enough? We're talking about 6 billion of taxpayers' money affected by either error, or fraud. Hence for example the very accurate headline in the Times saying 'Billions spent by Brussels is irregular and possibly illegal'. The next complaint is as follows: "Every grievance is given its European scapegoat, most recently shown with attempts to blame the floods on the EU, rather than budget cuts and climate change...False claims need to be challenged and exposed." Sadly, dredging of rivers is genuinely harder with the European Water Framework Directive. That increases the risk of flooding. And under the Common Agricultural Policy, trees are unnecessarily chopped down so that farmers receive subsidy. Yet trees retain water 67 times better than grass. If the water isn't retained, it floods. Don't believe it from me, because I'm UKIP? How about Monbiot in the Guardian? Advertisement The next claim, I actually agree with. "Poorer regions of the UK are more dependent on exports to the EU than richer ones. Exports to the EU account for 15% of private sector output in the North East of England supporting around 170,000 jobs in the region" But as trade with the EU would continue outside the EU, this is a complete irrelevance to the debate on whether we should be members of the European Union. In fact, jobs are being lost today through our EU membership. Does anyone seriously think that, had we not been bound by the European Union's rules, we would still have been incapable of saving the steel industry in Redcar? "Moreover, the North East is the largest net beneficiary of EU membership of the English regions - vital investment into our infrastructure, business development and skills." We spend 55 million every day on our membership of the European Union. Just over half of that is returned to us, with strings attached. It's not spent as efficiently as it should be, and far too much of the money is wasted on bureaucracy. The parochial attempt to hypothecate different amounts of money for different regions, and claim that the North East 'is a net beneficiary', is shaky at best statistically and economically. The obvious point is that by leaving the EU we could replace every penny of that spending, make sure it's spent far more efficiently, and the Treasury would have an extra 10 billion per year or so. Quite useful at a time of austerity, no? The best defence Labour have to offer? 'Oh but the Tories would never do that'. The last defence of Labour: blame the Conservatives. But which Party is in government today shouldn't determine the next few decades of our future. The argument is a house of cards which falls down when examined. Advertisement "EU rules have cleaned our air, beaches and waterways, delivered equal pay for men and women and rights to paid holiday for all workers, and ensured redress for consumers." I've already destroyed this claim in much more detail in a previous article. But this is another example of the kind of historic revisionism that the European Union loves. I've covered much of this before but I'll give just one example. We joined the EU (or its forerunner) in 1973. The Equal Pay Act was passed in the UK in 1970. So unless the European Union is capable of time travel, it did not deliver equal pay for men and women. The city of Cairo Photo taken by Kylie Barton I first visited the country ten years ago, as a young girl in love. At the end of last year, I returned, and other than the coral reefs, it was not the frightful and disappointing experience the scare mongering public and media would have you believe. 'Walk like an Egyptian' may conjure up different imagery to a few years ago nowadays, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. With the supposed rise in extreme Islamists across the globe, a less educated person may envisage more of a run than a walk, with something explosive strapped to said runner. But in a recent trip to Egypt, the country's inhabitants were as welcoming, joyful, and cheeky as I recall from my first visit 10 years ago. It did transpire however upon our return that the hotel next door to ours suffered an attack of a gunman and a man brandishing a knife, which made me think twice about writing this article, but I believe our experience of the country should be highlighted more than ever. Advertisement Throughout our visit, we walked the streets of Hurghada at daytime, and at night-time, and other than the usual hustling from shop keepers and street sellers, we felt completely safe at all times. There were tourist police everywhere, checkpoints when travelling outside of the city, with armoured vehicles for the protection of tourists. Even at the airport, security was much tighter than that of the UK- taking hours to get through. Yet, it has become apparent that atrocities still can occur. Even Luxor felt considerably safer than ten years past, with improved infrastructure, and stricter rules about hassling tourists, as the people now are clear that we are their lifeline - their source of income. Same for Cairo, we felt needed and appreciated, not threatened. Cheeky selfie on Hurghada's main street at 11pm. Perfectly Safe! Photo taken by Kylie Barton. What baffles me, is that there must have been hundreds of incidents around the world relating to guns on the day there was a 'siege' on the hotel next to ours, probably even in our beloved UK. Yet the media chose to focus again on a Middle Eastern country, where we as the west do have some significant interests - the Suez Canal being one of them. It is the chicken and egg situation here, what came first - our perpetually negative representation of this beautiful ancient country resulting in instability, or the supposed inherent troubled nature that permeates. If you go to Dubai, you can get locked up in a horrific prison for kissing someone on the beach, in South America you can get accosted by drug lords wanting to ship their product to your homeland, and in the UK we are subject to hateful right wing rhetoric through our media regarding immigration. Who is to say which of these is more harmful in real terms? The world is a dangerous place wherever you are, and fear should never be the motivation for not doing something. Just as it should not be for doing something, or not visiting a place, as for all the bad stories we are told there are always hundreds more positive ones. Advertisement What I cannot get my head around though is how the Egyptians were arguable one of the first 'civilised' communities on this planet over 7000 years ago, but yet they have found themselves near the bottom of the pile today. Did the smartest among them go off travelling and never come back? Did we colonise the shit out of them as per? We know that latter is true, and so could we ask, is its current state our fault? Did we disrupt this majestic land's true path? Seeding Labs Dr. Dudnik, a molecular biologist, is the founder and CEO of Seeding Labs, a nonprofit that has invested in scientific researchers in 22 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. How has your life experience made you the leader you are today? All of my formal academic training was in science which I think has given me a valuable set of skills in problem-solving. Empirical science teaches you how to ask good questions and design a strategy to test and answer those questions. It teaches you how to be comfortable with risk and experimentation, and how to use data to make well-informed decisions. All of these are skills that I call on daily in leading and growing Seeding Labs. Outside the lab, I spent years volunteering with nonprofits and even running some volunteer groups myself. These experiences helped me learn how to organize teams, and how to motivate people to volunteer their time and talent. Volunteering in food banks and soup kitchens in particular made me feel very strongly about the dignity of people in need. This has carried through directly into Seeding Labs: the scientists we work with may not be able to access certain resources on their own, but this does not mean they deserve less. We work to ensure that the assistance we can provide is of the highest quality possible, and something we ourselves would be proud to receive. Advertisement How has your previous employment experience aided your position at Seeding Labs? From the time I was 13 years old, I knew I wanted to be a molecular biologist. Growing up in Chicago, I was incredibly fortunate, as are many young scientists in developed countries, to have many opportunities to fulfill that dream. I worked in labs in the summers in high school and during college. After college I had a unique opportunity to work as a scientist overseas, including a year in the Ivory Coast in a small molecular biology lab. I met very talented scientists who had trained in universities around the world, but saw for the first time just how widely their access to resources like funding and equipment could vary from the research environment I had been used to. In our lab in the Ivory Coast, for example, simple plastic test tubes were a resource we used and reused; in the US they are seen as inexpensive disposables - used once and thrown away. To see this need firsthand, especially compared to all of the opportunities I had as a young scientist, was absolutely eye-opening. It inspired me to create Seeding Labs, and to do whatever I can to bridge that gap. My experiences working in labs both in the US and Africa has allowed me to talk to scientists about their work and understand their needs. But it has also given me the perspective to make connections between scientists in very different parts of the world, communicating the common problems scientists face everywhere, and translating the differences in their experiences to each other. What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Seeding Labs? Starting a company is always a challenge. Everything from creating a Board of Directors, setting up the legal and financial structures for the organization to identifying partner universities in developing countries, and building a global supply chain were all part of my job from day one. This was especially challenging as one month earlier I had been a research scientist spending large parts of my days behind a microscope! I had to learn so many of the details needed to establish the organization in real time as I went along. I wore many hats simultaneously as I slowly expanded the team and brought in more expertise. Advertisement All of that incremental growth and progress has resulted in an impact that is huge relative to the size of our organization. We have built an international network that includes over 17,000 scientists at the 29 institutions in 22 countries which have received equipment from us. One of the greatest forms of recognition for that work and our biggest milestone came in 2014 when we were awarded a $3 million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand Instrumental Access, the Seeding Labs initiative that provides reduced cost lab equipment to scientists in developing countries. The grant will help us ship a total of $20 million worth of equipment to more than 100 universities in countries like Cameroon, Uruguay, and Kenya. Visiting the labs overseas is always a highlight for me. I've had the chance to sit with groups of students at the universities we work with to hear about their experiences - why they have chosen to study science, what careers they hope to pursue, and their challenges and ambitions. While I'm no longer working in a lab myself, I really enjoy learning about the research that our partner scientists are conducting and finding connections to other scientists I've met. One of my favorite moments was introducing over lunch a pair of chemists who were going to work together for a summer: one a British scientist working in the US, the other from Kenya. Within minutes they had completely abandoned their sandwiches and were scribbling chemical structures on napkins and plotting out what they would do together. It reinforced my belief that science is a great connector and a universal language. What advice can you offer to women who want to work in your industry? I have now experienced, either directly or indirectly, academic science, corporate science and the nonprofit sector. My strongest piece of advice to women in all of these arenas is to speak up. Women in general, and scientists in particular, are taught that our work will speak for itself, that if we just do good work it will be noticed and rewarded. The work cannot speak for itself. Women have to speak up to highlight our contributions and to make it clear what we have accomplished. We have to ask questions and give our opinions and be equal participants in the workplace debate. How do you maintain a work/life balance? World/life balance is a real challenge for me. Seeding Labs began as a labor of love while I was still working full time in the lab. Now that so many of my professional and personal interests have merged, it's often hard for me to stop thinking about work. I think it's a great privilege to have that kind of passion for your work and I value that kind of enthusiasm in the rest of my team. But I know that life doesn't stop either. It's important for me to make sure that everyone at Seeding Labs has options - flexible scheduling, the ability to telecommute, part-time solutions for new parents and other ways to ensure that our work doesn't preclude our lives. And I'm very lucky to have a family and friends who occasionally forcibly intervene when they have to, to make sure I unplug and have fun. Advertisement What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace? I think work/life balance is a very big issue for women. Women so often bear the majority of personal responsibility at home - whether caring for children or parents, doing housework or being the family social director - all of these take additional time and energy and don't necessarily stay neatly outside of office hours. As they juggle all of these responsibilities, they have to make choices and in many cases sacrifices. Their commitment to their jobs is often questioned, or assumptions are made about their availability for and interest in new work opportunities. The modern workplace needs to catch up to the demands of modern life and take advantage of the technologies that could allow for greater flexibility and reduce the burden on women to sink or swim. How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life? When I started Seeding Labs, all my mentors to that point had been academic scientists. Overnight I jumped into an endeavor that they had never experienced and couldn't advise me on. I've always been very open about what I don't know and very willing to ask for help and I really put those to work finding people who could help me gain all the new skills I suddenly needed. Despite that effort, I spent a lot of time wondering why I didn't have a Mentor. I had an image in my mind that a Mentor was one wonderful magnetic person who would advise me and share her wisdom on all areas of my work and life. I finally realized that what I had were many mentors - with a small "m". I had an ever-growing network of people, each of whom I could turn to for advice on a specific, even small, area of expertise. All of these people have helped me immeasurably, and they are all valuable and dear to me. That might be even better than one all-knowing Mentor. Which other female leaders do you admire and why? The women I have always admired most are my grandmothers. They both came to the US as immigrants and both had their formal educations cut short by the need to go to work and earn a living. Neither of them was ever daunted by a lack of formal training, connections or experience. Instead they sought out openings, convinced others of their value and created opportunities for themselves. They taught themselves a wide variety of skills and knowledge; one of my grandmothers learned five languages over the course of her life, simply out of necessity. Both of them had the innate talent to have been an entrepreneur or a businesswoman, but the circumstances of where and when they were born put those paths out of reach. It's seeing how much that influenced the course of their lives that has made me so committed to opening up opportunity for people around the world wherever they may be. Advertisement What do you want Seeding Labs to accomplish in the next year? This week, several tabloids, ran stories about a sinister-sounding woman who takes time off from fund raising for 'terrorist' families' only to pander to her rarefied hobby as a 'cheerleader for Islamic Zealots.' Several things made me curious about the articles in the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Sun, the main one being that they were supposed to be about me. Reading press stories about yourself with the words "Islamic Zealot' in the headline, is a serious business. Headers linking a person to the neo-McCarthyite labels of 'extremist' 'fundamentalist' or 'Islamic' anything, can have a serious impact on family members safety and emotional well being. Not to mention the negative effect on future work prospects. Advertisement However, this weeks effort by the tabloids to denigrate my professional and personal reputation have been so lurid, yet content-weak, they leaked into the comedy zone. Despite reading awful things about myself, I laughed out loud more than once at the over egged rhetoric. As did others I heard from, in the Muslim community. The fact we are laughing may show we have finally reached a tipping point in the campaign against us. For a start, I wonder about the intention of the use, in the Daily Mail article, of the term 'pale-skinned woman' not once, but twice, to describe my appearance. I am white skinned, this is a matter of record. Not least though the photo byline which I wrote under for more than half a decade at the very stable of newspapers which now print scurrilous tales about me. The tone of my epidermis was never a cause for comment back then. So, why make reference to skin color, now? Could it be that as the North of England is home to the Toxteth Tan (straight from the bottle to the booty) that I have unwittingly committed a social faux pas by walking around a 'working class' area without one? If so, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to my more bronzed neighbors who have had to put up with my pastiness for many weeks. I'm sorry. It is mid winter. More likely it is an attempt to haunt readers with the spectre of white people accepting Islam. Advertisement Then there's the 'bizarre love triangle' of which I am supposed to be a part. This is another odd element to focus upon as it is, I am almost sorry to say, so mundane. Is it really 'shocking' in today's 'anything goes' world of relationships, that whilst awaiting a legal divorce from a previous relationship, that a man and woman should embark upon a new one? What is the news value of going over and over a separation followed by a new relationship when it it carries zero social stigma? Unless, of course, there is the added delectation of the phrase "Islamic marriage" being added to the mix. This somehow translates to Daily Mail hacks the possibility of sauciness - two wives Phoar! Perhaps I am the Tilda Swinton of Stockport without knowing it. This is not the case though, as the Mail hacks know full well, having spent such a great deal of journalistic time and Associated Newspapers funds, pestering my contacts, family members and former drinking buddies. The article which has led to the momentary feeding frenzy appeared as an addendum to a four month investigation into Muslim organizations including Cage and Hhugs (Helping Households under Great Stress). I am a patron of both. I'm not going to give the cocktail of weak allusions dressed up as 'findings' more space here. Legal options are under consideration. I will re iterate that all the organizations made mention of must operate under the same legal standards and procedures as any other. No police or legal action is under way against myself or to my knowledge any of the employees or directors of the specific organisations to which I have linked in the pieces. Surely the most bizarre insinuation the Daily Mail has put forward must be that I have chosen to live as a Muslim in order to try and get rich from this faith choice. Advertisement Are we laughing yet? It is surreal intellectual gymnastics to hint that someone has converted to the faith which your very own paper is at that moment using to trash their reputation, as some kind of CV enhancer. It is significantly less amusing to accept that 46% of the British Muslim population live in the 10% of the most deprived areas in the UK. Whilst more than half the British population see Muslims as a threat, in no small part thanks to salacious attacks like this. Prejudice manifests itself through discrimination in the workplace, where Muslim men are 76% less likely to have a job of any kind compared to white, male British Christians of the same age with equal qualifications. According to research, Muslim women are up to 65 per cent less likely to be employed than our white Christian counterparts. So, just to be clear. Being a journalist (or having a job in general in the UK) is not helped by adding 'Muslim Speaker' to your CV in the current climate. My faith is my way of life, my heartfelt joy and a matter of private choice and observance. The doors it has opened, in Europe certainly, are the doors to public mockery, online Islamophobic attack and worries about the safety of my family members in public. As one of only a small number of female voices in the Muslim community to have been heard speaking about the well catalogued failings of the Prevent strategy, my hijab-covered head has been above the media parapet for some time. As such, an attack of this kind has long been expected. After all, I am hardly alone in this. The situation for Muslims taking a role in public or charitable life or presenting an alternative view on current affairs was summarized to me by the head of an international charity, who wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Advertisement "Goma is seen as a place with no life, where everyone is in desperate need of foreign aid; a place in need of pity", tells me Arsene Tungali. This 25-year old is fresh out of his Young African Leaders Initiative training in Washington - Obama's flagship program where a selected few from across the African continent are chosen yearly to learn what it takes to lead their countries towards positive change in a sustainable, responsible way. Back in his native Goma, a city on the Eastern boarder of the Democratic Republic of Congo, ravaged by civil wars and refugee crisis following the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, escape is not on his mind but a master plan of how to reverse the negative trajectory of the young population of his hometown. With the YALI program opening doors, Arsene is travelling the world, building the network of like-minded game changers, yet Goma is always on his mind. "I miss the people, the hardworking mother on the corner of my street, the vibrancy of the city especially on the main road: you hear different types of music everywhere, from small shops to cars with open windows. Despite everything, Goma people will always show you a smile on their face." Advertisement When I arrived in Goma for the first time in GPS-tracked 4x4 jeeps, reassuring my mother that security measures were monitored on the highest level, I was anticipating a UN-patrolled ghost town. Little did I expect to be gripped by the energy of this place, sandwiched between a majestic Nyiragongo volcano and the breathtaking silky blue of the Lake Kivu. This city charges you with its truly unique landscape, its youthful, vibrant atmosphere and passionate people who are keen to step out of the difficult past like a lizard out of its old skin. Arsene is one of many inspirational people who I met during my stays in Goma that prove that one individual can bring about change - a phenomenon slowly dying out on our side of the world. "Growing in an unstable region has given me the kind of courage no one can imagine. I have witnessed poverty, killings, murder, destruction and all those consequences of war, which has led some of my pairs to lose hope. Most of them have decided to do nothing but I have had the opportunity to think differently. I am driven by a big desire because I don't want to see my kids and future generations live in the same situation like the one we grew up in. I always work hard so that I don't have to be asked by my kids Dad, what have you done to change things around you? and have no answer" Community outreach programs and forums where future leaders exchange ideas are some of the most common projects that young people set up to drive change. In 2011, Arsene started an organization called Rudi International after vising a school where he asked children How do you see your future? and seeing confusion on their faces. They give to primary and secondary kids the opportunity to go to school by paying their school fees and supporting them with various developing after school activities and camps. Advertisement Building the future for its youthful population is at the heart of Goma's current development and not only through empowerment projects but also culture initiatives. Festivals, dance competitions, art galleries and youth centres created by locals and international organisations are spreading across the city as mushrooms, building on the creative talent of the city. Even musicians from the capital, Kinshasa, cannot ignore the youthful fan base of Goma. The lively spirit, perfect antidote too all the stereotypes, is captured in this Goma-produced version of Pharrell Williams "Happy" Despite the absence of roads and western-type infrastructures, Goma isn't a place that requires pity, if anything it is an inspiration and a reminder of the force of the human spirit. I almost don't believe I'm writing this but Goma is a happy place, and I'm yet to unlock the puzzle of this mystery. Perhaps it's the vitality of people there, particularly the younger generations, like Arsene who make us, the sulking Europeans preoccupied with "first world problems", feel like there is a greater purpose in life. "Young people in African countries are driving change and I can say there is hope for the future. So many of those I have worked with are tired of and are against the way things are being managed by current leaders, and are eager to work differently when they will be taking power. I am optimistic that in the next 20 years or so, Africa will look differently because so many positive plans of actions are being developed by the younger generation today." The optimistic speak is right off the Young African Leaders Initiative handbook - the skill of talking about the future of the African continent with this fluid confidence. It seems like Arsene has mastered both worlds - a youth leader in his community and an ambassador of his people to the rest of the world. The more I meet people like him through my work across the continent, the more I realise that this dormant volcano of young initiative and passion will erupt soon and change our perceptions of the African continent. Advertisement Image copyright - Whisky For Everyone The publication of a book last Autumn created a serious stir amongst the whisky community. In fact, it created a stir in the wider world with issues raised and tackled by the UK and global media. The book in question was the 2016 edition of Jim Murray's Whisky Bible, an annual release that has become the world's best selling whisky publication. Murray samples around 4,000 whiskies each year and the book is a collection of his tasting notes and personal scores. Whisky fans wait to find out his top marks and these can make brands an instant success overnight. Murray is a powerful influencer and many consumers naturally follow his recommendations. So, why the fuss this year? Advertisement The Top 5 highest scores did not include a Scotch, traditionally the world powerhouse of whisky, for the first time. The winner was from Canada, two were from America, one from Ireland and one from Japan. The winner in the previous year was also from Japan. This article is not a criticism of those choices. Quite the opposite - it is good to see long under rated brands such as Crown Royal and Yamazaki take some plaudits. However the results spawned a series of lazy or sensationalist journalism (in both whisky media and national newspapers alike) declaring the death of Scotch whisky. Scotland is the largest producer of whisky in the world and has traditionally been held up as being the best for years. It produces, exports and sells more whisky than any other country. Has it suddenly become worse? I don't think so but many do, pointing the finger at the move towards the historical return to 'no age statements' in Scotch whisky to help meet global demands. What seems to be conveniently forgotten is that many non-Scotch whiskies are also released with 'no age statement', as in the case of Murray's two most recent winning whiskies. Advertisement Image copyright - Whisky For Everyone We seem to live in a time when it is fashionable to question or rebel against large brands or products and support the smaller, craft or more obscure ones - these are often seen as more fresh, innovative and modern. Many a self-professed connoisseur or wannabe hipster will advocate the quality of a craft beer homebrewed under a London railway arch over a more well known brand. But is the end product necessarily any better? Naturally some are, some are not. It's the same with everything, whisky included. I have sampled some lovely craft or non-Scottish whiskies but also a larger number of very ordinary ones, some almost undrinkable. It is great to have so many new, innovative and pioneering products but this does not equate to instant superior quality. For solace, the Scotch industry should look no further than the 1990s wine industry. Many were declaring that French wine was old fashioned, complacent and finished. New World wines from Australia, South Africa or the USA were destined to take over. Consumers followed the trend and lapped up heavily oaked Chardonnays and ballsy reds like they were going out of fashion. Now the balance has been redressed. There is enough room for everyone's products on the shelves and traditional wine producing countries such as France, Italy and Spain are enjoying a renaissance. In fact, many New World producers are now planting Old World grape varieties and using more traditional techniques. Advertisement Some say that Scotch is suffering a similar fate right now. Personally, I'm not sure this is the case - Scotch is still seen by many consumers as the pinnacle of the whisky industry in terms of quality. Part of the perceived downfall can be attributed to the greater availability of non-Scotch whiskies on the market, the explosion of craft distilleries around the world and the outgoing nature of many of these new brands. So, is Scotch whisky dead? Or dying? In my view - absolutely not. Neither is it in the view of most of the industry. Yes, Scotch whisky faces challenges from elsewhere that previously did not exist. Yes, influential individuals have selected non-Scotch products for their awards and this has become a fashionable fad. However many awards have not, especially those that use panels of industry experts as judges and sample everything blind, and these remain strong supporters of the quality of Scotch. I know which path of opinion I would rather follow. Politics and brands have always made uneasy bed-fellows. Politicians often seem unsophisticated at brand management because branding smacks to them of superficial appeal not ideological conviction. This is a shame because the brand idea offers a powerful way of evaluating political performance and potential. And there is no more pressing party to view through the brand lens than Labour. A brand is nothing more or less than all the associations and ideas that people have in their minds about something. Rich and real brands have very deep and enduring associations, held by many people. And contrary to popular belief the Labour brand is actually phenomenally strong. Few organisations in Britain come close to holding the amount of mental real estate that Labour has. Advertisement In fact, in British politics only Labour and Conservative can be considered real brands, the others are merely parties about which we know a little but have few enduring beliefs. The SNP is not a brand, Ukip is not a brand and bless them neither are the Liberal Democrats. It's arrant nonsense to think that the Labour brand is broken. But it is clearly not in the rudest of health and Labour's battle must be to make its brand far more relevant. After all the brand landscape is littered with nostalgia brands that we all love but haven't bought in ages. Right now, highly successful brands have four powerful ingredients; purpose, authenticity, performance and energy. Ingredients they have in spades and ingredients that taken together define a brand's relevance. Labour has a strength of purpose that most commercial brands would kill for. Its purpose to champion the health of society and build trust between people to foster collective growth was made for our age. Our's is an era of collaboration and community, of sharing and collective bargaining. But Labour needs to understand what these ideas mean today and mean for our startups as well as our public sector workers. Advertisement Labour has bucket loads of authenticity. Indeed, in many ways the current leadership is adding a welcome top-up. Authenticity is driven by the values and principles that you stick to when the going gets tough. And without doubt most decent British people share a belief in the common good rather than narrow self-interest. But brands don't succeed on purpose and values alone. And neither do political parties. People want to know that the product they buy or the party they support is actually going work. And that's where the Labour brand has the most to do. It has to convince people that it will work for the economy, for society and for our wider culture and identity. And critically, Labour has show its the party of 'me' not just 'we'. Me, my family, my community and my country. And finally there is a magic ingredient in all stories of brand success, energy. Energy is what great brands have when people feel they are optimistic, forward looking, confident and popular. Energy is not just about the zeal of grassroots activists it's about the sense that people like me buy this brand or support this party. The Labour brand is not broken, far from it. But to win it must be more relevant to contemporary Britain as architects of our future not simply protection against a Tory party run riot. And like any commercial brand this means a better articulated purpose, reinterpreting timeless values for today, proof that the product performs and relentless energy and optimism. It's just in this case, there is a country at stake not just a business. Last year, we witnessed some incredible highs but also some terrible lows for Africa's wildlife. From lions to elephants, rhinos to vultures, we read some incredibly tragic tales about our most beloved species that galvanised the global public into action, but also saw some positive individual stories emerge that gave us hope, like orphaned elephant Simotua's. Gazing into our crystal ball, with one eye on the past, what difference then will the three biggest African wildlife stories of 2015 have on conservation this year. And more importantly, what's on the horizon for these key species? 1.Cecil the lion The killing of Cecil, a magnificent 13-year old lion and an icon in Zimbabwe, by an American game hunter justifiably outraged the world but it wasn't just animal lovers who were sickened by his death. From Jimmy Kimmel to Ricky Gervais, the circumstances in which Cecil, a collared lion, was killed; baited, arrowed and shot, shocked the media and world citizens alike. Sadly, Cecil is just one of many lions killed each year by hunters; according to Lion Aid, trophy hunters in Zimbabwe killed around 800 lions in the 10 years to 2009, out of a population in the country of only 1,680. Advertisement Action taken? In the fallout following Cecil's death, we saw American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta airlines all announce that they will no longer ship lion, leopard, elephant, rhino or buffalo killed by trophy hunters. Four months later in December 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to the dramatic decline of lion populations in the wild, announced that it will list two lion subspecies under the Endangered Species Act, including those located in India and western and central Africa as endangered, and those located in eastern and southern Africa listed as threatened. What we could expect for the species in 2016? With almost nine out of ten lions killed by Americans in canned hunts in South Africa, restrictions by the US Fish and Wildlife Service making it harder to bring back trophies, such as paws or heads, along with higher fees and the refusal by a number of airline carriers to transport hunted animals could have a significant impact on canned hunt ranchers and the numbers of animals killed. However, until other importing countries like the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain enact similar rules, "the king of the jungle" will continue to face monumental decline, not just from trophy hunters but also from human-wildlife conflict, prey depletion, habitat loss and hunting. Without the infamy behind them, however, these unnamed individuals are unlikely to make the same headlines. 2.Captured elephants in Zimbabwe In July 2015, the plight of 24 captured elephants in Zimbabwe was confirmed when the authorities began their controversial transport to the Chimelong Wildlife Safari Park in Guangzhou, China, 7 months after they had been captured from the wild. Advertisement Ostensibly a fundraising activity by Zimbabwe to bolster coffers for wildlife protection, the unethical transfer was widely lambasted by conservationists, including the DSWT, who vocally expressed their concerns for the elephants ripped away from their mothers and herds, causing untold emotional and psychological damage. After the sale, images shown on National Geographic confirmed our worse fears, showing the elephants to be malnourished, sunken-looking, and scarred by wounds. Action taken? Despite international condemnation, the sale was legal under the CITES convention and in January 2016 Zimbabwe's minister remained unrepentant in the face of criticism, quoted as saying: "We will not apologise to anyone because they are our elephants," adding: "We are going to increase the number of exports of elephants and other species," leading to speculation more elephants will be sold this year. What we could expect in 2016? Despite widespread and well publicised elephant poaching across Africa, as well as regular incidents of human-wildlife conflict, it appears the latest sale has cemented an unethical government policy to sell natural heritage to bolster national coffers. It's likely we could see further sales, for instance that of 25 captured elephants who remain in the country, made entirely legal while elephants within Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe continue to be listed in CITES Appendix II, permitting their capture/transfer. Most worrying, if such a policy continues despite international pressure, it begs the question: Will we see a policy of 'capture, ship and repeat'? pursued among other African countries, ostensibly under the guise of 'over-population' - as reports from Swaziland suggest. 3.China pledged to ban domestic ivory trade After years of Government-sponsored ivory trade, in September 2015, China's President Xi Jinping made a huge announcement: That China would enact a "nearly complete ban" on the import and export of ivory. Representing the biggest step yet to shut down China's ivory industry, which has driven a rise in ivory poaching and is the largest market in the world, it followed a one year ban announced in February 2015 of African ivory imports, and laid down the gauntlet for restricting the import of ivory, as well as restricting domestic trade. Advertisement Action taken? With a 3,000-year tradition of carving ivory, shutting down China's thriving ivory market won't be easy, but in December, a team of Chinese researchers began working on ban recommendations which they aim to share with delegates to the National People's Congress (China's legislature) in March 2016. Whilst questions remain as to whether China will implement a five-year ban, a ten-year ban or a permanent one, the research carried out by the Chinese themselves is an important first step What could we expect? We are hopeful that concrete action will be taken this year in China and Hong Kong - but any significant gap between the ban announcement and implementation could lead to speculation. The big question is: What will China do with its legal stockpile? Will we see a buy back policy enacted, a public destruction of stockpiles like the one carried out in Beijing in 2016 which crushed six tonnes, or will state owned stockpiles simply be stored? Whichever option, it is likely to be handled delicately, balancing commercial interests against an international commitment to ending trade. There's also an implication for Hong Kong too. Recent reports have painted the special administrative region as a global hub for ivory, providing cover for smuggling and illicit sales. Following the US and Chinese pledges, in an non-binding vote, lawmakers in Hong Kong's Legislative Council unanimously passed a motion calling on the Hong Kong government to legislate for a commercial ban on ivory trading. Will it be enough to pressure the Hong Kong government to follow suit and halt the local ivory trade? We certainly hope so. Gazing ever deeper into our crystal ball, here's just some of the big conservation topics and 'Big Questions' to look out for in 2016: Rhino horn trade The Big Question: Will the trade in rhino horn trade be legalised? Currently, an international ban is in place, meaning South African farmers cannot trade with Vietnam or China, the principal markets for rhino horn. But in October 2015, a trade ban was over-turned by a South African court - the Government have since said they would appeal. Advertisement With unofficial figures suggesting upwards of 1,000 rhino have been killed in South Africa in 2015, it's expected that consumer and producer states will appeal for the international trade in rhino horn to be legalised at the 2016 CITES Conference of the Parties in Johannesburg. But until South Africa announce their positon on the issue, we can't be sure what the country, home to the largest population of white rhino and rhino farmers, will do. Counting elephants The Big Question: Could the classification of elephants be changed? Nearing completion, the Great Elephant Census funded by Microsoft billionaire Paul G. Allen, has counted elephant populations in 15 African countries. So far, the initial data analysis has shown that elephant numbers have increased in some African countries, whilst others have seen catastrophic losses. The results from the count will be revealed at the forthcoming IUCN meeting, a body that determines whether species should be classified as threatened or endangered. With better data, it could make it easier to de-bunk false myths pedalled by states who claim they must sell their elephants in the face of over-population, and lead to proposals to change the classification of elephants in these states - which could leader to greater protection and stop unethical sales. Illegal trade in wildlife The Big Question: Will we see more ivory 'kingpins' arrested? In 2015, we saw the first big arrest of an ivory kingpin. Dubbed the 'ivory queen,' Yang Feng Glan is accused of leading one of Africa's biggest ivory smuggling rings and smuggling ivory worth 1.62m. As law enforcement agencies step up in the face of increased international commitment to ending the illegal trade in wildlife, it is hoped we'll see more kingpins being taken down. US Ivory trade bans The Big Question: Will other US States introduce legislation to ban wildlife products? In 2014 and 2015, we saw Washington, California, New York and New Jersey enact legislation that tightened loopholes, and led to nearly complete ivory bans. There's clearly more to be done in the US, the second largest market for ivory in the world, but will a need for a federal ban supersede state-wide efforts to enact individual bans? Advertisement What can you do in 2016 to help protect Africa's wildlife? As our founder, Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick DBE once said: "All life has just one home - the earth - and we as the dominant species must take care of it." As its caretakers, here are a few things you can do to help keep Africa's wildlife safe for generations to come: 1.Call on CITES to stop all ivory and rhino horn sales by signing our petition at: www.iworry.org 2.Keep the momentum on your national government and local representatives to ban ivory sales by using our iworry campaign template letters here. 3.Support victims of the illegal trade in wildlife by fostering an orphan elephant in the care of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust at: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org 4.Support on-the-ground efforts to protect elephants and rhinos by donating to one of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Anti-Poaching teams here. With talks having broken down between the government and the British Medical Association again, junior doctors held their first strike in over forty years on Tuesday over a controversial new contract being negotiated by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Attempts have been made by the government to try and undermine the recently announced set of strikes, presumably to turn the public against junior doctors and forcing them to call off the strikes. Instead, their feeble attempts at demonising junior doctors have only helped convinced the public that their cause is a just one. To somehow suggest that these strikes are politically motivated and that the contract being offered to them is fair is entirely mistaken. Over 98% of junior doctors voted in favour of strike action in November, showing the sheer level of frustration among the medical community. If people are really claiming that these strikes are politically motivated they are also implying that 98% of junior doctors balloted in November hold left-wing views and are using this as an opportunity to express those feelings. Obviously, such a claim is absurd, and no doubt there would have been junior doctors among those who took action on Tuesday who vote Conservative. Perhaps it is the case that those making these 'politically motivated' accusations are in fact themselves politically motivated. Advertisement With such a large portion of junior doctors backing strike action, it can only be conceivable that the BMA is correct in saying that the new contract offered to their workers is unfair. I trust thousands of junior doctors across the country who work tirelessly every day and would not take such action without proper cause more than I do Jeremy Hunt who will likely face repercussions if he fails to implement these changes. But with it being clear that junior doctors are right in taking action against a government which is pushing for a contract which will force stretched doctors to work even harder and consequently endangering patient safety, and with the public overwhelmingly supporting these strikes, the question to Dan Hodges, who said 'Labour's backing of the junior doctors' strike will stain its MPs for a decade,' and other Labour supporters sceptical of this action is: why wouldn't Labour support these strikes, and what does the party stand for if they had failed to? A party founded on standing up for hard-working people across Britain should not even have to think twice about supporting a set of strikes which is fair and has public support. In fact, one could even say that it is their duty to do so. The grave concern is what would have been Labour's position if a so-called 'moderate' candidate had been elected leader instead of Jeremy Corbyn. With this faction of the party reluctant to support strike action, it seems likely that Labour would be condemning these strikes rather than supporting them. This, in turn, may have swayed public opinion away from junior doctors and put pressure on them to accept the regressive contract being offered. The horrific sexual assaults on women carried out by groups of men during New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne sent shockwaves through Europe. Many struggled to comprehend how something so appalling was able to happen in such a major city. Now, in the weeks following the attacks there has been criticism of the police, politicians and the media being too slow to react and when the response finally did come it was inadequate. Unfortunately, some have turned their criticism towards the refugee crisis, branding the attacks a result of Germany's generosity towards the number of refugees it has allowed into the country. Not only is this unfounded but it is a dangerous narrative which takes the focus away from the real issue at hand. Advertisement This is an issue of endemic violence against women and girls - rooted in persistent and pervasive gender inequality - and how the cities that they should be able to freely enjoy and thrive in are failing them. A third of all women and girls face violence in their lifetime - and many of them are subject to it on the streets of their cities or towns. Poor lighting, dark streets, dangerous public transport systems and inadequate policing in many of the major cities in the world leaves thousands of women at risk from attack every day, and this risk is even higher for women living in poor settlements and slums in cities around the world. The problem is shocking but not unusual. In Bangladesh, 87% of women said they faced harassment in bus terminals and train stations, 80% by the roadside, and 69% outside their schools and colleges. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, a woman is assaulted in a public space every 15 seconds. And in London, 43% of young women (aged 18-34) say they have experienced sexual harassment in public spaces in the past year. Such persistent exposure to attacks and the fear of rape, sexual assault, humiliation and harassment affect a woman's rights to enjoy public spaces, pursue education, work and recreational opportunities and participate in political and community life. These problems are compounded for women living in poverty or facing marginalisation due to some other aspect of their identity, such as migrant and LGBTI women. Advertisement But instead of societies recognising and governments taking the necessary action to prevent the problem, women are often blamed for provoking attacks - by what they were wearing, or being out late, or having been drinking. They are left feeling afraid or unwilling to go to the authorities - or even their own families - due to the obstacles, discrimination and ridicule they face. Meanwhile, those who perpetrate violence against women and girls often do so with impunity and little fear of justice. While efforts and some progress have been made by the global women's movement and beyond to tackle this violence, there is still far more to be done. In cities across the world, the sexual violence and harassment facing millions of women and girls still remains a neglected and unacknowledged issue, either with few laws or policies - or the political will - to prevent and address it. Urgent action is needed to improve infrastructure, strengthen policies, and transform mind-sets and behaviours, in order to end all discrimination and violence against women and girls, including sexual assault on the streets of the world's cities and the persistent fear it generates. Evidence shows providing more money to women's rights organisations could make a huge impact towards ending violence against women and girls. It is one of the most effective ways of ensuring meaningful change and providing frontline services for survivors of violence. Advertisement The world has spoken out against the attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve - they were completely unacceptable and unjust but sadly they were not uncommon. If we're serious about eliminating violence against women and girls on a global level we need global leaders to put women's rights organisations at the forefront of our response. These individuals and groups need dedicated and reliable funding as well as the laws and services to make sure they can work safely. Without urgent action, women will continue to suffer in the cities which should provide them with safety. Getty Images A new helpline for domestic violence victims has been launched in Queensland after public campaigning and government support have encouraged more women to reach out, with some services seeing a 40 percent rise in demand. Since the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence report was released in 2015, the Womens Legal Service in Queensland have seen a 40 percent increase in women calling their service. Advertisement The new helpline -- launched last week -- will allow WLS to answer more than 50 percent of incoming calls, while they were only able to answer five percent of calls to their service last year. We took a leap of faith. We had a number of corporate supporters come on board in addition to the Queensland Attorney Generals grant of $100,000, WLS coordinator Rosslyn Monro told The Huffington Post Australia. "We felt it was important to improve our systems and get things moving. We are speaking to more women in danger and by speaking to more women, we can make a better assessment of womens needs and consequently make a better assessment of the legal services they require. The helpline cost $200,000 to establish, with four new employees hired to sustain a five day per week service from 9am until 3pm. Advertisement Among the corporate supporters are Westpac, Slater and Gordon, McInnes Wilson Lawyers, Colin Biggers Paisley and Techproject. As funding from the State Attorney Generals office only lasts until the end of the financial year, the helpline will require further support -- with WLS hoping they can gain more funding from corporate giants and the state government. Domestic violence aid services have dealt with an onslaught of calls in 2016 -- with DV connect claiming over 2,000 victims called their service in the first four days of the year - which is evidence the work of Rosie Batty, Dame Quentin Bryce and other domestic violence campaigners is in fact helping women build the courage to speak out. In September, the Turnbull government announced a $100 million package to tackle domestic violence, while NSW Premier Mike Baird announced a $60 million package in October and appointed Pru Goward as the first state Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. Public discourse around the issue has followed. Its brought new challenges because more women are seeking help," Munro told The Huffington Post Australia. Advertisement LOUAI BESHARA via Getty Images A Syrian child eats a fruit on the outskirts of the besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya, on January 11, 2016, after being evacuated from the town.Dozens of aid trucks headed to Madaya, where more than two dozen people are reported to have starved to death, after an outpouring of international concern and condemnation over the dire conditions in the town, where some 42,000 people are living under a government siege. / AFP / LOUAI BESHARA (Photo credit should read LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images) Aid agencies working in Syria are relieved the first allotment of humanitarian convoy of food aid has been able to get through to starving residents in Madaya, amid warnings relief will only be temporary as the six month siege continues. The starvation deaths of a nine year old boy and four men on Sunday brought the death toll from malnutrition in Madaya to 28, months after the township and surrounding villages came under siege by regime supporters and its allies. Advertisement The 42,000 residents of Madaya watched as a 49-truck humanitarian convoy laden with health and food supplies unloaded in dark, wet and cold conditions on Monday night. It is unknown if the food has been distributed. The delivery came almost a week after the Syrian government agreed to allow assistance through, and it is expected to arrive on Monday after Sundays planned delivery was delayed. At the same time trucks left Damascus for Kafraya and Foah, two towns under siege by opposition forces near the Turkish border in northwest Syria. There 20,000 people are also in desperate need and, like those in Madaya, they have been cut off from humanitarian and commercial access since October. Advertisement It is understood the arrival of aid was delayed until both sets of trucks were ready to enter. We don't know if it's been distributed, but it's in Madaya, World Vision Australia Syria Response portfolio advisor Erin Joyce said. It's great that this access has been granted and that despite the delays at the various checkpoints the aid has been able to get in. But it's really important that this isn't just a one off situation and that regular access is granted. "What we saw overnight in Madaya is the result of (international political) pressure, it's proven that it can work. We need to keep applying it and not think the problem has been solved now that the aid has got it in this one instance." The ABC has received more horrific evidence of starvation in the besieged Syrian town of #Madaya: https://t.co/NvvSZV0JL4 ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) January 11, 2016 A first tranche of aid is aimed at addressing the immediate needs of Madaya residents, while a second tranche is expected in the coming weeks. Advertisement "It's heartbreaking to see so many hungry people," UNHCR representative in Syria Sajjad Malik told CNN. "It's cold and raining but there is excitement because we are here with some food and blankets." Aid groups said the one month's worth of food and three months of medical supplies would not outlast the conflict, now well into its fourth year. Humanitarian assistance in Syria is an across-the-board problem, with an estimated 13.5 million in need of humanitarian assistance. World Vision said some 8.7 million couldn't meet basic food needs. The UN estimated that some 400,000 people were surviving without access to life-saving aid in 15 besieged locations across Syria. In the past year, just 10 percent of all requests to access these areas were approved and delivered. "The big question is what happens when this aid wears off," World Vision Syria Response advocacy director Frances Charles said. Advertisement "We actually don't know." Charles is currently in Jordan where she is assisting with relief. She said Madaya struck a public chord because of the harrowing imagery emerging -- confronting evidence of what is happening not just in Madaya but in other besieged communities. "In the last four years there have been more and more of (these sieges) and they get worse. The UN has been reporting on them, we've been reporting on them, but it's only now it has come to the attention of the public in such a visceral way," Charles said. She said just allowing humanitarian access was not enough, and it had to be sustained. People also needed to be allowed to leave. "It's not just about getting food to the starving, but also about getting water, sanitation, electricity to make sure the generators can work for the hospitals, medical supplies, warm clothes for winter, fuel," Charles said. "If we're too accepting of this one off then we are setting a precedent, like saying 'ok, that was nice of you to let one in'.'" Advertisement One of the main barriers for agencies such as World Vision is the conflict and its multiple parties. "The fluidity of the conflict means the lines are constantly changing. The people we have to negotiate with to get access are constantly changing, Joyce said. Prior to Monday night's delivery, the last food distribution was on October 18, and since then the siege has tightened into a stranglehold since August, with 23 patients dying of starvation at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) health centres since December 1. So desperate is the situation, on December 7 there were riots to try and seize the last food available at an MSF-supported distribution point. A Syrian activist sprays graffiti in solidarity with the besieged town of Madaya (Getty) The last time I had a full meal was at least a month and a half ago, one Madaya resident, Louay, told Amnesty International. Advertisement Now I mainly have water with leaves. Winter is here and the trees no longer have leaves, so I am not sure how we will survive. While there is some food available, the cost of goods inside the blockaded town has skyrocketed. A litre of milk costs 283 times more in Madaya than in the nearby capital city of Damascus, CNN reported. A Madaya resident called Mohammad, who described himself as a skeleton, told Amnesty his wife and three children ate every two days. In Madaya, you see walking skeletons. The children are always crying. We have many people with chronic diseases, he said. Supporters of the Syrian regime have hijacked the social media hashtag #___, or solidarity with the siege of Madaya, to taunt residents with pictures of food. Advertisement 'In Madaya you see walking skeletons': Harrowing accounts of life under siege in Syria https://t.co/W70mdy0uQUpic.twitter.com/XvCY6sO9aq AmnestyInternational (@AmnestyOnline) January 8, 2016 MSF said its medics, who had eaten nothing for a week, identified 250 people with severe acute malnutrition, including 10 patients who were in immediate need of life-saving hospitalisation care before the aid arrived. They were also battling below-freezing temperatures, with people trying to collect firewood at risk of landmines and gunfire. "Madaya is now effectively an open-air prison for an estimated 20,000 people, including infants, children, and elderly, MSF Director of Operations Brice de le Vingne said in a statement. "The medics we support report injuries and deaths by bullets and landmines among people that tried to leave Madaya. Advertisement Zurich Switzerland is many things. Incredibly beautiful (with its mix of aqua lakes, white snow-topped mountains and startling blue skies), centrally located (you can be in Germany, Italy or France from any given point in just an hour or so), and fiercely independent (their currency is Swiss Francs, not Euros --and they have their own particular powerplugs not compatible with European devices). Known for their low taxes, quality watches and an affinity with remaining neutral, a trip to Switzerland offers up so much more than Swiss Army knives and morish chocolate. Advertisement Zurich Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland. The majority of its population speak German or Swiss-German, though English is widely understood and spoken throughout the country. A leading city among the world's largest financial centres (partly due to the country's low tax rates that attract overseas companies), Zurich is also home to a thriving design scene and boasts an infectious street culture. WHERE TO STAY Located in Zurich's old town, this boutique hotel has all the bells of whistles of a five star lodging combined with the comfort of home (the bathrooms are stocked with Aussie cult beauty brand Aesop). Each of the generous 39 rooms are designed more like a lush living room than a hotel room. Placed perfectly amongst shops (COS is just across the road) and winding cobblestone streets oozing with cultural history, locations don't get better. The Marktgasse Hotel suite. WHAT TO DO Take a tour of the old town Once the centre of the city back in medieval times, the old town is now home to the highest concentration of nightclubs in the city, as well as world class dining and famous shopping streets. A tour will take you through the history of each turn, while you can enjoy the modern day offerings of the streets. Advertisement A view of the Old Town from across the river. Blink and you'll miss it, this unassuming retail store looks like nothing but a gift shop from the outside. Once inside, shoppers discover a labyrinth-like furniture showroom space which is the result of three old town houses being joined through a series of corridors and tunnels. Each showroom is completely different, with the basement space hanging suspended by chains above a huge reflection pool. A must visit. One of the many showroom spaces. WHERE TO EAT One of two restaurants in the aforementioned Hotel Marktgasse, Baltho Kitchen and Bar is the more upmarket of the two. A simple menu boasts international dishes as well as some Swiss tried-and-tested favourites. Eat here before visiting a nearby club. Advertisement Baltho Kitchen and Bar dining room. The incredible interior of this restaurant and bar needs to be seen to be believed. The neoclassical building dates back to the 1920s when it was built as Zurichs first cinema. In the 1950s it was renovated and as a result many of its regal defining features were removed. After a short stint as an adult-only cinema, the huge space sat empty until it was restored in 2007. Aesthetics aside, the restaurant serves an array of award winning fine dining dishes with popcorn as a side dish -- a nod to the building's heyday. Restaurant Razzia's main dining room which was once a cinema. Montreux Located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, take a look across the lake and you can see France. This blindingly beautiful town is so picturesque it gives Italy's Lake Como (which is a few hours away) a run for its money. Locals mostly speak French. WHERE TO STAY If you've got a pretty penny to burn, this hotel is for you. Built in 1906 in the height of the Belle-Epoque period, it is known as one of the most prestigious hotels in Switzerland. You'll feel like you're staying in a palace. Advertisement The massive Fairmont Le Montreux Palace. WHAT TO DO Held annually in early July along the shoreline of lake Geneva, the Montreux Jazz Festival is the second largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival. Jazz enthusiasts can enjoy a week of music events and nightly concerts. Montreux Jazz Festival centre stage. Okay, so while the actual recording studio has now been moved to Attalens, there is a replica in its place inside the Montreux Casino. The famous recording studio was owned by the band Queen from the late 70s until 1995 at which time it was purchased by the band's producer --which is why it is now a Queen exhibition. Famous albums recorded at the studio include AC/DCs 'Fly On The Wall' and Iggy Pop's 'Blah Blah Blah'. The Mountain Studios studio where Queen recorded their music. Basel Basel is Switzerland's home of art, located in the northwest, close to the countrys borders with France and Germany. Its charming medieval old town feels as though you've stepped into a time machine, and the city still celebrates some of the biggest Pagan festivities. Advertisement WHERE TO STAY This boutique hotel is adorably unique. Each of the 12 rooms is designed completely different -- one to reflect an artist studio, another to mimic a men's drinking parlour and the others just as varied and whacky. The hotel offers all of the mod cons you'd expect, minus a lift -- so be prepared for an arm workout with your case up the many stairs. The friendly staff will likely offer to help. One of the rooms at Hotel Der Teufelhof. WHAT TO DO Art Basel is the famous art festival occurring in its hometown of Basel, as well as Hong Kong, but most famously in Miami, U.S. Over 40 years old, the festival celebrates the world's leading galleries, works and artists with an array of exhibitions and performance events. The Basel, Switzerland dates are in June each year (not to be confused with Miami's in December). Check the website for details. Art Basel. This art museum boasts around 200 works at any given time, and is most famously home to one of Monet's 'Water Lilies' paintings -- displayed in a way that the real outdoor pond on the leafy property reflects his vision. The impressive architectural building also houses works from Van Gogh, Picasso and Warhol. Check the website to ensure your favourite work is displaying when you visit as they are often stored for visiting exhibitions. Advertisement Exterior view of the Foundation Beyeler WHERE TO EAT One of the cities most famous restaurants, its well known for serving traditional Swiss dishes, such as potato rosti -- but with a modern twist. Divided into two sections, diners can select from an informal setting or go for a more fine dining experience. Both areas are elegant and cosy. The main dining room of Restaurant Kunsthalle. GETTING THERE Cathay Pacific has more than 70 flights a week to Hong Kong from six major Australian cities. From its Hong Kong hub, Cathay Pacific has daily flights to Zurich. GETTING AROUND The Swiss Travel Pass provides travellers with unlimited access on all public transport across Switzerland as well as free access to more than 480 museums and 50 percent discounts on mountain railways. Swiss trains are notoriously clean and always on time (never even a minute late!). For more information on prices and routes, visit the website. Advertisement FOR MORE INFORMATION Head to the My Switzerland website. President Obama promised he'd deliver a shorter-than-usual State of the Union address, but he didn't, because if you like your long speech, you can keep it. Steve King said Nikki Haley's not "a principled conservative" but it doesn't matter because she's "beautiful," since being principled means compromising for superficial reasons. And controversy erupted today over video of an American sailor apologizing for entering Iranian waters, because only President Obama is supposed to apologize to foreign countries. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, January 13th, 2016: APOLOGYGATE - Barbara Starr, Tom LoBianco, Holly Yan and Jim Sciutto: "A video aired Wednesday by Iranian state television shows an American sailor apologizing for entering Iranian waters, an embarrassing development for a U.S. administration trying to paint the service members' quick release as a diplomatic victory. 'It was a mistake. It was our fault. And we apologize for our mistake,' said the U.S sailor, who was identified by Iran's Press TV as the commander. 'It was a misunderstanding. We did not mean to go into Iranian territorial waters. It was a mistake. It was our fault. The Iranian behavior was fantastic while we were here. We thank you very much for your hospitality and your assistance.' ... Earlier Wednesday, the country's semi-official FARS News Agency, citing a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, said the sailors were released 'after they extended an apology.' ... [T]he State Department Wednesday morning rejected any notion that the U.S. had offered an apology. 'There is no truth in reporting that Secretary Kerry apologized to the Iranians,' Kerry spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday, later tweeting that the claim had 'zero' validity." [CNN] Advertisement ADMINISTRATION TIRED OF DEMS BEING MAD AT THEM - Fine, guys, we'll do more for Central Americans. Foley: "The U.S. will expand refugee screening in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, in an attempt to stem the growing tide of families and unaccompanied children fleeing the countries, Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Wednesday.... The plans to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to screen refugees in Central America were first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday evening. ... The U.S. already planned to admit 85,000 refugees from around the world this fiscal year, up from 70,000 last year. ... A Department of State spokesman said it is not raising the overall number of admissions for the fiscal year. The news comes after more than three-quarters of the House Democratic caucus signed onto a letter asking the president to suspend recent deportation raids on families ordered for removal, and do more to help vulnerable Central Americans. Many critics have accused the administration of a hemispheric bias in refugee response -- willing to fight for bringing in more Syrians and others from the Middle East, but focusing more on keeping Central Americans from coming to the U.S." [HuffPost] HuffPost is launching a winning podcast where losers Sam Stein and Jason Cherkis interview other losers (mostly political ones, including Howard Dean, Michele Bachmann, and Ben "boo!" Konop). Check it out. CAN THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT COZY UP TO CRUZ? Jonathan Martin reports from New Orleans: "Striding up the sidewalk of one of this citys most affluent neighborhoods on Monday evening, S. Scott Sewell seemed an unlikely figure to be attending a fund-raiser for Senator Ted Cruz. An oil industry executive, Mr. Sewell served in President George Bushs administration, lent a hand to George W. Bushs 2000 presidential recount, and was twice a chairman for Mitt Romneys Louisiana campaigns. But if such a creature of the Republican establishment appeared an odd fit to support a candidate whose political identity was shaped challenging his partys leadership, the candlelit, art-filled setting for Mr. Cruzs reception was even more surprising: the elegant home of the longtime Bush loyalist Mary Matalin and her husband, James Carville, the Democratic strategist. The vast majority of Republican elites remain bitterly opposed to the prospect of Mr. Cruzs becoming the partys presidential nominee, some even preferring to take their chances with Donald J. Trump. Yet, to the strains of a jazz trio a block from St. Charles Avenue here, over Texas barbecue at his Houston campaign office and in one of Washingtons see-and-be-seen steakhouses, Mr. Cruz, Washingtons chief anti-establishment agitator, has quietly begun wooing some of the partys most entrenched donors and officials." [NYT] Advertisement THERE'S GOTTA BE A BETTER WAY TO FIGHT POVERTY - The next Obama budget will have an item that might interest Paul Ryan: "The Obama administration wants to spend $2 billion testing new approaches to fighting poverty, with a particular focus on catching people before they fall into crisis rather than trying to put them back on their feet afterward. The president's budget, which will be officially released in early February, calls for creating a new Emergency Aid and Service Connection. The main goal would be to find ways of helping families who face immediate, potentially crippling financial crises -- like a car breaking down with no money for repairs or an extended absence from work because of illness. Instead of waiting for these people to exhaust all resources, certifying their poverty with extensive paperwork and then providing them with assistance through programs like food stamps, the idea would be to assist them with quick short-term aid -- before one crisis leads to many others -- or connect them with programs that, over the long term, can help stabilize their incomes." [w/ HuffPost's Jonathan Cohn] @ericawerner: Steve King suggests Haley is not a "principled conservative" but: "I think shes beautiful so Id be happy if shes the face of the party." DELANEY DOWNER - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has called in the National Guard to help hand out bottled water in Flint, where dangerous lead levels have made municipal water unsafe to drink. [HuffPost] Advertisement DAVE DOWNER - Joseph Fahey cherishes the Catholic Church's teachings on worker rights. "It's really beautiful teaching -- rock-bottom core, Matthew 25 stuff," says Fahey, a Catholic theologian. "A lot of Catholics would tell you that's why they're Catholic." So Fahey took it as an insult to his faith when the Catholic school where he's taught for 50 years, Manhattan College, tried to prevent adjunct professors from unionizing. He was particularly galled because part-time adjuncts are among "the poorest and weakest people on campus," he says. [HuffPost's Dave Jamieson] Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill TWITTER TO REMAIN CLASSY, YUGE - Fear not, America: President Donald Trump will keep insulting people on the internet. Natalie Andrews and Heather Haddon: "Should he be elected president, Republican front-runner Donald Trump doesnt plan to give up on tweeting. But he may turn it down a notch. Asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal if he would still send messages on Twitter if elected to the White House, Mr. Trump said he would, though he would tone it down. 'Ill do modified tweets. They may not be as aggressive,' he said." That's not what an MT is, but okay! [WSJ] OBAMA HOPING AMERICA DOESN'T BECOME FASCIST HELLHOLE - Ryan Grim: "President Barack Obama put the American people on notice Tuesday night that a dark future awaited U.S. democracy if they didn't begin to come together rather than retreat into ethnic or religious corners. In describing what one Republican senator called an 'apocalyptic future,' Obama laid out a possible path the country could take away from democracy and toward what sounded like an American version of fascism. 'I remember thinking it's kind of a dreadful prediction for our future,' Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told HuffPost. 'He was very optimistic about America, but then he laid out a very almost apocalyptic future.' Obama warned that if people lose hope and let cynicism take over, dark forces will surge 'As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who dont look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background.'" Huh. Wonder what he's talking about. [HuffPost] NIKKI HALEY ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT DESCENT INTO FASCIST HELLHOLE - Igor Bobic: "In the Republican response to President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday evening, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) sought to undo some of the damage done to the GOP brand by the wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric popularized by real estate mogul Donald Trump. Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants, cautioned against demonizing people who yearn to enter the U.S. in hopes of attaining a better life, even amid a wave of anxiety over national security following terror attacks at home and abroad. 'Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory,' Haley said. 'During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.'" [HuffPost] Advertisement Here is a video of Haley saying things she doesn't like about several 2016 candidates, for some reason. HuffPost Haircuts: Jason Cherkis MORE STATE OF THE UNION ANALYSIS - President Obama said his speech would be shorter than previous ones, but it wasn't, really. People were a little disappointed that Paul Ryan didn't move his face more. And Kim Davis didn't clap much. BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Check out these dogs doing things that dogs do. SAD JOURNALISM NEWS - So long, Al Jazeera America. Joe Pompeo, Hadas Gold and Peter Sterne: "Al Jazeera, which made a massive investment in covering the United States less than three years ago, is slamming the brakes on its American operation. Al Jazeera America, a cable news channel that debuted in August 2013, is shutting down. Employees were informed of the decision during an all-hands staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon. During the meeting, Al Jazeera America brass said the channel's business model was 'no longer sustainable.' It will shut down by April 30, an Al Jazeera American executive told staff saying the decision was made by the channel's board of directors and was not a reflection of the quality of their work." [Politico] COMFORT FOOD - There's going to be a "Friends" cast reunion. - Comedians had a pretty easy time infiltrating Trump event, lampooning the whole Trump phenomenon. - A handy trick for defrosting your windshield. TWITTERAMA @mollyesque: Responding to the SOTU: one of those crappy jobs traditionally done by women and minorities. Advertisement igorbobic: Summing up where the GOP race is at: Why dont you hit Trump No, you do it No, you Noyou Cmoooon" @jasonnobleDMR: I was w/ Jeb Bush yesterday as he drove past a pro-Bush billboard in Des Moines. "What the hell is that?" he asked. "Is that Right to Rise?" A year ago I traveled to Israel, never arriving at the Palestinian settlements of the West Bank. Volunteering as an English teacher brought me to Hebron, Palestine this winter. My short-lived immersion in Palestinian society highlighted two running parallels that dictate and define Palestinian life. The occupation and its paralyzing nature constitute the first parallel. The second parallel is one not commonly talked about, one deemed unimportant, even ignored. This one happens to be the way in which Palestinians live their lives -- beautifully, to be frank. Constantly at odds with each other, these parallels are forced to coexist. Often times they must cease their parallel qualities, colliding into one another, one unable to free itself from the other. During my stay, I paid close attention to these elements at play. Through it all, my heart often times felt heavy yet light often times as well. Advertisement After arriving in Tel Aviv, I then traveled to Jerusalem via shared taxi, then to Bethlehem by bus, and finally to Hebron or Al-Khaleel in Arabic. On the way, I traveled along the separation wall that divides Israel from the West Bank. Massive and enclosing, the wall imprisons the soul. During my passage and through checkpoints, I sat next to locals, their papers and identity cards always in hand. I noted how Palestinians hold themselves with dignity, yet I could still discern the loss, the pain. Making my way into Palestine, I sensed how vulnerable it is to the power that occupies it and how vulnerable it is to uncertainty. Palestine is so overwhelmed by vulnerability, so restrained, that what happens there could never fully be known. Upon arriving in Hebron, I soon began my job as an English teacher. Immediately, I noticed how eager the students' minds were, how ready they were to take on the world. In many ways, their desires to learn English reflect their greater desires for escape. Almost all of whom I encountered were searching for a way out. Advertisement After my first day of teaching, I met my host family. Instantly, I felt at home because of them all. Every morning my host mother spoiled me with Turkish coffee and dark chocolate, incidentally two of my favorite things. Later, my host father would greet me with an enthusiastic and comforting, "good morning daughter!" He would then prepare breakfast, allowing his wife to take it easy each morning. My host siblings were always studying and would only take breaks to play guitar, to play chess, or to make me laugh. On Fridays, breakfast was the most festive. The whole family joined in on the fun. Eggs, fava beans, zaatar, labneh, and olives crowded the table. We enjoyed olive oil so rich and pure, we put it on everything. As requirements, we would sip tea and sing along to Fairuz. I was comforted by how family-oriented Palestine is. I felt so protected in their care. How is it that I felt so safe in a place commonly described as the opposite? Advertisement Though these were my thoughts, a single step outside the home reminded me of the brutalities always present. The visual disparity that exists between an armed Israeli solider and an innocent Palestinian or myself, unarmed, provoked the strangest feeling--one of helplessness. Another consciousness experienced is one of limitations--limited in movement, in resources, in hope. As I walked down the streets of Hebron, I often times found myself repeating, in Arabic, ma fee amal, meaning there is no hope. Recently, this lack of hope has fueled a new wave of frustrations and violence. In the West Bank, stabbing attacks have been directed at Israeli soldiers. In places like Jerusalem, attacks have targeted Jewish-Israeli citizens. In its aftermath, people are being killed on both sides. In a situation like that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupation, it has become all too common for innocent lives to be lost. Let me be clear: I do not support such violence nor will I ever. But stakes, fears, and injustices are too high. We must attempt to understand why such cycles of violence have escalated and the implications of recent events. Advertisement In attempting to understand, we must consider that these attacks in no way represent all Palestinians. We must ask: what do recent events say about the status of the peace process today? Finally, we must be willing, motivated even, to seek peace. Certainly it is arguable that the peace process is dead. Hateful and bitter attitudes dominate both sides. The occupation is growing tighter. Recent proposals to build even more Jewish settlements in the West Bank are sabotaging any chance of a two-state solution. Ideally all options should be on the table, enabling Palestinians to one day decide their own fate. Despite my mentioning of a dead peace process, I tend to disagree. My refusal reflects some of the people I have met in the region. A year ago I met an Israeli woman named Yael, one of the most spiritual and understanding human beings I have ever encountered. She has devoted her life to understanding her spirituality and faith, fostering love wherever she can. This year I met a Palestinian teenager who has suffered the unthinkable at the hands of Israeli soldiers, yet he still wants peace. He wishes for all to hear his ideas for harmony. Constantly, he lent me inspiration. Moreover, even amid a worsening situation in Palestine, I still witnessed beauty and was touched by all whom I met. I had never felt more taken care of. I didn't want to leave. Yet the time to leave did come. Unlike those whom I met who only dream of coming to America, I had the ability to leave. Advertisement On my way to Tel Aviv, I recalled visiting the separation wall and what the Palestinian teenager I met contributed to its exterior. He drew a heart with the three symbols of the Abrahamic religions lying inside its center. Adjacent to that, he drew a rocket and asked me to write in English inside of it, 'made from peace and love.' Also apart of his contribution was a phrase in Arabic translating to 'this land was created for peace but never saw peace.' These words may not cause the wall to crumble. They may not cause peace and love to spread as quickly as weapons destroy. But these words were written. They lie in the hearts of many. They exist awaiting coexistence. The prospects of legal cannabis in 2016 have come a long way in the last two years. In 2014 the cannabis industry exploded when legal sales of cannabis for personal use began in Colorado and Washington State, the Rohrabacher amendment finally passed in the House of Representatives, and the sky did not come crashing down. It seemed like the floodgates opened as business interests began to take notice and the gains of that year (74% market growth in 2014 according to the ArcView Group) bled over into 2015. Last year Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia legalized personal use as well, and medical sales began in Minnesota and Illinois. Not all was rosy, of course, noting the stalled medical legislation in Pennsylvania and the failed campaign to legalize personal use in Ohio. Despite these setbacks soaring sales brought increased media attention, and legalization advocates across the country began preparing for a 2016 push. Looking forward, 2016 could be the biggest year legal cannabis has ever had in the United States. State Action California In 1996 California became the first state in the nation to legalize medical cannabis. Today, even as a medical-only state, it still sits as the single largest legal cannabis market in the country. Twenty years after legal cannabis sales began the Golden State is set to open the market for legal personal use. Legalization by ballot measure is so widely expected that last year the Lt. Governor issued his own recommendations for what state regulation should like in a fully legalized California. With medical cannabis sales totaling roughly $2 billion in the state, what will this market look like when it's completely open? Advertisement Nevada Nevada has been making a push to become the center of this new cannabis market in the last couple of years. Medical cannabis dispensaries in the state honor patient cards from many other states, and unlike many other places it's rumored that if full legalization passes there might be no residency requirement for business ownership. Additionally, several public officials have come out in open support of legal cannabis including Congresswoman Dina Titus delivering the opening remarks at the Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Las Vegas last year. In November citizens in Nevada will head to the polls to determine exactly where the state will fit in the nation's cannabis industry. Vermont Presidential candidate and current Vermont junior Senator Bernie Sanders has publicly stated that cannabis should be completely removed from the Control Substances Act, and introduced legislation in the Senate last year to that effect. The rest of Vermont's government seems to agree as the state could be the first in the country to legalize via the legislature. A bill was already floated last year with some support, and the state's Governor called for legalization in his State of the State address earlier this month. Rhode Island Rhode Island is the other state that many believe could see legalization via legislature in 2016. A bill was introduced last year, but the 2015 session was adjourned without a vote. The bill is likely to be resurrected this year with some support. Maine Support for legalizing cannabis for personal adult use in Maine is right around 65%, which means proper campaigning and the right language would make for almost sure passage in November. Separate efforts from the Marijuana Policy Project and a more grassroots organization merged last year placing all support for legal cannabis in the state behind one ballot initiative. Advertisement Florida A comprehensive medical cannabis ballot initiative with only one main financial backer received 57% of the vote in 2014, which was short of the 60% supermajority needed to pass. The same bill will be up for vote again this year with more backing, and a more organized campaign making it likely that Florida will have a wider medical cannabis presence than the very limited bill passed by the legislature last year. Pennsylvania Medical cannabis in Pennsylvania was halted in 2015 by one man. A bill for a comprehensive medical cannabis program had enough votes to pass in the legislature, and had the support of the governor, but the committee chair refused to release the bill to the floor for a vote. Many believe the bill will be introduced again in 2016, and while it will be more restrictive than others in the nation it will be a place to start. National Action Of course there's plenty set to happen at the national level in 2016 as well. As states embrace legal cannabis many Congressional Representatives from those states. We'll probably see Dana Rohrabacher's amendment on the 2017 spending bill, for example, as it has been for the past three years. Senator Ron Wyden's Small Business Tax Equity Act - an attempt to normalize cannabis businesses in the eyes of the tax code - and Senator Jeff Merkley's Marijuana Access to Banking Act - to make it easier for banks to service cannabis businesses - are still in committee as is the Rand Paul-led CARERS Act which essentially legalizes medical cannabis at the federal level. Of course the big news federally is this year's Presidential election, and virtually every serious candidate now at the very least supports the continuation of allowing states to make their own cannabis laws. This, of course, reflects the huge popularity of medical cannabis among the population at large and in swing states in particular. With so much opportunity on the horizon, while 2014 will probably always be remembered as the tipping point, 2016 might truly be The Year of Cannabis. As the New Year begins, people start making New Year's Resolutions. These resolutions are mostly about getting in shape and eating right. For me, and my fellow Jains in the world, we usually don't have a problem with eating well, we just have a problem with food, in general. A Jain has many restrictions when it comes to eating. The standard "vegetarian" does not cut it. In addition to not eating meat, Jains cannot eat eggs, gelatin, or even anything that grows underground. That includes potatoes, onions, and garlic! These are typical foods used in every day cooking in most households, but for Jains, it is not allowed in the house. Most people think it is absurd not to eat anything that grounds underground. They think it's impossible to do. But there is a reasoning behind this ideology. Jainism is a religion founded on non-violence. That non-violence is directed towards everything: people, animals, plants, and even insects. Jains will go out of their way not to injure something, even a plant. The bulb of the plant is seen as a living thing due to its ability to sprout. Therefore, when plants, such as onions and potatoes, are pulled from the ground, the entire plant in being killed since the plant is unable to grow again. However, plants that grow above ground aren't necessarily killed when plucked because the plant itself lives on, even without the vegetable. Advertisement Although it has gotten better in past years, America still doesn't understand what it means to be a true Jain. If you go to any restaurant, they have trouble making vegetarian food. Asking them to make Jain food is nearly impossible to them. Seeing the reactions from the waiters when I tell them that I need something that is vegetarian and has no vegetables that grow underground is hilarious. They give a look as if they have no idea what I am taking about. Then they would give me an awkward stare as in "I have no idea how to answer this". In addition to enhancing their belief of non-violence, Jains are very careful when it comes to those little insects that most people disregard. Believe or not, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has specific guidelines on the amount of bug part in a particular piece of food. Bug parts are usually in foods that are pre-processed and packaged. Surprisingly, humans intake bugs in another way. These are small bugs we cannot even see that mystically land on our foods without us knowing. An average person will eat more than a pound of bug parts every year. Therefore, to try to eliminate the amount of bug intake, Jains try to eat fresh foods straight from the farmer with no additives. Also, Jains don't eat after sun down or before the sun rises. That is because between those times, there is no sunlight. In the old days when there was no electricity, people couldn't see what they were eating. They could be eating small insects, instead of a piece of bread like they thought. Although we have had many technological advances since then, the old Jains ideals still stayed. UNITED STATES - JANUARY 12 - President Barack Obama waves during his final State of the Union to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Behind him Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan listen. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call) Last night President Obama took a quasi-victory lap during his last State of the Union address. He laid out four big themes that boiled down to fairness and opportunity, using technology to solve our biggest challenges, keeping us safe, and more civility (and actual progress) in politics. The technology bullet point was mainly about climate: "How do we make technology work for us, and not against us -- especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?" Advertisement It was great to see climate in such a prominent position. When the president got to that part of the speech, he took a humorous shot at deniers. If you want to debate the science, the president said, "you'll be pretty lonely, because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it." Those statements are true but beside the point. The denier community seems to pride itself on not going with the crowd. So the argument that matters is this: tackling climate change is for our health and our economy. And Obama did make that case. He pointed out that wind power is now cheaper than fossil fuels in many locations and that solar employs more people than coal. (Actually, the newest numbers show more people work in solar than even in oil and gas!) The tipping point on renewables has come and gone. More than half the new capacity put on the grid over the last few years came from clean energy. As the president challenged the Congress, "why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?" For perhaps the first time in a speech this important, a president made it clear that clean energy is the only real option for a thriving future (although let's remember that President George W. Bush, was actually the one who said "America is addicted to oil" back in 2006). In previous speeches and SOTU's, Obama played the "all of the above" card and talked about expanding all forms of energy. Perhaps he needed to when he still had elections to win. But now he says "we've got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy." Advertisement Another important element of the president's approach was to link climate to keeping us safe. That's something the Pentagon and military has done repeatedly, saying climate change is an "urgent and growing threat" to national security. The president basically said that climate is a real existential threat and not, in fact, terrorism (ISIL and other groups, he said, "do not threaten our national existence"). Not to nitpick, but I did find a couple things odd. First, Obama crowed about how "gas under two bucks a gallon ain't bad, either." Lower gas prices do not help bring about a clean economy. But even with oil at near low prices for this century, the auto companies are accelerating investments and product launched in electric vehicles. So I guess it can't hurt for him to enjoy the populist benefit of low gas prices. I was also a bit surprised that Obama didn't talk more about the historic Paris climate agreement besides mentioning those "200 nations" who agree on the problem (the White House pushed this point a bit more in a slide they posted with the text of the speech -- see below). His leadership - as well as Secretary Kerry's this year and then-Secretary Clinton's in 2009 in Copenhagen - was critical to success in Paris. In total, this was by far the most climate hawkish State of the Union ever, and that's important progress. But I have two wishes for future addresses. First, let's purge the language of "saving the planet", which the president still threw in there. Yes, climate change is a planet-wide, existential threat, but the planet will likely be fine; it's humans who are at risk. Advertisement Second, I fervently hope that our leaders will stop saying things like "if you don't believe the science of climate." Let's make this the last national address where we have to give credence to deniers. FILE - This March 14, 2014 file photo shows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaking in Atlanta. Supreme Court opinions are rarely susceptible to the kind of fact-checking that reporters usually employ on politics. But Scaliaas hearty dissent in an environmental case on Tuesday contained such a glaring error of fact _ misreporting an earlier case in which Scalia himself wrote the majority opinion _ that the justice changed the opinion and the court quietly posted the corrected version on its website without notifying anyone of what had happened. (AP Photo/David Tulis, File) You know that public employee unions are in dire legal straits when their best chance for survival may rest with the Supreme Court's most volatile, cranky and impulsive conservative: Antonin Gregory Scalia. Yet, according to some very sophisticated, progressive court watchers, that is the exactly the situation in the latest assault on public union operations, in the case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA). Argued before the justices Monday, Friedrichs concerns the right of unions to collect limited "fair-share" fees from nonmember employees in lieu of full formal dues to help defray the costs of collective bargaining. Advertisement By any yardstick, the case packs blockbuster potential, both legally and politically. A decision against the 325,000-member teachers association could harm every government employee union in the country, draining their coffers and conceivably sending some into bankruptcy. In the process, the nation's entire public sector would become one uniform right-to-work jurisdiction. To understand why some observers believe that Scalia, who rarely aligns with liberal causes, might play the critical role of swing voter in Friedrichs, a little digression is required, but rest assured: We'll get back to him. The plaintiffs in Friedrichs are the Christian Educators Association International and 10 anti-union California schoolteachers, including lead litigant Rebecca Friedrichs, who has taught kindergarten through fourth grade for nearly three decades in Orange County. They object to paying fair-share fees to the CTA. All were once CTA members but have since resigned. Collectively, the plaintiffs are represented by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), a nonprofit, ultra-right-wing law firm in Washington, D.C., that has made a name for itself in suits opposing affirmative action, the Voting Rights Act, Obamacare and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. According to SourceWatch.org, the CIR is funded by many of the American right's big-money patrons, such as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Koch brothers' Donors Trust network. Advertisement Although the CIR handles much of its docket with its own in-house counsel, it has teamed up on Friedrichs with conservative super-lawyer Michael Carvin of the powerful Jones Day law firm. Carvin and the CIR contend that collective bargaining in the public sector is inherently political and that, as a result, the fair-share system violates the First Amendment rights of nonunion workers. The amendment, they note, protects not only the affirmative right to speak without governmental interference, but also the passive right to not be compelled by government to speak or endorse the offending speech or acts of other individuals or groups. Requiring dissenting employees to pay fees to a union they don't want to join, their analysis continues, amounts to such compelled speech and must be declared unconstitutional across the board. To carry the day, however, the plaintiffs will have to persuade a majority of five justices to overrule a landmark 1977 decision dealing with government unions, one handed down long before any current justice's tenure on the court began--Abood v. Detroit Board of Education--which upheld the constitutionality of fair-share arrangements. This is where Scalia enters the picture. Prior to the oral arguments in Friedrichs, Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy, clearly seemed poised to jettison Abood, based on their prior voting records in cases on the fair-share question. A close reading of Scalia's previous pronouncements on Abood, however, suggested that he might not be ready to fall in line, at least not entirely. Oral arguments are sometimes poor barometers of how the justices ultimately will vote. Sometimes they play devil's advocate, and sometimes they ask questions because they haven't yet made up their minds. But the court's nine members appeared to divide sharply along familiar ideological lines in the Friedrichs hearing, with the panel's Democratic appointees supporting the CTA, and its five Republicans--including Scalia--siding with the plaintiffs. Advertisement Justice Kennedy remarked during the arguments that fair-share fees "are matters of public concern" and amounted to "coerced speech." Dissenting employees, he charged, are "being silenced" by being forced to pay them. Scalia, while not tipping his hand, was described by New York Times reporter Adam Liptak, who attended the session, as "consistently hostile" to the union. "The problem is that everything that is collectively bargained with the government is within the political sphere," Scalia said from the bench, echoing the CIR's request to overrule Abood. Under Abood and other provisions of current labor law generally, no one can be forced to join a union, even one that has been selected by a majority of workers to negotiate on their behalf. States are also free to enact right-to-work measures, as 25 have to date, prohibiting unions from demanding fair-share fees from nonmembers. But because of Abood and other cases decided in succeeding years, in non-right-to-work states like California, fair-share fee arrangements are lawful in the public sector (as they are privately), and they are mandatory once a union has been duly elected. In fair-share venues, dissenting nonunion workers typically are billed in the form of payroll deductions for full regular union dues. They then have the right annually to "opt out" of making full payments, remitting instead only the portion that is needed to match the union's bargaining expenses. Fair-share fees (also called "agency fees" in reference to the union's status as the sole agent authorized to act on bargaining) cannot be used to pay for other union expenses, such as contributions to political campaigns and most lobbying. As Abood recognized, the fair-share system is designed to equitably distribute the cost of union activities among those who benefit. The system is also aimed at countering the incentive that employees might otherwise have to become "free riders" who refuse to contribute to unions while reaping the advantages they bring, including higher wages, pensions, health insurance, and assistance with workplace grievances and employer disciplinary hearings. Advertisement The free-rider problem is real and significant. In California and most other jurisdictions, even in right-to-work states where unions operate, unions have a duty to represent and enforce the contractual rights of all employees in a bargaining unit, both members and nonmembers alike. Such services don't come cheap. The fair-share fee for the estimated 9.7 percent of California teachers who, like Rebecca Friedrichs and her co-plaintiffs, have opted not to join their union comprises about 68 percent of full membership dues. There is little question that in return they receive a handsome payout. According to figures compiled by The Century Foundation, unionized teachers on average earn an hourly wage 24.7 percent higher than their nonunion counterparts. Should Friedrichs and her cohorts prevail in their quest to topple the fair-share system, more teachers no doubt would leave the CTA, reasoning that they could retain the gains of union contracts without paying a dime for them. Public employees in other occupations probably would do the same, believing that they too could free ride without adverse consequences. During the oral arguments, attorney Carvin sought to assure the justices that the loss of fair-share fees would have a minimal impact on union membership. The evidence, however, shows that he is dead wrong. Advertisement If the recent labor strife in Wisconsin is any bellwether, a plaintiffs' victory in Friedrichs could be disastrous for unions and the benefits they deliver. In the aftermath of Gov. Scott Walker's 2011 assault on public unions and the state's subsequent implementation of right-to-work policies, for example, the declines in public union membership and dues collected have been monumental. The Madison local of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has lost 18,000 of its previous 32,000 members and has seen its annual revenue fall from $10 million to $5.5 million. The state's largest teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, has lost more than a third of its members. As the Wisconsin experience shows, free riding isn't free. For all the loopy phrases in his recent court opinions--"argle bargle," "jiggery pokery," "pure applesauce," to invoke just a few--and notwithstanding his regressive positions on such issues as gay marriage, Obamacare, the Second Amendment, affirmative action and voting rights, Scalia in the past has expressed a distaste for free riders. In 1991, in a case (Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Association) involving the relevance of the Abood decision to a small Michigan state college, Scalia penned an opinion in which he found the fair-share system served a compelling state interest in workplace regulation, declaring: Our First Amendment jurisprudence ... recognizes a correlation between the rights and the duties of the union, on the one hand, and the nonunion members of the bargaining unit, on the other. Where the state imposes upon the union a duty to deliver services, it may permit the union to demand reimbursement for them; or, looked at from the other end, where the state creates in the nonmembers a legal entitlement from the union, it may compel them to pay the cost. Advertisement But that was 25 years ago. The question now is whether Scalia will remain consistent or join with the court's other conservatives to end the fair-share system once and forever. Those who hope for consistency can point to other areas of the law--for example, Fourth Amendment privacy issues--in which Scalia, despite amassing an enormously right-wing record overall, has displayed occasional maverick tendencies. Should the maverick Scalia reappear in Friedrichs when the opinion is finally handed down, there will be ample grounds for rejecting the plaintiffs' First Amendment analysis. In addition to affirming the compelling purpose of the fair-share system, the court, with Scalia as the fifth swing vote, could recognize that union dissenters like Rebecca Friedrichs in fact have sustained no substantial First Amendment injuries. Despite their fair-share payments, Friedrichs and company remain free to speak out against their union and its views. No reasonable person would construe their payment of fair-share fees as an ideological endorsement of the union. Indeed, as the solicitor general has observed in his brief in the case, the inference to be drawn about the beliefs of fair-share employees is just the opposite. In the end, unfortunately, the pull of party politics may prove too strong for Scalia. In 2012 (Knox v. SEIU) and again in 2014 (Harris v. Quinn), Scalia joined his Republican brethren in 5-4 opinions that chipped away at the fair-share system and criticized but fell short of overruling Abood. The Knox and Harris cases, however, dealt with more limited issues than Friedrichs. Knox concerned a midyear dues assessment imposed on state workers to defeat two anti-union measures placed on the 2005 California ballot by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. The Harris case involved Illinois in-home care providers, who were held not to be full-fledged public employees. Both cases were financed and litigated by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Advertisement Whatever the final lineup of the justices proves to be in Friedrichs, the court's decision will have profound political ramifications. Public unions are the last bastion of organized labor in America. In 2014, the percentage of unionized wage and salary workers in the U.S. dropped to 11.1 percent from 20.1 percent in 1983. The unionization rate in the private sector stands at an abysmal 6.6 percent. The public sector, by contrast, boasts an aggregate unionization rate of 35.7 percent. Unions are also a consistent supporter of Democratic Party candidates and initiatives, spending, according to some estimates, over $1.7 billion on political campaigns in the 2012 election cycle. The American right has long demonized unions, particularly in the public sphere, falsely blaming them instead of Wall Street and the crippling financial crisis of 2007-2008 for municipal bankruptcies and pension fund shortfalls around the country. Influential segments of the right, such as the Cato Institute, have openly called for public-sector collective bargaining to be outlawed nationwide for all workers, as it has been for schoolteachers in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Texas. As I've written before in this column, the right's lesson plan is simple: "Kill the fair-share regime and you kill public sector unions. Kill public sector unions and you kill off the labor movement as a whole." In the end, the only parties left unscathed will be the big-money corporate donors who have bankrolled the anti-union crusade for decades. Advertisement COLOGNE, GERMANY - JANUARY 09: A German far-right supporter demonstrates with a sticker reading 'an arm-length distance' referring to the suggestion of Cologne's mayor for women of how to behave to prevent being assaulted by men at Cologne's train station on January 9, 2016 in Cologne, Germany. Over 100 women have filed charges of sexual molestation, robbery and in two cases, rape, stemming from aggressive groping and other behavior by gangs of drunken men described as Arab or North African at Hauptbahnhof on New Year's Eve. Police have recently stated that at least some of the men identified so far are refugees, which is feeding the propaganda of right-wing groups opposed to Germany's open-door refugee policy. Germany took in approximately 1.1 million migrants and refugees in 2015. (Photo by Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images) LONDON -- In recent days, how many of us gasped at photos of emaciated Syrians in the besieged town of Madaya? In light of this tragedy, the post-Cologne fence-building and anti-refugee postulating around Europe must surely be even more alarming. The Syrian humanitarian crisis remains as desperate as ever, but after Cologne's New Year's Eve mass sexual assaults, right-wing populist "refugees not welcome" sentiments seem to be gaining ground throughout Europe. Monday morning also brought allegations that Swedish police covered up group sexual assaults in Stockholm, too, because of fears of a right-wing backlash. In an increasingly globalized news culture, and particularly when it comes to EU countries like Germany, "their" concerns are frequently "our" concerns, too. All over Europe, merely condemning right-wingers as bigots will neither quell popular fears nor win the argument. Liberals must look in the mirror. And then we must make some concessions. Advertisement Since reports of the Cologne attacks emerged over a week ago, accusations of police and government cover-ups have flourished in a kind of perfect storm of liberal conspiracy narratives. Sadly, it's not hard to see why. Up to 1,000 men said to be "of North African and Arab appearance" conducted coordinated attacks on women and teenage girls -- surrounding them in groups, grabbing and groping them so hard they left bruises on their bodies -- but an initial police press release claimed the night had "passed off peacefully." Then, after revelations, days of insistence that there was no evidence for asylum seeker involvement followed, with Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker even branding any suggestion of refugee involvement "impermissible," an internal police report emerged last Thursday. German magazine Der Spiegel claims to have seen the report and said it revealed that some of the attackers asserted they were Syrian refugees. One reportedly told an officer: "You have to treat me kindly. Mrs. Merkel invited me." Another apparently ripped up residence papers in front of officers, shouting defiantly: "You can't do anything to me. I can get a new one tomorrow." We must confront the fact, for example, that some dangerous undesirables will indeed have found their way into the EU amongst all the decent and deserving refugees. Perhaps because the police report appeared to give credence to a some-bad-apples-among-the-innocent-refugees narrative that we liberals often like to pretend has no bearing, for a whole day after it emerged in Germany, only the right-wing press in Britain deigned to publish it. In some cases even as late as Friday morning, there were left-leaning articles sticking with the "nobody really knows if migrants were involved" rhetoric. Perhaps purely because this is the sort of thing the xenophobes will jump on, many on the left seemed reluctant to touch it. Concern for minorities, or knee-jerk political tribalism at its finest? Advertisement When political correctness reaches the point in which people are -- never mind being afraid to express opinion -- afraid to report police memos, then we know sanity has been left behind. This sort of obfuscation is dangerous not just because it makes detection of the actual perpetrators more difficult, but also because it is driving otherwise reasonable people away from the left and all too often into the arms of right-wing populism. Now, German police have publicly confirmed that more than half those questioned so far are indeed asylum seekers, and the right is doing its victory dances. Scroll down any comment thread and amidst the growing calls to leave the EU, you'll find "Libtards" and "the left" named as the personae non gratae in this whole affair. And for American readers, understand, this is exactly the sort of thing that Trump and his cronies can seize on, a perfect "Europe is being cowed" cautionary tale. In the words of an anti-racist Cologne protester on Saturday: "It's not good to 'protect' us, it just makes the racism worse." Frankly, we on the left must wake up and become more willing to describe the world as it is. To confront the fact, for example, that some dangerous undesirables will indeed have found their way into the EU amongst all the decent and deserving refugees. If not, we face the prospect of being ruled for the foreseeable future not only by those on the right who want to "stoke up anti-immigration rhetoric," but also who will happily dismantle our public services. Right-wing populism finds a perfect ideological punchbag in a woolly liberalism that often fails to stand up for liberal principles. In the case of Cologne, we've seen not just obfuscating, but also what might be called victim-blaming. Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker, for example, advised women on a "code of conduct" for public celebrations, including "keeping more than an arm's length away" from men, even reportedly warning against being in a "celebratory mood." Channel 4 News broadcast an interview with a Tunisian refugee who said with a straight face: "It is not the fault of the refugees -- the couple of refugees who were there, who might also be culprits. It's the fault of the laws and bureaucracy in Germany that say you have to wait six months or one year for the day when you can find a legal job." I'm sorry, what? Right-wing populism finds a perfect ideological punchbag in a woolly liberalism that often fails to stand up for liberal principles. Recently, two activists I know freshly returned from work with migrants and admitted sheepishly to me that their time on the front line had led them to consider -- briefly -- that perhaps Germany should close its borders. They told me that most of the migrants they had seen were not actually refugees. And then they looked at me as though they expected I would roundly accuse them of being Nazis. Unsurprising, since nuance and pragmatism are frequently becoming trickier in the ideological battle trenches of the digital era. Perhaps because of the constant demand for brevity in tweets and Internet comment pieces, a popular, and often false, thought association ensues: if you think this, then you must also think that. Suppressing debate and dissent within the left itself, this phenomenon has become a kind of digital McCarthyism. And it is driving people away from the very political associations that would protect their public services and democratic rights. Suggest last week that any asylum-seeker sex attackers be deported, for example, and sit back and wait for the Hitler comparisons to be pelted at you faster than you can say "no platform." Personally I am firmly left of the political center and share concerns about anti-refugee sentiment but -- and call me Mrs. Picky -- I draw the line at welcoming sex offenders into Blighty for toast and tea. Last week it was revealed that 40,000 Syrians -- including many women and children -- trapped in Madaya because of Assad's war, were resorting to eating grass as they starved to death. One must ask: how is covering up for young men who seem determined to gleefully flout European norms and laws going to help those thousands of innocent would-be refugees who might otherwise be offered a haven were it not for the impending right-wing blowback against the worst excesses of liberal apologism? Merkel's seeking of greater powers of deportation for asylum seekers found guilty of, say, sexual assault, has been characterized by some on the left as "bowing to populist pressure." But is Merkel justified? In our reluctance to face up to the painful -- yet credible -- reports of migrant involvement in these horrific Cologne attacks, we have unwittingly given succor to those who would deny haven to any refugees at all. Earlier on WorldPost: DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 11: Journalist Jorge Ramos and democratic presidential Bernie Sanders (R) pictured onstage during the FUSION presents the Brown & Black Democratic Forum at Drake University on January 11, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images for Fusion) Dear Senator Sanders, Your popularity depends on the support of young voters. On Monday night during a Fusion forum, you stated a position on campus sexual violence that reveals your disconnect with your youngest constituents, college-age voters. You stated: Rape and assault is rape and assault. Whether it takes place on campus or on a dark street. And if a student rapes a fellow student, that has got to be understood to be a very serious crime. It has got to get outside of the school and have a police investigation. And that has to take place. Too many schools are seeing this as 'well it's a student issue, let's deal with it.' I disagree with that. It is a crime and it has to be treated as a serious crime. And you are seeing now the real horror of many women who have been assaulted or raped, sitting in a classroom alongside somebody who raped them. Rape is a very, very serious crime and it has to be prosecuted. It has to be dealt with. I never want to be in the position -- as a middle-aged, white man -- of telling survivors of sexual violence to whom they should (or shouldn't) report their victimization. I assume you were speaking more to the role of colleges than to the choices of survivors, but they are indivisible, and we need to recognize the privilege older white men bring to any discussion of women's bodies and autonomy. We cannot and should not speak for them. I don't represent their voices, but I do want to share a broader lens by which to view campus sexual violence. There is still time to reconsider your position, and I hope the following points may influence your perspective. I hope it concerns you that your position is similar to that taken by two bills now before Congress (the Fair Campus Act and the Safe Campus Act) that are co-sponsored by Republicans and opposed by more than 200 survivor, victim's rights and advocacy organizations. Further, your position is aligned with the Men's Rights movement, which believes that rape in this country is a false epidemic contrived by man-hating feminists. I'm a feminist, Senator, and I hope you'll come out as one, too. As a feminist, I believe that women should have equal rights to men, and that men have a responsibility to help other men understand our role in advancing equality, combating misogyny, and changing a rape-prone culture that is designed to subjugate women to men's sexual entitlement. I'd also like to make sure you know that your position is contrary to Title IX, a federal law enacted in 1974 that has become the most powerful tool victims have for advancing their right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded educational programs, including K-12 schools, colleges and universities. Title IX requires colleges and schools to address and remedy sexual violence. Surely, you didn't intend your comments to roll back the hard-fought protections of Title IX advanced so prominently by the Obama administration since 2011, but your position has that potential if it is not rethought. The position you have taken is predicated on the idea that colleges should not be handling rape cases, which are more properly addressed by the criminal justice system. This fallacy must be called out on three different levels. Advertisement First, colleges don't address rapes. They never have, do not currently, and never will. Rape is a crime. No college has the authority to determine that a crime occurred. Instead, colleges address (and are mandated by Title IX to address) all forms of sex discrimination, including sex discrimination that occurs in the physical form of sexual violence. Sexual violence may constitute the crime of rape, but it is also a type of discrimination in physical form. Surely, we agree that colleges should address and remedy sexual harassment and other forms of harassment and discrimination, such as those that occur on the basis of age, race, disability, etc. Why would you want a college to address all these forms of discrimination but not sexual violence, just because it has a parallel to a crime? Many college policies have parallels in criminal law, such a hazing, theft, vandalism, arson and more. You're not arguing to strip all colleges of their authority to address these forms of misconduct just because parallel resolution through criminal prosecution is possible, I trust? Second, we must understand that criminal convictions for non-stranger rapes that occur on college campuses are so rare (estimated to be less than than 1%) that anyone arguing for a criminal prosecution as the only response to campus sexual violence is really arguing to let the rapist get away with it. I know you didn't mean that. Your comments are a reflection of the common narrative that colleges mishandle these kinds of cases. There is no question that colleges can do better, but there is actually a system that handles sex offenses less effectively than colleges do. The criminal justice system. Your proposed solution. Prosecutors running for re-election hesitate to take on rape cases unless they are sure winners, which they rarely are. Police agencies all over the country are infamous for their victim-blaming and corrupt responses to rape cases, even if recent improvements are showing some progress on this front. Juries can victim-blame, because they are a reflection of the victim-blaming tendencies in our society. Some judges allow irrelevant sexual history to leak through statutory rape shield protections. This combination of factors has resulted in the fact that our criminal justice system is fundamentally broken for rape cases. I know, Senator, that you want to bring perpetrators of sexual violence to justice, but that cannot be achieved within a system that denies basic justice to survivors. Turning these cases over to a criminal justice system that is actually less effective at addressing sexual violence than college campuses is not the answer. Building stronger campus responses - the goal to which the organization I run is dedicated - reflects the strong desire voiced by many survivors to be empowered with choice, which brings me to my third point. Reporting campus sexual violence is not a zero sum game, where a survivor's choice to resolve an allegation of discrimination internally to a college forecloses the option to also report that incident to the criminal justice authorities when and if the survivor so wishes. Colleges cooperate with criminal investigations all the time, and many colleges have their own sworn police forces. By federal law, colleges are required to help a survivor report a sex offense to criminal authorities when the survivor so chooses. It's all about empowering that choice. What would be the point of abolishing campus resolution systems for sexual violence cases if a survivor didn't want to pursue a criminal prosecution? Some option is better than no option, and if you want my vote, Senator, you'll need to be strongly committed to ensuring that colleges and schools have the resources we need to improve our efforts to protect students, prevent sexual violence, and respond to it effectively when it occurs. I rarely write about anything personal anymore. It's all op-eds, science, and political wonkiness. Yet when I woke up Monday morning to find David Bowie had died, it hit me hard. Far harder than I would have thought. It was all I could do to hold back tears often during the day. It didn't make a lot of sense to me at first, until I reflected on how David Bowie, and his music, had been so transformational for me in the past few years. Growing up as a kid in the '80s I first knew of David Bowie as "The Goblin King," in the movie Labyrinth. I loved his costumes, and the fluid, aggressive way he moved. I didn't pursue this much further, though; a Mormon father, being told that being dead was better than gay, and hints of a one way trip to a gulag in the Utah desert were more than sufficient to ensure I quickly buried any hints of queerness in my interests. Twenty plus years went by. I came out. I transitioned. In the process I ended up one of the only queer people in the exceedingly red, rural part of Ohio I lived in. Being an activist and writer who was immersed in anti-transgender hatred weighed upon me heavily. So did the physical rejection by my partner of 15 years, who no longer felt any attraction to me. My job left me underpaid, undertasked, and unfulfilled. Advertisement Most of the time, there didn't seem to be any escape from any of these: being alone, reviled, rejected, and pointless. Then she came along. This queer, trans super activist in DC who had a passion for some of the same quirky, geeky things I did, and at the same time loved poetry, music, art, and theater. She was a bit younger than me, and her energy was infectious. She also saw something in me that I didn't in myself. In some ways I still don't know what that was, but it woke me up to so many possibilities, thoughts, and ideas. It was also the beginning of a resolve to escape from the things dragging me slowly under. Perhaps the most critical aspect of this moment in time was unwinding the years of internalized transphobia I needed to unpack and get rid of. So much of this self-loathing was centered on my queerness; in both my gender expression and my sexuality and how both led to my ostracization. And this, this is where David Bowie comes in. She introduced me to her love of Bowie while hanging out at her place in Columbia Heights. Posters of his 1995 tour with Nine Inch Nails adorned the walls, and her Facebook profiles featured pictures of her at Bowie-esque Glam-Rock costume parties. She'd shared a ton of music with me before, but this went in a different direction. She had me lay back, close my eyes, and listen from the beginning that was "Space Oddity." Advertisement I was hooked then and there on that song about isolation and separation sung by a fellow queer person. As I continued to listen to song after song, I tried to guess when each was released. 1979? No, 1975. 1983? No, 1979. After missing the same way again and again, I realized that where Bowie went, pop music followed several years later. He struck me as a Nikolai Tesla-like figure: a genius in his field so far ahead of everyone else that no one could see it until many years later. Still, this wasn't the important part. She walked me through the personas of his early years. "I love how he plays with androgyny," she often commented, "there's something really beautiful and attractive about it." I refused to see at first, but as my own internalized transphobia ebbed a bit, it opened a window enough that I could see it too. It wasn't just beautiful, it was amazing. Sexy and empowering in a way that said his bucket of fucks to give was empty long ago. From there, it wasn't that far a leap to accepting that queerness itself, in all its million shades, can be beautiful, sexy, and powerful too. Coming from a place where queerness was the antithesis of love, acceptance, and beauty, this paradigm shift was nothing short of radical and life changing, because I felt I could be all of these too. Bowie, ever the sexual omnivore, also had a transgender muse and fling named Romy Haag in the 70's. He treated references to his sexual past, including being with a transgender woman, as little more important than a particularly good dessert eaten 20 years ago. The message in this struck home: being attracted to other queer people isn't something shameful. It just is. Enjoy what you find beautiful, and keep your bucket of fucks to give empty. I came away with so many things from both the relationship, and Bowie. Queer is beautiful. Being attracted to, and loving, other queer people is amazing. If you're going to fuck with gender, start by tearing up all the rules. You're never too old to reinvent yourself. Reinvent yourself constantly, and you'll always be ahead of the curve. Be fearless. Be different. What you do today can inspire queer people 40 years from now. Advertisement We split up almost a year ago, but still spend time together and remain close. When I saw that David Bowie had died, I tried to hold back tears, and messaged her. "David Bowie's death has really saddened me more than I could have expected. Thank you for sharing your love of his music, and making queer beautiful, with me." She replied with one word. A woman with a backpack and hat sitting in a green grassy field. I want to be engaged this year. As of yesterday, I've been on this earth for more than 23 years, and I think it's about time for me to be engaged. I've been asking people on my Home Team what one word they want to hold true for 2016, and when the question was finally reciprocated by my friend Sanford, I couldn't come up with anything. I hadn't found one that quite fit just yet. Advertisement I would say seemingly meaningful words aloud to see if their meanings would hold any significance for what I want this next year to be. I rustled up words like depth or rest or value and announced them to myself in the car or in the shower or on my walk to work. Nothing was clicking. Until I drove to Joshua Tree yesterday morning, and that's when a word so unexpected was whispered into the silence around me: engaged. And I know it's the right word for this next year because it scares me to say it aloud. I knew as soon as I heard it that it wasn't my idea -- I'd never ask for something so radical. Advertisement But as I sit in this snow-covered coffee shop on the side of Bear Mountain, that word keeps repeating itself in my mind to the point that I can feel it making itself at home and warming everything in me like the flat white in my coffee mug. So for my 24th year of life I want to be engaged, but it's probably not what you think. I'm as single as a slice of American cheese right now, which is perfect for me, and I prefer it that way. But when I say I want to be engaged, I don't mean I'm looking for a fiance. I mean I want to be engaged in the sense that I'm mindful of the people and surroundings and culture and the spiritual warfare around me. "I don't think we'll ever be fully engaged in the lives of others by staring at them through Instagram or Snapchat or by stalking their musical tastes on Spotify..." I want to establish meaningful connections with the person on the other side of my coffee mug or in the booth across from me at dinner or in the passenger seat of my car. Advertisement I want to lean in and connect with the stories being told. I want to actively console the sorrows being shared. I don't want to go through conversations absentmindedly anymore. Because after two decades of being distracted by tomorrow and by my phone and by what's happening in my peripheral, it's about time I was engaged fully in these moments. I just finished A Hobbit A Wardrobe and A Great War by Joseph Loconte. It's a book about J.R.R. Tolkien's friendship with C.S. Lewis and how the events of WWI shaped their views on life, transformed their writing, and grew them together as best friends. I came across a quote in one of the last chapters from Lewis about what true friendship is and he says: You will not find the warrior, the poet, the philosopher or the Christian by staring into his eyes as if he were your mistress: better to fight beside him, read with him, argue with him, pray with him. I don't think we'll ever be fully engaged in the lives of others by staring at them through Instagram or Snapchat or by stalking their musical tastes on Spotify (all of which I'm fully guilty). I think engagement happens when we turn off our phones and laptops and TVs and fight beside the people we love and want to know more. It happens when we sit together in the silence of reading or doing a puzzle together or in the gentle murmur of prayer for one another. I want to be engaged with this planet in my next year of life. I've already explored some of the most incredible landscapes in the past few months of living in California, but it's only one state and I have the world at my fingertips. So do you. But if we never take the time to stick up for ourselves, to ask our employers for time away to rest and leave our cubicles and occupy our bodies and minds with the waterfalls and mountains and deserts and cobblestone streets of this planet, are we really living? Advertisement I want to engage in other cultures and environments and languages in this next year. I want to encounter more new places and faces than sticking to the social norms would allow. More than that, I want to engage in the invisible war that's taking place over the souls of the people around me. I want to be locked and loaded with an arsenal of grace and truth and boldness to bring the good news of hope into the lives that intersect mine. I want to be fully aware of God's presence in every moment and not as much like Jacob who woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I didn't know it!" John 1:10-11 says, "[Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." Advertisement I don't want to be one of His own who is too busy or distracted or preoccupied to recognize his presence in every moment. I heard a pastor once say, "The holiest moment in life is the one happening right now," and I think he's absolutely correct. Because the enemy has quietly and viciously crept into this world and distracted us with empty connections and excuses of worrying about tomorrow. C.S. Lewis portrays this in The Screwtape Letters. The antagonist Screwtape maliciously states: The present is the point at which time touches eternity... It is far better to make [humans] live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. If I want to be engaged in the holiest of moments, if I want to live fully aware of the battle taking place for the weary, helpless souls around me, tomorrow can (responsibly) worry about itself. Advertisement It's a new year, I'm another year older, and I want nothing more than to be engaged. "I think engagement happens when we turn off our phones and laptops and TVs and fight beside the people we love and want to know more." Will you be engaged with me? Will you spend more time being present in the present and interacting with the current landscape and giving the enemy a good dose of his own fear as your heart and mind sync up with these points in time that touch eternity? I think life looks better engaged, regardless of whether there's a ring involved or not. Because we have a God who's engaged and none of us did anything to deserve his fullness in every moment. Stop for just a second and hear Him gently whisper, "wake up to the life around you, my child. Awaken your senses to the people and places and my presence in this life, and I will wrap you up in light." When nearly 150 militants moved into the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and began an armed occupation of federal land and buildings, they justified their actions by citing the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond. The two ranchers had been resentenced by a federal judge for their 2012 convictions for burning public lands that they leased for cattle grazing in 2001 and 2006. The armed militia, however, perceive the case as an example of federal overreach -- claiming, as conservative media has been alleging for months, that the ranchers had been over-zealously prosecuted as terrorists for prescribed burns and protective backfires that actually improved the land -- and call for the new longer sentences to be vacated. Advertisement With a tense armed standoff in Oregon, it is worth examining these claims to test their validity. Indeed, an analysis of court records and the laws in question paint a very different picture from the one espoused by the militants and conservative media. Claim 1: This issue is only about two fires While the Hammonds' supporters acknowledge that the criminal case is part of a wider dispute with federal officials over land, court records reveal that the Hammonds extended that dispute to fellow private citizens. Steven was convicted in 2000 for interfering with a lawful hunt and of unsworn falsification in 2011 for forging a landowner's preference hunting form. Moreover, this dispute included more than the two fires. Indeed, Dwight's defense attorney admitted to the court that after a 1999 fire set on their private land escaped onto public land, the Hammonds "had received a stern warning from the BLM that [if it happened again] there would be legal consequences, so they were warned." The nine-count superseding indictment charged the Hammonds with a series of arsons -- mainly during a burn ban in 2006 while lightning-sparked wildfires burned. The following two sections analyze the fires the Hammonds were convicted of starting. Advertisement Claim 2: The 2001 fire was a controlled burn that had received prior permission Why would federal prosecutors try ranchers for a prescribed burn that had been given prior authorization? According to witnesses and experts at trial, the phone call requesting permission came hours after the fire had been started. But at the heart of the issue is why the fires were started in the first place: to cover up evidence of poaching. "At trial, jurors heard from a hunting guide, a hunter and the hunter's father, who saw the Hammonds illegally slaughter a herd of deer on public land," a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon reads. "At least seven deer were shot with others limping or running from the scene." These details are noticeably absent from supporters' accounts of the fire. Claim 3: The 2006 fire(s) were backfires that saved the ranch and its winter feed First, it is true that fire is a tool used to naturally renew grazing land. In fact, a BLM officer testified at trial that the land burned as a result of the 2001 fire was improved, and not damaged, by it. Moreover, backfires are often used by firefighters to contain wildfires. However, the 2006 series of fires the Hammonds were accused of starting were done during a burn ban while firefighters were already engaging wildfires nearby. The fires, some of which were started at night, complicated those efforts and in one case even forced firefighters to relocate when their position was compromised by a fire started below them. No permission for the fires was sought, and no notification was given. The Hammonds were acquitted of some of those fires, but Steven was convicted for starting the Krumbo Butte fire. The prosecution dropped the remaining charges in an agreement where the Hammonds would accept the verdicts already decided. Claim 4: The Hammonds were prosecuted as terrorists This final claim appears to have incensed the Hammonds' supporters the most: that they had been labelled as terrorists under the Antiterrorism Act of 1996. This appears to stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the way laws work. That is, Acts of Congress that become law are not themselves laws that one is charged with violating. Rather, they amend the United States legal code. For instance, the Hammonds were convicted under Title 18 U.S. Code 844(f)(1), which was, in fact, amended by the Antiterrorism Act of 1996. That Act rewrote the statute to add mandatory minimums and to create harsher penalties in circumstances where people are injured or killed. Moreover, the Act excluded federal jurisdiction for offenses where the target only receives federal assistance (see U.S. v. Davis, involving an arson at a Virginia Housing Development Authority complex - where the Fourth Circuit reluctantly upheld federal jurisdiction on appeal the previous year). These amendments do not explicitly reference terrorism, but may be designated as a "federal crime of terrorism" if the offense is "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct," but 844(f)(1) is noticeably not included because no one is injured or killed. Therefore, the Hammonds simply cannot be legally designated as terrorists under the statute. Advertisement Nor was that ever the issue. "The jury was neither asked if the Hammonds were terrorists, nor were defendants ever charged with or accused of terrorism," the U.S. Attorney's Office stated. "Suggesting otherwise is simply flat-out wrong." Conclusion Certainly, the major claims made by the Hammonds' supporters about their case deserve scrutiny. But as the law and court records show, these assumptions are simply not supported by the facts and additional details regarding the Hammonds' motives and actions are omitted. Even more disconcerting is that these misunderstandings and misrepresentations are driving an extreme narrative that is increasingly angry and militant. What a difference 30 years makes. With some countries legalizing same-sex marriage, more prominent out public-figures, and the Gen X/Y crowd leading the way in acceptance and tolerance, it's clear that times are changing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. But for many LGBT people across the world, homophobia, fear and hate remains a daily reality. Many in the global business community have been leading by example -- including Microsoft -- but more work remains to ensure that, as written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "the inherent dignity and ...equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family," are realized. I would like share my personal story -- my personal journey, really. That means going back 30 years to 1985 when I was living in Houston, Texas and leading State Government and Community Affairs for a Fortune 500 oil and natural gas company. Advertisement Things were happening in Houston. The local economy was booming and the city had just elected a woman as mayor. The mayor was a whip-smart visionary who recognized the economic and business value of diversity and inclusion. She drove a progressive policy agenda through the city council, including an ordinance to end discrimination in the hiring of Houston city employees based on their sexual orientation. Forward-looking members of the Houston City Council shared the Mayor's vision and adopted the ordinance. However, this being Houston in 1985, a number of the city's so-called business leaders came together to lead a referendum effort to overturn the Council's vote. Gay by Night, Straight by Day At the time I was gay by night but straight by day, which is a recipe for hours on a therapist's couch! I was solely focused on climbing the corporate ladder and nothing was going to get in my way, not even my true self. So one day I nodded quiet approval during a meeting as the Chairman and other senior executives discussed the financial support the company would provide to the repeal effort. I remember that meeting as if it were yesterday. Their jokes, hatred and fear that Houston would become "another San Francisco." That day was a turning point in my life. I was torn apart emotionally and so tired of hiding who I really was. That evening I called the equality campaign and began raising money for the campaign by passing baskets around one of the city's gay bars asking for campaign donations. I volunteered that night and most nights until election day by fundraising, phone banking and door-to-door campaigning. Advertisement Sadly, homophobia and fear prevailed on election day and the non-discrimination ordinance was repealed. "You'll Never Get Another Job In Corporate America" A few months after the meeting with the Chairman and other senior executives, I left the company to spend the next ten years working in the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities in California; Washington, DC; and New York. The HIV/AIDS crisis was running rampant. By living my life's lie in Houston, I realized I was contributing to the fear, ignorance and discrimination because there was scarce understanding within many corporations that members of the LGBT community were significant contributors to their bottom line as employees, consumers, investors and more. I quickly learned that by coming out, I could help to raise awareness and dispel stereotypes. Before leaving the company I told a friend about my plans and he said, "Well, good luck, but you better realize you will never get another job in corporate America if you work on 'those issues'." In a way, he was right. I never did not get a job in the same corporate America which I left behind in Houston. Advertisement In November 2015, I celebrated my 17 anniversary at Microsoft where I am senior director for Business and Corporate Responsibility. This position gives me the opportunity to work internally across Microsoft business groups and externally with a wide range of stakeholders on a number of issues -- including human rights. I also have the privilege of serving alongside my terrific co-chair Cynthia Per-Lee as Executive Sponsor of GLEAM, Gay and Lesbian Employees at Microsoft. When I was hired in 1998 Microsoft valued not only my experience and background but also who I was as a person -- an openly gay man proud of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS work I had done for over a decade. Microsoft's commitment to diversity and inclusion did not start when I joined the company. In 1993, Microsoft became the first Fortune 500 company to provide same-sex domestic partnership benefits and Microsoft was also one of the first companies to include sexual orientation in its corporate non-discrimination policy. We have a long and proud history of adopting forward-looking global policies based on our commitment to equality for all. Homosexual Relationships are Still Punishable by Death During Davos 2015, my colleague Beth Brooke-Marciniak, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy at EY, and I had the honor of hosting a meeting of a large number of global companies to discuss our collective commitments to LGBT equality. Since last year's discussion there have been tremendous gains made in LGBT inclusion, non-discrimination and equality. Advertisement In 2015 alone, same-sex marriage became legally recognized in Luxembourg, Slovenia, Ireland, and the United States. But this progress is not represented evenly across the globe. Many countries and even some U.S. states still have no laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In a number of countries, homosexual relationships and expression is still considered a crime, even punishable by death, and restrictions against activities including adoption, gender reassignment surgery, and military service continue. This is why the discussions we will be having on LGBT issues in Davos later this month are so important. Thought-leading companies working in partnership with civil society organizations, government leaders, members of the faith community, human rights organizations, investors and others have the opportunity and responsibility to shine a bright light on the business and social value of diversity and inclusion. At Microsoft, we believe diversity is a pre-requisite for success. It helps drive our business and our bottom line. Our ability to create technology that empowers every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more can only be achieved thanks to our employees and by supporting them to achieve more. I left a homophobic and transphobic environment to be who I was, and I know this made be able to achieve so much more. This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and The World Economic Forum aimed at providing insights into working conditions for LGBT-oriented people around the world, and the personal journeys of some of the high profile leaders that are striving to make a difference. The series is running one week before the commencement of the Forum's Annual Meeting 2016 (in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, Jan. 20-23). Read all the posts in the series here. I met David Bowie in 1994, during the war in Bosnia. Bowie was deeply troubled by ethnic cleansing of Bosniak Muslims by Croats and Serbs. He used his celebrity discreetly yet effectively to raise awareness about events in Bosnia. I knew Bowie as a humanitarian and a man of principle. Bowie and I met at the Imperial War Museum in London. I was accompanied by Haris Silajdzic, Bosnia's Prime Minister. Arrangements were made by Bob Summer, the former CEO of SONY Music, and his wife Susan. The purpose of our meeting was to view a painting owned by Bowie called "Croatians and Muslim." The painting depicted two Croatian men raping a Muslim woman, while pushing her head into a toilet. Bowie described the painting as "evocative and devastating." Advertisement The image was so troubling that the Imperial War Museum disowned it. Bowie stepped into the controversy, buying the art work from the Scottish painter, Peter Howson, for $28,000. Art, whether visual or musical, was a call to action. With the help of Bowie's publicist, we lined-up dozens of media meetings at the Dorchester Hotel. Silajdzic went from room to room, 10 minutes each, doing television interviews. Bob and Susan hosted a small private dinner. Bowie was there. Brian Eno, the musician and master recording engineer, attended with Anthea. Peter Howson was present. Other personalities in the British rock scene were also seated. The dinner conversation focused on the siege of Sarajevo. Not unlike what's happening today in the Syrian town of Madaya, Sarajevo was encircled. Serbian artillery fired indiscriminately. Snipers took deadly aim. Residents had no food or water. Advertisement We talked about the impact of Towson's painting. Guests expressed horror at the systematic use of sexual violence against Bosniak Muslims. We explored organizing a series of meetings to establish rape as a war crime. Bowie thought the siege of Sarajevo could be broken by holding a concert, and offered to perform. Safe passage was his pre-condition. The journey to Sarajevo was a scary trip in 1994. Driving from Croatia over Mt. Igman was treacherous. The road was built on crumbling limestone. There were many road blocks and land mines. Alternatively, the UN provided a shuttle service from Zagreb to Sarajevo using old Antanov propeller planes. The shuttle service was sarcastically called "Maybe Airlines." Flights were often canceled. Some took off, but never landed. Silajdzic proposed dates for Bowie's concert in the spring. The UN Department of Peace-keeping Operations suggested we travel by helicopter. I kept trying to confirm arrangements with Bowie, but he wouldn't commit. Bowie later revealed his phobia for helicopters. The Sarajevo concert never happened. Bosnian Serb forces intensified their attacks against UN safe areas. The slaughter continued through the following summer when 8,000 men and boys were killed in Srebrenica. I ran into Bowie backstage at Carnegie Hall a few years later. He was performing at a fund raising event for Tibet House. Advertisement We reminisced about Bosnia; discussed the Dayton Peace Agreement. He updated me on Brian Eno's charity called "War Child," a music school for war traumatized youth in Croatia. In his book, A Year, Eno wrote: "Incidentally one of the connections we made was this guy named David Phillips, from an organization called the Congressional Human Rights Foundation, and he has proven extremely helpful: sort of taking Anthea and War Child under his wing, introducing her to all sorts of useful contacts." I was honored to help. Bowie and Eno are good people. They are humble stars who helped mobilize the music industry in response to Bosnia, and to promote peace and human rights in other violent corners of the world. The world knows Bowie as an innovator in the fields of music, fashion, and drama. David Bowie was also a world class humanitarian. He was strong, yet understated. He was principled, yet discreet. Bowie gave voice to the voiceless, using many instruments at his disposal to bend the arc of history towards justice. On January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, people throughout the world will remember victims of the Holocaust. In Lithuania, teachers and students will join this day of commemoration by launching a project called "The Rescue of Another is the Highest Human Virtue." The new project aims to "encourage the younger generation to understand that everyone is responsible for his or her actions, that good deeds and noble actions reveal a person's moral and spiritual value," according to the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, which is organizing the initiative along with the Vilnius Jewish Public Library. Throughout this small Baltic country, on this 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, students will begin seeking out elders in their communities in a concerted search for untold stories of rescue - instances when non-Jewish Lithuanians sought to save their Jewish neighbors from death during World War II. Advertisement For centuries, Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors lived in Lithuania relatively peaceably. But during World War II, this place of relative harmony became a land of ghettos and mass murder. By the end of the war, only 6 percent of Lithuania's 240,000 Jews remained alive. Some of the Jews who did remain alive were saved by non-Jewish Lithuanians who smuggled them out of ghettos, pulled them out of death marches, concealed them in barns and cubbyholes, and secretly passed them from home to home. Renowned rescuers in Lithuania include Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat stationed in the city of Kaunas who defied orders to help thousands escape to safety, and Ona Simaite, a librarian at Vilnius University who made repeated forays into the Vilna ghetto to bring in money and bring out children. Dr. Petras Baublys worked with the Jewish underground in the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto to hide dozens of children in his orphanage. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Israel, has honored 877 Lithuanian "righteous gentiles" who risked their lives to save Jews. Advertisement At the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, an exhibit called Rescued Lithuanian Jewish Child Tells About the Shoah presents the stories of children who survived with the help of their Lithuanian neighbors. "These stories show that people had a choice," said curator Danute Selcinskaya. "This is the medicine for the unhealing wounds of the Holocaust." The exhibit does not whitewash the fact that rescuers were few and far between within the Lithuanian population. "We talk about the killers," Selcinskaya said, "and about the many Lithuanians who participated in the civil administration of the Nazi regime. The stories we tell are as complex as the reality." As students talk with their elders about the lost Jewish world, they will help to determine whether Lithuania is destined to be a place where neo-Nazi voices grow louder, or a land where people take Holocaust remembrance seriously and dedicate themselves to ensuring that such a tragedy cannot happen again. Together, old and young will explore questions of vital importance: What do we expect of ordinary people in extraordinary times? What would I have done? And what will I do? Co-authored with Adam Eichen, Board of Directors Democracy Matters and Maguire fellow, researcher at Sciences Po, Paris In his State of the Union, President Obama called for "reducing the influence of money in our politics." Fantastic. He has heard the growing cry of the 85 percent of us who want big changes (with almost half of us wanting a complete rebuild!) in how America funds elections. Eighty-five percent? Yes, whether its climate change, economic inequality, or a biased justice system,Americans grasp that solutions depend on ourtackling big money's corruption of our political system. Advertisement The President then told us that change "will depend on you"--that we citizens must "demand it." And we are. We are building a citizens' movement for democracy, and many of us will soon be taking to the streets: Starting April 2nd in a mass action called Democracy Spring thousands will march from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. If pending money-out-of-politics and voting rights legislation has not passed, on April 11th more than 1,500 citizens have already pledged to risk arrest in a non-violent sit-in at the Capitol. In this blog we share some powerful evidence of what works to reduce money's corrupting influence, but first a bit about why Democracy Spring is necessary. Just a few numbers--very big and very small--capture the crisis it addresses: The aggregate cost of all federal races climbed from $4 billion in 2004 to over $5 billion in 2008 to more than $6 billion in 2012. The cost of the 2016 election is set to climb higher still. At the same time, the share of Americans footing these bills is minuscule and shrinking: By mid-fall 2015, a mere 158 families and their corporations had already contributed almost half, $176 million, of early money going to presidential campaigns. Think of it this way: A group the size of a high school marching band shaping the fate of the United States. Advertisement The problem is that even though most Americans see this crisis, they don't also perceive a big part of the solution there for us to grab: Public financing. It's an approach our Supreme Court doesn't object to and is used by a vast majority of global democracies where elections are commonly seen as a public good. In the United States, partial public funding through matching funds for presidential campaigns--conditioned on candidates accepting strict spending limits--began in 1976, triggered by the 1973 Watergate scandal. In its first year, public funds covered almost 60 percent of presidential campaign costs. But public financing was never increased to reflect ballooning private-campaign contributions; so in 2008 candidate Obama decided he would be greatly handicapped by the program's spending limits and opted out. In Congress, bills to make public (or citizen) financing of presidential and congressional campaigns viable languish for lack of citizen action demanding a solution. They offer two approaches: One, matching systems in which the government funds (e.g. six to one) eligible candidates based on the number of small-money contributions they receive from constituents. Two, voucher systems, such as Seattle voters approved in 2015 for city council races, that give each registered voter a voucher worth a certain sum that can be used to support any candidate opting into the program. We're convinced that if Americans see the benefits and speak up Congress will act. Benefits start with the obvious: Public funding means a financial elite will likely exert less power over public policy. Also, matching funds tied to the number of small donors motivates candidates to reach out directly to as many voters as possible--rather than only to those who can afford to show up at high-ticket fundraisers. (In Mitt Romney's case, make that $50,000-a-plate dinners!) Advertisement Fortunately, the experience of three states and one city--Maine and Arizona since 2000, Connecticut since 2008, and New York City since 1988--gives us a taste of the many benefits of broad public financing: Public financing increases the political participation of women and people of color. In Arizona, in 2004, the number of Latino and Native American candidates had nearly tripled compared to the pre-public financing period. Increased diversity has also been found in Connecticut, where 85 percent of the 2014 candidates in the general election relied on public financing to win their seats. In New York City, people of color comprised the majority of the city council in 2012. With public financing, fewer races are uncontested because the system lessens incumbents' funding advantage. Also great for democracy, the range of viewpoints among candidates widens, giving voters more choice. In Maine, the number of candidates has doubled since Clean Elections began. Minnesota also deserves a shout out, as in 1976 it was the first state to adopt public financing, though more limited than the three states above. In all, 13 states plus 17 cities and counties have adopted lump-sum payments and/or matching funds for some offices. To encourage us further, consider this evidence of citizen enthusiasm... 72 percent of Americans favor small-money, public-matching funds, found a late-2015 poll. Several public-financing ballot initiatives in 2015 succeeded--big time. In Maine, voters strengthened their existing law by increasing funds for public financing and expanding disclosure rules. In Seattle, residents overwhelmingly voted for public financing via a system providing voters four $25 vouchers each to support their candidates. (In 2014, Tallahassee passed similar rules, 2 to 1.) When Connecticut's legislature revealed it was considering a temporary suspension of public financing to help deal with a budget short fall, an immediate and vehement citizen backlash forced it to recant. But, naysayers say, money, like water, will always find an outlet. True, leaks happen, but that doesn't mean we can't turn off a gushing faucet! Advertisement And there's another source of energy for us. It's Democracy Spring, with which we began. Seventy organizations have so far publicly agreed to join, and celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Lawrence Lessig, and Cenk Unger have made the pledge. I, Frances, have signed on, too. Democracy Spring is poised to be one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in a generation--or what we prefer to call acts of civic obedience to what democracy requires of its citizens when it is under threat. Syrian refugee students participate in a lesson during the visit of the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides, to their school in Taanayel, in the eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. The European Commission will give 62 million Euro in humanitarian aid to support Syrians displaced by the conflict inside the war-torn country. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) LONDON -- This year has started off with a shocking escalation in malnutrition, disease and homelessness as Syria's displaced population moves towards the 12 million mark. And with the civil war soon to enter its sixth year, there is growing alarm about the long-term impact on the lives and prospects of the nearly 6 million children displaced. Deprived of their homes and exiled from their communities, the majority are now being denied the education they need. Some girls and boys will now go through their entire school days without ever entering a classroom. Hundred of thousands of children are estimated to have left with their families on dangerous voyages to Europe, but there are about 10 times as many -- some 4 million boys and girls -- currently displaced from their homes and communities within Syria itself and another 2 million holed up mainly in tents, shacks and hovels scattered around Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. Advertisement A 5-year-old Kurdish boy poses in a migrant and refugee camp near Dunkirk, France, on January 12, 2016. (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images) According to a recently released by UNICEF and Save the Children, far too many children displaced by the current war in Syria have been forced into labor, including in Jordan, where nearly half of Syrian refugee children are working. They are often exposed to illegal activities and unsafe conditions. An organization called Girls Not Brides has stated that rates of child marriage among refugee girls are rising fast, with child trafficking also on the increase. It is a well-established fact that the best way to counteract child exploitation is to ensure compulsory school registration. What's more, without the offer of schooling for their children, many parents lose hope in ever catering for their children in the vicinity of Syria and, for the sake of their children's futures, decide that there is no alternative but to leave for Europe. But there is some good news to report in an otherwise harrowing picture of neglect and chaos. In a unique initiative which creates double shifts in existing schools, the Lebanese government has taken 200,000 vulnerable children off the streets and awarded them places in schools. Advertisement An Iraqi girl from the Yazidi minority carries firewood on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq in January 2015. (AP Photo/ Seivan Selim, File) Under the double-shift system, local Lebanese children are educated in the morning in neighborhood schools in French and English, but in the afternoons and early evenings the same classrooms are opened up to refugee children, who are often taught in Arabic. And because the double-shift system uses existing schools and avoids the huge additional costs of building new schools, Lebanon plans to expand its coverage of public schools available to refugee children to more than 1,200, plus an additional 259 will offer double shifts at a cost of just $500 per pupil. The success of the Lebanese experiment makes it possible to offer schooling across Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan to 1 million refugee boys and girls during the course of 2016. While Lebanon proposes to almost double its intake, Turkey plans to increase its school spots for refugees from just over 200,000 to almost 400,000 this year. In Jordan, where over 120,000 refugees are already in school, the plan is to reach 90,000 more. Thanks to European Union funding and contributions from both public and private sectors in the region itself, one-third of the necessary $750 million has been raised to finance this initiative. Ousama, a 10-year-old boy, grazes sheep at a farm near the Syrian town of Douma. (ABD DOUMANY/AFP/Getty Images) And when the Syria Donors Conference takes place in London in early February, under the auspices of Norway, the U.K., Germany and Kuwait, the challenge is to raise the remaining $500 million from donors across the world. The Syrian refugee initiative is essential if we are to solve the problem of delivering education in emergencies. Last September the world committed itself to universal primary and secondary education by 2030. But only this week UNICEF reported that a quarter of the world's out-of-school children -- 24 million -- are in conflict zones, demonstrating that we can only ever achieve universal education for girls and boys at primary and secondary levels if we first bridge the gap in humanitarian aid for education in emergencies. But the current allocation for education is just a fraction of humanitarian budgets: what's necessary for bare survival -- food, shelter, health care -- comes first. So it makes sense to create a new window for funding emergency aid for education. That is why, when the World Humanitarian Summit meets in Istanbul in May, another humanitarian breakthrough is urgently needed -- a new platform delivering education in emergencies. Advertisement Out of tragedy and chaos some good may come. Earlier on WorldPost: FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, speaks in Des Moines, Iowa. The committee has voted to approve Dr. Robert Califf to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, but the nomination may face trouble on the Senate floor. Sanders has opposed Califf over pharmaceutical prices. The Democratic presidential contender has said he is considering holding up the nomination. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) My latest Huffington Post article on Clinton's 2008 persona as "Pro-Gun Churchgoer" was recently quoted in The Atlantic, along with another reference to Obama calling today's anti-gun crusader "Annie Oakley." Yes, Clinton has evolved on federal gun legislation, along with Iraq, Keystone XL, the TPP, gay marriage, marijuana legislation, sending U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS, and other contentious issues. Like a recent headline in The International Business Times states, "Hillary Clinton Flip-Flopping On Ground Troops To Fight ISIS? Before US Sends Troops To Iraq, Clinton Says No To Deployment After First Saying Yes." Clinton's latest attempt at labeling Bernie Sanders the Ted Nugent of Democrats doesn't only ignore his lifetime D-minus rating from the NRA; it illustrates fear. Sanders has once again surpassed Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, and when he wins both, could easily take South Carolina. With three initial losses, Clinton's Southern "firewall" and hopes at a big Super Tuesday would be done, and the positive media coverage alone would propel Sanders throughout the primaries. Advertisement Then of course, wins in Iowa and New Hampshire would focus attention on the reasons non-white Democrats throughout the South and the nation would vote for Clinton. When more attention is paid to Clinton's 3 a.m. ad against Obama, use of race and Islamophobia against Obama, and Congressman James Clyburn's recollection of how both Clintons treated Obama in 2008, South Carolina will easily shift to Sanders. Boston's Black Lives Matter President Daunasia Yancey referred to Clinton's racial justice record as "abysmal." The Clinton campaign accepted money from prison lobbyists. In addition, for some unknown reason, Hillary Clinton waited almost three weeks to make a statement on Michael Brown's death and Ferguson, despite the fact African Americans vote around 90% for Democrats in presidential elections. Nobody knows why Clinton waited so long to make a statement on Ferguson. When media coverage is given to Clinton's record on race and her 2008 campaign against Obama (Sanders wins in Iowa and New Hampshire will lead to this coverage), early leads in South Carolina will dwindle as fast as leads in Iowa and New Hampshire. Like Barack Obama in 2008, Bernie Sanders is the far more progressive and trustworthy candidate with immense grass roots support. While 59% of American voters believe Clinton is "not honest and trustworthy" and 51% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Clinton (one poll cites 55% of voters), Bernie Sanders has positive favorability ratings. In fact, while both Donald Trump and Clinton are viewed in a negative manner by most people, Sanders is the only leading presidential candidate with positive trustworthiness and favorability ratings. Advertisement The only leading candidate in 2016 (Ted Cruz, like Trump and Clinton has a negative favorability rating) with positive favorability numbers is Bernie Sanders. Think about that for a moment. The candidate with the least amount of media coverage, and the candidate thought of as unable to win a general election by some pundits (even though he beats Trump in a "landslide of epic proportions"), is the only candidate in 2016 with positive favorability numbers. Hillary Clinton has negative favorability scores in 10 out 10 national polls according to HuffPost Pollster, with seven polls indicating over 50% of Americans possess an "unfavorable" viewpoint of the former Secretary of State. Donald Trump also has negative favorability scores in 10 out of 10 national polls, one of the many similarities both share with one another. In contrast, Bernie Sanders has positive favorability scores in 6 out of 10 national polls, with two polls leaning negative by less than three points. This helps explain why Sanders was able to attract crowds totaling over 100,000 people, just several months after announcing his bid for the presidency. For these reasons, and the three reasons listed below, Bernie Sanders will defeat both Clinton and a billionaire xenophobe named Trump to win the presidency. He'll also be able to achieve a stunning victory, primarily because even today (without the benefit of Iowa and New Hampshire wins), Bernie Sanders "destroys" Trump in a general election by 13 points. Advertisement When the three issues presented below erase the myth of inevitability from the Clinton campaign, and the hollow arrogance from Trump's manufactured brand image, voters will elect Sanders in a landslide. 1.Bernie Sanders continues to surge in the polls, despite getting 1/23 the television coverage of Donald Trump, and without Clinton's universal name recognition. Imagine when Bernie wins Iowa and New Hampshire, and the notion of Clinton's inevitability, along with fears pertaining to Bernie's inability to win, are shattered. Despite a lack of media coverage and other obstacles, Sanders has achieved record-breaking fundraising totals, as illustrated in a Huffington Post piece titled Bernie Sanders Becomes the First Presidential Candidate to Reach Two Million Individual Campaign Contributions: In 2008, Obama Had Just One Million: Tonight, Bernie Sanders received the final dollars he needed to break a historic milestone. The senator officially hit two million individual campaign contributions, a feat that no other U.S. presidential candidate has achieved at this point in an election. To put that number in context, Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign managed to break just one million contributions. Sanders literally has twice what Obama had. Not only that, but Sanders reached two million faster than President Obama reached one. Sanders was able to break Obama's records without massive media attention and widespread name recognition. He also had the Democratic establishment scheduling debates in Clinton's favor. Imagine what happens after two initial wins. Advertisement 2.Remember the poll stating Americans won't vote for a socialist? Well, Bernie Sanders isn't a Fox News socialist, he's a Democratic Socialist like Theodore Roosevelt and FDR. Iowa and New Hampshire wins, along with widespread media coverage, will highlight this fact. Nothing exemplifies Bernie Sanders becoming a modern-day Theodore Roosevelt like Robert Reich's latest piece in The Huffington Post titled The Big Short and Bernie's Plan to Bust Up Wall Street: Most importantly, the movie shows why Bernie Sanders's plan to break up the biggest banks and reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act (separating investment from commercial banking) is necessary -- and why Hillary Clinton's more modest plan is inadequate. ...More than a century ago, Teddy Roosevelt broke up the Standard Oil Trust because it posed a danger to the U.S. economy. Today, Wall Street's biggest banks pose an even greater danger. They're far larger than they were before the crash of 2008. Like Joseph Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, and others, Reich agrees with Bernie Sanders on Wall Street reform. Reich also states that Bernie's plan is "necessary," while Clinton's "more modest plan is inadequate." 3.Vice President Joe Biden's praise of Bernie Sanders highlights the main difference between Sanders and Clinton, and explains why Sanders would easily defeat a GOP challenger for the presidency. Advertisement A recent CNN article titled Biden praises Sanders on income inequality, calls Clinton 'relatively new' to the fight, highlights exactly why only Bernie Sanders will address the structural issues plaguing the U.S. economy: "Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real. And he has credibility on it," Biden said during an interview with CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. "It's relatively new for Hillary to talk about that," Biden continued... "Hillary's focus has been other things up to now, and that's been Bernie's -- no one questions Bernie's authenticity on those issues," he said. Wealth inequality is a major issue in both parties and 63% of Americans according to Gallup believe "money and wealth distribution is unfair." In addition to so many other differences, "authenticity" separates Sanders, from both Trump and Clinton. Iowa and New Hampshire will be remembered forever as the two states that ushered in a new era of American politics, one where Bernie Sanders will emulate Teddy Roosevelt and battle the "malefactors of great wealth" to defend against future financial collapses and endless military quagmires. After these initial wins for Bernie Sanders, the media will finally jump on the bandwagon, leading to a landslide victory for Sanders in 2016. The three reasons above (as well as the possibility of the FBI ending Clinton's campaign with future revelations) reflect an undercurrent of support that will become a nationwide phenomenon after Iowa and New Hampshire. I explain why I'm only voting for Bernie Sanders in this 60 second YouTube segment. In my recent appearance on The Thom Hartmann Program, I explain why Bernie Sanders will become president. This article originally appeared on Inverse. By Yasmin Tayag If you know any 18-year-olds that returned from their first semester at college this year, announcing their pansexuality, you're probably not alone. According to new national survey data from the CDC, same-sex attraction is a growing trend among young Americans. The report on data collected between 2011 and 2013, released today, suggests that men and women aged 18 to 44 in the United States no longer think in terms of absolutes when discussing sexuality. Advertisement Men, for example, are now more likely to say they are mostly attracted -- rather than only attracted, as in previous years -- to the opposite sex. In particular, younger Americans aged 18-24 were more likely to do so than those aged 25-44. In general, the survey's findings on sexual behavior, attraction, and orientation are similar to the results from the report on data from 2006-2010, but the findings on orientation represent a major shift in the way Americans think about sexuality. The trend follows a recent wave of high-profile celebrities publicly discussing bisexuality and pansexuality. These 11 Celebs Want You To Know Theyre Proud To Be Bisexual https://t.co/9fAgnKnhnl pic.twitter.com/NO0MbFCoFu MTV News (@MTVNews) January 2, 2016 This time around, more women reported having had same-sex sexual contact (17.4 percent) than in the previous survey (14.2 percent). Bisexuality is becoming increasingly common, with 5.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men identifying as such compared to 3.9 percent and 1.2 percent of women in the previous survey. Advertisement Interest in "pansexuality" has increased substantially in recent years, according to Google Trends data. The results could suggest that the new generation of American adults are more accepting of, or at least more comfortable with, the idea of same-sex relationships as well as the concept of gender fluidity. While more data is needed to confirm this, the findings are in line with the uptick in interest in pansexuality -- a term that describes a broader type of attraction that isn't particularly gendered -- especially among American youth. MORE FROM INVERSE: This article originally appeared on Inverse. By John Knefel Human bodies are frail machines contrived of snapping sinew and breakable bones. We know this. Hell, we're self-conscious about it. Since Dr. Edward E. Smith sprinkled electric exoskeletons into his sci-fi epics in the late '30s (inspiring Starship Troopers author Robert Heinlein) imagineers have been outfitting humanity with robosuits designed to give us strengths in keeping with our outsized imaginations. Like autonomous weapons and self-driving helicopters, robosuits are now a reality, but Dr. Smith's vision seems increasingly foolish. We're making ourselves stronger, but we're not making ourselves into weapons -- and we may give up the ghost on that effort before the decade ends. Robotic exoskeletons currently exist in various stages of development and implementation. Most prototypes are designed to help with manual labor or to serve as medical aids for those suffering from mobility-limiting injuries -- people like Mark Pollock, who was rendered paralyzed from the waist down by a spinal injury and can now walk with help from a leg mount produced by the robotics company Esko. These devices augment the abilities of people, allowing them to lift more than they could (even when that's just themselves), but they do not add to those abilities. Iron Man waits in the wings. The main obstacle preventing engineers from creating a suit capable of acting as a tank/plane/forward operating base is lag time, which is a minor issue for assembly line workers and a big issue for soldiers. The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, which the Department of Defense has been working on for two decades, has never been deployed. In October, General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command told CNN that "the TALOS program has churned out several prototypes and is on track to deliver a first-generation suit by August 2018." That's hard to believe -- just ask the private sector. Advertisement According to a new report from ABI Research, which predicts the commercial exoskeleton market will be worth $2 billion by 2025. "Lower body exoskeletons, employed as rehabilitation tools or quality of life enablers, currently lead the sector," ABI said in a statement on their findings. "However, commercial systems that augment or amplify capabilities will exhibit the strongest growth moving forward. This is especially true for industrial tasks requiring heavy lifting, extended standing, squatting, bending or walking in manufacturing facilities, particularly within construction and agriculture industries." One of the most impressive exoskeletons on the market comes from Cyberdyne, a Japanese company that happens to share a name with the Terminator prime mover. Their Hybrid Assisted Limb device comes in several models, some for medical use and some for laborers. This summer, Cyberdyne announced a pilot program at Haneda Airport to outfit some workers with lumbar-supporting robo-skeletons to make lifting luggage easier, citing Japan's aging population and low birth rates as two issues they hope to address by easing physical stress from manual labor. Another promising application of exoskeletons comes from Noonee, a company based in Switzerland that makes a product called the "chairless chair." They've had a trial run at an Audi manufacturing plant, and they reportedly have plans for a trial run with BMW. Workers strap braces to their legs that allow them to sit comfortably wherever they're standing, like they're sitting on an invisible seat. There's a growing market for simpler, unpowered exoskeletons as well. A new knee brace from manufacturer Spring Loaded promises to reduce fatigue and prevent knee injuries in athletes and the elderly. Advertisement Whether that lag for these devices can be squeezed so much that users can no longer perceive a delay is unclear, but the devices remain useful even if they slow operators down to some degree. They provide strength. That's it. On a functional basis -- on any basis really -- they share little in common with Swiss Army knives. One function is enough. And so it was meant to be for the military. Congress has already allocated $80 million for the TALOS project, but the suit could end up costing "hundreds of millions more to perfect the sophisticated technology," according to the website Defense Tech. Former Republican Senator Tom Coburn included TALOS in his 2014 "Wastebook," an annual report he issued on what he saw as unnecessary government spending. The reason for the inclusion is that the results are somewhat bizarre. According to The Economist, current versions of the robosuit weigh in around 400 pounds, limit shoulder mobility, and run out of power quickly. The idea of building an engine to run the suits has been met with the Pentagon version of guffaws. Noisy suits don't help ground forces sneak up on their targets, and asking soldiers to wear gas tanks seems unwise. More importantly, there's no real reason to think special operations troops actually want any of this gear in the first place. In May, The Intercept's Ryan Devereaux attended the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in Florida, where he was told by one former operator that TALOS had sprawled out of control. "The program started when [Former SOCOM chief Admiral William McRaven] was at SOFIC and said he wanted something that would prevent our first man through the door/door breacher from catching one in the face and taking a long dirt nap," Jack Murphy, a veteran of the U.S. army's 75th Ranger Regiment and 5th Special Forces Group, as well as Editor-in-Chief of SofRep.com, told The Intercept. He explained, "It is a serious concern and something worth trying to find a solution to, but from there it morphed into this Iron Man suit project that no one was actually asking for." It wouldn't be the first time that Pentagon brass delivered high tech equipment that troops didn't want. In the 1990s, the Pentagon began a program called Land Warrior with the goal of giving soldiers better battlefield awareness with high tech digital maps and radios. After several stops and starts, the gear was finally used in combat in Iraq in 2009. The verdict from the grunts? "It's just a bunch of stuff we don't use, taking the place of useful stuff like guns," Sgt. James Young told Popular Mechanics at the time. The chairless chair isn't as exciting as TALOS, but it may be a more meaningful implementation of exoskeleton technology. We all want to be able to do more but it turns out that doing better more comfortably ain't nothing. Exoskeletons allow us to conceal our human weakness, but they don't provide us with new strengths -- not now and maybe not ever. MORE FROM INVERSE: Local residents display signs demanding better food safety during a demonstration in Taipei on December 12, 2015. Hundreds of Taiwanese took to the streets to protest the acquittal of a tycoon accused of selling tainted cooking oil, in a string of food scandals that sparked widespread anger. AFP PHOTO / Sam Yeh / AFP / SAM YEH (Photo credit should read SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images) TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Recent developments in Taiwan, from the boisterous campaign leading up to this weekend's presidential election to last November's Singapore meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan, have resulted in unusual amounts of coverage for a nation that is otherwise far too often ignored by the international community. Much of this attention, however, has suffered from a tendency among international media and analysts to look at Taiwan almost exclusively through the lens of its challenging relationship with China and from the assumption that China is unremittingly on the minds of the Taiwanese. This fixation on China is not only misleading, but it also denies us the ability to truly comprehend what lies behind the decisions that the island nation's 23 million people will make when they head for the polling stations on Jan. 16. The obsession with the China angle isn't difficult to understand. After all, the authoritarian giant across the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait refuses to recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and remains committed to reunification -- by force if necessary. That's a nightmarish scenario that many fear could drag the United States and possibly Japan into a war with China. Needless to say, this provides the perfect material for good storytelling, especially at a time when Taiwan seems poised to elect a president whose party, the Democratic Progressive Party, is perceived as less China-friendly than the one that has been in office over the past eight years, the Chinese Nationalist Party. But a good story doesn't mean it's true. Advertisement Masked protesters carry skull effigies during a demonstration against air pollution and the government's energy policies in Taiwan in Dec. 2015. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images) All of this isn't to say that China doesn't figure at all in the calculations that Taiwanese voters will make on Jan. 16. As Taiwan's largest trade partner and primary security threat, not to mention the many cultural and linguistic affinities between the two countries, China is inexorably a concern for ordinary Taiwanese. But to argue that everything they do and who they vote for in elections is directly related to and influenced by China completely misses what the Taiwanese are all about. Like in any other country that is blessed with the ability to hold elections, the concerns of voters here are primarily domestic. Ordinary Taiwanese live their lives very much as the citizens of a normal country. In fact, I would argue that in their minds, the status of Taiwan is a non-issue: they know who they are and more importantly, as polls tracking the self-identification of the Taiwanese clearly indicate, they know who they aren't. When it comes to China, Taiwanese today -- especially the youth -- regard it simply as another country, one that offers both opportunities and risks. Though the majority of them have no interest in being part of the People's Republic of China, they are not "anti-China." They simply want normal relations with it, which largely explains why President Ma Ying-jeou's efforts to liberalize relations with Beijing didn't encounter substantial resistance initially and why all the candidates in the current election have all committed to continuity and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Of much greater interest and relevance to ordinary Taiwanese voters are the policies that will affect their immediate lives -- the economy, employment, housing, healthcare, education, corruption, food safety, nuclear safety, good governance and so on. The kind of things that ordinary people in ordinary countries worry about. And it is primarily on those issues that the KMT struck out in recent years, generating widespread discontent with the ruling party both locally and at the national level. Advertisement The leaders of China and Taiwan at the first summit between the two sides since a civil war seven decades ago. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images) The KMT's fall from grace was the result of the lack of accountability and transparency, plus corruption and disregard for due process that characterized much of the second Ma administration (2012 onwards) on issues from deaths in the military to urban renewal. These controversies sparked major unrest during that period and most had nothing to do with China or were only tenuously related to it. And so when the Sunflower Movement struck in March 2014 over a controversial services trade agreement with China, launching a three week occupation of parliament, the main driver wasn't China per se but rather the perception that the government had lost all credibility and could not be trusted to negotiate a sensitive agreement that threatened vulnerable sectors of Taiwan's economy. This is also why a majority of Taiwanese can simultaneously favor, as opinion polls have shown, meetings between the Taiwanese and Chinese presidents and yet be critical of the meeting last November between the unpopular Ma and President Xi. A number of analyses have nevertheless suggested that the upcoming elections are some sort of a "referendum" on the KMT's China policy and that the expected defeat of the incumbent party is a sign that such a policy has failed. Similar claims were made about local elections in Nov. 2014. But that simply isn't the case. Tsai Ing-wen, presidential candidate for Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, at a rally in Jan. 2016. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images) And yet the KMT failed to propose policies to address domestic concerns and rebuild its credibility with the public in the current election cycle, both under its initial presidential candidate, Hung Hsiu-chu, and now under Eric Chu, who her in October. It additionally chose to turn the focus toward China, where it hopes perhaps to have an advantage over its opponent in the election. But Hung's insistence on deepening the relationship with China may in fact have hurt the party -- her proposals went beyond what Taiwanese regard as acceptable levels of engagement. But shifting the discussion back to China (along with running a negative campaign) has had little incidence, if any at all, on the polls, which is proof enough that the KMT has failed to identify the issues that now drive Taiwanese society. It also explains why DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, whose campaign has focused almost exclusively on domestic issues, is doing much better and will likely be voted in on January 16. Tsai's decision to ally herself with the "third force" -- smaller parties that branched out of civil society and whose members were direct participants in the civic movements that defied the Ma administration in recent years -- has also contributed to her image as a leader who better understands and therefore could meet public expectations. Also on WorldPost: Take things at a slower pace on a luxury, boutique cruise - this year's biggest travel trend. What do you think when someone says 'cruise'? If the image that springs to mind is hundreds of silver-haired passengers packed onto an enormous vessel with nightly Michael Jackson tribute acts, think again. Cruising has taken on a new, boutique slant. These small, stylish boats have a limited number of cabins and all the trappings of a luxury hotel: think pool decks and cocktails; large, comfortable beds that face a balcony on which to watch the world go by; onboard expert guides and naturalists; and stops along the journey where the only moored boat is yours. Small ship cruising is the newest travel trend and the most elegant way to embrace slow travel. Climb on board in some of these destinations. Advertisement The newest cruising destination is Myanmar, where new, luxury boats are dipping their metaphorical toes into the waters of the Irrawaddy River. Following the route often called the 'road to Mandalay' after the Rudyard Kipling poem, these boats drift between Bagan and Mandalay. Sip a gin and tonic, recline on your sunlounger, and watch as you pass the golden temples that pepper the banks, the villages perched on stilts over the water, and little wooden fishing boats that put-put-put along the river. Many of us are too used to a fast-paced city existence, and taking things down a notch is a luxury few afford themselves. When to go? November to March The Strand, Myanmar Whilst these boats are not the most lavish, it's the destination that makes a Galapagos cruise so extraordinary. Tourism in these islands is strictly controlled, so there is never a huge amount of fellow travellers with whom to contend, but the better boats are the smallest. Spend your days sailing from one site to another: swim with the planet's most northerly penguins; meet the playful sea lions, ever curious about visitors; trek to the volcano craters for a panoramic view of the islands; and spot the ancient giant tortoises that Darwin made famous. When to go? Year-round Stella Maris, Galapagos The Indonesian archipelago is a diver's delight, with a rich marine life dwelling beneath the water's glittering surface. Giant manta rays sail serenely through the water, blacktip reef sharks patrol the coral banks, and mellow hawksbill turtles float along the current. Even for those who don't dive, spending time on the water is the best way to see the far-flung islands of Indonesia. Luxury phinisi boats - traditional two-mast ships - glide along the exotic shores of Raja Ampat in eastern Indonesia. Visit secluded white-sand beaches or journey to the Komodo Islands to glimpse the world's largest lizard, the prehistoric-looking Komodo dragon. When to go? May to October Alila Purnama, Indonesia Explore the deep, dense Amazon rainforest from the comfort of a luxury river cruise. Fly into Iquitos to begin your journey. As you sail along the river, you'll stop for excursions into the jungle, from nature walks to visiting villages nestled in the rainforest. Travellers can spot howler monkeys swooping through the trees, sloths creeping along gnarled branches, hummingbirds flitting from flower to flower, and rare pink dolphins frolicking in the river. Advertisement When to go? Year-round (though June to September is slightly drier) Aqua Expeditions, Peru The ultimate bucket list destination, Antarctica is everything you hoped: a remote, white desert accessible only to a privileged few. Spend your time on the famous Drake Passage taking in lectures about the White Continent, or simply fly straight to your awaiting boat in the icy waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. Kayak through a sea of floating icebergs, watch curious whales investigate your boat, visit penguin colonies as they huddle together at the water's edge, and spend a night camping on the ice. Above all, make sure you savour the experience of being somewhere that can still be considered one of the world's last great wildernesses. When to go? November to February Antarctica XXI The Mekong River is the world's 12th largest river, and flows from Tibet right through Southeast Asia, from Myanmar to Vietnam, where it opens up into the Mekong Delta and releases into the South China Sea. Between Saigon and Siem Reap, luxury boats meander through the waterways, passing rice paddies, floating markets where locals sell pineapples and fresh fish, and riverside villages that specialise in farming sugarcane and silk weaving. When to go? May to August for the best river conditions, or November to April for low water, but less rain The Jahan, Vietnam "Chihuahua is like one big ranch," says a local reporter who guides you around this desert city known for beef, cheese, sotol, cowboy boots ... and a growing middle class, thanks to the hundred plus multinational maquiladoras operating here with a focus on aerospace, medical equipment and automobile manufacturing. The "ranch" metaphor is meant to be welcoming, but it also lets you know that this city of nearly a million can still feel like a small town. This is the capital of Mexico's largest state, which goes by the same name. And yes, the diminutive and scrappy dog originated here -- as did Pancho Villa, and you can visit his homestead if you like. Advertisement It's not the typical city where you might expect to find street art, yet only a few blocks from the government palace downtown that holds two stories of wall paintings by Mexican muralist Aaron Pina Mora, you will find new paintings in the dusty side streets that indicate a more international flavor is present. Paola Delfin. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Largely conservative by most accounts, Chihuahua City in the twenty-teens has been sampling the flavors of the burgeoning global street art scene thanks two locally organized arts festivals; Ruta in 2013 and Centropolis in 2014, and to the stylistic adventuring of local artists on other walls outside these approved ones. Paola Delfin. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Local custom has been to dismiss those un-permissioned painters as cholos, a disparaging term referring to a criminal element. Today its not as simple to disparage this rising tide of painters in the streets when cities across Europe and the US are actually seeking out and inviting street artists and muralists to come and revitalize a neighborhood or draw youth into a city center. "Street art has traditionally been seen as a form of vandalism but thanks to the festivals that include visual artists as the special guest it is slowly changing the way people see graffiti and street art," explains Ivonne Dalila Miramontes, a curator and photographer who studied in the arts faculty of the Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, and who currently teaches visual arts to high school students. Advertisement Paola Delfin. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) "It's a subtle distinction but it's a big deal, because now the new murals have a meaning and people don't see art in the streets anymore strictly as vandalism and it has been a great opportunity for local artist to express themselves and be recognized as artists." You'll see tagging on abandoned walls in some neighborhoods, and there is a range of old-school graffiti styles represented along with political ads for candidates and commercial ads for muffler repair shops on the low flung long walls that run alongside some carreteras in Chihuahua. You'll also see uncommissioned paintings that are figurative, or minimally abstract, or have a more trained illustrators eye here and there. Suddenly it looks like there is a small mushrooming of art on the streets. Is it a movement, a sign of a future renaissance of arts and culture, as we have seen in many international cities, or is it a chance outcropping that will be stomped out or left to die in the sun? Adan Estrada AKA El Disko. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) "It is really great to be able to do my work in different cities," says Paola Delfin, one of the new breed of Mexican street artists who has travelled to festivals internationally at the invitation of organizers in Miami, Puerto Rico, Brazil, even Berlin. "I like to observe the impact that this work has on the people and on the environment in each of them. Coming from Mexico City where art, specifically muralism, has an important history, it's always interesting and inspiring to work in new places. Some cities like Berlin also have a huge background of art, muralism or street art, so people are more accustomed to this work." Advertisement HidroC. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) Delfin's own female-centric paintings here were completed during the Centropolis festival -- one with undulating wave-like hair that envelops the monochromatic figure on a partially decayed wall. The other painting uses a more realist technique she is experimenting with; levitating above the street perhaps to recall the magic realism famous in Latin literature by writers like the celebrated Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who wrote many of his greatest works while living in Mexico City for decades. "'Susana', the levitating modern girl, is a based on a girl I met during the festival," Delfin says, "She was helping all the artists there and she helped me a lot -- and I like to paint people who had some impact in my life somehow, and I asked here if I could use her as a model." Serene and still, the artist says the figure is meant to allude to a dangerous trade that has claimed many young women closer to the border four hours north of here. "I painted 'Susana' sleeping. She is waiting to wake up and find some peace surrounding her. For me she represents the young women up there." Of course some of the works touch on societal themes, and others can have political undertones. CRON. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) For Bebo, a Mexican artist who has created many of his trademark foxes as stencils and abtract linear forms on walls throughout cities south and north of the border, his work is allegorical -- although most passersby won't necessarily know how strong his intent is. "I use mostly foxes on my work. I think foxes' faces show how diverse they are physically as specimens but I also like their character - playful and mythical at the same time. " Advertisement "My work can't ignore this absurd political reality we are in. It feels like the whole of Mexico is a battle ground," he says as he talks about the five paintings he did in Chihuahua city in 2014. "My work can't reflect this reality but instead wants to change it. It is a small step to do something. My approach is entirely metaphysical. To fight against the ignorance I use my imagination. To fight against terror I use hope. I like to offer a different path." Eldeini. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) His path to Chihuahua was lead by Felix Lugo, a local artist and independent curator who organized the Street Artists with the Centropolis festival, which included three days music stages, theatre, traditional cultural events, and according to organizers, close to 100,000 people. Although not all of that foot traffic was here to see the murals, he thinks that a painting is often better than a blank wall. "I paint to open a dialogue on the streets," says Bebo, "It is like a window to establish change in a specific city and at the same time to connect people with each other." Ovrlnds and DISKO. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) For now, we offer you these images of a few remaining pieces and some brand new ones that were discovered around the city, as well as an abandoned spot north of the metropolis where you'll find more typical graffiti artists trying their hand at the spray can. Who knows if this warm and dry city can support the new generation of creative voices that are now being called on in many cities globally to create excitement and engage art fans, but we did see a few cafes and even a gallery or two where this art has been springing up. Advertisement Ovrlnds and Disko. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) "I do see a future for a large street art/mural festival," says Miramontes, who notes that local artists were energized by the attention that the plastic arts were receiving. "It made me feel that art is being taken seriously in my city. Also the murals are the only things that still remain after all the festivals, and when I pass by any of the artworks I remember being around while the artists were working and seeing friends, families and people in general having fun enjoying this form of art. We just need more people interested and involved in this environment so we can achieve success by bringing this kind of art to the community." Once La Nueva Miscelanea. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Santorini. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Jelly Fish. Detail. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Jelly Fish. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Colectivo Cholula. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Colectivo Cholula. Detail. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Mil Amores. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Mil Amores. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) Clasicco. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Detail. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo Jaime Rojo) BEBO. Santa Isabel. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) Artist Unknown. Santa Isabel. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) Artist Unknown. Santa Isabel. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) Artist Unknown. Santa Isabel. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) Artist Unknown. Santa Isabel. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo Jaime Rojo) <<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><> Please note: All content including images and text are BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer's name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks! <<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><> This article is also posted on Brooklyn Street Art. Read all posts by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo on The Huffington Post HERE. See new photos and read scintillating interviews every day on BrooklynStreetArt.com Follow us on Instagram @bkstreetart See our TUMBLR page The counterfeiting of goods is more problematic than what most people imagine when they think of knock-off products such as a designer handbag or designer shoes. Counterfeiting proliferates almost every industry including makeup, perfumes, pharmaceutical products, books and much more. If you're a small business and you find yourself with an easy to replicate successful invention or product, it's only a short matter of time before it will likely be copied and sold right from under you. How Bad Is It? The total value of intellectual property rights infringing goods seized in 2014 originating from China, including Hong Kong was $1.22 billion. If you are a small to medium-sized company, this loss can easily put you out of business and ruin your dreams of making it big. In addition, some of these products contain ingredients such as cyanide and lead that are hazardous to your health. What's that you say? They should patent their invention and protect themselves along with their intellectual property? It turns out that filing for a patent in the United States doesn't protect proprietors in all parts of the world. Advertisement What To Do About It? I interviewed Teena Handline, an intellectual property law, trademark and copyright attorney in Pennsylvania about bulletproofing your small business against counterfeiters. She gave the following advice for business owners to proactively protect themselves. Register your intellectual property internationally, especially in China and in countries where you sell your product. Be regularly proactive patrolling big online retail sites and request them to immediately remove the unauthorized goods from their sites. Educate your consumers on how to identify counterfeit products that look like yours and who your authorized resellers are. You can write your own cease and desist letter but Handline suggests adding in a deadline for the counterfeiter to remove the product from their site. She also suggests obtaining a confirmation delivery of the letter or a "Read Email" notification if sent electronically. You can find cease and desist letter templates by doing a Google search. Register your product with the customs department of the country with the biggest offenders. Legal Assistance: Legal representation can quickly add up for small business owners stuck fighting a relentless battle against counterfeiters. Handline offers this advice: Traditional Route - Try using a small firm whose prices are more affordable than the much larger firms. - Try using a small firm whose prices are more affordable than the much larger firms. Non-Traditional Route - If you are comfortable working with an attorney via Skype or FaceTime, try utilizing a freelancer site such as Elance.com. You post your proposal and budget on Elance and attorneys will bid on your offer. What Can Consumers Do? Consumers, whether business-to-business or business-to-consumer can assist in the fight against counterfeit products. When shopping online, check the item's photo to see if it's a stock photo or the actual product. Often photos are stolen from the original company's website. Be weary of too good to be true deals. Alert the intellectual property owner of the offending site. Contact the online site that is hosting the fake goods and say something. Most sites have a policy against counterfeiting. People listen to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/Lance Iversen) I'm voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential primary. Please indulge me for a moment. I'm about as liberal as they come, vote in every election (even the tiny local ones), and almost always cast a straight-ticket Democratic ballot. I'm registered as an independent, however. Eons ago, during one gubernatorial election here in Massachusetts, I favored the moderate Republican candidate over his much more conservative Democratic rival. Since then I've preferred to remain officially neutral, voting on the issues rather than automatically with the party. But as my opinions and morals lean pretty far to the left, I almost always vote for the Donkeys. Not this time. We Bay Staters have what's known as a semi-closed primary: people with a particular party affiliation can only vote in their party's primary, but unaffiliated voters get to request either party's ballot. Some states have even less restrictive policies: In states with open or semi-open primaries, any voter -- Democrat, Republican, independent, or other -- can request either ballot on primary day. A total of 25 states have some form of open primary. And in those primaries, some committed, lifelong Democrats and Republicans intentionally (if temporarily) switch sides to vote for whoever would prove the weakest opponent against their true party's nominee in the general election. This tactic, known as "party raiding," has the added benefit of eroding support for the weaker candidate's more viable in-party competition. Advertisement An example of this approach is the "Operation Chaos" gambit that Rush Limbaugh proposed during the 2008 presidential primary. By encouraging Republican voters in states with open primaries to cross party lines to vote for Hillary Clinton, Limbaugh argued that the GOP would slow the momentum of a surging Barack Obama. To an extent, his strategy worked. According to a Huffington Post article from March of that year, "approximately 25% of Clinton's voters in Mississippi were Republicans voting for a candidate they hate in order to try to undermine Barack Obama ... [otherwise] Obama would have easily expanded his delegate win there from 19-14 to 24-9." Similar results were reported in Texas and Ohio. Let's assume for a moment that Hillary Clinton, who currently leads Bernie Sanders by nearly 9 percent nationally, will be the 2016 Democratic nominee. Clinton matches up better against Donald Trump in a general election than any of the other leading Republican candidates. According to RealClearPolitics' latest average of national polls, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 2 points in a hypothetical presidential showdown. Conversely, RealClearPolitics shows Clinton trailing Marco Rubio by 3 percent and Ted Cruz by 1.8 percent. Should Bernie Sanders become the nominee, the data is similar: Sanders leads Trump and trails Rubio (although he is running slightly ahead of Cruz). So for either Democratic candidate, Trump proves to be the most favorable -- and desirable -- matchup. Advertisement Moreover, should Donald Trump earn his party's nomination, some GOP strategists fear that some Republican voters would be so disenchanted with (or appalled by) Trump that they might not vote in the election at all, leading to down-ticket victories for the Democrats by attrition. This theory is supported by veteran Republican political pundit Karl Rove, in an editorial he penned for last week's Wall Street Journal: If Mr. Trump is its standard-bearer, the GOP will lose the White House and the Senate, and its majority in the House will fall dramatically. If the nominee is Ted Cruz, the situation is still dicey. Any of the other major candidates, if nominated, will best Mrs. Clinton in a close race and help the GOP narrowly keep the Senate. The latest polling numbers back up Mr. Rove's prediction, at least in the race for the White House. As for a Trump nomination hurting the GOP's chances in down-ticket battles, Rove's concerns are echoed in a recent Politico article by prominent party members Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ohio), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pennsylvania), and others. It's important to note that my home state of Massachusetts, where Donald Trump is ahead of his nearest rival Marco Rubio by 25 points, is one of 26 states that award Republican delegates proportionally. So vote count matters: the greater a candidate's margin of victory here, the more delegates he or she carries to the nominating convention. Since a contested Republican primary come July is a real possibility, every delegate brings Trump closer to the eventual nomination while eating away at the support of his more-electable rivals. I disagree with Donald Trump ideologically in virtually every respect. I believe that his policies and proposals would ruin the strength and integrity of our great nation, undermine the fundamental tenets of our democracy, and make us the laughing stock of the international community (except, perhaps, for Vladimir Putin). But no matter what you think of him, one thing's for certain: Donald Trump is a polarizing figure who is not just divisive across liberal and conservative lines, but within the Republican Party itself. Advertisement Since the refugee crisis hit headlines in a major way this summer, multiple voices -- both within Europe and here in the United States -- have been sounding the alarm about the difficulties of integrating the new arrivals. Just recently, these warnings have grown more dire in the wake of accusations that men -- particularly migrants from North Africa, the Levant, and Afghanistan -- robbed, sexually harassed and even raped women in some of Germany's major cities on New Year's Eve. Indeed, some -- such as the New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat -- see the New Year's Eve assaults as further evidence that the only sane course for Germany is to stop the flow of migrants immediately and begin "an orderly deportation process for able-bodied young men." His doubts about whether and how Germany and other European nations can absorb the largest human migration since WWII are widely shared. But the discourse around the "integration" and "absorption" of refugees, especially from primarily Islamic countries, often assumes a kind of radical and essential difference that makes welcoming refugees an insurmountable task. The worldview espoused by Douthat and others (including Donald Trump) smacks of a Huntingtonian "Clash of Civilizations" model that sees the West and Islam as fundamentally different--and fundamentally at odds. But to see these differences as essential and thus unchanging -- or nearly impossible to change -- is to deny the ways both alterity and similarity are always constructed. Advertisement I am not suggesting that culture doesn't matter, or that differences between Germans and Syrians are constructed out of whole cloth. Cultural differences are real. But the extent to which we emphasize them, or deem them insurmountable, is based on whether we have a compelling interest to overcome the challenges these differences pose. Enter Israel. Israel, too, is an immigrant nation -- especially during the first years of its existence, when its population more than doubled due to the arrival of Jews from all over the world. By the essentialist logic of Douthat and Huntington, the absorption of these immigrants should not have posed a problem for Israel. They were all Jews, right? Yet the integration of Jews from North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia (Mizrahim) was anything but smooth. These Jews came with radically different cultural norms. And the Ashkenazi leaders who dominated the government saw the Mizrahim as a threat to their vision of the authentic Israel. In 1949, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, observed that Moroccan Jews "love their wives, but they beat them...The culture of Morocco I would not like to have here. And I don't see what contribution present Persians [that is, Jews from Iran] have to make... We do not want Israelis to become Arabs. We are duty bound to fight against the spirit of the Levant, which corrupts individuals and societies...." Zalman Shazar, a member of the Knesset and later two-time president of Israel, similarly worried about the impact of the Mizrahim. In an interview in 1951, he asked: "Will the yishuv [the Jewish community] in Israel survive without more Europeans and Anglo-Saxons, Jews like us?" (Quotations are from Yusuf Sarfati, Mobilizing Religion in Middle East Politics: A Comparative Study of Israel and Turkey, 33-4.) Advertisement I am not arguing that Mizrahi Jews were culturally identical to European Jews; they were not. They spoke different languages, they ate different food, they prayed differently, and they had different social norms. But the Israeli state had a compelling interest in encouraging Mizrahi immigration to Israel. Israel was created as the Jewish national homeland -- both a refuge for persecuted Jews around the world, and a "normalization" in answer to the Jewish Question -- a nation-state for the stateless nation. The will to welcome Mizrahim ultimately trumped Ashkenazi leaders' racism. Even though state officials wondered aloud about the dire effects of the "spirit of the Levant" corrupting Israeli society, they nonetheless put policies in place to actively encourage the arrival of Mizrahim. This does not mean they overcame their racism: on the contrary, prejudice pervaded the experience of Mizrahim in Israel, especially during the state's first decades (and, many would argue, up to the present). Yet this prejudice was ultimately dwarfed by the impetus to see Moroccan Jews as Jews first and Arabs second -- and, eventually, not Arabs at all. Even as Israelis officials emphasized sameness in order to absorb Mizrahi Jews into Israel, they simultaneously emphasized difference, thus making Mizrahi Jews into internal others. My point is not that the arrival of Mizrahim in Israel is the same as the arrival of Syrians in Germany. My point is this: where there's a will, there's a way. If Israelis could welcome Mizrahim whom they deemed culturally (and perhaps even racially) inferior, then Germans can welcome Syrians and Afghanis and emphasize the ways in which they are similar -- as mothers and fathers, as ambitious 20-somethings, as men and women of faith, as secularists: as humans. Ultimately, similarity and difference are relative terms: there is no absolute sameness between two individuals, and there is no essential difference. It is in our power to emphasize difference or similarity -- and we have a duty as human beings not to succumb to the fear of difference. NOTE: This piece originally appeared in the January 12th edition of New York Nonprofit Review. In my 26 years as President and CEO of the Fortune Society, I have witnessed incarceration rates swell as crime rates plummeted. Even still, our nation plowed full steam ahead adopting harsh policies that have made us the largest jailer in the world. Our criminal justice system has not made our communities safer; rather, it has fractured families, alienated communities, and further marginalized low-income minorities. The damage done to communities of color is sobering. But, it is encouraging to know that policymakers, researchers and advocates across the political spectrum are now coalescing around true criminal justice reform, with a specific goal of reducing reliance on incarceration, while increasing public safety, promoting community enrichment and reducing the damaging effects of a criminal conviction. Progress has been made over the past few years. For example, New York State has closed prisons, reduced the prison population and Governor Cuomo adopted the recommendations of the Reentry Council that he established in 2014, helping to level the playing field for the formerly incarcerated in the areas of housing, employment and healthcare. Advertisement For its part, New York City has reduced its jail population and agreed to significantly scale back its use of solitary confinement. Also, in a major step forward to help people with criminal records find employment, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council passed the Fair Chance Act which gives formerly incarcerated people a decent chance -- at the very least -- of landing a job interview. Despite this progress, there is much work to be done. In 2016, our leaders in City Hall and the State Capital can take affirmative steps to reduce the number of incarcerated New Yorkers, while increasing services to those who are behind bars. Real sentencing reform must balance public safety while reducing reliance on incarceration. To that end, The Fortune Society recommends: Increasing alternative to incarceration programs that have a proven track record of success; Eliminating mandatory minimums; Decreasing the maximum sentence on conviction of an A misdemeanor by one day, from 365 to 364 days, thus allowing judicial discretion on mandatory detention and deportation in immigration cases; and Expanding viable alternatives to include those with violent convictions. Steps must also be taken pre-release to ensure that certain safety nets are in place once individuals win their freedom. We must: Increase in-prison therapeutic programming as well as vocational and educational programming, including post-secondary education; Ensure that people released from prison have access to healthcare by activating Medicaid before release; and Provide people leaving jail/prison with non-stigmatizing government-issued identification like non-driver ID cards. Our system of parole must work to ensure that parolees get the assistance and guidance they need to reenter their communities and lead positive, productive lives as they face tough transitions. To that end, we must: Reduce technical parole violations; Implement presumptive parole for individuals who have reached parole eligibility and are assessed as "low risk;" and When an individual deemed low-risk by the 'COMPAS-Probation risk and needs assessment system' is denied parole, there must be written justification and higher-level review. Successful reentry means that we must do better to eliminate discrimination against formerly incarcerated individuals. We must: Advertisement Apply Ban the Box to state jobs and human services agencies that contract with Parole; Address discrimination that prevents people with criminal justice histories from attending the State University of New York; Create viable capital and operating funding streams for transitional and supportive housing; Increase the public assistance shelter allowance from215 a month; Significantly scale back use of "Permanent Exclusions" in New York City Housing Authority public housing; and Increase funding for mental health, substance abuse, and other behavioral health services. We must also expand routine clemency consideration to currently incarcerated individuals convicted of violent crimes when there is strong evidence of rehabilitation, or low risk COMPAS score, or incapacitation due to illness or advanced age. The Superintendents of the State's 54 correctional facilities should make at least one recommendation for clemency each month. If our achievements over the past few years serve as a benchmark, there is room for optimism that working together we can further our progress on meaningful criminal justice reform in 2016 -- and beyond. There is one big caveat. We must not allow "headline panic" to dictate bad public policy. If just one bad apple slips through the system, critics unfairly blame our elected officials. And sadly, the reaction is often to shut the doors on programs that really work, while doing more of what we know does not work. Now that I have your attention, we can talk about the financial service needs of the working poor comprised of the financially disenfranchised, immigrants and lower tier of the middle class and which type of banking institution is positioned to best meet their needs. The New York Times editorial board recently published an article about how New York's ID card (IDNYC) holders deserve respect by gaining access to big banks that do not accept the card as a primary form of identification. According to the article, more than 700,000 residents have received the card since the program began in January 2015. Rather than seeking to increase the deposits of big banks like Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank and JPMorganChase, perhaps we should think about how this gap in service could actually strengthen a relationship between community banks and the working poor. Advertisement It's a common myth that big banks offer better service and provide more protection for depositors than main-street banks ("community banks") in the event of a financial meltdown. But we have seen from the not so distant past that big banks assume more than their fair share of high-risk. Consequently, many wall street big banks that have a global presence had to be bailed out by the government, while many smaller community banks that assumed less risk weathered the great recession without much help from lawmakers, lobbyists and politicians. It is highly unlikely that the government will establish a Troubled Asset Relief Fund (TARP) or some other type of financial assistance program to save community banks in the event of a future financial crisis. The public is safe to choose any financial institution that participates in the Federal Depositor Insurance Corporation (FDIC) program which protects each depositor to at least $250,000 per insured bank. Therefore, the focus should not be on size or forcing global conglomerate banks to cater to a certain demographic, but rather, who is best suited to provide mainstream financial access to the underserved. Community banks offer financial services that are coveted by those desiring to become a part of the financial mainstream. Whether it is basic checking and savings accounts with higher rates, debit and credit cards or loans and check cashing services, community banks provide all of these services for less fees, lower minimum account balances and much lower risk. Advertisement Many IDNYC card holders are risk adverse and may be shocked at the level of risk that big banks take and would be satisfied with less risk and an opportunity to build a communal banking relationship, which is more likely to reinvest back into the community they serve. But should the real concern be about big banks accepting IDNYC cards as valid primary ID? Some may argue that pushing 700,000 plus individuals into the arms of big banks is a disservice to community banks that find it hard to compete with larger banks that are heavily supported by lobbyists and politicians that rely of them for campaign contributions. Moreover, community banks can serve IDNYC cardholders much better for less fees and better quality service. Most large banks place lesser emphasis on in-person service and heavily rely on remote service centers that are based in other countries to provide customer assistance. However, community banks don't have overseas call centers and continue to invest in doing business the old-fashioned way, person-to-person interaction better known as relationship banking for the average consumer. The New York Times (NYT) editorial board understands the banking industry and they didn't have to go too far to unearth noteworthy facts that were published in their own paper. The NYT business and financial editor, Gretchen Morgenson wrote an article highlighting that big banks are still a risk and that they have an advantage over community banks. The basis of this sentiment has not changed much since the article was written. In fact, there are viable community bank options. For example, Carver Bank is headquartered in Harlem, NY and was founded in 1948 to serve African-Americans because of the dearth of mainstream financial services available to Black people at the time. Today, Carver is the largest African-American operated bank in the United States. If this market distortion did not exist then Carver Bank would not have been created. Advertisement Also included as a viable community bank option is Astoria Bank, which has 88 branches in the New York metropolitan area that provide retail and business customers and local communities with quality financial products and services. In my recent conversation with an Astoria Bank representative, the IDNYC card will be accepted as a primary ID in the near future. Mexican army soldiers escort drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to a helicopter to be transported to a maximum security prison at Mexicoas Attorney Generalas hangar, in Mexico City, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The world's most-wanted drug lord was captured for a third time in a daring raid by Mexican marines, six months after he tunneled out of a maximum security prison in a escape that embarrassed the government and strained ties with the United States. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Sooner or later, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is bound to escape from prison again. In 2001, he did so by hiding in a laundry basket. Last year, after only 16 months of being locked-up, he escaped through a mile long tunnel dug under Mexicos highest security prison. Guzman is now back to the same jail he escaped from this past July 12th, El Altiplano, and there is no reason to believe that he wont be able to bribe, dig or threaten his way to freedom again. The extradition proceedings to the United States will take at least two or three years, more than enough time for Guzman to design a successful escape route. But in the end it doesnt really matter whether El Chapo stays in jail or not. Indeed, his business of drugs and death will likely flow more smoothly now that the boss of the Sinaloa Cartel doesnt have to be in constant movement between mountainous hideouts. He now has time to sit comfortably in his jail cell and coordinate the actions of his top generals, including Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and his two heirs, Archibaldo and Alfredo. Advertisement In a system as rife with corruption and impunity as Mexicos, individuals matter very little. Even in the unlikely event of a quick extradiction of Guzman, Sinaloa Cartel stock will continue to price high for many years to come. High demand for drugs and increased border control in the United States, combined with profound economic crisis in Mexico, guarantee high demand for the trafficking, financial and employment services rendered by this powerful multinational network. Mexicos Federal Government, led by Enrique Pena Nieto, has taken an erratic approach to El Chapo, to say the least. Guzmans formidable assets remain intact, almost untouched by the Mexican authorities. Not a single high-level member of the security establishment has been prosecuted for last summers spectacular prison break. And the six month man-hunt since then has been full of contradictions. For instance, Pena Nietos Attorney General, Arely Gomez, has bragged that government intelligence allowed her to be "practically there" during the October 2nd interview between Guzman, Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo. The Mexican press even has published photographs supposedly taken by government operatives during the arrival in Mexico of the two Hollywood stars. But for some reason, the government just sat by and watched. According to Gomez "the conditions at the time" simply "did not allow for" Mexican law enforcement to act. Two weeks later, on October 16th, the government did conduct a raid on a ranch where El Chapo was hiding out in the state of Sinaloa. The authorities successfully cornered the drug lord, but then mysteriously let him go. The excuse was that they were forced to give up the pursuit in order to avoid putting at risk the women and children who accompanied Guzman as he fled. Advertisement During the raid this past January 8th, El Chapo was allowed to escape once again. Using his trademark tunnel strategy, Guzman slipped down a hole hidden between two mirrors in a closet and ran through the drainage pipes of the city of Los Mochis. The marines who had attacked his outpost took a full 27 minutes to discover the hole and initiate the pursuit, according to Reforma newspaper (1-12-2106). According to Attorney General Gomez, the government had previous knowledge that Guzmans safehouses in Los Mochis were connected through underground passages. But for some reason the Mexican marines simply neglected to close off the escape route before their raid. The final detention of Guzman last Friday took place by accident. According to the official account, the Federal Police stopped a car outside of Los Mochis which had been reported stolen and, to their surprise, encountered Guzman sitting in the vehicle along with his bodyguard. Then, breaking with protocol, instead of handcuffing and bringing Guzman and his partner immediately to a police station or military barracks, they were escorted to a nearby motel to await further instructions. Sean Penns important Rolling Stone article offers key clues to deciphering this strange succession of events. At one point during his expedition Penn is informed by his escort, El Chapo's son Alfredo, that the drug cartel has "an inside man who provides notification when the militarys high-altitude surveillance plane has been deployed". And when the two reach a military checkpoint in the heart of the mountainous "Golden Triangle" controlled by the cartel in the states of Durango, Chihuahua and Sinaloa, Penn notes that upon seeing Alfredo "the soldiers immediately back way, looking embarrassed, and wave us through". But the problem goes far beyond a few corrupt soldiers and high-level informants. During his interview with Penn, El Chapo declared his interest in investing in the oil business and "cites a host of corrupt major corporations, both within Mexico and abroad...through which his money has been laundered, and who take their own cynical slice of the narco pie". In other words, the Sinaloa Cartel is not on the margins of the formal economy but plays a central role within and is directly supported by "major corporations", both in Mexico and the United States. We already know the names of some of these corporations. In 2012, HSBC confessed to laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for the Sinaloa Cartel. Previously, Wachovia bank had been found to have committed a similar offense. Both banks were fined, but not a single executive or employee of the banks has been criminally prosecuted. Obamas top cop for the HSBC case, Lanny Breuer, argued that prosecution was not warranted because it would have "destabilized" the banking system. These cases are evidently only the top of the iceberg of an international money-laundering network which processes tens of billions of bloody Mexican narco-dollars a year. Advertisement Meanwhile, in Mexico the Pena Nieto administration continues to obstruct the independent investigation conducted by the Organization of the American States on the forced disappearance in 2014 of 43 activist students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. And not a single top military or federal police officer has been brought to justice for the series of massacres recently committed by agents of the Mexican state in the cities of Tlatlaya, Apatzingan, Tanhuato, and Ostula, among others. But the Obama administration continues to play deaf and pat Mexicos increasingly unpopular and authoritarian Pena Nieto on the back, a stance reminiscent of the one the US President applies to other leaders of oil rich countries, like King Salman of Saudi Arabia. With a tear running from his eye, President Barack Obama recalls the 20 first-graders killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, while speaking in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Last week, President Obama gave a passionate, vulnerable, teary-eyed press conference to announce new guidelines for gun ownership. It provided some of the rawest, most authentic expressions of compassion and grief ever shared by a sitting American president. It was also another example of a man's religion speaking loudly without needing to be referenced at all. Advertisement You see, faith isn't real faith until it's walked out and most people know this. Without a life attached to it all theology is just theory. It's so often (for both politicians and pew sitters alike) merely flowery language and religious window dressing designed for maximum curb appeal from a distance. But unless and until it shows up in the every day of a person -- well it's worth little more than zero. "In many ways, [President Obama] has in effect out-Jesused many of his Conservative Christian critics." Even before Barack Obama took office the attacks on his spiritual beliefs by his detractors were fierce and incessant, calling him a closeted Muslim whose religious convictions were more about the demise of America than a "personal relationship with Jesus" (something they often boldly brandish at every turn like a shiny new Rolex whipped out at a cocktail party). The narrative his adversaries have always tried to sell the American people, is that Barack Obama's is at best a fraudulent, irrelevant mockery of the faith; that they not he are the only believers truly worthy of guiding our "Christian nation." Advertisement But a really funny thing has happened over the course of President Obama's two-term tenure. This man has quietly, consistently crafted a platform and a legacy that reflect Christ far more than those across the aisle like or will ever admit to. In many ways, he has in effect out-Jesused many of his Conservative Christian critics. Rather than being the kind of showy, loud but largely loveless noise in the world that the Apostle Paul warns believers against becoming, the President's time in the White House has yielded the kind of tangible fruit Jesus said would be the mark of the true person of God. In other words, Barack Obama has let his life be his testimony: He's vigorously defended the civil rights of all human beings, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or faith tradition. He's engineered a national system of healthcare for all citizens. He's made the working poor and the elderly a priority. He has spoken out loudly against the death penalty. He's continually challenged us to be hospitable to refugees and immigrants. He's called out the corporate lobbyists and big business special interests that have crippled the middle class and widened the income gap between the richest and poorest of our people. He's been a champion for equality in the workplace for women and minorities and the gay community. He's worked to eliminate the bullying and marginalizing of the LGBTQ community. He's pushed back against the NRA and the gun lobby to reduce the violence in our streets. While not at all perfect and certainly deserving of great scrutiny and pushback, in so many ways President Obama's tenure has championed justice, equality and the inherent dignity of all people in a way that closely mirrors the stated mission of Christ; certainly as much as any politician on either side can claim. Many Evangelicals either don't like to admit this or they simply no longer recognize the kind of life Jesus was actually calling his followers to live when they see it. Advertisement That's because there's a stylized, bastardized Christianity that many politicians and celebrity pastors have peddled for years; one that has slowly but surely become our American template. It's a bloated, opulent, consumerist, aggressive, nationalistic, might is right amalgam that really doesn't resemble Jesus much at all. "This man has quietly, consistently crafted a platform and a legacy that reflect Christ far more than those across the aisle like or will ever admit to." It's the kind of religion that name drops God in stump speeches and invokes Scripture at every turn, but retains little of the deep humility, love for the poor, defense of the downtrodden, care for the hurting, call for community, and shunning of excess that we see characterizing the life and ministry of Christ. In fact, it's President Obama's failure to conform to this prevalent but counterfeit Americanized Christianity, that has revealed the real merit in his convictions. Much of this Commander In Chief's time in office may have flown in the face of that imitation Evangelicalism, but it's in step with the early Church and I would argue, as recognizable as Christlike as any we've seen in the Oval Office. His faith is that of so many of us who remember what Jesus called the most critical of our callings in this world. We recognize in his life the religion we know to be worthwhile in our own and we respect. This week (as extraordinary as it was) was really just another day out of many when this president with a continually questioned faith, reflected the compassion and teachings of Jesus far better than many of his loudest Christian critics. Advertisement sen. hillary clinton speaks at ... In 2008, I was pumped for the Iowa Caucuses. For me, it wasn't just political -- it was personal. I had grown up in Iowa, but that year I was in Iraq, training Iraqi Security Forces to fight for their country in many of the places where ISIS has now taken over. Back home, a contentious primary season drove several states to try to upstage Iowa as America's first in the nation presidential contest. Thankfully, those efforts floundered. When the excitement of the Iowa Caucus was underway in 2008, I was half a world away, thinking of the Hawkeye State, and looking to come home from my second deployment. I thought then, as I do now, about how the Republican Party got us into Iraq. Even now, only one word comes to mind: failure. The Republican Party had failed their responsibilities to the national security of the United States in every possible way. Not only did they send us to war without a strategy for victory; they sent us to war without plans to care for veterans when they returned home. This was and remains inexcusable. Advertisement Years later, it would be logical to think that the GOP would reconsider its policies. Unfortunately, during campaign season the crazy seems to come out of the GOP. Phrases like "carpet bombing" and comparisons between going to a military high school and actual deployment are all we hear from the GOP "clown car." Indeed, the only member of the GOP presidential field that had any understanding of sacrifice and service, Senator Lindsey Graham, was essentially laughed out of the race. The GOP simply lacks any intelligent national security thinking, insisting that talking "tough" will frighten our enemies away. But it's not a surprise that Republicans don't have bright ideas today, given that they don't even understand yesterday. Take George Washington, for example. He understood that patience pays off and that smart leaders choose their battles. He didn't let the British goad him into unforced errors, but rather struck at the right place and the right time. Meanwhile, today's GOP wants to make the "sand glow in the dark" by "carpet bombing" indiscriminately, which is exactly what ISIS wants to take away any idea of moral authority the West might have against the jihadis. The Democrats see the world a little differently, though there are real differences among them. I like Bernie Sanders. He's got some great ideas on education and the economy, and has done wonderful things for veterans. But I am concerned about his foreign policy and understanding of military power. I have seen no foreign policy plan other than to tell other countries to handle "it" -- whatever "it" might be. My friends who support Bernie seem very proud that he is an isolationist, but traveling around the world has convinced me that now, more than ever, America must be present in the world. Now is not the time for isolation. Whether it's fighting ISIS or beating back climate change, we must lead. If we do not, no one will. This is why I support Hillary Clinton. I will happily confess that I've been a big fan for years, ever since she smiled a hello to me in 1994 passing from meeting to meeting as First Lady. Watching how she has handled herself in the past few months -- from absurd Benghazi hearings to the emails to Saturday Night Live -- there can be no question that she has been fantastic. My friends in Iowa tell me that she has done a masterful job balancing quality over quantity. Rather than being everywhere, she has taken the time to connect to people -- to understand their struggles and challenges. To me, she has clearly grown as a leader and is fully equipped to the President of the United States. Advertisement I'm also impressed from a policy perspective. She has continuously advocated for the measured and thoughtful, understanding the Art of the Possible and maximizing it to the benefit of the many rather than the few. On the national security side, she has supported a more active role for the United States in Syria, understanding that the humanitarian crisis there has made the entire region less stable. She knows that veterans and their families are not the playthings of trigger-happy politicians, but the men and women who wrote a "blank check to the United States of America for an amount up to and including their life." There have been many criticisms leveled at Hillary Clinton: that's only natural, being in the public eye as long as she has -- but I have become more and more concerned with the vitriol that Bernie supporters have been putting out. I want to be clear here that I am not whining or crying; political contests in this country have been and should be tough, and I will be the last person in the world to say that Hillary Clinton is the inevitable Democratic Party standard bearer. I think such claims are incredibly insulting and ridiculous to those of us who caucus and vote in early states, as we have shown time and time again that we don't care about any such thing as an establishment candidate: we will caucus or vote for whomever represents our values. But this is what I would remind Bernie supporters, who are now saying that they will sit out the 2016 election if Hillary Clinton wins the primary: Hillary Clinton, no matter how much you may disagree with her on policy, will always represent your values better than Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or heaven forbid, Donald Trump. The rhetoric surrounding the 'new' military concept of gray zones has led to a new era of American military self-doubt. Articles abound about how the U.S. is unprepared to fight the 'new war' fight, with references to how America is being outmaneuvered by ISIS, Russia, China, Iran, even allies, in numerous conflicts and regions around the world. In response, numerous analysts have floated ideas on how the U.S. could adapt to properly fight these 'gray wars' and meta-analyses of the concept itself. Pervading the discussion is the ever-present debate over America's defense budget, and its relationship with the U.S. ability to maintain its global position. Often, the call for flexibility in the military is followed by a call for a higher defense budget. It is certainly true that the massed war concepts of the World Wars and Cold War do not readily apply to the wars being fought in 2015. The combination of economic, social, legal, moral, religious, and military pressures by Russia in Ukraine and ISIS in Syria and Iraq certainly look like a new form of warfare when compared to the 20th century, though the concepts have always been a part of warfare. It is easy to understand why the U.S. is uneasy about its own capability to react to such warfare. Some of this is explained by how the U.S. perceives its own power, it remains true that America's military will have to change how it deals with the threats of the 21st century. However, it does not then become evident that the best way to do this is to increase the military budget. The U.S. spends more than the next nine countries combined - and seven of those countries are either friendly or American allies. As defense analyst Matthew Fay points out, if the Department of Defense (DoD) cannot achieve military superiority with a budget that dwarfs that of its peer rivals, the whole department may as well be started over from scratch. Perhaps it is not more money that is needed, but better operational and strategic approaches. Advertisement Simply increasing the defense budget approaches the problem like a competitive body-builder, but any physical trainer can tell you that packing on muscle does not in itself help with flexibility. Without proper foresight, it often prevents flexibility. A more important focus is to build long-term endurance mixed with appropriate strength and flexibility. In this way, the DoD has been skipping leg day and yoga. Incredibly powerful in some regards, the military lacks operational and strategic capabilities in more nuanced scenarios. Examples of this include buying the F-35 jet but not having pilots properly trained to fly missions in competitive environments, running out of bombs for the anti-ISIS campaign, or revelations that the military could be using electromagnetic spectrum systems much more effectively. Instead of throwing more money at the problem, the DoD should allow its component parts to compete with each other to provide solutions for today's military problems - allow the muscles to stretch, as it were. Good solutions can then be followed up with proper investment where appropriate, building up the needed strength. This approach is needed because it is not yet clear which risk to the United States will develop into the next major threat. At a time when some expected a return to great state power balancing, the U.S. is still heavily involved in a counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency operation in the Middle East. Will the U.S. have to deal with Russian aggression in Europe, Chinese aggression in Asia, cyber-aggression on its internal networks, increasing terrorism, economic disruption, or all of the above? Advertisement The problem with the range of threats the DoD must counter - and it is a wide range - is that it would be budgetarily impossible to build up complete and perfect capabilities to address each at the same time. Efforts to do so are exhausting the Pentagon's already large budget. That budget, by the way, benefits from being able to put unfunded, but wanted, programs into a separate non-capped contingency fund. As Mr. Fay has pointed out, the DoD's strained budgets come at a time when Congress has given it this budgetary loophole. Instead of even more money, flexibility will be needed to switch quickly between the different risks and ramp up capability as required. Donald Trump, left, speaks as Ted Cruz looks on during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) A new survey from GenFKD has confirmed our suspicions: Presidential candidates are not discussing the issues important to America's largest eligible voting demographic, the millennials. And Gen Y has noticed. When asked whether or not the presidential candidates were addressing the issues close to them, roughly 86 percent of respondents, all aged 18 to 34, reported feeling left out of the conversation. Advertisement Approximately 35.9 percent of those surveyed felt that at least half of the candidates have failed to address the issues affecting millennials, while 43 percent said that most have failed to do so and 7.9 percent said that all have. A Lot to Vote For Not only do millennials make up the largest eligible voting bloc, but they have also been profoundly affected by the 2008 recession, with most graduating into a lukewarm economy with a mountain of student loan debt to boot. From falling marriage and birth rates to a generational stereotype of college-educated Starbucks baristas, the impact is evident. This post-recession economy, coupled with the student debt crisis, has made for an inhospitable environment to come of age in. "It is very disappointing that the presidential candidates are ignoring a vital demographic group and the issues that matter most to millennials," said Justin Dent, president and co-founder of GenFKD. "With an uncertain economy and international instability, millennials are more engaged than ever in the upcoming election, yet they are left out of the discussion." Advertisement The GenFKD Millennial Sentiment survey, which polled 752 millennials online from December 15 to 22, 2015, also found that millennials do care about jobs and the economy, contrary to popular belief. In fact, the economy is the number one issue on their minds heading into 2016, followed by climate change (14 percent), health care (11 percent) and student debt (10 percent). "Millennials are clearly concerned about the economy they will inherit, and the opportunities available to them," said Christopher Koopman of the Mercatus Center, a research center dedicated to bridging the gap between academic research and public policy issues at George Mason University. "Unfortunately, political candidates have a strong incentive to support special interests over the causes that matter most to young people. There is a danger in doing that because millennials are concerned, active and engaged." Engaged and Excluded The upside? Gen Y is finally ready to take action. The GenFKD Millennial Sentiment survey also found that approximately 83 percent of those surveyed are "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to vote in the 2016 presidential election, a number large enough to sway the election for the third time in a row. While we may not have padded wallets, we do have strength in numbers. "Until now, there have been less than a handful of millennial issues addressed in hours and hours of debates and interviews," said Dent, a student at the University of Maryland. "We're worried about jobs and graduating into a nation of the underemployed." Advertisement One of my favorite ways to experience a destination is by getting immersed in the local food. Vietnam, known for its simple but tasty dishes, was the perfect place to take part in a cooking tour. Thanks to my bilingual Vietnam Food Tour guide, I was able to participate in foodie activities all throughout the north. We travelled to small villages, met vendors at markets, and learned how to cook Vietnamese favorites such as spring rolls. Advertisement Even though I only spent three days in Hanoi and Halong Bay, I felt I got an inside look at the local culture and cuisine. (Watch my Vietnam travel video for footage of my experiences.) Day 1: Vietnamese Village My Vietnam Food Tour guide took me to a village about an hour from Hanoi, along the Red River Delta. We stopped at Van Giang's morning market, which is rarely visited by foreigners. Motorcycles whizzed past me, as I took in the sights and smells of the the wet market. The vendors laid out fresh seafood and vegetables, and exchanged friendly greetings. We stopped by one of the street stalls, and a lady rolled and steamed a noodle dish right on the spot. Next, we visited the 300 year old house of a villager named Mr An. He poured me tea and showed off his collection of bizarre liqueurs, including one made with a snake, and another with black birds. Advertisement His wife didn't speak any English, but she gently walked me through each step of making spring rolls and other Vietnamese dishes. Perhaps not every roll was as tightly packed as it could be, but they were the most delicious ones I've ever eaten. Day 2: Halong Bay On the second day, I had a private cruise through the misty mountains of Halong Bay. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is famous for its green islands, which look like the humps of a swimming dragon. We began at the outdoor market, where vendors sold all types of fish and seafood straight from Halong's waters. I also watched the Vietnamese boat people, who live and work in floating homes, replenish their supplies. Our boat docked at Dau Go cave, and I walked into an eerie grotto is filled with hanging stalactites. Back on board, it was time to plunder the ship's seafood. The crew helped me to grill fresh clams, prawns, sea snails and other delicacies -- which I ate, while taking in the brilliant views of the Bay. Day 3: Hanoi On my final day, I experienced the street food of Hanoi. I was staying in the Old Quarter, which is crammed with small eateries selling everything from pho (noodle soups) to banh mi (subway-style sandwiches). Outside the Tran Quoc pagoda, my friend John Skeleton and I cooled off with coconut milk popsicles. Advertisement I couldn't get enough of the fresh fruit juices, especially made from mangoes -- which are fragrant and inexpensive in Southeast Asia. I particularly enjoyed mixing these healthy fruit drinks with rum, at the neighborhood Rock Store bar. I was glad I joined the Vietnam Food Tour, as I wouldn't have visited the outer villages or conversed with locals without them. In three short days, I got to eat a wide variety of authentic dishes -- and take part in the cooking, too. Watch La Carmina's Vietnam travel video , and enjoy more of her worldwide travels on La Carmina blog. Also on HuffPost: Many of us have returned to business as usual this week. Thanks to the downtime, extra sleep, and extra meditation time, I had a huge insight: Reflection is more essential than making resolutions. When working with my clients, I consistently find that they are stellar at setting goals and announcing resolutions. It's what we do every December, right? Some of us even revel in our ability to multitask and complete two goals at once. Before we know it, our calendars are completely filled with tasks and meetings. We catch ourselves instant messaging someone while watching a webinar. Here's the downside: there's little time left to step back and observe anything. As a result, many of us are stuck in this "doom loop." We want to be invited to the strategy table, but we commit all of our time to being company problem solvers and firefighters. As a result, we seldom get invited to design the future. One of my CMO clients laments that "I'm tired of my team being treated like a fast food drive-through window." Advertisement While automated tools and productivity apps may be effective time savers and free up our time to invent the future, multi-tasking kills our ability to reflect. It erodes our short term memory and sabotages important relationships. Research from Dr. David Strayer at the University of Utah proves that only 2.5 percent of the population can successfully multi-task. In fact, Strayer's studies revealed that talking on a cellphone while driving (a very pervasive form of multitasking) leaves people as cognitively impaired as if they'd had two or three drinks. Sadly, this hit home for me over the holidays when one of my colleagues was killed by a tractor trailer truck. She was driving at high speed and talking on her cell phone when it happened. Why should someone's untimely death be the wake up call to remind us that we are human beings, not human doings? The greatest leaders I have met create their own reflection rituals to foster acceptance, insight, and compassion. While flying from New York to San Diego, I had the privilege of sitting next to Joseph Hoar, the U.S. General who served under Colin Powell in war-torn areas such as Somalia and Middle East. He told me that "every day, no matter what, I take time to reflect." In addition, we can now cite thousands of studies outlining the benefits of mindfulness, single tasking, and reflection. We can no longer ignore the reams of valid data. Thankfully, these practices are making a comeback. The Huffington Post founder and bestselling author, Arianna Huffington, never brings any mobile devices or computers into her bedroom. During her recent keynote address in Washington, DC, she proudly announced that she uses an old-fashioned alarm clock and a traditional phone in her bedroom. If her news staff needs to urgently reach her, they have the emergency phone number. Otherwise, the temptation to check emails during waking moments is too strong. Advertisement How do you incorporate reflection into your day? Journaling in a distraction-free zone is one option. It all starts by asking questions that can propel you to a new level of whatever you prize most in life. Developing relevant, provocative questions is the easy part. Addressing them with candor and compassion is slightly tougher. These are seven of my favorites to help you get started: What one thing can I change that will make the most difference in the quality of my life, and increase my happiness day-to-day? If I had no fear, what would I do? How do I have more laughter every day? What is the most wonderful thing I can do for my relationship with my best friend/partner/spouse that will help it grow stronger and more joyful? What one thing can I change that will make the most difference in the quality and trust within my team, thereby increasing their efficacy every day? What no longer serves me in 2016? (write this activity, habit, or association on a Post-It note, and display it prominently, until you are certain it no longer appears in your life) With whom will I share these reflections? Writing your responses is the first step. Sharing the reflections is like gulping a protein shake after your high-intensity workout. It replenishes your cells and boosts your metabolism. In lieu of making resolutions and measurable goals, Karen Walker, President of One Team Consulting, creates annual aspirations. She finds that the aspirations naturally evolve from the confluence of her successes from the previous and the business model she wants to design for the coming year (which she calls "aspirations"). Walker told me "I can refer to these short, meaningful aspirations easily each day. I regularly ask myself 'Are my actions today aligned with my aspirations?'" With inspiration from the Six Word Memoirs movement launched by SMITH Magazine, her 2016 annual aspiration is "strong voice, strong body, useful, prosperous." Advertisement Six words could shift your perspective. Reflections just might transform your year. Abstract globe earth edge sunrise background concept. EPS 10 file. Transparency effects used on highlight elements. At the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, delegates from 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing carbon emissions and thus halting the destructive effects of global warming. The agreement awaits ratification by signatories and takes effect only if 55 of the nations that account for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions take action and endorse the agreement--the U. S. is not expected to ratify. The Paris agreement is significant in terms of politics and economics, but religious leaders have also voiced support of the agreement, and clearly a move is underway to make climate change and environmental responsibility an integral part of contemporary religious life and practice. Religious involvement on this issue is not new. Environmental activism today is truly global and involves countless people in organizing efforts that are aimed at improving the health of the planet and assuring a safe environment for future generations. Environmental protection has been for decades an issue of science, global politics and international economics, but some voices speaking to the issue remind us that motivation for such activism can spring from deep moral concerns and religious sensibilities. Religious thought has long attended to the natural world and the environment, whether in the Western traditions affirming the earth as a glorious product of God's creative activity or in Native American and Asian religions that emphasize the interconnectedness of human beings and nature. Religious faith and spiritual commitments are today providing the energizing fuel to sustain involvement with issues like climate change and environmental responsibility. Advertisement Last May, Pope Francis published a remarkable document that calls on all people of good will to care for a creation entrusted to them by God. The document, Laudato Si', takes its title from the hymns of praise written by the Pope's namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, whose love of the natural world was central to a vision of life with God and whose canticles to the sun and moon began with the words "Praise to You O Lord" or in Latin, "Laudato Si'". In this document, the first papal encyclical ever dedicated exclusively to the environment, Pope Francis states that the environmental crisis is not only a scientific, political and economic problem but a moral and spiritual challenge as well. The papal encyclical addresses a concern voiced in the 1970s by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, whose worry that not enough attention was being focused on the environment led to the first Earth Day action-celebration. Although every major ecological disaster draws headlines, the news cycle changes daily, and the environment continues to be subject to cultural attention deficit disorder. When the environment drops off the front page in the wake of disaster, NGOs, international organizations and lobbyists take on the chore of keeping policy makers focused on the issue, and this is hard work. The unique contribution of Laudato Si' is that it is a big and bold statement that is seeking to make the environment a focal point of religious and theological reflection, a dramatic move that may keep the world's attention focused on climate change and environmental responsibility in a more long-term, sustainable way. Advertisement When the encyclical was released last May, the Pope, representing the priorities of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, was certainly aware that his moral and spiritual authority would capture the world's attention. And so it did. The encyclical addressed the complexity of the environmental problem, offering criticisms and hope that faith can play a significant role in helping to address environment-related problems. The pope attended to the ways in which environmental degradation and pollution disproportionately affect the poor and reflect a false "techno-scientific progress" that must not be mistaken for "human progress." He criticized a "throw away" consumer culture in the privileged countries of the world and advocated changes in lifestyle (even criticizing air conditioning at one point), calling on wealthy countries to reduce consumption of non-renewable energy resources while helping poorer nations develop in sustainable ways. He confronted the self-centeredness and greed that so mark modern life and advocated help for the poor based on an economic model of fair distribution of wealth. The Pope concluded that when distributive justice is violated and a privileged few have too much while too many have too little, "it always leads to violence." The encyclical has come under criticism. The economic justice concerns have been attacked by free market capitalists; questions have been asked whether the Pope's love for the poor translates into concrete policy concerning the immediate problem of climate change; and the fact that global warming gas emissions have increased as the global population has increased calls into question the carrying capacity of planet earth and also the church's teaching on birth control as it affects human population growth. Any document speaking from such a place of authority and on behalf of so many is bound to raise controversy. The pope has said he is not a scientist, economist or a politician, but a person of faith speaking from a spiritual center to a spiritual problem. The pope has called on people to acknowledge the interconnectedness of human beings with nature; and he criticizes wealthy nations for their excessive use of natural resources. He argues that the economy of excess has created an economy of exclusion--it is the poor who lack access to clean water and air and who then lose out as well in employment, housing and economic opportunity. Pope Francis was not talking just about climate change but the need for a change of heart. And he may be right in where he puts the emphasis--on questions of spirit and faith. Spiritual change, the Pope says, by making the world more humane will make the environment a "common good" for which all people must accept responsibility. As the Paris Agreement occasions reflection on motivation for environmental action and as it envisions global policy changes, Pope Francis' bold message placing the environment at the center of faith and spiritual commitment is worth serious attention by both environmental activists and persons of faith. Advertisement While you are probably aware of the various State and Municipal Minimum Wage increases that went into effect January 1, you may not have the new poster. We have provided those posters on our website Resources webpage for your convenience. As a reminder, New York and West Virginia changes went into effect December 31, 2015. Other states including Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont took effect January 1 and increases to the minimum wage will go into effect July 1 in Washington, DC and Maryland. August 1 will see changes to Minnesota's minimum wage. Be sure to check our Resources page for the appropriate posters for your state. Don't forget that some counties and cities also have minimum wage regulations. We have attempted to list those on the Resources page as well. If you don't see your city or county, go to the jurisdiction's website to download a poster at no charge. IRS Mileage Reimbursement Rate If you reimburse your employees for business-related mileage, you will be glad to know that effective January 1, the IRS rate for business mileage reimbursement was lowered to 54 cents per mile, down from last year's 57.5 cents per mile. See details here. Advertisement OSHA Recordkeeping Form 300A Posting Deadline is February 1, 2016 Companies required by OSHA to post Recordkeeping Form 300A have until February 1 to get their records in order. Form 300 A is a summary log of work-related injuries from the previous year (2015) that OSHA requires non-exempt employers to post for employees to see between February 1 through April 30. Forms 300, 300A, 301 are available on OSHA's Illness Recordkeeping Forms Web page. You can also find the forms and instructions on the MJMS Resources webpage under Forms and Reports. California employers will find those particular forms on the same page. Some businesses, like establishments with 10 or fewer employees, as well as certain industry sectors, are partially exempt from OSHA Recordkeeping requirements. See the exemption list which was revised effective January 1, 2015. Changes to Federal Overtime Regulations Postponed to Mid-2016 For several months the buzz has been around the US Department of Labor (DOL) which was considering significant changes to the overtime rules and even took public comments on the proposed changes last Fall. Under the proposal, the minimum salary for an exempt employee (not eligible for overtime) would rise from the current $455/week to approximately $960/week. The salary floor for "highly compensated" employees will also be raised to a proposed $122,000/annual. There has been considerable discussion on the proposal and the expected approval and implementation may not happen until the 3 quarter of 2016. Don't wait for the rule changes, start reviewing your employees' wages and prepare for the inevitable. Advertisement New California Laws go into Effect January 1 Once again California has a host of new employment-related laws that went into effect on January 1, 2016. We will just briefly mention key changes in this section, but will provide more detailed information in future blog posts and future newsletters. Employee Time Off: SB 579 amended the state's "kin care" and "school visitation leave" laws. Employers of 25 or more employees are required to allow employees to use their accrued and available sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee, and may not deny the employee the right to use sick leave in this way. As for "school visitation leave," it has been expanded to include use of leave to find, enroll, or re-enroll his or her child in a school or with a licensed child care provider or address a childcare provider or school emergency; and expands the list of individuals authorized to take school visitation leave to include a step-parent, foster parent, or person who stands in loco parentis to a child. Gender Wage Equality: SB 358 or the Fair Pay Act, prohibits employers from paying any employees less than employees of the opposite sex for "substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility." The Fair Pay Act further prohibits employers from terminating, discriminating or retaliating against an employee who exercises his/her rights under the Act or assists others in exercising their rights. Employers also can't prohibit employees from disclosing their wages, discussing the wages of others or asking about another employee's wages (which is also covered under other state and federal laws). Reasonable Accommodation and Retaliation: AB 987 clarifies that employers can't retaliate or discriminate against an employee for requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability or religion, regardless of whether the request was granted. The law clarifies that the mere act of making the request is protected conduct under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Advertisement Meal Periods Health Care Industry: SB 327 reaffirms that the Wage Orders which allow for a specific meal period waiver in the health care industry are still in effect. Employers in the health care industry can continue to allow employees to voluntarily waive one of their two meal periods, even when an employee's shift exceeds 12 hours (Wage Orders 4 and 5). This law was urgency legislation and became effective immediately when signed on October 5, 2015. Unlawful Use of E-Verify: AB 622 prohibits employers from using the federal E-Verify system at a time or in a manner not required by federal law to check the employment authorization status of an existing employee or of an applicant who has not received an offer of employment. Employers can still use E-Verify to check the employment authorization status of a person who has been offered employment. AB 622 also imposes monetary penalties when employers fail to provide the required employee notifications when the submitted E-Verify information does not match federal records. There is a penalty of $10,000 for each violation. A Few Changes in Other States California is not the only state to make changes to employment laws effective January, 2016. Here are just a few worth noting: Illinois: The Equal Pay Act in Illinois will now apply to all employers regardless of size and civil penalties will be imposed for violations beginning January 1st. The Equal Pay Act in Illinois will now apply to all employers regardless of size and civil penalties will be imposed for violations beginning January 1st. New York: Amendments to the Equal Pay Law prohibits pay differences based on gender in jobs that require "equal skill, effort and responsibility" when performed under similar working conditions. Other laws now extend prohibition of sexual harassment to al l employers; adds "familial status" to the list of protected traits in the NY Human Rights Law and adds a requirement that employers must provide reasonable accommodations to all pregnant employees. New York's changes are effective January 19, 2016. Amendments to the Equal Pay Law prohibits pay differences based on gender in jobs that require "equal skill, effort and responsibility" when performed under similar working conditions. Other laws now extend prohibition of sexual harassment to l employers; adds "familial status" to the list of protected traits in the NY Human Rights Law and adds a requirement that employers must provide reasonable accommodations to all pregnant employees. New York's changes are effective January 19, 2016. Oregon: Effective January 1, employers with 10+ employees must provide paid sick leave up to 40 hours a year--smaller employers are required to provide unpaid sick leave. Additionally, employers must provide protected leave related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, and stalking, and approve any form of available paid vacation, sick, or personal leave for such absences. Effective January 1, employers with 10+ employees must provide paid sick leave up to 40 hours a year--smaller employers are required to provide unpaid sick leave. Additionally, employers must provide protected leave related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault, and stalking, and approve any form of available paid vacation, sick, or personal leave for such absences. Connecticut: In case you missed it, effective October 1, 2015, employers in Connecticut are prohibited from firing, disciplining, or otherwise retaliating against an employee who refuses to provide access to their social media account. More than 50,000 people from around the world came together in Paris in December 2015 to address the single biggest threat to the survival of the natural world -- the climate crisis. There is virtual unanimity among scientists that the burning of fossil fuels is causing the warming of the planet, and if critical steps are not taken, a habitable world will cease to exist. But there are entities that stand to lose if alternative sources of energy overtake coal, oil and natural gas. They are huge corporations, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and Texaco. Indeed, from 1990 to 2005, Exxon -- now called ExxonMobil -- spent millions of dollars in a sophisticated campaign to cast doubt on the science of climate change. The oil giant knew better. Advertisement Exxon's Scientists Confirm Climate Change In 1977, James Black, an Exxon senior scientist, told a meeting of powerful oil company executives, "There is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from burning of fossil fuels." The following year, Black wrote: "Present thinking holds that man has a time window of five to ten years before the need for hard decisions regarding changes in energy strategies might become critical." During much of the 1980s, Exxon conducted cutting-edge research on climate change. In 1982, its environmental affairs office prepared a corporate primer labeled "not to be distributed externally." It said that preventing global warming "would require major reductions in fossil fuel combustion." If that didn't happen, the primer read, "There are some potentially catastrophic events that must be considered." It added: "Once the effects are measurable, they may not be reversible." In 1989, Duane Levine, Exxon's manager of science and strategy development, told the board of directors that scientists largely agreed that the burning of fossil fuels would release gases that could raise temperatures between 2.7 and 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the 21st century. Glaciers would melt and sea levels would rise, Levine declared, "with generally negative consequences." When James Hansen, a prominent NASA climate scientist, testified before Congress in 1988 that global warming had begun, Sen. Tim Wirth (D-Colorado) said, "Congress must begin to consider how we are going to slow or halt that warming trend." Advertisement As calls for reductions in carbon dioxide from fossil fuels increased in the United States and around the world, Exxon realized the severity of the threat to its bottom line. Brian Flannery, Exxon's climate expert, wrote in an internal newsletter that such regulations would "alter profoundly the strategic direction of the energy industry." Exxon Begins to Sow Doubt About Climate Change Exxon made a strategic decision to publicly sow seeds of doubt about climate change while internally confirming it. A far-reaching investigation by Columbia University's Energy and Environmental Fellowship Project and the Los Angeles Times, and another by InsideClimate News, revealed Exxon's fateful shift. An internal draft memo dated August 1988, called "The Greenhouse Effect," set forth the "Exxon position." It advised that the corporation should "emphasize the uncertainty." In 1992, Exxon joined the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), a group of fossil fuel companies and industry front groups organized by the American Petroleum Institute to spread uncertainty about the scientific basis for climate change. The GCC took ads in The New York Times and The Washington Post, emphasizing doubt about climate change. Exxon was not alone in its deception. Mobil, Texaco, Shell, Standard Oil of California, Gulf Oil and other behemoths joined together in the GCC to protect their enormous profits. Advertisement Exxon conducted a PR campaign, lobbying to prevent US and international measures to limit greenhouse gases. For years, Mobil, then ExxonMobil after the two oil giants merged in 1999, bought a weekly "advertorial" on the editorial pages of the Times. Exxon repeatedly cited the rationale underlying the 1997 US refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol: restricting carbon dioxide emissions "could result in serious harm to the United States economy, including significant job loss, trade disadvantages, increased energy and consumer costs, or any combination thereof." In 1998, Exxon's senior environmental lobbyist frighteningly declared, "Victory will be achieved when ... average citizens 'understand' uncertainties in climate science" and when "recognition of uncertainty becomes part of 'conventional wisdom.'" More recently, in 2012, ExxonMobil's CEO minimized fears about climate change. Rex Tillerson told the Council on Foreign Relations, "We have spent our entire existence adapting. We'll adapt." He added, "It's an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution." How reassuring. Merely an "engineering problem." Revoking a Corporate Charter One of the side events at the Paris climate conference was devoted to holding ExxonMobil accountable for its dangerous deception about climate change. Columbia law professor and former environmental lawyer Michael Gerrard presented a scenario whereby the corporation could be sued for being a criminal enterprise under the RICO statute (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), violating consumer protection laws, constituting a public nuisance and participating in a civil conspiracy. Advertisement At that meeting, I suggested petitioning the attorney general of New Jersey, where ExxonMobil is incorporated, to revoke its corporate charter. Corporations have no inherent right to exist. Since corporations are created by states, the states possess the power to dissolve them. Every state and the District of Columbia have a procedure by which citizens, through their attorney general, can go to court to revoke the charter of a corporation that violates the law. Thus, lawbreaking corporations can be dissolved, put out of business and their assets sold pursuant to a judge's order that will protect jobs, the environment and the public interest. In 1976, California's conservative Republican attorney general used corporate charter revocation to force a private water company out of business for delivering contaminated water to its customers. The company settled the litigation and its assets were sold before its charter was revoked. The New York State attorney general used the tool in 1998 in conjunction with other litigation to put two New York corporations, Council for Tobacco Research and Tobacco Institute Inc., out of business and order their assets donated to state education and health institutions. Dennis Vacco argued that the Council was using its tax-exempt status by acting as a propaganda arm of the tobacco industry. The stated mission of the groups was "to provide truthful information about the effects of smoking on public health," Vacco said. "Instead," he added, "these entities fed the public a pack of lies in an underhanded effort to promote smoking and to addict America's kids." The tobacco industry eventually agreed to dissolve the two front groups as part of a multistate settlement of a lawsuit over the public health costs of smoking. But first, Vacco convinced the states' courts to appoint a receiver for the two tobacco groups and dissolve the Council for Tobacco Research because it had violated its nonprofit corporate charter and tax-exempt status. Advertisement Also in 1998, Alabama Circuit Judge William Wynn, acting as a private citizen, filed a lawsuit to revoke the charters of Alabama's five major tobacco companies. They included Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, R.J. Reynolds, The Liggett Group and Lorillard Corporation. Judge Wynn cited legal violations including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, unlawful distribution of material harmful to a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, third degree assault, reckless endangerment and deceptive business practice. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the judge's action shed a critical light on the malfeasance of the tobacco industry. Indeed, in the 1950s and 1960s, the tobacco companies had intentionally spread disinformation about the dangers of tobacco. While they financed internal research demonstrating that tobacco was addictive and harmful, they sponsored a public campaign minimizing the dangers. The parallels with ExxonMobil are striking. The tobacco companies were convicted in 2006 of "a massive 50-year scheme to defraud the public." In September 1998, a coalition of 150 environmental and human rights organizations petitioned California Attorney General Dan Lundgren to revoke the corporate charter of Union Oil Co. of California (Unocal) due to violations of state and international law in the construction of a natural gas pipeline in partnership with Myanmar's (formerly Burma) military dictatorship. The petition was filed by Loyola Law School professor Robert Benson and other attorneys for the International Law Project for Human, Economic and Environmental Defense (HEED), a project of the National Lawyers Guild. The petition alleged 10 counts of illegal actions by Unocal. They included enslavement and forced labor; forced relocation of Burmese villages and villagers; killing, homicide, rape and torture; environmental devastation; cultural genocide of indigenous and tribal people; aiding and abetting oppression of women and homosexuals; unfair and unethical treatment; usurpation of political authority; and deception of the courts, shareholders and the public. Ironically, in the count of environmental devastation, the petition called Unocal "an incorrigible recidivist polluter" and "an engine of destructive greenhouse gases" whose actions are contributing to life-threatening climate change amounting to "ecocide." Advertisement The petition was denied and later refiled before a new state attorney general who, in turn, also turned it down. But the mass mobilization against Unocal likely led the corporation to pull out of a gas pipeline deal with Afghanistan, whose Taliban government was a notorious human rights violator. In 1996, the law firm of Hadsell & Stormer, also comprised of attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild, brought suit on behalf of 14 Burmese villagers in the landmark case of Doe v. Unocal. Filed under the Alien Tort Statute and several California laws, the lawsuit alleged forced labor, crimes against humanity, violence against women and torture. Four months after the lawsuit was settled in 2005, Chevron bought Unocal's interest in the Burmese pipeline. As stated above, Chevron is one of the large oil companies contributing to climate change. Such is the circle of corporate malfeasance. ExxonMobil's Corporate Charter Should Be Revoked In November 2015, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation to determine whether ExxonMobil lied to the public about the perils of climate change or to its investors about how those risks may harm the oil business. Schneiderman served the corporation with a subpoena, demanding records of its climate research, including financial information and emails. New Jersey residents should urge their attorney general to initiate proceedings to revoke the corporate charter of ExxonMobil, which is incorporated in New Jersey. US Supreme Court Justice Byron White said in 1978 about corporations: "The state need not permit its own creation to consume it." ExxonMobil's dangerous and deceptive behavior has endangered not only the state of New Jersey. The climate crisis it has helped create threatens to consume the entire world. Advertisement Washington DC Capitol dome detail with waving american flag When Bernie Sanders tires to push Donald Trump supporters, or when Paiute Indians make similar complaints to right-wing ranchers about federally-owned land in Oregon, it makes headlines. No matter how often it happens, we are still surprised when left and right meet. After all, according to our map, that's impossible. But what if the map is wrong? For the last quarter of a century, we have managed or facilitated a series of projects that engaged participants in workshops and meetings that crossed the entire political spectrum. In all of them we asked the same question: "Does the conventional map of American politics accurately describe your experience?" Advertisement The Old Political Map Far Left----------Left----------Center---------Right----------Far Right (Liberal)(Moderate)(Conservative) Again and again, participants have overwhelmingly said "no." They agreed that this map, born over two centuries ago during the French Revolution, was obsolete and that we need a new one. Unfortunately, without a new map, we continue to use the old one--and continue to get lost. The old map still mesmerizes many of us so completely that we cannot see beyond it or even begin to imagine an alternative. But when we look at it with a fresh eye, it begins to lose its power to hypnotize us. Finding a new map is urgent because the old one is inherently divisive. We cannot reunite our country and solve the problems we face unless we remember: "Left" and "Right" are not inherently and irrevocably polar opposites. As the book of Genesis describes, God may have created heaven and earth, and separated light from darkness. But God did not divide everything under the sun into "conservative" and "liberal." Advertisement We did that -- and we can also undo it. In fact, we already are. My colleagues and I are working closely with scores of organizations that have freed themselves from this paralyzing Right-Left straightjacket and reclaiming our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. National organizations ranging from No Labels to the National Institute for Civic Discourse, as well as grassroots organizations like Public Conversations Project and Living Room Conversations, are working boldly on this frontier where Left and Right find common ground. Similarly, in the private sector, many business leaders are freeing themselves from this political dichotomy. Thoughtful entrepreneurs and economists do not agree that producing goods and services, the heart of economic activity, is fundamentally about a choice between left and right. When managed effectively with sound principles, argues economist Rajendra Sisodia, co-author of Conscious Capitalism, business is "not a question of left or right but a question of rising higher." If one examines the strongest, most socially responsible businesses, he says, the left-right "divides start to go away and actually start to look a bit silly." Of course real, substantive political and economic differences do exist. But to identify the real differences, and work them through to effective resolutions, cannot happen until we update our civic software and draw a better map. What if we had an upgrade to Political Map 2.0 that reflected independent-minded Americans citizens as well as hard-core party members? What if it gave us the freedom to be liberal about some issues and conservative about others? What if it encouraged us to seek common, and even higher, ground? Advertisement The great orator and patriot from Virginia, Patrick Henry, called on his fellow citizens to pledge allegiance not just to the former colony in which they lived but also to the union of states that was being born. "I am not a Virginian, but an American," he said two hundred years ago. But what does that mean today? Just as his loyalty to America transcended his loyalty to his state, how do we rise above our loyalty to our ideology or party? Does it serve my country if I just take a side? What makes us think we are patriotic if we turn against our fellow citizens who don't share our views? So let's not be so shocked when right and left connect. Isn't that what the Founding Fathers had in mind? Isn't that why they called our country the United States of America? 1) Once Bernie wins the Democratic nomination -- the presidency is obviously and undoubtedly his on a platter. The Republicans, other conservatives, big business interests (including Big Banks, Big Insurance, Big Oil and Big Pharma), the Koch Brothers, reactionaries, right-wing fanatics et al won't mind about there being a self-declared socialist in the White House for the next four to eight years. They won't put up any kind of real fight in the coming year. Bernie will easily deflect the handful of ineffective attacks and a few billion dollars of negative advertising. Water off a duck's back for a nearly 75-year-old former mayor from Vermont who has much more experience of fighting Republicans in national electoral politics than someone such as Hillary Clinton. Advertisement 2) Most mainstream Democrats, independents and even Republicans have a huge thirst and yearning to have full-blooded socialism in America and will enthusiastically vote into the White House a self-declared socialist calling for revolution in the U.S.A. He will win the Presidency by a landslide. He'll sweep the Electoral College. 3)The extreme right wing and racists in the USA who have detested seeing a black man in the White House, who would hate seeing a Democratic woman as president -- by contrast will roll over and purr with delight and be eager to support and vote for an elderly Jewish socialist who wants to be president. There will be no anti-Semitism and none of that old "socialism equals communism" fear-mongering that has been a refrain for the last hundred years in America. Within weeks of winning the Democratic nomination, Bernie will convert them all and have them singing the Internationale and Hava Nagila. It'll be a kosher kumbaya! 4)That's just the start of it! With a crotchety, elderly Jewish socialist guy running for president -- the entire Democratic ticket will get a 'yooge' boost. Especially in the South and Mid-West. Solid entrenched Republican House districts will fall like houses of cards in a hurricane and the Democrats will end up with a solid majority for the next eight years in the House of Representatives of ultra-progressive Democrats all eager to vote for all legislation that leads us to a socialist utopia. It will be the same in the Senate and by 2022 there will be close to 100 senators all striving to implement any policies that appear to be inspired by Das Kapital! 5)Bernie's advancing years won't be an issue at all in the coming presidential election. On assuming office at 75, he will be a mere five years older than the previous oldest president -- Ronald Reagan. And when he leaves office (after his second term) in January 2025 he will still be a full eight months shy of his 84th birthday. Running for re-election in 2020 as a 79-year-old will be a total breeze. It's not as though the Republicans will come up with a candidate younger, more energetic or less like a tetchy, cantankerous, flailing-armed alter kocker! Advertisement 6)With such strong support for unbridled socialism in the Congress and throughout the nation, Bernie's policies will radically transform and improve the entire economy at warp speed with not a peep of resistance from big business, from reactionary billionaires, from right-wingers or from the NRA. They will all surrender to Bernie and they will definitely not fight or try to prevent him from implementing any of his economic, social or foreign policies. (After all it's not as though those vested conservative interests tried in any way in the past 7 years to manipulate misguided rednecks into impeding the passage and implementation of Obama-Care, gay marriage, climate control, gun-control legislation, Obama's economic agenda and foreign policy objectives!) Vast numbers of conservatives will see the error of their ways and will apologize profusely for all the conservative movement's fights against the New Deal, the Great Society and against all the progressive achievements of the last 80 years -- including Medicare, Civil Rights, Voting Rights. Conservatives will trample over each other in their rush to become members of the American Communist Party. 7) Unlike most presidents (for example Bill Clinton) who have been clueless about electoral politics, Bernie will inspire such a socialist fever in the public and will so easily smite the reactionary forces that his full agenda will pass immediately in the House and Senate -- and precedent will be broken when it comes to the 2018 and 2022 mid-terms. Democrats will actually increase their already strong majorities in the House and the Senate. State governorships and State legislatures -- especially in the Red States -- will all tumble into Democratic hands. So revolutionary will be the fervor in the nation -- the Democratic Party will gladly re-brand itself as the Socialist Peoples Revolutionary Socialist Democratic Socialist Party (Socialist). 8)Of course there is always a very slight chance that despite what are certain to be his landslide victories in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, President Bernard "Bernie" Sanders might not instantly get a Democratic majority in the House or Senate because not enough of the Democratic candidates in the elections of 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 will be sufficiently socialist in their pitches to engage with the limitless passion for socialist revolution of the American public. Advertisement And in that unlikely event, what of Bernie's ability to secure passage in Congress of his signature policies that will rapidly transform the USA into a socialist paradise with all the banks, all of Wall Street and all the Koch Brothers meekly surrendering their control? No fear! Bernie will easily sweet-talk any surviving Tea Party or conservative Republican House members and Senators and have them happily supporting all of his agenda. In fact, so powerful will his arguments be that many of these arch-conservatives will have a Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus instant conversion and will start demanding that President Sanders embrace full-on Stalinism far to the left of his milquetoast socialism! 9)Now there are of course some dreadful cynics who foolishly think that the Democrats who intend to vote for Bernie Sanders in the caucuses and primaries are noble-minded idealists who think that their personal purity is much more important than the pragmatism of Hillary Clinton. But those cynics were the same idiots who thought that people casting a pious vote for Ralph Nader might prevent the election of our 43rd president -- Al Gore (2001-2009). Just ask defeated presidential candidate George W. Bush how that worked out! 10)Finally, in fighting back against the views of those who think that voting for Bernie Sanders is about purist principle over wise pragmatism and damn the consequences if Sanders defeats Hillary Clinton and becomes the Republican Party's wet-dream Democratic Presidential candidate, then there's a simple answer. Even if Bernie Sanders gets creamed in the presidential election because it transpires that 300 million Americans are not quite so enthused about electing a 75-year-old Jewish socialist as president as a few thousand self-righteous, lefter-than-thou, delusional 'activists' in Iowa and New Hampshire -- it's not as though it really matters. After all when -- as a consequence -- a Republican such as Trump, Cruz, Rubio or Christie is elected president for the next four to eight years it's not as if anything really important is on the line. Just minor issues such as: Advertisement Affordable Health Care Abortion rights Funding for Planned Parenthood Women's rights Minority rights Gay marriage Gun violence prevention Climate change Minimum wage Campaign finance reform Green energy Affordable college education Criminal justice reform Immigration reform LGBT equality Paid family leave Social Security Medicare Substance addiction programs Protection of voting rights Wall Street reformAND... Attendant: And who is your insurer, Mr. Farmer? Me: Land of Lincoln Health. Attendant: May I see your card? Me: They never sent me one. Attendant: Do you know your plan ID number? Me: No. Attendant: You'll need to call Land of Lincoln and get that information. Me: I did, and they don't have it. Attendant: Are you certain you're insured by Land of Lincoln? Me: Well, they sent me an email in December thanking me for paying my January 2016 premium, but now that you mention it, I don't know. I can't log into the member portal on their website, no one at the company answers the phone, and the Chicago Tribune has been running stories that suggest the company may be in over its head. Concord, N. Hampshire, Feb. 9, 2016 -- Major media outlets announce that Sanders and Trump have won the New Hampshire primaries, only a week after each placed first in the Iowa Caucuses. Democratic and Republican establishments start to panic. Game on. What 6 months ago seemed impossible and two months ago seemed improbable would then become not only possible but probable: Voters' rejection of the governing elite and the donor class in both political parties. Indeed, most recent polling already indicates a Sander/Trump match-up as far from impossible. On the Republican side, Trump leads national polls by a large margin, is neck and neck with Cruz in Iowa, and holds a substantial lead in New Hampshire. Sanders trails Clinton by the margin of error in 2 recent Iowa polls and is leading by the margin of error in another; Sanders leads Clinton by 4%-13% in various New Hampshire polls; and in at least one national poll is within 4 points of Clinton. Polls also show Sanders defeating Trump in a general election by larger margins than Clinton. Advertisement Other than being outsiders in their respective parties, there's little in common between Sanders's policy-specific social democracy to combat economic inequality and Trump's vague nationalistic nativism that promises to make his supporters as rich as he is. But the divide between Democratic and Republican Party elites and large donors, on the one hand, and grass-roots voters, on the other, has nearly reached the breaking point in both parties. It's conceivable that this could become the most transformative and disruptive American election since...well...maybe 1860. That election ended the Whig Party, split the Democratic Party in two, and established the Republicans as one of the 2 major national parties for the past century and a half. Ultimately, Lincoln's election led to the secession of Southern States and a Civil War that killed 750,000 Americans and reshaped American politics and economics for the next century. No one is predicting that America will descend into bloody civil war. But the country hasn't been this politically polarized in ages. And the federal government is gridlocked, unable to grapple with the country's biggest problems including slow economic growth, stagnating wages, the collapse of the middle class, a political system dominated by big money and the revolving door, climate change, the descent of large swatches of the Middle East into anarchy, and America's diminished ability to dominate world events. Elected Republicans have spent decades promising their base that they'd shrink government, eliminate deficits, abolish the Affordable Care Act, and ban abortion and gay marriage. Instead Republican-elected officials have enacted tax breaks and special interest legislation for the corporate class that fund the party. Advertisement Democratic leaders have promised to reduce economic inequality, but while unemployment has been halved under Obama, wages have stagnated, almost all the economic gains since the Great Recession have gone to the top 10%, the Obama administration has seen a parade of Wall Street operatives go back and forth through the revolving door between government and business, and the Clintons have collected tens of millions in speaking fees from the likes of Goldman Sachs. One of the few things that Republicans and Democrats agree on is that the rich have more influence on the government than average voters. A recent New York Times poll indicates that 66% of Americans think the wealthy have a greater chance to influence elections that ordinary Americans and only 31% think they have an equal chance. 84% think money has too much influence in politics, 5% think it has too little, and 10% thinks it's about right. 85% think the system of funding elections needs either fundamental change or to be completely rebuilt, and 13% think it only needs minor change. Moreover, the latest research shows that the majority of Americans are correct in their belief that the wealthy have a greater chance to influence elections than the average voter. A 2014 study by Princeton' Martin Gilens and Northwestern's Benjamin Page concluded that the influence of ordinary Americans registers as "non -significant, near zero level" after controlling for the power of economic elites and organized interest groups. The policy preferences of business and the rich sharply diverge from those of common citizens, and when they do, the economic elites and business interest almost always win and the ordinary Americans lose. They conclude, "economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impact on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass based-interest groups have little or no independent influence." Increasingly, voters in both parties are saying, in Bernie Sander's words, "enough is enough". Will it be sufficient for Trump and Sanders to capture their respective nominations? It's possible, but both also have roadblocks in their road to the nomination. With a multi-candidate primary, even if Trump wins the most delegates coming into the Republican convention, he's likely to have only a plurality. The Republican establishment could rally around an alternative to deny him the nomination. The result could be a split in the Republican Party as much of the base feels betrayed and deserts the party. Or a Trump nomination could also split the Republican Party, with the establishment abandoning their party's Presidential nominee. Advertisement The Democrats are slightly less divided than the Republicans between the Sanders/Warren wing and the corporate elite wing. But a Sanders victory in Iowa and New Hampshire would throw Democratic elites into full panic mode. Hillary's operatives on the Democratic National Committee, let by Debbie Wasserman Shultz, have slanted the rules to place major potholes in front of an insurgent campaign. They've limited Democratic debates to only 6, mostly appearing when few people are watching TV, in order to prevent the less-known Sanders from gaining the visibility that the more famous Clinton has. They've scheduled a series of Southern primaries--where Clinton is far better known among African American voters than Sanders--to follow quickly on the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, which except in the case of Obama, have proved the trip-wire for insurgent Democratic candidates in recent decades. If worst comes to worst, unelected Superdelegates, who make up nearly 20% of voters at the Democratic convention, would swing a closely contested primary race to Clinton. But party leaders must also recognize that such a move is the likeliest way to split the Democratic Party. So it's now becoming increasingly possible that the Republicans could nominate Trump and the Democrats could nominate Sanders, creating one of the greatest disruptions to the established political order in American history. Even if the elites manage to stave off the challenge and the parties nominate status quo candidates like Clinton or Rubio, it will be impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. Either or both political parties will be dramatically changed, and could even split apart. The political ramifications of ordinary Americans asserting their voices against organized elites will continue to be felt in American politics for years to come, whatever the outcome in 2016 After a month away visiting family in Mexico, I flew back into Paris last Thursday night, the French capital splayed out before me in all its sparkling glory. Off in the distance, the Eiffel Tower punctured the horizon like a beacon, a lighthouse above the City of Lights. These days, however, it might be more accurate to call it a watchtower, it's bright searchlight moving slowly across the city. It's been a year since the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Today, it's been exactly two months since the terrorist attacks that left 130 people dead across the city. Both have left deep scars. The country is still under a state of emergency. The police conduct raids on a daily basis. There's talk of stripping citizenship from anyone convicted of terrorism. There's a paranoia in Paris that I've never felt before. As a result, the city long seen as the cradle of revolution has grown frighteningly quiet. Coming off the plane, I was shocked to be confronted immediately by four heavily armed policemen, brusquely demanding everyone's passports, despite the fact that we'd already passed through passport control when we flew into Spain. Young men in military attire watched carefully on. Advertisement I got my luggage and prepared to take the Orly Val train into the city, but the entry to the station was blocked. An attendant informed us that some luggage had been found abandoned at the South Terminal, putting the airport on lockdown. "How long until it's moving again?" I asked. "I don't know," he said wearily, as if this happened on a daily basis. And it's not just the airport that's facing regular lockdowns. The friend I stayed with told me that in the month that I've been gone, the metro has been shut down numerous times for security concerns, transforming her journey to her boyfriend's house into an hour-and-a-half commute. When I went to the theatre on a Saturday night, I was surprised to see the two elegant old Parisian ladies in front of me have their bags and coats searched by burly security guards. They didn't even flinch, by now used to the constant security searches. Occasionally, the paranoia gets deadly. I learnt that the police had killed a man the day I arrived: he'd been wearing a fake suicide vest and wielding a knife. I get it. I'm scared too. Every time I hear the perennial Paris sirens, I'm taken back to that night. To the police screaming at me near Le Carillon. To the procession of ambulances heading down Boulevard Voltaire towards the Bataclan. The restaurants with their windows shuttered on a Friday night. To the terrified hostages I saw fleeing the concert hall, their hands held above their heads as if expecting a rain of bullets. Advertisement But when I spoke to my Parisian friends in the days after the attacks, they were scared too. But there was also a stoic kind of courage. I asked them if the attacks would stop them from going out or eating at restaurants. Time and again I got the same response: "If we do that, they will have won." Indeed, it seems that for the bars and restaurants of Paris, life is back to normal: young Parisians congregate at the terraces, smoking, drinking and laughing. Even near Le Carillon and the Bataclan. But the French government, it seems, has given in to the fear. I've always associated Paris with protests: from the French Revolution to May '68, Paris has always been a city of tumult and citizen upheaval. When I lived here as a student, my journeys across the city were interrupted on a daily by some manifestation or other. Though often frustrating at the time, these manifestations are a quintessential part of France. They are a physical embodiment of what has long been fundamental to the French value of liberte: the right to freedom of expression. It was for this reason that the Charlie Hebdo attacks hurt so deeply. After the Hebdo attacks, one million Parisians took to the streets in a deeply moving show of solidarity. But since the November 13th attacks, all public protests have been banned. The climate march, which many of my friends and my partner had been organizing, was cancelled, silencing the voices of a powerful and much needed movement for action on climate change. Instead, thousands of shoes stood silently in the Place de la Republique, eerie reminders of a freedom taken away. Those that did protest were met with tear gas and violent arrests.To mark one year after Charlie Hebdo, a small ceremony was held last Sunday at Place la Republique. French social media lit up in shock to see that just a few hundred people had shown up, in stark contrast to the one million that marched last year. But with all public manifestations banned, with police raids and security searches at shops and theatres, with a total atmosphere of fear - is it any wonder that grief and solidarity too have been silenced? The State of Emergency is set to expire in mid-February. I hope that with the ban lifted, Parisians will be allowed to take to the streets again. Whether it's in solidarity for the attacks or whether it's plumbers demanding higher wages or nurses shorter hours or whatever the case may be. It would be a far more powerful statement against the Islamic State than sending more planes to bomb Syria. Because protesting, screaming on the streets of this city, demanding what you feel is rightfully yours, is part of what makes this city and this country so great. By Andres Hernandez, Andrea Martinez, Liliana Villa, and Dee Dee Wei As we boarded the plane from Boston to Medellin, Colombia, and our tickets were being scanned one by one, we realized the importance of being counted. This was a stark difference to the many conversations we had been having with our Colombian colleagues. Half of our group is from Medellin and is familiar with the realities of Granizal, a community of desplazados (internally displaced people) that we would soon visit and see first-hand. Our Colombian colleagues described to those of us living in the US, the problems desplazados have faced throughout their lives. Most troubling to us was the reality of not being accounted for. After being forced to move from different rural regions of the country coupled with a lack of recognition from Colombia's national and local governments, a community was created without social cohesion and was further isolated from the rest of the Colombian society. A major point of contention and challenge is their alleged illegal occupation of the land. In one of our lectures, Dr. Gregg Greenough, Assistant Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, discussed the importance of having accurate demographic data for populations when planning public health initiatives. In creating efficient interventions, key data are critical to collect in order to better understand and describe the social conditions of the people in the community. Without this demographic data public health professionals are uncertain of the various health issues and living conditions of these displaced populations, and are therefore, unable to allocate resources accordingly. This lack of information can often result in inadequate public health programs for this marginalized population and makes it difficult for the people of Granizal to advocate for recognition by the government and the subsequent access to services necessary for living as productive citizens in the greater urban society. Advertisement This absence of government recognition creates many additional problems that affect the health and quality of life of the people in Granizal. Two major health-related issues that the people of this community face are poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water. These essential needs are a right that the government should guarantee for all of its citizens. However, the government hesitates to provide these services as it claims that Granizal's settlements are illegal. For similar reasons, this population has difficulty accessing health and social services, such as medical care, health insurance, and pensions. The children of Granizal also lack access to proper education. Many of the children do not attend school, and the local school has been identified as one of the poorest in Colombia. Thus, it is imperative to count and map the population to graphically illustrate their needs. New mapping technologies using GPS, cellphones, drones, and satellite images can facilitate the process. Nonetheless, executing a census should be the ultimate goal as it includes health indicators in addition to socio-demographic data. Despite the fact that a census can be expensive, Granizal's population is relatively small and the benefits would likely outweigh the costs. As Colombia transitions into peace, we must emphasize community empowerment and social cohesion, especially among the disenfranchised, in order to promote and maintain peace. Formal government recognition is not merely an identification document that represents residency status; it also represents community belonging and social identity. Formally recognizing displaced populations promotes social inclusion and peace. As our plane took off, we continued to think about these issues, our hopes, and concerns. Those of us from the US worried about how, as outsiders, we could propose sustainable solutions to the community we aim to help. Those of us from Colombia, hoped our combined efforts with our American colleagues will help one of our country's most vulnerable populations. In this instance and with the start of our journey, we were counting on each other. Advertisement Hello, my name is Mark Goodman and the dean of St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in Albuquerque. I also hold an advanced degree in botany, having studied systematic botany and evolutionary biology. Throughout my life, there have been those two opposing forces, those two opposing worldviews -- religion on the one hand, science on the other hand. And for much of my life, I saw one or the other as holding the totality of truth about our understanding of the world and of the universe. When I was younger, my understanding was that religion was the source of that truth. As I learned more and more about science, especially physical sciences, I came to the conclusion that it was science, in fact, that was the depository of all truth about the universe. However, when I went to seminary to study to become a priest, suddenly my worldview expanded, and I came to understand that, in fact, the two are not opposed but they are interlocked and are mutually consistent one with another. It is like looking through one lens to see a certain view of the universe, and another lens to see another view of the universe. But in fact, when you look through a compound lens, such as this one, and you look at the intricate details of a flower, like this amaryllis, on the outside, you see its beauty, and that tells you something about the God who created the laws of the universe, the laws of evolution, that caused this flower to evolve and come to be. When you look at it through a lens, suddenly you see intricate detail, and through details of morphology and anatomy, chemical and genetic markers, you can determine, then, the place of this plant in the overall evolutionary history of the world of plants. And so those two views, together, give us an holistic view of that plant. The same thing can be true of the universe. So you look at a telescope, such as this telescope, and you look into the heavens, you see the beauty of the stars unfold before you, the galaxies, nebulae, star clusters. But you cal also look in great detail and determine the composition through spectrographs of those bodies and study them in intricate detail so that you see their scientific side and the beauty of their creation, as well. Both those go together to form that complete picture and understanding of the universe. Perhaps, in fact, instead of thinking of two lenses, we can think of one substance that allows you in fact, to see two different views at once. The crystal calcite, this rhombohedral crystal has a certain chemical composition and a certain form. And you can look through it, and you can see certain shapes through it, but when you put it down on a line, in fact you don't see one line any more, you see two lines. That's really what my understanding of looking at the world is like. It's looking through that intersection of science and religion, so that we don't see one truth, but in fact two truths, which come together to give us that intricate picture, that wonderful detail, that wonderful view of beauty of the created universe. The one question I still continue to struggle with, however, is that question of God's interaction with His creation. Because we know there are natural laws that govern the processes of the very large, from supergalaxies, superclusters of galaxies, down to the very small, the subatomic particles that react with one another in quantum ways. But how does God interact with those, and how does God continue to interact with humanity? I don't really hold to that 18th century notion of the idea of the remote clockmaker -- God who winds up the clock and then sets it down and lets it run all by itself. I have a sense that God continues to interact with the world, not in any miraculous way necessarily, not in a way that abrogates natural law, but in way that is consistent with natural law, in a way that moves creation forward to its natural conclusion. But how that happens, I'm not sure. But I think that that intersection of science and religion, as we delve more deeply into that, that's where we find greater understanding of that question. ( The following is an expansion of an article I wrote last week, with clarifications and corrections, in some cases, offered by Dr. Joy DrGruy ) Dr. Joy A. DeGruy, is the author of the book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. The book examines the impact of mutigenerational trauma experienced by African Americans starting with American chattel slavery, through "Jim Crow" to the present. Dr. DeGruy asked a diverse audience of people about racism: What is racism? And how does it manifest itself in America? She first asked the audience if racism in America is perpetrated by both white and black people and most of the audience raised their hands affirming that they believed that both white and black people in America are racists. Advertisement She then asked specifically about 'white racism' i.e, (racism from white people towards black people). and in what ways white racism adversely impacted black people as an entire group. The audience began shouting out their answers of how blacks are negatively impacted: health care, education, criminal justice, housing, jobs, etc. Next Dr. DeGruy asked specifically about 'black racism" i.e. (racism from black people towards white people) and in what ways black racism adversely impacted white people as an entire group. And there was a notable silence. She said that the one answer that most frequently gets shouted out is 'fear;" there is an acknowledgement that white people as a group, are afraid of black people. She explained that "racism" is often mistaken for 'prejudice' and that while significant numbers of black people may be prejudiced or, may even harbor feelings of hatred towards white people, black Americans lack the 'power' to adversely impact white people as an entire group in any of the areas stated above. Thus, to be 'racist' requires not only prejudice or contempt towards members of another group but, also the power to adversely impact them as an entire group of people." It is a common thought among scholars that white people do not want to admit their racism. The reason people are taking to the streets, is because the power wielded by a racist government has been devastating to them; that trauma is exacerbated by the fact that white institutions and white society in general will not admit that it has done anything wrong or painful. Advertisement DeGruy says that white and black people have been impacted by generational trauma. In a moving illustration, she talks about the trauma Americans felt from the tragedy of 9/11. Individuals at Ground Zero were traumatized, but some people who were nowhere near Ground Zero were traumatized as well. Some people who watched the jets fly into the World Trade Center towers who lived in other states or even in other countries were traumatized. Humans internalize trauma, she says. She reminds us that hundreds of years of chattel slavery, like it or not, traumatized generations of people ... and there was never any therapy, never any healing intervention. "Anybody recall hearing of a therapist being sent to slaves after, say, a son was killed or a family member raped in front of them?" she asked. "After slavery, did the trauma continue?" The answer is yes. After slavery officially ended there were thousands of lynchings by terrorist KKK groups, and Jim Crow segregation after which there was the enactment of federal, state and city sanctioned discriminatory practices, exclusionary laws; redlining, urban renewal and now, gentrification. Today we are still trying to make 'black lives matter. There was trauma and never any treatment or acknowledgment of what the trauma did to those that were enslaved or their progeny. Black people are "profoundly resilient," posits DeGruy, but the fact is, they have been traumatized ... and white people are afraid. Why the fear? Perhaps it is because white people feel like black people will eventually retaliate and heap upon them what they have heaped upon black people. Perhaps it is because they worry they will lose control; white supremacy is, after all, a giant system of social control. Slavery was about control, as is mass incarceration. This government was founded on the need for white people to be in control. To think about losing it is way too scary. What would happen if this nation would admit that white supremacy exists and that it has traumatized an entire race of people? What would happen if America engaged in a process of truth and reconciliation, much like South Africa did? South Africa admitted its horrid racism; Germany admitted theirs, but America has never admitted anything. And perhaps that is, at least, part of the reason that the malady affecting white America is fear. There has been no resolution of the contradiction between American idealism (democracy) and American realism (separatism, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia). There has been no resolution for the incongruity in the assertion that "all men are created equal" and the Three-Fifths Compromise, or the pronouncement by white pseudo-scientists that black people are: 1)Sub-human, 2) that they are not worthy of liberation, freedom, and basic human rights; and that they are not, nor ever will be "equal" to white people. Advertisement There has been no admission that the Founding Fathers did not include black people in the provision of rights enumerated by and in the Constitution. America has basked in the myth of "American Exceptionalism" which has as core value intent to keep some people out of the equation for liberty and justice. DeGruy says that when Americans exist with the contradictions presented by the Constitution they suffer internal psychological conflict, "cognitive dissonance." They have to convince themselves that the treatment of black people by whites was not bad, but that black people were bad and therefore deserved what they were getting. But holding onto the secret of the horror of white racism has taken its toll on white people, says DeGruy, and has caused them to live in fear. So, at the end of the day, white supremacy has traumatized both black and white people. Black people are afraid of a government which has not and will not protect them; white people are afraid that perhaps their injustice, or complicity in the dispensing of injustice, will come back to haunt them. DeGruy's theory is sound and has merit but may seem provocative to some. Untreated trauma is never a good thing; for those who have practiced oppression and those that have been oppressed. Dr. DeGruy closes out her book with a statement made by Thomas Jefferson where he clearly articulated his fear: Advertisement "Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever; that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probably by supernatural influence!" (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII: Manners ) A great deal of attention has been given to Barack Obama's eighth and final State of the Union Address. Some have opined whether he will be able to use the occasion to further his agenda, help set the stage for the next Democratic nominee, or whether his speech will help frame his legacy upon his exit from office. History has shown that few State of the Union speeches stand out for their ability to accomplish any of their goals. From announcing his intention to run for President by invoking Abraham Lincoln or using the same Bible Lincoln used for his oath of office, Barack Obama has undoubtedly recognized the historical significance of being the first African-American president and has taken on policies designed to ultimately make his presidency one of historical significance, rather than a footnote. The Affordable Care Act and the recognition of gay marriage are two of the most consequential domestic policy changes in generations. He undoubtedly would like his final SOTU to tout his accomplishments and frame his legacy for the History books. I cannot help but think his speech will do little to change the minds of those who support or oppose him. Much of the citizenry has had their minds made up whether they laud or loathe him for quite some time. A particularly telling example can be seen in President Obama's news conference on gun control last week. He recalled mass shootings in Blacksburg, Santa Barbara, Columbine, and Newtown. In doing so, he teared up and said "every time I think about those kids, it makes me mad." Advertisement This was a revealing moment. A rare moment where President Obama was vulnerable. Throughout much of his presidency Barack Obama has appeared aloof and disengaged. It is somewhat ironic that he is viewed as such a strong communicator. Apart from stump speeches (where he is indeed charismatic, emotive and hyperbolic) Barack Obama often sounds more like a constitutional law scholar (and a boring one at that). He works to get his points across in a very specific, analytical, and loquacious fashion. This appears to be part of his personality--calculating and self-aware. To many, his tears revealed President Obama's human side. This is not something he has done much of during his presidency beyond shooting some hoops or selecting his NCAA brackets. And this is why the moment was particularly fascinating. While he was giving us a glimpse of his vulnerability, it looked as though he did all he could to maintain his composure--knowing that it could be used by detractors in all kinds of ways. This vulnerability has been quite rare for Barack Obama throughout his presidency. His critics met the same moment with cynicism, disdain, and in some cases, anger. I was struck when scrolling through C-SPAN's coverage of the news conference one of the comments on their Facebook page stated that "every time I see this President, it makes me mad." That comment received hundreds of "likes" within a few hours. It should be noted that this comment appeared in reference to video footage captioned as "President Obama gets emotional while talking about #SandyHook." Our government requires discussion, disagreement, discourse, and hopefully consensus. Yet the reaction to his news conference seemed to produce little in the way of helpful conversation to stem gun violence. Instead, much of it focused on the President himself and the antipathy many feel toward him. Advertisement I believe most Americans' minds have been made up on Barack Obama for quite some time. Most see what they want to see. Regarding his news conference, his supporters saw a family man, a sensible man, and a man who is looking to make reasonable changes regarding background checks on guns. His detractors saw a man who would capitalize on an event to violate the Constitution to support his own agenda. For the latter group, the words he used or the tears rolling from his eyes did not matter. Altogether, his "moment" will probably be of most significance to those who use it to fundraise (both for Democrats and Republicans) in the coming days. The same will likely be true for his final SOTU address. That strident groups of Americans have had their minds made up on this president for so long makes me mad. To be fair, it makes me more sad than mad. We have a relatively small, but loud chorus of Americans who care so much they simply will not entertain any other view than their own. Conversely, we have far too many Americans who pay too little attention to goings-on and are apathetic about the political process. Public opinion polls suggest that the country continues to be closely divided when it comes to support for Republicans or Democrats. Entering the final year of a two-term presidency, it is ironic that Barack Obama captured the nation's attention due to his emotional plea for Americans to come together not as red America or blue America, but for the United States of America when he was a State Senator from Illinois in 2004. And this is what makes me sad. Sad that we cannot do better. We are not "Rs" and "Ds," but we are indeed Americans, and there happens to be broad consensus on a number of seemingly intractable issues (like gun control). Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf holds up an identification plaque signed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general in Nairobi on December 16, 2015, during Liberia's accession to the WTO at the tenth ministerial conference.Ebola-ravaged Liberia on December 16 joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the body's first ministerial conference in Africa. / AFP / TONY KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images) On Thursday, Liberia will be declared "Ebola-free" by the World Health Organization, joining Sierra Leone and Guinea -- signaling an end to the Ebola epidemic. What did we learn? First, it did not have to be this bad. It was not inevitable that the 2013 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa -- the world's 22nd known Ebola outbreak -- would become the world's first Ebola epidemic. While bad luck and the reality that previously remote areas in Africa are now more connected to population centers contributed to the outbreak becoming an epidemic , for the most part, the catastrophe was an avoidable failure of global health authorities, especially the WHO, to sound the appropriate alarms early enough, and not to let up on the initial efforts to combat the disease when it (falsely) appeared to be diminishing. If the right steps had been taken at the right time; if the world had acted more quickly and more decisively in the early phases of the outbreak, the death toll could have been limited to a small fraction of what it ultimately became. The ghastly tragedy that unfolded in the summer and fall of 2014 in West Africa did not have to happen. Advertisement On the other hand, it could have been much, much worse. While the Ebola epidemic itself was not inevitable, its subsequent reversal was also not preordained. In October 2014, scientists forecast that the epidemic would cause 1 million deaths, which in some ways understated the risk at that time: it covered only two of the three countries then suffering from the disease, and didn't factor in the potential for spread to other nations if the epidemic had not been checked. In the end, the death toll was less than 2% of that forecast. How were 980,000+ forecast deaths avoided? The bulk of the credit should be given to the people of West Africa themselves, for fighting this disease on the front lines, making hard cultural and behavioral changes to slow the spread, and sacrificing mightily to treat their friends, family, and neighbors. But this locally-powered effort was substantially aided by an unprecedented global response: medical volunteers, NGOs, philanthropists, and governments around the world made generous and courageous contributions. At the top of that list was the United States, which sent over 10,000 civilian government workers, volunteers, and contractors (led primarily by the US Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control), and over 3,000 US troops under Operation United Assistance. Thousands more Americans went to West Africa as volunteers through NGOs, religious groups, and medical associations. Our US Public Health Service built and staffed a critical hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. The talented team at NIH provided medical leadership and accelerated promising vaccines and treatments. America wasn't the only generous nation in the world: far from it. But it was the most generous nation, and that generosity saved thousands and thousands of lives. Advertisement Third, government can work. At a time of unmatched cynicism about our government, coming from nearly all sides of the political spectrum, the Ebola response is a powerful example of our government working effectively. Yes, there were some initial stumbles in Dallas when the first case emerged in the US. And yes, some political leaders stirred fears and put in place unnecessary quarantines on returning health care workers. But by and large, the Ebola response is a success story for our federal, state and local governments. President Obama mustered a whole-of-government response that dispatched dramatic and successful assistance to West Africa; quickly ramped up Ebola treatment centers in the US; vastly expanded our testing lab capacities; imposed screening systems for arriving passengers at US airports; and deployed a medevac plan that saved the lives of all but one US health care worker who got the disease overseas. The President opposed a ban on travel from the region, and demanded that science -- not fear -- govern quarantine policies. Of the 50 Governors, 36 followed the President's lead on quarantines, and state public health departments successfully monitored arriving travelers who had been in West Africa and quickly got them to medical care if they showed symptoms of the disease. A bipartisan majority in Congress funded over $5 billion for the international and domestic response, without including travel ban legislation or other pernicious measures. All in all, it was a quick-moving and impressive demonstration of how government can work to keep us safe, respect civil liberties, and save lives. Fourth, we still have a long way to go to be ready for the truly dangerous global pandemic to come. In some ways, Ebola was an "easy" test of the global response systems for a pandemic: it is a hard disease to transmit, it erupted in three countries with relatively small populations that do not send huge numbers of travelers out of the region, and these nations welcomed outside help. But a future epidemic could be transmitted by airborne means (not just by bodily fluids) and be far more contagious; it could break out in a nation with a megacity where a disease would spread rapidly; it could be an emerging commercial power that sends thousands of travelers around the world each day; and could be in a country that would resist outside volunteers (and US troops). This is why Bill Gates has said if something is likely to kill 10 million people suddenly in the next 20 years, it's not terrorism or nuclear war or a natural disaster: it's a pandemic. The Ebola epidemic should increase -- not assuage -- our fears in this regard. Advertisement That is why -- while the epidemic is still fresh in our memories -- the world needs to tackle reform of the WHO to fix what went wrong with Ebola. It's why President Obama's global health security agenda needs continued funding from Congress, not just the one-time boost it got during the epidemic. It's why we need a global "white helmet" battalion that can go into places where US troops cannot go to contain a disease and stabilize an effected area: an idea being advanced by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It's why work on promising vaccines and treatments needs to be accelerated, and global governance and liability issues around that work need to be addressed. The Ebola epidemic is finished, but our work to make the world safe from a future pandemic is not. Now, before the former is forgotten, the latter must be made a priority for governments and concerned citizens around the world. __________________________ In a twist of the Mark Twain quip I conclude that, "The news of [craft chocolate's] demise has been greatly exaggerated." Much has been written in response to the Mast Brothers scandal (or what our team refers to as "Mast-gate"). Nearly every perspective, rebuttal, or defense has been shared, so much so that I debated whether to publish this post, concerned I'd be adding to the noise. But there's one perspective that's missing and it's that of a (fellow?) chocolate maker. I am obligated to speak up. In all of the aftermath, there's been a commonality among the comments, many negative but many actually positive. I would group the negative sentiments shared by folks about craft chocolate on social or traditional media in the following categories: (1) anyone paying $10 for a chocolate bar is a sucker; (2) marketing claims such as "artisanal" need to be certified; and (3) you can't believe brand's "stories" anyway because they all lie. As a ten year veteran of the craft chocolate industry slogging it out everyday here is what I know: Advertisement 1. The American craft chocolate bar at $10 is still "worth it" and no, you're not being fooled by companies charging that--or more--for it. You are being fooled by companies charging $1 for it though. Global context is imperative. Most of the nearly 6 million cocoa farmers around the world are poor, very poor, in a way that most of us can't fathom. It's the Mother Teresa Calcutta kind of poor but in West Africa. They were poor before Mast-gate and they remain in that condition today. I've logged 28 separate country of origin visits to remote cocoa farms on four continents, all documented on our website and social media. That might not sound like many trips but my body suggests otherwise. I'll be departing next week for my 29th and it takes 44 hours to get where I'm going from door to door. These journeys have afforded me the chance to soak a lot into my soul over the past decade. In the last two years I've developed some theories on the obstacles and possible solutions to the extreme poverty among cocoa farmers. That, however, is not for this article. I am working on a book with my daughter, part of which is dedicated to detailing this thorny issue. The preview is this: the chocolate we have come to know and love should cost more not less. The West African cocoa farmers who grew the beans that were purchased by Big Cocoa (you know who I am talking about) to make the 3 ounce $1.40 "chocolate" bar make between 50 cents and 84 cents per day farming cocoa. You read that right. Per day. That fact is directly related to the price per metric ton and the proportionate share the farmers actually receive. This fact is not a secret but it's taken even me, an experienced and in-the-know "expert", a long time to fully wrap my brain around this. I don't buy beans in West Africa but that does not alleviate my responsibility to do something about this problem because chocolate is my industry. I need to be part of the solution. And the aftermath of Mast-gate challenges us to always remember this context. Advertisement With that backdrop in mind it's natural to read the recent press and conclude that a $10 Mast chocolate bar is not worth it because the company was built on a lie. It is not natural, however, to conclude that ALL $10 chocolate bars are not worth it. The point is that there are many small batch, bean to bar American chocolate makers besides our company trying to both raise awareness of farmer poverty and actually do something about it. Take Taza Chocolate for example. They started about the same time we did and they've been at the forefront of the issue in the Dominican Republic, making a difference. As chocolate lovers we can always complain about the price being too high; but that requires us to look beyond the chocolate bar and find out as best we can if the company stands for anything at all to create value, making the $10 purchase worth it. This is the bottom line: most cocoa farmers are very poor and the news that one craft chocolate company was built on a lie is no reason to slow progress for cocoa farmers--who are breaking their backs every day to bring us what we want--obtaining higher prices and greater profit for their crops. 2. Where else are you going to get the absolute best of something for $10? The best cheese, wine, olive oil, what? I've heard Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman's Deli fame say this many times. I challenge you to walk in to Zingerman's Deli--one of the most famous food destinations in the country, a company with the highest degree of integrity for nearly 35 years--and ask them to give you the best fill-in-the-blank. And tell them that your budget is under $10. Maybe a loaf of bread, but good luck. I guess you could argue that Zingerman's and all of the decades they labored to build their reputation is simply great marketing but I don't think that's true. If we want food that tastes great and is great, then prepare to pay more. This applies to other things too (apparel, for example) but food is what I know. We've been conditioned to buy industrial, flavorless, cheap food and our tax subsidies will ensure that it stays this way. Read more about this travesty in Simran Sethi's new book, Bread, Wine and Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love. Most people who buy our chocolate want chocolate that tastes really good and are willing to pay for it and $10 is a great value for the best of something. I am not saying we are the best. I think we are among the best on many of our products. I am eating a Rogue chocolate bar as we speak and I am telling you that whatever I paid for it, probably $13, was not enough. I can go down the list and name chocolate bars that are awesome and a great value for between $10 and $20. The value proposition is even greater if you think the company is a good company. Finally, most craft chocolate makers are not rich unless they were rich before they started, in which case they are now less rich. Believe me when I tell you that American small batch chocolate makers who are charging $8, $10, even $12 or more for a chocolate bar are not making a lot of profit. Our company is profitable. We have carefully managed our company finances since I poured my life savings into the business 11 years ago and have taken on very little debt and no investors. The debt aversion is all my wife Caron; I credit much of our profitability to our ultra-conservative approach to debt. Additionally, we hired a COO two years ago and she's added years to my life. Sorry to burst any bubbles but the kind of profit margins to make us rich simply don't exist in the small batch chocolate world. 3. Relationships and personal trust are more important than certifications. This is what we call kinship at our factory. Many of the people who buy our chocolate like the relationship they have with me, my daughter, the 16 other people who work in our company, the store owners (and their teams) who sell our chocolate, and importantly, the farmers who grow our cocoa beans. I've seen this in action at farmer's markets in my town for years. It's not going away. People love talking to the farmer about the produce or whatever it might be. There's something human in a simple conversation about the thing you're considering buying and eating. I've seen it in Florence at the Mercato Centrale, similar places in Paris, London, Istanbul, and almost every town I've visited in cocoa bean countries around the world. People at food booths engaging with artisans, looking, smelling, tasting, talking, smiling, inquiring, negotiating and buying. This is where kinship happens. Transparency goes a long way in creating trust.The more dependant a company is on their story to sell the product, the greater the responsibility to be transparent where possible. For example, if you go to Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco you can see them making chocolate at every step from the front of the shop and retail area. If you visit our place in Springfield, Missouri you can stand in our tiny retail area and see every single machine in our factory except one (which is in a soundproof room) and you can see that one on a tour. We practice Open Book Management and share the numbers in our weekly company meetings. We share our financials with our farmer partners in their language at every profit share meeting with them so they can see how we calculate their profit share. Yes, we've translated our financials into Swahili. Our obligation does not stop there because we need to be even more transparent than we are and we are working on it. Green-washing, social washing, bean to bar washing, all of the washing is coming to a marketing plan near you if it hasn't already. There's a whole lot of lying going on in the food world and the speciality food world is no exception. It's the wild, wild west. Look no further than the extra virgin olive oil fraud in Italy as reported on 60 Minutes last week. The report concluded that at least 80% of the EVOO we buy in the United States is not really EVOO. And worse - much of is adulterated and the Italian government is fighting back. Dig deeper by reading Tom Mueller's book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. So when companies lie the question we have to ask is: are the lies material? That is, would the truth effect our support or buying decisions? We should not be fooled into thinking that a fancy certification will void our need to be responsible buyers. Certifying a thing does not prevent a seller from lying about it. In fact, I could make the case that lax audit procedures of many certifying agencies give cover for liars to ply their trade with greater impunity than if they were not certified. Too many companies hide behind the stamp of a certification with willful blindness of certifier practices. We are not certified and never will be. Our sugar happens to be organic certified but I buy it for reasons other than that. The 3rd party certification industry is rampant with fraud. We all want sellers/producers/artisans to be authentic. Just be who you are. I know that sounds overly idealistic but it's a goal I can expect for myself. If you're going to sell products based on your authenticity and perceived transparency, then you have an enormous obligation to be those things and be honest. This is why we ought to be prepared to prove the material claims that we make and candidly we're not all the way there yet. I intend to fix this. I am not saying that we should disclose proprietary information but we either prove it or ask for dependance on trust which can either be accepted or rejected. I started this essay with global context and I will conclude my thoughts with personal context. My business could crumble tomorrow but there are some things that are real and true that will always remain. My reason for starting the chocolate business was not because I thought we would be God's gift to the chocolate world. I did it in the hope that I'd have a chance to learn something, create something, and grow little by little. One of the reasons I picked chocolate is because I knew there would always be more learn, with no bottom of the pool to rest on. It remains an endless learning process. What I did not know is how it would change my heart. I did not know that our business would be an incubator for kinship. Just one of many examples happened this past summer. My daughter Lawren and I were in Tanzania working with our farmer partners and a local elementary/middle school. We were asked to host a Visioning session for 200 girls in the Empowered Girls club we fund in the remote village of Mababu, Tanzania (one of the four places we buy cocoa beans). I was apprehensive about its effectiveness because I've trained American business people on vision planning and even cocoa farmers, but never 13 year old school girls in remote Tanzania. Lawren took the first part of the session, creating a simplified definition that, "vision equals hope plus a plan." As part of my session I asked for two volunteers. Upendo and Maria came to the front of the classroom. I asked the girls, "Can you remember a time when you imagined a future and it happened as you imagined it?" I asked Maria first and she said she could not think of anything. She asked me if I could come back to her. I was so sad when I heard that I almost could not stand up, but I kept it together. When I came back to her, she bravely stood with me up front and said imagined, "going to fetch some water" and that she did do it. Her vision was that she would take a bath to feel clean. The girls understood. What a great example. The ensuing discussion for the rest of the afternoon turned from sorrow to joy, as we used example from other girls about how to dream and turn those dreams into reality. It was one of the best days of my life; Lawren's too. We will never forget it. And we experienced it together--father and daughter. Italian Coast Guard rescues migrants and refugees bound for Italy. IOM/Francesco Malavolta 2014 The number of refugees arriving in Europe today is close to the figures of the Biblical exodus. In 2015, 1,008,616 people arrived in Europe after crossing the desert and the Mediterranean on shabby boats and, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 3,771 of them lost their lives on this dangerous quest. Many of those who try their luck in Europe originate from Africa and are part of the "problem of integration in European societies" -- a subject making headlines in the past few months. Yet these people regarded as the cause of socio-economic problems in Europe could be considered as important resources. By doing so, we could rethink the whole relationship between Europe and Africa and promote different models of development. A JURIDICAL MAZE The greatest majority of migrants from Africa request political asylum as soon as they arrive. Thereafter, they can opt between two designations to remain on the continent. The first is the status of refugee (based on the Geneva Convention of 1951) and the second is to request subsidiary protection granted by the European Union on the basis of one of its directives. In simple terms, both schemes grant asylum to a person who would be exposed to unbearable violence in their country of origin. Single European countries also offer international protection on the basis of their own juridical systems. However, this arrangement is not as reliable as the condition of refugee as it can change easily. In Germany, for instance, the beneficiaries of this measure are called "tolerated people" or "tolerated immigrants" (see this article from Spiegel). The problem is, a majority of African immigrants pledging for this kind of protection have weak legal rights, as in most cases they are not running from an immediate violent threat but from misery and deprivation. Said in simple terms, they are economic migrants. One could argue - and personally, I agree with them - misery is a threat. Nevertheless, so is the law and this is reason many people are denied the status of asylum, which has lead to the increase of illegal immigrants in the European Union. Advertisement LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES As a consequence, these people essentially have two possibilities: join the informal economy (= work on the black market), or return to their country of origin. As one can imagine, most don't want to go back because of lack of opportunities; the first reason they left in the first place. In consequence, they are left to try to survive in the informal economy. Often, this means exploitation, possible involvement in illegal businesses and insecurity. An important point is that for many of these immigrants from Africa, being part of the informal economy is something they are very familiar with. Not because of a penchant towards illegal activities, but because a big portion of the African workforce -- up to 75 percent according to the International Labour Organisation -- already works in the informal economy. In Africa, it is a powerful social structure that allows millions to tackle conditions of extreme poverty (see my previous article on this subject). However, in Europe these immigrants who end up working in the informal sector frequently fall into the fringes of society: a recipe for social disaster. REVERSE THE CURSEYet, there could be a different way to intervene: by supporting these people with the possibility to use their skills from the informal economy to develop micro-businesses in Europe, formalise them, and eventually take them home. Training programmes on business and technical skills coupled with micro lending schemes structured on longer periods of grace would incentivise people to develop their entrepreneurial skills. Furthermore, a migrant who works is a burden removed from state budgets, and one who develops a new business linked to his/her home country promotes a more stable society for the African continent. These ideas may seem like science fiction, but they are not: there is also a legal basis for it, managed and promoted by the International Organization of Migration through their Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programme, a comprehensive approach to migration management that "aims at orderly and humane return and reintegration of migrants who are unable or unwilling to remain in host countries and wish to return voluntarily to their countries of origin". Indeed, this scheme is not very popular among migrants for the moment, as most of them have no desire to return home and potentially be exposed to the misery they fled. Yet, a programme aiming to create micro-enterprises for migrants would incentivise them to make use of their skills from the informal sector, strengthened by new skills acquired in Europe, market connections and availability of finance. Advertisement I have to laugh as the Republican Party deals with the "birther" issue of Senator Ted Cruz. There is nothing more amusing than seeing Republicans hoisted by their own petard, or simply put, being hobbled by tactics they developed. When President Obama was attacked for years about being born in Kenya, not one Republican leader suggested that Obama's birthplace was irrelevant because his mother was American born. Flash forward eight years and the ultimate hypocrisy of the Republican Party is in full view. Now that Senator Ted Cruz is being forced to address issues concerning his birth in Canada and therefore qualification to run for President of the United States, the Republican Party is being forced to actually consider that Cruz's birthplace needs to be adjudicated. Advertisement The concept of a natural born citizen has never truly been defined. Some believe that to be a natural born citizen that a person must be born on United States soil; others believe that the requirement to be an American citizen means one of your parents is an American regardless of where you are born. The latter afforded dual citizenship to Senator Cruz in Canada and the United States because his mother was an American. So why all the controversy about President Obama? There was never any question about his mother's American citizenship. So using the logic currently being espoused by Cruz and his other Republican supporters, there should never have been a "birther" issue with Obama. Even if he was born in Kenya, and he wasn't Obama was born in Hawaii, according to Cruz it is settled law and Obama's legitimacy should never have been questioned. At least that is what Cruz is saying now that he is having the same issue. When the Republicans rushed to vilify Obama's citizenship they should have anticipated the issue might rear its ugly head in their own party. Senator Ted Cruz was already becoming a national figure and potential presidential candidate when the Republicans were still harping about Obama's birthplace. Now the Republicans are experiencing the law of unintended consequences. Their actions have produced a major issue for one of their leading presidential contenders, all because of their fervor to make Obama an illegitimate president. Now Republicans are facing a dilemma; if they support Cruz's assessment, the whole Obama "birther" claims become completely ridiculous and a waste of the public's time. On the other hand, if they don't support Cruz and say he does not qualify to be president based upon the constitution, they take out a major leader in their party. We will see whether being born on foreign soil is really important to the Republican Party when it comes to their politicians. I already know the answer, no. Watch as this issue goes away for Senator Cruz. If I were running as a democrat presidential contender, I would expose the hypocrisy of the Republican Party by simply asking "why does this not matter with Senator Cruz but it was job one with President Obama"? By Kevin Grant, The GroundTruth Project, and Peter Joyce, RTI/Global Center for Youth Employment Photo by Juan Herrero/The GroundTruth Project WASHINGTON -- A few years ago in Copenhagen, a young woman challenged a gathering of United Nations climate delegates by asking, "How old will you be in 2050?" It was a simple, but powerful, shot across the bow for the "adults" in the room -- most of whom will not be around to see the impact of their policy plans. Such poignant moments are, unfortunately, too rare. We believe the global conversation around youth unemployment and youth economic exclusion would benefit greatly from a deeper and genuine engagement with young people themselves. Researchers, policy-makers and the media often fail to present in-depth coverage of youth, whether they are stories of despair or success. And organizations that support youth or seek to address their challenges-- from NGOs to donors to governments -- often lack insight into youth realities as they plan employment and development initiatives. And while young people may be able to share aspects of their own lives through social media, few get the chance to craft narratives that reach millions, change perceptions and inform action. Advertisement There are 1.1 billion youth -- ages 15-24 -- making up 18 percent of the global population. Youth and children together -- ages 24 and younger -- account for nearly 50 percent of the world's population. For too many, the prospects are dim. Approximately 230 million youth live in countries and areas affected by armed conflicts; 462 million survive on less than $2 a day; more than 133 million are illiterate; and youth represent 41 percent of the world's unemployed people. But numbers only tell part of the story. In February, the Global Center for Youth Employment, RTI International, and the GroundTruth Project will launch Youth Voices - a digital storytelling initiative that will provide a vehicle for young people to tell their own stories and define their own lives to a global audience, putting youth at the center of the conversation about their own economic challenges and successes, reengineering the international community's response to the jobs crisis. This collection of stories will be used to raise awareness by working with publishers like The Atlantic, ABC News/Fusion, Huffington Post, PRI's The World and PBS NewsHour. Amplifying the voices of youth has the power to inform policymakers, compel public action and ultimately connect more young people to jobs. The stories will also serve as an important database for qualitative research. Tools that will allow youth to connect with one another -- and with resources they seek -- are also in the works. We see immense potential for Youth Voices and expect to reach an influential global audience with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of the young people whose stories are featured. Watch for more information in the weeks ahead and the official kickoff event on February 9. Advertisement About our partners: The Global Center for Youth Employment is a virtual learning and action center founded by RTI International. The GCYE brings together a broad, diverse coalition of allies to find innovative youth employment solutions, assess demand-driven education, connect young people to existing jobs, and work with employers to increase new employment opportunities for youth. This week marks the 50th anniversary of Vernon Dahmer being killed by the Ku Klux Klan. On January 9, 1966, Vernon Dahmer announced on the radio that he would pay the poll tax for anyone who could not afford to register to vote. (Despite the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a poll tax was still charged in local elections in Mississippi.) The next day, Dahmer's home was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan. Dahmer guarded the front door while his wife and children escaped out the back. He died the next day from severe burns and smoke inhalation. Advertisement The following remarks were prepared by sociologist and SNCC veteran Joyce Ladner for a commemoration of Vernon Dahmer on January 8, 2016, hosted by the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. By Joyce Ladner I want to thank the Dahmer family, particularly Ellie Dahmer and the Dahmer children who had to find ways to go on after his life was cut short. They kept his life and legacy in the forefront of our minds. They ensured that those who took his life were prosecuted. I also want to thank Jerry Mitchell, Clarion Ledger investigative reporter, who played a key role in the conviction of the Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard, Sam Bowers, who ordered the fatal firebombing of the Dahmer family. January 10, 2016, will mark the 50th anniversary of the murder of civil rights martyr and American hero, Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer. He was a civil rights leader, community leader, and businessman in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In the early hours of January 10, 1966, members of the Ku Klux Klan shot into and firebombed the home he shared with his wife and children in the Kelly Settlement section of Hattiesburg. It occurred soon after he announced on local radio that he would accept poll taxes at his grocery store and take them to the Forrest County Voting Registrar, Theron Lynd. He offered to pay the poll taxes for those who could not afford them. In doing so, he was going up against the formidable Lynd, who had a reputation for failing most Blacks on the literacy test when they tried to register to vote. I was a college senior when I "failed" the literacy test in 1964. Advertisement I will never forget the 6 A.M. call to my St. Louis apartment from my mother back in Hattiesburg who told me that the Ku Klux Klan had torched the Dahmer home and store to the ground, and that Mr. Dahmer was in critical condition. Her next call later that day was to tell me he had died. His murder caused me to have a loss of innocence because I was reminded that the civil rights struggle could still cause the unleashing of the most virulent racial violence against activists. I could not understand how he had survived for so long when others like Rev. George Lee, Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Herbert Lee, Clyde Kennard, Louis Allen, Mack Charles Parker, the three civil rights workers (two of whom I knew), and others had died. I always saw Mr. Dahmer as a big bear of a man who was courageous, outspoken, and indestructible. How could they kill him too? I thought the most violent era of the Civil Rights Movement had passed. But his murder let me know that it hadn't. Mr. Dahmer was president of the Hattiesburg NAACP chapter and led local and statewide voter registration campaigns at a time when one signed a death warrant by doing so. His mantra was, "If you don't vote, you don't count." He was well known to Sam Bowers, the Ku Klux Klan leader in the area who ordered his murder. For a long time Vernon and Ellie took turns sleeping so that one could be awake if their home was attacked. However, they had stopped guarding their home shortly before the Klan attacked. That night at around 2 A.M., Molotov cocktails and gunfire were shot into the Dahmer home. Vernon helped Ellie and their young daughter and sons get out of the house through the windows. Then he went back into the house that was in flames and shot at his assailants to give his family time to find cover. His elderly aunt, who lived in the family grocery store next door, managed to get out safely as it also erupted in flames. It was Vernon Dahmer's courageous trip back inside the flaming house that was fatal. He was only 58 years old. Four of his six sons, who were serving their country in the United States military, arrived home in time for the funeral to grieve for their father, the ultimate patriot, and to help to pick up the pieces from the devastating psychological, emotional, economic, political, and family carnage the Klan caused. Advertisement In his short 58 years, Dahmer launched voter registration drives, and adhered to the philosophy that it was his responsibility to be his brother and sister's keeper. Perhaps it was also his economic independence that made him a target for the Ku Klux Klan. He annexed large tracts of land, built a commercial farm of cotton, owned a sawmill, a planer mill, and a grocery store. He hired his Black neighbors from Kelley Settlement to work for him, thereby carrying out his philosophy of being a good neighbor. This was largely unheard of in the fifties and sixties because very few Black people owned businesses. The jobs he provided reduced Black flight to northern cities and strengthened the local community. Vernon Dahmer was a generous man who believed in the power of a united community. He was also a leader in the Shady Grove Baptist Church as leader of the choir and Sunday school Superintendent. I met the man I still call "Mr. Dahmer" when I was in my early teenage years. His sister, Eileen Beard, was a member of our church and she and my mother were best friends. She invited my sister, Dorie, and me to go with her and her husband Kenneth, their neighbor civil rights activist Clyde Kennard, and her brother Vernon Dahmer to several statewide NAACP meetings in Jackson. As we rode up the old two-lane Highway 49, they talked about the importance of finding ways to get Negroes registered to vote. For Mr. Dahmer, voting was the only way to move from second class to full citizenship. I was spellbound as I listened to them talk about a subject that was so verboten that one could be killed for it. You see, this was the late 1950s when the NAACP was outlawed in Mississippi. These were extremely dangerous times. When we arrived in Jackson, I surveyed the large number of cars and trucks bearing license plates from throughout Mississippi. I couldn't help but wonder if the white people would soon learn the names of those who attended these meetings. The police wrote down the tag numbers of all the vehicles and made sure that the police in each town knew who was present at the meeting. It led to attendees being fired from their jobs and violent harassment. This can be confirmed by perusing the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission records. I worried if the Hattiesburg police were going to have my father fired from his job. The harassment did not intimidate Mr. Dahmer, the Beards, or Clyde Kennard because they were determined to forge ahead in the uphill struggle for civil rights. Advertisement Those rides to and from the mass meetings in Jackson had a deep effect on me. Although I had a strong racial consciousness from the time I was a young child, meeting Vernon Dahmer and Clyde Kennard strengthened my desire to find ways to help my people take a stand against racial discrimination. That time came in 1958 when Mr. Dahmer and Clyde Kennard invited Medgar Evers to Hattiesburg where they organized a Hattiesburg NAACP Youth Chapter. Teenagers from throughout the area came together at True Light Baptist Church to meet Evers, who was already a civil rights legend. Mr. Dahmer also invited Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) members Hollis Watkins and Curtis Hayes (Muhammad) to Hattiesburg in the early 1960s to stay at the family's farm and do voter registration organizing. These acts of courage launched a new generation of young people who were poised to strike a blow against segregation and discrimination. This would not have occurred had it not been for Vernon Dahmer. Dahmer's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement were substantial. He was dedicated to the proposition that everyone should have the right to vote, irrespective of his or her race or social standing. He was courageous at a time when courage was in short supply. He helped to lay the groundwork for the protracted Civil Rights Movement that officially came to Mississippi with the arrival of the Freedom Riders in 1961. Most of all, he paid the ultimate price for the cause of civil rights by giving his life. While Dahmer never had the chance to vote, his impact was evident when Ellie Dahmer was elected in 1992 to serve as the election commissioner. She served for more than a decade in the same district where her husband had been killed. Today, we celebrate the life of Vernon Dahmer, without whose sacrifice 50 years ago there would be no Black legislators, desegregated schools, or a large Black professional class throughout the state. It is on the shoulders of Vernon Dahmer that young people continue to organize today for justice for all. Advertisement Further Reading Profiles of Vernon Dahmer on the and websites. A chapter on Vernon Dahmer in Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote by Gordon A. Martin Jr. The Journey to Justice blog by Jerry Mitchell, whose investigative journalism played a key role in the convictions of Klan Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers for ordering the fatal firebombing. Oral history interview with Ellie Dahmer, conducted in 1974. Available at the USM Digital Collections. For images, visit the Moncrief photo collection at the MDAH. Resources for teaching about the Civil Rights Movement at the Zinn Education Project. Street food, my dictionary says, is prepared or cooked food sold by vendors in a street or other public location for immediate consumption. Based on that, we all have experienced one way or another this kind of food, independently of our country of origin. Most of the time associated with affordable, easy to get local food sold from a street cart, food truck or market stall, street food is found all over the world pairing the country's culinary traditions. From Rio's pao de queijo to currywurst in Berlin and bowls of pho in Saigon to Thessaloniki's koulouri, street food is ubiquitous, offering a plate of comfort for the curious traveler, the busy professional or the city dweller. While doing research on street food, I found numerous websites, food blogs, online articles, government regulations and personal narratives on the topic. I even found reports from FAO, the UN agency of Food and Agriculture and academic articles. The topic is vast and appealing to researchers, decision makers, food entrepreneurs, international organizations and above all, the consumers. However, doing research on street food on a global level can be a daunting task and almost impossible due to the lack of both legal and financial sources. Will it ever be possible to collect data from all countries around the world on street food revenues and regulations in order to measure their financial contribution? I doubt it. How we can assess and evaluate street food's cultural and anthropological repercussions? Advertisement Today, I will report on the street food of Singapore based on my trips in the country. I attended the World Street Food Congress last April and talked to influential individuals of the sector as well as to some hawkers. Street Food in Singapore "Street food is heritage comfort food for Singapore. It's because we grew up with over a century of this food heritage gone into your heart, into your bloodstream, into your selves. Today has nothing to do with the physicality, is more of a cuisine" says KF Seetoh, Singapore's Food Ambassador, organizer of the World Street Food Congress, owner of Makansutra and a champion of street food. Street vendors were relocated in hawker centers in the 60s "Street food carts that we had back in the day, the '50s, '60s, and they were just contractors in the street. They were dirty. There were no rules on hygiene" continues Seetoh. "We didn't know where the water came from and how they washed the dishes. The way they emptied their trash, they clogged the drains. They also blocked the traffic so the change happened for mostly environmental reasons. So we had to free up the roads and create a better hygienic. But you just couldn't kill off street vendors' livelihood so the government built hawker centers. Today we have 107 of them." Strict regulations decided by NEA Hawker centers are managed by the National Environmental Agency, a government agency. There are strict and often complicated rules when it comes to ownership, lease and fees of a stall within a hawker center. There are subsidized stalls for those original stallholders who were relocated from the streets in the early 1970s. For the non-subsidized stalls, the government tenders out vacant stalls on a monthly basis. These are on 3-year fixed term tenancy. The successful tenderer is not allowed to sublet or assign and is required to personally operate the stall although the subsidized stallholder is allowed to assign his stall to another person. Finally, the sold stalls are stalls sold to the incumbent stallholders on 20-year leases under the Stall Ownership Scheme. Advertisement The new hawker lease holder But how do these trends translate into the current hawker's reality? What does this mean to those who are willing to run a stall? "Be the higher bidder at the tender", says Nick Soon, 48, a former insurance professional and owner of One Kueh at a Time stall. Soon wanted to change careers and do something new; as he wanted to honor his parents' wish to run a hawker stall offering their very own, recipe of kueh, Nick decided to bid for a stall within the Berseh Food Centre (02-61). He was the higher bidder so he won. He now has his own stall that it is open from 8 AM to 2 PM, six days a week. Nick may be one of the few new hawker stall owners who offers a unique, traditional food, the kueh, otherwise known as dumplings. When I visited him last April, he offered four different types: the soon kueh made with turnip filling; the ku chai kueh (also written as gu cai) made with chives and eggs; the orh ku kueh, which is made with sweet black sesame and salty green mung; and the png kueh made with glutinous rice in the shape of a peach for luck. Nick tells me that he sells on average 200 pieces a day with an average price of $1 to $1.50 SGD. His rent is approximately $2,000 SGD and he has to pay the additional amount of $500 SGD for the cleaning service of the center. So he has to sell a lot of kueh to make a good living. He admits that being a hawker is a vanishing skill. "Now young people go to University, get an education and don't want to run hawker stalls. Most of the time, you don't make a lot of money. You just go by. So they say "why still do that?" Nick trained himself on how to make kueh before he got his lease. Now, he wakes up as early as 5 AM to prepare the dough and the filling for his popular kueh. Despite the challenges, he hopes to see traditional Singaporean foods staying alive in hawker centers. The heritage hawker On the other side of the city, at Maxwell Food Center (stall 64), I visited China Street Fritters owned by Ng Kok Hua and run by the four siblings. The stall sells handmake Hokkien ngor hiang, one of the most celebrated, handmade foods in Singaporean hawker centers. When I ask Ng if he developed the recipe himself and he says that he inherited the recipe from his father and is in business for over 60 years. Ng explains me that the ngor hiang rolls are made from minced pork, good quality five spice powder and spring onions all wrapped in bean curd skin, steamed, then deep fried. The stall also offers guang chiang - the traditional pink Hokkien sausage made from a lean pork and flour paste mixture, enhanced by the typically Hokkien deep fried flat fish; this mixture is stuffed into pig's intestine. Advertisement Last November, China Street Fritters won the Heritage Hawker Stall award (this heritage award aims to recognize stalls that have been serving good hawker fare for more than 50 years). The Ng siblings keep the stand open six days a week from noon to 8 PM but the day off is still a day dedicated to marketing and some preparation work. I ask Ng about the financial situation of his stall. "I am not complaining" he says. "I have made enough money to retire." But what are his plans for the stall? His children do not want to continue in this business so Ng says: "I will assign the stall, not the business. For the business, we will sell the recipe. To you maybe", says laughing. I am curious about the price. "Consider over 60 years of work." I laugh myself. The future Hard work at the hawker stall, the evolving palate of the younger generation, higher education and international travel as well as stricter regulations have transformed the culinary scene of Singapore, hawker centers including. The children of hawker stall owners do not want to continue this hard trade; and when they do so, they may well go for European cuisines and dishes like pizza or French crepes. Traditional recipes may be lost ("go down the drain" according to Ng) and with them some aspects of Singaporean food culture. But KF Seetoh is optimistic. He believes that there is a future in street food "but I am not sure how fast this will be." Advertisement Maine Gov. Paul LePage has now apologized, supposedly, for what media have termed his racially-charged comments about drug dealers with names like "Shifty" and "D-Money" invading his state from New York and Connecticut to deal heroin and impregnate white women. Time to move on? No. The embattled governor has a lot more explaining -- and apologizing -- to do before this episode can be considered satisfactorily resolved. Two days after he set off the furor, LePage on Friday grudgingly offered a half-at-best apology and attempted to shed light on the incendiary remarks that got him in trouble. Advertisement The governor called them a "slip-up," an instance of his mouth getting out ahead of his brain. It would be interesting to learn where his mouth sourced its material. LePage didn't explain -- but research can help us fill in the blank, thankfully. It shows that when it comes to racist rhetoric, it's not that people's mouths get ahead of their brains. Rather, it's that one part of the brain -- the amygdala, which harbors base instincts like fear and negative stereotypes -- gets ahead of the part of the brain we might call our better judgment. In the five days since LePage's rant, no prominent politicians or other public figures have defended his statement. But New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom LePage has endorsed for the GOP presidential nomination, called LePage a "good man" and pointed out that he has apologized. The absence of more strenuous denunciations of LePage by Christie and the other GOP presidential contenders is no surprise. Truly, this has been a GOP campaign in which racially and otherwise inflammatory statements are more likely to bring one praise and support than scorn. Many seem to think that "valor lies in viciousness," as New York Times columnist Frank Bruni expressed it. Exhibit A: Donald Trump and his rhetoric against Mexicans and Muslims. Trump supporters say it's refreshing and admirable that someone finally has the guts to publicly articulate what everyone else is thinking but is too cowed by "political correctness" to come right out and say. Advertisement No, there is no valor in publicly stating the bad and the ugly -- even if we think it, which most of us do -- and there is nothing refreshing about public figures having the "guts" to articulate our base instincts. If it's cowardly and politically correct to be careful what we say about often-maligned minority groups like Mexicans, Muslims and African Americans, here's to cowardice and political correctness. And then there's LePage's "apology." It was more dragged out of him than sincerely offered. And it failed woefully at saying what needed to be said. The governor did concede at his combative news conference that he should have said "Maine" women rather than "white" women with respect to whom Shifty was impregnating. But then he went on to try to minimize the offense -- never conducive to a real apology -- by saying, "If you go to Maine, you can see it's 95% white." This is no minor assault on African Americans' dignity. In his remarks about drug dealers and the impregnation of white women, LePage is trading on two of the most poisonous stereotypes about black men: their supposed criminality and sexual aggression toward white women. Are there black drug dealers? Yes. Just as there are a lot of white drug dealers, not to mention white customers. Liberal bloggers and social media wags have had a field day with the photos of three white people recently arrested for dealing heroin in LePage's state. That the governor would aggravate his rhetorical crime by adding the sex part is mind-blowing. This is exactly the myth that has been used since the days of slavery and Jim Crow to justify treating black men as threats who need to be "kept in their place." And the best LePage could offer while "apologizing" is that he should have said "Maine" women rather than "white" women? Advertisement This blog post was co-authored by Sandra Macias del Villar, Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean at The Global Fund for Children. A longer version of this blog appears on GFC's website. Upon arriving at Haiti's Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport, you are immediately welcomed by a group of twoubadou musicians who with warm Caribbean tones and smiles make visitors feel excited to arrive at the Pearl of the Antilles. In the air-conditioned terminal, a duty-free store sells high-end fashion goods, multiple cell phone companies stand ready to provide SIM cards and cell phone packages, and a variety of international rental-car companies are available outside of Arrivals. After exiting the airport and driving into the city, you are met by waving Haitian flags that welcome you to the first independent black republic of the world. Advertisement It can be difficult to imagine that, just a couple of years ago, this road was paved with tents. Six years since the January 12, 2010, earthquake shook Haiti, many things have improved. But the rise of new five-star hotels and renowned restaurants should not be taken as an indication of progress and change for all. As the Haitian proverb says, kay koule twompe soley, men li pa twompe lapli--a leaky house can fool the sun, but it won't fool the rain. Sadly, as of June 2015, 45,000 people in Haiti are still being tracked as internally displaced persons, and the full number is probably larger, considering there are still hundreds of families living in makeshift shacks. Furthermore, in a country where 90 percent of the schools are private, education is not an option for many. Even though there have been efforts by the Haitian government to provide universal education, an estimated 200,000 or more school-age children are still not enrolled in school. According to a 2015 World Food Programme report, 100,000 children under age 5 suffer from acute malnutrition, while one child out of three is stunted, or irreversibly short for their age. The same report states that 2.5 million Haitians (one in four) live in extreme poverty. Advertisement Fortunately, not all the news is bleak. If there is one thing Haitians have, it is pride. This pride, love, and respect for their country and their community is what pushed many to dig through the rubble within hours of the earthquake and become first responders, community organizers, guardians, caregivers, teachers, and leaders. Haitians have been agents of change in their country before, during, and after the earthquake. As a Haitian friend once said, "We can change our country; we have the capacity to help ourselves." GFC grassroots partner Asamble Vwazen Solino in 2011, one year after the earthquake. Today, GFC continues to support AVS's primary school. The Global Fund for Children Today, after most international relief organizations have pulled out of Haiti or significantly decreased their presence, many of those community organizers are still responding to local needs through community-based organizations. Even though less than 1 percent of the total money disbursed by multilateral and bilateral donors was received by Haitian nongovernmental organizations, the continued impact of their work--carried out on shoestring budgets--is praiseworthy. Take for example Asamble Vwazen Solino (AVS), one of The Global Fund for Children's seven grassroots partners in Haiti. This neighborhood association was created by a group of concerned residents looking to help their community increase access to education and to raise awareness within their community. Established in 2006 in Solino, a neighborhood deeply deprived of public services and often neglected by mainstream international aid, AVS has been enrolling students in its school ever since, with only a short break right after the earthquake because of structural damage. AVS gained several new donors immediately following the earthquake, but most of these have since gone. Many were only willing to fund short-term projects, like summer camps, or emergency aid, like water filters--not the long-term recovery support that truly helps organizations to thrive. Advertisement Despite the ups and downs, AVS is still pushing to create educational and other opportunities for its students and the community at large. In addition to providing free, formal schooling, the organization offers activities to complement its curriculum and raise awareness about human rights and current world affairs. Since 2010, AVS has been serving close to 500 children annually, 75 percent of whom enroll in school and successfully pass their annual state exams. Because of its commitment to rights and education, AVS also supports the efforts of other locally led organizations such as Solidarite Famn Ayisyen, a national women's organization dedicated to advocating for women's and children's rights and protection; Fos Refleksyon ak Aksyon sou Koze Kay, which advocates for the right to safe housing; and Groupe d'Appui aux Rapatries et Refugies, a network that fights for migrant rights. Perhaps these are not the names that immediately come to mind when you think of organizations working in Haiti. The truth is, these organizations are made by Haitians, for Haitians, and they have been working with Haitians and have been led by Haitians for decades. Children reading and studying in 2014 at SAKALA, a GFC grassroots partner that serves children in Cite Soleil, a neighborhood within Port-au-Prince that is extremely poor and prone to violence. The Global Fund for Children The list of Haitian organizations working on the ground to address the needs of their communities is long. Unfortunately, mainstream news of Haiti and the international aid community often outshines the local efforts of Haitians working every day to make their country a better place. During a meeting of our Haitian partners two months ago, they all raised the issue of not being able to access funds that are readily available to large international organizations. Advertisement Two years ago, we asked some of these same partners what they would like to tell the world about Haiti. One of them replied: "I'd like the world to know that Haiti is a rich country in human and physical resources. We have culture. People need to get to know Haiti beyond the headlines that only highlight misery. Our history comes from people braking chains of slavery, and we helped others liberate themselves in America. The Haitian people are people with dignity." On this sixth anniversary of one of the most devastating natural disasters in the world, we invite you to come to Haiti. You will be able to enjoy breathtaking views in one of the new beautiful high-rise hotels. You will enjoy live music while sipping the country's finest rum punch. But we also invite you to not be fooled like the sun, to remember that there is more to Haiti than meets the eye. Leave the resorts and visit the countryside; try the delicious Haitian cuisine and get to know the Haitian people. Better yet, see the work of many Haitians firsthand and ask how you can help and can support their efforts to fix the leaky roof. It's in vogue to know exactly where your food comes from, how it's been produced and what it contains, for personal health and from a human rights perspective for the growers and farmers. The trend goes further than just food, a lot of my friends and colleagues in Bondi Beach, Williamsburg or Venice Beach pay a fortune for responsibly-produced clothes, organic cotton and fair trade coffee. We do it because we want to be responsible and think it's the right thing to do. I don't believe anyone wants to contribute to injustice and unfairness, no matter where in the world it is and my generation is prepared to pay more rather than contribute to the exploitation of workers and farmers. Advertisement Me in Bondi Beach with my organic gingerbread man. That said, the very same friends who are fanatical when it comes to consuming organic, have no hesitation to snort whatever white powder is put in front of their noses. People who consume illegal drugs don't even bother to know where their drugs come from, how they are produced or what they contain. Why the disconnect? For the past 50 years, the media -- from film to newspapers -- has created what I call the gun-toting narco myth in the collective mind of people. The idea that south of the border, immoral and heartless traffickers, organized in cartels, control the entire cocaine business continues without a question, but there is an informal economy that has grown dependent on the global demand for cocaine. The drug war brought violence to Latin America, but let me tell you it's also brought opportunity and created a way to escape a system of deeply-ingrained poverty for hundreds of thousands of people, who are the drug workers, coca growers, leaf pickers and gatherers, factory and laboratory workers, transporters, drug mules, micro-traffickers and drug dealers. I come from Cochabamba, a three-hour drive to the jungle of El Chapare where the coca leaf (the main ingredient to manufacture cocaine) grows wild and in abundance. My family like many others in my town broke the cycle of poverty, directly or indirectly thanks to the illegality of cocaine. I wonder how life would be for many Bolivians if cocaine wasn't an illegal drug? Advertisement Coffee and diamonds are completely legal yet why haven't they had the same effect on poverty in Africa? A newly sprouting coca leaf in El Chapare, Bolivia. Cocaine comes from a small green plant that grows in the Amazon. Only four countries can grow it: Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. This little plant has sparked wars since colonial times when Spain tried to tax coca for the indigenous people of what is now Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. From the 80's onwards it's become the focus of the U.S. government, who tries to eradicate it by any means, using the military and the Drug Enforcement Administration, killing coca farmers and spraying coca leaves with herbicides and defoliants from helicopters. Demand around the world for cocaine is high and the more they fight the plant; the more coca plants are planted. It's taken 40 years for the U.S. government to realize that people from south of the border aren't stupid, that coca and cocaine for us means green dollars. Bolivia doesn't attempt to tell Europe each of their farmers can only plant a 'cato' (0.25 acre) of grapes because wine is addictive and can kill people, as the European Union does in Bolivia. We don't send our army to factories in the U.S. and force their workers to stop manufacturing coca-cola and other drinks full of sugar because they're addictive and damaging to the health of the planet. What gives another country the right to come to Bolivia and enforce their laws to stop farmers growing coca? It's an issue of sovereignty. Advertisement How do you imagine a boy from a small rural town in Mexico named Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias 'El Chapo', could have broken the cycle of poverty? His parents, descendants of indigenous slaves, cultivated poppy seeds and barely had money to feed their seven kids who also worked selling oranges. When Joaquin was 15, he began cultivating marijuana and from then his career blossomed to the point where he was named one of Forbes Magazine's most powerful people in the world. Drugs didn't make Joaquin rich, prohibition did. He isn't a lone wolf eating the poor lamb, he is one of the leaders of an army of drug workers that feed the world's economy, where the people who benefit the most are still the rich white bankers of the West, who clean all the drug money. Drugs don't generate violence, prohibition does. The lives of my Mexican brothers are not worth anything for the governments of the West; the lives of the farmers in Bolivia, Colombia or Peru are not worth anything for my friends and colleagues in Williamsburg or Bondi Beach; however I can guarantee you, that if Fair Trade cocaine existed, everyone would want it, because the majority of us, have the human instinct to do the right thing. As Joaquin Guzman Loera told Sean Penn in the now infamous Rolling Stone article published a few days ago, the day he doesn't exist, drug addiction won't go away and the movement of drugs from Latin America to North of the Border won't stop, because the people who dedicate their lives to this activity don't depend on him. The cocaine industry isn't in the hands of few drug lords that act as pillars who hold up the entire drug trade but there is a massive and connected unofficial economic system from which we all benefit but only the most vulnerable pay the price. FILE - In this May 13, 2015, file photo, Google's new self-driving prototype car is presented during a demonstration at the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif. Federal transportation officials say they are updating their position on self-driving cars, with a goal of getting the emerging technology into the publicas hands sooner than later. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File) For the past century, the price and performance of computing has been on an exponential curve. And as futurist Ray Kurzweil observed, once any technology becomes an information technology, its development follows the same curve, so we are seeing exponential advances in technologies such as sensors, networks, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The convergence of these technologies is making amazing things possible. Last year was the tipping point in the global adoption of the Internet, digital medical devices, blockchain, gene editing, drones, and solar energy. This year will be the beginning of an even bigger revolution, one that will change the way we live, let us visit new worlds, and lead us into a jobless future. Yes, with every good there is a bad; wonderful things will become possible, but with them we will also create new problems for mankind. Advertisement Here are six of the technologies that will make this happen, and the good they will do: 1. Artificial intelligence In the artificial-intelligence community, there is a common saying: "A.I. is whatever hasn't been done yet." They call this the "A.I. effect." Skeptics discount the behavior of an artificial-intelligence program by arguing that, rather than being real intelligence, it is just brute force computing and algorithms. There is merit to the criticism. Even though computers have beaten chess masters and Jeopardy players and learned to talk to us and drive cars, Siri and Cortana are still imperfect and infuriating. Yes, they crack jokes and tell us the weather, but are nothing like the seductive digital assistant we saw in the movie Her. But that is about to change -- so that even the skeptics will say that A.I. has arrived. There have been major advances in "deep learning" neural networks, which learn by ingesting large amounts of data: IBM has taught its A.I. system, Watson, everything from cooking, to finance, to medicine and Facebook. Google, and Microsoft have made great strides in face recognition and human-like speech systems. A.I.-based face recognition, for example, has almost reached human capability. And IBM Watson can diagnose certain cancers better than any human doctor can. With IBM Watson being made available to developers, Google open-sourcing its deep learning A.I. software, and Facebook releasing the designs of its specialized A.I. hardware, we can expect to see a broad variety of A.I. applications emerging -- because entrepreneurs all over the world are taking up the baton. A.I. will be wherever computers are, and will seem human-like. Advertisement Fortunately, we don't need to worry about superhuman A.I. yet; that is still a decade or two away. 2. Robots The 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge required robots to navigate over an eight-task course simulating a disaster zone. It was almost comical to see them moving at the speed of molasses, freezing up, and falling over. Forget folding laundry and serving humans; these robots could hardly walk. As well, although we heard some three years ago that Foxconn would replace a million workers with robots in its Chinese factories, it never did so. The breakthroughs may, however, be at hand. To begin with, a new generation of robots is being introduced by companies such as Switzerland's ABB, Denmark's Universal Robots, and Boston's Rethink Robotics -- robots dextrous enough to thread a needle and sensitive enough to work alongside humans. They can assemble circuits and pack boxes. We are at the cusp of the industrial-robot revolution. Household robots are another matter. Household tasks may seem mundane, but they are incredibly difficult for machines to perform. Cleaning a room and folding laundry necessitate software algorithms that are more complex than those to land a man on the moon. But there have been many breakthroughs of late, largely driven by A.I., enabling robots to learn certain tasks by themselves and teach each other what they have learnt. And with the open source robotic operating system, ROS, thousands of developers worldwide are getting close to perfecting the algorithms. Don't be surprised when robots start showing up in supermarkets and malls -- and in our homes. Remember Rosie, the robotic housekeeper from the TV series "The Jetsons"? I am expecting version 1 to begin shipping in the early 2020s. 3. Self-driving cars Once considered to be in the realm of science fiction, autonomous cars made big news in 2015. Google crossed the million-mile mark with its prototypes; Tesla began releasing functionality in its cars; and major car manufacturers announced their plans for robocars. These are coming, whether we are ready or not. And, just as the robots will, they will learn from each other--about the landscape of our roads and the bad habits of humans. Advertisement In the next year or two, we will see fully functional robocars being tested on our highways, and then they will take over our roads. Just as the horseless carriage threw horses off the roads, these cars will displace us humans. Because they won't crash into each other as we humans do, they won't need the bumper bars or steel cages, so they will be more comfortable and lighter. Most will be electric. We also won't have to worry about parking spots, because they will be able to drop us where we want to go to and pick us up when we are ready. We won't even need to own our own cars, because transportation will be available on demand through our smartphones. Best of all, we won't need speed limits, so distance will be less of a barrier--enabling us to leave the cities and suburbs. 4. Virtual reality and holodecks In March, Facebook announced the availability of its much anticipated virtual-reality headset, Oculus. Microsoft, Magic Leap, and dozens of start-ups won't be far behind with their new technologies. The early versions of these products will surely be expensive and clumsy and cause dizziness and other adverse reactions. But prices will fall, capabilities will increase, and footprints will shrink as is the case with all exponential technologies, and 2016 will mark the beginning of the virtual reality revolution. Virtual reality will change how we learn and how we entertain ourselves. Our children's education will become experiential, because they will be able to visit ancient Greece and journey within the human body. We will spend our lunchtimes touring far-off destinations and our evenings playing laser tag with friends who are thousands of miles away. And, rather than watching movies at IMAX theatres, we will be able to be part of the action, virtually in the back seat of the car chase. 5. Internet of Things Mark Zuckerberg recently announced plans to create his own artificially intelligent, voice-controlled butler to help run his life at home and at work. For this, he will need appliances that can talk to his digital butler -- a connected home, office, and car. These are all coming, as CES, the big consumer electronics tradeshow in Las Vegas, demonstrated. From showerheads that track how much water we've used to toothbrushes that watch out for cavities, to refrigerators that order food that is running out, they are all on their way. Starting in 2016, everything will be be connected -- including our homes and appliances, our cars, street lights, and medical instruments. They will be sharing information with each other and perhaps gossiping about us, and will introduce massive security risks as well as many efficiencies. And we won't have much choice, because they will be standard features--as are the cameras on our Smart TVs that stare at us, and the smartphones that listen to everything we say. Advertisement 6. Space Rockets, satellites, and spaceships were things that governments built -- until Elon Musk stepped into the ring in 2002, with his startup SpaceX. A decade later, he demonstrated the ability to dock a spacecraft with the International Space Station and return with cargo. A year later, he launched a commercial geostationary satellite. And then, in 2015, out of the blue, came another billionaire, Jeff Bezos, whose space company, Blue Origin, launched a rocket100 kilometers into space and landed its booster within five feet of its launch pad. This is a feat that SpaceX only achieved a month later, so Bezos one-upped Musk. (Disclosure: Bezos owns The Washington Post.) It took a race, in the 1960s, between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to get man to the Moon. For decades after this, little more happened, because there was no one for the U.S. to compete with. Now, thanks to technology costs falling so far that space exploration can be done for millions rather than billions of dollars, and the raging egos of two billionaires, we will see the breakthroughs in space travel that we have been waiting for. Maybe there'll be nothing beyond some rocket launches and a few competitive tweets between Musk and Bezos in 2016, but we will be closer to having colonies on Mars. Right-wing demonstrators hold a sign "Rapefugees not welcome - !Stay away!" and a sign with a crossed out mosque as they march in Cologne, Germany Saturday Jan. 9, 2016. Womenas rights activists, far-right demonstrators and left-wing counter-protesters all took to the streets of Cologne on Saturday in the aftermath of a string of New Yearas Eve sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne blamed largely on foreigners. (AP Photo/Juergen Schwarz) By Gilad Shiloach and Vladi Vovcuk After allegations that recent migrants assaulted young women at a Swedish music festival -- and that Swedish police covered it up -- Swedish asylum seekers are sharing fears of a backlash. Hundreds of worried Syrian migrants residing in Sweden took to Facebook this week, to express their concerns over a growing anti-migrants backlash in Europe -- and worries that the new reports will make things worse. Advertisement Read More: Syrians Call On Asylum Seekers To Denounce Sexual Harassment "After the sexual harassment cases in Germany, the police re-opened sexual harassment cases from two years ago. It looks like the Syrian refugee will suffer no matter where he goes," wrote Abdullah Miri, a Syrian living in the Swedish city of Sundbyberg. "This is another way the media will cause us misery, my Syrian refugee brothers," he wrote, fearing that reports of the assault would lead to violence. "These are so-called refugee youths, specifically from Afghanistan. Several of the gang were arrested for sexual molestation," wrote a police memo after the 2014 We Are Stockholm festival. No reports of assault or molestation had been made public until recently. The Swedish Prime Minister apologized for the attacks and the cover-up on Monday. Another incident, the murder of a 15-year-old teenager in the city of Borby, is also causing panic among refugees. Users on Facebook groups for Syrian asylum seekers are saying the murderer was actually a 14-year-old Syrian refuge. "Something happened today and it might seriously shock Sweden. A Syrian 14-year-old refuge stabbed to death his 15-year-old Serbian schoolmate in Broby. I have this information from a teacher in that school. It's good that so far the nationalities have not been mentioned by the media," user Wasim from the Swedish town of Frillesas wrote. The post drew hundreds of worried comments hoping the suspected killer was not, in fact, Syrian. "My son is from the same school, and I'm worried [the alleged murderer] was indeed Syrian," one of the commenters responded, worrying that there would be reprisals. Advertisement The Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven ordered police to re-open and investigate how they handled previous cases of alleged sexual harassment by migrants, following reports about possible cover-ups. The feverish over-reaction to the weekend revelation in Rolling Stone that two-time Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had interviewed a recently recaptured Mexican drug lord points up some of the biggest toxic dynamics in our media culture. They're the four hypes: Hyper-ventilation, hyper-partisanship, celebrity hype, and hypocrisy. Penn's long if not long-winded Rolling Stone piece chronicling his colorful, risky journey into the Mexican jungles to visit and interview the infamous El Chapo makes for an interesting and at times intriguing look at a figure who boasts he is the biggest drug kingpin in the world. Aside from the colorful adventure and sometimes telling atmospherics of Penn's visit to El Chapo in what the intriguingly unimpressive and rather banal drug lord believed to be his mountain fastness, there is nothing all that unusual about what Penn did. Advertisement Acting as a journalist, a title pretty much up for grabs these days and one which Penn has exercised in the past, the actor secured face-time and an exclusive interview with a newsmaker. In exchange, he produced a vilification-free presentation of the subject and his milieu, one largely free of the hagiography which usually accompanies such arrangements. Sean Penn interviews a strikingly banal Mexican drug lord. Penn and Rolling Stone acknowledge up front that the piece was approved by its subject, evidently with no changes requested. That's caused some caterwauling from critics as a departure from journalistic ethics. But the reality is that in the access journalism of today, the acceptability of the story to its subject is implicit; if it's not acceptable, the access is withdrawn. (And much of Washington and Wall Street journalism disappears.) Advertisement Let's not pretend naivete. That is the reality of established journalism, always publicly unacknowledged. While some of the hyper-ventilation has come from the dwindling ranks of professional journalists and media academics, the great bulk has come from the right-wing, part of the pervasive hyper-partisanship of our time. Penn, with whom I shared a few dinners in the '90s with Warren Beatty and Annette Being and with Tom Hayden, is largely regarded as a man of the left. That's especially so given his anger over the Iraq War and what I think was his unfortunate friendship with late Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez. So anything conceivably controversial that he does becomes immediate grist for the hard-right media machine. While Penn, with whom I haven't spoken in years, struck me as generally left of center, he seemed even more an iconoclast, not to mention a very curious guy in the bargain. He struck me as someone seeking the existential edge, a searcher for authenticity. Advertisement Even very flawed authenticity. I recall a discussion of the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, who had become a famous recluse and pulled his dental fillings to avoid surveillance. I clucked about how sad it all was. Penn saw it differently. "He made a choice," he declared, "he made a choice." "Yeah, he made a choice," I replied, "a choice to be f---ing nuts." Penn's then famous temper flared in his eyes and, recalling his encounters with the paparazzi who'd harassed him and Madonna, it occurred to me he might come over the table. He did not, of course, and I think what he was getting at is that Fischer had been true to his own sense of integrity. Even if it cost him his sanity. Since then, Penn has become a notable activist, especially spending months of his time on the ground helping disaster victims in Haiti. And he's played major political figures, including his Oscar-winning turn in Milk as slain gay rights champion Harvey Milk, with whom I was acquainted and, rather less successfully, the corrupt crusader Willie Stark in my favorite novel, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. (The aide Jack Burden is the better role, which Hollywood never gets.) Does Penn see Hugo Chavez and perhaps El Chapo in the deeply flawed yet arguably redemptive light of Willie Stark, a character clearly modeled on the assassinated Louisiana kingpin Huey Long, the governor and senator who'd been to the left of FDR during the Great Depression? Perhaps, though there's not too much evidence of that in his piece on the Mexican drug lord. While the kingpin is presented as an alternative power center who like many mobsters has passed out presents to the poor, it's clear that he and his fellow traffickers have corrupted institutions more than created new ones to effect change. That's why it's, oddly, Mexican naval forces used to bring him down. Advertisement Penn uses the piece to make the point that El Chapo and his ilk, like the Colombian drug lords before them, exist to service a vast illicit American market created by prohibitionism. And El Chapo comes off as such a banal figure it's easy to see how replaceable he is in the end, as he admits himself. But Penn doesn't editorialize about a larger geostrategic hypocrisy. Our government's concern about illegal drugs is situational ethics at its, er, finest. When I backpacked through Afghanistan long before 9/11, there wasn't much opium production there, opium also being the key to heroin. But opium production skyrocketed after America's post-9/11 intervention, which I supported. In fact, before we ousted them, the Taliban nearly had opium eradicated. Now Afghan opium drives the world heroin trade. Since it would be easy for us to destroy the fields, we obviously countenance the worst of the drug trade when it seems expedient. In contrast to this reality, Penn's occasional soft-soaping of El Chapo -- which includes some rather paint-by-number questions -- is pretty mild. Advertisement Journalistically, though Penn at times is an interesting and quite flavorful writer, the piece is no home run. Which it might well have been. But it is interesting, a real addition to what we already know is a violent and corrupt picture. That is, when the smoke from the four hypes -- hyper-ventilation, hyper-partisanship, celebrity hype, and hypocrisy -- clears away. By Don Willmott It's been nearly two years since the world's largest concentrating solar power plant, located near I-15 deep in California's Mohave Desert, celebrated its grand opening in February 2014. Since then, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System -- with its capacity is 377 megawatts -- has enjoyed accolades from around the globe, including being named Plant of the Year by Power Magazine, the first time a renewable energy project has ever received that honor. With thousands of mirrors directing sunlight to the top of a tower where steam is produced to drive turbines, it's a compelling sight. The creation of BrightSource Energy, along with investors such as NRG and Google, Ivanpah delivers enough power to PG&E and Southern California Edison to serve more than 140,000 homes in California during the peak hours, and is designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons per year. So who could possibly complain? As it turns out, plenty of people. As a participant in the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program to the tune of $1.6 billion, Ivanpah has drawn the attention of climate change deniers and small-government advocates who perceive it to be a boondoggle designed to rip off taxpayers and which, by the way, also kills birds. The media drumbeat got so loud that BrightSource Energy felt compelled to post a series of statements clarifying the details about its technology and financing. Advertisement The Gripe: Ivanpah is wasting government money, asking for a government grant to pay back its government loan. The Response: Not really. The so-called grant is actually a 30 percent Investment Tax Credit (ITC) -- authorized by Congress -- for which the project is eligible. Under the terms of DOE's loan guarantee, Ivanpah is required to use those tax credit proceeds to immediately pay down the outstanding loan balance. The Gripe: The plant isn't producing as promised. The Response: BrightSource says it "remains confident that Ivanpah will operate successfully over its expected 30-year life." It does acknowledge that sunlight was 9 percent below projections in 2014, and that impacted its overall performance. Ivanpah's mirrors spread out across a wide swath of land, focusing sunlight on power towers that heat up and produce steam to drive turbines. (Source: BrightSource Energy) Advertisement The Gripe: The plant kills birds. The Response: It does, but not many. Birds may see Ivanpah's mirrors as water and be incinerated as they approach, but BrightSource says that after completing its first full year of monitoring, migratory bird mortality can be categorized as "low." The company also points out that billions of birds are killed each year by cats and power lines. The Gripe: The plant needs to use natural gas, which proves it doesn't work. The Response: "Natural gas is used to maximize renewable energy generation in accordance with state law," says BrightSource. "During the startup and commissioning process, the plant operators have increased their understanding of plant operations, including the prudent use of natural gas for safe and reliable operation of the solar receiver and steam turbine." In daily practice, the plant uses some natural gas to power up and start collecting sunlight as quickly as possible without compromising equipment. The Bottom Line: Perhaps it would be best simply to let Ivanpah run for a couple of years and keep a close eye on its financial and scientific metrics -- and only then start passing judgment, because if it works as its supposed to, it could become an important models for others to follow in sunny regions all over the world. Visit XPRIZE at xprize.org; follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+; and get our newsletter to stay informed. The GOP's incessant jabs at Muslims, representing a keystone campaign strategy, really shows that they have nothing else of substance to submit to the American people. They want to make America the exclusive country club of the elite -- as if it is not filled to the brim with 99% of diverse citizens who make up the fabric of this nation. The scary part is seeing those in the 99% that fall for the hateful rhetoric as if there is something in it for them. There is nothing in xenophobia and islamophobia for you, but an unstable, unsafe country and a divisive environment in which to raise your kids. President Obama "told it like it is" in his final State of the Union address on January 12 when he addressed the matter head on. When he said, "When politicians Insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is bullied..." I stopped listening. I felt an emotion deep inside my gut that I can't even describe. Outwardly I felt nauseous. Inwardly, I felt a combination of disgust and embarrassment. In 2016, the President of the United States needs to school people that it's not okay to insult people who don't follow the same religion as you; that it's not okay to vandalize places of worship on U.S. soil; that it's not okay to bully kids. Advertisement Those precious moments in the State of the Union when we can be reflecting on innovation, education, healthcare -- we can't. President Obama had to stop and remind everyone that throwing fire bombs into mosques is not okay. This is the America we live in right now. Since the increase of hateful, Islamophobic rhetoric taking over the airwaves, I've seen more of my family and friends in the Muslim community directly affected. My relative who wears hijab is frequently harassed in public. Doesn't matter that she was born here, has a college degree, maintains an amazing professional career, pays her taxes, is a model citizen and amazing mother raising future contributors to this nation. She wears hijab; therefore, the ignorant in society listening to the Islamophobic drumbeats of today sometimes react in very harassing and direct ways. This is scary. This is terrorism. My relative should not have to be afraid walking into the grocery store looking visibly Muslim in her home country. Hate speech has these direct consequences. Another community member told me that their Muslim American friend was physically assaulted on the street for looking visibly Muslim. And he didn't report the incident. I encourage anyone attacked with hate speech or assaulted, to report it. Do not hide and hope this goes away. Advertisement President Obama Rejecting Islamophobia in His State of the Union Address Telling the American public to not hate on Muslims was cringe-worthy to a number of GOP politicians as noted by their tweets and in some cases, facial expressions. Paul Ryan daydreaming about Sponge Bob and Patrick's latest antics Thankfully, there are progressive individuals that applauded the President's State of the Union address. I for one am amazed at the amount of hatred the President himself has withstood his entire tenure. I will miss him as our leader. Anyone who wonders why Saudi Arabia has refused to reduce its oil production to drive the price back up can find an answer in the global climate change accord agreed to by 195 nations in Paris last month. The parties committed themselves to reducing the consumption of hydrocarbon fuels in the second half of this century to the point where their use produces no more carbon dioxide than can be absorbed by the world's trees. Each step they take toward reaching that goal diminishes the value of Saudi Arabia's vast crude oil reserves -- the economic lifeblood of the kingdom. The Saudis apparently figure that they might as well sell as much as they can now for whatever they can get, rather than leave it in the ground and see its value wither. As one American analysis of the climate pact noted, it "sends a clear message to the fossil-fuel industry that much of the world's remaining reserves of coal, oil, and gas must stay in the ground and cannot be burned." Advertisement Saudi Arabia is dependent on oil exports for 85% of its revenue. The Saudis saw this coming. For years, as their country remained dependent on oil exports for 85% or more of its revenue, they have feared not that they will some day run out of oil but that they will run out of customers for it. They anticipate that electric vehicles, industrial efficiencies, bio-fuels and climate-change concerns will turn consumers away from oil. A return to $100 oil would accelerate that evolution, even if in the short term it encouraged new high-cost producers to enter the market. As long ago as the 1970s, Saudi Arabia broke with other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to slow the acceleration of price, fearing that continued increases would spur consumers to seek other sources of energy. In the United States, the Synthetic Fuels Corp, created during the Jimmy Carter administration to promote the development of alternatives to oil, is remembered with ridicule (if it is remembered at all). But the Saudis haven't forgotten the message: If the price of oil rises past some unknown point, or if alternatives become feasible, consumers will find new sources of energy. "The stone age didn't end because the world ran out of stone."Saudi Arabia's oil minister of that era, Ahmed Zaki Yamani, observed that "the stone age didn't end because the world ran out of stone." He was saying that there will still be oil in the ground when the oil age ends. The climate agreement is likely to accelerate the arrival of that day. Advertisement It won't be in 2016 -- or any time in the next 20 years. According to the International Energy Agency, even under new policies due to be implemented in many countries, oil consumption will grow, "with global demand reaching 103.5 mb/d in 2040, up nearly 13 mb/d on 2014 levels." But the Saudis take the long view. "We have no doubt that one day there will be alternatives," Abdul Aziz al-Khayyal, a senior vice president of Saudi Aramco, told an interviewer a few years ago. "It's going to happen one day." When it does, he said, "We want to be able to have our BTUs compete with other BTUs." The Saudis have demonstrated that their energy can compete with other sources of energy on price, but the Paris accord makes it doubtful that they can compete on the basis of environmental considerations. If international alarm over greenhouse gas emissions means that energy consumers are will to pay more for energy from non-emitting sources, the eventual turn away from oil will become irresistible. Oil that is profitable to produce at $100 per barrel may not be profitable at $50. In the short term, the sharp decline in the global price of oil from more than $100 to less than $40 in less than a year has forced the Saudis to draw down their considerable reserves and to borrow money, but from their perspective it has also had benefits. It has imposed economic hardships on Iran and Russia, and has discouraged new production of oil from other, more expensive sources, such as shale in the United States and Canada's tar sands. Oil that is profitable to produce at $100 per barrel may not be profitable at $50. If these new sources languish while Saudi Arabia's share of the world's market increases, that's fine with Riyadh. The Saudis know that eventually, as shale and tar sands fuel leave the market because they are too expensive to produce, the diminished supply will drive the price back up and bring those sources back on line. According to the IEA, There is evidence the Saudi-led strategy is starting to work. Lower prices are clearly taking a toll on non-OPEC supply, with annual growth shrinking below 0.3 mb/d in November from 2.2 mb/d at the start of the year. A 0.6 mb/d decline is expected in 2016, as US light tight oil -- the driver of non-OPEC growth -- shifts into contraction. As companies make further spending cuts in reaction to sub-$50/bbl oil, the impact on supplies -- both from non-OPEC and OPEC -- will be even more pronounced in the longer term. Of course, Saudi Arabia would like to be receiving a higher price for its oil. Three years ago its veteran oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said $100 per barrel would be the "ideal price": It would give producing nations enough revenue for their needs; it would keep the product affordable for consumers; and it would incentivize the development of new oil fields and new drilling technologies that would stabilize the global supply-demand balance, ensuring that consumers would keep buying. The Saudis are more concerned about the 30 years down the road. There is little chance that the price will return to $100 any time soon. Two respected financial institutions in Riyadh forecast only a modest price upturn in 2016, followed by slightly faster increases in the few years after that as high-cost shale disappears from the market. With their deep pockets, the Saudis are less concerned about these short-term developments than about the 30-year horizon. They are realistic about what the Paris climate agreement portends. Like many other countries, the Kingdom submitted its compliance plan even before the Paris conference. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," it says, "has ambitious plans to diversify its economy away from heavy reliance on income generated from a single resource. Therefore, contribution to the climate ambition will be integrated in the future policy to promote this plan." Saudi Arabia has pursued this goal of economic diversification for 40 years, with limited success. Now the question is whether it can accelerate that process. As the nation prepares to mark what would have been the 87th birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, we should remember Dr. King as a staunch supporter of both public education and organized labor. This is especially important as teachers in cities across the nation including Chicago and Detroit, weigh the necessity of civil disobedience and work stoppages to raise awareness and encourage a fair resolution to their concerns. While teachers unions have been vilified for taking these steps, the actions of labor leaders such as Chicago Teachers Union head Karen Lewis are more in line with those taken by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King in his quest to vanquish what he once described as the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism. These are problems that residents of inner cities like Chicago and Detroit know all too well. The Chicago Teachers Union, for example, linked its opposition to Mayor Rahm Emanuel to the mayor's handling of the police shooting of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald in which city officials have been accused of withholding information including video of the killing to ensure that their release did not negatively impact Emanuel's reelection bid. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke was recently charged with first-degree murder in the killing of McDonald, an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot 16 times by the officer as he walked down the middle of the street. McDonald's case is not the only time educators weighed in on controversial police killings either. Advertisement In recent years, educators have had to resort to acts of civil disobedience in order to make the public aware of a variety of issues from over testing of students, cuts to special education instruction, and unfair labor contracts. Union members often face significant consequences for their actions including harassment and termination. These problems are not new. In September of 1978, for instance, teachers in a number of cities including Philadelphia, New Orleans, Seattle, and Indianapolis, took to picket lines in protest of similar injustices. In many cases, teachers faced jail for their actions. The small city of Bridgeport, Connecticut took center stage after public school teachers, in defiance of a court injunction and state law, elected to strike instead of returning to work without a contract. As a result of the ensuing walkout, 274 teachers were imprisoned. Teachers, then and now, invoked the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and the words of Martin Luther King to support a deeper investment in America's public schools including more robust budgets for instruction, greater interventions for English language learners, and fair compensation. Their appeals for politicians to live up to the spirit of the movement fail to move political leaders like Rahm Emmanuel and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder whose positions on high stakes testing, teachers unions, and insistence on school closures represent the most egregious form of historical amnesia concerning the continuing relevance of Dr. King's message. Advertisement In a few days, many of these same politicians will take to podiums at ceremonies to commemorate the birth and life's work of the famed Civil Rights leader. Their words however will prove hollow because their actions undermine the very principles of social justice for which Dr. King lived and died. Last January, Governor Snyder observed that, "Dr. King inspired us to help those in need, to respond when we saw injustice, and to speak up against all forms of discrimination.... He fought for justice and opportunity for every American." These same words, of course, apply to the scores of educators across the country fighting to save public education. They are simply asking for the opportunity to work in partnership with city officials. They want to create stable schools that serve as anchors for enriching educational experiences; they seek fair compensation and sane evaluations that recognize their role as essential professionals in the development of the nation's most precious resource, our young people. Taking the easy way out by blaming teachers and teacher unions will not solve the problems of our nation's public schools. Addressing the inadequate funding and half-baked educational initiatives that serve as poor substitutes for the real investment in schools, including teachers, is the first step necessary to aligning our educational system with the ideals of equity and justice put forth by Dr. King. "I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states," Dr. King observed powerfully in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail". "I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta," he continued, "and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Making a choice, taking a vote. Incoming Kentucky Governor, Matt Bevin, set to work quickly. Through a series of executive orders, Bevin ensured that thousands of poor and minority individuals would not vote this year or potentially ever. Bevin reversed the work of his predecessor, former Governor Steven L. Beshear, who sought to ensure that Kentucky would no longer be one of only three states to permanently ban felons from voting. Bevin's executive orders continue the long and repressive system of disenfranchising and alienating ex-felons. Almost six million Americans will not have the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to vote because they have been convicted of a felony. Ex-felons are released back into society with the expectation that they will lead full, law-abiding lives. However, denying felons fundamental freedoms that all other Americans enjoy make them second-class citizens. Out of the six million felons who have lost the right to vote, two-thirds have already completed their prison time. However, the punishment continues. Advertisement This injustice is further amplified by the enormous racial and socio-economic disparity amongst convicted felons. Minorities are locked up at higher rates than their white peers and therefore, disproportionally banned from voting. According to the Sentencing Project, "[f]elony disenfranchisement is an obstacle to participation in democratic life which is exacerbated by racial disparities in the criminal justice system, resulting in one of every thirteen African Americans unable to vote." This rate is fives times that of non-blacks. While more minorities are disenfranchised from voting now more than ever before, the history of preventing felons from voting is also rooted in racist policies. After the Civil War, the push to ban felons from voting was prevalent in the South where the vast majority of felons were African American. These policies prevented African Americans from voting, but were shrouded under the guise of disenfranchising felons. While the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made strides in alleviating roadblocks that prevented African Americans from voting, disenfranchising felons continued. Political motivation could also be a factor in preventing ex-felons from voting. Research suggests that Democrats benefit from ex-felon voter turnout with one study finding 61 per cent of ex-felons to be Democrats compared to nine percent who identified as Republican. However, it is unlikely that allowing felons to vote would be a windfall for Democrats, as it is estimated only 25 per cent of eligible ex-felons end up voting. There is no practical effect in preventing felons from voting. It only seeks to alienate and disenfranchise a group of individuals already fighting the social stigma of serving time in prison. The inability to vote is just one of the myriad of issues formerly-incarcerated individuals face. Public benefits, jobs and housing are often out of reach for those who have had contact with the criminal justice system. Advertisement 'XXXL photo of a bible open to the first page of Genesis with selective focus in the foreground and a blurred American flag in the background, can illustrate many concepts such as church and state, religion in politics, creationism in America, conservative right in America, etc.' I have no idea who I'm going to vote for in November. I mean, should he win his party's nomination, I obviously won't be voting for Donald Trump because I have a soul and I believe in things like human decency and the crazy notion that racism and bigotry aren't virtues to be embraced. I also definitely won't be voting for Trump-lite either. I'm talking, of course, about Ted Cruz; the man who just can't bring himself to say a bad word about The Donald... probably because he seems to believe almost all of the same things Trump does. Advertisement Unfortunately, like most of America, I have a hard time turning away when either of these guys speak because the words that come out of their mouths are so incredibly mind-bottling. True, Trump is the undisputed high king of absurdity and awfulness, but more and more, Ted Cruz (and, let's be honest, most of the Republican presidential field) is giving The Donald a run for his money. Case in point: recent comments Cruz made about the Bible. A book, I'm increasingly less convinced he's actually read. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. His dad was/is a pastor and he's a Christian. Surely, Ted has read a least some of it at some point in his life, right? Maybe... and maybe not. Here's what Cruz said recently to the American Family Association that spurs my doubt... If you fear God, you obey God's precepts. For example, you defend the sanctity of life. But beyond the moral code, that means you live a life of integrity, honesty, hard work, individual responsibility, the rule of law, and yes, free enterprise and limited government. The Bible has a lot to say about all those. Where to begin? There's so much irony and nonsense in there, it's hard to know where to start. Ugh. Decisions, decisions. Ok, let's start with his first claim. On its own, it's a fairly innocuous statement. But coming from a politician like Cruz, it's laughable and the height of hypocrisy. Advertisement For example, one of God's precepts - actually "one" is an understatement as it's repeated over and over and over again in one way or another throughout the Old Testament - is found in Exodus 22:21, "You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt." Another one of God's precepts can be found in Matthew 5:43-44. You've probably heard it before, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." There are far too many examples of the irony at play here, so I'll just list a few. In November, Sen. Cruz announced he would be introducing legislation banning Syrian refugees from finding shelter in the United States. Also in November, Cruz decided it's cool if some Syrian refugees come here, but only if they're Christian. This week, Cruz called for a national harassment of refugees already in the United States to determine whether or not they have ties to radical Islamic terrorists. And let's not forget the experiment Cruz proposed last month in which he wanted to carpet bomb the Middle East in order to see if sand glows in the dark. Clearly treating foreigners well and loving your enemies are divine precepts Ted Cruz either isn't familiar with or simply doesn't care about. Oh and I almost forgot. There's also that precept in the Ten Commandments about not bearing false witness. Apparently, Cruz missed that one too when lied to his constituents by telling them President Obama's recent executive order was an effort to take their guns away. It's not. What about his claim that there is a divine/biblical call to "defend the sanctify of life"? Would you believe there's not actually a lot of biblical support for that? Well, if you've actually read the Bible you would. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that you can find the language in scripture to support arguing for the sanctity of human life. You certainly can. It's just that the Bible is filled with story after story after story in which human life doesn't seem to be all that important. Like, the entire conquest of the Promised Land, for example. Untold thousands of people are wiped out in that endeavor - including and explicitly counting countless women and children - who were just minding their own business when one day God's holy warriors showed up and killed them all. Oh, and speaking of God's precepts, there's that precept in Deuteronomy 21 about stoning bratty children to death. Not really a law you would pass in support of the sanctity of human life. Advertisement Look, I'm no fan of abortion, but if you're looking for a sanctified rallying cry for the sanctity of life, believe it or not the Bible probably isn't the best place to turn. (Try the Didache instead) Of course, this is something Cruz would be aware of if he had actually taken the time to read them Bible instead of simply appealing to it whenever he wanted to sanctify his political position. Now, to be fair, Ted doesn't just harp on God's precepts. He also looks "beyond" that. So, let's examine those claims too. According to Cruz, we should "live a life of integrity." I totally agree. And so does the Bible! Too bad, Ted's not a big proponent of living what you preach. Cruz also says hard work is part of following God. A bit too Calvinist for me, but I guess it depends on what exactly that work is. If it's in regards to something like caring for the poor, then yay hard work! But if it's let's work as hard as we can to get as rich as we can (i.e. Team Capitalism), I'm not sure how biblical that actually is. Since Cruz isn't particularly clear here, I'll let this one slide. Advertisement But I can't turn a blind eye to Ted adding "individual responsibility" to his list of Christian virtues. It's hard to know where to begin with this one. I know evangelicals love the idea of individual responsibility because without it, the whole asking-Jesus-into-your-heart-or-you-go-to-hell thing kind of falls apart. And politically conservative evangelicals love individual responsibility even more because it sanctifies the idea that we have no collective responsibility towards our neighbors in need. But, as The Donald might say, the Bible, well the Bible isn't huge on individual responsibility. Or at least not as huge as Cruz seems to believe. It's a bit of nuance to be sure, but still. It's important nuance as it's an important missing important biblical virtue Cruz would recognize as missing...if he had actually read the Bible. Next up: "the rule of law." Our first hint that Ted may have actually read the Bible! Or at least some of it. The Old Testament is definitely all about the people of God following the Law. But then there's the New Testament and that pesky Paul fellow who said something about no longer being under the Law, but under grace. Obviously, that doesn't mean Christians are free to break the law of the land whenever we please. But such a radical shift if the Bible's position on the rule of law (to say nothing of what the law(s) the Bible considers to be of greatest importance) should give Cruz some pause in his compassionless crusade to uphold the law. Advertisement Finally, we come to it. The moment when Ted Cruz just says "screw it" to any pretense that he's actually citing biblical virtue and not simply sanctifying Republican ideology. ... and yes, free enterprise and limited government. The Bible has a lot to say about all those. Ahh, yes. Free enterprise and limited government. The Bible is such big, big fans of both. I mean, it just can't stop talking about free enterprise and limited government it loves them so much. And what is an empire if not the quintessential example of limited government, right? Right? Ok sure, one quote doesn't prove Ted Cruz has never read the Bible. It's more that this quote so succinctly captures his religio-political ideology that, coupled with a long history of biblically dubious actions and statements, I have a hard time believing Ted Cruz is particularly familiar with the Bible. Advertisement But fine. You're right. When I take my tongue out of my cheek, I can admit he probably has read the Bible at least once in his life. Probably more than that. The issue at hand is really more about the way he talks about the Bible, his pleading for Christians to vote for biblical values, and the fact that so many of the actions he calls for are so utterly-antithetical to the Bible - and the way of Jesus, in particular - that it almost makes me think he's just trying to manipulate a base of voters - conservative evangelicals - into voting for him because he's one of them. Because he's the biblically faithful candidate. But a politician would never mislead and pander to a particular demographic just for votes, right? Right? AFP via Getty Images Spectators watch Red-vented Bulbuls fight during the Bhogali Bihu celebration in Hajo, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Guwahati on January 14, 2014. Hundreds of Bulbuls are made to fight each other during the traditional bird fighting competition on Bhogali Bihu, a festival marking the end of the harvesting season, with the winner earning a cash award. AFP PHOTO/ Biju BORO (Photo credit should read BIJU BORO/AFP/Getty Images) GUWAHATI -- The Gauhati High Court has banned the traditional bulbul bird fight at the Hayagrib Madhab Mandir, an ancient pilgrim centre at Hajo in Assam. Vacation bench judge Rumi Kumari Phukan passed the order yesterday after considering various provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. Advertisement The judge modified the earlier order passed on December 22 whereby the ban of bulbul fight imposed by Kamrup district administration was kept in abeyance. The application was filed by Animal Welfare Board of India. Spectators watch a bulbul bird fight as part of festivities to mark 'Bhogali Bihu' in Hajo, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Gauhati, India on 14 January, 2014. The order triggered reactions in Hajo and across the state with the temple priests claiming the bird fight was part of a religious ritual in which obeisance to Lord Vishnu began with it. Advertisement The priests were also in dilemma as how to conduct the religious ceremony going on for centuries in view of the court order. Those training the birds for the traditional ritual claimed there was no cruelty involved as no bird was hurt during the training process. The birds were kept in open space and not in cages, while the string around their feet was tied loosely so that the bulbuls were in no way injured, they claimed. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost: Bengal at a glance via Getty Images Three farmer working at field. NEW DELHI -- The cabinet on Wednesday ratified India's first major crop damage insurance scheme for farmers, a government source said, in what is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first significant move to address rural hardship. The impact of unseasonal rains and two straight years of drought on agriculture that sustains over two-thirds of India's 1.25 billion people has dented Modi's popularity in the countryside, contributing to a humiliating loss for the premier in elections last year in the largely rural state of Bihar. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said last week that New Delhi will launch the crop insurance scheme in the fiscal year starting 1 April. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also see on HuffPost: David De Lossy via Getty Images Man holding gun, close-up MELBOURNE -- An Islamic State recruit from New Zealand has reportedly set up a LinkedIn account, describing himself as an "education management professional" working in the Syrian city of Raqqa for his employers -- ISIS. "Living in the heart of the Islamic State is a good experience and I encourage others to come and see for themselves," Muhammad Daniel, who is originally from New Zealand and has changed his name from Mark John Taylor, said in his profile. Advertisement "There's no danger here and a great place to bring up the family. Except Western Jet fighters that always drop bombs on Civilians," he was quoted as saying in his profile by stuff.co.nz. According to his Linkedin profile, Daniel has been teaching English to children in Raqqa under Islamic State since October 2014. He claims to have been teaching English to children between the ages of 5 and 12, "teaching with a puppet and enjoyed having fun with the students". The profile lists Daniel's occupation as an "education management professional". He writes to potential employers, "I'm loyal, discipline, hardworking and have a large range of skillsets!" LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service and is mainly used for professional networking. In the past, Daniel has used social media to announce he had burned his New Zealand passport and encourage others to wage jihad on Anzac Day, the report said. But his most notable social media faux pas came in 2014 when he outed the location of ISIS fighters to Western intelligence agencies, it said. Daniel failed to turn off the location service on his Twitter account, thereby identifying his whereabouts every time he tweeted. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: VINCENZO PINTO via Getty Images (FILES) In this photograph taken on December 22, 2012, Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre (R) and Salvatore Girone (L) arrive at Ciampino airport near Rome, on December 22, 2012. India's Supreme Court ruled February 22, 2013 that two Italian marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen while guarding an oil tanker could return home to cast their votes in upcoming national elections. The marines are suspected of shooting dead two fishermen off India's southwestern coast near the port city of Kochi in February 2012, when a fishing boat came close to the Italian oil tanker they were guarding. AFP PHOTO/ VINCENZO PINTO/ FILES (Photo credit should read VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images) ROME--One of two Italian marines accused of murdering Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala almost four years ago will not be returning to India to face trial after being allowed home temporarily for medical treatment, a senator said on Tuesday. India had granted Massimiliano Latorre, who suffered a stroke while in New Delhi in 2014, a period of leave in Italy for medical treatment, but he was supposed to return by Friday. Advertisement It was not clear when or if Latorre would return to India. The second sailor on trial, Salvatore Girone, is being held in the Italian embassy in New Delhi. "Massimiliano Latorre will not return to India, and furthermore, the possibility of asking for Salvatore Girone's return is being explored," said Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee, according to Italian media. Latorre did not provide details and did not immediately respond to calls. When contacted, the prime minister's office and the foreign ministry did not confirm or deny Latorre's comments. The two men say they accidentally killed two fishermen when they mistook a fishing boat for a pirate ship and fired warning shots while protecting an Italian oil tanker in 2012. Italy and India have been at loggerheads over who has jurisdiction over the case, and Italy has sought international arbitration. Advertisement The fallout from India's arrest of the marines has damaged wider relations between Italy and India, contributing to the collapse of a European Union-India summit last year. In 2013, Italy reversed an initial decision not to send the marines back to India to stand trial after a home visit, in a bid to tone down the diplomatic row. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Palani Mohan via Getty Images ALANGANALLUR, INDIA - JANUARY 16: Participants in the Jallikattu bull-wrestling festival are trampled in the arena as they attempt to catch and ride the animals, elbowing each other aside so they can be the sole rider and claim the prize January 16, 2008 in Alanganallur, India. Jallikattu the ancient and bizarre bull-wrestling sport happens every year in the month of January throughout the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to celebrate Pongal, a New Year festival. Similar to SpainAs running of the bulls, itAs older A and bloodier. Instead of bulls getting killed, itAs the people who usually come off worst. In 2008 the Jallikattu was banned but after huge protests including hunger strikes the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court. (Photos by Palani Mohan/Getty Images) NEW DELHI -- The Supreme Court today refused to vacate its order staying the Centre's notification lifting ban on the controversial bull-taming sport Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said that yesterday's order by which the Centre's notification was stayed doesn't warrant any alteration. Advertisement The bench said it was unimpressed with the submission that Jallikattu should be allowed under the strict supervision of this court. The fresh petitions were filed by some residents of Tamil Nadu who had sought vacation of yesterday's order saying that the age-old cultural tradition of the state should be allowed to continue. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also see on HuffPost: Did you know that BJP Union Minister General VK Singh made a cameo in a Bollywood film once? According to video clip uploaded by one Aarya Kranti on YouTube, you can clearly see General Singh, a retired four star general of the Indian Army, in a scene from the critically-acclaimed film Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991), starring Nana Patekar, Madhuri Dixit, and Dimple Kapadia. The film, which revolves around a strict army officer (Patekar) and his crusade to find and punish the perpetrators of a gang of criminals who killed one of his officers, showcases a scene where Patekar is discussing an intricate plan to capture a group of kidnappers. While the scene majorly revolves around an army chief giving instructions to Patekar, Singh is shown sitting at the table, keenly listening to the conversation. Advertisement At one point of time, the actor playing senior army officer even says, "...Humein uss jagah ki kuch slides mili hain. Colonel VK Singh will explain it to you." (We have some slides of the area. Colonel VK Singh will explain it to you). According to an article in Firstpost, Singh explained his cameo by saying, "They were shooting the film in the centre and wanted a real officer to for a scene." Singh had recently been in the eye of the storm regarding his remarks about the death of two Dalit children as a consequence of intercaste violence in Haryana. He had said that the government should not be held responsible if "someone threw stones at a dog," -- a statement that had created huge controversy and social media outrage. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India The India Today Group via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA DECEMBER 03: VK Singh at the Parliament during the winter session in New Delhi.(Photo by Yasbant Negi /India Today Group/Getty Images) In a long-winded statement that mocks the media -- his pet target -- and his political opponents, former Army Chief General VK Singh has said that Congress leader Manish Tewari "is brazenly telling a lie" on an Indian Express story that alleged that on the night of January 16, 2012 there was an unexpected and non-notified movement by a key military unit from mechanised infantry based in Hisar in the direction of the national capital. The Indian Express report had quoted central intelligence agencies to support its claim. On the same night, another unit - identified as a large element of the 50th Para Brigade based at Agra - had also been moved towards Delhi, according to the report. Advertisement Singh said the story was "bunkum" and went on to launch a rant against former Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta. Tewari, who was Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in the UPA government between October 2012 and May 2014, had earlier said that the "to the best of my knowledge that story was correct". It was on January 16, 2012 that Singh had approached the Supreme Court regarding the controversy over his date of birth, an issue which saw him locked in a bitter confrontation with the UPA government. "Then along comes Mr T, until yesterday the brash face of the party in power, who despite knowing the facts of the case fully well, decides to brazenly tell a lie. He is much too intelligent a person not to know what he was doing or saying and he is a lawyer too. Let me also emphasize that by trying to get at me he has once again caused collateral damage to the 13 lac strong patriotic force that protects the country and so that he and Mr Coupta can sleep peacefully. In one stroke he has cast doubts not only on the integrity of this force but also of the government he was a part of and the then RM and PM - both men who are held in high esteem by his own Party," Singh said in a statement. Advertisement By 'Coupta' Singh is referring to Gupta who was the editor of the paper when the story on the alleged coup was published. "Using the bogey of a military coup and then by politicizing one of the finest armies in the world, his party presided over an absolute disaster and it was men from my own battalion, 2 Rajput, who paid the price with hundreds of other soldiers. We lost 282 men in one hour while the remainder were wounded and were made POWs. There were just a dozen or so survivors - that is why I'm getting 'antsy'. My sworn oath to protect this country means one has to not just look beyond the borders but also tackle the likes Mr T and Mr C," Singh said. Tewari's comment that the incident was "unfortunate but true" had provoked a strong rebuttal by his own party. The Congress leader was asked about media coverage of issues pertaining to defence forces as in the case of the Indian Express report on April 4, 2012, titled "The January night Raisina Hill was spooked: Two key Army units moved towards Delhi without notifying Govt." An embarrassed Congress had dismissed Tewari's claim. "I am again clarifying there is absolutely no truth in it (claims about troop movement in 2012). My colleague was neither a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security, nor any relevant decision making body," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, adding some troop movements are necessary, "inbuilt and inevitable part of the defence mechanism". Advertisement "We on behalf of Congress very clearly and categorically want to deny this report," another party spokesperson P C Chacko said. Gupta, who was the editor when the story was published, said though he would not comment on the war of words between political rivals," I don't believe that it (the news) needed further vindication, but yes anymore vindication is welcome. But more than vindication the debate is welcome because I think the system in India...the government...has been in denial over what had happened because it was a very unpleasant thing that happened," he told NDTV. The army had already denied in 2012 that any such thing had happened. (Inputs from PTI) Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost: Boo at the Zoo is back Boo at the Zoo will take place from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, throughout the grounds of the zoo, and is free to the public. The tender, posted by the Bahraini government, states that Netsweeper, a Guelph, Ontario-based company, will be paid $1,175,000 for supplying the government with a national website filtering solution. A Canadian company has offered to provide the Bahraini government with internet censorship technology, according to a tender published on Thursday the latest in a string of questionable partnerships the company has forged in recent years. Netsweeper has provided foreign governments engaged in conflicts with controversial censorship technology before. For example, the company was harshly criticized last year for providing the Houthi rebels that exiled the Yemeni government with censorship technology. Researchers from Citizen Lab analyzed Yemens internet for months and concluded that the Houthis had made a concerted effort to shape the information environment in the country, using Netsweepers tech. In 2013, Citizen Lab also accused Netsweeper of providing the Pakistani government with similar technology. Netsweeper did not immediately respond to Motherboards request for comment. The Bahraini government has a history of cracking down on anti-government criticism online. Last year, several Twitter users were arrested in the country for tweets critical of members of parliament. One former MP, Khalid Abdulaal, was sentenced to a year in prison for posting tweets condemning the use of torture. Bahrain has been in a state of political turmoil since protests by Shiites demanding government reform in 2011. On Friday, Bahraini police clashed with Shiite protesters, who were allegedly throwing molotov cocktails and calling for the death of the royal family, Reuters reported. At the time of the Yemen reports release last fall, Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert told Motherboard, Companies that provide censorship technologies in the course of an armed conflict have a special responsibility to do due diligence. They are, in effect, participants in the conflict. Documents obtained by Motherboard in 2014 under an access to information request revealed that the Canadian government was at one point considering regulating the sale of web filtering software, amongst other cyber tools, but lacked a clear plan. The insurance business of Hong Kongs Dah Sing Financial Holdings could be put up for sale with a price tag of $1 billion, Reuters reports. The company holds one of the regions largest family-owned banks and could be about to offload its life insurance firm along with the life insurance division of its banking subsidiary.Brown & Brown Insurance Services of California Inc. has acquired certain assets of BayRisk Insurance Brokers of San Francisco. The BayRisk team will relocate to Brown & Browns Lafayette office of Sitzmann Morris & Lavis and the combined business will be headed by Matthew M. Sitzmann. BayRisk principal Kevin Milroy said that the two firms share common objectives. BayRisk was founded in 1935 and generates annual revenues of around $2.5 million.Ty Sagalow, former president of AIGs product development division, has been appointed chief insurance officer of peer-to-peer insurer Lemonade. Sagalow has a long history in the insurance industry having also held senior roles at Zurich . As one of the founding team at Lemonade he says that his time at traditional big insurance companies led him to where he is now: "I concluded that true disruptive innovation is almost impossible within the framework of legacy carriers. I joined Lemonade because only a company born of technology, the sharing economy and behavioral economics can truly re-architect what insurance should look like." Lemonade is due to launch in the first half of this year.Insurance firms in Ireland may be forced to cover the cost of floods unless they alter policies to protect businesses and homes in flood-prone areas. The government says that in areas where flood defenses have been implemented it cannot understand why insurers are still refusing to offer cover. At a meeting held Tuesday, which was attended by insurance heavyweights AIG, Aviva and RSA among others, the government said that as a last resort it could subsidize insurers costs in insuring flood-risk properties. One year after congressional passage of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers, action has been taken toward creating the historic national licensing board.President Barack Obama yesterday named the first four nominations for members of NARAB, including Heather Steinmiller, senior vice president and general counsel of Connor Strong and Buckelew Cos. Inc. in Philadelphia. In addition to her work with the property/casualty company, Steinmiller has worked extensively with the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers Legal Counsels Working Group.Obamas three other nominees include Raymond G. Farmer, director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance, Mike Rothman, Minnesota commissioner of commerce and Tom McLeary, president of Endow, Inc., an employee benefits and life insurance brokerage in Chicago.If approved, the nominees will sit on the board of directors for NARAB, which is expected to make producer licensing less difficult and expand business opportunities for agents and brokers nationwide. The board was advocated by a variety of agent and financial advisor trade groups, and supporters have eagerly been awaiting these presidential nominations since the bills passage last January.Eventual operation of NARAB could take time, however. Background checks must be run on Obamas nominees a process that could stretch into hundreds of hours.In addition, the remaining nine members of NARABs 13-member board must be nominated. The final group must contain at least eight regulators.All things considered, most industry figures do not expect the board to be operational until 2017.Tim Owen, vice president of product management at Vertafore, works with 23 state insurance departments to build regulatory systems focused on producer licensing, among other areas. From that vantage point, he sees some hurdles the NAIC and others will have to face in their work to implement NARAB.There are a lot of operational and technological things well have to figure out, Owen told Insurance Business America. There could be regulatory implications, such as certain kinds of education that not all states require, that might make it a challenge for NARAB to streamline the licensing process.There are additional discrepancies, such as Californias background requirements, Georgias stipulation that an agent have an affidavit of citizenship and New Yorks decision not to adopt the Producer License Model Act, that NARAB board members must clear up.Once established and operational, NARAB will create standards insurance producers must meet in order to business in other states , supplementing the current system, which asks producers to meet requirements in their home state and every other state in which the wish to operate.Supporters of the legislation say NARAB will simplify licensing procedures and reduce costs. According to an analysis from the National Association of Independent Financial Advisors, producers currently spend about 29 hours a year and $225 in licensing costs in order to meet requirements. The Missouri Department of Insurance recently sent out a notice among insurers in the state, announcing the prohibition of price optimization; this marks Missouri as the seventeenth state to ban the practice.The state regulator reasoned that price optimization infringes state law regulating property and casualty insurance. According to state legislation, insurance rates must be set based on the insurers expected claims, cost of operating business, and the risk profile of the customer.Price optimization, or the elasticity of demand, is the practice of using data to identify which consumers are least likely to cancel or switch to another insurer following an increase in premiums. Those consumers identified are then charged higher prices.Consumer advocates have derided price optimization as unfair and discriminatory, considering the practice as another form of price gouging.In recent years, insurers have become better at analyzing consumer data thanks to technology such as the Internet. As data gathering techniques improved, it became much easier for insurers to use the information to their advantage.Consumer advocates advised consumers not to be complacent with their policies and to always shop for better deals whenever the opportunity presents itself. T20 World Cup: I'm Concerned About India Making it to The Top Four - Kapil Dev 'PCB Can't Take Any Objection as BCCI is The Richest Board': Kaneria on India's Decision of Not Travel to Pakistan T20 WC: 'Lockie Ferguson Has Ability to Break The Game Open' - Tim Southee Opens up on New Zealand's Pace Attack T20 World Cup 2022: India's Second Warm Up Match Against New Zealand Washed Out in Brisbane We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers. To unlock this article: Imperial Valley News Center USDA 2016 Agricultural Outlook Forum Plenary Panel Announced Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the members of this year's Agricultural Outlook Forum Plenary Panel on "Providing Leadership for Present and Future Generations in the Transformation of Agriculture." This year's panelists have backgrounds in academia, business, farming and media, bringing a range of expertise to this discussion on transforming the future of agriculture. The group includes Elizabeth Garrett, President of Cornell University; Ilene Gordon, CEO of Ingredion; Pamela Hess, Executive Director of the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture; and Pam Johnson, an Iowa farmer and former president of National Corn Growers Association. The Forum's plenary panelists have unique perspectives on the present and future of agriculture and rural America. Technology is opening doors to new applications for producers and throughout the marketing chain, while demographics are changing across the country's rural landscape and farm households. These trends coupled with new markets domestically and abroad, as well as new programs under the 2014 Farm Bill, form the basis for the 92nd Agricultural Outlook Forum. The opening plenary will feature remarks from Secretary Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden and "The 2016 Economic Outlook for Agriculture" presented by USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson. The Forum's keynote speaker is Howard Buffett, CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Mitch E. Daniels, Jr., President of Purdue University and former Governor of Indiana will be the dinner speaker. Thirty concurrent track sessions supporting this theme include the Agriculture Talent Pipeline, Bioproducts, Commodities, Land & Tenure Transition, New Markets, Organics, Risk Management, Scientific Advancement, and Trade, to Urban Agriculture. Deputy Secretary Harden will also host a session on opportunities in agriculture for new and beginning farmers and host a Women's Agriculture Networking event. USDA has hosted the Agricultural Outlook Forum since 1923. It's also USDA's largest annual meeting, attracting 1,600 attendees. It serves as a platform to facilitate conversation of key issues and topics within the agricultural community, including producers, processors, policy makers, government officials and NGOs, both foreign and domestic. The two-day meeting will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 2526, 2016. To view Forum information and register go to www.usda.gov/oce/forum. Governor Brown Announces Appointments Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments: Bret Ladine, 34, of San Francisco, has been appointed assistant general counsel at the California Department of Business Oversight. Ladine has been a senior associate at Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP since 2012. He was an associate at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati PC from 2008 to 2012, a summer associate at Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP in 2007 and served as a summer law clerk at the U.S. Attorneys Office, Eastern District of California in 2006. Ladine was press secretary and communications director in the Office of Congressman Dennis Cardoza from 2003 to 2005, a correspondent at the Boston Globe in 2002 and a staff writer at the Times-Picayune in 2001. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $119,004. Ladine is a Democrat. Janea Ashanti Scott, 42, of Sacramento, has been reappointed to the California Energy Commission, where she has served since 2013. Scott was a deputy counselor for renewable energy and special assistant to the counselor at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary from 2009 to 2013 and held several positions at the Environmental Defense Fund from 2000 to 2009, including senior attorney and staff attorney. She served as an AmeriCorps member at the San Francisco Urban Service Project from 1996 to 1997. Scott earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Colorado Law School and a Master of Science degree in earth systems from Stanford University. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $137,956. Scott is a Democrat. Mark Ferron, 56, of Mill Valley, has been reappointed to the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors, where he has served since 2015. Ferron served as a member of the California Public Utilities Commission from 2011 to 2014, was a partner at the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund from 2010 to 2014 and held several positions at Deutsche Bank from 1996 to 2009, including managing director and chief operating officer of the Global Markets Division. He was vice president at Salomon Brothers from 1994 to 1996 and at Bank of America from 1986 to 1994. Ferron earned a Master of Arts degree in economics from Stanford University. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $20,000, in addition to per diem meeting preparation and attendance expenses. Ferron is a Democrat. David Olsen, 69, of Ventura, has been reappointed to the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors, where he has served since 2012. Olsen was managing director at the Western Grid Group from 2003 to 2013 and coordinator for the California Energy Commissions Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative from 2007 to 2010. He was coordinator at the Tehachapi Collaborative Study Group from 2005 to 2007, president at Clipper Windpower Development from 2001 to 2003 and CEO at Patagonia Inc. from 1996 to 1999. He was vice president at the Magma Power Company from 1988 to 1995 and president and CEO at Northern Power Systems from 1984 to 1988. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $20,000, in addition to per diem meeting preparation and attendance expenses. Olsen is a Democrat. Billie Greer, 77, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Science Center Board of Directors, where she has served since 2010. Greer has been an independent consultant since 2015. She was president at the Southern California Leadership Council from 2011 to 2015 and senior staff member and director of Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers Los Angeles Office from 2004 to 2010. Greer was president and founding principal at Greer Dailey Inc. from 1993 to 2003, held several positions at Braun Ketchum from 1977 to 1993, including senior vice president of public affairs, and served as a teacher for the Long Beach Unified School District from 1959 to 1960. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Greer is a Democrat. Stanley Shuster, 55, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Science Center Board of Directors, where he has served since 2015. Shuster has been president at Grand Havana Enterprises Inc. since 1994. He was vice president of artists and repertoire at JRS Records from 1990 to 1994. Shuster is a member of the California Highway Patrol Citizens Advisory Board and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Shuster is a Republican. Margaret Peg Johnson, 68, of Auburn, has been appointed to the 20th District Agricultural Association, Gold Country Fair Board of Directors. Johnson has been a registered nurse at the Office of Dr. Stephen M. Nagy, M.D. since 1989. She is a member of the Auburn Interfaith Food Closet Board of Directors, Philanthropic Educational Organization, Order of the Eastern Star, Auburn Symphony League and the Friends of the Auburn Library. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Johnson is a Republican. Record of Decision Signed for the Coordinated Long-term Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Sacramento, California - The Bureau of Reclamation signed a Record of Decision supported by the Coordinated Long-term Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Final Environmental Impact Statement. The Preferred Alternative identified in the LTO Final EIS and the Reclamations decision included in the ROD is to implement the No Action Alternative. The No Action Alternative contains all of the Reasonable and Prudent Alternative actions in the 2008 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 2009 National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinions. The ROD and LTO Final EIS were completed in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and are available at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/nepa_projdetails.cfm?Project_ID=21883 . If you encounter problems accessing the documents, please call 916-978-5100 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . For additional information, please contact Janice Pinero, Conservation and Conveyance Division Chief, Bay-Delta Office, Bureau of Reclamation at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or by phone at 916-414-2428 (TTY 800-877-8339). Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, Children Now Announce Legislation to Provide Trauma-Informed Mental Health Services for Children Sacramento, California - Today, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), and Children Now announced legislation aimed at improving the mental health of children who have experienced childhood trauma, including abuse, neglect, and community violence. The bill would establish a four-year pilot program to assist elementary schools in providing mental health services to students, prioritizing schools in communities with high levels of childhood trauma and adversity. "Childhood trauma can have a devastating and lasting impact not only on our children but also on our families and our communities. The evidence is clear that when we don't intervene, many children are more likely to be either victims or perpetrators of crime, said Attorney General Harris. This legislation will connect our most vulnerable children with the support they need and is a smart investment in the health and safety of our state. Assembly Bill 1644 will help schools and communities address the extensive impacts of childhood trauma, which can result in negative educational, health, social, and economic outcomes for children across the state. Left unaddressed, exposure to childhood trauma can have devastating effects on childrens developing brains and leave children less ready to learn and more likely to exhibit anxiety, withdrawal, and aggressive behavior in school. Providing trauma-informed interventions, including mental health supports, are critical to promoting healthy childhood development and addressing the root causes of crime. Im excited to author AB 1644 with the support of Attorney General Harris and a stellar group of advocates in order to provide children suffering from trauma with the healing they need to survive and thrive. A childs exposure to trauma is one of the greatest public health threats of our time, seriously compromising a childs long-term physical and emotional wellbeing. As Chair of the Assembly Health Committee and the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color, Ive had the opportunity to extensively address the impact of trauma on our most challenged communities in the state, and I am confident that AB 1644 will provide our kids with the transformative support they need to heal. AB 1644 builds upon the former Early Mental Health Initiative (EMHI), a highly successful evidence-based program aimed at helping elementary school students experiencing difficulty in adjusting to a school setting. EMHI awarded matching grants to local schools to fund prevention and intervention programs from 1992 to 2012, before the program was defunded in 2012. Over 75 percent of children who completed the EMHI program showed an improvement in learning behaviors, attendance, school adjustment, or school-related competencies. AB 1644 would provide schools that have continued to offer EMHI services with technical assistance to strengthen and expand existing programs, while also expanding EMHI services to more schools, particularly those serving students who have experienced high levels of childhood trauma and adversity. Children Now President Ted Lempert said, Childhood trauma is a public health crisis that can impede emotional well-being, diminish kids school performance and set children up for a lifetime of problems. This bill would help kids exposed to trauma reach their full potential by helping schools provide quality mental health supports to their youngest students. Attorney General Harris has long been at the forefront of this issue and last year created a first-of-its-kind Bureau of Childrens Justice within the California Department of Justice to protect children and respond to the most pressing challenges facing Californias children, including childhood trauma and exposure to violence. Under Attorney General Harriss leadership, California was one of three states nationwide selected by the U.S. Department of Justice to be a part of its national Defending Childhood Initiative. Attorney General Harriss office is leading the California Defending Childhood State Policy Initiativea collaboration of state agenciesin its work to prevent, identify, and heal the impacts of violence and trauma on children across the state. Attorney General Harris has spent her entire career prosecuting those who commit sexual and physical crimes against children and defending every child in California. Attorney General Harris served two terms as District Attorney of San Francisco, where she created a child sexual assault unit and helped found the nationally recognized Center for Youth Wellness, an organization in San Franciscos Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood working to improve the health of children exposed to childhood trauma. She also led the San Francisco City Attorneys Division on Children and Families and specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases at the Alameda County District Attorneys Office. Bakersfield Man Pleads Guilty to Laser Strikes on Sheriff Helicopter Fresno, California - Pablo Cesar Sahagun, 26, of Bakersfield, pleaded guilty today to aiming the beam of a laser pointer at a Kern County Sheriffs helicopter, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. In pleading guilty, Sahagun acknowledged that on February 26, 2015, he repeatedly struck and tracked a Kern County Sheriffs Office helicopter, Air-1, with the beam of a green laser pointer. According to court documents, the laser pointer was key activated and labeled as a Laser 301, a device that purports to emit a one-watt laser beam, which is 2,000 times more powerful than what is legally permissible for a laser pointer. Reports of laser attacks on aircraft have increased dramatically in recent years as powerful laser devices have become more affordable and widely available to the public. From 2011 to 2015, there have been over 23,000 laser illumination incidents in the United States reported to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In 2015, in the Eastern District of California, which encompasses 34 counties in the eastern portion of California, there were 213 reported laser incidents. Lasers can completely incapacitate pilots who are trying to fly safely to their destinations, endangering their crew members, passengers and people on the ground. Sahagun is scheduled for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd on April 4, 2016. Sahagun faces a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to $250,000. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The case against Sahagun was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kern County Sheriffs Office, and Bakersfield Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen A. Escobar is prosecuting the case. If you have information about a lasing incident, or see someone pointing a laser at an aircraft, call your local FBI field office or dial 911. Three Sentenced in Bakersfield Heroin Trafficking Conspiracy Fresno, California - Three defendants have been sentenced by United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii for a conspiracy to distribute heroin, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. On Monday, Rafael Legorreta, 34, of Bakersfield, was sentenced to nine years and five months in prison, and Francisco Rivera, 29 of Palmdale, was sentenced to seven years in prison. On January 4, 2016, Julio Perez, 32, of Bakersfield, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to court documents, on December 2, 2014, members of Kern County Sheriffs Gang Suppression Unit conducted a probationary search of the home of Julio Perez. Perez, Legorreta, and Rivera were located in the locked basement of the residence with approximately 10 lbs. of heroin, together with packaging material, zip lock bags, digital scales, metal strainers, a blender, and drug paraphernalia, among other items. All three defendants appeared to have heroin residue on their hands and clothing, and all three subsequently admitted to their involvement in the conspiracy. This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kern County Sheriffs Gang Suppression Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Brian K. Delaney prosecuted the case. Father And Son Charged With Drug Related Murder On The Hoopa Indian Reservation San Francisco, California - Rodney Vincent Ortiz and Vincent Rudy Ortiz were arraigned in federal court today for their alleged involvement in the March 21, 2015, drug related shooting and murder on the Hoopa Indian Reservation in Humboldt County, California, announced Acting United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson. Rodney Ortiz, 53, and Vincent Ortiz, 26, of Willow Creek, Calif., were indicted by a federal grand jury on December 17, 2015. In the indictment, the defendants are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime causing murder, obstruction of justice, and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Rodney and Vincent Ortiz made their initial appearances before the Honorable Laurel Beeler, United States Magistrate Court Judge today. The defendants are being held pending a bail hearing currently scheduled for January 14, 2016, before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero. A status conference is scheduled for February 2, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The maximum statutory penalty for each of the charged offenses is: Drug conspiracy, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846 and 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(D): five years imprisonment, two years supervised release, and a fine of $250,000; Use of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c): life imprisonment, mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment, and carries a 25 year mandatory minimum consecutive term of prison for each second or successive 924(c) conviction, five years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine; Use of a Firearm During a Drug Trafficking Crime Causing Murder, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section 924(j): death or life imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine; Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice and Obstruction of Justice, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1512(1)(1)(C) and (k): 30 years imprisonment, five years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine; Use of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c): life imprisonment, mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment, and carries a 25 year mandatory minimum consecutive term of prison for each second or successive 924(c) conviction, up to five years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. 3553. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Hopkins is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lance Libatique. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Humboldt County Sherriffs Office, Humboldt County District Attorneys Office, Eureka Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kwok Cheung Chow (Aka Raymond Chow, Aka Ha Jai, Aka Shrimp Boy) Convicted Of Murder And Various Racketeering Crimes San Francisco, California - A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Kwok Cheung Chow, aka Raymond Chow, aka Ha Jai, aka Shrimp Boy, Friday of racketeering, murder, money laundering, and conspiracy charges, announced Acting United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Michael Batdorf. In completing its verdict form, the jury found Chow guilty of every one of the 162 charges leveled against him. Chow, 55, of San Francisco, stood trial for participating in a racketeering organization. Chow originally was charged with various racketeering related crimes in a criminal complaint filed March 24, 2015. The complaint charged that the purposes of the organization included the illegal trafficking of controlled substances, extortion, and participation in the collection of illegal debts. On October 15, 2015, the charges were formally amended in a Third Superseding Indictment to include murder. Chow was charged with and today convicted of arranging the murder of Allen Leung, conspiring with others to murder Jim Tat Kong. I want to personally thank all the hard-working men and women whose efforts resulted in bringing Mr. Chow to justice, said Acting U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch. Those dedicated public servants include the prosecutors in this office and the staff that ably assisted them; the employees of our federal partners at the FBI, IRS and the U.S Marshal Service; the employees of our law enforcement partners from the police departments of San Francisco, Oakland, and New York; and the Mercer County New Jersey Sheriff's Office. This conviction represents a just and final end to Mr. Chow's long running and deadly criminal career, said San Francisco FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson. The FBI is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting violent criminal enterprises operating in the Bay Area and will continue to work closely with our state and local partners to make our communities and residents safe. The jurys verdict finds Chow guilty of a register of activities in connection with the racketeering organization and additional conspiracies. In all, Chow was convicted of 162 counts including 125 counts of money laundering, aiding and abetting the laundering of proceeds of narcotics sales, conspiring to deal in illegal sales of goods (including 50 cases of Hennessey XO and 27 cases of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch Whiskey) and engaging in the illegal sale of cigarettes (over 10,000). The jury trial was held before the Honorable Charles R. Breyer, United States District Judge. Chow remains in custody where he has been since his arrest on March 26, 2014. His sentencing currently is scheduled to take place on March 23, 2016, before Judge Breyer. Chow is subject to a mandatory life sentence for his conviction of murder with special circumstances in connection with racketeering activity. Chow also faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine as a result of his convicted of the racketeering charge; a maximum ten year sentence and $250,000 fine for his conviction of conspiring to commit murder in aid of racketeering; a maximum 20 year sentence and $500,000 fine (or twice the value of the property laundered) for each violation of money laundering; and a maximum charge of five years in prison and $250,000 for each charge of conspiracy. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. 3553. Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Frentzen, Susan Badger, and S. Waqar Hasib are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Rosario Calderon, Kurk Kosek, Ana Guerra, Marina Ponomarchuk, Victoria Etterer, and Lance Libatique. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Marshal Service, San Francisco Police Department Gang Task Force; Oakland Police Department; Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; New York Police Department; and the Mercer County New Jersey Sheriff's Office. The New Way Well Work Imperial, California - The workplace is evolving faster than ever before. Employers should be aware of - and manage - five overarching trends in order to lead and grow in the future, regardless of geography or industry. Employees demand for greater choice and flexibility; access to real-time learning; increased autonomy; a sense of stability; and the ability to work on personally meaningful projects are driving global workplace transformation. Specifically, the study found: While most workplace changes are perceived positively, there is fear that automation and smart machines will replace work being done by humans. 92 percent of people believe technology will allow for deeper connections across distance and time. However, 45 percent fear that automation, smart machines and artificial intelligence will replace people for repetitive work. Openness to workplace changes varies by region. In Asia Pacific, where the population skews younger, 81 percent of people are excited about the future and embracing change, especially the rise of technology. However, Europeans remains wary about workplace shifts as only 59 percent of respondents feel optimistic, and they fear constant role shifting will require learning new skills. The modern definition of job security requires employees to adapt to different roles. Previously, individuals defined security by tenure. Today, with shifts in the workplace especially increased automation employees define security by the reach of their professional network and the ability to tap into relationships to find non-linear jobs that can extend a career. 58 percent of those surveyed believe a standard retirement age will eventually cease to exist. Younger workers are searching for meaning beyond lucrative salaries to feel fulfilled. 89 percent of all respondents would like to work on personal interests/things that impact society and 82 percent would like to define their own work schedule. HR departments must improve global connectivity. Human Resource professionals have embraced the need to recruit globally to find the best talent, yet they still often struggle with onboarding global employees or ensuring remote teams are truly connected. 95 percent of employees surveyed believe they will be able to work from anywhere in the world. As employers strive to remain competitive, they will need to cultivate a work environment that allows for greater freedom and collaboration, manage employee concerns around job security and provide opportunities for meaningful work. Check back next month when ADPs Chief Human Resources Officer Dermot OBrien shares what these future trends mean for HR professionals. Learn more by viewing the full Evolution of Work study here. Want a job? Study Food and Agriculture New York - Many parents and children today worry about both what college costs and whether after spending all that money they will be able to get a good job. In general, college graduates do get jobs after graduationthe unemployment rate for college grads is under 3%but still families of current and approaching college students are concerned. One easy way to reduce the risk of post-graduate un- or underemployment is to gain skills in a field with a shortage of skilled workers. A great example of what students might study is food and agricultural systems. Some such job skills do not require a college degree; welders are in short supply and certified welders can earn $75,000 per year. Thus, learning to weld would be a smart career move for some and financial aid for technical schools teaching these skills is generally abundant. However, for those not interested in welding as a career and committed to pursuing a college education, studying for jobs in the food and fiber sector would be a great plan. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that over the next five years the annual demand for college graduates in agriculture and food industries will be 57,900 jobs per year. Unfortunately, American agricultural colleges (such as my own College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at The University of Georgia) will only be producing about 35,400 graduates per year. Right now, this shortfall in college graduates with majors in agriculture are being filled by graduates with other, related majors. But the employers would prefer graduates with more background in agriculture. Further, these jobs are not all in direct production agriculture (that is, farming), which accounts for only 15 percent of these jobs. The other 85 percent are in the broader food and fiber industry. In fact, 50% percent these jobs are in business and management. For example, food processors such as Campbells Soup or Tyson Food need people to manage their production facilities, marketing campaigns, and finances. Twelve percent of the jobs are in agricultural education, communication or government agencies that regulation and support the food and fiber industries. As agriculture becomes more global, there are good jobs available for students with an interest in international finance and policy and also for those who can speak a foreign language. The remaining 27 percent of these agricultural jobs are in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). These jobs require strong scientific, quantitative, and technical training and employers are also looking for familiarity with agricultural and food systems. For example, a large meat or poultry processing company will likely prefer a geneticist who is an animal or poultry science major with genetics training. A food processing company looking for a food safety specialist will choose a food science major over a microbiologist with no specific training in food safety. You get the idea; many of these jobs are ones that non-agriculture majors can fill, but agriculture majors already know the background setting and the technical jargon for the industries which are hiring. Plus, these jobs pay well. According to Payscale.com, operations managers within the field of agriculture earn an average of $60,600 per year, agronomists average $45,500, and IT managers in food and agricultural businesses earn an average of $78,500 per year. Across all jobs in what Payscale defines as agriculture, the starting salary averages $47,300 per year with a $5,000 annual bonus. As an added bonus, agriculture colleges are located in state land-grant universities. That means much lower tuition than at private colleges, particularly if you attend one of the state colleges in your own state and pay in-state tuition. Thus, students can earn their degree in an agricultural field and graduate with little to no student loan debt (certainly less than if they attend a private college which typically cost $20,000 to $40,000). So for college students, soon-to-be college students, and parents hoping for a good return on their investment in tuition, think agriculture. People will always eat, so jobs in producing, processing, transporting, and selling food will never go away. For good-paying, rewarding, and secure employment, college students would be well-served to find a major in food and agriculture. United States Condemns Terrorist Attack in Istanbul, Turkey Washington, DC - The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack today in Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul, Turkey. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those killed, and wish a quick and full recovery to those injured. The United States reaffirms our strong commitment to work with Turkey, a NATO Ally and valued member of the Counter-ISIL Coalition, to combat the shared threat of terrorism. We reaffirm our support for these negotiations and for Djiboutis commitment to strengthening inclusive governance and development. Ambassador Sung Kim, Special Representative for North Korea Policy Travel to Seoul Washington, DC - Special Representative for North Korea Policy Ambassador Sung Kim will travel to the Republic of Korea January 13 for meetings with senior ROK and Japanese officials on North Korea policy. While in Seoul, Ambassador Kim will participate in a trilateral meeting with ROK Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Hwang Joon-kook and Japanese Director General for Asian and Oceanian Affairs Kimihiro Ishikane to continue our close trilateral coordination on North Korea policy and the international communitys response to North Koreas nuclear test. The Association of University Departments of General Practice in Ireland (AUDGPI) 19th Annual Scientific Meeting will be held in partnership with the ICGP this year the first time the two bodies have jointly hosted the event at the Colleges upcoming Research Meeting. Under the theme Enhancing General Practice to Enhance Patient Care, the meeting will be held in the FitzGerald Debating Chamber at UCD on March 10 and 11. Keynote speakers at the Joint AUDGPI Annual Scientific Meeting/ ICGP Annual Research Meeting 2016 will include the first Chief Executive of the HSE and current Professor of Paediatrics in the UCD School of Medicine, Prof Brendan Drumm; ICGP Medical Director Dr Margaret ORiordan; and Professor of Primary Healthcare Research at UL Medical School, Prof Anne MacFarlane. The meeting is designed as a forum to present research and audit projects, and particularly encourages abstracts from GP trainees and (undergraduate/postgraduate research) students, and submissions outlining work in progress are welcomed from these groups. The closing date for submissions is at midnight this Friday, January 15. For details email audgpi2016@ucd.ie or telephone 01-716 6696. The ICGPs seventh annual Fiona Bradley Award, which is presented to an individual or groups from diverse professional backgrounds who have made a sustained difference in healthcare either in Ireland or internationally, will also be presented at the meeting. The closing date for nominations for the medal has already closed. lloyd.mudiwa@imt.ie Watch: Viral Video Of Glass Octopus Leaves Internet In Wonder Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On a late autumn afternoon in 2012, I boarded a freighter, the MV Longstone, at the Humber port of Killingholme to experience crossing the sea that had been preoccupying me for so long. At around midnight, the Longstone pulled away from the quayside and began its slow canter to Gothenburg in the invisible wake of so many ships over the course of a millennium or two of history availing me of the opportunity to reflect on the dramas played out on the North Sea and the role it had played in the story of Europe I was to sleep in a spare but large and comfortable cabin on the other side of the corridor to the (steaming, odorous) galley. Scattered in the mess were relics of those who had travelled before me well-thumbed back copies of Truckstop News and other reading matter. Patrick, the first mate, apologised for the lack of travelling companions. At weekends, he said, the ship was full to the gunwales with Irish truckers taking sides of beef to Sweden. I assured him that my own company would suffice. In the morning, from the bridge, I watched the freighter's great hull beating down on spry but pliant waves and the horizon and the dipping gulls. Patrick told me that this would be a good crossing. He had spent most of the past year on the Falklands run, three weeks each way, arriving in Port Stanley feeling numb and listless. This trip was like a bus journey, a mere four-day round-trip from the river mouth to Gothenburg, a thousand miles distant on the coast of the Skagerrak (it's pronounced "Skayraak", like the rasping of a crow). In earlier centuries, the ships on this route, so much smaller and more fragile, made the same journey laden with bolts of wool and bundles of petticoats, returning with warm pelts from the deep North, ancient amber and timber. We were taking car parts and cat food to Sweden, and the boat would return with Volvos and Christmas trees. Culture news in pictures Show all 33 1 /33 Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures 30 September 2016 An employee hangs works of art with "Grand Teatro" by Marino Marini (R) and bronze sculpture "Sfera N.3" by Arnaldo Pomodoro seen ahead of a Contemporary Art auction on 7 October, at Sotheby's in London REUTERS Culture news in pictures 29 September 2016 Street art by Portuguese artist Odeith is seen in Dresden, during an exhibition "Magic City - art of the streets" AFP/Getty Images Culture news in pictures 28 September 2016 Dancers attend a photocall for the new "THE ONE Grand Show" at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany REUTERS Culture news in pictures 28 September 2016 With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran REUTERS Culture news in pictures 27 September 2016 A gallery assistant poses amongst work by Anthea Hamilton from her nominated show "Lichen! Libido!(London!) Chastity!" at a preview of the Turner Prize in London REUTERS Culture news in pictures 27 September 2016 A technician wearing virtual reality glasses checks his installation in three British public telephone booths, set up outside the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The installation allows visitors a 3-D look into the museum which has twenty-two paintings belonging to the British Royal Collection, on loan for an exhibit from 29 September 2016 till 8 January 2017 AP Culture news in pictures 26 September 2016 An Indian artist dressed as Hindu god Shiva performs on a chariot as he participates in a religious procession 'Ravan ki Barat' held to mark the forthcoming Dussehra festival in Allahabad AFP/Getty Images Culture news in pictures 26 September 2016 Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Air Power', 1984, is displayed at the Bowie/Collector media preview at Sotheby's in New York AFP/Getty Culture news in pictures 25 September 2016 A woman looks at an untitled painting by Albert Oehlen during the opening of an exhibition of works by German artists Georg Baselitz and Albert Oehlen in Reutlingen, Germany. The exhibition runs at the Kunstverein (art society) Reutlingen until 15 January 2017 EPA Culture news in pictures 24 September 2016 Fan BingBing (C) attends the closing ceremony of the 64th San Sebastian Film Festival at Kursaal in San Sebastian, Spain Getty Images Culture news in pictures 23 September 2016 A view of the artwork 'You Are Metamorphosing' (1964) as part of the exhibition 'Retrospektive' of Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition runs from 25 September 2016 to 1 January 2017 EPA Culture news in pictures 22 September 2016 Jo Applin from the Courtauld Institute of Art looks at Green Tilework in Live Flesh by Adriana Vareja, which features in a new exhibition, Flesh, at York Art Gallery. The new exhibition features works by Degas, Chardin, Francis Bacon and Sarah Lucas, showing how flesh has been portrayed by artists over the last 600 years PA Culture news in pictures 21 September 2016 Performers Sean Atkins and Sally Miller standing in for the characters played by Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell during a photocall for Tim Burton's "Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children" at Potters Field Park in London Getty Images Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A detail from the blanket 'Alpine Cattle Drive' from 1926 by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is displayed at the 'Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Arts' in Berlin. The exhibition named 'Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Hieroglyphen' showing the complete collection of Berlin's Nationalgallerie works of the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and will run from 23 September 2016 until 26 February 2017 AP Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A man looks at portrait photos by US photographer Bruce Gilden in the exhibition 'Masters of Photography' at the photokina in Cologne, Germany. The trade fair on photography, photokina, schowcases some 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and runs from 20 to 25 September. The event also features various photo exhibitions EPA Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A woman looks at 'Blue Poles', 1952 by Jackson Pollock during a photocall at the Royal Academy of Arts, London PA Culture news in pictures 19 September 2016 Art installation The Refusal of Time, a collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, which features as part of the William Kentridge exhibition Thick Time, showing from 21 September to 15 January at the Whitechapel Gallery in London PA Culture news in pictures 18 September 2016 Artists creating one off designs at the Mm6 Maison Margiela presentation during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer collections 2017 in London Getty Images Culture news in pictures 18 September 2016 Bethenny Frankel attends the special screening of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" to celebrate the 25th Anniversary Edition release on Blu-Ray and DVD in New York City Getty Images for Walt Disney Stu Culture news in pictures 17 September 2016 Visitors attend the 2016 Oktoberfest beer festival at Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany Getty Images Culture news in pictures 16 September 2016 Visitors looks at British artist Damien Hirst work of art 'The Incomplete Truth', during the 13th Yalta Annual Meeting entitled 'The World, Europe and Ukraine: storms of changes', organised by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the Mystetsky Arsenal Art Center in Kiev AP Culture news in pictures 16 September 2016 Tracey Emin's "My Bed" is exhibited at the Tate Liverpool as part of the exhibition Tracey Emin And William Blake In Focus, which highlights surprising links between the two artists Getty Images Culture news in pictures 15 September 2016 Musician Dave Grohl (L) joins musician Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage onstage at the Forum in Inglewood, California Getty Images Culture news in pictures 14 September 2016 Model feebee poses as part of art installation "Narcissism : Dazzle room" made by artist Shigeki Matsuyama at rooms33 fashion and design exhibition in Tokyo. Matsuyama's installation features a strong contrast of black and white, which he learned from dazzle camouflage used mainly in World War I AP Culture news in pictures 13 September 2016 Visitors look at artworks by Chinese painter Cui Ruzhuo during the exhibition 'Glossiness of Uncarved Jade' held at the exhibition hall 'Manezh' in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 200 paintings by the Chinese artist are presented until 25 September EPA Culture news in pictures 12 September 2016 A visitor looks at Raphael's painting 'Extase de Sainte Cecile', 1515, from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during the opening of a Raphael exhibition at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. The first Russian exhibition of the works of the Italian Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino includes eight paintings and three drawings which come from Italy. Th exhibit opens to the public from 13 September to 11 December EPA Culture news in pictures 11 September 2016 Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd perform during Otis Redding 75th Birthday Celebration - Rehearsals at the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Georgia Getty Images for Otis Redding 75 Culture news in pictures 10 September 2016 Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers at the Last Night of the Proms 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall in London PA Culture news in pictures 9 September 2016 A visitor walks past a piece entitled "Fruitcake" by Joana Vasconcelo, during the Beyond Limits selling exhibition at Chatsworth House near Bakewell REUTERS Culture news in pictures 8 September 2016 A sculpture of a crescent standing on the 2,140 meters high mountain 'Freiheit' (German for 'freedom'), in the Alpstein region of the Appenzell alps, eastern Switzerland. The sculpture is lighted during the nights by means of solar panels. The 38-year-old Swiss artist and atheist Christian Meier set the crescent on the peak to start a debate on the meaning of religious symbols - as summit crosses - on mountains. 'Because so many peaks have crosses on them, it struck me as a great idea to put up an equally absurd contrast'. 'Naturally I wanted to provoke in a fun way. But it goes beyond that. The actions of an artist should be food for thought, both visually and in content' EPA Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures In a day, we would come close to the necklace of the Frisian Islands Sylt, Amrum, Terschelling, Schiermonnikoog and head north towards Heligoland and the Halligen half-islands, on the way passing a forest of oil rigs, slick pools of what once were ancient trees, the flared gas like distant match flames. Only a generation old, these are among the North Sea's newest accretions. But other features of the scar-impervious sea hold their course through all of its moods. Joseph Conrad had noted the North Sea's "grey-green smudginess" and its "angry grin", a gloomy sky above. The Phoenicians and Romans, he pondered, "had experienced days like this, so different in the wintry quality of the light from anything they had ever known in their native Mediterranean". At noon, a call to the bridge scratched through an intercom from the galley. "Tell the passenger his lunch is ready," was the message from the cook, grey-skinned with a scalp as smooth as an eel's. At the galley door, he handed me a glistening hubcap of an omelette and urged me in the direction of the lonely mess room, where I ate a morsel, bolting it down with a nugget from the letters page of the Meat Trades Journal. At sea, every vessel within eyeshot becomes worthy of remark, as one might discuss the features of passing strangers on a lonely country walk. First, a handful of trawlers, then an improbably top-heavy container ship, and next another roll-on, roll-off vessel or "ro-ro", a direct competitor of ours, heading back from Gothenburg. Our mate knew its mate, and he regaled me with an impenetrable tale of commercial rivalries, undercutting shipping companies and not-to-be-trusted employment agencies, lest I should be duped into thinking that the transport industry was as simple as transferring goods from place to place. It was easy to be lulled into forgetting why I found myself aboard the Longstone, mesmerised by her slow roll, the passing of hours, the cups of tea. But the endless, churning mass of water was the very reason. I had set out to write a book about this sea and its world, too often snubbed by writers, derided for its moody lugubriousness, its inclination towards inclemency and damp, chilly sands. But both the sea and shores it beats upon possess their own allure. 'The sea deftly erases clues to its own history' (Getty Images) True, the sea so deftly erases clues to its own history. Already, many of the coastal defences built during the last world war have crumbled into oblivion. Relics from previous centuries and millennia are more elusive still. Early inhabitants of the North Sea basin, the Chauci and the Frisians, constructed terpen earth mounds that rose above the floodplain upon which they built their homes, granaries, livestock stores and places for growing crops. Such structures yielded to the temper fits and ill-humoured sorties of the waves, which seldom left lasting damage. The move to build dykes pushing back the chaos of the sea coincided with the spread of Christianity. Surely, archaeologists have suggested, there is some parallel between the reclamation of the land and the saving of the pagan soul? It took classical minds born of warmer waters to name the sea and its parts and preserve their observations for posterity. The tides were a perennial puzzle. In 325BC, a Greek, Pytheas of Marseille, described their rising and falling as "the lungs of the sea" when he encountered them off the coast of Holland. Pliny the Elder, on being told of the twice-daily transformation of the mudflats of the Frisian Islands, was uncertain as to whether they should be regarded as belonging to land or sea, challenging the long-held axiom that the one is not the other. Pliny called the sea adjacent to Britain the Oceanus Britannicus, and that adjoining the German coast the Mare Germanicum. Both were tricky places for the Romans. Partly on account of those treacherous tides, but also because they were not the masters of these waters. It was the Frisians and other tribes that possessed the upper hand, and the Pax Romana applied less readily out of reach of land. In AD69, Roman vessels fought a pitched naval battle with a cohort of mutinous Germans who had had the audacity to steal 24 of Caesar's finest galleys. A century on and the Picts were the most assiduous of the piratical tribes. Later, it was the Franks and the Saxons. The last straw was a maritime assault on Roman Britain and northern Gaul in AD367. Described as a barbarica conspiratio, this was a hellish combination of Picts, Scots, Saxons, Franks and even the Attacotti, an elusive tribe of native British barbarians, possibly cannibals. Hundreds of years after the Romans had decamped came the Norsemen, sacking the monastery at Lindisfarne and sending history text books a-tremble for 1000 years. Perhaps because the tonsured, peaceable monks would ultimately write those text books, their former tormentors have been sidelined within the European narrative, dismissed as part of its misspent youth. Proper, respectable, history begins with the payment of taxes and tithes and the consolidation of the power of the Church transforming the North Sea as a political space and pushing the Scandinavian kings and warlords to the fringes of a Europe whose centre of gravity now lay further to the south. Trade flourished as burgeoning cities inland demanded more in the way of goods from overseas. Naval architecture responded in kind. In middle age, the once sharp-prowed longboat, so well suited to slipping (viciously, inquisitively, lustfully) in and out of estuaries, lost its sleekness. Its successor the fat, capacious cog was sluggish and portly in contrast with the svelte beauty it replaced, but suited the purposes of a general trading ship, with sufficient bulk to carry cargoes of grain, timber, wool and leather Boat design reflected the topography of the coast, the needs of trade and the perils of the time, whether tides or pirates. And over time, taller, straighter dykes and sea walls and ever more efficient means of bleeding the land of the polluting sea sapped away the ambiguity of the shoreline. The very identity of the sea altered. Once a proving ground for warriors, it acquired a new role as a hinterland, serving the interests of elites whose greater concern was the possession of estates and castles than mastery of the waves. Soon the sea would fall into the purview of scientists and navigators, their new mathematical arts enhancing and supplanting the ancient art of reckoning by observation of clouds, creatures, currents and celestial bodies. No less illuminating than the stars above were the mud and shingle below. Many sailors forsook the astrolabe and compass, which were fiddly, expensive and prone to error, but no ship would leave port without a lead and line, a hollow lead bell filled with tallow at the end of a long rope. By lowering the bell to the bottom of the sea and retrieving it, a captain knew both the depth of the water beneath him and the constitution of the seabed. Given the ephemeral appearance of the surface, these gave a more reliable indication of location than any other available clues. A convoy of allied ships sailing in the North Sea in 1943 (Getty Images) By the late 17th century, the navigator Captain John Hammond was able to give the "Directions To Be Observed Going and Coming From Norway" in around a dozen blunt but comprehensive sentences, half of one of which follows: On ye North edge of Well Bank, if you have 28 fathoms of water, stony ground, without you be Easterly, the SW part ye same and 12 and 13 fathom, but on ye middle of this bank, 17 or 18 or more depth, sometimes fine sand and other times coarse and black specks, ye soundings on this Bank being Variable but Steering East you deepen your water and sometimes meet with coarse ground and 27 and 28 fathoms water and then less before you fall off your east side between the Well Bank and white water, where you'll find at 24 and 25 fathoms nothing on the lead If the bearings are approximate, the descriptions of the sea's bottom are almost tender in their precision. Of Swart Bank, he notes: "The middle is like oatmeal." Other features are to be identified by their "fine, yellowish-coloured sand", "fine, light-coloured sand", "muddy foundings", "darkish rock" or "whitish sort of foundings mixed with yellow particles". Intricate as this knowledge of seabed's anatomy may have been, it provided little defence against human dangers such as were presented by pirates and, in the 16th-century, Watergeuzen or "sea beggars". These Dutch, aristocratic adventurers were rallied by William of Orange to the cause of independence from the Habsburgs, and were rumoured to visit terrible things upon anyone they chanced upon possessing anything of value. The collapse of the Habsburgs' power in the Netherlands opened the door to a Golden Age that placed Amsterdam at the heart of north European culture. Bankrolling the gilded glory was a silvery but modestly sized fish and that the Dutch still possess a culinary affection for the herring (which the English can scarcely stomach) is an acknowledgement perhaps of everything the nation owes it. The waves sparkled brighter still beneath the enlightened gaze of the 18th century, the sea acquiring a new, more abstract identity and a role as a source of pleasure and health in essence, more than a mere resource, a conduit for trade or theatre of war, but as a thing in itself. Around the same time, Europe was drawn to new markets and the promise of greater riches in the Indies, East and West, in North America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The North Sea remained at the hub, but of ever-spreading, concentric circles of wealth, power and possibility. Now the use of larger ships with deeper draughts relegated coastal towns with shallow harbours and channels to second-class trading posts or made them entirely redundant. Meanwhile, improved roads and canal networks spread like a mesh of capillaries throughout Europe, undermining the importance of the old sea routes. Communities that had relied on cultural and economic ties with their equivalents across the North Sea or along the coast began to look inland for markets. Smaller settlements dependent on trade, or on artisanal fishing from open boats or nets worked from the shore, could no longer compete with the bigger fishing towns with their large trawler basins and deep-water docks equipped for transporting by the railways which brought also a new breed of seasonal migrant, the tourists with their bathing machines, dance cards and donkey riding, the descendants of whom continue to return in droves each summer. Shades of light and dark, war and peace have dappled the North Sea ever since, inspiring thriller-writers, painters, poets, architects and visionaries of other kinds. Even in the face of cheap flights to "sunny Spain" and Phuket, we continue to chance a North Sea holiday. Freighters ply many of the same routes as the fluyts and cogs of centuries past. Fish, despite the gloomy auguries of scientists and conservationists, still spawn and shoal and are caught and grace our tables. True, the North Sea can be a lonely place. Just as the Mediterranean is garrulous, busy and bright even where its shores are empty, its North Sea counterparts tend towards the sombre, the still and the stern, even where trampled by happy summer crowds. For all that, I reasoned in conceiving my book, it scarcely deserves our indifference. Other seas may be more photogenic, more televisual, their ports and harbours exotic and sensual, but was it fair to permit the North Sea to become unfamiliar through being overfamiliar? What did I know previously of the courtship rituals of the island of Fohr, the tragedies inflicted upon Heligoland, the mysterious language of Norn, the genius of the Ostend painters, the trials and tribulations of the German Warft [artificial mound] dwellers, who each year confront the power of the Sturmflut [storm surge], or the boozy pleasures waiting behind the portals of the Nordern Lights Pub? Indeed, what had I experienced hitherto of the magic of a winter's evening in the marshes of the estuary of the Thames, from where I set out, by bus, boat, bicycle and train to explore the sea that lay beyond? And what epicurean delights would I have never known, had it not been for an omelette chewed to the beat of the pitch and yaw of a Swedish-bound freighter, as it skirted the Dogger Bank? This is an edited extract from 'The Naked Shore: Of the North Sea' by Tom Blass (20, Bloomsbury), out now Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The 40-Year-Old Virgin nearly didn't happen. And it's for the most bizarre reason. Appearing on Conan, Steve Carell revealed production was briefly shut down by Universal after only a week's filming. Perplexed, Carell and director Judd Apatow were brought into a meeting, only to be told; "'We've been watching footage' - we'd only been shooting for five days - 'We've been watching footage and you look like a serial killer. You, Steve Carell, look like a serial killer.'" The studio seemed convinced the film was, "not a comedy". Though, at that point, "we hadn't shot any dialogue. It was me, riding my bike with my weird helmet. And it was me, walking down the street and seeing suggestive posters and going 'eurgh'." That said, considering this is the face he describes himself making during said scenes, you can sort of see where Universal were coming from. On the other hand, it is incredible to think Universal had nearly shuttered what turned out to be such a huge boost to Carell's profile; going from Brick Tamland to leading man. "I was so bummed out," he reflected. "That's it. That was the big shot, and it wasn't going to work out." Thankfully, we all know the story ends happily; production recommenced only a few days later. Carell was in attendance to promote The Big Short, a film in which he reteams with Anchorman-director Adam McKay to convincingly play a non-serial killer, hedge fund manager intertwined in the build-up to the housing crisis. The Big Short is released in UK theatres 22 January. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} To kick off the first Now Hear This column of 2016 I've put together a double bill featuring two very different artists, along with premieres for their new material. First up is the sextet Parlour Tricks, who received the honour of 2015's Best Pop Band in the Village Voice thanks to beautiful harmonies and great rhythm. Their debut album Broken Hearts/Bones is perfect for the radio in summer; think Marina and the Diamond's bold, ironic lyrics melded with cutesy pop beats and a belter of a chorus. Listen if you like: Sylvan Esso, The Naked And Famous, Temples Listen to the UK premiere of their catchy new track "Storm" below: Q&A with Parlour Tricks What have you all been listening to recently? Temples, Neon Indian, BOY, Hop Along, Cousin Stizz. What was it like recording with Emery Dobyns in Nashville? Serendipitous. We had been hungry for guidance and focus right at the time when he was introduced to us. The connection was instantaneous; almost weirdly so. We took our time experimenting together, and we learned a lot. And it's pretty hard not to fall in love with Nashville, so traveling there frequently wasn't exactly a chore... Lily Cato, youve said previously you write a story for a song in the same way as a novel have you been reading anything recently thats inspired your lyrics? "Walk In The Park" (on the album) is inspired by The Goldfinch by Donna Tart, which slayed me. When it ended I missed it, actually missed it, like you miss a friend who moves away. More recently I've been reading a lot of non-fiction and criminal case studies, which I have a feeling will heavily influence our next album. Do you think the media/audiences attitudes towards pop as a genre have changed at all, for better or worse? For better, overall. We have mixed feelings about pop music too, because like any genre there's the good stuff, the questionable stuff, and the inevitable bad stuff. But I think it's very telling at this juncture that the definition of pop is blurry - so many different kinds of music are identified as pop, perhaps because it's easier than stringing together a list of different genres and identifiers. We call this album pop because it's the broadest umbrella to settle ourselves under. But we know the music we make actually embodies a lot of genres in one. We have to remember that pop just comes from popular. At the end of the day, all the media and the audiences want are songs they can sing along to. Tale as old as time. What are you excited about for 2016? 2016 is gonna be fun and full. A North American tour with Electric Six in March has us very excited indeed. We've begun writing and arranging for our second album. Lots of good things percolating. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up What was the first gig you played and whats been the best so far? The first was a Sunday night at 7PM in the upstairs room of a venue on the Lower East Side. Morgane and DeeDee hadn't joined the band yet, it was just four of us and only one or two original songs. And only one or two audience members. I think we played some jazz standards? I just shuddered thinking about it. The best is hard to pinpoint. 2015 had a lot of crazy moments. Opening Bonnaroo was surreal. Playing in London for the first time was awesome and nerve-wracking. My favorite I think was playing in Toronto a few months ago, for the second time ever, and hearing people in the audience sing along, dancing, knowing all the words... that feeling. You remember: oh yeah, this is why we do what we do. Parlour Tricks are on tour in the US with Electric Six from 4 March 2016 Now Hear This: Channel D Next up is Channel D who unveiled his new project just before Christmas ahead of his forthcoming album Unravelling. "Derelict" features a pleasingly low-slung bass and his bleak, emotionally intellectual vocals. Listen if you like: Eels, Sparklehorse Watch the premiere for his new video below: Q&A with Channel D What have you been listening to recently? Kurt Vile, Jib Kidder (Teaspoon), Destroyer(Poison Season), Stornoway (Bonxie), Frazey Ford, and a great cd called Next Stop Soweto, first Mariachi el Bronx album Who are your main influences? Warren Zevon, Lambchop, Eels,The Go Betweens,early Van Morrison What are you most looking forward to in 2016? The sun, if it is still there, writing and singing with my son whos a great musician Derelict is released on 11th March 2016 Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The half-brother of convict Brendan Dassey from true crime documentary Making a Murderer has released a Christian rap song insisting that both his half-sibling and Steven Avery are innocent. Netflix series Making a Murderer was filmed over the course of a decade and follows the trial and conviction of the two Wisconsin men, both of whom are serving life sentences for the murder of local photographer Teresa Halbach. The show has sparked widespread controversy over claimed injustices, with a petition asking The White House to pardon Avery and Dassey racking up more than 400,000 signatures. In an effort to help free the pair, Brad Dassey has shared three-minute track They Didnt Do It on SoundCloud, protesting that it was not a fair trial, not a fair game. Come to your senses, everything is just foolish/Things clearly showed it was just a joke/Cops were only there to prod and poke, Dassey raps, referencing how the prosecution allegedly didnt stick to the facts and the case has got the whole world talking. Making A Murderer- Where are they now? It reportedly took Dassey more than ten hours straight to write the song. You can read about whats next for the convicted men and their cases here. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Anonymous has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack against Japanese car manufacturer Nissan in protest at Japan's whale hunting in the Antarctic - despite the company having no connection to whaling. The leaderless 'hacktivist' group targeted Nissan's global and Japanese websites in separate distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which ended up with the sites being taken down. At the time of writing, both websites were still disabled. The cyberattack only affected Nissan's customer-facing online presence - the private information of users and the company itself is not at risk. Recommended Read more Anonymous launch retaliatory cyberattack against Thai police The cyberattack is the latest in an operation dubbed #OpWhales, which began in December following Japan's announcement that they would resume hunting whales in the Antarctic, after a year long-hiatus that was caused by an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Japan stop the hunts. In April 2014, the ICJ ruled that Japan revoke all whaling licenses and not issue any more - however, in December, it was decided that hunts should begin again in 2016. Japanese whalers are currently allowed to kill up to 333 whales a year for the next 12 years. Protesting the decision, members of Anonymous attacked Japan's internet, and on 20 December took down 97 websites for various news organisations, airports, whaling groups, and governmental bodies, including the website of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. However, it is not clear what link Nissan has to whaling. In a statement to Bloomberg, Nissan spokesman Dion Corbett stressed that the company has no stance towards or connection with whale hunting, and said Nissan took their websites offline themselves, suspending service to prevent further risks from the DDoS attack. In a December video explaining the anti-whaling campaign, an Anonymous member said: "We will not stand by and watch these innnocent creatures be killed." "Japan has no right to hunt these animals. We, the people, are digusted." The video ended with the masked figure telling viewers to "show no mercy until the slaughter ends." Anonymous is a totally leaderless movement, meaning anyone with an internet connection can start these 'operations' under the group's name. Recently, various groups operating under the Anonymous banner have claimed responsibility for cyberattacks against Turkey's internet infrastructure and the social media presence of terrorist group Isis. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Googles self-driving cars still need people to step in and stop them crashing. The company has disclosed that drivers had to intervene 13 times between September 2014 and November 2015 to stop the autonomous vehicles from crashing. The disclosure comes as Google looks to eventually build cars without human cars at all, and have the vehicles themselves do all the work. The 15 months of testing saw Googles cars have problems that included failures that meant the car asked its human driver to take over, and 69 times that the driver took over because they thought there was a safety problem. In 13 of those latter interventions, the car would have crashed if the driver didnt do so, Google said. But the company said that it would look to refine its software so that the cars were more safe. "We are generally driving more autonomous miles between these events, Google said in its filing. The company released the data as part of a set of vehicle disengagement reports that were filed with the California Department of Motor Vehicles by companies that are testing self-driving vehicles. Google has said in the past that such incidents are evidence that self-driving cars should be encouraged because they are usually caused by human error. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty The company has also said that allowing people to intervene with cars could make crashes more likely. But California authorities are likely to continue to require that autonomous cars have controls that are used by licensed drivers. The reports were filed by a range of companies that are currently testing their self-driving cars on Californias roads. The filings also included information that showed Tesla cars never had to be intervened with, and that Mercedes-Benz drivers had to step in 1,051 times over 1,739 miles. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The British public should share information about the countrys new spying laws to try and stop them, the founder of Wikipedia has said. People should be aware of the changes that are proposed and try and help others understand them if they wish to oppose them, Jimmy Wales told The Independent. The Wikipedia founder previously said publicly that the law is "stupid", and suggested that Apple should stop selling iPhones in the UK if the controversial bill goes ahead. The Investigatory Powers Bill forces internet companies to keep information on their users for a year, as well as giving sweeping new powers to spies. Many technology companies and other experts have opposed the bill, largely on the basis that it appears to ask them to weaken security so that they can be more easily hacked. Recommended Read more Wikipedia founder urges Apple to stop selling iPhone in UK over law Politicians may not understand the importance and meaning of the bill, said Mr Wales, who was discussing his new mobile phone venture the Peoples Operator. You think, Oh, why are you lying?, he said, but it may be that politicians simply dont know what theyre talking about. That means that sharing that information could have its own political importance, he said. Pointing to issues like Obamacare in the US, Mr Wales pointed out that much of the media presents opinions about the bill but that online sites like his own Wikipedia outlines the issues that are at stake. Giving that information to people will help people make up their mind on issues, he said. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty The political importance of sites like Wikipedia is often the reason that they appear to be censored, he claimed. We just dryly recount the facts, he said. And that can be very upsetting if a government is basing their policy on things that are not facts. Thats a source of political conflict. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The problem of gun violence in America has already resulted in the deaths of 398 people this year, a figure which has caused the country's politicians to look to the world of tech for an answer to the shooting epidemic. As part of his recent executive actions to curb gun violence, President Obama called for three federal agencies - the Department of Defence, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security - to step up research into 'smart gun' technology, with the aim of preventing the "accidental discharge or unauthorised use of firearms." Over the next few months, the White House says, these agencies will work on a strategy designed to implement the "real-world deployment" of this technology. Recommended Read more There have been more mass shootings in the US than days this year Most smart guns operate on the principle that only the owner of the firearm should be able to shoot it. Such technology could prevent gun accidents, which caused almost 2,000 injuries and deaths in the US last year, and stop stolen guns being used by criminals or unlicensed carriers. Like modern smartphones, a lot of these devices feature fingerprint scanners - using a reader on the side of the gun or even on the trigger, the technology ensures that only an authorised user can 'unlock' the firearm. One such device, the Identilock, created by Detroit-based engineer and National Rifle Association (NRA) member Omer Kiyani, takes the form of a black box that fastens on to the end of a handgun. Kiyani said he was inspired to make his device in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza murdered 20 children, all of whom were between the ages of six and seven, and six teachers at a school in Connecticut Speaking to the Washington Post about his invention, he said: "Now is the time, no one else is doing it, so I have to do it myself." "I have to do it because I felt helpless." The Identilock works by fastening on to the gun's trigger, preventing it from being pulled. When the owner places their fingertip against the scanner on the side of the device, the lock disengages and the whole Identilock drops to the floor - revealing the trigger and allowing the gun to be fired. This pistol can only be fired when being held by someone wearing an electronic smartwatch (JOERG KOCH/AFP/Getty Images) Other manufacturers have created similar devices, like the Armatix iP1, an RFID-enabled pistol that can only be fired when being held by someone wearing a digital key on their wrist. iGun Technologies, which was started by Jonathan Mossberg of the Mossberg gunmaking family, develops smart shotguns that can only be fired by someone wearing an electronic ring, which works like a contactless bank card - like the Armatix, the firing mechanism only unlocks once the ring comes close enough. These kinds of devices would be unlikely to completely stop many of the deliberate mass shootings that regularly make headlines. Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in a racially-motivated attack at a South Carolina church last year, bought the gun he used in the shootings legally, due to a fault in the background check database that did not record a previous drugs offence which would have prevented his purchase. In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings The church held its first service since a mass shooting left nine people dead during a bible study Reuters In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Parishioners embrace before services at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina Reuters In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings The sun rises behind the historic Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Church elders decided to hold the regularly scheduled Sunday school and worship service as they continue to grieve the death of nine of its members and its pastor Getty In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A bicyclist rides in front of the Emanuel AME Church before the first worship service since nine people were fatally shot during a Bible study group, in Charleston AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings People arrive for Sunday services at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The African-American church in the southern US city of Charleston where nine people were slain by a white gunman re-opened for services the same day. Dylann Roof, 21, was charged 19 June with murdering nine people during Bible study EPA In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Church member Kevin Polite, right, helps members into the church, in Charleston, S.C AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A police officer and his tracking dog pass the memorial site outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The African-American church in the southern US city of Charleston where nine people were slain by a white gunman will re-open for services the same day, local media reported EPA In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Television news crews set up temporary studios across the street from the Emanuel African Methodist Church before the Sunday service in Charleston, South Carolina. Church elders decided to hold the regularly scheduled Sunday school and worship service as they continue to grieve the death of nine of its members and its pastor Getty In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Walter Jackson, left, holds a photo of his mother Susie Jackson, one of the nine people killed in shooting at Emanuel AME Church AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings People attend a vigil at TD Arena for victims of the Charleston church shooting GETTY In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Mourners gather outside of Emauel AME church AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Hundreds rallied in support of the nine people shot dead at Emanuel African Methodist Church Getty In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Mourners pray and lay flowers during a community service for victims of the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Getty Images In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Gary and Aurelia Washington, center left and right, the son and granddaughter of Ethel Lance who died in the shooting, leave a sidewalk memorial in front of Emanuel AME Church comforted by fellow family members In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Curtis Clayton holds a sign protesting racism after the fatal shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Mourners light candles for the nine victims of the shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Cleveland County Courthouse in Shelby AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Rev Al Sharpton holds a group prayer outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where nine people were killed Getty Images In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Worshippers in Charleston, South Carolina, across the street from Emanuel AME Church, where six women and three men were shot dead AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A passing motorist looks out her window as she stops at an intersection down the street from the Emanuel AME Church In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Surreace Cox, of North Charleston, holds a sign during a prayer vigil down the street from the Emanuel AME Church In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A police officer uses a flashlight while searching the area following a shooting in Charleston In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Police talk to a man outside the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings The steeple of Emanuel AME Church is visible as police close off a section of Calhoun Street following a shooting in Charleston In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A visitor contemplates floral tributes close to the church where a white man shot dead nine black people at a Bible study class AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen, center, addresses the media while joined by Mayor Joseph Riley, right, down the street from the Emanuel AME Church, following a shooting in Charleston In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A man reacts while talking to police officer near the scene of shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings An armed police officer moves up Calhoun Street following a shooting In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings An impromptu prayer Twitter/David Goldman/AP In pictures: Charleston Church Shooting Charleston Church Shootings A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday AP Gun killers like cinema shooter James Holmes and Vester Lee Flanagan, who killed two television reporters live on air, also both bought their guns legally, despite suffering from mental illnesses, and deliberately set out to kill people. However, the guns Lanza used at Sandy Hook belonged to his mother Nancy - if these guns were fitted with smart gun technology that would have only allowed Nancy to fire them, perhaps the shooting could have been avoided. Despite the possibilities, there has been some opposition from gun owners themselves, partly due to the reliability of the technology - smartphone fingerprint scanners can be temperamental at the best of times, and gun owners who want to defend themselves worry that if their smart gun didn't unlock, it could cost them their lives. Smart gun creators have hit back, claiming that guns, as mechanical devices, do not work 100 per cent of the time. A well-made piece of smart gun technology would theoretically make a firearm no less reliable than a traditional gun. Most gun dealers and gun associations like the NRA are unopposed to the technology in principle, but only if the move towards the technology is consumer-led. The New Jersey government came under fire recently for passing a law that would legally require gun dealers to sell smart guns alongside traditional firearms, no less than three years after the technology fully comes on to the market. The law now awaits approval from Governor Chris Christie, a Republican presidential nominee, who opposes it. Speaking to the Washington Post, NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter said: "We're opposed to government mandates that require consumers to purchase particular items." Until recently, smart guns only existed in the world of Hollywood, with one appearing in 2012's Skyfall, in which James Bond is issued with a palm-reading pistol that only he can fire. However, the technology now exists, and with a full-scale federal investigation in the works, the devices may one day be saving lives in the real world. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sir Ernest Shackleton is celebrated as the polar explorer who braved three expeditions to the Antarctic and sailed 800 miles in a tiny boat to save his crew when their ship, the Endurance, was smashed to pieces by the ice. But it has now emerged that he may have had a secret that he kept hidden from the men who followed him to the end of the earth and back. New medical research suggests that the Anglo-Irish adventurer who came within 97 miles of reaching the South Pole did it all while suffering from a hole in the heart. Recommended Read more Adventurer spends Christmas Day alone in Antarctic Experts have studied diaries kept by doctors on board Shackletons ships and have deduced that he suffered from an atrial septal defect. It could explain why a man of astounding stamina sometimes collapsed on expeditions. It is thought that Shackleton may have known he had a heart condition, but kept it secret. But the doctors who have made the discovery insist it only adds to the wonder of Shackletons courage and in no way tarnishes the legend. In our health-and-safety- conscious world, Shackleton would never have been allowed to travel, said Dr Ian Calder, a retired anaesthetist who carried out the research with Dr Jan Till, a consultant cardiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. Shackletons ship, the ill-fated Endurance Some people may feel that Sir Ernest was irresponsible in undertaking the leadership of Antarctic expeditions if he suspected a problem, but we cannot judge him by modern standards. Nothing was going to stop Shackleton. He was a brave man and a great leader, who kept his men together when they needed him most after the Endurance sank. It is astonishing to think that he did it all with a congenital heart condition. Expedition documents show that Shackleton suffered a physical breakdown during his first Antarctic expedition on the Discovery in 1903, when he was unable to pull a sledge due to a weakness attributed to a sort of asthma. In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631404.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631409.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631397.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631398.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631408.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631396.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631401.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631405.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631402.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631403.bin Getty Images In pictures: Sir Ernest Shackleton 631407.bin Getty Images Concerns about his health were raised again by Dr Eric Marshall, medical officer on Shackletons second expedition to the Antarctic. He diagnosed a heart murmur. He later wrote after Shackleton returned from his failed attempt on the Pole how he collapsed after dinner, but just days later was the strongest in the party and performed a forced march of 30 miles. Dr James McIlroy, the medical officer on Shackletons third expedition on the Endurance, also described how he changed colour very badly, but refused to let the doctor listen to his heart. It was during this expedition that Shackleton and his crew spent months stranded on the ice, which led to him sailing for 16 days through rough seas to rescue them from Elephant Island without loss of life in 1916. Shackleton died of a heart attack aged just 47 in 1922, a few hours after arriving in South Georgia at the beginning of his fourth expedition. Recommended Read more Explorer Rebecca Stephens follows Shackleton on an Antarctica cruise Dr Calder and Dr Till reveal in a paper published today in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine that the evidence suggests he had an underlying cardiac abnormality. Shackleton regularly refused to see doctors and it is thought he kept his suspicions of a heart condition secret in case benefactors stopped funding his expeditions. Dr Till said: Shackleton regularly avoided doctors who may have listened to his heart, perhaps knowing they would have been able to hear there was a problem. He was a man of tremendous courage and determination. I just find him amazing. Ernest Shackletons granddaughter, Alexandra Shackleton, told The Independent: I think he did suspect he had a heart condition. He never saw a doctor. He was afraid of being told he couldnt go South. The Shackleton family motto is By Endurance We Conquer. His ship was called Endurance. They just got on with it in those days. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} New treatments for dementia could be developed within the next decade, according to a leading academic. It will be clear in the coming year whether researchers are at the beginning of a new era for medical advances into Alzheimers, University College London biologist Professor John Hardy has said. The award-winning academic told an audience at the Royal Society in London that if incoming drug trial results are positive researchers will be on target for developing therapies for 2025. Some 850,000 people currently live with dementia in the UK. The term is an umbrella term used to describe degenerative conditions which can include memory loss and difficulties with thinking and language, with Alzheimers being the most common form. The Azlheimers Society predicts that by 2025 one million people will have dementia. As the condition largely affects older people, finding treatments is vital in order to aid the ageing population. Progress into understanding what triggers Parkinsons disease has also been remarkable he added. When you are on the right road, you put your foot on the accelerator and you can go quicker, so those results are key, he said. "In the coming year we will know if we are already at the start of a new era of better treatments for slowing or stopping the development of Alzheimer's disease and allied neurodegenerative disorders, or if current research strategies should be refocused." Drugs currently being trialled aim to target the amyloid beta which gather to form plaque in the brain. Scientists believe the disturbances this causes could trigger dementia. Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty Researchers hope that drugs could manipulate antibodies to tackle the plaque, and treat early stage dementia patients. Alzheimer's Disease UK Research director Simon Ridley said: "If primary prevention improvements can be maintained at the same rate as that achieved in the past 20 years, they alone may generate savings of 5 billion or more a year by the 2030s." Additional reporting by PA For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The BBC iPlayer, Yorkshire Tea and Dyson have all made a list of the UK's ten favourite brands as measured by BrandIndex, a daily measure of brand perception among the public. But the top two spots went to brands that aren't from the UK at all. Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, which hail from Germany, were voted to the top of the rankings after a year of creative advertising, ambitious expansion and a progressive wage policy. Sarah Murphy, Director of YouGov BrandIndex UK, noted that this was the second year in a row Aldi and Lidl had taken the top spots. "Their marketing strategies have evolved over the past 12 months. "While they have always marketed themselves being value for money the emphasis now is on the quality side of that bargain and not just the cost," Murphy said. Aldi and Lidl have been eating into the profits of UK supermarkets Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco as their market share grows. Kantar data BrandIndex said that 2015 was the year Aldi and Lidl consolidated their position among UK customers. Kantar data showed that one in eight UK shoppers did their Christmas shop at Aldi or Lidl. Mike Coupe, the chief executive of Sainsbury's, said last year that he expected Aldi and Lidl to have 15 per cent of market share by 2022. Yorkshire Tea slipped into the top ten after heavy investment in TV ads and promotions, such as the special edition to mark the birth of Princess Charlotte. Yorkshire Tea is now the UK's second largest tea brand and comes seventh on the BrandIndex, below BBC iPlayer, John Lewis, Dyson and Marks and Spencer. Apple, Waitrose and MoneySavingExpert.com also made the top ten according to the ranking, which tracks a range of factors including the buzz around a band, customer satisfaction and value for money. 1. Aldi (Getty) 2. Lidl (Getty Images) 3. BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer is introducing new catch-up features (BBC) 4. John Lewis Managing director Andy Street said John Lewis had outperformed the market with its festive sales (Getty Images) 5. Dyson Sir James Dyson has become Britains best-known entrepreneurial engineer (Teri Pengilley) 6. Marks & Spencer Food revenue rose 3.6 per cent in total terms but edged 0.4 per cent lower on a like-for-like basis (Getty) 7. Yorkshire Tea Yorkshire Tea slipped into the top ten after heavy investment in TV ads and promotions 8. YouTube (Getty Images) 9. MoneySavingExpert.com Martin Lewis, of the money saving website moneysavingexpert.com 10. Apple Apple is alleged to have channelled sales revenues from Italy through Ireland, which has a lower rate of corporation tax (Reuters) 10. Waitrose For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that your boss has the right to spy on you at work. Europes top human rights court ordered the handover of transcripts of private conversations by a Romanian worker on Yahoo Messenger. In this case, the employer had warned staff in its company policy that their devices were only to be used for work. They argued: It proved that he had used the companys computer for his own private purposes during working hours. But lawyers told the Independent that your employer doesn't have to give you warning before monitoring your private correspondence. "Within the UK you can conduct monitoring without employee consent," said Paula Barrett, partner, head of privacy, at Eversheds. Recommended Read more Your boss can now officially monitor your WhatsApp Stephen Helliwell, director of SGH and Associates Limited, commercial investigators for the corporate sector, said employees have no real way of knowing whether they are being watched or not. "We would say to people not to have any of these applications on their work computer, because you never know who in the building might have access to this," Helliwell said. "The technology is so advanced now that you would never know." Given that most people have sent a private email from a work account, or slipped into private messages to talk to a colleague about something other than their job, it helps to be aware of some warning signs: 1. Check your contract According to Citizens Advice, your employer has the right to monitor you if the monitoring is about work or if the equipment has been provided by work. But they must make all reasonable efforts to inform you that your communications will be monitored. So check your company handbook. 2. Ask your IT department. Anything that you send via a work computer can be seen by IT workers at your company using remote access tools. But unless they are looking for it, its extremely unlikely that they will see it. If youre unsure, you can ask your IT department about whether they have been asked to monitor you and what they can see. 3. Assume they are. Under UK law, your boss does not need your consent to monitor your activities. Paula Barrett, partner, head of privacy at Eversheds says: People forget when they are using these systems that they are corporate systems and they probably are already being watched. Dont do anything on your work computer that you wouldnt be happy for your boss to see. 4. Be aware of fair usage. Many employers allow some degree of personal activity on their devices. Clarify how much you are allowed. In the case that just went through the courts, the individual had been told not to use his devices for personal messages and lost his job when he did. 5. Use a private device But be aware that it cant help you if you get a court order telling you to hand over your phone because of something that has happened at work. There could be scenarios where you are required to produce your private phone, but to access for your corporate account, Barrett said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jaguar Land Rover is the best employer in the UK, according to a Bloomberg survey. The luxury carmaker has been named the best place to work in the UK, followed by AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical giant, and Harrods, the department store. Statista conducted the poll of 400 firms across 25 industries for Bloomberg. Jaguar scored a top score of 8.56 on Bloombergss index of British employers - where 0 means "I wouldnt recommend my employer under any circumstances" and 10 means "I would definitely recommend my employer. "Over the past five years, we have created more than 20,000 new jobs and are investing significantly in the future of Jaguar Land Rover by recruiting and developing the people that will help ensure our continued success," Ian Harnett, Executive director of human resources and global purchasing at Jaguar Land Rover, told Bloomberg. The top three firms are headquartered in the UK. Jaguar Land Rover is based in Coventry but owned by Tata Motors, an Indian automaker. AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish company, recently made headlines by buying a 55 per cent stake in the US biotech company Acerta Pharma for $4 billion (2.7 billion). Harrods, which was founded in the UK 182 years ago, is now owned by Qatar Holdings. British firms made up 70 per cent of top 50 employers, including Jaguar, AstraZaneca and Harrods. Microsoft is the only technology firm in the top 15 of the full ranking, with Google in second place, ranked 16th. The survey was conducted between October 6 and October 26 and covered 15,000 workers in more than 1600 UK-based firms with at least 500 workers. Employees were consulted anonymously through online panels to make sure they could openly state their opinion, avoiding any influence from their employer, according to Bloomberg. Top 10 Best Employers in the UK: 1. Jaguar Landrover 2. AstraZeneca A sale sign hangs near the AstraZeneca site in Macclesfield (Reuters) 3. Harrods The famous dark green of Harrods (Getty) 4. Adidas Adidas' 'Beau Jeu', the official match ball of Euro 2016 (Adidas) 5. Dyson Sir James Dyson has become Britains best-known entrepreneurial engineer (Teri Pengilley) 6. Microsoft Microsoft will stop offering unlimited storage to Office 365 subscribers (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images) 7. Estee Lauder Purple reign: Paint your face with the season's mellow fruitfulness without the need to go foraging. Lipstick in Forbidden Apple 19.50, eye palette in Violet Underground 40, esteelauder.co.uk 8. Sky It's not yet clear how much more a Sky Q subscription will cost compared to the regular service (David Parry/PA Wire) 9. Frankie and Benny's The company owns Frankie and Bennys restaurants among other well known brands (PA) 10. Rolls-Royce Group For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} McDonalds has been accused of abusing its dominant market position in Europe by imposing restrictive contracts on franchisees. A coalition of Italian consumer organisations and trade unions, including the UKs Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, said it had a lodged a formal anti-trust complaint against the fast-food group with the European Commission. The group claimed that if McDonalds were found guilty, it could face penalties as high as 10 per cent of its global turnover. Based on 2014 sales, that would equate to $9bn (6bn). In its complaint, the coalition alleges that McDonalds is the only fast-food company that requires franchisees to lease property owned by the franchisor, and that it charges excessive rents. It said 66 per cent of the restaurant chains revenue from franchisees in Europe comes from collecting rent. Another complaint is that restrictive contract terms can result in an increased prospect of financial difficulties. The coalition has urged the EU competition enforcer to step in and look at the franchising system. The European Commission confirmed it had received the complaint and will now look into it. A McDonalds spokesman said: We are proud of our franchisees and are committed to working closely together so that they have the support they need to operate their restaurants and their businesses. He added: This approach, with the principle of sharing risk and reward, has been successful for many years and has helped create the best business opportunities for our franchisees and the best overall experience for our customers. Mic Mills at the broker Capital Index, commented: The shine may dull somewhat on the Golden Arches. Separately McDonalds is due to face protests on Wednesday in Whitehall by members of the GMB union in the campaign for a 10-an-hour living wage and an end to zero-hours contracts. A spokesman for McDonalds said every employee is given a permanent contract and all start on the national minimum wage or above. He added: We have never used exclusivity clauses [in zero-hours contracts], nor do we ask our employees to be on call. All McDonalds employees start on national minimum wage or above and all receive an annual pay and performance review which can lead to pay increases of up to 4.5 per cent. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} BP has announced it is cutting 4,000 jobs including 600 in its North Sea operations in response to the latest dramatic slump in oil prices. The oil major insists it is still committed to the North Sea, but told staff around the world of the latest cuts at a series of meetings as Brent crude touched a new 12-year low of $30.34 a barrel and US crude fell below $30. The job losses will take total staff numbers in BPs upstream oil and gas exploration division from 24,000 to below 20,000 by the end of 2017, although it is understood most of the jobs will go this year. The company has around 80,000 staff worldwide. The 600 jobs to go among BPs staff and contractors in its Aberdeen-based North Sea operations represent a fifth of its 3,000-strong workforce. Recommended Read more BP profits and spending hit by tanking oil price The latest reductions follow the lay-off of 300 BP North Sea workers almost a year ago. According to the trade body Oil & Gas UK, explorers cut more than 5,000 jobs last year in the region. BPs president for the North Sea region, Mark Thomas, said there was a long-term future for its operations there, with $2bn (1.4bn) to be invested this year that would sustain many hundreds of jobs in the North Sea business and among its supply chain. But he added: In toughening market conditions and given the challenges of operating in this maturing region, we need to take specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust We are speaking to our staff and agency contractor management and will work with those affected over the coming months. The companys move came as the rout in the oil price showed no sign of slackening. Brent crude is now at its lowest level since April 2004 as markets continue to wrestle with a combination of Chinese turmoil, a global supply glut and a rising dollar, which makes buying crude more expensive. Just 12 days into 2016, the commodity has fallen almost 20 per cent in price, hammering producers. A host of banks have cut their oil forecasts this week, with Standard Chartered the most bearish. We think prices could fall as low as $10, it said. Analysts at Jefferies said: The near-term outlook for the oil market is bleak. Opec is producing flat-out into a market that is oversupplied by over 1 million barrels a day; already decelerating demand could decay further with slowing economic activity; and OECD inventories that are already at record levels are likely to expand through at least the middle of the year. On the BP cuts, Deirdre Michie, the chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said: Companies are having to take very difficult decisions in what continues to be a challenging time, and we as an industry must be thoughtful and supportive of our colleagues who are being made redundant or facing uncertainty. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. Chinas slowing economy has weighed on oil in recent months. And while demand looks fragile, supply from key producers remains robust. Iraq, the second-biggest producer within Opec, plans to export a record of 3.63 million barrels a day from its southern oil terminals in February, according to the Reuters news agency, citing sources. However, Nigerias oil minister said a couple of Opec members had requested an emergency meeting, adding that the current market conditions supported the need to convene such a gathering. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brighton Museums and York Art Gallery were among museums which introduced charges for entry and the numbers are set to grow in 2016 as public funding cuts are forcing museums to close or pay for their tickets. British museums are forced to make difficult decisions that could impact on the quality of the service they provide, according to a report by the Museums Association. One in five of all UK museums had closed a part or branch of their museum to visitors in 2015 or would do so in the year to come, the report said. Meanwhile 8 per cent of museums have already starting charging for the entry with a further 12 per cent planning to do so 2016. Some 44 museums have closed since 2010, when the Government embarked on widespread cuts in a bid to reduce its deficit. Planning for a 52 per cent further cut in budget by 2017, meaning that total cuts since 2010 -2017 are 69 per cent. We are highly likely to lose museum buildings by 2017 and rationalise collections significantly so that storage costs are reduced, a spokesman for a local authority museum in Yorkshire said. Sharon Heal, director of the Museums Association, said she is particularly worried that local museums will be hit the hardest. Museums that serve local communities deliver real public benefit and there is a danger that whole areas of the country will have these services wiped out if the cuts continue. We are particularly concerned about the impact of the cuts to local authority funding in the English regions and the devolved nations, she said. Public funding for museums is falling in some areas more than others. Museums in Northern Ireland and the North of England (North West, North East and Yorkshire) suffered most between 2013/14 and 2014/15, reporting a 6 per cent and 5 per cent year-on-year decrease in public funding respectively. Total income has fallen for local authority museums, nationals and independent museums, which reported year-on-year decreases of 2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. Novembers spending review offered some respite for the sector by freezing the budgets of Arts Council England and national museums in England. But the vast majority of the countrys more than 2,500 museums are not covered by the promise and will have to rely on sponsorship, local authority money or their own income. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. A growing proportion of museums are going as far as selling their collection after the Northampton Borough Council sold its Sekhemla statue for 15.8 million. Admission charges and governance will continue to be widely debated next year as the sector struggles to find a sustainable way forward, the survey said. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Oxford Universitys chancellor has defended the institutions relationship with Cecil Rhodes, the 19th-century benefactor who endowed the Rhodes scholarship programme. Lord Patten, the former Conservative Party chairman, said the universitys history was not a blank page on which we can write our own version of what it should have been according to our contemporary views and prejudices. Oxford students are calling for the removal of a statue of Rhodes at Oriel College on the grounds that he was a racist and imperialist. Speaking at a ceremony to install Professor Louise Richardson as Oxfords first female vice-chancellor, the former Governor of Hong Kong added: We should not be harried into ill-considered actions actions moreover which may cast doubt on the ability of some who study here to gain a place at this university on their own merits. Professor Richardson said that one of Oxfords biggest challenges was in identifying and attracting talented scholars. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A healthy young woman died after two anaesthetists accused of her manslaughter one of whom has since left the country failed to carry out the basic task of ensuring she came round after an operation, a court has heard. Frances Cappuccini, a 30-year-old primary school teacher, underwent surgery after suffering heavy bleeding following the birth of her son by Caesarean section at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury, Kent. She never woke up from the operation. The prosecution claims neither consultant anaesthetist Errol Cornish, of Bromley, South London, nor Dr Nadeem Azeez were qualified to hold the jobs they had at the trust. Dr Cornish denies manslaughter by gross negligence. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, denies corporate manslaughter. Dr Azeez is not on trial as he has left the country, but John Price QC, prosecuting, said: Were he within this jurisdiction, however, he would now be facing exactly the same charge. Mr Price told Inner London Crown Court that Mrs Cappuccini was a healthy young woman and that her death was wholly unexpected and wholly avoidable. Consultant anaesthetist Errol Cornish denies manslaughter by gross negligence (PA) The two anaesthetists failed in the elementary task of protecting her airway in order to ensure that, as she recovered from the operation, she remained adequately ventilated [and] that sufficient air was getting into her lungs, the prosecutor said. The court heard that the tube helping Mrs Cappuccini to breathe after the operation was removed by 12.30pm on the day she died in October 2012. But, despite apparent difficulties with her breathing, there were delays in re-intubating her. Five minutes after the tube had been removed it became clear there was an issue but Dr Azeez failed to ask for help in time, Mr Price said. Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty The prosecution submit that Dr Azeez should at this stage have asked for assistance and was very seriously at fault for not doing so, he added. By 1pm, Dr Cornish had been called to help with the situation and he spent around 50 minutes in the room, the court heard. But, Mr Price said, he failed to immediately make sure Mrs Cappuccini was re-intubated, therefore contributing to the cause of her death at 4.20pm. Dr Cornish had contributed to its cause by failing to do what he himself later was to acknowledge should have been done, the prosecutor said. He should immediately have ensured that she was re-intubated and in failing to do so, the Crown allege, he too was grossly negligent. The prosecution alleged that Dr Azeez, originally from Pakistan, did not have the qualification certifying his basic level of competence in anaesthetics. And South African-born Cornish, Mr Price said, has never met the criteria for substantive appointment as a consultant anaesthetist. The hospital is also accused of failing to properly supervise Dr Azeez. The trial continues. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A couple from the Scottish Borders have been revealed as the winners of 33m after this weekends record National Lottery draw. Saturdays historic 66m rollover Lotto prize was split between two tickets that had all six winning numbers from the National Lottery draw: 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. The jackpot was the result of 14 consecutive rollovers. Camelot, which runs the National Lottery, said one of the winning tickets had been checked and verified and belonged to a husband and wife from the Scottish Borders. The couple, who have not been named, plan on making an announcement in Edinburgh on Wednesday where they will celebrate the outcome. Camelot has revealed the couple plan on taking early retirement after receiving the life-changing cheque. A Lotto statement said: A couple from the Scottish Borders are celebrating today after winning one half of last weekends incredible 66m Lotto jackpot. The husband-and-wife team are celebrating with a life-changing cheque for 33,035,323. The couple plan to enjoy their winnings and take early retirement. The holder of the second winning ticket has yet to come forward and people have been urged to check their tickets. Cambridgeshire couple win 101m lottery prize Show all 1 1 /1 Cambridgeshire couple win 101m lottery prize Cambridgeshire couple win 101m lottery prize 656411.bin PA A Lotto spokesperson said: Someone out there still doesnt realise they have won. The second winner has until 7 July to claim their prize, as winners have 180 days after the draw date to claim the money. Additional reporting by PA Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A British woman who was raped has documented the aftermath of her attack in an effort to encourage others who have experienced sexual violence to report it. The victim describes her expereince in a detailed blog posted on online community imgur. She does not go into detail about the rape itself, but recounts the process afterwards - including some graphic details of health tests and the severe questioning she faced during the attacker's trial. The woman, who is not identified but uses the user name tinkerbug', writes: Im a girl in the UK who got raped and I just wanted to share my story in case anyone is considering reporting something that happened to them. I dont care if youre a guy, girl, cis, gay, straight or anything, please consider reporting rape and sexual assault." Johanna Robinson, national development manager at The Survivors Trust a charity providing support and advice to victims of sexual violence - said the womans blog was very realistic. The least standard part of the womans story, sadly, was that he was convicted," she said. Of all rape and sexual assault cases, only around 5.7 per cent of cases that manage to get to court end up in a conviction, according to HMICs latest rape statistics for across the country. Sexual violence at its worst level The charity said media attention was helping to encourage victims to report sexual assaults. The charity noted that since 2012, reports of sexual assaults had risen 87 per cent. It is important people are able to find this type of information on the internet," Ms Robinson added. "For the person writing it, it can be cathartic and help them move on, which is also important. For some people the womans blog may be too detailed, but its a persons choice whether to read it or not." Ms Robinson said some victims may not ring 999, which is appropriate for rape and sexual assaults as it considered one of the most serious offences. She said this was because some people want to minimise the experience and instead ring 101, as accepting the seriousness of what has happened to them is as big deal". Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Show all 19 1 /19 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Afghanistan Recommendation: I urge the Government of Afghanistan to adopt legislative reforms to ensure that sexual violence offences are not conflated with adultery or morality crimes and to establish infrastructure for the delivery of protection, health and le gal services to survivors. I call on the Ministry of the Interior to accelerate efforts to integrate women into the Afghan National Police, thereby enhancing its outreach and its capacity to address sexual and gender-based violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Central African Republic Recommendation: I urge the authorities of the Central African Republic to ensure that efforts to restore security and the rule of law take into account the prevention of sexual violence and that monitoring of the ceasefire and peace agreement explicitly reflects this consideration, in line with the joint communique of the Government and the United Nations on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence signed in December 2012. I further encourage the authorities to make the rapid response unit to combat sexual violence operational and to establish a special criminal court Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Colombia Recommendation: I commend the Government of Colombia for the progress made to date and its collaboration with the United Nations, including through the visit of my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict in March 2015. I encourage the authorities to implement Law 1719 and continue to prosecute cases of sexual violence committed during the conflict to ensure that survivors receive justice and receive reparations. Conflict-related sexual violence should continue to be addressed in the Havana peace talks, as well as in the resulting accords and transitional justice mechanisms. Particular attention should be paid to groups that face additional barriers to justice such as ethnic minorities, women in rural areas, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals and women abused within the ranks of armed groups. I encourage the Government to scale up its protection measures and share its good practices with other conflict-affected countries Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Congo Recommendation: I urge the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure full implementation of the armed forces action plan against sexual violence, to systematically bring perpetrators to justice and to deliver reparations to victims, including payment of outstanding compensation awards. I call on donors and the United Nations system to support the Government in its efforts and to pay increased attention to neglected areas, including unregulated mining regions Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Iraq Recommendation: I commend the Government of Iraq for its national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and urge its swift implementation, including by training its security forces to ensur e respect for womens rights. Programmes to support the social reintegration of women and girls released from captivity by ISIL are urgently needed, as is community-based medical and psychological care. The capacity of the United Nations system should be enhanced through the deployment of Womens Protection Advisers or equivalent specialists Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Libya Recommendation: I urge the national authorities in Libya to implement Decree No. 119 and Resolution 904 of 2014 to ensure redress for all victims, including those affected by the current conflict, through the establishment of multisectoral services and the adoption of legislation to categorically prohibit sexual violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Mali Recommendation: I urge the Government of Mali, with support from United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, to develop a comprehensive national strategy to combat sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers so that services can reach remote areas. I further call on all parties to ensure that conflict-related sexual violence is addressed in the inter-Malian dialogue and that perpetrators of sexual violence do not benefit from amnesty or early release Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Myanmar Recommendation: I urge the Government of Myanmar to continue with its reform agenda and, in the process, take practical and timely actions to protect and support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and to ensure that security personnel accused of such crimes are prosecuted. Sexual violence should be an element in all ceasefire and peace negotiations, excluded from the scope of amnesty provisions and addressed in transitional justice processes. It is critical that women be able to participate consistently in and influence these processes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Somalia Recommendation: I reiterate my call to the Federal Government of Somalia to implement the commitments made under the joint communique of 7 May 2013 and its national action plan to combat sexual violence in conflict, including specific plans for the army and the police. I encourage the adoption of a sexual offences bill as a matter of priority Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life South Sudan Recommendation: I urge the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to adopt action plans to implement the commitments made under their respective communiques. I call upon the Government of South Sudan to address the negative impact of customary law on womens rights and to reflect international human rights standards in national law. I also encourage the African Union to make public and act upon the report of its Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sudan (Darfur) Recommendation: I call upon the Government of the Sudan to grant the United Nations and its humanitarian partners unfettered access for monitoring and the provision of assistance to people in need in Darfur. Given that there has been grave concern over sexual violence in Darfur for more than a decade, I encourage the Government to engage with my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to develop a framework of cooperation to address the issue comprehensively Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Syria Recommendation: I acknowledge the Governments invitation to my Special Representative to visit the Syrian Arab Republic and call upon the authorities, in the context of such a visit, to agree on specific measures to prevent sexual violence, including by members of the security forces. I condemn the use of sexual violence by ISIL and all other parties listed in the annex to the present report and call on them to cease such violations immediately and allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Yemen Recommendation: I urge the authorities in Yemen to undertake legislative reform as a basis for addressing impunity for sexual violence, ensuring the provision of services for survivors and aligning the minimum legal age of marriage with international standards. I further call on the authorities to engage with local community and faithbased leaders to address sexual and gender-based violence and discriminatory social norms Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Bosnia and Herzegovina Recommendation: I urge the relevant authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to harmonize legislation and policies so that the rights of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to reparations are consistently recognized and to allocate a specific budget for this purpose. I further call upon the authorities to protect and support survivors participating in judicial proceedings through, inter alia, referrals to free legal aid, psychosocial and health services, as well as economic empowerment programmes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Ivory Coast Recommendation: I urge the Government of Cote dIvoire to ensure the effective implementation of its national strategy to combat gender-based violence and the action plan for FRCI, and call on the international community to support these efforts. It is critical to accelerate disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and strengthen law enforcement to ensure that ex-combatants who have been reintegrated into the transport sector do not pose a risk to women and girls who are reliant on those services. The Government and the international community must provide monitoring and awareness-raising to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence of sexual violence in the context of the presidential elections to be held in October 2015 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Liberia Recommendation: I call on the Government of Liberia to continue its critical efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence including through the United Nations-Government of Liberia Joint Programme, and in the context of recovery from the Ebola virus epidemic Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nepal Recommendation: I encourage the Government to ensure that survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are recognized under the law as conflict victims, which will enable them to access services, judicial remedies and reparations. I further call on all parties involved in the transitional justice process to ensure that the rights and needs o f survivors of sexual violence are addressed in institutional reforms and that these crimes are excluded from amnesties and statutes of limitations Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sri Lanka Recommendation: I call upon the newly elected Government of Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of sexual violence, including against national armed and security forces, and to provide multisectoral services for survivors, including reparations and economic empowerment programmes for women at risk, including war widows and female heads of household Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nigeria Recommendation: I encourage the Government to implement its national action plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) to ensure that womens protection concerns are mainstreamed throughout its security operations. I also call upon the authorities to guarantee security in and around internally displaced persons camps and to extend medical and psychosocial services to high-risk areas The blog also highlights the fact that victims of sexual assault are not seen as victims in court, but as witnesses, which is why the blogger was subject to such severe questioning about why she was wearing lingerie. The Survivors Trust said this needed to change as so many cases fail to end in conviction. Katie Russell, the national spokesperson for charity Rape Crisis said: Although every experience of sexual violence is unique, unfortunately, there is nothing about this account I find unusual. The blogger makes it very clear going through the criminal justice system is very difficult and traumatising, and for that reason, it is not for everyone. But certainly writing about the experience if only for yourself as a victim can be a very therapeutic experiences, from which others can take experience." The blog had more than 2,000 comments on it from other Imgur users showing support. Learningting wrote: Thank you for your courage in reporting your rape, and in sharing this so others who have been assaulted might feel less alone and powerless. Another user, jebbiejebbie, said: You were very brave OP. It is hard to have the courage you had. Nice work. I know Im a stranger on the internet, but Im proud of you! The blog comes after activist Amber Amour live blogged her rape last month, after being attacked in a hostel in South Africa. If you have experienced rape and need help, contact The Survivors Trust on 08088010818 or Rape Crisis on Freephone 0808 802 9999. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Temperatures are expected to plummet as low as -15C in parts of the UK over the coming days as several inches of snowfall threatens to block roads and railways. Even London could see light snow as the cold snap takes hold, bringing ice, frost and Arctic winds to the country. Amber and yellow warnings are in place on Wednesday and Thursday in parts of northern England and Scotland, with the heaviest snow arriving in Shetland and border regions tonight. The Met Office is urging people to prepare for very difficult travelling conditions and possible disruption to transport and power supplies, while cold alerts have been issued by Public Health England and charities for asthma sufferers and the elderly. A sprinkling of snow is likely in higher altitudes such as here in Cumbria in north-west England (Rex Features) Emma Sharples, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told The Independent some parts of northern England and Scotland could see temperatures plummet to 15C at the weekend. Most places are already feeling colder and it was a chilly night last night, she said. A band of light rain is spreading east and those showers will turn to snow across the north. Lower ground could see 3-6cm, while higher ground could have up to 10cm, which will make for some tricky conditions up there. Elsewhere, showery rain will be moving eastwards across England and Wales, with quite heavy bursts of rain for a time. As the cold air sink southwards on Thursday, the rain could turn into wintery showers and the odd flake of snow that will be unlikely to settle across central England. In the Alps, artificial snow saves the holiday ski season In other places it will be dry and mostly cold, with a sharp overnight frost, Ms Sharples said. Its possible that there will be a few flakes coming down in London but its more likely to be further north. Through the weekend it will get even colder. Saturday night into Sunday looks to be the coldest. It will depend on how much snow is lying but I suspect temperatures into the double figures negative, between -10 and -15C in remote areas of Scotland. Places without snow will be just below freezing - -5C will be seen fairly widely, which is a change from what weve been seeing. The sub-zero temperatures come after the warmest December on record, which was also one of the wettest ever with a succession of storms that devastating floods. In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Show all 17 1 /17 In Pictures: Floods hit the UK In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Members of Cleveland Mountain Rescue and soldiers from 2 Battalion The Duke of Lancasters Regiment evacuating people from the Queens Hotel in York city centre as the River Ouse floods on December 27, 2015 In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Teams in Whalley evacuate villagers from their homes In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A resident of Glenridding, which flooded for the third time this month, surveys the damage In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK The River Ouse, York, has burst its banks In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A soldier from the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Lancasters regiment helps to sure up flood defences in Appleby, Cumbria, one of the areas worst affected by the floods In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Experts believe the cost of clearing up the most recent flooding could exceed 50m (PA) In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes in York In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A police helicopter photographed the extent of the flooding in York on 27 December. In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooding at Clifford's Tower in York on 27 December In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooding along York's Inner Ring Road on 27 December In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Water runs out of the Lowther pub in York on 27 December after the River Ouse bursts its banks in York city centre. In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooded streets in Dumfries, Scotland on 30 December Getty In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A car left submerged in floodwater in Newton Stewart, Scotland PA In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Staff at the Worlds End bar in Dumfries Scotland desperately try to pump floodwater out of the building PA In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK A man stands in the doorway of his cottage in the flooded town of Straiton in Scotland PA In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Flooding in the village of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland In Pictures: Floods hit the UK Floods hit the UK Man wades through floodwater outside a fish and chip shop in Dumfries, Scotland PA Officials have urged families to help protect their relatives from the sudden cold snap. Dr Angie Bone, head of protection at Public Health England, said: Over the past few weeks we've had some very disruptive weather, but temperatures have been quite mild - now the weather will be colder over much of the country, which will be a significant change. "It's so important to remember that cold does kill, even in places where the temperatures aren't at their lowest. Most of our advice at PHE on keeping warm in cold weather may seem like common sense but people should think about how the cold weather can affect them." Homes should be heated to at least 18C and the elderly and anyone suffering from a cold-affected condition should have plenty of hot drinks and get a flu vaccination if they are eligible, she said. Additional reporting by PA Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Germanys eurosceptic right-wing party has hit a new all-time high in the opinion polls as concern about migration rises in the country. Alternative for Germany (AfD) would take 11.5 per cent of the vote is a federal general election were held today, according to a poll for Bild magazine. The party is in third place after Angela Merkels CDU/CSU, who are on 35 per cent. The centre-left social democrats are on 21.5 per cent. The Green Party and the Left Party are on 10 per cent each, while the centre-right liberal FDP would re-enter parliament on 6 per cent after it was wiped out in the most recent Federal elections. Germany has taken more refugees than any other country as part of Europes response to the refugee crisis the countrys vice chancellor has said it could take as many as a million refugees in a year. A spate of recent attacks in the city of Cologne has also been blamed by some commentators on new arrivals. Far-right activists and vigilantes roamed the streets of Leipzig on Monday vandalising shops and other businesses that were visibly owned by people of ethnic minorities. Angela Merkel has rejected calls for the closure of Germanys borders with Berlin Wall-style defences (AFP) The backlash is in contrast to the welcoming policy of the German government and the images of Germans welcoming refugees and migrants last year. Chancellor Angela Merkel recently moderated her rhetoric on refugees, arguing that Europe was "vulnerable" to the refugee crisis. AfD advocates withdrawal from the Euro currency, and end to ever-closer-union in the European Union, and a harsher stance on immigration and refugees. Right-wing populist parties are also riding high in the polls in Sweden, where some polls have shown the Sweden Democrats in first place, Netherlands, where the Freedom Party is vying for first plaece, and France, where the Front National dominated the first round of the most recent regional elections. The turnaround for AfD despite the partys apparent decline during 2015 after it was beset by infighting, media scandals, and rows. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Pictures have emerged of doctors in Gaza supporting British junior doctors in their battle against the Government's efforts to introduce a new contract. Medics working in the emergency department in Shifa hospital posed with placards saying: "Doctors of Gaza support NHS UK Doctors". Fresh talks between the British Medical Association and the Government will resume on Thursday morning - a day after junior doctors ended a 24-hour walkout in protest at the terms of the new contract offered by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The negotiations - hosted by conciliation service Acas - will aim to reach a deal to avert two further strikes, which will have a higher impact than this week's walkout. A 48-hour walk out is planned for January 26 and 27 and a third strike is planned for February 10, when industrial action will include all care. A poll earlier this week found strike action was supported by two thirds of the public, although support drops to 44 per cent when it affects A&E and other emergency services. However, prospects of a breakthrough in the dispute appeared to be more distant than ever after the BMA accused ministers and NHS officials of causing a "fundamental breakdown in trust" following Tuesday's walkout. The BMA claims the new contract fails to protect junior doctors working long hours and would unfairly cut out of hours pay, whereas the Government says its new safeguards will provide protection junior doctors and points to its offer of an 11 per cent rise in basic pay. Mr Hunt described this week's walkout as "wholly unnecessary" and urged junior doctors to return to the negotiating table. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A 12-year-old girl was fatally shot by police in Pennsylvania when an officer served an eviction warrant to her family. Ciara Meyer was accidentally killed in her home on Monday after Constable Clarke Steele fired a single shot at her father Donald Meyer, 57, who was allegedly armed with a rifle, Pennsylvania State Police said according to Penn Live. The bullet passed through Mr Meyer's arm, striking Ciara, and the young girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Meyer has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person in magisterial district court. He's scheduled to face a preliminary hearing on January 15. State police and the local prosecutors said that they are also determining whether or not to file charges against Constable Steele. A neighbor and friend of the Meyer's family said she was heartbroken by the incident. Very kind, sweet kid, she told ABC 27 News. Heres a little girl that doesnt even have a chance to grow up and live her life, and all because of this senseless act. Its horrible, absolutely heartbreaking. A GoFundMe fundraiser has been created to remember Ciara's life. All funds raised will be contributed to the funeral and a domestic violence and mental illness scholarship created by the Susquenita School District. Ciara was the 21st person killed by police in the US just 13 days into 2016, according to the Guardian. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A suicide bomber has killed at least 12 people in a mosque in Cameroon in an attack officials believe could be linked to the Isis-linked militant group Boko Haram. The terrorist group originated in Nigeria but has launched bombings in Cameroon and other neighbouring countries including Chad and Niger since last year. Previous suicide attacks in the country prompted the government to ban the full-face veil for women, who were increasingly being used as bombers. The suicide attack took place at 5.40am (4.40am GMT) in a mosque at Kouyape. There were 13 deaths including the man who blew himself up and one wounded, said a senior local official who declined to be identified. Another senior local official said at least 10 people died and the final toll has not yet been confirmed. The rise of Boko Haram Show all 20 1 /20 The rise of Boko Haram The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau delivers a message. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga in a video where he warned the massacre was just the tip of the iceberg. As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and business were destroyed in the 3 January 2015 attack on the town near Nigeria's border with Cameroon AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, are seen near their tents at a faith-based camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State. Boko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nitsch Eberhard Robert, a German citizen abducted and held hostage by suspected Boko Haram militants, is seen as he arrives at the Yaounde Nsimalen International airport after his release in Yaounde, Cameroon on 21 January 2015 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Officials of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) visit victims of a bomb blast in Gombe at the Specialist Hospital in Gombe. According to local reports at least six people were killed and 11 wounded after a bomb blast in a marketplace in Nigeria's northeastern state of Gombe on 16 January 2015. Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for a string of recent attacks in the North East of Nigeria The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather at the site of a bomb explosion in a area know to be targeted by the militant group Boko Haram in Kano on 28 November 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather to look at a burnt vehicle following a bomb explosion that rocked the busiest roundabout near the crowded Market in Maiduguri, Borno State on 1 July 2014. A truck exploded in a huge fireball killing at least 15 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram Islamists The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram President Goodluck Jonathan visits Nigerian Army soldiers fighting Boko Haram Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Displaced people from Baga listen to Goodluck Jonathan after the Boko Haram killings AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan speaking to troops during a visit to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State; most of the region has been overrun by Boko Haram AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Members of the Nigerian military patrolling in Maiduguri, North East Nigeria, close to the scene of attacks by Boko Haram EPA The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears in a video in which he warns Cameroon it faces the same fate as Nigeria AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nana Shettima, the wife of Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima (C) weeps as she speaks with school girls from the government secondary school Chibok that were kidnapped by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, and later escaped in Chibok The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Haram militants have seized the town in north-eastern Nigeria that nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from in April 2014 AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A soldier stands guard in front of burnt buses after an attack in Abuja. Twin blasts at a bus station packed with morning commuters on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital killed dozens of people, in what appeared to be the latest attack by Boko Haram Islamists, April 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The aftermath of the attack, when Boko Haram fighters in trucks painted in military colours killed 51 people in Konduga in February 2014 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (with papers) in a video grab taken in July 2014 AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Ruins of burnt out houses in the north-eastern settlement of Baga, pictured after Boko Haram attacks in 2013 AP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A Boko Haram attack in Nigeria, 2013 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau, Boko Harams leader AP Boko Haram has been waging a bloody campaign to establish an Islamist state in northern Nigeria for six years and is being fought by a coalition of neighbouring countries in a conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of people. Cameroon will also be part of a new 8,700-strong regional force led by Nigeria against the militants, which is expected to be operational by the end of the year. The US is sending military supplies and troops to the central African country to aid the fight. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The rape and murder of a woman in South Afrca whose story went viral after her ordeal was relayed in a series of tweets by a friend has turned out to be completely made up - with the teenager responsible being widely praised for the elaborate hoax. The violent tale about Kamogelo Peterson - or "Kamo" - began when @JustKuthi posted the first handful of 70 tweets on 10 January. As the tweets continue, JustKuthi describes her friendship with Kamo; how the two treated each other like sisters, especially when Kamo's father and real twin sister were suddenly killed in a car accident. She talks about how they gradually drifted apart but became close again in December 2015, particularly when "Khuthi" was taken ill and admitted to hospital. Over the couse of the day, the tweets describe how Kamo then went missing on 7 January during a visit to the hospital. In the frantic search that followed, her car was found with its windows smashed and the driver's seated stained in blood. The next day police found Kamo, who they confirmed had been abducted and raped. The story quickly picked up momentum and #RIPKamo started trending on Twitter. The Department of Women even commented on it, saying it reflects a sad reality of women in our country. A South African newspaper, The Star, then picked up the story and published it - before it was discovered to be fake. The Stars editor, Kevin Ritchie, told News 24 that it had slipped through on deadline and they had not checked the story with the police. He said: We are red-faced and not happy with this at all. We are doing whatever we can to learn from this because this is not the journalism we pride ourselves on practicing It is a huge lesson for us and the [media] industry. Police confirmed they were not aware of the case. But Ms Makananise, after being reportedly tracked down by The Star, admitted to fabricating the story based on a story I read on the internet but remained repentant. She said: It made me feel like I didnt want to live in South Africa anymore, so I made up my own story to show people how bad it is to live in South Africa. Anybody who knows me knows that I love books and I always tell stories. Its just that this time so many people responded, I just left it. I apologise for misleading everyone, she was quoted as saying. However, condolences and tributes had already poured in on Twitter hoping justice would be found for Kamo, which were retweeted by Ms Makananise. When people found out they had been duped, outrage at Ms Makananises deception was widespread. But it also sparked a debate on the reality for women in the country, and the after-effects of trauma. South African writer Zukiswa Zimela wrote in Destiny Collect Magazine: If the tale is indeed made up, why did so many people unquestioningly believe it could really happen?" She quoted Sonke Gender Justice spokesperson Mbuyiselo Botha as saying the story was not difficult to believe: "As South Africans, we know that we count among the highest in the world when it comes to women being sexually violated every day. "As a result, there is a groundswell of support for survivors of sexual assault," he said. The Department of Women, who previously believed Ms Makananises story, said: Khuthis story may be fictional but the story is a reality for a lot of women and children in our country and thats why we fell for it. Violence against women and children is real. Khuthis story may be fake but in reality there are many Kamos out there. Khuthi may not be aware but her story helped raise awareness of the scourge. Rape and sexual abuse is prevalent in South Africa, although figures released by the authorities in 2015 showed a 3 per cent decrease in rape reports that year, amounting to 46,253 cases. However, The Medical Research Council has said only one in nine rapes that occur are reported to the police, therefore the actual number of rapes is much higher, according to fact-checking organisation Africa Check. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The 10 US Navy sailors detained and then interrogated after drifting into Iranian waters have been freed, according to state media reports after Iran claimed US officials "apologised". They were captured on Tuesday evening as the two boats they were on sailed developed mechanical problems and lost contact with the Pentagon. The detainees include nine men and one woman, who were held overnight at an Iranian base on Farsi Island. The Islamic Republic News Agency reported the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), a branch of Irans armed force, had taken the 10 sailors to "international waters and freed there". The Islamic Republic News Agency reported the IRGC said the US boats entered Iranian territorial waters illegally, but confirmed a broken navigation system is what led the US sailors into Iranian waters. The chief of the IRGC said the American boats showed unprofessional acts for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the countrys waters. Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said: Weve received assurances from the Iranians both that our sailors are safe, that theyre being afforded the proper courtesy that youd expect. American officials said the Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group and were on a training mission. The boats are reportedly not considered high-tech and do not contain any sensitive equipment. Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for the IRGC, said earlier on Wednesday: If information taken through interrogations reveals that their trespassing has been done for intelligence work and irrelevant jobs, officials will definitely take the necessary actions, Fars, Irans semi-official news agency reported. What others say about the sailors prompt release is their speculation and we dont confirm or deny it." Officials also confirmed Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. But Tehran is reportedly asking Washington for an apology for violating their territorial waters. The incident comes after Irans launch of a test rocket near US warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, late last month. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Lewd, crude and inappropriate are just three adjectives that could be used to describe the wit of Jimmy Morales, Guatemala's most famous television comedian. For nearly 15 years, Morales, along with his older brother, Sammy, starred in the weekly sketch show Moralejas ("Morals" in Spanish). Clips which can be seen on YouTube show Morales in various zany get-ups. More often than not as a country bumpkin, and on more than one unfortunate occasion in blackface. If there is any political import to Moralejas, it's at a stretch subliminal; nay, non-existent. To use a UK comparison, more Keith Lemon than, say, Stewart Lee. Yet, tomorrow, Morales who, in 2011, changed his surname by deed poll from Cabrera will be inaugurated as the President of Guatemala, having swept to power in October on the back of an impressive election campaign. Even in the predictably unpredictable world of Guatemalan politics, Morales's ascent has been extraordinary; all the more so, given that he only put himself forward for the top job in April. When his opponent and predecessor Otto Perez Molina was jailed in September amid the country's latest corruption scandal, Morales seized his opportunity, successfully tapping into public sentiment by positioning himself as the embodiment of anti-venality. The art of his campaign was in its simplicity, rather than any highfalutin' policies (his centre-right National Convergence Front party's campaign manifesto came to only six pages). Jimmy Morales wearing blackface in a controversial skit. He has since since defended himself against accusations of racism "Morales has an outstanding ability to empathise with voters' concerns and aspirations," says Hugo Novales, a political analyst at the Guatemalan think-tank Asies. "His support does not come from policy proposals he explicitly proclaimed that he does not have a programme but on a direct, emotional relationship with voters." But what is it about comedians beating the political path these days? Morales's rise recalls that of Beppe Grillo, whose Five Star Movement came out firing in Italy's 2013 general election as the fiery, unadulterated and somewhat dishevelled face of anti-corruption. One in four Italians is now said to back the protest party. Likewise, in 2010 the Icelandic comic Jon Gnarr became the Mayor of Reykjavik, riding on a wave of antipathy towards politicians who were blamed for the financial crisis. From the outset of his campaign initially launched as a satirical stunt on his television show Gnarr positioned himself on the planks of "honesty and integrity, empathy, non-violent communication and fun", expecting little chance of victory. And perhaps here lies the reason for his success as well as Morales's. Counter to the well-oiled, pat, modern-day politicians, comedians are at ease with their own voices and inclined to self-deprecation and absurdity, but able to rely on their wits for want of a better word. Subversion is also key to this. While the very notion of having to stray off-message is sheer anathema for politicians, comedians often revel in sedition. Closer to home, this was no better exemplified than in the run-up to last year's general election, during which Russell Brand developed an uncanny knack for fomenting political debate, if at times misguided. Even Al Murray's Pub Landlord character whose FUKP didn't "claim to have all the answers, or indeed, any of them" emerged to become Nigel Farage's highest-profile rival in South Thanet. Jest intentions: Italys Beppe Grillo (AFP/Getty Images) (Getty Images) But maybe politics and comedy aren't such weird bedfellows as one might think, as Jo Silvester, a professor of psychology at City University's Cass Business School, explains. "Comedians and politicians actually share an interest and skill in communication, rhetoric and engaging an audience," she says. "Of course, this isn't all it takes to be successful in politics, but there are likely to be shared qualities, such as emotional intelligence, too. However, that doesn't mean that comedians will necessarily be successful as politicians." In a recent BBC interview, the comedian and prominent Labour campaigner Eddie Izzard who has said he hopes to run for London mayor in 2020 predicted more comedians will go into politics, "because it's a very analytical thing". In the past, Izzard has often cited Al Franken, the Saturday Night Live performer turned Democratic Senator, as an example of how the cognitive skills associated with comedy can be transmuted into the political arena. Jon Krosnick, a professor of political science at Stanford University, agrees. "Although it's not true for all comedians, many tell jokes that lead their audiences to say, 'Clever insight! That's a fresh way to look at things!'" he explains. "In other words, jokes are often funny if they say something to people that they hadn't thought of before showing them a different way to look at phenomena with which they have plenty of experience and that resonates as true and clever. "All of those are qualities attached with being thoughtful, empathic and caring about others. That's what voters want to see in their politicians." And maybe a sense of humour. Profile of a president Jimmy Morales' campaign slogan was "neither corrupt, nor a thief", which doesn't exactly instil confidence. The comedian-turned-politician is best known for his slapstick comedy show Moralejas (Morals), which ran for 14 years. In it, Jimmy and his brother Sammy played various roles, including bumbling cowboys Nito and Neto. In one rather prophetic episode, Neto (played by Jimmy) accidentally runs for president of Guatemala and wins. In his most controversial skit, Morales wore blackface and a prosthetic bottom to play a character known as Black Pitaya, who spoke in a baby voice and told self-effacing gags.Morales has since defended himself against accusations of racism, claiming that Black Pitaya who even appeared on a line of shampoos was loved by Guatemala's black Garifuna and indigenous Mayan communities. Morales once cited Charlie Chaplin's 1940 satirical film The Great Dictator, which mocks Adolf Hitler, as his inspiration, saying: "There's no other film that has such strong content and it was done with humour." It's no surprise, then, that the comedian has tried to include comedy in his campaign. Morales regularly quips with his supporters, starting rallying speeches with showman's cries of: "How're you doing, Guatemala?" He even shoehorns funnies into his addresses, including a joke-parable about a womaniser who tells one of his lovers about all the hardships he'd suffer just to spend the night with her. When the woman asks if he'll come over that night, he replies: "If it doesn't rain." Boom boom. Morales' sketches might be puerile, but his policies are bordering on ridiculous. One of his more far-fetched ideas is to tag teachers with GPS devices to ensure they turn up to work, while another is to give each Guatemalan child a smartphone presumably so they can watch re-runs of Moralejas on YouTube. Chloe Hamilton Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man who was convicted of killing a photographer, and whose case is the subject of the Netflix series Making a Murderer, has filed an appeal to be released. Steven Avery was convicted over the death of Teresa Halbach in 2007 in Wisconsin. His nephew, Brendan Dassey, was also convicted. For many people, the Netflix series has cast doubt on the legal process used to convict them, but authorities involved in the case have said it is biased. In the appeal filed by Avery at the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Monday, the 53-year-old has made a number of claims, including that the search carried during the investigation was improper and that a juror directly or indirectly influenced other jurors. According to the appeal papers, Avery claimed: The Judge Angela Sutkiewicz, Inartfully Circomnavigated Around irrefutable, Uncontrovertable Evidence in Averys Favour that both refutes and rebukes the Memorandum Decision [sic]... The filing reportedly does not include his attorneys name. Avery sued Manitowoc County for millions of dollars after he served 18 years in prison for being wrongfully convicted in a rape case in 1985. DNA evidence later proved he did not commit the crime. Sheriff Robert Hermann, of Manitowoc County, said he had not seen the appeal but said the investigation had been proper. Making A Murderer- Where are they now? A Change.org petition to free Steven Avery has garnered more than 410,000 signatures from people who want him to be pardoned by Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, and President Barack Obama, after watching the Netflix series. The petition reads: Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the US criminal and civil justice systems. But Mr Walker has said he will not be intervening in the case. He told WQOW television: Just because a documentary on TV says something doesnt mean thats actually what the evidence shows. Additional reporting by AP Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In this age of dazzling digital news, something as simple as a newspaper subscription might seem a little old fashioned. But for one elderly woman in the Wyoming city of Casper, her decades-long loyalty to the local paper may have saved her life. Ben Morris, a circulation manager at the Star-Tribune, spends most nights overseeing the delivery operation of the newspaper. But last Friday, one of his staff members had quit and so - determined that readers should get their newspapers - he decided he would fill in on the route. Many thanks to Ben Morris, a Star-Tribune circulation district manager who sprang into action when he discovered a customer unconscious on her porch while delivering papers around 4:15 a.m. Reports suggest that for no reason in particular, Mr Morris decided to complete the route that freezing morning in the opposite direction. It meant that Edith Brekkens home was his third stop on the route, rather than the 73rd. The temperature that morning was around -30C. When Mr Morris arrived at the 77-year-old womans house at around 4.15am he could see a body lying face down on the porchway, dressed only in pajamas and barefoot. According to a report in his own newspaper, Mr Morris ran to her held and checked for a pulse. He could sense nothing, so her took off his glasses and held them in front of her face; the faint condensation told him that she was still breathing, albeit shallowly. He dialed 911 and, noticing that the womans door was ajar, stepped inside and collected some blankets with which to cover her. When the paramedics arrived they told him that the elderly woman was hypothermic. She was taken to hospital. Doctors said the 77-year-old woman would have died had she lain there for another half an hour (Star Tribune) I would not have been there for another hour if I had not on a whim started the route backwards, just for the fun of it. Ive been thinking about that all day, said Mr Morris He added: Shes a longtime customer, but Id never met her personally until this morning. Im so thankful that she is a subscriber, or else she would have been there until daylight and who knows what. The Washington Post said that doctors told Mr Weston they believed Mrs Brekken had been out in the cold for at least two hours. They said she would have most likely perished had she lain there for another 30 minutes. The Star-Tribune posted news of Mr Weston's actions on its Facebook page, where almost 700 people posted messages about how he had saved Mrs Brekken's life. Mr Weston also went to see her in hospital, where she is recovering. Somebody was looking over her, said her daughter, Erin Raabe. He was a good pick for a guardian angel, they picked the right guy. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A local judge in Oregon has declared that the leader of armed ranchers currently occupying a national wildlife refuge are racking up expenses for the county and should foot the bill of $75,000 a day. The group of ranchers is sitting out a protest in Malheur Wildlife Refuge for 10 days through cold temperatures and dwindling food supplies in a bid to change federal laws on land management. The leader is Ammon Bundy, a rancher from Nevada who took it upon himself to protest against extended prison sentences of Steven and Dwight Hammond, local ranchers who set fire to federal land. Harney County judge Steve Gratsy said at a town meeting in Burns that the ranchers are costing the community between $50,000 and $75,000 a day for the first week of their occupation. Were going to send Mr Bundy the bill, said Mr Gratsy to loud applause, as reported by The Guardian. The costs reportedly include law enforcement overtime, school closures, setting up and operating a special command center, and extra supplies and food for country workers. The Association of Oregon Counties Executive Director Mike McArthur, who is involved with providing Mr Gratsy with strategic advice and encouragement, told The Independent: I trust judge Gratsy as the administrator, the judge and the CEO of the county and he knows the costs involved. He can backfill what has been spent. Mr McArthur declined to comment on whether Mr Bundy could legally be made to pay the bill or whether the rancher could afford to pay it. The Association aims to engage the Federal government on measures to mitigate similar armed stand-offs from happening again, through education, mitigation and implementation. Asked if it was likely that another stand-off could in the future, as Oregon has a history of disputes between the Bureau of Land Management and ranchers, Mr McArthur said: I hope not. Local sheriff Dave Ward issued a statement on Monday in which said he has been dealing with other right-wing groups since Mr Bundy made a call to arms. They claim to be here in peace, but we continue to see behavior by some that is concerning, he wrote. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Wealthy individuals who channel money into high end property in New York and Miami will no longer be able to hide behind all-cash transactions as police crack down on money laundering in the real estate market. A move from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) means that anyone who buys a property in Manhattan for over $3 million or in Miami-Dade County for over $1 million without external financing will have to reveal their identity to the authorities. All-cash transactions are usually made via title insurance, or shell, companies, who will have to report the information from 1 March. Shell company transactions are extremely common in the high end real estate market and are perfectly legal. FinCEN is concerned, however, that buyers of property who hand over large amounts of cash are using those apartments and houses to embezzle funds. We are seeking to understand the risk that corrupt foreign officials, or transnational criminals, may be using premium U.S. real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money, said FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery in a statement. Recommended Read more The most outrageous London property deals of 2015 This is the first time such a move has been made. The reported information will be put into FinCENs database and made available to law enforcement officials. A New York Times article found that there were more than 1,045 residential sales in Manhattan in the last six months of 2015 that breached the $3 million mark, according to real estate data company PropertyShark. Jonathan Miller, President and CEO of real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, said the $3 million threshold in New York means that the move affects the top 10% to 15% of residential properties in the market. Only 15% of Manhattan-based residential property is foreign-owned, but that increases to nearer 40% when just looking at modern apartments. "New York has a long history of cash transactions - it's around 50% of transactions now - and the majority of ownership is domestic. We have the most billionaires in the world living in New York," he said. He questioned the impact of the new law, adding that the requirement to report the buyers identity only lasts for six months and therefore anyone involved in illicit dealing would likely be put off anyone from buying property during that time. Mr Miller also said that New York has a tremendous number of empty apartments as the market is pied-a-terre and suburban dwellers often also have an apartment in the city. A high-end estate agent in New York, who did not want to be named, told The Independent: Increasingly in New York, buildings of expensive apartments are going up - there may be some lights on but no one is home. Land prices are at a record high, pushing property developers to create high end modern condos and not provide affordable housing. Certain Limited Liability Companies and title insurance companies will be covered under this order because title insurance is a common feature in the vast majority of real estate transactions, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. The enforcement will remain valid from 1 March until 27 August 2016, and will be extended across the country depending on the initial findings. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} If Americans listening to Barack Obamas speech thought they had heard another US president vow to cure cancer, they were correct. In 2002, episode 12, season three of the West Wing devoted an entire show to fictional president Jeb Bartlet determination to cure cancer. The show features him telling his staff that had been discussing the issue at a dinner party attended by experts, and that they believed it was possible, given enough money. Inspired by the idealism of President John G Kennedy and his vow to send a man to the moon, President Bartlet wanted to include his vow to cure cancer in his State of the Union address. As it is, his senior officials talk him out of it, and he reluctantly drops it. The fictional president Jed Bartlet also wanted to cure cancer In his final address to Congress on Tuesday night, Mr Obama adopted a similar idealism. He said that the US continued to be driven by innovation and research. He said his government had worked to keep the internet open and make it available to more students and low-income Americans. That spirit of discovery is in our DNA, he said. He said that Vice President Joe Biden, whose son, Beau, last year died of cancer, had said that with a new moonshot, America could cure cancer. He said the Vice President had worked with Congress to ensure scientists at the National Institutes of Health had the strongest resources they have had in over a decade. Tonight, Im announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because hes gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, Im putting Joe in charge of Mission Control, said the president. For the loved ones weve all lost, for the family we can still save, lets make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In his seventh and final State of the Union address, President Obama played up the state of the economy, played down the threat of Isis, and introduced a new effort to beat cancer. He also found time for several not-so-subtle swipes at the Republican front-runner Donald Trump. But for those versed in international relations, there was one line in particular that jumped out from his hour-long speech. The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia, Obama said. Thousands of years? Many of the conflicts in the Middle East dont even date back a decade. The Twitterati spotted the gaffe, and pounced. Obama was accused of peddling convenient falsehoods while others said he was espousing concepts unworthy of an undergraduate university student. Many said that Obama was not only excusing the conflicts, but in effect was making them seem normal and intractable. Voxs Max Fisher said that the comments were potentially dangerous. He wrote: It risked perpetuating the widespread ancient hatreds myth that feeds two dangerous and mistaken beliefs about the Middle East: 1) that these people just hate each other because that's how they are over there, and 2) that the problems run so deep that they can't be solved and we shouldn't bother trying. As the Ph.D. candidates Benjamin Denison and Jasmin Mujanovic have previously pointed out in the Washington Post, Writing off a conflict as based in ancient hatreds makes it easy for international actors to excuse their lack of coherent policy, or worse, to offer simplistic solutions. Still, some found a silver lining, saying that the rationale could be used to better understand the partisan divide in Congress. Nadar, a writer from Syria, tweeted: Copyright: Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Barack Obama has said it is just wrong for politicians to insult Muslims during his last State of the Union speech as president. Although Donald Trump was not mentioned by name, President Obamas remarks criticised the Republican presidential front-runner for calling for the temporary ban of Muslims from entering the US. When politicians insult Muslims that doesnt make us safer. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals," said the president, as members of the audience in Congress errupted in applause. The anti-Muslim rhetoric, he said, "betrays who we are as a country". The US needed to "reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn't a matter of political correctness," he added. Mr Trump, who has also called for a wall on the US border with Mexico to prevent entry to illegal immigrants, has been condemned across the world for his attitude towards Muslims and immigrants. Responding to the speech, the billionaire said it was "boring" and "non-substantive". Mr Obama also said comparing the effort to tackle Islamic State to World War Three gave the group what it wanted. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages: they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped." "But they do not threaten our national existence," said the president. The Republican response to the State of the Union address was delivered by Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina. In comments which also seemed to take aim at Mr Trump, she said: "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow teh siren call of the angriest voices." "We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country." Additional reporting by Reuters Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On seven previous occasions, President Barack Obama has, as required by the US Constitution, updated Congress on the state of the union. On Tuesday evening, Mr Obama will make his eighth and final address, where he will outline an agenda for his final year in office and paint an optimistic vision about the nations future despite recurring worries about immigration, jobs and the threat of terrorism. The speech to a joint session of Congress will be one of Ms Obama's few remaining chances to capture and hold the attention of millions of Americans before he is eclipsed by his would-be successors competing to win Novembers presidential election. This will be Mr Obama's eight and final such address to Congress (AP) The Associated Press said that politics will loom over his address. He is expected to stick to themes which he hopes will define his legacy and steer clear of new legislative proposals that his fellow Democrats on the presidential campaign are talking about. Reports suggest that among the themes will be Pacific trade pact, tighter gun laws and closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison. In an interview aired on Tuesday, Mr Obama took a swipe at Republican candidate Donald Trumps rhetoric on the campaign trail, where he has derided illegal immigrants. Im pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesnt try to divide us, that isn't looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating, he said. Asked whether he could imagine Mr Trump as president giving his own State of the Union address, Mr Obama said: I can imagine it in a Saturday Night [Live] skitBut anythings possible. And I think, you know, we shouldn't be complacent. After the midterm elections of 2014, many believed Mr Obama would be unable to break the Republican's legislative grip in Congress. Yet the last 12 months have seen him score a series of successes, that many may not have believed possible. Among these was the Supreme Courts decision to allow same-sex marriage in all the US states, a potentially historic nuclear deal with Iran, a climate change agreement in Paris, the Trans Pacific Partnership that Mr Obama will help the US economy and, most recently, his announcement of a series of executive orders that will modestly restrict access to weapons. The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, on Monday blamed an avalanche of negativity from Republican candidates for polls that show many Americans see the country as on the wrong track. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} People could be warned against taking selfies in multiple tourist locations around Mumbai in an effort to prevent accidents and deaths. Sixteen areas, including the Marine Drive promenade and Girgaum Chowpatty beach, have been identified by the city's police force as dangerous spots for people to take photos of themselves. Dhananjay Kulkarni, a spokesperson for Mumbai Police, told the BBC: The police will now approach the citys municipality to prevent accidents at such spots due to people taking selfies." Mr Kulkarni said "the municipality may... install warnings". And, as some of the locations are near water, life guards may be deployed. He told AFP that more areas may be added to the list. It comes after three girls fell into the sea near the Bandra Worli Sea Link while trying to take a selfie on Saturday - this site is among the 16 identified as dangerous. Passerby Ramesh Walunju drowned while saving two of the girls. His body was recovered on Monday. The body of the third girl has not yet been found, the Times of India reported. There have been other incidents of people dying while trying to take a selfie. A man was hit by a train as he tried to take a photo of himself standing on the track in Rawalpindi and a tourist from Japan, who was taking a selfie, died after slipping down some stairs at the Taj Mahal last year, the BBC reported. Deepak Gandhi has launched a website, called SelfieToDieFor, to warn people about the risks of taking photos of themselves in dangerous locations. He told the Times of India: I started the website as a movement to create awareness about taking selfies responsibly. He added: I have seen people taking selfies while riding motorbikes. People dont [realise] that their cool selfie can lead to an accident and even prove fatal. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un called for his country to expand the size and power of its nuclear arsenal so it could make strikes at US imperialists at any time and in any place, state media said early Wednesday. A week after the country drew widespread condemnation for a nuclear test Kim "set forth the important tasks to be fulfilled to bolster up the nuclear force, the official KCNA state news agency said. Speaking at a ceremony to award scientists and others behind last week's nuclear tests, which North Korea has been touting in state media as a major achievement he said the developments should be made to prevent the US from encroaching upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and make threatening provocations." The North's official name is Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Experts from the US and other countries have expressed doubts about the Norths claims that last weeks test was of a more powerful hydrogen bomb, as the blast was of about the same size as that from an atomic bomb test in 2013. However, the US House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously to pass legislation that would broaden sanctions over North Korea's nuclear program. The call came hours after it was revealed that the country had detained a US citizen on suspicion of spying, according to CNN. A man identified as Kim Dong Chul was being held by the Pyongyang government and that authorities had accused him of engaging in spying and stealing state secrets, the broadcaster said. Kim said he had traveled extensively in recent years between China and North Korea and had made some trips to South Korea as well. The state run DPKR news service also said that the countrys foreign Minister Roh Song-Tae had telegrammed congratulations to Iran on successful capture of US backed pirates in Iranian waters, after two American naval vessels and 10 troops were detained by the Middle Eastern country on Tuesday. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A North Korean man forced to work in Russia has reportedly died after setting himself on fire in a car park. The man, who was not publicly named, died in the southern city of Vladivostok, near the Chinese and North Korean borders. Authorities told the Prima Media website that he had died after dousing himself with a flammable liquid and setting himself on fire next to a block of flats overnight on New Years Eve. Footage posted on YouTube on 1 January appeared to show firefighters using a fire extinguisher on his corpse at the scene. A suicide note in reportedly found at the scene said in Korean: I'm tired of hard work every day. I blame nobody for my death, according to a translation by Chosun Ilbo. Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea A man cuts the hair of a young boy at an apartment building in Pyongyang. High rise apartments are a common form of accommodation for people living in the capital city AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Koreans pause to give way for passing vehicles as they cross a road in Pyongyang. AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Koreans wait for public transportation at a bus stop in Pyongyang AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea A woman and her daughter walk past a North Korean flag hung on a utility pole as part of celebrations of the Liberation Day in Pyongyang AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea People attending the conference for national reunification as they observe their 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation, marking the end of World War II, in Panmunjom AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea A man looks at items at a stamp shop in Pyongyang AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Koreans participate in a closing event for its celebration of the 70th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, at the truce village inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas in Panmunjom, North Korea. The country changed it's timezone on the occasion. North Korea introduced 'Pyongyang time' and pushed back its clocks by half an hour on 15 August, the same as before the Japanese occupation when the standard time used by the Korean empire was eight and a half hours ahead of GMT, instead of nine hours, which is Tokyo time EPA/KCNA SOUTH KOREA OUT Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea People attending the conference for national reunification as they observe their 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation, marking the end of World War II, in Panmunjom AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea Youths and students attending an evening gala at the Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation, marking the end of World War II AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to mark the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation REUTERS/KCNAATTENTION EDITORS The South Korean newspaper reported that the man was working on a construction site in Russia, where North Korean workers are monitored by agents sent by Pyongyang and can work up to 16 hours a day. Last year, the BBC reported that North Korean workers are kept in guarded compounds in Vladivostok, where one of the men told how they had no choice but to come and did not receive their salary. Marzuki Darusman, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, has condemned the system of hiring North Korean workers in Russia and several other countries as forced labour, allowing Kim Jong-uns government to earn billions of dollars in foreign currency. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Surviving family members of Aylan Kurdi have revealed how the Syrian three-year-old came to be washed up dead on a beach in Turkey on Wednesday morning. Aylan's distraught father, Abdullah Kurdi, tried and failed to hold on to his wife and two sons after their boat to the Greek island of Kos capsized. He has reportedly now said his only wish is to return their bodies to their home town of Kobani and then be buried alongside them. The family had been making the treacherous journey across Turkey to Europe in the hope of joining Abdullahs sister, Teema Kurdi, a hairdresser who has lived in Vancouver, Canada for more than 20 years. The Independent has taken the decision to publish the image, which some may find offensive, lower down in this article because among the often glib words about the "ongoing migrant crisis", it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees. Speaking to the National Posts Terry Glavin, Ms Kurdi said she had learned of Aylans death, as well as that of his brother Galip and mother Rihan, at 5am on Wednesday morning. The images of Aylan emerged in Turkish media at around midday, and have since sparked international outrage over the refugee crisis. Glavin told BBC Radio 5 live on Thursday that Ms Kurdi had heard from family members about Abdullahs desperate battle to save his family in the sea. There's a terrible story he told about swimming from one to the other, finding one [son] who seemed to be alright and then going to another, finding him drowned... and then going back to the first boy and finding him drowned, he said. He made it, but his wife didnt. A young Syrian boy, who drowned in his familys attempt to reach Greece from Turkey, lies in the surf near Bodrum, Turkey (Reuters) Jenan Moussa, a journalist with Dubais Al Aan TV, said she had confirmed with sources in Kobani that the Kurdish family hailed from the recently-embattled Syrian city. She said Abdullah was a barber originally from Damascus, who fled from Kobani to Turkey but dreamed of a future in Canada for his family. Abdullah paid 4000 (2900) for his family to get on a 5m-long dinghy from Bodrum to Greece. He borrowed money. This was not their first attempt to get to Greece. When in the dinghy, the sea got rough. Turkish smuggler abandoned boat, left passengers struggling. Boat capsized after one hour. After it capsized, the family clung to the boat. Mr Abdullah tried to hold his two children and wife with his arm, but one by one they were washed away by waves. According to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency, police have detained four suspected human traffickers one day after the three members of the Kurdi family and nine other refugees died in the short Aegean straight between Turkey and Kos. Officers said the men were detained on a beach on Turkeys Bodrum peninsula and, according to Anadolu, they were suspected of acting as intermediaries for illegal crossings. The refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 70 1 /70 The refugee crisis - in pictures The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian refugee holding a baby in a lifetube swims towards the shore after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee raises a child into the air as Syrian and Afghan refugees are seen on and around a dinghy that deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian and Afghan refugees fall into the sea after their dinghy deflated some 100m away before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee cries as he holds a child on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary in Asotthalom Reuters The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees stand in front of a barrier at the border with Hungary near the village of Horgos, Serbia Reuters The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee from Syria prays after arriving on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos aboard an inflatable dinghy across the Aegean Sea from from Turkey. Greece sent troops and police reinforcements to Lesbos after renewed clashes between police and migrants, the public broadcaster said, while Syrian refugees on the island were targeted with Molotov cocktail attacks The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Police try to stop refugees going under a fence to board a train at a station near Gevgelija, Macedonia. Several thousand refugees in Macedonia boarded trains to travel north after spending a night in a provisional camp. Macedonia has organised trains twice a day to the north border where they cross into Serbia to make their way to Hungary The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees push each other as they try to board a bus following their arrival onboard the Eleftherios Venizelos passenger ship at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees are welcomed by locals after their arrival at the main railway station in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 1,000 more refugees arrived in Germany to cheers and "welcome" signs, but calls grew for a European solution to its worst refugee crisis since World War II The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A young Syrian boy arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing in a dinghy with other refugees from Turkey AP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees walk on the railway tracks between Bicske and Szar, some 40 kms west of Budapest, trying to reach Germany EPA The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Hungarian policemen stand by the family of refugees as they wanted to run away at the railway station in the town of Bicske, Hungary The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A family is arrested by local police after their local train coming from Budapest and heading to the Austrian border has been stopped in Bicske, west of the Hungarian capital The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man is arrested by local police after his local train coming from Budapest and heading to the Austrian border has been stopped in Bicske, west of the Hungarian capital The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict More than 2,500 refugees have died trying to reach Europe this year and the struggle continues as they travel through the continent Getty Images The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees protest in front of a train at Bicske railway station. Hundreds of people, were stranded on a train in Hungary for a second, demanding passage to Germany in a standoff with riot police The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian refugees arrive on the shores of Lesvos island Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian refugees on the Greek Macedonian border Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees storm into a train at the Keleti train station as Hungarian police withdrew from the gates after two days of blocking their entry The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees storm into a train at the Keleti train station in Budapest The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees cross the border between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece, near the town of Gevgelija, Macedonia. The Gevgelija-Presevo journey is just a part of the journey that the refugees, the vast majority of them from Syria, are forced to make along the so-called Balkan corridor, which takes them from Turkey, across Greece, Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary, the gateway to the European Union, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A refugee helps up an exhausted fellow refugee as they cross the border between Macedonia and Greece, near the town of Gevgelija, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People breaking through a police cordon and crossing the border between Macedonia and Greece, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees pass the border between Macedonia and Greece, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Macedonian policeman carries a child across the border between Macedonia and Greece, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrians sleep on railroad tracks waiting to be processed across the Macedonian border in Idomeni, Greece, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Czech police officer marks a refugee with a number after more than than 200 refugees were detained, mostly from Syria, on trains from Hungary and Austria at the railway station in Breclav, Czech Republic, September 2015 AP Photo, CTK/Igor Zehl The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A baby is lifted on to the Norwegian vessel Siem Pilot during a search-and-rescue mission off the Libyan coast, September 2015 AP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Budapest's main international railway station ordered an evacuation as hundreds of people tried to board trains to Austria and Germany, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People wave their train tickets and lift up children outside the main Eastern Railway station in Budapest, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People protest at the Eastern (Keleti) railway station of Budapest, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugee children sleep in the surrounding green area of the Keleti railway station in Budapest, September 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrians cross under a fence into Hungary at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, August 2015 Reuters The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees who have just crossed the border from Serbia into Hungary walk along a railway track that joins the two countries, August 2015 Getty Images The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Police arrest refugees at Cobham Services on the M25 in Surrey, August 2015 Twitter: @bigwheeluk The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Men hold a boy as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and fellow refugees during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni, August 2015 AFP/Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian father holds his children close as his arrives on the Greek Island of Kos, August 2015 Eyevine The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A tourist offers water to Iranian refugees as they arrive by paddling an engineless dinghy from the Turkish coast (seen in the background) at a beach on the Greek island of Kos, August 2015 Reuters The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian holds his 30-day-old baby on an overcrowded train as they travel through Macedonia. Tens of thousands of refugees, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, use the Balkans route to get into the European Union, passing from Greece to Macedonia and Serbia and then to western Europe, August 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man rests on a platform at the train station in Gevgelija, on the Macedonian-Greek border, August 2015 Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees react after boarding the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship MV Phoenix some 20 miles (32 kilometres) off the coast of Libya. Some 118 refugees were rescued from a rubber dinghy off Libya. The Phoenix, manned by personnel from international non-governmental organisations Medecins san Frontiere (MSF) and MOAS, is the first privately funded vessel to operate in the Mediterranean, August 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Authorities are being overwhelmed as they try to fight off hundreds of refugees, prompting France to beef up its police presence, July 2015 AFP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People escape from the French Police as they try to catch a train to reach England, July 2015 EPA The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man jumps over a fence as he attempts to access the Channel Tunnel, in Calais, northern France, July 2015 PA/Thibault Camus The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Two men cling to the roof of a freight truck as it leaves the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, July 2015 Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais, July 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Men help a man squeeze through a gap in a fence near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles in Calais, July 2015 Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Desperate for entry to the EU, the group of people risked being washed away by the sea at Ventimiglia rocks, June 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Stranded refugees spend night on rocks - they were supplied with emergency blankets after a cold night next to the sea, June 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees climb in the back of a lorry on the A16 highway leading to the Eurotunnel in Calais, June 2015 Getty Images The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A police officer sprays tear gas to men trying to access the Channel Tunnel on the A16 highway in Calais, northern France, June 2015 PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Men jump out of a lorry after being discovered by French gendarmerie officers, June 2015 AP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man sits under the trailer of a lorry, June 2015 AP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Belgian navy sailor passes life vests to refugees sitting in a rubber boat as they approach the Belgian Navy Vessel Godetia, June 2015 AP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People on the Belgian Navy vessel Godetia after they were saved during a search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, June 2015 AP The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Iraqis wait as they are detained by Hungarian police after crossing the Hungarian-Serbian border illegally near the village of Asotthalom, Hungary, June 2015 Reuters The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Syrian refugees walking on train tracks through Macedonia on the Western Balkans migration route, after entering Europe through Greece, June 2015 Reuters The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A group of people huddle together during an operation to remove them from the Italian-French border in the Italian city of Ventimiglia. Italy and France engaged in a war of words as a standoff over hundreds of Africans offered a graphic illustration of Europe's migration crisis. Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described images of refugees perched on rocks at the border town of Ventimiglia after being refused entry to France as a "punch in the face for Europe", June 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A man is carried by Italian police in Ventimiglia, Italy. Police reportedly removed refugees from under a railway bridge, June 2015 EPA The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict People queue after disembarking from the Royal Navy ship HMS 'Bulwark' upon their arrival in the port of Catania on the coast of Sicily, June 2015 GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP/Getty Images The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A Syrian child holds a drawing as he waits to disembark from Belgian Navy vessel Godetia at the Augusta port, Italy. Around 250 refugees from Syria arrived at the Sicilian harbour from a Damascus refugee camp, June 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A dinghy overcrowded with Afghan refugees arrived on a beach on the Greek island of Kos, May 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict An Afghan child is helped off a rib on the Greek island of Kos, May 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict An Afghan girl holds the hand of a woman as they arrive on a beach on the Greek island of Kos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, May 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Refugees crossed part of the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, May 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Afghan refugees arrive on a beach of Kos, May 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Rescuers help children to disembark in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, Italy in April 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict A boat transporting refugees arrives in the port of Messina after a rescue operation at sea, April 2015 Getty The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Armed Forces of Malta personnel in protective clothing carry the body of a dead man off Italian coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti as surviving refugees watch in Senglea, in Valletta's Grand Harbour, April 2015 The refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees fleeing conflict Rescued people talk to a member of the Malta Order after a fishing boat carrying refugees capsized off the Libyan coast, is brought ashore along with 23 others retreived by the Italian Coast Guard vessel Bruno Gregoretti at Boiler Wharf, Senglea in Malta, April 2015 Three other children drowned in the same crossings as Aylan and his family, while seven people were rescued and two reached the shore in life jackets. Thousands are making the same journey from Turkey to Greeces easternmost islands each day. It is considered one of the safest routes to Europe and beyond. The majority are from Syria though some have also fled Afghanistan and Iraq. The UNs refugee agency, the UNHCR, says the number crossing the Mediterranean has now exceeded 300,000 this year. Click here to sign The Independent's petition For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The creators of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have sparked new controversy with a cartoon depicting the drowned Syrian child Aylan Kurdi carrying out sexual assaults on the streets of Cologne. One week on from the special edition to mark the anniversary of the mass shootings at its office in central Paris, the magazine pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to David Bowie on its cover, describing him as the inventor of the liquorice roll. And while that joke has ruffled few feathers, one which imagines what the dead child refugee would have been if he had lived has led to an immediate and angry backlash online. The cartoon appears to be a satirical take on the view that all migrants are in some way implicated in the extraordinary spate of attacks on women in Germany on New Years Eve. It shows a cartoon version of the picture of Aylan which rallied international efforts to tackle the refugee crisis, with another picture showing the child grown up, dehumanised, and chasing a woman. The caption reads: What would little Aylan have grown up to be? An ass groper in Germany. Support for refugees in Germany is fading fast in 2016, with the welcoming attitude instigated by Angela Merkel last summer now seeming a long time ago. Protests by far-right, anti-Islam groups such as Pegida have swept the country, while at least 11 refugees were attacked by a roving mob who had vowed to clean up Cologne. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Germanys welcoming attitude to refugees is fading fast following the New Years Eve attacks on women in Cologne, according to new research. In November, just over half of respondents in a YouGov survey said they thought the number of asylum seekers in the country was too high but that figure now stands at 62 per cent. Protests by far-right anti-Islam groups Pegida and HoGeSa have swept the country this month, despite being met by equal numbers of anti-fascist counter demonstrators. Hundreds of right-wing protesters went on the rampage in Leipzig on Monday night, smashing windows and launching fireworks, while at least 11 refugees were attacked by a roving mob who had vowed to clean up Cologne the previous day. The angry scenes are a far cry from the summer, when Angela Merkel lifted asylum restrictions for Syrian refugees a decision that led to the arrival of 1.1 million migrants and asylum seekers last year and was credited in part for making the Chancellor Time's Person of the Year. Her slogan wir schaffen das meaning we can do this, has faded with a series of reversals by the Government, which has now reintroduced border controls and is sending hundreds of refugees back to Austria every day. Refugees welcome, the summers other defining slogan, is also heard less and less as attitudes harden following the polices announcement that migrants were largely responsible for the mass sexual assaults and robberies seen on New Years Eve. (YouGov) Research by YouGov for Germanys Bild newspaper demonstrates the shift. In November, only a slim majority said the arrival figures were two high, while 42 per cent said they were acceptable and a fifth of respondents said the country could welcome more refugees. The change in opinions over the past five months can be seen in the Statista graphic created for The Independent above. Now, almost two thirds of those surveyed say the number of asylum seekers is too high and only 16 per cent were comfortable with the figures. German women are more likely than men to oppose the current level of migration, which had not previously been the case, and the New Years Eve sexual assaults are believed to be the main reason for a 12-point jump. Anti-sexual violence protesters have also been taking to the streets after polices response to the attacks and Cologne mayor Henriette Rekers controversial proposal of a code of conduct for women sparked a new debate about victim-blaming. Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images At least 19 men are currently under investigation for attacks in the city, including 10 asylum seekers, most of whom arrived in Germany after September. In response to the alleged assault and robbery of at least 600 victims in Cologne, Ms Merkel has proposed new measures to deny the right of asylum for those who have committed crimes or are on probation in response to calls for change. Only asylum seekers who have been sentenced to at least three years' imprisonment and will not be at risk in their countries of origin can currently be forcibly deported under German law. The German cabinet will need to back the plans before a draft law is drawn up. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Three people died and five others were missing after an avalanche in the French Alps engulfed a group of 10 school pupils and their teacher. The dead were reported to include a 14-year-old girl, another French teenager and a Ukrainian adult, who was not part of the school group. Recommended Read more French officials to investigate teacher in deadly Alps avalanche They were skiing in Les Deux Alpes resort at 4pm local time (3pm GMT) when they were swept away by a 300m-wide bank of snow, the local Le Dauphine Libere newspaper reported. A teacher and four children, all unconscious and in their early teens, were dug out by a mountain rescue team and taken to hospital by helicopter. Two of the injured were said to be critically ill. In pictures: France avalanche Show all 6 1 /6 In pictures: France avalanche In pictures: France avalanche Rescuing teams gather for search and rescue operations on a piste at the avalanche site after skiers, including a group on a school outing, were swept away in the Les Deux Alpes resort in The French Alps Getty Images In pictures: France avalanche Director of the Les Deux Alpes ski resort Didier Bobilier (C) answers journalists' questions in front of the The French Ski School of Les Deux Alpes resort in The French Alps after an avalanche swept away skiers Getty Images In pictures: France avalanche The avalanche hit a piste at the Deux-Alpes resort in eastern France that was still closed to the public, engulfing a group of nine French high school students and their teacher from the city of Lyon, according to police sources. A 14-year-old boy died in the deluge while a 16-year-old girl also died later in hospital. The Ukrainian man who died was not part of the school group Getty Images In pictures: France avalanche Students light candles outside the Saint-Exupery high school in Lyon, central-eastern France, during a commemorative gathering after two students from the school and Ukrainian man were killed when an avalanche swept away skiers in Les Deux Alpes ski resort in the French Alps Getty Images In pictures: France avalanche Rescuing teams gather for search and rescue operations on a piste at the avalanche site after skiers, including a group on a school outing, were swept away in the Les Deux Alpes resort in The French Alps AFP or licensors In pictures: France avalanche Rescuing teams gather for search and rescue operations on a piste at the avalanche site after skiers, including a group on a school outing, were swept away in the Les Deux Alpes resort in The French Alps Getty Images A senior French official said all members of the school party appeared to have beeen accounted for but an unknown number of other skiers might have been buried. Jean-Paul Bonnetain, Prefect (senior national government administrator) for the Isere department said: "It seems that we have found all the school party but searches continue to make sure that there are no other victims. The local mayor, Pierre Balme, said the party was skiing on a black (advanced) slope, closed to the public at the time because of a high risk of avalanches. Rescue workers with dogs raced against time to try to locate five missing skiers before darkness fell. Three helicopters hovered overhead, equipped with search-lights and thermal imaging cameras which can locate bodies beneath thick snow. Most of the dead, injured and missing were reported by local officials to come from from the Lycee Saint-Exupery in Lyon. The first prolonged and heavy snow falls of the winter have descended on the French Alps in recent days, and the presence of a large school party and other skiers on the closed Bellecombe slope at 2,600 metres altitude so late in the day angered mountain rescue workers. One gendarme told a local radio station: It is utterly irresponsible to take children on a closed slope when avalanche warnings are in place. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An anti-abortion campaign group in Ireland have been derided online for holding an event on womens healthcare- with only male speakers. Family and Life, a Dublin based organisation, is holding an event tomorrow evening in the capital city. Titled How to Protect the 8th amendment in reference to the constitutional clause which bans abortion, the event is described as pro-life. The discussion will feature three men; David Quinn, Patrick Carr and Paddy Manning. Sharing the poster online, Laura Lee commented: Oh super. A conference on womens wombs, run by men. Welcome to Ireland. Irish Times columnist Una Mullally told The Independent that the all-male panel was absolutely preposterous. She said: For generations, women in Ireland have been dictated to about their bodies by male priests, gardai [Irish police], doctors, politicians and legislators, so a panel like this continues that lineage of control and mansplaining. There is an inherent misogyny, not to mention ignorance of an all-male panel discussing the reproductive rights of women. "Those who want to protect the eighth amendment want to prevent women from making medical choices about their own bodies, so considering they see fit to have greater knowledge and authority over womens bodies than women themselves, theyre hardly interested in womens bodies. Roisin Ingle, columnist and producer of The Women's Podcast with The Irish Times, told The Independent: "It was amusing to hear about the all-male panel for the planned anti-choice meeting but not exactly surprising given the deeply conservative nature of these [anti-abortion] groups. "It's worth pointing out that men in Ireland are never forced to leave the country to access medical care whereas around 12 women a day leave to have terminations elsewhere." World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty One of the speakers, David Quinn, has defended the event, telling The Independent: I dont regard abortion as a womans healthcare issue only but as a right-to-life issue as well. The right to life of the unborn is obviously at stake in this debate and that is a human rights issue, not a womans issue or a mans issue per se. He added: I do know that at other events they have organised around the country there have been female speakers. Abortion is illegal in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland unless a womans life is in imminent danger, regardless of rape, incest or fatal foetal malformation. At least 4,500 women travel from Ireland to England for an abortion every year. The Independent has contacted Family and Life for comment but received no response at time of publication. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Three flats and houses where the Paris attackers prepared for the shootings and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in November have been uncovered in Belgium. They link Salah Abdeslam, the only member of the Isis cell believed to be still at large, militant Bilal Hadfi, suspected mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud and unidentified accomplices using three false identities. New findings released by the federal prosecutor in Belgium, where four of the attackers had lived, reveal that preparations for the atrocity dated back to September. Timeline of Paris attacks On the first of the month, a person using a fake identity in the name of Fernando Castillo rented a flat in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek for one year, paying the landlord in cash. The home, in Rue Henri Berge, may have been the bomb-making factory for the suicide vests that the attackers would go on to kill themselves with at the Bataclan, Stade de France and bars and restaurants. A police search on 10 December found material that can be used to fabricate explosives precision scales, traces of TATP (acetone peroxide), waist belts, as well as a drawing representing a person wearing one of the devices. Abdeslams fingerprint was found at the scene, as well as DNA traces of Bilal Hadfi, a 20-year-old Frenchman who blew himself up outside the Stade de France after being denied entry. Salah Abdeslam, left, and his accomplice at a petrol station between Paris and Brussels (Reuters) Two days after the Schaerbeek flat was rented, another home was rented for a year in the city of Charleroi, this time using the pseudonym Ibrahim Maaroufi. Fingerprints discovered in a forensics search in Rue du Fort on 9 December showed Hadfi had been there alongside Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian Isis militant suspected of orchestrating the attack. He was killed on 18 November during a police raid on another safe-house in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where French prosecutors said he was planning another attack in the La Defence business district. Abdelhamid Abaaoud boasted of his escape from authorities in Belgium following a failed terrorist attack in an interview published in Isis' propaganda magazine in February (Dabiq) Abaaoud was not initially believed to be directly involved in the Paris attacks but his fingerprints were found on a Kalashnikov left in a Seat car abandoned in Montreuil, suggesting he was among the gunmen targeting bars and restaurants. Belgian authorities also believe preparations were also made at a house in Auvelais, a small town outside Charleroi, in Namur province. It was rented later, on 5 October, but like the others was taken for one year by a person paying in cash and using a fake name, this time of Soufiane Kayal. That identity matches that used by one of the two people that Abdeslam picked up in Budapest on 9 September before apparently driving back to Belgium. A house search conducted on 26 November found several mattresses, suggesting several members of the cell stayed there. A police van is parked during a police intervention in Auvelais, on November 26, 2015. (AFP/Getty Images) Belgian investigators are also focusing on the hire cars used to ferry attackers around. A Seat Leon, which was later used during the shooting attacks in Paris, had been parked near the homes in both Charleroi and Auvelais. A man named by Belgian prosecutors as Mohamed B, a suspected accomplice charged with aiding terrorist murders and participating in Isis activities, also rented a BMW that drove to all three safe-houses. Numerous traces retrieved during the three searches are still being examined, spokesperson Eric Van der Sijpt said. Meanwhile, the hunt for Abdeslam, whose brother Brahim blew himself up on the Boulevard Voltaire, continues. In pictures: Paris attacks Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: Paris attacks In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police with protective shields walk in line near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers evacuate an injured person on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Vigipirate troops mobilize next to Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French soldiers mobilize near to the Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated outside the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks People react as they gather to watch the scene near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police secure the area outside a cafe near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers workers evacuate victims near the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French President Francois Hollande attending an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France after explosions were heard outside AP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A man lies on the ground as French police check his identity near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Two men evacuate the Place de la Republique square in Paris as a police officer looks on AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Football fans are evacuated from the Stade de France stadium In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks An armed police officer Dan Gabriel In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France is evacuated after reports of an explosion In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A member of the French fire brigade aids an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police are seen outside a cafe in 10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers assist an injured man on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, close to the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The scene at a restaurant in 10th arrondissement In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Bataclan theatre - where around 100 people are thought be held hostage In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France as it was evacuated In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Forensic experts inspect the site of an attack outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis AFP An explosives belt was found dumped in a bin in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge 10 days after the atrocity, near where Abdeslam was traced to on the night. The discovery fuelled speculation that he was supposed to be among the suicide bombers but abandoned the plan and fled to Brussels, where two men, now accused of aiding terrorism, drove him in the early hours of the following morning. An international arrest warrant is out for Abdeslam, who friends say could also be hiding from Isis after he reportedly told them he had gone too far and regretted his actions. New CCTV images have been released showing him in northern France on the morning after the attacks wiht Hamza Attou, who drove him home. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Three flats and houses where the Paris attackers prepared for the shootings and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in November have been uncovered in Belgium. They link Salah Abdeslam, the only member of the Isis cell believed to be still at large, militant Bilal Hadfi, suspected mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud and unidentified accomplices using three false identities. New findings released by the federal prosecutor in Belgium, where four of the attackers had lived, reveal that preparations for the atrocity dated back to September. Timeline of Paris attacks On the first of the month, a person using a fake identity in the name of Fernando Castillo rented a flat in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek for one year, paying the landlord in cash. The home, in Rue Henri Berge, may have been the bomb-making factory for the suicide vests that the attackers would go on to kill themselves with at the Bataclan, Stade de France and bars and restaurants. A police search on 10 December found material that can be used to fabricate explosives precision scales, traces of TATP (acetone peroxide), waist belts, as well as a drawing representing a person wearing one of the devices. Abdeslams fingerprint was found at the scene, as well as DNA traces of Bilal Hadfi, a 20-year-old Frenchman who blew himself up outside the Stade de France after being denied entry. Salah Abdeslam, left, and his accomplice at a petrol station between Paris and Brussels (Reuters) Two days after the Schaerbeek flat was rented, another home was rented for a year in the city of Charleroi, this time using the pseudonym Ibrahim Maaroufi. Fingerprints discovered in a forensics search in Rue du Fort on 9 December showed Hadfi had been there alongside Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian Isis militant suspected of orchestrating the attack. He was killed on 18 November during a police raid on another safe-house in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, where French prosecutors said he was planning another attack in the La Defence business district. Abdelhamid Abaaoud boasted of his escape from authorities in Belgium following a failed terrorist attack in an interview published in Isis' propaganda magazine in February (Dabiq) Abaaoud was not initially believed to be directly involved in the Paris attacks but his fingerprints were found on a Kalashnikov left in a Seat car abandoned in Montreuil, suggesting he was among the gunmen targeting bars and restaurants. Belgian authorities also believe preparations were also made at a house in Auvelais, a small town outside Charleroi, in Namur province. It was rented later, on 5 October, but like the others was taken for one year by a person paying in cash and using a fake name, this time of Soufiane Kayal. That identity matches that used by one of the two people that Abdeslam picked up in Budapest on 9 September before apparently driving back to Belgium. A house search conducted on 26 November found several mattresses, suggesting several members of the cell stayed there. A police van is parked during a police intervention in Auvelais, on November 26, 2015. (AFP/Getty Images) Belgian investigators are also focusing on the hire cars used to ferry attackers around. A Seat Leon, which was later used during the shooting attacks in Paris, had been parked near the homes in both Charleroi and Auvelais. A man named by Belgian prosecutors as Mohamed B, a suspected accomplice charged with aiding terrorist murders and participating in Isis activities, also rented a BMW that drove to all three safe-houses. Numerous traces retrieved during the three searches are still being examined, spokesperson Eric Van der Sijpt said. Meanwhile, the hunt for Abdeslam, whose brother Brahim blew himself up on the Boulevard Voltaire, continues. In pictures: Paris attacks Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: Paris attacks In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police with protective shields walk in line near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers evacuate an injured person on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Vigipirate troops mobilize next to Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French soldiers mobilize near to the Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated outside the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks People react as they gather to watch the scene near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police secure the area outside a cafe near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers workers evacuate victims near the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French President Francois Hollande attending an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France after explosions were heard outside AP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A man lies on the ground as French police check his identity near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Two men evacuate the Place de la Republique square in Paris as a police officer looks on AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Football fans are evacuated from the Stade de France stadium In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks An armed police officer Dan Gabriel In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France is evacuated after reports of an explosion In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A member of the French fire brigade aids an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police are seen outside a cafe in 10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers assist an injured man on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, close to the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The scene at a restaurant in 10th arrondissement In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Bataclan theatre - where around 100 people are thought be held hostage In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France as it was evacuated In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Forensic experts inspect the site of an attack outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis AFP An explosives belt was found dumped in a bin in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge 10 days after the atrocity, near where Abdeslam was traced to on the night. The discovery fuelled speculation that he was supposed to be among the suicide bombers but abandoned the plan and fled to Brussels, where two men, now accused of aiding terrorism, drove him in the early hours of the following morning. An international arrest warrant is out for Abdeslam, who friends say could also be hiding from Isis after he reportedly told them he had gone too far and regretted his actions. New CCTV images have been released showing him in northern France on the morning after the attacks wiht Hamza Attou, who drove him home. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Polish governments fractious relations with the European Union has worsened after the European Commission said it would investigate whether the countrys new laws breach the blocs rules on democracy and the rule of law. The move is the first step in a process that could lead to sanctions against Polands new nationalist government for failing to live up to its commitments on free media and impartial courts. The Commissions Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Brussels a preliminary assessment would be launched under the rule of law mechanism. Our aim is to solve these issues, our aim is not to accuse, Mr Timmermans said, adding that the Commission wanted to start a dialogue with Polish authorities. Recommended Read more Poland draws EU anger with media controls and Nazi references The Prime Minister Beata Szydlo denied her government had violated democratic norms. She said in Warsaw: I will fight for Polands good name. Polands Law and Justice Party, which won a majority in last Octobers election, has pushed through drastic reforms, asserting political control over the high court and public broadcaster. Earlier this week, Polands Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro bemoaned the unjustified accusations and unfair conclusions about the new laws, while dismissing Mr Timmermans for being of left-wing persuasion. The row comes as government politicians and media have invoked Nazi imagery to lambast their critics. This weeks cover of Wprost magazine depicts the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European politicians in Nazi uniforms under the headline These people want to control Poland again. If the alleged media curbs are confirmed, Poland could find itself thrown out of the Eurovision Song Contest: the European Broadcasting Union said it was monitoring changes to Polands media laws. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One of Saudi Arabias most prominent female human rights campaigners has been arrested and jailed for allegedly running a Twitter account. Samar Badawi is the ex-wife of influential human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, and according to activists has been accused of running his Twitter account after he was jailed in 2014. One of the most well-known campaigners for womens rights in Saudi Arabia, Ms Badawi received the 2012 International Women of Courage award, presented by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. She is also the sister of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and a 10-year prison term for insulting the religious establishment. Raifs wife, Ensaf Haidar, wrote on Twitter that Samar was being taken to the same detention facility as her brother, along with her two-year-old daughter. Samar Badawis arrest is yet another alarming setback for human rights in Saudi Arabia, said Amnesty Internations Philip Luther. It demonstrates the extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission, he said. Amnesty quoted local activists who said Ms Badawi was arrested in Jeddah on Tuesday and was expected to appear before a prosecutor later on Wednesday. It is not her first run-in with the Saudi authorities. In 2010, she served seven months in jail for disobeying her father, who abused her from the age of 14. In December 2014, she was issued with a travel ban by the interior ministry to prevent her travelling to Brussels for a human rights conference. Her arrest comes after tweets continued to appear on the Twitter account of her former husband, despite him being in jail. The profile information for @WaleedAbulkhair, the former head of the organisation Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA), says his friends are operating his account on his behalf. Last week, a leaked image was posted on the account apparently taken of Abdulkhair while in prison. A message later said it was taken two years ago in the first month of his detention. The Center for Inquiry, a US-based humanist organisation which said it had worked closely with Ms Badawi in the past, called on Saudi Arabia to release her and drop any charges. It urged Ms Clinton and Ms Obama to rally round her cause now. I have worked personally with Samar, and she is one of the most impressive, courageous, and devoted activists I have ever met, said Michael De Dora, CFIs main representative to the UN. When Secretary Clinton presented Samar with the Women of Courage award, she told her, You are making a difference, and we thank you for that. The State Department can best thank her, right now, by doing all they can to secure her freedom and safety, and Secretary Clinton and First Lady Obama should use their platforms as globally admired figures to rally the world to this cause. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Saudi human rights activist Samar Badawi was released from custody in the early hours of Wednesday morning. But her arrest has inflicted further damage to the reputation of a kingdom already condemned for flogging her brother, the blogger Raif Badawi. Ms Badawi who was presented with the International Women of Courage Award by Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2012, was arrested on Tuesday night, interrogated, then sent to the same prison where her husband, the human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, and her activist brother are being held. Ms Badawi, the mother of a two-year-old girl, was released, only to be called in for further interrogation a few hours later before being allowed to return to her home in Jeddah. Under Saudi Arabias draconian anti-terror legislation, Ms Badawi, if charged, could be facing a lengthy jail sentence. Her brother was given a 10-year sentence and 1,000 lashes for criticising the regime online. Her husband, who served as Raif Badawis lawyer, was convicted of insulting the judiciary, disobeying the ruler, and harming the reputation of the kingdom and sentenced to 15 years in jail. In December last year, Samar Badawi posted a blog on the Amnesty International website condemning the Saudi authorities. She described her husband as her rock and source of inspiration, adding I shall continue my struggle as long as my heart beats, and I shall never give up until I have you back under our roof. I shall forever believe in our freedom which you have spent your whole life defending. She met her husband in 2010 when he defended her on a charge of disobeying her father. She was convicted and spent seven months in jail despite her allegations of physical abuse at the fathers hands from the age of 14. In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Helvetiaplatz, Berne, Switzerland In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in London, UK In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Ensaf Haider speaks during a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Ottawa, Canada In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Warsaw, Poland In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests A poster depicting Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, asking for his immediate release, hangs on a gate of a building in Italy In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Paris, France In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in Brussels, Belgium In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi AFP In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Ensaf Haidar, centre, wife of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, holds a vigil in Montreal, Quebec, urging Saudi Arabia to free her husband Getty In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Participant of the Amnesty International protest holds a banner which reads: 'Je suis Raif!' in front of the Saudi Embassy, The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests People take part in a protest by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy in The Hague In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests A participant attends the Amnesty International protest demanding the immediate release of Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy, The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Amnesty International stages a protest demanding the immediate release of Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy, The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Protesters simulate a flogging in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, during a demonstration against the 10-year prison sentence and 1,000 lashes of Saudi activist Raef Badawi for 'insulting Islam' in a blogpost In pictures: Raif Badawi release protests Raif Badawi release protests Protesters simulate a flogging in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, during a demonstration against the 10-year prison sentence and 1,000 lashes of Saudi activist Raef Badawi for 'insulting Islam' in a blogpost [Waleed] taught me that a person is born free and that it is up to him or her to live in freedom or die trying to achieve it. Slavery has no place in his life except when it comes to serving God, the one and only, she wrote. Ali Adubisi, a Saudi human rights activist living in exile in Berlin, told The Independent Ms Badawi could be charged with anything under the terror legislation. The act gives the Interior Minister [Mohammed bin Nayef] a free hand to do what he wants. The law defines terror in the broadest terms imaginable and includes such things as harming the security of the community, risking national unity and harming the reputation or status of the country. It allows for arrests without warrants, for detention of six months without charge and severely limits the access of detainees to lawyers. Saad al-Faqih is a conservative critic of the ruling family living in London. He says the Badawi arrest is part of a new attempt by the House of Saud to stamp out criticism: They are going back to more repression. Within the last two weeks the authorities have issued decrees warning that criticism will lead to jail. Saudi blogger Raif Badawi wins EUs Sakharov rights prize Mr Faqih told The Independent that two doctors had been sentenced to being publicly lashed for criticising the Minister of Health in a tweet and that a further decree held administrators of online sites responsible for critical comments. The family used to do these things secretly, now they do it publicly. They want to intimidate the people, he said. The crackdown may reflect growing anxiety within the House of Saud that it does not appear weak at a time when Islamist extremists are using social media to attack the legitimacy of their right to rule. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police in Turkey have arrested three Russians with suspected links to Isis after a suicide attack in Istanbul killed 10 tourists. Russia's Consulate General in the Turkish city of Antalya confirmed the trio had been detained, according to state news agency RIA. Ten other people are also understood to have been detained by Turkish police in the country's third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya. Consul General Alexander Tolstopyatenko said, "The reasons for their detention are being clarified," according to the Tass news agency. It is not clear if the arrests are directly linked to the Istanbul bombing. The Anadolu Agency said the suspects were allegedly in contact with ISIS fighters in conflict zones and had provided logistical support to the group. Dogan News Agency said police in the Mediterranean city of Antalya also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying. Video shows aftermath of Istanbul explosion It is not yet clear when on Wednesday the detentions occurred. The Russian Foreign Ministry in November said 2,719 Russians had left for Syria to fight for Isis. Of these, 160 have been killed, 73 have returned and been tried and 36 have been arrested, according to Oleg Syromolotov, the deputy minister of foreign affairs. One person has been detained in connection with the suicide bombing in Istanbul, which killed nine German tourists and one Peruvian tourist in the historic Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday, Turkeys interior minister has said. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack. Efkan Ala said the suspect was detained late on Tuesday during a news conference with his German counterpart. He provided no further details. Turkish media reports said police had raided a home in an affluent neighbourhood of Istanbul, detaining one woman suspected of having links to Isis. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, however Islamist, leftists and Kurdish militants, who are battling in south east Turkey, have all carried out attacks in the past. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he offered condolences to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and vowed to continue Turkeys fight against Isis at home and as part of the US-led coalition. Turkey has become a national target for Isis, with two bombings this year blamed on the radical group, one in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and the other in the capital Ankara. Additional reporting from various agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Suspects in the case of an 18-year-old woman who was allegedly raped in a Brooklyn playground by a group of teenagers have reportedly told police that she and her father were having sexual contact when they encountered them. It comes after four of the suspects appeared in court in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Denzel Murray, 14, Shaquell Cooper and Ethan Phillip, both 15, and Onandi Brown, 17, denied allegations of rape and other charges. A fifth teenager, 17-year-old Travis Beckford, was arrested on charges of rape and other offences on Tuesday. Police said they were told by some of the suspects that the woman and her father were engaging in some kind of sexual act in Osborn Playground when the teenagers encountered them on Thursday night. Speaking to the New York Times, a law enforcement official said the allegations made by the suspects did not mean the woman was not a victim of a pretty horrific attack. What appeared to have happened is that the father may have put her in that compromised position. According to police, at least two of the suspects said they believed the sex was consensual. In court, Murray's attorney, Kenneth Montgomery, said he had seen a video which purportedly showed a young lady, on the floor, laughing and smiling in the playground. The demeanor of the victim matters, and they know it, he said, adding that the grand jury should have an opportunity to view that video. Stanley Leeds, the attorney for Brown, said: The conduct suggests there was no rape here. The case is weak. According to officials, the woman and her father, 39, had been drinking beer in the playground. She told investigators that a group of teenagers approached them and told her father to leave. The father reportedly returned to throw a bottle at the teens who then pulled out a hand gun and chased him away. The teenagers had left the scene by the time the father and two police officers arrived to find the woman. She was taken to hospital. Lisa Nugent, the Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney, said none of the four suspects was identified by witnesses. Additional reporting by AP Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There is rarely a bad time to visit one of the US's national parks. This, after all, is a country with more than 400 protected enclaves, from the colossal Wrangell-St Elias in Alaska to the tiny David Berger National Memorial a tribute to the Olympic athlete murdered in Munich in 1972 in Ohio. But 2016 will be a fine year to enjoy a starred-and-striped hotspot; August marks the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, with festivities taking place throughout the year (nps.gov/subjects/centennial). Accessible Everglades Arguably the most famous of America's safeguarded spaces, Grand Canyon National Park (nps.gov/grca) in Arizona needs little introduction cradling the most spectacular portion of a geological phenomenon which stretches 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and up to a mile in depth. President Theodore Roosevelt, visiting in 1903, abandoned statesmanlike rhetoric to say: The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It features on The Trailblazer, an eight-day guided tour of Arizona, Nevada and Utah offered by Trafalgar (0800 533 5619; trafalgar.com). It costs from 1,642pp, excluding flights to the start-point, Las Vegas. North by north-west The lower 48 states of the US come to a dramatic north-westerly head in the far corner of Washington, where Olympic National Park (nps.gov/olym) dominates the peninsula of the same name in a blur of mountains, glaciers, rainforest, lonely trails and remote coast. Ruby Beach is lashed by the Pacific; Mount Olympus, rising to 7,965ft (2,427m), is a majestic rooftop. North America Travel Service (020 7499 7299; northamerica travelservice.co.uk) offers a 14-night Northwest Explorer self-drive road trip which passes through the park from 2,459pp, including flights, car hire and hotels. Grand Canyon Set in stone Is there a site more pinned to the American dream than the granite bluff which rears to 5,725ft (1,745m) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, carved with the faces of four feted US presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln? Certainly, Mount Rushmore National Memorial (nps.gov/moru) is a key stop on any visit to this arid yet intriguing state. It appears on the 15-day Beautiful Badlands & Picture-Perfect National Parks road trip sold by Bon Voyage (0800 316 3012; bon-voyage.co.uk), from 2,455pp, with flights, car hire and accommodation. Go wild A journey to a famous US national park does not have to involve endless miles behind the wheel. Everglades National Park (nps.gov/ever) which ringfences 2,357 square miles of Florida's epic marshland ecosystem lurks just 40 miles west of Miami. It is therefore wholly possible to enjoy a day which combines the sands of South Beach with a natural haven where alligators and crocodiles swim, and 350 bird species haunt the skies. A basic Florida fly-drive package of one week's car hire and flights to Miami starts at 612pp through Virgin Holidays (0344 557 4321; virginholidays.co.uk). Cave in Small in international reputation but enormous in scale, Mammoth Cave National Park (nps.gov/maca) in southern Kentucky is a real hidden gem. It is the largest known cave system in the world: a vast subterranean limestone maze which encompasses 390 miles of passageways and caverns (with new areas being found every year). It crops up on the Bourbon, Bluegrass and Blues fly-drive itinerary proffered by America As You Like It (020 8742 8299; americaasyoulikeit.com). The two-week trip costs from 1,260pp, including flights, car hire and room-only accommodation. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Under icy skies, our picket line uncharted, unnerving territory for junior doctors generated much warmth. A beaming great grandmother pressed steaming hot coffee into my hands, while earlier a pre-school tot proudly presented homemade biscuits to us all. I couldn't feel my feet, my legs would not stop shivering, but the public radiated warmth. At times, we were almost deafened by support - a cacophony of honking from the passing cars and lorries. Every hoot, toot and blast of the horns strengthened our resolve to battle on. They represented the public our patients of tomorrow showing us that were not alone. Yesterday, more than ever, junior doctors needed their public. The government spin machine threw it all our way. We braced for an onslaught of attack and innuendo. And when helping is ingrained in what you do, allegations of abandoning those you help are wounding to the core. What better antidote than simple human warmth to those denouncements, accusations and spin? The statistics, reassuringly, speak for themselves: 66 per cent of the public supported us in our strike. But in a war of words, its the human touch that brings relief and consolation. I always knew precisely why I had to strike. The paper promise of a truly seven-day NHS - with no actual funds to pay for the promise - could only ever be a manifesto scam. Through gritted teeth, I resolved to strike to protect my patients from the dangers of junior doctors being forced to work longer and harder to provide the extra services the government hopes theyll get for free. But what I really needed, it turns out, was to know I was believed. That my bond of trust with patients could survive a doctors strike. So thank God for all the smiles, hugs and thumbs up yesterday for every single act of kindness from the public on our picket line. Deep down, weve been afraid we might lose you. There are those, I know, who do believe no end can justify the means of doctors striking. But the picket line was truly inspirational, its message loud and clear. From what I saw, our patients trust, though tested, endures. Junior Doctors Contract Without trust, a doctor is nothing. I earn my patients trust by communicating with honesty, openness and integrity. In a dispute this toxic and fraught, I expect my Health Secretary to do the same with me. Instead, hes shows a tendency for diplomacy through tweeting. Hes chosen to leak the details of our contract to the media, rather than sending them first to us. And his Department of Heath has pressured Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of NHS England, into sexing up his letter insinuating that we might not help the victims of a Paris-style terror attack in England. Political stunts like these are just corrosive. Most junior doctors wouldnt trust Jeremy Hunt to sell them a used car, let alone hold the future of the NHS in his hands. So where now? Well, politicians can learn a thing or two from doctors when it comes to building trust with people. Yesterday - standing outside with the public in a last ditch protest to preserve our NHS - has renewed my faith in the power of face to face human contact. It is time to draw a line and start afresh. The government needs publicly to accept responsibility for losing the trust of UK doctors. On our part, we can then return to the table in good faith. Jeremy Hunt keeps saying his door is always open to junior doctors, and yet he hasnt been seen in public with a junior doctor since July last year. That needs to change, starting now. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One day, a memorial for David Bowie might look a little silly, as if the country in the year 2016 had undergone a massive overreaction to the death of a man who, while popular at the time, might from some vantage point on the future, look hopelessly outdated, obscure even. Such is the fate of many a statue. Indeed, the row over the one of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Oxford proves how radically the climate of opinion can change over the lifespan of a lump of bronze. Every town square in Britain has a statue or two of someone now utterly obscure, even if they were a big player in the Peninsular War or the birth of the industrial revolution. No matter. They were, in that great journalistic phrase, right at the time, and much the same may be said of the late Bowie. By any standard we have at our disposal today, his work has stood the test of time, and there is no necessary reason to believe it will not in the future, and, after all, his first celebrated albums are already four decades old. The past few days have shown how beloved he was of the public, and how globally significant he was too. David Bowie: Life in pictures Show all 30 1 /30 David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in 1960s Dezo Hoffman/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures Davy Jones; life before David Bowie Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in 1964 Dezo Hoffman/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie 'In Mime' at the Middle Earth Club, London, 1968 Ray Stevenson/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in 1969 I T N/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie performing his final concert as Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, 1973 Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in 1973 PA David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie, with his wife Angela (Angie) and his son Zowie, after receiving an award for his latest record "Ziggy stardust" in Amsterdam, 1974 AFP David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in the 1970s Sunshine/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie poses with a pig David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, confirmed his death on Twitter Duncan Jones/Twitter David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in the 1980s Everett Collection/Rex David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie gives a press conference presenting the Japanese movie 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' directed by Nagisa Oshima, during the 36th International Film Festival in Cannes, 1983 AFP via Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie performs on stage during a concert in La Courneuve, 1987 AFP David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie during his concert in West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, 1987 EPA David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie shakes hands with Princess Diana, 1993 PA David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie autographs copies of his newest album 'Outside' at the grand opening of a Herald Square music store 26 September 1995 in New York AFP/Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie performs at the Panathinaikos stadium in Athens during a rock festival, 1996 Reuters David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie and his wife, supermodel Iman smile as they pose for photos after Bowie received a star on the world famous Walk of Fame 12 February in Hollywood, 1997 Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie getting ready to perform 'Earthling' at the Phoenix Music Festival in 1997 Pat Pope/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie on stage performing during the Tibet House Benefit Concert in New York City, 2001 Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie Meltdown concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, June 2002 Rex David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie performing during his concert at the Stravinski hall stage of the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, 2002 EPA David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie in 'Last Call with Carson Daly' TV programme taping in New York, 2003 Startraks/Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie walks with his with wife Iman and daughter Alexandria (2) in New York, 2003 Shutterstock David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie performs on stage on the third and final day of 'The Nokia Isle of Wight Festival 2004' at Seaclose Park, in Newport, UK Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie and Kate Moss at the 2005 CFDA Awards dinner party at the New York Public Library in New York City, 2005 Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie and model Iman arrive to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, 2008 Getty David Bowie: Life in pictures David Bowie anf Tilda Swinton at the MoMA's 6th Annual Film Benefit in New York, 2013 BFANYC.COM/Rex David Bowie: Life in pictures Flowers are left below a mural of David Bowie on the wall of a Morley's store in Brixton on 11 January 2016 Getty Of course, the awkward question then arises as to which Bowie should be commemorated the glam rock one, the thin white Duke, the pierrot, or the one with bandages around his head. It would, therefore, be fitting for the statue to be chosen by the public, and for it, just like those ones of long forgotten equestrian figured imperial generals, to be paid for by public subscription. It should certainly, though, be in Beckenham, which needs the cachet rather more than trendy Brixton in London. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Im a BMA member who supports the strike but Im not on strike personally because Im covering the intensive care unit on call. I'm really proud seeing so many people on the picket, rallying together and supporting each other through this difficult process. I'm grateful to the public, friends and family for recognising our plight and giving us the encouragement in helping us fight this dangerous proposal. Jeremy may have his spin doctors but we have our hearts and our morality. We want our patients to be safe. We want our NHS to remain the best it can be. We must not let the contract go through. Sarah el-Sheikha I've actually been in hospital on call today as I was providing the emergency cover as the on-call medical Senior House Officer in cardiology. The thing I think is most important is that the patients in hospital during the strike have had excellent care - we had consultants on all wards ensuring that no patients coming in to hospital has been at any increased risk whatsoever. We go on strike with a heavy hearts and a significant amount of self-doubt but the simple truth is that Jeremy Hunt's contract is an ongoing danger to future patients and the future of the NHS that must be fought. The support from patients, Consultants and other medical staff today has been overwhelming, but we must continue to fight what is an ongoing threat to the future of free and equitable medical care in this country. Jack Stewart I am a junior doctor who took part in the strike. However, I did so in a slightly different way to most others whom the public may have seen on TV. I was rostered to provide emergency care for the wards of my hospital; indeed (as advocated by the BMA) that is exactly where I worked uninterrupted between 8am and 9pm. As much as I would have appreciated joining those who were picketing, patient safety comes first. This is most certainly the primary principle in the hearts and minds of every one of my colleagues who participates in this industrial action. Jamie Lewis Im an orthopaedic registrar, and I was one of thousands of junior doctors striking yesterday. Since graduating over 12 years ago I have spent time training abroad, obtained a PhD and been lucky enough to get married and have a wonderful daughter. My fundamental problem with the governments current bullying approach of a unilateral contract imposition is that it is not compatible with a safe or sustainable health service in the long term. I went on strike, with a heavy heart, for the following reasons: rather than addressing the, already significant, recruitment and retention crises in the NHS today which sees numerous rotas dangerously understaffed, the governments proposed contract imposes more antisocial hours for no extra reward which will make things even worse. Behind the obfuscating smoke and mirrors, including weekend mortality and the as yet undefined 7 day NHS, the government are hiding a disaster in the making, a contract which will destroy morale and goodwill, thus creating a perfect workforce storm. This is why I am striking; the proposed contract is incompatible with a safe sustainable health service. A government which does not listen to and value its staff clearly does not value patients; they must therefore be forced to listen and I will continue until they do. Ben Dean The government have gone about this all the wrong way. Imposition drives a feeling of disregard for those employed. For years the NHS has been at the brink of collapse, yet staff have struggled on with little praise for their efforts. The contracts need revision, I think most could accept that but the government needs to work with us to create a contract that is safe and fair for all. The NHS cannot function if it alienates and pushes doctors away. Most doctors do not disagree with the fundamental idea of a truly 7-day NHS, but this comes with a caveat. The NHS must find the money to not only employ more doctors, so that the existing workforce if not stretched ever further, but for more porters, radiographers, physiotherapists, and an increase in all other healthcare professionals to create a system that is as effective for elective care on weekends as it is on weekdays. Doctors require downtime. The government argues that working week does not suit the model for modern business. Yet I have met few people that do not value weekends to see family, friends, go to wedding, make up for the time missed with children and loved ones. Yes, we understand and accept that we will have to work weekends and night. Yes, we know that people becoming unwell does not have a time of day. But while doctors work and others rest this should not be considered the norm and they should receive appropriate remuneration for their efforts. The NHS has one of the highest rates of sick-leave in the UK, take away regular working hours, rest time and the emotional support provided from those we see during these periods and the rates will only continue to rise. Yusuf Ali Lalloo I'm a "junior doctor" on strike today. That's five years at med school (40k debt), 2 years as a foundation doctor and 4 years more in A&E. I have a wife and two children aged 6 and 3 to support. My wife doesn't work as her wages would be almost wiped out by childcare. We struggle to get by on current wages let alone a 30% pay cut with more unsociable hours. When would I see my children if I'm routinely working 60-70 hours a week for what would equate to 8 an hour? How is a third off my total wages followed by an increase of 11% a pay rise? If the government genuinely believes this new deal is a pay rise as they are saying, then they are completely financially illiterate and shouldn't be running the country. If they don't really believe what they are saying then they are blatantly lying and shouldn't be running the country. Matt Child I am a final year medical student at a West Midlands university about to be the next batch of junior doctors and I'm not in hospital today as all doctors are striking and there's no one to teach us! Just thought I'd drop a comment as you may have had a lot of feedback from junior doctors but not from medical students. We also feel very strongly about the issue but have not been allowed to fully voice our concerns due to our universities worrying about their reputations. Just one quick point I'd like to add which the media does not seem to be putting out is that the "3 year pay protection" being offered by Hunt is only for qualified doctors and my year will be the first year who will see the full brunt of the new contract and be much worse off than our colleagues in work right now. This will deter people from either entering undertaking a medical degree in the first place or leave straight after graduation. Some of my friends are already contemplating leaving straight after graduation, something that was unheard of until last year as they will not be GMC registered and will never be allowed to return back to the UK to practice [unless they obtain GMC registration on their arrival back]. This will be highly detrimental to the NHS and a waste of taxpayers money. Waleed Chaudhry Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} My Mum went for a routine eye test for her new glasses. The optician found something unusual - the vision in her right was eye badly compromised despite any lenses she tried. The fear was that it might be macular degeneration which would mean that she was almost certainly in danger of losing all but her peripheral vision, or at worst her sight completely. The optician referred her straight to hospital, where I joined her. Within half an hour she was in the A&E department of Moorfields Eye Hospital. Within an hour she had had three tests by nurses to prime her meet with a specialist Consultant, who examined her eyes in detail. Then she was sent straight through to the imaging department in the same hospital so detailed scans could be made of her eyes. We then went back to the consultant, who checked the many images and was able to put our fears to rest - it was a retinal inflammation in the centre of her focal plane - which should go away in time and certainly won't get any worse. Within a few hours, a thorough examination by specialists had left us both completely reassured. If it had been worse news, we were told that they could have started treatment on the same day. This is the NHS we are fighting for. As we left the hospital, the junior doctors were on strike outside - we wished them the best of luck and told them we were behind them 100 per cent. This is a service through which you are referred to some of the best doctors in the world immediately, specialists in the area of concern and supported by efficient and hardworking nurses, receptionists, porters and cleaners. These people work hard to give you the best possible care, immediately, with no question of payment, insurance or any lack of willingness to treat you based on where you're from, how you're employed or how much money you have. This is our great privilege as citizens of the UK. This is what makes Britain great. This - arguably the greatest achievement in the history of the UK - is what we must protect and never compromise on. Let us not let Conservative, neoliberal ideology, masquerading as necessary cuts destroy the thing we treasure the most.We should support our new doctors and not expect them to work long hours which will burn them out before they are 30 and reduce the level of care they can provide. Solidarity with the NHS staff who look after us when we are at are most vulnerable. My mother and I are eternally grateful. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The outgoing chairman of the Environment Agency, Sir Philip Dilley, who resigned earlier this week after severe criticism, turns out to have had no idea of what is involved in leadership nor what pubic service requires. Rarely have I seen a public figure condemn himself out of his own mouth so comprehensively. He was like a tone-deaf person trying to sing. The sound was excruciating. Sir Philip was resentful and petulant. He began his resignation letter by praising himself: I am well qualified to carry out this role, and had much to contribute. We know straight off from this that Sir Philip lacks one of the qualities of a good leader humility. Funnily enough, humility doesnt make you look weak, rather the opposite. A good example is the statement that General Eisenhower drafted before the D-Day landings for use should the attack fail: The troops, the air and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone. Here is the situation that Sir Philip faced. The country confronted unprecedented flooding in the north of England. The organisation he lead deals with such disasters. But unfortunately, dammit, crises can interrupt your holiday arrangements. This really rankled with Sir Philip. In his resignation letter, he wrote that his reason for standing down was that the expectations of the role have expanded to require the chairman to be available at short notice throughout the year, irrespective of routine arrangements for deputy and executive cover. In my view this is inappropriate in a part-time non-executive position, and this is something I am unable to deliver. In other words, when Sir Philip was asked by the Government to chair the Environment Agency, he thought it was just another, well remunerated job (100,000 for three days a week). He didnt understand that he was being asked to do something for the nation as a whole after his long and successful career in the private sector. And that might mean making the occasional sacrifice. Recommended Read more If England wants to win at sport we need to change the national anthem This is certainly what people expected. Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale noted: Many staff gave up their Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve. Their boss should have joined them. It seemed to many that this organisation was bereft of its formal leadership when it was most needed. Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley, remarked: It was the worst flooding in the north of England in living memory and people thought it was bizarre that the chairman of the Environment Agency decided to stay on holiday. These comments put in their proper context Sir Philips whining about the media. Self-righteously he proclaimed that the media scrutiny focused on me is diverting attention from the real issue of helping those whose homes and businesses have flooded, as well as the important matter of delivering a long-term flood defence strategy. In fact, the strangest section of Sir Philips letter explains the intensity of media scrutiny. In a self-contradictory sentence, he stated that he wanted to be clear that I have not made any untrue or misleading statements, apart from approving the statement about my location over Christmas that in hindsight could have been clearer. The first announcement from the Environment Agency to explain his absence from areas devastated by flooding was that he was at home with his family. This falsely gave the impression that he was in Britain but didnt answer the question why he hadnt visited the front line. As this lie indirect didnt work, it was necessary to resort to a lie direct. The Environment Agency was learning or was it Sir Philip? that a first lie often necessitates a second. It now stated that Sir Philip was at home with his family who are from Barbados. But again a false impression was deliberately created. For the media soon discovered that although Sir Philip was on holiday at his house in Barbados, his family actually comes from Jamaica, 1,200 miles away. It isnt that his statements could have been clearer but that they should have told the truth. As I have been studying Sir Philips leadership, or rather, non-leadership, an excellent account of what this skill really involves has been running through my mind. It is The Leaders Code: Mission, Character, Service and Getting the Job Done published in 2013. The author is Donovan Campbell, a former US Marine officer, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Campbell describes the servant leadership model, the roots of which can be found in the worlds great religions. In his definition a leader exists to serve a mission first, the welfare of their teams second and their own welfare a distant third. Servant leaders take care of others before they take care of themselves. One can see clearly where Sir Philip fell short. He put his own welfare first rather than a distant third. By promptly visiting the flooded communities in the north of England, he would not only have served the mission, but also the welfare of his staff on the ground, who would have been cheered to see their chairman supporting them. The saddest aspect of this case is that by engaging in subterfuge, Sir Philip corrupted the organisation of which he was the head. Or was it the other way round? This is something that the Secretary of State for the Environment, Elizabeth Truss, should look at. And she might also care to consider how she came to appoint Sir Philip in the first place. He had spent his entire career at Arup, the famous consulting engineers, where he had become chairman of the board. But in ethos, Arup is not at all like an organisation such as the Environment Agency that employs 11,200 staff and is at once an operating authority, a regulatory authority and a licence authority. Unfortunately, while Sir Philip knew a lot about engineering, he had little notion of leadership. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There has been plenty of speculation about why the polls put the Conservatives and Labour neck and neck in last Mays election when in practice the Conservatives were seven points ahead. Today sees the publication of a new report that actually provides some hard evidence. It comes from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, an annual survey conducted by NatCen Social Research. Between July and November last year this survey asked all its 4,328 respondents how they had voted.In contrast to the polls which even when they went back to people after polling day still found little in the way of a Conservative lead BSA has a Conservative lead of six points, close to the eventual outcome. Much of the speculation about the error in the polls has focused on an alleged reluctance among Conservative voters to declare their support, or a failure by Labour supporters to admit they were not going to make it (and did not make it) to the polls. But if this were the main problem facing the polls, BSA should also have failed to get the Conservative lead right. That it has largely succeeded (as has a similar survey for the academic British Election Study) suggests that, instead, the polls difficulties simply lay in their failure to find enough Conservative voters, a problem they were then unable to overcome through their weighting and filtering of the data they had obtained. BSA was undertaken in a very different way from the polls. Those selected for interview were chosen at random from the comprehensive list of addresses maintained by Royal Mail. Internet polls, in contrast, are conducted among panels of people who have either volunteered to take part in such polls or else have been successfully recruited into membership. True, phone polls ring their numbers at random, but who gets interviewed if the call is answered is not necessarily chosen that way. Just as importantly, BSA made repeated attempts, sometimes as many as nine, to get the people who had been selected for interview to take part. Most opinion polls, in contrast, are conducted over just two or three days and do not have time to do this. Todays report shows these things make a difference. First, Labour voters are easier to find than Conservative ones. Among those who answered the BSA survey the first time an interviewer called, Labour were no less than six points ahead. Only if an interviewer had to call two or (especially) three times did the Conservatives emerge well ahead. If Labour voters are easier to find, polls conducted over just two or three days are clearly at risk of finding too many of them. Second, BSA has been much more successful at finding non-voters. Just 70 per cent of its sample said they had voted, only slightly above the 66 per cent who did so. The polls, in contrast, often pointed to as much as a 90 per cent turnout. That matters because young voters were much less likely to vote than older voters, while those that did vote were much more inclined to back Labour than were their elders. So if, as seems likely, the polls interviewed too many young people who were going to make it to the polls, they were again at risk of finding too many Labour voters. John Curtice is a senior research fellow at NatCen Social Research Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As public figures with nothing to do with modern music fall over each other to deliver their encomium on David Bowie, it is tempting to believe that much of what weve read and heard these past few lachrymose days says more about the person delivering the tribute than the poor object of their veneration. What on earth persuaded Tony Blair to go to print with a piece in which he said there was no one quite like Bowie? Of course, yes, in the manner of the modern world, he needed to interpose himself in someone elses story. Bowie was, according to the former First Lord of the Treasury, unfailingly polite when he went to Chequers for dinner, at which Blair was genuinely star-struck. Alastair Campbell confirmed in a tweet that the only other time hed seen Blair so awed was when he met Barbra Streisand. We now know from the transcripts of Blairs conversations with Bill Clinton that even world leaders are capable of banal thought. (Why is Leeds Castle in Kent? asks the President. I dont know, says Blair. If I were in Leeds, Id be pissed off that Kent has my castle, comes the presidential rejoinder. Yes, I would too, is all Blair could muster in response.) Nevertheless, given the access Blair had to some of the contemporary worlds most inspiring figures over his decade in Downing Street, it is risible (or incredible) that Barbra and Bowie are the only people who truly impressed him. Then theres David Cameron, who tweeted that Bowie was a pop genius, following the convention that requires a Prime Minister to go public with an homage, even when he has no connection or, sometimes, even any appreciation of the deceased. The Prime Minister may believe that Bowie was a genius, but obviously not enough of a genius for one of his songs to displace Benny Hills Ernie The Fastest Milkman in the West from his choices on Desert Island Discs. Similarly, Bowie didnt figure among the eight discs Blair would take to a desert island. So what would Bowie himself have made of all this? Heres a man who turned down an CBE in 2000 and then, three years later, a knighthood, saying I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. Its not what I spent my life working for. Of the many admirable things about Bowie, his unwillingness to accept the embrace of the Establishment we should forgive him his visit to Chequers: who wouldnt, given the chance? was principled, and he was resolute in his stance in a way few artists and performers are these days. While he would have been unfailingly polite in response to a Prime Ministerial paean of praise, it is doubtful that the Thin White Duke (a non-hereditary title, by the way) would have had his head turned by it. And when it comes to the tributes to Bowie being a tad too self-revelatory, nothing will beat Stephen Glovers piece in the Daily Mail. I hope that Mr Glover, once of this parish, wouldnt mind my saying that hes someone who would have appeared middle-aged as a teenager, but his admission that he never dyed his hair, dressed in an androgynous way or took large quantities of cocaine was truly shocking for all of us. Aidan Cotter, CEO Bord Bia addresses the biennial Bord Bia Poultry & Egg conference at the HIllgrove Hotel Monaghan on Wednesday morning. Photo: Lorraine Teevan Food and drink exports increased by 3pc to reach a record 10.8bn last year according to a review carried out by Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board. The food and drink sector reported its sixth consecutive year of export growth last year with increased output, favourable exchange rates and better returns for beef, seafood and beverages helping offset the dairy pricing crisis. Beverages, beef and seafood showed the strongest export growth last year with increases of 10pc, 6pc and 4pc respectively. Speaking at the release of Bord Bia's Export Performance and Prospects Report 2015/16, chief executive Aidan Cotter said: Irish food exporters registered record growth, increasing exports by some 355m in a period when global food commodity prices declined by approximately 19pc, the Russian market was effectively closed to EU food exports, and consumer sentiment remained sluggish across the Eurozone. "This year will present further opportunities for growth in most sectors notwithstanding challenges from continued global dairy price pressures through the early months of 2016," Mr Cotter said. Irish whiskey exports proved to be the biggest driver in the beverages category. It is estimated that whiskey exports grew by approximately 18pc. Despite difficult trading conditions dairy exports grew by 4pc in the face of plummeting prices. This reflects the strong growth in the demand for specialist nutrition powders which increased by 25pc overall and 40pc to China alone. Speaking at the launch of the report today, minister for agriculture, food and the marine, Simon Coveney, welcomed the growth figures. The food and drink industry has been a driving force in our economic recovery since 2009, delivering cumulative export growth of 51pc. Irish producers and companies have yet again demonstrated in 2015 their ambition, innovativeness and ability to meet buyer and consumer needs in highly competitive and complex trading environments. Growth occurred in Irish food exports also. The US remains Ireland's second largest exporter for food with exports to the states growing by 40pc to an estimated 755m. Exports to China grew by 16pc, holding its position as Ireland's fifth most important market and the second most important for dairy. Bord Bia also today published its new Statement of Strategy, 2016 2018, Making a World of Difference. The document sets out the key forces driving change in the marketplace and the strategic pillars that will guide the agencys activities in the period ahead. It includes a renewed focus on routes to market and the importance of building its international market presence. When conservationists for the Millennium Seed Bank at the famous Kew Gardens in London went searching for seeds from the arable weed called darnel their quest took them to the Aran Islands. A variety of the weed - known as raibhleis in Irish - is found in rye crops on the islands, although it is extremely rare in the rest of Ireland and Britain. This story is of little significance to most people, but for scientists it serves to highlight the importance of the Aran Islands as a vital genetic reservoir for the country and, indeed, for Europe. Preserving this rich genetic diversity is now the cornerstone of an innovative programme on the islands which links landscape conservation with traditional farming practices. AranLIFE was launched 2014 and involves 70 locals farming more than 1,000 hectares across the three islands of Inis Oirr, Inis Meain and Inis Mor. The project is committed to maintaining and restoring farmland habitats such as the limestone pavement, orchid rich grasslands and machair - the sand-based grazing grounds which skirt the islands' beaches. Farmer input is central to the design and implementation of the project, says Dr Patrick McGurn, the Fermanagh-born programme director. "Harvesting the farmers' knowledge and experience is an essential part of AranLIFE," Dr McGurn insists. He points out that while farmers are paid for their involvement, a key element of the scheme is encouraging participants to buy into the ethos which underpins it. As things worked out, securing farmer 'buy in' was never a real concern as around half of the 200 registered farmers on the islands expressed interest in joining the scheme. Seventy of these were successful and Dr McGurn and his colleague Dr Amanda Browne set about digitally mapping the farms and drawing up a plan for each holding. The immediate objectives were to: Improve access to land parcels by clearing boreens; Clear scrub and bracken from fields; Provide access to water for stock; Assess nutrient deficiency of grasslands; Profile the grazing potential of fields. Payments to farmers are based on agreed works carried out as per their plan. Once these actions are completed, the team then monitor the impact on the bio-diversity of the holding. Growth of scrub on boreens and narrow paths has restricted access to ground in many parts of the islands and has led to land abandonment in some instances as farmers gave up grazing small isolated fields that were effectively cut off. Hard graft The hard graft of clearing the boreens and fields is undertaken by the farmers themselves and they are paid for tasks carried out under their farm plan. In this sense AranLIFE closely resembles the BurrenLIFE project of nearby north Clare. However, unlike the Burren, most of the scrub growth on the islands is caused by briars rather than willow. While farmers in the past would have used a slash hook to tackle the unwelcome growth, Inis Mor farmer Gearoid O Flaithearta says a strimmer does the job perfectly. "It's faster going with the times. You can't beat the technology," he explains. "This is the time of year that you clear the briars. It must be done before March when the birds start nesting." The briars are cut, then stacked and burned. The process is then repeated the following year and maybe one other to finally clear the ground. "You might have to cut the briars a second and third year but they won't be as strong as the first time," Gearoid says. Gearoid carries five suckler cows and weanlings on his 40ac holding at Gort na gCapall and he sees great benefits from the programme. "It's an improvement to the land and that is the main interest to me. A lot of places have been opened up where cattle weren't for years." Building water storage troughs has also enabled farmers to stock fields that were previously abandoned. Gearoid has built two troughs on outlying parcels of land, which wasn't easy as the materials had to be carried to both sites by pony as the boreens were too narrow for a tractor. Tomas O Fatharta from Kilronan on Inis Mor is another farmer who appreciates the benefits of the programme. He usually carries seven or eight sucklers, their calves and a bull but clearing fields has enabled Tomas to buy in five more weanlings this year. Other measures have also helped. The provision of a weighing scales allows farmers to establish the exact weight of wealings prior to their sale in autumn. "You know exactly what you have," Tomas says. Similarly, the use of seaweed as an organic fertiliser on fields has been revived. "It's a great fertiliser, all organic, and you see the impact of it on the fields where it is used," Tomas maintains. However, maintaining the islands' biodiversity is essential if the 2m funding for AranLIFE - 75pc of which is provided by the EU - is to be retained. Patrick McGurn says the riches of Aran's grasslands should not be underestimated. He points out that while typical mixed grasslands in intensively farmed areas of the country have around five different plant species per square metre, Aran's grassland's could have 40 different plants growing in the same area. "Sixty percent of the plants of Ireland can be found on the Aran Islands, and there are some that are unique to here. It is this biodiversity that we need to keep." Stock exchange in choppy waters Expand Close Visit To Aran Islands: A bullock being taken to the "Dun Aengus" from Inishleer. (Part of the NPA/Independent Collection) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Visit To Aran Islands: A bullock being taken to the "Dun Aengus" from Inishleer. (Part of the NPA/Independent Collection) While cattle had to swim out to cargo vessels in times past before being hoisted onto cargo ships, these days all three of the Aran Islands have excellent port facilities. The bulk of the cattle on the islands are sucklers, with Grainne Ni Chonghaile of AranLIFE explaining that most herds comprise three to five suckler dams. However, the largest island Inis Mor has herds of eight to 20 cows. One of the features of farming on the islands is the out-wintering of stock. This has curtailed the growth in numbers, though Gearoid O Flaithearta says the cow herd on Aran has increased over the years, with farmers selling stock at a younger age. Like most other farmers, Gearoid sells his weanlings at six to eight months of age each autumn when buyers come in from the mainland. The photo above, from the Irish Independent archives, dates from the 1930s and shows a bullock being taken from Inis Oirr to the 'Dun Aengus' steamer. For forty-six years, between 1921 and 1958, the Dublin-built vessel carried passengers, livestock and freight between Galway and the islands. At Kilronan on Inis Mor she was able to dock, but at the other two islands she had to off-load into currachs - a problematical operation when cattle, horses or elderly people were in question. The first piers to be built on Inis Meain and Inis Oirr were completed in 1997. Need a new tractor, and feeling flush? How about a 570hp John Deere 9570 or the 598hp Challenger, both of which come in at a cool 440,000? Meanwhile, the strongest rated tractor on the market - New Holland's 628hp T9.700- costs almost 30,000 less at 412,000. While the sales of larger tractors continues to grow in Ireland, with 24 machines over 250hp sold last year, the most popular new tractor is in the 120-150hp bracket. Fendt leads the way in terms of the most expensive machine in this range, with its 714 Vario costing an eye-watering 172,000, according to figures published in the latest Irish Farmers Monthly magazine. At the other end of the scale, Belarus's 150hp 1523.3 is less than a quarter of the price at 37,250. And for those looking for the cheapest tractor on the market, the 81hp Belarus 920 is hard to beat at 19,450. A total of 24 new tractors over 250hp were sold in 2015, according to the FTMTA's chief executive, Gary Ryan. Tractor sales held up well in Ireland last year, dipping by just 3pc compared to the 15pc fall experienced in Britain. John Deere and New Holland each have almost 20pc of the 1,900 tractors that are sold here annually. Massey Ferguson, Case IH and Claas make up another 35pc share. However, trends vary, with Meath Farm Machinery, who trade in John Deeres, reporting a sales increase of nearly 30pc in 2015. "The new range has really proven itself with customers at this stage. Even in the first couple of weeks of this year, we're up another 20pc," said joint owner, Ian Timmons. He added that a big increase in the sales of tractors over 250hp. "We sold six in the last year, and a 8345, which is rated for 400hp, to a local potato farmer in the last week," he said. "Farmers are often trading in two tractors for one, not just because of the increased efficiency, but also because of the shortage of skilled drivers," said Mr Timmons. He also noted an exponential increase in the sales of tractors with automated-steering systems. "These systems can cost up to 16,000 on a tractor, so we were only selling about two or three a year up until last year. "But they are fitted as standard on some of the tractors that are manufactured in the US, and when we let them out on farms for a trial here, they just don't come back. "Last year we ended up selling 12 units, and I can't see it getting any less popular," said the Meath dealer. Beef prices are set to come under pressure in the second half of 2016. With almost 120,000 additional calves hitting the ground last year combined with a 60,000 drop in live exports, the first of this increase is set to hit the market this summer. Bord Bia's Joe Burke estimates that there will be an extra 50,000-80,000 head brought to slaughter later this year. The increase will cancel the 83,000 drop in slaughter numbers in 2015 and would leave Irish beef prices vulnerable to cuts, even if sterling remains strong. "Our reliance on the British market increased further this year to 54pc of total exports, largely due to the strength of sterling," said Mr Burke. But he hinted that the British market might not be as strong as Irish farmers would like to believe, with farmgate prices slipping by 30p/kg (40c/kg) in Britain during 2015. Sluggish EU markets, combined with an extra 500,000 cows on the continent following the removal of milk quotas, will reduce the options for Irish beef exports if the British market deteriorates. Irish farmers will also be concerned that exports of Polish beef into Britain increased by 23pc last year. This makes Poland the third biggest exporter into Britain after Ireland and the Netherlands, according to the AHDB. Beef output in Poland has increased by 14pc during the first nine months of 2015. Ireland's largest processor ABP owns two processing facilities capable of processing 100,000 head annually in Poland. In response to the new figures, the ICSA expressed concern at the rapid rise of Polish business in the UK. "Farmers would not like to think that Irish beef factories could see this as a source of cheap cattle to drive down the price for British or Irish farmers," said the ICSA's Edmond Phelan. Instead, he called on suckler farmers to reduce cow numbers by at least 5pc, and for greater incentives to take farmland out of beef production. "The time has come to look at the way in which supports are designed with a view to giving farmers real options. Forestry supports need to be made more attractive because the national strategy of expanding beef production is a disaster for farmers," he said. "It's time for a national debate." An animal health expert has warned the country is being held to "ransom" by around 600 herds retaining cattle persistently infected (PI) with BVD virus. Riona Sayers, a dairy herd health researcher with Teagasc, said farmers should be made aware if there are PI animals being held on a next door farm. Dr Sayers said experts have been calling for those in the vicinity of a farm with infected animals to be informed. "While PIs remain we have sort of generated a nightmare scenario now where we are generating naive herds and also retaining a source of the virus through retained PIs," said Dr Sayers who was speaking at the Yara Irish Grassland Association dairy conference. "I can't understand why there hasn't just been a clear-out of retained animals at this point in time. "For over 900 young animals to hold the country to ransom for one particular disease where we've got 5.5 million to 6 million cattle - it is crazy." The latest figures from Animal Health Ireland from December last show there were over 4,600 identified as positive herds. There were over 2.1 million calves tested last year, with only 0.33pc testing positive. Dr Sayers said a portion of those testing positive are calves that have just not worked out of the system from 2015 yet. Letters The Department of Agriculture had stated it was moving to 'name and shame' by sending letters to the neighbours of farmers holding on to PI calves, however, this appears to have stalled. The ICMSA's Pat McCormack said the lack of movement on the issuing of the letters was leaving farmers confused. "Compliant farmers are being left irritated, with their herds unknowingly vulnerable, and having to bear the cost of the testing regime that had to be extended precisely because some farmers were, and are retaining PI animals," Mr McCormack said. "This can't be sidelined in 2016, it is an essential and integral part of the BVD eradication programme and was agreed upon." There has been a fall-off in farmers retaining PI calves. FARMERS are reporting a rise in 'coughing cows' in recent years with a major expansion in herds underway, a vet has said. Doreen Corridan, from Munster AI, said there was not enough parasite research being carried out currently. "Why have we seen more coughing cows - is it lungworm, it is IBR, is it PI3, is it RSV? What is triggering it?" she queried. "One thing we do know is the lungworm has actually increased in the adult herd. Our stocking rates have gone up, we're grazing longer in the grazing season, we're grazing earlier and tighter. So that is leading to increases in the parasitic load." She also pointed out that many calves are overdosed with ivermectin pour-ons. Dr Corridan said this means immunity does not develop in the young stock. MSD, which is offering the Huskvac oral vaccine, said they expect a rise in interest in lungworm vaccinations this year due to the higher prevalence. Dr Corridan also pointed out that her analysis of bulk milk tank tests had shown liverfluke remained a "huge issue" for farmers and many were not dealing with it effectively in the dry period. Farmers also need to continue to be encouraged to vaccinate for salmonella and leptospirosis. IT's the 140,000 farming families across the country who are among those worst-affected by the recent flooding crisis. No group in society loses as much when rivers burst their banks and fields are inundated with water. Not only do they face the loss of their livelihoods as land, livestock and equipment is lost, their family homes often suffer major structural damage which can take thousands of euro of make right. Many farmers looking at their ruined land and homes, some older and without families, may find the burden too much to bear, and the prospect of rebuilding again too much to countenance. Some may be thinking dark thoughts, and it's these people which need urgent support and some glimmer of hope that their lands and homes will be protected. For many, it's not the first time they have been forced to re-build. Ask any farmer living along the River Shannon and other major waterways about flooding, and all will have a tale to tell. Indeed, documents from the Office of Public Works (OPW) show that farmers have repeatedly warned about summer flooding along the Shannon callows, the area between Athlone Weir and Meelick and Victoria locks. This area includes semi-natural grassland managed by individual landowners and the IFA accepts that the natural flood plain within the callows is liable to winter flooding. But it has repeatedly highlighted problems with late summer flooding which can cause major damage to crops. Flooding in this period has been "significantly greater" in the last decade, one report says, but notes that the incidence of late summer flooding in the two decades from 1942 to 1961 was higher. But whatever about the worst periods, there is an urgency to find solutions especially as climate change takes hold. Climate change The science tells us this is already happening, and we can expect more of the same extreme weather conditions and increased rainfall which caused such utter devastation this winter, but also in 2009 and previous years. This is the new reality, and there will be consequences for agriculture and farming unless flood defences are installed, and land protected. Government has a number of priorities, including maintaining economic growth and job creation in an uncertain and competitive world, but there's longer-term challenges too. Ireland faces an enormous task to futureproof the country and make it flood resilient. There isn't one county where works are not required. And while money is being spent, it's not enough. Some 232m on major works in the last decade, and some 33m by local authorities since 2010 on minor schemes ranging from flood studies to constructing walls and bridges, completing drainage works and installing pumps. Another 450m is allocated out to 2021, but with 300 parts of the country considered to be the most at risk, that budget will be stretched. The focus for investment is likely to be on built-up urban centres with large populations. Rural Ireland, with a smaller population, will be considered a lower priority. It all means that solving the flood crisis will take decades, and will require commitment from successive governments over the coming years, whether left, right or centre in their outlook. These administrations should not be allowed to shirk their responsibilities in relation on funding for ongoing maintenance either. The issue is above politics, and the country has never been in a better place to make the right decisions. Since 2011, the Office of Public Works has been working on so-called CFRAM studies (Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management) for the country's major river catchments. They are near completion, meaning for the first time we know the challenges the face, and the scale of the works required. The solutions are not yet known, and will require public consultation and detailed planning. They are likely to include a mix of hard and soft solutions, such as planting trees, pruning vegetation and large-scale engineering works. It also means a ban on building on flood plains. It's not that large tracts of land will be rendered sterile. It's that homes and buildings will no longer be allowed on these flood plains, but they can be used for farming. The alternative is further chaos, more flooding, more ruined lives and more hand-wringing as to how this was allowed to happen, again. Paul Melia is the Irish Independent's Environment Editor A concern for the Irish beef sector is the increase in the European cow herd. It has increased by 500,000 cows since 2012 to 32 million overall. While this masks a 250,000 head decline in suckler cow numbers, the extra 750,000 dairy cows on EU dairy farms compared to three years ago will result in more beef on the Continent. This has already started to happen, with European beef production up by close to 3pc in 2015. Dairy-bred calves There were higher numbers of dairy bred calves reared for beef, along with a greater volume of cow beef in many markets, where the difficult dairy market encouraged farmers to be more rigid in culling the less-productive cows from their herds. France, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland have experienced higher cattle supplies, while Ireland and the UK are among the only countries with lower volumes. For 2016, a further increase of 0.8pc in European beef volumes has been forecast. The 83,000 head decline in Irish slaughterings during 2015 was mainly the result of a 15pc decline in young bull production, coupled with a 12pc fall in cull cow supplies. The most recent analysis by the Department of Agriculture's Animal Identification and Movement database suggests that over the spring months prime cattle availability will remain broadly similar to last year. However, a recovery in supplies is expected as we move into the second half of 2016. Overall, a 3-5pc increase of 50,000-80,000hd in comparison with last year's levels is likely to materialise. EU Commissioner Phil Hogan said that a Britain that stays in the EU punches with the weight of 500 million people - almost twice the size of the US. Speaking in the context of a potential Brexit, Mr Hogan stressed that it could take the UK years to negotiate deals with countries such as Korea and Canada. "How would Britain with a population of 60m fare negotiating with countries like China, with a population of 1.3bn?" Mr Hogan questioned as he addressed the Oxford Farming Conference. He stressed that access to the EU's internal market would come "at a price" if Britain were outside the union. The commissioner stressed the many benefits of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the UK's farmers as he pointed out that it exports more produce to Ireland than to China, Japan, Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea combined. He stressed that it was not for him to tell British people how to vote on the UK's membership of a reformed EU. He said things have changed since the 1970s when the mention of CAP conjured up images of butter and beef mountains. It comes as a new Eurobarometer survey shows 70pc of Europeans believe the EU is fulfilling its role in securing Europe's food supply. Most Europeans feel CAP is either fairly or very important for stimulating jobs and growth, it found. In Ireland, just over half of people thought CAP funding was at the right level, while most want to see levels maintained or increased. Carlow IFA chair Derek Deane plans to fully outline his case to re-enter the race to lead the association out of the pay controversy at the next meeting of the executive council. The county chairman and former deputy president, Mr Deane, whose address to council led to the revelations about the 535,000 pay package paid to former general secretary Pat Smith becoming public, said he wants the council to decide on if he should be allowed run. "It is clear we are getting the same response now from the leadership of the IFA as to the Con Lucey letters," he said. Mr Deane said he had outlined his motion for the pay package of Mr Smith to be made public to council in November and it was rejected. However, he said that within 14 days the grassroots were all backing his call for openness. He said that with just 15 minutes to go until the deadline he had the backing of his last required county to enter the race, with the support on the basis that his rival for the last spot deputy president Tim O'Leary was out of the race. Mr Deane said a technical problem prevented it being lodged. However, Mr O'Leary has insisted he was still in the race for nominations. The IFA headquarters has maintained a determined silence on Mr Deane's call for a review of his circumstances. It has set out a timetable for elections in April, with the three candidates (interviewed below) putting together their campaign teams. A new code of conduct for this election discourages door-to-door canvassing and all are required to detail any significant business interests outside of farming. Nominations are now being sought for the positions of deputy president and the regional chairmen. IFA candiate profiles: HENRY BURNS, MOUNTMELLICK, CO LAOIS A veteran of the 'IFA trenches' Henry Burns (46) believes his "experience in the trenches" within the IFA over the past 10 years, and how he "challenged the system all the way" on beef prices in late 2014 will convince farmers that he is the best person to become the new leader of the organisation. Also being up to speed with the current issues facing farmers and having built up "huge contacts" with other farmer groups across Europe, he feels he will be in a position to hit the ground running, should he be elected. The majority of the IFA president's time is spent on issues surrounding farm income, whether that be in terms of input costs, product prices, or the cost of compliance, says the current livestock chairman and he anticipates that this will continue. However, the short-term focus will be on rebuilding the organisation. Henry (inset left) firmly believes that it is possible for one organisation to represent all farmers, and points to his time as chairman of the sheep committee where lowland and hill farmers pulled together for the common good and achieved results. The beef, sheep and tillage farmer describes the collection of farm levies by processors as "controversial" but is reluctant to commit to their abolition until he has some alternative suggestion to put forward. As for whether it should be the president that fills the IFA on various boards, Burns' answer is a blunt "no". However, he adds that this may be crucial in some situations, for example, Bord Bia. In terms of setting the president's remuneration, the Laois man says this has to be done "totally independently and transparently". More specifically, he says he would not expect to make profit out of being IFA president and thus would want to be covered for vouched expenses and replacement labour "so the farm will be standing when you get back." He is also eager that the work done in the Lucey report in terms of pay revelations would continue further, "so we can learn from the past and not repeat the same mistakes". Married to Claire O'Brien, a journalist who also teaches German and English, Henry is excited by the prospect of the election. "Because of the recent turmoil and short time-frame, it will be a campaign like no other but, on the other hand, people have never been more engaged". JOE HEALY, ATHENRY, CO GALWAY 'There is a genuine appetite for a fresh start in the IFA' Athenry's Joe Healy (48) says "there is a genuine appetite for a fresh start by someone outside the perceived hierarchy of the IFA" and believes he can unite farmers if elected as its next president. The Galwayman feels his lack of involvement at high level in the organisation will not be a disadvantage, rather pointing out that he has a good working knowledge and experience of the key commodity areas. The former president of Macra runs a dairy and beef farm, as well as producing pedigree sheep and is an active member of his local dairy discussion group. He has also been in regular contact with beef and sheep farmers on the ground as livestock editor of the Farming Independent for over a decade. He is also a member of the IFA farm business committee and has been involved in a variety of local and national farming bodies including the Milk Quota Appeals Tribunal. His first job as president would be to rebuild the trust of members "to establish IFA as a credible powerful organisation again. "There is power in numbers. Everybody will not be satisfied all the time but a lot of what is achieved by the IFA is because it represents 80,000 plus farmers." He firmly believes the branch structure is critical to the organisation's vigour, pointing to his time in Macra "where the most active clubs are the ones who get the most out of it". Longer-term, farm incomes are the perennial issue. He also believes the IFA needs to become more pro-active, in terms of taking the lead in national policy formulation, pointing out, for example, that there should have been greater farmer involvement in setting up the BDGP. He contends the collection of farm levies was an issue long before the recent upheavals and said "nothing will change the perception" that this is compromising the IFA. Thus, he is committed to examining alternatives. As for remuneration, Healy believes the IFA presidency is an honorary job and, if elected, says he would be happy just to be covered for "vouched expenses and labour on the farm". Married to Tipperary native Margaret, a nurse, the couple have three children, aged from 12 down. "It is a difficult time for the IFA but also exciting," says Healy, who is relishing the challenge of fighting for the chance to represent farmers at the highest national level. FLOR MCCARTHY, KENMARE, CO KERRY 'It will be an effort to rebuild trust but the model is still strong...' Flor McCarthy (53) believes the IFA president's pay should not be a matter for the president himself and says he would be happy to accept whatever package is set by an independent committee. "The situation where the president and general secretary set their own pay will never again arise." "I could give the popular answer and say I would work for nothing but, in the real world, that's not going to happen. "I run a fairly big operation (56 suckler cows, beef finishing and 100 mountain ewes), my wife Mary works full time on the farm and we have a child in college with three younger ones in school." His priority is to unite the organisation. "It will be an effort to rebuild trust but the model is still strong." In particular, he acknowledges the perception that Bluebell is too powerful. "We have to turn this around, members need to feel that they are setting the agenda." McCarthy is also concerned at the perception that the collection of levies by processors and marts influences IFA behaviour. However, he says getting rid of the levies would be the easy part. But what do you do instead? What services do you cut out or do you increase the membership fees? The Kerryman says he is "more than hopeful" of winning. While he is the current rural development chairman, he views himself as "a clean pair of hands". He points out that he is the only candidate from Munster, which accounts for 40pc of the vote, and so he hopes to take his "corner" en masse and believes he will also have support in the west. He is hoping that his long experience in the IFA will stand to him. "I made a big difference in every (presidential) election I have been involved in and hopefully I can do the same for myself." As to how he sees the campaign panning out, McCarthy is somewhat coy, saying "whatever the other team does, I'll have to match it. The tougher the going gets, the tougher I'll get." It is difficult to turn on the news these days without hearing mention of the housing crisis. However, despite what most media commentators and left wing politicians would have us believe, the shortage of housing and the consequent rise in rents are not the fault of landlords. They are the result of an erosion of homeowners rights, the difficulty of getting rid of bad tenants and ever tighter rental regulations. The very word "landlord" has an unfortunate historical meaning in Ireland and immediately brings to mind the evictions that took place before, during and after the famine years in the 19th century. In the interest of fairness, we should use a different term and call landlords accommodation providers or APs. So who are they, these grasping and anti-social parasites that we are told are preying on the defenseless tenants of Ireland? APs come from all walks of life and include farmers, shopkeepers, doctors and dentists and even the odd bank official along with hordes who work in the building industry such as carpenters and blocklayers. There is also a rumour that one AP earns his money, very successfully it would seem, by begging on the streets of Dublin. Many APs have been lucky enough to inherit a house following the death of a relative and rather than sell it, prefer to hold it and use the rental income to help with the family budget. There are also those who are so deep in negative equity they feel they must rent rather than sell and suffer a large loss. Countless pensioners rely on rental income to provide for their retirement years and they just add to the mix of property owners who now find themselves vilified by politicians and the media. It is of course easy to verbally attack the people who own property. They are a soft target because, despite the fact that many have large mortgages, they are perceived to be relatively wealthy. Yet why should they be blamed for having worked hard all their lives, saved money and purchased a house as an investment for passing on to a son or daughter or to help them live when their earning capacity has been reduced due to ageing? They are taking responsibility for their future, rather than relying on the tax payers of Ireland to care for them in later life. Many farmers fall in to this category and have either built a second home for their retirement or have purchased one in a nearby town. Crazy regulations In the meantime they rent it out like any sensible person might. They are contributing to society rather than being a burden on the tax payer and should be praised and rewarded for their efforts, currently however, the opposite is the case. Clearly we need more housing in areas where jobs are available. The private sector is willing and able to provide this if only APs were treated fairly. Our regulators are heaping crazy regulations on them which only act as a disincentive to invest. APs in general belong to that group that has prudently saved enough to invest in a house. They are hoping for a gradual increase in property values to give them capital appreciation plus an income. So what is wrong with that? I purchased a house and became an AP in the early 1990s and took in tenants for about a decade. I found myself being constantly warned of the pitfalls that lay ahead. Others who also rented out accommodation said I would have nothing but trouble. Fortunately I was lucky or perhaps it was due to strict vetting of prospective tenants. One man spoke of his experience when he rented a house to students. During the winter, to save money on buying fuel, they cut every second rafter in the attic and burnt them in the fireplace. Guess who was left to pay for the damage. Others spoke of tenants who stopped paying rent and then couldn't be evicted. Another AP had his house so badly vandalised before he could regain possession it eventually cost him many thousands for repairs. Such stories are widespread but the media ignores them. All we hear are harrowing tales of single parents and others being cast out on to the streets. Of course there are bad APs, just the same as in any other walk of life. The majority however, are decent hardworking people trying to get by. It simply proves there are two sides to every story. Why would anyone invest in property these days? Given the manner in which accommodation providers (APs) are being treated, I cannot see why anyone would purchase a house to provide rental accommodation. APs need enforceable legal protection the same as tenants do. Rents are about to be controlled yet the banks are free to charge heavily mortgaged APs whatever rate of interest they choose. Even worse, it can take years to regain possession of a house if one is unlucky enough to have a bad tenant. If we are to encourage the building of more houses and apartments then we must provide security and protection for the people who put up the money to buy them in the first place. The banks are also being criticised for being over cautious when providing mortgages yet when they handed them out liberally in the past, they created a property bubble. Contrary to what the press tells us, banks are now finding it hugely difficult to repossess property and are naturally reluctant to lend further. Private investors are similarly slow to buy a house for letting and until this situation is rectified, they will continue to keep their savings in a safer place. At farm level, the beef market during 2015 experienced a considerable recovery on the low levels of the previous year, with average prices for R grade steers up 8pc or 30c/kg deadweight. This performance reflected 5pc lower Irish supplies of 83,000 head, combined with stronger returns from the UK market. Following an initial rise early in 2015, cattle prices held stable throughout the spring, before peaking during June and July. At that time, steers and heifers achieved base prices of up to 4.30/kg and 4.40/kg deadweight, respectively. However, over the autumn months prices declined steadily to fall below the previous year's levels in December. In Britain, R3 steer prices are currently averaging 3.42 sterling per kilogramme, equivalent to 4.60/kg. In sterling terms, British cattle prices declined slightly on average during 2015, in comparison with the previous year. Prices there are starting off the year about 30p/kg below January 2015. However, a 10pc weakening in the value of the euro, from 80.5p in 2014 to 72.5p last year, made the UK market more favourable for Irish beef. As a result, the UK is estimated to have accounted for 54pc of Irish beef exports in 2015, up from 51pc the previous year. The euro is valued at 74p presently, compared to 78p this time last year. However, continental European markets, which collectively accounted for 43pc of Irish beef exports in 2015, have proven more challenging. For much of last year, finished cattle prices in these countries were below those prevailing in Ireland. For example, R-grade young bull prices at the year-end were 3.76 in France, 4.04 in Germany, 3.86/kg in Italy and 3.69/kg in Spain. Slow recovery Overall within Europe, consumption of beef is estimated to have recovered by 0.4pc for the second consecutive year, having previously dropped by more than 5pc over the period from 2011 to 2013. On the home market, retail sales volumes for beef fell by 1.7pc for the 12 week period up to early-December. Retail beef sales in the UK also fell slightly (-0.7pc) over the same period, with most of the decline in roasting and stewing cuts, while sales of steaks, burgers and mince were slightly improved. Recent sales of beef by French retailers were 1.7pc higher than last year's levels. Similarly, beef consumption in the German market also shows signs of improving. Beef sires Calf registrations in Ireland during 2015 increased by almost 120,000 head, or 5.7pc, with most of this increase arising during the spring months. While expansion in dairy is responsible for the majority of this growth, there has been a significant increase in the crossing of dairy cows with beef sires, which accounts for more than 80,000 head of the additional calf births. In particular, Angus and Hereford-sired calves increased dramatically, by 19pc and 20pc, respectively. This is largely driven by growing demand for these animals through premium branded beef schemes. Exports of live cattle declined by 25pc or 59,000 head in comparison with the previous year. All age categories of stock recorded fewer exports in comparison with recent years, partly as a result of the increased cost of Irish store cattle, weanlings and calves. Calf exports were 16pc lower. Despite this, trade to the Netherlands and France increased, with good demand for male Friesian calves for veal production. However, this was more than countered with the effective suspension of exports of calves to Belgium on the back of new IBR-related restrictions. While the increase in numbers to France and Netherlands was just shy of 9,000hd, the drop in trade to Belgium equated to a over double this - 21,000hd. Meanwhile, the number of weanlings (aged 3 to 12 months) and store cattle (aged 12 to 21 months) exported live declined significantly. They were down by 43pc in comparison with 2014 levels. The lower export activity reflects reduced demand from feedlot buyers in Italy and Spain, along with the troubled political situation in North Africa. Shipments to Libya fell sharply, following exports of 18,000 head the previous year. Joe Burke is the beef sector manager with Bord Bia and is currently a Nuffield Scholar looking at producing beef from the dairy herd A new incentive by Horse Racing Ireland to encourage younger people to the racetracks was launched recently at Gordon Elliott's Cullentra House Stables in Longwood, Co Meath. The 'Go Racing Student Society' is aimed directly at universities and jockey Bryan Cooper was joined at the launch by students from UCD, DIT and Smurfit Graduate Business School. The 'Go Racing Student Society' will build on the growing interest in horse racing among students and create opportunities to experience the sport in greater depth, going behind the scenes at racecourses and breeding and training establishments. Members of the 'Go Racing Student Society' will get an opportunity to experience racehorse ownership as the society has been made a member of the Gordon Elliott Racing Club which has four horses in training. The first 'Go Racing Student Society' event will take place on February 6 at the Irish Gold Cup meeting in Leopardstown. Don Poli is currently hot favourite for the feature race. During the day student members will have a chance to win a trip to day three of the Cheltenham Festival. There will be at least one society outing per quarter which will include both educational and social events. These will include trips to trainers' yards, studs, Irish bloodstock sales and race meetings around the country. Horse Racing Ireland will also partner with the ITBA Next Generation and arrange joint events for members of both. Commenting on the initiative, HRI's Marketing & Events Executive Kate O'Sullivan said: "The 'Go Racing Student Society' is an excellent opportunity for students to meet like-minded people and enjoy exclusive events. I would encourage anyone with any level of interest to join the society. It is fantastic to have Gordon's support and it will be great to follow the careers of the four club horses." The society is open to anyone currently in third level education. Joining the society is free and trips will be discounted. Students who are interested in joining can do so on www.goracing.ie Seamus OHara, managing director of the Carlow Craft Brewery, is targeting both the domestic and export markets. Photo: Patrick Browne The craft brewing company behind the O'Hara's beer brand will target growth at home and abroad with a 3m expansion that will enable it to double production. The Carlow Craft Brewery completed a 2.5m fundraising before Christmas using the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme. Stockbroking firm Cantor Fitzgerald handled the fundraising, targeting wealthy clients to invest in the brewer. Carlow Craft Brewery managing director Seamus O'Hara said there had been a "good appetite" for the fundraising. The company, founded almost 20 years ago, is also hopeful of securing additional investment from Enterprise Ireland. Mr O'Hara said that between 2.5m and 3m will be spent on capital investment at its brewery, which is based in Bagenalstown. The company employs close to 40 people and Mr O'Hara said some additional jobs would be created with the investment. The firm's brewery currently does two brews a day, he said, which equates to about 120 hectolitres. That's about 240 standard 50-litre kegs. It produces a range of drinks, from stouts and ales to lagers. It has also previously partnered with a Polish brewer to produce a special stout. Mr O'Hara said the increased production capacity should be in place towards next autumn, and will enable the company to increase the supply of existing brews, but also to create more seasonal drinks that can be produced during summer, for Christmas or other occasions. The company's main export markets are the United States, France, Italy and Sweden. Mr O'Hara declined to reveal the firm's turnover, but said it has risen by double-digit figures for the past two years. It made a profit of almost 700,000 in its last financial year. Quinn Packaging is investing more than 3m in its operations in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan. The company, which was formerly part of the Quinn Group, was bought by Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited (QIHL) in December 2014. QIHL acquired both the Quinn packaging and construction industry supply businesses. Mark McKenna, Quinn Packaging general manager, said the investment will further allow the company to develop its presence within the rigid food packaging sector. The company will be investing the money in new equipment which it says will provide additional capacity to further develop its meat-tray business. With a 19,000m2 facility in Ballyconnell, and a workforce of more than 140 people, the company manufactures a range of plastic packaging products. These products include rigid packaging for the food industry, and flexible packaging for industrial and agricultural applications. The machinery will be supplied by SML, an Austrian company which specialises in building high performance extrusion equipment. Karl Stoeger, SML managing director said he looks forward to supplying Quinn Packaging with a new state-of-the-art sheet line. QIHL said it has created 74 new jobs since it was established in December 2014 and has recently taken delivery of phase one of a major capital investment programme to replenish the 140-strong Quinn Haulage fleet. QIHL made a loss of 4m in its first six weeks of operation, according to accounts filed with the companies office late last year. The Statue of Sir Edward Carson looks out on the grounds of Stormont. Photo: PA The UK Revenue office has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Northern Ireland Department of Finance setting out the arrangements for implementing a devolved corporation tax rate. The MoU sets out the operational arrangements needed for devolving the tax, which will still be administered by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). It marks another step forward in the North's efforts to lower its corporate tax rate in a bid to compete with the Republic. The deal allowing Northern Ireland to set its corporate tax was secured as part of the Stormont House Agreement between the British and Irish governments and the North's five main parties. Last November the Northern Ireland executive announced that it is to set a corporate tax rate of 12.5pc by April 2018, bringing it in line with the Republic. The UK rate, which currently applies to Northern Ireland, is 20pc although this is set to drop to 18pc by 2020. According to the MoU, HMRC will handle the legwork and day-to-day operations related to the implentation of the tax. It will develop and test an IT system for adminstration and will identify the companies that must pay the Northern Ireland rate. The Northern Ireland department of finance will be charged by HMRC for the management of the system. The MoU adds that the start date will be subject to HMRC having enough time to develop the IT systems needed. The transfer of the power to set the tax rate is contingent on the Northern Ireland executive demonstrating that it can manage its own finances. Nigel Smyth, director of business group CBI Northern Ireland, said the MoU will be welcomed by the organisation's members as "another milestone reached". However, he added: "Plenty of work remains on the part of the Executive to deliver this key policy commitment." Stormont hopes the new tax rate will help give the private sector a shot in the arm. The region is heavily dependent on government spending and about two-thirds of its jobs are in the public sector. Although there are fears that the new lower rate may result in companies locating in the North at the expense of the Republic, business group Ibec has welcomed the change, saying an all-island business model is in the interest of both sides of the border. Ornua, formerly known as the Irish Dairy Board, has acquired a Shanghai-based dairy manufacturer as its global dairy market growth continues. The firm acquired Ambrosia Dairy, which is Ornua's first manufacturing base in China. The new acquisition supplies sour cream, yogurt and speciality cheeses to high-end retail markets in the Shanghai region. Speaking about the acquisition Ornua's chief executive, Kevin Lane, said that Ambrosia is known for its quality production of cheeses. This acquisition is another important milestone in Ornuas growth as a global supplier of quality dairy products. We are buying an excellent dairy enterprise which allows us to significantly grow our Chinese business in one step. "It provides us with a manufacturing base in China and brings on board a team with local knowledge and expertise, complementing our own existing in-market operation," Mr Lane said. Ornua's new acquisition will provide an entry point for the firm into the Chinese food service industry. The Ambrosia facility will also include a New Product Development centre that will focus on developing cheese products that meet the specific tastes of the Chinese consumer. Over the last 18 months, Ornua has made acquisitions in Africa, Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UK and the US. The new acquisition comes weeks after the opening of a new powdered milk packaging factory in Nigeria. The science centre, which helps teams of researchers to prototype and customise products quickly, was awarded 3,336,623. The Department of Jobs has announced a new 28m investment through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) in research equipment and facilities that will benefit 21 projects. The research projects which will benefit cover a variety of subjects from geo-sciences to pharmaceutical manufacturing and bio-banking. Investment was awarded based on the results of a competitive international review process. The Department says the new investment will ensure Ireland remains competitive with other nations and help research groups secure future funding from companies and Europe, including the European Union's Horizon 2020 funding scheme. Speaking at the announcement Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said: "By investing in world-class R&D infrastructure, both at a regional and national level, this will ensure that we can compete at the highest levels internationally and continue to turn more good ideas into good jobs." The director general at SFI, Prof Mark Ferguson, said: "Ireland is increasingly becoming the location of choice for multinational companies to develop and test tomorrow's technologies and this investment demonstrates our commitment and expanded ability to engage, discover and collaborate at all levels. "Science Foundation Ireland is delighted to support and drive Ireland's science strategy, Innovation 2020, with the addition of key infrastructure to propel important research projects. Ultimately, this is about providing Irish researchers in strategic areas with the tools to be world leading." The investments are being made in five different sectors: animal and human health, big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and Networks, manufacturing, natural resources and hazards, and marine. Also speaking at the announcement was Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English. He said that the investment "will advance the implementation of the Government's new science strategy, Innovation 2020. "The 21 projects will enable globally compelling research to be undertaken across the country," he said. Mr English said that will in turn facilitate greater industry and international collaboration and also support the training of researchers. He said that the move demonstrates to an international audience that Ireland on an all-island basis, is "business friendly and bullish in its pursuit of, and participation in, excellent research". The largest award is to go to the AMBER materials science centre, which is based in Trinity College Dublin. The science centre, which helps teams of researchers to prototype and customise products quickly, was awarded 3,336,623. The new funding will allow AMBER researchers to develop innovative 'printable materials' such as 3D hip and knee implants, energy storage technologies such as supercapacitors, nanocomposites for medical devices and novel nanosheets for the ICT sector. Other large sums were awarded to Infant Discovery, which was granted over 1.5m and Connect, which was granted over 1.8m. Just under 250,000 is going into DNA sequencing. The aim of the investment that is going into NextSeq DNA will look to help make DNA sequencing more affordable to other researchers. The higher levels of consumer confidence come as a record increase in Irish online shopping fuelled a 6.6pc year-on-year jump in consumer spending last month The recovery is becoming more 'real' to consumers as it is now delivering more jobs and, after a lot of pain in recent years, some improvement in household spending power THE confidence of householders improved last month to push sentiment to a 10-year high. A stronger jobs market and greater household spending power were behind the optimism. Even though the rise in the consumer sentiment index in December was marginal, it was enough to push the reading to its highest level in a decade. The KBC Bank/ESRI consumer sentiment index rose to 103.9 in December, from 103.1 the previous month. This was the strongest position since January 2006. But the limited monthly change suggests the average consumer is not seeing any dramatic improvement in their financial circumstances, according to KBC Bank economist Austin Hughes. The rise in December was the third monthly gain in a row. Mr Hughes said the index was now on a path of steady, if modest, improvement in recent months. He said: "The fact that the monthly improvement in sentiment was fairly modest suggests that there hasn't been any dramatic change in the environment facing Irish consumers of late." But he said the fact that the sentiment index had posted a new 10-year high emphasised that consumers felt their circumstances, and those of the broader Irish economy, have been steadily improving. "The recovery is becoming more real to them as it is now delivering more jobs and, after a lot of pain in recent years, some improvement in household spending power," he said. The prospect of Budget measures feeding into stronger incomes, combined with lower oil prices and aggressive price discounting by retailers, has made Irish consumers more confident about their spending power. However, caution born of recent pain and continuing pressures on many household finances, together with a still very uncertain global outlook, meant the Irish public remained some considerable distance from any broadly based 'feel-good factor' among consumers, Mr Hughes said. Cautious Economist with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Denis Foley said consumers were still cautious about their personal financial situation, even if they were more optimistic about the health of the economy. "There were improved perceptions of the outlook for the labour market and economic conditions over the next 12 months. However, consumers were more cautious in December about their personal financial situation 12 months from now." Mr Foley said householders felt more confident about making decisions to buy large household items such as fridges and cookers. The higher levels of consumer confidence come as a record increase in Irish online shopping fuelled a 6.6pc year-on-year jump in consumer spending last month, according to a report from Visa Europe. Visa said its consumer spending index showed e-commerce spend was up a record 16pc on December 2014. Face-to-face expenditure also rose, but at a lower rate than last year. Up to 144 jobs are to be lost after drinks maker C&C confirmed its plans to close a factory. The company, whose brands include Bulmers cider, will shut its water bottling facility in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, as well as other facilities in Ireland and England. It will instead consolidate production at its site in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Siptu organiser Terry Bryan said union members were in shock after management called workers into a meeting in Borrisoleigh yesterday to tell them the plant was to close. "The aim for Siptu representatives will be to prevent as many job losses as possible," he said. "The information concerning the plant's closure was initially leaked to the media and our members are now struggling to come to terms with this horrendous news at the start of the new year. "The Siptu workplace committee in Borrisoleigh will be engaging with senior management as soon as possible to establish what options are open to our members," he said. C&C, whose chief executive is Stephen Glancey, said that it recognised the impact yesterday's announcement would have on employees and that it would work to provide support, training, and where possible, alternative employment. The firm, which is listed on the stock market and is valued at about 1.2bn, has for some time been battling challenging sales and a foray into the United States that failed to deliver. It paid 235m three years ago to buy Vermont Hard Cider. Last month, the Irish company signed a deal with a US distributor Pabst Brewing Company which gives that firm an option to eventually buy C&C's assets in America at around their current carrying value, which is roughly 150m. C&C, whose brand stable also includes drinks such as Tennent's and Blackthorn, said that it would close its plants at Borrisoleigh and at Shepton Mallet in England. That will result in the loss of about 267 jobs in total, with 124 of those going at the Irish facility, which bottles water. Another 20 jobs will be lost at depots in Portlaoise and New Ross. But C&C said it would create 10 new jobs at a depot in Kilkenny and another 80 at its manufacturing site in Clonmel, which will become the core production facility for Bulmers and Magners cider. It plans to invest 10m in the Clonmel plant. C&C uses the Magners name for the cider in Britain because the Bulmers trademark is owned there by a Heineken subsidiary. "The trading environment in the UK and Ireland has been intensely competitive over recent years," said C&C. "This has led to significant downward pricing pressure and the loss of material contracts for private label water. Current capacity utilisation across the three impacted sites is 34pc, constraining C&C's ability to compete over the longer term. Under the planned configuration, Clonmel will move to a capacity utilisation level of 75pc." It added: "This has been a difficult decision for the group and it is sad that the consolidation of production at the Clonmel site is the only viable option to maintain long-term competitiveness." C&C made generated revenue of 684m in the 12 months to the end of February last year, and reported an operating profit of 115m. The company said that its historic Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow would not be affected by the restructuring plans. Martin McPolin outside the C&C Borrisoleigh plant where he has worked for the past 17 years. Photo: Fergal Shanahan The tight-knit community of Borrisoleigh could be crippled by C&C's plans to cut staff numbers in the area, it was claimed. Some 124 people are to be let go from the bottling plant, leaving around 20 logistics staff on site. It is hoped some of those losing their jobs can be relocated to Clonmel. Gerry Tracey says he'll be one of the lucky ones, but is very worried about the implications for his friends and neighbours. The 29-year-old has been working at the plant on and off over the past 12 years, based there full-time for over three years. "There wouldn't be too many families in the area that won't be affected by this," he said. "I am the secretary of the local GAA club and a lot of our members are affected. "A lot of families are going to be hit on both sides of the family because there are a lot of husbands and wives working there. It is terrible news for Borrisoleigh. "There is only a population of about 1,200 here so this would be the main employer. "The big worry now is who is going to employ people here and it is also a big employer of people from nearby areas like Upperchurch and Drom." Independent TD Mattie McGrath described the treatment of the workers as "deplorable". "There was absolutely no consultation or respect shown towards them, it's absolutely unacceptable," he added. Fianna Fail Councillor Jackie Cahill said he was angry and frustrated with the announcement. "What is really tragic here is that over 200 lives have been changed forever based on this announcement and this scene in rural Ireland has been played out time and again under the current government," said Mr Cahill. "A small village like Borrisoleigh could be crippled by this loss. There is a worrying trend here in Tipperary happening under the leadership of this Government and that is the loss of vital employers in small towns." Workers in C&C's New Ross facility are also bracing themselves for up to 20 losses when the plant is put up for sale in the summer. Fianna Fail Councillor Michael Sheehan said it would be a huge blow. "We are the third most disadvantaged town in the county and the Government needs to intervene to make sure that this site is used to create further jobs," he said. "We have not had a job announcement for more than 20 years." ITV's 100m purchase of UTV Media's television assets - including UTV Ireland - has been approved by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). CCPC approval was one of a number of hurdles the deal had to clear before completion. The CCPC said the deal "will not substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services in the State". ITV has said that it plans to "strengthen further" the fledgling UTV Ireland, which has struggled to attract audiences outside peak time and in financial terms performed more poorly than UTV Media initially expected. In November it said it expected UTV Ireland to lose 13m in the calendar year of 2015. On Monday UTV Ireland's head of channel, Mary Curtis, said she would step down from her role in February. "I am very proud of what we have achieved," Ms Curtis said. "While I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with UTV Ireland, it was always my intention to review my position after the channel's first year on air," she said. UTV Media chairman Richard Huntingford said the deal was the best way to maximise shareholder value when the sale was announced. Ornua, formerly known as the Irish Dairy Board, will pay a cash bonus of 15m to its member suppliers following the sale of its stake in a US speciality foods distribution business. In December Ornua sold its majority stake in DPI Specialty Foods to US private equity firm Arbor Investments. The company said it will use some of the cash gained from the sale to fund the bonus. The bonus will be paid in between April and May and will be in addition to the normal annual cash bonus paid by Ornua. Ornua said that the sale of DPI will allow it to "continue to develop its core business of building routes to market for Irish dairy products on behalf of Irish dairy farmers". Earlier today Ornua announced that it has acquired Shanghai-based dairy manufacturer Ambrosia Dairy. It is Ornua's first manufacturing base in China. Over the last 18 months, Ornua has made acquisitions in Africa, Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UK and the US. The new acquisition comes weeks after the opening of a new powdered milk packaging factory in Nigeria. Virgin Atlantic is set to announce a deal for 12 Airbus A350-1000 jets with a list price of $4.3bn (3.9bn) as Richard Branson's flagship carrier renews its wide-body leisure fleet, according to people with knowledge of the plan. Virgin will probably buy nine of the twin-engine planes directly from Airbus and take three from leasing firms, said the people, who asked not to be named. Both the carrier and the manufacturer declined immediate comment on the matter. Virgin Atlantic has said it's evaluating both the A350 and Boeing's 777 to replace the Boeing 747s that form the heart of its long-haul leisure operations at London Gatwick airport with more fuel-efficient jets. The company returned to profit in 2014, bolstered by a partnership with 49pc shareholder Delta Air Lines that's seen it refocus on transatlantic routes after years of global expansion. Meanwhile, Airbus is unperturbed by China's woes, sticking to robust demand forecasts yesterdayy after beating arch-rival Boeing in the annual tally of global aircraft orders, despite failing to close a gap on total deliveries with the world's largest jetmaker. As share prices and oil prices steadied after weeks of volatility, Airbus maintained its confidence in demand that underpins plans for record production rates at both companies. Airbus deliveries edged up to 635 in 2015 and it predicted over 650 in 2016, to be outstripped once again by new orders. Boeing said last week its deliveries rose 5pc to a record 762 jets, extending its lead as the largest producer. (Bloomberg) Dogs really are mans best friend, it seems, as researchers have shown they can recognise emotions in humans by combining information from different senses. They are the only creatures outside of humans who have been observed to have that ability. A team of animal behaviour experts and psychologists from the universities of Lincoln and Sao Paulo showed dogs form abstract mental representations of positive and negative emotional states, rather than just displaying learned behaviours. Seventeen domestic dogs in the experiment were shown pairs of pictures, either of a person, one happy, one angry, or of a dog looking playful or aggressive. They were then played sounds of playful or aggressive barks or a persons voice saying venha ca (Portuguese for come here) in either a cheerful or angry tone. The scientists found that the dogs tended to look at the picture that matched the tone of the voice, picking out the right human facial expression more often than not. The dogs were even better at recognising the tone of other dogs. Researchers in Vienna last year found that dogs could tell whether a person was happy or angry just by looking at their face. But this study showed that dogs could go beyond recognising facial cues to actual emotional perception. Researcher Dr Kun Guo, from the University of Lincolns School of Psychology, said: Previous studies have indicated that dogs can differentiate between human emotions from cues such as facial expressions, but this is not the same as emotional recognition. Our study shows that dogs have the ability to integrate two different sources of sensory information into a coherent perception of emotion in both humans and dogs. "To do so requires a system of internal categorisation of emotional states. This cognitive ability has until now only been evidenced in primates and the capacity to do this across species only seen in humans. Co-author Professor Daniel Mills, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, said: It has been a long-standing debate whether dogs can recognise human emotions. Many dog owners report anecdotally that their pets seem highly sensitive to the moods of human family members. Video of the Day However, there is an important difference between associative behaviour, such as learning to respond appropriately to an angry voice, and recognising a range of very different cues that go together to indicate emotional arousal in another. "Our findings are the first to show that dogs truly recognise emotions in humans and other dogs. Importantly, the dogs in our trials received no prior training or period of familiarisation with the subjects in the images or audio. This suggests that dogs' ability to combine emotional cues may be intrinsic. "As a highly social species, such a tool would have been advantageous and the detection of emotion in humans may even have been selected for over generations of domestication by us. Dogs are also able to imitate each others expressions, indicating they have the capacity for empathy. The findings by the British and Brazilian universities are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Nicky Byrne will perform Irelands 2016 Eurovision entry, which was co-written by Wayne Hector, who has worked with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj With the possibility of Sweden usurping our unofficial title of 'Ultimate Eurovision Champions', RTE has decided to pull up its socks and ditch the Eurosong selection process. Instead, it has been decided that ex-Westlife star Nicky Byrne will represent Ireland in Sweden this May. Byrne will perform 'Sunlight', which he has co-written with renowned songwriter Wayne Hector and Irish composer Ronan Hardiman - who wrote the theme music for RTE's 'Six One News', as well as the score for Michael Flatley's 'Lord of the Dance'. Mr Hector has an impressive track record when it comes to penning stellar pop hits. He has worked with One Direction, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj and Jason Derulo. Read More He also wrote seven of Westlife's number 1 singles, including 'Flying Without Wings' and 'World Of Our Own'. All of RTE's Eurovision budget will go towards the production and staging of the entry. By any standards, this is a serious commitment, and is likely to cost in excess of 200,000. RTE's Eurovision head of delegation, Michael Kealy, has appointed US producer Lee Lodge - who worked on the 2015 Oscars - and Tim Byrne, former creative director of Simon Cowell's company Syco, to lead the creative team and produce Byrne's on-stage performance. Mr Kealy decided to ditch the public-vote-driven Eurosong selection process after it failed to produce any winners. The most successful entrants under the Eurosong process were the all-singing, all-dancing Grimes brothers, aka Jedward. Other entries were at best forgettable, at worse embarrassing and hopelessly out-dated. Video of the Day Mr Kealy hopes this year's internal selection process will prove more successful. "We took a serious look at the selection process, and decided to review how the song was chosen," Mr Kealy explained. "We looked to other countries. Austria had huge success when Conchita Wurst was selected through an internal selection process so we decided to go down that route." Ireland last won the Eurovision 20 years ago with Eimear Quinn's haunting melody, 'The Voice'. "Now we have Sweden breathing down our necks, so we need to re-establish ourselves as Eurovision winners," Mr Kealy told the Irish Independent. Mr Kealy said that while some of Ireland's recent Eurovision entries, such as 16-year-old Molly Sterling, were accomplished musicians they lacked stage experience. "Nicky Byrne has performed in some of the biggest arenas in the world. He has a breadth of experience and will bring plenty of showmanship to his performance," he said. Last night, Byrne said he was "honoured" to represent Ireland. "I have a great memory as a nine-year-old, of dancing around our sitting room in a tri-colour sweatshirt when Johnny Logan lifted the trophy in 1987," he said. "Ireland, I will give it my best shot." Listen to Nicky Byrne's song on Independent.ie A US magistrate will consider whether materials gathered in a defamation case filed by seven women against Bill Cosby can be kept out of the public eye. The hearing in federal court will focus on a confidentiality agreement that Cosby's lawyers are proposing in the case by the women, who are among dozens who say he sexually assaulted them decades ago. The proposal calls for depositions and other documents subpoenaed or produced during the pre-trial discovery phase to remain confidential for 14 days. Either side would then be allowed to request the judge seal the records for longer, but the records would remain sealed until the judge decided on the extension, according to the proposal, which was among a number of documents filed before the hearing. Cosby's lawyers say in their legal briefs they are proposing the order because lawyers for the seven women seek "irrelevant and extraordinarily invasive and intimate details" of Cosby's life and "have made clear they intend to publicise every aspect of discovery in the case". Among the information being sought are the identities of all Cosby's sexual partners since 1968 who were not his wife, the dates of the sexual encounters and all Cosby's medical records over the past 35 years, including those specifically dealing with "erectile and/or other sexual dysfunction, sexual paraphilia and/or sexual fetish", according to Cosby's lawyers. But Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the women, argues the proposed order would damage transparency in a case of great public interest. In his legal briefings, he acknowledges some documents, such as Cosby's private financial information, will have to be kept confidential. But he maintains none of that warrants the "blanket confidentiality order" Cosby's lawyers propose. He also suggests Cosby, who played Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992, has waived his privacy rights because he recently countersued the seven women, accusing them of making false accusations of sexual misconduct for financial gain. Cosby's lawyers dismiss the arguments in their legal briefings, stressing their client's need for protection from "annoyance, embarrassment, and undue prejudice" is reason enough for "limited confidentiality" in the case. They also maintain the proposal does not violate the public's right to open judicial proceedings. It simply provides a way to present pre-trial discovery documents "in an orderly fashion", they say. "The law is clear: trial - not discovery - is the 'fact-finding' process in which the public has a common law and constitutional interest," Cosby's lawyers argue. Mr Cammarata, in his legal brief, says there are valid reasons why he is seeking Cosby's medical and sexual histories. Medical records are relevant, he says, because Cosby says he obtained the powerful prescription sedatives known as quaaludes for various joint and body pains. And evidence of any sexual dysfunction bears on the women's allegations that Cosby "serially sexually assaulted semi-conscious, drugged women," Mr Cammarata says in his brief. The seven women are among around 50 across the country who have come forward with allegations that Cosby plied them with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting them. The 78-year-old actor and comedian, who has a home in western Massachusetts, has so far been named in six legal cases. On December 30, he was charged in Pennsylvania with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman inside his home near Philadelphia in 2004. It is the first criminal case brought against him. The Court of Appeal will deliver its judgment "as soon as possible" in a case involving a man alleged to be the main recruiter for the Islamic State in Ireland. Late last month plans to deport the man allegedly involved with Islamic extremists was put on hold following a dramatic intervention by the European Court of Human Rights which made a request to the three judge court which had the effect of temporarily preventing Ireland from deporting him. The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has asked the Court of Appeal to overturn an earlier High Court order lifting an injunction which had restrained his deportation to a Middle Eastern country. The court heard the man suffers from health problems and fears being tortured if he is deported due to his political activities. He was not present in court this morning. The man denies acting on behalf of Isil or that he represents a threat to national security. This morning Mr Justice Michael Peart said that the court was anxious to give its ruling as soon as possible. Senior Counsel Remy Farrell, for the Department of Justice, told the three judge court that the intervention by the ECtHR last month had taken the immediacy out of the present situation. Michael Lynn SC, for the man, told the court that he is challenging the position in Irish law before the ECtHR. The European claim has not yet been submitted, said Mr Lynn, but if it is admitted to the Strasbourg court's list, the matter will be referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs to file written submissions outlining the State's position. The state, which alleges the man is the foremost organiser and facilitator of travel by extremists prepared to undertake violent action on behalf of Isil and the main recruiter in Ireland for Isil, had opposed the appeal. Last month Mr Lynn said the application to the ECtHR had been made by the deportee because there was no automatic stay on a deportation order in Irish law whenever an issue under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibiting torture, is raised in a case. He said the man's legal team had made the application to Europe for an interim order but had not believed a decision would have been made so soon. This morning Mr Lynn said that it brought matters to the attention of the ECtHR because it was felt that all domestic remedies had been exhausted at the time, late last year, when the High Court refused a 72 hour stay (postponement) against the lifting of the injunction as they sought an emergency hearing before the Court of Appeal which sat over the Christmas vacation to hear the appeal. After hearing the conclusion of submissions from both parties, the Court of Appeal adjourned the case for mention to today. The intervention by the Strasbourg based court meant that the Court of Appeal was not required to give a decision last month, but Judge Peart said it now intends to give its ruling as soon as possible. Last month the court heard that the man had been told he must leave the Irish State before December 30 and, failing to do that, must report to the Garda National Immigration Bureau by January 5 for deportation. In his appeal the man, who is married and aged in his early 50's, sought to overturn a recent decision of the High Court clearing the way for his imminent deportation by the Irish authorities to the Middle East. He has been living in Ireland for some time and secured residency here on the basis of the birth of his Irish citizen 15-year-old son. In March last he was told the Irish authorities intended to deport him. His residency permit was not renewed because the boy has been living overseas with his mother for the last number of years. The man launched several legal actions arising out of the decisions to deport him, which are pending before the court. He also secured a temporary injunction preventing his deportation pending the outcome of his case. The State had succeeded in having that injunction set aside, leading to an emergency sitting of the Court of Appeal whose considerations were affected by the ECtHR's intervention. A senior Department of Justice official had told the High Court earlier that, based on intelligence amassed by gardai and their counterparts in other jurisdictions, the State believed the man was consulted by and gave directions to senior violent extremist leaders outside Ireland. A MAN who stabbed his Dublin landlord to death before eating part of his lung has launched a medical negligence case against the HSE and a psychiatrist involved in his treatment prior to the killing. Saverio Bellante (37) is currently under the care of the Central Mental Hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity for the killing of Tom OGorman (39) at his address in Castleknock in January 2014. Expand Close Tom O'Gorman / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tom O'Gorman Details of the case first emerged in today's Irish Daily Star. It has also emerged that Mr OGorman's siblings have lodged a similar legal action against the HSE and the same psychiatrist, as well as naming Bellante in their case also. Bellante lodged a medical negligence claim against the HSE and the named doctor, although several medical professionals were involved in his care before he killed Mr OGorman in Castleknock, north Dublin in January 2014. Bellante, and Tom OGormans siblings Catherine and Paul, could stand to be awarded six-figure sums in compensation if their cases are successful. Expand Close Accused Saverio Bellante / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Accused Saverio Bellante Both sets of legal proceedings were lodged to the High Court last Friday, just days before the two year statute of limitations was up. Yesterday marked the second anniversary of Bellantes attack on Mr OGorman where he stabbed him in the living room of the house in Beech Park Avenue. Bellante, who was renting a room in the house owned by Mr OGorman, told gardai he had stabbed him during a chess game. Palermo born Mr Bellantes trial heard that he had been taking anti-psychotic medication ever since he had a breakdown in Italy in 2005 which led him to believe he was Jesus Christ. But was taken off the medication by a doctor on January 9, 2014 - three days before the horrific attack on Mr OGorman early on January 12. His trial heard that he had been acting strangely within a day of stopping his pills. Bellantes family in Italy became concerned for his health and his sister Loredana had several conversations with him before the killing. In July last year, he was acquitted of Mr OGormans murder on the grounds of insanity but was ordered to be detained at the Central Mental Hospital (CMH). Because he was found not guilty of murder due to insanity he will not have a criminal record if or when he is discharged from the CMH, which some sources say could be as early as four years away. A spokesman for the HSE told the Herald that such legal claims are handled by the State Claims Agency, and as such it has not yet been informed that such any claim has been made. But a courts source confirmed the claims had been lodged. Bellate, who is from Sicily, has been locked up ever since he carried out the attack in Mr OGormans home with a knife and a dumbell. The jury in his trial heard that the Italian man admitted killing Mr OGorman and told gardai in an interview that he ate what he believed to be a part of his victims heart. Two consultant psychiatrists told the trial jury that Bellante fulfilled the criteria for a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Dr Stephen Monks said in evidence to the court that Mr Bellante told him he decided to take the knife and kill Mr OGorman and then decided to eat his heart as the way to good and evil was through that. I thought to cook it would be too crazy, so I ate it raw, he had told Dr Monks. It was later discovered that what Bellante had eaten was part of Mr OGormans lung. Mr Lowry claims that matters arose after the DPP made a decision to prosecute him that justify his prosecution being stopped. Photo: Gerry Mooney Independent TD Michael Lowry claims the DPP is pursuing an "improper policy" of prosecuting him over alleged tax and company law offences after he was "vindicated" by a ruling from the Office of the Revenue Appeals Commissioners (AC), which said he had no personal income tax liability. Mr Lowry, who wants the High Court to issue an order prohibiting his trial, claims that matters arose after the DPP made a decision to prosecute him that justify his prosecution being stopped. The DPP has brought five separate counts against the former Fine Gael minister arising out of a payment the prosecution says was diverted in 2002 from Mr Lowry's refrigeration company Garuda Ltd to a trust in the Isle of Man held by property consultant Kevin Phelan. However, Mr Lowry says that the alleged offences arose out of a 372,000 commission payment due to Garuda by Norpe OY, a Finnish company, that should have been treated for tax purposes in the company's 2002 accounts- but was "self-corrected" and declared in the 2007 accounts. Mr Lowry, of Glenreigh, Holycross, Tipperary, is charged with a sole count of deliberately filing an incorrect income tax return in 2002 and three counts of filing incorrect returns in relation to corporation tax. In November 2014, a new count under company law, relating to an alleged failure to keep proper books of account, was added by the DPP. Mr Lowry's trial, set to proceed before a Circuit Criminal Court jury in Dublin rather than Tipperary - where the poll-topping TD wants to be tried if his prosecution is not halted - remains stayed pending the outcome of the High Court judicial review action. The former Fine Gael Minister, who was present in court yesterday, claims his trial should not proceed because the Appeals Commissioners ruled last June that he has no personal income tax liability arising from the disputed 372,000 payment. Mr Lowry, whom the High Court separately found yesterday had waived his right to privacy in respect of the AC's decision, a central plank in his judicial review action, also said that the commissioners found that Garuda had no PAYE or PRSI liability. Liability Moving the bid to halt Mr Lowry's prosecution, the TD's Senior Counsel Patrick Treacy said that the only outstanding liability is a surcharge corporate tax liability of almost 2,400. Mr Treacy said Mr Lowry, who accepts there was an invoice recording the commission sales payment in December 2006, is being prosecuted for "self-declaring" the 2002 payment in the 2007 accounts. Yesterday, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan heard that Mr Lowry had directed that the 372,000 payment be paid in 2007 and had paid tax on it. Mr Treacy said the surcharge liability arose out of an underpayment in 2007 due to errors including the correct rate of conversion from Sterling. If he does not succeed in halting his trial, Mr Lowry wants his prosecution postponed pending the outcome of an investigation into the alleged disclosure of information about his tax affairs as well as the completion of an inquiry by the Garda Fraud Bureau into a "dossier" compiled by a civil servant in respect of alleged non-prosecution of political figures for tax evasion. Mr Lowry, who claims a decision to transfer his trial to Dublin amounts to a punishment for his popularity with voters in Tipperary, also wants an order quashing an earlier ruling directing his trial in the capital. Mr Treacy yesterday set out four strands to Mr Lowry's challenge. These include the trial transfer and the "unfair" and "unjust" decision by the DPP to continue the prosecution in circumstances where Mr Lowry was found, by the AC, to have no personal income tax liability. Mr Treacy also claimed "irredeemable" harm as the result of an alleged "unparalleled and savage" media campaign led by the Sunday Independent on foot of a criminal complaint about Mr Lowry made by journalist Elaine Byrne to the Criminal Assets Bureau. The State is set, separately, to appeal the AC's ruling. The hearing continues. INDEPENDENT TD Michael Lowry has been subject to unprecedented State scrutiny for 20 years and his prosecution on tax charges contrasts with failure to charge even one Ansbacher account holder, the High Court heard. An article alleging Mr Lowry passed a note in the Dail to Taoiseach Enda Kenny seeking a crony appointment was also part of a sustained campaign against him by the Sunday Independent, Patrick Treacy SC, for Mr Lowry, said on the second day of the hearing of his bid to stop his trial on alleged tax offences. There was also an utterly wrong and deeply humiliating search, involving eight Revenue officials, of the TD's Co Tipperary home which included going through his bedroom, clothing and cutlery, counsel said. Mr Lowry was not home at the time and a woman in the house went into hiding, believing the revenue team were burglars, counsel said. When found in the bedroom, she was very upset and had to be given a glass of water. Details of that search were wrongly disclosed to the media, counsel added. When a warrant was sought authorising that search, the District Court was not told the application arose from a complaint made to the Criminal Assets Bureau in February 2013 by Dr Elaine Byrne, Mr Treacy said. Dr Byrne was then a journalist with the Sunday Independent and her complaint concerned material in the Lowry tapes, a recording of a purported conversation in 2004 between Mr Lowry and Omagh accountant Kevin Phelan. On these and other grounds, it was oppressive and "utterly unfair" for the DPP to continue with Mr Lowry's prosecution and the court should halt it, counsel told Mr Justice Seamus Noonan. Mr Lowry was last year found by a Revenue Appeals Commissioner to have no personal income tax liability arising from the 2002 transaction which led to this prosecution, counsel said. While the basic penalty for a disputed surcharge on a corporate tax liability of his company, Garuda, was 125, he added. Mr Treacy was continuing his arguments in Mr Lowrys judicial review challenge. The DPP previously secured an order transferring the trial from Tipperary to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The trial remains stayed pending the High Court case. The court has heard a Revenue Appeals Commissioner found last year Mr Lowry has no personal income tax liability arising from the transaction which lead to the prosecution, a 372,000 payment of August 2002. The court heard the 372,000 payment was due to Garuda by a Finnish company, Norpe OY, and, on the direction of Mr Lowry, was paid into an Isle of Man trust account held by Kevin Phelan. The only outstanding disputed liability is a surcharge corporate tax liability of 2,400 for his company Garuda, Mr Lowry contends. Mr Lowry denies charges of allegedly filing incorrect income tax returns for the year 2002 and conniving in the alleged delivery by Garuda of incorrect corporation tax returns for the years ending 2002 and 2006. He also denies a charge, brought under provisions of the Companies Act, of wilfully causing a company to fail to keep proper books of account between August 28, 2002, and August 3, 2007. In submissions, Mr Treacy said Mr Lowry accepted certain findings were made against him by the Moriarty tribunal but contended he had come under an "unprecedented" level of State scrutiny for some 20 years. This prosecution was "particularly oppressive" when Mr Lowry has no convictions, enjoys a presumption of innocence and is a very successful politician in his constituency entitled to be treated with dignity and not in an unfair, irrational and inconsistent manner, counsel said. Mr Lowry's trial was also prejudiced by a range of "utterly exceptional" and "unwarranted" articles in the Sunday Independent, counsel argued. Mr Treacy said the newspaper also reported in 2015 Mr Lowry passed a handwritten note to the Taoiseach in the Dail on January 21, 2015. It appeared that note was left behind on the government benches and later given to the Sunday Independent. The court previously heard the note asked Mr Kenny to consider reappointing Mr Lowry's former PR adviser Valerie O'Reilly to the board of the National Transport Authority, describing her as bright and intelligent "and not bad looking either". The case continues. Marie Murray from Balbriggan, Co. Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts yesterday after a High Court action taken by her and her husband, Thomas, against their former Solicitor Maurice Leahy. Photo: Courts Collins A RETIRED grocer and his wife have settled a High Court action against their former solicitor for alleged negligence over advice given to them when they agreed to sell their shop and home to a developer. Thomas and Marie Murray sold their store and over-shop home at Drogheda Street, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, to Supervalu supermarket operator Luke Moriarty's company, Moriarty Spicers. Mr Moriarty bought their property and and an adjoining building rented out by the Murrays to a food takeaway, to expand his Supervalu supermarket. It involved the demolition of the two Murray properties and the building of space for the expanded supermarket along with seven other retail units and a number of apartments. They agreed a deal whereby the Murrays would hand over vacant possession of both properties by 2005. In return,t he couple would receive 678,000 and also get two two-bed apartments in the new development along with one of the new retail units. However, the Murrays say, they were unable to rent out the retail unit for a number of years because of the negligence of their then solicitor, Maurice Leahy, practising as Leahy Wade and Co, Swords, Co Dublin. They claim Mr Leahy was negligent in the advice he gave them in relation to the lease on the retail unit. The defendant denied the claims. Michael Delaney SC, for the Murrays, opening their case on Tuesday (Jan 12), said when the development was completed in October 2007, the landlords, Moriarty Spicer, came up with an 850-year lease for the Murrays' retail unit with a number of conditions normally used in a more restrictive 35-year lease. The effect of these conditions was that Moriarty Spicer was able to veto potential tenants and resulted in the premises not being leased out until 2014, following an arbitrator's decision, counsel said. They say Mr Leahy failed to ensure the lease was in accordance with the original terms of the contract when they sold their business and home. He had also failed to advise them they had, as part of their contract, a right to refer the question of the lease to an arbitrator. They changed solicitor in 2010 and that lawyer did refer it to and arbitrator who awarded them around 58,000. However, counsel said, while the unit was finally rented out for 25,000 per annum to a Polish food store in 2014, this figure was below the 40,000 - 45,000 the Murrays would have expected to get had it been let out in 2008. On Wednesday (Jan 13), Mr Delaney told Mr Justice Max Barrett the case had been settled following talks and could be struck out with an order for certain costs in favour of his clients. The State's case against two former Anglo Irish Bank officials, jailed for conspiring to conceal or alter bank accounts being sought by the Revenue Commissioners, was astonishingly weak, the Court of Appeal has been told. Tiarnan O'Mahoney (56) of Glen Pines, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow and Bernard Daly (67), of Collins Avenue, Whitehall, Dublin had denied knowingly furnishing false information and conspiring to defraud the Revenue as well as conspiring to have accounts deleted from the bank's internal system. Having been found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Patrick McCartan jailed O'Mahoney for three years and Daly for two years on July 31, 2015. Last December, the Court of Appeal quashed an 18-month sentence imposed on the two men's co-accused, a former Anglo assistant manager, Aoife Maguire, for her role in the conspiracy. The court found the sentence was too severe and substituted a new nine-month sentence in its place, suspending any unserved portion, releasing her from prison. On Monday, O'Mahoney, who had been second in command at the bank and Daly, the banks former company secretary, opened appeals against their convictions. Expand Close Former company secretary Bernard Daly (67) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former company secretary Bernard Daly (67) Counsel for Daly, Sean Guerin SC, told the Court of Appeal today that the case against his client on the furnishing of false information was fundamentally weak and non-existant on the other two conspiracy counts. In their appeal papers, Mr Guerin said the prosecution did not now actually say why Bernard Daly was guilty of anything and why the jury were right. He said the prosecution had mislead the jury on what the case would be at the outset, on what the case was at the end and he did not know how a trial court could conclude that the State's presentation of the case was fair or accurate. They were filling in the (evidential) gap, he said, by misleading the jury on incredibly important factual matters. He further submitted that on the morning of the trial, the prosecution extended the dates on the indictment so that the single act alleged against Daly could also be used in aid of the conspiracy charges. It was the root of all evil which occurred to his client, Mr Guerin said. The prosecution were anxious to describe a long standing conspiracy. If there was one, Mr Guerin said, it was hatched in March 2003, months before Daly had any involvement in it. Mr Guerin said there had been no real investigation into the production of the list, from which certain information was omitted. Nobody had ever asked where the list had come from, who produced it or who gave it to Daly, Mr Guerin said. That's how weak the case was. It was an astonishing weakness, Mr Guerin said. The list could have been created in a number of ways, he said. It was possible someone used a previous list from 2003 as a starting point. It was possible the IT people who might have produced the list didn't programme their computers properly. Mr Guerin said the person who conducted the investigation upon which the prosecution relied, a fraud investigator within Anglo - Patrick Peake - had a conflict of interest. Mr Peake was a member of the task team and the reality was that the garda investigation was Mr Peake's investigation, Mr Guerin said. Counsel further submitted that there were substantial errors and omissions in the judge's charge to the jury. The trial judge had confused two lists made in June and November 2003, had incorrectly told the jury that it was known the list was created by the task team and incorrectly told them that a chief prosecution witness was directed not to include a particular account While the judge said Daly was anxious to exclude people from the task team, he was actually anxious to include them, Mr Guerin said. Those errors were fatal to any notion of Daly recieving a fair trial, counsel said. Mr Guerin will continue making submissions before Mr Justice George Birmingham, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice John Edwards today/tomorrow (Wednesday) Earlier, counsel for O'Mahoney, Brendan Grehan SC, concluded his submissions on a ground of appeal in relation to the admission into avidence of Daly's unedited garda interview. Daly had told gardai in the interview that O'Mahoney was a bully, of whom a chief prosecution witness the bank's former Head of Compliance Brian Gillespie - was terrified. There wasn't any cogent reason put forward at all as to why this evidence was necessary or admissible, Mr Grehan said. From the safety of an interview Daly could never be cross examined on, he was claiming that the man sitting beside him in the dock was a bully who terrified staff, counsel said. It was damning for one accused to point the finger at another accused. It damned O'Mahoney in front of the jury in a manner in which he could not respond and there was simply no way of dealing with it, Mr Grehan said. An application was made to the trial judge on the basis that in a separate trial this material wouldn't have appeared at all. All matters together meant the possibility of O'Mahoney receiving a fair trial had long gone, Mr Grehan said and a direction by the trial judge was not sufficiently clear to enable this. Mr Grehan asked the court to overturn his client's conviction. O'Mahoney's appeal against sentence was deferred until the outcome of his conviction appeal. A MAN who appeared on RTE's Crimecall as a wanted man has been remanded in custody after he was arrested by gardai at a check-point on Tuesday. Richard Mansfield (21) was due before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last July for arraignment but didn't turn up. Judge Martin Nolan issued a warrant for his arrest which was executed today. Mr Mansfield of Kiltalown Way, Tallaght, Dublin faces charges from the District Court of taking a vehicle and endangerment in Foxrock on January 7, 2015. He had been on High Court bail. Garda Stephen Murray told Sinead McMullan BL, prosecuting that Mr Mansfield was arrested in Tallaght on Tuesday at a routine check-point. He said there were strong objections to releasing him on bail. He said Mr Mansfield had appeared on Crimecall as a man who gardai were looking to arrest. Gda Murray agreed with Ms McMullan that Mr Mansfield had been bailed to live at his mother's address in Kiltalown Way but gardai had trouble tracking him down. Officers were aware that he has since travelled back and forth to the UK. He said Mr Mansfield's family and friends knew that he was a wanted man but they did nothing to assist gardai in finding him. Quite the opposite, Gda Murray added. Gda Murray said a satisfactory address or a guarantor would not allay his fear that Mr Mansfield was not going to appear for his next court date. He added that his previous convictions included 11 for failing to appear at court. He agreed with Keith Spencer BL, defending, that Mr Mansfield claimed that his life was under threat which was his reason for absconding but added that there was no information to support this claim. Gda Murray agreed with Ms McMullan in re-examination that Mr Mansfield never made a formal complaint to gardai about the threat on his life. Judge Melanie Greally refused bail and remanded Mr Mansfield in custody until Monday when it is expected he will indicate a plea to the charges. The importance of choosing courses in genuine order of preference when filling out the CAO form cannot be over-emphasised. It is essential to order preferences correctly, so as to avoid frustration and unnecessary disappointment. The way the CAO operates, come August, an applicant gets an offer for the highest listed preference to which they are entitled, whether that be their first choice or a later choice. It sometimes happens that when a student gets an offer, they decide they don't want it and would prefer the one below for which they meet the requirements. That's where frustration comes in. But, once an offer is made, an applicant cannot get an offer for any course listed below it; those courses effectively disappear from the application. However, it is possible to get an offer for a higher placed course if vacancies become available in later rounds because another applicant hasn't take up an offer. Students should not rule out courses because they know or have heard of someone else who had a bad experience or dropped out. Just because a course did not suit another person does not mean that it is not the right course for them. Many students apply for courses without having ever visited the institution or completing proper research. So listen to others' opinions, but also listen carefully to their reasons for leaving and make your decisions based on what is right for you. If students are confused about their choices it may be helpful to make an appointment with the school guidance counsellor. This will be a little different from the initial appointment with the guidance counsellor, as, for most students, the goal of this appointment is to give them a starting point to continue research. At this stage of the process a meeting with a guidance counsellor can assist a student in organising their thoughts and worries without bias. The CAO application has two parts. Firstly applicants must register and pay the fee and this can be done even if students have not made a decision about their courses. If an applicant registers by January 20 then the fee will be 25, between January 20 and February 1 the fee will increase to 40. Applicants should begin the process as early as possible; they can continually log in and make changes up to the February 1 deadline. However, it is also important to bear in mind that there will be an opportunity for applicants to change their mind between May and July so they should try not to become overwhelmed in the weeks ahead. It is possible to register as a late applicant between February 1 and May 1. However, at this stage the fee will be 50 and the applicant will not be able to apply for some restricted entry courses. Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin Question: What happens if I don't get my first choice offer? Aoife replies: When the first round offers is issued in August, each CAO applicant receives the highest course they have listed in their order of preference, for which they have made all entry requirements and are above the points cut-off. Generally, applicants achieving the points cut-off also get an offer, but in cases where there are more eligible applicants than places, there is random selection. If you receive an offer for your first preference you will not receive any more offers as you have indicated that you would like this course more than any other. If you receive an offer for a course that you have listed as a lower preference, the CAO may still offer you a higher preference but only if a place becomes available in a later round. If this happens, it is because another candidate turned down an offer, so there are no guarantees. Important dates Today Open Day - Blackrock FE Institute Mature Student CAO Info Evening - Cork IT General Open Day - DBS CAO Info Evening - DCU CAO Open Evening - IADT CAO Info Evening - Maynooth University Mature Students Info Evening - NUI Galway Engineering Open Evening-UCD TOMORROW Online Open Event - DIT DARE & HEAR Clinic - Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford NUI Galway Info Evening - Cavan Crystal Hotel JANUARY 15 Open Day - Liberties College UCAS - Application deadline JANUARY 16 Open Day - BIMM Institute Dublin CAO Info Morning - Dundalk IT Open Day - ICHAS DARE / HEAR Advice clinics. See accesscollege.ie Open Day Maynooth University - Kilkenny Campus Open Day - University of Limerick JANUARY 18 Parent Info Evening UCC JANUARY 19 Open Day - Crumlin College of FE nOpen Evening DBS DARE & HEAR Clinic Woodlands Hotel Waterford We have reached a national consensus on the need for fundamental reform of our school system - the question is no longer 'if' but 'how' and 'when'. Each August, while parents and children get ready for a new school year, the denominational nature of our schools gets media attention. We are reminded that the great majority (92pc) of primary schools are Catholic and that 5pc are under the control of one of the Protestant denominations. These schools are allowed to discriminate against children who are not members of those religions. It is pointed out that this system undermines the fundamental right of all children to access an education in a 21st century republic. Many courageous parents and campaigners have been pursuing a fairer education system for generations and now their message has taken hold. After the success of the marriage equality campaign many parents stopped being quiet about their children's lack of access to a school place. They saw an Ireland that had changed and come of age - they want equality in the classroom too. Indeed, as we start 2016, equality in education is an idea that's time has come. EQUATE is a children's rights organisation working for substantial change in how education is delivered in Ireland. A Behaviour & Attitudes national survey commissioned by EQUATE shows that we are a nation that values equality and a nation that values education. Some 84pc of Irish people surveyed believe that reform is needed so that no child is excluded because of their religion or non-religion. At EQUATE we are working to make this reform reality. We believe that our education system must be fit for purpose in 21st century Ireland, reflecting the reality of the diversity of our families. We believe that education is a fundamental cornerstone of our society and our schools must operate in the best interest of all our children, communities and our society. All school patron bodies, including the churches that have done great work for education in Ireland, are calling for reform. Parents' groups and teachers' bodies, political parties and the Department of Education and Skills itself are doing likewise. Former president, Mary McAleese has called for a pluralist system to replace the Catholic 'monopoly' in our education system and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has repeatedly called for greater divestment of schools. EQUATE is proposing a series of far reaching but achievable reforms. Our proposed changes would mean that no child is excluded from their local school because of their religion or identity, and also that more multi- and non-denominational schools are made available. Change, although slow, has started. The report from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in 2012 provided a roadmap and secured commitment for change. The Department of Education and Skills has demonstrated its desire for reform, including when the Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan announced the repeal of Rule 68 of the national school handbook, coinciding with the launch of EQUATE. School admission reform has started. But so much more needs to be done, and the issue is now an urgent one. Major reform could happen over the lifetime of the next government. Concerned parents from all over the country are contacting us. Our Behaviours and Attitudes survey shows that 62pc of people want reform of school patronage to be an election issue. Early this year we are launching a public awareness campaign to make this happen. We cannot, as a modern pluralist democracy, allow another generation of Irish children and families grow up through a school system which is unfair and unequal. Michael Barron is Executive Director of EQUATE A teacher shortage is hitting schools at both primary and secondary level at the same time, as young graduates are being attracted to jobs in the Middle East, the UK and other countries. Irish teachers are in big demand abroad, with interviews for jobs in the United Arab Emirates taking place in Dublin this week, while international recruitment agencies have been clamouring for stands at a graduate fair in Dublin City University (DCU) next month. Meanwhile, primary school principals are having difficulty covering teacher absences because of a shortage of substitutes. According to the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the problem has become particularly acute since Christmas and is affecting schools all over the country. The union warned that schools may be forced to tell parents to keep children at home if they cannot cover teacher absences. INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said salary cuts introduced for teacher graduates after 2011 must be reversed to ensure teaching remained an attractive profession in Ireland. The supply of teachers for primary schools is particularly acute this year because of the extension of teacher education courses, which meant there were few graduates from teacher training colleges last year. Meanwhile, second-level schools are also reporting shortages of teachers in certain subjects, including modern languages, home economics, Irish and science. As well as issues over low pay, second-level teachers can spend years trying to get permanent work. Growing enrolments are increasing the need for teachers at both primary and post-primary and, along with improvements to school staffing levels promised in the Budget, an extra 2,260 positions will open next September. Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan introduced measures to provide job security for temporary/part-time teachers after two years, rather than four, but the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) said while helpful, more needs to be done. The TUI is conducting a ballot among members on issues including employment status and income poverty, the result of which will be known this week. FIANNA Fail Micheal Martin has rejected accusations of engaging in dirty and negative-style politics after his party unveiled an election poster attacking Taoiseach Enda Kenny's record on health. Mr Martin today accused Fine Gael of reneging on its "solemn promise" of ending the scandal of patients lying on trolleys. But the party's first poster of the campaign raised eyebrows for featuring a prominent picture of Mr Kenny and the Fine Gael logo. The poster also contains the phrases: "I won't end the scandal of patients lying on trolleys" and "tax cuts for the wealthiest come first". The only mention of Fianna Fail poster is a link to the party's website and the phrase: "There's a fairer way",. During a robust press conference with the media, Mr Martin rejected suggestions that he is engaging in negative style campaigning, similar to that employed in the US. Expand Close The campaign launch today / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The campaign launch today "That's a positive campaign because its highlighting a fundamental policy issue," he said. But the Fianna Fail leader, who set up the HSE when he was Health Minister, refused to commit to ending the trolley scandal if in Government. He said there has been record numbers of people on trolleys in 2015 and continued under-funding of hospitals. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has laughed at Fianna Fails advertisement, saying: Should I be terrified? He accused Micheal Martin of turning the election campaign into a personal one. Nobody in my party will indulge in personal attack, he said. Mr Kenny said the advertisement made the point that tax cuts are underway and there is a need to invest in public services. He said that Fianna Fail had fell flat like docile does in front of the Troika and Mr Martin had failed to end the trolley crisis during his time as Minister for Health. Speculation about a coalition with Sinn Fein is damaging to Fianna Fails interests, according to FF TD Michael McGrath Sinn Fein know that and I suspect that is part of the reason why they are sending mixed messages on the issue, he added. Mr McGrath said he could be absolutely clear that there would be no coalition between the two parties as it would not be in the interest of the country. The rejection from the partys Finance spokesman came as leader Micheal Martin has told his TDs to speak up if they have a problem with his strong stance on Sinn Fein. Mr Martin was responding to Gerry Adamss claim that the FF leaders colleagues are offended by his accusation that Sinn Fein is run like a Mafia organisation. Mr Martin regularly compares Sinn Fein to the Mafia, using allegations of child sex abuse cover-ups and Mr Adamss support for convicted tax cheat Thomas Slab Murphy to enforce his point. Yesterday, Mr Adams hit back at the Fianna Fail leader, saying he is personally offended by being associated with a criminal organisation and called on Mr Martin to work more closely with Sinn Fein on national issues. He said Fianna Fail TDs had even told him they were troubled by Mr Martins accusations that Sinn Fein is a Mafia organisation. Its offensive to me as an individual. Its offensive to the party membership and its particularly offensive to those citizens who come out and cast their votes for Sinn Fein, he said. Micheal would be far better off dealing with the politics of the issue (and) joining with us where it is possible on big issues like this water crisis or other matters as opposed to, in the centenary year, involving himself in this type of hyperbole, he added. Sinn Feins Cavan/Monaghan TD Caoimhghin O Caolain also said ordinary, decent Fianna Fail members had complained to him about their party leaders remarks. Last night, Mr Martins spokeswoman called on TDs who disagree with him to stand up and discuss the issue. If they are offended let them come forward. Mr Martin categorically stands over everything he has said on Sinn Fein, she said. The Irish Independent previously revealed at least six Fianna Fail parliamentary party members are open to the possibility of forming a government with Sinn Fein after the General Election. TDs John McGuinness, Colm Keaveney, Micheal Kitt, Sean Fleming, John Browne and Senator Mary White all refused to rule out coalition talks with Sinn Fein. Meanwhile, Mr McGrath unveiled Fianna Fails plan to abolish the 1pc rate of Universal Social Charge (USC) and slash the 3pc rate in the next Budget if elected. The combination of USC reductions would mean anyone earning over 18,668 would take home an extra 220 over a year. However, the party will not cut USC on income above 80,000. The Independent Alliance will not formulate an agreed position on issues such as entering government with Sinn Fein or abortion ahead of the general election. The grouping, which includes five sittings TDs, attempted to put on a united face as its launched its Charter for Change yesterday but struggled with questions as to how exactly it would operate if it entered government. While Dublin South TD Shane Ross has told the Irish Independent he can think of no circumstances in which I would go into government with Sinn Fein, new candidate in Cork North West Diarmuid OFlynn said that he could work with Sinn Fein. Group members at the launch were also asked to give a show of hands indicating if they supported the repeal of the Eighth Amendment but this was prevented. Among their latest candidates, unveiled yesterday, was two-time Fianna Fail by-election candidate David McGuinness, who predicted that he will be able to unseat Tanaiste Joan Burton in Dublin West. Mr McGuinness, who left Fianna Fail after failing to be selected as a general election candidate, told the Irish Independent that he believes Ms Burton is in serious trouble. He said he joined the Alliance as a way to show people Im serious. I dont think Joan will get a seat. The Socialists are in trouble. Joe [Higgins] was a huge presence but Ruth Coppinger hasnt done the groundwork. She hasnt looked after the community like Joe did, he said, while also dismissing the chances of Fianna Fails Jack Chambers. A lot of Fianna Failers are sticking with me because they feel I was hard done by, he said. On Sinn Fein, Mr McGuinness said he would have a difficulty with them but if the Irish people choose Sinn Fein then I cant ignore that. Having said that, Ill campaign against Sinn Fein in the meantime, he added. In response to the Blanchardstown councillors comments, Ms Burton said she is very confident of holding her seat. In every election I face a battle and I think, to be honest, every candidate in every election faces a battle. All I can say, I am very confident certainly from the response I have been receiving over the last couple of years, she said. The charter launched by the Independent Alliance contains 10 points which any potential government partner must be willing to sign up to. They include an end to cronyism, genuine Oireachtas reform, support for rural Ireland, equality for all and a commitment to stay in the European Union. Mr Rosss constituency rival Alan Shatter said the alliance was a recipe for instability and claimed it was taking protest politics and populism to its most ridiculous extreme. Meanwhile, Ms Burton also said that she has held discussions with Taoiseach Enda Kenny about the date of the election. She hinted that it will not be called until after the Labour Party Ard Fheis in Mullingar on January 30. A man has died and his son seriously injured following a farm accident in Kilkenny. The deceased, aged 60, was working on his farm in Ballycallan when the incident occurred at 6.20pm. His eldest son suffered a broken leg during the incident. He was taken to Waterford University Hospital where he is being treated for his injuries. The pair were cleaning beet and using a loader when an accident took place involving the vehicles bucket. The scene was preserved for forensic examination, and a Health and Safety Authority investigation is due to take place. Another of the farmer's sons is said to be making his way back to Ireland from abroad after hearing the news. Last January farmer Johnny Ryan, who was also in his early 60s, died after a tractor rolled back on him in nearby Bennettsbridge. Mr Ryan was the father of current All-Ireland winning hurling captain Lester Ryan, who was at the farm at the time. Stroke survivor Gerry Carmody with his wife Sandra at the launch of the National Stroke Audit 2015. Photo: Sam Boal/Photocall Death rates from stroke have fallen by a quarter but many saved feel abandoned due to inadequate services to help them regain mobility, a new report has revealed. For those who are treated for stroke in hospital, the death rate has dropped from 19pc to 14pc since the last audit was carried out in 2008. The report, which was carried out by the HSE and the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF), found that 8pc of stroke patients are being discharged to nursing homes compared to 15pc in 2008. But around 7,000 people are still hospitalised with stroke annually and the "death toll of just below 2,000 makes stroke Ireland's third-biggest killer after cancer and heart disease", it warned. The fall in stroke deaths has been linked to different factors including the fact that more have timely treatment with "clot-busting" medication known as thrombolysis. It can dissolve blood clots and restore the flow of blood to the brain. Other factors playing a part include better treatment of risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol as well a drop in smoking. However, the audit pointed out a high proportion of survivors suffer needless disability because of a lack of rehabilitation services. And only one-third of stroke victims who are rushed to hospital are being directly admitted to a special stroke unit where there is a range of expertise in treating stroke. The report also found there is a serious shortage of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. The medical director of the IHF, Dr Angie Brown, said: "If therapy levels are inadequate in hospital, we know they are significantly worse in the community. There is a near-total absence of community stroke teams, fuelling a very strong sense among survivors of being saved and then abandoned by the health system at the hospital gates." Prof Joe Harbison, of St James's Hospital in Dublin, said that while progress had been made, it could not take away from the persistent and substantial deficits in services. "The study showed that only about half of patients are admitted to a stroke unit at any time during their hospital stay. "Treatment in a unit is the most basic standard in the care of stroke patients and substantially improves the chances of independent recovery after stroke." The stroke programme needs more investment to maintain progress. Around half of stroke survivors suffer anxiety, depression or severe psychological distress but access to services to treat these side-effects is limited to just two hospitals nationally. The report revealed that 27 hospitals treat stroke patients during the acute phase of their care. Of these, 21 have a stroke unit, up from one stroke unit in the whole country in 2008. The 2015 audit found 150 stroke beds nationally. However, 61pc of in-patients with a stroke at the time of the audit were being managed on a ward other than a stroke unit. The estimated national thrombolysis rate of 11pc is comparable to international norms. The number of patients on trolleys waiting more than nine hours for a bed was higher yesterday than on the same day in January 2015, according to the HSE's own figures. There were 455 on trolleys in emergency departments countrywide yesterday morning. Of these, 201 were waiting for a bed for more than nine hours. On the same day last year, 382 were on trolleys and 161 waiting more than nine hours for a bed. The ongoing pressure on emergency departments remains relentless as it is expected to be up to a week before the new measures, agreed with nurses to reduce overcrowding, have an impact. Health Minister Leo Varadkar visited the emergency department of Portlaoise Hospital yesterday, the future of which has been questioned. He inspected the unit, where earlier around 18 patients were still waiting for a bed. A report on the future of services in the hospital is being finalised and is not expected to be published before the election. Meanwhile, trolley figures for December by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) found the level of overcrowding fell by 13pc compared to December 2014. "However, a year-on-year analysis found that there was an increase of 21pc in overcrowding from January to December 2015 compared to the same period for 2014," it said. It revealed: December 2015 showed a decrease of 928 admitted patients awaiting a hospital bed. From January to December 2015, almost 93,000 patients waited on a trolley for an in-patient bed compared to 77,000 in 2014. This was the highest since INMO records began. Union chief Liam Doran said: "While we welcome the reduction of 13pc in the December 2015 figures, the 21pc overall increase in 2015 figures compared to 2014 is very disappointing. "Also, the first days of January this year show no sign of the crisis abating. "Today's figures show 537 sick people waiting on trolleys for a hospital bed. "It is now absolutely vital that the HSE, at national level, and at senior level within all hospital groups immediately commits to fully operating the revised policy. "Their priority must be to reduce overcrowding and ensure that nurses can practise safely within a manageable working environment so that we never see these figures again." The union is now putting the new proposals to a ballot and the findings will be clear in three weeks. Hospital managers will be hopeful that nurses will vote in favour and lift the threat of strike action. The HSE and the INMO use different methods to calculate trolley figures. According to the union yesterday, there were 46 patients waiting for a bed at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. In Beaumont there were 38 patients crammed into its emergency unit with another four on trolleys in wards. St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin has 38 lying on trolleys. The nurses will be particularly monitoring these hospitals in the coming weeks to see if there is an reduction in overcrowding. They're seeking proof that managers are serious about implementing measures such as discharging patients and stopping admissions of patients from waiting lists. These are necessary to free up beds for patients on trolleys. Ailbhe Kenny (16) and Iseult Larkin (16) from Mount Anville Seconday School, Dublin, watch a live Caesarean section at the RCSI. Photo: Maxwells It's a boy! More than 180 students from 90 secondary schools erupted in spontaneous applause yesterday as they witnessed a baby being born through Caesarean section on a video link to the operating theatre. It was part of the week-long MiniMed training programme held between Royal College of Surgeons and Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. The delivery, which brought out the squeamish side of some of the teens, was relayed live from the the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. However, there was relief all round when obstetrician Dr Fergal Malone, the master of the Rotunda, held up the bouncing baby boy. As part of the programme, students will also attend interactive lectures, receiving hands-on training in clinical skills and getting practical experience in medicine. Professor Arnold Hill of Beaumont Hospital said: "It doesn't get much more hands-on than watching a baby being born in front of your eyes. It gives excellent insight into careers in medicine." A newly formed, heavily armed Regional Support Unit (RSU) is to be assigned to Dublin as a direct response to the growing security threat. Stock picture Garda and Army intelligence units are monitoring upwards of 40 individuals who have been identified as either Isil supporters or jihadi fighters, the Irish Independent has learned. Sources have revealed the majority of the suspects under surveillance are believed to be involved in recruiting and providing logistic support to the extremist terror group. A small number of jihadi fighters living in Ireland have also been secretly prevented from leaving the country and are under constant surveillance. According to informed security sources the "40-plus" Isil members have been identified as a result of ongoing intelligence-gathering operations conducted by the Garda and their international counterparts. The Irish Independent can also reveal a newly formed, heavily armed Regional Support Unit (RSU) is to be assigned to Dublin as a direct response to the growing security threat. It is understood the new, high visibility special weapons and tactics unit (Swat) will have 60 members, including 10 sergeants and 50 gardai. The decision by the Garda Commissioner to organise the new RSU came in response to an ongoing high-level review of security in the wake of increased Isil terror attacks across Europe. The unit - which is similar to the existing RSU units already deployed for some years in each of the Garda regions outside the capital - will be deployed on the streets to free up the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) for more intensive counter-terrorism operations. It is also understood that as part of the increased security measures additional specialist personnel are being recruited to the Garda Counter Terrorism International (CTI) unit, the ERU, military intelligence and the Army Ranger Wing (ARW). Threat Over the past year the number of joint training operations between the ERU and the ARW has increased in a bid to prepare for any potential threat. According to intelligence sources most of the Isil suspects currently being monitored here are involved in the recruitment of radicalised young Muslim men and providing financial assistance to enable the fighters to travel to Syria and Iraq. Last January, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, the threat level was upgraded by the national security committee from "low" to "moderate". This means while a terror attack is possible it is unlikely. Following the second Paris atrocity by Isil killers in November, the committee, which includes the Garda Commissioner, Defence Forces Chief of Staff, their senior security advisers and senior officials from the Departments of Justice, Defence and Foreign Affairs, agreed that the threat level should remain at moderate. It is understood senior gardai are in constant contact with security agencies across the western world and security intelligence is being updated on a daily basis. The Irish Independent understands gardai have also been involved in building evidence against a number of suspects with a view to either charging them with criminal offences or deporting them. Just over two weeks ago, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg issued a temporary order suspending the State's attempt to deport a foreign national who was described as posing a threat to national security, in the first such case of its type here. At an emergency sitting of the High Court during the Christmas break, evidence was given of Garda suspicions the man was a "recruiter" of Islamic terrorists and that he "makes travel arrangements" for others to fight in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The man, who is aged in his 50s and is the father of an Irish-born teenage son, came to Ireland several years ago as an asylum seeker. The damage caused by a phone charger fire in Dublin last month The damage caused by a phone charger fire in Dublin last month Leaving a charging phone or a hair dryer on your bed could lead to a fire in your home, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) have warned. The NSAI issued the warning following another home blaze in Dublin, in which they highlighted the dangers involved in charging phones or gadgets on beds or armchairs. Electrical products like hair straighteners, hairdryers, laptops and phone chargers can be incredibly dangerous if left on beds or sofas, said a spokesman. The warning came after Dublin Fire Brigade brought a blaze under control at an apartment in Islandbridge which was caused by a charger left charging on a bed. Although duvets and quilts often undergo flammability tests, accidents like this can still occur, said the spokesman. Dublin Fire Brigade also issued a warning to the public on the danger of using chargers on beds. Expand Close The damage caused by a phone charger fire in Dublin last month / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The damage caused by a phone charger fire in Dublin last month Brigade emergency crews posted photographs on Twitter of the aftermath of the blaze. The firefighters photographs show a mattress with significant fire damage. A mobile phone charger and an electric hair dryer were pictured lying on the charred springs of the mattress. The photographs act as a safety message. People need to see the damage that can be done by phone chargers used on beds. Chargers can get very hot, a spokeswoman for Dublin Fire Brigade said. The tweeted photographs show a nest of electrical cables and chargers on the floor beside the bed. The room was heavily smoke damaged in the blaze on Monday night but it was only through quick action that the fire was not much worse. A fire tonight in a city apartment caused by a charging device on a duvet. Be safe, keep all gadgets away from your bed, said the tweet accompanying the images on the Dublin Fire Brigade account. A brigade spokesperson said that nobody was injured in the incident. Last year, Dublin Fire Brigade issued a similar warning to the public about leaving plugged-in chargers unattended after a blaze in Castleknock. It said the fire was caused by a charger left on a bed. Chargers are especially susceptible to overheating when placed on textiles, said a Fire Brigade spokeswoman. A big risk is that a device could be charging on a bed when someone is asleep in the room and that they could be overcome by toxic gas and smoke, she added. Fire chiefs say it is safe to charge phones on bedside tables, but not on beds. This is because the materials used in bedding are much more likely to catch fire from heat generated during charging, fire experts say. No one was injured in either last nights blaze or the incident last year, but the Fire Brigade is keen to encourage safe usage of electronic chargers to prevent any similar incidents in the future. They also endorsed the following rules when powering up gadgets, especially mobile phones. Read More 1. Don't buy cheap, unbranded chargers and make sure chargers are compatible to the device being used 2. Don't leave things to charge overnight or beyond the recommended charging time as stipulated in the instructions 3. Don't ever charge an appliance on a combustible surface 4. Do follow the manufacturer's instructions in relation to the device 5. Do keep electrical items away from flammable materials when charging 6. Don't overload sockets LUAS drivers are to stage two 48 hour strikes next month. Dubliners face travel chaos when workers down tools on February 11 and 12, and a week later on February 18 and 19 both Thursdays and Fridays. Siptu trade union confirmed three of four groups of workers, who balloted overwhelmingly to take industrial action, said their preference was to strike for 48 hours at meetings this week. It will be the first strike for the Dublin tram operator. A majority of the 180 drivers, 37 revenue protection officers, and eight revenue protection supervisors backed the 48-hour option. The fourth and final group of staff - 16 control room officers will work to rule. The meetings come as their employer Transdev released figures showing drivers are seeking a massive pay rise of almost 54pc. It said tram drivers on 42,247 a year are seeking a 53.8pc increase to 64,993 substantially more than an Irish Rail driver. This is far above the average pay claims of between two and three percent on average, which were lodged by unions with employers last year. However, SIPTU says the amounts being sought would be spread over five years, although a 54pc increase would still represent an annual rise of over 10pc. The strike is set to cause major chaos for the travelling public and government just ahead of the general election. Transdev said: * Revenue Protection officer (ticket inspector) on a current salary of 36,434 is seeking an increase to 43,720, or 20pc, by 2017. * A revenue protection supervisor (ticket inspector supervisor) on a current salary of 39,541 is seeking an increase to 50,771.33 (28pc) by 2017. *Traffic supervisors on a current salary of 47,941 are seeking an increase to 57,941 by 2017. Transdev said the pay claims being pursued by SIPTU are between 8.5pc and 53.8pc and would cost it 30m over its five year contract, or 6m a year. It said it lost 700,000 last year and is predicting further losses this year. It is disappointing for us to learn that union employees plan on stopping the Luas service in pursuance of their pay claims, said Transdev Managing Director, Gerry Madden. We believe the pay and terms and conditions of Luas employees are, and always have been, very favourable. It said the Labour Court recommended that they hold meaningful talks at the Workplace Relations Commission, and this was the only way the row could be resolved. Diesel and petrol prices across Ireland have again plummeted, one year on from a six-year low. Petrol price tracker Pumps.ie reports that the average for petrol nationwide is 126.9 cent and diesel 114.9 cent per litre, with many stations falling well below those prices. Diesel has particularly plummeted, with Gala in Ballina, Co. Mayo selling diesel for 99.9 cent per litre. The second-cheapest in the country is Texaco in Greatmeadow, Boyle, selling diesel at 103.8 cent. According to Pumps.ie, the cheapest place in Ireland to buy petrol is Pierce Kavanagh's Service Station in Main Street, Urlingford, at 119.9 cent per litre. Independent.ie are looking for the lowest (and highest!) petrol & diesel prices in the country.If you think your local petrol station deserves either accolade, leave a comment below or tweet with #IndoSubmit. Posted by Independent.ie on Wednesday, 13 January 2016 Five of the stations in the site's list of the cheapest ten stations for diesel are based in Mayo. If you've spotted cheaper tweet your local prices with the hashtag #indosubmit or email contact@independent.ie There is no simple reason for the drop in oil prices but there are contributing factors. Instability in the Middle East is one but it is also a supply and demand story. The US, while not an exporter of crude oil, has nearly doubled production in recent years making it harder for traditional producers to find markets. Oil produced by the likes of Saudi that was once sold in the US is competing for Asian markets pushing prices down lower while others like Canada, Iraq and Russia keep producing. As a result, prices have dropped even below last year's recorded six-year low. AA Ireland's Conor Faughnan told the Star that motorists would be paying even less if it wasn't for the high rate of tax. "If the government were to take the tax off the current price, the cost of a litre of fuel would only be around 28 or 29 cent per litre. This time last year, motorists reported paying as little as 1.22.8 per litre of petrol and 1.17.8 per litre of diesel. Faughnan made the same comments on tax this time last year, saying that motorists were not "getting the full benefit" of the record low. "Its a pity that Irish fuel taxes are at all time high" he said. "At the moment about 60pc of what you pay for a litre of petrol is taxed". "We should be buying petrol for less than a euro a litre, but we wont because of the extra austerity era taxes that have been applied since the crisis began and havent been lifted". Motorists across Ireland saw prices fall to 129.9 for petrol and diesel at 121.9 for diesel last January. If you've spotted cheaper tweet your local prices with the hashtag #indosubmit or email contact@independent.ie Compare these to January 2013, when the average price at the pump was 157.9 for petrol and 150.8 for diesel, according to AA Ireland. They peaked two months later and by January 2014 prices were down to 152.9 for petrol and 147.6 for diesel. Read More Cheapest stations around the country County Petrol Diesel Carlow Gulf Oil Carlow Road, Leighlinbridge 123.8c Applegreen Tullow Road, Carlow 106.8c Cork Top Whites Cross, Cork 122.7c Top Whites Cross, Cork 106.7c Dublin Maxol 231-235 Harold's Cross Road, Harold's Cross 121.7c Jones Oil Greenhills Road, Dublin 24 104.9c Galway Topaz O'Loughlins, Kinvara 122.9c EK Fuels Ltd. Headford Road, Galway City 106.9c Kerry Applegreen Manor Village, Tralee 120.8c Applegreen Manor Village, Tralee 105.8c Kildare Applegreen Edward Street, Newbridge 119.8c Applegreen Monasterevin rd, Athy 108.8c Kilkenny Top Irishtown, Kilkenny City 120.9c - Laois Emo Link Road, Portarlington 127.9c Emo Link Road, Portarlington 114.9c Limerick Garvey's St. Marys Rd, Newcastlewest 121.8c Top Killarney Road, Abbeyfeale 106.8c Longford Applegreen Dublin Road, Longford 123.8c Applegreen Dublin Road, Longford 109.8c Mayo APPLEGREEN Ballina Street, Crossmolina 120.8c Gala Station Road, Ballina 99.9c Meath Esso Fairyhouse Rd, Ratoath 124.9c Esso Fairyhouse Rd, Ratoath 106.9c Monaghan Top Blayney/Mon.Rd , Clontibret 125.9c Independent Cootehill Road, Monaghan Town 107.9c Roscommon Texaco Greatmeadow, Boyle 122.8c Texaco Greatmeadow, Boyle 103.8c Sligo Sligo Fuels Deep Water Quay, Finisklin 122.9c Sligo Fuels Deep Water Quay, Finisklin 106.9c Waterford Esso N25, Tarrabridge, Dungarvan 120.9c Independent Waterford Road, Tramore Co Waterford 106.9c A Customs dog used to sniff out drugs and illegal cigarettes discovered 18 puppies being illegally exported to England in the boot of a car Ireland's reputation as the puppy farm capital of Europe is being challenged as the Government looks to clamp down on the illegal trade of animals. It comes after a Customs dog used to sniff out drugs and illegal cigarettes discovered 18 puppies being illegally exported to England in the boot of a car. The DSPCA said that the illegal trade of animals across borders was a huge issue. DSPCA Head of Education Gillian Bird said that the illegal trade of puppies costs the taxpayer millions in lost revenue every year. Some puppy traders are making profits of 1,000pc by illegally selling animals. "These puppy traders are buying animals without microchips and the relevant paper work for 80 or 120 and then selling them on in the UK or on the continent for 800 to 1,000," said Ms Bird. "Some of these animals are sold cheaply but the way that they are reared means some might have long-term health issues," she added. Three of the 18 dogs discovered by Customs officials in Dublin Port this week are said to be in poor health. All of them were discovered in the back of a saloon car that was on the way to England where they were due to be sold on. The DSPCA is now caring for the animals and they hope that they will be able to make the puppies available for adoption in the next three weeks. "There is nothing wrong with the transportation of animals as long as your vehicle is registered for the safe transportation of dogs and the animals have passports," said Ms Bird. "These dogs were all travelling in the boot of a car and had no paperwork. The dog who found them was looking for drugs so this was a stroke of luck." Ciara Tumelty OBoyle died suddenly at her home in Newcastle, Co Down. The cause of her death is not yet known Tributes have been paid to a young Co Down mother who died suddenly - the third tragedy to strike the same family in five years. The emergency services were called to the Newcastle home of Ciara Tumelty O'Boyle (38) late on Monday night, where she was staying with her son (9). The cause of death is unknown at this stage. John McPoland from the Ambulance Service said: "Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the patient was declared deceased at the scene." There have been other heartbreaks for the family in recent years. In February 2010, the body of Ciara's mother Claire was discovered in a house in Kenway Drive in the Co Down town. The former nurse and mother-of-three, who was in her 50s, was found in her bath. Ciara's brother Mark (38) lost his life to suicide while in San Francisco in 2012. Her brother Paul is the sole surviving sibling. Ciara managed the Base Coffee Company, a popular cafe for tourists and locals overlooking the seafront on Newcastle's main street. SDLP councillor for the area, Laura Devlin, said Ciara, a former pupil of St Malachy's College in Castlewellan, was extremely well-liked in Newcastle and came from a well respected and close family. "Ciara was absolutely full of life," she added. "They would be a really, really popular family round Newcastle - everybody would know the Tumeltys. "[They were] a very close-knit family and so well respected in the community." Ms Devlin said that her thoughts were also with Ciara's brother Paul, who has now lost three family members in five years. She added he worked near to Ciara and the two had been especially close. Friends of Ciara have been quick to pay their respects to the family online. Laura-Marie McMullan posted on Facebook yesterday: "Absolutely devastated by the news of Ciara Tumelty O'Boyle. "Such a big heart for a small lady. My thoughts and prayers are with all your family Paul." Paul Harper also commented: "So sad to hear about the passing of Ciara Tumelty. Life can just be so cruel. Thinking of you Paul Tumelty and family at this hard time mate." Philip Flood added: "Can't believe the passing of Ciara Tumelty O'Boyle. What a legend, such a great heart. "I had two great years working with Ciara in the Slieve [Donard]. She really helped me there at the time and I'll never forget the great advice and support she gave me right up until I moved to Manchester - you will be sorely missed" Seamus McKibben said: "Life is so hard. Ciara Tumelty O'Boyle, you were one of the best. You always had time for every one. Sad, sad day." 400 assaults in the UK last year were connected to dating sites. Photo: PA Dating apps have played a role in the rise of sexual assaults, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre revealed, as the number of sex attacks and rapes increased by 36pc in Dublin last year. Chief executive Ellen O'Malley Dunlop said it was difficult to put a figure on the amount of attacks here resulting from online contacts, as victims often feel they put themselves in a vulnerable position by speaking out. However, 400 assaults in the UK last year were connected to dating sites. "They (the websites) are wide open for people who want to take advantage of another person, whether they be a man or a woman," said Ms O'Malley Dunlop. "People are meeting others without any support systems around them. At least if you go to a party you have friends and other people around you. "If they are meeting somebody in a place where there are no supports, it is absolutely open for perpetrators." Ms O'Malley Dunlop said rape crisis services across the country were under severe pressure because of the increasing number of sexual assaults. Some cases in Dublin were transferred to other parts of the country last year because of increased demand for help. "We are looking at quite a worrying increase in the number of victims," she said. "Over the past year Mullingar had to take in some victims from Dublin because there may not have been availability in the Rotunda Hospital. We have seen a 36pc increase in Dublin alone at one sexual assault treatment unit. There are five others in the country." She added that it was encouraging to see people were confident to seek support after an attack. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre helpline: 1800 77 88 88 A grand-nephew of Henry Gleeson has branded it "nothing short of a disgrace" that a posthumous pardon signed by President Michael D Higgins "bears the wrong name". Henry Gleeson, known widely as Harry, was the first person to receive a posthumous pardon by the State after he was wrongly hanged in 1941 for a murder he did not commit. Mr Higgins signed a posthumous pardon for Mr Gleeson before Christmas and it is due to be presented to members of the Gleeson family today. However, Mr Gleeson's nephew, Vincent Phelan, said some members of the family did not want the ceremony to go ahead with the signed decree as they claimed the pardon was in the name of Harry Gleeson, when he had been "tried, charged and convicted in the proper legal name of Henry Gleeson". "The pardon is not in his correct name. You cannot pardon a non-entity," said Mr Phelan. Business / Companies by Staff reporter Johannesburg - Over-the-top internet services, such as WhatsApp, could be regulated in South Africa depending on the outcome of planned Parliament hearings this month.Over-the-top services - which range from WhatsApp to Skype and Google Hangouts - allow users to make messages and calls over data networks - often at comparatively lower costs than traditional telephone calls or SMS.OTT services like WhatsApp have rocketed in usage in South Africa with over 10 million users in the country, according to a recent report by World Wide Worx and Fuseware.Amid this growth, South Africa's two biggest mobile networks Vodacom and MTN last year called for regulation of OTT services in South Africa.Subsequently, the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services has confirmed to Fin24 that it has scheduled hearings into the possible regulation of OTT services in South Africa on January 26.A notice of the planned hearings, which was sent to relevant stakeholders, says the hearings are set to discuss "necessary policy interventions on how to govern OTTs, regulatory interventions on the guidelines to regulate OTTs" and the "impact of OTTs on competition".Another topic to be discussed at the hearings is whether "there (is) a need for the OTTs to be defined as telecom services (voice or data) or telecom infrastructure, and thus whether they should be subject to licensing and regulatory obligations (such as legal intercept and emergency call access) or not?"The committee is trying to secure a venue for the hearings which are planned to be open to the public, the secretary of the committee, Hajiera Salie, told Fin24. More details about the hearings will be provided later this month, Salie added.It's unclear who will be presenting at the hearings at this stage.Regulation risks being "ludicrous"Dominic Cull, who is a communications regulatory expert at Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, said he has received a notice of the hearings.Cull said it looks as if mobile networks "still have some lobbying power in terms of getting these matters before bodies like Parliament"."WhatsApp is obviously in the forefront. You know why the mobiles (mobile networks) are upset: It's a revenue question. But we're also talking about TeamViewer, Google Hangouts, Viber etc," Cull told Fin24.Cull said a challenge about regulating OTT is that "just about everything provided over the network could be regarded as an OTT"."Once you can't divide them up, it obviously becomes ludicrous to try and regulate them," Cull added.He further said that there are two "fascinating" points to watch regarding the OTT regulation hearings later this month."The parties which are in the firing line here - in terms of the regulation - are not the usual suspects such as ISPs (internet service providers) and smaller players looking to compete. We're talking about Facebook, Google, Microsoft and the like," Cull told Fin24."So, we're talking about substantial multinationals that have an interest here."And the second thing is that this is one of the rare telecommunications issues which people get. So, they understand WhatsApp. They know what it means to the spend on communication," Cull said. The coffin of Paddy Healy is transported by boat to Saints Island Graveyard, Co Longford, following his funeral in Newtowncashel. The road to the graveyard has been cut off due to recent flooding. Photo: Declan Gilmore Taoiseach Enda Kenny has given insurance companies one week to come back with a report on why they are refusing to insure some homes even after flood defences have been put in place. Insurance industry bosses have been told by the Government to come up with proof that removable flood barriers installed with State funding have been ineffective. A meeting between Mr Kenny and six of the main insurers focused on the use of temporary flood walls, known as "demountables". These types of defences require some human input ahead of rivers bursting their banks and are used in Mallow, Clonmel, Fermoy and along the River Dodder in Dublin. A source who was at the meeting said insurance companies cited these types of defences as a key reason why homes were not being insured, claiming they did not work. However, government representatives argued they were widely used across Europe and were at a standard that is considered safe by the EU. "Essentially, demountables are permanent flood defences but they are not left up permanently," said a source. "They can involve things like a wall across a main road so it wouldn't be practical to leave them up all the time, but they do meet EU standards." The meeting heard insurers admit only 67pc of homes and businesses have access to insurance where demountable flood defences are in operation. Where there are permanent flood defence works in place, 86pc of property owners get cover, Insurance Ireland and the bosses of the six largest insurers told the Taoiseach. Mr Kenny asked the insurance companies to review their policy surrounding temporary flood defences and to report back within one week. "He told them to look at other countries. Ministers made the point that they want to do this in conjunction with the insurers," said a source. It is understood there was only passing reference made to putting a new levy on policies to fund defences and provide compensation. Tanaiste Joan Burton said the prospect of slapping a new levy on the insurance companies was still an option available to the Government. But she warned against any move that would result in a "general rise in everyone's insurance premiums". The insurance industry has criticised planning decisions and is strongly opposed to the introduction of a levy on policyholders. Kevin Thompson, the chief executive of Insurance Ireland - the industry lobby group - confirmed the Taoiseach had asked the insurance companies to consider the issue of demountable or temporary flood defences and report back next week. The meeting was attended by the bosses of Aviva, Allianz, FBD, AIG, Zurich and RSA. Also there were Tanaiste Joan Burton, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney and Environment Minister Alan Kelly. Meanwhile, ESB Networks has advised all electricity customers to be extra-vigilant as the current levels of flooding begin to recede. The combination of water and electricity is dangerous and extreme care is required for safety, it said. A social media alert service that last month helped thousands of householders protect their homes against flooding has donated an offer of a free lunch it received as a thank you to an Irish charity. Cork Flood Alert (CFA), set up in February 2014, played such a crucial role in using social media as a warning network over the past five weeks that traders wanted to show their appreciation. CFA now has more than 53,000 social media users - and is referenced by thousands of traders and home-owners for real-time daily updates on local flood issues. The site also helped deliver some of the most striking images of the floods which devastated Cork towns including Midleton, Bandon, Glanmire and others. Pizzeria San Marco in Midleton, the east Cork town hit by floods five feet deep on December 29/30, was so grateful it promised the entire CFA team a free lunch. But CFA administrator James Scanlan said they felt there were more deserving recipients for the generous offer of the lasagne and pasta feast. "We spoke about it and made a group decision we would much prefer to donate their very generous offer to the charity Cork Penny Dinners. They do such great work," he explained. Cork Penny Dinners director Catriona Twomey said the charity was deeply moved by the scale of support it had enjoyed over Christmas and the New Year. Founded in 1841 to help feed the poor of Cork, the charity has seen its workload soar over the past eight years. Last week, workers on the site were forced to down tools after protesters entered into 14-17 Moore Street and expressed their concerns about several protected structures on the terrace being damaged as a result of demolition work. Photo: PA People occupying houses in Moore Street are jeopardising plans to transform these buildings, where the 1916 Rising ended, into a national monument, the Taoiseach warned today. Mr Kenny was replying to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams who said relatives of those involved in the 1916 Rising and other activists had occupied the buildings in Dublin and taken legal action against the Arts and Culture Minister, Heather Humphreys. Mr Adams said the entire street should be transformed into a 1916 historic quarter which could become a hub of tourism and culture. He warned of fears that the current works were jeopardising the development of an authentic commemorative area and also risked doing structural damage. We do not want a historic shopping mall, Mr Adams said. The Taoiseach said he recognised the importance of the houses where the rebellion ended. He said rows over the area had dragged on since the foundation of the State but this Government had taken action by buying the buildings concerned. Mr Kenny said he knew there were divided loyalties among activists about what exactly should be done. He insisted that the Government could not purchase all the buildings on the street. This is a matter for the elected representatives of Dublin City Council to decide on planning and other issues related. It is not a function of central government, the Taoiseach said. A GOOD Samaritan who stopped to offer a young man a lift after thinking he may have had early morning car problems in the icy weather was threatened at knife point before having her vehicle taken. The woman was uninjured in the incident outside Grenagh in Cork shortly after 7am today. However, she was left badly shaken by her experience. Her vehicle was later found between Grenagh and Bweeng having been involved in a collision. A man in his 20s was arrested by Gardai a short distance away and taken to Gurranabraher Garda Station for questioning. He can be questioned for a period of 24 hours. He is from the Cork city area. The woman is expected to be interviewed about what happened tomorrow when she has had a chance to recover from her ordeal. The incident erupted shortly after 7am when the woman, who was on her way to work, spotted a man standing by the roadside outside Grenagh. She thought he may have had car problems given the icy conditions around Cork. Dozens of accidents occurred in Cork from 6am after rainfall froze on contact with the icy roads. However, seconds after stopping to check if he was alright, the young man produced a knife and forced the woman out of her car. He then got into the driver's seat and sped off in the direction of Mallow. The car, an Opel Insignia, was found crashed by Gardai a short distance away. It is believed the man lost control of the vehicle near a bend due to black ice. Because the man was reported to be armed with a knife, the armed Regional Support Unit (RSU) was put on standby. However, the young man was detained without incident by uniformed gardai not far from the accident scene. The female motorist was uninjured and did not require medical attention. A Dublin couple who welcomed their first child after struggling with infertility for more than 12 years are thrilled to be expecting their second child. Fred and Orla Rainert from Sandyford went through six rounds of IVF and an arduous six year adoption process before Orla fell pregnant with baby Leo (1) and now the couple have revealed that they are excited to meet baby number two. Were very excited to be expecting another little one. Leo came into our lives as such a surprise and we were always keen to give him a sibling. We didnt want him to feel on his own and we wanted him to have an emotional support as he grows but because we are older parents, said Orla, who is 48. Im due on the first of June but we arent sure of the sex yet. I have an inkling that its a girl and our doctor thinks perhaps it is a boy. Well be able to tell at my 21 week scan. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Baby Leo was born in 2014 Leo and Orla pictured after his birth / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Baby Leo was born in 2014 The couple had undergone six failed attempts at IVF and their attempt to adopt a child from Russia was filmed as part of TV3s Adoption Stories. The countrys adoption legislation changed as they were in the midst of the process. We went down the IVF route prior to adoption and that was a very tough time of our lives really. I think you go through the grieving process during IVF because each set back is a grief because it reminds you," she said. Speaking to the documentary series Adoption Stories, Fred said: Unfortunately after six years of renewing our documents our declaration was going to run out in October 2013. We knew by then that that was it. It was the end of the line for us, where adoption is concerned. The couple had begun the fostering process, in the hopes that they might be able to offer a home to a child in need. However, after completing the course, Fred and Orla received a letter from the fertility clinic in which they had undergone IVF more than six years previously. The clinic informed the couple that they had eggs remaining and requested their guidance as to what to do with them. I just couldnt let them go, said Orla. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Leo and Orla pictured after his birth Baby Leo was born in 2014 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Leo and Orla pictured after his birth We went along and sat with the doctor and decided to go for it one last time. Between January and March we started the drugs and implantation took place in March, she said. The pair were delighted when a pregnancy test on Mothers Day 2014 revealed that Orla was pregnant with the couples child. I had done a pregnancy test on Mothers day and I was pregnant with my first baby and I was overjoyed. One of the happiest moments of our lives was doing that pregnancy test. It was terrific. It was scary and happy, she said. Fred and Orla welcomed baby Leo soon afterwards and revealed that he has brought such happiness and brightness to their lives. Hes beautiful. When he arrived wailing and bawling, they put him right up to Orlas cheek and just as their cheeks touched he stopped crying, said Fred. Orla said: "I cried my eyes out because he stopped crying and I havent stopped crying since. Hes just gorgeous and such a lovely little boy. Hes a little performer. Hes a Drama King. Hes very cheerful and affectionate. We love-bomb him. Orla revealed that those struggling with infertility need to find an outlet to express their feeling if they cannot confide in their loved ones. Every case is different, she said. If you do have children you should just be conscious of those around you who might be struggling in secret. Having been through this I do know that you do need an outlet because it is an emotional struggle. Whether thats speaking to family or friends or seeking the support of a group you have to cope with that before you can move forwards, Orla said. New series of Adoption Stories is airing on TV3 at 8.30pm tonight Michelle Doherty strolls down Oxford Street looking like someone who has stepped down off a billboard, her long hair swinging, her smile almost as broad as her wide-brimmed hat. The smile is something of her trademark - conveying instantly an easy, laid-back approachability which, combined with the husky Donegal accent, has made her a familiar face in Ireland. But for the last year or so, since the birth of her son Max, Michelle has been largely off the radar. Or at least off the airwaves. Recently though, she was back again with a bang, on the big screen this time, following up her breakthrough acting role in the critically-acclaimed What Richard Did, with her first leading lady part in the indie Irish flick, The Hit Producer. She plays the eponymous producer whose shambolic approach to her career leads her into a shady underworld where, she says "her whole life is turned upside down." It was an action role and a meaty complex character for her to take on. "She's a real tough cookie but she's got a real vulnerable side to her as well," Michelle explains. "I didn't think about it too much," she says of how she handled being the star of the piece. "I just got stuck in and I took it each section at a time. . . I kept doing my little scenes every day." She focussed on breaking the thing down into parts rather than on the bigger picture, "because it would have completely overwhelmed me and I think I could have panicked." Though it's great to see her back, in fact The Hit Producer was filmed some three years ago "just before I moved to London," she says. It's taken some time to reach the cinema. "I was still single, I still had my own life," she says looking back with a smile. "It's just amazing how much has changed." She moved to London almost on a whim. She'd had enough of her regular job on morning radio and so walked away without a backward glance. The hours were getting her down and she was feeling the strain. "To be putting on a performance at that time in the morning I found really hard," she says. She was in the market for an acting agent and, frankly, a bit of a change. So in search of both, she relocated across the Irish Sea. In the end, she got that and a whole a lot more than she expected out of the bargain. Within three months, she'd fallen in love, and had moved in with the man who is now her partner and the father of her 15-month-old baby. She first met Mark O'Shea (handsome, blue-eyed, bearded) through one of her best friends who did an acting course in LA seven years ago, where Mark was living at the time. This friend came back and told Michelle, "I met the perfect man for you." But Michelle took a little longer to be convinced. Her first impressions were that "Mark was living life to the max, I was like, 'he's a party animal, are you mad?' But it's obviously all about timing," she explains. She and O'Shea had stayed in touch in the intervening years. And when they both found themselves living in London, it soon became clear something significant had changed between them. "We met again," Michelle says, and this time she realised immediately, "there's something different now, something has clicked into place." And that, quite simply, was that. O'Shea works as a product developer. "Thankfully he doesn't do this for a living," she says airily, with a nod to her own freelance presenter-slash-actor-slash-model existence. "Otherwise the two of us doing this would be some craic, we'd be like, what are we doing tomorrow? How are we paying the mortgage this month? He's had his own businesses and stuff as well." Ultimately, she thinks their different attitudes are complimentary, "Mark is a very driven person, he likes to have his five-year-plan and he's very ambitious. Whereas I just tend to swan through on a wing and a prayer going, 'ach sure why not?' I do kind of throw stuff out to the universe and say if it's meant to be let it come to me. And maybe that's not the right attitude either but it's been working for me so far," she says. Perhaps because they had already known each other for some time before they got together, things moved pretty fast. They talked about getting married, but Michelle, now 38, clearly a bit of a pragmatist, said immediately, 'Look, to be honest with you I'd prefer to have a baby." Happily, Marks immediate response was "brilliant, that suits me too." So they had a baby instead of a wedding. "I can't justify spending the money that you'd spend, when I could have a little baby. And we've an apartment and we're putting our money into that as well," she says. All in all then, her stint in London has been busy and productive. Soon after she arrived she landed a job as a regular presenter on Xpose and commuted between the UK and Ireland until she was seven months pregnant. Expand Close Michelle with partner Mark O'Shea and Max, shortly after his birth. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michelle with partner Mark O'Shea and Max, shortly after his birth. But since the arrival of baby Max, professional concerns have taken rather more of a back-seat. There was a period when she tried to juggle the two, bundling up her baby and bringing him with her as she went to castings around London, but overall, she has made the decision to spend as much time as possible with him at home. "I wanted a baby for so long," she admits, "and I was just so happy that I was blessed to be able to have one. I just wanted to spend every minute with him," she says. There's an unaffected, heart-on-sleeve quality to Michelle that is rare among presenters and those in the public eye, who quickly become used to presenting constructed versions of themselves to the world. She beams while talking about her little boy, saying, "I could just eat him up, he's a wee dote. He's really entertaining now, he never stops talking and he's a real little character. He's a really friendly, outgoing little baby". But she is equally authentic when talking about the challenges she's faced, most especially how a totally unexpected run-in with post-natal depression some time after Max's birth left her feeling floored, and wondering how she would cope. Even now, she admits, that she still struggles, despite the cheery demeanour and the big smile. "I'm still going through it to be honest with you. You just have to learn to deal with it, or, I suppose, you just get stronger," she says. She'd had a blissful pregnancy, and after Max's birth, initially, all seemed hunky dory. Though she was perhaps a little isolated, having moved to a new city and having had a baby, far away from her closest friends and family. "It didn't happen to me until about eight months," she says. She had felt a bit low before, perhaps. "But I thought it was because I was lonely and I didn't have my support network. But it really kicked in at eight months. All I did was cry. I just couldn't get my head around anything." The hardest part, she believes, was not understanding what was going on. As someone who was previously so "full of life and so outgoing," she couldn't get to grips with why she felt so bad. The overwhelming feeling was, "I don't know this. I don't know how to deal with this because it's not me. . . I kept thinking to myself, 'I've got an amazing partner. I've got an amazing, healthy baby boy. What more do you want? What's wrong with you? And you're giving out to yourself saying 'cop on'.' But it's out of your control. There is nothing you can do to stop how you feel . . . I was trying to be really strong for Max on a daily basis when Mark was at work . . . I want him to think life is great, everything is great. I always make a conscious decision, no matter what's happening, I'll always have a happy head on around him. . ." But she says that, in itself, the effort to suppress things takes a heavy toll. "It was just this constant battle, you think, 'Oh my god, is every day going to be like this? Am I always going to feel like this? Am I ever going to be able to shake it off?' That's the scary thing about it." In the end, she went to speak to her doctor. It was taking this step that helped her to recognise what she was going through, how common it is, and, most importantly, to realise that she wasn't alone. "Nobody ever spoke to me about it, and that's what I found really hard," she says. And I went to talk to the doctor then and I knew that I wasn't on my own, and that it happens to loads of people. It's because of this she thinks it's vital people speak about their experiences. Eventually, she decided to talk about hers. "I spoke about it then because I thought, 'if I can just help one person feel like she's not on her own . . .'" her voice cracks and she trails off, the struggle suddenly close to the surface. She's still going through a process of recovery, and there are days when she still finds it hard. But it's a fleeting moment and she rallies bravely, pulling out a copy of the seminal self-help book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, and waving it with conviction. "This my bible," she says with a grin." It's all about positive thinking. I need that every day." The period after the arrival of a new baby can be fraught, and Michelle was always adamant she'd try to keep a level head and not submit to external pressures. Having fought a genuine setback, the rather more trivial 'baby weight' issue is one she takes particular exception to. "It took me ages to get back to my own shape - ten months," she says. "But I made a conscious decision that I wanted to just see how long naturally it would happen. I think there's so much pressure on people. I've been to hell and back getting this baby into the world, and you think I should be worrying about getting into my skinny jeans? Get a grip," she says. "Each to their own, but it certainly wasn't a priority for me. And I made a conscious decision and I wanted to see how long it would take. Eventually I could see it coming back. And then I started going to the gym. I just thought who am I doing it for? People are obsessed. Every interview I did I was asked, "Are you putting yourself under pressure to get back in shape?'" At which she'd be thinking, "No, I'm not, but thanks for asking me that." She and Mark would like to have another baby eventually. But for now, she's taking life as it comes, focussing on trying to do the things that help her feel happy, including exercise and building some time for herself into her daily schedule. Her new role as a mum is her main focus these days, but she's keeping the fires of her career burning too. "I now have a little baby who relies on me all the time. I can't be as flippant as I used to be. Work does definitely take a back seat," she says, while adding. "He is work. Do you think I swan around the house all day? I have friends who say it's actually easier to go to work than it is to be a mom, which is 24/7, no escape." In the meantime, she's pleased to have acting as a relatively new and rewarding strand to her career. Her first break came unsolicited, and pretty much out of the blue. It seems to have taken her a little by surprise. She has had no formal training, winning her first role after she was talent-scouted by the casting agent Louise Kiely who offered her a role in the RTE TV series Trivia. She initially thought of it as a bit of a fluke or a one-off. But the show's director, Tom Hall, told her he thought she was a natural and strongly encouraged her to keep going. Clearly he wasn't alone in recognising her talent. Kiely cast her for a second time, this time in What Richard Did, directed by Lenny Abrahamson. Her approach to learning a new craft was to simply hand herself over completely to the director, and it's a strategy that seems to have worked really well for her so far. "I'm in their hands," she says. "I'm like, 'you're directing me, you tell me what you think. I'm relying on them to tell me if I'm doing it right or not.'" It's been a happy new discovery, this unexpected talent she's discovered, though she's by no means consumed with ambition to become a cinema star. "Growing up I would never have been a performer, never even enjoyed drama," she says. "What I found was just because it came naturally to me that I enjoyed it as well. . . I love challenging myself, and I think that's what drives me in life, what's the next challenge for me? What I love about acting is that you are taking on a completely different person. It's not you. Whereas the presenting is all about you. I love taking on a whole new role and life, and you're thrown into this completely different world that you would never otherwise be in." She hopes there will be more to follow, both in acting and presenting, but for now, in work as in life, she's content to go with the flow and see what comes up. Website for post-natal depression: www.pnd.ie. 'The Hit Producer' will screen at the Omniplex in Cork, Wexford and Limerick for a special one-evening event on January 13. It's game on as the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills kick off the start of the serious red carpet season in Tinseltown. The style brigade were out in force with common themes emerging including capes, trains and I must confess, I was thrilled to see so many deep pockets in dramatic big skirts. At last the humble pocket gets the fashion respect it deserves. Some dresses looked better from the front than the back - and vice versa. The svelte gym bunnies looked to a variety of waistline cut-outs to display six-packs and abs. Stylists like Rachel Zoe and Elizabeth Saltzman, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair who is in Saoirse Ronan's style corner, will be sitting down today to review the choices and get their ladies kitted out in established couture brands and emerging designers before the SAGs and BAFTAS, rolling up to the Oscars at the end of February. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley We are so used to seeing the British model wearing nothing, well almost nothing in her lacy M&S lingerie, but this toffee-hued, strategically cut, trumpet-style Atelier Versace gown, was positively ethereal, full of old Hollywood glamour. Rosie sparkled literally, wearing her brand new engagement ring from action man actor beau Jason Statham. Expect to see lots of copies of this dress coming down the high street. But how many others will have the body for it? Jennifer Lopez JLo stole my heart, not just because her mustard/marigold Giambattista Valli Haute Couture gown was gorgeous, but because it was so un-JLo. High-necked from the catwalk queen who is usually slashed to the navel, I loved the various elements, from the sleek cape detail and gentle draping on the waistline to the Angelina leg on show. It was the epitome of sophistication with a generous train and that 46-carat diamond wreath necklace completed this exercise in couture chic. Alicia Vikander Michael Fassbender's other half set the bar high early on in the night with a totally different look for the red carpet in a white column dress with vertical stripes of sequins by Louis Vuitton. I loved the gently pleated folds on the neckline, but it was the back view that won my heart, bare with pinafore-effect cross-over straps. So totally different from anything else on the night. Can't wait to see what The Danish Girl actress wears next. Cate Blanchett This dress has the marmite factor: you either hate it, or love it. I loved the ice-cream pink Givenchy gown with its fringing and embroidery. Cate always pushes the envelope and comes up with something very distinctive and head turning. Industry insiders will love this for its point of difference and the 'experiential' factor of walking in fringing but it's not a look that the average woman could pull off, and most men will probably hate it. Jaimie Alexander I loved the trend of big skirts with pockets and this Genny-designed green plunge front dress worked well for Blindspot actress Jaimie Alexander. She teamed it with flawless, polished skin and gleaming Lorraine Schwartz emerald earrings and a whopper of a ring. Loved the fact that there weren't boobs escaping like madmen from each side. Saoirse Ronan At first, I thought it was a misjudged wedding dress, but on closer inspection, this Saint Laurent gown was supremely elegant and she carried off the deep V neckline and long scarf train detail from one shoulder. But we could have done without the whole nail salon story again as it meant she didn't have time to tell E!'s Guilana Rancic about her dress and Chopard diamonds. Amy Schumer Talk about the dress wearing the woman - there was nothing funny about comedian Amy Schumer's dress. She looked like she had been airlifted down into a giant puddle of an ill-fitting Prabal Gurung gown. Pity, because the neckline looked promising. Kate Hudson Oh Kate, what were you thinking of? This nude sequinned aberration by Michael Kors made her look like a tarty mermaid - resonant of Britney Spears in the 90s - far less sleek than the hot mama of two who rocked white Versace at the Golden Globes last year. It looked very trailer-park trash. I hated that cheap neckband and the OTT effort to show off her abs, which Jennifer Lawrence did the right way. Still, Kate has a season of red carpet outings to rehabilitate her rep. Katy Perry This sugary pink red carpet disaster has been hailed as Playboy meets Prada and it is a prime example of when you get it wrong from head to toe. Starting with the beehive, this busty, dusky pink had none of the couture hallmarks you expect from the Italian design house. Bad shape too as it was unflattering and not even the Harry Winston diamonds could retrieve it. Apparently Katy was excited to work with super stylist, Leslie Fremar. Not so sure they are on the right page! Eddie struggles to even get in the car wearing the suit. No matter what I did I could not get the key into the ignition. Several times I was certain I had it lined up but only managed to prod it vaguely into the steering column. The reason for my disoriented fumblings was the Drug Driving Suit I was wearing. It is designed to produce the same effects as someone getting behind the wheel of a car after taking one, or a variety of, illegal substances. The suits arrival here, as part of a driver-safety campaign, is most timely with gardai focusing heavily on drug drivers on our roads. The suit was developed by Ford in conjunction with scientists from the Meyer-Hentschel Institute in Germany. It will be used in Ireland as part of the automakers Driving Skills for Life free training programme with young drivers able to wear it on a closed course. The initiative is being extended to 11 countries in Europe this year. The idea is to simulate and highlight the effects of drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and MDMA (ecstasy) and to show the level of impairment they can impose. As far as my experience went, it would appear to have succeeded in its core aims. It significantly slowed my reaction time, distorted my vision to the point of near-dizziness at times and my coordination was dreadful. Not to mention the hand tremors brought on by a little motorised unit on my wrist. The special glasses and headphones created an eerie atmosphere of buzzing noises and flashing lights as well as blurred and double vision. I was also kitted out with padding and ankle weights. I felt a slight nausea throughout. Research shows that a driver is up to 30 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash after taking illegal drugs. Yet one-in-10 people say they have accepted lifts from people they believed were under the influence. Ford Driving Skills for Life Manager Jim Graham says: We have already seen first-hand the eye-opening effect that our Drink Driving Suit has had on those who wear it behind the wheel, and are confident that our new Drug Driving Suit will have a similar impact. Islamic State's terror threat against the civilised world has forced security services across the globe to throw out the international counter-terrorism manual and begin writing a new one from scratch. Even when considered against the backdrop of the mass murders perpetrated by al Qaeda in New York, London and Madrid - incredible as it may seem - Isil has somehow managed to take their particular brand of terror to a new unprecedented level. This mass of brainwashed nihilistic zombies have introduced to the world a unique type of indiscriminate savagery where now no city and no country can consider itself exempt. And unfortunately, even though we are the furthest island nation off the European continent and a neutral, benign nation, we too must consider ourselves potential targets of the jihadists. Which is why our entire security apparatus - especially the intelligence agencies and special forces units attached to the Gardai and Defence Forces - are on constant alert. For pragmatic reasons, the Irish State Security Committee has declared the current threat level as being "moderate", which basically translates as meaning that while an attack is possible it is not likely. This realistic assessment of the Government's top security advisors reflects the truth that no one actually knows whether we are going to be targeted or not. That is because there is no rhyme nor reason to this particular breed of terrorist: individuals who can be radicalised online in the comfort of their Western European homes before unleashing indiscriminate horror on the unsuspecting public with whatever weapon is to hand. Which leaves our primary State security agency, An Garda Siochana, faced with the same daunting task as their colleagues around the world. Behind the scenes, and far from the gaze of the public or the media, there is a considerable amount of activity taking place to stop these mad jihadists striking. The febrile nature of a form of terrorism that has, as its central motive, the objective of literally destroying the world - including its ancient heritage - requires constant vigilance at the highest levels. This conflict has become a global war which is not only fought on the battle fields of Iraq and Syria, but also in the ethereal world of cyberspace. The digital revolution that has characterised the modern era has become the extremist's weapon of choice; enabling them to spread propaganda, radicalise recruits and generally organise war. From behind locked office doors in Garda and Army HQ, computer experts are the unlikely warriors in a new type of warfare. Posing as arms dealers and potential jihadists, they trawl through the sewers of the Dark Net, trying to draw out their foes and find out the next plan. At the same time, there are officers permanently involved in collating, analysing and exchanging intelligence with security agencies across the world. Ireland is unique among many of its neighbours in the EU in that our security services have been combating domestic terrorism for almost 50 years. News / Africa by Stephen Jakes A Zimbabwean illegal immigrant, Musa Nkani Dlomo, who last August stole a 9-tonne Toyota truck from his former employer will know his fate tomorrow (Monday) following his conviction last week.Dlomo had pleaded not guilty to a count of stealing a motor vehicle but was convicted on Monday by Francistown principal magistrate, Dumisani Basupi, on overwhelming evidence by the state.The court proved that the 68-year-old illegal immigrant from Gokwe in central Zimbabwe had stolen the truck in question and that his intention was to cross over to his native country with the vehicle.The ageing Zimbabwean migrant is expected to receive a punitive jail sentence as he committed a near cross border crime.Dlomo stole the vehicle in Francistown and was heading to Zimbabwe when he was arrested by the police.Upon convicting Dlomo, Magistrate Basupi said the accused had not disputed that he was driving the truck in question when he was stopped at Mapoka village in the northeastern part of the country by police officers stationed at Masunga Police Station.The truck belongs to Minetech Engineering Company, which is situated at the Francistown's Light Industrial area, the court heard.According to evidence led in court, the convict was not granted permission to drive the vehicle."While the convict in this matter maintained that he had been permitted to drive the vehicle, the two state witnesses stood their ground and quashed his defense," Basupi told a packed court on Monday.Throughout the trial, the court heard that the convict presented a picture that he had been granted permission to drive the vehicle on the night of August 9 2015.But the supporting facts raised by the convict exposed him as a liar, the court heard."Dlomo tried in vain to present a picture that he was the one who handed over the truck's registration to the police who arrested him when in actual fact he failed to produce any document including his own passport upon inquiry by the police," revealed Basupi.State Prosecutor, Mbatshi Mafa, applied for the fingerprinting of the convict in order to ascertain if he has any previous convictions. 'If the Coalition really believed in its stability election message, it wouldnt feel the need to gild the lilly with promises of goodies' Watching the early salvoes in advance of polling day brings to mind Noam Chomsky's line about elections being run by the same industries that "sell toothpaste on television". It's all about the sales pitch and right now the Coalition's 'stability' narrative is getting traction. But the reality is that 'stability' line has as much depth as the gleaming enamel shown in those toothpaste ads. The Coalition, to be fair, has brought stability in the past five years - helped by a combination of a lot of the dirty work being done by the outgoing FF-Green government and an extraordinarily favourable international environment. In one (minty fresh) breath the promise is for more of the same - "Keep the recovery going", says Fine Gael. "Standing up for Ireland's future", beams Labour. But in the next breath, it's selling a return to the good old days, which turned out to be not so good after all. Promising to abolish USC, cap property tax, give tax cuts to everybody earning up to 120,000, hike the minimum wage, increase the old-age pension, and various other goodies, isn't offering stability. It's an invitation to get back on the roller coaster that has taken us to extraordinary highs and lows over the past four decades. And it'll probably work with enough voters. Is it the same in other countries? In Germany, is every election fought on the basis of how big a tax cut can be delivered to workers? That's exactly what four of the five most recent campaigns here have ultimately boiled down to - 2011, when the country was essentially bankrupt, being the exception, just about. You have to presume it's not like that in Germany, a paragon of economic stability in recent decades. Of course, a tiny, open economy like ours is going to be more vulnerable to international events. But is there any other country in the EU where income tax rates, capital taxes and property/water charges and public spending have yo-yoed to the same extent? The Coalition pontificates about ending the boom-and-bust cycle. But then, essentially, it promises to go down a road "frequently travelled by previous Irish governments" to borrow a line from Michael Noonan's budget speech of 2014, when he quoted the poet Robert Frost. There's an equally famous quote about how politicians think of the next election, but a statesman thinks of the next generation. On that basis, we've had precious few statesmen (or women) in recent decades. If the Coalition really believed in its stability message - and it should because it's a good one - it wouldn't feel the need to gild the lily with promises of goodies. Those goodies will inevitably appeal to many voters. However, the word is party focus groups are showing up a percentage of the electorate concerned about repeating the reckless mistakes of the past. That suggests a gap in the market for a 'statesman', willing to look beyond the election (but ironically perhaps benefiting on polling day from that approach). Could this be an opportunity for Micheal Martin? The media consensus in recent weeks is that Fianna Fail is in disarray. The party is perceived to be disunited, demoralised, lacking a coherent message and hamstrung by having ruled out a coalition with Fine Gael. That perception is not entirely inaccurate - there are problems there, but rumours of the party's demise are exaggerated. Private polls being conducted by Fine Gael show Fianna Fail doing a lot better than the national polls, particularly outside Dublin. There's a reason why Fine Gael is attacking Fianna Fail so much lately. Those polls suggest Fianna Fail is on course to win 35-40 seats, leaving it well placed for the election after next. Anybody who doesn't think that's a good result doesn't understand how close the party went to actually going fully under five years ago. Micheal Martin will have the misfortune of becoming the first Fianna Fail leader since the 1920s to contest two general elections and not become Taoiseach. Enda Kenny is a shoo-in. But Martin can still have a big bearing on the next election and ensure he lives to fight another day. We know he is the best media performer of the party leaders and that will help in the campaign. But Martin needs more than that. Fianna Fail is struggling to get across what it stands for - it's a problem for all centrist parties in opposition. It could go down the same route as the other parties and promise the sun, the moon and the stars. That would be the easier option. But it wouldn't differentiate Fianna Fail from the rest, particularly from Fine Gael, which has a much better CV at the moment on the economy. But what if it turned the Government's 'stability' line against the Coalition? What if Fianna Fail said - 'they're talking the talk on stability but dangerously failing to walk the walk on it. We will promise nothing but a grim determination not to make the mistakes we have made in the past and sound policies in key areas such as health and housing'? It's a high-risk strategy - there's a reason why parties do giveaways at election time - and many voters will still see Fianna Fail as toxic. But it would set the party apart from the crowd. No toothpaste, just real teeth. Shane Coleman presents the 'Sunday Show' on newstalk.com at 10am Rightly or wrongly, walking home alone late at night has long since been deemed the ultimate 'don't' for women. Now though, it's swiping right in the comfort of your own home that could come with the gravest warning for females here. Sex attacks on women have risen by a third in the capital since 2014, according to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) this week. And hook-up sites such as Tinder have been pinned as the new 'dark alleyway' for Ireland's most depraved sexual predators. Speaking on 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' on RTE Radio 1 yesterday, outgoing CEO Ellen O'Malley Dunlop explained how the DRCC had accompanied 295 victims to the sexual assault treatment unit at the Rotunda Hospital last year - 74 more than the previous year. Urging singletons not to use dating apps, she said: "Tinder, where people are going on that website specifically to have a sexual relationship with another [person] outside of any other type of relationship, is very concerning. "I think it's really important for people to know how dangerous it can be because you have perpetrators who are out there seeking vulnerable people and that site can be an extremely dangerous site for people to access another person just to have sex." Since launching in 2012, there's no denying that Tinder has gone from being a tool to help single women find 'Mr Right', to finding 'Mr Right for the Night'. But could it actually be dangerous too? Launching measures to help both women and men feel safer on blind dates, one new Irish dating website certainly thinks so. Registering a date and seeking to become a verified user are just two of the "checks and balances" now being used by www.arealkeeper.ie. The website bids to marry the old tradition of matchmaking with the new phenomenon of online dating. "We wanted to put parameters in place that would make clients feel a bit safer about meeting people online," said co-founder Rena Maycock, who also runs Dublin-based agency Intro Matchmaking. "Having said that, there's no such thing as 100pc security. No matter where you meet someone, it's important to exercise caution." Mercifully, I'm not among the one in five Irish women who've been the victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. But I have been groped in a nightclub, 'jokingly' pinned against a wall by a man in broad daylight, and mistaken for a prostitute by a taxi driver while walking home from work. All of which occurred offline. My point is this: online dating apps aren't responsible for creating rapists any more than they're responsible for creating cheats. As many - including Tinder - move to monetise, however, they're very much responsible for helping to keep their users safe, both online and off. Worldwide, Tinder claims to make a staggering 15 million matches a day. To date, however, it's done little to assist the 6pc of Irish people who've reportedly downloaded the app to weed out the weirdos - or worse - as they exhaustively swipe left. Four years after promising "real life, but better", as such, the company must suck up bad press like last year's viral 'Vanity Fair' article, 'Tinder and the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse'. In 2014, an Irish man was arrested after allegedly raping a woman he met on Tinder - the first such case in the country. Back at the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Ms O'Malley Dunlop - who's stepping down to run as an Independent candidate for the Seanad - revealed her biggest fear was that others wouldn't come forward. "You can imagine if somebody is ringing our helpline for support, they're not going to say to us that they've been raped by somebody that they met on Tinder because they would feel very ashamed about that no matter what a situation is a person will not bring that type of crime upon themselves." Sadly, in these victim-blaming times we live in, demonising Tinder as a hotbed of sexual predators is only going to cast aspersions on the blameless women who continue to use it too. For the 'Netflix and Chill' generation, the search for love - or indeed just lust - is unlikely to go offline anytime soon. In the meantime, whether shopping online for a new partner or a new purse, perhaps the best advice is still 'caveat emptor'. Terror will be defeated, and each new atrocity will strengthen, not weaken,that resolve. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel Isil has once more left its grim calling card. Ten more innocent people were cut down as the terrorists again brought darkness and death to the heart of Europe. It is the goal of the group to strike at the unprotected and the weak. It seeks to elicit a response which will serve to recruit more people to its twisted cause by provoking a backlash. In the wake of the Bataclan massacre and other attacks in Paris, Antoine Leiris, who lost his wife Helene in the theatre, responded by saying: "I will not give you the gift of hating you." President Francois Hollande also said that France would not be bowed. The City of Light would not be blinded by hate. Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reacting to the murder of nine Germans in the suicide bombing, said: "International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today ... Today it hit Istanbul, it has hit Paris, it hit Tunisia, it had already hit Ankara." Germany will not wilt. It has been determined that the bomber entered Turkey recently from Syria. It seems especially twisted that Germans may have been deliberately targeted because of the country's generous policies on accepting Syrian refugees. The goal of Isil would seem to be to make Istanbul, one of the world's most-visited cities, a no-go area. Last year, 12 million people went to visit Istanbul. It is the hope of Isil to put an end to the freedom to move around and drive us backwards. One witness said that he ran towards the scene of the blast but stopped when he saw a severed arm wrapped in the sleeve of a red dress. Sending suicide bombers in attacks that tear through crowded places is intended to harness horror and revulsion towards a diabolical end. Turkey has carried out a wave of arrests of suspected Isil militants in recent months. It is also involved in a bloody conflict with the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). It is the aim of Isil to take away freedom. It was Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who warned that the only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear. Europe will not give up its freedoms lightly. Terror will be defeated, and each new atrocity will strengthen, not weaken,that resolve. Insurance firms owe us answers after floods It's been 40 days since the flood crisis began. By all accounts, even Noah had things under control by then. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has given insurance companies one week to come back with a report on why they are refusing to insure some homes even after flood defences have been put in place. Insurers admit only 67pc of homes and businesses have access to insurance where "demountable flood defences" are operated. Such defences require some kind of human input. The State put them in place and it is up to insurers to find them wanting before refusing cover. Such systems are used effectively across Europe and are considered sufficient by the EU. Mr Kenny has rightly asked insurers to think again. Threats of a levy have hung over the talks to fund defences and provide compensation. It is hard to see how such a penalty would not ultimately rebound on policyholders. As the two sides argue, flood victims understandably feel they have been let down by both Government and the insurance industry. Surely they have already waited long enough. Concrete answers are overdue. Georgia Penna has jetted on her first family holiday. The top Irish model (31) is on a luxury trip to Dubai with her husband Joe, twin sons and best friend Maurice Flynn. Georgia and her hedge fund manager husband welcomed the new arrivals in December and Georgia confirmed the news on Twitter. While she might be one of Ireland's selfie queens, she said she will keeping her children away from the media spotlight. "They are not adopted. I wont be posting any photos of them on social media as Id like to keep them private," she said. "Were very, very happy." Chillin with my boys and my bestie A photo posted by Georgia Penna (@georgiapenna) on Jan 11, 2016 at 4:47am PST The former Celebrity Big Brother star is currently soaking up the sun in the United Arab Emirates with her growing family and close friend Maurice, who was the Best Man at her July wedding, is a celebrity hairdresser in London, who has worked with Vogue and the last series of The X Factor. Georgia currently divides her time between London, Marbella, Gibraltar and Dublin and has taken a backseat with her modelling career in recent months. Brown Thomas launch the brand new Spring Summer International fashion collections at the flagship Grafton St store. Pictured (l to r) Thalia wears Stella McCartney Dress eur3445, Tabea wears Lanvin dress eur2165 and Maria wears Dries Van Noten. Photograph: It's a leggy season where you will definitely be showing off your shoulders and you can follow a tailored, monochrome dressing code or throw the kitchen sink at it and embrace the colourful new trend of Eccentric Maximalism. It's all about mixing and matching print, texture, lavish embellishment and layering with gusto, and confidence. Far from looking like a bag lady gone wrong in clashing colours, this look was beautiful in the hands of Dries Van Noten at the Brown Thomas spring summer 2016 press show yesterday. The one new name which absolutely turned heads at the breakfast show in the chic accessories hall was David Koma. His crepe pieces in cream, black and a monochrome are available to buy in the three Brown Thomas regional stores, part of a strategic move to elevate the brand mixes. David Koma is also the designer at Thierry Mugler, one of the big new brands at BTs Grafton Street this season. On closer inspection, it really is quite an exquisite range, particularly the cream dress (pictured left) with its asymmetric lines, tailoring, splicing and glorious pleats. Mark my words, Thierry Mugler is one label which will be on everyone's lips this season, a real eye opener. The one look you can't fail to notice this season is the encouragement across the designer brands to show off your shoulders. The black Alexander McQueen dress (pictured above right) has spandex so it behaves impeccably as it skims the body. Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney were both standout stars at yesterday's show. Video of the Day Stella's egg yolk yellow dress (above) has a hardened edge in the hemline, almost like ballast in a ship to keep it in line which, in turn, helps that sexy low scoop back sit so well. The show opened with Peter Pilotto, who featured lovely asymmetric lines and, you've guessed it, show-off shoulders. Lanvin was supremely tempting with a red raw edged dress with bows and ruffles (pictured above, centre). Slinky and very feminine, it was cool and edgy and at the same time, feminine but not in the traditional, fitted way. For me, this was a stand-out season and given that this is Alber Elbaz's last season with the French design house, it is a farewell collection to cherish and one that the wise fashion buyers will collect. Ruffles and frills are a subtrend of the boudoir trend which has emerged as part of the 'New Romanticism' trend. Favourite pieces in the show included the Erdem black and white dress with Victorian touches, buttons at the neck and exposed shoulders. A man carries two schoolgirls away from the site in Jalalabad. (AP) The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan, which Afghan officials said left at least seven members of the security forces dead. In a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, US monitors of militant groups, the "Khorasan Province of the Islamic State" said three of its "soldiers" attacked the consulate in Jalalabad, capital of the volatile province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. It claimed to have killed "dozens" of consulate staff. Afghan officials said seven members of the security forces were killed in the attack. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven people were injured during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad and ended with a gun battle between Afghan security forces and militants. He said that three attackers were killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body. The siege ended when the two gunmen, who had taken position in a guest house close to the consulate, were killed at around 12.30pm local time, Mr Khyogani said. Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the dead included three police and two intelligence service officers, one each from the army and border police. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said. It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistan embassy or consulate in Afghanistan, an official at the Pakistani embassy said. Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad's perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up. All consular staff were evacuated. In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned what it called "the terrorist attack" on its Jalalabad consulate and requested a thorough investigation. One official at the consulate was injured by broken glass. Nangarhar is home to a number of insurgent groups and criminal gangs who benefit from the proximity to the Pakistan border. Insurgent attacks are not uncommon in Jalalabad. The Islamic State group has established a presence in the province, having fought with Taliban gunmen in recent months to take control of at least four border districts. The attack comes two days after Islamabad hosted a meeting of representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss ending the Taliban's 14-year insurgency. Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though the Pakistani government denies the claim. The Taliban has split in recent months, with the insurgents divided over their support for a peace process. Mugshots: Steven Avery, the subject of the Netflix show 'Making a Murderer', pictured in police photos in the 1980s The convicted killer whose case was featured in the Netflix series Making A Murderer has filed a new appeal seeking his release. Steven Avery, 53, claims authorities used an improper search warrant and said that any evidence found as a result "is clearly 'fruit of the poisonous tree'". Avery was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of photographer Teresa Halbach in Wisconsin a decade ago. He had been wrongfully convicted years earlier in a rape case and served 18 years in prison before he was cleared by DNA evidence. He was suing Manitowoc County for tens of millions of dollars when he and his nephew were arrested over Ms Halbach's death. Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann said he has not yet seen Avery's appeal. Sheriff Hermann previously said that the investigation into Avery's case was proper. Fur hats made from bears, rabbits and foxes have cost the UK military more than 910,000, official figures show. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said 925 bearskin ceremonial caps, made famous by the Royal Guard, have been purchased since 2008. Spending on the caps sourced from Canada increased in 2015 to 149,379 from 136,671 in 2014 and 65,108 in 2013 - with the total since 2008 amounting to 880,163. The MoD has not carried out any trials since 2007 to find a synthetic alternative to bear skin, according to Defence Minister Philip Dunne. Records also show a further 55 hats made from rabbit fur have been bought for 25,299 between 2005/06 and 2015/16 and seven hats made from fox fur costing 5,499 during the same period. The MoD has previously indicated it has been open to alternatives to the traditional bearskin hat while animal rights campaigners have called for fake fur to be used instead. Conservative minister Mr Dunne, in response to a written parliamentary question, said: " The Ministry of Defence does not buy bear pelts; it buys ceremonial caps direct from suppliers who source pelts from animals culled as part of a programme to manage the wild population licensed by the Canadian government. "Animal welfare standards relating to the bear cull are a matter for the Canadian government. "The MoD also purchases coney skin (rabbit fur) for the Royal Engineers' and Royal Signals' busby and fox fur for the Royal Horse Artillery, Kings Troop Officers' busby. "The current contract requires a commitment to sustainable procurement. "Depending on usage and maintenance, bearskin busbys can last for up to 50 years. The coney skin and fox fur busbys have indefinite lifespans if properly maintained." There were 122 bearskin hats purchased in 2015, 127 in 2014 and 63 in 2013 - with 2009's 195 the highest in the figures released to MPs. For hats made from rabbit fur, 22 were bought in 2008/09 and 20 in 2014/15 - with none bought in six of the 11 years outlined in the data. Mr Dunne added: " Historically the MoD has undertaken a number of trials on synthetic alternatives to bearskin but none of these matched the properties of the natural material. "No trialling has taken place since 2007. "Information about costs of these trials is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. "In 2012, the Ministry of Defence loaned a sample bearskin to the animal rights organisation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, to aid its research and development programme on a synthetic alternative. "There has been no research and development carried out to find a synthetic alternative to coney skin or fox fur." Mr Dunne was replying to questions from shadow environment minister Alex Cunningham. Mr Cunningham called for the Government to think again about its use of real fur, noting British fashion industry leaders want to develop alternatives. He told the Press Association: "The British public will be horrified that Canadian black bears are being slaughtered, often indiscriminately, to provide fur headgear for British soldiers. "The Government have admitted spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on fur headgear over the last few years but despite escalating costs, and evident animal welfare issues, have no plans to research alternatives. "With leaders in the British fashion industry prepared to develop alternatives, it's time to think again." An MoD spokesman said: "There are no plans to change the ceremonial uniform or the bearskin cap which has been associated with the Guards Division since the 18th century. "We have examined various alternative materials in the past, but none has come remotely close to matching the natural properties of bear fur in terms of shape, weight and its ability to repel moisture in wet conditions. "The black bear is culled in large numbers each year by the Canadian authorities because the population is dangerously high. We only take 100 pelts a year and that is a fraction of the number culled." News / Africa by Stephen Jakes Botswana police have arrested a second suspect in connection of the murder of an elderly security guard at the Francistown Central Business District (CBD).The second suspect has been identified as Brilliant Thabisani from Zimbabwe.The security guard, Dilo Makgasana, 60, was allegedly killed by a gang which made away with cash amounting to P100, 000 and airtime vouchers vouchers valued at P200, 000 from Kwik Enterprises.Thabisani is alleged to have acted in cahoots with Mbakiso Makhakhe who was arrested last week and five others who were still at large to execute a robbery and murder that left the city of Francistown gripped with shock.Eyewitnesses said Makgasana was found dead in the morning with his hands tied to the back and legs bound together. He was also tied to a pole and stabbed to death.Makhakhe of Monarch location appeared before Francistown magistrate Dumisani Basupi on Monday morning facing a single count of murder while Thabisani appeared on Wednesday morning also charged with murder.Mengistu Chigala, prosecuting the matter supplicated with the court to remand both men in prison arguing that police investigations are still at their infancy stages.He said Thabisani being a Zimbabwean failed to produce travelling documents when requested to do so."If granted bail at this juncture, he might skip the country," Chigala told the court, adding that the possibility of the accused persons jeopardizing the ongoing police investigations was highBoth suspects were kept in custody to await their next court appearance set for November 16. A young couple feared they would be eaten by cannibals after being captured while on a hiking holiday in Papua New Guinea. Matthew Iovane and his American girlfriend Michelle Clemens (both 31) went trekking in the Papua New Guinea jungle together where they were captured by the gang, who tied them up, stripped them naked and beat them. Expand Close Michelle Clemens / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michelle Clemens In an interview with the Sun, Mr Iovan, who appeared on the 2008 show Shipwrecked, said that during their terrifying ordeal the only thing they could understand their captors saying was kill them. The pair had spent five days trekking in the jungle prior to their terrifying ordeal. Mr Iovane and Ms Clemens, who met in Los Angeles, were attacked on the final day of a hike along the 60-mile Kokoda Trail However on the last day of their trip, Mr Iovane and Miss Clemens were confronted and captured by two tribesmen who were armed with machetes and knives. We were about an hour into the walk when a tribesman appeared ahead of us and another behind us, he said. Mr Iovane said his first reaction was to try and calm the tribesmen and he thought it must be some kind of joke. I thought we were being robbed so we put down our bags in an attempt to calm down them, he said. Mr Iovane said the men got more and more annoyed and started attacking them. One turned on me, and swung his machete at me. He started tearing at my clothes until I was stripped virtually naked. I was too terrified to fight back. The couple made an attempt to flee before being recaptured. Mr Iovane said that he was blindfolded and his captors began running their machete across his neck. He was grunting and shouting kill you while sliding the machete blade across my throat, he said. Mr Iovane also said that he was subjected to a cruel game where this captor would swing his machete at his head but change its direction at the last second. After having their belongings stolen from them including an iPhone which their captors seemed to recognise the pair, who had been stripped, managed to escape. Fleeing through the jungle, they were eventually rescued by villagers who came to their aid. The pair are currently recovering from their ordeal in Papau New Guineas capital Port Moresby The most recent certified case of cannibalism in Papau New Guinea was in 2012. Authorities arrested 29 people accused of being part of a cannibal cult in Papua New Guinea's jungle interior and charged them with the murders of seven suspected witch doctors. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a visit to the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces South Korea has fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed its border, officials said. The shots are the first to be fired in a Cold War-style stand-off between the Koreas in the wake of the North's nuclear test last week. Expand Close A U.S. Air Force B-52 flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, January 10, 2016 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A U.S. Air Force B-52 flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, January 10, 2016 The North Korean drone was flying dozens of metres south of the border and turned back to the North after the South fired shots, South Korean defence and military officials said. The shots did not hit the drone. North Korean drone flights across the world's most heavily armed border are rare, but have happened before. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone programme, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014, Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but were still considered a potential new security threat. Animosity has been high since the North's claim on January 6 that it had tested a hydrogen bomb. There is widespread scepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer towards a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Seoul said that North Korea had also flown balloons with thousands of leaflets across the border, some of them describing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her government as "mad dogs". North Korea's propaganda machine is using the nuclear test to glorify Kim Jong Un's leadership and describing it as a necessary step to fight against what it calls a US-led attempt to overthrow the North's system. Pyongyang's state TV aired photos showing a smiling Kim Jong Un awarding commendations to scientists and other workers involved in the test and shaking hands with them at a Workers' Party building. He called the scientists and workers "nuclear combatants" and "the heroes of heroes" who evoked fears to the US and its allies, according to the state news agency. Ms Park urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test with what she called "the strongest" possible international sanctions that can force change in the North. Diplomats at a UN Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, are seen as key. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Ms Park said at a news conference, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." Polio workers in Pakistan have been the victims of several terrorist attacks in recent years A suicide attack on a polio vaccination centre in south-western Pakistan has killed 15 people. The victims were mainly police officers who had gathered to escort health workers, who have been repeatedly targeted in recent years by Islamic militants, officials said. The bombing of the centre on the outskirts of Quetta killed 13 police, a soldier and a civilian, said Shahzada Farhat, a police spokesman in the city. Another 23 people were wounded. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives among the police officers, said provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti. "We're in a war zone," he added. The bombing happened outside the polio centre shortly before vaccination teams were due to be dispatched to local neighbourhoods as part of a three-day immunisation campaign, said Syed Imtiaz Shah, the local police chief. Hours after the attack, Ahmad Marwat, who described himself as a spokesman for Jundullah, or Army of God, a little-known militant group, claimed responsibility without explaining why the centre was targeted. He warned of more attacks on polio teams in the future. Polio workers in Pakistan, and their police escorts, have been targeted in recent years by Islamic militants who accuse them of working as spies for the United States. The attacks intensified after a Pakistani doctor was arrested on charges of running a fake hepatitis vaccination campaign in the city of Abbottabad as a cover for a CIA-backed effort to obtain DNA samples from Osama bin Laden ahead of the 2011 US raid that killed him. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where polio is endemic, and the attacks have hindered vaccination campaigns. Some Pakistanis are also suspicious about the vaccinations, fearing it will sterilise their children. Police said the security forces were the primary target of Wednesday's attack. He spoke to reporters from the scene, which was strewn with blood and debris, as rescuers took the wounded to hospitals. Quetta is the capital of south-western Baluchistan province, where a low-level insurgency has long been waged by Baloch separatist groups demanding a greater share of the region's natural resources or outright independence. Al Qaida, the Taliban and other Sunni militant groups are also active in the region. Tens of thousands have been killed in Pakistan over the past decade in attacks mainly targeting security forces and the country's Shiite minority. Sophia Anne Caruso and Michael C Hall in a scene from David Bowie and Enda Walsh's Lazarus (Matt Ross Public Relations/AP) A performance of David Bowie's trippy, melancholy musical Lazarus turned into a memorial for the Thin White Duke as fans who had bought tickets to celebrate his music instead found themselves mourning his passing. "It was incredible. I wept a lot," said Evan Schwartz, a 20-year-old student from Stanford, Connecticut, who saw the show for a second time after winning a ticket in an online lottery. "It was beautiful." Tuesday night's performance was the first time since Bowie's death that the show went on at the 200-seat New York Theatre Workshop in the city's East Village. Some audience members left in tears. Cast members did not acknowledge the death or make any changes to the show. They also declined to comment. The only official nod to Bowie's death was a video screen in the lobby showing a photo of the musician with the words "In Memoriam, 1947-2016". Fans left flowers near the entrance. The musical, starring Dexter and Six Feet Under actor Michael C Hall, has been a hit since previews began on November 18. Bowie's death only made tickets more desired, with a single matinee seat going on Tuesday afternoon for 1,900 dollars (1,320) on StubHub. Bowie wrote the musical with Irish playwright Enda Walsh as a sequel to the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, which inspired the 1976 film of the same name that he starred in. The musical is directed by Belgian avant-garde director Ivo Van Hove. Bowie was clearly the draw for Roberta Bethencourt, a New Jersey resident and a Bowie fan since she was 12. "I used to go to the library and when other kids were getting books, I was getting Space Oddity and bringing it home and playing over and over again," she said. "I had no idea what an impact he had on so many people. I loved him because he was so different and unique." The 18 songs in the musical include some of Bowie's biggest hits, including Changes, Heroes, Absolute Beginners and Life On Mars, as well as new songs like Lazarus, taken from Bowie's latest Blackstar album. The opaque story centres on millionaire alien Thomas Jerome Newton, who Bowie portrayed in the film. Newton, played now by Hall, has imprisoned himself in his own apartment, drinking gin, eating Twinkies, being tormented by his past and watching TV. He cannot leave - or die. His new assistant gets sucked deeper into his world, Newton is visited by an ethereal girl who creates a rocket ship out of masking tape to take him home, and he is harassed by an enigmatic, black-clad figure. At one point, the stage is filled with white liquid resembling milk, on which some actors bodysurf. At another, it is filled with dark balloons. The story has a recurring theme of creatures caught between worlds and the exhaustion that comes with daily survival. "I'm done with this living," a character cries out a one point, in a line that had more depth after Bowie's passing. The rest of the 11-member cast includes Tony Award nominee Cristin Milioti and Broadway veteran Michael Esper. There is also a video appearance by Alan Cumming. The New York Theatre Workshop, an engine for bold works, has not been immune to such tragedy. Nearly 20 years ago to the day, playwright Jonathan Larson died on the eve of the company's first preview of his ground-breaking Rent. Meanwhile Bowie's long-time producer Tony Visconti celebrated the musician's life with a tribute concert in Toronto, Canada, telling the audience there was no better way to work through grief than by music. About 900 people gathered at the sold-out venue and heard the band Holy Holy, featuring bassist Visconti and former Bowie drummer Mick (Woody) Woodmansey. The event was planned months ago as part of a tour, but sold out only after Bowie's death. Visconti who produced Blackstar, addressed the crowd just before the set, saying that Monday was one of the worst days of his life after he learned of Bowie's death. There would appear to be a return to the strict implementation of the EUs controversial Dublin rules for asylum seekers, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel unilaterally suspended last year with her 'open door' refugee policy. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch Annie Leibovitz has revealed the identity of the one person whose picture she is most desperate to take - Angela Merkel. The photographer said that without an image of the German chancellor her updated collection of influential females was missing "probably the most important woman in the world today". But she conceded it was a tough mission, especially with Mrs Merkel under such political pressure over the migrant crisis. "I have been trying very hard," she told BBC Radio 4's Today ahead of the opening of the new exhibition in London this week. "I respect the fact that she doesn't want to do interviews or doesn't want to do photographs because she has other things to do. "She is having a difficult time right now." Leibovitz said she would like to photograph the politician - recently named the world's second most powerful person by Forbes magazine, ahead of US president Barack Obama and behind only Russian president Vladimir Putin - "in action". "I would probably do her working. I would love to see her just at work, as I've done with Hillary Clinton. I would be respectful of her not wanting to sit for a portrait." Leibovitz said the exhibition - an update of a project first attempted in 1999 at the behest of partner Susan Sontag - "began with women I admired and now has turned a little bit more into trying to gather subjects as we go along. "Obviously it's a project that will never be done but it is interesting to stop now, 17 years later, and take a look at where we are now." The exhibition Women: New Portraits opens on January 16 at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, the first leg of a world tour Tim Peake will embark on his first ever spacewalk this week Credit: Twitter/@astro_timpeake Britain's first astronaut, Tim Peake (43), is set to perform his first spacewalk on Friday, January 15. His fellow NASA astronaut Tim Kopra will accompany him on the mission. The spacewalk is scheduled to commence at 12:55 GMT, and will last for six hours. Its official title is the 35th NASA Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). Peake played a role in a spacewalk on December 21, but remained inside the International Space Station (ISS), meaning that this will be his first time to venture outside the vehicle. When an astronaut leaves a vehicle while in space, usually to carry out repairs, maintenance or experiments, he is said to perform a spacewalk. Read More They typically last between five and eight hours. Peake arrived at the ISS on December 15, after travelling into space from a cosmodrome in Kazahkstan. He and Kopra are tasked with repairing a power unit on the outside of the ISS. The ISS has eight shunt units which regulate power, but its only been operating with seven since one failed two months ago. The European Space Agency say that the spacewalk should be fairly straightforward, and involves the undoing of one single bolt. Afterwards, the astronauts will install cables and install a valve on the ISS. Frances Cappuccini, 30, who died after giving birth by emergency Caesarean section, as the jury has been selected in a landmark case in which a doctor and a trust are charged in connection with her death. Photo: Family handout/PA Wire The death of a teacher just hours after she had given birth to her second child was unexpected and wholly avoidable, a court has heard. Frances Cappuccini suffered heavy bleeding after her son was born by Caesarean section at Tunbridge Wells hospital in Pembury, Kent, and was operated on, but never woke up from the anaesthetic. The 30-year-old went into cardiac arrest three hours after the operation had finished on October 9 2012, and died at 4.20pm. Two doctors responsible for Mrs Cappuccini after the operation had been completed failed, the prosecution alleges, in what it said was their "elementary task" to ensure she safely came round from the anaesthetic. Consultant anaesthetist Errol Cornish, of Holmbury Park in Bromley, south-east London, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence. Dr Nadeem Azeez, who, the prosecution said, was primarily responsible for the care of Mrs Cappuccini, is not on trial, having left the country. Prosecutor John Price QC said: "Were he within this jurisdiction, however, he would now be facing exactly the same charge (gross negligence manslaughter)." Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which runs Tunbridge Wells Hospital, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of corporate manslaughter. It is the first time an NHS trust has been charged with the offence since its introduction in 2008. There would appear to be a return to the strict implementation of the EUs controversial Dublin rules for asylum seekers, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel unilaterally suspended last year with her 'open door' refugee policy. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch Germany is turning away hundreds of migrants on the border with Austria, as the government tries to cut the number of asylum seekers. There would appear to be a return to the strict implementation of the EU's controversial Dublin rules for asylum seekers, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel unilaterally suspended last year with her "open door" refugee policy. The government yesterday also agreed to deport asylum seekers who have broken the law, in the wake of the New Year's Eve sex attacks. Some 200 migrants a day are being refused entry into Germany, up from 60 in December, according to the Austrian authorities. Most of those refused entry are trying to cross Germany to claim asylum in Sweden or Denmark, a police spokesman said. Under the Dublin rules, refugees must claim asylum in the first EU state they enter. Mrs Merkel had effectively suspended the rules when she said Germany would take Syrian refugees regardless of which EU state they entered first. Now she has pledged to reduce the number. Crisis Sweden and Denmark have also tightened their borders in recent weeks, while Italy claimed yesterday that Europe must choose between its Schengen open borders and the Dublin rules, because the migrant crisis had made the two incompatible. Italy and Greece are the main points of entry to the EU for asylum seekers. Both countries are critical of the Dublin rules, under which they are responsible for the vast number of refugees. The number of asylum seekers reaching Europe shows little sign of abating. Some 18,872 arrived by sea in the first 11 days of 2016, the International Organisation for Migration said. Meanwhile, Germany's government proposed new laws to make it easier to deport asylum seekers. At the moment, only those sentenced to three years or more in prison can be expelled. Under the proposed changes, even a suspended prison sentence would be enough for deportation. Police officers secure an area at the historic Sultanahmet district, which is popular with tourists, after the suicide bombing in Istanbul. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis A member of Isil is believed to be behind yesterday's suicide bombing in the heart of Istanbul that killed nine German tourists and brought terror to the streets of the Turkish city. The blast tore through a crowd near the Blue Mosque, in the Sultanahmet district, an area popular with visitors. Officials said the attack was carried out by a 28-year-old Syrian member of Isil. "We have determined that the perpetrator of the attack is a foreigner who is a member of Daesh," said Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's prime minister, using the Arabic name for Isil. The bomber is believed to have entered Turkey from Syria but was not on a watch list of suspected militants. Unconfirmed reports said he may have been born in Saudi Arabia. Isil did not claim responsibility for the bombing but is said to have been behind two other major terror attacks in Turkey in the past six months. The blast also killed a Peruvian man and wounded another 15 people, including nine Germans and two Peruvians, according to Turkish media. News of the bombing was met with horror in Germany and Mr Davutoglu called Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, to offer his condolences. "International terrorism is once again showing its cruel and inhuman face today," Mrs Merkel said. "Today it hit Istanbul, it has hit Paris, it hit Tunisia, it had already hit Ankara." Germany also warned its citizens after the attack to avoid tourist sites in the city. Questions were asked as to whether the group was deliberately targeted for their country's liberal policy on accepting Syrian refugees. Istanbul is one of the world's most-visited cities and tourism accounts for around 12pc of Turkey's GDP, raising fears the attack could bring serious economic repercussions. Assembly The suicide bomber struck at around 10.20am near the Obelisk of Theodosius, an ancient Egyptian monument often used as an assembly point for tour groups. Ugur Kupeli, a 58-year-old tour guide, said he ran towards the scene of the blast but stopped when he saw a severed arm lying at the edge of Sultanahmet Square. "It had the sleeve of a red dress," he said. The area was flooded with police and Turkey's government, which is often accused of authoritarianism, declared a ban on broadcast coverage from the scene of the attack. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, hit out at critics of his government's aggressive tactics, including the American intellectual Noam Chomsky. "Pick a side," Mr Erdogan said. "You are either on the side of the Turkish government, or you're on the side of the terrorists." Turkey says Isil was behind a bombing at a left-wing peace rally in Ankara in October, which killed 102 people and wounded hundreds. The jihadist group is also blamed for another attack in the southern city of Suruc in July that left 33 people dead. Many victims were students planning to cross into Syria to help rebuild the war-ravaged border town of Kobane. Behlul Ozkan, a professor at Istanbul's Marmara University, said the latest atrocity was "completely different" and appeared to be designed to damage Turkey by scaring foreign tourists. "The target is the Turkish economy. They're doing it not just to kill foreign tourists but to show the world that Turkey is vulnerable," he said. More than 12 million people visited Istanbul last year, making it the fifth most-visited city in the world, according to a survey by Mastercard. News / Africa by Stephen Jakes The Migrant Workers Union South Africa official Ngqabutho Mabhena has said it appears the Zimbabwe Special Permits in South Africa will not be renewed in December 2017 which means that those who can not migrate to normal permits will be sent back to their homes on January 2018 or become illegal immigrants."The reality is that the ZSP will not be renewed come 31 December 2017. This means that those who can't migrate to normal permits will be expected to return home on 1st January 2018 or become illegal immigrants," Mabhena said."We can engage the South African government on the future of the ZSP holders but that becomes a costly exercise as we have bills to pay. The donor community will not fund a project meant to assist people who earn a salary every week or month. Donor agencies only help refuges and other displaced people."He said they have 3 whatsapp groups of ZSP holders bringing the number to 152. The South African government has issued over 198 000 permits."In my view, it will be unfair to ask the 152 people on our whatsapp group to fund the project which will benefit close to 200 000 ZSP holders. Again it will be unfair for us to negotiate using our resources, because for starters we don't have," he said."The challenge is that we don't have start up capital to call for meetings in different places. As it stands, it means the 152 people should contribute at least R50 a month but if we were to reach out to many people, each individual will contribute R10 per year . The R10 per year per individual will be more than enough to cover all related costs including office space.""We are left with two options: To ask the 152 on our whatsapp group to contribute a once off R100 for us to kick start the process of reaching out to everyone OR just wait and hope the South African government will just extend the permits without any negotiations with them," he added."l have written this long submission so that we can stop on jokes and seriously consider our future. We will be taking down your suggestions." A politician in the UK has become the first openly gay Conservative Cabinet minister. David Mundell, the Conservative Scotland Secretary, came out as gay today. Mr Mundell described coming out publically as "one of the most important decisions" of his life and that he "just [wanted] to get on with it", the Telegraph newspaper reports. It is understood that David Cameron was informed of Mr Mundells decision to come out "in recent days". Mr Mundell, the MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, made the announcement with a statement. New Year, new start! I have already set out my political priorities for the year and now I am setting out my personal one, he said. Having taken one of the most important decisions of my life and resolved to come out publically as gay in 2016, I just want to get on with it, and now, just like that, I have said it. How can it be both so easy and so hard to say a few short words? In the end, it took just a couple of taps on a keyboard, yet at some points, in my mind, it was going to be harder than standing for election, speaking in the House of Commons or being cross-examined on television. I still cannot fully rationalise such feelings, but I know they are not uncommon, particularly in men of my age. Of course, everybody who gets to this point, has had their own journey. I have certainly been on mine - conflicting emotions, of doubts and fears, but ultimately positive and uplifting, with an unstoppable direction of travel. Over time, I came to understand that, for me, the only way to be truly happy on a personal level is to acknowledge in public as well as in private, who I am. I so admire the many people, young and old, who are doing this every day, uncertain of the reaction. I have been very fortunate and couldnt have had more love and support from my family and friends. However, making this public is something I have had to do myself. I dont know what the wider reaction will be, but I know its the right thing for me to do. Other than the intensely personal and positive difference it makes to me, and the way I can live my life, my hope is that my coming out doesnt change anything else about how I go about my work or how people treat me. Gender and sexuality should make no difference whether you are a Cabinet Minister or in any other walk of life and I hope that I can, in my own way, reinforce that message. Police officers secure an area at the historic Sultanahmet district, which is popular with tourists, after the suicide bombing in Istanbul. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis urkish authorities detained three Russian nationals suspected of links with Islamic State following a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 10 tourists, media reports said on Wednesday. A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed nine German and one Peruvian tourists on Tuesday in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist draw, in an attack Turkey blamed on Islamic State. Fifteen people were also hurt in the attack. Russia's Consulate General in the Mediterranean city of Antalya said three Russians had been detained over suspected connection to Islamic State, Russian state news agency RIA said. Police also seized documents and CDs during a search of the premises where the suspects were staying, Turkey's Dogan News Agency said. It was not immediately clear when the detentions occurred. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Istanbul blast but Islamist, leftist and Kurdish militants, who are battling Ankara in southeast Turkey, have all carried out attacks in the past. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer condolences and vowed Turkey's fight against Islamic State, at home and as part of the U.S.-led coalition, would continue. Turkey has become a target for Islamic State, with two bombings last year blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. Ten US Navy sailors and their two small boats that drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems will be returned safely and quickly, Tehran has said. The nine men and one woman were being held overnight at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, and were expected to be transferred to a US ship in the region today. Officials said they believe the US had spoken to one of the crew and all 10 were fine and uninjured. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. American officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island in the middle of the Gulf. They said some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island and they were picked up by Iran. The semi-official Iranian news agency FARS said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Mr Cook said. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as US officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Secretary of state John Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Mr Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior US official. He "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome", the official said. Mr Kerry learned of the incident as he and defence secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the US State Department. Officials said the sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego, California, and were deployed to the US Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the US lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft. A radio signal from one of the boats showed that they were on Farsi Island, setting off efforts to contact the Iranians. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group and were on a training mission as they travelled between Kuwait and Bahrain, officials said. The Riverine boats are not considered high-tech and do not contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to the crafts. Republican politicians seized on the incident as further evidence that Iran was not to be trusted. The House of Representatives is due to vote today on Republican-backed legislation that would give Congress greater oversight of the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, which party members have derided as a victory for Tehran. Republican senator Kelly Ayotte said it was "unthinkable that the administration would lift sanctions and permit Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief under the nuclear agreement, even as the regime brazenly violates its international obligations and rushes to develop the ballistic missile capability to deliver a potential nuclear weapon to the United States". The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near US warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran is expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the United Nations nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its programme, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Mr Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away". Pakistani paramedics move an injured survivor following a bomb blast near a polio vaccination centre, at a hospital in Quetta on January 13, 2016 Pakistani security officials examine the site of a bomb blast near a polio vaccination centre in Quetta on January 13, 2016 A suspected suicide bomb attack on a polio vaccination centre in south-west Pakistan has killed at least 15 people, as at least 10 people killed in a Cameroon mosque attack. Local police chief Syed Imtiaz Shah said today's bombing at the centre in Quetta killed 12 police, a soldier and a civilian. Another 23 people were wounded. Police said the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing. Meanwhile, A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and wounded at least one at a mosque in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, officials in the Far North region said. Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram has stepped up attacks in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger since last year. Many of the Cameroon attacks have been conducted by women. In Pakistan, the bomb exploded outside the polio centre shortly before vaccination teams were due to be sent to neighbourhoods in a three-day immunisation campaign. Polio workers in Pakistan have been the victims of several terrorist attacks in recent years. News / Africa by Staff Reporter A woman in South Africa has been beaten, raped, mutilated and then set alight her crime being that she is a lisbian.Daily Sun reported that this was how heartless killers murdered Matshidiso "Pasca" Melamu!The 21-year-old openly gay Pasca was killed before she could find out that she had passed her matric. Sadly, she never got a chance to celebrate her achievement.Holding Pasca's statement of results and a framed portrait, her mum Betty (38) said she was devastated by the loss. Her gruesome murder has left her family, cops and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community reeling in shock.In a display of anger over the senseless killing, LGBTI members, joined by several political groups, took to the streets of Evaton, south of Joburg.The march started at the local filling station just a few metres away from Pasca's home. They wanted to raise awareness and demand the immediate arrest of her killers. Her grieving mum didn't attend the march.Vaal LGBTI spokeswoman Kegomodicoe Mocoancoeng said Pasca's murder was a hate crime which should embarrass the areas and the nation as a whole."It was a brutal murder because she was raped, mutilated and her body was also burned. This a clear indication that some members of society are not willing to accept us and yet they know of our existence. We want to see change because Pasca's killers are still roaming the streets," she said.Betty said Pasca left home on 16 December and never came back."Four days later, we heard rumours about a girl who had been found murdered in Lakeside," said her mum.The family called a local radio station where they were given a description of the dead woman."We were told a girl with a tattoo on her leg and a gold tooth had been killed. We immediately knew it was our Pasca. We still can't believe she's gone. Who could do such a horrible thing to my child?" asked Betty. The sailors were in Iranian custody on Farsi Island at least for some time, but it is not certain where they are now. Iran has seized 10 US navy sailors and their two small boats after the vessels developed mechanical problems and drifted into Iranian waters, US officials have confirmed. The Pentagon said it had received assurances from Tehran that the sailors and their boats would be returned safely and promptly. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. American officials said the incident happened near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. They said that some type of mechanical trouble caused them to run aground, where they were picked up by Iran. The sailors were in Iranian custody on Farsi Island at least for some time, but it is not certain where they are now. The semi-official Iranian news agency, FARS, said that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy had detained 10 foreign servicemen, believed to be Americans, and that the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters. Mr Cook said: "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly." The incident comes amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before US President Barack Obama was set to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as US officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and contact Iranian leaders. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Mr Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior US official. Mr Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said. Mr Kerry learned of the incident as he and Defence Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department. This comes on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near US warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The tests were "highly provocative", a US military commander said at the time. Iran is expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in a matter of days. Once the UN nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its programme, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Mr Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away". Islamic State has issued an advice booklet for followers who want to carry out lone wolf attacks of the sort that are plaguing European countries. The booklet, Safety and security guidelines for lone wolf mujahideen and small cells, tells readers how to surprise the enemy by evading security agencies. Any operation that doesnt have a strong security and precaution base is deemed to fail, just like a big building needs strong foundations, it says. Security precautions are the foundations of any operation. The booklet was originally written in Arabic for al-Qaeda, and followed other advice documents for jihadists such as the famous "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom". But it has now been translated and re-released in English by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which split off from al-Qaeda in 2014. No reason is given for its distribution now. But the security services and David Cameron, the Prime Minister, have claimed seven terrorist plots were foiled last year alone, suggesting Isils attempts to carry out attacks are being stymied by security breaches. It gives lists of encryption software that can be used to disguise the contents of emails and mobile phone calls, and outlines the basic operation of a terrorist cell structure, that limits the number of supporters any other supporter knows. It says that lone wolves in particular should try and meld in with the local population, including by not looking like a Muslim. That means shaving your beard, wearing western clothes and not attending mosque too frequently. However, it also realises that this advice might itself cause difficulty, so it goes as far as giving fashion advice. Always look like any random tourist or normal traveller, it says. Make the colours go with each other. Wearing a red or yellow shirt with black pants (trousers) will get you noticed as someone who is not used to this kind of clothing. Also, no need to put on new clothes, as that can be suspicious. Some brothers like to buy entirely new cloths, from top to bottom including shoes, but that will get too much attention. It even gives instruction for what kind of perfume a man should wear. If you want to use perfume during your travel, dont use the oily, non-alcoholic perfume that Muslims use. Use generic alcoholic perfume as everyone does, and if you are a man, use perfume for men. Some of the advice, though is more obvious, suggesting a certain lack of imagination among the booklets target market. Leave behind the prayer mat, take some cash, and if you have fake documents, make sure they have the same name in them. A lot of brothers have been caught because of that, it says. So try as much as you can to have all your documents bearing the same name: ID card, passport, drivers licence. What is Isil? An Islamic extremist group controlling territory in Syria and Iraq What is it called? In the West, the group is usually known as Isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). In June, the militants said that wanted to simply be called Islamic State in recognition of the self-declared caliphate What about 'Daesh'? Daesh is an abreviation Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq wa al-Sham, and is the derogatory name used by many Muslims for Isil. Following the Paris attacks, the French government is now using this term What are its aims? A worldwide Islamic caliphate - a religious government - without borders What terror attacks has it carried out? Isil has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015, the explosion of a plane travelling from Egypt to Russia, and the individual killings of Western hostages, including James Foley and Alan Henning How is the group funded? Looting, extortion and the possession of oilfields providing an estimated 1.8m in revenue per day How much territory does Isil control? An area of the Middle East that is roughly the size of Belgium Where is it based? Isil's HQ is understood to be in the city of Raqqa, Syria Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency shows detention of US Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf. (Sepahnews via AP) All 10 US Navy sailors detained by Iran after drifting into its territorial waters a day earlier have been freed. The US Navy said the American crew members returned safely and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. The sailors departed the island at 8.43am GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the US 5th Fleet is based. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran," the US statement said. The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained US sailors before their release showing them sitting on the floor of a room. One was a woman with her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters of the Persian Gulf," a statement posted online by the Guard said. General Ali Fadavi, the Navy chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was quoted by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown that the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of "mechanical problems in their navigation system". US officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident. US officials had said on Tuesday that Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. General Fadavi said the American boats had shown "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country's territorial waters. He said Tehran did not consider the US Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as "innocent passage". The sailors were nonetheless allowed to make contact with the US military based on Iran's "responsibilities and Islamic mercy" late on Tuesday, he said. General Fadavi said Iranian foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif "had a firm stance" during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry on their presence in Iran's territorial waters and "said they should not have come and should apologise". The Revolutionary Guard's 200,000-strong force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system. The Guard's naval forces are heavily dependent on fast-moving armed speedboats that can be used in teams to swarm much larger vessels. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. SHARE By Vince Jackson CLEMSON Clemson Area Transit recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of service to the community at a luncheon at its Clemson headquarters. Keith Moody, transit supervisor, said the system has provided more than 25 million rides during the two decades CAT buses have been in operation. Many of those riders are college students attending Anderson, Clemson and Southern Wesleyan Universities as well as Tri-County Technical College. Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander said the city is proud to partner with CatBus, which is operating six all-electric buses on their Seneca route. "It is changing lives, giving people independence and contributing to our quality of life," Alexander said of the nonpolluting Proterra vehicles, the first all-electric fleet in the world. Former Clemson City Councilman Butch Trent remembers when the city of Clemson first considered adding free bus service in 1996. "Then-Mayor Larry Abernathy, myself and other city officials traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia, to learn about their bus system that transported Virginia Tech students. We never imagined CatBus turning into what we have here now," Trent said. Al Babinicz, chief executive officer for CatBus, said $305 billion in recently passed federal transportation appropriations means a bright future for public transportation. "We now have a five year authorization after the passage of the federal FAST Act 2015. FAST stands for Fixing America's Surface Transportation, and it is going to allow for rapid development of newer technologies," Babinicz said. This year Clemson plans to buy eight new buses to replace those being retired from the fleet. The purchase will be paid for by a $4 million federal grant, Babinicz said. The future of public transportation is increasingly leaning toward electric buses, park and ride lots, people movers, and bike-and-ride public transportation, Babinicz said. News / Africa by Staff Reporter Two men aged 39 and 55 have been arrested for allegedly stealing cattle in the Mabhilidi grazing field in Umzimkhulu, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).It is alleged that police came across four men loading cattle into a trailer of a vehicle in the early hours of yesterday morning. Two of the suspects ran away and the remaining two could not prove the ownership of the cattle, and they could not explain why they were loading them.The livestock's lawful owners were traced and their cattle were returned to them. Suspects will appear at the Umzimkhulu Magistrates' Court soon, they face stock theft charges. They will be profiled to establish if they can be linked to other stock theft cases in the area and its surroundings.KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni said, "We will fight stock theft in this province until the community has peaceful nights with their livestock in their kraals or while grazing." SHARE By Frances Parrish of the Independent Mail Students at Belton Honea Path High School have their potential futures available to them with a click of a button. Over the summer, Anderson School District 2 received a $450,000 grant that has funded three programs designed to help students graduate and be college and career ready. The district has nearly finished registering students in middle and high school in Naviance, a computer program allows students to explore career paths and courses of study through a database listing hundreds of jobs and universities in the United States. Even though students in middle school and freshmen in high school have several years before college and a career, the program helps students to get a head start on thinking about the future. Under each job listing, students can find information about degrees required, daily tasks, salaries and other related jobs. "It's helpful, even though we have two years, we don't know what we want to be, but we can have an idea," said sophomore Jasemine McElraith. Nicole Broka, district college and career coordinator, walked around the classroom Friday morning, helping students get familiar with the program. In just a few minutes, the students were looking at their dream jobs such as nursing or animation. As she explained all of the program's features, she told students to look at the careers first and then look at the colleges that can prepare them for those careers. Upperclassmen are excited to learn more about colleges and scholarships available to them as graduation nears. The program is another resource in addition to their guidance counselor where they can get reliable and accurate information. "I think it will be easier for me to figure out what I want to do," said BHP junior Brittany Westberry." She does know she wants a bachelor's degree in music. Senior Lauren Center knows what colleges she wants to attend and what she wants to major in, but finding the money for school is a concern. "My favorite part about the program is it specifically matches my needs to scholarships," Center said. She plans to attend Spartanburg Methodist College and then bridge to the College of Charleston to major in biology. Being college and career ready is not only a school goal, but a state goal as well. With the new implementation of state standards and an official model of the skills a South Carolina high school graduate should posses, the state Department of Education is working to increase student success after high school. But Naviance isn't the only program the grant is funding. The district is undergoing an evaluation through High Schools that Work, a program designed to help improve teaching and hold students to higher standards. After the evaluation, the school plans workshops for teachers to improve instruction that links college and career readiness to content. The third program targets 70 at-risk students, who will get a revamped mentor program. With an amendment pending approval to the mentor program, the target students would be able to go on college and career field trips to help increase their awareness of life after high school. "Having mentors can be pretty powerful. These are at-risk students and this gives them an opportunity they may not have had. They may never have visited a college before," Broka said. The mentor program started up in October, and so far, students in the mentoring program have turned in more assignments and behavior is better, but Broka said the real results regarding grades and graduation rates won't be seen until the end of the school year. "These are things that will inspire kids in ways we can't imagine yet," Broka said. Follow Frances Parrish on Twitter @Frances_AIM SHARE By Abe Hardesty of the Independent Mail When Terence Roberts initiated the Mayor's Martin Luther King Breakfast in his first year as Anderson mayor, the community room at the Murray Street Recreation Center was big enough to hold the crowd. "There were about 25, maybe 30," Roberts remembered Monday as he planned the ninth annual event. Interest in the event has changed dramatically over the years. About 350 now attend the annual breakfast at the Civic Center of Anderson. But Roberts said the mission remains the same. "It allows us as a city to recognize the accomplishments of individuals in the community that have made a difference," Roberts said. "They're doing what Dr. King dreamed that we would all do." Roberts, first elected mayor in 2006, honors those individuals each January by presenting the Trailblazer Award at the breakfast. "It shows that his dream has impacted our community," Roberts said of King, a Georgia native and Baptist minister who was killed at age 39 in 1968. The recipient of the award is not revealed until the presentation. The 2015 winner was Henry Adair, former principal at Westside High School. Doors for this year's breakfast will open at 7:45 a.m. Friday. Breakfast will be served at 8:15 a.m. The breakfast is free, but reservations are required. Anderson native Isaiah R. McGee, chairman of the Claflin University music department, will provide the keynote message for the event. McGee holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of South Carolina and a doctorate in music education from Florida State University. The breakfast begins a series of MLK commemorative events in the area. On Saturday, Upstate native Jerry Blassingame, executive director of Soteria Community Development Corp. in Greenville, will be the speaker at the 13th annual MLK Memorial Celebration at Westside High. Blassingame founded the Soteria Community Development Corp. in 1999 with the vision to rebuild older, low-income neighborhoods "from the inside out houses, businesses, people and all." The 10 a.m. event, sponsored by the Rho Delta Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Philo Alpha Fraternity in Anderson, will also include the recognition of the 2015 MLK Drum Major Award and the 2015 Charles Battle Scholars. More than a dozen MLK-related events are planned in the Anderson area this year, five of them on Monday. One of those will be an evening celebration at the Civic Center of Anderson. All five Anderson County school districts, as well as all state and federal offices, will be closed Monday in memory of King. Tri-County Tech and Clemson University are closed. One of the longest-running King holiday observances begins Saturday in Elberton, Georgia. A 6 p.m. MLK Ecumenical Banquet starts a three-day festival that includes an MLK Parade at 4 p.m. Sunday. Six events are scheduled on the Clemson University campus, beginning with a Day of Service program Monday and ending with a panel discussion on Jan. 26. Follow Abe Hardesty on Twitter @abe_hardesty Events planned in the Anderson area for Martin Luther King Jr. Day Friday 8 - 11 a.m. : City of Andersons Mayors Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, Civic Center of Anderson. Call 864-231-2200 for reservations. Saturday 10 a.m.: MLK Memorial Celebration, Westside High School, Anderson. Jerry Blassingame is the planned speaker. 6 p.m.: MLK Ecumenical Banquet, Elberton Civic Center, Elberton, Ga. Sunday 4 p.m.: MLK Parade, Elberton Monday 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Clemson University Day of Service, Hendrix Student Center ballrooms, Clemson campus 8:30-9 a.m.: Commemorative Celebration Breakfast, Rose Hill dining hall at Hospice of the Upstate, Anderson. Message by the Rev. Matthew Roberts, hospice chaplain. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.: Clemson University Blood Drive, Hendrix Student Center meeting rooms A&B, Clemson campus 10 a.m.: MLK Oratorical Contest, Blackwell Cultural Center, Elberton 5 - 7:30 p.m.: King Birthday Celebration, Civic Center of Anderson. Sponsored by the Anderson County Ministerial Organization and benefitting the United Negro College Fund. Author and former Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond is the scheduled speaker. Tuesday 6 p.m.: Clemson University King Commemorative Service, Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, Clemson. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, will be the keynote speaker. Jan. 20 6 p.m.: It Takes Courage, McKissick Theater, Clemson University. Featuring poet Leah Burgess, an explicit conversation rooted in the intersections of race, gender and oppression. Jan. 21 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.: Tunnel of Oppression, Clemson University, Hendrix Student Center Jan. 26 6 p.m.: Open, honest conversations: Bringing together law enforcement and the community. Panel will reflect diverse perspectives from the campus and community to highlight concerns. McKissick Theatre, Clemson University SHARE By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail A German company's plans to invest $35 million and to create 200 jobs in Hart County, Georgia, underscores the need for neighboring Anderson County to create an industrial park as quickly as possible, Upstate officials said Tuesday. Linde +Wiemann, which makes instrument panels and other structural components of cars, will establish an assembly operation and some sales and distribution activities in the new plant, Georgia officials said Tuesday. The company will construct a 60,000-square-foot plant and a separate 3,500-square-foot office building in the Gateway II Industrial Park. The park is near Interstate 85 at Exit 177 in Georgia. The facility, which will be near the South Carolina border, will supply a number of customers, including the BMW plant in Greer and Daimler in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. "This is a great day for us,"said Hart County Administrator Jon Caime. "We think that this could become an even bigger project. They haven't given us anything concrete about the future, but we know from experience that initial numbers are often conservative. We expect a lot of big things to come from this company." Caime said officials in his county had worked about six months to lure the company. Its plant will cover 29 acres, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. In neighboring Anderson County, Economic Development Director Burriss Nelson said the Georgia announcement is proof that an area can lose a business prospect if it can't provide a proper industrial site. He said he cannot confirm that Anderson County ever had a shot at Linde +Wiemann, because German companies that he has tracked lately have been known first by code names. "I think Hart has a graded, pad-ready site, and leaders of companies look for that when time is of the essence," Nelson said. "If you're in a time-critical situation, you're going to eliminate a lot of sites that can't provide something that speaks to that right off the bat." Dwayne Dye, Hart County's director of economic development and an officer with the Industrial Building Authority, said crews would start working at the new Georgia site "really quick," likely by the end of March. The company could have some equipment in a new building by June or July, he said. Along with instrument panels, the company specializes in front end and door-structure assemblies. "This investment comes because of a lot of hard work by a lot of people," Dye said. "It didn't start six months ago; it started seven or eight or nine or 10 years ago when we decided to focus on workforce after a lot of our textile jobs left us. It kept going when, even during the recession, local officials knew it would be important to invest in an industrial park." Since November, Anderson County officials have been in negotiations with brothers Sam and Tom Thrift to buy about 200 acres near U.S. 76 and Blackman Road in Sandy Springs. The land would be used for an industrial park. County officials have agreed to spend up to $4 million on the park, and a deal could be announced as early as this week. Tommy Dunn, chairman of the Anderson County Council, said the park would be "a game changer" for local economic development efforts. Linde +Wiemann Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Schoof said in a prepared statement that Hart County's labor pool was a big draw for his company. "In Hart County we not only found an excellent location that offered Linde + Wiemann access to qualified labor, attractive logistics, reasonable operating costs and quality of life; we also found an excellent business location with room for expansion and local leadership that makes it easy for us to advance our location plans and move forward," Schoof said. He said his company particularly appreciated the assistance from a German-speaking project manager in Georgia, "who helped explain some of the more complex issues." Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said the company's decision tells people something important about his state. "Linde +Wiemann's decision to locate their United States-based operation in Hart County sends a strong message about Georgia's business-friendly climate," Deal said. "This announcement indicates northeast Georgia as a hub for the manufacturing of products that are vital to major automotive industry leaders worldwide." Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo SHARE Sen. Larry Martin Rex Rice Donald Josyln By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail A former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan both intend to challenge state Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens in the June Republican primary. Rex Rice will be running against Martin for the second time. Rice, 58, was among scores of candidates across the state who were knocked off primary ballots in 2012 for failing to properly complete ethics paperwork. He ran in the general election as a petition candidate and was handily defeated by Martin. "We feel like we have a good shot," Rice said in an interview this week. Rice, who lives in Easley and works for a construction project management company, served in the state House from 1995 to 2010, when he ran for an open U.S. House of Representatives seat. He finished third in the Republican primary for the South Carolina 3rd Congressional District seat that was eventually won by U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan. Rice said he supports legislative term limits and would like to see the state budgeting process changed so that lawmakers pass a spending plan every two years instead of annually. In his initial campaign-finance report, which was filed Monday, Rice listed $500 in contributions. He said he plans to formally announced his candidacy within the next few weeks. Six Mile resident Donald Joslyn also plans to challenge Martin in the GOP primary. Joslyn, a 33-year-old Army veteran who was deployed in Afghanistan in 2007-2008, is seeking elected office for the first time. He said he was president of the Tri-County Technical College's student government association from 2012 to 2014 and also previously served as third vice chairman of the Anderson County Republican Party. Joslyn said he thinks Martin "is too liberal on gun rights." He said he supports making South Carolina an open-carry state. He also criticized Martin for voting last year to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds. "I support the Southern heritage," Joslyn said. He said lawmakers who supported removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds "are trying to erase history." Joslyn's most recent campaign-finance report, which was filed Sunday, lists $1,025 in contributions. With last week's death of Sen. Billy O'Dell, Martin is now the Upstate's senior senator. He is completing his sixth term in the Senate. Martin also served in the state House from 1979 to 1992. Martin, 58, is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In an interview Wednesday, he said he is busy with legislative issues and won't start focusing on his re-election campaign for a couple of months. His priorities for the current session of the South Carolina General Assembly, which began Tuesday, include efforts to prevent coal ash from being disposed of at a private Pickens County landfill, passage of ethics reform measures and funding for repairing roads. Martin received $1,250 in contributions during the final quarter of 2015, according to a campaign-finance report that he filed last week. The report indicates that he has $40,015 in campaign cash on hand. Martin said he is glad that voters in his district will have choices in the June primary. "These positions don't belong to any of us," he said. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM IDA IRELAND, the government agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), has announced the highest level of employment in its client companies in its 67 year history. Total employment at overseas companies now stands at 187,056 people, the highest level on record. IDA client companies created just under 19,000 (18,983) jobs in Ireland on ground during the year across a range of sectors, with every region of Ireland posting net gains in jobs. Net jobs were 11,833 compared to 7,131 in the same time period last year representing a year-on-year rise of 66%. The latest result means that more than one-in-five private sector jobs in the Irish economy (direct and indirect employment), are as a result of IDA-supported FDI representing a vital economic contribution by the multinational sector. The performance was produced against a background of global economic uncertainty, intense competition from other jurisdictions and a changing global taxation landscape. Commenting Chief Executive Officer of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan said: The contribution of the FDI sector has always been important to Ireland, but the 2015 results show that the contribution has never been larger. It is particularly welcome to see such a broad-based performance with all industry sectors and all regions growing. Many of the projects won in 2015 were capital intensive, and provided strong additional benefits beyond the jobs themselves. IDA's performance is the result of hard work by IDAs global team, including the 35 new staff that joined the organisation under the Winning Abroad initiative in the last year. The number of investments secured during the year rose from to 213 from 197 in the previous year. The number of new name investments went to 94 from 88 in the previous year. The strong net job creation performance is a result of a very strong pipeline of new investments and lower job losses within the employment portfolio. Losses as a percentage of the overall employment portfolio were at their lowest level ever. Working with companies to transform their activities to higher value in Ireland is a key part of IDAs strategy. The ability to source skilled talent was the chief driver of the performance, said the organisation - combined with Ireland's long track record of attracting global companies. Irelands stable taxation regime has also contributed to investor confidence. Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD said: The central aim of the Action Plan for Jobs is building a sustainable, job-creating economy based on enterprise and exports to replace the failed model based on property and debt which collapsed. Over the past four years we have seen major progress in this, with over 60,000 jobs created by exporting companies, well over a third of the total job-creation in that period. It has been truly an export-led recovery, and multinational companies have played a massive role in this. Todays excellent results show that our multinational companies continue to perform exceptionally strongly, surpassing previous record levels of job-creation and achieving the highest employment levels on record. Consistent with the targets we set in our strategies, employment outside Dublin is performing strongly, with jobs growing in every region of the country. I wish to pay tribute to Martin and all the teams at IDA on this achievement. This consistent record of job-creation does not happen by accident, and is only made possible by careful implementation of good pro-jobs policies. We have a long-term economic plan to keep the recovery going, and this can give us confidence that with the right choices we can continue seeing results like this in the coming years. Among the leading investments secured during the year were: , the government agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), hasIDA client companies created just under 19,000 (18,983) jobs in Ireland on ground during the year across a range of sectors, with every region of Ireland posting net gains in jobs. Net jobs were 11,833 compared to 7,131 in the same time period last year representing a year-on-year rise of 66%.The latest result means that more than one-in-five private sector jobs in the Irish economy (direct and indirect employment), are as a result of IDA-supported FDI representing aThe performance was produced against a background of global economic uncertainty, intense competition from other jurisdictions and a changing global taxation landscape.The contribution of the FDI sector has always been important to Ireland, but the 2015 results show that the contribution has never been larger. It is particularly welcome to see such a broad-based performance with all industry sectors and all regions growing.Many of the projects won in 2015 were capital intensive, and provided strong additional benefits beyond the jobs themselves. IDA's performance is the result of hard work by IDAs global team, including the 35 new staff that joined the organisation under the Winning Abroad initiative in the last year.The number of investments secured during the year rose from to 213 from 197 in the previous year. The number of new name investments went to 94 from 88 in the previous year. The strong net job creation performance is a result of a very strong pipeline of new investments and lower job losses within the employment portfolio. Losses as a percentage of the overall employment portfolio were at their lowest level ever. Working with companies to transform their activities to higher value in Ireland is a key part of IDAs strategy.The ability to source skilled talent was the chief driver of the performance, said the organisation - combined with Ireland's long track record of attracting global companies. Irelands stable taxation regime has also contributed to investor confidence.The central aim of the Action Plan for Jobs is building a sustainable, job-creating economy based on enterprise and exports to replace the failed model based on property and debt which collapsed. Over the past four years we have seen major progress in this, with over 60,000 jobs created by exporting companies, well over a third of the total job-creation in that period. It has been truly an export-led recovery, and multinational companies have played a massive role in this.Todays excellent results show that our multinational companies continue to perform exceptionally strongly, surpassing previous record levels of job-creation and achieving the highest employment levels on record. Consistent with the targets we set in our strategies, employment outside Dublin is performing strongly, with jobs growing in every region of the country. I wish to pay tribute to Martin and all the teams at IDA on this achievement.This consistent record of job-creation does not happen by accident, and is only made possible by careful implementation of good pro-jobs policies. We have a long-term economic plan to keep the recovery going, and this can give us confidence that with the right choices we can continue seeing results like this in the coming years. Facebook planning to construct a new data centre in Clonee, Co Meath. planning to construct a new data centre in Clonee, Co Meath. Apple making a 850 million investment in Athenry, Galway with 300 jobs in multiple phases making a 850 million investment in Athenry, Galway with 300 jobs in multiple phases Pramerica is expanding its operation in Donegal creating 330 new jobs over three years. The company is building a new, state-of-the-art, eco-friendly office campus near its current location in Letterkenny, County Donegal to accommodate the expansion is expanding its operation in Donegal creating 330 new jobs over three years. The company is building a new, state-of-the-art, eco-friendly office campus near its current location in Letterkenny, County Donegal to accommodate the expansion Agora Publishing is setting up a multilingual contact centre in Portlaw in Waterford, adding 100 jobs is setting up a multilingual contact centre in Portlaw in Waterford, adding 100 jobs Medical devices company Zimmer investing 51m in Oranmore, Galway creating 250 jobs investing 51m in Oranmore, Galway creating 250 jobs US engineering Company ABEC Inc planning to expand its global operations in Fermoy, creating 100 jobs. planning to expand its global operations in Fermoy, creating 100 jobs. Slack announced plans to open a European HQ in Dublin to meet the growing demand. The company plans to hire 100 people in the next two years in customer support and account management roles announced plans to open a European HQ in Dublin to meet the growing demand. The company plans to hire 100 people in the next two years in customer support and account management roles Northern Trust announced it was expanding its operations in Limerick by creating up to 300 jobs over the next three years. announced it was expanding its operations in Limerick by creating up to 300 jobs over the next three years. Regeneron announced it was investing an additional $350m in its Limerick Industrial Operations and Product Supply (IOPS) bioprocessing campus and adding another 200 jobs. announced it was investing an additional $350m in its Limerick Industrial Operations and Product Supply (IOPS) bioprocessing campus and adding another 200 jobs. Indeed announced expansion plans for its Dublin-based headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with 300 new employees in the next two years. announced expansion plans for its Dublin-based headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with 300 new employees in the next two years. Alexion Pharmaceuticals announced 450 million expansion in Dublin 200 New Jobs and 800 construction jobs to be created over four years. Economic Impact IDA estimates that for every 10 jobs generated by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), another 7 are generated in the wider economy (translating into 318,000 jobs or one in five private sectors jobs), with secondary economic benefits impacting positively on the construction industry, the retail sector and the hospitality industry. Overseas companies continue to be significant exporters from Ireland, with IDA clients exporting, based on preliminary estimates, approximately 129bn in 2014. In addition, IDA client companies spend, based on preliminary estimates, approximately 9bn on payroll annually. IDA is working closely with its sister agency Enterprise Ireland on ensuring that links between overseas companies and indigenous firms are further enhanced, in order to deliver an overall macroeconomic benefit for Ireland. Corporation Tax IDA-client companies are major contributors to Ireland's corporation tax receipts, representing approximately 65% of all receipts in 2014. According to the Department of Finance, the performance of Corporation Tax (CT) receipts was significantly stronger than expected in 2015 at 6.87bn - the biggest corporate tax year ever. The increase is attributable to a variety of reasons, including, improved overall business performance which in turn is a function of improved trading conditions. Outlook Commenting on the outlook for 2016, Mr Shanahan said: Foreign investment in Ireland has clearly had a very strong outturn in 2015 and focus will understandably be on, can this strong performance be sustained further. We believe once Ireland concentrates on maintaining its competitiveness and retaining a pro-enterprise policy environment, as well as continuing to invest in education and skills, infrastructure and enterprise supports, building on today's strong numbers is possible. More specifically, the outlook for 2016 looks promising for the sector, with the IDA team already working on a strong pipeline for the first quarter. International challenges will continue to be a risk and these will need close monitoring, but I believe the sector is well positioned for a further strong performance in the 12 months ahead. The Abraaj Group (Abraaj or the Group), a leading investor operating in global growth markets, today announced that it has agreed to acquire, through one of its Funds, a majority stake in Quality CARE India Limited (CARE or the Company), one of the largest multi-specialty healthcare providers in India, from global private equity firm Advent International. Headquartered in the city of Hyderabad, CARE is the fifth largest healthcare provider in India, operating 2,600 beds across 16 hospitals in nine cities.Founded in 1997 by Dr. B. Soma Raju and a core group of professionals, CARE is today recognized for its focus on high quality tertiary care, including cardiac care and neurosciences. To date, CARE has treated more than 6 million outpatients and over 1 million inpatients, a majority of which are from middle and low income groups in underserved second tier cities in India.Abraaj and CAREs management team will focus on expanding CAREs integrated healthcare delivery system, especially in the underpenetrated regions of India. The partnership will also bring CAREs high quality and proven delivery platform to other markets where Abraaj operates. The CARE Foundation, the Companys education, training and rural community outreach program, will also be scaled up and expanded to develop and train high caliber nurses, technicians, physiotherapists and community health workers.Commenting on the partnership, Sev Vettivetpillai, Partner and Global Head of Abraajs Thematic Funds Business, said: The implications of the healthcare gap in India are profound, but they translate into a long-term opportunity for Abraaj to help build a better and more sustainable healthcare infrastructure in the country. Led by dedicated founders and a strong management team, CARE has been a pioneer in providing quality healthcare to middle and low income patients in India, and has the potential for further expansion domestically and internationally. We are excited to partner with one of Indias leading healthcare providers and contribute to developing more robust health systems in growth markets.Khawar Mann, Managing Director and Head of Healthcare at The Abraaj Group, added: CARE is a leader in providing high quality and affordable healthcare, with ethical practices at the core of its value system and operating philosophy. Our healthcare operations team looks forward to working with Dr. Soma Raju, the core group of doctors, and the CARE management team to accelerate the deployment of CAREs healthcare solutions to underserved communities.Dr. B. Soma Raju, Founder of CARE, said: Access to healthcare is a fundamental right of every individual, and we are delighted that CARE and Abraaj share this common vision. We are confident that Abraaj with its track record, healthcare expertise and strong relationships with leading strategic partners and development finance institutions, will enhance our service offerings. These relationships will play a key role in enhancing public-private partnerships that are essential to the development of sustainable healthcare systems in India.Shweta Jalan, Managing Director at Advent International in Mumbai, added, Our partnership with CARE over the past four years has helped the Company solidify its position as one of Indias leading multispecialty hospital groups. By increasing bed capacity, broadening its clinical offerings and expanding its platform through new hospital construction and acquisitions, CARE has achieved strong, sustainable growth, while improving access to quality healthcare. We believe the company, together with its new partner Abraaj, is well positioned for its next phase of expansion.The Abraaj Group has a strong track record of investing in healthcare, having deployed nearly US$1 billion globally in 27 investments across the healthcare spectrum in growth markets.The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2016. News / Local by Thobekile Zhou Bulawayo Thermal power station has shut down after developing system disturbances.According to the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) website, the station together with the Harare has been not been producing power.Based on the update posted on its website, Hwange Thermal Power, the second largest power producer, was producing 540MW, Munyati (28MW) and Kariba was producing 407MW .That led to electricity generation on Tuesday dropping to 975 megawatts after two power stations.ZPC also imports 300MW from South Africa's Eskom. Some 11,000 MW of thermal power capacity in the country is lying idle because electricity distribution companies are not drawing the quantum agreed, preferring to source it from the spot market, where power is cheaper. (ET)India and Japan will focus on renewable energy, clean coal and energy efficiency during the Strategic Energy Dialogue between the two nations in Tokyo, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said. (ET)Solar power plants at six airports have been delayed due to wrangling between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and power distribution companies over net metering arrangements. (ET)In around three years, India will see some 34,000 megawatt (Mw) of power being transported over long distances, primarily to the northern and the southern regions. This will be made possible through setting up of large trunk transmission lines, which are technologically the most advanced in the world. (BS)A significant breather for Reliance Power (R-Power) came recently in the form of the Central Electricity Regulation Commission (CERC) approving the Change in Law petition filed by Sasan Power. This move will fetch Rs.300 crore of revenue every year for the next 25 years. R-Power would also receive a one-time compensation of Rs 271 crore. (BS)You can look forward to enjoying longer hours of power supply, eventually 24X7, and smaller tariff hikes periodically if you live in a state that has opted for the Narendra Modi government's voluntary turnaround plan for discoms, which got off to a flying start with 15 major states coming on board. (ET)The three discoms - BSES Rajdhani, Yamuna and Tata Power Delhi - have taken their plea over surrendering of "costly" power to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). They have filed separate petitions saying they had more than sufficient electricity to serve Delhi consumers till financial year 2019-20. (TOI) Tata Power said it has raised Rs.500 crore by issuing unsecured redeemable, taxable non-convertible debentures on private placement basis. (ET)Companies operating in the power sector have made a strong case for the inclusion of power, coal and natural gas in the goods & services tax (GST) regime to subsume multiple taxes and thereby reduce the cost of power projects and the per-unit tariff. (BS)Vodafone has been tasked with adding a hi-tech database to monitor energy supplied to 3.5m British households as part of a 75m deal with Scottish Power. (The Telegraph)The U.S. government said it was helping Ukraine investigate an apparent cyber attack last month on the country's power grid that caused a blackout for an estimated 80,000 customers. (Voice of America) Tata Consultancy Service: Tata Consultancy Service reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 6,083.39 crore for the quarter, registering decline of 0.02% qoq. The Companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 27,364.01 crore, registering growth of 0.73% qoq.Piramal Enterprises: Piramal Enterprises Ltd. has sold BST-CarGel, its cartilage repair product, to med-tech company Smith & Nephew, for an undisclosed sum, according to a business daily.Radico Khaitan: HSBC Global Investments Funds reduced stake in liquor firm Radico Khaitan to 5.89%, according to reports. HSBC sold 8,52,192 shares of Radico Khaitan.Crompton Greaves: Avantha Group Company CG has been awarded a contract from Denmarks national electricity transmission system operator Energinet.dk to provide power transformers and Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) for the Kriegers Flak wind farm project in the Baltic Sea.IndusInd Bank:The Bank has posted rise of 30% in its net profit of Rs. 581 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 447.2 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. The bank has announced that it has partnered with PayU India to revolutionize Digital Banking & Payments.Bajaj Auto: Bajaj Auto is undertaking test-runs of its proposed quadricycle 'Qute' in various cities, according to a business daily. The Pune-based company is test-running Qute to ascertain the challenges it may face on Indian roads, such as speed control and load handling, reports the financial newspaper.Godfrey Phillips: Japan Tobacco (JT), the worlds third-largest listed tobacco company, is in talks to acquire a part of the promoters stake in Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), reports a business daily. The KK Modi Group, which owns ~47% in GPI, is also believed to be in talks with long-time partner Philip Morris International for a similar deal, according to the newspaper.State Bank of India: State Bank of India (SBI) plans to monetise non-core assets and list someof its subsidiaries to meet capital requirements as well as meet Basel-III norms, which will kick in from March 2019.Oil & Natural Gas Corp: ONGC plans to cut operational costs by at least 10% as oil prices trade at 12-year lows, according to a business daily. ONGC plans to hire a consultant to suggest cost cuts and controlling of operating expenditure, reports the daily.Reliance Communications: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked Reliance Communications (RCom) to pay INR 5,384 crore for sharing its 800 MHz spectrum in 16 circles, reports a business daily. The spectrum liberalisation fee would apply to all circles where airwaves were not sold via auctions, adds the financial newspaper.Coal India: Coal India Ltd. is making its biggest tech overhaul in four decades to check rampant theft as it gears up for the entry of private mining companies in the coal sector, reports a business daily.IVRCL Ltd: The company has made an allotment of 1,94,375 equity shares of Rs.2/- each, at issue price of Rs. 24.39/- per share, on January 12, 2016 to SREI EQUIPMENT FINANCE LIMITED (CDR Lender) who have signed the Master Restructuring Agreement. This allotment is towards conversion of FITL into equity.JSW Steel: Crude steel production dropped 15 per cent to 2.70 million tonne (MT) in October-December this fiscal due to planned shutdown of blast furnaces for capacity expansion. JSW Group had recorded 3.17 MT crude steel production in the third quarter of 2014-15.Federal Bank: The bank posted a 38.5 per cent drop in net profit at Rs. 162.7 crore for the third quarter ended December due to a rise in bad loans.The total income of the lender also came down to Rs. 2,086 crore during the quarter, from Rs. 2,090 crore in the year-ago period.DCB Bank: The bank reported 3 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 41.20 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015-16.Total income of the bank increased to Rs 477 crore during the third quarter of current fiscal, from Rs 404 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.Omkar Speciality Chemicals Ltd: The company has received environment clearance for its Manufacturing Unit - V located in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.Tata Power: Tata Power has raised Rs. 500 crore through unsecured redeemable, taxable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.Jet Airways: The company announced special inaugural fares for flights between India and Amsterdam, the airline's new European gateway, commemorating the commencement of its maiden flights to Amsterdam on March 27, 2016.Amara Raja: Amara Raja Group has committed an investment of Rs.50 bn in Andhra Pradesh across business verticals such as electronics, auto, IT, energy and infrastructure. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), countrys largest IT firm, published its quarterly results for the third quarter of the fiscal 2015-2016. Here are 5 things that mattered the most in Q3:: TCS missed the street expectations showing a disappointing performance in the sixth consecutive quarter. IIFL estimated a 2.2% revenue growth in Q3 quarter-on-quarter, however the top IT firm registered a mere 0.7% growth Q-o-Q in the quarter ending December 2015 and 11.7% growth Y-o-Y with a Constant Currency growth of 0.5% Q-o-Q. The company expects Q4 to be better than Q3 FY16.: Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, N Chandrasekaran said, All our industry segments have exhibited growth in a traditionally weak quarter additionally accentuated by the impact of the Chennai floods India business suffered a big loss with an overall drop of 60 bps during the quarter and Chennai floods proved to be one of the main reasons for the drop. Gross Margins also dropped by 50 bps.: As in Q2 FY16, Diligenta and Japan continued to be a matter of concern for TCS in Q3. According to N Chandrasekaran, Diligenta will need one more quarter to get stabilized if not grow so as Japan. BFSI sector still remains a concern for TCS. However N Chandrasekaran attributed its softness to Diligenta and not any client specific concerns.: Digital Space continued to be a strong point for TCS in Q3 FY16 with a 4% growth Q-o-Q, although the growth declined Q-o-Q. The company CEO forecast the Digital Business to growth better than the 5 billion target of the company. Currently the digital space contributes to 13.7% of the revenues. The company continues to focus on Big Data and IT platforms, with acquisitions in US and Europe. N Chandrasekaran disregarded any contribution to the Digitate andBlue Oceanventure. The company also dismissed any effect of pricing war among the IT companies on the Digital space growth.: The attrition rate dropped down to 15.9% in Q3 FY16 as speculated by the CEO while announcing the Q2 results. However, the company aims to bring it down further in coming quarters. The company maintained the Utilization rate at 83%. It also announced completion of training for 33,000 employees out of its target to enable Digital training for 100,000 employees for FY16. I'm sure there are tons of Leonardo DiCaprio fans out there who are desperately waiting for him to win the Oscar. At least this year! And while his life has been pretty much an open book, not many people know about his mother, who happens to be a an Amritdhari Sikh who dons a turban and always wears her 5 Ks blessed by Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Yes! She's often spotted at awards and various functions donning a turban. According to reports, she embraced the Sikh religion years ago, and since last couple of years she dons a turban as well. And even though Peggy DiCaprio is Leonardo's step mom, they can often be seen together at various functions. Not many know that Leonardo even has a step brother named Adam Ferrar. Facebook sahibtv Meanwhile, DiCaprio has won the Golden Globes Best Actor Award this year, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that perhaps this time he'll break his Oscars jinx! News / National by Felex Share Government has received over 14 000 applications from graduates of tertiary institutions seeking possible employment in several African countries, with the export of labour starting once Cabinet endorses the human export policy.Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Deputy Minister Dr Godfrey Gandawa yesterday said consultations on the human export policy had now been completed and the document was waiting to go through Cabinet processes.He said more people were applying to be in the Government database for job placements abroad and locally when opportunities arise."To date, we have received 14 000 applications and we have captured 9 000 of those in the database," Dr Gandawa said."As for the exportation process to begin, we are now waiting for the human export policy to go through the Cabinet Committee on legislation before being endorsed by Cabinet."We have moved a step further because we are done with the consultation stage and input from various ministries has been captured. It is the consultations that culminated in the document that we are now taking to Cabinet through the Minister (Professor Jonathan Moyo) for approval."Some of the ministries involved in the consultations included Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Foreign Affairs and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.The Government in June last year invited those who graduated from the country's tertiary colleges since 1980 to forward their names for possible employment outside the country while it works on various ways of creating employment as espoused in its economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.A number of countries have many vacancies in various fields and local people have no access to them, hence Government's decision to intervene.As such, Zimbabwe has signed agreements for labour exportation with a number of African countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Angola.Dr Gandawa said another Memorandum of Understanding between Zimbabwe and South Sudan would be sealed next week."We are going to sign that agreement on January 19," he said. "South Sudan has already indicated that it has got several vacancies which our people can take up. The opportunities are in various fields such as teaching, lecturing in polytechnics and colleges as well as in the area of nursing."With Zimbabwe faced with an unemployment rate of 11 percent, according to the latest Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency report, many countries in Africa have expressed interest in recruiting local graduates.Government is expected to financially benefit from exporting labour as the receiving countries will pay a certain amount and cater for the welfare of the exported staff.The development has been endorsement by academics and teachers unions who said the policy promoted brain circulation, a concept linked to the rapid development of most Asian countries.Countries like India encouraged large-scale emigration of engineers from their premier institutions in the 1960s, who returned in the 90s as prospects improved markedly.The returning experts helped turn around fortunes of such countries using experience they had gained in the other countries.The database being created by Government includes people who have graduated from the country's tertiary institutions and those trained abroad since independenceThis will also give Government an indication of where some of its graduates are and how they are faring.Countries like Cuba make money from exporting health staff and there are a number of doctors working in Zimbabwe from that country.South Sudan and Namibia, among other countries, need professionals such as teachers, engineers, pharmacists and administrators.Zimbabwe's universities produce thousands of graduates every year with thousands more coming from polytechnics, teachers colleges and other institutions of higher learning. A couple returning from their honeymoon as soulmates is a thing of the past. Of late, there is a substantial increase in the number of separations post a honeymoon amongst city couples. Failed to seduce Last month, a couple went for their honeymoon to Bali, but the woman's efforts to seduce her husband failed and the 10-day trip was cut short to three days. When asked about the reason for not being physically intimate, the boy stated that even though he was not in love with someone else, he did not feel connected to his wife. Post their return, they decided to go for a separation. Says psychologist and marriage counsellor Sanjoy Mukerji, "There is a significant increase in the number of post honeymoon divorces in the last three years. Besides emotional compatibility, physical intimacy is seen as an important aspect in a relationship. When that is not in place, one partner will feel that sex will eventually get robotic and no longer fun. Differences automatically creep in when you don't look forward to being physically close to your partner." It happens in love marriages as well While the occurrence sounds true for an arranged marriage where one is unaware of the other person's likes and dislikes, it is equally true in love marriages. Lawyer Mrunalini Deshmukh says, "In the last two months, we've seen a sizeable number of love marriages going kaput. Low tolerance and an inability to adjust with each other are the major reasons for most of these divorces." Change in conduct post marriages, is another major cause. Take for instance Gauri Sehgal* (name changed), who recently filed for divorce. "We were dating for three years before marriage. But I noticed significant changes in him during our honeymoon. He expected me to do all his work and started taking me for granted. This was a far cry from the time when we were dating and this transformation came as a shock. Rather than being unhappy with him, I made up my mind to go for a divorce," she says. Psychiatrist Harish Shetty, who has dealt with many such cases in the recent past, says, "Staying under the same roof and meeting each other in a restaurant are two different things. You have to live with the person and be a part of his everyday habits. The real essence of a person comes into picture only post marriage. If one is dominating and disrespects their partner, there is a sense of 'this is not what I knew'. Habits like being abusive in a relationship or discovering that he/ she is a miser tends to put people off." Non-consummation is one of the major issues Nathan Walker While differences in their nature, past relationships, uncertainty on expectations, hiding facts, non-consummation of marriage (due to fear or averseness to sex) are prime reasons for divorce, it is exaggerated all the more due to ego hassles and growing economic and financial independence. Over-interference from the family is also seen as a red signal in the relationship. Advocate S J Nagasri recounts an incident, "A Delhi girl married to a guy from Mumbai started visiting her mother's place quite often post their honeymoon. This annoyed the boy, who thought that there was too much intrusion in their privacy while the girl, who, in less than a year's time visited her parents' place more than eight times, blamed him on making her life miserable." No time for tolerance Wevorce Increasing daily stress leaves people with zero tolerance to any more tension. Explains Nagasri, "After compromising on most things, people reach a saturation point beyond which they don't want to compromise any further." Seen mainly amongst the higher middle class section of society, it is primarily younger couples who refuse to adjust. Sticking to one's guns, gains focus and giving time to the relationship also doesn't seem to work. Says Nandita Sarma, psychologist and marriage counsellor, "I've come across couples who get divorced within two to three months of their marriage. In many of these cases, they have had the time to know each other and have been physically intimate, too. It, then, is a calculated decision from both ends." Lack of patience and knowing that there is a way out, living in the moment has gained prominence. Adds Sarma, "In the last five years, women are more forthcoming in filing for divorces. They have started earning as well as men and do not wish to abide to their unruly demands and behaviour." Lack of acceptance Decisions taken impulsively may be a cause of regret later. In case of arranged marriages, knowing each other well not just superficially, but really well is important. Advises Deshmukh, "Couples need to understand that it takes time to grow together and understand each other. Plus, accepting each other the way they are is very important." Adds Shetty, "Marriage is a work in progress and one is bound to get bored the idea is to maintain it the way you maintain a car in order to keep it going." At Ram Terang village, inside Assams Karbi Anglong district, villagers exchanged gifts with the wild elephants of Assam on December 25. 11 out of 19 tribal families began shifting to New Ram Terang village making space for a vital elephant corridor. The other eight families will shift over the next 10 days. Meanwhile, the original Ram Terang village will be surrendered. In return , each family has got a new home built that looks like their old one. These homes have added advantages like 1.3 acres of arable land, a toilet and a bathroom. Not all families had toilets in Ram Terang so that's good news. Additionally, these homes will also have solar power. Subhamoy Bhattacharjee/WTI According to a report in HT, village headman Khoi Terang said, Our new village is nice. We have got our houses, and also a community hall, and farmland to practice settled cultivation. We didnt want to move when this was first discussed, but the NGO showed us all their plans, along with the workshops they plan to build to help us learn settled cultivation. And we decided to shift to help protect our own crops and to help protect the elephants. This move took five years to become a reality. It was negotiated by NGO Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), in association with the local forest department and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. UK-based NGO Elephant Family, and the Netherlands-based International Union for Conservation of Nature. Meanwhile, the Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund helped with planning and financial support. The initiative has cost almost Rs 1 crore. Dilip Deori of WTI said, When we first approached the Terangs, naturally no one wanted to move. But we discussed the plans with them in detail, negotiated with them and made them aware of the crucial conflict in play. Eventually, we convinced them that it was as much about saving the elephant as it was about recognising their problems and trying to solve them. Ram Terang is at a prestigious location that connects the Nambor-Doigrung Wildlife Sanctuary with eastern Karbi Anglong, en route the Kaziranga National Park. Thats the reason it was necessary to relocate the village. Elephants follow the same paths when they migrate from one place to another, so when human settlements appear within or around them, conflicts arise. worldandtrust 'An estimated 1,800 elephants use the corridor in which Ram Terang is situated, so the village often found its fields raided by the elephants, and the elephants were in danger as people tried to keep them out of their fields,' Sandeep Tiwari, deputy director of WTI. This corridor is 2.5 km long. This the first time an initiative of this kind has taken place in north-east India. There have been previous instances of corridors being secured in Kerala and Karnataka, says Sandeep Tiwari, deputy director of the WTI. He added, This is a big development in the struggle to reduce man-animal conflict as well as protect wildlife. After Ram Terangs 101 residents are out of the corridor, similar village relocation will take place in other areas. Next in line is Tokolangso village. Most of the people in this village seem much more forthcoming about moving now that they have seen New Ram Terang take shape. We are hoping to start work with them soon,' said Deori. Kite flyers ought to be careful. Negligence, while kite flying, could lead to criminal prosecution. There is a provision under the Aircraft Act, 1934, that makes negligent kite flying a crime. Under outdated Section 11 of the Act, a person can be sentenced to two years in prison or imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh if he/she flies an air craft in such a manner "as to cause dangerto any person or to any property on land or water or in the air" merinews According to the Act "aircraft means any machine which can "de rive support in the atmosphere from reaction of the air that include balloons, air ships, kites, gliders and flying machines". AK Jain, a high court lawyer, said, "As the definition of aircraft in the Act includes a kite, then one can be jailed for kite flying. The law is quite hilarious and I don't think anyone has been brought to book under this section of the Act, but it's there," said Jain. The lawyer said that what makes the law more interesting is the fact that though it has never been used, it was amended in January 2008."Earlier, the Act provided for a maximum prison sentence of six months and Rs 10,000. When it was amended, the prison sentence was increased to two years and the fine to Rs 10 lakh," Jain said. He added, when a man files an aircraft in an unauthorised manner, it is certainly a grievous offence and calls for such a harsh punishment, but what is wrong in the Act is the fact that the definition of aircraft includes kites also. "So, presumably , if a person harms someone flying kites, he or she can be booked under Section 11 of the Aircraft Act," said the lawyer. A senior police officer said that it is impracticable to enforce this law in the city. Lieutenant General Jacob Farj Rafael Jacob or just General JFR Jacob passed away in a Delhi hospital on Wednesday. The 93-year-old war veteran is credited of leading India to victory against Pakistan in the 1971 war, resulting in the formation of Bangladesh. RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 13, 2016 Here is all you need to know about General JFR Jacob: He was Jewish JFR Jacob was born in Jewish family in 1923. His family migrated to Calcutta in the middle of 18th century. Joining Indian Army Jacob joined the Indian Army at the age of 19. He also fought in the World War II. He serve Indian Army for 37 years in different ranks. Tribune India Role in 1971 Indo-Pakistan War Major General Jacob served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. Overseeing Pakistan Army's Surrender On December 16, 1971, Jacob was sent to get a surrender from Pakistani Army commander, Lt General A A K Niazi. India Today Governor of Punjab and Goa Post his retirement Lt Gen JFR Jacob served as the governor Punjab and Goa states. NIC Autobiography His book 'Surrender at Dacca' first published in 1997 explains the surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops in the 1971 war. conservativepapers International recognition In 2012, Bangladesh government honoured him for his contributions to the 1971 Liberation War. He is also regarded as a Jewish war hero in Israel. Central Railways' Railway Protection Force (RPF) has nabbed 19 fraudsters for posing as NGO volunteers and collecting donations from commuters. Seven out of them were, in fact, hired by unregistered NGOs to collect donations. The detained men are aged between 19 and 23 years and are mostly residents of Airoli and Mumbra in Maharashtra. Mumbai Mirror These men would collect donations on the pretext of gathering money for needy cancer patients. However, none of it would get to the real patients. These volunteers would roam in the trains and approach commuters for money. A team of RPF officials, headed by a lady constable who was disguised as a commuter, roamed around in local trains and nabbed these offenders. The drive is likely to continue. The Hindu/ Representative Image The detained men have been booked for tresspassing under Section 147 and begging under Section 144 (B) of the Railway Act. Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of RPF (CR), Sachin Bhalode said, "We received several complaints from commuters on the nuisance created by these people and have detained them." One of the detained men, identified as Shabas Shaikh, 23, a resident of Airoli, told the police that he was employed for Rs 200 per day. "These youths mostly worked unofficially and have no paper work or documents which show that they are associated with these NGOs. The associations who hired these youngsters said that they paid a commission of 20 per cent on the collection made by each individual," an official investigating into the case said. The officer revealed that a 19-year old girl, identified as Sonali Patil, was assured that the tuition fees of her post-graduation course would be taken care of by the NGO she was employed with. Sonali, who hails from Odisha, is a student at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The ones who worked for NGOs, worked for organisations by the name of 'Helping Hands' and another association called 'Bright Association'. However, these organisations have no permission to hire people or collect donations for them. S H Jaffery, head of Public Relation Department at Tata Memorial Hospital said, "We had received complaints from cancer patients who were approached by organisations who took their case details. These patients were promised that money will be collected for them and sent to their account. But no money was every sent." PTI He further clarified that Tata Memorial Hospital has not asked for any donations. "Anybody who wants to make a donation can simply contact the PRO department. If at all the donation is to be made for a specific patient then they can mention the case number," he added. An ISIS Jihadist is looking for a job! At least that is how it seems like after he created a Linkedin profile, describing his 'professional skills'. Mark John Taylor, aka Muhammad Daniel a New Zealander who joined the Islamic State in 2009 has updated his Linkedin profile describing himself as an 'Education Management Professional'. Daily Star The 49-year-old says he is an English teacher to youngsters under ISIS in Syria, a job he claimed he held from 2012 to 2013.. Daniel also claims that he previously served in New Zealand's army as a "Gunner Specialist." "Living in the heart of the Islamic State is a good experience and I encourage others to come and see for themselves",he wrote. "I'm loyal, disciplined, hardworking and have a large range of skillsets!" he wrote on his profile which as since been blocked. Linkedin Mark John Taylor had changed his name to Muhammad Daniel after officials deported him from Pakistan in 2009. He had earlier appeared in ISIS propaganda video which shows him burning his New Zealand Passport. However his most notable appearance on social media was in 2014 when he tweeted the location of ISIS fighters to Western intelligence agencies after he failed to turn off the location service Twitter A man from Ohio state in United States wanted for drunk driving, unsatisfied with his police mug shot, sent them a photo he felt was more flattering. Reuters Donald "Chip" Pugh, 45, posted a photo of himself wearing sunglasses in a car after he saw the two mug shots the Lima, Ohio, police department had posted on its Facebook page. "Here is a better photo that one is terrible," Pugh wrote when he sent in the selfie. Reuters The police last week posted the mug shots after an arrest warrant was issued following Pugh's failure to appear in court on a misdemeanor charge of drunk driving. Pugh is a person of interest in several other cases including an arson and vandalism. Pugh's post quickly captured the attention of police. "This photo was sent to us by Mr Pugh himself. We thank him for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPD about his charges," the police said on Facebook. Police said Pugh, who could not be reached for comment, is still at large. The January issue of Fortune Magazine has stirred up a controversy in the US. This is after the magazine cover portrayed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos resembling Hindu God Vishnu. Fortune The magazine in its latest issue has an article on Amazons expansion in India. It talks about how Bezos aims to conquer the next trillion-dollar market. The cover was designed by Sydney-based illustrator Nigel Buchanan whose clients include The Wall Street Journal, MTV, The New York Times, etc. However the illustration did not go down well with the Hindi community in the US. #Fortune's Jan 1 intl ed cover juxtaposes #Amazon CEO #JeffBezos as likeness of #LordVishnu, trivializes our venerated deity & is upsetting. Rajan Zed (@rajanzed) January 12, 2016 @FortuneMagazine seriously guys what were you thinking! Jeff Bezos on the cover as Lord Vishnu! https://t.co/QHTAmTHBOt via @FusionNews pallavi (@pallavisavant) January 12, 2016 Fortune Editor-In-Chief Alan Murray however apologised to those offended by the cover. Fair point, Anil. Apologies to those offended. @anildash Alan Murray (@alansmurray) January 10, 2016 The cover controversy comes days after an Andhra court issued a non-bailable warrant against Indian ODI captain MS Dhoni for a similar incident. Business Today He was depicted as Lord Vishnu in the April 2013 issue of Business Today, causing outrage among Hindu groups. After realising that he may be at risk of jeopardising a diplomatic meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin has finally broken his silence. He is now denying a rumour that suggests he let his Labrador Koni loose on Merkel when he hosted her in 2007. Getty Images The incident happened 9 years ago when Putin introduced his pet Koni to Merkel when she visited his Sochi residence in Russia. At the time, Putin had asked her: "The dog does not bother you, does she? She's a friendly dog and I'm sure she will behave herself." Merkel had supposedly replied to him in Russian, "No, she doesn't eat journalists after all." Getty Images The president had been briefed about Merkel's phobia of dogs before their talks. He introduced the dog to her thinking "she would like it" but instead sparked off a controversy that he did so on purpose to frighten her. Getty Images But now he is doing his best to lay the rumour to rest. He said in an interview with Bild, "I did not know anything about that. I told her so later and apologised. She is very sincere and highly professional. In any case, I think the level of trust between us is very high." And while Merkel never spoke of the incident publicly, she does however look intimidated by Koni in the pictures. Getty Images The dog passed away in 2014 at the age of 15 and was known to be as friendly as Putin claims. Follow us on at 50 srk feels younger than 22 year old alia twitteratti agree New Delhi: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is blessed with a charm to get women weak in their knees. He has two highly anticipated movies lined up this year - Raees and Fan. Post these movies, he will be starring opposite a much younger Alia Bhatt in Gauri Shinde's next. Though the movie hasn't got a title yet, it has already garnered loads of attention. Yesterday at photographer Daboo Ratnani's calendar launch, Shah Rukh was asked about his pairing opposite Alia, who is much younger to her. To this, SRK replied with his trademark funny tone, But I'm much younger than Alia. It's a December-May romance. A May-December romance is one where the man is much older than the woman, which implies that SRK-Alia would fall in this category. But, when has King Khan ever let age come in his way? His quirky reply to the reporter just proves that it will take a really long time before he starts considering him his age. Seems this statement by the Dilwale' star was what just what his fans were waiting for. On the micro blogging site Twitter, SRK THE SEXIEST' has been trending since afternoon. Fans have flooded it with pictures of him, some from his photo shoot for Daboo Ratnani too. Latest Bollywood News News / National by Stephen Jakes Senior MDC-T official Job Sikhala has claimed that while the People's democratic Party leader Tendai Biti bragged that he was ready to join former Vice President Joice Mujuru in a coalition to fight against Zanu PF, it was sad that his lieutenants were abandoning him secretly to join the People First."My brother Tendai Biti said he was ready to work with Joyce Mujuru to demonstrate that Morgan Tsvangirai does not have monopoly over opposition politics," Silkhala said. "What surprises me is that his entire entourage of Executive members are in mass exodus to Mai Mujuru before any negotiations have taken place. Others of his executive members have the temerity to urge him in public social networks to follow them before it is too late."He said how would then People First negotiate with Tendai Biti when it has successfully poached his entire executive members?"What will be the behaviour of those not leading? Won't they feel that Biti must play a subordinate role to them because they were the first to arrive?Will he have weight in any envisaged marriage?" he said."My advice to my brother would be to consider seriously the call by his erstwhile colleagues in the MDC to accept working together once more and finish what we started together in 1999."Sikhala said Biti is a brilliant and courageous character whom Zimbabwe can not afford to ignore."Think without emotions my brother and assess how great it will be to be together once more again," he said. Follow us on finally deepika padukone speaks up on her heartbreak post splitting with ranbir kapoor New Delhi: Deepika Padukone has been one of the leading actresses of the industry. Infact, the year 2015 has been quite a special year for her, especially on the professional front. The diva gave three movies in 2015- Piku', Tamasha' and Bajirao Mastani'. But apart from her movies and her phenomenal performance in them, what else is grabbing the eyeballs is her love life. Deepika is said to be dating her co-star Ranveer Singh currently. But her past love affair is quite intriguing as well. Yes! We are talking about her relationship with actor Ranbir Kapoor. The two were head over heels in love with each other but destiny had its role to play and Deepika and Ranbir got separated just after one year of dating. Indeed, it was quite a difficult time for Deepika, who even got herself inked with Ranbir's initials RK'. During a recent interview to a leading daily, the Tamasha' actress was quizzed about how she cope with her broken heart. She said, Of course! It takes a lot of strength to mend a broken heart. Channelising energies into your work helps, but also to be able to accept situations for what they are instead of questioning them, help immensely. The day you start questioning, you are going to be unhappy. Sometimes you have to accept things for what they are and have the ability and the strength to forgive. And when I say forgive it's not about wrongdoing XYZ has done something so I am going to forgive that person. You just have to forgive certain situations and moments in your life to be able to move on, if you genuinely want to be happy. I am someone who can't hold on to negativity or hold on to grudges. I might feel something at a certain point, but I get tired after that. I don't carry it with me. I forgive and forget very easily and that's the only way to be happy and peaceful. Later she was also asked about her bond with her beau Ranveer Singh, and Deepika said that she shares a completely different bond with him and is extremely comfortable around him. Deepika also revealed that she is quite close to Ranveer's family. I have said this before I am very, very comfortable around him and I can just be myself in front of him. I can switch off and just be my true self with him. I remember a day after Bajirao Mastani released we were just sitting together and eating chocolates. As simple as that. Here the world is going crazy about Bajirao Mastani and Bajirao and Mastani are eating chocolates! That's my relationship with him.I don't like to label relationships explaining this or that. It is what it is and people can make whatever they want of it. I think what is important that we know where we stand with each other, in each other's lives, what we mean to each other, what all we can do with each other, what all we can say to each other, how we can be in front of each other That's it. I am very, very close to his family. His family is my family in Mumbai, she added. Well, it seems the diva has completely moved on from her past is having a walk over the moon both in her professional and personal life. Latest Bollywood News Follow us on palak kapil sharma and celebrities open up on kiku sharda arrest New Delhi: Actor-comedian Kiku Sharda was today arrested for mimicking Baba Ram Rahim Singh and sent to 14 days of judicial custody in Kaithal, Haryana. Kiku is famous for his role as Palak in the hit show Comedy Nights With Kapil'. Post his arrest, which was uncalled for, the actor said, I'm an artist who is given a role, a get-up and told what to do. I've already apologised, I didn't want to hurt anyone's sentiments. I did not mean to hurt anyone's religious sentiments. I am sorry, I was just following a script. In an apologetic tone he added, "I am really very, very sorry. If I've hurt anyone's sentiments. I fold my hands and apologise to everyone. After his arrest, Kiku Sharda started trending on the micro-blogging site Twitter. The website was flocked with tweets who lent their support to the actor calling the arrest as absurd. Kapil Sharma, the host of the show also took to Twitter to show his support for his co-actor. In his tweet he requested Gurmeet Ram Rahim to come forth in the media and support an artist whose only motive is to spread happiness. Here is his tweet: While Kapil was seen appealing in his tweet, there were a few eminent personalities who slammed the action taken on Kiku. Here are a few tweets by netizens and celebrities who are standing by Kiku during this trying time. Latest Bollywood News Follow us on comedian kiku sharda gets bail in ram rahim s mimicking case New Delhi: Comedian Kiku Sharda was granted bail by a Haryana local court today evening in the case of hurting religious sentiments by mimicking spiritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim. He has been granted bail on personal bond of Rs 1 lakhs. Relief has come for the actor few hours after he was sent for a 14 days judicial custody for hurting the religious sentiment of Rahim's followers. The court's action started a national debate in mainstream media. People also voiced their concerns on social media platforms. Many celebs took to Twitter to slam this action by the police saying it was absurd. The anchor of CNWK, Kapil Sharma also tweeted supporting his co-actor. He said that Gurmeet Ram Rahim should come out in media in support of an actor whose only motive is to spread happiness. Later in the evening, Dera Sacha Sauda chief broke his silence on the controversy. In a tweet, he said that his devotees were hurt by the comedian's act but he has no hard feelings after the actor apologised. He tweeted; I was busy shooting OnlineGurukul; just got to know, devotees are hurt due to Kiku's action.If he has apologized, no complaint from my side. Latest Bollywood News Follow us on jem chief masood azhar is in custody pakistan s punjab govt New Delhi: There seems to be no end to the uncertainty prevailing over confirmation of the detention of Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar. Islamabad has given no official confirmation so far of the Jaish chief's arrest or detention. Media outlets, however, have claimed that he has indeed been detained. In the latest of the flip-flops that have been witnessed on the matter, spokesperson for Pakistan's Punjab government has claimed that Maulana Masood Azhar is indeed in custody at the moment. The commments were made by Zaeem Qadri during a debate that was being aired on Pakistan's ARY news channel. The admission follows a categorical denial over knowledge of Azhar's arrest by the Pakistani Foreign Office. "I am not aware of any such arrest," Qazi Khalilullah, spokesman of Pakistan's FO, told mediapersons. However, India is treading cautiously on this arrest as there is no official confirmation from Pakistan on Azhar's arrest, over 24 hours after Pakistani media reported it. Meanwhile, India today confirmed the deferment of its Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for January 15, even as it welcomed steps taken by Pakistan in the aftermath of the terror attack on the Pathankot air base earlier this month. India's Ministry of External Affiars today said that the decision has been arrived at mutually by the Foreign Secretaries between both sides. "Talks between the two sides had been rescheduled for a later date in the very near future," Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the MEA said at a press conference today, adding that the two foreign secretaries spoke over the phone today to arrive at the decision. The MEA spokesperson further said that India had taken a positive note of the press statement issued by the Pakistani government regarding the action it has taken in the aftermath of the attack. "We welcome the statement released by the Pakistan government yesterday. We have take account of action taken on Jaish-e-Mohhamad functionaries," he said. India has also said that it will welcome the Pakistani SIT constituted to probe the Pathankot attack to India. The statement issued by the Pakistani government talked about Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif constituting a Special Investigation Team to look into India's allegations of the involvement of certain individuals and groups in the Pathankot attack. " We look forward to the Pakistani probe team visiting India. We will extend our full support to them," Swarup said. India's announcement of postponement of the talks followed an announcement by Pakistan's foreign office confirming that the Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan had been deferred. No Foreign Secretary-level talks tomorrow between India and Pakistan. Mutual consultations are on about rescheduling the talks, Qazi Khalilullah, spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. Khalilullah also refused to confirm the detention of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar. "I am not aware of any such arrest," Khalilullah added. The spokesman didn't give any reason but it followed reported Indian demands that the talks could only go ahead only if Islamabad acts against Pakistani terrorists who plotted the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab. Six terrorists who India says were Pakistanis and allied to the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) raided the base on January 2, killing seven security personnel. Security forces killed all the attackers. India then provided "actionable intelligence" to Pakistan and asked it to crack down against the attack masterminds. Pakistan announced on Wednesday that it had arrested several JeM activists and sealed its offices. Pakistani media reports later quoted unnamed sources as saying that JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar had been detained. Khalilullah said terrorism was a common threat and both Pakistan and India should work together to end it. Meanwhile, India's NSA Ajit Doval is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua in Paris today where the later will brief the former on Islamabad's action against the perpetrators of the Pathankot terror attack. Sources told India TV that Janjua had yesterday night left for Paris to meet Doval. Late last evening, India deferred its decision on the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan, scheduled for January 15, till Thursday, with reports suggesting that any decision about Friday's meeting will be taken after Doval's return to New Delhi this afternoon. Doval is expected to brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj about Pakistan's action after returning from Paris at around 2:30 pm. The decision came even as India waited till late Wednesday evening for confirmation on the arrest of Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar, who is believed to have masterminded the terror strike on the Pathankot air base on the intervening night of January 1 and 2. Sushma Swaraj met PM Modi yesterday to discuss the way forward for the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan. The meeting lasted a little less than two hours. Foreign Secretary S Jaishanker was also present at the meeting. It was decided at the meeting that the decision on the talks would be taken on Thursday. India has already made its stand clear that unless Pakistan takes decisive against those responsible for the attack, the Foreign Secretary level talks could not go ahead. Pakistani media yesterday reported that Azhar, his brother Abdur Rauf and brother-in-law Ashfaq Ahmed have been detained. However, India said it had not received any confirmation from Pakistan. "We have not received official word on detention of Masood Azhar," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters after a meeting between the EAM minister and Foreign Secretary S Jaishanker. Moreover, there was no clarity in the Pakistani media reports over Azhar's detention, whether or not he would be arrested and on what charges he would be arrested. Earlier, Pakistan said it had detained some members of Jaish-e-Mohammed in connection with the Pathankot attack, but did not name those arrested. A statement from Sharif's office said, "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed, have been apprehended. The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway." Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif set up a high-level committee comprising of his top intelligence, army and government officers to investigate India's allegations after Prime Minister Modi spoke to him last week and sought prompt and decisive action on the basis of specific evidence. Latest India News Follow us on italian marine massimiliano latorre will not return to india for trial says senator New Delhi: An Italy senator has said that Massimiliano Latorre, one of the two Italian marines accused of killing two Kerala fishermen in 2012, will not return to India for trial. "Massimiliano Latorre will not go back to India," Nicola Latorrewas, the Head of Italian Senate's defence committee, was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency on Tuesday. "Works being done on the possibility of requesting for Salvatore Girone (another Italian marine) to be able to return to Italy," Nicola added. Latorre was allowed by the Supreme Court in September 2014 to go to Italy initially for 4 months after he had suffered a brain stroke. His stay there was extended subsequently. The Supreme Court on July 13 last year had allowed Latorreto stay in Italy for another six months on medical grounds, after the government did not object to his plea. The six-month period ends tomorrow. The marines, who were on board ship 'Enrica Lexie', are accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012 after mistaking them for pirates. In April 2012, Rome paid $190,000 to each of the victims' families as compensation. In return, the families dropped their cases against the marines, but the state's case has yet to come to trial. The Supreme Court which was handling the case suspended the court proceedings relating to the trial of two marines in August last year following an order to this effect by International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) which was approached by Italy for international arbitration. Latest India News Follow us on know why lohri the bonfire festival is celebrated New Delhi: Lohri is a popular festival, celebrated by Punjabi particularly of Hindu and Sikh faith. It is one of the greatest festivals of Punjab and Haryana and is celebrated on the 13th of January during the month of Paush or Magh, a day before Makar Sankranti. Many people believe the festival was originally celebrated on winter solstice day, being the shortest day and the longest night of the year. According to the Hindu calendar, Lohri falls in mid-January. The earth, farthest from the sun at this point of time, starts its journey towards the sun, thus ending the coldest month of the year, Paush, and announcing the start of the month of Magh and the auspicious period of Uttarayan. In the morning on Lohri day, children go from door to door singing and demanding the Lohri 'loot' in the form of money and eatables like til (sesame) seeds, peanuts, jaggery, or sweets like gajak, rewri, etc. Latest India News Follow us on lt gen jfr jacob 1971 war hero is dead New Delhi: Lt Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), who played a key role in the 1971 war which broke up Pakistan and created Bangladesh, died here on Wednesday, a hospital said. The 93-year-old passed away around 8.30 a.m. at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) due to pneumonia, a hospital official said. He had been admitted on January 1. Jacob was the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command during the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to Pakistan's eastern wing seceding and becoming an independent Bangladesh. Jacob also served as the governor of Goa and Punjab. Latest India News Follow us on men with two wives declared ineligible for urdu teacher s post in up Lucknow: Akhilesh Yadav led SP government has declared men having more than one wife will not be eligible for the post of assistant Urdu teachers in UP government schools, sparking howls of protests from Muslims in the state. The state government has decided to recruit 3,500 Urdu teachers before the beginning of the new session. All those who have more than one wife, both living, will be considered non-eligible for the post of assistant Urdu teachers in schools under the basic education department of Uttar Pradesh the government notification states. Interestingly, female candidates who are married to a man having two wives, both living, will also be considered non-eligible. Slamming state government's latest caveat, Muslim Personal Law Board has said that these riders are a violation of the rights of Muslims. While government officials say it is to prevent confusion over who would be paid the widow or widower's pension. "Government orders apply equally to all staff, whether they are teachers of Urdu or another subject. The reason for this is to avoid confusion in the distribution of pension, additional director Grijesh Chaudhary of basic education department told Times of India. A Muslim Personal Law Board member said, "The government cannot impose such conditions when it comes to recruitment of staff. There is a provision for four marriages in Islam, even though just about one percent of Muslim men have two wives. He said that if the man leaves behind two wives, the government can divide the pension between the two. Latest India News Follow us on mumbai police identifies 16 locations to ban selfies after downing incident Mumbai: In an attempt to discourage people from putting themselves at risk while taking selfies, Mumbai Police is in the process of identifying spots mostly near beaches and forts in the city to ban selfies. The move comes after a man drowned trying to save a girl who fell into the sea while taking a photo of herself in Bandra. As per sources, spots in Bandra, Mahim, Juhu, Colaba, Marine Drive, Sion, Worli, Gorai among others are being identified as the once which could cause trouble and are likely to be banned for taking selfies We are in the process of identifying and then marking a few locations in the city where clicking selfies will not be allowed, a senior police officer told PTI today. The spots include the major tourist attractions of Girgaum Chowpatty beach and Marine Drive promenade as well as the site where the 18-year-old girl slipped last week, deputy commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni told AFP. "After the unfortunate incident we have decided to identify 16 spots where taking selfies can be dangerous but we may add more," he said. We have written to the municipal corporation to put some warning signs up at such points. We also want them to deploy some lifeguards also," Kulkarni added. He said the idea is still in an infant stage and it would be premature to say anything on the penal aspects of the rule. On Saturday, three girls, Tarannum Ansari (18), a Govandi resident, and her friends Anjum Khan (19) and Masturi Wasim Ali Khan (19) fell into the Arabian Sea while clicking selfies on a rock jutting out of the sea near Bandra Fort during tide, as they lost balance. A local youth, Ramesh Walunju, had jumped into the sea to save the girls and pulled Anjum and Kasuri out to the shores. A resident of Jaffer Baba colony, a slum pocket behind the Fort, and a natural swimmer, Walunju, however drowned while trying to save Tarannum after he re-entered into the water to save her. His body was recovered yesterday from Mahim creek. Meanwhile, search for Tarannum has not yielded any results so far and she still remains untraced, according to police. Latest India News Follow us on no official word from pak on detention of masood azhar india New Delhi: India has received no official confirmation from Pakistan on the arrest of Jaish-e-Muhammad chief and the mastermind behind the recent attack on Pathankot Air Force base Maulana Masood Azhar. According to official sources, Pakistan is yet to confirm that Masood Azhar has been detained, India has said. "We have not received official word on detention of Masood Azhar. A decision (on foreign secretary level talks with Pakistan) will be taken after that meeting," foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters. Swarup was referring to an ongoing meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the fate of the Foreign Secretary-level talks between the two nations scheduled for January 15. Pakistan-based news channel Geo News had claimed today evening that local authorities had detained Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar. According to the report, he was in protective custody and was being interrogated. The move follows persistent pressure on Pakistan by India to act on the perpetrators of the Pathankot terror attack. India strongly believes JeM to be behind the Pathankot attack. The report further mentioned that Maulana Masood Azhar's brother Abdul Rehman Rauf has also been taken into protective custody and questioning is under way in connection with Pathankot terror attack. Reports in the Pakistani media did not point to any charges being pressed gaianst the JeM chief. In an apparent indication of acting on the actionable evidence' provided by Indian authorities on the terror attack in Pathankot earlier this month, Pakistan said today morning that it had arrested several members of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad and sealed their offices. According to Pakistani media, three offices of the outfit run by Masood Azhar in four cities of Pakistan were sealed in the crackdown by the Pakistani government that saw the arrest of 12 other militants of the Jihadi outfit. Several incriminating materials were also recovered during the raids at these locations. According to sources, the arrests include two from Thatta, Muzaffargarh; one from Daira Din Panah; one from Sinawan; three from Harunabad in Bahawalnagar; two from a madrassa in Pakpattan; one from the Multan city area and two tohers from a madrassa located in a remote area of Bahawalpur. The three JeM offices sealed included those at Hiran Wala Kalan, Ugoki (a suburban town of Sialkot district) and a village named Kot Waris. The crackdown also saw raids being conducted at some madrassas. Two preachers have also been detained, with one of them believed to be a brother of the JeM founder. Pakistan acting on the evidence provided by India comes two days ahead of the Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled for January 15. Crucially, it comes at a time when there is a shadow of doubt on the talks being deferred by India. ...considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident, an official statement issued by the Pakistani government to the press noted. India says it has strong evidence to suspect that the attack was carried out by the JeM. India has also left the fate of the peace process on Pakistan's ability to act against the perpetrators of the ghastly attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on the intervening night of January 1 and 2 that saw seven security personnel being martyred and twenty others injured. Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, have been apprehended, the statement added. According to the release, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today called a high-level meeting to review the prevailing security situation. The meeting was attended by Ministers of Interior and Finance, Chief Minister, Punjab, Advisor on Foreign Affairs, COAS, DG ISI, Corps Commander Lahore, Director General Intelligence Bureau and other senior civil, military and police officials, it said. Pakistan has also indicated that it could send a team of investigators to Pathankot for further probe. In the spirit of the cooperative approach, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required, for which the Government of Pakistan is considering to send a Special Investigation Team to Pathankot, in consultation with the Government of India, the statement added. On Tuesday, Home minister Rajnath Singh had said Pakistan has promised "effective action" vis-a-vis the suspected Pakistani links to the terror attack on the IAF base. There was "no reason to distrust them so early", the minister told the media, adding that we should all wait (for Pakistani action)." Latest India News News / National by Stephen Jakes Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) has expressed its disappointment with the continued revelations that government food aid programmes are being politicised along partisan lines, with some villagers being left to starve.In a statement the organization said as the drought and food situation in the country promises to be a serious area of concern during the great part of 2016, it is the government's primary responsibility to avert the hunger situation across the country."Children are among the many families that are in need of food supplements, and in the danger of being exposed to malnutrition. It is therefore inhuman and disgraceful for any government workers, or party functionaries, who have hijacked food aid programmes to expose needy families to the ravages of starvation merely for political ends," reads the statement."ZimRights maintains that discrimination in government programmes on the basis of political affiliation is in violation of the Constitution of Zimbabwe's Section 56, apart from discrimination being itself a gross violation of fundamental human rights. Section 77 (b) also guarantees the right to sufficient food, where the government should work towards the realisation of that right."ZimRights said there have been reports of villagers in Mutasa barricading the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) Depot demonstrating and handing a petition to the District Administrator, Tendai Kapenzi, over the politicisation of food aid at a time when most parts of the country are facing a menacing drought."This is not the first incident of politicisation of food aid in Mutasa in recent months after a ZimRights team in Manicaland in November 2015 unearthed similar practises at Manica Bridge, and received similar reports from Chivi and Mt. Darwin," reads the statement."This also comes as there are reports in January 2016 that villagers in Matabeleland North's Bubi Districts are being asked to produce ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party cards to access food aid.ZimRights urges the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to urgently look into the inhuman practise and make the necessary steps to rectify the situation as well as all stakeholders to pronounce themselves on this crucial human rights issue. Equally, ZimRights urges the government to refrain from falling into cheap politicking, when the whole nation is reeling under the effects of food deficits."ZimRights said while it is commendable that government is making efforts albeit slow to source for food supplements, the reports of discrimination in distribution of such aid makes unnecessarily petty and tragic of the entire food relief efforts being carried out using scarce public funds."ZimRights also urges the government to implement sustainable ways of dealing with the food shortages and drought mitigation in the face of persistent food insecurity," reads the statement. Follow us on pakistan s isi used delhi sim card to contact moles in india New Delhi: Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for one and a half years used a SIM card sold in Delhi to contact its moles in India, police sources said. The ISI used the prepaid telephone SIM card from near the Attari-Wagah border to be in touch with its moles in Jammu and Kashmir, where three men have been arrested for getting calls and WhatsApp messages from that number. The SIM card was issued in the name of a woman, Rohini Gomes, in Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi, a highly-placed source said. "No such woman ever lived or lives at the Laxmi Nagar address." The Crime Branch of Delhi Police made the discovery after busting a pan-India ISI-backed espionage racket towards the end of November 2015. An officer of the Crime Branch, which busted the ISI espionage racket by arresting Kafaitullah Khan from the New Delhi Railway Station on November 26, said the SIM card belonged to a leading cellular service provider. "An ISI operative used the Delhi number from the India-Pakistan border to contact his agents in India. The number was issued from Delhi on a fake identity card," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said. Another officer said: "It was a prepaid number and was being used to send messages through WhatsApp." "The SIM number was actively used near the Attari border through Indian towers without paying international roaming charges," he added. Delhi Police arrested six suspected ISI moles in November-December 2015. The six included a serving leading aircraftsman Ranjith K.K., library assistant Kafaitullah Khan, Border Security Force head constable Abdul Rasheed, retired army havildar Munawwar Ahmad Mir, rifleman Farid Khan of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, and a government teacher, Sabar. The officer said Kafaitullah Khan, Mir and Sabar were in touch with their ISI handler, identified as Faizal, who was using the number. "We are also trailing the man who provided the activated SIM card to Faizal, whose real identity is yet to be ascertained." On December 30, police arrested Ankush Khandelwal from Delhi for issuing several SIM cards on the strength of fake identity cards. A total of 205 pre-activated SIM cards were recovered from Khandelwal. A 33-year-old man from Shakurpur in west Delhi, Mohit Gupta, was arrested on January 4 for his involvement in creating fake identity cards for those without any residence proof. "Several fake identity cards and blank customer acquisition forms (CAFs) were recovered from Mohit. On his personal laptop, we found more than 1,000 such fake cards and equal number of photographs of different persons in a folder," the officer said. Mohit reportedly used these fake identity cards for getting SIM cards activated and to sell these for Rs 500-700 each -- without obtaining any identification documents from the purchaser. "Mohit also created identity cards for those who had no address proof in Delhi," the officer added. Latest India News Follow us on sc extends italian marine massimiliano latorre s stay outside india New Delhi: The Supreme Court today extended Italian Marine Massimiliano Latorre's stay outside India for three more months until April 30. Latorre is one of the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala Coast on Febuary 15, 2012. The SC move follows an announcement by an Italian senator Tuesday stating that Latorre will not be returning to India to face trial after the SC allowed him to travel home temporarily for medical treatment. In September 2014, the Supreme Court had allowed Latorre to go to Italy after he suffered a brain stroke. He was suppose to return to India on Friday. Massimiliano Latorre will not go back to India and work is being done on the possibility of requesting for Salvatore Girone to be able to return to Italy, Italian media quoted Nicola Latorre, president of the Senate Defence Committee, as saying. On the other hand, Kerala CM Oommen Chandy has sought the Prime Minister's intervention to ensure the return of the accused marine and subject him to Indian laws. The Italian marines committed a crime on Indian land and they are liable to obey the Indian law. Today itself, the Kerala government will urge PM Modi to bring back the marine to India," he said. The other accused, Salvatore Girone, is still in India and hasn't been allowed to return to Italy by the Supreme Court. He is currently being held at the Italian embassy in New Delhi. According to the Italian senator, there are attempts being made to try and get him back as well. Massimiliano Latorre will not go back to India and work is being done on the possibility of requesting for Salvatore Girone to be able to return to Italy, he said. The two marines are accused of killing two Indian fishermen after they purportedly mistook them for pirates. The detention of the marines and Italy's insistence on their return has been a bickering point in the relations between the two countries. Given the tone of the comments made by the Italian leader today, the issue could well spiral into another diplomatic flare up. Latest India News Follow us on suicide attack near india consulate in afghanistan 6 cops killed Kabul: At least six policemen were killed on Wednesday in a terror attack apparently targeted at the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad city in Afghanistan. Afghan security forces battled gunmen barricaded in a house near the consulate, which the attackers had apparently tried to enter. The incident too place in the vicinity which is also home to the Indian and Iranian consulates as well as a private school. "The bomb attack targeted a police vehicle near the Pakistani consulate," a security official said. Pakistani media reported, however, reported that fighting erupted near the Pakistani consulate after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing as many as six people. It quoted a security source as telling Afghanistan's Tolo News that the suicide bomber, who pretended to be a visa seeker, detonated himself after being prevented from entering the consulate. "Officials said three attackers are inside the consulate and a gun battle between security forces and attackers is ongoing." The blast comes 10 days after a terror attack near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The latest attack comes close on the heels of four-country talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with the Taliban. The talks between representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China on Monday came even as the insurgents wage an unprecedented winter campaign of violence. Latest World News Follow us on 14 killed in explosion in pakistan s quetta Islamabad: At least 14 people were killed and over a dozen injured in an explosion near a polio centre in Quetta's Satellite Town on Wednesday The victims, most of whom are security officials, have been rushed to Civil Hospital Quetta, where an emergency has been imposed. Eyewitness said that they also heard firing after a loud blast rocked the area. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Quetta Syed Imtiaz Shah said seven to eight kilogramme of explosives were used in the blast. He said most of the victims were policemen who laid down their lives to guard polio workers. "The blast was apparently carried out by a suicide bomber," said Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti told reporters The nature of the blast is unknown as yet. Police and rescue workers reached the site soon after the blast. Latest World News Follow us on pakistan among safe havens for terrorists says barack obama Washington: US President Barack Obama today said that 'instability will continue for decades' in many parts of the world including Pakistan have become safe havens for new terrorist networks. In his final State of the Union Address, Obama said terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIL (also known as ISIS Islamic State militant group) use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside the country and undermine American allies. "Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and al Qaeda, but it can't stop there. For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world - in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks," he said. "Both Al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in today's world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage," he added. He also specifically mentioned that fight against Islamic State is not World War-III. "But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence," Obama said. "That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit," Obama added. "We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions. We just need to call them what they are - killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed," Obama asserted. That's exactly what the US is doing, he said, adding that for more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISIL's financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. "With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria," he said. "If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorise the use of military force against ISIL. Take a vote. But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them," the President said. During the address Obama further said: "If you doubt America's commitment - or mine - to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit." He said that America's foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and Al Qaeda, but it can't stop there. "For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world - in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia," he said. "Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees," Obama said. "The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage," he added. Latest World News Follow us on india s new high commissioner arrives in pakistan with message of friendship Islamabad: India's new High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale on Tuesday arrived in the country with a desire to improve Indo-Pak ties, amidst fresh strains between the two countries in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack. Bombawale, who replaced T C A Raghavan after his retirement, crossed over through the Wagha border and was received by officials of the Indian High Commission. In an informal chat with reporters, the new High Commissioner expressed the "desire to improve relations" between the two countries, Geo TV reported. Bambawale, who was earlier India's envoy to Bhutan, said he was coming to Pakistan with the message of friendship and the intentions of improving bilateral relations. "We want to strengthen our relationship with Pakistan," said the senior diplomat, who has worked in Germany, US and China. An IFS officer of 1984-batch, Bambawale faces a daunting task ahead amid fresh strains between the two countries and uncertainty over Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks after the Pathankot attack that left six terrorists and seven Indian soldiers dead on January 2. After the attack, India had said it has provided to Pakistan actionable intelligence to act upon the perpetrators of the terrorist act. India has identified Masood Azhar, chief of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, as the mastermind of the attack. India has called on Islamabad to act on the information if the Foreign Secretary-level talks are to take place as scheduled on January 15. Latest World News Follow us on iran frees 10 u.s. navy sailors detained for drifting into its waters Tehran: Iran has said it has released all 10 U.S. Navy sailors that it had detained after they drifted into its territorial waters a day earlier. The development was confirmed by the U.S. as well. The U.S. Navy said the American crewmembers returned safely and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s. The sailors departed the island at 8:43 a.m. GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said. They were picked up by Navy aircraft and other sailors took control of their boats for the return to Bahrain, where the U.S. 5th Fleet is based. "The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors' presence in Iran," the U.S. statement said. The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained U.S. sailors before their release showing them sitting on the floor of a room. One was a woman with her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. "After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters of the Persian Gulf," a statement posted online by the Guard said Wednesday. Gen. Ali Fadavi, the Navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted earlier Wednesday by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown that the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of "mechanical problems in their navigation system." U.S. officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident. U.S. officials had said on Tuesday that Tehran assured them the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. Fadavi said the American boats had shown "unprofessional acts" for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country's territorial waters. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as "innocent passage." The sailors were nonetheless allowed to make contact with the U.S. military based on Iran's "responsibilities and Islamic mercy" late Tuesday, he said. Fadavi said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif "had a firm stance" during a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on their presence in Iran's territorial waters and "said they should not have come and should apologize." The Revolutionary Guard's 200,000-strong force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system. The Guard's naval forces are heavily dependent on fast-moving armed speedboats that can be used in teams to swarm much larger vessels. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press late Tuesday U.S. time that the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission as they traveled between Kuwait and Bahrain, officials said. The craft are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to them, they added. (With AP inputs) Latest World News Follow us on isis claims responsibility for attack on pakistan consulate in jalalabad Kabul: The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani consulate in eastern Afghanistan today, which Afghan officials said left at least seven members of the security forces dead. In a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, US monitors of militant groups, the "Khorasan Province of the Islamic State" said three of its "soldiers" attacked the consulate in Jalalabad, capital of the volatile province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. It claimed to have killed "dozens" of consulate staff. Afghan officials said seven members of the security forces were killed in the attack. Attaullah Khyogani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said another seven people were injured during the attack, which began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the consulate in the provincial capital Jalalabad and ended with a gun battle between Afghan security forces and militants. He said that three attackers were killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at around 9 AM. The siege ended when the two gunmen, who had taken position in a guesthouse close to the consulate, were killed at around 12.30 PM local time, Khyogani said. Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the dead included three police and two intelligence service officers, one each from the army and border police. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said. It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistan embassy or consulate in Afghanistan, an official at the Pakistani embassy said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad's perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years. The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. The schools were evacuated, officials said. The Pakistani consulate is usually busy during morning rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide bomber joined the visa queue before blowing himself up, officials said. The embassy official said all consular staff were evacuated. In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned what it called "the terrorist attack" on its Jalalabad consulate and requested a thorough investigation. Latest World News Follow us on pak military officers behind mazar e sharif attack afghan police Kabul: Afghanistan's police today said that Pakistani military officers were behind the January 3 terror attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif. Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, the attackers, officers from across the border, were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege, Tolo News reported. "We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 per cent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation," Sadat was quoted as saying. "The attackers were military personnel. They were educated and well prepared and had intelligence. They fought us and only by Allah's grace were we able to control them and eliminate them." On the night of January 3, terrorists attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif. Among the weapons carried by the attackers were rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), Indian External Affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup confirmed at a media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday. After being kept at bay by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel posted at the consulate, all the four terrorists were later killed by the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF). One Afghan security personnel lost his life and nine others, including three civilians, were wounded in the incident. Sadat on Tuesday said efforts were on to track down, identify and detain those who assisted the attackers to gain access to the building that was opposite the consulate. "We are jointly working with the NDS (National Directorate of Security) director and have spoken about this -- especially as they came here not able to speak in Dari or Pashtu but speaking in Urdu. It means obviously there is someone who guided those attackers and helped the attackers," the Tolo News report quoted Sadat as saying. (With IANS inputs) Latest World News News / National by Staff reporter The Zanu-PF leadership here has started preparations for this year's 21st February Movement celebrations slated for Mucheke Stadium next month.President Mugabe's birthday falls on February 21 and the 21st February Movement was established in 1986 to encourage the youth to emulate his exemplary character and leadership qualities.Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chairman Ezra Chadzamira said on Monday that the province had started preparing for the President's 92nd birthday.He said resource mobilising committees were already in place.Chadzamira said the provincial executive was still waiting for the budget from the national executive for them to gauge how much money was required."We have already started and as we speak we are in the middle of preparing for the big event. We have already identified the venue and it's Mucheke Stadium," said Chadza- mira.He said they had set up district and provincial mobilising committees that would report to the national mobilising committee.Chadzamira said this month was the deadline for mobilising resources."We want to make the event the best of them all. We take pride in that for the first time, we are hosting the birthday bash and we want to do it in style," he said.Chadzamira said people in Masvingo should attend the bash in their numbers to celebrate the life of an iconic figure in the mould of President Mugabe who has done a lot for his people under difficult conditions.Speaking during a youth national conference at Masvingo Polytechnic College last year, Zanu-PF Secretary for Youth Pupurai Togarepi called on Masvingo province to be ready to host President Mugabe's birthday bash.Meanwhile, Zanu-PF Harare provincial secretary for information and publicity Abicia Ushewokunze on Monday donated 250 pairs of school shoes to underprivileged children and orphans in Warren Park suburb.The shoes, worth thousands of dollars, were handed over to the children at Warren Park Community Hall.Addressing party supporters, Ushewokunze said he saw it fit to donate the shoes ahead of the opening of schools for the 2016 first term yester- day.Ushewokunze said the donation was in line with the Zim-Asset cluster on education, since the ruling party took education as a right of every child. Follow us on pathankot attack no reason to distrust pakistan so early says rajnath singh Greater Noida(UP): India has no reason to distrust Pakistan's assurance that it will take effective action on inputs given about the perpetrators of the Pathankot terror attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today. Pakistan government has said it will take effective action. I think we should wait, Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. Singh said since Pakistan has given the assurance to the Indian government, there should be no reason to disbelieve them so early. There is no reason to distrust (avishvaas) them (Pakistan) so early, he said. After the attack, India had said it has provided to Pakistan actionable intelligence to act upon the perpetrators of the terrorist act. During a post-attack telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, the government had said that our Prime Minister very strongly urged the Prime Minister of Pakistan to take action. Actionable intelligence in regard to the terrorist attack and the links with the perpetrators in Pakistan were provided to the Pakistani side. The Pakistan Prime Minister promised us prompt and decisive action. We now wait that prompt and decisive action, it had said. Reports from Pakistan yesterday said law enforcement agencies have picked up some suspects connected to Pathankot airbase attack from Bahwalapur district, the hometown of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. India has identified Masood Azhar as mastermind of the attack. It also blamed his brother Rauf and five others for carrying out the attack that left all six terrorists and seven Indian soldiers dead on January 2. It has provided telephone number in Pakistan contacted by the airbase attackers and given other inputs. India has called on Islamabad to act on the information if the Foreign Secretary-level talks are to take place as scheduled on 15 January. ( With PTI Inputs) Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. News / National by Stephen Jakes The users of Facebook has acknowledged that MDC-T Leader Morgani Tsvangirai has done a lot in trying to bring democracy and rule of law in Zimbabwe but asked him to consider stepping down form the party's helm to pave way for another leader to bring his or her brains in to the fight for democracy.Charles Kaseke said Tsvangirai must seriously consider stepping down and anointing Job Sikhala as his successor.Jephiter Tsamwi said the opposition are nothing but a squad of legendary losers. "You lack a vision and a solid ideology that unites your diverse warped philosophies and opinions. So just quit and try something new as a career for all of you, Tsvangirai included. Maybe agriculture, or the lucrative church formation. Politics is not for you, was never for you, and will never be yours," he said.Kurai Musiiwa said MDC-T must infiltrate Zanu PF structures like they do."Plant your own spies within them and get the info that you want for strategic planning," he said.Save Mawarire said a workable strategy for 2018 should be considered." Field your most prominent names( Nelson Chamisa, Wiwa, Douglas Mwonzora, Obert Gutu) in their rural constituencies. Replace them with minnows in urban constituencies. Its one way to counter political violence in rural constituencies. It won't be easy for Zanu PF to mute political violence on Nelson Chamisa's supporters in Gutu East for example," he said.Velempini Ndlovu said Tsvangirai should simply resign as MDC president.Shepherd Nyamunokora said people in losing their patience, they cannot wait indefinitely." People know that he has been winning all elections. What they want is a strategy to take back people power when Zanu PF subverts it," he said.David Gubudu said the MDc-T should join hands with other opposition movements especially the strategic People First and for a grand coalition against Chatunga."I would advise you on more militant resistance against the Dead man walking, "Bob". Lastly I would say to you if the Ballot fails try another B,,,,Bullet.That's how we got our independence,, we have to fight," he said.Gibbs Mutasvi said the MDC-T is tired, democratic fight alone has proved futile.Obert Muchena said the failure by opposition parties to unite against Zanu PF has been and continues to be our biggest letdown.He said it is wise for Tsvangirai and MDC-T to never, under any circumstances, go into the 2018 elections alone.Mark Beche said Tsvangirai has done his best let him pave way for others.his presence is blocking the way for grand coalition.the people of Zimbabwe want change as soon as yesterday and divided we fall united we achieve."Fight for diaspora vote, encourage one another to shun corruption and be exemplary as our cadres ..but most importantly without grand coalition you are just wasting time going to the polls because the Tendai Bitis and Welshman Ncubes are just there to weaken chances," he said. The Oil Pricequake Political Turmoil in a Time of Low Energy Prices By Michael T. Klare January 12, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Tom Dispatch " - As 2015 drew to a close, many in the global energy industry were praying that the price of oil would bounce back from the abyss, restoring the petroleum-centric world of the past half-century. All evidence, however, points to a continuing depression in oil prices in 2016 -- one that may, in fact, stretch into the 2020s and beyond. Given the centrality of oil (and oil revenues) in the global power equation, this is bound to translate into a profound shakeup in the political order, with petroleum-producing states from Saudi Arabia to Russia losing both prominence and geopolitical clout. To put things in perspective, it was not so long ago -- in June 2014, to be exact -- that Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was selling at $115 per barrel. Energy analysts then generally assumed that the price of oil would remain well over $100 deep into the future, and might gradually rise to even more stratospheric levels. Such predictions inspired the giant energy companies to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in what were then termed unconventional reserves: Arctic oil, Canadian tar sands, deep offshore reserves, and dense shale formations. It seemed obvious then that whatever the problems with, and the cost of extracting, such energy reserves, sooner or later handsome profits would be made. It mattered little that the cost of exploiting such reserves might reach $50 or more a barrel. As of this moment, however, Brent crude is selling at $33 per barrel, one-third of its price 18 months ago and way below the break-even price for most unconventional tough oil endeavors. Worse yet, in one scenario recently offered by the International Energy Agency (IEA), prices might not again reach the $50 to $60 range until the 2020s, or make it back to $85 until 2040. Think of this as the energy equivalent of a monster earthquake -- a pricequake -- that will doom not just many tough oil projects now underway but some of the over-extended companies (and governments) that own them. The current rout in oil prices has obvious implications for the giant oil firms and all the ancillary businesses -- equipment suppliers, drill-rig operators, shipping companies, caterers, and so on -- that depend on them for their existence. It also threatens a profound shift in the geopolitical fortunes of the major energy-producing countries. Many of them, including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela, are already experiencing economic and political turmoil as a result. (Think of this, for instance, as a boon for the terrorist group Boko Haram as Nigeria shudders under the weight of those falling prices.) The longer such price levels persist, the more devastating the consequences are likely to be. A Perfect Storm Generally speaking, oil prices go up when the global economy is robust, world demand is rising, suppliers are pumping at maximum levels, and little stored or surplus capacity is on hand. They tend to fall when, as now, the global economy is stagnant or slipping, energy demand is tepid, key suppliers fail to rein in production in consonance with falling demand, surplus oil builds up, and future supplies appear assured. During the go-go years of the housing boom, in the early part of this century, the world economy was thriving, demand was indeed soaring, and many analysts were predicting an imminent peak in world production followed by significant scarcities. Not surprisingly, Brent prices rose to stratospheric levels, reaching a record $143 per barrel in July 2008. With the failure of Lehman Brothers on September 15th of that year and the ensuing global economic meltdown, demand for oil evaporated, driving prices down to $34 that December. With factories idle and millions unemployed, most analysts assumed that prices would remain low for some time to come. So imagine the surprise in the oil business when, in October 2009, Brent crude rose to $77 per barrel. Barely more than two years later, in February 2011, it again crossed the $100 threshold, where it generally remained until June 2014. Several factors account for this price recovery, none more important than what was happening in China, where the authorities decided to stimulate the economy by investing heavily in infrastructure, especially roads, bridges, and highways. Add in soaring automobile ownership among that countrys urban middle class and the result was a sharp increase in energy demand. According to oil giant BP, between 2008 and 2013, petroleum consumption in China leaped 35%, from 8.0 million to 10.8 million barrels per day. And China was just leading the way. Rapidly developing countries like Brazil and India followed suit in a period when output at many existing, conventional oil fields had begun to decline; hence, that rush into those unconventional reserves. This is more or less where things stood in early 2014, when the price pendulum suddenly began swinging in the other direction, as production from unconventional fields in the U.S. and Canada began to make its presence felt in a big way. Domestic U.S. crude production, which had dropped from 7.5 million barrels per day in January 1990 to a mere 5.5 million barrels in January 2010, suddenly headed upwards, reaching a stunning 9.6 million barrels in July 2015. Virtually all the added oil came from newly exploited shale formations in North Dakota and Texas. Canada experienced a similar sharp uptick in production, as heavy investment in tar sands began to pay off. According to BP, Canadian output jumped from 3.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to 4.3 million barrels in 2014. And dont forget that production was also ramping up in, among other places, deep-offshore fields in the Atlantic Ocean off both Brazil and West Africa, which were just then coming on line. At that very moment, to the surprise of many, war-torn Iraq succeeded in lifting its output by nearly one million barrels per day. Add it all up and the numbers were staggering, but demand was no longer keeping pace. The Chinese stimulus package had largely petered out and international demand for that countrys manufactured goods was slowing, thanks to tepid or nonexistent economic growth in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. From an eye-popping annual rate of 10% over the previous 30 years, China's growth rate fell into the single digits. Though Chinas oil demand is expected to keep rising, it is not projected to grow at anything like the pace of recent years. At the same time, increased fuel efficiency in the United States, the worlds leading oil consumer, began to have an effect on the global energy picture. At the height of the countrys financial crisis, when the Obama administration bailed out both General Motors and Chrysler, the president forced the major car manufacturers to agree to a tough set of fuel-efficiency standards now noticeably reducing Americas demand for petroleum. Under a plan announced by the White House in 2012, the average fuel efficiency of U.S.-manufactured cars and light vehicles will rise to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, reducing expected U.S. oil consumption by 12 billion barrels between now and then. In mid-2014, these and other factors came together to produce a perfect storm of price suppression. At that time, many analysts believed that the Saudis and their allies in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would, as in the past, respond by reining in production to bolster prices. However, on November 27, 2014 -- Thanksgiving Day -- OPEC confounded those expectations, voting to maintain the output quotas of its member states. The next day, the price of crude plunged by $4 and the rest is history. A Dismal Prospect In early 2015, many oil company executives were expressing the hope that these fundamentals would soon change, pushing prices back up again. But recent developments have demolished such expectations. Aside from the continuing economic slowdown in China and the surge of output in North America, the most significant factor in the unpromising oil outlook, which now extends bleakly into 2016 and beyond, is the steadfast Saudi resistance to any proposals to curtail their production or OPECs. On December 4th, for instance, OPEC members voted yet again to keep quotas at their current levels and, in the process, drove prices down another 5%. If anything, the Saudis have actually increased their output. Many reasons have been given for the Saudis resistance to production cutbacks, including a desire to punish Iran and Russia for their support of the Assad regime in Syria. In the view of many industry analysts, the Saudis see themselves as better positioned than their rivals for weathering a long-term price decline because of their lower costs of production and their large cushion of foreign reserves. The most likely explanation, though, and the one advanced by the Saudis themselves is that they are seeking to maintain a price environment in which U.S. shale producers and other tough-oil operators will be driven out of the market. There is no doubt about it, the price fall of the last several months has deterred investors away from expensive oil including U.S. shale, deep offshore, and heavy oils, a top Saudi official told the Financial Times last spring. Despite the Saudis best efforts, the larger U.S. producers have, for the most part, adjusted to the low-price environment, cutting costs and shedding unprofitable operations, even as many smaller firms have filed for bankruptcy. As a result, U.S. crude production, at about 9.2 million barrels per day, is actually slightly higher than it was a year ago. In other words, even at $33 a barrel, production continues to outpace global demand and there seems little likelihood of prices rising soon, especially since, among other things, both Iraq and Iran continue to increase their output. With the Islamic State slowly losing ground in Iraq and most major oil fields still in government hands, that countrys production is expected to continue its stellar growth. In fact, some analysts project that its output could triple during the coming decade from the present three million barrels per day level to as much as nine million barrels. For years, Iranian production has been hobbled by sanctions imposed by Washington and the European Union (E.U.), impeding both export transactions and the acquisition of advanced Western drilling technology. Now, thanks to its nuclear deal with Washington, those sanctions are being lifted, allowing it both to reenter the oil market and import needed technology. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Iranian output could rise by as much as 600,000 barrels per day in 2016 and by more in the years to follow. Only three developments could conceivably alter the present low-price environment for oil: a Middle Eastern war that took out one or more of the major energy suppliers; a Saudi decision to constrain production in order to boost prices; or an unexpected global surge in demand. The prospect of a new war between, say, Iran and Saudi Arabia -- two powers at each others throats at this very moment -- can never be ruled out, though neither side is believed to have the capacity or inclination to undertake such a risky move. A Saudi decision to constrain production is somewhat more likely sooner or later, given the precipitous decline in government revenues. However, the Saudis have repeatedly affirmed their determination to avoid such a move, as it would largely benefit the very producers -- namely shale operators in the U.S. -- they seek to eliminate. The likelihood of a sudden spike in demand appears unlikely indeed. Not only is economic activity still slowing in China and many other parts of the world, but theres an extra wrinkle that should worry the Saudis at least as much as all that shale oil coming out of North America: oil itself is beginning to lose some of its appeal. While newly affluent consumers in China and India continue to buy oil-powered automobiles -- albeit not at the breakneck pace once predicted -- a growing number of consumers in the older industrial nations are exhibiting a preference for hybrid and all-electric cars, or for alternative means of transportation. Moreover, with concern over climate change growing globally, increasing numbers of young urban dwellers are choosing to subsist without cars altogether, relying instead on bikes and public transit. In addition, the use of renewable energy sources -- sun, wind, and water power -- is on the rise and will only grow more rapidly in this century. These trends have prompted some analysts to predict that global oil demand will soon peak and then be followed by a period of declining consumption. Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the energy and sustainability program at the University of California, Davis, suggests that growing urbanization combined with technological breakthroughs in renewables will dramatically reduce future demand for oil. Increasingly, cities around the world are seeking smarter designs for transport systems as well as penalties and restrictions on car ownership. Already in the West, trendsetting millennials are urbanizing, eliminating the need for commuting and interest in individual car ownership, she wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year. The Changing World Power Equation Many countries that get a significant share of their funds from oil and natural gas exports and that gained enormous influence as petroleum exporters are already experiencing a significant erosion in prominence. Their leaders, once bolstered by high oil revenues, which meant money to spread around and buy popularity domestically, are falling into disfavor. Nigerias government, for example, traditionally obtains 75% of its revenues from such sales; Russias, 50%; and Venezuelas, 40%. With oil now at a third of the price of 18 months ago, state revenues in all three have plummeted, putting a crimp in their ability to undertake ambitious domestic and foreign initiatives. In Nigeria, diminished government spending combined with rampant corruption discredited the government of President Goodluck Jonathan and helped fuel a vicious insurgency by Boko Haram, prompting Nigerian voters to abandon him in the most recent election and install a former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, in his place. Since taking office, Buhari has pledged to crack down on corruption, crush Boko Haram, and -- in a telling sign of the times -- diversify the economy, lessening its reliance on oil. Venezuela has experienced a similar political shock thanks to depressed oil prices. When prices were high, President Hugo Chavez took revenues from the state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., and used them to build housing and provide other benefits for the countrys poor and working classes, winning vast popular support for his United Socialist Party. He also sought regional support by offering oil subsidies to friendly countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. After he died in March 2013, his chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, sought to perpetuate this strategy, but oil didnt cooperate and, not surprisingly, public support for him and for Chavezs party began to collapse. On December 6th, the center-right opposition swept to electoral victory, taking a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. It now seeks to dismantle Chavezs Bolivarian Revolution, though Maduro's supporters have pledged firm resistance to any such moves. The situation in Russia remains somewhat more fluid. President Vladimir Putin continues to enjoy widespread popular support and, from Ukraine to Syria, he has indeed been moving ambitiously on the international front. Still, falling oil prices combined with economic sanctions imposed by the E.U. and the U.S. have begun to cause some expressions of dissatisfaction, including a recent protest by long-distance truckers over increased highway tolls. Russias economy is expected to contract in a significant way in 2016, undermining the living standards of ordinary Russians and possibly sparking further anti-government protests. In fact, some analysts believe that Putin took the risky step of intervening in the Syrian conflict partly to deflect public attention from deteriorating economic conditions at home. He may also have done so to create a situation in which Russian help in achieving a negotiated resolution to the bitter, increasingly internationalized Syrian civil war could be traded for the lifting of sanctions over Ukraine. If so, this is a very dangerous game, and no one -- least of all Putin -- can be certain of the outcome. Saudi Arabia, the worlds leading oil exporter, has been similarly buffeted, but appears -- for the time being, anyway -- to be in a somewhat better position to weather the shock. When oil prices were high, the Saudis socked away a massive trove of foreign reserves, estimated at three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Now that prices have fallen, they are drawing on those reserves to sustain generous social spending meant to stave off unrest in the kingdom and to finance their ambitious intervention in Yemens civil war, which is already beginning to look like a Saudi Vietnam. Still, those reserves have fallen by some $90 billion since last year and the government is already announcing cutbacks in public spending, leading some observers to question how long the royal family can continue to buy off the discontent of the countrys growing populace. Even if the Saudis were to reverse course and limit the kingdoms oil production to drive the price of oil back up, its unlikely that their oil income would rise high enough to sustain all of their present lavish spending priorities. Other major oil-producing countries also face the prospect of political turmoil, including Algeria and Angola. The leaders of both countries had achieved the usual deceptive degree of stability in energy producing countries through the usual oil-financed government largesse. That is now coming to an end, which means that both countries could face internal challenges. And keep in mind that the tremors from the oil pricequake have undoubtedly yet to reach their full magnitude. Prices will, of course, rise someday. Thats inevitable, given the way investors are pulling the plug on energy projects globally. Still, on a planet heading for a green energy revolution, theres no assurance that they will ever reach the $100-plus levels that were once taken for granted. Whatever happens to oil and the countries that produce it, the global political order that once rested on oils soaring price is doomed. While this may mean hardship for some, especially the citizens of export-dependent states like Russia and Venezuela, it could help smooth the transition to a world powered by renewable forms of energy. Michael T. Klare, a TomDispatch regular, is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of The Race for Whats Left. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turses Tomorrows Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa, and Tom Engelhardt's latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World . The Ultimate Blowback from U.S. Foreign Policy? Donald Trump. How the CIA, bad trade deals, and wanton military intervention caused the social crises that gave us the Donald. (Really.) By Walden Bello January 12, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " - When the late Chalmers Johnson introduced the word blowback to describe the adverse consequences of Washingtons actions in the world, he wasnt referring simply to the victims of U.S. imperial interventions striking back on American soil. More importantly, he saw the resulting destabilization of the American democratic process as the most dangerous blowback of all. Seen in this light, Donald Trumps M&Ms campaign which relies heavily on broadsides against Mexicans and Muslims is unquestionably a disturbing blowback from Washingtons policies abroad. Trump launched his campaign with a plan to build a wall along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border while summarily deporting undocumented migrants and their families. After the San Bernardino shootings on December 2, in which a Muslim couple killed 14 people, Trump has pushed for the U.S. to stop accepting Muslim migrants and visitors to the United States. These two proposals run directly against the U.S. self-image as a country of migrants, threatening to unleash a tide of hatred against Mexican-Americans and Muslims, and putting them on notice that their rights are fragile. Yet Trumps calls have resonated with large sectors of the Republican base, with extremist rhetoric now a staple not only of Trumps campaign but of his rivals as well. The Blowback from Iraq The U.S. foreign policy blunders that created ISIS popular fear of which now drives U.S. domestic and foreign policy alike are relatively well documented. The U.S. invasion of Iraq blew the lid off Iraqi society, which had been a pressure cooker of sectarian rivalries contained by the regime of Saddam Hussein. As a Shia-dominated regime took over in Baghdad, an extremist Sunni movement al-Qaeda in Iraq, headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi rose to fight the government and its American sponsors. Zarqawi found many receptive recruits among the hundreds of thousands of Sunni soldiers in Saddams army, which had been disbanded by the Americans shortly after their takeover. Adherents were also nurtured in U.S. prison camps, among them future ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. After Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike, Baghdadi emerged as the leader of the group, which broke from al-Qaeda during the Syrian civil war and began calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS later shortened to just the Islamic State. At first, ISIS was seen by western intelligence as focused mainly on establishing a caliphate in the Middle East, for which it undertook a sophisticated international recruitment campaign online. Then concern developed that ISIS was not simply recruiting young people from Europe and the U.S. to fight in Iraq or Syria, but training them to be sent back to perform terrorist acts in their home countries. The Paris massacre in mid-November, which saw a handful of shooters and bombers kill some 130 people in a sophisticated coordinated operation, was seen as the ultimate blowback. That is, until the San Bernardino shooting two weeks later, which U.S. authorities saw as the scariest blowback of all: shooters carrying out uncoordinated individual actions inspired by ISIS propaganda disseminated online. The Mexican Blowback 1: The CIA Connection The blowback process from Mexico is less well known but equally well documented. One trigger, as in Iraq, was political intervention. The Mexican drug syndicates were relatively small-time affairs until the 1980s. It was the Central Intelligence Agency that made them big-time during the Reagan administrations efforts to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, where it engaged in unconventional fundraising operations to evade congressional scrutiny. One was the so-called Iran-Contra deal, where top Reagan administration officials facilitated the sale of weapons to Iran then the object of a U.S. arms embargo and then diverted part of the proceeds to fund the anti-Sandinista guerrillas known as the Contras. Another method was to use Mexican drug syndicates. In her brave expose on the rise of Mexican drug cartels, Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers, the celebrated Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernandez writes that when the U.S. Congress prohibited the use of government money to fund the overthrow of the Sandinistas, the CIA made a deal with the cartels to allow large-scale cocaine sales into the United States, but on condition that part of the proceeds would be diverted to support the Contras. Indeed, the CIAs complicity in fostering the rise of the Mexican cartels, which eventually displaced the Colombian cartels as the main transporters of cocaine to the United States, has also been documented by a number of U.S. journalists. Among the key beneficiaries of the CIA connection was the Sinaloa Cartel, which eventually produced the lord of drug lords: El Chapo Guzman. The Mexican Blowback II: NAFTA The other source of the Mexican blowback was economic. Following the Third World debt crisis in the early 1980s, the United States via the International Monetary Fund and World Bank began an ambitious effort to restructure the Mexican economy along free-market lines. The cutting back of government support for many agricultural services, along with a program of privatization designed to reverse communal ownership of land institutionalized by the Mexican Revolution, resulted in widespread suffering in the countryside, with many peasants thrown off their lands. But even more devastating was Mexicos integration into the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which quickly became a program for dumping subsidized U.S. corn and other agricultural products into Mexico. According to a 2003 report of the Carnegie Endowment, imports of U.S. agricultural products under NAFTA threw 1.3 million farmers out of work. For these peasants, the choice became either the shantytowns of Mexico City or El Norte, with vast numbers opting for the latter. By 2006, roughly 10 percent of Mexicos population was living in the United States, 15 percent of its workforce was working there, and one in every seven Mexicans was migrating to the U.S. There was a strong element of truth in the sardonic comment that, owing to NAFTAs savage impact on peasant agriculture, Mexicos peasantry simply moved to the United States. U.S. policies in Mexico and Central America thus had a dramatic dual blowback effect. On one side, the CIA godfathered a powerful cartel whose massive exports of cocaine devastated inner cities from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and whose violence has now killed or displaced tens of thousands of Mexicans. On the other side, U.S.-sponsored structural adjustment and NAFTA ruined Mexican peasant agriculture, leading to the migration of millions to the north, where theyve become scapegoats for U.S. economic troubles. Study after study has refuted claims that migrants take jobs away from non-migrant workers, or that they dont pay their taxes. Yet Mexican migrants are continually blamed by opportunistic politicians on the make, like Trump and his Republican colleagues. The Ultimate Blowback Its unfortunate that this opportunistic, demagogic game of playing on physical fear (Muslim terrorists out to take your life) and economic fear (Mexican workers out to steal your jobs) has resonated among so much of the countrys white population. Trump, whose anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican rhetoric is most brazen, leads his opponents in the Republican presidential race by a wide margin in the surveys. Instead of aggressively challenging the Republican candidates inflamed rhetoric and pointing to U.S. political and economic programs as the cause of the blowback, most liberal leaders are on the defensive. Only Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, is pointing to the real roots of Americas foreign policy and domestic crises. In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, his opponent, Hillary Clinton, continues to push for more military intervention in the Middle East and is reluctant to finger Wall Street as the source of the countrys economic troubles. The country seems headed towards an even less liberal democratic order than now exists one marked by more religious intolerance, more restrictions on civil liberties, and more immigration rules designed to keep out migrants. And that, as Chalmers Johnson so presciently warned, was really the ultimate blowback. The Good Old Saudis Have Let Us Down By Robert Fisk January 12, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Independent " - Only six of our British military chaps, it seems, are helping the Sunni Saudis kill Shia Yemenis. And theyre not actually in Yemen, merely helping to choose the targets which have so far included hospitals, markets, a wedding party and a site opposite the Iranian embassy. Not that our boys and girls selected those particular terrorist nests for destruction, you understand. Theyre just helping their Saudi mates in the words of our Ministry of Defence comply to the rules of war. Saudi rules, of course, are not necessarily the same as our rules although our drone-executions of UK citizens leave a lot of elbow-room for our British warriors in Riyadh. But I couldnt help chuckling when I read the condemnation of David Mephan, the Human Rights Watch director. Yes, he told us that the Saudis are committing multiple violations of the laws of war in Yemen, and that the British are working hand in glove with the Saudis, helping them, enhancing their capacity to prosecute this war that has led to the death of so many civilians. Spot on. But then he added that he thought all this deeply regrettable and unacceptable. Regrettable and unacceptable represent the double standards we employ when our wealthy Saudi friends put their hands to bloody work. To find something regrettable means it causes us sadness. It disappoints us. The implication is that the good old Saudis have let us down, fallen from their previously high moral principles. No wonder the MoD has popped across to Riyadh to un-crease the maps and explain those incomprehensible co-ordinates for the Saudi leaders of the coalition against terror. Sorting this logistics mess out for the Saudis does, I suppose, make it less unacceptable to have our personnel standing alongside the folk who kill women for adultery without even a fair trial and who chop off the heads of dozens of opponents, including a prominent Saudi Shia cleric. Those very words regrettable and unacceptable are now the peak of the critical lexicon which we are permitted to use about the Saudis. Anything stronger would force us to ask why David Cameron lowered our flag when the last king of this weird autocracy died. And exactly the same semantics were trotted out last week when the Tory MP and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Daniel Kawczynski who was also chairman of the all-party UK parliamentary group on Saudi Arabia was questioned on television about the 47 executions in Saudi Arabia, the kingdoms misogynistic policies and its harsh anti-gay laws. Faced with the unspeakable indeed, the outrageous acts of a regime which shares its Wahhabi Sunni traditions with Isis and the Taliban, Kawczynski replied that the executions were very regrettable, that targeting civilians would be completely unacceptable and the anti-gay laws highly reprehensible. Reprehensible, I suppose, is a bit stronger than regrettable. It was instructive, also, to hear Kawczynski refer to executions as certain domestic actions, as if slicing heads off human beings was something to be kept within the family which is true, in a sense, since the Saudi authorities allow their executioners to train their sons in the craft of head-slicing, just as we Brits used to allow our hangmen to bring their sons into the gallows trade. This familial atmosphere was always advertised by its ambassadors and their friends. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, when he was Saudi Arabias man in Washington, spoke of his countrys religion as part of a timeless culture whose people lived according to Islam and our other basic ways. A former British ambassador to Riyadh, Sir Alan Munro, once advised Westerners to adapt in Saudi Arabia and to act with the grain of Saudi traditions and culture. This grain can be found, of course, in Amnestys archives of men and occasionally women who are beheaded each year, often after torture and grotesquely unfair trials. Another former ambassador, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles or Abu Henry as he was affectionately called by his Saudi friends used arguments back in 2006 that might have come from David Cameron today. Ive been hugely impressed by the way in which the Saudi Arabian authorities have tackled and contained what was a serious terrorist threat, he said then. Theyve shrunk the pool of support for terrorism. Which is exactly how our Prime Minister justified his support for Saudi Arabias place on the UN Human Rights Council last October. Its because we receive from them important intelligence and security information that keeps us safe, he told Channel 4s Jon Snow. But wasnt there, nine years ago, a small matter of the alleged bribery of Saudi officials by the British BAE Systems arms group? The Financial Times revealed how Robert Wardle, the UK director of the Serious Fraud Office, decided he might have to cancel his official investigation after being told how the probe might cause Riyadh to cancel security and intelligence co-operation. The advice to Wardle was that persisting with his official enquiry might endanger lives in Britain. Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara ordered the investigation closed. The advice to Wardle, I should add, came from none other than Sherard Cowper-Coles, who later became UK ambassador to Afghanistan and, on retirement from the Foreign Office, worked for a short time as a business development director for BAE Systems. Our former man in Riyadh now has no connection with BAE yet it would be interesting to know if the Saudis are using any of the companys technology in the bombing of civilian targets in Yemen. But relax this would elicit no expressions of outrage, condemnation or disgust at Saudi Arabia nor any of the revulsion we show when other local head-choppers take out their swords. Any such UK involvement would be unacceptable. Even regrettable. We would be sad. Disappointed. Say no more. Saudi Crimes Western Business As Usual By Finian Cunningham January 12, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " American Herald Tribune " - The United States and Britain are probably the biggest impostor nations known to mankind. The Anglo-Saxon duo never ceases to remind the world of their self-declared democratic virtues, highest regards for human rights and upholding of law. In reality, their relations with the rest of the world are more fitting to criminal enterprise. Last weekend, a key client regime of Washington and London carried out yet another war crime. Saudi Arabia has been bombing its southern neighbor Yemen for over nine months now. In the latest crime, a hospital was struck by Saudi warplanes in the northern Yemeni province of Saada, killing five people. It is but the latest instance in a litany of such war crimes committed by Saudi military forces in Yemen. Thousands of civilians, women and children, have been slaughtered in Saudi air strikes on residential areas in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and many other towns and villages across the Arab Peninsula country. Shipping works and store facilities have been hit in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida in a deliberate attempt to cut off the 24 million population from food, fuel and medicines. The munitions dropped on Yemen include internationally banned cluster bombs, as confirmed by video footage showing US Air Forceon the ordnance shrapnel. Saudi claims that they are fighting on behalf of the exiled government of Yemenare balderdash. As are Saudi claims that the Ansarullah forces who kicked out the erstwhile American and Saudi-backed president are stooges of Iran, and that the Iranian government is subverting the Arab Peninsula. Thats Saudi paranoid fantasy, as even the New York Times and Washington Post have coyly admitted. The real reason for the Saudi slaughter in Yemen is that the autocratic rulers in Riyadh cannot tolerate the idea of a popular uprising next door to their despotic regime. When the Ansarullah forces and Yemeni army joined forces to oust the corrupt puppet-president Adel Rabbo Mansour Hadi at the end of 2014 that was a red line for the Saudi dictators. Popular uprisings in the oil-rich Persian Gulf are absolutely anathema and must be ruthlessly crushed, out of fear that the contagion of democratic power might spread. The people of Bahrain painfully demonstrated that back in 2011 and are still demonstrating it with ongoing Saudi-backed repression against their pro-democracy protests. But the real villains in this piece are Washington and London. The Saudi regime and the other closely related monarchies in the Gulf would not get away with their despotism and crimes against humanity were it not for the unswerving indulgence afforded by the Anglo-Saxon championsof democracy and rule of law. It is astounding the double-think that Washington and London are allowed to perpetrate, thanks to the obsequious Western mainstream media. US President Barack Obama and British premier David Cameron are indulged in their awry focus on bringing democracyto Syria or in their remonstrations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over unsubstantiated infringements in Ukraine. Yet Obama and Cameron have evidently nothing to say, and are scarcely questioned in the obsequious media, when it comes to their allyin Saudi Arabia. No elections, women banned from driving cars or opening a bank account, people routinely flogged for allegedly practicing sorcery, human rights activists jailed and tortured for expressing mild criticism of the House of Saud. Even after these absolute autocrats order the beheading of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al Nimr, the championsof democracy in Washington and London still have nothing to say. During his five years in office as prime minister, David Camerons United Kingdom has earned some $10 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, according to the London-based Campaign Against the Arms Trade. For the United States, the Saudi proceeds are far greater. Last year alone, the US sold nearly $20 billion in weapons to the Saudi regime. Thats about 12.5 per cent of total US annual arms exports, according to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In 2012, the Obama administration signed off on an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth about $60 billion reportedly the biggest weapons contract in history. British and American munitions, warplanes, attack helicopters and cluster bombs are being used by the Saudis to terrorize the population of Yemen into submission. The same state-sponsored terrorism is, to varying degrees, deployed across the entire Persian Gulf to ensure that the Western-backed Arab dictatorships remain in power. Washington and Londons silence is not merely unscrupulous muteness for the sake of maintaining profits and lobbying graft for the monstrous weapons industries; it is not even just about maintaining the flow of hydrocarbons from the oil-rich Middle East where 70 per cent of the worlds reserves are estimated to be. Its more disturbing business-as-usual than that. The arming of despots to oppress people is the reality of how Washington and London assert their power in the world. Democracy and human rights have nothing to do with, except to serve as a bit of rhetorical window-dressing to conceal the barbarity. Finian Cunningham (born 1963) has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. For over 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. Turkey and Saudi Arabia Biggest Threats to World Peace Sen. Black Video In an interview with RT, Virginia state Senator Richard Black says that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are the two biggest threats to world. It is Saudi Arabia, through the Wahhabist doctrine, that is spreading terrorism across the globe. Its not Iran, its not Syria or any other country. Meanwhile, Turkish President Erdogan intends to impose an absolute dictatorship, the senator says. Posted January 12, 2016 - RT Several people have been killed in rare clashes between Assyrian Christians and Kurds in Syrias al-Hasakah province, Al Jazeera has learnt. The province in the northeast of the country is divided and in parts controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kurds and Assyrians. Aljazeera reports: Assyrian and Kurdish sources said there were casualties among fighters in the battle between the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and Assyrians in the city of Qamishli on Tuesday. The city of Qamishli is controlled by Assyrians, but surrounded by Kurdish fighters. The Assyrians were trying to set up checkpoints and were fired at by the Kurds, Afram Yakoub, the chairman of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden, which monitors news related to Assyrians across the region, told Al Jazeera. He said at least one Assyrian and eight Kurdish fighters were killed. Taj Kordsh, a Kurd from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), confirmed that the clashes broke out because of the checkpoints, but gave a different death toll. Two Assyrian fighters were killed in the clashes and five others were injured, Kordsh said. He added that a civilian had also been killed. Kurdish fighters say these checkpoints have bothered residents and must be removed, he said. News / National by Staff reporter A 39-YEAR-OLD Harare man, Antony Marange, allegedly beat a man he suspected of collecting faeces from where he had relieved himself.Marange pleaded not guilty to assaulting Tinashe Ngorima when he appeared before Mbare magistrate Shelly Zvenyika, who remanded him out of custody to tomorrow.In denying the charge, Marange told the court that on Friday last week, he had relieved himself along the railway line near Plymouth Road in Southerton when Ngorima approached him, intending to collect his faeces.The court further heard that Marange then became defensive and pushed Ngorima away, prompting the latter to fight back using clenched fists.Marange said he was, in fact, the one who was beaten by Ngorima at the time when he was trying to block him from taking his excreta.The State alleges that Marange accused Ngorima of using black magic on him and casting evil spirits on him before he went on to attack him. It is further alleged that Marange then assaulted Ngorima with clenched fists and open hands.Ngorima sustained minor injuries from the assault and did not seek any medical treatment. Ruth Madoda appeared for the State.Meanwhile, Harare magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti yesterday removed Herald Assistant News Editor Takunda Maodza from remand after State witnesses, for the second time in a month, failed to come to testify in his extortion case.Maodza was facing extortion charges after allegedly demanding money from businessman Isaac Levy in order to stop writing a story linking Levy to funding former Vice-President Joice Mujuru's People First political outfit. Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Tuesday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed the states amnesty programme initiated by his administration to mop up illegal arms and ammunition in the possession of non-state actors. Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with Buhari at the State House, Abuja, the governor said the president gave his blessings to the programme after he briefed him on the security situation in the state. According to Ortom, President Buhari was impressed with the success of the amnesty programme, which commenced last year with appreciable level of success, and gave him the nod to continue with it as part of efforts to keep the state and the nation safer. He said the state government would in turn support efforts of the federal government on the war against corruption because the optimum use of the countrys vast resources at a time of dwindling oil revenues is seriously hampered by corruption. Governor Ortom also seized the opportunity to debunk the recent allegations that his administration has misused the bailout funds. The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered Chief Government Oweize Ekpemopolo a.k.a Tompolo to appear before it to face criminal charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). While Tompolo failed to appear, the EFCC, will on Thursday arraign Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and nine others before a Federal High Court, Lagos on a 40-count charge of alleged money laundering , conspiracy, stealing and diversion of funds. Other accused persons in the charge sheet, numbered FHC/L/553c/2015, are a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Patrick Akpobolokemi; Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, Odimiri Electricals Limited, Kemi Engozu, Boloboere Property and Estate Limited, Rex Elem and Destre Consult Limited. Justice Ibrahim Buba issued the summons on Tompolo following a January 12 motion ex-parte moved by EFCCs lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo. An order is granted to the applicant issuing a summons to compel the appearance of Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) before this honourable court having been alleged to have committed the offences as contained in the body of the charge. The judge also granted EFCC leave to serve the summons and the charge on Tompolo by affixing them on a conspicuous part of his address at 1, Chief Agbanu DDPA Extension, Warri, Delta State. A 45 year old auto-rickshaw driver identified as Aagya Pal Singh and his brother have been arrested for allegedly molesting an unidentified 22-year-old Nigerian girl pursuing her second year graduation from a Delhi University college in West Delhi, India. According to reports, the young Nigerian girl was out to visit her friends home around 1.30 a.m. on Friday January 8th and had gotten into a hired auto-rickshaw in Tilak Nagar, when another man entered the vehicle and sat next to her. The two men allegedly took turns to molest her in the running vehicle. When she resisted, they pushed her out of the running vehicle, injuring her. Since the crime spot was not an auto stand, police were clueless about the identity of the suspects. Indian police scanned 17 CCTV cameras in the area, but had no luck. Only one CCTV had captured the auto, but the registration number was unreadable. The womans frequent use of local language and her heavy-accented broken English turned out to be an additional barrier for the investigating officers, Pushpendra Kumar, DCP (West), told Indian newspaper, The Hindu. A South Indian woman married to a Nigerian national was invited to help with the language. The victim told the police that her assailants were possibly injured in their heads as they were wearing bandages. A better communication with the victim led the police to realize that the bandages were turbans. The Nigerian woman was then taken to some turban shops to identify the kind of turbans worn by the suspects. Once that was ascertained, police used other visual descriptions provided by the victim to conduct local interrogation and identify the suspects. The 45 year old man was arrested at his home on Monday January 11th. He confessed to the crime. The arrested suspect was driving the auto-rickshaw while his brother Baljeet Singh was the one who sat next to the victim. Finding the woman alone in the dead of the night, the brothers tried to take advantage of her, said a police officer. Source: Linda Ikejis blog As the death toll from Lassa fever outbreak in some states of the federation rose to 41, the Senate yesterday voted against the free distribution of rat poison by the federal government to the citizenry as a way of curtailing the spread of the virus in the country. Moving a motion on the spread of Lassa fever yesterday, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso (APC, Ogun central) suggested the free distribution of the rat poison, saying the level of poverty in the country would not allow the citizens to purchase rat killers on their own. The federal government should consider giving out rat killers free of charge to the citizenry to reduce or totally eradicate rats from our environment as the level of poverty in the land will not encourage the purchase of rat killers. More important products of survival are taking priority, he said. Senator Tejuoso noted that the disease is typically spread through aerosolized virus particles via either infected rodents or close contact with infected individuals. He raised concern that the recent outbreaks of the disease in the country have been recorded in 10 states in the country. When the motion was put to a voice vote by Senate President Bukola Saraki, majority of the senators voted against it. They, however, called on the federal government and other stakeholders to carry out sensitization at markets, and other public places. Research into the little-known but deadly bacterial disease melioidosis has revealed that millions of people are at threat. Also known as Whitmores disease, the illness is caught from skin contact, inhaling or by drinking contaminated water infected with the bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei. The particularly pathogenic bacterium is commonly found in soil and water in South and Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Now researchers say that it is highly likely the bacterium is far more widespread, is probably prevalent in at least 79 countries and infects about 165,000 people each year, of which 89,000 die. They say that this discovery means that many millions of people are at risk, and have identified all countries in Southeast Asia and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South America as possible sources of infection. The team says little research has been done previously because the disease, which can infect the lungs, blood and nervous system, is difficult to diagnose. Melioidosis is a great mimicker of other diseases, Direk Limmathurotsakul, co-author of the report in Nature Microbiology and the head of microbiology at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Unit, in Bangkok, told Al Jazeera. The bacterium needs to be diagnosed by being cultured, for which you need microbial facilities, but they are rarely available in developing countries where resources are limited. Without adequate treatment, the researchers say, death rates can exceed 70 percent. Aljazeera. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said its spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh is cooperating with investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The admission of cooperation with the anti-graft agency came on the heels of reports that Mr. Metuh tore the statement he willingly wrote while in detention at the commissions head office in Abuja. The party said its spokesman has admitted receiving the sum of N400 million from former President Goodluck Jonathan for an assignment he did; although it failed to disclose the particular assignment in question. The party also said Metuh has indicated his readiness to make public the nature of the assignment, but only in the law court where his statement would not be distorted by anyone. A statement on Tuesday by Metuhs special assistant, Richard Ihediwa, lamented what the party termed untrue reports in the media, saying the spokesman believed that his continued detention and failure to charge him to court are deliberately intended to prevent him from telling his own side of the story in the open court for all Nigerians to know. According to Ihediwa, his principal had since informed that sometime in December 2015, the ONSA published an invitation to companies they believed executed contracts for it for a chat, adding that upon ONSA invitation via a text message, Metuh, regardless of the fact that he did not execute any contract for the Office, appeared before the ONSA panel, wherein he presented his companys statement of account showing that the sum of N400 million paid on the instruction of the ex-president for an assignment was traceable to the ONSA account. Chief Metuh, had hinted that he did some assignment for the ex-president at a media briefing last year before his eventual arrest by the anti-graft body over a week ago. We are therefore worried at the continued media persecution where a citizen is being charged, sentenced and jailed in the court of the media instead of being charged to the law court as required by the law, the statement said. This office urges Nigerians not to lose sight of the sequence and inconsistencies in the investigation and publications regarding Chief Metuhs case. We believe that in this case, the law must not be suspended but applied in its full measure by charging and allowing Chief Metuh to state his case in the open court instead of this continued media persecution against him. The Consul-General of Germany in Lagos, Mr Ingo Herbert, on Wednesday announced his governments commitment to encourage more German companies and investors to increase their investments in Nigeria. Herbert disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of his visit to the Lagos Floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The Envoy said that there was currently a growing interest of companies and investors to come back to Nigeria to explore her business and investment opportunities. Already, more and more German companies and investors have started coming back to Nigeria. Some have started opening up their representations in some parts of Nigeria. I can assure the Nigerian Government and Nigerians that the interest of the German business community in Nigeria is fully back. What this means is that many more German companies are ready to take advantage of Nigerias investment opportunities, he said. Herbert, who lauded the operations of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, expressed satisfaction over the increasing number of German companies currently listed at the stock market. He described the NSE as the second largest in Africa, with potentials for driving Nigeria and Africas economy. The consul-general expressed optimism that with the growing interest of German companies in Nigeria, more of the companies would be listed in the market in the near future. Herbert also assured of the promotion of more fruitful economic and diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Germany in the years ahead. He expressed the Consulate-Generals readiness to facilitate the right platform for attracting more German companies and investors into Nigeria. (NAN) A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, ordered parties to maintain status quo, following a Mareva injunction (a court order which freezes assets) by the Attorney General of the Federation, seeking to bar MTN Nigeria from emptying its accounts in 21 commercial banks in Nigeria. Trial judge, Justice Idris Mohammed, ordered parties to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the suit and adjourned till January 22, 2016 for hearing. An order is hereby made directing the parties cited herein to maintain the status quo ante bellum pending further hearing, the judge said. The AGF, has sought an order of mareva injunction restraining the aforementioned banks from releasing, further releasing any funds, making sale, transfer or payment of any monies or dealing in any manner whatsoever with any and all monies maintained by the plaintiff/respondent (MTN) or its agents, privies, subsidiaries, sister companies or the like in the aforestated banks that will alter, decline or reduce the amount of the first defendants/applicants fine against the plaintiff/respondent in the sum of N1,040,000,000,000 which has remained wholly unsatisfied, pending the determination of the motion on notice. The application was to prevent MTN from suspending the payment of the N1.04 trillion fine imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over its failure to deactivate its unregistered subscribers. Even though the court did not expressly grant the application, it has, meanwhile by the status quo order, prevented MTN from moving funds from the accounts in the 21 commercial banks in Nigeria outside the country. The AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, who filed the application, yesterday, had expressed the fear that MTN could move all its funds out of the country before the N1.04tn fine could be enforced. Therefore, he had prayed the court to order all the 21 banks to open a special interest-yielding account in the name of the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court and move N1.04 trillion out of whatever funds that was standing to MTNs credit in their possession. In a 14-paragraph affidavit in support of the application, counsel for the AGF, Mr. Dipo Okpeseyi, SAN, had averred that MTN was in the habit of regularly repatriating its funds out of Nigeria. According to him, between October 2007 and May 2009, a period of 19 months, MTN moved over $7.7 billion of the money made in Nigeria to a foreign account, pointing the courts attention to an instance when in one day, specifically on February 8, 2008, MTN transferred over $936 million out of Nigeria to accounts in Mauritius, Cayman Island and British Virgin Islands. Unless this court urgently entertains this application, the plaintiff/respondent would move its funds out of Nigeria, being the jurisdiction of this honourable court, and thereby frustrate the enforcement of the fine in the likely event that this honourable court sanctions the imposition of the fine, he averred. Okpeseyi also averred that MTN was under an obligation to pay the N1.04 trillion fine, because it was NCCs administrative decision, which remained final unless it was reviewed by the commission or nullified by the court, adding that though NCC had earlier given MTN a concession on the fine and reduced it to N780 billion, as MTN has neglected or failed to pay on or before December 31, 2015, the fine remained N1.04 trillion. Justice Mohammed had noted that the AGF had not shown enough facts to prove that MTN was about to empty its bank accounts and move its funds out of the country. Noting that the case was sensitive and of public interest, the judge said he would rather hear the case filed by MTN to challenge the fine and give a judgment within a short time. At least five persons have been arrested and an official of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is believed to be under investigation over allegations of conspiring to import cocaine from Brazil. The official, identified as Ali Baba Adamu, began facing investigations after a luggage abandoned at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos was found to contain more than two kilos of cocaine. Four others facing interrogation include Ijeoma Ojukwu, a niece to late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and three others Victor Umeh, Uche Igwelo and Egbuche Fidelis Osiita. Chief executive of NDLEA, Roli Bode-George, said the agency was following every lead professionally and will exploit more opportunities towards getting every culprit arrested. We have also expanded the scope of our investigation and everyone involved in this illegal importation of narcotics shall be diligently prosecuted. The Agency will continue to uphold the rule of law and dislodge drug trafficking organisations in the country. The NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba, said the cocaine seized at the airport is the first this year. The luggage, tagged for Agina Fidelis Ejike, was abandoned at the arrival hall during inward screening of passengers on an Emirates flight on December 28. On January 1, 2016, one Egbuche Fidelis Osita came with authority letter mandating him to collect the bag. In the process, some white powdery substance weighing 2.24kg that tested positive for cocaine was discovered, said Garba. The drug was neatly packed in four parcels concealed in false bottom of four female handbags. The narcotics agency NDLEA says its preliminary investigations indicate Ijeoma Ojukwu, 48 and a mother of three, who runs a restaurant in Brazil, is suspected of belonging to an international drug trafficking syndicate. She is alleged to have conspired to collect the abandoned luggage from the airport in hopes of retrieving the cocaine before she was arrested. Officials also impounded an Acura MDX said to have been driven to the airport by the suspects. Denying her complicity in the trafficking of cocaine into the country, Ojukwu said, My brother came from Brazil and could not find his bag. It was in the process of trying to get the bag out that we were arrested. Uche Igwelo, 36, a public administration graduate, said she was invited by Ijeoma to assist in collecting the bag. I sell kitchen utensil and I am married with a child. Ijeoma met me that I should help her to collect a bag at the airport. We were trying to get the bag when NDLEA officers arrested us, Igwelo, an Anambra native, told investigators, according to an official statement from NDLEA. Egbuche Fidelis Osita, a 37-year-old student said that he was simply asked to collect the bag. I am a 400 level student studying English Education at the Ekiti State University. My friend Victor Umeh was the person that asked me to help in claiming a luggage at the airport. We all drove to the airport where I was given a letter of authority and other documents of the passenger that came with the luggage. In the process of trying to collect the bag I was arrested. This is all I know about this incident, Osita said. The Kaduna State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday insisted that the suspension of the senator representing Kaduna Central Zone, Shehu Sani from the APC for 11 months, stands. Recall that the North-West zonal chairman of APC, Barrister Inuwa Abdulkadir had on Monday held a meeting with the senator and some elders of the party in the state where he declared Sanis suspension as invalid. This declaration by Barr. Abdulkadir was dismissed by the Kaduna State APC executive. Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the state publicity secretary of the APC, Hon. Salisu Tanko Wusono, said Mr. Abdulkadir acted without the consent of the national leadership and contrary to Section 21 of APCs constitution. Wusono added that the National Vice Chairmans action was a deliberate attempt to ridicule the party for his personal interest. The 11-month suspension slammed on Shehu Sani by the Kaduna State APC stands. Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir does not have the power to lift the suspension, and was acting on his own without any authorization by the national leadership of the party. What happened on Monday in Kaduna between Abdulkadir and the so-called APC chieftains was an abuse of his office in promoting the narrow agenda of people who have never been interested in the progress and success of the APC. The Kaduna APC spokesman also accused the North-West zonal chairman of embarrassing the national leadership and loyal membership of the party by his conduct. Can a Senator in Inuwa Abdulkadirs Sokoto State abuse and denigrate party leadership without being disciplined? Take this from us, the national leadership of the APC, President Buhari and his Vice- President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and other leaders of the APC are aware of Shehu Sanis anti-party activities and his involvement in plots to undermine the APC governments at the federal and state level. Shehu Sani is only wasting his time, running from pillar to post; he is like a crocodile in a dry river. Senator Shehu Sani stands suspended from participating in all APC activities in the state. Why is he not attending President Buhari and Vice President Osibanjos functions in Kaduna? Why is he not participating in our activities? Why is it that the PDP senator from Southern Kaduna attends critical state functions and not him? All the 11 APC lawmakers in House of Reps from the state are loyal to our leadership. All the 28 APC lawmakers in the Kaduna State House of Assembly are standing by the party and its government. Shehu Sani has chosen to be on his own, and the APC cannot abide his acute irresponsibility and his lack of any appreciation of disciplined political conduct and party discipline. There is difference between grandstanding and genuine representation. Kaduna Central, which elected him to the Senate, is one of the most populous senatorial districts in the country with a lot of complexity and dynamism. Rather than representing them well, he is consumed by his penchant for popularity shows, and irresponsible comments like someone who has reduced his duty into a perpetual ego trip. Wusono added that Senator Sani and his group are trying to use the back door to get back to the party having realized the failure of their attempts to destroy the party in the state. News / National by Staff reporter OPPOSITION MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has reportedly gone into a panic mode amid reports that former Vice-President Joice Mujuru's People First (PF) project had launched a massive membership recruitment drive countrywide targeting disgruntled members of his party and the ruling Zanu PF.Top MDC-T insiders said Tsvangirai, who has dominated politics since transforming himself from a trade unionist to an opposition leader in 1999, fears that Mujuru could steal his thunder and emerge more popular ahead of the 2018 elections.The officials told NewsDay yesterday that the former Premier summoned his party's Harare provincial leadership on Sunday to his Highlands house "to discuss important issues", including the shake-up caused by the emergence of Mujuru's party."The party's top eight across all structures, from the youth wing, main body and women's assembly, was summoned to the president (Tsvangirai)'s home on Sunday and matters under discussion included reports of defections to PF. The leadership of the party is very worried not only about the reports, but also about the way PF has handled the issue," a senior MDC-T provincial member said."PF has presented some activists, for example, the People's Democratic Party, as coming from the MDC-T and that has impacted negatively on the party."MDC-T Harare provincial chairman Eric Murayi confirmed that he met Tsvangirai over the weekend, but "not as a group"."I am the one who met the president. If we had wanted to meet as a group, like you say, we would not have done that at his house. Harvest House (MDC-T headquarters) is more ideal," Murayi said.Although MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu could neither deny nor confirm, NewsDay understands that Tsvangirai had been forced into emergence meetings by Mujuru's move."President Morgan Tsvangirai is an extremely busy man since he is the chief executive officer of Zimbabwe's main opposition party. He runs the party on a day-to-day basis. As such, he is always meeting with various organs of the party. The MDC-T is the government-in-waiting and our party leader is very determined to ensure that party structures are well-oiled and well-drilled as we prepare to democratically take over State power," Gutu said.This comes amid reports that Tsvangirai was making overtures to directly engage Mujuru for a possible coalition.The two leaders have not yet formally met over their proposed grand coalition although their emissaries have held several meetings aimed at finding common ground.PF interim spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told NewsDay yesterday Tsvangirai had no reason to panic over Mujuru as they were both fighting a common enemy Zanu PF. Gumbo recently said a meeting of the two leaders would be organised as soon as PF has been officially launched."They have not complained to me personally or officially to us, but they maybe complaining to some people. They (MDC-T) are not happy that their members are joining us, but it must be understood that whoever is now identifying with us has been attracted by our brand, the product we have put out to the people thus far."However, I must say the MDC-T has no need to worry because we are fighting the same enemy, the same system, but people will always make choices at any given time given what would have been presented before them. We are not approaching people. In fact, most of them are approaching us," Gumbo said.Media reports in the past two weeks have claimed a host of loyalists from MDC-T, Zanu PF and other opposition parties were ready to jump ship and join Mujuru's fledgling, but yet-to-be-launched party. PF is currently a loose coalition of former Zanu PF stalwarts axed from the ruling party in brutal fashion in the run-up to and aftermath of the 2014 congress as succession wars gnawed at the former liberation movement.It has also emerged that Hebson Makuvise reportedly a relative of the former Prime Minister and one-time Zimbabwean ambassador to Germany during the inclusive government has been meeting "disgruntled former MPs" as well as officials from PF to stem the tide.The insiders told NewsDay that: "Makuvise has met (Didymus) Mutasa (former Presidential Affairs minister and ex-Zanu PF secretary for administration) and firebrand former Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chairperson Dzikamai Mavhaire over the defections. The issue is PF is an opposition party and should not be seen to be destabilising other opposition parties.Instead, they should be seen to be strengthening the opposition."Gutu said Makuvise was a senior party staffer seconded to Tsvangirai's office, hence was tasked with assisting the party leader."Ambassador Hebson Makuvise is one of the directors who work in the office of the president. Of course, he does assist the president in carrying out duties as assigned to him from time to time. Let me reiterate that the MDC-T is willing and able to collaborate with all other democratic political parties in Zimbabwe that are working to create a peaceful and stable country where all people can prosper,"Gutu said.Mujuru's PF has reportedly also rocked President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party after her whirlwind tour of the country meeting interim party structures whose membership was a mixture of former and serving MPs from across the political divide as well as other influential activists from different political persuasions. The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has blamed the defeat suffered by the party in the just concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State on unresolved intra-party squabbles. Frank, who made the observation while speaking with reporters yesterday at his Abuja home, said that the partys internal crisis, which arose from the primary election, was not resolved. According to him, the APCs governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, did not take reconciliation seriously ahead of the election. Frank, who said he was making a personal observation as a stakeholder and not speaking on behalf of the party, also threatened to drag the APC to court if the partys leadership continued to deny him the right to function as the Acting National Publicity Secretary as enshrined in the party constitution following the appointment of its former spokesman, Lai Mohammed as Minister. He said: Before this election, Bayelsa APC had issues, which were not attended to. I have been shouting about these. I made it clear that if we didnt resolve our issues and went into the election, we were going to lose Bayelsa. But nobody listened. I cried and cried, spoke to our leaders and many other people about the need for reconciliation and its importance. But the governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, refused to listen, thinking he could do it alone. Today, look at the result! When some of us told him to make peace, he refused. After the primary, he never spoke to anybody; thinking he could do the job alone. I said then that with Sylva, we would lose Bayelsa. But nobody listened to me. The result has played out. It was important to make peace so that all of us will come together. If we had done that, the result would have been different. It is quite painful that we lost Bayelsa. But it is an eye-opener. Last Friday, Chinas CCTV News posted a heart-warming story on Facebook about how Japanese railway authorities are keeping a train station in a remote village open for the sake of only one passenger a high school student. The Kyu-Shirataki-Shirataki train station is located in Japans north island of Hokkaido, the post read. Three years ago, due to its remote location and ending of freight trains, the Japan Railway (JR) decided to close it down. However, they changed their minds after they discovered a young girl used the station to go to high school every day. According to the report, the only two trains that stop at the station now are just for this girl, with a unique timetable depending on when the girl needs to go to school and back. Japan Railway apparently intends to keep the station open until March this year, when she will finally graduate. The touching tale naturally gathered thousands of likes, going viral on Japanese social media in just one.The story was shared several times over, and eventually covered by other media outlets as well. Lots of people left comments commending the empathy displayed by Japan Railway in supporting the girls education. Why should I not want to die for a country like this when the government is ready to go an extra mile just for me, one person commented on CCTVs post. This is the meaning of good governance penetrating right to the grassroot level. Every citizen matters. No child left behind! Others took the opportunity to lament about the dwindling population in rural Japan, resulting in the slow extinction of railway services in these areas. But it looks like people might be getting emotional over nothing. According to a report in the Taiwan edition ofApple Daily, the tale is most likely a romanticized exaggeration. The girl actually boards the train from an entirely different station every morning, along with 10 other schoolmates. In the evening, she has a choice of three trains to get back home. Via Via Oddity Central. In late 2013, Yahoo was hit with six lawsuits over its practice of using automated scans of e-mail to produce targeted ads. The cases, which were consolidated in federal court, all argued that the privacy rights of non-Yahoo users, who did not consent to Yahoos interception and scanning of their emails, were being violated by a multi-billion dollar company. Now, lawyers representing the plaintiffs are singing a different tune. Last week, they asked US District Judge Lucy Koh to accept a proposed settlement (PDF). Under the proposal, the massive class of non-Yahoo users wont get any payment, but the class lawyers at Girard Gibbs and Kaplan Fox intend to ask for up to $4 million in fees. (The ultimate amount of fees will be up to the judge, but Yahoo has agreed not to oppose any fee request up to $4 million.) While users wont get any payment, Yahoo will change how it handles user e-mailsbut it isnt the change that the plaintiffs attorneys were originally asking for. Yahoo wont stop scanning e-mails. Instead, the company has agreed to make a technical change to when it scans e-mails. In thesettlement (PDF), Yahoo has agreed that e-mail content will be only sent to servers for analysis for advertising purposes after a Yahoo Mail user can access the email in his or her inbox. The settlement deal looks pretty similar to what Yahoo had argued it did in the first place. Yahoo had argued in court that it didnt violate the main privacy law at issue, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, because it does not read or learn the content of emails for advertising purposes until after the emails have been delivered. Yahoo has said that it will be making material changes to its e-mail systems, which will involve substantial effort and cost, because of the lawsuit. But the main difference seems to be an issue of timing. Should user e-mails get scanned once they arrive at Yahoo serversas Yahoo has described the system since the beginning of the suit? Or will they only be scanned after a user can access the email, the system Yahoo has now agreed to create at substantial cost? Plaintiffs lawyer Laurence King didnt respond to requests from Ars for comment about the settlement. King told The Recorder, which first reported the settlement, that he believes the settlement brings Yahoos practices into compliance with California law. He didnt respond to questions about how the settlement advances the privacy of his clients. Yahoo is pleased to have resolved this matter, subject to the Courts approval, a Yahoo spokesperson told Ars. Yahoo denies any wrongdoing and it notes that the Court has not issued any ruling that Yahoo acted unlawfully. Security researchers usually get their first glimpse of a zero-day vulnerability after someone uses it in an attack. But a team of researchers successfully looked for similarities with an exploit writer's coding style to find a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Silverlight. Microsoft patched a critical vulnerability in Silverlight that could let attackers remotely execute code after tricking users into visiting a compromised website hosting a specially crafted Silverlight application. While Silverlight may not be as common as Adobe Flash, it is still serious and requires immediate patching. "A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Microsoft Silverlight decodes strings using a malicious decoder that can return negative offsets that cause Silverlight to replace unsafe object headers with contents provided by an attacker," Microsoft said in its security bulletin. The update corrected how Microsoft Silverlight validates decoder results in Microsoft Silverlight 5, Microsoft Silverlight 5 Developer Runtime for Mac, and all supported releases of Windows. Silverlight flaws are bad news Attackers like Silverlight vulnerabilities because like Flash, the attacks can be cross-platform and largely browser independent. Silverlight registers itself in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, for example. Google removed support for the plug-in from Chrome in 2014 to protect users. A successful exploit of this bug would result in the attacker obtaining the same permissions as the currently logged-on user, Microsoft said. If the user is logged in as an administrator user -- a distressing situation still common in enterprises -- the attacker would have complete control over the user's system. The attacker would be able to install and remove programs, view and modify data, and create new user accounts with full administrator privileges. The attack could come in the form of a specially crafted Web advertisement displayed on a page or a spam link sent via email or social media. And while Silverlight may not be as popular as Adobe Flash, it's still widely used. Netflix and other providers use Silverlight to deliver streaming content to their viewers. Microsoft said it was unaware of any attack attempting to exploit this vulnerability. That statement is at odds with Kaspersky Lab's claim that it may have been used in limited targeted attacks, which is how the researchers discovered the bug in the first place. The hunt for the zero-day Kaspersky Lab researchers initially became aware of a potential zero-day vulnerability in Silverlight after someone dumped documents stolen from Hacking Team over the summer. Most of the attention at the time centered on multiple Adobe Flash zero-days the Italian surveillance software company had acquired, which later was added to multiple crimeware kits. One of the email exchanges exposed in that breach offered the company a two-and-a-half-year-old Silverlight exploit, at a discount. Independent exploit writer Vitaliy Toropov offered Hacker Team "my old Silverlight exploit which was written 2.5 years ago and has all chances to survive further in next years as well." Hacking Team doesn't appear to have taken up the offer from Toropov, but Kaspersky researchers found the reference very interesting. "Microsoft Silverlight exploit written more than two years ago and may survive in the future? If that was true, it would be a heavyweight bug, with huge potential to successfully attack a lot of major targets," they wrote in the blog post. Researchers found examples of other exploits written by Toropov on the Packet Storm security site and the Open Source Vulnerability Database. One was a 2013 exploit taking advantage of invalid typecast and memory disclosure vulnerabilities in Silverlight to achieve code execution. Toropov had provided a proof-of-concept and its source code along with a well-written readme file describing the bug. The code gave Kaspersky a starting point. Most software developers reuse portions of their code, such as custom error strings and functions, and have a personal style in how they name variables, create modules, or debug their code. Exploit writers are no different. The researchers were betting on the fact that they could find Toropov's exploits in the wild by looking for patterns similar to the proof-of-concept they already had. YARA, a tool designed VirusTotal founder Victor Manual Alvarez, can search for malicious files and look for same patterns of code across networks and systems. Kaspersky Lab created several YARA rules to detect files similar to the 2013 Silverlight exploit and found a match on a customer system in Laos on Nov. 25. There were enough clues -- such as custom error strings -- to indicate the malware sample was one of Toropov's exploits, although it may not be the exact one he offered Hacking Team. "There is no way to be sure and there might be several Silverlight exploits out there," the researchers said. Of course, there is always the possibility another exploit writer could have repurposed Toropov's previously published code. YARA simply helps find patterns in code, and considering the ubiquity of code-sharing, it is difficult to definitively identify a developer as the actual author. Apply that update as soon as possible The origins and author of the exploit aside, organizations need to move fast to apply the update. Exploit writers reverse-engineer security updates to create new attacks that they incorporate into existing crimeware kits. Since many organizations fall behind on their patching schedules, these kits can successfully compromise systems even when the security fix is available. Silverlight may not be as ubiquitous as Flash, but deprioritizing this patch can have severe consequences. Shootin' the Bull Swift Trading Company - 15 minutes ago Fat futures continued higher today. I continue to see nothing to do in this market. Basis is not believed at a width that would be considered advantageous to market into. I remain neither bullish... Grain Spreads: Corn Demand Walsh Trading - 32 minutes ago Demand Down vs Last Year, But its Early Nat-Gas Prices Fall on Forecasts for Warm U.S. Temps Barchart - 49 minutes ago Nov Nymex natural gas (NGX22 ) on Wednesday closed down by -0.283 (-4.93%). Nov nat-gas prices Wednesday extended this week's losses and posted a 3-1/2 month nearest-futures low on a weak demand outlook.... NGX22 : 5.444 (-5.24%) Crude Jumps as Weekly EIA Inventories Unexpectedly Decline Barchart - 54 minutes ago Nov WTI crude oil (CLX22 ) on Wednesday closed up +2.73 (+3.30%), and Nov RBOB gasoline (RBX22 ) closed up +10.16 (+3.98%). Crude oil and gasoline prices Wednesday closed sharply higher on an unexpected... CLZ22 : 84.60 (+3.08%) RBZ22 : 2.4706 (+2.63%) Cocoa Prices Consolidate This Week's Sharp Losses Barchart - 1 hour ago December ICE NY cocoa (CCZ22) on Wednesday closed up +3 (+0.13%), and December ICE London cocoa #7 (CAZ22) closed up +12 (+0.62%). Cocoa prices Wednesday recovered from early losses and closed slightly... Sugar Prices Under Pressure on the Outlook for Larger India Sugar Production Barchart - 1 hour ago March NY world sugar #11 (SBH23 ) on Wednesday closed down -0.02 (-0.11%), and Dec London white sugar #5 (SWZ22 ) closed down -8.50 (-1.55%). Sugar prices Wednesday posted moderate losses, with London... SBH23 : 18.65s (-0.11%) SWZ22 : 538.80s (-1.55%) Coffee Prices Close Lower as Supply Outlook Improves Barchart - 1 hour ago December arabica coffee (KCZ22 ) on Wednesday closed down -2.80 (-1.44%), and Nov ICE Robusta coffee (RMX22 ) closed down -45 (-2.19%). Coffee prices Wednesday extended their week-long slide and closed... KCZ22 : 192.30s (-1.44%) RMF23 : 2,000s (-1.67%) Cattle Commentary Walsh Trading - 1 hour ago Cattle markets up again today as the December live contract finished higher for the third straight session, settling at 151.350, up $1.575. Cash trades, in my opinion, seem to be driving this rally higher... News / National by Thobekile Zhou Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi is fretting of possibilities of $150 million Chinese-built visiting Victoria Falls becoming another white elephant.The new airport was built to accommodate bigger aircraft but airlines have reportedly said the volume of traffic to Victoria Falls was still too low to sustain viable business.At least five airlines namely Air Zimbabwe, South African Airways, Com Air and Fast Jet are flying to the resort town.Said Mzembi : "Vitoria Falls Airport, let us not turn it into a white elephant."That airport we built it so that planes can lend and take off. That is the primary purpose of that airport. To receive and to see off,".But the minister has a dream."I dream of a Victoria Falls airport where every 20 minutes there is either a plane landing or taking off, it is not for us to be busy crocheting in our offices waiting for one airline, South African Airways to land or take off. That is not the purpose of the Victoria Falls airport. It is to land and to receive the world," he said. Some big trends are happening in America for women, and these trends will likely be snowballing in the near future. The first trend: the growing financial muscle of women. The second: women's growing leadership. Add to this mix the upward trajectory of women's role in philanthropy, and you may have the makings of a paradigm shift. In conversing with Debra Mesch, director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute, and Andrea Pactor, its associate director, I came away with a sense of how forces are aligning, now more than ever, for women to take the lead in philanthropy and beyond, and shape public policy for the common good. Let's review the case for women's growing financial muscle. "Women are becoming the recipients of a massive transfer of wealth," said Mesch. A quick review of the numbers: $10-million-plus, women-owned firms increased by 57 percent in 2013. Forty-five percent of American millionaires are now women, and 48 percent of estates worth more than $5 million are controlled by women. In 2013, an estimated 60 percent of high-net-worth women made their own fortunes, and by some estimates, as much as two-thirds of all wealth in the U.S. will be controlled by women by the year 2030. And the case for women's growing leadership? We are seeing more and more breakthroughs for women's leadership across the board, from religion to politics, from business to nonprofit, from the household to the White House. Hillary Clinton is the most obvious example of the perfect nexus of women's leadership and philanthropy, with her dual role as both a political and a philanthropic leader. This presidential race may yield the first female president, and it's no accident that she has a strong history in philanthropy, a field that has been ahead of the curve in pushing for promising social policy changes for women for several decades. Add to this the women in communities forming giving circles. Scholars in the field are calling this process "the democratization of philanthropy," and the results of this massive cultural shift have yet to be fully realized. But wait a minute. Let's back up. Where did all this momentum for women and philanthropy come from? Andrea Pactor traces the study of gender and philanthropy back to the very practical pursuits of two leading women fundraisers. Sondra Shaw-Hardy and Martha Taylor, who started the National Network for Women as Philanthropists in 1991, perceived a critical difference in the way women approached giving. They also recognized a huge deficit in the field of fundraising that needed to be addressedcultivating women donors. "The two women (Shaw-Hardy and Taylor) who created this work did it not only to help women come into their own in philanthropy, but also to change the way fundraisers perceive donors," said Pactor. "So this particular strand of women's philanthropy study emanated from a very pragmatic approach to fundraising." In 1997, the National Network for Women as Philanthropists became the Women's Philanthropy Institute, and then became part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in 2004. The program functioned mainly as a home base for the lectures and presentations that Shaw-Hardy and Taylor made about gender and philanthropy across the country, and why it was such an important factor in fundraising. In its early years, the program functioned primarily to provide donor education to women donors about their power and influence in philanthropy, and at the same time to guide fundraisers to engage women as donors. Debra Mesch came on as director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute in 2008, and helped the Institute gain traction by establishing a volunteer leadership council. In 2010, WPI began its signature research series Women Give, and each year, this research has built out the picture a little more on how gender is influencing philanthropy, and what we can do to maximize the return on women's positive influence. As we recently reported, that research just got a major boost from the Gates Foundation. Mesch and Pactor both see a lot of transformation happening on the ground for women in philanthropy. "Pockets of very powerful women at the community and grassroots level are forming their own giving circles, their own collective giving models, their own modes of engaging in philanthropy, to make powerful changes in their own communities and across the globe," said Mesch. Pactor agrees that giving circles are not just a trend, but a cultural phenomenon that is growing steadilyand an important way in which people are participating in society, as people organize their own giving campaigns and groups for giving. "There are giving circles for everybody out there." Pactor pointed to the Women's Collective Giving Network, an association of 47 giving circles, with more than 10,000 women philanthropists in the mix. Pactor also sees an important new development in the Prosperity Together Initiative, which launched in November 2015 and brings together 28 women's funds and foundations to provide $118 million in funding for women and girls of color. "This represents a new direction for the women's funds. What Prosperity Together did is, it reframed the conversation, and it took existing dollars and pooled them to get more traction and bandwidth." Pactor sees this move significantly increasing the visibility of women's funds, which work to address inequality for women and girls. Pactor also sees great potential for the new generation of women leaders in philanthropy coming up through these women's funds. "They are bringing a lot of new momentum and ideas, leaders like Jennifer Lockwood- Shabat at the Washington Area Women's Foundation, Liz Vivian out of the Women's Funding Alliance. These women have the potential to take the state women's funds in new and important directions." Pactor also talked about the strength of Lee Roper-Batker from the Women's Foundation of Minnesota and Roslyn Dawson-Thompson of the Dallas Women's Foundation, more longstanding leaders of the women's funds who have laid the groundwork for the younger generation. Mesch sees big things happening in the near future with our understanding of women's role in giving at the micro-levelhow individual households are influenced by their female members. "We know women are much more interested in the idea of legacy, and leaving a legacy to their children and grandchildren. That's another area of potential new findings that will influence practice." Pactor and Mesch talked about the example of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's giving, and how it has evolved since the couple's marriage in 2012. "The recent giving that they have made, particularly in the Bay Area, to us, clearly reflects the research in the sense that she is a full partner in helping to craft their giving plan," said Pactor. "We think that kind of high visibility of women's role is another way that people like that will influence other people in their giving." Mesch also cited the giving of Bill and Melinda Gates as an example of a couple negotiating its philanthropic giving. She referenced Nicholas Kristof's recent article on the 15th anniversary of the creation of the Gates Foundation, which describes how Melinda Gates has taken a stronger role recently in advocating for women to be central to the Gates's giving. "She [Melinda Gates] has a strong belief that giving to women and girls really makes an impact in the community, and changes the status of women and girls. She is a full partner with Bill, but she has also started her own track, now, on funding for women and philanthropy." And where do Mesch and Pactor see things going in the future for women and philanthropy? "Technology," said Mesch. "Women seem to connect better with a lot of the technology around philanthropy, so we want to see where that can go in terms of further developing and amplifying giving." Pactor sees two other big trends: public policy and impact investing, both areas where women are becoming more strategic in terms of spending their money. "As more women come into philanthropy, they are realizing that they need to work on the legislative level and focus more on public policy." She also sees women as having an edge when it comes to reinventing philanthropy with financial tools like impact investing. "The concept of impact investing appeals to a lot of women," she said. "So I think we're going to hear a lot more from women about that." Related: Recent volatility in the stock market has been giving investors plenty of jitters lately, but the Walton Family Foundation has no such worries about its investment in the nation's charter school movement. The funder is so confident, in fact, that it just announced a major new initiative to grow new charter schools and keep existing ones running. Walton announced it will spend $1 billionthat's billion with a "B," folksover the next five years. That's almost equal to the amount the funder has spent on K-12 education initiatives in the last two decades, and signals that the the funder will continue its high funding levels in this area of recent years. (WFF spent around $200 million on K-12 in 2014, a big jump from the previous year.) Related: A 900-Pound Gorilla Gets Even Bigger: Walton Ramps Up Its Education Funding The Walton announcement also comes a few months after the unveiling of a $500 million plan, spearheaded by the Broad Foundation, to double the number of students in charter schools in Los Angeles. That ambitious effort, which involves a number of foundations including Walton, suggests that key ed reform funders haven't lost faith in charter schools despite questions about their effectiveness over the years. Related: If You Thought Charter School Funders Might Be Losing Steam, Think Again The Walton announcement also comes on the heels of news that several members of the Walton family recently set aside $400 million for philanthropyabove and beyond the normal flow of funds into the family's foundation. The bigger picture, here, is that the Waltons are reducing the size of their stake in Walmart, which has the potential to free up vast new resources for philanthropy. Collectively, the Walton heirs were worth nearly $150 billion last year, according to Forbes. It's not surprising that the Waltons would choose to double down on charter schools, which have been a signature focus of the family's giving for years, along with the infrastructure that supports such schools. Charter management organizations, charter school associations, pro-charter policy advocacy and research, and organizations such as Teach For Americaa major source of teachers for the nation's charter schoolsall have received funding from Walton. About a quarter of charter schools nationwide have received start-up grants from Walton. Last year alone, the foundation supported 100 new charter school startups with more than $20 million in grantsor one in five of all new charter schools that opened in 2015. Walton plans to spend the new $1 billion over the next five years in areas where the funder already has a presence. The funding will create new charter schools and develop "pipelines of talent," according to Marc Sternberg, Walton's director of education philanthropy. The foundation also indicates that it will continue to invest in K-12 research and policy advocacy, an area that it has given a lot of attention to in recent years. In a public five-year strategic plan, the foundation says that it's realized that it needs to do more to promote environments that support school choice. Originally, it says, the "thought was that more choices would generate more competition. Competition would catalyze systematic improvement." But now it sees that "in order for choice and opportunitythe ultimate forms of parent empowermentto spur change, cities need to create environments that support choice. This means creating enrollment platforms, equitable transportation access, fair funding and readily accessible, current information on schools and student performance for families and other stakeholders." Of course, doing all that means that the foundation and its grantees are likely to play an even more active role in state and local politics, raising yet more questions about the influence of private philanthropy over public education. Regardless, the Walton announcement amounts to serious good news for current grantees of the foundation, suggesting that recent high funding levels will continue into the future. It's been 25 years since Minnesota passed the nation's first charter school law in 1991. Since then, the movement has expanded across the country, with more than 6,000 charter schools operating in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia. While their popularity is beyond doubt, the evidence of whether and to what extent charter schools improve student achievement remains mixed. Some studies indicate that charter schools offer a greater array of educational choices, especially for low-income urban families. In some cities, students in charter schools have outperformed their peers in urban school systems. Other studies have shown that charter schools perform no better than traditional public schools. While charter schools may not be a cure-all for education woes, they hold a prominent position in the nation's K-12 landscape. This new funding commitment from Walton all but guarantees they will become even more of a presence. Elite Stor Capital Partners LLC (ESCP), an equity investor focused on the self-storage industry, has purchased seven facilities in Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina that it will rebrand as Storage Rentals of America. The transaction, which marks the companys entry to the South Carolina market, involved six sellers and adds nearly 500,000 square feet of storage space to the its portfolio. The acquisition was funded through $7 million in equity by ESCP partners and a $13 million debt piece provided by Cantor Commercial Real Estate, led by Sean Reimer, according to a company press release. "We have been extremely fortunate to work with private sellers who appreciate the professionalism and guidance Elite offers in the underwriting, closing and operational takeover throughout the transaction," said Beau Raich, general counsel. The storage operator plans to purchase more properties this year as well as build its first facility, the release stated. It recently hired a new head to its construction departmentJohn Judd, who built more than 40 self-storage facilities with a previous employer, company officials said. ESCP is a real estate investment company focused on the acquisition of self-storage properties as well as direct-equity investments with developers and operators. Strategic Storage Trust II Inc. (SST II), a self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management LLC, has purchased US 1 A/C Self Storage and Victorias Closet Wine Storage in Boynton Beach, Fla., for $17.9 million. The property at 3101 S. Federal Highway comprises 74,800 rentable square feet of storage space in 940 climate-controlled units. Built in 2004, the three-story facility sits on nearly 2 acres. Property amenities include individual alarms and motion detectors on each unit, records storage, uncovered vehicle parking, wine storage, and the sale of moving and packing supplies. The facility last sold for $400,000 in 2002 to 3602 NFHB LLC, according to one source. The companys principals are Charles Highley and Thomas McCormack. "This is an institutional-quality building at a great location in a densely populated trade area. We look forward to working with this asset, said Wayne Johnson, chief information officer for SST II. Part of Palm Beach County, Boynton Beach is a principal city of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla., Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to a company press release. SST II also purchased Rainbow Mini Storage in Tampa in November. We will continue to build income-producing portfolios in top markets like Florida," said H. Michael Schwartz, SST II Chairman and CEO. "We believe in long-term demographic growth as seen in Boynton Beach, which is key to acquiring self-storage properties." The transaction was brokered by the National Self Storage Group (NSSG) of commercial-property investment firm Marcus & Millichap, which has offices throughout Canada and the United States. The representatives were NSSG Senior Director Michael A. Mele, whos also a senior vice president of investments in the firms Tampa, Fla., office, and Luke Elliott, a senior associate from the same location. The SST II portfolio includes 19,500 self-storage units and approximately 2 million rentable square feet of storage space. SmartStop Asset Management is a diversified real estate company with a managed portfolio that includes 3.8 million rentable square feet of storage space in Canada and the United States. The company is also the sponsor of Strategic Storage Growth Trust Inc., a public non-traded self-storage REIT. Myrelo, a Malaysian-based moving company, has launched a subsidiary self-storage business in Shah Alam, Malaysia. The Storage People opened in December in a converted four-story bungalow, offering 132 units targeted at businesses, homeowners and students, according to the source. The project is headed by sisters Noor Amy Ismail and Noor Isma Ismail, who conceived the idea. The Ismails believe rising population will create increased demand for self-storage services. Shah Alam is the capital city of the state of Selangor. Population is expected to reach 10 million people in Selangor and the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur by 2020, Amy Ismail told the source. The self-storage facility offers units from 1.1 to 45 cubic meters. Customers can select units based on floor area or volume. The Storage People offers tenants 24-hour access and employs 15 staff members as well as 20 contractual workers, the source reported. Security includes closed-circuit television, individual unit alarms and off-site monitoring using a cloud-based, self-storage management system. Even if you forget to turn your alarm back on, our system will ensure that it gets turned on automatically for you, Amy Ismail told the source. Among the operators services is complimentary moving for new tenants. Our experience in Myrelo has taught us that moving is one of the more stressful experiences people have to handle, Amy Ismail said. At The Storage People, we can make it easier for you. So there is no need to worry about how to move your stuff into self-storage because once you sign up with us, we will move you in for free. The business has embraced technology, claiming to be the first Malaysian self-storage facility to offer online reservations. It also gives tenants facility access through an EasyCode mobile app from PTI Security Systems. Using advanced geo-fencing technology, EasyCode takes away the hassle of remembering gate access codes with a simple touch interface to open gates and doors, Isma Ismail told the source. You can also view your access history and get notifications. Technology is also helping the business reduce its carbon footprint. The buildings software system syncs with tenant access codes to enable zoned lighting and ventilation systems. We only turn on what we need when youre there and turn it off when youre not, Isma Ismail said. The business received three rejected loan applications before securing financing from the Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Retail Project Fund, a program launched to encourage entrepreneurial participation in retail businesses by Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad, Malaysias national entrepreneurial development corporation. Self-storage operator ThomasTown Builders Inc. intends to develop a 109,357-square-foot facility in Roseville, Calif. Construction on the $4.9 million Roseville Self Storage project at 8601 Foothills Blvd. is expected to begin this spring, according to the source. The project is one of several the company has planned to increase its presence in the Sacramento, Calif., metropolitan area. The Roseville facility will comprise four buildings and a management office. We just saw the need with growth in the city of Roseville, Ray Smith, president, told the source. The company currently has a self-storage facility under development in Rocklin, Calif., and is interested in additional locations in the Bay Area, Smith told the source. The demand is still there, and the hardest part is finding the land and getting the zoning, he said. We develop them to keep them a long time. Its a pretty basic business. ThomasTown Builders currently operates 15 self-storage facilities, mostly in the Sacramento area, according to the source. Recruitment is as much about culture as competency SMP Consulting Group, a premium audit consulting firm based in Holbrook, New York, has appointed Edward Ragan as executive vice president of its aggregation/wholesale division, Specialty Markets Plus. Ragan has 35 years of experience in the insurance and reinsurance marketplace. He brings to SMP Consulting Group expertise in program development with companies including American International Group, Investors (IIG), New Century Global and Clarendon/Praetorian. At SMP Consulting Group, Ragans focus will be expanding the reach of SMPs network of independent insurance agencies and enhancing the Specialty Markets Plus system of aggregation to new markets. He will work on program development, captives, and alternative risk services at Specialty Markets Plus. SMP Consulting Group specializes in auditing workers compensation policies and recovering overpayments made by its clients. SMPs Workers Compensation Audit Service works with businesses, municipalities and non-profit organizations. Specialty Markets Plus, a subsidiary of SMP Consulting Group, offers insurance services for its national network of insurance agencies known as the Working Partners network. Topics New York News / National by Tawanda Musarurwa No foreign companies have approached the Government seeking exemptions to the 51percent /49 percent indigenisation requirement.Zimbabwe's Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act of 2007 (Chapter 14:33) requires that at least 51 percent ownership of any foreign business must be in the hands of indigenous Zimbabweans with non-indigenous ownership limited to a maximum of 49 percent.But in terms of new regulations that were gazetted recently, there is now an indigenisation levy that takes into account a rebate scoring system that encourages indigenisation in the form of economic empowerment credits.What this basically means is that the new frameworks provide for two possible pathways for ensuring compliance, namely compliance through provision of a lesser share of indigenisation for the economic empowerment of indigenous Zimbabweans; or implementation of the Indigenisation Compliance and Empowerment Levy that takes account of the rebate scoring system.In an interview this morning, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao said he was not aware of any new requests by foreign firms for exemptions."I have not received any (requests of firms seeking exemptions), these are issues dealt by the various line ministries, but so far I have not heard of any companies that have requested exemptions," he said.He however added that Government would only consider granting exemptions to firms that apply and have not already been caught offside of the indigenisation law."There is a provision for lesser shares in the Act, but these have to be submitted to the line ministries. But you can't say then that when you are breaking law then you want to ask for an exemption when you have already starting breaking the law. For you to at least show good faith abide by the law."The Minister however said sectors "reserved for indigenous Zimbabweans", will remain exclusively reserved for local, while those foreign businesses currently operating in these areas would not have their licences renewed."We will not accept a position where the lesser share provisions are looked at within the reserve sectors. Conceptually within the reserve sectors we should get companies that are 100 percent indigenous," said Minister Zhuwao. A former Pennsylvania theater owner convicted of falsifying insurance claims involving a flood at one playhouse and a fire at another has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Federal investigators say New Hope, Pennsylvania, resident Ralph Miller also must pay nearly $240,000 in restitution for claiming losses including a previously sold Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a grand piano found safe at his home. The insurance claims involve the 2006 flooding at the Bucks County Playhouse and a 2009 fire at the Poconos Playhouse. Officials say the 69-year-old Miller has been ordered to spend a year on home confinement when he leaves prison. A jury convicted Miller of fraud and money laundering last year. He was sentenced Monday. Miller had said he hired adjusters to do the work and did nothing wrong. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud Pennsylvania Brit Ltd. announce the renewal and expansion of the collateralized reinsurance capacity provided by the Bermuda domiciled special purpose insurer Versutus Ltd., in support of Brits property treaty portfolio for 2016. The special purpose insurer will be capitalised at $82.5 million, a 10 percent increase on its previous level of capitalisation. Funding has been secured from a number of third party capital partners accepting risk from Jan. 1, 2016. GC Securities*, which is a division of MMC Securities (Europe) Ltd., acted as placement agent for the Versutus Series 2016 Notes. We are excited to build on last years launch of Versutus with this renewal and expansion for 2016, according to Jon Sullivan, head of Short Tail Reinsurance. This strategic partnership provides our investors with continued access to Brits strong underwriting capabilities and diversified distribution reach via both our London and Bermudan platforms as well as all the benefits the Group experiences as one of the largest Lloyds syndicates. Matthew Wilson, CEO of Brit Global Specialty, added: We are delighted to continue broadening and enhancing our capabilities within the capital markets arena as we maximise the efficiencies of our reinsurance programs for 2016. * Securities or investments, as applicable, are offered in the United States through GC Securities. Source: Brit Ltd. Topics Carriers French insurer CNP Assurances has entered exclusive talks with Grupo BTG Pactual SA to buy its 51 percent stake in Brazilian insurer Pan Seguros, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. CNP Assurances has offered 1.6 billion Brazilian reais ($396 million) for the stake, outbidding major insurers including AXA and MetLife, one of the sources said. In a statement on Tuesday, BTG Pactual confirmed talks to sell Pan Seguros, as well as its insurance broking unit Pan Corretora SA, but did not name a prospective buyer. BTG Pactual is selling assets to raise cash in the wake of the arrest last year of its founder Andre Esteves. [CNP Assurances acknowledged on Wednesday it is in talks to purchase the Brazilian insurer]. Reuters reported on Monday that BTG Pactual had asked bidders to submit binding offers for its Pan Seguros majority stake in February. First round bids in December valued the business, which provides life and home insurance, at between 1 and 1.3 billion Brazilian reais ($300 million), several sources said. AXA and MetLife submitted the highest offers in the initial bidding round, with rivals Zurich, Assicurazioni Generali and U.S.-based Liberty Mutual also taking part, one of the sources said. BTG Pactual took control of Pan Seguros last year. Caixapar, the investment arm of Brazilian federal savings bank Caixa Economica Federal, has the remaining 49 percent and wants to hold on to it, the sources said. CNP Assurances has been operating in Brazil since 2001 through Caixa Seguradora, a subsidiary owned jointly with Caixa Economica Federal and CNP Assurancess local distribution partner. With more than 9 million policyholders, Caixa Seguradora says it is Brazils fifth largest insurance company and employs more than 800 people in the country. Latin American insurance markets are under penetrated, insurance specialists say, providing an opportunity for international insurers whose home markets are mature. (Additional reporting by Maya Nikolaeva in Paris and Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Sao Paulo; editing by Alexander Smith) Topics Mergers & Acquisitions France Swiss Re announced that Frank ONeill has been appointed CEO of the companys UK & Ireland business, effective Feb. 1. ONeill has been the CEO of Swiss Res Middle East and Africa business for the past three years. He replaces Russell Higginbotham, who was appointed head of Life & Health Reinsurance Products in October 2015. ONeill joined Swiss Re as a life & health underwriter in 1998 in London. After working in a strategy role in Zurich, he was appointed head of L&H South-East Asia in 2006. ONeill then became global client executive in the U.S. in 2008, followed by his current role as CEO for Middle East & Africa in January 2013. We are delighted that Frank will be leading our UK & Ireland business. It is a market that is undergoing tremendous change and new opportunities are emerging all the time for industry participants, said Jean-Jacques Henchoz, CEO Reinsurance EMEA. As our largest European market, we want the UK to continue to be led by a high-calibre leader to carry on the great work done over the last five years by Russell Higginbotham, he added. Source: Swiss Re Topics Swiss Re Billionaire John Paulsons New York hedge fund firm has shut an operation in Bermuda that had been targeted by a Democratic lawmaker as a tax shelter. Paulsons venture, a reinsurer named PaCRe Ltd., has stopped writing new coverage, and its insurance policies have expired, according to two people familiar with the venture who asked not to be identified discussing private contracts. The insurance company that partnered with the money manager, Validus Holdings Ltd., will provide an update on the wind-down its fourth-quarter conference call, one of the people said. The venture has been a target of U.S. officials since 2014, when Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who led the Senate Finance Committee at the time, urged the Treasury Department to crack down on PaCRe and similar companies set up by hedge fund managers. He said they were exploiting a loophole that allowed billionaires to benefit from unwarranted and massive tax breaks. Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, pledged to end the Bermuda reinsurance tax advantage. PaCRe was started in 2012 with $500 million in capital, to be invested in three of Paulsons funds, Validus said at the time. Paulson, a major donor to Republican candidates, has a net worth estimated at $9.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While he rose to fame with successful bets against mortgage securities in the financial crisis, his subsequent results were less impressive, partly because of losses on gold. Investment Losses Validus said third-quarter investment results included $40.7 million in realized losses relating to PacRe. Paulsons venture also stood out for how little insurance it sold. PaCRe was set up in an environment when returns on high-level catastrophe risks were more attractive, and today they are not, Ed Noonan, Validuss chief executive officer, said in an October conference call. Having a business with no premium coming into it isnt a business. Reinsurers sell backup coverage to insurance companies, protecting them against big risks such as natural catastrophes. Paulson, David Einhorn, Dan Loeb and Steven Cohen are among hedge fund managers who have set up reinsurers in tax-friendly Bermuda or the Cayman Islands. Cohen has exited his reinsurer, and companies tied to Loeb and Einhorn are each trading below the prices from their initial public offerings. Preferential Rate While the ventures provide a stable pool of capital that the money managers can use to buy securities, they also offer a tax-advantaged way to invest in a U.S. hedge fund, potentially transforming any short-term capital gains generated by the fund into long-term capital gains, which are taxed at a preferential lower rate. Insurance and reinsurance companies enjoy an exception to U.S. rules meant to prevent tax avoidance through offshore investing vehicles, but the Internal Revenue Service has never clearly defined how much insurance a company must sell to qualify. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson & Co. with Peppercomm, had no immediate comment. Validus said in a statement late Tuesday that the PaCRe entity was off risk effective Jan. 1. Missing Expectations Last year, ratings firm A.M. Best withdrew its rating for PaCRe , citing a request from the company. A.M. Best said that the alternative asset strategy has not performed as expected during PaCRes operating history, producing unrealized investment losses. The ratings firm also noted that the reinsurance market had become more competitive as money managers piled in, pressuring underwriting margins. PaCRe had no insurance employees, instead depending on minority investor Validus to handle underwriting. Under pressure from Wyden, the IRS agreed last year to establish rules for the first time that would define which companies can qualify for the favorable tax treatment offered to insurers. In proposed rules issued in April, it said companies like PaCRe that outsource their insurance underwriting wouldnt qualify for the tax break. Our efforts to close this loophole are paying off, Wyden said in a statement Wednesday. Sophisticated business tax-avoidance strategies hurt our country. With assistance from Katherine Chiglinsky. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics USA Reinsurance President Barack Obama has nominated four individuals to sit on the 13-member governing board of a new national insurance producer licensing system. They are state insurance regulators from South Carolina and Minnesota and insurance producer representatives from Illinois and Pennsylvania. One year ago when Congress voted to renew the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for six years, lawmakers also approved an unrelated provision creating a new system to simplify non-resident licensing for insurance agents and brokers. The legislation that created the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB II) had been a goal of insurance agent groups for years. NARAB gives agents and brokers who do business in multiple states the option of joining a national association through which they can satisfy various states licensing requirements through one process and portal. Participation in the NARAB is voluntary. The law calls for creation of a NARAB governing body of 13 members, of which eight must be state insurance regulators and five must be private business members with experience in property/casualty (3) and life/health (2) insurance producer licensing. What to Know About NARAB or National Producer Licensing: Bissett of Big I In August, some producers expressed frustration because implementation of the licensing reform was stalled in part because the board had not been named. It is vitally important that the law be implemented as intended as soon as possible. Industry has worked diligently for eight years, and now that the provisions of the legislation have been signed into law eight months ago, we respectfully request your immediate selection and appointment of the NARAB board members, AAMGA Executive Director Bernie Heinze wrote in a letter to the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) within the Treasury that is charged with recommending board members to the president and implementing the law. Michael McRaith, former Illinois insurance commissioner, heads the FIO. This week, a year after enactment, President Obama nominated four of the 13 people needed to fill the NARAB board vacancies. He sent to the Senate the names of two state regulators, one property/casualty producer representative and one life/health producer representative: Raymond G. Farmer , who is South Carolina insurance commissioner, to a term of one year. Farmer, a lawyer, was appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as director for the South Carolina Department of Insurance in November 2012. For 32 years prior to that, Farmer mostly worked for the American Insurance Association (AIA), a trade group for property/casualty insurance companies, most recently serving as Southeast vice president. He also worked in the Georgia Department of Insurance. , who is South Carolina insurance commissioner, to a term of one year. Farmer, a lawyer, was appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as director for the South Carolina Department of Insurance in November 2012. For 32 years prior to that, Farmer mostly worked for the American Insurance Association (AIA), a trade group for property/casualty insurance companies, most recently serving as Southeast vice president. He also worked in the Georgia Department of Insurance. Michael J. Rothman , of Minnesota, for a term of two years Rothman, an attorney, is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which includes insurance regulation along with securities, real estate, utilities and other businesses. He was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton in January 2011. Rothman serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and is the president-elect of the North American Securities Administrators Association. , of Minnesota, for a term of two years Rothman, an attorney, is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which includes insurance regulation along with securities, real estate, utilities and other businesses. He was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton in January 2011. Rothman serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and is the president-elect of the North American Securities Administrators Association. Thomas McLeary , of Illinois, for a term of two years. He is a founder and president of Endow Insurance Brokerage, a Chicago life insurance and benefits brokerage. In 1992, McLeary was one of four individuals who formed the Premier Network Service Group, the first national African American property/casualty and financial services firm. , of Illinois, for a term of two years. He is a founder and president of Endow Insurance Brokerage, a Chicago life insurance and benefits brokerage. In 1992, McLeary was one of four individuals who formed the Premier Network Service Group, the first national African American property/casualty and financial services firm. Heather Ann Steinmiller, of Pennsylvania, for a term of two years. Steinmiller is general counsel with the Philadelphia insurance and benefits brokerage firm of Conner Strong & Buckelew. The 300-person brokerage has offices in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Florida. It places approximately $1 billion in premium for clients in the United States and abroad. Related: Topics Legislation Agencies Property Casualty Illinois Pennsylvania Minnesota South Carolina Results of Mississippis Property Insurance Clarity Act Data Call are in and they confirm what insurance experts in the state say they already knew: insurers are not overcharging coastal residents in Mississippi. In fact, many Mississippi homeowner insurers are actually losing money in both the coastal and inland regions of the state, according to data released by the Mississippi Insurance Department. MID released its analysis Dec. 16 based on data submitted by homeowners insurers in the state under the new Mississippi Property Insurance Clarity Act. The Clarity Act was passed by lawmakers during the 2015 legislative session as a way to obtain a geographic comparison and market analysis of homeowner insurance premiums and losses in the state. Proponents of the Clarity Act said coastal residents in Mississippi have been forced out of the private market and into the state-run windpool because their homeowners insurance rates are too high. The summary of the MID Report states the findings were that no one particular region is subsidizing another, and in actuality, costs for homeowners insurers in the state are higher than the premiums they are charging. Insurers return on net worth in the Mississippi homeowners insurance market has been comparatively unattractive over the last 25 years, and in both coastal and inland areas premiums are lower than costs, the report states. Insurers operating in Mississippi were required to submit rate info and other pricing details from 2005 through 2014, including: direct incurred losses; direct earned premiums; policy limits; reinsurance; allocated loss adjustment expense; and the number of policies in force by earned house years by policyholder zip code to MID by Oct. 1, 2015. The data was reported in three policy categories: homeowners policies that include windstorm coverage; homeowners policies that exclude windstorm coverage; and all policies that only include windstorm coverage. The report, compiled by data collected and analyzed by MID and independent global consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal Insurance and Risk Advisory Services, found that the Mississippi homeowner insurance industrys returns on net worth over the past 10 years (-26.8 percent), and 25 years (-9.6 percent) are far lower than both the national homeowners insurance industry and other industries. Even excluding the year of Hurricane Katrina (2005), the Mississippi homeowner insurance industrys returns are still far below the average returns of other industries, the report states. The report also examined the combined ratio for both coastal and inland homeowners policies and found that the combined ratio for the actual and modeled approaches in both regions is greater than 100 percent, which indicates that insurance companies incurred costs are more than premiums earned. In the coastal region the report found that combined ratios indicate premiums have been less adequate than the inland region over the past 11 years when compared to actual costs. Unsurprisingly, the report says coastal costs have been higher than inland costs because of the increased hurricane risk on the coast. As a result, coastal residents have paid higher premiums than inland residents. The majority of Mississippi zip codes have also had an average combined ratio greater than 100 percent. The results are in line with what industry experts predicted. Rates are decided by actuarial determinations and losses, which take storms into account. They arent going to find that coastal residents are paying more than they should be, said Joe Woods, vice president of State Government Relations for the Property Casualty Insurers of America (PCI) after the Clarity Act was passed. Woods says now that the report shows that Mississippi is not a profitable market for the insurance industry, either in coastal or inland areas. The whole purpose of the [data call] was the political charge from coastal legislators that they are subsidizing the rest of the state, Woods said. I think [the findings] put that assertion to rest. PCI said in a statement the results prove the industry has supported policyholders in the state, despite unfavorable conditions, including severe storms and Hurricane Katrina, which devastated portions of Mississippi. The report also shows that across the state premiums are lower than actual costs, which demonstrates how insurers are trying to control costs for consumers, Woods said. Woods said the industry has also supported legislation recently enacted to strengthen building codes in Mississippi. Mississippi State Representative Scott DeLano, who authored the bill that ultimately became the Clarity Act, said last year the goal was to see how Mississippi homeowners rates differ based on where they live so policymakers could understand how policies are being written by private insurers versus the state run pool in certain geographical areas. He said the hope was the data would help the state improve rates for coastal homeowners so they can move out of the state windpool program and back into the regular insurance market, which would in turn provide more business to insurers in the state. By giving data by geographical area we can look at this longitudinally and see what gains we are making in getting private insurers and write in these higher risk areas, DeLano told Insurance Journal last year. DeLano did not respond to a request from Insurance Journal to comment on the results. Woods said insurers were confident before the report came out that their rates were fair, and he doesnt expect insurers will take a knee-jerk reaction and raise rates as a result of the Clarity Act report. And while right now they are covering properties that arent profitable, there are years where they do make a profit. They wouldnt be writing coverage and taking the losses they are taking here now if they werent taking a long view of the market, Woods said. Related: Topics Carriers Market Homeowners Mississippi Insurance giant MetLife dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, saying it was going to separate a "substantial portion" of its U.S. retail segment, in part because of the current "regulatory environment." The company made the announcement in a three-page statement emailed to reporters, in which it said it would create a new company worth roughly $240 billion in total assets. "MetLife has been evaluating opportunities to increase sustainable cash generation and is directing capital to businesses where we can achieve a clear competitive advantage and deliver a differentiated value proposition for customers," said Steven Kandarian, the chairman, president and chief executive of MetLife, in the statement. "This analysis considers the regulatory and economic environment in each market where we do business." It said it had not yet determined how the separation would take place either through the establishment of a new publicly-traded company, spin-off or sale. But the firm said that it is preparing the necessary paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue either an initial public offering or a sale. MetLife declined to elaborate beyond the details provided in the release, but said that the decision has no bearing on its pending lawsuit against the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The company sued FSOC last year after MetLife was designated as a systemically important financial institution by the interagency council. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, nonbanks that are designated as SIFIs must face capital and liquidity requirements and be subject to supervision by the Federal Reserve Board. MetLife said Tuesday that it has not yet determined whether it will seek to have FSOC de-designate it as a SIFI after it completes the transaction. The new company would consist of the following entities: MetLife Insurance Company USA, General American Life Insurance Company, Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company and "several companies that have reinsured risks underwritten by MetLife Insurance Company USA," the firm said. MetLife would retain its Group, Voluntary and Worksite Benefits segment, Corporate Benefits Funding segment, and Asia, Latin America division and Europe, Middle East and Africa division. A handful of other insurance businesses operated by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company will remain with MetLife as well. The firm said that any separation will be contingent on regulatory approval from the SEC and relevant insurance regulators, as well as the approval of the MetLife Board of Directors. Since the form of the separation has yet to be determined, it cannot estimate a timeframe for the breakup, but said that if it takes the form of an IPO, it expects to file a registration statement with the SEC in roughly six months. MetLife's surprise decision comes as another FSOC-designated systemically important company, GE Capital, announced last April that it would spin off its financial assets in order to get itself de-designated. Likewise, last fall American International Group investor Paul Icahn sent an open letter to the firm calling for it to break up in order to duck the SIFI designation. The remaining nonbank SIFI, insurance firm Prudential, has made few public statements on its designation. FSOC did not immediately return calls for comment. Lawrence Baxter, the head of the Global Financial Markets Center at Duke University, speculated that notwithstanding the company's insistence that the decision has no bearing on the lawsuit, the firm's chances to prevail might have informed the decision. But it is also likely that the company simply crunched the numbers and found that their size was not acting in their favor the way it used to. "It may have been a business decision," Baxter said. "Maybe they are not getting the synergies that they thought by having all the different pieces put together. It's possible they looked at the appeal and the uphill battle they might or might not feel they've got and decided that it's just not worth it. They said, 'We can make more money as separate entities.'" This story originally ran on American Banker. News / National by Staff reporter Zimbabwe has not been carrying out the death penalty because it does not have a hangman, the state prosecutor says.Olivia Zvedi was responding to a case brought by death row inmates who want the uncertainty of long periods on death row to be declared unconstitutional.Their lawyer said keeping them on death row like this was a "degrading, inhuman punishment as it caused psychological anguish amounting to torture".The inmates want their death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment.The last time a prisoner was hanged in Zimbabwe was in 2005.It had been thought that the position of hangman, which was vacant for eight years, was filled in 2013.But today's statement by the state prosecutor suggests otherwise as she said "people were not readily" available to respond to such advertisements.There are 76 inmates on death row, some of them for 20 years.The Constitutional Court will rule on the case at a later date. Lemergenza sanitaria causata dal coronavirus ha causato difficolta non indifferenti in tutti gli ambiti della nostra vita. Il lockdown ha messo a dura prova il settore economico e produttivo, provocando una crisi economica senza precedenti. Anche il mondo della scuola ha subito pesanti ripercussioni: in maniera repentina ci si e dovuti adattare alla didattica a distanza senza non poche difficolta sia da parte degli insegnati che degli alunni e delle loro famiglie. Situazioni che hanno messo in luce la poverta materiale ed educativa nel nostro Paese. Chiuse le scuole molti minori a causa della mancanza di mezzi economici e a volte di dispositivi tecnologici non hanno potuto continuare a studiare, rischiando di ingrossare le fila dei cosiddetti NEET, ovvero ragazzi che non studiano e non lavorano. Lindagine di Save The Children Save the Children ha svolto unindagine su un campione di oltre 1.000 bambini e ragazzi dagli 8 ai 17 anni e i loro genitori. E emerso che circa un minore su 5 incontra maggiori difficolta a fare i compiti rispetto al passato e, tra i bambini tra gli 8 e gli 11 anni, quasi 1 su 10 non segue mai le lezioni a distanza o lo fa meno di una volta a settimana. Circa 1 genitore su 20 ha paura che i figli debbano ripetere lanno, nonostante le disposizioni ministeriali lo vietino, o che possano lasciare la scuola, tassi che tra le famiglie in maggiori difficolta economica, passano rispettivamente a quasi 1 su 10 e 1 su 12. Quasi la meta delle famiglie con maggiori fragilita (45,2%) vorrebbe le scuole aperte tutto il giorno con attivita extrascolastiche e supporto alle famiglie in difficolta, opzione che comunque e gradita dal 39,1% dei genitori intervistati. Daltronde sei genitori su dieci (60,3%) ritengono che i propri figli avranno bisogno di supporto quando torneranno a scuola data la perdita di apprendimento degli ultimi mesi. Quasi 1 genitore su 7 (14,8%), tra quelli con una situazione socio-economica piu fragile, ha perso il lavoro definitivamente a causa dellemergenza Covid-19, oltre la meta lo ha perso temporaneamente, mentre piu di 6 su 10 stanno facendo i conti con una riduzione temporanea dello stipendio (3), al punto che rispetto a prima del lockdown la percentuale di nuclei familiari in condizione di vulnerabilita socio-economica che beneficia di aiuti statali e quasi raddoppiata, passando dal 18,6% al 32,3%. Si tratta di genitori che, nel 44% dei casi, sono preoccupati di non poter tornare al lavoro o cercarne uno perche i figli non vanno a scuola e non saprebbero a chi lasciarli. Riscriviamo il futuro Proprio per accendere un faro su questa situazione che rischia di mettere a rischio laccesso allistruzione di piu di un milione di bambini, Save The Children ha lanciato la campagna Riscriviamo il futuro per offrire educazione, opportunita e speranza ai bambini e agli adolescenti. Interris.it ne ha parlato con Fosca Nomis, responsabile advocacy di Save The Children. Riscriviamo il futuro e il titolo della petizione che avete lanciato per accendere un faro sul tema della poverta educativa. Come mai avete scelto proprio questa modalita? Abbiamo scelto di avviare un programma ad hoc che si chiama Riscriviamo il futuro insieme a una petizione per sollevare lattenzione a livello nazionale sul tema del contrasto alla poverta educativa e della dispersione scolastica in un momento particolarmente difficile e delicato per il nostro Paese nel complesso, ma soprattutto per i bambini e i ragazzi che non sono stati al centro dellagenda politica in questa fase ma che hanno subito le conseguenze, insieme alle loro famiglie, di una fase che continua ad essere una crisi sanitaria, ma che ha assunto anche un carattere socio-economico. Questo noi lo abbiamo riscontrato soprattutto in quelle famiglie che si trovano in condizione di maggiore fragilita. Per riuscire a richiamare lattenzione su questo tema e sulla necessita di un intervento a piu livelli, abbiamo scelto di lanciare una petizione che ha come obiettivo quello di chiedere un intervento forte e immediato. Quanti sono i minorenni interessati dalla poverta educativa? In Italia sono un milione e 200mila i minorenni che sono in una condizione di poverta assoluta e un altro di milione di ragazzi e a rischio di poverta. La poverta educativa educativa e un insieme di fattori che ha una dimensione di poverta economica, che si unisce, e spesso il circolo e vizioso, a una poverta di occasioni, di accesso ad attivita culturali, sportive. In questa situazione il combinato di queste due dimensioni si e stretto maggiormente, anche per la presenza della didattica a distanza, ed ha generato un impoverimento a 360 gradi dei ragazzi nel nostro Paese. Proprio con la didattica a distanza, molti minorenni sono rimasti senza la possibilita di frequentare le lezioni online perche sprovvisti di un tablet o di un pc o per la mancanza di una connessione a internet. Un rapporto dellIstat aveva messo in luce il forte divario tra nord e sud. A settembre si parla di una riapertura solo per alcuni studenti, mentre altri dovrebbero continuare con la didattica a distanza. In questo caso come si potrebbe intervenire? Ovviamente questa e una domanda molto difficile. E una tematica che in molti stanno affrontando per riuscire a capire come affrontare il ritorno a scuola. Quello che e emerso in questi mesi, sono delle criticita della didattica a distanza, soprattutto per chi non ha i mezzi, non ha la connessione. Dalla ricerca che noi abbiamo fatto, e emerso che un bambino su dieci non ha seguito mai le lezioni a distanza o lo ha fatto meno di una volta a settimana. Questi sono i bambini che sono piu a rischio di dispersione scolastica perche e come se avessero perso laggancio con la scuola per un periodo particolarmente lungo. Con la scuola appena finita ci affacciamo sullestate che deve essere un periodo di attivita educative, guardiamo con attenzione la scelta di dedicare dei fondi per delle attivita che consentano ai bambini di familiarizzare con delle misure indossare le mascherine e distanziamento sociale che poi saranno adottate allinizio dellanno scolastico, recuperare la socialita e le competenze. Deve essere unestate di qualita, di recupero di cio che molti bambini hanno perso. E poi il ritorno a scuola, particolarmente importante, che si potra declinare in modo diverso anche in base alle fasce di eta. Quali possono essere le conseguenze della poverta educativa e della dispersione scolastica? Quello che ci preoccupa di piu e proprio perdere dal radar questi minorenni che, non andando piu a scuola, escono dalla cosiddetta rete educante che li accompagna nella crescita. La cosa piu importante e non perdere nessuno. Noi abbiamo fatto una proposta, un emendamento a cui si sta lavorando nellambito del Decreto Rilancio ed e menzionato nel Piano Colao, che sono le doti educative legate al reddito di emergenza e di cittadinanza. si tratta di permettere alle famiglie con figli che vengono intercettate perche fanno richiesta di questi aiuti, di accedere a una dote educativa: una presa in carico del bambino o della bambina da parte della comunita educante con una serie di attivita per il tempo di un anno. Cosa dovrebbe fare il governo per evitare queste situazioni? Noi abbiamo chiesto, sempre tramite il decreto Rilancio, di un piano straordinario per linfanzia e ladolescenza per far fronte alle conseguenze del Covid-19. Il primo tema importante e riuscire a coordinare le politiche che riguardano linfanzia e ladolescenza a livello nazionale. La poverta educativa si accumula gia nei primi tre anni di vita, in termini di parole che si conoscono, in capacita relazionali. Serve un piano complessivo che abbia delle risorse e che riesca a coordinare quelle che gia ci sono. Una strategia integrata che in questa fase non abbiamo visto mettere in campo per quello che riguarda linfanzia e ladolescenza. Le doti educative, inoltre, possono essere un modo per un accompagnamento individualizzato. La necessita di un intervento sulla fascia di eta 0-3 e 0-6 affinche non venga dimenticata. Panoramica privacy Questo sito web utilizza i cookies per fornire all'utente la miglior esperienza di navigazione possibile. L'informazione dei cookie e memorizzata nel browser dell' utente, svolge funzioni di riconoscimento quando l' utente ritorna nel sito e permette di sapere quali sezioni del sito sono ritenute piu interessanti e utili. Large oil companies in the United States have been paying taxes at a significantly lower rate than most other corporations. The chief reason is that there are provisions in the U.S. tax code that allow energy companies to defer and avoid federal income tax payments. The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act also slashed the effective tax rate for corporations, and oil companies were among the biggest beneficiaries of the changes because of the ability to defer taxes. The industry also benefits from generous subsidies. Key Takeaway Oil companies pay a lot less in taxes compared to most other companies. The ability to defer taxes is an important tax advantage for oil companies. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act helped oil companies further by reducing the effective tax rate for companies to 21% from 35%. Oil companies also receive subsidies that are aimed at helping the industry because oil is considered a vital commodity. Tax Deferments for Big Oil Oil companies canand often dodefer federal tax payments. A report published by Taxpayers for Common Sense in 2014 revealed that, from 2009 and 2013, through numerous tax provisions in the tax code granting special status to oil companies, the 20 largest oil and gas companies were able to defer payments on up to half of their federal income taxes. These companies paid 11.7% of their pretax income, which is 23.3 percentage points less than required of most other corporations. Some experts argue the oil and gas industry does not receive special treatment and receives the same tax treatment as all other manufacturing or extractive industries. It is estimated that the four largest companiesExxon Mobil (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and Chevron Corporation (CVX)brought in approximately 84% of the groups income. These companies paid 85% of the groups income tax, while smaller companies paid a much lower percentage, only 3.7% of their total incomes in taxes. Many large oil companies choose to defer their federal tax payments in exchange for debt in the form of tax liabilities owed to the federal government. Between 2009 and 2013, the smaller companies in the top 20 deferred more than 87% of their combined tax liabilities. Many companies stake significant percentages of their companies on tax liabilities owed to the U.S. government. Oil companies are able to deduct such significant portions of their revenues through a tax provision labeled the depletion allowance." The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts lowered the tax rate for U.S. corporations, including deferred taxes. The more billions of dollars that had been deferred, the greater the savings from the new law, because the money that would have previously faced a 35% tax rate was now subject to a lower 21% rate. Between 2009 and 2013, the smaller companies in the top 20 deferred more than 87% of their combined tax liabilities. Subsidies for Big Oil Large oil companies also receive subsidies in the form of tax credits and exemptions. One example is that oil companies can avoid paying taxes on expenditures associated with thhttps://www.crfb.org/blogs/tax-break-down-intangible-drilling-costse nebulous term intangible drilling costs." This subsidy, which dates back to 1916, allows producers to deduct all expenses that are not directly linked to the final operation of an oil well. Intangible drilling costs can encompass fruitless efforts to drill in new locations, as well as costs associated with new equipment or drilling infrastructure. Deducting all of these expenses lowers the amount of taxes to be paid. The Other Side of the Argument While oil companies have many tax advantages in the U.S., they face less lenient tax codes internationally. As a result, many oil companies pay income tax to foreign governments and revenues from income taxes deferred in the U.S. are often used to pay for tax owed elsewhere. The tax benefits that oil companies receive might give the impression that the American taxpayer is effectively subsidizing a multi-billion dollar industry controlled by a few large organizations. It might imply a sort of nepotism between big corporations and lawmakers. However, others argue that tax breaks to oil companies are warranted because oil is a vital commodity used by a considerable percentage of Americans. The price of oil is an important component in the U.S. economy. Oil spokespeople also argue that getting rid of tax breaks and subsidies would be costly because of reduced oil investments in the private sector and fewer jobs in the industry. Lastly, some argue that tax provisions are designed to benefit and ensure the survival of a majority of small oil and gas businesses rather than large corporations. It is comparable to the federal governments provisions for agricultural subsidies, which allow certain crops to be sold at affordable prices and are designed to ensure that farmers are compensated fairly. Although the United States is not the largest country on Earth (either by landmass or population), it is the world's biggest economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), a position it has maintained since 1871. GDP measures the total value of goods and services a country produces over a given time period. This offers a simple metric for gauging the overall economic health of every nation in relation to each other. There are several variations of GDP measurements; the figures featured in this article are "real GDP," which is an inflation-adjusted measure reflecting the quantity of goods and services produced by an economy in a given year. In addition to the country's overall GDP, each individual state within the U.S. has its own GDP, a few of which are larger than the GDP of entire other countries. In fact, GDP can be recorded all the way down to the city level, though only the District of Columbia's GDP is typically reported at the state level. As of the second quarter of 2022 (the most recently-available data), according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the top five states by real GDP in the United States were California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. Key Takeaways The United States has had the largest economy in the world since 1871, despite not having the largest landmass or population in the world. Though U.S. GDP is the highest in the world, it is not evenly spread amongst all states. Some have low GDPs while some have GDPs higher than many other countries. The top five states by real GDP in the United States are California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. The top five states by real GDP per capita in the United States are Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Delaware and Nevada. Understanding Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a region's borders over a specific time period. A location's GDP is composed of all private and public consumption, government outlays, investments, additions to private inventories, paid-in construction costs, and the foreign balance of trade. Although GDP gives a good impression of the U.S. economy's status as a whole, it doesn't elucidate which states are contributing the most or the least to the total. For example, Texas's real GDP in Q2 2022 was approximately $1.85 trillion. Conversely, Vermont's GDP for the same period was substantially (relatively speaking) lower at $31.30 billion. By making the distinction among state contributions, determining which regions of the U.S. are the most economically healthy becomes substantially easier. It's less informative to analyze GDP on an even smaller scale, considering our research has found that there were 19,502 cities, towns, and villages in the U.S. in 2019, compared to just 50 states. There are several factors that contribute to how much GDP a state is capable of generating. One such element is the size of a region's workforce: A state like California with over 19 million laborers is naturally going to have a higher output than Oklahoma with its almost 1.8 million. Alaska is the largest state in the United States but has one of the smallest GDPs at $48.96 billion. There are also differences in the availability of physical capital (i.e., man-made goods used to create a product or service), the amount invested in human capital (i.e., education, experience, or unique skills), and readily accessible natural resources, in addition to the level of technology available to most workers. Although GDP isn't completely indicative of economic prosperity because typically there are still poor people in countries with high GDP (and vice versa), several studies have shown a correlation between the two. In 2017, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that economic growth and rising income levels are key for both citizens and nations seeking to escape poverty; for the latter, this means outputting a larger GDP. Additionally, a 2020 report from the Crawford School of Public Policy found that high poverty has a negative impact on GDP, as it limits the availability of both physical and human capital as well as delays the adoption of modern technology. Meanwhile, a 2019 report from the London School of Economics and Political Science found that a one-percentage-point increase in the top 20%'s income can actually reduce GDP growth over the medium term, whereas a rise in the bottom 20%'s income typically boosts growth. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Per Capita GDP on a per capita basis paints an almost completely different picture. Upon dividing the GDP of each state by its population, the list of the five economically "healthiest" states changes with two exceptions. Texas and Florida are still in the top 5, but they are now joined by West Virginia, Delaware and Nevada to fill out the top 5. The economic powerhouse that is Californiawhile contributing more than 14% to the overall U.S. GDP in the second quarter of 2022ranked 12th-highest in terms of GDP per capita as a result of its larger population. GDP per capita is often presented alongside standard GDP because it enables analysts to better determine how much of a location's economic output is the result of each individual citizen. For instance, although California might generate more money overall than any other state, each citizen is responsible for outputting less than those in North Dakota, which has one of the lowest overall GDPs. If a state has a smaller population and a high GDP per capita, it typically means the local economy is based on an abundance of particular natural resources. As mentioned previously, human capital is an important contributing factor to a territory's GDP. As GDP per capita is inherently a cross-sectoral measurement, it's incredibly valuable for helping economists understand how both a location's GDP and its population are contributing to the area's overall economic health and rate of growth. Which States Contribute the Most to GDP? The states that contribute the most to GDP are California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. The states that contribute the least are Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Alaska. What Is the Poorest State in the United States by GDP? The state with the lowest GDP per capita is Mississippi at $45,000 dollars. The state with the highest GDP per capita is the District of Columbia, which is not officially a state. Its GDP per capita is $96,000. What State Has the Largest Population? The state with the largest population is California, with a population of 39.2 million. The state with the smallest population is Wyoming, with a population of 578,803. The Bottom Line GDP and GDP per capita are imperfect measures of a state's economic health, considering that they ignore the value of informal or unrecorded economic activity, count unprofitable costs and waste as economic benefits, and prioritize material output over the public's general well-being; however, both values are still useful for judging whether the local economy is contracting or expanding, in addition to serving as early warnings of a recession or inflation. The peer-to-peer digital currency Bitcoin debuted in 2009, introducing the concept of decentralized finance to the world. While tax authorities, enforcement agencies, and regulators globally are still debating how to control it, many consumers wonder if they can use Bitcoin legally. Whether or not you can use Bitcoin depends on which country you're in. Learn more about Bitcoin's legal status and how it isor isn'tregulated by authorities worldwide. Key Takeaways The cryptocurrency Bitcoin has raised financial concerns for governments worldwide. Despite its use for buying goods and services, there are still no uniform international laws that regulate Bitcoin. Many developed countries allow Bitcoin to be used, such as the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Several countries have made it illegal to use Bitcoin, including China and Egypt. Countries Where Bitcoin Is Legal Bitcoin can be used anonymously to conduct transactions between any account holders worldwide. This has introduced some currency concerns for governments. While some legislators and officials may not support its use because of the lack of control and illicit ties, many have introduced regulations under their country's anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism laws (AML/CFT) in attempts to reduce its use for these purposes. The Library of Congress (LOC) conducts periodic reviews of countries' stances on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In November 2021, it identified 103 countries whose governments directed their financial regulatory agencies to develop regulations and priorities for financial institutions regarding cryptocurrencies and their use in AML/CFT. The LOC also identified many countries that allow cryptocurrencies to be used. Here are a few of them. The United States The U.S. Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has been issuing guidance on Bitcoin since 2013. The Treasury has defined Bitcoin as a convertible currency with an equivalent value in real currency or one that can act as a substitute for real currency. The Internal Revenue Service has categorized Bitcoin as property for taxation purposes. Any entity that administers or exchanges Bitcoin, such as cryptocurrency exchanges and payment processors, falls under the definition of a money services business (MSB). As such, an MSB is subject to the Bank Secrecy Act and is required to register with the U.S. Treasury and file reports on transactions over $10,000, purchases using the cryptocurrency. Additionally, FinCEN is developing regulations for financial and non-financial institutions to establish national priorities for cryptocurrency tracking and reporting. These regulations will require these institutionssuch as banks and cryptocurrency exchangesto report specific transactions and suspicious activities. This reporting will allow them to investigate suspected financial crimes and illicit activities conducted with cryptocurrencies. The European Union The European Union recognizes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as crypto-assets. It is not illegal to use Bitcoin within the EU; however, the European Banking Authority, the currency regulatory authority in the union, has stated that crypto-asset activities are outside of its control and continues to warn the public and businesses of the risks of cryptocurrency. In 2020, The European Commission finalized a proposal for legislation to regulate crypto-assets, which many agencies have endorsed within the union. This legislation is intended to keep financial regulatory frameworks from fragmenting and level the financial playing field across the EU. The commission also wants to ensure the public has access to and can safely use cryptocurrency. Canada Canada maintains a generally bitcoin-friendly stance like its southern neighbor, the U.S. Bitcoin is viewed as a commodity by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for income tax purposes. This means any income from a transaction using Bitcoin is viewed as business income or a capital gain and must be reported as such. Canada considers cryptocurrency exchanges to be money service businesses. This brings them under the purview of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (Canada's version of AML/CFT laws). As a result, cryptocurrency exchanges need to register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), report any suspicious transactions, abide by the compliance plans, and even keep certain records. Australia Like Canada, the Australian Taxation Office considers Bitcoin a financial asset with value that can be taxed when specific events occur. If you trade, exchange, sell, gift, convert it to fiat currency, or use Bitcoin for purchases, you trigger a capital gains tax. You're also required to keep records of any transactions you make using Bitcoin for tax purposes. In Australia, if you hold your Bitcoins strictly for personal use and make gains on them, you may not owe any taxes in certain situations. El Salvador El Salvador is the only country in the world that has declared bitcoin to be legal tender. In June 2021, the country's Congress approved President Nayib Bukele to formally adopt bitcoin as a form of payment. Other Countries Where Bitcoin Is Legal Several other countries allow Bitcoin to be used in transactions and have developed forms of regulation. Some examples are: Denmark France Germany Iceland Japan Mexico Spain United Kingdom Countries Where Bitcoin Is Illegal While Bitcoin is welcomed in many parts of the world, several countries are wary of its volatility and decentralized nature. Some also perceive it as a threat to their current monetary systems while being concerned about its use to support illicit activities like drug trafficking, money laundering, and terrorism. Several nations have outright banned digital currency, while others have tried to cut off any banking and financial system support essential for its trading and use. Countries With Implicit Bans The Library of Congress identified 42 countries with implicit bans on certain cryptocurrency uses in its November 2021 update. Some of the countries it lists are: Bahrain Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Gabon Georgia Guyana Kuwait Lesotho Libya Macao Maldives Vietnam Zimbabwe Countries With Absolute Bans The Library of Congress identified nine countries with absolute bans on cryptocurrency in November 2021: Algeria Bangladesh China Egypt Iraq Morocco Nepal Qatar Tunisia Investing in cryptocurrencies and other Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. Alwaleed bin Talal is the founder of the Kingdom Holding Company, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate that invests in hotels, real estate, and publicly traded companies worldwide. Regarded as one of the wealthiest global investors, Alwaleed bin Talal's net worth in 2022 was $16 billion. Key Takeaways Alwaleed bin Talal is a billionaire and member of the Saudi Arabian royal family. He is the founder of the Kingdom Holding Company. Alwaleed bin Talal has been listed on Time Magazine's list of most influential people and is considered the 'Warren Buffett' of Saudi Arabia. Early Life and Education Alwaleed bin Talal was born on March 7, 1955, in Saudi Arabia. With his birth, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal became a member of the House of Saud, the royal family of Saudi Arabia. He is the grandson of Saudi Arabias first monarch, King Ibn Saud, and the nephew of the nations last King, Abdullah Saud. His mother, Princess Mona Al Solh, was the daughter of the first Prime Minister of Lebanon. In 1975, Alwaleed bin Talal traveled to the United States to pursue his education. He earned a bachelors degree from Menlo College in California in 1979 and a masters degree from Syracuse University in 1985. Following graduation, Alwaleed bin Talal returned to Saudi Arabia to launch a career in business. The Investor In 1980, Alwaleed bin Talal founded the Kingdom Holding Company. As a devout value investor, Alwaleed uses Kingdom Holding as a vehicle to hold an internationally diverse portfolio of businesses operating in many sectors including banking, real estate, and healthcare. When Kingdom Holding launched, Saudi Arabia required foreign companies interested in operating in the country to have partners and representatives who were citizens of the kingdom. Proving a lucrative opportunity, Alwaleed bin Talal represented international companies and claimed ownership stakes in the projects he helped to facilitate. By 1989, he had amassed a personal net worth of $1 billion. Holding Company A company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. Kingdom Holding diversified its investment portfolio, acquiring the failing United Saudi Commercial Bank, ultimately acquired by Samba Financial Group, the Saudi kingdom's largest financial institution. During the 1990s, Kingdom Holding purchased a 4.9% stake in Citigroup in the United States and it remains a core part of the Kingdom Holding portfolio. Alwaleed bin Talal's notable investments include stakes in Four Seasons Hotel Ltd., Euro Disney, and Lyft as well as the Hotel George V in Paris and the Savoy Hotel in London. He was one of Twitter's earliest investors before its public offering, and News Corporation, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins publishers. In August 2018, he announced a $250 million investment in Snap Inc. that would give him a 2.3% stake in the company. By 2022, Kingdom Holding had a market capitalization, the market value of its publicly-traded shares, of nearly $10.3 billion. What Philanthropic Organizations Has Alwaleed Bin Talal Founded? Alwaleed bin Talal oversees Alwaleed Philanthropies which includes Alwaleed Philanthropies "Global", focusing on philanthropic and humanitarian projects around the world, Alwaleed Philanthropies Lebanon, which is focused on the social and community needs of Lebanon, and Alwaleed Philanthropies Saudi Arabia, which focuses on the needs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. How Has Alwaleed Bin Talal Invested in Climate Change? In December 2016, Alwaleed bin Talal joined Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Coalition with the promise of a $50 million investment. What Investments Does Alwaleed Bin Talal Have Besides Those With Kingdom Holding? Alwaleed bin Talal owns real estate in Saudi Arabia and the majority of the Arabic-language entertainment firm Rotana. The Bottom Line Alwaleed bin Talal is a Saudi royal and billionaire. A renowned international investor, his Kingdom Holding Company owns significant stakes in companies around the world, including Citigroup and Snap. (Note: The author of this fundamental analysis is a financial writer and portfolio manager.) Costco Wholesale Corp.'s (COST) stock has soared nearly 42% over the past year, nearly triple the pace of the S&P 500. That gain has left Costco's stock valuation at nose-bleed levels. The two last times its shares were valued at these lofty heightsthe highest one-year forward P/E ratio in yearsit fall sharply. A close look at the numbers tells the story. Shares of the wholesaler are forecast to have a stellar fiscal 2018. Costco is currently in its fiscal fourth quarter, with earnings expected to grow by nearly 19%, but that growth rate is forecast to fall materially in 2019 and then again in 2020. However, investors may have become too enthusiastic, bidding shares up to a valuation of nearly 26 times 2020 earnings, much higher than the S&P 500's one-year forward P/E ratio around 17. When the stock has climbed to valuations greater than 25 times earnings in the past, shares have declined by roughly 13% or more. COST data by YCharts Expensive Stock Costco's stock is now trading at its highest valuation going back to September 2013 at 25.9 times fiscal 2020 estimates of $8.50. The stock has reached a valuation above 25 just two prior times, August 2016 and again during June 2017. After reaching such a lofty valuation, the stock pulled back by roughly 13% in the fall of 2016, and by more than 16% in the summer of 2017. Now Costco is trading at a valuation higher than those previous two periods, leaving shares susceptible to a steep pullback. Fundamental Chart data by YCharts Slowing Growth Earnings growth for Costco is expected to slow materially over the next three years, slowing from roughly 19% in 2018, to 11.7% in 2019 and 9% in 2020. It leaves shares of Costco trading at a steep earnings multiple, at nearly three times its fiscal 2020 earnings growth rate, giving the stock a PEG ratio of almost 2.9. COST EPS Estimates for Next Fiscal Year data by YCharts Sales Won't Save It Revenue growth wont save the company either, as it is expected to be subpar over the next three years as well, growing by 9% in 2018, and just 6% in 2019 and 2020. With Costco trading at an above-market multiple and expensive when adjusted for growth, the stock appears poised to stage a pullback. It will take a round of big earnings beats, and upwardly revised earnings guidance to keep the valuation from getting even higher, while a miss on the top or bottom lines may prove disastrous. Michael Kramer is the founder of Mott Capital Management LLC, a registered investment adviser, and the manager of the company's actively managed, long-only Thematic Growth Portfolio. Kramer typically buys and holds stocks for a duration of three to five years. Click here for Kramer's bio and his portfolio's holdings. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Upon request, the advisor will provide a list of all recommendations made during the past twelve months. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. News / Press Release by Obert Gutu - MDC-T national spokesperson Freedom of expression and freedom of the media are part and parcel of fundamental human rights and freedoms that are protected under Section 61 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Indeed, every person has the right to freedom of expression, which includes :- freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information;- freedom of artistic expression and scientific research and creativity and- academic freedomThe MDC welcomes the announcement by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), that twelve (12) digital television channels will soon be launched in Zimbabwe. All these channels will be on the digital platform as the country moves away from the old, unreliable and antiquated analogue form of television transmission. As a social democratic political party that firmly and fervently advocates for freedom of the media, the MDC is, however, very concerned that of the twelve (12) digital television channels to be launched in the country within the next few weeks, six (6) channels have already been taken up by the bankrupt and poorly managed Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).The remaining six (6) channels will be taken up by private operators.It is frightening and indeed, very depressing news to learn that the ZBC, a public broadcaster that has, over the years, hopelessly and dismally failed to operate as a genuine and non-partisan national broadcaster, has already been allocated half of the twelve(12) additional channels without going to an open public tender. We strongly suspect that the Zanu PF regime is already playing its usual games of ensuring that the electronic media is rigidly and tightly controlled and monitored to ensure that only the views and policies of the faction-ridden and disintegrating Zanu PF political party dominate the local airwaves.The world over, dictatorial regimes abhor genuine media freedom.The Zanu PF regime is a classic example of a dictatorship. Everything about this regime revolves around one man and one man only and this is none other than the nonagenarian, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. As the MDC, we can bet our bottom dollar that the Zanu PF regime will never, ever agree to situation whereby there is genuine media freedom in Zimbabwe. Only a few days ago, the Zanu PF Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Christopher Mushohwe, was in the news ominously warning local journalists not to report on so-called sensitive national security issues. Mushohwe should be advised, in no uncertain terms, that Zimbabwe is living in the 21st century which is essentially the digital age.Gone are the days when governments could rigidly control and manipulate the media in an endeavour to suppress reportage of corruption and other acts of misdeed and impropriety in high public offices; including the security services. In this modern age, there is a phenomenon that is known as citizen journalism. Almost every other Zimbabwean has got access to a smart mobile phone handset and as such, it is virtually impossible to rigidly control and regiment the flow of news; particularly on the ever popular social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram etc. In this respect, therefore, Mushowe should immediately exit his misguided comfort zone and appreciate that every Zimbabwean can now operate as a citizen journalist.If the Zanu PF regime has got nothing to hide, why are they so paranoid when it comes to their iron-fisted hold on and control of the electronic media? The regime knows that the electronic media, particularly radio, is a powerful tool of mass communication. This is the main reason why the crumbling Zanu PF regime is determined to maintain its fascist control over the electronic media. In fact, the MDC is convinced that the six (6) digital television licences that are now up for grabs by private players will, somehow, be granted to companies that are controlled by or in some way, linked to Zanu PF functionaries and some other such regime apologists.The people of Zimbabwe deserve to be allowed to fully and genuinely exercise their fundamental right of freedom of expression. The MDC will be closely monitoring the process of how the six (6) private digital television licences are going to be awarded and if need be, we shall resort to taking appropriate court action to ensure that the Zanu PF regime doesn't abuse the allocation of these licences in order to push its own nefarious and tyrannical agenda. British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal failed in spectacular fashion on Tuesday as members of parliament (MPs) voted 432 to 202 against her proposal the worst parliamentary defeat for a British government since the 1920s. With no formal Brexit agreement with the European Union (EU) and the March 29 official "leave" date looming, investors are asking what's next. Several possibilities exist. Firstly, May could revise the original deal with further input from MPs and explore these options with the EU. Secondly, she could decide to hold another referendum although many consider this to be against the pillars of democracy. The final option is for Britain to leave the EU without a deal, which would likely cause large-scale economic and logistical disruption. According to a Bank of England (BoE) report, a "no deal" scenario could see the U.K. economy contract by about 8% over 12 months, unemployment rise to 7.5%, house prices fall by 30% and the British pound drop below parity against the U.S. dollar. Other market commenters believe that May might call for an extension of Article 50 the legal process that sets a time limit for Britain to finalize a deal. However, before the outcome of Tuesday's vote, the prime minister insisted that she would not delay Brexit by extending Article 50, per Bloomberg. Traders who want to capitalize on the volatility surrounding the continuing uncertainty of Brexit should monitor these three United Kingdom exchange-traded products (ETPs) for trading opportunities as developments unfold. Let's look at each fund more closely. iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (EWU) Launched back in 1996, the iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (EWU) aims to provide similar returns to the MSCI United Kingdom Index. The fund's basket primarily holds large- and mid-cap British companies that trade on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). EWU's ultra-thin spread of just 0.03% and abundant liquidity make it a suitable instrument for short-term traders. As of Jan. 16, 2019, the ETF has a large asset base of $1.8 billion, offers a 4.75% dividend yield and is up 4.16% year to date (YTD). It charges an annual management fee of 0.47%. The EWU share price spent the first half of 2018 within a trading range before slumping nearly 15% between October and December amid a global market sell-off and Brexit uncertainty. The fund has recently rallied above the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) and a downtrend line dating back to late September. If the ETF's price holds this level, look for a move up to $32, where it finds resistance from a horizontal line connecting several reactionary swing points. Alternatively, if the price stalls, watch for a test of the December swing low at $28.41. StockCharts.com iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF (EWUS) The iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF (EWUS), with $44.05 million in net assets, seeks to track the performance of the MSCI United Kingdom Small Cap Index. As its name suggests, the fund provides exposure to small-cap companies in the United Kingdom with a tilt toward the financial, industrial and consumer cyclical sectors. With only just over 8,000 shares changing hands daily, traders need to be mindful of liquidity. EWUS yields 3.51% and has an expense ratio of 0.59%. The ETF has returned over 7% for the year as of Jan. 16, 2019. A "death cross" signal that appeared on the EWUS chart in August last year correctly predicted falling prices, with the ETF plunging 20% in the fourth quarter. Buying interest has emerged in early 2019, with the price now trading above an established downtrend line and the 50-day SMA. Traders could see a move up to the next resistance level at $39, where the price finds a test from the November swing high. If the shares reverse, look for support neat the 2018 low. StockCharts.com Invesco CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB) Created in 2006, the Invesco CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB) attempts to deliver exposure to changes in the value of the British pound relative to the U.S. dollar. The fund, with assets under management (AUM) of $135.9 million, holds British pounds in a deposit account. FXB, with its tight spread of 0.02% and $13 million in average daily dollar volume, is suitable for traders who want a cost-effective way to trade the pound. The trust has gained 0.75% YTD and charges a 0.40% management fee as of Jan. 16, 2019. FXB's share price tracked the British pound lower between April and December in 2018. Like the United Kingdom equity ETFs, the currency trust now sits above a long-term downtrend line and the 50-day SMA. Ironically, the breakout occurred Tuesday the day the Brexit deal failed. "Sterling rallied following the defeat of the withdrawal agreement due to strong cross-party support to prevent a no deal from occurring on 29 March," analysts at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group wrote in a morning note cited by CNBC. Look for the price to rally up to $128, where it finds major resistance from a horizontal line and the 200-day SMA. A stall at the current price could see a return to the $121 level. Financial Stocks with the Most Momentum Price ($) Market Cap ($B) 12-Month Trailing Total Return (%) Unum Group (UNM) 38.22 7.6 57.5 First Horizon Corp (FHN) 23.11 12.4 42.6 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA) 218.51 17.4 36.4 Russell 1000 N/A N/A -18.5 Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) N/A N/A -15.9 Source: YCharts Unum Group: Unum Group provides insurance and financial protection benefits primarily in the U.S., U.K., and Poland, including disability, life, vision, dental and other services. The company's last quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share on its common stock was paid on Aug. 19, 2022. Unum Group provides insurance and financial protection benefits primarily in the U.S., U.K., and Poland, including disability, life, vision, dental and other services. The company's last quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share on its common stock was paid on Aug. 19, 2022. First Horizon Corp: FHN Financial offers capital market services, regional banking, and wealth management. The company also provides investment services and balance sheet management. FHN Financial offers capital market services, regional banking, and wealth management. The company also provides investment services and balance sheet management. LPL Financial Holdings Inc.: LPL Financial Holdings operates as a broker-dealer. It provides a brokerage and investment advisory services platform to financial advisors across the U.S. Additionally, LPL offers clearing and compliance, account management and rebalancing, annuities, exchange-traded products, and mutual funds. The Impact of Interest Rates on Financial Stocks Financial stocks typically benefit from rising interest rates through increased profit margins, heightened trading activity, and greater investment returns. Increased Profit Margins: Rising interest rates allow banks to widen the net interest margin (NIM) between what they pay depositors and receive from borrowers. Moreover, rising rates usually indicate an expanding economy, meaning customers are less likely to default on loan payments. Not always, but often, rising interest rates translate into higher share prices for financial stocks. For example, the sector gained 20% in 2017, following the federal fund rate higher throughout that year. Trading Activity: Financial institutions that offer securities trading, such as investment banks and brokers, often see trading activity increase when interest rates rise, resulting from positive investor sentiment. For example, during 2017's rate hikes, Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) subsidiary TD Ameritrade recorded a 10% year-over-year (YOY) increase in daily client trading volume. One exception to this rule of thumb occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic amid record-low interest rates. Brokerage firms enjoyed unprecedented trading volumes during this period as couped-up investors armed with government stimulus checks spent their time and money trading the stock market. Investment Returns: Rising rates also allow financial institutions to earn higher interest on their yielding assets. For instance, insurance companies enjoy greater profits during rate hike cycles because their underlying bond investments yield greater returns. Insurers typically hold lots of safe debt like fixed-interest securities to back their insurance policies. Advantages of Financial Stocks Two key advantages of financial stocks include regulation and exposure to investment banking. Regulation: After the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, lawmakers passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to overhaul the U.S. financial system. Banks must now maintain certain capital levels, while large banks must undergo an annual stress test to determine their ability to survive adverse downturns. These heightened regulations substantially lower the risk of investing in the financial sector. Investment Banking: Investing in financial institutions that offer investment banking provides broad exposure to services that may outperform traditional lending during different stages of the economic cycle. For example, New York-based Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.s (GS) investment banking division reported strong revenue in the second quarter of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, while retail banks grappled with sizeable loan loss provisions. The comments, opinions, and analyses expressed herein are for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual investment advice or recommendations to invest in any security or adopt any investment strategy. Though we believe the information provided herein is reliable, we do not warrant its accuracy or completeness. The views and strategies described in our content may not be suitable for all investors. Because market and economic conditions are subject to rapid change, all comments, opinions, and analyses contained within our content are rendered as of the date of the posting and may change without notice. The material is not intended as a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any country, region, market, industry, investment, or strategy. If you love the nightlife and the boogie but still can't figure out the best way to earn a living, why not consider opening up your own bar? Businesses in this industry, which include bars, pubs, taverns, and nightclubs, make their money by selling alcohol and providing people with entertainment. While there can be plenty of glitz, glamor, and excitement, opening one of these establishments often requires a sizable initial investment. And don't forget the ongoing costs and risks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered many of these businesses either temporarily or permanently. But if you play your cards right, you can set yourself up for a really rewarding and fulfilling future. In this article, we go through some of the major startup costs and ongoing expenses, not to mention other considerations that you'll need to know before you open up a bar or other related business. Key Takeaways The bar and tavern industry has grown steadily in the United States, creating a good opportunity for people who want to own their own businesses. There are a number of factors to consider when you're starting out, including getting your business plan, determining your location, registration, getting permits and licenses, and marketing. Startup costs are high, and often include location, permitting, inventory, wages, and insurance. Alcohol and food have some of the highest markups and help rake in high gross profit margins. Consider some of the risks associated with the industry, including property damage, liability, theft, and data breaches. Getting Started The U.S. bar and nightclub industry is among the largest in the accommodations and food service sector, ranking ninth overall. Worth roughly $28.6 billion in 2022, it grew 0.9% every year between 2017 and 2022. That's quite a feat when you consider it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many business owners temporarily ceased operations or shut down completely. Those lucky enough to remain open had to shift the way they do business. But with regulations becoming more relaxed, it may be a good time to start thinking about following your dream of being a bar owner. One of the main things you'll have to consider is the type of business. Are you going to open a bar, tavern, pub, or nightclub? They may all seem the sameand they all serve alcoholbut there are some subtle differences. Bars typically only sell drinks, while taverns and pubs also offer food. Nightclubs sell alcohol, music, and entertainment. They are generally open at night. Another consideration is the location. You'll notice that a lot of the establishments are in established neighborhoods. Pubs and taverns that offer food are usually in places that have a community, neighbor-y feelthink Cheers. Bars, or those that generally only offer drinks, and nightclubs tend to be in very hip and happening areas. Avoid areas that are hard to access. and make sure you have ample parking for your customers. Now that you've got the two main basics down, here are a few other considerations: Develop a business plan Come up with a name Register your business Get the necessary permits and licenses Figure out how you'll market your business and drum up business Costs Startup costs are the first major hurdle to bar ownership. These expenses range from real estate and documentation to additional costs, such as supplies, wages, and insurance. Costs can range anywhere between $100,000 and $850,000, including startup costs. But you can start this kind of business for much less. Still interested? We've highlighted some of the key facts about these costs below. Location One of the first costs to consider is how much you'll pay for the space. That figure varies, based on a number of factors, including where you plan to do business, the size of the location, and the type of establishment you're going to establish. Once you have that nailed down, you should decide if you want to rent or own. Renting may be the easiest way to live out your dream as a bar or nightclub owner. You may be able to negotiate many of your building costs into your rent, so this may be the most economical. But keep in mind that you'll have to answer to your landlord. If you want to avoid that hassle, buying may be the better option for you. This is often more costly and complicated because you have to qualify for and make a monthly mortgage payment. But it does give you more flexibility and freedom, especially if you want to make changes to your establishment. If all else fails, consider taking over a location that's already established. The current owner can give you a good idea of the costs and expenses they've had to pay and you'll already have an established customer base and business plan in place. That is, of course, if you don't decide to do a complete overhaul. Documents Once you have the location, you'll also need to secure the proper documents and insurance coverage. After all, every bar must register within its state, obtain the necessary permits, and purchase business licenses to sell alcohol. Licensing costs vary from state to state and require different application processes. For example: The New York State Liquor Authority issues licenses to bars within Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens for about $4,400. Bars in Arizona, on the other hand, must pay $1,650.00 to get a full-year liquor license. Counties and municipalities in the state, though, may charge bar owners additional fees. Additional Costs Alcohol and food: This should be a no-brainerclearly, you'll be selling alcohol when you open a bar. And you may want to include some type of food option, even if it's just snacks (chips, popcorn, and pretzels) at the bar. This can run you upwards of $10,000. Smaller businesses may spend more. And if you're a large nightclub, expect this cost to go higher. This should be a no-brainerclearly, you'll be selling alcohol when you open a bar. And you may want to include some type of food option, even if it's just snacks (chips, popcorn, and pretzels) at the bar. This can run you upwards of $10,000. Smaller businesses may spend more. And if you're a large nightclub, expect this cost to go higher. Insurance: As a bar owner, you put yourself at risk of being sued for injuries and damages resulting from an accident involving someone you served. Liquor liability suits can cost millions of dollars. Fortunately, there are insurance plans that can help offset this risk. Liquor liability insurance pays any fees and judgments arising from liquor liability claims. As a bar owner, you put yourself at risk of being sued for injuries and damages resulting from an accident involving someone you served. Liquor liability suits can cost millions of dollars. Fortunately, there are insurance plans that can help offset this risk. Liquor liability insurance pays any fees and judgments arising from liquor liability claims. Wages: You can't be there all the time to oversee your business, This means you're going to have to pay others to help drive you to success. You'll need to have adequate staff, which depends on the size of your bar. Bartenders, waitstaff, and managers are just a few of the positions you'll need to fill. If you offer food, you'll also need cooks and servers. $12.00 per hour The average salary for a bartender as of 2020. Earnings Assuming the bar is established and ready to launch, there are possibilities for excess returns. A study by NYU's Stern School of Business shows that businesses operating in the alcoholic beverage space earn a gross profit margin of about 48% while industry experts estimate the average gross profit margins for bars can be as high as 80%. Your returns obviously depend on what you offer, where you operate, and your clientele. Pricing can be difficult. After all, who's going to want to spend $10 on a drink when the bar down the street sells the same beverage for $8? Check out your competition and price your fare accordingly. Drinks cost an average of $5 to $15, depending on the type. Beer tends to cost less while high-end liquor comes with a huge markup. Just to note, the markup standard is 400% to 500%. Economic Risks and Rewards Owning and operating a bar can be very rewarding. Not only will you be able to provide your clients with a place to get together and enjoy their time, but you also have the potential for big profits. Liquor has a big markup in the industry. And if you offer food on the menu, you'll find that your bottom line will increase. While the rewards may be great, there are also some inherent risks involved with running this type of business. These include: Fire, property damage, and vandalism Personal injuries (to employees and clients) Liquor liability Food contamination and spoilage Theft Data breaches A lot of these issues can be taken care of by getting the proper insurance coverage, But when they arise, they can still hinder the way your business operates and can certainly interrupt your incoming cash flow. And then there are some of the unforeseen circumstances. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic really hurt the industry, especially considering the social distancing protocols that were put into place. As many as 110,000 food and drink establishments shut down in 2020 because of the pandemic. Sales dropped that year by $240 billion. While you may not be able to predict situations like this, you should be willing to consider that things like this will happen and drastically affect your bottom line. How Much Does It Cost to Open a Bar? The cost of opening a bar depends on several factors, including the type of business (bar, pub, tavern, or nightclub) and location. You'll have to consider rent or mortgage payments, permits, licensing, inventory, salaries, insurance, and inventory. Costs can range between $100,000 and $850,000 but you may be able to start your bar or nightclub with much less. How Much Money Do Bars Make? Bars can make a lot of money. That's because they can mark up the cost of alcohol by as much as 500%. Gross profit margins at bars can be as high as 80%. The average bar owner earns $27,500 per month in revenue, which equals about $330,000. Once you take out expenses, which average about $24,200 per month, you end up with roughly $39,600 in net profit per year. How Much Do Juice Bars Make? Juice bars make and sell fruit and vegetable juices on the premises. They tend to appeal to health-conscious people and are increasing in popularity. Because they don't require traditional kitchen equipment or even a seating area, they are often fairly profitable. The average startup costs run between $25,000 and $400,000. Annual revenues can be anywhere between $100,000 to $600,000. Once you factor in expenses, which tend to be pretty low, you end up with a sizeable profit. The Bottom Line Running a bar or nightclub can be a very rewarding experience. Opening and establishing a business like this isn't easy, though, and it can be fairly costly. You have to consider where you'll open up, what kind of establishment you'll run, not to mention the costs, including wages, insurance, and supplies. But if you play your cards right, you may make a decent profit at the end of every month. Social entrepreneurship creates a green industry, which helps to solve environmental problems through the development of innovative solutions. Some companies go green either to reduce environmental harm or to gain consumer support. From energy sharing and ride-sharing to commodities trading, there's no limit to the kinds of industries green startups can tackle. This article looks at the top three green startups of March 2020 as listed by Cision PR Newswire. These green startups have built their businesses on a platform for a greater, greener world. Key Takeaways Green startups seek to leverage technology to create environmentally-friendly products and to encourage social good. Green startups face unique challenges in attracting the right investors and competing with traditional growth-only focused entrepreneurs. Still, some have seen great success. Here we briefly profile three green startups. Green Startups Green startups face additional challenges brought on by their inherent triple bottom line, social responsibility, economic value, and environmental impact. However, these ventures typically have founders with the passion and drive to rise above challenges, and they can grow fast while helping to protect the health of humanity and Earth. Green startups are attracting venture capitalists and are gaining new support from socially responsible investors, green investors, and popular crowdfunding platforms. Socially responsible investing (SRI) involves investing in companies that pursue socially conscious business opportunities, including those in the green industry. 1. Fuergy This company isn't a household name, but it hopes to be one day. Based in Slovakia, this private company was founded in February 2018 and touts itself as the Airbnb of clean and renewable energy. The company developed brAIna proprietary hardware device and artificial intelligence (AI) software. The company states that this product is meant to "optimize energy consumption and maximize (the) efficiency of renewable energy sources." According to Fuergy's website, consumers who use brAIn can cut their energy costs. This is done through collaborative consumption or by sharing renewable energy between consumers and businesses. Fuergy's proprietary technology connects to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as smart appliances, to make the most effective use of energy consumption. For instance, a person with excess solar power can sell that energy to other consumers in their community. Businesses can also share their energy with other companies in the same way through Fuergy Business, which the company states can save businesses more than 50% on their energy costs. The company generates revenue through the sale of Fuergy devicesFuergy Business, Fuergy Home, and Fuergy Lite. All of these devices rely on existing energy grids. The company also collects fees through energy savings made from its New Energy Ecosystem. 2. Facedrive Facedrive is a Canadian company based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, just north of Toronto. It operates as a ride-sharing and food delivery service just like Uber and Lyft. Founded in 2016, Facedrive promises to be a "people-and-planet first" company through its environmentally-friendly transportation system. Drivers who sign up to work for the company can earn as much as 90% of their fares and all of the tips. Money is deposited directly into drivers' bank accounts. The service is available in over 7 Canadian cities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Burlington, Ottawa, and London. The company's food delivery app is, according to the website, Canada's first green service of its kind. The company states that it has more than 3,500 delivery drivers registered in seven Canadian provinces. Facedrive has big plans, including an expansion into the U.S. market. The company's stock trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol FD.V. As of Sep. 8, 2021, the company had a market capitalization of $180 million. The company's stock closed at CAD 1.89 per share on Sept. 8, 2021. Facedrive reported net operating loss of CAD 18.1 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2020. The CEO of Facedrive, Sayan Navarantnam, resigned from the company on Sept. 1, 2021. 3. Power Ledger Founded in 2016, Power Ledger is based in Perth, Australia. The technology company works in two different markets through its proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) application. The first one is energy trading while the other is environmental commodities trading. Power Ledger's energy trading platform helps consumers optimize the energy they use by allowing them to share any surplus with others without any subsidies. For instance, someone with solar panels can store and sell excess energy to their neighbor through the company's trading platform. Consumers can also take part in commodities trading, including carbon credits, using the company's software, which eliminates fraud and double counting risks. The company has a series of strategic partnerships in Silicon Valley, Australia, and Japan and is also working on projects in New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Power Ledger also won a contract with Alperian, an Italian energy company in February 2020 to test blockchain energy trading. The Bottom Line Entrepreneurs will continue to enter the green industry because support from more conscious consumers and investors continues to grow. These companies choose to strive for a triple bottom line, aiming to generate revenue and profits for shareholders while also working to increase the social good and mitigate environmental problems. From large multinational projects to local grassroots startups, these companies are capitalizing on the green revolution. News / Press Release by Agencies The Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) President, Obert Masaraure, Programmes Officer, Pride Mkono and a collegue, Pride Gava will appear at Mbare's Magistrate Court on the 14th and 15th of January 2016.The trio was arrested on 28 December 2015 after suspected state agents had followed them throughout the day when they were having various planning meetings for the January 4 demonstration. On the day in question, Masaraure, Mkono and Gava had gone to Kuwadzana 2 where they intended to have a meeting with other activists ahead of the January 4 demonstration.Upon arrival at Kuwadzana 2, the other activists had already left and as the three were looking for a cab to go home, a man donning a ZANU PF T-shirt confronted Mkono and accused him of undermining President Mugabe. While the man was still shouting these allegations at Mkono, a group of riot police officers suddenly swooped on and started to assault Mkono before handcuffing him.It was at this stage that Masaraure and Gava (the two had gone to look for a cab) returned to find Mkono at the mercy of the police gang. Immediately Masaraure inquired on why Mkono was being assaulted and why he had been arrested. The ZANU PF T-shirt donning man pointed at Masaraure and Gava saying that they are together with Mkono.The duo was summarily assaulted and handcuffed before being further assaulted on their way to Kuwadzana 2 police station. Mkono was stripped naked and dipped several times in muddy water in a ditch all the time being heavily assaulted by button sticks and booted feet.On arrival at the police station, the police then concocted charges that Mkono had assaulted the ZANU PF T-shirt donning man who identified himself as one Perkins. Masaraure and Gava were also charged with assaulting a police officer who identified himself as Kapfunde.This Kapfunde had been the ring leader of the assault and torture that the trio had gone through and with the insistence of the three's lawyer, Gift Mtisi of ZLHR, Mkono filed a report of assault against Kapfunde and went to Harare Hospital for medication.The medical checkup showed that Mkono had sustained several injuries including a fractured rib in the assault and medical report to that effect has been produced and is with the courts.At their first appearance in court Masaraure filed a complaint against police that he had been denied the right to file a report of assault against Kapfunde and also had been denied medical attention. This has since been done and Masaraure has a medical affidavit showing various injuries he sustained all over his body during the assault.Masaraure and Gava will appear in court 5 on the 14th of January 2016 while Mkono will appear in court 6 on the 15th of January 2016. Gift Mtisi of ZLHR is representing all the three.Meanwhile, RTUZ is in solidarity with Rashid Mahiya who has filed a Constitutional Court application compelling the government to gazette a law which provides a mechanism for individuals to file complaints against abuse by the security services such as the army, intelligence and police.This is a welcome move which will go a long way in assisting victims of police brutality like the RTUZ trio to find recourse and get justice.The security service must be professional and cannot be allowed to continue operating like a mafia which can unleash violence on ordinary people at will. People have been creating movies for more than a century. If someone were to compare a modern film with one made in the 1920s Formerstar Virginia Macari's fiance Kaste Dahl legal troubles continues. According to a new report, Dahl must report to Spanish police daily as he fights extradition to Norway to face a five-year prison sentence for fraud charges.As reported , the former businessman was arrested in Marbella in Spain on December 5 on foot of an international arrest warrant issued by Norwegian authorities. He was sentenced last year for his part in a multi-million euro loan fraud related to a lucrative property deal.Norwegian prosecutor Geir Kavlie told the Herald that authorities are keen to secure his return to face his prison term. He will also serve time for drug offences. It is expected that Dahl could spend more than five years in prison, reports the Independent."It's quite a long sentence waiting for him when he gets back to Norway," Mr Kavlie said.During proceedings, in which two of Dahl's partners in the property deal were sentenced to more than two years each, the presiding judge referred to Dahl as the "mastermind" behind the scheme, Mr Kavlie said.Previously, Dahl said that he would not face jail time and that his crimes had been grossly over-exaggerated in the media. However, Mr Kavlie said that they were serious charges and that he is keen to see Dahl returned to Norway.Dahl has appealed the extradition in a Spanish court and it is expected that the matter will be resolved in February. Mr Kavlie said he hopes that it can be dealt with "as fast as possible" by the Spanish judicial system.Dahl met Virginia in Marbella in Spain in 2009 and the pair got engaged in 2012 on a boat in New York during the second series of Dublin Wives. They have a two-year-old son and make frequent trips to Ireland.Luxury swimsuit designer Virginia has previously hinted that they will be making a permanent move to Ireland, revealing that she has already enrolled him in a school here.Virginia is best known for taking part in reality show Dublin Wives and in TV3's Celebrity Salon.The pair enjoy a glamorous lifestyle in sunny Marbella, despite the criminal allegations hanging over Dahl's head.Previously, Virginia revealed that her other half's arrest was "the lowest point" in her life."It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare, you're so relieved. But I woke up into a nightmare," she said at the time.Source/Photo Credit: Independent , Instagram War of Independence veteran and Free State general Sean Mac Eoin unsuccessfully claimed for a Mediterranean cruise to help heal his war wounds, Military Service Pensions Collection files reveal. Mac Eoin was one of the most prominent IRA commanders in the midlands during the War of Independence and was sentenced to death for the murder of an RIC inspector in March 1921. The sentence was later commuted. Mac Eoin supported the treaty side in the Civil War and rose to become chief of staff in the Free State Army. He later went on to become a Fine Gael TD and government minister. He successfully claimed that the chronic bronchitis he suffered from in his later years was a result of a gunshot wound to the chest incurred in May 1921. In July 1954, the Pensions Board stated that he was entitled to six weeks convalescence in a warm climate, either in the south of France or the east coast of Spain. In correspondence Mac Eoin said treatment for his condition was described as sun and more sun. The Irish Times, in a report on what the files revealed, said that in 1961 Mac Eoin submitted an invoice for 181 (5,000 today) for a Mediterranean cruise following a recurrence of a chest complaint. The board turned it down on the basis that a cruise can hardly be regarded as treatment in a hospital, nursing home or other like institution. Mac Eoin appealed unsuccessfully on the grounds that a cruise ship could be interpreted as a like institution under the Army Pensions Act, 1927, and that it could be interpreted as sun treatment. In addition, the request was turned down on the basis that Mac Eoin had gone on the cruise without official sanction. Eventually he got an ex-gratia payment for the cost of the cruise as part of an entirely exceptional arrangement. In 1966 he unsuccessfully claimed for a stay in San Bernardino, California, as part of his treatment. Mac Eoins files were released along with those of 882 other veterans of the Irish rebellion last month as part of a release from the Military Pensions Archive Collection. Getting too close to your sources is an occupational hazard in journalism, which is why Sean Penn should stick to acting. The Irish American Oscar winner landed the scoop of a lifetime by interviewing El Chapo, the notorious Mexican drug lord, deep in the his Mexican mountain hideaway. Penn fell hard for El Chapo, managing to portray the homicidal maniac he has killed or ordered the deaths of upwards of 3,000 people according to media reports in a sympathetic fashion. Forbes estimates El Chapo's personal fortune at $ 4 billion, all of it gained on the back of tens of thousands of dead drug addicts, dealers, pimps and whatever other dregs of society he exploited and ran. There is only one description for a man who freely admits to killing 3,000 people and that is mass murderer, yet to read Penns expose you would believe that El Chapo is the one who is preyed upon. Penn paints a portrait in Rolling Stone of a loving family man (albeit one with four wives and ten kids) who kills only to defend himself and who mouths platitudes about how his drug-dealings dont affect people because if he died someone else would just take over. In one truly bizarre observation Penn breaks wind in the presence of El Chapo and rejoices that the Mexican drug lord pretends not to notice. Chalk up another brownie point for the homicidal maniac. Penn is so intrigued and happy to be with his subject that the entire interview is an exercise in flatulence and hot air. Penn doesn't notice how unbearably Hollywood the interview reads and sounds. For all his reputation El Chapo cannot be that smart, though Penn clearly fails to acknowledge that. Deciding your life is worthy of a movie and breaking cover to contact Hollywood stars who are attention-seeking guided missiles is not exactly smart thinking. Penn admits to knowing he is being followed and probably wiretapped and there seems little doubt the raid that followed his visit was set up by his arrival there. El Chapo, it seemed, could have escaped as he and an accomplice splashed through sewers when the initial assault began. He inexplicably drove his car towards the troops rather than higher into the mountains, allegedly because he wanted to see his wife and kids before he fled. It almost smacks of the keystone cops except in this case it is El Chapo who looks like the idiot. Eventually he is captured and kept in a brothel until police reinforcements arrive. Penn with his wide-eyed gratitude for the interview and his constant comments about what an ordinary decent guy El Chapo seems to be, reveals himself as hopelessly compromised by his subject. Penn has done invaluable work in Haiti, was one of the first to speak out against the Iraq war and has been a voice of liberal conscience many times in his career. But the bungled interview with El Chapo will seriously damage his reputation. He was trying to rehabilitate the Hitler of the drug trade. Given the misery and mayhem El Chapo has caused tens of thousands of families it was the wrong idea altogether. For what he has done to all those people El Chapo deserves the warmest circle in hell. There is simply no other conclusion to reach. An Irish Jesuit scholar living in the US has criticized the Governments 2016 Rising centenary events, claiming that although some of the events are acceptable, its totality is deeply disturbing. To celebrate the Rising is to celebrate anti-democratic elitism and bloodlust, states Fr Seamus Murphy SJ, an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. Writing for the Irish Times, Murphy claimed the Irish government have missed the mark in placing so much weight on the Rising and its place in Irish history. Given that the Rising was an act of military violence that was neither expected nor wanted by Dublins citizens of the time, Murphy says that it is wrong of us to elevate the Rising to such a level, especially as an act that resulted in far more civilian than combatant deaths. He also feels the Rising could be viewed as an undemocratic attempt by the Risings leaders to establish a new Irish state, an act entered into without the consent of the majority of Irish people. Lets acknowledge the bravery and discipline of the insurgents, Murphy writes. Acknowledge too their irresponsibility in starting a rising in a city center that foreseeably would (and did) lead to far more civilian than combatant deaths. Far more serious is the attempt of the Risings leaders, without authority from the living Irish people (as opposed to the imaginary authority of the dead generations), to establish a new state and themselves as its government with power to start a war and execute citizens. That cannot be laughed off. Murphy is not alone in his disappointment with the massive year-long program of events established around the 1916 centenary. With $54 million (50 million) set aside by the Irish government in last years budget for Rising-specific commemorations, over 2,000 events will take place worldwide throughout the year, focusing on a wide range of issues and various aspects of the story. Last week, the program of events to take place throughout the US was officially launched in New York by Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, Ambassador Anne Anderson and actor Liam Neeson. There are those, however, who feel the government is not doing enough to avoid anti-British sentiment, with leading figures such as former Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) John Bruton and historian Ruth Dudley Edwards believing that independence could have been achieved without the Rising and to honor it is to keep alive the tradition of violence in Irish politics. On her first day in office on January 11 as the first female First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, also announced that she would not be attending the centenary events. Foster attracted criticism within hours of taking office after explaining that she would not attend any commemoration events because the Rising was intended to end the union between Britain and Ireland and she is loyal to that union. Writing for The Guardian about her decision, however, Malachi ODoherty echoes the sentiments of Seamus Murray, asserting that the Rising fueled the violence in Ireland during the Troubles and undermined the efforts of the constitutional nationalists who held the majority at the time. He writes that the Rising was not just a revolt against Britain; it was a revolt against constitutional Irish nationalism. If constitutional nationalists such as the current leaders of modern Ireland and the constitutional Ireland had more sense of their own history, he continues, they might step back from the celebrations themselves and stand more assertively for the success of democracy in Ireland and the failure of armed struggle to go anywhere but back into parliament. As an act that saw constitutionalist nationalists working in compromise with Unionists, the Good Friday agreement, not the Rising, is the defining event of contemporary Irish identity, Murphy concludes. Is the Irish Government placing too much emphasis on the 1916 Easter Rising? Do you consider it the defining event in Irish history? Let us know in the comments section, below. You can read more about the centenary here. On January 13, 1800, Daniel OConnell made the first of many speeches opposing Irelands union with Great Britain, his very first public speech, at a meeting of Catholics held in the Royal Exchange, Dublin, to protest against the Union. Daniel OConnell, often known as the Emancipator or the Liberator, was a major Irish political leader at the beginning of the 19th century best known for campaigning for Catholic emancipation and for arguing for the repeal of the Act of Union, 1800. Read more Frederick Douglass was quickly captivated by Daniel O'Connell in 1845 Ireland The Act of Union united Great Britain and Ireland in one 'United Kingdom.' It was implemented by the British government after the unsuccessful United Irishmen rebellion, aided by the French, in 1798, through which the Irish sought complete independence from Britain. The introduction of the Act was almost the complete opposite of the aims of the 1798 rebellion. Prior to this, the relationship between the countries was officially referred to as a personal union since the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 named King Henry VIII of England as the King of Ireland. Under this act, power in Ireland was held by the Protestant Ascendancy, landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of the professions (all members of the Church of Ireland or Church of England) who maintained political, economic, and social domination of Ireland. The British held the Ascendancy somewhat responsible for the 1798 rebellion. They were blamed for the brutish way in which they ruled over the country and the Catholic majority. Read more Frederick Douglass was quickly captivated by Daniel O'Connell in 1845 Ireland The Act of Union meant that Ireland was ruled entirely from London. The level of autonomy granted to the Ascendancy was taken away from them. Ireland was required to contribute two-seventeenths of its expenditure to Britain. An initial promise under the Act of Union included Catholic Emancipation. At the time Catholics were not allowed to sit in parliament or own more than a small amount of land, etc. This made the Act appealing to Irish Catholics initially, but the provision was quickly blocked by King George III, sparking a further movement for emancipation in Ireland led by OConnell. Born in Co. Kerry in 1775, OConnell engineered the widespread mobilization of the Catholic majority in Ireland, and once emancipation was achieved held monster meetings attended by hundreds of thousands of people, pushing for the re-creation of an independent Kingdom of Ireland to govern itself with the then ruling monarch. As a Catholic born into a once-wealthy family that had been dispossessed of its lands, OConnell studied as a law student thanks to a wealthy uncle and, although he may have had better opportunities in life than many of his fellow Irish Catholics, nonetheless he faced discrimination because of his religion. He was prevented from reaching the uppermost circles of his profession because he was Catholic. OConnell did not support the rebellions of 1798 or Robert Emmet's 1803 attempt to break the bond with Britain. Throughout his life, O'Connell never supported the use of violence, but rather he believed the Irish should instead assert themselves politically. On January 13, 1800, OConnell began to assert himself politically on the Act of Union, giving his first public speech urging the repeal of the Act. O'Connell was so appalled by the Act of Union that he claimed he preferred to return to the harshest days of the anti-Catholic Penal Laws than to continue with the Act of Union. "Let every man who feels with me proclaim, that if the alternative were offered him of Union, or the re-enactment of the Penal Code in all its pristine horrors, that he would prefer without hesitation the latter, as the lesser and more sufferable evil, he proclaimed to the Catholic meeting, that he would rather confide in the justice of his brethren the Protestants of Ireland, who have already liberated him, than lay his country at the feet of foreigners." OConnell established the Catholic Board in 1811 and the Catholic Association in 1823. The Association's aim was to better the lives of Irish Catholics, who made up 85 percent of the population at the time, through electoral reform, reform of the protestant Church of Ireland's role in the state, tenants' rights, and economic development. The Association asked members to contribute a penny a month so as to attract even the poorest Catholics and they used the money to fund those in Westminster who supported emancipation. OConnell was himself elected to the British Parliament after winning a by-election in 1828 for County Clare, but due to the Oath of Supremacy, which was incompatible with Catholicism, he was unable to take his seat. Knowing that to deny the hugely popular OConnell his seat would only result in more trouble in Ireland, the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, and the Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, convinced George IV that Catholic Emancipation needed to be established, despite their own personal opposition. The Emancipation Act quickly followed and becoming law in 1829. Once his first biggest battle was won, the war against Catholic discrimination continued with the Tithe War and the repeal of the Act of Union. At the height of his popularity and apparently, as one of the best-paid lawyers in Ireland (although its believed he lived constantly in debt), OConnell organized an initially peaceful campaign of non-payment of tithes, the payments made by the majority Catholic population to the established protestant Church of Ireland. The campaign, unfortunately, turned violent and resulted in the Tithe War between 1831 and 1836 in which the newly established Irish Constabulary seized the property of those who refused to pay. O'Connell continued to organize monster rallies throughout the country, remaining a thorn in the side of the British authorities. Things came to a head when Prime Minister Peel banned a rally in Clontarf, Co. Dublin in 1843. Although he called off the meeting because he was not willing to risk the chance of violence, OConnell was arrested and charged with conspiracy and imprisoned for a year. He was released three months later, but his health had suffered greatly. Daniel OConnell died of softening of the brain (cerebral softening) in 1847 in Genoa, Italy at the age of 71. Described by William Gladstone as the greatest popular leader the world has ever seen, OConnell and his nonviolent philosophies inspired many future leaders including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, although he was at times criticized by Easter Rising leaders James Connolly and Padraig Pearse. Dublins main street was renamed OConnell Street from Sackville Street in his honor in the early 20th century and his statue still stands at the lower end of the street, facing OConnell Bridge. * Originally published in January 2016, updated in August 2020. IrishCentral History Love Irish history? Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group. A US magistrate will consider whether materials gathered in a defamation case filed by seven women against Bill Cosby can be kept out of the public eye. The hearing in federal court will focus on a confidentiality agreement that Cosby's lawyers are proposing in the case by the women, who are among dozens who claim that he sexually assaulted them decades ago. The proposal calls for depositions and other documents subpoenaed or produced during the pre-trial discovery phase to remain confidential for 14 days. Either side would then be allowed to request the judge seal the records for longer, but the records would remain sealed until the judge decided on the extension, according to the proposal, which was among a number of documents filed before the hearing. Cosby's lawyers say in their legal briefs they are proposing the order because lawyers for the seven women seek "irrelevant and extraordinarily invasive and intimate details" of Cosby's life and "have made clear they intend to publicise every aspect of discovery in the case". Among the information being sought are the identities of all Cosby's sexual partners since 1968 who were not his wife, the dates of the sexual encounters and all Cosby's medical records over the past 35 years, including those specifically dealing with "erectile and/or other sexual dysfunction, sexual paraphilia and/or sexual fetish", according to Cosby's lawyers. But Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the women, argues the proposed order would damage transparency in a case of great public interest. In his legal briefings, he acknowledges some documents, such as Cosby's private financial information, will have to be kept confidential. But he maintains none of that warrants the "blanket confidentiality order" Cosby's lawyers propose. He also suggests Cosby, who played Dr Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992, has waived his privacy rights because he recently countersued the seven women, accusing them of making false accusations of sexual misconduct for financial gain. Cosby's lawyers dismiss the arguments in their legal briefings, stressing their client's need for protection from "annoyance, embarrassment, and undue prejudice" is reason enough for "limited confidentiality" in the case. They also maintain the proposal does not violate the public's right to open judicial proceedings. It simply provides a way to present pre-trial discovery documents "in an orderly fashion", they say. "The law is clear: trial - not discovery - is the 'fact-finding' process in which the public has a common law and constitutional interest," Cosby's lawyers argue. Mr Cammarata, in his legal brief, says there are valid reasons why he is seeking Cosby's medical and sexual histories. Medical records are relevant, he says, because Cosby says he obtained the powerful prescription sedatives known as quaaludes for various joint and body pains. And evidence of any sexual dysfunction bears on the women's allegations that Cosby "serially sexually assaulted semi-conscious, drugged women," Mr Cammarata says in his brief. The seven women are among around 50 across the country who have come forward with allegations that Cosby plied them with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting them. The 78-year-old actor and comedian, who has a home in western Massachusetts, has so far been named in six legal cases. On December 30, he was charged in Pennsylvania with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman inside his home near Philadelphia in 2004. It is the first criminal case brought against him. The opening of the centre gives new customers a choice between having their information held in Europe or North America while existing customers will also be able to transfer their data should they wish to do so. The Seattle-based companys decision marks it out from the majority of companies who determine where customers data is stored. Tableaus novel move was not motivated by the European Court of Justices decision to rule the Safe Harbour data sharing agreement between the US and Europe invalid last year, according to vice president of European Operations James Eiloart. With the opening of our European data centre, we are responding to a desire from customers to choose where they host their data, said Mr Eiloart. Data protection and security for our customers are extremely important to Tableau and these will continue to be a priority for us. "Any customer using Tableau Online and choosing to store their data in the EU, will have their data stored only in the EU. The work to implement the Dublin facility began in March 2015 to respond to the needs of our customers, well before the Safe Harbour ruling. Some 50% of the companys Tableau Online active customers who utilise its cloud services are based outside of the US. The software firm last year moved to a new office on Shelbourne Rd in Dublin to accommodate an expansion of its workforce. The new premises can accommodate up to 100 staff. Having existing staff in Dublin contributed to its decision to establish the data centre in Ireland, according to Mr Eiloart. We have technical team members in Dublin already, so it made a lot of sense to put the primary pod there, said Mr Eiloart. Ireland has a long history of a business-friendly climate and has a thriving tech scene. The facility is one of a growing number of data centres in Ireland. Facebook was given the green light for a major data centre in Clonee, Co Meath, by An Bord Pleanala in October 2015 which will see it invest 200m in the development of the 220 acre site. The decision came shortly after Apple was given the go-ahead for its data project in Athenry which the company says will set it back 850m. News / Press Release by Tongai Matutu - PDP Deputy Secretary General The People's Democratic Party (PDP) calls for the immediate abolition of the death penalty in the country as it is totally inhumane, degrading and against the international best practices.Capital punishment is in breach of the country's Constitution, which guarantees and protects the right to life for every citizen.As PDP, our call comes when they are 117 convicted inmates on the death row in Zimbabwe who are facing death and are reported to be being subjected to physical and psychological torture.Some of these condemned prisoners have been waiting for the hangman for between three and 21 years living under squalor at Harare Central Prison or Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison where they are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours every day.They are living a life without hope, alienation and vilification and the prison for them has become a prison within a prison. Some of these condemned prisoners have gone insane or are terminally ill.As the PDP we are fully behind the constitutional challenge that has been brought to the Constitutional Court by 17 prisoners who are on death row seeking review of their sentences and that they are allowed to go for retrial. It is within their constitutional mandate to approach the Constitutional Court as any aggrieved person has a right to approach the courts.However, as PDP we are aware of the heinous crimes that prisoners facing murder charges would have committed but the act of hanging an accused person is barbaric and outdated and Zimbabwe should follow international standards and the solution is to abolish the death penalty.Furthermore and tied to this, PDP also demands that the government of Zimbabwe complies with section 210 of the Constitution, which provides for the establishment of an independent complaints mechanism against the country's security services.In this light, PDP is in solidarity with human rights activist Rashid Mahiya and others who have since approached the Concourt seeking an order compelling the executive to pass into law a bill which creates the Independent Complaints Mechanism.Zimbabwe's security forces have a dark history when it comes to violations of citizens' rights and various case have been recorded such as the Gukurahundi massacres in southern Zimbabwe soon after independence, the murder of student activist Batanai Hadzidzi, the slaughter of hundreds of opposition activists like Tonderai Ndira and others, the abduction and torture of human rights defender Jestina Mukoko and the general heavy handedness of the police is crushing peaceful demonstrations which has become a norm in this country.It is against this background that the PDP calls on the government to respect the rule of law and expedite the implementation of section 210 of the Constitution. That challenge cannot easily be fixed given the geography of the capital (it sits on a large bay) and the strong growth evident inside the Pale. If Cork, Limerick, and Galway had the luxury of employing strategists, they would be eyeing up developments in the east as a glaring opportunity to advance the case for these cities to be the focus point of inward investment. Among the sectors they should be exploring is financial services. A recent piece of analysis in the Financial Times profiled the scale of employment by financial services companies in the London area. These institutions have large volumes of employees who provide so-called back or middle office services that do not have to be in the same location as their customers. In total, 14 investment banks have no less than 65,000 employees in London, the 12th most expensive city in the world, and the most expensive within Europe. Interesting article from Joe Gill @irishexaminer today pic.twitter.com/ymhe9ZJ7Rt Business Cork (@BusinessCork) January 13, 2016 One source is quoted saying that 10 of the 12 biggest banks are actively exploring the option of shifting employees to a more competitive cost centre. I was reading that while sipping a coffee off St Patrick St in Cork and thinking about a few pertinent facts. Firstly, these banks all work in the English language, which all of us in Ireland use, a unique point within the vast eurozone. Second, I am drinking coffee a mere 40 minutes flying time from the heart of the London financial centre and a nanosecond away from it in the internet cloud. Thirdly, I was sitting somewhere that offers a 12.5% corporate tax rate that has attracted asset management back offices to the financial services centre in Dublins docklands in the past two decades. Lastly, property in Cork trades at a material discount to London, making it economically attractive to employees and employers alike. All these factors suggest a huge opportunity exists to promote Cork, Limerick, and Galway as centres that could attract mobile financial services work. Rapid advances in communication technology make that vision even more attainable. An acquaintance of mine runs a highly successful global aircraft leasing company from Ireland. He recently gave me a demonstration of an advanced IT communications system he installed, and it was like something out of Star Wars. Imagine a sales person working in Beijing. He or she can, using their mobile phone or tablet, appear live on a screen in head office to provide instant and unbuffered contact with colleagues and managers. Moreover, data-rich files and charts can be exchanged simultaneously to deliver secure content-rich business discussions. My friend uses this infrastructure to conduct weekly meetings with multiple salespeople around the world. That system was just a dream as recently as 10 years ago. Now consider applying that framework around the investment banks in London who are desperate to improve the efficiency of their businesses. Is it beyond the realms of possibility that we could convince one or more of these employers to shift 1,000 jobs or more to Cork? That would give the entire economy around Cork a valuable nudge along its journey of recovery. Those charged with running regional Irish cities have to step up to the plate too. More connections from Cork or Shannon airports will always be welcome. Traffic bottlenecks in places such as Mahon and the Jack Lynch Tunnel need attention. Nonetheless, the scope to grow is clear and obvious. That potential could be even embellished if the so-called Brexit unfolds this year. Although many fear such an outcome, remember Ireland would be left as the only English speaking country within the eurozone if the UK left, while Britain will want to keep as many trade links open with Europe as possible. Instead of endlessly fretting about the UKs relationship with Europe, we should focus on leveraging such an event for our own benefit. Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal. Shares in the German company, which are trading near record levels, rose 3.5% at one stage on the preliminary results, which were announced ahead of schedule because they were better than expected. Its a solid set of figures, with some pros and cons, said one Frankfurt trader, pointing to strong software licence renewals on the positive side and weaker margins as a negative. SAPs fourth-quarter operating margin sank by three points to 35.9% and was below analysts average forecast of 37.5%, according to a Reuters poll, reflecting the trade-off as it transitions to faster-growing but lower-margin internet-based sales. Margin development is not as good as anticipated. SAP clearly favourites revenue expansion at the moment in order to gain market share, DZ Bank analyst Harald Schnitzer wrote, keeping his hold recommendation on the stock. Contract renewals came on the back of sales promotions late last year to convince existing customers to upgrade to S/4 HANA, the core software platform on which SAP is betting its future. SAP, whose customers include many of the worlds biggest multinationals, specialises in business applications ranging from accounting to human resources to supply-chain management. The company said it expected 2016 operating profit, excluding special items, to be between 6.4 billion and 6.7bn at constant currencies, which is at the low end of analyst forecasts. Analysts polled by Reuters on average expect operating income of 6.72bn, with estimates ranging from 6.32bn to 7.14bn. SAP shares gained 27% in 2015, twice the European technology indexs 14% rise. The stock hit an intra-day high of 75.75 five weeks ago. Fourth-quarter operating profit, excluding special items, rose 3% at constant currencies to 2.28bn from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit for the full year was 6.35bn, up 13%. Analysts on average had forecast 6.3bn. SAP said the results were helped by renewals from existing customers of higher-margin, licensed software plus faster-growing, albeit less profitable, internet-based software and the positive sales impact of a weaker euro against other currencies. It said that by the end of 2015 more than 2,700 customers had signed up for its new software platform known as S/4 HANA, which promises to cut the time it takes to compile business accounts and forecasts to minutes, instead of hours or days, by analysing vast amounts of data locally. The MIBI is appealing Mr Justice John Hedigans finding that it was liable to pay out in respect of claims against persons who were insured with Setanta at the time of its liquidation. The case has important implications for motor insurance premiums as well as parties involved in claims concerning Setanta. After Setantas liquidation, approximately 1,750 claims by and against Setanta policyholders remain. Opening the appeal, Paul Gallagher, counsel for the MIBI, said the case raised a very important issue concerning the liabilities arising from the insolvency of one of its members. The High Court ruling he said has created very significant difficulties for the MIBI and its members, as it meant they were now caught up in the insolvency of a fellow member of the MIBI. Counsel told the three- judge appeal court an effect of the judgement is the members of the MIBI, made up of the 40-plus insurance companies operating in the state, are now co-guarantors of rival firms over which they have no entitlement to information about prior to insolvency. Counsel said the MIBI Agreement does not deal with an issue as fundamental as the issue of insolvency of one of its members. He said the High Court had decided a phrase in one particular sub-clause in the agreement meant the MIBI has a liability to pay out in respect of claims against persons who are insured by an insurer which has become insolvent. Counsel said this interpretation by the High Court was too narrow in the context of the entire MIBI agreement. The courts reliance on this hidden sub-clause rendered the judgement incorrect, and on this basis the decision should be set aside, counsel added. Another effect of the High Courts decision, he said, is that the MIBI could come after and seek judgment against any Setanta policy holder found liable as a result of a claim the MIBI had to pay out on. The appeal is opposed by the Law Society, the body that regulates solicitors. Following Setantas collapse, the society wrote to the MIBI stating solicitors had been inundated with queries from concerned Setanta customers as to the consequences of the liquidation. Initially the proceedings had been brought by the Accountant of the Courts of Justice who has statutory responsibility for administering the Insurance Compensation Fund. The High Court subsequently directed that the Law Society of Ireland should act as the claimant while the MIBI should be the respondent. The Accountant of the Courts of Justice had adopted a neutral position in the proceedings. In April 2014, Setanta, a Maltese registered company, opted to surrender its insurance business licence and a liquidator was appointed. Those policies were cancelled by the liquidator in May 29, 2014. Setanta was a member of the MIBI, and had issued some 75,000 motor insurance policies. Some 1,750 claims existed by and against Setanta policy holders when it was wound up. The MIBI argued it did not have to satisfy awards against policy holders where the insurer was unable to pay all or part of the award because of insolvency. The Department of Transport shared the MIBIs view and the Minister for Transport suggested policyholders should pursue claims with the liquidator of Setanta. In his ruling, Mr Justice Hedigan said the wording of the 2009 MIBI Agreement meant it had a liability to pay out in respect of claims against persons who had been insured by an insurer which had become insolvent. The appeal before the President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Sean Ryan, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan, and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan continues. Carlow county councillor Will Paton said he has made a submission to the council calling for affirmative action for housing locals first before any consideration is given to housing asylum seekers. There are very few houses available for rent and most that are available are refusing to take rent supplement or the new housing assist payment, Mr Paton wrote on Facebook on Monday. When all the locals are housed then I will gladly welcome asylum seekers. The chief executive has said that no approach has been made to Carlow county council by any authority to date. Locals first! A party spokesperson said Mr Patons view does not reflect that of the Labour party. Mr Paton has not returned calls to the Irish Examiner. Meanwhile, a general election candidate in Cork South Central has said Ireland does not have the resources needed to accept refugees. Independent candidate Elizabeth Hourihane insists she is not anti-immigration, but added that she believes the mass sexual assaults that took place in Germany could happen here if the country takes in more migrants and refugees. German officials recently issued a report on the New Years Eve attacks in Cologne, in which it was alleged that hundreds of women suffered sexual assaults. Its report stated that the alleged attackers were almost exclusively from a migrant background. How can we effectively screen them here if they cant get it under control in Germany? Ms Hourihane said. She also said she has received widespread support for her stance. We live in an age of equality, she said. Things have gotten so PC you cant open your mouth. Nationalism and patriotism have become dirty words. Meetings were held yesterday between management and union representatives after news broke that the company is to close its M&J Gleeson bottling operation, with the loss of more than 120 jobs. The consolidation move is part of a 15m cost-cutting exercise by C&C, who took over M&J Gleeson in 2014, with a cider-making factory in Somerset, England, also slated for closure. The Tipperary Water enterprise will move to C&Cs facility in Clonmel, where it owns the Bulmers plant, with 80 new jobs to be created in the town. Workers in Borrisoleigh found out about the imminent closure through a newspaper report yesterday, as did their representatives in SIPTU, who spent the morning trying to contact company management to seek clarification. Meetings were held throughout the day. Its atrocious, said SIPTU area organiser Terry Bryan. Its a terrible way to treat people. C&C intends to maintain a warehousing and distribution centre at Borrisoleigh, with a small number of employees remaining in the town. In a statement, C&C said that, following a detailed review of operations, it intended to consolidate production from its sites in Borrisoleigh and Shepton Mallet, England, to Clonmel. Consequently, Clonmel will become the core manufacturing site for both Bulmers and Magners cider, Tipperary Water, and our range of niche premium beers and ciders, said the company. Joe Leahy: Worked at C&C plant for 35 years More than 10m will be invested in the Clonmel plant, with 80 positions to be created. Regrettably, net roles lost across the operational network is estimated at 180, of which 127 are in the UK and 54 in Ireland. This has been a difficult decision for the group and it is sad that the consolidation of production at the Clonmel site is the only viable option to maintain long-term competitiveness, said C&C. C&C recognises the impact on employees and will work to provide support, training and, where possible, alternative employment. The company blamed an intensely competitive trading environment across Ireland and the UK in recent years: This has led to significant downward pricing pressure and the loss of material contracts for private-label water. The Clonmel plant, which has been hit by a number of job loss announcement over the last number of years, will operate at 75% capacity under the new regime, compared to 34% capacity across the Borrisoleigh, Clonmel, and Somerset sites at present. Independent TD Mattie McGrath said the job losses will be devastating for the workers and their families. I have been attempting to get C&C to come clean on what exactly their plans were for their Tipperary operations for a couple of years now, he said. Each time, we were given explicit assurances that their was genuine commitment to the retention and, indeed, the expansion of the Clonmel and Borrisoleigh facilities. Mr McGrath said he was bitterly disappointed for all involved at the plant. Its a dark day for Borrisoleigh but what can you do? Martin McPolin outside the C&C plant in Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, where he has worked for 17 years by Conall O Fatharta Staff of C&C and locals in Borrisoleigh have been left shocked by the news that more than120 jobs are to be cut at the plant. It comes following the decision by C&C Group has said that it plans to cut 144 jobs across its Irish operations in Borrisoleigh in Co Tipperary and in its depots in Portlaoise and New Ross. Staff were shocked by the news, which was delivered to them yesterday afternoon Ollie Larkin who has been working for 15 years at C&C, said that staff were told that their jobs would be gone by the end of July. One hundred and forty jobs will be gone by the end of July. Im here 15 years. Its not alone just for us but its for all the people who have been working here for years. Lots of people have been here for 25 and 30 years. People are walking around here and dont know whats going on, he told RTE. Martin McPolin who has spent almost two decades working at the plant said it was a dark day for the town. Its been 18 years now so it is. Sure its a dark day for Borrisoleigh and for everywhere around here its a dark day but what can you do, said Mr McPolin. The news emerged after it was confirmed that the cost to Cork City Council alone of the first global utilities revaluation in five years will be just over 1m much higher than what was expected. The office of the Commissioner for Valuation is responsible for setting the valuation of business property nationwide premises which are liable for commercial rates. Each local authority then uses this valuation to apply an annual rate on valuation which determines how much rates each business pays. These commercial rates are the largest source of local authority income. The valuation office concluded its first global revaluation in five years last November in respect of Gas Networks Ireland, Iarnrod Eireann, and telecommunications companies BT Ireland, Eircom, Vodafone, Three Ireland, and Meteor. It resulted in their combined valuations reducing by 112m which will see them paying much less rates to local authorities. Following an appeal to the valuation tribunal, the ESB also secured a significant rates reduction. Arising out of the review, the Department of Environment has made arrangements for a once-off compensation payment of 16.65m to be distributed to the affected local authorities to cover some of the losses. Last November, Cork city councillors were told ahead of their 2016 budget meeting that the move would hit the councils coffers to the tune of some 762,000. But it has now emerged that the loss of rates income after the review will be 1,035,000. In a written report to councillors on Monday, the city councils head of finance, John Hallahan, said: This is higher than previously reported due to the fact that the Ervia building on Gasworks Rd, previously classified as offices/retail warehouse, has now been reclassified into the global valuation for Gas Networks. There was a 40% reduction in Gas Networks Irelands global utility revaluation. Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy He said the council is set to receive a once-off compensation payment from the department of 751,361 a figure which will only cover 73% of the loss. In his written report, Mr Hallahan said the city council will closely monitor its actual financial performance compared to its budget to see if additional income can be achieved in order to counteract the impact of the loss of income on rates. But addressing councillors afterwards, he said a rates increase may have to be considered in the long-term if the councils income streams arent boosted in other areas. He said city management hope they dont have to increase rates, which have remained unchanged since 2008, and hope that the opening of new businesses would provide extra income. Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said it would not be acceptable that further rate increases be imposed on city businesses to compensate for any losses arising out of such rates reviews. He said: Businesses in the city already account for over 40% of the city councils total revenue and that has increased significantly in recent years. Businesses cant continue to provide that level of funding to the local authority. What we need to see is central government reducing the requirement on businesses to make such a significant contribution. News / Regional by Staff Reporter A critical health time bomb continues to count down in Gwanda as the town entered its sixth day without water today.Water supply to the town was cut off on Saturday morning at the Zimbabwe National Water Authority pump station to replace some old pumps. They pump station is the sole water pump station to the nearly 60 000 people in Gwanda.Council went out on Friday advising residents to hoard enough water as supply would be cut off and restored within a period of 48 hours. The job has since taken five days and the town remains without water.Scores of residents have since resorted to using the bushes around the town to answer the call of nature. The bushes are now so full of human waste that cholera outbreak is only a matter of time.The little water that the residents had gathered for the expected 48 hour period has since been used up in most households. Several residents have been seen making their way to the killer Mtshabezi river to fetch untreated water for their domestic use.Several people have drowned in the notorious river believed to be holding spirits that swallow people into the river in the form of a mermaid. The water at the river is also heavily contaminated by illegal gold panners who use the upstream waters to process their gold.The Gwanda Residents Association has since castigated the council for poor planning in carrying out the works.Speaking in a local radio station news bulletin on Tuesday, the Secretary of the Residents Association Mr Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo said that council should have found an alternative way of carrying out the repairs with minimum inconvenience to the residents."While we appreciate the need for the repairs but proper planning would have allowed minimal inconvenience to the residents and avoided the risk of diseases that are now bound to break out in the town.Comment could not be obtained from the town engineer who was said to be on leave. However, a council official at the engineering department said that water supplies should normalise within the best two days. The official said that some areas particularly in the CBD and low lying areas have since started receiving water.[1/13/2016, 14:09] Fuzwayo: Gwanda health time bomb as thousands resort to bush for toiletStaff ReporterA critical health time bomb continues to count down in Gwanda as the town entered its sixth day without water today.Water supply to the town was cut off on Saturday morning at the Zimbabwe National Water Authority pump station to replace some old pumps. They pump station is the sole water pump station to the nearly 60 000 people in Gwanda.Council went out on Friday advising residents to hoard enough water as supply would be cut off and restored within a period of 48 hours. The job has since taken five days and the town remains without water.Scores of residents have since resorted to using the bushes around the town to answer the call of nature. The bushes are now so full of human waste that cholera outbreak is only a matter of time.The little water that the residents had gathered for the expected 48 hour period has since been used up in most households. Several residents have been seen making their way to the killer Mtshabezi river to fetch untreated water for their domestic use.Several people have drowned in the notorious river believed to be holding spirits that swallow people into the river in the form of a mermaid. The water at the river is also heavily contaminated by illegal gold panners who use the upstream waters to process their gold.The Gwanda Residents Association has since castigated the council for poor planning in carrying out the works.Speaking in a local radio station news bulletin on Tuesday, the Secretary of the Residents Association Mr Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo said that council should have found an alternative way of carrying out the repairs with minimum inconvenience to the residents."While we appreciate the need for the repairs but proper planning would have allowed minimal inconvenience to the residents and avoided the risk of diseases that are now bound to break out in the town," he said.Comment could not be obtained from the town engineer who was said to be on leave. However, a council official at the engineering department said that water supplies should normalise within the best two days. The official said that some areas particularly in the CBD and low lying areas have since started receiving water. Inspector Ronan Kenneally said at Cork District Court yesterday that the babysitter may have had permission to have some friends visit when she was babysitting but more people arrived than she expected. One of them went through upstairs rooms in the house without her knowledge and stole the property. The family was very upset to find that their property was taken, particularly one item which had sentimental value, a digital camera with family photographs. Insp Kenneally said they were all more upset at the idea the man responsible had gone through the rooms when their three children were asleep. It is a frightening thing for the parents to come home to. I am sure they have thought about it every day since, said Judge Olann Kelleher. 1,200 was the value of property taken but you could not put a value on the upset caused by the thought of the children asleep in their beds and someone ransacking the house and going through the rooms. Corey McAuliffe, aged 19, of Lysander House, Carrs Hill, Carrigaline, Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to charges of handling stolen property arising out of the incident. Sergeant Padraig Kelleher said the incident occurred on September 26, 2014, when the babysitter invited some friends to join her, but a greater number arrived than expected. The items stolen included a computer game, DVD player, camera, and equipment. Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said it was accepted that it was a most upsetting experience for the parents. Mr Buttimer said that the accused was easily identified and he made full admissions when charged with handling stolen property. Mr Buttimer said that McAuliffe was in a position to pay back 400 now and 50 a week until the full compensation was paid. The solicitor said that McAuliffe had spent almost all of his life without his parents. Judge Kelleher said he had to balance the impact on the injured parties with the defendants own circumstances and he put sentencing back for a probation report. Sentencing was adjourned until March 8. The cross-party group will hold an emergency meeting this afternoon to discuss the latest hurdle in its way, after developers Johnny Ronan and Michael OFlynn both issued fresh threats of legal action against it. Under the existing timeline, the inquiry has until January 28 to be published. The final report of the inquiry was sent out to interested parties on January 4, after weeks of delays, and is now in a 21-day cooling off period allowing for rights of reply from individuals named in it. While the majority of these individuals have raised only minor issues or none at all, 33 have sent back letters seeking changes to the conclusions drawn. Among these respondents are developers Mr Ronan and Mr O Flynn, who have said they may take legal action if the report is not altered to their satisfaction. The Irish Examiner understands Mr Ronan is deeply unhappy with the view of Nama in the inquirys report, believing it is biased against him. Mr OFlynn has also raised concerns about Nama and taken issue with references to donations to political parties. The banking inquiry will advice from its senior counsel at its emergency meeting today. However, members believe the issues have already been discussed and dismissed by their legal team and that if a judicial review is sought by either developer, this could be done within the existing 21-day cooling off period. One inquiry member said the only way the cases could delay the inquiry until after the general election, potentially causing its collapse, would be if the claim is lodged days before the cooling off period runs out. Another noted that neither developer will want to be responsible for bringing down the investigation. Speaking at a party event yesterday, Fianna Fail finance spokesman and banking inquiry member Michael McGrath said: I sincerely hope no court action is taken that could potentially scupper the inquiry. Dublin Rising 1916-2016 will be narrated by actor Colin Farrell and featuring exhibitions from six prestigious cultural institutions. As well as bringing viewers worldwide to parts of Dublin synonymous with the Rising, the interactive Google Street View tour also offers unique access to important historical and cultural resource material. The visitors will be able to stop at city centre locations as they are today, hear what happened there and click to explore photos, stories and witness statements from the Dublin of 2016. The aim of the experience is to enable anyone, anywhere to participate in the 1916 Centenary. The virtual experience has been created in partnership with Irish cultural institutions, including the National Library of Ireland (NLI), Military Archives, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, the Abbey Theatre, the Royal Irish Academy, and Trinity College Dublin Library alongside Century Ireland. As part of the experience, the NLI has shared a number of special items from the online collections including Joseph Plunketts notebook, kept throughout the Easter Rising from his position in the General Post Office and a draft of the notice of the rebel surrender, signed by Patrick Pearse on 20 April 1916. Head of Google Ireland Ronan Harris said the tour allowed people to experience what life was like a century ago in Ireland. He said: 2016 is a significant year for Ireland, commemorating as it does the events of 1916 which subsequently led to the birth of the modern Ireland we are today. In commemoration, we have worked with a number of partners and historians to help people in Ireland and around the world, explore, learn and talk about the people, events, places and objects that shaped these defining events. NLI director Sandra Collins said the partnership meant the NLI could share its holdings with a worldwide audience. The Library recognises the value in partnerships with digital innovators such as Google, in order to enhance global access to our collections, said Dr Collins. Combining digital innovation with our nations cultural and social heritage allows us to share the story of 1916 with the world. In addition to the 70,000 digital images available in the NLIs online catalogue, the digitised personal papers and photographs of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation will all be available online by April 2016. The full collection of Ceannt, Clarke and Connollys papers are already available to the public, free of charge at catalogue.nli.ie The OPW, responsible for drawing them up, said they will be finalised in 2016, but they should have been completed in December 2015 and submitted by March. Apart from preventing the devastating effects of floods, the state will not qualify for EU aid for the clean up if EU disaster risk prevention law is not in force. Independent MEP Marian Harkin said successive governments blamed EU Directives to avoid acting on floods. For years we have had different agencies looking over their shoulders at one another, and at the EU Commission, while Irish politicians looked the other way. Now one after another these same politicians point the finger at Brussels. Yet ironically it is EU legislation such as the Floods Directive that has pushed the Irish Government to produce flood maps and flood risk management plans. Ireland was due to complete these plans to manage flood risks by the end of 2015 and submit them by March. The real question is where are these plans and what action is being taken to implement them? Independent MEP Marian Harkin The OPW said draft flood maps have been produced, options to manage flood risk were being assessed and they are finalising pilot studies for the Lee, Dodder and Fingal-East Meath. Draft plans for other areas, including the Shannon, will be available for public consultation this summer and finalised later in the year. The OPW liaises closely with the EU Commission in relation to ongoing reporting on progress in relation to the CFRAM (Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management) Programme, an OPW statement said. The EU has made 5billion available for risk prevention, including 700million for Ireland over the next four years. One euro invested in prevention saves up to seven euro in disaster damage, they said. The Labour leader refused to say if Taoiseach Enda Kenny had informed her of the exact date. Her comments come as the parties prepare for their national conferences in the coming weeks in what are expected to be the last setpieces before the date is announced. Ms Burton said that, following these conferences, which will finish at the end of the month, reporters should then be ready for the election campaign. There has been speculation in Leinster House this week that Mr Kenny may announce the election earlier, due to a possible legal challenge to the banking inquirys final report. Such a challenge would likely push back the report date beyond the end of this month and ultimately allow Mr Kenny to fire the starting gun sooner than expected. A general election must be held within 30 days of the dissolution of the Dail. Several government sources believe the likely date for people to go to the ballot boxes is now February 26. Mr Kenny has said he has the exact date in his head. He also said he would announce the election in a very public fashion. Taoiseach Enda Kenny Speaking in Dublin, Ms Burton refused to say if she had spoken to Mr Kenny in recent weeks specifically about what date the election is going to be. However, she added: Its no secret to say that the Taoiseach and myself have actually discussed the question of the election... we have found room around almost every occasion to have a discussion around the issue of the election. Ms Burton highlighted how the Fianna Fail conference is this weekend, followed by Fine Gaels the following weekend and Labours at the end of the month, saying: If I were you, Id be ready any time after that to anticipate that well have the election as the Taoiseach has said in the early spring. Labour yesterday launched a charter proposing to strengthen how bullying is addressed in the workplace as well as how to stamp out bogus self-employment. Specific laws covering acts of bullying in work would be introduced, if Labour is returned to government, pledged employment minister Ged Nash. Employment minister Ged Nash Mr Nash said casual employment arrangements, which cloak payment methods for workers, need to end. This includes where workers are declared as dependent entrepreneurs but do not have PRSI paid for them by companies. Such a situation leaves workers without health cover, leaves the exchequer short of cash, but allows companies to make more money, he said. The call was made at a municipal district council meeting in Carrigtwohill yesterday by local Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry, who won total support from his colleagues. Last March, senior council planners unveiled a blueprint for future development alongside the eastern end of the Cork-Midleton railway line at Carrigtwohill and Water Rock, near Midleton. They include plans for more than 5,000 homes, four primary schools, two secondary schools, shopping centres, parks, cycleways, and another railway station. The council wants to rezone 120 hectares of land for the projects north of the railway line at Carrigtwohill and 160 acres at Water Rock, where it wants to build the new railway station. Planners want to reignite development along the railway line which stalled during the recession. They say that, as the economy has picked up, it is prudent to plan for the future and place the houses close to the railway line to encourage use of it and reduce car journeys. Major consideration would have to be given to the future development of the master plan, said Mr Barry. In both areas, serious flooding occurred on sites where it is proposed to build residential units. The reliance on attenuation ponds seems to be a core principle in the prevention of flooding in these sites, however these would not have been fit for purpose in the recent crisis because their capacity would have been exhausted prior to the major flood of December 29. Mr Barry said both plans rely on streams/rivers to take the flood and storm water to the coastline. However, these water courses were full to capacity on December 29 and caused serious flooding in these areas. Surely any additional water discharge would have serious consequences for the future, said Mr Barry. He said from studying the plans it is not clear if there are additional access points to the coast being considered. The local authority has already entered into talks with 41 landowners in Carrigtwohill and 19 at Water Rock. It wants to get at least 300 homes built in each of the rezoned areas per year. The council wants Irish Water to build a sewerage treatment plant in Carrigtwohill to cater for the increased population. It has already got a commitment from Irish Water to upgrade the Midleton plant, which is currently at full capacity. His lawyers yesterday argued his prosecution for alleged tax offences was unfair, unjust, fundamentally oppressive, and should be halted. A Revenue Appeals Commissioner last year found Mr Lowry had no personal income tax liability arising from a 372,000 payment made in August 2002 to an Isle of Man trust account, the High Court was told. The only outstanding disputed liability is a surcharge corporate tax liability of 2,400 for his firm, Garuda, said counsel Patrick Treacy. On those and other grounds, this prosecution was unfair, unjust, in breach of Mr Lowrys constitutional rights, fundamentally oppressive, and should be halted. The court heard the 372,000 payment was due to Garuda by a Finnish company, Norpe OY, and, on the direction of Mr Lowry, was paid in to an Isle of Man trust account held by Kevin Phelan. Also on the direction of Mr Lowry, there was a self-correction in 2007 of Garuda accounts to address tax issues concerning that 2002 payment, counsel said. While that self-correction was made in 2007 and not 2002 as Mr Lowry accepted it should have been, it was still made years before these criminal proceedings were brought, said counsel. Mr Lowry denies filing incorrect income tax returns for 2002. He also denies charges he had connived in the alleged delivery by Garuda of incorrect corporation tax returns for the years ending 2002 and 2006. The case continues. Council chief executive Tim Lucey said that while community self-help response varies around the county, the one in Skibbereen is more organised and sophisticated. Mr Lucey praised SFRC for the structured support and response arrangements it has for the local community. SFRC was formed in 1978 and consists of a voluntary core committee of six, who can draw on 20 others in an emergency. If rainfall of 40mm is predicted, they call a meeting in the towns Civil Defence headquarters.This is attended by locals, gardai, fire brigade, Civil Defence, and council officials, etc. SFRC secretary Cathal ODonovan said that once upstream river gauges show 8.1m of water, Mill Rd will be flooded. 8.3m will flood Townsend St, and so on. Sandbags are immediately placed on pallets in strategic areas, so people know where theyll be, he said. We also have keys to pumping systems around the town and Civil Defence will go out and visit vulnerable people and make sure they are okay. SRFC has a text-alert system which regularly updates more than 170 recipients on how the flood is developing. Local hotels provide emergency accommodation to people who have to move out of their homes, and stocks of food, clothing and water are maintained. During Storm Frank, the committee held five meetings between 8pm on December 30 and 6am the next day, at which they analysed what was happening and tried to respond accordingly. After the flood subsided, further analysis took place to see if we could improve things, said Mr ODonovan. floodingSkibbereenRugbypitch_large.jpg[/timg Flooding in Skibbereen was first mentioned in the Dail in 1944, and since then there have been 22 significant flood events. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, with flood defence works are to start there this year. Mr ODonovan says it could take another three years before these are completed, so his organisation will stay on full alert in the meantime. More people have been rowing in with the committee in recent years, said Mr ODonovan, who owns a bookshop on Main St. The system works and we recommend it to other groups. People must be proactive. Were constantly tweeking and improving the response with each flood and we have had some measure of success. Mr Lucey said organisations such as SFRC were helping to improve communication with the lead response agencies, and provide support at a local level through co-ordinated community activation. There is an opportunity for existing flood action groups in many towns, to further develop similar-type community support arrangements, which actively engage in a pre-planned manner with the lead response agencies at the local level, he said. The council has always developed and supported communities who work proactively with it. Arising from this severe weather event, it would be important and beneficial for communities to work further in developing their level of preparedness for their community response in flood/severe weather situations. Members of the West Cork Civil Defence Unit, who are funded by the council, provided 665 manpower hours in Skibbereen over the three days of Storm Frank. Council workers put in a combined 2,453 hours on the ground. More than 3,000 sandbags were deployed in the town. Landowners must know responsibilities Council chief executive Tim Lucey Landowners have a lot of responsibility when it comes to making sure rivers which run through their property dont become clogged with debris which could cause flooding. Cork County Council chief executive Tim Lucey said that, as the national debate hots up over who is responsible for cleaning rivers, it must be pointed out that landowners have a duty to accept flood waters running through their land and maintain banks and the river bed to ensure the flow of water is not interfered with. Mr Lucey said that when it came to flooding, riparian ownership is a significant issue and that the council was not responsible for maintaining rivers, but would do whatever it could when emergency situations arise. He said the issue was somewhat similar to hedgecutting. The council carries out some hedgecutting, but it is primarily the responsibility of the landowner. Some landowners have been neglected of this and overgrown hedges on junctions in particular have led to serious road safety issues. Fine Gael councillor Kevin Murphy leader of Fine Gael, which is the largest party on the council, said many landowners probably did not realise their responsibilities over rivers. I will be putting forward a formal motion to the council asking that it writes to all landowners whose land borders waterways to inform them of these responsibilities, said Mr Murphy. He added that many landowners were very responsible people and would react properly. However, he said that removing anything from the river could prove complicated as they made need permission from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI). IFI has already imposed several restrictions on tampering with river beds. There was uproar on Monday when councillors discovered IFI had banned the county council from dredging rivers in Bandon, Skibbereen, Clonakilty, and Glanmire until OPW flood relief works are completed. Last April, a senior engineer with the councils roads department said the local authority would move to prosecute landowners who were refusing to allow drains to be opened up into their land to free water from public roads. It was also claimed the senior house officer (SHO) in question doesnt know what it means to be a doctor and was unaware of how basic his deficiencies were. Omar Hassan Khalafalla Mohamed was up before the ongoing inquiry taking place at the Medical Council headquarters in Dublin 2. Dr Hassan faces a number of allegations relating to time he spent working at the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise, Mayo General Hospital, and University Hospital Galway. Dr Hassan, whose medical registration has been suspended since March 2015, denies the allegations. Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Aiden Devitt, who worked at University Hospital Galway while Dr Hassan was there in early 2014, yesterday told the inquiry that Dr Hassan was taken off unsupervised duty after his first weekend on call. Mr Devitt said Dr Hassan, originally from Sudan, demonstrated a lack of basic medical knowledge expected of an SHO, as well as basic hospital protocols regarding the prescription of medication and maintaining a sterile environment in theatre. Mr Devitt told Dr Hassan yesterday: I got the strong sense you genuinely did not understand how basic your deficiencies were. However, Mr Devitt told the inquiry he was more concerned about Dr Hassans apparent unwillingness to learn from others: The fact is, you didnt seem to accept that you need to know those things and knowing those things is [essential] for patient safety on the ward. I dont think you know what it means to be a doctor. Mr Devitt said after their first weekend working with Dr Hassan, two colleagues checked if he was a registered medical doctor, as he was so far off the scale in terms of your competencies... If you pulled someone off the street they would make a better fist of it than you did. Mr Devitt said he has worked with a number of doctors from Sudan and has always been very impressed with their high level of training and clinical abilities. Dr Hassan said a number of events described by Mr Devitt did not occur as the consultant described them, and he disputed a number of Mr Devitts claims. Dr Hassan said he has been academically successful throughout his life, and trained at a very prestigious university. To be a good doctor, you have to have a sense of responsibility, more so than being bright, Mr Devitt replied. You can be the brightest person in all of Sudan and yet not [possess] the abilities to practice safely as a doctor. On Friday, the inquiry heard about concerns about Dr Hassans awareness of hospital protocols on child abuse raised by a registrar who observed him assessing a young child, who presented to A&E with a bone fracture. Yesterday, Dr Hassan proffered the theory that the child was a fake patient, but did not elaborate on this. The inquiry continues today. The funding is part of a 28m investment by the Department of Jobs, through Science Foundation Ireland. One of the UCC projects that will benefit is a study on how the brain grows, develops and repairs itself in young children, following early brain injury. The Infant Centres Early Life Laboratory, which has been granted 1.5m, will assess children at high risk of neuro-developmental issues. The same centre is also developing a biobank, which has received 355,171. Biobanking is hugely important as a resource for researchers. Another UCC project the Process Flow Spectoscopy Facility (ProSpect), which is looking at pharmaceutical reactions is to receive 1m. Work carried out at the facility, the first of its kind in the EU, is expected to lead to safer drugs at a reduced cost for both the manufacturer and the patient. Because it offers researchers and the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland a unique competitive advantage, it is likely to enhance the countrys reputation as a leading location for state-of-the-art pharmaceutical process chemistry. 2.2m will go to UCCs Marine Centre, where the Open Ocean Emulator can accurately replicate real ocean wave conditions in a laboratory setting. The emulator, together with the use of advanced instrumentation, will contribute to the growth and sustainability of the offshore renewable energy industry in Ireland. Another UCC-based facility the Irish Atmospheric Simulation Chamber (IASC) is to receive 1m in funding. The IASC is equipped with cutting-edge instrumentation for studying air pollution and climate change. Professor Anita Maguire, Vice President for Research and Innovation at UCC said the university were delighted with the funding as it would provide the supports needed to take ideas and convert them into reality. "Increased levels of collaboration between industry and academia have already delivered significant value to the Irish economy and initiatives like this help boost innovation through the transfer of technologies to companies. Todays announcement will also help make us more competitive when applying for research grants from Horizon2020 and other international sources of funding. Welcoming the research funding boost for University College Cork, Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer said it was further evidence of the colleges great work. Mr Buttimer congratulated the staff and the students on the news. Opinion / Columnist The move by the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) to urge its members to engage in a go-slow beginning this week as a way of pushing government to improve their working conditions through, amongst other things reducing last month pension deductions from $40 to $10 per month as well as salary increments is ill-advised and detrimental to an already over-burdened wage bill.Government employees have been benefiting from the Government which has been paying 100% pension fund on behalf of them since 2009. Now that Government is facing financial challenges, deducting only 7.5% of one's salary for pension will go a long way in cutting down expenditure. It is well-known that Government is financially constrained; hence it was not possible for the status quo to continue.It might appear as if the government has been unfair to civil servants, but alas, it is a noble move that is one of the many painful endeavors meant to contribute towards economic recovery. The only unfortunate thing is that the pensions' deductions had come at a time when the economy is not stable. Government is actually investing for the future of its employees. If a question maybe asked, who doesn't want to benefit after he/she retires from work?I guess no-one!Reports have it that the planned go-slow will later develop into an industrial action which is said to likely entice other civil servants if government and civil servants' union leaders fail to reach an agreement when they meet under the auspices of the National Joint Negotiating Council on 20 January 2016. Surely, people should use their common sense and understand that, presently, Government has no money.Speaking of civil servants bonus, Finance and Economic development Minister, Patrick Chinamasa made it clear that the Government was still mobilizing the resources. Therefore, civil servants should be encouraged to abstain from from striking. Actually, they should learn to have their problems resolved formally or through negotiations.In simpler terms, industrial action can be defined as a refusal by employees to do anything that can be used as a bargaining weapon against the employer, who in this case is the Government.It is actually wiser for members of PTUZ to go for binding arbitration as reasonable and justified grievances will be better heard and solved by the responsible authorities instead of striking or embarking on go-slow.Getting on a go-slow by teachers is a big threat to the education sector. It paralyses the service delivery by the teachers. Additionally, go-slow will trigger frustration from parents who would have made an effort to pay their children's school fees in full for the term.Dialogues and negotiations are advantageous in the sense that employees will be at work and there will be no interruptions in schools. Additionally, the PTUZ members should take a leaf from Teachers Union of Zimbabwe's Chief Executive Officer Manuel Nyawo who was against the idea of an industrial action.Quoted in a local daily press, Nyawo said, "We only met government last week and we agreed on the way forward, where they promised to stagger bonus payments. It would appear to us that other unions have an agenda to cause unnecessary mayhem in the country. Let us give space for dialogue, and if it is stalled, we can then act otherwise. We encourage all our teachers to report for duty".Industrial action must not be taken lightly. It has many negative impacts that do not only affect the employer but the employees as well. It is also pertinent to note that strikes damage property and other public goods.It is imperative to note that there is no legal protection in criminal law for strikers or organizers who break the law, for example intentional damaging of property or trespassing. The police should not hesitate to arrest anyone who would have been found at the wrong side of the law.A number of strikes have been done in the country but without fruition. So, PTUZ members should avoid falling in the same hole as this will not resolve any disputes.What Zimbabwe needs right now is everyone to work towards building our beloved nation. Strikes, go-slow or any such endeavors have a tendency of destruction which we don't need right now. Ms OKeeffes rebuke of the minister comes ahead of the Governments update to Europe on January 28 regarding its response to the 2014 OKeeffe judgement. Her comments will be a major embarrassment for the Coalition heading into the general election. Ms OKeeffe, who was fought tooth and nail by the State, said Ms OSullivan and the Government have devised a formula to opportunistically minimise the liability of the State to these unfortunate victims. She added: I find that deplorable and disheartening. Ms OKeeffe, who was abused by her school principal in 1973, said the Government has clearly failed to live up to its obligation to protect children from ill-treatment, especially in a primary education context. In the wake of her victory over the State, Ms OKeeffe met with Ms OSullivan in December 2014 to discuss the Government approach to dealing with outstanding cases of child abuse. She said she was not really sure why she was invited to such a meeting, unless it was to give, in some way or another, the veneer of victim approval to the proposal. Education Minister Jan OSullivan Ms OSullivan said the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision applies only to people who were abused and had made an initial complaint against a teacher, but no action was taken. However, Ms OKeeffe has strongly rejected this. There is no legal basis for suggesting that it is necessary to establish a prior sexual abuse before one can succeed, she said. That is simply not the law. An attempt has been made to use the factual matrix of my case and to seek to suggest that that is the rationale of the ECHR judgement. She also criticised the amount of 84,000 that the State proposed giving to victims by way of compensation to be completely insufficient. The quantum of the damages that I was awarded in the High Court for the abuse came to 305,104-odd, she said. That would be a more appropriate marker and in line with the level of damages. Abuse victim Louise OKeeffe Ms OSullivans spokesman said it is the departments informed opinion that the judgement in the OKeeffe case relates to cases where there was a prior complaint about sexual abuse, no action or no effective action was taken, and children subsequently suffered. There is, however, no strict interpretation as to what constitutes a prior complaint, the spokesman said. The department is aware that Ms OKeeffe disagrees with this approach. However, it is our view that this approach addresses the issue of historic sexual abuse in Irish schools and we will continue to seek to reach agreement with individuals on that basis. HES often hailed as one of the best actors in the world, but despite five Oscar nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio has never walked away with a golden statuette. Following his Golden Globe win on Sunday, along with his Bafta nomination announced last week for his role as frontiersman Hugh Glass in The Revenant, perhaps 2016 could finally be his year. When asked why the California-born star hasnt hasnt managed to bag one of the coveted gongs so far, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, The Revenants Mexican director and co-writer, says: Honestly, youll have to ask the 6,000 members of the Academy, I dont know. I think hes an amazing actor, and hopefully he will be appreciated, adds the 52-year-old film-maker, who has three Oscars under his own belt, for 2014s Birdman. The Revenant has so far received three Golden Globes plus eight Bafta nominations and thats before the Academy Awards shortlists are announced on January 14. But rather than ticking off awards, Inarritu believes that the important thing is to have finished the film and he doesnt say this lightly. The movie was shot chronologically in Argentina and northern Calgary, Canada, where temperatures can dip to minus 40, so cold that even the cameras stopped working. I feel very fortunate to have survived, says the director. To have made a film that I really think is an experience for audiences, in a way that they will never have experienced before or in a long time probably, and thats the marrow of the whole thing. Some involved in the production have described it as hellish, but Inarritu disagrees. It was challenging and brave and rewarding and unique definitely difficult, but not hellish. Hell is in other parts of the world, where people are really suffering. At times, it did feel like everything was against him and his team, though, but he reasons: When you establish a relationship with nature, nature will dictate the rules, and you will adapt to that and struggle to find a way to get what you need. And that, he notes, is not always what film-makers today are looking for. Everything has to be a controlled, profit-friendly, designed, pasteurised, virtual world, but this was not like that. This was about guys surviving tough circumstances and we went through the same. And I think the film benefited from that. The movie is inspired by the true tale of the legendary explorer Glass, who, in the 1820s, was attacked by a bear during a fur trapping expedition in unchartered wilderness and abandoned and left for dead by his own hunting team. Refusing to succumb to death, Glass undertakes a 200-mile odyssey through the vast and untamed West, on the trail of the man who betrayed him, John Fitzgerald, played by Tom Hardy. Inarritu chose this story, he says, to observe what a man can survive. Theres a resilience to the character of the story which is very admirable and inspiring and the question was: why? Why did he make that journey? Why did he survive? What was the driving force? What maintains you, your spirit, when you have lost everything? There were a lot of things which resonated very much with the times we are living in today. One of DiCaprios most intensely physical roles to date he was buried under snow, required to strip in sub-zero conditions, jump into freezing rivers, sleep in animal carcasses and eat raw meat its also almost a wordless performance. There are powerful themes for me in the film: the will to live and our relationship with the wilderness, explains the 41-year-old actor. Ive previously played a lot of characters who were incredibly articulate in different ways and had a lot to say, so this was a unique challenge for me, adds DiCaprio, whose recent credits also include The Great Gatsby and The Wolf Of Wall Street. A lot of it was about adapting in the moment, about reacting to what nature was giving us and to what Glass was going through as we filmed. Its a period of the American Wests history which has been rarely explored on the big screen, something which interested him. It was far more wild than the Wild West. It was like the Amazon, a completely unknown wilderness, a no mans land, where few laws applied. These trappers who came from Europe and the East Coast had to learn to live life in the middle of the elements, surviving like any other animal in the wilderness. The films yet to be released, but the incredible bear attack is already proving to be one of the movies most talked-about scenes. DiCaprio recalls it being incredibly difficult and arduous but its profoundly moving. In the film, Alejandro puts you there almost like a fly buzzing around the attack, so that you feel the breath of Glass and the bear. What he achieved is beyond anything Ive seen. And his co-star, 22-year-old Brit Will Poulter, agrees. Its a testament to what an amazing job the visual effects team did, because there were very few moments where CGI was used. That was something Alejandro was very intent on, says the star of Were The Millers and The Maze Runner. The Revenant marks the first time Poulter has been able to watch anything hes in and been able to totally disconnect myself from everything I know about the movie and the worrying fact Im going to pop up on screen. It really is that immersive and affecting, adds the London-born actor. He plays Jim Bridger, a man who would later go on to become one of the Wests most legendary guides, and along with the rest of the cast, attended a trappers bootcamp apparently before the shooting started. Poulter believes this was designed to bring us together, develop camaraderie, and allow us to learn some basic survival skills and familiarise ourselves with weaponry, but points out... What actually felt like the bootcamp was the shooting of the film. Thats when we were tested every single day, in very harsh conditions, he continues. Genuinely, for all of us, I think it was the hardest thing weve ever done. And a lot of us think its the hardest thing well ever do. The Revenant is released on Friday A FRIEND of mine grew up in Rome, in Italy, in the 1980s. She lived in an apartment, with her family, close to the Vatican. Every New Years Eve was carnage in her neighbourhood, because of the tradition of lancio dei cocci people throw old crockery out their sitting room window on the stroke of midnight. The practice is believed to be cathartic. By smashing up raggedy and useless mugs and plates, you do away with all the evil and negative in your life. It caused mayhem, however, for my friends family and neighbours. Everything from bottles to washing machines were launched onto the pavement from floors above. Her parents would move their car from its city-centre parking spot to safeguard it, and they dared not take a midnight stroll. In anticipation of this New Years Eve, my wife and I were encouraged to turn to the Japanese art of tidying, as devised by Marie Kondo (who has packaged her thoughts in two books. The second went on sale last week). Its less violent than the Italian method, although it is painfully time-consuming. Kondo lives in Tokyo with her husband and child. At five years of age, she hungrily read her mothers housewife magazines. She became, in her own words, an organising fanatic. At break-time at school, while her classmates went out to the yard playing and skipping, she snuck back into her classroom to rearrange bookshelves. At home, she methodically moved from room to room starting with her own bedroom and moving onto her siblings tidying and discarding items. She became so obsessed with her mission that she had a nervous breakdown in secondary school. Richard in his living room . Now, she runs a tidying empire. As well as bestselling books (her first one sold 1.5m copies in Japan, before becoming a global manifesto), she runs a consultancy, advising clients and businesses on how to de-clutter their homes and offices, and, consequently, their lives. Her devotees, according to their published testimonials, have lost weight, increased sales at work and been spurred to divorce, as a result of following her philosophy. Because of the divorce possibility, I approached the KonMari Method (coined from her nickname, taken from her first and last names) with trepidation. My wife insisted, for example, that we assess my pile of clothes together, clothes being the first category Kondo advises you to tackle. She has a guiding principle: discard things that dont spark joy and decide where to put what you want to keep. You organise by category, not by room, in this order: clothes, books, papers, komono (CDs, stationery, tools, toiletries, valuables, and so on) and sentimental items. If more than one person lives in your house or apartment, you organise one person at a time. My wife, our three-year-old daughter, and I live with two dogs, Ismael and Sirena, but, thankfully, they lead largely unfussy lives. So, with clothes, Kondo advises you gather them on the floor of a room for sorting, starting with tops/shirts, because things worn close to your heart make it easier to judge whether or not you feel joy. Shes a funny one. She can be sentimental about a household utensil, like a frying pan or a hammer: If you come across komono that dont particularly spark joy, yet are necessary, try praising them to the hilt. Think of how they make your life easier, about their wonderful appearance and marvellous features, and tell them how great they are. As you do this, you will begin to feel grateful for how they help you and to see how they support your life. They will no longer be simply something convenient to have, and you will gradually begin to feel a thrill of joy when you see them. She can also be ruthless when it comes to things like, say, your childrens artwork and mementos of past lovers (if you hope to develop a relationship with someone new, the basic approach is to get rid of everything). I struggled hardest with her philistine advice on books. I have about eight books on my bedside table at the one time. Kondo says if a book doesnt spark joy for you now, it should be cast off, as it wont in the future. This I know not to be the case. I often scan my bookshelves before going on holiday and pick out an unread book that has languished there for years. Once a book is read, it has been experienced, she also says, and it should be offloaded, which is extreme. I revisit books for work research. Books are also a lovely wallpaper. They trigger memories about where you were in your life when you read them. There is merit, though, in her advice to categorise books, which Id never done before and which it took me a few hours to do. I can now locate books at a glance. I also found her advise on clustering items in the one place like papers, which took an age to sort through, and household tools to be sane thinking. The best of her reasoning has to do with clothes storage, which follows four rules: fold it; stand it upright; store in one spot; and divide space into square compartments. This creates a huge amount of room, and helps you to find clothes quickly (or realise you had certain pants you never knew you had). She talks a lot about rebound, in the language of addiction treatment, which I am already prone to do when it comes to folding clothes. Its not easy being tidy. My wife Michelle and I have only been living together for about six years. We live in Barcelona, having arrived in the city from different countries (she from Venezuela), so, originally, wed only a handful of suitcases and rucksacks between us. After a KonMari campaign, eight black bags of rubbish (and two huge bags of clothes, which weve given to a friendly African guy who hangs out on our street corner) piled up in our hallway, although this paled in comparison to one of Kondos clients, who harvested 200 45-litre bin bags from a tidying operation. Ive reluctantly offloaded a hundred books. What interested me most was the amount of electronics flotsam that had washed up on our shores (either broken or obsolete) in a short spell two laptops, one tablet, one Kindle reader, two iPods, one mobile phone, one smartphone, dozens of CDs that would have been treasured 15 years ago, but are now redundant, post-Spotify, and other online resources. Kondos enterprise is a frightfully first-world exercise, but excepting some laugh-out-loud reservations useful, given what cluttered, trivial lives we lead. Marie Kondos Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying is published by Vermillion, an imprint of Ebury Publishing (14.99). In 11 of these instances, Google said that its cars would have been involved in a crash. Head of Googles self-driving car project, Chris Urmson, said that this is not a reason to be alarmed. There's none where it was like, 'Holy cow, we just avoided a big wreck'," he said. Google reported 272 cases in which its software or on-board sensors failed, though it didnt provide detailed scenarios. "We're seeing lots of improvement. But it's not quite ready yet. That's exactly why we test our vehicles with a steering wheel and pedals," Urmson said. Whatever your treatment option, there is a lot to take on board and the financial implications are not generally high on the priority list. However, it doesnt take long for the realities of the disease to hit home. Not every patient is entitled to a medical card, so there are medication costs and extra GP visits to factor in. Hospital parking costs are exorbitant, and the cost of a decent wig can set you back 600. Theres nothing free about the Big C. Personally, I didnt have any particular financial woes when I was diagnosed five years ago, aside from the usual mortgage/childcare/bills scenario that most of us face and I didnt actively seek any financial assistance from the State other than the sick pay to which I was entitled when I was unable to work. It wasnt until quite near the end of my treatment when I was due to have five weeks of radiotherapy, involving a daily 60km round trip from home to hospital that I was informed by an oncology nurse of a fund that could ease the burden. The stipend was modest I recall receiving 250 but it made a difference. I wasnt in dire straits but I wasnt rolling around in spare cash either and it covered petrol costs. I met other people during my treatment people who were less fortunate than myself and who would be entitled to the full 1,000 payout. One woman had a brain tumour and had to travel from Kerry for her daily dose of radium. She relied on a voluntary bus service to take her to and from the hospital every day. She was unable to return to work and, through no fault of her own, faced an uncertain future relying entirely on State benefits. I recall her telling me how she used the hardship fund to pay her gas bill. The Irish Cancer Society understands the quandary patients find themselves in last year it carried out an in-depth survey called The Real Cost of Cancer but as a charity 90% funded by the public, it says it can no longer afford to meet the demand of the financial support programme. It says it was a difficult choice to close the hardship fund but says it is no longer possible for the society alone to bear the burden. It has highlighted the issues with the Government and the HSE and said it hoped both would respond adequately. There have been angry calls to boycott Daffodil Day, while others questioned why charities are expected to offer financial support to families in the first place. Rightly or wrongly, the Irish Cancer Society is passing the buck and the Government isnt going to pick up the tab.Fighting cancer is tough enough, this will only add to the load. NUCLEAR weapons tests are no longer common, so they are a little shocking when they happen. It may even be shocking to the country that conducts it most recently, North Korea. The famously secretive regime broadcast news of its safe and perfect test of an H-bomb to spectators standing in the massive Kim Il Sung Square, in the capital, Pyongygang, shortly after the event. According to the Korean Central News Agency: There took place a world-startling event to be specially recorded in the national history The DPRK proudly joined the advanced ranks of nuclear-weapons states possessing the H-bomb. The mixture of pride, triumph, and aggression that has accompanied announcements following each of North Koreas tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, and now in 2016 raises the question of what North Korean leaders hope to achieve politically. The technical aims are obvious. The first test was a dud, so a second test was required. The 2009 test yielded between 2 and 7 kilotons (the Hiroshima blast was 15 kilotons), and the 2013 test a bit better (between 7 and 25 kilotons). The North Koreans stated that the 2013 test diversified its nuclear-deterrence capabilities. With each test, the North Koreans improve their devices. Data from the tests helps them design more reliable, efficient and more usable weapons (one hopes that safety and security are also on Kim Jong-uns to-do list). North Korea is aiming for smaller, more powerful warheads, so that it can fit a nuclear payload on an intercontinental range missile. Each test helps North Korea advance toward that goal. But was this an H-bomb? And, if so, does it matter? Hydrogen bombs were nicknamed after the heavy isotopes of hydrogen that are used as fuel in the fusion reaction deuterium and tritium. Unlike fission, an enormous amount of energy is needed to initiate the fusion of atoms. Consequently, weapons designers came up with a two-stage design that uses a smaller fission bomb as a spark plug for the fusion fuel. The X-rays from the primary result in the compression of the fusion fuel (radiation implosion) in the secondary. Whereas fission weapons yield explosions in the hundreds of kilotons, thermonuclear warheads can have much higher explosive impact, because they are limited only by the amount of fusion fuel. Add stages and you can design a bomb, like the Soviets did, at 100 megatons almost unimaginably more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. They dont have to be large in fact, the US stockpile has a warhead (B-83) whose yield can be dialled down into the low-kiloton range, or maxed out at 1.2 megatons. But to design a thermonuclear warhead in the kiloton range takes experience, which the North Koreans dont yet have. Its no wonder that experts doubt Kims claims. But its hard to tell. Seismic readings help with an estimation of the yield of nuclear weapon tests, but little else. In this case, a seismic event equivalent to 5.1 on the Richter scale indicates a test of between 10 and 20 kilotons. North Korea might have tested another fission device or a fusion-boosted fission device. The latter does trigger a fusion reaction within heavy hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium), so Kim wouldnt be entirely wrong to call it a hydrogen bomb, but the point of the design is to make the fission reaction more efficient. This would be a bad development, since it would help North Korea lighten its warheads to extend the range of its ICBMs. Thats why its no time for complacency, even if the H-bomb of justice is not what it seems. North Korea has been busier than ever testing its ballistic missiles and it wont be too long before its warhead improvements allow its missiles to reach the continental United States. If Kim Jong-un used the test for political reasons, to consolidate his power before the historic Workers Party Congress scheduled for the spring, he may be feeling more secure afterwards and in the mood to talk. If so, the world community should take every opportunity to drive home two points: that engagement is the key to security and that nuclear weapons are not. If not, leaders still must convey to Kim that this most recent test is certainly not a drivers licence for nuclear weapons. While Kim may appear giddy at the thought of having the H-bomb, he should be a lot more sober: Like driving, maintaining nuclear weapons quickly becomes a chore that requires eternal vigilance to avoid accidents. And although they are rare, head-on collisions do occur, resulting in certain death for the drivers. Sharon Squassoni is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, where she has directed the Proliferation Prevention Program since 2010. THE citizens of Rotterdam have a habit of turning adversity into opportunity they did it after the Second World War when the Nazis bombed the city to nothing, growing its port to become the biggest in the world. Now its very existence is under threat as climate change threatens to swamp its inhabitants, with 80% of the region as much as 7m below sea level, making evacuation impossible. They are once again fighting back, not just to overcome the challenge of the rising sea and increasing rain, but to develop survival strategies to sell to the rest of the world. Firmly at the helm of this gigantic challenge is Ahmed Aboutaleb, the citys mayor for the past seven years. In a country where some politicians are synonymous with xenophobia, it is in some way fitting that Rotterdams first citizen insists on wearing his challenge as a privilege. Not just a Muslim but the holder of Moroccan and Dutch passports, he addressed his citizens in French after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, telling them that We are all Charlie now. He followed it up by advising his fellow migrants to leave if they were unwilling to follow the laws and constitution of the country he came to with his family as a 15 year old, describing himself as different and desperately anxious to learn. Leading a city of 174 nationalities he describes himself as a small Ban Ki-moon, referring to the UNs secretary general he reminds his people they are in effect all migrants, with the first citizens coming from Brabant and Zeeland to claim the land from the sea. Netherlands second city, it is the worlds sixth largest port, and Europes biggest, handling much of the continents imports and exports. It is among the ten most vulnerable cities in the world and not just because of the fear of rising seas. Drought is also forecast, with implications for drinking water and agriculture, its hinterlands other big industry. The city grew from industrious Dutch farmers reclaiming land from the sea centuries ago, and the much expanded area depends on dams, dikes, and barriers to keep it safe from the North Sea. As the citizens rebuilt after the war, which left few of its buildings intact apart from the beautiful city hall and the New York Hotel, from which migrants sailed to the New World they were hit a devastating blow by mother nature. In 1953 water broke through, claiming the lives of more than 1,800 people. There is nothing to suggest such a catastrophe would recur, as the buildings soar skywards, and the gleaming stainless steel of huge factories stretch for kilometre after kilometre along the banks of the Meuse as it opens to the North Sea. However, some of its biggest earners are among the biggest climate-change culprits, such as the petrochemical industry and the coal-fired power plants on which that industry relies. It has five oil refineries the biggest in the world 45 chemical companies, and several electricity generating plants. Constantly in competition with Chinese ports to which it lost its world crown some years ago it has created one of the deepest harbours, capable of taking the worlds largest vessels. It is currently home to the worlds biggest cargo ship, owned by a Dutch company but destined to roam the seas, replacing many smaller vessels. But it is shedding workers, replacing them with an army of huge cranes operated by a single person with a joystick watching on a screen kilometres away. The port still employs about 100,000 people, with an estimated 250,000 jobs linked to the port, according to the mayor. Its inland waterway through the Rhine and Meuse allows thousands of barges to ply their way with goods to France, Germany, and northern Italy, while rail carries to Spain and Poland. Its easier for goods to come from China to Rotterdam and on to Italy than for them to be delivered directly to Italian ports, said Aboutaleb. The port is owned by the city and run by an independent agency. Politicians are not the ones to run a port, including a mayor, he said. Part of the evolution from spewing carbon into the air is to create oxygen for the city and so a massive project of redeveloping an area with 33,000 houses is under way, with some being demolished to create green areas. The plans do not mean the end of Rotterdams current industry either, with the Dutch-owned Shell investing billions into modernising its production plants, using diesel to create more eco-friendly fuels as industry moves towards biofuels. Aboutaleb said: The city is in transition. We are preparing for the next economy with less or no carbon and by 2050 this city will not use any energy, but produce it. We have a brilliant future, reusing heat and water from the industry, enough to provide sufficient 45,000 houses under construction, and we are working on a 5bn project that will provide the cities of Leiden, Delft, The Hague, and Rotterdam with carbon-free energy. The port is working with a collection of scientists and engineers, as well as sociologists to rethink the whole concept of change, he said. But the future does not include restoring the jobs that moved to Asia and other places. It will be possible, in just three years, to print your suit rather than import it from Hong Kong, or custom-design the most popular form of Dutch transport the bicycle and then print it. This is not a joke, it is the reality, but what does this mean for ports, shipping companies? said Aboutaleb. We will rethink all of that and the city of Rotterdam will be in the lead, bringing the dangers to be considered and also the opportunities. There is of course a social chapter to all of this: Keeping peace among the 174 cultures and making sure they play their role; ensuring the success of a massive programme of improved quality schools, urban renewal, house repairs, and better integration to raise the quality of life and reduce the crime rate in the citys southside, Zuid. We must create a sustainable economy with more wealth for the citizens, said Aboutaleb. The future of Rotterdam and other such cities are as the workhorses of the EU. The European Commission and the European Parliament must realise that the future is in the hands of cities and as national governments decline, the city governments will become more important in shaping Europe. The forecasted droughts are just as big a challenge as rising seas, said Aboutaleb, but the Dutch farmers are rising to the challenge by producing food with 5l of water compared to 70l and 80l in other parts of the world. As Europes biggest exporter of food per capita, agriculture is as important to the economy as it is to feeding an expanding global population. At least ten people, nine of them Germans, were murdered in the atrocity in the Sultanahmet district, near the citys famous Blue Mosque. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was the top target for all terrorist groups in the region. His country, he asserted, was fighting against all of them equally. This attack will again harden attitudes towards immigrants and exacerbate the refugee crisis which, of course, is one of the objects of the exercise for the bararians in IS. Without a refugee crisis, their dark-ages mission of destruction becomes more difficult and even less plausible. Though they are not entirely to blame for that crisis, without it, and without the abhorring publicity the regular beheadings or burnings of Western and local hostages brings, the organisation would hardly rank in international consciousness. Without international attention, IS becomes no more than a domestic, or, at worst, a regional problem for those countries afflicted by their cancerous presence. There are valid tactical reasons, even if immoral ones, for targetting Turkey, from an IS point of view. Turkey, on foot of a 3bn pledge from the European Union, has accommodated 2.2m Syrian refugees we, unambitiously and grudgingly, have promised to take 4,000 over a number of years. In stark contrast, Turkey announced on Monday that it planned to give work permits to refugees to stem the flow of displaced people into Europe. This safety valve, utterly dependent on the tolerance of Turks and EU finance, may relieve the pressure generated by growing refugee numbers in Europe. Those numbers, and the appalling behaviour of a minority of them in European cities on New Years Eve, have already caused political leaders, especially German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pause for thought. Sweden, too, has shifted its position by reinstating identity checks on the 16km resund Bridge, a direct link between Denmark and Sweden. Germany and Sweden are paying a heavy price for leading the way in the humanitarian crisis of our day. Street protests by right-wing groups, and vigilante attacks on migrants in some German cities, have added to the sense of something nasty simmering just below the surface. Growing support for Marine Le Pens Front National, in France, adds to the gathering gloom. All of these difficult issues might make it easy for us to shirk our responsibilities, but that would be a terrible mistake. Like flooding, and climate change, the refugee/immigration crisis will be one of the defining issues of this century. We cannot choose not to respond. We cannot pretend we are not involved, nor that our contribution to the problem, or to the solution, is so small as to be irrelevant. The sad and deeply revelatory thing is that, in our heart of hearts, we already know that. Opinion / Columnist The local tabloid in the name of News day published an article recently accusing the state of using 'dirty' divide and rule tactics. The journalists were arrested on allegations of publishing falsehoods after they allegedly published a story alleging that members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) were secretly paid their annual bonuses last year.The story was likely to cause alarm, despondency and turmoil given that most civil servants were not given their bonuses and some had just received their salaries, days after they were expected. The article titled 'CIOs secretly get bonuses' chided government for paying the alleged bonuses to members of the organisation while postponing salaries for other civil servants.Police said the story was not factual as members of the CIO were not given the said bonuses just like any other civil servants. A close analysis of disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone something which never happened. A close analysis of the statement issued by the police indicates that it was a bonus which never was.Surely people should be accountable for what they say and if it is false, journalists should face the wrath of the law otherwise they discredit the journalism profession. People should practice investigative journalism. They should verify their facts before they publish. It seems the article was an attention seeking devoid of facts. Journalists should abide by the tenets of journalism which emphasize factuality, truthfulness, objectivity, credibility, reliability, verifiability, and credibility. In fact we should not be involved in what is referred to as cosmetic journalists.Professional bodies like the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) should monitor the activities of its members and bring to book wayward journalists who want to put this noble profession into disrepute. The Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) which sought to promote and evaluate the standards of media practice in Zimbabwe should be implemented and bring sanity to the profession.Editorially, the information sector faces real values dilemma. This has gone beyond being a charge against journalism by those in power. It has become a self admitted shortcoming by practitioners of the industry. Thus the sector's values crisis has to be addressed in a comprehensive way that seeks integrity and professionalism in the sector. New York City police initially said one of the teens used a gun to order the girls father to leave the playground in the downtrodden Brownsville section of Brooklyn last Thursday night and then attacked her. Four of the youths, who range in age from 14 to 17, were charged with a single count each of rape and sex abuse and two counts of participating in a criminal sex act, police reported. The fifth suspect, who was taken into custody at about 11am, is awaiting charges. He is 17 years old. Conflicting information has surfaced about details of the assault, including whether a gun was involved, said politician Hakeem Jeffries, whose congressional district includes Brownsville. Two mothers turn in their sons after Brooklyn gang rape: https://t.co/YY9eZrnqMl pic.twitter.com/vatACg2ofo Intelligencer (@intelligencer) January 11, 2016 He said the father had been drinking alcohol with his underage daughter to the point where he became intoxicated... The initial reports were that he was threatened with a gun but that seems to be based on his version of events. Police declined to comment on the case, saying the investigation was continuing. By the time the father returned with two uniformed police officers, the suspects had fled. The woman was taken to hospital, where she was treated and released. Jeffries said the woman and her father had recently reconnected after a troubled past. He had abandoned her as a child, sending her into foster care, and she was raised on the West Coast, said Jeffries. While more than a decade of gentrification has transformed Brooklyn into a worldwide symbol of trendiness, pockets of the borough remain a gritty reminder of the citys crime-ridden past. Brownsville is particularly violent, with the citys highest rate of injuries from assault, according to the New York City health department. It also leads the city in premature deaths, meaning New Yorkers who die before age 65. This is a horrific incident and those responsible need to be prosecuted, said Jeffries. But from a public policy perspective, everyone at the city, state and federal level needs to re-engage in Brownsville and help the residents better pursue the American dream. "Brownsville has been left behind as Brooklyn has become one of the hottest places to live in the nation. Asia Bangladesh Seeks Death Penalty for Islamist Convicted of War Crimes The Bangladesh government is seeking the death penalty for a top Islamist leader convicted of war crimes during the countrys independence war in 1971. DHAKA The Bangladesh government on Tuesday filed a review petition with the Supreme Court seeking the death penalty for a top Islamist leader convicted of war crimes during the countrys independence war in 1971. A war crimes tribunal set up in 2010 has sparked violence and drawn criticism from opposition politicians, including leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, that it is victimizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas political opponents. Four opposition politicians, including three leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, have been convicted by the tribunal and executed since late 2013. The Supreme Court in 2014 commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence handed down to top Jamaat-e-Islami member Delwar Hossain Sayedee, 76, for atrocities committed during the nine-month war to break away from Pakistan. State prosecutors are challenging that decision. We have sought the highest punishment for him, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters, after his office filed the petition. Sayedees initial conviction in 2013 on charges of genocide, rape, torture and the persecution of Hindus triggered protests in which about 60 people were killed. About 3 million people were killed, according to official figures, and thousands of women were raped, during the war in which some factions, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed the breakaway from what was then called West Pakistan. But the party denies that its leaders committed any atrocities. Anger over the tribunals convictions and the executions has come amid a surge in militant violence in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, with militant groups claiming the murder of two foreigners and four secular writers and a publisher last year. The government has blamed the increase in Islamist violence on the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is an important ally of the main opposition party, but it denies any link to the attacks. Asia China Formally Arrests Secretly Held Rights Lawyers for Subversion China formally arrests several Chinese human rights lawyers on suspicion of subverting state power after months of secret detention. BEIJING China formally arrested several Chinese human rights lawyers on suspicion of subverting state power after months of secret detention, one of their colleagues said Tuesday, the latest move by authorities to crack down on dissent. President Xi Jinpings administration has tightened control over almost every aspect of civil society since 2012, citing the need to buttress national security and stability. As many as 38 lawyers and activists associated with the Beijing Fengrui law firm have been swept up in the crackdown and held since July under a procedure which allows for six months of secret detention, Human Rights Watch has said. The firm has represented several high-profile clients, such as the ethnic Uighur dissident Ilham Tohti. State media has accused the firm and its associates of orchestrating protests outside courts and politicizing ordinary legal cases in order to attract international attention. Zhou Shifeng, the firms director, was among those whose families were notified by police in the northern city of Tianjin on Tuesday of their Jan. 8 arrest, his colleague Liu Xiaoyuan said. The families of Wang Quanzhang and Li Shuyun, a lawyer and apprentice lawyer at the firm, were also notified of their arrests on the same charges, Liu said, which carry possible life sentences in severe cases. For the crime to become as serious as state subversion, its a completely political charge, Liu said. Several other people from separate firms, including Zhao Wei, an assistant for the prominent detained lawyer Li Heping, were also arrested for state subversion or inciting state subversion, Liu said. Calls to Tianjin police seeking comment went unanswered. From July through September, authorities detained or questioned about 300 human rights lawyers and activists, rights groups have said, in the governments most severe clampdown on dissent in two decades. China consistently rejects any criticism of its human rights record, saying it adheres to the rule of law. Nonetheless, the crackdown has alarmed Western governments. US Ambassador to China Max Baucus has called on China to recognize several detained rights lawyers as partners, not enemies of the government. Chinese authorities have also detained a Swedish national who worked on legal aid and rule of law, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Asia India Urged to Ban Female Genital Mutilation A group of Indian women who were subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) as children are calling on the government to ban the ancient ritual. LONDON A group of Indian women who were subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) as children are calling on the government to ban the ancient ritual, describing it as child abuse. FGM, which can cause serious physical and psychological problems, is more commonly linked to African countries, which have led international efforts to end the practice. Little is known about FGM in India, where the ritual is carried out in great secrecy by the close-knit Dawoodi Bohra community, a Shia Muslim sect thought to number more than 1 million. The campaign is led by Masooma Ranalvi, a 49-year-old publisher who has launched an online petition in which she describes how she was cut as a 7-year-old in Mumbai. The shock and trauma of that day are still with me. All of us feel scarred by it. It is there in our psyche, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from New Delhi. What makes me really angry is that this continues today. What happened to me is history, but why are we doing this to young girls even now? Someone has to speak up and we have to stop this. Campaigners said the Dawoodi Bohras are the only Muslim community in India to practice FGM. The ritualcalled Khatna in Indiainvolves removing part of the clitoris. Although it is not mentioned in the Koran, the Bohras consider Khatna a religious obligation. Debate on the subject has long been taboo, campaigners say. There is a lot of fear in the community that if you do not obey you will be excommunicated, Ranalvi said. It has taken a lot of courage to speak out. Today, a lot of women support us but they are not willing to come out openly because of this fear. India is not included on UN lists of countries affected by FGM, but Ranalvi estimated up to three quarters of Bohra girls are still cut. Psychological Trauma The petition, initiated by 17 Bohra women, calls for a law banning FGM in India. Campaigners plan to present it to the Bohra high priest and the government in the coming weeks. Government officials were not immediately available to comment. Campaigners say a previous anonymous petition to the Bohra high priest was ignored. One of the 17 women, Aarefa Johari, said FGM was rooted in the patriarchal belief that a womans sexual desire must be curbed. Even where the physical injury is no longer severe, the psychological trauma is really long-lasting, said Johari, co-founder of Sahiyo, a group campaigning to end FGM in the Bohra community. Weve heard from a lot of women who experience and remember the trauma as a form of sexual abuse, she added. Worldwide, up to 140 million girls and women have undergone FGM, which is carried out in a swathe of Africa and pockets of the Middle East and Asia. The practice among Indian Dawoodi Bohras hit headlines in November when a court in Australia found two members of the diaspora community guilty of cutting two girls. A Bohra religious leader was convicted of being an accessory. The UN General Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution three years ago in favor of the elimination of FGM. Most African countries where FGM is practiced have made it illegal. Asia Thai Court Bars British Activist From Leaving Country A Thai court seizes the passport of a prominent British activist vocal about migrant rights in Thailand and is barring him from leaving the country. CHIANG MAI, Thailand A Thai court has seized the passport of a prominent British activist vocal about migrant rights in Thailand and is barring him from leaving the country. Andy Hall is currently facing a lawsuit brought against him by Natural Fruit Company Ltd. in a case of criminal defamation and computer crimes. Charges were brought against Hall after he published a report with Helsinki-based NGO Finnwatch that allegedly exposed labor rights violations at the companys pineapple processing plant, where workers are overwhelming from Burma, in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, southern Thailand. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Hall said: The court has seized my UK passport and ordered an immigration block on my leaving Thailand without court permission pending a final decision of the court in my guilt or innocence. He was released on a 300,000 baht (US$8,280) bail on Wednesday after surrendering himself into court custody. Im not a flight risk based on my past behaviour in respecting the court and justice system of Thailand and researching migrant worker conditions in Thailand is not a crime. So why restrict my freedom pending a criminal trial when any guilt on my behalf has not been proven? Hall posted on his Facebook page. Sonja Vartiala, executive director of Finnwatch, said in a statement from the organization that Hall should not be treated as a flight risk since he has followed the procedures of the Thai justice system and has acted in accordance with national law. Andy Hall has shown nothing but respect towards the rule of law and the judiciary in Thailand, alongside his willingness to respond to allegations against him in a court of law. For this reason, there seems to be no reason to treat him as a flight risk, confiscate his passport and prevent him from traveling in and out of Thailand, she said. Hall is currently prohibited from traveling outside Thailand before a ruling has been issued in his case or unless special permission is granted. He could face a maximum of seven years in prison if he is found guilty at his trial at the Bangkok South Criminal Court on Jan. 18. The activist also indicated on Wednesday that he intends to seek help from the British Embassy in Thailand to retrieve his seized passport. I shall now petition the UK embassy to Thailand requesting diplomatic officials to request the return of my confiscated passport from Bangkok South Criminal Court, given that the passport is the property of the UK government, he wrote on Facebook. Halls report for Finnwatch is said to have prompted several Finnish supermarket retailers to stop purchasing pineapple concentrate from Natural Fruit after the company refused to let independent auditors assess working conditions at the plant. Burma Ailing and Hospitalized, Letpadan Duo Again Denied Bail Two detained activists see bail requests again denied, despite their deteriorating health since they were jailed for involvement in protests against Burmas National Education Law. RANGOON The local court in Thayawady Township, Pegu Division, continues to deny two detained education activists bail, despite their deteriorating health since they were jailed for involvement in protests against Burmas controversial National Education Law in March 2015. This is the second time student protestor Htein Lin Aung and supporter Mya Gyi have seen their requests for bail denied by the court. They are among five detainees who have been receiving medical treatment at Rangoon General Hospital for ailments, and the five will continue to receive treatment as their conditions are described as at-risk. Ko Htein Lin Aung was denied bail, and the court said that we need to submit the doctors signature attesting to his need for further medical treatment. In fact, weve already submitted the medical records signed by the medical superintendent of Rangoon Hospital. Well appeal to the district court, said Aye Aye Khaing, a relative of Htein Lin Aung. Htein Lin Aung is suffering from an intestinal infection for which he requires continued medication, while X-rays show that Mya Gyi sustained injuries to his skull and jaw, and is reportedly suffering from numbness. Min Thway Thit, another one of the five students receiving medical treatment in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy that the ailing quintet would all require continued hospitalization, and were being told by authorities that they would not be allowed re-admission to Rangoon General Hospital if they returned to their cells at Thayawady Prison only to see their health deteriorate further. Protests against the National Education Law were staged for months before police launched a crackdown on the main column of demonstrators at Letpadan in Pegu Division on March 10. Police arrested more than 100 student protestors and their supporters in the crackdown. Ten months on, there have been more than 30 hearings and about 50 demonstrators continue to stand trial. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19. Burma Rise in Missing Minors Stirs Fear Among Internet Savvy Parents Police say rumors on social media exaggerate the prevalence of child trafficking, but the rising rate of missing minors has parents on edge. RANGOON Mee Mee is a 30-year-old housewife, and the mother of twin girls, aged five. They live in Rangoon, where she takes them to primary school every day, and in the afternoon she waits for class to end so she can escort them safely home. Alarmed by rumors of human trafficking circulating on social media, she has begun keeping a closer eye on her daughters; the rate of missing persons under the age of 18 has reached new heights, and speculation about the causes has run rampant. I feel very worried about my kids security, Mee Mee told The Irrawaddy. I dont let them go anywhere with anyone who is not a relative. Nearly 100 people below the age of 18 went missing in December of last year, according to police figures, a staggering percentage of the 251 total reported missing persons cases that month. A police official told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that out of 2,817 cases nationwide in 2015, a total of 911 had been located and returned safely to their homes. That amounts to about 32 percent; the remainder are still under investigation. Rangoon, Burmas largest city and its former capital, had the highest number of cases at 1,618, followed by Mandalay with 277, according to the Myanmar Police Force. While the numbers are alarming, officials say that social media users are spreading panic online. Rumors about the frequency and causes of disappearance may have created a collective paranoia about human trafficking, one officer told The Irrawaddy. Rangoon Divisions Deputy Police Commissioner Win Bo said that while the causes were complex and varied, many minors were found to have left home of their own volitioneither to escape abuse or seek work. Others appear to have simply gotten lost on city streets. As per our investigations, Win Bo said, the common reasons were that they no longer desired to stay at their homes, or they wanted to go out and work. In cases where the missing person was aged between 15 and 20, he said, the reasons for disappearance included domestic violence and a desire to work. Some were found to have been victims of human trafficking, while some ran away with their partners. According to the local anti-human trafficking police task force, of 640 reported trafficking victims last year, 157 of them were found to be minorsroughly 25 percent. An official from the task force, Khin Maung Hla, said that many social media users are exaggerating the prevalence of trafficking as the cause of child disappearances. In some scenarios, relationships between the children and parents became problematic and children ended up running away from home, he said, explaining that while concern about child trafficking is within reason, the threat may not be as dire as people perceive it to be. A rise in children leaving home voluntarily to seek work does leave many vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking, he said, warning of the possibility of children becoming trafficking victims without realizing it. The official admitted that some minors seeking employment could become forced laborers or sex workers. Such tragedies do occur, and anti-trafficking authorities said they are working with NGOs to suppress the problem. As recently as Monday, the anti-trafficking task force teamed up with Save the Children to apprehend a 40-year-old woman accused of keeping four underage girls captive as sex workers. She will face charges under Burmas Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law, Khin Maung Hla said. The official further stressed the importance of continued fact-based awareness efforts, geared toward informing the public of trafficking patterns without causing undue alarm. Local and international NGOs, the Burmese government and UN agencies are coordinating toward this end, he said. Burma SECM Warns Against Illegal Trade as Stock Exchange Readies for Business The Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar (SECM) issues a warning against illegal trading through unofficial channels. RANGOON The Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar (SECM) issued a warning on Wednesday against illegal trading through unofficial channels. An announcement published in state-run daily The Global New Light of Myanmar cautioned that action will be taken against those caught selling stocks through illegal or non-transparent means, including over social media sites. The Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) launched in December with six listed companies, but shares are not yet for sale. Trading is expected to begin in March, pending settlement of outstanding issues with the bourses underwriters. A number of unsanctioned trading outlets, particularly on the social media site Facebook, have cropped up in anticipation of the full opening, some presenting themselves as official channels linked to the exchange. If the government does not take action and give a warning, illegal trading will interfere with the market and people will be harmed by that, said Thet Htun Oo, director of the Myanmar Securities Exchange Center, which is one of about 10 underwriting firms licensed by the government. If people want to buy or sell shares, they will have to go directly to securities companies such as MSEC and KBZ, he said. When YSX officially begins trade in March, shares will become available for First Myanmar Investment (FMI); Myanmar Citizens Bank; Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited; Myanmar Agribusiness Public Company Limited [Mapco]; First Private Bank; and Great Hor Kham, according to Maung Maung Thein, deputy finance minister. The stock exchangedeveloped by the state-owned and US-blacklisted Myanmar Economic Bank with two Japanese partnersis expected to be a major advancement in Burmas financial field, offering a greater degree of stability to what has long been a poorly regulated and volatile investment landscape. Burma Thai Court Accepts Murder Case Against Burmese Migrants in Ranong A Thai court accepts charges against four Burmese migrants accused of killing a Thai student, as the suspects families allege police mistreatment of their sons. A court in Thailand has accepted charges against four Burmese migrants accused of killing a Thai student last year, as family members of the suspects this week traveled to Bangkok to allege police mistreatment of their sons while in custody in Ranong, the southern Thai city where the murder took place. The four Burmese fisheries workerstwo of them just 15 years oldhave been in detention since their arrest in October 2015, in connection with the stabbing death of a 19-year-old Thai woman the previous month. Min Oo, a migrant rights advocate for the Foundation for Education Development, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that he had heard from lawyers of the accused that the court in Ranong had decided this week to accept the case against the four Burmese nationals. The provincial court had been given until Monday of next week to decide whether or not to take the case, with legal proceedings for months delayed by polices failure to compile a compelling body of evidence to support murder charges. The Burmese family members on Tuesday went to the Thai Royal Polices Crime Suppression and Anti-Corruption divisions in Bangkok to complain about alleged torture that they say their sons were subjected to by police during detention. We brought the issue to the Bangkok police as we want justice, said Ei Ei Moe, the mother of suspect Moe Zin Aung, one of the minors in detention. The Thai police interviewed me and I told them what happened on the day after my sons were arrested. They were tortured to confess during interrogation, she claimed. I saw the injuries on their necks when I went to meet them for the first time, which was eight days later [in October]. Moe Zin Aung and his older brother Kyaw Ye, who was later released, were arrested on Oct. 20 and the three others, Kyaw Soe Win, Wai Lin and Sein Kadon, were apprehended four days later. The police came to my home on the night of October 21, and they brought my son Moe Zin Aung and told him to give them the knife, Ei Ei Moe recalled of Thai polices handling of the investigation. I said we only have three kitchen knives, which we use to peel onions and fruits. They looked at the knives and said it is not [the murder weapon they were seeking]. And then they went outside but they came back inside the house and took two knives. The next day, the police made a search of the sewer canal near my home, also near the shrimp-processing factory, and said they found the knives; but the two of them were taken from my home a night earlier. Ei Ei Moe also said her sons employer had CCTV footage that proved the two boys were at work when the murder was perpetrated. They are innocent teenagers, who love to play with kids, said the mother of four, who also has two younger daughters. Her two sons were the household breadwinners and had been working on fishing trawlers for four years at the time of their arrest, typically spending three weeks at sea each month. Returning to shore for four to six days, she said the boys would work as daily wage earners at a shrimp-processing factorywhere they were detained in Octoberto earn extra income. Ei Ei Moe claimed her eldest son Kyaw Ye, 16, was also tortured during an interrogation before being released. We could not ask him anything for two days when he came back, he was so afraid to talk. We didnt know what the police did to him, she said. Later he said the police beat him; six or seven police surrounded and restrained him. One police officer kneeled down on his chest and the other strangled his throat. His head was hooded with a plastic bag and he fell back; as a result, his pinky finger was twisted, but it has recovered. Htoo Chit, director of the Foundation for Education Development, told The Irrawaddy that the families also brought their concerns to the Thailand Human Rights Commission, and the commissions representatives are travelling on Wednesday to Ranong to intervene in the case. The Foundation for Education Development is assisting the accused in the case, providing legal and counseling support together with Thai human rights lawyers, while Burmese tycoon Zaw Zaws Ayeyarwady Foundation is supporting them financially. Acceptance of the murder case by the Ranong provincial court this week comes less than a month after a court farther southeast in Thailands Koh Samui found two Burmese migrants guilty of a high-profile double murder. The Dec. 24 verdict and attendant death sentence for the two accused sparked days of protests in Rangoon amid doubts about the integrity of the investigation and court proceedings. Burma Upper House Debates Presidential Protection, Immunity Bill Burmas Upper House debates a bill that would offer physical security and legal immunity to presidents after they leave office. RANGOON A bill that would offer physical security and legal immunity to presidents after they leave office was debated by Burmas Upper House on Wednesday. The Former Presidents Security Bill raised eyebrows when it was introduced in mid-December, as it appeared to have been designed for the benefit of outgoing President Thein Sein, whose term will expire in March. The draft was approved by the Lower House on Dec. 31 with only minor amendments to a draft previously published in state media, drawing sharp criticism over provisions that appeared to offer blanket immunity to former heads of state. The bill also provides a personal bodyguard to be selected by the Home Affairs Ministry. The original draft granted the power of appointment to either the Defense Ministry or Home Affairs Ministry, mandating that whichever made the appointment would incur all costs related to the former presidents security. The Lower House amended the clause, limiting the charge to Home Affairs, but Upper House military lawmakers argued on Wednesday to reverse the amendment. Lt-Col Myint Win, a lawmaker representing the military, said the clause gives the outgoing president more control over his personal security, as he or she would have the right to decide which ministry would ultimately select the bodyguard. We will always respect and value our ex-presidents, Myint Win said. To be able to live peacefully with his family and to choose his bodyguard, the law should be changed back to the original so he can appoint as he wishes either the defense or home affairs ministry. While the bill drew criticism outside of Parliament, it moved through the Lower House with relative ease. Only one lawmaker resisted approval of the expedited draft, hinging on the issue of immunity. The bill would ensure that a former president be immune from any prosecution for his actions during his term. Lower House lawmaker Pe Than, a member of the Arakan National Party who was reelected in November, proposed striking the provision but the suggested was voted down. Home Affairs Minister Ko Ko countered with a suggestion to add the proviso in accordance with the law, which was accepted. Pe Than denounced the modification as unnecessary, reasoning that if a presidents actions are in accordance with the law, there would be no reason to prosecute him, hence the clause ought to be removed altogether. If he has weaknesses or is corrupt, he shouldnt be free, Pe Than told The Irrawaddy. This law should have one purposethe protecting the president from danger. The bill is expected to come to a vote during the current session of Parliament, which will close on Jan. 31. The new legislature, which will convene the following day, will be dominated by the National League for Democracy (NLD) after its landslide win against the current military-backed assembly. Opinion / Columnist There is a popular view that Winston Churchill once said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."However it would seem that what Churchill actually said, speaking at the British House of Commons on 23 Jan 1948, was, "For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all Parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself."Whatever his exact words, Churchill's comments drew attention to the important point that what humanity comes to know about the past relying on written history will be influenced by the political or ideological orientation of the historian or historians.Inevitably a major conflict such as the Second World War (WWII) was bound to produce many written histories. As he had promised, Churchill did write the history of WWII, producing a series of six books, and was indeed criticised by some for distorting some of the history to put himself in better light.It was also inevitable that the whole process which led to the defeat of the white minority regime in our country, and the aftermath of this, would also have their own historians, each with his or her political or ideological orientation.For various reasons many of us who were directly involved in our struggle for liberation have not taken the time to write about this struggle and the subsequent efforts to build a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa.One result of this is that people who were essentially observers of both these periods have written much of what has been published about these times, a good part of which has come to be accepted as authoritative and definitive, with no suggestion whatsoever that the authors of these supposedly authoritative and definitive histories had their own political or ideological mind-sets.Some of this writing has sought to define my character as I served as President of the ANC and the Republic, and argued that this characterisation helps to explain various developments during this period.Among others, these observers have said that Mbeki was aloof, intellectual, out of touch with the ANC membership and the people, autocratic, intolerant of different views, sensitive to criticism, paranoid, abused state power to promote his personal political ambitions, marginalised the ANC from discharging its responsibilities as the ruling party by centralising power in the State Presidency, and so on.Much of this is written with no facts to substantiate the accusations or is, in some instances, based on deliberate misinformation.In many instances this results in a gross distortion of our history and therefore a failure correctly to analyse developments of significant or major importance to the future of our country.Those of us who had and have more direct information about the processes which are then falsely described by observers as the truth must accept the blame that we have been at fault because of the sustained silence we have maintained when we should have spoken out.This article is a first but not only attempt to correct this mistake, and will deal with only one instance which has been used to try to give supposed substance to the allegation about Mbeki's so-called paranoia.Early during my first five years as President of the Republic, one James Nkambule, an ANC Youth League leader from Mpumalanga, approached the SAPS and offered to give the Police detailed information about a conspiracy to do great harm to me as President of the Republic.The heart of the Nkambule story, conveyed with many details, was that the people involved in this conspiracy were Matthews Phosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa.The SAPS Crime Intelligence interviewed Nkambule and recorded his extensive account on a number of video tapes.At some point the SABC came to know of this story and, as we understood it, prepared to produce its own television documentary of the alleged conspiracy.It also decided to report this alleged conspiracy in its news programmes.As part of this news report it invited then Minister of Safety and Security, the late Steve Tshwete, to come to its studios at Auckland Park for an interview on the story.By then the broadcaster knew the names of the alleged conspirators and, on air, asked Minister Tshwete to confirm the information it had.The Minister made the serious mistake of confirming these names live on air, during an evening broadcast.As soon as the interview was over, the Minister telephoned me to inform me of what had happened and to apologise most profusely for his mistake.Naturally I reprimanded him for what he had done and asked that he should see me.When we met, we agreed that work would nevertheless have to be done by both the SAPS and the civilian Intelligence Agencies, NIA and SASS, to investigate the authenticity of the Nkambule allegations.He suggested that for me to understand the gravity of the Nkambule story, I should see and listen to him, to which I agreed.Nkambule was then brought to me by people who believed the story he had told the SAPS, people who remain members of the current National Executive Committee of the ANC.However, after listening to him, I remained convinced that the State Intelligence Services should continue their work to establish the truthfulness or otherwise of his allegations.In this context I asked Minister Tshwete to get me copies of the SAPS video tapes on which they had recorded Nkambule, which he did.Because of the gravity of the allegations which Nkambule had made, I requested then Deputy President Jacob Zuma, ANC SG Kgalema Motlanthe, Minister Tshwete and Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, then Minister of Intelligence, and perhaps one or two others, to come to the President's Pretoria Official Residence, Mahlambandlopfu, to enable all of us to view the video tapes together.This we did and took the unanimous decision that I should task Minister Sisulu with the responsibility to get NIA and SASS, which fell under her, to verify or otherwise establish the authenticity of the Nkambule charges, in the same way as would the SAPS Crime Intelligence.I therefore surrendered the video tapes we had viewed to Minister Sisulu.It is now a matter of public record that with the Intelligence Agencies having done their work, the late Minister Tshwete then announced that the Agencies had found no truth to what Nkambule had said. He therefore apologised publicly for having wrongly mentioned the names of Phosa, Sexwale and Ramaphosa in the SABC news broadcast.The fact, therefore, is that neither the Presidency nor anybody in the National Government and the senior leadership of the ANC had initiated any action implicating Phosa, Sexwale and Ramaphosa in any conspiracy.Once the Nkambule allegations were brought to the attention of, and were reviewed by this leadership, the necessary decisions were taken to assess what were, after all, very serious charges which bore on State security.At no point did this leadership, including the President, take any position that there was any truth to the allegations, insistent that their veracity had to be established through thorough intelligence investigations and assessments.The late Minister Tshwete understood without being told even by the President that he should never have confirmed, publicly or privately, the information which the SABC had that Nkambule had made accusations against Phosa, Sexwale and Ramaphosa, hence his immediate apology to the President immediately after the end of his SABC interview.The Nkambule saga, which falsely implicated Phosa, Sexwale and Ramaphosa, had nothing whatsoever to do with my alleged paranoia, which the domestic and international media has continuously trumpeted for almost fifteen years now, to date, based on false deductions and pure self-serving speculation.To avoid being taken aback by all this, perhaps we should have taken more seriously the message which Winston Churchill, the historian, sought to communicate. [gallery type="slideshow" ids="104462,104463,104464,104465,104466,104467,104468,104469,104470,104471"] INDU VILLAGE, Mon State A construction boom in the state capital Moulmein has fueled a commensurate uptick in small-scale brickmaking ventures in Mon State. During a recent visit by The Irrawaddy to Indu village, along the border of Mon and Karen states, piles of freshly baked bricks were laid out on a once fertile plot of farmland where a cluster of kilns are now scattered. Mostly manned by migrant workers, who along with their families typically have traveled from upcountry, these kilns are operational only during Burmas dry season, from November to March. A 25-by-25-foot kiln at Indu village can produce more than 30,000 bricks in a week. WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.The 16th annual Cybersocket Web Awards were handed out Tuesday night during a ceremony at Penthouse nightclub in West Hollywood emceed by Chi Chi LaRue. BelAmi, CockyBoys, Helix Studios and NakedSword as well as performers Antonio Biaggi, Trenton Ducati, Pierre Fitch, Colby Keller and Sebastian Kross, claimed top awards. The nights highlights included a performance by recording star Frenchie Davis and a man in a banana suit. LaRue announced all of the categories and winners and kept the 90-minute show moving at a swift pace, aided by DJ Pornstar (a/k/a performer Dominic Pacifico). A quartet of trophy boys included CockyBoys exclusives Tayte Hanson and Kody Stewart, Helix Studios star Kyle Ross and newcomer Jack Hunter, about whom LaRue exclaimed, Hes got a great big cock. Thats all you need to know. Now get off the stage. Later, she joked about an international incident after reporting that Hanson and Ross had hooked up backstage. Fitch claimed the title of Best Webcam Performer from last years honoree Adam Killian, while Sebastian Kross was crowned Best Newcomer (Hanson was last years honoree). Best Porn Star, a marquee category that has gone to Brent Everett, Dean Monroe, Johnny Rapid and Jimmy Durano in recent years, was awarded to Antonio Biaggi. The Cybersocket Wall of Fame Award of Excellence was given to performer-activist Trenton Ducati. CockyBoys and Helix have dominated the Cybersocket Web Awards in recent years and kept their winning streaks alive. Helix was crowned Best Content Producer (a category CockyBoys claimed last year) and took the trophy for Best Sex Scene for Two Americans for a Frenchie; they also won the category last year for Sex en Rouge. Helix won the Best Movie or Web Series of the Year category in 2013 and 14, before ceding last year to CockyBoys with Answered Prayers. The New York-based studio kept their title as Meeting Liam won that award. CockyBoys director/producer Jake Jaxson was also named Businessperson of the Year. In his acceptance speech, he paid tribute to industry pioneers, and pointed out that some of them went to prison for making porn. Everybody here should be celebrating them, he said. Additional winners include fashion designer Andrew Christian, who claimed the award for Best Product/Retail site. I get to make a lot of gay guys happy and I get to make them look fucking sexy! he said; NakedSword for Best VOD Site; BelAmi as Best Video Site; Str8toGay.com (Arent they all? LaRue cracked) for Best Niche Site; and Grindr for Best Hookup Site/Mobile Hookup App. They dont want a piece of plastic, LaRue said. They just (made) $93 million dollars! (News had broken a day earlier that Grindr sold a 60-percent stake to Chinese gaming company the Beijing Kunlun Tech Company.) The Best Affiliate Program trophy went to Flirt4Free and a scrum of highly enthusiastic partiers took the stage to accept the award. Were the nerds behind the scenes! exclaimed one of their number. Before announcing that RentMen had won the Best Escort Site category, LaRue called for a moment of silence for Rentboy.com, which has been shuttered since a summer raid in its New York City offices by the Department of Homeland Security. Keller won for Best Personality, one of the nights A-list categories claimed in recent years by dragstress Sister Roma, Steve Pena, Austin Wilde and LaRue. Keller is on a crowd-funded, cross-country trip filming his self-described art-porn series Colby Does America and sent a man in a bright yellow banana suit to accept the award in his absence. Im gonna peel the fuck out of you, LaRue joked. Banana bread is in your future. Go-go dancers were provided by Ducati Models and red carpet interviews were conducted by Scotty B. The presenting sponsor for the 16th annual Cybersocket Web Awards was Flirt4Free. Diamond sponsors were CCBill Mr. Man and Supermen.com. Gold sponsors were 2Gay4FB.com, Cam4, Chaturbate, Clock Cleaners, Mania Media, Men.com, Mobius Payments, Orbital Pay, Playgirl.com and Pride Card Services. For the complete list of winners, click here. Innovative Advice for Execs Looking to Change Their Industry Last month I wrote about Monica Eaton-Cardone, founder and CIO of Global Risk Technologies (GRT), a payment services security and mediation firm, and her insights on addressing the gender imbalance in IT. What warrants further attention here is Eaton-Cardones approach as a technology company founder and leaderone that highly values family, friendships and diversity. A lot of tech executives talk about those core values, but Eaton-Cardone appears to have woven them into the fabric of her company. One family member, her husband Gary, serves as CEO of the company. But this wasnt a husband-and-wife-cofound-a-company scenario. Eaton-Cardone brought Gary, a technology industry executive with years of experience in Europe, into the company after she founded it, and before they were married. She explained why she chose not to assume the CEO position herself: Im not a huge fan of titles. Im much more interested in what the company does, how its growing, the culture of the company. Honestly, I couldnt care less about titles. I had hired Gary as a consultant before we got married, because he has an incredible expertise and vision in commodity markets. This is an industry thats turning into a commodity, when you look at all the different opportunities on the Internet. He has the title of CEO because he is fantastic in that rolehe does a great job orchestrating some of the deals that we do. That enables me to stay focused on developing additional technology, making sure that we have a state-of-the-art infrastructure that we can scale, and managing our team. That team is a global work force of about 400 people. Eaton-Cardone is an outspoken advocate for gender diversity in the tech sector, so I asked her what letter grade she would give her own company, specifically in terms of gender diversity. Her response was brutally honest: Were probably pretty standard in terms of gender diversitymaybe a C would be standard, or average. I definitely dont go out of my way to try to specifically recruit women who are programmers. Handling the technical diversity problem really needs to be an issue that is addressed from the bottom up, and at a much younger age, to cultivate that interest. If we have 100 applicants who are applying for a developer position, chances are I dont know if Im even going to get one whos a woman. If I do get one, unless she is stellar, and the best applicant, she wont get the jobshe wont get the job just because shes a woman. That is a business decision, and thats the smartest business decision that any owner would make. You always have to hire the best. Theres just not a whole massive selection of those [female] candidates, unfortunately. And what about a letter grade in terms of the overall diversity of her company? Thats a different story: Of course Im biased, but were just about an A in terms of diversity. We have quite a diverse group. We have guys who have worked here for five years, who have zero college education and probably barely got a GED. But they applied themselvesthey started out at the very bottom of the company, and now they are in management. I would stand them right next to any Harvard graduate, and bet on them winning the race every single time. We also have the guys with amazing pedigrees, and great traditional credentials. We have a lot of very untraditional employees. Theres a certain common denominator that you look for in developing your work force. Our environment in the payment industry is a landscape that constantly changes, and is evolvingwe work in the e-commerce space. Being able to adapt to change, and reorganize data, and confront the reality that what you did yesterday wasnt good enough, and you need to constantly changethis is actually a requirement for our success. So if we have individuals who are not tolerant of that type of change, they dont make it at this company. So its an atmosphere that is conducive to a natural diversity, because that is part of our culture. Eaton-Cardone went on to explain how that diversity yields better products: If I have a meeting with my team, and they were all like-minded and they liked doing the exact same things, chances are we would have one security platform that never changed, that didnt modify and morph, and that wasnt the best. I want people who are passionate about us having the best platform, and who have all sorts of different ideas, because that diversity actually gives us strength. I want to have a meeting where there are lots of arguments. I want these passionate guys to sit together, argue with each other, and hash out whats going to be the best possible solution, because I have all these out-of-the-box thinkers. That is much more powerful than everybody thinking the same way, because youll never make anything better. Eaton-Cardone also stressed the fact that family and friendships are core to what makes GRT tick. She noted that her dad works in finance for the company, there are other married couples and multiple people from other families, and people who are best friends. But she said she learned a valuable lesson, because it wasnt always that way: When I started out, I doubted what I really knew, and my abilities. And I started thinking I wanted to be more conservative, and I wanted everybody to wear suits to work, and we wanted to look like and be like Bank of America, because that is Wall Street, and that is really being successful. I probably wasted six months of pain wearing suits, when Im really a jeans and T-shirt type of person. And you know what? Everyone who works here is the same. What we do takes brain power and creativity, and sometimes youre most comfortable wearing sweats. So I wasted six months on trying to invest in all these different consultants and policies, and we should do this and do that, and I cant have family members and friends working here, and Im not going to have relationships with staff here. I wasted all that time, only to discover that you have to be true to who you are. If youre true to who you are, and you let your staff be true to who they are, thats going to take you further than any other path that you could possibly take. So I abolished all of those policies, and realized I dont care about all that. I dont have to look like every other companyI can create my own idea of success, and were going to be proud of that. Were proud of the fact that we look like no other company. I think its probably a similar struggle that many companies go through when you get into that growth phase, and you start getting calls from private equity groups. You get to a point where you think you need to read this book and get that advice, and you start to question what you really know, and get away from who you really are. But all of these people who give adviceguess what, not one of them has actually developed and run a company. I want to be in an environment where were friends, and we like working with each other. A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant. A team of scientists from the United States, South Korea and Switzerland has been working on a technology that could be able to stop heart diseases. It is a surgery that uses nanomachines to unclog the arteries of the heart. A few mice are to become the first test patients for a brand new surgical method to be performed by microsurgeons. A tiny group of nanorobots with magnetically charged particles will be performing the surgery to unclog arteries of the heart. The molecular robots will first be delivering drugs to help soften the clogged arteries and then charge into battle drilling in to blast apart heart blockages. MinJun Kim, a biomedical engineer and professor at the University of Drexler, will be spearheading a group of scientists from Switzerland, South Korea and the United States who is currently working on the technology. Kim states that the robots are controlled by harnessing the magnetic resonance imaging's power. MRI is an imaging device commonly used in hospitals that utilises pulse wave energy and magnetic fields to capture images of bones and other organs inside of a human body. MRIs working with nanotechnology can serve as a command centre for observing and steering the magnet-charged micro machines as they navigate their way around inside the human body. The biomed engineer has already tried this in the university's laboratory, but this is a strategy that still needs fine-tuning before it goes out to be tested on humans. The nanorobots still need drilling techniques to be perfected. South Korea's national hospital will be trying out this method with mice this summer. If successful, the team will be moving on to test this strategical surgery to pigs and rabbits. If all goes accordingly, the group will be launching the nanosurgeons to human application via catheter injections in 2019. Nanotechnology has been tried several times for many years to serve as mini surgeons inside the human body. It has been peddled as a potential solution for cancer detection and an aid to surgeries that concern the eyes. Verily has already started a partnership with Verb Surgical in 2015 to build surgical robots. However, little is known about how far the renamed Google Life Sciences division might be with its robots for surgery. In addition, there have not been any definitive human trials as of this moment. NASA and other private space industries have been focusing on Mars as a new planet to be inhabited by the human race. However, Europe has a more modest goal of building a base in the moon and putting humans there. The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to set up a base camp at the moon where humans can live. ESA has publicised its intentions of sending astronauts to the moon by year 2030. A video entitled Destination Moon was posted by the agency on its website that lays out the plan where European-developed robots will be sent first to the moon's surface before humans. ESA's website states that the uploaded video envisions a series of human space missions that starts as early as 2020 that would see astronauts interacting with robots on the moon's surface from the orbit. Eventually, people will see a sustained infrastructure for exploration and research where human beings will work and live for long periods of time. ESA will be putting into practice the teachings of the International Space Station (ISS) to establish facilities similar to those that are seen today in Antarctica. The moon can become a place where all nations can work together in the future. ESA states that that they will be learning lessons from experiences in maintaining and building the ISS where Tim Peake, a British astronaut, is currently based. Europe's attempt of putting humans in the moon will not be a competition like the 1960s' space race that led to the Apollo mission putting humans on the moon for the first time. The announcement of ESA may be welcoming other countries to participate like China and Russia for potential explorations plans due to faltering problems in the economy. This new exploration venture will be achieved through a peaceful international partnership. Mission plans include exploration of the moon's unknown territories, robot and human explorations and habitability. MONTREAL, QCThe fifth and final chapter from the Next Door Studios porn mini-series, Cheating Faith will be available on Friday, January 15, exclusively on NextDoorWorld.com. The final chapter, The Virgin Mark concludes with a climactic group 4-way featuring Gabriel Cross with Next Door exclusives Markie More, Dante Martin and Arad. In The Virgin Mark, we see that Father Gabes plot is in danger of being exposed. The sexy foreign janitor (Arad) has caught Drake having sex in the confessional with his latest mark and hes worried that their late night game is up, a Next Door publicist said. Father Gabe sees this as an opportunity to pull Arad into the fray. They set up a meeting and Arad, with limited English, confesses that hes a virgin. Hardcore action ensues. NextDoorWorld.com is available for promotion through the Buddy Profits affiliate program. Affiliates have the option to receive $35 PPS or 50-percent rev share options on all memberships, including trials. Payments are sent twice per month: on the 1st and 16th of each month and they cover the previous two weeks referrals. For further information, contact Buddy Profits' Ewan French at [email protected]. LOS ANGELES, CA Nikki Delano is headed to Wisconsin to headline at two Silk Exotic Gentlemens Clubs. On Thursday, January 14, and Saturday, January 16, shell be appearing at Silk in Milwaukee and on Friday, January 15, shell be dancing at Silk in Juneau. On Thursday, her set is at midnight and on Friday and Saturday, she has two sets nightly at 10pm and 1am. All three nights are VIP Parties and patrons can go online to SilkJuneau.com and SilkMke.com to get a copy of the flyer to present at the door for free admission. In between sets, fans can meet Delano up close and personal, get a photo with her, buy her exclusive merchandise, and a lap dance or two. If youre a fan in Juneau or Milwaukee, come out and see me dance, says Delano. Get a flyer and see me dance for free all three nights! Just make sure to get there early to get the best seats in the house. Silk is known as the Midwests only Las Vegas Style Gentlemens Club. Both Silk locations feature full nude dancing, a fully stocked bar and drink and food specials nightly. Silk Milwaukee is located at 11400 West Silver Springs Road. Call 414-462-7455 to get more information. Silk Juneau is located at 112 East Oak Street. For more information about the club, call 920-386-0300. Star Wars the Force Awakens has had an amazing start during its premiere opening on December. Now the box office hit has hit third place over-taking Jurrasic World. What made Star Wars bump off Jurrasic World? After its debut in China, it currently pushed its global box office receipt sales totalling to $1.73 billion. Disney released an announcment to celebrate the move saying that the seventh episode of the Star Wars franchise garnered an estimated $145.9 million during the weekend. The bulk of the amount coming from China totalling $53 million. Thanks to China, the beloved franchise made the top three list of highest weekend opening of all time. China, being the second largest industry after United States, bumped Star Wars to third place behind Avatar valued at $2.19 billion and Titanic valued at $2.19 billion. Jurassic World fell to fourth place at $1.79 billion after Star Wars took third place. In North America, Star Wars dominated four weekend openings. In the area alone, it became the top grossing film with $812 million in cumulative sales. This is a big win for Disney that somewhat overshadows Revenant's second placement at $38 million. Third place went to Daddy's Home by Will Ferrell at $15 million. Fourth place goes to Taylor Kinney's The Forest at $13 million. The rest of the top ten films grossing the weekend by industry tracker Exhibitor Relations, below: - "Sisters" with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey ($7.2 million) - "The Hateful Eight" ($6.3 million) - "The Big Short" ($6.3 million) - "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" ($5.5 million) - "Joy" ($4.5 million) - "Concussion" ($3.1 million) While all this number crunching sounds interesting, someone is probably thinking - what movie can topple Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's 1997 tragic romance movie Titanic, directed by James Cameron, off the number one spot? Even if you are just starting a new job or are unemployed right now, it is best to start early and start thinking of retirement. Why? Mainly because saving for retirement right now is becoming more complex and your bank savings with the small interest you receive annually might not be enough to fit your lifestyle when you're thinking about drinking a margarita on a beach when you're 80 years old. You have to consider life expectancy and retirement goals as well as having the financial resources for you to meet basic needs and at the same time enjoy your retirement. And if you're thinking Social Security, company pension and savings? Those three things might not be enough for you to live on or even to get you to your golden years. Right now, yes, as early as now, financial advisers are asking everyone to take into account changing their personal attitudes towards retirement because currently, retirees are interested in still working during their advanced age and are more concerned about healthcare than lifestyle and recreation. Here are the basics: 1. Savings: Pat Obi, a professor of finance at Purdue University Calumet and author of the book "We Must Change the Way We Live," recommends doing specific calculations to set a savings target. There are online calculators that can help you crunch the numbers and The Social Security Administration's online planner can also help. 2. Starting Out: It's not always possible to set a career-long savings plan. New workers should consider and take advantage of an employer-based plan and contribute to match their employer's. In addition, Independent Retirement Accounts can help with your saving. 3. New Accounts: Getting access to a retirement account is difficult for some, which is why some states are creating standard employer-based accounts. Your state may also have created policies for retirement savings accounts for small businesses and even for the self employed. Contributions can be deducted from the worker's pay or from a bank account. Reach out to your employer or state retirement center for more information. 4. Social Security: Social security is the biggest component when it comes to retirement. The SSA can provide estimates of retirement benefits to help you in planning. While waiting until full retirement age can give you substantial gains, for some it can be beneficial to begin taking Social Security early. And if you're worried about the future of Social Security, Obi has this to say online: Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. The frenzy over a $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot could be a windfall for the N.C. Education Lottery, but none of it will go to teachers, the Raleigh News & Observer reported Tuesday. In a little-noticed change during the 2015 budget session, lawmakers shifted distribution of lottery proceeds from teachers and assistants to bus drivers, janitors and other noninstructional support staff. A Senate budget writer said at the time that the shift would ensure that teacher salaries arent funded by a variable source of money. Regardless of the shift, state lottery officials say no one will get big raises or a surge of staffing just because North Carolinians are lining up to get their shot at the world-record jackpot. Because revenue comes from all lottery games, its not even clear whether this years take will top the $529 million budgeted, said Van Denton, communication director for the N.C. lottery. And thats only about 4 percent of the states education budget. That money is budgeted for support staff ($310 million), school construction ($100 million), prekindergarten ($78 million) and scholarships ($41 million). On Monday, however, the Education Lotterys website still listed classroom teachers and assistants as getting more than half the revenue, based on the 2014-15 budget. Denton said he plans to revise that chart ASAP. Dec. 18 marked the one-year anniversary of the release of a first-of-its-kind, county-by-county study showing that by 2020 the North Carolina workforce could grow by more than 43,000 jobs, and the states economy could gain tens of billions in business revenue, if the state expands Medicaid eligibility requirements. The report, a nonpartisan economic analysis authored by university researchers and financed by Cone Health Foundation and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust includes data for all 100 North Carolina counties, and concludes that nearly 500,000 residents would benefit if the state closes the Medicaid coverage gap. It is important to understand North Carolinas current Medicaid coverage policy you must be a low-income child, a pregnant woman, an extremely low-income parent, a low-income senior or a person with a disability to qualify for Medicaid in North Carolina. Who gets left out? Adults who dont have children, no matter how low their income is. These are people we all know and rely on every day: people working for a living in construction and food service, people taking care of our children. Many North Carolinians in the coverage gap do not get insurance through their jobs and cannot afford insurance on their own. Surprisingly, their incomes are too low to qualify for tax credits through Healthcare.gov and too high to qualify for Medicaid. Thats the coverage gap we need to close for the hard-working people our service-based economy depends on. We can still close the coverage gap. North Carolina has the opportunity to shape how we take care of our own through Medicaid reform passed by state lawmakers in September. The Medicaid Reform mandate passed by the state legislature puts North Carolina on a tight timeline to customize our plan. The goal is to seek permission from the federal government by June 2016. North Carolina can negotiate with the federal government for a Medicaid waiver that is North Carolina-specific, that closes the coverage gap and takes advantage of $21 billion in federal funds. This does not have to be political. North Carolina can join the 30 other states that have expanded coverage. The report makes the case that closing the coverage gap could be an important engine for economic growth and job creation across the breadth of North Carolina. Expanding coverage for half a million North Carolinians will enable them to get timely, affordable health care, including preventive and primary care that can help keep them healthy, as well as meet their needs when they are ill or injured. Our foundations bear the names of some of the titans of economic development in North Carolina, Reynolds and Cone. These names are synonymous with job creation, leveraging opportunity and caring about the future of North Carolina. Closing the coverage gap for hard-working North Carolinians continues that legacy and fuels economic and employment growth. Lets make sure our lawmakers understand that economic reality. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Land and Space Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin talks about commercial real estate and development. SHARE By of the A development site about one block south of the newly purchased Shops of Grand Avenue has been sold to one of the nation's largest hotel franchisers, which hopes to develop an upscale Cambria Hotel there. The 40,000-square-foot parking lot, 503-521 N. Plankinton Ave., was sold for $3 million to CS Plankinton Milwaukee LLC, according to state real estate records. It is affiliated with Rockville, Md.-based Choice Hotels International Inc. "We are committed to growing our upscale Cambria Hotels & Suites brand," said Scott Carman, Choice Hotels spokesman, "and this site in downtown Milwaukee is one that we are looking to develop a Cambria property on. Carman's statement didn't say when that project might begin, or provide details on the hotel's size. Choice is looking for a partner to help develop the hotel, said one source, and might do the project at another downtown location if the Clybourn St. project doesn't proceed. The downtown property was sold by several investment groups affiliated with Chicago-based Clark Street Real Estate. It has an assessed value of $1.4 million. Clark Street's groups also sold two adjacent 40,000-square-foot parking lots, at 522 N. 2nd St. and 191 W. Michigan St., to San Diego-based Columbia Parking LP for $4.85 million in October, according to assessment records. Choice's project would be the latest in a series of new downtown hotels, including a 158-room Kimpton Hotel, 310 E. Chicago St., and a 150-room SpringHill Suites, 744 N. 5th St., which are both under construction. Also, construction is to begin soon on a 220-room Westin Hotel, 550 N. Van Buren St., and a 94-room Homewood Suites, 500 N. Water St. The activity is driven by continued strong demand from both business and leisure travelers, said Greg Hanis, who operates Hospitality Marketers International Inc., a firm with offices in Fort Myers, Fla., and New Berlin. "The market has just performed very well," Hanis said. Most Cambria hotels range from 125 to 200 rooms, he said. The Cambria brand focuses on business travelers, with modern, stylish rooms and bistro dining, according to Choice. There are no Cambria hotels in the Milwaukee area. Meanwhile, another hotel near the Grand Avenue, the 138-room Hampton Inn, 176 W. Wisconsin Ave., has been sold to an affiliate of Shelton, Conn.-based New Castle Hotels & Resorts for $10.9 million, according to state real estate records posted Wednesday. The hotel was sold to Milwaukee Hotel Equity LLC by MHF DT Milwaukee IV LLC, an affiliate of Warwick, R.I.-based Magna Hospitality Group LLC. The Magna affiliate bought the Hampton in 2014 for $8.7 million. "With strong revenue management and some overdue infrastructure upgrades, this hotel has tremendous upside potential," said David Buffam, New Castle chief executive officer, in a statement. All Politics Blog From Milwaukee, Madison and beyond, a daily dose of political news and glimpses behind the scenes SHARE By of the Local leaders in Milwaukee are pushing back against against comments from a Republican state lawmaker linking Wisconsin's job creation struggles to crime in the state's largest city. Rep. Bob Gannon (R-Slinger) recently accused Democrats of blaming Republicans for "every malady known by man," and called on them to "be honest about job creation." In his statement, which was released last week, Gannon then focused his comments on problems with unemployment and crime in Milwaukee's African American population, and said the city is "the anchor holding back the ship of state as far as jobs is concerned." Now Gannon is drawing fire for his comments - as well as for flipping off a Democratic lawmaker who was criticizing his statement on the floor of the Assembly Tuesday. County Executive Chris Abele called his comments "sweeping and offensive generalizations." "Jobs, crime, and education aren't Democratic issues or Republican issues, nor are they simply Milwaukee's issues -- they are Wisconsin issues and American issues," Abele said. "Instead of making sweeping and offensive generalizations that diminish Milwaukee's essential role in making Wisconsin great, it is incumbent upon elected officials like Rep. Gannon to offer real solutions that will help us overcome the serious challenges we face as a city, county, and state." In his statement, titled "Murder, Mayhem and Jobs," Gannon noted that Milwaukee is led by a Democratic mayor and has a Democratic district attorney, and said the state's job creation numbers would significantly improve "if only our largest city would clean up the murder and mayhem on their streets." "Milwaukee leads in murders and mayhem per capita, with a large number of these crimes occurring in mainly black neighborhoods, the same neighborhoods with the worst unemployment rates in the state," Gannon said in his Jan. 6 statement. "Could one make a connection between employment opportunities and the level of crime on those same streets? What employer will build or expand when they fear muggings, car jackings, attempted murder, or other serious criminal threats to their employees?" Patrick Curley, chief of staff for Mayor Tom Barrett, bristled at Gannon's comments that Milwaukee is responsible for the state's sagging job numbers. "Who is this fella? Is he an adult? Is he really in the State Assembly?" Curley said. On Tuesday, Gannon apologized for raising his middle finger at Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha), but added that he didn't like the way he was "attacked." The dispute on the Assembly floor started when Rep. Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) criticized Gannon for his comments about crime in Milwaukee, calling them harebrained and reprehensible. After Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D-Milwaukee) made similar comments, Gannon defended himself and said Milwaukee officials were not doing enough to stop crime. He added that Milwaukee needed to "quit exporting crime" to his Washington County district. Barca then began his comments, but quickly changed gears when Gannon raised his finger. He demanded an apology, and Gannon agreed to give one. Gannon then publicly apologized for the gesture, but not his comments, which have also been condemned by members of the Legislature's Black and Latino Caucus, other Democratic lawmakers and liberal groups like One Wisconsin Now. Bob Gannon says black people in Milwaukee are responsible for over 10,000 mass layoffs in municipalities across the state," said Scot Ross, the executive director of One Wisconsin Now. "His statements are despicable, racist tripe that should embarrass all of his Republican colleagues." Gannon also clashed with Democrats last month when he called for residents to arm themselves and be prepared "to shoot center mass" after a shooting inside a Madison mall. SHARE Journal Sentinel photo illustration By of the Wisconsin dairy farmers face another tough year as the price they receive for their milk remains low, resulting in slim profits. The most recent price for Class III milk, used to make cheese, was $14.44 per hundred pounds down about 19% from a year ago and down more than 41% from a recent peak in September 2014. "It's going to be a difficult year. If I didn't say that, I wouldn't be in touch with our membership," said Tim Trotter, executive director of the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association, which is having its annual conference this week in Madison. "Many are telling us that, hopefully, by the end of 2016 we will see the window (of prices) we are looking for," Trotter said. The dairy industry contributes $43.4 billion annually to Wisconsin's economy, according to state figures, with each dairy cow typically generating more than $34,000 in economic activity. "Our dairy industry is crucial to our economic success," Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday at the conference, which continues through Thursday at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center. The Dairy Business Association is a nonprofit comprised of dairy farmers, milk processors and others in the industry. The conference comes as much of the United States has too much milk, partly from dairy farms expanding herds during high prices in 2014. Also, there's been a sharp drop in dairy-product exports and a steady decline in sales of milk as a beverage. "We have soft markets from time to time, and we are definitely in more than a soft market right now," Trotter said. In 2015, another difficult year for the industry, the number of Wisconsin dairy farms fell below 10,000 for the first time in more than a century and was down 33% from 2005. That was even as milk production increased, largely from bigger farms. Now, dairy farmers are focused on controlling their costs while they weather the price slump. "For 2016, I think the consensus of the industry is there's going to be downward pressure on prices," said Brian Gould, an economist with the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Profitability. No one can say for sure when prices will improve because dairy products, like other commodities, are in a global market. A strong U.S. dollar has made American goods less affordable overseas, putting a damper on sales. China and Russia have reduced their imports of dairy products. Also, the European Union has eliminated quotas on milk production, which has put more pressure on the marketplace. "So now, the EU countries can produce as much milk as they want," Gould said. During good times, dairy farmers build up cash reserves, pay down debt and make some purchases in advance. One thing that has helped in the current downturn is that farmers have lower livestock feed costs, thanks to a bountiful harvest last fall. Also, fuel prices are down, and the Dairy Margin Protection Program that came out of the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill could provide some relief. "I don't want to say the (low prices) aren't going to hurt, but we have a little stability going into 2016. Our members are poised to do the best they can....I think they're in a good position with the cost side of the business," Trotter said. Dairy industry analysts say that unless milk prices rally, which is not likely over the next couple of months, the Class III price could drop further to about $13 per hundred pounds of milk. In many cases, farmers already are losing money. While feed costs this winter will be a little lower than last year, low milk prices at least for the first half of the year will squeeze (income) returns over feed costs, Bob Cropp, a UW-Madison dairy industry professor emeritus said in a recent report. Still, even in the downturn, there are many positives, according to Trotter. "We have a great milk processing industry and one of the best support systems. Farmers want to farm, so we want to make sure there's a good business climate for them to do what they do every day," he said. SHARE By Hartford, Conn. General Electric Company will leave Connecticut for Boston, citing "talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other important company assets." GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said the company wants "to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations. Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities. Massachusetts spends more on research and development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world. We are excited to bring our headquarters to this dynamic and creative city." The Boston Globe first reported Wednesday morning that GE had selected Boston for its new headquarters, moving from Fairfield, about 50 miles northwest of New York, and leaving its home for the past four decades. GE said it planned to move to the Seaport District in Boston and employees will move to a temporary location in Boston starting in the summer of 2016. The company has been conducting a nationwide search for a new headquarters since it announced last year that it was unhappy in with Connecticut's tax policies. A spokesman for Gov. Dannel Malloy, who met with GE leaders repeatedly to try to persuade them to stay, declined to comment early Wednesday afternoon. State economic development officials were also not available for comment. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman was also out of the office Wednesday morning. A source close to the negotiations between Massachusetts and GE said the company's top leadership, Immelt and CFO Jeffrey Bornstein, made up their minds early in the process that they wanted to leave Connecticut. Despite lucrative offers from New York, GE was attracted to Boston as an innovation and technology hub surrounded by top-tier academic institutions. The close working relationship between Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker also made a difference, the source said. GE has about 800 employees in Fairfield. Company officials informed Baker and Walsh on Wednesday morning, a source told the Hartford Courant. The selection of Boston comes as GE is in the midst of rebranding itself as tech company. GE has been shifting its focus to high-tech, digital enterprises and away from finance following its sale of GE Capital, its onetime finance unit. To appeal to GE's new direction, Boston offers access to major research universities such as Harvard, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Massachusetts may reflect a shift in emphasis by Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE," said David Cadden, professor emeritus in the School of Business at Quinnipiac University. "He's emphasizing manufacturing and advanced technology for the future growth of GE. Bloomberg recently ranked Massachusetts the No. 1 state for innovation. It currently hosts many high-tech firms, including a subsidiary of Google. On top of that, Boston hosts educational institutions such as MIT, Harvard, Boston College and Boston University. One only had to look to the city of Boston to see how the ability to recruit top-flight talent from local universities can affect the overall economic growth of a location." John Frey, the first legislator to sound the alarm about GE leaving, said flatly that GE executives were not thinking about leaving Connecticut until the details of the business tax increases became public in late May and early June. "It's a very sad day in Connecticut," Frey said. Wednesday's announcement was the second major headquarters announcement of the week for GE. The company announced Monday it will move its global headquarters for GE Healthcare from suburban London to Chicago. SHARE By of the Despite flat investment performance in its largest trust fund, the Wisconsin Retirement System said Wednesday most of its retirees will receive no decrease in their monthly pension payments. Overall, most pensioners could see a slight increase of no more than 0.8% in their monthly payment, said Mark Lamkins, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds, which administers the system. However, officials won't know until March whether that will be the case. If there were an increase, it would show up in retiree's May payments, he said. More than 588,000 retirees and current employees of state agencies, the university system, school districts and most local governments participate in the system's plan. Determination of the final monthly payment number for retirees is complicated by several factors, including the fact that participants are allowed to invest as much of half of their retirement accounts in a fund that invests only in stocks. About 19% of the system's retirees have some money in that option, Lamkins said. The bulk of the system's assets are in the so-called core fund, which contains stocks and bonds and had $85.3 billion of assets on Dec. 31. It had a preliminary return of negative 0.4%, slightly below its benchmark of 0.1%, according to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, or SWIB, which manages the retirement system's money. The system's variable fund, which contains all stocks and had assets of $6.7 billion at the end of the year, was down 1.2% for 2015. SWIB's benchmark for that fund had a negative return of 1.3%. SWIB said it expects the market to continue to be volatile, but the retirement system spreads the impact of investment returns over rolling five-year periods, so that volatility tends to be smoothed. "SWIB's diversified portfolio should help stabilize the WRS returns and help navigate through the wild times ahead and the turbulence we are expecting to experience over the next year," said David Villa, the board's chief investment officer. The funds' performance also affects the value of active employees' accounts, and 2017 contribution rates for them and their employers. Prior gains in the system's portfolios are likely to keep 2017 contribution rates for public employees and employers relatively stable, officials at the employee trust funds department said. SWIB, the 25th largest public or private pension fund in the world, managed a total of about $100 billion of assets as of Dec. 31. It managed most of that for the Wisconsin Retirement System. SHARE By of the Mortgage foreclosure filings in southeastern Wisconsin now are well below levels from even before the Great Recession, court records show. Last year, 5,073 foreclosure actions were filed in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha counties. That compared with 6,401 in the seven-county region during 2006, a year before the devastating economic downturn officially started. Foreclosure filings peaked in southeastern Wisconsin at 12,745 in 2009 but stayed high and weighed on local real estate markets for several years. Distressed residential properties those in foreclosure or worth less than the mortgage balance made up about 40% of the region's homes for sale in 2012, said Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. Today, distressed properties amount to only a "low single-digit" percentage of homes for sale in the area, he said. The local housing market returned to normal in 2014 as distressed properties were absorbed in most communities. Last year was a strong year for the metro Milwaukee housing market, with sales up 10.5% overall. The average sale price also increased in 2015 as the economy improved and inventories of homes for sale were limited. Ruzicka said the standards for mortgage loans have tightened significantly from the prerecession era, when credit was too loose and led to people buying houses they couldn't afford. "Now underwriting standards are I don't want to say restrictive but they're erring on the side of caution to an extreme, so default rates are exceptionally low," Ruzicka said. The drop in foreclosure filings in southeastern Wisconsin tracks with an overall national reduction in the number of distressed properties. Final 2015 foreclosure numbers for the U.S. aren't available yet from the Irvine, Calif.-based real estate data firm CoreLogic, but the company reported this week that in the 12 months ended Nov. 30, the number of homes nationwide in some stage of foreclosure was down 21.8% from the same period a year earlier. The national foreclosure inventory included about 448,000 homes, or 1.2% of all homes with a mortgage, through November. That compared with 573,000 homes, or 1.5%, in November 2014. The November 2015 foreclosure inventory rate was the lowest for any month since November 2007, CoreLogic said. The Wisconsin foreclosure inventory rate was 0.6% at the end of November, according to CoreLogic. "After peaking at 3.6% in January 2011, the foreclosure rate currently stands at 1.2% a remarkable improvement," Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. "While there are still pockets of areas with high foreclosure activity, 30 states have foreclosure rates below the national average, which is evidence of the solid improvement." While the bank foreclosure filings have slowed from their avalanche pace, there is a hangover. In Milwaukee, for example, when defaulting borrowers move out, foreclosed houses can end up unoccupied for a long time and contribute to neighborhood blight. The City of Milwaukee owns 1,300 properties because of tax delinquencies, and it is being aggressive in selling them and getting them back on the tax rolls, Mayor Tom Barrett said. He said the city, as part of its Strong Neighborhoods Plan, is working to prevent foreclosures in the first place. "We also have been working with the three largest mortgage servicers to increase their level of foreclosure outreach and to commit to do more mortgage loan modifications," Barrett said. Barrett said the goal is to have homes occupied again by families, which adds value to the neighborhood, takes the houses off the city's foreclosed property maintenance list and returns them to the tax rolls. Robert Monroe breaks down while testifying Tuesday about witnessing priest abuse when he was a boy during the responsibility phase of his case. Credit: Angela Peterson SHARE Robert Monroe (left) waits with Pat Brennan (center) outside the courtroom of Judge Dennis Cimpl on Tuesday during a recess of his insanity phase trial. Monroe earlier pleaded no contest to voter fraud on charges of casting multiple votes in four elections in 2011 and 2012. Angela Peterson By of the An insanity defense is never easy, even when raised to explain a single violent incident, like a defendant attacking a stranger because voices in his head tell him the victim is a dangerous space alien. So Robert D. Monroe, an insurance professional from Shorewood, may face a real challenge in convincing a judge that his mental condition was to blame for him voting illegally in five elections over the course of two years. Monroe, 51, was originally charged in 2014 with 13 felony counts and pleaded no contest Monday to six of them. Each is punishable by up to 18 months in prison. Monroe cast two ballots in the April 2011 Supreme Court election, two in the August 2011 recall election of state Sen. Alberta Darling, five in the recall election of Gov. Scott Walker, one illegal ballot in an August 2012 primary and two ballots in the November 2012 presidential election. In the presidential election, Monroe cast an in-person absentee ballot in Shorewood on Nov. 1 and drove a rental car to Lebanon, Ind., where he showed his Indiana driver's license to vote in person on election day, Nov. 6. He took the witness stand Tuesday before Circuit Judge Dennis Cimpl during what's called the responsibility phase of the case. Monroe blamed the double, and once quintuple, votes in 2011 and 2012 on fugue states, or periods of disassociative disorder. He blamed his disorder on a long series of life events, from watching his father have a heart attack at age 8 and surviving a serious car crash in high school, to witnessing sexual misconduct by a priest in college and the fallout of his brother's murder in 2000. For the defense to succeed, Monroe, his psychiatrist and attorneys must convince Cimpl that Monroe's mental disease or defect prevented him from appreciating the wrongfulness of his votes or from conforming his actions to election laws. Tuesday, Monroe described taking various medications over time for attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He said aside from the unexplained voting, he has done many other acts that he later could neither remember or explain, such as buying a motorcycle on an errand to get diapers and a residential lot in Waukesha after his divorce, or going on a short training run from home and winding up at Mitchell International Airport. Monroe said that with the help of his therapist, Jon Gudeman, he has tried to figure out what may have triggered some of the illegal voting. He said in the 2011 Supreme Court election, it may have been a radio ad he says tried to blame Justice David Prosser for a ruling he made regarding two orphaned brothers when Prosser was a Brown County circuit judge. Monroe said he related the ad to his own feeling of being unfairly blamed by administrators at his Catholic college in Montana when he reported having seen a priest having sex with a male student. Asked why he voted five times in the Walker recall election, Monroe replied, "We're still working on that one." Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf suggested much of the worst things Monroe cites came up only after he was charged. Monroe said he was so ashamed of not having done more about the priest misconduct he said he saw at college and earlier at Marquette University High School that he never told his doctors earlier, even while they were treating him for other psychological conditions. To Monroe's claim that he didn't follow politics and wasn't even a regular voter, Landgraf asked Monroe about several emails and texts he shared with family and friends urging them to vote, inquiring about donating to candidates, requesting an absentee ballot in his son's name, critiquing unions and getting subscription messages from Americans for Prosperity, a group that supported GOP candidates and issues. After putting up the notes as exhibits, Landgraf would ask, "Were you in a fugue state when you wrote that?" Monroe repeatedly said he couldn't remember any of the emails, and that he didn't know in most instances if he was in a fugue state, though he called one incident registering to vote in both Milwaukee and Shorewood on the same day "classic fugue." Defense experts Gudeman and Herzl Spiro testified Monday that they believed Monroe's conditions did support the defense of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Two doctors who examined Monroe for the state, and for the court, found that he does suffer from some degrees of depression, anxiety and panic disorder, but neither thought the conditions would prevent Monroe from understanding and conforming to voting laws. They are expected to testify Wednesday. By of the More than half of Wisconsin's public school students in grades three through eight, 51.2%, were proficient or advanced in English language arts last year, but only 43.7% did as well in math, according to results released Wednesday of the state's standardized tests. Both scores, which reflect results of the newly implemented Badger Exam, suggest improvements over the 2013-'14 school year, but Department of Public Instruction officials cautioned against making comparisons because they result from different exams and scoring mechanisms. As in past years, the statewide assessment shows stubborn achievement gaps between white and minority students, and similar gaps for English language learners, disabled students and those living in poverty when compared with their peers. "These achievement gaps are most troubling," state Superintendent Tony Evers said in a statement accompanying the limited release of the results, five months behind schedule. Evers said the state is using the test data and other resources to identify schools and strategies that have been shown to narrow the gaps, and is sharing those practices across the state to "ensure every student graduates college and career ready." Wednesday's release marks the first and final look at statewide results from the Badger Exam, which had replaced the long-running Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam for the 2014-'15 school year. The Badger Exam, devised to align with the Common Core standards the state adopted in 2010, suffered a rocky rollout and was widely criticized. It was discontinued under Gov. Scott Walker's 2015-'17 budget and will be replaced by the Wisconsin Forward Exam this spring the state's third assessment in as many years. The DPI results also include ACT scores taken by juniors and those of the Dynamic Learning Maps Performance exam taken by students with significant cognitive disabilities. They do not include individual district- and school-level data for public schools or the scores for private schools participating in the state-funded voucher programs. Among the highlights: The composite score for juniors who took the ACT was 20 on a scale of 36. That's below the 22.2 reported in August. Again, DPI said any comparisons would be "flawed" because of significant changes in the pool of test-takers. Until this year, the ACT scores reflected those taken during senior year, in many cases by students who had taken it multiple times. The drop was expected because of a new mandate that requires all juniors to take the exam. Overall, 45.7% of students scored proficient or advanced on the combined ACT/Dynamic Learning Maps exams; 35.9% did as well in math. The ACT/DLM scores also show significant achievement gaps along racial, socioeconomic and other lines. In the elementary grades, third- and fourth-graders performed significantly better in math than their older counterparts on the Badger Exam. DPI spokesman John Johnson said that may be attributed to the state's adoption of the Common Core standards. "What we think is going on is that those students ... had been taught pretty much with the new standards from the time they went into school, as opposed to students in the older grades who transitioned to the new standards," Johnson said. Milwaukee Public Schools, the state's largest district, which has a disproportionate percentage of students in poverty, performed well below the state average, district officials said Wednesday. In grades three through eight, 27% of MPS students scored proficient or advanced in language arts and 17% did so in math on the Badger Exam/DLM. On ACT scores, 22% of juniors were sufficient or advanced in language arts, with a score 20 or higher, and 10% did as well in math, a score of 22 or higher. The district said it saw an "upward trend in proficiency" in language arts among middle-schoolers, with progressively higher scores from sixth to eighth grades. MPS officials said it may be the result of several initiatives, including a new focus on literacy, an expansion of online supports for high schoolers and implementation of the Common Core standards. "While it is a step in a positive direction, we still have significant work to do at all grade levels," MPS Superintendent Darienne Driver said in a statement announcing the results. DPI had been expected to release the annual test results in August. It attributed the delay and the inability to provide district- and school-level data to the logistics of working with three new vendors for the 2014-'15 tests and preparing for the upcoming Wisconsin Forward Exam. Johnson stressed that students, parents, teachers and schools had received student-level data over the summer. DPI provided districts with their systemwide data in recent weeks and left it to them to make that public no earlier than 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. He said the district and voucher schools data would eventually appear on the DPI website, but he could not say when. It was not clear how many districts released their data on Wednesday. A handful of districts responded to an email from the Journal Sentinel seeking comment on their scores. One administrator of a rural district said he had tried looking at his data "and to be honest could not make heads or tails of it." Most of the districts that responded, including West Bend, Kettle Moraine and Whitnall, touted their districts' scores in comparison to the state averages. "We're 10-plus points above the state average ... and we have one elementary school that is 24 points above," said Ted Neitzke, superintendent of the West Bend School District, which planned to release its data Wednesday. "We've invested pretty heavily in our elementary levels. ... We're pretty excited about those results," he said. On the Badger/DLM exam, Kettle Moraine students were 70.4% proficient or advanced English language arts and 65.8% in math. Whitnall had 60% proficient or advanced in language arts and 54.8% in math. Their juniors also scored above the state averages for math and language arts on the ACT/DLM test. Anthony Brazouski, executive director of academic achievement for the Whitnall School District, called the results "a starting point for future improvement." "We are hopeful that this year will serve as a baseline for future data analyses," he said. At least one small district reported a puzzling anomaly in its data. John Engstrom of the Friess Lake School District in Washington County said his students outperformed the state at all levels in reading and scored at or well above state levels in math. However, Engstrom said several students who scored high on internal math assessments and are enrolled in advanced math courses scored only a basic on the Badger Exam. "I'm still trying to discern how that happened," he said. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks during a town hall at the Brownells Firearms Manufacturing company on Thursday in Grinnell, Iowa. Credit: Getty Images By Reports of Jeb Bush's political death may be greatly exaggerated. Not only is Bush essentially locked in a statistical tie for second place in New Hampshire, depending on which poll you prefer, but he's enjoying the benefits of being largely ignored by the media. The milieu of lowered expectations can sometimes be a gift and so it is proving for Bush. While Americans, but especially the media, have been riveted by Barnum & Bailey's last elephant act featuring Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Bush has been quietly meeting with small groups in town halls in New Hampshire and South Carolina. "It's amazing, you can do a town-hall meeting and there could be 25 questions," said Bush Monday in a telephone interview. "Sometimes there's a process question, but 20 out of 25 are about, 'what are you going to do about Social Security, student loans, how do we take out ISIS?' "This alternative universe of the political ecosystem is not necessarily what people care about." Alas, he admits, comprehensive plans on things that matter "don't resonate in the age of insult." "The solutions are there ...but you're not going to do a wonk-a-thon in 90 seconds. I try to purge all of that from my head before debates." What Bush means is that he's had to adapt his wonky ways to the debates, which he concedes are more important than ever. To this end, he has been mastering the "power of three," he says. Instead of answering questions in paragraphs, which comes more naturally to someone who has actual plans as opposed to one-liners and superlatives signifying nothing Bush now delivers bullets. "Benghazi, Russia reset, Iran deal." But I'm jumping ahead. Before a general election against presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, a heretofore unlikely scenario for Bush, there are the primary contests and yet more debates. The next one for Republicans is Thursday on Fox Business News. This round seems a natural showcase for uber-businessman Trump, but Bush differs with this assumption. Depending upon how questions are framed, and despite his preference to focus on Clinton's weaknesses, he's loaded for bear when it comes to Trump's presumed business acumen. If the question to Bush begins with something like, You've said Trump isn't a serious candidate..., "I'm going to go after him," says Bush. "The problem is there's too much low-hanging fruit." Bush plans to highlight Trump's multiple bankruptcies, his company's massive layoffs, and people "getting stiffed," including a widow, Vera Coking, whose house Trump attempted to replace in the mid-1990s with a parking lot, invariably described as a "limousine parking lot," for one of his Atlantic City casinos, using eminent domain via New Jersey's Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. "This is anathema to conservatives," Bush said, referring to conservative opposition to use of eminent domain for private development. Even though Coking defeated Trump in a lawsuit, the Supreme Court in 2005 upheld the government's right to seize private property for private development, a ruling that 80% of Americans disapproved of. Bush and other conservatives have long hoped this episode might prove damaging to Trump, especially in New Hampshire, where similar cases have been in the forefront recently. But television ads in Iowa from the anti-tax group Club for Growth about Trump's support for "massive new power to take private property and give it to corporations" don't seem to have hurt him thus far. And the latest polls show Trump surging in New Hampshire. It seems that nothing Trump does or says can dislodge him from first place. Yet, Bush would say. There's still time to win or lose but Bush highlights his campaign's better-than-anybody's ground game, his very recent doubling of staff in New Hampshire, a proven record of governance, and policies put in place while he was governor of Florida that remain in place, a rarity. Mary Ann Lindley, former editorial page editor of the Tallahassee Democrat during Bush's governorship and a county commissioner since 2012, used to refer to his administration's motto as, "We hate government and we're here to run it." Although not a fan of Bush's at the time, she now views him as "a brain surgeon (ha) compared to [current Gov.] Rick Scott. And compared to the other Republicans, I'd have to say he's got the intellectual heft I'd appreciate in a president. Not that the voters in general like that sort of thing." As for Bush's path to victory? "One path," he said, "is surviving." Kathleen Parker is a columnist for The Washington Post. Email kathleenparker@washpost.com Twitter: @KathleenParker SHARE Barrett and Walker The Jan. 10 paper, front page, talked about more murders in Milwaukee. In fact, this time of year the Journal Sentinel runs many sad stories like, "A tragic game," as to how bad Milwaukee is with crime, our homeless, black-on-black murders and much more. Yet few of these articles, if any, make mention that Democrat Tom Barrett is the acting mayor of Milwaukee. Has been for a long time. On the very next page, the paper brings up Wisconsin state statistics such as loans and jobs, some found to be false, and Gov. Scott Walker is mentioned repeatedly and blamed for all this, which seems to be a near daily occurrence at this paper ("Ross scrambles numbers on loan debt"). Why such a discrepancy? Jim Hayett Hartland What about John Doe abuses? Has anyone else noted the absolute obsession the Journal Sentinel has with "open government?" A front-page editorial no less, with various columns three to four days a week. I admit it's an important issue, but how about using some of that space and energy to covering the abuses and overreaches of the John Chisholm-led John Doe investigation which was told to cease and desist. I realize those types of investigations are secret, but enough information has leaked to pique my curiosity. I would prefer to be informed about what happened by the local paper, since it happened in Wisconsin, rather than have to hear about it elsewhere. John Ruffing Franklin Don't disparage public defenders I was a public defender in Madison for 44 years. I read with some dismay Tom Kertscher's account of the Steven Avery murder trial in which he says Avery was well defended by two "veteran, resourceful" attorneys and not "inexperienced and overburdened public defenders" ("Does Avery series change case?" Jan. 11). It's only right and fair that the readers of this newspaper know that in Wisconsin public defenders are not inexperienced and not overburdened. I never walked into a courtroom unprepared or not ready to give the defendant the best defense possible. The public defenders' offices throughout this state are staffed by the most experienced, most dedicated, most knowledgeable and finest trials lawyers around. Rather than disparaging public defenders, Kertscher should spend an afternoon in the halls of justice and see firsthand what I'm talking about. Dennis Burke Madison Obama not taking away rights I just read the letter "Obama not defending the Constitution" by Caleb Robert Bernhardt (Crossroads, Jan. 10). Bernhardt wrote that "the Second Amendment explicitly reads: 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'" Actually, what it states is: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." President Barack Obama wants people who sell guns to have federal licenses and to do a background check on the person buying the gun. This would include: gun shows, flea markets, online and private sales. He would have the FBI hire 230 more examiners to help with background checks. He asked the government to research smart gun technology to reduce accidental shootings and is asking Congress for $500 million to improve mental health care. He wants to do better tracking of lost or stolen guns and prevent trusts and corporations from buying dangerous weapons without a background check. So tell me where Obama took away the law-abiding citizens' right to bear arms. Did he ask us to turn in our guns? No, he didn't. He did something the cowardly Republicans were afraid to do because they might get an "F" on their report cards from the National Rifle Association. And because of this Bernhardt calls Obama a demigod. Really! The only demigods I see are the cowardly Republicans in Congress, the gun lobbyists and the NRA. Cheryl Johnson Schofield Gov. Scott Walker holds a news conference at the Capitol in 2011 with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (right) and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald. Credit: Journal Sentinel files By Wisconsin has seen a pattern of policies designed to suppress the public's right to know. Gov. Scott Walker and friends have been enabled by an accommodating Wisconsin Supreme Court. I suspect that the motivations behind these policies are demographics that lean toward Walker's opposition. Republicans understand better than Democrats that their 2010 victory had to do with the 2008 recession, unemployment and financial fears. An enlightened approach would be to run state government effectively and efficiently to win voters by good deeds. Is that difficult? It wasn't for former Gov. Tommy Thompson. Late in the day on July 3, the Legislature tried to gut our open records laws. The Legislature backed off when the press generated massive responses from the right and the left. Then there was the battle with the Public Records Board, which concluded Monday. The board may have illegally and secretly changed its policy on public access to certain records. The Walker administration found out about the change, and used it as protective cover. The public was never informed by the board, which has reversed its decision. One can add other misdeeds, such as the dismantling of the Government Accountability Board, voter ID to suppress votes for rural and urban poor and gerrymandering of voting districts to protect legislators. And what are they hiding? Was it the job as head of the State Patrol given to Stephen Fitzgerald when his sons then-Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) were legislative leaders? Was it the appointment of an unskilled and inexperienced son of a lobbyist ally over two competent and skilled Republicans? Or the operation of a new state agency designed to be free of bureaucracy to generate jobs and new business? A good business person confirms information, follows up on the status of companies who receive loans, checks to see if loan payments are made and requires that jobs to be filled were. Management at this agency lacked basic business skills. There is a pattern. Walker claims he is not skirting the records law, though former members in his administration claim they were instructed to use private emails for government business. While Walker was Milwaukee County executive, there was a dual email system that the John Doe investigation discovered. A close Walker crony was convicted of stealing funds intended for veterans and another of child enticement. Another was convicted of campaigning on county time. This continual stream of suppression policies is short-term. It will come back to haunt Republicans if Democrats gain power. I suspect that Democrats might use the new rules to their advantage. In the long run, these policies are not those of one party, but from a small crop of politicians who hide what they do. There are good people on the right, such as Tommy Thompson and Jim Sensenbrenner. While I may not agree with these men, they are honorable. One-party government is bad. We need compromise based on common ground as well as a collective vision to serve the state and the people. The pattern of policy and law designed to suppress open access shows a distrust of the public and a fear of the future by the insecure. Power in and of itself corrupts, but we already know that. Bob Chernow is a Milwaukee businessman, president of The Tellier Foundation, a former River Hills trustee, chair of the Milwaukee River South Commission and the Regional Telecommunications Commission. Rules for commenting Posts and comments to The Busy Catholic must be marked by Christian charity and respect for the truth. They should be on topic and presume the good will of other contributors. Discussion should take place primarily from a faith perspective. We reserve the right to end discussion on any topic any time we feel the discussion is no longer productive. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley delivered GOPs formal response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Credit: Associated Press By Washington Americans should resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in how they treat immigrants, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday as the GOP used its response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to try softening the tough stance embraced by some of its leading presidential candidates. Haley, the U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, said the country is facing its most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State group, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," she said. "We must resist that temptation." Haley, who has been mentioned by some as a potential Republican vice presidential candidate, said no one who works hard and follows the laws "should ever feel unwelcome in this country." The Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, has called for deporting millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have battled over which of them has the tougher record on the issue. Polls have shown that public concerns over terrorism and national security have become a top issue since the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 in Paris and the Dec. 2 mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. "This president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with" the terrorist threat, Haley said in remarks brimming with broad descriptions of how Republicans would do things differently than Democrats if they win the White House and retain control of Congress. "Soon, the Obama presidency will end and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction." Many in the GOP are eager to win more votes from women, who preferred Obama over his Republican opponents by more than 10 percentage points in the 2008 and 2012 elections and have favored the Democratic presidential candidate since 1992. Haley, at 43 the nation's youngest governor, is the third consecutive woman that Republican leaders have chosen to deliver their party's response to Obama. Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa gave the address last year, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the No. 4 House GOP leader, did it in 2014. Haley said the nation's problems also include an economy that has not boosted family income, a national debt that is too high and Obama's health care law, which Republicans have long asserted has failed. She also cited "chaotic unrest in many of our cities," which seemed to be a reference to community anger in several cities over killings by police of unarmed black people. She said that under a GOP president, taxes would be lowered, spending and debt curbed and the military strengthened. SHARE By of the Washington President Barack Obama has nominated Madison lawyer Donald K. Schott to fill a long-standing, politically charged vacancy on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. It is the oldest vacancy of its kind in the federal courts and has been a subject of dispute between Wisconsin's two U.S. senators, Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin. Schott is a partner in the Madison law office of Quarles & Brady. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977 and his law degree from Harvard in 1980. The seat, designated for a Wisconsin judge, has been vacant for well over five years. Schott is one of eight candidates for the seat who were chosen for interviews by a bipartisan nominating commission in Wisconsin established by Johnson and Baldwin. The commission failed to produce a full slate of candidates; it could agree on only two finalists to be sent the White House, Schott among them. Its rules called for a minimum of four finalists. Baldwin decided to break that impasse last summer and send the White House the names of all eight applicants who received interviews, complaining the seat had gone vacant too long. Johnson protested, accusing Baldwin of abandoning a process the two had agreed to. The result was an apparent rupture in the brief partnership the senators had forged to vet judicial nominees from Wisconsin, a process that helped fill two other federal judgeships. At the time, Johnson told the White House that he would only consider supporting one of the two applicants endorsed by the commission, Schott included. He said he would oppose any of the other six. Baldwin said she supported Schott's nomination. "Wisconsin deserves to be fully represented on the court instead of having an empty seat....It is past time to put an end to the longest-standing federal court vacancy in the country," Baldwin said in a statement. Johnson said he would review Schott's nomination before deciding whether to support it. "While I remain disappointed that the process that resulted in the successful confirmation of two district court's judges was short-circuited in the case of Mr. Schott's nomination, I will review this appointment thoroughly and fairly," Johnson said in a statement. "Now that Mr. Schott has been nominated, I plan to review his file and conduct other appropriate vetting before making any determinations." Because of GOP control of the Senate and the effective veto power that chamber grants to home-state senators over judicial nominees, Johnson has the ability to block the nomination if he chooses. Johnson blocked Obama's original choice to fill the vacancy, UW-Madison law professor Victoria Nourse, who was nominated before Johnson's election to the Senate in 2010. Johnson is up for re-election this year, and Obama is in the last year of his presidency. "It's a presidential election year. The Republicans have not been very cooperative, just confirming 11 people last year," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who tracks judicial nominations. But Tobias said he thought that Johnson might end up supporting the Schott nomination because Schott was endorsed by a commission whose membership included several Johnson appointees. "I think he's as good a pick for Johnson as he could expect," Tobias said. "Whether he'll push or whether anybody can get through (right now) is not clear." But Tobias said five years is a " long time to have a vacancy like that." Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) applaud President Barack Obama during the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Credit: Associated Press By and Washington Eyeing the end of his presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans Tuesday night to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to put economic and security progress at risk. "All the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air," Obama said in his final State of the Union address. "So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close." The president's address to lawmakers and a prime-time television audience was meant to both shape his legacy and put his imprint squarely on the race to succeed him. He defended his record and implicitly urged the public to elect another Democratic president to build on it but acknowledged the persistent anxieties of Americans who feel shut out of a changing economy or at risk from an evolving terrorism threat. While Obama did not directly call out Republicans, he sharply, and at times sarcastically, struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship. In one of his most pointed swipes at the GOP candidates running to succeed him, Obama warned against "voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background." His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obama's address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from GOP front-runner Donald Trump in particular has unnerved some Republican leaders, Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation "to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." Focused on his own legacy, Obama ticked off a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, muscling through a sweeping health care law, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He touted implementation of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran but made no mention of the 10 American sailors picked up by Iran Tuesday. The Pentagon said the sailors had drifted into Iranian waters after encountering mechanical problems and would be returned safely and promptly. Tackling one of the most vexing foreign policy challenges of his presidency, Obama vowed a robust campaign to "take out" the Islamic State group but chastised Republicans for "over the top claims" about the extremist group's power. "Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped," he said. "But they do not threaten our national security." Obama's words were unlikely to satisfy Republicans, as well as some Democrats, who say he underestimates the Islamic State's power and is leaving the U.S. vulnerable to attacks at home. Obama was frank about one of his biggest regrets: failing to ease the persistently deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans. The GOP-led Congress that Obama stood before Tuesday night is hostile to his ideas and angry about his executive orders on issues from guns to immigration. On the campaign trail, Trump's heated rhetoric is seen by some voters as a welcome contrast to Obama's cool calls for civility. "The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," Obama conceded. "There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office." Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals. He did vow to keep pushing for action on politically fraught issues such as curbing gun violence and fixing the nation's fractured immigration laws. Obama also touted a new effort led by Vice President Joe Biden to fight cancer, aimed at increasing public and private resources and breaking down barriers to collaboration among researchers. Biden's 46-year-old son Beau died last year from brain cancer. Yet Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions he has taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security. His optimism was meant to draw a contrast with what the White House sees as doom-and-gloom scenarios peddled by the GOP. Republicans were largely dismissive of the president's address. House Speaker Paul Ryan, assuming the traditional seat behind the president for the first time, said Obama's "lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice soundbites, but they don't explain how" to solve problems. "I can't say I was disappointed by the president's speech, but that's because I wasn't expecting much. As usual, the president tried to manage people's perceptions instead of confronting reality: His policies aren't working," he said in a statement. "If everything were as great as he said it was, two-thirds of the American people wouldn't say the country is on the wrong track....I just wish the president had leveled with the people or at least with himself." Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner said in a statement: "Since his first State of the Union address, President Obama has delivered thousands of empty words, and tonight was simply more of the same. But the American people will no longer tolerate flowery rhetoric followed by broken promises. We have an opportunity to pursue bold ideas and reclaim America's promise in 2016. That is why Republicans are putting forth a focused agenda that will empower our citizens, rebuild faith in our future and restore a confident America." To see video For video related to this story, go to jsonline.com/video/world The race between Democrat Russ Feingold (left) and Sen. Ron Johnson is shaping up to be among the closest-watched Senate races nationally. And the images of both candidates are expected to take a hit, particularly with outside groups expected to sling plenty of mud. Credit: Journal Sentinel files SHARE By of the U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic challenger Russ Feingold agree on very little. But one thing is likely to be true of both by the time their rematch race reaches its election day finish in November: Neither guy is going to be very popular with voters. "Historically, rematches between candidates are often pretty negative affairs," said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School poll. The Johnson-Feingold race is shaping up as one of the more important Senate contests in the country, and outside groups are already spending millions of dollars on the campaign. What does that mean? Expect the airwaves to be clogged in the coming months with negative ads designed to define the candidates. It will be a far cry from the 2010 race. Back then, Johnson, a political outsider and businessman, beat the three-term incumbent Feingold by five percentage points. There was little outside spending. Not a lot of mud-throwing. And Johnson ran the classic outside-the-beltway campaign as support for Democrats plummeted. The result: Both candidates were viewed favorably by voters, according to tracking polls. Paul Maslin, a Democratic strategist who did polling for the 2010 Feingold campaign, said "there were still people who liked him (Feingold), they just weren't voting for him." The new normal for campaigning hit Wisconsin in 2012, with the recall race for governor followed by the U.S. Senate contest between Democrat Tammy Baldwin, then a member of the House, and former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin beat the once-popular Thompson by nearly six points. But a long season of political attack ads left both candidates upside-down in voter approval. Thompson numbers were 37% approval to 51% disapproval, while Baldwin's numbers were 36% approval to 44% disapproval. "The way that election played out and as hostile as it was, I was not surprised both were underwater," said Brian Nemoir, a Republican strategist who worked for Thompson. Nemoir said he wouldn't be surprised if both Johnson and Feingold ended the current campaign with negative approval numbers. The most recent Marquette poll, released in November, showed Johnson viewed favorably by 27% of registered voters and unfavorably by 38% with 35% unable to rate him, while Feingold was viewed favorably by 43% and unfavorably by 36% with 22% unable to rate him. Overall, Feingold was supported by 49% of registered voters, while Johnson received 38% support. "Ron Johnson has the job of reminding people of why this guy wasn't elected six years ago, and Feingold has the job now of running against an incumbent and comparing the promises he made to what he has or has not delivered," Nemoir said. "I think at the end of the day these guys bring very different visions of our country to the table," Nemoir said. "The contrasts will be crystal clear ... and if that means defining the other one in a light they consider less favorable, that is what is going to happen in this race. I don't know if there is an opportunity for either one to be better liked by the end of this." Maslin said he doesn't accept the premise that Feingold will end the race with high unfavorable numbers. "I still think the core piece of this race is there still is a willingness to consider and like Russ Feingold and there is a real weakness in the incumbent," Maslin said. The campaigns are framing the race in different ways. The Feingold campaign is emphasizing his travels across 72 counties "to hear the concerns of middle-class and working families," according to campaign manager Tom Russell. "They expect their next senator will listen to them and work to provide the opportunities they need. That's exactly what Russ is doing." "Senator Johnson hasn't listened to these Wisconsin families over the last five years, and he certainly hasn't done anything to help them," Russell said. "Without a positive vision of how to improve the lives of Wisconsinites, it's no surprise that Senator Johnson is desperately hoping for a negative campaign financed by billionaires and CEOs through their SuperPACs." The Johnson campaign countered that Feingold has broken every pledge he ever made about campaign finance by taking the bulk of his contributions from out of state. "Ron is an outsider, a manufacturer who supports strong national defense and has a record of bringing people together to get things done as chairman of the (Senate) Committee on Homeland Security," said Brad Todd, a Republican strategist working with Johnson. "Feingold has never created jobs in the private sector. He has spent his career growing government, instead. And his views on national security are so liberal they're dangerous." This will clearly be a heavy-hitting political rematch all the way to November. Walnut Way steps into We Energies rate case as voice of low-income gas, electric customers Advocates say the pain of a large utility rate increase will fall hardest on low-income residents who are already struggling to make ends meet. SHARE By of the Was it a "frostquake" or a sonic boom? That question remains unanswered Wednesday after authorties and residents in and around Dodge County reported hearing a loud rumbling sound Tuesday night. Initial reports pointed to a frostquake, a geological phenomenon that occurs when water that drains into the ground freezes, expands and places stress on the surrounding ground. Reports of a "frost quake" over parts of the area. Water in the soil expands as it freezes. Produces a boom and some shaking of the ground. NWS Milwaukee (@NWSMKX) January 13, 2016 "It would sound like someone drove into your house," National Weather Service meteorologist Justin Schultz told the Journal Sentinel late Tuesday. Frostquakes are relatively rare events, Schultz said, but not unheard of in Wisconsin. But there were additional reports, citing the Dodge County Sheriff's Office, suggesting that the sound was related to an Air Force training mission in the area. Have been seeing chaff on our radar off and on this evening, so "booms" could have been from Air Force planes on exercise per media. #swiwx NWS Milwaukee (@NWSMKX) January 13, 2016 Reddit Email 0 Shares By John Kiriakou | (Otherwords.org) | Ending this imbroglio requires robust diplomacy. One ongoing theme [of the GOP campaign has] bothered me a lot. It seems to me that none of the Republicans running for president had even the vaguest understanding of whats happening in Syria. I learned during my nearly 15 years of working on the Middle East at the CIA and after earning my college degree in Middle Eastern Studies that nothing in that region is easily accomplished. Almost no issues are black and white. Alliances shift constantly, and sometimes politics makes for strange bedfellows. Syria is no exception. The debate theme was basically this: The Islamic State is bad, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is bad, and moderate Syrian rebels are good. In a perfect world, that would indeed be the case. But its not a perfect world, and thats not the reality of Syria today. Certainly, we can all agree that the Islamic State is a dangerous and desperate terrorist group that must be stopped. But at what cost? Why is it up to the United States to send troops to fight a foreign civil war? Weve been at war for the past 14 years in that part of the world. Isnt it time to stop fighting over there? And what of Assad? Hes a ruthless dictator, to be sure. And the civil war he helped set in motion has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 of his own countrymen and forced nearly 12 million more to flee their homes as refugees or internally displaced people within Syria. But hes also the only one protecting religious minorities like Alawites, Druze, and Christians in Syria the latter of whom make up about 10 percent of the population, including notable minorities in both the Syrian parliament and cabinet. Unlike many people elsewhere in the region, Syrians of all traditions were generally free to practice their faith before the war began. This also used to be the case in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, despite his own ruthlessness. By now most Iraqi Christians have fled the country. Church leaders have been kidnapped and murdered. And youre more likely to meet an Iraqi Christian in Detroit than in Baghdad. And those moderate rebels? Maybe a few are freedom-loving secularists. But many more are hardcore Islamists like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. They arent any more interested in democracy than Assad or the Islamic State itself. There is, however, a solution. And it doesnt involve killing more people, stumbling into other countries civil wars, or carpet bombing the Middle East, as Ted Cruz proposed. Its called diplomacy. The United States has national security interests in Syria: We want to stop the Islamic State. The Russians and Iranians have interests, too: They want to support and protect their friend Assad. The Turks have an interest in protecting their border. The Jordanians have an interest in resettling Syrian refugees back in Syria. Doesnt it make sense, then, to call for peace talks that would include Moscow, Damascus, Amman, and other regional capitals? Doesnt it make sense for the international community to work together to bring peace and stability back to the region? Assad is no choir boy. But we should be talking to him, too. Theres no dealing with the Islamic State while this war is still underway. OtherWords columnist John Kiriakou is an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and the winner of the 2015 PEN Center USA First Amendment award. Via Otherwords.org - Related video added by Juan Cole: Graham, Santorum Split On U.S. Ground Troops In Syria Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | President Obamas last State of the Union address this year was largely lacking in specifics and replete with high ideals and ambitious goals like curing cancer. But he did address some issues in everyday politics. One of the more powerful moments came when he implicitly attacked Donald Trump and several other GOP presidential candidates for trying to get ahead by fanning the flames of anti-Muslim bigotry or by stereotyping Latinos or African-Americans. Thats why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot I stand tonight that to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country. If Im not mistaken, this is the first time an attack on Islamophobia has figured in a State of the Union address; but surely in any case it is the most extensive defense of Muslims by a sitting president in history. Obama makes the important point that the image of intolerance projected by Trump and others toward Muslims damages US national security and makes it more difficult to secure the cooperation of Muslim-majority states. Racial prejudice on a large scale always has foreign policy implications. (Arab satellite t.v. was swooning over this part of Obamas speech). Obama also took a victory lap concerning his succesful negotiations with Iran to curb its nuclear enrichment program: Thats why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war. You wonder if originally this para was a bigger part of the speech but perhaps the section had to be cut down because the Iranians took 10 US sailors prisoners just before the speech began. Obama devoted the most space to the fight against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). He made several points. First, Daesh is not a new Soviet Union or some large important state. It is just a radical fringe, dangerous for the terror it can spread or the soft-target civilians it can kill, but hardly a threat to the existence of the United States. Obama was pushing back against the over-the-top rhetoric of GOP presidential candidates. I told you earlier all the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know thats the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead they call us. Obama appealed to the notion of a mysterious political collapse in the Middle East, which he said it will take many years to replace with a new system. Some of the collapse, he said, is rooted in age-old sectarian struggles (this is not true). He concluded, Its up to us to help remake that system. And that means we have to set priorities. I was a little taken aback that Obama should speak of remaking the Middle East system. Didnt he learn anything from the mistakes of Bush? Obama specified, Priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks but this is just routine counter-terrorism, not WW III: But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. Thats the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. Obama then praised his own gradualist approach to destroying Daesh: Thats exactly what we are doing. For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISILs financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. While Obama may be right that his retraining program for the Iraqi army is having some success (the retrained brigades fought successfully in Ramadi), it isnt true that his training efforts have yielded any success at all in Syria. Obama asked Congress for a declaration of war that specifically targets Daesh. (The Republicans have signaled that he wont get it). Obama didnt say much about all this, but isnt it weird that the GOP talks about Daesh as though the sky is falling, but then wont authorize a use of force against it? Obama also criticized all the talk on the Republican Right wing of carpet bombing Syria. He said that many places in the Middle East and Asia may become unstable: Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage. Obama was also impatient with implicit calls to conduct foreign invasions and do nation-building on a large scale: We also cant try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. Thats not leadership; thats a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. Its the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq and we should have learned it by now. He concluded by urging patience, wisdom and coordination in the midst of a political season full of bluster and cowboyism: Fortunately, theres a smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power. It says America will always act, alone if necessary, to protect our people and our allies; but on issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight. Thats our approach to conflicts like Syria, where were partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace. Obamas argument for the success of his approach looks more solid the wake of the retaking of Ramadi by the Iraqi government. Obama was not, however, entirely forthcoming about actual US policy in Syria, which has been for the CIA to use Saudi Arabia as a pass-through for delivering T.O.W. anti-tank munitions to vetted rebel groups which, however, have often tactically allied with al-Qaeda in Syria (the Nusra Front) or Salafi allies of al-Qaeda. This replay of 1980s Reagan Afghanistan policy can only end badly for the US, which is strengthening, willy-nilly, the hand of Ayman al-Zawahiri in the Middle East (al-Zawahir was a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks). Obamas counsel of decent gradualism and alliance-building thus hides a dependence on shady covert operations, dubious allies, and extra-judicial tactics like the use of drones. Even his actual policies, as opposed to the ideals of which he spoke, however, are of course far preferable to the proposals being batted around by the GOP frontrunners, which come as though from another dimension and if implemented would throw the world into chaos. Related video: PBS Newshour: Obama calls out politicians for race and religion-targeted rhetoric Reddit Email 0 Shares By Susan de Muth | ( OpenDemocracy) | King Salmans son Mohammad seems to be piloting Saudi Arabia into a series of ever more risky adventures. In the past year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has abandoned the cautious fence-sitting that long characterised its diplomatic style in favour of an unprecedented, hawkish antagonism. That this transformation coincides with the meteoric rise of a previously little known prince 30 year-old Mohammad bin Salman is no accident; it seems that the prince is now the power behind the throne. Since the death of the first king of modern Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz, in 1953, the kingdom has been ruled by an increasingly elderly succession of six of his 45 sons; the last incumbent, Abdullah, died last January aged 90 and was replaced by the present king, Salman, who is 81 and rumoured to be suffering from dementia. The youthful, sabre-rattling Prince Mohammad, insiders say, is Salmans favourite son by his third and favourite wife, Fahda. Salman has one remaining brother 75 year-old Muqrin who would normally have been next in line for the throne. Whether alone, or at the instigation of others, Salman removed Muqrin from the succession three months after he became king. Prince Mohammad now moved up the line of succession to become deputy Crown Prince, with only his 56 year-old cousin, Mohammad bin Nayef between him and the throne. King Salman then bestowed an astonishing array of portfolios and titles on his inexperienced son, making him Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister the very same posts Salman himself occupied prior to inheriting the throne as well as head of the Economic Guidance Council and Chief of the Royal Court. Within weeks, bin Nayefs court was merged with the Royal Court, now supervised by Prince Mohammad, and one of his closest advisers was removed from the ruling cabinet. No wonder Prince Mohammad feels mandated to pilot the kingdom into a series of ever more risky adventures, earning himself the unofficial nickname Reckless and unfavourable comparisons with his highly intelligent half-brother, 56 year-old Prince Sultan bin Salman, who became the first Arab astronaut in 1986 and is currently languishing in obscurity as head of the Saudi Tourist Board. At the heart of all Sunni Saudi Arabias current woes is its longstanding sectarian and political rivalry with the Shia republic of Iran. The toppling of the Shah by the 1979 Islamic revolution struck fear into the Saudi royals hearts and consolidated Riyadhs political and military dependence on the west. Just as King Salman got comfortable on the throne, everything started to go wrong. Until very recently, Iran was isolated and under heavy sanctions, the bete noire of the west, harbouring nuclear ambitions and an aggressive attitude towards the great Satan, America, and its client state, Israel. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia could do no wrong despite its appalling human rights record, oppression of women and rampant corruption. Pliable and passive in its regional politics, Washingtons willing ally eagerly swapped billions of petro-dollars for sophisticated military hardware, aircraft and weapons. Margaret Thatcher had a special department for pushing through the al-Yamamah arms deal which involved record amounts of dollars and corruption. This special relationship endured: the flag over Buckingham Palace flew at half-mast when King Abdullah passed on in January last year and David Cameron, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande were among many world leaders who travelled to Riyadh for the late monarchs memorial. But just as King Salman got comfortable on the throne, everything started to go wrong for the desert kingdom. First, the west suddenly woke up to how deeply entrenched the Islamic State (IS) had become on both sides of the Iraq/Syria border as it set about building its Caliphate; this problem now replaced the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as regional priority number one. Before this complication, alignment in Syria had been relatively simple and along sectarian fault lines: the Alawite (a branch of Shiism) Assad regime was backed by Iran, Iraq, Russia and China, while the mainly Sunni opposition was championed by Saudi Arabia, most Gulf states, Turkey, the US, UK and several European countries. Recognising the growing predominance of Islamic extremists within the opposition (a situation actively fostered by Saudi Arabia) the west now preferred a political solution to the Syrian civil war and reluctantly conceded largely under Russian pressure that this could not be achieved without Iran. Furthermore, it looked increasingly likely that IS could not be defeated without the co-operation of the Syrian army, transforming Assad temporarily at least from the problem to part of the solution. To the dismay of the Saudis, Washington began to court Tehran, creating a vehicle for rapprochement by bump-starting the nuclear limitation agreement which had been stalled for thirteen years but now accelerated to the finishing line in a matter of months. Concluded in July, it was finally signed by President Obama in October last year and Tehran was invited to the Vienna conference on Syria the same month. In addition, Iranian assets were unfrozen and sanctions lifted. Not only did the Saudis feel betrayed, but they now faced another problem as a result. Since November 2014, they had been exerting their considerable influence on OPEC to keep pumping oil at levels above the agreed ceiling, despite falling prices. Ostensibly aimed at pricing the American fracking industry out of the market, it was also political, intended to harm the economies of oil-rich Iran and Russia both under international sanctions at the time. Tehran now called Saudi Arabias bluff, announcing that as soon as sanctions were lifted it would pump a million extra barrels a day. Suddenly the tables were turned and it was the Saudi economy that was at risk, with the IMF warning in October 2015 that the nation would bankrupt itself within five years despite its gargantuan sovereign funds if it did not reverse its policy. Nor is this the only drain on Saudi finances. Since March it has been bombarding the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, presumably at the instigation of Prince Mohammad (with his defence minister hat on). Saudi Arabia has no history or experience of unilateral armed intervention it sent 3,000 soldiers to each of the major Arab-Israeli wars and a few more to the first Gulf War yet the prince believed that the Houthis would be defeated in a matter of days. Ten months on, with no plan B and no exit strategy, nothing has been achieved but the devastation of the poorest country in the Middle East and the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. Analysts estimate that the financial cost of this adventure has already topped $60 billion. With oil revenues at rock bottom, the Saudi treasury has sold billions of dollars worth of European stocks to meet the ongoing costs of this unwinnable war. The question is why, when the world stands at the brink of a catastrophic conflict, take any side at all? Things took an even more hawkish turn last week when the Saudi regime took the decision to behead a well-known dissident Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. There were riots in Tehran where the Saudi Embassy was set on fire; Riyadh immediately cut all diplomatic ties with Iran and shortly afterwards a Saudi airstrike damaged the Iranian embassy in Sanaa, Yemen. The resulting tension has sent shock-waves through the region, with many fearing a war between the two powers as the Saudis seek to enlist the support of fellow Sunni nations. With the headstrong Prince Mohammad at the helm, backing down does not appear to be an option and if the war-chest runs out, contingencies are in place. In an interview last week with The Economist, Prince Mohammad revealed a plan to float Aramco the trillion dollar nationalised oil company and the countrys most valuable asset on the international markets and sell billions worth of nationally-owned prime land for private development. In addition, subsidies for the needy will be slashed and the education and healthcare systems privatised, putting them out of reach for the poorest members of society. In Gulf countries, autocratic systems are generally tolerated due to an unspoken contract between government and the people that everyone benefits from the nations wealth (albeit extremely unequally); Prince Mohammads Thatcherite vision, if implemented, risks widespread civil unrest. In addition, the restive Shia population in the east is sitting on top of the countrys largest oil fields and distribution centres. Saudi influence abroad has always been predicated on its wealth and can be expected to diminish along with its coffers. Nevertheless, Prince Mohammad adopted the diplomatic style of George W. Bush in his search for allies: Whos not with us is against us. The right wing press has apparently already made its decision: the Daily Telegraph declared that Britain Must Side With Saudi Arabia, while Roger Boyes in The Times opined execution by sword is brutal but Riyadh remains our best hope for peace in the Middle East well thats not what they say about the Islamic State. In fact, the past year saw a record number of beheadings in Saudi Arabia and 157 executions in all. None of this is to say that Iran is any better both theocracies are intolerant, oppressive and cruel. The question is why, when the world stands at the brink of a catastrophic conflict, take any side at all? Shouldnt Britain and America, supposedly developed countries claiming to be beacons of progress and democracy, be brokering the rapprochement between these two extremist regimes that is key to regional peace, and a political solution to the Syrian crisis? Shouldnt the west be exercising the undoubted influence it still possesses in the Royal Palace to urge more caution, more debate? If the west persists, instead, in following a deluded prince into an unwinnable battle against a fabricated monster, it might as well champion Don Quixote tilting at windmills and declaring a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless. Via OpenDemocracy.net Related video added by Juan Cole: France24: Saudi Arabia launches coalition of 34 mainly Muslim countries to combat terror threats Reddit Email 0 Shares By IMEMC | The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that it received only 20 percent of the money needed for the reconstruction of the destroyed houses in the Gaza Strip, QudsNet reported yesterday. UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said, according to Al Ray, that the organization received funds for only 2,000 housing units, and that it started building 300 units for the people whose houses were completely destroyed in the 2014 Israeli offensive on Gaza. Abu Hasna noted that about 80 percent of the first stage of those units is almost ready, calling for the potential beneficiaries from following stages to prepare their building licenses and be ready to receive reconstruction funds. He added that UNRWA has been exerting efforts to secure the donations pledged during the donor conference held in Cairo, following the Israeli offensive, noting that the organisation received only $250 million of the $724 million pledged. Related video added by Juan Cole RT: No-Grow Zone: IDF destroys Palestinian crops in Gaza The Truth About 'Daddy Issues' Trending News: Here's What You Need To Know about Younger Women And Daddy Issues Why Is This Important? Because it's an ugly stereotype that we should probably retire. Long Story Short A new study published by the American Psychological Association finds that the idea of girls dating older men because they have "daddy issues" is a myth. Women dating men 10 years or more their senior were found to be just as secure in their relationships as women in similar-age relationships. Long Story The idea of "daddy issues" is, to say the least, a sensitive topic. It describes the phenomenon of women dating men much older than them (say, 10+ years), with the reason being that they had a bad relationship with their father and seek to correct that with a stand-in. AskMen has published content on the subject before, which led to this Jezebel article that (among other things) labeled us as some kind of MRA cesspool. Like I said, it's sensitive stuff. But is there any truth to it, women dating older men because of "daddy issues?" According to a new study published by the American Psychological Association, the answer is a resounding "no." For the study, the authors examined two groups of women: Those in similar-age relationships, and those in romantic relationships with men 10+ years their senior. While the authors hypothesized that the women in May-December relationships would be just as securely attached as those with similarly-aged men, if they were less securely attached it would suggest that those women choose to date older men for reasons other than romantic attraction (i.e., the daddy issues). In the end, 74% of the women in age-gap relationships were securely attached, which wasn't statistically different from the women in similar-age relationships. It comes as no surprise to the authors: Women have evolved to older men, and men usually don't have a problem dating younger women. How much older is a different question, but the fact remains that even in today's modern, comfortable environment, an older guy is going to have far more to offer a woman than a man her age in terms of money, culture, life experience and wisdom. If that's the case, why do we reactively label women who date older men as having daddy issues? My guess is that people like to blame women for their problems in general. If a woman finds that a competitor of hers has managed to snag the guy she had her eye on, it's not unusual for the victor to be labeled a slut, or whore. Likewise, if a younger man "loses" a love interest to an older competitor, it's a lot easier to blame his failure on the woman's perceived psychological issues than to look in the mirror. As an added bonus, it allows him to continue the delusion that his youthful looks and vitality would count for just as much as the older guy's money and experience, if only her dad had hugged her more. Undoubtedly, there are a handful of women out there who seek out older men as a way to make up for their fathers' sins. But even if that's the case, keep in mind that, as Jezebel put it, the blame lies with her terrible father, not her. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Are men accused of having "mommy issues" just as often? Disrupt Your Feed I have plenty of issues with my father myself, so it seems unfair to hold that against someone. Drop This Fact The average age difference for heterosexual couples is 2.3 years, with the man older than the woman. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 13, 2016) - QMX Gold Corporation ("QMX") (TSX VENTURE:QMX) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a four year custom milling agreement for the Aurbel Gold Mill, Val d'Or with Gold Bullion Development Corp. ("GBB") (TSX VENTURE:GBB). The agreement provides: custom milling of an initial 70,000 tonnes of stockpiled material from GBB's Grenada Mine near Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec; funding for the expansion of operating capacity of the Aurbel Mill from 650 tonnes per day (tpd) to 1,200 tpd; and commencing in late 2016 and extending over three years, custom milling of up to 1,400,000 tonnes of material from open pit mining operations at GBB's Granada Mine in Rouyn-Noranda. The initial milling program in 2016 will treat approximately 70,000 tonnes of material from GBB's Granada mine near Rouyn-Noranda. The material was stockpiled as oversized blocks during prior periods of open pit production on the property. Following processing of the stockpile, GBB has committed to provide financing for the expansion of the Aurbel Gold Mill from its current processing rate of 650 tonnes per day to its full capacity at 1,200 tonnes per day. GBB will then provide up to 1.4 million tonnes of material for custom milling over the next three to four years, potentially commencing in the latter part of 2016. Capital expenditures by GBB will be offset against future treatment and processing costs and repaid over the length of the contract. The contract can be extended by the mutual consent of the parties after its four year term. The agreement is conditional upon GBB securing financing while processing of ore from the Grenada open pit mine is conditional on GBB receiving permits for open pit mining at the Grenada Mine and the permitting of tailings areas adjacent to the Aurbel Mill in order for them to receive GBB tailings. David Rigg, President and CEO of QMX Gold Corporation commented: "This custom milling agreement supports operations at the Aurbel Mill over the next four years. It will almost double our processing capacity and support exploration and acquisitions. It is a great step for QMX and should allow us to grow the Company." QMX's Aurbel Mill is located 15 km east of Val d'Or and approximately 100 kilometres from the Granada gold property. The Aurbel Mill uses conventional gravity, floatation and cyanide leach circuits to process gold-bearing material. The mill circuits will be modified to the specific metallurgical requirements of GBB to ensure optimum recoveries for gold. The Aurbel Mill was temporarily shut down in September 2015 for maintenance and cleaning to recover any gold locked in the circuits. A total of approximately 2,000 ounces of gold have been recovered during cleanup. Maintenance work is to be conducted in February and milling of the initial 70,000 tonnes can commence thereafter. Lac Herbin Mine Update The Lac Herbin Mine was closed in March 2015. Milling of surface stockpiles from the mine was completed in September. However, exploration adjacent to the Lac Herbin Portal in mid-2015 however successfully outlined near-surface mineralization in the FL zone. As a result, underground activities recommenced in September 2015. The water table is being held at the 250 meter level and further exploration is being advanced on shallow areas in the mine. Development and subsequent mining of the new areas on the FL zone was completed on January 8th, 2016 and 5,700 tonnes of ore is currently being custom milled. Additional underground exploration drilling was also successful in the delineation of additional shallow mineralization in the S1 Zone. QMX will proceed to develop and mine this zone during 2016. Mining is expected to be completed in late July with milling of this material at Aurbel provisionally schedule starting June 10th, 2016 and continuing until the end of August. The initial material from GBB will be milled prior to S1 Zone production. Production from the Lac Herbin mine is anticipated to be over 7,000 ounces in 2016. Qualified Person Scientific and technical information included in this release have been supervised, compiled, reviewed and approved by David Rigg, P.Geo., Chairman, President and CEO of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101. About QMX Gold Corporation QMX Gold Corporation is a Canadian mining company traded on the TSX-V under the symbol "QMX". The Company is focusing on mine development and exploration in Quebec and is actively looking for mining projects for acquisition or option in the Val d'Or area. In addition, QMX operates its Aurbel gold mill as a toll milling facility servicing clients in the Abitibi Region. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Mineral Resources: This press release contains or may be deemed to contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding performance of the toll milling contract; permitting; available financing; operational schedules and profitability at the mill; impact of the agreement on QMX production forecasts for Lac Herbin and other statements. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, its properties and/or its projects to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to those risks described in the disclosure documents of the Company filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Drinks Daily News The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Drinks Weekly News A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Drinks Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter About Me Alan Ross Radio program Caffe Latte began on JOY 94.9 FM (in Melbourne, Australia) in Sept. 1997 through to July 2012. Caffe Latte is now back on JOY Sundays 11 am - 1 pm (Aust. Eastern Time) & can be heard online all over the world and as a podcast on various media platforms. Check back here for my Top 10 current tracks of the week; the latest countdowns; this month's new addition to the Gay & Lesbian Icons & Anthems Gallery; the earlier versions of hit songs, retro in the Time Capsule posts and more. Check out the Caffe` Latte` playlists available on spotify. Become a follower. All images used on this website are the copyright of the respective copyright holder and are used on this site for educational or informative purposes only. View my complete profile Blog Archive West Palm Beach, FL, 01/12/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/ Criminal Defense Law Is All About Changing Clients Lives Says West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer Andrew Stine is devoted to protecting the liberty of his clients, no matter the criminal charges or the situation they find themselves in. West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer Andrew Stine is devoted to protecting the liberty of his clients, no matter the criminal charges or the situation they find themselves in. An allegation of a criminal act can impact a person life in many ways. The criminal defense attorneys job is to focus on the client and preserve his or her liberty and freedoms, says West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney Andrew Stine, who spoke about his work and how he helped one client in particular charged with drunk driving in a recent Google+ hangout. Stine has been practicing criminal defense law since 2001 and opened his own office in 2003. Stine says, his job is the same in all of his cases. It doesnt matter what the person has been charged with and it doesnt matter who the person is, says Stine. I take all cases seriously and work diligently and effectively on each and every file that comes through the door says Stine. Stine not only protects his client, but all Floridians by making sure the prosecutions investigation and evidence, comply with the U.S. and Florida Constitutions and applicable criminal laws. One such case involved a Guatemalan national, living in Martin County, Florida, who was charged with driving under the influence (DUI) manslaughter. The man was driving on I-95 on a rainy night, lost control of his vehicle, crossed over to the other side of the highway and struck another vehicle head on, killing the driver. The police investigated the accident and arrested his client. During the process the police made a critical error, according to Stine; they failed to read the driver his Miranda rights after completing the DUI accident investigation. The Miranda warning stems from a U.S. Supreme Court case that requires an explanation of the suspects right not to self-incriminate him or herself during a custodial interrogation by police, based mostly on the U.S. Constitutions Fifth Amendment privilege to a persons right to an attorney. If a person is detained and interrogated, he or she must be made aware of their rights: Their right to remain silent, Their right to consult with an attorney and have the attorney present during questioning, and The right to have an attorney appointed if the person cannot afford one. Without such warnings or a valid waiver by the suspect, his or her statements would normally be inadmissible at trial and cannot be used as substantive evidence of guilt against them in a criminal proceeding. Stine says, after the drivers arrest, his client had been held in jail for two months and his file was not worked on at the public defenders office. When Stine got the file, he examined and looked at the evidence, spoke to witnesses and reviewed the crash report. It became apparent that the Sheriffs failure to read his client his rights was the key to winning the case. The significance of that is they couldnt put my client behind the wheel of his vehicle at the time of the crash; because it was early in the morning, the conditions were very bad and no one saw who was driving the vehicle that struck the other vehicle, killing the other driver, Stine says. Stine filed a motion to suppress the statements provided to the police by the DUI driver, the state conceded err and then abandoned the criminal DUI Manslaughter charge against the defendant. Having the case dismissed or Nolle Prossed saved the criminal defendant from serving up to fifteen years in prison. Another issue his client faced is that he was an undocumented immigrant at the time of the crime. US Immigration officials planned on deporting him after his sentence was served if convicted, says Stine. But because the charges were dropped, the immigration hold on the client was lifted and he eventually was released and obtained U.S. citizenship. Stine says, this criminal act like most bad acts all start by a bad decision by his client, but because of the work by Stine and those on his staff, this young man was able to turn this event, which was a tragic event, into a positive. Stine says, his client moved on to owning a landscaping business, got married and has children. If you or a loved one are being investigated for, or have been arrested or indicted on state or federal criminal charges, Palm Beach criminal defense attorney Andrew Stine can help protect your rights with his knowledge, experience and passion to protect people from unwarranted criminal charges. Contact his office today. Call 561-880-4300 for a free consultation. Call Stine or do the time. source: http://www.andrewdstine.com/criminal-defense-law-is-all-about-changing-clients-lives-says-west-palm-beach-criminal-defense-lawyer/ Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution SubmitMyPressRelease.com Like Us on Facebook It's only fair to share... Pinterest Linkedin email Print Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter. . ..The Algemeiner..12 January '16.. Its that dirty little secret which nobody wants to talk about, because it makes everybody uncomfortable. It hovers in the background; its hidden in the closet; and it lingers in the recesses of our minds. But its there, written in black and white in the Oslo Accords, and it cant be erased: the Palestinian Authority (PA) is obligated to surrender to Israel any terrorist whose extradition the Israelis request.Which is what makes the ongoing standoff in Bulgaria such an inconvenience!A Palestinian terrorist who escaped from an Israeli prison 25 years ago is now being given shelter in the PAs consulate in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.The terrorist is Omar Nayef Zayed, who was convicted in 1986 of murdering an Israeli yeshiva student. He started a hunger strike in 1990, which resulted in the Israeli authorities admitting him to a hospital in Bethlehem. He escaped from the hospital, slipped out of the country, and made his way to Bulgaria.Israel has asked the PA to hand him over, in accordance with Annex IV, Article 2, Par.7(f)(1) of the Oslo II agreement that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PA signed in 1995. That clause specifically obliges the PA to comply with every Israeli request for extradition.During 1995-96, Israel submitted 36 extradition requests. Additional requests were made in subsequent years. Not one of them has ever been honored.Over the years, State Department officials became experts at coming up with excuses for the PAs non-compliance on extradition. The classic example involved diplomat Dennis Ross. In May 1997, Ross was invited to speak at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City. An audience member asked him why the U.S. was not demanding that the PA hand over Nafez Sabih, a Palestinian terrorist involved in the murder of JTS student Matthew Eisenfeld. Ross said Sabih had not been extradited to Israel because the Palestinians are required [to extradite terrorists to Israel] only if they havent imprisoned these people, and he would not be extradited to the U.S. because the United States does not have an extradition treaty with the Palestinian Authority.Both of Rosss claims were false. The Oslo agreement does not say the PA can refuse extradition requests if it imprisons the terrorists in its own jails; the accord obligates the PA to extradite terrorists to Israel, period. And the US does not need an extradition treaty in order to bring a terrorist to America for trial; the US frequently pressures countries with which it has no such treaties to voluntarily surrender the suspects.But Rosss falsehoods worked they ended the discussion. And that, of course, was his goal: to keep the issue out of the spotlight, to keep the Jewish community from focusing on the problem and demanding action.In the midst of the 2002 standoff over terrorists being sheltered inside Yasser Arafats compound in Ramallah, journalists asked PA cabinet minister Nabil Shaath about Israels extradition requests. He replied (according to the, Sept. 25, 2002): We will never agree to hand over the wanted men or a list of names of those inside the compound. If this is the subject, we prefer not to talk.We prefer not to talk. Precisely! PA officials prefer not to talk about it, because they know they are in gross violation of the agreement that they signed.The Obama administration likewise prefers not to talk about it. The administrations entire policy regarding Israel and the Palestinians is to never talk about Palestinian violations. Because that would make it harder to get a Palestinian state created.American Jewish leaders, too, seem to prefer not to talk about it presumably because they dont want to upset the White House and the State Department.And as long as Jewish organizations dont talk about it, the news media will bury it, too. Getting the news media to take an interest is important, because if just one reporter at the daily State Department briefing would ask a question about the standoff in Bulgaria, the administration would not have a coherent answer. It cant defend sheltering a terrorist but it wont criticize the PA for sheltering a terrorist. Asking a question opens up a can of worms that needs to be opened.And members of Congress would certainly be willing to talk about the extradition issue but they need to hear from Jewish leaders that this is an issue of concern to the Jewish community.Silence is the enemy of justice. As long as friends of Israel remain silent, the murderer Omar Nayef Zayed will continue to escape justice. By Steve Anderson, Contributing Writer Share In an emergency, we always want to know that help isn't far away. Making that happen isn't easy, especially in an environment where voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is on the rise. A new combined effort may be prepared to help, as Enterpol expanded its Total Response system to better fit under the PowerPhone umbrella. Enterpol's Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, a system geared toward both 911 call centers and public safety answering points (PSAPs). When called, the CAD routes details about the call and dispatch priority to the first responders heading in that direction. A welcome system, no doubt, but when augmented by Total Response, it only gets better. Total Response offers a Computer-Aided Call Handling (CACH) system that allows 911 dispatch staff to set priorities according to certain components of the call. Call assessment and training functions also come with Total Response's CACH, and that improves overall dispatch operations. Since the Total Response CACH comes with an open application programming interface (API), it can be readily added in to just about any system's CAD operations. Thus Enterpol's CAD can readily take advantage of the benefits that come with Total Response's CACH. The resulting platform is not only powerful, but also affordable, and it's already in operation in Love County, Oklahoma, where its E911 operations are putting both systems to work. Love County is no stranger to PowerPhone, as it's been using the Total Response system since 2014. Upgrades to include the CACH tool started up on December 1, 2015. With the new systems in place, Love Countyand anyone else who puts same to usewill be better equipped to take on the growing challenges of providing 911 service. The rise of VoIP service makes providing effective 911 service increasingly difficult. While E911 is stepping up to fill in a lot of the gaps, there are still sometimes problems in effectively tracing a 911 call sent over a VoIP signal. With more companies turning to VoIP, that means more potential 911 traffic is coming in in this way, and if the 911 signal is hard to track down, getting help where it most needs to be can be similarly impacted. Tools like E911, and the new services from Enterpol, are making a difference here, allowing businesses to carry on with VoIP use while still allowing 911 service to deliver its greatest effect. We always want help available, on a just-a-phone-call-away basis. When the nature of the phone involved changes, then so too does the just-a-phone-call-away help. Continued development is set to help on this front, and make sure 911 is always ready. Edited by Kyle Piscioniere By Frank Griffin, Contributing Writer Share National healthcare providers operate under a complex and regulatory driven industry, where effective communications with customers is essential. If the contact center operations of these organizations are not providing the necessary information customers need, it could drive them to another company. Kaiser Permanente wants to ensure that doesnt happen, so it has opened yet another center, this time in the Northwest with a new regional contact center in Hillsboro, OR. Since it was established in Oakland, CA (News - Alert). in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has become one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S. The 2014 company annual report revealed the company had 9.6 million health plan members, 177,445 employees, 17,791 physicians, 49,778 nurses, 38 medical centers, and 620 medical offices. The Tanasbourne Regional Contact Center in Hillsboro will provide more than traditional contact services. According to Kaiser Permanente, the new center will also be housing the regions appointing and advice nurse services, as well as a physician-led virtual care team employing 400 people. The employees have been relocated from several locations across Portland. The center will be housed in a 49,000-square-foot space which was previously used by Netflix as a call center. The facility is fitted with advanced infrastructure, along with sophisticated technology and telephony requirements. As new generation contact centers integrate video and web capabilities with real-time communications, healthcare professionals can start delivering telemedicine services to their patients. The virtual care team, which the company calls Regional Telephonic Medicine, is supported with new video and digital technology. The center also includes the Kaiser Permanente Mobile Health Partners program, which can dispatch ambulances for non-emergency visits to patients homes to carry out a video consult with a physician. The physicians at the center can conduct telephone and video appointments, as well as other services. "Bringing these services together in a single, state-of-the-art facility allows us to give our members a seamless experience whether they call for an appointment, health advice or a virtual visit with a physician," said Belinda Green, Kaiser Permanente Northwest's senior director of member relations. "We think of this not as a call center, but a service center that will ultimately enable a better connection between members and their physicians." Patients will be able to call the center and conduct many different transactions. Some of the options they will have in 2016 is choosing their physician, transferring prescriptions and personalize services on their mobile phone. Edited by Kyle Piscioniere Alma Ruiz -- former Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles curator -- spent over three decades at the institution, during which time she exhibited some of the most influential and experimental modern and contemporary artists. In this video interview, Helen Molesworth, current chief curator at MOCA, talks about Ruiz's time at the museum, and her constant push to exhibit Latin American artists in U.S. galleries. Alma Ruiz worked at MOCA for 30 years. She dedicated her entire adult life and professional career to MOCA, and she was at the forefront of a group of curators, across the country, who were basically saying, "Hello, hello. There's all this work going on in Latin America. America is not the only place where art is being made." And that was definitely part of the problem with the post-World War II story. America was all like, "We're the boss of the world. We rule. We make pop culture. We make Coca-Cola. We give you [Andy] Warhol. Our story is the story." In the mid to late '80s, a lot of forces convene and a bunch of people start talking about "You know, that's just one tiny piece of the story. There's actually this whole globe of people making artwork. There's all kinds of folks moving back and forth across this globe carrying information and news from one art center to another." Los Angeles is super interesting in that regard because the geographical pipeline between Latin America and L.A. is really active and alive. And it was influencing art here, and art there. Alma was one of the first museum curators in this country to organize exhibitions of contemporary Latin American artists and she very doggedly pursued making sure that those objects entered the collection, cause if those objects don't enter the collection, then the collection can't tell that story. And so she really helped us make it possible to tell a much more diverse story than we could have told otherwise. Dig this story? Sign up for our newsletter to get unique arts & culture stories and videos from across Southern California in your inbox. Also, follow Artbound on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. One of two Victorian houses being moved from West Adams to University Park / All photos: Sandi Hemmerlein When you think about Los Angeles, its architecture, and its land use, it might not be immediately obvious that we live in a modular city. The L.A. area has a lot of "nomadic" buildings that their owners once moved when they wanted to change their geographic home base. Or, maybe their owners wanted to build something else in its place, and so the old house got moved to a new empty lot. Sure, a structure's ever-evolving landscape means that some of its original unique features are lost, but moving it somewhere else ultimately saves it. That was the case with not one, but two, Victorian cottages that made the drive on the back of a flatbed truck in the middle of the night from West Adams to University Park last summer. And preservationists rejoiced when Taco Bell picked up their first taco stand in Downey and rolled it away to their corporate headquarters in Irvine, where it will stay in storage until they figure out where to put it permanently. In the architectural puzzle of Los Angeles, it's not always easy to spot the structures that have been dropped into a new slot. Here are five of the best places to find historic structures that have been on the move (sometimes more than once). 1. Heritage Square Museum Heritage Square Museum in Montecito Heights is probably the best example of threatened architectural treasures finding their "forever home" somewhere other than where they were actually built. It's an entire outdoor museum of displaced 19th-century domiciles, including the Perry Mansion (moved from Boyle Heights), the Hale House (moved from Mount Washington), the John Ford House (moved from downtown L.A.), the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot (moved from Palms), and the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church (moved from Pasadena), among others. This is also where two deteriorated Bunker Hill Victorians -- the "Salt Box" and the "Castle" -- were relocated and famously burned down seven months later. Oxnard has its own Heritage Square as well, although most of its preserved buildings are being used as offices and other types of private businesses, including a restaurant and a hair salon. 2. Angelino Heights The most concentrated area of Victorian houses in the metropolitan L.A. area is the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights. While this historic district can tout many gorgeous (and restored) homes that were actually built there, it's also become a repository for a few that moved here. In fact, the oldest Victorian in Angelino Heights -- the Foy House -- was built in downtown in 1872, and it was moved twice before arriving to the neighborhood. Same story with the 1893 Bates House. The 1887 Irey House moved to Angelino Heights from seven blocks away in 1978. Plus, a little off the beaten path on East Kensington Road, you can find the 1894 Weller Residence, which survived the trip from the Bunker Hill-adjacent North Figueroa Street (where it had been surrounded by oil wells). 3. Spadena House, Beverly Hills "Storybook" architecture feels uniquely Hollywood, even though it can be found across the U.S. in other cities like Detroit and Oakland. But while some of the structures that were inspired by fairy tales were built as whimsical residences or businesses -- think the Snow White Cottages in Los Feliz, the Tam O'Shanter in Atwater, or the Charlie Chaplin Cottages in Hollywood -- and are still used as they were originally intended, others were actually built elsewhere for other purposes. Case in point: the Spadena House in Beverly Hills, also known as the "Witch's House." It originally served as offices and dressing rooms for the Willat Studio in Culver City, until the house was slated for demolition in the mid-1920s when Willat went out of business. It then moved to "The Flats" of Beverly Hills, and it's since been converted into a private residence. Although it's not open to the public, trick-or-treaters flock to it at Halloween. 4. Heifetz Studio at the Colburn School Now, here's a most unusual one. The Lloyd Wright-designed music studio of virtuoso violinist Jascha Heifetz was slated for demolition when actor James Woods bought the Beverly Hills property it was attached to in 1989. Woods offered to give the studio to whoever wanted to pay to move it, so the Colburn School of Music stepped up and placed it inside a building at their downtown L.A. campus. However, they didn't actually have anywhere to put it, so after splicing it up into moveable pieces, they put it in storage for six years, while a new facility was being built (keeping the need to house the Heifetz Studio in mind). Now, with much of its original furniture and some original personal belongings, it's a kind of living memorial to probably the greatest violinist of our time, as well as an office for the school's current violin department chair and a place to hold master classes. 5. Walt's Barn, Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum This historic red barn was moved from Walt Disney's Holmby Hills home, where it served as his "workshop." As the ultimate man cave for a guy obsessed with railroads, this was where he built all his model and miniature trains. In fact, in the years before Disneyland opened, he actually operated his own private railroad line called the Carolwood Pacific, and this barn was its center of operations. Now, it stands as part of the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum, which Walt himself helped found, in his beloved Griffith Park. Today, you can visit the barn to examine scale models, memorabilia and other collectibles, and work benches that were hand-crafted by Walt. And as long as you're there, you might as well take a ride on the museum's 7 " gauge model train, especially now that the Disneyland Railroad is closed until further notice. [October 28, 2016: See update below.] January 12, 2016: It's been over a week since a group of armed far-right militiamen started to occupy the headquarters building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon. In that time, hundreds of articles have been published analyzing the actions, the intentions, the history and the character of the gang who's forced the closure of the 187,757-acre wildlife refuge, first protected by President Theodore Roosevelt in August 1908. Some of the articles do a great job of delving into the group's loathing of science, or individual members' accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in government handouts while decrying government intrusion into their lives, or the notable lack of support the group is getting from the constituency it claims to represent. But as cogent and informative as some of those essays have been, you don't really need to read them to get a sense of what the Malheur occupiers are after. Nor do you need to analyze the words coming from the group itself. Actions speak louder than words, as they say, and in this case the group's action says it all. They seized land that belongs to you, and now you can't go there. And they say they're just getting started. [Update: On October 27, eight and one-half months after the last of the occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge surrendered, an Oregon jury returned verdicts of "not guilty" for seven Malheur occupiers on charges of conspiracy to impede federal officers by force, threat or intimidation. Occupiers Jeff Banta, Shawna Cox, David Fry, Kenneth Medenbach and Neil Wampler were freed, while Ammon and Ryan Bundy were held to face trial on other charges stemming from the 2014 confrontation at their father Cliven Bundy's ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada. Given the verdict despite the apparent slam-dunk nature of the charges with evidence of the violations broadcast worldwide throughout the occupation it is unclear whether the verdict will embolden further violations of your right to enjoy your public lands described in this article. We'll be following the reaction to the verdict, and to the upcoming trial in Nevada.] Leading the occupiers, as you've likely read, is Ammon Bundy, son of controversial Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who is still more than a million dollars in arrears after decades of refusing to pay the bargain-basement grazing fees the Bureau of Land Management charges ranchers who graze their stock on land you and I own. Bundy the younger had apparently been planning the takeover for at least two months with fellow militia types, though -- as many of you will also likely have read -- that logistical planning apparently didn't extend to bringing provisions. The occupation was sparked by the pending imprisonment of two Harney County ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, on arson charges stemming from two incidents where the Hammonds were convicted of having set fires that spread to public land. The two served the jail terms to which they were sentenced, and paid the fines imposed, but were ordered back to prison after an appeals court found the presiding judge had erred in not imposing a Federal mandatory minimum sentence of five years for arson affecting public lands. Mandatory minimum sentencing, which predominantly affects poor, urban, and non-white Americans, is usually championed by far-right activists. The Malheur occupiers' view that the Hammond's five-year sentences are an example of federal government overreach is thus simultaneously incongruous and sensible, the result of selective application of ethical standards. But that selectivity makes sense in context. The Malheur militants want a system of special rights for ranchers, and the rest of us can just butt out. Ammon Bundy says the Malheur NWR should be disbanded, and its lands handed over to a preselected group of local ranchers for their own use and enjoyment. They would establish Roman-Empire-style latifundia across the west, extensive tracts of essentially private land where a few families reap the benefits of public subsidies, and the public that pays those subsidies isn't welcome. The Malheur occupation is taking place in a larger context. In addition to Bundy senior's ongoing resistance to paying his bills, there are increasing calls to privatize public lands all over the West. Some of those calls are coming from people who have clearly spent too much time reading Infowars, but some come from well-heeled representatives of the foundation-funded right. On Monday, the New York Times tried to contextualize the Malheur invasion as part of a larger, corporate-sponsored far-right campaign to take remaining public lands away from the public. The Times' writers led with a mention of Utah State Representative Ken Ivory, who founded the anti-public-lands group the American Lands Council. Ken Ivory, a Republican state representative from Utah, has been roaming the West with an alluring pitch to cattle ranchers, farmers and conservatives upset with how Washington controls the wide-open public spaces out here: This land is your land, he says, and not the federal government's. The writers don't use quotation marks, so it's unclear whether they or Ivory had the best-known song of avowed socialist Woody Guthrie come to mind as a defense of handing over the common property of the American people to a few corporations. But someone did. Wild coastline on the Olympic Peninsula | Photo: Chris Clarke The Perils of Privatization As it happens, while Bundy et al were seizing the refuge headquarters, I was traveling in a different part of the Pacific Northwest: Washington's Olympic Peninsula, home of Olympic National Park -- created by Teddy Roosevelt six months after he set aside the Malheur for wildlife conservation purposes. Over the last week, while Ammon Bundy and his band held sway in the press, my significant other and I wandered the woods that line the south shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca -- my first actual vacation in about a decade. The National Park Service is just one of many landholders in the Olympic Peninsula. The Olympic National Forest, two-thirds the size of the Park, is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The state's Department of Natural Resources manages about 371,000 acres on the Peninsula, and there are a number of wonderful state and county parks as well. And since much of the nearby portion of ONP was inaccessible -- storms had taken out several of the roads leading in from the Port Angeles area -- we turned to those other public lands for hiking and nature observation. But to get to them, we drove past a whole lot of tempting forest marked with "No Trespassing" signs. Some of those signs were on private vacation residential developments enclosing the third and fourth homes of affluent people. More were on seemingly endless tracts of what were labeled "tree farms." It's hard, and arguably pointless, to begrudge a small-scale landowner a No Trespassing sign if what they're after is a bit of respite, of privacy, a way to keep random passersby from hunting or otherwise disturbing the serenity of their land. But it's different when those signs mark thousands of acres of corporate-owned land that might have been public except for an agency bureaucrat's whim. The history of public lands in the U.S. is a complex one, tainted from the outset by the uncomfortable fact that the vast majority of public lands in the U.S. were obtained as spoils in a war of genocide. Some lands were stolen outright, some gained through treaties the Natives signed under duress. Others were bought from countries that obtained them in like fashion. That Original Sin casts a pall over all discussions of public land management in the U.S., and wrangling between tribes and feds over land continues to this day, though usually in conference rooms and courtrooms rather than on the field of battle. But what the Malheur militia and their fellow travelers won't tell you is that for close to a century after the U.S. federal government first went into the real estate business, it couldn't give land away fast enough. The popular, romantic conception of this massive giveaway centers around laws like the Homestead Act of 1862. Under the Homestead Act and similar laws, Americans could claim a piece of public land, usually a "quarter-section" of 160 acres, and gain title after five years of residence and improvements. If you ignore where the land came from in the first place, laws like the Homestead Act were admirable in their democratic intent. And the ultraconservatives of the 19th Century -- Bundy's predecessors -- opposed the Homestead Act. They had in mind an aristocratic West, where slaveholders could greatly expand their existing empires. A grassroots system of land distribution would have impeded their visions of plantations on the Colorado, the Arkansas, the San Joaquin and the Rio Grande. It wasn't until Secession, and the departure of pro-slavery senators from Washington, that the Homestead Act was able to make it to Lincoln's desk. The Homestead Act wasn't without its major flaws. It contributed to the further displacement of Native people by encouraging massive settlement. It was designed by politicians accustomed to less-arid environments, where a family could support itself in some comfort on a quarter section. In Utah? Not so much. And there's this: Since the feds did little to verify that homesteaders actually lived and farmed on the land in question, the Act was abused by ranchers. By strategically filing homestead claims on the West's sparse water sources, sometimes using their ranch hands as proxies, ranches were able to gain de facto exclusive control over broad swathes of public lands. If they denied other ranchers access to those water sources, they could essentially lock up thousands of acres of surrounding grazing lands for their own private use. Tensions between struggling homesteaders and the often-wealthy cattle barons whose livestock surrounded them was so prevalent, and so entrenched, as to have become a standard Hollywood trope. By the time it was repealed in the late 20th Century, the Homestead Act of 1862 was responsible for private owners gaining title to 420,000 square miles of public lands. That's an area larger than California and Texas combined. And the Homestead Act was just one 19th Century move by the Federal government to divest itself of public lands. Direct grants of land to railroads transferred another 273,000 square miles of the West into private hands; much of that acreage ended up in the hands of ranchers as well. The Timber and Stone Act of 1878 allowed the sale of public forest lands deemed unsuitable for farming for $2.50 an acre: timber companies took full advantage of this offer, often violating its requirements to do so. By the 1930s, when public opinion forced land management agencies to focus more on managing and preserving public lands rather than giving them away wholesale, the U.S. government had disposed of two-thirds of its inventory of public lands. There are 640 million acres still in the Federal public domain, excluding military bases but including National Parks, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, and BLM lands. A BLM estimate in 2013 put the total acreage of land transferred out of federal hands at more than 1.2 billion acres. That's a lot of potential "No Trespassing" signs. Still, 640 million acres of existing public land makes those signs a bit easier to pass by with an untroubled mind. At least in theory, those 640 million acres -- a million square miles -- are open, accessible to those of us who want to visit our common heritage, habitat for wildlife and provider of solitude. "Mostly it belongs to you and me." But despite a few sales by the railroad companies, and the above-mentioned Homestead Act violations, ranchers continue to this day to rely on public lands. As essayist Bernard DeVoto put it in his 1947 Harpers' piece The West Against Itself, The Cattle Kingdom never did own more than a minute fraction of one per cent of the range it grazed: it was national domain, it belonged to the people of the United States. They do not own the range now: mostly it belongs to you and me, and since the fees they pay for using public land are much smaller than those they pay for using private land, those fees are in effect one of a number of subsidies we pay them. But they always acted as if they owned the public range and act so now; they convinced themselves that it belonged to them and now believe it does; and they are trying to take title to it. Flash forward from 1947 to 2015, and think of this week's revelation that the occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have been removing fences put in place by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to regulate where livestock can graze on the refuge. That's right, "regulate." Not "prevent." Of 560 National Wildlife Refuges across the country, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits grazing on at least 183. The Malheur NWR is one of those 183, and its staff have a reputation for being quite willing to work with local ranchers. Malheur staff and local ranchers have worked for the last couple of decades to craft a management plan intended to provide food for cattle while improving wildlife habitat. It's not hard to find environmentalists who object to such collaborative solutions between livestock growers and land managers, but those environmentalists don't run the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Or the Bureau of Land Management. Or the U.S. Forest Service. Grazing is even permitted in 32 units of the National Park system, including the Mojave National Preserve. It's long been a truism that no industrial sector has been so coddled, with so little economic benefit in return, as public lands livestock grazers. The entire public lands ranching industry generates just three percent of the beef produced in the U.S., and accounts for less than one percent of either jobs or income even in ranch-heavy states like Wyoming and Montana. That's despite significant federal subsidies. In 2016, it costs $1.69 a month to graze a cow and calf on BLM or Forest Service lands. That's somewhere around a sixth of what it costs the Feds to administer the grazing program, and as little as a tenth what ranchers pay for their livestock to graze on private lands. The Federal government also spends an undisclosed amount -- certainly well into the millions of dollars each year -- on killing predators ranchers fear may be targeting their livestock, said campaign being administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services division. And that's not counting the money we spend to repair landscapes, control invasive plants spread by livestock, fight fires sparked by those invasive species, and even to convene years-long collaboration sessions on the sage grouse instead of inconveniencing ranchers by just listing the species as endangered. It's worth noting that this long-term practice of bending over backwards to placate public lands ranchers exists despite the reason any grazing restrictions on public lands were ever enacted in the first place. In the 1890s, when Congress created the Forest Reserves that would eventually become our National Forests, they did so as an express reaction to an orgy of both unsustainable logging and rampant overgrazing on those lands. In 1934, the Taylor Grazing Act require the Secretary of the Interior "to stop injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing." The restrictions that prompt complaints from the Malheur militia, in other words, are there because ranchers couldn't be trusted to regulate themselves. White pelican at Malheur NWR | Photo: Sandlpics/Flickr/Creative Commons License "I saw a sign there" Times have arguably changed. The wave of environmental concern that swept the world in the 20th Century affected ranchers as much as it did apartment dwellers, and it's not hard to find livestock growers talking about their product in terms that would please the most ardent Silver Lake localvore. It's worth noting that most local ranchers in Harney County have treated the Bundy Bunch with something like derision. By contrast, Ammon Bundy and the rest of his band seem stuck back in a 19th Century that never actually happened, where ranchers are "the people" and the actual people who might want to hike, camp, or watch birds on land they own are considered jackbooted thugs, good only for paying the bills and then staying away, carefully keeping to the front side of the No Trespassing sign. As it happens, the socialist songwriter who penned This Land Is Your Land had something to say about that. Most of us learn just the first two verses of that song in grade school, but there are many, and one of them goes like this: As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." But on the other side it didn't say nothing, That side was made for you and me. At least as long as we're paying the bills. Jacques Peretti continues to look into the fitness industry and examines the links between exercise and weight loss. He speaks to the former Global Head of Health at PepsiCo and asks why the food industry puts so much money into promoting exercise. Peretti also examines some of the pharmaceutical solutions available for weightloss as he tells the story of the race to find a safe and effective pill to make us thin. A series of recent news headlines have reminded us that our cityoften associated with brown skies, high-speed pavement, and its concrete riverstill maintains an intimate relationship with nature. Throughout the summer, spooked residents of Burbank and Glendale reported at least five mountain lion sightings. "I have a 4-year-old daughter and 10-year-old girl," one man told the Los Angeles Times. "I am just seriously scared." Then, on August 30, a cougar sprinting across the 405 freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains was struck and killed by rush hour traffic. Most recently, L.A. County officials struggled with the fate of a pack of coyotes that moved into an abandoned Glendale house. For those living on the edge between L.A.'s urban sprawl and the surrounding undeveloped mountains, such encounters may be an unavoidable but frightening reminder of wild nature's proximity, like the firestorms that occasionally turn the brown slopes red. For residents of the vast flatlands of L.A., though, these headlines also serve as a reminder of the landscape destroyed by more than 240 years of settlement. An animal control officer holds a young mountain lion found in West Los Angeles in 1978.Courtesy of the Herald-Examiner Collection, Los Angeles Public Library., L.A. Department of Animal Regulations officers hold down a 135 pound mule deer found in Sherman Oaks.Courtesy of the Los Angeles Examiner Collection, USC Libraries. Prior to Spanish colonization, the vast Los Angeles Basin and the nearby inland valleys hosted an expansive prairie ecosystem. Grasses and wildflowers covered much of the land, interrupted by sycamore-lined arroyos and streams. One of the watercourses, the Los Angeles River, had an outsize influence on the landscape. Issuing from the vast subterranean reservoir of the San Fernando Valley, the river flowed year-round into coastal marshes. Never a broad, placid river like those of the eastern United States, the Los Angeles River's flow often slowed to a trickle. Exceptionally heavy rains, though, would transform the tame river into a raging torrent that could not be trusted to keep to its channel. In fact, for some time the river did not flow toward its current mouth on San Pedro Bay; instead, it turned west toward Santa Monica Bay after passing what is today downtown Los Angeles. In 1815, the river overflowed its banks and began carving a shortcut to the sea, bringing the river uncomfortably close to the still-fledgling Los Angeles pueblo. The town was forced to abandon its original plaza and construct a new one on higher ground. Ten years later, the storm-swollen river burst through its banks again, this time sculpting an entirely new channel that headed directly south toward San Pedro Bay, the present location of the river's mouth. Ballona Creek, which today empties into the Pacific Ocean just south of Marina Del Rey, is a remnant of the Los Angeles River's former path. In 1886, the river washed out the adjacent tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad. The Downey Avenue Bridge, visible in the background, was also destroyed. Courtesy of the Title Insurance and Trust / C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, USC Libraries. A swollen Los Angeles River rushes through Compton, 1926. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library Photography Collection. A tamer Los Angeles River flows through the Elysian Valley, circa 1895-1915.Courtesy of the Title Insurance and Trust / C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, USC Libraries. On the drier grasslands not flooded by the river's flow, herds of pronghorn antelope roamed freely, and holes made by the prairie's many rodent species pockmarked the ground. Condors, eagles, and other birds of prey soared above, sharing the sky with a diverse group of larks, sparrows, and plovers. At the apex of the food chain stood California's eventual symbolic state animal, the grizzly bear. Unlike the more docile American black bear, the larger grizzly thrived in the flat, open savannas and grasslands of Southern California. Omnivorous, they were especially adept at digging through the ground in search of gophers, weasels, and other subterranean rodents. Grizzlies were so important to the local environment that, until recently, ecologists referred to the dominant Southern California biome as the Broad Sclerophyll-Grizzly Bear Community. Humans also inhabited the land, of course. The Tongva Indians had occupied the Los Angeles Basin and its adjacent valleys for hundreds or even thousands of years. As the Militant Angeleno recently detailed in his blog's Native Week series, dozens of villages dotted the region, supporting a population of five to ten thousand. Although the Tongva did not inflict the kind of environmental trauma that our metropolis does today, they did shape the land over the centuries through brush-clearing fires, hunting, and intensive foraging. Because the Tongva did not keep written records of their world, the observations of early European explorers and settlers, carefully preserved in libraries and archives, have been an invaluable resource to ecologists like Paula Schiffman who have reconstructed L.A.'s lost landscape. Among the best sources are two early Spanish visitors to the region: Pedro Fages, a soldier who explored the area in 1775; and Pedro Font, a missionary who accompanied Juan Bautista de Anza during his 1775-76 expedition through California. Font entered the San Gabriel Valley on January 3, 1776, describing the plain as "a country very level on all sides; we found it very green in spots, and the blossoms already bursting forth." Two days later, he made a salad out of a plants he found growing naturally near a spring, one of which he described as celery and the others as "passably good little lettuces." The next month, Anza's and Font's expedition crossed the Los Angeles River, then known as the Porciuncula: "We crossed the...river, which carries a good amount of water and runs toward the San Pedro bight and spreads out and loses itself upon the plains shortly before reaching the sea. The land was very green and flowery and the route had a few hills and a great deal of miry grounds created by the rains." Fifty-six years later, the early Anglo settler Hugo Reid described the animal life beneath the grasslands: Squirrels, rabbits, and gophers were continually scurrying down into their holes, out of harm's way. Indeed, these tiny animals had so honeycombed the surface of the ground as to make it dangerous to ride anywhere off the roadway faster than at a walk. The caravan stretched out in a thin line along a road the surface of which seemed no smoother than the open field. Only in this way was it possible to avoid stumbling, dropping a load, and perhaps breaking a leg. Only the earliest visitors to the region witnessed L.A.'s indigenous prairie, which was destroyed long before parking lots and subdivisions replaced the region's wild flatlands. As the presence of Europeans grew, invasive Mediterranean speciestransported accidentally or intentionally from the Old Worldbegan to supplant the native flora. Horses and longhorn cattle, introduced by Spanish missionaries and allowed to graze freely over the valleys and coastal plain, disrupted the careful balance of the ecosystem. The final end of the prairie could perhaps be dated to the disappearance of its keystone species, the grizzly bear, which Angelenos hunted to local extinction in the 1890s. Caballeros roping a grizzly bear. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library Photograph Collection. Our city's native landscape may be lost today, but reminders of the city's ecological history abound. Many of the flora and fauna of the Los Angeles prairie have vanished, but some of Southern California's indigenous wildlife have adapted to the new urban ecosystem. Raccoons, skunks, and a host of bird speciesjoined by non-native species such as rats, eastern fox squirrels, and opossumshave moved from the neighboring chaparral communities of the hillsides into the artificial urban woodland of our modern metropolis. Although straitjacketed in concrete for much of its route, the Los Angeles River still traces its post-1825 course to San Pedro Bay, its flow augmented by urban runoff. In some segments, pressure from upwelling water made it impossible to pave the river completely; in the Glendale Narrows, for example, cottonwoods spring up from the river's earthen bottom. Natural history is also embedded in some of our city's place names. Downtown's Aliso Street refers to an ancient, 60-foot-tall sycamore, named El Aliso by early Spanish settlers, where the region's Tongva tribal leaders would once congregate. La Cienega Boulevard recalls the marshes (cienagas in Spanish) where, as Font saw, the Los Angeles River lost itself before reaching the ocean. Charlene Ligon from the Nebraska Democratic Party will train local volunteers and members on the procedures for the Democratic Presidential Caucus, which will take place March 5 in Gibbon, Ravenna and Kearney. She will answer any questions concerning the caucus at this meeting. The caucus will replace the primary election for president for Democrats in Nebraska. All are welcome to attend this meeting. OMAHA Several thousand people had lined up outside Baxter Arena hours before President Barack Obama was to speak Wednesday afternoon. "We're here to make sure we get a good seat," said Priya Premnath, 30, of Omaha. Premnath, who was interviewed before 11 a.m., was joined in line by three friends. "He's the president of the United States," Premnath said. "Of course he's worth standing in line for." Air Force One landed at Offutt Air Force Base at 2:09 p.m. The president walked off Air Force One at 2:18 p.m., followed by Nebraska Rep. Brad Ashford. They shook hands with a line of people on the tarmac, including Adm. Cecil Haney, a former submarine officer who now heads StratCom, based at Offutt. Obama then spoke to Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Lt. Gov. Mike Foley and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert. The motorcade left Offutt at 2:24, headed to a meeting with an Omaha mother who had recently written to him. The crowd outside of Baxter Arena didn't have to deal with the severe cold Omaha has been battling the last few days. The temperature was up over the freezing mark, with no wind. Many people in line had brought food with them. The parking lot just north of the arena was full of cars by 11:30 a.m. Trish and Roy Rempe, both 65, of Superior, Nebraska, said they were more than happy to stand in line. "This will be the third president I've seen," Trish Rempe said. "I've seen two Republicans (Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan), and now I'll see a Democrat." She said Obama's party doesn't matter. "I respect the man and the office, and I think he deserves my respect." Chris Edwards, 60, of Omaha, said he was looking forward to a good speech from Obama. "I want to hear what he has to say about Omaha and the life here," said Edwards, who brought his camera. "And I've never seen a president before." Jonnish McCleod, 21, a UNO student, said she waited in line for an hour earlier in the week to get her ticket to the event. Wednesday, though, was all about listening to Obama's speech. "I came to hear some inspiring words from the sitting president," she said. In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, a drone is paraded in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. South Korea on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, fired warning shots after an unknown object from North Korea was seen flying close to the rivals' border, the South's military said. South Korean media reported that it was a North Korean drone. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File) In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 file photo, Indian soldiers keep guard at the perimeter fence of the Indian air force base in Pathankot, India, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. Indian defense minister Manohar Parrikar had said on Tuesday that Indian forces have killed the last of the six militants who attacked the air force base near the Pakistan border over the weekend, though soldiers are still searching the base as a precaution. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File) This Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 photo shows Osborn playground in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y., the site of an alleged gang rape. Four teenagers were in custody on Monday in connection with the incident, and a fifth was being sought. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Pump prices likely on the rise in coming months Gas prices are likely to go back up following the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, starting in November.... Spindle Items .. ETERNAL HAPPINESS All of us are chasing happiness. None of us wants to be miserable, angry, frightened , depressed or the like. If... Out of the Past 25 Years AgoOct. 22, 1997 Zoning laws in the Town of Tonawanda received much needed updating Monday as Councilman Raymond Sinclair presented amendments in underground... Family fun for everyone Halloween is every kids dream holiday, with costumes and candy, tricks and treats. Some of my favorite memories with my family have centered around Halloween,... Statistics show that there has been a mark improvement in the GCE General and a drop in the GCE Technical. Also, there has been an improve... 652 Shares Share There has been on average one mass shooting (involving at least 4 people) for every day this year. In the wake of the San Bernardino shooting the most recent widely-covered mass shooting, America has reopened the debate over gun control, pitting a bereaved public beckoning for gun reform against strict Constitutionalists. Yet, in this polarizing debate filled with a seemingly binomial future, there are other options: Namely those that focus on common-sense public health measures, like repealing the federal ban on gun research and physician gag laws. Guns kill more than 33,000 people a year. Guns kill more than double the number of Americans compared to AIDS each year. With such a heavy toll, gun-related deaths are epidemic in America. As with any other epidemic, one would expect the federal government to fund research on the causes and treatments of such a scourge on society except with the case of guns. Since 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been explicitly prohibited by Congress from using taxpayer dollars to study something that kills more than 90 people a day. As described in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, the action stems from an irrational fear that saving lives is equivalent to forfeiting essential American values the act is reminiscent of 1950s paranoia where a glance askew was labelled as McCarthyism. All efforts to have a meaningful impact on gun violence have been dead in the water for nearly two decades. More importantly, it has left the public without any position statements guidelines that set the rhetoric for public health measures to steer the public on safety. Instead, we are left to decide for ourselves, or worse, be swayed by an increasingly emotional debate on gun safety. If youre confused if having more guns makes America safer or more dangerous, you should be. Heres a study showing that guns increase crime, and heres another showing the opposite. It would be nice if the CDC with all of their resources could separate the noise from the signal for us. Another counterintuitive and inane bulwark of the pro-gun group is the institution of so-called gun gag laws. Florida was the first, and likely not the last, state to seemingly ban physicians from asking their patients if they owned a gun and if that gun was secured and out of reach of children. Although conversation on the topic is permitted if it is medically relevant, many physicians find the laws so restrictive that they chill any discussion on gun safety. Such seemingly common sense practices practices that are routine for physicians are now banned as a part of the hysteria that envisions British red coats returning America to the Queen. If my patient finds my questioning not medically relevant even though it may be, I could be liable under Florida law. Accidental injury from guns among children is a serious issue. A 2013 New York Times article estimated gun accidents may be in the top five or six leading causes of unintentional deaths among children due to discrepancies in accidental death reporting. Several months ago, Darnal Mundy, a 3-year-old boy in Miami, FL, shot himself in the head while looking for an iPad. He had climbed onto a chair, reached into a drawer, found a gun, instead of an iPad, and shot himself in the head. After being in a coma for several weeks, Darnal survived and was released from the same hospital at which I work. But not all children are so fortunate, one study has estimated that nearly two children die every week from unintentional shootings alone. According to the Childrens Defense Fund, more than 40 percent of gun-owning households with children store their guns unlocked. Some of these households dont know the basics of gun safety, and they may never know now given the emergence of gun gag laws. Safe storage of guns another common sense public health measure is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics because it has been shown to be effective at reducing injuries. It is no surprise that the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, has opposed safe storage laws for guns because it would have rendered homeowners defenseless and given criminals a clear advantage in home invasions. I didnt realize that locked guns had adversely affected public health so much that we should only keep guns unlocked. Changing public health policy usually begins with solid research. If you are interested in reducing the number of preventable deaths and injuries from guns, you can begin by opposing the nonsensical ban on federal funding of gun violence research. If you are a non-physician, you can show your support. If you are a physician, you can sign a similar ban. Shivam Joshi is an internal medicine resident who blogs at afternoonrounds. Image credit: Shutterstock.com (Kitco News) - Former Congressman Ron Paul said he is dissatisfied but still has hope after the Senate failed to pass his sons Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2015 widely known as the Audit The Fed bill. The measure from Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, was blocked Tuesday. He got only 53 votes as he sought to invoke cloture and bring his bill to a vote. The move required 60 votes. While I am extremely disappointed with the outcome of the vote, this vote ought to put the Federal Reserve on notice, said Ron Paul said in a news release on his Campaign For Liberty website Tuesday. With the American people firmly on our side on Fed transparency, and momentum shifting our way in recent Congresses, the Federal Reserve will not be able to continue operating in secrecy from the peoples representatives much longer. The elder Paul managed to gain 274 cosponsors for his legislation looking to audit the central bank, and it passed the House of Representatives in July 2012, the press release continued. The American people understand that we should not cede control of our economy and our prosperity to a small, unelected group of central planners. The average American, unlike big-spending politicians and crony capitalists, do not benefit from the Feds policies, Ron Paul continued. Once again, Rand is leading the way in the U.S. Senate by continuing the push for Audit the Fed, and I urge him and his colleagues to keep pursuing Audit the Fed until it passes both chambers and is signed by the president. Former Fed chair Ben Bernanke also shared his opinions on the bill in a Brookings Institute blog post Tuesday. He argued that the bill was not actually about auditing the central bank, but rather about putting political pressure on the Fed. By Sarah Benali of Kitco News; sbenali@kitco.com Follow me on Twitter @SdBenali SHARE Donald Trump By Chris Kornelis While the national Republican establishment wrestles with the idea of Donald Trump showing up at the GOP convention in Cleveland with an armload of delegates, politicians in this state are addressing a different hypothetical: What would a Trump nomination mean for local elections? Though Trump leads his rivals in national polls, there is bipartisan support for the idea that he is out of step with Washington voters and that his name atop the GOP presidential ticket could have ramifications for races at the state, county and city level. "I would think that the name Donald Trump at the head of the ticket would be the single most damning effect on the Republican vote," said Chris Tibbs, the outgoing head of the Kitsap County Republicans. "His brand is not our brand." Jaxon Ravens, chairman of the Washington State Democratic Party, said a Trump nomination would be a boon for his candidates. "The values and priorities that Donald Trump professes are in no way shape and form the values of Washington voters," Ravens said. "You look at the initiatives that we've passed in the last couple of years, they're not Donald Trump initiatives. It's going to be a benefit to us and hurt Republicans in down-ballot races." Susan Hutchison, chairwoman of the Washington State Republican Party, isn't ready to entertain the idea of Trump as her party's nominee. "I think just talking about Trump at the top of the ticket is premature," she said. "I don't look at (local contests) related to the national races. I have no idea who's going to win in Iowa or New Hampshire at this point. Voter turnout is how you win elections. Our party's challenge is to have our voters turn out and not be demoralized by this sense that Seattle controls everybody." Voter turnout is exactly what could bury GOP candidates in other races on the ballot if they have to address every one of Trump's ideas, or if right-leaning voters decide not to participate in a Trump-centric election. Ravens said Trump would drive Democrats to the polls to voice their opposition. Tibbs said it would do the opposite for Republican voters, who might be unmotivated to vote at all. That would hurt GOP chances in a year when voters' ballots contain races for governor, a U.S. senator, county commissioner and many other local and regional contests. Or Trump could bring voters to the polls, but not to the benefit of other GOP candidates. Todd Donovan, a political science professor at Western Washington University and co-author of "Why Iowa?: How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process," said that it's possible that a Trump nomination would bring new voters to the polls, since so many of his supports haven't been regular voters. But because his base is not built on traditional Republican voters, he said, those voters aren't necessarily going to swing GOP down the ballot for state and local elections. "He gets more support from independents than conventional Republicans," Donovan said. "If he does have a mobilizing effect they're not gonna be as consistently Republican as the folks that a regular Republican would mobilize." The local response echoes the national conversation among the GOP brass, who worry that a Trump nomination could put Republican control of the U.S. House and Senate in jeopardy. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, the National Republican Congressional Committee deputy chairman who works with candidates facing re-election in competitive districts, told Politico in December that a Trump nomination "would be devastating to our attempts to grow our majority and would cost us seats. There are people that couldn't win if he was our nominee." There are similar possibilities in Olympia. Republicans have been gaining ground in the state House in recent elections and are now just two seats shy of control. The Trump effect on turnout could mean the difference between GOP control of the chamber. But state Sen. Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard, thinks they will take the state House in the fall, Trump or no Trump. "He keeps gaining in the polls," she said. "It's very interesting to me. I think that says that a lot of our constituents are very angry about what they see happening (in Washington)." Any hypothetical related to Trump's candidacy has to be couched against the fact that most predictions about the real estate developer and reality TV star's White House potential have been wrong. Trump's "ceiling" has continued to rise in spite or perhaps because of controversial comments and proposals, ranging from building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico to banning all Muslim travel to the country. These comments have not softened his support among voters nationwide or disqualified him from the highest seat in the land in the minds of local Republican leaders. House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, who doesn't want to venture a guess on the Trump effect one way or another, joined Hutchison, Tibbs and Angel in saying that he'd support Trump if he emerges from the party's July convention with the nomination. "If Trump is the nominee, he will likely get my support," Kristiansen said. "Do I think he's the best one? The jury's still out on that one for me." SHARE By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun PORT ORCHARD In one of the Craigslist ads for a Honda CRV posted early last year, the seller from Bremerton asked potential buyers to not waste his time and said he would only accept cash. "Craigslist said so," the seller wrote, noting that the online classifieds warn sellers to avoid scams by dealing only in paper currency. The authors of those ads, brothers Ahmed Khalil, 24, and Mohammad Khalil, 25, pleaded guilty last month to charges stemming from a scam where they had odometers on cars they just purchased rolled back, doctored service records and even concocted back stories on the original owners to sell the cars for more than they were worth. Ahmed Khalil was sentenced to 18 months in prison, Mohammad Khalil was sentenced to six months in jail after they pleaded guilty to a count each of forgery and multiple counts of certificate of ownership false statement or illegal transfer. Bremerton Police Detective Marty Garland said the case started with one woman from Poulsbo who, acting on a suspicion, started doing her own research and discovered the car she bought at a meeting place in Bremerton wasn't what it seemed. Garland started on the case in January 2014. The brothers were arrested in May 2015. Through his work, Garland said he identified 80 victims, though he suspects the brothers flipped more than 200 cars using the odometer and bogus documents scheme. Some victims reported having to spend hundreds on repair bills, but Garland said some cars were so worn out the new owners basically had to have them towed to the junk yard. "People would get a chance to get a deal and they ignored those little hairs standing up on the back of their neck," Garland said. Garland declined to specify how the brothers rolled back the odometers, but another critical part of the scam was to sell the cars shortly after buying them so they would not have to report the car as theirs to the state. "They never titled it in their name," Garland said. "They would just use that gap in there to do all the dirty work." The brothers would buy a car, typically a Honda or Subaru, maybe do a little work to make it look nice, manipulate the odometer to take off about 100,000 miles, doctor service records and vehicle history reports and fabricate a story that they were selling the car for an elderly relative to explain the low miles and why their names weren't on the titles. Garland wrote search warrants for Craigslist and Carfax and began following the Khalils methods and tracking down other victims. Part of the evidence he gathered were photos buyers took, one of which shows Ahmed Khalil posing with the excited buyers, giving the camera a "thumbs-up." Garland said there are three ways for those searching Craigslist for a car to beat a scam like this: Ensure the seller's driver's license matches the name on the title, take a photo of the ID and run your own vehicle history report. "It's easy to go out on Craigslist and find a deal, but you don't know what you're getting and unfortunately by the time you figure it out it's too late," he said. The Navy, seen training near San Diego, has been conducting small team trainings at night at Illahee, Scenic Beach and Blake Island state parks since late 2014. Use has been limited to hauling out small boats and rafts, according to park officials. The Navy is looking into expanding its use of Puget Sound parks, possibly including Salsbury Point Park near Port Gamble and Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. Contributed photo / Navy Mass Communication Spc. 2nd Class Trevor Welsh SHARE By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun For more than a year, elite Navy commandos have quietly used three waterfront parks in Kitsap County for nighttime combat trainings. The Navy in late 2014 obtained special permission for small SEAL teams to stage water-based trainings from Illahee State Park in Bremerton, Scenic Beach State Park in Seabeck and Blake Island State Park in South Kitsap. The Navy wants to expand its use of parks and other public lands in the Puget Sound region to allow more SEAL team training opportunities. Nearly 70 sites have been identified around the region for potential training sites, including Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton, Manchester State Park in South Kitsap, Liberty Bay Marina in Poulsbo and more than 20 other sites in Kitsap. Public lands activists object, saying military use of parks, marinas and boat ramps runs counter to their recreational purpose and could put public safety at risk. "And there's the downright scariness of it," said Karen Sullivan, a member of the West Coast Action Alliance, a group that opposes what it considers the growing military use of public lands. "If people think there are Navy SEALS practicing in public parks hiding in the bushes or swimming around in the water they'll be less likely to use public parks." The 68 sites were listed in documents obtained by activist news site Truth-Out.org. The documents indicate the trainings could include combat swimming exercises, simulated battles with paintball guns and various launch and landing actions with small inflatable boats and small submarines. Navy Region Northwest spokeswoman Sheila Murray said the documents are part of a planning process and do not necessarily indicate where or if the Navy will conduct trainings. "We're still very much in the planning stage," she said. The documents indicate trainings could last between two and 72 hours and involve up to 10 personnel, two or three inflatable boats and a small submersible. The trainings would be "non-invasive in nature" with no gunfire, digging or vegetation cutting. "A goal for personnel conducting this training is not to be detected by others in the area," states a paper attributed to Naval Special Warfare Group Three. "Upon exit from these areas there is no tell-tale sign of their presence." Another Navy official who did not want to be named said the listed sites are places that likely meet the Navy's training needs. The Navy would narrow its list and then seek permission from each site's owner. Only a few of the 68 sites would be required for trainings, the official said. A Truth-Out story indicates the trainings will begin this month, but state parks officials told the Kitsap Sun that trainings of a limited scope have been underway at five state parks since fall 2014. Along with the three state parks in Kitsap, the Navy has permission to access Mystery Bay and Fort Flagler state parks on Marrowstone Island, which is located near Naval Magazine Indian Island in Port Townsend Bay. Washington State Parks spokeswoman Virginia Painter said the Navy has used state parks for low-impact trainings for at least eight years. Park officials approved a "right of entry" permit that allows the Navy to use the five state parks until late 2019. "We're granting them the right to land," Painter said. "But they're not doing war exercises in state parks." The permit requires the Navy to give three days' notice to park managers and limit use to after dark. It wasn't clear how many trainings occurred, but most happened between May and July, Painter said. "There's no more impact than any other boat coming ashore," she said. Any use beyond basic beach access and the use of park roads to launch or retrieve vessels would require a lengthy permit process. Trainings have typically occurred between midnight and 4 a.m. and were limited to the early summer, Painter said. Kitsap County's Salsbury Point Park near Port Gamble was listed as a potential training site, but county park officials say they've not been approached by the Navy. "It's news to us," Kitsap County Parks Director Jim Dunwiddie said. "We haven't heard anything like this not even any rumblings." The proposed sites list includes the Tracyton boat launch, Brownsville Marina and Bremerton's USS Turner Joy, which now functions as a museum. Several listings name general areas, such as Miller Bay, Oyster Bay and Bainbridge Island's Eagle Harbor and Point Monroe. Possible locations for paintball gunbattles include the empty Seabeck Elementary School and Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. Sullivan said military trainings in civilian areas and public lands cause public alarm and safety issues, disturb wildlife and limit public access to recreational areas. The Navy sparked a similar controversy in 2014 when it proposed an electronic warfare training program in Olympic National Forest. The Navy's initial disregard for public input angered many Olympic Peninsula residents. A few of them, including Sullivan, founded the West Coast Action Alliance, which now tracks military training plans across around the region. "The Navy poked the public in the eye with a sharp stick," Sullivan said. Despite the Navy's assurances that the SEAL trainings will be low-profile and follow rules set out by public lands agencies, Sullivan remains skeptical. "We feel besieged and voiceless," she said. SHARE The Rev. Karen Hamilton The Rev. Karen Hamilton is the new pastor of Unity of North Kitsap in Suquamish. Hamilton recently graduated from the Unity Urban Ministerial School where she was a recipient of the Charles and Myrtle Fillmore Scholarship. Karen served as chief editor of the UUMS newsletter and completed her internship at Unity of Olympia. She is the mother of four, and grandmother to 11. Active in the interfaith community, Karen lead a group from Western Washington to the 2015 Parliament of World Religions in Utah in October. "Spiritual seekers often say that finding Unity is like coming home and that is how I feel about Unity of North Kitsap," Hamilton said. "I am honored to be a part of such a warm and accepting spiritual community." Unity is an open-minded, accepting spiritual community that honors all paths to God and helps people discover and live their spiritual potential and purpose. Unity of North Kitsap's Sunday gatherings are at 11 a.m. at 18732 Division Avenue NE, Suquamish. For more information, visit www.unitynorthkitsap.org. Kitsap Sun staff SHARE Trooper Tony Radulescu By Ed Friedrich of the Kitsap Sun OLYMPIA A 10-mile stretch of Highway 16 will honor Washington State Patrol Trooper Tony Radulescu, who was shot and killed on its shoulder during a traffic stop four years ago. The state Transportation Commission, responsible for naming ferries, highways and bridges, approved a petition from Radulescu's friends and colleagues Wednesday morning. Speaking in support from the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office were Corrections Lt. Penny Sapp, who initiated the effort, and Sheriff Gary Simpson. Chief John Batiste represented the State Patrol. The resolution designates Highway 16 from the Pierce County line to Anderson Hill Road near where he died as Washington State Patrol Trooper Tony Radulescu Memorial Highway. Signs recognizing it as such will be placed along the road. Sapp said she got the idea of putting up a memorial sign, like for a drunken driving death, last summer while traveling through other states and seeing them. She checked it out "and found we could actually name a highway if we jump through a few hoops." She, husband Will Sapp (a Kitsap Sheriff's Office deputy) and 18-year-daughter Sarah Harrell launched a campaign, attending city council and commissioner meetings soliciting letters of support and creating a Facebook page. "That was huge having the politicians' support," she said. "It was monumental." The Transportation Commission expedited the naming process so work can be completed before the four-year anniversary of Radulescu's death Feb. 23, 2012. Radulescu, of Port Orchard, was shot shortly before 1 a.m. He was 44. His killer, Joshua Blake, committed suicide later as a SWAT team closed in on his home. The 20-year Army veteran had served with the State Patrol for 16 years. Simpson, whose deputies found Radulescu and tracked down those involved in his killing, said the memorial will help other officers work through the grieving process and reflect law enforcement's relationship with the community. "If we don't have reminders like this, we forget the sacrifices we make every day," he said. Batiste thanked commission members for assuring Radulescu is never forgotten. "He lived life to the fullest," Batiste said. "He was a man who loved people and was so much fun to be around. He was not just a trooper, he was a father." Radulescu is survived by a son, Erick. SHARE Judy Ringold, left, of Bremerton, works on a quilt a what she calls her acommuter spreada a as the Bremerton ferry sails to Seattle on a recent morning. Friend Margaret Magazzeni, right, holds the quilt. (LARRY STEAGALL | KITSAP SUN) By Virginia Vaughn For The Kitsap Sun Whether its writing a book or crocheting an heirloom, Bremerton ferry riders find interesting ways to fill the space of the commute to Seattle and back. Life in downtown Bremerton picks up around 6 a.m. People emerge out of the dark morning and walk with a fixed determination to the Bremerton ferry terminal. One-by-one, they add to the growing queue that eventually curves around the front of the building. As buses drop off passengers at the gate, riders are having lively chats while waiting in line: Do you know how to connect to bus 16? Did you watch The Biggest Loser last night? Their enthusiasm may be coffee-fueled, but the commuters are downright perky, their animation rivaling the pre-game crowd heading to a Mariners game. But this group is a tougher, more surprising group of people. There are no tickets sold to walk-ons from Bremerton, but Washington State Ferries estimates that there are 600 of them on the 6:20 a.m. boat to Seattle every weekday during the non-summer months. Another 320 to 400 people ride over in vehicles at that hour. The ferry system estimates that an average of 400 passengers walk on during the 7:20 a.m. run, with another 260 to 280 passengers riding over in vehicles. DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE The mood changes as the ferry gate rises and people begin boarding. Veteran commuters retreat to their usual tables. Passengers who want to sleep during the crossing dash toward empty benches, others seek out seats next to power outlets. Tim Bone, 55, of Bremerton, is a quality assurance coordinator for the Internal Revenue Service. Hes been commuting for 10 years, and he typically sits toward the front of the ferry on the starboard side. While other passengers tap away on laptops, Bone pulls out a white legal pad from his briefcase and starts writing. My wife suggested I use this block of time to do something productive, Bone said. So I took up her invitation and started writing down my novel. Sure enough, page after page, chapter after chapter, I had a story. The story, Shadows of Eden, follows a Boston-based private detective as he searches for a missing Harvard geneticist. While the novel includes all the elements of a good mystery, Bone said it also explores the role of religion in an increasingly secular world. Im Mormon, so I wrote from an LDS perspective, Bone said. If I were Lutheran, I would have written the book from a Lutheran perspective. I think including a faith aspect offers a unique angle, although I tried not to be too heavy handed with it. It took Bone two years of commuting time and several legal pads to complete the 265-page book. After a dozen rejection letters, Bones manuscript was accepted last fall by a small publisher. Other passengers might not know Bones full name or what he does for a living, but they do know hes the guy who wrote a book. During the morning crossing, Bone visits with commuter friend Claudia Charlton and her two friends, Sheila Burns and Sylvia Kroft. Inspired by Bones daily writing, Charlton a paralegal decided to revive a past project of her own during the 60-minute commute, writing a childrens fantasy book. Today, I am looking at story continuity, Charlton said, flipping through a copy of her printed manuscript. I need to make sure characters are doing what theyre supposed to be doing. The story needs to be tight, not like some hair in the wind. Sitting opposite of Charlton, Burns, who also works for the IRS, is writing in a notebook with pictures of windows and other clippings from magazines. The project is part collage, part exterior design. Its my personal graffiti, Burns said. Next to Burns, Kroft reads a book and listens to todays conversation topic: reality shows. They should have a commuter reality show, Kroft said. You would have to ride the bus or ferry with someone you really disliked for a whole year. VETERANS OF THE COMMUTE As the ferry reaches the half-way point between Bremerton and Seattle, Charlton recalls the changes she seen during her commuting years. You get to see babies grow up, she said. On the other hand, I look around, and I dont see people I used commute with. People get laid off and groups shift around and change. When you ride the bus and the ferry with the same people, you get used to seeing each other. On the upper deck, a power walker makes her rounds while people shuffle cards. A woman in the corner dabs on mascara while the man next to her reads an electronics textbook Sixty-two-year-old Bill Stump, a once-a-week commuter from Bremerton, sits in the middle of this section. He's a physician who evaluates the medical condition of patients filing legal claims. Stacks of reports, stamps and pieces of loose leaf paper spread across his table. He takes a minute to do a long calculation on a discarded envelope. On this foggy morning, he's paying the bills. When Im not reading, I do this, Stump said. He started riding the ferry in 1980. He said hes seen it all: medical emergencies en route to Seattle, the lawsuit filed by homeowners in Rich Passage claiming damage to their shorelines from ferry wakes, delays prompted by broken boats, and even ferry tickets going for a mere $1.50. About six months ago, there was a dispute between a commuter and the rest of the ferry, Stump said. He wanted to open the doors and cool down the main deck. The rest of the ferry disagreed. Things like that are pretty rare, but they do happen. Though there are disagreements, the commuters are united in their attitude about Bainbridges role in the ferry system, Stump said. Bremerton is really the stepchild of the operation, he said. If the Bremerton ferry is damaged, we go down to one boat. If the Bainbridge Island ferry is damaged, they pull a Bremerton ferry. However, Edmonds-Kingston and Bainbridge Island-Seattle are the only two runs that make money on both ends. I can understand why they shift them around. TIME PUT TO GOOD USE Back on the main level, Judy Ringold, 63, of Bremerton crochets an intricate design on a square pattern of fabric. After she completes several of these delicate squares, she will link the patterns together to form a queen-sized blanket. I call it my Commuter Spread, said Ringold, who works in the operations department of a trademark firm. My family teases me and says it looks like one big doily. But I think its absolutely gorgeous. She hopes to finish the spread by December and, when the time is right, shell pass it on to her daughter as an heirloom. Ringold normally wakes up around 4:45 a.m. or, as she calls it, oh-dark-thirty. That gives her just enough time to grab a cigarette, walk the dog and get out the door. Shes been doing this for eight years. In that time shes crocheted many projects on her commute including babys clothing, sweaters, mittens and other blankets. While crocheting seems harmless enough, Ringold admits being a regular commuter has its hazards. Its funny how we are, she said. We all have our certain spots on the ferry. If someone sits where I usually sit, I dont have the right to ask them to move. But I might grumble in my head. Regardless of where they sit, Ringold and her friends continue their crafts. Some do needlework, some crochet. We just sit and talk and giggle, Ringold said. But I dont sit with anyone on the way home. Im a 63-year-old woman, and I need my afternoon nap. As the ferry prepares to dock in Seattle, people begin stretching and packing up their items. One last lipstick touch-up, one more swig of coffee. Burns tucks away her graffiti notebook and finishes the last of her breakfast. Upstairs, Stump consolidates his many piles of paper and puts on a heavy coat. Most of the commuters still need to catch a bus to finish the last leg of their trip. So why commute from Bremerton? Why not live in Seattle? "Why would I move to Seattle?" Ringold said. "I love Bremerton....once I get on the bus after the ferry ride back, I know I'm going home. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else." The Herald reports: A former Labour member plans to run a candidate in Te Atatu in protest at Phil Twyfords use of Chinese-sounding names to analyse Auckland property purchases. Former Labour staffer and political commentator Phil Quin, who resigned as a Labour member over the data analysis which he called racial profiling, said he hoped the candidate would win enough votes in 2017 to oust Mr Twyford from the seat. Mr Quin told the Herald he was searching for a candidate who could run as an alternative for Labour voters who had been made uncomfortable by Mr Twyfords use of the housing data. I dont expect such a campaign to win more than a couple of thousand votes not nearly enough to win, but enough to force Twyford to rely on his high list ranking. If such a campaign were successful it would not damage the Labour Party overall or the number of MPs it would take into Parliament, Mr Quin said. Im not interested in helping National that runs counter to my lifes work to date and MMP allows us to target electorate MPs without affecting overall parliamentary representation. Stuff reports: US President Barack Obama hopes to visit New Zealand this year just the third time in history a United States president has been here. The visit could have been as early at February 4, for the signing of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. But Cabinet minister Simon Bridges is pouring cold water on that, saying that agreement will be signed by trade ministers, not by leaders. Instead, it appears Obama will tack his New Zealand visit onto one of two trips to Asia: either May or September. Stuff reports: New Zealand will be among the bigger gainers from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, boosting exports by around 10 per cent by 2030. A study by the World Bank on the controversial trade agreement claims that while New Zealand will see a much smaller boost to economic output than the likes of Vietnam and Malaysia, the boost from being part of the TPPA would be far bigger than that accrued by Australia, Canada or the United States. Calculating increases in trade and economic output, New Zealand ranks fourth out of the 12 members on both counts. Well done NZ negotiators. The study estimates that countries left out of the TPPA agreement will suffer. Even though trade overall would be boosted, with Russia seeing a slight gain to its GDP from spillover benefits, the economies of China and India would be about 0.2 per cent smaller than they would otherwise be. Thailand, hit by declining exports from being left out of the agreement, would see its economy about 0.8 per cent smaller than otherwise. Which is what Labour and Greens say we should do walk away from it. The full report is here. The growth in GDP per member is estimated as: Vietnam 10% Malaysia 8% Brunei 5% NZ 3.5% Singapore 3% Japan 3% Peru 2.5% Mexico 2% Canada 1.5% Chile 1% Australia 1% US 0.5% So the US actually gains the least from the TPP. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr SHARE Photos by AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL Jim Brogan practices swimming in Ft. Loudon Lake on a cold morning Monday, Jan. 11. Brogan will attempt to swim 3.1 miles across Tampa Bay on Jan. 17 to raise money for the Navy SEAL Foundation. Jim Brogan poses for a portrait near Fort Loudoun Lake. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) By Morgan Simmons of the Knoxville News Sentinel It took a lot to get Jim Brogan back into a wetsuit. Four years ago, while competing in the swimming leg of the Rev3 Triathlon in Knoxville, Brogan began to hyperventilate. The water temperature in Fort Loudoun Lake that day was a bone-numbing 65 degrees. It was Brogan's first time in a skin-tight wetsuit, and he swore it would be his last. "I handed the wetsuit to a kayaker and managed to finish the swim," Brogan said. "I'd never been scared in the water before that. In that wetsuit, I couldn't breathe at all." On Sunday Brogan will be in Florida to compete in the Tampa Bay Frogman Swim to help raise money for the Navy SEAL Foundation, a four star-rated charity that helps fallen SEALs and their families. The swim will be 5 kilometers long (3.1 miles) across open water. About 175 swimmers from around the U.S. are expected to participate, and with water temperatures expected to be in the low 60 degrees, everyone will be wearing a wetsuit. "A three-mile swim is a stretch for me, especially across open water," Brogan said. "I started reading up on the Navy SEAL Foundation and decided I could make a small mental and physical sacrifice for these guys who put so much on the line. I can't imagine the mental, physical and emotional toughness required by these warriors." Brogan, 46, is a Knoxville financial adviser who finds time to train in the evenings mostly in the pool, but also on Fort Loudoun Lake near his home. A graduate of Doyle High School, Brogan swam competitively in his youth and started competing in triathlons 10 years ago to lose weight. He recently transitioned to long-distance swimming to avoid the joint pain caused by running. "I never feel better than when I swim," Brogan said. "I like putting time in the pool, but when I think of swimming, wetsuits and cold water are not what I have in mind." Swimmers who sign up for the Tampa Bay Frogman are asked to participate in the fundraising. So far Brogan has raised $14,000 online www.imathlete.com/donate/JimBrogan with 100 percent of the proceeds to go to the Navy SEAL Foundation. Brogan will be swimming for former Navy SEAL Nicholas Spehar, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. He was part of the elite SEAL Team Six. Swimming 3.1 miles across Tampa Bay is a serious challenge even for seasoned distance swimmers. In order to maintain his bearings, Brogan will have to raise his head out of the water every six to 10 strokes. His two-mile training swims on Fort Loudoun Lake have given him a taste of what's to come. "The biggest issue is seeing where you're going," he said. "It's unnerving training in open water. I'm always afraid I'm going to hit a log." During the bay crossing Brogan plans to pause every mile to drink electrolytes for hydration and to ward off cramping. Every swimmer in the Tampa Bay Frogman must be accompanied by a kayaker, and Brogan will be supported by Rufus Christopher Ross IV of Knoxville, a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps reserves. Last November Brogan hurt his rib cage and was unable to swim for three weeks. He said that despite that setback, he feels prepared to don his wetsuit and take on the cold, salty waters of Tampa Bay this Sunday.. "Injuries are part of the process," he said. "You can't expect everything to go perfectly when you train so long and hard for an endurance event, but I believe I'm ready." Greg Johnson, Knoxville News Sentinel columnist. The Tennessee General Assembly is just getting started with its 2016 work, but plenty are predicting a right raucous year for state lawmakers. Road funding, a revenue surplus, exploration of outsourcing, gay marriage and even the University of Tennessee's Office for Diversity and Inclusion could cause conflict between Republicans and Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and, well, other Republicans. "The big challenge laying in front of us is to keep our eye on the ball," said state Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, in an interview earlier this week. "There are a lot of issues swirling." Overbey, whose district includes Blount and Sevier counties, cited jobs and economic development as priorities. "Tennessee is an attractive place for business with the third lowest overall tax rate and the lowest per capita debt in the nation," Overbey said. "We have a AAA bond rating, and our state pension plan is rock solid." Such fiscal prudence, Overbey said, attracts business investment. "We need to work to make Tennessee a place our children want to stay and that the jobs are available to keep them here," Overbey said. "We cannot be complacent. We cannot be distracted. We must keep our eye on the ball and maintain our momentum." Overbey will work on issues important to his constituents. "I plan to press the point there needs to be change in the (Basic Education Plan)," Overbey said of the state's education funding formula. "Sevier County gets less than Williamson County. I don't know how much further you have go to demonstrate the basic unfairness." Median household income in Williamson is around $90,000 and the poverty rate less than 6 percent. Sevier County's median household income is less than half of Williamson's, and its poverty rate nearly triple. Overbey said he will file a bill that would help smaller investors by raising the amount of dividend and interest income exempted from Tennessee's Hall income tax. Currently, a single filer can earn up to $1,250, and joint filers can earn up to $2,500 in dividend and interest income without paying the tax. Overbey's plan would raise the exemption by a few hundred dollars per year over the next four or five years to let those who need the income from investments keep more of it. Such a proposal would help retirees and could help attract retirees fleeing high-tax, fiscally imprudent states up you-know-where. Overbey summed his hope for the session: "We have to continue to focus on those things that have made Tennessee a great place to live, work, play and raise a family." SHARE Joe Armstrong, state representative By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel A veteran state lawmaker accused of cheating the IRS to hide profits from a cigarette stamp tax hike he helped usher through the Legislature wants his trial delayed. Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs filed a motion late Monday seeking a delay in the Feb. 23 trial of state Rep. Joe Armstrong on charges of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, tax evasion and lying on tax forms. The motion indicates Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley does not oppose the move, making it likely Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips will approve the delay The two attorneys and Armstrong will appear before Phillips on Wednesday for a hearing on a series of motions Isaacs already had filed in the run-up to trial. Isaacs cites as cause for a delay the second since Armstrong was indicted in June new potential evidence in the government's sheaf of material amassed in its two-year probe, including a hard drive from Tru Wholesale, the cigarette wholesale firm whose owner allegedly agreed to help Armstrong turn a profit from a 2007 cigarette tax stamp price hike. Armstrong, a 28-year veteran of the Legislature and past president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, lobbied fellow legislators in 2007 to pass a hike in the cigarette tax stamp price from 20 cents to 42 cents while cutting a deal with Tru Wholesale owner Roger Cox to buy 42 rolls of stamps at the 2006 price, according to court records. When the hike passed, Tru Wholesale co-owner Roger Cox's firm sold the stamps, bought at the lower price, for the new price, netting all involved in the deal a profit, prosecutors say. Armstrong's cut was more than $410,000, according to court records. The transaction itself was not illegal. Former longtime Knox County school board member and city of Knoxville official Sam Anderson joined in the deal by lending his name to secure a loan for the purchase from a bank where Armstrong served as a board member. Anderson is not charged. But Armstrong's alleged crime lay in hiding the profit from the IRS. Atchley has alleged Armstrong wasn't worried about paying the tax man but instead did not want voters to learn he was using his legislative position to line his pockets. Isaacs has blamed Armstrong's accountant, who already has pleaded guilty. By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel A 5-year-old boy stood outside a Knoxville federal courtroom Tuesday unaware of his place at the center of an international custody battle. Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan intends to keep it that way as do the two parents who are warring over what country the youngster should call home. In a case that has involved the Mexican government, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and The Hague Convention, Varlan found himself Tuesday playing a role far removed his usual duties a family court judge. "This is not the typical proceeding in this court," he remarked. In that new role, Varlan reminded the feuding parents Mexican citizens Eugenio Garduno Guevara and Alma Soto Soto of an agreement brokered by their respective attorneys to shield the boy from talk about the legal fight. "There are to be no discussions with the child involved in these proceedings, do you understand?" the judge asked both parents via interpreters. The case hit U.S. District Court in Knoxville in December when Memphis attorney Suzanne Landers and her firm filed on behalf of Guevara federal action to keep Soto, who has been living with the boy in Knoxville, from fleeing with him. Citing the provisions of The Hague Convention of 1980 on international child abduction cited by Guevara's lawyers, Varlan issued a temporary restraining order and ordered Soto to bring the boy with her to Tuesday's hearing. He ordered the U.S. Marshals Service, an agency tasked with hunting criminal fugitives, to serve Soto with his order. Guevara and Soto had the boy out of wedlock in Mexico in 2010 but lived together with him until March 2013 when Guevara moved out. A month later, the boy and his mother disappeared. Guevara launched a hunt for his son, engaging Mexican police and the Mexican government, scouring Facebook and ultimately engaging the State Department and the U.S. judicial system. Two years later, Guevara finally found mother and son via a photograph posted on Facebook, showing Soto and the boy at the Wichita Falls Park in Wichita Falls, Texas. But, he alleges, she disappeared with the boy again. The pair resurfaced in late May in Knoxville when she sought custody through Knox County Juvenile Court. At Tuesday's hearing, Landers and Soto's attorney, Scott Saidak, announced a temporary deal in which Guevara would be allowed to visit with his son later that evening at West Town Mall and again on Wednesday at a location to be determined. Soto, who will keep custody of the boy for now, agreed to stay put in Knoxville pending a March 7 hearing on where the boy should reside the U.S. with his mother or Mexico with his father. "My client has been here two years and has no intention of moving anytime soon," Saidak said. While it's not been made clear whether Soto is in the U.S. legally, she has a passport, which Saidak said she agreed to turn over to him while the case is pending. Guevara said he will be returning to Mexico to await the upcoming hearing. Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, right, and Knox County School Superintendent Jim McIntyre announce June 8 a budget deal to build the Gibbs and Hardin Valley middle schools. The deal includes the sale of Andrew Johnson Building and a cut of $1 million in school administrative costs. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) By Lydia X. McCoy of the Knoxville News Sentinel The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights is conducting an investigation into the building of a new middle school in the Gibbs community, at the request of the Knoxville chapter of the NAACP. NAACP officials filed the initial complaint Nov. 13 and learned on Dec. 18 the Office of Civil Rights would investigate "whether the district's plan for the construction of Gibbs Middle School will result in re-segregation, in noncompliance with Title VI," according to a notification letter from the OCR. The complaint claimed building of the middle school would "convert a facility (Holston Middle School) into becoming underutilized and identifiable as a school intended primarily for black students, resulting in re-segregation," Virgil Hollis, an OCR compliance team leader, wrote in the letter. Most of the students who would attend a new Gibbs middle school in predominantly white Northeast Knox County currently attend Holston in East Knoxville. The Knoxville NAACP chapter's president, the Rev. John Butler, said Tuesday the organization would comment on the case at a news conference today at Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church. "While (the) Knoxville Branch NAACP does not oppose construction of community schools, studies paid for by the Knox County schools system and the Knox County government have revealed that (student) capacity is not the reason for new construction for a new Gibbs Middle School," NAACP officials said in Tuesday's release. "Schools have been replaced and/or new schools have been built only in communities with 95% white population. Conversely, minimal dollars or no new construction (has been approved) in schools with African-American population greater than 5%." Nearly 25 years ago, as a result of a complaint filed with the OCR, the Knox County school board voted on a plan intended to desegregate the district's schools. As a result, Gibbs Middle School, then a wing of Gibbs High School, was closed, and students were bused to the newly formed Holston Middle. The Gibbs community has advocated the school's return ever since. After months of discussion, the school board conducted a middle schools survey, which failed to show enough student capacity to build a new school in the community. The school board ultimately voted to build the school if the county would pay for it. As part of a memorandum of understanding a compromise on next year's budget between Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, the Knox County Commission and the school board, the county agreed to build a new middle school in Gibbs, as well as in West Knox County's Hardin Valley community. Melissa Tindell, a spokeswoman for Knox County Schools, said the district has been notified of the complaint. "We take the issue of equity and fairness very seriously and will work with the Office of Civil Rights as they examine this complaint," she said. According to the letter received Dec. 18 from the OCR, school officials had 15 days to provide the department with various documents, including: A map showing the locations of student homes within the Holston school zone by race Any and all written communications among the mayor, the mayor's staff, county commissioners and school officials concerning the proposed school A copy and map of the district's pupil assignment plan for 1991, when the first desegregation plan went into effect. Michael Grider, spokesman for Burchett, said the mayor is aware of the complaint. "We are confident in the process and the decision to build the Gibbs and Hardin Valley middle schools," Grider said. "Of course, we will cooperate with the Department of Education in whatever way we can." Knox County Commissioner Sam McKenzie, who argued against the building of the school, said Tuesday he thinks the complaint is a good thing. "I brought this up during the budget process when the mayor and superintendent entered into what I call a really, really bad deal," he said. "I think this process was flawed. I don't think we have a building problem as far as middle schools. I think we have a zoning problem; I think we have a squeaky wheel problem." McKenzie said he believes the complaint was inevitable. "To me, it's just answering the question: why did you all make the decisions that you made?" he said. School board member Mike McMillan, who represents the Gibbs community and advocated for the middle school, said he was a little surprised by the complaint but that some people are just determined to prevent the school from being built. "I'll pay attention to it," he said. "We'll just see what happens, but beyond that I still believe that Gibbs deserves a middle school; obviously there are a bunch of other people who thought that as well or they wouldn't have voted for it. So we'll see where it goes from there." School board member Gloria Deathridge, whose district includes Holston Middle School, said the complaint's question is the one she tried to ask during the process. "I guess the NAACP felt like it was something they wanted to have checked out," she said. "Now we'll have to answer to whatever questions the OCR has in regards to that matter." Deathridge said she thinks the community has a right to ask those questions. "Seems like no one was paying attention to their concerns, so they felt like the only way to get some answers is to go through the OCR," she said. The Gibbs community is staying positive. C.H. Qualls, a resident of Gibbs, said the community is still excited about the school and thankful to the county commission and school board for approving it. "We do not think that the issue that has been brought to the table is the issue at all," he said. "The issue is that there was a Gibbs middle school out here 24 years ago, and it's been voted on by our county and school system to be put back, along with the Hardin Valley middle school." Qualls said if the project were delayed or removed, the lack of a middle school would continue to hurt the Gibbs community. "We just don't understand why a few people can't be excited for a school being built in a community," he said. "It saddens us that a few people can't be excited for us to have the opportunity for us to have a middle school." Amanda Sammons By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel JACKSBORO, Tenn. A Campbell County judge this week struck down as legally flawed a lower court judge's practice of forcing poor people whose charges were dropped to pay for legal services they did not use. In the first appeal of General Sessions Judge Amanda Sammons' controversial practice, Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton this week ordered the refund of a $200 fee Justin Lee Linkes was forced to pay for a public defender he did not use. Sammons ordered Linkes in November to pay an administrative fee for a court-appointed attorney before she would dismiss charges against him. Clinton attorney Jeff Coller said Tuesday that Linkes never used the services of the 8th Judicial District Public Defender's Office, instead hiring him. Coller, in turn, won dismissal of the aggravated burglary and domestic violence charges Linkes faced. But Sammons refused to formally drop the case until Linkes paid the fee. Linkes paid the fee and then appealed to Sexton, who ruled Monday that Sammons was wrong. Sammons said in December that a state law mandated an administrative fee be imposed in any case in which the public defender's office was appointed even if the defendant opted to hire a private attorney. Nowhere in the law establishing the fee are the poor required to pay for taxpayer-funded attorneys who never handled their cases. A review of records showed a standard state form had been altered in such a way that the administrative fee Sammons said she must impose is not the type of fee she is, in fact, ordering people to pay. The altered form mixes language from two separate laws assessing two separate types of fees neither of which is supposed to be charged when a defendant hires a private attorney. Sammons used the altered form in assessing Linkes the $200 fee. In at least four cases reviewed by the News Sentinel in December, Sammons refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges against defendants even when wrongfully accused who qualified because of poverty for court-appointed attorneys but whose families hired private attorneys instead. She has continued the practice since then, refusing to dismiss cases even when prosecutors agree the defendant was wrongfully accused, court records show. A second appeal remains pending in Sexton's court in February. State law and a related Tennessee Supreme Court rule set out two separate ways in which a defendant poor enough to rate court-appointed counsel can be required to pay some money to offset the cost to taxpayers. Neither applies when taxpayers aren't footing the bill. More than a half-dozen judges contacted by the News Sentinel said they had never forced a defendant who hired a private attorney after asking for, but never using, court-appointed counsel to pay either fee. Sammons said other judges were wrong. SHARE Trina Baughn, Oak Ridge councilwoman Rick Chinn Jr. Aleta Ledendecker By Bob Fowler OAK RIDGE One City Council member opted not to attend the invocation. Another walked out near the end, and the speaker said the mayor cut her off before she ended her statement which included the comment, "No deities need to, or should be, invoked at the openings of your meetings." That was the reception that Aleta Ledendecker, a member of the Rationalists of East Tennessee, said she received when she gave the invocation at the start of Monday's Oak Ridge City Council meeting. "It was quite rude," Ledendecker said. "I actually found it offensive." But council members Trina Baughn and Rick Chinn Jr., who staged the walkout, said much the same of Ledendecker's invocation. "I didn't appreciate what she was saying," Chinn said. "In my opinion, this country was founded on Christian principles." Chinn said he stepped out of the council's meeting room before Ledendecker finished because "I just couldn't take it anymore." Baughn said she decided to exit before the invocation because she "suspected the comments she (Ledendecker) was going to make were going to be an affront to my own beliefs." During her remarks, Ledendecker urged council members to "not bow our heads, but hold them high with eyes open so that we may keep them focused on the issues facing Oak Ridge." She also said the city's "growing diversity encompasses not only many religions, but a growing contingent of those who claim no religious affiliation, the 'nones.' " The council members' reactions spoke volumes, Ledendecker said. "One of our messages is that we just want to be treated equally. We don't want to be discriminated against," she said. "The behavior of those council members verified the fact that we aren't treated the same." Like-minded East Tennesseans said they're appalled at the council's reaction. "We didn't like it at all," said Larry Rhodes, group president and founder of the Atheist Society of Knoxville. The Rationalists of East Tennessee began asking city councils in East Tennessee to be allowed to give invocations after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Ledendecker said opined that secular groups should be given equal representation if there are religious invocations. Since then, the organization has given "pretty much the same invocation" at the start of meetings in Lenoir City and Clinton. "This was the first time people have actually walked out," Ledendecker said. She said Mayor Warren Gooch "cut me off before I was done" with her invocation. City Manager Mark Watson said Ledendecker had exceeded the three-minute time frame normally allowed for public remarks during city meetings. Ledendecker also said Rationalists of East Tennessee learned at the last minute they were on the agenda to provide the invocation. "They put us on the agenda but didn't contact us," Ledendecker said. The Rationalists of East Tennessee on their website said the organization seeks to benefit people by "expanding understanding of the universe through the use of empirical and rational methods." Among their purposes, according to the website: "To explore ethical and intellectual alternatives to supernatural beliefs." The group's website, www.rationalists.org, also has a picture of a billboard the group sponsored carrying the statement, "Don't Believe in God? You're not Alone!" Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, speaks with reporters following a House Republican caucus meeting on the opening day of the second session of the 109th General Assembly on Tuesday, in Nashville. associated press SHARE Members of the House Republican caucus vote to close a meeting before taking up a motion to remove Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, as majority whip on the opening day of the second session of the 109th General Assembly Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Durham survived an effort to oust him from his leadership role as the motion failed to receive two-thirds of the vote in a secret ballot. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) By Richard Locker NASHVILLE Republicans in the state House of Representatives voted behind closed doors Tuesday to retain their majority whip, Rep. Jeremy Durham of Franklin, in his leadership position as the Legislature opened its 2016 session. The House Republican Caucus voted to oust media, staff and the public from its specially called meeting to consider whether Durham should be removed from his relatively low level caucus leadership position. Members then argued for nearly an hour in the closed meeting, which took place after a short opening session of the full House. Ultimately, an effort to suspend caucus rules in order to allow a vote to strip Durham of the whip's position in the middle of a two-year term fell short of the required two-thirds majority, several members said later. Because the motion to suspend the rules failed, there was no vote on whether to remove him from the post although the suspension vote doubled as such. The caucus declined to release the vote totals but The Associated Press reported that the motion to suspend the rules fell one vote short of the 49 votes required. In both party caucuses, the "whip" is responsible for counting votes on contentious issues to inform upper level party leaders on whether to proceed with a bill or other matter. Durham has been under fire since it became public in the fall that he was investigated by the drug task force in his home Williamson County in 2013 for altering an outdated prescription for a medicine he was taking. However, a grand jury declined to return an indictment against him and the case was dropped. After that, there were other disclosures, including that he wrote a letter to a judge asking for leniency for a youth minister at a Shelbyville church who pleaded guilty to child pornography and statutory rape charges. "I will remain majority leader," Durham said after the closed meeting ended. "I'm looking forward to doing what I ran to do. I didn't run to have a kangaroo court proceeding. I ran to help people in my district." Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini condemned the GOP caucus's decision. "The lack of leadership shown today by Tennessee Republicans is stunning," she told The Associated Press. "Rep. Jeremy Durham, time and again, has shown a severe lack of ethics and good judgment." House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, said she was disappointed by the decision to hold the meeting behind closed doors. "It was a caucus decision," she said. "Now it's time to be constructive and move on." Other than the Durham matter, opening day was mostly routine. Lawmakers were greeted by dozens of chanting advocates of Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to expand health coverage to the working poor, "Insure Tennessee," under the provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act. But that association with the ACA, or "Obamacare," has rendered the alternative Medicaid expansion plan all but dead in this year's session as it was last year legislative leaders and the governor himself have said. This year's session is expected to run through mid- to late-April and is the second annual session of the 109th General Assembly, which began last year and concludes with this November's general elections. All 99 House seats are up this fall, as are 16 of 33 Senate seats. Three new members were sworn into the 99-member House on Tuesday: Rep. Jamie Jenkins, R-Somerville, who replaces Leigh Wilburn in a West Tennessee district; Rep. Gary Hicks, R-Rogersville, who replaces Mike Harrison in an upper East Tennessee district; and Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, who replaces Ryan Haynes in West Knox County. The Senate State and Local Government Committee heard a brief update on Gov. Bill Haslam's broad plan to outsource the management and operation of virtually all state-owned buildings, including college campuses. Neither the House or the Senate acted on legislation Tuesday. The Senate had two bills on its agenda but delayed both. By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel WASHINGTON East Tennesseans in Congress respond to President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address: U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Maryville: "Last year, the Republican Senate majority made a real difference by passing several pieces of bipartisan legislation that will help American families, including the first major education reform since 2002 that fixes No Child Left Behind. This record shows that if President Obama focuses on what he agrees on with Congress instead of what we disagree on, there's quite a bit we could get done in 2016." U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Chattanooga: "While I know the tradition is that the president updates the American people each year in this way, I don't read too much into these speeches. To really strengthen the state of our union, the president should use his final year in office to work with Congress on growing the economy, repairing our fiscal house, and confronting the threats we face both at home and abroad." U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville: "Since Obamacare has been a failure for most people and health care costs continue to skyrocket for almost every family, I am disappointed that the president did not offer any solutions for this major and fast-growing problem. I am also disappointed that the president did not offer any meaningful actions to help create more jobs and make the economy stronger. "My biggest concern is that the president will continue to use his executive orders to enact his very far left agenda during his final months in office. Presidential executive orders have traditionally been used almost entirely for noncontroversial, administrative-type actions. They were not meant to be a way for a president to bypass the Congress and to act as a king." U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah: "It was made abundantly clear that the president's primary objective in his final year in office will be defending his legacy. That legacy is a top-down, big-government approach that has given us the worst economic recovery in American history and stagnating middle class wages. The House is providing a different path, one that is driven from the bottom up and will provide real opportunity and solutions by empowering the American people." U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-Johnson City: "There are many issues facing our nation, but there is none more important than protecting our nation in light of the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism we're seeing at home and abroad. We are the United States of America, and we should be leading the world in this fight." U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-South Pittsburg: "Rather than put forth a credible plan to restore our nation, the president chose to extol his legacy of pursuing a leftist agenda that has weakened our country both domestically and abroad. "With the Obama administration coming to a conclusion, we must remain vigilant in preventing the White House from subsuming powers through the use of executive fiat that are expressly reserved for Congress. Whether it is gun control or immigration, any unilateral action violating our constitutional separate of powers must be met with stiff resistance in the House and Senate." A Blog about [1] Corporate Governance issues in Malaysia and [2] Global Investment Ideas SHARE University of Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan is interviewed Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014, at the News Sentinel offices. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) By Richard Locker NASHVILLE Gov. Bill Haslam's top finance assistant, Finance and Administration Commissioner Larry Martin, says he believes it's "premature" for Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan to remove community colleges and colleges of applied technology from the governor's massive facilities management outsourcing project. Martin said Tuesday that he believes such a decision should be made after the administration's "business justification" for outsourcing is finished. That document detailing cost savings the administration expects from outsourcing will be completed by mid-February, architects of the outsourcing project told state legislators Tuesday. Acting on Haslam's assurances that colleges and universities can "opt out" of outsourcing and continue managing and maintaining their buildings and campuses, Morgan wrote Martin a letter last week exercising that option for the 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology in the Board of Regents system. He also recommended that given the governor's new plan to remove six state universities from the Board of Regents and create new governing boards for each the administration's outsourcing team begin direct discussions about the project with the presidents of each of the six universities rather than continuing to deal with the TBR System as a whole. Morgan's letter, dated Jan. 6 to Martin and the governor's chief operating officer, Greg Adams, also detailed a list of concerns he has with the overall outsourcing project as it relates to higher education institutions particularly with regard to protecting building maintenance employees, with control over a campus's buildings and grounds, and with defining precisely what services a building contractor will under the contract and what it will charge more for. Asked Tuesday about the chancellor's decision to opt the two year schools out of the project, Martin told the Knoxville News Sentinel and The Commercial Appeal: "I have a lot of respect for John Morgan and his knowledge and experience. There are going to be times that people have professional, differing perspectives and that's part of the process. We're still in the processing of determining if there are needs and savings (from the project). I think that's why it's premature to make that step. I don't know how you would make that business decision at this point." Morgan announced last week that he is retiring Jan. 31, a year earlier than he had planned largely in protest of the separate plan to remove the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Tennessee State, East Tennessee State, Austin Peay State and Tennessee Tech universities from the Board of Regents a move that the chancellor said he believes is "unworkable" and harmful to higher education's mission. Asked whether Morgan's opt-out for the two year schools will be allowed to stand given his imminent departure, the finance commissioner said, I think he has said this is something the universities need to look at. I'm hopeful we can have discussions about other institutions as well." Meanwhile, the outsourcing project was the focus of a Senate State and Local Government Committee hearing later Tuesday, where lawmakers asked the project's midlevel managers for details, including employee protections. Sens. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, pressed Terry Cowles, the Haslam administration's point man on the outsourcing project, how a contractor will save the state money one of the project's major goals and still make a profit without cutting employees, their pay and benefits. Cowles said that a commercial professional services organization with a large statewide or national "portfolio" of real estate under its management including college campuses can negotiate lower prices for material and services. State Deputy General Services Commissioner John Hull said that the state's existing facilities management contractor in Nashville, Jones Lang LaSalle, converted what had been five separate landscaping contracts into one. But Briggs said those answers raise additional concerns about small businesses in Knoxville who contract with institutions like the University of Tennessee for services. "We don't want to pay more for the same services but I also hate to see the mom-and-pop organizations lose business they have now because they can't do these big statewide contracts," Briggs told Cowles. "I think it's important to remember, it's not just the jobs at the University of Tennessee that we're trying to save but we also want to keep other work in our communities." Cowles pledged that when the "business justification" plan outsourcing is completed next month, it will be made public. SHARE State Rep. Andy Holt's offer of support for the armed takeover of a wildlife preserve in Oregon is a shameful display of anti-American sentiment for a public official. An armed group led by Ammon Bundy seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, on Jan. 2. Bundy and his band initially were protesting the sentencing of Dwight and Steven Hammond for arson. The Hammonds rejected the support and surrendered Jan. 3 to serve their sentences for burning federal land. Bundy's group has since broadened its complaints to encompass the federal government's overall management of land in the West. The group's grievances can be debated, but their methods cannot be tolerated. Though no one has been harmed, this is not a peaceful assembly as provided for under the First Amendment. This is an armed insurrection against the United States. Holt, a Republican from Dresden, Tennessee, has sided with the insurrectionists. He posted the following message on his Twitter account two days after the seizure of the refuge's headquarters: "#bundymilitia Where can I send support for your effort?" After receiving criticism, Holt deleted the message, but he did not disavow the sentiment. In fact, he got into a digital fracas with Chattanooga City Councilman Chris Anderson, a Democrat, who said the federal government should investigate Holt for treason. Certainly if he donated money to Bundy's cause, Holt would be giving aid and comfort to an American enemy, which is part of the definition of treason. The FBI has shown remarkable restraint in the Oregon standoff, allowing the insurgents to come and go. Bundy's group said Tuesday they want to hold a public meeting in Burns to announce their plans to leave the refuge. Federal authorities have been silent on what charges, if any, they plan to pursue. The management of federal land is a hot-button topic in Western states, where the government owns vast swaths of property for various uses, including ranching and recreation. Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, who led a standoff at his Nevada ranch in 2014 over fees he owed for grazing rights on land controlled by the federal Bureau of Land Management. Debate over how that land is managed, or whether the federal government should own as much land as it does, is legitimate political discourse. Seizing federal land, however, is not an appropriate expression of political dissent. Holt should understand the distinction. One wonders if Holt also would support an armed takeover of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, which is less than an hour's drive from his Weakely County farm. Not unlike Cliven Bundy, Holt also has run afoul of the federal government. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined him up to $177,500 last year for discharging more than 860,000 gallons of waste from his hog farm without a permit. Holt might not have broken any laws by expressing support for the scofflaws in Oregon, but he certainly has embarrassed all Tennesseans who respect this nation and its ideals. SHARE The News Sentinel editorial on Jan. 4 included percentages of death rates for Tennesseans from heart disease. The causes of the deaths are attributed to the familiar big three: lifestyle, economy and education. The impact of these three factors on our health is striking. There was a 1.9 percent rate of heart attacks in people who were employed, while the rate for the unemployed skyrocketed to 14.2 percent. Those with an income of $15,000 had a heart attack rate of 8.4 percent, while for those who earned $50,000 or more the rate dropped to 2.9 percent. Eleven percent of high school graduates have heart disease, compared to 5.2 percent for college graduates. What is the common denominator for those fortunate enough to enjoy better heart health? One likely answer is access to health insurance. Insure Tennessee would provide insurance for more than 280,000 Tennesseans who are unemployed and in lower economic brackets. Typically, people who have a job have access to health insurance. People with higher incomes are usually employed and can purchase health insurance. One response to the problem may be to create more jobs and encourage more students to earn an advanced degree. Those are noble solutions that will take years to achieve. The passage of Insure Tennessee can have an immediate positive impact on individuals' health care, on our economy by keeping local hospitals open and by providing jobs in the health care industry. Contact Gov. Bill Haslam (615-741-2001), Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (615-741-4524) and your state legislator to voice your support for Insure Tennessee. Nelson Mandela said, "It always seems impossible, until it is done." Some have said getting the Legislature to approve Insure Tennessee is impossible. Let's prove the naysayers wrong and Mandela right. Let's do the impossible for 280,000 uninsured Tennesseans. Dennie Kelley, Knoxville SHARE Once again the Obama administration has used a mass killing to push the progressive agenda for gun control. Ignoring that the killing in San Bernardino was an attack by Islamic terrorists, the administration, fully abetted by the mass media, is repeating its call for actions to constrain gun ownership by American citizens. Not convinced that the media are all in for Obama's run at the Second Amendment? Did you see the front page of this newspaper after Obama's executive actions press conference? There was a picture of Obama that dominated the page. Obama says that since Congress won't act, he will. The Founding Fathers feared an all-powerful executive, so they designed a system of government to create friction and make it hard to create laws that would infringe on the rights of citizens. Just like presidents before him, if Obama feels some law must be enacted, he must use his bully pulpit to convince the American people and Congress. Executive actions are supposed to be guidance to his administrative agencies, not used to create law and certainly not to infringe on the Bill of Rights. Obama further stated, "If there's even one thing we can do, if there's just one life we can save we've got an obligation to try." A free society can't function if its overriding purpose is to ensure that every single person enjoys a risk-free existence. If Obama legitimately believes government has an obligation to try to save every single life, he would be calling for a 20 mph speed limit on highways and a ban on trampolines, bathtubs and skateboards. Richard Stouder, Oak Ridge By Choi Sung-jin As China's financial markets reel from shocks, damage to emerging economies that rely heavily on trade with the world's second-largest economy is growing, industry sources say. According to the Korea International Trade Association, Korea is the largest exporter to China, followed by Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, Turkey and Russia. Countries whose currencies are international, such as the U.S., Japan and Germany, have large economies and stable financial markets and are less sensitive to external factors. But China's most other Asian neighbors and raw material exporters are worrying how far the fire spreads, as their current-account balances aggravate and currency values plunge. Chinese turmoil is directly hitting Korea amid the sharply increased connectivity between the two countries' financial markets. The Korean currency has lost 37.8 won, or 3.2 percent, against the U.S. dollar, to end at 1,209.3 Tuesday. The Korea Stock Price Index also sank to 1,890.86, further below the psychologically important 2,000. The situation for Malaysia is not good, either. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded its credit rating from "positive" to "stable," citing the possibility of massive fund outflows, a reduced current-account surplus, a steep fall in currency value and dwindling foreign reserves. Hit hardest are exporters of commodities. Brazil and Russia, adversely affected by China's economic slowdown and the glut of crude oil, have fallen into negative growth. When the Chinese economy expanded rapidly, the country used 12 percent of global oil production, accounting for half of increases in demand. The No. 2 economy also consumed 40-60 percent of aluminum, nickel and copper, but is increasingly losing its appetite for these as its economy cools off. Foreigners' complaints about China's economic policies are also growing, with other emerging economies, such as Mexico and India, criticizing or worrying about Beijing's currency devaluation. The Chinese authorities, who created market turmoil by pulling down the yuan last week, said they had no intention of artificial intervention. A few days later, however, they intervened in Hong Kong currency markets to stave off the yuan's steep fall. These indicate inexperienced economic operation has emerged as a new "China risk," local economists say, forcing Korea to remain extra attentive to what is occurring in its giant neighbor. By Lee Hyo-sik Kim Jong-in Lotte Mart CEO Lotte Mart, one of Korea's three major discount store chains, is facing an anti-trust probe for allegedly forcing a meat supplier to offer its products at prices lower than production costs. The "excessive" price cut was intended to attract more shoppers to Lotte's 116 stores across the country. The discount store, headed by CEO Kim Jong-in, is also accused of pressing the supplier to shoulder marketing and other expenses when it promoted the sales of "samgyeopsal" (pork belly). The controversy is widely expected to tarnish the image of Lotte Mart abroad, which operates 115 stores in China, 41 in Indonesia and 11 in Vietnam. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Tuesday that its Seoul office is investigating Lotte Mart after the pork belly processor filed a complaint, alleging that the discount store unit of Lotte Group was engaged in unfair business practices. "We referred the case to the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency (KFTMA) last August when we received the complaint," a FTC official said. "But Lotte Mart refused to accept the KFTMA settlement, recommending the store to pay the supplier 4.8 billion won in compensation. So, we have begun an official probe into the case." According to the anti-trust agency, the pork supplier claimed that it had to sell pork belly to Lotte Mart at lower than production costs for three years. It said it sustained a 10 billion won in loss from the supply deal with Lotte. The supplier was allegedly forced to supply pork belly at 9,100 won per kilogram to Lotte, while delivering it to other retailers at 14,500 won. However, Lotte Mart dismissed the meat company's claim, saying that the store never abused its suppliers. "It is true that we asked meat producers to supply products at discounted prices on special sales days. But later we paid them more to make up for the earlier shortfalls," a Lotte Mart spokesman said. "We always purchased goods from our business partners at market prices." The spokesman then criticized the KFTMA, accusing the agency of siding with the accuser. "The mediation agency largely sided with the accuser and turned a deaf ear to what we have to say. We didn't get enough time to explain our side of the story," he said. "We just cannot accept the agency's settlement asking us to pay 4.8 billion won. So we decided to ask the FTC to launch a formal probe to find out exactly what happened." In December 2014, Lotte was ordered to pay a 1.4 billion won fine by the FTC for forcing food companies to finance sampling events at its outlets. By Choi Sung-jin The world's major economies, including the United States, China and Japan, are vying to dominate a new market with great growth potential drones, or pilotless air vehicles, industry watchers said Wednesday. Missing in this new business war is Korea. Chinese companies are leading the commercial drone market, with one major manufacturer, DJI, accounting for 70 percent. Korea, which still remains at a stage of making and selling industrial drones mostly for disaster relief or brush-fire monitoring, has only a small market of 10 billion won ($8.3 million), 0.13 percent of the $6.5 billion global market as of 2014. It is not that the nation lags major countries technologically. Korea, a divided country technically at war with the communists in the north, has made considerable efforts to upgrade its technology for drones, which were originally developed for the military. The nation is ranked fifth in the number of drone-related patents, and seventh in military technology. "Our military has drone technology far superior to those seen in civilian exhibitions," said Kim In-hwa, an executive at Korean Air. "The problem is it is not shared with the private sector for security reasons. Besides, the localization of core parts, such as sensors and communication equipment, is slow and the nation imports all of its operational software from abroad." Also responsible for hindering the growth of this future-oriented sector are excessive administrative regulations, the sources say. If people want to fly a drone in Seoul, they have to win permission from three agencies the Defense Security Command, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Defense. Citizens cannot fly a drone as they want, and not even as a hobby, unlike in China where they can send drones anywhere except for airports and military facilities. Experts say now is the time for Korea to set up a 10-year-plan to promote this lagging sector. The drone industry usually develops from the first stage of simple manufacturing to the second stage of loading related equipment such as thermal cameras and the third stage of providing relevant services, including education and finance, according to Professor Seung-hwan of Kyungsung University. "Korea is still discussing how to jump-start the first stage," he said. By Choi Sung-jin The Bank of Korea says it will consider ways to minimize coin use this year, to move eventually to a "coinless society." Under the central bank's plan, people who pay cash will receive change not in coins but in cards, officials said. For instance, if you give 10,000 won for a 9,500-won item, vendors will deposit 500 won to your card connected to an imaginary account. "We spend more than 50 billion won ($41.5 million) a year making coins, and the cost society pays for their circulation reaches several times the amount," a BOK official said Tuesday. "If we change this settlement system to cards, not just the financial sector but the whole society can save unnecessary costs." For instance, the police recently arrested a group of people who raked in 200 million won by melting 6 million 10-won coins and reselling the copper. Some 25 won of copper is used to mint a 10-won coin. The central bank ultimately aims to move to a "cashless society," and a coinless society is its transitory phase, they said. The cash payment ratio of Sweden, for example, is about 20 percent, far lower than the average 75 percent for other countries. The bank, however, is not considering going as far as banning coins. "There still remain many legal obstacles for us to directly transit to a cashless society," the official said. By most accounts, the BOK expects to introduce the coinless society by 2020, they said. Models pose next to the SM6 midsize sedan, globally sold as the Talisman, which was unveiled to local media at Hanseo University Flight Education Center in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, Tuesday, prior to its March launch. / Yonhap By Park Jin-hai TAEAN Renault Samsung, following Hyundai and Kia, has looking for another takeoff in the domestic and global car market with the release of its newest sedan. The carmaker unveiled the SM6 midsize sedan, to be sold globally as the Talisman, Wednesday, to entice customers who have waited to see a new product from the Busan-based carmaker. "The SM6 signals a new takeoff in the domestic market. We are confident the car will change the landscape of the Korean D-sedan segment," said Francois Provost, Renault Samsung Motors CEO, during a media event at Hanseo University Flight Education Center in Taean, South Chungcheong Province. The saloon, jointly developed by staff from Renault headquarters in France and its Korean subsidiary, received major media attention when it debuted in Paris in July. Competing with the Volkswagen Passat as well as Hyundai's Sonata and the Kia K5, Renault's latest sedan boasts "sensual innovation," with many features being a segment-first. "Our SM6 is the ultimate result of our ceaseless effort. It is the first vehicle that has been designed by the R&D Center from the upstream stage together with the Renault Techno Center in France," Provost said. On top of a stylish and sculptured exterior with segment-first large 19 inch wheels and laser blazed roofline, the vehicle is equipped with a head-up display, and customized sound and lighting ambience choices. Park Dong-hoon, vice president of Renault Samsung Motors, called the SM6 its "new weapon" to create innovation in the local auto industry. He said the midsize sedan segment has been losing its share to SUVs, because companies didn't' reflect the latest technologies in their cars, thus failing to meet customers' needs. The local D-segment market has been downsized in the past five years. The market saw 184,000 cars sold in 2015, from over 314,000 in 2010. "The SM6 is not all about new design. With our new car, we focused on filling the void in technologies as well as customers' needs," Park said. Compared with the Talisman, the SM6 has a different combination of powertrain, chassis and interior to cater to local driving conditions and customer tastes, according to the company. The carmaker recently started its production at its Busan plant and its official launch is scheduled for March. The company targets to sell more than 50,000 SM6s each year. The price for the sedan will be disclosed in February. Renault says it aims to sell more than 100,000 cars in 2016, up 30 percent from the previous year. To become the third largest player here, it aims to expand its market share to 10 percent this year and produce 300,000 vehicles. By Yoon Ja-young The country's youth unemployment rate marked 9.2 percent last year, the highest ever; and job market conditions are expected to worsen due to companies' reluctance to recruit new workers amid an economic slowdown. According to Statistics Korea, Wednesday, the unemployment rate of those aged between 15 and 29 stood at 9.2 percent last year, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. This is the highest figure since 1999 when the statistics office adopted new criteria for compilation of unemployment data. The unemployment rate for the young has been rising each year, from 7.5 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2013 and 9 percent in 2014. Even those who find jobs may be far from enjoying stability. Data from the statistics office shows that one out of five young people's first job was work as a contract worker with a term of less than one year. The ratio nearly doubled since 2008 when it stood at 11.5 percent. Analysts show concern, since how young people start their careers really matters, especially in Korea where it is very difficult to switch to a better job. Young people starting as low-paid irregular workers are likely to remain so. "The low employment rate is a problem in itself, but how one is employed in the beginning also has considerable impact throughout their later life, such as job security and how much they will be paid," said Kim Hyung-joo, an economist at LG Economic Research Institute. "It also affects one's determination to marry or give birth," he added, explaining that the poor job conditions may be linked with the country's low birthrate. The "actual" unemployment rate could be even higher than the statistics. For instance, those who are economically inactive but have the willingness to find a job and part-time workers who would like to switch to stable jobs aren't included in the unemployment data. When including these people, the unemployment rate could soar to 20 percent. The outlook for the job market this year isn't bright either. The slowdown of emerging economies including China, on which Korea relies for its exports, and sluggish consumption weighed on by household debt are hampering businesses from hiring more people. Major companies have been cutting their workforce, with the financial sector shedding 48,000 jobs last year. The number of the employed totaled 25.9 million last year, up 337,000 from the previous year the smallest rise since 2010. Riccardo Muti / Courtesy of Vincero Maestro is still in honeymoon' with orchestra By Kwon Ji-youn Maestro Riccardo Muti describes the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) as a wonder in the musical world, one of the greatest classical symphonic ensembles in existence. Together, they are prepared to make a remarkable impression on Korean audiences when they visit Seoul later this month. "I know that Korea is a country dedicated to music," Muti, music director of the CSO, said in an interview with The Korea Times. "There are so many artists who come from Korea, and there are many orchestras, not only in Seoul, but in other parts of the country. But the Chicago Symphony, I think, will make an impression that will not be forgotten too easily even by the Korean people." This concert, at the Seoul Arts Center on Jan. 28-29, marks Muti's first in Korea in 12 years, and the CSO's second ever. The Italian conductor did not perform with the CSO in its first performance here due to health reasons. This performance falls in line with the CSO's Asia tour, which celebrates the orchestra's 125th anniversary. Muti has performed in Korea three times before in 1983 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in 1996 and 2004 with the La Scala Philharmonic. Though he was named music director of the CSO in May 2010, his first encounter with the CSO was in 1973. "I remember the orchestra then, in 1973, to be a very strong and powerful orchestra," he said. "I did not return for more than 30 years and when I did, in 2007, I returned to an orchestra of high quality but also more supple, subtle, and more flexible." During his five-year stretch with the CSO, both he and the orchestra have changed, but the roots have stayed the same, he said. "The musician is a person, and so the musician is also affected by life experiences," Muti said. "Works by Verdi or Beethoven or Mozart that I conduct today are different, but they are not a contradiction of what I did before. I can recognize, and, fortunately, everybody recognizes that the departure is still the same as the starting point. The roots are the same, but the leaves and branches of the tree have developed. You can recognize that the Muti of today is more complex, more refined, more pensive, but when there is a moment of fire, of eruption, the recognizable qualities are still there." Below is an excerpt from the interview: Q. You will bring two different programs for this concert; Beethoven Symphony No. 5 and Mahler Symphony No. 1 for the first; Prokofiev Symphony No. 1, Hindemith Concert Music for Brass and Strings, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 for the second. Why did you select this particular program? A. There is not a specific reason why these programs were put together in this way. In this case, it's just two programs: firstly, two programs of very important works in the literature and, secondly, two programs that show the special qualities of this great orchestra. In the first program, the two composers, Beethoven and Mahler, are not historically connected. The Fifth Symphony can be played in different ways by different orchestras, but with an orchestra like the Chicago Symphony, you have a great orchestra that plays in a modern way while stylistically thinking about the period in which this symphony was written. And played by the Chicago Symphony, I think it will be a great experience for the public. Mahler is one of the composers very much connected with the history of the Chicago Symphony, through several of its musical directors, especially in the time of Solti, who gave a lot of attention to Mahler. So we can say that it's a Mahler orchestra for the tradition, for the quality of the players, for the knowledge and the experience they have had through different generations of music directors. Q. It is said that the CSO has been at its best since you became its musical director. What do you think about this appraisal? A. All the players are very proud to be a part of the Chicago Symphony, and they know that the Chicago Symphony means absolute quality. That doesn't mean that every performance is perfect, but all the musicians strive to reach a point near perfection. You have an instrument of people. They can go from Baroque music to contemporary music with the same enthusiasm and achieve incredible technical results, which is very, very, very important. With the Chicago Symphony, the conductor can focus on artistic goals because the orchestra is there to give you everything. That's the reason why I think our combination is quite rare in a world that is so fast and complex. Q. What significance do the CSO's visits to Asia have for classical music? A. The fact that in Asia the public is so young and so dedicated to music is a great hope for the entire world, especially to me as an Italian, as somebody that comes from a very old country, culturally speaking. We in Europe are very impressed by the fact that in Asia, in Korea specifically, music is becoming really a very important element of the culture and the spiritual and cultural education of young people. We know that orchestras are founded, conservatories are opened, theaters are created fantastic theaters from an architectural point of view and we have a great respect for the dedication of the Asian people to Western musical culture. So, music will be one of the elements that will put people together around the world, and the fact that in Asia young people are coming to the world of music brings us to hope for a better future for the entire world. Q. Tell us about your conducting philosophy. A. An orchestra of 100 people is like a society, and a society is made by people of different characters, different personalities; it's a democracy. And in a democracy not everybody says "I agree, I agree, I agree." The orchestra is made up of a group of people where the integration of different cultures produces fantastic musical fruits. Q. Do you have an ultimate goal you hope to achieve through the remainder of your term? A. If the world continues to collapse and to decline in its interest in culture, then classical music will become more and more distant. Classical music depends very much on the importance that we give to culture. We know for certain that to boys and girls, if they listen to come to know classical music, classical music becomes important to them. The challenge for the future is not how much classical music is needed by the people but how much we do, how much we give, how much energy we exert to make classical music familiar to people. Culture has to be supported and sustained. Music is a tool with which to build bridges and to bring music to people who either for economic or cultural reasons are not familiar with classical music. I didn't come to Chicago to make a "career," because the career has already been made. And the CSO also has a long and distinguished "career," if you will. So we have nothing to prove. Instead, together, we can really serve the city and do something good for Chicago, and perhaps for the world, through music. We can offer programs and play music that reaches the hearts and souls of people. Q. The CSO's brass section is known to be one of the most outstanding parts of the orchestra. A. When I was in Europe, or even when I was music director in Philadelphia, we always heard about the brass of the Chicago Symphony. It was a compliment to the brass section, but it was not a compliment for the rest of the orchestra that everybody was talking about the brass. Today we can say that we can speak very highly of the brass, of the woodwinds, of the strings: the entire orchestra. The orchestra has a wonderful woodwind section and a wonderful strings section as well. Q. What else, other than the brass, is unique to the CSO? Can you tell us about the differences between La Scala and the CSO? A. It is very difficult to compare a symphonic orchestra to an orchestra of an opera house. The Philadelphia Orchestra, which I know very well from my many years there and the Chicago Symphony have two distinct sounds. I would say that the Philadelphia Orchestra has had a unique string sound since the time of Stokowski, a sort of "perfume" to the sound that can be full of a thousand colors. Chicago has less "perfume," in this way, and is more solid and supple. I love both orchestras. Chicago is a stronger orchestra in solidity, like a rock, but a rock that can also be very gentle. Philadelphia is a very strong orchestra, but more inclined to perfumes. I think that Georg Solti (former CSO music director) molded the sound of Chicago because it was his orchestra. Q. How do you communicate with your musicians? A. Every conductor should know compositional technique well. Unfortunately, it is rare now. I studied composition for 10 years. Young conductors of today are generally more interested in the exterior, the show that people make on the podium, than they are in spending time deeply studying harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, and other elements of music. It is too easy to go from playing an instrument to starting to wave the arms. As (Arturo) Toscanini said, "to beat time, every donkey can do. But to make music, beating time is very difficult." When you have a great orchestra of musicians, they are the first to expect a music director to work hard, not just to take it easy. To take it easy is sometimes an attitude that is common in some parts of the world. And certainly it is not the reason I am in Chicago. I believe that a conductor, a music director, should be a leader, a father, an older brother, but not a dictator. Q. Your father was known to be a music lover. Have you been influenced by your father? A. Although my father was a medical doctor, he believed that music was absolutely essential in the general education of a young boy or girl. Even if destined for another profession, my father believed that music was important to study anyway. He wanted for me and my four brothers to have five serious vocations, as doctors, lawyers, engineers or architects. At that time, to become a professional musician in the south of Italy was like going to the moon, something unusual. I became a conductor through unexpected circumstances. President Park Geun-hye delivers a televised speech and holds a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. / Yonhap President Park Geun-hye has called for the strongest possible sanctions against North Korea following its fourth nuclear test. "North Korea's nuclear test is a grave provocation and challenge that we cannot tolerate," Park said in a televised speech from Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. "The international community's response to North Korea's nuclear test must be different from before." Park referred to South Korea's loudspeaker broadcasts, which it recently resumed, as "the most certain, effective psychological measure," but urged the strongest possible sanctions be drawn up, "which will bring a change in Pyongyang's attitude." The President recognized China's role in sanctions against the North. She welcomed China's intolerance of the North's nuclear test, but said "this must lead to actual measures." Meanwhile, she stressed the importance of close cooperation with the U.S. "The deployment of a B-52 bomber shows the U.S.'s determination for South Korea's defense," Park said, adding that Korea and the U.S. must strengthen united defense forces "to incapacitate the North's provocation." Pyongyang claimed Jan. 6 that it had successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test for the first time, drawing strong condemnation from the international community, including China. As a countermeasure, South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts on the inter-Korean border Jan. 8. The U.S. deployed the 52-bomber over South Korean skies Sunday in a show of force against the North. The foreign ministers of South Korea and Russia will speak by phone later on Wednesday to discuss their responses to North Korea's latest nuclear test, the Foreign Ministry said. Last week Pyongyang claimed it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, drastically raising tensions in the region to a new high. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Russia's role will be critical in adopting a new sanctions resolution punishing the North for its fourth nuclear test. North Korea is already under a wide array of sanctions for its three previous nuclear tests, which are banned by past resolutions. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will hold talks at 5 p.m. (local time), the ministry said in a text message to reporters. Yun held phone talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida shortly after the North's test last Wednesday. He also spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday. The ministry noted Russia's New Year's holiday season ended on Sunday. The five countries are all members of the six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The negotiations, however, have broken down since their last session in late 2008. (Yonhap) Park Yu-ha, author of "Comfort Women of the Empire" / Yonhap A Seoul court ordered Park Yu-ha, author of a disputed book on comfort women, to compensate nine victims, Wednesday. "Comfort women" is a euphemism for women sexually enslaved for the Japanese military during the Second World War. The court ordered Park to pay each victim 10 million won. The plaintiffs claimed the book, "Comfort Women of the Empire," had inflicted mental pain on them. The book presents the idea of comfort women being voluntary prostitutes. For this reason, a court last February ordered 34 sections in which it found Park guilty of defaming victims - redacted from the book. In December, 190 Korean scholars and cultural figures issued a statement supporting Park and her book, citing academic freedom. Boeing, Airbus face new challenge By Jun Ji-hye Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has launched a project to develop passenger jets, a market that has long been dominated by Boeing and Airbus, sources said Wednesday. "We are seeking to make a foray into the commercial airplane market through a joint project with an Indonesian defense firm," a KAI official told The Korea Times. The move comes at a time when Boeing and Airbus face challenges from China, which recently unveiled a commercial airliner. Beijing's state-owned Commercial Aircraft of China, or Comac, delivered its first of 30 ARJ21 passenger aircraft to Chengdu Airlines in late November. Comac is also pushing to develop a larger jetliner, the C919, with targets efficiency levels comparable with those of the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, according to local media. A prototype of the 158-to-174 seater was unveiled in early November. In order to join the race, KAI signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement (SCA) with Indonesia's state-run PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), Dec. 4, the company said. Under the deal, the two companies will strengthen collaboration in the defense aviation industry, but also work toward making commercial airplanes. The Indonesian company is already participating in Korea's domestic KF-X fighter jet development project. PTDI has experience in developing its own 50-seater N-250 and the 100-seater N-2130 civil aircraft in the 1990s, while KAI has successfully developed military aircraft such as the T-50 supersonic trainer and the FA-50 light-combat aircraft. "It will be a win-win for both parties, as each can help the other in their respective areas of technological superiority," said the official. He noted that the two companies plan to meet twice a year to discuss their cooperation in the development of a civilian jetliner and other aircraft including drones. "The first meeting will take place within the first half of this year," he said. He added that the feasibility study to figure out potential demand for civilian aircraft will also take place, saying, "Securing demand in the domestic markets of both Korea and Indonesia is our preliminary goal." From 2008 to 2013, KAI developed the four-seat, low-wing, single-engine KC-100 Naraon that was marked as the nation's first passenger plane. The Naraon is expected to enter service this year. KAI President and CEO Ha Sung-yong said last year that taking the commercialization of Naraon as an opportunity, KAI will make efforts to attain its ambition to develop and produce a 100-seater passenger plane. The move apparently comes because sales of civilian aircraft account for almost 80 percent of the world aviation market, so there is a limit to focusing only on the defense aviation industry. Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye By Kim Hyo-jin A district office in Seoul is pushing to establish a park to commemorate late President Park Chung-hee, the father of President Park Geun-hye, igniting protests from civic groups. The Jung District Office allocated 10 billion won ($8.24 million) this year to construct the Park Chung-hee memorial park around the family's former house in Donghwa-dong in central Seoul, said Byun Chang-yoon, a city councilor of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), Wednesday. The office aims to complete the project by 2018 with total costs estimated to be 31.4 billion won, he said. The scheme was first laid out in 2013 but was suspended after the Seoul municipal government dismissed a request from the district office to review the finance-sharing plan, pointing out that it had skipped a prior consultation regarding the project. President Park Geun-hye also expressed her objections to the project, citing, "It is not desirable to spend taxpayers' money on a memorial park when the economy is sluggish." The following year, the office came up with a renewed plan that included constructing underground parking lots beneath the memorial building, saying it aims to expand parking space for residents. The envisioned one-story building will consist of parking for 271 cars on three basement floors, and an exhibition hall and park on the ground floor, according to the district office. The controversy was further fuelled after District Mayor Choi Chang-sik pushed for the scheme to go ahead, based on a plan to fund it solely with the district's budget without support from the municipal government. The district council adopted a resolution opposing the project. "It is a total budget waste if we spend billions of taxpayers' money to secure 100 or so extra parking spots," Byun said. "It is obvious that building public parking lots is a mere excuse to mitigate criticism against building the memorial park." Critics also accused the project of being tainted by the district mayor's political motivations, saying that he intends to curry favor with the President by spearheading the project that would beatify the legacy of her father. Choi is expected to run in the general election after his term as district mayor finishes, they said. A similar controversy was stirred up two years ago when a preliminary candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party who was to run for governor of North Gyeongsang Province presented a plan to change the name of Gumi, the city where Park was born, to "Park Chung-hee City." Park is a controversial figure credited by some sections of society with pursuing policies that helped enable economic recovery and development in the poverty-stricken country throughout the 1960s and 1970s, while other citizens point out that Park suppressed pro-democracy movements throughout his 18 years of dictatorial rule. By Lee Kyung-min Park Yu-ha A district court ordered Park Yu-ha, 59, the writer of the controversial book "Comfort Women of the Empire," to pay 90 million won ($74,000) in compensation to nine survivors of sexual slavery under the Japanese occupation, Wednesday. The Seoul Eastern District Court ruled in favor of the nine victims, recognizing that Park's book published in 2013 inflicted emotional distress on them. The nine, including Lee Ok-seon, 87, filed a suit last year against Park seeking 270 million won 3 million won each claiming that they were subject to emotional suffering due to her degrading depiction of them as "voluntary prostitutes," as well as characterizing the relationship between some of the former sex slaves and Japanese soldiers as "comrade-like." The court recognized that Park defamed the victims by depicting them in a degrading manner with false facts. "Park indicated in her book that the victims not only voluntarily become prostitutes, but added that they actually enjoyed it, thereby incurring enormous emotional distress," the court said. The court said that the facts regarding the victims' plight during wartime atrocities are well established by a number of U.N. reports and academic journals as well as Japan's 1993 landmark Kono Statement. It said many of their conclusions reached the consensus that the victims suffered deplorable conditions with their human rights irrevocably violated. The court dismissed Park's claim that her work as an academic piece should be immune from criminal prosecution. "Considering the fact that the victims are still alive, her right to academic freedom does not supersede that of the victims' basic right to dignity," the court added. Earlier, Park said that she had no intention to degrade the women involved, and that she was unfairly accused of being a sympathizer of Japanese wartime atrocities. "The use of the phrase that was the subject of contention at the trial was intended to position them in a larger context of history. Readers are entitled to make their own judgments, but my intention was to introduce an alternative to the socially dominant view," she said. The same court in February ordered the publisher to revise 38 such sections which it recognized as defamatory against the women. The newer version of the book was published with such revisions in place. Separately, the nine victims filed criminal defamation charges against Park. The first hearing will begin at the Seoul Eastern District Court on Jan. 20. The Japanese literature professor at Sejong University in Seoul has been taking constant public criticism over the book, in which she claimed that there was no evidence to show the Japanese military was involved in the recruitment of women for forced sexual slavery the same claim made by the Japanese government. She also wrote that many Koreans collaborating with the Japanese government lured the women into sexual slavery. Park said that her view, regarded as unconventional or outrageous here, was to suggest a more comprehensive or alternative approach toward resolving the comfort women issue, which remains a symbol of irreconcilable strife between the two countries. Former sex slaves and civic groups said that Park has helped the Japanese government exempt itself from responsibility for the atrocity. Mixed responses Earlier last month, 190 scholars and cultural pundits here issued a statement denouncing the indictment and the district court ruling, calling them an "anachronistic move" against the principles of democracy. "Freedom of study and the press are severely restricted due to the judiciary measure," they said in the statement. But 380 scholars and activists from Korea, Japan and the U.S. criticized Park for aiding the Japanese government in dodging its culpability. They said that academic discussions regarding the comfort women issue should be dealt with delicately, keeping in mind the fact that some survivors are still alive. Nine scholars and activists said the prosecution indictment to hold a scholar criminally accountable for her academic work was improper. They also noted that Park made claims without proper legal understanding or supporting facts, saying considering the sensitivity and gravity of the issue, such a provocative viewpoint requires a painstaking process before being presented to the public. Lee Joon-sik, who was sworn in as education minister Wednesday, speaks during a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in this Jan. 7 file photo. / Yonhap By Kim Se-jeong New Education Minister Lee Joon-sik, who was sworn in Wednesday, faces daunting tasks which have recently sparked controversy. Lee is expected to first deal with the Nuri Curriculum, a free preschool program for children aged three to five, which began in 2013. The program, one of President Park Geun-hye's campaign pledges, is now on the verge of collapse amid intensifying conflict between the ministry and 17 education offices. The education ministry vowed not to hand out support, while the education offices protest the program can't go on without financial backing from central government. Many education offices failed to draw up a budget for this year's program, and even if they were to set aside money this week, parents of students will not benefit in some regions. The new minister has already received criticism from regional educators for a remark he made that he would pressure education offices to continue the program during his confirmation hearing. During the hearing, Lee's qualifications were questioned. He said the free preschool program was a welfare policy supervised by the Ministry of Health and Welfare alone. In reality, both the health and education ministries are responsible for the program, with the health ministry responsible for daycare centers and the education ministry for kindergartens. According to the ministry, Lee will meet superintendents from education offices, Jan. 18, to detail the legal interpretations and financial conditions. The controversy over the state-authored history textbooks will also gain momentum. The National Institute of Korean History will likely belatedly announce the guidelines which 46 authors will use in writing the books for middle and high schools. The minister already stated his strong support for the project. "I believe the state authoring textbooks is the right thing to do," Lee said during the hearing. "Who writes them isn't so important. To me, what's more important is their content - to keep it neutral and unbiased." Critics of the project said a single textbook will rob students of the freedom to learn different perspectives. Also, they said the government is only interested in embellishing the legacy of former dictator Park Chung-hee, the father of the incumbent President. Students will start using the textbooks in the spring semester next year, and the books are expected to be written by November. Despite the fierce opposition, the ministry went ahead with the plan, recruiting a group of authors but refusing to reveal their identities. It said the anonymity was to keep the authors independent and free, while critics say secrecy only reinforces the invalidity of the project. Reform of higher education is also one of the minister's priorities. The ministry has been spearheading efforts to consolidate universities in recent years, and also pushing for them to form close ties with the private sector. The new minister had pursued a similar goal during his time at Seoul National University. South Korean soldiers search for propaganda leaflets in a field in Paju, north of Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap By Lee Kyung-min A leaflet stating the North Korean military's merciless retaliation against the South. / Yonhap More than 5,000 North Korean propaganda leaflets have been found around Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, military officials said Wednesday. The distribution of the leaflets came amid escalating inter-Korean tensions following the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, Jan. 6. According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), some 4,365 color-printed leaflets were found scattered around the Gyeonggi Province cities of Gimpo, Paju, Uijeongbu and Dongducheon. Also, police retrieved some 1,000 leaflets from balloons discovered by a citizen in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. Police said the leaflets were scattered after the balloons were caught on a tree. "We found leaflets sent by the North Korean military in Seoul and Gyeonggi," the JCS said. "The North was seen distributing them from its side across the border through Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning." Sorted into ten different designs with varying content, the postcard-sized color-printed papers contained provocative rhetoric including threats and criticism against the South and its U.S. ally. Some of those indicated that the South will face "merciless retaliation" unless Seoul stops recently restarted loudspeaker broadcasts, while others included manipulated photos of President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama. "We consider the provocative act of loudspeaker broadcasts a declaration of war, and warn the South that we are fully prepared to engage in full-scale military attacks," one leaflet read. In response, the JCS said that the South Korean military is keeping a close eye on the North and standing ready to launch a corresponding leaflet operation at any given moment to counter the North's move. The South Korean government has not sent propaganda leaflets to the North since the two Koreas agreed to cease propaganda activities in 2004. Seoul recently resumed loudspeaker broadcasts on the inter-Korean border in response to Pyongyang's alleged H-bomb test. Bae Yeon-jue, center, a second-year student at Pohang Idong Middle School, plays the heroine in the musical "Beauty and the Beast" during a performance at the school auditorium in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, last September. / Courtesy of Pohang Idong Middle School Middle school in Pohang lauded for innovative programs By Chung Hyun-chae POHANG, North Gyeongsang Province For middle school student Bae Yeon-jue, 14, English is no longer a burden for exams since she played the heroine in the musical "Beauty and the Beast" last September. "I've become very confident in English, especially speaking, while preparing for the musical," said Bae, who belongs to an English musical club at Pohang Idong Middle School. English musical club activity is part of the school's efforts to help students improve their practical English skills. "I think I can learn English not only by reading books, but also by practicing through daily experiences outside the classroom," Bae said. "I became increasingly interested in English while participating in the English musical, and I began watching CNN News and reading English news articles." Chung Soo-sun, head teacher of the school's international education department, has initiated innovative English programs to help students improve their English practically and efficiently. The programs include the "Global ACE Project for Empathy and Communication in Globalized World." ACE stands for active, creative and expanded learning. The school runs diverse English programs under these three categories. Active learning "I have tried to expose my students to an English-language environment conducive to making them practice the language in real-life situations," Chung said. In March, she started a monthly program in which students in groups give short English presentations on various subjects, including friends, countries and respectable figures in groups. "The most recent presentation was about our dream job and volunteer work that we want to do in the future," said Lee Seung-a, 14. As the program requires continuous interaction and cooperation among team members, students can learn how to work with others while sharing responsibilities. "After the presentation, the audience ask questions about the presentation and the speakers also have to answer them, in English, which I believe helps me organize better English sentences when speaking," Lee said. The school strongly encourages students to read as many English books as they can under an online English reading program the school bought from education company Aoneedu. The students are assigned English books of different levels. "We receive points when we finish reading books and solving questions regarding the book," said Jang Ji-woo, 14. She read about 400 books last year, the most among her peers in the same grade. "As a big fan of Harry Potter series, I really wanted to get information from an English website called Pottermore on which the author J.K. Rowling posts information about the book, but I could not understand what she said because of my poor English," Jang said. "Now I'm happy that I can easily read all the information from the website." Creative learning The school has only one native English teacher, who faces difficulty dealing with a total 1,175 students. "We devised a way to use a local area network that enables us to ask three native teachers in other schools in Pohang to come to our school on Saturdays to teach our students real-life English," Chung said. She said students learned how to buy products, introduce themselves to others and speak to people in the street in English during Saturday's program, which ran five times last year. "It is not so much studying as it is a matter of surviving to be able to speak English in this global age," Chung said. Pohang Idong has an English media club called ENN led by its English-speaking teacher and student anchors. They broadcast on current issues such as the Korea-Japan summit and the death of former President Kim Young-sam every Thursday morning. They also produce an English newsletter each year. Every Monday morning for about 15 minutes, the school shows English movies such as "Peter Pan" and "The Little Mermaid" with English subtitles. The school has also combined artistic practice with English, launching an English song competition in December after the final examinations to help students learn English more effectively. "Students picked songs, memorized the lyrics and practiced a dance routine for about two weeks," the English teacher said. The students performed for parents and teachers attended on Dec. 22, when students were awarded prizes. Expanded learning Lastly the school encourages students to become global citizens through interacting with students in other countries. It set up a sisterhood relationship with Glen Eden Intermediate School in New Zealand in February and with SMK Menjalara Secondary School in Malaysia in June last year. "Our students and students from those schools visited each other's countries for a homestay during a vacation to experience other unique cultures," Chung said. With the aim of promoting better understanding of other countries, the school held a global fair last September. Chung asked Handong University in Pohang to send its foreign exchange students to her school to share their experiences. The university sent 11 students from Mongolia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Latvia to run a booth on the middle school's campus to enable schoolchildren to come and learn about the countries. In recognition of the school's commitment to English education, the Ministry of Education selected the school as one of the top 100 providing excellent curricula among 1,263 elementary, middle and high schools throughout the nation in December. "Due to all the members' efforts, we have produced amazing results," said the school's principal, Choi Bong-sik. "The ACE project was evaluated as an innovative model of English education." Two Decatur, Ga., men are facing multiple charges after a Chattanooga pharmacist noticed that a prescription they presented was supposedly ordered by a local doctor who has long since retired. Arrested were Jonquel Dawson and Derrick Jennings, both 22. Their charges include criminal simulation fraud, prescription drug fraud, theft of property, fraud, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm while in the possession of legend drugs. There were three handguns found with them in their car. In the incident on Sunday, an officer responded to the Walgreen's on Highway 153 on a report of a black male with dreads wearing a brown leather jacket trying to pass a fraudulent prescription. Jennings told police he was trying to fill a prescription for an old friend who lives in Knoxville. He said he did not know the "friend's" name, but did this on a regular basis. He later said the "friend" was Robert Andrews - the name on the prescription. Police then noticed a passenger in the car bent over the center console. It was also noticed that Dawson had a black leather shoulder holster with a magazine in the pouch. Dawson said the gun that goes with the pouch was in the front passenger seat along with another weapon. Officers found a loaded silver Smith and Wesson revolver in the passenger side door, a loaded Sig Sauer under the passenger side front seat, a Glock 21 .45 caliber pistol under the front driver's seat and a loaded 26 round magazine in the center console. Officers also found fake IDs, marijuana, marijuana wax, a digital scale, a marijuana cigarette and a bottle of xanax and percocet pills. Students from other countries learn taekwondo as part of the 2016 Winter Beyond Borders Program at the campus of Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, Monday. Thirty-one foreign students are participating in the three-week cultural program which will continue until Jan. 28. / Yonhap By Chung Hyun-chae Thirty-one students from Hong Kong and six countries Australia, Malaysia, Norway, Taiwan, Canada and China are taking part in Sookmyung Women's University's three-week cultural program for foreign students. The 2016 Winter Beyond Borders Program, which started Friday, is the seventh of its kind since the university initiated the annual program in 2010. "We've designed the program to provide insight into Korean culture for foreign students from our sister universities throughout the world," a university spokesman told The Korea Times. He said that Deakin University and Macquarie University in Australia have continued to send their students to the program. Every day, the students attend the Korean language class from 9 a.m. to noon and then take taekwondo and arts and craft classes from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sookmyung's campus in Seoul. A special lecture about Korean history and culture is scheduled for Jan. 20. Participants can try on hanbok, traditional Korean clothing, during the program. After regular classes, the students can enjoy art and cultural performances and experience traditional Korean culture On Tuesday, they watched "Nanta," a Korean nonverbal percussion performance, at the Myeong Dong NANTA Theater in central Seoul. They will also learn K-pop dance from students of the university's dance club today, and will go on a field trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which divides the two Koreas, near Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday. "What sets our program apart from similar university programs during winter break is that students can engage in various cultural experiences, from learning K-pop dance, to making Korean food, in addition to taking lessons and going on field trips," said a staffer at the Center for International Affairs at the university. Korean students from the center will accompany foreign students on a one-to-one basis to help them easily follow the program. "Our students volunteer to help the foreign students, and I believe they can practice their English and learn other countries' cultures as well while spending time with the participants," the spokesman said. Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Li Jinjun has touted traditional friendship with the North, according to China's state media on Wednesday, despite moves by the international community to impose tougher sanctions against Pyongyang following last week's nuclear test. Li made the remarks at a meeting with Chinese students living in Pyongyang on Tuesday, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported from Pyongyang. It marked Li's first public activity since North Korea announced it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb last Wednesday. Li urged Chinese students to play a role in developing "the friendship between China and North Korea from generation to generation," the report said. Li made no mention of North Korea's fourth nuclear test. Earlier on Wednesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye called on China to take "necessary actions" to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test. The role of China, which keeps North Korea's moribund economy afloat, is important in ensuring the effectiveness of tougher sanctions against the isolated North. However, many analysts believe that China's Communist Party leadership won't exert enough leverage on North Korea because a sudden collapse of the North's regime could threaten China's own security interests. (Yonhap) By Yi Whan-woo The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Wednesday to step up efforts to take tougher sanctions against North Korea for its alleged hydrogen bomb test last week. "We have found common ground that North Korea needs to pay the price for what it did," said Hwang Joon-kook, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs. "We shared thoughts that the three allies need to differentiate their joint policy toward North Korea and press Pyongyang in a more powerful and compressive manner." U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim stressed a need for "new and meaningful sanctions" against the Kim Jong-un regime. Their comments came after a three-way meeting between Hwang, Kim and Kimihiro Ishikane, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau, at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul. The three top negotiators in the stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization met to discuss their joint responses to the North's claim on Jan. 6 that it tested its first H-bomb. If true, it would be Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test following the previous ones in 2006, 2009 and 2013. By Na Jeong-ju Korea began using electronic anklets in 2008 and implemented chemical castration in 2011 to tackle sex crimes. Sex offenders are now subject to much heavier penalties than a decade ago. A decade from now, the country will probably have a more sophisticated and stronger punishment system. The question is: Is this punishment-oriented approach effective in reducing sex crimes? A study released last week by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family suggests that the government may have to change the way of dealing with perpetrators. The study showed that the number of people whose personal information was made public after they were convicted of sex offenses against minors surged by 19.4 percent year-on-year to 3,234 last year from 2,709 in 2014. Of the convicted rapists, teens and those in their 20s accounted for 54.8 percent. Online opinion is divided. Some say the country is suffering from more sex crimes because the punishment against perpetrators is not strong enough, but others say strengthening penalties has been proved counter-productive. What can be a stronger measure? Introducing physical castration is one of the ideas that has been repeatedly suggested whenever heinous sex crimes made the headlines here. In 2012, a female ruling party lawmaker submitted a bill to surgically castrate child rapists after a seven-year-old schoolgirl was raped by Ko Jong-seok, a 23-year-old child porn addict, in Naju, South Jeolla Province. The "Eunuch Bill" was welcomed by women's rights groups and family members of rape victims, but received the cold shoulder from her fellow lawmakers. Physical castration may not be harsh at all for rapists like Ko because they have ruined the lives of children as well as their parents. The government has already expanded the use of chemical castration on sex crime convicts to prevent them from repeating offenses. However, it costs a lot of taxpayers' money and needs long years of monitoring. In that sense, removing their testicles could be the quickest, most cost-effective and fundamental method. A blogger, who identified himself as the father of a middle school student raped at age 10, said he supports this. "I don't agree with experts who attribute the increase in sex offenses to structural problems in society and who demand better psychological therapies and rehabilitation programs for rapists instead of strengthening punishment. That's because they have never experienced the suffering and pain that I did," he said. "It will remain a painful memory even if I kill the man who raped my daughter." The father's feelings are understandable, but there are questions about whether such an extreme measure is appropriate in a civilized society in the 21st century. Most of all, the measure could violate basic human rights in the Constitution and harm the country's international reputation. The government has introduced electronic anklets and chemical castration to prevent sex crimes, but one of the side-effects is that it makes offenders more violent and anti-social. The ministry's recent study indicates that castration is not effective, and stronger punishment will not stop sex crimes. The government's current policy is only focusing on isolating sex offenders from society. It could make the situation worse because most sex offenders have feelings of frustration and alienation that result from their complaints and grudges toward society. This is why many countries are providing psychological therapy and counseling services to sex criminals, while maintaining strong punishment for those who repeat their crimes. Korean policymakers should reconsider their punishment-oriented approach. By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS Not one week into the New Year, the North Koreans jolted the world as well as the Richter scale with a nuclear weapons test. While the underground blast shook the remote Punggye-ri region near the Russian border, the political reverberations of the bomb have been felt globally, from East Asia to the United Nations on the East River. Thus days after North Korean's unpredictable dictator, Kim Jong-un, delivered a fairly conciliatory New Year's message, the leader then gave the orders for what was deemed to be a Hydrogen Bomb test. Seoul's respected Korea Times opined, "Ever unpredictable, North Korea surprised the world again." Putting it another way, with Pyongyang, expect the unexpected. Whether the weapon was a Hydrogen or smaller nuclear weapon, the fact remains that the defiant "Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)" has thrust itself into the headlines. The international community, most especially South Korea, Japan and the United States roundly condemned the move, as did even North Korea's erstwhile ally the People's Republic of China. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, himself a South Korean, stated, "This act is profoundly destabilizing for regional security and seriously undermines international non-proliferation efforts. I condemn it unequivocally." Ban demanded that the DPRK cease further nuclear activities. The UN Security Council met in emergency session and "strongly condemned" the test which is in serious violation of a number of resolutions. Given the gravity of the situation, the Council will begin work on a new resolution which would likely tighten sanctions on the DPRK. Importantly, as Japan has assumed its seat for a two year term, the Council may have extra impetus for serious sanctions action in response to Pyongyang's recklessness. Japan's UN Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa, called for a swift and robust new UN resolution. Even China "firmly opposes," the latest nuclear test. While originally indulging and enabling its communist comrade, in recent years Beijing has become decidedly nervous about North Korea being a loose cannon. Nuclear weapons tests are destabilizing and nowhere more so than to neighboring Mainland China where the economic downturn does not need a negative downdraft of unpredictability and crisis. Beijing knows this is bad for business and wider stability. This is the fourth North Korean nuclear test since 2006; the DPRK holds the dubious distinction as being the only country to have tested nuclear weapons this century. The DPRK's bizarre Marxist Monarchy has taken a dangerous new turn; while the regime founder Great Leader Kim Il-sung and his mercurial son Kim Jong-il were thoroughly ruthless but predictable, to the contrary, Kim Jong-un, who assumed leadership in 2012, appears far more reckless. Back in May-June 1994 when the world faced the first major nuclear crisis with North Korea, the Clinton administration nearly came to war with the DPRK over Pyongyang's proliferation policies. But by the Autumn President Bill Clinton signed off on a Geneva Framework Agreement, a dubious diplomatic deal which allowed North Korea to presumably suspend its nuclear development in exchange for American aid and fuel supplies. Needless to say, North Korea cheated on the deal. For decades the DPRK rulers have pursued a policy of neutrons over nutrition for their own population. Ironically in the midst of the crisis, we tend to forget that North Korea still suffers from acute food shortages, remains a recipient of humanitarian aid from the United Nations and donor states. Since 1995, the UN's Word Food Program (WFP) has channeled significant humanitarian aid to the DPRK; even today about 2 million people, mostly women and children are receiving food aid. Current aid donors include Australia, Russia and South Korea. So will the Security Council expand the sanctions? Possibly so. But as Bruce Klinger, a former CIA analyst now at Washington's Heritage Foundation states, "President Barack Obama's assertion that North Korea is the most heavily sanctioned country in the world is simply not true. The Obama Administration has not fully implemented U.S. laws and has targeted fewer North Korean entities than those of the Balkans, Burma, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe." Beyond sanctions, credible military deterrence is key. Under the terms of the U.S. /ROK Defense Treaty, Washington is firmly committed to the security of South Korea. Yet, the Obama Administration's maladroit foreign policy may have given the perception of a policy vacuum in East Asia. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has one more year left in his tenure at the UN. As a South Korean, Ban must make his long anticipated visit to North Korea to defuse this crisis, make the case for peace, and secure his legacy. The clock is ticking. John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China." Message of reassurance missing in President's address President Park Geun-hye's national address Wednesday confirmed once again that she is a weak orator and ineffective communicator. Worst of all, she failed to deliver a confident message on national security following North Korea's fourth nuclear test one week ago. After an unusually long broadcast that included a 30 minute speech and a question and answer session that lasted for about an hour, many viewers were still left in doubt as to whether the Park administration has the necessary determination and competence to resolve some of the most pressing tasks facing the nation, including Pyongyang's nuclear threat. The general impression from Park's remarks regarding the North Korean issue is that the President chose to dismiss criticism that her diplomatic and national security teams are facing from the public. She appeared to defend the National Intelligence Service (NIS)'s failure to detect Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in advance by saying "even the U.S. did not know." Such words are unfitting for the leader of a country that spends so heavily on intelligence activities and is the leader of an independent country. She should have been mindful that she was speaking in front of not just local but foreign journalists too. By making such a careless remark, she has embarrassed not just herself but also the nation in the eyes of the international community. With such a commander-in-chief, how can the public feel safe if additional nuclear tests are conducted and be ensured that her administration will be ready to contain Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions once and for all? The people do not want to hear excuses, but solutions. But all she said was that her government will reinforce intelligence gathering on the North without specifying how this is to be done. We cannot continue to depend on other countries such as the U.S. and Japan for information that is directly linked to the safety of our own country and use absences in intelligence they gather as an excuse every time the North chooses to provoke us. Park also seemed to be making excuses for her diplomatic team at a time when Korea is being snubbed by the key players in maintaining peace across Northeast Asia, particularly the U.S. and China. After making strenuous efforts to form closer ties with China, Korea is not getting the level of cooperation that Park had expected from China to impose further sanctions on North Korea. Chinese President Xi Jinping has refused to speak with Park for as long as China remains unwilling to join the international community's calls for imposing comprehensive sanctions on North Korea. Following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test, U.S. President Barack Obama held telephone talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before speaking with Park. Obama did not even mention North Korea in his final State of the Union address. There is growing skepticism among experts about Park's pursuit of "balanced diplomacy" amid intensifying rivalry between the United States and China. It may be too late to expect significant changes from within her diplomatic team led by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, who has been her senior diplomatic policymaker since the beginning of her administration. But with such an incompetent team, Korea will continue to be ignored by superpowers and fail to achieve its objectives when dealing with North Korea as well as on other diplomatic issues. By Lee Min-hyung Samsung Electronics reaffirmed its position to relocate only a "non-operating" refrigerator production line in Gwangju to Vietnam, dispelling growing concerns that the move may lead to huge job losses locally. "We plan to relocate only the idle production facility to Vietnam," Samsung Electronics President Lee Sang-hoon told reporters after a weekly meeting with presidents of Samsung affiliates, Wednesday. Samsung recently said it will relocate one of its three refrigerator production lines to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. The remarks came amid rising worries that the relocation may bring negative effects on its subcontractors and workers in the southwestern city, where the facility is located. Annual sales for the Gwangju production lines reach some 4.8 trillion won ($3.98 billion), accounting for 17 percent of the total manufacturing output there, according to the city government. Some 4,900 workers are employed at the manufacturing facility. Last week, Gwangju Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun expressed regret over news of the relocation plan, saying "Samsung Electronics is a great asset to our regional society." He urged Samsung to take more responsibility for the local community, saying that the reports are raising worries among citizens and subcontractors. A Samsung Electronics official said, "We are planning to relocate the non-operating production line to Vietnam by the end of this month, but a specific schedule has yet to be finalized." He said the production facility for kimchi refrigerators will continue at the Gwangju production line, as demand for the fridge comes almost 100 percent from the domestic market. "Currently, we have no plans to announce official positions over the issue, as it will do no damage to the region." However, the city government has called for the company to make its official announcement on the issue. The mayor previously said the local government will conduct a thorough investigation of the company's subcontractors and come up with concrete measures. "The local community appreciates Samsung's efforts for the regional economy," he said. "However, it means their expectations for the company may turn into disappointment if Samsung's position does not accord with the facts." Samsung Electronics previously relocated parts of its washing machine production lines in Gwangju to Mexico in 2010. In 2014, it also moved its production facilities for vacuum cleaners to Vietnam. Last week, Yoon Boo-keun, president at the company's appliances and Internet of Things (IoT) business, said the company has decided to relocate its manufacturing facilities for consumer electronics to Vietnam, as its facilities in Thailand have reached full production capacity. Meanwhile, Samsung has invited Indian Ambassador to Korea Vikram Doraiswami during the weekly meeting where he gave a lecture on Indian economy and its enterprise policy. The ambassador said India expects more strategic partnership with Samsung and other Korean companies, adding he looks forward to meeting with some 20 Korean entrepreneurs at the upcoming Korea-India Business Summit to be held in New Delhi, India. Ombudsman committee holds key to addressing remaining issues By Kim Yoo-chul Tuesday's agreement between Samsung and two main groups of families over leukemia cases that they claim were contracted while working at Samsung plants was destined to be nullified, after one group asked the company to widen its scope of compensation. "Two issues still remain compensation and a public apology by Samsung over the issue," said Hwang Sang-ki, Banolim founder, in a news conference at Samsung's Seocho Tower, southern Seoul, Wednesday. "We will continue the ongoing street demonstration until Samsung accepts the two conditions." Banolim is a civic group comprising a number of social activists. It had been separated from another group seeking early compensation from the company. The conference came a day after the three parties to the talks signed an agreement in a private law firm in downtown Seoul to end a long-running dispute that has lasted about a decade. Tuesday's breakthrough included compensation for some families and former employees that were pursuing the protracted case against Samsung, as well as increased preventive measures based on Samsung's guarantee that it will boost its spending for workplace safety to protect employees from toxic contamination. The introduction of strengthened preventive measures for worker safety had been one of the key issues. Banolim has been consistent in asking Samsung to implement new measures to make company plants safe. But it seems evident that Banolim wants more. Banolim founder Hwang urged Samsung to increase compensation. Banolim's claim is against the views expressed by another family group seeking early compensation. Experts say that continued street demonstrations will hurt the "spirit of agreement," a result of long-running talks. "We think the agreement is a result of compensation and apology issued by Samsung. We respect the details of the agreement," said the Family Committee over Compensation for Leukemia Issue (FCCLI). FCCLI spokesman Song Chang-ho said the group has no plans to ask Samsung for another round of discussions. Banolim's Hwang said the civic group has questions about Samsung's guidelines for compensation, though more than 100 received compensation from the company out of the more than 150 who had applied for it from the Samsung-created fund worth 100 billion won. "While Banolim agreed with the two parties to provide authority to address remaining issues, the civic group still prefers to push Samsung accept their demand and I believe because the three parties reached a consensus for breakthroughs, it's more ideal the ombudsman committee to take issues," said an official at the trade ministry. On a related note, Baek Do-myeong, one of the three members of a mediation committee for the issue, said the agreement was thanks to Samsung's activeness toward the resolution. Baek is considered one of the mediators who favors pro-labor issues. The independent ombudsman committee has the right to access confidential data of which chemical products are being used in Samsung plants and ask Samsung to open up details if any harmful substances are detected during checks. The three-member committee will be led by a law professor at Seoul National University Lee Cheol-soo. Samsung Electronics agreed to give workers access to information related to their health and safety when they apply for government insurance covering occupational diseases. Workers had frequently complained that trade secrets meant they were denied information about chemicals that might have affected their health. Banolim's Hwang questioned the role of the ombudsman, though it was one of the three parties for the accord. LG Electronics' energy business center head Lee Sang-bong, center, poses with regional government representatives after signing a memorandum of understanding to invest 527.2 billion won in expanding its solar power module factory in Gumi at the North Gyeongsang Province Office in Daegu, Wednesday. From left are North Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kwan-yong, Lee and Gumi Mayor Nam Yoo-chin. / Courtesy of LG Electronics By Yoon Sung-won LG Electronics said it will invest 527.2 billion won in expanding its solar power module factory in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. The company said it signed to an agreement with Gumi City and North Gyeongsang Province for the investment, Wednesday. It plans to add six manufacturing facilities to the existing eight by 2018. "The investment will bolster the company's presence in the solar power business, which is a new growth engine," Lee Sang-bong, LG Electronics' head of business-to-business and energy business centers said. "We pledge to lead the global solar power market by providing super high-efficiency premium products and differentiated value." As of now, LG Electronics produces solar power equipment that can generate a total of 1-gigawatts (GW) a year. The company said it plans to increase the annual manufacturing capacity to panels that can produce 1.8GW by 2018. Since starting research on solar power technology in 1995, LG Electronics produced its first solar power module in 2018, and is currently providing its products to overseas markets in Japan, Europe, Australia and the United States. A solar power module is a small device used to transform solar energy into electricity. The company has pushed for energy business as one of its next-generation growth engines for the future. The move came as the nation's solar power industry, which had slowed due to shrinking demand, has recovered recently. It opened the energy business center dedicated for the new sector in November 2014 and has accelerated the business by combining the solar power, energy storage, lighting and energy management systems sectors. In line with this drive, LG Electronics has founded solar power module production plants in the city by pouring in about 220 billion won between 2008 and 2010. The investment is also expected to revitalize local economy in the industrial city. LG Electronics said it expects the investment will create 870 new job opportunities in research and development, sales and manufacturing. Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday said it will start sales of the new Galaxy A series in South Korea later this week that comes with Samsung Pay, a mobile payment tool that previously only supported high-end models. The Galaxy A5 and the Galaxy A7 will hit store shelves Thursday and come with a 5.2-inch and a 5.5-inch full-HD display, respectively, Samsung said. The price of the two smartphones stands at 528,000 won ($435) and 599,500 won. Both will come with a 13 megapixel camera on the back and a 5 megapixel one on the front. While the data capacity stands at 16 gigabytes (GB), users can expand the amount to 128 GB through micro secure digital memory cards. Key features of the devices include a "wide selfie" that allows users to include more people in pictures, along with a "palm selfie" which makes it easier to activate the camera. The devices are available in three colors: gold, black and white. Samsung Electronics has been making efforts to expand the number of Samsung Pay users, with strategies that include installing the platform on mid-end smartphones as well. Samsung Pay uses magnetic secure transmission technology that works on traditional credit card machines, an advantage over other rivals. Like Apple Pay and Android Pay, it also supports near field communication technology that requires a separate transaction device. Demand for budget smartphones in the country is booming following the government's regulations on offering massive discounts on high-end smartphones. Out of total smartphone sales, the portion of budget handsets, priced 500,000 won and below, came to 34 percent in the January-October period of 2015, up from the around 20 percent posted a year earlier, data compiled by South Korea's ICT ministry showed earlier. The local price of the new Galaxy A series is expected to be slightly lower when considering the discounts rolled out by mobile carriers. (Yonhap) The City Council voted 5-4 on Tuesday night to deny a rezoning request for townhouses at 7712 and 7716 Shallowford Road after opposition from neighbors. Voting to deny were Carol Berz, Russell Gilbert, Larry Grohn, Yusuf Hakeem and Ken Smith. Council members Chris Anderson, Moses Freeman, Chip Henderson and Jerry Mitchell wanted to defer the project for 90 days to see if the developer could come to agreement with the neighbors. However, Greg Vital, whose Morning Pointe assisted living is across the street, said ill will had been engendered by the brother of the applicant earlier when he clear cut his part of the land. As a result, that section cannot be developed for three years. Sergey Lyashevskiy said he has bought out his brother and he is no longer involved. He said he was willing to accept recommendations of the Planning Commission and have just six townhomes instead of eight. They would be in two separate buildings. He said parking would be in the rear and there would be only one curb cut as called for by the planners. Mr. Lyashevskiy said the units would have 1,560 square feet and sell for $189,000. Mr. Vital said neighbors from nearby subdivisions also had concerns about the quality of the project. Attorney Ben McGowan said Mr. Lyasheyskiy is willing to sit down with the neighbors to try to win their support. Councilman Grohn said the project had been in the works for two years and no community meeting had yet been held. Performance artist Milo Moire has staged a nude protest in front of Cologne Cathedral over the sexual assault of hundreds of women in the city on New Year's Eve. Refugees and immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa have mainly been blamed for the attacks, which appear coordinated. There have been reprisals against foreigners in the city in the wake of the assaults. Moire stood naked in front of the cathedral on Jan. 8 with a sign that read: "Respect us; we are not easy even if we are naked." Despite the cold weather, Moire protested for more than 20 minutes. Police did not intervene because of domestic tension over the attacks. Moire is famous for her various nude performances in Munster LWL museum, where she walked around naked with a baby. She was once arrested for a nude performance in front of the Eiffel Tower. Ki Hong Lee starred in "Unseen Face" for the January issue of GQ. The black-and-white pictorial featured an elegant wardrobe that included a Balenciaga paint-splattered blazer, Gucci dress shirt, and Ermenegildo Zegna tuxedo. Since Lee has starred in the American film series Maze Runner and the Netflix show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the magazine referred to him as a "fearless leader" in Hollywood. Lee discussed a variety of topics during the interview. The actor revealed that he decided to study psychology at University of California because he enjoyed helping his friends when they had problems. He also chose English actor Tom Hardy as an inspiration because of his international appeal. When asked to name his best and worst qualities, he explained that he is extremely responsible but that same aspect can make him critical. The star also shared one of the few regrets he has about his career. He stated, "Korean movies are so wonderful. They make me wonder. If I had started acting in Korea when I was young, I think there would have been an opportunity to play the child counterpart of a famous actor. So unfortunate." In related news, Ki Hong Lee recently discussed making People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive list. --- About the Author: Elsa is the founder, head writer, and editor of KPopBreak.com. In her website, she covers K-pop celebrity style, Korean actress beauty trends, red carpet appearances and Seoul Fashion Week news. The synthpop band Love X Stereo want fans to help decide where they're going on their next tour. The Korean indie duo announced last week that they will be heading to North America later this year, following the release of their upcoming EP. Love X Stereo opened up their website to take requests for future tour dates. The group also announced that fans can pre-order "We Love We Leave, Part 2" now. Love X Stereo's new EP, a follow up to "We Love We Leave, Part 1" will be released in May. "We Love We Leave, Part 2" will be specially available in vinyl, along with CDs and digital downloads. The EP includes five songs, including the recently released song "Hide and Seek." Love X Stereo will appear at SXSW in March. They will then embark on their tour throughout the Untied States and Canada, where the pair will play all of their new music along with older hits. Love X Stereo was formed in 2011, and consists of Toby Hwang and Annie Ko. The dates and locations for their upcoming tour have yet to be determined, because Love X Stereo wanted to hear from their fans. "Before we plan any further, we wanted to hear from you which cities we should plan to visit," said vocalist Annie Ko. --- At age 12, Luka Hyde is currently working on picking up girls, said his mother during Wednesdays hearing at Federal Court. Though endearing, this was not a joke. Luka has Down syndrome and receives occupational, physical, and speech therapy in order to improve his social and fine motor skills. Deborah Hyde said her son, like most boys, has always been interested in girls. Right now his speech therapist is helping him learn how to approach girls and ask them questionsnecessary skills for boys to have whether or not they are intellectually disabled, Ms. Hyde believes. In 2013 Ms. Hyde and her husband Greg filed a lawsuit against the Hamilton County Department of Education and the Tennessee Department of Education after learning their son, nine years old at the time, would be removed from his school at Normal Park Museum Magnet. Luka had attended general education classes at Normal Park since kindergarten. His parents thought he was performing well in the mainstream and intended to keep him there. But midway through Lukas second grade year, Normal Park Principal Jill Levine along with other Hamilton County school officials told Mr. and Ms. Hyde their son had hit a wall academically, and would need to be moved to the intensive special education program offered at Red Bank Elementary. In November of 2015 a settlement of $185,000 was approved between the Hydes and the state. However, the due process case between the family and Hamilton County is still pending. Because the Hydes did not agree with Hamilton Countys decision to send their son to the comprehensive development classroom (CDC) at Red Bank, they opted to enroll him at The Montessori School where he now receives a private education. Luka started at Montessori in third grade and is now in fifth grade. His parents are seeking reimbursement from Hamilton County for their sons tuition and assistant fees, which would not have been incurred had Normal Park not removed Luka from its program. The sum of the fees from Lukas third grade to fifth grade years amounts to $63,149. At the hearing Ms. Hyde said she and her husband have paid the classroom assistant at Montessori, Sarah Goddard, an average of $15,000 a year to work with their son one-on-one. Because Ms. Goddard changed from being the overall classroom assistant to being Lukas assistant once he came into the school, the Hydes made the deal with the school to pay her themselves. They were willing to do this because she was as much focused on [Lukas] development as they were. And though Hamilton County school attorneys alleged that Ms. Goddard became the Hydes personal employee, records show the assistant continued to receive her year-end W2s from the school. During the hearing, a Hamilton County school attorney said Ms. Hyde previously testified that Lisa Hope, the special education teacher at Normal Park, did not communicate with her much during Lukas second grade year. Following this statement the attorney showed a document from Lukas Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings logging Ms. Hopes many phone calls, emails, and personal conversations between her and the Hydes from Aug. 2012 to May 2013. Ms. Hope worked hard to educate your son, the school attorney said, to which Ms. Hyde replied that Ms. Hope did not. The mother believes her son never hit a wall academically at Normal Park, that this was a case of segregation. My concern is that it was (Normal Parks) characterization, almost based on assumption, that there was a wall he would hit, she said at the hearing. At home, Ms. Hyde daily works with Luka on reading, math, and science. The progress reports she received for him in 2013 reportedly showed he was anticipated to meet his academic goals by the end of the school year. In fact, since starting at Montessori, Luka has gone from having his assistant for a full school day to only half the day. Ms. Hyde said the plan is to wean him off an assistant completely by the sixth grade. The doubt in her mind about sending him to the CDC program at Red Bank surfaced from not knowing if there would be any effective academic instruction. She said the CDC would have removed him from general education classes and put him in a program with only disabled peers. On this topic, Dr. Kathleen Whitbread, a nationally recognized expert in children with Down syndrome who evaluated Luka in Connecticut, said Tuesday she thinks Luka would progress better in a mainstream environment than a special education program like the CDC. The hearing for the due process case between the Hydes and Hamilton County is set to continue until Thursday. Lee University will host a series of events leading up to, during, and after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The events will consist of chapel speakers and guest lecturers and will run from Thursday, Jan. 14, to Thursday, Jan. 21. These events are an invitation for the Lee and Cleveland communities to celebrate diversity and to grow in our sense of empathy and understanding, said Dr. Mary McCampbell, assistant professor of humanities. We also want to explore the prophetic truth of Dr. Kings famous assertion: Lifes most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others? Ron Hill, pastor of Cleveland Church of God Sanctified, will speak in chapel on Thursday at 10:40 a.m. in the Conn Center. Hill served for 33 years in education with Cleveland City Schools as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Since 2009, he has served as one of the field experience supervisors for student teachers from Lee University. Professors across campus will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday by incorporating Kings writing, speeches, and ideas during class time. Lee will host the annual Dream Keepers awards ceremony on campus Monday at 6 p.m. in the Dixon Center. The Bradley County Ministers Fellowship established the Dream Keeper Award, which is given to black students in grades seven through 12. The Bradley County branch of NAACP and 100 Black Men of Bradley County both support the ceremony. Kevin Smith, senior pastor of New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, will speak in chapel on Tuesday at 10:40 a.m. in the Conn Center. The sermon is titled How Pro-Life Are We Really? Mr. Smith has spent 22 years in the ministry, planting and pastoring churches in Maryland, Florida, and Tennessee. Later on Tuesday, Charles Moulden and Sam Venable will host a lecture titled Fragments of Hate. In 1968, a few days after King was assassinated, Mr. Moulden was shot while fishing in the Ocoee National Park, which was considered to be whites only at this time. His story remained untold until recently, when Mr. Venable, a Knoxville Sentinel reporter, researched Mr. Mouldens case and wrote a series of award-wining articles highlighting Mr. Mouldens experience. The presentation begins at 7 p.m. in Room 103 of the Humanities Center. The week will end on Thursday evening, Jan. 21, with a showing of Selma, the 2014 historical drama film based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. The movie begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Communication Arts Building. Snacks and drinks will be served and attendants can expect a discussion session after the film. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Mary McCampbell at 614-8353 or email mmccampbell@leeuniversity.edu. The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more Lee University will welcome Arnaud Sussmann, violin, to teach a masterclass on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 2 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall. The masterclass is a cooperative opportunity with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. Mr. Sussmann will perform as a guest artist with the CSO on Thursday, Jan. 21, in Chattanooga. Mr. Sussmann will be featured as solo violinist performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony on Thursday, Jan. 21. "We are thrilled for our campus to be a vehicle through which we can continue our partnership with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, said Dr. William Green, dean of Lees School of Music. This is a great way for our students and community to see these artists up close and personal and benefit from their years of professional experience. Mr. Sussmann, winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has captured the attention of classical critics and audiences around the world. He has appeared with the American Symphony Orchestra, Stamford Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Minnesota Sinfonia, Lexington Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony and Frances Nice Orchestra. He has presented in recital in Omaha, New Orleans, Tel Aviv, and Paris, and appears regularly at music festivals around the nation. A dedicated chamber musician, he has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2006 and has frequently appeared with them in New York and on tour, including a recent concert at Londons Wigmore Hall. Born in Strasbourg, France, and based now in New York City, Sussmann trained at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Juilliard School with Boris Garlitsky and Itzhak Perlman. Winner of several international competitions, including the Andrea Postacchini of Italy and Vatelot/Rampal of France, he was named a Starling Fellow in 2006, an honor which allowed him to be Perlmans teaching assistant for two years. Mr. Sussmann is a frequent recording artist and has been featured on PBS Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts alongside Perlman and the Perlman Music Program and with musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The masterclass is a free, non-ticketed event and everyone is welcome to attend. Squires Recital Hall is in Lee Universitys Humanities Center on Parker Street. Guitarist Pablo Villegas will also teach a masterclass at Lee in March in conjunction with his guest performance with the CSO. For more information about Mr. Sussmann, visit his site at arnaudsussmann.com. For more information on Mr. Sussmanns appearance with the CSO, visit the CSO site at chattanoogasymphony.org/event/bach-beethoven-and-brahms/. For more information on the masterclasses or other School of Music events, contact 614-8240. Wendy Greuel with Bill Clinton at Langer's Deli during the 2013 mayoral campaign. Photo: Gary Leonard. Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel were City Hall allies, and I believe friends, before they ran against each other for mayor in 2013. We all know how that ended Garcetti moved into Getty House and didn't endorse Greuel when she ran for the Henry Waxman seat in Congress, unsuccessfully, in 2014 but enough time has passed now. On Tuesday, Garcetti formally appointed Greuel to the city's Homeless Services Authority commission. "Wendys longtime advocacy for L.A.'s most vulnerable citizens makes her the ideal choice for this position," Garcetti said in a statement. "She brings in-depth expertise, a strong work ethic, and life-long dedication to public service and homelessness to the LAHSA Board. I know she is uniquely qualified to help us effectively and urgently address the homelessness crisis and implement the sustainable strategies we need to get people off the streets, connected to services, and into homes." From the release: Tsunami damage in Hilo, Hawaii. Scientists have talked for awhile about the tsunami threat to California coming from an underwater earthquake in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. That's where the big waves have come from before, and where they will likely originate again. A new study by USGS researchers published in the online journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems won't help you sleep any easier, if you are prone to worry about these things. The scientists looked at a segment of the subduction zone where the Pacific plate is diving under the North American plate, and where the directional orientation means that a major tsunami would be pointed right at California. The Semidi segment is too quiet, seismically speaking, suggesting a build-up of tremendous tension. From an NPR story on Tuesday: Miller says this segment of the trench, called the Semidi, poses a special risk. A tsunami created by its rupture would travel outward at a 90-degree angle from the segment. "[A] perpendicular [line] to that section of the trench," he says, "aims right at California." He says that means a big quake could produce a tsunami that would score a direct hit on California's coastline from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In the past hundred years, other tsunamis have come from other parts of the Aleutians, he points out; since the trench is shaped in an arc, each segment of it "points" in a slightly different direction in terms of the waves created when it ruptures. Consequently, tsunamis emanating from that region of the seafloor in the recent past have mostly missed population centers, or struck only glancing blows. The Semidi, in contrast, points directly at Central California. Miller and his team have found evidence that the Semidi segment ruptures about once every 180 to 270 years. The last time it erupted was 1788. [skip] Miller says a tsunami from the Semidi could be as big as the one that struck Japan in 2011. "I think the public just needs to be aware that tsunamis of this magnitude can occur, and they can cause a lot of damage," he says. A separate study of a nearby segment of the Aleution subduction zone found evidence of a similar threat that has hit Hawaii before. The 1959 tsunami that destroyed part of Hilo came from Alaska. The best thing about these tsunami threats is that people in coastal California and Hawaii would have several hours of advance notice, unlike the east side of Japan in 2011. Metro Services Inc. met with Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger and the Mayor Andy Berke Wednesday to announce a partnership with Palziv Group and DTO Gas Energy, both headquartered in Israel, to provide Israeli companies with natural gas regulatory development and infrastructure. Under the guidance of Bill Norton, owner and CEO, MSI has expanded into global markets. We are committed to meeting the emerging demand for commercially available natural gas in Israel which will drive industrial growth and economic progress, Mr. Norton said. Palziv, a multinational foam manufacturer, is the first company selected by the Israeli government to diversify from propane to natural gas. This is a pioneering effort since Israel has never before in its history used natural gas in the private sector. As a result, Israel has no rules or regulations in place to facilitate a smooth transition, said officials. Metro Services Inc. is honored to have been approached by Palziv and DTO Gas Energy (Israeli Gas Consultants) and Israeli government officials to help them develop rules and regulations for this process, said officials. MSI is working directly with Underwriters Laboratories and fabricating gas equipment that will allow Palziv to run either fuel as needed. As a multinational with plants in the US, Canada, Romania and Israel we can fully assert that our business with Metro services has been both rewarding and beneficial for us. We have found a world class supplier in the wilds of Tennessee said Meir Langer, CEO of Palziv Group. Scores of hospital patients treated with medical scopes were infected with potentially deadly bacteria because of repeated failures by manufacturers, regulators and hospitals to report outbreaks, according to a U.S. Senate investigation released Wednesday. The investigators said they had found 25 outbreaks including two in Los Angeles linked to a device known as a duodenoscope, far more than previously reported. And they said that numerous flaws in the federal governments oversight of medical devices are continuing to put patients at risk with life-threatening consequences. Advertisement The new 301-page report confirms conclusions in a series of Times stories last year, which reported that Olympus Corp., the leading maker of the device, knew of the potential flaws in the scope but failed to alert American hospitals or regulators. Patients should be able to trust that the devices they need for treatment are safe and effective, said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who initiated the probe after dozens of patients were sickened at a Seattle hospital. Unfortunately this investigation makes clear that current policies for monitoring medical device safety put patients at risk, and in this case, allowed tragedies to occur that could have, and should have, been prevented, she said. The conclusions came in an investigative report by the minority staff of the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions. It concluded that executives from the Japanese firm, which sells 85% of the duodenoscopes used in American hospitals, were aware that three independent investigations had questioned whether the design of the $40,000 scope made it extremely difficult to clean. The company received the first of those reports in June 2012. But Olympus and the federal Food and Drug Administration did not issue warnings about the potentially lethal problem with the device until February 2015 after The Times reported the superbug outbreak at UCLAs Ronald Reagan Medical Center. Seven patients were sickened, including three who died. From 2012 to 2015, investigators said that at least 141 patients in nine U.S. cities were infected. The faith that patients, doctors, hospitals and public health officials placed in Olympus to thoroughly test their cleaning instructions before putting devices in the marketplace was clearly misplaced, the investigators wrote. The investigators also concluded that Olympus had repeatedly offered misleading information that downplayed the growing number of patient infections. For example, Olympus sent an alert to European hospitals but not to those in America in January 2013. At that time, the company was aware of at least three scope-related outbreaks sickening at least 46 patients in three countries, the investigators said. But the companys European alert only referred to a recently reported case of a contaminated scope. The investigators said Olympus and two other scope manufacturers failed at every level to meet basic expectations of transparency and openness and to actively engage with FDA to address contamination issues. This disregard for the spirit, and sometimes the letter, of the law resulted in potentially preventable serious and potentially fatal illnesses in hospitals around the world, they wrote. Glenn Smith, whose 19-year-old son Aaron Young nearly died after being infected with a superbug from a scope at UCLA, said the report shows that Olympus deliberately covered it up and allowed people to be infected. I dont even have words for that. The duodenoscope is used in a procedure known as ERCP, or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Doctors thread the flexible scope down a patients throat and into the digestive tract to diagnose and treat cancers, gallstones and other conditions. The Senate report also blamed the FDA and hospitals for not raising an alarm. The FDA began to investigate the scopes in September 2013, the report said, but wasted valuable time in seeking data from Olympus and two other manufacturers on whether they could prove the devices could be properly cleaned. Hospitals also failed to file required injury reports, which could have helped stop the infections. Not a single hospital that experienced infection outbreaks tied to the duodenoscopes appears to have sent the required adverse event form, the report said. The investigators said they believed that many other patient infections have never been reported. Other hospitals likely experienced similar outbreaks, they said, but have not tried to pinpoint or track the infections. The FDA requires manufacturers to file reports of injuries tied to their devices. The system known as Maude was designed to help give an early warning about defective devices. But the investigators called the system a fallacy because of its reliance on manufacturers and hospitals to report the injuries. Olympus filed some reports months late. And in most of the reports, the company suggested that something other than its scope, including poor cleaning procedures by hospitals, were to blame. The FDA also strips all hospital names and locations from the reports, making it difficult to track the outbreaks. Mark Miller, an Olympus spokesman, said Wednesday that the company had been cooperating with the investigators for several months. Although we do not agree with all of the reports conclusions, Miller said, we are closely reviewing the recommendations in the report as part of Olympus ongoing efforts to increase patient safety associated with use of Olympus duodenoscopes. Deborah Kotz, an FDA spokeswoman, said Wednesday that stopping the risk of device-related infections is a top priority for the agency. The FDA has taken several actions to address the issue of duodenoscope-related infections and will continue to work to protect patients while ensuring access to these important devices for those who may benefit from minimally invasive procedures, Kotz said. Other manufacturers of the scope are Pentax and Fujifilm. A spokeswoman for Pentax said Wednesday that the company was working with Congress and regulators to reduce the risk of infection from scopes. And Fujifilm spokeswoman Diane Rainey said: The protection of the health and safety of all patients remains the No. 1 priority of Fujifilm, and we are committed to working together with all stakeholders, including patients, hospitals, regulators and lawmakers, to ensure the long-term sustainable use of duodenoscopes. The investigators called for the FDA to quickly evaluate the scopes sealed design, which was put on the market in 2010 and touted as being easier to clean because it blocked out infectious material from a tiny internal channel. It is now evident that such models can trap and transmit bacteria even after cleaning, the report said. The FDA has said it decided not to recall the redesigned scopes because there is no other device to perform ERCP. But the investigators said the FDA should consider a phased recall of the devices so that they can be repaired or modified and properly disinfected. They also called for the FDA to stop relying on manufacturers and hospitals to report injuries caused by devices. Instead, the system should be strengthened, they said, so the devices have unique identifying numbers that can be tracked in pharmacy insurance claims and electronic health records. And they said that hospitals should be required to file reports of injuries caused by medical devices as a condition of participating in the Medicare system. melody.petersen@latimes.com Almost anyone can drive for Uber: actors, musicians, retirees, stay-at-home moms. One group that has never been allowed on the platform is people who have been convicted of felonies. That could soon change. On Wednesday, the San Francisco company will announce an initiative that could help clear the path for convicted felons whose crimes are reduced to misdemeanors to drive for the ride-hailing platform. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Advertisement The move could mean a sizable number of new drivers for Uber, a boon at a time when it is rapidly scaling up to meet huge demand and needs as many people behind the wheel as it can get. But its also a potential publicity headache for a company that has faced accusations of lax driver screening and reports of unsafe or inappropriate driver behavior. Under Ubers long-standing safety policies, drivers who have committed felonies are automatically disqualified from driving for the on-demand transportation company. But its background check process also rules out drivers who may qualify to drive under Proposition 47, a California ballot measure passed in 2014 that reclassifies certain felonies as misdemeanors. Crimes that can be reclassified include personal use of illegal drugs, shoplifting, writing a bad check and receiving stolen property for which the value does not exceed $950. The company said it will begin proactively notifying disqualified drivers about Proposition 47 so that if they choose, they can apply to have their cases reconsidered by the court. It will also refer applicants to Defy Ventures, an organization that offers employment training to people with criminal records. If the petition is successful and a persons criminal record is scrubbed of felonies, he or she could be approved to drive for Uber. Proposition 47 remains contentious and Ubers involvement is likely to raise a few eyebrows, given its history of making the news because of its safety policies. Taxi companies and the San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys have in the past called into question the platforms safety, describing Ubers criminal background checks as completely worthless because its driver screenings use courthouse records instead of an FBI database and fingerprinting technology called Live Scan. California taxi companies use Live Scan to screen their drivers. According to Ubers chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, the company will continue to disqualify drivers with felonies on their records, and it has zero tolerance for DUI or any intoxication-related misdemeanors. Anyone with a record of physical or sexual violence and reckless driving would also be disqualified, Sullivan said. We think those are the types of categories most indicative of a safety risk and those are the ones well focus on. Troy Vaughn, chairman of the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership, an organization that works with communities and companies to help former prisoners reenter society, described Ubers involvement as a game changer and praised the company for having compassion for community. This relates to helping individuals recover their lives, Vaughn said. Everyone makes mistakes. Are we saying now as a society we will not afford a person an opportunity because he made a mistake when he was still learning how to be a man? I think we want to send a different message. Not everyone sees Ubers announcement as a purely philanthropic move, though. Evan Rawley, an associate professor of business at Columbia Business School, said the initiative looks more like a ploy by Uber to broaden its driver pool. Uber is in a race right now with Lyft to sign up as many drivers as possible so this is an attempt by them to reach drivers that maybe Lyft has overlooked, he said. Im sure they can pitch it as [a community benefit], but its probably not the business rationale. Ubers Sullivan, however, countered: Its not going to materially change the number of drivers coming onto the platform. The news garnered mixed responses from Uber customers, with some wanting more transparency from Uber about who is driving them. Im all for rehabilitating people back into the workforce, but it makes me uncomfortable, said Uber customer Stephanie Lim, 26, who lives in Oakland. I put my personal safety in the hands of ride-sharing apps, and I feel this puts me at risk a bit. Others were all for the initiative, saying they were happy for the people who now have greater employment opportunities. It sounds to me like those people didnt need to be classified as felons in the first place certainly not in a way that ought to disqualify them from driving me to the airport, said Adam Rippon, 35, a regular Uber customer and Bay Area resident. I mean, heck, my dad bought my Super Nintendo with a bad check, and I got a ride in his car literally all the time. tracey.lien@latimes.com Twitter: @traceylien ALSO How Snapchat is targeting the over-35 crowd Shanghai Disney resort set to open June 16 Hugh Hefners Playboy Mansion lists for $200 million Alejandro Aravena on Wednesday won the 2016 Pritzker Prize. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne reached the Chilean architect by phone at his office in Santiago for a conversation (edited and condensed here) about his buildings, his own stint on the Pritzker jury and his plans for this years Venice Architecture Biennale, which he is directing. Youve talked in the past about Chiles relative isolation -- from the rest of Latin America, from the rest of the world, to a degree from the rest of architecture culture. Would you say that there are ways in which that separation, that distance, has been an advantage? Chile does not have a tradition of great architecture. I mean, it is not like Peru. Not a great heritage from pre-Columbian times. Nor did the Spanish colonization bring Chile any kind of great architecture. The country was relatively poor and always at war. So it was isolated historically from any major trend or sophisticated development of architecture. Even during the modern movement -- well, it was not Brazil. And so in a way we had no fathers to kill as architects. There was no big shadow cast over us. I studied in the late 1980s. It was the last period of Pinochets dictatorship. Information was controlled. Not that many things made their way to Chile. On the other hand, being so isolated, you try to be aware, you try to consume as much information as possible. So its a kind of paradox. You are isolated from the world but that creates a big hunger to understand what is going on elsewhere. This can be translated in you wanting to prove that you are not that far away, kind of mimicking what is being created elsewhere. Or you can use that to understand what doesnt make sense to be done here. I would say one of the distinctive aspects of the Chilean generation now is an effort to see whats pertinent to understand here in Chile, rather than trying to prove that we can reproduce whats happening elsewhere. Advertisement In terms of landscape and geography, Chile has some similarities to California: dramatic coastline, seismically unstable. And in fact some of your peers in Chile -- Im thinking of Mathias Klotz in particular -- have looked directly in their residential designs to California modernists like Craig Ellwood. To what extent were you looking at that work? Chile, if you put it in Europe, goes from Moscow to Mumbai. So one part of the country may be similar to California, but then we have 2,000 kilometers in the north where there is the driest desert in the world and then [in the south] you have Patagonia. And this diversity of geography, its really important. We are more geographical than historical, I would say. Space matters more than time, somehow. In terms of earthquakes, in a way, buildings [in Chile] are made for forces that operate horizontally, not vertically. The biggest difference to California, I would say, is the relative scarcity of means that we had to operate. Somehow we are not allowed to do whatever we want, which is a great thing. Its a great filter against overconfidence. Maybe this has made a relatively austerity in architecture. From that point of view I see more freedom on the West Coast of the U.S. Here the buildings are carrying this Andean weight. There is a different weight in the architecture here. You mentioned being in school, at the Catholic University in Santiago, at the tail end of the Pinochet dictatorship. To what extent have you thought of your work as explicitly political or colored by that experience? There were no gray areas when you entered the university in that time. You were either against [the regime] or you were in favor. You were immediately asked as soon as you entered the university, Yes or no? Of course everybody was against, at least in the university. A certain rebellious or critical spirit, a skepticism, was developed during that era. And that required, I guess, intellectually speaking, to have very strong, clear, simple messages. That may have influenced a way of thinking about [architectural] projects in a very direct way. Another thing about the dictatorship was this information control: Very few magazines made it to Chile. That meant that we were protected from postmodernism. [We both laugh.] Very little postmodernism made its way to the country, which would have been a disaster. We were looking instead at books -- at either old or, politically speaking, inoffensive architecture. Whatever was trendy, it was seen as a kind of a threat to the political system, so magazines were banned. Going to a more classical body of knowledge, or a mature version of modernism, that was another side effect of the last years of the dictatorship. By architectural-world standards you are still young, only 48. And at least compared to most American architects, you were able to start building early on, while you were still in your 20s. What did it mean for you to start building so early, and in what way would you say your work has changed or evolved since then? That may be the one very big difference between Latin America and Europe or the U.S. When you study architecture [in Chile] you sort of take for granted that you are going to start your own practice when you graduate, at the age of 23 or 24. Its kind of obvious. I wouldnt even consider to go and work for somebody else. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. When you are so young, you go out and try to prove all the things that you have studied. And eventually you respond with forms that are not necessarily suitable ones. By Chilean standards, actually, I started rather late. I did my first building when I was 28 because I had no connections, no network. Nobody in my family would ever have the resources to commission a house. So my first building was an institutional building for the Catholic University mathematics faculty. Coming from a background where it was not obvious at all that I could get a commission, that first building -- its like when you are thrown a bone and you dont let it go. By tooth and nail you take the opportunity and try to make the best of it. I remember I was always living on site during the construction of that building. I was so nervous about whether what I was drawing was going to be translated into something that made sense. Also, the relative scarcity of means didnt allow me to do whatever. That building, despite being my first work, was a rather contained building. Still, the [newest] building weve done on the campus, the Angelini Innovation Center, I remember when starting to design that building looking backward and not wanting to do again things that I did in the mathematics faculty. I thought it had too much form. Weve been trying to move backwards, to a more irreducible core. So if there is any evolution its in the direction of having less moves, less lines, more archaic, more primitive. Not even designing -- were trying to go away from design, if anything. We are trying to go away from form. Your work in social housing has really put an emphasis on bringing residents themselves into the design process. You have designed housing that is essentially half a house for each family, allowing the residents to fill in the rest over time. It started as a purely pragmatic thing, an analysis of what were the constraints, what were the available resources. Not that I knew anything about social housing -- you just could tell as a normal citizen that it was an issue, that it was a problem, that pressure was accumulating on the peripheries [of Chilean cities] because the solutions were not good. We said, well, we believe that we are good designers -- without any false modesty -- so why dont we apply our knowledge to a question that is difficult and that matters? We knew we had to operate within the set of rules that everybody else in the market was playing with. And that meant a subsidy of $7,500 with which you had to buy the land, provide the infrastructure and build the houses. $7,500! That was almost nothing. Evidence showed that a middle-class family could live reasonably well in around 80 square meters -- 800 square feet, more or less. And the available money in the best of the cases could pay for around 400 square feet. What the market did to deal with that scarcity of money was two things: reduce the size of the house, so they were delivering tiny units, not up to middle-class standards, and building them far away [from the city center], where land cost nothing. So reducing and displacing, in order to mask that very little amount of money. What we did was to reframe the problem and say if theres no money, instead of reducing why dont we look at 40 square meters not as a small and not very good house but as half of a good one? A house that already had in the design a middle-class DNA, lets say. The historical criticism of social housing has been that in order to match cost and achieve economies of scale it tends to deliver repetitive, monotonous solutions that are not able to [serve] the diversity that a community has: people that have a small business at home, people that have many children, people that have animals. The diversity of a given neighborhood is so big that it would never be -- could never be -- incorporated into a design. A house that was yet to be completed was a way to customize the solution, rather than making excuses for what we couldnt afford to deliver. We focused on building what would be most difficult for the families to build for themselves. And allow the families to take over from there. You were a member of the Pritzker jury from 2009 through 2015. How did that affect how you see contemporary architecture or perhaps even your own practice? The most important thing was that the jury had to visit the buildings in order to give an award to somebody. Photographs were not enough. And that was a very important exercise, in the sense that sometimes buildings that look very good in photographs are very disappointing in reality. Thats why you are traveling. And its not just visiting candidates -- you look at many other things. You also visit buildings from 50 years ago, from 100 years ago, from 200 years ago. And that reminds you of the level and the height that architecture has been able to achieve. And you feel kind of embarrassed how far away you are from that architecture. You visit buildings from 50 years ago, from 200 years ago, and they look so vital, so contemporary, so [well] used. That influenced the shift I was mentioning from our own early work. I felt that wed been producing before 2009 buildings that would not stand the test of time. Thats what I would say was the biggest impact -- and to a certain extent one of the reasons I left the jury. It was a privilege, but it was also a curse. It makes your life so difficult when you are all the time looking at this great, great architecture. You tend to want to blow up your own projects. I was calling back to the office and saying, Look, start from scratch. We are making a mistake here. Its not good enough. One more question, about Venice. Youre directing this years Architecture Biennale, opening in May, and youre calling the show Reporting From the Front. What do you mean by that phrase and what are you planning for the exhibition? The idea of this Reporting From the Front, its twofold. To do good work in architecture is hard, its difficult, its a kind of struggle. If you want to do business as usual, fine, you can do that. As soon as you want to improve the quality and go beyond the status quo, its very hard. I am gathering examples of people that had the intention or the need to go beyond that business as usual. Its meant to be encouraging: Eventually, when you look at people who are working under very tough circumstances, then maybe you will think, Well, I have problems, but compared to this guy I shouldnt be complaining. That was one thing: that you go out of the exhibition with more tools than what you had when you entered. The second thing is that there are problems and challenges and issues outside the architecture world that we should be aware of and that we should be discussing. I think that we architects too much tend to create exhibitions where the problems we are dealing with only interest other architects. The jargon that we use and the words that we use, nobody understands except other architects. So I wanted the starting point to be far away from architecture, in problems and challenges that every single citizen would like to see improved. christopher.hawthorne@latimes.com Twitter: @hawthornelat Alejandro Aravena, a 48-year-old architect based in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday was named the winner of the Pritzker Prize, the top honor in the field. Carolina A. Miranda, who reported on the work of Aravena and other Chilean architects of his generation for The Times last year, joined Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne to discuss Aravenas win and what it means. Hawthorne: So Alejandro Aravena, at 48, gets the Pritzker. Ancient by Hollywood standards but by architectural ones practically a baby. How surprised are you -- not by the choice but by the timing? Miranda: I think Aravena had a fair degree of international acclaim going into this. Hes taught at Harvard. Hes done a TED talk. Hes been out on the forefront on the issue of social housing -- a focus that has gotten him a lot of attention within the worlds of architecture and urban planning. And he served on the Pritzker jury for about half a dozen years, a position that took him all over the world, exposing him to a world of thinkers and media. Advertisement But the Chile part of the equation will definitely throw people for a loop. Chile is on the way nowhere (unless youre flying from Johannesburg to Tahiti). And because of its small size (population 18 million, smaller than greater Los Angeles) it is often overlooked by the machinery of global culture. What about you? What struck you about this win? And what it says about the Pritzker? Hawthorne: To what degree can institutions like the Pritzker be self-aware? Im fascinated by the Aravena pick from this point of view. The Pritzker has faced rising criticism in recent years for symbolizing a rather old-fashioned definition of architectural practice, to put it mildly. With a few (but only a few) exceptions, its honored men at the expense of women; individuals at the expense of pairs or collectives; architects who work for wealthy, establishment clients at the expense of those working for the poor or disenfranchised; and north over south. Its basically been the Great Man Theory of architecture as represented by a fancy bronze medallion and a check for $100,000. Choosing Aravena is a departure in terms of the last two categories, but of course not the first two. A modest move in a different direction, lets say. The Pritzker press release says he epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect. His built work, in terms of form-making, is bold and photogenic. Its definitely classic Pritzker material in that sense; it will play well on newspaper and Web pages this week. So its a choice thats hardly as surprising as last years Turner Prize in the art world, which went to a collective, Assemble, rather than an individual artist -- and a collective that is in the business of making architecture more than making art. And heres where the age-and-experience question comes into play. If we assume the Pritzker is feeling the pressure of some of that criticism about its choices, and wants to start looking further afield, its going to have to consider younger architects, because this shift in the professions priorities is showing itself in built work mostly among architects under 50. Theres definitely something to be said for honoring architects later in their careers, because architecture is such a slow profession and takes so long to master. The number of truly great buildings by architects in their 20s and 30s (and even 40s) is just really, really small. But increasingly it seems the Pritzker has to do one or the other: try to adapt to a shifting definition of architecture or stick with the career-achievement model. Does it seem too cynical to read the prize that way? I guess Id be less inclined to do so if it werent for Aravenas very recent departure from the jury. MORE: Get our best stories in your Facebook feed >> Miranda: Not too cynical! I do think Aravena is a compelling Pritzker candidate: The scope of his work in the south of Chile is ambitious and important because it represents an architect who is thinking holistically about environment, not just buildings. But it would have been better for him if the jury had put at least a years worth of breathing room between his service on the Pritzker and his selection for the award. This doesnt help dispel any questions of clubbiness when it comes to the Pritzker. And all of it comes close on the heels of the Denise Scott Brown situation, from 2013, when a group of women at Harvard sought to have her retroactively included in the Pritzker awarded to her husband and partner, Robert Venturi, in 1991. When it comes to the women, Chicago architect Jeanne Gangs name comes up regularly as a possible contender for the Pritzker. And youve very casually mentioned the possibility of New York architect Annabelle Selldorf, since granting the award to someone like her would signify a turn away from awarding bold form-making and more to the thoughtful regeneration of existing spaces -- such as her re-do of the Neue Galerie in New York or the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts. If you would have been on the jury, which architect or type of architecture would you be lobbying to have recognized? Hawthorne: Selldorf is a really interesting test case because her work is largely interior: Rather than doing big, eye-catching ground-up projects shes working in completely different vein, coaxing older buildings back to life or remaking them for new uses. Id love to see one of the forgotten architects of the 1980s get real consideration while theyre still alive (since the jury can consider only living architects), somebody like James Wines or Gunnar Birkerts. William Rawns work interests me for its smart regionalism, as does Marlon Blackwells. Choosing somebody known less for buildings and more for landscape or public-space design could be fascinating, as could honoring a collective or somebody who works on conceptual projects, like the late Lebbeus Woods. Maya Lins post-Vietnam Memorial career is underexplored. Giancarlo Mazzanti and some other Colombian architects have done remarkable work. Or somebody even further afield -- somebody who would make even architecture insiders scratch their heads. (Somebody in the middle of nowhere. Somebody with a great practice and a terrible publicist.) I think a lot of us are dismayed that instead of the starchitecture model really crumbling, as it appeared ready to after 2008, were simply getting new stars to replace the old ones. Thats one interesting way to gauge this pick: Is Aravena so different from Rem Koolhaas, Renzo Piano, et al, or is he just a younger, fresher model? And how do you think the choice might play among Aravenas Chilean contemporaries? There are probably some who will see it at least in part as recognition for this whole emerging group. Not just Aravena but Smiljan Radic, Mathias Klotz, even Cristian Undurraga, though hes a bit older. Miranda: For many people in Chile, there will be great excitement over the award. It will be read as an important success for the countrys well-developed pedagogical system -- especially at the Catholic University, which has produced the overwhelming majority of Chiles notable architects, including Aravena. But these architects are wary of being grouped together by nationality because it doesnt begin to get at the nuances of their work. Radic is a devoted aesthete who has some singular ideas about form and material (hello, boulders!). Klotz is inspired by Modernism. Undurraga has been key to rethinking some of the countrys most important public spaces. To be sure, Aravenas award wont come without nitpicking over individual designs. I saw a number of his buildings early last year and I was wowed by some of them. His bold and brutal Innovation Center at the Catholic Universitys San Joaquin campus (completed in 2014) has these surprising, airy interiors. The Mathematics School (1999), also at the university, is a re-do and unification of two preexisting buildings -- and is reflective of the ways in which the architect is sensitive to what has been built while still making a statement. I also visited two of his social housing projects -- in Santiago and Constitucion -- and they definitely hold up: Half-houses, to which the inhabitants have added in whimsical and surprising ways. These are infinitely more pleasant places to live than the grim, Modernist blocks that generally make up social housing in Chile. Granted, as with any architect, there are duds too. His Siamese Tower (Torres Siamesas) has had serious issues with ventilation since it opened it in 2005. And overall, the building strikes me as trying to bear the weight of too many ideas: Postmodern, late Modern, in conflicting materials. I was a little surprised to see it mentioned in the Pritzkers jury citation. Overall, I imagine that for the Pritzker committee, Aravena represents an important combination of socially driven work as well as intriguing design -- a nice follow-up to the Shigeru Ban award from two years ago. Hawthorne: Aravena himself expresses some ambivalence about being grouped together with those other Chilean architects. He does talk about how that generation, coming of age after the dictatorship and working in a country at a certain remove from the rest of contemporary architecture, both challenged and supported one another. At the same time, hes not shy about pointing out that he had fewer connections than some of his contemporaries, fewer friends and relatives who could afford to commission a beach house when he was starting out. And its interesting that you mention the duds, because Aravena at 48 has relatively few buildings to his credit. With this choice, as with Ban, the jury is moving the goal posts a bit, emphasizing the humanitarian aspects of the winners architecture as much as its consistent quality. And betting on future prospects more than holding up a finished body of work. Ban certainly has some duds. What I find really striking is the extent to which some of the well-known architecture awards are beginning to blur together. It used to be that the AIA Gold Medal, the Pritzker and the Curry Stone prize (founded in 2008) each had distinct priorities and preferences. Now the AIA and the Pritzker are looking more toward the humanitarian design movement that has been the Curry Stones focus from the start, while Curry Stone is getting more prominent and stealing some of the spotlight from the other two. Now its only the Driehaus Prize from Notre Dame, dedicated to honoring a living architect whose work embodies the highest ideals of traditional and classical architecture in contemporary society, that stands on its own, for better or worse. Its emerged as a sort of protest prize, an alternative to what its founders see as the glitz and trendiness of the architecture typically celebrated by the Pritzker jury. Oh, and on the other end of the spectrum -- not blurring with the Pritzker in the slightest -- is a new initiative from the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York called Taking Buildings Down. Its not a prize but an ideas competition, basically; to enter, you nominate a building to be demolished or a part of the city to be removed. As the guidelines put it, Taking Buildings Down asks [for] proposals for the production of voids; the demolition of buildings, structures and infrastructures; or the subtraction of objects and/or matter as a creative act. Removal is all that is allowed. It has a really interesting jury too, including Selldorf and Jeff Byles, who wrote an excellent book on the history of demolition called Rubble. The competition seems very much organized in opposition to super-celebratory spectacles like the Pritzker or tributes to perma-classicism like the Driehaus, and makes a point of saying it wants to stand apart from a design culture focused on the superlative. So all congratulations to Aravena, but Im going to keep an eye on Taking Buildings Down as well. christopher.hawthorne@latimes.com carolina.miranda@latimes.com MORE IN ARTS: David Bowie was an ideal, extraordinary partner, says the theater staging Lazarus, his new musical Mozart in the Jungle cast, Gael Garcia Bernal celebrate Golden Globe wins backstage Sheldon Epps to step down as artistic director at Pasadena Playhouse Showtimes efforts to keep up with the evolving TV landscape was high on the agenda during the networks panel with its executives Tuesday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour. David Nevins, fresh into his dual role as both president and chief executive of Showtime Networks, celebrated the networks subscriber growth for its over-the-top service and spoke of plans to modify its scheduling strategy when he appeared before reporters in Pasadena. Showtimes stand-alone service launched in the summer of 2015 to attract customers who dont already subscribe to a premium cable package. It teamed up with services such as Hulu and Amazon Prime subscribers to those streaming platforms could opt to add the Showtime service for an additional fee to broaden its reach. Advertisement Weve grown subscribers virtually every single week since July, said Nevins, who also touted the Showtime apps availability on PlayStation, Apple TV and Roku as beneficial. And theres been a 50% [increase] in paid streaming since the fall premieres of Homeland and The Affair. Nevins, though, would not provide specific figures related to the increase. SIGN UP for the free Classic Hollywood newsletter >> Continuing on the topic of the expanding streaming world, the executive contended that 2016 will be the year of customized viewing among early-adopter consumers that he referred to as cord cobblers. This years going to be about choice people putting together the bundle that makes sense for them, Nevins said. In most cases that will be through traditional distributors with maybe some add-ons. In response to new viewing habits, Nevins also announced Showtime is taking a new approach with its series launch strategy, saying high-profile programs will premiere once a month rather than rolling out two by two on a quarterly basis. Nevins cited the increased percentage of nonlinear views for Showtime series saying about 80% of viewing doesnt happen in the time period as a reason for the new approach. We intend to begin staggering our premieres from Noahs ark, two by two, to once a month, said Nevins. It probably will [require] incrementally more marketing, because we cant count on a Homeland to launch The Affair as we did. Nevins, joined onstage by programming President Gary Levine, also talked about the status of some of its returning and upcoming shows. The executive said that Homeland, which has shot in Cape Town and Berlin for the last two years, will shift its focus back to the U.S. for its upcoming sixth season, with the series set in the New York area. When asked whether discussions had been had with Homeland co-creator and show runner Alex Gansa about the life span of the drama, Nevins said there had been vague talks. [Alex] tends to attack his seasons one by one, Nevins said. I think thats one of the strengths of the show. Needless to say, its going to be in their control. Levine added: The good news is its not imminent. One show whose fate is less promising is modest-performing but awards-playing Episodes. Asked about a tweet from star Matt LeBlanc, in which he hinted that he was about to film the final season of the comedy, Levine said it was a real possibility. We are in the very talented hands of [creators] Jeffrey Klarik and David Crane, Levine said, noting that nothing is official yet about a final season. They are hard at work in the fifth season. And we will wait to see if white smoke or black smoke comes out of the chimney to see if thats it. And, last but not least, there was the ever-present topic regarding the status of Twin Peaks. Nevins offered a small update on the troubled revival that was announced in 2014. David [Lynch] is more than halfway through his shooting schedule, said Nevins. It will premiere in the first quarter of 2017. I tweet about TV (and other things) here: @villarrealy It may not be spring just yet, but theres a significant thaw among the heroes of iZombie. Huzzah and Happy New Year! I knew you couldnt stay mad, Clive. Not only does Liv Moore (Rose McIver) help solve most of your homicide cases with her clairvoyant visions, shes a really fun de facto partner. And you guys are a fantastic team. Remember? Piggy and the Brain? How could you keep her away? None of us fans know exactly how much fictional time has passed since the midseason finale of this dram-rom-zom-com, but I hope Liv didnt have to suffer too long. Shes suffered enough, people! Advertisement The important thing? After being exiled in the last episode of the hit CW series in December, shes back in the Seattle PD fold, and shes returned to the good graces of Det. Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin). Never cut her loose again, Clive, and dont make me repeat myself. Not only is it good to have iZombie on the air once more after a holiday hiatus, its also great to see this powerful chemistry-filled pair in action. Do they wrestle with multiple suspects, chase a few red herrings and crack the case of the murdered Method actor? Of course they do. They always get their guy/gal. But the real joy is the journey, and in finding out in this hour that Clive is obsessed with the TV business perk known as craft services those donuts at the precinct are stale and Liv has an encyclopedic recall of, and fangirl devotion to, her favorite thriller, Zombie High. The show-within-a-show gives iZombie some solid meta moments, like the discussion with Zombie High extras where one says, Wouldnt it be great if the show had a zombie star? and Clive replies, No, thats stupid. The detective later admits that hes fairly skeeved out by the idea of zombies anyway. Cue Livs horrified expression. For now, theyre reunited and it feels so good. And Clive will come around on that zombie matter, eventually, wont he? Theirs isnt the only relationship thats being tested in the episode dubbed, Method Head. Major Lilywhite (Robert Buckley) thinks hes stumbled upon a whistle-blower inside Max Rager, when in fact it turns out that Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber) is trying to trap him. Major doesnt take the bait and, in a move that indicates hes wising up, gives Vaughn a Fitbit-like bracelet thats actually a bug. Now he can listen to all those covert conversations between Vaughn and his evil daughter, also known as Gilda the Duplicitous (Leanne Lapp). That should be plenty illuminating. And good on you, Major, for hitting the spy store before work. Resident baddie Blaine DeBeers (David Anders) may be in hot water with the law just after celebrating the indictment of Mr. Boss, his former-employer-turned-crime-world-competitor. And since no iZombie would be complete without rain its Seattle, after all -- Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli) breaks the bad news to Major and Blaine about New Hope. That zombie cure he concocted and tested on his optimistically named lab rat? Its temporary, and it could last a day or a year. But one thing seems certain: both of them will revert to their undead status. They wont be Full Romeros, like the rotters in the basement at Max Rager, but theyll lose their relatively normal lives and their healthy glow. Major bummer. That crisis can be averted, maybe, if the gang locates a long-buried stash of tainted Utopium. The designer drugs happen to be in the bellies of a couple of dead smugglers, and Ravi and Major devote themselves in Method Head to digging up fields in search of them. No luck yet, and the clock is ticking. As for the killing of the week, its significant because it brings another Veronica Mars alum (Ryan Lane) to iZombie and it allows Liv to display some over-the-top acting chops on and off the set of Zombie High. One of the lead actors, an unlikeable guy named Jordan, takes a bullet to the chest when someone switches out the prop gun for a real .45-caliber revolver. He dies, leaving a bunch of suspects among the Zombie High cast because, well, most people hated him and blamed him for an asleep-at-the-wheel car crash that killed the shows assistant director. He just had to do extra takes until all hours. Its Jordans costar who unwittingly pulls the trigger, but its the prop master who swaps the weapons. The poor guy falls into the category becoming more the rule than the exception on iZombie essentially good people who make rash, terrible decisions that quickly come home to roost. The prop master was especially torn up over assistant director Jennys death since hed been having a torrid affair with her. This weeks brain ingestion provides less than the typical amount of quirk and levity, but its good for a few laughs when Ravi and Liv pantomime and improv. And the gray matter serves as a hook for Ravis Zombie High binge, after which he likens the melodrama to mental pork rinds that he simply cant put down. Livs BFF Peyton Charles (Aly Michalka) is MIA in this hour, but FBI agent Dale Bozzio (Jessica Harmon) is back, so thats cause for celebration -- for us and for Clive, right, pal? Dale, still on the trail of Seattles missing elite, questions Blaine (aka John Deaux) about why the rich folks would have dialed his number from their cellphones. Blaine plays dumb but knows the feds could be closing in. He doesnt realize that Clive and Dale are about to make a vital connection between the Meat Cute massacre and the disappearances. This is a juicy development. Another one? CW chief Mark Pedowitz said during the networks recent Television Critics Assn. gathering that iZombie has a good shot at a third season renewal. Happy New Year, indeed. Which Way, LA? is headed for the exits. KCRW-FM (89.9), where host Warren Olneys local public affairs show has held sway for 23 years, announced Tuesday that the program would wrap effective Jan. 28. Olney will continue hosting his other daily public radio show, the nationally syndicated To the Point, which premiered in 2001. He will also appear on new weekly segments dubbed Olney in L.A., which will air during Morning Edition and All Things Considered from National Public Radio. In a prepared statement, Olney said the demands of hosting two daily shows was taking a toll. Advertisement At this point in my career, I felt it was time to make a choice to do one show a day -- thats already a full-time job. It was time to get a part of my life back, Olney wrote. To the Point, he added is more necessary than ever. Theres so much going on and so much information available, its getting harder and harder for listeners to disentangle the facts from the fear. Which Way, LA? began in the wake of the 1992 riots after the Rodney King verdict. The program subsequently became an at-large observer of the local scene. Recent shows have looked at how Angelenos are faring with El Nino weather conditions and how local authorities have handled a massive gas leak in Porter Ranch. KCRW, a Santa Monica-based NPR member station, has another Los Angeles-focused public affairs show called Press Play, hosted by former NPR journalist Madeleine Brand. A call and email to a KCRW representative was not immediately returned. What do you think of Which Way, LA? Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck reached out to rank-and-file officers Tuesday and answered critics who questioned his recommendation to criminally charge an officer in a fatal on-duty shooting. The chief stopped by a roll-call meeting Tuesday afternoon at the LAPDs Pacific division, where Officer Clifford Proctor was working last spring when he fatally shot Brendon Glenn, an unarmed homeless man. He also sent a video to officers across the department, mirroring a move he made this summer after a controversial decision by the citys Police Commission in the fatal shooting of Ezell Ford. In the most recent video, which was reviewed by The Times, a somber Beck sighed as he explained why he believed Proctor should be charged. Advertisement I dont do this lightly and in the vast majority of the time, as you well know, I stand up for you, regardless of public opinion, the chief told officers. But in this case, I had to call it like I saw it. I had to do the right thing. The outreach comes after Beck publicly revealed he had told Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey that he felt Proctor should be charged in Glenns death. It marked the first time as chief that Beck has recommended an officer be charged in a deadly on-duty shooting. Although some activists and residents welcomed Becks announcement, police union officials have blasted the chief, accusing him of folding to political and public pressure. The chief has recently drawn criticism from activists affiliated with Black Lives Matter for his handling of high-profile cases involving LAPD officers. Over the summer, Beck cleared two officers who fatally shot Ford, a mentally ill black man, in South L.A. The Police Commission later disagreed with the chief and found that one of the officers violated the LAPDs policy for using deadly force. Jamie McBride, the director of the union that represents rank-and-file officers, said the chiefs decision to make public his recommendation to charge Proctor was nothing short of political grandstanding and selling out to appeal to the departments critics. Officers, he said, have lost any and all confidence in his ability to lead the LAPD. He would be delusional to believe otherwise, McBride said in a statement. Beck told The Times that he understood his decision was a difficult discussion for his department, but said he believed officers understood the unusual circumstance that the shooting presented. For [critics] to not recognize that is grandstanding on their part, he said of McBrides remarks. I always worry about that kind of thing, Beck said, when asked if he was concerned about officer morale. I think there are ways for me to mitigate that, and one of those is to talk to cops and explain why I do what I do. Glenns killing May 5 generated fierce criticism of the department and came amid a heated national conversation about police officers and their use of force, particularly against African Americans. Glenn was black, as is Proctor. Beck told The Times that LAPD investigators concluded Glenn was on his stomach, attempting to push himself off the ground, when Proctor stepped back and fired twice, hitting the 29-year-old in the back. An autopsy report made public Tuesday confirmed Glenn died of two gunshot wounds. Both, the report said, were immediately life-threatening. Proctors attorney has said his client saw Glenn reaching for his partners gun. But Beck said that after reviewing video of the incident, witness accounts and other evidence, investigators concluded Glenn was not armed and was not trying to take either officers weapon. The chief declined to say what charges he thought should be filed against Proctor, but acknowledged an array of possibilities, including assault under the color of authority, manslaughter and murder. He stressed that it was ultimately up to Lacey to decide whether to file a case. Los Angeles County prosecutors have not charged a law enforcement officer in an on-duty shooting in 15 years. My opinion is based on 40 years of police experience and I think its an opinion that the prosecutor needed to hear, Beck told reporters Tuesday. Now how she acts is up to her. The chief rejected allegations that his recommendation was a response to political or public pressure, saying he thought it was the right thing to do. I dont take these decisions lightly. Im very protective of this organization, very paternal toward the members of this organization, he said. But that support is not unconditional. Glenn was shot shortly before midnight, after Proctor and his partner responded to a complaint that a homeless man was harassing customers outside a building near the famed Venice boardwalk. The officers initially talked to the man later identified as Glenn and went back to their patrol car after he walked toward the boardwalk, the LAPD said. Soon afterward, police said, the officers saw Glenn struggling with a bouncer outside a nearby bar. The officers approached Glenn and tried to detain him, the LAPD said, leading to a physical altercation. At some point, Proctor opened fire. kate.mather@latimes.com Twitter: @katemather A day after unanimously selecting a new leader, the Los Angeles Board of Education once again found common ground by offering its first public opposition to a controversial $490-million proposal to increase the number of charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Board members have traditionally been divided on charter school growth, but on Tuesday they voted 7 to 0 in support of a resolution opposing initiatives that view our communities as a public education marketplace and our children as commodities. The board then directed new Supt. Michelle King to analyze how the outside plan, which was developed by the Broad Foundation, will affect the districts enrollment, fiscal viability and ability to provide an outstanding public education. Advertisement A draft of the plan proposes 260 new charters in L.A. The schools, combined with existing charters, would enroll half of the districts 650,000 students. Supporters of the proposal say they seek to improve options for parents unsatisfied with traditional public schools. But L.A. Unified leaders say the plan threatens the sustainability of the district and could hurt its ability to serve students. I think it is important to point out that this plan was not created to strengthen L.A. Unified and we want that to be on the record, board member Monica Ratliff said. In the long run, we have to get something on the table about the impact that it has on the district and the impact that it has on our ability to meet our promises to our employees. Charter schools are publicly funded, independently operated and not tethered to some of the regulations that apply to traditional schools. Most charter schools are nonunion. The boards resolution is effectively a symbolic gesture, but it highlights a key challenge for the districts new superintendent. Declining enrollment and the cost of providing employee benefits are among the drivers of a projected long-term deficit at the district. Because districts are funded based on student enrollment, L.A. Unified stands to lose millions of dollars if the charter plan is successful. The non-profit organization that is leading the effort to vastly expand charter schools in Los Angeles said Wednesday that the boards resolution will not change its goal of improving opportunities for students in underserved neighborhoods. We look forward to working collaboratively with LAUSD, including the new Superintendent, to achieve that goal, said Anita Landecker, interim executive director of Great Public Schools Now. She said that charter proponents are still gathering input before releasing a final plan. After being named superintendent on Monday, King said she was neither for nor against the charter expansion proposal: I am about L.A. Unifieds plan. King, who signed a $350,000 annual contract Tuesday, also said little about the expansion plan, simply asking board members for precise guidance on their directive. When youre clear and you define what specifically we are looking at, then staff can go in and analyze that and look for the fiscal concerns, the enrollment impact and all the other impacts around this specific plan, she said. School board members said they were not against charter schools, acknowledging that the district had not done enough to serve its students. Charter schools, they said, serve a purpose, as do magnet schools and other academic programs. Board members Monica Garcia and George McKenna said the district has failed some communities. We have not as a district admitted openly our culpability and our own ineffectiveness in educating our children, McKenna said. He added that children in areas such as South Los Angeles have benefited from charters. There are some wonderful charter schools out there and Im glad they exist because theyre saving my kids. The boards resolution initially drew ire from charter school supporters, but it later waned. Board member Scott Schmerelson, who authored the resolution, agreed to make changes proposed by other board members to soften some of the language describing charter schools, such as removing the word strangulation from a sentence describing the plan. Schmerelson said he struggled to understand why Eli Broad and others did not work to improve traditional public schools by investing in successful programs. The point is that we have thrown the glove down to big business and they know theyd better be very careful how they work with LAUSD, he said. Well accept their help in limited forms, but they will not take over our district. Sarah Angel, managing director of regional advocacy with the California Charter School Assn., told board members that the resolution was polarizing. But board discussion settled some of her concerns. There is the sense right now that the school board is more open than before to seeking genuine solutions and common ground, hopefully without sacrificing urgency on behalf of families that need better schools, Angel said. zahira.torres@latimes.com Times staff writer Howard Blume contributed to this report. Education Matters receives funding from a number of foundations. The California Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles administer grants from the Baxter Family Foundation , the Broad Foundation, the California Endowment and the Wasserman Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the grants, the Times retains complete control over editorial content. When the Los Angeles Board of Education began looking for an new superintendent last year, it vowed to aim high. Officials eyed nationally known school leaders in Miami and San Francisco. They even talked about high-profile politicians like such as Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro and U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles). Michelle King, the school districts second-in-command, was also a candidate but initially seemed a long shot. King had worked her entire career at the district, and just 15 months earlier, had been passed over to serve as a interim superintendent. There was a sense that King had risen as high as she would go, that if she wanted to become superintendent, it would be elsewhere. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> But over the next few months, the dynamics changed. Some of the big names the LAUSD wanted demurred. Others looked less promising on close review. And in the end, King impressed. Several sources close to the search said she persuaded school board members that she was more than a cautious career bureaucrat and could lead the troubled district. King also emerged as an unlikely consensus candidate in a district mired by divisive issues such as charter school expansion, teacher evaluations and technology investment. The powerful teachers union believed it could work with her, as did charter school advocates groups often at odds with each other. :: With the school district facing so many problems, the board began the search process with a sense of urgency and history. The last permanent superintendent, John Deasy, had resigned under pressure in October 2014 amid clashes with board members and technology debacles, including an aborted $1.3-billion effort to provide iPads to every student. Ramon C. Cortines then returned from retirement but made it clear he was willing to serve only through December. Board President Steve Zimmer called the job the most important in education, maybe the most important in America. But it wasnt the most coveted. Miami Supt. Alberto Carvalho turned away entreaties, as did Joshua Starr, a former superintendent in Maryland. The board reviewed more than 100 prospects many who applied, some who were recruited. Then came a period of interviews for six to 11 individuals, followed by second interviews. For weeks, the board could not reach a consensus. Over the last month, four or five people could have received a four-vote majority, sources said. But officials wanted to jump-start their next leader with a 7-0 mandate of support. By last week, three people appeared to be under consideration: King, St. Louis Supt. Kelvin Adams and a third individual whose name never became public. And Kings loyalty and long service to the district began to look more like advantages than disadvantages. King seemed a natural follow-up to Cortines, someone who could build on the calm and stability he brought, according to those involved in the search. Several board members also openly expressed a preference for a career educator, which eliminated some options. Other possible candidates never got a serious review because they were too closely associated with charter schools or with locally based philanthropist Eli Broad, who has helped fund political campaigns to defeat several current board members. One educator who might have fallen into this category was St. Paul, Minn., schools Supt. Valeria S. Silva. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the district is a proposal, developed by Broad, that would greatly expand the number of independently operated charter schools. A rapid exodus of district students to charters could threaten L.A. Unifieds solvency, a panel of experts recently concluded. The Board of Education, however, is not against all charter schools, and two members, Monica Garcia and Ref Rodriguez, are regarded as charter advocates. They could support King without alienating this portion of their base, said attorney Virgil Roberts, a veteran of the battles over education in Los Angeles. The feeling is that it could have been worse, Roberts said of King. And she is somebody that seems to always want to put the kids and their education at the top of the list. She is somebody the reform community can work with. Some observers concluded that Zimmer seemed to favor San Francisco Supt. Richard Carranza, who, early on, appeared to want the job. He also is Latino, as are three-fourths of district students. But Carranza pulled out of consideration last week. At the time, he lacked seven votes, and he ran the risk of alienating his current employers. Follow the Times education initiative to inform parents, educators and students across California >> Board member Scott Schmerelson, a retired principal, said he found himself comparing everyone else with King. Ive known her for so long and I see a continuous behavior of excellence, Schmerelson said. No deviations. No matter what the situation was. Board member Richard Vladovic had repeatedly said that it could be wise to choose an insider, someone with knowledge of the system. Besides King, he also admired Fremont Unified Supt. Jim Morris, who had worked in L.A. Unified for decades. Two factors that may have hindered Morris are his ethnicity white and the fact that Fremont serves a student population that is more prosperous overall than in L.A. Unified. By this point, Zimmer and Monica Ratliff were willing to support King. According to several sources, George McKenna, harbored some reservations. But, ultimately, he overcame them or was unwilling to be the lone vote against her. (McKenna could not be reached for comment.) That made seven votes a unanimous choice at last. On Saturday, King called Cortines, inviting him to return briefly to the district Monday. Cortines didnt ask why, but he was on hand to stand behind King along with her three grown daughters and parents when board members made the announcement. howard.blume@latimes.com Twitter: @howardblume The Times receives funding for its Education Matters digital initiative from the California Endowment, the Wasserman Foundation and the Baxter Family Foundation. The California Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles administer grants from the Broad Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the grants, The Times retains complete control over editorial content. ALSO Steve Lopez: Will the safe choice for L.A. Unified chief turn out to be the best? With new superintendent in place, L.A. school board gears for battle on charter plan This free healthcare clinic is staffed and run by UC Irvine students One of the most salient headlines about the hiring of Michelle King as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District is that shes an insider -- a district stalwart who worked her way up the LAUSD ladder over a span of 30 years -- and not someone with a glitzy national name, such as a vice admiral in the Navy or a former governor. The history of L.A. Unifieds leadership provides context to Kings appointment: The district is constantly revising its view on whether it needs an insider to stabilize the schools, or an outsider to shake them up. And history hasnt settled the question of whether being an insider is a help, or a hindrance. Over 45 years, the margin of insiders to outsiders leading the district was eight to five. Here is a timeline of the superintendents in recent history, how the board chose them, and how they fared: 1971-1981 William J. Johnston - INSIDER Supt. William J. Johnston, 1971-1981 (Los Angeles Times file photo) Johnston was promoted from within the ranks of L.A. Unified. Before his appointment, he served as assistant superintendent for adult education, the focus of his graduate education. Observers saw his young, energetic personality as an asset to promoting renewal within the schools. He started in L.A. Unified as a math teacher and junior varsity baseball coach at Gardena High School. His insider ties extended beyond his own LAUSD career. His dad, Ogden Johnny Johnston, had been warmly remembered as a wood shop teacher for nearly 40 years at Roosevelt High in East Los Angeles. During his tenure as superintendent, he established the All-District Honors Band. As superintendent, Johnston also encouraged LAUSD schools to participate in what was then the new state academic decathlon competition. Johnston still corresponds, by formal letter, with district leaders, offering his opinions and guidance. 1981-1987 Harry Handler - INSIDER Harry Handler was superintendent from 1981-1987 (Los Angeles Times file photo) Handler had been serving as Johnstons chief deputy when he was appointed superintendent. He joined LAUSD in 1952 as a substitute junior high math teacher, and later served as supervisor of guidance and counseling for junior and senior high schools. In 1968, Handler was named to the district's newly created post of director of research and development. He later became associate superintendent for instruction. As The Times reported upon his appointment, His selection is expected to please top district officials, who wanted to see the practice of promoting from within the ranks continued. Discord over desegregation was still brewing when he took office. The board Handler inherited was polarized, consumed with bitter busing fights and the aftermath of white flight by students and teachers. However, Handler's most enduring legacy, The Times wrote in an editorial the day he left office, may be a school board that works in harmony. 1987-1990 Leonard M. Britton - OUTSIDER Leonard Britton, superintendent of LAUSD from 1987 to 1990. (File Photo / Los Angeles Times) Britton had the distinction of being the first outsider appointed as LAUSD superintendent in nearly 40 years. He uprooted himself from a successful legacy as head of the Miami-Dade County public schools. In his seven years in Miami, Britton developed well-regarded specialty schools, including one for pregnant teens. He strengthened relations with the teachers union, developed a group of effective administrators and experimented with school-based management. It was that reputation and record that prompted his appointment in Los Angeles. However, the complex political landscape of LAUSD was riddled with tough issues, making for a steep learning curve. He faced a combative teachers union and a fragmented board against the backdrop of an economic downturn. He was unable to translate his success in Miami to Los Angeles before he resigned in 1990. "We never found out what Leonard Britton could do for L.A. Unified because he never got a chance," former school board member Jackie Goldberg said. "He had a lot to offer." Eventually, the board voted to buy out Britton's contract. 1990-1992 William R. Anton - INSIDER William Anton, LAUSD superintendent from 1990-1992. (File photo / Los Angeles Times) As a result of Brittons perceived failure, the board abruptly ditched its ideas for bringing in a fresh perspective. Instead, they wanted, yet again, a leader more familiar with the districts inner workings -- and functional turmoil. Described as an LAUSD man through and through, 38-year LAUSD veteran Anton succeeded the guy who beat him to the top job just three years earlier. He began his career as a teacher at Rowan Avenue Elementary School. Anton was the first Latino to head the Los Angeles school district, in which more than 60% of the 640,000 students were Latino. Anton was admired for his fair, straightforward though demanding approach. Among his priorities were relations with parents and looking out especially for minority students in a system that did not always have high expectations of them. Alas, his inside experience proved insufficient. In the middle of struggling to keep the district solvent despite multibillion-dollar budget deficits, Anton abruptly resigned after only 26 months on the job. On his way out the door, he cited a politically charged atmosphere that included a micromanaging school board and an activist teachers union. 1992-1997 Sidney A. Thompson - INSIDER LAUSD Supt. Sidney Thompson. (Francis Gardler / Los Angeles Times) Thompson was also an LAUSD veteran. He started as a math teacher in Pacoima nearly 40 years before becoming superintendent. He was the first African American superintendent to lead the nations second-largest school district. In a farewell editorial about his tenure, The Times editorial board wrote that Thompson deserves credit for his fiscal management, supporting the LEARN [Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now] reforms, getting the teachers to agree to a 3-year contract and stiffening high school courses. Thompson initiated a plan that aimed to boost academic performance by the year 2000, including measures such as ensuring all students can read by the end of third grade, enrolling most students in middle-school algebra classes and moving bilingual education students into mainstream English courses after five years. In addition to the ongoing budget and union battles, groups in different parts of the school system were trying to break away and form their own districts. After his nearly four-year tenure as superintendent, he said he learned that reforming a large school system is a job with no natural conclusion. 1997-2000 Ruben Zacarias - INSIDER Rubin Zacarias, LAUSD superintendent from 1997-2000. (Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times) Zacarias was the fourth superintendent over the course of a decade, the first fluent Spanish speaker and the second Latino to run LAUSD. He had worked at every level in the system, including temporary preschool teacher, principal, regional administrator and on up. He started his LAUSD career in 1966 as a teacher at his alma mater, Breed Street School, later becoming principal there in 1975. When he was appointed, Zacarias vowed he would improve student performance by making teachers and principals personally responsible for school achievement. On his way out, critics called his accomplishments incremental. Ultimately, Zacarias was pressured into taking a buyout when a newly elected board decided to hire its own choice for district leader. Until Zacarias agreed to leave, however, loyal Eastside supporters staged protests on his behalf. He was widely regarded as an insider who was unwilling or unable to challenge colleagues with whom he spent his entire career, according to a 2015 Times story. 2000 Ramon Cortines - OUTSIDER Ramon Cortines, who was interim superintendent in 2000. (Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times) The first time LAUSD brought in Cortines, he was hired on an interim basis. He arrived as a 67-year-old outsider who had led districts around the country, including Pasadena, San Francisco (his hometown) and New York. He had a reputation for standing up to board members and bulldozing through bureaucracy, in the name of what he deemed best for students. He was a nationally known educator, and a familiar figure in Pasadena -- where he twice headed the schools -- but new to Los Angeles Unified. It seems that he was chosen for his ability to get the district running smoothly after Zacarias was pushed out. If it's truly a cleanup operation to get the district ready for a long-term strategy, then I think he's excellent for this," a UC Berkeley education professor said when Cortines was hired. He introduced a plan to cut central staff and reorganize, but wasnt able to see it through in his six-month stint. Cortines also oversaw a back-to-basics agenda that focused on cleaning bathrooms and providing all students with textbooks. And he made all elementary schools adopt a phonics-based reading program. The board urged Cortines to stay, but he left to avoid any impression that he'd been angling for the job, according to a 2008 Times story. 2000-2006 Roy Romer - OUTSIDER Roy Romer, superintendent from 2000-2006 (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times) Romer was hired in part because he was the only one of five favored candidates who wanted the job, reads a 2006 Times story published after the former Colorado governor left the job. He came in with the goal of implementing Cortines plan to decentralize the district, and to build new schools and facilities for the growing number of students. Romer sometimes clashed with the board over union relations and over his otherwise-popular $19-billion school repair and construction project. He also had an antagonistic relationship with then-mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who frequently attacked the district. Romer has had the longest tenure in the 21st century, and left of his own accord. "You have a whole lot of social and economic pressures, he said in 2015. Los Angeles is especially tough because it's so large, so diverse. 2006-2008 David L. Brewer III - OUTSIDER Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, superintendent from 2006-2008 (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) The school board hired Brewer, a retired Navy admiral, during a leadership struggle over control of the school system with then-Mayor Villaraigosa. Brewer had no experience managing school districts and little preparation for the turmoil of L.A. politics or district infighting. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator -- largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. One of his first moves was to commission a report detailing everything wrong with the district. Brewer launched an innovation division and test scores continued their gradual rise during his term. Voters also passed a $7-billion school construction bond on his watch. But critics said he moved slowly and never mastered either L.A. politics or district bureaucracy. He was bought out for $517,500. 2009-2011 Ramon Cortines - INSIDER (by now) Ramon Cortines, superintendent again from 2009-2011 (Damian Dovarganes / AP) The second time the school board chose Cortines, they wanted the same bold moves they sought from Brewer, but from an educator who had become familiar with the district and who worked quickly and relentlessly. Over 2 years, Cortines trimmed the central office through layoffs and reorganization, managed budget cuts prompted by a statewide economic recession and oversaw a program through which groups from inside and outside the school system could bid for control of low-performing campuses. As a result, more independently run charter schools began to operate on district properties, sometimes sharing sites with traditional public schools. Cortines re-staffed some low-performing schools, requiring teachers there to re-apply for their jobs. But for Villaraigosa and his allies, Cortines was not moving quickly enough. And in April 2011, Cortines agreed to step aside. 2011-2014 John D. Deasy - OUTSIDER John Deasy, superintendent from 2011-2014 (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Deasy came in with ties to local power players like billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and Villaraigosa. He was familiar with Los Angeles as he had headed the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District from 2001-2006, though he hadnt worked in LAUSD before Cortines hired him. He was technically promoted from within, since he was Cortines top deputy for five months, but was hired with the understanding that he would soon take the top job. The board selected him with little to no outside input, and didnt have a public search or application process. Deasy pursued an aggressive agenda that included revamping teacher evaluations and ending the near-automatic granting of tenure to teachers near the end of their second year of work. He also took part in ongoing litigation to limit teacher job protections and to end the use of seniority as a basis for laying off teachers. In addition, he ordered administrators to sharply reduce the number of student suspensions. His efforts were hindered by a persistent economic recession and deteriorating relations with a majority of board members and the teachers union. Critics blamed him for two technology debacles: a malfunctioning student records system and an aborted $1.3-billion effort to provide every student with an iPad. As with other recent superintendents, test scores rose incrementally. 2014-2015 Ramon Cortines - INSIDER Ramon Cortines during his final superintendent run, in 2015. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) By this point, Cortines had become the districts go-to cleanup guy. The board brought him back even though his reputation had been tarnished by a sexual-harassment allegation dating from 2010. Cortines denied wrongdoing. After Deasys disastrous departure from the district, the school board wanted an experienced leader they trusted. Cortines, by then 82, soon told the board he would stay only through 2015. In that year, he smoothed union relations, ended efforts to provide every student with a computercalling it unaffordable--and oversaw the repair of the student records system. 2016- Michelle King - INSIDER Michelle King, the new L.A. Unified School District superintendent. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Following a nationwide search, this week, the school board promoted the consummate insider. Board president Steve Zimmer presented her to Angelenos at a meeting on Monday, calling her a daughter of our city, in both Spanish and English. She is the first African American woman to lead L.A. Unified. King started her career as a secondary life science teacher at Porter Junior High School in 1984. After serving as a principal, she served in a succession of district roles before winding up as chief deputy superintendent. She served as the No. 2 administrator for both Deasy and then Cortines in his latest stint. She will inherit the problems that have plagued superintendents before her, and a few new ones. Enrollment is declining, the district faces a deficit, and theres an effort to dramatically increase the number of charter schools in the city. Only time will tell whether her intimate familiarity with the district will help her succeed where others before her have failed. Interested in education? School me: @mmaltaisla Times Reporter Howard Blume contributed to this report. The Times receives funding for its digital initiative, Education Matters, from one or more of the groups quoted in this article. The California Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles administer grants from the Baxter Family Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the California Endowment and the Wasserman Foundation to support this effort. Under terms of the grants, the Times retains complete control over editorial content. The relocation of existing power and data wires to clear way for the California bullet train in the Central Valley is proving to be more risky and difficult than expected, costing tens of millions of dollars more than was projected only several months ago in Tulare, Kings and Kern counties. The high-speed rail authoritys board approved a prospective $348-million contract Tuesday for a team led by the Spanish construction giant Ferrovial to build an additional 22 miles of rail structures. But the amount does not include an estimated $107 million in additional work that was pulled out of the contract last year to relocate utilities along the route. Advertisement As recently as last October, the cost of those utilities relocations was estimated at $35.1 million, according to an addendum to state bidding documents. As of last May, the utility relocations were supposed to be fully included in the contract, the documents show. The cost of building the 22 miles, including the utility work and hazardous material removal, totals about $450 million, which appears to fall in the middle of the $400-million to $500-million estimate that state officials made last May, the documents show. So while costs for utilities have jumped, the overall cost for the 22 miles is not busting through estimates. Rail officials have asserted, including as recently as Tuesday, that the Ferrovial bid came in below its estimate, part of a long-standing narrative that aggressive bidding by the construction industry is holding down building costs in the Central Valley. Critics of the bullet train project, however, dismiss such estimates as irrelevant and say that the states accounting system is not providing a transparent picture of whether the overall cost of building the Central Valley segment is staying within the roughly $6-billion budget for the work. In addition to the design and build contracts, the Central Valley work includes management fees, land purchases, utility work, legal fees and many other categories of expenses. I have seen nothing that shows how they are performing against their budget, said Elizabeth Alexis, co-founder of a Bay Area group that has closely monitored spending. At the same time, other metrics in the project are sending warning signals. The Central Valley work is falling behind schedule, as the state finds it far more difficult than expected to acquire land along the right of way for the future tracks. A just-released operations report by the rail authority shows it has acquired 376 of the 711 parcels it needs for the first 29 miles of the route from Madera to Fresno, well below the 518 parcels that were expected to be in hand by now. The vote to approve Ferrovial for the job will allow rail agency staff to negotiate a final contract. The Ferrovial team includes the Spanish engineering firm Euroestudios and the Houston engineering firm Othon Inc. Spanish firms are leading two of the three teams that have won contracts so far. Exactly why the utility relocations are costing about 25% of the entire construction cost of the 22 miles of track structures in Kings, Tulare and Kern counties was not made clear Tuesday at the board meeting, but officials suggested that the authority had underestimated the difficulty of the job in other segments. The decision to take the utility relocations out of the contract was based on a lack of information to accurately estimate the cost, not only for state officials but for companies bidding for the work, according to state engineering chief Scott Jarvis. The newest construction segment, which runs just north of the Tulare and Kings county border to just north of the city of Shafter, shows some of the difficulty in predicting costs. A San Francisco attorney representing SunnyGem, one of the states largest almond processing companies, told the board Tuesday that his efforts to set a meeting with senior state rail officials have been ignored. Attorney Ivor Samson said the rail route would cut through crucial pieces a 200,000-square-foot almond plant in Wasco, which would cost tens of millions of dollars to replace. Samson said that the decision by the state to open a supplemental environmental review of the segment to reconsider the route through urban Bakersfield should open up reconsideration of the rails impact on the almond plant. Board Chairman Dan Richard acknowledged that he had meant to set up a meeting with Samson during December and would promptly schedule a meeting. A Los Angeles police union official blasted LAPD Chief Charlie Beck on Tuesday, accusing him of political grandstanding and selling out to appease critics by publicly recommending that an officer be criminally charged in a fatal on-duty shooting. Jamie McBride, the director of the union that represents the LAPDs rank-and-file, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that officers have lost any and all confidence in Becks ability to successfully lead this organization. He would be delusional to believe otherwise, McBride said. McBrides remarks came as Beck attended a roll-call meeting with officers at the LAPDs Pacific division, where the fatal shooting occurred last spring. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> In response, Beck told The Times that he understood his decision was a difficult discussion for his department, but said he believed officers understood the unusual circumstance that the shooting presented. For them to not recognize that is grandstanding on their part, he said of McBrides comment. Beck said he had reached out to officers in an attempt to explain the thought that went into his decision. I always worry about that kind of thing, Beck said, when asked if he was worried about officer morale. I think there are ways for me to mitigate that, and one of those is to talk to cops and explain why I do what I do. The chief sent a video to his officers this week regarding his recommendation, mirroring a move he made this summer after the Police Commission faulted an officer in another controversial case: the fatal shooting of Ezell Ford. In his most recent message, which was viewed by The Times, Beck was somber as he looked into the camera and sighed as he revealed his decision. I dont do this lightly and in the vast majority of the time, as you well know, I stand up for you, regardless of public opinion, Beck told his officers. But in this case, I had to call it like I saw it. I had to do the right thing. The remarks came a day after the Times reported that Beck had recommended that Dist. Atty. Jackie Laceys office charge the officer who fatally shot Brendon Glenn, an unarmed homeless man, last spring in Venice. It was the first time as chief that Beck recommended an officer be charged in a fatal on-duty shooting. Beck told The Times that LAPD investigators concluded Glenn was on his stomach, attempting to push himself off the ground, when Officer Clifford Proctor stepped back and fired twice, hitting the 29-year-old in the back. An autopsy report made public Tuesday confirmed Glenn was shot in his back and died of the gunshot wounds. Both gunshots, the report said, were immediately life-threatening. After reviewing video, witness accounts and other evidence, investigators determined Glenn was not trying to take either Proctors gun or his partners weapon at the time of the shooting, Beck said. Proctors partner also told investigators he did not know why the officer opened fire, Beck said. Beck declined to say what charges he thought should be filed against Proctor, but acknowledged a range of possibilities, from assault under the color of authority to manslaughter or murder. He stressed that it was ultimately up to Lacey to decide whether to file a case. L.A. County prosecutors have not charged a law enforcement officer for an on-duty shooting in 15 years. The May 5 shooting in Venice generated fierce criticism of the LAPD and came amid a heated national conversation about police officers and their use of force, particularly against African Americans. Glenn was black, as is Proctor. Proctors attorney, Larry Hanna, accused LAPD brass of making a political decision by publicly recommending charges. Hanna defended his clients decision to shoot, saying Proctor saw Glenn going for his partners gun -- even if his partner may not have realized it. Although a security camera captured the events leading up to the shooting, Hanna said, both of Glenns hands could not be seen for the entirety of the recording. Beck said Tuesday that the evidence did not support Hannas account of the shooting and rejected accusations that he made his recommendation based on politics or public opinion, saying he felt it was the right thing to do. Follow @katemather for more LAPD news. ALSO Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies shoot masked man wielding BB gun L.A. Unified looked far and wide but found new superintendent Michelle King right at home Heres where L.A.'s NFL team (or teams) might play while a new stadium is built The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday night approved a minimum wage ordinance that would put it in line with its neighbors in Los Angeles city and county. As in Los Angeles, the law, which still must come before the council for a second reading in two weeks, would raise the minimum wage at most businesses in the city to $15 by 2020. Wages at city hotels and motels of all sizes, and at associated businesses located at hotels, would reach $15.37 per hour by 2017. Advertisement Six council members voted for the ordinance. One abstained. The Santa Monica ordinance, unlike Los Angeles, exempts union employees working under collective bargaining agreements -- a provision meant to encourage employers to be open to union organizing. It also requires paid leave for employees beyond the minimum three days required by the state. Employees at businesses with 26 or more employees would be able to accrue nine days of paid leave, while those at smaller businesses could accrue five. Like the Los Angeles law, the Santa Monica measure phases in the wage increases and allows certain employers to move a little more slowly. Certain nonprofits and employers with fewer than 25 employees get an extra year to reach $15. Hotels that can show that they would have to cut staff by more than 20% or workers hours by more than 30% would be able to get one-year waivers. In response to concerns from employers on Santa Monica Pier who hire many young, seasonal workers, the measure also includes a provision allowing employers to pay 85% of the minimum wage for 480 hours or six months -- whichever comes first -- to first-time workers. That works out to six months for part-time workers on the job 20 hours a week, and three months for full-time workers. Numerous high school students spoke in opposition to that provision, saying that they use their wages to help their families and to raise money for college, and that they should be paid the same wages as others. More than 50 people signed up to speak at the meeting. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> Some worried about hotel workers being a year behind L.A. in reaching $15.37. Those representing some employers suggested reducing the paid leave. Restaurant workers expressed concern about the ordinances regulation of restaurant service charges -- whose proceeds, they said, often dont get to employees. After voting for the ordinance, the council directed city staffers to set up a broad-based working group, including stakeholders, to go over and possibly fine-tune provisions in some of these areas. Santa Monica already has one local wage ordinance applying to companies doing business with the city. Passed in 2005, it sets a minimum wage of $15.37 per hour for employees of those providing services to the city under contracts of $54,200 or greater. Development agreements for several new hotels also carry the same wage provision. The council has been working on a minimum wage ordinance for the last eight months. This month, the minimum wage in California went up from $9 to $10. For more L.A. stories, follow me @latimescitybeat For the third time in recent months, a rare venomous sea snake has washed up on a Southern California beach, hundreds of miles from its normal waters. The 20-inch-long yellow-bellied serpent was found about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Dog Beach in Coronado by a passerby who alerted lifeguards, Coronado city officials said in a statement. The lifeguard put the snake in a bucket, where it died soon afterward, officials said. Two of the snakes have washed up on Southern California shores in recent months -- one 27 inches long in Huntington Beach in December and a 2-footer in Ventura County in October. Both died. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> The species, known to scientists as Pelamis platura, was first seen in Southern California in San Clemente in 1972 during an El Nino. Greg Pauly, herpetological curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, told The Times last month that he believed the reptile in Huntington Beach may have been prompted to navigate north of its normal tropical habitat by the spread of unusually warm ocean temperatures because of the strong El Nino this year. It is incredible and fascinating to have two of these aquatic, highly venomous snakes suddenly show up around here, he said. But this is not an invasion, and no one has ever died from the bite of this animal. Their fangs are tiny and they can barely open their mouths wide enough to bite a person, he said. So, unless you pick one up, the biggest safety concern with going to the beach is with driving there and then driving home. The sea snake has a bright yellow underside and a flat, paddlelike tail with black spots. It is the most wide-ranging snake species on Earth, cruising the warm tropical waters off the coasts of Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America and Mexico. The snake found Tuesday will be turned over to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Coronado city officials said. Times staff writer Louis Sahagun contributed to this report. For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna. ALSO California wingsuit flier dies after jumping from Arizona cliff #IfIWonPowerball: Turning $1.5 billion into a jackpot of good works Ex-Rams running back Lawrence Phillips dead after likely prison suicide Carolyn Kellogg, who has been covering books for The Times since 2008, has been named books editor. Editor Davan Maharaj announced that Kelloggs role will go beyond the printed word to explore ideas, film, art and society. Kellogg launched The Times books blog, Jacket Copy, whose coverage includes interviews, opinion and industry news in addition to traditional criticism. In 2010, she received a Times Editorial Award for feature blogging, for helping create a presence for The Times as a leader in the online conversation about books. Advertisement Read The Times latest books coverage >> In recent months, her posts have included a look ahead to book trends for 2016, the quirky story of an Alabama man who returned a library book after 63 years and a review of an anthology of American short stories. After the 2015 Nobel prizes were announced, Kellogg explained to Times readers why it had been 20 years since an American had won the Nobel for literature. And as the 33,000 followers of her @paperhaus account know, she regularly shares her thoughts on books, culture and life on Twitter. Before joining The Times, Kellogg was editor of LAist.com, web editor for public radios Marketplace and web producer at the California Community Foundation. She has an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelors degree from USC. Kellogg is a vice president of the National Book Critics Circle and is a mainstay at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. For more staff and newsroom news, follow @LATreadersrep. MORE FROM THE READERS REPRESENTATIVE JOURNAL Comics page change: Stone Soup ends its daily run Sportsperson of the Year debate draws its own backlash Times columnist Bill Plaschke to co-host morning radio show on Beast 980 For one last time, President Obama took to the rostrum of the House chamber, observing an old ritual with a new purpose: shaping history. Obamas final State of the Union address Tuesday night was no nostalgia trip, though the president and many around him were mindful of its timing, nearly eight years to the day after an Iowa victory launched his unlikely path to the White House. It was a chance for reflection and a bit of self-congratulation, not least for helping the nation rebound from its worst economic downturn in more than half a century though he was careful to credit the American people and acknowledge their continued unease. Advertisement It was an opportunity, too, for a last summons on issues such as gun control, income inequality and immigration reform, which still rest on the incomplete side of his presidential ledger. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> But more than anything, the nearly hourlong speech was Obamas effort to have a say in who follows him into the Oval Office. The next election could help cement accomplishments like his signature healthcare program, a nuclear deal with Iran and moves to stem climate change, or fell them in a single blow. The president lacks the votes in Congress to safeguard those efforts, much less pass other bitterly disputed pieces of his legislative agenda. His middling public approval ratings draw little in the way of deference from critics, or even restive allies. But Obama still commands attention each time he opens his mouth never more so than occasions like Tuesday nights rarefied set piece. Afforded the grandest stage in all of American politics, the fiercely competitive president seemed almost cocky as he effectively kicked off his 2016 campaign, plainly itching to enter the fray and address what has been a running commentary on his time in office. All the talk of Americas economic decline is political hot air. So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker, Obama said, wagging a finger as rumbling arose from the Republican side of the chamber. Let me tell you something. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. He repeated the last line three times for emphasis. Obama, of course, will never again have to place his name on an election ballot, or have his policies weighed in a public referendum. But that is not to say he is immune from the judgment of voters, or has no stake in their deliberations. The calculation is straightforward, as David Axelrod, a longtime Obama advisor, explained it: The stronger he is going into the election, the stronger his [poll] numbers, the better the chances of Democrats retaining the White House. Given perhaps his last, best chance, Obama sought to frame the stark choice he sees between Republicans and his fellow Democrats. Join the conversation on Facebook >> He nodded to the anxieties that have made this a most angry and tumultuous election season. The workplace has changed, he said, due in part to technology and a less-forgiving world economy that has sundered the social contract between workers and their employers. People are feeling squeezed, Obama acknowledged, even when they have jobs, even when the economy is growing. The black-and-white verities of the Cold War have given way, he said, to a complex and confusing world in which free-floating terrorists cause greater anxiety than hostile states. But no one, he said, should doubt the countrys resolve. When you come after Americans, Obama said, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limits. In the main, however, Obamas speech was determinedly upbeat and relentlessly optimistic. Even if the language failed to reach the heights of his most soaring rhetoric, it was meant to contrast with the grave tone and grim prognoses of the GOP field. Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? he said, in what sounded like one of several rebukes of the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, and his pull on others in the party. Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together? We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion, he added later. When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. After a 2014 midterm election that cost Democrats control of the Senate, there was talk of a hapless Obama limping through the end stage of his presidency. Instead, 2015 proved one of his most productive years in office for good or ill, depending on ones partisan view yielding a budget agreement with congressional Republicans, a diplomatic opening to Cuba, the nuclear-containment deal with Iran and major trade accord with Asian-Pacific nations. The prospect of similar accomplishments this election year appears dim. Republicans arent eager to hand the president any legislative victories. Each day he edges closer to his final exit from office, and the public increasingly focuses on his would-be successors. But commanding a big national audience for one of the final times in his presidency, Obama showed Tuesday night he has no plans to go passively, or to leave it to others to fight over the countrys future. His legacy depends on it. mark.barabak@latimes.com Twitter: @markzbarabak MORE FROM THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS State of the Union: Obama offers optimism, while warning of potential peril Text of President Obamas 2016 State of the Union address The state of the union? Not as bad as you think it is. President Obama launched his final year in office with a valedictory State of the Union address Tuesday night that painted a portrait of a prosperous and secure America but warned of peril ahead if the country cant break the political logjam in Washington. His final rendition of the annual speech focused more on aspirational themes than on ambitious new plans, and contained only a handful of requests to Congress. At just under an hour, it was among the shortest of his seven State of the Union speeches. In a rare admission of fault, Obama acknowledged he is not blameless for the hardened, hyperpartisan political atmosphere of his tenure in the White House. Advertisement Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, he said before a joint session of Congress. But Obama peppered his speech with veiled zingers aimed at his critics including lawmakers listening in the House chamber and the leading GOP candidates battling to succeed him in one of his most edgy public addresses. His statements made clear he intends to add his voice to the 2016 presidential race. Citing his push to make college education more affordable, for example, he noted that a good education isnt enough in an economy undergoing profound change. After all, its not much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting in this chamber, he told members of Congress, some of whom sat stonily. Without naming Donald Trump, Obama seemed to focus much of his speech at rebutting, point by point, the harsh political arguments on the economy, immigration, Islam and national security that have helped make the billionaire businessman the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction and political hot air, Obama said. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker, he added. America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. He called on Americans to reject politics that target people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness, he said. When politicians insult Muslims, he added, that doesnt make us safer. Thats not telling it like it is. Its just wrong. He also fought back against arguments that his administration has underplayed the danger from Islamic State and other terrorist groups, contending that over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped, he said. But they do not threaten our national existence. He also took on his critics on the issue of climate change, citing the international agreement signed last month in Paris to combat the causes of global warming. Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it, he said. Youll be pretty lonely because youll be debating our military, most of Americas business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree its a problem and intend to solve it. The Republicans appointed critic for the night, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, was just as cutting in the GOP response after Obama finished speaking. The presidents record has often fallen far short of his soaring words, Haley said. Obama gave credit to new House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), and said he welcomed a serious discussion with him about helping low-income workers. Ryan sat behind Obama impassively, rising once or twice to applaud U.S. troops. Three months after Ryan rose to his new position, he still has not had the customary one-on-one welcome meeting at the White House. Even if relations warm with the new speaker, Obama does not expect the Republican-led Congress to embrace his call for gun safety, immigration policy reform or a higher minimum wage. That will not stop him from pushing for those goals, advisors said. Obama laid out his plans for building on his legacy in words that rang familiar after his seven years in office. He said the nation must consider several questions, regardless of who wins the next election. How does the country give everyone a fair shot in the new economy and make technology work for people and not against them? How does government keep Americans safe, but not become the worlds policeman? And how can we make sure that our politics reflect whats best in us, and not whats worst? he asked. In response, he talked about preparing the workforce for the changing marketplace, and pushing for universal pre-kindergarten and college affordability while also safeguarding Social Security and Medicare. He pledged support for Vice President Joe Bidens moonshot project to cure cancer. On foreign policy, Obama implicitly rejected what his staff sees as a binary choice that his Republican critics offer between isolation from the global community and sending U.S. troops to occupy foreign countries. He defended his policy of engagement with Iran, Cuba and China, and argued that it has advanced American interests around the world. He urged Americans to welcome refugees from the Syrian civil war, and he called for expanding trade, starting with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. He said he still wants to close the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a plan complicated by the fact that federal law bans the transfer of terrorism suspects from there to U.S. soil. Leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world behind causes that are right, he said. Thats strength. Thats leadership. There is this doubling-down on a dark vision on the state of the American economy and the state of Americas leadership around the world that he believes is just not true, Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor who helped shape the presidents speech, said earlier Tuesday. The danger of that is if we make decisions based on those assumptions, they lead us to do the wrong things. The speech was noteworthy for the absence of policy details. Aides to the president say he is returning more to the tone of his 2008 campaign speeches, the ones that won the electorate to his side in the first place. As he neared the end of his speech, Obama veered away from policy altogether, rising into a sermon-like oratory on the state of American politics. He decried the practice of gerrymandering the drawing of congressional district maps by dominant state political officials to favor their parties. Voters should pick their representatives and not the other way around. Beyond that, Obama said, Americans have gotten out of practice of working out their differences. Change will only happen, he said, if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics. christi.parsons @latimes.com michael.memoli @latimes.com See more of our top stories on Facebook >> MORE ON THE STATE OF THE UNION State of the Union: Obama offers optimism, while warning of potential peril Nikki Haley uses the national stage to criticize Obama -- and warn fellow Republicans Analysis: Obama gives upbeat assessment of his presidency, and aims to have a say in who follows him The gunman responsible for a deadly rampage inside a Louisiana movie theater last summer left a journal thanking the man accused of killing nine black people in a church. In a rambling, handwritten 40-page journal released by police Wednesday, John Russell Houser described Dylann Roof as green but good. Had Dylan Roof reached political maturity he would have seen the word is not (n-word), but liberal, Houser wrote. But thank you for the wake up call Dylann. Advertisement Houser shot and killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself inside an auditorium at The Grand 16 theater in Lafayette last July, police have said. Jillian Johnson, a 33-year-old musician and business owner, and Mayci Breaux, a 21-year-old student, died in the shooting. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Police recovered Housers journal from the Motel 6 room in Lafayette where he had been staying since early July. It was released Wednesday along with photos from the motel room and a nearly 600-page, partially redacted investigative report. On the lined pages of what appears to be type of school notebook, Houser laments the state of the U.S., calling it a filth farm, and he rants against the news media, national political figures, women, gays and blacks. America as a whole is now the enemy, he wrote, also warning of impending problems for the country. I have hidden nothing and have hated the US for at least 30 years. It will soon be every man for himself. A global rearrangement comes soon. Investigators also found wigs and disguises in the motel room, suggesting Houser had hoped to escape after the shooting. Police have said he tried to blend in with the crowd of people fleeing after the shooting but turned back after spotting officers entering the theater. Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft has said Houser visited the theater more than once, perhaps to determine whether there was anything that could be a soft target for him. His only known connection to Lafayette was an uncle who died there three decades ago. In the journal, Houser wrote that soft targets are everywhere. Military police, etc. designations are not necessary. Houser had a long history of erratic behavior in the Georgia and Alabama communities where he lived before the shooting in Lafayette, which is about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge. In 2008, a Georgia judge ordered him detained for a mental evaluation after relatives claimed he was a danger to himself and others. But the judge said she didnt have him involuntarily committed. That could explain how he passed a federal background check in 2014, which enabled him to legally buy the .40-caliber handgun he used in the shooting from a pawn shop in Phenix City, Alabama. Houser was a regular presence on right-wing extremist message boards, where he praised Adolf Hitler and advised people not to underestimate the power of the lone wolf, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. A former neighbor said Houser flew a large Confederate flag outside his home and a Nazi swastika outside a bar he owned, and put doomsday fliers in his neighbors mailboxes. Houser became estranged from his family and lost his businesses and his Phenix City home. When he was evicted, he ruined the property by pouring concrete into the plumbing and glue into the fixtures, police said. His estranged wife, Kellie Houser, filed for divorce in March 2015, claiming he lashed out at her and warned, Id better watch out because he always wins. In August, Trainwreck star Amy Schumer spoke tearfully of the two women killed in the shooting as she urged lawmakers to support a gun control bill sponsored by her second cousin, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. Less than a month after the Lafayette shooting, police in Tennessee shot and killed a mentally ill homeless man who attacked a Nashville-area movie theater with a pellet gun, an ax and pepper spray. The Tennessee shooting occurred while jurors in Colorado were weighing a death sentence for James Holmes, who killed 12 moviegoers and wounded 70 others at a movie theater in 2012. Is Bill Clintons sexual history fair game in the 2016 campaign? Donald Trump certainly thinks so. Hillary is an enabler, he said in one interview. Shes married to an abuser! he said in another. If shes going to play the woman card, its all fair game, he added. The sad thing is, hes right. Hillary Clinton does play the gender card, relentlessly. She has frequently reminded voters that she would be the first female president and has cast herself as a champion of womens causes. Advertisement In September, at a college campus in Iowa, she pledged to fight sexual assault, saying: I want to send a message to all of the survivors. Dont let anyone silence your voice. You have the right to be heard, the right to be believed, and we are with you as you go forward. Is there a wide enough gap between Hillary Clintons rhetoric and Bill Clintons record to make this a legitimate issue in the campaign? Sure. Then she sent her husband, former President Bill Clinton, onto the campaign trail. Although hes now beloved by millions, hes both an asset and a potential liability. He was impeached in 1998 after an illicit affair with a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. He was sued for sexual harassment by a former Arkansas state employee, Paula Jones (he settled with no acknowledgment of guilt). And he was accused of rape by a former campaign volunteer, Juanita Broaddrick; the charge was never adjudicated because Broaddrick waited 21 years before making it. Last month, a young woman at a town meeting in New Hampshire confronted Hillary Clinton about those cases. If survivors have the right to be believed, she asked, what about Bill Clintons accusers? The candidate looked stunned for a moment, then answered: I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence. Is there a wide enough gap between Hillary Clintons rhetoric and Bill Clintons record to make this a legitimate issue in the campaign? Sure. This isnt about Bill Clintons philandering; voters decided what they thought about that long ago. And it would be grotesque to blame his wife for sins he committed against her. But its reasonable to ask whether Bill Clinton, a public figure acting as a surrogate for his wife, lived up to her 2016 standards for treating potential survivors of sexual abuse. The answer is: He didnt. Twenty years ago, Bill Clinton and his associates did their best to discredit his accusers. The pithiest, as usual, was James Carville, who said of Paula Jones: If you drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what youll find. Its reasonable, as well, to ask what role Hillary Clinton played in those cases. But on that count, the evidence is thin. She told a friend, Diane Blair, that Monica Lewinsky was a loony tune but that was a private comment that surfaced years later, not a public slam. And at the time, Bill Clinton had falsely assured her that Lewinsky was lying and that there had been no sexual relationship. As far as is known, Hillary Clinton didnt throw herself in the way of her husbands attack dogs. She didnt speak out in defense of his accusers. She didnt resign as first lady. She remained doggedly loyal to her faithless husband often through gritted teeth. Does that make her an enabler? Suggesting, in effect, that Hillary Clinton had a duty to desert her husband is a pretty tough standard to demand of any spouse. Now, 20 years later, Clinton is pulling out the usual playbook: Insist that theres nothing here to see. Accuse your critics of partisanship (perfectly true, in this case). Argue that the campaign should focus on current problems, not old ones (also perfectly true). And warn your opponents that theyve chosen the wrong strategy. If [Trump] wants to engage in personal attacks from the past, thats his prerogative, she said Sunday. Its been fair game going back to the Republicans for some years. They can do it again if they want to. I think its a dead end, [a] blind alley for them. But Trump, whose record as a champion of women exists mostly in his imagination, shows no sign of relenting. I havent even started in on her yet, he bragged on Monday. And even if a more gentlemanly Republican wins the GOP nomination, conservative activists are certain to keep the questions alive. Because Hillary Clinton is a candidate, every part of her record qualifies as fair game. And if she continues to deploy her husband as a spokesman, his record is fair game, too. Sooner or later, Clinton needs to confront the past, talk about it and then try to move on. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Twitter: @doylemcmanus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Imagine that two Iranian naval vessels drifted into waters controlled by and near a United States naval base. Would the Americans salute the Iranians, thank them for stopping by, then send them on their way? Perhaps offer them a cup of hot chocolate? Apparently American hawks think that kid-glove treatment is the norm in such situations, and that anything less is a bona fide outrage, perhaps even a reason to rip up international agreements. Just before President Obama was set to deliver his final State of the Union address Tuesday, news came down that 10 American Navy crew members aboard two small boats somehow (we dont yet know the technical details) ended up in Iranian waters. The Iranians seized the boats and detained the sailors. Then, Wednesday morning, the Iranians released their hostages. Whats remarkable is not that the Iranians detained a few American sailors, but that they ended their detention so quickly. Advertisement Although that cant have been a pleasant experience for anyone involved, the truth is that the Iranians were well within their rights to act as they did, visited no harm on the Americans and quickly resolved the issue. Yet Washingtons Iran hawks who have fought Obamas groundbreaking diplomacy with the Islamic Republic tooth and nail didnt let the non-crisis go to waste. Within hours they were gleefully scoring points, using the incident to justify their opposition to the Iran deal and thumb their noses at Obamas naive trust in the Iranian government. Republican presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the action was provocative. No one should be surprised by Irans behavior today, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said, correctly, since seizing other countries military ships in ones territorial waters is entirely unsurprising. President Obama should communicate to the ayatollahs that unless they immediately release our sailors and boats, the United States will nullify the Iran nuclear deal and take all necessary measures to recover the service members theyve apprehended. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) offered the silliest advice, suggesting that Obama delay the State of the Union address to talk about exactly what happened. And the right-wing pro-Israel commentator Robert Satloff went for pure snark, tweeting: Sounds like our new friends arent so friendly. Naturally, no one could outdo GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who tweeted this gem after the Iranians released the sailors: Iran toys with U.S. days before we pay them, ridiculously, billions of dollars. Dont release money. We want our hostages back NOW! In their eagerness to malign a state that theyve always regarded as an enemy, and a nuclear deal theyve opposed from the get-go, Washingtons hawks missed the real story. Whats remarkable is not that the Iranians detained a few American sailors, but that they ended their detention so quickly. In 2007, 15 British sailors and marines were seized by Iranian authorities while conducting an inspection of a merchant ship in what the Iranians claimed were their territorial waters. It took Iran, then under the leadership of the hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 13 days to release the Britons. By contrast, Tuesdays incident under the leadership of moderate President Hassan Rouhani lasted less than 24 hours. If the Obama administration hadnt signed the nuclear deal with Iran, if it had maintained the George W. Bush administration status quo, Tuesdays mishap might well have been a repeat of 2007. The Bush administration barred high-level contacts with the Iranians, leading American military officials to express concern that precisely the type of incident that occurred Tuesday could spiral out of control. Weve not had a direct link of communication with Iran since 1979, Adm. Michael G. Mullen said in 2011. And I think that has planted many seeds for miscalculation. When you miscalculate, you can escalate and misunderstand. He added, Any channel would be terrific. Now we have a channel, and not just any channel. After news of the incident broke, Secretary of State John F. Kerry immediately called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whom he knows quite well. The men have established a rapport over two years of tough negotiations leading up to the nuclear deal. Its worth noting that the sailors were detained by Irans Revolutionary Guard, a redoubt of hard-line opposition to diplomacy with the West and which has shown a willingness to defy Rouhani in order to embarrass him. On this occasion, the guard corps chose a different course. Neoconservatives often bristle at the notion that our hard-liners and their Iranian counterparts seem to be working toward the same goal: namely, confrontation between our two nations. Returning to the imaginary scenario of Iranian boats drifting into an American naval base, one cant help but wonder, would our hard-liners have acted as sensibly as the Revolutionary Guard? Ali Gharib is a contributor to the Nation based in Brooklyn who writes about American foreign policy. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Could Be Extradited To Chicago By Mae Rice in News on Jan 12, 2016 9:00PM Ever since internationally infamous drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was captured in Mexico on Friday, seven U.S. jurisdictions have been vying to get him extradited to their turf. Chicago may have the strongest case of all against the head of the Sinaloa cartel, legal experts say. Guzman has been charged with organized crime, murder, and drug trafficking in New York, Chicago, and San Diego, among others. However, only in Chicago do prosecutors have undercover recordings of Guzman allegedly discussing his cartel, according to ABC 7. The Tribune agrees Chicago has a strong chance of getting Guzman, although they cite different reasons: [P]rosecutors in Chicago have more "live witnesses" who can take the stand and testify against him, according to Carl Pike, a former high-level official in the DEA. The son of one of Guzman's top lieutenants is in custody in Chicago and is cooperating with authorities. Vicente Zambada-Niebla pleaded guilty to intent to distribute multiple tons of cocaine and heroin in 2013, and his reported knowledge of Guzman's role could make a prosecution there more likely. In a testament to globalization, the Tribune also reports that Chicago officials have nicknamed Guzman Public Enemy No. 1which is how they once upon a time used to refer to Chicago gangster Al Capone. Mexican officials have already begun the process of extraditing Guzman to the US, according to ABC 7, and his exact destination here will be determined by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Guzman has escaped from prison twice before: once in 2001, and again in 2015. His most recent escape followed a long search for him, documented in painstaking detail in the New Yorker. More recently, Sean Penn wrote for Rolling Stone about a secret meeting with Guzman. The most shocking revelation of the article was Penn's own personal revelation that he does not know how to use a laptop. Crime rose dramatically in Los Angeles last year, according to Los Angeles Police Department data. Homicides were up 10%, shooting victims up 12.6%, and aggravated assaults up 27.5%, compared with 2014. Violent crime overall was up nearly 20%. Property crime increased more than 10%. Los Angeles crime victims are not alone, however. The citys crime increase is part of a nationwide trend. Homicides are up about 16% in the 60 largest U.S. cities, compared with 2014. Baltimores per capita killing rate is now the highest in its history. Shootings in Cincinnati were up 30% by mid-September 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. Homicides in St. Louis were up 60% by the end of August. Shootings in Chicago were up 17% and homicides up 15%. Sacramento had the bloodiest 12 months last year since 2008. The likeliest reason for the crime surge is what I and others call the Ferguson effect: Officers are backing off proactive policing, and criminals are emboldened. Advertisement This national crime increase is a reversal from the first half of 2014, when violent crime dropped nearly 5% across the country. Shootings and homicides nationwide began rising in the second half of the year, leaving 2014s violent crime tally a wash. The increase continued through 2015. In response, Atty Gen. Loretta Lynch convened an emergency meeting of 100 police chiefs, mayors and federal prosecutors in October 2015 to strategize about the growing violence. The likeliest reason for the crime surge is what I and others call the Ferguson effect: Officers are backing off proactive policing, and criminals are emboldened. Since the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014, the Black Lives Matter protest movement has routinely labeled cops murderers and bigots. Activists and politicians denounce pedestrian stops and public-order enforcement as racist. Arrests in urban neighborhoods have become dangerously fraught, with bystanders cursing at officers, throwing things at them, and sometimes interfering with their lawful authority. Cops worry that if they have to use force against a resisting suspect, an incomplete cellphone video that fails to convey the suspects resistance will put their careers in jeopardy. Official spokesmen deny that policing practices have changed, but there is evidence that cops are responding to this political and street pressure by doing less of the discretionary policing that has come under such fire. An officer who works on Los Angeles Westside told me recently: The topic of Ferguson has been heavily discussed [among cops]. Its had a chilling effect in terms of how line officers perceive their work and how aggressively they approach it. Veteran officers say they now let a lot of things slide that they would not have in the past. An officer from South Los Angeles reported: Gang members are emboldened by what is happening. Theyre constantly putting phones in our faces, and yelling racial epithets. At some point, especially at night, that phone will be a gun. L.A. officers are advising one another that its crazy to get out of their cars, unless its a 911 call, another cop said. Arrests in Los Angeles were down more than 9% in 2015 compared with 2014, and down 17% compared with 2013. Arrests decreased further in police divisions where tensions run particularly high. In the Newton Division, arrests are down 13% compared with 2014 and down nearly 28% compared with 2013. Newton was where Ezell Ford was killed by Los Angeles Police Department officers in August 2014 after Ford tried to grab an officers gun. Homicides in Newton rose 80% in 2015, violent crime was up 25%, and shooting victims, up 31%. FBI Director James Comey has seconded the Ferguson effect, influenced by conversations with police chiefs and officers across the country. Officers in one big-city precinct described being surrounded and taunted the moment they get out of their cars, Comey said in a speech in October. They told me, We feel like were under siege. Comey concluded: The chill wind blowing through American law enforcement is surely changing behavior. Californias Proposition 47 is probably contributing as well to the states crime increase. That ballot measure, which went into effect in 2015, downgraded many property and drug felonies to misdemeanors. Criminals are doing a fraction of the time they once were, if they are being arrested at all. But reaction to anti-cop vitriol is the biggest driver of the crime increase in Los Angeles and nationally. None of the factors usually blamed for crime poverty, income inequality, the availability of illegal guns have significantly worsened over the last year and a half. The one thing that has changed is the relentless, virulent discourse about the police. Clearly theres a war on the police, a cop who works in Los Angeles most gang-infested areas told me. Physically, its perpetrated by gang members. But theres also a political war. We cant win that war; citizens will have to. Police departments must relentlessly reinforce an officers obligation to treat everyone with courtesy and respect. They must also drill incessantly on tactics to de-escalate confrontations. Every police killing of an innocent, unarmed civilian is a stomach-churning tragedy. But the number of such police victims is a minute fraction of the people, the majority black, killed by criminals each year. Contrary to the claims of the Black Lives Matter movement, the police are the one government agency most dedicated to the proposition that black lives matter. When the police back off, its inner-city residents who suffer the most. Unless the discourse around policing changes, more black lives will be lost to gun violence. Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of Are Cops Racist? Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook President Obama had one clear, consistent message in his State of the Union address Tuesday evening: Things arent as bad as you think they are. At least, not nearly as bad as Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates claim. For months, Obama has listened to a relentless drumbeat of GOP laments over the state of the nation: a failing economy, a doomed healthcare law, a string of defeats in foreign policy in Republicans view, anyway. Advertisement Obamas recurring theme in his speech was: balderdash. On the economy, technology, foreign policy -- and even the prospects for a more conciliatory bipartisan political sphere the president declared himself an undaunted optimist. The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world, he said. Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. He cited a string of heartening statistics: a long streak of private-sector job creation, more than 14 million new jobs since 2009, unemployment at 5%. Yes, he acknowledged, wages have been flat, young people have had a hard time launching their careers, and low-income families have been stuck in poverty. But still, not as bad as many people claim. On foreign policy, too, Republican claims that the United States is getting weaker amount to political hot air, Obama said. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth, period, he said. When it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead; they call us. The war against the terrorists of Islamic State is slowly making progress, he asserted: We are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, their vicious ideology. Still, Obama warned, it will take a long time to stabilize the Middle East, which he said is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia. (Thats a very long time.) Finally, the president turned to American politics the most difficult problem of all. The future we want . will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates, he said. Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get all the attention. In a rare admission, he said he was disappointed that he failed to come anywhere near achieving his 2008 goal of bridging partisan political gaps. Its one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better, Obama said. But to heal that breach, he said, requires more than just the efforts of a president. If we want a better politics, he said, its not enough to just change a congressman or a senator or even change a president; we have to change the system to reflect our better selves. Heres a shorter version of Obamas message: Lower your expectations. The president who, when he won his partys nomination of 2008, said this might be the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal that president is older and wiser now. After seven years of work, he knows he may have to be satisfied when he leaves office with a sluggish economic recovery, a not fully rooted healthcare law and a foreign policy that still faces a generations work of challenges. And if he had any doubts, all he needed to do was glance at the Twitter feed from the office of the man sitting behind him, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), transmitting critiques before Obama even finished: For too many, the American dream is slipping. Nothing theyve heard tonight is very reassuring. A weak economy, a collapsing health care law, and a job-killing energy agenda. Also: The presidents foreign policy is a disaster. @doylemcmanus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Its difficult to understand all the noise about Sean Penns Rolling Stone interview with since-captured Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. If the same column had been written by a CNN or Fox News reporter, would it have provoked the same criticisms? (For Sean Penn, El Chapo meeting is the latest turn in a complex career, Jan. 10) Penn asked some fairly pointed questions, certainly better than most asked in the presidential debates. Guzman seemed to answer with unapologetic honesty. As to Penns activism, it was hardly liberal for Penn to use his celebrity to call attention to those made homeless by the earthquake in Haiti any more than it was liberal for Fox News reporters to ask where was the government in New Orleans during the flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Advertisement I for one applaud Penns efforts and his revealing column, which wasnt self-serving for Penn or his subject. Michael Solomon, Canoga Park .. To the editor: Going down to Mexico to interview a man who has tormented and viciously ended countless lives so that we Americans can know just how messed up our own government is when it comes to really dealing with the supply and demand of the drug market is, in my opinion, pointless. Penn accomplished basically nothing, largely because he didnt really break any new ground with his interview. He didnt reveal anything most of us didnt already know. And what was Penn hoping would come of it? Forgiveness for Mexican drug lords because they sate an American appetite? Does he want us to prosecute American officials for being hypocrites? Does Penn himself know what he wants? This was all about Penn. He ought to grow up hell make a fine adult someday. Arthur G. Saginian, Santa Clarita .. To the editor: There are many reasons, cited by journalism experts, not to read Penns Rolling Stone interview with Guzman. They say his writing isnt good and that his ego gets in the way of good journalism. Also, the editors at Rolling Stone didnt do their job by allowing Penns subject to approve the article before he went ahead with it. These are all excellent and compelling reasons not to bother reading this highly publicized interview. My reason for not reading it is quite different. Im not the least bit interested in reading an article that glorifies a drug kingpin and murderer whose business ruins and takes the lives of others. Susan Schless, Northridge .. To the editor: In some ways, Penn is much like the daring young man on the flying trapeze. But by risking his own life to interview Guzman while on the lam after his second prison escape and get the story of a lifetime, in my opinion Penn has demonstrated true grit. JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Fla. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook President Obama used his last State of the Union address to push for national voting reforms and went off script to specifically call for bipartisan groups to draw new congressional districts instead of lawmakers. I think weve got to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters and not the other way around, he said before veering from his prepared remarks to add: Let a bipartisan group do it. In recent days, aides to the president had said he was concerned about gerrymandering, the flood of money in politics and other barriers to voter participation. Advertisement In his speech, Obama declared that he plans to agitate for change, including reducing the influence of money so that a handful of families or hidden interests cant bankroll our elections. Obama did not specify how to institute such measures - but he promised to hit the campaign trail to promote them. This is America. We want to make it easier for people to participate, Obama said. And over the course of this year, I intend to travel the country to push for reforms that do just that. In most states, legislators have control over the drawing of congressional districts, often leading to poltically safe districts that protect incumbents. That is a problem for Democrats, who have seen a thinning in their ranks in state legislatures around the country. Democrats in 2015 controlled 919 fewer state legislative seats than they did in 2009, according to an analysis of National Conference of State Legislatures data by the Pew Research center. Democrats control both legislative chambers in just 11 states, down from 34 states in 1982 and 27 as recently as 2010, though that number had fluctuated in the years in between, Pew reported last year. Six states, including California and Arizona, have a commission with primary responsibility for drawing a plan for congressional districts, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Five other states have an advisory commission that may assist the legislature with drawing the district lines. Redistricting expert Paul Mitchell said Obamas line echoed calls by California Republicans a decade ago when they were pushing for a citizens redistricting commission to draw boundaries, instead of the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Voters approved that measure, and the commission drew new lines in 2011. Mitchell said the nonpartisan citizens group succeeded in creating districts that prioritized keeping federally protected groups of minority voters together instead of crafting safe districts. He pointed to the new 29th Congressional District in the San Fernando Valley, drawn to avoid breaking apart a heavily Latino population. Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) became the Valleys first Latino representative, while white incumbents Brad Sherman and Howard Berman were forced to run against each other in an adjoining district. (Sherman prevailed.) The citizens commission also shifted the lines in a way that made more seats competitive, including those held by Democratic Reps. Ami Bera of Elk Grove and Scott Peters of San Diego. Traditionally, Californias Democratic-controlled Legislature would have drawn contorted districts to make the seats safe for the party. More states, including Illinois, where Obama got his start in politics, are considering switching to commissions. When you strip away the politics and have it be in a nonpartisan setting, the district lines that get drawn are pretty good, Mitchell said. I can see there being a space and time right now for this kind of redistricting reform to catch hold. Times staff writer Christi Parsons contributed to this report. Follow @jpanzar For more, go to latimes.com/politics. ALSO: State of the Union full coverage: Obama says I believe in change because I believe in you Looking to the future in his last State of the Union, Obama rekindles a familiar refrain: Hope Analysis: California GOP benefits from redistricting decision as bigger case looms Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento bureau chief John Myers, todays Essential Politics host. The big show in politics may be in Washington, D.C., tonight as President Barack Obama delivers his final State of the Union address, but theres also plenty going on here at home. In fact, you could make an argument that two key words "state" and "union" are a pretty good theme for whats making political news in California. STATE OF THE UNION: THE OBAMA ORATORY First, though, a quick look at what to expect out of tonights speech, which is slated to begin just after 6 p.m. here in California. Start here, with five things to watch as Obama makes his way to the dais. The relatively early State of the Union date is a reflection of the campaign to succeed Obama, and his desire to not be overshadowed by a frenzy thats not just three weeks from the Iowa. Nonetheless, the president and his team see a rare opportunity to not just be part of the 2016 debate but to set its terms, as Mike Memoli and Christi Parsons report. The president is looking to sound an optimistic note, but at the same time, hell highlight the gun violence he has called an epidemic over course of his time in office. And the most recent example of that, the San Bernardino shootings on Dec. 2, will be front and center. Californias congressional delegation will showcase hometown heroes who were the first responders to the attack. Sarah Wire reports that several lawmakers gave up House gallery tickets for their own constituents to view the speech in person so that Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) could bring more of his own community members to Capitol Hill. Meantime, France train attack hero and Sacramento native Spencer Stone will be among those in attendance at the State of the Union, from the gallery box of First Lady Michelle Obama. Stone was one of three Americans, and two Sacramentans, who helped thwart an attack by a gunman on a Paris-bound train last August. Two months later, he was stabbed outside a popular nightclub in downtown Sacramento but survived. Well also be looking at whom Obama selects as the designated member of his Cabinet to wait out the address in an undisclosed location, a survivor for succession to the presidency in the event of a catastrophe. Did you know there have been only two female designated survivors in recorded State of the Union history? Colleen Shalby explains that statistic and runs through Obamas choices over the years in a (somewhat macabre) trip down memory lane. JOIN US FOR LIVE COVERAGE You can watch the address on our site and well be running a liveblog with analysis and reaction from inside the House chamber. Find both of these on our politics page before the speech gets started. And whats a major political event without an LA Times bingo card? Subscribers to this newsletter will get an email with the bingo card Tuesday afternoon. OK, back to our "state" and "union" theme stretching beyond the big speech. THE STATE OF THE (TEACHERS) UNION: ONE OF CONCERN? Its hard to find a bigger political power in this state than the California Teachers Assn. over the past decade. With more than 325,000 dues-paying members, the CTA has an impressive record of victories from ballot measures to legislative races and beyond. But an apparent majority of the U.S. Supreme Court sounded skeptical on Monday of the unions power to collect millions of dollars in dues. David Savage reports that on the subject of free speech, Justice Anthony Kennedy the lone Californian called it "coerced speech." Should the teachers union lose the case, dont expect it to simply fade from the political scene. In fact, there have been months of quiet discussions at the state Capitol about finding a way that the CTA could continue to keep its membership strong and its coffers filled. No doubt those discussions will grow louder by the month, as the nine justices begin to deliberate on Friedrichs v. California later this year. A STRONG UNION OF LEGISLATORS PICKS A NEW SPEAKER For 55 more days, well need to use the term "Speaker-elect" when referring to Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), who was formally chosen by a unanimous vote on Monday to be the 70th speaker of the Assembly. "We have the work of creating a better California," said Rendon in his remarks on the Assembly floor. It should be noted that the idea of a leader-in-waiting is a relatively new phenomenon in Sacramento. As Melanie Mason reports, Rendon was a little vague on Monday in what his role will be during these last few weeks of leadership by Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). Also notable: Republicans did not cast votes for their own leader, Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley). In fact, Mayes rose to co-sponsor Rendons formal nomination, saying its "time to start anew with bipartisanship." SOMETHING IN THE AIR, LEGISLATIVELY, AFTER PORTER RANCH Legislators at the state Capitol will soon be considering proposals inspired by the ongoing saga of the natural gas leak near the Porter Ranch community in Los Angeles. Alice Walton reports that state Sen. Fran Pavley wants older natural gas wells operated by Southern California Gas Co. at nearby Aliso Canyon shut down until state officials can verify that they dont pose a risk to public health. Senate Democrats were in the community Monday to unveil a package of bills, just days after a visit by Gov. Jerry Brown. Nearby residents have been battling the odor of leaking natural gas for weeks. CARBAJAL BOASTS BIG BUCKS IN CENTRAL COAST RACE Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal has kept up a prodigious pace of fundraising in his race for Congress from the Central Coast. The Democrat running for Californias 24th district will report Tuesday that hes raised nearly $1.4 million in 2015, including $346,000 in the last quarter. The campaign reports that it has $969,000 in cash on hand five months before the primary. Carbajal was leading the money race as of the last quarterly filings, outpacing Republican businessman Justin Fareed and fellow Democrat Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider. The 24th could be one of 2016s most interesting races, given its a district almost evenly split among registered voters: 37% Democratic, 34% Republican and more than 23% of voters unaffiliated. TODAYS ESSENTIALS -- Christine Mai-Duc takes a look at the curious state Capitol debate over whether a "ballot selfie" should be legal. (Hint: Once you mark the ballot, its now a no-no!) -- Chris Megerian covered the Democrats' Black and Brown Forum in Iowa, where the contenders stepped up their attacks ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses. -- Days after national headlines called Heidi Cruz, wife of Sen. Ted Cruz, his "secret weapon" in the race for the White House, she somewhat secretly popped in to Orange County on Monday for an event with GOP insiders. -- Patrick McGreevy reports a former state official who later went to work for Kaiser Permanente has agreed to a fine after both working on an audit of Kaiser while a state employee ... then helping Kaiser respond to the audit once she changed jobs. -- The National Republican Congressional Committee has jumped on the backlash over actor Sean Penns Rolling Stone interview of the drug kingpin known as "El Chapo", saying in a Monday news release that Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert) should take the $17,600 his campaigns have received from Penn since 2011 and donate it to local heroin treatment clinics. LOGISTICS Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. About 80 parents, students and community members gathered in the John Burroughs High School library Monday evening to hear local residents Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo share their experience as plaintiffs in the case that struck down Proposition 8. The couple were married at Los Angeles City Hall on June 28, 2013, less than three hours after the statewide ban on same-sex marriage was lifted. Since then, Katami and Zarrillo have made the rounds to many cities to share their story, all the while returning home to Burbank. For this visit they drove less than 2 miles from their home in the Magnolia Park neighborhood to Burroughs, where the Junior State of America club hosted them after accepting an invitation to speak from school board member Steve Ferguson. Their fight wasnt all about marriage, Katami said. It was about, Lets treat each other with fairness, he said. Lets honor liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Lets honor equality under the law for all of us. And that was an affirmation not of marriage equality. It was an affirmation simply being an American and being treated equal. One student asked what advice the couple has for teens who are trying to come out, but might not have family support. Zarrillo, who grew up in New Jersey, said he received nothing but love and support, from his parents when he came out at age 30. But in San Francisco, where Katami was raised, his own brother struggled with Katamis sexuality, and their relationship remains strained. Regardless of what you think you should do, sometimes you need to look in the other direction, and theres going to be a sea of people that will help you, that will be a new family, a new set of friends or whatever it might be, he said. Sometimes that battle is rewarding because the person comes around, but sometimes, its not, but it shouldnt be about you. Its not about you. John Burroughs High senior Joseph Martinez, a self-described ally of LGBTQ friends, was inspired. Theyre model heroes that I finally got to take a picture with, he said. Many of the students were not yet 10 years old in 2008 when voters approved Prop. 8. Today, they belong to a school district that is making significant strides in supporting equality measures and inclusiveness. Last year, a Burbank Council PTA resolution, which was approved at the California PTA convention, supported clear standards for sexual health education and learning materials acknowledging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students and those who are still exploring their sexual identities. The resolution was initiated by former Burroughs student Brian Kaplun, and its potential passage at the National PTA convention later this year could allow lawmakers to refer to the document, should they want to introduce legislation or new curriculum on the health standards. Burbank school board member Roberta Reynolds and Burbank Council PTA President Steve Frintner belong to a new team of parents and community members who are working to establish a local chapter of PFLAG, a group that strives to support LGBTQ youth. The group plans to host its first meeting in Burbank in February. Some who attended the Burroughs talk asked what more they could do to support LGBTQ equality, an area that needs greater improvement. Understanding how to change hearts and minds through your stories and your vote, is really, really important, Zarrillo said, adding that efforts to get ordinances passed at county and state levels to prohibit discrimination are key. Most people dont know that in over 30 states, you could be fired for being gay, Katami added. You could be kicked out of your home for being gay. You cannot have the right to education for being gay or LGBTQ. That is the next struggle for us. Fifty-five-year-old Burbank resident Rick Larimore only wanted to express his gratitude. That was a brave, brave thing, he told the couple. Larimore admitted nervousness when he and his partner moved to Burbank from West Hollywood in 2000. But shortly after the move, their neighbors stopped by to deliver a plate of brownies, a gesture that put him at ease. What it was, was a big plate of welcome, Larimore said. It wasnt always that way for the couple who helped make history. On Katami and Zarrillos street, a neighbor installed numerous Yes on Prop. 8" yard signs in 2008. Even so, that same man may be coming around after years of turning away upon seeing the couple. Four months ago, while Katami and Zarrillo were out for their regular nightly jog, the men came face-to-face, Zarillo recalled. The neighbor finally said hello. -- Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan The suicide bombing in Istanbuls Sultanahmet Square on Tuesday that killed 10 people may make some travelers wary about going to Turkey right now. So what are your options? If you bought travel insurance before the attack, you may be able to cancel an upcoming trip because the U.S. State Department called the bombing a terrorist attack, according to online travel insurance website Squaremouth. Most trip cancellation policies include terrorism coverage for your safety, but an attack must meet the policys definition. Advertisement "[T]ravel insurance policies typically require that the terrorist attack occur in or near a city on their itinerary, and occur within 7-30 days of the their departure date, Squaremouth says in a statement. The State Department on Tuesday said it strongly condemns the terrorist attack today in Sultanahmet Square. The agency on Sept. 3 warned Americans visiting or living in Turkey to steer clear of southeastern Turkey, which is close to the countrys border with Syria. The action was linked to military operations in the area. No further warnings or alerts were issued Tuesday. But back to travel insurance. If youre just afraid to go, that alone isnt something that would be covered in Trip Cancellation policy, Squaremouth says. You would have to have Cancel For Any Reason coverage, and you would have to have purchased the policy 14 to 30 days before your first trip deposit or payment. Cancel For Any Reason will only reimburse up to 75% of trip costs, and travelers must cancel within at least 2-3 days of their departure date, Squaremouth says. For more information, go to the websites Istanbul Bombing and Travel Insurance Information Center. In Tuesdays attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Sultanahmet Square where tourists gather to see the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Ten people, mostly German tourists, were killed and more than a dozen others were injured. Turkey has blamed the attack on the Islamic State. ALSO Turkey blames Islamic State for deadly blast in the heart of Istanbuls tourist area Is travel insurance worth it? Seven things to consider Before you think about buying travel insurance, consider these four questions A suicide bombing near the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan on Wednesday left at least seven Afghan security forces dead and seven others injured. The Afghan interior ministry said a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near the entrance to the consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Gunmen tried to storm the compound before launching a nearly four-hour-long attack from an adjacent building, described by the interior ministry as an empty guesthouse. Advertisement The headmaster of a nearby school that provides vocational training to youth and women said the bombing occurred just before 9 a.m. We heard a loud explosion and immediately closed the doors. We are still in the process of trying to account for all the students, the headmaster said. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> The interior ministry confirmed that two gunmen were fatally shot after an hours-long gun battle with security forces. Although witnesses said the attackers tried to enter the Pakistani consulate, Javid Faisal, a spokesman for Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, said the guesthouse, an abandoned government facility, was the target. Militants loyal to the Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for the blast, according to Reuters. The group is believed to have a growing number of adherents among militants in eastern Afghanistan who have broken with the Taliban in recent months. Afghan media quoted local officials as saying at least two civilians were injured, but hospital officials did not immediately confirm the reports. The bombing came 10 days after assailants attacked the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. A 20-hour battle left at least one member of the Afghan security forces dead and five injured. Although winter has typically seen lower levels of violence during the 14-year conflict in Afghanistan, insurgents, including the Taliban, have mounted several attacks in recent weeks against Afghan security forces, international officials and civilians. According to the United Nations, in the first four days of the year, the Taliban claimed responsibility for three attacks in Kabul that killed at least nine people and injured more than 50 others. The violence has continued despite a renewed push by Afghanistan, Pakistan, the U.S. and China to begin peace talks with the Taliban. Officials from the four countries met in Pakistan this week, although Taliban representatives were not present and many insurgent commanders are said to oppose negotiating with the Kabul government, particularly while the group is showing continued military strength. Latifi is a special correspondent. ALSO: It will destroy the tourism here -- reactions to the Istanbul bombing Iranian officials say they have questioned detained U.S. sailors China detains Swedish human rights worker on suspicion of endangering state security Chinese authorities detained a Swedish human rights worker this month on suspicion of endangering state security, his organization said, marking a rare detention of a foreigner amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent. The nonprofit Chinese Urgent Action Working Group said in a statement this week that Peter Dahlin, a Swedish national and long-term Beijing resident, went missing en route to Beijings main airport sometime after 9 p.m. Jan. 3, when he was scheduled to fly to Thailand. His girlfriend, a Chinese woman, is also missing. Dahlin, 35, founded the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, a small operation that provided training programs for rural barefoot lawyers who defend victims of perceived rights abuses ranging from demolition and eviction to arbitrary detention, the statement said. Advertisement Dahlin appears to have been caught up in a recent crackdown on all forms of dissent overseen by Chinese authorities. In recent years under leader Xi Jinping, authorities have detained hundreds of human rights lawyers, labor activists, bloggers and nonprofit workers for nonviolent acts of protest that were for many years tolerated or overlooked. This is as astonishing as it is desperate, Lionel Jensen, associate professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Notre Dame, said in an email. However, this action is just the most recent in an extra-legal or illegal pattern of apprehending civil rights lawyers whose success in laboring in the courts against the governments routine, flippant violation of law must be met with incarceration. The organization said Dahlin suffers from Addisons disease, a rare defect of the adrenal gland, which is potentially life-threatening unless properly medicated daily. The statement also said authorities have issued a verbal assurance that Dahlin has been allowed to take his medications, but have kept him in a secret location and denied him consular visits. That the authorities have continued to conceal Peters whereabouts could amount to an enforced disappearance, a violation of international law, it said. Sebastian Magnusson, spokesman for the Swedish Embassy, said Wednesday that a Swedish citizen, a man in his mid-30s, is detained in China. He added that the embassy in China is investigating the matter, without giving further details. Beijing plans to soon pass a sweeping Foreign NGO Management Law, which critics say will severely restrict such nongovernment organizations ability to operate in the country. It seems that the thinking behind [the law] is consistent with this case, in which they see foreign civil society as a threat to national security and the public interest, said William Nee, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Amnesty International. Nee said China has expelled a handful of foreigners in recent years for their work with Chinese human rights advocates. The police never explicitly, or formally, brought any charges against them, not to mention charges of endangering state security, he said. I definitely think this case is different in that regard. In the last week, authorities have also arrested four Chinese human rights activists on the charge of subverting state power, which carries a potential life sentence, rights groups reported; they have been in custody since last summer. South Korea on Wednesday fired 20 machine-gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed the rivals border, officials said -- the first shots fired in a Cold War-style standoff between the Koreas in the wake of the Norths nuclear test last week. The North Korean drone was flying dozens of yards south of the border and turned back to the North after the South forces fired the shots, South Korean defense and military officials said, requesting anonymity because of office rules. The shots did not hit the drone. North Korean drone flights across the worlds most heavily armed border are rare, but have happened before. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014, Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but were still considered a potential new security threat. Animosity has been high since the Norths claim on Jan. 6 that it had tested a hydrogen bomb. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. Seoul said Wednesday that North Korea had also flown balloons with thousands of leaflets across the border, some of them describing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her government as mad dogs. North Koreas propaganda machine is using the nuclear test to glorify Kims leadership and describing it as a necessary step to fight against what it calls a U.S.-led attempt to overthrow the Norths system. Pyongyangs state TV on Wednesday aired photos showing a smiling Kim awarding commendations to scientists and other workers involved in the test and shaking hands with them at a Workers Party building. Kim called the scientists and workers nuclear combatants and the heroes of heroes who evoked fears in the U.S. and its allies, according to the state news agency. Park on Wednesday urged North Koreas only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test with what she called the strongest possible international sanctions that can force change in the North. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the Norths diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, are seen as key. Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner, Park said at a news conference, referring to China and South Koreas need to punish the North. I trust that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role. Beijing has recently shown signs that it is losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocations. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean peninsula. Responding to the Norths test, U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry has urged China to end business as usual with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart last Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment against the North. Top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan met in Seoul later Wednesday to discuss sanctions against the North. On Thursday, South Koreas nuclear envoy is to fly to Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart, according to Seouls Foreign Ministry. Park said Wednesday that South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool. She said past broadcasts helped front-line North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyangs authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth, she said. The North Koreans leaflets found earlier Wednesday included such messages as Lets knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs, and The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea. Similar North Korean propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korean border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Still, such leafleting by the North is rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border. ALSO Pentagon: 2 Navy boats, 10 sailors held by Iran but will be returned Iran is on track to meet its nuclear deadline, but skeptics abound Germany moves to make it easier to deport migrants who commit crimes Owners Of Burned-Down Nuevo Leon Open New Restaurant Nearby By Rachel Cromidas in Food on Jan 12, 2016 9:39PM Nuevo Leon. via Gregory Wass Just weeks after an extra-alarm fire effectively destroyed Nuevo Leon, a popular, decades-old Pilsen restaurant, the owners have opened a new restaurant nearby. Canton Regio opened at 1510 W. 18th St. right across the street from Nuevo Leon's building, on Friday, according to Eater. Canton's menu is a different concept from Nuevo Leon, the owners said in a Facebook post. A picture of the menu says that only people who know the history and tradition of Mexican cuisine will be able to fully appreciate Canton Regio. The menu features brochetas, a.k.a. skewers, a number of chicken and steak dishes, and a house special called Machacado con huevo, which refers to a dish typically made with beef and scrambled eggs. As Eater points out, the GoFundMe campaign to raise money in the wake of Nuevo Leon's destruction has been taken down. The restaurant had insurance, its owners told reporters last month, but they were raising money to make sure their employees would not suffer from being unexpectedly out of work. Taiwan native Kenneth Wang was not yet 3 years old when the secret police came for his father in 1947. Educated at prestigious Tokyo University, Wang Yu-lin was the first Taiwanese to serve as a district attorney during Japans colonial rule. But that made him a marked man in Taiwan after the end of World War II when Chinas Nationalist-led government took control of the island and began a bloody campaign of terror and repression against scholars, physicians and other elites. Historians estimate 10,000 to 30,000 people died. My mother went to ask for his body. They denied they had even taken him, recalled Kenneth Wang, who moved to the United States in the 1960s and now lives in San Diego. We never found out where he was. Advertisement On Tuesday afternoon, Wang stood by the roadside in Lukang, a small township in western Taiwan, wearing a chartreuse windbreaker and a wide smile of anticipation as he waited to cheer on presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen as she passed by in her campaign Jeep. Tsais Democratic Progressive Party is poised not only to win the presidency in Saturdays election, but also is likely to sweep the Nationalists, also known as the KMT, and their allies out of control of parliament for the first time since Taiwans modern political era began in 1949. Seventy years its been a long struggle, said Wang, who has a doctorate in electrical engineering and also invests in real estate. Finally, we are going to overcome the KMT. Wang and about 100 other Californians make up the bulk of a 160-member entourage of people born in Taiwan called Friends of Tsai Overseas who have paid their own way back this week not only to cast ballots the island has no absentee voter system but also to witness a change of power they see as a critical step in cementing Taiwans democracy. For Wang and many of the others, the political journey is intensely personal. My dad was an [anti-KMT] activist in the 1980s, and he received threats some that even mentioned me, my middle school, the route I took, recalled Wendy Yang, a 39-year-old attorney who practices in Rosemead and joined the tour with her mother. He sent us away for our own safety. That was 1992. You would think our democracy movement would have taken off by then, but it was not fully matured. As American as shes become over the last quarter-century, says Yang, I cant stay away from Taiwan. That tie is always there. *** The boisterous theatrics of Taiwanese campaign rallies think lion dancers and men pounding traditional drums, but also stilt-walkers, pyrotechnics and even giant inflatable spiders can make it easy to forget that the island held its first direct presidential election in 1996, after the end of nearly four decades of martial law. The DPPs rally Tuesday evening at a park in Yuanlin City had a vibe that was part rock concert, part religious revival. Wang, Yang and the rest of their green-jacket contingent arrived on five buses and got prime seating near the stage. Simon Lin, an anesthesiologist at Whittier Hospital, bounced about giddily with his Canon EOS 7D with a 200-millimeter lens, snapping photos of speechifying candidates and flag-waving DPP supporters. When 20 members of his delegation were invited onstage for some official recognition, Lin clambered on top of a purple plastic stool to capture the moment. Both Tsai and the KMT presidential candidate, Eric Chu, visited Southern California last year to drum up support among Taiwanese expatriates. Taiwanese airlines offer deals for election week, but because of the distance and the expense, only some overseas Taiwanese are able to make the journey home to vote. About 2,900 cast ballots in the 2000 election, when the DPP won control of the presidency for the first time. In 2004, that number more than doubled, to 6,300. But since then, participation has been dropping off. This year, only 2,317 overseas Taiwanese successfully registered, and maybe 1,500 will actually vote. KMT supporter Jean Ho, 62, a retired travel agent from Alhambra, has been voting in Taiwanese elections since 2000. The KMT has helped Taiwan become what it is, said Ho, though she added that Chus poor polling numbers have discouraged some of her KMT supporter friends from making the trip this time. But shes not giving up. We have to persevere. We dont know how its going to end yet, Ho said. If you fly back to Taiwan right now, the planes are all full of voters. Although the number of returnee voters in Taiwan has been waning, political leaders say they still play an outsize role in the last critical days of the campaign. Since arriving last weekend, Yangs group has been attending two to three campaign events daily, in cities including Kaohsiung and Tainan. These people who manage to do well in the U.S. or Canada, theyre outstanding people; theyre exemplary people. When they return to their hometowns, their support carries extra weight, said Lai Ching-te, mayor of Tainan, one of Taiwans largest cities. Many of their family members back the candidates they vouch for. But beyond their role as opinion leaders, the returnees are also a welcome source of donations and pure hustle. On Tuesday afternoon, when Tsai showed up in sleepy Lukang to help boost her partys local parliamentary candidate, the film director Chen Wen-bin, the streets were hardly thronged with people. As Chen and Tsai set off in a caravan including a loudspeaker truck, rolling past pineapple vendors, women shucking oysters and roadside temples swirled in the smoke of smoldering incense, the overseas returnees sprang into action. They deployed at key intersections across the city, enthusiastically waving flags and unfurling green banners as the motorcade passed, giving the dozen or so photographers atop a media truck something lively to shoot. When the procession came to an end, they massed in a vacant lot and led some throaty victory cheers. Dong suan! they chanted. Get elected! When I see all these overseas Taiwanese coming back, its like a big family reuniting, said Chen, the parliamentary candidate. He says if his party is able to capture control of the legislature, it will presage a historical shift for Taiwan, whose political status has been mired in ambiguity for decades. After Chinas civil war ended in 1949, leaving the Communists in control of the mainland and the Nationalists ruling on Taiwan, each side insisted it was the rightful ruler of all of China. For decades, Washington was a close ally of Taiwans KMT-run government, valuing it as an anti-red bulwark and largely turning a blind eye to the partys excesses. Until the late 1970s, the U.S. and many other Western countries had formal diplomatic relations with Taipei, but not Beijing. That situation has reversed as Chinas communist leaders have used the nations growing economic clout to press many countries to cut ties with Taipei; Taiwan is excluded from the United Nations. Beijing continues to insist that Taiwan and the mainland are part of one China and must be reunited some day. But many Taiwanese especially younger voters who are a key base of DPP supporters reject that notion. They say they yearn for more than de facto independence, and want to be a normal country. Chen said he hopes overseas Taiwanese can play the role of ambassadors when they go back home, lobbying for Taiwan with their own countrys elected representatives especially in the U.S., which remains a key military and political ally of the island. Starting this year, Taiwan is going to take some steps toward normal statehood, predicted Chen. These overseas Taiwanese can witness this election, this important moment. But they can also take our message back to their home countries and home media, he said, to explain Taiwans need for democracy and need for international support. Times staff writer Frank Shyong in Los Angeles and Yingzhi Yang in The Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report. The suicide attacker who detonated a bomb that killed 10 German tourists in the heart of Istanbuls historic district had registered as a refugee just a week earlier, Turkish officials said Wednesday, raising questions over whether extremists are posing as asylum-seekers to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe. Turkish authorities identified the assailant in Tuesdays attack as a Syrian man who was born in 1988 and said he was affiliated with the Islamic State group. Turkish media, including some close to the government, identified him as Nabil Fadli and said he was Saudi-born. The extremist group has not claimed the attack. Meanwhile, Turkish police arrested five people suspected of direct links to the bombing, which took place just steps from the historic Blue Mosque in Istanbuls storied Sultanahmet district. The suspects were not identified. Advertisement Join the conversation on Facebook >> The bomber recently had entered Turkey, authorities said, and Interior Minister Efkan Ala confirmed reports he had registered with an Istanbul branch of the Migration Management Authority, providing fingerprints that allowed officials to quickly identify him. Ala said the bomber wasnt on any Turkish or international watch lists for Islamic State militants. This person was not someone who was being monitored, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. It is a person who entered normally, as a refugee, as an asylum-seeker. The attack wounded 15 people, including nine Germans and citizens of Norway, Peru and South Korea. Six of the victims remained hospitalized Wednesday. Although not as deadly as two attacks in Turkey last year that were blamed on Islamic State, Tuesdays bombing had heightened resonance because it struck at Turkeys $30-billion tourism industry, which already has suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. See the most-read stories this hour >> The fact that the bomber had registered as a Syrian refugee suggests central planning by Islamic State leaders, either to cover their tracks or provoke a backlash in Europe against legitimate Syrian asylum-seekers, said Firas Abi Ali, an analyst with the security consultancy IHS Country Risk. It seems to make it less likely this was anything but a centrally commanded operation by the Islamic State, he said. MORE FROM WORLD Prosecutors in these seven U.S. courtrooms want El Chapo It will destroy the tourism here -- reactions to the Istanbul bombing Pawns for Tehran? A look at the Americans being held prisoner in Iran Iran has complied with a landmark arms control agreement and is only days away from dismantling enough of its nuclear infrastructure so the United Nations can begin easing international economic sanctions, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday, even as critics warn that Iran is stirring turmoil across the region. Speaking at the National Defense University, Kerry said that Iranian technicians had removed the core of the plutonium-producing heavy water reactor at Arak, and that the reactor would be filled with cement and destroyed in the next hours. Once that and other final steps are confirmed, the U.N. Security Council is obligated to start lifting the international sanctions that have crippled Irans economy. The government in Tehran will quickly gain access to more than $50 billion in frozen assets and oil revenue, mostly held in Asian banks. Advertisement Kerry said that the so-called implementation day is going to take place very soon, likely within the next coming days somewhere. Although the terms of the accord have been public since the deal was signed in July, the return of tens of billions of dollars to Iran is especially awkward for the White House, which considers the disarmament deal a signature foreign policy achievement for President Obama and is eager to see it succeed. Critics say the White House is too eager, especially given the uncertain Middle Eastern political landscape on which the deal is playing out. In the latest incident, Irans coast guard detained 10 U.S. sailors Tuesday after their riverine boats apparently strayed into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. The Americans and their vessels were released without harm early Wednesday, and its still unclear whether the U.S. military personnel were rescued or captured. A senior State Department official said Wednesday that Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke by phone at least five times Tuesday to discuss the sailors release. The two diplomats already conduct regular daily conversations regarding implementation of the nuclear deal, the official said. Had this happened a few years ago, before we had this very direct line of communication at a very senior level of our government, it undoubtedly would have been much more complicated to unwind, would undoubtedly have taken longer and risked all sorts of ancillary effects that would be unpredictable, said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Administration critics already suspicious of Iranian motives argued that the naval incident, hours before President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech, proved Tehran could not be trusted. They point to Irans spat this month with regional archrival Saudi Arabia and other gulf states, and its tests of ballistic missiles last fall in apparent violation of a U.N. resolution that is not part of the nuclear accord. Capping their concerns, an Iranian naval vessel last month fired several unguided rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier, the Harry S. Truman, and other ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The missile launches also rattled the White House. On Dec. 30, the administration notified Congress that it intended to impose new financial sanctions on individuals and companies in Iran for the missile launches. It then pulled back, although it has not explained why. Even some Democrats, including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the party chairwoman, criticized the White House for not penalizing Tehran. The United States and our allies must take immediate, punitive action and send a clear message to Iran that violating international laws, treaties and agreements will have serious consequences, Schultz and six other House Democrats wrote in a letter to Obama. Inaction would send the misguided message that, in the wake of the [nuclear deal], the international community has lost the willingness to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its support for terrorism and other offensive actions throughout the region, they wrote. Iran is testing the limits of international patience with its missile launches, said Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow with the Council of Foreign Relations and former advisor to the Obama administration. Some analysts argue that the backpedaling on sanctions set the stage for a diplomatic flare-up days later between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. ally, and the Shiite Muslim government in Iran, its chief rival for influence and power. By most accounts, Saudi authorities have lost confidence in Washington as an unflinching ally because of its attempts to engage with Tehran. Saudis fear the nuclear deal will empower Iran in the short term and allow it to simply postpone its nuclear ambitions for a decade or so, posing an existential threat to the kingdom. U.S. officials argue that Iran will use any money it gets to prop up its economy, not the military, and that the key nuclear constraints in the deal are permanent. The dispute spilled over Jan. 2 when Saudi authorities ignored U.S. pleas for leniency and executed a prominent Shiite cleric who had led antigovernment demonstrations. In response, Iranian protesters burned the Saudi Embassy in Tehran while police reportedly stood by. Riyadh then cut diplomatic ties with Tehran, and several Saudi allies soon followed suit. Iran apologized for the embassy attack and sought to downplay its diplomatic isolation. The Obama administration has taken a neutral stance, calling on both sides to de-escalate. Iran sees it has a chance to get out of the penalty box, and they dont want a fight with Saudi Arabia right now, said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a New York-based organization that analyzes international affairs. U.S. experts say Irans leaders still want to see the nuclear deal proceed President Hassan Rouhani because of the boost it may give moderates in parliamentary elections next month and supreme leader Ali Khamenei because it allows Iran to reenter the global marketplace and inject life, and cash, into its moribund economy. In addition to complying with the nuclear deal, Iran has not pulled out of the U.N.-backed Syria talks, which are due to start Jan. 25, and is supporting Iraqi government troops in some combat operations against the militant group Islamic State, issues in which it is in alignment with U.S. efforts. In Iran, the months after the deal was signed in July saw an uptick in anti-U.S. rhetoric and crackdowns on dissidents. Those actions may have been a sop to domestic hard-liners. Since the nuclear deal was signed, Iran has become more aggressive in the region, more repressive at home and less compliant with its arms control obligations, Takeyh said. But I think the accord was very favorable to Iran. It would be in their interest to sustain it. Iran already is well on its way to meeting its obligations under the deal, according to U.S. officials. It dismantled or mothballed thousands of centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium, late last year. Last month, Iran shipped 12.5 tons of enriched uranium nearly its entire stockpile to Russia for reprocessing, as the accord requires. Moving that potential bomb fuel tripled the time Iran would need to produce a single nuclear weapon, Kerry said Wednesday, referring to a key goal of the six world powers that negotiated the deal in Vienna. I can assure you that we will continue to monitor implementation of this agreement closely because yes, existential challenges are at stake here, he said. We will ensure that the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran is removed as a threat to Middle East security and global peace. Once the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.s nuclear watchdog agency, certifies that Iran has met its obligations, the Security Council can vote to lift U.N. sanctions. Various countries or blocs then can begin to ease sanctions and release billions of dollars in Iranian funds frozen in banks and financial institutions. It is likely that the first money to become accessible to Iran is an estimated $50 to $60 billion from exports of Iranian oil to several Asian countries. The money has been sitting in Asian banks for years. The U.S. embargo on trade with Iran will continue, but several exceptions will be allowed, including the import and export of foodstuffs. Iranian individuals will be removed from U.S. government blacklists, while Europe will allow trade in software, gold and metals, and transportation equipment. Iran will be allowed to rejoin the international banking system and will be permitted to resume selling oil and other energy supplies on the open market. Sultan Ahmet Square in Istanbul, target of the bombing that killed at least 10 people Tuesday, has a history that goes back at least 17 centuries, predating the citys days as capital of the Byzantine Empire. Also known now as Sultanahmet Meydani, the site was built by the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD as a venue for chariot races, also known as a hippodrome. Over centuries, the site evolved, growing busier, then falling idle. By the 15th century, it was a ruin. But today it ranks among the citys most popular sites with tourists. A green space shaded by many trees, the square is neighbored by the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia Museum and, within about 500 feet, a Four Seasons hotel. Within a quarter-mile stands Istanbuls Grand Bazaar. Advertisement In a 2014 video on Istanbul, travel guru Rick Steves stands in the middle of the square, explaining how the hippodrome once seated more than 60,000 race fans. Among the squares features -- a stones throw from the site of the explosion -- is a 3,500-year-old inscribed obelisk, imported by the Romans from Egypt. Heres a look at a few key landmarks near the bombing: Blue Mosque (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press) Blue Mosque The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque, is in the historic and heavily touristed Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, close to the deadly bombing in Sultanahmet Square. Basilica Cistern (Mustafa Ozer / AFP/Getty Images) Basilica Cistern The 6th century Byzantine Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey, is close to the site of a deadly bombing. Obelisk in Istanbul (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images) Obelisk in Istanbul The ancient Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius near the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul. Sultanahmet square (Bulent Kilic / AFP/Getty Images) Sultanahmet Square The Blue Mosque and the Sultanahmet Square in Istanbuls tourist hub. Topkapi Palace (Sean Gallup / Getty Images) Topkapi Palace Above: The main entrance gate at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, blocks from a deadly suicide bombing. Below: The private apartments of the Ottoman Sultan at Topkapi Palace. Tuesdays bombing that left 10 dead and 15 wounded in the heart of Istanbul seems likely to be a blow to Turkeys crucial tourism industry. Shopkeepers interviewed following the attack expressed worries about a drop in visitors: ----- Muhammad Mulazim runs a shop selling sweets known as Turkish delight less than half a mile from the site of the bombing: Advertisement In the winter, we get fewer tourists anyway, but if this was in the summer, it would have been a big problem, we would have had even more casualties. Today our economy is good, and the people who did this attack do not want this, they do not want to see Turkey be a powerful nation. I dont think in the long term this will affect our tourism though. The people who come here are often coming for the second or third time, they know Turkey is a nice society, and they want to visit again. ----- Omer Karagoz manages a juice and shawarma shop near the Blue Mosque. He spoke while taking a sandwich order from an Arab couple: Of course when people die, we are sad about it, and on top of that, tourists are leaving now. Its not a good situation for us. There was not very good business before this bombing today, since the problems with Syria and Russia, and now things will get even worse. ----- Mehmet, owner of a gift shop near the bombing (he withheld his last name for privacy reasons): This is a really big problem. This place where my shop is, its between the Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. This will be worse for the Turkish economy. The people who did this, they are thinking, if we do this, tourists will leave at first for a short time, and if they do it five or 10 times more, it will destroy the tourism here. In general, political problems, like with Russia, do not affect tourism too much. People from Russia, for example keep coming here, they say they dont care what their government says about Turkey, they want to visit. But attacks like this one, they are more dangerous. Farooq is a special correspondent. Marco Rubio is proposing a Bill to the Senate that would eliminate automatic federal benefits for Cuban migrants. If approved, it will require Cuban migrants to provide proof of abuse before they can avail any benefits. In a report with The Guardian, Rubio is seeking to alter a decades old policy that allows Cuban immigrants to automatic federal benefits, unlike other countries. These federal benefits include access to Medicaid, welfare and food stamps. The presidential hopeful, who is the son of Cuban migrants, has said in the recent weeks of his campaign period that the special treatment to Cuban migrants is in due time of being re-examined because of Cubans abusing the existing law. Rubio's proposal would require those Cuban immigrants fleeing their country to prove that they are escaping prosecution in their homeland in order to qualify for public assistance, like refugees and asylum-seekers as most countries are required to do. Rubio said in a recent statement on Monday that it was "outrageous" whenever America's generosity was being "exploited." "It is particularly outrageous when individuals who claim to be fleeing repression in Cuba are welcomed and allowed to collect federal assistance based on their plight, only to return often to the very place they claimed to be fleeing," Rubio said. It was reported that Cuban Americans in Congress are calling for reforms to the conditions under the federal benefits, despite increased scrutiny over how the program is being used. Critics of the current Cuban migration policy argue that many of those who travel to the US have become less political in intent and more economic. The critics have also complained that many of the Cuban migrants quickly return to Cuba after reaping the benefits. Since the recent thaw in relations between the two nations, there has been a reported influx of Cuban migrants attempting to enter the US by sea or through Central America. Rubio has been a long-time critic of Obama's move to thaw relations in Havana, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times. "It gets very difficult to justify someone's status as an exile and refugee when a year and a half after they get here they are flying back to that country over and over again," he said of the current Cuban migrant crisis situation. Rubio said that if he is elected president, he would reinstate the 50-year-old diplomatic freeze. Rubio was highly criticized for his shifting views, particularly on the pressing issue on immigration. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Hillary Clinton has called out Barack Obama's administration for initiating immigration raids, saying that she would do differently if she becomes elected as the next president of the United States. The Democratic presidential candidate expressed her disapproval on Monday night's "Brown & Black Forum" in Iowa, NBC News reported. The forum, which first started in 1984, allowed each candidate from the Democratic Party to speak to minority communities and answer queries from journalists and the audience. A Republican version of the event was scheduled as well, but it got cancelled. In the forum, Clinton was reluctant to say that she would not deport children if she becomes president, stressing out that the issue was more complex than a yes or no answer. Eventually, the former Secretary of State simply said that children would receive "due process" under her presidency, the news outlet added. "Our immigration enforcement efforts should be humane and conducted in accordance with due process, and that is why I believe we must stop the raids happening in immigrant communities," Clinton said in a statement quoted in NBC News' report. She added, "We have laws and we must be guided by those laws, but we shouldn't have armed federal officers showing up at peoples' homes, taking women and children out of their beds in the middle of the night." Clinton is being criticized by her Democratic rivals, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, for her weak stance against the immigration raids that started earlier this month, NBC News noted. At least 121 undocumented immigrants were arrested during the operation, which targeted families that arrived in the U.S. since May 2014. At the time, the country saw tens of thousands of Central American immigrants pouring into the border seeking asylum from the violence and economic crisis in their homelands. Obama's administration said that the arrests served as a warning to other potential immigrants that they will be sent home, the news outlet added. Clinton argued that the raids "have sown fear and division in immigrant communities" across the U.S., Huffington Post reported. Last August, she said that it was "very important to send a message to families in Central America: Do not let your children take this very dangerous journey." Aside from ending the raids, Clinton said that children should not have to defend themselves in removal proceedings without a lawyer. According to her, the asylum and refugee system should be fixed so that all people have "the chance to tell their story," NBC News further reported. Clinton concluded that Congress should fund Obama's request for $1 billion in aid to eliminate criminal organizations, work with regional partners, and develop living conditions in Central America. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Unilever is back to business in Cuba with a $35 million budget in 2017. The Dutch-British firm first departed the Communist country in 2012 due to a disagreement over who would have the controlling interest in their joint venture, Reuters wrote. On Monday, both sides agreed to construct a $35 million soap and toothpaste factory in Cuba's special development zone located at the port of Mariel west of Havana, the nation's capital. The factory will begin operations in 2018 and will manufacture products such as Sedal shampoo, Omo detergent, Lux soap, Rexona deodorant, and Close-Up toothpaste, Unilever said in a statement, as reported by Reuters. The global consumer products company now owns a majority 60 percent stake compared to 40 percent for Cuba's state company, Intersuchel S.A. The signing ceremony occurred during a visit to Cuba by Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen as the head of delegation that consisted of 60 businesses, the news outlet noted. Ploumen said in an interview with reporters that she is hoping Unilever would be the first of numerous Dutch companies flocking to Cuba for business opportunities. Ploumen was in Cuba to seal trade links, according to The Telegraph. She came in the country with major firms, including Heineken and Philips. Unilever serves as the ninth and best-known company to be allowed to operate at the Chinese-style Mariel Special Development Zone, or ZEDM, which is home to a modern container port, Reuters noted. The firm was one of the first to set up a venture in Cuba once Communist authorities permitted investors from the West. Cuba's former benefactor was the Soviet Union, which fell from power in the 1990s. At the time of Cuba's dispute with Unilever, the nation's Communist government favored to hold a majority stake in joint venture with foreign companies, Reuters further reported. However, Cuba has become more willing to compromise since opening Mariel Zone two years ago. The past two years saw Cuba opening its economy to foreign investment, especially with the Mariel Zone, the news outlet added. A 2014 law is also offering tax breaks and other incentives to businesses. The island nation, which is inhabited by about 11.1 million people, has seen some noteworthy changes since 2011, The Telegraph reported. Cuba has approved nine foreign companies to stay in the Mariel Zone. Several of these firms are in partnership with the Cuban state. Brazil funded $682 million of the $1 billion investment in Mariel's deep-water port, The Telegraph noted. The 180-square-mile economic zone offers exceptional deals in Cuba, such as such as 50-year contracts, 100 percent ownership of assets, and tax reductions. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Health authorities in Texas confirmed the first case of Zika virus in the United States, raising concern that the mosquito-borne disease that caused severe birth defects in Brazil could spread through the nation. According to the Wall Street Journal, public health officials confirmed that the woman from Houston who recently travelled to El Salvador in November visited a doctor due to joint pain, muscle aches and a rash. On Tuesday, Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services Department Executive Director Umair Shah told the media that the patient tested positive for Zika virus during a preliminary examination. The most common symptoms of this mosquito-borne virus are similar to dengue and chikungunya, which include fever, joint pain, rash, or conjunctivitis, based on the official website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The site further noted that only 1 out of 5 people who catch this virus actually feel ill, and that there is still no reported deaths directly linked to the disease to date. Despite this, medical professionals as cited by NBC New, still fear that the virus might still affect the infected individual, especially since there is no definitive treatment for the illness aside, from getting plenty of rest, drinking lots of fluids and taking medication for the symptoms. Dr. Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine's dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, pointed out that the Zika virus may spread in the Gulf coast because the area houses two species of mosquitoes that can carry it: the Aedes aegyptus and the Aedes albopictus or the Asian tiger mosquito. "I am quite worried about Zika taking off on the Gulf coast. We have both species of mosquito that can transmit the virus. There's the right level of poverty and the tropical climate," added Hotez who is also the firector of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. He then urged health authorities to be quick in acting on the matter because there is still very little known about the disease, which he deemed to be "unusual." "This is such an unusual virus. It tends to produce low-level symptoms. You won't know you had a Zika outbreak until nine months later, when babies start being born with microcephaly," he added. Previous reports linked the Zika virus to thousands of birth defects in Brazil where there have already been 4,000 cases of microcephaly -- a huge difference to the typical 150 annual average in the area. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Brazil is famous for their parties and people who have an infectious exuberance about them. However, at this year's Carnival, there might be a somber tone about the professionally upbeat performers and Brazilians, as the country is facing its deepest recession it has seen in years. According to a report with The Guardian, Brazil is bracing itself for what is to be the worst recession it has seen in centuries. Many businesses have suffered in light of the recession, and some samba schools across Brazil are forced to cut costs ahead of next month's show at the Sambodromo. One school, for example, is forced to cut back on the number of floats and dancers. Cheaper alternatives to material for costumes will also have to be used. Other schools are also forced to renegotiate current contracts in order to cut back on costs. The Mangueira school's director Junior Schall said that many of the samba schools were forced to cut back on costs because of many "unpaid debts." He added that the debilitating financial "strangulation" was caused by failing sponsorship and lack of local government funding. While he said that this year's Carnival might be OK, he feared that the future seems bleak for Brazil, and the business of the main samba schools. He added that in the coming decade, they will have to rethink the entire way they do Carnival. While he admitted that he was saddened by the harsh reality, he said that it might become "unviable" in the near future. Austerity does not come naturally to lovers of Carnival, but admittedly, attitudes are going to have to change now that Brazil's economy remains uncertain. 2015 was a particularly devastating year for Brazil with the corruption scandal, worst environmental disaster the country has seen in ages and impeachment battle against President Dilma Rousseff making headlines. Last year's disasters have impeded businesses, and have shaken the confidence of many consumers. Sponsorship for the samba schools is also hard to come by, Shcall says. A report with Bloomberg says that almost every major company is in retreat. Investors are scared away by the ratings of the companies. Recent anti-government protests have mostly been limited to the middle class, and have been known to diminish in size. Despite the modest budget this year, organizers promise that next month's Sambodromo will be more vibrant than ever. "The idea isn't to diminish carnival, but to carry out a great spectacle within the budget that will be even more dynamic," Schall says. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Piatto Pronto 'Doing Okay' Since Owner Wore 'I Can Breathe' Shirt By Mae Rice in News on Jan 12, 2016 7:50PM Photo via Facebook. apologized profusely to Chicagoist on Friday for wearing an I can breathe. I follow the law shirttold Chicagoist Monday that business has been decent since the photo on the right went viral. Were doing okay, Mike said. (He still would not share his last name.) Last time I talked to you, I was feeling upset. Now, I feel better [but] disappointed that people will just judge you without knowing you. Mikes shirt's message was a reference to the death of Eric Garner, who famously gasped "I can't breathe" before he died in an illegal chokehold at the hands of New York police officers. Recently, a lot of new customers have been stopping by the deli, curious about the T-shirt controversy, Mike said. They dont bring up the t-shirt, he added, but he reports that people compliment him on various things: speaking his mind, supporting the law, apologizing for his mistake. It doesnt seem the social media scandal will do lasting damage to the business. When the photo, taken by a customer, first exploded on Facebook, the shops Facebook ratings were one star for one night; the following night, we jump up to three stars, Mike said. He attributes this to loyal customers weighing in and counterbalancing the outrage. The deli now has a 3.3 star rating, out of 5, on its Facebook page. 22 people were reported missing following a drug turf war in Southern Mexico. Among those missing are five teachers who have disappeared in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero during the past 72 hours. According to Fox News Latino, Mexican authorities said that they have conducted a search for the missing people, but no one has been found yet. The report said that armed gunmen shot three men in El Salitre, in the city of Arcelia. Those shot were heading to a wedding on Saturday night. 17 others were reported missing. Initial reports were released saying seven men were missing, but Mexican officials revised the figure in the past few hours, as relatives of those involved filed complaints with prosecutors. According to Arcelia city mayor, Adolfo Torales, the wedding caravan was "intercepted by approximately eight heavily armed people wearing military uniforms." Torales used the information provided by relatives of the victims. He fears that more men may be missing from the attack. In another incident, about 30 gunmen went to the Santa Ana del Aguila high school in Ajuchitlan del Progreso on Monday and kidnapped five teachers, one of them a woman. Among those kidnapped from the school are Joaquin Real, the principal, and teachers Guadalupe Olea, Martin Blancas, Javier Calderon and Jose Maria Torres. Arcelia and Ajuchitlan del Progreso are among the Mexican cities that have been the scene of many rival gang drug wars for years. Despite lack of proper training, many of these cartel forces are used to large-scale gun battles. Casualties are commonplace. PBS reports that the drug wars in Mexico have killed more than 164,000 people in the periods between 2007 to 2014. Nearly 20,000 were killed in homicides in 2014 alone, and this was already a decrease in the 27,000 killed at the peak of the fighting in 2011. According to Breitbart, these numbers don't account for the tens of thousands of victims who were kidnapped, and are feared to be dead. In August 2010, Los Zetas executed 78 immigrants in San Fernando. Months later, Mexican authorities found 47 mass graves with 193 unidentified bodies from victims who had been tortured by Los Zetas. The Familia Michoacana, Guerreros Unidos and Caballeros Templarios, have been notorious for waging turf wars in the region for years. Mexican drug cartels are greatly feared in the country, and despite President Pena Nieto's efforts to establish a war on the gangs, many of the gangs have managed to stay one step ahead of the Mexican government. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Cuban Foreign Ministry Director for North America, Josefina Vidal, fears that the upcoming US Presidential elections may spell trouble for U.S.-Cuban relations. She urged President Barack Obama to dismantle existing US laws on the Cuban nation while he is still in power in order to makes the ties between the two nations less vulnerable. In a report with The Guardian, Vidal said that she is concerned that the upcoming presidential elections has added some uncertainty to how she views Cuba's future relations with the United States. She added that while she continues about her work with a "certain amount of optimism and momentum," she could not help but feel a certain bit of realism as the presidential elections draws ever closer. Vidal added that she has no idea on how things will pan out in the future. There are "variables outside of our control" in the presidential elections, Vidal added. Those who support the rapprochement, fear that a new president could hinder advances made in the US-Cuba relationship under the Obama administration. However, the crowded field of Republican presidential candidates have been hostile towards the president's decision to restore ties with Cuba after what has been more than five decades. Democratic candidates, on the other hand, back the move. Obama and Cuban president, Raul Castro, announced on December 2014 that they would reestablish diplomatic ties between their two nations. They agreed to work toward normalization, which led to the reopening of embassies in each of the nation's capitals last year. Vidal said that President Obama could do much more to ensure that relations between the two countries are less vulnerable before he goes out of office. In a report with Yahoo, Vidal said that the rapprochement was not yet "irreversible." She warned that the next US president might revoke some of Obama's executive orders to ease restrictions on Cuba. She added that the next US president might "devoid them of meaning via inaction." "I can't imagine a new president, whoever it is, deciding to break off relations with Cuba and close the (US) embassy," said Vidal. Vidal also appealed to Washington to move faster on lowering economic and trade barriers in Cuba, which has been in place in 1962. As Obama nears the end of his term, he said that he intends to visit Cuba, however, the president insists that such a visit would hinge on the communist regime that would stave crack-downs on political dissent. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In order to blend into the crowd, the Islamic State extremists are advising recruits in the West to look more like Christians instead of Muslims, by shaving their beards and wearing crucifixes, evading the detection by the intelligence services. A list of dos and donts concerning the aspiring terrorists can be found online in a 58-page document adapted from a book that was said to once be issued by their extremist rivals in al-Qaeda. Among their other recommendations include email encryption, using secure cellphone apps, and dressing to blend in a crowd. The Islamic State suggested that displaying a cross or crucifix some of the time, especially when it will help avoid suspicion. The manual said that it is permissible to wear the Christian symbol, but said that recruits and supporters should avoid doing so if their passports have Muslim names, as it may "look strange." They are even advised not to use the oily non-alcoholic perfumes that Muslims usually use, saying to instead use generic alcoholic perfume as everyone does. And if you are a man, use perfume for men [men's cologne or after-shave lotion]," reported VOA News. The "Lone Wolf" guidelines may be amusing to some, however, the 12-chapter manual was adapted by a series of lectures by Abu Cabbalah al-Adam, who spoke about safety and security in jihad work. Still, there are other guidelines that do make sense, including limiting information about upcoming attacks, and avoiding mosques and Islamic gatherings to minimize attracting attention or prompting security. This is because the intelligence agencies began monitoring mosques since the wake of the 9/11 attacks, especially focusing on those with radical reputations and active jihadist groups. While the terrorist group is spreading their cause, an ex-terrorist last month shared how to fight the group online. Abu Huriya, a former chief propagandist for Al Qaeda in the US who once helped recruit Americans for their cause, said that telling people to turn away is ineffectual, describing the radicalization process as something similar to joining a gang. He told CNN that the ISIS recruitment videos are effective because they show panoramic views and warm camaraderie that hits the spot for angry young men who want to think that they have greater things in store for them. Compared to the videos that the State Department has been releasing, made up entirely of text and static photos, nobody would look twice. Some of the advice that Hurriya gave in regards to ending the recruitment, included presenting an alternative world view, and stepping up the production values of their anti-IS videos. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Colombia is the most dangerous country for human rights defenders, with a massive proportion killed worldwide. According to Frontline Defenders, a group that keeps track of various human rights advocates, 156 defenders were either killed or died in detention in the world in the first 11 months of 2015, and Colombia amounts to over a third of these numbers with 54. Coming in close second is the Philippines, with 31 HRDs killed. While the numbers don't seem to be terrifying, no other country comes close to these digits. The number of HRD deaths in Colombia amounted to 60% in Latin America, where a total of 87 were killed in the past year. Brazil, second in Lat Am numbers, didn't even come close, with only 9 HRDs killed. There seems to be a pattern in the deaths linked to HRDs. For one, Colombia and the Philippines, which ranked most dangerous in the world for defenders, are both close US allies. The most dangerous countries in Latin America ---Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala are also close with their US allies, while the superpower's big adversaries in the region -- Cuba and Venezuela -- account for none of the killings, and were not even mentioned in the Frontline report. Of course, this isn't a new trend. The Huffington Post noted that Noam Chomsky wrote in 1998 about the violence resulting from secondary correlation between aid and violations of human rights. It stood true then, and it still proves true now. Consider the current situation in Colombia, for instance. Today, the investment opportunities for multi-national corporations have lead to a lot of violence, especially considering that those fighting their government and other anti-human rights corporations are "environmental, indigenous peoples' and land rights defenders" who are most likely to oppose the "so-called 'mega-projects,' especially those being developed by mining companies, and their work involved speaking out about the negative impact of business activities and the lack of proper prior consultation with affected communities." But these indigenous and environmental groups are not the only victims to human rights abuse. The Peninsula noted that LGBTI members are also included, and they are all persecuted and harrassed with deatht threats, arbitrary detention, physical attacks, police brutality, and even trespassing in their homes and offices. Frontline Defenders said, "Defending human rights in Latin America remained extremely dangerous and the criminalization of the defense of human rights and peaceful protest movements persisted. The most worrying issue remained extreme violence." Mary Lawlor, head of the group added, "Human rights defenders face increasingly restrictive and brutal environments in every region of the globe. Extreme violence is being used more frequently and in more countries, while fabricated prosecutions and unfair trials have become the norm in many parts of the world." 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. When your kind act lands in a viral video on a social media site, you can expect fifteen seconds of fame -- or, you could get invited by Governor Cuomo in Albany for the State of the State address. The man who went viral online for giving a shivering, homeless man the shirt on his back on the subway, is set for Albany on Wednesday, where he will be recognized by Governor Cuomo in his annual State of the State address. The man, named Joey Resto, made headlines with his act of kindness. When asked about the man's reaction, all he said was that "He didn't really say yes, he just kind of lifted his arms like a child." He also shared that he appreciated that people are looking up to him as a hero, but insisted that he doesn't feel that way, adding that it was a "natural reaction to help." According to People, Resto's kind deed was captured in video and posted online by Lazaro Nolasco. The kind deed snowballed into a viral video that gave people new hope in humanity. As for the the impact he made, Resto said it was amazing. He told The New York Daily News, "I can't explain it. I'm honestly speechless. I'm actually going crazy thinking how I'm going to get ready for this. I definitely got to get a new tank top." Cuomo, who will be making homelessness a major theme in his upcoming speech, believes that Mayor de Blasio and the City are not doing enough to help homeless people, and promised to make a plan to address the problem. He said about the homeless, "It's not about them, it's about us. What are you going to do when you see a brother or sister lying in the street? And the answer is, I'm going to help. I'm going to help pick them up." Clearly, Cuomo was also inspired by Resto's actions, and will be recognized by the governor as he pushes through with his policy plans for 2016. In addition to helping the homeless, Cuomo is also expected to announce a "robust" ethics reform package that will include disclosure requirements, and a close in a loophole that allows for massive campaign funds from corporations. Another priority is the increase of the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour in the next few years. So do you think Resto's small act of kindness is one we need to stop the stigma of homelessness and address its reality in the modern world? 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Pig's Heart to Human Transplant? Over 50 Animals Implanted With Human-Animal Hybrid Embryos for Future Operations In what sounds like a story taken from a science fiction movie, scientists are attempting to grow human organs in pigs and sheep. The researchers intend to develop major organs that can later be transplanted into humans. There is a shortage of organs available for transplants all around the world. The NHS Blood and Transplant website stated that in the U.K., over 6600 individuals are in dire need of an organ transplant. As of 2016, statistics derived from the National Kidney Foundation website revealed that approximately 120,000 people in the US are on the waiting list. Of this number, more than 100,000 need a kidney. Discovery News reports indicated that this controversial move can help meet the demand for major organs such as hearts and livers. IFL Science said several groups in the US and various parts of the world are attempting to create chimeras -- mixing human DNA with animals. Scientists add human DNA in the animal's genes to make the organs less likely to be rejected by the human body and more suitable for transplants. Last year, approximately 20 pigs and sheep have been impregnated with modified embryos. According to Mirror, the process involved editing the animal's genes so that it does not produce a specific organ. Human stem cells are injected which are designed to replace the missing genes. The modified embryo is then transplanted into a female pig or sheep. Once the embryo has matured, the scientists will then harvest the organ and transplant it to a human patient. Daniel Garry, a cardiologist from the University of Minnesota, said this is nothing new. The Telegraph said Garry leads one of the studies involving the production of chimeras. "We can make an animal without a heart. We have engineered pigs that lack skeletal muscles and blood vessels," Garry said in a statement to the publication. Although scientists have yet to produce a successful chimera, animal rights groups have expressed their own sentiments toward the project. Mirror said PETA has labeled the study as "Frankenscience." "These animals have exactly the same capacity to feel pain and suffer as any other animal, including humans," PETA's Julia Baines commented on the Telegraph. Hiromitsu Nakauchi, a researcher from the University of Stanford said that it is unlikely that any of the modified embryos will be acting like humans anytime soon. On the science-based publication, Nakauchi said the human stem cells only constitute approximately 0.5 percent of the animal's total DNA. If it gets to 40 percent, "then we'd have to do something about that." Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! El Salvador Raises National Alert to Curb Transmission of Chikingunya, Dengue, Zika Virus media@latinoshealth.com By Rachel Cruz Jan 13, 2016 04:30 AM EST A national health alert was raised in El Salvador Monday, following reports that tropical diseases from mosquito bites are increasing in the region. El Salvador's civil protection agency has ordered 47 towns and villages around the country to enforce preventive measures against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, as it can likely also carry three other viruses that can lead to the development of mosquito-borne illnesses, per Yahoo! These illnesses are dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Per the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue, chikungunya and Zika infection symptoms appear within three to 14 days after exposure to mosquito bites. These illnesses have been discovered as early as the 1940s but, up to now, there are no actual treatments or vaccines to directly treat or stop the spread of the disease. However, the symptoms exhibited from these mosquito-borne illnesses can be treated with painkillers, particularly paracetamol, per the Jamaican Observer. "It's definitely becoming an issue, but there is so little research that we just don't know the size of the potential threat," said Global Health Research professor Trudie Lang via Reuters. Common symptoms from the infection include fever, rashes and joint paints but, if left untreated, a patient could suffer from complications, thus making recovery harder. In particular, Zika infection can allegedly lead to brain damage in babies, according to VOA News. Cases of babies with microcephaly, or the congenital abnormal appearance of the brain because of its incomplete development, were found to be positive of the Zika virus in Brazil. Aside from asking its local communities to enforce health measures to contain human infection, El Salvador is also asking pregnant mothers to get prenatal screenings and tests especially during the first three months. The national health alert comes as news that a Canadian resident was diagnosed with Zika infection after returning from a trip from El Salvador. However, Canada's Public Health Agency declared the risk of the disease among other Canadians is low, according to CBC. Meanwhile, Lang is calling on other health researchers and experts to do more observation and work on these diseases, particularly the Zika virus. A recent study has pointed out that the condition is most prevalent in tropical rural poor areas in South Asia, East Asia, South America, Central America and Southern Africa and it is likely going to get worse. "[It] means that it has been greatly under estimated as an important public health problem across the world," said researcher Dr. Direk Limmathurotsakul via the University of Oxford. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! New Mammogram Guidelines for Earlier Detection of Breast Cancer media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 13, 2016 07:20 AM EST Recommendations for the new mammogram guidelines have been subject for debate for some years now. In return created frustration for some physicians and confusion to the general public on when to start screening and/or how often to do it. Tampa Bay Times reports that the United States Preventive Services Task Force is issuing updated recommendations as guidelines for earlier detection of breast cancer for the general public. In its previous recommendation in 2009, it created a controversy that women at 40s are at average risk of this disease. However, these new guidelines have been revised and were issued late Monday. The said guidelines for earlier detection of breast cancer reveal that women between 50 and 74 must have routine screening at least once in every two years. The task force's final recommendation, as added by Tampa Bay Times, is pushing this issue into controversy because there are some other groups that say that breast cancer screening should be done earlier. For instance, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists group says that regular check-up begins at the age of 40. Another group, the American Cancer Society, though recommends that yearly screening should start at the age of 45 and every two years at the age of 55. Meanwhile, according to NorthJersey.com, women who are in their 40s should weigh whether it is very important to do the screening. As it is, earlier detection of breast cancer can reduce death rates that is a very important matter for people, especially those who are afflicted by it. But as mentioned earlier, the task force has changed its recommendations, which could also affect the scope of government programs and insurers that follow these guidelines to decide in covering the preventive services. In light with this publication of new set of guidelines, however, a director at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Dr. Madelyn Danoff, said that this "doesn't influence how I practice at all," which is an echo to other radiologists' and surgeons' thoughts. "I still firmly believe in annual screening after 40, as do all breast radiologists. I practice the same way," she added. Regular mammograms for women in their 40s, according to local experts, can detect the disease in a few and can save lives. However, the task force has said that the balance of harm and benefit changes as women age, but women can still decide for themselves on when to begin screening. Additionally, the task force has first recommended that breast screening starts at 50 instead of 40 back in 2009. It then faced huge criticism at the time. Then the Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 that requires certain preventive services to be provided for free, which are in line with the task force's recommendations but with an amendment that insurers use the 2002 guidelines. Related to this news, ABC News shows a video of an interview of a concerned physician regarding this heated up issue and debate. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! 'Affluenza' Mom Out of Jail After Judge Reduced $1 Million Bond media@latinoshealth.com By Julio Cachila Jan 13, 2016 06:20 AM EST After being jailed very recently, Tonya Couch, the mom of the infamous Affluenza teen Ethan Couch, is now out on bond. Tonya was freed Tuesday from the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, shortly after a judge sharply lowered her $1 million bond to $75,000, the Associated Press reported. Although she has been released from prison, Tonya is required to wear an electronic GPS monitor on her ankle. She is also required to stay in the home of 29-year-old Steven McWilliams, another son, and must only come out for appointments with her doctor and lawyer. Tonya is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison. Tonya was put in jail after she and Ethan were arrested in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, after weeks of searching. They were located after authorities were tipped following a call for pizza delivery. The mother was deported back to Tarrant County, Texas, while the son was left in an immigration detention center. Back in 2013, Ethan was speedily drunk driving and got involved in a car crash that killed four people and injured others. During his trial in court, a defense witness said he was coddled into a sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert referred to as "affluenza." This, of course, is a condition not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. It became his moniker ever since. Instead of serving jail time, he received a slap on the wrist and got a 10-year probation. Within this probation period, however, he is prohibited from any alcohol or drugs. It is believed that they fled to Mexico shortly after a video showing Ethan in a party that involved alcohol came out. Meanwhile, a reward is set for the Affluenza teen's missing dog. The dog, a half-shepherd, half wolf named Virgil, was lost during Ethan's and Tonya's scramble for freedom while being apprehended in Mexico, New York Daily News reported. Misty McWilliams, a relative to the Couches, offered a $1,000 reward for the return of the lost dog who, according to commenters from social media, is another victim of Ethan Couch, his mother and affluenza. "This poor thing has no idea where she is, one commenter wrote, nothing smells familiar, she doesn't 'understand' Spanish... "If the dog is wise, it will get as far away from that idiot as possible, another one wrote. Poor dog!" Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! As more details about Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera's capture emerge, it was learned that Mexican authorities were close to losing the drug kingpin from their grasp on the morning they finally caught the most wanted man in the world. According to Fox News Latino, Guzman had once again used a tunnel to escape. The Mexican Marines, however, managed to discover this and went in hot pursuit of the druglord. After about 2 hours, the Marines finally caught up with Guzman and his security chief, Orso Ivan Castelum. Both had emerged from the tunnel about a mile away from the Los Mochis home-cum-hideout in Sinaloa. They later commandeered a vehicle and tried to continue their getaway, but was eventually overtaken by authorities. They had no other choice but to surrender. "The operation was extremely well planned and more than well resourced, with equipment and a vast number of Mexican Marines who slowly saturated the state of Sinaloa and the drug area known as the Golden Triangle," former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief of operations Mike Vigil told the news source. "Through fixed and mobile roadblocks along strategic choke points and intense searches of suspect ranches and homes, the pressure on Chapo escalated,"he went on. "It began to constrict the area in which he was able to maneuver and hide." "Eventually, it forced him into Los Mochis, and he now, once again, was placed in a precarious situation that led to his capture," he explained. "The marines were like a giant anaconda that smothered Chapo's lifeline." Some had observed that El Chapo could have fled to another country and go into hiding anywhere else in the world. However, he chose to stay in Sinaloa, where he "felt safe" and "untouchable," author Anabel Hernandez opined. Perhaps the drug lord's hold of the area is slipping, as it was also learned that the tip that eventually led to his capture last week "came from a neighbor reporting suspicious activity at the house where the fugitive drug lord was hiding," the Los Angeles Times said. While some reports insinuate actor Sean Penn's rendezvous with Guzman may have aided in his capture, the tip-off by the neighbor was reportedly the one that ultimately got the fugitive caught. It can be recalled that a raid carried out days after Penn's interview with El Chapo in October yielded an unsuccessful result. However, according to a source in Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez's office, the authorities did manage to track Guzman when he met up with the Hollywood actor, but the troops decided not to engage when they saw he had two women and a child in his company. WATCH: 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A resident shows China's RMB and U.S. dollar banknotes in Qionghai, south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 7, 2016. [Xinhua] China pledged that it has in no way been attempting to wage a currency war by depreciating the RMB to stimulate exports, as the two-way fluctuation of the currency will soon be the new normal of the Chinese economy, Han Jun, a senior financial officer, said on January 11 in New York. Han Jun, deputy director of China's Central Leading Office on Financial and Economic Affairs, introduced China's 13th Five Year Plan at a symposium to local audience. According to Han, the yuan is confronting depreciation pressures from the market, which, in his view, represents a temporary trend. The two-way fluctuation -- either the rise or fall of the RMB's exchange rate -- will soon be the new normal in China's economy. The central parity of the RMB against the U.S. dollar stumbled by two percent, or US$1, to 6.2298 yuan after China's announcement to improve the fixing mechanism on Aug. 11, 2015, registering the biggest one-day decline since 1994. The exchange rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar fell by 4.46 percent in 2015, the largest decline in the past few decades. In the beginning of this year, the exchange rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar slid below 6.5 yuan, constantly hitting new lows. "The measures we have taken to address China's currency exchange reform mark an important step made towards market reform," said Han. He added,"I have to make it clear that China has never obtained an edge in trade by manipulating currency exchange rates." According to Han, the fixing mechanism of the RMB exchange rate will gradually move towards the interaction of the supply and demand of the market with two-way fluctuation, which is more flexible to a certain and reasonable extent. Based on the fundamentals of China's economy, the RMB will not continue to depreciate, Han said. China will continue to improve its market-driven mechanisms of the exchange rate, making the two-way fluctuation within a reasonable range. On Oct. 30, 2015, the Chinese yuan was admitted to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) after the vote inside the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With the yuan's admission to the SDR, which will take effect on Oct. 1, 2016, it will become the fifth currency after the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen to be an international reserve asset. The joining of the Chinese yuan to the SDR consolidates the stability of the yuan which is much unlikely to run out of control, Han said. However, Han also stressed that the People's Bank of China will not rule out its intervention when the forex market deviates from the fundamentals of the economy to fluctuate dramatically and the price signals run wild. Two orphaned Borneo orangutans have found something that some people wait a lifetime for---someone to love. According to Mashable, male Orangutan Gito was introduced to his now "girlfriend" Asoka a few days ago, and their handlers report that the two are now in love. The tale is even further elevated due to the fact that just a few months ago, Gito almost died. Gito's profile on International Animal Rescue states that he was found discarded in a box in Borneo and left to die in the sun. Asoka had a similar fate when she was found in the Indonesia rain forest, alone and orphaned. Luckily for Asoka, she was found by a local fisherman who quickly took the baby orangutan to the Indonesian Forrest Authorities. Orangutans are protected by Indonesian law as the species as a whole is facing extinction due to a dwindling habitat, as well as poachers capturing baby orangutans and selling them off as pets. Organizations such as the International Animal Rescue are doing what they can to help protect the species from going extinct, but they are facing tough opposition from the advancement of the Indonesian society. Currently, both Gito and Asoka are doing much better than the state in which they were found. However, caregivers worry that once they are strong enough to return to the wild, will they be able to survive the harsh conditions that are forming? Alan Knight, chief executive of International Animal Rescue, states that while both Gito and Asoka are two cute baby orangutans, their stories are becoming more and more common in Indonesia and Sumatra. Knight goes on to say that as long as the Palm Oil Industry continues to destroy the rainforests, more and more orangutans will become easy prey for poachers and even other predators. Express has reported that in the last 60 years, the Indonesian orangutan population has dropped almost 50 percent, which has been conmpounded by the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Indonesia. Meanwhile, in the neighboring country of Sumatra, the orangutan population has dropped nearly 80 percent during the same time period. Knight expresses that people who would like to help can do so by going to the International Animal Rescue's website and giving a donation. What do you think of the relationship between Gito and Asoka? Do you think that there is still hope for the two? Let us know in the comments below. 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo and U.S. actor Sean Penn are both in trouble for their secret meeting with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in October 2015. The world was taken by surprise when Rolling Stone published an article written by Sean Penn after an exclusive interview with Sinaloan drug boss "El Chapo." However, Penn isn't the only famous name to appear in the article. As it happens, the interview conducted by the 55-year-old actor had been brokered by famous Mexican actress Kate del Castillo. Both actors are now in hot water and are being investigated for their link to "El Chapo." Indeed, many were left in awe after Rolling Stone released the article, but many were also left wondering what would come next for both actors. Questions like whether they should be arrested and whether del Castillo is part of the trafficking ring are only two questions that many are asking. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, an unnamed official wants to ask Penn and del Castillo questions in order to "determine responsibilities" of a link after the "seven-hour sit-down" with the drug lord. Del Castillo had had contact with Guzman in 2012 after she tweeted: "Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be cool if you started trafficking with love? With cures for diseases, with food for the homeless children ... Imagine trafficking with corrupt politicians instead of women and children who end up as slaves ... Come on, Don! You would be the hero of heroes. Let's traffic with love." Apparently, "El Chapo" found an ally in del Castillo. At the time, Guzman was imprisoned, so through his lawyer, he contacted del Castillo to give her flowers and started communicating with her to ask her if she could use her connections to make a movie about his life. While questions are rampant about Penn and del Castillo's link to the drug lord, it remains unclear whether they could be in trouble due to the secret meeting. "They're not journalists," according to a second unnamed official. In the article, Penn wrote that if it wasn't for the "La Reina Del Sur" star's connection to the Mexican druglord, who "El Chapo" had asked for help in creating his autobiographical film, the interview wouldn't have been possible. Penn even said that "El Chapo" reached out to del Castillo because of the open letter she tweeted claiming that she believes more in the druglord than in the Mexican government. After months of negotiations, in October last year, Penn wrote that Guzman welcomed del Castillo "like a daughter returning from college." Being known for her role as a "drug lordess" in the TV series "The Queen of the South" and a mobster in U.S. TV series "Weeds," many are wondering whether life is imitating art in del Castillo's case. However, when "El Chapo" was captured and presented to the media Friday night last week, Attorney General of Mexico, Arely Gomez, claimed that Penn and del Castillo's meeting with "El Chapo" was what helped them pinpoint his whereabouts, according to the Latin Times. "Another important aspect that allowed us to find his location was when it was discovered that Guzman Loera wanted to make an autobiographical film," she said in a press conference. "Communication was established with actors and producers, which now are part of a new line of investigation; also, the follow ups allowed us to document the encounters between the lawyers of the now detained individual and these people," she added. According to legal experts, it's unlikely that Penn will face legal issues for the interview. "The fact that he's acting as a journalist, if anything, would be even more helpful in showing that he wasn't engaged in some conspiracy," New York free speech attorney Floyd Abrams told the ABC. Kate hasn't commented on the recent issues yet. What do you think? Check out El Chapo's Rolling Stone interview with Sean Penn in October 2015 before he was recaptured last week. 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. President Obama cut a promotional video ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union, his final while in office, telling viewers his final address to the nation would be for them. While this could mean anything from discussing last month's historic Climate Accord in Paris to restored relations with Cuba to a record-low unemployment rate since January 2009, the brunt of his speech is likely to focus on gun control. Obama sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper last week to stress the importance of passing gun reforms laws in the wake of mass shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College and at a the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. According to the Associated Press, a seat in the First Lady's box will be left vacant in homage of victims of gun violence. San Bernardino victim relatives and first responders will be in attendance. Conversely, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will give the Republican Party's opposite response. Given her ethnicity - she's the daughter of Indian immigrants - general approval in how she responded to last June's Charleston church shootings, and the fact that she's one of few prevalent women in the GOP, there is reason to believe Haley was chose in a run-up to a vice presidential campaign. The 2016 State of the Union marks newly elected Speak of the House Paul Ryan's first time seated at the Speaker's desk, a role filled by John Boehner from 2011 to 2015. When: Jan. 12, 2016 Time: 9:00 p.m. EST Television: ABC, CBS, Fox, Fox News, NBC, MSNBC Live stream: White House website Social media: White House Snapchat Republican response webcast: GOP.gov 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There's a new trend in town, or should we say anti-trend? Grooming, for both men and women, has always been synonymous to neat and clean. Whether it's a newly shaved beard, plucked or waxed brows, or combed, gelled hair, to groom is to make for a neat and orderly appearance. However, times have changed and people's perspective on grooming and grooming fashion has changed. There's Victoria's Secret models having bed hair on the runway and Hollywood male stars sporting scruffy faces on the red carpet. Slowly, these trends have paved the way for probably the easiest grooming trend to date. It tells men to totally ditch the usual routine that makes them look and smell clean. Men, welcome to 2016, the dawn of anti-grooming. check out : flat cap hats for men Anti-grooming doesn't only save time, but it saves men money and spares them from buying a host of products to keep their hair tidy. It's simple. For the hair, it has to look unwashed, dishevelled and bushy. For the brows, they need to be thick and un-plucked. However, to pull off the look, there needs to be that natural, healthy glow on the skin. Speaking to Mashable, some of the male models at the Alexander McQueen show at men's fashion week in London explained how they were able to pull off their unified, just-out-of-bed look for the show. It seems that showers are entirely out of the picture here. "They told me not to shower before the McQueen show," model Elijah van Brocklin told the website. "The look for the show is very minimalist and ordinary. You have to look like you don't care. So, you've got this dishevelled look, but you still look good," he added. The anti-groomed look certainly has its benefits for the models, who seem to like this new direction in the fashion world. Another model at the McQueen fashion show, Willo Barrett, didn't need to exert as much effort to "look good" for the runway. "I used to pluck my eyebrows ... now I have to grow a unibrow," Barrett said. "A lot of the other models haven't even had their hair cut, like me for example. I just came with my normal hair and they just trimmed it a little bit at the back," he added. Nothing looked as relaxed and natural as the male models at the McQueen show. Indeed, designer Amber Siegel told Mashable that the idea for the autumn/winter collection grooming was "very natural" and "pared-down". However, while all of these sounds easy and enticing for men, as mentioned above, there needs to be that healthy glow from within. This of course requires a healthy lifestyle. "There's a difference between looking nice and being healthy. Moisturising is part of being healthy," said photographer Nabil. If you don't have the time for all the grooming rituals to make your hair look neat yet you have that healthy glow in you, anti-grooming is what you need. 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This is black beauty at a whole new level. Not many photos have been able to capture the beauty of black women, much less black Brazilians. However, photographer Jeferson Lima has decided to challenge that notion, and it looks like he's succeeding. Lima is a Brazilian photographer based in the city of Salvador, Bahia. To celebrate the beauty of the black women in his city, he has decided to take on a project where he focuses on capturing many portraits of these women. In fact, according to Afro Punk, most of Lima's life's work tells the authentic stories and the unique culture and beauty of black Brazilian Bahian women. His colorful portraits are just beautiful. While many of the photos he has taken show the model Luma Nascimento in them, through his project, he aims to put the spirit of Salvador's black community on the spotlight. According to Remezcla, Jeferson Lima launched the project via Instagram, with the handle Soteropolitane.se, in January 2015. At the time, Brazil's appreciation of the black community had been at a peak. Lima previously told AfroPunk: "The state of Bahia has the largest concentration of blacks out of Africa, and that's so amazing to us." On the photographer's website, he explains why he came up with the project: "Its well known that soteropolitanos went through a period of low self-esteem, and it was necessary to create a plan of action for us to go back to that past joy." In 2015, the number of Brazilians identified as black has multiplied significantly as compared to the numbers 10 years ago, according to Remezcla in November. El Pais explains that the rise in the number of black Brazilians had begun being noticed since 2007. However, the birth rate isn't the reason for the rise, but the numbers shifted due to people's "positive attitudes about race, among other reasons," according to sociologists. In Brazil, people of different ethnicity haven't always been perceived positively. Jeferson Lima hopes that with his photos, more people will be more at home at Salvador, no matter their clothes, food, stories or appearances. Jeferson Lima isn't the only photographer who has decided to take photos of some black Brazilians in the city of Salvador de Bahia. There's also 19-year-old Joao Lima, who has taken beautiful photos of both male and female black Brazilians. To see Jao Lima's astounding photos, check out his website at http://www.joaolimafotografia.com. Meanwhile, you can take a look at Jeferson Lima's amazing work in his website here. You can also take a look at some of them below. {Estamos no @AFROPUNK} Ensaio feito na feira de Sao Joaquim para celebrar a autenticidade e a identidade da mulher baiana! @jefersonlim4 A photo posted by @soteropolitane.se on Jan 8, 2016 at 2:02am PST 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Through President Michelle Bachelets relentless efforts, university education in Chile will finally be available for free. The Chilean head of state has expressed that free higher education is a right, and not merely a gift. Fox News Latino reported that free higher education in Chile will become effective in 2016. Over the past 35 years, all students had been required to pay tuition. Telesur revealed that Chilean Minister of Interior Rodrigo Penailillo announced in December 2015 that university education will be free the following year. The news comes after students marched on the streets, protesting that education should be offered for free throughout the country. We always believed that education is a right and the fact that we are moving ahead strongly in that direction fills us with joy, President Bachelet said. About 165,000 students will be able to attend university for free during the first year of the benefit. Several schools will be offering free education, including the University of Chile. Bachelet added that she would have preferred for more young individuals to avail of the free higher education benefit, but they also have to consider the countrys current economic situation. In 2015, Chiles economic growth dropped by about two percent and is expected to taper off more in 2016. Nevertheless, Bachelet encouraged students to avail of the new benefit, with the government compensating their efforts to start university education, based on the same Fox News Latino report. Mainly, households with an income of not more than 180,000 pesos ($250) per month per family member are preferred to avail of free higher education in Chile. The Guardian wrote that Bachelet aims to solve serious inequality throughout the nation through a new constitution, supported by tax reform and free schooling. Bachelet stated that they have fewer resources and overestimated the ability of the state and political system to achieve extensive structural reforms within a short period of time. The Chilean president needed to change her strategy, such as introducing free education gradually, from 2016 to 2020. The poorest students were intended to be preferred. Although the original plan was to accommodate 70 percent of those who cannot or can hardly afford university, they had to reduce it to 60 percent. Several adjustments were made, with the objective of raking in $8.3 billion, or almost three percent of GDP, to fund free education. More updates and details regarding free university in Chile are expected soon. 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Good news for all Hannibal fans. There are rumors that a possible season 4 might happen. The psychological crime thriller ended their season 3 on NBC, Latin Post reported. This has broken the hearts of fans who are hoping for the continuation of the show. However, although the TV series said goodbye to NBC, it doesn't mean that it will not find a new home. One of the series' star, Hugh Dancy, revealed that creator Bryan Fuller pitched to him what he had in mind for Season 4 had it been continued. Mads Mikkelsen who plays the character of Hannibal Lecter also had a few things to say. The actor said that even though the show was cancelled because of poor ratings, he still considers the show as a success. "I have a hard time seeing a film that could wrap that up, but never say never. As a magician, [Fuller] might pull that out of his sleeve," Mads said. "But having said that, the success for me was that I am very proud of it. I haven't seen anything on television that looked like that or felt like that, or where the actors had freedom like that." Fans of the show were hoping that the show would transition to the fourth season and incorporate Harris' second novel "The Silence of the Lambs." However, according to Dancy, the fourth season might not be what fans expect, should it happen. Dancy didn't say where Hannibal could potentially land but he did reveal that he and all his co-stars will be on board in the event the fourth season pushes through. In an interview with Collider, Mikkelsen shared some memorable experiences that he had while doing the show. This included one of his most favourite scenes in the TV series as well as the little mischief he did while on set. "I remember when Will Graham was in jail and Alana Bloom was visiting him, at one point, and she leaned in, almost like a dream sequence, to kiss him and she morphed into this creature," Mikkelsen said. "That was so over-the-top, but also so beautiful." The actor also revealed that one time when he walked off the set still wearing the costume he had on. Mikkelsen confessed that he stole one of Hannibal's suits but the production team called him and said that they want to give him a suit as a memorabilia. "I said, 'The grey and red one,' and they said, 'We'll send it to you.' I said, 'That's okay, I already have it.' So, that turned out really well. I didn't turn out to be a thief," Mikkelsen said. 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Although there are many people opposing the idea of Donald Trump as the next president of America, Vice President Joe Biden thinks otherwise. In an article by US Weekly magazine, Vice President Biden said on Tuesday that he thinks billionaire businessman Donald Trump could be the next leader of America. During an interview with news anchor Savannah Guthrie in the Today Show, the 73-year-old Vice President said that it is possible that Trump could be the next United States president. However, Biden does have a few concerns in the event that Trump wins the election and the favour of many. The Vice President said that he has different views compared to those of the business mogul. He also hopes that Trump would get more serious about relevant issues. "I hope that if that were to occur - I hope it doesn't because I have fundamentally different views than he does - I'd hope that he gets a lot more serious about the issues, a lot more serious about gaining knowledge about how this nation functions and foreign policy and domestic policy. But look, that's a long way off," Biden said. As of the moment, Trump is on lead with the GOP field. This also includes other hopeful candidates like Marc Rubio, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul. Meanwhile, the Democratic runners are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. However, even if Biden thinks that there is a possibility that Trump could win, President Barack Obama begs to differ. The US president believes that America is looking for the kind of leadership that feeds hopes and not fears. "I'm pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn't try to divide, that isn't looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating but looks for us buckling down and figuring out," Obama said. In other updates, ABC News reported that Biden was given another assignment. The US Vice President was appointed by Obama to lead the fight against cancer. The advocacy is one of Obama's goals while he is still president of the United States. He announced during his State of the Union that he is putting Biden in charge of the Mission Control. The Vice President who was sat behind was not able to give his reaction with his present appointment but did seem surprised with the news. Biden holds a personal connection with the battle against the disease as he has always been determined to find a cure. The former senator's son Beau Biden died due to brain cancer. 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Venezuela's Supreme Court has decided that all actions made by the opposition MUD coalition, which currently holds a majority in the country's National Assembly, will be void until three banned lawmakers are removed from office. After the MUD took two-thirds of the National Assembly seats in the recent legislative election, President Nicolas Maduro accused the opposition party of vote-buying and barred four newly elected lawmakers from taking their seats. Three of the barred members -- Nirma Guarulla, Julio Ygarza and Romel Guzamana -- belong to the MUD and represent the province of Amazonas. Despite the ban, the three were sworn in last week. As previously reported, Henry Ramos Allup, an MUD deputy and the new president of the National Assembly, announced on Jan. 5 that his party would soon take measures to force the Socialist President Maduro out of office. Speaking at the National Assembly swearing-in ceremony, Ramos Allup said Venezuelans could expect a change in their government within six months. "Here and now, things will change," he said. Ramos Allup went so far as to order the removal of portraits of former President Hugo Chavez from the National Assembly. But it was the swearing-in of the three barred legislators, that led to the Supreme Court's action. In an official statement, the court said that any decisions made by the National Assembly while these lawmakers were in office would be null. If these three legislators are removed, the opposition would lose its supermajority in the legislature. Ramos Allup took to Twitter to denounce the Supreme Court's move, saying the government is flouting the will of the people. No sacan votos pero sacan sentencias. Gobierno y tsj desacatan voluntad popular. Henry Ramos Allup (@hramosallup) January 11, 2016 As the BBC reports, former National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello said the just and democratic thing for the National Assembly to do now would be to revoke the swearing-in of these lawmakers. "If the National Assembly is in contempt, nobody is going to recognize it," he said. President Barack Obama will deliver his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and Latino leaders are expecting him to discuss the issues affecting the community. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 40 national and regional Latino organizations, published a letter for Obama, which includes topics for the president to consider addressing on Tuesday night. "Significant progress has been made in the past year in postponing the immediate impact of sequestration on programs important to Latinos and the nation as a whole, expanding tax credits for working families, enrolling more Latinos in health insurance coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and expanding employment," wrote NHLA Chair Hector Sanchez. "As you know, much work remains to be done, and new threats have arisen as hateful rhetoric against Latinos, immigrants, and refugees reached new heights in the past year. We respectfully ask that in your State of the Union address, you raise the profile of our community's urgent priorities, described in greater detail below," added Sanchez, who also serves as the executive director for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. Puerto Rico: The NHLA named Puerto Rico's financial crisis among its list of topics that Obama should address. The NHLA is aware that the Obama administration presented a plan to address the commonwealth's debt crisis last fall, but it's a proposal that only Congress can pass. Congress, however, did not include language to provide Puerto Rico with the tools to fix their financial problems, and while Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., pledged to provide a solution by the end of 2016's first quarter, Sanchez wrote that it is not enough. "Congress needs to act fast but the U.S. Treasury and other federal departments need to do more as well. It is imperative that you make this clear in your State of the Union address and show that the welfare of the 3.5 million American citizens living in the territory is a presidential priority," wrote Sanchez. Immigration & Citizenship: The NHLA reiterated its support of the Obama administration's November 2014 executive actions, which introduced the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs. And while the Obama administration currently addresses the legal challenges of DAPA and expanded DACA guidelines, Sanchez said the coalition continues to call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Sanchez said the NHLA will continue to urge Congress to pass a bill despite Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., stating they won't introduce such legislation during the remainder of Obama's presidency. In regards to the recent deportation raids campaign, NHLA called on the administration to stop further action as it targets refugees instead of criminals. The NHLA also wants Obama to announce steps on humanely reforming the immigrant detention centers and to continue encouraging legal permanent residents to become naturalized U.S. citizens. Health: Sanchez credited the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to Obamacare, for providing the Latino community with many benefits, such as affordable health costs and health research. Sanchez noted ACA enrollment efforts helped reduce the Latino uninsured rate by 9.7 percent between 2013 and October 2015 and supports Obama on issuing further vetoes against any bill repealing the ACA. "Furthermore, NHLA will continue to build on the gains of the ACA to ensure access to coverage and care for these families," said Sanchez, specifically calling for the administration to allow DACA and DAPA beneficiaries to legally receive ACA benefits. The NHLA also addressed additional topics ranging from education and Latino inclusion in government. To read the letter, click here. State of the Union (English): State of the Union with Spanish Subtitles: __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. A truck carries containers at a cargo port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 8, 2014.[Xinhua] China's export in 2015 was 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion), down 1.8 percent from the end of 2014, the first drop since 2010, according to the General Administration of Customs. The total import and export volume stood at 24.59 trillion yuan in 2015, down 7 percent from the same period in 2014. Import fell by 13.2 percent to 10.45 trillion yuan. Trade surplus expanded by 56.7 percent from the end of 2014 to 3.96 trillion yuan. In December alone, foreign trade surplus rose 24.7 percent to 382 billion yuan, the General Administration of Customs announced on Wednesday. Exports increased 2.3 percent to 1.43 trillion yuan and imports fell 4 percent to 1.05 trillion yuan in that month. Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs, said Chinese trade went through a difficult and complicated year in 2015. "The double decrease in import and export is due to the economic slowdown throughout the world," said Huang Songping, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs. The import slump was largely caused by the price drop of commodities and also the weakening of demands. The department will pay close attention to the fluctuation of currencies, Huang added. According to Huang, the 2008 financial crisis has hurt the growth momentum of the global economy. The shrinking global demand and the dropping prices of bulk commodities have contributed to the decrease in China's international trade. "China still faces challenges in terms of trade. Its exports will face a tremendous pressure in the first quarter of this year," said Huang. China's trade volume in 2016 will remain at the same level as last year, he said. China will remain the number one in bilateral trade. The new trading channels, such as e-commerce, will grow in 2016. President Barack Obama is set to deliver his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, and it is likely he will look towards hoped-for successor Hillary Clinton to continue his legacy. According to CNN, Obama administration aides say the president will argue that the country's destiny will depend on the next commander in chief honoring his progress made on the forefronts of such issues as health care reform, climate change and wars waged in the Middle East. The best person for that job, Obama believes according to sources close to him, is Hillary Clinton. "I think Barack Obama believes that it is incredibly important that Hillary Clinton succeeds him," said a former aide to the president who still maintains White House connections. "The only way that we have an economy where people aren't losing their health care is if Hillary Clinton becomes president." The president also has met with fellow Democratic runner Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator is surging in the polls in vital states such as New Hampshire and Iowa, and will likely prove a major threat to Clinton securing the Democratic nomination. Vice President Joe Biden, who surprisingly decided to forego entering the presidential race, seemed to support Sanders over Clinton in a recent interview with CNN. "Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real. And he has credibility on it," said Biden, adding that it was "relatively new" for Clinton to discuss issues of social and economic inequality that characterize Sanders' campaign. Despite Obama's support for Clinton, it's clear that president does not intend to hand over the reigns just yet. There are still many things Obama wants to accomplish in his last year. "I want us to be able, when we walk out this door, to say, 'We couldn't think of anything else that we didn't try to do ... that we weren't timid or got tired or somehow thinking about the next thing because there is no next thing,'" Obame said in a pre-State of the Union video on Monday. One regret the president said he has is that he was not able to untie Washington the way he talked about in his first campaign. "Part of what I want to do in this last address is to remind people, you know what, we've got a lot of good things going for us and if we can get our politics right, it turns out that we're not as divided on the ideological spectrum as people make us out to be," said Obama during an interview with NBC's "Today." Now that Android M, or Android 6.0 Marshmallow, has rolled out updates to the Nexus family of devices, as well as few OEM Android smartphones, the Moto X Play in Brazil and India is joining the up-to-date 2015 Moto X Pure Edition in the U.S., as Motorola is reportedly rolling out the Android M update OTA to devices in those countries. The news comes from Moto X Play users in Brazil and India, who sent screen captures of the updated software information to Android Police, proving the Android M update has at least begun to roll out those particular handsets in those countries. This puts the Moto X Play, at least in those two major markets, ahead of its closest U.S. equivalent in the Android update race. As it did last year, when it released the Android 5.0 Lollipop update to the Moto X 2014 edition within weeks of Google's official release of the operating system and that year's Nexus 6, Motorola has again shown how quickly it's bringing the latest Android firmware to its devices. In the U.S., the 2015 Moto X Pure Edition received an OTA update over most carriers several weeks ago in early December. Meanwhile, most Android device manufacturers, like HTC and Samsung, are still currently in late stages of testing and Android M development, even for 2015 flagships like the HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. The Moto X Play was unveiled at the same time as its U.S.-based and international cousin, respectively named the Moto X Pure Edition and Moto X Style. The Moto X Play, available in its unlocked form only outside of the U.S., offers a lower price at the cost of slightly lower specs. Instead of the Quad HD resolution on the Moto X Pure/Style, for example, the Play comes with a 1080p resolution. But it packs a massive 3630mAh Turbo-charge battery that Motorola says lasts for two days on a single charge. The closest equivalent of the Moto X Play, the Droid Maxx 2, is available only through Verizon. Those Motorola-built handsets in the U.S. have yet to receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and spoke on several topics ranging from immigration, the economy and foreign policy. SOTU's Focus: Future & Four Questions Now in his final year in office, Obama said that is understandable that expectations to achieve goals will be low due to the election season, but regardless, he wants to continue work on fixing a broken immigration system, protecting children from gun violence, pay equity and other issues for the next 5 to 10 years and beyond. "I want to focus on our future," said Obama. "We live in a time of extraordinary change - change that's reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world. It's change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families." Obama's addressed focused on four questions that the U.S. needs to answer, regardless of who wins the presidency and controls Congress next year. The president asked, "First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us - especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman? And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what's best in us, and not what's worst?" Obama also announced Vice President Joe Biden will campaign to find the cure against cancer. Economy & Immigration's Role In regards to the economy, Obama said the U.S. currently has the strongest and most durable economy in the world as a result of the ongoing longest streak of private-sector job creation, more than 14 million new jobs, unemployment cut in half since entering office and cutting the deficit by nearly three-quarters. He added that anyone who thinks the U.S. economy is on decline "is peddling fiction." "I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy. I think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed, and there's red tape that needs to be cut," said Obama, adding that corporations have seen record profits. Obama also recognized immigration is not the reason wages have not increased, since wage increase are usually decisions made in the boardrooms. He also said workers, start-ups and small businesses need a bigger voice in the new economy. Education On Education, Obama polished his legacy by acknowledging the increase of early childhood education and improved high school graduation rates but the next president needs to build on that aforementioned progress by providing free pre-k education for all, offer students hands-on computer science and math classes and both recruit and support great teachers. Climate Change Climate change was next on Obama's agenda, and it's a topic he said people should not dispute or deny. "Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You'll be pretty lonely, because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it," said Obama, noting 2014 and 2015 were recorded as the warmest years on record and called for investments in cleaner energy. Security & Foreign Policy Obama linked climate change as one of the major security issues that affects the world, which enabled him to transition the topic to America's security. "I told you earlier all the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close," said Obama, adding the U.S. spends more on military than the next eight countries combined and no nation would attack the U.S. or its allies "because they know that's the path to ruin." "Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead -- they call us." Obama reiterated his call for Congress to authorize the use of military force against the Islamic State militant group. He did acknowledge that it's not the role for the U.S. to take over and rebuild every country that enters crisis as Iraq and Vietnam have served as examples that it's a recipe for "quagmire" for America. Staying on foreign policy, Obama spoke about the renewed diplomatic relationship with Cuba. Describing the previous isolation policy as a failed approach to promote democracy, Obama said the new relationship opens the door to commerce, travel and improved lives with people in Cuba. He also called on Congress to lift the embargo against the communist island. 2016 Campaign Rhetoric and Engaging Americans Making a reference to the ongoing rhetoric on the 2016 presidential campaign, Obama said people have to reject politics that targets race or religion since it's not a matter of political correctness and the world respect the U.S. for its diversity and openness respecting every faith. "So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen," said Obama. "To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day." Following the State of the Union address, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart delivered separate Republican responses, in English and Spanish, respectively. __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. Florida senator and GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio filed a senate bill on Tuesday that will remove special benefits from Cuban Immigrants in the U.S. The Cuban Immigrant Work Opportunity Act of 2016 aims to change years of practice where Cubans collect their benefits in the U.S. then going back to the Cuba. "It is outrageous whenever the American people's generosity is exploited. It is particularly outrageous when individuals who claim to be fleeing repression in Cuba are welcomed and allowed to collect federal assistance based on their plight, only to return often to the very place they claimed to be fleeing," Rubio said in a press release. The 44-year-old Florida senator is a son of Cuban immigrants that arrived in the U.S. three years before Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959. Rubio is one of the three Latino Americans in the U.S. Senate and has used his heritage as part of his campaign. The bill will require the immigrants to prove that they have been persecuted in Cuba to qualify for the Refugee Resettlement Program that gives cash, food stamps and Medicaid to asylum seekers. It also ensures that these benefits are not collected by people living outside the U.S. A similar bill was filed by Rep. Carlos Curbelo last month that have already gathered support from Cuban Americans in Congress and other lawmakers. The new legislations came six months after diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba were restored after 54 years on hostility. "This legislation will ensure that only persecuted Cubans can receive refugee benefits, which are designated for those who cannot return to their countries, and will protect American taxpayers. America's generosity should be honored and appreciated, never exploited or abused," Curbelo said via Sun Sentinel. However, the report noted that the bill does not affect the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 that allows Cubans to have U.S. residency after one year and one day in American soil. That law was made for Cubans to escape communism, but many took it as an advantage to freely move between U.S. and Cuba. The Sun Sentinel also uncovered that Cubans cost U.S. taxpayers more than $680 million per year while fraud and theft have cost $2 billion in the past 20 years. The number of Cuban immigrants has increased in the past few months because many of its people are worried that better relations between the two nations will end the benefits they are getting, per CNN. About 8,000 Cuban immigrants were stranded in Costa Rica last December trying to reach the U.S. A deal between five other Central American countries and Mexico were signed last week. The agreement will fly the 8,000 stranded Cubans to El Salvador and then travel by bus to reach the U.S. border. Citing the tension that has escalated between the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid claims the deportation raids will soon be over, at least for a while. "I think you're going to find a pause in these deportations," Reid told The Hill. The Nevada senator says that the controversy has divided Democrats, and party members in Congress are now working on a resolution. However, he is not sure when the policy shift will be announced. Ever since officials from the Immigrations and Customs Inforcement (ICE) started targeting Central American immigrants last week, more than 140 House members have come out to criticize the Obama administration. The White House has since called for a meeting of its top officials in a vain effort to suppress the backlash. In a span of 13 days, a total of 121 people has been taken into custody, most of them in Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. The detention of adults and children has been seen as an inhumane effort by the government to quell a tide of refugees fleeing the conflict in Central America, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest thinks otherwise. "The enforcement priorities laid out by the administration are concentrating our efforts to deport felons, not families, and to prioritize the case of recent border crossers," he explained in a press briefing, per Reuters. Earnest added that the raids only targeted individuals who unlawfully crossed the southern border after May 1, 2014. An immigration court directive ordered them to be removed. Most families were taken to family residential centers before being escorted back to their home countries through chartered flights. The White House initially stated that it would not change its stance on the issue despite the negative feedback among congressional Democrats over the deportation raids. "We're of course aware of these concerns. But the enforcement strategy and priorities that the administration has articulated are not going to change," Earnest told The Hill last week. According to the latest Border Patrol numbers via The Washington Times, illegal immigration from Central America is at an all-time high. From October to December 2015, close to 40,000 adults and children have been caught trying to cross the southwest border. Approximately 9,000 adults have been caught in December, which is a 38 percent increase compared to November. Border Patrol agents also apprehended another 6,800 children who were traveling alone last month. The vast majority of immigrants are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Human rights groups say those countries are suffering from an epidemic of violence that's driving women and children out of their homes. It might be time to uncover a lost city in Honduras. Archaeologists are on their way to recover artifacts of an ancient civilization in La Mosquitia region in the eastern part of the country, hoping to find out more about the recently discovered city deep in the jungle. According to a report from National Geographic, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez went to the site of the "lost city" to be a part of the excavation of the first artefact last Tuesday. Colorado State University put together an archaeological team for the expedition supported by the Honduran government and a grant from the National Geographic Society. Led by the university's Christopher Fisher, the group will be spending a month in Honduras for the project. Virgilio Paredes, Director of the Honduran Institute for Anthropology and History, was with President Hernandez during his visit and reiterated the goals of the team saying, "We're hoping to find out what culture was here." He added that after the month of scouring the archaeological site, the team is planning to develop a "strategic plan" to expand the study and the search for ancient civilizations in the area. After all, the specific area that's currently being explored is only one of three in the region that was discovered in 2012. The "White City", also known as the "Lost City of the Monkey God", has long been the subject of legends, as a remote place where Indians took refuge from the Spanish conquistadores. A previous report from National Geographic revealed that an expedition last March unveiled an old culture in the supposed site of the secret city. The region of La Mosquitia is still relatively unexplored by scientists, so the expedition last year yielded great results as the archaeologists were able to survey and map "extensive plazas, earthworks, mounds, and an earthen pyramid belonging to a culture that thrived a thousand years ago, and then vanished." About 52 artifacts were seen on the earth, plus many more potentially underground including burials. There were stone seats and vessels carved with a variety of animals, but the most interesting find was the head of a "were-jaguar", which possibly showed a shaman in a "transformed, spirit state". Fisher revealed the extraordinary nature of the newly discovered site saying, "The undisturbed context is unique. This is a powerful ritual display, to take wealth objects like this out of circulation." Oscar Neil Cruz, head archaeologist at the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH), put the date of the artifacts at A.D. 1000 to 1400. There have been endless of changes in the past fifteen decades and international migration is one of the major ones. Numbers from the United Nations (U.N.) have revealed that the migrants around the world have swelled since the beginning of the new millennium. According to a report from ABC News, the U.N. study recognized that the number of migrants worldwide increased to 41 percent in the past 15 years. There is now a total of 244 million, people who have migrated to another country, including 20 million refugees. Most of the international migrants come from the regions of Asia and Europe, with 104 million (43 percent) and 62 million (25 percent) respectively. Latin America and the Caribbean followed with 37 million (15 percent) of migrants while the North America only recorded 4 million (2 percent). In terms of countries, India is at the top of the list with 16 million migrants with the following countries also prominently featured: Mexico with 12 million, Russia with 11 million, China with 10 million, Bangladesh with seven million, and Pakistan and Ukraine with six million each. The international migrants have mostly headed to Europe and Asia who host 76 million and 75 million migrants respectively, which amounts to two-thirds of the total number. The U.S. are far and away the single country hosting the most number of migrants with 47 million people settling in since 2000. Germany and Russia have 12 million each, Saudi Arabia with 10 million, Britain with nine million and the United Arab Emirates with eight million. The study also sought to identify the identities of the migrants and found out that 48 percent are women. Most of them are of working age with the median age logged in as 39 in the last year. Despite the soaring numbers, U.N. revealed that migrants are only 3.3 percent of the world's total population in 2015. Still, the percentage has increased enough for it to be a concern for certain regions whose population growth can be partially attributed to the influx of migrants. In the U.S., a host of a huge number of migrants (legal and illegal), the administration is turning to the U.N. for help in screening potential refugees and setting up processing centers, according to a report from New York Times. There are plans to conduct a series of meetings in 2016 to discuss the subject of migration, the report from ABC revealed. In March, there will be a conference in Geneva where the Syrian refugee crisis can be addressed as well. State-controlled oil producer Petrobras announced that the company would be cutting its investment budget after Brazil's corruption scandal. The oil giant slashed a total of $32 billion on Tuesday. In order to sustain more cash and to have the financial capability to pay off its debts, Petrobras cuts its 2015-2019 investment budget from $130.3 billion to $98.4 billion, showing a 24.6 percent reduction. Financial Times reports that this big adjustment is in light of the recent events in Brazil, including the biggest corruption scandal involving the oil company. Since then, Petrobras has been under debt with a liability of $104 billion. The aggressive depreciation of the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar has also contributed to the decision of the oil company to cut its spending. "Petrobras has been working continuously to fine-tune its business plan and adapt it rapidly to the changes in the business environment," the company said on Tuesday in a press release. As Petrobras decides its capital spending, the company will also reduce its oil output. From 2.185 million barrels a day, Petrobras will now only produce 2.145 million barrels a day starting this year. Furthermore, EFE via Latino FOX News reports that Petrobras anticipates their expected average production in 2020 to be 2.7 million barrels per day rather than 2.8 million barrels per day. This year, the company's production target will also decrease and be cut by 1.8 percent. The budget decrease is reportedly necessary to face the effects of foreign exchange rates. According to the news agency, this will be cutting Petrobras' projected investment by $21.2 billion over the next three years. However, the company is not entirely going down. Financial Times noted that June of last year, it reportedly issued a $2.5 billion, 100-year bond and secured funding from Chinese financial institutions. In other news, Jorge Zelada, the former head of Petrobras' international division, was sentenced by a Rio de Janeiro judge to four years in prison for fraud charges, per Reuters. Zelada helped Odebrecht SA win a contract in 2010 by scrapping a competitive bidding process for an analysis of the company's overseas environmental liabilities. The ex Petrobras executive was also accused of corruption and money laundering in the southern city of Curitiba. Candice Swanepoel left little to the imagination during a recent photo shoot in Costa Rica. Fans have seen the model wear sexy lingerie on the Victoria's Secret catwalk. However, she went for a bolder and more daring route during her Costa Rica photo shoot, where she stripped completely naked. Swanepoel stripped down to her birthday suit as she posed for the camera lying on the sand. The 27-year-old shared a snap of her photo shoot on Instagram. The picture showed the South African model showing her naked bum as she posed with her front body on the ground. She has her arms placed strategically on her sides to cover her breasts. A few specks of carefully placed sand covers most of her modestly. Swanepoel captioned her shot taken by photographer Jerome Duran with," Where the wild things are." She also added the hash tags #costarica and #puravida. However, this is not the first time the model has stripped naked for a photo shoot. Looking through her Instagram feed shows she has also stripped for Victoria's Secret earlier in December last year. Swanepoel shared her photo for the fashion label where she posed naked behind a tree. She used the length of the tree to cover her body. However, her strategically placed hand, which was supposed to cover her naked breasts, revealed a bit of nipple slip. An Instagram photo from October also showed the model completely naked while posing on the beach rocks. Swanepoel only blurred out a nipple to censor her photo. She captioned the shot, "The ocean was the best place, That was what she loved most. It was a feeling of freedom like no other, a feeling of communion with all the other places and creatures the water touched." Swanepoel is no stranger when it comes to wearing sexy lingerie or revealing her cheeky bum for the camera. The avid Instagram fan uses the social media app to share photos of herself wearing sexy bikinis that show her fit body. The 27-year-old will soon be Mrs. Nicoli. Swanepoel's engagement to her boyfriend of 10 years Hermann Nicoli was revealed in August last year. A source told E! News that the model "couldn't be happier." Swanepoel and Nicoli started dating after meeting in Paris when the model was only 17. It's believed that she has already learned Portuguese from her boyfriend during their 10-year relationship. Russian President Vladimir Putin has explained his side through an interview with Bild, a German newspaper, saying, "he did not mean to scare Chancellor Angela Merkel with his dog" in a press conference that happened nine years ago. "I showed her my dog because I thought she would like it," Vladimir Putin said. He also added that he just "wanted to do something nice to her" so he let his beloved, friendly and well-behaved Labrador dog, Connie, stay inside the room while they were conducting the meeting. Putin also denies the issue that he has been informed about Merkel's phobia of dogs. According to Putin, as soon as he learned that Merkel doesn't like dogs, he felt sorry and asked for an apology. In 2007, as posted in Telegraph, the incident happened in Putin's Sochi residence in Germany. That is when Putin and Merkel met for the first time. According to some reports, Putin has already been briefed about the German Chancellor's fear of dogs. But despite that, he still deliberately had his pet Labrador brought in the meeting. Rumor has it that the move was planned and a ploy to intimidate the chancellor. Merkel reportedly has Cynophobia, or fear of dogs, since she was attacked in 1995. During the meeting, she was photographed looking very uneasy especially that Putin's black Labrador was wandering freely around the room. Now, after almost a decade, the Russian President dismissed the issue about him using his beloved dog, which had passed away last 2014, to unnerve Merkel during the very important meeting between the two heads of state. According to the website, Independent, Putin also complimented the German leader for being professional and open. "She is also subject to certain pressures and limitations. But she is making an honest effort to resolve the crises, also in south-west Ukraine." Putin added that since both their sides are interested to work hard to fight Islamic terrorism, they must stand together in order to achieve their goals against it. That's why instead of bringing out issues in the past that would only make them feel negative towards each other, they must focus more on other important matters instead. "We should stand together much more globally in the fight against terror, which is a big challenge," he said. "Even though we don't agree every time and on every subject, no one should take that as an excuse to declare us enemies." You are here: Home A pair of 3-month-old conjoined twins have been successfully separated from one another in the city yesterday, a success for the nations first computer-assisted surgery, hospital authorities said yesterday. Doctors operate on the conjoined twins yesterday. Ti Gong The boys from a family in east Chinas Jiangxi Province were connected to each other from chest to the belly. They had separate heart system but shared a common liver, doctors at the Childrens Hospital of Fudan University said yesterday. The conjoined twins were detected during prenatal checks in their home town and the mother was rushed to Shanghai for delivery three weeks before her due date. The mother delivered the twins on September 29. The total weight of the twins was only 4.15 kilograms. Medics had to wait for three months until it was safe to operate on the twins. Dr Zheng Shan, the chief surgeon, said the most challenging part in the 5-hour surgery was to separate the complicated connections of blood vessels as they shared a common liver. Doctors used a 3D model generated by a Computer Assisted Surgery system to guide the operation. A 3D image of their liver was made that showed the blood vessels. They then worked out a surgical plan for a precise separation that would cause minimum bleeding and damages. The twins only lost 30 milliliters of blood during the surgery. Yesterdays surgery was the hospitals eighth successful separation of conjoined twins since 2000. In another latest case of a U.S. Police shooting, an officer from Los Angeles shot down an unarmed homeless man in Venice. According to the city's chief of police, if he can have it his way, he wants the cop responsible be charged for the crime. For more than 15 years, the Los Angeles Police Department averaged to have shot at least one person per week, with no officer getting punished. Add to the fact that the LAPD was reported by Think Progress to have shot and killed more people than any other department in America. And last year, Police Officer Clifford Proctor shot a homeless man named Brendon Glenn while he was lying on his stomach, as he was attempting to push himself off the ground. According to Proctor's lawyer, Glenn was about to grab his client's partner's gun, which prompted him to shoot the man. However, witnesses and a surveillance video showed that it was not the case. In a report by ABC7, Glenn was at a bar and had words with the two officers earlier the night of the incident, but the two left the scene. However, he had an altercation inside the bar, which prompted the bouncers and the two officers to go back and confront him. According to eye witnesses, Glenn proceeded to say something to one of the officers that made the police take him to the ground. Furthermore, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck reviewed the video and saw that despite the confrontation, Glenn was not attempting to grab the officer's gun, but instead was just struggling to stand up. In the video, it showed that Officer Proctor stepping back and pulling his gun, then proceeding to shot Glenn twice in the back, killing him. The chief of police then admitted that the officer's actions were not justified, which led him to recommend to District Attorney Jackie Lacey to hit Proctor with criminal charges. Beck's recommendation resulted in him being criticized by the Los Angeles Police Protective League Union, who represents the officers in the city. The league said that Beck's recommendation is a sign of irresponsibility, as he already rendered judgment to Proctor despite being still in the early stages of the investigation. They went on to reiterate the commonly cited phrase that "everyone is innocent until proven guilty." Amidst the criticism, Beck asked the Police Commission to delay its review of the fatal shooting, citing that the DA's office is still evaluating whether to charge the police officer who opened fire, according to Los Angeles Times. The number of indigenous people from Central America migrating illegally to the U.S. is rising. Now, advocacy groups are spreading awareness among these indigenous people on how they can avoid the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from raiding their homes. According to Latino Rebels, the ICE sees immigrants from Central America as an easy target because of their low literacy level and their inability to speak any language other than their Mayan dialect. Currently, the surge on the number of immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and the Honduras speaks largely on the crisis of undocumented immigrants. Women and children, as well as unaccompanied minors, arrived in the U.S. bearing different reasons why they came. Service agencies and non-profit organizations are their only stronghold amidst the strict implementation of immigration policies. PBS News Hour reports that the increasing number of immigrants coming to the U.S. will also take its toll on the current campaign propaganda of those who are opposed to these undocumented immigrants. The numbers are also expected to increase as February approaches. The cry for concern among these illegal immigrants came from reports of them being detained after a surprise ICE raid during wee hours in the morning. Either these people are detained or they face the grueling and stressful process of getting deported. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California said, "Having people afraid to open their doors to strangers and not going to work is not a healthy development." Lofgren said that while she is concerned about the growing number of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S., she believes that these people deserve respect. She also mentioned that many of these immigrants fled their own countries because of violence, and it should not be repeated again. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest defended the administration's immigration policies. He said that the act of deporting immigrants only happen after they have exhausted all legal efforts to retain them. "Our desire to make clear that individuals should not embark on the dangerous journey from Central America to the Southwest border, that's the case we've tried to tell all along," Earnest explained. Adelina Nicholls, executive director of Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, questions this motive, saying that people are confused and don't understand what is happening. She adds that they are definitely not happy with Obama. Following President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart delivered separate Republican responses, in English and Spanish, respectively. Republican Response: Gov. Nikki Haley In English, Haley spoke about a "new direction" for Americans to consider come Election Day in November. First, she took a moment to comment about Obama, stating he has broken historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans but his record has fallen short. "As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels," said Haley from Columbia, South Carolina. "We're feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities. Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it." Haley then transitioned her response to what the Republican Party has to offer for Americans. She said American may be frustrated with a federal government that has continuously grown and failure to keep promises. But she didn't place blame solely on the Democratic Party. Haley said there's "more than enough blame to go around" and Republicans need to "own that truth. We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America's leadership. We need to accept that we've played a role in how and why our government is broken. And then we need to fix it." Haley acknowledged that she is the daughter of Indian immigrants, who grew up in the south but worked to have opportunities "to do anything, to be anything." "My story is really not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America. They wanted better for their children than for themselves. That remains the dream of all of us, and in this country we have seen time and again that that dream is achievable," said Haley, adding, that despite the immigrant roots, there is a need to fix a broken immigration system that will stop illegal immigration into the U.S., citing the threats of terrorism. "At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can't do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined. We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries," Haley said. "I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to America's noblest legacies." The South Carolina governor that despite the threats and anxious times, Americans must resist temptation to "follow the siren call of the angriest voices." She would reference the Mother Emanuel church shooting in Charleston last summer, when a while male shot nine black men and women during a Bible study. She said one lesson from the shooting is how to handle the aftermath and how certain matters were subsequently dealt. "In many parts of society today, whether in popular culture, academia, the media, or politics, there's a tendency to falsely equate noise with results. Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference," Haley said. "Of course that doesn't mean we won't have strong disagreements. We will. And as we usher in this new era, Republicans will stand up for our beliefs." Haley said if Republicans win the White House, working families will see lower taxes, controls on spending and debt, education reforms away from Washington, D.C. bureaucrats, end the Affordable Care Act and respect the Constitution, especially the Second and Tenth Amendments. "We have big decisions to make. Our country is being tested. But we've been tested in the past, and our people have always risen to the challenge. We have all the guidance we need to be safe and successful. Our forefathers paved the way for us. Let's take their values, and their strengths, and rededicate ourselves to doing whatever it takes to keep America the greatest country in the history of man and woman," said Haley. Republican Response in Spanish: Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart Diaz-Balart also offered an official Republican response, but in Spanish. For the most part, Diaz-Balart's speech was similar to Haley's transcript, including that Obama broke historic barriers seven years ago but how Americans are still struggling with the economy, health insurance law and the current terror fears. Also similar to Haley, Diaz-Balart spoke about how there's blame in Washington, D.C. that the Republican Party should accept. While Haley spoke her Indian immigrant family, Diaz-Balart spoke his Cuban parents who exiled from the communist island. "My history is similar from millions of other Americans," Diaz-Balart said, originally in Spanish, also echoing Haley in that immigrants, for generations, have been coming to U.S. to live the American dream. After stating that Americans ought to resist temptation from hearing divisive voices, Diaz-Balart's speech went on to focus more on immigration reform than Haley's response. The congressman said it's essential to find a legislative solution to protect the country, defend its borders, reform the visa system and offer a permanent humane solution for people who live in the shadows, while respecting the law. Unlike Haley, Diaz-Balart also mentioned events in Latin America that requires U.S. attention, such as Cuba not having a free election in more than 57 years and both Cuba and Venezuela's detention of political opposition. "In our country, we are blessed with the right to speak our minds, and we will continue doing so to better our nation," said Diaz-Balart. Diaz-Balart then continued with the same points as the English address, noting a Republican White House win would benefit working families, bipartisan education reforms, controls on spending and debt, encourage the use of natural gas, end the Affordable Care Act and respect the Constitution. __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. Karla Jacinto, the women who was lured into sex slavery at an early age of 12, shared how she was raped 43,200 times during the 4 years of being a slave. Karla Jacinto's story begins in the small town of Tlaxcala in Mexico City as she dreamt of her own fairy tale. She came from a dysfunctional family and also been physically abused by one of her family members, that's why she became desperate to find someone who can show her how it feels to be love. As posted by the New York Daily News, she was so vulnerable that when she met her would-be pimp while waiting for a subway in Mexico City, she was easily deceived. He asked for her number and started courting her. After a few weeks, she was convinced to move in with him. The first three months of her stay was like a dream come true. The pimp treated Jacinto really well. Aside from giving her all the things she wanted, he also gave her the attention she had been seeking for so long. She felt the love she needed and she thought everything was beautiful. But it was not until Jacinto learned the truth about her lover when he started treating her differently. "He started telling me everything I had to do; the positions, how much I need to charge, the things I had to do with the client and for how long, how I was to treat them and how I had to talk to them so that they would give me more money," Jacinto shared. After her sickening "lessons," her nightmare started. The pimp took her to different cities forcing her to sell her body to about 30 men a day. For four years straight she wasn't allowed to rest even just for a day. "Some men would laugh at me because I was crying. I had to close my eyes so that I wouldn't see what they were doing to me, so that I wouldn't feel anything," she shared. Jacinto is only one of the thousands Mexican girls who have been forced into sex slavery. Experts say that many of them were abducted, yanked and lured away from their families and taken to the town of Tenancingo before sending them across the nation. In fact, according to a Mexican charity, there is an estimated 1,000 traffickers in Tenancingo for every 10,000 people. In 2008, Jacinto has been given a second chance to enjoy life after she was freed from the prostitution ring during an anti-human trafficking operation. She is now using her story to campaign against sexual slavery, as stated by the website, Telegraph. With Democratic rival Bernie Sanders surging in the polls, Hillary Clinton came out to strongly denounce the Vermont senator's record on gun control Tuesday. In an interview with MSNBC, Clinton called attention to Sanders' past support for a bill that she called the National Rifle Association's "most important priority in 20 years." "When it really mattered, Sen. Sanders voted with the gun lobby, and I voted against the gun lobby," Clinton said. Sanders voted in support of the 2005 bill that would grant immunity to gun makers from lawsuits when their weapons were used in crimes. When pressed on the issue, Clinton added, Sanders refused to give a straight answer. "You know, maybe it's time for Sen. Sanders to stand up and say 'I got this one wrong.' But he hasn't," Clinton said. "He's defended his vote time and again." This latest criticism from Clinton comes shortly after President Obama's push to increase gun safety regulations. Last Thursday, the president published an op-ed in The New York Times, in which he said he would "not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate" who did not support commonsense gun reform, regardless of whether the candidate were a Democrat or not. Sanders responded to the piece in an interview with MSNBC Friday, saying he didn't believe the statement was aimed at him, given his support of gun reform. "You know, there are a lot of candidates and money in the House and the Senate who may be opposed to sensible gun control legislation," Sanders said. "I happen not to be one of them. I strongly support the executive order that the president is working on right now." Recent polls have shown that Sanders is gaining major ground in vital states such as New Hampshire and Iowa, posing a major threat to Clinton's position as the Democratic front-runner. Clinton made an appearance at an event at Iowa State University on Jan. 5, in which she called out Sanders, whose campaign has centered on standing against Wall Street and big money corporations. "If you're going to go around saying you'll stand up to special interests, well, stand up to the most powerful special interest -- stand up to that gun lobby," she said, according to The New York Times. More than 140 members of Congress has signed and published a letter to President Barack Obama demanding an immediate end to his administration's deportation raids. On Tuesday, several congressional lawmakers, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), gathered to strongly condemn and denounce the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) raids on undocumented immigrant families who came to the U.S. in 2014 and following specific instructions from immigrant court judges. The raids were carried out by officials of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within DHS. "Our letter to President Obama, with over 100 signatures from Members of Congress, simply asks the president to suspend removal operations of Central American refugee women and children and to grant them Temporary Protected Status until the Administration has a comprehensive refugee strategy in place that provides adequate screening, meaningful legal counsel and due process, and a comprehensive regional approach that will ensure these refugee women and children have a fair chance to live in safety," said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., in her prepared remarks. Letter to Obama The two-page letter states the deportation raids, which were conducted during the weekend following New Years, have caused fear and panic across immigrant communities. The 146 congressional lawmakers who signed the letter agreed that the operation raises numerous legal counsel access and due process concerns. The lawmakers also state the DHS officers have reportedly used deceptive tactics to gain entrance into the private residences where immigrants live. Lawmakers also want the deportation campaign to cease as to ensure immigrant mothers and children are not returned back to their native country where they could encounter persecution, torture or death. "The brutality of violence in Central America is undeniable, and yet this administration has failed to provide a comprehensive refugee solution for those seeking international refugee protection," reads the letter, adding that 85 percent of detained Central American families have demonstrated eligibility for refugee protection. The lawmakers believe the Obama administration has responded to the Central American refugee crisis with "deterrence" instead of providing the need for a regional solution. The lawmakers also believe the administration's current tactics -- ranging from family detention, Spanish-language communication campaign in Central America urging individuals and families not to travel north and financial assistance to Mexico -- are ineffective. Comprehensive Solution Lawmakers have called for a comprehensive approach that would include refugee screening and resettlement, safe havens in certain countries, TPS and other humanitarian remedies in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "The goal of this comprehensive refugee approach should be to ensure that Central American refugees, particularly, mothers and children, are able to live free from an endless cycle of violence and persecution. ... Failure to provide this comprehensive solution will continue to lead to disorder at our border and will further a sense of unease across the United States," the letter continued. Among the 146 signatures are Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. Rep. Nydia Velasquez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M. To read the letter, click here. __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced in a speech Wednesday plans for the United States to expand the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to help thousands of Central Americans who have illegally crossed the border in a desperate attempt to escape ongoing violence. While making an address at the National Defense University, Kerry argued that it is in the American DNA to help people fleeing chaos in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. "That is who we are, that is what we do," Kerry said, according to NBC News. "The refugee crisis is not just a Syrian issue." He added that helping the refuges is a global challenge that "tests our values, our self-confidence in our very humanity." According to Kerry, the refugee program will be expanded in order to provide Central American refugees with "a safe and legal alternative to the dangerous journey many are currently tempted to begin, making them easy prey for human smugglers who have no interest but their own profits," reports Reuters. He also said that the federal government will offer refugee protection, especially to those targeted by criminal gangs and human rights activists, by working with the United Nations and non-profit organizations. "We also continue to explore additional options, including for those who may be at imminent risk of harm," Kerry said. As of now, the U.S. operates nine centers around the world, although only one is located in the Western hemisphere. Kerry did not specify whether the United States would send government workers to the center in Quito, Ecuador or open additional centers. The announcement follows backlash from immigration activists and Democratic presidential candidates who urged the Department of Homeland Security to halt its reported plan to conduct deportation raids on Central American families. According to The Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to deport immigrants who illegally entered the U.S. during a surge in border crossings in 2014. Communication, commerce, and government are just a few aspects of our daily lives that have been forever changed and, in many ways, made more convenient by the Internet. Unfortunately, these same advancements also have introduced a new breed of technologically-savvy criminal. Such crimes as terrorism, espionage, financial fraud, and identity theft have long existed in the physical realm, but are now being perpetrated in the cyber domain. As criminals more effectively exploit this new frontier, their use of the Internet and technology adds a layer of complexity that cannot be overcome through the efforts of any one agency. To address this evolving cyber challenge, the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) was officially established in 2008. The NCIJTF is comprised of over 30 partnering agencies from across law enforcement, the intelligence community, and the Department of Defense, with representatives who are co-located and work jointly to accomplish the organizations mission from a whole-of-government perspective. As a unique multi-agency cyber center, the NCIJTF has the primary responsibility to coordinate, integrate, and share information to support cyber threat investigations, supply and support intelligence analysis for community decision-makers, and provide value to other ongoing efforts in the fight against the cyber threat to the nation It looks like after more than a year since its legalization, New York will have its first medical marijuana clinics opening within the city. However, due to some obstacles in its implementation, advocates are concerned that medical marijuana use would be somewhat slow to take off. The International Business Times reported last January 4, 2016 New York's medical marijuana program will finally be underway this January, more than a year after New York State legalized marijuana for medical use with the passage into law of the Compassionate Care Act in July 2014. But advocates are concerned because New York has a stricter program than those of the 23 other states that legalized medical marijuana. Under the law, doctors will be required to complete a four-hour online course costing US$249 and then register with the New York State Department of Health. Patients with prescriptions will then need to apply online to receive the registry identification card needed to purchase medical marijuana. The Guardian reported that eight dispensaries began operations this Thursday, January 7, 2016. The first dispensary run by the Columbia Care medical marijuana company opened in Manhattan's Union Square. Under the medical marijuana program, New York licensed five organizations to make and sell medical marijuana. But cannabis in the form of tinctures, concentrate for vaporization or ingestible capsules are allowed; smokeable and edible marijuana remains prohibited. Each organization will be allowed to operate four dispensaries each all of which are expected to be running by the end of January. Rueters characterized New York's medical marijuana program as one of the most conservative and tightly monitored programs in the United States. The program is strictly limited to patients with very serious and terminal illnesses, including cancer, HIV and AIDS, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. It noted that California has hundreds of dispensaries, many with neon light signage with display cases packed with smokeable buds. Medical researchers and academics, though, received New York's restrictive approach more positivel, saying that state's tight controls over prescribing, dosing and other aspects of the program will allow more reliable study of the efficacy of medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is designed to help ease symptoms of patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and other serious conditions. Bay County Property Appraiser Dan Sowell asks the court to dismiss the claims of a lawsuit saying that he violated and breached religious rights through the cancellation of the tax-exempt status of numerous church properties. This includes one property that has operated as a nightclub during the Spring Break. News Herald stated that the attorneys of Sowell already filed their response last December 23. A month earlier than that, the Faith Christian Family Church owner Markus Bishop filed suit that requests the court to restore tax exemptions on three of its properties that were revoked by Sowell. The cancellation was due to one building being discovered to be operating as a Spring Break nightclub. As it was described, the nightclub hosted foam, lingerie, and 'anything but clothes' parties, Inquisitr reported. Sowell then responded to this, saying he denies or requires evidence for most of the accusations. This then led to asking the court in dismissing the final claim of the lawsuit that the church was unconstitutionally discriminated against as based on court records. According to Forbes, The Life Center: A Spiritual Community, which is located at 9721 Thomas Drive, was running a schedule of seven days a week party in the name of Amnesia: The Tabernacle. This was from February 28 up to March 16. But the Faith Christian asserts in the lawsuit that it decided to close the operation upon knowing that 'Spring Break Amnesia' has gone astray the boundaries of the intended outreach mission. Two more properties were added as well to the tax rolls after the Amnesia incident. This includes a vacant space located nearby The Life Center and a huge home found at 3703 Preserve Bay Boulevard. The said home is considered a mansion known as the center of court controversy. As of the moment, the attorneys for the Faith Christian Family Church have yet to be contacted. Sowell, on the other, avoided to give further comments. You are here: Home China's top Internet regulator has released draft regulations for online news services, requiring permission for releasing news on the Internet or through apps. Websites, apps, instant messaging services or search engines should first obtain permission before disseminating news, according to the draft regulations, which was publicized Monday by the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office to solicit public opinions. News releasers are ordered to provide real name identification to online news releasing platforms, according to the draft regulations from the Cyberspace Administration of China. The new rules also bans online news service providers from meddling with news reports released on the platforms to seek illegal profit through deleting online content or other ways. Springfield former Police Officer Kevin M. Burnham, who is now retired, was arraigned last Monday in superior court on theft charges. He is being accused of stealing around $400,000 in cash from the evidence room of the department. The 43-year-old veteran officer retired in the summer of 2014. According to WWLP, Burnham turned himself in earlier in the day. He has been charged with six counts of stealing more than $250 and one count of theft less than $250. As for the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, it stated that the stolen money came from some 170 various drug cases, as was also stated by Mass Live. Burnham allegedly took them between the time from December 2009 to July 2014. Burnham, who was considered as the longest-serving member of the department at the time he retired, worked as the department's narcotics evidence officer since 1984. He was the officer-in-charge of the storage and safekeeping of drug and money evidence, which explains how he was said to be able to steal money. Police Commissioner John Barbieri stated during a news conference at police headquarters last Monday how he was shocked by the robbery as it led to the return of funds to accused drug dealers, as well as to some cases being dismissed. "I've been a police officer in Springfield for 28 years. I cannot remember anything happening of this magnitude in this department," Barbieri said. Apparently, he was not the only one shocked as the Springfield's police commissioner and mayor expressed astonishment as well. This was because Charles Dolan, Burnham's attorney, said that his client pleaded not guilty since the defense has no information regarding the details and nature of the accusations, ABC News stated. Following after Burnham's not guilty plea, he was released on personal recognizance, provided that he agreed to surrender his passport. He must turn over his guns too, and to inform his probation officer once he travels outside the state. In addition, he will also be examined by a court clinican. Measures are now being implemented to make sure that a theft like this prevents from happening again. The measures included command structure change and new equipment purchase for a better cash tracking. Three people were sentenced to prison for their involvement in a pollution case in central China's Hunan Province, a local procuratorate said. According to a statement issued on Sunday by the Xiangyin County Procuratorate, one of the defendants, surnamed He, who was in charge of environmental protection affairs of a pharmaceutical company in neighboring Hubei Province, sold more than 200 tonnes of residue to another defendant, Hu, at a low price from July 2012 to January 2014 so as to lower the cost of production. Hu had stored the residue in an abandoned warehouse in Ningxiang County, Hunan Province, before asking a local farmer, Zhang, to help deal with some 90 tonnes of residue in the second half of 2013, though Hu knew that Zhang was not qualified to dispose of hazardous waste. Zhang then dumped the residue into his fishpond in Xiangyin County and the polluted pond water infiltrated into nearby irrigation ditches and further contaminated the neighboring section of Zijiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze, the procuratorate said. The environmental protection department of Xiangyin County reported that pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene and phenol were detected from the sample of the river water. In addition, the levels of formaldehyde in the water sample surpassed the safety standard by 94 times while benzene surpassed the standard by1,004 times, it said. The Xiangyin County Court sentenced the three people to jail terms ranging from one year and four months to one year and five months in August 2015 and fined them 40,000 yuan (6,080 U.S. dollars) to 100,000 yuan. The pharmaceutical company in Hubei Province was also fined 1.7 million yuan. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? Flash Sydney Harbour Bridge overlooks the Opera House (Peoples Daily Online/Jin Liao) Australia's tourism boom continued in 2015 on the back of a surge in Chinese visitors, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday. The ABS said more than one million Chinese tourists arrived in Australia during the year, setting a new record. China continues to be the fastest growing tourism market for Australia, just ahead of India. In 2014, the ABS said 823,000 Chinese travellers flocked to Australia and that figure was pushed over the one million mark last year when a further 177,900 tourists - a 21.6 percent increase - visited the country. Visitor arrivals from China grew three times faster than the overall increase in the past year, and their spending increased by 43 percent, doubling the previous year's growth rate. The surge in Chinese visitors has now made the Asian powerhouse Australia's most valuable tourism market. The ABS figures showed that Chinese visitors spent more than 5.4 billion U.S. dollars annually, which included over 900 million U.S. dollars on shopping. That figure accounted for 37 percent of all spending on shopping by international visitors to Australia. The strong growth in visitation from China is set to continue with Tourism Research Australia forecasts estimating arrivals to double to 2 million, and their spending to grow 7 percent per year and reach 9.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2024-25. Tourism has been identified by the Australian government as one of five key National Investment Priorities, leading to increased tourism infrastructure investment. "We are really happy with the results announced this morning by the Australian Bureau of Statistics," Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan told Xinhua on Tuesday. "To get that growth out of such an important market for tourism here in Australia has just been really gratifying. But it's not just about Tourism Australia, it's actually about the industry." Jan 13, 2016, 12:37pm ET CARB rejects VW's proposed fix for cheating 2.0-liter TDI engines Regulators have not yet reviewed VW\'s latest proposal involving a new catalytic converter. Confirming recent reports, the California Air Resources Board has rejected Volkswagen's initial proposals to fix non-compliant 2.0-liter (EA 189) diesel engines. The agency claims the recall plans "contain gaps and lack sufficient detail," preventing regulators from performing a technical evaluation. The proposals also failed to "adequately address overall impacts on vehicle performance, emissions and safety." To be clear, the CARB statement is related to VW's initial proposals that had not been publicly disclosed. Reports have indicated that VW had been engaged in tense negotiations with CARB and Environmental Protection Agency officials for several months, attempting to find an acceptable solution. "Volkswagen made a decision to cheat on emissions tests and then tried to cover it up," said CARB chair Mary D. Nichols. "They continued and compounded the lie and when they were caught they tried to deny it. The result is thousands of tons of nitrogen oxide that have harmed the health of Californians. They need to make it right. Today's action is a step in the direction of assuring that will happen." VW chief Matthias Mueller earlier this week claimed the company had developed another plan involving a new catalytic converter to bring 2.0-liter TDI engines back into compliance. The executive voiced optimism that the latest proposal will be met with a more favorable reaction from the EPA and CARB. The company has scheduled a meeting with regulators today to pitch the latest recall plan. Jan 13, 2016, 2:08pm ET Fires prompt Jeep Compass, Patriot recall Power steering fluid can leak from the low-pressure return hose clamp. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has issued a recall for the 2015 Jeep Compass and Patriot to fix leaky hose fittings. The company opened an investigation in early September after receiving reports of three vehicle fires, all occurring with just a few dozen miles on the odometer. In each case, the vehicles were executing parking maneuvers before igniting. Within days engineers narrowed the likely culprit down to a power steering fluid leak. Further analysis found that the leak likely originated from an improperly placed hose clamp, which can result in complete detachment of the low pressure return hose and a large volume leak. Two more failures in November in China resulted in less damage, confirming hose clamp misplacement as the root cause. Service technicians will inspect the hose assembly and reposition the clamp if necessary to prevent failure. The campaign affects approximately 60,000 vehicles sold in the US market. Jan 13, 2016, 12:04pm ET VW CEO dismissed diesel scandal as misunderstanding of U.S. laws VW doesn\'t think it lied about its diesel issue. Volkswagen has landed back in the center of controversy after the automaker's chief executive officer dismissed the company's latest diesel emissions scandal as a "technical problem rather than a flat-out lie. VW admitted late last year that it installed cheating software in about 600,000 diesel-powered vehicle in the United States that allowed the vehicles to pass EPA laboratory testing but then spew up to 40 times the legal limit of greenhouse gases during normal driving. But despite that corporate admission, company CEO Matthias Mueller revealed in an interview with NPR that VW sees the discrepancy simply as a misunderstanding of U.S. rules. NPR: You said this was a technical problem, but the American people feel this is not a technical problem, this is an ethical problem that's deep inside the company. How do you change that perception in the U.S.? Mueller: Frankly spoken, it was a technical problem. We made a default, we had a ... not the right interpretation of the American law. And we had some targets for our technical engineers, and they solved this problem and reached targets with some software solutions which haven't been compatible to the American law. That is the thing. And the other question you mentioned it was an ethical problem? I cannot understand why you say that. NPR: Because Volkswagen, in the U.S., intentionally lied to EPA regulators when they asked them about the problem before it came to light. Mueller: We didn't lie. We didn't understand the question first. And then we worked since 2014 to solve the problem. And we did it together and it was a default of VW that it needed such a long time. That proclamation could land Mueller in hot water with regulators. The California Air Resources Board recently rejected the automaker's planned fix for its diesel-powered cars and Mueller is scheduled to meet with federal regulators on Wednesday to discuss VW's plan for a fix. If a solution isn't agreed upon soon, Mueller's words could come back to haunt VW. Flash The deadly suicide attack in the heart of Istanbul on Tuesday that killed 11 people has exposed the vulnerability of Turkey to serious security challenges in a turbulent region where terrorism is on the rise. "This is a blowback from the ongoing criminal activities by terrorist groups operating in Turkey's troubled neighbors in the southeast, namely Syria and Iraq," Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, the professor of international relations told Xinhua. He said he fears the fallout from the neighboring countries may worsen further. "If the terror is capable of staging an attack in the heart of business capital in Turkey, then we should be really worried," Erol added. Turkish government Spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters that 11 people have been killed, while 15 others were injured with two being in critical conditions in a suicide attack on Tuesday. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu revealed that the bomber was a member of Islamic State (IS) from Syrian origin and added that all those who lost their lives in the blast were foreigners. The attack happened in Turkey's largest city Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square, a major tourist attraction in the downtown area of the old city that is home to landmark structures like the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Officials said most of those killed were German nationals. According to Ercan Tastekin, the head of Ankara-based Research Center for Security Strategies, the location was especially picked up by the terror group to send a message that Turkey is not a safe country to visit. He also underlined that another goal was to hurt tourism industry. Istanbul is a city that generates one third of tourism revenue for Turkey that hosted 36 million tourists in 2015. Turkey earned some 30 billion U.S. dollars from tourists in 2014. It is estimated that the revenue would drop to 28 billion dollars in 2015. "Terror groups like IS and Al-Qaida target foreigners in order not to lose their sympathizers in Turkey," Tastekin commented. According to a survey released by the Pew Research Center in November found out that eight percent of Turks have said they have a favorable opinion of the IS while 73 percent expressed disdain for the radical group. Turkey has suffered from a series of deadly attacks in recent years. On 6 Jan. 2015, a woman carried out a suicide bombing attack on a police station in Istanbul's Sultanahmet, leaving an officer dead. A bombing attack in the border town of Suruc in southeastern Turkey in July 2015 left 34 pro-Kurdish and left-wing activists killed. In October 2015, twin suicide bombings hit the capital city Ankara, claiming a total of 103 lives. All three were blamed on the IS. Turkey also faces a bloody campaign by Kurdish militants from the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Turkish opposition political parties put the spotlight on ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, accusing it of failing to prevent the deadly suicide attack in Istanbul. "This government is not capable of governing Turkey," the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu told lawmakers in Turkish Parliament on Tuesday. He blamed the government for not taking precautions in a place that is considered to be the heart of tourism in Istanbul. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli also highlighted the failure in intelligence and security services. He pointed out that the acceptance of Syrian refugees without a plan and allowing them to move around the country have posed social, economic and security risks to Turkey. Armagan Kuloglu, a security analyst and former military commander, said that when Turkey allowed millions of Syrians to come to Turkey, the terrorist IS elements penetrated Turkish borders. "These crossings should have been checked more properly in order to stop terrorists coming into the country," he underlined. Turkey is home to 2.5 millions refugees, most of whom are Syrians who fled the conflict in their home country. However, Deputy Prime Minister Kurtulmus dismissed that there was any security and intelligence vulnerability in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district. He recalled that police successfully detained two suspected IS militants on Dec. 30 last year on suspicion of plotting suicide attacks in Ankara on New Year's Eve. A warrant has been issued for an Allentown man in connection with a deadly shooting Sunday night, the city's first homicide of 2016. Ulric Daron McKenzie (Courtesy Photo) Ulric Daron McKenzie, 34, of the 200 block of North 10th Street, is wanted on charges of homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and carrying a firearm without a license related to the killing of Chonce Acey. Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that Acey's shooting was during a drug deal, where Acey and another man attacked a third man. Anyone with information about McKenzie's whereabouts should call Allentown police at 610-437-7721. The charges were filed in District Judge Karen Devine's office on Tuesday. Allentown police Assistant Chief Gail Struss referred questions about the charges to Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin's office. Sunday night, a driver flagged down police to report a man lying in the road, police said. Acey, of the 1400 block of Washington Street in Easton, was found by Allentown police with multiple gunshot wounds in a supermarket parking lot near 401 Tilghman St. Chonce Acey, 28, of Easton, was found Sunday night mortally wounded in Allentown, authorities say. (Courtesy photo) Acey was pronounced dead from his wounds at 9 p.m. Sunday at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, the coroner's office said. His death was ruled a homicide. Police said the shooting occurred during a drug deal, and that McKenzie, who was sitting in the backseat of a truck, opened fire. Authorities said surveillance cameras recorded the shooting. The video shows a white Chevrolet Avalanche parked in the lot, and two men fighting with a man inside the truck. The two attackers were Acey and another man only identified as D.D. in court records. The video shows Acey and D.D. running as a firearm is fired from inside the truck; officers found three .380 shell casings in the lot, police said. A witness told officers McKenzie shot Acey, and that McKenzie was injured in the fight, police said. After the shooting, the witness reported, McKenzie was dropped off at his apartment. Police searched McKenzie's apartment on Tuesday, but he was not there, authorities said. Police interviewed D.D., who said he went to the lot for a drug deal and was eventually involved in a fight with the backseat passenger. D.D. reported the passenger fire a handgun several times, and he was grazed by a bullet on his torso. "Media speculation that the shooting of Acey may have been in retaliation for his appearance as a witness in a Northampton County criminal case is unfounded," Martin said in a news release. McKenzie has a handful of prior criminal charges in Pennsylvania, including a 2010 case where he was accused of fleeing a drunken-driving crash and leaving his three children in the vehicle. The Tribune-Democrat reported McKenzie lost control of his car, struck a utility pole and left his three kids -- all under the age of 7 -- in the car. In 2011, McKenzie pleaded guilty to DUI, reckless endangerment and child endangerment, and was given a time-served sentence, records show. Also in 2010, McKenzie was charged with four counts of child endangerment and five counts of reckless endangerment in Pocono Township, Monroe County. In that case, McKenzie pleaded guilty to one count of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to one year of probation, records show. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Allentown city hall sign Allentown's former city controller has been charged in connection with a pay-to-play scheme allegedly involving the city's mayor. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo) ( ) UPDATE: 'Very class lady' charged in Allentown conspiracy to plead guilty Two days after Allentown's former finance director admitted his role in an pay-to-play scheme that allegedly involves the city mayor, the city's former controller has been charged. Mary Ellen Koval, 64, is charged with conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, with public official No. 3, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday. Prosecutors allege Koval, Mayor Ed Pawlowski and others took bribes and kickbacks via campaign contributions. Federal authorities have not revealed the identity of public official No. 3, but said it is a man elected to represent Allentown who also ran for state office, and specifically detailed that the official announced April 17 he was seeking a federal office. Pawlowski previously ran for Pennsylvania governor, then announced on April 17 he was running for Pat Toomey's U.S. Senate seat. Days after the FBI raided Allentown City Hall, Pawlowski announced he was suspending his 2016 run for that seat. Following the FBI raid earlier this summer at Allentown City Hall, Pawlowski denied being involved in any illegal or unethical activity. He has not been charged in connection with the investigation. Koval was elected controller in 2011, and was re-elected this past November, but resigned suddenly last week. Prosecutors say Koval relied on the mayor for political support, including contributions and her appointment to the city's parking authority, where she became chairwoman of its board of directors. In turn, prosecutors allege, Koval used her position on the parking authority to give an unnamed Pawlowski donor an unfair competitive advantage in obtaining a contract with the authority, and worked to give the same donor a "no-bid" contract with the city. In one email, prosecutors said, Koval requested a campaign contribution from a different donor to award the donor's company a city contract. The mayor made clear to certain vendors, including the two donors mentioned above, as well as Ramzi Haddad, that providing him with campaign contributions was a necessary condition for receiving certain favorable treatment from the city, prosecutors said. Haddad pladed guilty in September to conspiracy to commit bribery, and is awaiting sentencing in the case. Haddad's deal was followed by guilty pleas from former Assistant Solicitor Dale Wiles, and former finance director Garret Strathearn, for their respective roles in the scheme. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. One is working on a test to speed diagnoses of tuberculosis, so treatment can be tailored away from overuse of antibiotics. Another is developing a waterproofing material to extend the life of asphalt and make a roof last 100 years. TB Biosciences Inc. and Colymer Industries LLC, respectively, along with three dozen other startups all call the Ben Franklin TechVentures business incubator in Bethlehem home. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday toured the facility, inside a former Bethlehem Steel Corp. laboratory on Lehigh University's Mountaintop Campus. The facility was expanded from 62,000 square feet by another 47,000 square feet in 2011. The state, in the midst of a budget impasse now in its seventh month, provided $3.5 million during the last fiscal year to Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which owns and operates Ben Franklin TechVentures in Bethlehem. "I think it's a good chance to showcase some really important and impressive things that are going in places like this," Wolf said as he wrapped up his visit, amid light snow falling. "This organization provides startup funding for really smart people with really good ideas that could lead to new jobs. That's why the state gets involved with this." Wolf, a first-term Democrat, remains embroiled in a battle with the Republican-controlled Legislature over the Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget that was due last June 30. State government is operating on a partial budget, after Wolf used his line-item-veto power to release emergency funding for schools and other services to continue operating. "We had a budget," the governor said in brief remarks about the impasse. "My timeline is we had it before the holidays." Among the repercussions of the stalemate in Harrisburg, are school districts having to guess at state funding when drafting their own budgets for next school year. Budget-wise, Wolf said he waiting on GOP leadership in the House. Tuesday's visit was about job-creation efforts. Ben Franklin TechVentures opened in 1983 in Lehigh's Jordan Hall, across a driveway from its current incubator space on the Mountaintop Campus. Since then, the incubator has graduated 64 companies that have combined to create 6,400 jobs and grossed more than $1.2 billion in revenue last year, Ben Franklin says. Pennsylvania funds four Ben Franklin incubator regions, including in the Philadelphia, Central Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh areas. The Northeastern Pennsylvania region has 10 business incubators. Besides TechVentures in Bethlehem, the next-closest is the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center in Allentown. Since beginning operations in 1983, the Northeastern Pennsylvania region on the whole has helped to create 16,000 new jobs, retain 22,958 existing jobs, start 470 new companies and develop 1,356 new products and processes, according to the incubator network. "For every dollar that's invested in this place, it has returned $3.60 to the state Treasury," Wolf said, arguing the businesses make the investment worthwhile: "They wouldn't be here if it weren't for this program, so that's what makes this so important." During his stop outside TB Biosciences' offices, Wolf quizzed CEO R. Sam Niedbala on his next step in the development of a new, quick test to diagnose tuberculosis. "It's always to raise more money first," Niedbala replied. At US Specialty Formulations LLC, CEO Kyle Flanigan voiced similar needs. His business is in developing sterile injectable pharmaceuticals, and for that he'll need a facility with clean rooms modeled after the semiconductor industry. The cost could be anywhere from $2 million to $8 million, Flanigan told Wolf. "One of our biggest struggles is the market still thinks drugs should cost $2 a vial," Flanigan said, describing the challenge in raising capital investment. Wolf visited with four businesses in all during the tour. Afterward, he voiced support for continued, but cautious public support of business incubators like Ben Franklin TechVentures. "We seed the field. We prime the pump. And that's what an organization like this does at its best," he said, adding later: "The state shouldn't do too much. The innovation should come from people and the market. We can nudge the market." Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A Forks Township man has been jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail after delivering heroin to a 26-year-old man who fatally overdosed from the drug, court records say. Daniel Joseph Fisher, 28, of the 1200 block of Fox Ridge Road, is facing a charge of felony drug delivery resulting in death and a separate felony drug delivery charge after allegedly selling heroin to 26-year-old Thomas O'Brien Jr. Forks Township police on Aug. 20 responded to Follett Corp., 801 Church Lane, where O'Brien was employed. Police say Fisher was unresponsive, lying on the ground in a bathroom and employees were performing CPR. Officers later found seven empty plastic bags believed to have contained heroin, a needle underneath O'Brien's body and a needle in his backpack, court records say. O'Brien was taken to Easton Hospital was declared brain dead four days later by hospital physicians, records say. Medical tests determined O'Brien died from acute heroin intoxication. O'Brien's parents previously confronted Fisher to ask he stop selling to their son, and were able to identify him in photographs, police said. Investigators also allegedly linked O'Brien and Fisher through text messages. Surveillance video footage also reportedly shows Fisher exiting the Follett on Aug. 20, shortly before O'Brien was found unresponsive. A particular text message revealed Fisher picked up O'Brien at 2 p.m. from Follett to withdraw money for heroin O'Brien received from Fisher on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, court records say. Police also said they gathered surveillance footage from a supermarket, in which Fisher allegedly walked up to the pharmacy and requested needles that matched those found near O'Brien's body at Follett. Footage also showed the pair at PNC Bank and O'Brien withdrawing $100 from the bank. Fisher on Aug. 25 was interviewed by township police and allegedly admitted to selling O'Brien heroin on multiple occasions, as well as on Aug. 20 when he picked him up from work. He told police he was concerned about O'Brien's welfare on Aug. 20 because he usually "over does it," police say in court documents. Fisher on Wednesday was arraigned before District Judge Jacqueline Taschner, who set bail. He is tentatively due back in court for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Jan. 27. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli last week announced the charges against Fisher. He said the Northampton County Drug Task Force would be cracking down on drug dealers and noted heroin use has been on the rise throughout Pennsylvania. The Northampton County Task Force is involved in another fatal heroin overdose case and Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek advised Morganelli of two additional recent deaths. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Police in Upper Macungie Township say a driver has come forward following a hit-and-run crash Friday night that left a pedestrian critically injured. Upper Macungie Township police say a driver has come forward in connection with a hit-and-run Friday that left a pedestrian critically injured. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Township police were contacted by the attorney for Emma Godfrey, 25, of Orefield, and she spoke with police on Tuesday. Police are still investigating the crash, and Godfrey has not been charged. Township police said 59-year-old Thomas Diehl, of Allentown, was crossing Tilghman Street from near the Lehigh Motor Inn, to get to the Sunoco gas station at 5917 Tilghman St., when he was struck by a red Honda Accord. Godfrey told officers she was driving west when she hit an unknown object, police said. Damage to Godfrey's 2007 Honda Accord was consistent with car parts found at the crash scene, police said. Diehl, of Allentown, suffered critical injuries and was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township. He has since been released, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the investigating officer at 484-661-5911 ext. 351. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A New York woman was taken to the hospital and two others treated for injuries after driving off Route 33 and striking a tree in Bushkill Township, Pennsylvania State Police say. Lenise Forrester, 43, of Brooklyn, shortly before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday was driving a 2016 Ford Fusion south near mile marker 13 and lost control at a curve, hitting a tree off the right side of the highway, state police in Belfast say. Forrester was injured and taken to St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill. A hospital spokeswoman did not immediately return an email seeking information. Two passengers in the Ford -- Travis J. Forrester, 21, and Shaquille S. McLean, 18, both of Brooklyn -- were treated at the scene by Bushkill Township emergency medical technicians. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Authorities were dealing with multiple crashes Tuesday night in the Lehigh Valley, as a second round of snow showers made some roads slick across Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on its 511pa.com website reported crashes: as of about 7:20 p.m. restricting traffic on Interstate 78 West about two miles west of Exit 67 (Hellertown) in Lower Saucon Township. as of about 7 p.m. restricting a ramp on Route 22 West at the 15th Street/Mauch Chunk Road exit in South Whitehall Township. CLEARED: Accident on US 22 westbound at Mauch Chunk Rd. 511PA Allentown (@511PAAllentown) January 13, 2016 Earlier snowfall in western Pennsylvania closed some roads and schools, as well as a portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, The Associated Press reports. Turnpike officials said two tractor-trailers caught fire in a multi-vehicle accident on Tuesday afternoon, closing westbound lanes between the Somerset and Breezewood interchanges. Three people were taken to local hospitals. Several pileups on Interstate 70 shut down both lanes of the road in Washington County. Earlier, portions of Interstate 80 were closed in Clearfield County due to crashes, and the speed limit on the interstate in western Pennsylvania was dropped to 45 mph. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Rendell tells Senate most AG duties don't need a lawyer Former Gov. Ed Rendell speaks May 13, 2015, in western Pennsylvania about the need for federal highway funding in the state. (AP file photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Pennsylvania's attorney general got help Tuesday from former Gov. Ed Rendell, a fellow Democrat, in her campaign to prevent the state Senate from voting to remove her from office. Rendell testified to the Special Committee on Senate Address that his experience over eight years as Philadelphia's elected district attorney made him think Kathleen Kane does not need an active law license to perform most of her duties. The "vast, vast majority" of his job as head of a busy prosecutor's office consisted of administrative tasks, police decisions, public relations and outreach, he said. "In none of these functions did I act as a lawyer," Rendell said. "I acted as an elected official." The committee has 15 days to draft a report, after which the Senate will decide whether to use an obscure section of the state constitution to unseat Kane over claims she is not able to do the job with a suspended license. The Supreme Court put her license on temporary, indefinite suspension after Kane was charged in August with leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it under oath. That case is pending. Kane did not appear at the four-hour hearing in the Capitol complex but released a lengthy letter to the committee saying direct removal by the Senate would deprive her and all Pennsylvanians of constitutional protections. Questioning by the panel's four Republicans was pointed and at times hostile, while the two Democrats -- a third was a snow-related no-show -- were clearly more sympathetic to Kane. If the Republican majority does take the matter to the floor, they will need some Democratic votes to reach the supermajority required. The only other witness besides Rendell was Kane's chief of staff, Jonathan Duecker, who said most of what the attorney general's office does on a typical day does not involve the practice of law. He warned senators that removing Kane would have "a catastrophic impact" on the agency and its 800-some employees. Kane has argued the only legally permissible way for the Senate to remove her is by impeachment in the House followed by trial in the Senate. Rendell told the committee he agrees. "Do it the right way -- impeach her, if that's what you believe," Rendell testified. "I really, deeply believe this is not the proper way to go. There are other, better avenues to pursue." The former governor noted Kane has just asked the Supreme Court to reinstate her license, and asked senators what that would mean for any plan to kick her out of office. "I would urge you not to take action at all," Rendell said. "But certainly not to take action before the Supreme Court has ruled on her request." Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Alex Douglass visited Washington, D.C., on Tuesday as U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's guest for President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address scheduled for 9 p.m. at the U.S. Capitol. Douglass was critically wounded in September 2014 during an ambush on his state police barracks at Blooming Grove in Pike County, which left state police Cpl. Bryon Dickson II dead. Police arrested suspect Eric Frein after a 48-day manhunt. The 32-year-old awaits trial, held without the possibility of bail in Pike County Prison. A scheduling hearing in the case is scheduled Thursday at the Pike County Courthouse in Milford, Pennsylvania. Click here for a look at the guests of first lady Michelle Obama for Tuesday night's address. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A Freemansburg man sentenced to death for killing a police officer has filed court papers asking for a stay of execution. George Hitcho George Hitcho filed papers on his own behalf last week accusing his trial attorneys of botching his case. The 50-year-old wants a stay of execution until his appeal against his trial attorneys is resolved. The typewritten papers were sent from the State Correctional Institution in Greene County and docketed in Northampton County on Jan. 4. On Wednesday, Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden appointed attorney James Brose to handle Hitcho's appeal. Hitcho fatally shot Freemansburg police officer Robert Lasso on Aug. 11, 2011, when Lasso responded to a disturbance complaint from neighbors about Hitcho. Chief Public Defender Michael Corriere argued the killing was voluntary manslaughter, committed out of stress and confusion but not malice. Hitcho's death sentence was upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in September 2015. In the papers Hitcho filed last week, he said Corriere should have argued Hitcho killed Lasso in self-defense. Hitcho wants a new trial and wants his death sentence vacated. "My trial counsel committed multiple instances of ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to effectively object, raise and/or challenge meritorious claims," Hitcho typed onto the appeal form. "No search warrant, or probable cause, false and forged evidence and testimony entered into trial and brought before the jury," he typed. "The trial court erred and committed multiple abuses of discretion. Prosecutorial misconduct before trial, during and after trial. And my direct appeal counsels provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to raise multiple meritorious issues. Violations of due process and denial of a fair trial." Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has granted numerous death penalty reprieves since taking office, including one filed by five-time killer Michael Ballard of Northampton. According to the Associated Press, Wolf said the reprieves will remain in effect at least until he reviews a forthcoming report of the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment and its recommendations are addressed. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Flash The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Tuesday that trucks carrying critical supplies were able to offload cargo in besieged Syrian towns, providing some 60,000 people with vital humanitarian aid. Forty-seven trucks were directed on Monday to Madaya where aid was delivered to 40,000 people, while a convoy of 21 trucks was sent in parallel to Foah and Kefraya, further providing 20,000 civilians living in miserable conditions with critical humanitarian assistance. According to OCHA, the aid delivered to the towns for the first time since October last year included food, health supplies, and winterization and shelter material. Aid personnel on the Madaya-bound convoy described the situation on the ground as "miserable", confirming they had seen severely malnourished children. Carried out by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UN agencies and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), further deliveries are expected to take place this week in these locations as well as to Zabadani which is situated close to Madaya. According to estimates, some 4.5 million Syrians currently live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas because of the ongoing conflict which erupted in 2011 in the country. A failed vote on a municipal appointment, a subsequent social media post alleging influence from a county-level party official and political stickers left on a councilman's property have embroiled the new Phillipsburg Town Council in controversy. Phillipsburg Council President Todd Tersigni, a Democrat, posted a 700-word letter on Facebook accusing the chairman of the county party of "badgering" and threatening him to secure a vote for the new Democratic mayor's municipal attorney appointment. Tersigni refused, and says that stickers saying "Todd lies" were left on his car and garage. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Todd Tersigni, who was selected as council president in the town's Jan. 1 reorganization meeting, last week posted a lengthy letter on Facebook in which he accuses the head of the Warren County Democrats of trying to "pull the strings," allegedly threatening retaliation against Tersigni if he didn't support Mayor Stephen "Rogie" Ellis' pick for the town's legal representative. "I was bullied. I was dictated to. The people need to know what is going on," Tersigni, a Democrat, said Tuesday about his decision to publicly call out Warren County Democratic Committee Chairman Tom Palmieri. The 700-word letter online explains Tersigni's decision to reject the mayor's nomination and cites stickers that say "Todd Lies" that were left on his car and garage as evidence of retaliation. Dear Phillipsburg Town residents, As a member of your Phillipsburg Council I am compelled to share with you recent... Posted by Todd M Tersigni on Friday, January 8, 2016 "Palmieri would not stop badgering me, bullying and ... said he would throw me under the bus," Tersigni said Tuesday. "I got extremely upset. He should have just left me alone." Palmieri said a conversation with Tersigni did get somewhat heated, and that he was "disappointed" with the posting. "If he needs to attack me, that's his gripe," Palmieri said. "But Todd knows that I did not force it on him." Ellis called the post "reckless," "inappropriate" and embarrassing. "Because Mr. Tersigni and Mr. Palmieri may have had a spirited conversation," the mayor said, "it's no reason to embarrass the town." Nomination and rejection Democrats took control of the council following the last election, in which Ellis and Councilmen Joshua Davis and Mark Lutz swept the three open positions for the party, ousting four-term Republican Mayor Harry Wyant Jr. In his new role as mayor, Ellis nominated the Teaneck, New Jersey-based law firm of DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole to guide the town in legal matters. The appointment failed in a 3-2 vote last week; Tersigni and Republican Councilmen Bernie Fey Jr. and Randy Piazza were against it. As a result, the town will continue to be represented by the Hackettstown law firm Lavery, Selvaggi, Abromitis & Cohen. Tersigni said he voted against the appointment in part because he didn't want to change firms in the midst of the massive Commerce Park redevelopment process, and because he was uncomfortable with pressure from Palmieri. "I think that there's some kind of deal made behind closed doors (but) I don't know what it is," he said. Ellis and Davis, one of the new councilmen, said the nomination was the result of two months of interviews by the new mayor's transition team. "To say that (the nominations) were politically motivated, I think that would be incorrect," said Davis, a member of the mayor's team. Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen "Rogie" Ellis says he will draft a social media policy for elected officials to "avoid embarrassing episodes such as this for the town." (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Both Davis and the mayor said Palmieri introduced them to the DeCotiis firm at a New Jersey League of Municipalities convention, along with many other law firms and municipal service professionals. Five firms were interviewed, and Palmieri was not involved in any of them, they said. "I did this very carefully because I didn't want it to look, smell or resemble anything like the previous administration," Ellis said, clarifying that he believes Phillipsburg residents voted for change. The other councilmen did not return calls seeking comment. Palmieri said he does know one of the DeCotiis firm attorneys professionally, but that he believes it has more resources to address large redevelopment projects. "It's a new administration," he said of Phillipsburg. "There was a vote for change. This is change." Alleged threats Tersigni said he felt it was inappropriate for the party chairman -- a Blairstown Township resident -- to be involved in local decisions, and that this was the first time Palmieri had contacted him about a vote. "He should stay in Blairstown, where he belongs," he said. "His job is to get people elected. That's it. Period." Warren County Democratic Committee Chairman Tom Palmieri says Tersigni's letter makes the councilman look "thin-skinned."(Lehighvalleylive.com file photo) In his Facebook letter, Tersigni claims the party chairman "threatened me with political retaliation and retribution if I did not vote along with the two Democratic Council members" on the attorney vote. Specifically, the council president said he was told the party would not support him in future runs for office. But Tersigni is a former Republican who has campaigned as an independent and a Democrat. Though he has run for mayor before, he declined to say if he aspires to higher office. His term expires in 2017. "My mission right now is to serve the people of Phillipsburg ethically, honorably and objectively," he said. Palmieri said Tersigni's own online outburst will do the councilman no favors in future polls. Both Palmieri and the mayor said they believe Tersigni's letter has more to do with the stickers calling him a liar than with any vote. "This is the reason for the letter," Palmieri said. "Somebody got Todd's goat, egged him on and they got to him. "He thinks (the letter is) going to stop people from putting up those signs, those stickers? It's going to make them do it more," he said. "It only shows that he's thin-skinned." A rift on council Tersigni stood up for the mayor after the election, successfully urging council to reverse a decision to reduce the position's salary from about $70,000 to $40,000. But his split on the attorney issue is a sign of a rift that Davis said dates back to last year's campaign. "It's not a secret that Councilman Tersigni actively campaigned against myself, Councilman Lutz and Mayor Ellis," Davis said. He added that by retaining the previous attorney, the sitting council members "want to continue business as usual." As council president, Tersigni has the power to set the agenda of each council meeting. He said he will not entertain new nominations for the town attorney. "We voted on it. It was turned down. It's a done issue," he said. Ellis said he plans to respond to Tersigni's Facebook post by drafting a social media policy for elected officials. The mayor said he "hopes the council will adopt it to avoid embarrassing episodes such as this for the town." "I'm going to do everything I can do to protect the welfare of the citizens," the mayor said. "I can't let somebody's feelings getting hurt stop us from us helping the citizens." Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. This week, were catching up on Lib Dem Lords maiden speeches. Today, its Lynne Featherstone who spoke following the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. From wild child to the heart of the British establishment, she says: My Lords, I am so very honoured to be here and to have a continuing platform from which to pursue the political passions of my life. But first I thank noble Lords across the House for the warmest of welcomes. I have been utterly charmed and beguiled by the doorkeepers, Black Rods Office and the police, all of whom I thank for their kindness and courtesy, and not infrequent rescue from a wrong turn. I am delighted to make my maiden speech on the recent Commonwealth meeting, and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Luce, for bringing forward this opportunity to me. The Heads of Government emphasised the need to protect individuals from all forms of violence and discrimination. Violence and discrimination abound across the world. From the almost two women a week here in the United Kingdom who are killed by their partners or former partners, as you go across the world it just gets worse: acid attacks, female foeticide, breast ironing and rape as a weapon of war. I have raised these issues at the very highest levels in countries where women have no rights and in those where there are laws, but no implementation. However, there is nothing more totemic to illustrate the lack of womens power in this world than female genital mutilation. I am proud to have introduced and spearheaded the campaign in the coalition Government to address FGM both here and abroad. What I found as I went across the world is that where they oppress and suppress women, they do even worse to homosexuals, and the Commonwealth has a very, very long way to go on this. That brings me on to LGBT rights and same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage is my happy place in politics. In case not all noble Lords are aware, I am the originator and architect of the same-sex marriage law. I should like to take this opportunity to thank noble Lords on all sides for their contribution to the safe passage of that Bill, with particular thanks to my noble friends on these Benches, to the noble Lord, Lord Alli, for his stupendous efforts, and indeed to the noble Baroness, the Leader of the Houseand I say to George Clooney that he chose the wrong woman. I went on to push international LGBT rights as a DfID Minister, and this will be one of my ongoing passions, as will disability in the developing world and, indeed, the contaminated blood scandal. But my main focus will be on my role as energy and climate change spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats. The extraordinary feat of agreement in Paris last week, when the world came together to address climate change, was a totemic, hope-giving, heart-stopping moment, but it will be actions rather than words that deliver. From wild child to the heart of the British establishment, I am delighted to be here and delighted to serve. The twenty-five years since the end of the cold war have been a good time for liberals, both at home and abroad. In Britain the moves towards a more open and tolerant society that had begun in the 1960s continued. Legal and social prejudices have been pushed further back; same-sex relationships, equal opportunities for women, ethnic diversity, have all been accepted as basic values, even reluctantly and partially by the right-wing press. There have of course been negative developments in parallel widening economic inequality, the contraction of social services, the marginalization of the long-term unemployed but the overall picture has nevertheless been one of progress. Beyond Britain, the former socialist countries of central and eastern Europe transformed themselves into democratic states with market economies and active civil societies. Russia appeared to be following their example, more slowly and painfully. Democratic transition was under way in many Latin American countries; and with the outbreak of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria it seemed briefly possible that liberal values would become embedded across the Muslim world. The world economy was growing, creating a climate of optimism in which liberal values more easily flourish. The international scene now looks far darker, for the foreseeable future. Putins regime in Russia has exploited nationalism to defend autocratic (and corrupt) rule. Except in Tunisia, the Arab Spring has been swamped by military counter-revolution, Islamic reaction, and civil war. The Chinese regime is reducing the space for cautious dissent, abducting critics from Hong Kong, and raising the rhetoric of military ambition. In the USA, in Poland, Hungary and other democratic states, populist parties are exploiting public fears. And the global economy is heading for a downturn which may well last a long time. Britain is unavoidably affected by these developments. Violent conflicts, corrupt and authoritarian regimes, and the long-term pressures of population growth and climate change, are pushing a rising number of refugees from across Africa and the Middle East towards Europe, raising concerns in which populism and irrational politics thrive. Sectarian conflicts spill over our borders, aided by the internet, to attract a minority of the discontented or disturbed. Right-wingers insist that security is more important than liberty, and government and politicians of different parties respond to that call through tighter surveillance and intrusive investigations. Compassion fatigue accompanies the accumulation of stories about refugee camps, brutal regimes, starvation as a tactic in conflict or a consequence of misgovernment; newspapers, and voters, argue that theres little point in sending more money abroad when we also face needs at home. So the coming years are going to be tough for liberals, in Britain and elsewhere. David Brooks has just written in the New York Times about the rise of anti-liberalism both on the left and the right, with classically liberal Conservatives in retreat, in the US in particular, as fundamentalists look to strong men to close the borders and move against minorities. We saw in the 2015 election the politics of fear swamp our efforts at a politics of hope yes, we didnt articulate our vision too well, but it was the wave of fear generated by the Conservative campaign that swept us away. Were in a minority, within an electorate largely disengaged from politics and debates about political values. We have no choice but to mobilise that minority as well as we can, to get across to voters that open societies are preferable to closed, that the role of the state should be to promote and protect tolerance, diversity and community, not to close down the boundaries of democratic debate through a rising tide of fear. Thats not going to be easy when the BBC, the guardian of reasoned argument in British politics that keeps Sky News honest and the unreason of Fox News at bay, is under sustained Conservative attack; and when much of the written media is Murdoch-controlled, and the Guardian infiltrated by romantic socialism. But thats what we have to do! * William Wallace has fought five parliamentary elections in Manchester and West Yorkshire. He is a former president of the Yorkshire regional Liberal Democrats. Paddy Ashdown has teamed up with Labour MP and former Oxfam staffer Jo Cox to make the case for urgent action to help not just those people suffering in Madaya but the 1 million Syrians suffering the effects of sieges. They wrote in the Telegraph: The UN estimates that 400,000 people have been systematically denied food, medicine and water in medieval siege conditions in Syria: the real figure is probably nearer to one million. Meanwhile the Syrian Government plays grandmothers footsteps with the international community: besiege a city, wait for the political pressure to build, make limited or phoney concessions, and then, when everyone has lost interest, continue as before. Last year the UN made 91 requests of the Syrian government to secure humanitarian access across conflict lines. Less than a third of those have been approved. In total, only 13 cross-line convoys were completed. It is in this context that we should view the UN aid convoy heading for Madaya. Even if the Syrian Government is serious this time about allowing the convoy through, there will be many armed groups on the way who can stop it, or insist on a price for letting it pass just as happened when the UN did this to relieve starving communities in Bosnia. The UN and the British Government must keep up the pressure and break these sieges and pressure EU partners to join in. Only if we do this can we save the lives of those in Madaya, but also the hundreds of thousands of others in less high-profile hell holes. Negotiating an alternative air route to supplement or if necessary replace the land route to get aid to Madaya is a very effective way of keeping that pressure up. They are clear on the need for the UN to move much more quickly to help those in peril: The UN welcomed Thursdays announcement that aid would get into Madaya. Humanitarian aid is not a luxury. It is a right, enshrined in international law, reiterated in numerous Security Council Resolutions. The legal mandate is there. Humanitarians must use it. In the unnecessary days of negotiation between the Syrian Government giving permission and the UN trucks moving, more people have died. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary in print, on air or online. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. This strange pentagram, etched into the Earth's surface in a remote corner of Kazakhstan, can be seen on Google Maps. Google Earth compiles images from various sources, from satellites in geosynchronous orbit (opens in new tab)that snap low-resolution photos from tens of thousands of miles above Earth, to satellites closer to Earth that capture higher-resolution shots, and even aerial photos taken from airplanes, kites, drones and even balloons. The imagery is available to anyone who downloads the software, and archaeologists have taken advantage of this rich resource. From a boneyard of military planes, to a polka-dot pattern created by ants, to mysterious structures etched into the Gobi Desert and even a phantom island in the South Pacific, Google Earth brings some wacky places to light. Here's a look at some of the strangest. Sprawling swastika A swastika-shaped geoglyph can be seen from above Kazakhstan. (Image credit: Image copyright DigitalGlobe, courtesy Google Earth) (opens in new tab) Scientists discovered more than 50 geoglyphs across northern Kazakhstan in Central Asia, including this swastika-shaped design. Though the swastika symbol was created from timber, many of the geoglyphs were made of earthen mounds. The geoglyphs seem to date back 2,000 years. At the time, swastikas were not uncommon across Europe and Asia and were not of course affiliated with any political beliefs. [Read more about the swastika geoglyphs and other Kazakhstan designs] The island in a lake, on an island, in a lake, on an island An island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island. (opens in new tab) This Google Earth image is an eye-full and a mouthful, as it's an island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island. Yes, Google Earth captured this image showing a tiny island that resides inside a crater lake on an island called Volcano Island in a lake called Taal lake (opens in new tab) on the Philippine island of Luzon. For years apparently, this phenomenon was thought to be the largest of its kind spied by Google Earth. However, it turns out that accolade goes to a 4-acre spit of land in northern Canada where no human has likely stepped foot. Weird Wheels Wheel structures in the Azraq Oasis in Jordan, as seen in this Google Earth image. (Image credit: Image courtesy Google Earth)) (opens in new tab) Google Earth has spied some old artistry etched into the surface of the planet, including wheel-shaped geometric structures that may date back some 8,500 years, making them older than Peru's geoglyphs called Nazca Lines. Some of these spoked designs that dot Jordan's Azraq Oasis seem to be positioned in a way that aligns with sunrise on the winter solstice. A team of scientists with the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (opens in new tab) (APAAME) have been investigating wheel structures (also called "works of the old men") with satellite imagery available through Google Earth. The wheels vary in their design, with some showing spokes that radiate from the center, others with just one or two bars rather than spokes and still others not circular at all and instead shaped like squares, rectangles or triangles, the researchers have found. The wheels seen in this image are in the Azraq Oasis and have spokes with a southeast-northwest orientation, possibly aligning with the winter solstice sunrise. Bull's eye Some of the "wheels" found in Saudi Arabia have a bull's-eye design. (Image credit: Image courtesy Google Earth) (opens in new tab) One type of these "wheels" in the Middle East looks like a bull's-eye, with three triangles pointing toward the eye and small piles of stones leading from the triangles toward the bull's-eye wheel. David Kennedy, of the University of Western Australia (opens in new tab), who co-directs the project, calls it "a central bull's-eye tomb with, in this case, three triangles each with at least a part of a connecting line of stone heaps running to the center." Mysterious pyramid? Natural or man-made? (Image credit: Google Earth via Google Earth Anomalies) (opens in new tab) This image from Google Earth shows an anomaly that some believe could be an unexcavated pyramid. Dozens of anomalies in Egypt have been detected using Google Earth in the past five years; however, there is a debate as to whether they represent natural features or artificial structures. More excavations are needed, but the security and economic situation in Egypt has limited the number and size of excavations. Egyptian pyramids? Eroded Egyptian pyramids or geologic features? (Image credit: Google Earth via Google Earth Anomalies) (opens in new tab) Eroded Egyptian pyramids or geologic features? Phantom Island The mysterious "Sandy Island" (Image credit: via Google Earth) (opens in new tab) In 2012, a group of Australian researchers "undiscovered" an island the size of Manhattan in the South Pacific. A mysterious place called Sandy Island had popped up on maps, northwest of New Caledonia. It even showed up as a black polygon on Google Earth. But when scientists sailed there in November 2012, they found open water instead of solid ground. In an obituary (opens in new tab) for the island published in April 2013, the researchers explained why the phantom landmass had been included on some maps for more than a century, pointing to some human errors and a possible pumice raft. Puzzling Pentagram (Image credit: Google Maps) (opens in new tab) On the wind-blown steppes of central Asia, in an isolated corner of Kazakhstan, there's a large pentagram, measuring roughly 1,200 feet (366 meters) in diameter, etched into Earth's surface. The five-pointed star surrounded by a circle, located on the southern shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir, shows up vividly on Google Maps (opens in new tab), the online version of the more detailed Google Earth. Many online comments linked the site with devil worship, nefarious religious sects or denizens of the underworld. Instead, the pentagram turns out to be the outline of a park made in the form of a star; the star is marked by roadways that are now lined with trees, making the star shape even more distinct in aerial photos. Abandoned launch sites This Google Earth image shows the Oahu Defense Area in Hawaii, which was equipped with missiles in open air with earthen revetments, or embankments, between paired launch sites, shown here in 1968. (Image credit: Google Earth) (opens in new tab) Nike missiles, which were supersonic surface-to-air missiles, sat ready to launch at nearly 300 sites across the United States during a period of the Cold War, from 1954 to the 1970s. Some of those missiles even carried nuclear warheads. Those missiles became obsolete with the advent of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (opens in new tab) (ICBMs). David Tewksbury, a GIS (geographic information system) specialist at Hamilton College in New York, aimed to preserve a visual record of the abandoned Nike missile launch sites before they vanish either as a result of being reclaimed by nature, repurposed by the military or redeveloped. His plan is to build a geo-referenced database so that anyone can research the Nike missile sites through Google Earth. Here, one of those sites, the Oahu Defense Area in Hawaii, is shown in 1968. The site was once equipped with missiles in the open air, with embankments between paired launch sites. Desert Breath desert-breath (Image credit: Google Earth) (opens in new tab) A spiral portal to an alternate universe? Maybe an alien message? Or an ancient monument to a supernatural being? This giant spiral design in the desolate Egyptian desert, not far from the shores of the Red Sea, is an art installation called Desert Breath. In March 2007, Danae Stratou, Alexandra Stratou and Stella Constantinides created the 1 million square foot (100,000 square meters) artwork meant to celebrate "the desert as a state of mind, a landscape of the mind," the artists say on their website (opens in new tab). Riddled with holes Apamea looted in satellite imagery (Image credit: Google Earth screen shot) (opens in new tab) The civil war in Syria has imperilled hundreds of archaeological sites, including causing damage to all six of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country, which is considered one of the oldest occupied areas of the Earth. Satellites, in particular, have shown much of this devastation, with some of the strangest imagery showing destruction in Apamea. There, Google Earth images have revealed the entire ancient Roman city has been pockmarked with holes dug by looters since the start of the civil war. "It looks like the surface of the moon," Emma Cunliffe, an archaeology researcher at Durham University in England, who has published a report (opens in new tab) documenting archeological damage in Syria, told Live Science in 2013. "In eight months, the looted area exceeded the total excavated area." Lake of blood? Lake of blood? (Image credit: Cnes/Spot Image, Digital Globe, GeoEye, Google) Outside Sadr City in Iraq, at coordinates 33.396157 N, 44.486926 E (opens in new tab), lies a blood-red lake. There is, as yet, no official explanation for the color of this strange body of water. Ant-sy Art This weird polka-dot pattern in the vegetation near a volcano on the rim of the Grand Canyon could be the work of red harvester ants. (Image credit: Google Earth) (opens in new tab) An odd polka-dot pattern near the cinder cone volcano dubbed Vulcan's Throne on the north rim of the Grand Canyon may have a simple explanation: ants. Turns out, the desert around the Grand Canyon is home to red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). These pesky critters can create nesting mounds spanning some 47 inches (120 centimeters) across and are typically surrounded by bare ground up to 108 square feet (10 square meters), according to physicist Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a specialist in image processing and satellite imagery analysis at the Politecnico of Torino in Ital. Sparavigna discusses her theory in a scientific paper posted online on Jan. 11, 2016 (opens in new tab) - the paper has yet to be peer-reviewed. The mounds may be responsible for the aerial pattern of scattered circles, though Sparavigna says on-the-ground confirmation is needed. Island in a lake An (Image credit: Digital Globe, GeoEye, Google) (opens in new tab) The world's largest "island, in a lake, on an island, in a lake, on an island" is a narrow, four-acre strip of land in Canada located at exactly 69.793 N, 108.241 W (opens in new tab). The nameless island (that little-tilde shaped squiggle of green) lolls across the center of a small lake, which is itself encapsulated by a slightly larger island. That resides inside one of a series of long finger lakes located 75 miles inland from the southern coast of Victoria Island, a land feature in Northern Canada. This little "sub-sub-sub island" would never have received its strange distinction if not for careful trolling of Google Earth by map geeks around the world. In all likelihood, no human has ever actually set foot there. The boneyard The boneyard (Image credit: Google) (opens in new tab) The Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., is where U.S. military planes go to die. Dubbed "the boneyard," this 2,600-acre cemetery of steel at coordinates 32 08'59.96" N, 110 50'09.03"W (opens in new tab) is closed to the general public, but Google Earth provides a high-resolution glimpse of what's inside: virtually every plane the military has flown since World War II from the B-52 StratoFortress (opens in new tab) to the F-14 Tomcat in various stages of decay. The boneyard at Davis Monthan was used as the backdrop in the music video for "Learning to Fly" by rock music legend Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The band was shown performing among various aircraft hulks. Biggest word? This is what happens when you have far more money than sense (Image credit: 2011 Google - Imagery 2011 DigitalGlobe, Cnes/Spot Image, GeoEye, U.S. Geological Survey) (opens in new tab) Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan, a billionaire Sheikh and member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family, has had his name carved into the sandy surface of al Futaisi Island, an island he owns in the Persian Gulf. At half a mile tall and 2 miles long altogether, the letters HAMAD may be the world's largest; regardless, they're visible from space. Normally, words written in sand wash away, but these letters are large enough to form waterways that absorb the encroaching tide. Indeed, at the time these satellite photographs were taken, said tide can be seen flowing through the letters all the way to the M. Wild view elephants Wild View Elephants (Image credit: GeoEye) (opens in new tab) Thought you might never get to see a herd of African elephants in the wild? Luckily, satellites captured a few high-resolution images of a herd on the move in Chad, at coordinates 10.903497 N,19.93229 E (opens in new tab). Alien bunker? scientology-bunker (Image credit: Google Maps) (opens in new tab) Found etched onto the desert floor near Mesa Huerfanita, New Mexico, are two large diamonds surrounded by a pair of overlapping circles. Author John Sweeney claimed that the site marks a hidden bunker belonging to the Church of Scientology. According to their website, Scientology "is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one's true spiritual nature and ones relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being," according to the organization's website. Such symbols on the desert floor are reportedly there to help guide these scientologists who return to Earth after fleeing a planetary "Armageddon," writes the Daily Mail (opens in new tab). Of course, the symbols will likely remain a mystery. Gobi Desert Mysterious structures and patterns etched into the surface of China's Gobi Desert. (Image credit: Digital Globe, Google) (opens in new tab) Newfound Google Earth images have revealed an array of mysterious structures and patterns etched into the surface of China's Gobi Desert. According to experts, this is a secret military base, and the structures are used for a variety of purposes including weapons testing, spy satellite calibration and testing of radar instrumentation. The most elaborate feature, an intricate grid of perfectly straight lines that weave back and forth every few hundred feet for 20 miles (33 kilometers), is most likely a Yagi antenna array, a device used for weather tracking and other atmospheric research. Mapvertising KFC Google Earth "mapvertising" (Image credit: Digital Globe, Google) (opens in new tab) Considering the number of people who troll Google Earth in their free time, it isn't surprising that enormous advertisements have started popping up in remote areas for their viewing pleasurea concept known as "mapvertising." The world's largest Coca-Cola logo, for example, can be seen at 18.5292 S, 70.2500 W (opens in new tab) on a hillside in Chile; it is said to be made of 70,000 empty Coca Cola bottles. A 87,500-square-foot picture of Colonel Sanders the KFC logo once appeared at 37.646163 N, 115.750819 W (opens in new tab) just off Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada, but has since been removed. Sizable shipwreck Sizable shipwreck (Image credit: Google, Digital Globe) (opens in new tab) The S.S. Jassim, a Bolivian cargo ferry, ran aground and sank on the Wingate Reef off the coast of Sudan in 2003. At 265 feet (81 meters) long, it was once one of the largest shipwrecks visible on Google Earth, located at 19 38'45.99"N 37 17'42.17E (opens in new tab), although it now appears to have sunk almost completely. Landlocked lips Landlocked lips (Image credit: Digital Globe, Google) (opens in new tab) These luscious lips are a hill formation located in Gharb, Darfur, in Sudan at coordinates 1222'13.32"N, 2319'20.18"E. (opens in new tab) Aussie UFO? Aussie UFO? (Image credit: Sensis Pty Ltd, Digital Globe, Google) (opens in new tab) In Australia, at coordinates 3030'38.44"S 11522'56.03"E (opens in new tab), a strange triangle dotted with bright lights appeared in the middle of a field. When first discovered in 2007, ufologists were quick to call it a "triangle UFO" caught in the act of hovering above Earth. Other Google Earth users said it may be an antenna associated with a nearby remote-controlled wind farm. With three sets of wires forming a triangle, and a tower in the middle, the antenna likely received and transmitted control signals. Related: This weird Google Earth picture does not show a crashed UFO Secret military base? Google earth, satellite images, Chinese desert (Image credit: Google Earth) (opens in new tab) A mysterious set of satellite images seen on Google Earth created a stir when an ex-CIA analyst told Wired.com (opens in new tab) he had discovered "structures" in the desert around Kashgar, a city in China's remote Western desert that is part of the Xinjiang province. Some speculated the buildings at the site were part of a secret military base. But with further analysis, Stefan Geens, a technologist and geospatial blogger who has spent months in that part of China, said the site was likely part of a major manufacturing or economic center. Chinese-satellite-images Another strange sight in China's Western desert (Image credit: Google Maps) (opens in new tab) Here, another image of the strange site in the Chinese desert. One structure in the complex did somewhat resemble a helicopter testing area, analysts said there's no reason it would necessarily be linked to military activities. Furthermore, the site is not ideal for a secret military base, since it's relatively close to a major population area and no towers or barriers were spotted, said Stuart Hamilton (opens in new tab), former GIS program director at the Center for Geospatial Analysis at the College of William and Mary, and now a professor at Salisbury University in Maryland. Music icon David Bowie passed away on Jan. 11. Astronauts, scientists and members of the spaceflight industry are paying tribute to the artist online. In the aftermath of David Bowie's death at age 69 from cancer, a re-occurring theme has appeared in tributes to the famously idiosyncratic performer: his importance to those who felt like misfits. "Yes, I'm obsessing about Bowie today," tweeted science writer Steve Silberman. "To the terrified gay kid I was in high school, he was a proud and flamboyant middle finger to bullies." Across both social and conventional media, other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender artists echoed Silberman's words. "Bowie made me feel OK with my weirdness," bisexual actress Giovannie Espiritu told The Daily Dot. In fact, Bowie's androgyny, theatrical style and tendency to reinvent himself resonated with LGBT people and many others. [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked] "He was so important for all of the people who felt different, who felt like outsiders, who felt like their identities, for whatever reason, weren't recognized and loved," said Angela Mazaris, the director of the LGBTQ Center at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. The outpouring of grief over Bowie's death shows just how important such recognition can be. But research has shown the same thing. Humans, even as they crave acknowledgement as individuals, find it important to see others who are like them. Fitting in The need to conform starts young. Researchers reporting in a 2014 study compared the behaviors of 2-year-old children with those of chimpanzees and orangutans. Both the apes and human children were shown a toy box that, if used correctly, would dispense a treat. After learning how to get the treats, the participants watched other kids or apes use the box in a different, non-treat-dispensing, way. The other kids or apes then watched as the original participant got the chance to play with the treat box again. Subsequently, the apes continued their tried-and-true method of getting treats from the box. But 2-year-olds switched their method 50 percent of the time, researchers reported in the journal Psychological Science. The toddlers were more likely to copy others' behavior when their peers were watching them play than when alone. "We were surprised that children as young as 2 years of age would already change their behavior just to avoid the relative disadvantage of being different," study researcher Daniel Huan, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, said in a statement. Multiple studies have found that people gravitate toward others like them. One 2014 paper revealed that people even like those with voices and speaking styles similar to their own. Even infants choose puppets that like the foods kids like, found research by Yale University psychologist Karen Wynn. A 2013 study out of Wynn's laboratory showed that babies prefer puppets that are nice to individuals who resemble the kids (in this case, still based on food preferences) and mean to individuals not like the children. An alternative conformity In light of this strong psychological predisposition for conformity, David Bowie was a ray of glamorous, sequin-studded light. [10 Celebrities with Chronic Illnesses] "When you read accounts of people who remember seeing David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust for the first time, they talk about this sort of awakening," Mazaris told Live Science. The rocker's bisexual alien alter ego portrayed androgyny and nonheterosexual sexuality as beautiful and worth celebrating, she said. "I think it's about being able to imagine possibilities for yourself and your identity," she said. Representation appears to be important for helping people feel they fit in. For example, research on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields finds that female role models help to keep women from underperforming. For example, one 2002 study published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that when a woman administered a math test to female students, the women were less likely to struggle with the test because of situational factors (like anxiety caused by the knowledge of the stereotype that women are bad at math). A 2011 study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that the role-model effect is about more than just gender. Individual information, such as whether a role model fits "nerdy" stereotypes, was more important than the gender of the role model in encouraging women to believe in their ability to succeed in computer science. Likewise, the very public world of celebrities and media can influence how people view themselves. A study published in November 2014 in the International Journal of Educational Research found that negative media portrayals of Islam harmed the well-being of Muslim international students in the United Kingdom. And exposure to negative portrayals of a certain group can stir up animosity from other groups. One 2015 study found that just watching local news in which crimes committed by African-Americans were overrepresented gave people more negative attitudes toward black people. For LGBT people, particularly those who don't feel they fit into the male/female gender binary, Bowie provided the kind of positive representation that had been sorely lacking, and is still somewhat unusual today, Mazaris said. "He really showed us that there are so many ways to be a star," she said.Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science. Collapsed roof timbers are seen at the site of a well-preserved Bronze Age dwelling at a quarry in Peterborough. Britains Pompeii has emerged in the UK county of Cambridgeshire as archaeologists unearthed incredibly well-preserved Bronze Age dwellings abandoned in haste by their inhabitants. The excavation, carried out at a quarry in Peterborough by Historic England and the University of Cambridge, provides an extraordinary insight into domestic life 3,000 years ago. Dating to the end of the Bronze Age (1200-800 BC), the settlement was home to several families who lived in a number of circular wooden houses built on stilts above a river. Bronze-Age Battle Frozen in Time: Photos A fire destroyed the settlement causing the houses to fall into the river, where silt and clay preserved the contents. Its a frozen moment in time, Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said. We are learning more about the food our ancestors ate, and the pottery they used to cook and serve it This site is of international significance and its excavation really will transform our understanding of the period, he added. Photos: Pompeii Victims' Bodies Revealed in Scans Archaeologists found an extraordinary time capsule buried just over six feet below the ground surface, where the river bed actually was in 1000-800 BC. It contained textiles, small cups, bowls and jars complete with past meals still inside. Such is the level of preservation that the footprints of those living there are still visible in the waterlogged sediments. Vases in Pompeii Reveal Panic Before Eruption The archaeologists also found exotic glass beads that were part of an elaborate necklace, suggesting a sophistication not usually associated with the British Bronze Age, Cambridge Archaeological Unit said in a statement. The way the objects were found indicate people were forced to leave everything behind when fire caught on the houses. It is not known yet whether it was an accident or fire was set deliberately by hostile forces. The archaeologists expect to find much more as the excavation, which is now half way through the four-year project, continues over the coming months. Video: Meet the Guy Who Went into a Volcano Usually at a Later Bronze Age period site you get pits, post-holes and maybe one or two really exciting metal finds, David Gibson, archaeological manager at the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said. But this time so much more has been preserved we can actually see everyday life during the Bronze Age in the round. Its prehistoric archaeology in 3D with an unsurpassed finds assemblage both in terms of range and quantity, he added. Originally published on Discovery News. Sometime in the past 8,000 years, a meteor may have hit the Indian Ocean, triggering a monster tsunami that struck Africa, a new study suggests. Tsunamis are gigantic waves that are often caused by earthquakes. The 2004 Banda Aceh earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia killed about 250,000 people, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck offshore Japan killed more than 15,000 people and triggered a nuclear disaster. As dangerous as earthquake-generated tsunamis are, previous research suggested that they usually are less than 165 feet (50 meters) high, said Dallas Abbott, a geologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, and lead author of the new study. However, researchers are increasingly unearthing evidence of mega tsunamis that dwarf regular tsunamis. For instance, scientists recently suggested that a mega tsunami taller than a 50-story skyscraper engulfed the island of Santiago off the west coast of Africa about 73,000 years ago. [10 Tsunamis That Changed History] Now, Abbott and her colleagues have found that giant dunes on the island nation of Madagascar may have been created by a mega tsunami about 300 feet (90 m) high sometime in the past 8,000 years. "It's interesting that we might have had such a large event within the reach of human history," Abbott told Live Science. "It would suggest that people have survived some pretty catastrophic events." The scientists investigated sets of dunes located along the southern coast of Madagascar. These V-shaped dunes are often nested together like the chevron stripes on a military uniform the largest of these dunes rise up to about 600 feet (185 m) above sea level and are more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) long. Previous research mostly assumed that the matter in these gigantic chevron dunes was carried inland by the wind. Now, Abbott and her colleagues instead suggest that the matter in these dunes were carried in by an ancient mega tsunami. The researchers analyzed 22 samples from two sets of the Madagascar chevron dunes and their vicinity that they gathered in 2006. They focused on minerals such as calcium carbonate, which is often found in seashells. The scientists found that calcium carbonate levels from the dunes were usually greater than 40 percent. In contrast, calcium carbonate levels in areas off the dunes ranged from zero to 9 percent, the researchers said. "Windblown dunes typically are 100 percent quartz sand," Abbott said. "These dunes have a lot of carbonate. The sands right outside those areas have basically no carbonate." The dunes also contained an abundance of intact microscopic marine fossils. "If these fossils were blown inland by the wind, one might expect them to get broken to pieces as they bounce off the surface," Abbott said. "However, if they were transported by the water, one might expect them to remain whole. We see whole intact microfossils, for the most part. You do see a little bit of wear at their edges, but that's because they could've been reworked by the wind after they were carried in by the water. You don't really see them broken to pieces." In addition, the presence of magnesium in the fossils suggests that, at one time, they were buried in warm, shallow, brackish waters. "They weren't sitting exposed on a beach they were somehow excavated," Abbott said. The researchers suggested that the monster tsunami may have been triggered by a comet or an asteroid striking the Indian Ocean. The cosmic impact may have created Burckle Crater, a pit about 18 miles (29 km) wide, located about 900 miles (1,450 km) southeast of Madagascar, about 12,500 feet (3,800 m) below the ocean's surface, they said. [Crash! The 10 Biggest Impact Craters on Earth] "There are other deposits of material around the Indian Ocean that suggest they and the Madagascar dunes are evidence of a cosmic impact," Abbott said. "In western Australia, you see carbonate-rich sands that go up to 150 meters (492 feet) above sea level and 7 kilometers [4.35 miles] inland. Those sites could be contemporaneous with the Madagascar event, although we don't have enough data to say that yet." However, "it's difficult to confirm that Burckle is an impact crater," Abbott said. "That's the problem with underwater craters it's hard to verify their origins." It is possible that the mega tsunami that may have struck Madagascar was not caused by a cosmic impact but rather a terrestrial event such as a massive landslide. "However, the effects of a large landslide are usually quite local," Abbott said. "If we find the Madagascar and Australia events are the same age across the Indian Ocean, then a cosmic impact may be responsible instead." Future research can gather more samples from Madagascar for analysis and conduct wind-tunnel experiments on microfossils to see if they remain intact after many bounces or break up as expected, Abbott said. Abbott and her colleagues detailed their findings Dec. 14 at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Being orphaned as a baby may have a bigger impact on chimpanzees than was previously thought, a new study finds. Scientists found that when infant chimpanzees were taken from their parents, the chimps groomed fellow animals considerably less in later life. A team of Austrian and Dutch researchers observed chimpanzees that had been caged by themselves for decades in biomedical labs; the scientists also observed individuals that had been orphaned but grew up socially in a zoo community. The researchers already knew that the social behaviors of former lab chimpanzees differ based on the age they were taken away from their mothers, so the scientists wanted to compare these effects with chimps that were orphaned but reared around other animals in a zoo. The researchers investigated how long chimpanzees tolerated staying within an arm's reach of another group member, and measured the animals' social grooming activity. To do so, the scientists used a method called social network analysis, which helps researchers map social structures by forming graphs out of nodes that represent individuals interlinked with lines that represent social interactions. [Grooming Gallery: See Images of Social Chimps] "Social grooming is extremely important," study lead author Elfie Kalcher-Sommersguter, a researcher in animal communications at the University of Graz in Austria, told Live Science. "It serves not only hygienic but [also] many other functions, including the establishment and maintenance of social bonds." The team saw that orphaned chimpanzees had fewer grooming partners and were less inclined to engage in grooming than were those chimps reared by their mothers. Some of the ex-laboratory chimpanzees seemed unable to form strong bonds with others, while the zoo chimpanzees (a different group than the former lab chimps) formed bonds but still had fewer partners with which they were comfortable with grooming. Primates use grooming as a social tool in exchange for support and to comfort each other if they're experiencing distress. The practice is such a vital part of chimpanzees' lives that when grooming is reduced, it can have a big impact on how the animals are viewed in their communities, the researchers said. "Less grooming means that these chimpanzees are less strongly integrated in their social groups," Kalcher-Sommersguter said. Between 1950 and 1980, thousands of chimpanzee infants were caught in West Africa and exported to Europe, Japan and the United States, to be caged and used in biomedical research. Many zoos also caught chimps to create founder populations. Animals that had been freed from the research laboratories and ones in the founder populations were studied by the team. The researchers found that the scarcity of grooming behavior was evident in orphaned chimpanzees that had lived together with a group for up to 40 years. This showed that the effects were very long-lasting, even more so than was previously thought. "We assume that the effects are very serious, because grooming impacts so many aspects of a chimpanzee's social life," Kalcher-Sommersguter said. The new study did not investigate the chimpanzees' particular emotions. But because primates experience empathy and theory of mind and have very complex relationships, this research could inspire other interesting findings on emotions in the future, the scientists said. The team is now planning to continue its research by focusing on aspects that could not be answered in the recent study, such as the emotional effect less grooming may have on the animals, the researchers said. The detailed findings were published online in the journal Scientific Reports (opens in new tab) on Nov. 10, 2015. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. This weird polka-dot pattern in the vegetation near a volcano on the rim of the Grand Canyon could be the work of red harvester ants. Not far from the Grand Canyon, near a landmark called Vulcan's Throne, the ground is dotted with strange, barren circles, visible from orbit. Evidence of an alien encounter? Nope. The likely culprit is actually ants a lot of them. So many that the scientists who discovered them are referring to the area as "the Las Vegas of ants." Physicist Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a specialist in image processing and satellite imagery analysis at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, noticed the bizarre polka- dot features while studying the dimensions of the Grand Canyon rim in Google Earth. In a valley near the cinder cone volcano Vulcan's Throne, on the canyon's North Rim, Sparavigna saw dirt circles, irregularly spaced in the scrubby desert vegetation. [Images of the Ant Circles and Other Strange Sights on Google Earth] "I knew that patterned vegetation can be created by competition between plants and animals, and that, in Namibia, there is a patterned vegetation created by colonies of insects," Sparavigna told Live Science, referring to Namibia's famous "fairy circles." Those odd barren circles in Namibia might be the work of sand termites, though scientists disagree on the true culprit. Other theories include hydrocarbon seeps, ants, and below-ground competition between grasses for water. Sparavigna suspects that the Arizona circles have a simpler explanation. The desert around the Grand Canyon is home to red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus), which can build nesting mounds 47 inches (120 centimeters) in diameter. These mounds are often surrounded by up to 108 square feet (10 square meters) of bare ground, Sparavigna wrote in a paper posted online on Jan. 11. The polka-dot pattern, possibly formed from ant mounds, is barely visible in this Google Earth image. (Image credit: Google Earth) The paper has not been peer-reviewed, and Sparavigna is quick to note that it will take more than an eye in the sky to confirm that the bare dots are ant mounds. "It is quite probably that the observed patterned vegetation can have its origin from the interaction of vegetation and ants, but an on-site investigation is necessary to be sure of it," she said. The dots weren't visible in 2008 satellite images, Sparavigna wrote in her paper, but Google Earth has since sharpened its focus on Earth's surface with higher-resolution images Such imagery can provide ecologists with a notion of how organisms are interacting over time, Sparavigna told Live Science. Ants aren't the only surprising animal life visible on Google Earth. A high-resolution patch of imagery at 10.903497 N,19.93229 E (in Chad) shows a herd of elephants grazing on a grassland. Prehistoric "geoglyphs," or huge patterns made of rock, are also visible on Google Earth imagery, including huge spoked wheels in Jordan and rings and crosses in Kazakhstan. Sometimes, though, Google Earth imagery can trick the eye. A data artifact in Google Ocean explorer sparked rumors of Atlantis in 2009 because some users mistook the grid pattern for sunken city streets. (The artifact has since been removed.) And a Manhattan-size "island" in the South Pacific turned out not to exist (it was a digital carryover error from a mistaken sighting of an island on conventional maps). Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science. President Barack Obama encouraged Americans to transition away from dirty energy sources during the 2016 State of the Union speech. Curbing climate change will protect the planet and help the green economy prosper, President Barack Obama said in the State of the Union last night (Jan. 12) in Washington, D.C. In the speech, his seventh and last as president, Obama definitively said that climate change is real, and that the majority of Americans understand the need to address it. "Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it," Obama said in the speech. "You will be pretty lonely because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community and 200 nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it." [8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World] This is hardly the first time Obama has discussed climate change during the State of the Union. Last year, he reported that "2014 was the planet's warmest year on record," and that "14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century." In 2014, he reminded Americans, "Climate change is a fact." Last night, he emphasized that stemming climate change would help the U.S. economy. "But even if even if the planet wasn't at stake, even if 2014 wasn't the warmest year on record until 2015 turned out even hotter why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?" Obama said, referring to global temperatures. For instance, wind power is now less expensive than "dirtier, conventional power," he said, and solar energy now "employs more Americans than coal in jobs that pay better than average." He added, "We've cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly 60 percent and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth," in terms of total tonnage. The president "nailed it with his comments on climate change," said Michael Mann, a distinguished professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. "He rightly ridiculed those who still deny the overwhelming evidence that climate change is real and human-caused," Mann told Live Science in an email. "Drawing an apt analogy with Sputnik and the space race, President Obama underscored how the U.S. stands to fall behind in terms of our international competitiveness if we fail to embrace the readily available solutions, namely wind, solar and renewable energy." The president also mentioned other science themes including the need to provide every student with "the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one," he said. France Cordova, the National Science Foundation director, lauded Obama's message. "We look forward to continuing to fulfill the agency's mission to promote the progress of science and engineering, which is crucial to our economy, global competitiveness and quality of life," Cordova said in a statement. Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. An outbreak of whooping cough, or pertussis, at a Florida preschool in which nearly all the students had been fully vaccinated against the disease, raises new concerns about the vaccine's effectiveness, a new report suggests. During a 5-month period between September 2013 and January 2014, 26 preschoolers, two staff members and 11 family members of the students or staff at the facility in Leon County came down with whooping cough, according to a report of the outbreak published today (Jan. 13) in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Only five of 117 students attending the preschool had not received all of the shots required by their age. This is the first time a "sustained transmission of pertussis in a vaccinated group of 1- to 5-year-old children has been reported in the United States," the report said. It was surprising that this outbreak occurred among a highly vaccinated preschool population, said five epidemiologists who are staff members at the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee writing to Live Science in a joint email. "This age group is generally thought to be protected against whooping cough through vaccination," they said. The prolonged length of time (five months) over which the cases occurred at the preschool was another surprising aspect of the outbreak, the epidemiological staff said. [5 Dangerous Vaccine Myths] Whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the respiratory tract that affects the nose, throat and lungs. At first, the disease may seem like a cold, and people tend to develop a runny nose, mild cough and low fever. But a week or two later, an infected person may develop fits of rapid coughs followed by a loud "whooping" sound. The coughing fits can cause vomiting and exhaustion, and severe cases need hospitalization. Vaccination against the disease involves a series of five shots given to young children at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, somewhere between 15 and 18 months, and a fifth dose between 4 and 6 years old. (However, the vaccine's protection against the disease can wear off as kids get older, so a booster dose of the vaccine is typically given between ages 11 and 18.) Pregnant women also now receive the whooping cough vaccine during their third trimester to provide protection to infants, the population at highest risk for pertussis complications. People who get the whooping cough vaccine and still come down with the illness are more likely to have a mild case, compared with those who never got the vaccine, the epidemiological staff said. Investigating an outbreak The outbreak began in September 2013, when the Florida Department of Health in Leon County became aware of a case of pertussis in a 1-year-old preschool student who was exempt from recieving the vaccine. The student's 3-year-old sibling had symptoms of the illness first, but did not go to the preschool. Two months later, another whooping cough case was reported in the same county in a 1-month-old infant. The infected baby's sibling and mother had ties to the preschool as a student and substitute teacher. The local health department launched an investigation into these two pertussis reports connected to the preschool that eventually involved state health officials and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They examined all students' vaccination status and distributed a questionnaire to students and staff members to evaluate how widespread potential symptoms of the illness were in their households. Of the 33 children in the outbreak with pertussis, which included both students and siblings of the preschoolers, 28 of them had received three or more pertussis vaccinations, and 23 had received four or more vaccinations, the investigators found. They also estimated the vaccine effectiveness rate among all the preschool students to be 45 percent. The highest rates for whooping cough in this outbreak were in the preschool classrooms with 3-year-old students, the epidemiology staff told Live Science. This supports the concept of "waning immunity," or the idea that the vaccine's protection declines over time, they said. The 3-year-old group has not yet received the vaccine dose that is recommended at 4-6 years of age. Waning immunity has also been seen with the pertussis vaccine in 7- to 10-year-old children, the epidemiologists said. Another factor that contributed to the spread of the outbreak was that ill people were not properly diagnosed as having pertussis and promptly treated for it, the staff said. This caused more people to be exposed to the disease and infected by it. Many local physicians were hesitant to diagnosis patients with pertussis and did not test for the disease, although they were aware of an outbreak in the community, the staff reported. That hesitancy may have resulted, in part, from the outbreak occurring during the cold and cough season, when respiratory viruses are most commonly acquired, the epidemiological staff said. Doctors may also have assumed their vaccinated patients were protected against the disease. [9 Weird Ways Kids Can Get Hurt] The lack of diagnosing cases may have also stemmed from the fact that whooping cough is much less common than other respiratory diseases, and the illness can have a wide range of presentations sometimes the infection appears as a persistent cough and sometimes the classic "whooping" sound is absent, especially in older children and adults, the epidemiological staff explained. Further monitoring of the performance of the pertussis vaccine in preschool-age children is needed to figure out if this Florida outbreak was an isolated incident or possibly an emerging epidemiological trend, the case concluded. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science. Fleas that bite rodents infected with the bacteria that cause the plague can transmit the disease to people. One reason the plague was able to spread so massively across Europe during the Middle Ages may have been that the bacteria that caused the disease lay hidden, in some unknown animal reservoir, for centuries, a new study reports. In the study, researchers in Germany hypothesize that the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which causes plague and killed millions of people, may have survived in Europe in an unknown host during the second plague pandemic, which lasted from the 14th to the 17th century. The idea came after the researchers analyzed the DNA from the skeletal remains of 30 plague victims who were buried at two grave sites in Germany. The researchers compared the data from the genetic analysis of these plague victims to the results of previous genetic analyses of skeletal remains of European plague victims from other countries. They found that five of the German plague victims were infected with genetically identical Y. pestis bacteria, even though they lived about310 miles (500 kilometers) and 300 years apart. The German plague victims also had Y. pestis that were genetically similar to that of far-away plague victims, in Britain and France, according to the research, published today (Jan. 13) in the journalPLOS ONE. It has become evident in recent research on plague DNA collected from people infected during each of the three major pandemics that all of the pandemics originated from Central Asia (China), said study author Holger Scholz, a molecular biologist and infectious disease researcher at Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology in Munich, Germany. But the question on the researchers' minds was why the second pandemic lasted such a long time three centuries and wiped out about one-third of the continent's population, he said. [7 Devastating Infectious Diseases] New research on old disease The previous explanation of how the plaque reached Eastern Europe is that the bacteria were introduced via the major trade route from Asia, known as the Silk Road, Scholz said. From there, the bacteria was thought to be transported by sea and introduced to other parts of Europe in several waves, he said. Rats on the ships and their infected fleas, which can transmit the plague bacteria when they bite people, could have played an important role in disseminating the disease, Scholz told Live Science. But in the new study, the researchers excavated human remains from victims of the second plague pandemic, including the period between 1346 and 1353 known as the "Black Death." This is when bubonic plague was at its peak in Europe. "Our findings show that at least one genotype of Y. pestis bacteria may have persisted in Europe over a long time period in a not-yetidentified host, possibly rodents or lice," Scholz told Live Science. This is new thinking, suggesting there might have been "good conditions" in Europe for the plague agent to survive there, he explained. It is likely the second plague pandemic resulted from a combination of the infectious agent being continually reintroduced in waves to Europe, as well as the agent surviving for long periods in an unknown host, Scholz said. New explanations People who have bubonic plague develop symptoms such as fever, headache, chills and weakness as well as swollen and painful lymph nodes in the areas closest to where the bacteria first enters their body, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These days, plague cases still occur, but can be treated with antibiotics. Scientists can now use modern methods to investigate ancient medical problems, and the first detection of Y. pestis in the remains of plague victims from the Middle Ages occurred in 1998. Since that time, researchers have been working to pinpoint the causative agents of plague for each of the three major pandemic periods. But not everybody is convinced that the new explanation proposed in this study is supported by the available evidence. The question the researchers are trying to address in this new study did the plague hang around in a reservoir in Europe, or was it continually reintroduced from Asia during the second pandemic is an interesting one, said James Bliska, a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at Stony Brook University in New York, who was not involved in this research, but has conducted studies on Y. pestis and plague. [10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species] However, "the results in this paper are limited and preliminary," Bliska said. The data from this analysis doesn't strongly suggest that genetically related bacteria were necessarily persisting in a host in Europe, and it still could be that independent reintroductions of the same bacteria were occurring, Bliska told Live Science. The study's sample size is small and there are alternative explanations to their finding of identical strain genotypes of the bacterium in these plague victims, he said. The findings could be due to chance and a larger number of samples may have showed more genetic diversity in the bacteria, he also noted. For the people in Europe during the Middle Ages, it made little difference whether they were dying from plague continuouslyintroduced to the continentor from plague that was introduced only once or twice, Scholz said. But this might be a modern-day worry for scientists should additional research find that given the right conditions, it's possible for plague to persist for a long time, he added. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science. A mysterious relative of the extinct human species nicknamed the "hobbit" may have once lived on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, new research suggests. This finding could one day help shed light on the evolution of the hobbit, the researchers noted in the study. In 2003, scientists unearthed 18,000-year-old fossils on the Indonesian island of Flores. The fossils belonged to an unknown hominin, a close relative of modern humans. Since then, scientists have suggested that this hominin, which had a brain about the size of a grapefruit, was a unique branch of the human lineage named Homo floresiensis and popularly known as "the hobbit" because of its diminutive 3-foot (1 meter) stature. [See Images of the 'Hobbit' and Evidence of Newfound Ancestors] Since the hobbit's discovery, researchers have sought to uncover its evolutionary origins. In 2010, scientists revealed that stone tools found on Flores suggest that the hobbit's ancestors lived there 1 million years ago. As such, these potential direct ancestors of hobbits may have descended from Homo erectus, the earliest undisputed ancestor of modern humans. The first fossils of Homo erectus were found on the Indonesian island of Java in the 19th century; subsequent research has unearthed Homo erectus specimens on Java about 1.5 million years in age. Stone artifacts were found scattered at the hominin site near Talepu on Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Image credit: Erick Setiabudi) To find out more about how the hobbit's ancestors might have migrated to Flores, scientists have searched for clues on other Indonesian islands. They focused on the island of Sulawesi, which lies between Flores and continental Asia. Sulawesi is the largest and oldest island in Wallacea, a group of islands separating Asia from Australia. Given Sulawesi's position north of Flores and Australia, Sulawesi likely played a key role in the settling of both islands, the researchers said. Now, stone tools discovered on Sulawesi dating back at least 118,000 years suggest that an unknown lineage of toolmakers once lived there, the researchers said in the new study. "There might have been a totally different human species living on Sulawesi before modern humans arrived with boats around 50,000 years ago," said study lead author Gerrit van den Bergh, a paleontologist and zooarchaeologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia. "Evolving under isolation on an island under hundreds of thousands of years in isolation, the outcome may have resulted in a distinct human species, different from Homo erectus or Homo floresiensis." Excavations conducted between 2007 and 2012 in southeastern Sulawesi revealed four sites containing stone flakes sharp artifacts likely used for cutting or scraping dating back 118,000 to 194,000 years. These are the earliest signs of hominins seen on Sulawesi yet, the researchers said. Previous analysis of rock art in southwestern Sulawesi revealed that modern humans, Homo sapiens, lived on the island at least 40,000 years ago, the researchers said. These new findings suggest that an unknown lineage of hominins predated the arrival of modern humans on Sulawesi, the researchers said. Because no human fossils of the same age as these newfound artifacts have been found on Sulawesi, the identity of these toolmakers remains uncertain. Three potential candidates include the hobbits, Homo erectus and the Denisovans, close relatives of Neanderthals that may have once interbred with modern humans. The researchers said that undiscovered evidence of ancient hominins may be found on other islands in the region, such as Borneo and the Philippines. Such fossils and artifacts could help solve the evolutionary mysteries of Indonesia. "Now, we can start trying to find fossil evidence of the makers of these ancient tools," van den Bergh told Live Science. The scientists detailed their findings in the Jan. 14 issue of the journal Nature. Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. The search for the missing flight MH370 plane in the Indian ocean has turned up a 19th century shipwreck. Here, sonar images of the ship, which was likely made in the early 1800s, and is likely made of steel or iron. The search for the mission Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 2014 has discovered something else: a 19th-century shipwreck. Searchers discovered the shipwreck while combing the Indian Ocean for remnants of Flight MH 370, which vanished without a trace on March 8, 2014. Underwater sonar images revealed an "anomalous," likely man-made shape beneath the waves, according to a statement by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. On Jan. 2, the search team sent an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), dubbed the Havila Harmony, to follow up on the anomalous find. The AUV captured high-resolution sonar images of the object, confirming that it was a wreck. Experts at the Shipwreck Galleries of the Western Australian Museum reviewed the images and confirmed that the object was an early 1800s-era ship, likely made of steel or iron. In May 2015, the MH370 search team discovered a separate shipwreck, dating to the mid- to late-1800s, in the Indian Ocean. [In Photos: Lost in the Bermuda Triangle] Flight MH370 vanished while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. Prior to the plane's disappearance, all communication from the cockpit had been normal. Military radar tracked the plane deviating from its set course until it disappeared from view over the Andaman Sea. However, based on the in-flight satellite system, investigators determined that the plane continued to fly for several more hours, leaving them to conclude it crashed somewhere over the southern Indian Ocean. Since then, Australia, on the behest of the Malaysian government, has headed the search and recovery operations. In July 2015, a "flaperon," a flap found on the wings of an aircraft that increases drag and helps the plane turn right and left, washed ashore on the island of Reunion. Investigators later confirmed that the flap came from Flight MH370, Live Science reported. So far, the search team has combed 30,888 square miles (80,000 square kilometers) of the Indian Ocean. However, the search operation has not yet yielded any other plane parts, such as the black box, which could reveal what caused the plane to veer off course. By midyear, the team will complete its search of 46,000 square miles (120,000 square km) of the ocean, according to the statement. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. To the editor: I would like to welcome back letter writer Dr.Vallone and wish him a Happy 2016. In his January 5th letter to the editor, he expressed desirability of harmonious and respectful discourse, and he warrants this. However, to receive my regard, he must avoid falsehoods. Seeking truth, I view the only "authenticated" attributes of his holy book are its human origin and as a source of fantastic folklore significant to Judeo-Christian Western culture. I posit that many persons taking scripture literally develop exclusivist views of humanity in spite of the tenet to "Love your neighbor as yourself." Reading ancient scripture may make persons feel warm and fuzzy, but it should be avoided as a source of 21st century law, history, or science. If you desire youngsters admitted to respectable colleges, I suggest avoiding these feeble attempts to make science to jibe with "divine" scripture. True science poses hypotheses to be examined, observed, and tested; processes religions tend to avoid. Claiming knowledge of absolute truth would bring all human progress and curiosity to a halt. My viewpoint is that science has done more to improve the human condition in the last one hundred years than religions have in the previous two thousand. The notion that religious faith will be rewarded by eternal bliss, while a life of reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting damnation is too absurd for refutation. I wouldnt want my doctor to think that Intelligent Design is a plausible hypothesis to science anymore than I would want my airplane pilot believing the earth is flat. My forty-eight year career included thirty-four years of witnessing human suffering in hospitals. The memories of this suffering, together with that of friends and family, prevented me from imposing the fallacy of religion upon students. As a scientist and historian, I taught students to question all sources of information and authority; democracy requires constant vigilance, and not teaching them to doubt would be indefensibly tragic. If anything, I would think the story of Jesus Christ teaches us how to live and to love humanity. If he would really return, he may not identify with many calling themselves Christians today, especially politicians. This life is here and now, and now is all we can truly know. In my honest opinion, the idea of immortal afterlife is pure speculation, so our most reasonable option is to live life fully, caringly, acceptingly, and non-depreciatively. Sincerely, Dr. Carlos Valle, Jr. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! Music, Movies & Entertainment, Arts & Culture, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: January 13 2016 In honor of Black History Month Long Islanders can truly celebrate the meaning of freedom with WMHOs acclaimed Running Scared, Running Free: Escape to the Promised Land. Stony Brook, NY - January 8, 2016 - In honor of Black History Month Long Islanders can truly celebrate the meaning of freedom with WMHOs acclaimed Running Scared, Running Free: Escape to the Promised Land. These riveting live theatrical performances, held over 150 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, will be a poignant experience about the power of the human spirit and Long Islands connection to the Underground Railroad. Sponsored by Empire National Bank, Running Scared, Running Free is an interactive production based on investigative research compiled by The Ward Melville Heritage Organization and was attended by over 7,000 young people and adults when it first opened in 2005. Oral histories shared by Native Americans inspired WMHO to research the movement of escaping slaves from the south to Long Island and north to Canada. A St. George Production, the drama is set in the mid-1850s and is told through the eyes of Dorcas, a female slave fleeing South Carolina. The production shows how Native Americans, Quakers, free blacks and abolitionists assisted in the Underground Railroad through the fascinating use of secret codes in quilt patterns as a vital means of communication. It is estimated that at least 30,000 slaves, and potentially more than 100,000, escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. Performances will take place on selected dates between February 1 29 at WMHOs Educational & Cultural Center, 97P Main Street in Stony Brook Village at 10 am and Noon. There is also a special evening performance February 26 at 7:30 pm with dessert and coffee or tea at the general admission price. Additional pricing is below. General Admission : $13 pp (adults); $12 per student (up to 35 students); $8 per student (over 35 students) Distance Learning : $250 per class connection (IP and ISPN connectivity) In-School Performance : $1500 The program is aligned to meet National and New York State Common Core Standards and BOCES Arts-in-Education reimbursable. For further information call 631-751-2244 or visit wmho.org. School & Education, Local News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: January 13 2016 Senator Ken LaValle, Chairman of the NY State Senate Standing Committee on Higher Education, announced that the 2015 Higher Education Legislative Report is now available. Washington, DC - January 12, 2016 - Senator Ken LaValle, Chairman of the NY State Senate Standing Committee on Higher Education, announced that the 2015 Higher Education Legislative Report is now available. Senator LaValle said, The most significant topic discussed by the committee throughout the session was campus sexual assault. Our colleges and universities are supposed to provide safe, secure environments that foster personal growth and academic excellence. However, cases of rape, sexual assault, dating violence and other crimes continue to occur each year on campuses. The Senate Higher Education Committee began a process in 2014 to review existing laws, policies and legislation in an effort to fight the persistence of campus sexual assault. My committee held round tables and published a report to address the myriad of issues. We sought and obtained a tremendous amount of valuable input from many individuals and organizations across the state directly involved in the issue. The Senate Majority worked diligently to ensure that all students would be protected and due process rights assured for both the complainant and the accused. Now, because of the law we enacted, all public and private colleges in New York will implement new policies to address sexual assault to better protect our students. Senator LaValle continued, College affordability remains another major focus of the committee. Under the new State budget, we were able to increase funding for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to help thousands of young New Yorkers afford a quality college education. The committee also continued its efforts to address the college affordability crisis by establishing a new scholarship entitled the New York State Achievement and Investment in Merit Scholarship (NYS-AIMS). Under this scholarship, 5,000 students who demonstrate high academic achievement will receive annual scholarships to reduce the level of student loan debt they are expected to incur. I will again make this a priority of the committee and seek to build on this years accomplishments by working collaboratively with the Governor and Assembly on this important issue. The 2015-16 enacted budget increased general fund support for our public four-year colleges and universities and our community colleges. SUNY and CUNYs four-year colleges received an increase of $34.7 million. Community colleges received a $100 increase in base operating aid per full-time equivalent (FTE), bringing total base aid to $2,597. The committee continued the work of supporting and examining ways to bolster the multiple sectors of higher education, as well as its oversight of the various professions licensed and seeking licensure by the State Education Department. The 2015 NY State Senate Higher Education Committee Legislative Report is available for downloading here. Food, Wine, & Dining, Family & Parenting, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Don Miller Published: January 13 2016 As part of its debut on Long Island, Pizza Studio has committed to partnering with the regions leading hunger-relief organization to help provide the resources necessary to combat the chronic issue of food insecurity on ... Farmingdale, NY - January 12, 2016 - To assist in the fight against hunger on Long Island, Pizza Studio will be donating $2 to Island Harvest Food Bank for every pizza sold at its new Farmingdale location from January 15-17 in conjunction with the restaurants grand opening celebration. As part of its debut on Long Island, Pizza Studio has committed to partnering with the regions leading hunger-relief organization to help provide the resources necessary to combat the chronic issue of food insecurity on Long Island. Pizza Studio is located at Republic Plaza, 901 Broadhollow Road in Farmingdale. Island Harvest welcomes Pizza Studio to Long Island and we are most grateful to have them support us in our efforts to help those Long Islanders who are faced with not having enough to eat every day, said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO, Island Harvest. We wish them much success and were happy theyre on board to help us tackle this critical issue. Pizza Studio is a new, unique dining concept allowing diners to create their own pizzas by selecting among a variety of crusts, sauces and toppings of vegetables, meats, and cheeses. Then the employees assemble the personalized pizza in front of the customer. The pizzas are then cooked in about three minutes in a self-ventilating conveyor oven. For more information on Pizza Studio please visit online. About Hunger on Long Island Hunger is a state in which people do not get enough food to provide the nutrients for active and healthy lives. It can result from the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food. More than 316,000 Long Islanders face the risk of hunger every day, according to Island Harvest Food Bank and Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. These are often hard-working adults, children, seniors and veterans who cannot always make ends meet and are often forced to go without food. Approximately 70,000 individuals seek food assistance in Nassau and Suffolk counties each week through soup kitchens, food pantries and other feeding programs served by Island Harvest. About Island Harvest Food Bank Island Harvest Food Bank is a leading hunger-relief organization that provides food and other resources to people in need. Always treating those it helps with dignity and respect, its goal is to end hunger and reduce poverty on Long Island through efficient food collection and distribution; enhanced hunger-awareness and nutrition-education programs; job training; and direct services targeted at children, senior citizens, veterans and others at risk. Approximately 94 cents of every dollar donated to Island Harvest goes to programs that support more than 316,000 Long Islanders. Island Harvest is a lead agency in the regions emergency-response preparedness for food and product distribution, and is a member of Feeding America, the nations leading domestic hunger-relief charity. More information can be found at www.islandharvest.org. About Pizza Studio Pizza Studio is setting a new standard for America's favorite food: pizza. By focusing on Ingredients We Trust, it has become the high-quality option in the world of fast casual pizza. Pizza Studio was recently named one of America's Most Promising Companies by Forbes Magazine and has grown from a single location in California to 33 restaurants across the country plus over 300 in development including internationally. Since 2013, Pizza Studio has been building a company from the crust up by starting with its unique and proprietary dough options, the most flavorful tomato sauce, freshly grated cheeses and an unlimited selection of toppings. When the finest ingredients come together based on each customer's personal selections, the result is something that tastes great and makes them feel great. Pizza Studio's commitment to high quality products, superior guest service and operational excellence attracts both customers and franchisees. To learn more, visit pizzastudio.com, or better yet, try it out. School & Education, Local News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: January 13 2016 Green Vales Lower School and Middle School earned impressive mathematics awards on a national scale this week as competition results were finalized. Old Brookville, NY - January 13, 2016 - Green Vales Lower School and Middle School earned impressive mathematics awards on a national scale this week as competition results were finalized. In the National Sumdog Math Competition held in December, Green Vales 3rd and 4th grade students performances placed the school within the top 10% of 5,634 participating institutions. The top scorer for Green Vale was 3rd grader Andrea, who finished 25th out of 123,905 students answering 991 questions correctly out of 1,000. Andrea with teachers Mrs. Noga (left) and Mrs. Campbell (right). The Sumdog Competition encompasses many of the concepts and strategies that the students are learning in the newly adopted Singapore Math: Math in Focus curriculum, said Lower School Math Specialist Melissa Noga. In November, Green Vales 7th and 8th grade Honors Extended classes participated in a national contest sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. Eighth grader Justin placed in the top 5% of students taking this test and received a gold medal by answering 18 questions correctly out of 25. Tied for second with 14 correct answers each were fellow 8th graders KG and Sasha, who earned silver medals. In the 7th grade, Lex and Leo successfully answered 11 questions and took home gold medals, while Athena ranked third in the school with 10 correct and received a silver medal. The full scope of the results and exactly how many students participated nationwide estimated to be around 150,000 will be released in May. The Green Vale School, located in Old Brookville, Long Island, is an independent school specializing in Early Childhood through Middle School situated on a 40-acre campus on the doorstep of New York City. Green Vale has been providing students with an uncommon core of academic excellence and character development since 1923 inspiring students to excel, to lead and to care. Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases Beware an "Eyes Only" Site Stories All About Alaska and More... Contact the Ghost of Spam McGee We All Tweet in a Twitter Submarine: @AlaskaChinook E-mail: doctorv.roomvroom@gmail.com (CopyRight Protected) [ 47 U.S.C. 230 ] ~ This Machine KILLS Fascists ~ Solidarity National Anthem "This Land Is Your Land" Change and progress marked the 2015 calendar year at University of Wisconsin-Stout. The universitys top news stories included two people at the top: the April inauguration of the schools seventh leader, Chancellor Bob Meyer, and hiring of a new vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Provost Patrick Guilfoile. Rounding out the top five stories, as chosen by the University Communications staff, were record fall enrollment of 9,535; UW System approval of two new majors, including mechanical engineering; and restructuring the universitys colleges, reducing them from four to three, to meet fiscal restraints from the 2015-17 state budget. Other top 10 stories in 2015 were: 97.1 percent employment rate for recent graduates; return of the homecoming parade; departures of 60 faculty and staff through retirements; 50th and 80th anniversaries for the School of Art and Design and the Graduate School, respectively; and dedications of two special academic facilities on campus as a result of major donations through Stout University Foundation. Following is a summary of the top 10 stories: Chancellor inauguration: Meyers inauguration ceremony took place April 2 at the Memorial Student Center. Special guests included UW System President Ray Cross and Board of Regents Vice President Regina Millner. Meyer said that school founder James Huff Stout would enthusiastically approve of how we have stayed true to his original mission. New provost: Guilfoile was named the universitys top academic official April 30 and began work in the summer. A native of Fond du Lac, he had been associate vice president of Academic Affairs at Bemidji State University in Minnesota. Record enrollment: In October, UW-Stout announced record fall enrollment of 9,535, a 1.75 percent increase over 2014, which also was a record. The universitys enrollment has grown by more than 30 percent in the last 20 years, more than double the UW System growth rate of 14 percent during that span. New academic programs: The UW System Board of Regents approved two new bachelor programs at UW-Stout, mechanical engineering April 10, giving UW-Stout its fourth engineering program; and digital marketing technology June 5. UW-Stout has 48 undergraduate programs, more than double the number it offered 25 years ago. New colleges: On Dec. 3, Meyer and Guilfoile announced that UW-Stout will reduce its number of colleges from four to three, effective July 1, 2016. The restructuring will save an estimated $360,000 and result in searches for two college deans. The university also announced Dec. 18 that in 2016 it would merge UW-Stout Online and the Graduate School, saving from $40,000 to $60,000. 97.1 percent employment: The universitys annual survey of recent graduates, conducted by Career Services, found that 97.1 percent have full-time jobs or are continuing their education. Most of them, 82 percent, found work in their field of study. The average starting salary was $41,000. The employment rate has been 97 percent or above for more than a decade. Return of homecoming parade: On Sept. 10, UW-Stout announced that the homecoming parade would return after a four-year absence. It was held Oct. 3. The route, with many student and community floats and entries, included parts of South Broadway Street, Main Street and Third Street East. Retirements: The university lost 60 employees during the year as a result of retirements. Many of the retirements were part of the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program, which provided qualified faculty and staff a financial incentive to retire early to help the university deal with reduced UW System funding in the state budget. School anniversaries: Two academic divisions marked milestones. The School of Art and Design celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding as the art department in 1965. The school has grown to include approximately 1,000 art and design majors. The Graduate School, with 23 programs, celebrated the 80th anniversary of its founding in 1935. Its the UW Systems second oldest graduate school only UW-Madisons is older. Facility dedications: A College of Management classroom and STEM College lab were named for donors. On Sept. 9, the Weidner Center for Residential Property Management, a high-tech classroom in Heritage Hall, was dedicated with a visit from Dean Weidner, owner of Weidner Apartment Homes, who donated $1 million. On June 16, the Rajiv and Swati Lall Microbiology Laboratory was dedicated in Jarvis Hall Science Wing with a program featuring the Lalls, owners of Vets Plus. The Lalls donated money to update equipment and establish an endowment to provide ongoing lab support and maintenance. The top 10 stories represent a small fraction of university news in 2015. For links to all UW-Stout news stories, go to www.uwstout.edu/news/articles. The Islamic States Wilayat Khorasan, or province in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan earlier today. The jihadists laid siege to the consulate for several hours. The Islamic State issued a statement (in multiple languages) describing the assault. The English-language version, which was posted online, can be seen on the right. The group says that three inghimasi fighters were responsible for the operation. The word inghimasi, roughly translated, means they are willingly to die in the fight, as they throw themselves into combat. The first detonated his explosive belt, paving the way for the other two to infiltrate the consulate. The second then detonated his suicide belt, while the third supposedly returned to mujahidin positions safely. The operation lasted for approximately four hours during which the building was destroyed and dozens of consulate staff were killed including a number of apostate Pakistani intelligence officers, the caliphates arm claims. Afghan officials have offered a slightly different account to the press, saying all three jihadists, as well as seven members of the consulates security forces, were killed. According to Reuters, Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building. Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar, the Afghan province where the Islamic States Wilayat Khorasan is based. Before today, the group had not executed many complex assaults in Jalalabad or other Afghan provincial capitals. The Islamic State will undoubtedly use the assault to further its claim that the Taliban is a proxy of the Pakistani state. The Pakistani Taliban, which is part of the Taliban-al Qaeda axis in the region, has repeatedly attacked Pakistani security forces. But the Islamic State has blasted the Afghan Talibans close relationship with the Pakistani state. For instance, Wilayat Khorasans Voice of the Caliphate radio station recently claimed that hundreds of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agencys mercenaries, acting in the name of the Talibans emirate, attacked the Islamic States mujahideen in the Nazyan District of Nangarhar. In a December 2015 broadcast, the radio station accused Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, who became the Talibans emir in July, of being an apostate and said that juniors in the Talibans ranks shouldnt follow the orders of the apostate leaders. The Islamic State has consistently accused the Taliban of being a puppet for Pakistans ISI, which is the countrys primary intelligence service. It is a claim that has some truth to it, as the ISI has long backed the Talibans operations. The caliphates men are eager to point the relationship out, because it tarnishes the Talibans jihadist credentials. Voice of the Caliphate is broadcast in Nangarhar and elsewhere in Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Voice of the Caliphate radio broadcasts anti-Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan.] It is possible that the Islamic State will use todays operation to argue that it goes after Pakistans representatives in Afghanistan, while the Afghan Taliban typically does not. The Taliban and the Islamic States Wilayat Khorasan have clashed on multiple occasions. Late last year, for instance, Mansours men reportedly beheaded several of the caliphates men. Voice of the Caliphate denied this, however, saying the Islamic States followers are not so weak that they could be executed in such a manner. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan claimed credit for todays suicide attack at a polio vaccination center in Quetta, which killed more than a dozen people and forced the suspension of the vaccination program. The jihadist group has targeted the polio vaccination program in the past. The Taliban suicide bomber detonated among a group of policemen who were guarding the anti-polio drive in Satellite Town in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan. Thirteen policeman and one Frontier Corps officer were killed in the attack, Pakistan officials told Dawn. A statement released on Umar Media, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistans propaganda outfit, said a Special Unit from the Mujahideen Special Group successfully targeted forces at Satellite Town, Quetta. The Mujahideen Special Group is the Pakistani Talibans version of a special forces unit and is often referred to as the Special Task Force. This unit is tasked with carrying out assassinations of Pakistani military and political figures, as well as suicide attacks more organized assaults, such as the September 2015 attack on an air force camp in Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban has promoted the Mujahideen Special Group and has released footage of the unit going through instruction at its Mehdi Alaih Rizwan Training Center. The location of the training camp has not been disclosed, but it is believed to be situated in Pakistans tribal areas. The World Health Organizations anti-polio vaccination program inside Pakistan has been a prime target of the Taliban. Mullah Fazlullah, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was one of the first leaders to have opposed polio vaccinations. On his radio program, Falzullah, who is also known as Mullah Radio, denounced polio vaccinations as Western attempts to sterilize Muslim boys. Other Taliban commanders, including Mullah Bahadar and Mullah Nazir, who was killed in a US drone strike, as well as Pakistani clerics and leaders in the tribal areas, suspended polio vaccinations in areas under their control until the US ceased drone strikes against Taliban, al Qaeda, and other jihadist commanders. Taliban commanders have also accused vaccination programs as serving as cover for CIA and western operations to target jihadist leaders inside Pakistan. In the garb of these vaccination campaigns, the US and its allies are running their spying networks in FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Agencies] which has brought death and destruction on them in the form of drone strikes, a pamphlet issued by Mullah Nazir in June 2012 stated. Infidel forces are using media, education, and development as a tool to gag Muslims, the pamphlet continued. Nazirs pamphlet referenced Dr. Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who aided the US in finding and killing Osama bin Laden. Afridi is currently serving a 33-year prison sentence in Pakistan for false charges of supporting the Laskar-e-Islam, an Islamist terror group based in Khyber. In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban launched a deadly campaign against the WHOs vaccination program. Eight medical workers were killed while attempting to vaccinate children in Karachi and Pakistans northwest. The WHO shut down the anti-polio drive. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. In January of 1916, Menomonie had a mystery on its hands. At approximately 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 16, the body of a baby boy was discovered near Lake Menomin. The body was found wrapped in a paper parcel on a trail skirting the shore of Lake Menomin between the Improvement Association boathouse and the Johnson boathouse. Since that Sunday and the original date of this story on Thursday the 20th, police searched for clues as to the responsible party that seemingly committed infanticide. Also as of Thursday, there was no evidence found that gave the identity of the guilty party except foot prints of a pair of new, size 10 mens rubber boots. The footprints led down to the lake shore bank from the foot of Sixth Avenue to the spot where the remains of the baby were found. From that spot, the footprints followed the trail up to the street level where they got lost in the regular foot traffic. It was believed that the footprints were made Saturday night. The babys body was wrapped in a light calico apron with a commonly used pattern. Around the calico was a sheet of manila wrapping paper and the parcel was tied tightly with a cord. According to the post-mortem examination that took place on Monday evening, the baby was alive when born and was fully matured and developed. There were indications, however, that the baby hadnt been properly cared for or received the necessary attention at birth. It wasnt possible to determine how long the child lived after its birth. Thursday, Jan. 20, 1916 Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015 Wisconsin traffic deaths in 2014 fell to the lowest point in more than seven decades, with state officials attributing the drop to education, traffic enforcement and safer vehicles. The state had 491 traffic deaths, down from 527 a year earlier. Steve Olson, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said the last time the state was below 500 traffic deaths was in 1943, when 417 people died. Weve continued to remind motorists as best we can that driving a vehicle is the most dangerous thing theyll do all day, Olson said. And they deserve a lot of credit for taking that seriously. Full-year figures on drunken driving fatalities werent yet available, Olson said. But WisDOT expected them to be lower than a year ago because of a long-term trend, he said. Alcohol-related fatal crashes have fallen 47 percent in the past decade, according to the department. People are finally waking up to the fact that drunk driving is 100 percent preventable, Olson said. Wednesday, Jan. 9, 1991 The Wisconsin Cheese-Lift to the Persian Gulf is a statewide effort that will send cheese to American and United Nations troops in the Persian Gulf. Other available cheese will be dispersed among statewide soldiers and their families. Veterans, farmers and patriotically inspired individuals are joining together to champion this effort. Funds are being sought from all interested individuals and organizations. Project initiator Dennis Werlein, of Mondovi, said, Stronger support must be shown all the troops in the Persian Gulf. Werlein must be complimented for supporting the troops while promoting the dairy industry, said State Rep. Dave Zien (R-Eau Claire), who is assisting Werlein. Providing a market for cheese, especially in these tough times of sharply declining milk prices, is so important. Cong. Steve Gunderson and Les Aspin and U.S. Senator Bob Kasten have helped arrange transportation and dissemination of the cheese once it arrives to the Persian Gulf. Wednesday, Jan. 19, 1966 Menomonie Highs 1966 Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow is Linda Prochnow, 17-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Prochnow, Rt. 2, Menomonie. ... Marilyn Gaard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie B. Gaard, of Boyceville, is a member of the Augsburg College Concert Band which will present a concert in Colfax. The opening of the Tainter Memorial Library 75 years ago will be observed Friday, Jan. 21, with a variety of events, reports Elizabeth Pinkepank, librarian. ... Linda M. Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord Johnson, Rt. 1, Downing, selected 1966 Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow at Boyceville High. Total damage of $186,081 was caused by fires in Menomonie during 1965, according to Chief Nathan Webster. ... Value of building permits issued in Menomonie in 1965 is $900,480, according to Robert Kess, building inspector. Twenty-four single family dwellings were constructed during the year. Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1941 Carter Ice & Fuel Co., of Menomonie, started the annual harvest of ice this week which will fill the two large ice houses on Fourth Street. The ice is being cut and taken from Lake Tainter, above the dam at Cedar Falls, and is hauled to Menomonie by truck. The finished cakes of ice are over a foot in thickness. The nine Dunn County youths who volunteered their services to the army, and who fill the January quota of the army under the Selective Service Act, honored by representatives of local organizations at banquet at Hotel Marion. The volunteers: Paul H. Kraft, Rexford C. Batchelder, Mark L. Batchelder, Herbert O. Schmidt, Henry Andrews, Joseph P. Dotseth, John L. Larson, Delbert H. Yoder and Joe W. Bates. Mrs. C.A. Haase was in Minneapolis Monday, visiting the markets for spring merchandise in the interest of Haases Apparel Shop. ... Plans for water main extension here through WPA labor approved. Thursday, Jan. 20, 1916 The Obrecht Stock Company, a dramatic and musical organization of more than ordinary ability, gave three performances at the Memorial this week. ... The Oscillating Sleigh shops were closed by the management this morning because of financial difficulties. The shops have been operating of late with a payroll of about $100 a month outside the office. The shutdown, it is said, will probably be permanent. Albert C. Nathness of Company H, Third regiment, Wisconsin National Guard, recommends Harry C. Nelson for second lieutenant to succeed Lt. William Smith, resigned. ... Thirty-one students of Stout Institute will be given diplomas this week, having completed their course with the ending of this years first semester. For the first time, exercises will be carried out to mark the midwinter commencement. These will be held in the Memorial. Friday, Jan. 16, 1891 The News is informed that J.C. Phillips and F.X. Desparois are arranging to open a grocery store in this city next spring. Both gentlemen are well and favorably known all over the county, and the firm will be popular from the beginning. Mr. L.S. Tainter visited Chicago this week. ... Several new residences have been erected in Colfax this winter. ... The mining of iron ore in Lucas is going on in full blast. ... A chapter of the Epworth League was organized at the M.E. Church last Sunday with Rose L. Huff as president. The next lecture in The Memorial course will be given Friday evening by the sculptor, Sidney H. Morse, on modeling, accompanied by objective illustrations with clay. Mr. Morse modeled the busts of Emerson and Sumner at The Memorial auditorium. ... Another boom has struck Eau Galle, and business lots are selling at good round prices. Saturday, Jan. 13, 1866 Considerable destitution is reported as among the new comers in the woods. Many of them came in late last fall, and with small means, and of course the winter will go pretty hard with some of them. Our citizens are doing what they can for general relief; but it is exceedingly unpleasant to contemplate some of the causes of that destitution. The excessive use of tobacco is telling woefully upon the general health, and at the same time wasting the little means so much needed in the procurement of daily food. Many of them are already narcotized into a dronish and soggy indolence, and they smoke and chew with desperation. It is reported that one of those needy families uses a dollars worth of tobacco per week. What a horrible waste of health, and energy, and life! NEW TOWNS: At their late session, the County Board created two new Towns, as follows: Town 28, Range 14 (west of Menomonie), is named Lucas; Town 28, Range 11, is named Elk Mound. Bauer Palazzo Reveals the Fabric Secrets of Venice Revealing the city's textile secrets, the experience will grant access to world renowned factories, showrooms and producers of the finest materials and products in the iconic city that pioneered the textile trade.The experience will begin as guests are taken by their expert guide to the world renowned textile producer, Rubelli (pictured). Design lovers will be taken around the showroom that forms a part of Venice's rich cultural heritage, where the museum archive holds some 6,000 textiles on record with over 3,000 fabrics produced by Rubelli since 1858.Inspired by the vast archives, including curtains, cushions and commissions for the pope's ceremonial garments, guests will have the opportunity to create their own bespoke fabric and design. Having also worked extensively within the fashion works, with high-profile fashion houses, including Prada and Armani, Rubelli's own research experts will be on hand to advise and assist with the unique concept and production of fabrics using the traditional 16th and 17th century techniques.Guests will then be guided down Venice's Grand Canal to Italian silk manufacturer, Luigi Bevilacqua. Exclusive access will be granted to their ancient looms, which still use the traditional manual manufacturing process since the 18th century.Lunch will be taken at a the restaurant of choice by traditional fabric traders for a truly authentic experience, as they journey the history of the world through Venetian craftsmanship and trade.The afternoon will take those on the fabric tour to museum, Mocenigo Palace. Once home to one of the most important Venetian families, the gothic building showcases the history, production, trade and use of Venetian textiles. Immersed in history, the expert guide will take guests around 20 of the home's rooms which evoke aspects of the life of a Venetian nobleman, from furnishings to hand-woven garments.Following the fabric filled day, guests can retreat back to the iconic BAUER PALAZZO which sits on the grand canal, and retreat to their room where the day's fabrics adorn the furniture, walls and decorations.Visit website: Celebrity Spotting During TED Vancouver In year's past, Sting, Bill Gates, Will Smith and Marina Abramovic have brushed shoulders with local Vancouver-ites at local hotspots. With the conference just a month away, here are TED hot spots for 2016.Since opening last year,(pictured) has become the most sought-after cocktail bar in Vancouver and the perfect late-night locale for Vancouver's elite. At TED Conferences in the past,played host to an exclusive dinner held by Will Smith with a guest list of notable names, and this year, with the 50 Shades of Gray sequel being filmed in Vancouver, visitors might catch a glimpse of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as well as TED attendees at the new cocktail bar.Other destinations that will likely attract TED elite include, considered to be the best seafood restaurant in Vancouver and a favorite of Rachel McAdams, Uma Thurman and Ben Stiller;, a Japanese-inspired eatery that has attracted Morgan Freeman, Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams; and, an Italian cucina frequented by Ben Affleck, Naomi Watts and Justin Timberlake, among others.More information:Photo: Prohibition at Rosewood Hotel Georgia A decision by an administrative law judge on Jan. 7 for the most part sided with Chippewa County in its 2013 decision to remove protective status for its jailers. County Administrator Frank Pascarella said the judge upheld that jailers are not protected, but said the Huber and Transport Officer should be. We are planning to file objections, Pascarella said about the Huber and Transport Officer decision. The filing deadline is Jan. 26. Pascarella said the Employee Trust Fund will then take up the matter at its next scheduled meeting. Then the trust fund will come up with a written final decision. Pascarella said there is no timetable for that decision. The Wisconsin Professional Police Association is representing the jailers. Pascarella said employees who do not have protective status receive retirement benefits as general county employees, and not as members of law enforcement. Workers with protective status can retire earlier than other employees. Protective workers who are reclassified as general employees may keep this status. But newly hired employees face higher retirement ages. Losing protective status ends the eligibility of workers for duty disability. That state program offers higher income reimbursement to disabled workers than workers compensation. Amazon Blitzangebote Bis zu 75 Prozent Rabatt auf populare Artikel. Alle Angebote sind aber nur kurze Zeit verfugbar MacTechNews werbefrei verwenden Laden Sie die offizielle App und buchen Sie dort "MTN werbefrei, um die Seite ohne Banner zu genieen. The first Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) tradeshow was held in Geneva, Switzerland in February 2004. Since then, the annual event has grown from 120 exhibitors and 3,500 visitors, to a record-breaking 12th year that saw ISE 2015 welcome more than 1,000 exhibitors and almost 60,000 visitors through the doors of the Amsterdam RAI.ISE 2016 will once again occupy all 14 halls of the Amsterdam RAI. For the first time, the show will grow from three to four days a move that will support even more business, unearth even more opportunities and deepen ISEs impact as a must-attend industry event.This further cements ISEs position as the worlds fastest-growing and best-attended show for professional AV and electronic systems - setting the benchmark for other industry tradeshows. In his excellent article in the EPO Official Journal on a common culture and judgecraft in the UPC, Lord Justice Kitchin of the England & Wales Court of Appeal analyses some of the challenges that the new judges will face in the Unified Patent Court (UPC). He focuses in particular on judicial conduct, case management and judgments, and his conclusion stresses the importance of the judges of this new court working together to develop consistent, reliable and transparent approaches to the exercise of the considerable powers and discretions which will be conferred upon them. Despite the years of effort that have gone into drafting the UPC Agreement and the very detailed Rules of Procedure, there will be much discretion left to individual judges and panels in the new system. With the new court now expected to start hearing cases in early 2017, I expect that this year will see a greater focus on these kinds of practical questions about how it will operate. How will cases be handled? Lord Justice Kitchin Lord Justice Kitchin With that in mind, and as previewed in my last blog post, between now and the launch of the UPC we will be publishing a series of articles where patent practitioners address how hypothetical scenarios might be tackled once the UPC is running. The first article in this series, which is now available online and will be published in hard copy in February, concerns an electronics patent, which is not essential to a standard. It has been granted, not opposed, validated in several countries and not opted out of the UPC. In the article, Wouter Pors of Bird & Bird discusses whether or not to opt out of the UPC, which forum might be most appropriate and how to deal with any counter-claims. Other articles we have lined up will look at scenarios in different industries and situations, including from the point of view of defendants. If there is a particular scenario you would like to see covered, please email me the details. Over the coming year, we hope to consider cases that raise a wide range of procedural and jurisdictional challenges, and build up an unrivalled resource for future litigants in Europe. Who will the judges be? Wouter Pors Wouter Pors How cases will actually proceed, though, will of course depend on the judges. And, despite the progress being made on many aspects of the new system (such as the Rules of Procedure, IT and fees) we still do not know who they will be. I discussed this question last week with Richard Ebbink, a litigator with Brinkhof in Amsterdam and the immediate past president of EPLAW, which held its annual meeting with European patent judges in Venice last October. He confirmed that the work on appointing the judges, and training them where necessary, is proceeding, even if there remain some obstacles to be tackled: There are some difficulties regarding the remuneration of the judges, including pensions, and how to combine their UPC responsibilities with their national obligations, but we expect these to be resolved soon. In most of continental Europe, people become judges as a career and tend to move up through the ranks. In the UK and Ireland, by contrast, an appointment as a judge typically comes after a distinguished career as a litigator. Salaries and other benefits therefore vary widely. Moreover, at least in the beginning, the UPC is unlikely to provide enough work for many full-time judges, and in any case some countries are likely to want to retain their expertise in national courts at least on a part-time basis. That means time- and cost-sharing will have to be worked out and done so in a way that is fair to all judges and member states. Richard Ebbink Richard Ebbink With perhaps 12 to 15 local and regional divisions expected (not all are confirmed yet) in addition to the three branches of the central division, there will probably be up to 50 legal judges plus many part-time technical judges in the UPC first instance. But with so many divisions, the Court of Appeal which will sit in panels comprising three legal judges and two technical judges is likely to have a vital role to play. As Ebbink says: I expect nearly everything appealable will be appealed in the early stages, as parties will want to establish certainty and iron out any differences between the divisions. Who then is likely to be in the Court of Appeal? Here are some predictions (assuming they are willing to serve): Klaus Grabinski and Peter Meier-Beck from Germany, Robert van Peursem and Rian Kalden from the Netherlands, Christopher Floyd and David Kitchin from the UK. There may be others to ensure a fair geographic spread. If I had to guess who would be the president, I would go for Grabinski. UPC impact on national courts Who will be wielding the gavel? Who will be wielding the gavel? UPC sceptics (of which there remain many) may take solace in the fact that the extensive transitional opt-out period means they wont need to worry about the UPC for many years, possibly for the rest of their careers. But things may not be that simple. In fact, national courts are unlikely to escape the influence of the UPC as became clear at recent EPLAW meetings, says Ebbink: One of the questions is what approach national courts should take during the transition period. From the recent judges meeting in Venice and EPLAW meeting in Brussels, it was clear that the judges think the UPC rules should be applied nationally as well, but lawyers were more willing to accept the consequences arising from having two different sets of rules for some time to come. These are questions that AIPPI is addressing too, in particular in its analysis of Article 83. Of course it makes sense that national courts will take account of the UPC, particularly when you consider that many of the judges in the national courts and the UPC are likely to be the same people, possibly even sitting in the same courtrooms, dealing with similar disputes. Whats more, said Ebbink, there are signs that in practical terms national judges are already adapting. In the Netherlands, for example, the courts are open to hearing cases in English. And he adds: As we approach the implementation of the UPC, judges will be more and more sensitive to its rules and procedures, and that will be reflected in procedural decisions of national courts. So although the first cases in the UPC may still be a year off, its impact may be felt in cases much sooner than that. Congressman Mark Pocan says President Barack Obama should counter what he calls anti-Muslim statements by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and others in Tuesday night's State of the Union Address. Pocan, D-Black Earth, is joining 19 other members of Congress in what they call a collective response to Republican anti-Muslim rhetoric. The lawmakers, all Democrats, are inviting Muslim Americans to be their guests to the State of the Union Address. Pocan has invited City of Madison Ald. Samba Baldeh, who represents parts of the city's far east and north sides. Baldeh, who is Muslim and a native of Gambia, was elected to the city council last year. Speaking to the Wisconsin State Journal from Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Pocan said he hopes Obama will address what he called "hate speech" against Muslims by Trump and other GOP presidential candidates. Trump has proposed a temporary ban on Muslims traveling to the U.S. and discussed the possibility of creating a database of Muslims in the U.S. Pocan said Baldeh's presence at the event shows Muslims are valuable members of the Dane County community. "Samba, to me, is the face of a Muslim American in our area," Pocan said. Baldeh said he believes most Americans reject Trump's views on Muslims in the U.S. But Baldeh said he is concerned that Trump's remarks could help such views enter the mainstream. "What I'm afraid of is the normalization of what Donald Trump is saying," Baldeh said. Congressman Keith Ellison, D-Minneapolis, who is Muslim, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, have urged all members of Congress to invite Muslims to the State of the Union Address to show the world that we will not be intimidated by fear into discrimination. Among other Wisconsin lawmakers, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, invited Britney Woods, a college student from Racine, to the State of the Union Address. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, invited Pastor Jerome Smith, a Milwaukee pastor at Greater Praise Church of God in Christ. Interview with Raimundo Maico Diomba, Governor of Maputo Province Could you introduce the Province of Maputo? What are its strengths and advantages? The Province of Maputo is in the far south of Mozambique and supports the country's capital. This province borders with South Africa to the West, and Swaziland is also one of the neighbouring countries. To the East, we have the Indian Ocean, with a long coastline, which we think is still not being properly exploited. To the North, we have our Mozambican provinces, such as the Gaza Province. Our area is 22,600 km2. We have many resources that are being exploited, but we also have some that are not. We raise cattle and we are farmers. We have the heaviest industry in the country, therefore, a part of the economy of our country is supported by this region. We also have natural subsoil, forest and wildlife resources. We collaborate with South Africa's Kruger National Park on the management of these resources and this part is growing, since tourism is having a prominent place. We prioritize agricultural production to ensure the supply of our population and reduce the importation of food, which normally does not help ensure the normal functioning for both the State as well as for the population, regarding its participation in the production in various sectors. Therefore, agriculture has enough space to secure food for our population. We depend on the rain, but we have plans to expand and build an irrigation dam to ensure the continued production of food. The Province of Maputo has plans to build an irrigation dam We try to process our production as much as we can, but it is still insufficient. We want more because when the output is not processed, the value never comes to be what the producer intended. Hence, with any export we do with raw products, we are, in a way, losing something. So we need to invest more in the area of processing agricultural products. We are moving in the industrial area, and we occupy a prominent place in the country. We need more investment because the industry also needs support services. Every industry needs something from the others. We have the case of Mozal, which is the largest manufacturer of aluminium in our province. They need someone to repair their machines when they malfunction. They need someone to take care of several tanks they use to transport aluminium ingots to the port. All this reinforces that our industrial park is not enough. We have an area of more than 600 hectares that awaits investors. We need several agricultural machines because most of the producers still use a short-handled hoe and that does not take them very far. They need equipment that helps them save the energy and make sure the citizen has enough food for themselves and to sell during the year. If we sell, we can eliminate the dependence on the importation of food from other parts of the world. Agriculture in the Province of Maputo We also want to strengthen tourism. We have an extensive coastline and concrete points where tourism is growing, as is Ponta d'Ouro in the far south of our province where we have the border with South Africa. But even then the transport is not of quality, since the road is not done. We decided to proceed with the construction of the road to Ponta d'Ouro, to ensure that our tourists are able to arrive in reasonable time to the resorts they choose. The work has already started but we still needs more investments. Therefore, we want accessibility to complement the costs we are having in relation to the road construction. We have a bridge that will link the city of Maputo with our province, cutting off the branch of the Indian Ocean that enters the Maputo Bay, in order to facilitate access for all who want to visit the southern area. However, this bridge will take time and, in the meantime, we have other means including the use of the sea that is not being exploited except for the boats that come to dock in the Port of Maputo, as well as in our fuel receiving port. We need investments to see how we can use our sea, which is a natural maintenance free road and is always available to be used. But we are not using it. Our country is very extensive and much of its extension is the coast. Starting the exploration of the sea, which can take place in the Maputo Province, I believe investors may expand to the whole country. The Port of Maputo We also need to take care of wildlife animals because we are starting to create conditions to have safe parks to attract investment in tourism, but in the meantime, the operation is still starting. We need experienced people who can collaborate with us to properly exploit animals. We know that the elephant, buffalo and rhino are very appreciated to be visited, but not to be killed. So although we are very advanced in these animals care, we still have cases of people who hunt and kill. You can take advantage of the skin and horn by killing the animal, but it ends there. We want an animal that can generate revenue for many years, depending on the life of that animal. Therefore, any investor in the animal park area that can help care for animals and explore tourism in the wildlife area is also welcome. We need transportation that can ease traffic jams. The concentration and congestion of cars does not help the citizens need to reach their workplace quickly. Therefore, the transportation sector still needs a lot of investment in land transport, such as roads and railways. We do not have a fast express train that can facilitate the flow of the population. So the fastest mean of transportation is the car and everyone being a car user causes transit congestion. We have the sector open to exploring land routes and the construction of railways to increase transportation to circulate people at will. I want everyone to know that we are at peace, we are developing our country and we are receiving all the investment that appears as long as we follow the local law of investment. Therefore, we have peace as the main condition, and then there is room to invest in Mozambique. We dont have all kinds of necessary infrastructure, essentially in terms of water exploration, as the rivers Tembe, Maputo, Incomati and Umbeluzi, that mostly leave the neighbouring countries, flow into the Indian Ocean. The flow depends on the exploitation of our neighbours. The neighbours have water retention infrastructure and only release water when they see fit, which is usually during a rainy time. For us its a disadvantage when it should not be, because we dont have dams to hold water and turn it to be Mans friend. We want water to be controlled and managed in a manner that would ensure the continued production of our province. We have communication via telephone and radio, however, they are not sufficient resources. There are areas that have no mobile phone network. We want to expand it to these points and there is no doubt that we don't have enough operators. As we know, there is no development without communication because I am unable to know what my neighbour produces. I'll have to travel far in search of something my neighbour probably has, but I am unaware because of the lack of communication, hence the encouragement of existing networks in reaching further and every part of the country. The Province of Maputo needs investments in infrastructure We have cattle but it's not enough. We are not producing enough milk to feed our population. A cattle breeder has to know how to make the most of that animal before slaughter and milk is part of the formula. We want to have this production in large quantity to supply our population and also if applicable, export to other parts of the world. So those would be the dreams we have, and this is why we encourage those who want to invest in Mozambique and especially in Maputo Province to do so. We have our strategic plan, it is no secret. It is a plan that exists and is on the Internet, meaning you can consult it at any time. We also have a portfolio of projects that can bring interested people. For us it is not enough because only a few appear. We want them to appear more because the will to grow and serve the people and see the citizen suffer less is still strong in our midst. We want clean water to reach everyone and water for the animals. You structured Maputo's development strategy in accordance with the regional incentive programs and development corridors. The Maputo development corridor is considered as a model, as it is one of the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa. You managed to attract small and medium enterprises and fairly large-scale investment projects with this type of program. Could you comment on that? The Maputo development corridor is a corridor that is actually growing very well. I spoke about the industry and we have railway lines that communicate with neighbouring countries as the case of Swaziland, South Africa and Zimbabwe. All these are connected with the Maputo development corridor. However, as I said from the beginning, the means of transportation are still not enough. Let's imagine we want to drain the high production of a neighbouring country to the Port of Maputo but we only have one railway line. Every time a train is moving in one direction, the other train has to stop and wait until it passes and only then continue. This slows everything down and we want to duplicate those lines so that the corridor will become increasingly strong. By duplicating, I think we can very well attend our own production and industry and ensure sufficient regional production in the case of SADC (Southern African Development Community). We want to strengthen the industry because the advantage our province has is that we are well centred in relation to continents such as Asia and America. From here it is easy to move to India, Brazil or the USA by boat. So the junction of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans facilitates the proper use of our ports, especially the Port of Maputo. Therefore, the Maputo development corridor is in fact a corridor that is growing because it is a corridor that can unify the entire transportation system of product flow and also the importation of products from different continents of the world. New special economic zones (SEZ) are also being studied in order to offer special customs regimes, social support and tax incentives to export companies. Are they a potential here? Yes, we have the Beluluane Industrial Park that is one example. Another area is the container unloading area and where we are noticing that the existence of special areas of development is helping people use more of our ports and waterways. It is not enough and we are in the building process, but we think that with this growth and with the involvement of more investors and the emergence of new factories of all kinds, this will increasingly be useful for our economy and the growth our province. What would be your message for foreign investors, tourists and people who may be interested in Southern Africa and SADC? Besides, what would you like to have achieved in the next 2 to 3 years? We are beginning to develop, so we have many dreams. First, our intention is to see the citizen not suffer from lack of water. Apart from that, we want to bring more investments here. We want to ensure that there is transportation to all points, including neighbouring countries. When this does not exist, our communication becomes increasingly difficult and so we need to facilitate communication between us and the neighbours, both within Mozambique and outside of Mozambique. We want to ensure that there are no missing connections to any part of the country, so our roads have to be useful at any time, because there are times when it rains and there is no way to get to a point where there is population through our roads. We want to see the province have the hospitality industry to ensure accommodation to our guests, not only at any time but also in quantity and quality. There are many demanding guests who do not want just any hotel and we also want this layer of demanding people here. Our province does not have enough hotels and we want this situation to be reduced by the end of the mandate and we have already started working on it. Another thing I want to say is that we are in peace. There are many who speak of Africa as a suffering continent and sometimes they are people who have never passed through here and the day they decide to go through Mozambique, they realize they are wrong. There are people who speak badly of the African continent and of the SADC region, that it is a hell zone and that they cannot come here, but they are still investing. So I want everyone to know that we are at peace, we are developing our country and we are receiving all the investment that appears as long as we follow the local law of investment. Therefore, we have peace as the main condition, and then there is room to invest in Mozambique. In keeping with their reputation as a nation that can overcome all obstacles, Vietnam is rebuilding its aging fishing fleet. With a government program of soft loans, designated Decree 67/ND-CP, fishermen are building boats along 28 coastal provinces from the north to the south of Vietnam. Capt. Trinh Van Hung, grew up in a fishing family and, after completing his schooling, he fished briefly with his father. His curiosity took him into business as a trader but the call of the sea was strong. At 25, he returned to the fishing. After taking some navigational courses in a marine institute, he went right to work as a captain of his own boat. That was some years ago and the fishery has been good to him. He currently owns two 23 by 5.5-meter boats. Huang was accepted to the government program to increase the fleet. Keeping it in the family, he approached his brother-in-law, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen, who owns the Tuyen Phong Shipyard in the village of Hoaloc, of Hauloc Thanhoa Province. The yard is noted for the quality of its larger wooden boats. Capt. Hung obtained a design for a 26 by 6.2-meter wooden vessel with a 3.1-meter molded depth. It is larger than his existing boats and will be well suited for his drift-net tuna fishery. A typical trip for tuna will take him 150 miles south to Central Vietnam where he fishes off shore with a crew of 12. The gear is a multiple segment gillnet 60-meters deep by 70-meters long per segment. Mesh size varies from 10 centimetres at the top, 15 cm. in the centre and 20 cm. in the deeper sections. Tuna range from 3 to 25 kilos. They are not bled onboard but are individually wrapped in plastic and iced in insulated totes. Trips are limited to four or five days at sea. While fishing is permitted year round, the catches are best from the First Lunar Month to the Seventh Lunar Month. In Southeast Asia, converted, second-hand generator engines power many fishing boats. In order to qualify for the loan program, the new boat is required to have a new, purpose-built marine engine. Cummins NTA855 engines, from which he has had good service, power Capt. Hungs other two boats. For his new boat he opted for a US-made Cummins KTA19 M4. With a 700 HP rating to qualify for a government fuel subsidy, this will give the new boat ample power and will generally be operated at a lower RPM than the specified 2100. The main engine will turn a 1.9-meter propeller through a Hangzhou Advance gearbox with 6:1 reduction. A power takeoff on the main engine will provide power to a hydraulic net puller. A small 10 kW genset will meet the vessels electric requirements. The tradition of wooden boat building is still strong in Vietnam although quality wood is becoming harder to obtain. For both framing and planks, the shipyard imports round logs from Lao and saws them on their own mill. This efficient machine has a large electric driven band saw that moves on tracks down the length of the log. For framing, it is adjusted to produce a 24-cm. timber. For planking, the saw is adjusted to a six-cm. thickness. As it is the world over, launch day deserves some ceremony and the village of Hoa Loc does it well. Performers sang in front of a large poster celebrating the shipyard and the building program. The audience of officials and fishermen were seated under spectacular coloured tents while others gathered around boats in the yard to chat and do business. Cummins Vietnam Engine Sales Engineer Linh Cam Nguyen and Cummins resaler Luu Xuan Anh were in attendance. Mr. Nguyen Duc Cuong, a representative of the Fishery Department under the Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanhhoa Province, explained that the province had an allocation of 65 new boats, of which 16 had been approved and six had already been completed. With security of the fishing fleets a major concern, he added that the Vietnamese government was developing a new communications system to link all the boats. The festive tents stood out in the grey, winter weather. Nearby the black-hulled mass of the 26-meter boat waited patiently in its launching cradle. When the singing and speeches were done, Capt. Hung gave the signal. Rockets launched showers of confetti, the flags mounted around the gunwales of the boat snapped smartly in the breeze and the carriage began its slow descent to deliver the new boat to its element. A boat launch is always a fine thing, but the launch of a big wooden boat in this day and age is truly spectacular. The pragmatically named TH9388TS floated evenly with space to her waterline. There would be more weight added as she was fitted out alongside and she will sit perfectly on her marks when she sails for the fishing grounds in time for the Lunar New Year. Nearby the launching slip, a sister-ship was fully framed with massive timbers bolted and solid. A new Cummins engine was on the way and, in a few months, the Tuyenphong Shipyard would be celebrating another launch. (PHOTOS: Haig-Brown photos courtesy of Cummins Marine) Port of New Orleans cruise terminals handled more than 1-million passengers in 2015, totaling 1,023,700, up 1 percent compared to 2014. The total marks the fifth consecutive record year and with new and larger ships on tap for 2016, Port officials expect another robust cruise season. Year-end numbers illustrate how popular the Port and the City of New Orleans are with cruise passengers throughout the nation, said Gary LaGrange, Port President and CEO. The fact our cruise partners are investing in new and larger ships here bodes well for the industry for years to come. Miami, Fla-based Carnival Cruise Line is increasing capacity on its year-round four- and five-day itineraries by 34 percent in April when the Carnival Triumph replaces the Carnival Elation in New Orleans. Also, Guilford, CT-based American Cruise Line will add a third riverboat named America to its home-ported fleet in New Orleans. The 185-passenger riverboat was launched in August and will begin sailing Mississippi River itineraries this spring. Our cruise partners, which include Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, American Cruise Line and American Queen Steamboat Company, are committed to New Orleans and represent one of the most diversified home ports in the world, LaGrange said. Cruise passengers embarking from New Orleans can explore the length of the Mississippi River or visit the best beaches in the world from the Bahamas to Belize on a wide variety of itineraries. The Port of New Orleans ranks the sixth-largest cruise port in the United States, with direct industry expenditures in Louisiana totaling $406 million, supporting 8,120 jobs and providing $324 million in personal income, according to research conducted by Cruise Lines International Association. Port studies determined 80 percent of cruise passengers are from out of state and 60 percent spend an average of two nights in New Orleans either before or after their cruise. The Ports Erato Street Cruise Terminal and Parking Garage currently hosts the 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream, which sails year-round seven-day eastern and western Caribbean itineraries and the 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation sailing year-round four- and five-day itineraries to Cozumel and Progresso, Mexico. The Ports Julia Street Cruise Terminal hosts Norwegian Cruise Lines 2,340-passenger Norwegian Dawn, which sails seven-day western Caribbean cruises seasonally from November to May and a host of unique cruise ship calls from cruise lines, such as Holland America Line, P&O Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, AIDA Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruises. In addition, American Cruise Line currently sails the Queen of the Mississippi and American Eagle sternwheelers from New Orleans and American Queen Steamboat Co. sails the sternwheeler American Queen from New Orleans. Despite campaigns from health officials, outreach workers and law enforcement, the number of heroin-related deaths in Dane County rose by more than 30 percent last year, continuing a stubborn trend officials say mirrors state and national trends. And as legislators consider a package of bills aimed at reducing the number of deadly overdoses, other indicators of Wisconsins heroin problem including drug-related visits to local hospitals and non-fatal overdoses are moving in the wrong direction. In Dane County, heroin contributed to the deaths of 32 people through roughly the first 10 months of 2013, according to Barry Irmen, director of operations for the county Medical Examiner's Office. Thats up 33 percent over all of the year before, and a more than 350 percent increase from four years ago, Irmen said. Tests are still pending for deaths in the last two-plus months of the year, he said, and drugs are suspected in some of those deaths as well. There are many, many people and groups that are all trying to figure out how to reduce the heroin epidemic, Irmen said. Unfortunately, were not seeing a change in the death toll. The growing number of fatal overdoses is frustrating, if not surprising, for health officials. Cheryl Wittke, executive director of the health advocacy group Safe Communities of Madison-Dane County, said she believes Wisconsin has made progress in how its sought to deal with the problem, even if results are slow to materialize. Theres concern from the highest levels, and action thats occurring at all levels, Wittke said. That makes me very hopeful. Safe Communities has sought to address the supply and demand problems that contribute to prescription drug abuse, which often leads to heroin addiction, Wittke said. On the supply side, that means working with doctors and clinicians to reduce the number of excessive prescriptions for potentially habit-forming drugs such as oxycodone and providing more drop-off boxes for unwanted medications, she said. Tackling demand involves finding treatment for more users and pushing for alternative drug courts, which focus on providing help for addicts who commit crimes rather than sending them through the regular criminal justice system. Amid those efforts, however, the number of Dane County hospital visits related to opiates the drug category that includes heroin, oxycodone and others rose for the sixth straight year in 2012, the most recent year for which statistics are available. According to Public Health Madison and Dane County, 292 people went to county hospitals in 2012 because of opiates, up from 271 in 2011 and 114 in 2006. Not every aspect of the problem has gotten worse: Police believe they are seeing fewer problems with people driving under the influence of heroin in 2013, though statistics were not available. But given the challenging nature of addiction, and delays in gathering statistics, Wittke said, Its going to take a while to see these efforts pay off. Lawmakers looking for solutions Seeking to stem the tide of fatal overdoses, state legislators are considering three bills advocates say would save lives and keep some people from becoming addicts in the first place. The bills, introduced by Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, would allow more first responders to carry the anti-overdose drug naloxone, grant immunity from drug possession charges to users who call 911 to report an overdose and expand efforts to collect unwanted prescription drugs. Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, counteracts the effects of heroin and other opiates and can reverse an overdose in minutes. Health officials credit it with saving thousands of lives. The problem, according to officials and advocates, is that too few people have access to Narcan. Although the drug can cost as little as 50 cents per dose, emergency medical personnel are sometimes limited by law and liability concerns from using naloxone, and its only available with a prescription. Under Nygrens bill, firefighters, police officers and EMTs with training would be allowed to use the drug on patients who overdose. The Assemblys criminal justice committee heard emotional testimony from parents of addicts and overdose victims at a lengthy hearing on the trio of bills Thursday. Alex Hoffmann, a Menominee Falls man whose 22-year-old son died from a heroin overdose last year, implored legislators to take action to curb the problem. Doing nothing is unacceptable, Hoffmann told the committee. More children will die. The committee approved Nygrens bills, sending them to the Assembly floor for a vote on Tuesday. Scott Stokes, director of prevention services for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and coordinator of a statewide needle exchange program, said the bills are a good start. Stokes organization gives free doses of naloxone to opiate users who watch a short training video on how to use the drug and asks them to report back any time they use it. Like other measures, the number of peer saves reported to the center has grown. In 2013, users reported administering Narcan more than 1,000 times, up from 519 in 2011. Stokes and others said they would like to see naloxone become an over-the-counter medication and want to get it in the hands of as many people who can be potential first responders as possible, including the parents and spouses of users. Health officials told the Assembly committee Narcan has few consequences its not addictive and wont harm someone who isnt having an overdose. People dont die from Narcan, Dr. Mike Miller said Thursday. They die from not getting Narcan. The rates of heroin abuses most serious consequence a fatal overdose could be the first to show results if the state takes the right steps, Wittke said. She points to the example of North Carolina, which expanded access to naloxone and quickly saw a drop in the number of fatal overdoses. Do the same in Wisconsin, Wittke said, and the deadly overdoses could start falling fast. Still, reversing the broader impacts of heroin abuse in Wisconsin will be a lengthy process, Wittke said. Thats going to take some time, she said. [Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct Barry Irmen's title. He is the director of operations for the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office.] Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 24 and II Marine Headquarters Group conducted a chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, or CS gas chamber at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Jan. 8, 2016. As of fiscal year 2015, Marines are now required to qualify bi-annually at the gas chamber. Marines, while exposed to CS gas, must conduct a series of exercises inside the chamber to ensure a tight seal on the Marines masks. They must then break the seal, allowing the gas to penetrate the mask. Once every Marine has broken their seal, they must then don and clear the mask of any gas. The purpose of the gas chamber is to ensure Marines gear works properly, said Sgt. Caleb Renner, the chief chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear instructor for II MHG. We want them to be confident that their masks will work in case they are ever exposed to a harmful substance. Renner says the Marine Corps uses CS gas because it simulates the presence of a harmful substance in the air without any real long-term effects. You know when CS gas is on you because it reacts with moisture and will create a stinging effect on your skin, said Renner. What were looking for is that they feel it on their skin, but nothing gets into their masks. Renner says at the end of the day, knowing how to properly use gear will save Marines lives when they deploy. Humvees crunch over a gravel road, bounding over bumps and dips before halting in a column facing a steep, distant, mountain. Marines had arrived at the staging area where they would prepare to conduct night-fire engagements. The sun set deep behind the mountains peak and the muzzle flash of weapons fire illuminated the otherwise blackness of night while machine gunners mounted on Humvees pierce the air with the thundering roar of the M2 .50 caliber machine gun. Marines with Lima Co. 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force; and 1st Battalion 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II MEF, participated in a combined arms live-fire training event Jan. 7 on Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, Gotemba, Japan. The training ensured the Marines from different combat elements were proficient in communicating and functioning together in combat conditions. This training allows separate combat elements to come together and learn what we need from each other to function as a team, said Cpl. Luke. G. Cardelli, a rifleman with Lima Co. As Marines, we fight in every clime and place. We have to be fit to fight in any condition and environment. Here on CATC Fuji, we have the opportunity to function in a colder environment that differs from our usual surroundings. CATC Fuji is a training area that provides a wide range of training opportunities to deployed operational military units. The available training programs range from professional military education to live fire combat training. Because of its location at the base of Mt. Fuji, service members also have the opportunity to face the challenges presented by the areas climate and elevation. CATC Fuji allows us to familiarize ourselves with previously unfamiliar conditions, said Cardelli, an Auburn, Calif., native. Fuji presents a mountainous and more austere training environment for us, since we hail from Camp Pendleton, where we dont necessarily have winters this harsh or these types of mountainous open ranges to use for our live fire training. Because of its wide open training areas, we can incorporate more combat elements in our events. A radio signal crackled and the vehicles made their way through the darkness to the top of the hill and opened fire. The rapid thuds of the M2 split the air into a series of piercing echoes, as machine gunners nested in the turrets of the vehicles went to work. This training is important top to bottom, said Lance Cpl. Andrew J. Sladky, a rifleman with Lima Co. It utilizes every asset from the light armored vehicles to the machine guns, heavy artillery and mortars. We dont always get to see the big picture in everyday training, but this exercise and location gives us what we need to train together and gain a better perspective in working with other [entities]. The night sky lit up with an earsplitting explosion as an FGM-148 Javelin missile hurtled into the darkness downrange. The last rounds crackled in the shadows, and the vehicles backed down off of the hill. The night air remained punctuated by the deep shock of mortars in the distance. This training really comes down to readiness, said Sladky, a Wahoo, Nebraska, native. While Mt. Fuji poses a challenge to the Marines out here, it has also brought us together and built us up to operate efficiently despite the harsh conditions. As our unit continues on to the next training site, we now have a greater capacity to function cohesively. Exercise Fuji Samurai encompasses training in various offensive tactics as well as installation readiness, such as casualty evacuation, riot control and mission security in the Asia-Pacific region. The exercise is scheduled to continue through Jan. 15. "Just as Okinawa presents us with the ability to participate in jungle warfare training, some of CATC Fujis training facilities simulate larger-scale urban environments," said Cardelli. "It is another step in increasing our readiness to carry out our mission here in the Pacific. With this training, we can be ready for anything, anytime and anywhere." Escalating Crisis of the Muslim World for the Koranic Backing of Radical Islam, Terrorism and Sunni Shiite Clashes Till the end of the twentieth century over 90 % of the world Muslims and almost all the rest of the Humanity believed that Islam was a Religion of Peace and it was one of the best religions having solutions to most of the problems of the Humanity. People belonged to other religions or even irreligious people had been attracted towards Islam or converted to Islam for the example of peace-loving and spiritual Muslims, including Sufis. For its open-door policy of accepting anybody in the fold of Islam even without verifying the credentials and sincerity, along with innocent souls, some of the hardcore criminals, sadists with killer instincts and sex-starved men, including priests, and nymphomaniac women, besides the agents of secret or spy organizations have been converted to Islam. Along with it, Islamism and Radical Islam have spread across the entire Islamic world, even with the support of several Muslim countries and organizations.With the widespread growth of Islamism, Radical Islam, and Islamic Terrorism in the Muslim World, Islam has been unveiled or reconstructed as a Religion of War and Terror without any solution to the basic problems of the Humanity, including the Muslims, such as hunger, ignorance, growing inequality and oppression. In fact, it could aggravate the human crisis for its blunt glorification of wars, terror and martyrdom.Radical Islam is embedded over 70 per cent of the Koran and Hadiths so that any Muslim, even the meek, educated and peace-loving Muslim, can easily be metamorphosed as a violent, angry and revengeful Radical Muslim if approached and brainwashed properly siting the Quran and Hadiths for that purpose. That is why; so many responsible, hardworking and highly intelligent Muslim youths are attracted towards ISIS even against the will of their parents.Some of the new converts had become its preachers, including YouTube famed clerics or staunch activists of several Islamic Organizations, Social Media Propagandists, beside Explosive or Suicide Bomb Experts. Funds had been pumped for their activities from the entire Islamic World besides strictly observing the dress or appearance or behavior codes. Gradually, the entire Islamic world has been infused and radiated with the Radical Islam and Islamic Fundamentalism, citing the relevant portions of the Quran and Hadiths.It had also been drawing inspirations from the early wars fought by Mohammad as well as the later Islamic invasion of the entire Middle East and a major part of Africa, including Egypt besides some parts of Asia and Europe using the successful strategies of war, rapes, looting and cold-blooded terror and murder to spread Islam.Radical Islam does not consider Islam as a religion but a highly regimented social, political and economic system called Caliphate under the commandment of the Supreme Leader without any space for Humanism, Spirituality, Democracy and Modernization, as had been prevailed during the time of Mohammad and the early period of Islam.Every Muslim male is bound to be an eternal fighter of Allah charged with annihilating infidels and non-believers, annexing all other countries and expanding the Caliphate by systematic invasion and give birth to so many children in several women. Every Muslim woman is a bride of the fighter of Allah created for giving sexual gratification to him and to procreate several children. All non-Muslim women are tradable sex slaves of the Allahs fighters. Radical Islam tells that Prophet Mohammad had practiced slave trade and engaged the sex slaves in his early days. All non-Muslim men are the infidels and enemies of Allah to be enslaved or exterminated mercilessly.Islamism and Radical Islam propagate that both Koran and Hadiths instruct every Muslim man or woman must strictly follow the way of life, dress and appearance that prevailed at the time of Prophet Mohammad. There is religious sanctity or justification or even glorification of rape, sex-slavery, slave-trade, looting or brutal terrorizing of the Infidels or Non-Believers or Enemies of Islam and Allah.Radical Islam teaches that Muslim men are entitled or even bound to commit rapes, kidnaps, forced marriages and impregnating non-Muslim girls and women, especially the white western women. Marriage and divorce can religiously be performed within a period of just three days so that a woman can have several husbands one after another on the basis of the mutually agreed mehar or dowry within a short period of time so that she can be made safe from the charges of prostitution or adultery. All these have provoked both the Islamic and Non-Islamic Scholars to study the Quran and Hadiths and early history of Islam to verify the truth of the preaching of Radical Islam.Both Quran and Hadiths are extremely difficult to read or grasp, as their contents are totally disorganized without any continuity and thematic or chronological connections, sometimes self-contradicting, without any precise context and conclusion. As a result, different Koranic scholars can interpret them contradicting each other. There are several warring sub-sects under two inimical sects in Islam, such as Sunni and Shiite that interpret Quran differently and engage in unending real or proxy wars. This is the basis of the ever growing rivalry and enmity between Iran and Saudi Arabia besides a series of terror attacks within Pakistan.If Quran and Hadiths are re-read with some background in Spirituality, Statecrafts, Classical Literature, Military Science, War Strategies, Fascism, Terrorism, History of Islamic and Pre-Islamic Middle East and Totalitarian Political System, of course one will have a different picture. The knowledge mappings of both the Quran and Hadiths have been confined with a set of popular primitive Arab desert tribal knowledge, deity, fear, revenge, terror, execution, warfare, culture and way of life, political system, and etc. besides retelling the Bible, especially the Old Testaments in the primitive Arab way.These texts can also be considered as a political treatise just like the Artha-sastra of Chankyia or The Prince of Machiavelli or Mein Kampf of Adolf Hitler without much spiritual basis, though they frequently use terms like Allah, Prophets, especially the last Prophet, Martyrs and Life after Death in the Hell or Paradise. Even some parts of them can be considered as a handbook of war, terror and brutality.Even the great Islamic scholars do not have a holistic view of the Quran and Hadiths as the religious instruction of Islam has been confined with the Five Pillars of Islam and reciting some portion or the entire Quran without understanding their meaning. Koranic scholars have traditionally been giving emphasis to the culture and socio-political systems described in the Koran and Hadiths besides the war fought by Mohammad and his war strategies, including military drill and war preparedness.A stage has been reached in which nobody can be a true Muslim without accepting Radical Islam with strict dress or behavior or appearance codes besides getting ready to be a fighter or martyr of Allah, as prescribed by the Islamic Fundamentalist clerics or preachers. A slightest disobedience invites the anger and punishment of Allah as well as the religious men of Islam. The greatest reward of a true Muslim is bestowed upon when he becomes a martyr in his fights for the cause of Allah and Islam such as taking revenge upon the infidels, non-believers and enemies of Allah and also to expand Islam.While Radical Islam declares the entire Non-Muslim world as its enemies, it declares all the modern and liberal Muslim countries such as the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and etc. as its arch-enemies. Women education and women empowerment programs, modernization and democratization of the Muslim countries are considered as the greatest stumbling block for bringing these countries under their control.Even in Saudi Arabia, the Radical Islam cannot make much stride for the lack of support of Saudi women for Radical Islam and the vigil of the Saudi Rulers. However, they could effectively disrupt the education system of Syria, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria. Widespread women education in African countries is the greatest hurdle for Radical Islam to conquer Africa. That is why; the major task of Boko Haram has been identified as the disruption of the education system in Nigeria and other African countries. The education systems of Pakistan and Afghanistan have already been targeted provoking to mass migration of Muslims to the West.The entire Muslim world, especially the thinking and educated Muslims, including the women, are in the crisis of faith. Muslims have to uphold every word in the Quran and Hadiths as they believe that they are the messages of their God, Allah and teachings of Mohammad, the last Prophet. If it is so, they are forced to uphold that the Radical Islam is right, for, it is backed by the Koran and Hadiths, though they cannot accept it. This is the basis of the crisis of faith of Islam. No Islamic preacher or scholar has so far addressed these pressing issues other than simply glorifying Islam and making claims that Islam is growing fast in Europe adding the refugees, besides posting some well-edited and self-deceiving videos in YouTube or Social Medias.Every Muslim parent is worried about the fate of his or her sons and daughters who can easily be targeted by the Radical Islam. Every Muslim country has to wage a relentless war against Radical Islam both at home and externally, besides the growing sectarian clashes. Consequently, thousands of educated and thinking Muslims all over the world are losing their faith and turning towards other faiths or even Atheism. Muslims in the non-Islamic world are isolated, hated and fatally targeted for the growing Islamophobia and the surge of Ultra-Fascism against Muslims as explained in my earlier work : Spread of Islamophobia and the Upsurge of Ultra-Fascism to Contain and Counter Arabization and Islamization of the West. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article53383.html Prof. (Dr.) Raju M. Mathew My recent writings on these topics appeared in the Market Oracle (UK) can be found with the help of the following link: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/UserInfo-Dr_R_M_Mathew.html Prof. (Dr.) Raju M. Mathew 2016 Copyright Dr. Raju M. Mathew - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. When it comes to religious exemptions in education, there are no easy answers to be found. At its Thursday meeting, the Henry County School Board approved its 2016 Legislative Agenda for Henry County Public Schools. One particular item on the agenda spurred some discussion: A request for increased oversight and requirements for religious exemptions for students. This issue is somewhat unique to Virginia, as we are the only state in the union that allows students to be excused from school without requiring alternative education or testing. These students receive no government oversight regarding their education. Virginia also has a home-school statute, but that statute requires parents who choose to home-school to document their childs academic progress. There are rules and guidelines that must be followed. Not so in the case of religious exemptions: Parents are granted total control and arent required to provide the government with test scores, records or any other proof that their child is actually receiving an education. The item in the 2016 Legislative Agenda requests that the General Assembly consider tightening the religious exemption to put it more in line with the requirements for home-schooled students. According to the agenda, many students who are granted religious exemptions do eventually return to school, but by that point, they are lacking the necessary skills to succeed. While the agenda item sounds fine at first blush, school board member Dr. Merris Stambaugh said he didnt support it, and he raised some good points. Stambaugh said that parents bear the ultimate responsibility for their children, and that if the school board were to wade into the situation, it could potentially be overstepping its bounds. I acknowledge that many parents dont parent in a way that all of society thinks is appropriate, but I dont think that means we as a school system should step in and say, We need to approve of what youre doing, when they, for whatever reason in this case, religious exemption choose not to send their students to our system, he said. Pragmatically, Stambaugh said, he doesnt think the legislature will pick the issue up, either. Its a minefield in terms of individual liberty, he said. On the one hand, its disturbing to think that there are thousands of students in Virginia about 7,000, in fact, according to a 2014 article who are receiving zero government oversight regarding their educations. Some of them, undoubtedly, are receiving perfectly fine educations. But many are not, and many may not be receiving an education at all. In a 2013 Washington Post article, a young man named Josh Powell told the story of how he desperately wanted a formal education, but his parents had excused him from school on religious grounds. He eventually had 11 siblings, and each new child born drew attention away from the others and their educations. One of his brothers, he said, was middle school-aged, but still didnt know how to read. Powell eventually worked his way into a community college and transferred to a four-year school after, but he still bears a sense of survivors guilt, he said, for leaving his siblings behind with no guarantee for their future. No one wants to see children left uneducated, especially children who are yearning to go to school. If those students do return to school and find themselves lagging behind their fellow students, theyll find themselves locked in an uphill battle. On the other hand, Stambaugh is right: The issue is a minefield. Supposing a parent does have a legitimate religious objection to their child attending a public school, how exactly are they supposed to prove it? Any answer to that question is fraught with potentially terrible consequences. With Stambaughs lone dissenting vote, the legislative agenda was approved, and the recommendation is now in the hands of the General Assembly. Should they choose to navigate this particular maze, we wish them luck. In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. 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Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com LOGOS.jpg Here are advertising pieces from Health New England, at left, and the new Trinity Health - New England. Health New England says th two names are too similar. SPRINGFIELD - Health care is confusing enough without two major local players going by similar-sounding names, says executives at Health New England concerned about the new Trinity Health - New England. Trinity Health-New England, is the new brand and identity for Trinity Health's operations in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Trinity is in the process of trademarking the name through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Sisters of Providence Health System, including Mercy Medical Center in Springfield and Sisters of Providence Behavioral Health, became part of Michigan-based Trinity Health when Catholic Health East merged with Trinity in 2013. Last week, Trinity -- headquartered in Livonia, Michigan -- finalized its takeover of Johnson Memorial Hospital in Connecticut. On Friday, Trinity named former Sisters of Providence Health System CEO and President Daniel P. Moen as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Trinity Health - New England. Dr. Scott A. Wolf will replace Moen in Springfield. Both announcements included the Trinity Health - New England name Elaine Mann, spokeswoman for Health New England, said there is potential for confusion between Health New England and Trinity Health-New England. Both are in health care. In a written statement she wrote: "We continue to be extremely concerned that the Trinity Health - New England name, which is so similar to our name, will be problematic for the public and consumers - particularly since we both operate in the health care area. We have expressed our concerns to Trinity Health and requested that they not use a name that is so similar to ours. We have been using the name Health New England since 1985 and have long had a trademark in that name. Although we are still hopeful that we can work this out amicably with Trinity Health, we are considering different ways to respond appropriately and are fully prepared to protect our rights in the Health New England name." Health New England has 320 employees, mostly in Springfield and services 182,000 members of its health plans. Health New England is owned by Baystate Health, whose hospitals are major competitors to Mercy and other Sisters of Providence operations in Greater Springfield. Trinity spokeswoman Fiona Phelan, offered the following written statement when questioned about the issue this week: "We believe the name Trinity Health - New England is a distinctive one and our application for a trademark on this name is pending. We are proud to be part of Trinity Health, our Michigan-based parent company. Our hospitals in Connecticut and Massachusetts comprise the Trinity Health regional health ministry in New England. Consumers, physicians and community leaders tell us they like the name because it clearly affiliates our region with the 92-hospital, 126-continuing care facility, nationwide system." Robert Statchen, clinical professor of law at Western New England University said Trinity Health - New England's application has not yet been assigned to a staff attorney at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It will be that government attorney's job to decide if Trinity Health - New England's proposed trademark infringes on a trademark belonging to others. If that attorney approves the Trinity Health - new England trademark, it gets published in the federal register for 30 days. At that point,a anyone can oppose it, including Health New England. Holders of trademarks can also sue in federal court to protect their rights, he said. The question boils down to what is the market served by both companies, Statchen said. Is health care one big market where there is potential for confusion? Or is health insurance one market and health care, such as hospitals, a separate market? In its application, Trinity said its Trinity Health New England trademark applies to: home health care services, hospitals, medical and pharmaceutical consultation, medical services, nursing services, physician services and to providing long-term care facilities. Health New England has a variety of trademarks registered. Under "goods and services" Health New England says its trademark refers to medical insurance, namely, underwriting and administration and the health maintenance organizations. As the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office points out on its Website, holders of trademarks are responsible for defending their rights. But registering a trademark with them confers the assumption of ownership. Trademark infringement cases hinge on a number of factors, according to a Q and A prepared by the the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That Q and A says one factor is if there is evidence that consumers are really being confused. Courts also look at how and where the parties' goods or services are advertised, marketed, and sold; the purchasing conditions and the range of prospective purchasers. Courts also look for evidence of people being confused among other factors. Al Roker, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer NBC "Today" show weathercaster Al Roker (AP file photo) A New York City taxi driver who "Today" show weatherman Al Roker said passed him by in favor of picking up another fare for racial reasons has pleaded guilty to a service refusal violation and has been fined. The Taxi and Limousine Commission driver Mahabur Rahman made his plea last month and has been fined $500, according to the The New York Post. The commission said it was the taxi driver's second refusal violation. Roke, who has been a weathercaster on NBC for more than 25 years, filed a complaint in November. He wrote on social media he and his son had been ignored for racial reasons and that the driver picked up a white man a block away. "This happens to folks of color every day," Roker told The New York Daily News following the incident. "And while most cabbies do their job, there are those ignorant, racist ones who hurt the others." Following the complaint, Rahman, who is from Bangladesh, described the incident to a New York newspaper as a mistake, but declined comment after filing his guilty plea. Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, explained to MSNBC an idea he has for a Bernie Sanders-inspired pint of ice cream. The flavor would be called "Bernie's Yearning" and containers would be filled with plain mint ice cream and topped with a thick disc of chocolate at the top. Cohen shared, while holding a "Bernie 2016" sign on the sidewalk outside a Donald Trump rally held on January 7 in Burlington, Vermont, that the disc of chocolate would be representative of the 90% of wealth that gone to the top 10% over the last 10 years. "The way you eat it is to whack the chocolate disc and break it into pieces and mix it around," he said. Cohen told how he sees Trump as an opposite extreme of what he and Ben & Jerry's ice cream represents business-wise. He pointed out that a business "can do darn well by helping people." "Bernie's Yearning" is not in production and may never make it to stores but the thought is certainly a fun one. What flavors would you combine for the Bernie Sanders and the other political candidates? main street demo.jpg Crews from American Environmental Inc. raze the building at 1120 Main Street in Springfield to make way for the MGM Springfield project. (Dave Roback / The Republican) SPRINGFIELD - It has not received the same fanfare as the ongoing demolition of the former Alfred G. Zanetti School, but a much smaller South End fixture was also being reduced to rubble this week to make way for the MGM Springfield casino project. American Environmental Inc., of Holyoke is demolishing the 4,000 square foot building at 1120 Main St. The building previously housed Tony's Famous Barber Shop and the law offices of Anthony J. Scibelli and Alfredo A. ViVenzio. Both the Zanetti demolition and the razing of 1120 Main St., began on Monday by different firms hired by MGM Springfield. Zanetti is being demolished by JDC Demolition Co. Inc., of Boston. While the Zanetti building totals 70,440 square feet, the Main Street building is just 4,000 square feet in size. The Main Street building is within the footprint of a planned six-story hotel, under recently revised plans. MGM previously planned a 25-story hotel, and the change still needs local and state approvals. The building at 1120 Main St., is slated to be razed and cleared within a few weeks, an MGM Springfield spokeswoman said Tuesday. MGM Springfield, through Blue Tarp Development LLC, purchased the Main Street property from Scibelli and ViVenzio for $550,000 more than a year ago. The former Zanetti School, closed since 2009 and struck by the 2011 tornado, was sold by the city to MGM Springfield for $1.6 million. There are a total of 19 buildings within the MGM Springfield casino footprint, with many being demolished or partially demolished to make way for the casino project. Some buildings are being renovated for casino uses. 071012 general electric factory.JPG Machine operator Ed Snyder works in the cell assembly line at General Electric's battery plant in Schenectady, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) (Associated Press) BOSTON - The city of Boston won the Powerball jackpot. That's Mayor Marty Walsh's take on General Electric Co., the eighth largest corporation in the U.S., announcing plans to move its global headquarters from Fairfield, Conn., to Boston's Seaport District. The move takes the conglomerate's workers out of the suburbs and places them inside a dense city. In the release announcing its move, expected to wrap up in 2018, the company cited the city's "business ecosystem," quality of life and "connections with the world." The company is expected to bring in 200 senior executives and 600 other professionals within the company. The company already has almost 5,000 employees in the Bay State, working on aviation, oil and gas and energy management matters. Massachusetts beat out New York and Rhode Island, among other states, for the global headquarters. "I think what this will do for the city of Boston and for the commonwealth of Massachusetts is spur a lot of other companies to look to Boston," Walsh said during a press conference inside City Hall. State and city officials worked together to lure the company to Massachusetts, offering incentives of up $120 million in grants and other programs. Up to $25 million was offered in property tax relief, and further details are still being worked out, according to Walsh. Walsh, a Democrat and former labor leader, said he and Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, spoke often about the potential for GE coming to Boston. Baker told reporters that there was "no daylight" between Walsh and Baker, as they lobbied GE senior managers, showing they were willing to work together. "This is a huge win for the city of Boston, a huge win for Massachusetts and the indirect, direct spillover from this will be felt by this economy and this community for years to come," Baker said after a separate event at the State House. The company considered 40 potential locations. "The day that GE announced that they were having problems and leaving Connecticut... we contacted not just GE but all the companies in Connecticut just to say if they are truly leaving that Boston's open for business," Walsh said. Walsh received a phone call from GE about the move this morning, while he was at Cathedral High School. The Massachusetts High Tech Council said GE's move "reinforces the limitless opportunities for economic growth that are available to use when business and political leaders work together." "Governor Baker and Mayor Walsh should be commended for their creativity and diligence in bringing GE's headquarters here and we congratulate them on this significant milestone in Massachusetts's economic history," Chris Anderson, the council president, said in a statement. The Massachusetts Republican Party pointed to taxes and regulations in Connecticut as a key driver behind GE's move. "Tax-and-spend Democrats in the Legislature should recognize that the environment of high taxes and heavy regulations created by Connecticut's Democratic governor is a road to job loss," Mass. GOP chair Kirsten Hughes said in a statement. Earns General Electric This Jan. 17, 2012 photo, shows General Electric brand light bulbs in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (Photo by Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) BOSTON - General Electric is moving its global headquarters to Massachusetts. The conglomerate confirmed its plans on Wednesday. "Today, GE is a $130 billion high-tech global industrial company, one that is leading the digital transformation of industry," company chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement. "We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations. Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities," he added. "Massachusetts spends more on research & development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world." The company plans to move to Boston's Seaport District, temporarily moving employees to Boston in 2016 and completing the move by 2018. News of the move was first reported by the Boston Globe. Citing a source, the newspaper said company officials called Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Marty Walsh with the news. The company is currently headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. The state of Connecticut, as well as New York, courted the company as officials searched whether to stay in Connecticut or move to a new location. The company reviewed 40 locations in total. Officials in the Walsh and Baker administrations both pitched the company. Providence, Rhode Island's capital, had also expressed interest in hosting the company. At one point, the company had a significant outpost in Pittsfield, with a workforce pegged at 13,000 employees. The news of the expected move to Boston leaked out hours after multiple reports of GE planning job cuts in Europe after a takeover deal. "Approximately 6,500 jobs are at risk across Europe, including more than 600 in the UK, as the US industrial company General Electric begins to cut costs after its takeover of the power operations of the French company Alstom," The Guardian reported. If @generalelectric's HQ move to Boston is confirmed, this @bosbizsara interview with new energy CEO offers clues: https://t.co/nlrfuokwam If @generalelectric's HQ move to Boston is confirmed, this @bosbizsara interview with new energy CEO offers clues: https://t.co/nlrfuokwam Jim Hammerand (@PSBJhammer) January 13, 2016 Here's another shot in the arm for the local economy:GE will move worldwide HQ to Boston https://t.co/VoUhUbCua2 via @BosBizJournal Lisa Rinkus (@ljpr) January 13, 2016 This post was updated at 1:40 p.m. with confirmation from GE and additional information from the company. SPRINGFIELD The retired Springfield Police officer accused of stealing nearly $400,000 in forfeiture money from the police evidence room apparently stole from the dead, according to court documents. Among the many entries on the multiple count indictment against Kevin Burnham are three that bear the name Alfred Lopez. The three entries, for $1,852, $4,200 and $18,500, were entered into the evidence room on Feb. 24, 2012. Where it went from there is unknown. According to the indictment, all of the Lopez money, totaling $24,552, has disappeared without a trace. Alfred Pellot Lopez was a 29-year-old city man gunned down in a what police called a drug-related shooting in front of his home at 17 Whittier St., off Sumner Avenue in the Forest Park neighborhood on the night of Feb. 23, 2012. He was pronounced dead later at Baystate Medical Center. His shooting remains unsolved. When Lopez was found bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head outside his home on Whittier Street, police found a backpack containing some marijuana, packaging materials and a loaded .45 caliber handgun. Lopez had a longtime history with the police, having been arrested three times for dealing marijuana between 2005 and 2009. When detectives questioned his girlfriend in the doorway of their apartment, officers could smell the odor of marijuana. From that they were able to apply for a district court search warrant. Narcotics detectives executed the warrant hours later and found a large amount of drugs, including 21/2 pounds of marijuana and some illegal pills, some packaging materials, another gun and a large amount of cash. The amount, as was reported to The Republican at the time of the shooting, was $24,552. That matches the total of the three amounts logged into the evidence room on Feb. 24, 2012 and entered under the name Alfred Lopez. Lopez was the only name on the list of missing cash from evidence envelopes also on the list of Springfield homicide victims since 2009. Burnham, who until his retirement in 2014 was head of the evidence room, is accused of stealing Lopez' cash as well as much, much more. The indictment charges that he stole $385,000 from the evidence room between 2000 and 2014. The Lopez money is not the largest amount missing from any of the 170 drug cases listed in the Burnham indictment. He is accused of taking taking $107,811 seized in the 201 4 arrest of Angel Orengo. It is, however, the only amount that that The Republican can verify was taken from a dead man. Indictment against Kevin Burnham by Patrick Johnson moose.jpg In this July 2011 photo, a moose picks its head up from eating grass from Pierce Pond in North New Portland, Maine. (AP) BELCHERTOWN -- Several weeks after a moose was reportedly shot and killed in town, the reward for information leading to an arrest has risen to just over $2,500. Environmental Police are investigating the crime, reported Dec. 20, but there has been no word of an arrest or any suspects. It is illegal to hunt moose in Massachusetts. Hikers who were reportedly hoping to catch a glimpse of a moose found the moose cow dead near Shea Avenue and Route 181 with a gunshot wound in its right hind quarter. Members of the Swift River Sportsman's Club in Belchertown, regularly see moose at and around the club at 350 Cold Spring Road and were furious when they heard about the illegal killing of the moose. Club President Ray Mainville said members initially posted a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter and tried to spread the word on social media. Since then, others have offered to add their own donations to a reward. "We're just hoping that word gets out and someone turns this person in," Mainville said Tuesday. He said the club has not collected the money that has been pledged. "They've pledged it, and hopefully when this person gets captured, we'll collect the money and give it to whoever," he said. The pledges include $1,000 from Stephen Fellers of Stony Brook Farm, $500 from Swift River Preservation Society, $250 each from Swift River Sportsman's Club members Eric Czerich and Peter Bonnoau, and $25 from town resident Carol Sheehan. "I am hoping that by matching their initial reward it may give them a better chance to apprehend and prosecute the individual/individuals who are responsible," Martha Knightly, president of the Swift River Preservation Association, said in an email. "While we are very supportive of our local fishermen/women and hunters, we are appalled at the heinous killing of this animal who has resided among us for several years now," she said. Mainville said that club members are now sure that the moose that was killed was the same who gave birth to twins in 2014. Previously, the three were always seen together, he said, but now he only sees the two calves. He said they are now good-sized and able to live without their mother. "They're doing well," he said. Katie Gronendyke, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Police said she could not provide details about the investigation into the Belchertown shooting. She said that killing a moose is an arrestable offense punishable by a fine of $500 to $2,000, a jail sentence of up to six months, or both. The Belchertown incident was the third report in 2015 of a moose being shot. Numbers provided by Gronendyke show that in the last six years, two to six moose were reportedly shot each year with the exception of 2011, when there were no reports. Anyone with information about the incident or who may know the identity of the shooter is asked to call the Environmental Police Office of Law Enforcement at (800) 632-8075 or . Anna Fenton Belchertown Animal Control Officer Anna Fenton is seen at Tuesday night's selectmen's meeting. (Jim Russell photo) BELCHERTOWN - There was a brief but gleeful round of applause for selectmen when they said at Tuesday's meeting it is time to build a new holding facility so the animal control officer has the tools to do the job. Selectmen said they supported placing an article on next month's special Town Meeting warrant to appropriate money for one. Officials estimated it would cost about $100,000; selectmen said they would be recommending a figure soon. The finance committee is also expected to weigh in on the matter. Animal control officer Anna Fenton attended the Jan. 11 meeting with a trio of volunteers, who, on their own have raised $10,000 so far towards construction of a new facility, which would be located on George Hannum Road near the Department of Public Works treatment plant. Fenton and Town Administrator Gary Brougham listed an array of problems with the current dog pound - including sanitary facilities they said were poor to nil. In August, Fenton was responsible for reuniting a miniature poodle, Coco, found in Belchertown, with her North Carolina owners. Because of Fenton's knowledge of Pilots N Paws rescue service, Coco got home without a hitch. The dog ended up in this region most likely due to a theft, the ACO said. scale.jpg Holyoke city councilors began debate Tuesday on a proposal that would require that the budget the mayor submits be balanced. HOLYOKE -- The City Council can establish an ordinance requiring that the budget that the mayor submits for a subsequent fiscal year be balanced, but it's unclear how such an ordinance could be enforced, a city lawyer told councilors Tuesday. The reason that the practical carrying out of such an ordinance would be in question lies in the state law that grants the mayor authority to determine a budget's maximum amount of spending, Assistant City Solicitor Kara Cunha said at City Hall. The proposal councilors were considering that would require that the mayor submit a balanced budget for the council to consider by April 30 could be "found to be inconsistent" with state law, she said. City Council President Kevin A. Jourdain, who co-filed the balanced-budget proposal, was among those who disagreed that establishing such an ordinance would infringe on the mayor's authority. The council Ordinance Committee voted 5-0 to table the proposal for a balanced-budget ordinance after about an hour of debate. Testimony will be sought from Mayor Alex B. Morse and acting City Auditor Bellamy H. Schmidt, Jourdain said. It was unclear when the proposal would be considered next. Jourdain and Ward 2 Councilor Nelson R. Roman filed the balanced-budget proposal to stop a recent-years practice. Mayors have been submitting spending plans for the ensuing fiscal year in the spring that contain deficits. The practice has been that once the state Department of Revenue (DOR) later in the fiscal year certifies how much free cash is available for city use, transfers from that source are made to balance the budget. Free cash is money unspent in accounts from the previous fiscal year. But that means the city is about six months into the 12-month fiscal year before the budget is balanced, Jourdain said. That handcuffs the city by limiting how the available free cash can be used up to that point, since it is known a chunk must be saved to balance the budget. Also, Jourdain said, managing the budget in this way counts on revenue sources -- such as the free cash -- being there so that transfers can occur to balance the budget. But the free cash certified in the current fiscal year came in about half as large as recent years' totals and, in fact, wasn't enough to plug the deficit in December, he said. Budget cuts also had to be made to achieve the balancing. "I find this very troubling. This is not the best practice that we should be having .... I think the best practice is we should be having revenues equaling expenses," Jourdain said. "This is ridiculous....We should not be waiting six months into the fiscal year to balance our budget," Jourdain said. The city began the fiscal year July 1 with a budget of $125.5 million. It also had a deficit of $2.5 million that grew to $2.9 million before steps were taken to plug the deficit in December. Councilor at Large Joseph M. McGiverin said he agreed with the spirit of the balanced-budget order. "It's something that we should achieve at a much earlier date every year than the third quarter," McGiverin said. But, he said, "the mechanism scares me, though." An actual elimination of what officials call the "structural deficit" process would require that the City Council slash spending by establishing ordinances that would cut services that taxpayers expect and city employees' jobs, he said. Also, he said, while Jourdain's point about the timing of addressing the budget deficit is strong, a factor sits outside city control. The state funds the majority of the city budget and often it is months into the fiscal year before officials know exact amounts of such funding, he said. Committee member Rebecca Lisi said there is merit in having a balanced budget, "but I don't see how creating a requirement that there be a balanced budget does anything to address the structural deficit." For example, such a requirement wouldn't address how the city would deal with huge employee pension costs, she said. Jourdain replied that it was true the proposed order wouldn't solve all the budgeting problems. "What we're simply saying is we're moving up the calendar to say, when the mayor presents the budget -- that he has to give us a budget reflective of the revenues coming in ... What has been happening is we've been handed a budget that is not reflective of the revenues ..." Jourdain said. Lisi said what probably needs to happen is the City Council must have a more in depth discussion with the mayor about revenue sources and spending plans than has been the case in recent years. "It would be really great to have a better understanding of where the money is coming from, where it's going," Lisi said. Such a detailed discussion would be more productive than establishing an ordinance, she said. Roman, who took office in his first term Jan. 4, recalled a discussion the City Council had in December with Cinder McNerney, managing director of First Southwest Co. of Boston, who has been advising the city for years. She said the city has been living within its means but officials as a good practice should be seeking new revenue sources, Roman said. The requirement entailed in the proposed balanced-budget order would fit with the analyst's advice about sound management, he said. "I don't think we would be out of our legislative duty" with such a requirement, Roman said. Cunha said that it was Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44, Section 32 that authorizes the mayor to establish a budget's spending total. "It's the mayor that sets the maximum amount of spending in the budget," Cunha said. Once the budget proposed for the next fiscal year has been submitted to the City Council, the council has 45 days in which it can review and cut that proposed spending plan, she said. The council cannot add to the budget. In order words, the mayor has the authority to submit a budget that determines a level of spending, including if such a budget has a deficit, and then the council has the power to cut that budget, she said. Jourdain, a lawyer, said state law requires that cities and towns have balanced budgets. Cunha agreed. But she said that doesn't pertain to requiring that the budget that the mayor submits be balanced. "The mayor is the one that determines maximum spending," Cunha said. Jourdain said the mayor by law is the only official who can initiate an appropriation. And if the state requires that a budget be balanced, then the duty to balance the budget is incumbent upon the mayor ultimately, he said. "Because if the mayor in the third quarter says, no, I will not" submit a free cash transfer to balance the budget, that would be a violation, Jourdain said. "The mayor already has this duty. Now the City Council is speaking to the timing," Jourdain said. Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Linda L. Vacon said budgeting practices here have gotten "so far out of wack." That includes officials year to year getting used to tapping cash reserves including the stabilization, or rainy day, fund, which should be used only in emergencies and not as a ready line item to balance the budget, she said. As Vacon has previously, she raised the specter of the city risking insolvency and tumbling into state receivership by continuing to follow such financial management. "The way I see it is that we have two choices. We make the hard decisions" now or risk a state take-over, Vacon said. Cunha said the balanced-budget ordinance would require that the mayor submit a budget at an amount that might not necessarily be what the mayor chooses. That would conflict with the state law that empowers the mayor to set the budget's amount, she said. She said, again, that the City Council could establish such an ordinance, but "How are you going to enforce that?" "I don't think we're encroaching on his authority. I think it's just the matter of the timing of it," Jourdain said. Jourdain praised Cunha's counsel. "Kara was extremely helpful tonight," Jourdain said. "We're going to need a lot of input from a lot of people." Vacon said she agreed and made the motion to table the discussion. LUDLOW -- Police are seeking a criminal complaint against a 62-year-old man who accidentally shot himself in the hand and another man in both thighs Friday morning with a .45 caliber handgun. The second victim, a 52-year-old Feeding Hills man, suffered what police described as a life-threatening injury from a high-caliber weapon at close range. "There was a lot of blood," said Sgt. Daniel Valadas. "You are talking about a pistol (a Smith & Wesson .45 caliber 1911) with a considerable amount of stopping power." The shooting occurred shortly before 11 a.m. and both men were taken by Ludlow Fire Department paramedics taken Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Valadas declined to name the second victim or give the address where the shooting occurred. The gun owner, Kenneth C. Leits, will be summoned to Palmer District Court to answer to a charge of discharging a firearm within 100 feet of a dwelling. Police have suspended the Leits' license to carry and have administratively seized all of his weapons - 11 in all - and his ammunition, Valadas said. The shooting occurred as Leits was showing the handgun to the Feeding Hills man, described by Valadas as a neighbor's friend. "At some point, without emptying his magazine, it looks like he attempted to pull back the upper receiver and subsequently put a round in the chamber," Valadas said. "For an unknown reason he decided to pull the trigger. These firearms don't go off unless you pull the trigger." The discharged round went through Leits' left hand, went through the second victim's right thigh and became lodged in his left thigh, Valadas said. The shooting occurred in the basement of the home. Leits went upstairs to call 911 and the second victim was still in the basement when emergency personnel arrived. The Ludlow Fire Department sent four paramedics to the scene due to the potential severity of the injuries, Valadas said. Leits' license to carry was suspended by Lt. Michael Brennan, who serves as the firearms licensing designee for Police Chief Paul Madera. Once the case is disposed of, Leits will have the ability to apply for the reinstatement of his license to carry and the return of his firearms, Valadas said. In Massachusetts, those who have their license to carry suspended have the ability to transfer their firearms to another license-holder, Valadas said. Lakewood Church to Host First Annual Mobilizing Medical Missions Conference Hosted by Paul Osteen, MD The first of its kind on the Gulf Coast with special guest speakers Russ White, MD, Kent Brantly, MD and Bob Goff Contact: Andrea Davis, 713-491-1339, HOUSTON, Jan. 13, 2016 / The first of its kind on the Gulf Coast, M3's primary purpose is to help you find your own mission the one that's right for you. More than 50 renowned missions organizations will be at the M3 Conference organizations that change lives, communities, and nations. From healing the sick to drilling for clean water, from caring for orphans to the fight against human trafficking, these organizations need what you have to offer. The M3 conference is about connecting your expertise, your interest, and your passion to the world's needs. "I have seen men and women who are in the trenches; doing what they can do to help people in extremely resource-limited settings. We don't have to have all the answers; we just have to do our part. I believe your heart will be moved with compassion and you too will be inspired to do what you can to help," said Dr. Paul Osteen. Hear from 35 speakers including Dr. Kent Brantly the missionary doctor who survived the Ebola virus and Bob Gofffounder of Restore International and author of the best-selling book Love Does, and organizations such as Samaritan's Purse, World Vision, Living Water International, Mercy Ships, Joyce Meyer Ministries and many others. Attendees don't have to be working in the medical field to attend. Anyone interested in missions can register at What: M3 Medical Missions Conference Hosted by Paul Osteen, MD When: Friday Saturday, Feb 19 20, 2016 Where: Lakewood Church 3700 SW Freeway Houston, Texas About Paul Osteen, MD After many years in the practice of general and vascular surgery in Little Rock, Arkansas, Paul felt God's call to move to Houston and help at Lakewood Church in whatever capacity he was needed. Since 1999 he has provided oversight to the pastoral ministries at Lakewood and is one of the teaching pastors. Paul has always had a heart for missions and for the last 9 years he has spent 3-6 months each year working at mission hospitals, schools and orphanages caring for patients, performing surgeries and ministering with his wife Jennifer, a registered nurse and their children. For more information, go to About Lakewood Church Under the leadership of Joel and Victoria Osteen, Lakewood Church has grown to become the largest church in the US, with over 43,000 attending services each week and unprecedented outreach through television, online and stadium events across the U.S. Weekly services are broadcast in the U.S. and around the world in over 100 nations. Thousands in Houston and the surrounding communities are helped through Lakewood's ministries, community programs, and resources. For more information, go to Media contact: Andrea Davis D: 713-491-1339 Share Tweet Contact: Andrea Davis, 713-491-1339, andread@lakewood.cc HOUSTON, Jan. 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Lakewood Church will hold their first annual M3 Mobilizing Medical Missions Conference hosted by Dr. Paul Osteen February 19 20, 2016 in Houston, Texas home of the world's largest medical center.The first of its kind on the Gulf Coast, M3's primary purpose is to help you find your own mission the one that's right for you. More than 50 renowned missions organizations will be at the M3 Conference organizations that change lives, communities, and nations. From healing the sick to drilling for clean water, from caring for orphans to the fight against human trafficking, these organizations need what you have to offer. The M3 conference is about connecting your expertise, your interest, and your passion to the world's needs."I have seen men and women who are in the trenches; doing what they can do to help people in extremely resource-limited settings. We don't have to have all the answers; we just have to do our part. I believe your heart will be moved with compassion and you too will be inspired to do what you can to help," said Dr. Paul Osteen.Hear from 35 speakers including Dr. Kent Brantly the missionary doctor who survived the Ebola virus and Bob Gofffounder of Restore International and author of the best-selling book Love Does, and organizations such as Samaritan's Purse, World Vision, Living Water International, Mercy Ships, Joyce Meyer Ministries and many others. Attendees don't have to be working in the medical field to attend. Anyone interested in missions can register at www.m3missions.com M3 Medical Missions Conference Hosted by Paul Osteen, MDFriday Saturday, Feb 19 20, 2016Lakewood Church 3700 SW Freeway Houston, TexasAbout Paul Osteen, MDAfter many years in the practice of general and vascular surgery in Little Rock, Arkansas, Paul felt God's call to move to Houston and help at Lakewood Church in whatever capacity he was needed. Since 1999 he has provided oversight to the pastoral ministries at Lakewood and is one of the teaching pastors. Paul has always had a heart for missions and for the last 9 years he has spent 3-6 months each year working at mission hospitals, schools and orphanages caring for patients, performing surgeries and ministering with his wife Jennifer, a registered nurse and their children. For more information, go to www.paulosteen.com About Lakewood ChurchUnder the leadership of Joel and Victoria Osteen, Lakewood Church has grown to become the largest church in the US, with over 43,000 attending services each week and unprecedented outreach through television, online and stadium events across the U.S. Weekly services are broadcast in the U.S. and around the world in over 100 nations. Thousands in Houston and the surrounding communities are helped through Lakewood's ministries, community programs, and resources. For more information, go to www.lakewoodchurch.com Media contact: Andrea DavisD: 713-491-1339 andread@lakewood.cc tt crash on pike.jpg A crash involving two tractor-trailers, one of which jackknifed, on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Brimfield Tuesday evening spilled fuel onto the snowy highway and led to lengthy delays as westbound traffic came to a standstill. One westbound travel lane reopened to traffic around 8 p.m., according to MassDOT officials. (Palmer Fire Department / Twitter) Update at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12: All westbound lanes on the turnpike have since been reopened. Updates story published at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12. BRIMFIELD One westbound lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike has reopened to traffic after a two-truck crash in Brimfield spilled fuel onto the highway and brought traffic to a standstill Tuesday evening, according to MassDOT officials. State transportation officials tweeted the news around 8:30 p.m., a good 2 hours after two tractor-trailers crashed near the Brimfield-Palmer line around 6 p.m. Westbound traffic came to a standstill, prompting some frustrated motorists to take to social media to complain about the lengthy delays. Authorities said no one was injured in the incident, which involved one jackknifed tractor-trailer and another big rig. Officials have yet to indicate what caused the crash, though the winter weather likely played a role. Further complicating matters, roughly 80 gallons of fuel spilled onto the snow- and slush-covered highway as a result of the crash, according to the Palmer Fire Department, which was among the local public safety agencies to respond to the scene. MassDEP crews were dispatched to contain the spill. Trooper Paul Ryan, a spokesman at State Police headquarters in Framingham, said drivers need to slow down when road conditions are not good. Simply driving the speed limit is not good enough, he said. Both westbound lanes were closed as crews worked to clear the scene, which caused traffic backups stretching for several miles. At least one stranded motorist had a sense of humor about the situation. "Are snowball fights in standstill traffic frowned upon?" Joseph Sweeney tweeted around 8:20 p.m. At 7:15 p.m., another crash was reported near the end of the long backup in the westbound lane. That incident involved two vehicles that collided near mile-marker 68 in Brimfield. No one was injured, Sullivan said. Chief Justice Roy Moore is Standing on the Law and Others Must Join Him, Groups Say at Press Conference, While LGBT Activists Rally for His Removal MONTGOMERY, Ala., Jan. 13, 2016 / Across the street, a hundred Christians gathered to pray for God's mercy on the nation. An hour later, several dozen gathered for a press conference on the stairs of the Alabama Supreme Court. Addressing the "Remove Roy Moore" rally, Tom Ford, Montgomery pastor and spokesperson for Sanctity of Marriage Alabama said, "There's a rally going on today about removing Roy Moore and all I keep hearing them talk about is Roy Moore his opinion, him trying to impose his religion on others. But, if you read what [his] Order actually said, he only brought attention to what the written law says. It's not about my opinion, Judge Moore's opinion, or anyone else's opinion," Tom said. Alabama Public Service Commissioner, Chip Beeker voiced his approval for Chief Justice Moore: "We are a nation of laws...and [our laws] still recognize marriage as a union by God between one man and one woman... I thank Roy Moore for stating the facts correctly." Bishop Fred Adetunji, of Montgomery's Fresh Anointing House of Worship added his support and gratitude for Chief Justice Moore and, reminded the press that America is still a "nation under God." On behalf of Eunie Smith and Eagle Forum of Alabama, Hannah Ford said that, "Adherence to the Supremacy Clause compels us to challenge any opinion from the Supreme Court that is not in line with the Constitution." She noted that Eagle Forum joins scores of other legal scholars across the nation in declaring Obergefell v. Hodges as one such unconstitutional opinion and encouraged state officials to join them. Dean Young, long-time supporter of Chief Justice Moore and candidate for Alabama's First Congressional District applauded Moore for standing for the people of Alabama and for the Constitution of the United States. Young reminded the press that, "All Judge Moore is doing is upholding the laws of Alabama." After explaining that an opinion from the Supreme Court is legally binding only on the parties to the case (four states) and that, since Obergefell, two federal district courts have affirmed that Obergefell was not valid in their districts, Young said that "all of these same-sex marriages that are taking place [here in in Alabama] are not allowed and any that have been performed are null and void." Colonel Glenn Frazier, veteran of the Bataan Death March briefly recalled his time in WWII before commenting that the issue America faces now is an issue of whether we will follow the Bible or not. He said, "I stand behind Judge Moore 100%. I don't think anyone else could do any better....He's one of the best men we've had in office." Dean Young voiced one of the main requests Alabama voters have for the Alabama Supreme Court saying, "My appeal to the other eight justices: please do what you are hired to do and rule. They need to do their duty and I want to remind them of one thing: they were elected. They need to remember that 81% of the people in Alabama are for marriage between one man and one woman." Tom Ford noted that, "There is a reason Alabamians re-elected Chief Justice Moore." Ford ultimately reminded the press that God is the Supreme Judge. "It's about God and what God's Word says. God is the one that instituted government. God is the one that instituted marriage. [We will all answer to Him.]" Share Tweet Contact: Tom Ford, 334-220-2319MONTGOMERY, Ala., Jan. 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- On Tuesday, around 150 LGBT activists, pro-abortion activists, atheists, and humanists united their voices to demand removal of Chief Justice Roy Moore at the Alabama Supreme Court. They loudly chanted "No Moore" as eight speakers repeatedly mocked God, God's institution of marriage, the rule of law, and one of the only few men who is standing up for all three Chief Justice Roy Moore.Across the street, a hundred Christians gathered to pray for God's mercy on the nation. An hour later, several dozen gathered for a press conference on the stairs of the Alabama Supreme Court.Addressing the "Remove Roy Moore" rally, Tom Ford, Montgomery pastor and spokesperson for Sanctity of Marriage Alabama said, "There's a rally going on today about removing Roy Moore and all I keep hearing them talk about is Roy Moore his opinion, him trying to impose his religion on others. But, if you read what [his] Order actually said, he only brought attention to what the written law says. It's not about my opinion, Judge Moore's opinion, or anyone else's opinion," Tom said.Alabama Public Service Commissioner, Chip Beeker voiced his approval for Chief Justice Moore: "We are a nation of laws...and [our laws] still recognize marriage as a union by God between one man and one woman... I thank Roy Moore for stating the facts correctly."Bishop Fred Adetunji, of Montgomery's Fresh Anointing House of Worship added his support and gratitude for Chief Justice Moore and, reminded the press that America is still a "nation under God."On behalf of Eunie Smith and Eagle Forum of Alabama, Hannah Ford said that, "Adherence to the Supremacy Clause compels us to challenge any opinion from the Supreme Court that is not in line with the Constitution." She noted that Eagle Forum joins scores of other legal scholars across the nation in declaring Obergefell v. Hodges as one such unconstitutional opinion and encouraged state officials to join them.Dean Young, long-time supporter of Chief Justice Moore and candidate for Alabama's First Congressional District applauded Moore for standing for the people of Alabama and for the Constitution of the United States. Young reminded the press that, "All Judge Moore is doing is upholding the laws of Alabama." After explaining that an opinion from the Supreme Court is legally binding only on the parties to the case (four states) and that, since Obergefell, two federal district courts have affirmed that Obergefell was not valid in their districts, Young said that "all of these same-sex marriages that are taking place [here in in Alabama] are not allowed and any that have been performed are null and void."Colonel Glenn Frazier, veteran of the Bataan Death March briefly recalled his time in WWII before commenting that the issue America faces now is an issue of whether we will follow the Bible or not. He said, "I stand behind Judge Moore 100%. I don't think anyone else could do any better....He's one of the best men we've had in office."Dean Young voiced one of the main requests Alabama voters have for the Alabama Supreme Court saying, "My appeal to the other eight justices: please do what you are hired to do and rule. They need to do their duty and I want to remind them of one thing: they were elected. They need to remember that 81% of the people in Alabama are for marriage between one man and one woman."Tom Ford noted that, "There is a reason Alabamians re-elected Chief Justice Moore." Ford ultimately reminded the press that God is the Supreme Judge. "It's about God and what God's Word says. God is the one that instituted government. God is the one that instituted marriage. [We will all answer to Him.]" Glo European Windows has won "Best Of Houzz" in Customer Service on Houzz", the leading platform for home remodeling and design. Glo European Windows was chosen by the more than 35 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals. The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2015. "We are grateful to receive the Best of Houzz 2016" said Mark Wells, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Glo European Windows. "We want to thank our clients and the Houzz community for this honor." Customer Service Winners "Anyone building, remodeling or decorating looks to Houzz for the most talented and service-oriented professionals" said Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing for Houzz. "Were so pleased to recognize Glo European Windows, voted one of our "Best Of Houzz" professionals by our enormous community of homeowners and design enthusiasts actively remodeling and decorating their homes." Follow Glo European Windows on Houzz http://www.houzz.com/pro/glowindows About Glo European Windows Founded in Missoula, MT, Glo windows currently delivers custom made windows and doors throughout the United States and has active projects in Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Glo European Windows is based in Missoula, MT. For more information about Glo windows please visit the website at http://www.glowindows.com or call 406-721-2741 About Houzz Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow and Tokyo. Houzz and the Houzz logo are registered trademarks of Houzz Inc. worldwide. S&K Technologies, Inc. (Parent) is seeking to hire an Accounts Payable Clerk in St. Ignatius, Montana. Employee will specialize in more than one area of the accounting function for the establishment, including a variety of duties within the accounts payable area. Employee shall verify, record, and post A/P transactions to applicable journals, ledgers and other records, including Excel spreadsheets. Employee will perform various travel and expense reimbursement tasks, including: auditing receipts, data entry, credit card information requests, direct deposit notifications, and reconciliations. Employee will review and/or respond to inquiries, statements, invoices and vouchers, as well as certain tax forms and other tax information requests. This position will rotate responsibility with other A/P staff for the following key areas: vendor payables, credit card transactions/reconciliations, employee travel reconciliations. Full Opportunity Information: http://www.sktcorp.com/job/accounts-payable-clerk-2/ Visit our subsidiary websites http://www.sktcorp.com/careers-at-sk/ for a listing of job opportunities at each individual company. *** Wed appreciate it if youd mention that you found these opportunities on MATR.net Thank you *** S&K Technologies is one of the tribes greatest success stories. We were started in 1999 with the smallest of investments and have grown into a family of companies that serve federal and commercial customers around the world. Tom Acevedo, CEO Its from these humble beginnings that the companies of S&K Technologies, Inc. work to support programs across the Department of Defense, NASA, FAA, and more, and extend throughout allied forces worldwide. Visit our subsidiary websites for a listing of job opportunities at each individual company. College is one of the biggest investments any parentor studentwill make. But how much do they really know about the high finance of higher education? Here are eight questions that should give them a good head start. By Jillian Berman Full Story: http://graphics.wsj.com/saving-for-college-quiz/ Bozeman Schools Superintendent Rob Watson floated the idea Tuesday of turning the high schools Bridger Alternative Program into Montanas first public charter school. As a charter, the Bridger model could potentially help more students to graduate, teachers told the Bozeman School Board during its annual lunch visit. By Gail Schontzler Chronicle Staff Writer Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/education/bozeman-weighs-making-bridger-the-state-s-first-charter-school/article_4bc9ac38-ace7-5121-8e66-696f4d865984.html Back in the mid-1990s, when Galapagos Arts Space opened in Brooklyn, the borough was just beginning its artist-led transformation. Twenty years later, glittering high-rises adorn the Williamsburg riverfront and tower over the neighborhoods clubs, galleries, studios, and bars. In 2013, Galapagos and its leader Robert Elmes wagered that artists could do for Detroit what they had done for Williamsburg. Now that bet is paying off, more dramatically than anyone could have expected. Galapagos purchased nine properties in the Motor City, including a 138,000-square-foot building in the Corktown neighborhood. The property was purchased for $500,000; today, it is back on the market with an astonishing asking price of $6.25 million. This is quite an achievement, and exactly what the city had in mind when it began aggressively courting writers and artists to relocate several years ago. Yet not everyone is happy with how things turned out. Vince Carducci, publisher of the Motown Review of Art blog, writes that he has mixed emotions about the sale because he fears the profit motive is overtaking the cultural motive. He cited community backlash, including a t-shirt that reads: I PAINT IN MY KITCHEN. AT NIGHT. F**K OFF. The slogan was a response to a statement on the Galapagos website that read: You cant paint at night in your kitchen and hope to be a great artist. Social media has also been alive with condemnation of the propertys sale. Some view Galapagos as guilty of a capitalist betrayal of artistic principles. The criticism is unfair. Art isand always has beena key component in the economic health of cities. Amenities such as galleries and theatersand the restaurants and bars that thrive alongside themare a big reason why people live and invest in cities. This month, the Washington Post described Detroit as an emerging food Mecca where young chefs are free to experiment because of low rents. This means jobs, increased income for the city, and, frankly, the chance for a revival of civic pride. So whats the catch? Why are so many in the art world troubled by a rare piece of good news in a city that has been down for so long? The answer is simple: fear of gentrification. The termteeming with implications about class and racehas become a boogeyman. It implies white hipsters invading minority neighborhoods, displacing the rightful residents with their crepes and modern adaptations of Moliere. The gentrification question has led to nasty artistic infighting in Williamsburgs next-door neighborhood, Bushwick. The trouble began when the Fuchs Projects gallery announced an event to celebrate Bushwicks 200 most innovative residents. When some longtime residents and activists accused the event of being a racist example of white colonization, another gallery owner fought back. Ethan Pettit, a longtime proponent of artists positive impact on decrepit neighborhoods, lashed out against the naysayers. He argued, as he did in a recent TED talk, that artists plant the seeds for growth in urban areas. This led Rafael Fuchs to distance himself and his gallery from Pettits sentiments and eventually to cancel his event out of fears that it was fostering racism. The legitimate root of this fear of artist-driven gentrification is that property valuesand rentsincrease when artists arrive in a neighborhood. Longtime residents get priced out (artists do too, eventually). But there is a key difference between Williamsburg and Bushwick. In Williamsburg, 40 percent of households own their housing, a number that was likely much higher when the gentrification began in the nineties. In Bushwickwhere gentrification has been slow to take holdonly 35 percent of households own their units. Obviously, rising property values help owners and hurt renters. One can easily see why there would be pushback against rising rents. In Detroit, 70 percent of households own their housing, so most residents stand to gain from dramatic rises in property values such as Galapagoss Corktown windfall. In addition, boosting property values will swell the citys tax base, creating new money for municipal services. Progressives and artists may see it as impure, but the artist-driven gentrification of Detroit is an objectively positive development for the beleaguered city. Its important to remember that Galapagos Art Space had no guarantee of such staggering profit when it relocated to Detroit. At a time when few businesses were willing to take a chance on the city, Galapagos did. It wasnt just a beneficiary of gentrification; it was an engine for it. Meanwhile, its reasonable to expect that much of the profit from the sale will go back into Galapagoss other eight arts spacesand its programming. Just as some look back with fondness to the crime-ridden New York City of the 1980s, there are those who prefer Detroits authentic blighted ghettos to a whitewashed urban future. This is a naive and dangerous attitude. There is nothing authentic about poverty and crime; they are conditions to be overcome, not celebrated. And if artists can help to overcome them, we should not blush if they also happen to make a few bucks. There is an important lesson in all of this for government as well. Far too much of government spending on the arts goes to supporting programming. Winners and losers are chosen among existing arts organizations by donors and direct government grants. Too little attention and funding is directed at infrastructure. Detroit made itself an attractive destination for artists; this should be used as a model across the country. Hipster artists are targets of mild derision across our culture, even among themselves. The white belts, beards, and bespoke brownies are easy to poke fun at. But behind all the laughter and parody lies an important truth. They are risk-takers and good citizens of their adopted communities. Like it or not, Detroit cant be reborn unless people with means want to go and spend money there. That includes a couple going out for dinner and a show, and developers dropping millions on property worth thousands only a few years ago. Galapagos Arts Space should be proud of what it has done. Anyone who cares about the future of Detroit should be grateful. Thanks to a $533,550 federal grant, the Anaconda school district preschool will expand its staff and hours. The preschool, at 1410 W. Park St., serves children ages 3 to 5 with and without special needs, said Norah Barney, preschool-to-2nd grade principal at W.K. Dwyer Elementary in Anaconda. "We implement the grant fully this year," said Barney, in her third year at the helm. "Full implementation means its a full-day program with a full staff." Renata Birkenbuel [email protected] Full Story: http://mtstandard.com/news/local/anaconda-preschool-in-the-groove-thanks-to-k-federal-grant/article_69554329-3225-5289-a98a-33462185b975.html#utm_source=%5Bdomain%5D&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Fdaily-headlines%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=grid_headline Its time to nominate two women business owners as this years annual Fire Within award winners! Last year Linda McPherson won the Inspire and Amber Fern won the Aspire. They joined a growing list of women honored for their contributions to women in business. This award will go to a Woman Business Owner in an established business that has made a significant personal contribution to its success, growth or expansion. It also recognizes her contributions or involvement in her community during her career. We need your nominations! Who should be recognized? http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=4b8711cb-c4a3-4cff-9fc9-db0e918f0062&c=deed0210-d2cd-11e3-a6df-d4ae527b77f8&ch=e0be66b0-d2cd-11e3-a7ab-d4ae527b77f8 Businesses dont usually ask government for regulation, yet thats what the Montana State Fund https://www.montanastatefund.com/web/ did. The result is a win for the states largest workers compensation insurer, its customers and Montana taxpayers. The 2015 Legislature and Gov. Steve Bullock enacted a law that transferred oversight of the Montana State Fund from the Legislature to the state commissioner of insurance as of Jan. 1. Before that date, Montana was the only state with a workers comp fund that wasnt regulated by the state insurance commissioner. Full Story: Kings Island Reveals Details for Brand New 'Adventure Port' Attraction Adventure Port will be a "hub for explorers searching for the ruins of an ancient civilization." By Maija Zummo Oct 19, 2022 After teasing a big announcement on its social media accounts yesterday, Kings Island has revealed something new coming to the park in 2023: Adventure Port. This land, which will be located between Coney Mall and Action Zone, is described on the website as "resting in the foothills of overgrown mountains and dense tropical terrain" and as a "hub for explorers searching for the ruins of an ancient civilization, its forbidden temple and mysterious wonders." A free health insurance enrollment event is set for Tuesday, Jan. 19 in Marion. The Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act ends on Sunday, Jan. 31. To assist with last-minute enrollments, the McDowell County Health Coalition in partnership with the Council on Aging of Buncombe County, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Enroll America and Addies Chapel United Methodist Church are all hosting a health insurance enrollment, education, and resource event on Tuesday, Jan. 19 from 2-6 p.m. at the Addies Chapel Church, 207 Ridley St, in Marion. Those not enrolled in a 2016 health insurance plan by Jan. 31, 2016, will typically be unable to enroll in a marketplace health insurance plan until 2017, according to a news release. For many North Carolinians, affordability is a real concern in their health care decision-making, said Susan Wilson, project coordinator with the Council on Aging of Buncombe County. In the past, high premium costs have forced many to go without health insurance simply because they couldnt afford it. The good news is that financial assistance is available to help people pay for plans in fact, 92 percent of North Carolinians who signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage in the last open enrollment period received financial assistance to make their plans more affordable. To avoid paying a tax fine ($695 per adult or 2.5 percent of your household income whichever is greater) for not having insurance, its important enroll by Jan. 31, 2016. Even if you do not qualify for a tax credit to cover part of the cost your monthly insurance premium, you may still be able to get a waiver to avoid paying a fine when you file your taxes. The public is encouraged to take advantage of the private and cost-free health coverage enrollment appointments offered during the event. Staff from McDowell Health Coalitions MATCH Program will also be available during the event to assist those who do not qualify for an insurance option with accessing health care services in the community. Those interested in enrolling should bring their Social Security number and/or other government issued identification documents as well as income information for every member of their household, policy numbers for current health insurance plans and any information about job-related health insurance available to the family. Hosting the event at Addies Chapel promotes health while bringing services and resources into McDowells local community, said Ray McKesson, board member of the McDowell County Health Coalition. We hope this event not only helps to raise awareness around the Affordable Care Act but also assists people with utilizing available benefits to improve personal well-being along with the health of family, friends, and neighbors. Health insurance enrollment appointments can be scheduled by calling Legal Aid of North Carolina at 828-437-8280. Agency representatives will make every attempt to accommodate walk-ins but scheduling an appointment in advance guarantees a spot on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Staff will be on hand to assist with scheduling follow up appointments for walk-ins who are not able to be seen on the day of the event. For more information please contact Lanie Honeycutt at 828-652-6811 ext. 225 or to make an appointment please call 828-437-8280. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. A new set of no-buy list criteria could reduce the number of alcohol advertisements seen by underage viewers on cable television, says a study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Share on Pinterest Television adverts encourage underage drinking. Alcohol manufacturers are self-regulated in terms of advertising. In 2003, the industry set guidelines limiting advertising to media where at least 71.6% of the audience would normally be aged 21 years or above. If a high proportion of an audience is likely to be underage, the show is off-limits to advertisers. A no-buy list tells advertisers which programs to avoid in order to comply with the guidelines. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consider the use of no-buy lists as best practice. Since 1999, the lists have been recommended for media that are popular with underage audiences. Some alcohol companies use the lists to guide their placements, but not all. From 2005-2012, youth were exposed to alcohol adverts on television more than 15 billion times, mostly on cable TV. During that time, the alcohol industry spent $7.5 billion on more than 2 million television adverts. New criteria to help guide advertisers and reduce underage drinking Excessive alcohol drinking is responsible for 4,300 deaths annually among those aged under 21 years. It is a risk factor for accidents, suicide and homicide, the top three leading causes of death for this age group. Fast facts about underage drinking Drinking in the US is illegal under 21 years of age 11% of all alcohol in the US is consumed by youth aged 12-20 years Over 90% of this alcohol is consumed in binge-drinking sessions. Learn about alcohol poisoning Studies show that alcohol advertising promotes positive attitudes toward drinking and encourages people to start drinking or to drink excessively. The more exposure underage audiences have to alcohol advertising and marketing, the more likely they are to start drinking or to drink more. In an attempt to curb underage drinking by eliminating non-compliant advertising exposure, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD, set out to produce a new set of no-buy list criteria. The team believes their approach is a more comprehensive approach than those previously used. The team looked first at the alcohol industrys level of compliance with its own guidelines regarding television ads. They found that from 2005-2012, around 1 in 8 alcohol advertisements seen by children under the legal drinking age were non-compliant with alcohol industry guidelines. Most of these adverts were on cable television. Next, Rosss team tested the potential effectiveness of a set of new no-buy list criteria they had designed. Researchers have identified a molecular target and experimental treatment strategy for DNA repair defects behind Fanconi anemia - a complex genetic disorder responsible for birth anomalies, organ damage, anemia and cancer. The findings, published Jan. 12, 2016, in Stem Cell Reports, also create a bit of molecular intrigue. It involves how cells used in the study -- which still had the Fanconi anemia (FA) DNA repair defect -- were able to recover and grow normally after targeted treatment. "This study provides an experimental platform to test new therapies that could prevent pre- and post-natal Fanconi anemia conditions, which have no cure and limited treatment options," said Susanne Wells, PhD, lead investigator and director of the Epithelial Carcinogenesis and Stem Cell Program in the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute). "Our findings also raise a number of important questions, so there is a lot more to be done." In the study, researchers used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can become any cell type in the body. The induced stem cells -- reprogrammed from mature skin and connective tissue cells donated by Fanconi anemia patients -- had the defective (FA) DNA repair pathway, which normally helps protect the genome from mutations. Scientists closely studied the stem cells in laboratory cultures and cells injected into humanized mouse models -- monitoring their genetic, molecular and developmental progression. Even with defective FA DNA repair, the stem cells retained their ability to transform into different tissues. Humanized mice injected with the defective cells even started to form teratomas -- benign tumors that contain a haphazard mishmash of cells and tissues of different organ systems. But researchers said the DNA repair defect started to kill off the pluripotent stem cells by blocking cell division and causing programmed cell death. The authors then noticed an enzyme that serves as a DNA regulatory checkpoint during cell division (CHK1) was behaving hyperactively in the stem cells, which hastened their death. The researchers used existing pharmacologic inhibitors of CHK1 to block the hyperactive enzyme at a critical stage of the stem cell cycle. This allowed them to override what usually are unfixable errors in the FA repair pathway. After targeted treatment, FA-pathway-deficient pluripotent stem cells resumed dividing and expanding normally. Researchers said much to their surprise, the resumption of cell growth occurred without what they had expected to be massive chromosome abnormalities. Because of this, the scientists speculate that a compensating DNA repair process is engaged in the reinvigorated cells. Because this unidentified repair process may also rescue the DNA repair defect in the different tissues types affected by Fanconi anemia, Wells and colleagues believe their study may point to an approach that treats all clinical manifestations of the disease -- including anemia and cancer. "A key question for us is what type of DNA repair kicks in under these conditions -- and is it error free or error prone?" explained Wells. "A novel mode of emergency DNA repair might indeed be discovered in the iPSC cells. We believe some type of compensatory DNA repair must be driven by CHK1 inhibition when cells have FA pathway loss, otherwise the cells would have died off very quickly." Human cells have other DNA repair processes besides the FA repair pathway. Researchers will closely monitor their upcoming experiments for one of these existing DNA repair pathways. Members of the research team, including study first author Timothy Chlon, PhD (a research associate in the Wells laboratory) stressed the current results are early and require extensive additional study before becoming clinically relevant. Researchers plan to follow up this study with additional testing in 'humanized' and genetic mouse models. They will attempt to improve embryonic development and post-birth fitness in FA-pathway deficient mice with timed application of the CHK1 inhibitor. The authors will closely monitor the mice as they age and use genetic sequencing to screen for disease-causing gene mutations. They also will take advantage of the prolonged monitoring period to look for evidence of a DNA repair process (either novel or existing) in the FA-deficient mice. Scientists have demonstrated a new way of re-engineering the body's immune system to target cancer, paving the way for a new generation of drugs, unprecedented in safety and effectiveness. Researchers from Cardiff University used powerful X-ray technology to engineer an enhanced kind of white blood cell - known as a T-Cell - capable of targeting cancerous tissue while minimising contact with healthy tissue, which can be fatal to patients receiving this kind of experimental therapy. Targeting cancer using T-cells is a growing therapeutic area. They are however limited in their cancer-fighting potential, owing to their inability to attack the body's own tissue. This is a major obstacle for researchers trying to target cancer cells which often derive from healthy cells. To overcome this, scientists use an enhanced, modified T-cell receptor (TCR); a molecule on the surface of T-cells that acts like highly-sensitive fingertips that probe the body for signs of disease. This approach is currently being trialed for a wide range of cancer targets, but remains potentially dangerous to trial participants. In 2013, a New York-based cancer immunotherapy phase 1 clinical trial had to suspend patient recruitment owing to the deaths of two patients who received modified TCRs, which caused lethal damage to their heart tissue. For the first time, scientists based within Cardiff University's School of Medicine have been able to explain why the experimental therapy caused these deaths. Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports. Using Diamond Light Source, the UK's synchrotron science facility, the group was able to use intense light, 10 billion times brighter than the sun, to uncover how these tragedies took place. Exploiting a technique known as X-ray crystallography - the same technique used to solve the structure of DNA - they demonstrate how a modified TCR, which was intended to target a cancerous antigen, mistakenly began attacking healthy heart tissue. The synchrotron enabled the team to visualize this interaction between the engineered TCR and the cancer and heart tissue markers, to reveal that at an atomic level they were both similar in shape, making it extremely difficult for the T-cells to differentiate between the two. Dr David Cole, from Cardiff University's School of Medicine, senior author on the study, said: "This discovery is significant in a number of ways. Firstly, the images gleaned by the X-ray crystallography enabled us to directly reengineer the modified TCRs to significantly reduce its contact with healthy tissue, which is proof of concept for a safer, more effective design for a next generation of cancer drugs. "Secondly, it shows how T-cells might cause unwanted damage to healthy tissue in other diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, the data explains, at the molecular level, why two patients suffered from cardiovascular damage after receiving a novel cancer treatment - and how to avoid this from happening in future." Dr Pierre Rizkallah, lead author from Cardiff University's School of Medicine, said: "The key to the new findings is the ability to visualise, at the atomic level, how the TCR 'sees' different markers, whether expressed on cancer cells or healthy cells. This is drug design on the scale of a protein, and X-ray diffraction is truly an incomparable tool in our hands for achieving these results." Professor Brian Baker, from the University of Notre Dame, said: "Modified T-cells are currently generating a huge amount of interest as a new breakthrough therapy to fight cancer. However, there is still much to learn about the potential side effects that these modified cells may have. "The striking new study by Dr Cole and colleagues represents a very significant step in demonstrating why unanticipated side effects can occur, and how they might be avoided in future work, improving both safety and efficacy in cancer immunotherapy." The research was funded by The Wellcome Trust, with support from the Diamond Light Source. Our innate ability to track time is important for our everyday lives. We would not be able to speak, or even walk properly if we were not able to get the timing of each action just right. How are we able to track time? Are there a bunch of neural clocks ticking away somewhere deep inside our brain, cuing us on when to perform different actions? Recent results by neuroscientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon provide support to current theories in the field advocating the existence of such clocks and demonstrate, for the first time, that they can be used to predict behaviour. "We discovered that populations of neurons in a part of the brain called the Striatum, which is known to be important for timing behaviour, create sequences of activity that can be used to encode time and to predict timing behaviour." Says Dr. Joe Paton, Principal Investigator at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown and the head of this study. The researchers were able to identify this mechanism by asking rats to decide whether two brief sounds were separated by a duration of more, or less than 1.5 seconds. At the same time, the researchers recorded the activity of multiple neurons in the Svtriatum. "By analysing the activity of the neurons, we found that it could be used to encode time." Says Dr. Tiago Monteiro, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Paton and one of the authors of the study. "Specifically, we found that upon the presentation of the first sound, a stereotypical wave-like activity took place within the group of recorded neurons. Throughout this wave, certain neurons would always be active earlier and others later. In this way, we could tell how much time had passed since the first sound by simply following the progression of the wave." The idea that a stereotypical wave of neural activity can work as a clock is a model that has had robust support in the scientific community. According to this model, some neurons would be active earlier, and some later, so the brain could tell how much time had passed by simply observing which neuron is active. But how can the researchers confirm that the rat actually uses this clock to estimate time? "To answer this question, we always have to look at what happens when the animal has to make difficult decisions, ones that are close to the boundary. It is easy enough for the rat to know that 2.5 seconds are longer than 1.5, but what about 1.6? Both animals and humans find these types of tasks very challenging. That's when their behaviour becomes more variable. For the same duration, on some trials the animal might decide that it was long and on others, that it was short. We cannot predict when this will happen, but we can look at the neural activity and see if the neurons can." Explains Dr. Monteiro. And that is precisely what the researchers observed. "When a rat had to decide whether a 1.6 seconds interval was shorter or longer than 1.5 seconds, we could see how the population clock stretched or shrunk in accordance with the decision of the animal." Explains Thiago Gouvea, a doctoral student at the lab who also participated in this study. "If the wave would move faster, then the neurons that are usually active during the later part of the wave would already be active at the time the second sound happens and the rat would decide the duration was long. However, the wave would frequently move slower, leading the rat to believe erroneously that the duration was short." These results strongly indicate that the behaviour of the rat may be driven by this population of neurons, which informs the animal how much time had passed, leading it to make corresponding decisions. "This is the first time that the relation between the speed of the neural population clock' and the duration judgments made by the subject has been demonstrated. The question now is how is this timing information generated and how is it precisely used to guide the behaviour of the animal." Concludes Dr. Paton. Finally, even though the rat was making mistakes when it had to make decisions about durations close to the boundary, the researchers "don't think this means that the clock isn't perfect exactly... It is perhaps variable relative to the time our watch provides, but this might actually be an optimal representation of time for the organism." A team of European researchers, including an UPM group, is currently working on the development of training technologies and surgical evaluation based on laparoscopic videos assessments. Researchers from Biomedical Engineering and Telemedicine group at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM) are participating, along with Jesus Uson Minimally Invasive Centre, Delft University of Technology and Leiden University Medical Centre in the development of technologies to perform more objectively assessment processes of surgeons in simulation environments. In this context, researchers have developed EVA Tracking System, a tracking system of surgical instruments that enables the study and assessment of instrumental movements within a simulator, this system has become the main source of objective measure for surgical expertise. Unlike other tracking systems based on sensors, EVA uses computer vision techniques to obtain spatial location of laparoscopic instruments only using the endoscopic camera image. These features give as a result a low cost portable tracking system that does not require instrumental modification. Besides, this system is able to accurately predict the expertise of a surgeon in the simulator. Laparoscopic surgery allows us to lessen the post operative trauma and favoring a faster recovery of patients. The training of the required skills is complex and the surgeon has to learn indirect surgery through a monitor and without physical contact with the inner body. In order to prevent accidents that can put patients at risk, it is required to develop environments that allow surgeons to acquire skills outside the operating room. An example of this are simulators, both physical and virtual. One of these simulators was used as a test environment to validate the monitoring system for surgical instruments developed by UPM researchers. From the obtained measures, EVA Tracking System can estimate diverse objective evaluation metrics such as the surgical expertise in a simulation task. These metrics are, for example, total travel path, speed, average acceleration, volume occupied or motion smoothness. The research carried out in this field so far, apart from the development of EVA Tracking System, has described the integration of laparoscopic physical simulator and its usage with laparoscopic surgeons. Firstly, researchers showed that the estimated metrics allow us to discern the expertise of novice and expert surgeons and setting the correlation of the mentioned metrics with the ones obtained by other optical tracking system. Secondly, the metrics data were used to train a classifier that predicts the skills of a surgeon in the simulator with a success rate of up to 83.3%. This result shows a direct correlation between the previous experience of the surgeon and the simulation task performing. Today, the EVA system is included in an application that will allow us to store and manage data of surgeons when monitoring their progress. Besides, researchers are working to include EVA as a control device for virtual simulation environments or serious games all this within the framework of the KT European project. Advertisement This is the first large study to assess parents' perceptions of care for a child's food allergy. It was published in the: In Practice. Dr. Gupta said, "There is a gap in the communication between doctors and parents in management of their children's food allergies that we need to fix."Among the children in the study, peanut allergy was the most commonly reported food allergy, followed by milk, egg and tree nuts. About half of children with a food allergy had experienced a severe allergic reaction.Less than 70% of parents recalled their allergists explaining when to use epinephrine and less than 40% said the same of their pediatricians. Even fewer recalled being shown how to use epinephrine or being given a written emergency action plan by their allergists and pediatricians.Dr. Gupta said, "Guidelines for treatment provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases aren't being followed. While the majority of parents reported quality health care from their children's pediatricians and allergists, they lacked essential guidance for managing their children's food allergies."Not all physicians prescribe epinephrine for all food allergy diagnoses, although this is part of the treatment guidelines. In addition, research has shown many pediatricians are not adequately trained on how to use the epinephrine auto-injectors and don't feel comfortable showing patients how to use the devices.The authors said, "Physicians need to be trained in the best practice guidelines and how to communicate these guidelines to patients. They also suggest clinicians ask parents to restate information being presented."Dr. Gupta said, "Physicians have to make sure the parents can repeat back the directions. Parents may not be digesting all the information given to them in a short period of time."The study included 859 parents from the Children's Memorial Hospital Food Allergy Questionnaire who had two visits a year with their children's physicians. Parents were recruited from around the Chicago metro area and interviewed by the Northwestern research staff.Source: Eurekalert Advertisement The analysis of this genome, which features in, shows that it belongs to the Asian lineage and presents over 99% homology with the strain responsible for the epidemic in French Polynesia in 2013. "Until now few complete sequences of this virus and none of the strains currently circulating in South and Central America were available. This complete sequence of the virus is a major starting point for shedding light on how its behavior develops", points out Dominique Rousset, Head of the Virology Laboratory and National Reference Center for Arboviruses at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana.The first cases were confirmed in Brazil in May 2015 and the country is currently experiencing the largest epidemic ever recorded with 440,000 to 1,300,000 suspected cases reported by the Brazilian health authorities. The Zika virus has spread quickly, affecting 10 countries in the tropical regions of the Americas as well as the Caribbean so far. While until recently the infection was considered harmless, the Zika virus epidemic which raged in French Polynesia and the Pacific in 2013-2014 was accompanied by an increase in serious neurological complications, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and congenital neurological defects.In Brazil, the very significant increase in the number of microcephaly cases in fetuses whose mothers were infected during pregnancy forced the government to declare a state of emergency in December 2015. "Are these defects caused by the Zika virus alone, the co-circulation of other infectious agents or other factors? Multidisciplinary research projects will need to be set up to answer these questions. We are already trying to improve our knowledge of this virus and understand its development, primarily by building on diagnostic tools" explains Dominique Rousset.In addition, a team of four researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Dakar arrived in Sao Paulo on January 5th, to help Brazilian scientists deal with the Zika epidemic.To date, 17 cases have been confirmed in French Guiana and three in Martinique. Given the very rapid spread of the Zika virus, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana remains actively involved in epidemiological monitoring, alongside the health authorities and the Institut Pasteur International Network. "We are committed to supporting vector control by monitoring resistance to insecticides, as part of an agreement with the Regional Health Agency. Research into the impact of this resistance on the vectorial competence ofpopulations for various arboviruses, including the Zika virus, is also being conducted at the Vectopole", adds Isabelle Dusfour, entomologist at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana.Described for the first time in Uganda in 1947, Zika is an arbovirus belonging to the same family as the dengue virus and is spread by the same vector, themosquito.It can also be spread by the tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which is present in some regions in mainland France. Under the supervision of entomologist Anna-Bella Failloux, responsible for the Arboviruses and Insect Vectors Unit, the Institut Pasteur is currently conducting research in Paris to assess the vectorial competence ofand, and ascertain the role of these two species in the dynamics of the Zika epidemic. This work will help to better assess the risk of the virus being introduced to France.Source: Eurekalert Welche Sternzeichen haben diese Woche besonderes Gluck und fur wen lauft es unter Umstanden nicht so gut? In unserem wochentlichen Horoskop erfahren Sie, was die Zukunft fur Sie bereithalt. Widder 21.03.20.04. Sie sind in der kommenden Zeit manchmal sogar zu fair. Haben Sie nicht Verstandnis fur alles. Wenn Sie eine Verhaltensweise argert, sollten Sie das auch kundtun. Stier 21.04.20.05. Im Buro geht es in der nachsten Zeit eher entspannt zu. Das ist aber kein Grund, sich auszuruhen. Wenn Sie... Yes, its really happening. This is such good news youd probably be crying tears of happiness by the end of it. The moment this world had been waiting for is here. Its official a reunion of the Friends cast is happening and we cant help but go Oh My Gawd! Warner Bros. Television Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Coz, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer will soon be soon on an NBC show celebrating director James Burrows journey on television. Warner Bros. Television The show is going ot be telecast on February 21st, 2016 and it will also feature the case of some more of the shows directed by Burrows like The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, and Mike & Molly. This is the best news ever! Rape is a horrendous crime, irrespective of the gender. Yes, men get raped too, but sadly in a country like India, hardly any law is there to protect the male rape survivors or take action on child abuse on boys and provide them justice. While most of the men suffer the pain silently, there are some brave souls who gather the courage to share their ordeal and protect others from what they have gone through. One such story is of this man who was raped by his uncle for 11 years. His story was posted on the Facebook page of Humans of Bombay. He was first raped by his uncle at the age of 7 when he could not even understand what was happening with him. He even said in his post that, I would enter his house and lie down on the bed, just wanting it to get over as soon as possible. At 12, I began to get gang-raped by his friends, and I would bleed but keep quitebecause what if I wasnt considered man enough to not bear pain? He was so scared by these incidents that he could not enter a male washroom because he thought he might get raped again. In an attempt to get justice, he tried to sort legal help, We tried to get some legal help but we realised that theres no law against child sexual abuse for boys in the country. By the time I was 18, no laws applied to my case so there was no justice. Thats when I decided that I would make the motto of my life to protect other children from sexual abuse. His heartbreaking story will fill your hearts with disgust, but at the same time make you feel proud of this man who now spends his life protecting the interests of children, women and the LGBT community. "My uncle was giving me a bath when I was 7 years old, and that's when it first happened. He forced me to give him a... Posted by Humans of Bombay on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 In fact, there are no provisions in our Indian Penal Code (IPC) that protect the male victims of sexual abuse. Should a male child suffer in pain while being raped or undergoing any sexual abuse, and not utter a word, because there are no laws that can protect him? His story is a big eye-opener for everyone to know about the plight that male rape survivors have to go through. Akshay Kumar, in a recent interview, shared his thoughts on intolerance in India and on sharing screen space with superstar Rajnikanth in Robot 2. Bring up the intolerance debate and he retorts, "India has always been known for its tolerance. We've always tried to keep peace but when attacks like the one at Pathankot happen, you realise that the time has come to retaliate. Going by what you read in the social media, our youngsters are angry, they have taken this personally, and want India to attack too." With Aamir Khan's exit, India needs a new brand ambassador, interested? "I don't know if I'm fit for it but if I get a chance, it would be an honour. India is truly incredible!" he exults. On Working With Rajnikanth Twitter Itll be an honour to be punched by Rajni sir says Akshay Kumar, who's all excited about playing the baddie in 'Robot 2'; the actor who explodes on screen on Republic Day has his own take on Incredible India and intolerance. Akshay Kumar remembers watching T Rama Rao's 1983 Bollywood drama, Andha Kanoon, and being mesmerised by Rajnikanth's kicks and jumps. "Today, the action may seem a little funny, but at that time I would be gaping at the screen, wondering how Rajini sir did what he did. It was a marvel in technique and technology!" the actor reminisces, still in awe of the South supremo he will be challenging as the adversary in the Robot sequel. Ask him if working with the Thalaiva is a dream come true and he laughs, "These things don't come to you even in a dream. He's a wonderful actor and even more, a wonderful human being. It will be an honour to be punched by Rajini sir. It's going be a different world for me -- the graphics, the action and the adulation that he commands." Buzz is, The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was in the running for the role. "I have no idea, I just know that Shankar (director) and some of the others called me and told me they had a film for me," he shrugs. YouTube However, before Robot 2, Akshay will bring in the Republic Day with his coproduction Airlift. He insists it gave him gooseflesh when it was narrated to him. "I was shocked to know that in 1990 not Air Force pilots but commercial pilots of Air India flew into a war zone and rescued one lakh 70 thousand Indians trapped in Kuwait. We can make another film on these pilots alone. They were the real heroes," he exults. (Originally published in Mumbai Mirror.) Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. Boating adventures of the crew on the motor vessel "Sunset Delight" - a Krogen Express 52 (Blog entries prior to January 2017 cover travels, including our Great Loop Trip, on our previous motor vessel - a 350 Mainship named "Sea Moss" thus the name of the blog.) The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, met with Netherlands Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in Amsterdam today, within the framework of his short tour of Europe. The meeting focused on the refugee issue. Mr. Xydakis briefed Mr. Koenders on the efforts Greece is making to confront the unprecedented refugee and migration flows, noting that the country has responded in the best possible manner to the ever increasing needs. He also made assurances that Greece is working intensively to fully comply with its commitments to its European partners. During the discussion, Turkeys key role in managing the refugee flows was recognized, as was the need for Turkey to meet its commitments to the European Union. Mr. Xydakis referred to the geopolitical developments that have created the refugee crisis, stressing the role the EU needs to play in the efforts to bring peace to Syria and acknowledging the pivotal role of the Netherlands Presidency and the initiatives it will undertake. Mr. Xydakis informed Mr. Koenders of the fact that Greece has received less assistance than it needs to deal with the refugee/migration crisis, denying the claims that the country does not want the EUs assistance. The Alternate Foreign Minister noted Greeces unique topography and the importance of guarding maritime borders stretching thousands of kilometers. He stressed that Greece saved over 100,000 people on its maritime borders in 2015, complying with the dictates of international law, the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the founding Treaties of the European Union. Finally, Mr. Xydakis set out for Mr. Koenders the developments in the negotiations on the resolution of the Cyprus issue, also briefing him on the course of the Greek programme and the speedy progress Greece is making, stressing that the Greek governments main concern is to attract new investments that will create the necessary jobs for Greek citizens. The crash of Robert S. Scheuer's 2003 Saturn Ion on a rural road is the focus of a civil trial designed to define legal boundaries for the resolution of hundreds of other lawsuits stemming from the automaker's failure to recall millions of faulty ignition switches for over a decade. Five more trials are scheduled to occur this year in federal court. Since early 2014, GM has issued recalls affecting over 30 million vehicles. The recalls came long after GM learned of the ignition switch defect in Chevy Cobalts and other small cars. The switches can slip out of the "on" position, causing the cars to stall, knocking out power steering and turning off air bags. Attorney Bob Hilliard introduced Scheuer, his wife Lisa, and their smiling daughters, ages 5 and 11, who clutched dolls as the family stood before the jury. "Where else can a mailman from Oklahoma go toe-to-toe with a car company called General Motors and have his day in court?" Hilliard asked. He recounted numerous people killed in accidents blamed on defective switches and blamed GM for its slow response. "There was plenty of notice and opportunity for General Motors to make what was a 25-cent fix," he said. In his opening, GM attorney Mike Brock insisted General Motors was not to blame for Scheuer's accident and suggested the Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident was not honest. He said Scheuer claimed he was knocked unconscious for three hours after the May 28, 2014 accident and yet cellphone records reflected two calls to his voicemail during the span. "I don't know where Mr. Scheuer was, but I don't think he was unconscious," Brock said. He said some investigators questioned Scheuer's claim he was run off the road by another car before his ignition switch malfunctioned, causing air bags to fail to deploy when he struck two trees. Brock said the investigators concluded his car veered off the road gradually rather than abruptly, the way it would if he fell asleep. The lawyer said Scheuer had a two-decade history of surgeries and pain medication prescriptions for spinal issues. Brock said the car's air bags were not designed to inflate in Scheuer's accident, which featured a 3 1/2-foot-vertical drop. He said air bags deploy only in the most serious accidents. Brock cautioned jurors that the trial pertained to Scheuer's claims alone. He noted the company was compensating victims and had boosted safety programs. "GM does not come to court today to tell you that we were perfect," he said. "There were mistakes and errors in judgment." In September, GM announced it had reached a deal to settle 1,385 death and injury cases for $275 million and a class-action shareholders' lawsuit for $300 million. Gov. Rick Snyder activated the National Guard late Tuesday, and some members were expected to arrive as soon as Wednesday to assist state authorities and volunteers in the distribution effort. Flint's tap water became contaminated with too much lead after the city switched its water supply in 2014 to save money while under state financial management. Local officials first declared a public health emergency in October in response to tests that showed children with elevated levels of lead. On Tuesday, Snyder also requested support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in coordinating a recovery plan with other federal agencies that have the programs, authorities or technical expertise to help. FEMA appointed a disaster recovery coordinator to assist, spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said. More than 30 Guardsmen will be in place by Friday, enabling American Red Cross volunteers to join the door-to-door efforts that began Tuesday instead of staffing sites where residents can pick up free bottled water, filters, replacement cartridges and home water testing kits. Genesee County sheriff's Capt. Casey Tafoya said volunteers and police hoped to get to 500 to 600 houses a day in a city of about 99,000 residents with an estimated 30,000 households. State troopers and sheriff's deputies escorted eight teams as they trudged through cold temperatures and 3 inches of snow, with more falling. Flyers were left at homes where no one answered, giving the location of where to pick up the items later. "We plan to go every day this week, and we'll continue until everyone has safe drinking water," state police Lt. Dave Kaiser said. Flint police meanwhile warned people to be wary of scammers. Chief James Tolbert said his department has received reports of people selling water filters even though filters are being distributed for free. "It is unconscionable that some residents would try to take advantage of others coping with this water situation," Tolbert said. For more than a year, water drawn from the Flint River leached lead from old lines into homes after the city switched its drinking water. Exposure to lead can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children. Flint has since returned to Detroit's system for its water, but officials remain concerned that damage to the pipes caused by the Flint River means that lead could continue to impair supply. They also want to ensure monitoring protocols are properly followed. The state auditor general and a task force created by Snyder have faulted the Department of Environmental Quality for not requiring Flint to treat the river water for corrosion and belittling the public's fears. The agency's director stepped down last month. The task force also raised concerns about a lack of organization in responding to the disaster. Snyder, who has also faced criticism, said Monday that the water situation is a "crisis" and last week declared an emergency. The Republican said that since October, more than 12,000 filters have been distributed, more than 2,000 blood tests have been done uncovering 43 cases of elevated lead levels and more than 700 water tests have been conducted. "I trust the good men and women of the National Guard will jumpstart the Snyder administration's lackluster response to this public health crisis," Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said in a statement. "Sadly, myself and many leaders of my community have advocated for this type of response for months." U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat who represents the Flint area, said: "It is the state's ultimate responsibility to act and make it right. Flint residents are the victims in this crisis and they deserve a more urgent response equal to the gravity of this crisis." BAD AXE ... Its a damn shame. Thats how Huron County Commissioner John A. Nugent felt about Saturdays editorial published in the Huron Daily Tribune. The editorial (http://bit.ly/1ONUXgn) is titled County board should reject health benefits, and Nugent wasnt the only commissioner to voice his opinion during Tuesday mornings Huron County Board of Commissioners meeting. The board spent roughly the first 30 minutes of the meeting discussing the editorial and its disgust with it, spearheaded by Commissioner David Peruski. In December, county attorney Stephen Allen said under federal law, Huron County commissioners meet the 30 hours per week threshold for full-time employees. During Tuesdays meeting, Peruski read from his notes, which he refused to provide to the Tribune, about his concerns with the editorial. He references a figure he recently used of what the board could pay in fines if it does not insure commissioners. When I calculated the annual total of what the benefits would cost the county, I came up with $61,767 thats just my estimate, Peruski said. I used illustrative rates for the base plan. That is nowhere near the $120,000. One thing Peruski did note is the hours he works that are outside of the three monthly meetings. I have never tracked my hours as a commissioner it would be difficult, he added. If the Huron Daily Tribune says Im a part-timer, I must be. I have noticed, however, that the reporters over the last nine and a half years have never restricted their inquiries to just business hours. Peruski said he will continue answering phone calls from reporters, attend various meetings and make donations to the county even though hes a part-timer. I value this position more than the Tribune believes. I believe all commissioners do, he said. After reading the letter, Peruski made another move. Just in case the Tribune doubts my sincerity, would you pass this check to the clerk? he said, handing a check over for $1,186.21. After the meeting, Peruski told the Tribune the check was a donation to the county. Commissioner Ron Wruble said he wouldnt be accepting health benefits because he already receives them working full-time for the city of Harbor Beach. According to affordable health care regulations, people that arent given health insurance, according to our corporate counsel, to be paid in lieu of, which is $400 a month that the county pays people that dont take health insurance, Wruble explained after the meeting. Thats ($400) what I would be paying the county. Commissioner Clark Elftman also said he was not taking the benefits and will make a donation back to the county. Commissioners discussed the health benefits as a situation the federal government has put them in as far as making it an obligation, otherwise they would be in a situation where theyd face a fine for violating the law. In the Jan. 9 editorial, the Tribune suggested a way to handle the health benefits by telling county commissioners to not work more than 30 hours per week on county business. Allen highly disagreed, and made note of it. You cant avoid calls because youre (commissioners) not on call because (we) can be fined if we dont fulfill our duties, Allen said regarding commissioners working outside of their duties. The Trib is represented at every one of our meetings and to me, its irresponsible journalism to misstate the facts to the extent that they did in that editorial on such an important issue, Allen said. He never mentioned what facts were incorrect in the editorial. Allen contradicted himself when he said, (The Tribune) said I consider commissioners to be at full-time employment, therefore the Obamacare has to be given to them. In a Dec. 17 story, Allen said, board members must be offered health insurance the same as any of the countys 125 full-time employees, because they, too, are full-time employees. Two public comments expressed in letters to the editor and at the Tribune website have been against adding the insurance. One letter writer (read here: http://bit.ly/1RAX7Ta), Richard Juress of Harbor Beach, called the idea a bunch of rubbish. Another (http://bit.ly/1Q3nlfr) came from David Jaroch, a former county commissioner who lives in the district Peruski represents, who writes, Giving additional benefits to the current part-time commissioners will not enhance our local government. Two U.S. Navy rigid-hulled boats and their crews were being held by Iran Tuesday after apparently becoming disabled while traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain, the Pentagon said. "Earlier today, we lost contact with two small U.S. naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain," a senior defense Department official said. "We subsequently have been in communication with Iranian authorities, who have informed us of the safety and well-being of our personnel. We have received assurances the sailors will promptly be allowed to continue their journey." Another official said that the boats may have drifted into Iranian waters near Farsi Island after experiencing mechanical problems. A total of about 10 Navy personnel were believed to be aboard the boats. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said that the boats had illegally traveled more than a mile into Iranian territorial waters before being intercepted. Fars said that forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy had confiscated GPS equipment to "prove that the American ships where snooping' around in Iranian waters." At the White House, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said that "We were aware of circumstances surrounding a patrol in the Persian Gulf. We are working to resolve the situation such that, obviously, any U.S. personnel are returned to their normal deployment." The incident was the latest involving the navies of the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet has its headquarters in Bahrain. Two weeks ago, Iran in an exercise launched rockets that landed within 1,500 yards of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@military.com. It was the second time this year that restrictions have been placed on the use of amphibious combat vehicles. Proposed changes to the military commissary system such as price increases or the addition of a private brand could result in fewer customers, commissary advocates told lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday. "Anytime you mess with the savings ... you risk [shoppers'] loyalty," said Brooke Goldberg, a deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of American. "They rely on that consistency, and so when you change things you risk them leaving and not coming back." Advocates addressed lawmakers at a hearing of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee examining a series of recommendations aimed at ultimately reducing the amount of taxpayer funding the commissary requires to operate. The system receives about $1.4 billion in annual funding, the bulk of which covers the cost of employees. By law, the commissary sells items at-cost, plus a 5-percent surcharge, which pays for store infrastructure. A series of recommendations released over the last year includes calls to allow for price increases based on location, employees to switch to a different pay scale and the development of a "private-label" or generic commissary-only brand that could be sold above cost. The Defense Commissary Agency was ordered by congress as part of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act to develop a plan for running the system without taxpayer funding by 2019. They also gave officials permission to test new pricing models that would base the cost of goods on market rates near the commissary location in question, rather than on the cost of the item to the commissary system. But advocates said each of the recommendations comes with its own set of problematic challenges. For example, changing to a private label would require the agency to put in place complicated and expensive systems that it was not designed to manage, said Pat Nixon, the president of the American Logistics Association, a trade group that represents manufacturers. And any cost increase, even if it still keeps prices below those offered in local civilian markets, could result in families paying more for goods just because the government decided to station them in a high cost of living area, said Eileen Huck, deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. "We don't want to see families who are in high cost areas put at a disadvantage," she said. A new board, the Defense Resale Business Optimization Board, has been established by the Pentagon to roll out that pricing test, though no details are yet available on the locations the department is considering for the pilot program or how the test will be structured. Commissary reform has been considered by lawmakers for several consecutive years as part of the annual defense authorization process, but ultimately put on hold each time. Lawmakers said that while they are interested in examining commissary issues, they plan to use 2016 to reform the military's healthcare system, Tricare, and don't want to tackle too many major changes at once. "We are about to consider meaningful changes to the healthcare system of our service members, and there's a compounding effect if we do too many things at one time," said Rep. Tom MacArthur, a Republican from New Jersey. "We need to be very cautious." -- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. It's official: The Marine Corps is ready to give female Marines the title of infantrymen. The Marines announced today in an administrative message that those female Marines who have already passed enlisted infantry training and relevant job schools for combat arms positions are eligible to receive a ground combat arms military occupational specialty. The announcement comes shortly after the Corps submitted its plan for integration of combat arms jobs to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in keeping with a military-wide mandate. This means that at least 240 female Marines, who made their way through the Corps' Infantry Training Battalion near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, over the last two years as part of a gender integration study, are now eligible for an infantry MOS and may request a lateral move into a ground combat unit, Marine officials said. To date, no female officers have passed infantry officers training. The number of eligible female Marines may be larger; a Marine Corps spokesman, Capt. Philip Kulczewski, said officials were awaiting an official figure from Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs. "Our Marines earned this. They volunteered, worked hard, completed the training, and earned these MOSs," the Marine commandant, Gen. Robert B. Neller, said in a statement. "Given the Secretary of Defense's decision last month, we now have the authority to award those qualified Marines the additional MOS, and we'll continue to keep faith with them. For Marines who are eligible and interested, they can now request to serve in those previously closed jobs." According to the announcement, Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs will grant the infantry titles as additional military occupational specialties for those who passed the training. Female Marines interested in moving into a combat field can then submit their request to Headquarters Marine Corps. However, those lateral moves will be processed only once the Marines' complete plan for integration is approved, officials said. This move marks a significant development for the Marine Corps, the most male-dominated of all the military services with only 7 percent women. The Corps did request exceptions to the integration order, citing an extensive infantry experiment that showed ground combat teams including women were less lethal and more prone to injury than all-male teams. But when Carter announced he would overrule the request, Neller filmed a short message ordering the Corps to "move out" in support of the mandate. "The Commandant and I are extremely proud of those Marines who participated during the two-year research effort in order to help the Marine Corps continue its ongoing gender integration efforts," Marine Corps Sergeant Major Ronald L. Green said in a statement. "Their dedication has helped us develop a well-planned and responsible integration process that ensures the Marine Corps remains prepared to answer our nation's call, while reinforcing our standards and core values." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@monster.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Related video: In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said the terrorist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State pose a "direct threat" to Americans but don't threaten "our national existence." "Both al-Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in today's world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage," he said, referring to the Islamic State in Iraq or Syria, or ISIS, also known as ISIL. "They use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country; they undermine our allies." His comments came a month after 14 people were killed and 22 others injured when a married couple inspired by Islamic extremists attacked employees at a social services center for the disabled in San Bernardino, California. But Obama also warned, "As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence." Since 2014, almost 10,000 airstrikes launched by U.S. and allied warplanes have bombed ISIS targets, destroying "their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons," he said. "We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria." Yet the administration's strategy for combating the group and others by training rebels has been heavily criticized by Republicans. Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has blasted the Pentagon's $500 million program to eventually train and arm up to 5,400 moderate Syrian rebels. In September, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the effort had only resulted in some 60 fighters and, of those, only "four or five" fit for battle. In his roughly hour-long speech, Obama drew groans from Republicans when he described as "political hot air" the idea that America is getting weaker while its enemies are getting stronger. In a statement released after the president's address, Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma and a member of the Senate defense panel, criticized Obama for what he said was prematurely removing U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. After withdrawing American combat forces from Iraq in 2011, Obama reversed course after the rise of ISIS and the U.S. now has about 3,550 troops in the country. More recently, the president authorized the deployment of a special "targeting force" of about 200 personnel to conduct operations in both Iraq and Syria. Obama has also delayed a planned drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan, though they're expected to number to about 5,000 by the end of 2016, down from about 9,800 today. "His lack of leadership has resulted in global instability, the rise of ISIS and the drastic weakening of our military," Inhofe said. "Americans are now less safe because of Middle Eastern instability he caused with the hasty withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan. The deal he signed with Iran does nothing but appease our enemy and with every terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay we have another attacker to be worried about." Obama defended the lighter U.S. military footprint abroad and called on lawmakers to support an authorization for the use of military force against ISIS. "We also can't try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis," he said. "That's not leadership; that's a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. It's the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq -- and we should have learned it by now." Obama also vowed to continue working to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. "Its expensive, its unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies," he said. Notably, the president's only mention of Iran was to tout the international accord designed to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He didn't reference the news Tuesday evening that Iran was holding two small U.S. naval boats and their 10 American crew members -- nine men and one woman -- after one of the vessels encountered a mechanical problem and drifted into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. A senior defense official said Iran has pledged to release the troops, but McCain seized on the omission as evidence that Obama is more concerned with shaping his legacy than solving challenges at home and abroad. "Ten American sailors have been taken into custody in Iran," he said in a statement after the address. "But President Obama completely omitted this latest example of Iran's provocative behavior so as not to interfere with his delusional talking points about his dangerous nuclear deal with Iran." Citing the ISIS-inspired shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, McCain said the terrorist group's threat to "our homeland is real." He also called for "a concrete strategy" to deal with such challenges as the ongoing civil war in Syria that has displaced millions of people and triggered a refugee crisis in Europe, Russian aggression in Eastern Europe and the recent nuclear test by North Korea. "The murderous Assad regime is still barrel-bombing the Syrian people and fanning the flames of extremism and sectarianism that gave rise to ISIL," he said. "Nearly 10,000 Americans are still in harms' way in Afghanistan. Russia still occupies Crimea and is destabilizing Ukraine. North Korea just conducted its third nuclear test under this Administration. Yet these topics barely earned a mention in tonight's address, if at all." --Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. U.S. military installations are no longer allowing visitors to gain base access using official ID cards from five states -- and other installations may soon follow. State-issued drivers licenses and identification cards from Illinois, New Mexico, Missouri, Washington and Minnesota can no longer be used to obtain a visitors pass because those cards dont comply with federal standards, officials said. DoD officials did not say whether or not enhanced driver's licenses (EDL) from Minnesota or Washington would still be accepted. Guidance has already been issued by such installations as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Fort Drum in New York, Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Update: DoD to Issue Guidance 'Soon' for Blocked State IDs, EDLs to Be Accepted. "Effective immediately, residents of these five states can no longer use their drivers license to get a visitors pass," Tom McCollum, a Fort Bragg spokesman said in a release today. "Driver's licenses and identification cards issued by these states cannot be used to access not just Fort Bragg, but all federal facilities, to include other military installations." Nate Allen, a spokesman for the Army, in an email confirmed the changes affect all military installations in the U.S. The changes impact visitors who are attempting to secure a visitors pass to the bases using one of the non-compliant state ID cards. Visitors who are accompanied in the vehicle by a Defense Department card holder can continue to access the installations using any states drivers license, officials said. A spokesman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, said officials there received guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, or OSD, but were still reviewing it. Washington state drivers licenses are among those on the no-acceptance list. Washington state is home to six major military bases. We received the notification from OSD about the changes, and our installation access division is reviewing those requirements to determine what course of action we need to do to be in compliance, said Joe Piek, a base spokesman. Right now there is no change to our installation access requirements but they are being reviewed. SpouseBuzz: What the ID Rule Change Means for You At issue is state compliance with the 2005 REAL ID Act, which requires states to meet minimum security requirements for their state-issued ID cards such as drivers licenses. Some states, such as California, received an extension on complying with the rule. And the Department of Homeland Security granted airline passengers a waiver to continue to use their IDs from the non-compliant states past the Jan. 10 deadline. Accepted forms of identification for granting a base visitors pass include a U.S. passport, any official ID card from any of the compliant states, Native American tribal documents and any Defense Department or federal ID card. VA identification cards, however, are not accepted, officials said. Officials at White Sands Missile Range and Fort Leonard Wood -- both located in states whose IDs are no longer compliant -- announced through Facebook posts that they will continue to accept non-compliant ID cards if they are also presented with a supporting identity proofing document. Those documents include a U.S. military or draft record, social security card, U.S. citizen ID card or certification of birth abroad issued by the State Department, officials said. Officials at Fort Leonard Wood said in a release that they will continue until Jan. 27 to issue one-time passes to visitors holding the no longer accepted IDs. On Jan. 28 no exceptions will be made and visitors without a compliant form of identification will not be granted access, the release said. --Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. BAY COUNTY, MI - The Bay County Board of Commissioners is passing the buck to local municipalities that are concerned about panhandlers along their roads. The board on a unanimous voice vote approved a resolution Tuesday, Jan. 12, urging municipalities to talk with their attorneys about drafting and adopting panhandling ordinances if it's a concern they want to address. County Board Corporation Counsel Amber Johnson said it would be very difficult to enforce a countywide ordinance, since each municipality may have its own particular concerns about panhandlers. She advised the board that the best approach would be to encourage municipalities to look at their own circumstances and craft their ordinances accordingly. Bay City resident Thomas Baird said he has looked into panhandling in Bay County. "It's my opinion that it has gotten out of control," he said. While all county commissioners acknowledged a problem of panhandlers, particularly some who have set up at entrances to Bay City along Euclid Avenue, most said banning panhandling is only part of the solution. "Part of the blame goes right back to the state of Michigan" for budget cuts to services for the homeless, mentally ill and for veterans, said Commissioner Donald J. Tilley, D-6ith District. "We need to help as much as we can and develop a plan" to help people who are on the streets panhandling, said Commissioner Michael E. Lutz, D-7th District. County Executive Thomas Hickner also said that laws controlling panhandling are only part of the solution. Educating the public not to give handouts and making sure that people asking for money have services available to them are also needed. He said the problem is widespread. "We are not the only community that is dealing with this," Hickner said. The Bangor Township Board of Trustees was slated to consider a panhandling ordinance Tuesday night. Other communities in Michigan, including Flint Township in Genesee County, have recently passed panhandling ordinances. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- For many Grand Rapids area shoppers, 2015 will be remembered as a pivotal year for their shopping choices, with the addition of Trader Joe's, West Elm and 75 retailers that are part of the sprawling Tanger Outlets. But the next two years could bring even more shopping and dining choices, say commercial real estate people who market the region to national and regional retailers. Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is on track to open in the first quarter of the year. "We believe that 2016 will be stronger than 2015," said Mark Ansara, part of the retail team at Colliers International. RELATED: Top 10 retailers to open stores in Grand Rapids in 2015 His Grand Rapids firm represented Tanger Outlets and is currently on the hunt for tenants for Westshore Mall, the Holland shopping center undergoing a $25 million "demalling" into Shops @ Westshore. "Many more new retailers are expected to be coming in mid- to end of 2016," Ansara said, adding that it was too early to make any announcements. 'Exciting year' for retail West Michigan is on the map for many national retailers, adds Elliot Muller, part of the family-owned Muller Realty. He knows that because his firm attended three big retail conferences in Chicago, Las Vegas and New York to court retailers about opening locations in West Michigan. "Instead of hearing 'no plans for Michigan,' the tune has changed and is encouraging," Muller said. Last year was an "exciting year" for retail real estate in West Michigan and doesn't show any signs of slowing down in 2016, noted NAI Wisinski of West Michigan, in a recently released retail report. The Grand Rapids firm brought in the region's first Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, which is under construction on Plainfield Avenue NE. 95 percent occupancy rate NAI Wisinski's other deals include bringing Tommy's Boats into West River Drive NW, Kitzingen Brewery to 44th Street and Burlingame Avenue SW and a Popeyes Chicken to a spot on Leonard Street NW. There was renewed growth in the retail sector in 2015, which generated an average occupancy rate of 95 percent. From a development standpoint, the opening of the Tanger Outlets in Byron Center and the start of construction at Knapp's Crossing was a game changer. Rod Alderink "These are all great additions to this market and provide much-needed new retail space," said Dave Denton, vice president with DAR Development. Denton, who represents the land outside of Tanger on 84th Street, says he is close to announcing restaurants on two of the pad sites. He also has three new tenants going into locations at Village of Knapp's Crossing and four into Shops @ Westshore. RELATED: 5 restaurants coming to Village at Knapp's Crossing in Grand Rapids Dar Development was busy last year finding storefronts for Starbucks, Shoe Carnival, Art Van Furniture Pure Sleep, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Style Encore, T-Mobile and Jet's Pizza. Muller's firm sealed the deals for West Michigan's first Jersey Mike's and the state's first Wok Box and Qdoba's first new prototype in Michigan. The firm also negotiated Grand Rapids leases for Davita Dialysis and Tandy Leather for 28th Street SE locations, and Meineke Auto on Alpine Avenue and Dollar Tree on Division Avenue. Dave Denton National retailers tend to stay out of downtown Grand Rapids in favor of the first ring of suburbs and outer ring of Grand Rapids, said Muller, adding the 28th Street commercial corridor is seeing a strong demand after some years of neglect. The suburbs remain the go-to location for most national retailers because there is space to build their prototype stores, while specialty retailers are often drawn downtown or to urban settings and don't find mind retrofitting existing buildings. Why not downtown "Downtown has done very well over the past couple of years and we see that trend continuing," said Rod Alderink, associate broker with NAI Wisinski. "The West Side will continue to grow stronger as new construction occurs and new opportunities are available, especially off West Fulton and Bridge streets." Alderink says West Michigan communities have a good reputation for accommodating retailers' needs, from Byron Township with Tanger Outlets to the city of Grand Rapids with redevelopment along 28th Street SE. Elliot Muller One reason more national retailers don't locate to downtown Grand Rapids is because isn't a big enough cluster of stores. "Retailers like the synergy from other retailers," said Denton. "That is why the suburbs are where they go today. There are malls and shopping centers that have been and can be developed to fit their size requirements and co-tenancy needs in those areas." One retailer that brokers are clamoring to help find Grand Rapids locations is Chick-Fil-A, which has a strong local fan base. The popular Southern chain bought a closed Holland restaurant over the summer, although hasn't yet announced plans for opening locations in West Michigan. "They are the "holy grail" of the fast food industry," Muller said. " We received an offer on a site for Chick-Fil-A but another buyer came in last minute and took the first Grand Rapids location from them." RELATED: Chick-fil-A opening first West Michigan location, say brokers Shandra Martinez covers business for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The chairman of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians said they have no plans to locate a casino in a riverfront building they recently bought for $475,000. Ron Yob said the 550-member tribe bought the building at 1310 Front Avenue NW as a new location for their offices, currently located at 1251 Plainfield Avenue NE. The Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians has been seeking recognition from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs in recent years as a precursor to a casino at the Harbor 31 business park development on Muskegon Lake. Yob declined to comment on the status of that request. The property the tribe has purchased consists of four adjoining buildings that date back to 1930. The buildings on 0.7 acres have about 10,600 square feet of space and back up to a levee overlooking the Grand River. "Downtown Grand Rapids riverfront property is still in high demand," said Doug Taatjes, who brokered the sale as a principal with NAI Wisinski of West Michigan. "This property is an ideal location for any investor as the property values have steadily increased." The new owners plan to keep the existing tenants in the multi-tenant building, according to an NAI news release announcing the Dec. 4, 2015 sale. RELATED: 'Active consideration' of Grand River tribal recognition raises possibility of downtown Muskegon casino Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+. Orange has announced that it will acquire the entirety of the assets of Cellcom Liberia. Orange will provide its marketing expertise and world-class technical capability to further strengthen the network operator, enhance services to consumers and contribute to the economic growth of Liberia, a company statement said. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cellcoms staff will stay on as the company transitions to Oranges ownership. The move is part of the companys overall strategy of entering markets that have a lot of potential for new growth. With the Western market saturated, many carriers are looking to expand into areas like Liberia. While mobile is growing in Africa, the country of 4.3 million people only has a mobile penetration rate of 66 percent, which is lower than most of its neighbors. Orange acquired Cellcom because of its large customer base in the Liberia. Cellcom was the largest provider in the country as of October of last year. African countries have seen wide growth of mobile deployment. The lack of NIMBYism has allowed carriers to locate cell towers in prime locations, offering wide coverage. The region has also seen wide adoption of mobile Internet as the price of smartphones continues to drop, especially Android phone. According to StatCounter, the most widely used operating system is Android, far outpacing Windows 7, which is still the most popular OS worldwide. The most popular browser is Opera, which indicates that a lot of people there have been using feature phones to access the Internet in the past, as Opera has been running on these devices for a long time. That number has been dropping sharply in favor of Chrome and the older Android browser, which means that Orange is right in seeing a large potential market as people upgrade to smartphones. Edited by Kyle Piscioniere Music duo Banka 2 Banka is back after a short break from music and readies to serve music lovers with a smash hit song titled Ashawo Gentle. Ashawo Gentle has a strong message to hypocrites. The song says it is not only people who are seen parading as prostitutes that are prostitutes but also those that take little things to get little favours. Ashawo Gentle is a song that talks about people who pretend to be holier than thou but are back stabbers; the pastors, big men who take peoples wives and ladies who sleep with their bosses for favours. If you are like these people, you are an Ashawo Gentle, Banka 2 Banka quipped. The dynamic music duo started as a group in 2000 but recorded their first song Obadwenba in 2001. That notwithstanding, they were lucky to have met B Bryte, the producer that recorded Danso Abbeams Ghanaian Lady, Ruff N Smooths Swagger, and D Crymes Kill Me Shy, who decided to produce their songs. Later, they recorded Dada Ba with Ray and Cash 2. Banka 2 Banka, made up of Dorllah (Henry Ellorm Andrews) and Konkah (Prince Eli Aklibosu) are now back for good and have come to stay. The energetic duo says, they took some time off to do their homework for a strong come back. We went off the scene for a while. We needed to repackage our brand and songs to satisfy the taste of the music lovers. So we are finally here again. Ghanaians will love Ashawo Gentle. We have a lot of good tunes crying for the music market, they noted. The song, produced by Dr. Ray, has good sound quality with impeccable programming. Dollarh dazzles with oomph and punches in hard as his unique voice hits the beats. Konkah on the other hand displays his rapping prowess and he weaves beautiful lines to complement Dollarhs. Ashawo Gentle, which features Luther of Ekikimi fame, will be officially released on January 20. Former manager of outspoken dancehall artiste, Shatta Wale, Bulldog aka Lawrence Nana Asiamah Hanson has commended President Mahama for exercising high level of intelligence and maturity during his meeting with the press yesterday at the Flag Staff House. The president met the press, stakeholders and all who matter in society yesterday and gave them the opportunity to ask questions they have always wanted to ask should they see him in person. After the encounter, a lot of issues come up, some commended him for his intellect and communication skills whilst others questioned some of his answers. But for Bulldog, in a post on his Facebook page few hours after the meeting was over, he was content with the answers the first man of Ghana gave. He commended his eloquence and reiterated his vote for him in this years presidential elections. His post read; You were intelligently eloquent today at addressing the nation your Excellency John Dramani Mahama. Discerning voters are convinced. #grateful #thywillbedone #killdemwithlove #sikanhyira 13.01.2016 LISTEN Goldstar Airline, Ghanaian Airline Company, has appointed Miss Jacqueline Akweley Mantey-Amoo, second runner-up of Ghana's most beautiful pageant show in 2011, as its ambassador. Miss Mantey-Amoo, better known as Akweley, came to the limelight following a remarkable display of rich knowledge in Ghanaian culture and tradition. Mr John Ashong-Mettle, the Public Relations Officer of Goldstar Airlines, told the Ghana News Agency that the choice of the former beauty queen is in line with the company's policy to indigenize its operations and give pride of place to Ghanaians. Akweley, who represented the Greater Accra Region, during the Ghana's Most Beautiful Pageant Show, exemplified excellence and kept television viewers spellbound during that season and so her choice is apposite, which is pertinent to the growth of the airline Mr Ashong-Mettle said. According to the Goldstar PRO, as lead representative of the airline, her role will be to have an oversight over the Ghanaian cabin crew and also market the country to the array of passengers in terms of bringing to light the rich cultural heritage of mother Ghana when the aircraft is in flight. Miss Mantey-Amoo was engaged by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and Waste Management Company, Zoom Lion as their brand ambassador in 2012 and United Nations Millennium Development Goal Ambassador, to facilitate a sanitation project. She was contracted to be the ambassador for Ghana Textiles Print in 2012. In 2014, Akweley was engaged by Phylfry Cooking Oil as their ambassador and she is bringing her rich hospitality management skills to the airline industry. Kumawood actor and comedian, Abraham Kofi Davies aka Salinko has revealed that he is vying to be a Member of Parliament on the ticket of the Progressive People Party (PPP) because of his love for the flagbearer of the party Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom. The actor recently picked his forms to contest for the PPPs Parliamentary Primaries at Atwima Kwawoma Constituency in Ashanti Region. Speaking to KMJ on Daybreak Hitz (Showbiz Review) on Hitz FM, Salinko said he has been a fan of Dr Nduom since childhood. He said being a good patriotic person, I followed Dr. Nduom since the 4th Republic of Ghana, even though he has lost elections several times, he still pays his dues to the country and I have loved him since my infancy and now I have the chance to stand for him as an MP. The comedian admitted that he did not have enough idea of how parliament operates but promised to learn on the job saying When you go to Rome, you do what the romans do. He disclosed that, the people in his constituency were happy with news of his intention to run for parliament. The actor promised to develop his constituency as well as his community and above all be a leader of peace if he makes it to parliament. Posters of Salinko eying a seat in parliament on the ticket of the PPP have gone viral on social media. Salinko began his acting career nine years ago and has his own production house ABDAVE Production. The company is behind popular television series Bantama Kwasi Boakye. Kumawood actor Actor, Kwasi Boadu popularly known as Akrobeto has denied starring in a local movie titled Guantanamfo) Wo Kromu. The alleged movie said to be produced by Paykenkran Studios stars some Ghanaian actors including Christiana Awuni, Rose Mensah, a.k.a Kyeiwaa and Akrobeto. Last week, the government announced that it had agreed to accommodate the two former terror suspects, Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef (36 years) and Khalid Shayk Mohammed (34 years), in Ghana. Several bodies, including the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference in a statement said the two former detainees - Mahmoud Bin Atef fought for Osama Bin Laden at one time, while Khalid Shayk Mohammed is known to have trained with the terrorist group, Al Qaeda - could pose a threat to Ghana. In the heat of the event, some Ghanaians have sought to reduce the tension by creating humour out of the rather serious situation. One of such humorous enterprise is the reported release of Guantanamofo) Wo Krom Already the posters of Guantanamofo) Wo Krom have been circulating on social media and have got people talking. The poster depicts the admission of the former Guantanamo detainees who are now in Ghana. Reacting to the poster Akrobeto revealed in an interview with Amanda Jissih on Showbiz Filla on Hitz FM that he has no knowledge about the movie. He said in Twi that he hasnt shot any movie concerning that and therefore has no idea about it. The actor wondered how a movie could have been shot within that short period and most importantly have his face on posters as a character in the movie when he had played no such role. He noted he has shot just three movies this year and people should not believe whatever is out there. The United Nations Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Virginia Dandan, will undertake her first official visit to Morocco from 15 to 19 January 2016 to identify good practices of international solidarity through the examination of international cooperation and more particularly international development cooperation. I will assess whether the current initiatives to help and support Morocco's development efforts foster the conditions for the realization of all human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights in the county, Ms. Dandan said. During her five-day visit, the expert will also evaluate if the current international cooperation practices in Morocco are in accordance with the principle of international solidarity as established by international standards. The expert will meet with representatives of governmental institutions specialized in international cooperation including the coordination of development assistance both received and provided by Morocco. Ms. Dandan will also meet with international development partners, civil society organization working in the field of economic, social and cultural rights as well as beneficiaries of international solidarity and all concerned stakeholders Ms. Dandan will hold a press conference to share the preliminary findings of her visit on Tuesday 19 January at the Sofitel, Jardin des roses, Rabat at 12 h00. Access to the press conference is strictly limited to journalists. The Independent Expert's observations and recommendations will be reflected in her final report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2016. 12.01.2016 LISTEN Oil prices have been volatile again, hit by continuing oversupply, the strong dollar and weak global demand. Some members of the Opec group of oil producers have called for an emergency meeting to discuss reducing output. Opec president Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said an extraordinary meeting could be held in early March. On Tuesday, Brent crude fell as low as $30.43 per barrel before recovering to trade 0.5% higher at $31.75 a barrel. Meanwhile the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate , slipped to $30.41 before regaining some ground to $31.06 a barrel. Oil prices have fallen about 15% since the start of the year to near-12 year lows. North Sea Brent Crude has fallen 70% since September 2014, when it it was last at $100 per barrel. Fresh review? Opec members are not due to meet until June, having previously met in December, but the deterioration in the oil price has prompted calls from several members for a fresh review of quotas. We did say that if it (the price) hits the $35 per barrel, we will begin to look (at) an extraordinary meeting, said Mr Kachikwu, who is also Nigerias petroleum resources minister. He said that a couple of countries had been pushing for a meeting, but would not say which those were. Much will depend on Saudi Arabia, which has resisted calls to cut production. Saudi Arabia has never held the position that it does not want to talk. In fact, it was very supportive of a meeting before June, at the time when we held the December meeting, if (there was a) consensus call for it, the Opec president said. Saudi Arabia wants to maintain market share despite the sliding oil prices. Producer pain . Lower prices are hurting smaller oil producing nations, such as Nigeria, Algeria and Venezuela, which are all suffering heavily as the price of oil is no longer high enough to cover the cost of production. Lower oil prices have also had an impact on Saudi Arabia. It announced a budget deficit nearing $100bn (68bn) last year, prompting tax rises within the kingdom. Saudi Arabia also said it was considering listing state oil company Saudi Aramco on the stock market in an effort to raise cash. The near-term outlook for the oil market is bleak, said analysts at Jefferies. Opec is producing flat-out into a market that is oversupplied by over one million barrels per day; already decelerating demand growth could further decay with slowing economic activity; and OECD inventories that are already at record levels are likely to expand through at least the middle of the year. There is such a big oversupply globally that countries are running out of storage. The US, which is thought to have among the largest oil storage facilities in the world, has nowhere left to store it, according to Paul Stevens, professor emeritus at Dundee University. Storage is pretty much full and people are already talking about buying tankers as floating storage, he said. But if supply continues to outstrip demand, then the only thing that you can do with the oil is sell it, which inevitably pushes the price down. Oystein Berentsen, managing director of crude oil at trading company Strong Petroleum, said the strong US dollar was a factor, but that oversupply was mostly responsible for falling oil prices. Once the crude surplus turns into a product surplus and we start running out of storage capacity, there will be even more pressure on prices and an imminent collapse, he said. -bbc 12.01.2016 LISTEN The Chinese authorities have arrested and charged at least seven human rights lawyers and associates with subversion, friends and family say. The employees of Fengrui law firm in Beijing, including founder Zhou Shifeng, have been held in secret since last summer. If put on trial they may face sentences of between 15 years and life in jail. China has been conducting a widespread crackdown on activists, including scores of lawyers and their staff. Mr Zhou came to prominence representing families caught up in Chinas poison baby milk scandal in 2008. He was detained in July last year a week later state media reported he had confessed to unspecified crimes. His colleague, Liu Xiaoyuan, confirmed with the BBC that Mr Zhou, lawyer Wang Quanzhang and intern Li Shuyun had been formally arrested by police under suspicion of state subversion. Four others, lawyers Xie Yanyi, Xie Yang and Sui Muqing, and legal assistant Zhao Wei, had been arrested and accused of incitement to state subversion, AFP news agency reported, citing their friends and relatives. The BBCs Jo Floto in Beijing says it now looks likely the group will face trial. If they do, conviction is all but guaranteed. Public defenders shut down Celia Hatton, BBC News Much has been made of the Chinese authorities crackdown on defence lawyers. Around 250 lawyers and legal assistants have been detained since last year a worrying campaign that contradicts Beijings trumpeted desires to strengthen Chinas rule of law. . Most of those lawyers have since been released. However, todays formal arrests show that, from the start, the detained lawyers from the FengRui law firm were placed in a different category. Months ago, the firms offices were completely cleaned out by police. FengRui was known for taking on high-profile cases that affected large numbers of people, starting with the 2008 baby formula case, when more than 300,000 infants were sickened by tainted formula. FengRuis lawyers sometimes encouraged petitioners to gather outside the courthouses where their cases were being heard. They took their roles as public defenders very seriously a move that might have angered the authorities, leading to a comprehensive crackdown that effectively shut down FengRui. Crackdown Last year the authorities put out a statement accusing a group led by the Fengrui lawyers of illegally hiring protesters and swaying court decisions in the name of defending justice and public interests. It accused the group of organising more than 40 controversial incidents and severely disrupting public order, and gave an example in which it had allegedly presented a legitimate police shooting at a railway station as a murder conspiracy. In July, the Chinese authorities launched what appeared to be an orchestrated campaign, when more than 280 human rights lawyers and activists along with their associates were summoned or detained or just disappeared. The arrests have been widely seen as the states attempts to stifle dissent. Last month one of the countrys most prominent rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, received a suspended jail sentence after a brief trial for inciting ethnic hatred and picking quarrels in social media posts. Rights group Amnesty International called that sentence a deliberate attempt by the Chinese authorities to shackle a champion of freedom of expression. -bbc Accra, Jan. 12, GNA - Mr Joseph Agyapong, an aspiring presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), has said the party is the only political party with the best governance policies to redeem the country from its economic woes. He said both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have failed Ghanaians in their over 25 and eight years rule of the country respectively. Mr Agyapong was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), after he filed his nomination to contest for the CPP presidential race at the party headquarters in Accra. He said CPP has a incomparable track record in the nation's political history, adding that the party was ready to offer more of such services to Ghanaians. Mr Agyapong said "I believe in unity and also believe that if we put our house together and showcase the party proper, there is no way we can't win elections". He called for mobilization of support from the grassroots and resources to help project the image of the party to the ordinary Ghanaian. He urged all delegates to carefully consider the future of the party before deciding on the flag bearer, come January 30th, when the party goes for congress to elect their presidential candidate. GNA Koala Supermarket has presented a brand new CHEVROLET OPTRA (SEDAN) SALOON CAR to the brave taxi driver, Nana Yaw who foiled the robbery attack on a Koala employee, Lydia Horsu at Cantoments. Following the attack which took place on January 9th, 2016, management of the Koala supermarket who pledged to reward the taxi driver with a car for his heroism have fulfilled their promise. Nana Yaw upon receiving the keys to his brand new car couldnt hold back joy, knelt down with his hands lifted and thanked God for his blessings. He was filled with joy as he thanked Koala supermarket for fulfilling their promise. During the presentation, the Director of Koala, Mr Imad Wolley expressed his heart felt gratitude to the taxi driver for his outstanding bravery which saved the life of his staff. Koala is not just a supermarket with employees and employers but a supermarket where we look after each other as a family" he said. He called on Ghanaians to be each others keepers in similar situations and to work hand in hand with the Ghana Police to curb the menace of armed robbery to make the society safer for the citizenry. Mr Wolley stated that the exemplary act of the taxi driver will go a long way to influence us all to be men of brave standing. He also expressed gratitude to the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama for pledging to give a house to the taxi driver for his brave act that saved the life of his employee. Mr Wolley also assured Ghanaians that Miss Horsu will be reinstated after her recovery and she is in very good hands at the hospital. Signed Christal Beeko Marketing and Public Relations Koala Supermarket IMG 0969 DSC 1036 IMG 0990 United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A confidential UN memo to the Security Council warns that a peacekeeping force that was sent to Burundi would be unable to quell large-scale violence in the conflict-wracked African country. The memo sent by UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous advised council members last week to travel to Bujumbura for urgent talks on the crisis over President Pierre Nkurunziza's election to a third term. "A truly worst-case scenario will result in a scale of violence beyond the United Nations' capacity to protect," said the memo obtained by AFP on Tuesday. The document outlines three scenarios including a continuation of the current level of violence, an escalation and finally, all-out war with fighting along ethnic lines. "United Nations peacekeeping is limited in its ability to address significant violence against civilians, even violence amounting to genocide where it lacks a political framework or the strategic consent of the host-nation and/or the main parties in the conflict," the memo said. Burundi has been sliding deeper into violence since Nkurunziza announced his intention to run in elections in July, which he went on to win. Hundreds have died in the violence and tens of thousands have fled to neighboring countries out of fear of a return to all-out war. Some 300,000 people were killed in the 1993-2005 civil war in Burundi. Bujumbura has rejected a proposed 5,000-strong African Union contingent to halt the violence, calling it an "invasion" force. Nkurunziza last month called on Burundians to "stand up to fight" if AU troops set foot on Burundian soil without permission. Uganda is seeking to mediate talks between the government and the opposition but Nkurunziza refused to take part after a first meeting on December 28. 13.01.2016 LISTEN This comes well after the auspicious fact of the indefinite suspension of Messrs. Afoko, Agyepong and Crabbe, and so I really do not expect the observations contained herein to make much of a difference, in terms of the partys decision-making process. Still, suffice it to say that the petition brought against Mr. Freddie Blay, the Acting National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is nothing short of the patently frivolous (See NPP Group Calls for Freddie Blays Suspension Starrfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 11/10/15). It is frivolous because it is clearly more of a retaliatory ploy than any progressive move aimed at readying up the countrys main opposition political machinery for the democratic takeover and massive reconstruction of the countrys effectively collapsed infrastructure and industrial and entrepreneurial foundations. For instance, the lead signatory to the petition, Mr. Richmond Yeboah, of Adansi-Asokwa, claims that Mr. Blay, as Chief Executive Officer of Western Publications Limited, publishers of the countrys foremost opposition-leaning newspaper, the Daily Guide, has consistently used the latter media organization to singularly undermine the partys recently suspended National Chairman, Mr. Paul Afoko, and the New Patriotic Partys General-Secretary, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong. The fact of the matter here is that when it comes to the promotion of the 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the latters running-mate, Alhaji-Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the loyalties of the former rump-Convention Peoples Party (CPP) key operative cannot be questioned. Indeed, Mr. Blays Daily Guide newspaper plays essentially the same frontline role that the Akufo-Addo-owned, and on the latter score I stand to be corrected, landmark New Statesman newspaper played in the promotion of the leadership cause of then-Candidate John Agyekum-Kufuor and the latters running-mate, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, late, and continued to play throughout the 8-year tenure of President John Agyekum-Kufuor. You simply cannot say the same for Messrs. Afoko, Agyepong and Crabbe, all of whose political loyalties were widely known to be unmistakably and intransigently anti-Akufo-Addo. It is also rather absurd for Mr. Yeboah, the lead signatory to the aforementioned petition against Mr. Blay to claim that deleterious and factional tensions within the New Patriotic Party have only become convulsive during the past year, or in the wake of the ill-fated Tamale congressional election of the Three Musketeers. To be certain, factional tensions within the New Patriotic Party far predate the official inauguration of the latter in Ghanas Fourth Republic, and was even more convulsively so from the nomination of Prof. Albert Adu Amankwaa Boahen, deceased, as the NPPs very first Presidential Candidate in 1992. It may well have reached its apogee in 2008 when, with barely four months to go to that years December general election, Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen publicly and pontifically walked away from the New Patriotic Party. Mr. Kyerematen is widely known to be the pet presidential candidate of former President John Agyekum-Kufuor. But, perhaps, what is even more significant to note here is the fact that Mr. Kyerematen had mischievously led party leadership and staunch supporters and sympathizers into believing that whatever differences he claimed to have with Nana Akufo-Addo could be promptly and amicably ironed out in time for a resounding victory in 2008. What happened, ultimately, is prime grist for future historians. Mr. Yeboah, the lead anti-Blay petitioner, and his associates clearly do not have the collective interest and cause of the New Patriotic Party at heart. They are only on the lookout for the kind of internecine acts of vengeance, incrimination and recrimination that have rendered the NPP the kind of rancorous opposition party it is today. Maybe Mr. Yeboah and his co-petitioner, Mr. Sampson Nimako-Darko, may do well to explain precisely what progressive activities the Three Musketeers were engaged in that caused the partys parliamentarians, including Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the Parliamentary Minority Leader, to summarily and effectively cut off their regular contributions to the partys Asylum Down headquarters. For instance, Mr. John Boadu, the partys former National Organizer, presently its Acting General-Secretary, has alleged that whatever decisions that were confidentially taken at party headquarters, especially in regard to strategic policies, shortly found their way onto the airwaves and the pages of National Democratic Congress-leaning and -sponsored newspapers. At no time has Mr. Boadu accused Mr. Blay of using his Daily Guide newspaper to deviously and blisteringly undermine party leadership the way that Messrs. Afoko, Agyepong and Crabbe have publicly attempted to impugn the credibility of the NPPs National Council (NC), the partys National Executive Committee (NEC) and its Disciplinary Committee (DC). What have Messrs. Richmond Yeboah and Nimako-Darko got to say in response to the preceding undeniably disturbing observations? *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs 13.01.2016 LISTEN Dear President John Dramani Mahama, My name still remains the same; same old, same old Cletus Abaare, the son of a former watchman and native of Bawku West Constituency. A constituency where Hon Cletus Avoka, one of your three wise men has put under key and lock. Rumours have it that, the key was dumped somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea during one of his globe-trotting business. Another refreshing rumour is that, the gods of the area got angry and have charmed the key back from that deadly sea and will unlock the constituency this time around. Bad news for you and your party. Seen? The gods are wiser than your wise men. Enough of him. He is not my business today. Sir, as the old adage will have it, when a bald headed man rush into a barbering shop, tainted with sweat, his mission, obviously, is not to have his hair cut but for a different reason. So my purpose of writing you this letter with this unfamiliar tone is not to crack jokes with you. Not at all. There is no sign of laughter close to my hungry looking face. Take no offence that I have suddenly thrown the good Northern culture to the pigs and decided to start this desperate discussion with my elderly brother like you without first finding out how you are doing. Courtesies can wait! Mr. President, let me begin by telling you what you already know and must not forget. Yes, I want to start by re-echoing into your demanding ears of what you are not expected to have forgotten: about the many doom predictions of the almighty year 2016. The year 2016 elections is widely seen as, the year of Ghanas disentanglement. The year that Leviathan contraption knocked together by Frederick Lugard for the glory of the British Empire, will totter back to its separate aboriginal parts and drown an already overwhelmed Africa with another swarm of wretched refugees in an unspeakable flurry of the typical African misery. There is a saying amongst the Kusasi people that, there is no little shame on the face of a pregnant woman on her day of delivery. No. Not even a little. The discomfort, the uncertainty and the terror surrounding her life at that moment simply take away the element of shame from her leaving her to the harsh realities of nature. Seen? I and many other Ghanaians today are that proverbial pregnant woman in labour. We are in labour to deliver the 2016 general elections. Our vaginas are madly exposed to the satisfactory view of the native doctor. We are not sure of our very existence after delivery. We are not equally sure of the baby to be delivered yet. All is blanketed! Sir, for the purposes of me and the many other Ghanaians labour period, our brotherhood must give way for the truth to be told. The dreadful prediction that I am re-echoing in this letter is not from the mouth of the most wizardry soothsayers, of Kusanaba, place of my birth non Bole, your place of birth too. It is the reality that will present itself before all Ghanaians come November 7 general elections if care is not taken swiftly. Many of the ordinary electorate who cannot afford a visa out of the shores of Ghana are trembling at the threatening inevitability of these predictions. Your delivery at your meeting with the press yesterday was fantastic, impressive, striking and inspiring. From the corner where I was sitting with many other colleagues, I was engaged in intermittent involuntary smiles. You were truly on top of the issues. You demonstrated beyond doubts that your communication skills still remains solid and unshaken. I dont know whether you spotted me but I am not ashamed to confess my sins if people may deem it so. But what glued my lips together from such involuntary actions was your approach to the question on our safety during the November 7 deadly elections. You look too confident, self-assured and buoyant that all is going to be well with us during such a period. Sir, I and many others are not that confident. So sir, never attempt to join the treacherous ostriches who have started dismissing the violent predictions of the November 7 elections as tales from the seamless yarn of Nostradamus, the religious among them claiming that the God that brought us together this far even during the 2012 general elections when the infamous All-die-be-die slogan was declared is not about to abandon us and let us fall apart. The political tempos are unreasonably at its dangerous peak. All of you are hungry for power and will do everything possible to get it. Mr. President, the truth be told, though, is it obviously not welcoming to the side of the human tongue that is only created to recognize sweetness. You, the politicians, who are hovering over the carcass of the Ghanaian elephant are too greedy, too hungry, though, your bellies are full, too visionless, though, you insist we address you as visionaries and warmongers, though, you preach peace. Sir, like I said earlier, lets keep our brotherhood out of this. You, the politicians, especially the desperate ones, dont notice the dangers of the prediction of the violence staring at us in the face come November 7 or you are simply adopting the people die anyway attitude. Dont ask me who said that sir. I think the Ghana Medical Association are better placed to answer this question. Aha! You smile at the mentioned of the carcass elephant? It is tempting. Yes. It is. I would have joined you in a louder laughter if it was what you are thinking now. But sir, it is not the NPPs elephants in the Mole Game reserve in the Damongo forest who are at each others neck that Im talking here. They are wolfing themselves in the full glare of the public yet they claim they are rather united than ever. Forget about them sir, what could they have said? When your mother is dead and you claim she is sleeping, her stench will soon expose you. The NPP is not only malodourous but it is choking our nostrils yet they say its coming from leftover food in their kitchen. The party is continuously festering in self-inflicted crises, as it does, the leadership is consumed in a dangerous illusion that they are winning the November 7 elections hands down because the current government is supposedly deep rooted in corruption. They are thinking victory, while their party burns. The politically clever among them try to engage in an endless propaganda as if a loud noise can smother the stench of their rotting sleeping mother. Huh! Lets mind our own business. Mr. President, between the violence prognostication by many ordinary thinking Ghanaians especially with such an opposition party desperate for power and your confidence that all shall be well, lies the real truth; that the November 7 general elections is going to be one of the toughest elections to ever happened in the political annals of Ghana. We have a government that is not ready to lose power and we have an extremely dangerous opposition party that is not ready to accept a defeat no matter the genuineness of the elections. I am tempted to put it to you that you yourself know this. Which was why you strategically reconstituted the top hierarchy of your defense force. Sir, the burden of this letter is the impending national election, the run-off to it, its actual execution, and its possible aftermath. Mr. President, you will agree with me that this election is so crucial, so fateful that its outcome will decide the coming to pass or otherwise of the violence so loudly and so frightfully foretold for me, the many suffering citizens across the country. Yes sir. It is so crucial for the people from the remotest village where I was born called Kusanaba-Peri in the Bawku West District to the bola choked capital city of Ghana call Accra. The troubling signs are all over the country. They are so visible and very conspicuous for the blind to see. Right now, the busting of the most sophisticated weapons in Kumasi and the trailer load of the millions of bullets that were intercepted at the Aflao border is prove that all is not well sir. The NPP headquarters which is literally out of bound and beyond control was allegedly harbouring dangerous weapons. Sir relate this to the impending election. A party office is not a military zone. Why housing guns? Sir, in my reading of Ghanas history, no event has so constantly, so serially threatened the peace and very existence of Ghanaians as the pending general elections. Sir, 2016 is here with us. The year of the make-or-break election. Mr. President, from its every indication, from its verbal language and body gesture, I am telling you that the November 7 elections will not be devoid of violence and you must take every step to make sure our peace and security remain intact. You are the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, use your powers without fear or favour to make sure there is absolute peace before and after the almighty November 7 elections. Ghana must not die. Ghana must live. Your defiant brother, Ashaiman Many people are compelled to resort to open defecation due largely to insanitary conditions at most public latrine blocks in the country. Thats an observation by international non-governmental organization, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor. Ghana is ranked second, behind Sudan, in open defecation in Africa, with 19 percent of the population engaged in the practice. Statistics show 10 percent of Ashanti Regions population resort to open defecation due to inaccessible and unclean toilets. The situation has been the cause of certain diseases including cholera and dysentery. Project Facilitator for WSUP, Samuel Owusu Adjei, says improvement in sanitation can help reduce sanitation related diseases. Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor is partnering the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to assist 100,000 people have toilets in their compounds over five years. Project Facilitator for WSUP, Samuel Owusu Adjei, is optimistic improvement in compound sanitation will help curtail open defecation. In the strategy in place we will help landlords access loans for construction of toilets, artisans will also be engaged to aid in the construction at a low costby the end of the project we hope to end open defecation, he reiterated. Mr. Adjei spoke to Luv News when the organization honored nine pubic latrine block operators in Kumasi maintaining clean environment at the facilities. He spells out criteria for the award scheme on which operators have already received training. We have earlier trained the facility keepers and sanitation inspectors on what to look out for at these places of convenience and we acted based on the report received from our people. He however implored the general public to report poor sanitation at some areas to the appropriate authorities for sanctions. Meanwhile, Deputy Coordinating Director at Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Emmanuel Ntoso say sanitation at public latrines have improved in the year under review. He reiterates the Assembly is bent on promoting sanitation in the city. Our partnership with WSUP has helped improve sanitation in some of the public places of convenience, we will continue to enforce proper conditions at these place, he added. The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has promised to pay claims of its clients by Friday January 15, 2016. The Authority suspended claims payment after BNI investigations begun into the conduct of NHIA former Chief Executive Sylvester Mensah and other officials on suspicion of fraudulent claims payment. The suspension of the payments sparked agitation by the Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana (HISPAG) which says its members are in distress. NHIA Communications Manager for the Greater Accra Region Selorm Adornoo told Joy News plans are already underway to pay the claims. What will happen this time round is that the claims we make will be to facilities which are in good standing, I mean service providers who have active valid credentials or accreditation status with the NHIA or those whose applications have already been submitted for renewal, Mr Adornoo said. According to the NHIA Communications Manager, service providers whose accreditation have expired will not receive claims payment. We just want to ensure that our systems are a bit more stringent now. We just want to ensure that our service providers take a bit seriously the systems we have established as NHIA, he said. MY RECORDS WILL SPEAK ON NOV 7 PRESIDENT President John Mahama on Tuesday mounted a strong defence of the tremendous achievements of his administration, saying Ghanaians would judge him accordingly in the November 7 elections. PRESIDENT DEFENDS DECISION TO ACCEPT GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES President John Mahama has categorically debunked claims by sections of the public that the governments decision to accept the two former Guantanamo Bay detainees into the county was informed by monetary considerations. BRITISH FUGITIVE CHARGED WITH MURDER The British fugitive accused of murdering his girlfriend and his two children was Tuesday remanded in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) by the Accra Magistrate Court. MAHAMA FIGHTS FOR AL-QAEDA FOOT-SOLDIERS President John Mahama on Tuesday compassionately appealed to Ghanaians to have mercy on the two Guantanamo Bay detainees linked to Osama Bin Ladins Al-Qaeda terrorist group who have been brought to Ghana. MINING CONCESSION OWNERS FRUSTRATED The increased rate of galamsey activities within Preatea and its surrounding areas is generating tension, especially between the Miners Association and the District Police Commander on one hand and the concession owners on the other. ALLEGED UK WIFE KILLER CAGED The 48-year-old man accused of murdering his EastEnders girlfriend and their two children, Arthur Simpson Kent, has appeared before the Kaneshie District Magistrate Court in Accra for murder. I WONT JEOPARDIZE NATIONS SECURITY MAHAMA DECLARES President John Mahama says he would be the greatest loser if he puts the nations security in jeopardy. ALLEGED BRITISH MURDERER REMANDED A British national, Arthur Simpson Kent accused of murdering his girlfriend and two children has been remanded into the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) by the Kaneshie Magistrates Court. YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AGENCY TO RECRUIT 20,000 HEALTH WORKERS The Youth Employment Authority (YEA) has announced it readiness in rolling out its numerous modules in February. 2016 to reduce the rising rate of unemployment among the youth in the country. TOUGHEN UP MAHAMA SAYS OVER FUEL PRICE HIKES President John Mahama is asking Ghanaians to toughen up in the face of recent hikes in petroleum prices, following the introduction of an Energy Levy that has resulted in an average 30 percent increase in prices. CAPITAL GAINS TAX SHOCKS GSE The capital market is rife with shock and concerns that the introduction of a capital gains tax hurt the growth ambitions of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) as investors looking to make maximum return on investment are more likely to flee to other markets that provide better incentives. AIRLINES OPT FOR NEW PLANES Domestic airlines are to take delivery of relatively new aircraft on dry lease arrangement this year, following ratification of the Cape Town Convention. Archbishop Kwaku Frimpong Manson, a United Kingdom based Ghanaian community leader, was among recipients who were awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) by the Queen of England. The British Empire Medal (formally British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to replace the original medal which had been established in 1917 as part of the Order of the British Empire. Archbishop Frimpong Manson, Archbishop of the Apostolic Congress of Great Britain, received the British Empire Medal (BEM) for service to the community of Tottenham, London. A brief profile obtained by the Ghana News Agency indicates that Archbishop Frimpong-Manson is the founder and director of Reconciliation International. He has been working in the Broadwater Farm (Tottenham) neighbourhood securing better social, health, education and economic well-being for a community embracing over 40 nationalities. His dedication, commitment and service to youth since 1987 have been well-documented and appreciated. Highly respected and admired, his personal conviction is to transform the message of the gospel to reach out to the community in a practical way to show the real strength of our Christian faith. This, he is achieving on a daily basis. He has been in Ministry for 25 years and carved a niche for himself as a consummate community leader, consulted by the police as well as other organisations on matters relating to the youth and community affairs. Archbishop Frimpong Manson a native of Wiamoase in the Ashanti Region, arrived in the UK in 1987, set up the Born-Again Evangelical Ministries which became a charity in 1994 and was renamed Reconciliation International. He moved to the Broadwater Farm Estates in Tottenham in 1991 and became the Chairperson of the Estate in 1994, serving in this capacity until 2009. In 2002, he was ordained as a Bishop, becoming a freestanding Archbishop ten years later in 2012 when he was elevated. Archbishop Frimpong Manson worked with then MP for Tottenham, Bernie Grant, and David Lammy, and other leaders of the Ghanaian and Afro-Caribbean UK community, and has helped to improve relations between police and the youth living on the BWF Estate. Archbishop Frimpong Manson carries out his many responsibilities from his busy offices based at the Broadwater Farm Estates, providing services including Bereavement Counselling, Youth engagement, Police liaison, Pastoral care for Mental Health Services and many more, sometimes with very limited resources as funding is the biggest challenge for the organisation. He is married to Mrs Philipina Nana Yaa Frimpong Manson with whom he has five children. Reconciliation International is a Community Based Charity providing invaluable support to the Ghanaian and Afro-Caribbean Community in the UK. It was founded by Archbishop Frimpong Manson, who has been instrumental in transforming the Broadwater Farm Estates in Tottenham. Basic school pupils in the Nhyiaeso sub-metro of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region have expressed keen interest in issues affecting their environment in preparations to partake in the Young Innovators Booth Camp. The booth camp aims at empowering the youth to proffer innovative solutions to problems mitigating against development in their communities. Most of the student groups in the first edition of the competition are proffering solutions to indiscriminately felling of trees, protection of water bodies and other issues environmental concerns. The deteriorating nature of the environment has become a major concern to the world as parts of the planet continue to experience extreme weather conditions as a result of change in climate. Strict adherence to good environmental practices is one of the ways these challenges can be limited. 41 schools out of the 52 groups in the competition, are seeking to tackle issues affecting their environment. Group dubbed Amazing Grace of Sokoban M/A Basic School is seeking to help curtail the problem of air pollution that has been the major issue of concern to the community. The pupils seek to provide infographics that explain the effects of burning on the climate, human health and destroy water bodies The fast depreciation of the sanity of the environment is the motivation of the groups choice of project. We have drawn a policy and in that policy we will educate the carpenters and wood processors about the harmful effects of air pollution. They burn their waste and this pollute the environment. We will also encourage our mates to do same in their homes. From what we have learnt in school, we are informed that the environment is getting destroyed and someone has to protect it, team leader said. Also the King of Kings Group will represent Adiebeba Basic School with Save the River project which aims at protecting river bodies at the Nhyiaeso sub-metro. The project involves educating the public on proper ways of disposing waste as some people have resorted to disposing off waste in water bodies. We will also grow trees along water bodies to protect the rivers and water bodies in this area because from our investigations a lot of the waters are drying up, a member of the group said. These projects will compete other problem solving ideas developed from social and economic challenges of communities. Team Leader of Centre for Social Innovations, organizers of the event, Benson Adjei believes the solutions are relevant to the development of the local communities. We have seen lots of brilliant innovations from the pupils, and we are happy with the interest being shown in issues affecting the environment. Those pursuing other projects aside the environment have also done very well, he said. This years event is organized in collaboration with the Department for Community Development at the sub-metro. Director at the Department, Joseph Apau believes the initiative will help drive development in the area. After this project, we will try adopt some of the projects and use these pupils as agents of development in our local communities, he added. A Former Student leader and a philanthropist, Mr. Mohammed Adams Sukparu has presented items worth Ghc 3,000 and a cash of GHc 1,000 to the Human Compassion Orphanage located at Pokuase-Mayera, a suburb of Accra. The donation was to climax his birthday celebration. Items presented to the children included cash, sacks of rice, packets of sugar, boxes of washing powders, tins of tomatoes, packets of biscuits, cans of oil, toiletries and other commodities. Presenting the assorted products, Mr. Sukparu Adams, who is the immediate President of the Private Universities Students Association of Ghana (PUSAG), said the aim was to show love, care and also interact with the orphans on his special day. He pledged to the management and the inmates of the home to make this an annual event. Mr. Adams Sukparu who also doubles as the Managing Director of Sumag Logistics Ltd also urged the children to be obedient to their care takers and teachers so that they become responsible adults in future. Receiving the items on behalf of the orphan home, Mr. Kofi Mensah expressed gratitude to Mr. Adams Sukparu for his kind gesture and said the children were thankful to him for his kindness. He asked philanthropists and individual bodies to emulate the young student leader. Human compassion orphanage was founded by the late Linda Akyaa who died of AIDS. It houses over 23 children who are affected and infected by HIV. Among other responsibilities, Human Compassion takes care of these vulnerable children by providing them with shelter, food, education, and health, through the support philanthropists and stakeholders and institutions through their donations made to the home Ghana is viewed as a relatively peaceful country in a sub region characterized by constant cycle of conflicts. Analysts have identified porous borders, drug, arm, human trafficking, and other cross border crimes along the increasing levels of insurgent and terrorist activities as major security threats to countries in the West African sub region. For instance, as Mali and Nigeria battle with the insurgency from Ansar din, and Boko Haram, respectively, the immediate and distant neighbors of both countries bear the brunt of the ongoing incidence. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, a survey on global terrorism trends had ranked Ghana as a country with no major incidence of casualties from terrorism between 1968-2006. The foregoing had in part, arguably led to a limited research on the Ghana-terrorism nexus phenomenon. Nevertheless, the recent recruitment of some Ghanaian graduates into the swelling ranks of Boko Haram and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in August 2015 seems to contradict the pacifist notions about the erstwhile Gold Coast colony. Extracts from some of my research findings on this sensitive subject suggest that gradually, Ghana faces imminent threats of terrorism. This observation springs from several scholarship sources of research work I have conducted; some of which include Ghanas vulnerability to the threat of terrorism: Real, Emerging or imagined?, The rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria: Lesson for Ghana?, and The evolution of the Afghanistan Taliban from the 1990s to post 2001. The qualitative-based research papers prominently analyze and discuss the findings by drawing on literature about terrorism and violent radicalization. The analyses reveal that Ghanas susceptibility to the menace of terrorism is real, and steadily building up. Using some selected sub (regional) terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram, and Al Shabaab as referent points, the study identify that Ghanas security is threatened by the transnational aspects of the former. The revelations that some Ghanaians could be swayed by the ideological influences and the activities of the aforesaid sects is becoming a reality. Other factors that add weight to the threats from Boko Haram, and Al-Shabaab, among others, include but not limited to lack of domestic and transnational security cooperation and collaboration, the Economic Community of West African States policy of free movement of people and goods, weak borders, influx of refugees, and not least, Ghanas continuous involvement in international military interventions. As a consequence, the study admonishes Ghanaian authorities to closely watch current social, political, economic and religious conditions such as poverty, poor governance, corruption, unemployment, refugees and (violent) religious radicalization which could light the flames of terrorism in Ghana. Against this backdrop, some highlights on the above caption would probably shed some light on whether the Ghana governments decision on accommodating two allegedly hardened and high risk-self-confessed terror suspects, was cogent. Attempts at this venture is neither premised on scoring political points nor anchored on anecdotal analysis, and must therefore be met with sound optimism. Fox News notes that the two terror suspects in question are Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, and Khalid Muhammed Salih Al-Dhuby. The former is pointedly noted for admitting to the membership of the Taliban, holding allegiance to, and combating on behalf of the late Osama Bin Laden, serving an uncharged sentence of approximately 14 years at Guantanamo Bay, threatening to kill US citizens on multiple occasions including a specific threat to cut their throats upon his release, and is therefore deemed high risk to the US and American interests. The latter is said to have served under the apprenticeship of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, resulting in his almost 14 years incarceration at Guantanamo Bay following his capture. Relatively, he does pose a medium risk to the US and American interests. For the avoidance of doubt, the Guantanamo Bay base is a United States military prison which is situated in Cuba. It was purposely established to confine, interrogate, and prosecute perilous people for their involvements in terrorism, and other war crimes. Some security-related questions linger in my mind; 1. Are there no US citizens, companies, and interests in Ghana such that the latters hosts could strike against? 2. Do Ghanas guests pose substantial threats to the countrys security and stability? 3. Why cant the US accommodate them? 4. How effective and efficient is Ghanas intelligence and security services when juxtaposed with that of the USA? Need I say more? I am sure some questions persistently preoccupy your minds as well. Strangely enough, the Ghana government indicates that her decision to accommodate the quondam Guantanamo detainees of Yemeni origin was purely premised on humanitarian grounds, and that there were no strings attached. I hope the leadership has not lost sight of the fact that Ghana is still a sovereign state with the right to pick and choose what it will and wont do. This is not to say that Ghana and the US should not collaborate to play pivotal roles in addressing issues of terrorism. The sensitivity of the issue as it revolves round a panoply of international relations phenomena of human rights, international law, great power politics, and international and national security, requires a nuanced analyses. First, the attempt by the US government to close the seemingly controversial Guantanamo Bay detention facility seems prudent since it seeks to end the perceived violations of human rights, and international law, to mention but a few. However, to the extent that the (former) inmates of GITMO have not been trialed in a competent court of jurisdiction to establishing their complexities or otherwise of the allegations levelled against them, does not abruptly end the controversies and the legalities that shroud the move. If this is anything to go by, Ghana could perhaps be said to have virtually implicated itself in this arguable venture by kowtowing to Americas appeal. In this respect, it may have been fair to the ex-detainees, and the US government, if the former had been arraigned before a competent court. Consequently, such an attempt might have partly put to rest, if not wholly, the contention surrounding their hanging status as terrorists or otherwise. Secondly, one may raise a genuine concern which bothers on a possible pressure the Ghana government might have been beset with before arriving at its decision. Disregarding the impacts of the political power, and influence the worlds remaining sole super power wields in brokering this deal may culminate in the flouting of facts. Whiles denying not the salience of this standpoint, an instrumental question is nonetheless worth-asking; has the government erred in heeding to a request which overtly seems inimical to the security of its people? And I am not by this scathingly criticizing Ghana in its efforts at adhering to the dictates of international treaties and conventions it has ratified. Rather, I am seeking to reiterate the fact that it must strive to satisfy its self-interests first, since the situation calls for assertiveness in foreign policy choices. Furthermore, one may argue from the perspective that Ghana is better positioned and prepared to accommodate their new visitors. This assertion may stem from the countrys putative record of relative peace. What is more, it is probably informed by the reasoning that its established security systems might have been considered capable of handling the possible collateral security implications in the aftermath of the deal. Nonetheless, as a recent research and a survey of the subject conclude, Ghana is gradually losing its peaceful credentials. Again, one wonders why the US, despite its sophisticated security systems, barred the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners from its soil via a Senate majority voting of 91-3 following the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This probably speaks volumes of the obvious. Conclusively, my overarching question is was the decision by the government of Ghana cogent and reasonable? As for me my answer is negative, since it fuels fundamental security concerns, and controversies. My argument is that with the leadership of these terrorist groups still strong and intact, our welcomed guests may continue to possess the acumen to replenish, regroup, rearm and operate both within and outside of Ghanas borders. The resultant effects may not be far-fetched; Ultimately, Ghanas reputation could really be reduced to ruins as an oasis of peace in the sub region. From this perspective, prudence dictates that we consciously and cautiously guide and guard against our seemingly sustained peace which has suffered some dents and dots following the recent recruitments of some discontented graduates of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) into ISIL. Apparently, this incidence has given lie to the argument that Ghana is immune to terrorism. It has further exposed the limits of its current counter-terrorism measures, and might face further limitations if current practice is any guide to future developments. As such, the question of why Ghana consented to this arrangement remain a true theoretical, and policy puzzle. That said, I would warmly welcome the traditional Ghanaian hospitality to be eternally extended to eligible refugees from all walks of life irrespective of their religious, political, lingual, cultural and national identities. Nonetheless, my fierce objection to the decision to play hosts to terror suspects in Ghana is simply predicated on security concerns and not necessarily informed by chauvinistic underpinnings. I humbly hope that my position would not be misconstrued or lose translation in the minds of readers. Going further, caution against too much pessimism is prudent to the extent that Americas assurances that Messrs. Atef and Al-Dhuby pose no security threat is authentic. Notwithstanding that, the foregoing requires those at the helm of affairs to craft a robust and rigorous response to combating terrorism. Some suggestions may be useful; as a first step, there should be increased public discourse, education, and sensitization on the phenomenon. The rest could concurrently focus on addressing adverse socio-politico-economic, and religious conditions as highlighted above. Without any shred of doubt, this development would spark thorny debates within academic and policy circles, pitching scholars, policy analysts and bureaucrats against one another on different sides of the argument. One thing may be certain; critics of the deal may be numerous as its supporters. Emmanuel Anim, International Relations Student, Oslo, Norway. Email: [email protected], Telephone number: +47-46379-174, The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) is disappointed in President John Mahama for the unimpressive account he gave for his seven-year stewardship at the press conference he held yesterday. He used the press conference to make excuses and blame all others except himself for the current challenges his government is facing, especially Corruption, Excessive Taxation, Utility Price Hikes, Micro Finance Fraud, Power Crisis, Education and National Security. Governments are voted into office to solve the many challenges that bedevil the progress and development of the people. However, successive governments (NDC & NPP) in this country have continued to blame each other on one fault or the other. In the end, they shirk their responsibilities of improving their socio economic development of the people. John Mahama and the NDC cannot continue to blame their predecessors after 7 years in government. It is unfortunate that the President, having being in power for over 7 years is creating the impression that, he has being at helm of affair for only three years. President John Mahama is ready to point to every good thing the NDC has done in previous years but frown on anything bad that is attributed to NDC previous regimes. Prior to the 2012 elections, he was campaigning to continue the good works of President Mills. What has changed to make the President disassociate himself from a government he served as Vice President for close to 4 years? The President cannot deceive Ghanaian on this theory of being in power for only 3 years. As far as Ghanaians are concern, the President and the NDC government have been in power for 7 years. Corruption: The PPP is not convinced that the President has the political will to fight and defeat corruption. The paltry unconfirmed 70 Million Cedis he claims to have been retrieved from corrupt officials and their accomplices, when it is estimated that the nation loses up to GHC 3 Billion annually to corruption and wastage, is evidence of his lack of interest in fight corruption. Establishment of an Independent Public Prosecutors Office proposed by PPP to deal with corruption surgically remains an important solution to fighting corruption in Ghana. We challenge to President to take action on that to prove his commitment to ending corruption in the country. Excessive Taxation: Instead of withdrawing the excessive taxes and apologizing for abuse of executive power in imposing tax rates over and above what parliament had approved, the President went on to justify swindling Parliament and the people of Ghana with the imposition of 27% petroleum tax when the Executive made Parliament to believe that they were approving a 5% increment. While the PPP believes widening the tax net will make the tax burden lighter, we wish to remind the President that taxes are not the only avenues for government revenue. Diligently pursuing good procurement practices such as value for money analysis, cutting waste in government operations, engaging in good public sector management practices would lead to the avoidance of judgment debts from which the nation could make revenue through saving those monies. The judicious use of a National Identification system and better management will lead to revenue enhancement for the state. Utility Price Hikes: In a period of severe economic challenges, only a non-caring administration will do what President Mahama has done to impose severe hardships on the people and business enterprises. It has been said that the NDC Administration has imposed these unjustified price hikes now with the hope that the people would have gotten used to them by election time. We promise President Mahama that price increases when world crude oil prices are so low can never be forgotten by us. Micro Finance Fraud: It was disingenuous for President Mahama to blame his political opponents and the victims for the micro finance crisis that has engulfed the nation. The President is in charge of the entire nation including the security agencies. His administration works with the Bank of Ghana. He must lead in times of crises and solve this problem. When the Americans and Europeans faced their financial crises, their leaders worked and found solutions. They did not cry to the world and seek to vilify the media and others who brought the problems to light. Ghanaians must now know that John Dramani Mahama lives for good times and cannot handle problems. Power Crisis: The Presidents Dumsor response is unacceptable. The President is aware of the topmost priority of every Ghanaian and cannot refer the matter to technical brains and leave the matter hanging. We need answers from the President himself about his failed promises. We need to know his plans going forward. National Security and Guantanamo Inmates: This propagandist and holier than thou attitude of the President regarding the GITMO prisoners cannot hold. It is but an excuse as usual by politician to hide behind the veil of religion, looting the masses with impunity. Ghana is a secular country governed by the rule of law not emotions and religious biases. The President must come clean on the political reasoning and justification for imposing these Prisoners on Ghana. Murtala Mohammed (National Secretary) The transfer of the two Guantanamo detainees Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby to Ghana has caused a lot of stir and generated a lot of debate in the media and rightly so due to the bizarre circumstances and nature under which their transfer deal was conducted. It is shocking that even Parliament was unaware of the whole transfer process which presumably had been going on for almost a year. A US official told the Guardian that quiet negotiations with Ghana to take Guantanamo detainees unfolded over the past year.(www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/06/us-releases-two-yemeni-guantanamo-bay-detainees) It appears to me that the Law makers got to know of it after the detainees had actually landed in the country. Wow! Real Democracy at play in Ghana. Traditionally, Ghana had always fulfilled its commitments to the United Nations when required. But this time Ghana was not honouring its UN obligations but honouring a friendly request from a FRIEND (USA) in time of need. There is nothing wrong with Ghana helping the US when they ask for our assistance. Ghana had sought a number of assistance from the United States in the past which they had provided and continue to provide. The issue with this particular request is the way and manner in which the whole arrangement was conducted. It looked like an arrangement done by a few individuals within the government with the US Officials over coffee and vodka in a very dubious manner. The Ghanaian Officials clearly failed to consult Parliament to seek their approval, knowing very well that their actions in the entire negotiation could affect national security and for that, Parliament should invite them to answer some questions. President Barack Obama had pledged to close the detention centre before leaving office and that prompted the formation of an inter-agency Guantanamo Review Task Force comprising representatives from the Departments of Defence, Homeland Security, Justice, and State; the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who periodically will review the detainees under stringent scrutiny and finally decide which ones are to be freed. According to the U.S. Department of Defence, in the case of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby the two individuals meet the statutory standards of transfer prescribed by the Guantanamo Review Task Force and thus their transfer was consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment. In a US Dept. of Def Release No. NR-003-16 it states As directed by the president's Jan. 22, 2009, executive order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of these cases. As a result of those reviews, which examined a number of factors, including security issues, Atef and Al-Dhuby were unanimously approved for transfer by the six departments and agencies comprising the task force. As a matter of fact these two individuals having been disconnected from their masters for nearly 14 years and for what they may have gone through whilst in the camp may not really be a threat to the US even if they are released into their system. Because the US has the capability, resources and manpower to monitor them 24/7. But it will be odd for US to integrate them into their system especially after detaining them for nearly 14 years without charge. But what about Ghana; Have we got the resources and manpower to monitor them 24/7 for the entire duration of their stay? DANGER The real issue with these two individuals is not what they are going to do to Ghanaians in terms of harm during their two-year stay in the country but their capability of swaying our Muslim youth. Also what is going to happen to them after the two years? Where will they go after the two years? My fear is what they can inculcate into our Muslim youth if they are not checked and monitored during their two year stay. Frankly, there is very little they can contribute to Ghana in terms of education as there is very little they can be proud of when one checks their educational background except perhaps a few military training acquired during their stint with al-Qaida. If they are not monitored and mentored intensively to fit into the society then Im afraid our good natural hospitality would be questionable and be rendered a total farce? WAY FORWARD I am sure the US government has provided enough funds for their rehabilitation and resettlement since they were not charged with any terrorist crimes apart from the fact that they were connected and trained by al-Qaida. The Guardian stated that, neither Bin Atef nor Dhuby is considered a senior member of al-Qaida. According to leaked military documents from 2006, Dhuby probably fought at the December 2001 battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan alongside al-Qaida. In my view so long as these guys are not reconnected with their masters it may be possible to transform them and integrate them into the more vibrant and peaceful Ghanaian Muslim system. The National Chief Imam can assist in this effort purely to show and demonstrate to the whole world that Ghana can lead when it comes to showing compassion, tolerance and humanitarianism. We will be able to accommodate them if only they are willing to sever ties with their former masters and abide by the laws of the country or they will be shown the Ghanaian RED CARD meted out to persons charged as dangerous persons. They can bet our security agencies have the capabilities to show them that discipline when they flout the laws of the country. They will soon know they have come to the land of Freedom and Justice. Douglas Chartey (UK) The members of the Security Council heard a briefing on 11 January 2016 by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping operations, Mr. Herve Ladsous, on the situation in Mali. The members of the Security Council stressed that the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups bear the primary responsibility for achieving lasting peace in Mali. The members of the Security Council welcomed in this regard the first positive steps taken to implement the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali and urged the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to continue to engage constructively with sustained political will and in good faith to fully and effectively implement the Agreement without further delay. The members of the Security Council urged the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to prioritize the implementation of key provisions of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali in order to bring concrete peace dividends to the populations of Mali. They urged them, in this regard, to take without delay the necessary measures to advance the deployment of joint security patrols in the North of Mali and the cantonment, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of armed combatants, as well as the decentralization process, consistent with the provisions of the Agreement. The members of the Security Council expressed their appreciation to Mr Mongi Hamdi for his service as SRSG for Mali and head of MINUSMA, his tireless efforts in supporting the Malian peace process and his personal initiatives to defuse intercommunal tensions. The members of the Security Council expressed their full support to the newly appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Mali and head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), Mr Mahamat Saleh Annadif, and reiterated their full support for MINUSMA and the French forces that support it. The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong support for the SRSG for Mali and MINUSMA to support the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups in the implementation of the Agreement. They requested the SRSG for Mali, through his good offices mandate, to play a key role to support and oversee the implementation of the Agreement, notably by heading the Secretariat of the Comite de suivi de l'Accord (CSA). The members of the Security Council urged the Government of Mali, the Plateforme and Coordination armed groups to cooperate fully and to coordinate with the SRSG for Mali and MINUSMA, in particular on the implementation of the Agreement. They encouraged the Government of Mali and MINUSMA to further strengthen their cooperation. They called on the members of the CSA and other relevant international partners to coordinate their efforts with the SRSG for Mali and MINUSMA. The members of the Security Council expressed their concern about the security situation, including the expansion of terrorist and criminal activities into central and southern Mali. They noted that the full implementation of the Agreement and the intensification of efforts to overcome asymmetric threats can help to contribute to improving the security situation across Mali. The members of the Security Council called on the Secretary-General and all MINUSMA troop- and police-contributing countries, as well as bilateral donors, to continue their efforts to ensure that MINUSMA contingents have the necessary equipment and training to fulfill their mandate. They stressed the importance of ensuring adequate protection of MINUSMA personnel, in the light of the evolution of security threats MINUSMA faces, to effectively implement its mandate. The Members of the Security Council called for the effective fulfilment of the commitments made during the International Conference for the economic recovery and development of Mali, held on 22 October 2015 in Paris. Over the past few days, there's been quite a brouhaha about a government of Ghana decision to accept from the US government some two Yemeni ex-detainees from Guantanamo bay prison. These two like many of the inmates held illegally by the US government in this particular prison, have never been given a fair trial and convicted of any illegal activity, but have been held for 14 years of their productive lives. It seems Ghanaians are peeved that the US government is using us to pay for it's sins, suggesting that they should either be released to the US or go back to their home country Yemen. On an ordinary day, this would have been one of the news items that I listen to and ignore because of the usual hot air in the media circles, but when not only the Ghana Christian Council (representing the Protestant community in Ghana) and the Ghana Catholic Bishop's Conference enter the fray with all manner of objections regarding how dangerous these people were and why the government of Ghana should give humanitarian aid to terrorists to rebuild their lives again, I as a Christian couldn't sit in my corner and mind my own business again. I could disagree with the government for offering to let them stay in Ghana, but the decision had already been taken and they are already here. So the question that faces us as Christians is what is the Christian response to this situation? But I'm afraid that the response of these 2 bodies smacks of anything but the response that Jesus would give to such a situation. So I'll like to remind we the mere Christian mortals who sit on no councils about what it actually means to be a Christian, and how we are called to respond in such situations. Listening To Jesus There is a disease that has plagued the church of God for centuries and will continue to be with Christianity for a long time to come. That disease is called amnesia, and is signified by the fact that whenever the Christian body has found itself in need of guidance, we have tended not to look at Jesus's own words, life and example to guide us. We have tended to resort to philosophical, intellectual, emotional, cultural or nationalistic resources to answer the complex problems of life, assuming that Jesus has no real answers to these problems. After all, he only cares about how our sins are forgiven so we go to heaven, and not really how we take our day to day decisions. This disease is not just a disease of the Ghanaian church, for the Ghanaian churches simply inherited this attitude from their founding Western churches. This disease is more than a thousand years old, so you can imagine how difficult it is to treat. But I need to remind our august Christian bodies (and the larger Christian body in Ghana) that Jesus is not just a saviour from sins, he is Lord of every sphere of our lives, and it is to him we MUST first look to discern how to deal with any matter, even when his way is uncomfortable to us. And in this particular case, I must admit that Jesus's way will be VERY UNCOMFORTABLE for our churches today. And yet he reminds us that if we will be his disciples, then we MUST carry our crosses and follow him to the same place of suffering as he went, which means we have no choice in this matter except the choice of the way of Jesus. The Way Of Jesus Many Christians have been sold a romanticized view of the life of Jesus as depicted in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Even as adults, we still read the Gospels as the nice, docile, over-spiritualized stories that we were taught in Sunday school about Jesus's life as one of wonder and miraculous deeds. But his was a life of great struggle with the social forces of his time, any of which would have considered him a traitor for not taking up their course or for ruffling feathers. Let me paint picture of what the socio-political landscape was so you see Jesus and his life in the Gospels for what it really was. The Roman empire, one of the most brutal empires ever on the face of the earth to this day, was ruling over Judea. Not only were Jews paying the temple tax of approx. 23% per year, they also had to pay taxes to Rome. The more a tax collector like Zacchaeus could collect, the more commission they got, and of course as normal greedy humans, they did not fail to abuse this, and made the Jews hate Rome even more. There was a raging feud between the Jews and their Samaritan half-brothers. The Samaritans claimed that their temple on Mt Gerizim was the right place to worship Yahweh, and the Jews said the temple on Mt Zion was the right place. According to the historian Flavius Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, this actually led to the Samaritans desecrating the Jewish temple with human bones, to which the Jews, led by John Hyrcanus, retaliated by destroying the temple on Mt. Gerizim. No self-respecting Jew would even eat from a bowl previously eaten in by a Samaritan. The Pharisaic party was on the prowl, making sure that everyone obeyed the laws of Moses (Torah). This wasn't a simple matter of gaining brownie points to go to heaven. They believed that not obeying the laws of Moses is the reason why they were taken into exile in Babylon, and the reason why empires like the Greek and subsequently Roman ones were still ruling them. Keeping Torah therefore was to them the means to ensure that God will look favourably on them and come and deliver them from these oppressive empires. There were many people who felt that waiting for God to intervene to save them wasn't enough. They needed to take their destiny into their own hands and fight the enemy, whoever the enemy was (Romans, Samaritans and fellow Jews who they thought were siding with an enemy etc). Such people were called zealots, because of their violent zealousness for their nation's freedom. They are very akin to the modern Islamic extremists in every sense of the word, except the word terrorist was not in use at the time of writing the bible. Now given this landscape, I'll encourage us Christians to go back and read our Matthew, Mark, Luke and John again. Because Jesus's life was nothing but radically opposed to all these sides, in the ff ways. On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Mt 5:43-45). In the midst of all this violence and injustice perpetrated by Enemy Number 1 the Roman empire Jesus reminds his disciples that to truly be the children of your Father in heaven (v 45), we must learn to love our enemies. I don't know what Jesus was smoking then, but since we have sworn to be his disciples, we either find what the brother was smoking and get high on it ourselves, or we take him seriously. Jesus, in his parable about the good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), answers the question who is my neighbour? by telling a very uncomfortable story whose import was that not only those from our ethnic group are our neighbours, but even those who are considered beyond the pale like their good old hated Samaritan half-brothers. To make matters worse, Jesus actually spend 2 days in Samaria, during which time he'd have broken all the rules about how Jews should relate to an enemy. (Jn 4:1-43) When the gatekeepers of socio-religious behaviour (the Pharisees) come to Jesus with a woman who had committed adultery and to whom they were ready to exact punishment exactly as Torah prescribed, Jesus's statement that Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her totally disarms them, and they leave this woman alone. In this case she was actually guilty of her crimes (at least Jesus say she should go and sin no more), and yet mercy is the order of the day for Jesus (Jn 8:1-11). Jesus had none other than a terrorist as a disciple. Those who believe the KJV is the best thing since sliced bread will not notice this, since in the KJV his name is rendered Simon the Canaanite. But modern scholarship has debunked that that translation is totally flawed, and therefore in newer bibles we get to know who he really was - Simon the zealot (Mt 4:10). This was the kind of uncomfortable company that Jesus kept terrorists, adulterers, greedy tax collectors and wine drinkers. This was very unsafe and unsavory company the kind that your mother would give you a strong warning about. And just in case you thought Jesus could do this but didn't require it of us, he goes and spoils the party for his disciples. After warning them that for his sake they will be arrested and brought before governors and kings, he tells them that the student is not above the teacher if the head of the house [Jesus] has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household [his disciples].(Mt 10) I could go on and on and on with Jesus's examples. I could remind us also of the socio-religous environment of the early church, especially as founded by a former terrorist, Paul the apostle, all over the Roman world. I could remind us of what the Roman historians recorded about the Christians in Rome who took in people with mysterious sicknesses which their society thought were contagious and deadly, but whom they loved and cared for till a large number of them recovered. They had no scientific knowledge then, and if it was our deadly ebola virus, they'd have died for seeking the welfare of others, but fear wasn't their forte love was. Conclusion The way of Jesus is not the way of the world. The governments of the world would sometimes do what is wrong and sometimes do what is right. Our cultures and societal structures can intentionally or unintentionally work to divide and sow seeds of discord and fear, instead of reconciliation and love. The early Christians knew that, which is why they realized themselves as the community in which the evils perpetuated by our governments, societies and cultures will be gradually reversed by the love of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. This is why they listened to Jesus and looked to his example, so they could discern when they needed to offer their support to a cause and when they needed to stand against their society and governments for supporting the wrong cause. This is why the Spirit of God was given to lead the church in discernment so we will be obedient to God's will, and not societal, political or governmental will, even when such leading will be considered stupid, unpatriotic,wreckless or dangerous. That is why Paul reminds us that For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18). The cause of Christ is not a cause that will always make sense to Ghanaians and Ghanaian culture, and the earlier we Christians realize that, the better it will be for our discipleship to Jesus. If the American church had looked to Jesus's guidance instead of openly supporting their nation's choice to go to war and kill millions of Arab people and destabilize the whole of the Middle East because of the lives of 3,000 Americans lost on September 11th 2001, we wouldn't be here debating whether we should accept just 2 Yemeni detainees who have not even been declared guilty by any court of competent jurisdiction. We would rather discern the way of Jesus in this matter that it's not about who caused what and why they were not returned to America or Yemen. Its about Jesus testing our claims to be his disciples by putting 2 lives before us who are asking for a chance to rebuild their lives after 14 years of being treated like animals, whether they are actually terrorists or not. If we are rather interested in to casting our stones at them like the Pharisees, maybe it's because we are still sick of that disease that was unleashed centuries ago that Constantinian disease that makes us forget what kind of king we serve a king who died on the cross for his enemies. (Edem Morny is a Neo-Anabaptist who writes at vicitagnusnoster.org. He also writes for the Anabaptist blog network mennonerds.com) 13.01.2016 LISTEN The Ghana Education Service has asked Headmaster of Mfantsipim school John Kwamina Ankomah Simpson to " immediately step aside" for charging illegal fees. In a letter dated 22th December 2015 and signed by Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Jacob Kor, the headmaster was directed to hand over to the Central Regional Director of Education while investigations continue into the allegations. The headmaster was inducted into office in March 2014 and has served for 22 months. More soon... Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com President John Dramani says much as he is committed to fighting corruption in the Ghanaian society; he cannot use radical tactics to achieve his aim. He said in a democratic country like Ghana which is bound by a constitution, he can only implement his ideas in fighting corruption through the legal system. He said while some of the measures he has put in place in tackling corruption are yielding results, others are not because the personalities involved in such acts are thwarting the efforts through the court system. For example, he said in the case of businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome, if the regime would have been that of a military one, he would have personally arrested him, locked him up until he refunds the GH51million he illegally took from the State. However, since the country is being governed through the democratic system, he could only sit down and watch for the laws of the land to take its cause. I was speaking to one of my colleague head of states and he said something very instructive. He said when I was a military ruler, I just arrested the people and they were guilty until they proved themselves innocent. He said but today as a civilian ruler, when I cant arrest but even when I arrest them, they are innocent until I prove them guilty. That is democracy we cant eat our cake and have it. As I am speaking today, the Attorney General has been served. Somebody has filed a writ at the Supreme Court to say that the Court has no jurisdiction in that judgment in the case against Woyome. If we did not have the constitution and I was the head of state, I would have gone and grab the guy and locked him up until hes proven innocent but you must follow due process the law, he said. He added You cant use revolutionary justice on them. You have to go through the legal system. President Mahama made this observation when addressing journalists at a press conference at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Tuesday. He said much as his administration doing its best in cleansing the country from corruption, a lot will depend on the citizenry. He said it is about time the country works towards achieving a cashless society, believing that such a measure will go a long way in curbing the menace. You dont only wait for corruption to happen to sanction it you must put in place the instrument that prevents people from being corrupt and that is one of the things that this government is doing. We are implementing the GIFMIS public finance management program. It takes away the human element of manual invoices among many others. We must also work for a cashless society. We carry too much money in this country. Go to Kenya, they use mobile phones to pay for goods. We carry a lot of money to go to the supermarket. If I am driving a car and a policeman stops me that you passed through a red light and I have a debit card, can I pay him a bribe? If he asks for a bribe I will say bring your point of sales device. So we must work to reduce the amount of cash we carry in this country and we must put the systems in place that will make it difficult for people to demand or accepts bribes from us. Cotonou (AFP) - A record 48 candidates have applied to contest next month's presidential election in the west African nation of Benin, the electoral agency said on Wednesday. "We received 52 nomination papers but only 48 of them were completely filled," the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Emmanuel Tiando, told reporters. Among them are the current Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, a French-Beninese investment banker who has been nominated as the ruling party FCBE (Cowrie Forces for an Emerging Benin) candidate. Some critics claimed Zinzou was "parachuted" in by former colonial power France, where he has spent most of his career. He has said he has the support of other big political parties, such as the PRD of lawyer Adrien Houngbedji, current head of Benin's parliament, who came second in the last election in 2011. Seven members of the FCBE have applied to run in the February 28 poll. The largest opposition coalition Union Makes the Nation (UN) party has not put forward a candidate but the deputy head of parliament, Eric Houndete, wants to stand as an independent. Patrice Talon, a cotton tycoon, and food magnate Sebastien Ajavon are also in the race along with four women. "We have never recorded 48 nominations for presidential election since 1990 (when multi-party politics was introduced after decades of military rule)," political analyst Agapit Napoleon told AFP. "It is indeed a proof that our political parties have turned full circle." The electoral agency has eight days after the filing of nomination papers to study the documents following the payment of 15 million CFA francs ($25,000, 23,000 euros) by each aspirant. The constitutional court will within 10 days study and give final approval to the candidates who have met the requirements to contest the election. He says he was not elected to make popular decisions; so I guess using his Supreme Court-granted mandate to invite Muslim-Arab terrorists to case out the country and prepare Ghana for a jihadist revolution of the kind that convulsed the people of Mali, but for the timely intervention of Frances President Francois Holland, is what he means when President John Dramani Mahama talks about Ghanaian hospitality and Christian compassion. Well, as was to be expected, Bishop Osei-Bonsu, the President of the Ghana Conference of Catholic Bishops, wasted no time in giving him the best-measured response when the renowned and straight-shooting prelate told Mr. Mahama to learn to balance compassion with common sense. I am quite certain that Jesus Christ would also have said the same thing (See Gitmo Detainees: Balance Compassion with Common Sense Catholic Bishop Responds to Mahama MyJoyOnline.com 1/12/16). We shall more fully tackle this aspect of the Presidents rather lame-brained argument in due course. For now, we unreservedly add our voices to those of Bishop Osei-Bonsu and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) for Mr. Mahama to renegotiate for the immediate return of Messrs. Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby to any of the three or four radical Islamist countries that made them footsoldiers of the Al-Qaeda and Taliban networks, and from whose killing fields these two men were picked up and jailed for some 14 years, each, on the United States Naval Base at Cubas Guantanamo Bay, otherwise called Gitmo. Even more poignantly must be underscored for the especial benefit of President Mahama that if the Islamic religion, or at least some aspect of it, which incubated and hatched these hardcore terrorists has no room or compassionate accommodation for these veritable and metaphorical Ebolas, then it stands to reason that using the guise of Christian compassion and/or charity to give succor to these two Saudi-born human plagues defies common sense, indeed. Personally, I am not the least bit surprised that it was a government led by the Rawlings-minted National Democratic Congress (NDC) that undertook to literally sell Ghanaians down the river in exchange for these human death-traps. Indeed, I have always highlighted the fact that the NDC, in its several nominal manifestations, has a history of violent criminality that is unmatched in postcolonial Ghanaian history. And so it was logically to be expected that these vermin would be taken in and euphemistically and shamelessly branded as footsoldiers by the key operatives of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress. It is quite likely that the 2016 Mahama Presidential Reelection Campaign intends to use these two Gitmo and Al-Qaeda and Taliban veterans as its co-managers. We must also not forget the Aflao Bullet-Packed Mercedes Benz Truck. Sheer coincidence? I am not so sure. I would also not be the least bit surprised if Mr. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah of Brazil infamy, wherever he has been hiding these days, the hard-driving Mahama campaign chief, that is, turns out to have been fervidly waiting to prepare these low-level footsoldiers for a Talensi-type fray in the lead-up to the November general election. But that Mr. Mahama and such virulently abrasive henchmen as Messrs. Abraham Amaliba and Kofi Adams should resort to cavalierly calling Messrs. Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby footsoldiers, in much the same way that these NDC leaders call their hard-nosed local operatives, ought to tell Ghanaian voters enough about what the latter bargained for when they decided to proffer their mandate to Messrs. Mahama and Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur. As I have had occasion to emphasize time and again during the last several years, the proverbial average Ghanaian voter is much too savvy to have so facilely declared his/her electoral mandate for the key operatives of the countrys most violent political organization. For the latter credit, of course, we have the Atuguba-presided Supreme Court panel that adjudicated the 2012 Presidential-Election Petition to thank. I also dont know why President Mahama supposes Ghana to be a far more compassionate Christian nation than the United States, especially when one reckons the generally callous attitude of Ghanaians towards Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals, or LGTB people. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs 13.01.2016 LISTEN For those calling for the return of the two former Guantanamo Bay inmates to wherever they were brought from, President John Mahama has stated in the clearest expression yet that the guys are going nowhere. Yesterday the Catholic Bishops' Conference joined the long list of antagonists of the strangers with a strongly-worded statement a story from which is carried elsewhere in this edition. It is doubtful whether there is a subject which has prompted so much controversy since the commencement of 2016. We might have to learn to stay with the two guys who claim they love Ghana and are innocuous. We doubt whether they would tell us anything different from this anyway. President John Mahama has called on his compatriots to forgive the two persons because they were neither tried nor convicted. Unfortunately, only God can forgive persons who have blood on their hands. If their association with Al-Qaeda caused fatalities and therefore sorrow to families, they would face judgment unless they did not do anything which drew blood. We are surprised at the efforts to present the two as persons without blemish and who the security agencies have no reason to put under their radar. In this day and age when details about persons with dubious backgrounds are public knowledge, we are surprised that the president is seeking to paint an angelic picture of his guests. . Hannah Tetteh's description of the guys as mere foot soldiers of the Al-Qaeda does not take away the venom from them. They have received basic insurgency training from Al-Qaeda one of them receiving tutelage from Osama Bin Laden. And so for anybody to present them differently is to be throwing dust into our eyes. Indeed, the fact that they were neither tried nor convicted is not enough to regard them as clean persons as those responsible for their admission want us to believe. The Catholic Bishops posed a number of questions, answers to which can explain what went into the decision to bring the men most countries, including the US, would not open their doors to, into Ghana. For such important decisions to be taken a consultation with us the citizens would have represented sufficient deference from government to us. Unfortunately, our representatives MPs were not in the know when the nod was given the Americans. The Catholics made an eerie yet important allusion which can raise the adrenalin level of peace-loving Ghanaians. With the Boko Haram insurgents on the back foot the killers they said are fanning out in the West African sub-region the heat from a charged President Muhammadu Buhari is too much for them. This is not a humbug and so we ignore it at the peril of national security. Perhaps the president's belated efforts at selling the idea of admitting the two in the country should have been put differently. Showing no remorse in taking the decision itself bespeaks of an adamant leader contemptuous of dissenting views on the subject. With no possibility of converging views on the subject, we are in for a long haul even as our national security is definitely threatened. 13.01.2016 LISTEN The head of Electoral Commission [E.C.] in Burkina Faso, Barthelemy Kere after conducting successful elections in that country stated that the exercise was free and transparent. In her remarks, the election went off in calm and serenity, which showed the maturity of the people of Burkina Faso. Three French speaking neighboring countries-Togo, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Nigeria in 2015 handed over the baton of transparent free and fair elections to Ghana. This is mounting pressure on the E.C. because Ghanaians are faced with the realization that everything now in the country hinges on the November 7 elections. Should the eligible Ghanaian voters expect such remarks from the chairman of the E.C. Mrs. Charlotte Osei after November 7 presidential and parliamentary elections? The election clock is ticking louder and moving faster towards the D-day for this national exercise as all eyes are now on Ghana. AUTHOR REPORTED FOR THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER BEFORE MOVING TO TORONTO-CANADA. ALL EYES ON GHANA QUAYE [PAGE1] The past year 2015, has provided over abundance of bad news on political instability and good news on consolidation of democracy in Africa and the world over. Over abundance of bad news on political instability was recorded in Syria, Yemen, Guinea Bissau and Burundi. Before the beginning of the past year, a West African magazine analysis predicted that the sub region was heading towards political turbulence. It was citizens of Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso were going to the polls, many cases against a backdrop of political instability. The analysis pointed out that 2015 was to be critical for the consolidation of democracy in West Africa. But all these four West African countries held free, transparent and violence free elections. Looking back, one can say that Ghana has had a difficult time in preparing for the great exercise in electing the next president and parliamentarians this year. ALL EYES ON GHANA QUAYE [PAGE 2] Argument that the voters register is bloated with foreign nationals and the need to create a new credible voters register still rages on. The internal squabbles involving some members of the New Patriotic Party NPP have not been totally solved which is threatening the fortunes of the party. Numerous scandals involving NDC government ministers as was exposed last year also seem to sink the NDC party in the election sea. With the major challenge being cross border voting involving Togolese, Ivoirians and Burkinabes in Ghana which is not allowed. One would like to ask is the Electoral Commission prepared to hold fair, transparent and violent free elections. The election clock is moving faster as it ticks louder mounting pressure on the questionable independent Electoral Commission E.C. of Ghana. Really pressure is currently mounting on the E.C. because Ghanaians are faced with the realization that everything now in the country hinges on the upcoming elections. ALL EYES ON GHANA QUAYE [PAGE 3] This is because with all four West African states having been through successful elections to consolidate democracy in their respective nations, the challenge is now on Ghana to complete the exercise to maintain peace in the sub region. The last time Ghanaians went to the polls in 2012, the NPP presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo did not accept the results and petitioned the supreme court of the land where a whole book of how the elections suffered turbulence was written. Why the election results were not accepted, the NPP filed a petition at the Supreme Court which took eight solid months to officially declare the winner of the elections. Another major test is set for November 7, this year to declare to the whole world that when it comes to electing presidents and law makers, Ghana has the know how in a free, transparent and fair manner and it can not fail. In all these elections, United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS, National Consultation of Civil Societies across the sub region felt the elections were free and transparent. ALL EYES ON GHANA QUAYE [PAGE 4] There was no report of foreign nationals fomenting trouble by crossing the border of their native land to vote in other countries neither were there election petitions to challenge the results. With these West African countries handing over the baton of elections to Ghana, all eyes are watching whether the E.C. will emulate the aforementioned countries in holding a peaceful election this year. 13.01.2016 LISTEN From left: Dr Ishmael Ackah, Mohammed Amin Adam and Benjamin Boakye Consumers who would be paying an amount of GH1 billion annually in three to four years to settle debts accumulated over the years in the country's power sector. Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director of ACEP, who disclosed this recently at a press conference in Accra, said Apart from paying high electricity tariffs, it is unfair for consumers to be asked to also pay debts accumulated from the inefficiencies of Volta River Authority (VRA) and Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), as well as government's neglect of its responsibility to the utilities through petroleum levies. He continued: We also know that the balance sheets of the utilities are not good due to a number of factors, the central factor being the huge indebtedness of the utilities. In spite of this dilemma, it is our considered opinion that this levy will provide sustainable resources for addressing the energy sector investment challenges and thereby help end the crises we have in our power sector. In 2015, he said government, under the Ghana Millennium Challenge Compact II, confirmed the payment of its debts to ECG over a period but refused to make provision for the payments in the 2016 Budget. Without providing for these payments in the 2016 Budget, we are not surprised that government is now considering repayment of the debt through this new levy. He urged government to audit and publish the true state of the debts of the utilities, the legislative instrument providing a sunset clause to determine the exact period over which the debts would be paid and also abolish the levy as soon as the debt is completely paid so that it does not become like the unending TOR Debt Recovery Levy. Dr Adam therefore cautioned government to ensure that the revenue to be generated from the Power Generation & Infrastructure Support Levy on Petroleum Products would be used to address the crisis. . [email protected] By Nii Ogbamey Tetteh 13.01.2016 LISTEN Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu The Catholic Bishops' Conference has waded into the controversial decision by the Mahama-led NDC government to accept terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Ghanaian soil, describing the decision as wrong and dangerous. We, the members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, have received news of the transfer of two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners, namely, Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef (36 years) and Khalid Shayk Mohammed (34 years) to Ghana with great distress and sadness and wish to call on our government to act responsibly and in the interest of the nation by sending these men back to wherever they came from, the Bishops said in a statement yesterday. Pentagon Announcement The Pentagon on Wednesday announced that two Guantanamo Bay inmates with Al-Qaeda ties were being sent to Ghana, the first in a wave of 17 detainees expected to be transferred from the prison. The government later issued a statement confirming that the two terrorists were in Ghana. The two, who were held for more than 13 years at the detention facility near Cuba, are in Ghana for a two-year stay as part of a deal reached between the United States of America and the Mahama-led government. Mission in Ghana A statement issued in Accra and signed by President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, Most Rev Joseph Osei-Bonsu, who is also the Bishop Of Konongo-Mampong, said having learnt that of these two former prisoners, Mahmoud Bin Atef fought for the late Osama Bin Laden at one time, while Khalid Shayk Mohammed is known to have trained with the terrorist group, Al Qaeda, we wish to pose these questions, among others, for our government's response: What is their mission here in Ghana? Does their presence not constitute or pose a clear danger to us? If indeed these two persons are harmless and if they have been 'cleared' of any terrorist act by the US Government, as our Government and the US Government and some others want us to believe, why were they not sent back to Yemen or Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan where they come from or taken to the USA which found them harmless? Urgent Answers . The Bishops further queried, Did our representatives in Parliament discuss the merits and demerits of their resettlement here in Ghana? adding, We need urgent answers to these and other questions because we think that their presence clearly poses a threat to Ghana. They said our government should not take the citizens of this country for a ride by acting in ways that can have serious consequences on the nation's safety and security. The statement said Ghana has been open to receiving refugees in the past but these two men are not in this category. We think that they are not refugees but time-bombs and so government should do all it can to send them back as soon as practicable. Terror Activities The Bishops said that the upsurge in terrorists activities around the globe, particularly in the West African sub-region where Boko Haram and others are wreaking havoc, should have informed the NDC government to be cautious in accepting to host the high-profile terrorists, saying, the acceptance of two former prisoners of Guantanamo Bay Camp is surely not a good move in the effort to secure the security of the nation. Election Year Security They said as Ghana heads to the polls this year, the security of our nation is going to be put to a severe test once again, adding, We must understand that Ghana is not immune to the attacks of potential external terrorist forces. This year is an election year and we expect our government to focus a lot of attention on helping to secure peace and security in the country by dealing with the above-mentioned and related challenges and not to risk the security of our land by hosting two former terrorists. The Bishops called on Parliament, religious leaders, chiefs, opinion leaders and civil society organisations interested in the security of Ghana to speak against this unilateral decision of the government to accept these ex-prisoners to Ghana and to advise the government to do all it can to send these men back to wherever they came from. By William Yaw Owusu 13.01.2016 LISTEN Eight Nigerian pirates have been deported by the Ghanaian authorities upon the directive of the Minister of the Interior. They were handed over to Nigerian authorities by a team of officials represented by the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Immigration Service under the leadership of DSP/Mr. Peter Kamasa of the Interpol, Accra, to officials of the National Criminal Bureau/Lagos (Interpol/Lagos) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, on 7th January, 2016 after an exhaustive legal process in Accra. The suspects are Molih William, Molilh, Klinsman, David Jacob, Amos Ebiyaibo, Aki Peggy, John Picolo, Ayetimili Oyinle and Pinano Saniyu. Leading the Ghanaian team with the prisoners to the NCB headquarters, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, were DSP.Mr. Emmanuel Fadare and Inspector Emmanuel Nwoyi who eventually handed them over to the Director of National Criminal Bureau (NCB) in Lagos, DCOP/Mr. Musah Adze in the presence of ACP Mr. Ade Gboyaga, NCB, Lagos. The suspects had earlier made appearances before an Accra Magistrate Court 3, Adjabeng. The arrest of the pirates followed a complaint lodged by the Nigerian owner of a vessel, Sunday Nakase who said the men had stolen the vessel MT Mariam together with its crude oil contents and directed the crew to steer to an undisclosed destination. They were arrested by personnel of the Ghana Navy and handed over to the police. A search revealed three AK 47s, I G3 rifle, a pump-action gun and 256 rounds of ammunition. Other items found on board the vessel were tablets, monies, walkie talkies, speed boats and two Yamaha outboard motors. . According to COP David Asante-Apeatu, the owner of MT Mariam, after lodging the complaint and the arrest of the crew, officials of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, BNI, National Security and others met periodically to assess progress on the investigation and the next action. It was decided that allowing the Nigerian authorities to undertake further investigation and prosecution would serve a better purpose, more so since the vessel was arrested beyond 25 nautical miles off Ghanaian waters. We want to say that maritime crime takes in vast areas on the sea, a situation making it challenging to prevent, he said adding that vessels are sometimes flagged by one country and operated by different trans-sectoral and international bodies. COP Asante-Apeatu said the successes chalked so far in the matter were attributable to the inter-security services cooperation which he added went on until the Attorney-General's advice that the pirates be deported to their country of origin. The Minister's deportation order was derived from Act 573 Section 36. By A.R. Gomda 13.01.2016 LISTEN THE ASHANTI Regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is brimming with rage over the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei's claim that over 200,000 multiple names have been detected in the voter register in the region. The NPP, which fortress in terms of electoral fortunes is the region, considers the EC boss' claim as baseless and not credible, wondering the motive behind the statement. The largest opposition political party in the country suspects that it is one of the numerous ploys by the EC to reduce the NPP votes in the Ashanti Region during the coming national polls. Sam Pyne, Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NPP, said Ms Charlotte Osei's claim was untrue, filled with malice and aimed at reducing the NPP's votes during the November presidential and parliamentary polls. He was of the strong conviction that the EC's claim was one of the numerous schemes being adopted by the electoral body to help the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) win this year's elections on a silver platter. According to Mr Pyne, the NPP would do everything legally possible to stop the EC from handing electoral victory to the NDC without sweat, noting that the NPP is poised and ready for the elections. Mr Sam Pyne stated categorically that it is not true that a staggering 200,000 multiple names are in the voter register in the Ashanti Region, cautioning that the NPP would not sit aloof for the EC to tamper with the voter register at will. . He recounted that prior to Dr. Afari-Gyan's departure as the EC boss, it was communicated to the political parties that about 50,000 multiple names had been detected in the voter register in the region. Even that small figure which was given by Dr. Afari Gyan was strongly contested by the NPP, noting that all attempts by the EC to favour the NDC ahead of the other political parties would not wash. According to him, he was highly surprised that the current EC boss had been given a staggering figure which is totally different from what her predecessor communicated to the political parties, including the NPP. The NPP regional scribe, who was speaking on Nhyira FM, suspected that the EC had come out with the huge figure so that it would hide behind it and remove names of people who are qualified to vote in the region. Sam Pyne wondered why the EC boss did not mention any region apart from the Ashanti with regards to the multiple names in the voter register, stating that Ms Osei had a sinister motive. According to him, the leadership of the NPP would strongly resist any fiendish move by the EC to unlawfully disenfranchise qualified voters in the Ashanti Region this year. We have more votes here so we'll not allow the EC to reduce our votes unjustifiably, the party stressed. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi This blog is being heavily shadow-banned again by 90% reduction in organic views as of February 5, 2020 since I began posting about the Coronavirus (Covid-19) from alternative media sites. Together we can counter the algorithms that are trying to shut us up on all social media forums #8Kun #Twitter #Facebook #Google #AlphabetSubsidiaries #Instagram etc. Please help the #GreatAwakening by re-sharing to your networks. Many thanks! #WWG1WGA 13.01.2016 LISTEN OFOSU DEBRAH, the man who invoked the spirit of Antoa Nyamaa, the dreaded river deity in the Ashanti Region, was reportedly kidnapped on Tuesday. He requested the deity to strike dead assemblymen who campaigned for their positions during last year's local level election in the name of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) but had refused to vote for Nana Kofi Senya an NPP man as the Presiding Member (PM) of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA). Mr Debrah claimed that he was in a commercial vehicle at Anloga, a suburb of Kumasi, heading towards his workplace early in the morning when some stoutly-built men, led by one Chief, assemblyman of Afful Nkwanta Electoral Area, ordered the vehicle to stop and was kidnapped. He was convinced that the incident was in connection with the curses that he invoked with regards to the KMA PM polls, threatening that he would haul his captors to the law court for embarrassing him in public, in the coming days. Mr Ofosu Debrah stated that the 'macho' men bundled him into a waiting vehicle and hauled him straight to the Manhyia Police Station, as if he was a criminal, adding that all pleas by him to the stoutly-built men to exercise patience and treat him with some respect fell on deaf ears. According to the NPP man, his captors told the police that he had invoked curses in connection with the KMA's impending PM election an action which they claimed had stalled the poll and so they had dragged him to the police station for him to revoke the curses. . The police, Debrah said on Otec FM, told the men that spiritual matters are not handled at the police station suggested that the matter be sent to the Manhyia Palace, the seat of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to be resolved amicably. Debrah said at the palace he told the chiefs about how the 'macho' men, led by the Afful Nkwanta assemblyman, kidnapped and hauled him to the palace as if he was a criminal, destroying his (Debrah's) mobile phones in the process. He said the chiefs said they did not order the men to bring him to the palace in that disrespectful manner, adding that they (chiefs) then ordered the Afful Nkwanta assemblyman to slaughter two sheep over his weird action. Mr Debrah said the chiefs told him (Debrah) to visit the palace on Wednesday morning so that steps would be taken to reverse the curses. He stated categorically that his right as a citizen of the country was infringed upon by the traditional rulers and the kidnappers. I will drag the Afful Nkwanta assemblyman and his men to court for kidnapping me, he threatened. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi 13.01.2016 LISTEN Paul Osei and Isaac Amoah PAUL Osei, a 26-year-old man believed to be a member of a robbery syndicate operating in some parts of the Ashanti Region, is in the grips of the Manso-Nkwanta police in the Amansie West District of the region. The arrest of the young man, who has confessed to killing dozens of his robbery victims, came shortly after the busting of his purported accomplice, Isaac Amoah, 34. They were arrested at a village at Nyinahini on Thursday by police detectives from the Manso-Nkwanta District Command on an intelligence-led operation. Supt. Daniel Kwabena Amoako, Manso-Nkwanta Police Commander, said Paul, a native of Manukrom, had been at the centre of a series of robberies in the district. . According to him, Paul is linked to a robbery incident that took place at Alabar in Kumasi some months ago. He is expected to be taken to the National CID Headquarters in Accra for further investigations. The police commander told DAILY GUIDE the Amansie West District, Kumasi, and other mining communities had been the operational areas of Paul Osei aka Akwanya and his gangsters, including one Amano. He was being sought by police detectives after he and his gang allegedly attacked and killed two people at Manukrom during a robbery operation, the police commander said. He has confessed killing uncountable number of people while undertaking robberies, Supt Amoako disclosed and added that the police were at the heels of other members of the gang. He called for public support and credible information in order to get rid of the miscreants in society, asserting: The world is suffering because the good people are silent. From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi 13.01.2016 LISTEN We, members of Stand Up For Bagbin who believe, trust and support the leadership, competence and integrity of our father and mentor, the able Majority Leader, Hon. Alban S.K Bagbin, deem it appropriate to congratulate him for the singular achievement of being adjudged the best MP for the third time. Hon. Bagbin has earned our endless admiration by his humility, discipline, diligence and results oriented hard work as a leader and MP. We take this great opportunity to congratulate him for winning the 2015 overall best MP with an outstanding score of 97.3 percent. For us in Stand Up For Bagbin, it does not come to us as a surprise because we are talking about a political persona with vast experience and an enviable record of demonstrable achievements. We must note that this is not the first time the committed, hardworking and performing Member of Parliament has won such impressive ratings and awards. In recent past, Africa Watch Magazine rated him A+ the highest score of that year and in another year, the same magazine rated him A+ jointly with the Minority Leader Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. He also won the best Minister of the year award when he was the Minister of Health in 2012. FAKs Investigative Services has rated him the overall best MP in 2015. One significant award, which dominated international headlines for weeks in the year 2015 is the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association award. This award was in recognition of his immense contribution to the growth and sustenance of Parliamentary democracy in the Commonwealth, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Hon. Alban Bagbin is indeed a man of widely acclaimed repute. Coming from a very humble background, he has passion for fairness, equality and the interest of the ordinary Ghanaian. This has engendered love, trust and admiration from the Ghanaian populace. From the streets of Accra to the most remote areas of this country, he has become a household name for his wit, boldness and brevity in the business of Parliament. At his constituency, he plays an anchoring role in the development of the area. He often uses his personal resources to provide facilities for the benefit of various communities in the constituency. He has paid school fees for countless brilliant but needy students to achieve their dreams. This does not only change the lives of the individual beneficiaries for the better but also the entire members of their families. We want to use this opportunity to appeal to the youth and fellow constituents of the Nadowli-Kaleo constituency to rally behind Hon. Alban Bagbin, the record making and 2015 overall best MP to continue to improve on the conditions, infrastructure and the living conditions in the constituency to achieve optimum human resource development. Hon. Bagbin is a giant oak tree not only for the people of the Nadowli- Kaleo Constituency, but also the nation as a whole. We further call on the NDC fraternity in the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency to cleave together to enhance the strength and invincibility of the party. Let us put behind us the pain of the November 21 Parliamentary primaries and forge ahead together to victory. We reiterate the cliche that the interest of the party is above that of any individual or group of individuals. We acknowledge that Hon. Bagbin achieved this feat on the motherly shoulders of the great NDC Party. We will therefore do everything legal and democratic to enhance the health of the party in the constituency and the Upper West Region. We call on all committed members of the party to do the same. Hon. Bagbin, Gare banye!! NDC, the Best signed Florence Kpan (0249314615) Hon. Martine (0209158100) Joseph Konnuba (024008811) Hon. Joseph Saalia (0205823270) Dabaga James (0241377973) Moses Negbe 13.01.2016 LISTEN The Liberia national who was flown to Ghana for medical attention but ended up being abandoned shortly on arrival by the employer has passed on. He died in the early hours of Sunday January 10, 2015 at the Narh Bita Hospital where he has been on admission since October last year. The remains have since been deposited at the Tema General Hospital but it is unclear whether the body will be interred here in Ghana or will be repatriated and who takes responsibility from this point. Fifty four year old Moses Negbe was flown to Ghana for specialist attention by his employer, the Global Marine Investment Limited (GMI) after a workplace accident on August 31, 2015 at a port in Liberia which left him with multiple spine injury. Due to the complex nature of the injury which could not readily be attended to in Liberia, GMI arranged for his treatment here in Ghana and brought him to the Narh Bita Hospital but abandoned him a few days later. Despite the numerous contacts made with the GMI officials and the authorities of the Liberian Embassy (Ghana) by the hospital administration, none of the two institutions showed up since October last year. Until his demise, Mr. Negbe was confined to his bed and could hardly move any part of his body even after the surgery which was successfully conducted on Thursday October 29, 2015. His post-surgical care and daily upkeep became a burden not only on the facility but the nurses on the ward who contributed to put food on the table for both the patient and his nephew, Johnny Johnson, who accompanied him to Ghana for the treatment. Presently, his nephew has been left stranded at the hospital with no money to feed or return to his home country following the expiration of his air ticket just the day before his uncles death. Background Moses Negbe was working in a Liberian port on August 31, 2015 when a log fell from a crane and crushed his colleague to death, leaving him (Negbe) in a critical condition. He was first rushed to the JFK Medical Centre in Monrovia where he spent forty days but had to be flown out of the country for a specialist attention which was not readily available in the country. His employer then arranged for his transfer from the hospital in Liberia and made an initial payment for the surgery with a promise to provide for his upkeep while on admission here in Ghana as well as his return back to Liberia after treatment. Two weeks after their arrival, the company turned it back on Negbe and his nephew who accompanied him on the treatment. All efforts to reach them including calls to the companys lead contact who doubles as a Field Agent, one Joe Sayahway, yielded no result. Liberian Embassys indifference The Liberian Embassy which should have been responsible for Negbes welfare (given his predicament and particularly his status as a Liberian national), also showed no interest in the issue, describing it as a private affair despite the numerous phone calls and visits to the consulate by Mr. Negbes nephew and official of the hospital. Response from Narh Bita hospital Deputy Medical Director of the Narh Bita hospital, Dr. Catherine Larko Narh-Menkah said We have arranged, in the interim, for him to be deposited in the morgue while we consider the next line of action. As a socially responsible corporate entity, we did our best even under the very difficult condition given his peculiar situation; it is rather sad he went through these terrible experience and died as a result. President John Mahama has said leadership and popularity are not the same thing, and every so often, in the course of leadership, one has to make decisions that are neither popular nor politically expedient. The president was reacting to his critics in connection with some unpopular decisions he and his administration have taken in his three years in office. At a press briefing at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Tuesday January 12, 2016, Mr Mahama explained that his solution to the power crisis is a prime example of one such unpopular decision. He said the process of load shedding did not begin with his administration but when confronted with the dilemma of how to resolve the problem, he opted not to go along the route of a quick-fix solution, because we, as a nation, cannot continue to make decisions for the short run. According to him, what the country needed was a stable foundation and not a patch-up job and that would take time. The decision I took to fully expand our energy infrastructure was not politically expedient or desirable. Indeed, the decision I took was quite unpopular. But leadership and popularity are not the same thing, he said. Mr Mahama added that such was the case during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. As President, I took the decision to allow Ghana, specifically Accra, to serve as the base of operations for the United Nations and other relief organisations and efforts for the affected nations. There was anger and outrage and accusations that I was exposing our country to Ebola; that because of my decision the virus would surely find its way across our borders and result in the loss of Ghanaian lives. But the alternativeto turn our back on our neighbouring nations in their time of need, especially as the world was taking its time to respond, would have not only been insensitive; it would have been inhumane. Having Accra be the command post for humanitarian help, during the Ebola crisis was not a popular decision, but I still maintain that it was the right thing to do. The latest unpopular decision Mr Mahama and his administration have taken is offering shelter for two Guantanamo Bay ex-detainees. Touching on that, the president said: My administrations decision to permit entry to two former Guantanamo Bay detainees, as well as refugees from Rwanda, Syria and Yemen have been met with fierce resistance. I realise that our world is going through uncertain times. I realise, too, that no nation wants to open its doors to terrorists or to the possibility of terrorism. Still we cannot let the fear of what might be cloud our compassion or make us turn a blind eye to the very real need that does exist. There are people who no longer have a country to call home; people who have been cleared of the charges of all alleged crimes; and people whose only crime is being born in a country whose name is now automatically associated with a group of insurgents terrorising their fellow countrymen and women. Ghana has a long history of humanitarianism. We have a long history of being counted as a leader, not only on the African continent but also in the entire international community. In 1960 Ghana became the first African nation to contribute troops to the UN Peacekeeping Force. In 1961, Ghana became the first nation ever, to receive volunteers from the newly established Peace Corps. Throughout the years, Ghana has provided shelter for many freedom fighters and exiles. Long before the worlds nations collectively declared the system of apartheid, an abomination, Ghana was issuing passports, and a place to call home, to those fleeing the racial injustice and persecution taking place in South Africa; people such as Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela. When Nigeria considered musician Fela Kuti a criminal and a troublemaker of the highest order, Ghana offered him a home. During the two decades that civil war engulfed our sub-region, we accepted thousands of refugees and, at that time, for many Ghanaians, it was a point of contention. They believed it would make us too vulnerable, that it might somehow move the war onto our soil. Though it was not popular, the various administrations back then made the decision to grant refuge to those individuals because it was the right thing to do. Ghana has even gone so far as to offer Africans in the Diaspora as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade the ability to gain citizenship and live permanently on our soil. Fear is a powerful motivator. Thats the purpose of terrorism. It tests your commitment to who you are, your very principles; it tests your ability to stay true to your own history." The president called on Ghanaians, who are calling on him to return the suspected terrorists, not to forget that they are also citizens of a larger world that depends on the co-existence and the cooperation of all nations in order to achieve true peace and stability. Some caterers of the School Feeding Programme (SFP) across Ghana are threatening to stop preparing meals for the school children due to some arrears owed them by government. Speaking on Adom FMs morning show Dwaso Nsem, one of the caterers who want to remain anonymous alleged that she has not been paid for over two terms after she pre-financed the preparation of meals last year. As I speak with you, I owe my suppliers about GhE19,000.00 and they have refused to give me anymore foodstuff on credit. I have been summoned in Court by one of my suppliers, she said, Wednesday morning. The SFP is to feed primary school children in deprived communities in Ghana. Government moved the ministerial oversight responsibility of the Programme from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. In July last year, government released an amount of GH82 million for the payment of arrears owed caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme. But caterers who were in the Adom FM studios and some others who phoned into the show said out of 55 days of the 2014/2015 academic year, they have received payment for 35 days. The most annoying part of it is that the normal enrollment at the secretariat was not used in the payment. Some of us cook for over 500 pupils but we received payment of just 100 of them. I cook for 430 pupils, but I received payment for 240 of them, how do I pay my debts? an agitated caterer quizzed. Aside from the third term arrears, the caterers claim they are owed some money from last term which was the first term of the 2015/2016 academic year. We have also not been paid the amount we used in preparing the meals for the pupils last term (70 days) and we are scared that they might only pay half of the amount like they did with the third term, she retorted. The caterers alleged that before the Gender Ministry began supervising the affairs of the Programme, they could go to the District Assemblies when they had problems but they were told to register with MTN Mobile Money and that has not helped them. Unlike before when we had someone to talk to when we had issues, now we have no one to turn to because the money is sent through mobile money, another caterer added. They threatened to take action against the Ministry if it tries to recruit new caterers. We will not prepare the meal anymore and they should not try to recruit new caterers because they owe us. We want our money, one cook insisted. Meanwhile, the Deputy National coordinator in Charge of Administration of the School Feeding Programme told Myjoyonline.com that the reduction of the numbers of enrollment is to curb fraud in the Programme. According to Charles Antwi, Some of the caterers connive with people to inflate the enrollment lists. We have had problems using enrollment lists from the Ghana Education Service; it has not been consistent so we had no option than to use this method. He explains that the regional coordinators of the Programme to catalogue the list of caterers whose enrollments have been reduced, verify the numbers from their various schools and the arrears will be paid to them. Mr Antwi pleaded with the caterers to exercise patience as all outstanding arrears will be paid them in due time. The nature of the contract requires the caterers to cook for the pupils and get paid by Government later. The payments are only delayed when we encounter problems. They should exercise patience with us, their arrears will be paid, he pleaded. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com| Akosua Asiedua Akuffo| [email protected] 13.01.2016 LISTEN The New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman for the Adentan constituency, Joseph K. Acolatse says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) may have the money but the NPP has energy and the goodwill of Ghanaians. Mr. Acolatse disclosed this while addressing polling station executives in the Amrahia-Malejor Electoral Area of the Adentan Constituency during the inauguration of a campaign team for the electoral area at Amrahia. Mr. Acolatse encouraged the executives to work hard to bring the party to power. He, however, cautioned members of the party not to indulge in unnecessary fights with the opposition parties but rather debate them on issues because politics was about ideas. We will need everybody on board in order to win the elections, including members of the ruling NDC, who are not happy about current hardships and profligacy being exhibited by the government. They may have the money but we have the energy and desire which is further entrenched by the goodwill of the good people of Ghana, he said. Mr. Acolatse explained further that all the initiatives of former President Kufour had collapsed so this is an opportune time for the NPP to come and correct the wrongs. The NPP's parliamentary candidate for the Adentan constituency, lawyer Yaw Buabeng Asamoah encouraged the executives and the entire membership to eschew selfish interests in order to promote the collective interests. Lawyer Buabeng Asamoah said after NPP's national delegates congress in Sunyani, the flagbearer asked all and sundry to focus on the main issues and not be distracted. He reminded members of their role and encouraged them to be good ambassadors of the party. Mr Asamoah added that the presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has shown over the years that he is an astute politician and an incorruptible individual capable of bringing hope to the people of Ghana. The coordinator and campaign leader for the Amrahia-Malejor Electoral Area, Baaba Maison assured the constituency executives that the electoral area had put things in place to ensure victory for both the parliamentary and presidential candidates. . We will continue to work hard to ensure victory for the NPP in 2016. The harsh economic conditions have made the call for change even louder, and we cannot wait to see Nana Akufo-Addo bring the change people are calling for, she said. By Elikem Kwaku Ahialey 13.01.2016 LISTEN The trainee nurse and midwives picketing around Flagstaff House President John Dramani Mahama yesterday explained the inability of the government to absorb graduate nurses into the public health system, saying that it was due to the influx of trained nurses from private institutions. According to the president, nurses from private institutions had blocked the chances of those trained in public schools from getting jobs at the public hospitals. Reacting to recent picketing of trained nurses at the seat of government the Flagstaff House he said instead of the public trained nurses who have contract with the state to be engaged by the public hospitals, those who graduate from private schools rather are offered the opportunity. However, DAILY GUIDE learnt that the problem goes beyond the president's explanation, as the employing agency the Ghana Health Service needed financial clearance from the Finance Minister before the unemployed nurses could be engaged. The police on Monday arrested about 15 graduate nurses for picketing close to the Flagstaff House to demand employment from the government. The nurses, who completed their training in 2014 and are bound by a bond to serve the government but are yet to be posted, were at the venue to press home their demand for employment. They were freed in the evening. For them, it was not logical for the same government that had signed a bond with them to refuse them employment. According to the 'unposted' nurses that were at the Flagstaff House, numbering about 100, they are willing to serve the country but are being frustrated by government's inability to engage them. The police indicated that the action of the nurses breached the Public Order Act as they did not seek permission from them (police) before embarking on the picketing at the seat of government. . Justifying their action, the police said they arrested the nurses because of the security nature of the Flagstaff House. The nurses were taken to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters for their statements to be taken. This is not the first time nurses had gone to the Flagstaff House asking to be employed. In October last year, a section of over 5,000 trained nurses and midwives pitched camp at the seat of government to demand immediate employment. The nurses, numbering about 1,000, were there to petition the president to fast-track their employment. According to the leader of the Ghana Nurses and Midwife Trainees Association, Emmanuel Geyevo, they were supposed to have been posted to the various hospitals in the country upon the completion of their studies but that had not been the case. He said the group had lost trust in the government as the numerous promises given earlier had not been fulfilled. In another development, about 20 graduate teachers from some colleges of education thronged the Ministry of Employment to register their displeasure over the government's failure to employ them, years after completing their course. Some officials of the ministry were able to speak to the angry teachers, who agreed to stop the demonstration and retreated. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri 13.01.2016 LISTEN Isaac Menlah, a procurement consultant based in the Western Region, has donated a vehicle to the Ellembelle branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the region in an effort to help boost the partys campaign in the 2016 elections. Presenting the Toyota Hilux to the party at a brief ceremony on Sunday at Esiama, Mr Menla noted that he was willing to contribute his quota to help capture power from the John Mahama led NDC administration. Mr. Menlah, a native of Ellembelle, explained that he had discussions with the NPP parliamentary candidate for the area, Kwesi Bonzoh, who told him (Menlah) that the party lacked vehicles. So I decided to support. I believe we all have to sacrifice to ensure a resounding victory for Nana Addo and all the NPP parliamentary candidates in the November 7 general elections, he stressed. Menlah, who was optimistic NPP would win this year's elections, remarked that lets in our little ways contribute to support the party as the general elections approach. We cant take chances this year. The country has suffered enough under this incompetent administration and the NPP campaign should start now. Receiving the vehicle on behalf of the Ellembelle constituency, the acting Western Regional Chairman of the NPP, Ben Kwaw thanked Mr Menlah for the kind gesture, stressing that the vehicle would go a long way to help the constituency embark on effective campaign. This vehicle will go a long way in helping us. It came at the right time as well. I wish to appeal to other sympathizers to emulate this kind gesture, he added. . The acting Regional chairman of the NPP later handed over the keys of the vehicle to the constituency chairman of the party, Samuel Kenya. Mr. Kenya remarked that the vehicle would help the party deliver its campaign messages to the electorate at the remote areas in the constituency. He gave assurance that the vehicle would be put to good use to maximize votes for the party through campaigns, adding that he was indeed ready to serve the indigenes and the party at large. Later in an interview, Kwesi Bonzoh, the NPP Parliamentary candidate for Ellembelle, expressed hope that the vehicle would help garner more votes for Nana Addo in the constituency. He pointed out that the bad roads in most of the remote community made accessibility to those areas very difficult, coupled with the fact that the constituency did not have enough vehicles to carry out the party's work. He commended Mr. Menlah for honouring his promise to the party and appealed to other businessmen who hail from the area and want to see NPP win the general elections massively to also contribute their widow's mite. From Emmanuel Opoku, Esiama 13.01.2016 LISTEN The Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra has urged all workers in the country both in the public and private circles to desist from the habit of using working hours for religious worship or prayers. Archbishop Charles Palmer-Bucker made the appeal in an exhortation at the 25th anniversary thanksgiving service of the National Insurance Commission (NIC) on Tuesday in Accra. According to the Archbishop, it is becoming a norm in a number of workplaces across the country for workers to engage in prayers and worship during crucial working hours. I am getting worried that some of our nurses are praying while people are dying it is criminal, the Archbishop disclosed to insurers at the service held in the auditorium of the NIC head office. To the Archbishop, there is time for everything and so working hours should not be sacrificed for worship or prayers, charging that pray before work and after work but not during working hours. Interestingly, the thanksgiving service was held during the early hours of Tuesday, a working day with top management and board members of some insurance companies in attendance. . The Archbishop also urged workers to give off their best, saying everyone to whom much is given much will be required. NIC started its 25th anniversary celebration in November 2015 under the theme: [email protected] Advancing the Frontiers of Insurance in Ghana. Commissioner of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Lydia Lariba Bawa in her welcome remarks, pointed out that the thanksgiving service was aimed at celebrating what she termed as the goodness of God towards the NIC and the entire insurance industry. She said moving forward, the NIC shall continue to rest on the wings of God to advance the insurance subsector. In attendance at the thanksgiving service were Lynda Oduro, Managing Director of Metropolitan Insurance Company, Ivan Avereyireh, President of the Ghana Insurers Association and Martin Abayateye, Head of Internal Audit NIC, among others. BY Melvin Tarlue "...king of the hate left..."-- "As my friend Capper -- the best Wisconsin blogger ever -- says, there will be more. There's always more." - karoli "...the psychiatrically attuned Capper..."-- "This is really great of you! I'm so proud to know someone like you"-- "Capper, a reasonable (and maybe even likeable) Lefty..."-- "capper, the Sidney Freedman of the hate left..."-- "I love capper because, well, what's not to love. But I also hate capper for alerting me to nonsense like this."--- "Capper, you really have a knack for this kind of writing. Really."-- "Crap. I agree with capper. Can Armageddon be far behind?"-- "capper is right. OMG, did I actually say that?"-- 13.01.2016 LISTEN Dauda Mohammed Suru The United Nations (UN) had proclaimed November 29th as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This year as usual, the Embassy of the State of Palestine in collaboration with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign of Ghana is organizing the event and has the honour to inform you that on Thursday 10th December, 2015, there will be a gathering to this occasion at the Teachers Hall in Accra. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is therefore inviting you to attend and participate in the event. Date: Thursday 10th December, 2015 Time: 03:30 pm Venue: Teachers Hall, Accra Speakers shall include Dr. Yao Graham of Third World Network; Ambassador Kwasi Quartey, Secretary to the president of Ghana; Representative of the United Nations; Representative of Foreign Affairs (Ghana) and the president of National Union of Ghana Students. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed Resolution 181. That Resolution provided for the establishment of the two States with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine. Regrettably, close to 70 years after the passage of Resolution 181, only one state, Israel, has so far come into being. Majority of countries recognize the State of Palestine and its flag flies at the United Nations next to the flags of all Member States. However, these achievements are not felt by Palestinian children and women in Gaza, West Bank or in East Jerusalem. What they feel instead is a lack of hope that their lives will change for the better and that they will be citizens of a State able to ensure their freedom and well-being through peace with their neighbours. Your participation at the event will enrich the discussion on the Palatine question which undoubtedly remains unresolved. This years event will be moderated by comrade Kwesi Pratt Jr. Hon. Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah 13.01.2016 LISTEN The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has praised the Gomoa West District Assembly for what it says was as results of constructive response to the outcome of the 2015 District league table. An appreciation letter written by the fund and signed by the Chief of Social Policy of UNICEF, Madam Sarah Hague noted that the constructive discussion made by the Assembly In response to the league table on the various media platforms was encouraging. It reads " As you may recall UNICEF Ghana and Center for Democratic Development ( CDD) in collaboration with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development launched the 2015 district league table, ranking the development status of all the 216 districts. Following the launch, there have been several TV, radio and online discussions on the league table itself and on accountability for national development. Naturally, s lot of tension fell on your district, finding itself as it did in which Gomoa West was in 216th position" The appreciation letter continued " We were motivated to write to you given your positive engagement with the finding on the table. We have been very impressed with your constructive response to the media attention and we were pleased that your Planning Officer, Mr. Daniel Baah Tenkorang visited UNICEF for GTVs Governance Channel Panel discussions. Mr. Tenkorang's reservations with the league table were duly notified as was his overall support" Virtually supporting the Assembly's stand , the letter concluded " We look forward to continuing the engagement with you and remains available for any enquiries" When contacted on the issue, the DCE for Gomoa West, Hon. Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah said the Assembly had virtually been vindicated but pleaded that next time authorities of the Assembly should be notified before such results were release to the general public. Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. 13.01.2016 LISTEN South Korean soldiers have fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone flown across the heavily fortified border. Yonhap news agency cited officials saying that soldiers fired about 20 rounds before the craft turned back. Earlier, South Koreas president urged China to impose the strongest possible sanctions against North Korea, following its apparent nuclear test. Pyongyang claims it has tested a hydrogen bomb . That claim is doubted by experts, who say the blast, though probably nuclear, was not big enough to have been a thermonuclear explosion. Response must differ In her annual press conference, President Park Geun-hye said the international communitys response to North Korea must differ from the past, without giving details. She said new sanctions on Pyongyang must go further than before, with Chinas support crucial. She also warned of possible further action by North Korea, including cyber terrorism. . China, North Koreas closest ally, has repeatedly condemned North Koreas nuclear tests but is often accused of doing little to try and stop them. Ms Park stressed Chinas past statements but added: I am certain that China is very well aware if such a strong will isnt followed by necessary steps, we will not be able to stop the Norths fifth and sixth nuclear tests and we cannot guarantee true peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further. Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry also urged China to take a tougher line, telling his Chinese counterpart the relationship with North Korea cannot be business as usual. President Park also spoke about the steps South Korea was taking with the US to neutralise North Koreas provocative actions including additional deployments of American military assets on the Korean peninsula. Answering a question about whether Seoul would consider ending its involvement in the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone, just north of the border, Ms Park said its future depended on Pyongyangs actions. Seoul has already limited access to Kaesong from the South, to only those directly involved in its operations. -bbc 13.01.2016 LISTEN Business will be smaller without reinsurance in Africa, because the perils preserved will only be roofed by the capital of the insurance companies, but reinsurance comes to supplement the capacity to undertake probability, said the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Africa Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), Mr. Corneille Karekezi, at the 42nd African Insurance Organisation (AIO) Conference and General Assembly, which held in Tunis in 2015. This statement typifies exactly what the first reinsurance company on the continent bargained in 1957 when the Egyptian Reinsurance Company originated; and what the Continental Reinsurance had in mind for African reinsurers when it started business as a private reinsurance company in Nigeria in 1985. Being a pan-African reinsurance company today and the largest private reinsurance player on the continent with a Plc suffixed to its title, many of the ilk of the Continental Reinsurance Plc that geared on formation to provide the necessary mainstay capabilities to Africas insurance and reinsurance needs, have bitten the dust. The operators of reinsurance sector in Africa have allowed their strategies, which were to target opportunities inter alia, in construction, marine, aviation, oil/gas, and engineering insurance, be hijacked by their foreign counterparts. Noticing this occurrence, insurance experts at the summit, made a call across the continent of Africa that the insurance and reinsurance sectors are losing money amounting to billions of dollars to their counterparts across the world. Karekezi exposed that no fewer than 80 per cent of oil and gas and aviation insurances are lost to foreign insurance and reinsurance sectors yearly. He, however, gave reason why this is so: It is due to lack of capacity by African operators. The expert lamented that there is lack of cohesion among the operators in the continent to really boost the sector; hence foreign operators took the advantage to rip the continent of large premium every year. One thing working against the sector in Africa is that their foreign counterparts in Asia, Europe and Americas control the premium market. But that did not just happen. It was noted that the dearth of skills and the ability to differentiate the different explicit tenets of insurance business on the continent is really working against the sector. The highlight of it is that the scarce source to fund the sector and the kwashiorkor-way of competing are telling on the sector. For example, Lady Isioma Chukwuma, the Managing Director, Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation (Nigeria Re), at a two-day training workshop on Reinsurance Principles and Practice organised by her reinsurance company, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that she was worried about the development. Represented at the event by Executive Director, Marketing and Customer Loyalty, Nigeria Re, Dr. Yele Akinrolabu, Lady Isioma opined that there is need for improvement. She averred that there should be a serious work on the underwriting business in the country, because some insurance operators in Nigeria exhibit bad underwriting. Media reportsenthused, The Africa Re boss points out that insurance companies cannot underwrite catastrophic risks without reinsurance and stresses the need to have high insurance penetration in Africa because this will increase opportunities for the underwriters and reinsurers will also enjoy the same. In the light of that, some of the reinsurance companies on the continent have injected billions of dollars in the sector, yet profit is back-rolling. An illustration is the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) owners that injected over N1.9 billion into the company, representing a 96 per cent subscription in September 2013. But evidence is that in Kenya, the countrys largest reinsurer Kenya Re in which government owns 60 per cent, had a shriveled market share in first quarter of 2015. What might have caused the down-spiral of profit in Kenya Re could be hinged on corruption. The President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina in December 2015 told NAN that Africa loses 148bn U.S. dollars annually due to corruption; of which the reinsurance sector was not exempted. Business Daily Africa, accounted, Data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows the market share of Kenya Re in the general insurance business came down from 70.9 per cent in December for general business, having collected Sh1.4 billion in premiums by the end of March. Taking a clue from other climes on how to rejuvenate the reinsurance industry in Africa, a source in The Punch said that there should be preservation of premiums; it will help increase the individual countries Gross Domestic Product and supply finance to furnish developmental schemes. Statistics from the Sigma 2014 World Insurance Report by Swiss Re revealed that Europe generated $1.69bn premium, about 35.53 per cent share of the world insurance market and contributed 6.83 per cent to its GDP. America generated $1.59bn premium, which was about 33.33 per cent of the world insurance premium and contributed 6.29 per cent to the GDP. Asia earned $1.31bn premium in 2014 or about 27.57 per cent share of the global market and contributed 5.21 per cent of the GDP. Oceania generated $100.14m premium in 2014 or 2.10 per cent of the world total, with a contribution of 5.92 per cent to GDP. Africa, which is the lowest, earned about $68.97m, which translates to 1.44 per cent share of the world insurance market, with the industry contributing about 2.79 per cent to the continents GDP, the source said. Cassim Hansa, the Managing Director of the Continental Reinsurance Plc's specialist subsidiary Continental Property Engineering Risk Services (CPERS), said in December 2015 during the companys expansion to Southern Africa, Africa needs more and better infrastructure to fulfill its economic potential and direct foreign investment is a crucial enabler. Hansa added, saying that greater localisation of the insurance supply chain would support the profitable development of Africas own sophisticated, specialist insurance capacity. And to enable this, African operators need to reap more benefits locally, meaning a higher percentage of premiums generated in Africa should remain in Africa. Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet/Writer; he writes from Rivers State. ( [email protected] ). Tel: +2348057778358. 13.01.2016 LISTEN New York, 12 January 2016 -- The number of international migrants -- persons living in a country other than where they were born -- reached 244 million in 2015 for the world as a whole, a 41 per cent increase compared to 2000, according to new data presented by the United Nations today. This figure includes almost 20 million refugees. In November, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a roadmap to address the issues on migrants and refugees. In response, the General Assembly decided to convene a high-level meeting on large movements of migrants and refugees on 19 September 2016. The Secretary-General has now appointed a Special Adviser to prepare the high-level meeting, Ms. Karen AbuZayd. The rise in the number of international migrants reflects the increasing importance of international migration, which has become an integral part of our economies and societies. Well-managed migration brings important benefits to countries of origin and destination, as well as to migrants and their families, noted Mr. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, the importance of international migration. The new UN dataset, Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 Revision, shows that the number of international migrants has grown faster than the worlds population. As a result, the share of migrants in the global population reached 3.3 per cent in 2015, up from 2.8 per cent in 2000. There are, however, considerable differences between large regions of the world. In Europe, Northern America and Oceania, international migrants account for at least 10 per cent of the total population. By contrast, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, fewer than 2 per cent of the population are international migrants. Rapid increase of migrants in Asia, with intra-regional migration dominating worldwide In 2015, two out of three international migrants lived in Europe or Asia. Nearly half of all international migrants worldwide were born in Asia. Among major regions of the world, Northern America hosts the third largest number of international migrants, followed by Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania. Between 2000 and 2015, Asia added more international migrants than any other major region, or a total of 26 million additional migrants. In many parts of the world, however, migration occurs primarily between countries located within the same geographic zone. In 2015, most international migrants living in Africa, or 87 per cent of the total, originated from another country of the same region. The equivalent value was 82 per cent for Asia, 66 per cent for Latin America and the Caribbean, and 53 per cent for Europe. In contrast, a substantial majority of international migrants living in Northern America (98 per cent) and Oceania (87 per cent) were born in a major region other than the one where they currently reside. In 2015, two thirds of all international migrants were living in only 20 countries, starting with the USA, which hosted 19per cent of all migrants, followed by Germany, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. India has the largest diaspora in the world, followed by Mexico and Russia In 2015, 16 million people from India were living outside of their country, compared to 12 million from Mexico. Other countries with large diasporas included the Russian Federation, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Ukraine. Of the twenty countries with the largest number of international migrants living abroad, 11 were in Asia, 6 in Europe, and one each in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Northern America. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders last September at the United Nations, stresses the multidimensional reality of migration. The Agenda calls on countries to implement planned and well-managed migration policies, eradicate human trafficking, respect the labour rights of migrant workers and reduce the transaction costs of migrant remittances. The Agenda also highlights the vulnerability of migrants, refugees and IDPs, and emphasises that forced displacement and related humanitarian crises threaten to reverse much of the development progress made in recent decades. UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said migrants need to be protected: We need to take greater responsibility for protecting the lives of many thousands of migrants men, women and children who are compelled to undertake dangerous and sometimes fatal journeys. Those forced to flee should never be denied safe haven or rescue. Migrants, as all people, deserve protection and empathy. About the dataset Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 Revision: The Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates the global number of international migrants at regular intervals, monitors levels, trends and policies related to international migration, and collects and analyses information on the relationship between international migration and development. The dataset represents the most recent information available on numbers of international migrants for all countries or areas of the world. The dataset is available at www.unmigration.org. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Ablekuma South Fritz Baffour has taken a swipe at his government over the poor handling of the Guantanamo Bay ex-detainees saga. Two ex-inmates of the US fortified penitentiary have been relocated to the West African country over a period of two years under a special programme. Their presence has heightened fears of Ghanaians including the Christian Council of Ghana and the Catholic Bishops Conference among others who have impressed on the John Mahama-led administration to send them back. Speaking on the issue, the lawmaker, who is the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defense and Interior noted: Ghanaians in the main are not happy and my Government did not handle the process well, however good intentioned. Below is his full statement on Facebook: Good morning folks! We are just under two weeks into the new year and it is as if events in Ghana have shot off the starting blocks faster than Usain Bolt! Firstly, it was revealed, at the end of last week, that our Government had agreed to host for two years, two former detainees from the infamous Guatanamo Bay penitentiary which houses America's most dangerous military prisoners. This was an unbelievable gesture to many Ghanaians. What in the world, would make our ruling powers take such a decision? This was the question on the lips of the informed and uninformed in our society. Well, yesterday, our esteemed President in a press conference to mark the third anniversary of his assumption to the Presidency of Ghana, gave his reasons for accepting the two, deemed as terrorists by America, into our fold. President Mahama, cited moral and compassionate grounds, as well as arcane, diplomatic and top secret considerations in granting asylum to the men from the Middle East. My take on the matter is, any which way you can, Ghanaians in the main are not happy and my Government did not handle the process well, however good intentioned. The second event which also caught the headlines, was the "case of the heroic taxi driver". The media is all agog with the taxi driver who foiled an armed robbery by using his vehicle as a battering ram to push the miscreants off their motorbike as they tried to escape the crime scene. Plaudits to the taxi driver came from far and near, former President Rawlings, Vice President Amissah Arthur and Koala, the company whose employee was attacked all got in on the act in lauding the newly minted hero. I read in the papers that he has been rewarded with a new car from the aforementioned company. Our President has also promised him a house. Great largesse eh! Some amateur comedians in our midst are warning of a possible avalanche of crime fighting by taxi drivers in the hope of reaping such rewards. I join in congratulating the daring driver but believe there is an element of overkill with regards to his compensation. The third event that comes to mind is the arrest of protesting nurses and teachers in front of Flagstaff house, home of the presidency. Twenty one aggrieved Ghanaians who feel let down by the system, go on a peaceful demonstration in a security zone and are apprehended by the police, I believe they should be cautioned and let go. I say this, because all governments in Ghana brag about their great achievements in the education and health sectors, so why the hell are we not employing qualified teachers and nurses, pronto, to man all the structures we are building! Folks, Sometimes, one has to put the sweetness and light aside when it concerns this great country of ours. Rose tinted spectacles could lead you into a ditch. On a final note JDM smoked yesterday! Good on you chief! Till next time, be careful out there! Niamey (AFP) - Twelve soldiers and a civilian have been arrested so far in connection with last month's failed coup in Niger, Defence Minister Mahamadou Karidjo said on Wednesday. "Investigators have established the involvement of 13 people, including 10 soldiers from the Niger Armed Forces (FAN), two National Guard members and a civilian," the minister said on state television, which said the preliminary stage of the inquiry had finished. He said four of the suspects had "admitted they were preparing a coup d'etat" on December 18, 2015 when the former French colony was to mark its 57th anniversary. "The officers whose guilt has been established... will appear before a military tribunal," he said. He said another 10 civilians and three customs agents had also been detained while investigators check "their possible implication" in the planned putsch, Karidjo said. He refused to identify any of the detainees. In mid-December, Niger's interior minister had named several senior figures arrested in connection with the plot, among them former chief of army staff General Souleymane Salou and two top officers with elite anti-terror units. Karidjo also said investigators had spoken to jailed opposition figure Hama Amadou about the failed coup. Amadou, a contender in next month's presidential election, is currently serving time for his alleged role in a baby trafficking scandal. When the government announced it had foiled an alleged coup, opposition figures quickly rubbished the claim, with Amadou Boubacar Cisse, also a candidate for upcoming presidential polls, saying there was "no proof". He also accused the government of seeking to manipulate the political climate ahead of the elections. Tensions have increased in Niger in the run up to the February 21 presidential election when five candidates are running for the top job, including Incumbent Mahamadou Issoufou who was elected in 2011. At the end of December, the opposition said many of its members had been arrested for unknown reasons in a move it claimed was "directly connected to the president". A protest planned for Sunday to denounce the "arbitrary arrests" was banned. And on Monday, lawyers across the west African country staged a one-day strike over the authorities' refusal to let them assist clients detained in connection with the alleged coup plot. High unemployment rates are said to be the most crucial problems facing many developing countries currently. In Ghana , the situation isnt much different. Many persons graduate from various levels of education with the expectation that they are going to get jobs but this hardly materializes. According to the latest Socio-economic and Governance Survey released by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the unemployment rate is about 15% which is comparatively on the high side. For this reason a lot of Ghanaians have called on the government to come up with policies that will solve the problem. Many unemployment groups have petitioned and embarked on demonstrations on this subject yet there is little improvement seen over the years. E-commerce also known as internet business is the exchange of goods and services, or the transfer of finances, over an electronic medium such as the internet. This line of business has the potential to partly solve the unemployment problem in Ghana . Most companies and government organizations use offline methods of marketing and therefore an introduction of online marketing will create more jobs as many more people will be needed for positions as social media managers, IT specialists, graphic designers and content/photography managers to handle the ever-increasing demands of doing business online and improving visibility which in turn increases profitability. Companies in different industries and sectors have played varying roles in alleviating this problem. A clear example is the online hotel booking powerhouse , Jovago.com which has over 25,000 employees worldwide and about 50 employees in Ghana already after only 7months of operations. With traditional offline marketing, more manpower is needed to execute and implement policies and although there are many employees already actively doing this,e-commerce and online marketing gives another dimension where technical expertise is very much needed. Hence many unemployed graduates with related qualifications and technical know-how will easily get employed. Also, many of the youth who are the vast majority of the unemployed in Ghana mostly have access to the internet for long periods within the day. It is the misuse of this internet service that makes them indulge in fraudulent activities and other vices. Many online businesses can make use of the time and innovation that most of these unemployed individuals possess. Another twist to this subject is the impact that online retail websites and booking portals can have on the rate of unemployment. Most of these e-commerce companies who offer services and sell products need people in the sales/acquisition department to get more clients on board. This job is also mostly done on a part-time basis which allows most individuals who are looking for capital to start their own companies to work, acquire some skills and save some money at the same time while getting ready to establish their own businesses. E-commerce is changing the world and the ability to greatly reduce the unemployment rate in the country should not be underrated. Extensive research and implementation is needed to make this a reality but the potential can be seen from many million miles. The chamber is proud to give our members some opportunities to connect and learn over the next couple weeks. Monday morning well connect with our state senator to learn about issues. State Sen. Paul Schumacher will be the featured speaker at the annual Legislative Kick-off Breakfast next Monday at 7 a.m. at the chamber office. The senator will give us his insight into the early days of this 60-session of the Unicameral and hear from us as well. The breakfast is a forum for members to share their concerns and opinions with the senator. That ability to connect our business community with elected officials at every level is one key role played by the Chamber Legislative Committee. We know this one of the member benefits most valued by many members of the chamber. We see ample evidence of the impact that government has on the ability of business to operate, through regulations, laws, and ordinances. Those decisions made in Council Chambers, in Lincoln or in D.C., can change the course of business, and we need to have a voice in those decisions. The Legislative Breakfast is open to all employees of any chamber member and is only $5. RSVP to the chamber office by Friday at 5 p.m. The Legislative Committee monitors and takes action on bills that can change the business climate in Nebraska and they welcome input from members on issues specific to their business. We will soon begin bi-weekly conference calls with our partners at the State Chamber. All employees of any chamber member are welcome to attend. Also connecting next week will be our manufacturing leaders at the January Industrial Leaders Breakfast. The breakfast is open to all local manufacturers and industrial leaders and it will be at Wunderlichs on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7 a.m. Another chance for the public to connect with government is coming to Columbus next Tuesday. Its not a chamber event, but were happy to promote this public input session held by Nebraska Department of Roads. NDOR is holding a series of these meetings across the state to gather input on how Nebraska taxpayers would prioritize funding for the transportation projects. If you think Expressways should be done, or bridges should come first, or perhaps youve got an idea nobody is even talking about, heres your chance. NDOR officials will be at the Holiday Inn Express 5-7 p.m. on Jan. 19 to hear from you, and I hope well have a full house of residents interested in how we fund infrastructure in Nebraska. I hope chamber members take advantage of the opportunities like these to connect with each other and with issues. We always learn something beneficial in those conversations and maybe influence the outcome of issues that can affect our businesses. K.C. Belitz is president of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. 13.01.2016 LISTEN Nana Akomea The main opposition New Patriotic Party has said President John Mahama's responses to questions posed him by the media in Tuesday's press conference conference was uninspiring. According to the party, the President was not forthright in his reaction to questions on issues of major national importance, including the two former Guantanamo bay inmates in the country. In a statement signed by its communications director Nana Akomea, the NPP said the President merely rehashed old issues and presented them to Ghanaians Below are details of the statement PRESIDENT MAHAMA ENGAGES IN REHASH OF OLD ISSUES AND UNCONVINCING NEW ISSUES The New Patriotic Party listened with interest to President Mahamas press address on Tuesday, 12th January 2016. The address is a rehash of old issues and unconvincing new issues. POLICE He talked about improvements in the Ghana Police Service. We commend our police for the work that they do to provide security for all of us. We also note that the Police service over the years have gone through steady improvements in terms of tooling, equipment, training and numbers, across political administrations. GUANTANAMO DETAINEES The President sought to assure Ghanaians that there has been no cash inducement. That, the basis for the decision to accept these former Guantanamo detainees included humanitarian grounds, Ghana's friendship with the USA, the two former detainees were never tried , never convicted and were set to have been released six years ago, and that Ghana is not the only country to take in the detainees etc. But there is still major worry about this decision of President Mahama. The President himself alluded to the hysteria and phobia in the Ghanaian public. Ghana takes in foreigners all the time we have established a whole community for Liberian refugees, Fulani herdsmen roam our countryside with abandon, Nigerien/Chadian refugees still beg on our streets corners and road intersections unmolested. So the widespread hysteria and phobia( the words of the president) over the former Guantanamo detainees must be founded on genuine apprehension, especially since it does not seem their own country, Yemen, was prepared to take them in. We note that the President said after two (2) years, the former detainees will be free to go settle wherever they liked. So what informs their being quarantined in Ghana in these two (2) years? Miriam Makeba and Fela Anikulapo Kuti would be turning in their graves at the attempt by President John Mahama to equate them with these ex-Guantanamo detainees. YOUTH EMPLOYMENT The President mentioned that Ghana does not have the capacity to generate statistics on youth unemployment. The collaboration with the World Bank that the president is relying on for this capacity started way back in 2007. It is a shame that in 2015, that collaboration has not been finished for the system and capacity to be in place for Ghana to be able to generate labour statistics. More importantly, the Mahama government's attitude to youth employment is extremely disappointing. It is only in 2015, six years into this NDC administration that President Mahama launched a National Employment Policy, and even that with no implementation/ action plan. Youth employment has been left to chance. No wonder the greatest danger facing this country is the ever worsening youth unemployment situation TEACHER/NURSING TRAINEES The President wants us to believe that the regular enrolment of nurses trained in public institutions have suffered because of a mix up with privately trained nurses. Question is how this mix-up has persisted for two years, leading up to nurses picketing at the Office of the President just two days ago? Nana Akufo-Addo's pledge to restore training allowance was described by the President as mere political talk. President Mahama has cancelled a policy. Another politician says he will restore the policy and the President says that is a political talk? If that is so, President Mahama is most guilty of political talk. We remember his pooh-poohing of Nana Addo's idea of Northern Development Fund, only to set up the corruption riddled SADA. He also pooh-poohed the LEAP programme, describing it as just a political gimmick to win votes, now he touts it everywhere as a major government intervention. Ghanaians all too well will remember his pooh-poohing of the free SHS and his turn around on this matter. Nana Akufo-Addo has promised to restore teacher allowances. It can easily be done when leakages of the public purse, such as branding of public buses with the president's picture is stopped. MICROFINANCE The President seems to believe that the anguish over the micro finance issue particularly in the Brong Ahafo is as a result of opposition propaganda and incitement. The President is burying his head in the sand. The anguish and deep sorrow of the thousands of Ghanaians whose monies have been endangered by these micro finance institutions is real. The people genuinely believe that public institutions under the Executive authority of the president, particularly the Bank of Ghana, have failed them. There is no opposition incitement of the people in this matter. It is an unnecessary insult for the President to imply that the pain and anguish of Ghanaians who are in danger of losing their saving is a manipulation and incitement by some political party. DUMSOR What does the President mean by his predecessors didn't fix it? It is an insult for the President to imply that his predecessors didn't provide permanent additions to generation capacity of the country. The Aboadze Plant facilitated by former President Rawlings is a permanent addition to national generation capacity. Former President Kufuor's retrofit of Akosombo added at least 100MW to Akosombo's capacity permanently. The West Africa Gas pipeline project, Sunon Asogli, Bui dam, etc all added hundreds of megawatts permanently to Ghana's generation capacity. The issue with DUMSOR is not whether a solution was permanent or not permanent. The real issue is that DUMSOR has persisted throughout John Mahama's presidency, and that despite his numerous promises, he has failed to resolve it up to date. UNBEARABLE TARIFFS OF PETROL The average Ghanaian consumer pays for his electricity on a prepaid basis. Tariff increases of up to 80% in 2013 were all borne stoically by the Ghanaian consumer. It is the government of Ghana, as the president admitted, that does not pay its bills. But the real truth of the matter is that whatever Bills that we pay, the value is quickly eroded by the ever eroding value of the Cedi, (gross failure of macro-economic policy of the John Mahama government.) President Mahama seems to be proud of his record on corruption. There is no bigger instance of him burying his head in the sand than this. Ghana has been tagged on the cover page of an international magazine as The Republic of Corruption. Surveys by Afrobarometer, IEA, etc, consistently posit the office of the president as highly corrupt. This perception cannot be due merely to increased media coverage as the president seems to imply. The issues of mind boggling corruption that made possible the WOYOME affair, the Waterville affair, GYEEDA, SADA, SUBAH, Bus Branding, etc, are real. It looks like the President believes that mere retrievals of corruptly paid public monies, without prosecution, is actually an achievement. Even here, the record is hollow. Only a fraction of GYEEDA money, for example, has been retrieved. Nothing has been retrieved from WOYOME nor Waterville nor SUBAH nor SADA etc. The President admits that Civil/Public Servants are also engaged in corruption. But he seems to forget that the Civil/Public Service is under the executive authority of the president. It is the president who is mandated to ensure the judicious use of public resources. Is not the President's worried that there are too many cases of retrievals of corruptly paid out monies? Despite what President Mahama says, Sole Sourcing is really causing major losses of tax payers' monies. In November 2015, a six (6) block was awarded by the Kpone Kantamanso District Assemply at 510,000 cedis (GNA report November 8, 2015). That same November, the MTN Foundation constructed a fully furnished six (6) unit classroom block, office and store in the Upper West Akyem District for 170,000cedis (GNA report November 28th 2015). TOLERANCE In his closing remarks, the President called for tolerance for opposing viewpoints, and the need to bring people together, etc as hallmarks of competent leadership. What a joke! Is it not the same President Mahama who recently told Ghanaians that he would not tolerate criticism unless it was from a President, and actually named former Presidents Kufuor and Rawlings as the only two people qualified to criticize him? Is this tolerance? Did President Mahama not look on while the NDC prevented a party member from contesting him? In conclusion, we reiterate that the address is a rehash of old issues and uninspiring new issues. We remind Ghanaians that the NDC governments performance, in its eight year, falls short not only of the expectations of Ghanaians, but falls short even by President Mahama's own expectations as he had outlined in his first address to the nation on 18th August 2012. Signed Nana Akomea (Director of Communications) 13.01.2016 LISTEN Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong Minister of Justice and Attorney General The Attorney General and Minister of Justice has been dragged to court over the retrieval of a 51 million cedis judgement debt paid to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome. A suit filed by civil society group, CitizenGhana Movement (CGM) at the Accra High Court seeks an order from the court in the nature of a mandamus, to compel the Attorney General to immediately go into execution of judgment of the Supreme Court. The CGM also wants the Court to order the AG to take such lawful steps to confiscate the assets of Alfred Agbesi Woyome. The embattled businessman was acquitted and discharged in March on the counts of causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretence, after he was accused of illegally receiving 51 million cedis for his role in the construction of stadia for the CAN 2008 tournament held in Ghana. Presiding judge John Ajet-Nassam said the State failed to prove its case in the 51 million cedi judgment debt case it brought against him, describing prosecution's handling of the case as sloppy, shoddy and lousy. He said the Attorney General's Department only succeeded in wasting the time of the court. Attorney General and Minister of Justice has made the strongest indication yet that the state will retrieve the GHC51 million judgment debt illegally paid to Alfred Agbesi Woyome. Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong said the state will not relent in pursuing the case at the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, and will make sure that the money which has been a subject of controversy for years is refunded. . But for two years the money is yet to be retrieved. Only last week a native of Hohoe Zongo in the Volta Region Abdulai Yusif Fanash Muhammed is challenging the decision of the Supreme Court asking Woyome to return 51.2 million cedis to the state. He argued the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case involving Alfred Agbesi Woyome and to make the orders it made. President Mahama at a press conference yesterday indicated that the push to retrieve the money has been jolted again by the court suit. But CGM is not impressed. The group which had petitioned the AG twice last year for update on the issue but did not get response, does not understand why a court order has not been sought to confiscate the properties of Woyome and retrieve the money. According to the CGM, the value of the judgment debt of 51.2 million cedis had depreciated by an amount of 12.6 million cedis and a continued delay in executing the judgment of the Supreme Court means a continued depreciation of the value of the money. Spokesperson for the group Kathy Addo told Joy News, they will explore every legal option to ensure the money is paid back to the state by Alfred Woyome. July 2014 to December was a long time enough for the the money to have been retrieved. It is a bit hollow to come back and say that someone has filed a something else [suit] at this point, Kathy Addo stated. She added that as far as the group is concerned the SC has asked Mr Woyome to return the money and that is what we are going with. Source: Myjoyonline The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Smail Chergui, metwith the new Special Representative of the Secretary General (UNSRSG) for Libya, Mr. Martin Kobler, at the AU Headquarters in Addis-Ababa, on 12 January 2016, to discuss the prevailing situation in Libya and how to strengthen cooperation between the AU and the UN in their joint efforts to move the political process forward andaddress the various challenges facing the country. SRSG Kobler thanked the Commissioner for Peace and Security for availing time to meet with his delegation, and reiterated the UN's commitment to work with the AU specifically in the implementation of the recently signed Libyan Political Agreement (LPA), on 17 December 2015,. He stressed the need to move towards the formation of a Government of National Accord as soon as possible, in order for it to tackle the many challenges facing Libya including the expansion of the Islamic State terrorist organization in the country. He further highlighted the need for better coordination of international efforts to better assist the country. In this regard, he stressed the critical importance of the AU, alongside the UN. Commissioner Chergui, on his part, congratulated the UNSRSG on his appointment and the facilitation of the Libyan political dialogue and reiterated the AU's strong resolve to strengthen its cooperation with the UN, in particular regarding the peace process in Libya. The Commissioner underscored that the agreement was a step in the right direction and needs to be broadened so that other stakeholders who remain outside the process could be included. We will work hand in glove with the UN to achieve this goal'. He further stressed that: 'Over the years, the United Nations and the African Union have forged a close and solid partnership on a range of thematic issues and your appointment comes at an opportune time as we strive to move the peace process forward in Libya.' The Commissioner highlighted that the AU has been closely following the political negotiations and is committed to assist the Libyan stakeholders in taking forward the peace and reconciliation process in their country, in collaboration with the countries of the region, and relevant international partners, including the United Nations, and the European Union. He stressed the importance of Libyan ownership of the process. He expressed concerns about the deteriorating security situation in the country that has created more space for the expansion of terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State (IS) and the urgent need for the establishment of a unity government that would bring together a national army that would confront the so called Islamic State. The Commissioner reaffirmed the AU's readiness to assist Libya with Security Sector Reform and national reconciliation efforts. Commissioner Chergui also underscored the importance of a coordinated international action and highlighted in this regard the AU's role in facilitating such efforts through the International Contact Group for Libya (ICG-L), which has already met four times, the last one being held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2015. The fifth ICG-L meeting will be held in Addis Ababa, on 28 January 2016, on the margins of the AU Summit. The Commissioner and the SRSG agreed to work closely in the period ahead especially during the implementation phase of the Libya Political Agreement and to step up their efforts to assist Libya and its return to peace and stability. The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection Nana Oye Lithur has disclosed that her Ministry has submitted drafting instructions to the Attorney Generals Department for the processing of the Ageing Bill. According to her the Attorney General has finalised the bill and it will be presented to Parliament for approval. She said the act when passed will see the establishment of an aged fund which will be used to address challenges of the aged and create a social safety net for the older persons. Nana Oye Lithur said this at a programme organized in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale to register 500 aged on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). She said the Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with some Danish institutions to provide elderly care services in the country. This she said will address the healthcare needs of the elderly in Ghana. She added that the agreement will result in financial and technical support for geriatric education by mainstreaming the aged into the main nursing and medical curriculum in Ghana. The Minister said the deal will also support Trainer-of-Trainees program to develop an elderly curriculum in nursing colleges beginning with the government colleges. Nana Oye Lithur disclosed that the ministry has begun a nationwide rollout of the EBAN Elderly Welfare Card where 9,526 elderly persons in the Central, Western, Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions have been issued with the cards. She said this move will enable the aged get access to banking halls, hospitals and also get 50 percent rebate on Metro Mass Transit buses. The Gender Minister said the project will be extended to Northern Region and the two Upper Regions soon. The US Embassy says Ghanas security is good enough to deal with any possible threat posed by two former terror suspects whose presence in Ghana have caused national controversy. Information Officer Sarah Stealy told Joy FMs Top Story Tuesday the decision to transfer the Yemini nationals to any country is based on an assessment that any threat they pose could be mitigated by the receiving country She explained the threat posed by the two is small enough and low enough for Ghana to handle. We anticipate that there would be any problems with their stay in Ghana she stressed. Sarah will not speak to a classified 2007 document from US which assessed Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby as dangerous. The December 28, 2007 document leaked by the New York Times newspaper and UK Telegraph revealed Bin Atef served as a fighter in the UBLs 5th Arab Brigade and traveled to Northern Afghanistan to fight on the front lines in Konduz. Bin Atef has also led a detainees unrest in Guantanamo Bay and once threatened to slit the throat of US citizens if ever released. But Sarah says the US as a long-standing policy does not comment on documents allegedly leaked. She pointed out a 2010 assessment which is publicly displayed on its website, and which shows the two detainees were qualified for transfer. Ghana and US taskforce unanimously agreed that Bin Atef and Salih Al-Dhuby are good to stay in Ghana for two years. If there is any possible threat, Ghana has the ability and security measures in place to neutralize this threat. She also explained this conclusion was arrived at after Obama ordered a comprehensive inter-agency review between 2009 and 2010. President John Mahama has already described them as low-level operatives who played no operational role in Afghanistan. She stressed President Barack Obama has promised to close down Guantanamo Bay because it has a brochure for terrorist, he said at his last State of the Nation Address yesterday in Congress. By US law no detainee is permitted to stay in the country after release. But the detainee is cleared to live in any other country the US considers an ally. Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|[email protected] Kinshasa (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday said it deplored the dismantling of a refugee camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), accusing local authorities of driving out thousands of vulnerable people. UN humanitarian affairs monitor in the area, Rein Paulsen, said he deplored what appeared to be "collective punishment" for those in the camp at Mukoto, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Goma, capital of North Kivu province. Paulsen tweeted that the site had been "forcibly closed today. 4260 people forced to move. Unacceptable." "I regret the manner in which this dismantling was carried out and I am very concerned by the collective punishment imposed on these vulnerable displaced people," Paulsen added in a statement which noted the site had been "completely razed by the authorities." Paulsen's office said the development had followed the discovery in the camp of a firearm a week ago. Noting that humanitarian workers in the zone had therefore had little time to prepare, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it would seek to make "recommendations" to authorities to "avoid such abrupt (camp) closures as this" in future. Berthe Zinga, who coordinates the RDC's National Commission of Refugees, told AFP that attempts by humanitarian organisations to keep the camp open had fallen on deaf ears. "We had pleaded... but unfortunately the camp was closed," said Zinga. No provincial authority spokesperson was available to comment on the move. In December 2014, authorities closed nearby camp Kiwanja, holding some 2,300 people, with barely any warning after discovering six firearms as well as a number of other camps. Those closures prompted UN officials to urge the government to respect "international humanitarian law" in a war-ravaged country which last September counted some 1.6 million displaced persons, including some 6,000 in North Kivu province. Elections are due later this year but political tensions run high and last Monday the UN said 7.5 million people -- nine percent of the population -- were in need of humanitarian aid including food. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Cade Raymond Moore almost made a surprise arrival alongside U.S. Highway 30. Amy Shields was careful not to inconvenience anyone with a false alarm early New Years Day, so she just kept tossing and turning, waiting for her contractions to subside. After all, she wasnt due for another nine days. I figured theyd just go away, said the mother of now five children. But when she decided to get up to grab a snack and walk off the discomfort, she realized her Cade was most definitely not crying wolf this time. Since it was only 5 a.m. and Shields girls were still asleep, Dan Moore, her partner for nearly eight years, called over his mother, who conveniently lives next door to their rural home between Schuyler and Bellwood. This being Moores first child, there was a little more sense of urgency in his approach. With his Suburbans pedal to the metal, he kept his eyes peeled for cops as he took off down the highway, flashing his hazard lights while Shields assured him everything was fine. But then we got to about Richland when I thought I was going to have to pull over, Moore said, thinking he was going to have to play roadside doctor as her contractions got stronger. Through the pain, Shields urged him to keep driving. They pulled up to Columbus Community Hospital around 5:45 a.m. Since Moore had called ahead of time, alerting nurses of her impending delivery, she was immediately rushed to the second floor. Cade was delivered within five short minutes from the time Moore and Shields reached their hospital room. At 6:04 a.m. on Jan. 1, Cade Raymond Moore was born at 19 1/2 inches and 7 1/2 pounds, carrying on his great-grandfather's and grandfathers name, Raymond. Cade was more than just Moores first born, he was also the first baby delivered at CCH in 2016, earning him a homemade quilt from the hospitals gift shop. Being only a few days old, his parents say although hes a noisy sleeper he does pretty good with sleeping through the nights. As for whether hes a daddys boy or mamas boy, that's yet to be determined as they both fight over who gets to hold him. I think shes trained him to cry when I hold him so she can have him back, the 42-year-old Moore joked. Shields, 37, didnt deny it, admitting to hogging Cade for herself since her youngest daughter is already 9. Both parents work for Cargill in Schuyler, but since she's on the third shift, and he works the first, Moore knows hell have plenty of time with his son as soon as mom goes back to work after her maternity leave. Im already expecting the phone calls, He wont stop crying, Shields joked. IVA Struggling with debt? Compare your debt options and write off up to 80% of your unsecured debts from 80 per month Get Started for free What is an IVA? With an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) you can make affordable monthly payments towards a percentage of your debt for 5 years. At the end of the 5 year plan, your remaining debt will be completely written off. Benefits of an IVA Here is a list of the cost common advantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA): Affordability You will only be asked to pay back what you can afford, with allowances taken into account for food, bills, entertainment, travel, childcare and others. You may be sacrificing certain essential costs at the moment. With an IVA they are budgeted for so they will no longer be neglected No upfront costs When you set up an IVA, there are no upfront costs whatsoever. This means that you can put a debt solution in place today without spending a penny You have a finishing line Do you feel like there will be no end to your debt problems? With high interest costs and charges, the balances of your credit accounts may not reduce as you need them to. With an IVA you will become totally debt free at the completion of the IVA (usually 5 years). You can use this as an opportunity to change your financial life, for good Confidential Your IVA is not advertised in the London Gazette or local newspaper. It is your decision whether you would like to disclose it to other people or not No more contact from creditors When you are in an IVA, your creditors will no longer have the right to contact you or refer the debt on to debt collectors/bailiffs. This is a great benefit for most people as it will take away the stress caused by constant calls/texts/emails and home visits Stay in your house Unlike some debt solutions, an IVA will allow you to stay in your current home. This is even the case if the property has a mortgage or is owned outright Your pension An IVA does not have an impact on your pension. You will not have to surrender your pension or withdraw money from it to pay into your IVA Risks of an IVA Here is a list of the cost common disadvantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA): Equity Release If you own your property and it has value, you may be asked to release the equity in the property Credit Rating If you have a perfect credit rating, this will be damaged and you will not be allowed to take out more debt whilst in an arrangement You must keep up with repayments If you do not keep up with your monthly repayments, there is a risk you will be made bankrupt Who qualifies for an IVA? There is no office guidelines to who qualifies for an IVA. It is a legally binding, Government legislation designed to help all people. Generally speaking, insolvency practitioners (IP) will look at your situation if they think the IVA proposal they submit is beneficial to both yourself (the debtor) and your creditors. This often restricts people to a certain criteria which you will have to meet: Over 5000 worth of unsecured debt You must have 2 or more creditors of 2 or more lines of credit Must live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland Must be insolvent Must be willing to pay at least 70 per month into their IVA Must have some type or types of regular income What debts can I include in an IVA? You can include a wide range of unsecured debts within your IVA. These include: Credit card debt/credit cards Loans/loan debt Payday loans Council tax arrears HMRC debt Overpaid benefits Catalogues Gas and electricity arrears Overdrafts/overdraft debt Water arrears Income tax arrears Debts to friends and family Other unsecured debts Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice. What debts cant be included in an IVA? Secured loans Your mortgage (if you still live in the house) Car finance (if you still have the car) Rent arrears for your current property Court fines/Police fines Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product) Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on) Student loans Other secured debts What does I.V.A stand for? IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments. Can I apply for an IVA online? Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free. Will an IVA affect my employment? In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either. There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything. Will an IVA impact my partner? There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private. If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans. If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way. Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file? Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating. What proof will I need to apply for an IVA? Proof of ID Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements 3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income 3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits How long does it take to set up an IVA? Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email. How long does an IVA last? Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need. How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement? The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt. How does an IVA affect your life? By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA. Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed. What is the IVA protocol? The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances. How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA? Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors. Can I pay in one lump sum? There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you. Who regulates the debt industry? At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website. Should I use a debt charity? There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services. Which charities help with debt? You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels. Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs. We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently? In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected. If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties. Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan. LOOKING FOR HELP? 100% Confidential. Thousands Helped. No upfront fees you are here: business Start Up India to boost entrepreneurship, jobs: Murthy "At the end of the day... it is about the power of entrepreneurship, how it can create lots of jobs and how there is a need to encourage our youngsters to create even more jobs," he said while commenting on the Start Up India initiative business Cabinet approves new crop insurance scheme: Government source Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said last week that New Delhi will launch the crop insurance scheme in the fiscal year starting April 1. business TCS' above-average growth run to end this year: Kotak Kawaljeet Saluja, ED and Head of Research in Kotak Equities said that FY17 is likely to be a muted year for the IT services growth and expects TCS to grow at 11-12 percent for the next few years. 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand. 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems. 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike. If youre an investor then you should be looking to invest in stocks on the ASX with a market cap under $500 million. Ive devised a simple test. This test will help you in your investing life. It will put you into one of two categories. Youre either a true investor, or youre just one of the hysterical mainstream. Before I explain this test further you should understand why I even bothered coming up with this to begin with. Once you understand why this test is important you will understand why the answer matters so much. And once youve got your answer you can take action. And you can start to make an impact on your financial future. My favourite part of the day There are two things I do at the start of the day. The first is to check the activity of the stocks on the buy list for my investment advisory services, Revolutionary Tech Investor and Australian Small Cap Investigator. The second is to have a quick look at the headlines. Im more focused on the business sections, but will have a look at the homepage as well. Usually Ill have a look at the Australian Financial Review, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and the ABC. Most of the articles are behind paywalls. But to be honest Im not overly interested in the content of the articles. I want to get a gauge for what the overall feeling of the day is. Its pretty easy to understand whats going on from the headlines. Over 2015 and for the first couple of weeks of 2016 there has been one common theme when it comes to the markets and business sections shock. Theres also been a healthy dose of distress and the imminent threat of a market crash. Its enough to traumatise anyone about the state of the markets. Just by simply looking at headlines every day its pretty easy to take a very pessimistic view of the market. Reading such jarring headlines is difficult for investors. When youve got your hard earned invested and your future retirement savings all tied up in the stock market well its enough to scare anyone into utter terror. You cant avoid it either. If you dont read it online, youll see it on the news. Or hear it on the radio. Every punter on the weekend will have something to say about the state of the markets and the economy. If youre one of those people who takes great delight in consuming mass media then youre probably a bit scared of the market right now. However of the 2,185 stocks on the ASX, you would be shocked to know how many of them have made gains in the last year. The investor or hysteria test At the start I promised you a test I had devised. By answering this test youll find out if youre an investor or just part of the mainstream hysteria. So here goes If you had 800 chances on the ASX to invest your money and make gains, would you invest or would you still sit on the sidelines? Thats it. Thats my test. Ridiculously simple isnt it? If you answered, I would sit on the sidelines, then Im sorry, I just cant help you. Youre a part of the mainstream. Youve been caught up in the hysteria of the impending doom and capitulation of the stock market and the economy. However, if you answered, I would invest, then have I got some excitement for you! The truth is in the last year there have been 800 different stocks that have made gains. Like I said before, thats 36.6% of all stocks on the ASX. If you had invested in any of those 800 stocks you would have beaten the market. Now I wont lie to you, some of those stocks only made single digit gains over the last year. But 307 of them made between 10% and 50%. 151 of them made between 50% and 100%. And 215 different stocks made 100% or more. Does that sound like struggle town to you? Of course not. Of the stocks that made triple figure gains, only six were worth more than a billion dollars. That means the other 209 that made triple figure gains had a market cap of less than $1 billion. But heres the really interesting point, of those 209 that made more than 100% in the last year, 199 of them had a market cap of less than $500 million. If youre an investor and if youre still reading then you probably are then you should be looking to invest in stocks on the ASX with a market cap under $500 million. In other words, the best place to make big gains on the ASX is in small-cap stocks. If youre really keen to start investing in small-caps then you can get started right here by learning about three shock proof stocks that I think will be winners in 2016. No great reward comes without its share of risk In 2016, just like it was in 2015, the best place to invest to make serious returns is the small cap end of the market. Theres no doom and gloom down here. Its excitement, positivity, potential and market beating returns. Now theres a slight caveat to investing in small-caps. The biggest is that this isnt the place to invest all your money. I say this because I know how small-caps work. And with the potential for big gains, comes an equally large level of risk. You really should only be investing a portion of your portfolio in these stocks. The risk with these stocks is that you could also lose your investment. However, if you can bag only one or two big winners it could easily surpass any losses you might have taken elsewhere. But if youre an investor, and youve got the risk appetite for it, then dont hesitate. Take a look at one of the most exciting segments of the market, small-cap stocks. Regards, Sam Members of the medical staff at Carolinas HealthCare System Blue Ridge showed their support for Burke Recovery and the Burke Substance Abuse Network on Thursday by giving them a $1,500 donation to apply for a federal grant called Drug-Free Communities. The grant is offered though the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The medical community of Burke County has shown great support for the prevention of substance abuse, particularly in the area of prescription drug abuse, said Sarah Dergins, a prevention specialist with Burke Recovery, in a press release on the event. If Burke Recovery receives the grant, it could bring nearly $1.3 million to the county in prevention funding over the next 10 years, Dergins said. The organization will use some of the money to support its RxEAP (Prescription Education Awareness Prevention) task force, whose mission is to educate, raise awareness, and prevent prescription misuse and abuse in Burke County. The task force is made up of local pharmacists, Blue Ridge medical staff, local law enforcement, the Burke County Health Department director, representatives from the Department of Social Services, Burke Recovery board and staff, and others, according to the press release. Dergins said they created the task force in response to the growing prescription drug abuse problem in Burke County that is especially prevalent among young people. She cited a Burke Recovery survey of 560 Burke County youth ages 12 to 25 that found 26 percent had misused or abused a prescription drug. She also said that Burke County had the fifth highest drug poisoning mortality rate in North Carolina in 2014. The task force recently teamed up with members of Burke Recoverys Underage Drinking Initiative to present a series of seminars called, Parents Inspire Prevention. RxEAP also purchased over 150 personal medication lock-boxes to distribute to individuals and families with funds granted though the Burke County Adult Community Collaborative. BCACC is a group sponsored by Partners Behavioral Health Management to address the needs of adults struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues, according to www.partnersbhm.org. Dergins said the Drug-Free Communities programs goals are to reduce substance use and strengthen collaboration between government agencies and community organizations working to combat drug and alcohol abuse. The program will address factors in a community that increase the risk of substance abuse while promoting factors that minimize that risk. Burke Recovery and BSAN previously have received two grants from the state of North Carolina to support their efforts in combating the non-medical use of prescription drugs. Dergins invited anyone interested in helping combat drug abuse in Burke County to attend a BSAN meeting. BSAN meets on the last Friday of each month for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at the Morganton Community House. People can also join the RxEAP task force by emailing Dergins at bcacdsarah@gmail.com. Tammie Gercken can be contacted at tgercken@morganton.com. Anita Dalton does not pay much attention to financial advisers. Ive found they can be very risk adverse and, given my age, always say I should be taking less risk with my money, she said. But Dalton has no intention of following this advice at present. I might be in my late 60s, but if I dont take risks with our money now we wont be able to afford to retire. Anita started to manage her husbands SIPP, the couples main investment portfolio, in 2009 after they became fed up with its lacklustre performance. She says: At this point the entire portfolio was in a couple of commercial property funds. I couldnt see the point of having all our money in a single asset, so decided I could do a better job myself. The money that was in these property funds took a hit when the market fell following the financial crisis. Since then Dalton has diversified their holdings, and now invests in around a dozen funds. DIY Diversification for Financial Success Dalton says she is well suited to managing the couples finances. She still works as a forensic accountant, and says she likes dealing with figures. I have a spreadsheet showing exactly where our money is invested, and I update this weekly, usually on a Friday morning, she says. I do my research carefully. I look at a funds previous performance and what its top holdings are. There is a lot of information now available online and in specialist publications and newspapers, so its far easier to run your own investments. I dont think I could have done this so successfully 20 years ago. Targeting a High Return Over the Medium Term Dalton says shes targeting returns of around 45% over a three year period, which to date she has achieved. This year our SIPP was up by almost 10%, not quite as much as I was hoping for, but I was pleased with this return nonetheless, given the state of the market, she said. In recent years, one successful holding has been Matterley Undervalued Assets, now part of Miton Undervalued Assets. Since investing in this fund, which predominantly invest in out-of-favour UK companies, Dalton says she has seen a 52% return on her money. The fund is now managed by George Godber and Georgina Hamilton. Performance has been good; the fund has a five-star rating. Biotech Funds Boost Portfolio Performance Dalton is also a fan of biotech, and has money in both AXA Framlington Biotech and Pictet-Biotech funds. She has seen a return of more than 60% on the AXA fund. The 744 million AXA Framlington fund has been a popular choice for investors in recent years, with strong gains over 2013 and 2014, although the last 12 months have proved more challenging for the biotech sector. The fund has a four-star rating from Morningstar analysts. The Pictet-Biotech fund has a two-star rating, and has not made as strong gains as the AXA fund in recent years. The Pictet fund has been managed by Michael Sjostrom since it launched in 1995, and he has a Neutral Rating from Morningstar fund analysts. Morningstar analyst Barbara Claud said: Sjostrom works with an investment team made up of three analysts with medical expertise. The team has lost several members in recent years who have not all been properly replaced. More stability would be desirable. Dalton says she remains optimistic about the outlook for the biotech sector. Medical technology seems to be advancing at such a pace, and I think this will continue. Theres also likely to be further takeovers and mergers in this sector which should be good news for shareholders. Getting the Grandchildren into the Stock Market As well as managing her husbands SIPP, Dalton has recently opened investment accounts for her two grandsons, who are aged two and 15 months. She explains: At Christmas and birthdays we want to top these up so we can help build a nest egg for their future. At the moment both of these funds are invested in Neil Woodfords Equity Income fund and AXA Framlington Biotech. She described these choices as one slow-growing, safe pair of hands, the other is a bit more wild. She explains: Ive had money with Neil Woodford for a number of years and I think he is a good fund manager. This will hopefully balance the higher risk biotech fund. Morningstar analysts agree that Woodford has an outstanding track record when it comes to managing investors money, which has earned him a Bronze Rating. This reflects their continued confidence in his ability to outperform. Analysts Danial Vaughan says: The strategy of this fund is clear.. generating a positive capital return over the long term, and growing the income whilst offering capital preservation. He manages money with high conviction, patience and passion. Dalton says she may add other funds to these investments. Im considering popping a bit of Japan in there - but am just keeping an eye on the market at present. As well as looking at information online shes also an avid reader of the financial press. I dont always agree with everything in them, but it helps to keep me informed. I try to invest ahead of any chatter about sectors or companies. I got into biotech before there was a huge stampede into this market, so benefited from that, she said. What funds are in your ISA or SIPP? What have been your most successful investments to date? If you'd like to feature in Investment Views please contact the Editorial team on UKEditorial@morningstar.com The federal finance minister spoke of pitch-black moments in his morning shower and some darkening clouds for the Canadian economy as he kicked off his national budget consultation tour in Halifax on Monday.Bill Morneau drew chuckles from a business audience at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce as he described a morning power outage that occurred while he was covered in soap lather.The minister said it's just the latest in a series of challenges he's facing as he sets out to prepare his first budget amidst a declining economy.Within a few minutes of beginning his speech, Morneau launched into a series of slides that painted a bleak picture of economic growth hampered by plunging commodities prices.He repeated prior statements that the Canadian economy is suffering from slower growth than originally projected by the former Conservative government due partly to oil prices that are less than half those of 2014."We knew when we were campaigning we were facing a slow-growth environment," he said."The challenge is greater than we expected."The minister said there's hope that oil prices will improve, but as it stands a declining tax base means his department is expecting a $15 billion per year reduction of GDP beginning this year, compared with what was projected in the last budget."It's important to have a frank view of where we're starting from," he said.Morneau is travelling across the country this week to seek input as he draws up his first federal budget.The finance minister spoke on the same day as the Bank of Canada's latest business outlook survey was released indicating companies' investment in equipment and hiring intentions for the next year are tumbling to their lowest levels since the 2009 recession.The former executive chairman of a human resources firm told reporters the survey indicates his party's infrastructure spending will assist in retaining business confidence.He also repeated the party will keep its campaign promises to bring in middle class tax breaks and spend billions on infrastructure.But during a news conference, Morneau offered few details when local reporters asked about how Ottawa will stimulate the Nova Scotia economy and help with the upkeep of aging infrastructure.He said he couldn't comment on whether the number of federal ships being built in Halifax yards will remain.He also said he had little information about the Victoria General, an aging Halifax hospital beset by routine floods and leaks, and couldn't say whether helping fix the problem falls within the planned infrastructure spending.Randy Delorey, Nova Scotia's Liberal minister of finance, said in an interview he's content to wait for more details about how his federal counterpart's infrastructure program will work _ and whether he can ask for help with the decrepit facility.During a news conference, the federal minister was also asked whether Ottawa will continue efforts by the former Conservative government to create a national securities regulator.He said his government will work with provinces who want to create the regulator, but respected that Alberta and Quebec weren't interested in proceeding with the plan."We do favour a collaborative national securities regulator," he said. "We recognize we'll do this together with those provinces willing to be part of this initiative. We think it's important for Canada find a way to be efficient in all things we do."Late in the day, the minister answered a wide-ranging series of questions from students at Dalhousie University, the first of series of forums that will be held at universities.Michael TuttonTHE CANADIAN PRESS Financial Services Committee Hearing Case For Flood Insurance Reform The House Committee on Financial Services held its second day of hearings on Wednesday regarding the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). NFIP was created by Congress in 1968 because of a lack of appropriate insurance in the public market. The program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) and provides flood insurance to policyholders in the United States and its territories. Insurance agents and companies participate as third-party administrators in the NFIP's Write Your Own (WYO) program and property owners can purchase the insurance only if their communities agree to mitigate flood risks. The original program was modified in 2012 by the Biggert-Waters Act which sought to increase premiums to more risk-based rates, gradually eliminating government subsidies. The 2014 Grimm-Waters act rolled back many of these reforms. The Government Accountability Office has estimated that approximately 20 percent of NFIP policies are explicitly subsidized and paying only 35-45 percent of their actual full-risk level premiums and the program has an outstanding debt of $23 billion borrowed from the U.S. Treasury, with $7.425 billion remaining of its total temporary $30.425 billion Treasury borrowing authority. Congressional authorization for NFIP expires September 30, 2017. The first day of the hearings focused on challenges and opportunities facing the program. Steven Ellis, Vice President, Taxpayers for Common Sense said one of these challenges is adverse selection; the people who purchase flood insurance are those most likely to get a payout. Of 134 million housing units in the country roughly 5.4 percent are covered by flood insurance. While most everyone has a level of flood risk but unless it is acute they don't buy insurance which puts a strain on the program and makes it difficult to charge risk-based rates. Another issue is subsidies, he said, which have been part of the program virtually from the beginning. While there needs to be a mechanism to provide assistance to lower income ratepayers this assistance should be outside of the rate structure so as to not mask risk. He also noted that the Special Flood Hazard Area maps used by FEMA to delineate the area in which mortgaged homeowners are required to purchase insurance are not necessarily accurate and lack of confidence in their accuracy hobbles FEMA's implementation of the program. Tom Wood, Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders focused his testimony on the flood maps issues saying that in order to be accurate they must take into account all flood control efforts like levees and dams. In many cases, he said, FEMA has failed to factor in privately funded flood control or any structures not built by the Army Corps of Engineers. This has resulted in many properties being mapped into higher rate zones. In addition to correcting these problems Wood said the NFIP must continue to allow state and local governments to shape local land use policies and make decisions on how private property may be used. If a local government deems an area fit for residential building, flood insurance and mitigation standards allow homebuyers and homeowners the opportunity to live in a home of their choice in a location of their choice, even when the home lies in or near a floodplain. Christopher Heidrick, representing the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, said that the recent short term reauthorizations of NFIP rather than the historic multiple year renewals have created instability and uncertainty which can lead to concrete damages in the real estate and development market as well as the country's economy overall. The threat of expiration requires agents to repeatedly work with consumers notifying them of the pending expirations and their ramifications while realtors and mortgage lenders have to decide how to proceed with property sales and issuing and servicing mortgages that require flood insurance. Speaking on behalf of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of American, Patty Templeton-Jones, Vice President of Wright National Flood Insurance Company said that, without question, the biggest change in flood insurance since the last Congressional authorization of the program is that private capital is actively interested in writing policies. In response, state insurance regulators, she specifically named Florida and Pennsylvania, are engaging insurers with the intent of fully incorporating flood insurance into their states insurance regulation system. Templeton-Jones urged Congress to develop consensus on long-term reforms well before the program's 2017 expiration date. This, she said, is the single most important thing Congress can do to foster certainty in the flood insurance marketplace and encourage the continued development of market-oriented solutions in flood risk management. Wednesday's hearing focused on ways in which to create a robust private flood insurance market. Birny Birnbaum, Executive Director of the Center of Economic Justice told committee members that the invitation to testify asks whether NFIP represents the ideal model for protecting residential and commercial property owners from damages related to flooding. The answer he said is a resounding no. Congress has tasked the program with too many multiple and conflicting goals and placed on it too many constraints and requirements. It is tasked in whole or part with: Providing insurance coverage to individual homeowners and business for the peril of flood as an alternative to disaster relief; Promoting the sale of flood insurance with broadly-subsidized rates; Removing subsidies and moving to risk-based or "actuarial" pricing; Addressing repetitive claims for properties in high-risk areas; Addressing problems of affordability of flood insurance Identifying and mapping flood risk through an interactive process with local governments; Paying back past flood insurance losses that greatly exceeded revenues collected; and Promoting flood loss mitigation and prevention With such varied and conflicting responsibilities and limitations, it is not surprising that the NFIP has been a poor flood insurance program, he said. The very first step for Congress should be to establish the goal for federal expenditures for disaster relief and loss mitigation related to flood the promotion of more resilient and sustainable homes, businesses, communities and infrastructure against the peril of flood. With this as the clear goal, then any proposals regarding the NFIP can be evaluated by asking - does this change promote resiliency and sustainability or not? Steven Bradshaw, Executive Vice President of Standard Mortgage Corporation, speaking on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), said there is no question but what the flood program needs to be reformed and that expanding insurance options will make it easier for more homeowners to obtain insurance at lower cost and increase the number of at-risk properties with coverage. "For example," he said, "many homes that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina were not located in a special flood hazard area. Homes outside of those zones are not required to have flood insurance. As a result, mortgage servicers were liable for the costs when those homes were wiped out." MBA, he said, believes that involving the private sector will also shift some of the burden of post-disaster recovery away from the federal government, limiting taxpayer exposure to future flood losses. MBA, he said, supports H.R. 2901, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act which clarifies what constitutes an acceptable private flood insurance policy and addresses lenders' concerns regarding continuous coverage requirements. Under current law, it is unclear whether someone previously covered under an NFIP policy who moves to a private carrier would be eligible to return to the NFIP policy at their previous rate. Teresa D. Miller, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department and speaking for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, said there is a growing appetite in the surplus lines market, which typically insure unique or other difficult to underwrite risks, to provide private flood insurance coverage. Surplus lines are often the first to develop and offer new types of coverage then after proving itself profitable the coverage tends to become a standard market product. She said at least five surplus lines carriers sold flood insurance to homeowners in Pennsylvania in 2015, and have written nearly 1,000 policies. Licensed insurers have also started to write coverage but only in very limited markets. Also Pennsylvania is finding in many cases that private carriers are willing to offer comparable coverage at substantially lower cost than the NFIP. Brady Kelley, Executive Direction of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) said his organization believes the private market will develop, but slowly. "For consumers whose flood risks are mitigated by the terms and limits available from the NFIP, there will be no real change or shift of NFIP coverages to the private market. As long as the NFIP continues to subsidize rates and delay the implementation of more actuarially sound rates commensurate with underlying exposures, there is no incentive for consumers to seek private market solutions and no incentive for the private market to develop solutions that cannot compete." Oil prices dropped again Monday, extending 2016s unbroken losing streak and worsening a bust in Houstons key industry that is shaping up as the most severe in almost half a century. Morgan Stanley said the crash in crude markets has pushed prices down further and lasted longer than the five other major downturns since 1970 even the one in the mid-1980s that left Texas economy reeling. No floor in oil prices has been found so far, the bank said, predicting crude prices wont begin recovering until the second half of this year at the earliest. So far, the United States has lost 70,000 oil and gas jobs to the current downturn, and the economic toll is expected to reverberate across Texas. Robert Kaplan, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said Monday that the states once-surging job growth could fall to 1.3 percent, a third of what it was in 2014. Expectations have decidedly shifted to an even lower for even longer price outlook, Kaplan said in remarks prepared for a speech Monday evening in Dallas. U.S. crude fell $1.75 to $31.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest point since December 2003 and a 15 percent drop since New Years Eve. Brent, the international standard, declined $2 to $31.55 a barrel in European trading. Both benchmarks briefly fell below $31 before inching back up. The price is already below the break-even point for many drillers in U.S. shale fields, where technological advances have boosted production from the dense rock and contributed to a global glut that has sunk prices. Oil has to trade for about $45 to bring a profit in Texas top two fields, the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, and it dropped below that level for several months last year. Barrels selling for less than $32 apiece will barely cover wages and electricity bills for even the low-cost conventional oil fields that make up more than half of U.S. crude production, according to French bank Societe Generale. This is going to be a very messy process, said Michael Haigh, global head of commodities research at Societe Generale. A lot of it is very much underwater. Were at prices right now where people are in trouble. Morgan Stanley believes major oil company earnings will drop 30 percent to 70 percent this year. But smaller domestic drillers with high levels of debt could face much bigger hurdles. Down even further? If crude prices stay lower than $35 a barrel for long, more than half of the U.S. oil and gas companies that took out billions in risky corporate debt in recent years will have to go through some sort of restructuring, including bankruptcy, said Shaia Hosseinzadeh, head of energy and natural resources at private equity firm WL Ross & Co. Currently, he said, around 45 percent of those high-yield bonds known as junk bonds are trading at distressed levels, which means theyre at high risk of default. Domestic oil producers took out that debt to fuel the oil and gas surge of the past few years, but they got a hefty bill when booming production caused oil prices to collapse. Theyre going to need some kind of fix, Hosseinzadeh said. The fix isnt likely to come from the oil market, as nothing on the immediate horizon appears likely to keep crude prices from falling further and in fact, geopolitical events could push crude lower, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. Within a few weeks, for example, the International Atomic Energy Agency could clear the last regulatory hurdles for Iran to put its crude back into circulation in most global markets. The United States and other Western powers agreed last summer to lift financial sanctions that had kept most Iranian oil off global markets in exchange for constraints on the Islamic Republics nuclear program. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that Iran could be within days of having sanctions lifted, echoing remarks last week by Secretary of State John Kerry. $100 oil fed the shale beast Morgan Stanley predicted that crude prices wont recover in the first part of this year, largely because the Saudi Arabia-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries continues to pump oil at will and the prospect of more crude from OPEC member Iran looms large over the market. The financial pressure of cheap crude has started to cut into high-cost U.S. shale production, but it is also expected to bring overall output outside of OPEC down this year by at least 700,000 barrels, according to Wood Mackenzie. That could help set the stage for an oil price recovery later this year, but it also shows the fiscal difficulties of maintaining production while crude falls. Hosseinzadeh said Russia, some countries in Latin America and other producers outside OPEC and the U.S. shale plays already are struggling to stay in the market at current oil prices. A production decline big enough to affect crude prices, however, may take a while to materialize. Haigh pointed out that the $100-a-barrel price of less than two years ago motivated so much production that it sent prices down. $100 oil didnt work. It fed the shale beast, Haigh said. $75 sounds about right. But its going to take a long time to get there. Support group meetings -- The Knot Adoption Support Group, 11:30 a.m. today, First Presbyterian Church; Kathy Hagler, Kathy@WTIE.net -- Caregiver support, noon today, HospiceMidland 911 W. Texas Ave., 682-2855. Chronic fatigue fibro-myalgia syndromes support group, noon Thursday, Rays of Hope Grief Centre; 520-3500. -- Permian Basin Community Service Organization (for individuals, organizations or businesses that provide services to improve quality of life), 11:45 a.m. Thursday, Mi Piaci Italian Restaurant, 2607 N. Grandview Ave., Odessa; 432-210-4234. West Texas Amputee Support Group, 11 a.m. Saturday, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital; 550-4371. -- Midland Odessa Chapter of the United Ostomy Association, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Midland Memorial Hospital West Campus. A confidential peer-to-peer support gathering for combat veterans Tuesday, Midland College Cogdell Center, 201 Florida Ave.; Steve Cree, 770-7469. -- The Helping Hand Metastatic Cancer Support Group, noon Tuesday, Texas Tech Physicians of the Permian Basin Clinic, Room 210B. Lunch will be served. To RSVP , call Amber Chavez at 620-1023. Midland Chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), 7 p.m. Tuesdays, First Presbyterian Church (Koinonoa Room); Judith Craig, 683-3648. Bariatric Support Group, 11:30 a.m. Jan. 20, ACT Counseling Center, 2445 E. 11th St., Odessa; 272-4333. **** Weekly Meetings Alcoholics Anonymous hotline 580-7868. Narcotics Anonymous hotline 582-2926. Survivors of sexual abuse; interactive Bible study to help deal with the consequences of sexual abuse meets Tuesdays. Child care available; House of Hope, 570-5935. -- Overeaters Anonymous; 7-8 p.m. Tuesdays and 3-4 p.m. Sundays; B&J Plaza, 206 N. Midkiff Road, Suite 1-D; 553-1031. -- Peer to Peer support group for veterans, active duty, guard, reserves and their families, 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Permian Basin Community Center, 401 E. Illinois Ave., Suite 403; Wil Hoggard, 213-5342, william.hoggard@wtcmhmr.org. *** Events at MMH Weigh to Success Informational Seminar, Jan. 21, Midland Memorial Hospital Birthplace Tour, Jan. 21, Midland Memorial Hospital Becoming a Mom Classes, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21, Midland Memorial West Campus *** How sick are you? Midland Memorial Hospital is offering a nurse triage program 68-NURSE. The program is designed to help people determine whether or not their health situation warrants a trip to the emergency room. Midland residents can call the line by dialing 686-8773. The program is free and available 24 hours a day-365 days a year. Local nurses are available to help you determine the best place to receive care for your situation. 68-NURSE can help you save time and money by directing you to the most appropriate healthcare option, whether its a neighborhood clinic, urgent care center, emergency room or just staying home. * * * Contact your Hospital District representative MIDLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 400 Rosalind Redfern Grover Parkway, Midland, Texas, 79701 Phone: 221-1111 Website: www.midland-memorial.com President Russell Meyers 221-1584 Directors -- District 1: vacant, District 2: Dorothea Logan, District 3: Tommy Lent, District 4: Cressinda Hyatt, District 5: Alison King, District 6: Joe Kiowski, District 7: Jeffrey Beard James Durbin Midland YMCA is hosting Super Saturday beginning 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Residents can check out for free classes such as Water in Motion, yoga and Zumba. The Super Saturday class schedule is: 8:30 a.m., BodyPump, GRIT Cardio; 9 a.m., Water in Motion; 9:15 a.m., GRIT Strength; 9:30 a.m., RPM and Zumba; 10:30 a.m., BodyCombat and yoga. A 29-year-old man was arrested Saturday for allegedly stalking a woman, according to a police report. James R. Goetz of High View, West Virginia, was being held Tuesday on a $50,000 bond for a third-degree felony charge of stalking. Officers were dispatched to a residence on Claremont Drive on Saturday morning in reference to terroristic threats, according to Goetzs affidavit. MPD had received a call from a woman stating that Goetz had traveled from West Virginia and was at her residence, according to the affidavit. The woman met Goetz in October 2014 on Facebook, and Goetz has harassed her since then, according to the affidavit. At one point, Goetz asked the woman to send him nude photos, at which point she blocked his profile, according to the affidavit. Goetz allegedly used several Facebook accounts to harass and stalk her and would call her at least 12 times a day. Goetz called the woman Saturday and said he was at Midland International Air & Space Port and was en route to her house with the intention of killing her, according to the affidavit. The woman had made several attempts to contact law enforcement about this issue, according to the affidavit. If convicted of the third-degree felony, Goetz could face up to 10 years in prison. WEDNESDAY, Jan. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Infants are just as susceptible to accidental poisonings as older children are, especially when it comes to medication errors, new research reports. A decade of poison control center calls in the United States showed that acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) was the most common medication mistake for infants. This was followed by H2-blockers (for acid reflux), gastrointestinal medications, combination cough/cold products, antibiotics and ibuprofen (such as Motrin or Advil). The most common non-medication exposures were diaper care and rash products, plants and creams, lotions and make-up, the investigators found. "I was surprised with the large number of exposures even in this young age group," said lead author Dr. A. Min Kang, a medical toxicology fellow at Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix in Arizona. "Pediatricians typically do not begin poison prevention education until about 6 months of age, since the traditional hazard we think about is the exploratory ingestion -- that is when kids begin to explore their environment and get into things they are not supposed to," Kang added. The findings were published online Jan. 13 and in the February print issue of the journal Pediatrics. Kang and colleague Dr. Daniel Brooks reviewed all poison control center calls in a national database from 2004 to 2013 that related to babies younger than 6 months old. There were more than 270,000 exposures reported during that time, 97 percent of which were unintentional. About half the calls were general unintentional ingestions, which includes children exploring their environment. Over one-third (37 percent), however, were related to medication mistakes, the study found. With medication exposures, 47 percent involved dosage mistakes, and 43 percent involved giving a medication twice or too soon, giving a child the wrong medication or similar errors, the authors explained. Acetaminophen was involved in more than 22,000 medication exposures and nearly 5,000 general exposures. This high rate reflects its frequent use because it's recommended instead of ibuprofen for infants, Kang pointed out. "The concern with too much acetaminophen is liver failure although, luckily, young children are considered to be somewhat less likely to experience this than an adult because the metabolism is a little different," Kang said. One expert noted that this study covers a decade, and acetaminophen mistakes may have dropped in recent years. That's because acetaminophen infant drops are now standardized across manufacturers, said Dr. Michael Cater, a pediatrician with St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. A U.S. government study last fall found that children's ER visits for medicine overdoses have been declining. The number of ibuprofen exposures, however, surprised Cater since ibuprofen isn't recommended for those under 6 months old. "Also surprising was the number of ethanol poisonings," likely from parents leaving empty glasses or bottles of alcohol around, he said. "Low-lying plants, some of which are toxic, are a source of concern, and this was a bit of a surprise to me." Diaper creams and lotions likely top the list because they're easily reachable by infants when left on the diaper-changing areas, Cater added. The frequency of calls for cough/cold medications caught the attention of Dr. Emily Borman-Shoap, pediatric residency program director at the University of Minnesota. "The American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] does not recommend cough and cold medications for children under age 6, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given a warning about the use of cough and cold medication for children under age 2," Borman-Shoap said. "This suggests that there is room for ongoing education for parents about safe treatments for cough and cold symptoms in children." The AAP has a policy statement recommending that all liquid medications use metric units for dosing and that they include administration devices, such as syringes, to reduce the chance of an overdose. Perhaps doctors should offer poison prevention education to caregivers earlier, even starting when a baby leaves the hospital, Kang suggested. In addition, Kang said, parents should have the poison control phone number -- 1-800-222-1222 -- posted in their home and programmed into their cellphones, and should call for advice on any type of exposure. More information For more about child poisonings, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 37-year-old Midland man was arrested Jan. 8 after police in Oklahoma allegedly connected him to a kidnapping case in Midland. Nathaniel Murray was being held Monday on a $50,000 bond for the first-degree felony charge of kidnapping, according to court records. College students interested in traversing space will have a mere 5 miles separating their learning facilities with a local spaceport as soon as this fall. The Midland City Council, Midland Development Corp. and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin solidified an agreement Tuesday, promising development dollars for a new aeronautical engineering program at UTPBs Midland campus. The MDC will fund $200,000 a year for three years for research and development of a new aeronautical engineering program at UTPB. The funding will go toward the salary of an aerospace faculty member and new laboratories, according to a UTPB and MDC joint press release. This will be in conjunction with the Midland Spaceport and be another recruiting tool we have by having a skilled labor workforce of engineers outside of mechanical and electrical that we can offer to these companies coming here, said Councilman J.Ross Lacy. Lacy, an alum of UTPB and a current MDC board member, worked with UTPB President David Watts and other MDC members over the past few months to develop the initiative. Watts said the aeronautical engineering program was developed to continue UTPBs mission to work with community leaders to provide educational opportunities in line with the citys economic development plans. Were excited about it, Watts said. Its one more opportunity for the university and West Texas. Lacy said that the spaceport being located just down the road from UTPBs Midland campus will allow students to utilize their skills sooner rather than later and opens the door for internships. Both Watts and MDC board member Robert Rendall agreed with Lacy that the agreement will help provide a skilled workforce to work in the industry. Rendall and Watts also anticipated it would take little time to fill the aerospace faculty position. The program could roll out in September, they said. All residual amounts of the $200,000-per-year funding will be used to fund research for the aerospace engineering professor. Anticipated laboratory expenditures will be for subsonic wind tunnel, propulsion module, aerospace structures module and ancillary instrumentation, according to the release. The new partnership serves as a sequel to a previous partnership with UTPB to develop a nuclear engineering program. Watts said during Tuesdays city council meeting that more than one in 10 of UTPBs 6,100-plus students are engineering majors. MDC money is raised through a quarter-cent addition to the citys sales tax. MDC agreements must be approved by the Midland City Council. Follow Cassie on Twitter at @Cassie_Burton51 MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico's government is moving Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman constantly from cell to cell inside the maximum security prison where he is being held, the same lockup the elusive drug lord escaped from through a tunnel six months ago. Government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison after he was recaptured Friday. The prison also now has 24-hour video surveillance of Guzman including all parts of his cell. The cell from which he escaped in July had a blind spot around the shower, which officials at the time was intended to protect inmates' privacy. "He is being changed from cell to cell without a pattern... he is only spending hours or a couple of days in the same cell," Sanchez said late Tuesday night. July's escape was Guzman's second from a maximum security prison and it deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto. It also created friction with Washington, which had sought his extradition to the United States. This time around, Mexican officials have said they are willing to extradite Guzman but warn the process could take a year. In the meantime, they appear to be taking extraordinary measure to prevent a third escape. "Since he arrived, he has been in eight different cells," Sanchez said of Guzman's time in prison. Guzman's recapture followed the most intensive manhunt in modern Mexican history, with at least 2,500 security and intelligence agents dedicated to getting him. The government says the hunt involved piecing together information from intelligence, data, interrogations and raids as well as monitoring actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo as they came to interview the world's most wanted trafficker. Federal officials who were not authorized to be quoted by name said that a significant part of the 2,500-strong force hunting the drug lord were soldiers sent into the mountains where he was hiding, to set up a security perimeter. While Penn expressed surprise that a soldier at a checkpoint allowed his vehicle through on the way to the meeting with Guzman in October, one of the officials said that action had proved "very useful" in the hunt, suggesting it was part of the plan. While Mexican authorities had spent decades chasing Guzman, the chase following his July escape from a top-security prison was different for two reasons, said a former government intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the case. "One, El Chapo stopped being clandestine. He left the mountain. He met with people, as we now know. That made it easier for intelligence units to find him," said the ex-official, who maintains sources inside security operations. "The other factor: there were, from the time of the escape, 2,500 people from various security agencies exclusively dedicated ... to mount a successful operation." Even so, it took six months to catch him, with Mexican news media carrying repeated reports of marine raids into the mountains of Guzman's native Sinaloa state. Guzman was nabbed early Friday morning after a shootout in the city of Los Mochis that killed five of his men and wounded one marine. The former official interviewed Guzman when he was arrested the first time in 1993 and led operations over the years in the remote mountains of Sinaloa and Durango states, known as the Golden Triangle, after Guzman first escaped a maximum security facility in 2001. He said the size of those operations involved only around 60 troops, not hundreds. "It was obviously expensive, but they knew they had to flush Chapo Guzman out," said Michael Vigil, former head of international operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration, who also was briefed on the operation. "The only way was by saturating the area where he was. "It caused him to go to a safe house in Los Mochis. He knew that was going to make him vulnerable, but he had no choice. Every phone call or text, every movement in the region was analyzed, the ex-official said, including Guzman's Oct. 2 meeting with Penn and del Castillo. He and Vigil said that Del Castillo's phone calls, texts and other communications must have been monitored since she had her first real contact with Guzman last year, while he was still in prison. Everyone wanted to tell his story, but he said he would only work with the Mexican actress, who the ex-official called "Mexico's Sharon Stone." "The movie was secondary. The first motivation was meeting Kate del Castillo and striking a relationship there," Vigil said, citing intelligence sources. One of the federal officials confirmed that Guzman appeared to be infatuated with Del Castillo, apparently referring to her by the code name "Hermosa," or "Beautiful." Four days after Penn's Oct. 2 interview, soldiers staged fierce operations in the area of Tamazula, Durango, where the meeting with Penn and Del Castillo took place. The ex-official said it took that time to put together the intelligence and mount a raid. In the end, Guzman narrowly escaped. Security teams had kept watch on several properties related to Guzman in and around Los Mochis since October, he said. But it was only last week that they started noticing a flurry of activity in one of the houses in an upscale neighborhood. Intelligence indicated that Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel, had arrived with their twin daughters to celebrate the Feast of the Three Kings, a major Christmas-season holiday for Mexican children. The timing wasn't an accident, the ex-official said. Holidays and birthdays are the best times to catch suspects. "They try to be with family, and intelligence units take advantage of these contacts to find out where they are," he said. In the end, the ex-official attributed Guzman's capture to the drug lord "losing his footing." When they first met, Guzman was a mid-level capo without the folk hero image he has today. He was cautious and humble, addressing authorities in the most formal manner of speech. He could barely write, but is very intelligent, the ex-official said. Today, the official said, he sees a man who let his ego take over. Authorities found DVD's of Del Castillo's series, "The Queen of the South," in which she plays a drug lord, when they raided his Los Mochis home. Both Penn and the government said Guzman hoped to arrange his own movie. "He fell in love with his own legend," the ex-official said. Free Chances to Win a Trip to Paradise! Would you like the chance to visit beautiful Hawaii? The 50th state gives you chances to surf big waves, relax on picturesque beaches, snorkel with exotic fish, and luxuriate in some of the most beautiful nature our planet has to offer. And these Hawaii Sweepstakes and Contests give you chances to win an unforgettable vacation for free. Check this page regularly to find free chances to win a Hawaiian vacation. This list is updated every day, and it's full of the best current Hawaii giveaways offered by trustworthy companies. You can also find chances to win free airfare to the Hawaii islands, free stays at beachfront resorts, and other related prizes. Before you enter any of these giveaways, it's a good idea to consider whether each vacation giveaway is right for you. If you are new to entering and winning sweepstakes, find out how to enter online sweepstakes like a pro to make sure you don't make any mistakes that would affect your chances of winning. If another type of vacation is also on your agenda, check out these sweepstakes lists: And don't forget to stop by TheBalance's Sweepstakes Directory to find even more prize categories, like chances to win cash or instant prizes. If you are chosen as the winner, you'll be notified by the sweepstakes sponsors directly. You can learn more about what happens when you win sweepstakes and how to recognize the warning signs of sweepstakes scams. Ready to start entering? Here are the current chances to win a free trip to Hawaii: 1. Roxy - Waikiki Sweepstakes Get the chance to win a five-night getaway for two people to Hawaii. Entry Frequency: One time per person/email/household End Date: September 30th, 2022 Eligibility: Open to the U.S. and Canada More Information about this Sweepstakes Enter Sweepstakes Directly The official release date for Homefront: The Revolution, from publisher Deep Silver, is May 17, 2016 in North America for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC gaming platforms. Gamers looking for some gameplay action earlier than that can sign up for the recently announced Closed Beta testing taking place next month, too. If you don't get into the early access event, a brand new gameplay trailer for the 2016 release premiered this week, so you can watch it below! You can check out more buzzing news coverage from Music Times right here! This released date was confirmed just about a week or so after an image taken at a Target leaked the information, according to IGN. If you've been following this game, you've seen previous gameplay involving the "Red Zones" featured in this title, but the latest trailer shows us the "Yellow Zones" of Philadelphia in the year 2029. "The Yellow Zones are the densely populated areas of Philadelphia, where civilians live in constant fear," Deep Silver states of this new gameplay. "A mix of Orwellian police state and ghetto slum, the People are kept under the heel of oppression through permanent surveillance, 24-hour propaganda, and an ever-constant military presence. But even here in the Yellow Zone, the Resistance is at work. Hiding in plain sight, blending in with the crowd, and weapons concealed until the last possible moment, the last torch bearers of freedom have vowed to dismantle the KPA infrastructure here piece by bloody piece." Check out the brand news gameplay trailer for Homefront: The Revolution right here: Accompanying this trailer and release date confirmation is the news of the Closed Xbox One Beta that explores different co-op missions and more. To sign up for the Closed Beta, click here! 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. As President Obama finishes up the last few months of his historic time in office, many look to the future and wonder who will be the next leader of the free world, while others look to the past eight years and Obama's time in office. One such person is rapper Fabolous, who has dedicated his last few Instagram posts to the man that he insists has been the only president in history to embrace the hip-hop culture and champion the artists who create music for the masses. "People will go back & forth about what Obama has & hasn't done for this country," the rapper wrote on an Instagram photo of the president with Beyonce and Jay Z. "But from what I know & saw, Obama embraced many cultures while in office. Hip Hop being one, which touches me because I'm a Hip Hop artist. Hip Hop use'ta be a political scapegoat, the black cat of America, the reason for everything wrong even while being the largest growing music & the corporate world getting rich off our style, jingles, & consumers. We watched Hip Hop become a universal language thru all its backlash & ridicule." Fabolous also posted a photo of the epic meeting in the Oval Office between rapper Kendrick Lamar and the president, who revealed that Lamar's song "How Much a Dollar Cost" was his favorite song of 2015. Apparently similar sentiments are widely shared, since Lamar is leading the pack for Grammy nominations with an impressive 11 nods total. The song "How Much A Dollar Cost" comes from Lamar's latest album To Pimp A Butterfly, which has the Compton native up for Album of the Year. On his Instagram photo of the rapper and the president, Fabolous simply writes, "For the culture. Salute Obama & Kendrick." The "Throw It In the Bag" rapper also included a photo of Obama and "Yeezus" rapper Kanye West. West is seen with a rare smile as he admires a pair of sneakers with the president. Fabolous wrote, "For the culture. No President has ever embraced us like Obama. Remember that." If you can't get enough of the hippest first couple so far, even after listening to the very last State of the Union speech the president made Tuesday evening, check out Fabolous' Instagram posts below. For the culture. Salute Obama & Kendrick. A photo posted by Fabolous (@myfabolouslife) on Jan 12, 2016 at 8:42am PST 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Kygo had a career year in 2015, going from blog star to global star with gigs all over the world, syncs in major promos and having his tracks streamed hundreds of millions of times across various platforms. Not slowing down one bit entering 2016, yesterday he made his United States daytime television debut on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, performing his single "Stole The Show" with the help of Parson James. These DJ performances can be a bit awkward on live television if there is not attempt at live instrumentation or crowd interaction. Luckily for Kygo, he had Parson James on hand to handle the crowd interaction and sing the track as well as he did on the studio recording, while also adding a few extra runs for good measure. Kygo stood behind his three square setup with two keyboards and a drum machine, playing the various parts of the two keyboards and drumming the various bass lines on the pads next him. Both artists showed few nerves in this performance and delivered a very watchable showcase of "Stole The Show." The crowd of middle aged women, swaying awkwardly from side to side, were predictably given some glow in the dark wrist bands to create a "rave" atmosphere, though Kygo's music is more suited for a pool or beach. Entering 2016, Kygo is gearing up to embark on his largest tour to date, the Cloud Nine Tour that will hit select arenas across the United States and Europe. He went through 2015 without releasing his long-awaited album, but it will at last be released on Feb. 12. His latest single"Stay" was released in December. Watch Kygo's performance on Ellen with Parson James below. 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Montreal DJ and producer Tiga has announced his new album No Fantasy Required. The album has co-production and features from Matthew Dear, Jake Shears, Hudson Mohawke and Paranoid London. Pairing with the announcement, he has unveiled his new collaboration with Hudson Mohawke, the druggy tune "Planet E." The LP is by and large all new music, but does include the previously release single "Bugatti" (no not the one that Ace Hood woke up in). "First of all, I never talk about the music itself," says Tiga about the album. "It's borderline sacrilegious to talk about the grooves. They have a language all their own, the grooves do. I just birth them and send them out into the world to make others happy. And that's what makes me happy, and that's what makes you happy." This is the first album from Tiga since 2009's Ciao! and his third overall. "Planet E," has a bit of both of both worlds from Mohawke and Tiga with atmospheric synths gently rising and falling, a strong bass line and a deep voice wooing somebody, "With the joy that I'm feeling, I'm on planet E / total brain peace when it's just you and me." Even with album three ready to go in two months, Tiga said on Twitter today that he is already working on album four. To along with the LP, Tiga will make a brief stop in the United States for three tour dates in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and San Francisco. No Fantasy Required will be released on March 4. Fans can pre-order the album on iTunes. No Fantasy Required Tracklist: 01. No Fantasy Required 02. Make Me Fall in Love [co-prod. Matthew Dear, ft. Jake Shears] 03. 3 Rules [co-prod. Matthew Dear] 04. Having So Much Fun [co-prod. Matthew Dear] 05. Tell Me Your Secret 06. Always [ft. Paranoid London] 07. Planet E [ft. Hudson Mohawke] 08. Plush 09. Bugatti 10. Don't Break My Heart 11. Blondes Have More Fun 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Swedish police are under fire for allegedly covering up sexual assaults by migrant teens at the music festival We Are Stockholm, Europe's largest youth festival. The alleged incidents took place in the summer of 2014. According to internal documents obtained by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, a number of teenage girls were "These are so-called refugee youths, specifically from Afghanistan. Several of the gang were arrested for sexual molestation," one police memo said. "As soon as you came out in the crowd, they began to grope," a 15-year-old girl told Dagens Nyheter. However, the official police report on the five-day festival with 170,000 people aged mainly 13-19 made no mention of any sexual assault or harassment, which is odd for a gathering of that size. The following year in 2015 without any sort of alleged police cover-up, there were 20 sexual assaults reported, but no clear linkage between ethnicity and assault was established. A spokesperson for the festival organizers told The Guardian, "We have seen different waves of this sort of violence over time. Sexual harassment is something that happens in society, so everything that is happening in society will definitely happen there." The revelations of these assaults the resulting alleged police cover up comes at a very tense time in Sweden and across Europe with migrants entering from the Middle East, notably Libya, Syria and Iraq. Germany has been rocked by accusations that hundreds of women were assaulted in Cologne by apparent Middle Eastern and African descent during New Year's Eve celebrations. According to Roger Ticoalu, head of events at the Stockholm city administration, organizers had picked up on rumors of assaults in 2014, but didn't have enough facts to act on at the time. "It was a modus operandi that we had never seen before: large groups of young men who surround girls and molest them," Ticoalu said. "In the cases where we were able to apprehend suspects, they were with a foreign background, newly arrived refugees aged 17-20, who had come to Sweden without their families." More worrisome is that the police don't have an explanation as to why they didn't report the assaults. "Why it did not happen I do not know," says Press Chief Wolf Gyllander to Dagens Nyhete. Police have been accused of not being forthcoming with these assaults to not feed into the far-right, anti-immigration party of Sweden, the Sweden Democrats' rhetoric. Stay tuned for more developments as this story. 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Monique Samuels and Chris Samuels talk about the word on the street. After the couple - who appeared on The Real Housewives of Potomac for four seasons - reportedly split after 10 years of marriage, the couple denied there was any truth to Please enable JavaScript to experience the functionality of this website. - MWEB It is wicked to place political ... Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions. This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization. Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick Summerville Bears logo View Photos Tuolumne, CA New policies and move-forward plans to administer new programs are high on Wednesdays Summerville Union High School District agenda. Among their action items, the trustees will review two memorandums of understanding (MOU) regarding administering the California Healthy Kids Surveys to grades five through 12 and the districts adult education initiative. They will additionally discuss incoming funds, new to the district, according to Superintendent Robert Griffith, that will enable it to provide some new services. Griffith says that these funds are made possible through three grant awards. The first, a three-year Career Technical Education Incentive grant, will enable the district to apply $333,000 towards pursuing workforce development for students within the district. A two-year Educator Effectiveness grant, totaling just over $51,000, will be targeted towards improving instruction by providing professional development for instructors and staff. The third award, a three-year Adult Education Block grant, to the tune of $195,000, will allow the district to reach out to adults that may need to complete a high school degree but have not yet done so. A year ago we did not have any of those grants, Griffith enthuses. They add up to $579,000 for the district, for three different programs that the legislature and governor have pursued, back-filling some of the areas they have considered short-changed under the local funding formula. In Support Of More Flexible Saving In related actions, the board will likely approve making a resolution in support of AB799, which seeks to give school districts more flexibility to direct their reserve caps towards preparing for economic difficulties as well as to save for future education program investments. As Griffith explains, Particularly for smaller districtsand for rural districts, a small percentage reserve cap can end up to be not that much money, and if you havemaintenance issues that come up, it would become almost impossible, based on the size of the reserve cap that [the lawmakers] were talking about having in place. The Healthy Kids survey, to be administered this year with parental consent to grades five through 12, is described as an anonymous, confidential assessment that will allow the district to collect and analyze data to better assess local health risks and behaviors, school connectedness, protective factors, and school violence. The adult education initiative, being carried forward in conjunction with the AEBG Stanislaus Mother Lode consortium of approximately a dozen schools in the region, is working to develop more adult educational opportunities, particularly in areas that include diploma completion. The related MOU that the trustees are slated to review is between the district and Modesto Junior College, which will serve as the administrator of the recently awarded adult ed grant monies. Initial readings on new board policies in the wings include enhanced rules against bullying and updated outlines concerning student and employee use of technology. We run all our updates through the California School Board Association, so they have been reviewed by a legal team before they go to our school districts, to make sure they stay compliant with law and the most recent court decisions regarding education, Griffith points out. Pretty much quarterly we get an update, and so we have a whole slew of board policy decisions to considerand adaptfor local application. Following a 5:30 p.m. closed session, Wednesdays meeting will begin at 6:30 in the high school library (17555 Tuolumne Road). Washington, DC Lawmakers such as Congressman Tom McClintock, Senator Diane Feinstein, and others, are weighing in on President Barack Obamas final State of the Union Address. Californias senior U.S. Senator, Feinstein, was very complimentary of the speech, saying, I think what we sawPresident Obamas final State of the Unionwas the speech the president has wanted to give for years. Rather than a laundry list of policies that we know a divided Congress cant agree on, we heard President Obamas vision for the country. He talked about how far weve come over the past seven years, but more importantly he talked about where he sees our country moving. I think his speech was inspiring and powerful, and the country should listen carefully. Mother Lode Republican Congressman McClintock had a much different take on the speech. He says, In an hour he illustrated exactly how out-of-touch he is with the realities the American people are living. Obama spent his last State of Union Address telling us that seven years of economic stagnation is actually this phenomenal economic recovery. That our collapsing health care system, and the skyrocketing premiums people are facing, are just figments of our imagination, and that the world has never been more peaceful and stable. Californias other U.S. Senator, Democrat Barbara Boxer, had a very positive review of President Obamas speech, saying, I was glad he reminded everyone how resilient this nation is and what a remarkable record we have seen over the past seven years 14 million jobs created, more than 17 million Americans getting health coverage, the comeback of the auto industry and the recovery of the housing market. The President also focused attention on some big ideas, including a moon shot to cure cancer which I strongly support as well as a huge focus on voter suppression, which can undermine our democracy. And he reminded everyone that addressing climate change is a win-win not only for saving the planet, but for good-paying jobs in the clean energy sector. When Clarke Broadcasting asked Congressman McClintock about President Obamas moon shot to find a cure for cancer, the Congressman called it bizarre and referred to the President as delusional. With yet another perspective, Central Valley Republican Congressman Jeff Denham indicated that he wished President Obama would have touched on other topics, noting, If the President truly wants to implement change that helps families in my district prosper, hell take a hard look at some of the legislation weve passed in the House to strengthen our economy, rein in government bureaucracy and get people back to work. Most importantly for the Central Valley, hell get involved for the first time in helping us answer our states desperate need for water and direct the Senate to work with the House in seeing some of the legislation weve already passed signed into law. We must increase water storage to address Californias needs and Americas food supply. Also of note, California Governor Jerry Brown has not yet publicly commented on the State of the Union Address, but Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom took to social media immediately afterwards, and simply stated, Thank you Mr. President. You can read a transcript of President Obamas address by clicking here. Sonora, CA A Sonora woman has been arrested on a list of charges, including assault with a deadly weapon. The Police Department reports that it was the result of an altercation that happened Tuesday morning at the Sonora Gold Lodge on Stockton Street. An unidentified male victim reported that he was attacked by his girlfriend, 22-year-old Katrina Guthrey. During an argument, Guthrey allegedly picked up an un-opened metal can of soup and hit the victim with it. The male tried to flee from the motel room, so Guthrey threw the can at him, hitting him again. When the Police Department arrived the officers saw visible injuries to the male victim, but he declined medical attention. Guthrey was booked into Tuolumne County Jail on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting injury to a domestic partner and violation of probation. The U.S. Supreme Court decision that Floridas death penalty is unconstitutional has both victim families and defense attorneys wondering what the next step might be. The most recent death penalty ruling in Central Florida came down in November of last year for Bessman Okafor. I was very disappointed, Rafael Zaldivar said. We were ready to move on. Zaldivar will never see his son Alex again. He was very caring, his father said. He was full of life. He was almost trilingual. Alex Zaldivar, 19, was a business student at Valencia, had a job in a restaurant and supported himself. He had everything ahead of him, Zaldivar said. He took away Alexs future. With a guilty conviction, the jury recommended 11 to 1 in favor of the death penalty. The judge agreed and sentenced him to death. I dont see nothing wrong with that system, Zaldivar said. Yet, the latest decision by the U.S. Supreme Court found that Floridas death penalty process is unconstitutional because it violates the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. The decision means that jurors must determine the facts of a case and not the judge. So this ruling will affect past and present cases like Okafors, as attorneys begin his appeals process. I think that the death penalty has to come off of his sentence right now, said Dean Mosley, Okafors defense attorney. A decision that will likely play out in court for years to come. Its very difficult for our family to move forward because I know what I want for this man, and thats what we fought for, Zaldivar said. Its very painful. Okafors attorneys will be back in court Thursday afternoon for a status hearing concerning his appeals process. His attorneys say they expect a very different discussion in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the death penalty process is now unconstitutional. With the latest Florida legislative session underway, about 100 Central Floridians loaded into buses bound for Tallahassee on Tuesday, aiming to lobby legislators to vote against newly proposed bills they say are anti-immigration. "We are going to Tallahassee, our community. It's a community that has suffered," said Eli Garcia, with the Hope Community Center in Apopka. "We are not criminals. We are students, we are people, we are humans. We work hard and pay our taxes. That's the only thing we can do," said Garcia, who also said she was an undocumented immigrant. With their voices raised, they head to Tallahassee lobbying against two bills. Florida Senate Bill 872 would prohibit sanctuary policies and require local governments to comply with and support the enforcement of federal immigration law. The other, Bill 118, would make it a felony to avoid a deportation order, which means someone could face up to 30 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. "These bills that are being introduced right now are targeting our community," Garcia said. "This immigration law is separating people." Once in Tallahassee, the group planned to host a rally before beginning to lobby with their legislators about the two bills. An Orange County judge on Tuesday denied bond for the teenager accused of running over an Orlando police officer last year. Edward Kelty, 18, remains in the Orange County Jail on several charges, including aggravated battery causing great bodily harm with a weapon of a law enforcement officer, attempted second-degree murder with a weapon of a law enforcement officer and leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injuries. Judge Julie O'Kane issued the ruling on Tuesday, just one day after the bond status hearing. Kelty, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, stated he should be granted bond because he was a juvenile. "Based upon that review, the court finds that the proof is evident or the presumption is great that defendant committed the offense of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm with a weapon of the law enforcement officer, a life felony," the ruling states. "Therefore, defendant's motion to set reasonable conditions of release on Count 1 is denied." The incident happened around 2:43 a.m. Monday, July 13, at a traffic light at the intersection of Kirkman Road and Vineland Road. Officer William Anderson is seen in dashcam video from inside his patrol car running up along the side of the vehicle and drawing his gun as he approaches the vehicle while holding onto his radio as he shouts commands at the driver. Seconds later, the passenger in the front seat runs out of the vehicle. As the officer goes around the front of the vehicle in pursuit, the driver hits the gas, striking Anderson. The officer is then seen falling to the ground. Anderson spent about a month in both the hospital and a rehab facility before he was released to go home. He suffered a severe brain injury and is permanently disabled. The police officer's wife, Jessica Anderson, testified at Monday's bond hearing and said her husband continues to struggle with memory issues, chronic pain and tremors. Jessica Anderson stated she was concerned for her family's safety is Kelty was granted bond and released from jail. Officer Anderson had been undergoing treatment at the University of Florida Shands Hospital inpatient rehabilitative center in Gainesville and will continue to receive speech and physical therapy through Shands. (PHOTO/Officer Will Anderson Support Fund) Blayne Reed, the AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist for Hale, Swisher and Floyd counties, as part of the Sugarcane Aphid Team, has received the Superior Service Award from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. The honor, in the team category, was announced Tuesday night at Bryan. It recognizes the groups work in circumventing a statewide disaster stemming from the sugarcane aphid, arguably one of the worst pests to ever threaten the sorghum industry, according to the nomination. Their efforts to stop the fast-moving new pest in sorghum crops is credited with preventing millions of dollars in damage to crops across the state. This award basically comes for us doing our job, and trying to make a difference for our producers, and thats something we hope to continue to do, Reed said Wednesday. He was unable to attend the awards presentation in Bryan on Tuesday, after just returning from a beltwide conference where the sugarcane aphid was a primary topic. The team award, he adds, is further evidence, Reed notes, that we have a very large pest on the horizon that continues to affect a major commodity that is showing the potential for a significant economic bounce that could get us out of the low-price rut our producers are now experiencing. Although there are plenty of stories about the negative impact of the sugarcane aphid on sorghum yields throughout the state, Reed said there also have been a number of success stories. Weve been able to show that it is possible to raise sorghum here, and manage this pest with a full IPM approach. Reed stressed that the fight against this pest is ongoing. Lots of folks had this sneak up on them, and they were hit hard, he said. The sugarcane aphid is a pest that demands our respect, and we will continue to seek out different ways to deal with it. According to the award nomination, AgriLife Extension and Texas A&M AgriLife Research began organizing an immense research and education effort in the fall of 2013 to combat the sugarcane aphid. When grain sorghum was harvested in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 2014, it already was evident that those efforts were beginning to pay off. Texas Grain Sorghum Producers reported that the Sugarcane Aphid Team that fall prevented some $160 million in crop losses. Similar research and educational work on the Texas High Plains in 2015 is reported to have prevented an additional $100 million in grain sorghum losses. The work is expected to continue, thus providing further benefits to sorghum growers, the nomination said. Superior Service Awards recognize AgriLife Extension faculty and staff members who provide outstanding performance in AgriLife Extension education or other outstanding service to the organization and to Texas. The award was presented during the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Conference awards dinner at the Brazos Expo Center in Bryan. The team members recognized include: - AgriLife Extension-entomologists: Dr. Raul Villanueva, Weslaco; Dr. Allen Knutson, Dallas; Dr. Pat Porter, Lubbock; Dr. Ed Bynum, Amarillo; and Dr. Robert Bowling, Corpus Christi. Also, Gabriela Esparza-Diaz, postdoctoral AgriLife Extension assistant, and Beto Garza, AgriLife Extension assistant, both at Weslaco. - AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agents: Danielle Sekula-Ortiz, Weslaco; Stephen Biles, Port Lavaca; Blayne Reed, Plainview; Tommy Doederlein, Lamesa; and Kerry Siders, Levelland; - AgriLife Extension agents: Jason Ott, Nueces County; Brad Cowan, Hidalgo County; and Enrique Perez, Cameron County. - AgriLife Communications: Rod Santa Ana, Weslaco. Additional team members by entity were: - Texas A&M AgriLife Research: Dr. Mike Brewer, entomologist, Corpus Christi; Dr. Mo Way, entomologist, Beaumont; Dr. Gary Odvody, plant pathologist, Corpus Christi; and Dr. Gary Peterson, agronomist, Lubbock. - USDA, Agricultural Research Service: Dr. Scott Armstrong, entomologist, Stillwater, Oklahoma. - Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley: Dr. Webb Wallace, executive director, Harlingen. - United Sorghum Checkoff: Dr. Brent Bean, agronomist, Lubbock. - Cooperators: Chris Bauer, Montimer Cabrera, David and Fontis Newell, Dennis Ball, Sam Simmons, Sam Sparks, Randy Cook, Shane Blount and Ronald Groves. Crop Consultants: John Norman, Weslaco; Jim Trolinger and Mike Grey, both of Harlingen. By TOMMY YOUNG Herald Staff Writer In just more than a month, a new president will move into the White House. On Saturday, a residence formerly known as "The White House" was on the move right here in Plainview. Merlin and Janie Keller bought the house located at 1901 W. Sixth Street in April. Official Wayland Baptist University historian Dr. Estelle Owens estimates the home was built in the late 1910s. The university's fourth president, Dr. E.B. Atwood, and his family lived in the house during his tenure from 1919-23. Because it was the president's residence, the house soon earned the nickname, "The White House." Owens believes Atwood was the only president to live in the house, which had been used as student, staff and faculty housing since Atwood and his family left. In an attempt to save the school money, Atwood did not draw a salary from the university. "He lived off his salary as interim and later full time pastor of First Baptist Church in Hereford," said Owens. In an interesting twist of irony, a teenage member of the congregation Atwood served, A. Hope Owen, would later become the seventh president of Wayland in 1953. The Kellers said they found out the university was considering bulldozing the home and clearing the lot. The family has been living in a travel trailer for the past eight years. Being involved in music evangelism, the family decided it was easier at the time to live in the trailer they used to travel from one location to another rather than maintaining a house as well. "The boys (Heath, 19, and Brady, 21) and I were OK with it," Merlin joked as he took a break from preparing the house to be moved. But as the cost of fuel skyrocketed, it cut into the family's travel schedule. "We knew we needed to find something more permanent place now that the boys are in college," said Merlin. "God has always provided for us and this (house) is part of that," he added. Janie, who works at WBU as the external campus registration coordinator, said she inquired about the house which has been vacant for a couple of years. "We like old houses and always wanted a two-story house," she said. Merlin said the residence had been vandalized. "The windows and all of the inside glass had been broken, and the fire extinguishers had been set off inside the house," he said. Still, "It was well built and was still in pretty good shape structurally." One of the most difficult situations the Kellers have encountered as they prepared to move the house to their property northwest of Plainview on Highway 194 is removing the second floor. "It would be too expensive to raise the utility lines and get them high enough to get the house under them if we left the second floor," Merlin noted. So with some help from some friends and family, the lifelong Plainview residents tore down the second floor but plan on rebuilding it once the rest of the structure is moved. "We love and want to maintain the general structure and outside of the house," Merlin said. "But we do have some different ideas of our own we want to incorporate." The process, though time demanding and labor intensive, has also led to some fun and unique discoveries for the Kellers. An inscription was found on one of the support beams of the second floor. It reads, "Jim Lovelady 11-20 1920." Owens hypothesized Lovelady may have been a boarder that lived with the Atwoods. "They (the Atwoods) had two boys of their own, and to save the school money they may have taken in boarders. It's definitely not outside the realm of possibility," Owens concluded. Janie said she investigated the name and found a hard copy of a registration card for Lovelady, discovering he was a 13-year-old student at the Wayland Academy in 1920. However, it is not known for sure if he actually lived in the home. The couple also made a discovery that could have created quite a stir in the early portion of the previous century - four packs of playing cards near the crawl space in the attic. "Back then, cards were seen as bad because they were used to gamble," said Merlin, whose father, Bruce, was the former pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Plainview. "They were definitely taboo for a while. So this is where whoever hid them." Janie has also preserved some of the wallpaper she found upstairs. "In one of the bedrooms there were some markings on the paper that were children's height charts," she said. The chart was marked with a date Sept. 3, 1955, and the name Jim Maddox. Another mark was made higher on the wall dated March, 10 1956. Bigham House Movers from Lubbock was to move the home to its new location starting at 7 a.m. Saturday. (Contact Tommy Young at 806-296-1356 or tyoung@plainviewdailyherald.com) LUBBOCK -- For The United Family, 2016 marks a historic year, as United Supermarkets celebrates the stores 100th anniversary. What began as United Cash Store in Sayre, Oklahoma, in 1916 has grown into a multi-banner, Texas-based grocery chain with 66 stores in 36 communities. Today, The United Family operates United Supermarkets, Market Street, Albertsons Market and Amigos grocery locations, as well as United Express fuel and convenience stores, throughout West Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth and Eastern New Mexico. Reaching our 100th anniversary is a remarkable accomplishment, and a true testament to the hard work and dedication of all our team members through the years, as well as our loyal guests in each of our communities, said Robert Taylor, who was appointed CEO of The United Family in 2010. Most importantly, this celebration is a tribute to the Snell family, because without their vision and leadership, United wouldnt be the beloved supermarket it is today. To commemorate a century of service, The United Family designed an entire year of initiatives to benefit and improve the communities it serves, a core value of the company since it was founded by Henry Dewitt Snell. On Saturday, Jan. 16, the company will kick-start the yearlong celebration with a birthday party at all 66 stores and give away a total of 100,000 free cupcakes. Also in January, The United Family will launch Shop to Support Schools, a school donation program, which will challenge community members to get involved and help improve the future of local children. In addition, the company will take a bite out of hunger, donating 100,000 pounds of apples to local food banks across the companys service areas in April. The company has been very fortunate for an entire century to have owners as well as leaders who believe in the core value of supporting communities and doing the right thing, said Taylor. In honor of that legacy and to kick off our next 100 years, the 100th anniversary of United Supermarkets will be acknowledged and celebrated in each of our 36 communities in Texas and New Mexico. United moved to the companys now headquarter city of Lubbock in 1956 when Jack Snell, son of H.D. Snell, purchased three Taylor Safeways. The company continued its expansion over the next four decades under the leadership of Jack and his son, Robert, and by 1991, United stores were in 20 communities throughout Texas. The companys continued growth into the grocery-chain it is now was spurred by a strategic growth plan adopted in 1998, which called for new stores, innovative concepts, diverse market expansion and self-distribution. Also in 1998, Market Street, a new concept focused on healthy meal solutions for busy guests, was introduced in Wichita Falls. The company now operates 15 Market Street locations, including seven in Dallas-Fort Worth. United Supermercado, which is now Amigos, was the next concept offered by The United Family, opening in Plainview in 2000. Today, four locations provide a blend of traditional and cultural favorites for Hispanic shoppers in the Lubbock and Amarillo areas. To express appreciation for the many communities that have support the company, beginning May 31, The United Family will celebrate 100 Days of Giving, presenting $1,000 to a different local non-profit for 100 consecutive days, totaling a donation of $100,000. Also during that time, the company will donate 100,000 additional pounds of food to local food banks in June in preparation for fall and winter when donations are needed most. Lastly, before Thanksgiving, The United Family will spread joy to area childrens hospitals in 12 markets by distributing 1,200 special 100th Anniversary stuffed animals. With these programs, in addition to dozens of ongoing initiatives, this year will truly be worthy of our 100th anniversary, said Shelby Crews, senior community relations manager for The United Family. Giving back to our guests has always been a cornerstone of United Supermarkets, and that emphasis will continue as The United Family enters its next century. The United Family remained a family-owned supermarket chain for 98 years until becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Albertsons LLC on Dec. 27, 2013. In order to take advantage of operational and distribution opportunities, Albertsons realigned 12 locations under The United Family and these stores now operate as Albertsons Market stores in Midland-Odessa, San Angelo and Eastern New Mexico. For more information visit unitedtexas.com. AUSTIN Texas Workers Compensation Commissioner Ryan Brannan is lowering the maintenance tax rate paid on premiums collected by workers compensation insurance carriers for the third straight year. The tax rate for premiums collected in 2015 will be 1.478 percent, down from 1.533 percent for 2014. The maintenance tax supports the operations of the Division of Workers Compensation and the Office of Injured Employee Counsel. I met a guy last week. His name is Louis. Well, I say I met him. He died on April 21, 1898. Id never heard of him before. But I was awake too early one morning and wanted to try lulling myself to sleep by listening to some fantastic classical music on cable channel 949, Music Choices Classical Masterpieces. Just now, as I flipped on the set, that channel was playing part of an opera by still living and thriving American Composer John Adams: his The Chairman Dances from his opera Nixon in China. Now, that is a classical masterpiece. Normally, Channel 949 will play a symphony by Beethoven or Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky, also classical masterpieces. So what was this that was playing on that other morning? It was an impressive performance of a Symphony in E-flat by a composer named Louis - Louis Theodore Gouvy. This symphony had a lot to recommend it: good melodies, great harmonies, big changes in volume (dynamics), and a wonderful orchestration. There didnt seem to be anything not to like about it. Yet Id never heard of this composer. So, I looked him up in some Wayland Baptist University resources. He was born in 1819 in Goffontaine, Belgium, presently an extremely charming village about a 4-hour drive east by northeast from Paris, France. He died in Leipzig, Germany. He didnt show much musical talent as a child. He went to Paris to study law, but began studying piano and ultimately failed his law courses. He dove into music as a career, hanging around with guys like the composer who not only wrote 70 operas, but also the music to the song we know as O Holy Night. Gouvys first symphony, the one that was playing that morning, was first played in Paris by an amateur orchestra in 1846, when he was just 27 years old. His music was much better received in Germany than in Paris, and composers like Brahms held him in high regard. He wrote over 200 compositions, including nine symphonies. 90 of his compositions were published. Being a man of means he often paid for the performances of his own music. The famous composer Hector Berlioz wrote bemoaning the fact the Gouvy, though important, was not very well-known in Paris. Berlioz complained that so many gnats bother the public with their music was a sign of the lack of reason and justice in our musical manners. Berliozs article changed nothing, and Gouvy remained unknown throughout the 20th century. However, as evidenced by his symphonys inclusion on cable television, his music has found new advocates and people willing to play his music. More of us will now have opportunities to get to know Louis Theodore Gouvy. I hope to learn more myself. Gary Belshaw is Plainview Symphony's first composer-in-residence and now its executive director. He is the retired professor of music vomposition at Wayland Baptist University and now teaches as an adjunct professor. garydbelshaw@yahoo.com Via his Dispatches from Haiti blog in the Peoria Journal Star, Dr. John Carroll writes about Six Years Dispatches from Haiti. Click or tap through for two of his powerful photographs. Much has happened during the last six years. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were crushed to death in the earthquake six years ago this afternoon. The victims included women huddled together watching a popular Dominican soap opera around little televisions at 4:53 PM. The ground shook for 35 seconds, and for many of them, it was their last show. Haitis most powerful Catholic prelate fell to his death from a seminary as the earthquake crushed his cathedral nearby. Bodies were scooped up for days like pieces of heavy debris, loaded in dump trucks, and buried in a paupers field just north of the capital. And I learned that earthquakes dont really kill people, bad buildings do. After the earthquake 13 billion dollars of money was pledged to Haiti from all over the world. However, pledged money does not mean money given. And money that was given was given to whom? And for what? Non-government organizations were crucified relentlessly for trying to help in Haiti but not really creating sustainability. Cholera would hit Haiti at the end of 2010 and Haiti, the land of extremes, became home to the largest and most deadly cholera outbreak in the world. The UN would not take responsibility for cholera and words like immunity and impunity still confuse me. But I do understand shock and death from extreme loss of bodily fluids. Hillary would pick the newest Haitian president in 2011 and he would rule by decree. Chikungunya virus hit Haiti in 2014 and made millions of Haitians quite ill. And now Zika virus (from the same mosquito vector) is sickening Haitians but we have to be quiet about it right now. And nine months from now someone may need to explain the number of Haitian babies being born with small heads and brains and intellects. One-third of Haitians are food insecure or starving now and we cant blame this on Syrias Bashar al-Assad or his barrel bombs. Daughters of Charity Sisters (and also very dear friends of ours) were burglarized in their own home in Port-au-Prince last year and beaten by the banditsthe very people they serve. Insanity rules. In June of 2015 people with Haitian blood (some who only speak Spanish) went running and screaming from the Dominican Republic after they were told they were no longer welcome in the sugar cane fields. These folks and their children are now stateless and tens of thousands of them are camped on the Haitian-Dominican border in a desert existing in cardboard huts. Neither Dominican or Haitian governments act like they exist and they have no civil rights. Cholera and malnutrition and lack of hope are picking these people apart. And Haitian politics and elections and the omnipresent corruption are an embarrassment for Haiti as 2016 comes tumbling in. People manifest in the streets almost every day because they cant live another six years like this. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The father of a 15-year-old girl who died in a shooting earlier this month pleaded with the public to help investigators find her killer after an incident at a gathering where people showcased their cars in north Houston. Victoria C. Cantu was found shot to death about 12:40 a.m. Jan. 4 in the backseat of a car in a Whataburger parking lot at 109 Airtex, Sgt. Richard Rodriguez, a homicide investigator with the Houston Police Department, said during a news conference Wednesday. Before the shooting occurred, Rodriguez said, Cantu was in a red Acura with a man and another teenager at an event in a strip center parking lot at 10822 North Freeway service road. Dozens of people had gathered in the parking lot for Slab Sunday, a weekly event to showcase their cars. They drove their cars in a large circle through the empty parking lot, weaving from side to side, which is known as swanging. During the procession, Rodriguez said, the driver of the car carrying Cantu unintentionally swerved too close to other people who were watching the event. Those people were in three separate cars and followed Cantu and her friends as they drove away from the gathering. During the chase, a man who was a front-seat passenger in 2013 or 2014 silver Chevrolet Malibu leaned out of the car window and fired gunshots at the victims from an assault-style rifle, Rodriguez said. At least one of the bullets hit Cantu, who was sitting in the backseat. The gunman and the other people in the three cars chasing Cantu and her friends returned to the gathering after the gunfire. Cantu and her friends drove to the Whataburger parking lot, where Cantu's companions noticed she had been wounded. They called 911. When paramedics arrived, they pronounced Cantu dead at the scene. Rodriguez said surveillance cameras captured images of the the cars that chased Cantu and her friends as well as the gunman hanging out of a Malibu front-door, passenger-side window. The other cars in the chase were in a 2010 to 2013 gold Toyota Camry and a 2005 to 2009 silver Ford Mustang. Rodriguez said it doesn't appear that Cantu and her friends knew the people who chased them. Cantu's father, Gregory Cantu, said he was still in shock about the teen's death. He hoped anyone who had information about the case would contact police. "I just want justice for Victoria," Gregory Cantu said. Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713 308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713 222-TIPS. Two Donna ISD school board members pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting bribes in connection with a services contract held by the school district, federal prosecutors said. Board members Eloy Infante, 54, and Elpidio Yanez Jr., 45, pleaded guilty to attempted interference with commerce by extortion. Adrian Guerrero, 50, who served as a middleman in the scheme, also pleaded guilty. Its hard to say which of the three monomaniacal, monumentally grueling quests is the most riveting. Theres the torturous trek portrayed in The Revenant of Hugh Glass, a 19th-century trapper who, inflamed by revenge, dragged his bloody body 200 miles through the Western wilderness after being gnawed by a grizzly and deserted by fellow trappers. Then theres the hunt by Leonardo DiCaprio for his first Oscar, for portraying Glass. He has been on the press circuit dramatizing the agonizing shoot, bragging about his verisimilitude in eating raw bison liver. The director, Alejandro Inarritu, told Variety he had to fly ants twice, first class, to Calgary, Alberta, so they could crawl over Leos fractured frontiersman. And finally, of course, theres the politician most like Glass in her willingness to crawl through glass, flip her positions and persona, and even bear up under a mauling by a merciless, manic bear to reach that goal most yearned for. In Hillary Clintons grimly relentless trudge toward the White House, the part of the bear is played by Donald Trump. (The bear in the movie is also a counterpuncher; when Leo tries to shoot the animal in the face, the grizzly races back to molest him again.) Trump is like a CGI Rathtar or Indominus Rex, a larger-than-life, fight-to-the-death animated creature who improbably pops up in the ordinarily staid presidential campaign sinking his Twitter teeth into rivals. With his muddle of charm, humor, zest, vulgarity, bigotry and outrageous opening bids on volatile issues, he has now leapt into that most sensitive area: the Clintons tangled conjugal life. Hillary was asked by the Des Moines Register about Trumps crude comments that she had been trounced (he used a phallic word) by Barack Obama in 2008 and that her prolonged debate bathroom break was disgusting. She replied that Trump had a penchant for sexism. That spurred him to declare open season on the Clintons seraglio imbroglios. On Thursday, he put out an Instagram ad showing the Daily News cover about Bill, after he admitted the affair with Monica Lewinsky, blaring Liar, Liar. The ad goes straight at what Hillary sees as her strengths: Bill and running as a woman. Playing her famous line in Beijing in 1995 that womens rights are human rights, it features pictures of the Clintons with friends who have been ensnared in seamy scandals. Ignoring our more gender-fluid society, the skyscraper-obsessed Trump has hectored male rivals for being girlie men. But he knows Hillary is tough. So hes wielding his knife on her most sensitive pressure point: her hypocrisy in running as a feminist icon when she was part of political operations that smeared women who told the truth about Bills transgressions. Hillary told friends that Monica was a troubled young person getting ministered to by Bill and a narcissistic loony toon. Trump may be a politically incorrect Frank Sinatra ring-a-ding type with cascading marriages to hot babes, but he knows that a retrospective of the Clintons cynical campaigns against bimbo eruptions will not play well in a politically correct society sensitized by epidemics of rape in colleges and the military and by the Cosby effect. Bill hid behind the skirts of feminists including his wife and esteemed women in his Cabinet when he got caught playing around. In Iowa last fall, Hillary promised to fight sexual assault on campuses, saying that survivors had the right to be heard and the right to be believed. But when a woman last month asked whether the women who claimed they were sexually harassed by Bill Clinton should be believed, Hillary faltered, replying lamely: I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence. Shes in a dicey spot on this, as Trump well knows. Hillary reacted to his ad by tweeting, Its important to stand up to bullies. Trump can be a bully. But Hillary was a bully, too, in the way she dealt with her husbands paramours. Her impulse, as Lewinsky wrote in Vanity Fair, was to blame the woman even herself. If someone had to be collateral damage, it was not going to be Hillary. For now, she will have to deal with that old show business saw: Exit, pursued by a bear. Maureen Dowd is a columnist for the New York Times. Yves here. This post describes how the US is running its Middle East policies by the seat of its pants, with not surprising bad results. By Gregory R. Copley, a senior level advisor to governments around the world on national security, intelligence, and national management issues, and author of over 30 books, including The Art of Victory (2006) and UnCivilization: Urban Geopolitics in a Time of Chaos (2012). Copley is currently the President of the International Strategic Studies Association, based in Washington, DC, and Editor-in-Chief of the Defense & Foreign Affairs group of publications, including the government-only intelligence service, the Global Information System. Cross posted from OilPrice Senior-level sources in numerous Middle Eastern governments have privately expressed bewilderment at recent and current U.S. government strategies and policies toward the region. But a closer examination of U.S. policies, now almost entirely dictated by the Obama White House, shows no cohesive national goals or policies exist, but rather an ad hoc set of actions and reactions, which are largely dictated either by ideological positions, ignorance, whim, or perceived expedience. This is unique in U.S. history. In short, the consistent pattern of policies developed over the past century has now been broken up, apart from some of the physical consistencies of legacy military deployments and basing, and by some trade and weapons program commitments. Even there, military deployments have contracted substantially in the past few years, and new U.S. defense systems sales to the region have been lost to suppliers from France, Russia, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Germany, Pakistan, and others In the 18 months until January 2016, the U.S. missed possibly $12- to $15-billion in sales of defense and energy systems in the Middle East, and a range of major new defense acquisitions from non-U.S. suppliers are under consideration by Middle Eastern states. At the same time, some of the U.S. major traditional allies in the region Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, in particular have felt compelled, for their own survival, to turn their back on Washington because of a perception of a divergence in values and goals. Most U.S. policy officials especially in Defense insist that U.S. commitments and strategies in the region have not changed, but the actions and policies dictated directly by the Barack Obama White House, and mirrored at Secretary of State level, have proven antithetical to most states in the greater Middle East, with the exception of Turkey and Qatar. Some regional states, such as Oman, are concerned; others, such as Ethiopia and Djibouti, are now left feeling strategically abandoned. The sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from their deployment at the Ethiopian air base at Arba Minch from where Reaper UAV sorties were conducted against al-Shabaab in Somalia was done in September 2015 without forewarning to the Ethiopian Government in Addis Ababa, and kept secret until an Ethiopian website disclosed it in early January 2016. The U.S. had signed a series of multi-year supply agreements with Ethiopian companies to support the base in the weeks leading up to the withdrawal, a firm indication that the decision to vacate Arba Minch was sudden and hastily planned. The Arba Minch withdrawal coincided with growing U.S. hostility toward the Government of Djibouti which is strategically integral to Ethiopias fortunes and the very pointed siding of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Djibouti. This resulted in Saudi and UAE strong military commitments to Eritrea (to compensate for the loss of their Djibouti basing in the war in Yemen), another blow to Ethiopian security. But it also coincided with the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Addis Ababa to talk at the African Union, where he was accorded a very mixed reception based on his insistence on African states accepting his Obamas stance on gay marriage, among other things. Significantly, although President Obamas team was warned against such provocations in advance of his Addis and Nairobi visits, most Obama Administration officials do not understand what they have done to offend some of the nations in the region. Even Kerrys support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the rift with Djibouti did not win their support for Washington, as both states feared that the U.S. now supported Iran rather than the lower Persian Gulf states. The Iranian Government, however, has been under no such illusions, even among those who supported the G5+1 treaty with Iran to end some of Iranian nuclear weapons programs in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. They, too, see U.S. support for the Saudi coalition against them in Yemen. The net result has been a bonanza for the PRC, and the deal by Djibouti to welcome a PRC naval base in the country was confirmed and cemented when Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh met in South Africa with Chinas President Xi Jinping in early December 2015. This was a strategically successful gathering of African leaders with Chinas leader within weeks of the Indian summit in New Delhi with African leaders. The U.S. has done nothing of consequence to rebuild its position, which means that the strategic framework in the Middle East and Africa will, within a decade, be profoundly different from the beginning of the 21st Century. Via Defense and Foreign Affairs Special Analysis Yves here. I may be overreacting to the current wave of news, but China has been more of a driver of oil prices than most care to acknowledge. The rise to $147 a barrel was to a large degree the result of stockpiling of diesel for the Olympics; when that buying was over, crude prices beat a hasty retreat. Chinas current level of investment spending, at 44% of GDP, is not sustainable. A sustained reduction in energy demand does not bode well for a rebound of oil prices to their former levels. By Michael T. Klare, a TomDispatch regular, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of The Race for Whats Left. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1. Originally published at TomDispatch Prices By Michael T. Klare As 2015 drew to a close, many in the global energy industry were praying that the price of oil would bounce back from the abyss, restoring the petroleum-centric world of the past half-century. All evidence, however, points to a continuing depression in oil prices in 2016 one that may, in fact, stretch into the 2020s and beyond. Given the centrality of oil (and oil revenues) in the global power equation, this is bound to translate into a profound shakeup in the political order, with petroleum-producing states from Saudi Arabia to Russia losing both prominence and geopolitical clout. To put things in perspective, it was not so long ago in June 2014, to be exact that Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was selling at $115 per barrel. Energy analysts then generally assumed that the price of oil would remain well over $100 deep into the future, and might gradually rise to even more stratospheric levels. Such predictions inspired the giant energy companies to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in what were then termed unconventional reserves: Arctic oil, Canadian tar sands, deep offshore reserves, and dense shale formations. It seemed obvious then that whatever the problems with, and the cost of extracting, such energy reserves, sooner or later handsome profits would be made. It mattered little that the cost of exploiting such reserves might reach $50 or more a barrel. As of this moment, however, Brent crude is selling at $33 per barrel, one-third of its price 18 months ago and way below the break-even price for most unconventional tough oil endeavors. Worse yet, in one scenario recently offered by the International Energy Agency (IEA), prices might not again reach the $50 to $60 range until the 2020s, or make it back to $85 until 2040. Think of this as the energy equivalent of a monster earthquake a pricequake that will doom not just many tough oil projects now underway but some of the over-extended companies (and governments) that own them. The current rout in oil prices has obvious implications for the giant oil firms and all the ancillary businesses equipment suppliers, drill-rig operators, shipping companies, caterers, and so on that depend on them for their existence. It also threatens a profound shift in the geopolitical fortunes of the major energy-producing countries. Many of them, including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela, are already experiencing economic and political turmoil as a result. (Think of this, for instance, as a boon for the terrorist group Boko Haram as Nigeria shudders under the weight of those falling prices.) The longer such price levels persist, the more devastating the consequences are likely to be. A Perfect Storm Generally speaking, oil prices go up when the global economy is robust, world demand is rising, suppliers are pumping at maximum levels, and little stored or surplus capacity is on hand. They tend to fall when, as now, the global economy is stagnant or slipping, energy demand is tepid, key suppliers fail to rein in production in consonance with falling demand, surplus oil builds up, and future supplies appear assured. During the go-go years of the housing boom, in the early part of this century, the world economy was thriving, demand was indeed soaring, and many analysts were predicting an imminent peak in world production followed by significant scarcities. Not surprisingly, Brent prices rose to stratospheric levels, reaching a record $143 per barrel in July 2008. With the failure of Lehman Brothers on September 15th of that year and the ensuing global economic meltdown, demand for oil evaporated, driving prices down to $34 that December. With factories idle and millions unemployed, most analysts assumed that prices would remain low for some time to come. So imagine the surprise in the oil business when, in October 2009, Brent crude rose to $77 per barrel. Barely more than two years later, in February 2011, it again crossed the $100 threshold, where it generally remained until June 2014. Several factors account for this price recovery, none more important than what was happening in China, where the authorities decided to stimulate the economy by investing heavily in infrastructure, especially roads, bridges, and highways. Add in soaring automobile ownership among that countrys urban middle class and the result was a sharp increase in energy demand. According to oil giant BP, between 2008 and 2013, petroleum consumption in China leaped 35%, from 8.0 million to 10.8 million barrels per day. And China was just leading the way. Rapidly developing countries like Brazil and India followed suit in a period when output at many existing, conventional oil fields had begun to decline; hence, that rush into those unconventional reserves. This is more or less where things stood in early 2014, when the price pendulum suddenly began swinging in the other direction, as production from unconventional fields in the U.S. and Canada began to make its presence felt in a big way. Domestic U.S. crude production, which had dropped from 7.5 million barrels per day in January 1990 to a mere 5.5 million barrels in January 2010, suddenly headed upwards, reaching a stunning 9.6 million barrels in July 2015. Virtually all the added oil came from newly exploited shale formations in North Dakota and Texas. Canada experienced a similar sharp uptick in production, as heavy investment in tar sands began to pay off. According to BP, Canadian output jumped from 3.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to 4.3 million barrels in 2014. And dont forget that production was also ramping up in, among other places, deep-offshore fields in the Atlantic Ocean off both Brazil and West Africa, which were just then coming on line. At that very moment, to the surprise of many, war-torn Iraq succeeded in lifting its output by nearly one million barrels per day. Add it all up and the numbers were staggering, but demand was no longer keeping pace. The Chinese stimulus package had largely petered out and international demand for that countrys manufactured goods was slowing, thanks to tepid or nonexistent economic growth in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. From an eye-popping annual rate of 10% over the previous 30 years, Chinas growth rate fell into the single digits. Though Chinas oil demand is expected to keep rising, it is not projected to grow at anything like the pace of recent years. At the same time, increased fuel efficiency in the United States, the worlds leading oil consumer, began to have an effect on the global energy picture. At the height of the countrys financial crisis, when the Obama administration bailed out both General Motors and Chrysler, the president forced the major car manufacturers to agree to a tough set of fuel-efficiency standards now noticeably reducing Americas demand for petroleum. Under a plan announced by the White House in 2012, the average fuel efficiency of U.S.-manufactured cars and light vehicles will rise to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, reducing expected U.S. oil consumption by 12 billion barrels between now and then. In mid-2014, these and other factors came together to produce a perfect storm of price suppression. At that time, many analysts believed that the Saudis and their allies in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would, as in the past, respond by reining in production to bolster prices. However, on November 27, 2014 Thanksgiving Day OPEC confounded those expectations, voting to maintain the output quotas of its member states. The next day, the price of crude plunged by $4 and the rest is history. A Dismal Prospect In early 2015, many oil company executives were expressing the hope that these fundamentals would soon change, pushing prices back up again. But recent developments have demolished such expectations. Aside from the continuing economic slowdown in China and the surge of output in North America, the most significant factor in the unpromising oil outlook, which now extends bleakly into 2016 and beyond, is the steadfast Saudi resistance to any proposals to curtail their production or OPECs. On December 4th, for instance, OPEC members voted yet again to keep quotas at their current levels and, in the process, drove prices down another 5%. If anything, the Saudis have actually increased their output. Many reasons have been given for the Saudis resistance to production cutbacks, including a desire to punish Iran and Russia for their support of the Assad regime in Syria. In the view of many industry analysts, the Saudis see themselves as better positioned than their rivals for weathering a long-term price decline because of their lower costs of production and their large cushion of foreign reserves. The most likely explanation, though, and the one advanced by the Saudis themselves is that they are seeking to maintain a price environment in which U.S. shale producers and other tough-oil operators will be driven out of the market. There is no doubt about it, the price fall of the last several months has deterred investors away from expensive oil including U.S. shale, deep offshore, and heavy oils, a top Saudi official told the Financial Times last spring. Despite the Saudis best efforts, the larger U.S. producers have, for the most part, adjusted to the low-price environment, cutting costs and shedding unprofitable operations, even as many smaller firms have filed for bankruptcy. As a result, U.S. crude production, at about 9.2 million barrels per day, is actually slightly higher than it was a year ago. In other words, even at $33 a barrel, production continues to outpace global demand and there seems little likelihood of prices rising soon, especially since, among other things, both Iraq and Iran continue to increase their output. With the Islamic State slowly losing ground in Iraq and most major oil fields still in government hands, that countrys production is expected to continue its stellar growth. In fact, some analysts project that its output could triple during the coming decade from the present three million barrels per day level to as much as nine million barrels. For years, Iranian production has been hobbled by sanctions imposed by Washington and the European Union (E.U.), impeding both export transactions and the acquisition of advanced Western drilling technology. Now, thanks to its nuclear deal with Washington, those sanctions are being lifted, allowing it both to reenter the oil market and import needed technology. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Iranian output could rise by as much as 600,000 barrels per day in 2016 and by more in the years to follow. Only three developments could conceivably alter the present low-price environment for oil: a Middle Eastern war that took out one or more of the major energy suppliers; a Saudi decision to constrain production in order to boost prices; or an unexpected global surge in demand. The prospect of a new war between, say, Iran and Saudi Arabia two powers at each others throats at this very moment can never be ruled out, though neither side is believed to have the capacity or inclination to undertake such a risky move. A Saudi decision to constrain production is somewhat more likely sooner or later, given the precipitous decline in government revenues. However, the Saudis have repeatedly affirmed their determination to avoid such a move, as it would largely benefit the very producers namely shale operators in the U.S. they seek to eliminate. The likelihood of a sudden spike in demand appears unlikely indeed. Not only is economic activity still slowing in China and many other parts of the world, but theres an extra wrinkle that should worry the Saudis at least as much as all that shale oil coming out of North America: oil itself is beginning to lose some of its appeal. While newly affluent consumers in China and India continue to buy oil-powered automobiles albeit not at the breakneck pace once predicted a growing number of consumers in the older industrial nations are exhibiting a preference for hybrid and all-electric cars, or for alternative means of transportation. Moreover, with concern over climate change growing globally, increasing numbers of young urban dwellers are choosing to subsist without cars altogether, relying instead on bikes and public transit. In addition, the use of renewable energy sources sun, wind, and water power is on the rise and will only grow more rapidly in this century. These trends have prompted some analysts to predict that global oil demand will soon peak and then be followed by a period of declining consumption. Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the energy and sustainability program at the University of California, Davis, suggests that growing urbanization combined with technological breakthroughs in renewables will dramatically reduce future demand for oil. Increasingly, cities around the world are seeking smarter designs for transport systems as well as penalties and restrictions on car ownership. Already in the West, trendsetting millennials are urbanizing, eliminating the need for commuting and interest in individual car ownership, she wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year. The Changing World Power Equation Many countries that get a significant share of their funds from oil and natural gas exports and that gained enormous influence as petroleum exporters are already experiencing a significant erosion in prominence. Their leaders, once bolstered by high oil revenues, which meant money to spread around and buy popularity domestically, are falling into disfavor. Nigerias government, for example, traditionally obtains 75% of its revenues from such sales; Russias, 50%; and Venezuelas, 40%. With oil now at a third of the price of 18 months ago, state revenues in all three have plummeted, putting a crimp in their ability to undertake ambitious domestic and foreign initiatives. In Nigeria, diminished government spending combined with rampant corruption discredited the government of President Goodluck Jonathan and helped fuel a vicious insurgency by Boko Haram, prompting Nigerian voters to abandon him in the most recent election and install a former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, in his place. Since taking office, Buhari has pledged to crack down on corruption, crush Boko Haram, and in a telling sign of the times diversify the economy, lessening its reliance on oil. Venezuela has experienced a similar political shock thanks to depressed oil prices. When prices were high, President Hugo Chavez took revenues from the state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., and used them to build housing and provide other benefits for the countrys poor and working classes, winning vast popular support for his United Socialist Party. He also sought regional support by offering oil subsidies to friendly countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. After he died in March 2013, his chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, sought to perpetuate this strategy, but oil didnt cooperate and, not surprisingly, public support for him and for Chavezs party began to collapse. On December 6th, the center-right opposition swept to electoral victory, taking a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. It now seeks to dismantle Chavezs Bolivarian Revolution, though Maduros supporters have pledged firm resistance to any such moves. The situation in Russia remains somewhat more fluid. President Vladimir Putin continues to enjoy widespread popular support and, from Ukraine to Syria, he has indeed been moving ambitiously on the international front. Still, falling oil prices combined with economic sanctions imposed by the E.U. and the U.S. have begun to cause some expressions of dissatisfaction, including a recent protest by long-distance truckers over increased highway tolls. Russias economy is expected to contract in a significant way in 2016, undermining the living standards of ordinary Russians and possibly sparking further anti-government protests. In fact, some analysts believe that Putin took the risky step of intervening in the Syrian conflict partly to deflect public attention from deteriorating economic conditions at home. He may also have done so to create a situation in which Russian help in achieving a negotiated resolution to the bitter, increasingly internationalized Syrian civil war could be traded for the lifting of sanctions over Ukraine. If so, this is a very dangerous game, and no one least of all Putin can be certain of the outcome. Saudi Arabia, the worlds leading oil exporter, has been similarly buffeted, but appears for the time being, anyway to be in a somewhat better position to weather the shock. When oil prices were high, the Saudis socked away a massive trove of foreign reserves, estimated at three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Now that prices have fallen, they are drawing on those reserves to sustain generous social spending meant to stave off unrest in the kingdom and to finance their ambitious intervention in Yemens civil war, which is already beginning to look like a Saudi Vietnam. Still, those reserves have fallen by some $90 billion since last year and the government is already announcing cutbacks in public spending, leading some observers to question how long the royal family can continue to buy off the discontent of the countrys growing populace. Even if the Saudis were to reverse course and limit the kingdoms oil production to drive the price of oil back up, its unlikely that their oil income would rise high enough to sustain all of their present lavish spending priorities. Other major oil-producing countries also face the prospect of political turmoil, including Algeria and Angola. The leaders of both countries had achieved the usual deceptive degree of stability in energy producing countries through the usual oil-financed government largesse. That is now coming to an end, which means that both countries could face internal challenges. And keep in mind that the tremors from the oil pricequake have undoubtedly yet to reach their full magnitude. Prices will, of course, rise someday. Thats inevitable, given the way investors are pulling the plug on energy projects globally. Still, on a planet heading for a green energy revolution, theres no assurance that they will ever reach the $100-plus levels that were once taken for granted. Whatever happens to oil and the countries that produce it, the global political order that once rested on oils soaring price is doomed. While this may mean hardship for some, especially the citizens of export-dependent states like Russia and Venezuela, it could help smooth the transition to a world powered by renewable forms of energy. Yves here. While I applaud the general sentiments of the article, I have two big caveats. The first is that David Kotz seems to place too much faith in labor, by which I am pretty sure he means the American labor movement, as in unions. Aside from a few very high functioning exceptions, like nurses unions, the American labor movement is unwilling to flex what little muscle it has left against just about anyone. Im no expert, but this appears to have a lot to do with corrupt leadership (not that that is unusual in America) and a lack of imagination. Kotz also draws a harder line between capitalism and socialism that is necessary. The older Swedish model, which was capitalism with considerable socialist elements, was durable and very successful, although the neoliberals have now watered it down a great deal. Similarly, Japanese capitalism before its financial crisis was quasi-socialistic, since top executives were not paid much better than lower level staffers (they did get nice perks like a car and driver and a hefty expense account), preserving jobs was seen as all important (entrepreneurs were revered for creating employment, not for making money), and the old model was lifetime employment, with workers who were pushed out of the most prestigious companies being placed in smaller companies where their skills and contact would be put to good use. Japanese factory workers also famously had more input into operations than their Western peers (although the relationship between floor workers and management was more complicated than you think; the workers had an obligation to come up with improvements). The best example of a socialist system is in the book The Dispossesed, by Ursula LeGuin. Trust me, if you have not read it yet, you need to. Its beautifully written, with a very spare style, as well as thought-provoking. By David M. Kotz, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism (Harvard University Press, 2015). Originally published in the January/February 2016 issue of Dollars & Sense magazine Neoliberal capitalism had, at its core, a basic contradiction: Rising profits spurred economic expansion, but at the same time the source of the rising profitsthe suppression of wage growthcreated an obstacle to expansion. With wages stagnating, and with government spending rising more slowly, who would buy the output of an expanding economy? For a while, this simmering demand problem was forestalled, as risk-seeking financial institutions extended credit to the hard-pressed families whose wages were stagnating or falling. Debt-fueled consumer spending made long expansions possible despite the stagnation of wages and of government spending. Big asset bubbles provided the collateral enabling families to borrow to pay their bills. The economic crisis of 2008 marked the end of the ability of the neoliberal form of capitalism to promote stable economic expansion. In the wake of the massive housing-bubble collapse and financial crash, the previous debt-and-bubble-based growth machine cannot be revived. The banks continue to find new speculative ventures and corporate profits remain high, but this process no longer brings normal economic expansion. Change: Reactionary, Reformist, or Radical? So far, the powers that be, in the United States and elsewhere, have been pursuing austerity policy as a way of doubling down on neoliberalism, which has greatly rewarded the one percent. However, continuing along that path promises only unending stagnation. Long-lasting stagnation is destabilizing to capitalism, tending to promote the growth of political movementson the left and the rightdemanding major political and economic change. This prods big business to consider some restructuring of capitalism to overcome stagnation and its dangerous consequences. There is some evidence of the beginnings of big business consideration of economic alternatives. In January 2015, Lawrence Summers, a close ally of Wall Street who promoted bank deregulation in the 1990s as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, coauthored a major report calling for significant institutional changesincluding measures to reduce inequality and to redirect large corporations toward the pursuit of long-run gains instead of short-run profits. Big business is not the only actor on the stage. If history is any guide, we can expect that various groups and classes will become increasingly active in the years ahead, pushing for changes that would further their own interests. While significant change seems highly likely, the precise outcome cannot be foretold in advance. Three possible directions of change can be identifiedreactionary, reformist, and radical. Which one emerges will depend on the relative strength and determination of the potential beneficiaries of each kind of change. If labor and other popular movements remain relatively weak, as they have after several decades of demoralization and demobilization under neoliberalism, big business will likely drive change in the reactionary direction. This could take the form of a statist and nationalist form of capitalism without any capital-labor compromise. The neoliberal labor market and the current weak position of labor would remain, while the underlying problem of inadequate growth of demand would be solved via growing state spending for military purposes and perhaps infrastructure and technological innovation. Nationalism is the likely dominant ideology of such a transformation, focusing the attention of the 99% on building national economic and military strength and away from the limited economic benefits for them of this reactionary direction of change. Two prominent right-wing intellectuals, Francis Fukuyama and William Kristol, have recently suggested a move in that direction. Such a reactionary program would not only spell continuing bad conditions for American workers but, with further military buildup and nationalist posturing, a growing danger of even greater inter-state conflict than we have seen in recent times. If the labor movement, and other popular movements, gain in strength, then a second, reformist, direction of change would become possible. This might entail another capital-labor compromise. A form of capitalism like the previous regulated capitalism, of the post-World War II period, could potentially resolve the current economic crisis by bringing a more balanced growth of profits and wages. It would also likely include a growing state role focused on infrastructure, innovation, education, social provision, and environmental protection. However, change of that type has never come from a forward-looking big business class. It would become a serious possibility only if the labor and progressive movements revive and are able to force compromise on the capitalists. Unless big business sees a mortal threat to capitalism, it is not likely to be willing to compromise with labor. A reformist direction of change, while better for the majority than the reactionary direction, would still pose serious problems. The previous capital-labor compromise of the 1940s to the 1960s left out some groups, notably many women and many African Americans, and it is not clear today if all of the 99% could be accommodated under a renewed compromise. Also, such a reformed capitalism is not a promising system for avoiding disastrous climate change. Reformed capitalism would requireand give rise torelatively robust economic growth, which would make it difficult and perhaps impossible to avoid the looming climate-change tipping point. While reformed capitalism would likely include measures aimed at environmental protection, large private companies tend to be effective in resisting government measures that limit their freedom of action in pursuit of profit. If labor and other popular movements gain strength, however, that would also open the possibility of a move beyond capitalism. Continuing stagnation, along with the other problems that derive from capitalism, are likely to lead many to question whether capitalism can any longer meet the needs of the majority and to consider whether an alternative system might able to do so. That would mean a renewal of interest in socialism, which is the only comprehensive alternative to capitalism. There is evidence of a possible shift in that direction in public opinion surveys since 2009, which have consistently found that, in the United States, between one-third and 45% of people under age 30 have a positive view of (an undefined) socialism. The high level of popular support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-declared democratic socialist, in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is also suggestive. In Latin America, a number of countries, such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador have elected leaders pledged to build some form of socialism. New leftist political movements in Europe, such as Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain, have been challenging the austerity policies that have generated mass unemployment (although the Syriza government elected in January 2015 has so far been unable to jettison the austerity program forced on Greece by the big powers in the European Union). Given the many negative features of twentieth-century Soviet-style socialism, advocates of a new socialism stress the need for democracy and widespread popular participation in both economic and political decision-making. Change in this direction would be driven by the conviction that production for the profits of the minority can never adequately meet the needs of the majority, which instead requires an economy system that places the human needs of all at its center. Unlike capitalism of any variety, such a system in a highly developed country would not require a relentless increase in the production of goods, and therefore could build a sustainable relationship to nature. A socialism based on democracy, participation, cooperation, and sustainability could bring a promising future for all. Perhaps, in this period of pressure for institutional change, such an alternative path might emergebut only if the 99% become active, organized, and determined to chart their own future. Via allAfrica.com, a report from the Daily Independent: Nigeria: Lassa Fever Claims Two in Ondo. Excerpt: The Ondo State Government on Tuesday, said it has detected two suspected cases of Lassa Fever death in the state. The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanyu disclosed this at a Lassa Prevention Stakeholders meeting organised for Health workers, Religious, Opinion and Traditional Leaders in Akure, the State Capital. The Commissioner said one of the suspects came into the state from the neighbouring Edo State. According to earlier reports, over 35 people have been killed by the disease which had spread to about 10 states. Adeyanju, however informed that 31 persons had been placed under surveillance in order to prevent the spread of the disease across the state. He noted that those placed under surveillance are those who had in one way or the other had contact with the two suspects killed by the disease in the state. He equally counseled religious leaders not to harbour sick persons who manifest symptoms of Lassa but to refer them to the nearest hospital for prompt attention. SHARE "Slip slidin' away, "Slip slidin' away. "You know the nearer your destination "The more you're slip slidin' away." Paul Simon It's happening again. The "inevitability" of Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy may not be so inevitable after all. Unlike eight years ago when Barack Obama beat her for the Democratic nomination and ultimately won the office Clinton and her supporters believed she was entitled to, this time her main opponent is not just Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist, it is Hillary Clinton herself. Serious media and congressional investigations into President Richard Nixon's Watergate crimes did not begin until after his landslide win in 1972. In Clinton's case, damaging investigations are occurring in the middle of her campaign. Catherine Herridge, chief intelligence correspondent for the Fox News Channel, reports: "The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of private email as secretary of state has expanded to look at whether the possible 'intersection' of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business may have violated public corruption laws, three intelligence sources not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News. This track is in addition to the focus on classified material found on Clinton's personal server." As Investors.com notes, "Hillary Clinton's support among Democrats nationally has taken a serious tumble, falling eight points to 43 percent, according to the latest IBD/TIPP Poll. Support for her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, rose six points to 39 percent. As a result, Clinton's lead over Sanders, which had been 18 points, is now just four points." According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College poll, Clinton and Sanders are in tight races in both Iowa and New Hampshire. With less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, such numbers are not good news for any candidate, especially Clinton, whose veracity and job record in the various offices and positions she has held are anything but stellar. Very quickly, Clinton has gone from big mo, to slow mo, to no mo. Americans wisely don't fully trust politicians of either party, but Clinton suffers more than most. Last August, a Quinnipiac University poll found that only 34 percent of those Americans surveyed believed Clinton is "honest and trustworthy." Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the poll, reports CNN.com, said that Clinton is experiencing a "continuing slide" with how she is "perceived by voters who continue to say she is not honest and trustworthy." Democrats are likely worried not just about whether Clinton can capture the nomination and the odds still favor that outcome but whether she will be further damaged by the FBI investigations and whether that damage could possibly lead to an indictment, as some Republicans hope. Donald Trump has added to Clinton's woes by bringing up her husband's past behavior toward women at a time when she has positioned herself as the women's champion. Voices are being heard among the political classes about the possibility of replacing Clinton on the Democratic ticket with Vice President Joe Biden should that become necessary. Such a move could severely impair the Democrat's ability to win the female vote. In a highly unpredictable political year, the Biden scenario would take unpredictability to a new level. I saw a bumper sticker recently that proclaimed the driver was "Ready for Hillary." With the candidate's disapproval numbers rising and her approval numbers slip slidin' away, it doesn't appear that too many other voters are, in fact, ready. Patrons tour Naples-based photographer Dick Cunningham's booth. The Bonita Springs National Art Festival took over Riverside Park Saturday and Sunday, bringing in 200 juried artists and their work from around the country and beyond. Lance Shearer/Special to the Banner SHARE Andy Taylor of Naples is not painting a portrait of his significant other, Dena Baker. The Bonita Springs National Art Festival took over Riverside Park Saturday and Sunday, bringing in 200 juried artists and their work from around the country and beyond. Lance Shearer/Special to the Banner Maureen Bling escorts Fugy, her hairless chihuahua, over the torn up Old US 41 road. The Bonita Springs National Art Festival took over Riverside Park Saturday and Sunday, bringing in 200 juried artists and their work from around the country and beyond. Lance Shearer/Special to the Banner Nnamki Onkonkwo from Fayetteville, Ga. sculpts buxom females. The Bonita Springs National Art Festival took over Riverside Park Saturday and Sunday, bringing in 200 juried artists and their work from around the country and beyond. Lance Shearer/Special to the Banner Jon Slade says "everything is negotiable" about the prices of his blown and cut glass. The Bonita Springs National Art Festival took over Riverside Park Saturday and Sunday, bringing in 200 juried artists and their work from around the country and beyond. Lance Shearer/Special to the Banner By Lance Shearer You could get anything you wanted in the way of artwork this past weekend at the Bonita Springs National Art Festival, with over 200 artists from all over the U.S. and around the world showing a dizzying variety of work at Riverside Park. In addition to paintings of every description, booths displayed sculpture in wood, metal, glass and stone, photography, batik, leather goods, jewelry, hats and handmade apparel, etchings, porch swings and wooden furniture, collages and more. Pieces that didn't fit into any of the above categories, such as the "architectural antique" assemblages of Patti Stern, were put into the handy catchall of "mixed media." Whatever the category, the artists were on hand to present and happy to talk about their vision and techniques, and the quality was apparent. This show, the 35th outing for the Bonita National festival put on by the Centers for the Arts of Bonita Springs, featured all juried artists from as far away as South America and Europe. "We really love coming here," said Mark Wiseman of Fort Myers Beach. "We have a lot of spots to fill on our walls." With his wife Nancy, he considered an impressionistic beach scene painted by artist Jim Tucker, who obligingly held it up against a blank wall to help the couple see how it might look in their home. After considering for a few moments, and dickering a little, they made the purchase, and carried it back to their car. With Old U.S. 41 Road still torn up, festival organizers took advantage of the lack of vehicular traffic to place a long double row of artists' booths across the road under a canopy of spreading oak trees. Together with the spots along the Imperial River, with its fountain, and the "riverside" that gives the park its name, these locations provided an appropriate venue in which to view the artwork, and highlighted the favorable combination of event and setting. "It's gorgeous down by the river, a really enjoyable atmosphere," said festival co-director Ehren Gerhard. "And across Old 41 on Childers Avenue, with the trees covered with Spanish moss, that's a new location that's really working well." Crossing over the street, it felt as though one was in the middle of an enormous piece of environmental art, perhaps titled "Still Life with Orange Barricades." But there was no shortage of people making the walk on Saturday, with balmy temperatures under a mix of clouds and sun, and quite a number of the patrons were carrying purchases under their arms. Just as the artists had wildly differing styles in their creations, they also had different approaches to their role as salesperson. Some sat apart from the public, and let their work speak for itself. And then there was Jon Slade, selling the blown and carved glass sculptures he creates, in a technique passed down from his father. "Feel free to touch or fondle any of the pieces but no juggling," said Slade, keeping up a stream of patter worthy of a carnival barker. One of the pieces in what he called his "stacked totem series" of glass sculptures was tagged at $5,000, but he indicated this was not hard and fast. "Everything in life is negotiable, my dad taught me," he said. "Give me $4,000 cash and we're good." Victor Edwards of Tallahassee creates mahogany porch swings and related furniture, with the seats of woven olefin fiber, which he says is infinitely more durable than the traditional cotton. Another benefit of his work is it gives a place for visitors to sit and rest. Bill Gregory of Indiana took advantage of the opportunity to "test drive" one reclining chair, and pronounced it most relaxing. The Bonita Springs National Art Festivals are an integral part of the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs and their programming. All proceeds from the festival support Center for the Arts programming and its mission to provide opportunities for artistic expression, education and appreciation to everyone regardless of economic ability. The Centers for the Arts provide programming to over 12,000 at-risk youth annually and last year they awarded over $97,000 in scholarships. As Center for the Arts Bonita Springs President, Susan Bridges pointed out, "Hundreds of thousands of people have attended our 31 festivals in Bonita Springs. They come back each year because they know the art is great and there is something for everyone. They enjoy extraordinary art, sample delicious food and beverages in our delightful Food Court. It is like a walking tour of high quality art galleries but this is set up outside in beautiful, sunny Florida." If you didn't get to the 35th Bonita National Festival, there are two more on tap this season, on the weekends of Jan. 30 and 31 and March 5 and 6. Courtesy of the Bonita Springs Historical Society SHARE By Patrick Riley of the Naples Daily News The relocation plans for the historic Dixie Moon Cafe could be changing. A month ago city council voted to move the 545-square foot building, which currently sits at the southeast corner of Old 41 Road and Dean Street, to a city-owned property at the northeast corner of Old 41 Road and Reynolds Street. But two proposals for alternate locations one by a Bonita businessman and another by Councilman Mike Gibson could mean a change of plans for the Dixie Moon building. In a December letter sent to Assistant City Manager John Gucciardo, Andrew and Amy Kuperman offered their property on the southwest corner of Dean Street and Marco Drive, not too far from the Bonita Springs Elementary School, as a relocation option for the Dixie Moon Building, also sometimes referred to as the Goodbread Grocery Store. Wed love to see the school and the Goodbread grocery building stay near each other, with their complimentary Mission and Mediterranean Revival styles, the letter states. We would propose using the building as office and storage space for our home-based business. In their letter the Kupermans note that with their dogs and business sharing their current office, space gets a little tight whenever Andrew Kuperman, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, needs to use his wheelchair. Initially, City Manager Carl Schwing sent the Kupermans a letter explaining that city council had already voted to move the Dixie Moon structure to the city-owned property. Further, based on the plans proposed by the City Architect, the structure will be used for a public purpose where people could stroll through the building as opposed to being owned by the private sector with limited opportunity for public enjoyment or appreciation for the structure and its history, Schwings letter states. But at the behest of Councilman Mike Gibson, city council will again take up the matter and hear about the Kupermans proposal as well as Gibsons own plan to potentially move the building to the so-called Lemon Tree property, a city-owned property at the southwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Old 41 Road. Gibson asked Schwing to bring back the matter to see if anyones opinions have changed, Gibson said in a phone interview Wednesday. Part of the reason he wants to explore other options, Gibson said, is because he is worried that a developer may not be able to or want to conform to the citys plan of having the Dixie Moon function as a public restroom, anchoring development around it. We may not be able to sell that property or develop it, Gibson said. He said some residents suggested to move it to the Lemon Tree property, where the Bonita Springs Lions Club holds a farmers market every Wednesday. A couple people mentioned that would be nice to have the Dixie Moon as an entrance to the farmers market, Gibson said. That way the building could also be better preserved, he said. It could basically stay as an enclosed structure, Gibson said. Kind of as a booth for the farmers market. Gibson said he thinks the Lemon Tree property would be the best option to keeping the building intact. I think it would be the easiest way to go, he said. Gibson said the Kupermans proposal is also something hed like to hear more about. I havent been able to talk to them, he said. But its something Id be willing to entertain. The reason he brought his proposal forward, said Andrew Kuperman, 57, is because he would like to keep the historic building in his neighborhood and near the similarly fashioned elementary school. I love the building, he said. I love the architecture. Kuperman, who owns and manages a window cleaning business, said he heard through the grapevine that the city was looking for a place for the building and thought hed offer up his property. Plus, he could use the storage and office space, he said. I would love to have the front of it as a home office and the back as a storage thing for equipment and all kinds of stuff, Kuperman said. Like I said, originally I thought they had no place to put it so, itll be like, Well, I got a place to put it and keep it here in the neighborhood and people still see it. But whether Kupermans proposal is possible is another question. Schwing said there are technical and logistical problems with moving the Dixie Moon to the private property and the zoning may not allow an office or storage use on that property. There are issues, he said. Personally, Schwing said he thinks it would be more desirable to have the Dixie Moon building on Old 41 where it would be more visible and closer to the revitalized downtown area. He said he will probably bring the Dixie Moon relocation issue back before council Feb. 3. The conceptual plan presented to city council in December by City Architect Sam Vincent would have the Dixie Moon structure as a centerpiece for a potential mixed-use proposal that would include a courtyard, cafes, retail space and townhouses on the 0.4-acre city-owned property at Old 41 and Reynolds. The historic buildings front portion would become a gathering space for the public and inside the stucco structure could be public restrooms, Vincent told the council in December. The buildings architecture would likely influence new development along Old 41 and Reynolds, he said. We would use this building as a catalyst for form and design, Vincent said in December. The pink building has to be moved to make room for a 273-unit gated community along Dean Street. The Minnesota-based developer for the project offered to cover the $140,000 cost to move the Dixie Moon Cafe. Construction on the proposed gated community is expected to start in March. Wherever the Dixie Moon Cafe ends up, time is of the essence, Gibson said. The sooner we can let (the developer) know where we want it, the better, he said. Lana Neuman, center, and Daniel Schwab trade lines during rehearsal for "Sweet Smell of Success" at the G&L Theatre at Community School of Naples on Monday, January 4, 2016. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) SHARE Danny Bolero laughs as Liz Hayes acts out a scene from Informed Consent at the Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, Fla. on January 5, 2016. (Logan Newell/Special to the Daily News) By Bill ONeill Curtain Up: TheatreZone, Gulfshore bring flawed, but provocative plays to town What would you sell your soul for? That's the question being asked by two of our local theater companies right now. Ethics get a twist in the tail in each of the shows being presented, and the devil gets his due, but not before some interesting turns along the way. "Sweet Smell of Success" is a musical based on a well-regarded 1957 movie of the same name. Despite impressive credentials (Marvin Hamlisch as composer, John Guare's book, and John Lithgow a Tony winner in the lead), the show had a short run in New York. TheatreZone gives us a chance, as it often does, to see a worthwhile play that maybe just failed to check all the boxes for Broadway success. J.J. Hunsecker is an unscrupulous gossip columnist in the era when gossip columnists wielded great power. Every press agent, including ambitious Sidney Falco, wants to get his client's name in "JJ." Hunsecker has a creepily protective relationship with his younger sister Susan. He gives Falco a shot at the brass ring if Sidney will spy on Susan for him. Sidney, initially an unquestioning protege of JJ, tries to outfox the master manipulator, with predictably disastrous results. Gerritt VanderMeer, a TheatreZone regular, is suavely, slimily ruthless as JJ. Daniel Schwab is a wonderful Falco enamored of JJ, oozing ambition and ruthless in his own right. But he is never quite as smooth or totally unscrupulous as he needs to be to run with the big dog, much less match him at his own game. Sidney's downfall comes, in fact, because he is not ruthless enough. Having sold himself, he tries to welsh on the deal. Schwab captures it all and even, intentionally or not, bears a resemblance to VanderMeer he is a sort of junior, less polished version of JJ. The supporting cast is excellent, the voices fine. The music is effective if not memorable. TheatreZone has managed a staging and production that aside from some lighting glitches brings the show to an intimate level that suits it very well indeed. Meanwhile, over at Gulfshore Playhouse, a more serious look at ethics. "Informed Consent" is the story of a genetic anthropologist, Jillian (Liz Hayes), who is given the opportunity to study an isolated Native American tribe with a high incidence of diabetes. She obtains consent for the study and persuades the subjects to give blood, then uses the genetic information that she derives to do research beyond the question of diabetes. She ends up in big trouble for exceeding the bounds of the informed consent that the tribe members gave, or thought they gave. Another fillup is that Jillian herself carries the gene for early onset Alzheimer's. She wants to have her daughter tested for the gene, her husband (Edward O'Blenis) does not. The very current question is posed: In light of advances in genetics, how much should you do, or do you want to, know? Informed Consent is an "issues" play. With the exception of Jillian, the characters are not fully drawn and even she is something of an enigma. Interestingly, this character, who is presented sympathetically, is even less conflicted than Sidney Falco in "Sweet Smell." She does what she does without qualm or apology, never acknowledging the validity of the ethical issue, to herself or anyone else. Who is the worse human being, one wonders the person who, like Sidney Falco, knowingly takes the plunge into the cesspool, then wants out, or the person who is blind to the ethical issues in the first place? As always at Gulfshore, the cast is outstanding and the production values are high. For me, I have to say that the play, while certainly interesting, didn't quite gel. There were too many loose questions. Why, if she is a genetic anthropologist, was she even doing disease research? Why did it take her university (as presumably her funders all this work is done by grants, right?) so long to catch on to the fact that she was off the reservation? (Sorry for the pun). Is anybody as unfailingly nice as her husband? And the consequences of the ethical breach no offense to the fictional Indians hardly seem on a scale with say, World War II pilots dying on account of known faulty engine parts ("All My Sons"). These may seem like quibbles, but in a play which is meant to be taken seriously as presenting real ethical issues, the mere fact that these questions come to mind undercuts the message. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy "Informed Consent." It was provocative and engaging. All that said, praise to both TheatreZone and Gulfshore for bringing us plays that we might not otherwise have a chance to see and giving us something to think about. SHARE By Joe Landon We told you a few months ago how the Holocaust Museum and Education Center of Southwest Florida was given birth by students in the Golden Gate Middle School classroom of now retired Collier County School District social studies teacher David Bell. The museum is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Well, an event that will celebrate a milestone next weekend was also the brainchild of students, born in the Barron Collier High School classroom of now retired Collier County related arts teacher Donna Torrance. The 10th Annual Empty Bowls Naples event, to benefit the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23, in Cambier Park in downtown Naples. "It all began due to the nonstop pleading of pottery students in my classes who wanted to do something that would make a difference in their community," Torrance recalled as she gave her students all the credit. "It was this group of teenagers, my students, who had the ideas. They brainstormed, thought it through, and we discussed everything together. I'm just the one who couldn't say no." The event has grown from 500 bowls, made by potters but painted by Torrance's students and those from Golden Gate, Gulf Coast and Lely high schools in 2007, to what will take place next Saturday. There will be 2,500 handcrafted ceramic bowls, created by students, educators, artists and volunteers, displayed at the park. And from what I've seen of the bowls over the years, I can tell you they are simply gorgeous. Here's how it works. A $15 donation will buy you a bowl to use to sample the delicious soups which will have been prepared by chefs from nearly 50 area restaurants. Since soup just seems to taste better on cooler days, on a Saturday in January in Naples, soup sounds like the perfect lunch. You, of course, will keep the bowl you've chosen. "Our hope is that the bowl will serve as a reminder of those in our community who often face going home to an empty bowl," said Mary Wozniak, marketing and communications manager for the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida whose mission is to fight and overcome hunger. "Empty Bowls Naples is part of an international grassroots effort to raise money to fight hunger through arts and education," Wozniak said. "And despite a recovering economy, the need is still great in Collier County where 12.5 percent of residents, or about 41,000 people, often don't know where their next meal is coming from according to the Feeding America 2015 Map the Meal Gap study." The food bank distributes food to more than 150 partner agencies across a five-county region to help people who are struggling to supplement the amount of food their meager wages allow them to put on the table. In addition, mobile pantries bring food directly to the people who need it the most. Last year, Empty Bowls Naples generated $65,000 for the cause. "Ten years ago we raised $16,000 with our 500 bowls and only 15 restaurant venders compared to the money brought in last year with the help of nearly 50 restaurants," said Torrance, who is humbled by the growth. "I'm happy that people now have the awareness of hunger in our area," Torrance said. "I'm tickled that the arts are still very important in our schools. And I'm really pleased about the huge number of people who are involved with ceramics because of this event," Torrance said. "It's this symbiotic relationship of need, compassion and talents to serve others. It is overwhelming." Learn more at emptybowlsnaples.org. - - - Joe Landon is a communications consultant having retired as executive director of communications for the Collier County School District. Please send suggestions for future columns to JoeLandon@Outlook.com. SHARE Plumber Eric Roach at the spot where the accident occurred. Thousands of gallons of raw sewage spilled onto the ground and roads of Marco Island Tuesday morning. Lance Shearer/Special to the Daily News Plumber Eric Roach at the spot where the accident occurred. Thousands of gallons of raw sewage spilled onto the ground and roads of Marco Island Tuesday morning. Lance Shearer/Special to the Daily News Thousands of gallons of raw sewage spilled onto the ground and roads of Marco Island Tuesday morning. Lance Shearer/Special to the Daily News Workers hired by North Marco Utilities suck up the remains of the spill. Thousands of gallons of raw sewage spilled onto the ground and roads of Marco Island Tuesday morning. Lance Shearer/Special to the Daily News By Lance Shearer Raw sewage, estimated at up to 20,000 gallons, spilled onto the street Tuesday morning, with some of the effluent flowing into the islands waterways. The spill, on Palm Street in the Old Marco section of the island, was called into the MIPD at 10:12 a.m. Marco Island police and firefighters responded to the scene, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or DEP, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, were notified by city authorities, said Assistant Chief Dave Baer of the MIPD. They also notified the State Warning Point, said Marco Island Fire-Rescue Department Chief Mike Murphy. The State Warning Point is part of Floridas Division of Emergency Management, and serves as a clearinghouse for information and intergovernmental communication for responding to hazardous material spills and other disasters. Jeff Poteet, general manager of Marco Island Utilities, the citys government-owned utility operation, made a preliminary estimate of 20,000 gallons of sewage escaping from the sewage pipes, although the amount reaching area waters is believed to be much smaller. The accident occurred during what should have been routine maintenance in the North Marco Utilities Company, a private utility that provides sewage for several hundred customers in the Old Marco section of the island, said Craig Woodward, North Marco Utilities (NUM) president and part owner. There is a dry well and a wet well, and the connection between them was plugged. Our plumbers scheduled today to fix it, he said. We pumped our three lift stations dry, and opened the valve. There should have been no pressure on it, but all of a sudden, sewage was flooding out. The sewage flowing out was from the city of Marco Island, not from North Marco. Plumber Eric Roach of Prouts Plumbing, the man down in the well opening the system up, took the brunt of the flow. I had everything turned off. There should have been no pressure, it said. It blew me off, and shot up probably 10 feet, and stayed up. We can only control whats on our end. A valve in the citys system was malfunctioning, said Woodward, causing sewage from that system to flow backward into the North Marco pipes when the connection was supposedly closed. NUM had a lift truck on hand as a precaution, and that collected most of the sewage, said Roach. A lot of the rest saturated into the ground. We covered up the storm drains with plastic sheeting to stop the effluent flowing into the storm sewers and then into the adjacent canals, but some did go in, said Woodward, a local attorney and longtime island resident. In an email to media Wednesday evening from Baer, Poteet said the spill was not the citys fault. By no means was this spill caused by the City of Marco Island Water and Sewer Department, the statement read. This sewer area is owned and maintained by North Marco Utilities, a privately owned sewer utility. North Marco Utilities owns and maintains the collection system in the Old Marco area, where the leak occurred. North Marco Utilities collection system pumps, via their forcemain (a pressurized sewer line), into the Citys billing flow meter, near Pier 81. North Marco Utilities failed to isolate their system from the Citys system, prior to performing the maintenance work, which is why North Marco Utilities managed the event and reported the incident to FDEP and Department of Health. The wastewater spill is entirely North Marco Utilities responsibility. Palm Street is an area of boutiques, fine restaurants and waterfront homes, with canals on the streets to the south emptying into Collier Bay, and the Marco River to the north. People in the community are probably pretty upset, to have a big puddle of sewage standing around, said Poteet. His department provides water to all the islands users, with only waste water handled by North Marco Utilities. On Tuesday evening, the DEP was still investigating the incident, said South District ombudsman Terry Cerullo, and had no details on the spill, beyond the fact that it had been capped, and untreated sewage did flow into the waters surrounding Marco Island. He said the preliminary estimate he had been given mentioned between 10-20,000 gallons of sewage. Our inspector was there, but he hasnt had the opportunity to put his findings into a formal report, said Cerullo. But it is secured. Containment has been done. SHARE By Harriet Howard Heithaus of the Naples Daily News Steven Condy doesn't look like a fool, and he's not. He knows the potential in playing the cantankerous, con-able Don Pasquale, title character in the Donizetti opera. He may be getting fooled by his nephew and his physician in cahoots with the cagey Norina, but he also is getting lots of stage time and aria stardom. The one thing he won't get in the Opera Naples production of "Don Pasquale" is a sweet little submissive wife. While the famous opera's comic plot may be silly by today's standards arranged marriages are passe in this country, at least the delicious execution of a sophisticated joke is timeless. Condy has played the Don dozens of times, and he says he brings more empathy to it now. "Of course you get to know a character when you live with him this long. You add life experiences," he said. "The things that are wonderful about him is that at 70, he's spry, and he really wants to get married. He's ready to take the plunge." One of his favorite arias in the opera, Condy said, one not often excerpted, is Don Pasquale's in the opening act: "He's doing this dance around the room singing, 'Hey, I'm going to get married!'" On the other side of the ledger, "he's headstrong, he's not compassionate he doesn't know how to relate to people like his nephew." That will be Pasquale's undoing when his friend, Dr. Malatesta (played by Jonathan Beyer), pairs him up with Norina, fiancee of Pasquale's errant nephew, Ernesto. Norina (played by Hailey Clark) is ready to slice and dice Pasquale's illusions about marriage as soon as he signs the papers; she won't spend the first night with her husband, prefers Ernesto for her evening walk and immediately does this sound familiar, guys? turns a decorator's eye on his bachelor pad. In this case, that includes carting pink lava lamps and throw pillows into Pasquale's paneled-wall, beanbag chair existence. Stage director Jeffrey Buchman, who created Opera Naples' staging for "Faust" two seasons ago, set the story in the early 1970s, with its deep tones and distinctive if that's the right word furniture. "A centerpiece of the Pasquale home is this credenza with a record player in it, like we all had at home," said Buchman, who also used depictions of fabric to create screen backdrops. Grass wallpaper, anyone? "There never was a period so cool and uncool at the same time." That inspiration materialized from Italian films of the era, the popular movies of Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren that Buchman likened to the commedia dell'arte of "Don Pasquale": "It was a very sexually charged, very funny, era of Italian cinema." Buchman says he and the staff ran with idea, even offering the credits in a TV sitcom-style typeface. "Don Pasquale," he said, has the capacity to engage on all fronts: "People can come to this show, laugh, be entertained and go away loving opera." It's one of the three most popular Italian comic operas of all time, alongside Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" and Donizetti's own "L'elisir d'amore," Ramon Tebar, music director of Opera Naples, pointed out. "It has everything bel canto can offer, " declared Tebar. "It has the wonderful duet at the end that is only four pages but it's so beautiful. One of two arias sopranos always audition with is Norina's from Act One." (For an excerpt from Norina's opening aria, see the story at naplesnews.com.) While the role of Ernesto, Pasquale's nephew isn't a major one, William Davenport, who played Rodolfo in Opera Naples' "La Boheme" is in it. He's following major stars like Luciano Pavarotti and Alfredo Kraus, who also sang it because of its gorgeous music. "Ernesto is really, really tough tenor part. The arias of the first and second act, especially with the trumpet, are extremely challenging," he said. If you go Don Pasquale Where: Wang Opera Center, 2408 Linwood Ave., Naples When: 8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday Tickets: $49, $65, $79 and $99 To buy: operanaples.org or 239-963-9050 Chef David M. Nelson preps for dinner service Jan. 5 at Avenue5 in Naples. SHARE Chef David M. Nelson preps for dinner service at Avenue5 in Naples, Fla., on Jan. 5, 2016. (Logan Newell/Special to the Daily News) Diners gather for a private dinner service at Avenue5 in Naples, Fla., on Jan. 5, 2016. (Logan Newell/Special to the Daily News) Sean Strolle and Executive Chef David M. Nelson, from left, prep for dinner service at Avenue5 in Naples, Fla., on Jan. 5, 2016. (Logan Newell/Special to the Daily News) Chef David M. Nelson puts the final touches on a dish for dinner service at Avenue5 in Naples, Fla., on Jan. 5, 2016. (Logan Newell/Special to the Daily News) By Laura Mize There's a table for six in the southeast corner of Avenue5. One end borders the plaza in front of Sugden Community Theatre, while another side parallels the walkway along Naples' posh Fifth Avenue South. Glass doors and giant, retracting windows separate it from the outside. With the windows pulled back on a recent afternoon, the table was exposed to perfect January weather, complete with refreshing breezes. By Chef David Nelson's estimation, there aren't many better spots in town to enjoy a meal. "That's one of the best tables in Naples," said Nelson, who joined the upscale eatery as executive chef in early October, with the goal of rejuvenating the restaurant's reputation, "but they just didn't have the food to complement it. So that's what I'm really trying to do: just complement what's already here." Avenue5, which is connected to the Inn on Fifth, opened to much anticipation in February 2014. It boasts an airy interior decorated in a glam neutral palette with pops of orangy red and plenty of gleaming metal accents. Aesthetically, it is the antithesis of the beloved McCabe's Irish Pub and Grill, which operated in this location for 15 years, ending in 2013. Nelson left Truluck's, a well-known seafood and steak establishment just around the corner, after Avenue5's first chef, John Welch, just didn't bring the quality and "wow factor" diners expected. Nelson is working hard to reshape the restaurant's culinary identity. "I know a lot of people around town, and Avenue5 did not start off on the right foot, reputation wise," he said. "A lot of people gave it a chance. I know I ate here after they had been open three or four months, and I mean it just it wasn't good." Whipping up a new reputation for Avenue5 is all about the basics, the former Army Ranger food service specialist insists. He relies on having the right equipment, teaching and executing solid cooking fundamentals and leading by example. Behind the scenes, much has changed in Nelson's first three months at the restaurant. At his request, McCabe purchased a new grill so the kitchen could turn out better steaks. Inventive masterpieces by Avenue5's recently hired pastry chef, Anthony Valerio, have replaced frozen desserts purchased from a supplier. The menu has been completely redesigned. Though Nelson maintains that his culinary approach, for now, centers around delivering well-prepared, high-quality, recognizable dishes, his food goes beyond those basics. At Avenue5, creativity and expertly designed flavor and texture combinations are on full display. SIMPLICITY? For Nelson's grilled Colorado lamb chops, a simple pan sauce isn't enough. Instead, you'll find his topped by horseradish and goat cheese creme fraiche, along with vibrant chimichurri that gets an extra kick from rose vinegar. At a private tasting and wine dinner Avenue5 hosted in the first week of 2016, butter-poached lobster tail cooked sous vide in tarragon, butter and lemon, then dressed with corn-tarragon zabaglione accompanied the lamb chops for an imaginative take on surf and turf. Corn and lemon notes lifted the buttery lobster. The plate also held a serving of perfectly executed dauphinoise potato. The dish was a pleasant surprise for diner JoNell Modys, public relations and communications manager of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau. She called the lamb chops and chimichurri "an unexpected combination with great flavor." The restaurant team paired this dish with a 2012 pinot noir from Domaine Serene, a winery established in Oregon's Willamette Valley by part-time Naples residents. Most people wouldn't see this as just "simple food," but that's how Nelson views it. Many restaurants "forget simplicity is sometimes what's best," the chef told diners at the private event. He emphasized that building the restaurant's reputation requires mastering dishes that people relate to, not focusing on culinary trends. The tasting and wine dinner opened with a Maine lobster cocktail that included Champagne dressing, heirloom tomato, grapefruit, avocado and a custom blend of micro herbs with citrus notes. The herb blend, put together by the local Colusa Farms, is known as the "tangerine blast." Next, tender bay scallop shone through in a refined ceviche, accented by pickled ginger, lemon grass, lime and cilantro. Wonton crisps and creamy avocado mousse were superb foils for the heat and bright, sweet notes of the ceviche. The third course offered ricotta and mascarpone gnudi (a dumpling-like, cheese-filled pasta), served with a tender meatball and deeply flavored golden garlic tomato sauce. Then came the luxurious and nuanced surf and turf, followed by a three-dessert sampler featuring a chocolate pot de creme, key lime cheesecake and a six-layer chocolate cake built on a base of chocolate chip cookie. A wine from the restaurant's dazzling glass wine walls complemented each savory course and mini dessert. NEW ENERGY "I think Chef Nelson has hit on a flavorful and interesting combination of dishes that will bring in the tourist crowd, as well as appeal to local diners," Modys said in a statement after the event. "His enthusiasm for the menu is contagious and I think he and his team will bring a new energy to the Fifth Avenue South dining scene." Nelson himself makes no secret of the fact that after years without the freedom to create his own menu items, he finds the challenge of breathing new life into Avenue5 immensely enjoyable. "I have not had more fun cooking in a long time than I have the last few months here," he said. Chefs Bernie Seidman, left, and George Karpman stir a pot of chicken soup for the Jewish Deli Fest, set for 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Jewish Congregation of Marco Island, 991 Winterberry Drive, Marco Island. SHARE By Sebastian Gonzalez Dining for dogs "Serving To Save Lives": 5 to 9 p.m. Jan. 20. The Southwest Florida K-9 Search Unit is teaming up with several Naples restaurants to host a special fundraising event. Each time a person comes into one of the restaurants and mentions the Southwest Florida K-9 Search Unit, a portion of the sales will be donated to the unit. swflk9search.com. Restaurants participating in this event include: BRK Pizza: 6335 Naples Blvd. Naples. Menchie's: 6355 Naples Blvd., No. B-4, Naples. Hurricane Grill & Wings: 6345 Naples Blvd. Suite 7, Naples. Fuji Sushi Bar & Asian Bistro: 6355 Naples, Blvd., Naples. Johnsonville Sausage Marketplace: 6355 Naples Blvd., Naples. Romanian Festival The Annual Romanian Festival is 5 to 11:30 p.m. Jan. 23 and 24 at the Etudes de Ballet, 3285 Pine Ridge Road, North Naples. Enjoy authentic Romanian food, traditional music, raffle prizes and more. Entrance is free and open to the public. Celebrate Romanian culture and cuisine at its best. Romanian specialties on site will include the famous cabbage rolls "Sarmale" and authentic Romanian sausage prepared and grilled on site. On Sunday Jan. 24 the festival starts at 4 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m. 517-802-7987 Jewish Deli Fest The Jewish Deli Fest will be 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Jewish Congregation of Marco Island, 991 Winterberry Drive, Marco Island. This is a community event. You can either eat-in or take out your deli delights, separate lines for both. Featured restaurants and bakeries include Bernie's Deli with a New York style deli sandwich of kosher corn beef or pastrami with homemade coleslaw and chips. Or perhaps you would prefer a nice bowl of homemade chicken soup with matzo balls or beef barley soup; Bubbie's Bakery mouthwatering pastries for dessert, "made with love" from their own Sisterhood members. 239-642-0800. marcojcmi.com Gumbo Fest The 14th Annual SW Florida Gumbo Fest is 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at The Shell Factory & Nature Park, 2787 U.S. 41 N., Fort Myers. This family food festival will feature several types of gumbo, along with some unique festival food. Admission is free. Lots of children's' activities and a great day of fun for the entire family. This years' event will feature two live bands headlined by Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers and The Porchdogs. All proceeds benefit The Nature Park. 239-549-5599. shellfactory.com Dining with Gershwin Enjoy dinner and brunch along with "The Gershwin Concert Experience" at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 1380 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers. Broadway Palm's 2016 Concert Series will begin with Rhapsody & Rhythm The Gershwin Concert Experience. Hitting the stage for three performances only. Concert starts at 7 p.m. after a special dinner at 5:30 p.m. A matinee show will take place on Monday Feb. 1 at 1:15 p.m. with a special brunch at 11:45 a.m. $39 to $62. 239-278-4422. BroadwayPalm.com. FYI-Food is published Wednesdays in the Naples Daily News. Please email news items for consideration to features@naplesnews.com As this is the month of making and breaking new year's resolutions, I thought I might present a wine for the health nut. Cannonau, a red wine grape from the island of Sardinia, is considered healthy (in moderation!) by the people behind the Blue Zones Project. It is consumed in small doses, 3 ounces each, several times throughout the day by a population that boasts more men over 100 years old than anywhere else in the world. It should be noted that these are people who eat about 1,000 times the veggies most Americans do, and keep their stress level about 2,000 times lower than ours. These are not actual statistics, but imagine a world in which several little glasses of wine are sprinkled throughout the workday. Stress? What stress? So why cannonau and not vermentino, the island's white wine? Scientists point to resveratrol, a phenolic compound found in the skins of the grape. When red wine is made, the juice sits on the skins for longer, thus extracting more resveratrol. There have been thousands of studies that show resveratrol performing heroic feats such as protecting the inner layer of arteries to prevent heart disease, reducing inflammation, even preventing cancer cell replication. Nevermind that the lab mice are given resveratrol in concentrations equivalent to a human drinking a hundred bottles of wine a day. Disclaimer: Please don't try that. Cannonau allegedly has more resveratrol than other varieties. However, I cannot for the life of me find evidence of this. If you do, please let me know. Most studies say pinot noir has the highest amount of resveratrol, depending on where it's grown and how it's made. Malbec scores high, as does petite sirah. Malbec because of it's thick skins, and petite sirah because of it's small berries and high skin-to-juice ratio. Thin-skinned and disease-prone pinot noir likely tops the list since resveratrol is produced in the vine naturally to defend against fungus and rot. But let me get back to Sardinia's cannonau, which is all but forgotten in scientific resveratrol research. The grape goes by grenache in France and garnacha in Spain. It's spread through the western Mediterranean was likely due to the expansion in the 1400s of the Aragon empire, which once held all the major wine growing regions now dominated by grenache/garnacha/cannonau. It's a dry red wine that tastes noticeably different when produced in different places. In Sardinia, it is spicy and bold, very dry and medium bodied, making it a good pairing with the island's ubiquitous vegetable dishes and garlicky fava beans. Spanish garnacha is decidedly more fruit-forward and a bit rounder on the palate. This is where the variety originated, so it's made in a number of styles throughout the country; from the concentrated style favored in the Priorat region to the tannic wines of Navarra. In France, it is the most planted grape in the Rhone valley, where it's blended into a number of different styles, the most luscious of which being Chateaneuf-du-Pape. One of my favorite producers of Sardinian cannonau is Renato Spanu whose brand, Jankara, is a labor of love. His vineyards are on a spot of land in Gallura that he admired since he was young, working alongside his grandfather in the fields near his home. When he was able to, he bought that land, planted his vermentino vines, and has been making the best, most traditional Sardinian wines ever since. His cannonau is dry, spicy, and a true expression of what this grape becomes on the island off the west coast of Italy. I welcome comments and questions at juliewriteswine@gmail.com. You can see more of my writing at julieglenn.com, and can connect with me on Facebook and on Twitter @juliewriteswine. Via The China Post: Taiwanese businessman in China infected with H7N9. A Taiwanese businessman in China has been infected with H7N9 avian influenza virus, the third such case among that group of people, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed Tuesday. The CDC said it had contacted the mainland Chinese health authorities to confirm the case, based on information received from the man's son. The businessman's son alerted quarantine officials in Taiwan of the possible case after visiting his father in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, earlier this month, according to CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw. Chou said it was son's second visit following one in December. On Jan. 5, the son was alerted that his father was seriously ill and went to China again but was unable to make contact because his father was in an intensive care unit in hospital, the CDC said. The father, son, other family members and friends were tested in China on Jan. 5 and the son tested negative, while the father tested positive for the H7N9 virus, the CDC said, adding that the results became available Monday. When the 26-year-old son returned to Taipei Songshan Airport on Jan. 8, his temperature was normal and he showed no signs of illness but he took the initiative to alert quarantine officials that he might have had contact with suspected H7N9 patients. Quarantine officials decided that the risks of the man being infected with the avian flu virus were not high and they offered him health advice and suggested that he conduct health management at home. The CDC, however, contacted its counterpart in China the same night to check whether the father was infected with the virus. "The CDC wished to thank the man who was alert enough to inform us upon his return of his possible contact with the virus," Chou said. He said the CDC will keep track of the health situation of the man and his father. If necessary, he said, the CDC will send doctors to Kunshan to obtain information about the treatment of the businessman there and provide health advice to other Taiwanese in the area. I don't find this case in the January H7N9 reports by the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection, so it may be in addition to those cases. By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News Collier County Public Schools students will start classes for the 2016 school year after the summer break on Aug. 10. With the early start date, school officials took advantage of a new law that allows districts to start the school year well before Labor Day, when classes typically start in other parts of the country. The new calendar was approved by the school board 5-0 Tuesday, following tweaks to accommodate parent concerns. One of them came from members of the Jewish community, who protested the fact that in the proposed calendar, the holiest holiday in the Jewish faith Yom Kippur was a regular school day. The second day of Rosh Hashanah also was proposed as a regular school day, and the last day of the Jewish holiday, a half-day. The holidays take place in October. "Several parents and community members have asked me to express their frustration," said local Rabbi Adam Miller of Temple Shalom. "They must choose between an absence and their faith. This is a difficult choice for students because teachers continue to teach on those days." He added that services are typically held in the morning, which means that a half-day doesn't help students balance their faith with their school work. "Yom Kippur is the holiest day for Jews. It is like Christmas for Christians," he said. Florida law requires public school districts to educate students for 180 days every academic year. During this time frame, they are required to educate students for 135 hour for every one-credit course. To strike a balance, board members decided to shorten the proposed Winter Break, which would have started Monday, Dec. 19. It will now start Dec. 21, and the two days freed up were applied to Oct. 3 for Rosh Hashanah and Oct. 12 for Yom Kippur. Schools will remain open for a full day on Oct. 4, the last day of Rosh Hashanah. In next year's calendar, the district scheduled a hurricane makeup day on Veterans Day, which means that should the district close due to a hurricane or tropical storm, students will make up the lost instructional day by attending class on Veterans Day. The last day of school for the 2016 year will be May 31. Also Tuesday, board members unanimously approved the application for South Florida International Charter School. The school plans to open as a sixth through ninth grade school next fall with at least 364 students. Eventually, it would expand to serve middle school and high school students with a projected capacity of 1,394 students. The school would offer Cambridge International and International Baccalaureate curriculum and programs. According to the application, operators will begin their search for a location south of Naples Airport. SHARE Glen Salyer, assistant to the Lee County Manager. Courtesy of leegov.org By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News When Lee County's assistant to the county manager assumed the role of Economic Development Office acting director in September 2013, Glen Salyer inherited a staff with morale issues, he said in a June deposition. Salyer made his sworn statement as part of a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in United States federal court by one of those former employees. The morale issue expressed itself in different ways, according to Salyer. "Well, I think it was a combination of lots of, for lack of a better word, backstabbing and infighting," Salyer is quoted in the transcript as having said. He attributed some of the problems to a Lee Clerk of Court audit released in the summer of 2013. The clerk audit criticized the Economic Development Office's record keeping, extensive payments to Chisano Marketing firm and pointed to the potential misuse of a taxpayer-funded program that offers multi-million dollar grants to businesses that promise new jobs. "It seemed to be people were, you know, embarrassed, I think might be a good way to say it, embarrassed about being fodder for news accounts of the audit," Salyer told lawyer Benjamin Yormak during the deposition. But Salyer denied firing employees who fed information to the clerk's auditor, including Yormak's client in the lawsuit, Lisa Wagner. The county hired Wagner in January 2012, and she worked in the Economic Development Office as an administrative specialist until Salyer terminated her, according to court records. He was just part of a team trying to "right the ship." "There wasn't any doubt in our minds that there were things that needed to be quote unquote fixed," Salyer said, according to the transcript. Salyer's deposition was included in a motion Yormak filed in federal court on behalf of Wagner, who has pursued her lawsuit against the county for nearly two years. Yormak's motion argues Salyer indeed retaliated against Wagner because she had "learned of corrupt, improper and illegal practices" within the Economic Development Office and gave what she knew to the clerk's auditor. Wagner also claims the county cheated her out of overtime pay. Yormak's motion states a trial by jury would be unnecessary in Wagner's case because all the facts are on the record, and he requested a summary judgment. Lee County filed its own summary judgment motion, but argues Wagner has no reason to conclude she was fired for speaking up. Tuesday morning, lawyers for both parties made those claims before Judge Paul A. Magnuson in a federal courtroom in downtown Fort Myers. Wagner lost her job because of the audit, said Yormak. "No reasonable jury can conclude there were any other reasons for her termination," said Yormak. Lauren G. Brunswick, a private lawyer hired by Lee County to handle this case, said Wagner was laid off as part of an intentional reduction in force meant to save money. Magnuson said the county had approved a bigger budget for the Economic Development Office before Wagner was let go. "So, county shortage of funds how can that be?" Magnuson said. Even though money was available, Salyer and "his team" took it upon themselves to make the Economic Development Office more efficient, Brunswick said. "While they had the funds they didn't have to use all of it." Magnuson said his ruling on the summary judgment motions can take a week or so. If he rejects the motions, Wagner and Lee County could go to trial as early as February, he said. Unless the parties settle before then. The two-story, 24,000 square foot center, The Lyon Palliative Care and Hospice Center, will be built on the AVOW hospice campus at 1095 Whippoorwill Lane in North Naples, to provide support for seriously ill residents and children in the community. (Submitted photo) SHARE Thelma Lyon, of Naples, has provided a gift to Avow, for a new palliative care center. The amount of her gift is confidential. (Liz Freeman/Staff) By Liz Freeman of the Naples Daily News Avow hospice on Tuesday took a major step in community outreach to the ill and grieving. Supporters of the nonprofit hospice organization, which has served residents since 1983, gathered at the Whippoorwill Lane campus for the ceremonial groundbreaking of a $6 million palliative care center. The center will provide care for ill residents before a terminal diagnosis, among other services. The center will be named The Lyon Palliative Care and Hospice Center in honor of a significant donation by Naples resident Thelma Lyon. At her request, the amount of her gift is confidential. "She has taken Avow under her wing," said Jaysen Roa, president and chief executive officer of Avow. About 100 supporters of the hospice attended the ceremony. Lyon's gift toward the construction of the 24,000-square-foot, two-story building enables Avow to expand its palliative care services for adults and children. Avow's program could someday serve as a national model for community-based palliative care centers, he said. The discipline involves medical care, social and spiritual support to individuals suffering from serious illness but who are not yet terminal meaning six months or fewer to live which is the hospice standard. Palliative care helps cancer patients or the chronically ill cope with their illness, pain and stress, and improve the quality of their lives. Medicare will pay for some palliative care services. Avow undertook a $15 million fundraising campaign to raise the $6 million for the Lyon center ; $1 million as seed money for a palliative care program for children; and $2 million for palliative care services for adults. The campaign also aims to raise $6 million to sustain operations by offsetting what is not covered by insurance. The campaign was launched with $8 million pledged. The new building is expected to be completed in November. Lyon said Tuesday that two leaders in palliative care who are co-directors of the Patty and Jay Baker National Palliative Care Center at Mount Sinai in New York, inspired her to support the field. The two physicians, Drs. R. Sean Morrison and Diane Meier, attended Tuesday's groundbreaking. "These two doctors have really encouraged and supported me (in) increasing my passion for palliative care," Lyon said. Morrison described palliative care as providing an added layer of support to patients and Avow's program will provide something unique in the community and could serve as a model. Meier said hospice leaders 10 years ago recognized the tremendous burden of disease to families and many hospitals nationwide have begun to offer palliative care services but there is an overall nationwide gap. She described Avow's program as visionary. Avow's 150 employees serve nearly 2,100 hospice patients each year, where 63 percent of the seriously ill patients benefit from outpatient services, in addition to the hundreds more served in hospitals and elsewhere. Avow also has the Frances Georgeson Hospice House, an inpatient residential center with 16 private rooms and 24-hour care. In 2010, Avow used donations to open its Ispiri community center for support services for healing and learning.

Collier County paramedics work a medical call in Naples on Wednesday, September 23, 2015. (Scott McIntyre/Staff)

SHARE By Joseph Cranney of the Naples Daily News Collier voters will again have the opportunity to weigh in on consolidation of the county's emergency services following approval of the ballot question Tuesday by commissioners. Commissioners voted 4-1, with Georgia Hiller dissenting, to place on the March 15 ballot a question that will gauge support of fire district consolidation. Unlike a similar 2010 poll, the question would specifically ask about merging the county's emergency medical services. The question, as approved by commissioners, reads: "Would you support a single combined fire and emergency medical response independent special district in unincorporated Collier County that is governed by an independent elected body to provide a unified emergency response?" The request for the ballot question came from Jeff Page, commissioner of the Greater Naples Fire District. In the 2010 election, more than 70 percent of voters supported consolidation of fire services. Page said he believes consolidation still has the support of the public, but that the polling question would clarify the next step. Commissioners voiced support for the poll, but amended the question to include the ending, "to provide a unified emergency response." Commissioner Tim Nance said the amendment would confuse voters who don't know how the fire districts work. "They are not concerned with the administrative responsibility," Nance said. "All they want to know is that they get great service." Hiller was strongly opposed to the wording of the question. Calling it "ridiculous," she said the question should address the impact on taxes and quality of services. But Nance described it as a "new question," different from the 2010 poll, and said it would provide useful information. In other business, commissioners by a 3-2 vote agreed to a future discussion on the impacts of fluoride in the county's drinking water. Camden Smith, assistant to Commissioner Tom Henning, gave a 10-minute presentation on the health risks of fluoride, citing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Harvard researchers. Drinking fluoridated water is intended to keep teeth strong and prevent decay. The CDC has named fluoridization one of the Top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century. About a half dozen opponents to the practice, however, held up signs at the meeting that read, "No Fluoride" and "Take Fluoride Out of Public Water." Hiller said her daughter had fluorosis that subsided after a dentist told her to stop drinking tap water. Hiller cast the lone dissenting vote in 2011 when commissioners last agreed to keep the fluoride in the water. The decision to consider the issue again was opposed by Nance and Donna Fiala, who was named the commission's new chair at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting Commissioners also voted unanimously to approve a development for 250 new single-family homes on a 40-acre site near the intersection of Interstate 75 and Collier Boulevard. The approval came after the developer of the project, Barron Collier Companies, changed its plans so the project won't set aside seven acres of preserve land off-site. Instead, 1.35 acres of preserve will be moved off site. The project will also include sidewalks on both sides of the neighborhood, not just one side as was originally proposed. The new plan was acceptable to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, which opposed the previous plan. SHARE By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News Estero's maturing vision for its village center was the topic of a two-hour Tuesday evening public workshop. More than 100 people who live in Estero or who have commercial interest in the village attended the gathering at Living Waters Church, an expansive building off of U.S. 41 near Coconut Point mall. Urban designer Seth Harry and planner Bill Spikowski, two consultants hired by Estero to establish the village's center policies, made presentations, but the meeting was meant to be an opportunity for Estero residents to give feedback. The agenda included a break for attendees to fill out a survey and ended with a question and answer portion. The village center idea has been in the works since before Estero incorporated. "Now that we are a municipality, we have to shift gears a little bit and focus on creating a real community and a sense of place in Estero," said Vice Mayor Howard Levitan. The concept stalled in August, after a similar workshop on the preliminary version of the village center plan was viewed as "too pushy," said Spikowski. So, Estero and its consultants stepped back and tried a new approach that relies on incentives, he said. The village center, which is often discussed as a monolith, is evolving into three separate subareas of focus, he said. From the Estero River north to about Broadway Avenue, the goal is to create green spaces and walking trails, said Spikowski. A communal village center is envisioned between Williams and Corkscrew roads, on a swath of land that runs west of U.S. 41, he said. The site of Lee Memorial Health System's proposed medical facility is the cornerstone of Estero's health district, Spikowski said. That area would include Coconut Point mall and end at Estero's border with the city of Bonita Springs. Through those three subareas, Estero's village council and consultants hope to work with owners of the remaining pieces of vacant land to promote compact, mixed-use and walkable development, according to the workshop presentation. Meeting attendees signaled they approve so far. Don Eslick, chairman of the Estero Council of Community Leaders, said the village needs a vision in order to be cohesive. "It's very important for us to proceed with this, no matter how rocky it gets," Eslick said. Estero resident Louise Frattarelli said she moved to the village 16 years ago because of its proximity to shopping malls, Southwest Florida International Airport and other places she can drive to. But as she and her husband age and car ownership becomes less likely, public transportation and pedestrian-friendly streets are becoming more of a priority for her. Frattarelli said she would like the village to create more public spaces where residents, especially those with small children, can gather to celebrate holidays and festivals. "I'm seeing that it is a work in progress," she said. Hurricane Ian exacerbates Collier County's affordable housing crisis There are still residents staying at county-operated shelters, including one at North Collier Regional Park and at a former Publix in North Fort Myers. SHARE Gov. Rick Scott's dual focus in Tuesday's State of the State address on luring new businesses and also helping existing companies grow is worth taking note of in Southwest Florida. What Scott outlined for the state as it strives to provide a diversified economy is apropos for the region as leadership changes in economic development offices. "Many of you know that my favorite three topics are jobs, jobs and more jobs," Scott told the jointly assembled House and Senate as lawmakers gathered Tuesday to begin the 60-day 2016 legislative session. Scott was elected in November 2010 and re-elected four years later on a jobs-heavy platform. Florida has created 1,011,800 private sector jobs since his election, his staff says. The state's unemployment rate, which stood at 11.2 percent when he took office, dropped to 5 percent by November, the last available numbers. "A job is the No. 1 way to change anyone's life for the better," he said in Tuesday's address, while noting Florida is a rapidly growing state of 20 million people that is adding 1,000 new residents a day. Growing jobs Scott has created an ambitious economic growth agenda for the state Legislature by proposing $1 billion in tax cuts for the 2016-17 budget. It's a sound approach to making Florida the No. 1 job-creation state because it both addresses companies here now and those that may be willing to relocate from other states. As for existing large and small businesses, Scott's plan helps by eliminating corporate income taxes for manufacturers and retailers; cutting the sales tax on commercial leases by 1 percent; and making permanent what is already temporary relief from the sales tax charged on the sale of manufacturing equipment. As for enticing companies to move here from other states, Scott's speech urged legislators to support a new $250 million package of incentives for Enterprise Florida. Scott highlighted examples of both types of business, from a Boca Raton teenager who started her own lacrosse equipment company and saw it grow to $1 million in revenue in two years to a Kentucky aerospace company relocating here, the type that would benefit from state job incentives. It's unlikely legislative leaders will back the full $1 billion in tax cuts Scott requested, but support for the dual approach was at least evident in Senate President Andy Gardiner's statement Tuesday that lawmakers would "ensure Florida has the tools we need to recruit and retain businesses that create jobs and grow our economy." Education's role The annual report produced by newspaper Education Week, released a week ago, ranked Florida 30th in the nation on education quality. Florida got a C-minus, down from 28th and a "C" a year ago. That type of an educational system won't help lure new businesses or retain existing ones with employees who want the best for their children and bosses who want a well-educated and well-trained workforce. That's why legislators should support Scott's request for $7,221 per student, which would eclipse the prior highest per-student funding in 2007-08 by $95, and to again hold the line on tuition, as the governor has proposed. There's promise going into this session: "We will appropriate unprecedented K-12 per student funding," Gardiner vowed Tuesday. Back home Scott's words were timely for Southwest Florida, which is seeing a unique change in economic development leadership simultaneously in Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties. Lee and Charlotte recently selected administrators to oversee their business development offices. Meanwhile, Collier has vacancies in county government's top economic position following the resignation of Bruce Register and in the ongoing search for a new chief executive for the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce. Register's departure elicited differing views from county commissioners on whether Collier is headed in the right direction in focusing on enticing new companies vs. encouraging those here to stay. Scott's address Tuesday should put the debate to rest: There's a need to do both. SHARE Everett Van Hoesen, Naples Don't be scammed I received via U.S. Postal Service priority mail a cashier's check written on US Bank in the amount of $1,450. Purportedly, it was mailed to me by Piquet Realty, 1335 Gold Express Drive, Gold River, California. The only other notation on the check was: "Location: 3852 Folsom." I was not expecting a check and had never done business with a Realtor in Gold River. It was tempting to cash the check, but I smelled fraud. After numerous failed attempts to verify the source Realtor with US Bank, USPS and the local Chamber of Commerce, I finally learned from the Sacramento sheriff's department that no such business existed at the indicated address. The fraudster hoped I would cash the check with my bank. Then, they would contact me and state that a mistake was made and request repayment. Shortly after doing so my bank would advise me that the check from US Bank was fraudulent and I would have been out $1,450. Don't let your self be scammed. SHARE Michael Timmis, Naples Thought again During the Christmas season, I reread in Scripture the birth account of Jesus and the flight of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt. It had a dramatic impact on me as I have been struggling with the issue of the United States accepting Syrian and other immigrants. I never focused on the fact that Joseph, Mary and Jesus were refugees as they fled from the terror of Herod in Israel into Egypt obviously, going with nothing. Scholars have said that it would have taken at least five days for them to travel to Egypt and I can't imagine how difficult it must have been when they got there. As a follower of Jesus, this has caused me to rethink the whole issue with much greater compassion. SHARE Jade Wu, a lawyer and author who has worked in several developing countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, lives in Naples Jade Wu, a lawyer and author who has worked in several developing countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, lives in Naples By Jade Wu One size fits all, a popular saying communicating a sweeping sense of inclusivity irrelevant of individual differences, can be used to describe how too many people view Muslims today. Scared, unnerved and hurt by the increasing number of attacks by Islamic extremists, a growing number of non-Islamic Americans and others around the world have fallen prey to pegging all Muslims alike: They are radicals and their faith leads them to commit acts of violence. Even worse, in bids for popular support, a few American politicians appeal to their "base" by fanning these flames of fear and suspicion through urging both alienating and exclusionary policies. Pushing everything from anti-immigrant laws, the registration of mosques and Muslims, to the barring of all Muslims citizens or not from entering the United States, it is clear that they want to treat all of the Islamic faith as one and the same: there is no difference from one Muslim to the other so all must be regarded as suspect. Reflecting on these troubling developments of the past year, I thought back to the morning after the Paris shootings on Nov. 13. That day, I was an American visiting Dresden, Germany, just two hours south of Berlin. I not only felt the chill of winter but one of fear which swept across continental Europe without warning. On that cold windy morning I was walking on a bridge over the Elbe River toward the old town when I came upon an unexpected scene. A large German man had just fallen off his wheelchair and was lying immobile on the sidewalk part of the bridge. As the rain began to pick up, several passers-by, men and women, continued walking, never bothering to stop or even look back to see if anyone had helped the fallen man. Before I could say or do anything, four Middle Eastern-looking men, all in their early 20s who appeared as if they had just finished their Saturday morning shopping, approached. Putting down their bags and saying a few words to each other, which I recognized as Arabic, they walked over to the man. Without fuss, they each grabbed one of his limbs and in a coordinated effort, slowly lifted and carried him over to his wheelchair. Setting him back in his seat and picking up their bags, they nodded to him, causing the handicap gentleman to smile and whisper words of appreciation. Had these four young men, with their dark features and bronze-colored skin, been anywhere near Paris or Brussels that day, they would have likely been stopped by the police for questioning. Possessing the stereotypical physical characteristics of an extremist young, Islamic-looking, and male they were better than one size fits all, they were the perfect "fit." Indeed had anyone put their photos up next to the extremists pictured on CNN that morning, I would not have been able to differentiate one from the other. Only the difference in their actions set them apart. There were few people on the bridge that morning. With inclement weather and no TV cameras or journalists watching, it was the most inconvenient time to be Good Samaritans. Moreover, this was Dresden, a city which not only has a strong anti-Muslim reputation but is also the place where Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (PEGIDA), an anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant political movement, was formed in 2014. These young men did not have to offer assistance. Given the horrific events of the night before and the severe backlash the Muslim community had received, it was touching and amazing these four cared to help. Their gesture of good will, and those of other Muslims that have never made it to public attention, should remind us that not everyone who is of the Islamic faith is an extremist. We cannot assume people are alike and prone to violent acts based on their looks, language and faith. As 2016 unfolds and we strive to make the world one we would like to live in, let us remember that one size does not fit all, particularly when it comes to large groups of people. Moreover, even when the size fits perfectly it is not always the right fit. __ Jade Wu, a lawyer who has worked in several developing countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, lives in Naples and is the author of the upcoming book "Moments That Flashed: Lessons learned and not learned in international development" Via The Globe and Mail: Indiana town adopts B.C.s HIV-treatment model after outbreak. A small Indiana community where two out of every five residents are considered at high risk of HIV infection is reaching out to B.C. experts for help. Austin, Ind., is suffering through an unprecedented outbreak of the disease. With a population of 4,200, 10 per cent are currently injecting prescription opioid drugs on a daily basis, said Diane Janowicz, assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Since last year, 184 new HIV infections have been identified. Thirty-nine per cent of the population are identified as high risk. Thats an incredibly high prevalence compared to other parts in the U.S., Dr. Janowicz said. The university, working with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has asked for help from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. The intention is for the centre to bring its so-called treatment-as-prevention model of health care to the beleaguered community. Treatment-as-prevention is a collection of antiretroviral treatments that reduce the HIV virus load in blood and vaginal and rectal fluids, to decrease the risk of HIV transmission. B.C. has seen a steady decrease in the number of deaths resulting from HIV since the introduction of an intense antiretroviral therapy program that began in 1996. There has been a 90-per-cent decrease in the number of new cases since 30 years ago. As of last year, only 250 cases of HIV were recorded in B.C. In Austin, the outbreak began last year and is linked to intravenous injection of opiate pain medication that users crush. It has prompted a warning from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to alert health officials to be on guard against clusters of HIV and hepatitis C infections. Indiana University will bring their colleagues here to see how we implemented our strategies in British Columbia, to learn about our treatment programs and to see how we have made the improvement happen, said Julio Montaner, director of the BC Centre for Excellence of AIDS/HIV. Its easier said than done. This program is very complex and it is difficult to implement, he said. For example, he said it can be difficult for doctors to reach patients and ensure they have access to the kinds of drugs and programs needed for the therapy to be effective. A state epidemiologist said in a news report in the Indy Star last year that fewer than half those diagnosed with HIV had been prescribed antiretroviral treatments. SHARE Brewster Bevis is Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs, Associated Industries of Florida Kevin Doyle, Executive Director for Consumer Energy Alliance-Florida. By Kevin Doyle,And Brewster Bevis Florida is no stranger to energy production, particularly here in Southwest Florida. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that production from Florida's Panhandle and the Southwest region around the Everglades once peaked at more than 100,000 barrels per day. Unfortunately, that was back in 1978. Production statewide has plummeted to approximately 6,000 barrels per day in recent years, and the state has few other areas with proven crude oil reserves. If we can properly embrace and support a comprehensive, all-of-the-above energy strategy that safely utilizes every yet-to-be-tapped resource available to us, regardless of where it comes from, the potential benefits to Florida would be tremendous. For Southwest Florida, that includes waters deep in the Gulf of Mexico. That's because even though more petroleum-fired electricity is generated in Florida than in any other state, the bulk of the petroleum we consume from motor gasoline and blending components to residual fuel oil, ethanol, and jet fuels comes from somewhere else. Florida doesn't have crude oil refineries, nor does it mine for coal or produce much natural gas. And renewables currently account for only a small portion of its electricity. Instead, the state depends largely on petroleum products delivered by tanker and barge to marine terminals throughout the state. In other words, the energy Florida requires to continue growing its residential, commercial and industrial sectors, and their adjoining industries and must-see tourist attractions all sectors that drive the Sunshine State's economy comes from imports bought from other states and countries. As you may have read, there are efforts underway to start changing that. Companies like Burnett Oil are responsibly seeking the federal and state permits necessary to continue energy exploration. If we do, the benefits could be endless. According to various economic studies, Florida stands to gain thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of tax revenue over the next two decades if production off Florida's Southwest coastline commences. How much in particular varies, but the American Petroleum Institute (API) projects that the state would gain 183,000 jobs and $53 billion in tax revenue by 2035. In that time, the state's economy would also get a $440 billion shot in the arm. The risks, meanwhile, would be far fewer than what the naysayers suggest. Offshore energy producers nowadays must comply with a throng of requirements that Sally Jewell, the secretary of the Department of Interior, deems "the most aggressive and comprehensive offshore oil and gas regulatory reforms in the nation's history." Producers have also taken voluntary measures to improve the safety of their operations. That includes state-of-the-art technology used for seismic surveys, which have been conducted safely throughout the U.S. and around the world for decades, including onshore in Southwest Florida. With the University of Florida estimating that the state's population will swell from nearly 20 million at the end of 2014 to almost 29 million by 2040, and the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council reporting that the state will require about 10 more gigawatts by 2035 (one gigawatt powers about 750,000 homes, for example), one must ask: Where is all that additional power going to come from? The answer could be here, in Southwest Florida, if we can provide the safe, sensible regulatory environment we need to enhance our energy infrastructure today so that we can generate the safe, affordable power we'll need for tomorrow. We can protect the environment and develop energy. In Florida, it's time we assess our options. __ Kevin Doyle is the executive director for Consumer Energy Alliance-Florida and Brewster Bevis is the vice president of Associated Industries of Florida. Gulf Bay Group of Companies (Gulf Bay) has selected Miami-based BC Architects as the Architect of Record for Mystique, the new ultra-luxury high-rise in the exclusive Pelican Bay community in Naples. The 21-story Mystique will feature 68 estate and four penthouse residences on one of only two remaining developable land parcels in Naples between The Ritz-Carlton on the beach and Port Royal. Under the direction of Aubrey J. Ferrao, who founded Gulf Bay Group of Companies in 1986, Gulf Bay has successfully completed 14 luxury properties along a 1.5-mile stretch of Gulf-front land within Pelican Bay. BC Architects has an excellent track record and reputation and we are pleased to name them as the Architect of Record for the ultra-luxury high rise, Mystique, said Ferrao. BC Architects has nearly 25 years in design, production and construction administration, with projects throughout Florida and the Caribbean. The company has designed and built more than 50 projects in Florida alone, including Pelican Bays Cape Ferrat, a 21-story Mediterranean-styled luxury condominium. The South Florida Business Journal named BC Architects one of the Top 20 Architecture Firms in 2013. Reservations for Mystique are underway, with Naples-based Premier Sothebys International Realty serving as the exclusive listing agent. The onsite Mystique Sales Center opened in late December and serves as the base of operations for the Mystique sales team. The sleek and contemporary sales center reflects the modern architectural style of the ultra-luxury high rise and showcases several features of Mystiques sophisticated and refined design, including luxury kitchen and bath vignettes. The developer for Mystique is Pelican 1 Owner, LLC, an equal partnership between an affiliate of the global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and an affiliate of the Gulf Bay Group of Companies. In addition to its history in Pelican Bay, Gulf Bays other award-winning developments include The Brittany on Park Shore Beach; Marco Beach Ocean Resort on Marco Island; and the 4,000-acre award-winning, master-planned community of Fiddlers Creek. The Gulf Bay Group of Companies completed and under development build-out market value of luxury residential properties is estimated in excess of $5 billion. KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across multiple asset classes. KKR had $98.7 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2015. Lisa Daniel, founder and owner of Barre Fusion & Pilates Studio in Naples invited the community to celebrate the highly anticipated Grand Opening of her new Barre and Pilates Studio, a new boutique facility that is only one to offer combination classes of both Barre and Pilates. The new facility opened January 4 and celebration was held January 6. Barre Fusion is located at 13040 Livingston Road #2 Naples in the Marquesa shopping center. Attendees enjoyed refreshments and appetizers, along with music and raffle prize winners. Special discounts on Pilates Packages were offered and the one free class opportunity is still available through the Barre Fusion Web Site for the remaining of January 2016. The event h was also attended by the Naples Area Chamber of Commerce where they conducted her official Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. I am thrilled to introduce and share my new state of the art facility, said Lisa Daniel, Owner/Instructor at Barre Fusion and Pilates Studio For the past 20 years, I have truly enjoyed helping my clients energize their lives and improve their overall mind body health and wellness. Now I have my own facility to continue my passion to help with others with personalized Pilates/Barre programs and more." Along with the traditional Pilates classes, Barre Fusion also offers include: Lil Twisters Pilates for Kids: If youre trying to involve your child in a fitness routine, consider introducing them to Pilates and Yoga. Lil Twisters is a fun, engaging class. Children are naturally flexible, which can help them achieve success easily with these types of exercise. Pilates and Yoga can also help spur a childs imagination while he or she engages in each pose and movement. The class involves exercises, poses, games, deep relaxation, meditation and more. It is great for your childs physical and mental well-being. BF Zen Barre: This is an energetic, fun workout that fuses fitness techniques from Dance, Pilates, and Yoga that will tone, define and chisel the whole body. Strength, balance, and flexibility all in one blissful workout. Power yoga and sculpting are no longer contradictions. In Zen Barre the two genres complement each other perfectly. Muscles that are overlooked in yoga practices (glutes, biceps, and abs) now become the focus of our short strength-training circuits in Zen Barre. Booty Barre Classes: These classes are fun, energetic, and fuse techniques from Dance, Pilates, and Yoga that will tone, define and chisel the whole body. Booty Barre is the perfect combination of strength and flexibility with an added cardiovascular element utilizing the barre. BF Barre Classes: These classes will add another high-energy alternative to your workout, so you can continue to push yourself to new levels. This is a Barre class unlike any you have taken before. Utilizing a mounted ballet barre and tools like the Pilates ring, balls, light weights and resistance bands, you will tone, shape, stretch and lengthen your entire body. The technique will not only give you better balance, body awareness, coordination, and posture it will carve new muscles in your body. You will discover muscles you did not know you had while simultaneously lifting your booty, strengthening your core, and achieving a long, lean fit body! BF 30/30: This is our signature combination class designed to give you the best of Pilates and Barre in one class. Barre Fusion and Pilates Studio is the only facility in Naples that can offer both Barre and Pilates combined! Private Pilates one-on-one sessions: Your instructor will customize the workout to meet your specific needs. If this is your first experience with Pilates we require that you start with private sessions before moving on to group classes. BF Pure Pilates: This is our more traditional reformer group class taking the workout back to its foundation. This is still a challenging total body workout, however Barre Fusion Pures focus is even more emphasis on breath, form, alignment, balance, flexibility and core engagement. This class is perfect if you are just starting Pilates and if you need to learn the fundamental principles. BF Pilates: This class is a new and innovative group class workout that is specifically designed to strengthen and lengthen, tighten and tone the body quickly and safely. This is anything but your traditional reformer class! The workouts are designed around the proven principles of high-intensity training. Barre Fusion Pilates has ramped it up a notch by combining a fusion of Pilates, strength training, cardio and high-energy music that will keep your heart pumping throughout. This workout achieves muscle definition faster than traditional Pilates or weight training alone, and leaves you with an overall powerful mind and body. About Barre Fusion and Pilates Studio: Barre Fusion is a unique blend of Pilates principles, strength training, barre and high-energy workouts that will make you feel graceful, flexible and strong. Our classes are designed to transform your physique through a fusion of unique resistance exercises, flexibility training and cardio exercises creating a toned shapely body! For more information about Barre Fusion & Pilates Studio visit www.barrefusionFL.com , call 239- 231-4178 or e-mail: lisa@barrefusionFL.com The first purchase was a piece of furniture: a chaise longue, to be exact. The price: About $50. The buyer: Lisa Lefkow, the Vice President of Habitat for Humanity of Collier County. The memory: "It had a crazy pattern and it was in my living room for a while," she said. The Habitat Home Store, at 11127 U.S. 41 E., celebrates its 13th anniversary this month. A popular shopping stop for buyers from around Southwest Florida, the store also is a place where families who buy Habitat homes can purchase discounted furniture to fill their homes. Every dollar spent at the Home Store goes back into the Habitat mission. The Habitat ReStore, which opened last month at 5430 Yahl St. is the stop for discounted home improvement items, from appliances to paint to bathroom sinks. Both stores provide revenue to fund the operating costs of the affiliate, Lefkow said. The gross profit from just the Home Store last year was just over $1 million. The Home store opened its doors in a humble 2,000 square foot space in 2003 in East Naples. Entirely volunteer-run at that time, the store was too small to take some donations such as appliances. "We were pretty selective in what we had room for," Lefkow said. The store opened with a donated cash register to take in money. A cash register, which after its retirement for a more sophisticated point of sale system, also ended up in Lefkow's home about two years ago as a souvenir purchased from the Home store then located a few miles to the west of its current location. Shortly after opening, the first employee was hired, the store manager, Jennifer Pash, now Director of Philanthropy. With her, a small army of volunteers were in charge of the store, from picking up donations to delivering purchased items to setting up the furniture and working the sales floor. Sometimes, the truck picking up donations would be out until 8 p.m. "We were closed on Mondays so on Tuesday mornings there was always a line outside to get in,'' she said. The store was a success from the beginning. Donations were flowing. Even the store's next door neighbors were donating items from other businesses that had closed in the same plaza. "People have been so fantastic from the beginning,'' Pash said, Word of mouth brought a lot of people in." In January 2004, the store moved to a bigger spot, occupying about half of the current Habitat Collier office space. Twice as big as the last space, donations kept coming in. Three years later, the store moved to its current spot next door to the Habitat administrative offices and occupies nearly 20,000 square feet. The community, whether buyers of gently used donated items or donors such as the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, has always been supportive of the Habitat Home Store. Before having a store, Habitat staff would match families to donations. So if a donor gave Habitat a bedroom set, they'd have to find a family in need of one. Then the family would have to figure out a way to pick it up themselves. That didn't work so the store would become a reality. But before that happened, Habitat Collier often had a good problem to solve. Lefkow recalls a huge donation of two box trucks packed with high-end furniture that came in to Habitat. Without an outlet, Habitat leaders did what made sense. They drove the trucks to the Victoria Falls Habitat community and laid out the furniture on the street. Homeowners came out to check out the items and as a community, they helped each other look through the items and figure out who needed what. No crazed Black Friday-fashion, greed-fueled crowds, just neighbors being neighborly. "They'd say, 'No, here you take this. I'll take that,''' Lefkow recalled. "It was such a lovely experience." To donate to either store, please call 239-732-6388 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Free pickup is available for large donations. Hours for both stores: Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Both stores are closed Sundays. Via Folha de Pernambuco: Housing: stopped works serve as dwellings for Aedes. Edited excerpt from the Google translation: A protest calling for the completion of the Vila Brazil 1 housing complex in Joana Bezerra Island, in Central Recife, revealed another problem: Aedes aegypti foci. As well as eight other housing projects, Vila Brazil is to stop work for about a year. Meanwhile, the mosquito that transmits diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika, proliferates. Yesterday, Folha visited four of the nine projects. We had access to three of them. In the surroundings, the population complains of illness and points out the Aedes foci. In Vila Brazil 1, the entrance gate is a disposal point for construction waste, such as wood and concrete, as well as tires and bottles, serving as housing for the mosquito. The B block of the apartments has standing water build-up in the room. "I got chikungunya two weeks ago. The softness and fever passed. But I've got back and ankle pain. I come here a lot playing with my friends. My parents say they have the dengue mosquito," said student Williams Berg, 12. WASHINGTON Community bankers and credit unions scored a significant victory while others in the mortgage industry lost out in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's final rule establishing membership standards for the Home Loan banks. The rule, issued Tuesday, dropped a contentious proposal to force Federal Home Loan bank members to hold a certain percentage of assets on an ongoing basis in order to preserve their membership. But the agency kept another controversial part of the plan that would kick real estate investment trusts and other captive insurers out of the Home Loan Bank system. The result was a mixed bag for the industry, with many simultaneously expressing relief as well as disappointment. "In today's marketplace, we need a FHLB system that serves the wide variety of lending institutions active in today's housing finance market, including captive insurance companies, REITs, independent mortgage bankers, and other entities, all of which provide major sources of liquidity and are core components in the 21st century FHLBank system," said David Stevens, the president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association. "We will continue to work with Congress on this issue to address the shortcomings of today's rule." At issue is whether captive insurance companies should be part of the Home Loan Bank system. Most of the FHFA's 168-page rule is devoted to discussing why they should not be. Under existing rules, a real estate investment trust cannot belong to a Home Loan bank but an insurance company can. As a result, many REITs were forming captive insurance companies that they control in order to gain access to Home Loan Bank membership. This worried FHFA officials, which see it as gaming the system. "FHFA has the authority and the duty to implement the statutory membership provisions of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and by adopting the proposal to exclude captives from the definition of insurance company we are making sure that institutions can't frustrate the intent of Congress," said FHFA Director Mel Watt in a press release. Since mid-2012, the Home Loan banks have admitted 27 new captive members, 25 of which are owned by mortgage REITs, finance companies, and other types of entities that are not themselves eligible for membership, according to FHFA. "This trend has become a matter of growing concern to FHFA, as it has become increasingly clear that captives are being promoted and used as vehicles to provide access to bank funding and to other benefits of membership for institutions that are legally ineligible for membership," FHFA says in the final rule. Yet many mortgage industry officials argue that REITs should be allowed access through captive insurers or other means. "We are concerned about the captives," said Ron Haynie, senior vice president of the Independent Community Bankers of America. "All community bank members benefit from the advances going to captives." He argued that walling off captive insurers could increase the cost of advances. As the advances held by captives roll off, "it could lead to higher costs of funding," Haynie said. The FHFA's move also drew the ire of lawmakers, some of whom have argued the agency does not have the power to exclude captive insurance companies. "I am disappointed that it forces captive insurers out of the Federal Home Loan Bank system," said Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, D-Mo., who chairs the House Financial Services subcommittee on housing, in a statement. "We must ensure that decisions impacting our housing system are made in a thoughtful and educated manner and make sure that entire segments of industry are not exiled from participation in the Federal Home Loan Bank system. More importantly, FHFA needs to comply with standards already set in law. Congress changes the law, not the FHFA." Luetkemeyer is the co-author of a bill introduced in October that would block the FHFA from enacting its membership rule. The Home Loan banks themselves, meanwhile, also want to keep captive insurance companies as members. (Under the final rule, existing members would have to exit the system within five years.) "In disqualifying captive insurance companies altogether, the agency has removed a longstanding category of FHLBank members who are important to housing finance," said John von Seggern, the president of the Council for Federal Home Loan Banks. The reaction to that part of the plan stood in stark contrast to the industry's reception of the FHFA's decision to drop the asset test. Under the 2014 membership proposal, banks and credit unions with less than $1 billion of assets would have had to keep at least 1% of their assets in the form of mortgage loans or securities in order to maintain their membership. Larger institutions would have had to keep 10% of their assets in residential mortgage assets. But the final rule dropped those requirements, with the FHFA deciding they would have a limited impact at too high a cost. That was a big relief to banking and credit union groups. "The FHFA wisely heeded community bank concerns and dropped the ongoing asset test for FHLBank members," said Camden Fine, president of the ICBA. "The FHLBanks have long stabilized the housing-finance marketparticularly in small and rural communitiesso this change will avoid negative consequences for many borrowers." Carrie Hunt, the executive vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, echoed that sentiment. "Extending the 10% standard on an ongoing basis would have unnecessarily restricted a credit union's ability to provide the mortgage financing needed by their members and the communities that they serve," she said in a statement. Banks, credit unions and others sent more than 1,300 comment letters on the issue, which likely helped persuade the FHFA to drop the provision. "There was no demonstrable need for the proposed changes, which contradicted congressional intent and would have harmed the FHLBs, their member banks and the communities they serve," said Rob Nichols, the president of the American Bankers Association. Auction.com has rebranded at the corporate level to Ten-X, as the company begins to grow other segments beyond its auction-based platform. The new company name was chosen from among 500 possibilities and was evaluated for trademark research and URL availability. The company chose the brand name in collaboration with Lexicon Branding and designed its new logo with the Indicate Groupe, Ten-X Executive Vice President Rick Sharga told National Mortgage News. "What appealed to us about Ten-X is that it's an easy name to remember," he said. "More than that it was aspirational, almost like a rallying cry. We're trying to make the real estate experience 'ten times better.'" Choosing a new name became a company prerogative as it began to move away from auction-based real estate transactions, Sharga said. Under the Ten-X brand, the company will operate three transaction platforms: Ten-X Commercial, which is geared toward commercial properties; Ten-X Homes, which will offer more traditional residential properties; and Auction.com, which will continue to serve residential real estate investors. "We came to the conclusion that we needed to change the name because fundamentally we're changing," he said. "We're in the process of getting ready to launch new online transaction products that don't involve auctions. So to have a name that said we were all about auctions would have been somewhat limiting going forward." Additionally, the Irvine, Calif.-based company announced its plans to launch and demonstrate its new commercial and residential platforms in March at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. "It was a perfect venue to launch what really represents what we think is a significant behavior shift in how people go about buying and selling properties," Sharga said. Ten-X Commercial will initially launch nationally, while Ten-X Homes will first roll out in Dallas, Denver, Miami and Phoenix. Sharga said that these markets were chosen because they appear to be strong heading into 2016 and were similar to other markets nationwide, making the lessons learned applicable to a broader range of potential markets for expansion. Sharga said Ten-X hopes to implement the platforms with real estate professionals. The company already has plans for programs with the National Association of Realtors and commercial real estate brokers this quarter. Campbell's stakes out the high ground on food transparency Campbell's distancing itself from the mafia-style criminals running the GMA and deceptive food companies Corporate sabotage coming to Campbell's next? We are winning the clean food wars The democratization of food science will end the era of deceptive food labeling (NaturalNews) Campbell's just made food history. It announced support for nationwide GMO labeling while revoking its support for biotech front groups that oppose GMO labeling ballot initiatives at the state level.In an announcement on its website, Campbell's CEO Denise Morrison threw down the gauntlet, declaring a new era of food transparency for the company, affirming the inescapable conclusion that. Clean food activism has also rallied millions of people tothat oppose GMO labeling, causing a loss of consumer trust in the "traitor brands" like Kashi, Larabar, Silk, General Mills, Kellogg's, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola "Today, consistent with our Purpose, we announced our support for mandatory national labeling of products that may contain genetically modified organisms (GMO) and proposed that the federal government provide a national standard for non-GMO claims made on food packaging," says Campbell's. "We have always believed that consumers have the right to know whats in their food. GMO has evolved to be a top consumer food issue reaching a critical mass of 92% of consumers in favor of putting it on the label."In saying this, Campbell's is rejecting the "obfuscate and deceive" strategy of the rest of the industry: LIE, hide, threaten, deceive, distract and corrupt at every opportunity, keeping consumers in the dark and pushing poison (GMOs and glyphosate) while claiming food buyers are too stupid to understand simple food labels.For this decision, Campbell's deserves real credit. This is aon the issue of food transparency.If I were a Campbell's shareholder, I'd be praising this decision. It puts Campbell's far ahead of the coming wave ofwhere privately run labs like my own ( Labs.NaturalNews.com ) are testing and publishing food test results acquired from state-of-the-art equipment capable of detecting herbicides and heavy metals at parts per billion concentrations. (My new lab expansion announcement is coming very soon. We've just finished a second build out and have added organic chemistry analysis with LC-MS instrumentation.)Furthermore, this announcement. While other companies are trying to deceive and lie to consumers, Campbell's is pursuing a recipe of food transparency, disclosing exactly what it's putting into its soups and other food products.While I don't endorse the entire Campbell's product line -- not yet anyway -- I have to applaud the company's actions on rejecting GMO deceptions and announcing a vision forthat covers GMOs and artificial additives as well. Click here for my full podcast on Campbell's or listen below.(Article continues below this podcast...)Campbell's is even distancing itself from the GMA (Grocery Manufacturers of America), which engaged in mafia-style money laundering to defeat a GMO labeling ballot measure in Washington state."Campbell is withdrawing from all efforts led by groups opposing mandatory GMO labeling legislation, including those led by GMA," says Campbell's. That same statement continues with, "What I do know is that our decision was guided by our Purpose; rooted in our consumer-first mindset; and driven by our commitment to transparency to be open and honest about our food. I truly believe it is the right thing to do for consumers and for our business."By making this strategic move, Campbell's now differentiates itself from all the other big processed food companies andthat other companies will be scrambling to follow. After all, if you're shopping at the grocery store and you see three different brands of soups on the shelf, which brand are you going to choose... Campbell's soup that has committed itself to food transparency and honest labeling, or some other brand that supports labeling deceptions and the hiding of GMOs from consumers?The decision is a no-brainer. Most mainstream consumers will go with Campbell's every time. Click here for my full podcast on Campbell's rejecting GMO front groups or listen here:(Article continues below this podcast...)By the way, on the subject of corporate sabotage, I've publicly stated that the biotech industry very likely contaminated Chipotle restaurants with E.coli in order to destroy that company after it announced a GMO-free menu. (Its stock price is down 27% from recent highs...)Although this assertion was predictably ridiculed by the GMO-pushing mainstream media, there's no question thatused by the criminally run, mafia-style GMO front groups. (These are the same people who call in bomb threats at buildings where clean food activists are about to speak.)Knowing firsthand the kind of threats and intimidation routinely used by the GMO industry shills, I think we need to be on the lookout forin a desperate effort to destroy public trust in their products.This is a serious assertion, and Campbell's needs to really shore up their own defenses against corporate sabotage at this point. As a food research scientist, I'd be happy to talk with Campbell's and alert them to the most likely corporate sabotage vectors that would be targeted by. Truth be told, not every food safety outbreak is an accident...By the way, people in the mainstream media who think corporate sabotage never takes place are cognitively retarded or living in a delusional fairy tale. Corporate sabotage has always been -- and will continue to be -- one of the tactics used by nefarious, unethical industries to destroy opposition. If you don't believe corporate sabotage happens in America today, you have no idea how Wall Street, Silicon Valley or the petroleum industry works. And because we've already seen the dark tactics used by the GMO industry in particular, we have substantial and legitimate reasons to expect they will continue such tactics against their industry enemies like Chipotle and now Campbell's.These are the same tactics that were historically used by, by the way: The threatening and intimidation of scientists, the corruption and influence of mainstream media, the infiltration of regulatory bodies in the government and the wholesale corruption of academia. Nearly every tactic once used by Big Tobacco to silence scientists and health advocates is now being used against clean food activists.In fact, some of the very same people operating today as GMO mercenaries actually worked on Big Tobacco disinformation and P.R. campaigns. Check out the Truthwiki entries on Jon Entine Henry Miller and the Washington Post GMO prostitute Tamar Haspel -- who has openly admitted to taking money from biotech industry front groups -- for a small taste of the kind of deceptions and defamation campaigns being run by these people. In mainstream media, "Monsanto whores" include journalists like Amy Harmon, Keith Kloor and Tamar Haspel , all of whom operate as biotech industry sellouts who push poison and disinfo.In making its decision to reject the hiding of GMOs on food labels, Campbell's has just rejected the lies and deceptions of biotech shills (pretending to be journalists) like Harmon, Kloor, Haspel and others. Campbell's has effectively announced that they're. As a result, Campbell's actually has a bright future ahead of them in the food business, whereas many companies that are hiding GMOs in their foods are on the verge of being outed and shamed for selling poison food products while actively trying to keep consumers ignorant of what they're eating.This is a great day for food transparency. The fact that Campbell's decided, on its own, to reject the lies and deceptions of the GMO industry and side with consumers' right to know what they're eating is yet another sign of three powerful trends that are simply unstoppable:The global cry for food transparency by informed consumers.The rise of citizen science and analytical food labs that can't be controlled by government regulators or corrupt corporations. (I'm spearheading this part of the movement with my Forensic Food Lab.)The rise of social media sharing of food composition analysis results, allowing news about food ingredients to spread like wildfire across the 'net, utterly bypassing mainstream media and government regulators to bring lifesaving information about food composition directly to consumers.These three trends mean that. Effectively, we're rapidly entering an age of NO MORE FOOD SECRETS.Soon, everybody will know everything that's in all the foods they're consuming, and food manufacturers that don't get out in front of that are going to find themselves obsolete. Similarly, corrupted mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post that remain wholly compromised by biotech industry influence are also going to find themselves not merely irrelevant butActually, the Washington Post is already laughed at. Any newspaper that claims anything like "GMOs are perfectly safe to eat but you shouldn't have the right to know you're eating them" is committingin the minds of informed readers.Thewill bring an end to the era of food companies hiding toxic chemicals and GMOs with deceptive labeling. The winners in all this are YOU, the food consumers.Other winners will be organic growers, ethical food companies and honest producers of clean, nourishing food products in every category. The losers will be Monsanto, GMO crop growers and the propagandist media outlets that sell out their readers to the nefarious biotech industry.And the really great news in all this is that. We don't need government permission, we don't need media coverage, we don't need corporate cooperation and we don't need science grants from the federal government. Thanks to Natural News readers and their financial support of our online store, we have accumulated all the financial backing we need to conductthat reveals the truth about what's really in the food products you're eating. This truthful, scientifically backed information will be publicly and freely shared with the world throughout 2016 and beyond.The bottom line is that we are serious about food science. Unless the biotech industry is going to influence Congress to pass a law banning SCIENCE itself, we cannot be stopped.(Article continues below...)Stay tuned to NaturalNews.com for breaking news on all this throughout 2016. Also read up at GMO.news and monitor headlines on glyphosate at Glyphosate.news The path toward ending hunger starts with cutting waste post-harvest Shifting our focus (NaturalNews) Right now, all the focus for increasing crop yields is centered on one method: Genetically modifying crops to make them resistant to pesticides and herbicides. In this model of farming, haste makes waste. Instead of working with the land, we poison it instead with chemicals like glyphosate. Even the World Health Organization now admits that popular herbicide glyphosate is a carcinogen. Year after year, the food on our plate becomes more saturated with cancer-causing chemicals but we're perpetually told that GMOs are saving the world.That's all about to change, however, as we start to learn the importance of growing a diverse selection of food in healthier soils to avoid disease and yes, increase food abundance! As we start to relearn the principle of personal responsibility in food production, we get back to respecting the land and making good use of our resources.A new report finds that on a large scale, major investments in infrastructure can pave the way for ending hunger. For developing nations, billion dollar investments in electricity and transportation can curb widespread food waste that occurs after harvest. The United Nations believes poverty can be halved by 2030 if at least $239 billion can be invested over the next 15 years to promote better infrastructure in developing nations. These improvements include connecting roads and railways with farms and markets. Increasing access to electricity can drastically improve cold storage, reducing spoilage. They estimate that $3.1 trillion in food resources can be saved from spoilage if proper cold storage needs are met in the next 15 years.The report also finds that 25 percent of all food harvested today is currently being wasted. Feeding growing populations may be as simple as making use of the food that's already harvested. The biotech industry likes to tell the lie that GMOs are the answer for feeding the world. In actuality, feeding the world begins with cutting the waste already present. Feeding the world also requires a shift away from chemical based GMO agriculture because this model only profits corporations that manufacture pesticides and herbicides which ultimately just make people sicker.The focus must be on building infrastructure and connecting farmers to resources in the most efficient manner, not controlling the seed and chemical market."In a world where currently up to 900 million people are chronically malnourished, reducing post-harvest losses could play a significant role in meeting the coming challenge," wrote Christopher Barrett, a reviewer atIn essence, personal responsibility must return in order for hunger and malnutrition to end in the world . This starts in every person's backyard. This starts with the decisions we make when buying food at the grocery store. From a policy standpoint, this starts with connecting farmers and resources instead of pushing GMOs and subsidizing them.Mark Rosegrant, lead author and a director of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, says that governments and investors are overlooking basic infrastructure advancements that would cut waste across the board, from rice fields, to cattle ranches. "The hope is to bring it (infrastructure) to the forefront," he told Reuters.Across the board, improving harvesting techniques, increasing cold storage to prevent rot, and reducing distance traveled from farm to market could literally feed a billion more people in the world, without the absurd need to introduce more GMOs. If we worked more sensibly with our resources and more efficiently with the technologies we have, then the whole world can be fed nutrient rich foods. Nations that would benefit the most right off the bat would Africa, Latin America and Asia.If the growing populations are going to progress into the future, then the dominance of monoculture, including the ravaging of soil nutrition and the prevalence of processed foods must fade away into the bowels of history. If people plan on surviving the upcoming century, then working together to improve food system infrastructure must come first, and it must replace the quest for agricultural control and the lucrative business of patenting GMO seeds and selling chemicals to be sprayed on the food. (NaturalNews) A report by the ABC7 I-Team investigates whether or not vaccines administered to pets may be having long-term adverse health effects, an investigation that likely would not have taken place if the victim were human.In the midst of the "Disneyland measles outbreak," the topic gained attention after several dog owners complained of their pets exhibiting unusual symptoms shortly after being vaccinated, leading them to question the safety of pet vaccines.The number of vaccines, and the frequency at which they're given, has pet owners concerned, according to ABC7, whose team spoke to one woman complaining that her "perfect pet" became "violent and vicious," and began having seizures.Julie Harding, owner of a four-year old Vizsla named Piper, said her dog began acting strangely after receiving a vaccine. "She's not quite the same dog she used to be," Harding said."She was foaming at the mouth, she was flailing everywhere."Harding said her dog was diagnosed with auto-immune meningitis, at which point neurologists at the Chicago Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center asked if Piper had been recently vaccinated.It turns out she had.Piper was recently vaccinated against leptospirosis , a bacterial infection that spreads through the body via the bloodstream and is common in subtropical, tropical and wet environments. The infection is usually cured on its own; however, it can be fatal in younger dogs with weakened immune systems.According to the neurologists, the vaccine for leptospirosis could have been responsible for the swelling in Piper's brain, purportedly due to her "predisposition to allergic conditions."Piper's case and four others were linked to the same vaccine in less than a month and a half, but after reviewing the cases, the vaccine's manufacturer concluded that they were unrelated to the leptospirosis shot."No causal association" was found between the profitable vaccine and the Chicago cases, according to reports. However, some veterinarians weren't convinced."In the last year to year-and-a-half, we have seen more cases in this practice related to dogs who have recently been vaccinated. We are trying to understand what the risks are," said Michael Podell, D.V.M., a veterinarian neurologist and neurosurgeon.Similar to the human vaccine industry, new pet vaccines are often rolled out without much testing, and their safety is usually unquestioned by animal care clinics before administering them to clients.In just one year, pet owners may be advised to give their pets at least 10 different vaccines, many of which are givenyear, an extremely questionable move considering a lot of vaccines provide a lifetime of immunity.Long-time researcher of canine vaccines , Ron Schultz D.V.M. agrees that vaccines are important, but questions their frequency."It's very disappointing to me to still have distemper, parvo and adno given every year when we know it provides a life of immunity," said Schultz, who is an immunologist at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin. Vaccinating an animal that's immune can cause a hypersensitivity reaction, he adds.Barbara Royal, D.V.M., a veterinarian at Royal Treatment Veterinary Center has a unique and arguably more logical view on pet vaccines. Royal Treatment's website recommends getting thimerosal-free vaccines, as well as "tittering" vaccine schedules and vaccinating based on where you live and what's actually a likely threat in your area."It is still a volatile debate because there's so much fear involved and an awful lot of money involved," said Royal, who offers a blood test to measure pets' immunity. Many of her clients no longer get inoculations past the first year -- a move that Royal claims has improved the health of pets she treats."Someone makes a vaccine and we all have to give it, but the efficacy and the safety of those vaccines is not necessarily that well researched." Spanish olive growers setting up night patrols to defend their crops (NaturalNews) In the Spanish village of Navalvillar de Pela, Christmas 2015 was a time to be on guard. The Extremaduran olive groves of central Spain are in high demand, and, as reported by the U.K.'s, organized groups are starting to raid the olive groves, stealing the "liquid gold" in the middle of the night Farmers must now enlist armed night patrols to protect their crop from thieves. The village of Navalvillar de Pela is home to 4,000 people, and almost every family in the village participates in the harvest, since most have a grove of olive trees on their property. A recent spike in olive thefts has forced the families to get together and enlist night time patrols to combat the thefts. On Christmas, villagers gathered outside around a large bonfire at 3 a.m., to sing Christmas carols and to defend their crops."We've always had some thieving here, but I've never seen anything like this. Looting has become the order of the day," Antonio Masa Canada, who was out on night patrol on Christmas day, told theHis wife, Rosa Arroyo Baviano, admits, " We don't have a life at the minute ; you come home from picking, have a shower and then go out again on patrol."As the olives began to ripen in November, Romanian and Bulgarian thieves took to the night and ambushed entire groves, stripping the trees and taking the olives by the sack load. The thieves use long poles to jar the olives loose from the trees. One November night, thieves got away with taking around 26,000 kilograms (over 57,000 pounds) of olives. The stolen goods were then sold on the black market."People come during the day to choose where to steal from. They mark the trees for later," said Mr. Masa Canada, who set up the night patrols in April, after villagers started complaining about an influx of organized mass thefts , reportedly being carried out by mafia-backed groups. A dozen vehicles go out at 8 p.m. every night now, as upwards of 40 villagers take up arms to defend their crops."Once we showed people that the thieves could be caught, things changed," continued Mr. Masa Canada. Late in the year, the village patrol caught seven thieves in the act and got into a high-speed car chase with them. When the village patrol caught up to the thieves, they opened up their van and 218 kilos (approx. 480 pounds) of freshly picked olives poured out.The police, who are few and far between in the remote areas, released the thieves just hours after they were caught. They never appeared in court, frustrating the village patrol even further. Mr. Masa Canada and his wife said that farmers are on the verge of taking matters into their own hands if law enforcement continues to fail them."Imagine what could happen if the wrong person finds someone stealing in a very remote spot... And we will be in the news as the village where someone got lynched," said Mr. Masa Canada."We think there is a mafia behind this. Clearly if they steal olives, someone is buying the stuff. We know of big landowners who are effectively laundering stolen olives.""If you stop the buyers, you stop the problem in 24 hours," said another farmer named Paco, who preferred not to reveal his surname. "People are picking earlier than normal this year due to the fear," he added. "If you wait, you get more oil in the olive. By February the fruit is shiny with oil almost oozing out." Transparency benefits everyone in the long run (NaturalNews) A big THANK YOU goes out to Campbell's Soup Company for taking a step in the right direction and announcing GMO labeling for all their food products. All ingredients in Campbell's food products that contain genetically modified organisms will now be labeled. It's still unclear whether the labels will make distinctions on the kind of GMOs used, but one thing is for sure: customers are going to know which ingredients contain GMOs in general.This is a huge leap of progress for food ingredient transparency and honest labeling. It is an important step for a free market that will have no choice but to adapt. To compete, more companies are going to have to be honest and label GMOs on their own products, because this is what consumers are wanting more of. Campbell's is setting a fine example here, and their leadership will influence other companies to come out of the dark and start labeling the ingredients that are derived from genetically modified crops.Remember, in July 2015 Campbell's announced they would stop putting MSG in their children's condensed soups, and committed to phasing out use of GM ingredients in their kid's soup line. They also vowed to remove artificial colors and flavors by July 2018.When Americans pick up items at the grocery store and look at the label, they have no way of knowing if the ingredients came from crops specifically designed on the genetic level to possess insecticidal properties or herbicide resistance traits. With Campbell's products, conscientious Americans will now have a general idea, as GMO ingredients will be labeled as such.Campbell's has also come out in support of a single mandatory labeling standard for foods derived from GMOs and will be seeking guidance from the USDA and FDA to make it happen. The company will be making a push for federal legislation to force companies to make sweeping label changes to declare GMOs. Companies have long argued against GMO labeling , saying that the new labels would cost consumers more in the long run.Consumers know in their hearts that, because people can take the steps to avoid what's not natural and protect their own health. For example, avoiding glyphosate-sprayed crops is essential for protecting one's microbiome . As the conscientious consumer avoids untested GMOs, they avoid becoming guinea pigs for the biotech industry that has gotten away with decades of secrecy and chemical abuse of people and the environment.Companies such as PepsiCo Inc. and Kellogg Co have long conspired with biotech juggernauts like Monsanto , spending millions of dollars to shut down legislative efforts for GMO labeling. GMO labeling ballot measures have been thwarted because these companies use their profit to block the consumer's right to know what's in their food Consumers are starting to see right through it all and believe that the profit could better be spent letting consumers know what they're eating. When there's transparency, there's freedom, allowing consumers to decide what they want to put in their bodies. When consumers can make informed choices, then the marketplace can respond to what the democracy truly desires. Consumers can only vote with their dollars effectively, if they know what they are eating in the first place.The state of Vermont became the first state to lead the way on the issue, mandating food companies to label GMOs. That law goes into effect July 2016. Federal legislation could force all companies in all states to make the changes right away. For the sake of consumer health, this could be an appropriate use of force from the federal government, but it might also create a generalized standard GMO label that doesn't differentiate between the various genetic modifications and agro-chemicals that are used. While NASA hopes to land humans on Mars in the near future, a number of obstacles remain in the way, including how astronauts will survive the journey and how livable quarters on the planet will be constructed. Such problems have come one step closer to being solved, however, with a recent spending allocation from Congress. In the recent omnibus spending bill, Congress has ordered NASA to use at least $55 million to develop a deep space habitation module, with a prototype ready by 2018. The module would provide a habitable vehicle for astronauts to live in during their trip to Mars. "NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018 and provide a report within 180 days after enactment, and annually thereafter, regarding the status and obligation of funding for the program," the report states. Further, NASA will be required to provide updates on the status of the project. Currently, astronauts are slated to journey to Mars on the Orion spacecraft, which has a diameter about the length of a pickup truck. The trip should take at least six months. The livable module would provide a habitat for the astronauts to link up with on their journey. If the livable module is created on time, NASA will be able to test it around the moon in the 2020s before a trip to Mars in the 2030s. Whether or not NASA will have the project ready by 2018, however, remains up for debate. One remaining challenge is protecting traveling astronauts from space radiation. NASA has allocated funds to Bigelow Aerospace, Martin, Orbital ATK, Boeing, Lockheed and others to come up with potential designs for the habitat. For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN). -Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales Wednesday night someone may be caring the $1.5 billion Powerball lottery ticket. Yet if you follow the money you'll learn that a portion of the tickets come back to Colorado. While the chances of winning are slim, rest assured those two dollars are helping the community. "Who doesn't want to be the lucky winner, but whats important to think about, is there are uses for that funding. Those lottery tickets get dispersed out to different entities," said Mike Porras from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. State law mandates certain money from lottery sales be given to various entities, like schools and agencies like Colorado Parks and Wildlife. "It helps fund a lot of the things that make Colorado so special," said Porras. In 2014 lottery funds made-up 16 percent of CPWs budget. In Mesa County, lottery grants have funded improvements to Lincoln Park, Highline Lake, the Colorado river front and dozens of other recreational spots. "Thats great, fantastic, because people need to go out and enjoy themselves before they get too old and die," said Grand Junction resident Dean Ward. While it may not be $1.5 billion, the lottery's grant money to Mesa County is by no means small. "Were talking millions, we're talking quite a bit of money, so every time you buy a lottery ticket keep that in mind," said Porras. Palo Alto Unified School District board members unanimously agreed Tuesday that a committee should be formed to explore changing the names of schools with names that some parents believe are offensive. Jordan Middle School parent Lars Johnsson gave a 15-minute presentation to the board asking for the school to be renamed and cited support from the Jordan Middle School PTA. Jordan Middle is named after David Starr Jordan, a leader in the eugenics movement and supporter of sterilization and racial inequality. "Names matter," said PAUSD board president Heidi Emberling. "Im in full support of creating this committee and looking at all the names at once." Johnsson started a change.org petition late last year which now has over 340 signatures. Following Johnssons presentation, his son Kobi Johnsson, a Jordan Middle School student, made his way to the podium. Kobis seventh grade book report prompted his dad to start the petition to rename the school. Indiana University "Many students who go to the school today would have been sterilized if Jordan and the eugenics movement got their way," said Johnsson. "I would have been sterilized if Jordan and the eugenics movement got their way." At least nine parents, teachers, students and community members asked the board to consider renaming Jordan Middle School. Parents from Terman Middle School and Cubberly Middle School asked for their schools to be renamed as well, as namesakes Lewis Terman and Ellwood Patterson Cubberly were also supporters of eugenics. "If we're going to put someones name on a school, it has to be someone that believed in the value and the worth and the potential of every student at the school district," said a Terman Middle School parent. One parent suggested keeping the name Jordan by renaming the school after former U.S. House of Representative member Barbara Jordan, the first southern black female elected to the House. All five board members responded to the presentation and public comments in favor of forming a committee to explore the renaming process. Board members Townsend and Baten Caswell said long term Palo Alto residents should be on the renaming committee, and that committee should research the namesakes of all schools in the district so that any unfavorable names can be addressed at one time. All board members agreed student and parent voice should be included as well. An official decision will be made at the Jan. 26 board meeting. At least one San Francisco supervisor does not want anyone getting their chips, candy or soda from vending machines on city property. Supervisor Mark Farrell is introducing new legislation on Tuesday to ban sugary and fatty items from the vending machines in places like City Hall, San Francisco International Airport, and the San Francisco Zoo. "This policy solidifies our Citys commitment to encouraging healthier lifestyles by making healthy choices more readily available," Farrell said in a press release. "Healthier employees are more productive employees, and lead to incredible cost-savings for taxpayers." The items would have to be replaced with fruit and vegetables, and low-calorie drinks. Introduced with the backing of the American Heart Association, the legislation is being described as one of the strongest such policies in the country. Farrell said the new policy, if approved, would take effect as soon as each vending machine contract comes up for renewal or is amended in any way. The nutritional standards are outlined as follows: When President Obama delivers his final State of the Union speech Tuesday night, he will be one of only a handful of presidents to end a second term with an address to the nation, and like his predecessors, he will try to ensure his imprint on the countrys future and the coming election. "It is sometimes important for us to step back and take measure of how far we've come," Obama said Tuesday morning on NBC's "Today" show. "The economy right now is doing better than any other economy in the world by a significant margin. We remain the strongest nation on earth by far." Among other two-term presidents, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan both vaunted thriving economies as their presidencies neared the end and offered policies to keep them growing. George W. Bush faced a country divided by the Iraq War and a faltering economy. Obama is expected to talk about the countrys resiliency even as many Americans question the direction the country is headed. Seventy percent of the public says the country is on the wrong track, according to a December NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Republican presidential candidates are zeroing in on that discontent. You'll hear a big, optimistic, generous view of the future of America from the president on Tuesday," Obama Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough told NBC News "Meet the Press." Of Republican portrayals of a country mired in dysfunction, McDonough said, I don't really get it. What I see is an America that's surging. President George W. Bush in his last address to Congress emphasized the unfinished war in Iraq and warned against bringing troops home too early from a conflict that took up much of his attention while he was in office. On the faltering economy, the voters top issue, he urged quick approval of a tax rebate package. Our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined, Bush said. We faced hard decision about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy and the health and welfare of our citizens. Like presidents before him, he fended off any suggestion that he was a lame duck. We have unfinished business before us and the American people expect us to get it done, he said. The Los Angeles Times in an analysis of the speech called the section on the progress in Iraq and Afghanistan the most soaring and upbeat while noting that the durability of those accomplishments remained in question. The Washington Post said the grand dreams Bush had begun his term with remaking Social Security and immigration law had given way to modest proposals for hiring the spouses of military members. Last year, the Congressional Research Service looked at the tradition of the speeches and stressed that a president has two audiences in mind -- Congress and the American public. After Tuesday's speech, Obama will travel to Omaha, Nebraska, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to highlight the countrys economic progress during his administration. Unemployment in both states has dropped significantly in the last seven years, according to the White House. According to a list compiled by The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, only five other presidents who served two full terms gave a State of the Union address at the start of their final year in office: George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The list does not include four-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt, while other two-term presidents submitted written reports to Congress. Clinton said that the state of the union was the strongest it had ever been. He pointed to prosperity and social progress with little internal crisis or external threats. The United States was beginning a new century with more than 20 million new jobs, the fastest economic growth and lowest unemployment rates in 30 years, the lowest poverty rates in 20 years and the first back-to-back budget surpluses in 42 years, he said. Never before have we had such a blessed opportunity and therefore such a profound obligation to build the more perfect union of our founders dreams," he said. He set some grand goals, among them health care for all, a cleaner planet and prosperity for every community. He also called for tougher gun control, including state licenses showing new handgun buyers had passed background checks under the Brady bill and a gun safety course. Analysts immediately noted that the National Rifle Association opposed licensing gun buyers. Reagan in his final address called the state of the union much improved and said that there was good reason to believe it would continue to improve. For a time we forgot the American dream isnt one of making government bigger; its keeping faith with the mighty spirit of free people under God, he said. Inflation had dropped from 12.4 percent to 3.4 percent, across-the-board tax reductions had been passed and industries such as transportation had been deregulated, he said. Tonight, we can report and be proud of one of the best recoveries in decades, he said. Send away the hand wringers and the doubting Thomases." A witness who says she saw Virginia college student Hannah Graham and murder suspect Jesse Matthew together in a bar on the night that Graham vanished reportedly told a friend, "He's gonna f--- her up." Prosecution documents are revealing new details about the hours before Graham, 18, went missing in September 2014, including remarks made by the witness who saw Graham with a man police say is Matthew. On the night that Graham disappeared, the woman was walking on Charlottesville's downtown mall when a man attempted to high-five her, she later told police. She didn't respond, but her friend did high-five him. She then saw the man walk up to a "female walking alone" and put his arm around her, according to a search warrant affidavit. "He doesn't know her," the woman said to her friend. She and her friend then followed the two to Tempo, a Charlottesville bar and restaurant where the four sat at the bar. Police say the man in the bar was Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. Graham's remains were found five weeks later. Matthew has been charged with her murder, though his attorneys have questioned the credibility of the investigation that linked Matthew to the killing. The new details about the night Graham, a University of Virginia student, went missing were released in court documents obtained by NBC29 in Charlottesville and shared with NBC Washington on Tuesday. They also detail the searches conducted of Matthew's Charlottesville apartment and car. During a pretrial hearing Monday, Matthew's defense attorneys argued that crucial evidence should be thrown out, but after 10 hours of testimony, a judge sided with the prosecution. It's evidence prosecutors believe could convict Matthew, 34, in Graham's abduction and killing. He is also charged in the 2009 murder of another college student, Morgan Harrington. Matthew is already serving three life terms in another case, an attempted murder and assault in 2006. Timeline in Hannah Graham's Disappearance According to a prosecution memo, police reviewed hours of security footage and spoke with witnesses to determine a timeline for Graham's and Matthew's whereabouts on the night of Sept. 12, 2014, and the early hours of Sept. 13, 2014. Authorities say Graham, who was from Fairfax County, left her apartment at 9:33 p.m. Sept. 12, 2014, and was with her friends in Charlottesville's Fig Restaurant at 10:48 p.m. Graham then went to the Camden Plaza Apartments on 14th street, and left around midnight. She was attending a party, authorities have previously said, and she left alone. According to credit card receipts, Matthew spent $22.95 at Tempo shortly after midnight Sept. 13, 2014. Starting at about 12:44 a.m., Graham was shown on surveillance videos from several businesses as she walked east toward the downtown Charlottesville mall. At 12:56 a.m., she texted a friend, saying she was lost. A friend of Graham's showed police screenshots of texts she received Graham that night. An affidavit says the texts appeared to show that Graham was intoxicated. Some of the texts included misspelled words or didn't make sense, the document said. Surveillance video also showed Graham walking east on the downtown mall as a man police say is Matthew walked in the opposite direction. He stopped when she passed, waited for her to walk by and then followed her. A witness later told police that she saw Matthew approach Graham on the mall and put his arm around her, authorities said. Minutes later, the two are shown walking side by side on the mall, authorities say. Witness accounts and surveillance videos show Graham and Matthew in close bodily contact more than once in a short period of time, and the videos also show them talking, authorities said. They also said Matthew appeared to adjust his walking pace and direction to stay close to Graham. The witness said Matthew entered Tempo with Graham and brought drinks with his card, according to the memo. According to credit card receipts, Matthew's credit card was charged $15.30 for drinks at Tempo at 1:10 a.m., prosecutors said. Authorities say within 15 minutes of that time, a vehicle matching Matthew's was seen within a block of Tempo, and that they have reason to believe the two left together. However, defense attorneys dispute that account, saying police have information indicating that Graham walked away in a different direction from where Matthew's car was seen driving away. During questioning several days later, Matthew said of that night, "I was pretty drunk that night, I don't remember," according to an affidavit from authorities. Bloodhound Searches of Matthew's Apartment, Car During their search for Graham, police called in a bloodhound handler, the prosecutors' memo said. The dog tracked Graham's scent away from the downtown mall and to a mulch pile in the Woolen Hills area of Charlottesville, the prosecutors' memo said. However, defense attorneys said bloodhound search evidence that was "intentionally or recklessly omitted" from an affidavit indicates Graham left Tempo and walked to a remote location without Matthew. A bloodhound and cadaver dog searched Matthew's apartment. The cadaver dog's handler indicated there wasn't a strong scent present. However, the bloodhound indicated a scent associated with Graham on the passenger door of Matthew's car, on the asphalt where his car was parked, and around the threshold and sides of Matthew's foyer door and entry door, prosecutors said. The dog's handler concluded that Graham hadn't been walking around at the location, but he said that her scent was present, the memo said. The bloodhound also indicated that her scent was present toward the rear entrance of Matthew's apartment, according to the memo. The handler said there was a 60 percent chance that Graham's scent was present at Matthew's home. The dog also showed interest in a dumpster near his apartment, the memo said. However, defense attorneys dispute those accounts, saying the handler told Charlottesville investigators that he didn't believe Graham had been there. Police Searches of Matthew's Apartment, Car Police executed several search warrants on Matthew's apartment. Officials retrieved several bags of evidence from those locations, including some that allegedly linked Matthew to other crimes. The prosecutors' memo said authorities seized bedding, fibers, a wallet, several articles of clothing and pillows. Matthew Faces Capital Murder Charge Matthew is charged with capital murder in Graham's death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Monday's hearing for Matthew focused on police actions concerning Graham's disappearance and death. During the hearing, Matthew's attorneys questioned the credibility of the investigators involved, specifically the information they gave to a judge, who allowed them to search Matthew's apartment and car for evidence. "The defense is arguing the search warrant, which led to the discovery of evidence in Jesse Matthew's apartment, was not a valid search warrant, because the officers lied or misled the magistrate in some way about way the facts were," said former Albemarle County prosecutor Scott Goodman. "These attempts to get search warrants thrown out are not successful in most cases," he said. A judge ruled that investigators were not misleading and the evidence is admissible. The defense will be able to challenge that notion Jan. 21, when more testimony will be heard. A K-9 detective testified his bloodhound did not actually trace Graham to Matthew's apartment, as he alleged to a magistrate when police were seeking a search warrant. Under cross examination by prosecutors, the detective said the dog traced the scent of Graham to the passenger side of Matthew's car, then to the entrance way of his apartment, and finally, to a nearby dumpster. "The bottom line here is there was evidence found in Jesse Matthew's apartment that the defense doesn't want the jury to see or know about, so they're trying to get that evidence thrown out," Goodman said. At a hearing last month, a judge approved the hiring of a mental health expert to examine Matthew before his trial. The trial in Graham's murder is scheduled for July. Whatever the verdict, an appeal is expected. Matthew is already serving three life terms for the attempted murder and sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman in Fairfax, Virginia in 2005. He is also facing first-degree murder charges in the death of 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. She disappeared after attending a Metallica concert on the University of Virginia campus in 2009; her remains were found in early 2010. Matthew's trial in Harrington's death is scheduled for October. Authorities have said DNA from the Graham case links Matthew to Harrington's death, as well as the 2005 attack. After months of warning it could leave Connecticut for a more business-friendly lower-tax home, General Electric Co. made it official Wednesday, announcing theyll leave their Fairfield campus for a new world headquarters in Bostons Seaport Innovation District. The move means 800 new jobs for Boston, but is also a colossal symbolic victory for Boston's and Massachusetts' reputations internationally as business and innovation hubs. The number 8 company on the Fortune 500, with over 300,000 emlpoyees worldwide, is now calling Boston its global headquarters. This is a huge win for the city of Boston, a huge win for Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday afternoon. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said: I know we're talking a lot about Powerball here in the country, and certainly, we won Powerball today here in Boston by having GE come here. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said: Of course, I am disappointed. I know many in Connecticut share the disappointment and frustration. Todays decision is a clear signal that Connecticut must continue to adapt to a changing business climate. GE CEO Jeff Immelt said it came down to relocating to a place where the company thinks it has the best chance to recruit and connect with the kind of talent it needs as it continues its transformation from an old-line industrial conglomerate to an Internet of things giant with major operations in health care, life sciences, green energy, and other fields. "Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world, Immelt said. We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations." Massachusetts is providing $120 million dollars in grants and incentives to support GEs move, which Governor Baker called typical for supporting a company moving to or expanding in Massachusetts. We offered pretty much the same sort of thing that we would make available -- and we do -- when companies either expand here or move here, which is a combination of incentives and grants but they're typically around infrastructure and capital support, but that's the kind of thing Massachusetts does under its existing authority. Walshs chief economic development officer, John Barros, said the city is providing up to $25 million over 20 years in property tax breaks, but forecasts Boston alone will reap some $260 million worth of new economic activity and spinoff benefits during that same time period. GE has been headquartered in Fairfield since 1974, employing more than 800 people, including its top companywide executives. The company is the top taxpayer on Fairfield's grand list. A statement GE released on Wednesday said that it will sell its offices in Fairfield and at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to offset the cost of the move to Boston's Seaport District Employees will move to a temporary location in Boston this summer and will complete the move, in several steps, by 2018. The company made clear its displeasure with Connecticut's tax and business climate in June during the General Assembly's Regular Session. Democratic lawmakers had floated the idea of and eventually passed new corporate taxes, which GE officials had described as burdensome. Even after a Special Session of the General Assembly in December, GE executives never changed their position that they would explore new locations for their future home. Several candidate cities dropped out of the running early, according to multiple reports. Cities like Dallas and Atlanta had all made public overtures to the corporate giant, but all proved unsuccessful. Malloy had met with GE officials on multiple occasions in recent months in efforts to keep the company in Connecticut. He added that the state of Connecticut has won several fights to get companies from other states to move here, including from Massachusetts and New York. "We've won a lot more than we've lost," Malloy said, adding he expects to make announcements in the not-so-distant future about companies coming to Connecticut. But House Republican Leader Themis Klarides blasted Governor Malloy. Connecticuts toxic business climate, combined with the Malloy administrations failure to take seriously the threats that it posed to our corporate community, has led us to this day that many of us feared was inevitable. Any doubt about the effect of the punitive policies of ever higher taxes, hyper regulation and the uncertainties that they create for business have been erased because of GEs apparent decision to move its corporate headquarters out of Connecticut," she said in a statement. Connecticut's Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, addressed the GE move in a statement. GEs decision to relocate across the border to downtown Boston is certainly disappointing, yet we remain a favored location for companies to thrive. It appears, particularly from GEs advertising, that their decision is not about taxes but more about rebranding into a high-tech company, and Boston is well known as a high-tech industry hub. Connecticuts piece of the corporate pie remains strong, and our states ongoing commitment to work closely with business leaders to encourage future economic growth will ensure we continue to be a great place to live, work, and raise a family for years to come, he said. In Massachusetts, even as the mayor and business groups like Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and the Massachusetts High-Technology Council all praised Baker and Walsh for winning GE, many wonder whether GEs move could open the door to more big-name companies shifting headquarters here. Boston is open for business, Walsh said. We are willing to sit with anybody and talk about any potential opportunities. Do I think GE opened the door for other big opportunities? I absolutely think they did. Baker said for companies that want to connect to universities, research, life sciences, venture capital, and a whole ecosystem of innovation, GE has just issued a major and influential stamp of approval. We're honored to have them here. We believe they are going to be a tremendous part of the growing innovation economy that we have here in Massachusetts, Baker said. This is a great place to play, and I would expect and anticipate that you would see significant interest coming from others. State police raided a home in New London on Tuesday and busted a suspected drug factory while investigating a group believed to be trafficking crack cocaine and heroin. The State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Force has been working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the New London Police Vice and Intelligence Unit and searched 108 Connecticut Avenue in New London on Tuesday night. Rakim Thornton, 24, of New London, was taken into custody and charged with possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school. Bond was set at $2,500 and he is due in New London Superior Court today. Kenneth Barnhill, 31, of New London, was taken into custody and charged with possession of narcotics, possession of crack cocaine, illegal sale of crack cocaine, possession of crack cocaine within 1,500 feet of a school, interfering with a search, destruction of evidence and operating a drug factory. Bond was set at $100,000 and he is due in New London Superior Court today. Counterfeit money is on the rise in Manchester, according to police. One couple said they were hustled out of a car, by a person who paid them with all counterfeit bills. Caitlin Small said she and her husband Mike were selling their 2001 Honda Accord because he is in the military and being deployed so he will no longer need it. They put and add on Craigslist and thought they had found a buyer, but in hindsight, Small thinks the man planned to steal it all along even though he flashed a wad of cash. He wanted to take the car right then and there without a title without a bill of sale, explained Small. But they decided to wait and meet him in a public place the next morning to sell the car. However, they said the man called and changed to the location last minute and showed up on foot, which made them uneasy. He didnt come in a vehicle, said Small. He came from the parking lot next door which we already thought was very weird. The man then, counted out $3000 cash, placed it in an envelope and drove off with the title, and Bill of Sale before they had a chance to count the money themselves. Without the license plate on the car or anything, said Small. He just took off with all the information. He was in a hurry because the money was counterfeit Small said they soon noticed the serial numbers on the money were all the same. They called Manchester police who registered the car as stolen. It was purchased with fraudulent money, it was basically obtained illegally so it was stolen, explained Captain Christopher Davis, Manchester Police. Small said she also filed a claim with State Farm Insurance, but said they denied it because they dont see her car as being stolen. I voluntarily gave the title and the keys and the bill of sale, said Small. Regardless of if it was counterfeit money or not, they were not going to accept the claim. Manchester police warns fake money has been circulating more since the holiday season. There definitely seems to be an uptick in counterfeiting currency in the area, said Davis. Here are some tips on spotting the fakes: Check for a security thread. Its embedded in the bill. Next, look for the watermark. When help up to light, an image should be visible from both sides of the bill. You should also feel it, the bill should feel rough to the touch, not smooth like regular paper. Manchester police also suggest you listen to your gut. If something doesnt seem right it probably was not right, said Davis. Police also suggest meeting a person at the police station when conducting a transaction on online, because people are less likely to try to harm you at a police station, or pass counterfeit bills. But, ultimately they suggest not dealing in cash, because not only could you be cheated out of your money, people could try to hurt you for the money they know you will be carrying during a transaction. We reached out State Farm regarding Smalls claim for the stolen car, they would not comment about the matter. The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo has changed its policy this year to disallow the Confederate battle flag to be used in events and activities. "The Northern Virginia battle flag is one of those icons that has unfortunately been embraced by individuals and organizations that are advancing hate and intolerance," said Matt Brockman, publicity manager for the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. "We have been receiving complaints about it." Brockman also said, "It's a difficult decision, but about a couple months ago we decided our policy be that for any official stock show activity whether that be the parade, the grand entry, merchandise sales that the use of the Confederate flags be limited to the original national flag of the Confederacy." Brockman said the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is deeply rooted in history. "We have been around 120 years. We understand history, we understand tradition. Six flags have flown over the state of Texas, including the flag of the Confederacy. Texas was one of the original seven states that seceded," he said. "For many years we have posted colors in our grand entry for our rodeo performance, and we utilize that national flag of the Confederacy with the seven stars and the two red bars and one white for many years. So we felt like it would be appropriate to extend that policy to our Stock Show activities" He went on to say, "We feel like it fits in with Texas' role in the secession from the Union, but also does in a way that we feel is appropriate." Event participants, like those taking part in Saturday's parade, will not be allowed to display the flag, including groups like the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Members, like Calvin Allen, who first started taking part in the parade in the 1980s, disagree with the decision. They say the battle flag is a symbol of the ancestry and heritage, and they don't believe it represents racism or hate. "It's just recognition of our ancestry. It was an act of Congress in the Eisenhower Administration that Confederate veterans, Confederate soldiers are considered U.S. veterans and have all the rights that any U.S. veteran had as far as marking their graves and respect, anything like that," Allen said. He said he'll honor the new policy and likely not carry a flag while in Saturday's parade. "It's kind of like telling any of those cowboys that go to that rodeo that they can't wear their cowboy hat," Allen said. "Well, that's what they are telling us about our battle flag, and it doesn't represent hate. There were blacks who fought for the Confederacy." Allen is also currently in talks about possibly erecting a large flag pole on his property along Interstate 20 in Hudson Oaks, where he said the plan would be to fly a Confederate battle flag. It's only in the initial stages, under discussion, but the idea is the flag pole could be as tall as 60 to 80 feet. He said those behind the idea would have to raise money first, possibly around $20,000. Allen also said it could be the first in this area, but the discussion is to place them in other areas of North Texas as well. "To recognize our heritage because we don't want it to be swept under the rug and be forgotten those soldiers served their country," he said. The City of Rowlett is making a public appeal in an effort to bring federal relief to victims of last month's deadly tornadoes. In a written update, the city said it is unlikely to receive federal funding assistance through a presidential disaster declaration. However, there may be hope if affected residents complete an online damage survey, the update said. There are three separate types of assistance provided by the Federal government in times of disaster: Individual Assistance: Individual assistance can help individual property owners who are uninsured or under-insured. Though it is highly unlikely Rowlett alone will have enough properties to meet federal standards for individual assistance, the city asks for anyone in the affected area to take an online damage survey. The report noted if other effected communities completed the survey, it could help reach the threshold needed for the designation. Public Assistance: Public assistance is used to help cities and counties recover a portion of the costs associated with the disaster. Funding could help with infrastructure repairs or debris removal. The city said the estimated cleanup cost could reach as much as $7 million. Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance Loans: Loans offer assistance to small businesses, homeowners, and renters. The threshold needed to activate the program is at least 25 homes and/or businesses that have at least 40 percent uninsured property damage. Property owners should know the loans require an acceptable credit history and the ability to repay the loan. President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address Tuesday held special meaning for many North Texans. "The president has not disappointed me, I'll be the first to say that," said Lorraine Birabil, who was a Dallas campaign organizer for Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign. For her, watching Tuesday night's speech was bittersweet. "Just knowing how far we've come, I do believe that we've made a great deal of progress, and the uncertainty, of course, in the future of who's going to be next," said Birabil. President Barack Obama, during his first and his last State of the Union. Students who are seniors at the Dallas Independent School District Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy in southeast Oak Cliff were just 10 years old when Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address in January 2010. "I do carry a sense of pride in that it is his last year, and I do feel like I'm a part of his legacy," said student Dalton Sherman, who will graduate from the school this spring. Texas politicians, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Pete Sessions, were quick to react to President Obamas final State of the Union address. "It's meant a lot," said Obama Academy Principal Nakia Douglas, "because it gives a young man hope that there is an opportunity for me one day if I'm willing to work, if I'm willing to put forth the effort, that I, too, could become president." School administrators hope Obama will one day, as a former president, have time to visit the Dallas school named after him. Use the slider below to compare key words frequently used by President Obama in his 2010 State of the Union address, and key words he used in Tuesday's address: Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iran for their "cooperation and quick response in releasing the 10 U.S. Navy sailors held overnight on Iran's Farsi Island. Kerry said Wednesday the new lines of communication with Iran established during nuclear negotiations were key to getting the sailors released quickly. He said the situation would've played our very differently if it occurred three or four years ago. That this issue was resolved peacefully and efficiently is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure and strong, he said. The nine men and one woman were taken into custody Tuesday when their two small U.S. navy riverine vessels drifted into Iranian-claimed waters during a training mission. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement read aloud on state TV that the sailors had been released back into international waters following a U.S. apology and clarifications that any incursion was unintentional. A senior U.S. defense official said the sailors are heading to a U.S. military facility in Qatar and likely have already arrived there. The official said the sailors also will be debriefed by naval officials and will get medical checkups, though there's no sign any were harmed. The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity as the information had yet to be made public. The saiolrs were held in an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military has said that mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island, where they were picked up by Iran. Iranian state television has shown dramatic images of the moment when Revolution Guard forces captured the sailors. The video and stills were published on its website Wednesday night, hours after the sailor's release. The images show the U.S. sailors with their hands on their heads, while others show Iranians inspecting the machine guns onboard and going through papers. A 29-year-old woman is suing Uber, claiming a driver for the ride sharing service shattered her jaw during an attack on New Year's Eve. Krystal Ortiz says she had been drinking at a party in Hollywood that night and thought she'd do the responsible thing and find a designated driver. "I took the Uber because they hold themselves in a safe and responsible way for people to transport themselves, and I relied upon them to provide this," she said at a press conference with her attorney Tuesday. As she was sitting in the car, Ortiz's cellphone was recording video when she claims the driver snapped without provocation over a conversation she was having with another passenger. "Why are you kicking me out of the car?" she asks. "Because you're being combative," the driver replies. The driver then orders her out of the car. "Do me a favor. I'm going to ask you one more time to get out of this car and if I have to go over there and drag you out the car and put you on that sidewalk" - the phone is suddenly smacked. "Out, now," he continues. What happened next is interrupted in the video. Ortiz says the driver smashed her phone, then took his anger out on her physically, leaving her with a swollen face, bloodied knee and ultimately - the aftermath of her reconstructive surgery. "The Uber driver struck me in the face with his fist both inside the car and out on the sidewalk after he knocked me to the curb. He shattered my jaw and I spent days in the hospital getting reconstructive surgery," she said. An Uber spokesman tells NBC4 the company acted quickly. "This is a terrible situation and we take matters involving the safety of everyone who uses the Uber platform very seriously," the company said. "Upon hearing from the rider and speaking with her immediately following the incident, we placed the driver's account on hold and following a thorough review have since permanently deactivated him from the Uber platform." The company also says it is assisting LAPD in its investigation. "If that crime had been committed in any household here in Southern California, you'd be on $50,000 bail, you'd be promptly arrested and you'd face the criminal justice system immediately," said Ortiz's attorney, Ernest Algorri. Ortiz is suing Uber for an undisclosed amount. The case is in the hands of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. The LAPD says the driver also filed a report for battery against Ortiz. The driver has not been identified. A standoff has ended after troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety chased a stolen big rig to a dead end at a service road in Hunt County near Greenville. [[365166071,C]] Authorities surrounded the 18-wheeler with guns drawn at Texas State Spur 302 and Interstate 30/Highway 67 just after noon Tuesday. After about an hour-long standoff, SWAT team members fired two separate shots into the cab of the 18-wheeler. Within minutes, the passenger door of the truck opened and a dog jumped out. Officers removed the dog, whose name is Jake, from the area to safety. Moments later, authorities pulled the driver out of the vehicle and down onto the ground. Texas DPS Sgt. Lonny Haschel said 60-year-old David A. Arnold was quickly taken into custody and that he is the designated driver of the 18-wheeler. Haschel indicated Arnold faces evading arrest and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charges. Arnold remains in the Hunt County Jail. He appeared before a judge Thursday morning, where his bond was set at a total of $85,000. A standoff has ended after troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety chased a stolen big rig to a dead end at a service road in Hunt County near Greenville. The City of Greenville Animal Control has taken possession of the dog, which appeared to be a male golden retriever mix. According to the shelter, Jake was not injured in the standoff. Tags on the Jake's collar included a last name and phone number. Shelter staff told NBC 5 Arnold's family plans to pick up Jake. Until then, he will remain in protective custody. He is healthy and in good spirits. Authorities say a man barricaded himself inside a stolen 18-wheeler after leading officers on a chase Wednesday. How the Chase Started Lonny Haschel with the Texas Department of Public Safety said the truck was reported stolen because it was overdue at its destination by 30 hours. Haschel said the truck, loaded with produce, was designated for delivery in Maryland. Haschel said the truck was owned by Intrade, a company based in California. NBC 5 confirmed the cab of the truck belonged to Liberty Lines, Inc. in Fresno, Calif. GPS led the company that owned the truck to notify Texas DPS that they believed the big rig was in North Texas. A man is in police custody after leading authorities on a pursuit Wednesday in a stolen tractor trailer through several North Texas counties. The chase began in Sunnyvale just after 11 a.m. when the driver of the 18-wheeler refused to pull over and kept going. The pursuit then went through Garland and into Greenville in Hunt County. That's when DPS and the Kaufman County Sheriff asked the Dallas County Sheriff's office to assist, according to sources. "Public safety is number one. Always, always, always, " Haschel said. "So we had the cooperation of multiple agencies from Dallas all the way east, in helping with closing intersections and such, so we didn't have an innocent victim in this." The 18-wheeler had been traveling on the service road with several blown tires, spiked earlier in the chase. "The pursuit itself went through multiple jurisdictions. There were several agencies trying to assist with tire deflation devices. They were effective. However, the speed of the chase was relatively low compared to pursuits we see with other vehicles." Haschel said. Haschel said the chase and standoff came to a successful conclusion. "No injuries to the public, no injuries to law enforcement, no injuries to the driver, and no injuries to the dog" he said. NBC 5's Jeff Smith, Holley Ford and Cory Smith contributed to this report. U.S. Navy sailors who were freed Wednesday after being held by Iran were part of Riverine Squadron 1, based in San Diego, according to The Associated Press. Iran detained the 10 sailors and their two small boats that drifted into Iranian waters Tuesday after experiencing mechanical problems. The sailors, nine men and one woman, were held overnight at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, and were released on Wednesday morning local time. The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained U.S. sailors before their release showing them sitting on the floor of a room. One was a woman with her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said in a statement read on state TV Wednesday that the sailors had been released back into international waters after the U.S. issued an apology and clarifications that any incursion was "a mistake," NBC News reported. "The Americans have undertaken not to repeat such mistakes," the statement said. "The captured marines were released in international waters under the supervision of the IRGC Navy." The U.S. Navy confirmed that the sailors had been "safely returned" after departing Iran's Farsi Island at 3:43 a.m. ET aboard the riverine vessels they had been operating when the incident occurred. Iran accused the sailors of trespassing but American officials said Tuesday Tehran had assured them that the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly. Officials said Tuesday they believe the U.S. had spoken to one of the crew, and all 10 were fine and uninjured. The squadron's sailors were deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told the AP that the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island in the middle of the Gulf. They said some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island, and they were picked up by Iran. The semi-official Iranian news agency, FARS, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy has detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and said the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters. "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said. The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama was set to deliver his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders. Secretary of State John Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said. Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said. Officials said the sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman. Officials said a radio signal from one of the boats showed that they were on Farsi Island, setting off efforts to contact the Iranians. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission as they traveled between Kuwait and Bahrain, officials said. The Riverine boats are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to the crafts. The officials were not authorized to discuss the sensitive incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity. Republican lawmakers seized on the incident as further evidence that Iran is not to be trusted. The House was scheduled to vote Wednesday on GOP-backed legislation that would give Congress greater oversight of the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, which Republicans have derided as a victory for Tehran. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said it was "unthinkable that the administration would lift sanctions and permit Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief under the nuclear agreement, even as the regime brazenly violates its international obligations and rushes to develop the ballistic missile capability to deliver a potential nuclear weapon to the United States." The incident came on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran was expected to satisfy the terms of last summer's nuclear deal in just days. Once the U.N. nuclear agency confirms Iran's actions to roll back its program, the United States and other Western powers are obliged to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions on Tehran. Kerry recently said the deal's implementation was "days away." NBC 7 San Diego's Samantha Tatro contributed to this report After more than three months stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped there finally began their long-awaited trip north toward the U.S. border, flying into El Salvador and then traveling by bus to Guatemala on Wednesday. The first pilot flight took off from Costa Rica's Daniel Oduber airport in the northern city of Liberia late Tuesday night as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua's refusal to let them through by land. The migrants appeared to get special treatment along the way: They were greeted by El Salvador's foreign minister upon their arrival in that country even as, when they got to the Guatemalan border, they saw a busload of Salvadoran migrants headed the other way after being deported back to their home country from the United States. The Cubans won't have to worry about that since U.S. immigration policy that allows them to stay if they reach the United States. That special status initially raised some resentment in Central America, whose citizens are often deported from the U.S. if they enter without visas. But the Cubans' 13-hour trip was so far smooth. Private, chartered transportation and transit visas had already been arranged for them. Four rented buses brought the Cubans to the Pedro de Alvarado crossing on Guatemala's border with El Salvador. Human rights activists accompanied them. Ruben Chil Cruz, who left his wife and two children behind in Cuba, said "It has all been very quick, thank God.'' However, Chil Cruz said he wasn't sure exactly, once he reaches the Mexican border, how he would cross that country, known for vicious attacks on and kidnappings of migrants, especially those from Central America. He said he didn't plan to use a smuggler to cross Mexico and hoped Mexican immigration officials at the border could give him advice on how to travel to the U.S. border. From there, he said, he plans to travel to Miami. But he expected the trip to be quick. "I think I will get to the United States by Sunday,'' he said. For most Central American migrants, the trip takes weeks, and sometimes months. The Cubans once got through even faster, but Nicaragua, an ally of Cuba, closed its border to Cubans leaving the island on Nov. 13. Most Cubans came to Panama and Costa Rica via a longtime air bridge through Ecuador, before that South American country began demanding visas for Cubans in December. This month, the three Central American nations and Mexico reached an agreement on an air bridge to get around Nicaragua's refusal to let the Cubans through. There has been an exodus of migrants from Cuba in recent months after the communist-run country loosened requirements for leaving. Many potential migrants in Cuba are also worried that the re-establishment of relations between the United States and Raul Castro's government could their privileged immigration treatment in the United States. On Wednesday, thousands of Cubans who stayed behind in Costa Rica waited to hear the plans of the next flight. Many are living in the small town of La Cruz, where some business owners said they've benefited from the influx of Cubans. "The Costa Rican people are the best thing that's happened to us," said Avigail Chacon. "They've treated us like family." One of the first to open their doors to the migrants were Catholic nuns of the Franciscan Order. Sister Juana Fernandez spends her days making sure there's enough food to go around and even travels several hours to get firewood for them to cook with. On Tuesday, some of the Cubans selected for the first flight from Costa Rica expressed joy that they would finally be on their way. "They told me four days ago and I still don't believe it, I didn't expect to be in the first group,'' said Lislenia Fernandez, who arrived in Costa Rica from Panama on Nov. 8 with her husband Yordani Casanova. "I'm happy because I can travel with my husband.'' Fernandez hopes to get to Miami, where her brother-in-law is, but she had to leave behind her sons aged 4 and 8. "We are going to look for a way to bring them over." Arnobis Tellez left behind three children and a grandchild in Cuba. Like Chil Cruz, he wasn't sure how he would cross through Mexico. "These last months have been terrifying, because nobody thought this was going to happen," Tellez said. "We thought that by this time we would all be in the United States." Salvadoran Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez said he wished all migrants in the region had such a happy story. "With this action (for the Cubans) we are showing dignified treatment and respect for human rights, which are things that the administration of El Salvador's president ... is asking for our own migrants." NBC 6's Laura Rodriguez will be providing live reports on the migration. Follow her updates on Twitter @LauraNBC6. For more than four decades, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes has been a mainstay of the feel-good category of music. The group first began topping the charts in the mid 1970s when its became the second major act from the New Jersey music scene, following Bruce Springsteen, with whom the band has always had a close association. Now after more than a dozen recordings and hundreds of performances worldwide, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes will make a stop at the Sunoco Performance Theater of the Whitaker Center for the Science and the Arts in Harrisburg. The concert will be 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 22. Tickets are $35, $45 and $55, depending on seating. The group will perform some of its best known songs including The Fever, Talk to Me, This Time Its For Real, Love on the Wrong Side of Town, Hearts of Stone and its signature song, I Dont Want To Go Home. The two founding members of the group, Southside Johnny and Steve Van Zandt, first met in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where they began playing together in various bands on the bar circuit. While these groups were short lived, they often included Bruce Springsteen and many of the future members of The E Street Band. Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes officially formed as a sextet in 1975 and recorded three albums in quick succession: I Dont Want To Go Home, This Time Its for Real and Hearts of Stone. The recordings were produced by Van Zandt and featured songs that he or Springsteen had written. During this period, the band was featured in the 1977 film Between the Lines, and in 1979, a homecoming concert that the band performed in Asbury Park became a subject of a documentary. In 1982, Rolling Stone Magazine voted Hearts of Stone among the top 100 albums of the 1970s and 1980s. Throughout the years many now famous musicians have been associated with the band, including Jon Bon Jovi who toured with them as a special guest in 1990, and members of the E Street Band, including Clarence Clemons, Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent and Ernest Carter. More than 100 musicians can claim to have been members of the Asbury Jukes. Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes recorded their most recent CD, Soultime!, in 2015. This CD features the same classic blend of hardcore R&B, soulful guitar licks and blistering horn section that the bands fans have come to expect. Following a 2010 recording that was much darker, the group wanted this album to be more fun and help people take their mind off of their troubles. Southside Johnny, who is the only remaining members of the original group, says that for him, one of the most powerful things about music is that it reminds people that theres great beauty in life and great joy. With their upbeat performances and infectious Jersey Shore sound, its easy to see how Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes has remained a force in todays music scene. Its also easy to see how Southside Johnny himself has come to be named as the Godfather of the New Jersey Sound. For more information visit www.whitakercenter.org or call 717-214-2787. South Korea on Wednesday fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed the rivals' border, South Korean military officials said. It is the first time shots have been fired in what has so far been a Cold War-style standoff between the Koreas in the wake of the North's nuclear test one week ago. The North Korean drone was flying dozens of meters (yards) south of the border and turned back to the North after the South fired, South Korean defense and military officials said, requesting anonymity because of office rules. The shots didn't hit the drone. North Korean drone flights across the world's most heavily armed border are rare but have happened before. North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target. In 2014, Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but they were still considered a potential new security threat. Animosity is high after the nuclear test, the North's fourth. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages. South Korea's president earlier Wednesday urged North Korea's only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang's nuclear test with the strongest possible international sanctions. Seoul also said that North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing President Park Geun-hye and her government as "mad dogs." South Korea, the United States and others are pushing hard to impose fresh sanctions and other punitive measures on the North for what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb test. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North's diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is seen as key. On Wednesday, Park said in a nationally televised news conference that South Korea will push as hard as it can for strong sanctions that can force change in North Korea. But, she said, Chinese help is crucial. "Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner," Park said, referring to China and South Korea's need to punish the North. "I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role." Beijing has recently shown signs that it's losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocations. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula. Responding to the North's test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end "business as usual" with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart last Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment on the North. Park said Wednesday that South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it "the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool." Park said past broadcasts helped frontline North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyang's authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. "The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth," she said. South Korea's military announced Wednesday that it has found hundreds of anti-Seoul leaflets near the western portion of the Koreas' border. The Defense Ministry believes the leaflets were floated over with balloons by the North's military. Similar North Korean propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korea border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Such leafleting, however, by the North is still rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border. The leaflets found earlier Wednesday included such messages as "Let's knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs" and "The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea." Steven Averys new legal team said they plan to present new evidence and are "confident" that the man whose murder case was spotlighted in the documentary "Making a Murderer" will have his conviction vacated. We are continuing to examine every aspect of Mr. Averys case and all of his legal options, Kathleen T. Zellner said in a statement Monday. We are confident Mr. Averys conviction will be vacated when we present the new evidence and results of our work to the appropriate court. Kathleen T. Zellner & Associates, P.C. in Downers Grove announced Friday it will assume the full and complete representation of Steven Avery. The Zellner Law Firm is looking forward to adding Mr. Avery to its long list of wrongful conviction exonerations, the firm said in a statement. The firm will join Wisconsin counsel Tricia Bushnell, the legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project, the statement said. Details on how the legal team plans to move Avery's case forward were not immediately clear. Avery made national headlines in 2003 when he was freed after nearly two decades behind bars -- exonerated for a sexual assault that DNA proved he didn't commit. Two years later, Avery and his then-teenage nephew Brendan Dassey were charged in the killing of photographer Teresa Halbach, who visited the Avery family salvage yard to take photos of a minivan on Halloween. Avery was suing Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, the former district attorney and the county sheriff for $36 million over his wrongful conviction at the time he was accused of Halbach's murder. Halbach's bones and belongings were found burned near Avery's trailer. Both Avery and Dassey were convicted and sentenced to life terms, but only Dassey is eligible for parole in 2048. Both Avery's and Dassey's cases were featured in the gripping Netflix documentary Making a Murderer. The documentary strongly suggests the possibility that Manitowoc County sheriff's deputies planted evidence against Avery, including a key found in his bedroom and blood found in the victim's vehicle. But Sheriff Robert Hermann has denied that claim. "They did not plant evidence," Hermann said. "I trust them 100 percent. Quite frankly, I think justice was served in this case." The 10-part series has prompted watchers across the nation to flood message boards and Twitter feeds, even prompting a response from the White House. Authorities involved with the Wisconsin case are saying the series is slanted and omits crucial facts that led to Avery and Dassey being found guilty in the death of Halbach. The filmmakers, meanwhile, are standing by their work that spans nearly a decade and largely concentrates on the defense and perspective of Avery and Dassey's relatives. Lawyers with Northwestern Universitys Center for Wrongful Convictions of Youth are currently awaiting a ruling on a Habeas petition filed on behalf of Dassey, hoping to force a new trial in his case. They have argued that Dasseys trial was plagued by the actions of his former attorney, who was removed from the case, and claim that Dasseys confession was coerced. The state, however, has said that the attorney's removal happened before his trial and have argued that Dassey fails to show that an appeals court's decision was unreasonable. A confessed gunman who ambushed a Philadelphia Police officer might have been part of a small group of urban terrorists and has investigators searching not only in the Philadelphia neighborhood where the shooting occurred but nearby Delaware County as well. Terror investigators worked into Tuesday to find three other men in connection with Edward Archer, a self-proclaimed jihadist who shot a Philadelphia police officer "in the name of Islam," NBC News reported. That investigation included Chester in nearby Delaware County where one of the other men may be from, sources with knowledge of the investigation told NBC10s Deanna Durante. Sources said the other men hadn't appeared to have committed any crimes as of yet. Federal and Philadelphia area investigators also interviewed Archers family, which lives in Delaware County, and searched for other clues after a woman came forward over the weekend to report that Archer has ties with a trio of men with similar intentions. NBC News reported that investigators have learned the names of two of the other men. [[364795361, C]] Archer faces attempted murder charges for Thursdays nights caught-on-camera attempted assassination of Philly Police Officer Jesse Hartnett. The shooting left Hartnett hospitalized with serious injuries to his left arm. "His arm was hanging by a string and he got out there, did what his training said, and he was in an ultimate battle with an urban terrorist, and he came out on top," Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 President John McNesby told NBC10. Investigators want to find out how Archer, 30, managed to make trips to Egypt and Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012 despite being unemployed and previously not holding a passport. As the investigation into the shooting and search for other possible jihadists continued, police in the region remained on edge. Some municipalities in Delaware County began doubling up patrols after Philadelphia Police made a similar move in the wake of the shooting. Haverford Township stressed a policy of officers sticking together and only responding with a second officer present and Upper Darby Township continued with its policy of always having backup before responding to a scene. This may be the tastiest news you hear all day: San Diego Restaurant Week (SDRW) is back, showcasing more than 180 eateries across out local dining scene over the course of eight delicious days. This time around, SDRW runs from Jan. 17 through Jan. 24 with its familiar, scrumptious set-up: participating restaurants will offer special two and three-course, prix fixe menus for lunch and/or dinner. Two-course lunch menus are priced at $10, $15 or $20 per person, while three-course dinner menus are priced at $20, $30, $40 and $50 per person. The popular culinary event spans local restaurants across 12 regions throughout San Diego County including downtown San Diego, La Jolla, Central San Diego, Mission Bay and Beaches, North County Inland and Coastal, South Bay and Point Loma/Harbor Island, to name a few communities. Cuisine varies, too, with every type of food on the SDRW list: from American and California fare, to Mexican, French and Italian. As always, no special passes are required to attend SDRW. Just pick the participating restaurant that sounds good to you, go there and ask for the SDRW menu. Really, its easy as pie. Now, on to the main course. A small sampling of eateries participating in SDRW 2016 include: PrepKitchen (Little Italy, La Jolla and North County locations); Backyard Kitchen & Tap in Mission Bay; the newly-reopened Top of the Market in downtown San Diego; Beaumonts Eatery in La Jolla, Solterra Winery & Kitchen in the North County; and The Red Door Restaurant and Wine Bar in Mission Hills. The very long list of participating restaurants as well as photos and mouthwatering menus can be seen in full on the SDRW website. Foodies can even score a few recipes on the website so they can try their hand at cooking some delicious dishes at home. SDRW has partnered with Sysco and the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank to raise funds for the organization's many programs for hungry children and families in San Diego County, including the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program. SDRW organizers say diners can get involved in the fundraising efforts by posting a photo of their SDRW experience on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #Food4Kids and tagging the SDRW restaurant where they are dining. Sysco will donate $1 to the Food Banks program for every #Food4Kids post during the event so the program, which provides weekend food packages to chronically hungry elementary school students, can be launched in as many local schools as possible. A Santee woman who was victimized in an elaborate catfish scheme is finally telling her story in an exclusive interview with NBC 7. Tiffany Watkins describes the moment she learned about the plot to take her life, hatched by Brian Curtis Hile, according to a federal complaint. I just remember being in shock. I started crying. It was scary, Watkins said Tuesday. The scariest thing Ive been through." Nine years ago, Watkins private photobucket was hacked and some of her personal pictures spread across the Internet. From there, she said fake profiles were created and used by complete strangers. Michigan resident Hile was one of those people who was duped into an online relationship with South African woman who looked like Watkins. It turns out a man was pretending to be Watkins in a practice known as catfishing. I never met him. Never talked to him, Watkins said of Hile. But that didnt stop Hile from hopping a bus from Fremont, Michigan to San Diego in 2011, according to federal investigators. He was looking to exact revenge against Watkins and her boyfriend because he thought they may have had something to do with the hoax. The federal complaint notes Hile told his brother he planned to "kill or harm" Watkins and her boyfriend. According to the complaint, Hile showed his brother he already had a backpack with zip ties and duct tape inside. It was after Hile and his brother stopped at an El Cajon Walmart to pick up mace, rope, a knife and other things that the brother called police. Hile was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2013. As soon as he has a little freedom I dont know how not to be worried about that," Watkins said. Meanwhile she is still fighting against people pretending to be her online. It's the reason she's started Tiffanywatkins.org. Parents with their daughters just really I think, young girls especially, need to realize what can happen. I think everyone should be more aware," she said. Shes also hoping she can work to strengthen online impersonation laws in the future. A concern that primary voters angry over a GOP loyalty pledge could cause disruption at the polls prompted the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to vote to discuss with the school board whether schools should be closed that day. The Board voted 9-1 to ask school officials to discuss changing the schedule March 1 from starting on a two-hour delay to opting for a full closure.Their decision came after Electoral Board Secretary Kate Hanley informed the supervisors of her concerns. "The law in Virginia allows for parties to ask for [the loyalty pledge]," she explained. "The Republican Party asked for it, so if you come to the election official with your Republican ballot and haven't signed the statement of affiliation, the election official cannot give you a ballot." Some 167 Fairfax County schools are used as polling places. Virginia voters don't register by party, but in this primary, voters who want to cast a GOP ballot must first sign a loyalty oath to the state in which they are Republicans. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has harshly criticized the loyalty oath, and his supporters have gone to court to try to challenge the requirement. Hanley told the supervisors she's worried voters could cause trouble at the polls if they protest the requirement. In response to the Board vote, Fairfax County's schools superintendent sent parents an online note assuring them there are no plans right now to cancel class on March 1. Wrote Karen Garza: "Todays suggestion to close schools on March 1 came as a complete surprise to both FCPS staff and the School Board. FCPS will be reaching out to the Elections Office to learn more about the new security concerns that have been raised. FCPS will continue to keep the community informed regarding any new developments." Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith said the school board already considered the issue. "I was on the school board when we first dealt with this issue, and the school board considered whether we should not have school that day or should have a two-hour delay, and there was a real feeling that education is important to students," she said. "It's great for them to see the process of people coming to vote." Some Trump supporters accuse the Fairfax County supervisors of raising the issue to draw negative attention to Trump. Trump's Virginia campaign Chairman Corey Stewart said protests are not expected, nor is violence. "These allegations are an attempt by establishment Republicans, in collusion with Democratic officials, to malign Trump supporters as violent and insinuate that the campaign is inciting violence," said Stewart. For now, classes in Fairfax County are scheduled to begin two hours late on March 1. A Prince George's County homeowner shot a man who broke into his Temple Hills home early Wednesday morning. The incident happened just before 2 a.m. on the 3900 block of Brinkley Road. Police say the suspect forced his way into the home, and the homeowner -- fearing for his life -- shot the man. The homeowner and his wife were the only people home at the time of the incident. The suspect was taken to an area hospital, where he is in fair condition.The suspect has not been identified. Police are still investigating the circumstances that led up to the shooting. After hearing hours of testimony on alleged child abuse at a day care center in Northern Virginia, a judge dismissed one-third of the charges against a former employee accused of spraying toddlers with a hose and encouraging them to fight. A judge in Manassas ruled Tuesday there was not enough evidence to support 13 of 39 charges against Sarah Jordan, one of two women accused of abusing children age 16 months to 2 years old at Minnieland Academy at The Glen in Woodbridge, Virginia. Five therapists took the stand for the prosecution, saying they used the play therapy technique to evaluate whether the toddlers were abused. Some of the children avoided eye contact and were unable to speak, they testified. One of the therapists testified the way one child repeatedly buried two kitten figurines in sand was one indication of trauma. A defense lawyer questioned that conclusion. "Hiding the cats? Could it be hide-and-seek?" the lawyer asked. "It could have been. Play therapy is not always 100 percent," the therapist responded. "It's not a science." Previously happy children became aggressive, were afraid of water and even stopped talking after they were abused at a day care center in Northern Virginia, emotional parents testified on Monday. Ten parents spoke Monday, some in tears, about seeing dramatic changes in their children after they joined Jordan's classroom. One after the other, parents testified about troubling behavior that emerged when their little ones were moved into Jordan's class of toddlers, nicknamed "The Monkey Room." Parents said their children became aggressive at home, stomped on their parents toes and became afraid of water. Some refused to bathe, their parents said, and most cried when they were dropped off at the center. Police say the behavior is the result of Jordan and Kierra Spriggs, who also is accused of abuse. Jordan has maintained her innocence since she initially was charged. The trial will resume Wednesday, when the defense is expected to ask the judge to drop additional charges and a verdict is expected. Alexandria police have made an arrest in the slaying of a man whose body was found in a popular park in the city. Edwin Alexander Guerreo Umana, 18, of Arlington was charged with the murder of Eduardo David Chandias Almendarez on Wednesday, police announced Wednesday afternoon. Almendarez, 22, was found dead in Four Mile Run Park on Dec. 4, 2015. Police said Almendarez had been stabbed multiple times. Almendarez had last been seen in the park on Nov. 28. Police previously said he had "been a victim of a crime and may be endangered." Almendarez's death was the fourth homicide in Alexandria in 2015. Police say they've also solved a homicide that happened on a popular playground about a mile west of Four Mile Run Park. The body of Jose Luis Ferman Perez, 24, was found Nov. 9 in Beverley Park. Police have charged a a 17-year-old boy in connection with Perez's death. Two other people are also in custody, but they have not been charged. Mondays alleged standoff between a Pennsylvania State constable and an armed man to whom he had been serving an eviction order left the mans 12-year-old daughter dead. The incident stands as a reminder of the potential dangers constables face each day a bleak aspect of a profession based on specific training and constant re-evaluation. According to Cumberland County Court Administrator Melissa Calvanelli, constables are elected state officials who are chosen by a vote and subsequently held to a list of state-based regulations. (Constables) have statewide requirements that they must follow (and) guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, Calvanelli said. They have no boss per se, but they have to follow the rules and regulations to maintain their position. In order to prepare themselves to remain in line with these requirements, constables, upon election, enter a training process to become certified. In Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) oversees this process. According to the PCCDs website, constable training consists of basic and firearm education. Once they are certified, constables are able to perform judicial duties and receive pay, but they must also complete annual in-service training to remain certified. PCCDs website also provides a link to resources for constables involved in critical incidents like the one in Duncannon. Constables duties can vary depending on the state in which they are employed. Pennsylvania constables serve six-year terms and commonly deal with issuing legal warrants and summons. According to PCCD Director of Communications Matthew Leonard, Cumberland County has 13 constables, each representing a different ward of the county with or without appointed deputies. (Constables) in Cumberland County mostly work with serving things like paperwork and summary warrants, Calvanelli said. We also use them to a limited capacity in common pleas court. In an event where a constables handling of a situation is questioned by the public, a Constable Review Board is consulted to determine whether or not that constable should remain in office. Each county is authorized by the Supreme Court to have a Constable Review Board, but they only respond to complaints; they are not active supervision, Calvanelli said. If someone has a complaint about a constable, it goes to the Review Board. Calvanelli said that, to date, Cumberland County has not had to remove a constable from power. We havent had any (complaints) that have reached that point yet, Calvanelli said. We have not had to recommend that any constables (stop working for) courts in the county. A man injured in a crash on the Inner Loop of the Beltway has died, Maryland State Police said. The accident happened early Wednesday morning near the New Hampshire Avenue exit. The victim suffered serious injuries. He was transported to an area hospital, where he died. His identity has not been released. Police have not released any details about the accident. A few hours later, another serious accident was reported a few exits away. Police say three people were injured in the collision between Connecticut Avenue and Georgia Avenue. All three suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Montgomery County police say a 41-year-old woman who was missing for three days has been found safe. Evelyn New Wang was last seen at a relative's home in Olney, Maryland at 2 p.m. Sunday. Police say Wang told her family she was going to drive to the Olney Library and return to the home that evening. But police say Wang never came back to the home and had not been to her own home in Silver Spring. Wang was located Wednesday, according to police. No further details were released. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a man found at a playground in Alexandria, Virginia. The teen was charged with the murder of 24-year-old Jose Luis Ferman Perez Wednesday. Police are withholding the suspect's name because of his age. Police say two other suspects are in custody in connection with Perez's death, but they have not been charged. A woman walking her dog found Perez's body in popular Beverley Park on Nov. 9, 2015. The body was found under the bouncing bridge part of the playground equipment, near a slide. The park, known as "The Pit" for its sunken layout, is one of the busiest playgrounds in the area, full of toddlers during the day but there has been gang violence in the adjacent neighborhood in the past year. Police have not said whether Perez's death is related. This heinous crime shocked the community and made many people worry for their safety and the safety of their children, said Police Chief Earl Cook. Perez's death was the third homicide in Alexandria in 2015. A third man has been charged with the death of a man found in a creek along a Silver Spring trail, Montgomery County police said Tuesday. Leonardo C. Siguenza-Neiros, 20, was arrested in Lewisville, Texas, on Jan. 11. Police believe Siguenza-Neiros fled Maryland to avoid being arrested in connection with the death of 18-year-old Denis Vitalino Montufar-Bautista. Montufar-Bautista's body was found in a creek on the Northwest Branch Trail on Dec. 22, six days after he was reported missing from Adelphi, Maryland. Investigators believe he was murdered the same day he went missing. Montufar-Bautista's death is believed to be gang-related. Police say his body was found in an area frequented by MS-13 gang members. Julio C. Rivas-Rosales, 15, and Noe Antonio Coreas-Mejia, 19, were arrested and charged with Montufar-Bautista's death last month. All three suspects have been charged with first degree murder. Siguenza-Neiros is awaiting extradition to Montgomery County. Police say the investigation remains open. Anyone with information that can help police is asked to call 240-773-5070. A former day care worker was found guilty Wednesday of seven felony charges and six misdemeanor charges for abusing toddlers in her care in Northern Virginia. Sarah Jordan was one of two women accused of abusing children -- who ranged in age from 16 months to 2 years old -- at Minnieland Academy at The Glen in Woodbridge, Virginia. Jordan was found guilty on child cruelty charges, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and assault and battery charges. She had initially faced 39 charges, but the judge dismissed 22 of them. Nine of those charges were thrown out Wednesday morning; 13 of the charges were dismissed Tuesday when the judge ruled there was not enough evidence to support those charges. The Virginia day care worker on trial for abuse could learn her fate as early as Wednesday. On Tuesday, the defense tried to discredit one of the therapists who treated the children. As News4s Meagan Fitzgerald reports, late in the day, the judge dropped 13 of 39 charges against the worker. Jordan was also found not guilty on four charges. The judge has revoked her bond. During the trial, five therapists took the stand for the prosecution, saying they used the play therapy technique to evaluate whether the toddlers were abused. Some of the children avoided eye contact and were unable to speak, they testified. One of the therapists testified the way one child repeatedly buried two kitten figurines in sand was one indication of trauma. A defense lawyer questioned that conclusion. "Hiding the cats? Could it be hide-and-seek?" the lawyer asked. "It could have been. Play therapy is not always 100 percent," the therapist responded. "It's not a science." Previously happy children became aggressive, were afraid of water and even stopped talking after they were abused at the day care center in Northern Virginia, emotional parents testified Monday. Ten parents spoke Monday, some in tears, about seeing dramatic changes in their children after they joined Jordan's classroom. One after another, parents testified about troubling behavior that emerged when their little ones were moved into Jordan's class of toddlers, nicknamed "The Monkey Room." Parents said their children became aggressive at home, stomped on their parents' toes and became afraid of water. Some refused to bathe, their parents said, and most cried when they were dropped off at the center. Police said the behavior was due to Jordan and Kierra Spriggs, who also is accused of abuse. Jordan has maintained her innocence since she initially was charged. Stay with NBCWashington.com and News4 for more shortly. DUNCANNON The family of a 12-year-old girl accidentally shot by a constable serving eviction papers does not blame the law officer for her death or have any hard feelings toward him, a member of the girls extended family said Wednesday. I cried for that constable, said Ron Rohde, who is related to the girls family through marriage. Donald Meyer, 57, pointed a loaded rifle at Constable Clark Steele on Monday and Steele fired a single shot in return; the bullet traveled through Meyers arm and struck Ciara Meyer, who was standing behind him, state police said. None of us in our family have any hard feelings toward him. Actually we feel sorry for him. Hes got to live with this, the poor man, and he had no idea what he was walking into, Rohde said. Authorities said she was apparently home sick from school at the time. An autopsy found she died of a gunshot wound to the chest, and the death was ruled a homicide. Rohde said the girl called him Uncle Ron, and that he and his wife were speaking for the family. She was such a little angel. Such a positive little girl. She was such a sweetheart, he said. He said that two different county child protection agencies had been involved with the family and that at one point the girl had been removed from their home for several months. He said he wondered how much the constable knew about the familys troubles when he went to evict them. Did anyone let him know that he was going to be walking into a rats hole? he said. Stephanie Cordas, one of the girls aunts, said the family suspected when they arrived at the crime scene that Meyer had escalated the situation. You dont show up at a door and point a gun at someone, she said of the girls father. A GoFundMe page was set up to help pay the girls funeral expenses and to set up a scholarship fund at the girls school district. Ciara was an only child, and both of her parents are disabled, Cordas said. She said the girl loved the music of Adele, was sweet, funny and intelligent and had a sunshine personality. The bullet that killed her also shattered a bone in Meyers arm, and he remained hospitalized. He was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and other counts. A message left for a public defender listed on the complaint against Meyer was not returned Wednesday. Pennlive.com reported that Meyer had been scheduled to enter a plea Jan. 28 in the neighboring county on year-old charges of driving under the influence and resisting arrest. Steele is completely distraught over this incident this is the worst nightmare any of us as constables can encounter, Bill Stoeffler, a Dauphin County constable and spokesman for the regions constables association, told Pennlive.com. A neighbor, Kera Nesslein, said she went outdoors to smoke when she saw the constable go to the front door. He was looking at the clipboard he had, and he knocked on the door. I mean, he didnt try to physically go in there. You could see that he was waiting. He didnt just whip out his gun and just shoot it. I mean there was a couple seconds delay, and then after that shot he ran down the steps and took cover and called the cops, she said. Steeles visit to the apartment near Duncannon should have been expected by Meyer because the constable had been there numerous times about the pending eviction, and had given Meyer a Jan. 11 deadline to move out, authorities said. Court documents showed Donald and Sherry Meyer owed about $1,780 in back rent and court costs. State police said the family had not appealed the eviction order. In Pennsylvania, constables are elected officials with limited law enforcement powers. They serve warrants, transport prisoners and perform other duties for Pennsylvanias district courts, the lowest level of the judiciary. Americans should resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in how the nation treats immigrants, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said as the GOP used its formal response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to try softening the tough stance embraced by some of its leading presidential candidates. Haley, herself the U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, said Tuesday that the country is facing its most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State group, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," she said in her prepared remarks. "We must resist that temptation." Haley did not mention the GOP presidential race. But the front-runner so far, Donald Trump, has called for deporting millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Two other contenders, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have battled over which of them has the tougher record on the issue. No one who works hard and follows the laws "should ever feel unwelcome in this country," she said. Mentioned by some as a potential vice presidential candidate, Haley said the U.S. should continue admitting "properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion" an apparent reference to calls by Trump to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. She also hewed closely to long-time GOP demands in the immigration debate, saying: "That does not mean we just flat out open our borders." The nation's youngest governor at 43, Haley also seemed to try smoothing some of her party's more combative edges. She said Republicans "would respect differences in modern families" perhaps suggesting more tolerance toward same-sex couples and said it isn't necessary "to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference." Without offering specifics, she said that while Democrats bear much responsibility, Republicans "need to accept that we've played a role in how and recognize why our government is broken." Haley has gained national prominence for helping to end the display of the Confederate battle flag on Statehouse grounds last year after half a century, a move that followed last June's slaying of nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. She also got attention after catastrophic flooding that battered her state in October. Polls have shown public concerns over terrorism and national security have become a top issue ever since the November attacks that killed 130 in Paris and the December mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Ever since, Republicans on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress have been emphasizing those issues. At the same time, many in the GOP feel the party must do a better job of appealing to Hispanics and other minority voters if they are to compete effectively in national and many statewide elections. They're also eager to win more votes from women, who preferred Obama over his Republican opponents by more than 10 percentage points in his 2008 and 2012 elections and have favored the Democratic presidential candidate in each election since 1992. Haley is the third consecutive woman GOP leaders have chosen to deliver their party's response to Obama. Freshman Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, gave the address last year and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the No. 4 House GOP leader, did it in 2014. Twenty-nine of the 300 GOP members of Congress, or about 10 percent, are women, about one-third the proportion of women among congressional Democrats. Each party also has three female governors, although GOP governors outnumber Democrats 31 to 18, plus an independent. Haley said the nation's problems also include an economy that's not boosted family income, a national debt that's too high and Obama's health care law, which Republicans have long asserted has failed. She also cited "chaotic unrest in many of our cities," which seemed a reference to community anger in several cities over killings by police of unarmed black people. She said under a GOP president, Republicans would lower taxes, curb spending and debt and strengthen the military. A homeless man who was jailed last year for allegedly running a meth operation in Maine has been arrested again. Charles McNeice, 46, and Nicole Adams, 33, both of Gray, were arrested this week for unlawful operation of a methamphetamine laboratory, the state's first of the year. Maine ended 2015 with 56 meth lab incidents. Windham Police said they were called to the area of 23 Tower Road on Monday morning for a report of a suspicious vehicle. Officers located the vehicle and found a box near it that contained items needed to manufacture methamphetamine. Members of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency responded to assist local police. Additional items used in the manufacturing process - ammonium nitrate and Pseudophedrine tablets - were located in the vehicle. McNeice and Adams allegedly purchased the items a short time before being discovered by police, and it is believed that McNeice was preparing to begin the process of converting the items into methamphetamine. McNeice was arrested in June of 2015 in Oxford, Maine, for manufacturing and trafficking in methamphetamine. Police said at the time that they believed he was the ringleader of a local meth operation that used homeless residents to purchase needed manufacturing materials. Police said a number of other homeless residents from the Portland area had been identified by the DEA as having been recruited by McNeice to purchase pseudoephedrine and other items essential to manufacture methamphetamine. The individuals would allegedly return items provided by McNeice to area stores for cash or gift cards and would then purchase items requested by McNeice needed to manufacture methamphetamine. McNeice was out on bail on the Oxford charge when he was arrested this week. McNeice and Adams were scheduled to be arraigned in Cumberland County Court on Wednesday afternoon. Some parents in a New Hampshire school district are trying to get the superintendent removed from office, saying that his decision to cancel school dances was the last straw. The petition filed Monday with SAU16 has 55 signatures of residents in the Exeter Regional Cooperative School District, calling for a vote of "no confidence" in Superintendent Michael Morgan. This comes less than a month after Morgan canceled all High School dances except the prom due to "inappropriate student behavior" like grinding on the dance floor. In several media interviews Morgan referred to the sex assault case at St. Paul's Prep as the tipping point for his decision. Many who signed the petition tell NECN they feel the comment was out of line and an unfair comparison, but nobody was available Tuesday for an on-camera interview. However, Exeter High senior Anastasia Boisvert was more than willing to express her frustration. "It sucks, I liked going to dances, I never did anything wrong," Boisvert said. So, she says she and her friends support the citizens petition. "I want to sign this thing, I have to go register, because I am 18," Boisvert said. Superintendent Morgan declined an interview Tuesday, but clarified his comments in a letter sent home to parents last month saying, "I was not making any references about 'student rape' at EHS dances nor comparing our students with those individuals who were involved in that St. Paul's School Case." There is a public hearing on the citizens petition Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the high school. The school board will vote sometime in March. Quick thinking by both her mother and two Boston Police officers likely saved 4-year-old Kyeesha Thompsons life Saturday night. Kyeeshas mother, Vercheesa Thompson, ran out to flag down a passing police car after her daughter suddenly stopped breathing. While she called 911, Thompson knew there was no time to waste. Her lips were blue and she wasnt responding, she told necn. I was screaming her name. Thompson saw a paddy wagon passing by her home and flagged down the officers -- Vladimir Levichev and Thuan Lai -- for help. The officers rushed into the Dorchester home and administered CPR. Kyeesha came to and was rushed to an area hospital. Im thinking, Oh my God, Im going to try to resuscitate this baby, Levichev told necn Tuesday. Biggest fear of my career. For now, Kyeesha remains in the hospital, but is doing better -- and her mother couldnt be happier. Were a family, wouldnt have been a family what if God forbid something was to happen to Kyeesha, he said. Diocese of Norwich bucks falling church numbers trend Diocese of Norwich bucks falling church numbers trend The Diocese of Norwich is bucking the trend of declining Church of England attendances with figures published this week revealing that across the country in 2014 just under one million people attended Anglican services each week. Keith Morris reports. The survey, carried out over four weeks in October 2014, found that nationally 980,000 people attending church each week, including 830,000 adults and 150,000 children, a 12% decline in the last decade. But in the Diocese of Norwich, the average all-age weekly attendance increased from 17,500 in 2013 to 17,800 in 2014 bucking the national trend. The Diocese of Norwich average all-age Sunday attendance increased from 14,100 to 14,500 over the same period, the average usual Sunday attendance increased from 15,300 to 15,600 and the Diocesan worshipping community increased from 20,300 to 20,400 (defined as those who attend a church service at least once a month). These Norwich figures did, however, disguise a drop in average weekly child attendances from 2,000 to just 1,600, but the Sunday child attendances stood firm at 1,100. Regular worshippers made up 2.3% of the population in the Norwich Diocese compared to 2% nationally and 3.8% of the Christian population (3.4% nationally), putting it in the top third of dioceses across the country. The Christian population is defined as those affiliated with the CofE or other Christian denominations. Attendances at Easter and Christmas presented a mixed picture in the Norwich Diocese. Easter attendances went up from 26,000 in 2013 to 27,600 in 2014 while Christmas attendances dropped from 54,700 to 52,800. The number of communicants did however increase on both occasions. In the traditional births, marriages and death figures, the Diocese of Norwich conducted more than its fair share of services, ranked at number four out of 43 dioceses. Of 9,190 births, 1280 (14%) were celebrated with a CofE baptism or thanksgiving service, 1,240 marriages services were performed and with 9,520 recorded deaths, the Diocese of Norwichs ministers conducted 4,440 services (47%). There were also 251 confirmations and 180 adult baptisms in the Diocese of Norwich during 2014. Reacting to the Diocese of Norwich figures, the Rt Rev Graham James, Bishop of Norwich (pictured right), told Network Norfolk: Its pleasing that the latest church attendance figures provide some good news about growth in the Diocese of Norwich. It is almost ten years since the Committed to Growth initiative was launched and parishes were encouraged to draw up growth plans. There has been a concerted effort in many places to grow the Church in discipleship, service and numbers. There are some churches where numerical growth has been significant. St Thomas, Norwich and Cromer (which sees the largest overall congregations on a Sunday) are good examples. But these figures reflect growth in many other much smaller churches too. A congregation of ten people which doubles in size may not make a huge impression on the statistics but is very important for the local community and the vibrancy of Christian faith. The clergy and laypeople of the Diocese of Norwich deserve appreciation and gratitude for their commitment to Jesus Christ and his mission in the world. We are now renewing and revising our Mission Strategy in preparation for the next decade. Diocese of Norwich factfile Population 890,000 Area 1,800 square miles Benefices 186 Churches 653 Christian population 538,000 (from 2011 Census) Population per church 1,390 Electoral roll 17,700 The full statistics are available here Read our story on the national figures Pictured top is St Thomas Norwich, an example of growth. VMwares networking and security chief Martin Casado a forefather of the software defined networking movement testified before Congress last week that the countrys cyber security defenses are insufficient. @martin_casado Mr. Casado goes to Washington Virtual networking tools that prevent hackers from moving freely across distinct networks in a data center could be a way to reduce the damages caused by attackers, added Casado, who is senior vice president and general manager of VMware's Networking and Security business unit. Casado testified before a Joint Hearing of the House Science and Technology Subcommittees on Oversight and Research & Technology on Jan. 8. The Daily Caller reported on Casados testimony: Without a doubt, we are currently engaged in an escalating cyber arms race with entities that are methodical, sophisticated and effective, Casado told the panels. They will continue to probe our cyber infrastructure for vulnerabilities and they will continue to exploit our agencies networks whenever possible. It is clear to our nation and to those who perpetuate these attacks that the way in which we protect our national cyber infrastructure, the way in which we design and deploy cyber security systems across federal agencies is insufficient. Casado recommended switching to a cybersecurity method that would limit a hackers movements to just one section after breaching an agencys network. He also suggested the federal government invest in better cybersecurity technology. Said another way: To protect the U.S., buy NSX! Cisco Systems built a security system for the Chinese government knowing it would be used to track and persecute members of the Falun Gong religious minority, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation technology rights group. Falun Gong practitioners alleged the same thing in a lawsuit that a federal judge in Northern California dismissed in 2014. That case is being appealed, and on Monday the EFF, Privacy International and free-speech group Article 19 filed a brief that supports the appeal. The case highlights the risks technology companies take by selling software and hardware to customers around the world. Some of those customers may use the technology in ways that raise objections in other countries, creating legal problems or just tarnishing a vendor's reputation. Many U.S. and European companies sell technology to regimes that violate human rights, and if this case goes to trial and Cisco loses, they may think twice, said EFF Staff Attorney Sophia Cope. "In a lot of instances, these companies are selling directly to the government, and they know exactly what is going to be happening," Cope said. In this case, Cisco built an extensive law-enforcement system for the Chinese government beginning in 1999, called the "Golden Shield" or "Great Firewall." Also in 1999, China outlawed Falun Gong and began what the group calls a brutal campaign of repression including detention, beatings and torture. Several practitioners of Falun Gong sued Cisco in 2011, saying the government used the Golden Shield against them in its campaign. They sued under the Alien Tort Statute, a law against activities in the U.S. that support human rights abuses in other countries. They are seeking compensation and punitive damages, plus an injunction to stop Cisco from doing the same again. In the lower court, Judge Edward Davila found that the defendants couldn't support their charge that Cisco knew its technology would be used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The EFF and others want the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the suit. The EFF says there was plenty of evidence that Cisco knew or should have known, and that it customized the system for the campaign against Falun Gong. "Cisco developed specific portions of the Golden Shield in the U.S. to assist in the identification and location of Falun Gong practitioners, and those portions substantially assisted the Chinese government in efficiently and expansively persecuting the Falun Gong," the group said in its brief. Internal Cisco documents even mentioned such tactics, it said. Cisco said Tuesday that Judge Davila was correct to dismiss the case. We have always maintained that there is no basis for the allegations against Cisco, and there is no merit to the case," Cisco said via email. "We do not customize our products in any way that would facilitate censorship or repression. Cisco has also faced a suit that alleged its system was used against Chinese dissidents. That suit was also dismissed. A similar suit against IBM, filed in 2002, ended only last year with a win for IBM. Victims of South African apartheid sued IBM, saying it built a custom national identification system that the government used to segregate South Africans by race. You know, Im getting kind of tired of penning these requiems for cherished technologies and brands. In the last couple years, Ive had to write remembrances for Yahoo, BlackBerry, and RadioShack (I declined to give the honor to Google Plus). Now I find myself doing it again for yet another iconic nameplate: Motorola. Founded in Chicago way back in 1928 as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, Motorola enjoyed decades as a leader in the car radio market (motor-ola, get it?) while making various other kinds of radios and electronic devices. Eventually, the company branched out into everything from televisions to microprocessors and laptops. It came up with the Six Sigma quality-improvement process, now a global standard. In the modern era, Motorola invented the cellphone and became the largest cellphone handset maker in the world, employing more than 150,000 people. But the dominance didnt last. Passed by Nokia (how did I miss writing that one?), the struggling company was split into two parts in 2011, but both still used a form of the Motorola name, and shortly thereafter Google bought the Motorola Mobility portion for $12.5 billion. Google sold the unit to Lenovo in 2014 for less than $3 billion. And now the Chinese company is phasing out the Motorola name in favor of Moto. Seriously. Moto. At least the company will retain Motorola's classic M logofor now, anyway. And the other half of the split, Motorola Solutions, the portion that survived the Google buyout, will continue on as an independent company with a wide-ranging portfolio of business communication products. But the Motorola that revolutionized mobile technology, that built the chips powering the first Macs, that created the two-way pager, that came up with the Razr, that brought us color TV, that helped the word hear Neil Armstrong mis-speak his famous One small step for (a) man greeting from the moon? That company hasnt really been around for a while. And now we wont even have the name to help conjure the memories. A Saint Thomas man impersonated a police officer before assaulting his ex-girlfriend and doing more than $2,000 worth of damage inside her home, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Dakotah Lee Dingle, 23, was charged with felony burglary and criminal trespass, misdemeanor terroristic threats, simple assault, criminal mischief and impersonating a public servant, and summary harassment after a domestic incident Tuesday in the 100 block of Rustic Drive, Southampton Township, according to police. Around 1:30 a.m., Dingle arrived at the home, knocked on the door and stated that he was a police officer, police said. When the woman opened the door, Dingle punched her in the face, grabbed her hair and pulled her into a bedroom, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by State Police. Dingle then damaged more than $2,000 worth of electronics and other items in the home, the affidavit said. During this time, police said, he continued to punch and kick the woman and even threw shards of glass at her, cutting her hands and shin. Police said he then stole the womans cellphone, ran outside and threw it against the ground before he fled the scene. Dingle was arrested later that day and is currently being held in Cumberland County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail, according to court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 1 in front of Magisterial District Judge Anthony Adams. Aiming to reduce cost of stalls and to expand THATCHAM Town Council is looking to take on running the towns market. The council currently pays for a management company to run the stalls but speaking at a meeting on Monday, December 14, town councillor Jason Collis (Con, Thatcham North) said that the town market was more expensive to stall holders compared with Newburys market. Mr Collis said that 30 to 40 per cent difference in the two town markets seemed the wrong way round and was harming Thatchams market by being less attractive to stall holders. And, being very generous, Mr Collis said that the management company only appeared four times a year; leading the town council to explore options for running the market itself. To begin with this may mean we receive slightly less than we do currently but as time goes by, and we get more pitches filled, more money comes back to the council, he said. Lee Dillon (Lib Dem, Thatcham North) said that while it would be good to expand the market and the amount of money coming in, would the council be exposing itself to risks? Assuming we dont lose or pick up any trade where would we be with the numbers? he asked. Mr Collis said the council would be 38 a week down, plus the 318 annual membership for joining the National Association of British Market Authorities. However, he said the gap could be plugged by one new stall holder. Mr Collis said that there was room to expand the market on to the Broadway green and that the council controlling the market would be the first step towards its regeneration. Were hoping to be more competitive with Newbury market and also encouraging local people to have a go, he said. Were not treating it as a cash cow but making it something for the town and encouraging footfall, which has a knock effect to the rest of the town. Town council leader Richard Crumly summed up: In short we are taking control of our destiny. Councillors voted to take over the management of the market and contracting the current operational market manager (who is also a stallholder) to oversee the day-to-day running. Mr Collis said that the earliest the council could take charge would be February 2016. HARRISBURG A Susquehanna County woman who used traditional apples to make an old-fashioned apple pie won first place in the 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Contest. Jeralyn Adams of Dimock beat 79 other apple pie entries to win the coveted blue ribbon, $500 and bragging rights for making the best apple pie in Pennsylvania, during the Farm Show opening day on Saturday. Traditional apple pies took the top prizes this year at the contest, which many consider the Super Bowl for Pennsylvania bakers. Ive been coming to the Farm Show since I was a teenager, Adams said, holding the pie in one hand and the ribbon in the other. Our kids used to exhibit dairy cattle here, too. This is the biggest Farm Show win Ive ever had. The contest, sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs and the Pennsylvania Apple Marketing Program, was open only to certified first-place apple pie winners from Pennsylvanias 2015 agricultural fairs. Eighty Pennsylvania bakers brought pies to the competition. Other top winners were John Rauch of New Tripoli, second place and $250; Dr. Joan Villa Brandt of Hummelstown, third place and $100; Clancein Donough of Juniata County, fourth place ribbon; and Brenda Smith of Lock Haven, fifth place ribbon. Armed with forks, bottles of water and appetites, the five judges got to work. They evaluated the pies for appearance, creativity, color, flavor and texture of crust, and consistency, doneness, moistness and flavor of filling. Judge John Moeller, White House chef from 1992-2005, said We made apple pie in the White House all the time. Both President Bushes and President Clinton liked it. While he and the other four judges tasted, contestants discussed the art of apple pie making. Adams, who went on to win the top prize, said she uses lard and butter in her crust and Northern Spy, Jonagold and Pink Lady apples in the filling to blend sweetness and tartness. Rauch said he made his crumb apple pie entry super sweet by using Cortland apples he grew, extra butter, extra brown sugar and cider. Over the years, Rauchs wife, Lorri, and sister-in-law, Jennifer Klinger of Hamburg, placed in the top five apple pie winners. Nancy Stockdill of Ford City also made a plain apple pie using Granny Smith, McIntosh, Fuji, Jonagold and Gala apples. I used vinegar in the crust because that makes it flakier, she said. Brandt, a dentist, made a classic apple pie using Golden Delicious and Stayman Winesap apples. Klinger baked an apple peach pie, using Cortland apples and canned peaches. Nancy McMillin of Enon Valley brought her apple apricot pie she made by using Idared, Buckeye Gala and Golden Delicious apples and dried apricots. Brenda Smith, who went on to win fifth place, made an apple caramel crumb pie using Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples. I made the crust from an old family recipe, a filling with apples, flour, cinnamon and sugar and two toppings, she said. One topping was similar to apple crisp toppings and the other was chopped pecans with caramel sauce drizzled over it. I hope to come back to the Farm Show next year. Stacey Maddox of Conneaut Lake brought her apple maple bacon pie to the contest. I made it at home, took it to work and tweaked the recipe based on what my coworkers said, she said. I found that its better to put crumbled bacon on the topping than inside the pie. Adams first place Traditional Apple Pie recipe was: Crust: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup lard 1/3 cup unsalted butter 4-5 tablespoons cold water Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Blend in lard and butter with a fork or pastry blender until crumb is pea-sized and smaller. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, blending gently until dough almost cleans side of bowl. Divide dough in half and shape loosely into two balls. Roll out each in a circle on floured surface to fit an 8 or 9-inch pie pan. Line bottom of pan with one crust. Filling: 5-6 cups of tart Pennsylvania apples (cored, peeled and thinly sliced) 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup corn starch 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon Dash of ground nutmeg 1 tablespoon butter Mix apples, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Pour into crust-lines pan. Dot the top of the filling with butter. Top with remaining crust. Seal edges. Pierce top crust with fork at intervals to release steam while baking. Topping: 1 tablespoon milk 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (1 tablespoon sugar combined with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon) Brush top of crust with milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Protect crust edges from over-browning by covering them with strips of foil or purchased crust protector. Bake at 425 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, removing edge protector for last 15 minutes of baking. If top crust starts to over brown, cover loosely with foil. ISTANBUL A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the heart of Istanbuls historic district on Tuesday, killing 10 foreigners most of them German tourists and wounding 15 other people in the latest in a string of attacks by the Islamic extremists targeting Westerners. The blast, just steps from the historic Blue Mosque and a former Byzantine church in the citys storied Sultanahmet district, was the first by IS to target Turkeys vital tourism sector, although IS militants have struck with deadly effect elsewhere in the country. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bomber was a member of IS and pledged to battle the militant group until it no longer remains a threat to Turkey or the world. Davutoglu described the assailant as a foreign national, and Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said he was a Syrian citizen born in 1988. However, the private Dogan news agency said the bomber was Saudi-born. Kurtulmus said the attacker was believed to have recently entered Turkey from Syria and was not among a list of potential bombers wanted by Turkey. Turkey wont backtrack in its struggle against Daesh by even one step, Davutoglu said, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym. This terror organization, the assailants and all of their connections will be found and they will receive the punishments they deserve. Eight Germans were among the dead and nine others were wounded, some seriously, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin. The nationalities of the two others killed in the blast were not immediately released, but both were foreigners. The wounded also included citizens of Norway, Peru, South Korea and Turkey. Turkeys state-run news agency said Davutoglu held a telephone conversation with German chancellor Angela Merkel to express his condolences. I strongly condemn the terror incident that occurred in Istanbul, at the Sultanahmet Square, and which has been assessed as being an attack by a Syria-rooted suicide bomber, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Merkel pledged Germany would continue its fight against terrorism. Today Istanbul was the target, before Paris, Copenhagen, Tunis, and so many other areas, she told reporters in Berlin. International terror changes the places of its attacks but its goal is always the same it is our free life, in free society. The terrorists are the enemies of all free people, indeed, the enemies of all humanity, whether in Syria or Turkey, in France or Germany. The impact of Tuesdays attack, while not as deadly as two others last year, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkeys $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia. (op-DEE-voh) Nivolumab (nee-vol-u-mab) Consumer Medicine Information WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS - COMBINATION OF OPDIVO AND IPILIMUMAB Both OPDIVO and ipilimumab act on your immune system and may cause inflammation in parts of your body. Inflammation may cause serious damage to your body and some inflammatory conditions may be life-threatening. These side effects are most likely to begin during treatment, however, side effects can show up months after your last infusion. IT IS IMPORTANT TO TELL YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY IF YOU HAVE, OR DEVELOP, ANY OF THE SYMPTOMS LISTED UNDER POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS. WHAT IS IN THIS LEAFLET This leaflet answers some common questions about OPDIVO. It does not contain all of the available information. It does not take the place of talking to your doctor or pharmacist. All medicines have risks and benefits. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you receiving OPDIVO against the benefits they expect it will have for you. If you have any concerns about taking this medicine, ask your doctor. You should read this leaflet carefully and keep it in a safe place to refer to it later. WHAT IS OPDIVO USED FOR OPDIVO contains the active substance nivolumab, a protein which helps your immune system to attack and destroy cancer cells. Treatment with OPDIVO OPDIVO is used to treat advanced skin cancer (unresectable or metastatic melanoma), a type of lung cancer (advanced squamous and non squamous non-small cell lung cancer) , a type of kidney cancer (clear cell renal cell carcinoma) , a type of head and neck cancer (squamous cell cancer of the head and neck), a type of blood cancer called classical Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of bladder cancer (urothelial carcinoma), a type of liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) and a type of food pipe cancer (oesophageal cancer), if your cancer has not responded, or if it has stopped responding, to earlier treatment. OPDIVO may be used after chemoradiotherapy followed by surgical removal of cancer in your oesophagus (food pipe) or gastro-oesophageal junction (area which connects your food pipe and stomach). OPDIVO is also used to treat skin cancer (melanoma) and bladder cancer (urothelial carcinoma) after surgical removal of the cancer. Treatment after surgery is also called adjuvant therapy. Treatment with OPDIVO in combination with ipilimumab OPDIVO in combination with ipilimumab is used to treat advanced melanoma (unresectable or metastatic melanoma), a type of advanced kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) and malignant pleural mesothelioma (a type of cancer that affects the lining of the lung). Treatment with OPDIVO in combination with ipilimumab and chemotherapy OPDIVO in combination with ipilimumab and chemotherapy is used to treat advanced lung cancer. Treatment with OPDIVO in combination with cabozantinib OPDIVO in combination with cabozantinib is used to treat advanced kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma). Treatment with OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy is used to treat cancer of the stomach, the connection between the stomach and food pipe and the food pipe (gastric, gastro-oesophageal junction or oesophageal adenocarcinoma). This medicine is available only with a doctor's prescription. OPDIVO will be given to you in hospital under the supervision of an experienced doctor. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about why OPDIVO has been prescribed for you. Your doctor will continue giving you OPDIVO for as long as you keep benefitting from it or until you no longer tolerate the treatment. Patients receiving OPDIVO after surgical removal of melanoma may require treatment for no longer than one year. BEFORE YOU ARE GIVEN OPDIVO You should not be given OPDIVO if you are allergic (hypersensitive) to nivolumab or any of the other ingredients of OPDIVO. If you are not sure, talk to your doctor. Check with your doctor or nurse before you are given OPDIVO if: you have an autoimmune disease (a condition where the body attacks its own cells) like Crohn's, ulcerative colitis or lupus you have any history of inflammation of the lungs you have been told your cancer has spread to your brain you have melanoma of the eye you were previously given ipilimumab, another medicine for the treatment of advanced melanoma, and experienced side effects because of this medicine. you are taking any medicines that suppress your immune system, such as corticosteroids, since these medicines may interfere with the effect of OPDIVO. However, once you are treated with OPDIVO, your doctor may give you corticosteroids to reduce any possible side effects that you may have during your treatment and this will not impact the effect of the medicine. OPDIVO may cause: Problems with your lungs such as breathing difficulties, or cough. These may be signs of inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis or interstitial lung disease). Diarrhoea (watery, loose or soft stools) or any symptoms of inflammation of the intestines (colitis), such as stomach pain and mucus or blood in the stool. Inflammation of the liver (hepatitis). Signs and symptoms of hepatitis may include abnormal liver function tests, eye or skin yellowing (jaundice), pain on the right side of your stomach area, or tiredness. Inflammation or problems with your kidneys. Signs and symptoms may include abnormal kidney function tests decreased volume of urine, and kidney failure. Problems with your hormone producing glands (including the thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary, and adrenal glands) that may affect how these glands work. Signs and symptoms that your glands are not working properly may include fatigue (extreme tiredness), weight change or headache, muscle aches or cramps and visual disturbances. Diabetes (symptoms include excessive thirst, the passing of a greatly increased amount of urine, increase in appetite with a loss of weight, feeling tired, drowsy, weak, depressed, irritable and generally unwell) or diabetic ketoacidosis (acid in the blood produced from diabetes). Inflammation of the skin that can lead to rash and itching. Severe and possibly fatal peeling of the skin (toxic epidermal necrolysis, Steven-Johnson syndrome). Loss of the covering around the nerves (demyelination), inflammation of the nerves caused by the body attacking itself, causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain. A condition in which the muscles become weak and tire easily (myasthenic syndrome). A temporary inflammation of the nerves that causes pain, weakness and paralysis in the extremities (Guillain-Barre syndrome). Inflammation of the brain Inflammation of muscles causing pain or stiffness Inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) characterised by shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations or chest pain Muscle breakdown/injury (rhabdomyolysis) characterised by muscle pain, weakness, nausea or vomiting. Solid organ transplant rejection. Tell your doctor immediately if you have any signs or symptoms of the possible side effects listed above or if your symptoms get worse. Do not try to treat your symptoms with other medicines. Complications of stem cell transplant that uses donor cells (allogeneic) may occur after treatment with Opdivo. These complications can be severe and can lead to death. Your healthcare provider will monitor you for signs of complications if you have an allogeneic stem cell transplant. Using other medicines Please tell your doctor if you are taking or have recently taken any other medicines, including medicines obtained without a prescription. Ask your doctor for advice before taking any medicine during your treatment. Children It is not recommended to use this medicine in children or an adolescent (below 18 years) until further information becomes available. Take special care with OPDIVO OPDIVO is a medicine that influences your immune system and may cause inflammation in parts of your body. Inflammation may cause serious damage to your body and some inflammatory conditions may be life threatening and need treatment or withdrawal of OPDIVO. Tell your doctor immediately if you have any of the symptoms of inflammation listed in "Possible Side Effects". Pregnancy and breast-feeding Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or if you are breast-feeding. You must not use OPDIVO if you are pregnant unless your doctor specifically recommends it. The effects of OPDIVO in pregnant women are not known, but it is possible that the active substance, nivolumab, could harm an unborn baby. You must use effective contraception while you are being treated with OPDIVO, and for at least 5 months following the last dose of OPDIVO, if you are a woman who could become pregnant. If you become pregnant while using OPDIVO, tell your doctor. You should stop breast-feeding if you are being treated with OPDIVO. It is not known whether nivolumab gets into breast milk. A risk to the breast-fed infant cannot be excluded. Driving and using machines No studies on the effects on the ability to drive and use machines have been performed. OPDIVO is unlikely to affect your ability to drive or use machines; however, use caution when performing these activities until you are sure that OPDIVO does not adversely affect you. Important information about some of the ingredients of OPDIVO Tell your doctor if you are on a low-sodium (low-salt) diet before you are given OPDIVO. This medicine contains 2.5 mg sodium per mL of concentrate. HOW OPDIVO IS GIVEN OPDIVO will be given to you in hospital or clinic under the supervision of an experienced doctor. It will be given to you as an infusion (a drip) into a vein (intravenously). Your doctor will decide how many treatments you need. Dosage and frequency of administration The recommended dose and frequency of OPDIVO can be different depending on the type of cancer it is being used to treat. Some types of cancer are treated with OPDIVO in combination with other prescription anti-cancer medicines. Your doctor will advise you which treatments you will be given and will tell you about the dose and frequency of these treatments. Please refer to the Consumer Medicine Information of in order to understand the use of these other prescription anti-cancer medicines. If you have questions about these medicines, please ask your doctor. If you miss a dose of OPDIVO It is very important for you to keep all appointments to receive OPDIVO. If you miss an appointment, ask your doctor when to schedule your next dose. If you are given too much (overdose) As OPDIVO is given to you under the supervision of your doctor, it is unlikely that you will be given too much. However, if you experience any side effects after being given OPDIVO, tell your doctor immediately. If you stop using OPDIVO Stopping your treatment may stop the effect of the medicine. Do not stop treatment with OPDIVO unless you have discussed this with your doctor. If you have any further questions about your treatment or the use of this medicine, ask your doctor. WHILE YOU ARE BEING TREATED WITH OPDIVO Things you must do Tell your doctor immediately if you have any signs or symptoms of possible side effects or if they get worse. See Possible Side Effects. Do not try to treat your symptoms with other medicines on your own. You doctor may Give you other medicines in order to prevent complications and reduce your symptoms Withhold the next dose of OPDIVO Or stop your treatment with OPDIVO altogether. Please note that these signs and symptoms are sometimes delayed, and may develop weeks or months after your last dose. Before treatment, your doctor will check your general health. You will also have blood tests during treatment. Tell any other doctors, dentists, and pharmacists who are treating you that you are being given OPDIVO. If you are about to be started on any new medicine, tell your doctor, dentist or pharmacist that you are being given OPDIVO. Tell your doctor immediately if you develop symptoms of an allergic reaction. These symptoms may be: shortness of breath, wheezing or difficulty breathing swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body rash, itching or hives on the skin POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS Like all medicines, OPDIVO can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them. Your doctor will discuss these with you and will explain the risks and benefits of your treatment. Do not try to treat your symptoms with other medicines. Do not be alarmed by possible side effects. You may not experience any of them. Ask your doctor to answer any questions you may have. The following side effects have been reported in clinical trials when OPDIVO has been given alone: Very common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) Diarrhoea (watery, loose or soft stools), nausea Skin rash sometimes with blisters, itching Feeling tired or weak Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people) Infections of the upper respiratory tract Underactive thyroid gland, which can cause tiredness or weight gain, overactive thyroid gland, which can cause rapid heart rate, sweating and weight loss Decreased appetite Inflammation of the nerves causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain of the arms and legs, headaches, dizziness Inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis), characterised by coughing and difficulty breathing Coughing, shortness of breath (dyspnoea) Inflammation of the intestines (colitis) Stomach pain, constipation Mouth ulcers and cold sores (stomatitis), vomiting, dry mouth Skin colour changes in patches (vitiligo), dry skin, redness of the skin, hair loss or thinning Pain in the muscles, bones and joints Fever, oedema (swelling) Allergic reaction, reaction related to the infusion of the medicine High blood pressure (hypertension) Decrease in some white blood cells Uncommon (may affect up to 1 in 100 people) Bronchitis Serious lung infection (pneumonia) Decreased secretion of hormones produced by adrenal glands (glands situated above the kidneys), underactive function (hypopituitarism) or inflammation (hypophysitis) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain, swelling of the thyroid gland, diabetes Inflammation of the pancreas, inflammation of the stomach (gastritis) Dehydration Increased acid level in the blood Increase in some white blood cells Inflammation of the eye, which causes pain and redness, blurred vision, dry eyes Inflammation in the kidney, kidney failure Fast heart rate, abnormal heart rhythm Arthritis Damage to nerves causing numbness and weakness (polyneuropathy), inflammation of the nerves caused by the body attacking itself, causing numbness, weakness, tingling and burning pain Inflammation of the liver (hepatitis) Fluid around the lungs Severe condition of the skin that causes red, often itchy spots, similar to rash of measles, which starts on the limbs and sometimes on the face and the rest of the body (erythema multiforme), skin disease with thickened patches of red skin, often silvery scales (psoriasis), hives (itchy, bumpy rash) Pain, chest pain Swollen lymph nodes, rash or tender lumps on skin, cough, or eye pain (sarcoidosis) Changes in the rhythm or rate of the heart, abnormal heart rhythm Rare (may affect up to 1 in 1000 people) Life threatening allergic reaction Severe and possibly fatal peeling of the skin (toxic epidermal necrolysis, Steven-Johnson syndrome), , skin condition of the face where the nose and cheeks are unusually red (rosacea) Loss of the covering around the nerves (demyelination) pain A condition in which the muscles become weak and tire easily (myasthenic syndrome) A temporary inflammation of the nerves that causes pain, weakness and paralysis in the extremities (Guillain-Barre syndrome) Inflammation of the brain Ulcer of the small intestine Blockage of the bile ducts Fluid in lungs Acid in the blood produced from diabetes (diabetic ketoacidosis) A disease causing inflammation or enlargement of a lymph node (Kikuchi lymphadenitis) Inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) characterised by shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations or chest pain Inflammation of muscles causing pain or stiffness Muscle breakdown/injury (rhabdomyolysis) characterised by muscle pain, weakness, nausea or vomiting. Myopathy (aching muscles, muscle tenderness or weakness, not caused by exercise) Inflammatory disease of blood vessels Disease in which the immune system attacks the glands that make moisture for the body, such as tears and saliva (Sjogren's syndrome) decrease in parathyroid hormone blood disorder caused by overactive immune cells Changes in test results OPDIVO may cause changes in the results of tests carried out by your doctor. These include: Abnormal liver function tests Abnormal kidney function tests A decreased number of red blood cells (which carry oxygen), white blood cells (which are important in fighting infection) or platelets (cells which help the blood clot) Abnormal levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium or sodium in your blood Decrease in body weight Higher levels of sugar in your blood (hyperglycaemia) The following side effects have been reported in clinical trials when OPDIVO has been given in combination with ipilimumab: Very common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) Overactive thyroid gland, which can cause rapid heart rate, sweating and weight loss Underactive thyroid gland, which can cause tiredness or weight gain Decreased appetite Headache Shortness of breath (dyspnoea) Inflammation of the intestines (colitis), diarrhoea (watery, loose or soft stools), vomiting, nausea, stomach pain Skin rash sometimes with blisters, itching Pain in the joints, muscles and bones Feeling tired or weak Fever Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people) Serious lung infection (pneumonia), infections of the upper respiratory tract Increase in some white blood cells Decreased secretion of hormones produced by adrenal glands (glands situated above the kidneys); underactive function (hypopituitarism) or inflammation (hypophysitis) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain; inflammation of the thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism); swelling of the thyroid gland Dehydration Inflammation of the nerves causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain of the arms and legs; dizziness Inflammation of the eye, which causes pain and redness, blurred vision Fast heart rate High blood pressure (hypertension) Inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis), characterised by coughing and difficulty breathing, blood clots, cough Mouth ulcers and cold sores (stomatitis), inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), constipation, dry mouth Inflammation of the liver Skin colour change in patches (vitiligo), dry skin, redness of the skin, unusual hair loss or thinning, hives (itchy rash) Pain in the muscles and bones Kidney failure (including abrupt loss of kidney function) Oedema (swelling), pain Allergic reaction, reactions related to the infusion of the medicine Uncommon (may affect up to 1 in 100 people) Inflammation of the brain Bronchitis Chronic diseases associated with a build-up of inflammatory cells in various organs and tissues, most commonly the lungs (sarcoidosis) Acid in the blood produced from diabetes (diabetic ketoacidosis), diabetes A temporary inflammation of the nerves that causes pain, weakness and paralysis in the extremities (Guillain-Barre syndrome); damage to nerves causing numbness and weakness (polyneuropathy); inflammation of the nerves; foot drop (peroneal nerve palsy); inflammation of the nerves caused by the body attacking itself, causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain (autoimmune neuropathy) Changes in the rhythm or rate of the heart beat, abnormal heart rhythm Fluid around the lungs Intestinal perforation, inflammation of the stomach (gastritis), inflammation of the duodenum (duodenitis) Skin disease with thickened patches of red skin, often with silvery scales (psoriasis) Chronic disease of joints (spondyloarthropathy) Disease in which the immune system attacks the glands that make moisture for the body, such as tears and saliva (Sjogren's syndrome) Inflammation of the joints (arthritis) Inflammation of muscles (myositis) causing pain or stiffness Inflammation of the kidney (nephritis) Chest pain Inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) characterised by shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations or chest pain. Muscle breakdown/injury (rhabdomyolysis) characterised by muscle pain, weakness, nausea or vomiting. Rare (may affect up to 1 in 1000 people) Severe and possibly fatal peeling of the skin (toxic epidermal necrolysis, Steven-Johnson syndrome) decrease in parathyroid hormone blood disorder caused by overactive immune cells Changes in test results OPDIVO in combination with ipilimumab may cause changes in the results of tests carried out by your doctor. These include: Abnormal liver function tests Abnormal kidney function tests A decreased number of red blood cells (which carry oxygen), white blood cells (which are important in fighting infection) or platelets (cells which help the blood to clot) An increased level of the enzyme that breaks down fats and of the enzyme that breaks down starch. Abnormal levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium or sodium in your blood Higher blood levels of bilirubin Decrease in body weight Higher (hyperglycaemia) or lower (hypoglycaemia) levels of sugar in your blood The following side effects have been reported in clinical trials when OPDIVO has been given in combination with ipilimumab and chemotherapy: Very common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) Underactive thyroid gland, which can cause tiredness or weight gain Decreased appetite diarrhoea (watery, loose or soft stools), vomiting, nausea Skin rash sometimes with blisters, itching Feeling tired or weak Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people) Conjunctivitis Serious lung infection (pneumonia), infections of the upper respiratory tract Increase in some white blood cells Allergic reaction, reactions related to the infusion of the medicine Decreased secretion of hormones produced by adrenal glands (glands situated above the kidneys), inflammation (hypophysitis) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain, overactive thyroid gland, which can cause rapid heart rate, sweating and weight loss, swelling of the thyroid gland Inflammation of the nerves causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain of the arms and legs; dizziness dry eyes headache Shortness of breath (dyspnoea) Inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis), characterised by coughing and difficulty breathing, blood clots, cough Inflammation of the intestines (colitis) Mouth ulcers and cold sores (stomatitis), inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), constipation, dry mouth Inflammation of the liver dry skin, redness of the skin, unusual hair loss or thinning Pain in the joints, muscles and bones, inflammation of the joints Kidney failure (including abrupt loss of kidney function) Fever Oedema (swelling) Uncommon (may affect up to 1 in 100 people) underactive function (hypopituitarism) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain, decrease in parathyroid hormone damage to nerves causing numbness and weakness (polyneuropathy); inflammation of the nerves caused by the body attacking itself, causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain (autoimmune neuropathy), inflammation of the brain blurred vision Changes in the rhythm or rate of the heart beat, abnormal heart rhythm High blood pressure (hypertension), low blood pressure (hypotension) Fluid around the lungs, bronchitis Skin disease with thickened patches of red skin, often with silvery scales (psoriasis) Severe and possibly fatal peeling of the skin (Steven-Johnson syndrome) Inflammation of muscles (myositis) causing pain or stiffness Inflammation of the kidney (nephritis) Chest pain Changes in test results OPDIVO in combination with ipilimumab and chemotherapy may cause changes in the results of tests carried out by your doctor. These include: Abnormal liver function tests Abnormal kidney function tests A decreased number of red blood cells (which carry oxygen), white blood cells (which are important in fighting infection) or platelets (cells which help the blood to clot) An increased level of the enzyme that breaks down fats and of the enzyme that breaks down starch. Abnormal levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium or sodium in your blood Higher levels of sugar in your blood (hyperglycaemia) Higher blood levels of bilirubin The following side effects have been reported in clinical trials when OPDIVO has been given in combination with cabozantinib: Very common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) Underactive thyroid gland, which can cause tiredness or weight gain Decreased appetite, altered sense of taste High blood pressure (hypertension) Hoarseness Diarrhoea, nausea, mouth ulcers and cold sores (stomatitism), vomiting, abdominal pain, indigestion Blisters, pain of the hands or soles of the feet, rash or redness of the skin, rash, itching Feeling tired or weak Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people) Infections of the upper respiratory tract Allergic reaction, reactions related to the infusion of the medicine Overactive thyroid gland, which can cause rapid heart rate, sweating and weight loss, decreased secretion of hormones produced by adrenal glands (glands situated above the kidneys) Dehydration Headache, dizziness, inflammation of the nerves causing numbness or burning pain of the arms and legs Dry eye Blood clots Inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis) characterised by coughing and difficulty breathing, cough, shortness of breath (dyspnoea), nose bleeds Dry mouth, constipation, inflammation of the stomach (gastritis), oral pain Inflammation of the liver (hepatitis) Dry skin, unusual hair loss or thinning, redness of the skin, hair colour change Pain in the joints, muscle spasm, pain in the muscles or bones, pains, inflammation in the joints Protein in the urine (seen in tests), Kidney failure including abrupt loss of kidney function oedema (swelling), fever, pain Uncommon (may affect up to 1 in 100 people) Serious lung infection (pneumonia) Increase in some white blood cells Allergic reaction, reactions related to the infusion of the medicine Inflammation (hypophysitis) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain, swelling of the thyroid gland Inflammation of the brain, autoimmune, a temporary inflammation of the nerves that causes pain, weakness and paralysis in the extremities (Guillain- Barre syndrome), a condition in which the muscles become weak and tire easily (myasthenic syndrome) Ringing in ears Inflammation of the eye, which causes pain and redness, blurred vision Changes in the rhythm or rate of the heart, fast heart rate, inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) characterised by shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations or chest pain Fluid around the lungs Inflammation of the intestines (colitis), inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), intestinal perforation, a burning or stinging sensation on the tongue, haemorrhoids Skin disease with thickened patches of red skin, often with silvery scales (psoriasis), severe itching of skin Myopathy (aching muscles, muscle tenderness or weakness, not caused by exercise), bone damage in the jaw, a painful tear or abnormal connection of the tissues in your body Inflammation of the kidney (nephritis) chest pain Changes in test results OPDIVO in combination with cabozantinib may cause changes in the results of tests carried out by your doctor. These include: Abnormal liver function tests Abnormal kidney function tests A decreased number of red blood cells (which carry oxygen), white blood cells (which are important in fighting infection) or platelets (cells which help the blood to clot) An increased level of the enzyme that breaks down fats and of the enzyme that breaks down starch. Abnormal levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium or phosphate in your blood. Higher (hyperglycaemia) or lower (hypoglycaemia) levels of sugar in your blood The following side effects have been reported in clinical trials when OPDIVO has been given in combination with chemotherapy: Very common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) Decreased appetite Inflammation of the nerves causing numbness, weakness, tingling or burning pain of the arms and legs; dizziness diarrhoea (watery, loose or soft stools), vomiting, nausea Mouth ulcers and cold sores (stomatitis) Feeling tired or weak Skin rash sometimes with blisters, itching, tingling and tenderness developing to symmetrical redness, swelling and pain primarily on the palm of the hand and sole of the foot (palmar-plantar erythrodysaesthaesia syndrome) Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people) Serious lung infection (pneumonia) Increase in some white blood cells Allergic reaction, reactions related to the infusion of the medicine Underactive thyroid gland, which can cause tiredness or weight gain. overactive thyroid gland, which can cause rapid heart rate, sweating and weight loss, swelling of the thyroid gland Sensations like numbness and tingling (paraesthesia), dizziness headache dry eyes blurred vision Shortness of breath (dyspnoea) Blood clots, low blood pressure (hypotension) Inflammation of the lungs (pneumonitis), characterised by coughing and difficulty breathing, blood clots, cough Inflammation of the intestines (colitis) Constipation, dry mouth Abdominal pain Dry skin, redness of the skin, unusual hair loss or thinning, skin colour change in patches, hives (itchy rash) Pain in the joints, muscles and bones, inflammation of the joints, muscle weakness Fever Oedema (swelling) Uncommon (may affect up to 1 in 100 people) Infections of the upper respiratory tract Underactive function (hypopituitarism) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain, decreased secretion of hormones produced by adrenal glands (glands situated above the kidneys), inflammation (hypophysitis) of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain Diabetes A temporary inflammation of the nerves that causes pain, weakness and paralysis in the extremities (Guillain-Barre syndrome) Inflammation of the eye, which causes pain and redness, blurred vision Rapid heart rate, inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) characterised by shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations or chest pain Inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) Inflammation of the liver Kidney failure (including abrupt loss of kidney function), inflammation of the kidney (nephritis) Changes in test results OPDIVO in combination with chemotherapy may cause changes in the results of tests carried out by your doctor. These include: Abnormal liver function tests Abnormal kidney function tests A decreased number of red blood cells (which carry oxygen), white blood cells (which are important in fighting infection) or platelets (cells which help the blood to clot) An increased level of the enzyme that breaks down fats and of the enzyme that breaks down starch. Abnormal levels of calcium, potassium or sodium in your blood Higher (hyperglycaemia) or lower (hypoglycaemia) levels of sugar in your blood Higher blood levels of bilirubin FURTHER INFORMATION What OPDIVO contains The active substance is nivolumab. Each vial contains either 40 mg (in 4mL) or 100 mg (in 10mL) of nivolumab. The other ingredients are sodium citrate dihydrate, sodium chloride, mannitol (E421), pentetic acid, polysorbate 80, sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid and water for injection. What OPDIVO looks like and contents of the pack OPDIVO concentrate for solution for infusion is a clear to opalescent, colourless to pale yellow liquid that may contain light (few) particles. It is available in packs containing either 1 vial of 40 mg in 4 mL or 1 vial of 100 mg in 10 mL. HOW TO STORE OPDIVO It is unlikely that you will be asked to store OPDIVO yourself. It will be stored in the hospital or clinic where it is given to you. Sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty Ltd 4 Nexus Court, Mulgrave Victoria 3170, Australia, Registration Numbers: OPDIVO (nivolumab) concentrate solution for infusion 40mg in 4mL (10mg/mL) AUST R 231867 OPDIVO (nivolumab) concentrate solution for infusion 100mg in 10mL (10mg/mL) AUST R 231868 OPDIVO (nivolumab) concentrate solution for infusion 240mg in 24mL (10mg/mL) AUST R 318057 (not marketed). A new study conducted at the University of Haifa and published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience has identified activity of brain proteins associated with memory impairments in Alzheimer's disease, and has also found that "repairing" this activity leads to an improvement in memory. "In the study we found that the nerve cells in the mouse models of Alzheimer face a type of metabolic stress. When a cell faces such metabolic stress, it is logical that it will reduce its activity level in order to survive. The problem is that this stress is chronic and leads to impairment of cognitive functioning," explains research student Yifat Segev, who undertook the study together with Dr. Iliana Barrera and additional colleagues from Prof. Rosenblum's laboratory and researchers from the medical school in Bergen, Norway. The researchers hope that the new start-up they have founded on the basis of the findings will enable the development of a drug that will delay the onset of cognitive symptoms. In recent years, researchers into Alzheimer's have focused mainly on an attempt to fight the disease after it has erupted, as well as on understanding its pathology. Nevertheless, it is well-known that the disease nests in the brain for many years before the patient or those around them complain of symptoms. A previous study by Segev at the laboratory for research of molecular and cellular mechanisms, directed by Prof. Kobi Rosenblum in the Sagol Department of Neurobiology at the University of Haifa, found a connection between a genetic condition known to be a risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's and premature aging as manifested in ongoing metabolic stress. In the previous study, Segev found a connection between abnormal activity of the elF2 protein, which is known to regulate the formation of new proteins needed for the creation of long-term memories, and mice that carried the human gene APOE4, which is known as a key risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's, the form that afflicts over 90 percent of Alzheimer's patients in Israel and around the world. In the present study, Segev and Bererra reach an even deeper understanding of the abnormality of the process and, in particular, finds that "repairing" the process improves the ability to create new memories. As in the first study, a group of young mice carrying the human gene APOE4 showed cognitive impairment on the behavioral level - in other words, they showed signs of damage on the level of spatial memory. A molecular examination showed that the protein elF2 had undergone phosphorylation (a phosphate group had been added to it, changing its action), leading to several processes, including elevated expression of the RNA on another protein, ATF4. This elevation delayed the expression of additional genes associated with the consolidation of memory - i.e. the creation of long-term stable memory. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today According to the researcher, who is in the closing stages of her doctorate thesis, the measurements show that in several parameters mice expressing the risk factor for Alzheimer's "age" metabolically at a relatively young age. "The abnormal activity in the regulation of the activity of the ATF4 probably causes the cell to 'feel' that is under stress, that is - overactive. A cell that is in stress reduces its activity in order to survive with the goal of restoring it to a normal condition after the stress passes. The problem is that in Alzheimer's the stress is probably chronic, and accordingly there is no return to normal activity," Segev explains. In order to reinforce the connection they found, the researchers performed an additional intervention in which they prevented the eIF2 from causing an increase in the RNA of the ATF4. When they examined these mice, they found an improvement in their cognitive capabilities. "In previous studies we showed that it is possible to improve long-term memory by regulating the course of the PKR protein and the eIF2 in models in young and healthy animals. Then we found a connection between eIF2 and cognitive impairment in the context of Alzheimer's. Now, we have not only deepened our understanding of these processes, but we have also managed to show that it is possible to cause a cognitive improvement in an Alzheimer's model. Following these studies and the patents we obtained, we are gaining a better understanding of the connection between the molecular course of PKR and eIF2 and Alzheimer's. I hope that the new start-up we established on the basis of these findings will enable a drug to be found that can delay the onset of cognitive symptoms in dementia patients and in people with various cognitive impairments," Prof. Rosenblum concluded. Source: University of Haifa insights from industry George Powell President of Summit Diagnostics How important is the role of drug and alcohol testing to the integrity of addiction and recovery centers? In the US, drug and alcohol testing has been a part of addiction and recovery for as long as I can remember. I started working in the business, basically in the employment industry, back in the mid-to-late 90s. Testing was essential, in that industries needed to ensure they had alcohol- and drug-free work places. Around 2000 to 2001, I started getting involved in the addiction and recovery industry. It's an important tool in monitoring compliance and adherence to a program, without which you're just going to be making guesses. A lot of people say to me that they're not really interested in looking at drug testing or that they have a pre-disposition about it because it violates privacy and fosters a negative approach to treatment. They'll say they've been in the business for a long time and can tell when somebody is using. Although professionals treating patients in recovery may have a keener sense to spotting drug and alcohol use there is no way to confirm use without some hard clinical evidence and data. Drug and alcohol addicts are a group of individuals who are very astute when getting around detection, whether theyre intoxicated or not. Testing is an important tool in discovery, treatment and monitoring of the disease. We find that its a key piece of treatment. What challenges do treatment centers face due to the complex nature of recovery? I think there is a little bit of a difference between the UK and the US. I think in the US, it's really a situation that drug monitoring is well accepted, with most people who are in recovery realizing that they will have to be tested. It's a little bit more of a mature industry over here than it is in the UK. I think in the UK, there is the ever present issue of people feeling their privacy is being invaded. This is not a privacy situation. Laboratories are not trying to invade privacy or publish anything about patients that would affect their everyday life. Labs simply produce data to help plan treatment. That's what the industry is about, it's a data driven industry. We only put numbers out. We don't look at who it came from, where it came from or the type of test it is. We just develop data for the counselors and doctors and find a way to treat patients. In what ways can Summit Diagnostics help addiction and recovery centers? We're a company that looks at working with ethical organizations around the world to help build programs to educate medical professionals that treat addiction and do so in an economical and effective way. Our industry has had some bad press over the last couple of years due to laboratories abusing systems and trying to overcharge patients insurance. We've never taken the concept in that way. We want to go in and work with these individual practices to determine what the best type of testing program is for them, what makes sense for them and what the best way is to get it through to the patients. We dont even call our programs drug testing, we have coined the term Routine Medication Monitoring and feel this term is more accurate with our mission. It is important that we look at medical necessity to treat the patient for what they are addicted to. Testing helps medical professionals determine the problem and then prepares a way to treat the problem. As with most diseases, your physician would perform a battery of tests to determine if you have the disease, extent of the disease and then would develop a treatment plan. Addiction is a disease no different than any others and needs the same consideration when diagnosing. Patients then realize that they're going to get the best possible outcomes and maintain their dignity at the same time. We're not trying to hurt anybody; we're trying to help people and I think Summit does a good job of that. We have a number of locations around the US and our goal is to push into Europe, with the overall goal of having a consistent treatment protocol How has innovation and technology impacted upon drug testing and the rehabilitation market over the past decade? It has changed tremendously. When I first started, there was basically only one way to do a test and that was with an immunoassay. An immunoassay would be a screening device is like an instant test cup or a tabletop analyzer that would analyze a specimen and determine whether a drug was present or not, but it wouldn't specify what drug or type of drug was there. The best analogy can give for the results of an immunoassay is that if you tell a friend youre going to Wembley Stadium and the friend wanted to know where you were sitting, you couldnt tell them. Immunoassay can only tell you a class of drug present not a specific drug. For example you could have a positive opiate but you wouldnt know if it were Heroin or poppy seeds from a bagel! This result could have a tremendous impact on a recovery plan or present legal implications. Confirmation is a much deeper science and helps distinguish what actual drug is present. Going back to the analogy above using lab confirmation technology you could tell your friend that you were in Wembley, what section, row and seat and probably what you had for dinner. This is important for medical professionals to help them determine what medications their patients are on and taking correctly and which they may be taking without consent. In many cases its quite innocent, multiple physicians prescribing medications and not knowing what each is being prescribed. Self-medicating is a problem as well. These tests help distinguish whats present and what may not work well together. Adverse drug reactions are a big problem. Do you work at all with clinical trial companies to check participant compliance? Not necessarily on clinical trials, but in the US, when pain care medicine really became prevalent in about 2004 and 2005, we started seeing a number of big issues and a lot of problems. An even bigger problem was diversion when somebody obtains a medication, but doesn't necessarily take it and instead sells it on the street. It's a huge problem for the US because you've got people selling drugs that were prescribed under the premise of resolving a problem like a pain issue or depression. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Medications sell at a premium on the streets and are a gateway to more illicit drug use. This is where the drug testing industry started having an important place in the market. Doctor shopping became popular and diversion rampant. What insights have Summit diagnostics been able to draw from their other specialty services to the addiction and recovery market? I very recently saw a great article about pregnant women who use marijuana. The statistics show that marijuana is more of a gateway drug than previously believed. It was not the only drug that the women use and was instead only one of many drugs they use. If you're doing that during pregnancy, obviously there's going to be some adverse effects on the baby. The US, has a big concern about this and with state legalization of marijuana, is a hot topic in political circles, since we are not sure of the long term affects that marijuana will have. We do know that statistics show that people starting younger are more prone to start using other drugs. I think it's really important to have leaders from each side of the ocean get together and talk about how to work cooperatively to tackle these issues and look at addiction uniformly. Currently, how do treatment protocols in the US differ from the UK? As far as testing goes, its much more widely accepted in the US than in the UK, partly because of the National Health Service. Im not sure testing and treatment are as aggressive and clarified as in the US. In the US, most insurance companies will pay for this type of testing and also government programs do pay for it, although now it's becoming more and more limited, but thats okay. We're trying to get a reasonable testing protocol based on medical necessity for each patient that takes into account many variables. These variables include type of testing, how to test, when to test and frequency of testing. I think in the past that's been the biggest problem: labs have had protocols that say you should test for every drug that's out there, three or more times per week. That is completely unnecessary and not what we like to see. There are ways to moderate and cost contain while still obtaining valuable treatment data. What changes do you think are needed to these protocols? I think there needs to be a real dialogue between leaders of the US, the UK and the rest of Europe to talk about this ongoing problem of drug abuse. At this point, it's at epidemic proportions in almost every country. We see new drugs popping up all the time. Just in my hometown, we've had two overdoses in just the past few weeks and we're talking about a small little town in New Hampshire. Were seeing really dirty drugs coming over from Eastern Europe, drugs that we never expect to see here. There is a worldwide connection to the drug problem. I do think there is a way to treat drug abuse on an international level that would be consistent from place to place. I think that's a better way to attack this problem. We need to start attacking the problem with children at a young age through education and cut the demand off. What do you think the future holds for drug and alcohol testing? It's unfortunately an endless market. As long as the supply is there and the demand is there, we're going to have addiction problems. Our company is looking at how we treat people and how to do so with compassion while preserving dignity. We consider this absolutely to be a disease of epidemic proportions and I think that medical professionals on both sides need to look at this and find a way to put together a cohesive policy to treating that disease. Routine Medication monitoring is an amazing and essential tool in developing data and ultimately a care plan for people suffering from this disease. We need to put our minds together and bring treatment testing together, with a set protocol that will work and enable the job to get done. What are Summit Diagnostics plans for the future? We're very interested in the European market. We've looked at some sites in London and are actually looking at putting our first laboratory over there. We're very excited about the potential of doing that. We obviously want to get together with the thought leaders in London and talk to them about what they need, what they want and what they're going to get out of a laboratory there. We do think that we can work cooperatively over there, with a number of the big leaders in rehab and recovery and also in the physician market. There are people that want to look at this policy, this program, and see if we can implement it together. Really, our goal is simply to put together a great policy that works across the board to help people get well and we spend a lot of time in the recovery business. We see a lot of people that have been on the really bad side of things and have still been able to get them completely back. I saw somebody who had been a life-long drug addict for 55 or 56 years make a complete recovery, so there is hope. It doesn't matter what age people are, we don't give up on anybody. There is always hope out there and that's what we do. We work with people who want to get clean and help them to do so. Where can readers find more information? About George Powell George Powell is the CEO and Founder of Summit Diagnostics. He has over 30 years in the clinical testing business in both products and services. George Serves on the boards of a number of laboratories and has expertise in lab start up, compliance, production and partnering with labs to assure compliance and cost containment. He is an avid supporter of the Recovery effort locally and internationally. Paladina Health, an innovative primary care approach to delivering individualized health care, announced today that State of Colorado employees and their eligible dependents who have health coverage through UnitedHealthcare now have access to Paladina Health's family practice physicians in Colorado. This partnership enables the State of Colorado to use Paladina Health's program to help improve health measures of their employees and their families while aiming to reduce health care costs. "We are proud to offer state employees a unique health care experience delivered by a company based right here in Colorado," said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. "The number of employees and their families that will benefit from this partnership will only continue to grow as Paladina Health extends its footprint throughout the state." Through this relationship, UnitedHealthcare members now have access to Paladina Health's "medical home" approach to primary care, which includes unhurried appointments, 24/7 telephonic consultation with a patient's personal physician when issues arise, and help in personally guiding outside care at no- or low-cost to the patient. "Employers and employees face significant hurdles in the health care system in quality, access and cost. Visionary employers, like the State of Colorado, are seeking innovative programs to help overcome these hurdles and better serve their employee populations," said Jami Doucette, MD, MBA, Leader, Paladina Health. "We are thrilled to be able to partner with the State and UnitedHealthcare to provide employees and their families access to a doctor who is willing to dedicate as much time as it takes to build a bonding relationship that engages patients in their health." "Employee engagement is key and the foundation of Paladina Health," said Kent Thiry, CEO for DaVita HealthCare Partners. "It's a great honor to serve the thousands of Coloradoans with this care." Eligible Colorado state employees now have access to Paladina Health physicians at ten locations throughout the state a list that continues to grow: Boulder Canon City Colorado Springs Denver Metro: Aurora Broomfield Capitol Hill Denver Tech Center Lower Downtown Lakewood Pueblo West "UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to work with Paladina Health and the State of Colorado to bring this innovative model to more Coloradans," said Beth Soberg, president and CEO of UnitedHealthcare in Colorado. "We believe this collaboration will help strengthen our customers' relationships with their primary care physicians, and encourage better health and better care at a lower cost." Making primary care easy and accessible is the key in maximizing its effectiveness. The Paladina Health Medical Home puts the patient and the physician in partnership to help address all aspects of the patient's health, through significantly greater access and time available with their personal physician. For example, Paladina Health patients currently spend an average of four minutes in the waiting room and get significant one-on-one time with their doctor. Paladina Health now operates more than 50 locations in 11 states. Paladina Health serves a variety of clients nationwide who are seeking to truly improve the health care service experience and health and well-being of their covered population and gain control over health care costs in the short and long term. According to a recent patient satisfaction survey, 94% of Paladina Health patients are satisfied with their access to the physician. 94% of Paladina Health patients are satisfied with the quality of care they received. 79% of Paladina Health patients feel their health has somewhat or significantly improved as a result of Paladina Health. Every year, thousands of babies worldwide die from untreated hydrocephalus, a condition in which the head swells from a buildup of excess fluid. But no baby need die from this condition, once called "water on the brain." Neurosurgeons now have the skills and tools to deal with the condition very effectively. In an editorial in December 2015 issue of the journal World Neurosurgery, Loyola University Medical center neurosurgeon Vikram Prabhu, MD, examines the issue of hydrocephalus in Uganda. Dr. Prabhu is a professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Hydrocephalus is the excess accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid, which circulates throughout the brain and spinal column and can cause significant damage and even death. It mostly affects children, although adults also can get hydrocephalus. It is very treatable with surgery. Conventional treatment involves running a shunt (a thin tube) from the brain to the abdomen and using a valve to regulate fluid draining from the brain. Excess cerebrospinal fluid is diverted to the abdominal cavity, where it is easily absorbed. But shunts are expensive and complex systems that require frequent checks and may be prone to failure. The system is difficult even in developed countries. In developing countries, which lack the infrastructure to deal with inevitable infections and malfunctions, it is practically impossible to safely monitor and care for these devices. Neurosurgeon Benjamin Warf, MD, developed a one-time, minimally-invasive endoscopic procedure that is safe, effective and easy to implement. (The technical term for the Warf procedure is endoscopic third ventriculostomy with choroid plexus and cauterization.) Dr. Warf established a center in Uganda that has provided neurosurgical care to scores of children with hydrocephalus, saving many lives. "This is one of the best paradigms of global neurosurgery, and there are lessons to be learned," Dr. Prabhu wrote. "The most important may be its lack of complexity; in other words, simplicity is the most powerful tool." Healthcare in the developing world often is dictated by cost. The Warf procedure is an example of how sparse resources "have spurred innovative physicians to pioneer efforts that provide health care in a parsimonious manner ..." Dr. Prabhu wrote. "We have much to learn from them, and their innovations may fuel cost-effective strategies back home." Major medical facilities are required to successfully implement complex systems that are prone to break down or not be properly implemented or updated. Simple solutions such as the Warf procedure can benefit areas of the world that lack such facilities, Dr. Prabhu wrote. Dr. Prabhu challenged neurosurgeons to carry on the intrepid work of Dr. Warf, who won a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" and now is at Harvard Medical School. "We should set a realistic goal with a finite timeline and pour our resources into it," Dr. Prabhu wrote. Unlike chronic illnesses that can be managed with medications but not eliminated or cured, hydrocephalus can be controlled very effectively by a surgical procedure that all neurosurgeons are familiar with and adept at. Dr. Prabhu noted that the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery estimated that 5,000 surgeries for every 100,000 people would be sufficient to cover basic surgical needs - a worthwhile goal for surgeons worldwide. Dr. Prabhu proposed that neurosurgeons set a similar but more precise goal for themselves: "No child should die of untreated hydrocephalus anywhere on this planet by 2030." RDL inks MoU with AP Government to set up naval facility at Visakhapatnam Published: January 13, 2016 Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh Government to set up a world class naval facility in the state. It was announced by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during the CII Partnership Summit titled Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet in Visakhapatnam. The proposed naval facility will be established at Rambilli, 70 kilometers south of Visakhapatnam on the East Coast of India with an initial investment of 5000 crore rupees. It should be noted that RDL is subsidiary of Anil Ambani led Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. It had acquired the Pipavav shipyard on West Coast in Gujarat earlier in March 2015. RDL is going to use these two naval facilities to build submarines and aircraft carriers on lines with Make in India and also provide services including maintenance and refitting of ships. Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet During this Investment Meet Andhra Pradesh Government has inked as many as 328 MoUs worth 4.78 lakh crore rupees with investors from India and the Middle East, US, China and other countries. The signed pacts have a potential to create employment for nearly ten lakh people. Month: Current Affairs - January, 2016 Topics: Andhra Pradesh Business Current Affairs 2016 Defence Ecnomy Reliance Latest E-Books As the daughter of a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and herself an intensive care nurse for more than 20 years, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Professor Jacqueline Moss, Ph.D., is familiar with the U.S. military and caring for its veterans. In a research partnership with the Veterans Health Administration, Moss has sought to understand veterans' struggles and to help find ways to address their issues. As an educator of nurses, she has worked to teach others that they must be specially attuned to recognizing and caring for this group. To improve awareness of veterans' health care needs, Moss collaborated with colleagues, Associate Dean for Clinical and Global Partnership and Professor Cynthia Selleck, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Randy Moore, R.N., to develop a set of competencies designed to help new nurses be better prepared to identify and assist veterans and their families across the health care continuum. The resulting research paper, "Veteran Competencies for Undergraduate Nursing Education," was published in the October/December 2015 issue of Advances in Nursing Science and is featured as an "Editor's Pick" on the journal's website. "There are 23 million military veterans living in the United States, and more than 16 percent have service-connected disabilities, yet only about 38 percent of those receive any portion of their health care at a VA facility," Moss said. "That means 62 percent are receiving care at community hospitals, university medicals centers, local clinics and the like. So any nurse anywhere can encounter a veteran." In clinical settings outside the VA, Moss says, a veteran's prior military service often is not recognized or even mentioned so a nurse can be unaware of potential issues related to a patient's military service that can arise. "Veterans come with unique backgrounds and needs, and it is imperative that nurses are adequately prepared to care for veteran patients and their families, regardless of the setting in which they practice," Moss added. Using the Quality and Safety Education for Nursing Competencies as a framework, Moss and her colleagues developed a set of 10 competencies and associated knowledge, skills and attitudes new nurses need to be able to adequately care for veteran patients and their families. The QSEN Competencies are guidelines that have been developed as part of a national project to prepare future nurses with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to continuously improve the quality and safety of the health care systems in which they work, and provide the best care possible for the patients they serve. The overall competencies are: Military and veteran culture Post-traumatic stress disorder Amputation and assistive devices Environmental and chemical exposures Substance use disorder Military sexual trauma Traumatic brain injury Suicide Homelessness Serious illness at end of life At their core, the competencies are the basic tools nurses need to help them recognize veterans, recognize whether they have a problem, and determine whether they can address it themselves or need to refer it to someone else. "Wherever you practice, you are going to encounter veterans," Moss said. "Understanding their experiences and knowing what to look for, how to intervene and when to refer are extremely important skills for nurses, and we want to do our best to make sure they have these skills." The UAB School of Nursing and its faculty are uniquely positioned for this and other veteran health care research. The school has a strong working relationship with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which since 2009 has included the VA Nursing Academic Partnership in conjunction with the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. This partnership which recently won the 2015 American Association of Colleges of Nursing Exemplary Academic-Partnership Award is part of an initiative to facilitate stronger and mutually beneficial ties between schools of nursing and VA Medical Centers across the country, and it has provided unique insights that shaped the competencies. This is something Moss hopes other schools of nursing and health care institutions hiring new graduates will note as they consider implementing the work. "We hope schools of nursing will take these competencies and knowledge, skills and attitudes and see where they might be able to implement either some or all of these suggestions into their curriculum," Moss said. "We also hope institutions that are hiring new graduates may also look and see where they might be able to incorporate them into their new-hire orientations." A standardized treatment approach that starts with good screening and ends with patients going home to well-prepared caregivers, means outpatient thyroid surgery is safe for the vast majority of patients, including the elderly and super-elderly, physician-scientists say. One study looked at 1,311 thyroidectomy procedures - including 1,026 outpatient cases - from May 2006 to November 2013, by a single surgeon at an academic medical center. It found that while the percentage - 59.7 to 92.3 percent - and complexity of the cases performed on an outpatient basis climbed steadily over the years, the readmission rates for outpatients was less than one percent. A subsequent evaluation in which the same researchers compared results in older and younger patients found that the same methodical approach makes outpatient thyroid surgery a safe option for even their oldest patients. That study looked at a control group of 328 patients a mean age of 33, 201 patients a mean age of 70 and 16 patients an average age of nearly 83. "We have continued to refine our approach, evolving from one in which patients were kept in the hospital just under 24 hours to sending a handful a patients home right after surgery," said Dr. David J. Terris, otolaryngologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and surgical director of the university's Thyroid Center. "The process has been tweaked, and we are slowly growing the outpatient numbers. We have looked at things like how we manage the medicines, especially the calcium supplements, and how we manage the instructions we give caregivers," Terris added. "Now, we've said: We are comfortable with this. And patients love it." Terris is corresponding author of the overall safety study published in the journal Surgery and his team presented the elderly, super-elderly study at the most recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Even with older patients having significantly more unrelated health problems, such as hypertension and diabetes, as well as generally more aggressive thyroid disease, complication rates held steady at 5-6 percent in virtually all groups. "Despite having a higher incidence of comorbid conditions, our older patients did just as well when we sent them home after the operation," Terris said. He notes that having severe unrelated health problems makes it more likely patients will be treated as inpatients. Not having a good support system at home can be another reason to keep patients of any age in the hospital. Those living a long distance away from their health care provider typically are discharged the day of surgery but are asked to remain in the area for at least the first night. While thyroid problems tend to occur most commonly in young women, rates peak again in the elderly when they are increasingly seen in men. The nation's aging population means surgeons are finding themselves operating on older and older patients of both genders with this problem, Terris said. Terris has pioneered minimally invasive approaches that have helped reduce recovery time as well as the resulting classic scar at the base of the neck, giving patients today an unprecedented number of thyroid surgery options. While outpatient thyroid surgery began to emerge in the 1980s, its use and success have increased dramatically in more recent years. Terris considered his own outpatient protocol well refined by 2006, the year the retrospective Surgery study began. Over the seven-year period of that study, for example, the percentage of cases handled as outpatient increased as surgeons used this approach to remove larger benign growths as well as a greater number of cancerous thyroid tumors. Those treated as inpatients tended to be older, heavier, male, black and have larger thyroid growths or nodules. While readmission rates were low for both inpatient and outpatient populations, the shrinking number of inpatients, who had more complex conditions in the first place, did require more hospital readmissions, 3.5 versus 0.9 percent, respectively. Terris' study exploring elderly outcomes showed the rate of malignancy of the super-elderly was double the rate of younger patients as well as those age 65 to 80 and the oldest patients also tended to have larger growths generally. Still, readmission rates for the elderly and super-elderly were lower than the younger control groups. The only real change in complication rates was a decreasing rate of temporary calcium deficiency, which can occur as a result of even minor trauma to the adjacent parathyroid glands, which regulate calcium levels. "They get bruised and take a few days or weeks to recover," Terris said. In fact, older patients generally tended to have less problems with low calcium levels, which affect muscle control and can leave patients with tingling fingertips and toes and even lead to heart problems. Aggressive calcium supplementation that begins the evening of surgery and continues for three weeks has reduced rates of hospital readmission for hypocalcemia to under 1 percent for all patients. Bleeding inside the neck that can block the airway is another potential complication that surgeons such as Terris have helped address by changing how or even if they suture the vertical strap muscle in the neck they must separate to gain access to the thyroid glands. Terris' previous studies have shown that much smaller neck incisions typically work just as well as larger ones and that minimally invasive approaches also are safe and effective for children. He also developed a no-neck-scar approach that enables access to the thyroid glands through a facelift incision in the hairline of some patients. Delhi Likely to Be in Grip of Smog in Next 3 Days, Punjab Fails to Douse Farm Fires; GRAP 2 Enforced Kareena Kapoor canned the item number for 'Dabangg 2' and said it was great fun shooting for the song as she tried something new for it. SC stays Centre's notification lifting ban on Jallikattu Published: January 13, 2016 The Supreme Court has stayed the Union Governments notification lifting ban on traditional bull taming sport Jallikattu during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu. In this regard the apex court rejected the plea of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Tamil Nadu Government. This decision was taken by a SC bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana on petitions filed by various bodies including Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) seeking striking down of the MoEFs notification. Background Earlier on 8th January 2016, MoEF had lifted the four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu ahead of the Pongal festival along with Bullock cart races in Maharashtra. This notification allowed the exhibition or training of bulls and some other animals, as performing animals by following the traditional customs as a part of culture. It also had added a few guidelines to regulate these sports involving animals as performing animals. However, the issued notification was against the Supreme Courts 2014 ruling which had completely banned use of bulls for Jallikattu (also bull fighting) events or bullock-cart races across the country. The ban was imposed by SC as it violated provisions of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960; fundamental duty Article 51A (g): compassion towards animal; Article 21 (Right to Life), which prohibits any disturbance to the environment, including animals as it is considered essential for human life. About Jallikattu Jallikattu is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu on Mattu Pongal day as a part of Pongal celebrations i.e. harvest festival. It is one of the oldest living ancient tradition practiced in the modern era. Jallikattu has been derived from the words calli (coins) and kattu (tie), which means a bundle of coins is tied to the bulls horns. In Sangam literature it is called Yeru thazhuvuthal (means to embrace bulls). Tradition: In older times it was popular amongst warriors during the Tamil classical period. The bull tamer sought to remove this bundle from the animals head to win gold or silver coins to be called brave and valourous. All castes participate in the event and majority of jallikattu bulls belong to the pulikulam breed of cattle. Month: Current Affairs - January, 2016 Topics: Art and Culture Jallikattu Ministry of Environment and Forests Supreme court Latest E-Books The socialite is also excited about the fashion week party, where she is the biggest celebrity name this year. She has been dating Spanish model River Viiperi since September 2012. The photo of a Goan sunset tweeted by River. Joe Blevins Dead 2 Rights is the official online presence of, darkener of doorsteps.Follow him onif you care to. He's on, andtoo.Joe is a freelance writer for hire. He has written for, and, plus he has contributed material to the booksandIn addition, Joe is the co-author of Dad Made Dirty Movies: The Erotic World of Stephen C. Apostolof , which is available in paperback now! Or get the Kindle editionHe'll be happy to write for you, too. Just e-mail him! josephablevins@gmail.com Joe co-hosts a weekly podcast about the classic sitcom. The podcast is called These Days Are Ours , and you should definitely listen to it, bucko.Oh, and he has an entire novel you can read for freeBut that's nothing compared to the The FBI agent who questioned an analyst charged with lying to the bureau about his role in the creation of a flawed dossier about former President Donald Trump has twice testified that he believes the analyst was truthful with him. That's according to testimony Wednesday in the trial of Igor Danchenko. He is a Russian-born analyst who served as the primary source of information for the infamous Steele dossier." It alleged links between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Prosecutors say Danchenko fabricated one of his sources in interviews with the FBI. But FBI analyst Brian Auten testified he believed Danchenko was essentially truthful. For Micheal Sparks, the Underground Kitchen started close to home. Sparks and a group of foodie friends threw their first event in January of 2014, at his 2,000-square-foot branding and marketing studio in Richmond, where hed moved from New York in 2009. We had hit all the restaurants in town, Sparks said in a phone interview last week. We said, Wouldnt it be kind of cool if we did a dinner pop-up, and we invited random people from Richmond to come to these dinners, where the chef prepared a five- to six-course meal? That first meal, prepared by Mike Yavorsky of Richmonds Belmont Food Shop, attracted more than 70 diners, Sparks said, despite inclement weather that could have kept them away. It snowed four inches that night in Richmond. People go crazy over that stuff, he said. We were afraid nobody was going to show up. Everybody [did], plus people had told [other] people where it was, so random people just started showing up at the door with money, and we let them in. The Underground Kitchen (UGK) grew from there; Sparks said they expanded to Washington, D.C., after a year and are now regularly holding events in five or six different cities, including Richmond, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and Williamsburg. The company will be adding the Lynchburg/Roanoke area to that list on Jan. 28 though Sparks wont divulge where the event is taking place, by design. Part of the experience is the secrecy surrounding it. Attendees buy tickets in advance but arent given the name of the venue until 24 to 48 hours in advance. What he will reveal: The pop-up dinner will be held in a location thats halfway between Lynchburg and Roanoke. All of our locations are within 30 [and] no more than 45 minutes away, he said. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased through the Underground Kitchen website. The theme is UGK All Hands on Deck, and the chef, whose identity wont be revealed until that night, will be preparing seafood. The exact menu also remains a mystery until the event. The dinners often are held in unique or interesting places; in the past, the Underground Kitchen has popped up in museums, art galleries, farms and even private homes. Each event is carefully curated by Sparks, who worked in the fashion industry, and for labels like Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton, before moving to Richmond. Its a whole creative process, he said, joking that a couple martinis help it along. You go and see what the venue looks like, what they have to offer and you come up with some ideas. One of UGKs summer events, for instance, featured a menu with dishes inspired by songs like Peaches and Cream (cayenne-dusted grilled peaches with creme fraiche), as well as Duke Ellingtons Black and Blue, Tony Bennetts Mountain Greenery and Henderson Fletchers Hot Mustard (beef carpaccio topped with black sea salt, arugula and a hot bacon-mustard dressing). Sparks also mentioned a Fathers Day pig roast that began with a moonshine welcoming drink and ended with Cubano cigars. No matter the venue or the menu, Sparks said his goal with each event is building community among attendees. We want people to get together in a community, to get together over a glass of wine and dinner. And what better way to get to know each other than that? This is an unusual place, [an] unusual dinner, he said. Its about the experience and the food and the people. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. The Missouri Department of Economic Development announced Wednesday that industrial plastics manufacturer PolySol is relocating its headquarters from Michigan where it was founded nearly two years ago to Farmington, where it plans to create 17 jobs and make a $150,000 capital investment in the community. PolySol is proof that Missouris strong manufacturing industry helps attract more manufacturing, said Mike Downing, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Close proximity to major manufacturing operations creates logistical advantages, and the states business climate is ranked one of the best in the nation. Were thrilled to help welcome PolySol to Missouris manufacturing lineup. PolySol bulk manufactures a liquid plastic coating called plastisol, which is used by every major industry from military and automotive to industrial belting, agriculture, construction and more. The vinyl plastic coating offers a soft yet durable finish for products ranging from industrial conveyor belts to common items such as steering wheels, handle grips for shop tools, park benches, exercise equipment and more. Farmington beat out 10 other communities in the site selection process where PolySol is now leasing 20,000 square feet of an industrial building and has already hired six of the 17 new positions. Were poised to see nothing but growth for the next few years, said PolySol co-owner Jason Marler. We saw an opening in the market, and because the existing skilled labor force in the area, we were able to act with confidence. Were excited to call Farmington our new home, and were committed to growing in and with the community. Marler said the professionalism and strong interest from the Farmington Economic Development Board helped the company decide on Farmington. The Farmington IDA is so excited to welcome PolySol to the community, said Marlene Brockmiller, executive director of the Farmington Economic Development Board. Jason and his team have already built an amazing company with tremendous potential, and we look forward to working with them for years to come. Many people in the community came together to make this a reality, and we are proud PolySol chose Farmington. PolySol clients are typically suppliers to major manufacturing operations. Company owners Marler and Joe Mueller have more than 20 years of combined experience in the plastisol industry, Marler in sales and Mueller as a chemist. This is the second expansion for Missouris plastic manufacturing industry in recent weeks. Last month, Logoplaste, a Portuguese-based plastic bottle manufacturer announced its plans to embark on a $35 million expansion at its Kansas City facility, where it expects to create 110 new jobs. To assist PolySol with its relocation, the Missouri Department of Economic Development has offered a strategic economic incentive package that the company can receive if it meets strict job creation criteria. Bakr returns to court Testifying yesterday before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar was Acting Cpl Terrance Ramsepaul, who served Bakr with a witness summons at his home at Queens Park West on September 9, 2013. Ramsepaul is the only witness whose testimony the commission will rely on at the hearing. The Chief Magistrate is presiding over a private complaint brought against Bakr by the secretary to the Commission of Enquiry into the July, 1990 attempted coup for his failure to heed a summons served on him to appear before the enquiry in September, 2013. Bakr has pleaded not-guilty to the complaint. Bakr failed to appear before the commission on two occasions August 29, 2012, and also September 23, 2013. On the first occasion, the commission referred the matter to the DPP who took the position that he will not lay charges against Bakr for failing to answer a summons of the commission to appear before it. Instead, the DPP told the commission it has the legal power to direct the Commissioner of Police to prosecute the proceedings for breach of Section 16. When he first failed to appear in 2012, Bakr cited his then ongoing case against him in the High Court, and last year said he would appear only if he was paid to give evidence. The private summons now before the Chief Magistrate was issued in accordance with Sections 12 and 16 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act. Representing the commission yesterday was attorney Larry Lalla while Criston J Williams appeared for Bakr. The matter was adjourned to February 15. HOUSE OF RUM In his contribution to debate on the Finance Bill 2016 in the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister declared, When we talk about priorities, waste and just general bad behaviour...the last government takes the cake. Indicating he and his family moved into the Prime Ministers Official Residence and Diplomatic Centre on December 5, Rowley said a series of functions were held at the Diplomatic Centre since he was elected Prime Minister. Indicating there were three functions for adults and one for children, the Prime Minister said there was an alcohol bar at each function for adults. He surprised MPs when he disclosed, Youd be very surprised to know...all the alcohol for those functions (for adults), we did not buy a bottle. We used from the houshehold, from what was there. As MPs were still recovering from that bombshell, Rowley continued, When Christmas was over, we had a valuation on what was left... $400,000 of liquour on the compound! That is what they left. That should tell you what the priorities were for those who were there before the PNM. A cry of, drunkeness! was heard from Government benches as the Prime Minister reiterated, Right up there in that compound, there is $400,000 in alcohol. The interesting thing about it, is that in the records, we cant find how it was sourced. There is no paper trail towards its sourcing. So it leaves us to wonder, how all that alcohol got into that compound. Repeated efforts yesterday to contact former Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar for a comment, were unsuccessful. She did not participate in debate on the Finance Bill. Persad-Bissessar never lived at the Prime Ministers Official Residence in St Anns during the last five years of the Peoples Partnership (PP) tenure in office. She opted to reside at her private residence in Philippine, south Trinidad. However, Persad-Bissessar hosted several receptions at the adjoining Diplomatic Centre for a variety of occasions over the five years of her government. At some of these functions, guests left with gift bags and even posed with Persad-Bissessar for pictures. Rowley said knowing the way the former regime managed the countrys business over the last five years, it would not be surprising if arrangements to get alcohol into the compound involved payments to persons favoured by the PP. Recalling that Persad-Bissessar has been regularly distributing toys to children ever since she was first elected to Parliament in 1995 and held massive toy distribution functions at Christmastime over the last five years, Rowley observed, The one thing we didnt have was a prime minister running up and down the country on the back of trucks playing Santa Claus for two weeks. In contrast, Rowley said, What I demonstrated last Christmas, is that it is possible to have Christmas and have a prime minister working too. WEDDING TALK IN HOUSE Turning his attention to Princes Town MP Barry Padarath, who was one of Persad-Bissessars aides during the PPs administration, Rowley said Padarath, has a problem with me and weddings. Padarath, earlier in the debate, criticised Rowley for attending the wedding of a friends daughter in Barbados and then attending the wedding of a relative in Miami last month. In his contribution to the debate, just before Rowley spoke, Padarath reiterated that every Monday morning, Rowley flew out of the country. He also tried to explain what maticoor night is in a traditional Hindu wedding. Responding to Padarath, the Prime Minister quipped, We have some discussions and when you are betrothed... let me know. If you invite me...I will come to your wedding. Government MPs hooted in mirth and thumped their desks in support of Rowley, who calmly sipped some water while he was on his legs. As the thumping subsided, Rowley told Padarath, I suspect there would have to be some serious discussions before you invite me. Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds quipped, Be careful you dont break the law. Rowley also said Padarath was wrong to claim the Motor Vehicle Authority building in Fredrick Settlement, Caroni was completed. Saying the PNM knows the level of seriousness required to address the countrys problems, Rowley said the evidence over the last five years shows the PP did not understand what good governance was. He said to the PP, good governance meant, I give you everything you want. Stating this resulted in the PP giving, what they didnt have, Rowley said this was why $200 million in contracts were awarded by the Works Ministry under then minister Dr Suruj Rambachan but there was, no money in URP. Indicating this resulted in the former PP Cabinet approving $250 million to cover those debts, just before last Septembers general election, Rowley stated, Debts like that are still debts to be paid. He said while the Opposition continues to question what Government will do with the revenue it hopes to generate, Government is not going to, take it to WASA and set it alight. Indicating if only one Cabinet minister misbehaved under the former regime it would be considered an aberration, Rowley said, It was the entire Cabinet. Referring to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawis earlier contribution, the Prime Minister said the decision to reduce the size of the Cabinet from 33 to 23 ministers, equates to a savings of $44 million per year. That is saving. We are attacking waste and trying to get savings, he added. Noting that whenever the Cabinet now meets there are ten empty chairs, Rowley said he sometimes asks, where did the other ten go? Recalling that Persad-Bissessar promised the expansion of the Government to 35 ministries with the creation of a Defence Ministry and a Home Affairs Ministry if the PP was re-elected, Rowley quipped, At least John Public said, nah...enough is enough. Slamming the Opposition for continuing to mislead the population about property tax, Rowley said he has been paying land and building taxes since he was 17 years old. He said it was wrong for St Augustine MP and Congress of the People (COP) political leader Prakash Ramadhar to be telling persons that if Government collects the tax, they could lose their properties. Rowley said everybody in the country knows that if they do not pay the appropriate tax that is required, there is the possibility that their property could be forefeited. It has always been so. That is the law, he declared. Mother insists, he was a good son According to police reports, members of the Inter-Agency Task Force went to the Eastern Quarry area with a warrant for St Louis arrest. When the officers approached him, they ordered him to surrender, but instead, police said, St Louis drew a firearm and opened fire on them. They returned fire shooting the 25-year-old man several times about the body. He died while on the way to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. However, his mother, Lorna said her son never had a gun when the police shot him. She was speaking with reporters outside the Forensic Science Centre (FSC), St James. Lorna said it was hurtful to read in the newspapers her son being described as a menace and as Laventilles most wanted. They tarnished his name, to make him seem like he was this big criminal. He was not, he was a loving man, she said. She said her son went before the court when he was 16, and it was dismissed. He never had nothing on him, no record, he never get hold with a gun. Why they doing me that? Why allyuh tarnishing my son? she said. Lorna encouraged reporters to visit their community in Dan Kelly, Laventille to ask people their opinion of her son, who was a father of four children. He had a shop, he had four children, what he going to do people? He was building a house, police are lying and the world have to know, they doing that too much, she said. She continued, We living in the ghetto, but they does oppress Laventille people, and they does tarnish the people living there. As they kill a youth man, he was the worst they would say. My son was a family man. Everybody have to know the truth, enough is enough, she said. Lorna expressed her frustration in the delay of the autopsy as yesterday was the second day they went to the FSC. Im waiting on his body, my child dead on Sunday, give me him so I could bury him, she cried. His girlfriend, Sharane Huggins said the delay was wickedness. She said eyewitnesses told them that when the police shouted to St Louis to surrender, he put up his hands and surrendered, but the police still shot him. Huggins described St Louis as a loving man, and a good father to his children. Prisons officer on $250,000 bail The case was adjourned to February 16. Miguel of 71 Church Street, Penal, was defended by attorney Kern Saney while Police Sgt Valerie Leon, prosecuted. A reputed accomplice a prison inmate did not appear in court. As an alternative to submitting a clean property deed valued at $250,000 as substantive bail, the defendant was given the option of depositing $10,000 in cash as bail. He was also required to surrender a TT passport, if he has one which Miguel denied possessing or alternatively submit a letter from the Immigration Department stating he has no passport, before the next hearing. Miguel must also report to Penal Police Station once every fortnight, as another bail condition. Complainant PC Dardane was absent from court yesterday. Initially, the sitting had to take a break for the warrant to have inserted into it the correct date of the alleged offence, January 2. Saney told the court that Miguel has 20 years of service without blemish, and has no past convictions, nor pending matters. In requesting bail, Saney said Miguel had been detained at Arouca Police Station since January 4 (nine days duration), had been away from his family for ten days and was charged with an offence that has no aggravating factors such as violence. Leon said she had not received any specific instructions to lodge any objection. Escaped twin back in custody Thomas surrendered to the Besson Street Police Station during the wee hours of Tuesday morning hours after he fled the courthouse. His twin brother Roston, was unsuccessful in his attempt to flee the courthouse after both were sentenced to three years in jail for robbery. When Magistrate Margaret Alert sentenced the twins who are from San Juan, after finding them guilty of robbing a man in 2012 of a gold bracelet and chain, a police officer was about to place the handcuffs around their wrist when they wrestled with him. The twins ran out the courtroom. A police officer subdued Roston on the corridor of the courthouse, but his identical twin brother, Russell, managed to make it to Harris Promenade. VAT hike timed with Carnival The government must know by now that the honeymoon period is over, and their strategy of bringing higher taxes and higher food prices in the midst of the Carnival season will fool no one, Ramdial said in a media release. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley failed to communicate to the population how his government intends to deal with the negative fallout and impact on the population from increasing food prices, as a result of an increase in VAT by 12.5 percent on hundreds of food items which were previously zero-rated. The MP said Rowleys contribution in Parliament late Monday, lacked foresight and a real plan for the country to weather its recession. Said Ramdial, There was no discussion on diversification of the economy to create new revenue streams, no discussion on managing massive job losses across the country with the latest being 200 workers sent home from CENTRIN, no commitment to implementing other safety net measures for the poor and vulnerable, who will bear the burden of increased food prices the most, no commitment to reducing our food import bill which stands at $4 billion annually and increasing, no plan to curb the spike in crime due to high unemployment. While the VAT threshold has increased, the MP said small and micro enterprises will also be hard hit with the increases in the Business Levy Fund and Green Fund tax. Their survival depends on the government ability to implement other economic and fiscal measures to offset the tax impact, Ramdial said. Instead we heard a Prime Minister rambling on and laying blame at the former Peoples Partnership Government. Daddy or uncle could be the father The girl, who provided her name and address, said she is now in a relationship with an uncle and is pregnant but does not know if it is for her father or his brother. Commenting on the video, the Childrens Authority, in a release said, the content of one of the videos was very disturbing. As soon as the authority found out about the video on social media, the release said the authoritys Emergency Response Team was alerted and the Tobago branch of the Child Protection Unit was contacted to investigate. The TTPS has assured that the matter was being investigated, but could provide no status update at press time. Meanwhile the Childrens Authority said it was treating the matter with the established procedures, while affording it the sensitivity that it deserves for the protection and privacy of the child involved. In the first video, the child gave details of the life she has been living. She said since she was eight years old her father began having sexual intercourse with her. She said, he was interfering with me in a way that any father shouldnt interfere with his daughter. When she told her mother and grandmother about what she had been going through, she said, they both accused her of lying. Why are you lying. She, herself (referring to her mother) couldnt believe it. And everybody in the house thought I was lying, she said. There were times when her fathers friends, she said, will come over and they will have oral sex with me. Even at times, I see them giving my father money. I believe my father have a part to play with that. She said she approached an uncle who admitted that he confronted the girls father. She also admitted that she was in a sexual relationship with the uncle, who she says comforts her, and she feels love for him. She further admitted that she was pregnant. Today, I am not sure if it is my uncles child or my fathers, she said. The uncle appeared in a second video holding the girls hand. He said he loved the girl and was not afraid of what the authorities would have to say. He said he wanted the girl to live a normal life. He said he was ashamed of what he did, but he will take care of her. He said, She by me. There appeared to have been a third person asking questions. When asked if he found out that the baby was not his what he will do, the video was cut off. Meanwhile, the Childrens Authority yesterday continued to plead with parents and guardians to pay close attention to stories of abuse from their children and not to dismiss their claims of abuse as untruths. Responding positively to a childs claim, the authority said, can save the child from further harm. All incidents of child abuse should be reported to the police or to the authoritys hotline, 996 or 800-2014. Best Village Traditions of Carnival for January 16 Competition will then get underway in the following categories: -Music (Calypso Medley, Tamboo Bamboo, Kalinda Song and Dance, Rhythm Section and Minstrel Song); Dance (Soca Dance, Sailor, Chutney Soca, Carnival Character Dances (Dame Lorraine, Bat, Burroquite); Literature (Pierrot Grenade, Speech Band, Midnight Robber). There will be performances by popular traditional Carnival characters including: Dame Lorraines, Bats, Moko Jumbies, Clowns, Burrokeets and Fancy Indians. Traditions of Carnival 2016 is free to the public. This category of the Best Village competition started in 2003 and is intended to preserve, nurture and develop the traditional aspects of the countrys rich folk heritage. Its objectives are: To preserve the traditional aspects of Carnival; to encourage the retention of Carnival Arts, Indigenous Carnival Artforms and the upliftment of the Arts in general; to encourage research and continuity of our festival traditions and to provide opportunities for persons to participate in activities to promote national pride, community spirit, healthy competition and social interaction. US Military Really Didn't Want You to Know What's in New Washington Post Investigation The Leadington Board of Aldermen unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday night accepting six streets in the Forest Park Center subdivision as public roads of the city. The streets that will now be maintained and repaired by the city are Taum Sauk Drive, Wappapello Court, Lore Lane, Forest Park Drive, Hawn Court and Montauk Court. A number of property owners attended the meeting and all voiced their approval of the citys takeover. In addition, several business owners unable to be present Tuesday sent letters stating their full support for the move. The citys been doing small repairs and plowing snow off these streets for years, Mayor Dustin Winnick told board members. This ordinance just makes it official. A second ordinance approved at the meeting involved the collection of municipal court costs and the allocation of those costs for judicial education, police officer training, the Crime Victims Compensation Fund, the Sheriffs Retirement Fund and the Violence Shelter Fund. According to City Attorney Mark Bishop, the ordinance was requested by the CPA firm the city employed to perform this years audit. Bishop said the new ordinance combines several separate ones that up until now covered different aspects of the municipal court. In other action, the board voted to send a letter to the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control giving its OK for a new liquor license to be issued to the new owner of the former Average Joe Bar. It now does business under the name of the Afterglow Restaurant and Bar. All of the board members, except Alderman Casie Braddy, voted in favor of sending the letter on the new owners behalf. Braddy, however, voiced her concern about 19 separate police calls made to the bar in recent years regarding loud noises and other issues. The aldermen also approved the removal of two dead trees at Woodlawn Cemetery and a white oak at the fire station; gave permission for the Leadington VFW to provide and raise a POW/MIA flag in the cemetery; approved payment of a bill for the purchase of four truck tires; OKd the police chief and an officer to attend a free grant training class; approved the building of a wall at the entrance of city hall to enhance security for employees; set Jan. 19 for a meeting on the citys election ordinance; discussed repairs needed on Flat River Road; and approved the installation by Ameren of two streetlights on Penny Lane. Ameren will also maintain the streetlights in perpetuity. (Newser) Ashley Ann Olsen's boyfriend allegedly compromised the crime scene when he found her naked body in her Florence apartment on Saturday, reports the Daily Beast by way of local media. Federico Fiorentini, 42, says he and Olsen argued on Wednesday; his calls to her went unanswered, and he ultimately convinced her landlady to let him in her apartment. There, they found the 35-year-old American dead beside the sofa, via "strangulation with a cord or belt or scarf," per police. "Federico was desperate," the landlady tells Oggi. "The body was cold, but he did not understand that there was nothing to do. He tried in every way, first with the mouth-to-mouth, then with heart massage He kept repeating 'my little one, my love.'" The Daily Beast points out Fiorentini's actions moved her body, which now has his DNA on it (though police say Fiorentini has an alibi). For now, authorities are looking for "any acquaintance" Olsen may have made before her death; she was last seen at a nightclub at 3am Friday. The same investigator who led the investigation into Meredith Kercher's murder says she was not sexually assaulted but hints her death could have involved an erotic game, as was suggested in the Kercher case. Police tell CNN they are also looking into an Instagram post in which Olsen claimed to have a stalker. The Daily Beast digs further into her Instagram feed, pointing out a months-old photo of graffiti addressed to an Ashley, posted with a #forme hashtag: "I'm so f---ing sorry. I can't cry anymore. Please come back," it reads. Two weeks before her death, Olsen posted an image of an Eat, Pray, Love quote: "We loved each other It's just that we couldnt figure out how to stop making each other desperately, shriekingly, soul-punishingly miserable." Police say activity on Olsen's computer stopped around noon on Friday, per CNN. Her phone has not been found, per NBC News. (Read more Florence stories.) (Newser) Steven Avery has filed a fresh appeal in his Wisconsin murder caseand thanks to the hit Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, there are now a lot more people paying attention. The appeal filed in a Madison court on Monday, which can be seen in full here, accuses authorities of searching his property illegally and claims that a juror with a preconceived notion that he was guilty improperly influenced other jurors during his 2007 trial for the murder of Teresa Halbach, the AP reports. Avery recently secured new legal representation from Chicago-area lawyer Kathleen Zellner and the Midwest Innocence Project, reports WBAY, but Monday's court filing appears to have been prepared without the new legal team. Zellner specializes in reversing convictions, and she says she has found new evidence that will exonerate Avery, reports NBC News. The Netflix documentary suggests that Averywho served 18 years for a rape he didn't commit before being released two years before the Halbach murderis the victim of a conspiracy, and a petition urging President Obama and Gov. Scott Walker to free him now has more than 415,000 signatures. Walker, however, has never pardoned anybody, and WBAY reports that he has signaled he isn't going to start with Avery. Netflix viewers "should read the unanimous opinion of the Court of Appeals before jumping to conclusions," he said in a Facebook post. (Read more Steven Avery stories.) (Newser) Drug lord Joaquin Guzman is back in the same prison he escaped from in July, and prison authorities are keenly aware of what the world would think of them if "El Chapo" pulled off a third high-profile prison break. This time, Guzman won't be in the same cell long enough for a mile-long tunnel with a motorbike on rails to be built underneath him: A Mexican government spokesman tells Reuters that Guzman is being moved around the prison at random intervals and has already been in eight different cells since his return. The government says additional security measures have been introduced to foil escape, including round-the-clock guards at the door and reinforced floors to avoid any more tunneling, the AP reports. There is also improved CCTV coverage, with Guzman no longer allowed a blind spot for privacy. One of the drug kingpin's lawyers thinks the extra security measures are too tough on his client. Guzman is weak and is under "brutal psychological pressure," the lawyer tells Reuters, complaining that he's being held in isolation in a "very cold" part of the Altiplano maximum security prison. (As the Mexican military closed in on him last week, Guzman managed to get away through a secret tunnel behind a mirror.) (Newser) Sure, Twitter is great for debating Making a Murderer theories, but now it's also facilitating the state-sanctioned shaming of "deadbeat dads" into paying child support. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Monday that the state would begin posting photos and names of "losers" who owe child support, using an account run by the Arizona Department of Economic Security, in an attempt to shame parents into paying up, reports the Verge. "For too long, you've been able to remain anonymous, able to skirt your financial and legal responsibilities with no shame," Ducey said. "If you don't want your embarrassing, unlawful, and irresponsible behavior going viral: man up and pay up." Officials have already shamed two dads, using #deadbeat; one allegedly owes $170,993. A DES rep tells CNN the agency plans to shame 421 non-custodial parents who've racked up large debts over the past five years. "This issue is about awareness and accountability," she says. Since 1999, Arizona has "required the Department of Economic Security to post these photos and information to the website," but efforts are now being amplified. Not all are on board, though. "There are all kinds of potential legal concerns surrounding public shaming and I don't know that there's any evidence that it works," Arizona House Minority Leader Eric Meyer says, noting some parents may not have jobs or money. Asked about possible consequences, including the effect on future court cases, a rep said Ducey "has no sympathy for men who aren't meeting their obligations to their children" and "intends to track them down." (Deadbeat dads can become trapped in an unbreakable cycle.) (Newser) Whether it was a genuine change of heart, the #legosforweiwei hashtag, or other public backlash, the Lego Group is now OK sending piles of its famous bricks to the person who's been called "China's most dangerous man." The company had refused to sell in bulk to artist Ai Weiwei, saying it had a long-standing policy of not supporting works with a "political agenda," the AP reports. But Ai, who's often taken on the Chinese government in his art, leveled charges of censorship and rallied the support of people around the world. Now Lego has changed its policy, per Australia's ABC. "As of January 1st, the Lego Group no longer asks for the thematic purpose when selling large quantities of Lego bricks for projects," a statement on the company's site reads. After Lego initially declined to fill his order, Ai set up "Lego collection points" in various cities to which people could donate their own bricks, the BBC reports. He even went so far as to suggest a conflict of interest, pointing out a planned Legoland park in Shanghai, CNNMoney notes. Lego explained the previous policy existed because "the purpose of the Lego Group is to inspire children through creative play, not to actively support or endorse specific agendas of individuals or organizations." But, after acknowledging its statements could lead to "misunderstandings," the company changed course. Ai's reaction on Twitter has been a series of retweets about the news, as well as a statement saying, "Nice move." He also posted images on Instagram that show his face plastered with Lego bricksa far cry from the Legos-in-toilet-bowl pic he once posted. (Ai just got his passport back in July.) (Newser) Some viewers might've thought Fifty Shades of Grey was steamy, but the team behind the Razzies wasn't so titillated. The flick has scooped six Golden Raspberry nominations, including all the good bits: worst film, actor, actress, director, screenplay, and screen combo, per the Hollywood Reporter. Also not so beloved by the Razzies was Kevin James, who nabbed four nods, including worst actor and supporting actor. More lowlights: Worst picture nominees: Fantastic Four, Fifty Shades of Grey, Jupiter Ascending, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, and Pixels. Worst actor: Johnny Depp for Mortdecai, Jamie Dornan for Fifty Shades of Grey, James for Paul Blart Mall Cop 2, Adam Sandler for The Cobbler and Pixels, and Channing Tatum for Jupiter Ascending. Johnny Depp for Mortdecai, Jamie Dornan for Fifty Shades of Grey, James for Paul Blart Mall Cop 2, Adam Sandler for The Cobbler and Pixels, and Channing Tatum for Jupiter Ascending. Worst actress: Katherine Heigl for Home Sweet Hell, Dakota Johnson for Fifty Shades of Grey, Mila Kunis for Jupiter Ascending, Jennifer Lopez for The Boy Next Door, and Gwyneth Paltrow for Mortdecai. Katherine Heigl for Home Sweet Hell, Dakota Johnson for Fifty Shades of Grey, Mila Kunis for Jupiter Ascending, Jennifer Lopez for The Boy Next Door, and Gwyneth Paltrow for Mortdecai. The only award nominees might actually hope to win is the Razzie Redeemer Award, given to an "all-time Razzie champ" who turns things around, per Reuters. Fighting for this year's prize are Elizabeth Banks, M. Night Shyamalan, Will Smith, and Sylvester Stallone. Check out the AP for the full list of nominations. (Read more Razzies stories.) (Newser) A 12-year-old Pennsylvania girl was in the wrong placestanding behind her fatherat the wrong time Monday morning, and ended up dead. As Clarke Steele, a state constable, attempted to evict Donald Meyer and his family from an apartment in Penn Township, authorities say Meyer, 57, exchanged words with the uniformed constable before pointing a loaded rifle at Steele's chest. Steele then took out his own handgun and firedbut the bullet passed through Meyer's arm and hit his daughter, Ciara Meyer. Ciara, who was home from school sick that day, was pronounced dead at the scene, ABC 27 reports. A state police rep says Steele had been to the apartment "numerous times" regarding the eviction, and that Meyer knew 10am Monday was his deadline to be out. "It was absolutely no surprise [the constable] was coming at this date and time," the rep says, per PennLive, adding that it did not appear that the family had taken steps to move out and that it was Steele's "lawful job" to remove them. "It's horrible, absolutely heartbreaking," says a neighbor, who calls Ciara a "very kind, sweet kid." A GoFundMe campaign set up to help Ciara's mom with funeral expenses notes, "This was a terrible ending to a horific [sic] series of events that could have been prevented." Proceeds will also fund a scholarship in Ciara's school district against domestic violence and mental illness. Donald Meyer has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, and reckless endangerment; Steele, who is said to be "very distraught," has suspended his work until the investigation is over. (Read more Pennsylvania stories.) (Newser) When Al Jazeera America launched in 2013 it seemed perhaps overly optimistic that Americans would accept a news channel called Al Jazeera thatin the words of the New York Timesaimed to be "free of the shouting arguments that have defined cable news in the United States." It turns out, it was. On Wednesday, Al Jazeera America announced it will be closing up shop by the end of April, the Intercept reports. "Our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the US media marketplace, the Times quotes a memo to staff. The Intercept calls it a "stunning and rapid collapse" to what can only be seen as a "towering failure." With the announcement Wednesday, hundreds of journalists and others will find themselves out of a job. In its less than three years of existence, Al Jazeera won a number of awards for journalism, but that didn't translate to viewers, the Atlantic reports. According to the Intercept, the news station was averaging only 30,000 viewers in prime time. Put another way: "Ratings were so low as to be almost unquantifiable." Employees also complained of sexism and anti-Semitism, and the station's general counsel was suspended in November because "he did not appear to be licensed to practice law," the Times reports. It also didn't help that Al Jazeera America was funded by the Qatar government, which is currently struggling with low oil prices, according to the Intercept. While the online side of Al Jazeera America is also being shuttered, it appears Al Jazeera will be expanding its digital English content in some form in the future. (Read more cable news stories.) Pope Francis launched the new book entitled The Name of God Is Mercy, at the Vatican on Tuesday as the Catholic Church welcomes the Holy Year of Mercy. Said to be a 100-page compilation of his conversations with Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli, the book wants to convey that mercy is essential in the Christian life. The book will be published and distributed to 86 countries after its launching, according to Yahoo News. "We must avoid the attitude of someone who judges and condemns from the lofty heights of his own certainty, looking for the splinter in his brother's eye while remaining unaware of the beam in his own. Let us always remember that God rejoices more when one sinner returns to the fold than when 99 righteous people have no need of repentance," Pope Francis. The Pope further challenge the so-called 'scholars of law' throughout the church's history who easily condemned people labelling them as sinners and prophesied Jesus' fathomless mercy even for the 'most wretched' sinner. "These are men who live attached to the letter of the law but who neglect love; men who only know how to close doors and draw boundaries," the head of the Catholic church said. In the book, Francis also talks about his stand on current issues on gay marriages and annulments which contradicts the Catholic's Church's initial description of same-sex marriage as 'objectively disordered.' "I am glad that we are talking about 'homosexual people' because before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity. And people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies: let us not forget that God loves all his creatures and we are destined to receive his infinite love," the Pope said as mentioned in Think Progress. As for annulment, the Pope gives an open-mind perspective further emphasizing the importance of confession among couples in annulled marriages. "I have a niece who was married to a man in a civil wedding before he received the annulment of his previous marriage. They wanted to get married, they loved each other, they wanted children, and they had three. The judge had even awarded him custody of the children from his first marriage. This man was so religious that every Sunday, when he went to Mass, he went to the confessional and said to the priest, 'I know you can't absolve me but I have sinned by doing this and that, please give me a blessing.' This is a religiously mature man," he said in a report from USA Today. Pope Francis progressive ideas have previously met oppositions from other church leaders who said that if people sinned, they cannot receive the holy sacraments of the Church. In answer to that, the Pope has conducted a two-year study on current issues and is expected to give a decision this year. A man from Ohio who is currently being sought out by the police has sent them a selfie so that they can replace his mug shots. Donald "Chip" Pugh, 45, who is wanted for a misdemeanor drunk driving charge, sent the Lima Police Department a picture of himself inside of a car with sunglasses on. Along with the picture, Pugh wrote, referencing the two other pictures that the police have been circulating on the social media website, "Here is a better photo that one is terrible." The police department has since uploaded that picture on their Facebook page. The use of Facebook to distribute pictures of wanted people is not uncommon, Lieutenant Andy Green, the spokesman for the police department, said. The fact that a fugitive has sent in a photo is, however. "We have never had this happen before," Green said reported by Reuters. In response to the photo, the police stated, "This photo was sent to us by Mr. Pugh himself. We thank him for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPD about his charges." The picture has generated a lot of comments, none of which have lead to the police closer to locating Pugh. The police currently do not have contact with Pugh, who is a wanted man for failing to show up to court. Despite being wanted, Pugh did an interview with 104.9 Eagle about the selfie. In the on-air interview, which happened through the phone, Pugh said, according to the Washington Post, "They just did me wrong. They put a picture out that had me looking like I was a Thundercat or somebody, man." The hosts of the show, Phil Austin and Ryan Staley, attempted to get Pugh's location, but were unsuccessful. Pugh is also a person of interest in other cases involving arson and vandalism. Iran has safely released all 10 U.S. sailors on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the country detained them on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. The sailors - nine men and one woman - were allowed to leave after Iran concluded that the two small U.S. navy vessels had unintentionally drifted into Iranian waters. The U.S. reportedly explained to Iran that the one of the two boats was dealing with mechanical issues when it diverted from its route to Bahrain. The other boat had refused to leave the sailors behind. "The evidence suggests that they unintentionally entered the Iranian waters because of the failure of their navigational system," spokesman for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ramazan Sharif, said. The IRGC's statement added, according to CNN, the release was scheduled "after they [the Americans] extended an apology." After the statement surfaced, John Kirby, the spokesman for the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, clarified that Kerry did not apologize to Iran. Instead, he had expressed his gratitude toward the Iranians for resolving the issue quickly and peacefully. Kirby's statement said, "There is no truth in reporting that Secretary Kerry apologized to the Iranians. As the Secretary said in his statement this morning, he expressed gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter, and noted that the peaceful and efficient resolution of this issue is a testament to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong." The U.S. defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, thanked Kerry "for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure our sailors' swift return." The Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, echoed Kerry's statement. He did not suggest that there was an apology. Zarif tweeted, "Happy to see dialog and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the #sailors episode. Let's learn from this latest example." The improved relationship between American and Iran was also noted by journalist Nader Karimi Jonik, who used to serve in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Jonik stated per The New York Times, "The top leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not looking for any tension with America... things have changed. Both sides, America and Iran, are in direct contact and they seek detente. Currently there is no need for anti-Americanism." The release of the sailors was announced by Iranian news channel, IRINN before 10 a.m. The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain stated that there was no evidence that the sailors had been harmed. The Navy added that it would also be investigating "the circumstances to the sailor's presence in Iran." The sailors will be headed to an American military facility in Qatar to be debriefed. They will also undergo medical exams. A suicide bomber in Pakistan has killed at least 15 people, with the majority of the victims being policemen, the officials stated. The attack occurred on Wednesday outside of a polio vaccination center in the outskirts of Quetta, a city that is located in southwestern Pakistan. Police spokesman, Shahzada Farhat reported that 13 policemen, one solider and a civilian were killed in the bombing. 23 people were injured. The Interior Minister of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti, stated, according to the New York Times that the suicide bomber purposely detonated the bomb near policemen. "We are living in a war zone and I can't say anything about the nature of the blast," Bugti said to the media. "We will not bow down before terrorists." The bombing occurred right before three teams of medics were about to dispatch to nearby neighborhoods to start a three-day vaccination campaign, the local police chief, Syed Imtiaz Shah stated. Polio is still endemic in Pakistan. The spokesman for a small militant group known as Jundullah, Ahmad Marwat, claimed responsibility for the attack. Although he did not say why they decided to attack a polio vaccination center, Marwat warned that future polio vaccination teams would be targeted. "We claim the bomb blast on the polio office. In the coming days, we will make more attacks on polio vaccination offices and polio workers," he said via the phone. Reuters reported that the Pakistani Taliabn also claimed responsibility for the bombing. Both groups have pledged an allegiance to the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL. Islamic fighters have continued to target vaccination center, health workers and police escorts over the past few years. These militants have repeatedly accused the medical staff of being spies for the United States. Some are fearful that the campaigns are a part of a secret mission to sterile Pakistani children. Terrorist groups Al-Qaida and the Taliban, as well as Sunni militant groups, are active in the Baluchistan province. Washington: Observing that instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world including Afghanistan and Pakistan, US President Barack Obama today said both al-Qaeda and ISIS pose a direct threat to the US during his final State of the Union Address to the Congress. Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in todays world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage, Obama said. In his eight State of the Union Address, Obama said terrorist groups like al Qaeda and ISIL (also known as ISIS Islamic State militant group) use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside the country; they undermine American allies. But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence, Obama said. Thats the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit, he asserted. We dont need to build them up to show that were serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the worlds largest religions. We just need to call them what they are killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed, Obama said. Thats exactly what the US is doing, he said adding that for more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISILs financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria, he said. If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorise the use of military force against ISIL. Take a vote. But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them, the President said. During the address, Obama further said, If you doubt Americas commitment or mine to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit. He said that Americas foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and al-Qaeda, but it cant stop there. For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia, he said. Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees, Obama said. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesnt pass muster on the world stage, he added. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Jalalabad: An explosion was reported in area close to Indian consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan, eyewitnesses said on Wednesday. This is the third such attack near Indian consulate in Jalalabad in 15 days. Seven Afghanistan cops have been killed in the blast, as per reports. According to officials it is a suicide attack near the area where many foreign consulates are located including those of India and Pakistan. The explosion occurred 200 meters away from the Indian consulate, which according to report, was not the clear target. All Indians are reportedly safe. A senior Afghan police officer had claimed on Tuesday that Pakistan army officers were behind the January 3 attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, said the attackers, "officers from across the border, were well-trained military men who fought Afghan security forces in the 25-hour siege," Tolo News reported. "We saw with our own eyes and I can say 99 percent that those attackers were from Pakistani military and used special tactics while conducting their operation," Mr Sadat was quoted as saying. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Comedian Kiku Sharda, who is known for playing popular character of Palak in Kapil Sharma's show Comedy Nights With Kapil, has been granted bail in the case against him for mimicking Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The actor was arrested by the Kaithal police for 'hurting' religious sentiments of the followers of Sirsa based religious sect Dera Saccha Saudas chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. However, Dera Saccha Sauda chief said that he never filed any complaint against the actor. Kiku has been booked under section 295 A of IPC on January 1 following a complaint filed by the followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. According to the complainants, the December 27,2015 episode of the serial mimicked Gurmeet Ram Rahim, that has hurt their religious sentiments. New Delhi: Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam appears to be in for trouble with the party high command seeking an explanation from him over the issue of articles in a party journal slamming Jawaharlal Nehru and terming Sonia Gandhis father a fascist soldier. The Disciplinary Action Committee of AICC headed by senior leader AK Antony has issued a show-cause notice to Nirupam in the wake of the controversy. Committee sources said that Nirupam has been asked to respond within a few days over the articles in the magazine Congress Darshan. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushilkumar Shinde are members of the committee while Motilal Vora is its member-secretary. An embarrassed Congress had last month distanced itself from its defunct mouthpiece in Mumbai as some articles in it criticised Nehrus Kashmir policy and alleged that Sonias father was a fascist soldier. Miffed with the editorial, the party had forced its editor and Nirupam to apologise for the gaffe. Sudhir Joshi, who looked after its editorial content, was sacked from the job. An unsigned write-up in the Mumbai units journal, coinciding with the partys 131st foundation day, had blamed Nehru for the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet even as another article made controversial remarks about Sonia. Nirupam had later said that he was unaware of the content that had been published in the said edition. Recently, some Mumbai Congress leaders, including AICC General Secretary Gurudas Kamat, had met Sonia and complained about the matter. Washing its hands of the journal, Congress had earlier said that the party had appointed Nirupam as MRCC chief and not editor of any magazine. Soon after the controversy broke, there had been murmurs questioning Nirupams intention. A former Shiv Sainik, Nirupam rose fast through Congress ranks after joining the party. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to pay a visit to his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi and the state capital Lucknow on January 22. We have started preparations for the visit of the Prime Minister at both these places for which a demand letter for providing 12 companies each of the RAF has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, IG, Law and Order, A Satish Ganesh said. We have also asked for four detachments NSG snipers for both these places and a detailed programme of the VVIP visit is awaited, the IG said. Arrangements are being made to provide 8 SP rank officials, 15 ASPs, 30 Dy SPs, 150 SIs and 500 constables each for both the places, and additional force will be provided in case it is required, he said. Although PMs programme was not officially known, he is likely to attend a programme hosted by Ministry of Social Welfare and Justice in Varanasi, Ganesh said. In Lucknow, Prime Minister is likely to attend an university convocation. The President Pranab Mukherjee is also scheduled to visit Gautam Budh Nagar on January 18 for which a demand of eight companies of PAC and civil police has been made and it is being processed. The IG said that a team of Rampur police will attend the Republic Day function in Udhamsingh Nagar district of neighbouring Uttarakhand and vice-versa. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Acting on the information provided by India, Pakistan has arrested several members of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in connection with the Pathankot attack. In the first major action by Pakistan after the terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base on January 2, offices of the organization were also sealed. According to reports, Pakistani investigators are likely to travel to India. India has handed over proof to Pakistan that the Pathankot attack has been orchestrated by Jaish and has also handed over proof to the neighbouring country that the terrorists were in touch with their handlers before the attack. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to lift ban from bull-taming festival Jallikattu. The order came over Centers notification seeking apex courts permission to hold Jallikattu during Pongal on January 14, 15 and 16. A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana ruled that Courts decision on staying Centres notification will continue with no alteration. Several protests were reported on Tuesday after Supreme Courts ruling to continue ban on the bull-taming sport. Dismayed supporters and organisers of the sport resorted to agitations and road blockades in some parts of the state and downed shutters in various areas, including those in Madurai district, hitting normalcy. Several leaders including Tamil Nadu government had seek permission to hold the event under strict supervision. The Animal Welfare Board had filed a plea in Supreme Court against the comeback of Jallikattu. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: US President Barack Hussein Obama in his last State of Union Address tried to cover all the issues pivoting US economic and social spectrum. Here the five points you cant afford to miss from 44th US presidents last SOTU address: 1) On Terrorism Launching a trenchant attack at Pakistan and Afghanistan, Obama said that these nations are safe heavens for terrorism. He also made his view points clear on ISIS. Here is what he said. As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. Thats the story ISIL wants to tell; thats the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. ... We just need to call them what they areaSaSkillers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed. 2) About his countrys strength Obama hailed US as worlds most powerful nation. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. Its not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world ... when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to leadaS aSthey call us. 3) On Climate Change Weve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the futureaS aSespecially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. Thats why Im going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet. 4) On United States Economy Anyone claiming that Americas economy is in decline is peddling fiction. What is trueaS aSand the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious aSaS is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and havent let up. 5) On Racism and Religion We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isnt a matter of political correctness. Its a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, who is alleged to be involved in Pathankot Air Base attack, used to speak with drug smugglers active in that region often. NIA source has revealed that many numbers from Salwinder Singh's call history belong to drug smugglers. On Tuesday, the NIA had asked mobile telephone service providers to submit details about the calls made using three particular towers which give coverage to the IAF base in Pathankot, after initial probe indicated that the terrorists had entered the restricted area in the morning of January one, sources said. They said officials of Defence Security Corps and others responsible for handling entry and exit at the base were being questioned to ascertain possible lapses that allowed the terrorists to enter the restricted areas without being noticed. Meanwhile, Security agency has also blamed that Salwinder Singh is changing his statements quite often. NIA has also summoned Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot Air Force base hours later. The shrine is located a few kilometres from Bamiyal, the village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated India before mounting the attack. (with PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: India is still awaiting official confirmation on detainment of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother and several individuals belonging to his dreaded outfit. In the evening Pakistani media has reported that they have been detained for alleged involement in Pathankot terror attack. 'We have no official confirmation on arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar,' said MEA spokesperson, Vikas Swarup. While the arrest of several individuals was announced in a press release from the Prime Ministers Office, there was no official word on Azhars detention. Officials said Azhar, the dreaded terrorist and two other terrorists who were released from an Indian prison in 1999 in exchange for release of 155 passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane, has been taken into protective custody after raids on several JeM offices. Pakistan has also said its considering sending a special investigation team to Pathankot as more information would be required to carry forward the process of cooperation with India. The Pakistani action, which was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, come as the fate of the FS-level talks scheduled for Friday hung in balance with just two days for Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to go to Islamabad for talks with his counterpart on resuming the bilateral dialogue process. Terrorists belonging to the JeM are believed by India to be behind the Pathankot terror attack on January 2 in which seven security personnel were killed. A PMO statement issued after the meeting today said it noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistans commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow the territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere. It said considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. Based on initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway, the statement said. In the spirit of the cooperative approach, the statement said, it was also decided that in order to carry the process forward, additional information would be required for which the government of Pakistan is considering sending a SIT to Pathankot in consultation with government of India. The meeting reiterated that in line with our decision to counter and completely eliminate terrorism, Pakistan would remain engaged with India on this issue, the statement said. Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, Director-General ISI Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior officials attended the meeting. Last week India put the ball squarely in Pakistans court, linking the FS-level talks to Islamabads prompt and decisive action in the Pathankot terror attack for which it has provided actionable intelligence. An official said that close to a dozen militants have been held so far and were being questioned. He refused to give further information like where they have been held or when they could be produced before any court. In the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force base that began on January 2, six militants were also eliminated in an operation that lasted four days. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Supreme Court today extended the stay of Italian Marine Massimiliano Latorre, who along with his colleague Salvatore Girone is accused of killing two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, in Italy till April 30 and asked the government to apprise it of the status of international arbitration proceedings in the case. The bench, comprising Justices A R Dave, Kurian Joseph and Amitava Roy, also inquired from senior advocate Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the marines, about media reports saying that Latorre would not be sent back to India by Italy. These are stray reports, Sorabjee said. The court also asked the government to apprise it of the status of international arbitration proceedings to be undertaken in pursuance of directions of International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in the matter on April 13, the next date of hearing. On August 26 last year, it had suspended all court proceedings here in pursuance of an interim order of the ITLOS asking India to maintain status quo in the case. While allowing the joint request of India and Italy, the court had said the proceedings would remain stalled till the jurisdictional issue about which country has the right to conduct the trial was decided through international arbitration. A five-member tribunal (ITLOS Annex VII arbitral tribunal) would be set up, probably in a month to decide the issue of jurisdiction, the Centre had said then. The marines, who were on board ship Enrica Lexie, are accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012. The court, in August last year, had extended the stay of Latorre, who underwent a heart surgery in Italy, by another six months. Latorre, who had suffered a brain stroke on August 31, 2014, was allowed by the apex court on September 12, 2014 to go to Italy for four months and after that, extensions have been granted to him. The complaint against the Italian marines was lodged by Freddy, the owner of the fishing boat St Antony, in which the two Indian fishermen were killed when the marines opened fire on them allegedly under the misconception that they were pirates. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The US has imposed an additional fee of up to USD 4,500 for certain categories of the popular H-1B and L-1 visas, in a blow to Indian IT firms which have to incur an additional burden of about USD 400 million annually. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said applicants for certain categories of H-1B visas post December 18, 2015 must submit an additional fee of USD 4,000. The H1B visa is designed to allow US employers to recruit and employ foreign professionals in speciality occupations within the US. In addition, for those applying for certain L-1A and L-1B must submit an additional USD 4,500. L-1 visas are available to employees of an international company with offices in both the United States and abroad. Referring to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 signed into law by US President Barack Obama on December 18, 2015, USCIS said the additional fees apply to petitioners who employ 50 or more employees in the US, with more than 50 per cent of those employees in H-1B or L (including L-1A and L-1B) non-immigrant status. This fee is in addition to the base processing fee, Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee, American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 fee (when required), as well as the premium processing fee, if applicable. This will remain effective through September 30, 2025, USCIS said. In a statement, USCIS warned that it will begin rejecting H-1B and L-1 visa petitions received on or after February 11, 2016 that do not carry the information required under the new law. USCIS also revised the necessary forms in this regard. During the 30-day period immediately following this web alert, USCIS may issue a Request for Evidence (RFE) to determine whether the additional fee applies to the petition. In a study released in September last year, NASSCOM, a trade association of Indian IT industry, said Indian IT companies have paid between USD 70 to USD 80 million annually for the US Treasury approximately. Given that, the new punitive measure is expected to raise between USD 1.4 billion and USD 1.6 billion every year for the next one decade. It had said that as a result of the US action the Indian technology sector will have to bear additional burden of about USD 400 million annually and this could adversely impact competitiveness of Indias tech sector. In December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with Obama when the latter telephoned him to thank for his leadership role on achieving the historic agreement on climate change in Paris on December 12. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: India tonight deferred a decision on whether to go ahead with the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan on Friday after the detention of several individuals of the dreaded JeM by Islamabad although there was no confirmation of reports that its chief Maulana Masood Azhar was held. Ministry of External Affairs Ministry officials said after a two-hour meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that it was decided to await the return of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval from Paris tomorrow afternoon for a call to be taken. Earlier, reports from Islamabad said that Azhar, his brother and several individuals belonging to his dreaded terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad which is suspected to have engineered the Pathankot attack, were detained and their offices sealed after India demanded action, linking it to the fate of FS-level talks. However, late in the night External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India has received no confirmation of the detention of Azhar. Mohammad Zubair, a minister in the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, told an Indian TV channel that he cannot confirm the arrest of Azhar while Lt Gen (Retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch, minister for frontier regions, said that Azhar was arrested. Azhars brother Abdul Rehman Rauf has also been detained, Geo TV said. Swarup had also said that a decision on whether to go ahead with the talks will be taken after the meeting between Modi and Swaraj. The Pakistani action, which was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, came as the fate of the talks hung in balance. A PMO statement issued in Islamabad after the meeting said it noted with satisfaction that as part of Pakistans commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and the expressed national resolve not to allow the territory to be used for acts of terrorism anywhere. It said considerable progress has been made in the investigations being carried out against terrorist elements reportedly linked to the Pathankot incident. Based on initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad have been apprehended. The offices of the organisation are also being traced and sealed. Further investigations are underway, the statement said. In the night, the Pakistani government followed up with another announcement of setting up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising security and military officials to probe whether any Pakistani individual or organisation was involved in the Pathankot attack on January 2. The JIT was set up following an order of Sharif to ensure a thorough and fair probe by Pakistan. According to an official of the Prime Ministers Office, the JIT would be led by Additional IG Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab, Rai Tahir. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Thank you for reading! To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If you're bored with simple hamburgers, Yahoo Travel has a solution. The site took a look at burgers across the United States to find the most "over-the-top" burger available in each state. Click here to see the full list. Here in Connecticut, the winner comes from Artisanal Burger Company in Manchester. The "Double Trouble" burger is made up of two five-ounce beef patties between two jack-and-cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches. If that's not enough for you, it's served with bacon and fries. Other extravagant burgers include the Chorizo Burger (half pork, half beef patty, roasted poblano peppers, jalapenos, cilantro aioli, tortilla strips, pico de gallo and steak fries) and the Rise and Shine (beef patty, cheddar, local fried egg, bacon, waffle bun and rosemary potatoes). It's not just the burgers, though; the restaurant in general seems to be all about excess. In February 2015, the New York Times covered the grand opening and described how "four employees strained to carry a huge tureen of poutineover 200 poundsto the smorgasbord." "We're going for The Guinness Book of World Records," owner Dorjan Puka joked to the NYT. If you don't feel like driving all the way up to Manchester, there are some pretty over-the-top burger options right here in southwestern Connecticut. Click through the slideshow above for some great burger joints. Bare Burger, with locations in Ridgefield and Stamford, offers interesting options like the Grindhouse (elk meat, Manchego cheese, bacon, relish, paprika mayo on a brioche bun) and the Wiki Wiki (wild boar meat, Gouda, duck bacon, pineapple relish on a brioche bun). Little Pub, with locations in Wilton and Ridgefield, serves up the The Jamburger (roasted garlic spiked cream cheese, jalapenos, homemade bacon jam) and The Going to Graceland (smoked bacon, sweet grilled bananas, melting cheddar, spicy Thai peanut sauce). Connectivity, capacity and clever thinking ensure Samsung continues to lead the way for meaningful innovation in the kitchen MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 12, 2015 /CNW/ - Samsung Electronics Canada, a global leader in home appliance innovations, introduced a brand new refrigeration category to the market that cements the refrigerator's position as the centre of the kitchen. With practical innovations infused throughout, Samsung's latest kitchen appliances were unveiled alongside its other home appliance introductions at CES 2016 from January 6 to 9, 2016. "Samsung has reinvigorated the home appliance space with fresh thinking and functionality to inspire Canadian families to get closer through innovation that offers efficiencies and delivers more connected time together in the home," said Warner Doell, Vice President, Home Appliances Sales and Marketing, Samsung Canada. "Our new and innovative Family Hub Refrigerator serves as the centerpiece of the kitchen, transforming the communal kitchen experience for Canadian families in ways that will re-define how they view and use their refrigerator." Family Hub Refrigerator Makes Its Debut The Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator is a sophisticated multi-tasker that reconnects families, organizes groceries and home tasks, and provides entertainment. The Family Hub is just that a hub of household connections, but with a thoroughly digital twist. All communications are housed and displayed on a 21.5 inch full HD LCD resolution screen located on the upper right exterior door. As the refrigerator's digital family command centre, the screen allows you to post, share and update calendars, pin photos, share treasured kids' works of art, and leave notes all with the ease and convenience of your smartphone. From more efficiently managing your groceries, to identifying foods you have or need, to tracking product expiration dates to cut down on waste, the Family Hub is your go-to resource to keep your kitchen fully stocked. In a revolutionary advancement in refrigerator technology, three high quality cameras inside the fridge capture an image every time the door closes. You can then access those images anytime using your smartphone and take a peek inside your fridge. Even if you're at the store and forget to check on what you need for dinner that night, you can easily pull up the Samsung Smart Home app and have a look right into your Family Hub fridge. With the kitchen serving as the centre of the home and a common gathering spot, the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator is ideally suited to entertain friends and family. It offers options for music streaming to play through its built-in speaker or connect to your Bluetooth wireless speakers, like Samsung's own Radiant 360 line, to enjoy music throughout the home. You can even enjoy your favourite television programs right on the Family Hub screen using Screen mirroring with your Samsung Smart TV, a huge benefit if you have to prepare food for the hockey game and don't want to miss any important play. The Family Hub is as impressively designed on the inside as it is on the outside. From the Samsung-exclusive FlexZone that transforms from fridge to freezer to meet your food storage needs, to keeping food fresher, longer* with its Triple and Metal Cooling system, to its flexibility and energy-saving features, this refrigerator places a premium on superior performance and unmatched innovation and design. The Family Hub Refrigerator (model RF28K95800SR) will be available in Canada in Full Depth in Summer 2016. Convenience and Connectivity in the Kitchen Samsung's Wi-Fi Slide-in Range with Soft Close Dual Door combines advanced technology with the ultimate in flexible functionality to make meal preparation easier and more enjoyable for home cooks. This range also features Samsung's award-winning Flex Duo technology with Soft Close Dual Door which provides ultimate cooking flexibility in oven configurations. Consumers can easily switch between one of the industry's largest single oven compartments at 5.8 cu. ft. or separate into two-compartments (2.4 cu. ft. on top and 3.3 cu. ft. on bottom) by simply inserting or removing a simple but inventive Smart Divider. Maximizing the efficiency of Flex Duo even more is the Soft Close Dual Door, which is engineered with a hinge in the middle to open just the top compartment or both and can close softly and quietly to prevent door slams. Easy-grip metallic knobs that are illuminated with ice blue LED lights make it easy to see from across the room that a burner is on a simple yet meaningful innovation that makes consumers' lives simpler and more efficient. Samsung's Wi-Fi Slide-in Range with Soft Close Dual Door will be available in Canada in Spring 2016 in both electric and gas versions. Additionally, Samsung will showcase a full line of other kitchen innovations at CES 2016, including: Samsung Chef Collection Slide-in Dual Fuel Range: This versatile range serves up what home cooks need by merging a gas cooktop and an electric oven into one unit ideal for cooking precision and control, while for the first time incorporating Samsung's Flex Duo technology. This versatile range serves up what home cooks need by merging a gas cooktop and an electric oven into one unit ideal for cooking precision and control, while for the first time incorporating Samsung's Flex Duo technology. Samsung 4-Door Flex Food Showcase Refrigerator: The convenient external Food Showcase door opens to a shallow case that provides easy access to frequently used items, while an InnerCase compartment in the same space is used for longer-term storage for larger, fresh food items. Samsung's exclusive FlexZone, located in the bottom right quadrant, easily transforms from fridge to freezer by selecting from four customizable temperature settings. And its Triple Cooling System keeps food fresh, longer* by maintaining even humidity levels throughout the fridge and providing precise temperature calibration. For more information about Samsung's appliances, product images and video content visit http://news.samsung.com. *When compared to Samsung fridge models that do not have Triple Cooling System About Samsung Electronics Canada Samsung Electronics Canada inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances and printers. Samsung is a leader in the Internet of Things space through, among others, our Smart Home initiatives. In 2014, Samsung was ranked one of the top 10 most influential brands in Canada, based on a study by Ipsos Reid. Committed to making a difference in communities across Canada, its Samsung Hope for Children corporate giving program supports children's education, sustainability and health-related issues. Globally, Samsung employs 319000 people across 84 countries with annual sales of $196 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com. Follow Samsung Canada at facebook.com/SamsungCanada or on Twitter @SamsungCanada. SOURCE Samsung Electronics Canada For further information: Rachel Wallace, North Strategic, [email protected], 416-316-7155 TORONTO, Jan. 13, 2016 /CNW/ - U3O8 Corp. (TSX: UWE, OTCQX: UWEFF, SSE: UWECL) ("U3O8 Corp." or the "Company") reports on significant changes that have been made by Argentina's new government that are likely to boost foreign investment in general, and in the mining and energy sectors in particular. These changes are significant for U3O8 Corp. whose most advanced project the Laguna Salada Uranium-Vanadium Deposit - is located in Argentina. "President Macri's new government in Argentina has had an impressive and exemplary first 30 days in office," said Richard Spencer, President & CEO of U3O8 Corp. "The government has moved quickly to re-establish the credibility of the central bank, has eased foreign exchange restrictions, and done away with limits on the repatriation of earnings and dividends. The importance of mining in the new administration has been underlined by the fact that, for the first time in Argentina's history, it now has ministerial level representation. And nuclear now has a clear function, alongside renewable energy, in the Electrical Energy Secretariat within the Ministry of Energy and Mines, as a source of carbon-free electricity. The Argentine government is sending a strong message that Argentina is open for business". Since the new government took over the administration on December 10, 2015, it has moved quickly to re-establish fiscal credibility and, of direct importance to the extractive industry, has structured the Ministry of Energy and Mines into a logically organized entity. Financial Framework Since taking over the administration, the new government has: Appointed Dr Federico Sturzenegger as governor of the Argentine Central Bank. Dr Sturzenegger has a doctorate in economics from MIT and was assistant professor of economics at the University of California Los Angeles , before returning to Argentina as chief economist of oil company YPF. He served as a visiting professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard . He was asked by then-mayor of Buenos Aires City, Mauricio Macri , to act as President of the Bank of the City of Buenos Aires . During Dr Sturzenegger's tenure, he transformed the bank from a loss-making organization to the most profitable entity in the public sector in Argentina . The new governor of the reserve bank is charged with ensuring that the bank is independent and autonomous, and that Argentina's economic statistics are appropriately estimated; as governor of the Argentine Central Bank. Dr Sturzenegger has a doctorate in economics from and was assistant professor of economics at the , before returning to as chief economist of oil company YPF. He served as a visiting professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at . He was asked by then-mayor of City, , to act as President of the Bank of the . During Dr Sturzenegger's tenure, he transformed the bank from a loss-making organization to the most profitable entity in the public sector in . The new governor of the reserve bank is charged with ensuring that the bank is independent and autonomous, and that economic statistics are appropriately estimated; Relaxed foreign exchange controls and allowed the Argentine Peso to float freely with its value to be determined by market forces. The elimination of exchange controls led to the devaluation of the Peso by about 28% against the US$. Although the devaluation was dramatic, the consensus view is that the measure will stimulate the Argentine economy. The devaluation should be good for mining and energy projects because it should reduce the capital cost of projects. Related operating costs should also fall since most costs are incurred in Pesos while the product is sold in US$. Goldcorp Inc. has estimated that a 30% devaluation of the Peso could reduce its operating costs by as much as 21%; Dropped restrictions on the repatriation of earnings and dividends; and Reformed taxes on mining and agricultural exports. Taxes on exports of many metals and minerals, including uranium and vanadium, have been eliminated. Moody's has upgraded Argentina's risk rating twice in response to the election results On the basis of Mr Macri's showing in the first round of the Argentine elections on October 25 th , 2015, Moody's upgraded its outlook on Argentina from "negative" to "stable" on November 3 rd . After his election win on November 25 th , Moody's further upgraded Argentina's outlook to "positive" from "stable". Moody's did caution, however, that depleted foreign reserves would make it difficult for Argentina to service its foreign debt in 2016 without access to international financial markets access that has been blocked since a default on sovereign bonds and an associated dispute with the "holdout" bond-holders in the US; , 2015, Moody's upgraded its outlook on from "negative" to "stable" on . After his election win on , Moody's further upgraded outlook to "positive" from "stable". Moody's did caution, however, that depleted foreign reserves would make it difficult for to service its foreign debt in 2016 without access to international financial markets access that has been blocked since a default on sovereign bonds and an associated dispute with the "holdout" bond-holders in the US; Mr Macri's team is reported to have first met legal counsel for the holdout bond-holders in October 2015 and two subsequent meetings are reported to have taken place at which a framework for further negotiations was established. Once Argentina formally reopens negotiations with the holdout bond-holders, a US court may grant a stay, which would allow Argentina to pay the interest due to its current bond-holders without fear of the payments being seized against the amount claimed by the holdouts. The stay would also open international markets to a new bond issue by the Argentinean government. Argentine Minister of the Economy, Alfonso Prat-Gay , with Finance Secretary, Luis Caputo , is scheduled to lead negotiations with holdout bondholders in New York later today. Prat-Gay is a former President of the Central Bank of Argentina and during his two-year term, inflation fell from 40% to 5% while the economy grew at an annual rate of 8%. Ministry of Energy and Mines The new Minister of Energy and Mines, Juan Jose Aranguren, was the CEO of Shell's subsidiary in Argentina for 12 years. Mr Aranguren has deep experience in the resource industry: he graduated as a chemical engineer and has a post-grad degree in systems engineering. He started his career at Shell 37 years ago as a junior technician and ascended through the ranks via economic analysis, marketing, sales and refining, and supply and distribution. Mining The mining function reports to the Minister through the Secretary of Mines, Daniel Meilan. Mr Meilan originally held this portfolio in the Menem government in the 1990's a period in which Argentinean GDP grew at an average rate of 7% per annum. Energy The energy component of the Ministry of Energy and Mines has been organized into logical portfolios, the most important of which, from U3O8 Corp.'s perspective, is the Secretariat of Electrical Energy. The Under-Secretary of Hydroelectricity, as well as the new posts of Under-Secretary of Nuclear Energy and of Renewable Energy, report to the Secretary of Electrical Energy. Key elements of this structure are: The National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), which is a 99% shareholder of the Argentine nuclear fuel fabrication company, Dioxitec SA, reports to the Under-Secretary of Nuclear Energy; and Despite the Minister of Energy and Mines being a veteran of the oil and gas industry, he has set ambitious goals for the incorporation of renewables into the energy mix in Argentina . The goal is to have 8% of the country's electricity requirement derived from renewable sources by 2017 and 20% by 2020. The strategy of incorporating a higher proportion of electricity from renewable sources is significant to U3O8 Corp. because the Company is currently evaluating the economics of incorporating wind power into the energy mix required for development of the Laguna Salada Deposit. Ministry of the Environment & Sustainable Development The new Minister of the Environment is Rabbi Sergio Bergman. Bergman is reported to have a close relationship with Pope Francis, who served as archbishop of the City of Buenos Aires before moving to the Vatican. Both leaders have called for sustainable development to be undertaken in an environmentally responsible manner. About U3O8 Corp. U3O8 Corp. is an advanced exploration company focused on exploration and resource expansion of uranium and associated commodities in South America a promising new frontier for uranium exploration and development. U3O8 Corp's uranium resources are contained in deposits in Colombia, Argentina and Guyana: Laguna Salada Deposit, Argentina a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") shows this near surface, free-digging uranium-vanadium deposit is potentially amenable to low-cost mining and processing methods; a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") shows this near surface, free-digging uranium-vanadium deposit is potentially amenable to low-cost mining and processing methods; Berlin Deposit, Colombia a PEA shows that Berlin could be a potential low-cost uranium project thanks to revenue from by-products of phosphate, vanadium, nickel, rare earths (yttrium and neodymium) and other metals that occur in the same deposit; and a PEA shows that could be a potential low-cost uranium project thanks to revenue from by-products of phosphate, vanadium, nickel, rare earths (yttrium and neodymium) and other metals that occur in the same deposit; and Kurupung Deposit, Guyana an initial uranium deposit in a large emerging uranium district. Additional information on U3O8 Corp. and its mineral resources are available at www.u3o8corp.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain "forward looking statements" with respect to the development plans, economic potential and growth targets of U3O8 Corp's projects. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions for the future, and include, but not limited to, statements with respect to: (a) the low-cost and near-term development of Laguna Salada, (b) the Laguna Salada and Berlin PEAs, (c) the potential of the Kurupung district in Guyana, (d) the price and market for uranium, (e) political and economic changes in respect of Argentina, and (f) the impacts of such changes on foreign investment in Argentina and on the Company. These statements are based on assumptions, including that: (i) actual results of the Company's exploration, resource goals, metallurgical testing, economic studies and development activities will continue to be positive and proceed as planned, and assumptions in the Laguna Salada and Berlin PEAs prove to be accurate, (ii) a joint venture will be formed with the provincial petroleum and mining company for Laguna Salada, (iii) requisite regulatory and governmental approvals will be received on a timely basis on terms acceptable to U3O8 Corp., (iv) economic, political and industry market conditions will be favourable, (v) financial markets and the market for uranium will improve for junior resource companies in the short-term, and (vi) changes in economic, political and regulatory conditions in Argentina will continue to be favourable to the Company. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in such statements, including, but not limited to: (1) changes in general economic and financial market conditions and government policy, (2) changes in demand and prices for minerals, (3) the Company's ability to establish appropriate joint venture partnerships, (4) litigation, regulatory, and legislative developments, dependence on regulatory approvals, and changes in environmental compliance requirements, community support and the political and economic climate, (5) the inherent uncertainties and speculative nature associated with exploration results, resource estimates, potential resource growth, future metallurgical test results, changes in project parameters as plans evolve, (6) competitive developments, (7) availability of future financing, (8) exploration risks, and other factors beyond the control of U3O8 Corp. including those factors set out in the "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. U3O8 Corp. assumes no obligation to update such information, except as may be required by law. For more information on the above-noted PEAs, refer to the September 18, 2014 technical report titled "Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Laguna Salada Uranium-Vanadium Deposit, Chubut Province, Argentina" and the January 18, 2013 technical report titled "U3O8 Corp. Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Berlin Deposit, Colombia." SOURCE U3O8 Corp. For further information: Richard Spencer, President & CEO, U3O8 Corp., Tel.: (416) 868-1491, [email protected] The Osun State government has advertised vacancies at hospitals in the state, a move apparently aimed at getting replacement for doctors,... The Osun State government has advertised vacancies at hospitals in the state, a move apparently aimed at getting replacement for doctors, who are currently on strike.The advertisement, which was signed by Sunday Olajide on behalf of the Head of Service, Mr. Sunday Owoeye, was aired on the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation.The broadcast led many to conclude that Governor Rauf Aegbesola had sacked the striking doctors, who went on strike since since September 28, 2015.The state government had threatened to fire the doctors if they failed to resume work on Friday.The governor said on Thursday that the civil service rule to effect that would be implemented on Monday but that did not happen.The President of the Association of Resident Doctors, LAUTECH, Dr. Adeyinka Owolabi, when contacted told our correspondent on the telephone that he also listened to the advert.He said, We are still on strike. Nothing has changed but I heard on the television- government advertising vacancies of doctors. They are promising them the stipends that we are rejecting.We have approached the court before this and we are waiting for the date of the hearing of the matter.The doctors rejected half salaries which the state government is paying and embarked on the strike after their ultimatum.Meanwhile, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital have embarked on an indefinite strike following the expiration of a seven day ultimatum given the government.The Secretary of MDCAN, Dr. Tokunbo Olajumoke, confirmed this to our correspondent on the telephone.He said, The strike started 8am this morning at the expiration of the ultimatum. So we are on strike. The Nigeria Medical Association has asked medical doctors in the country to shun the jobs advertised by the Osun State Government. The ... The Nigeria Medical Association has asked medical doctors in the country to shun the jobs advertised by the Osun State Government.The Chairman of the NMA, Dr. Suraj Ogunyemi, said this in a phone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.According to him, any doctor who applies for or is interviewed for the jobs, will be sanctioned.Ogunyemi said the national body of the NMA was in support of the steps being taken by its Osun State chapter, saying the association would also sanction any doctor who sits on the panel of interviewers for the advertised jobs.He said, Any medical or dental doctor who appears for the interview will be sanctioned by the NMA. Any doctors in the ministry or hospital who sit on the panel to interview any doctor will also be sanctioned.The state government had earlier today advertised series of vacancies for doctors, offering them the same salary package which the striking doctors rejected.The advertisement is believed to be aimed at getting replacement for the striking doctors who the state government have threatened to fire.The government had said it would sack doctors who refused to resume on Friday. It, however, did not carry out the threat on Monday even though the doctors ignored its threat and continued the industrial action. The Lagos State Government says it is working on a plan to stop commercial yellow buses, popularly called danfos, from plying Broad Stree... The Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business District, Mr. Agboola Dabiri, who said this on Tuesday during a press briefing in Alausa, Ikeja, added that the plan was to rid the Island of gridlock.He said, It is a known fact that the traffic within Apongbon from Broad Street has been terrible. If you are not careful, travelling from Apongbon to Surulere can take five hours.He said the plan of the government was also to cordon off Apongbon, towards Broad Street and eastern William Street, such that drivers would find it difficult to pick and drop off passengers.He said buses could move down from Marina through the bridge, instead of taking Apongbon and Broad Street.Our ultimate target is to make Broad Street and Apongbon no-go areas for yellow buses, he added.The special adviser said the challenges caused by street traders on the Island would soon be addressed, saying barricades were being created to make it difficult for the traders to operate.We have sealed under the bridge with barb wires; we have also enclosed the traders under the bridge within the barb wire so as to prevent them from spreading to the road, he added.He said the state government was working to find permanent solutions to the challenges on the Lagos Island, appealing for the cooperation of residents.He said the CBD under his watch would ensure a clean environment, as well as security and quality health care. The Lagos State Government is investigating suspected Lassa Fever cases reported by the Mainland Hospital, Yaba and General Hospital, M... The Lagos State Government is investigating suspected Lassa Fever cases reported by the Mainland Hospital, Yaba and General Hospital, Mushin, following the death of three women that exhibited symptoms similar to Lassa virus infection.Also, the Ondo State government, yesterday, confirmed two suspected cases of Lassa fever deaths in the state.Health commissioner, Dr Dayo Adeyanju said this at a Lassa Prevention stakeholders meeting for health workers, religious, and opinion leaders and traditional leaders in Akure.Already, the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, and the 26 General Hospitals in the State are at red alert for isolation of any suspected Lassa fever cases.The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who, disclosed this yesterday, said even though tests on the deceased were negative to the Lassa virus, the state government had set in motion series of proactive measures to contain any possible outbreak of the disease in Lagos and environs.Speaking on the development in a media briefing, Idris said: The first is a 47 year-old woman who was referred to General Hospital, Mushin, from a private health facility (Alafia Tayo Maternity Home) on 7th January, 2016 with three days history of sore throat; frequent watery stooling of eight hours duration; difficulty in breathing of one hour duration and widespread petechae hemorrhages on the body.Confirming that the patient later died few minutes after reaching the hospital, Idris said the result of laboratory investigation (blood) was negative for Lassa fever.He said the second suspected case, a 31 year-old woman from Nasarawa State, was referred from a private hospital to Mainland Hospital, Yaba, on account of a host of symptoms she developed on 4th January, 2016 .The symptoms included fever, sore throat, abdominal pain, discharge from the eyes, bleeding per vagina, passage of bloody urine, anal bleeding and hemoptysis. Result of laboratory investigation (blood) was negative for Lassa fever, Idris noted.The third suspected case, a 24-year-old housemaid who returned from Taraba State, was brought by her relations to Mainland Hospital, Yaba, on the 8th January,2016 on account of fever, vomiting and diarrhea on 9th January, 2016. Result of laboratory investigation was negative for Lassa fever.The Commissioner noted that one of the primary contacts of the confirmed case in Rivers State who resides in Lagos is presently being monitored along with her contacts (secondary contacts). All the contacts as at the time (Day 14) of this briefing are apparently healthy.In Ondo State, Dr Adeyanju said one of the suspects came into the state from Edo State.He noted that government has put under close monitoring 31 persons, who had contacts with the two dead suspects.The Commissioner added that the state government has equally activated its surveillance mechanism to ensure it does not spread.He appealed to religious leaders not to harbour sick persons, who manifest symptoms of Lassa fever but referred them to the nearest hospital for prompt attention.Dr Adeyanju said that the outbreak control team at the local government has been re-activated. Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, on Wednesday threw his weight behind the ongoing anti-corruption fight of President Muhamm... Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, on Wednesday threw his weight behind the ongoing anti-corruption fight of President Muhammadu Buhari, describing it as perfect.Ayade, a Peoples Democratic Party governor, made the submission at a time members and the leadership of his party are accusing the President of partisanship in the anti-graft war.He spoke with State House correspondents shortly after meeting Buhari behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.He said with the poverty rate in the country despite its huge natural resources, any serious government must take the issue of corruption seriously just as the President was doing.The governor said the current efforts had started yielding results by giving the country the kind of international image that it needed.He said, The anti-corruption war is perfect. Those who know the pains, hardship and frustrations that Nigerians have passed through will agree with me on this.As a nation, there is so much in terms of natural resources and the people are so poor.It is only obvious that any serious government must take the issue of corruption seriously, and I think that is why today Nigeria is beginning to have national and international image that looks like Nigeria is getting prepared for business.That is why investments are flowing into Cross River State, that is a sign that the anti-corruption war is actually working and it is giving Nigeria the international image that we need.Ayade said he visited the President to commend him for some of his policies that had also helped Cross River State tremendously. The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has torn a confessional statement he made to the Ec... The top officer of the commission, who confided in one of our correspondents on Tuesday, alleged that Metuh tore the statement when it was brought to him for his signature.The source alleged that the PDP spokesman tore the statement he had earlier made to shreds and attempted to put the pieces in his mouth when operatives stopped him.Metuh was arrested by the EFCC last week for allegedly receiving N1.4bn meant for the purchase of arms from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).The source said the interrogators believed that the PDP spokesman destroyed the statement after realising the gravity of the evidence against him.The top operative added that the commission was considering filing additional charges against Metuh for allegedly destroying a major evidence in the case against him.He added that the action of the PDP spokesman amounted to a wilful damage of government property.The tearing of statement is tantamount to wilful destruction of government property and it is a serious offence. Also, the fact that he obstructed operatives from performing their job is a criminal offence.We will explore the possibility of filing a separate charge against him at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, the source said.Efforts to get Metuhs aide, Mr. Richard Ihediwa, to react to this latest development did not succeed as calls to his mobile telephone indicated that it was switched off.There was a report last week that the EFCC was investigating the account of Destra Investment Limited, owned by Metuh.According to the report, the EFCC investigators discovered that Destra Investment Limited was used to fund the PDPs activities, including its 2015 campaigns.The EFCC alleged that the company, which had N6, 676,576.06 as of November 24, 2014, recorded a balance of N1.4bn by last December.Some of the deposits in the account are N400m from the Office of National Security Adviser on November 24, 2014; N253m on December 2 and 4, 2014 from Ibrahim Kabiru, whose identity had yet to be confirmed; N91m on December 2, 2014 from Capital Field Investment; and N92m on December 3, 2014.Meanwhile, Metuh has said he will no longer speak to investigators about the N400m he collected from former President Goodluck Jonathan.He said rather, he would only speak in an open court.Metuh had admitted before the EFCC operatives that he received N400m from Jonathan, but refused to disclose what the money was meant for or for what job.In a statement by his Special Assistant, Ihediwa, in Abuja on Tuesday, Metuh claimed that he executed a project for the former President but refused to explain the job he executed for the ex-President that fetched him the huge sum.Metuh, who is said to be on hunger strike, said he would only disclose the job he did for the defeated former President in an open court.Ihediwa said, In exercise of his rights, he has since given his statement to the EFCC wherein he submitted that he received the sum of N400m from the former President for an assignment, which he executed to the satisfaction of the former President.In further exercise of his rights, Metuh has also indicated his readiness to make public the nature of this assignment, but only in an open court in line with the laws of the land, and where his statement would not be distorted by anybody.Meanwhile, the caucus of the PDP in the House of Representatives has demanded the release of the PDP spokesperson from the custody of the EFCC within 48 hours.The Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, a member of the PDP from Delta State, who spoke on behalf of the caucus, clarified that the demand did not mean that the lawmakers were against the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government.Ogor added, We are not in support of corruption or any corrupt person, but due process must be followed. Metuh has been arrested and kept in detention for nine, almost 10 days, without trial.We insist that he should be taken to a court of competent jurisdiction or granted an administrative bail as has been done in cases involving other persons.The caucus recalled that like Metuh, former Kaduna State military governor, Brig.-Gen. Jafaru Isa, a known associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, was also detained by the EFCC for receiving N170m from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.However, the PDP observed that in the case of Jafaru, he was granted bail soon after his arrest by the anti-graft agency.Isa Jafaru was granted bail after the EFCC chairman (Ibrahim Magu) visited Aso Rock. What does that tell us? Ogor asked.The EFCC had said Isa was granted bail after he refunded N100m from the N170m he collected from Dasuki.Ogor added, If you make a reference to the refund of money, then we have missed the point. The point is why keep a man in detention endlessly without trial? It is not the duty of the EFCC to direct anybody to refund money. That is the responsibility of the courts.PDPs National Legal Adviser, Mr. Victor Kwon, told one of our correspondents that he was not at the place where the incident allegedly happened.Kwon said, I wasnt there and I wont want to react to hearsay.Only those who were there can confirm or deny whether the incident took place or not.Efforts to get the EFCCs spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, to confirm Metuhs action, had not succeeded as of the time of sending this report as calls to his mobile telephone did not connect.In a related development, the House of Representatives in its plenary session on Tuesday debated a bill to amend the EFCC Act 2004.The bill, which was sponsored by Mr. Nicholas Ossai, seeks to restructure the commission and strengthen it.The bill, among others, seeks to restructure the composition of the EFCC by introducing various professional bodies into its operations.It also seeks to empower the commission to seize funds held in the bank accounts of individuals, which the owners could not defend or explain their sources.A member, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, said, We need to professionalise the EFCC so that the agency can be sound in fighting corruption.But members like Abdulrazak Namdas and Aminu Suleiman expressed fears that introducing external bodies like the Nigerian Bar Association could politicise the operations of the commission.These professional bodies are themselves political bodies in a way because they have political affiliations. At the end of the day, they will rather delay the work of the commission than speeding it up, Namdas stated.On his part, Suleiman said, Bringing in other organs to be part of the EFCC will politicise the commission.The bill passed its second reading and was referred to the House Committee on Financial Crimes by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara. The Yorubas and the Igbos, two of the most resourceful, engaging and outgoing ethnic groups in Nigeria, are becoming implacable enemies.... The Yorubas and the Igbos, two of the most resourceful, engaging and outgoing ethnic groups in Nigeria, are becoming implacable enemies. Increasingly, they seem to hate one another with pure hatred. I never appreciated the extent of their animosity until the social media came of age in Nigeria. Now, hardly a day passes that you will not find Yorubas and Igbos exchanging hateful words on internet blogs.The Nigerian civil war ended in 1970. Nevertheless, it continues to rage today on social media mostly by people who were not even alive during the civil war. In blog after blog, the Yorubas and the Igbos go out of their way to abuse one another for the most inconsequential of reasons. This hatred is becoming so deep-seated, it needs to be addressed before it gets completely out of hand. It is time to call a truce. A conscious effort needs to be made by opinion-leaders on both sides of the ethnic divide to put a stop to this nonsense.Both the Yorubas and the Igbo stereotype one another. To the Igbo, the Yorubas are the ngbati ngbati ofemmanu who eat too much oil. They are masters of duplicity and deception; saying one thing while meaning another. To the Yorubas, the Igbo are clannish and money-minded. They are Shylock traders who specialise in selling counterfeit goods.But the truth is that stereotypes are essentially generalisations and exaggerations. In a lot of cases, they are unreliable and untrue. Stereotypes must be recognised at their most effective as a joke. They are the stock-in-trade of seasoned comedians; the garnish for side-splitting anecdotes at weddings and social gatherings. Stereotypes should not be taken seriously. We should laugh at them without being offended by them.The more Nigeria develops as a melting pot of nations, the more we should be able to laugh at ourselves. The greater inclination to do this denotes increasing strength of character and self-confidence. However, with the advancement of social media, the banter has gone way beyond the jocular and innocuous to outright malice and unadulterated hatred. Increasingly, what you hear are abusive and pejorative labels of Yariba, Yorubastards and Yorobbers; as well as Eboes, Zooafrans and Biafrauds.As the insults fly with abandon, you begin to wonder where all this comes from. What is the basis of all this hate? In the sixties, the Igbo were slaughtered in pogroms in the North. However, the principal exchange of hateful words today is not between Northerners and Easterners, but between Easterners and Westerners. Why are these two ethnic groups so much at loggerheads? How did we get to this pass?Malicious stereotyping often involves denigrating the strengths of others. The Igbo are very enterprising; a very valuable resource in a developing country like Nigeria. But then this is castigated as mercenary. The Yorubas take great pride in education; another valuable asset in todays modern world. But then they are derided as using this to get one over on others.The saving grace is that the two groups live side-by-side in peace and quiet in different parts of the country. Moreover, the animosity between them, especially among the younger generation, has not prevented their boys and girls and men and women from falling in love. Yoruba men marry Igbo women; and Igbo men marry Yoruba women. Meanwhile, a lutta continua.The Igbo tar the Yorubas with the brush of Awolowo, who they label as the father of ethnicity in Nigeria. In that narrative, it is conveniently overlooked that the broadmindedness of the Yorubas enabled Azikiwe, an Igbo man, to win a regional election in the Yoruba heartland in 1954. Instead, what is harped on is the fact that Awolowo mobilised Yoruba politicians to nullify that victory by decamping from Azikiwes more nationalist camp to Awolowos more ethnically-focused camp.One of the newspaper headlines that sticks in my memory from 50 years ago is the one that said: If East Goes, West will Go- Awo. After a visit to Ojukwu in Enugu at the height of the acrimony over the mass killing of the Igbo in the North in the mid-1960s, Awolowo declared that if the East was allowed to secede as a result of acts of omission or commission, he would also lead the West into secession.This flashed a green light for Igbo secession. But when the East seceded, Awolowo failed to mobilise the West to follow suit. Not only did the West not join the East in secession, it joined the North in fighting against the East. Awolowo then became the Commissioner of Finance and Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council of the Nigerian government that prosecuted the war against Biafran secession.The Igbo have rightly deemed this a great betrayal. But their case against Awolowo did not end there. As finance minister, Awolowo was the brainchild of the strategy to blockade Biafra; leading to mass Igbo starvation and deaths. With the end of the war, it was also alleged that Awolowo orchestrated the policy whereby the totality of individual holdings of Biafran currency was converted to Nigerian legal tender at a flat maximum amount of only 20 pounds.This effectively pauperized the Igbo. Since it also coincided with the period when Nigerian corporations were being privatised, it had the effect of locking out the Igbo from strategic sectors of the Nigerian economy; gobbled up in the main by the Hausa-Fulanis and Yorubas.The Igbo case against Awolowo has become the Igbo case against the Yorubas. In the process, it is easily overlooked that prominent Yorubas, like Tai Solarin and Wole Soyinka, defended the Igbo right to self-determination during the Biafran War. The properties the Igbo left behind in Yorubaland during the Civil War were not expropriated by the Yorubas, as they were in some other places. When Odumegwu Ojukwu came back from exile in Ivory Coast, all his fathers properties in Lagos remained intact.Under President Obasanjo, a Yoruba man, the Igbos were given the control of Nigerias economic and monetary policy. The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Governor of the Central Bank, Charles Soludo; and Director-General of the Stock Exchange, Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, were all Igbos. So were the Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili; and the Director-General of NAFDAC, Dora Akinyuli.Indeed, Obasanjo favoured the Igbo more than his native Yorubas. He appointed an Igbo, Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, as the Minister of Defense and another, Air Marshal Paul Dike, as Nigerias first Igbo Chief of Air Staff. While the Igbo visit the transgressions of Awolowo on the Yorubas, they do not visit the favouritism of Obasanjo on the Yorubas.The sins of Awolowo were brought again to the fore in 2012 by Chinua Achebe in his book: There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra. The blogs came alive as blame was traded on both sides of the East-West divide. Awolowo was now cast by the Igbos as the father of the Yorubas; and they were determined to visit his sins on his Yoruba sons to the third and fourth generations.Blunders continue to be made on both sides, fanning the flames of hatred. Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State blundered by deporting some destitute Igbos back to the East in the dead of night in 2013. This created uproar in the sizeable Igbo community in Lagos. Even though Fashola expressly apologised to Ndigbo for the faux pas, a ridiculous discussion nevertheless ensued about the rightful ownership of Lagos.Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State, put his foot in it when he declared that Lagos, as a former national capital, was no mans land and so belongs to all of us. This incensed ethnic jingoists in Yorubaland who, forgetting the traditional hospitality of the Yorubas, asked the Igbo to leave Lagos and go back East.But nothing quite compares to the broadside that came from the Oba of Lagos. During the 2015 election, Oba Rilwan Akiolu summoned Lagos Igbo leaders to his palace; only to threaten them: If anyone of you, I swear in the name of God, goes against my wish that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos state, the person is going to die inside this water. What you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere you cannot do it here. If you do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosperous for you, if you go against my wish, you will perish in the water.It mattered little to His Royal Highness that Ambodes close rival was not an Igbo but Jimi Agbaje; another Yoruba man.The Yorubas and Ndigbo do themselves great disservice by seeing themselves as arch-enemies. Within the framework of Nigerian politics, this has limited the freedom of action of both ethnic groups. If one is prominent in this political party, the other is more likely to align itself with another party. This means the one can always be manipulated against the other. Instead, the political space should be opened up by the possibility that the Yoruba and the Igbo can form an alliance. That eventuality is not implausible especially because they actually have common interests.Both groups prefer a Nigeria that practices fiscal federalism. Both want a country with a weaker centre. Both want a Nigeria that rewards merit, with a state-structure based on resource-control. Both groups want a Nigeria committed to self-determination. These are grounds for cooperation as opposed to discord. If the North is not to continue to take the South for granted, it must not be allowed to continue to operate in the confidence that the East and the West will always be divided.In politics, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent allies. Fifty years down the road, the politics of the Nigerian Civil War should not be allowed to continue to cast a shadow over Yoruba-Ndigbo relations. In the Second World War, Germany was the arch-enemy of France, but now both countries are the staunchest allies. Japan invaded the United States; but now both are on the same side. These turnarounds can and should be duplicated in Southern Nigeria.As a first step, there is need for a grand gesture. A well-publicised meeting between the Afenifere and the Ohaneze, where declaratory statements should be made about burying the hatchet. Thereafter, standing committees should be established to deal with flashpoints; such as the dismantling of Oshodi market in Lagos. The hatred between the Yoruba and Ndigbo has gone on for far too long. Let there be love shared among us! Less than 48 hours after Dr Mrs I.B. Apriokor, an Ophthalmologist with the Braithwaite Special Memorial Hospital, Port Harcourt, the Rive... Less than 48 hours after Dr Mrs I.B. Apriokor, an Ophthalmologist with the Braithwaite Special Memorial Hospital, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital in southern Nigeria, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen, another medical doctor, Dr Isaac Opurum, has been abducted from his home in Port Harcourt.Dr. Opurum, who is the Director, Community House Services, Rivers State Primary Healthcare Board, was abducted at about 3am at his residence in Port Harcourt on Tuesdayby gunmen.Frustrated by the abduction of two colleagues within 48 hours, members of the Rivers branch of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, have threatened to withdraw their services if nothing is done to free their abducted colleagues within 48 hours.Dr Apriokor was kidnapped on Sunday, 10 January on her way to church in Port Harcourt.When Dr. Apriokor who works with the state-owned Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, BMSP, was kidnapped on Sunday, her children were said to have been abandoned in the vehicle.The Rivers State Branch of Medical and Dental Consultants Association in state government owned hospitals had condemned the abduction of Dr. Apriokor in a statement issued Tuesday.The Public Relations Officer of the association, Dr. Alali Dan Jumbo, called for the immediate and unconditional release of the kidnapped medical doctor.Jumbo also regretted the continuous abduction of medical doctors by unidentified gunmen in Rivers State, describing the trend as worrisome.Medical Doctors are wondering why they are targets of kidnapers in recent times.This is very sad because we are civil servants even if we answer the name doctors. The title gives you a high profile but we are basically civil servants. And I dont see any financial gain from kidnapping a doctor. It is so traumatic on her family, colleagues and patients. We are feeling very bad right now, Jumbo said.The State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Furo Green, while reacting to the abduction, decried the spate of kidnapping targeted at medical doctors in the state.Green stated that doctors were afraid to report to work because they have become targets.The NMA chairman said that in 2015, 21 of their colleagues were kidnapped in the state, adding that members of the families of the victims who paid ransoms before they were released, have not been able to offset the monies borrowed for ransom a year after.He threatened that if the two doctors were not released unconditionally within 48 hours doctors under the employ of the State Government would be forced to stop work and search for their kidnapped colleagues.Green said medical doctors are so scared to either go to work to attend to their patients who are in the ratio of 5,000 to one medical doctor.He regretted that medical doctors have suddenly become endangered species who constantly feel insecure because they dont have security details attached to them like politicians.The Rivers State Government, which incidentally has a medical doctor as Deputy Governor, Dr Mrs Ipalibo Banigo, is yet to react to the 48 hours ultimatum by the doctors. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the party misgivings about the outcome of the... The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the party misgivings about the outcome of the Bayelsa State Governorship election.The APC chairman told State House correspondents in Abuja on Monday that although the party APC had a lot of reservations about the final result, it would examine the issues critically and come up with a position soon.He said, The Bayelsa election has come and gone. We have very deep regret that there was so much unnecessary bloodshed in the process.We have a lot of reservations, some of which our candidate had very eloquently expressed. We are going to examine what has come out very, very carefully and decide the next line of action.The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Governor Seriake Dickson, had been declared winner of the governorship election, defeating APCs Chief Timipre Sylva with a margin of 48,146 votes.Sylva, however, rejected the outcome, saying he would head to court to seek redress.Meanwhile, the APC chairman, who spoke with correspondents after a meeting of the partys National Working Committee with President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock, said that as far as the party was concerned, the Kogi election issue was over.He explained that all issues arising from the election were currently before various courts, adding that the party would leave the courts to decide on them.Describing the meeting with the President as a normal interactive meeting, Odigie-Oyegun said the NWC briefed Buhari on the state of the party, the current challenges and the 78 reruns in which the APC would participate.He added that the President also briefed them on the state of the nation and the work the administration was doing in the face of intense challenges.Oyegun also said that despite the allegation of partisanship against the Buharis anti-corruption war, the party did now owe anyone an apology.He said, We must get use to the fact that in the process of cleansing this nation, there is going to be a lot to be done. The Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Uche Secondus, has said the party requires a new constitution or order... The Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Uche Secondus, has said the party requires a new constitution or order to guarantee internal democracy.Secondus said this in Abuja on Tuesday while inaugurating the partys Constitution Amendment Committee.He said the partys expected new constitution should also provide an efficient organizational structure and process under which the aspirations of its members could be maximally articulated.Secondus said since the formation of the party in 1998, it had been driven by five constitution amendments; 2000, 2001, 2006 2009 and 2012.He said, In all these amendments, we have not had a more pressing need to review our Constitution than we now have.Today we are faced with the reality of becoming an opposition party after governing the country for 16 years.Not only are we expected to function as a vibrant opposition party, it appears that by a surprising stroke of fate, Nigerians would once more be relying on PDP, just like they did in 1998 to safe our democratic project in the face of the Anti-corruption temperament and actions of a ruling government.He added that the party must therefore reform and reposition itself for the task ahead.The acting national chairman urged members of the Committee to use the report of the PDP Post-elect Review Committee as its working document. ROCHELLE PARK - A township man was arrested for drunken driving Monday after police found him trapped in his driveway under his 1998 Jeep, authorities said. (File photo) Police responded to a 911 call shortly before 8 p.m. of a man stuck under a vehicle tire on Oldis Street. They found Kevin Doughty, 58, with his right leg under the tire, according to Det. Sgt. James DePreta. "The vehicle was still engaged in the reverse gear at the time of police arrival," DePreta said in a statement. "The vehicle was secured and the male was freed from the vehicle tire with the assistance of EMS," DePreta said. Police said Doughty, who smelled of alcohol, had been trying to move an object blocking his driveway when he fell under the Jeep. "The vehicle was never placed in park and he lost his balance," DePreta said. Doughty suffered abrasions to his leg but refused medical treatment, police said. After field sobriety tests, Doughty was taken into custody. He was issued summonses for driving under the influence and careless driving, police said. He was released to a family member. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. CAMDEN -- A summer fling on the fritz, thousands of text messages and a strong "dislike" of children. When the Camden County Prosecutor's Office laid out its case against David "D.J." Creato, a magnifying glass was held right over top his occasionally rocky relationship with a 17-year-old Pennsylvania native. "Despite her strong and outspoken dislike of children, [Creato] entered an intense romantic relationship with her," Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah said Tuesday of the 22-year-old's time spent with a New York college student previously identified as Julia "Julie" Spensky. On Wednesday, Creato's attorney said that quarrels between his client and girlfriend were more rooted in the stumbling blocks young lovers face than those seemingly posed by a toddler in the way of something more. 'Mounting pressure' Creato, 22, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child in the Oct. 13, 2015 mysterious death of his son, Brendan. He remains behind bars on $750,000 bail. In mid-December, Camden County's medical examiner ruled Brendan died as a result of "homicidal violence" by reason of exclusion from drowning, asphyxiation or blunt-force trauma. Physical affects due to a lack of oxygen that were detected in the boy's brain could have been caused by asphyxiation, drowning or strangulation. Philadelphia-based attorney William Brennan, who is representing Creato's parents said the couple "are devastated by the death of their grandson and indictment of their son." "They continue to stand by their son," Brennan said, adding that the couple were "pleased" that bail was reduced from $1 million, but are "working people" who are "attempting to pool their resources ... It's a tall mountain to climb." On Wednesday -- three months to the day after Brendan's partially submerged body was found in a stream near the Cooper River -- attorney Richard J. Fuschino Jr. elaborated that he was surprised Creato was being charged based upon the what was revealed in the arraignment. "To say that the case is circumstantial but compelling, I couldn't disagree more," Fuschino said Tuesday, noting that what his client is accused of is "horrific," but the reasoning is "weak." So how did Creato go from not being a suspect, as Fuschino stated in an Oct. 21, 2015 interview, to being indicted by a grand jury and walked into a courtroom with a chain around his waist? "I think Shah addressed how long and how involved the investigation was, but I expressed concern about mounting pressure as opposed to an actual determination of what happened," Fuschino said. "I was surprised anyone was charged based on what the prosecution explained in court." Asked about Spensky, Fuschino said he did not want to comment on evidence, but relationship issues between a 17-year-old and 22-year-old are not out of the ordinary. "These were problems that were based on common girlfriend-boyfriend problems -- not on D.J. having a son, as I said in court," Fuschino said. 'Teenage threats' Creato and Brendan's mother, Samantha Denoto, were high school classmates. Brendan was born on June 1, 2012 and the two -- both Haddon Township residents at the time of the boy's death -- lived separately and shared custody of their son. Denoto, her partner Matt Holshue and others walked briskly from the Camden County Hall of Justice after Tuesday's arraignment without comment. Creato and Spensky began dating in June 2015 after meeting via Tinder, a mobile phone dating application. Problems began to pop up three months later when Spensky, who is being represented by New York attorney Joseph Sorrentino, went away to the Empire State for college and the two could only see each other on weekends. Sorrentino did not respond to a message seeking comment left Wednesday morning. Although prosecutors did not name Spensky in court, as she is a minor, a person who answered the phone at Sorrentino's Staten Island office confirmed her name after asking what the call was regarding. According to a screenshot of one of Spensky's postings provided to NJ Advance Media, she would later say that she was a possible suspect in a homicide investigation. The prosecutor's office has declined any comment beyond those made in open court as not to jeopardize the case. According to Shah, the girlfriend's "teenage threats" included not coming to visit because she was going to make plans with her family -- just as Creato was doing with his. And, if she did for some reason end up in Haddon Township, it was so the two could break up in person and to grab her Christmas lights. Shah said in court that Spensky and family have not been cooperative with investigators. "All seemed well" after Creato took his girlfriend to the train station the day before Brendan's death night so she could return to New York for school, Shah said. All was not well however, and forensic examinations of Creato's cell phone revealed a struggle to keep things together. According to Shah, the two exchanged 9,487 text messages between June and the day Brendan's body was found. In the weeks leading up to Brendan's death, Creato learned about a classmate of Spensky's whom he felt was getting a little too close. That Monday night, he allegedly accessed his girlfriend's Snapchat and Facebook accounts to see what was going on. At 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2015, Creato's mother and sister brought Brendan over already in his pajamas and slippers to spend the night. They left 20 minutes later and Creato told investigators he went to bed around 10 p.m. According to Shah, he last accessed his girlfriend's Snapchat account at 1:37 a.m. Fuschino, responding to the case as it was presented by prosecutors, noted that there was no activity from shortly after 10 p.m. until the actions just before 1:40 a.m. At 6:07 a.m., Creato would call 9-1-1 to report his son was missing. Creato told investigators that he was jealous and suspicious of his girlfriend, who said she was going to bed early because she had a test the next day. He also felt like he was going to lose his girlfriend, Shah said, "and there sleeping in the next room was the primary source of his girlfriend's hateful discontent with this relationship." Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. WAYNE -- With the help of state grant money, William Paterson University on Wednesday took the first step in its long-range plan to modernize its academic buildings. The public college in Wayne opened the doors to University Hall, a new $40 million building with a mix of general-use classrooms and laboratory and clinical space. The project was funded with $30 million in state money from New Jersey's $750 million higher education bond issue. University Hall was finished six months ahead of schedule, and school President Kathleen Waldron called it a major addition for the university as it tries to upgrade its main instructional buildings. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who attended the opening along with several state lawmakers, said New Jersey taxpayers should be proud of their investment in the college. "We're not just celebrating a new building," Guadagno said. "This project also ensures that William Paterson University students will be armed with the best possible education to go out into the world and change it for the better." The 80,000 square-foot facility includes 16 general use classrooms that will serve at least 4,000 students each semester, according to the university. It also features specialized classrooms and clinical spaces for programs in nursing, communications disorders and public health. William Paterson will now turn its attention toward renovating two existing classroom buildings, Hunziker Hall and Hunziker Wing. The buildings will be linked by a new atrium and get 27 additional classrooms with updated technology. Those renovations are expected to be completed by summer 2018, according to the university. Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Downton Abbey Series 3 Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University will host a "Downton Abbey" ball on the night of the show's finale(AP Photo/PBS) (Nick Briggs) UNION TOWNSHIP -- Get out your formal wear and start working on your British accent, "Downton Abbey" fans. A New Jersey college is having ball to commemorate the hit show's finale. Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University is hosting a formal dinner with music and dancing before a live showing of the March 6 series finale. Tickets are $125, and guests are encouraged to dress in period costumes or come as their favorite character, according to the university. "Looking forward to 'Downton Abbey' every year has been a big part of our lives, and what better way to celebrate its ending than with a ball?" said Bill Schroh, director of museum operations. "We will host a send-off that the Crawleys themselves couldn't top." Reservations are required and be made by calling 908-527-0400 or purchasing tickets online. Liberty Hall was the home of William Livingston, New Jersey's first elected governor and a signer of the constitution. Originally a 14-room Georgian-style home has evolved into a 50-room Victorian-style mansion surrounded by lush grounds. The home, now a museum, has been handed down through generations of the Livingston and Kean families. Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook. FullSizeRender(1).jpg Newark Public Schools headquarters at 2 Cedar Street. (Dan Ivers/NJ Advance Media) NEWARK - A high-ranking and sometimes controversial administrator with the city's school district has tendered her resignation. Newark Public Schools spokeswoman Dreena Whitfield confirmed that Chief Talent Officer Vanessa Rodriguez will leave her position as chief talent officer as of Jan. 19. In an email to colleagues provided to NJ Advance Media, she said she will pursue an unspecified opportunity outside the school district. "The past three years have been extremely rewarding, and I am very proud of the work we have done to support Newark's talented educators," she said. In a subsequent letter to staff, Superintendent of Schools Christopher Cerf praised Rodriguez for helping guide the district through a period of significant turmoil, including the departure of former school chief Cami Anderson, who hired her in January 2013. He praised Rodriguez for implementing widespread changes included in a groundbreaking teachers' contract negotiated just after her arrival, which significantly reformed the way administrators hired and evaluated thousands of staff members. Vanessa Rodriguez (LinkedIn) "Needless to say, when executing this much change it does not always come easily," Cerf said. "Perhaps what I admire most about Vanessa's work is that she always stood up for what she believed was in the best interest of Newark children." During her three years in Newark, however, Rodriguez became a frequent target of criticisms by those opposed to Anderson's regime and the drastic reforms she implemented - with varying degrees of success - over the course of her tenure. In August - just weeks after Anderson vacated her position - the city's School Advisory Board voted to recommend Rodriguez be fired over her alleged role in processing $12,115 in vacation and sick leave payments to a former Newark assistant superintendent who had left the district for a position in Arkansas. Three months later, the city's teachers' union filed a complaint with the state Board of Education and Education Commissioner David Hespe claiming she lacked the proper certifications to perform her duties, including the approval of layoffs and filing of tenure charges. PLUS: Baraka, Cerf announce $12.5M plan to rescue needy Newark schools Union President John Abeigon said a judge ordered the suit redirected to the state's Office of Administrative Law late last month. "The fact is that she was never qualified or certified to do any of the things she did under her self-created title of Chief Talent Officer," he said. "Her leaving the district will not absolve her." Rodriguez, who earns an annual salary of $118,501, will be replaced on an interim basis by Larisa Shambaugh, the district's executive director of special initiatives in the talent office, according to Cerf. Prior to arriving in Newark, Rodriguez spent time with Teach for America, non-profit organization New Leaders for New Schools and as an administrator for the New York City public schools. Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. VetSyringes.JPG An informational session about equine herpes and its threats to horses will be held Wednesday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Lenape Valley Church of New Britain, 321 W. Butler Ave. in New Britain, Pa. The guest speaker will be Dr. Rodney Belgrave, an internal medicine and infectious disease specialist from Mid-Atlantic Veterinary Hospital, who will provide an overview of how this disease functions. The session is being coordinated by Dr. Peter Blauner of Blauner, Vecchione, Buchholz and Associates. This information session will not focus on the specifics of the current outbreak of equine herpes in our area, but will provide an overview of the disease, how horses are infected and what treatment options are available. Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture placed a quarantine on horses in an stable in Doylestown after three horses tested positive for for equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) on Dec. 22.Four horses were euthanized in December. As of Jan. 8, eight other horses had developed mild neurological signs with limited rear limb ataxia, according to equinediseasecc.org/outbreaks.aspx Other horses at various locations throughout Pennsylvania with suspect clinical signs have been tested but there have been no positive results. One of the deceased horses showed in New Jersey but no cases of EHV-1 have been reported in New Jersey. Horse owners with concerns may contact the department's Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services at 717-772-2852. Enter the 2016 Horse News Photo Contest For current equestrian news see Horse News or check out the online version of the print edition. Horse News covers everything equestrian in the mid-Atlantic area and can be reached at horsenews@hcdemocrat.com To subscribe to the print edition call 908-948-1309. For advertising e-mail mchapman@njadvancemedia.com. Find Horse News on Facebook Jersey City police car More than 100 cellphones worth $10,000 were taken from a Central Avenue business after bandits broke through a wall to gain entrance, according to a police report. (Journal File Photo) JERSEY CITY -- More than 100 cellphones worth $10,000 were stolen from a Central Avenue business after bandits broke through a wall to gain entrance, according to a police report. When workers arrived at the Boost Mobile store yesterday morning, they noticed cellphones that had been hanging behind the counter were missing, police said. According to the report, the actors entered a vacant unit attached to the business and broke through a wall that lead to a hallway. The burglars then entered another room, broke through that wall and gained entrance to the business. During the investigation, police found a 6-foot ladder in the alleyway below a fire escape. A kitchen window on the third floor was open and the roof hatch cover was missing, the report states. Police said the exact point of entry was not known. The business owner told police 135 cellphones of various makes and models were taken. The phones range in value from $15 to $500, police said. No one has been arrested in connection with the burglary but surveillance video was obtained from the store, police said. domenico lillo.jpg Attorneys in a police brutality lawsuit filed against three Bayonne police officers -- including Domenico Lillo, pictured here -- are arguing over whether the case should be paused. (Journal File Photo) Bayonne Police Sgt. James Wade BAYONNE -- Attorneys in a police brutality lawsuit filed against three city police officers are arguing over whether the case should be paused in light of one of the officers pleading guilty in a parallel criminal case. In September 2015, city police officer Domenico Lillo pleaded guilty in federal court to striking a handcuffed man with a flashlight on Dec. 27, 2013 and lying about it afterward. According to a federal lawsuit filed prior to Lillo's FBI arrest early last year, Lillo wasn't alone when he struck the man. The suit claims officers James Wade and Francis Styles "stood by and did nothing" while Lillo struck the Bayonne man, an allegation that Wade and Styles have both denied. Wade was promoted to sergeant in August 2015. The lawsuit additionally accuses Wade and Styles of swearing out false criminal complaints against Brandon Walsh -- which they've each denied -- and specifically accuses Styles of concocting "a whimsical perjure-laden police report that perverted what actually happened," which Styles has also denied. The defendants named in the lawsuit, which was filed by the Walsh family through attorneys Joel Silberman and Aymen Aboushi, are the city of Bayonne, the Bayonne Police Department and Police Officers Lillo, Wade and Styles. On Dec. 31, attorney Albert C. Buglione, representing the city and the police department, asked the judge overseeing the lawsuit to halt the discovery phase of the civil proceeding, during which defendants and plaintiffs can be asked questions by either side. Buglione said Lillo's recent guilty plea "begs the question" of whether Wade and Styles are under criminal investigation by federal authorities, and whether Lillo is cooperating with authorities as part of his guilty plea. "The defendants are in the unenviable position of not being able to respond to discovery demands propounded by the plaintiffs at the risk of divulging information that could possibly compromise an investigation or implicate certain defendants in criminal activities," he said. As such, Buglione said, the defendants are requesting holding off on the discovery phase until "the resolution of all ongoing or pending criminal investigations." The FBI told The Jersey Journal it can neither confirm nor deny whether there is an active investigation into Wade or Styles. In response to Buglione's request, one of the Walsh family's attorneys, Aymen Aboushi, filed a letter to the judge saying there is no evidence of an ongoing investigation into Wade or Styles and calling the request "frivolous" and "a delay tactic." Wade is represented by attorney R. Scott Fahrney, Jr. of Fort Lee-based firm Kaufman Semeraro & Leibman, while Styles is represented by Edward J. Florio of Hoboken-based firm Florio & Kenny, LLP. As for why the lawsuit against Lillo has continued despite his guilty plea in a parallel criminal proceeding, there are additional claims Walsh made in his lawsuit against Lillo that Lillo has contested. For example, Lillo has denied, through his attorney Roshan D. Shah, that he unlawfully discharged pepper spray in the Dec. 27, 2013 incident. As for Lillo being accused of using excessive force against Walsh, Shah wrote: "Admitted only that Mr. Lillo's one-time contacting of Brandon Walsh with the flashlight constituted excessive force to the extent it is coextensive with the guilty plea entered in the parallel criminal matter, U.S. vs. Lillo, Criminal Action No. 15-0043 (KM)." In an unrelated case, Lillo also pleaded guilty in September to illegally obtaining a $20,000 loan intended for low- to moderate-income residents. His wife, Rose Lillo, was also charged and is negotiating a plea agreement, according to court documents. Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. The number of homicides in Hudson County last year spiked to its highest level in six years. Thirty people were killed in Hudson County in 2015 -- an increase from the 23 homicides the county suffered in 2014, all in Jersey City. The 30 homicides of 2015 were the most the county has seen since 2010, when 36 people were murdered, according to the state Uniform Crime Report. Outside of Jersey City, where there were 25 killings in 2015, there were three homicides in West New York, one in Bayonne and one in North Bergen. The number of homicides in Jersey City in 2015 was on track to be considerably lower, but the number rose due to a spate of violence at the end of the year, including a 12-day stretch during which five people were killed. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Jersey City Public Safety Director James Shea noted the modest rise in the city's number of homicides in 2015 and also said that the city saw a continued drop in most major crime categories as 2015 was coming to a close. In Jersey City there were 86 shootings in 2015, compared to 77 in 2014 and 92 in 2013. There were 17 shooting-related homicides in the city in 2015, compared to 18 in 2014 and 19 in 2013, Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said. Newark, a city of similar size to Jersey City, witnessed 105 homicides in 2015, an increase of 12 from 2014, according to NJ Advance Media. Police also recovered 208 guns in 2015 and there was a 32 percent arrest rate in non-fatal shootings, which is higher than the state average. Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said she met with Fulop to discuss the flare-up of gun violence at the end of 2015 and they agreed a collaborative combination of intelligence-driven policing and prosecution was needed to combat it. "Our office has supplemented Jersey City street crimes and plainclothes units with personnel to assist with these proactive efforts," Suarez said. "Thus far, the initiative has been productive and resulted in taking some guns off the streets and other arrests." Suarez, who was sworn in as prosecutor in July, said there was also a need to focus on a small group of offenders who are responsible for "the overwhelming majority of the violence." "Each time a gun is taken off the street, it is one less opportunity for violent predators," Suarez added. "Lastly and equally important, our office will continue to meet with our community partners and clergy groups for their invaluable input and perspective on this issue." In 2015 Jersey City hired 55 police officers and another 30 are in the academy. Dozens of new officers have been assigned to walking posts in the South and West districts of the city. In total, the Fulop administration has hired more than 130 officers since 2013, reassigned officers from desk units to patrol, and made growing the department a priority, Morrill said. Speaking of Jersey City's general decline in crime in 2015, Fulop said: "While we are proud that Jersey City is the safest big city in New Jersey, we know that for anyone who has experienced crime, statistics are just that - a number. So for us, we don't use crime stats as a barometer of whether we are succeeding or not, but rather as a tool that will help us continue to improve and smartly allocate resources and personnel." The Jersey Journal lists the number of homicides in 2014 at 23, while the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office says it is 25. The Journal lists the death of Susan Remiszewski, 46, of Bayonne, found dead in her home on Aug. 17, 2013, as a 2013 homicide while the HCPO lists it as a 2014 because that is when it was ruled a homicide. The 23 homicides of 2014 also do not include James Trowell, 47, of Jersey City, who was shot in 1993, and died in April 2014 after additional surgery related to the gunshot injuries. Meanwhile, the Jersey City Police Department includes the police shootings of Lavon King and Lawrence Campbell in its total for the year. However, the HCPO does not officially classify the deaths of King and Campbell as homicides. The following map highlights the 30 homicides in Hudson County in 2015: HOBOKEN -- An injured hawk has been occupying the balconies and branches of a block in Hoboken since the weekend, capturing the attention of area residents, workers and passersby, with just enough flight left in it to elude would-be captors trying to help it. "When you approach him, off he goes," said Diane Soucy, vice president of the Millington-based Raptor Trust, which has been contacted by the city's animal control office, as well as concerned residents, and is ready to take it in for rehabilitation if it can be caught. "It's not going to be an easy task." < An animal control officer equipped with a net and heavy leather gloves tried to approach the hawk on Wednesday afternoon as it perched on the railing of a second-story front balcony on First Street, between Hudson and River Streets, where residents and workers said it has occupied both sides of the block since Friday. But the majestic grey and white raptor managed to leap from the railing to a nearby tree branch when the officer got within ten feet or so. Soucy said the plan was to approach it again in the evening, in the hope the hobbled bird would be reluctant to take wing in darkness. A city spokesman, Juan Melli, said Liberty Humane Society was also monitoring the situation. One sympathizer set up an @HobokenHawk Twitter feed to call attention to the bird's plight. This beautiful bird is injured outside my office & no one will come to help. pic.twitter.com/ITO7gkQVhj Sheila C. (@SheilaNJ) January 13, 2016 Suzanne Forbes, who works in the area and was one of many people to call authorities about it, said it looked to be a juvenile, judging from its size and down feathers. "It seems like his right side was injured, because he's had to jump around on the balconies," Forbes said. Soucy said the bird could have been injured any number of ways, including being hit by a car or flying into a window or wall. Its feathers appeared to be ruffled, but there was no blood or wound visible. Judging from photos of the bird, Soucy said it appeared to be a red-tailed hawk, a variety particularly adaptable to urban environments that could even be a native New Yorker. Pigeons and rodents in the area should be glad it's been hobbled, Soucy said. Jose Rojas was watching the bird from the entrance to 5 Marineview Plaza, on the block where the hawk has been stranded. "He's been in the area since Friday," said Rojas, a maintenance worker. "He fell down on the ground once, but he must have flown back up." "I'm kind of tied in with the bird," added Rojas, a graduate of Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City, "because I went to Hudson Catholic, and our mascot is a Hawk." Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. thompson Mitchell Neil Thompson, 24, was on his cellphone and was pulled over on 14th Street on Manila Avenue, police said. (Port Authority photo ) JERSEY CITY -- A Pennsylvania man with an open warrant for making terroristic threats was arrested yesterday at the Holland Tunnel after police spotted him driving while on his cellphone. At about 7 p.m. last night, a police officer noticed a U-Haul swerving inside the north tube of the tunnel and almost crashing into a bus, Port Authority police spokesman Joe Pentangelo said. The driver, Mitchell Neil Thompson, 24, was on his cellphone and was pulled over on 14th Street on Manila Avenue, Pentangelo said. Thompson handed the officer an expired driver's license. A computer check revealed his license was suspended and that he had a warrant out of Pennsylvania for terroristic threats and burglary, Pentangelo said. He was arrested and is being charged as a fugtive from justice. Thompson was brought to Hudson County jail and is awaiting extradition, Pentangelo said. JERSEY CITY -- A Newark man was arrested last night on drunk driving charges after he told police he had been drinking at the airport, Port Authority police said. At 11:50 p.m., an officer noticed a green Honda Accord crossing over the roadway markings "several times" inside the Holland Tunnel despite a traffic sign stating that changing lanes is prohibited, Port Authority police spokesman Joe Pentangelo said. The police officer followed Bryan Santanadeaza, 23, through the tunnel and then attempted to pull him over, Pentangelo said. Santanadeaza did not immediately pull over and stopped a few blocks away on Jersey Avenue, Pentangelo said. The officer noticed a strong odor of alcohol and Santanadeaza said he had been drinking "beer and liquor in the JFK airport lounge," police said. The 23-year-old failed a field sobriety test and his blood alcohol content was a .12. He was charged with DWI, Pentangelo said. jail123.jpg The Hudson County jail in Kearny. (EJA) JERSEY CITY -- A 30-year-old North Bergen man in jail on a robbery charge was to appear in court in Jersey City today on charges he spit at a corrections officer but he refused to leave his cell. Pedro Ortiz of the 7100 block of Grand Avenue is charged with assaulting a corrections officer in the Hudson County jail in Kearny by knowingly and willingly spitting at the officer. He is also charged with throwing bodily fluids at the officer by spitting at him, the criminal complaint says. On Monday, Ortiz could not appear on the new charges because he was receiving medical attention, Central Judicial Processing court Judge Margaret Marley said this afternoon. He was to appear yesterday but that was cancelled after a man had to be dragged out of the jail's video conferencing room when he refused to leave following his appearance. It took numerous officers to subdue the man and there was not enough manpower left to bring Ortiz to the video conferencing room, Marley said. Today, he did not feel like leaving his cell, the judge said. Because Ortiz's appearance had already been delayed two days, the hearing was held in his absentia. He was represented by the public defender and his bail on the new charges was set at $3,500 with a 10 percent cash option. Ortiz has six prior arrests and no convictions, court officials said. The robbery charge Ortiz faces is pending presentation to the grand jury, court officials said. A blog about life under, and resisting, a dictatorship Since 2015, the $1.3 billion project, Capitol Crossing, has completed a myriad of upgrades, while creating 4,000 construction jobs and 8,000 permanent jobs. With these upgrades completed, the project is approaching the next phase of construction with the expectation to complete the first building, a trophy office space, by 2018 with 70,000-square-feet of retail. For those who might be a little unaware of the project or need a refresher, Capitol Crossing will span a total of 2.2 million-square-feet with 6.8 acres of construction above the sunken I-395 entrance. The entire project will entail five mixed-use buildings and over 1,100 parking spaces. The developer claims that the site Capitol Crossing that is being utilized is the largest continuous undeveloped site remaining in Downtown. Deputy Mayor Kenner also described the project as creating the District's first "eco-district" due the plans for the buildings to receive a "beyond LEED Platinum" certification. In December 2014, The Washington Post reported that the project will grow the District's tax base by an estimated $30 million. For the first quarter of 2016, Capitol Crossing plans on installing the steel segments that will support the three-block platform above I-95. The entire project is expected to complete by 2020. A few challenges the project has experienced include the move of a 138-year-old building that was the District's first synagogue and the inability to close two-thirds of a mile of I-395. When moved, the synagogue will become a museum. If the closing were approved, the project would have saved 18 months of construction time, according to The Washington Post. In December 2014, the developer also outraged Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and other Federal officials due to a lack of communication on the hopes to close a portion of I-395. So far, Capitol Crossing has completed excavation and installation of new high voltage electrical line in Massachusetts Avenue NW from 3rd to 4th streets NW as well as installation of a new 30 foot water main on Massachusetts Avenue NW between 4th and 2nd streets NW. On 3rd Street from F to E streets, Capitol Crossing has also installed an eight food water main. The existing 3rd Street tunnel was refurbished in order to align with post-9/11 safety and security standards. In November 2015, deep caissons, or watertight chambers that keep out water, were also poured. Finally, the electrical grid between Capitol and East End were connected in order to stabilize the electricity supply in the two neighborhoods. Developer: Capitol Crossing is 'very tough to get,' but will be worth it [The Washington Post] Five Things To Know About The Capitol Crossing Project [DCist] All Capitol Crossing coverage [Curbed DC] The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts. WASHINGTON (AP) The House Jan. 6 committee plans to unveil "surprising" details at its next public hearing about the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol. The session Thursday afternoon is likely to be the last public hearing before midterm elections next month. The panel is expected to include new evidence from the U.S. Secret Service about its actions with Donald Trump that day. Ahead of a report later this year, the panel is summing up its findings. The committee says Trump, after he lost the 2020 presidential election, launched an unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory. They say the result was the deadly mob siege of the Capitol. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Gov. Terry Branstad said the key to Iowas success over the past five years has been truly a willingness to work together during his annual Condition of the State address to the General Assembly. In his remarks Tuesday morning in Des Moines, Branstad said restoring fiscal discipline, focusing on economic growth and investing in the states children brought progress to Iowa, making it a well-managed state with strong cash reserves, many new jobs, low unemployment, increased private investment and a significant jump in public education spending. When we work together, challenges are overcome, results are delivered and Iowans have a government that works for them, Branstad said. When we fail to work together, challenges become steeper, results are fleeting and the government fails the very people we should be serving. The call for bipartisan cooperation came on the second day of a legislative session the Republican governor described as filled with unique issues and opportunities to address, and Democrats expressed worry that the people of Iowa deserve real solutions, not more empty rhetoric, in a statement released after the speech. Iowa Democrats are ready to move Iowa forward, said Iowa Democratic Party chair Andy McGuire in a press release. It is our hope that Gov. Branstad actually focuses on working together this year, unlike last year where his administration pushed forward a series of unilateral actions to advance its misguided agenda. Separating policies from politics could prove particularly tricky in an election year and following Branstads veto of one-time appropriations for schools as well as the closure of two mental health institutions, which earned the predictable rebukes from Democrats again Tuesday. Outlining priorities in a tight budget year The Governors Office released its 1,103-page budget book following Branstads address, outlining spending priorities in what the governor described as tight with a cautious eye and optimism for the future that will keep our state stable. We should not over-promise and under-deliver, he told lawmakers. Among the governors priorities in his remarks were: To continue work on a state energy plan to set future priorities for a state leading in the production of ethanol as well as to continue investing in renewable energy sources, such as wind power. Iowa could be the first state in the nation to meet 40 percent of our energy needs from wind power by 2020, Branstad said. Every wind turbine you see while driving across our state means income for farmers, revenue for local governments and jobs for Iowa families. To take a fresh look at the criminal justice system including looking at increasing rehabilitation instead of incarceration while protecting the public from those who have committed crimes. We can take steps to ensure that the most serious of crimes are punished with the most serious of penalties, he said. And we can take steps to make sure that when our criminal justice system does impose punishment, that we are punishing the right person and that race does not play a role. To propose legislation to work on protecting children from human trafficking, combating domestic violence and examining the funding of drug and mental health courts. Branstad also suggested examining whether to keep most juvenile delinquency records open to the public, saying they could block the future careers of some Iowans. A minor crime should not be a lifelong barrier to a successful career, he said. Juvenile records should remain confidential unless a judge specifically finds that disclosure is in the best interest of the child and the public. Education spending still sticking point Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, offered reaction after the speech on Iowa Public Television, which were carried live and rebroadcast following President Barack Obamas State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening. Gronstal said Iowas governor has the right priorities but the details are important, citing concerns about counting teacher leadership dollars in the amount budgeted for schools as an example. The governor is recommending a 2.45 percent increase for state supplemental aid for schools, but Gronstal said it only really represents a 1 percent jump, one of the worst sets of numbers that weve seen in decades. Moreover, the governors proposed funding is more than the Republican-controlled House has proposed for K-12, setting up concerns about how far any proposal can get through in the General Assembly. Gov. Branstad has had more challenges with his Republican colleagues than with the Democrats, Gronstal said, adding that hes also concerned about funding for area education agencies and the absence of remarks about higher education funding. The Iowa Board of Regents issued a statement after the speech saying it will work to secure sufficient funding while also working to be more efficient and effective with funding. In his remarks, Branstad defended his administrations record of investing in public education. He said his proposals would add $145 million to K-12 funding, bringing the states total investment on K-12 schools to more than $3.2 billion. To make this level of funding possible, we have made tough decisions in other budget areas, he said. It is my sincere hope the General Assembly will move quickly to approve supplemental state aid early this session. He also defended a proposal announced last week that would extend a 1-cent sales tax that supports school infrastructure projects while siphoning off some funding for water quality improvements. Branstad called the sales tax a critical source of funding with a strong desire on the part of school officials to extend it for another two decades. Ensuring our childrens future is bright also means addressing other challenges our state faces, he said. Too often, we are presented with a false choice: Raise taxes on hardworking taxpayers, or do nothing. I submit to you there is a different path to chart. Extending the sales tax, which Branstad said doesnt constitute raising taxes, would give schools the first $10 million in growth in revenue each year while still generating nearly $4.7 billion for water quality through 2049. Schools would receive $100 million in additional funding a decade on top of what theyre already getting, he said. This is a monumental investment in both education funding and water quality, Branstad said. Remarks touch on program of local importance Education funding is one of the pressing issues at the start of this years legislative session, but its not the only aspect of Branstads Condition of the State remarks to hit home for Council Bluffs residents. Early in the speech, Branstad addressed the Home Base Iowa initiatives success over the past 19 months. He said the program has already helped 1,700 veterans be hired across the state, earning the second round of applause of the morning. Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County are pushing to become a part of the Home Base Iowa program as a community. The City Council expressed support Monday, while the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to move forward. The governments now need to secure commitments from 10 percent of the citys businesses to hire veterans as the next step toward participation. Changes to funding for drug court could also make a difference in Council Bluffs. After spending four months worried about its pending demise, the drug court operated by the Fourth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services received a one-time grant in October from the Iowa West Foundation to keep operating while waiting for additional state funds. The $113,000 grant will keep the drug court serving southwest Iowa through June 30. The court went down from five employees to 1.5 full-time workers, enough to avoid closing it but less than its traditionally had since opening in 2000. Iowa West said the court is a valuable asset to the community. Branstad also paid tribute to Jack Drake during his speech, the longest-tenured Republican in the House who died at age 81 in October. Drake was a Pottawattamie County native and lived in Griswold. We return this session without an esteemed colleague and friend who was respected by both sides of the aisle, Branstad said. He served his constituents with passion, and I know we all will miss him this session. Rep. Charlie McConkey, D-Council Bluffs, released a statement Tuesday afternoon outlining his own priorities for the session, which include investing in education, expanding job training, raising the minimum wage, increasing early childhood education and encouraging more renewable energy. Too many families are working hard but still not getting ahead, he said. If we put politics aside and work together to find common ground, I know well have a successful legislative session to build a strong middle class in Iowa. At the conclusion of his remarks to the General Assembly, Branstad said the question before lawmakers is: What can we do to provide certainty and opportunities for all Iowa families? Together, we can forge a new path that will lead us to stable and predictable funding for school infrastructure and historic long-term protection for water quality, he said. A path which connects Iowans to rewarding careers. A path that leads to exponential growth in our energy sector. And a path that provides for a more fair and equitable society for all Iowans. This week was big for Civility Counts. On Monday, we kicked off our pilot classroom program at Lighthouse Academies in Gary. We started with two ninth grade classes, about 40 kids. We are focusing on Monday's "advisory" class time, which is similar to homeroom. I'm very excited and humbled by the teachers that have agreed to be involved. Thanks to the leadership of the head of advisory, Susie Choi, and the two teachers who have graciously let us enter their classrooms once a week, Erica Young and Martin Da Costa, our first session went really well. We decided to start the program by focusing on a current event. In this case, we went with the story of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager who was shot to death by a white police officer in Chicago in 2014. We started with a short summary of the story and had the students free-write their reactions. Then we introduced the program and told the students who I was. As an outsider, the students were predictably leery. I spent the first day watching, but trying not to be creepy. It wasn't yet time to inject myself, but knowing me, I'm sure I will soon enough. The rest of the period (advisory is only about 30 minutes), the students worked with partners on the rest of the sheet (attached). The conversations I overheard, and later when i spoke to the teachers who were a part of them, were impressive. The students were engaged, and had strong opinions. I got the feeling that this particular subject hadn't been discussed much in class, as a lot of the students had questions about details of the case. And something great happened, they started informing each other. We interjected if it wasn't accurate, but most of it was. A terrific moment. I only wish we had more time, honestly. At the end of the class, Ms. Choi introduced me to a great new concept: The exit ticket. Each student had to hand in the sheet to get out of the classroom. I'm couldn't be more excited to read them. We are getting together to do that this weekend and I will have an update after. Until then, remember #civilitycounts. P.S. I love the exit ticket idea. What if at every "meeting of the minds" in Northwest Indiana we had to turn something in to leave the room? Just a thought... Be wary if you're emailed a job offer at ArcelorMittal. ArcelorMittal is warning of fraudulent emails that purport to offer jobs for the Luxembourg-based steelmaker, whose U.S. operations are headquartered in Burns Harbor. The emails, which pretend to come from ArcelorMittal Head of Human Resources Henri Blaffart and other names, offer job opportunities. But the emails ask candidates to pay an "interview security fee" upfront that can range from 200 to 500, which is about $289 to $722. Such emails are of course fake. ArcelorMittal says it has nothing to do with them whatsoever and never asks job applicants for any money prior to interviews. "BE ALERT: Please be aware of fraudulent HR emails requesting $$$ to interview with us," the steelmaker said in a tweet. "We would never seek payment from job candidates." The company's legal department is investigating the matter. The Crossroads Chamber of Commerce will host experts on earning business contracts with the government at a Jan. 22 seminar entitled Launch NWI. The seminar's topic is Meet Indiana's Connections to Contracts and No-Cost Consulting. Experts will advise businesspersons on the process of getting local, state and federal government contracts. Panelists include Jacob Schpok, executive director of the Indiana Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship; Lorri Feldt, regional director of Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center; Shane Springer, state director of the Indiana Procurement Technical Assistance Center; and Erik Scheub, small business ombudsman for the ISBDC. Doors open at 11:15 a.m. and lunch will be served at noon. The Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza is located at 800 E. 81st Ave., Merrillville. The ISBDC offers entrepreneurs expert guidance and a comprehensive network of resources for little to no cost. Services provided include one-on-one consulting, strategic planning, market research, loan assistance and more. The Crossroads Chamber of Commerce was formed several years ago out of the former Greater Crown Point Chamber of Commerce and Merrillville Chamber of Commerce. It provides a joint membership of more than 700 business contacts for networking opportunities. Future Launch NWI sessions will cover the topics Cultivating Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Locating Smart Money. INDIANAPOLIS Hoosiers differed sharply Wednesday in response to Gov. Mike Pence's demand that any legislation providing civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals contain a broad religious freedom exception. The governor said in his State of the State address that while he opposes all forms of discrimination, he's not sure it's "necessary or even possible" to balance an LGBT anti-discrimination law with religious liberty. He vowed not to sign legislation that interferes with Hoosiers' ability to "live out their beliefs in worship, service or work." That was good news to 50 supporters of the Indiana Pastors Alliance, who rallied on the frigid Statehouse steps before going inside to present Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, petitions signed by 5,500 Hoosiers opposing Senate Bills 100 and 344. We consider that to be an unambiguous, direct statement that he (Pence) is going to protect the religious liberty of Hoosiers, said Kevin Baird, field director for the pastors group and a minister at Crown Point's Living Stones Church. Baird said the Senate legislation which adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the seven protected classes in Indiana's civil rights code with a limited religious exemption is a direct attack on Christian business owners. Our faith is not just where we worship ... (Christians) take their faith out of the church and practice that faith with regards to their business practices, Baird said. We will not have our faith compartmentalized. Ron Johnson Jr., executive director of the Pastors Alliance and senior minister at Living Stones Church, warned that providing special rights to LGBT Hoosiers will lead to persecution of people who sincerely believe marriage must be limited to one man and one woman. If we live out these beliefs we're now called bigots, Johnson said. But for Christians seeking to live their lives and conduct their businesses in a way that pleases God, we gain absolutely nothing from either of these bills, and we actually lose everything because these bills criminalize our beliefs and actually turn God himself into a discriminator. Supporters of LGBT civil rights legislation had a different point of view on the governor's favoring of religious liberty over non-discrimination guarantees in employment, housing and public accommodations. Peter Hanscom, manager of Indiana Competes, a business coalition pushing for LGBT civil rights, said Pence missed an opportunity to show leadership following the 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy that made Indiana appear to endorse discrimination against LGBT individuals. "Hoosiers have seen how vulnerable our economy can be to negative public perception that we are not a welcoming state," Hanscom said. "A clear majority of Hoosiers support banning discrimination against gay and transgender Hoosiers, and it's time for our elected officials to lead and find a solution that ensures equal rights for all." Chris Paulsen, of Freedom Indiana, which spearheaded opposition to a Pence-endorsed constitutional ban on gay marriage, said the governor's position is "a complete letdown." "We must redouble our efforts so that lawmakers craft a good bill to send to the governor that makes it clear that gay and transgender people should not be fired, denied housing or turned away from public spaces because of who they are or whom they love," Paulsen said. Pence's likely election opponent, Democrat John Gregg, similarly blasted the governor for passing the buck on civil rights to the Legislature. "His refusal to take a stand for equality is unconscionable given the fact that he created this mess, which continues to damage Indiana's economy and reputation," Gregg said. "This failure of leadership is disappointing, but sadly not surprising." INDIANAPOLIS Gov. Mike Pence touted Indiana's enviable economic conditions in his State of the State address Tuesday, and urged lawmakers to enact his legislative agenda focused on roads, education, drug abuse prevention and job growth. However, on the one issue that last year threatened to derail Indiana's economy and reputation, the Republican punted to the General Assembly, charging lawmakers with finding an appropriate balance between civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers and religious freedom claims. The governor tried to carefully thread a course between the two sides by insisting Hoosiers do not tolerate discrimination of any kind, while Hoosiers also cherish the religious liberties enshrined in Indiana's Constitution. Pence said he's not certain whether it is possible, or even necessary, to reconcile those two values, and did not endorse any of the nearly one dozen legislative proposals seeking to do so. Instead, he signaled that any anti-discrimination legislation lacking significant exceptions for individuals or organizations that might possibly be classified as religious would be met by his veto pen. "I will not support any bill that diminishes the religious freedom of Hoosiers or interferes with the constitutional rights of our citizens to live out their beliefs in worship, service or work," Pence said. In all, Pence spoke for less than four minutes on an issue that he claims to have been "studying" since April, when a hastily adopted fix to the 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy put an end to threatened Indiana business and tourism boycotts from across the country. State Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, said following the speech she can't believe Pence waited months to essentially say nothing on an issue that has roiled the General Assembly and made Indiana a national laughingstock. "I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed," Lawson said. "I believe in my heart that's he's absolutely wrong. It has nothing to do with religion. It's a discrimination issue." Most of the governor's 28-minute speech centered on his accomplishments during his first three years in office, implicitly making the case for re-election before a statewide radio and television audience. Pence touted the 4 percent drop in the state's unemployment rate since January 2013, claimed credit for 135,000 new private-sector jobs created on his watch and declared more Hoosiers are working today than at any point in the 200 years Indiana has been a state. He urged the Republican-controlled Legislature to keep Indiana moving forward by enacting his $1.4 billion plan to spend a portion of the state's budget reserve, increase future appropriations and borrow $240 million for state and local road and bridge improvements over the next four years. At the same time, he dismissed the House Republican roads plan that proposes to increase cigarette and gasoline taxes to ensure a steady stream of infrastructure funding for years to come. "When you've got money in the bank and you've got the best credit rating in America, the last place you should look to pay for roads and bridges is the wallets and the pocketbooks of hard-working Hoosiers," Pence said. "Let's invest in our roads, let's maintain the Crossroads of America and let's do it without raising taxes." State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, the sponsor of House Bill 1001, said he's not sure Pence's math adds up to long-term infrastructure improvements, and he can't believe a Republican governor is calling for borrowing money to pay for road repairs. "We weren't very happy when the Democrats borrowed money in 1998 and we're paying $100 million a year until 2029 on that debt," Soliday said. The governor also confirmed his change of heart on school testing, calling for Indiana to "take a step back from ISTEP and see how we can improve on the test that we use to measure our kids and our schools every year." He promised he will sign House Bill 1003 and Senate Bill 200 which hold harmless teacher performance pay and A-F school grades affected by last year's test score drop. In addition, Pence endorsed tougher penalties on drug dealers "who sell poisons to our kids," and warned any who were watching his speech that "we are coming after you." The governor's biggest applause from members of the Republican-controlled Legislature came when he took aim at President Barack Obama's recent claim that Indiana-sold guns are partially responsible for Chicago homicides. "Indiana will always stand by the right to keep and bear arms," Pence said. "So Mr. President please stop blaming our gun laws for violence in Chicago. Hoosiers are not the cause of crime in your hometown, criminals are." The State of the State address typically draws elected leaders from across Indiana to the audience in the House gallery. Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor and LaPorte Mayor Blair Milo were recognized by House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, prior to the governor's speech. Four Region lawmakers also were given the honor of escorting Pence to the House rostrum: state Sens. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte; Earline Rogers, D-Gary; and Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes; and state Rep. Tom Dermody, R-LaPorte.